Erik's side story is going to take on an entirely new flavour! Surprisingly, the "new acquaintance" isn't going to factor heavily there, although it will in part.
Erik has woken up... somewhere. He's as clued in as we are.
He reasons that if he made it, everyone else did too. He has experience with this, thanks to Erdward jumping off a cliff in the opening. Although in that case, everyone turned up in the same spot.
In this case, that is not what happened, and without a clear answer on what the difference is, Erik can't draw any conclusions. And he's certainly not going to be getting any more evidence in his current predicament.
Oh great. Even better.
...
WHERE DID YOU COME FROM!?
Alternatively, that.
Since this Slime is voiced, those slurping noises come voiced too.
This is a healslime, and healslimes have the instinct to heal.
And heal Erik he shall!
So then... why?
All we get on the subject is an introduction to Erik's titular new acquaintance, Healijah the healslime. Dragon Quest veterans may be thinking immediately of Healie the healslime from DQ4. Yes, this is a reference. No, there's more to it in this game than that one.
Healijah is going to help Erik out, like a good slime.
Good news, Erik is the only party member stuck up here. I'm imagining the alternate version of this story where Erik's hauling Serena around.
Healijah digs deep into DQ lore and casts the spell Click to get us out of jail. Click was a spell that existed only in DQs 2 and 3, being used to open any door that would otherwise need a key like the Magic Key. The idea is that, by the time you're high enough level to learn the spells, you already have the keys, and want to not waste inventory slots on them. With the addition of the Bag, there's just no reason to have the Click spell- you'll always have your keys on you.
Saying that, it really starts to raise a lot of questions about what Healijah's plan is.
We'll let those questions lie on the table until we're out of danger.
Good to know, Healijah grabbed our inventory- or well, what Erik had on him.
Can't not have this lying around.
Healijah: There aren't any other goomans round here, so if you want to find your friends we'll need to get out of here first. Oh, and don't worry- if you have to fight any monsters, I'll help out with some nice healing spells! (slurp)
We are in the Rock of Wrong, a dungeon invented out of wholecloth for the Definitive Edition. I don't even think it's recycling any vanilla locations at any point. There's a few references to a certain location later on in the game that this might be, but the way it's set up, I kinda doubt it.
Incidentally, this Side Story is a DQ4 reference in more ways than one: the ambient theme is the dungeon theme from IV, and all monster fights use the battle theme.
Getting out of jail and heading over this way, we can find a Steel Broadsword in a chest. The game has one weapon of every type, just in case your Erik isn't prepared to handle what he's about to be thrown at.
The other two weapons are in these chests.
Erik reckons there's four traps here. He's off- there's only two.
More accurately, when you're level 22, you get a spell that tells you this stuff.
You can use Peep, or you can get the Seeds of Skill from the Canniboxes like a normal person.
Soaring Steel as the boomerang.
And yeah, they're only canniboxes. Mimics would probably be too strong for Erik alone.
Healijah knows more than healing magic- he also knows Oomphle, for that extra edge. That's just what you want for most battles.
Of course, they can do that. That makes things interesting.
Thankfully, Healijah can actually do the "healing" thing healslimes are known for.
Last off, batterfly knife for Knife users. No matter what you use for Erik, you have something useful at hand to sneak through here. Ideally, though, you already had something good to begin with.
The centre chest contains the hideout key, of course.
There's even a cutscene of finding the key.
Healijah: Let's take a look around and find a place to ooze that key! I bet there's a door around here somewhere! (slurp)
I forgot about this bit when I was on my way, but there's an opportunity to listen in on the enemies behind this crack in the wall.
They just tell you which chest the key is in, in case you want to avoid fighting canniboxes for some reason.
There's a hunter mech standing guard beside the door, if you want to treat this seriously.
Healijah has Kasnooze, in case he decides not to take things seriously. Considering his personality, exactly in character.
If only that escape was anywhere near as clever as this one.
Erik gets all nostalgic for Erdward all of a sudden. Not that I can blame him when I do the same thing about Gemma, Amber and Sandy.
Healijah perks up in interest, but Erik tells him not to worry about it.
Healijah: We got through that door no problem- you're making it look easy! It's almost as if this isn't the first slime you've done this kind of thing! But we can't relax yet! If you're gooing to find your friends, we'll need to find a way out of here! (slurp)
More monsters litter the Rock of Wrong, but most can be avoided. Despite being a dungeon-crawler, this isn't that kind of Side Story.
...Well, OK, this probably is the most combat-heavy Side Story.
Although plenty of the interesting encounters will be done in skits.
All right, then, let's do something about this.
This one rates a proper cutscene. Well, not a full cutscene, but you get what I mean.
Indignus is another of the Spectral Sentinels, and in the vanilla game, he is by far the least significant one. Giving him greater importance is a noble goal, and seems to be the primary reason he's here in Erik's Side Story.
Indignus is mentioned to have, off-screen, attacked and destroyed the home of the Watchers. The Watchers are one of those RPG tropes I disproportionately hate- that one group in the backstory that does most of the Stuff while not being on-screen enough to get any development. The Watchers aren't as bad as some other examples, but, well... narrative purposes aside, they certainly won't be doing much of anything now.
Erik doesn't know what the Watchers are- he's smart enough to guess this conversation is important, but knows he's got no idea what he's supposed to be learning.
Erik reasons there's no use trying to figure it out, and resolves to consider it later.
Healijah has a plan for the immediate problem- getting past these two monsters.
Jump out in front of them and start screaming.
The monsters are completely confused.
And Erik jumps out from somewhere to slash them dead.
That's something to be proud of.
...You mean you didn't introduce yourself yet?
Erik is getting very slightly suspicious of his new companion.
Healijah is not clicking on.
Healijah: Goohoo! Our little plan went perfectly! Those gooreat big brutes didn't stand a chance! Now let's get gooing! Whatever happens, I know we'll come out on top- we make a gooreat team!
Oh, well, come on. Guess we can go the other way.
...That is rather a lot of guys.
That is also rather a lot of dragons, incidentally.
I feel like, from this height, going down is suicide no matter what quantity of monsters is at the bottom.
...Now that's something that gets the player thinking about Healijah in the same light as Erik is. Especially new players- at this point in the story, there has been no (explicit) evidence that Erik has a little sister. There's a little bit of implicit stuff, but if you still remember that, you're way more keen than most players.
Erik says this in a very guilty, dejected way. The explanation for what happened to his sister (and her relevance to Healijah's point) comes in Act 2, and this is a nice extra bit of foreshadowing for what the idea about her is.
...Healijah apparently has already been informed about what happened to Erik's sister. So, uh... time travel or disguise magic?
Healijah is the master of redirecting the conversation.
Erik'll figure that one out eventually.
Healijah: There's a lot of horrible monsters down there, but we can't goo giving up! There must be another way out of here!
Over here, there's some floating platforms that fly around to other parts of the map. These are features of the Watcher's inhabitance, although I highly doubt that this is the Watcher's old place of residence. For one thing, I don't think the monsters would be talking about the destruction happening so recently f they already took over.
There's also a statue down here. No reason in particular.
There's a vine to slide down, and a preview of what's up there.
...Although we come up here before anything exciting intervenes. That's a rockbomb shard over there. Or superior medicine. For some reason, all the sparklies in here are practical items.
There's Liquid Metals here! Just in case Erik could use the help. When he comes back in Act 2, he's going to have access to a lot of EXP, and when combined with Erik's low EXP demands... this is the path to overlevelling.
With that said, I have a funny story about Liquid Metal Slimes and Healijah's Kasnooze- Metals, as mentioned, have traditionally been immune to all status ailments. However, to make Dirge of Dundrasil work, Metals now have a very small chance of being hit with the sleep status.
Healijah hit that on my very first run. I was very confused.
There's an irresitable urge to kill metals no matter what.
This one's a long tunnel. Just that, though- I always feel like I should be put into a cutscene before I get off this, but that doesn't happen.
There is a cutscene on this one, though.
We need to give this thing some gas if we want it to move.
Just... give it some time.
No idea what this spell is. Presumably, it's not a spell.
...Always when we can't be hurried.
Now we've got some real fights to worry about.
There are three of them, with a professaurus, a diethon, a bobonga, The former two have company.
They're not the most difficult of opponents.
Magic Water, this is probably a great time for a bottle of that.
Or, well... it would be if we didn't get a few heals. MP isn't an issue here, but it's always good to have a fallback plan.
No, no matter how long you take, you have to kill all three batches to get out of here.
Erik really needs to work on his lockpicking skills.
Please hasten.
Panaceas can cure some HP and heal paralysis. They'd be good if you knew who the people getting paralysed are going to be. Tingle is mostly better because the choice is taken from you.
...You've got reinforcements? Good to know.
Named for their decidedly curious call, these creatures are incredibly powerful. If you see one, bobongo ahead and run!
Bobongas are actually new enemies for us to worry about- they replace jargons in Dundrasil and have the same deal about breathing fire and drinking some healing essence. They appeared in DQ8 before this, and I'm told they actually have HP on par with a troll- although of course, power creep has done a number on what that means.
He's tough... but there's one of him.
Oh yeah, deep breaths. That's worrying too.
Although Healijah is busy trying to power the transporter, he's not above throwing a few Moreheals Erik's way.
Less helpful. Also, that's not what bobonga's drop. I think these drops are actually fixed.
Healijah can get us gooing!
Bye bye, reinforcements!
At least we're both working together on this one. And not just having one guy do the work.
There's some ruins here that kinda look like they belong to the Watcher's home, but "circular ruins" is by no means evidence here.
Healijah: Goo job, Erik! Things would have got sticky if you hadn't held those monsters at bay! What can I say- we make a gooreat team! But this is no slime to be dithering! Let's goo!
Deftness!
...Erik's Deftness isn't of much use in here. Sure, he needs it for stealing, but you really want him stealing?
He also picks up an agility ring, that's not particularly useful for other reasons.
Erik techs out of Boomerangs and goes in to learn Dragon Slash. Boomerangs aren't going to be much use to us for a long time, so it's time to go all in on the other three.
...Huh, we've gotten to this part. All the monsters have wandered off... should I be pleased with that?
...That's... where the monsters are? I... I'm terrified.
There's still monsters here, though!
This cuts Dark damage and Poison procs. Might come in handy. It's good for Erik, Jade and Rab.
We've come... outside? Helpful!
Not that it's helping us.
...Erdward, is the "falling for free" thing still in effect? Long shot question, but...
How do the monsters get down?
And how are we going to find that one out...
No, Healijah, we want to be going down, not up.
...Well, that's not going to end well for us.
So we've been spotted...
Now that's the sort of figure likely to inspire abject terror in the hearts of any Dragon Quest fan. This monster design first appeared in Dragon Quest VI, where it was used, among other purposes, for the superboss of the game, the Dark Dream Nokturnus. Nokturnus has since garnered the reputation of being the most powerful monster in all of Dragon Quest, including being the superboss of DQs 9 and 10.
This guy is not that powerful, although at this point in the game and with only one party member, he might as well be.
This guy is Indignus, Spectral Sentinel and all business.
So that's why we got captured. Not sure why no one else did, though. Surely Serena would be an easy target and no less delicious?
Not gonna lie... actually kinda impressed by that threat now.
At least they're aiming at all seven.
And once again, somehow Erik is the one that gets caught. They keep telling me he's a good thief.
Monstrous soldiers who ride astride dragons, and get along so well with their steeds that they're as good as inseparable.
Dragon riders can attack twice, and sometimes twice in one attack, and have a fire breath for spread. They appeared prior in DQs 4 and 10.
Monsters born when a certain spell is cast on the bones of a long-dead dragon. Completely loyal to the sorcerers that bring them to life, they will follow any order unflinchingly.
Skelegons come from DQs 3 and 10, and the only special attack they have is ice breath. Scary, but perhaps not in this fight, with one target.
Chihuawyrms driven to dangerous extremes by the dark power of the Lord of Shadows.
The vicious chihuawyrm in the middle is the scariest monster in the bunch, yeah, but his description is anything but. He's got two attacks and a ferocious war cry.
All three of these monsters are dragons. Just thought you should know.
Dragon Slash is more than enough.
Although there's only so many Dragon Slashes to go around.
Do we... have a plan?
...Apparently someone does. Even if it is the disembodied voice in our head.
Yes, it does sound exactly like Healijah. Which raises further questions.
You could not be any more opaque if you tried.
That's more of a clue. Remember this guy? He came up a handful of times and only Erik knew him. Looks like he's pulling in another favour.
Healijah has just the trick to get Erik out of this predicament without making an impact on the rest of the vanilla story.
And it's apparently some deep, arbitrary magic that requires the user to pay a price. This would be more plot device than element of world-building as it was, but there's also the fact that technically, Erik's not the one casting this spell, why should he be paying the price? OK, yeah, he's the one benefitting, but...
So what is it that Erik treasures most?
Of course a trickster by trade doesn't place any value on his possessions.
Erik's most treasured possession is his memories of the party. His memories of the people that made him feel like he was good for something.
The knowledge that he has a destiny.
Erik would give that up if it means he has the chance to reunite with his friends. After all, memories are replacable.
...Then again, so's his life, this is Dragon Quest.
Healijah gives Erik the power immediately, but as it turns out, he doesn't lose his memories until later. So it's not like the memories were used to power the spell.
It does take some time for the spell to kick in, and Indignus read that as "time to kill him!"
His mistake.
Erik has evolved right past his Wild Side.
Not sure what I'd call it. Werewolf means something else entirely.
And there go your reinforcements.
The Spectral Sentinel who laid Havens Above to waste. The armour that envelops his fulsome frame is imbued with all the wickedness of a wildly destructive dragon.
Dragon family
1500 HP
Indignus (Dragon Armour) is a boss fight that, despite the setup, is actually a boss fight it is possible to lose. Indignus will unleash two attacks per turn with all the power of his later boss fight (although probably scaled to Erik's expected level), and it may be the case your Erik can't handle that. If you survive long enough, you'll time out this fight and progress the story.
I can take him.
Divide is a good tool to help you out with that one.
Erik's chief weapon against Indignus's assault is being automatically healed for a solid chunk of his HP and MP every turn. With Defend commands and maybe some medicines, you should be able to take the heat long enough as long as Erik can actually, you know... take the hits.
Dragon Slash does plenty of damage. There's a reason I went for it.
And a single Dragon Slash seemed sufficient to finish the job.
Erik's powerup is sufficient to take out Indignus's dragon armour. What this did for him is unexplained, although I'm sure Erdward will thank him for the boost when it's time to face him in the main story.
Honestly, the only attack in Dragon Indignus's set that's missing from his vanilla campaign version's seems to be his ominous chuckle (which skips his turn).
Unfortunately, Erik's powerup didn't last long enough to finish off the Sentinel. Indignus has plot armour too.
Erik's prepared to finish the job with his raw strength.
Yeah, that wasn't realistic.
Fortunately, Erik is knocked off the Rock of Wrong.
Falling to his doom is much safer than staying in Indignus's clutches.
We'll see you again later, I'm sure.
Healijah has the "protect from falls" power he needs.
And changes his shape into a woman. Erik would not recognise this woman any more than he might recognise some of the other shapes we have seen her assume throughout this Side Story. Mainly, she's supposed to be recognisable to someone who's seen Act 2- we meet this character there assuming this form.
This is the Seer. Who she is and what she does goes unexplained for far longer, but she's Very Definitely On Our Side.
She's kinda this godly presence in the setting, or at least comes off that way, but it's easy to forget that she is actually less than the sum of her parts. Clearly, something that powerful had to come from reserves she didn't even know she had, but, well...
Stealing Erik's memories is mostly because Erik comes into Act 2 with amnesia, and the writers really needed to figure out how to do that. At least it's more creative than a blow to the head.
You don't get a good shot of the face in this shot, but yes, you don't recognise this character. From context clues, you may have gathered she's Erik's little sister. You'd be right on that one.
The Seer leaves Erik off having confused DQXI for Advance Wars: Days of Ruin, and channels Captain Brenner's particular philosophy about living in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
...I wonder what happens if Erik were to get his memories back.
Maybe if people paid more mind to trees falling down-
...
That's not an answer to the question. Well, OK, it is, but I don't want to tell you what that looks like.
Erik at least knows he's on a journey- and perhaps his own name- but it's going to be some luck bumping into him again.
This place being the Costa Valor doesn't help much on that front.
Erik's New Acquaintance is a Side Story that has a mechanical role first and a narrative role second. The developers wanted to make Erik play a dungeon for his Side Story, and his traversal through one involves little to no interaction with the circumstances of his joining the party- which, to be fair, all they really need to build up with him is that he has lost his memory, and an incident at the end is a good way to do just that.
And then we get to the actual amnesic trigger, and... they introduced how much to try and justify it? Not only do we have to adopt a new sort of magic the Seer can perform into our view of the character (and let me just say, the Seer didn't exactly have the room for it), but it has exactly the correct way to interpret it's price that it can take Erik's memories- and even then, Erik does eventually wind up with all his memories back after a story event in the main game. Sure, there's probably magic involved in that one, but if the memories were literally shattered before our eyes in order to fuel a magic spell, you're stretching an already stretched suspension of disbelief to repair them later for free. Ignoring that much entirely, though, the fact Erik is more than willing to make that sacrifice speaks to a strength of character deep within.
At the very least, the gameplay is a pretty good mix of some combat an exploration, giving Erik's character a chance to shine, encouraging different tricks in Erik's toolbelt, and culminating in some powerhousing- at least, if you had Dragon Slash at the ready. Admittedly a tall order if you didn't know it was going to come in handy, but man if it isn't satisfying if you do. Healijah is also welcome company, filling in Healie's role of covering for Erik's weaknesses. Now, if only Healijah was available for the actual combat of the chapter...
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