Ocean Map Questions (lots of questions & possible spoile

[Zaraf]

Can someone who has played the game please explain how the ocean map works exactly? I noticed you have some kind of "moves" based upon how many supplies you take with you.

I'll number my questions as follows:

1. We don't get a FOE icon to be able to place on the map and seems to be FOEs on the map, but is their placement random?

2. What is the purpose of all of those tree, plant and rock icons that you can place?

3. What do the fish do?

4. What is the difference between golden fish and regular?

5. What is the difference between golden FOE and regular?

6. What is the golden skull thing?

7. The last 2 icons seem to be a house and something else. What is that second icon and what is the purpose of either?

8. Is there only one ocean map? I noticed it says "South Ocean" on the map I'm looking at, so is there a North, West and East Ocean as well?

9. What is that icon that look like a shuriken?

10. What do whirlpools do?

11. Do the skull and crossbones icons represent pirates? Or maybe pirate bases?

12. I noticed that you can draw "walls" on the ocean map much like normal maps. Is there a purpose to this? Are there practical "walls" that you would want to draw?

Lots of questions lol I tried going through it but I found it quite confusing. Unfortunately, I don't have much time to spend on figuring everything out by trial and error.

Thanks for any help with these!

[Self]

1. The FOE icons are pirates and their positions are fixed whenever the player goes out to sea. They also seem to just move back and forth or not move at all until you get close enough.

2. The player can use those icons to mark what the land looks like. The land will sometimes just be grass (paint tiles in green) or have trees/plants growing on it or have hills/rocks (move those icons onto those tiles and the tiles will be automatically painted green in addition). Some of them provide items upon searching them (or at least the plants/trees do, but I don't remember hills or mountains giving items).

3. Moving on top of fish will allow the player to fish. The fish that were acquired (and a lot of other items acquired during the outing) are exchanged for EN upon returning to the harbor.

4. Golden fish are rare fish and thus more valuable. There are also giant 2x2 fish that can destroy the ship if unsuccessful in catching them.

5. Golden FOE are merchant ships. The player can talk to the merchants who will ask for an item in exchange for another. I suppose it's like a quest, but without the log. The items exchanged from each ship might be always the same. I also don't know if it's repeatable.

6. The golden skull is the location of a Great Discovery Quest. The place looks like a golden skull, so I suppose that's why it's marked by a golden skull. There are many other unique tiles that are auto-mapped for each Great Discovery Quest's location.

7. There are houses and huts that seem to usually have items when the player searches them. I remember some (or all?) of them giving 3 choices of items and letting me pick 2 of them. These icons serve a purpose similar to the icons mentioned in question 2.

8. [spoiler]It seems there are only the North Ocean and the South Ocean. I have 5 undetected tiles of sea in the top-left corner of the North Ocean, but I doubt that would lead anywhere. [/spoiler]

9a. I'm guessing the only purpose of the grey "shuriken" is for the 3 uncrossable tiles near the beginning. If the player approaches the unlit lighthouse, the ship will crash. I don't remember seeing anything that reminded me of a cross.

9b. If you're asking about a yellow "shuriken", then it's another icon for the location of a Great Discovery Quest.

10. The ship gets caught in the whirlpool and the trip ends. Whenever a trip ends due to the ship being destroyed, the player will have to pay a fee equal to the outing cost (essentially doubling it).

11. I don't know what the grey skull icon is for. The pirates are auto-mapped and there are no pirate bases.

12. Any land is essentially a wall, so I suppose that's what drawing walls is for.

[Zaraf]

Nice, thanks for the info!

Now with regards to creating a map (in the way that I make maps), which features would you say would not make sense to put on the map since they appear randomly. Like do the fish always appear in the same places? Or the golden FOEs? How about the Golden Skull? Do the Golden Skulls only appear when you have a certain quest?

I'm asking all of these questions so I can figure out how to create a map of the ocean stuff....assuming it even makes sense to do so.

Well, that said, what do you think? Would having a map of the ocean areas be helpful at all (like having a map of the dungeons are)?

[Self]

There is only one location with a golden skull and it is always in the same spot. Every GDQ location stays in the same spot and (I think) each has an unique icon. There is no randomness to the GDQ locations nor are there quests required for them to be there. The only requirements would be having the right items equipped to the ship to make it possible to travel all the way to each of them.

The only randomness of the map that I know of would be the fish and the merchant ships. The giant fish seem to always start in the same locations, but just don't always appear. The merchant ships might be like that as well. Regular/rare fish might be the same too, but there are so many of them that I didn't notice if it's true or not.

A map of the ocean by itself wouldn't be too helpful. It'd be hard to tell in which order each location is supposed to be visited (since the player has a limited distance they can travel), so a guide in addition to the map would be better. However, that'd require actually playing through the game... or referring to what is on these wikis (obviously spoilers):
[spoiler] http://sekaijyu3.gkwiki2.com/68.html
http://www39.atwiki.jp/sekaiju_maze3/pages/96.html

"T5" is where the golden skull is.[/spoiler]

The first link has an incomplete map and the order in which makes visiting each GDQ possible (incomplete as well). The second link doesn't have a map, but gives more detailed steps by having some of them include even the step-by-step north/south/east/west movements to reach the goal.

I'd actually just prefer a simple guide. Just having the order in which things can be done should be enough and having the whole map viewable would probably make exploring somewhat boring. Step-by-step N/S/E/W directions might be too much and just a general direction of the route that should be followed should be enough.

Also, some items are only acquired after going past a certain stratum and those items are sometimes (or always?) required to further explore the ocean.

[Zaraf]

Hmm....so from what you are saying, maybe making an ocean map might not be all that worthwhile.

By the way, what is the point of the whole ocean exploring anyway? In my original idea of the game, I thought that you basically "sailed" to different stratums (like they were on different islands), but now I've found that all the stratums are on the same main island, and the ocean exploring seems to be like a bunch of side quests.

Oh yeah, what is that other "town" that looks like a small mining village? It has like 4 places to go to. An inn, a shop, and then some place with an android where you can look at skills and such. Do you know what that is all about? Thanks

[Self]

Sailing just provides the player with EN (by automatically selling fish and items acquired upon returning to the harbor) and the GDQ (boss fights that are sometimes preceded by battles against "regular" monsters and they're all exclusive to the GDQ). The player is assisted by NPCs during those battles. Completing a GDQ gives the player a key item that unlocks a limit skill.

The town:
[spoiler]The other town is reached upon going down the stairs on B8F. It offers an alternate inn and an alternate shop (they offer the same main functions, but the NPCs working there are different). The "android" place is where some of the missions come from and where the player can give subclasses to their characters. This town leads directly to the entrance/stairs of B9F instead of the geomagnet at B9F.[/spoiler]

(It seems that spoilers can't be nested in another spoiler. I suppose it's to prevent the "abuse" of spoiler "pyramids"?)

[negzee]

[Zaraf]

[fates]

From what I've seen (watching people stream on nicolive) it does provide a nice sidetask to progressing the main dungeon.

[Itsuki-kun]

Um... i have my set of questions to the exploring. If you guys dont mind.

Questions to Ocean Exploring:

1. The "flag" near the beginning of the port in which is a lighthouse when up close. Is it not for early game exploration? "orz

2. The FOE ships in the ocean keeps sinking my ship. Is there anything (in the future of course) that can at least give me chance to battle or "sink" them?

3. [spoilers maybe needed for reply]
[spoiler]Im stuck with the 16 movement/40en food supply and i cant seem to find the supply for the one after this. After 2 days exploring the entire ocean... i dont seem to find anything. The paths that I "think" can get me the next bunch of supplies or fishing eqp are blocked by FOEs. Do you guys have any luck?[/spoiler]

[Riseatrance]

[Zaraf]

[Riseatrance]

[eharper256]

[Self]