Let's play Dragon Warrior III: you mean they made a sequel to that one game with all the instant death monsters?

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

Re: Let's play Dragon Warrior III: you mean they made a sequel to that one game with all the instant death monsters?

Postby Blossom » Tue Jul 24, 2018 1:09 am

Well, yeah. It's native to India and something they traded for heavily, shipping industries were built around it. Poppies are everywhere.
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nosimpleway
Posts: 4514
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 7:31 pm

Re: Let's play Dragon Warrior III: you mean they made a sequel to that one game with all the instant death monsters?

Postby nosimpleway » Tue Jul 24, 2018 9:19 am

This is less "I'm surprised pepper is a coveted good in a pseudo-Medieval world" and more "Pepper really sounds like the sort of half-assed localization an English release of a game would use to cover up the inclusion of something deemed immoral by America's media watchdogs", which is why I mentioned bananas specifically.

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

Re: Let's play Dragon Warrior III: you mean they made a sequel to that one game with all the instant death monsters?

Postby François » Wed Jul 25, 2018 10:19 am

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I'd really like to buy Zofia a Full Plate to cut back on incoming damage on our travels east, but we only have about 1500 gold and that won't cut it.

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We'll be switching gears somewhat for this trip. For our first attempt, I tried to conserve MP and played a little defensively, in an effort to cover as much ground as possible. In retrospect I suspect that's what got Isabel killed. This time, we'll go all out with offensive magic and make sure to keep our HP topped up instead of waiting until it gets low to heal (since Healmore is much more efficient than Heal). We might not make it to wherever it is we're going before our MP runs out, but I think the odds of Returning back to Assaram without having to pay to revive anyone will go up. If that means it'll take us more attempts, so be it.

Rebeca levels to 16 early on, for 1 Str, 3 Agi, 2 Vit, 3 Luc, 4 Int, 5 HP, 6 MP, and a new spell: RobMagic. RobMagic is completely free, and it attempts to steal 5 to 10 MP from one monster. This requires that the monster in question actually has MP to begin with; creatures that don't cast spells don't have MP in the first place. And as usual, it needs to overcome the monster's RobMagic resistance.

We'll definitely be making good use of RobMagic in our travels, but it's tricky to use well, given that a round where your Wizard is trying to steal MP isn't a round where they help you win the fight. It has a 50% chance to be learned every level starting from level 15, so while this isn't the earliest we could have got it, it's fortunate that we do have it now.

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I know we're supposed to head east, but I want to see if there's anything interesting between this forest valley and the eastern side of the Isis region.

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Huh, that's an ominous black tile right there. Nothing we can do about it from here, though.

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Tonguebears are basic melee creatures, a touch stronger than Avenger Jackals and about as durable, with their only special ability being ignoring formation. They're highly resistant to Sleep, but only slightly to Surround and fire, and not at all to ice and wind. Against a group of four like this, it's not a bad idea to go for Surround and keep them from maiming your squishier allies.

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Mage Toadstools have weak standard attacks, but they have almost as much defense as Heat Clouds. They come with IceBolt and Heal, and are very likely to spend their turn healing one of their wounded allies. They're only slightly resistant to RobMagic and have 10 MP to their name, so they're actually easy to shut down. Otherwise, they're highly resistant to ice, and slightly or not at all to anything else.

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We took more damage than I'm comfortable with, and Rebeca didn't manage to drain the Toadstool, so I'll actually go with Ironize for a bit and see if we can't bait a couple a couple IceBolts.

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Huh! Tonguebears actually have a chance to flee on their turn regardless of your Hero's level, and two of them made good their escape while we were indestructible. That's MP well spent!

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The Toadstool's very next action is to try to cast IceBolt, and it fails due to insufficient MP. Whew! Some enemy spellcasters are smart enough to know when they can't cast anymore and won't waste turns, but Toadstools definitely are not.

Zofia ends the fight with only 9 MP left, but dang that was a good one.

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That's the southern end of the continent we're on right now, at this longitude at least. These grasslands to the west are far southeast of Isis.

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Image: Ouch, sunset already.
Image: And we're running out of juice, too.
Image: Let's just push a bit further and play it safe in battle. If we can't reach a town, we'll just use Wings if we have to.

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Image: Ha, I'll say that was a good call, Zofia.
Image: Don't let your guard down because the goal is in sight, alright?
Image: ...yeah, sure.

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Image: Whew.

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Despite the unusual attendant, this is a House of Healing.

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Image: Hmm. Lots of competition between touts around here.

Image: Excuse me, do you have any black pepper?
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Image: Glorious, thank you.

There's no downstairs though, it's actually the shop to the south.

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The item shop here is fairly standard. I'm surprised it's still open at this hour!

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Image
Image: Ah, yeah, so did we. Is this the place, then?
Image: But the seller is not doing business because his daughter was kidnapped. What am I to do?
Image: Well there's a stupid question. You're an armed traveler. What do you think?
Image: At least he's clearly not beating us to the punch.

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Image: This will use up MPs when you fight, but it is good to use when your spell has been blocked.

Yeah, the Staff of Force is actually pretty strong, but the Poison Needle is free to use.

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Image: Ah, the kidnapped girl. Don't worry, young man. We're on the case.

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Image: My dear granddaughter, Tania, was kidnapped by vile folk.
Image: Boo to that!
Image: That youth there is Tania's sweetheart, Galen. I thought that the two of them would marry... You seem to be strong. Will you save Tania?
Image: Su-

Before we can answer...

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Image: Eh?
Image: You don't look the type.
Image: Either way, you really should leave it to us.
Image: I couldn't ask that of a complete stranger.
Image: It's really no trouble. Besides, we need-
Image: Wait here! I'll go save Tania!
Image: Galen!

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Image: Huh, look at 'im go.
Image: He'll get himself killed!

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Image: Kidnappers are one thing, but Avenger Jackals don't take prisoners.

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If there were any doubts that we just arrived in India...

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Image: It sure seems like a nobler purpose than buying pepper for a spoiled king.
Image: We're still doing it for a good cause in the end.
Image: I wish the king saw things this way as well.

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Image: Yeah, that sounds about right.
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Image: Not for much longer.
Image: If he's that powerful, I wonder why I haven't heard of him.
Image: As the heavens change, so do the deepest realms of darkness. Old lords fall, and new lords arise in their place.
Image: Ugh, yeah, maybe. New guy's trying to get some cred, going all "let's invade the human world".

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Image: I'd rather not imagine what this band of kidnappers plan to do with Tania...
Image: With Baramos in the picture, there's no doubt the spectrum of loathsome possibilities is even broader.
Image: Oh cripes, the last thing we need is a bunch of archfiend cultists gathering sacrifices.
Image: Let's make sure this story has a good end, yeah?
Image: Yeah.
Image: That's right!
Image: Of course.

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Image
Image: Huh.
Image: I hope you don't tire of being your father's daughter.
Image: Not a chance. What about you guys?
Image: Ha, I've been training on this path for too long to give up now.
Image: Believe it or not, I'm still a big fan of setting things on fire.
Image: Ah... good...
Image: I may be a bit of a pyromaniac, but I'm your pyromaniac.
Image: That's... comforting?
Image: As for me... I think this is still the right path.
Image: Huh. You weren't always a nun, were you?
Image: Oh dearie me, no.
Image: What were you before?
Image: That's... that's really none of your business. Besides, there's no time for that! Galen is heading to his doom as we speak!
Image: Isabel, I know how you feel, but there's no way we're going after him and taking on a bunch of kidnappers fresh off our trip from the west.
Image: ...ugh, right. Right.

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12 per person, no prob.

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The rest of Baharata is identical in the morning. This must be to make sure the whole sequence with Galen running off happens no matter when you get here the first time. At least this means we can leave right away.

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We can barely make out a cave entrance in the northeast corner here. Better start looking for a way around.

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Okay, it's clearly not to the north.

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This is more like it. There's actually a decent chance Galen could have made it here without too much trouble.

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I wouldn't be surprised if we kept running into Shadows for a long time, since the variety of creatures they can mimic grows larger as Zofia gains levels. This particular one wasn't especially hard to kill though.

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Image: Ugh, I certainly don't have any pleasant memories associated with the shape of this room.
Image: If people live here...
Image: Asshole people.
Image: Still, if assholes live here, it might not be as awful as it was in the path to Rhone.

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Image: I already hate this place.

I guess I'll just keep mapping as normal and hope these rooms don't loop somewhere. Actually, let's try to go east from here once; if we don't see stairs to the outside, it'll be excellent news.

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Nevs are a bit weaker than the bruiser types outside, but they come with the ability to cast Surround and Chaos; the latter is a single-target spell that attempts to inflict the Confusion status, forcing the afflicted to choose their actions at random, and to hurt only their allies and help only their enemies. We definitely don't want Alvaro or Rebeca to get Confused, but it's a bad scene on anyone. Fortunately Nevs only have 10 MP, so if you're up against a bunch of them it might be worth it to go for Ironize if you can spare the juice. Otherwise they are highly resistant to StopSpell and RobMagic, and slightly resistant to fire, Sleep, and Surround.

Catulas are a bit stronger and tougher than Nevs, with the ability to summon other Catulas and to drain MP with a curious dance. Most magic we'd want to use against them is very effective, only facing slight resistance to Expel, Sleep and Surround.

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Whew, it's a dead end, but there are no stairs. That's a relief!

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Hmm? This is blocked, we hear the old-fashioned thud.

Image: Wait... is this...?

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Image: Ah-ha!

It is in fact a door, and it unlocks easily. Tricky!

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Nice!

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...aw crap!

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Fortunately Isabel manages to overcome the Chest's high Sleep resistance, and we beat on it while it's unconscious. Bullet dodged!

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Gah, now I'm nervous about that chest too. Welp, let's see.

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Eh, better than a Man-Eater Chest to the nards.

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Executioners are a touch stronger than Catulas, and their only claim to fame is the ability to roll crits, though their chance to do so is higher than usual. They're immune to Expel, but they're only slightly resistant to Sleep, Sap and Surround, and not resistant at all to elemental damage.

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Image: There's no way none of them are Man-Eaters, is there?

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Image: Everything went better than expected!

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Alvaro levels up off a trio of Executioners, for 7 Str (oh my!), 6 Agi, 3 Vit, 2 Luc, 1 Int, and 8 HP.

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Man I'm exceptionally glad I'm making a map for this place. This would get confusing quickly.

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Dead ends are something of a comfort in a way. At least they let us estimate a boundary for this floor.

Returning to the crossroads, Zofia gains a level after a fight with four Catulas. She gains 4 Str, 2 Agi, 3 Vit, 3 Luc, 2 Int, 7 HP, and 4 MP. That's actually a pretty good one.

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Alright, with any luck that's the west end of this place. Let's just keep trying to go around the perimeter; if we can't find anything, we'll try the creamy center afterwards.

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We occasionally run into these large groups of Hunter Flies and Vampire Cats, and they're still pretty dangerous. Fortunately, Alvaro, and Zofia can one-shot the flies by now, and Rebeca can try to leech MP off the Cats while Isabel kebabs them out of the air.

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Image: ZOFIA!
Image: Now you're gonna burn!

Zofia had taken some Firebal damage, and a Cat critical finished her off. This delve is over. Rebeca took a few Catula drains and is rather low on MP, but she's got enough left to take us back to town.

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Image: You... you should have kept going after Galen.
Image: Yeah, right.
Image: I know how you feel, but...
Image: We need you down there.
Image: Plus you're way more important than that dumbass.
Image: That doesn't-
Image: ...she's got a point, Zofia.
Image: Ehhh...

On the plus side, we're sitting on 5257 gold, so we pop to Isis right quick and get Zofia her Full Plate, taking her defense from 68 to 75. Every bit helps!

We still have over 3000 gold left and nothing immediate to spend it on; we also Return to Aliahan and store it in the Vault for safekeeping, just in case.

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Okay then, back to it. Isabel levels up on the way to the cave, for 2 Str, 2 Agi, 2 Vit, 3 Luc, 2 Int, 6 HP, and 6 MP.

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Let's try going straight west for a bit and see if we can pick things up from where we left them.

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Four hallways later, we reach a dead end just south of the last dead end we had visited. Let's start checking out the southern portion... but I'll only show you more images if there's anything new. I'm sure you've had your fill of these rooms too.

Rebeca reaches level 17 off the same sort of Flies/Cats battle that ended our last run. She gains 1 Str, 2 Vit, 4 Luc, 1 Int, 3 HP, 3 MP, and a new spell: Blazemore. An upgrade to Blaze, Blazemore is a single-target spell that deals a huge 70-89 fire damage, for 6 MP. It mostly replaces IceBolt as Rebeca's big ticket single-target spell, but the latter can still be useful against fire-resistant foes... or monsters that don't need to be nuked quite that hard. And we're in luck, this is in fact the first level it's available at!

Blazemore will one-shot any standard monster we've seen yet (unless they're immune to fire of course), and it's especially good against Executioners here since they have no elemental resistance.

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Ah, another hidden door. We're getting somewhere.

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Of course. Isabel manages to put this one to sleep too, but not before it one-shots Alvaro.

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Image: He'd probably tell us to go on without him...
Image: Yeah, well that's as much nonsense as it was when I said it. Let's get out of here.

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Image: You really should have gone on witho-
Image: Nope!
Image: Nope!
Image: Nope!
Image: ...heh.

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Let's head straight south from the entrance this time, and see if we can't return to the dead Chest from that direction.

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Hmm, it looks like there should be a door here, but nothing happens we when use the Key. Gah, this must be messing you up if this is the first such hallway you check!

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Okay, this is one room west and one room south of the room with the blocked corridor; I bet there's something interesting if we go east. But Alvaro died to that Chest two rooms over to the west, so let's check one step in that direction first.

On the way, a Nev confuses Rebeca, and she casts Blaze on Alvaro.

Image: Oh! Yikes! Err, sorry!
Image: It's... I'm... I'll be fine. Do forgive me if I ever end up returning the favor later, won't you?
Image: I don't know if there'd be enough of me left to forgive you, but I'll try!

Image: Gah, I almost made twenty gold on that one.
Image: Well it doesn't count if she's confused!
Image: Like hell it doesn't!

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Welp, nothing to the west. East it is, then.

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Image: Not a moment too soon!

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Let's try this door first.

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Image: They're here!

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Image: Why HELLO SHITHEADS!
Image: Villains! Your reckoning has come!
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Image: Uh...
Image: Gentlemen, I think the shitheads reckoning stuff speaks strongly against that notion.

If you tell them you're here to join, they say their boss is out right now, and they shove you out of the room.

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...Kandar Henchmen? Whuh-oh.

At least they're the same as they used to be, and they're even in a convenient group this time so we can blast them all to smithereens together. Isabel even manages to Surround three of them. This is not difficult.

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Image: Welp, they didn't think of surrendering.
Image: I like it when they're too dumb to ask for mercy.

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Image: Don't worry for one more second, miss. We'll get you out of here.

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Image: Right, thank you.

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That's clearly it.

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The lovers embrace and twirl around each other for a moment. It's actually kind of adorable.

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Image: Yeah, of course, that's why we're here.
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Image
Image: Thank you, brave hero!

Aaaand they leave together. Nice!

Image: Will that do for a good ending?
Image: Ha, I'll take it.

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Image: Yikes, this story ain't over yet!
Image: Kandar!
Image: Aaah!!
Image: Nya, ah, ah. Now that I'm back, you'll never get away!
Image: Don't count on that, you knave!
Image: Save me, brave hero!
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Image: I'll never forget this!
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Image: That's MY line!

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Image: HAHA! BURN!
Image
Image: ...!
Image: How are you ALIVE!?
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Image: To hell with you!
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Image: Cold-hearted!? You're a KIDNAPPER. I should incinerate you where you stand!
Image: I beg of you! I promise you I'll change! I've seen the error of my ways! Spare me! I beg you!
Image: Ugh! Don't you dare let him go!
Image: ...Zofia...

That's right, Kandar's but-thou-must-ing us again.

Image: Of all the contemptible...!
Image: To be fair, it's pretty crummy to pull this even if your intentions are good.
Image: Yes... well... that's easy to say now.

Image: I thought we weren't the kind of people who kill surrendering enemies.
Image: Light help me, we're really not. Get out of my face, Kandar.
Image: Fia!
Image
Image: ...
Image: Zofia, if he does something even worse than this and we have to go after him again, I will tear out his heart with my own hands and you will NOT stop me.
Image: My father would stop you, and I would stop you.
Image: ...
Image: Come on, we're leaving.
Image: Right.
Image: Rebeca, come. You're not staying here.
Image: ...fine.

This new version of Kandar comes with up to 400 HP, with about 20 more attack power than the usual monsters in the rest of this hole, but surprisingly low defense. He doesn't Parry anymore, but he can still crit, and he mostly keeps his old resistances, except for a new immunity to Sleep and Surround.

In addition, Kandar 2: Electric Boogaloo showcases a new mechanic for the series: he regenerates 44 to 55 HP per turn. This sort of thing is largely if not solely reserved for boss-type monsters. It's a bit of a compromise between the notions of forcing you to maintain a steady offensive and avoiding the old Malroth Healall nonsense.

One might think that the Wizards' Increase spell would have been a better fit for Pilgrims, but giving them such a useful buff ensures that they remain reliably useful in long fights even against enemies with elemental resistances. Blazemore is really a lot of damage all at once though, and I couldn't refrain from trying it a bunch, despite how it ended up putting a bit of strain on our Wizard's Ring.

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Let's check out that room in the west before we leave. The entrance is another hidden locked door.

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These chests earn us an Agility Seed, and Intelligence Seed, a Strength Seed, and Acorns of Life. We'll be vaulting the Str and Agi Seeds, selling the Int one, and let's see how the Acorns treat Isabel...

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Eh, we'll take 'em.

It's a bummer that Seeds are so bad. They're clearly put in places where they're intended to be cool rewards, and by all means they should be. It's like, hey, you beat a dungeon, or you remembered to come back to this locked room for a bunch of chests, here are a few permanent stat boosts you can distribute as you please! But the mechanics don't support it. This makes me suspect the stat growth throttling may have been put in late in development and that it didn't occur to the devs that it interacted so negatively with Seeds.

Rebeca teleports us back out, and we return to Baharata. Zofia levels up on the way, for 3 Str, 3 Agi, 8 Vit (!!!), 3 Luc, 2 Int, 15 HP (good grief), 2 MP, and she gets to learn Sleep! I'm extremely keen on getting another shot at putting Man-Eater Chests out of commission every round.

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Image: Hey, it's our pleasure. Enjoy.

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Image: Hello!
Image: Hi fellows! It's me, Galen!
Image: Haha, we remember.
Image: Thanks for saving me!
Image: No problem. It's what we do.
Image: Are you in need of pepper?
Image: Yeah, actually. Can you hook us up?
Image: Here you are! It's on the house.
Image: Oooh, thanks, this'll do.
Image: ...is that really it? It seems... whoops!
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Image
Image
Image
Image: Dang, come on, don't waste it!
Image: Heh, sorry.
Image: It's potent if nothing else!

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Image
Image: Good for you!
Image: You just be real careful from now on, alright?

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Image

Image: At least it wasn't cultists after all.
Image: Right. They kidnapped the family of a pepper trader for a reason.
Image: It's all just about money.
Image: Anyway, I think we've all earned the rest of the day off. Just be ready to go tomorrow morning, alright?

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Image: Hey.
Image: Hey.
Image: Can we talk?
Image: You mean actually talk, or...?
Image: This time, yeah.
Image: Okay, sure.
Image: This trip... it's been hard in more ways than one, isn't it?
Image: You can say that again.
Image: I tried to stop you from doing the right thing. And... um... thanks for standing up to me.
Image: Oh! N-no problem.
Image: I've never met your dad, but from what I hear, he probably would've whupped me if I killed Kandar back there. And seeing as he raised you, he must've been a decent sort.
Image: He really was.
Image: Anyway, that's it. I'll be-
Image: Wait.
Image: Hmm?
Image: I was this close to chopping his head off. It's Isabel you need to thank.
Image: Nah, I... I wouldn't have listened to her.
Image: Huh.
Image: Well, if we ever have to kick that moron's ass again, I'll follow your lead, alright?
Image: Okay then. No pressure!
Image: I trust you. We all do.
Image: And I trust you back.
Image: Ha, it feels weird to hear that.
Image: You've had it rough for a while, haven't you?
Image: ...yeah.
Image: Wanna-
Image: Nope.
Image: Fair enough. Door's open, okay?
Image: Message received. G'night, Fia.
Image: Night.

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

Re: Let's play Dragon Warrior III: you mean they made a sequel to that one game with all the instant death monsters?

Postby François » Fri Jul 27, 2018 11:37 am

Before we decide on our next step, I'll be taking a moment to finish clearing out the ol' kidnappin' cave. I don't expect to find anything more interesting than a bunch of repeats of the one square room with four exits, but we better make sure. And while we're at it, we'll see if there's anything else of interest in the immediate Baharata region.

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Alvaro reaches level 17 on the way, for 10 Str, 9 Agi, 5 Vit, 4 Luc, 1 Int, and 10 HP. I don't know how I could possibly ask for more than this.

As we finish exploring the cave, Isabel gets to 18, for 1 Str, 1 Agi, 2 Vit, 1 Luc, 2 Int, 4 HP, and 2 MP.

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Image
Image: Then, from out of that darkness, I heard a sound like a key turning into a lock.

Image: Ah, yes, the old wall of darkness trick.

It's good to see the game has a small amount of mercy for people who don't think of trying the Magic Key on apparently impassable obscured tiles.

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Apart from the hidden door gimmick, this dungeon is mostly a big combat gauntlet trying to wear you down before the Kandar fight. DW2's mechanic that increases the odds of a random encounter immediately following a room transition is still present, and you're definitely getting in a lot of battles with fairly dangerous enemies. Most of the damage coming our way in the Pyramid was physical; enemy abilities there were mostly intended to extend fights and indirectly make you take more damage. Here, you're taking a lot of Firebals to the face, while the Executioners and Vampire Cats make sure you still have to worry about standard attacks.

As we return to Baharata, Rebeca reaches level 18, for 1 Str, 3 Agi, 2 Vit, 6 Luc, 4 Int, 4 HP, 8 MP, and a new spell: X-Ray.

Image: Oh! Right! Yes! I got it!
Image: What's go-
Image: We can return to the Pyramid now!
Image: What? Now? We kinda have a lot on our plate.
Image: And we've established that it's too dangerous besides.
Image: We have nothing to fear from Man-Eater Chests anymore, if that's what you're worried about.
Image: Really now?
Image: Alright then, if you say so.
Image: I knew you had it in you.
Image: I... uh... thanks.

X-Ray costs 3 MP. When cast over a treasure chest, it causes it to glow blue, yellow, or red. A blue glow indicates that the chest contains an item or gold, a red glow indicates that it will try to kill us, and a yellow glow indicates that the chest has something else unusual going on. This spell doesn't appear on either the Hero or Pilgrim spell lists, so that'll definitely be an important non-combat use for Wizards. Man-Eater Chests don't give out much experience, they only have a very small amount of gold, and they only ever drop Cypress Sticks, so skipping fights against them is entirely beneficial and well worth the MP cost.

Time to head back to Isis then. Just to be safe though, we drop by Aliahan and vault the 5000 gold we got since last time.

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Image

Image: Alright then. Time to work your magic, Reb.
Image: Excellent. This should do it.
Image: ...should?
Image: It will do it.

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Image: This one's safe, no problem.

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Image: You said no problem!
Image: Well it's not a Man-Eater!
Image

Image
Image: Oh, Mummy Men. No problem.
Image: See?

The fight is over quickly. Mummy Men aren't so weak that they can't hurt us at all, but they're easily the least bad monsters in here and they have no special abilities besides ignoring formation.

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Image: Alright, one down.
Image: Nice work, Rebeca.
Image: Do keep your guard up, alright?
Image: Sure.

The next chest to the west also triggers a fight with four Mummy Men, and contains 176 gold. I can tell we're going to be up to our necks in bandages by the time we're done.

Going counter-clockwise... 24 gold, a Medical Herb, 56 gold, a Wing, 304 gold, 24 gold, 112 gold, an Agility Seed, 80 gold, and a Strength Seed.

Image: Huh, not one Man-Eater in the lot.
Image: I think we made more money off the mummies than the chests.
Image: So are we going back to business now?
Image: There's still the basement...
Image: Oof.
Image: It can't possibly be better defended than this royal tomb, right?
Image: We really should stock up on Herbs before we go down there again.
Image: Good call. Let's get outta here for now.

We Return to Aliahan to drop off 3000 gold and all non-essential equipment, including the Black Pepper, and fill up everyone's inventory with Medical Herbs. I'm still not sure we can successfully clear out the place, but it's worth a shot.

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Image: Was this just a bone pit after all?
Image: Would it really be enough to generate such a powerful curse? This is hardly the only mass grave in the world.
Image: I know we're out of obvious options, but we might be missing something. Keep an eye out as we're leaving, alright?

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Image

Image: ...wait a minute.
Image: I... I'd rather not, if it's all the same to you.
Image: Do you see something?
Image: I don't know... I...

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Image: Oh! What... what the...?
Image: You see it too?

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I don't remember the game ever telling you about this stairway, though I'd look forward to being proven wrong in the fullness of time. But the unusually thorough manual does tell you where to look.

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Image: What could the Isis royalty think so worthy of being buried in such a place?
Image: Hmm...
Image: This isn't a glorious treasure, is it? It's not with their honored dead. It's hidden underneath stacks of looter bones.
Image: It... it might be something they wanted to lock away forever.
Image: Zofia, I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to turn back now.
Image: Me either!
Image: Nnnnnnah. It's hidden under a bunch of dead thieves. If this it what makes us turn back, we might as well go home and wait for Baramos to kill us all. I'm going.
Image: I'm with you!
Image: Alright, let's do it! Get pumped!
Image: Okay then.

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Image: Huh, maybe it is with their honored dead after all. This is no usurper's tomb.
Image: Well, that doesn't change much.

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Image: Ugh, right.
Image: Any of you ever heard of a Man-Eating Casket?
Image: Aren't they all?
Image: Good point. Let's pop it open, then.
Image: Allow me.

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Image: Oh!
Image: Holy crap! I knew there had to be something valuable in here somewhere!
Image: It's... gorgeous.
Image: ...is it cursed?
Image: Only one way to find out, I suppose.
Image: AL!

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The Golden Claw increases Alvaro's attack power from 105 to 130. At 55 attack power, it's the most powerful weapon available to Fighters, and of course only they can equip it.

Image: Are you okay?
Image: Yes, I'm fine.
Image: Can you take it off?
Image: Indeed I can. See?
Image: Huh.
Image: It's truly something!
Image: Welp, alright then. It's about time to leave now, isn't it?
Image: Yeah, we're done here. Good work everyone.

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Fourteen fights and three Medical Herbs later...

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Image: Gah, that was harrowing!
Image: Is it just me or were there even more monsters than usual?
Image: Maybe the looters wanted to keep in death the treasure they could not have in life.
Image: Joke's on them, we're blowing this joint. Haha!

We get into one more fight on the ground floor of the Pyramid as we leave, but of course from this point on we can unleash all the magic we want.

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By the time we're out of sight of the Pyramid, we're run into eight fights on the overworld, three of them literally on three adjacent tiles, and it's nine more before we reach Isis. The RNG can be mean, but these odds are impossible.

On the plus side, all this fighting gets Zofia to level 18, for 3 Str, 2 Agi, 5 Vit, 3 Luc, 1 Int, 10 HP, 2 MP, and her own StopSpell.

Image: How...? This doesn't make sense! There's no way things could have gotten this bad this quickly.
Image: Alvaro!
Image: What?
Image: It's the claw! They want the claw!
Image: I don't-
Image: Drop that stupid thing!
Image: I...
Image: Drop it!
Image: N-no, I won't...
Image: Al! Drop it! Throw it away!
Image: I can't just leave it here! It'll... it'll get buried in the sand! It'll be lost forever!
Image: It's just a dumb weapon!
Image: I can't abandon it! I can't!
Image: It's the claw or us, Alvaro.
Image: ...gah!
Image: What if... what if we leave it at the Vault?
Image: Right, the Vault!
Image: It'll still be yours. It'll just be... it'll be kept safe. Alright?
Image: Yes... Yes! Okay. That makes sense. Let's... let's go to the Vault.
Image: Okay, let's go. Just stay with us.
Image: We're with you.

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Image

Image: Do you really trust them?
Image: I trust them, Alvaro. Just give it up.
Image
Image: ...yes. Okay.
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This means the Golden Claw is worth 15000 gold. Yikes.

Image: Sure, I'll pretend that's reasonable. Do please take it off our hands.
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We also retrieve our Black Pepper. It may be an invaluable luxury, but it's also a quest item, and the charge is exactly 1 gold.

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Image: Are you feeling better now?
Image: Y-yes. I... I apologize for my behavior.
Image: Now we know why it was locked away.
Image: Is it really alright to just leave it here?
Image: Don't you dare-
Image: No, no, I mean... Isn't it dangerous for the people of Aliahan?
Image: If monsters can breach the walls of Aliahan, cursed claw or not, there is little hope for this world.
Image: The Vault people know their stuff, it'll be fine.
Image: Alright then. Good riddance!

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So, yeah, the Golden Claw isn't cursed in the traditional Dragon Warrior sense, but while it's in the inventory of any of your party members (equipped or not), the encounter rate of every tile where combat is possible is cranked up to 100 in 256. By comparison, dungeon tiles have a 10 in 256 encounter rate, and the highest overworld rate is 31 in 256, for hills at night. It kinda goes without saying, but if you're not prepared for it, even just taking the Claw out of the Pyramid can lead to a party wipe, especially since you have to climb out without magic.

You can sell the Claw for a decent chunk of change, but it can be useful if you want to do some grinding, so it'll often be worth Vaulting for later.

Image: Aaaanyway! I think it's about time we get that king his pepper.
Image: Do you have a destination in mind for when we get our ship?
Image: I... uh... Hmm.
Image: Why did we want a ship, again?
Image: To explore the world, I suppose. Looking for Baramos and all that.
Image: You know, the monsters have only gotten stronger as we've been traveling eastward. The archfiend might be somewhere east of Baharata, and we don't need a ship to go there.
Image: Muscle boy has a point. It would be a bit silly to start sailing around the ocean without a clue while we know we could just reach new lands on foot.
Image: And at the very least, the Shrine of Dhama is worth seeing at least once in your life.
Image: I guess it's a little weird to have gone all this way to get pepper if we're not going to trade it right away, but I can see what you mean. Alright then, east it is!

We straight up have a choice here, and I honestly don't remember which way is best or if there even is a best way, so let's just keep going on foot and see where it takes us. Besides, the ship will open a lot more choices, while land travel will reach a dead end sooner or later.

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I'm pretty sure this peninsula here is southern Thailand and Malaysia.

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Rammores have about the same attack and defense as Avenger Jackals, but with a ton more HP. They mostly just attack, but they do have about 1/3rd chance to cast Firebal instead. They have slightly resistance to debuffs and disables, but none to elements or to RobMagic, making them excellent targets for Wizards to replenish their power.

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Simiacs are a fair deal stronger than Rammores, but easier to kill, with lower defense and much lower HP. They're basic melee creatures, with the ability to call for reinforcements. They have high resistance to Sleep and Surround, and low resistance to fire.

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Image: Whoa, that's a big shrine.
Image: Ah, to think I'd ever set foot here again.

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This guy is the royal stand-in for this region, and he has access to the Imperial Scrolls of Honor.

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Image: How did you get in if it was locked?
Image: It wasn't. Times have changed.
Image: Right. We wouldn't want to see Simiacs and Rammores bust in here.

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Let's try going around, just in case there's anything of note outside the walls.

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Oh-ho!

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Jipang. Of course.

Image: Well, there's a possible destination by sea!
Image: ...joy.

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So that's a House of Healing and an incredibly cheap inn. It is just a bunch of mattresses on the floor, after all.

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Image
Image: That's an excellent choice!
Image: Ha, I'll say.
Image: But... it's a little disheartening if just anyone can come in here and be a Fighter.
Image: Well, it's a bit more complicated than that. And besides, I believe it's a good thing that folk can travel here and choose a new path in life.

Image
Image: Heh, this guy's got his priorities in the right place.
Image: Isn't that more of a peacetime occupation, though?
Image: Oh, I don't know, you might be surprised at how buff traveling merchants have to be to do business nowadays. I could have left Aliahan with one, if I hadn't met you guys.
Image: What could have been, eh?

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Image: I can't say I disapprove, but you better find yourself some decent folk to travel with.

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Image: ...huh.
Image: Oooookay.
Image: Well then, bless his heart.
Image: Is that... does it work that way?
Image: Nnnnnno.
Image: If the Shrine of Dhama could make people functionally immune to aging, believe me, we'd all know about it.

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Image
Image: Do you wish to do so?
Image: Not especially, but I'm curious. What's the procedure?
Image
Image: Let's say, me, for example.
Image
Image: Whoa, settle down old man. Nobody tells Zofia what she can and can't be!
Image: It's okay, Reb, I get it. Let's say Alvaro here wanted to change professions.
Image: I don't, though. Let's make this clear.
Image: We're just pretending here.
Image
Image: I know I have a long way to go.
Image: Wait till you get to a higher status! So, be on your way!

Image
Image: your past deeds will be of some kind of benefit.

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So, class change! In a 1988 JRPG!

Any non-Hero character who has reached at least level 20 can go to the Shrine of Dhama and switch their class to any of the five other standard classes. This resets their level to 1 and their accumulated experience to zero. Now this seems like something of a raw deal, especially since you can go to Luisa's Place and get a level 1 character of any of these classes anytime you like. But as one of the ruffians up there mentioned, a character changing classes gets to keep two potential benefits.

First, any spells learned in the character's history remain learned. You can learn a bunch of Wizard spells, then switch class to a Pilgrim and start learning Pilgrim spells on top. Or you can learn a bunch of Pilgrim spells, switch to a Soldier, and benefit from a Soldier's stat growth and available equipment.

Second, the character does not reset to the class' standard starting stats. Instead, all of their current stats just get cut in half, and normal stat progression resumes from there following the new class' stat growth.

Now this may seem somewhat overpowered, but there is the ever-present catch of the soft cap system. If you switch from a Fighter to a Soldier, you don't immediately benefit from a Soldier's Strength growth, since you already have much higher Strength than the game thinks a level 1 Soldier should have. In effect, you gain the throttled 0 or 1 Strength per level until you gain enough levels that your Strength no longer exceeds the cap. However, since Soldiers are extremely slow, you will nonetheless remain an exceptionally agile Soldier for a long, long time, so there's still a definite benefit there.

This bites non-casters changing into casters pretty hard though, as they will have gained at least some Intelligence in their prior class but not the corresponding maximum MP, so they have to wait until their Int soft cap catches up before they start getting useful amounts of MP.

As for available equipment, it is strictly limited to what your current class can use. A Soldier turning into a Wizard is limited to Wizard gear.

Oh, and the game doesn't keep track of whether you got any amount of stats from levels or from Seeds. It's all cut in half together.

Now there are a couple more special things about class change, and I can already hear some of you going "but what about such-and-such, did he forget about this and that?". The answer is: we'll get to all that stuff in due time. Don't worry. I got this.

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Image: I'm glad we came, and this place was absolutely worth seeing, but...
Image: ...we're no closer to the Archfiend.
Image: Well, we didn't exactly run out of eastern lands to explore. Shall we keep going?
Image: Absolutely. Let's go.

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Image: You ever heard of this tower?
Image: I can't say that I have.
Image: I wonder if it's connected to Dhama in some way.
Image: Only one way to find out.

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Okay, we're still able to handle this. Alvaro levels up from this fight, for 11 Str, 11 Agility, 6 Vit, 5 Luc, 1 Int, and 10 HP.

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Ha, there it is, the cat's out of the bag. Any level 20 character with the Book of Satori in their inventory can class-change into a Sage at the Shrine of Dhama.

Just like the Hero, the Sage is a hybrid fighter/caster class. They're not quite as physically strong and they can't equip as much gear as a Hero, but they have better MP growth (though not as good as specialized casters'), and most importantly, they learn all Wizard and Pilgrim spells as if they were both a Wizard and a Pilgrim of their level.

Turning into a Sage consumes the Book of Satori, and there is only one guaranteed instance of it in the entire world, so under normal circumstances you can only ever have one Sage. However, the Book is an extremely rare drop from one of the later enemies. Aaaaand the Book might just not be the only way for a character to turn into a Sage!

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Great Beaks have unremarkable stats, sort of like weaker Tonguebears. However, their attacks ignore formation, and they get two attacks per turn like Avenger Ravens did. Fortunately they're only slightly resistant to disables, and not at all to magic damage.

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There are still Hunter Flies showing up here, and they're still quite dangerous. They remind me of Dragon Flies in DW2, but at least their damage isn't a breath weapon and can therefore be prevented by StopSpell.

Isabel levels up from a fight with Great Beaks, for 1 Str, 4 Agi, 4 Vit, 4 Luc, 3 Int, 9 HP (nice!), 5 MP, and a new spell. For 4 MP, Defence attempts to reduce an entire group's defense power. Sap's effect is greater against single targets though, so it's not made obsolete. Both spells roll against the same resistance stat.

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Oh! A Travel Door in a dungeon, that's new. I'll use pink squares for those in my maps.

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There are Simiacs in here too. No biggie.

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Hmm, it looks like there's another structure on the outside here.

Rebeca levels up off Rammores here, for 1 Str, 2 Agi, 2 Vit, 3 Luc, 3 Int, 6 HP, 4 MP, and a new spell. StepGuard makes a welcome return, costing 2 MP and protecting our entire party from floor traps. We haven't needed it much so far, but I'm sure it'll come in handy.

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Image: ...oh this sucks.
Image: You once pushed me from the top of a tower and then jumped after me!
Image: Well we wanted to fall back then!
Image: Can you guys all handle this?
Image: It'll be child's play.
Image: Haha, you know I have excellent balance.
Image: ...I can do it. But I don't have to like it.

Image

Image: this sucks this sucks this sucks
Image: Whatever helps you focus, dearie.

Tightropes don't have any special mechanics that differentiate them from normal floors; there's no equilibrium minigame or QTEs or anything. You can intentionally jump into empty space by moving off the rope, but it behaves like any other dungeon pitfall tile. I have to say I do like how the tile itself is perfectly aligned with our characters' feet; you could almost swear this is a screenshot from a side-scrolling platformer.

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Image: Well I'll be! These Dragon Warriors' Dragon Quest finally has a dragon in it!

Oof, a Sky Dragon. These guys are stronger than anything we've seen so far, except Man-Eater Chests and Kandar's second version. They're also fairly tough, with 60 defense and up to 80 HP. Their attacks ignore formation and they have a 50% chance to use an upgraded fire breath for 30-35 damage (much stronger than Heat Clouds' and Flamapedes'). On top of that, they're immune to fire and highly resistant to Sleep. Surround has a decent chance to work though, and other damage elements are always effective.

They'll often show up with a squad of Healers and Alvaro can't one-shot them without a crit yet, so it's not a terrible idea to have Rebeca try to poke them with her Poison Needle just in case, especially since she can't Blazemore them into oblivion.

Fortunately, this one does fall to an Alvaro crit on the second round, though not before roasting us but good.

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Image: Whew!

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Image: Oh I'm sure this won't be confusing at all.
Image: Here's to hoping it only sends us somewhere else within this tower!

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Image: Wait, there weren't any skulls around this one! This could have been a deadly trap!
Image: Oh, uh, well, we're... in... we're in the far east now! Wizards here follow different traditions.
Image: Ah! Right, that makes sense. You're so well-read, Rebeca.
Image: Yeah, um, thanks. I am well-read!

Hmm, yeah, I know where this is, we're still on the tower's ground floor.

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Let's try... east.

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Stingwings are suprisingly strong, but have low HP and very low defense. Their attacks ignore formation, and have a chance to inflict the Numb status, which is definitely not a bucket of delights around here. Fortunately, they're only slightly resistant to fire, Surround and Sleep.

In a fight like this, we can have Alvaro one-shotting a Stingwing per turn, while Zofia and Isabel can each take out one Healer. What Rebeca does depends on how okay we are with spending MP; in this case, one Increase cast seems prudent.

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Oof, that's one dead-end we don't need to worry about visiting again. Let's try the south stairway below.

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That's another chest we're missing, but at least we can keep climbing. The damage is piling up though, and while Rebeca manages to keep her MP up by casting RobMagic on the occasional Rammore, Zofia and Isabel are getting low.

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Good grief. Everyone but Rebeca is on Healer-killing duty.

...

Okay, we end up only taking one fire breath and two standard attacks, one of which is avoided with a Cloak of Evasion.

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We probably only have one more fight in us, though. Better make it count.

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Image: Oh, joy.
Image: You did fine last time. You can handle it again.
Image: ...yeah.

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Dang, so many paths that we're not taking! Let's try up again.

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Image: This has to be the top floor.
Image: Disappointment incoming! Five, four, three, two, one...

Image

Image: ...bingo!

Image: Who put this crud up here?
Image: "Iron Helmet Tower" doesn't have as cool a ring to it, I suppose.

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Image: Hmm...
Image: What is it?
Image: This rope is... conspicuous. I wonder if something might be hidden underneath.
Image: Huh! Now that you mention it...
Image: But if you're wrong, we're gonna have to climb back here for this staircase!
Image: It doesn't matter, we were leaving anyway. Might as well, right?
Image: ...fine.

Image

Oh dang!

Metal Slimes have only 3 or 4 HP and unremarkable attack power, but their defense is a whopping 1023, guaranteeing that any normal attack in the game is going to inflict either 1 or 0 damage. They're also completely immune to almost all magic, with the exception of only a slight resistance to Chaos for some reason, not that this does us any good right now. Their targeting ignores formation; they'll use a standard attack 25% of the time, and otherwise have equal chance to cast Blaze or outright flee.

Critical hits ignore defense, so that makes Fighters exceptionally skilled Metal Slime hunters. The Poison Needle also bypasses standard damage calculations and always inflicts 1 damage or death; given that Metal Slimes have an evade stat of zero, it's at the very least a guaranteed single damage point every round.

For now, we have Alvaro and Rebeca attacking the Slime, while Zofia and Isabel tackle the Dragon.

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Image: Ah-HA!
Image: Aw heck yeah Alvaro!
Image: Woooo!

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Zofia levels up from this, for 4 Str, 2 Agi, 4 Vit, 3 Luc, 2 Int, 8 HP, and 3 MP.

You know, it's pretty nice that Metal Slimes first appear near a place where you might very well have reset at least one of your characters' level to 1.

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Image: Welp, here goes nothing.

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Image: Oooh, I bet we couldn't get here from underneath. Good call, Alvaro.
Image: Ha, look at the hero of the day!
Image: We all have our turn, I suppose!

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Image: This crack's our only option left. Watch your step!

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It's getting risky, but we still have the Queen of Isis' ring and a bunch of Medical Herbs from our venture in the Pyramid. Let's keep pushing.

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Image: Okay, this one has to be it.

Image: Yeah... sure.

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Image: Well hey, there it is.
Image: ...
Image: ...
Image: ...why did we want it, again?
Image: Did we?
Image: You never know, I suppose.
Image: Well, there might be more to this tower yet.
Image: Maybe. But that'll be for another day. Reb, take us out of here, will ya?
Image: With pleasure!

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I remembered there was a clever trick to this dungeon, but I forgot what it was until I saw that long rope near the top floor. You can easily see the chest containing the Book from taking a normal path through another branch of the dungeon, so the overall layout will give you a clue about possibly reaching it from above if you're paying attention.

The monsters are still at about just the right difficulty. Sky Dragons are the obvious major threat, but the rest are no jabronis and every battle requires tactical attention. Heck, we lucked into the right path to the Book right away and we still just barely made it with both our healers having only 4 MP left.

Finally, it kind of goes without saying, but this entire tower is optional. It's a good idea to visit it, even if only for the money and experience, but if you don't want a Sage, you can just skip it.

Alright then, for next time I'll be clearing the rest off-screen and showing you the highlights as usual, and we'll head east from Dhama and see what the rest of the Mystical Orient has in store for us.

User avatar
Friday
Posts: 6264
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 7:40 pm
Location: Karma: -65373

Re: Let's play Dragon Warrior III: you mean they made a sequel to that one game with all the instant death monsters?

Postby Friday » Fri Jul 27, 2018 4:00 pm

The best way to describe a Sage is just "A Pilgrim, but they also get Wizard spells."

There are some minor stat growth and equipment differences, but they're hardly noticeable or pertinent.

My typical playthrough (before I recently discovered how badass fighters were) had almost always been

Soldier -> Sage
Pilgrim (after Healus) -> Soldier
Wizard (after Bikill) -> Pilgrim

This results in a party where everyone can cast healing spells, two people with Bikill, and no squishy Wizards. The int penalty from switching from Soldier to Sage is pretty minor, because I do it as soon as possible at soldier level 20, and usually a level 20 soldier has around 16 int, leaving him or her with 8 after the swap. So you don't miss out of much MP.

Now that I know about Fighters, I no longer think that build is overall the strongest in the game, though. It could probably be improved by swapping the starting Soldier for a Merchant too, because Merchants are actually stronger than Soldiers in the early game thanks to their super fast leveling.

But If I was going to minmax a team for maximum late game power, (without using Goof-Offs, Book farming, or more than one class swap per character) I'd probably do this:

Fighter (at around 120 agi) -> Soldier
Merchant (at level 20) -> Sage
Pilgrim (after Healus) -> Fighter

That leaves you with one character that can't heal and only one Bikill caster, but your Soldier can wear the Armband for 120+ agi, be a super frontline tank and go first all the time, you've got a Fighter with Healing magic behind him, and a Sage.

To be clear, it's not like the game demands this kind of party planning from the player. I went through the first time with the suggested party (Soldier/Pilgrim/Wizard) and other than turning my Wizard into a Sage, no class swapping, and did completely fine. The class swap system is there for people who really want to get the most out of the game, that's all.
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User avatar
Rico
Posts: 548
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 2:29 am

Re: Let's play Dragon Warrior III: you mean they made a sequel to that one game with all the instant death monsters?

Postby Rico » Sat Jul 28, 2018 2:54 am

The Golden Claw change in the remake versions is pretty interesting. The encounter rate spike is even higher (it might just be guaranteed?) but it only functions in the Pyramid. Even with having the bag to store a full compliment of herbs over just your party members' inventory slots it's a pretty brutal slog, but if you can get all the way out it's a well-earned boost for the rest of the game.

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

Re: Let's play Dragon Warrior III: you mean they made a sequel to that one game with all the instant death monsters?

Postby François » Sun Jul 29, 2018 2:54 pm

Friday wrote:To be clear, it's not like the game demands this kind of party planning from the player. I went through the first time with the suggested party (Soldier/Pilgrim/Wizard) and other than turning my Wizard into a Sage, no class swapping, and did completely fine. The class swap system is there for people who really want to get the most out of the game, that's all.


In a sense, it's probably the most experimental aspect of the game, and it has the good sense of making itself both completely optional but still highly attractive in the potential benefits it offers. The two ruffians by the sides at the shrines really help make it inviting: you can change anything into anything and still get something decent out of it, and hey, a Soldier with magic sounds pretty cool! And then you're left to find out what you want to do with it, if anything at all.

If you compare that to what, say, Final Fantasy 2 does with its experimental mechanics, well... It gets pretty obvious what the best way to handle it might be.

Rico wrote:The Golden Claw change in the remake versions is pretty interesting. The encounter rate spike is even higher (it might just be guaranteed?) but it only functions in the Pyramid. Even with having the bag to store a full compliment of herbs over just your party members' inventory slots it's a pretty brutal slog, but if you can get all the way out it's a well-earned boost for the rest of the game.


Huh, yeah that's a smart change right there. And it's thematically strong with the whole Pyramid curse and all.

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

Re: Let's play Dragon Warrior III: you mean they made a sequel to that one game with all the instant death monsters?

Postby François » Sun Jul 29, 2018 3:26 pm

Alright, time to mop up the Tower of Garuna.

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Image: What, you mean the Dragons don't bother you? Give me a break!

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Ah, a Seed, of course. Huzzah.

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Well hey, there are still Shadows around here after all.

The southern chest on the third floor is a Man-Eater Chest, and the northern one contains 200-odd gold.

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There's a bit of a new graphical element in this dungeon. The teal tower-style roof tiles represent an enterable room on this floor. The gold roof tiles are the roof of a room on the lower floor, and we can walk on top of those freely.

Aaaanyway, that's about it. We didn't miss much the first time around.

Along the way, Alvaro reached level 19, for 9 Str, 1 Agi, 4 Vit, 1 Luc, 1 Int, and 8 HP. He's obviously hit the Agility cap for now, so he's likely to get crummy gains for at least the next few levels. I'm a little surprised that he hasn't also hit it for Strength, but he was slow going there in the early game and he's probably behind the curve a bit.

Isabel reached level 20, for 2 Str, 5 Agi, 2 Vit, 3 Luc, 2 Int, 3 HP, 2 MP, and a new spell: Limbo. Limbo is a single-target high-powered Expel; for 7 MP, it attempts to remove one enemy from the fight. However, it rolls against Slow resistance instead of Expel resistance, and Slow is much, much more likely to work across the board. This is the first level she could have learned it at, and it's one of those "50% chance per level" spells, so we're definitely fortunate here.

Rebeca also reached level 20, for 1 Str, 3 Agi, 3 Vit, 4 Luc, 3 Int, 7 HP, 8 MP, and a new spell. For 6 MP, Snowblast attempts to deal 42 to 57 ice damage to a group of enemies. It's strictly more powerful than Firebane (30-41 fire damage) for the same cost, but resistances may keep the latter relevant for a while yet. This is the first level it's available at, though it's automatically learned at 22 at the latest.

It's been a long time since we last looked at our overall stats, so let's take a moment for that now that we're starting to hit level 20.

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Isabel's finally cracked 100 HP, just behind Rebeca. Alvaro's at about what I expect, and Zofia's just... orbital. MP-wise, either Rebeca's got a lot, or Isabel's got very little; Pilgrims and Wizards are meant to have the exact same growth there, so it really goes to you to possible differences between similar character. Zofia's still feels low, but it does the job.

Code: Select all

       | Str | Agi | Vit | Int | Luc | Atk | Def |
-------+-­-­---+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
Zofia  |  50 |  37 |  75 |  26 |  36 |  90 |  78 |
Alvaro |  95 | 190 |  65 |  19 |  51 | 124 | 115 |
Isabel |  38 |  40 |  42 |  46 |  55 |  66 |  63 |
Rebeca |  20 |  29 |  50 |  50 |  63 |  30 |  34 |


Of course, Alvaro's base Agility is 95, which is miles ahead of everyone else. If he gave Isabel the Armband, he'd still be the fastest (though it would bring his defense slightly under Zofia's). However, his being behind Zofia in Vitality shows where Fighters can lack in staying power when faced with elemental damage. A Soldier would likely have much higher HP, though they'd have comparable defense (ignoring the Armband of course).

I would not have predicted that Rebeca's Vitality and Intelligence would be equal. Good grief, she has as much Vitality as Zofia has Strength. Tough girl! Her Agility has no business being this low though; Wizards are supposed to be faster than anyone except Fighters. You win some, you lose some.

Isabel doesn't especially shine anywhere, and she's just barely faster than Zofia, but her raw stats don't reflect how important she actually is. She can often work with Zofia to take down a foe that only Alvaro could one-shot, so her damage output is definitely coming in handy despite her unremarkable attack power (and she's still using an Iron Spear from Romaly!).

Okay then, we're ready to go. There's a path east from Dhama; let's see where it takes us.

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Eh, sure, Rebeca unleashed a few Snowblasts on the way here.

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Hmm, new sprite right there.

Image
Image: Oh! Jipang, right? How are you folk holding up?
Image: The many-headed serpent called Orochi terrorizes us there.
Image: ...ah.
Image: If we're ever in the area, we'll see what we can do.
Image: This better not be Kandar in a cheap costume.

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Yup, that's Japan alright. I mean, Jipang. It's an archipelago of course, so we'll have to keep it in mind for when we get our ship.

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Demonites are still mostly harmless, though now that we might encounter them in numbers, their blizzard breath is a bit of a worry.

Slime Snails (or... Snaii?) have very low attack power, but they never attempt to do physical damage, opting to summon a Healer or to cast Sleep or IceBolt instead. Their HP is very low, but they have a defense of 200. That would normally make them vulnerable to magic damage, but they are in fact immune to all elements, to RobMagic, and to Sleep, as well as mostly immune to Sap, and slightly resistant to StopSpell and Expel. Limbo will always get rid of them in a pinch.

Alvaro is already strong enough to end one in two rounds though, so they're not much to worry about alone.

This particular fight leaves us with precious little HP, but it does get Zofia to level 20, for 3 Str, 1 Agi, 5 Vit, 2 Luc, 1 Int, and 8 HP.

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Good grief, that's a lot of incoming IceBolts. Better double up on StopSpells for a battle like this.

Yeah, we block all their spells in the first round, and it's just a matter of time from there. Alvaro and Isabel sneak in a crit each, and Rebeca gets two lethal stings in to accelerate things.

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Garudas have rather average physical stats for this region, being moderately strong and durable, but they're most remarkable for their 30% chance to cast Firebane. They're highly resistant to Sleep and Surround, slightly to StopSpell, and not at all to RobMagic or elemental damage. A Blazemore cast will take one out in one shot.

Also, I gotta say, man that's a cool sprite. Just look at that. Dang! It makes excellent use of the extra colors via the background tradeoff, too.

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Avenger Beaks are a bit weaker than Garudas in most respects, but they have Defence instead of Firebane and get two moves per round. They're highly resistant to Surround, and slightly to fire, Sleep, StopSpell and RobMagic. Avenger Ravens were stronger with Madhounds along to reduce our defense, but these guys synergize with themselves, and you underestimate them at your peril. Or you go for Snowblast. One or the other!

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Image: Whew! Talk about a village at the end of the world!
Image: Here's to hoping that figure of speech will remain a figure of speech for the foreseeable future.

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Yeah, we're pretty much in eastern Siberia.

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Huh, it's a bit cheaper than that roadside inn near Jipang.

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Image
Image: In fact, we did not!
Image: Why, did you come on foot?!
Image: We sure did!
Image: What curious folks!
Image: Well, this is pretty remote.
Image: Guys, I don't think the Archfiend is here.
Image: Eh... probably not.

If you tell him you did come by ship, he says "I thought as much!"

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Image
Image: In this weather, that's no joke!
Image: If he gets any funny ideas, I'll show him a thing or two about cold water!
Image: Reb, please don't IceBolt a kid.
Image: Promise.
Image: No Snowblasts either!
Image: Gah, fine.

Image
Image: Huh? Me? No.
Image: What? You're not him? Well, you sure look like him!
Image: Papa... gatero? Gatero. Hmm. Right.
Image: Well, there is a strong family resemblance for sure.
Image: What are you... Oh! Oh wow!
Image: A family resemblance, you say? Have you ever met Ortega, Isabel?
Image: I've caught glances of him here and there. I remember one time in Romaly a long time ago, and a few times in Aliahan.
Image: How was he?
Image: Just a bit too married for me. Oh ho ho!
Image: ...okay, yikes.

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This is the first time we see Poison Moth Powder for sale. I could see it coming in handy for a party with fewer spellcasters, but we don't need to spend that kind of money on essentially a disposable single-target disabler.

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Ha, a new equipment store! We haven't seen new gear since Isis!

The Staff of Judgement is a +35 weapon that only Sages and Pilgrims can equip. It's finally an upgrade to Isabel's +28 Iron Spear, and we happen to be incredibly wealthy, so we buy one right away. It takes her attack from 66 to 73. In addition...

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...using it in battle has an effect about equivalent to Firebal for free. That's pretty dang rad, and Isabel's ability to deal damage has taken quite a leap forward.

The Sledge Hammer is a +55 weapon (by comparison, Zofia's Battle Axe is +40), and only Soldiers can wield it. It's only 7 points better than Giant Shears though, so if you splurged on that back then, you might want to save your money unless you've got cash coming out of your ears.

The Iron Mask is a +25 helm that only Heroes and Soldiers can wear. This certainly dashes my dream of having a Spanish martial artist with claws and a mask in our party, but it'll be a decent upgrade over Zofia's +16 Iron Helmet. It takes her defense from 79 to 88.

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Image
Image: Sorry to disappoint, I'm not Papagatero.
Image: What? You're not him? Well, you sure look like him!

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Hmm, I wonder if there's a way into that merchant's back room...

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Ah, nice.

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Image: I'm... not...
Image: You're the closest to him anyone's likely to see nowadays.
Image: ...right.

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Dear old dad must have left quite an impression on this town, nearly everyone's mistaking us for him!

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Image: He was scolded by his mother for shooting a water blaster at people.
Image: Yeah, I'll keep an eye on him.
Image: No fire either.
Image: Come on, I-
Image: Rebeca wouldn't be the type to set a child on fire, Zofia. This is ridiculous.
Image: ...right. I know that.

Image
Image: Oh! Is there no end to his talents?
Image: Since you guys remind me of Papagatero, I'll give you this.
Image: Ah... T-thank you, Popota. I promise I'll take good care of it.

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We now in fact have a water pistol in our inventory.

Image: Zofia, if you spray me-
Image: Haha, I get it!

And we can actually shoot it at people!

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Image
Image: Yeah, what of it?
Image: I thought so. Papagatero said he came from there too. I think in Aliahan he went by... Ortega.

Image: That'll be for the slow kids in the audience.

Image: I remember him saying how he regretted leaving his daughter behind.
Image: ...
Image: Zofia...?
Image: Are you alright, sweetheart?
Image: Yeah... I-I mean... Sorry. No.
Image: Come here.
Image: ...
Image: Fia...
Image: ...
Image: Oh, child. This world is in terrible danger, but your father helped so many in the short time he had with us. You have reason to be proud of him, and he of you.
Image: ...yeah.
Image: ...
Image: I... I'll be fine. Let's go.
Image: You sure?
Image: I'm okay. Let's just go.

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On the plus side, Ortega himself did correctly tell people he had a daughter.

It looks like we might be almost done with our trip east. Let's explore the region until sunset and check out Muor at night before we return west.

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Barnabas are comparable to Sky Dragons in terms of stats, if with a fair deal less HP; they know StopSpell and Healmore, but they also just hit pretty hard. They're highly resistant to disables in general, but only slightly to fire and Expel, and not at all to other elements.

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That'll be the Bering Strait. We can see Alaska from here!

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Aaaaand that's everywhere we can reach on foot.

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Which means our world map so far looks something like...

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That's all the difference sunset makes here. We return to the inn and rest up.

Image: Zofia, do you have a moment?
Image: I-I'm not sure I'm up for talking tonight, Alvaro.
Image: It's okay, you don't have to talk. It's just something I want to tell you.
Image: ...yeah. Okay.
Image: Thank you.
Image: ...
Image: I'm from a hamlet on Aliahan Bay. My family name used carry a lot of weight, but we've been fishermen from father to son ever since the end of the war. We... uh... my ancestors picked the wrong side. I'm sure I don't need to go into details.
Image: ...I see.
Image: When I was very young, I saw my father's boat go down one evening. A bad storm rolled in and... it's like it just snapped in half. It was over in the blink of an eye. I mentioned that I don't do well with water, right?
Image: You did. Alvaro, I'm sorry, I-
Image: I couldn't... I couldn't be a fisherman anymore after that. Left it to my brothers. I couldn't do it. So I pursued other interests. I... trained some.
Image: ...
Image: And now I'm tracking down an Archfiend. It burns me up inside that my father could die in a instant like that. It was an awful end for a good man. Even now I can hardly even believe it happened the way it did. But I'm also really happy I get to travel with you, and I don't see a lot of room for a fisherman by your side. So... who knows, right?
Image: ...seeing what my choices were, I might have taken a fisherman along.
Image: Heh.
Image: Ahhh...
Image: ...
Image: Are you... are you going to be alright sailing with us?
Image: No. I won't be alright. It's going to be... difficult. But I'll do it. I have to. I want to.
Image: Well, I don't want to leave you behind either, so you better.
Image: I will.
Image: ...
Image: ...
Image: ...thanks, Alvaro.
Image: Don't mention it.
Image: For the talk, too.
Image: Same. Good night.
Image: Good night.

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Image: Feeling better?
Image: A little.
Image: Do you need more time?
Image: We have work to do... I can't... There will be time for this later.
Image: You can say that again. Sea travel is a day of thrills for a week of boredom.
Image: Speaking of which...
Image: Right, Portoga. Let's go!

Welp, we didn't quite need to do that whole trip east past Baharata, but we got some good gear in Muor at least, and a fair chunk of change besides.

Looking through our Return destinations, it appears Muor is in fact the first settlement that we cannot directly teleport to. But we shouldn't need to come back here until we have a way to unlock iron bars.

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Image: Your Highness, it was quite an eventful journey, but we finally have fulfilled your request.
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Image: As promised, I shall give unto thee a ship! Go thee out in front and behold!

If we try to talk to the king again...

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Okay, that's not weird or anything. He also won't save for us.

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Image: Well I'll be! The old fart actually delivered!
Image: Is a pouch of black pepper really worth this entire ship?
Image: Ha, if you throw in the whole "destroying the Archfiend" business, I think we more than deserve it.
Image: Welp, everyone on board, then!
Image: Ah... the time has come, I suppose.
Image: You can do it, Alvaro.
Image: Right. I can knock a knight out through his armor with my bare hands and I can hook a rampaging dragon out of the sky from a tightrope. I can board a ship.
Image: That's the spirit!

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Music: Sea voyage

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Image: Hmm? Why are there stairs here?
Image: I don't know... A lighthouse maybe?
Image: Lighthouses usually go up, not down.
Image: Let's check it out.

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Image
Image: Wait, do you mean Carlos and Sabrina?
Image: Holy crap, he did that!?
Image: So the two... well, it's a tragic story.
Image: Well, that makes one thing we now know for sure he's responsible for.

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And so our four companions take to the sea in their new vessel, and the next phase of their journey begins.

Meanwhile, in a land far away, another force of destiny stirs...

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

Re: Let's play Dragon Warrior III: you mean they made a sequel to that one game with all the instant death monsters?

Postby Blossom » Sun Jul 29, 2018 7:53 pm

François wrote:Image
Image: Oh! Is there no end to his talents?
Image: Since you guys remind me of Papagatero, I'll give you this.
Image: Ah... T-thank you, Popota. I promise I'll take good care of it.

Image

We now in fact have a water pistol in our inventory.

Image: Zofia, if you spray me-
Image: Haha, I get it!

And we can actually shoot it at people!

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In the remakes, you don't get a Water Blaster! In fact, you get Ortega's Helmet here, a Hero-only helmet 5 points of defense better than the Iron Mask. It's not the best helmet in the game for the Hero, but it is the best helmet in the world for the Hero.
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User avatar
Friday
Posts: 6264
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 7:40 pm
Location: Karma: -65373

Re: Let's play Dragon Warrior III: you mean they made a sequel to that one game with all the instant death monsters?

Postby Friday » Sun Jul 29, 2018 11:13 pm

My favorite thing to do with the Water Blaster is walk up and shoot Baramos in the face with it.
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User avatar
François
Posts: 1708
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 8:00 am

Re: Let's play Dragon Warrior III: you mean they made a sequel to that one game with all the instant death monsters?

Postby François » Tue Jul 31, 2018 6:48 am

Image: What do you mean, she's gone?
Image: Settle down, Gonzalo. It's not like she left alone.
Image: Yes, sure, "settle down". Say that to the Archfiend, after you throw the teenage daughter of a hero directly in his maw.
Image: You vastly overestimate my influence over this situation.
Image: Yes, well, maybe so. Still. Ugh. I better go after her.
Image: She drops by every once in a while to visit the Vault, you know. It looks like she's doing very well without you.
Image: So, what? What do you suggest?
Image: You could wait-
Image: This is NO TIME for WAITING! I've had enough of everyone taking this threat so lightly. You!
Image: Hmm?
Image: Yes, you! Can you swing a sword?
Image: When I have to, yeah.
Image: You're coming along! And you-
Image: Hey.
Image: Uh... Can you fight?
Image: Luisa, can I fight?
Image: Oh, you can fight alright.
Image: You heard the lady.
Image: Good enough! Let's go.
Image: Where are we going?
Image: I have it on good authority Ortega's daughter went to the Tower of Najima. We will follow her trail, catch up to her and help her fight the Archfiend.
Image: I'm getting half the loot.
Image: Ooooh! Good call. I'm getting half the loot too!
Image: That... doesn't leave much for...
Image: Fine, you get ten percent, and Meche and I split the rest. Take it or leave it.
Image: Luisa... Do you have anyone else avai-
Image: Nope.
Image: I... um... I believe we have a deal, ladies. Meche, was it, and...?
Image: It's Merrrrrrcedes to you, dreamboat.
Image: Leonor.
Image: Right then. Welcome aboard.

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So a Soldier, a Merchant and a Goof-off walk out of a bar. We've got our B team! Our regular crew is returned to Luisa's Place, but not before turning Zofia into a ghost (which is even more heartbreaking to actually do than you think); Luisa won't let her part company with herself. Keeping her out of action ensures that these new folks fight their own battles and that she won't get overleveled.

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This is what happens if your Hero is dead and you try to let your last companion go.

I'll keep track of the A team's money to make sure Gonzalo and company won't spend gold they haven't earned. However, since they don't have a healer (or any magical support whatsoever), and obviously all chests have been looted already, I'll let them have the spare equipment we Vaulted in the early game just to make their start less nightmarish, and I'll try to find a smart way to distribute among them the Strength and Agility Seeds we've been stockpiling so they're not at too heavy a disadvantage. That, or I'll just feed 'em all to Mercedes because I don't have to worry about messing up her stats.

On the plus side, they'll be leveling faster than we're used to, since they'll share among themselves the experience that would normally go to a fourth character.

Oh, and, well, in case you're wondering... I'm doing this because I'm curious about how it'll go. That's about it, heheh. I won't story the whole thing up in depth, but I'll let you know how it goes in general, just to show the differences a new party makes. If you're not interested in this at all, which is understandable, then this update and others like it can be safely skipped, you won't be missing anything of earth-shattering importance. And I won't have two updates of this in a row for sure; we'll be back to our regularly scheduled main quest next time.

Anyway! What are our new adventurers' stats looking like?

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Gonzalo's bonus stats are 1 Vitality and 1 Intelligence. Worse than nothing, wow. He starts with a Club and a Leather Armor, but he inherits a Copper Sword, a Leather Helmet, and a Leather Shield.

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Leonor gets 1 Strength, 1 Agility, and 1 Vitality, which is a touch better. She starts with a Club and Clothes, but also inherits a Magic Knife, Leather Helmet, Leather Shield and Wayfarer's Clothes.

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Mercedes gets 1 Intelligence and 1 Luck. Aren't we off to a great start? Goof-offs normally start with a Cypress Stick and Clothes, but we give her a Magic Knife and the Flashy Clothes we found on the Pyramid's top floor. That's a lot of defense power, but it probably still won't make things easy.

Whew, okay then. Zofia's team has 19000 in the Vault, and with all Vault retrieval fees paid, this leaves 48 gold in the B team's purse, and I'll make sure there's still at least this much when we return to our main adventure.

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Of course our ship is here, as it teleports to a body of water close to your Return destination. But let's pretend it's still off the coast of Portoga, heh.

We get into a few fights around Aliahan, just to get everyone to level 3. Everyone's pulling their weight, mostly, though of course we have decent gear and the toughest enemies are Black Ravens. Baby steps!

When it's time to rest up, though...

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Whoops.

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Image: We'll find her, ma'am, don't you worry.

No free place to sleep for this squad! At least the shock got Zofia's mom to remember she has a daughter, not a son. But we gotta pony up the 6 gold at the inn, like peasants.

Image: Or princes, apparently.

The next day...

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It's gonna take a while to get used to the permanent red interface.

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So the plan here is to make it to the old man at the top of the tower, then back, after which we can move on to Reeve.

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Oh hey, there we go, two gold. It's not much, but it's a start.

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This... not so much.

We also have a bit of an odd problem, as many enemies are terrified of Zofia's ghost and tend to run away before we can finish them off. That's one I didn't anticipate.

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Image: Good sir, has the daughter of Ortega perchance-
Image: Gonzalo! I dreamed of your visit.
Image: Ah! See, we are part of this heroic destiny as well!
Image: Yyyyeah, sure.
Image: Well I wouldn't exactly go so far as to say-
Image: Do you know where she went?
Image: To Reeve, but-
Image: I coulda told you that. Why'd we schlep all the way up here?
Image: Y-you knew?
Image: Not a lotta towns worth visiting on this island, sugarcheeks.
Image: Right. Well! It was good combat practice!
Image: And decent money too. Can't complain.
Image: Tell me, seer, what else did your dreams tell you about us?
Image: Nothing, really.
Image: Glorious! Our future is ours to write! Thank you. Let's go. To Reeve, companions!
Image: Reeve! Woooo!
Image: ...

Whew, that wasn't too hard. Having two specialized melee combatants working together and leveling up quickly makes short work of the critters here, and everyone's practically immune to non-magic damage. And Mercedes... well... she gets a quick stab in every once in a while.

The only dangerous monsters have been Masked Moths (Surround shuts us down hard), Babbles (Antidote Herbs are expensive) and Magicians (fire damage, ouch).

Along the way, everyone gained five more levels. Leonor always levels first by a considerable margin, then Mercedes after a bit, and Gonzalo far behind.

From the beginning, Gonzalo earned a total of 17 Str, 5 Agi, 13 Vit, 4 Luc, 3 Int, and 28 HP. He is much, much stronger than any of Zofia's crew was at that time.

Leonor gained 4 Str, 10 Agi, 16 Vit, 3 Luc, 4 Int, and 29 HP. She doesn't hit as hard as I'd like, but she's shaping up to be something of a decent tank.

Mercedes got 3 Str, 12 Agi, 9 Vit, 60 Luc, 17 Int, and 15 HP. Yes, you read that right, that's 60 Luck points. Good grief. If nothing else, changing class from a Goof-off basically guarantees a huge Luck score.

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Image: *wink*

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Image
Image: Oh, she went east a while ago, probably through that old Travel Door. It used to be sealed up, but you know how heroes are.

We don't have enough money for any significant weapon upgrade, but we can spare the cash for a pair of Turbans for Leonor and Mercedes. That's a lot of cheap defense power right there! In fact, Leonor has more HP and defense than Gonzalo, so she takes point. (Mercedes' Flashy Clothes still give her a silly amount of defense, higher than both her comrades put together, but she's got much lower HP.)

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I wonder if we can make it to Romaly without grinding.

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Image: Oof, looks like your little heroine came through already.
Image: Such is the might of Ortega's bloodline! Zofia could cleave through this barricade in one-
Image: Naaah, she used a big Magic Ball. We used to play with little ones as fireworks when I was a kid. Somebody's dad used to make 'em in his barn but he hadta stop after he blew half his fingers off one time and set the farm on fire.
Image: What... a.. charming memory. Thanks for sharing.

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Yikes. Mercedes doesn't survive this fight. Nobody can one-shot Magicians yet, and we need to kill things faster. This'll take some grinding after all! Hopefully just one Chain Sickle will be enough. Heh, it's too bad we can't afford to pull the Golden Claw out of storage.

...

First Sickle goes to Leonor. Gonzalo would do better work with it, but he tends to go dead last in each round and he won't prevent as many Blaze casts. Mercedes is faster than the both of them but, you know, Goof-off.

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Whew, made it. It took all our Medical Herbs and more than a few Antidotes, but we're in Romaly, all in one piece. And everyone gained three levels!

Gonzalo earned 7 Str, 1 Agi, 13 Vit, 1 Luc, 3 Int, and 25 HP. He's still incredibly powerful, even though he's stuck using Leonor's Magic Knife for now.

Leonor earned 7 Str, 4 Agi, 12 Vit, 3 Luc, 2 Int, and 24 HP. She's really tough, and a lot stronger than I expected she might be. She easily deals more damage than Alvaro did at the time, but he hadn't really come into his own by that point.

Mercedes got 2 Str, 7 Agi, 9 Vit, 39 Luc, 2 Int, and 18 HP. She's pretty sturdy, but her damage is starting to fall off the curve and I don't know how soon it'll be a good idea to get her a new weapon. I suppose she'll inherit a Chain Sickle somewhere down the line.

Overall things have been about as difficult as they were with our main party. Most of the fights have been much easier, since we have good damage output without having to spend MP and everyone's pretty tough, but as we've seen there are a few specific foes that give us a lot more trouble. We also have no area of effect capacity and no IceBolt-grade burst damage. Rebeca could incinerate seven Babbles at the top of the first round, but for our three here, it takes forever and someone's getting poisoned.

We arrive in Romaly with about 400 gold, and that's not enough for a meaningful upgrade. Leonor's still rocking a set of Wayfarer's Clothes, so I'm definitely eyeing the Iron Apron for our next buy. In the meantime...

Image: Excuse me, child. Did you see a young girl by the name of Zofia some time ago?
Image: Oh, you mean the king!
Image: ...huh?
Image: Yeah, King Zofia! She spoke to me and all the grown-ups were real happy while she was the king and then she left and the old king came back and there was a riot and now we're a parliamentary monarchy and-
Image: So she's not here anymore?
Image: Nah, she left to the north. There were bandits in a tower I think and everybody says she threw the bandits off the top of the tower and it was really cool.
Image: North it is, then. Thank you, you've done a great service to King Zofia today.
Image: Hurray!

Image

Image: Wait, she went north, then she was the king, then she went east. Oh well, they'll figure it out.

Next goal: making it to the top of Shanpane Tower. We won't have to fight Kandar of course, but it's probably going to be pretty hard to reach his old hideout in the first place.

...

Whoops, Gonzalo gets taken down by three Putrepups, and we have to run before the others can kill even one in return. Yeah, this'll take some more grinding. And Gonzalo's gonna need a better weapon before Leonor gets her Apron for sure. We'll get him an Iron Spear, which he'll be able to pass down to Mercedes one day.

...

Before I feel comfortable heading to Kanave, we do get Gonzalo a Spear and a Shell Armor, and Leonor her Iron Apron. We could grind the rest of a Chain Mail for our Soldier instead, but he'll have much better armor available soon, and I am Sick Unto Death of Poison Toads and Spiked Hares.

Image

Aight, made it. Leonor got two levels since last time, for 5 Str, 3 Agi, 5 Vit, 1 Luc, 2 Int, and 8 HP.

The others only leveled once. Gonzalo got 3 Str, 1 Agi, 6 Vit, 1 Luc, 2 Int, and 8 HP, while Mercedes got 1 Str, 2 Agi, 3 Vit, 1 Int, and 6 HP.

Image

Oof. We can get away with just one Half-Plate since the Iron Apron will hold Leonor over for a while, but two Broad Swords and two Iron Shields wouldn't go amiss. We'll just make runs at the tower and see if we can make it to the top without everything on that shopping list.

On our way to the Tower, something happens that I didn't remember was even possible: a Putrepup cast Slow, and it didn't work on Mercedes. She has 113 Luck, so it must have allowed her to avoid the debuff. This has never happened to anyone else from the start, even in our A team.

The first Iron Shield goes to Gonzalo, because Leonor still has more defense than he does. Zofia's still using one of those shields, so it'll serve us well for a long time.

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Ha.

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Image: I don't get no respect!

We fail enough runs to get Gonzalo his Half Plate, and it lets him take point again, since he has a lot more HP than Leonor. Next buy might be a Broad Sword for him, so he can give the Spear to Leonor and she can give her Sickle to Mercedes.

Image

Image: This sure is a tower where a bunch of bandits died.
Image: ...
Image: Why're we here again?
Image: I... figured Zofia could have made this tower her own headquarters.
Image: She didn't want to run Romaly. Why would she care about this tower in the ass end of nowhere?
Image: Well if you thought coming here was such a bad idea, why didn't you say so earlier?
Image: I'm making money wherever we go, I don't care.

Fortunately we made it all this way without running into Poison Silkworms; it would not have been fun to deal with that poison breath.

By the time return to Kanave, Leonor got one level, and the others two each to catch up to her.

Leonor obtained 4 Str, 2 Agi, 4 Vit, 1 Int, and 6 HP. Nothing spectacular, but steady.

Gonzalo got 7 Str, 2 Agi, 8 Vit, 1 Luc, 2 Int, and 19 HP. He's definitely starting to tank up too.

Mercedes got 2 Str, 7 Agi, 7 Vit, 10 Luc, 2 Int, and 12 HP. She's not so fragile as to be a liability, but she doesn't get to contribute much right now.

Image: Excuse me ma'am, might you have any news about the heroine Zofia?
Image: Oh, she's a miracle worker! I hear she helped out the people of Noaniels!
Image: We'd been calling it the Sleeping Village for years, and now they don't sleep a wink!
Image: I almost wish something awful happened here in Kanave so we could have been rescued by that handsome young man traveling with her.
Image: We MUST find Zofia!
Image: Yes, I'm glad you can appreciate-
Image: AND her entourage of handsome men!
Image: ...right.
Image: When was that again?
Image: Couple weeks back, I guess.
Image: Gonzo, this is ridiculous. We're never going to catch up to her if we have to stop everywhere she stopped.
Image: If you have a better trail to follow, I'm all ears.
Image: I... uh... Noaniels it is.

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Image: Oh, yes, she asked about the Magic Key. I'm sure she went to Assaram.
Image: Oof, isn't she a little young to-
Image: And where would that be?
Image: Far south-east of Romaly.
Image: ...
Image: ...
Image: Haha! Life is hilarious!
Image: So... Assaram it is, then.
Image: I'm not heading to Assaram like this.
Image: But if she-
Image: I spent some time with fellow merchants in Romaly. The road to Assaram is way too dangerous for us right now. Maybe if we had better gear...
Image: Old man, are there monsters you need killed around here? Preferably in exchange for currency?
Image: I... I suppose there are never too few Vampires...
Image: Consider your Vampire problems solved!

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Next goal: the Dream Ruby chest. I expect it'll go a lot more smoothly, what with the convenient healing spring in that cave.

The Cloak of Evasion in Noaniels is tempting, but we definitely don't have 2900 gold to spare. We'll be having at least two Broad Swords before we bother with it.

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We're forced to turn back before we reach the spring; packs of Madhounds reducing our defense power are extraordinarily dangerous and we need to kill them at least a little faster. We grind up a Broad Sword for Gonzalez and hand down everyone's weapons before we try again. Even just replacing Mercedes' Magic Knife with a Chain Sickle finally lets her deal non-insignificant damage again.

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Shadows are tricky for us, because the monsters they are able to mimic depend on Zofia's level. They only show up unaccompanied around here though, so it never gets beyond our ability to deal with.

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You might think the kind glance has a chance to do something helpful... but it does not. Goof-offs!

Things get so rough in the cave again that we end up getting another Broad Sword, and Mercedes inherits the Iron Spear. Everyone's got their best available weapon right now, and Leonor's Iron Shield is our next upgrade.

For our main party, getting their defense reduced to zero in a long fight was never an issue, since Rebeca could spend some MP and nuke the tougher creatures, and we had Isabel to heal through the damage anyway. But defense power is at a premium for our trio here, and losing too much of it is devastating.

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Oh dang, finally. It shouldn't be much longer from here.

Deadly Toadstools are a lot deadlier than they used to be, since we can't just blow them up with magic, and they get a lot more chances to put us to Sleep. Mercedes' Luck makes her highly resistant to sleeping gas, but there's only so much she can do on her own.

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Aw heck. I'm surprised this didn't happen sooner.

Of course Zofia gets resurrected at Dhama, since that's where we saved last; we have to do some jolly non-canon co-operation for a bit. She gets Gonzalo revived and takes him back to Kanave, but he can't afford to have anyone else brought back, so he has to fight on his own for a while. But he manages, and we return to the cave.

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Ahhhhh, at last. Time to walk back out.

We pick up an Iron Shield for Leonor in Kanave, and return to Romaly to prepare for the next branch of our quest. Since last time, Leonor and Mercedes gained three levels, and Gonzalo only two.

Leonor got 5 Str, 8 Agi, 3 Vit, 4 Luc, and 17 HP. Her offense is falling behind a bit but she's definitely getting tougher all the time.

Gonzalo earned 12 Str, 1 Agi, 8 Vit, 1 Luc, 2 Int, and 18 HP. As I mentioned in the Soldier's description way back when, that'll be what a sturdy backbone looks like. Interestingly, at level 14, he just passed Rebeca's HP at level 20.

And Mercedes earned 2 Str, 3 Agi, 6 Vit, 16 Luc, 3 Int, and 15 HP. I think she hits about as hard as Isabel did at the time, maybe a little less, so she's somewhat useful in her own profoundly unreliable way.

Alright then, that ought to do it for the B team right now. We'll be checking back again with Zofia and company next time!

User avatar
Friday
Posts: 6264
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 7:40 pm
Location: Karma: -65373

Re: Let's play Dragon Warrior III: you mean they made a sequel to that one game with all the instant death monsters?

Postby Friday » Tue Jul 31, 2018 7:12 pm

I still don't know what Luck does. I've found FAQs that very confidently tell me what it does, and then other FAQs that very confidently contradict the other FAQs.
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Blossom
Posts: 2297
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 8:58 pm

Re: Let's play Dragon Warrior III: you mean they made a sequel to that one game with all the instant death monsters?

Postby Blossom » Tue Jul 31, 2018 10:35 pm

Friday wrote:I still don't know what Luck does. I've found FAQs that very confidently tell me what it does, and then other FAQs that very confidently contradict the other FAQs.


I think I found something that says! And actually offers a methodology for testing and reproducing results, rather than raw speculation and pronouncement.

If you're emulating the game in a debugging version of FCEUX, you can find the RAM entry for a character's Luck, and then set a break point so it'll pause emulation and pop up a window whenever the game tries to read that entry. So, if something that seems random happens and no window pops up, Luck was not referenced. If something happens and it does, Luck was at least looked at, though the exact mechanics for how are not spoken to - though the game does love to divide things by 256, often with a multiplication by a random number in there.

The following do not trigger the break point:

Code: Select all

- Physical damage rate on enemies or allies.
- Critical Hit rates.
- Physical dodge rate.
- Enemy encounter rate.
- Enemy attack patterns used.
- Enemies calling for backup.
- Player's spells and their effects (only tested the Hero's spells).
- Item drops.
- ANYTHING to do with Colosseum battles.
- Running away from battle.
- Attack order


The following is a non-exhaustive list of things that do:

Code: Select all

- Enemy casted Stopspell on ally
- Enemy casted Surround on ally
- Enemy casted Chaos on ally
- Venom Zombie emits gales of toxic breath
- Venom Zombie attacked, and AFTER damage was calculated, the breakpoint hit. (to calculate randomly being poisoned)
- Bighorn emits gales of sweet breath (Sleep effect)


How Luck factored into what happens is a mystery, but there's something that says "look at Luck and do something", at least. Fullblown disassembly might be needed to actually solve it.
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Friday
Posts: 6264
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 7:40 pm
Location: Karma: -65373

Re: Let's play Dragon Warrior III: you mean they made a sequel to that one game with all the instant death monsters?

Postby Friday » Tue Jul 31, 2018 11:26 pm

Huh.

So if I'm reading that right, it's strictly limited to resisting enemy status effects.

I've heard that it's also loot drop chances, crit, your own application of status effects on enemies, and more.

Well, that's sort of a really shitty stat then. I guess it's not -too- shitty, sometimes avoiding a sleep or whatever can be pretty big.
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Blossom
Posts: 2297
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Re: Let's play Dragon Warrior III: you mean they made a sequel to that one game with all the instant death monsters?

Postby Blossom » Wed Aug 01, 2018 2:03 pm

Yeah, seems like it's only dodging statuses. Which doesn't suck, but ... really isn't worth leveling as a Goof-Off first to do.
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François
Posts: 1708
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 8:00 am

Re: Let's play Dragon Warrior III: you mean they made a sequel to that one game with all the instant death monsters?

Postby François » Thu Aug 02, 2018 6:42 am

Right, it's a good advantage, Goof-offs are noticeably more resistant to sleep and poison breath and such, but the only real way to get it is pretty crummy. Well, you could farm Luck Seeds too but yeah no.

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

Re: Let's play Dragon Warrior III: you mean they made a sequel to that one game with all the instant death monsters?

Postby François » Thu Aug 02, 2018 6:48 am

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Image: Oof! This is a lot trickier to handle than dad's boat!
Image: Eh, you'll get the hang of it.
Image: I'll... I'll be below deck. If anyone needs me.
Image: How about we don't get into open ocean right away, hmm?
Image: Yeah, good call. Maybe we can start with that building across the strait here and then, I don't know, we could make sure the Archfiend isn't floating around Romaly.

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Ah, four Lumpus. This means these are Portoga foes still. No problem. The fight gets Alvaro to level 20, for 13 Str (welp), 7 Agi, 3 Vit, 4 Luc, 1 Int, and 6 HP. I'm surprised he didn't hit the Agility cap on this one; he must have been right on the limit last time.

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I'm beginning to suspect many of the barred doors we've seen on our travels might be interconnected with Travel Doors, just like the travel network behind gold doors in DW2. We'll see in time, I suppose.

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Image: If you keep going along the shoreline you'll reach Baharata and finally Jipang, known as the golden country.
Image: Hmm, the people of Jipang need help, too.
Image: It is said that whosoever gathers the 6 Orbs, scattered throughout the world, can travel anywhere without a ship.
Image: Really now? That would come in handy.
Image: Anyway, go south!
Image: We might as well. Thanks for the information.

If you're getting the notion that these Orbs are going to be very important, you may be on to something. In fact this lighthouse keeper plays basically the same role as the Dragonlord in DW2 telling you about the Crests. You can go almost anywhere you like from here and pretty much find them in any order. It is nice to get a suggestion as to where to try first though, as certain locations will be a lot more dangerous than others.

However, even if only to get our sea legs and find out how tough the nautical monsters are, we're still going to start with mapping out the Mediterranean to begin with. I expect that they'll be at around the same level of threat as they were around Dhama, since you can just get your ship as soon as you get Pepper from Baharata.

Encounter rates at sea are extremely low: 4 in 256 per tile during the day, and 5 in 256 during the night. By comparison, grasslands in daytime have it at 10 in 256. Travel distances tend to be longer than on foot though, so it balances out.

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Oooh, Men O' War are back. They're not too tough, with stats about where you'd expect for foes around Baharata. Their "fainting" attacks from DW2 are now a chance to inflict Numbness (which is much worse any way you slice it), and they can call for reinforcements. Except for an immunity to Expel and a weakness to Sap, they're slightly resistant to most magic and are therefore tricky to just blast with AoEs.

Merzons are a bit stronger, with higher HP but lower defense. They have a chance to cast Defense but otherwise only have a standard attack. They're highly resistant to Sleep and Ice, and slightly to fire, Surround, Stopspell and RobMagic. They only have 5 MP too, so if you expect a long battle, it might be worth it to drain their magic early on.

Isabel reaches level 21 after this fight, for 1 Str, 5 Agi, 4 Vit, 3 Luc, 1 Int, 8 HP, and 4 MP. Rebeca immediately follows suit, for 1 Str, 3 Agi, 3 Vit, 5 Luc, 3 Int, 6 HP, and 6 MP. That's pretty decent for both.

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It's hard to say what these islands might be, if anything; the largest islands in the eastern half of the Mediterranean are Crete and Cyprus, but they're much further apart than this.

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King Squids hit about as hard as Sky Dragons and have moderately low defense, but they have much more HP than anything else we've fought, with the exception of Kandar's second version. They only have a single standard attack to their name, but they ignore formation and tend to pose serious threat to your squishier allies. Instant death effects are typically the best way to deal with fat HP sacks like these, and they are in fact only slightly resistant to these effects, but apart from the Poison Needle, that's not an arrow in our quiver right now. They're highly resistant to ice and Surround, and slightly resistant to Sleep, so Rebeca's Blazemore will be our most effective option here.

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Or a ludicrous Alvaro crit. That'll work.

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Oof. Maybe a combination of Blazemore and ludicrous Alvaro crits will be best, then.

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Welp, there was precious little of interest in there. We can't even cross the Dardanelles because of the bridge from Romaly to Assaram. We know there's no path from the north into the Black Sea because of the shoals east of Noaniels, so we might have to find another way there. If we ever need to, that is.

We spend the night in Portoga because Blazemore casts don't come cheap, then we depart south to explore the west coast of Africa.

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Image: Hmm. That's already land we couldn't reach on foot from Isis. You guys want to hold out for this Tedanki place, or should we try-
Image: Landing here sounds good very good please thank you.
Image: Eh, it's all the same to me.
Image: It's not like we need to go to Tedanki for anything. Let's do it.

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Ah, Isis-grade enemies. This place must share an encounter zone with the desert. It's easily handled, and Isabel's Staff of Judgement is especially useful against these crabs.

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Whuh-oh. Seeing a Stingwing here is actually kind of comforting, because the rest of these critters are brand new.

Witches have unremarkable physical stats, but they come with a very high chance to cast Firebane and Healmore. They're only slightly resistant to StopSpell and Surround, and vulnerable to ice and wind, but fire and RobMagic aren't very effective.

Infernus Knights are strong as Sky Dragons and almost as tough as Infernus Crabs (but with much more HP). They ignore formation and have the highest chance to roll crits we've seen yet. They're highly resistant to fire (so Blazemore is out of the question), but only slightly to Sleep, Sap, and Surround.

Goategons have stats similar to Stingwings, but with more HP; they can only attack or spend their 3 MP on a single Slow cast, so they're mostly there to make it more difficult to deal with their companions. They're only slightly resistant to fire, Sleep and Surround, though their vulnerabilities to StopSpell and RobMagic aren't exactly worth exploiting.

The Witch and the Knight present the highest danger here; Alvaro and Zofia go after the Witch in the first round, while Isabel tries to put the Knight to Sleep and Rebeca attempts to torch the Stingwing.

Both our spells fail, but at least the Witch is out of the picture and the rest of the fight is largely uneventful.

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Good grief, these hills are swarming with Knights. Larger groups like this allow Snowblast to shine, though.

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These guys are just not dangerous. A fight like this is an excuse to get Rebeca to siphon up 3 or 6 MP. Zofia levels up after this one, for 4 Str, 2 Agi, 2 Vit, 3 Luc, 1 Int, 5 HP, 2 MP, and a new spell: Repel. It costs 4 MP, and still prevents fights against weaker enemies (comparing their level to the Hero's) on the overworld for a set distance.

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Image: Oh! Hello good sir. It's good to see-
Image
Image: ...huh.
Image: Um, nothing. But thanks for offering!

Welp, a House of Healing. Someone somewhere is happy to stumble unto it by accident.

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Image: Where do you think this leads?
Image: Only one way to find out!
Image: But... the skulls! I mean, there are no-
Image: Alvaro, I lied about the skulls. I don't know why there were skulls in the Cave of Enticement.
Image: ...oh. Why-
Image: I didn't know any of you back then and I was trying to impress you.
Image: Well, okay then. I appreciate you coming clean.
Image: Reb, you impressed me the first time I saw you set a Black Raven on fire.
Image: Heh... that was a cool moment, wasn't it?
Image: So we don't know if this is safe, then.
Image: It's in a House of Healing, how bad can it be?
Image: Fair enough.

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Image

Image: Oh hey, it's that roadside inn across from Jipang!
Image: OI! BUDDY!
Image: Hmm?
Image: Care to let us in?
Image: Would that I could, miss.
Image: Don't think I can't incinerate you from here!
Image: Ah, of course, you threaten me, that'll get me to open the gate for you. Or actually, how about you pike off? That would also be good.
Image: Sorry about that, sir. You have a good night now!

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Image: Well that was a bust.
Image: Eh, let's just go back up the coast to our ship and keep going south.

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Hmm, there are Siberian monsters here at night; we can definitely still handle this area.

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Welp.

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Image: Alright, we didn't get to go this far south on foot. All for landing?
Image: Actually, that river looks navigable. It wouldn't hurt to scout it out first. There should be fewer monsters that way.
Image: Sure, I can get behind that.
Image: Huzzah...

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Image: Oh hey, you think this might be Tedanki?
Image: If it's got a real bed, I don't care what it's called!

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Image: Hmm, quiet little place.
Image: Not everywhere's Romaly, I suppose.
Image: I don't know, that's not-
Image: Oh crap! Guys, look!

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Image: Aw hell!

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Image: Good grief, that took some serious force.
Image: A Magic Ball, maybe?
Image: Something like that.
Image: Somehow I doubt that's what it was.

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Image: ...ah!
Image: Oh no...

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Image: I want to say we're too late, but from the looks of things, we were too late before we even started.
Image: They probably won't miss that chest, then.
Image: ...right.

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Image: ...what the...?
Image: Oh! I know what that is! It's the Lamp of Darkness!
Image: That sounds like a pretty awful kind of lamp.
Image: It's not for reading, it's for turning day into night.
Image: That still seems awful to me.
Image: Well... I guess it's in how you use it.

The Lamp of Darkness is an infinite-use item that sets the time of day to just after sunset. It doesn't allow us to sneak into locations that are closed at night though, since it also teleports us to the entrance of any town or castle we might be in.

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Image: Ugh, so much for a real bed.

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Image: Death in prison... what a terrible fate.
Image: ...hmm? What's this?
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Image: "I wanted to give someone the Orb I had while I was still alive."
Image: If this guy had an Orb and ended up like this, then it's lost.

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Searching the tiles in this cell reveals nothing.

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Image: Huh. Nice work, Reb.
Image: Isn't it always?

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Image: ...oh.
Image: Well there sure isn't anything we can do for anyone here.

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Image: Anyone has any ideas before we head back to the ship? I don't think we'll be able to come back here with Return, there isn't enough of this place left.
Image: We could take the Lamp for a spin.
Image: Is... is that wise? This village is creepy enough during the-
Image: Eh, sure, I kind of want to see how it works.
Image: Ha, nice. Now, you hold it like this...



Using the Lamp of Darkness causes the screen's colors to shift bright and dark several times, only to fade to black, then fade back to the regular nighttime palette.

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Image: Gah!
Image: ...!
Image: Huh.
Image: H-hello? Sir?
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Image: Ah... o-okay then. Thank you.

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Image: What the hell is going on here?
Image: The dead are walking the earth under moonlight.
Image: This is unnatural!
Image: Did the archfiend do this?
Image: It does sound like something an archfiend would do. We know powerful curses can bind souls to the mortal realm. But...
Image: That guy didn't look all that miserable to me. He's definitely not the "wailing damned" type.
Image: Let's ask around then.

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Image: These look real enough. Hmm!

So, new gear!

The Zombie Slasher is a +65 weapon that Heroes, Soldiers, Pilgrims, Merchants and Sages can wield. On top of that, it has a chance to inflict a bonus 16 to 31 damage on certain enemies. You might think this bonus damage works against undead, but it actually checks Expel resistance for some reason. Any enemy with no resistance to Expel always receives this bonus damage. Any enemy with complete immunity to Expel never receives this bonus damage. Enemies with neither null nor complete resistance have about 30% chance to receive it.

It's also the strongest weapon Pilgrims can use, so we will definitely want to put one in Isabel's hands one day. It's a touch expensive though. We have more money than this in the Vault, but I didn't want to bring all of it in case we got into worse trouble than we could handle. We'll see about it later.

Magic Armor makes a welcome return, with a 40 defense power bonus (8 more than Full Plate) and, as usual, a 1/3rd reduction to incoming spell damage regardless of element (but not to breath weapon damage). It can be worn by Heroes, Soldiers, Pilgrims and Sages. It's also the best available Pilgrim armor. Losing the Cloak of Evasion's evade chance stings, but the spell resistance and 20 extra defense power tend to make up for it.

The Sacred Robe is a budget version of Magic Armor, with the same spell resistance but only 30 defense. Only Pilgrims and Sages can equip it.

For now, we only get one Magic Armor for Zofia; it takes her defense from 89 to 97. She'll get better armor later on, and she'll be able to pass this one down to Isabel when that time comes. We also want at least one Zombie Slasher, but we'll need to make a trip to the Vault first.

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Image: Excuse me, sir. Has... has this village been destroyed by an Archfiend?
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Image: Right. Please excuse our companion's odd sense of humor.

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Image: So they don't know.
Image: Is that good or bad?
Image: Could be worse, I guess.

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Image: That's a fell name if I ever heard one.
Image: You guys know where that is?
Image: Not a clue.
Image: Probably not far from here, but I couldn't say.
Image: Welp, if we go someplace new and it's not called "the Necrogond", we know the Archfiend doesn't live there.

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That'll be the ominous black tile we noticed on our way to Baharata.

Image: That's the volcano's crater.
Image: ...!
Image: Is that...
Image: ...it has to be.
Image: Do you... want to go?
Image: Yeah... No. Yeah... I mean...
Image: We don't have to.
Image: I think we should.
Image: Your call, Fia.

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Standard House of Healing right there. Might be novel to get brought back to life by a dead guy.

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Image: ...yeah, it would be.
Image: Is that something Wizards can do?
Image: Eh... Return comes close, but... no. Not that I know of.
Image: Maybe you'll figure something out.
Image: Ha. Maybe.

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Image: Oh crap! That's the guy! The Orb guy!
Image: He must know where it is!
Image: But that guard won't let us in...
Image: Here's one more reason to look for a better key.

This particular prisoner does not wander around randomly, so he'll never come up to the bars to talk to you.

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Image: You wouldn't happen to know where it is, would you?
Image: Go to the island of Lancel to the distant south of Baharata.
Image: If we're heading to Jipang, it'll be on the way!
Image: Thanks, old man!

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Image: Hmm.
Image: ...huh.
Image: I... well.
Image: Heyo. How much for four beds?
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Image: Lovely. We'll take 'em!
Image: Rebeca, I hardly think-
Image: Pay the man, I need me some shut-eye.
Image: Heh, alright then.

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Image: ...good grief.
Image: I hope I never get used to something like this.

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Dang but this episode sure got us a bunch of important information: the Orbs, the Final Key in Lancel, and of course the Necrogond. And Tedanki's a cool use of the day/night mechanic. Just imagine first reaching it at night, and then you stay at the inn, and...

It's also both a callback to and a twist on DW1's Hauksness. That's a very neat way to subvert players' expectations for sure.

Anyway, that'll do it for now. We definitely have enough money in the Vault for a Zombie Slasher, so I'll be making a cash run to Aliahan off-camera, and next time we'll pick up our African expedition where we left off.

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

Re: Let's play Dragon Warrior III: you mean they made a sequel to that one game with all the instant death monsters?

Postby François » Sat Aug 04, 2018 3:39 am

After a quick run to Aliahan and back to empty our coffers, we have more than enough to buy Zofia a Zombie Slasher from Tedanki, increasing her attack power from 97 to 122. That's still behind Alvaro's 138, but the gap is that much narrower now. Just to put this in perspective: we've spent nearly 10000 gold on a weapon upgrade for our Hero, and she still doesn't hit as hard as our Fighter with a 770 gold weapon.

Yeah.

Anyway, we might as well map out the area while we're here.

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Oh boy, Witch Doctors. That design is... uh... more than a little culturally insensitive. But they're clearly white guys in costume so who knows what's going on. They have attack and defense about on par with Siberian and West African monsters, but with somewhat higher HP than we're used to seeing. They can call Horks as reinforcements, as well as cast Healmore. They're slightly resistant to fire, ice, wind and most disables, and highly resistant to Surround and RobMagic, which is a shame because they come with a tasty 18 MP.

Horks are the same as they were when Mummies used to summon them in the Pyramid; they still hit pretty hard but they're not quite as terrifying as they used to be since we're so much better equipped to handle them now.

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Alright, that'll be all of southern Africa. We use the Lamp of Darkness and rest up in Tedanki, then sail back up the river, then south and east past the Cape of Good Hope, and all the way around north along the eastern coast. We'll be heading towards Assaram this way, but there's that volcano in the area...

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With twice the HP but half the defense, Marine Slimes are less durable, less magical versions of the Siberian Slime Snails; they have better attack power (not by much) and can deliver physical damage, but their only spell is Increase. That said, they can quickly turn their 100 defense power into nigh-invulnerability to normal attacks. Fortunately, they're only highly resistant to ice and slightly resistant to most other magic, so they're not too hard to shut down with spells. Firebane in particular will usually wipe out most of a group.

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Tortragons have very high attack power, and as much defense as Snail Slimes, but only moderately high HP, usually delivering solid attacks but sometimes breathing sleeping gas. They're highly resistant to most magic, but only slightly to Sleep and Limbo.

This particular specimen falls to a Poison Needle sting in its sleep, and Rebeca is the first to reach level 22 for her effort. She gains 1 Str, 3 Agi, 3 Vit, 7 Luc, 3 Int, 8 HP (nice), and 7 MP.

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We've seen this river before; it lies just east of the Isis desert, southwest of Assaram.

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Image: ...
Image: So this is... hmm.
Image: I don't know what I thought I'd find here.
Image: What was your dad doing here in the first place?
Image: I don't know. I wish I did.
Image: Even if this area is somehow connected to the Necrogond, why bother with the maw of a volcano?
Image: There's no way he came here without a reason. He must have known something we don't.
Image: Whatever it was, he learned it somewhere.
Image: Right! There must be clues left. I cannot believe the trail he followed would be cold already.
Image: Yeah. Either way, this is a dead end right now. Let's just head to Baharata and find this Lancel place.
Image: Sounds like a plan.

We obliterate a pair of Flamapedes on the way to the ship, and it's enough to get Isabel to level up, for 1 Str, 5 Agi, 3 Vit, 1 Luc, 2 Int, 6 HP, 5 MP, and a new spell: Beat. Sort of a lesser version of the Prince of Cannock's Defeat from DW2, Beat is a single-target instant death effect, costing 7 MP. It rolls against its own resistance stat; you can usually expect it to be less likely to work than Limbo, but much more likely than Expel, though this varies considerably from creature to creature. Unlike the Expel effects though, the monsters it kills leave their standard spoils after battle.

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The Tortragons in these waters are only slightly resistant to Beat, so this is pretty good news. This very battle gets Alvaro to level 21, for 6 Vit, 4 Luc, 1 Int, and 14 HP. That's a great HP increase, but he's clearly hit both the Strength and Agility caps for now.

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Crabus have average HP and attack power for this point in the game, but very high defense; they ignore formation and have a decent chance to roll crits. Their magic resistances are low all around, with slight resistance to ice, Sleep and Surround.

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We spend the night in Baharata because sea travel is turning out to be quite MP-intensive, then return to our ship and head straight south.

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That's Australia, mate.

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And here are the famous Australian Mummies. When they return to their sarcophagi, they stand on their heads and eat eucalyptus leaves.

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Image: This better not be spooktown again.
Image: If this was spooktown again, it wouldn't be deserted at night.
Image: ...oh. Right. Yeah.

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Image: Hmm? Where's that?
Image: Eginbear is an island country to the north of Portoga.
Image: I'm not sure why we'd want such a vase.
Image: Pfft, knowing our luck we'll need it sooner or later.

Ah, right, Edinburgh, of course.

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Image: We... probably should wait until morning.
Image: If only we had a Lamp of Brightness.
Image: A... regular lamp?
Image: ...
Image: Heheh.

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Image: Wait, there are actual Invisibility Herbs? Boy that would have made my life a lot easier.
Image: And how might that be?
Image: Uh, same way it would have made your life a lot easier, I bet.
Image: So... not? At all?
Image: Come on, Al, use your imagination.
Image: For our friendship's sake, I shall not.

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Image: They're not cheap, but if they work, I'm sure they'll come in handy.

We sell Zofia's old Battle Axe and Full Plate, and pick up one portion of Herbs. It literally makes our entire party invisible until we've walked a short distance, but it doesn't have any effect in battle.

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Image: Alright, now we know for sure. Let's look for that Key.

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Image: Ooooh! How interesting! Tell me more.
Image: But to obtain the key, they say I need some kind of vase.
Image: I knew it! I knew it! Did I know it or what?

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Nothing new here, but it's another place to get your Soldier a Sledge Hammer if you didn't get one from Muor. (If you don't want to blow 9800 on a Zombie Slasher, that is.)

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Huh, that big house is still weirdly empty. Or... there are Invisibility Herbs here. What if...

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Nope, it's really empty.

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Hmm. The villagers mentioned a shrine, but I couldn't find it. Maybe it's that cave in the middle here, but it should only be accessible from inside the village. Let's have another look.

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Ooooh, maybe...

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Ah, yep, there it is.

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Image: Gah, of course the shrine is locked.
Image: So were portions of the Pyramid. Let's not give up just yet.

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Image: Oh hey, what's a dwarf doing here?

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Image: Now I'm curious.
Image: We'll need that Vase anyway, we might as well visit soon.
Image: What about Jipang?
Image: Oof, yeah, that's probably a more urgent problem.

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Image: I don't get it. How is a stupid magic vase going to help us get in there?
Image: The Final Key might not be in that shrine.
Image: Huh. But that revenant said...
Image: The old man didn't say the Key was in Lancel, just that we should go there. Now we know we need the Vase to get the Key...
Image: ...which doesn't necessarily mean the Key is in Lancel at all. Just in a place we can't get to without a Vase of Drought.
Image: So... somewhere with too much water?
Image: We're missing a piece of this puzzle, but the next step is that Vase. Well, our next step is Jipang, but once we clear that out...
Image: Eginbear.
Image: The old fart could just have told us to go to Egin... bear... but then... we wouldn't know about...
Image: ...the Invisibility Herb. Goodness, if the folk of Tedanki were this wise, it's no wonder they attracted Baramos' attention.
Image: I guess the elves are safe then. Heh.
Image: Welp, that's it then. Everybody back on board, we're going to Jipang.

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The trip is uneventful; we head back north to Baharata, and follow the coast east. We already know the way from going there on foot in the first place.

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Music: Jipang

Heh, of course Jipang has its own town music. It sounds vastly different from any other town from the series so far, and definitely gives that "strange foreign country" vibe.

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Dang but did "omigosh" throw me for a loop back when I was a kid. Try looking that up in a dictionary from the 60s.

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Obviously their houses are made of wood, not stone.

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The story of the colossal demonic serpent Orochi (or Yamata-no-Orochi, if you're naughty), of the sacrificial maiden, and of the divine warrior who rescued her and slew the beast is a foundational myth of Japanese culture.

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Image: We're here, kid. No need to worry anymore.
Image: We have a pretty good track record for good endings when we get on the scene before the story's over.

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Image: Hmm, this must be some kind of storehouse.
Image: You know, I heard a lot of good things about Jipang wine.
Image: This is hardly the time!
Image: Just a sip won't hurt. Let's see if there's an open jar here somewhere...

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Image: Whoa, what?
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Image: Let me at least bid farewell once more to the place where I was born and raised!
Image: Don't worry, child. We have no intention of turning you in.
Image: Right, let's get out of here.

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Image: We'll figure something out.

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Well this dude's out of place.

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I guess it's tricky to censor out a Jesuit missionary. Do remember that this man's sprite in the Japanese version is...

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...this one instead.

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Image: Say, you wouldn't know anything about an Orb, would you?
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Image: A... a sphere, I guess.
Image: I ain't sure what you mean, but if it's anything like a crystal ball, Himiko has one.
Image: Do we know if these Orbs are anything like-
Image: We in fact do not.
Image: Still, it's probably worth a look.

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Image: Selfish as this may be, I can't say I don't understand her point of view.

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Image: You're one to talk!
Image: Rebeca, let's not start an incident, alright?

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Image: If this Himiko is so wonderful, I wonder why she isn't trying to save her people.
Image: If the King of Aliahan is so wonderful, I wonder why he isn't trying to save his people.
Image: Who said the King of Aliahan is wonderful?
Image: Heh.
Image: He is trying to save the world. He did send us. And it'll work.
Image: Ha, last laugh's on him, I guess.

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Ah, a Japanese leader not entirely fond of foreigners. Yup, that checks out.

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Image: ZOFIA!
Image: My finger must have slipped. Oops.

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Image: She really doesn't seem too interested in solving this problem.
Image: Ugh, it's not like she has any reason to think we might have a solution.
Image: I refuse to believe no one came up with a basic "kill Orochi" kind of idea.
Image: Having the idea isn't always enough.

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Image: ...from where?
Image: I don't like this one bit.

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Image: Are they, now.
Image: You know, if someone told me this Himiko is in league with Orochi, it wouldn't exactly knock me on my ass.
Image: It's not because they're rude that they must be entering into pacts with evil monsters.

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Image: I'm... sure she would.

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Image: She's pretty great at hiding it.
Image: Any leader who had to pick one of their subjects to be sacrificed to a monster would be in a foul mood every now and then.

And that's it for this town. There are no shops or inns, though presumably they wouldn't accept our currency. At least there's that roadside inn on the mainland. Let's use the Lamp of Darkness and see if we can't unearth more info at night.

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Hmm. He might be expecting a less savory visitor.

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Image: It'll take more than prayers for this one, old man.
Image: ...right.

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Image: Was she... was she hissing in her sleep?
Image: Maybe that's how folk here are taught to...
Image: To what? To snore? She was hissing!
Image: Keep your voices down!

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Clearly the women aren't sleeping too well.

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Image: So, what do we do?
Image: I presume assassination is off the table.
Image: Absolutely.
Image: She's suspicious as hell though, you have to admit.
Image: The... the circumstancial evidence seems to be mounting, yes.
Image: Besides, the people here clearly wouldn't take it well if we were to just murder their queen.
Image: We saw that big cave as we were sailing in... You think that might be Orochi's lair?
Image: If we can destroy Himiko's evil master, it's not like she'll eat those girls herself, right?
Image: That's a plan, then.

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User avatar
Friday
Posts: 6264
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 7:40 pm
Location: Karma: -65373

Re: Let's play Dragon Warrior III: you mean they made a sequel to that one game with all the instant death monsters?

Postby Friday » Sat Aug 04, 2018 10:01 am

Omigosh


Man, picturing you as a kid learning English from freakin' Dragon Warrior III never fails to make me smile.
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User avatar
François
Posts: 1708
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 8:00 am

Re: Let's play Dragon Warrior III: you mean they made a sequel to that one game with all the instant death monsters?

Postby François » Sat Aug 04, 2018 3:44 pm

Heh, it still blows my mind a little that it's how it all started. At least my proficiency had increased by then, and DW3 did me the tremendous favor of only having its kings speak in thees and thous!

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