And now, we ride on the back of the whale Cetacea, soaring high in the skies above Erdrea! "Flying in the sky" is a Dragon Quest tradition, starting in DQ3, and somehow, each DQ game has somehow found at least a semi-unique means of traversal. Thus far in the series, we have seen:
- The Godbird Ramia
- An ordinary hot-air balloon
- The Zenithian Dragon
- Peggy Sue and the wagon
- The Almighty Skystone
- The Godbird's Soulstone
- The Starflight Express
Similarly to DQ11's take on sea travel, air travel has been drastically cut down in scope. While traditional DQ air travel allows you to land anywhere in the world without a roof- and without worrying about encounters at all, to boot- Cetacea can disembark only at special points, called Whale Way Stations. Luminary's Landing is the only point we can access on foot. At least Cetacea also has the no encounter thing.
(It's worth mentioning that, in 2D Mode, Cetacea plays by the normal rules of flight.)
Hendrik: The Princess has been scared of heights ever since she was a girl, and yet she seems completely unafraid when we ride Cetacea. It seems that no matter what unexpected manoeuvres the creature makes, one feels neither the wind nor the risk of falling. Very curious...
Rab: Now we've got Cetacea on our side, we can get all the way to Mordegon's gates. Once we've found a way through that magic barrier, it'll be time to face the blighter down once and for all. It's been a long road, but our journey's nearly at an end. Let's finish this- not just for us, but for Veronica.
Sylvando: As soon as we've done something about that black barrier, we'll be all set for the final showdown with the Lord of Shadows. Our adventure's about to enter its final act! Let's make sure we're all set for the big finale, darling- we don't want to fluff our lines before the curtain falls!
Jade: I can't believe we can go flying on the back of a whale whenever we want. I feel like I'm dreaming. Veronica once told me that she had a soft spot for big, friendly animals. She would have loved to have met Cetacea...
Erik: Serena really went all out with her new haircut, huh? I bet she'd been growing that hair for years. It must have been a real big decision to chop it all off. Anyway... I think her new look really suits her.
Serena: Oh, isn't it wonderful, Erdward? Flying through the sky on Cetacea's back and seeing all the places we've been from way up high! Now, I wonder where this floating island Father Benedictus told us about might be? Time to stop looking down, and start looking around!
There's a lot of Whale Way Stations to see, but I'm going to be blunt, they're basically Cetacea-locked Insulae.
Here at the Manglegrove Whale Way, however, one can find a valuable treasure indeed: This is the baby form of the ultimate Boomerang. The Meteorang does Lightning-element damage as it strikes each foe, giving it surprisingly high utility in certain situations, as well as having the high might it needs to be a go-to boomerang. Its weakness, right now, is that Erik doesn't want to be using Boomerangs right now.
(It also has a second weakness, but that's a very lategame concern.)
You can find Hardy Hands around here, too.
With their six arms each able to swing a sword, these terrors attack from all angles at once, making them fearsome foes to defend against.
Armfuls get two attacks, but apart from their burning breath and the killing machines's robo-chop, they only have the normal kind of attacks. Also Pep and crits, too, I guess. They were only in DQ3 before this.
It's good to have Boom back.
Now then, there are two different occasions to play the Calamus Flute: Stepping on a Whale Way Station, and using it from the bag. In 3D mode, at least, if you play the Calamus Flute from the bag, you will appear by Luminary's Landing. Using the Whale Way station lets you spawn where you are- although considering Luminary's Landing is the only one attached to the rest of the world, not that significant.
Erdwin's Lantern is low enough in the sky we can brush up against it, but I don't think it does anything to us if we try.
There are two Hotto Whale Way stations, "South" and "North". The Northern one has the volcanic biome of Mount Huji, while the Southern one has the rocky canyon biome of the Steppe.
Great, golden statues magically filled with life force. Once they have identified an enemy, they will not rest until it has been utterly annihilated.
They're statues? I always thought they were organic? Balhibs come from DQs 5 and 10, and they have various powerful axe cleaves and the Kaswoosh spell to worry about. They're also Demons, not Material.
Any spell Serena knows can be casted twice for free. And she knows all of Veronica's spells. That's virtually every spell in the game, right there.
Erdward has fallen on Sage's Stone duty, considering this lineup.
There's three bundles of this over in the back, but this station doesn't have much to sell itself on otherwise.
As for Northern Hotto...
These wise teachers of the dragon world are always in high demand, with their lectures often being booked up months ahead of time.
Evangelizards are new to DQ11, and they love their fire. They can use a scorching breath, Kafrizz, and double Frizzle. My sources also list an attack called "Takeshi's Wing" and provide no further details. Thanks.
By the way, if you're wondering what "Cast Frizzle twice" means, it's this. I'm not sure how much damage it does, but it does a lot of damage.
...Maybe this is Takeshi's Wing? I forget if this blocks Abilities or Spells.
They should have 42 MP. I can see how they run out so quickly.
Serena has Multiheal now, so these situations can always be escaped.
And if all else fails, she has Kazing now. Kazing got nerfed from DQ history- it won't revive at full HP, but around 50-80% HP, depending on MaMend. As much as I say "if you're dying at all, Zing wouldn't help you much anyway", Kazing is always nice to have around.
These give recipes for the Red Dragon Rod and Wyrmwand, which are good for fire damage (as a weapon property for the Rod, as a use item for the Wand) and draining MP from dragons more easily. Neither of which are particularly desirable qualities.
Tch. Fire Wood is something we're going to have to start sourcing later, but even if we wanted these, we couldn't get them.
Over at the Champs Sauvage, we don't have a ton to look out for...
But Hendrik did wind up picking up this. For... all it's worth. Double Up is above it, though, and that's always a nice option.
The three Earrings in here are Cinderblock (Fire/Earth), All-Weather (Ice/Wind) and Blackout (Lighning/Light), giving 10-25% resistance to both elements.
Here's some Earth magic to make me sound foolish for potentially badmouthing Earth resistance. I still say the Earrings are good enough at best, rarely will you be needing both of the elements.
Dancers from the depths of hell whose movements may look amusing, but can in fact call down deadly curses.
Caped caperers come from DQs 8 and 10, and they can perform the Weird, Damnation and Hustle dances. The Dance of Damnation attempts to land curses on the party, it isn't a deadly one. Caped caperers drop Extra Murals in the common slot, although only two recipes demand them.
Erik has finally acquired Fatal Flash!
Onto Gallopolis. This Whale Way is simultaneously important and not so.
There are no treasure chests here, although this sparkly spot gives an incredibly rare and valuable alchemy ingredient. It's always worth coming back here to gather more of these. The only enemy around here is also the penny pincher.
Gondolia?
...Absolutely nothing. Well, a few sparkly spots and this weird root, but no enemies or treasure chests to speak of.
Zwaardsrust is a little better stocked.
There's a Tockle here, as a matter of fact.
The Quester's Rest is an Inn in the town of Stornway that, early on in DQ9's story, you encourage the friendly Erinn to run in her father's place (it wasn't her father's Inn, but her father was a legendary Innkeeper and Erinn has inherited his talent). Once she's settled in, Quester's Rest becomes a de-facto hub of the game, hosting the important Patty's Party Planning, Selma's DQVC shop, Pavo's connection to other player worlds, and the Alchemy Pot. As well as having a damn cheap Inn in a game with free Zoom and a convenient Rainbow's End. You can also upgrade the Inn, but that's only for people with Wi-Fi connections.
Incidentally, it is in fact possible to complete the Quest at Quester's Rest now- which means it's possible to finish solving problems in the Altar of the Starry Skies completely. Well, not 100%- there's actually a "fourth" Quest of sorts- but it will count as far the game is concerned about Altar completion.
These baby dark sabrecats are vicious hunters who move as swiftly and silently as shadows, and put even the adults of some other species to shame.
Dark sabrecubs first appeared in the main series with 11, although they apparently debuted in a game called "Monster Parade". All they have are sharp claws.
One of the lesser upsides to MaMight Serena is that Kaswoosh is now even better too.
A Tockle and some enemies makes this a better stop than Gondolia, but it's still just as barren in the end.
Sniflheim, on the other hand, is one of the cooler stops, no pun intended.
This gets us the Emperor's Robe and Empress's Robe. Which, yes, are 20% elemental resistance each. Stock up on Silkblossoms, Colourful Cocoons and Ethereal Stones here, as well as Royal Rubies (for the girls) and Savvy Sapphires (for the boys).
Up in the north here is a Whale Way Station that doesn't announce itself ahead of time like the rest of them.
Name: "The Lost Land".
Contents: A single tall tower.
Interesting notes: It is absolutely crawling with Tockles.
Importance: Like a kajillion.
It also has a recipe book for now, as well as some sparkly spots.
Sacrosanct staves are only famous for some extra damage to demons, while Venus' tears represent the ability to make our own of a valuable elemental resist accessory- although it's still the worst one.
Somewhat annoyingly, the Sacrosanct Staff is a net improvement over Serena's current Heavy Wand.
I'll only be able to get two of these... so it shall be.
I'm getting good at this +3 thing. I think the second one is an Emperor's Robe, although I'm less certain who's going to get to keep it.
I should've just waited for this rather than buy Serena something sooner.
Before I head on forth to complete the next story objective, Arboria now has a quest for us to complete.
This bard has found a letter written by someone a long time ago.
So much for her privacy. We don't know who she is, although you'd think we'd at least know who she's writing to from the first page.
Annoyingly, I missed the Quest update page.
How on earth does one find one page of a letter in a book and not the other one?
Now then, I went and did this now because I had planned to complete the quest now- the book has been moved from Gallopolis to someplace else in the world, and we have access to its new home. With that said, I ultimately decided to actually go to Gallopolis and get the clue, so we'll have this in our log for little bit.
Our destination is this floating island above Octagonia's vicinity. Or, well, close to Dundrasil, too.
It's a floating island. It looks... like a floating island. Not sure what you're expecting.
Well, anyone living in a floating island has to at least be interesting. Now, helpful is an entirely different question, but the answer isn't likely to be "...I'm a random NPC, what are you asking me to do?"
Even if it would be helpful if we had more to go on than that.
Hendrik: That structure at the top of the island appears to be some sort of temple... but its architecture is unlike anything I have seen before. Perhaps those who built it come from a culture entirely dissimilar to our own... Perhaps they still live there even today...
Rab: Have ye seen these funny round nooks dotted around the edge of the island, laddie? It looks like something's supposed to slot into them... but I've no idea what.
Sylvando: I'll be honest with you, honey. When Father Benedictus told us about islands floating in the sky, I thought maybe he'd had a bump on the head... But it turns out that the legends of Arboria are all true! All of them, from flying whales to islands in the sky. I'll never doubt a word he says again!
Jade: If Father Benedictus's prediction was right, there should be something on this island that will help us defeat the Lord of Shadows. What was it he said—‘A power to banish the darkness’? I wonder what it could be... Another sword, perhaps?
Erik: Man, I can't believe this whole island is floating in the sky. Seriously, there's a building on it and everything! What the heck's keeping it afloat? I guess I don't know as much about this world as I thought I did...
Serena: Father Benedictus said that we should seek out the floating island, for there we would find a power to banish the darkness. Well, this certainly seems like the right place- and if this power is anywhere, it's probably inside that building. Let's go and have a look, Erdward!
These are the "funny nooks" to which Rab was referring. We saw something similar to this in Erik's Side Story, although they do nothing for us now.
The only thing on this island other than a sparkly spot for colourful cocoons is this Tockle.
The Pillar of Pegasus is a dungeon that can be accessed through Zenithia in DQ6, and it's one of the last things to do on the world map- although it's not quite "at endgame". At the top of the tower, one can find a statue of Peggy Sue's true self- the horse that had been accompanying the player throughout the story being a dream self with lesser abilities (including no ability to fly).
Acquiring the Pillar of Pegasus Pastword also represents the ability to finish the Altar of the Forgotten Past. Yes, I did not misspeak, I meant exactly what I said.
Oh yeah, and the temple, too, of course. But I think "we're going to enter the temple" came implied.
You have better eyes than I do. Although now that you mention it...
Ah. Yes. Say hello to the mysterious residents of Erdrea's backstory. I'll be frank, I don't particularly enjoy the tradition of a mysterious-for-the-sake-of-being-mysterious precursor race that for some reason is responsible for 95% of anything interesting in the backstory. These guys get a bit of a pass for not meeting that last criterion, but they have a novel way of not being my favourite.
The Watchers speak in All-Caps text delivered in a high-pitched voice, speaking in short sentences that would make even a normal reader start reaching for the "Sentence Fragment" grammar rule. I'm positive that flies in the face of basically all common understanding of delivering legible content.
It certainly doesn't help my predisposition for distaste for precursor races if I can barely even comprehend the lore I'm supposed to be forming opinions of.
So what are the Watchers, then?
...Watchers. Lowercase.
(You know, anytime you wanted to lend a hand, feel free.)
For some reason, I don't think Erik is impressed. I think he's suitably sarcastic in voice.
We actually heard about this! Erik's Side Story mentioned the Watchers in passing- when Healijah was thinking about the decoy plan, the professaurus and dragurn we were using it on were talking about how Indignus destroyed the home of the Watchers. Erik, because he had never seen Watchers before, dismissed the conversation, but now it seems we'll be talking a little bit more about what Watchers are and why this matters.
This Watcher is the last one left, so... either you're being incredibly offensive or just about on point. Really comes down to the kind of person that's left.
This temple is protected by something called the Guiding Light. And the sole survivor of the attack survived because they were within that sphere of protection. I imagine the monsters may have considered this, but were satisfied with the damage they did.
So, what does that mean the Guiding Light is?
The Watchers are inordinately fond of "PERHAPS..." in their rambles. Sometimes I get why. Other times I don't.
This particular Watcher isn't exactly knowledgeable about what they have, but he gets the gist.
It was going to end like this anyway.
That's good. I wasn't looking forward to keeping you in the party until we found a safe spot to dump you. Arboria, Last Bastion, Puerto Valor, Nautica, everywhere's looking better than before, but still not exactly safe.
Oh... well, considering the whole "no more reincarnations" thing from the spiritual cul-de-sac, I think he's got a point.
Erik, don't ask stupid questions, he probably knows more about the Luminary than I do.
(Yes, that is legitimately where the conversation stops.)
Hendrik: Never could I have imagined a people whose home was high in the sky, among the clouds... And to think, they have been here since the beginning. They have done well to keep their existence hidden.
Rab: Our Watcher friend had heard of you, laddie. It seems he knew all about the Luminary. But then, if they've been watching over the world since the time of Erdwin, I suppose that's no surprise. I only wish there were a few more of the wee fellows here, so we could ask them about defeating the Lord of Shadows. It looks as though we'll have to make do with what our new pal told us for now, though...
Sylvando: That poor little thing is the last of his people, and he's only a child. It must be so tough for him. Still, we have to do what we can to cheer him up- and I'm not going to rest till we defeat the Lord of Shadows and every man, woman and Watcher has a smile back on their face!
Jade: I feel a great power coming from within this temple. Perhaps this is the Guiding Light of which the Watcher spoke... We should take a closer look at it, Erdward. Perhaps it will show us the way ahead.
Erik: So there used to be more of these floating islands till the Lord of Shadows came along...? I guess he saw them as a threat. He must have wanted to destroy this Guiding Light thing, along with any hope of ending the darkness.
Serena: That Watcher only survived because he was protected by the power of the Guiding Light... It sounds like this power could be what we need to stand up to the Lord of Shadows, Erdward!
...OK, so the Guiding Light is a sun. I can see how this would be unhelpful.
Fortunately, it knows to behave for the Luminary.
And thus the Guiding Light inserts itself into a portable candleholder.
The light of Yggdrasil, right here.
Yay!
...I still don't know what it does.
Some trees around the room start glowing. Well, I call them trees, but I don't think these are actually trees.
We have the Guiding Light, for whatever purpose that will serve us, but there's something else around here that'll be of use: Some Yggdrasil "trees".
Hendrik: The Watcher told us that the Guiding Light has been burning since the beginning of time. Such a claim sounded preposterous at first, and yet it clearly posesses an extraordinary power...
Rab: There's no doubt about it, laddie. Ye could tell from the way the mark on yer hand glowed that the Guiding Light has some kind of deep connection to the Luminary. Aye, there's more to this power of yers than any of us can imagine.
Sylvando: Honey, do you think those cute little plants can show us visions of the past as well? It has to be worth a shot, right? Go on, take a closer look!
Jade: The three seedlings in the temple appear to have great significance for the Watchers. I don't know what kind of power they have, but even I can tell those are no ordinary plants.
Erik: Look, Erdward! Look at the light! That's no regular torch. There's something about it- something reassuring, something that promises to keep you safe...
Serena: There's no doubt about it. The power that emanates from the sacred seedlings is the power of Yggdrasil. Take a closer look, Erdward. I have a feeling they have something rather important to show us...
Whatever they are, Yggdrasil's Guidance works on them.
These visions take on a drastically different form. There is no animation to them whatsoever, merely still images. Considering these aren't actual Yggdrasil roots, I get what they're going for, although I will admit I wanted to see more personality out of Morcant and Serenica. Erdwin and Drustan, too, I guess, but Morcant and Serenica are the cool ones.
The four are in... somewhere, also a floating island, and have a big rock.
Well, of course he's Erdwin, but the rock...
He reminds me of someone... the DQ3 Hero, to be specific. No, he is not the DQ3 Hero.
Erik figures out exactly what we're looking for here: Erdwin beat the Dark One, so if we could see what he did to pull off the trick...
However we do it, it's not with a single big rock.
Hendrik: The ore that Erdwin was holding was unlike any material I have ever seen. As one who knows the rudiments of smithery and who has some experience of the forge, I can tell that it was something truly exceptional...
Rab: You saw him, didn't you, laddie? That man with the same mark on his hand as you? That must have been Erdwin, the first Luminary. I don't know the ins and outs of it, but there's clearly some connection between the fate of the first Luminary and what we're supposed to do next.
Sylvando: What in the world was the first Luminary doing on that strange floating island!? And what was that stuff he was holding? A rock? A lump of metal? Gah, there's no point in me idly speculating- let's see what the other seedlings have to show us!
Jade: It seems these seedlings share the power of Yggdrasil, and can show us visions of the past... But these visions feel different to those we have seen before- there is something very special about these seedlings, that much is clear.
Erik: Those people in the vision we saw... They must have been Erdwin and his companions, right? Let's check out the other seedlings. Maybe we can find out how they managed to defeat the Dark One.
Serena: The woman with Erdwin must have been Serenica. She was so beautiful... My sister and I were always brought up to believe we were her reincarnation, but I don't see any resemblance. Perhaps that was merely a story, who knows? But now that I've seen her for the first time, I do feel a curious connection...
Our next Seedling shows us a location that is clearly Gallopolis. Even back then, it looks pretty grand. I'm almost tempted to say this is a cheat by the devs: I think Gallopolis is supposed to be a small village, if not nonexistent, during the time of Erdwin. Maybe it was a relatively substantial place back then, but we know for sure it got more important directly because of Erdwin's fight.
Drustan acquired a hammer. It doesn't look like a war hammer, though.
Hendrik recognises it as such immediately. Whether or not he knows enough of forging to recognise it as such, he has lived and breathed weapons. He could tell a war hammer from an axe with aspirations.
All right, we have a hammer and a rock...
Hendrik: The hammer that Erdwin wielded did not appear to be a weapon. It was more akin to a tool that one would use in a forge. I studied the rudiments of smithery, and know something of the subject... Yet I am at a loss as to what this might mean.
Rab: Seeing those visions of the past, it looks like Erdwin and his companions travelled the world, just like us. Aye, and we both had a mortal enemy to defeat, too. For Erdwin, it was the Dark One, for us, it's the Lord of Shadows. There's no doubt about it, our destinies are intertwined.
Sylvando: Did you see that hammer, honey!? It was huge! Do you think that's what they used to drive the darkness from the world? Well, whatever it was, we need to find out more!
Jade: Those two seedlings have showed us extraordinary visions, but we still don't have a clear idea of what we should do next. Perhaps the final seedling will show us the way.
Erik: Something about Erdwin reminded me of you, Erdward. I'm not talking about his face or his hair or anything. I just mean... there was something about him, you know?
Serena: The desert we saw in the vision looked strangely familiar. Do you think we might have been there before, Erdward?
Our last stop is at a location we don't get a panning shot for.
Oh hey, Erdwin was a Forge master too!
Drustan lends a hand as well.
And then we get a shot of a volcano. Hey, didn't we see a volcano back in the second vision...
Serena recognised Gallopolis and the volcano, and this is a bit of a cue for the player to think of that part of the map: That's where we found Serena, not that she lived there long.
That's... not what I saw. Then again, I didn't really see that part of the vision all that clearly...
What we just saw was the process in which the Sword of Light was originally forged.
...And hey, since we're currently down one Sword of Light (thank you, Mordegon...)
One of the worst kinds of RPG stories is when the heroes ride off the coat-tails of their ancestors successes. Just this once, we actually get to make the legendary weapon we'll be using to take down evil.
So we have three destinations and three objectives. How A leads to B will be an on-the-spot plan. It always is.
Rab reckons the Watcher can tell us where to start.
Sylv and Serena recognise Gallopolis and Hotto explicitly, if you didn't catch on yourself. It's not like the volcano has stood out in the plot so far yet.
We've got one big quest to go, then.
Hendrik: We must come together and forge the Sword of Light, just as the first Luminary and his companions did before us. Their names live now in legend, but they were also but flesh and blood. If they did it, there is no reason why we cannot.
Rab: It seems the mine where Erdwin found that ore was on another floating island just like this one. Let's have a word with our wee Watcher pal and see if he knows where it is.
Sylvando: Erdwin and his pals found that hammer in a place that's very close to my heart- Gallopolis, where we first met! Now, how about we should go and have a little chat with the Sultan?
Jade: Before doing battle with the Dark One, Erdwin and his allies combined their strength and forged the Sword of Light. If we do the same, we may give ourselves a chance of defeating the Lord of Shadows.
Erik: You know what we have to do, right, Erdward? If we want to defeat the Lord of Shadows, we're going to have to forge a new Sword of Light. As long as we follow in the first Luminary's footsteps, we're sure to find what we need. Okay, man. Once you're ready, let's hit the road!
Serena: There's no doubt about it. The volcano where Erdwin and his companions created the sword is Mount Huji. Somewhere within that mountain there must be an ancient forge. We just need to find it.
Well, we found... something worthwhile.
Apparently, the Watcher can help us out here.
He happens to know where that third location is. The location is legitimately called "Battleground".
Depending on how rich the mine was in those ores, it probably didn't get a name before the wars started.
I think the battle that took place over the ore was before Erdwin? We certainly don't get to find out who fought on which sides.
There's probably something valuable left.
I'm not sure what clues he has, but I think I'll be fine.
Oh, and they also give you Gallopolis and Hotto as Zoom points. Not entirely sure why, it's not like it'd be that strange to have to hoof it from Gondolia. Or rather, from Puerto Valor, if we hadn't already been to Gondolia.
The Battleground is way over to the south end of Erdrea, west of Gondolia.
Hendrik: It seems a fierce battle was fought here in ancient times... It is easy to credit. Though it was long ago, the spirits of the fallen still appear to haunt this place.
Rab: Our wee pal told us that all of the ore might have been taken after the battle they had up here. Here's hoping there's a little bit left for us, eh? Come on, let's get hunting!
Sylvando: Honey, this place is just enormous! It's like a whole mountain's ended up in the sky! One day someone will have to explain to me how places like this and Yggdrasil manage to float...
Jade: The ore here must be something very special if entire armies fought for control of this place. I suppose the stuff used to forge the Sword of Light was never going to be just any regular old ore, was it...
Erik: So this is where our Watcher pal told us there was a big battle for control of this precious ore, right? Well, let's hope they didn't trash it all and that there's enough left to forge a sword. Come on, Erdward, let's see what we can dig up!
Serena: The fog that covers this place has a malign energy that'll drain our spirits if we stay here too long. If only there was a way to... Wait! That's it! We could use the Guiding Light to clear it! Its pure energy could dispel the fog!
You could land here before now, but without the Guiding Light, you couldn't do anything.
Now we can start making some progress.
Serena: You did it, Erdward! The Guiding Light got rid of the horrible fog that covered this place. I'm still sensing something evil around here, though... We'd best take care.
The Battleground is a 9 floor dungeon, split into two halves. There's a lot of going up and down between different floors in each half.
Incidentally, B1-4 are the first half, B6-9 are the second half, and our goal is B5. It is impossible to get to B5 except from B6.
Animated suits of armour whose blood-red hue is a testament to the countless talented warriors they've trounced.
Lethal armours were in DQs 3-4 and 8-10, and come with Kasnooze and Kasap here. They can also call for help from cureslimes and block attacks.
Bizarre beings from another dimension with three unsettling eyes. Often seen consorting with sootbonces.
Smogbonnets are the trickier opponent between the two new grey lumps. They're the ones that can try landing poison and sleep. Smogbonnets and sootbonces are both from DQ5-10.
This a hole to fall down to a lower level. Yeah, it's one of those kinds of dungeons.
Bizarre beings from another dimension with four freakish eyes. They hunt by calling on companions in order to overwhelm their prey.
Sootbonces... I think this guy is one, at least. You can mainly tell them apart by the number of eyes and the direction in which they lean. Sootbonces can call for help from more of both types of lump.
Mini medal on the second floor here...
And up here, we got ourselves a new recipe book.
Odd set of finds. The ogre shield blocks Fire/Ice by 7%, and while the brigand's mitts represent a boost in Deftness, they have no innate Half-Inch chance like the robber's gloves. Those are always the best accessory for Half-Inch boosting.
Legendary boxes said to be the source of all the world's woes. They store up the despair of their victims inside themselves.
Pandora's boxes used to be the scariest of all canniboxes, first appearing in DQ7 and sticking around for the rest of the series, also sneaking back to retroactively appear in the remakes of DQs 3 and 4. They can attack twice, crit, and know the spells Snub and Kathwack. Because eventually the game needed to at least pretend you wanted to avoid fighting the canniboxes.
If Serena's going to be helpless, she might as well Sage's Breath up her MP while she waits for everyone else to finish up.
Dragon-riding defenders of the demon realm. At the sound of monsters in danger, they come riding to the rescue, pink skirts all aflutter.
Dragooners are actually new enemies, despite their similar appearance to their predecessors. They have a blizzard attack as well as Kazam to add to their toolkit, and they also appeared in DQ4.
Wow, Kazam hit hard.
You know it's bad when Erik's telling you to be careful.
Fortunately, Erdward got a full heal after that fight. Not that I couldn't have done this myself, but...
Anyway, riding the dragooner. This doesn't actually work towards "forward progress"- to proceed, we need to crawl through a crawlspace- but it allows us to backtrack through the first four floors, go up holes, and find some alcoves that were too high to walk into.
Of course there's another Pandora's Box up here. There's a Mythril Ore sparkly spot in one of the other ones. At least the Pandora's Boxes drop Seeds of Skill...
There are a few inscription slabs scattered around to read from.
Well, if that doesn't make the "wars were fought here" more dismal. Apparently this was a colonisation metaphor. Although what could look at the Watchers and think "primitive" is another matter.
There's a Campsite here. For some reason, the Battleground isn't innately a Zoom point, but with Definitive adding Campsites to the list, now we can get here whenever we want. I'm not sure if you have to fly to the Battleground whenever you want to revisit the place in the vanilla version, but if you do, I feel bad. This Zoom Point is so awesome later.
Clearly these guys knew what they were up to. Also there's a molten globule sparkly spot in here. Sometimes. It seems to respawn on a different timer to other sparklies.
Oh, it was monsters doing the fighting. That makes more sense.
Also, since we've past it, after the campsite, there's a giant rope that you climb down from B4 to B9- which is why we'll be ascending the second half of the Battleground.
Long-dead rulers reanimated by malevolent magic. Their years of rest haven't dulled their desperate thirst for glory.
Wight princes first appeared in DQ5, being the lowest level monster for this design in that game. They know Kazing, Kazam, have a Lightning staff to Use as an item, and can call for help from armfuls and dragon zombies.
One thing to keep in mind with Hallelujah charge is what rare drops are actually around in the area. These guys actually do have a pretty neat one, but it's the only thing that really jumps out at me. Although a later enemy has a contender...
This got us some Crimson Claws. They have a bonus on Elemental enemies, but they also have 8% Crit at +3. Honestly, though, they're not that great a drop to force, we're getting a free one soon-ish anyway.
In fact, we could already have got them.
Here's a Recipe Book worth looking at. The Goddess's Tiara and Saintly Dress are two impressive armour pieces for Serena, combining to give her a costume, and you're probably going to use these as a matter of course.
Got her some Pep Chance first. Probably an enemy too close.
Anyway, into the Forge, and... Crosscutter Blow. It's a bit like Double-Edged Bash (although possibly with the power of Double Whammy, with that description), but it works on a diagonal. I don't think it's possible to control which way that diagonal points, though, so forgive me if I say to pass.
Here are the ingredients needed for those armours. Sainted Soma is awkward, but I'll find some in time. The Goddess's Tiara is worth 50% Whack resistance in addition to the Def/MaMend/Max MP/Charm, while the Saintess Dress is Def/MaMend/Charm and 20% resistance to Dark damage.
At least I have the tiara.
...Oh huh, I got the Dress. Where did I get the Soma?
Regardless, here's Saint Serena. I... I'm not that fond of the design, overall. There's a recolour that somehow manages to make it look nicer, but I wouldn't exactly say these colours bring down the design, so I'm not sure what it is I dislike.
...Gesundheit?
I have several questions, and the strangest feeling the game is going to answer none of them.
This one's actually a voiced cutscene.
...I don't think this is strictly speaking a Puff-Puff even if it is the sexy thing, but I'd certainly rather this anyway.
As for what it is...
Impromptu bungee jumping, apparently.
You can't say they don't put any originality into these, I'll tell you that much.
Besides, when else are you going to plunge head-first into clouds?
That's the last of the eight Puff-Puffs around the world. Now if you'll excuse me, all the blood has rushed to my head...
Hendrik: Hmm... That was unlike any puff-puff I have seen before... I, I mean, what is this ‘puff-puff’ of which you speak? The word is most unfamiliar to me. Perhaps we should speak of other things instead. Such as the weather. Or swords. I like swords. Ahem...
Rab: Ah, puff-puff... Now there's a word to put a smile on an auld man's face. Of course, it means different things to different people, depending on who they are or where they're from... Aye, we've all still got a lot to learn about the ancient art of puff-puff, laddie...and I for one cannae wait to discover more!
Sylvando: I don't see how it's fair that you're the only one who gets to experience a puff-puff, Erdward! That bunny girl only had eyes for you, though... Some guys get all the luck, eh!
Jade: Extraordinary. One young lady, working all alone in an isolated spot like this... How does she manage it? She can't be a regular person. No, she must have some secret. Well, whatever it is, I wish her luck in her chosen career...
Erik: Well, well, Erdward. I hope you had the kind of fun that only a puff-puff can give a man... And to think, when I first met you, butter wouldn't melt in your mouth. Oh, how you've grown... (sniff) Oh man, I'm getting all emotional here!
Serena: You know, when that rope was stretched, it really did make a ‘puff-puff-puff’ sound! That must be why it's got that name. Well, you learn something every day!
Since it's a voiced cutscene, it actually has its own Party Chat associated with it. A lot of people like to point at Hendrik's line for just how adorable he is trying to cover up his embarassment, but here I am looking at Sylvando and wondering just how gay he's supposed to be. I don't care this wasn't a sexy Puff-Puff, Sylvando's jealousy is really weird for how he's usually written.
Erik's also slightly more heterosexual than usual, but considering he's not really intentionally queer, I think I can let it slide a little further. Besides, it's not really him expressing attraction.
Moving on completely, there's a chest of one of these. There's also sparkly spots containing a bunch of eyes scattered around here, to make stocking up even easier than before.
Dragons laid to rest in the depths of hell aeons ago that have suddenly sprung back to life in order to hunt down their killers.
Dragon zombies, now that they've turned up, come from DQs 3, 5 and 10, and they have powerful cold breaths to use- both "freezing" and "c-c-cold", in fact.
A locked door? This locked door is the main reason the Zoom point is so valuable, but we'll talk about that once we can get past it.
There's also a Tockle running around up here.
Damdara is a town in the far south of Alefgard, one that has been completely ravaged by time and monsters and is completely uninhabitable. In the back corner, however, is Erdrick's Armour, the best armour in the game, and if you can fight your way to it, it's yours.
The Tockle is next to a chest with one of these in it.
The Brain Drainer is the weakest of four demonic-styled shields. These have 5% Elemental resist- later ones have more- and can be Used as an item, although I don't use it myself- and annoyingly, my sources don't list whether it's Bounce or Magic Barrier. It was apparently Magic Barrier in 9, so I'm going to say it still is.
Killing Machines abound here, as well as... what is that thing to the left?
Killing machines that have been modified so much that they're almost unrecognizable. Their ability to float makes them highly mobile.
Overkilling machines come from DQ6, 10 and the remake of 7, although surprisingly, the fact they float isn't as dangerous as it sounds. Presumably the ability to fly was added by whichever designer noticed that there were too few weapon ports to support the feet needed for killing machines to move around normally. They attack twice and know the abilities Robochop, Rain of Pain and Flame Slash, as well as being able to deflect attacks. Despite the relatively unimpressive skillset, these are by far the most dangerous enemy one could face in a dark alley- or cave, as the case may be.
They have Falcon Blades in the rare slot, if you want more of those.
Rain of Pain is supposed to hit multiple party members!
Just look at how much I'm hurting now. Go all out on the special skills and try to steer clear.
Oh hey, I got one.
OK, I understand that this is supposed to be a pun on "badass", but when it says "Bad Axe", I can't help think this is a bad axe.
Nothing could be further from the truth- this Axe, in addition to its potent Atk stat, has an 8% chance of making enemies lose a stage of Atk on strike. This is the baby form of the ultimate Axe, and Hendrik is basically going to keep a hold of this axe for the rest of the game.
Since we're no longer using the axe that colour co-ordinates, I decide Hendrik can switch out of the Heliodorian armour.
Well, at least I'm here now.
There are dragooners on B6 to fly around on, but I don't think there's as much good for doing so on the second half.
...Did you have to spawn with two different machines?
There's a few holes you can't really fly through here, I think. It's rather annoying, trying to move through a hole the game doesn't quite agree you should take a dragooner through.
Our destination is up here, with one last little nugget of blue...
Erik runs up, seeming to recognise the lump.
Count on a former thief to have an eye for appraisal. I'm not sure what orichalcum sells for in a normal item shop, although DQ history does have an instance where you're supposed to sell it for a good price...
At any rate, orichalcum itself is a mythical substance in the real world- the sort of thing ancient texts insist existed but which modern scientists are fairly sure is something less impressive under another name. Even the ancients seemed to think orichalcum wasn't as valuable as gold, but still valuable on its own. Dragon Quest uses orichalcum as a legendary alchemy ingredient from DQ8 on, although it has an appearance in DQ3 in another purpose.
It's clearly as mythical as the legends indicate. Although, considering we can't experiment with alchemy in this game, we're going to have to find recipes that make use of orichalcum later...
22500 Gold?
Erik is actually more right than he imagines. I have been describing orichalcum as an alchemy ingredient thus far, no more impressive than mirrorstone, densinium or dracolytes, although much rarer. I have been somewhat disingenious: This particular lump is rarefied orichalcum, a Key Item that can only be used to Forge a Sword of Light. We will be finding the normal variety much later.
I believe the distinction between orichalcum, the alchemy ingredient, and rarefied orichalcum, the Sword of Light ingredient, is new to the Definitive edition, but I'm not entirely sure what, exactly, is so different between versions that there needed to be a distinction. The distinction does matter, although that's for later concerns.
You have free reign to choose which order you acquire the three "ingredients" for the Sword of Light, and I assume there are variations on each conversation as appropriate, but I feel like it's just expected to go through in the order in which they were shown: orichalcum, hammer, and crucible.
Hendrik: I learnt how to forge weapons in my youth, but I have never encountered a metal as hard as orichalcum. A sword forged from it could surely stand up to anything wielded by the Lord of Shadows. I look forward to seeing the finished article on the battlefield!
Rab: I was worried that all of the orichalcum would have been carried off as the spoils of war, but it seems we were in luck. We might even have enough of the stuff to make ourselves a sword... Fingers crossed, eh?
Sylvando: Oh, honey, isn't it beautiful!? That orichalcum really is out of this world. I can't wait to give it a good pounding back in Mount Huji so we can forge ourselves a sparkly new Sword of Light!
Jade: The power that emanates from the orichalcum is unlike anything I have ever experienced before. Now I can understand why wars were waged to get hold of it...
Erik: I'm not the world's biggest expert on lumps of ore, but you just have to look at that orichalcum to know that it's special. I'd even go as far as to say it's better than anything I managed to, er, find during my glittering career as a thief.
Serena: We did it! We found the orichalcum! We're one step closer to forging the Sword of Light! Once we have everything we need, we should head to Mount Huji and look for that ancient forge.
Well, next time, we have a proper Town Story for one of them, but for now, that's the exploration of the sky covered. Although the Whale Way system drastically decreases the importance of flight, it wasn't really until DQ8 that there were even a large set of treasure troves to plunder once flight was attained: before that, it was something you got at the end of the game that was needed to reach one location in particular that happened to be ringed by mountains or something, and was otherwise just a quick way to get around the world without encounters. Considering the greater emphasis on mobility Eleven has over, say, Eight or Nine, and it stands to reason that Cetacea's flight is less valuable: Eleven can climb up places he wants to go, being able to fly up there is both overkill and kinda taking away from Eleven's other abilities.
The Watchers are an element of the plot that gets introduced now, but they get more important later. It's kind of hard to imagine how, considering the sole survivor is a kid. The explanation is satisfying, at least. For now, though, the Watchers are going to take a backseat: I don't even think we need to see them again until Mordegon. Much like Morcant's history, this is something the game wants us to see, but doesn't really have a home for it and just got plonked somewhere to make sure there was room.
As for the Battleground... it's a fairly dangerous but highly prosperous dungeon, but also not really that interesting on the inside. It's one of those places you go because it's there. Honestly, though, a Town Story would probably drag it down, especially since it'd be a lot of flashbacks. Maybe if there were a bunch of Yggdrasil Roots giving Guidances about various events of the historical battle, but that doesn't strike me as DQ's tone. And, besides, it would have little to do with the orichalcum we came for, and I don't think we'd really be able to act on it, or learn from it. Maybe another series would get some mileage out of the idea- it feels right up Zelda's alley.
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