DRAGON WARRIOR FAQ NES All rights reserved to Clasher. Copyright 2001. Any attempts at plagiarism of ANY kind will be sharply handled. This is basically a giant FAQ, using questions I made up to cover all aspects of Dragon Warrior I, the first RPG to really show a future on the NES. While the game is extremely slow-paced, it is a lot of fun and worth playing sometimes. Anyway, we aren't accomplishing anything by sitting here doing nothing, so let's dive right in! 1. VERSION HISTORY 1.0 - Initial release 1.1 - Added this section (DUH) and an enemy list 1.2 - ADDED A COMPLETE WALKTHROUGH 1.3 - Updated walkthrough 1.4 - discarded most of the FAQ and shortened the walkthrough 2. MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS Q: Which message speed should I use? A: I like to use fast, although most people prefer normal. Actually, once you get the hang of the game, fast can really speed up the battles. Q: Your walkthrough is sometimes explicit, sometimes brief. Why? A: I try to be fairly detailed at the beginning of the game, since that's when you have the most trouble, getting used to it. Later on, since most of what I say would be fairly useless, I tried to be more brief. Q: Is there a Remix of the game? A: Yes, but it was only released in Japan. You know what that means... 3. BATTLES Q: When do I enter battles? A: Whenever you make a move, the game randomly decides whether you have an encounter (barring a few exceptions). Q: Why should I worry about terrain? A: Some terrains damage you, but mainly, they influence the likelihood of battles. Here's the terrain types from least encounters to most: grass, forest, swamp*, barrier**, desert, brick, hill. * - 2 damage per step, ** - 20 damage per step. Both are harmless if you have Erdrick's Armor. Q: Why should I use an item in battle? A: An herb, perhaps? Q: I'm trying to run away from a battle, but it says "(name of character) started to run away, but was blocked in front". What's all this about? A: Well, the game knows that there's some cases where you'll want to avoid fights to stay alive, for example, the run to Cantlin. So the game designers had this aspect. Whenever you attempt to run away, there's a random chance of being blocked in front, and that means you not only can't get away, the monster gets to make a move. Q: It says, "the (name of monster) attacked before (name of character) was ready." What's going on? A: This is mainly for realism's sake, and gives you another thing to worry about. All it means is the monster gets to attack first. It isn't a big deal unless the monster puts you to sleep. Q: I cast a spell, it deducted the MP (magic points), but then it said, "the spell will not work". What is this? A: Some battle spells (Hurt, Hurtmore, Sleep and Stopspell) have a random chance of not working, in which case you lose the MP, you get zip, and the monster then moves. In the beginning of the game, you don't really have to worry about this, because they nearly always work. But starting with Warlocks, Sleep starts failing (and it fails most often against monsters that have Sleep themselves), and Stopspell starts failing against monsters that have Hurt/Hurtmore. Hurt/Hurtmore seldom fail, except against a few monsters such as Wizards. Q: Why don't the enemy's spells ever fail? A: All of them always work, except Stopspell (which, ironically, usually fails). I guess it's to make spells more menacing. Q: What's with this "excellent move" business? A: I don't know. I believe it reduces the enemy's defense to 0, for that attack. That would explain how against Metal Slimes, the damage done is no higher than against normal Slimes. It basically means a free kill. Q: Do monsters have critical hits? A: Nope! Q: I'm fighting a Metal Slime, but it keeps saying "the attack failed and there was no loss of hit points". Explanation? A: Metal Slimes have a defense of 999. This means you'll be scoring 1 damage on all non-critical attacks, and sometimes you'll do no damage whatever. This is basically a damage score of 0. Q: Does this apply to other enemies? A: Yes, but it doesn't really happen to you. I noticed when I was fighting a Magidrakee at level 1 (I was fooling around and trying to die as fast as possible) some of my attacks failed. You shouldn't have to worry about it. Q: The spell of Hurtmore won't do any more damage to a Slime than it does to a Starwyvern! What the heck is this? A: I believe attack magic does a random damage regardless of enemy defense ratings. I also believe the damage attack magic does goes down when it is used a lot. Q: What exactly does agility do? A: Agility determines you base defense power (your defense equals your armor and shield plus half your agility). Q: Does each monster really have a defense and agility level? A: Well yes and no. Yes, you will definitely do less damage to something later in the game with the same attack factor. But, when battling monsters in the same area, it seems like your attacks don't do any more damage to one particular monster. Same goes for agility. (Obviously, this excludes exceptions such as the Metal Slime). 4. BATTLE LIKELIHOODS Q: What does that mean, exactly? A: Look at the next question. Q: Why do I keep getting blocked in front in one battle? A: After careful thought, I figured out a theory that explains this. It's a long story. I've never seen this in any other game, which is good because it's kind of cruel. The likelihood of a bad result I believe depends on the previous results for the same thing. This means, say you're put to sleep. You'll have the highest chance of waking up on the first attempt. Then with each attempt later, the likelihood gets progressively lower. Or maybe, it's simply that the likelihood of a bad result is affected by the result immediately before. While this seems completely backwards, it seems to fit my findings. It is vital that you understand this if you want to make good decisions time and time again. Q: Does the above apply to monsters too? A: I believe so. However, remember that many of the things that you have to chance for, like escaping, are automatically successful when used by enemies. An odd finding I have is that missed attacks apply to (jaq drops) both monsters and yourself!! This means, that if you miss an attack, the monster ahs a higher than average chance of missing his. If this is true, this would explain the unusually high proportion of back-to-back misses. Q: What does the above apply to? A: Critical hits, missed/failed attacks, escape attempts, waking attempts, spell success. Everything, basically. Q: Does the above apply to different things at once? I mean, if I miss an attack and then get put to sleep, do I have an impaired chance of waking up? A: I believe no. Q: Does the above reply to different times? If I get blocked in front once, am I more likely to get blocked in front for the entire rest of the battle, or just the very next move? A: I believe the former. Q: Does the above carry over from battle to battle? A: Research since the previous update has revealed startling results. Yes, bad results do carry over, but seem to only do so for the same monster. So, if you miss an attack against a Werewolf, you will have a greater likelihood of missing further attacks only against Werewolves. And, it also seems that this applies to (gasp) monsters!!! Often, you won't fight (name of monster) for a while, then encounter one, and then encounter another right afterwards! Weird, huh? Q: Does the above apply to the effectiveness of things? If I get a great attack (but non-critical) will I get a great attack my next move too? A: I don't think so. Q: Does the above apply to encounters - if I have a battle, am I more likely to have another battle right afterwards? A: I don't think so - if it were so, you'd be having battles almost every move. 5. MONSTERS Q: Why do monsters seem to look the same as a previous monster but differently colored? A: Well, the game programmers didn't want to have to draw a Wyvern, a fiercer-looking Magiwyvern and an even more fierce Starwyvern. Well, the Wyverns are a bad example, because they do change facing. However, if you look closely you'll notice that many enemy groups look the same or very similar. Q: Does the terrain affect the difficulty of monsters? A: Nope. Q: Why do the monsters get harder even though I'm not crossing bridges? A: Simple. The game divided the map into twenty or so rectangles, and every single square is in one of them. The different levels of the caves also qualify as different areas. And a few areas are identical though separated. Each area has its own group of monsters. And it just so happens that bridges are at many of the area boundaries. Q: What influences what monsters do? A: Interestingly, the Sleep monsters seem to look at their spell as a last resort instead of a deadly weapon, and use it when they're almost out of HP. I found that monsters have "ranges". For example, Starwyverns (which I found easiest to study) heal themselves only after you've done at least 35 damage, and they get more likely to heal the more damage you do. Also, a monster never uses something it's already effected - they never use Sleep or Stopspell when you're already in that state. Q: I fought two identical monsters, but one died at a certain amount of damage, but the other didn't when I did the same amount of damage! What's going on here? A: Monsters have a maximum HP, all of them. Each individual monster has an HP from a random number generated at the start of the fight, between the maximum HP and 4/5 of the maximum HP. Q: I attacked a monster, he healed himself, I attacked again and did less damage than I did the first time, but managed to kill him. What happened? A: As with your own Heal spell, monsters' Heal spells only restore some of their HP. So, your second attack was against a monster that was already damaged. Q: What's this about breathing fire? And what does it do? A: Any dragon, plus Starwyverns and the Dragonlord 2, can, instead of attacking, breathe fire. The amount of damage done is random, and not influenced by defense, but by the type of monster. 6. SPELLS Q: What are the various spells and their MP? A: Here's a chart for you. SPELL LEVEL ACQUIRED MP USED WHEN USABLE EFFECT Heal 3 4 Anywhere Heals 10-16 HP Hurt 4 2 In battle Damages 6-12 HP Sleep 7 2 In battle Makes foe helpless Radiant 9 3 In caves Lights up caves Stopspell 10 2 In battle Blocks foe's magic Outside 12 6 In caves Teleport outside Return 13 8 Outside caves Teleport home Repel 15 2 Outside battle Stop battles* Healmore 17 10 Anywhere Heals 80-100 HP Hurtmore 19 5 In battle Damages 58-65 HP *Doesn't work in caves and only against monsters weaker than you. Q: What exactly does "weaker" mean? And what qualifies as a cave? A: As for the caves, anywhere that isn't in the overworld. As for the "weaker" thing, the game looks at all the monsters in the area, and if the majority are weaker than you (strength rating influences this), there will be no encounters. If not, there will be encounters, and with all the monsters in the area, including weaker ones. Q: How do you calculate monster strength? A: I believe each has its own strength rating. Q: What monsters should I use Stopspell on? A: For starters, use it before making a single attack on a monster that has the Sleep spell, with the possible exception of Specters. And seriously consider it for any monster that has either "more" spell, and also for Wraith Knights. Q: What monsters have what spells? A: A list coming up. Note that some monsters have two spells (but none have three) and will be listed more than once. And of course, no monsters have non-battle spells - Radiant, Outside, Return and Repel. Hurt: Magician, Magidrakee, Poltergeist, Drakeema, Warlock, Druinlord, Specter, Metal Slime, Wizard*, Armored Knight*, Dragonlord 1*. Heal: Drakeema, Wraith, Druinlord, Wraith Knight, Starwyvern*, Armored Knight*. Sleep: Warlock, Specter, Magiwyvern, Axe Knight, Red Dragon. Stopspell: Wolflord, Drollmagi, Knight, Dragonlord 1. * - the "more" version of the spell. Q: Should I use torches once I have Radiant? A: No, except in Charlock, because then MP is at a premium. Radiant, though it fades out, lights a much greater area than torches, and is important for big dungeons. Q: What if I use a spell where it can't be used? A: Depends. If you use a spell outside battle that can only be used in battle or in another place (like Radiant in the overworld), you'll lose the MP, and it says "but nothing happened". If you use a non-battle spell in battle, nothing happens, it'll say, "that cannot be used in battle." And of course, nothing happens if you use a spell that exceeds your MP limits. Q: How do I refill MP? A: It's impossible. The only way is to stay at an inn, unless you use the cheat (see Secrets section). Q: Hurtmore is an awesome spell, I can use it to kill monsters in a second, right? A: You could, but I don't recommend it. It sometimes almost kills the monster, but doesn't. Also you can often accomplish the same effect with only two normal attacks. Lastly, it uses up MP, and a lot of it. 7. EQUIPMENT Q: What does each piece of equipment do to my stats? A: Chart coming. Weapons will increase your attack power by this amount, armor and shields will increase your defense power. Also some of the shops in Cantlin are skipped because they sell outdated equipment. NAME BONUS WHERE FOUND COST Bamboo Pole 2 Brecconary 10 Club 4 Brecconary-Garinham 60 Copper Sword 10 Anywhere 180 Hand Axe 15 Anywhere but Brecconary 560 Broad Sword 20 Rimuldar 1500 Flame Sword 28 Cantlin 9800 Erdrick's Sword 40 Charlock 0 Clothes 2 Brecconary 20 Leather Armor 4 Brecconary-Garinham 70 Chain Mail 10 Garinham-Kol 300 Half Plate 16 Anywhere but Brecconary 1000 Full Plate 24 Kol-Rimuldar 3000 Magic Armor* 24 Rimuldar-Cantlin 7700 Erdrick's Armor** 28 Hauksness 0 Small Shield 4 Anywhere but Rimuldar 90 Large Shield 10 Garinham 800 Silver Shield 25 Cantlin 14800 * - Heals 1 HP per three steps ** - Heals 1 HP per step and invulnerable to swamp and barrier damage Q: Should I skip any of the equipment? A: Yes. You should skip the Hand Axe, Half Plate, and Magic Armor. While you might be able to get away with buying things sequentially in the Remix, you certainly won't in the old version since you'd simply get bored to death. Q: The best armor and weapon don't cost anything! Why? A: Both are found in no shops. They are found in different locations and are well guarded. Q: Should I skip the Silver Shield? A: No. By then in the game you'll be fighting mainly in Hauksness, and there you'll be gaining experience. Sooner or later you should buy the Silver Shield. Q: Where is Erdrick's Armor? A: In Hauksness, you'll notice on the southeast part a place with a swamp and a forest at the end of it. Touch that forest, beat an Axe Knight (very hard), then search and it's yours. Q: Where is Erdrick's Sword? A: See the Charlock walkthrough for help on finding it. Just be sure that you're at least level 15, and have all other equipment and full herbs, or I simply guarantee you will not make it alive. 8. TOOLS Q: What do these tools do? A: Here's a chart. NAME COST EFFECT Herb 24 Heals 25-40 HP Torch 8 Lights caves Wings 70 Teleport home Dragon Scale 20 +2 defense Fairy Water 38 Prevents battles Magic Key * Opens doors * - 53 at Rimuldar and 83 at Tantagel. Q: Where can I get these? A: Every town except Rimuldar has a tool shop. Herbs, wings, torches and dragon's scales are for sale just about everywhere (although wings are only found in Kol). Fairy water is in a shop in Brecconary that requires a key. Keys are for sale at Tantagel in Rimuldar, but you need a key to access the shop at Tantagel. Q: Hey, these are like spells! Why? A: Yes, they do resemble spells, and are used for those functions before you get the spell. Wings are exactly like Return and fairy water is exactly like Repel. Torches are like Radiant but are less effective. Q: Should I buy these tools after getting the corresponding spell? A: No, except at Charlock, because then MP is premium. Q: Can I get rid of these tools? A: Yes. You can sell them at any tool shop for half the buying price. Q: How many tools can I carry - is there a limit? A: Yes. You can carry ten total items, so you can potentially carry ten torches, fairy water bottles, dragon's scales or wings, but you would never want to and could only hold as many as you have empty places left. Herbs and keys take up only one slot, but you can carry only six of them. Q: Should I stock up on herbs? A: No. There's a chest in the Rock Mountain Cave that contains an herb. Buy one or two herbs for safety early in the game, and on each trip into the cave, take the chest to refill your herb capacity. 9. CURSED ITEMS Q: What are you talking about? A: Two items in the game are cursed, and will put a curse on you if you select them. Instead sell them at any tool shop. The Death Necklace sells for 1200 gold, the Cursed Belt fro 180. Q: Where are these items? A: The Cursed Belt is in Garin's Grave. The Death Necklace is in a 100+ gold chest in Rock Mountain Cave, but it is only seldom found there, so you'll need to make many trips down there to get it. Q: What game effect does a curse have? A: None, except you can no longer sell the item and can't enter Tantagel castle and therefore can't save. If you equip one for fun, there's an old man in Brecconary who'll cure the curse and destroy the item, for free. 10. ITEMS Q: Where is and what is the Fighter's Ring? A: It's in the Rock Mountain Cave. Some people say it increases your strength and agility 2, others say that it makes monsters run away. Experimentation has revealed neither is true and thus it is totally worthless. If that's not a good enough answer for you, maybe you should call Nintendo and somebody might be still alive to tell you what the hell it's for. Q: Can I sell the Rainbow Drop after using it? A: No. You can never sell any item needed for the Rainbow Bridge, or Gwaelin's Love. Q: What's Gwaelin's Love? A: When used, Gwaelin - who gives it to you when rescued - tells you your position relative to Tantagel Castle if you're on the world map, as well as how many experience points you need to go up a level. It is helpful for finding Erdrick's Token, but otherwise is completely worthless. For fun, demonstrate the stupidity of video game characters by using it over and over right in front of Gwaelin. Q: How do I get keys? A: Well, there's a shop in Tantagel, but that requires a key to reach. The only place to get keys for the first time is Rimuldar. Travel along the OUTSIDE of the moat, going north. You will find the shop in the northwest corner of the map. 11. CAVES Q: What caves are in the game? A: Erdrick's Cave, Rock Mountain Cave, Swamp Cave and Garin's Grave (not counting the stairways leading to wise men). Q: Where are these caves? A: Erdrick's Cave is northwest of Tantagel, Rock Mountain Cave is southwest of Tantagel (you need to loop around to reach it), Swamp Cave is south of Kol and Garin's Grave is in Garinham. Q: What's in these caves? A: Erdrick's Cave contains Erdrick's Tablet, which contains a few hints. Rock Mountain Cave contains the Fighter's Ring, and sometimes the Death Necklace. Swamp Cave contains Princess Gwaelin, and is the only way to go from Kol's continent to Rimuldar's continent. Garin's Grave contains the Silver Harp. Q: How do I see in caves? A: Use Radiant or a torch. Radiant fades out eventually but torches do not. 12. MONSTER LIST This list is HUGE. Now, if you find mistakes, do not, repeat NOT, e-mail me. This is because I simply copied it from the monster info cheat that came with the tipbook, and I hate getting blamed for another guy's mistakes. Thanks Nintendo! NAME MAX HP MAX GOLD EXPERIENCE SPELLS Slime 3 1 1 - Red Slime 4 2 1 - Drakee 6 2 2 - Ghost 8 4 3 - Magician 13 12 4 Hurt Magidrakee 15 11 5 Hurt Scorpion 20 15 6 - Skeleton 30 30 11 - Druin 22 16 7 - Poltergeist 23 18 8 Hurt Droll 25 25 10 - Drakeema 20 2 11 Hurt-Heal Warlock 30 35 13 Hurt-Sleep Metal Scorpion 22 40 14 - Wolf 34 50 16 - Wraith 36 60 17 Heal Wolflord 38 80 20 Stopspell Goldman 50 200 6 - Wyvern 42 100 24 - Specter 36 70 18 Hurt-Sleep Druinlord 35 85 20 Hurt-Heal Drollmagi 38 90 22 Stopspell Wraith Knight 46 120 28 Heal Rogue Scorpion 35 110 26 - Knight 55 130 33 Stopspell Demon Knight$* 50 150 37 - Magiwyvern 58 140 34 Sleep Metal Slime$** 4 6 115 Hurt Werewolf 60 155 40 - Green Dragon@ 65 160 45 - Starwyverrn@ 65 160 43 Healmore Wizard 60 165 50 Hurtmore Golem*** 70 10 5 - Axe Knight 70 165 54 Sleep Blue Dragon@ 70 150 60 - Stoneman 160 140 65 - Armored Knight 90 140 70 Hurtmore-Healmore Red Dragon@ 100 140 100 Sleep Dragonlord 1$ 150# 0 0Hurtmore-Stopspell Dragonlord 2@$100# 0 0 - Not bad, eh?! @ - Can breathe fire $ - Spells fail automatically # - Not quite sure * - Attacks often miss ** - Defense and agility of 999, attacks often fail (i.e, do 0 damage), all non-critical hits do 1 damage, runs often *** - Can be put to sleep with Fairy Flute, works automatically, found only once, guarding Cantlin 13. COMPLETE WALKTHROUGH After fiddling with the sign-in screens, you find yourself in King Lorik's throne room. After a brief explanation of the ball of light and your quest to get it back, you are in control of the game. Get the treasure chests for 120 gold, a torch and a magic key. Use the magic key to open the throne room door. Head out of the castle. Head straight to Brecconary (the town to the east) and buy a club. Go to the item shop (in the bottom right corner) and sell your torch. You will now have 64 gold. We need 70 gold to buy the leather armor at the equipment shop, so you need to head out and fight. Stay in the forest north of Brecconary and kill Slimes and Red Slimes with your club. When you accumulate 70 gold, buy your leather armor. Save immediately, and earn some more gold to rest at the inn. Keep fighting Slimes and Red Slimes staying very close to the castle until you reach level 3. At level 3, you earn the spell of HEAL. Now, instead of visiting the inn when your HP and MP get low, talk to the old man in the southeast corner of Tantagel Castle (behind the desk) to refill your MP. Heal until you are at max HP, then talk to him again. You no longer need to use inns now. If you do not have 20 gold yet, earn it. Then go to the tool shop in Brecconary. Buy a dragon's scale and use it (use the item command) to get +2 defense. Sell it for 10 gold back. Don't ask me how you can sell something and regain its properties; just do it. Now head into the hills southwest of Tantagel Castle, where you'll fight Slimes, Red Slimes and occasionally Drakees. DO NOT touch the bottom row of hills! Due to a bug in the monster mapping, it has enemies from the southern continent who will more than likely whip you good. So stay away from there. build up to level 5 with the Slimes, Red Slimes and Drakees, saving and healing at Tantagel when necessary (I don't think it's necessary to tell you to heal and save any more). Buy a small shield at Brecconary for 90 gold. Once at level 5, head northwest from Tantagel Castle. Keep going until you come to the ocean, and see a town. This is Garinham. Don't enter it yet, and fight in the hills outside the village. Smash away at the Red Slimes, Drakees and Ghosts, and HURT the Magicians before they can hit you bad with HURT. Oh, I forgot to mention it - you got the HURT spell at level 4. Accumulate a lot of gold, and fight in this spot for a long, long time. Buy from Garinham a copper sword and chain mail, and get up to level 7. Heal when you fall below 20 HP because HURT from a Magician can do up to 10 damage to you. Once you get the copper sword, you can handle Magicians without HURT (and can knock out Drakees and maybe Ghosts in one hit). The chain mail will give a very nice 6 defense increase. At level 7, you get the SLEEP spell. This really isn't that useful; monsters annoyingly often wake up when put to sleep, and unlike the future games in the series, monsters get to attack the same turn they wake up. So, use it sparingly, if at all. Now, remember that row of hills southwest of Tantagel Castle I told you NEVER to enter? Well, now you can. Go there and walk back and forth. You will battle Magicians, Magidrakees (cast HURT) Ghosts and Scorpions. You can take them all down with 2-3 attacks. Heal a lot, outside battle if at all possible (healing in battle wastes a turn). Go back home when you get down to one heal (you need to be able to heal several times in a pinch). Finally, after much aggravation you should be at level 9 and have accumulated quite a tidy sum of gold. Stock up on herbs, make sure you have full HP and MP, and save. Make sure you have at least 1500 gold on hand for this trip. Head out from Tantagel, only this time head northeast. Cut south through the swamp for a shortcut. At the southeast end of this continent is a bridge. Cross it and head south, through the swamp, to a cave. Once inside the cave, cast HEAL at least twice to nullify the damage you took from the swamp. Now, you're in the Swamp Cave, but you aren't alone. Besides the cheesy cave monsters (monsters from the overworld plus Druins, not a threat to you) there is a Green Dragon, who is guarding Princess Gwaelin. If you encounter this fellow, save your energy for another time and reset. The key to avoiding him is to not explore the cave, just head straight south from the entrance (you don't even need a light source) until you hear a bumping noise. Now follow these directions (until you hear the bumping noise): east, south, east, south, west - ah ha! The stairs. Climb this staircase and you've made it through the cave! You are now on the South Island. You are also in big trouble. This place is inhabited by very strong monsters. Warlocks have the HURT and SLEEP spells at their command, and the other enemies here can hit very, very hard. Your best bet is to cast SLEEP on these foes, then run. (Just running away annoyingly often fails). Head straight to the town of Rimuldar. From the exit of the cave, head south to the east of the mountain barrier. Keep heading south and eventually you'll see a lake to your west. Hook around the mountains to the south and check it out. There's town on an island in the lake; this is Rimuldar. In town, head to the weapon shop and get the prize you came for: the broad sword, which gives an amazing +10 attack power. Now head to the entrance of the town. From the entrance, head north and west, outside the moat. In the far northeast corner is a shop where you can buy magic keys. Buy at least 2 of these. Unlock the two doors in the bottom part of town and get the treasure chest - yes! Wings! Now just use them and you'll teleport right back to Tantagel Castle! The yawning expanse of your next purchase makes one's mind spin. You must accumulate 3800 gold before continuing to buy the large shield in Garinham and the full plate armor in Kol. For future reference, to get to Kol, go to the continent with the Swamp Cave, and head north. You'll come upon a large forest eventually; inside this forest is the town of Kol. Instead of going here yet, go to the hills south of the big desert south of Kol. There you'll battle mostly Scorpions and Skeletons. No matter. They can both be disposed of by your wicked broad sword. Purchase the large shield when you get the money. If you absolutely need a faster place, after reaching level 10 and getting STOPSPELL, head back to the area around Rimuldar and fight there. warlocks are very easy to defeat now, since you have STOPSPELL. Just be cautious; the other enemies around here don't mess around, and hit hard. Okay, you've finally gotten to level 11 and are equipped with the broad sword, full plate and large shield (and dragon's scale). Now we get to move on to a much better fighting location. Head back to Rimuldar but head south from it, past two ranges of hills. In the south part of the second range, you can fight Wolflords, Wraiths, Metal Scorpions and Goldmen. Wolflords hit quite hard, but are cursed with STOPSPELL, which they'll waste turns using and it won't do anything harmful to you. Wraiths are slightly weaker than Wolfords, but cast HEAL very rarely. Metal Scorpions are very weak, with low HP and attack. Goldmen have a very high HP and hit hard, but have mo magic. Defeating one yields only 6 experience but up to 200 gold. This will take a very long time, so you must be patient. While doing this, use the Rimuldar inn when MP runs low, keep some wings on hand to save after every level-up, and don't cross the bridge nearby or head too far west. If you do, you can encounter a Wyvern. They can't do anything but attack, but they're annoyingly good at that. They can smash you for double-digit damage at your level, and have quite bit of HP. By level 13, though, you should be able to chop them up. OK, you'll get 10000 gold eventually. It really doesn't take that long. Buy 2 magic keys at Rimuldar and stop by Brecconary. Open the door in the top right corner and buy at least one bottles of fairy water. IMPORTANT: Go to Kol. If you noticed, there's a pool there which is supposed to cure rheumatism. Search the ground four steps below it and you'll discover the fairy flute. Save, restock on herbs, and heal to max HP and MP. The trip to Cantlin will take a few tries. From Tantagel, head up to Garinham, only head south of it instead. You'll see a bridge at the bottom of the continent. Cross it, activate fairy water, and head straight south. When the ocean forces you east, head east. Eventually you'll see another bridge. Cross it and head south. You'll see the huge Domdora Desert before you. The monsters from here on out are very, very strong, so run from everything (except the occasional Metal Slime) and heal between fights if you get attacked. Use an herb instead of running if your HP gets within one strike of death. Head south through the desert, ignoring the town in the north. When you get through, you'll see a bank of hills. Cross them and at the southern tip of this continent, you'll see a bridge. Cross it and you'll be in a forest. Head northwest, and IGNORE the first bridge you come across! It just leads to a huge, uninviting swamp. Continue following the only path until you see a bridge with a small swamp south of it; this is the correct one. Cross and head south. You'll see a wall surrounding... a town! You made it!! Or have you? When you step into the hole in the wall, there's a "spiked square" (not quite like those in Final Fantasy) with Golem. This fellow was put there to prevent you from entering Cantlin, and will succeed unless you play the fairy flute. This will put him to sleep, automatically. Then break out your armory and spank him with the broad sword. If he awakes, though, beware - getting hit by him causes an Excedrin headache. Immediately put him back to sleep, use an herb, and continue. Heal to max HP with the HEAL spell before the battle as well. After Golem is reduced to rubble, enter the town. Head straight to the northeast corner where you'll see two people behind desks. Use your remaining key to enter this area and talk to the bottom one. He is a salesman who sells you the two best pieces of equipment that you can buy: the flame sword and silver shield! Buy the flame sword immediately, and head out of here. Before continuing, a few notes on spells I did not mention. You get RADIANT at level 9 (lets you see inside a dungeon) OUTSIDE at level 12 (exit a dungeon) and RETURN at level 13 (return to Tantagel Castle from the overworld). Use the latter to escape the Cantlin region. Now, get ready for (surprise!) some more leveling up! The best place to level up now is the island south of Rimuldar. Wyverns should be easy to defeat with the flame sword, as will their little pals. You'll see a stairway on this island but ignore it. Level up to 14-15 and get 15000 gold (WHOA NELLIE!) To buy the silver shield. It'll give you a fine defense boost of +15. Get ready to head back to Cantlin. Use fairy water for the first half of this trip again. This is slightly easier than before, since you do not need to battle Golem and are a level higher. Don't get cocky and fight, though. Just run. Back in Cantlin, buy the silver shield, the best. Leave, save and restock herbs. It's time to get Erdrick's armor. If you remember, there was a town in the Domdora Desert you skipped. It is called Hauksness, and enter it now and you'll find this place is, uh, nuked. Fried. Mutilated. Destroyed. The Dragonlord was certainly ruthless. His little friends are still here, so get ready to run from every battle. Head to the southwest corner of this town (to use generous wording) and you'll see a swamp with a forest square behind it. Step on the forest square, but heal to max HP (using HEAL) beforehand. On this square you'll meet an Axe Knight. This overweight cousin of Sir Lancelot will give you battery back up feature a good workin'. Your only real way of dealing with him is to STOPSPELL him before he casts SLEEP. Then attack, and use an herb when you fall below 30 HP. If all goes well, the moron will attempt to cast SLEEP and fail, giving you free turns to slam him. If you win, DON'T MOVE! Stepping on that square will always result in a battle with an Axe Knight. So, immediately use the search command to find Erdrick's armor. This thing protects you only 4 better than the full plate, but that's the lousy part. This wonder suit will give you 1 HP back per step. And make you immune to swamps and barriers. Make straight for RETURN and get out of this dump. Now, you need to level up to 17 to get the HEALMORE spell before attempting Charlock Castle. The best place to level up are the hills north of Domdora Desert. You can walk on the plains after a battle to restore HP, and most enemies there will fall to your new equipment. Demon Knights are a pain, afflicting you with several hits of double digit damage before you can connect with them. At level 15, you get the much needed REPEL spell, which is really handy when you need to go somewhere and don't want to be bothered with wimpy enemies. Finally, up to level 17. You'll earn HEALMORE, which restores something like 90 HP or so. Time to assemble the parts of the Rainbow Bridge: Stones of Sunlight - Use a key to unlock the door at the top of Tantagel Castle, step outside, and walk south outside of the east wall to find a stairway leading to the chamber where the stones are kept. There is a key shop here, as well. Silver Harp - Go to Garinham (with at least 2 keys) and open the door leading to the big building. Now, there is a secret passage located along the north wall, two steps right of the west wall. Go through and head east to Garin's Grave. Navigate the grave to find the harp. (Directions for Garin's Grave will be done in a future update) *note* - If you use the silver harp as an item in the overworld, you'll enter a battle. Staff of Rain - From Kol, head west through a forested hole in the mountains, then head north. You'll find a stairway leading to a chamber with the staff. The man will let you have it because you have the harp. Erdrick's token - Remember that bridge I told you not to cross on the way to Cantlin? Cross it now, and enter the swamp. Go to the one space wide gap between the halves of the swamp, and carefully move east, without taking any steps up or down. Search every square you come across. About six squares east of the gap, you'll find the token (search for it). Rainbow drop - Just enter that stairway south of Rimuldar on the island, and the man will give you the rainbow drop if you have all the previous items. Rainbow bridge - From Rimuldar, head northwest, to a desert. At the edge of the desert is a peninsula with land on the other side of it, separated by a one space wide channel. Use the rainbow drop at the very edge of the peninsula, and a bridge appears. Restock, save, make sure you have six herbs and cross this bridge. Follow the linear path to (drum roll?) Charlock Castle!!! You aren't facing the Dragonlord yet; you just need Erdrick's sword. Run from all the enemies in here, unless your HP is within one strike of death. In that case, chant HEALMORE. Use herbs and Erdrick's armor to heal between battles. From the entrance, take the west path and head the area of barriers at the top center of the room. Both visible stairways are dead ends, but there is a secret passage behind the throne in the barrier area. Search the square in the middle of the five square row there to find it. enter, cast RADIANT, and follow these directions. On B1 and B2, the path is very linear; you don't need directions. On B3, you'll find a south/west fork. Go west. You'll have another opportunity to go south; skip it and head westalong the path on the outside of the room to reach the stairs in the southwest corner. On B4, follow the zig-zagging path northwest. When you see a north/east fork, head easy. Go a tad bit south, and follow the path around the southeast corner. In the northeast corner are some stairs. Ignore them and head south, but do so along the inner wall; from the stairs in the NE corner, take one step west, then go straight south. Take the stairs at the end of this corridor going UP. Follow the linear path from here on until you see that chest you saw on B2 but couldn't reach. It is Erdrick's Sword. Nab it, and beat it. You now have the BEST equipment in the game. But before we go kicking the Dragonlord around, there's the slight matter of leveling up to take care of... Level up to 19 in the hills north of Domdora you used before. At level 19, you get HURTMORE, the last spell. This spell is completely useless, IMHO. Against the enemies you need it to work on (like Metal Slimes) it'll never work, and on the normal enemies I just attacked. For level 20 and thereafter, fight inside Hauksness. This will take you a LONG time, especially if you want to get to level 30 (the max) before beating the game. However, the strategy is very straightforward. Clobber everything, and use Erdrick's armor and walk on grass to minimize HEALMORE's need. The enemies in Hauksness are Starwyverns (cast HEALMORE and breathe fire), Werewolf (hits hard), Green Dragon (breathes fire and hits hard) and Wizard (casts HURTMORE). HURTMORE cast on you, thankfully, is nowhere near as nasty as when you use it. If you want to speed this up, fight the Axe Knight over and over, but be warned that one SLEEP spell from him could be your last. RETURN and save after every level. After reaching a satisfactory level (I recommend at least level 21) restock on herbs, heal and save, and head for Charlock. But first, remember that princess you've waited so long to rescue? Well, head to the Swamp Cave and do it now. I'd be interested to see what would happen if you beat the game without ever rescuing her. Anyway, pulverize the Green Dragon - what an idiot he is - and open the princess' cell (have a key on hand before coming here). Talk to here and teleport back to the castle. You carry her back, quite literally. It would be really funny if you could say something like, "Gee, gorgeous, while I was out kicking butt on those monsters why'd you eat so much?" Oh well. Return her to the king for a royal thanks and an item called Gwaelin's love, a rather useless item that tells you your coordinates related to the castle and how much experience you need to get a level up. This would have helped finding Erdrick's token, but not much else. The Dragonlord will prove a great challenge to lower-level warriors, as will his guards. The lower three levels of the castle contain some particularly deadly enemies. Armored Knights (besides looking like transvestites in their bright pink armor) cast HURTMORE and HEALMORE. Stonemen have an ungodly amount of HP, and can punch you like nobody's business. Blue Dragons and somewhat dangerous, but not as bad as the previously mentioned ones. Wizards you should be able to handle. Now, the bomb. You will probably meet at least one Red Dragon, this guy can kill you no matter what level you're at if you're unlucky. He uses SLEEP quite often, so STOPSPELL before attempting to run may be wise. He can do damage in the 30s range. Just run from all these enemies. Now, the directions to the Dragonlord are complicated as well. Follow the same paths through B1-4, but at B4, when you get to the northeast corner, instead of heading south to Erdrick's Sword, head west. At the end of this corridor is a stairwell, go down it. Follow the linear path through B5 and B6. If you got nervous and took the stairs in the NE corner of B4, you'd wind up in an infinite loop corridor that has sent many an NES controller flying into the TV. B7 is actually lit up (geez, thanks!) and you can see the Dragonlord to your right. To get to him, first head to the west side. Head north. When you can go west or north into a dead-end room, go west. When you enter an area with various floor types instead of the normal brick floor, head south. Head back into the normal area at the bottom, and head west to the Dragonlord!! Talk to him (after guzzling up your remaining herbal garden) and he'll offer you half the world if you join him. Say no (unless you want to die [at best - some gamers claim saying yes loses all your levels and gold!!]) and he'll battle you. Just bash him liberally and he'll bite it sooner or later. He can use HURTMORE (minor) or STOPSPELL. Chances are it won't work but if it does, you have to reset because you need HEALMORE for the upcoming battle. Whoa, that was easy. Wait, what's this? A giant, ugly dragon? Well, you've got to fight some more. The final boss can hurt you for up to 50 damage with flaming breath or attacks, so use HEALMORE when your HP falls below 50. HEALMORE uses 10 MP, and it will take A LOT of rounds to kill this guy, due to his ungodly defense (single digit damage readouts are common) and HP (around 100 I think). Just keep striking and healing, and pray for a critical hit. Hopefully you were smart and saved your MP throughout the castle (maybe even used torches to save MP for RADIANT). If you have at least 120 MP, you actually have a good chance of winning. (You have a max MP of over 120 at level 20). If not, well, you don't... You'll kill the Dragonlord sooner or later. When you do, take the ball of light from his corpse and it will banish all evil from Alefgard! You'll be teleported out of Charlock. RETURN home (or stay at the Rimuldar inn if you lack the MP - that happens strangely often) and speak with King Lorik. You've won!!! Good work, Dragon Warrior. You're overdue a long, relaxing bubble bath and a night with Princess Gwaelin (don't kill me!) for finishing your quest. 15. CONCLUSION pant pant... I think that's everything. Dragon Warrior, while not nearly as great as Dragon Warrior 3 (the only game in the series that is actually a worthy challenger of Final Fantasy) is great. DO NOT attempt to plagiarize... please. It won't get you anything. I promise. Enjoy Dragon Warrior I. (Just don't tell me if you don't). And if you new to the RPG genre, check out the following other titles: Super Mario RPG, Dragon Warrior 3, Final Fantasy ANYTHING... And finally - "May the light shine upon thee!" (End of FAQ)