Ugh, no. You would not be screwed. This is the way you're supposed to go.
Follow walls. Please, please, please. Follow walls. If you do this, you will find your way through almost every area in the game.
spoilers
beyond
I just caught Hathorilian for the second time. Long, annoying fight, but overall not all that bad. Took me three tries. And it rolled bad attack/special attack for the second time in a row, so mleh. Goodbye, Golovath. Nice knowing you.
Still only have eight level-up herbs. Can't think of the three I'm missing. Also finally went back and got the eighth freaking coin I'd been forgetting for god knows how long for that girl. So I've been playing the whole game without the golden medal.
Verdicts
Symphonid: Keep it away from its weaknesses, and it can nuke. Insect is surprisingly effective, and Attack Concerto is yummy. Equip Hard Shell/Polar Bug if you're afraid of being hit by a particular weakness.
Fowlusion: I was pretty sure this one would be good, and it is. A little frail, but it's the definition of a fast sweeper. Does everything right. Also survives ice attacks if equipped with the Resister.
Golovath: One-trick pony. And Terramagma sounds great on paper, but then you go last on the next turn, which means you might have to eat two hits in a row. Not something Golovath really wants to do most of the time. Not bad, but Bamboustica was considerably better.
Wavotamus: Seriously, this thing saved my bacon more than once. Stay away from grass attacks, or again, use the resister item. Don't be fooled by all the special attacks he learns; he's best used as a physical attacker. There are manamon who get overall better moves (although Contained Quake is nice for a nuke if you know Wavotamus has to switch or is going to die soon) but he has decent bulk, good HP and is just an overall well-balanced manamon.
Maustadon: I really, really want to like this thing, but there are very, very few types it resists on its own, and when you have mid-low speed, this can be a death sentence. What's more, it's weak to a lot, so all those big strong moves it gets (including a very nice Earthquake, by the way) come with some heavy penalties. This thing isn't awful, but it could do with a little better survivability. I still say I'd like to see ice become resistant to water, ice, plant and insect. I don't think this would buff the ice type too hard because it still has weaknesses in some very commonly occurring types.
Kamadeir: Again, saved my bacon a few times. Nukes, mostly, but has a lot of HP and low defenses, so it tends to stick around a bit. Sky-high attack, plus Rearmband-Full-Moon-Blessing combo may be worthwhile. I was able to set up Healing Light in a couple of boss fights against hyper forms and whatnot, and the passive healing kept it alive a few times. Definitely good.
So overall, I'm fairly pleased. You won't pick a winner every time, and I'm still limiting myself to new things as opposed to revisiting old ones. I don't know when my next playthrough will be, but here are a few I have my eye on.
Penguilum: Ice-air type is going to get wrecked by rocks, but does it make up for it somehow?
Urainaman: grass-ghost type...I think it's built as a glass-cannon sweeper; does it get the moves and the stats to do the job?
Gubballine: Very defensive, but does it get enough attack, and attacking stats, to work as a physical tank that can still put out damage?
Chimerus: Magic-sound type...oh boy. Weak to a couple of really common types, but does it have the stats or moveset to offset its weaknesses?
Pegastorm: Appears to have some accuracy issues with some of its moves; does it work as a holy type, given that it's a bit frailer, or are we better off sticking to a safer electric type?
Volanteril (sp): Rock-dragon; we have a mythical one of those, so does Volanteril stand up in any way? I know it can do enormous damage with stone moves, but hopefully its speed stat isn't too big a liability.
Skeletone: Undead-sound, and looks very decidedly average except the move Death Thrash. Will it stand out as being worthwhile? It's actually weak to undead (since undead does not resist undead, and I actually think it should).
Angorge: Looks like one-trick-pony territory, but it does get Mud Blast to screw with electric types. Short testing tells me this thing's special stats are quite high. Does it work?
Marlaunt: Is there any reason to use a pure ghost over all the hybrids out there?
Bulderdash: Crazy, crazy fast, and a nice ability. Does it stand up, or does it just croak in two hits, and act in essence as a revenge killer?
Dormanoid: What's up with Unshackle? Also, what does the move Ceremonial Whisper (or something like that) do? Bram's Dormanoid used it, then promptly died, so I have no idea.
Slothegor: Is there any way at all to make this thing viable in a battle that lasts more than two rounds?
Ursinerator: Really scary typing. Does it hit hard enough to justify putting it on a team, or does low speed and low defenses get it killed?
Arachnite: Another scary bad typing; it's going to have to make up for that if it wants to be competitive. Can it do so?
Sylphantom: Can this thing overcome mediocre-looking stats in its final form to be worth using?
And I still wanna know what comes before Waspunch in the manapedia. Heh.
I also discovered something neat. Embird gets Divebomb. This means no more being stuck with Suicide Dive to take advantage of Vultair's crazy attack stat. If it gets a reliable flame move that isn't Flame Blizzard, we might have a really excellent bird.
Which brings me to something else. It's obviously good that there are new manamon and new moves. It's also good that old manamon don't necessarily suck as much, and in some cases have gone from zero to hero, so to speak. Aaron, for some of the things I truly feel you haven't gotten right (and there are a few, I'm picky like that) there is lots you've done well, and please don't think that I've lost sight of this. As a player, I am critical. This is not an attempt to tear you down; it's the way I play these sorts of games. Use, test, discard or put on the short list. I am trying to be positive where it counts, and only critical where I feel it makes sense. That said, you've made solid strides here. I still don't want to upgrade, as I still think you're far too eager to tone things down than to correct upward, and we're just gonna have to agree to disagree there. But I like much of what you're doing.
Check out my Manamon text walkthrough at the following link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/z8ls3rc3f4mkb … n.txt?dl=1