It's raining protagonists: Let's play Dragon Warrior IV!

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François
Posts: 1708
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 8:00 am

Re: It's raining protagonists: Let's play Dragon Warrior IV!

Postby François » Sun Feb 17, 2019 8:41 am

Between updates, I returned to the Medal King to pick up our Hat of Happiness. Any of our casters could make good use of its special effect, but seeing as the ladies have Golden Barrettes, Cristo has an Iron Helmet, and Brey still has a Leather Hat, I'm letting Brey have it. It takes his defense power from 65 to 78.

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Alena now has the lowest defense in our entire party by a hair, but of course her future Agility increases will remedy to that.

Anyway, it's about time we do something about Balzack having holed up in Santeem Castle; we Return to Haville and sail north-northwest.

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I'm curious as to whether anything changed in the tower where we found the Birdsong Nectar. I don't expect much, but we'll do a sweep of the continent later anyway, so we might as well check then.

Brey levels up at sea, for 3 Agi, 2 Vit, 7 Int, 6 Luc, 3 HP, 2 MP, and the Defence spell. It costs 4 MP and attempt to reduce one enemy group's defense power by 50%; it rolls against the same resistance as Sap, but it's only half as effective on any single target so it doesn't make its predecessor obsolete. Both Brey and Mara learn Sap, but only Brey gets Defence.

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Image: So-
Image: I'm definitely coming along this time.
Image: Of course.
Image: And Balzack's our mark, so we're not on wagon duty either.
Image: Ah... Hmm...
Image: I understand. It wouldn't do to get in the way of your revenge here.
Image: When you put it that way, I almost feel like letting you go.
Image: No, no, it's alright. You have our trust. I entrust my lady's safety to you.
Image: Oh, please. Your lady's safety is fine where it is.

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Image: Huh. I should be glad Surene didn't get destroyed at least.

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The shops haven't changed, and we buy a few Medical Herbs for Alena. It's not a lot of healing, but since she's very fast, it might be helpful to get her to use some if we have to go Defensive.

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Image: ...who are you?
Image: I used to be a soldier of Santeem.
Image: Oh! Um, well. Ah, it's good to see you're safe.
Image: One day the King tried to tell his people the meaning of his dreams.
Image: Did your father get dream visions, Alena?
Image: I guess? I'm not clear on the details, but we think Necrosaro was worried he'd see something that would ruin his plans.
Image: I left the Castle to run an errand that morning... The counselor had said that the King would talk about the Ruler of Evil.
Image: That sounds about right.
Image: I wonder if he could tell us something we don't know now, or if it had only been an early warning.

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Image: We're about to take care of that, don't worry.

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Image
Image: Well you're a long way from home, ma'am.
Image: In far away Branca, they tell a story of a celestial woman who fell in love with a young woodsman.
Image: ...is that...?
Image: Yes.
Image: She came down from the sky.
Image: So from Zenithia, then.
Image: Do you really believe anyone really lives up in the sky?
Image: At this point, it would be ridiculous to say I don't.

Image
Image: ...but I'm not eloquent nor can I sing like Marone. How unbearable.
Image: Trust me, knowing what you can't do puts you ahead of a lotta guys.

Image
Image: ...
Image: All is not lost. The royal line endures.

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Image: Blue Sky, Wandering Clouds, La, La, La...
Image: Huh, okay, not bad.
Image: It's not even his real voice.
Image: To find out why the people disappeared, Princess Alena is searching for the man called Necrosaro... La, La, La...

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Heh, that's the first Magic Key door we had ever seen.

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Ah, we haven't seen Poison Needles for sale since Chapter 4! We'll buy one for Brey, and give his Staff of Force to Nara until we can find a weapon for her that doesn't siphon her MP. We're 430 gold short, and I think we have 6000 at the Vault, but we can sell her Morning Star to cover it right now.

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Nara's attack power is now not that far behind Taloon's; not bad.

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Image
Image: If that's true, the present King may have that same power.
Image: Ah, so it's hereditary. Can you-
Image: Nope.
Image: Hmm.

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Image
Image: He woke up in the middle of the night and begged me to put up a signpost to help his daughter who was in trouble.
Image: When he was a child?
Image: He definitely saw the future!
Image: Let me see... where did I put it up? ...what did it say? ...I can't remember.
Image: We have to find that sign.
Image: Got it.

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Image: He's very proud of that.
Image: And so he should be.

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That's definitely the way out. Let's try back north.

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The dog and the bushes in the south extending east past the edge of the building are definitely your clue to investigate here!

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Image: Sure is a weird place to put it.
Image: I suppose he had to make sure no one would think to remove it.

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Image: "Zenithian Castle is high up in the sky. Master Dragon lives there. Master Dragon is so strong. Long ago, he imprisoned the Ruler of Evil in darkness."
Image: In darkness? That's pretty vague.
Image: "I think the people of Stancia in the northern sea can tell you more about Zenithian Castle."
Image: Huh.
Image: They did know about the Zenithian gear, but we still don't know how to get there.
Image: Maybe it will become obvious once we have all the pieces.

That's your clue for the next step on your journey. The game more or less expects you to go clockwise around the world starting from Konenber. There is someone in Stancia who talks about the Zenithian Shield having once been in Burland, so that's where the trail picks up afterwards. In that sense, you're expected to find the Zenithian Armor, the Medal King and Rosaville after you've visited every other region, but as we've seen, our itinerary was definitely not on rails.

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Image: I don't think that'll-
Image: Ready? Here it goes...

The "you've equipped a cursed item" jingle plays.

Image: Eugh.

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Image: Oof, sorry, that's not the kind of evil we're here to fight.

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That singing isn't doing the other occupants any favors either.

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Image: If they're still around, we'll find them.
Image: ...yeah.

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Image: I dedicate this requiem to the vanished people of Santeem.

The Aktemto elegy starts playing.

Image: Now wait a minute here, that's a little much!
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Image: I'm sure not giving up on them, so cut out the funeral crap, okay?

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The music keeps playing.

No one else has anything new to say, so we rest up at the inn, and get ready to raid Santeem Castle.

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The castle music is playing again in here. It looks like Balzack has delusions of royalty again. Some people never learn.

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Welp, monsters. These are Monbaraba/Keelon region critters, but we haven't seen Ouphnests yet. They have 25 HP, 60 attack, 130 defense, and 5 agility; they can roll crits, paralyze with a normal attack or with a breath, cast Upper, and waste a turn assessing the situation. That's a lot of mischief they can cause while being whittled down through that ludicrous defense. Ouphnests are highly resistant to most magic, except an immunity to Expel, slight resistance to Blaze, and vulnerability to lightning, RobMagic, StopSpell, and Sap. I catch myself wishing Alena still had her Iron Claw for this, but Francois and Mara are up to the task here.

Francois gets paralyzed, but...

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...no problem.

Image: Hey! HEY YOU!
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Image: The King of this Castle is Balzack!
Image: Ugh, out of my way!

Surprisingly, the imp does not attack us.

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Image: Should have let the kitchen staff stay then, you idiot.
Image: That Balzack drives me hard. Blame him, not me! Kiii!

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This one does attack us, but we're more than equal to the task of dispatching a single Minidemon. In fact, Alena rolls a crit.

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Image: Gah, of course they took over my treasury!
Image: What's in there?
Image: I have no idea.

Image: Seeds, probably.
Image: Hmm-mmm.

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We can't attack this fire creature at this point; presumably Balzack will have to fall first.

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Ah, and that's a Seaside Village monster, no sweat. Blazemore one-shots it.

We run into many more Mystic Dolls, and I'm still enormously glad that nearly everyone is wearing a Golden Barrette.

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Image: Even the monsters hate him! What's going on?
Image: He's just that kind of dirtbag, I guess.
Image: I will never understand why dad took him in.
Image: I wouldn't work for him if it wasn't for Necrosaro's order. KiKii!
Image: Wait, isn't Balzack human? It'd explain why the monsters hate him, but not why Necrosaro entrusted him with a castle.
Image: I... wouldn't say he's a human anymore.
Image: You'll see.

Francois levels up against a pair of Phantom Messengers, for 3 Str, 1 Agi, 4 Vit, 2 Int, 3 Luc, 8 HP, 5 MP, and the Boom spell. It's of course the upgrade to Bang, dealing explosion damage to all enemies on screen for 8 MP. He typically learns it at about the same level as Mara will (but not always, seeing as she's level 23 too and she doesn't have it yet), so that's definitely another demonstration of his unusual magic power.

Alena also gains a level, for 8 Str, 8 Agi, 5 Vit, 1 Int, 5 Luc, and 12 HP. Holy crap.

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The top floor is unoccupied, and if we drop down from there again...

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Image
Image: Huh. Ooookay.
Image: Meena says the King of Santeem had a strange power. She says you should talk to a person in Surene who can tell you more.
Image: Well, thank you Meena.

Back to the throne room...

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Image: Guess who's back?
Image: Remember us?
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Image: Keeleon's not coming to your rescue this time.
Image: We made sure of that.
Image: Look at me! I've changed beyond recognition, haven't I? I'm Balzack!
Image: It doesn't matter how much you twist your body. We will always know you, as long as you live.
Image: Even Necrosaro the Master... not that Necrosaro is no match for me.
Image: Ugh, shut up. Nobody cares. Let's get this over with.
Image: Come! You foolish, weak humans!

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Welp, it turns out there's no law that says you can't use the Secret of Evolution multiple times!



Keeleon may have had one too many sips of weak sauce between chapters, but Balzack definitely got a lot tougher since the sisters taught him a lesson way back when. He has 500 HP (up from 240), 150 attack (up from 80), 100 defense (up from 43), and 14 agility (down from 22). He no longer emits fireballs, or casts Firebal and Healall, but he always acts twice, and he can emit freezing wind and cast Snowstorm. He also most likely regenerates a bit of HP every round.

Balzack is now immune to all non-damage magic and to ice, but vulnerable to all non-ice magic damage. (The Sword of Lethargy can still put him to sleep, though.) Bringing Mara along just makes sense because Blazemore is a boss killer, but Brey can drop a Bikill or two as well, so his ice spells being no-go hardly disqualify him from the fight.

It's worth noting that Balzack's ridiculously low agility almost guarantees that your entire team acts before he does (except maybe Ragnar), which helps a lot with survivability when comes healing time.

If you follow the "default" progression, which is to say Recruit Taloon -> Recruit Alena -> Recruit Ragnar -> Liberate Santeem, this battle is easily one of the toughest in the game. If you bring Ragnar along, he's likely very underleveled, and if you don't have the Zenithian Armor, your Hero can't tank those 150 attack power hits for long. Even with the party we have now, with two pieces of Zenithian gear and having traveled almost everywhere around the world, Balzack definitely didn't just lie down and take it.

As a reward, Nara levels up, for 2 Str, 2 Agi, 2 Vit, 2 Int, 4 Luc, 3 HP, and 2 MP. Mara follows, for 1 Str, 1 Agi, 4 Vit, 4 Int, 5 Luc, 10 HP, 8 MP, and her own Boom spell.

Seeing as this is a castle map just like in Keeleon, the wagon crew shares in the booty. Ragnar gains 3 Str, 1 Agi, 5 Vit, 1 Int, 1 Luc, and 11 HP. Cristo gets 2 Agi, 2 Vit, 2 Int, 3 Luc, 4 HP, and 4 MP. Taloon gets 2 Str, 2 Agi, 3 Vit, 2 Int, 2 Luc, and 4 HP.

Oh, and... I gotta say that Balzack's sprite is easily among my favorites in the entire series. This is what the man who murdered Edgar the Alchemist thinks peak performance looks like. Now I know the massive, fat, brutish, horned, winged, tailed, club-wielding demon look is a bit of a trope, but still, somehow today it seems... weirdly familiar...

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Huh. Welp. Moving on.

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Image: You idiot, we have the Hero with us. No monster is invincible anymore.
Image: You're not even a true monster. You threw away your humanity. And now you are nothing.
Image: But as long as the Secret of Evolution exists, I will never fall... I will... I will...
Image: We've just met and I'm already sick of you! I will have QUIET in my THRONE ROOM!
Image: Gasp!
Image: ...
Image: ...
Image: ...
Image: It's... it's done.
Image
Image: What? The experiment?
Image: That explains a lot.
Image
Image: ...aw crap.
Image: It's said that the Golden Bracelet amplifies the evil force!
Image: Oh no.
Image
Image: ...our time, the time of the evil force, will come! Ha, Ha, Ha!

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The imps vanish, taking Balzack's corpse with them.

Image: Wait, didn't we hear that the monsters have that Bracelet already?
Image: Maybe they're still carrying it somewhere. There's still time.
Image: ...
Image: Alena, are you alright?
Image: N-never better. Let's go.

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There are no more visible monsters around, but we still get into random encounters.

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That flame creature is definitely gone, though!

Image: May we...?
Image: Heh, whatever's in there, you can use it for a while.

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Image

Image: Yyyup.
Image: Hmm-mmm.

I think Cristo had the last one, so Nara gets this one, for a single point.

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Image: Huh.
Image: That flute...!
Image: Did Necrosaro store it here?
Image: Here, hand it over.

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Mara plays the same melody we heard in Rosa's dream message. That said, we didn't need to witness the dream to know the melody; the flute always plays these notes no matter what.

Image: If it's not the same, it sure sounds the same.
Image: We have our way in, then.
Image: Necrosaro's not going to like that.
Image: Good.

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Image: Whoa!
Image: Well I'll be.
Image: Didn't I tell you we'd find a bunch of the artifacts we need before long?
Image: Not complaining!

The Magma Staff is not just a key to get into Gardenbur, it's also a +63 weapon that Brey, Cristo, Nara and Mara can equip, and it'll cast Bang on command. Seeing as it's 8 points stronger than the Staff of Force, we'll let Nara have it so she can keep her MP. The Staff of Force will go to Cristo, but he'll hang on to his Staff of Punishment to keep his free wind damage, and we'll have to trust him to make smart choices. I'm well comfortable with letting Mara and Brey keep their Poison Needles, since they don't need help in the damage-dealing department otherwise.

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Nara now hits harder than Taloon!

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We experience no great difficulty in leaving the castle.

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Image: It's done.
Image: Balzack will stain this world no more.
Image: Well, you'll have to clean his ashes off your throne at some point.
Image: Glorious!
Image: Ah, good, good.
Image: So now we go after his master's master.
Image: Brey, why didn't you tell us we own the Magma Staff?
Image: Oh! That would be because I didn't know.
Image: Huh. And now I wonder why dad didn't tell me.
Image: It's probably because he was rather fond of his castle and didn't want to see you destroy it any more than you already did.
Image: Very funny.
Image: It turns out Necrosaro kept his flute here too, for some reason. We should be able to meet Rosa now.
Image: I don't know why she would have kept vital information to herself if she could communicate through dreams, but it can't hurt to make sure.
Image: Um, Francois, before we go...
Image: What's on your mind?
Image: There are still more towns in my realm. I want to check up on them while we're here. It's... it's probably the least I can do.
Image: Right, there's no telling what harm Balzack did while he was here. I'm with you, let's go.

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User avatar
François
Posts: 1708
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 8:00 am

Re: It's raining protagonists: Let's play Dragon Warrior IV!

Postby François » Wed Feb 20, 2019 11:59 am

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Image: We certainly were in a different state of mind when we last walked this road.
Image: You can say that again.
Image: I don't know, I'm still somewhere between anxiety and resigned acceptance.
Image: There's no way you don't believe I'm a real butt-kicker by now.
Image: The anxiety's not about you anymore.
Image: Oh.
Image: To be honest, you've been making me proud. I... I only wish you didn't have to go through all this.
Image: Everyone's hurting. We do our part as we can.
Image: It's just... I always wanted to be a hero. I wanted to be strong and help people and beat up monsters and all that stuff. But the truth is, you can only save people if they're in trouble in the first place. You just don't think about that until it happens to you.
Image: So what you're saying is that the world would be better off if it didn't need us.
Image: Yeah... yeah, I guess. Heck if I know what I'd want to do with my life if I couldn't do this, though.
Image: There are always tournaments. You don't need to go to war to be strong.
Image: Heh, it was pretty fun back in Endor, right up until it started being awful.
Image: I heard about that... Just another thing Necrosaro took from you, right?
Image: Ugh. Cristo, when we meet him, remind me to punch him in the dick.
Image: S-sure...

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Curers have 60 HP, 60 attack, 50 defense, and 28 agility; they're a lot weaker than the Mighty Healers we ran into near Riverton, but they know Healall instead of just Healmore. They're vulnerable to Blaze, wind and Surround, slightly resistant to sleep, StopSpell, Beat and Sap, highly resistant to Bang, Firebal, ice and Expel, and immune to RobMagic.

Seeing them show up with the enormously durable Ouphnests is a bit of a hassle, but Cristo's Beat and Brey's Bikill will see us sorted out.

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Image
Image: Whew, I'm glad to see you're doing okay!
Image: Wow! It's the young woman who defeated the monster some time ago.
Image: Don't they know you're the-
Image: We were traveling in secret at the time.
Image: More or less successfully.

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Image: Ha! Congratulations!
Image: I'll do everything to keep peace in this village until the child is grown.

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Image: It's okay, we got rid of their boss, it's only matter of time before they disperse.

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Image: This village will be a lively place.

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Image: It was no problem, really.
Image: ...I did die.
Image: And then you un-died, it's all good.
Image: Please don't put it in these words!

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Image: Ho ho, you better get some rest while you can!
Image: How true is the rumor that the Ruler of Evil will resurrect?
Image: Doesn't matter. If he did, we'd kill him.

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Image
Image: The kidnappers took the Golden Bracelet as ransom.
Image: Ah, so this is where it happened. Who could have known it would help monsters perfect the Secret of Evolution?
Image: It would WHAT?!
Image: Whuh-oh.
Image: A-are you sure?
Image: The monsters occupying Santeem sure seemed to think so.
Image: Look, Francois said it, there was no way to know.
Image: We took it from a mass grave! It was practically spelled out in bones!
Image: What were we supposed to do? Walk away?
Image: ...
Image: We're not having this argument again!
Image: We did end up needing the false princess' key, Sir Brey.
Image: And if you think about it, it was already owned by monsters before we came in the picture.
Image: Either way, what's done is done, I suppose.

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Image: It must have fetched a great price. What a waste!
Image: It was stolen by monsters. Those who bought it gained nothing.

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Image: He must still be at the inn.

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Image
Image: Ugh, I've heard enough already.
Image: Don't be so ignorant. You'd better listen.
Image: ...fine.
Image: The Golden Bracelet is a tool used in magic and alchemy.
Image: Well wouldn't that have been good to know.
Image: It's said to possess the power to amplify the force of darkness and create the undulation of evil energy.
Image: I bet people didn't kill each other over it out of simple greed, then.
Image: Therefore, it could cause a catastrophe if misused.

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Image
Image: ...Orin? Hmm.
Image: I thought he was dead from his terrible wounds. When the soldiers closed in on me, he suddenly rose and fought... I owe him my life! Blush...

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Image: I wonder how Edgar's daughters are doing...
Image: Just hang on a moment, okay? We'll be right back.

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Image: Nara, Mara, you know an Orin, right?
Image: Y-yeah. He helped us whup Balzack the first time around.
Image: Why?
Image: You'd better just come along.

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Image
Image: ...!
Image: I can't believe it!
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Image: By the light, I'm so sorry! We thought you were dead! We-
Image: Listen to me. The object of your revenge, Balzack, seems to be under the protection of Necrosaro.
Image: It didn't save him.
Image: By using the Secret of Evolution, Necrosaro intends to make the monsters even more powerful.
Image: Right, that already seems to be happening at least a little.
Image: We have to destroy the Secret of Evolution before he succeeds!
Image: We'll find a way, don't you worry about that.
Image: Your late father, Edgar, would have wished this also.
Image: Right, we already know he was trying to destroy it himself before Balzack stopped him.
Image: We're taking care of everything, Orin. You just... you just get better, alright?

Well hey, that takes a bit of sting off the Chapter 4 tragedy, doesn't it? Orin's still too injured to join us again, but we've got the Magic Key, we can manage.

The villagers still awake after sundown have nothing new to say, so we move on.

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Gah, there are Curers all over the place in Santeem now, we've had like one fight so far without at least one.

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I don't expect this cave will have changed much, but it won't take long to make sure. It's a narrow entrance, so again I pick among our lowest-level members, which looks like Ragnar, Nara and Brey. (Ragnar is 21, Nara, Brey, Alena and Cristo are 22, and Taloon and Mara are 24.)

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Ooh, nice. The Magma Staff does less magic damage than the Staff of Punishment (Infermore is maybe about twice as strong as Bang), but it's not limited to a single group.

Brey levels up on the bottom floor, for 1 Agi, 2 Vit, 5 Int, 5 Luc, 2 HP, 6 MP, and the X-Ray spell. It costs 3 MP, and just like in DW3, it color-codes chests to detect Man-Eater Chests and Mimics. That's one Mara doesn't get.

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Welp, we're done here. Interestingly, Brey knows Francois, Ragnar and Nara can one-shot anything in here, so he doesn't bother casting Bikill.

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Image: Our Princess Alena was saying someone called Necrosaro was suspicious...
Image: Ahem.
Image: Oh, my goodness! It's you, Princess! You're alright... Weep...
Image: I-it's fine. Just... we're on track to solve this whole business, so keep your chin up, okay?
Image: Your steadfastness will be rewarded, my good man.

He still won't let us through, though; if we left this building on the Endor side, we couldn't take the Travel Door back to Santeem.

A fight against seven Curers on the way west gets Alena to level 23, for 5 Str, 7 Agi, 5 Vit, 1 Int, 3 Luc, and 11 HP.

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Just as we learned from the traveling merchant at the inn in Kievs, the desert bazaar closed up shop some time ago.

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Dang, that's a decent amount of money right there. Francois spends his first turns casting FendSpell on the guys though, just to be sure!

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Nice.

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I'm pretty sure all towers count as narrow-entrance dungeons; we'll bring Ragnar, Cristo and Nara this time. That's two healers, but they've got some punch.

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Yeah, no problem. Francois levels up along the way, for 3 Str, 2 Agi, 5 Vit, 1 Int, 1 Luc, 14 HP, and 6 MP. Cristo follows, for 1 Str, 2 Agi, 3 Vit, 2 Int, 3 Luc, 5 HP, and 5 MP.

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As expected, nothing new. We leave the tower and Return to the Vault in Endor.

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Withdrawing the 6000 we had stored up, we find ourselves with 14529 gold. With that kind of cash on hand, it's hard to go wrong with a suit of Metal Babble Armor, especially considering it's arguably best-in-slot for four of the five characters who can wear it. Francois has his Zenithian Armor, Ragnar gets breath resistance from his Dragon Mail, and Cristo and Nara get spell resistance from their Sacred Robes... while Taloon is still wearing an Iron Apron. It's kind of a no-brainer: we're tanking up our merchant!

Selling the Apron and a Copper Sword we found in the tower gets us to 15729 gold. Excellent.

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Taloon's defense goes from 84 to 147, even higher than Francois'. He has the fourth highest max HP, so it's not like he'll get instantly wiped out by magic damage either.

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Image: Alright then, what's next?
Image: Rosa.
Image: Yeah, getting the Final Key's important, but if she has anything to tell us, we have to hear it.
Image: Besides, it's pretty obvious that she's not allowed out of that tower any more than anyone's allowed in.
Image: Do you think Saro will have her under guard?
Image: Yeah. I... I'd probably have her under guard. If I thought like a monster, I mean.
Image: Better get ready for a fight.
Image: Are we ever not?
Image: Heh, well said.

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Image: Hmm... Do you suppose we should try coming in at night?
Image: Eh, if she's not allowed outside, it won't make a difference.
Image: If she's a ghost, she might only show up at night.
Image: What? Why would she be a ghost?
Image: People talk about her like she doesn't live here anymore, right?
Image: Oof.
Image: Either way, we're going in. Mara?
Image: Right!

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Image: Yup, that was the flute alright.
Image: Here we go. Watch your backs!

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Image: We're here to see Rosa. We mean her no harm. Please let us through.
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Image: You asked for it, demon!

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Welp, that was a bit of a learning experience for me; it turns out the Sandglass of Regression only reverses time a single round, making everything I've read about it over the years dead wrong. (I also recently learned that it can only be used once per day!) I'm pretty sure it still saved our bacon, even though we lost someone in the end anyway. With Cristo silenced, Taloon was more useful to keep alive (and he sure took a couple solid hits with his new armor besides).

The Saroknight has 800 HP, 165 attack, 155 defense, and 40 agility; not only can he call on Chillanodons for reinforcements, but it turns out he's the current holder of the Sphere of Silence! Presumably the story intent is that Keeleon took it from the sisters and gave it to Necrosaro, who then entrusted it to Rosa's bodyguard/warden to defend her from anyone who would break in with magic. Anyway, in this case I'm pretty sure the Sphere is guaranteed to shut down all of your spellcasters; Taloon wasn't affected because non-casters are immune to StopSpell effects.

It's wise to bring Ragnar, Alena and Taloon to this battle if you're having trouble; I would have done so but I didn't remember to, heheh.

The Saroknight is immune to Surround, Sleep, Beat and Expel, highly resistant to Bang, slightly resistant to Firebal, Blaze, ice and Sap, and vulnerable to lightning and wind. Of course this only matters until he uses the Sphere, though a Sap cast near the start of the fight would be helpful throughout.

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On the plus side, we do get the Sphere back! Only Cristo ever learns StopSpell, but now our hero can use it at will, though it's subject to standard resistance mechanics in our hands. If you didn't pick it up in Chapter 4 at all and beat Balzack in his original powered-up form at the time, you can actually get it in Chapter 5 from the same chest; the Saroknight then has a copy and will drop it, making it possible to have two at once.

Taloon levels up, for 2 Str, 1 Agi, 3 Vit, 1 Int, 2 Luc, and 6 HP. Mara follows, for 1 Str, 2 Agi, 4 Vit, 10 Int, 6 Luc, 7 HP, and 9 MP. Ragnar gains 6 Str, 1 Agi, 5 Vit, 1 Int, and 9 HP. Nara gets 2 Str, 2 Agi, 2 Vit, 1 Int, 4 Luc, 4 HP, 5 MP, and the Infermore spell at last.

Shame about Cristo not gettin that 7000 experience, though. Man! Nara brings him back, casting Vivify from the wagon twice.

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Image
Image: I know we looked pretty scary back there, but we're not here to hurt her.
Image: What? You're not here to hurt her? Then I'll tell you something. It's said the Staff of Transform is in a royal crypt on the cape southwest of Endor.
Image: Oh! It's that building I spotted on the way to Haville!
Image: That shed's a royal crypt? Wow.
Image: I think if you use it, you'll be able to sneak into the monsters' castle.

Image: Sure beats trading it in for a bone.

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Image: Lady Rosa, I presume.
Image
Image: Yeah, we know.
Image: The ruler of the monsters is Saro.
Image: That's... not what he calls himself nowadays.
Image: He's renamed himself Necrosaro and intends to use the Secret of Evolution to become even more formidable. Please, stop Saro... no, Necrosaro.
Image: We would do it even if you didn't ask us to. Please don't worry.
Image: I don't want him to continue on this evil path...
Image: ...
Image: ...even if it means ending his life... Sob... Sob...
Image
Image: ...oh. Oh no, no way. I don't want these.
Image
Image: ...we'll take care of everything, miss.
Image: Be well.

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Image: "It is said that the great ones can catch teardrops in their hands..."
Image: Hmm?
Image: Never mind.

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Image: Boy, she really does love him, doesn't she?
Image: That much is obvious. And she doesn't look like the type of person who would feel that deeply about a complete demon, either.
Image: Eh, you'd be surprised.
Image: I always do what I can to see the best in people, but wanting to destroy the world is kind of a line.
Image: Yes, yes, of course, we have to stop him despite any hidden virtue he may possess.
Image: I guess I just end up wishing there was another way.
Image: So does Rosa, I'm sure.
Image: Poor girl.
Image: If I had a boyfriend who wanted to destroy the world, I would dump him so fast his butt would fall off.
Image: That's hardly an option for her at this point.
Image: For what it's worth, she's free to go now, at least.
Image: Not that she'd be safer anywhere else.
Image: Oh, right, the tears. Ugh.
Image: In the end though, she had no new information for us.
Image: Saro wouldn't tell her about the details of his plans. There's no way he doesn't know she doesn't agree with him.
Image: But that Slime, though!
Image: Right, the royal crypt...
Image: The place was locked up, wasn't it?
Image: To Gardenbur, then.
Image: Exactly.

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We Return to Burland and head east along the river once more.

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Alena levels up here, for 7 Str, 7 Agi, 4 Vit, 1 Int, 4 Luc, and 9 HP.

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Image: Nara?
Image: Right.

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Image: Huh.
Image: Well, it's open. Come on!

Mara gets killed by a pair of Beleths chain-casting Firebane moments later; I had pre-emptively brought in Cristo to heal her, but he cast Vivify instead and brought her back before the end of the fight. Nice!

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Image: Ah, the castle stands. Good. I'm sure they'll be glad to have news from the rest of the world!

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Image: Of course, that's understandable.
Image: Come back tomorrow.

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Image: ...huh.

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Image: They... they don't have an inn on the outside.
Image: Not a problem, let's see Sir Brey about this.

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Image
Image: A passage must be open now. That's good.
Image: We cracked open the mountain with an artifact on loan from Santeem. No need to thank us!

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Image
Image: ...she received something called the Zenithian Shield from Burland's King.
Image: Ah, just as we heard. Excellent.
Image: We only need to find the sword now.
Image: And the path to Zenithia.

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Image: The resurrection of the Ruler of Evil... the prophecy of the maturing Hero who shall defeat him... Master Dragon in Zenithia... and the baby born to a celestial nymph in Branca... I'm beginning to understand the meaning of all these stories...
Image: Heh, I'd say you're on the right track.

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Image: Say, what happened to your dad?
Image: Oh, uh, I hear he was struck by lightning and died.
Image: Yikes.
Image: Did the Zenithians kill him on purpose?
Image: That's an oddly dishonorable way to go about it.
Image: Is there an honorable way to kill a man for falling in love?
Image: Hmm... Now that you mention it, if there is, I'd rather not know.

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Image
Image: Don't touch those beautiful dresses with your dirty hands!
Image: No touching the dresses, got it.

There is in fact nothing of interest in those drawers, not even a Medal.

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Image
Image: Worry not, the Hero's manners are impeccable!

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Image: That's right, Your Highness. We-
Image: We've had peace because we've been cut off from the outside world...
Image: I'm not entirely sure that's the wisest way to look at it.
Image: Leave immediately.

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Image: Ugh, who does she think she is, really?
Image: So much for appealing to wisdom.
Image: It makes sense that she has her people's safety in mind.
Image: It's still incredibly short-sighted!
Image: Maybe we can help her out with something. Let's ask around.

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Image: She sure hides it well.
Image: She would have enjoyed a commoner's life if she hadn't been born into the royal family. I feel sorry for her.
Image: Ah... That sounds like someone I know.

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Welp, another for Ragnar. Three points!

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Image
Image: The Queen, recognizing my talent, gave me the Bronze Amulet. It's my treasure!

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I guess it makes sense that the inn is inside the walls, but that's not exactly friendly to travelers.

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The armor shop here predictably carries female-only equipment, and the Cloak of Evasion for some reason. It's also the first Pink Leotard we see for sale. We may or may not want to get one for Alena at some point, but her Cloak suffices for now.

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Image: Ha, I don't doubt it!

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Image: Don't mind if we do!

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Aaand he leaves.

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Image: Huh.

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Image: Wait, what?

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Image: Hey, we didn't steal anything!
Image: Aside from that Seed-
Image: SHH!

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Image: Like hell I will! Hands off, or else!
Image: Miss Mara, please don't make a scene. There has been a misunderstanding. They'll realize it sooner or later.

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Image: Ugh.

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Image: Well, that's a pickle to be in, in any case.
Image: Pfft, just watch.
Image
Image: ...okay, castle, not dungeon, let's see...

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Image

Image: ...ow.
Image: This is nonsense! We don't have time for jail!
Image: ...

Image: Wait, heroes can go to jail for stealing stuff? That's crazy!
Image: When they get tricked into taking the fall, sure.

User avatar
Blossom
Posts: 2297
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 8:58 pm

Re: It's raining protagonists: Let's play Dragon Warrior IV!

Postby Blossom » Wed Feb 20, 2019 5:07 pm

Fun Fact: The Saroknight drops the Sphere of Silence like any enemy drop, and that fight has a 100% chance of giving a treasure chest after the battle. However, like any battle, you can only get a treasure drop from the last enemy you kill, and the Sphere of Silence drops from the Saroknight specifically. So if you kill him before you kill his Chillanodon buddy last, you get nothing.

It sucks!
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User avatar
François
Posts: 1708
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 8:00 am

Re: It's raining protagonists: Let's play Dragon Warrior IV!

Postby François » Wed Feb 20, 2019 6:32 pm

Oh dang, that's some bollocks right there. At least there's another StopSpell item later on so you can still let your hero have one, but it's such a useful effect in general that missing out on an instance of it is pretty awful.

User avatar
Blossom
Posts: 2297
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 8:58 pm

Re: It's raining protagonists: Let's play Dragon Warrior IV!

Postby Blossom » Thu Feb 21, 2019 2:43 am

Yeah it's especially bad since you can't tell your allies who to attack. Brought Ragnar, Taloon, and Alena, with your hero on healing duty, because you knew that stopspell was coming? And they all decided to burst the knight down the turn the Chillanodon came out? No Sphere of Silence, too bad! If it's your first time playing, you might not even realize you missed anything!
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User avatar
François
Posts: 1708
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 8:00 am

Re: It's raining protagonists: Let's play Dragon Warrior IV!

Postby François » Sat Feb 23, 2019 3:22 am

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Image: Alright Cristo, we've got nothing else to do. We gotta sort out your Alena problem.
Image: M-my... my what?
Image: Come on, don't play dumb with me.
Image: Ho ho, I'm glad I'm not the only one who can tell.
Image: Everybody can tell.
Image: Tell what?
Image: I don't have an Alena problem!
Image: I thought Necrosaro was the only one with an Alena problem.
Image: Necrosaro has the "getting turned into meat salad" kind of Alena problem. Cristo's Alena problem is-
Image: Sweeter, but more painful.
Image: Sure, let's go with that.
Image: I don't get it.
Image: There is nothing to get!
Image: Sir Cristo, I know well the feeling of having deep affection towards one so far above your station.
Image: ...
Image: Allow me to tell you how to handle these feelings, from one loyal retainer to another. First, you acknowledge them for what they are. The enemy you face head-on cannot stab you in the back.
Image: The enemy? Now wait a minute-
Image: And once you recognize that you have these feelings, you can put them deep inside your heart, where they are safe, and warm. And then you lock them up in there, and you throw away the key, and you're done. Problem solved!
Image: ...
Image: ...
Image: ...is that as bad a way to handle that stuff as I think it is?
Image: Worse.
Image: Nonsense. It works perfectly.

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Image: Well would you look at that, it's leaving prison o' clock!
Image: Look, we're not done here-
Image: No, no, I do think we are done.
Image: Just don't do whatever it is Ragnar's doing, okay?
Image: Ah... m-message received...

The screen fades to black, and we find ourselves back in the throne room.

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Image: Good. I'm sure you'll be able to see that these accusations are ridiculous.
Image: If I may ask, what are the charges against us?
Image: You're accused of stealing the prophetess's Bronze Amulet.
Image: We don't even ha-
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Image: We did not steal it.
Image: The prophetess says she saw you steal it.
Image: She saw wrong.
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Image: Absolutely. We didn't take it, and we don't have it.
Image: Then who stole the Bronze Amulet?
Image: There was a bard in the room when we came in. He asked us to search the drawers, and left.
Image: For all we knew back then, it was his own room.
Image: If there had been any kind of amulet in there, we would have found it.
Image: If you insist you're falsely accused, I'll give you a chance to find the real thief.
Image: I ask for nothing more, Your Highness.
Image: However, I'll have to keep one of you as a hostage.
Image: W-what?
Image: Soldiers! Put one of them in jail!
Image: We understand. I'll go.
Image: No you won't.
Image: We cannot afford to lose the queen's trust any more than we already have. And besides, I... should have seen through that bard's trick.
Image: We all should have seen-
Image: I'm going. That's final.
Image: Ugh, fine.
Image: Go find the thief now!

If you falsely admit...

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Image: You're on trial. You must tell the truth.

Not the best judicial practices there, Lady Gardenbur. If you falsely admit the second time...

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Image: I'll ask you again.

Basically, we're in a but-thou-must situation until we refuse to admit guilt, and insist on our innocence.

At this point, we're taken back to jail.

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Image: To change the hostage, talk to me.

So this is this area's gimmick: we're deprived of one party member while we look for the thief.

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It doesn't have to be Ragnar, of course, but he'll do for now. If we try to put our Hero behind bars instead...

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Image: I'll take someone else.

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Image: I won't let you rot in here for long, I promise. We'll get the scoundrel.

There is a tiny bit of variation between party members when they're spoken to in the cell. All men say the same as Ragnar, and all women say "I'm counting on you. Get me out of here soon."

Now do you remember that part back in the Zenithian Armor cave where we were separated from our wagon crew by casting Outside? I wanted to see if it was possible to break this scene by going to Gardenbur with a lone hero, with the rest of his party stranded in that cave, and getting thrown in jail with nobody on the outside to prove your innocence... but it turns out the game makes your party rejoin you automatically instead.

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Image: Huh. Why not?
Image: Oof, let's save that talk for later.

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Image: ...
Image: ...
Image: Okay. I mean, why would you? All clothes here are women's clothes. It wouldn't make any sense.
Image: You're way too pure for this world.

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Image
Image: This has to be the Shield.
Image: Let's hope the queen really has the Final Key, then.
Image: And that she won't mind giving it to us.
Image: ...

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Image
Image: Ah, you'll be happy to know the path is clear now.
Image: What? A passage is now open? Hmm... should I be happy or what?
Image: Pff, just go home, you creep.

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Image
Image: Phhh, Phhh, Phhh. You envy me, don't you?
Image: If you're the only man they know, it's no wonder they don't let any more in.
Image: By the way...
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Of course he's running the House of Healing.

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Image
Image: It probably wouldn't hurt to spread the rumor that the Hero lives, at this point.
Image: Eh, they'll figure it out when the world doesn't end.

Image
Image: Well, we know Necrosaro does, but it's up in the air for his boss.
Image: Maybe the one girl.

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Image: I get the appeal of living here, believe me, but if you want any kind of man, you really need to put your travel boots on.

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Image: You do work in the castle. You must know all of the hiding spots!
Image: I'm not sure that follows.
Image: If I were the thief, I'd hide in a cave.
Image: Oh, yeah, he'll have sneaked out. We'll just have to search the area.

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Image
Image: We'll track it down, madam.
Image: Just go easy on the quick accusations next time, okay?

Now before we leave...

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The wall north of this staircase looks a little suspicious, doesn't it? If we go to the upper floor, then back down...

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...then north...

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...there's a sneaky hidden chamber! I think this is the only point in the entire series where having to choose DW1's STAIRS command to go up stairs would have been in any way better than just automatically going up when reaching a staircase tile.

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The Fire Claw is a +60 weapon that only Alena can equip, and it has a unique ability in that it casts Firebane, but only targets one enemy, like Blaze would. In terms of raw attack power, it's her best weapon... but the Stiletto Earrings will typically do more total damage unless she's enormously underleveled. At this moment, the Fire Claw would give her one 167 power strike, and the Earrings give her two 112 power strikes. We'll still let her carry it though, just to give her access to elemental damage.

That's for it Gardenbur right now. It's closed at night as we saw, and neither the Day-Night spell nor the Lamp of Darkness work at all inside. We rest up and get ready to begin our pursuit.

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Image

Image: So, what's the good news?
Image: The queen took Ragnar hostage.
Image: If I wanted bad news, I would have asked for them.
Image: We were framed by a thief and now we have to catch him to prove our innocence.
Image: You... wouldn't happen to have seen him, would you?
Image: Nnnnnope.
Image: Well he can't have gone too far without getting mauled by the local fauna.
Image: Right, that's what I'm thinking. Come on everyone, we have a cave to find.

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We ambush a Skullknight here, and Alena two-shots him with a crit at the start of the first round. We'll be just fine.

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Brey levels up here, after a battle against a Chillanodon and two Tyranosaurs; he gains 2 Agi, 3 Vit, 6 Int, 3 Luc, 7 HP, and 6 MP.

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Welp, a narrow entrance. Let's pick our lowest-level folk again and see how it goes: Cristo and Nara are at 23, Alena and Brey are at 24, and Taloon and Mara are at 25. I definitely don't want three casters down there, so Alena, Cristo and Nara it is.

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Ooh, that's more of the pseudo-multilayered tileset we saw way back in the Golden Bracelet cave.

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Okay, nothing new so far.

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Dead end. The game only makes distinctions between passable tiles and impassable tiles; there are no tiles that have specific directions blocked off. This is significant because it looks like you should be able to stand on the row of tiles at the very northern edge of platforms, but the game has no way to keep you from walking right off it to the north, so the entire edge tile is impassable like a wall.

We did see a chest in the southeast, so there must be a way around to there.

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We could handle these guys around Rosaville, we can handle them here.

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It's interesting to see this dungeon being a massive, open underground chamber, instead of the twisty, mazelike tunnels we're used to in the series. It definitely feels different to navigate, in any case.

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Maybe the chest we saw is accessible from this southern path, so let's check it out first.

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Oof, more of those guys. Alena uses her Fire Claw on one, Cristo his Staff of Punishment on the other, Nara uses her Magma Staff on both, and this puts them within Francois' one-shot range.

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Yeah, we good.

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Oooh, we'd actually need to take an eastern path close to the entrance to get to this chest after all. It's too far to turn all the way back, we'll just have to get it another time. Let's go down one layer for now.

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It looks like the path on the south side of this channel leads to the down staircase we saw earlier. We can still go see what's on this side, though.

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Right, dead end. Oh well.

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The way to the next floor definitely goes along the top of this narrow ridge in the east here.

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We missed that chest too, but we can afford to retrace our steps and return to the middle layer for a bit.

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Oof. Francois has our only resistance to breath damage, so this is beginning to be rough chuckles. Alena one-shots one at the start of the turn, then our Hero casts his first Boom, followed up by the Magma Staff and Staff of Punishment. The screen is cleared in one round, though we do take one instance of blizzard breath. We really can't mess around with this, because it would two-shot Nara with ease.

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Eh, sure, we'll save it for Ragnar.

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Okay, we know for sure the south path here leads to the stairs, but there's that chest... Hmm... Eh, chest first.

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Ah, and this is the eastern edge of the cave.

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Alright, not bad. Back to the ridge, then.

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Yup, that's all of the first floor, apart from that one chest. Let's keep pushing forward.

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Image: If that thief is here, he sure made it down a long way past all these monsters.
Image: He could be in league with them, for all we know.
Image: Gah, I hope he still has it, then. I'd rather not think about some other random trinket being in their hands.

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Hmm... Let's try to go around to the east first.

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Or, not.

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The upwards path to the north is intriguing, but maybe the south passage will lead to that chest.

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Hard to say from here. Let's go south.

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Oooh, new critters at last. Mantams have 85 HP, 81 attack, 80 defense, and 61 agility; they can call for reinforcements and waste a turn assessing the situation. They're weak to Bang and wind, slightly resistant to other magic damage and to Beat, highly resistant to Surround and Sleep, and immune to Sap.

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And if there's more than one, they can combine their attacks! It uses up all of their actions, but this raging blaze is a medium-powered fire breath move. I suspect it's stronger if there are more of them, but I'm in no hurry to experiment.

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Those stairs are probably our destination here.

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That's two points for Cristo.

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Hmm, maybe we should have taken that middle passage. Eh, let's just keep going along the southern wall.

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Oh hey, we've stumbled on the main path after all! We were going to have to take a second trip down here anyway, so we can keep going. We're still in pretty good shape, too; having three people who can cast Healmore sure spreads the healing expenses around, and it makes me feel less guilty about blowing Francois' MP on Boom.

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Image: This has to be it. Watch out everyone, that guy's gotta be real slippery.

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Image

Image: ...I won't even pretend to understand why anyone would sleep here.
Image: To evade pursuit, presumably.
Image: Didn't work out too well for him today.
Image: Works out just fine for us.

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Neither the jars nor the drawers contain anything of note.

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Image: It might still be on him...
Image: Cristo, search this man.
Image: Um... S-sure...
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Image: Ah, there!
Image: W-
Image
Image: You're damn right it's us!
Image: Surprise.
Image: No! You won't catch me!

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Image

Image: Oh no you don't!
Image: There's only one exit! We gotta head him off!

The thief makes a run for it and he'll actually get away if you let him, but he can't pass through your party members and it's not hard to block his path. In case he does escape, you can just leave the room and come back in to find him in bed again.

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Image: Got you!
Image: Darn!

Image

Image: Wait, what? Bakor?!
Image: Do you know him?
Image: Uh... kinda?

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Image: He stole a key from me, Bakor!

Image: Huh.
Image: How did he...?
Image: Maybe it's a common name.



Quite surprisingly for a human, Bakor is something of a badass, with 1000 HP, 138 attack, 125 defense, and 79 agility. That makes him not quite as strong as Balzack, but much faster and tougher. He can build up power, as well as cast Snowstorm and Increase.

He's outright immune to Surround, Sleep, Beat, Expel and RobMagic, highly resistant to ice, slightly resistant to Firebal, Blaze and StopSpell, and vulnerable to Bang, wind, and Sap.

Having Cristo seal his spells early on was very fortunate; Francois, Cristo and Nara are resistant to Snowstorm and Alena has like a million HP, but we did not want to see him start stacking Increase. On the other hand I could have done without all those Beat and Sleepmore casts, but they had to make sure I suppose.

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Strangely enough, Bakor's drop isn't the Bronze Amulet, it's just one Agility Seed. Oh well. We do get a ton of experience though. Francois gets 6 Str, 1 Agi, 4 Vit, 2 Int, 4 Luc, 9 HP, 6 MP, and the Zap spell, returning as a single-target lightning damage spell about as powerful as Blazemore, costing a very affordable 4 MP. Alena gets 6 Str, 6 Agi, 5 Vit, 1 Int, 5 Luc, and 10 HP. Cristo gains 1 Str, 4 Agi, 3 Vit, 2 Int, 3 Luc, 5 HP, 4 MP, and the Defeat spell, which is the group-targeting instant death effect, costing 7 MP; it rolls against Beat resistance but still has lower odds of success than Beat.

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Image: Should have admitted it before all the broken bones.

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Image
Image: Eh? What are you doing here?
Image: The Queen ordered me to follow you.
Image: Wow, you're pretty strong.
Image: ...did you even really need us to come here?
Image: She instructed me to offer assistance if necessary.
Image: Well, as you see, we're fine.
Image: I'll take him to the Castle.
Image: Just as well. With the shape he's in, we would have had to listen to him whine all the way.
Image: Francois, you return to the castle. Bye!

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And she's gone. Welp, that went alright. We could have Francois cast Outside, but we've got some MP left on everyone, let's see if we can finish exploring the second floor.

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Nara gets her level off a trio of Dragonits, for 1 Str, 2 Agi, 2 Vit, 2 Int, 2 Luc, 4 HP, and 3 MP.

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Oh hey, that's a cool find. If Ragnar was here we'd give it to him right away, but it'll be an upgrade to Francois' Iron Shield for now.

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Welp, free Iron Mask. It's money!

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Back near the north wall...

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Okay, we know this leads to a couple dead ends, no need to go any further.

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That's the entire map, but we're missing that one chest near the entrance. Francois casts Outside, and we go right back in.

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Oooh, now that's worth it. And we're good! Francois casts Outside again, then we return to Gardenbur.

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Image

Image: Is that good enough for you now?
Image: Francois, you found the thief!
Image: That we did, Your Highness.
Image: The soldier who returned first, informed me. Use this key to get your companion out of jail.
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Image: Oh, that...!
Image: Huh.
Image: Alright, we can take that as an apology.
Image: Also, take the Zenithian Shield from this Castle's basement. It's yours.
Image: I-I appreciate your trust.
Image: My people told me that you're on journey (sic) to defeat the Ruler of Evil. I also heard monsters used to live south of here in Rosaville.
Image: Monsters? So not just Saro, then.
Image: He must have had parents. Well, maybe.
Image: You may find out something there. I suggest you visit Rosaville.
Image: We've seen as much of Rosaville as we care to already, but thank you for the advice, Your Highness.

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Image: You certainly put on quite a show, then.
Image: I could tell by the look in your eyes.

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Image: All's well that ends well. I guess it was a good thing we were here, even.
Image: I'm sorry I suspected you even for a moment... Forgive me.
Image: It's alright. We needed a way to gain the queen's trust, so this is really just as well.

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Image: ...eh?
Image: What am I saying?
Image: Good question.

Image: Ragnar! Good news!
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Image: Right away. Here...
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Image: Didn't count on stumbling on the legendary hero, did you?
Image: Those three basements in this Castle I heard about... I couldn't find them either... I hate myself...

That's your clue to look for the Fire Claw right there; the other two basements are this jail and the Zenithian Shield vault.

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Aaaand here we are. The Zenithian Shield offers 55 points of defense power, only 5 less than a Metal Babble Shield. Only the Hero can use it, and it casts Bounce for free when used in battle, which is very cool because you can then turn enemy spells against them without needing to rely on Brey's AI. Francois equips it of course, and he hands his Dragon Shield to Ragnar.

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Yeah, that's looking good. We've got all of the Zenithian protective gear; all we need now is the sword.

So, the Final Key then. We'll need it to crack open the royal crypt, access that giant statue near Riverton, and unlock the rest of the pirate stash, but there are plenty of other places around the world with neat stuffed tucked away behind iron bars, so we'll be sure to have a look next time!

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nosimpleway
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Re: It's raining protagonists: Let's play Dragon Warrior IV!

Postby nosimpleway » Sat Feb 23, 2019 12:32 pm

A dungeon you can finish in one trip. What is the world coming to?

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Friday
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Re: It's raining protagonists: Let's play Dragon Warrior IV!

Postby Friday » Mon Feb 25, 2019 1:41 am

I really like the dungeon design.

Part of a good RPG (or just, a game in general) is exploring interesting locales. DW4 is a big step forward for the series in that sense.
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François
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Re: It's raining protagonists: Let's play Dragon Warrior IV!

Postby François » Mon Feb 25, 2019 6:18 am

This is a fascinating notion to me. If we look at the layout on the maps I put together, there is nothing there that DW1 couldn't have done. It's all passable tiles, impassable tiles, chests and staircases. But there are no parts in DW1, DW2 or DW3 that feel anything like this. DW4 has more cartridge space, leading to more room for graphical tile variants, leading to more room for various slopes; in the end, you have this loosening of technical limitations that leads to the creation of design elements that could have existed within the previously tighter limitations, but just didn't.

In other words, you could reproduce Bakor's cave with DW1 dungeon tiles for an identical dungeon-exploring experience, but it wouldn't have occurred to a level designer to make a dungeon in this exact shape in the first place without the ability to make walls look like slopes or water, and imply changes in elevation with stairs and different types of floor tiles. Within the series, improvements in graphics came hand-in-hand with progressively more interesting and varied dungeons, even in ways that didn't strictly need these graphical improvements to happen. And that kinda blows my mind to be honest.

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François
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Re: It's raining protagonists: Let's play Dragon Warrior IV!

Postby François » Tue Feb 26, 2019 2:35 am

I took the liberty of doing some housekeeping between updates. We've sold our extra Iron Mask and two Iron Shields; with the money we made in Bakor's cave, we were able to deposit 8000 gold at the Vault. We also left the Magic Key in Neta's hands, and delivered a couple Small Medals to the Medal King. Oh, and the two Agility Seeds we got earned Ragnar a total of 4 points!

With that out of the way, it's time to travel the world and unlock some jail doors!

The first ones we try, in the Izmit, Endor, and Bonmalmo jail cells, reveal nothing.

In Lakanaba...

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Now that's more promising.

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We'll give it to Cristo, since he has less Strength than Nara right now; he gains one point.

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Ah, now that's a cool find. The Ice Blade is a +75 weapon (15 points better than a Sword of Lethargy, 15 points weaker than a Dragon Killer) that Ragnar and the Hero can equip. It also casts Snowstorm at will!

Now it would be an upgrade for Francois and a downgrade for Ragnar... but we'll give it to Ragnar anyway. Ragnar's Sword of Miracles can be equipped by Taloon and Cristo, while the Ice Blade cannot, so he hands it down to Taloon to replace his ancient Sword of Malice.

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Taloon now hits harder than anyone else (except Alena, heh), with the second best defense in the party. We're a long way from an endgame DW3 Merchant having to make do with Half Plate Armor, a Zombie Slasher, and subpar stats.

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Eh, sure.

Image: Is it okay to take this?
Image: It turns out I was, uh, significantly underpaid when I worked here.
Image: I'm surprised you'd ever let anyone pay you less than you're worth, Taloon.
Image: Yeah, me too.

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Now, in Branca...

Image: Would you believe this king sent me to kill the Ruler of Evil without offering anything in exchange?
Image: The nerve!

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We'll let Francois have those from now on. He gains 4 max MP!

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Okay, worth it.

While we're in the area, we pay a visit to the desert inn run by Hector's father.

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Image: Oh, he's in good hands.
Image: Good enough, at least.

Back in Konenber...

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Image: I heard there was something terrible in this chest.
Image: It's probably only a Man-Eater Chest, we can handle it.

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The Sword of Decimation is a +120 weapon (20 more power than the Sword of Miracles) that can be wielded by Ragnar and Taloon. Seeing where we found it though, it's obviously cursed: equipping it reduces your defense power to zero. However, it casts Defence for free, and you can use it that way without deleterious effects. We'll keep it in Francois' inventory, in case we need to deal with enemies inclined to stack Upper and Increase.

We knew of two Travel Doors behind bars in the shrine halfway between Mintos and Soretta, but we already know those lead to the Riverton area and the Medal King island, so there's no need to visit.

Finally, in Haville...

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Two more Medals for our trouble! Only sixteen more to go for the Metal Babble Helm.

Alright then, I believe that's all of the easily accessible stuff in towns and castles, so let's open a dungeon this time. The game has been pointing us towards the Endor Royal Crypt and that giant statue south of Riverton, but we'll first have a look at the stash of Seaside Village's pirate ancestors and see if we can find that Metal Babble Sword.

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Image: Oh, goodness, why are you bringing me here again?
Image: You are a Chosen One as well, Sir Brey. Your power is evident even in a place such as this.
Image: Besides, I have a feeling we'll all be going to much worse places, in time.
Image: ...what a joyful notion.

Ragnar is level 22, Cristo, Nara and Brey are level 24, and Taloon, Mara and Alena are level 25. Ragnar's got a ton of experience to catch up on, clearly, so he'll be in non-wagon parties for the foreseeable future. We've just had a two-healer team for Bakor's cave, so let's go with Nara and Brey this time.

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I wasn't sure the waterfall would remain open, so I kept the Stone of Drought just in case; we'll leave it at the Vault next time we're there.

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The Balakoodas are fond of casting Increase, and the Maelstrom are resistant to ice damage, so the Sword of Decimation and Magma Staff come in very handy here! Brey even helps out with his own Defence cast.

Ragnar levels up in this first battle, for 5 Str, 1 Agi, 7 Vit, 1 Int, and a massive 18 HP.

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Image: It'll be fine, it looks like we're past the humid parts now.

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Image: ...ahhhhh.
Image: Okay then, never mind.

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More Hemaswords and Minidemons; we're even stronger now than we were when we first ran into those, but crits and Blazemore casts are still rather threatening, so it's not a cakewalk by any means.

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We know there's a chest up north here...

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Okay, good. Back to the southwest, now.

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Francois levels up here, after an unusually long fight against two Balakoodas and two Hemaswords where Brey was nearly one-shot by a critical hit; he gains 5 Str, 2 Agi, 5 Vit, 2 Int, 4 Luc, 9 HP, and 5 MP.

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Hmm... These stairs look too obvious, let's go east first.

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Dang, these battles are rough chuckles. I'm starting to think we should have brought Cristo and Nara again, just to have more spell damage resistance.

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Raygarth have 98 HP, 110 attack, 70 defense, and 62 agility, with a paralysis breath attack. That's a lot of attack power; these critters hit Ragnar for 40-50 damage right now. They're weak to Firebal, Blaze, Sleep and Sap, slightly resistant to other magic damage, and highly resistant to Surround and Beat.

One of them catches Francois and Ragnar in one breath, but Nara immediately comes in with NumbOff to cure them both and neither lose their action for the round. Excellent!

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We're already getting moderately low on MP; it takes a lot of healing to recover after fights like these. Brey's casting nearly non-stop, so we can see the Hat of Happiness earning its keep there for sure.

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Heh, I didn't expect to stumble on the main path right away. We've missed a chest or two, but we'll see about those on our next run.

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Image: Ah, how far down can this cavern possibly go!?
Image: You're a Chosen One, miss Nara. No complaining!
Image: ...I might have earned that.

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Image: I think this is it!

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Image: ...well then.
Image: Wow.

The Metal Babble Sword is a +130 weapon that the Hero, Ragnar, Taloon, Cristo and Nara can equip. In addition, it deals double damage to Metal Slimes and other related metal enemies. Which is to say, two points of damage instead of one.

As you may have guessed, this is the greatest treasure in the pirate cave. It's not actually required for anything though, which makes this fairly long dungeon full of tough foes entirely optional. We've come a long way from the one optional dungeon in DW1, with its useless Fighter's Ring at the end.

There's a variety of opinions about who should get the Metal Babble Sword, but since the Hero and Ragnar have access to decent weapons otherwise, Taloon has the Sword of Miracles, and Nara has potent damage spells, I'm inclined to let Cristo have it. He'll still start boss battles casting Beat a bunch, but once he catches on, oh boy oh boy!

One might argue that Ragnar always attacks every turn so he'd make better use of it, but really, Ragnar's main strength is that he's still as much of a fridge full of bricks as he was in his own chapter. If it's raw damage output I want, I can just bring Alena.

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It's a testament to Ragnar's ridiculously high Strength that his Ice Blade still hits nearly as hard as Taloon and Cristo's much better weapons.

Aaaanyway, we're not done here. We Return to Rosaville, rest up, sell Cristo's Staff of Force, and sail back to the cave. Brey gets to level 25 on the way, for 1 Str, 2 Agi, 2 Vit, 9 Int, 4 Luc, 3 HP, 4 MP, and his own RobMagic spell, long after Mara gets hers.

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To Brey's relief, Cristo is now one level below him, so we take him along instead.

Ragnar reaches level 24 shortly into the run, for 6 Str, 1 Agi, 8 Vit, 1 Int, 1 Luc, and 13 HP. Nara gets to 25 soon afterwards, for 2 Str, 2 Agi, 1 Vit, 2 Int, 2 Luc, 2 HP, and 4 MP.

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Okay, we're back on the third floor. There are two paths we still need to check out here, one of which we know for sure has a chest.

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Ah, this is the guaranteed chest for the Mask of Corruption. We are definitely not making anyone wear this, and it only sells for 6 gold. Not great!

Cristo gets to level 25 on the way back, for 4 Agi, 3 Vit, 1 Int, 2 Luc, 6 HP, and 4 MP. Hmm... I wonder if he's hit his Strength cap for this level with the Seeds we've been giving him, or if his natural growth has just slowed down this much on its own. I think we'll be giving these Seeds to Nara from now on; maybe at some point she'll be strong enough to make it worth giving her Stiletto Earrings. She's at 51 Strength right now, so the +63 Magma Staff is still better than they would be, even on an enemy with zero defense.

Nara gets paralyzed by a Raygarth further in. Cristo never learns NumbOff, but he did buy a Full Moon Herb in his chapter! He's also really on the ball with casting StopSpell on groups of Maelstrom, so I'm a big fan of his AI right now. Man, that feels weird to say. When I was a kid, I used to go through entire dungeons on the Save MP tactic; ironically, I'd end up spending more MP healing between fights than I would have by letting my casters off the leash with their efficient disabling effects.

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Money's always good. We'll want a Dragon Killer for Ragnar, probably at least one other Metal Babble Armor (I haven't decided if I want to replace our healers' Sacred Robes), and of course there's always good stuff at the Casino.

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Aaaand that's it!

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Dang, what a haul! We've got 16212 gold, not counting our Vault account. We Return to Rosaville, and buy Ragnar a Dragon Killer. Presumably Francois will get his hands on the Zenithian Sword one day, even though we have absolutely no idea where it is, so we won't ever buy a second Dragon Killer. The Ice Blade is stronger than the Sword of Lethargy though, so we hand it to him.

Our Hero's got good spell damage output besides, with Boom and Zap, so he doesn't strictly need the best and greatest weapons just yet.

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Cristo still hits harder than Francois by a hair, but Ragnar has taken his crown back. Well, he takes it back in terms of the numerical stat, because, again, Alena. Though I suspect he might actually inflict more damage per turn than she would against dragon-type enemies! (Unless she rolls a crit. Or... two crits. Alena's just crazy strong.)

We sail up the river to drop off our Medals, then Return to Endor to store the Stone of Drought and the Mask of Corruption (the latter sells for 6 gold, we might as well keep it). Selling the Sword of Lethargy and Taloon's old Sword of Malice puts us at over 18000 gold with our Vault account, so we straight up buy Ragnar his Metal Babble Armor. He still gets breath resistance from his Dragon Shield, so it's all upsides. It takes his defense from 113 to 163, ahead of Taloon and barely behind Francois.

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Image: Alright, what's next?
Image: We go the Royal Crypt and find the staff we need to infiltrate the monsters' castle.
Image: Do we really have to infiltrate it, though?
Image: What do you mean?
Image: We could just... you know... kick down the front door.
Image: Hmm. That's a defensible course of action.
Image: It's not like we don't plan to make a mess in there sooner or later, especially if Necrosaro's home.
Image: Look, I want to take out Necrosaro as much as you do. At least as much as you do.
Image: What are you getting at?
Image: He's not the only monster. The Secret of Evolution is out there, and they may have the Bracelet already for all we know.
Image: And the Ruler of Evil was prophesied to return just as much as the Hero was prophesied to be born.
Image: We need information.
Image: ...and we're not gonna get it if we kill everything that moves. Ugh.
Image: Besides, if they're holding our people hostage somehow...
Image: Right, right, okay, I get it. Infiltration it is.

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Everyone is level 25, except Francois at 26, and Ragnar at 24. Let's go with... let's say... Ragnar, Cristo and Mara.

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Image: Wait, they're just breaking into a royal crypt?
Image: It does seem uncouth.
Image: Eh, it's no big deal. Garin didn't miss that Harp in his lifetime, he sure didn't miss it after he was long dead.
Image: We really needed that Magic Key!
Image: Are we the only ones here who haven't robbed a tomb?
Image: Come on, we know you robbed the living.
Image: We only rob the living when they're not smart enough to put their valuables somewere we can't get to.
Image: Right, exactly. You're practically doing them a favor!
Image: I know!
Image: ...well that takes me back.

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Rico
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Re: It's raining protagonists: Let's play Dragon Warrior IV!

Postby Rico » Tue Feb 26, 2019 3:26 am

When I was a kid, I used to go through entire dungeons on the Save MP tactic; ironically, I'd end up spending more MP healing between fights than I would have by letting my casters off the leash with their efficient disabling effects.

I, uh, still do that half the time.

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Friday
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Re: It's raining protagonists: Let's play Dragon Warrior IV!

Postby Friday » Tue Feb 26, 2019 11:32 pm

strength seeds


No no, the correct thing is to always give them to Alena because they're twice as effective on her.
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François
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Re: It's raining protagonists: Let's play Dragon Warrior IV!

Postby François » Wed Feb 27, 2019 1:45 am

Rico wrote:
When I was a kid, I used to go through entire dungeons on the Save MP tactic; ironically, I'd end up spending more MP healing between fights than I would have by letting my casters off the leash with their efficient disabling effects.

I, uh, still do that half the time.


It's a hard habit to break! I know I've been perpetually surprised for this entire run so far by how well setting them loose has worked out.

Friday wrote:
strength seeds


No no, the correct thing is to always give them to Alena because they're twice as effective on her.


Counterpoint: Alena's superlative battle prowess hardly necessitates the use of performance-enhancing supplements. :D

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Friday
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Re: It's raining protagonists: Let's play Dragon Warrior IV!

Postby Friday » Wed Feb 27, 2019 9:41 pm

Alena has been banned from Baseball forever

not because she used Strength Seeds but because she just kept beating up the basemen when they tried to tag her
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Blossom
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Re: It's raining protagonists: Let's play Dragon Warrior IV!

Postby Blossom » Wed Feb 27, 2019 10:19 pm

They have to touch you with the hand holding the ball. If that never makes contact, because you're bending it 180 degrees the other direction, then you're not out.
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François
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Re: It's raining protagonists: Let's play Dragon Warrior IV!

Postby François » Fri Mar 01, 2019 11:33 am

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Alright, back to our quest for the Staff of Tranformation.

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A pair of Hambalbas attack us as soon as we pass through the fissure. They're still not trivial, but we know how to handle them. Francois levels up, for 4 Str, 2 Agi, 6 Vit, 2 Int, 4 Luc, 15 HP, 7 MP, and the Healall spell! Just like in DW3, it costs 7 MP, and restores one ally's health to full. Considering Francois, Alena, Ragnar and Taloon have enough HP by now to require two or three Healmore casts sometimes, this is a huge deal.

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Ooh, another sliding tile dungeon! Neat. Let's investigate the west passage first, before we let the northern one send us who-knows-where. If there's anything Soretta's seed cellar taught us, it's that it pays to look before you leap.

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Heh, alright then. It looks like we'll have a choice once we get into this area from the west side: going for the chest, then having to start from the beginning, or going for the central room. That'll be for later, though.

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More Hemaswords. Their Upper casts aren't much of a problem by now, but we need to finish this fight quickly before they have a chance to spam RobMagic. We switch to Offensive: Cristo attacks one, Mara casts Boom, killing one, and Francois finishes off the second. Whew!

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Looks like we only had the illusion of choice there.

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Tyranobats have 98 HP, 115 attack, 72 defense, and 43 agility, with the ability to emit a stunning roar. They're weak to Blaze, lightning and ice, highly resistant to sleep, and only slightly resistant to anything else we have, including Beat.

Francois and Ragnar get stunned on the first round, but Mara one-shots one with Blazemore, and Cristo nearly kills another with his new sword. I don't expect these critters will be enormously difficult unless they show up with allies who can take advantage of us being incapacitated.

On the second round, Mara casts Blaze, doing 9 damage to finish off the one Cristo started. She definitely already knows how much HP they have.

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Welp, that's not much info to go off on here either. Let's try the north row.

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Ah, okay then, they both take us to these stairs. It's like we're given a preview of the dungeon on the way down, and we'll have to fight back up the long way.

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We are definitely not taking this slide first.

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I should just stop guessing. My expectations are challenged at every turn!

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We get ambushed by four Metal Babbles; two of them run away before we get to do anything. They have 5 HP, 65 attack, 1023 defense, and 150 agility, with the ability to cast Blaze and Firebal. Of course, just like Metal Slimes, they're immune to magic.

Cristo's Metal Babble Sword is an asset here of course, since it deals two points of damage instead of one. However, I'm starting to wish we had brough Alena and Taloon instead of Ragnar and Mara. Alena delivers her defense-ignoring crits of course, but more importantly Taloon could possibly steal Hats of Happiness from them!

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Three of them escape, but we do take one down, and we earn 10050 experience for our trouble! Ragnar levels up, for 4 Str, 1 Agi, 4 Vit, 1 Int, and 7 HP. Cristo follows, for 1 Str, 3 Agi, 5 Vit, 2 Int, 3 Luc, 6 HP, and 4 MP. Predictably, Mara also gains a level, for 3 Agi, 2 Vit, 2 Int, 4 Luc, 5 HP, and 11 MP.

The presence of such large numbers of Metal Babbles makes the Royal Crypt easily one of the best grinding locations in the entire game. We haven't needed to grind much so far, and I hope we won't have to any more, but hey, if we ever do, this is the place.

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Image: Man-Eater?
Image: Man-Eater.
Image: Sometimes people just put cool things in interesting places, you know.
Image: Or Man-Eaters.
Image: Hmm-mmm.

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Image: Oh.
Image: Huh.
Image: ...are you guys actually disappointed?
Image: It's just real satisfying to crack their lid in half is all.
Image: Well, this isn't the staff we came here for, so there's still time.
Image: We can only hope.

The Staff of Antimagic is a +50 weapon that Brey, Cristo, Mara and Nara can equip; it will cast StopSpell in battle, just like the Sphere of Silence, and it also has a chance to essentially cast RobMagic on any enemy it hits in melee. That said, it's five points weaker than a Staff of Force, so it's not that great a weapon in terms of damage dealt. It's definitely an interesting design, though.

We'll let Mara use it for a while at least. The Poison Needle's instant death effect is great, but it doesn't fuel Boom and Blazemore casts.

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We ambush four Dragonits here, and we absolutely don't want to take four instances of scorching breath. We go Offensive: Francois and Mara cast Boom, killing two, and Ragnar and Cristo each finish one other. Whew!

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Hmm... east or west...

I'm worried that the tile just next to the east entrance will take us on a one-way trip, so let's check out the west side first.

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That empty square to the east here is definitely important; we should be able to reach it by going around south.

We manage another Metal Babble kill here! Francois gets to level 28, for 4 Str, 1 Agi, 6 Vit, 1 Int, 4 Luc, 15 HP, 6 MP, and his own Vivify spell. Ragnar follows, for 7 Str, 1 Agi, 7 Vit, 1 Luc, and 16 HP. Mara gets to 27, for 1 Str, 3 Agi, 3 Vit, 1 Int, 4 Luc, 7 HP, and 12 MP.

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Yeah, the path to the east here leads to that room in the middle, but if there's an up staircase in there, we'll be missing the entire eastern side of this floor. Welp, we can make multiple trips. Maybe it'll balance out the wagon crew's levels, heh.

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Ragnar one-shots a Dragonit with a 99 damage regular strike; man that Dragon Killer is doing good work.

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Oh, it's a chest after all! We're good, then.

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Nice.

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We could take this shortcut back to the Staff of Antimagic room and go east from there, but while we're here, let's go around the south corridor instead.

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Cristo levels up off three Hambalbas here, for 1 Str, 3 Agi, 3 Vit, 2 Int, 3 Luc, 5 HP, 3 MP, and his own Healall spell.

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Oh... that's the staircase. Man, that northeast room is gonna bug me. We're in good enough shape, let's just have a look right quick.

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Oof, it's become painfully obvious that Ragnar's Dragon Shield does not in fact protect from breath weapon damage at all; man, every Internet resource is wrong on this. We have to go Defensive for a bit.

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This sure continues the Dragon Warrior tradition of having flocks of tiny dragons be ENORMOUSLY LETHAL. Mara can't take this for another turn, we have to run.

Francois' Vivify takes four tries to bring Cristo back, and Cristo's brings Ragnar back instantly. Wow, that was expensive.

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Image: A Travel Door? Here?
Image: Ugh, is it really that much trouble to just label the damn things?

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Image: We are still in the Crypt, I'm sure of it.
Image: There's no telling on what floor, though. This is place is tricky.
Image: It's almost like those who built it didn't want it to be robbed!

Ragnar levels up off three Tyranobats, for 4 Str, 5 Vit, 1 Int, 1 Luc, and 9 HP.

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Image: Oh, this is... this is the first floor again.
Image: We don't need a shortcut to the outside! This is useless.
Image: Actually, those Dragonits took a lot out of us. Let's just get out and rest in Endor.
Image: They didn't take that much.
Image: I could keep going!
Image: ...Ragnar?
Image: I think we should continue.
Image: Huh. Fair enough then. Let's go back down!

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Bebanbars have 100 HP, 120 attack, 70 defense, and 57 agility; they have a chance to take two actions per round, they can breathe sleeping gas, and cast Firebane and RobMagic. These guys can get nasty real quick. They're immune to Bang, ice and Expel, highly resistant to Firebal, Blaze, wind and Sleep, slightly resistant to lightning, Surround, Beat and StopSpell, and weak to Sap and RobMagic.

Unlike Phantom Messengers, they don't call for reinforcements, so if we manage to seal their spells, the harm they can do is limited even if they manage to put some of us to sleep. Ragnar drops a 199 damage critical on this one at the top of the round, though.

We encounter two more Bebanbars right afterwards, but Cristo seals their magic at the beginning, no problems. Mara levels up, for 2 Agi, 3 Vit, 1 Int, 5 Luc, 5 HP, 8 MP, and the Firevolt spell. It's still the strongest of the Firebal line, dealing very high fire damage to one group for 10 MP.

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Image: Huh... wait a minute. That's a healing stone!
Image: Hmm? What's that?
Image: Just step on it, it'll be quicker than explaining.

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The screen flashes white as we set foot on the tile.

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Just like in the basement of the tower west of Izmit, we regain all of our HP and MP! Dang, Dragon Warrior, you're a solid bro today.

Image: Oh-ho! That's... nice!
Image: You've seen one before, Ragnar?
Image: Yes. They... they're sacred to the people of a good friend of mine.
Image: Now was it a good idea to keep going, or was it a great idea?
Image: Ha, okay, okay, you win, it was a great idea.
Image: You're wise enough to listen to your retainers' advice. There's nothing embarrassing about that.
Image: ...who's a retainer now?
Image: Do we not all serve the Hero?
Image: Yikes, I do not want to hear that.
Image: Good.
Image: Hmm... Well. I suppose it's not my place to question your upbringing. At any rate, I am in your service.
Image: Well, if it makes you feel better to think of it that way...

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Ah, okay, this is the north side of that intersection we saw earlier, makes sense.

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We saw a down staircase on the east side of the floor above when we were on that first long slide, so I suspect the main path will be on the east side of this floor as well. Let's see the south side, then.

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...yeah, okay, I'm just wrong all the time now, that's my new brand.

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Yup, these are the stairs I was thinking of. Let's just go back down and finish exploring the floor.

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Wow. Okay then, I was right about going south, but only because the other directions had nothing.

Cristo levels up at the end of a fight where he used Defeat successfully on two Tyranobats, for 1 Str, 3 Agi, 3 Vit, 2 Int, 2 Luc, 6 HP, and 3 MP.

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Francois levels up here, for 4 Str, 2 Agi, 4 Vit, 1 Int, 3 Luc, 8 HP, and 6 MP.

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Image: This has to be it.
Image: ...no Man-Eaters, then.
Image: Boo hoo.

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Image: Sooo, how does it-
Image: Allow me.

Image

Image

Image: Wow, imps on the first try. Great control!

Image: ...huh.
Image: Well. This sucks.
Image: It'll work, though.
Image: You bet it'll work.

Image

Image

Image: ...please stop.
Image: Heeee heheh.

Just as it did in DW3, the Staff of Transform picks a sprite at random among a set list, and it turns your whole party into it. It has a much higher chance of turning you into a monster or animal this time around, though. Which is fortunate, considering what we want to use it for.

Image

Image: ...uh... um.

Image

Image: Of all the strange-
Image: Huh. I don't mind this one for some reason.
Image: Yeah I bet.
Image: That's not what I mean! It's just... I don't know. I don't mind it. I don't know.
Image: Must be the hair.

That's the female Hero's sprite!

Image

Image: This one, not so much.

Image

Image: Oooh, this is fun.
Image: Please stop.
Image: Just one more!

Image

Image: Augh!
Image: F-Francois? Are you okay?
Image: I want to say you look like you've seen a ghost, but I've seen you kill ghosts.
Image: P... please, anything else. Please.
Image: ...okay.

Image

Image: Better?
Image: ...
Image: Hmm. Let's just go.

Image

Image: Goodness! What happened in there?
Image: N-nothing. We're good. We have the Staff.
Image: Right. Mission complete. Nothing to report.
Image: ...hmm.
Image: Yeah, we're good. Let's get out of here.
Image: Riverton?
Image: Riverton.

User avatar
nosimpleway
Posts: 4518
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 7:31 pm

Re: It's raining protagonists: Let's play Dragon Warrior IV!

Postby nosimpleway » Fri Mar 01, 2019 2:26 pm

"This is a pretty good level-grinding spot, if we need a level-grinding spot."

*everyone gains like two levels each by just exploring the dungeon*

Okay then.

User avatar
Friday
Posts: 6272
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 7:40 pm
Location: Karma: -65373

Re: It's raining protagonists: Let's play Dragon Warrior IV!

Postby Friday » Sat Mar 02, 2019 12:11 am

I hate and also love sliding tiles. I don't really know how else to describe them.

I'm starting to wish we had brought Alena


Any party without Alena in it is objectively wrong

I'm not just talking about this game
ImageImageImage

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Friday
Posts: 6272
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 7:40 pm
Location: Karma: -65373

Re: It's raining protagonists: Let's play Dragon Warrior IV!

Postby Friday » Sat Mar 02, 2019 12:16 am

I'm also not just talking about video games, or tabletops

any party without Alena, be it a birthday party or a retirement party, real life, movie, book, doesn't matter

objectively wrong

"Friday I'm having a Halloween party will you come?"

"Is Alena going to be there"

"what"
ImageImageImage

User avatar
François
Posts: 1708
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 8:00 am

Re: It's raining protagonists: Let's play Dragon Warrior IV!

Postby François » Sat Mar 02, 2019 1:28 am

The French version of NAFTA was superior to the English one, because it was called the "Accord de Libre Échange Nord Américain".

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