Children of Mana - Gameplay

Gameplay

Unlike previous games in the series, Children of Mana is a dungeon crawler, and the majority of the gameplay takes place in selected locations. These areas are reached by the player selecting them on the world map, and travels to them from the safe area of Mana Village by using Flammie. The primary objective in each location is to clear the dungeon of monsters and the boss, like most dungeon crawlers. Progress is made between each zone by the player finding an item called a Gleamdrop, then carrying it and placing it in a pillar of light called a Gleamwell. The player must repeat this process on each floor until the last floor is reached, where the boss lies. Dungeons can be returned to later by accepting side-quest-like missions from townsfolk, in which the dungeon itself can be slightly altered: the player's starting position may be different, the number of floors can increase, and the monsters contained may change.