Board 8 > Articuno plays through Dragon Quest's Zenithian Saga (spoilers as I go) [DQ]

(+) Yeah! (+)

From: RevolverSaro | #050
What do you think of Psaro the Manslayer/Necrosaro so far?

considering I've never seen him as he ran from Alena's fight, I have no real opinion on the guy. Psaro's pawn in the tower, though, has been the only boss that has actually put up a challenge so far.

--
2010 Game of the Decade Contest - some guy named Black Turtle won the guru for this
http://backloggery.com/articuno2001/sig.gif

Chapter 4

After Maya goes and dances to open the chapter, a day passes and Meena and Maya set off to avenge their father.
From what they have, Meena actually has a weapon and a heal spell, while Maya has about nothing.

This chapter has everyone speaking with a French accent, apparently.

After robbing the houses nearby and outfitting our two heroes, the two sisters exit town. I really did not expect to be that far south in this chapter >_> Also, the new battle theme is... unique, I guess.

Maya's level up rewards her horribly, giving her stats she really doesn't need at this point. I suppose it will change once she gets a spell. Meena, on the other hand, gains some very good stat-ups, similar to Kiryl from chapter two.

At night, several places in town are now open. Blondelle in the inn tells our party about a murdered king and the new ruler performing some sort of alchemy.

Grinding time is now.

Party Members
Bold members are currently active.
Sofia Lvl 1 (Prologue)
Ragnar Lvl 15 (Chapter 1)
Healie Lvl ? (Chapter 1)
Alena Lvl 13 (Chapter 2)
Kiryl Lvl 13 (Chapter 2)
Borya Lvl 12 (Chapter 2)
Torneko Lvl 11 (Chapter 3)
Meena Lvl 2 (Chapter 4)
Maya Lvl 2 (Chapter 4)

--
2010 Game of the Decade Contest - some guy named Black Turtle won the guru for this
http://backloggery.com/articuno2001/sig.gif

After getting both Meena and Maya to level 5, Meena seems very similar to Kiryl in level ups, which is good since she will probably be the primary attacker. She learned Squelch at level 5. On the other hand, Maya is getting mage level ups while her only spell is Sap (level 4). Completely terrible, and maybe even worse than Borya at early levels.

At the town to the north, only one tidbit is really learned: Oojan, Mahabala's other student, is hiding in a nearby cave.
That will be the destination next update.

--
2010 Game of the Decade Contest - some guy named Black Turtle won the guru for this
http://backloggery.com/articuno2001/sig.gif

Got both Meena and Maya to level 7 (Maya learned Frizz, thank god) and fully explored the western cave. Two items of note: a night light, which instantly changes the time to night, and a sphere of silence, which blocks magic. Meeting with Oojam causes him to join the party, and he is a powerhouse. Unfortunately, he's level ? like Healie, and can't gain levels.

The castle up north is uneventful. The marquis is hidden in his castle, and only the chancellor knows where he is. One of the palace guards says that the chancellor would freak out if a large sound was made near his room. Another person tells us of someone who did, and he's in the jail up north.

Meena, Maya, and Oojam reach the port and are ready for anything.

Party Members
Bold members are currently active.
Sofia Lvl 1 (Prologue)
Ragnar Lvl 15 (Chapter 1)
Healie Lvl ? (Chapter 1)
Alena Lvl 13 (Chapter 2)
Kiryl Lvl 13 (Chapter 2)
Borya Lvl 12 (Chapter 2)
Torneko Lvl 11 (Chapter 3)
Meena Lvl 7 (Chapter 4)
Maya Lvl 7 (Chapter 4)
Oojam Lvl ? (Chapter 4)

--
2010 Game of the Decade Contest - some guy named Black Turtle won the guru for this
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Keeping this topic bumped.

--
2010 Game of the Decade Contest - some guy named Black Turtle won the guru for this
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I actually fell asleep while playing this last night.

Anyway, after hearing from the prisoner that he used gunpowder to freak out the chancellor, the party headed up to the mine to get some, only to get slaughtered by the random enemies. After seeing this, I started to grind outside the port town for better equipment and levels.

Both Meena and Maya are now level 10. Meena has some decent physical stats for a healer and can almost compare herself to Oojam, and Maya finally has a decent amount of spells in her arsenal to compensate for her terrible defense. The return to the mine will be next update. (and it may be sooner than tonight.)

Party Members
Bold members are currently active.
Sofia Lvl 1 (Prologue)
Ragnar Lvl 15 (Chapter 1)
Healie Lvl ? (Chapter 1)
Alena Lvl 13 (Chapter 2)
Kiryl Lvl 13 (Chapter 2)
Borya Lvl 12 (Chapter 2)
Torneko Lvl 11 (Chapter 3)
Meena Lvl 10 (Chapter 4)
Maya Lvl 10 (Chapter 4)
Oojam Lvl ? (Chapter 4)

--
2010 Game of the Decade Contest - some guy named Black Turtle won the guru for this
http://backloggery.com/articuno2001/sig.gif

At the third level of the mine, the party found a powder keg which was used to find Balzack's throne room back at the palace. Meena and Maya grow to level 12, and Maya learns Bang, one of my favorite spells from DQIX.

Balzack is a challenging boss, but with the sphere of silence used he's more of a pushover. He's also vulnerable to Sap, so 'lol'
The guy after him, however, destroys the party and sends them to jail without passing GO.

Inside the cell, the former king is being kept, and he urges them to run and use the boarding pass he hid in the hole of the wall. The hole allows the party to escape the jail cell, but they run into a guard pretty quickly, who summons a whole bunch more guards. Oojam goes up to the guards and fights all of them at once to save the twin sisters.

The two sisters head to the port and use their boarding pass to take a trip to Endor, where the chapter ends.

Chapter 5 next update, where the hero Sofia finally starts her adventure.

Party Members
Bold members are currently active.
Sofia Lvl 1 (Prologue)
Ragnar Lvl 15 (Chapter 1)
Healie Lvl ? (Chapter 1)
Alena Lvl 13 (Chapter 2)
Kiryl Lvl 13 (Chapter 2)
Borya Lvl 12 (Chapter 2)
Torneko Lvl 11 (Chapter 3)
Meena Lvl 12 (Chapter 4)
Maya Lvl 12 (Chapter 4)
Oojam Lvl ? (Chapter 4)

--
2010 Game of the Decade Contest - some guy named Black Turtle won the guru for this
http://backloggery.com/articuno2001/sig.gif

One more update for the day.

Sofia's chapter starts off on an innocent day. She takes a lunch to her father and returns home for a home cooked meal when SUDDENLY MONSTERS ATTACK! Her parents tell her that they aren't her real parents and she's actually a hero that is prophesied to beat the Lord of the Underworld. Her friend Eliza from the prologue morphs into Sofia and sacrifices herself to save her friend.

=(

Anyway, Sofia heads into the tunnel to Endor south of her village that Torneko built. In Endor she meets up with Meena and Maya, who join her party. To get the money for the equipment in Endor, the party then grinds in the cave where the silver Goddess statue was, and Sofia levels up to 9 (learning Heal, Midheal, Frizz, and Zoom) while the twin sisters level up to 13.

Meena tells the party to head east to our next destination.

Party Members
Sofia Lvl 9
Meena Lvl 13
Maya Lvl 13

Currently MIA
Ragnar Lvl 15 (Chapter 1)
Healie Lvl ? (Chapter 1)
Alena Lvl 13 (Chapter 2)
Kiryl Lvl 13 (Chapter 2)
Borya Lvl 12 (Chapter 2)
Torneko Lvl 11 (Chapter 3)
Oojam Lvl ? (Chapter 4).

--
2010 Game of the Decade Contest - some guy named Black Turtle won the guru for this
http://backloggery.com/articuno2001/sig.gif

Chapter 5 has one of th best world map themes in any RPG.

--
Okay, I rolled a 14. What's that mean? Hsu
That you're a cheater. This is a 12-sided die. Chan

Not playing today, but I'll rate the first four chapters since I don't want to just bump the topic

Chapter 1: Ragnar and Healie are both great characters, and seeing Ragnar slaughter enemies with his amazing level ups is very satisfying. However, the chapter is extremely short. There's probably no way to be higher than level 10 by the end, and the fact that the king gives Ragnar some free level ups just shows how short this chapter is. Town -> town -> dungeon -> dungeon and you're done!
Rating - 6/10. Good short start to the story with great characters.

Chapter 2: To make up the short length of the previous chapter, Alena's chapter is much longer than Ragnar's. Her party members Kiryl and Borya are pretty boring and one-dimensional, and Borya is almost completely worthless in battle. However, the story here is really good and the colosseum fight at the end is an interesting alternative to a regular boss battle. While I don't really like cliffhangers at the end of chapters, this one hangs many of them on the player and makes you play more.
Rating - 8/10. A little too long, but has a great story to mask the one-dimensional party members.

Chapter 3: Basically Recettear lite, Torneko's chapter focuses on making money by either dungeon running or running a weapon shop. Obviously there isn't much story to be talked about, and the chapter quickly turns into a grind.
Rating - 4/10. Play Recettear instead =)

Chapter 4: A quick, short chapter, Meena and Maya setting out to avenge their father don't exactly succeed, but the story about Psaro is expanded here, and we meet Oojam who is awesome for that one scene at the end of the chapter. If Maya wasn't useless in battle for her first seven or so levels this chapter would be less of a grind. Of the four, it was definitely the most difficult, and my party got wiped out quite a few times, not including the scripted battle.
Rating - 6/10. Good expansion to the story, huge jump in difficulty for no reason.

So 2 > 1 >= 4 > 3.
I'm also thinking of who to use in my final party. Ragnar is auto-in already, but the other two spots are open so far.

--
2010 Game of the Decade Contest - some guy named Black Turtle won the guru for this
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laziness bump

--
2010 Game of the Decade Contest - some guy named Black Turtle won the guru for this
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PSP bump because I forgot.
I'll get back to this soon.

--
2010 Game of the Decade Contest - some guy named Black Turtle won the guru for this
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Small update.

Sofia needs a caravan to cross the desert, but the only guy who has one, Hoffman, is not trusting anyone with his caravan. The cave nearby is the only other destination.

Inside the cave, Meena and Maya fall into a pit like morons and Sofia is left alone. While fighting through the cave Sofia fights monsters disguised as the two sisters, which were all pretty easy and not worth mentioning much. After reuniting with the sisters Sofia and co. find a symbol of faith, which persuades Hoffman to trust the party with his caravan.

I cannot stop laughing at Hoffman's battle sprite.

Party Members
Sofia Lvl 10
Meena Lvl 13
Maya Lvl 13
Hoffman Lvl ?

Currently MIA
Ragnar Lvl 15 (Chapter 1)
Healie Lvl ? (Chapter 1)
Alena Lvl 13 (Chapter 2)
Kiryl Lvl 13 (Chapter 2)
Borya Lvl 12 (Chapter 2)
Torneko Lvl 11 (Chapter 3)
Oojam Lvl ? (Chapter 4).

--
2010 Game of the Decade Contest - some guy named Black Turtle won the guru for this
http://backloggery.com/articuno2001/sig.gif

After going through Bath and finding out the armor on display is a fake, Sofia and the party head south to the port. Torneko has apparently bought himself a ship, but the lighthouse nearby is sinking every ship that departs.

At the lighthouse, Torneko displays his laziness by letting the party clean up the lighthouse instead of him. Good thing too, since a monster up there was preparing to jump him. Instead, he knocks himself out after casting Zoom.

The tower is pretty straight forward with outdated equips, a mini medal, and some other useless crap. The boss battle at the end is a pushover, Maya sapped all three enemies while Sofia beat them down. Meena healed, and Hoffman did something I guess.

The party also got their first two metal slime kills, one in the desert and one in the tower. Apparently the second slime decided to stick around for two turns for whatever reason, and Hoffman crit it for 55 damage after charging up.

Back in town, Torneko joins the party and we get the ship. Get in the caravan Hoffman, we'll be sure to call you never.

Destination is south, Torneko says they can get a world map down there, and Alena was headed in that direction as well. Are we going to get the party members backwards from their chapter order? That means Ragnar is last =(

Party Members
Sofia Lvl 13
Meena Lvl 15
Maya Lvl 16
Torneko Lvl 11

Caravan
Hoffman Lvl ?

Currently MIA
Ragnar Lvl 15 (Chapter 1)
Healie Lvl ? (Chapter 1)
Alena Lvl 13 (Chapter 2)
Kiryl Lvl 13 (Chapter 2)
Borya Lvl 12 (Chapter 2)
Oojam Lvl ? (Chapter 4).

From: Grand Kirby | #059
Chapter 5 has one of th best world map themes in any RPG.

I stayed on the world map for a bit just to listen to this, and I completely agree. Shame that most people will not hear most of it because of the frequent random battles.

--
2010 Game of the Decade Contest - some guy named Black Turtle won the guru for this
http://backloggery.com/articuno2001/sig.gif

Also, you know if you switch around the order of your party members to change who's in the lead, you can get the other map themes.

--
Okay, I rolled a 14. What's that mean? Hsu
That you're a cheater. This is a 12-sided die. Chan

update tomorrow, probably

--
2010 Game of the Decade Contest - some guy named Black Turtle won the guru for this
http://backloggery.com/articuno2001/sig.gif

Pun's topic purged again, geez.

Anyway, after taking the boat across the ocean, Sofia and her party arrive at the town of Mintos. Hoffman leaves the party here to no one's surprise, and I really couldn't care less.
Plenty of item upgrades. Torneko managed to steal two iron claws off an enemy, so paying for the cautery swords and full plate armor is possible.
In the inn, Borya is in one of the rooms taking care of a sick Kiryl. Apparently Alena has gone off to find a cure for him, and Borya wants the party to help Alena find a cure. Borya then joins the party anyway leaving Kiryl sick in the room. lol Kiryl

I'm seeing a lot more mini medals in town. DQIX had them everywhere, but they've really only started coming up in this game lately. (7 so far.)

Also some level ups. Torneko learned Whistle, which allows him to summon random encounters. Somewhat useful for a game that forces you to grind XD

Party Members
Sofia Lvl 14
Meena Lvl 15
Maya Lvl 16
Torneko Lvl 12

Caravan
Borya Lvl 13

Currently MIA
Ragnar Lvl 15 (Chapter 1)
Healie Lvl ? (Chapter 1)
Alena Lvl 13 (Chapter 2)
Kiryl Lvl 13 (Chapter 2)
Oojam Lvl ? (Chapter 4).

--
2010 Game of the Decade Contest - some guy named Black Turtle won the guru for this
http://backloggery.com/articuno2001/sig.gif

Talking to the old guy in Mintos gets the party a treasure map. The X on the treasure map is surrounded by mountains, great.

Anyway, heading south leads the party to Parthenia, the smallest kingdom ever. Their cure apparently isn't growing and the seed for the plant is to the south, in a cave.

In the cave, Alena decides to break down a locked door (when she has the thief's key, of course.) Sliding tiles is the theme of this dungeon, and Alena's party is just wandering around. Alena doesn't join even with Borya in the party, so Sofia just gets the seed and exits.

Bringing the seed to the king in town makes the plants grow immediately, and the party gets a root to heal Kiryl with. After returning to Mintos and giving the root to Kiryl, both Alena and Kiryl join the party. Good, now I can ditch Meena and Maya in the caravan.

A man in the inn says Ragnar is near the Palais de Leon, from Meena and Maya's chapter. That's the next destination.

Party Members
Sofia Lvl 15
Alena Lvl 13
Torneko Lvl 15
Kiryl Lvl 13

Caravan
Meena Lvl 17
Maya Lvl 17
Borya Lvl 14

Currently MIA
Ragnar Lvl 15 (Chapter 1)
Healie Lvl ? (Chapter 1)
Oojam Lvl ? (Chapter 4).

--
2010 Game of the Decade Contest - some guy named Black Turtle won the guru for this
http://backloggery.com/articuno2001/sig.gif

The Palais de Leon is locked, and Oojam isn't here to pick the locks. But Healie is here, and he's apparently a human now, so congrats to him. He says Ragnar is in the castle and the key can be found in Meena and Maya's hometown. Going there, a slime tells the party the magic key is actually in the cave Oojam was. A hidden switch at the bottom of a chest opens the way to the key.

Going into the palace, the party finds Ragnar who breaks free of the guards capturing him and leads the party into the marquis' room. Ragnar fights off the three guards who burst into the door while the party takes on the Marquis.

The Marquis was a difficult boss, but Kiryl's Kabuff and Fizzle spells kept damage under control and he eventually went down. After the battle, Ragnar finally joins the party and everyone from the first four chapters are here. The chancellor tells the party that the guy Meena and Maya defeated the first time here has fled to where Alena's tale started.

Hey, a new map theme. It's even better than the last one.

Party Members
Sofia Lvl 17
Ragnar Lvl 15
Alena Lvl 17
Torneko Lvl 19

Caravan
Kiryl Lvl 16
Meena Lvl 19
Maya Lvl 19
Borya Lvl 17

--
2010 Game of the Decade Contest - some guy named Black Turtle won the guru for this
http://backloggery.com/articuno2001/sig.gif

Balzack kicked the party's ass in his second encounter >_> Grinding now.

--
2010 Game of the Decade Contest - some guy named Black Turtle won the guru for this
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eh, no update again, playing other games

--
2010 Game of the Decade Contest - some guy named Black Turtle won the guru for this
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Before grinding (again) I remembered that I have a ton of stat-increasing seeds in storage.
11 seeds of strength
10 seeds of life
7 seeds of magic
8 seeds of agility
5 seeds of resilience
1 seed of wisdom
Not sure how I got absolutely nothing luck-wise.

Stat gains:
Sofia: Strength +6, MP +15, HP +4, Agility +3, Resilience +2
Ragnar: Strength +12, HP +6, Agility +6, Resilience +1
Alena: HP +10, Strength +6, Agility +2, Resilience +2
Torneko: Resilience +1
Kiryl: Wisdom +3, HP +27, MP +12, Resilience +1
Maya, Meena, and Borya are forever benched and there's no need to talk about them anymore.
I don't know what resilience is used for, but Torneko is just around to steal items so it didn't matter. Kiryl is the guy used to fight bosses with his healing and Kabuff skills.

After dying again to Baalzack, I feel that I might need to grind more. He isn't a pushover like the Marquis.

Time to grind then!
Hoodoo gooroo A casts Whack!
Sofia dies!
Hoodoo gooroo B casts Whack!
Torneko dies!
...seriously? This may take a while =|

Party Members
Sofia Lvl 19
Ragnar Lvl 17
Alena Lvl 18
Torneko Lvl 20

Caravan
Kiryl Lvl 17
Borya Lvl 18
Meena Lvl 19
Maya Lvl 20

--
2010 Game of the Decade Contest - some guy named Black Turtle won the guru for this
http://backloggery.com/articuno2001/sig.gif

Also, for the record, Alena is getting the most ridiculous level ups. +7 Strength and Agility? She's crushing Ragnar in both stats and it's amazing. Easily the best party member so far.

--
2010 Game of the Decade Contest - some guy named Black Turtle won the guru for this
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And Baalzack goes down. The extra levels helped a ton even though the party was still only 20/18/20/19. Everyone leveled up after the boss battle, and holy **** Alena with +6 str, +8 agi, she's hit 100 in strength already. At level 21.

The demons in the castle talk about evolution and how Baalzack was a failed experiment for it.

In the treasure room, the party finds two hey items, a Magma staff and a Flute of revelation. Not sure what the second item is, but the first was needed at the castle where Ragnar began his journey.

Party Members
Sofia Lvl 21
Ragnar Lvl 20
Alena Lvl 21
Torneko Lvl 22

Caravan
Kiryl Lvl 20
Borya Lvl 20
Meena Lvl 21
Maya Lvl 22

--
2010 Game of the Decade Contest - some guy named Black Turtle won the guru for this
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Re-tag.

--
JonthePenguin
http://www.backloggery.com/main.php?user=erunion

The liquid metal slime was defeated!

The party received 10050 experience points!

Needless to say, everyone leveled up at least once.

--
2010 Game of the Decade Contest - some guy named Black Turtle won the guru for this
http://backloggery.com/articuno2001/sig.gif

Resilience is defense.

And Alena also has a great critical hit rate, so her damage output is insane.

--
Okay, I rolled a 14. What's that mean? Hsu
That you're a cheater. This is a 12-sided die. Chan

The party uses the magma staff to blow open a mountain range and end up in the kingdom of Femiscyra. In the castle Sofia and the party are framed for stealing a bronze rosary, and are thrown into jail.
After stating their innocence to the queen, the queen lets them search for the thief as long as one party member stays in jail. I throw Borya in jail because he's Borya.
There's a cave to the SE of the kingdom and it's an annoying maze with plenty of treasures, such as a Dragon Shield. Eventually, the party finds the thief at the bottom of the cave.

He is a real pain with the party I had. Sofia/Ragnar/Alena/Torneko have no way to dispel his Kabuff spell, and for the majority of time my party was either relying on Kaclang to make him waste MP, or relying on criticals to do damage. Eventually he actually did run out of MP, and the party beat him down. Sofia had 9MP left after the fight, which was used to Evac and Zoom back to Femiscyra.
Afterwards, the queen allows us to take Borya out of jail, gives us the Ultimate Key to open jail doors, and tells us about the chest in the basement, which holds the Zenithian Shield for Sofia.

With the Ultimate Key in hand, only one thing to do now: raid every town in sight, as locked doors are no longer a problem!

Party Members
Sofia Lvl 24
Ragnar Lvl 23
Alena Lvl 24
Torneko Lvl 26

Caravan
Kiryl Lvl 22
Borya Lvl 21
Meena Lvl 23
Maya Lvl 24

--
2010 Game of the Decade Contest - some guy named Black Turtle won the guru for this
http://backloggery.com/articuno2001/sig.gif

Exploring time! The party unlocks several locked doors, obtaining many seeds for stats, an icicle dirk for Sofia, two cursed swords, and some other items.
In the NE corner of the map, the party trades in their mini medals and obtain a strength ring (for Alena who has 140+ strength now) and a ruby of protection (given to Kiryl). A person downstairs tells the party that a clue for the Zenithian armor is in the cave nearby, though it seems the cave is too strong for the party now.
There's a cave to the south, but the waterfall there makes it impossible to proceed.
In the NW corner, the kingdom of Canalot has a king looking for someone to make him laugh. Sofia fails, but the people around town mention Laissez Faire and a man named Tom Foolery. After going there, Tom Foolery joins the party and successfully gets the king to hand over his Zenithian Helm. Afterwards, Tom leaves the party.

2/4 Zenithian items, I think I can handle that NE cave now, so that's next.

Party Members
Sofia Lvl 25
Ragnar Lvl 25
Alena Lvl 26
Torneko Lvl 27 / Kiryl Lvl 23

Caravan
Borya Lvl 23
Meena Lvl 24
Maya Lvl 25

--
2010 Game of the Decade Contest - some guy named Black Turtle won the guru for this
http://backloggery.com/articuno2001/sig.gif

Joke cave, it was one level and the Zenithian Armor was just... there. Considering it was stolen from Bath I expected more >_>

--
2010 Game of the Decade Contest - some guy named Black Turtle won the guru for this
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After that joke dungeon, we have 25 mini medals and the prize for that is a magical skirt, which looks nothing like a skirt >_> Alena equips it as it protects the user from magic attacks. I also kick Torneko from the party for good, Kiryl is now the fourth party member.

There's only one area left to explore, and that's the landmass to the south. The party enters the river city and buys a dragonsbane for Sofia. Ragnar gets the old icicle dirk.

The colossus is an interesting dungeon, though it's pretty easy to get all the treasures, most of them being useless. At the top, the party pulls a lever to make the colossus walk across the water.

At the other side, the castle known as the Diabolic Hall stands. The party explores the castle and kills many of the walking monsters, but nothing really triggers anything. A shield in a jail cell is a nice upgrade for Ragnar. Some of the demons around the castle talk about Psaro and another demon on the rise. A guy in the castle says the mod rod in the royal crypt of Endor might be needed here, but I don't know where that is.

Time to check a FAQ, I guess?

Party Members
Sofia Lvl 26
Ragnar Lvl 26
Alena Lvl 28
Kiryl Lvl 25

Caravan
Borya Lvl 24
Torneko Lvl 28
Meena Lvl 25
Maya Lvl 26

--
2010 Game of the Decade Contest - some guy named Black Turtle won the guru for this
http://backloggery.com/articuno2001/sig.gif

Somehow, I missed a town to the east of Bath. Climbing the tower in the west of town at night after using that flute I found some time ago leads the party into a boss battle which is easily won due to the sequence breaking before. Sofia and Meena both learn Fullheal after the boss battle. The elf Rose tells us that they must stop Psaro after telling Sofia about Psaro's plans using the secret of evolution. The slime says that the royal crypt is in southwest of Endor, and holds the mod rod we need for Diabolic Hall.

The crypt is largely uneventful, with annoying sliding tiles like another dungeon earlier in the game. Kiryl learns Fullheal in one of the random battles. Near the end the mod rod is found.

Back at Diabolic Hall, we listen to a speech by Psaro disguised by the mod rod. Apparently Estark, Lord of the Underworld, was awakened in the mine that Meena and Maya had originally explored. Some idiots dug into his crypt, and he has all the monsters go out there to help him.

The mine town is even more deserted, with the inn closed and all the buildings except for the church abandoned. However, the inside of the mine is the same and even has the same enemies. Weird. The new area, though, has enemies that can actually damage Sofia with her three Zenithian items, which is certainly interesting since no monsters could do that before. While the monsters that are visible won't attack, they are right: this annoying mine is a maze. There is a healing spot near the end, which is welcome.

There's another mini-dungeon down here, with some stat seeds, and gold. One chest is blocked off. At the top, some monsters near the Lord of the Underworld refuse to move, so the party beats them up. The party then challenges Estark.

Estark starts asleep and deals great damage when sleeping, but he awakens after the first turn. He also has the power to dispel Kabuff from the team. Still, Alena and Ragnar do enough damage while Sofia switches between attacking and healing and Kiryl heals and Kabuffs every so often after it gets dispelled. He goes down pretty easily, and the prophecy is fulfilled.

Psaro arrives surprised, as he thought he has killed Sofia back at the village. However, it seems that something happened to Rose back in Rosehill, so he leaves.

The last chest holds a gas canister, which one person in Riverton wanted. The man there rewards the party with a balloon. Finally, the party can find out where that X on the treasure map leads.

Party Members
Sofia Lvl 29
Ragnar Lvl 29
Alena Lvl 31
Kiryl Lvl 29

Caravan
Borya Lvl 25
Torneko Lvl 28
Meena Lvl 26
Maya Lvl 26

--
2010 Game of the Decade Contest - some guy named Black Turtle won the guru for this
http://backloggery.com/articuno2001/sig.gif

The X leads to the world tree Yggdrasil, which isn't much of a surprise when I saw the tree on the map. Anyway, the armor shop has some nice items, including a power shield which I buy for Kiryl. One of the elves says to head up the tree with only three people, as someone is calling for help at the top.

Kiryl gets kicked out and the three party members make it to the top, rescuing a Zenithian named Orifiela. At the top is also the Zenithian Sword, though it is weaker than the dragonsbane Sofia has equipped.

Afterwards the party does a quick side quest. The town in the west, Dunplundrin, had a secret Karstaway stone hidden in the beach, that could only be seen at night. The party takes it to the waterfall cave NE of Rosehill, and allows the party deeper access into the cave. The party obtains the Sands of Time, as well as a Liquid Metal Sword, which Sofia equips.

Heading to the middle island via balloon, a new world map appears from that one island. The city on the island is largely useless, but they tell us of the tower that leads to Zenithia. The party then ascends the tower to their destination, picking up a Glombolero for Kiryl.

At Zenithia, Orifiela leaves. The party talks to her in town and she gives the party another companion named Sparkie, who I hopefully never have to use. The party then talks to the Zenith Dragon. While talking, several beams of dark energy come shooting up towards Zenithia. The dragon gives Sofia some experience points and powers up the Zenithian Sword enough that I equip it on Sofia, giving Ragnar the liquid metal sword.

The party also has 38 mini medals. As Zenithia is considered a place to Zoom to, the party zooms back to Minikin's place to receive a miracle sword, which is given to Kiryl.

Only a few more dungeons left until the end. It's definitely within sight.

Party Members
Sofia Lvl 30
Ragnar Lvl 31
Alena Lvl 32
Kiryl Lvl 30

Caravan
Borya Lvl 25
Torneko Lvl 29
Meena Lvl 26
Maya Lvl 27

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2010 Game of the Decade Contest - some guy named Black Turtle won the guru for this
http://backloggery.com/articuno2001/sig.gif

Back to the island in the middle. The party takes a detour to a shrine at the NE corner of the island, to retrieve the Baron's bugle. I doubt I'll use it though.

Back in Zenithia, the party jumps down a hole made by those dark energy beams from last update and end up in front of a cave. The cave has many tricks, with repeating rooms, poison everywhere, and sliding tiles. Alena picks up a mighty armlet to boost her strength over 200, Kiryl picks up a mirror shield to reflect magic and increase his defense, and the other party members picked up some other useless equips. There's also a bunch of stat seeds that are given to Sofia. Also, why the hell can Borya equip a flowing dress >_>

At the end of the cave, the party reaches another world map. They are tasked with destroying the four barriers protecting Psaro the Manslayer, and there's a temple in the south for free healing and to save the game.

In the SW temple there's a quick and easy puzzle that requires little effort. The boss (Pruslas) is a complete joke, all he does is attack and use Kasap, both of which are nulled by Kiryl's Kabuff spell. Alena puts him out of his misery by critting him twice. The party picks up a oaken club for beating him, known as the weakest weapon in the game.

The SE temple has no puzzles and the party can just run up to the boss. It is a battle against 3 Rashaveraks. They have a gimmick where they can call for more of themselves, but it's pretty useless when they die too quickly. They drop a dragon shield which has been useless for some time now.

The NE tower has one dead-end and not much else. The dead end has more cursed trash that goes into the bag with the rest of them. This boss is Aamon, and he was the kidnapper of Rose. He comes with 3 drooling ghouls. Being a mage, he proves to be more difficult then the other bosses, however Kiryl's Multiheal negates anything he does. Sofia was paralyzed for nearly the entire fight and it didn't even matter.

The NW temple has a single ladder to the boss. The boss is Barbatos. Alena greets him by critting him for 300 damage. He knows Kaboom, which is a powerful magic attack and can belch out flames, doing considerable damage, but he mostly attacks the party against the Kabuff wall, making him as pointless as Pruslas. One Multiheal negates the damage from Kaboom/the flames and he never follows up with two in a row. He drops a miracle sword, which Kiryl already has equipped.

Psaro gets his face pounded in next update, as the barriers have been removed.

Party Members
Sofia Lvl 32
Ragnar Lvl 33
Alena Lvl 34
Kiryl Lvl 32

Caravan
Borya Lvl 29
Torneko Lvl 32
Meena Lvl 30
Maya Lvl 30

--
2010 Game of the Decade Contest - some guy named Black Turtle won the guru for this
http://backloggery.com/articuno2001/sig.gif

The Demon Castle is pretty straightforward. Some elevator puzzles and alternate paths with treasure at the end. Afterwards, the party makes it through the castle and reaches the mountain where Psaro is sitting.

Time for the final battle.

His first two forms, with the arms, are largely uneventful. He just attacks, so Kabuff/Multiheal do the trick.
His next form without the arms starts casting Whack (instant kill) and Kabuff, so Maya subs in for Alena to Sap him repeatedly. He then turns into some green thing.
This form, the fourth one, has the attack that dispels Kabuff from the party, as well as some devastating attacks. He can also meditate to heal. Definitely more challenging than his previous forms.
In his next form, the fifth one, he grows his arms back. However, no swords this time around. He still has those annoying fire attacks and his regular attack. No healing/dispel this time around, though.
Sixth form. He grows some bigger legs. Same attacks.

Lastly, his seventh form. He grows another head on top of his body, and horns as well. He gets his dispel back, retains his flame attack, and casts Bounce on himself, so Sap and stuff doesn't work.
He still goes down, just like the rest.

Psaro then returns to his humanoid form, defeated at last. The Zenith Dragon comes and picks Sofia's party off of the mountain.

The party is congratulated by the Zenith Dragon, leaves Zenithia, and then boards the balloon. All the party members are dropped off at the place where each started their chapter (Torneko instead goes to Endor, of course). The party also sees Rose's grave in Rosehill.

Sofia returns to her village, and watches as her best friend is returned to life for her. And the party reunites back at the town for the end.

And then the credits.

Final Party
Sofia Lvl 32
Ragnar Lvl 33
Alena Lvl 34
Kiryl Lvl 33
Borya Lvl 29
Torneko Lvl 32
Meena Lvl 30
Maya Lvl 30

That is it... if I was playing the original game. The 6th chapter will be next update!

--
2010 Game of the Decade Contest - some guy named Black Turtle won the guru for this
http://backloggery.com/articuno2001/sig.gif

Also, why the hell can Borya equip a flowing dress >_>

They should have never changed the name from "Water Flying Clothes". Even though that made little sense...

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Okay, I rolled a 14. What's that mean? Hsu
That you're a cheater. This is a 12-sided die. Chan

The bonus dungeon was just a pain. The enemies weren't a problem but the amount of rooms was ridiculous considering the dungeons in the main game, but I guess that's to be expected. The bosses defeated the party twice, but after leveling some more on king metal slimes they were defeated easily.
Psaro joins the party after Rose is revived and brought to him. He comes at level 35 with some high-level spells and an extra falcon blade. Ragnar is taken out for him.
There's one more boss after the bonus dungeon and that's Aamon, who's taken over Diabolic Hall. He copies the fourth, sixth, and seventh forms of the Psaro fight, plus a fourth unique form that's pretty much a recolor. He uses the same attacks as the Psaro fight except he obviously does more damage since he's a postgame boss.

I should beat the boss later today and have the game completed.


Anyway, I'm going on vacation today as well. I might not be around to bump the topic, so in preparation I've saved the pages of the topic in case it purges.

Dragon Quest V will be started when I return from my vacation.

--
2010 Game of the Decade Contest - some guy named Black Turtle won the guru for this
http://backloggery.com/articuno2001/sig.gif

Psaro's map theme can be heard if you put him as party leader. I don't think it can be heard anywhere else in the game. Also, he can equip cursed armor without a penalty.

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Okay, I rolled a 14. What's that mean? Hsu
That you're a cheater. This is a 12-sided die. Chan

He doesn't even need those cursed items, his magic is overpowered enough.

Beat Aamon with a party of Sofia/Alena/Psaro/Kiryl. Got through the first three stages easily, and the fourth stage was difficult (Kiryl died halfway through, but Sofia just spammed Omniheal to keep going). Sofia had some liquid metal equips on instead of the Zenithia stuff, as did Kiryl. Psaro had one of his armors from the bonus dungeon, and Alena kept hitting criticals on every other hit. It was just ridiculous to even watch.

The ending after is slightly revised: instead of showing Rose's grave, Rose and Psaro together look up at the balloon as it passes by. The Zenith Dragon also has some things to say to him, but he isn't there.

With the bonus dungeon finished, the extra boss defeated, Boom Town fully built, and all the items received from Minikin, I don't think there's anything left to do here! As I stated in my last post, I'll start Dragon Quest V when I come back from my vacation.

Final team levels:
Alena lvl 42
Kiryl lvl 41
Sofia lvl 40
Ragnar lvl 40
Psaro lvl 36
Torneko lvl 36
Meena lvl 34
Maya lvl 34
Borya lvl 33

--
2010 Game of the Decade Contest - some guy named Black Turtle won the guru for this
http://backloggery.com/articuno2001/sig.gif

Grand Kirby posted...
=. I don't think it can be heard anywhere else in the game.

A softer version of it plays in Rose's tower

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"Don't freeze up girl, you're looking quite a sight." - Adam Ant.
"Baby, can you dig your man? He's a righteous man." - Larry Underwood

Yeah, but I meant that specific version. I like that version better.

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Okay, I rolled a 14. What's that mean? Hsu
That you're a cheater. This is a 12-sided die. Chan