DQXI Heliodor: A Luminary's Welcome

Welcome to the first overworld map!

Now that we have a map, I can show it off! I'm surprisingly bad at being in the habit of doing it, and it's not like the map is that interesting...

If you push the Y Button, you can get some useful information up here.

Maps of Nearby Areas... well, it's not something I use, but if you're easily lost and/or a better visual navigator, this might help jog your memory on navigation.

Local Monsters tells you what monsters it is possible to find in an area, regardless of what circumstances they require to appear in, as well as having exactly the correct number of "blank spaces" of enemies- at this stage in the game, I will find enough enemies on this map to fill the ??? spaces, no more, no less. There are caveats, of course, but the information you're not getting won't influence your strategies in any significant way.

This one I really don't get. Purple dots for Quests are labelled by default. Perhaps if you want to make sure you've accounted for them all?

"Sparkly Spots" tells you where all the blue shinies are, although it won't tell you what they are until you've found them. Once it does, though, it will also tell you when the sparkly spots have regenerated and you can harvest them again for more resources. If you know where to find what you need, this is a good way to help you stay on top of the timing of its regeneration.

Scattered across Erdrea, usually outside towns, are horse hailers. It's literally as good as they say- use one, and you're instantly put on your horse. This is the only way to spawn her if she goes missing, to note.

We already have our horse, though, so off into the world we go. "Parting Place" intrigues me, honestly.

While I won't be showing all the shinies, this one is interesting. The Chimaera Wing allows one to teleport to any location you may need to return to. It's useful early in the game before you learn the spell with the same effect.

You can send enemies flying by running into them while on horseback. If you haven't turned on "Less EXP for weak enemies", this actually gives you the EXP for killing that monster (but not any friends it might've brought had you fought it). You also won't level up on the field even if you get the right amount of EXP, and enemies that are too powerful and/or too big won't actually get sent flying- so you will wind up fighting them.

Big, blue birds who sit atop skulls which they swap with their soulmates to demonstrate their undying love.

Time to meet some new enemies! The stark raven first appeared in DQ3, and took a long leave of absence from non-Monsters games until now. Usually, monsters have identical poses between classic appearances and this game, but stark ravens are an exception- they fly, while DQ3 stark ravens sit down on their skulls. Because, you know, birds flying while holding a skull seems pretty tricky.

Bat-like blighters who come out at night. They grin like nobody's business to hide the fact that they're afraid of pretty much everything.

Dracky! These things debuted in the first game and are one of the more common monsters in the series- if you were to make a list of top ten recognisable DQ monsters, this guy would be in the top 5.  Funnily enough, they're only in 6 mainline DQ games, having skipped 3 and 4 (as well as 6, 7, and 10, although 7 added them to the weird bonus content of the remake).

Monsters made when uneaten cucumbers are inhabited by evil spirits. Each crafts it own spear, so no two are exactly the same length.

The cruelcumber first appeared in DQ9 and seems to have stuck around since. They have the greatest death animation- they drop their spear, it flies into the air, and then lands on their tummy.

There are treasure chests out in the overworld. These, I'll show, because treasure chests feel more valuable.

...Sure. Seeds give you a very tiny amount of stats. They're like vitamins from Pokemon, in that you're probably not going to notice the stat buff. In some games, they can also mess with your growths if you improperly use them, but I'm not sure which games and how much seeds you need to eat to screw you up, but I always like to save mine because, well, RPG hoarder mentality.

I will say, though, that it is in your interest to save these in DQXI for alternative reasons.

If we wander over to the middle of the Heliodor region, we bump into this fellow.

This is just a regular tutorial NPC with his own cutscene. I wonder how the voice actor felt about that.

...OK, let's be honest, he's thinking "free job".

This is a new feature to DQXI- Campsites!

Free inns out in the wilderness!

No ambushes, in case you suspected that. This is literally a better Inn in every way.

"Mini church", he says, but these statues are basically churches in every respect- down to actually charging you for the resurrection stuff.

There's one thing they don't mention here, mostly because I'm informed this is a new feature to the definitive edition: Campsites are Zoom Points now. This makes them super broken, really.

This guy acknowledges that he's happy to remain in the same position for the rest of his life. Despite the fact he is tutorialising campsites, he's not interested in finding new ones. Apparently he just really likes this one.

When you rest at a campsite, you can rest (fully heal HP and MP), use the statue (admittedly, you can do that regardless), and some more things not on this list right now.

Not actually a feature, but your horse has an enclosure over here.

I bet you spotted this guy. This is an item shop.

These guys sell weapons, armour, items and alchemy ingredients (although the latter seems to be missing from this particular inventory), and their inventory is dependent on which camp you're at.

Here's a demonstration of the power of the angel statues. If you Confess and close the game, you come back with camp broken. Which means you don't get your heal.

This is something that applies regardless of whether you're sleeping in an inn or a campsite, but you have the option to choose exactly what time of day you wake up in (this won't affect your heal in any way). I don't actually think sleeping at Amber's place lets you get away with manipulating time of day. Do you think Mum would let you wake up at night so you can go hunting things in the dark?

The campsite guy also has this behind his house.

He also has a well. Important to keep in mind: You can go down wells. Well, open ones. Some of them are all boarded up.

You can find sparkly spots and or pots with treasures down them. I believe this one is the former variety. They're technically separate maps, which makes them interesting when it comes to keeping track of whether you've rinsed them of their goodies.

Here's where the well comes out on the map, and... hey, where did my horse go? Lucky campsites usually have a horse hailer next door.

Horn-headed bunnies who like to build up to big attacks and then bash away like billy-o.

Anyway, back to finding new enemies. These are bunicorns, and they first appeared in 3 and followed up intermittedly along 5 and 8 before here. They have a really good rare drop, but I'd rather not grind for one. Well, now.

When fighting them for real, they can charge up for a stronger attack next turn. "Charge up this turn to land a stronger attack next turn" moves are usually kinda useless, especially if you're better or equally off just attacking twice, but at this point in the game, when Erward is on his own and so worried about his HP (and can't really interrupt this bunicorn because he needs two or three attacks to kill one bunicorn right now), it's really important to make sure how much damage you expect to take next turn and heal if there's a lot of charged attacks coming your way and you can't stop them by attacking.

...I can't break a barrel on horseback?

Fine, I'll dismount and pick this up.

Enthusiastic amphibians who've been brought back from the beyond, and are so excited about this that they can't keep their tongues in their heads.

Toady, like the stark raven, appeared in DQ3 and had things even worse than the stark raven, since it doesn't even get the spinoff appearances to its name between then and now.

Kinda funny I got a toad oil drop from them after the incident with the barrel.

They've got hammers, and they wear hoods... making this description more or less redundant.

Hammerhood is an enemy that first appeared in DQ5 and then became more prominent starting with 8, and also belongs on the list of most recognisable DQ enemies. Hilariously, while DQ5 allows you to recruit monsters, Hammerhood was not one of them, which is retroactively a strange decision until you notice the timing.

Hammerhoods are particularly scary because, while they're none too good at swinging their hammers, sometimes they get lucky and score crits on you.

Nobody knows where they started sprouting, but it's said that the first farmer to find one of these tuberous terrors was so shocked by its scream that he never picked up a spade again.

The fright bulb is new to DQ11, and has some odd habits. Its relatives like to scatter spores around to affect everyone, including allies and enemies, and usually one of those effects is detrimental to it. This one apparently doesn't do that. It's also somewhat of a reference to Mandrakes, with the war cry to match. It's not lethal, though, don't worry about that.

There are a few kinds of special sparkly spots, and Heliodor has an example of the main three. This is a mining nodule- Erdward hits it with a pickaxe and three materials, usually rocks/ores of some description, pop out. These three materials are the same every time you hit it, and while I'm not sure of the specifics, I think these special spots take longer to regenerate than the single-item spots on the ground.

The paths to places other than Heliodor and Cobblestone are blocked right now, and this is usually the reason why. I've heard of worse reasons.

Well hello there, Erdward! Time to show off what Pep Up does most of the time.

This is a pretty good explanation. When a character peps up, they gain two stats and a critical advantage, based on what they're good at. Erdward gains Strength, Resilience, and Crit. Pep usually lasts 6-8 turns (although I believe if you finish a battle so quickly the slowest unit doesn't get to act, they don't lose a turn of Pep to show for it).

Crit is a huge help on these guys, although the Strength and Defence helps just as well. Without any additional information, Pep seems underwhelming. There's more to it later.

Don't be fooled by their funny faces - these menaces of the meadows make no bones about beating all and sundry black and blue.

The platypunk is another iconic Dragon Quest enemy. Considered the eternal rival of the Slime in the Rocket Slime trilogy, Platypunk is a playable character in Fortune Street and an unforgettable addition to the series. Rather surprisingly, then, it showed up in DQ4 and never again until 10. It seems to still have not fully realised that here.

On being awoken, it has rudely brought my health to critical levels, and it's time to use one of these. I've taken care to load up on Medicinal Herbs in my proper inventory so I can bring them with me to battle. And just as well I did.

Treasure! A single phial is good for 10 MP on use. Not really worth putting in your inventory, but good to pack when you get the chance. They were introduced to the series in DQ10.

These are the other two kind of sparkly spot I alluded to- trees to knock down and grass to cut. Of course, we can do all of this from horseback, but there's no animation for it.

Once we arrive at Heliodor, this guy complains about being stationed on guard duty. At least we have a better lot as travellers.

Those are some giant trebuchets you have there for no apparent reason. Like, obvious question, but who are we pointing at here?

"Livelier" is a choice of word. I'm sure we'll take a peek in eventually. The word "downtown" has significantly changed over history- it used to refer to the lower class living quarters, but nowadays refers to the place where businesses live- say the word "downtown" to a modern person, and they're more likely to think of skyscrapers than slums. DQXI uses the "lower class" definition.

Welcome to the city of Heliodor!

I've never thought about who those statues belong to. The fact some of them have harps feels significant, but I don't think they're that significant.

Heliodor is a massive town with a bunch of hidey corners for random barrels and pots to hide treasures. There's no reward for finding them all, but there is an ability to detect them and I always find I'm missing a high (but single-digit) number of goodies here. With that in mind, perhaps I should've shown every treasure I found, but hindsight.

Whatever passes the time. I don't think I got into her field of view, but "down below" is a place you can walk to and she will wave hello.

Some more short tutorials, this time about NPCs you can spot walking around. As games increased in scope, more and more games are including more NPCs than inane speaking lines, so the extras have some methods to separate them from the rest. In this game, an NPC with nothing special to say will have a white speech bubble over their head when you approach them- normal NPCs will be blue.

Here's an example. The guy next to him is, of course, our "remember where you're headed?" NPC, so that's why he's got a pink bubble.

"Bob's your uncle" is a real phrase that is based on a real person (well, we assume, we're not actually completely sure). These odd sort of "phrases that shouldn't exist in an alternative setting" thing show up unquestioned, and usually, it's just better to not question them than go to the bother of coming up with alternative phrases that convey similar thoughts.

Besides, even in a society that has not yet discovered elections, the idea that there has never been a case of nepotism under uncle Robert to be foolhardy. Yes, most DQ characters have punny or elaborate names, but there is actually a Robert in DQ. In this game, even.

This guy does have a point- you can only enter the castle during the day. Try not to linger around the town too long!

Looking for weapons, are we? Probably better to check the weapon shop than a billboard that, at best, might be advertising it.

Knowing the type who says this, it will. Best not to risk it.

Just because you can't talk to them doesn't mean they're not great dialogue.

KITTY!

Some of the houses are just not accessible- again, to make the town bigger than mechanically necessary or feasible while still having the scale necessary. This place is supposed to be big, there's no way the game can sell that if it has a roughly equal number of doors to Cobblestone.

The alleys are less interesting than the main road, but not devoid of excitement!

Although this guy isn't helping. Look, this part of the city is more beautiful than most parts of a bustling metropolis in the modern day. Trust me, you'll be glad you're living here and not in, say, downtown.

...As amusing as this is on the scale of JRPGs, I'm not sure a guard saying something like this feels great post-BLM. This game predates that, and I think we are supposed to be slightly worried by this line, but still.

This is one of the sidequests we can find in Heliodor, just outside the archway to the upper-class area.

This generic guy wants to meet the two finest men in Heliodor, the knights Jasper and Hendrik. For reasons of "being generic", he's not being allowed that opportunity. I'm sure we'll learn quite a bit about both in due time.

So he wants to find a book about them. Sword and sorcery era, books would be rare, but random houses have tons of bookshelves. Admittedly, they outright acknowledge the only interesting book on a bookshelf is the one red one.

The reward for this quest is a Drasilian Shilling. Drasilian coins are outdated and no longer accepted in shops- but they are historical relics of a dead kingdom, and most merchants will be happy to buy them well above their face value.

Short version: Drasilian coins are safe to sell and are worth a lot in Gold. Think Nuggets from Pokemon.

Oh, this guy gives the tutorial about red books. A bookshelf without a prominent red book has no information for the player- if there is a red book on a bookshelf, it's both the only book Erdward will read and he will also only read a single passage. Because if you wanted to read, it's probably a better idea to read out of a real book.

On the west side is a ladder in an alleyway- if you're not looking for this alley, it's easy to miss. This ladder has something really good up it.

It lets you go on this house, and allows you to enter this chimney. This guy got there first, but chickened out of the idea of going down a chimney. Fair's fair, but somehow, the game has no problem with you going up the chimney from the house to the roof.

This is where we come out. If you're wondering, you can enter this house normally, but this room is locked.

Incidentally, that bookshelf is also an example of a bookshelf with a prominent red book on it.

This a journal from a really smug fellow. I don't think we know whose house this is, but I always had an idea- whether it's actually likely is another matter.

This sounds a lot like a pre-existing character, but honestly, I feel like he wouldn't have a house out here in the middle-class sticks.

I'll steal his treasure, though. Now he can no longer bask in envy!

The Gold Bracer is that one accessory you wear first, and it's worth a non-negligible but not particularly great Defence bonus. It's that accessory you wear when you don't have any other ones.

This is probably going to terrify this guy when he gets home.

There's a book downstairs. This is "A Brief History of Heliodor"- how to show books took me a bit to figure out.

Situated atop rocky cliffs, Heliodor was never blessed with fertile soil or bounteous rains. Farmers could never reap a plentiful harvest from its earth, which all agreed was barren But one day, in search of a land to call their own, two brothers came to these unwelcoming wilds, and began a daring attempt to reclaim them from nature. Many sneered at their seeming folly, but the brothers paid them no heed, and toiled on. A grand irrigation system soon saw the soil brought to life, and their first yield of crops exceeded all expectations. Their deeds united the farming families around them, and a new, united realm soon sprang up from the transformed land with the two brothers as its kings. Thus was born the nation of Heliodor.

This is an interesting bit of lore that doesn't pay off in the narrative, but the symbolism interests me. Besides, I'm a sucker for turning a land of little into a land of plenty with ingenuity and non-traditional exploration.

(Incidentally, two Kings has turned into one at some point in history, we only ever have to consider the existence of a single Heliodorian King.)

Some NPCs have special reactions if you smash pots or loot valuables in eyeshot. This is just in the speech bubble, their text doesn't change.

...Although this guy's text box certainly doesn't indicate that. I'm from the world of JRPGs, and "wandering into people's houses and looting their treasures" is part and parcel of the job.

Don't mind if I do.

DQ encouraging hoarder mentality. Admittedly, in this game, there's good reason- there's dozens of materials that only matter in alchemy and have no other use for Erdward.

The game does want you selling Drasilian currency, but it doesn't want you selling everything else. In universe, this is an interesting assertion, though. Like, I know most people won't make minted money into alchemy recipes because... that's just a bad idea (someone more economically versed can tell me what the economical implications of the ability to turn two dollar coins into something other than money is), but that doesn't feel like part of the reason for this line.

Heliodor's armour, I look through my options and decide I could do with some extra Defence. None of the rest of this stuff is worth getting. Either you get enough of it through exploring or the defensive bonuses are too small to matter. Or both.

Heliodor only has improvements on weapons for both Swords and Greatswords. Again due to math, I don't really advise getting these weapons- there's actually not much combat until we get a much better way of increasing our damage output.

But as we marched ‘cross the rolling plains and meadows, encounters with roaming monsters grew more frequent. ‘Twas not long ere we met with the most dreaded of them all—the dragon. Clad head-to-toe in scales hard as stone, neither sword nor spear could make but the slightest scratch in the beast’s hide. It seemed certain to slay us to a man… I swung my blade in wild desperation. Somehow, a blow connected and sent the great lizard reeling. We fled without a moment’s hesitation, fearing that it might soon regain its composure. To this day, I know not why my attack had the effect it did, but I and every one of my men owe our lives to this miraculous quirk of fate.

Someone did his first critical hit! Crits are completely random, although there are ways to force them to happen. Something's telling me this guy doesn't know about them yet.

This guy brings up a point: If you don't buy anything, you're just going to wind up too underequipped for things to work out. If you haven't changed your equipment after three shopping opportunities, odds are you're outdated. Although we'll have ways of updating our equipment without shops, so... joke's on him a little.

Considering our view of the world has Cobblestone as the only backwater village all over, the fact that other NPCs treat it like real people might treat a village like it is surprising. I wonder how many other Cobblestones the parts of Heliodor we can't go to have.

Having the Inn and Bar right next to each other seems like good practice. Most Inns are Bars in these stories- they're separate institutions here.

...Uh... that is a flagon.

Another service that you can find somewhere in towns, Rainbow's End. When you Game Over, you lose half your cash, and this is a nice and convenient way of not doing that. I also like to use it to curb impulse purchases, as unnecessary as that might seem. There's just one problem with it:

I assume that, when this was first added to the series, this was some form of memory saving measure. But, uh, check our cash reserves. This thing is of no use earlygame, when you need it most.

At least we're not charged for their services. If we didn't come back from the dead, perhaps they'd quietly claim our money when die.

Taverns have counters that look identical to all the other essential services (Weapons, Armour, Items, Inns and Rainbow's End), but Erdward can never actually use them.

In the case of this tavern, the serving lady is apparently new to the job and doesn't seem confident in her menu. Cute.

The other quest in Heliodor is to help this crying little girl.

Her cat's stuck on the roof and she can't get there to get it down herself. Although I have the vaguest idea that we're not supposed to know it's a cat until the end.

This guy is happy to point us in the right direction, but he's too much of a Good Samatarian to do it himself- the girl needs his help too, at least in emotional support.

Incidentally, now that we're sneaking into a shop and standing on the wrong side of the counter, we can talk to shopkeeps. You won't get service on the wrong side of the counter, and this guy seems plenty annoyed by our idea. Not all shopkeepers are this hostile about it.

My name is Haul, but most know me as the Wandering Blacksmith. Throughout my travels, I have heard many a rumour of a particularly wondrous little forge. It is said that one can throw any number of odds and ends into it, and in doing so produce countless fabulous creations. But surely these stories are too fanciful to take at face value? Yet should there be some truth to them, a wise adventurer would do well to hold on to whatever oddments they find on their travels—who knows what they might be turned into!

A nice little clue about the existence of the alchemy mechanic. Or, well, some kind of forge, at any rate. I've been calling it "alchemy" thus far, but this game doesn't follow the lead of 8 and 9 and uses an alternative system to the Alchemy Pot. There's actually some mechanical ramifications here beyond the different flavour.

If you have to announce it loudly, I'm a little concerned.

Making your way onto the roof gets you this cat.

And a good dead is done. I almost have to wonder what happens if you don't have the quest accepted, though- I feel like most quests get angry at you for that.

The true point of interest in this quest, however, is that it leads you to this treasure chest up here.

We got a medal for our good deed! These miniest of medals will prove themselves maximally rewarding in good time- there are 121 mini medals hiding around Erdrea, and the maximum unique reward is given for 110. We'll be able to make infinite mini medals much later, but for now, acquiring mini medal rewards is rewarding thorough diligence.

PUPPY! Something's telling me we're not going to be allowed to pet the puppy, just look at it and mutely call it adorable- it barks in response.

I'd offer advice, but there's nothing mechanical behind these things- there isn't even a vendor to ask for his (biased) opinion.

...Hey, you know what that means?

Well, in less illegal matters, we return this girl's cat, and get her old kitty litter in return. Kitty litter is an alchemy ingredient, but, uh... I don't know if I want to be using this one.

At least the world is a better place for it.

This guy also has a reaction to the completion of the quest. He moves to a more "natural" position- as much as it can be such without just leaning on "RPG logic" and pats you on the back for your kindness. More or less what one should expect.

I presume this girl would be happy to natter our ear off and Erdward chooses not to engage.

That was way too many jumps to get up to this ledge and get a flurry feather.

According to Merriam-Webster, "waif" does have a definition that fits in with the rest of these words. Applying "waif" to "young woman" doesn't really naturally lead to "prostitution" (of which I expect there to be some), but that's the direction most people are going to start thinking of first.

We're actually not even allowed to go Downtown at all. Yeah, uh, I really don't like this on principle.

There's a pile of crates over up here you can climb up and get over the fence. You can also jump off the roof of that shed up ahead after getting a vantage point on a higher ledge. There are actually some pots to smash for goodies back here.

If you actually try to enter the Downtown map, this guy spots your efforts and kicks you back out.

Aha, here's the book we need to read for that quest.

No matter how ferocious an assault the monsters may launch against Heliodor, this great kingdom shall not fall, for two heroic figures will stand in the path of any attacker. The first is Sir Hendrik, a warrior without equal. Countless times has he ridden his colossal black steed Obsidian fearlessly into the heart of an oncoming assault, scattering the enemy like so many leaves. He is chivalrous to a fault, and considered by many to be the greatest swordsman in the world- even the vilest, most towering troll dare not stand its ground when faced with his whirling greatsword. The second half of this gallant duo is the shrewd and ingenious Sir Jasper. Regarded as the sharpest military mind of the age, he has led heavily outnumbered forces to glorious victory again and again. Though as a swordsman he may be no match for Sir Hendrik, his ability to analyse any battlefield and quickly arrive at the ideal strategy for the situation at hand is unrivalled. With these two great men—the Swordsman and the Strategist—to protect it, Heliodor need fear no foe.

Some exposition about what Hendrik and Jasper are like. They're going to be important to the story of this game. This detail isn't important, but it does set up how these two characters are going to act.

In last month’s issue, we shed some light on the lesser-known highlights of Heliodor’s historic city centre. This month, we’d like to take a moment to talk about the city’s diverse downtown district. The land this quarter occupies once served as a defensive trench, but with the town’s population growing by the day, new arrivals had no choice but to make their homes in this ditch beyond the walls. Soon, the bustling shanty town had attracted a whole host of colourful characters, and came to be known as a place of great risk, but also of great opportunity. Downtown Heliodor’s struggle with crime is no secret, but for some thrill seekers, it offers an excitement found nowhere else. Do you dare take a walk on the wild side?

Same house has this other book with a much more positive spin on what Downtown Heliodor is like. Honestly, I'm not entirely sure I agree with the assertion being made here. Sure, you can find great success in the thieves' den, but part of the point of a thieves' den is that everyone else is going to try and steal that success from you. Odds are you stole that success from someone else, after all!

There's also a set of fishnet stockings that this old lady reacts to when you nick them. I think there's a younger lady in the house, at least, but no matter who these belong to, I'm not entirely convinced stealing them is a good idea. For what it's worth, these are an accessory that only works on female party members that first appeared in DQ6. They give a non-negligible Defence bonus, but they are vastly more important when it comes to assembling Style bonuses. This game calls Style "Charm" instead, but it is a valuable stat to build sometimes.

Anyway, up to the upper class square, there are four mansions, two of which we can access, and a bunch of noble people walking around.

Behind the south-east house is this bush that you can walk through if you try.

There's a treasure back here to steal. The Seed of Sorcery was introduced in DQ9, and increased the Magical Might stat. Magical Might was also introduced in DQ9, so fair's fair.

At least there are some rich people who appreciate their wealth. I certainly don't begrudge these guys their fortunes.

Aw, someone's got a puppers!

I'm... fairly sure that's not how that works.

Interesting. I'm sure this guy won't come up again or anything.

Implying Dundrasil had it beat at the time. Not sure I'd say that, if Heliodor is supposed to be powerful enough that the king could be king of the world. Then again, I challenge the general premises involved here.

Sure, I'll take some extra cash. Keep your gold in smarter places next time!

...Wait, what's going on?

...Well, I went exploring too long and night fell on the city of Heliodor. Oops. Too many shinies.

...Clearly someone came into new money here. I wonder how much grief he gets from his neighbours for his spelling errors.

Oh hey, this line's pretty cute, while I'm wandering back to the inn.

Naturally, at night time, the tavern is more populated. Still can't buy anything.

"Kids forming their own conclusions about Adult-Only topics" is the second-funniest kid dialogue in the game, behind "kids forming their own conclusions about magic topics the general public doesn't understand either".

Intrepid Adventurer! If this book should impress upon you one thing before you set out on your quest to see the world, let it be this: The monsters that roam the land at night are far more fearsome than those that appear during the day! Heed these words well, adventurer, and go abroad in the evening only if you are prepared to meet the dangers that await you.

Found this while wandering around going for some last goodies that slipped by on the first go. There are monsters that appear based on time of day in this game (for Helidor, Needlers and Stark Ravens are daytime, Drackies and Lamplings are nighttime- although there's one Dracky sleeping under a tree). I wouldn't really describe the monsters as more vicious at night-time: monsters that are asleep during the day wander around at night, but also vice versa (Bunicorns and Fright Bulbs are examples of this). I don't think there really is much difference between adventuring at night versus the day, but daytime is both longer and easier to tell where enemies begin and end.

"Stay Overnight" is the reasonable option, "Rest Awhile" allows you to take your pick of time of day to warp to. Inns still cost money (more expensive inns appear later in the game's progress and you also have to pay the fee per head in the party), so unless you really need the convenience of the Inn, just use a campsite.

Oh hey, someone here acknowledges the oddity of this house's owner. Neat.

...Eh, the Deirdru water effect in Three Houses is better. Still, though, 7/10. Does kinda look a little bit like gelatin.

Uh... no, Mr Lustig.

Huh, totally is. Heliodor is Adrestia, you heard it here first.

I wouldn't exactly say Erdward entered this cutscene going particularly quickly.

Well, Erdward just blabs everything to everyone he meets.

Yeah, this is probably best case scenario if we led with that explanation.

Fortunately for Erdward, he has tangible proof to present.

The guards have no idea what to do about this, and go ask for help. Probably the best idea.

Apparently everything went just fine and we're set to head in. Good news, then!

Welcome to the castle!

How fashionable!

The Dundrasil destruction was pretty impactful if people are still talking about it. Then again, I guess Erdward's arrival would inspire that conversation.

...Well, it turns out that Hendrik was actually at Dundrasil at the time. Don't see how this will help out.

We do know Carnelian was there at the time, incidentally.

So was his daughter. Keyword: Was.

We can't actually explore much of this castle, especially not the lower floor. The upper floors are better off.

Interesting. It'll probably be important later.

Well, everyone seems pretty engaged with the whole "Luminary" thing. Whatever that might be.

Ooh, a well! This one's all boarded up. I'm told wells had a purpose in early builds of the game before switching to something else, and all these boarded up wells are remnants of that idea.

...Poor guys. Not sure whether that's the soldiers or Hendrik, though.

Interesting. All good things, I hope?

...Sir? I'm the hero who's come to save you from the Dark One?

Meanwhile, I love the fact that there's two bluebloods who have the gall to believe they're so important that they deserve an audience with the King at first chance.

For some reason, I get the impression that this is not a true statement.

Having seen several generations of his line, I can say with some certainty that King Carnelian is a rare breed of monarch, possessed of all the qualities required in a truly great leader. Both loved and feared by the populace, he is like a father to them—kind yet stern, firm yet fair. Not since the days of the great kings of old has our nation been so blessed. Though his face may have grown hard and lined since the terrible events that took place those few short years ago, some might say that this has added a certain… depth that improves him yet further. To have so resolutely overcome such grief and yet still led his nation boldly onward is surely a sign that Carnelian is a king among kings.

...You guys do know being feared by the populace is not a good thing, right?

Of the many nations, both large and small, that make up Erdrea, there are five—the so-called “Great Five”—that stand above all others in the eyes of the world. Ancient and honourable Dundrasil, steadfast and stony Heliodor, Gallopolis with its noble desert knights, Sniflheim with its snow-capped towers and last but not least, Zwaardsrust, carpeted in flowers. These five nations guide the world, meeting every few years at the great conference known as the Colloquy of Kings in order to steer the course of Erdrean affairs in a direction agreeable to all.

Agreeable to all of those five, at least. Zwaardsrust and Dundrasil have both fallen by this game's events, and new powers like Puerto Valor and Gondolia seem unrepresented in this Colloquy. Whether or not another one has actually happened by the events of this game. Gallopolis and Sniflheim are both locations that are still standing and we will still be visiting later on in this story.

Such rich. Much wealthy.

...A treasure chest I can't open? Madness! Why I oughta... remember this treasure chest and return later, when... an unfortunate accident has happened to your fine form.

Yeah, I can't argue with that. Both of these places are in dangerous locations and their resources are presumably somewhat tied up in making sure their people survive, rather than having the most impressive military to throw around.

Just because this is a boring guard preventing us from accessing a location doesn't mean we can't have some fun with him. The door opposite leads to the room of the late Princess, but that guard is less amusing.

A top floor? Interesting. I'll take you up on that offer!

Nor I, sadly. Maybe if something hits the walls hard enough, it'll get sent down.

There is a balcony up here. For some reason, this balcony is its own separate map. I legitimately don't know why this is the case. There's some important stuff that happens up here later, but I don't think any of this stuff is so important that the extra loading zone is necessary. Perhaps it's some coding stuff under the hood with those later events- maybe the loading zone is doing something to make those later scenes work.

There is a mini medal on this balcony. If you don't get it now, you're not going to have a chance for a good... forty to sixty hours, depending on what you're up to and how good at this game you are?

Erdwin's Lantern? Well, this is obviously some kind of in-universe symbolism, but the name "Erdwin" is kinda where the name "Erdward" comes from- both names are corruptions of a real name beginning with "Ed", but with "Erd" instead. The name doesn't sound as stupid when I stick it next to this one, but not going to lie, I definitely think Erdwin is a much better-sounding name than Erdward.

The origins of the name "Lantern", though, remain a mystery. Probably not important, then- if it was, you'd think someone would've put more effort into recording their reasoning.

Good advice. (Munificent meaning generous, liberal with giving, and so forth.)

Darkspa? Pretty terrible spa, if I do say so myself. I mean, I smell of a horse's rear end and probably have the material to prove it.

I mean, I actually have kitty litter in my pocket...

And so we are welcomed into the King's room.

This knight in the white armour tells us to keep our distance from the King, in the sort of tone of voice that makes it sound like this guy is going to trumpet his evil deeds around later.

Carnelian recognises us from our pendant- we are indeed who we claim to be.

I notice they're doing a lot of doublespeak sort of sentences. Spoken like a true politician.

...Er, your mileage may vary. If... if you know what mileage is, of course.

So then... let's get this business sorted.

You didn't have to pause so long before "he". Perhaps he was confused about our gender. It's the hair.

The knights require prompting to celebrate. I'm starting to wonder if perhaps I should've tried something else.

...You know, regardless of what kind of tribute he intends to offer, this is a very peculiar question. Like, I don't really see how to make it flow better, but it does kinda feel like he asks this out of the blue.

As Dunstan suggested, we openly say we're Cobblestonian. There's gotta be a big reward in it for us...

"The only such village south of us."

Nice to meet Jasper, though. His black-clad friend is presumably Hendrik, then.

At this point, even a first-timer is probably suspicious of how much you're deliberately not talking about what you're talking about.

And off Jasper goes to do... something.

Oh dear, that is "penny drops" music.

Excuse me, sir, while this is not entirely unexpected, this is completely stupid. Might I ask with what I am being falsely charged?

Some King you are.

Look, I may have stolen from a few houses, and maybe some of the monsters I killed on the way aren't entirely worth destroying mindlessly, but I did get that cat down from the roof!

...You know, technically speaking, this is a true statement. The folly is assuming that attacking the Luminary is going to change anything about the Dark One's coming.

I don't think the words you are saying match the ones Carnelian said. You may want to consider sitting down and asking yourself exactly what your King has asked you to do and why he has done so.

And we are kindly escorted to the dungeons.

You know, the King of Tantegel gave us 120 gold and a stick to fight evil with. The King of Aliahan gave us 50 Gold to arm four times as many people with. I'm just saying... if you want me dead, you could've just given me a small sum of cash and threw me out on my ass. It would've been so much less suspicious.

So yeah, welcome to Dragon Quest 11: The King isn't on our side this time. Honestly, Dragon Quest Kings in general don't really consider the whole "gathering evil" thing to be their problem- it's too big a deal for a single King, honestly, but aside from the first King you meet, most Kings are more concerned with whatever's going on in their kingdom than about the big quest you're on. Having a King take on an actively antagonistic role is a twist on the Dragon Quest formula- normally, it's Hero vs the world, but now we've got a human antagonist to engage with. Well, three- not only do we have to question King Carnelian, but we've also got Hendrik and Jasper for three different flavours of antagonistic humans. Dragon Quest is a game about the innate goodness of humanity, so there's going to be some depth behind these three men to unpack as time goes on, but for now, we're going to have to think about how we proceed if we want to do something about that "evil attacking the world" thing that Carnelian doesn't feel all that stressed about.