You know, when I say "we get thrown in the dungeon", I don't mean "literally".
I mean... what else am I supposed to say? I come from Dundrasil and floated to Cobblestone in a basket?
Hendrik, "...investigation" is not an investigation.
Sounds to me like you won't be doing a lot of judgement. Sounds more like you've already made your choice.
Achievement unlocked: Get arrested! Truly, what RPG is complete without a visit to the slammer?
We can break the pots in our room to no profit (...hopefully they weren't chamberpots) other than annoying our neighbour.
You need to make three noises (breaking pots or shaking your cell door) to get his attention and get the plot moving.
We're certainly in a hurry to lose our minds. Well, apparently. Goodness knows Heliodor's won the record in that.
Something about the fact he calls it "free bed and board" sounds somewhat peculiar, but this guy is normally a pretty jovial fellow, making light of imprisonment is completely in-character.
Erdward, because he hasn't learned his lesson, shares his identity and this prisoner perks up.
He's clearly familiar with our story, to some extent.
You know, if this guard always comes around with this delivery, I can see where the "free bed and board" joke comes from.
Our friend has other ideas.
Well, we've only been in this cell five minutes and a prison break happened.
Wow, this guy is adept with his sticky fingers.
And... now he's approaching us. I feel alarmed, although I'm fairly sure this guy is trustworthy by this point. As trustworthy as a guy we found in a jail cell can get.
The name "Luminary" means something to this guy.
And at this point, the question of what this guy's deal is becomes a genuine question. Clearly he knows more than he lets on, and at this point in the story, knowing that this guy knows something is genuinely fascinating information. Perhaps later we can afford to be choosier about what we learn, but this is not later.
He has chosen to take our side, and is willing to let us in on his prison break.
But first, there's another guard to deal with.
Well, if you don't have a way with setting a first impression?
I love how concerned Erdward gets over the Heliodorian Soldiers. They're very much not on our side and, at least throughout the story, act in a very hostile manner towards Erdward, but we bear them little ill will in return. It's not their fault their King is a madman.
...You know, I never thought this was anything in particular (just us getting rearmed), but this might genuinely be an inventory item. We'll stick with the Greatsword, if that's OK with you.
Whenever the player character gets put in a jail, there's always a reason your stuff isn't permanently confiscated. I guess in this case, the confiscation had yet to really stick?
This is an inventory item, but telling you what it is poses a minor spoiler for later in this update, so I'll refrain.
"If you have any unfinished business in this dungeon, do it now." Because there is business to do. Somewhere. I guess.
We can check this guard's corpse for a relatively unique line, I guess?
Our friend has been hard at work on his escape plan, although the fact we showed up at just the right time to use it doesn't escape his notice.
The role of the Seer goes understated now, although on a later date, we can expect to hear a great deal about the Seer's motivations and skills. I don't think we ever find out when they shared their prophecy with this guy, though. If this happened before his imprisonment, perhaps the Seer had the ability to incarcerate this guy at precisely the correct time that he could dig his tunnel in time for the Luminary to show up.
Something about a prison break? We should get on that.
The tunnel wasn't entirely finished- we did have to push out these last few bricks. Close enough, though.
Hopefully it doesn't come to that, but we can jump in the sewage and come out somewhere close to an ocean, if I understand sewers correctly. This is a swords-and-sorcery sewer system, though, the knowledge I should have might not apply.
So it's all happening just like the Seer said it would... Come on, let's get out of here before they clock those empty cells.
Well, we're wandering around Heliodor's sewers now. We also have a torch, which prevents us from running- which is probably something we shouldn't be doing anyway.
There is a map of this place, but we have no good reason to have a map of it, and so we don't. Somewhat frustrating, but we have bigger issues.
Huh, sparkly spots. Guess we will be coming back.
What do you mean, there are guards in the sewers?
There's actually a stealth section here.
It's... not that much of one. The guards won't actually engage until they touch you, and if they spot you, they still have to move close enough to you to trigger a fight. There's a good chance you could just not bother with the actual stealthing and try running past. Pausing to budge out of the way helps make sure you can get out of dodge.
Promising!
Lighting the torch seems to just be for the benefit of this cutscene. I'm sure we'd be spotted from this position even without the torch lit.
I mean, we are escaped prisoners. Surely they have better things to do than track us down, but they've chosen their budgets.
Some bricks from the bridge we're standing on fall into this river.
...Actually, now that I say that, that's, uh... not great.
Well... uh... hopefully we survived that.
Seems we did. And even more luckily, there's no Heliodorians coming with us! Although we're more lost than we started.
Silver linings. Besides, I'm always up for an adventure! Ish.
...I'll take your word for it. I am not particularly encouraged. There's a Save statue and little else here, though, so onward we go.
Man, I thought we were done for when that bridge collapsed... Now we need to find ourselves an exit and get out of here!
...That... doesn't look good.
Well, someone spotted it.
"It" appears to be a dragon.
It's a big dragon. We legitimately don't really have much chance here.
Great black lizards with breath so hot they sometimes even burn themselves. They love nothing more than chasing their prey about the place, although it's far from fun for the one being chased.
The black dragon first appeared in Dragon Quest V, and sat out until X. Despite being named "Dragon Quest", iconic dragon designs are at a bit of a premium. There's usually a powerful dragon type enemy hanging around the lategame, and many even have a dragon boss of some importance, but very few really have the dragon be plot-important enough for the title "Dragon Quest" to be indicative.
At this point, you're tasked with a bit of a Crash Bandicoot kind of gameplay. You have to run towards the camera, avoiding rocks in your path, while being chased by an unstoppable thing. If you get caught by the dragon, you get into a fight with it- this thing is intended to be fought in the late level 30s, and even then it's an enemy so powerful you're not going to deal with it in herds. For our level 4 self? We have to run away or die.
If you run away, you have to start the running sequence over.
Later in the running sequence, a bunch of miscellaneous enemies appear for the purpose of running the hell away from the dragon too.
Even some Metal Slimes- this is the only point in the game where you can find a Metal Slime in the overworld. Note that, if you engage an enemy in this section, the black dragon will join in the battle, so we can't acquire anything useful from these guys.
Also some lamplings. We'll get to them eventually, but not right now.
At last, we find a place to hide from the dragon.
We've stopped running for our lives, at least.
Good question. Come to think of it, I don't remember if there is an explanation. I know there's a book talking about Heliodor and dragons, but I'm not sure if that has anything to do with this dragon.
...We didn't shake this guy, did we?
No we did not.
That was very much not safe. What side is this dragon on?
Don't worry, we're still alive. Somehow.
...More tension? This is one hell of a setpiece.
This guy acknowledges his superstitious role in this situation and prepares for more running.
You mean to say what we had so far was good fortune?
...Well, we're not running from this position. Looking at this map from here, though... they actually show the area we are standing over.
Just in case you thought we can go back the way we came.
I'm not arguing against that premise, but I'm just saying... our odds taking any other option don't look entirely promising.
An idea has occurred to us. It doesn't sound like a good one, but right now, a plan with a 1% success is still a better plan than we currently have.
This is definitely starting to look pretty close to suicide, but again, most of Erdward's options are suicide. Turning himself in, of course, is going to get him a one-way ticket to the gallows, if he doesn't bump into the dragon on the way back.
Our mysterious ally removes his hood at long last.
Nice to meet you.
Nothing makes lifelong friendships quite like jumping off a cliff together.
Either the experience brings us closer than ever, or the word "lifelong" haunts us.
After the jump happens, you actually get the game's attract cutscene to play. This version doesn't have the opening credits, but I always forget it happens mid-game, so each new playthrough I start watches this cutscene before starting the game and then... whoops.
Incidentally, there's a demo of this game available. Despite being the perfect place to stop a demo, this is not actually where the demo cuts you off. That demo can honestly feel too generous sometimes, despite the fact you're really not going to scratch the surface even when it does stop.
Well, at least we still have consciousness.
So... we're in a church. With a loose track from DQV playing. A few moments in DQ11 directly call out to a previous moment in the series, and this scene references DQV rather overtly, with a prison break leading to jumping off a waterfall and washing up in a nameless church. They don't really linger on the parallels (and differences), but if you're a keen fan of DQ, you're probably feeling an itch on your nostalgia bone.
Starting with the differences, we got dragged here. Geographically, this church isn't particularly close to where the waterfall comes out and there's not much of a way for us to get there unconscious. Maybe if the nun was just passing by.
RPGs with fall damage? That'll be the day.
Erik is not the character archetype that considers something like our Luminary powers uncritically. And there'll be instances later where Erik will demand proof of a fantastic situation. But when he does get proof, he'll happily adopt it into his worldview.
Let's see, I am a herald of the apocalypse that has escaped from prison and a living reminder of the worst day of Carnelian's life.
Honestly, I think I'm doing pretty good for myself.
Erik reminds us not to get comfy. Especially since we are still in Heliodor and all.
Good job on not getting eaten by the dragon and all that.
In the SFC version of DQV, the convent which found the Hero was a nameless abbey. The DS version gave it a name- Havens Above (and the nuns now go by "Nun of the Above"). DQXI has gone back to a nameless church, perhaps because there's little mechanical reason to name it.
The nun has been quite helpful for us.
And this is possibly the biggest difference between DQV and DQXI. The Nuns of the Above knew about and condemned the place we escaped from, and supplied the Hero and his companions with assistance and tools to help move on with their respective lives. This nun... well, after this conversation, we're probably going to put some distance between us.
Erik decides to milk the nun for information about the bounty on our heads, under the guise of treating this information the way the nun does.
Well, sounds like we're not going to be welcome in Heliodor for a while.
Alternatively, we're very welcome in Heliodor. They even have a room prepared for our arrival!
...OK, now I'm slightly confused. Is the nun supposed to be mistaken about Erik being a separate fugitive from us? I can only imagine that's what's we're supposed to go with.
...Well, OK, that is a true statement. We are free to remain here at this nameless abbey until the fugitives are caught. We have just failed to specify a key detail about this premise.
Erik probably isn't of much mind to take her up on her offer, but the nameless abbey does have a bed in which to sleep in free of charge. Havens Above has the same thing, which is a lot more valuable in a game without campsites, but in this game, we've got dozens of places to rest other than here.
I wonder what this nun is going to think when we don't come back.
Erik comments on how he's not familiar with Cobblestone either. If he's planning on being our companion for any length of time, he's going to become more familiar with the place.
Erik's skepticism is rooted in practicality: he doesn't need to know the details of any shenanigans, but if an enemy is scary, the correct answer to him is "how do we deal with them", not "how did they get that strong".
I'll be honest, with how the game's maps look, I'm not sure what the main road is.
Sounds helpful. I'm not sure how much of this supposed skill translates to the mechanics.
Erik will be happy to help, but first he wants to go back to the city in which he is a wanted man and steal something again. I'm starting to understand how we found Erik in a dungeon to begin with.
Erik asks us a Yes/No question. Dragon Quest started the proud RPG tradition of the "But Thou Must" question- if we say No, Erik will gently chastise us and force us to answer yes to exit the textbox.
I answered yes right away. I'm too much of a roleplayer to answer no to everything for content. There'll be a few "no"s scattered around, when I feel like a "no" is appropriate, but how can you say no to Erik?
Erik tells us to put on a disguise.
...I mean, sure, it's not much, but I can see this actually concealing our identity to anyone who might recognise us. Although I'm not sure who we're hiding our identity from. Guards, probably.
Ah, that's the idea. Erik seems fond of that do of his, and doesn't pull up his own hood.
Erik and Erdward, together at last. Having a second party member represents a huge increase in survivability- there's just something that feels safer about numbers, especially since the margin of error between "you need to heal" and "you are dead" is much more forgiving if you accidentally overshoot. A lot of DQs don't even make you play an early section solo. Not that this game has a lot of content before Erik joins.
Incidentally, the party member join jingle lasts a surprisingly long time. DQ11, since it's in 3D, has to animate the characters while they join, and the characters kinda feel like they get bored halfway through the jingle.
So, yeah… Before I got slung in that dungeon, I stashed a… certain something in downtown Heliodor. And now I want to go get it. Let’s head north!
(Now that Erik has joined the party for keeps, there's going to be a lot of Party Chat in our future. Erik won't be that interesting for the first stretch, since he's carrying a lot of advice, but it'll get more interesting when he can share the burden.)
Right outside the church is this fellow, and he has a Quest for us.
He's going to be a bit of a tutorial on the power of Pep.
He's not actually lying about that. Pep Powers combine two party members to perform a combination attack, and some of them only work if the party members know the right spells and abilities.
For instance, this is not the only Pep Power that Hero and Erik can perform working together, it's just the only one we can currently do.
Since it's the only Pep Power we have, we are tasked with performing it. I don't think there's a location limitation, but still, it's probably a good idea to pick it up here before you wind up forgetting to do it at all.
Anyway, a new party member means new weapon limitations. Erik cannot use Greatswords, but he can use Swords as well as Knives and Boomerangs. All characters come with one example of a weapon they can use.
Here's a general stat comparison between Erdward and Erik. Erik tends to be faster and frailer than Erdward, but his HP stat is pretty competitive. His MP is pretty bleh, since he doesn't get much in the way of magic spells, but he does have some pretty key MP-consuming Abilities later on. Erik is actually a bit of a late bloomer, honestly- he's really good at anything you could put him up to, but he kinda needs heavy investment to really bite hard at most of those things. He has a key role in the party before that, at least.
While I was wondering what the hell my plan was for helmets, I found this in the well near the abbey. This is a good hat for giving some MaMight and MaMend as well as Defence and it's going on Erdward.
They often brag about their perfect aim, but truth be told, if they're managing seventy percent accuracy, they're doing better than usual.
Bodkin archers first showed up in DQ4, and became regulars starting with 8.
This was going to be Erik's first showing, but we see an example of something I always forget DQXI does- new party members automatically start, not as player controlled characters, but AIs using the "Fight Wisely" AI setting. Party members following automatic AI was introduced in DQ4 (and, controversially, there was no option for manual control at the time) and the AI settings have persisted throughout the series- although after the NES version of DQ4, there has always been a manual option.
- Show No Mercy: The AI will do everything in their power to defeat the enemy.
- Fight Wisely: The AI will make sensible decisions like healing when necessary and using buffs and debuffs that seem appropriate to it.
- Mix It Up: The AI will use "interesting" options- the sorts of options you forget you have.
- Don't Use MP: The AI will use whatever MP-free options it has.
- Focus on Healing: If you need any healing whatsoever, the AI will get on it.
When DQIV was new, this sort of thing was pretty impressive, and the devs were hoping that players would use each option tactically. Most players, not unreasonably, wondered why they weren't being allowed to do this themselves, since most RPG players are more sensible and more adaptable than these AI settings. The settings stuck around, with the main benefit to using them being that AIs choose their action as soon as it occurs, while the player was limited to choosing actions at the start of the turn- if an enemy landed a heavy hit on a party member, an AI party member that moves later in the turn order can heal them before the player has even had a chance to issue such an order. If your healer is moving after the enemy, you're probably not getting another chance to save them from death. This is no longer an issue in DQ11- in 3D Mode, the player chooses their action and the character immediately performs it on manual contorl too.
The only way to lose Pep is to let it wear out or have it removed by some "remove buff" spell. The fact it has been a long and exciting time since we pepped up in the first place is irrelevant.
Oh hey, we finally got this. Heal is good for roughly 30 HP, and it's going to be useful for quite some time. But still, Erik came at level 5, we've clearly fallen behind.
...We've done what now?
I guess it's time to start thinking about our Skill building. This is the interesting part of setting up your characters and there's multiple ways to tackle it, but the way it's set up, choosing one weapon type to specialise in is the way to go early, for the most part.
The Luminary has four Skill Trees, and the unusual shapes do have influence on how their construction is done. You can only learn Skills adjacent to Skills you already possess (with the glowing blue symbol in the middle being the starting hex). There is a loophole in that sentence, but it will take a while before we can really see the power of the loophole.
This is presumably the skill Erdward used on that condor on the Tor. Surprisingly quick to learn, but I don't really intend to build in this direction. So, what Skills can we learn?
Swords:
- Attack Power +19 (3 panels)
- Critical Hit Chance +3% (1 panel)
- Flame Slash: Attack with Fire element. Also does 1.2x damage, but you've gotta hope the enemy's weak to fire to really make it count.
- Sword Stance: For four turns, you block an additional 33% of attacks entirely. This is surprisingly powerful.
- Metal Slash: A sword strike that ignores evasion and blindness to always land a hit, and can deal 1-2 damage on the highly damage-resistant Metal class of enemy. Good to know, less good to use.
- Dragon Slash: Deals double damage if the enemy is considered to be a Dragon. Most of the time, this is fairly obvious, at least. By the time you're worried about Dragons in numbers, you probably know this ability.
- Miracle Slash: A normal attack, but the user heals themselves for about a quarter of the damage they deal, plus an extra 20. Not really worth it, but in a pinch, it might toe the line between life and death.
- Dual-Wielding: Instead of a shield, Erdward can hold a second Sword in his left hand. The left hand lands a half-damage normal hit no matter what the right hand is doing (well, as long as it is attacking). Considering the main point of using a Sword is to have the extra defence of a Shield, this isn't particularly enticing, but there are things Swords can do that Greatswords can't that you'll want the extra damage for.
Greatswords:
- Attack Power +30 (3 panels)
- Critical Hit Chance +5% (2 panels)
- Greatsword Guard: Basically the same thing as Sword Stance, and more helpful for Greatswords since they don't have a Shield to fall back on.
- Helichopter: Attacks all enemies at full power. Most group-target physical attacks deal less damage on subsequent hits- this does not.
- Cutting Edge: Deals roughly double damage to a single enemy, with no crit chance. This is your boss fight attack, but the no crit chance sucks. Erdward gets better options later, but there are bosses between getting this and later.
- Frost Fangs: Deals ice-elemental damage to a group with a 25% chance of landing a stun effect. The damage is fixed at around 65-135, which can make it powerful or pathetic depending on what you're dealing with.
- Unbridled Blade: Cutting Edge, but triple damage and double MP cost. Unbridled Blade is really good for bosses.
Swordmastery:
- Strength +25 (1 panel)
- Critical Hit Chance +3% (1 panel)
- Counter on Block/Parry: After blocking or parrying a hit, Erdward will retaliate with a normal attack of his own. Considering Sword Stance/Greatsword Guard, this can get really good, but you really want to be initiating your attacks anyway. Freebie, mostly.
- Falcon Slash: Deals two attacks at 1x power to a single enemy. This is the dedicated boss-killer for Swords.
- Gigaslash: With a Sword, deals 90-230 lightning-element damage to ALL enemies, scaled to Strength. Later on in the game, when you can afford to have this and other Skills, this is the reason to use a Sword for damage.
- Gigasmash: With a Greatsword, deals 100-260 lightning-element damage to a GROUP of enemies. There's nothing really wrong here (other than MP cost), but there's no real reason to use Gigasmash. Other options are usually better.
- Sword Dance: Deals four hits rated at 0.75 power to random enemies in a group. This is triple damage on a single enemy in a group (like a boss) and is the boss-killer for Erdward. Both Swords and Greatswords can use this ability.
Luminary:
- Pep Chance +5% (1 panel)
- Agility +10 (1 panel)
- Deftness +10 (1 panel)
- Strength +10 (1 panel)
- Resilience +10 (1 panel)
- Zap: Deals 36-136 lightning damage to a group of enemies, scaled to MaMight. It's excellent when you need it and nowhere else.
- Poof: At 50% odds per enemy, attempts to expel enemies from the battle. This deprives you of their EXP, Gold and drops, but if you really need to...
- Holy Protection: Low-level enemies will run from you and random encounters (where relevant) will not occur for 30 seconds or until the screen has changed. This has one use and nothing else.
- Pep Up: Forces Erdward into a Pepped state. Apparently, Pep Up Pep lasts less time than a natural Pep, but most of the time, you're going to want to use it for a specific Pep Power. It's a costly 25 MP, but sometimes you just need a Pep Power.
Skills that are in italics are underneath the ? panels, and can only be learned when four adjacent hexes have been learned.
With our 3 Skill Points, we can acquire this Skill. Skills cost different amounts of SP depending on their effectiveness, which will be a bigger deal later, but for now, all it really means we can't actually get the Pep Chance +5% at the start of Luminary.
Flame Slash is... certainly an interesting choice for first Skill while I'm using Greatswords. Flame Slash isn't even a good Sword skill! The key is in the heading "Pep Power Piece" underneath the Skill description. Skills that you can learn on this contribute to Pep Powers, and the one Flame Slash does will be very useful for that.
Here's Erik's Skill Tree. Everyone's Skill Trees expands later in the game, Erik's is the only one that actually shows you the hidden panels. Don't know why that happens, but anyway.
Swords:
- Attack +30 (2 panels)
- Crit Chance +2% (1 panel)
- Flame Slash
- Sword Stance
- Metal Slash
- Dragon Slash
- Miracle Slash
Knives:
- Attack +5 (1 panel)
- Crit Chance +2% (1 panel)
- Dodge Chance +3%
- Cobra Strike: Erik attacks at slightly higher damage than usual, with a 50% chance of landing the poison status. Poison does do damage in battle in this game (this isn't normal for Dragon Quest), but Poison isn't good for the sake of Poison in this game. Erik does like this skill, though, because...
- Victimiser: This does six times the damage if the enemy is poisoned or paralysed (curing the enemy of the condition). It is possible to land these ailments on bosses, and if you can... this is how Erik leaves his mark on the early game. Later on, he'll have less luck-based means of attacking for massive damage.
- Sleeper Hit: Same as Cobra Strike, but attempts to lull the enemy to sleep. I'm told it has the same 50% odds, but I assume this scales based on the resistance to sleep enemies have- which will be more concerning for sleep than poison.
- Persecutter: Same as Victimiser, but for sleep and confusion. These two are in more convenient positions on the Skill tree, and I find this an interesting form of balance.
- Assassin's Stab: A normal strike, but 20% of the time, the enemy instantly dies. Just... do you really need this? Even in emergencies... surely you have better options?
- Dual Wielding: Without the ability to use a shield, Erik really appreciates having a new use for his right hand (Erik is a southpaw). He still suffers the half damage penalty, but still...
Boomerangs:
- Attack +5 (1 panel)
- Accuracy +10% (2 panels)
- Ooze Bruiser: Deals 1.5 damage to Slime enemies. Yes, Slime is an enemy class of its own. No, this skill isn't really worth it.
- Metalicker: Metal Slash but for Boomerangs. It has some uses, but it's not something I'd really go to use.
- Twomerang: Deals slightly more than normal damage twice.
- Power Throw: Deals slightly more than normal damage without damage reduction as you go along.
- Starbust Throw: Deals 70-130 light-elemental damage to everything, scaled to MaMight. I'm not really sure which of these abilities I'm really interested in, but most of these are good for encounters you really shouldn't be worried about to begin with.
Guile:
- Deftness +40 (2 panels)
- Agility +40 (2 panels)
- Dodge Chance +2%
- Half-Inch: Erik attempts to steal the common drop of an enemy. 18% rate by default, with +1% for every 20 points of Deftness, with a cap of 75%. There's other ways to bump up your odds, but each enemy can only be looted once.
- Dodgy Character: Doubles Erik's evasion for two turns. Magic cannot be avoided. Pass.
- Divide: Whatever Erik does on his next turn, he does it three times. This is obviously good for damage, but it works for anything Erik does. Although most of Erik's talents are damage.
- Falcon Slash: No idea why this is a Guile Skill. It's at least attached to Swords, but... (There's no practical implications for Falcon Slash being a Guile Skill and not a Sword Skill. It's just weird.)
The first Skill I want does not cost 3 Skill Points to acquire, so we're leaving Erik as is.
Anyway, before I forget any longer, there's something I need to grab.
There's some free DLC for Dragon Quest XI S for the Switch, which can be claimed in all save files for perpetuity. Other releases of DQXIS omit certain prizes.
The reason I remember now, in particular, is that this is my favourite look for Erik. This also seems to be a Switch exclusive, which sucks. Baby Boar and Trodain are also costumes, the latter for Erdward and the former for someone we don't yet have. Happy Adventurer gives us some valuable items we are definitely not using until later. Vests of Success gives us armour that gives extra EXP and Gold- I might use the latter from time to time, but I'll try not to make a habit of it.
The Wolf Wear is some decent armour for now, so I'm actually going to make some use of it.
...Well if that isn't lovely. We'll look at outfits later, apparently.
These baby great sabrecats make perfect pets if you can catch one when it's still a cub. They'll even remember you years later if you're separated.
Back to combat, and this is just a blatant reference to Dragon Quest V, and if you know it, you know it. Great sabrecubs have only been in DQV for the mainlines (and only in SFC, to boot- they got snipped out of the DS remake), and in a plot-important role to boot, but here, they're just common enemies that you feel bad to kill.
They do kinda hurt, but not that much.
Trees that were cruelly cut down in their prime. Their rueful remains uproot themselves and roam the land in search of revenge.
Stump chumps are from DQIV and mostly stuck to the spinoffs before now. They're a pretty annoying enemy, and it would've been nice if it stayed asleep for a while.
Owie. Good thing for that margin of error!
Fair's fair. Stump chumps can throw around medicinal herbs on everyone.
All sabrecubs bring to combat is looking adorable. If you think you feel bad about killing sabrecubs now, imagine what the DQV players are feeling!
Bodkin archers come with the Buff spell, which raises defences. This is somehow more annoying than the healing this early.
Enemy buffs are actually shown as icons above their heads. Although if they have multiple goodies, the icon flips through them.
Most stat buffs also work on a "stage" system- there are five stages of stat changes, from -2 to +2. Each stat buff is actually a different bonus (for Defence, it's 50% for one stage and 75% for 2), and you can raise/lower them with various spells and abilities. Buffs will wear off eventually, but you can counter a buff with a debuff. We, uh, don't have those yet. (The Buff spell bodkin archers know, of course, is a +2 stage spell.)
Yeah, uh, look at how much damage we're doing. At least it's just a sabrecub.
Oh, that treasure chest is sneaky.
That one's nice. Eyes are semi-valuable alchemy ingredients that are almost always useful. Grab as many of these as you can.
Over in the west is one of these.
And also over here, if you cross the bridge...
Purrcy... Baumren... Mohicat... These noble beasts are often perplexed by the peculiar names picked out by adventurers.
More DQV references in that thing. Great sabrecats are what sabrecubs grow up into, and right now, these things are nigh mini-bosses for us to handle. They were also introduced in DQ5, but they got a few more appearances scattered around than the cub. It's definitely a monster that is inextricably linked to its role in DQV, though.
Also, I'm not sure what the beastiary is talking about with "adventurers" doing the naming?
Ow.
No ow in return. That's what a sabrecat is like. Try and steer clear if you can.
Not all level ups give 3 SP, incidentally. I'm just showing this and running away. SP will actually increase in supply as we level up higher and higher. Thankfully, we also get some SP every single level up.
Well, this helps out. A little bit. He still survives, though.
Ooh, and while I'm making benefit out of it, here's what it's like to switch out your equipment mid-mission. Equipment in your inventory will be at the top of the list, but you have free access to your equipment bag. You don't get your items, but this helps if you forget your equips.
OH YEAH! Strength and Deftness, good for damage and theft! Evasion... well, it's free evasion.
So much for extra damage.
...Oh. Perfect timing.
Time to show this off, then.
POWER OF PEP!
A large quantity of Pep Powers have special animations like this. There's just no justifying me showing them off with screenshots. I'd suggest finding a compilation, but, uh, spoiler party members.
"The Real Decoy" seems to be a bit of a nonindicative name, since Erdward is playing decoy for Erik. "Real Decoy" kinda implies a move where Erik double-bluffs and Erdward is actually the real offensive presence in the move, but perhaps that's a bit too much effort for monsters.
The Real Decoy launches two pretty powerful attacks at a single target. It's as basic as it gets, befitting the first one.
Yay!
...I'll take your word on it.
Well, at least he has actual social cues. It did feel pretty satisfying.
Pats head.
Through a not-particularly-effective counting method of "just counting a list manually", I think there's 84. That is, of course, just the list of ones the player will be using.
Well, we'll get into them when we have three people, but yes there are. It's pretty annoying to set these up naturally, you kinda have to specifically build them up before you can actually fire them off.
At least there's a moral to the story other than "Pep Powers are cool". Combining spells together feels like an extension of Chrono Trigger's Dual Techs that still hasn't entirely escaped the SNES (although it did somehow pop up in the Sailor Moon RPG), but Pep is kind of a prohibitive barrier there.
The Gold Chain we get as a reward is good for some extra HP. I think I wind up putting this on Erdward and the Bracer on Erik.
While I'm running around collecting goodies, I'd like to highlight this tree on the path up to where we're supposed to be going, which drops two Buzzberry items. This is a good tree to hit for the next section of the story.
Massive mushroom monsters with the faces of men. Beware - one breath of the sweet-smelling odour they exude can send you into a deep, deep sleep.
Wandered around long enough to turn things to night time, and found a funghoul. They first appeared in 3 and had semi-regular appearances following, mostly in the major games (4, 5, 8, and also 10). They tend to be the first enemy that can put you to sleep, or at least one of them.
Sometimes if a lantern is left alone for long enough, it will turn into one of these. Some say they seek revenge on those who so cruelly deserted them.
These guys also showed up in the main Heliodor region at night time, but I wasn't there at night. Lamplings are new to 11, although they retroactively appeared in 10 because of the MMO nature of that game. It's not the only enemy of that kind, which annoys my efforts in highlight which enemies are from 10 and which are from 11 and in 10. Obviously, I haven't played 10 myself. I'd really like to, though, hint hint Enix.
Well, that's just a hilarious drop.
Well, I want to go into town during the day, so let's heal up.
This is where we need to head, up the east end until you climb up some wooden planks to an extra door. This feels like super shady town design.
Anyway, welcome to Downtown Heliodor. Told you they were slums.
Such lovely people! Just as long as you won't miss the things in your pocket.
Yeah, I don't think we are inclined to believe for a second that Erik is legally entitled to possess the Red Orb.
Relieving Carnelian of the Red Orb is the crime with which Erik was charged with imprisonment for. The Orbs are valuable treasures with which this is actually somewhat proportional punishment.
...And Erik threw it in a garbage pile.
Erik, I have lost all faith in your streetsmarts. Putting your valuables in a garbage pile is not cunning.
The odds of the Red Orb still being in a garbage pile is... not high.
Me and Derk stashed the Orb in the biggest garbage pile in Heliodor! Now it's time to go liberate that loot!
The dialogue down here has a lot different flavour to the dialogue in main Heliodor.
Good to keep in mind.
There's some mixed opinions on Downtown Heliodor, but there are fans. But yeah... there are people down here that would like not to be.
...I am very concerned, but not for the reason you think.
Well, who puts 5 Gold on a high platform?
Thinks about where I am Oh...
Nothing exciting in here.
...Even down here, we're not the most popular of criminals.
...As reasons for the criminal class to hate us go, this isn't horrible. Still, though, probably a good idea to move along.
The Downtown area has been building up as well as over, although traversing the place is pretty precarious now.
Profitable, though.
Why are there treasure chests like this? If I jump down there, I have to climb all the way back up to continue exploring.
If we keep coming up, we can spot this guy at work up here.
It's not anything we can help him with right now.
And we can jump down to get the treasure on the way back to the ground.
Aw... poor dear.
The item shop hasn't gotten much more exciting, but it is stocking these. Holy Waters are basically Repels from Pokemon, but you can also do a little bit of damage if you pour it on monsters directly. Not enough to be worth it, but you may just consider buying one for other reasons right now. Buying one is the only way to get one now, and while it is possible to farm some later... I really wouldn't recommend it.
"Thief" is a job in this world, but I really don't get how it fits in with the worldbuilding. I don't think this guy intends to say he is Thief (occupation), though, just making a funny.
Turns out all you really need is cheap booze and hot dancers. If I knew it was that easy... eh, I still probably wouldn't do it.
Excuse me, I am clearly an adult! I climbed the mountain to prove it!
...I'm fairly sure that's slavery, but considering we aren't being forced to do it, I guess it's volunteer work.
And here's Erik's garbage tip. Doesn't look very smelly.
Oh no, someone might find out the great Erik hides his valuables in the bulk rubbish.
...Actually, that would be devastating to his reputation.
And Erik starts his search.
When you're saying "I'm 1000% sure", that's how you know it's not here.
Erik has figured it out conclusively enough to satisfy himself. He would sooner spend the rest of his life sifting than find out he just didn't look hard enough.
...Does Heliodor ever do garbage collection? I feel like even a slum should've sent an authority in to have a look at this in the time you've been imprisoned.
With the information Erik has, he definitely knows that, whatever happened to the Orb, Derk has to know about it.
And Erik starts getting really defensive. He and Derk were apparently close, but Erik seems ready to jump to the conclusion that he was untrustworthy all along.
...Well, OK, sure. I'm sure I've got nothing better to do, I'm sure.
Downtown Heliodor is building upwards. The inn may still be the only building with an upstairs, but there's wood above us. At least it's a decent enough landmark in comparison to the other buildings.
That rat Derk must have done the dirty on me and taken the loot for himself! We need to track him down. There’s an inn we used to crash in over on the east side of town. Let’s start our search there!
There's a hide-and-seek champ somewhere around here. I'm sure we'll find him eventually. Or perhaps not.
...This has to be cheating, doesn't it? I'm fairly sure it wouldn't be banned in the rules, but still...
Hey, a fortune teller! And she's free! ...I don't like that.
I believe it. I don't want to tell you why, but yeah, you're on the nose.
...Uh...
Well, that seems a bit too rich for my blood. I mean, 100G is swallowed up later on, but...
I'm going to assume that the thing that I need to solve my problems has not found itself in the hands of a random fortune-teller in the slums who's pawning it off for 100G. RPGs have a certain degree of this sort of thing, but, uh... you didn't even have a voice.
Turns out she's selling Holy Water. I knew it was going to be something like that. Erdward even points out he's being scammed.
This guy has some semblence of a point. What that point is depends on who you are, what your priorities are, and what you want to change in your life.
I don't feel like this guy has taken a healthy approach to that point. I'm not really sure what a healthy approach is, though- if I did, I would be using it myself.
I wonder what the plan was for sending knights down here to look for criminals. They'll certainly find a surplus.
Well, Erik probably knows better than us. I think "Ruby's not here" is good to note.
Let's see if we can't spot our mark.
The only "redhead"? I could buy it, but I think there's a few generic redheads running around. None in this town, maybe.
...Hm, Erik legitimately has moved on. Sometimes this happens. I think this is just for plot coherence if you plan on leaving town for some reason- usually you don't worry about leaving before solving whatever plot thing has come up. For example, we don't really need to leave for anything until we spot Ruby and come back to Erik. Sometimes, your party member is running around, but I didn't spot Erik today. Then again, I didn't look.
"Food is one of the five exceptions to Gamp's Law-"
I feel like food is a natural thing for magic to be unable to do. I mean, you're expending calories to... make calories. I'm fairly sure that's flouting the laws of thermodynamics- not that magic necessarily continues to obey the laws of thermodynamics.
"They may be disease-ridden, but I'm selling them to you, unlike my competitors!"
This place really is kinda... This is the best you guys have?
So it's time to spy on this guard. This cutscene has a surprising amount of gameplay clues for the upcoming puzzle.
First thing we see is the obvious- he turns this old lady away. This is the premise of the puzzle- we need to get past this guard.
This guy greases the guard's palm to pass on by.
The guard has a crush on this dancer. And kinda drifts away from his post to follow her.
Until he spots this dog, and gets chased away.
While he's gone, this lady walks on by. Hi, Ruby!
Oh come on, I wanted to explore for treasure! Fine, I'll play your game, game.
I mean, I assume. She was a redhead.
Come on, we need to head to the inn! We don’t want to miss Ruby again.
I get it I get it...
...Don't tell her I don't think you know any other landladies.
Ruby seems to have missed the voice and wording of Erik's line, and goes right into her spiel. An experienced hand, at least.
And to be fair, Ruby has absolutely no reason to be expecting to see Erik.
She's got a head on her shoulders, though. She's one of the few NPCs that thinks the travellers who showed up randomly might be the escaped prisoners. Most people seem to be of the opinion that the prisoners ought to have been long gone by now.
Ruby decides she'd rather not get involved. Sensible call.
Honestly, considering the above, I wonder if our stint here is actually helping us after all- our pursuit is lightest where they don't expect us, so that's where we should hide.
So what's up with Derk, then?
...That is worrying. Well, on a number of mutually exclusive levels. Whatever it is that's got Derk and Ruby separated, it's almost certainly going to be something Erik has to work around.
...That's one way to be incredibly concerning. Our main concern with this outcome is making contact with Derk.
The rent? What about his reputation?
Reasonable. I don't believe Derk would be allowed to keep the Red Orb on the King's doorstep.
And the same thing that protected Erik from being flushed out also protects Derk from being tracked down after the fact. Rules that work both for and against the protagonist are the most interesting rules.
And Erik accepts the hurdle amicably.
...That may be because he's letting out his stresses elsewhere. That's... not healthy, I don't think.
Erik takes in a breath and considers the how for a little bit.
Our goal is to get past that guard. Lucky we have some clues on how to get that accomplished.
Erik points us to one of the most sensible solutions, just in case.
Well, looks like the dog's owner is in no hurry to make the guard's life easier.
Although she's less open to this idea.
Most dogs don't. Although I notice this one isn't barking like mad.
...You know, I wonder that might be. I think she tells you if you deliver the goods.
Buzzberries are their favourite snack and the holy water is to repel monsters while the dog plays outside town.
This is honestly probably my favourite method of bypassing the guard, since it involves dogs, doing a good deed and tormenting the guard. I won't be doing it this run, though.
With the quest to bypass the guard open, this part of Downtown Heliodor is now open for exploration.
It includes what I think might be the first instance of this- you can crawl under low ceilings to reach other places. It's also probably Erdward's least impressive trick, since you don't even see him do it.
Yay?
These are a pretty terrible piece of armour that persists across the series. They were introduced in V, I believe, and that was also the game where they were worth the most Defence. I don't think you're ever expected to use this as legitimate armour, but I think there's one game where you can. In games that give Style bonuses for combining armour, you get a bonus for combining this with the equally pathetic Pot Lid... and both armour pieces are worth so little style on their own that you're better off wearing literally anything else.
Oh hey, it's our high-hiding hide-and-seek friend.
Well, that sounds interesting.
...That is interesting.
This is the second method of getting past the guard, and the closest thing to a "free" one you get- it's the only one where you don't have to invest any resources to get. If you do this, the guard winds up stalking the real Roxy, and that gives me a bad feeling in my mouth.
Here's the third method, and this one is probably the least well-known, which is why I ultimately chose it.
He seems pretty skeptical of the dog idea. I'm not sure why, though- can we really be held responsible for the dog scaring the guard away?
So what's this guy's idea?
Who said we have to get past the guard? We just need to get into uptown Heliodor!
He just needs an extra tool.
Now, see, at this point in the game, you're probably a little low on flintstone and pretty skeptical about this deal. Turns out flintstone is only in one alchemy recipe, I wouldn't hold back.
Plus, the thing about doing it this way...
Is it opens this tunnel for the rest of the game. Not that it's necessary, but you know, it's cool. Plus, I'm sure we helped out downtown Heliodor some. Little of it good...
And onward we go!
The tunnel comes out around here, on the opposite side of town to the conventional downtown entrance. It also seems to have turned to night- I think it automatically does that when you get to Heliodor.
Incidentally, there's a "fourth method" of getting past the guard- if you talk to him outright, he'll name his price at 2000G. The player is not really intended to have this much money at all and the script I'm checking says doesn't list what the guard says if you pony up (it lists your refusal and your lacking cash), but I'm going to mention it nonetheless. Perhaps there is someone crazy enough to have done this.
...Hm, some guards up there. Probably not a good idea to attract their attention.
We can climb a church and walk over the rooftops to get up there, though, that's nice and helpful.
...We appear to have dropped into a tryst between a noble and maid. Best not to ask any more questions.
...You know, this costume reminds me of Torneko Taloon. Probably intentional.
Erik drops in to his old friend. If you're wondering which house this is, it's the south-east one that was previously locked with a crudely written note on the door.
Derk doesn't recognise his old friend's voice. Well, immediately.
He turns around and all of a sudden the memories come flooding back.
As does the fact he looks ready to tear him apart.
Well, sort of.
Derk is overjoyed to see Erik again! Can't you tell? (I think it is kinda hard to tell, but mostly because Derk is so busy trying to stop Erik from killing him at the same time.)
Erik is moderately offended that this is Derk's reaction.
I mean... as mean-spirited as this question is, there's not much room to doubt this happened. What else could Derk have done to get here?
Derk had a cunning plan! Well, to a certain level of cunning.
Come on, that doesn't seem entirely fair. You don't know what he's spending his money on!
...You mean to tell me Erik and Derk have been working together for long enough that this feels like a genuine betrayal to him and Derk wasn't even a great thief? You know, I never really realised how little evidence there is Erik was any good either.
Derk had no chance of helping Erik directly. He just doesn't have anything in the way of actual skills.
But he did have a way to quickly amass a large amount of money.
And if you have a large sum of money and a halfway decent shop, it's pretty easy to get lots of money. And helping Erik financially is a lot less physically difficult a task.
Erik spots the thread.
How can one say no to that face? Isn't that a face you can trust?
Erik decides to forgive what he thought of his partner in the end.
With that said, though, the matter of the orb is personal business to Erik, and he can't let it sit where it is.
...Did you check where you stole it from in the first place?
Derk knows where it is, but he wants to step outside his mansion first. Whatever floats his boat.
Well, what do you know? Old Derk was looking out for me all this time. I guess I owe him one. Now, let’s head out and see what he has to say about the whereabouts of the Orb…
We can also find this lady in Derk's house. She's Derk's wife.
Although it seems she's starting to wonder if perhaps she bet on the horse race too early.
Mini medal! Forgive mini me. I need to work on my timing.
Derk knew Erik was going to want it back if the opportunity to ever fight for it back ever came up, so he made sure to have a location for him when he turned up.
Well, that sounds like a place to visit.
...That definitely sounds good. Right on the way? I love when my destinations are right on the way.
Erik asks if we're getting our third party member already.
He declines. Recruiting a merchant isn't out of the question (again, consider the case of Torneko Taloon), but Derk takes his responsibilities more seriously. Torneko was a man with ambitions, which is why he joined an adventuring party.
Erik realises it's time for him to move on- Derk's not in the business and Erik's got bigger destinies than Derk is willing to follow him into.
But that doesn't mean we can't thank him for what he did do.
Yeah, uh, not going to happen.
Well, we can't leave Heliodor the way we first came in. Looks like we're going to have to find another path back to the main Heliodor area.
Erik hasn't forgotten to keep this deal two-sided. Although I suppose it helps when it's not inconvenient for us.
Derk gives us a warning about our very terrifyingly named destination. A forest called the "Manglegrove" sounds like a place where our corpses are going to come back mangled.
Well, any solution beats no solution.
Good old Derk. I should never have doubted him. And since the Orb’s down at the Kingsbarrow, we can drop by your hometown on the way there! Come on, let’s head south to the Manglegrove.
...You've gotta be kidding me, I still have loot left to grab? I thought I was being pretty diligent. Ah well, if I really want to, I can nab it later.
On the way out, I decided to have a chat with Roxy on the way out, and she drops some pretty good reasons why she's none too interested in writing the distraction letter to the guard herself. I am fully on board with her reasons. Smart girl, conisdering what she has to do to make a living. Is it possible to give her a raise?
And on the way out, Erik stops using his hood for things, so his costume suddenly kicks in. It seems like Erdward is going to keep the hood a while longer, though.
...They are a ways off from us, but, I mean... we're not hiding or anything.
Good suggestion. I'm sure we'll find an excuse to wander over eventually, but if we're taking this plot seriously, let's not do that.
And that's our introduction to Erik. The streetsmart "knows how to keep us out of trouble" thief is introduced by being found in a jail cell, and his first order of business on escaping is to go back into town to commit the crime for which he was imprisoned a second time. I feel like Erik isn't supposed to be taken as seriously as he tries to be. And that's OK, because his character isn't really about being the best thief. He's a very common sense fellow who's the one to react with the correct levels of skepticism and cluelessness when it comes to things beyond the normal scope of human understanding.
When it comes to the Heliodor arc itself, though... I'm not going to lie, Erik is still a pretty likable fellow, easily fitting in with his Dragon Quest kin. Starting with Dragon Quest V and continuing on to VI, VII and even a little bit of VIII, the first party member you get is a male who serves to make a proudly platonic ally. Erik fits in exactly with the level of comradeship he gets with the Hero, but for the life of me I can't exactly point to what does it for him here. Maybe it's the accent. It also helps that he's willing to help us out as blindly as we're helping him. It's easy to like Erik. That's probably why he'll be the one getting the DQXI spinoff.
No comments:
Post a Comment