Let's ride off to Dundrasil!
...This horse hailer doesn't strike me as all that useful. The horse can't get up this ledge, for some reason.
At least, with the Switch version, we can get the horse up here and get going.
This path is a little weird- make sure you follow the map. At the very least, the north path is kinda hard to spot, so just crossing usually goes smoothly, although you might find yourself on the branch if you're playing blind.
Over here is just a bunch of enemies and some collections.
And we enter Dundrasil... while it's raining. That's not normal, but Dundrasil's rain is probably the the most important area to rain, but that's a thing you're really worried about later. There are enemies only found in the rain now, though.
Their thirst for revenge on the humans who eat them led these ferocious fungi to study ever stronger magics, eventually becoming expert sorcerers.
Like these guys. Mushroom mages are the next shroom up from Morphean, and the colour choice could honestly be better? I always get Morphean and Mage confused. They know Crackle and Midheal, so they truly live up to their name, and they appeared in 3, 4, 8-10. They only appear in rain, and it's important to note these guys are still good to steal from.
Occasionally mistaken for suits of restless armour, these proud paladins hate being lumped in with that sort of low-quality rubbish.
Their friend over there is a knight errant, a suit of armour that appeared in DQ1 before taking an extended leave of absence to show up next in DQ10. They're mostly good for Fizzle and a tackling attack I'm told means something. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to defend the honour of the Restless Armour.
Erdward gets his first parry. If he blocks an attack, there's a pause before Erdward swings back. It's almost kind of pathetic.
Belle caps! The belle cap is sold nowhere in the game, so take every chance you get to acquire more.
Well, Veronica is having the time of her life here.
Excuse the "suddenly riding a Horknight" bit, I'd like to showcase this clump of grass.
This is where the Mellow Vera is.
Also a Drasilian coin in a treasure chest over here- you have to ride a Horknight over the river to get here. We're right next to Dundrasil, so there's a lot of Drasilian coins to find.
Many people fear these baleful birds as evil omens, but they'd be better off being concerned about their claws, which can crush boulders with ease.
Apparently, the person who should be called a raven lunatic is not actually the bird, but the skull they rest on. Raven lunatics hail from DQs 3 and 10, and can Accelerate and War Cry.
Sizzle does work in the rain, and I'll thank you not to doubt Veronica a second time.
And just throwing out a Pep Power on a poor mushroom because I had nothing better to do. It turns out that this particular Pep Power is going to be important later, and when it is... well, it's going to be hilarious.
Now then, there's a treasure here that's a little complicated- jump off the rock into that ruin and you'll get to an otherwise unavailable vantage point. I'm not sure if that'll be easier on foot or by Horknight.
It gets you one of these. If you're not into opening all the chests, you can also find these by looting Grublins.
If you're using Erik's swords, though, you want one of these. At +0, they're nothing special, but reforge them to +3, and they're the strongest thing you can find this side of Puerto Valor, outclassing even a +3 Steel Broadsword.
Serena picks this up. Although admittedly, I think you need to be in the active party to get this and Serena is going to spend very little time meaningfully benefitting from this. It was this or go into Harpistry, and honestly, they're about as useful.
These hulking hogs take their training seriously, and practise Multithrust about a million times a day. But despite this diligence, the wild boar blood in their veins means they're far from mild-mannered.
...Uh, game, training fighting techniques does not make you mild-mannered, I'm not sure what military types you talk to. Orcs come from DQs 2, 5, 8, and 10, and they don't really have anything but Multithrust to call their own. They can block and have Pep, but really, it's all in that Multithrust of theirs.
There's a bunch of houses here, and a lot of them have stuff to find in them. You're gonna want a checklist of some kind.
Rod of Rapidity here, for your Heavy Wand needs.
And another Tockle, glowing in this house.
The Rainbow Mines is the first dungeon with enemies you visit in Dragon Quest 7. Yes, that is a necessary qualifier, especially in the PSX version. It contains special stones that can be used as medicines, and isn't even the big dungeon in the Ballymolloy region- although you do visit it twice, at least.
Oh wow, our casino finding wasn't that interesting. We're going to be geting plenty of it eventually, yeah, but that was surprisingly quick.
Don't forget the houses that are still standing upright enough to have stairs!
This Seed of Life is deep in there.
The remains of a tree felled by a wave of ultimate evil that knocked every ounce of good out of it, and replaced it with sinister sorcery.
Stump grumps- if that's their backstory, the name is a hilarious match. They appeared in DQ4 before this, and their main claim to fame is Snooze and Weird Dance.
Fire resistance +20%! I often hear "oh, this is because poor Veronica can't equip a shield", but no shield has +20% fire resistance. Well, OK, one does, but only one character can equip it anyway.
Oh, and if Earth ever came up, she's also good for that.
There's a cabin down there, but I'm going to let that one sit for later.
...Oh hey, the rain has gone. Looks like it won't be long until it returns, though.
Resting at the campsite to heal and mark it as a Zoom point, and our Horknight mount has its own space in the corner. It's probably just as confused as we are.
Don't you just hate when your Pep's dying and you've lost your turn to use it up?
Time for us to enter the ruins of Dundrasil.
I'm not entirely sure what the party was expecting.
But... well... if there's any proof this place was once a bustling town Heliodor's equal, sixteen years have made fools of us all.
Sylvando shares what he knows about Dundrasil.
...I mean, this happened when we were an infant. It's perfectly possible for us to have grown up and not known this.
Now then... let's see what's up with Rab's plan.
...A clue!
Erik: I don't get it. Why are Rab and Jade making us come all the way to Dundrasil? What are they plotting? I had a bad feeling about those two from the start. It's time to confront them and get some answers!
Veronica: Let's head for those torches we saw in the ruins of Dundrasil. I've got a feeling we might find Rab there.
Serena: It's strange that we've been made to come to the place you were born, Erdward. Do you think it's just a coincidence? Well, I suppose we'll find out soon...
Sylvando: Why did they do it? Why did those awful monsters destroy Dundrasil? To think of all the innocent lives lost, and still no one knows why...
The first thing to do in Dundrasil, immediately, is to take a hard right and enter this side room. If you've crossed the bridge, you've gone too far.
There's a mini medal at the end of the path.
Enormous reptiles whose reputation as the king of beasts has been lived up to time and again. Their long history of unpleasant achievements makes them a firm favorite among students of monsterology.
The Green Dragon is a powerful monster found in DQ1, and unlike many of the DQ1 monsters that didn't stick, it appeared in DQs 2 and 3 before taking its leave of absence for DQ10 and the remake of 7. Other than the final boss of DQ1, this guy might be a candidate for the reason DQ is named after Dragons. In DQ1, one of these stood guard over the captured Princess Gwaelin- because it's DQ1, it was a normal green dragon, but the remakes saw fit to make that one have more HP.
They also drop Dragon Hide. As for what they do, they can act twice like a boss and pack an AoE physical attack and fire breath.
Treat these ones like bosses.
And probably don't bring Veronica.
There's also a dragon hide sparkly spot here, if you're in the market for dragon stuff.
There's a platforming sequence over in this house, too. Jump on the stuff on the left to jump on the box to jump on those rafters.
You get a Cannibox (and its Seed of Skill) and a Dragon Scale. The Dragon Scale is good for some Atk and Defence, and is usually a pretty good accessory all around when it appears. I'll probably use plenty of it.
Owie!
And I didn't have the chance to Zing him...
At least we got this other dragon drop.
Erik also found this spell while I was running around in here. Use Peep on a chest you are standing next to and the game will tell you what colour it glows- it won't actually visually glow that colour, sadly. Blue means it's an item, red means it's a cannibox, and I've been told there's yellow for gold. Erik has wasted his MP if you're casting this.
There's also this slime in the back. Friendly, hint-giving slimes always introduce themselves with a semi-iconic line "I'm not a bad slime!" It'd be cute if it didn't touch on some scary subject matter.
We'll need to pass through this well to get inside the castle proper.
It's not a dungeon of any sorts.
Welcome home, Erdward.
I'd like to take a moment to express my complete and utter bafflement with the design of this map. You see that bit at the end, where the path snakes around, and then there's a loading zone to cut out a second, significantly shorter snake? I think that's designed based around the events that are about to transpire, but it's ridiculous.
Hi, Rab. So what brings us here?
Rab's happy to see us!
Erik asks about Jade, naturally, since we did just do a whole dungeon to "save" her.
She's working on something else.
And now... it's time for us to finally get that little twig that's caused us so much trouble.
You smug little-
He saw the mark, Erik. That's how we won our match.
...You knew me... when I was a baby?
...I whink we should follow the strange old man.
Erik: How the heck did that old dude work out that you're the Luminary, Erdward!? I guess we can't avoid having to talk to him about it, though- not if we want the Rainbough. Let's just be careful, okay?
Veronica: This is bad! That old man's worked out who you are! I just don't understand, though... How could he possibly have known that the Rainbough is connected to the Luminary...?
Serena: Mr Rab said he thought you'd died a long time ago... Could this mean he knows you're the Prince of Dundrasil...?
Sylvando: Something about the way Rab was speaking makes me think he knows what we want to know. Come on, honey, let's go and pump him for information!
Follow him a bit, and he gets all nostalgic.
Erik, on the other hand, gets impatient.
Rab gives us a pretty big clue as to who he is, but fails to actually... say who he is.
All we know is, when Dundrasil was standing, Rab lived there.
Time to go a little further.
This is where Rab wanted to take us.
This is a bit of a grave matter indeed.
The grave of the King and Queen of Dundrasil.
The grave of our parents. The grave... of Rab's daughter.
It's time for us to say hi to our granddad.
No matter what evidence he had for that, he had good reason for it- it's a perfectly fine way of coping with outliving your kid.
And now Rab's been searching for something. Somewhere in the world is the reason his daughter is dead. And he wants to find it.
Everyone takes the time to mourn at this grave for a bit.
Rab, as a former royal of Dundrasil, knew Carnelian for longer than we've been alive. And knows that the man currently running around is not that man.
The Carnelian that has declared us his enemy is not the Carnelian Rab was friends with. And it seems that's hit him hard.
Rab's not just in this for his daughter- although she's certainly a good part of it. He wants to solve the mystery of Carnelian for Carnelian's sake too. The real Carnelian, not the impostor before us.
And he's happy to have brought Erdward here.
...All things considered with how he's introduced, this really shows off Rab's strengths as a character- he's really emotionally connected to Erward, and really leverages this connection to his advantage.
...Let's get going, then.
Erik: This ritual's meant to send the souls of the dead to a better place, right...? Well, I really hope it works. It sounds like your parents deserve to rest in peace. Now, I guess we should head up the hill to the altar that old dude was talking about. Oh, and we might need to give him a hand. It's pretty steep, after all...
Veronica: Your grandfather's royalty!? Gosh, I had no idea... I hope I wasn't rude to him! ...I'm sorry. I'm finding it a bit difficult to take all of this in. But I'm really glad your grandad's alive and well. That's the most important thing.
Serena: The grave of the King and Queen of Dundrasil was so humble... You'd never have known that they were royalty! Then again, I think Mr Rab may have built it with his own hands. I suppose he had no choice, after what happened here... I can't imagine how awful it must be to bury your own family...
Sylvando: I don't know if it's true, but the story goes that King Carnelian began searching for the Luminary the day Dundrasil fell. There must be some connection- there's a missing piece of the puzzle out there somewhere, I just know it...
Serena really feels a connection of some kind with Rab about the "burying your own family" thing.
There's also a few treasures and sparkly spots around here.
Especially this one- this is a pretty good armour set that's also cosmetic for Erdward. We can't make it yet, though.
Time to "follow" Rab over to the top of the mountain. Rab's about as slow as you'd expect, but there is absolutely no reason not to just run ahead to where he's going.
Well, there's cute things to admire on the way, if you're into that.
Welcome to the top of the mountain.
This is what Jade's been up to, if you were curious.
Sylvando suddenly realises who Jade might happen to be.
Jade escapes the situation by dragging everyone other than Erdward back so Erdward and Rab can get on with the grandfather-grandson bonding activity of sending their loved ones to the afterlife.
Erik and Sylvando are not so easily deterred.
No, don't worry, Erdward can do exactly what he needs to do despite having never so much as hearing of this ritual before.
Not sure what we're burning, but this seems like the good kind of smoke. Insomuch as such a kind exists.
Funeral rites are as fascinating because they tell you what a culture values. Monster attacks seem to have a special... well, for want of a better word, value to the people. And for a monster attack on that scale...
There's a lot of souls to send on their way.
The attack on Dundrasil killed a lot more people than just our parents.
A... a lot more.
You've had this in there... for 16 years?
Not that I can think of. She was in a bit of a rush to...
Oh yeah.
And... to be honest, it wasn't the greatest letter in the world for her to have left.
Eleanor sent us right to Carnelian... and all we got for our effort was arrested.
Rab takes solace in the fact that at least the letter was necessary to get us started on our quest.
Perfectly fine. Grandpa, Mum.
Our party's scattered themselves again, incidentally.
Nah, still a valid observation. Do you think the butterflies are solid enough to walk on?
...OK, that's probably too dark.
Yeah, I think even the game kinda knows they're not hiding her identity for much longer. They just need to, you know, get her some screentime.
...No. Serena, don't kill yourselves for us. That's not what we hired you for.
Here's hoping.
Time for us to check in on Jade, though.
Despite being introduced paired up with Rab, Jade is a vastly different character (...well, OK, the broad strokes are surprisingly similar) and the game wants to give both Rab and Jade time to individually establish themselves as characters without the other getting in the way. Rab had the funeral, and now Jade has the aftermath.
Much like ourselves and Rab, Jade has fond memories of Lady Eleanor.
Eleanor was, in some sense, Jade's adoptive mother. There's nothing formal, in the sense, and I imagine all parties involved wanted to keep it that way to allow for an Erdward/Jade marriage to not be creepy when they got older.
With that said, though, Jade was thinking of Erdward as a brother, at least at first. And honestly, as a character, she never really... gives an indication that she stops?
I think it was raining a little harder, actually, but yeah. I wonder if it's just because of the funeral or Jade always thinks of Eleanor when it rains.
...
...
...TIME AND A PLACE, BASTARDS!
...Wait, you were considering other kingdoms? OK, granted, if Gallopolis or Sniflheim got into this business, things have gotten serious.
...Actually, I don't know what our best option is. That one sounds like the best way to make a better plan, though.
Jade: We must get away from here, before reinforcements arrive! Come on, Erdward! Let's return to the altar and join Rab and the others!
At this point in the game, any gameplay section with a Jade Party Chat line is just us running along a stretch of land in this long trail. This is probably why those trails exist as physical locations, but it's still weird nonetheless.
The Heliodorians have gotten ahead of us. Er, somehow. Either they missed us, or they know a shortcut.
They seem to have missed both of us.
...Well, they found us, at least. Maybe the others can get away.
Although Jade doesn't seem particularly enthused about how vigourously the Heliodorians are throwing themselves in pursuit.
You blasted fools... well, I guess these ones are the ones we're not supposed to feel bad about.
Because Jade is about to curb-stomp their entire deployment. I'm not sure what a literal curb-stomp is, but I don't think this is too far off that, either.
Yeah, you run to daddy.
We'd... better not let ourselves get caught either.
Jade: I can't believe I allowed us to be spotted! How could I have been so careless!? Reinforcements will already be on the way, I'm certain of it... Come on, Erdward! We must hurry up and rejoin the others!
...Too late.
...True.
...OK, which of the Octagonians told Hendrik about us? It was probably the fangirls, wasn't it?
...I took five earlier. Yeah, I had Scorched Earth, but... Erik's got Scorched Earth charged!
All right, a boss fight!
...Well, OK, we don't actually get a boss fight with Hendrik. Which, you know, after an entire town full of boss fights against characters, is either strange or sensible, depending on how much you think is "too much" in the way of human boss fights.
You didn't think we were getting a battle next to a precarious cliff without one of these moments, did you?
Hendrik even gets to be framed by lightning.
Jade pulls out her secret weapon, the one she hasn't even told us yet- although if you're anything like Erik and Sylvando, it's not a surprise.
Jade is the Princess of Heliodor, and it turns out that sixteen years on, Hendrik kinda remembers her. Recognising her adult state, though?
Well, OK, he acknowledges the inherent absurdity of the premise, but he's got just enough doubt that he hesitates to continue.
Although that doesn't save Erdward, in the end- that ledge was precarious and just broke under his weight.
Jade charges past Hendrik and jumps after him.
Jade has a flashback to her last moments with Erdward before now, and things are a little weird here. You remember how I didn't show what happened to Jade? They do actually show a monster attacking her. Jade apparently doesn't remember that part of her separation with Erdward. Although asking how Jade escaped the monster is a fool's errand.
Jade has a bit of a survivor's complex about losing Erdward. Although this is certainly... a way of making her amends. Right to the point, I'm not entirely sure how she intends on saving us once we reach the bottom.
...On the other hand, I don't know what's at the bottom.
On the plus side, we evaded Hendrik again.
Whatever Jade had in mind, she pulled it off.
And in she comes with a bundle of firewood.
And a sneeze.
Sometimes you forget what real people have to do to survive being the main character in a video game.
I mean... how far are we going to drift away if we fall in the river this time? Especially with six people searching for us?
And we get the formal reveal on Jade being the princess.
This was a thing we saw in the opening, but Erdward was a baby and had no way of remembering that.
...I didn't really remember the guilt complex being... this severe. The fact that there's arguably a monster attack that she's forgetting is certainly hammering that point home.
So Rab found her right after this went down. I suspect it took him a little bit to leave Dundrasil to go searching for her, so Jade probably had a lot of time to sulk in the river, too. I imagine baskets drift faster than toddlers.
Whatever Rab was doing in Dundrasil, he missed Carnelian's change of heart as it happened.
But Rab is of the mind it's not a natural shift, and resolves to find out the bad actor in charge.
Jade, as the princess of Heliodor, knows Jasper and Hendrik well enough that them being her enemies is awkward for her- impressive, considering she was a toddler when she parted from them.
And now it's time we told everyone else what we got up to.
Jade: I left you once, Erdward, and I swear I will never do that again. I owe it to Lady Eleanor. Now, come. We must rejoin Rab and the others before Hendrik and his men find us. Let's head back to the ruins of Dundrasil.
There's a mini medal back here, too! Not that waiting on collecting this was too bad.
Hendrik also shows up on the way back. Although, for some reason, his ride in is accompanied by the game continuing to play the overworld theme rather than switching to a boss theme.
It does switch back in the end. Hendrik hasn't warmed up to us just because Jade's here.
Apparently Hendrik is so committed to dealing with the Darkspawn that he's like "long lost princess? I can kill her." Not saying Carnelian is going to resent him too much for that choice, but it is certainly a choice he has made.
Jade tries what worked the first time- exercising her authority.
Now that the situation is considerably lower intensity, Hendrik has decided Carnelian's word overrules Jade's.
And Jade will handle that if necessary.
They have a badass fight scene I have caught... a frame. I had choices, probably.
I agree, I'm not sure how much I enjoyed that line as praise. Then again, I'm sure that, when this mess is sorted out and Jade gets back to being a Princess of Heliodor, this whole "warrior maiden" thing is going to be hard to explain to the courtiers.
You've conviced us of that just fine. We're just trying to tell you this is folly.
Jade tries a different trick to get Hendrik to back off:
If he won't respect her authority, perhaps he'll respect years of loyalty to the cause of the Heliodorian royal family.
And the chivalry to never let a lady cry.
Turns out Jade is really good at foxing.
And she also knows how to ride Obsidian. Although I'm fairly sure this is going to end poorly for one of us once Obsidian realises what just happened.
"...Now how am I going to get home?"
Jade: We seem to have given them the slip- but we were very fortunate. If Hendrik hadn't faltered, we'd have been done for... Well, let's not dwell on that. We must return to Dundrasil and rejoin the others.
We don't get to keep Obsidian, or even ride him as a gameplay trait. We're just going right back to our party in Dundrasil, who have gone... entirely unmolested.
"I don't know if you noticed, but Hendrik really wants to kill us."
...I was joking. With that said, though, Hendrik is still our best bet if we want to get one of the Heliodorians to listen to us. Jasper and Carnelian are way more committed to killing us.
The fact that Hendrik is following after them means things have gotten serious.
...I wonder what kingdom he's talking about.
Because I don't remember what legend and what empire this is referencing. We're getting an introduction to our main villain here, and that's important, but I don't feel like this particular crime of his comes up much.
We also get a dramatic shot following his name. "Mordegon"... well, I'm scared, but I feel like that's mostly the "Mor", and I only know that's French for "death" because of Voldemort.
...
Does this sound crazy to anyone else? No? Just me? Well, at any rate, Dragon Quest has a very... curious relationship with the prominence of its major villains. Many of them do mention the bad guy somewhere to set up the final boss fight, but he very rarely shows up to do anything and you barely even get things that count as them contributing to the story as you watch- you just see how his "demonic influence" has corrupted the Towns.
"Objective: Kill Lord of Shadows" has now been updated to "Objective: Kill Mordegon". We haven't gotten any closer, but it's cool to know a name!
Well, I mean, if he did destroy that empire, the world has seen it.
Sounds as good a reason to go some place as any.
FINALLY! We started this quest way back after Hotto and we have at last claimed the shiny twig.
...So, do we twist it? Point it?
He's probably long gone with our money- wait, never mind, we didn't pay him. I guess we get what we pay for, eh?
Then again, if this happened after we got it in Gallopolis, it would've been much less disappointing.
I like that idea! And also the "go to Yggdrasil" thing. Perhaps there's something there anyway.
At long last, we have assembled our main team of seven! With a party of seven, you can set up a Pep Power and keep it in reserve as long as you want, too. Honestly, doing that is the best part of getting Rab at this point.
Erik: So the forces of evil have taken hold of Heliodor, huh? That explains a lot... Man, this Mordegon guy must be really something. I mean, controlling a huge kingdom from the shadows like that...
Veronica: I'm so happy that Rab and Jade have decided to join us! With them on our side, things should be a lot easier- and a lot more fun! They might even be able to help you learn some of those leadership skills you've been lacking, Erdward...
Serena: You know, I've been thinking about something that the elders of Arboria have always said. ‘The power to overcome the darkness lies within Yggdrasil...’ It's something like that, anyway. That's why you have to go there, Erdward. And that's why Veronica and I have been entrusted with the task of guiding you!
Sylvando: Rab seemed so sure the Rainbough would show us the way to Yggdrasil, but it doesn't seem to be working...
Jade: For years Rab and I have been trying to uncover the truth about the evil that dwells in Heliodor... But all we have succeeded in learning is a name: Mordegon... We feared we had reached a dead end, but things have changed. With you alongside us, we may yet rid Heliodor of the shadow that has fallen upon it.
Rab: Ach, it's a real shame about that Rainbough. I was absolutely convinced ye'd have some kind of vision or something, laddie. Anyway, there's no use crying over spilt milk. We need to get moving. Ye never know when those soldiers will be coming back for us...
And yeah, Party Chat is going to be a big boy now...
This is going to be my party for, uh... most of the exploration phases. Erdward hits hard, Jade hits extra hard, Erik steals things, and Veronica uses her magic spells for the enemies that are problems for Erdward and Jade. Sure, I could be a little more creative, but honestly, Sylv, Rab and Serena aren't really built for generic encounter combat.
As I leave Dundrasil to go to the statue to start building Rab and Jade's trees, the Rainbough decides it had its laugh and decides to be helpful.
It shows us a shot of a pedestal some place we've never been.
If we present six Orbs onto the pedestal...
A winding rainbow bridge leads us to Yggdrasil.
...This better be literal, by the way, your contribution to the plot has been too circuitous for metaphors now.
So everyone saw it, good, that saves us some time.
Veronica and Serena seem to agree on the "literal" thing, which is very encouraging.
Hey, we made three friends and saved some lives. It was never a waste of time.
So hey, remember how the plot would not let you get away with not stealing the Red Orb of Heliodor?
The Red Orb of Heliodor is a valuable McGuffin we now need in order to accomplish our objective! As a bit of a consolation for making you go so long without something tangible for your efforts, the game throws in a few extra freebies.
Collecting six Orbs is a reference to the plot of DQIII (and also DQ8, but that's a significantly lesser extent). The six colours are constant between games, although I'm not altogether certain the significance is. The Red Orb, though, was held by a gang of pirates in DQIII, so I'm inclined to say Erik's association with it was by design.
...The MMA tournament had a bunch of rare, exotic prizes, and no one thought to keep them for themselves?
The Yellow Orb of Dundrasil is our real reward for the Octagonia story- the Rainbough was for Gallopolis, we just had to go hunt it down first.
In DQIII, the Yellow Orb was traded across the world outside the player's control, but winds up in the hands of a Merchant party member if they are left to create a town at their own devices. In the course of their rule, they do a profoundly terrible job and are overthrown by a disgruntled populace, and you steal the Yellow Orb while they're down. In some remakes, you can bail them out, but in the original, they were gone for good.
Well, we have a destination. But we also have a decent reason not to go there.
We have to find four more Orbs before going to the First Forest helps us.
...I normally say "it's the best we've got", but... we have to do better than that, right? Ah well, let's just help people until something comes up.
And Erik seems to be of the same mind.
And this is when we're supposed to be paying Puerto Valor a visit. I think I handled it just fine.
Now that Rab's in the party, though, we'll be able to accomplish something.
...This wouldn't happen to be related to why you leave the party during Puerto Valor visits, would it, Sylvando? Serena seems to be the only one paying him much mind, though, and since it's Serena...
Look, we've got Dragon Quest to play.
Erik: ......Hey, don't worry about that red orb I gave you. If you need it, it's all yours. So now you've got two, right? My red orb and the yellow one Rab gave you. That means there's four left...
Veronica: I knew the Rainbough was special, but I wasn't expecting it to be able to do anything like that! Now we know exactly what we need to do to get to Yggdrasil! What we DON'T know is how to get hold of the four orbs we're missing. I mean, where are we supposed to start looking!?
Serena: (Repeats)
Sylvando: ......Hmm? Oh, darling, I'm sorry, I'm a bit lost in my thoughts at the moment...
Jade: That vision the Rainbough gave us was incredible... There's no doubt about it- you really are the Luminary. Rab and I have spent so many years wandering around, getting nowhere. If only we'd have found you sooner...
Rab: Well, ye saw the vision, laddie. We need to collect those six orbs and take them to the First Forest. Sounds simple enough, eh? Except we've no idea where to find them. We need to ask around and see if anyone can help us find those wee balls. Now, I'd say the first order of business is to go to Puerto Valor, open the gates, and head out onto the high seas. Let's head down there, quick sharp.
Jade, don't worry, we were in the shadow of Carnelian. I'm sure you were giving the Emerald Coast area a wide berth.
So anyway, let's have a look at Jade and Rab.
Claws:
- Attack +20 (2 panels)
- Critical Hit Chance +6% (1 panel)
- HP Absorption +10% (1 panel)
- Propeller Blade: Deals a little bit of Wind damage. The damage is Atk + Level, and there's not much that much damage is worth it on.
- Hawkeye Claw: Deals roughly double damage to a single enemy, ignoring any and all blindness or evasion. Perfect for Metal Slimes or anything using some kind of Sword Stance.
- Can Opener: Deals triple damage to mechanical enemies, double damage otherwise. Because of how Claws work, you should stick to normal attacks if it's not a machine.
- Hardclaw: Deals three hits to a single enemy. This is the claw's boss killer. The attacks are rated at 1.3x, 1.2x and 1.1x damage.
- Crone's Claw: Deals double damage and Jade gets 5% of the damage she dealt back as MP. This costs 6MP to cast and I honestly feel like you're going to struggle to break even on that one unless you have a real advantage.
Spears:
- Attack +15 (2 panels)
- Critical Hit +4% (1 panel)
- Cattle Prod: 1.5x damage to beasts. Honestly, barely worth it even when it works.
- Thunder Thrust: 50% chance of a crit, 50% chance of a miss, no matter what evasion is at play.
- Deliverance: 1.5x damage to the undead.
- Party Pooper: 0.8x damage to an enemy group. Most of this stuff came with Serena, although with Jade, some of it feels a lot more tempting. Our real prizes, though, are down below:
- Multithrust: Four 0.75x damage hits dealt to random enemies in a group. This is Jade's early bosskiller.
- Lightning Thrust: Thunder Thrust, but the crit hits 67% of the time.
Fisticuffs:
- Maximum HP +10 (1 panel)
- Strength +15 (2 panels)
- Agility +35 (2 panels)
- Pep Chance +5% (1 panel)
- Leg Sweep: Rolls a roughly 75% chance to make an enemy fall flat on its feet to pass a turn. Jade has better things to do than make enemies pass turns.
- Harvest Moon: Deals 2.5x damage to bird enemies with a high crit chance. Harvest Moon used to be a powerful attack on single targets that turned into a weak multi-target attack, and I almost have to wonder if this skill has a different JP name.
- Vacuum Smash: Deals 1.2x wind damage to a group of enemies. You may notice this is actually kind of superior to Party Pooper unless the enemy is super resistant to wind.
Allure:
- Resilience +10 (1 panel)
- Charm +35 (2 panels)
- Pep Chance +5% (1 panel)
- Pep-Up Power Up
- Hip Drop: Deals 1.3x damage. Yawn. It even costs MP.
- Puff Puff: Attempts to entrance an enemy. The odds are worse than with Leg Sweep, depending on resistances, and Jade needs to build up her Charm to get to that point.
- Blow Kiss: Deals 36-72 damage to a single enemy with a 50% chance of beguilement.
- Sexy Beam: Deals 60-345 damage to a single enemy with a 25% chance of beguilement. I'd sooner use Sexy Beam than Blow Kiss, but both are pretty terrible.
Jade is a successor to Alena of Zamovska- she hits hard. Real hard. Unlike Alena, she has actual skills to supplement her movepool, although that means her crit rate isn't jacked up (although Jade can do a pretty good impression of Alena with enough hits and the right build). You can't really go wrong with Jade.
And now for Rab.
Heavy Wands:
- Maximum MP with Wands +30 (2 panels)
- Magical Might with Wands +30 (2 panels, 1 hidden)
- Magical Mend with Wands +30 (2 panels, 1 hidden)
- MP Absorption +6% (2 panels)
- Minor MP Recovery after battle
- Beelzefreeze: 1.5x damage and attempted paralysis on demons.
- Antimagic: Attempted Fizzle on a single enemy.
- Staff of Salvation: Heals one ally for 60-140 HP. This one's probably the funniest steal from Veronica, since Rab can do that normally.
- Zing Stick: Revives a fallen ally at 25-50% HP, guaranteed. This skill is important for not wasting your patience with the normal Zing if you're trying to get some party members EXP.
- Ring of Ruin: Increases spell crit chance. Rab likes it on Zam, but not really worth it.
Claws:
- Attack +15 (2 panels)
- Critical Hit Chance +6% (3 panels)
- Dodge Chance +10% (3 panels)
- MP Absorption +2% (1 panel)
- Propeller Blade
- Can Opener
- Hardclaw
- Hawkeye Claw
- Air Raiser: Deals a larger amount of wind damage to a single enemy than Propeller Blade. Still not worth it.
Enlightenment:
- Maximum MP +40 (2 panels)
- Strength +5 (1 panel)
- Agility +20 (1 panel)
- Magical Might +15 (2 panels)
- Magical Mending +15 (2 panels)
- Benediction: Cures curses. Not only does this make the church redundant some more, but when you are cursed, it's going to do some nasty stuff to you, like killing you, making you pass turns, or reducing your maximum HP.
- Right as Rain: Applys a buff to all allies, healing them for 22-52 HP a turn for five turns. Not great, but good in a pinch. Especially one pinch in particular...
- M-Pathy: Gives some MP to a single ally. As in, literally gives Rab's own MP reserves. Good in a pinch, but Rab kinda wants those for himself.
- Caster Sugar: Buffs Rab's Magical Might and Mending by 25% for 4-6 turns.
Just from this chart, Rab is kind of a weird character to define in party role. He does Veronica and Serena's jobs, but under the hood, he does them significantly less well than either of them do on their own. He's good at MP, but that's for longer fights, and none of the ones early on are really testing those reserves. He's also got Claws, for... some reason, and he's surprisingly decent with them... but again, not really now. Rab is a good character... but not now.
I start things off by taking away a bunch of Skills and playing with Jade's recerts. All of Rab's trees are fully separated, though.
Jade springs for something like this. The +10 Resilience is good, and gives us a solid foothold in Allure when we need to go in there for other goodies, but focusing on her Spears is the way to go with Jade. Although Party Pooper isn't necessarily the way to go, doing so now is still fairly solid. Once you've got Multithrust, go pick up Fisticuffs Skills.
Rab's going down here, for Zing Stick and some Magical Mending buffs. I use Rab as a healbot at this stage in the game- it's good to have one if you can, and high MP reserves are good for the powerful healing spells he'll regularly be casting.
Jade has no Spells, and will never learn any. Much like Alena, but unlike the usual in DQXI party members. Even Erik knows some magic. This also means she and enemy Fizzle spells are quite hilarious.
Rab, on the other hand, comes with a whole lotta spells. Well, some of these we've seen, and some of these are intuitive, but let's see...
- Whack is instant death. I'm fairly sure Serena's got that too, but, you know. If you're willing to play the odds, this can turn up in your favour.
- Insulate and its later upgrade Insulatle provide protection against "breath" type attacks. These get just as common as magic spells later, and Rab's your main protection against them.
- Bounce applies a buff to a single target that any spells that get casted on them instead affect the caster. This was usually a pretty terrible buff in series history, since friendly healing spells also got bounced. That's been repealed for this game, but this skill is better at deterring enemy fire than actually bouncing it- enemies have gotten wise to it. Although, if you can force an enemy to attack someone...
Time to show off our new Jade-
Every time!
And if you attempt to leave to the south, you find yourself in Zwaardsrust- nothing left to do up here. Although you can pass by this boulder by climbing that ledge and jumping over- you can't cross back into Dundrasil without passing Octagonia, though.
Well, we can get back to the guy who wanted this mellow vera.
...That's your reasoning?
...Honestly, I'm not that fussed about his skincare routine. I will take that recipe book, though.
The Drasilian set requires Platinum Ore, and we don't have any because we're not really supposed to have any. We'll get some in due time. The Dapper set is doable, but surprisingly tricky at our levels.
Anyway, off to Puerto Valor, and... there's the cutscene where Sylvando decides he's not planning on visiting.
It's as surprising to us now as it was when it first happened. The game quietly pretends this is our first time in Puerto Valor.
I presume the reason this cutscene only happens on first visit is because Rab uses the cutscene to say some more relevant content.
Whatever capacity Rab and Rodrigo are acquainted, Rodrigo doesn't know the full story, and Rab's in no hurry to clear that up, especially considering the baggage Dundrasil has with the whole... waves vaguely in the direction of everything.
Erik: Sylv said he was going to meet some guy, right? And he still hasn't come back? It's weird. Normally he loves checking out new towns- and I bet he'd love this place. I can imagine him wanting to move here...
Veronica: I don't know much about this place, but I know it's surrounded by beautiful blue sea, and that's enough for me! I love it! Serena and I are from the mountains, you see. Before we set out, we'd only ever seen pictures of the sea in books. And I have to say, they really didn't do it justice. One of them said the sea was ‘the world's biggest well’! What a load of nonsense! I'd like to know who wrote that tosh...
Serena: What a wonderful place this is! Just feel that lovely salty sea breeze! You know, I'd like to live in a place like this some day. I could build a pretty little cottage, and breathe in the sea air every morning... Oh, it would be bliss!
Jade: Rab really is very popular. At first I didn't believe him when he said he had friends all over the world, but it's true. And they weren't all elderly gentlemen, either. Rab gets along with everyone- princesses and paupers, young and old. No, there can't be many royals like him...
Rab: Now I know this is the kind of place that makes ye want to sit in the sun and forget all yer troubles, but we've got things to do. Maybe next time, eh? We need to go and talk to Don Rodrigo. He's in charge of the sea gates, ye see. He lives in the biggest villa in town, if I remember rightly.
Another visit to Puerto Valor means a convenient excuse to stamp our Mini Medal Album!
The Rune Staff is a strong Heavy Wand that can cause paralysis on a regular attack. Both Veronica and Rab want to be using Heavy Wands (it's the only weapon type other than Swords and slightly Knives you might use more than one user of at the same time), and any new Heavy Wand is welcome.
Each page of the album de medailles gets a celebratory extra stamp, but there's no real reward for such. There is a reason for most of the pages, though.
That being only the first page of the album de medailles can be done remotely. It is possible to earn more mini medals (in fact, you may have noticed we've got 22 medals, not 20), but we can't redeem them for prizes yet.
We'll have to go to the proper site of L'Academie if we want more stamps. Playing "legitimately" (counting sequence breaks, but not counting abusing 2D Mode to grind Mini Medals freely), it is possible to acquire 32 Mini Medals before gaining access to L'Academie.
The game gives us an Accolade for finishing a page! Yay?
Rune Staff is going to Veronica. That paralysis can always be a good thing in the right circumstances, and well, she's been using that Wizard's Staff since Gallopolis.
So yeah, remember this guy? Now that we have Jade, he's (unfortunately) relevant: He has a Quest.
Welcome to the party, Jade.
This is probably something about teaching us about cosmetic costumes.
Eurgh...
Whatever, the costume takes the three parts. Dragon Quest 6 starts with costuming, with the introduction of a style contest. Each equipment piece has its own style, and if you combine certain pieces, you get a style bonus. Bunny Ears + Bunny Suit + Fishnet Stockings (and in DQ6/7, the Silver Platter) gives you the best bonus, and you usually get something out of the combination even if there isn't a style contest- although sometimes, like this game, it's just getting a party member in a bunny suit.
I went through the casino for this garbage.
If I could push characters around at all, this guy would be going straight into the water.
The worst part is, not only is the Garter a terrible accessory with no other purpose, we already have one!
You get an accolade for doing all the Quests. That's the only good reason to do this. Besides, you need the Bunny Girl to get all the costumes, and there's an accolade for that.
This is more Jade's speed. Next update will make it up to her, I promise.
This is because none of you idiots check the wanted poster.
Don Rodrigo lives in the big manor, and we're here to say hi to his servant, Servantes. Because DQ knows exactly what target it's aiming at.
Don Rodrigo is badass enough that this isn't disparaging to the Heliodorians, but still.
From the sounds of it, Rodrigo has a one track mind about fighting.
Although at least Rodrigo likes Rab in turn. I think Rodrigo, as he appears later, is surprisingly cool and wise, although perhaps he only expresses such in terms of how it applies to being a knight.
Yeesh, Rab, how boring do you really find him?
At least we can get the passage to the outer ocean opened.
We'll see when we can get a chance to pop in on him. It'll happen when it happens.
Jade: Once the sea gates have been opened, we can take to the high seas. Who knows what awaits us there... But first things first, we need to board our ship and return to Puerto Valor. Servantes should open the gates for us once we are ready.
Rab: Ach, it's a shame Don Rodrigo wasnae around. I'd been looking forward to having a wee chinwag with him. There aren't many who've got his depth of knowledge, let me tell ye! Still, it was nice to see Servantes looking hale and hearty. I'm sure the three of us will have a wee dram together once all this is over.
The passage we need to pass through is over here, next to the Costa Valor port.
And through we pass!
...Sylvando, we're supposed to be waving politely.
Why yes, it is the Great Sylvando. Try not to get too jealous.
Erik: Four more orbs to go! Let's get moving!
Veronica: We've always known our destiny was to protect the Luminary, but it always seemed a little vague what that actually meant... But now we have a clear goal- to lead you to Yggdrasil! I feel much better about everything now I know what we're supposed to be doing!
Serena: Back when we were growing up in Arboria, we had no idea that the world was such a big place. It's wonderful, though, isn't it? There's always something new and exciting to see! I wonder what kind of adventures we'll be having next? Gosh, I can't wait!
Sylvando: I know you've got a whole lot on your mind, honey, but just stay focused on the next step. That's the best approach right now, trust me.
Jade: If the Rainbough hadn't shown us that vision, we'd have no idea how to get to Yggdrasil. To think, when we first laid eyes on it back in Octagonia, we had no idea of the power the Rainbough possessed...
Rab: The gates in Puerto Valor are open, and the open sea's ours to explore! Let's see what we can discover, laddie!
And now we're ready to explore the open oceans of Erdrea! Next update will be... interesting, but we'll get to that later.
For now, though, let's talk about this arc. Which was... Dundrasil, and the mourning of our fallen parents. Rab as a character is... very hit and miss, depending on the circumstances he's in- he's often played for comedy. Opening his introduction as a party member with his more serious side helps make him feel more welcome in the party. Being the hero's grandfather is also a very welcome divergence from the norm for both "Hero's grandfather" and "party members"- and although they don't often acknowledge the bond, it does come up from time to time.
Jade, on the other hand, is far more traditional in her role. In addition to being the Warrior Princess in reference to Alena (although, resentment for her father aside, this is a rather shallow reference), her connection to the hero as a childhood friend and older sister figure is far less unique. Jade's fairly cool, although sometimes, she has some relevance issues in the plot. She's a really cool martial artist, though- while she's building off Alena, Alena never has attacks as cool as Jade's.
And thirdly, we have the Heliodorians and Hendrik. Jasper pulls every nasty trick out of his gauntlets to harass the Darkspawn, getting to the point where it's clear as day Jasper is more evil than the problem he is trying to solve. Hendrik, meanwhile, is not like that. He's zealous in his pursuit of the Darkspawn, sure, but he doesn't understand why and he can be made to waver in his stance. Hendrik is a man of honour, through and through, and while he still firmly believes in Carnelian and fighting the Darkspawn, he will never do the things Jasper does, which can push against him when the situation doesn't turn out as he expects. It's also still rather notable that we didn't get a boss fight with him.
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