First up on the back route, we have the final game in the Zenithian Trilogy, and another starting town.
Veronica: Ahhh.... Get a load of that mountain air! It really reminds me of good old Arboria. Ah, I hope everyone's doing well...
Erik: From the first second we set foot in this place, everyone's been staring at me. At least now we know why. But if there really is some guy who looks just like me, I want to meet him. Right now, it seems he's out of town, so I guess we won't find out who's better looking anytime soon.
Jade: If you ran up and down this mountain a few times every morning, you'd soon be fighting fit. What do you think, Erdward? ...Hey, there's no need to make that face!
Hendrik: One of the tockles informed me that this village is home to a warrior known as 'the reaper' on account of his facility with a scythe. I would very much like to meet this man, that I may learn more.
Serena: Listen to this, Erdward! One, two, three... HELLOOOOOOoooooo! Did you hear the echo? It's fun, isn't it? Now, you give it a try!
Sylvando: Look, honey! The locals are preparing for a festival, and you know how much I love a party! One of the tockles was talking about it. Apparently, they do a kind of special dance in honour of some spirit or other. I wonder if they've got room for one more dancer?
Rab: Aye, this is a nice wee village, right enough, with plenty of greenery everywhere ye look. It seems like a perfect spot to get away from it all. Mind you, at my age all the climbing would be hard work- unless I could find someone to carry me, of course!
And we spawn in the middle of town- we don't even get to wander over to the doors to be pushed out of.
Now that's rude. Tell me what you really feel about your neighbour.
...I'm not entirely sure who these girls are. As far as I recall, there's one main other girl in the village- she has a name and a role in the story, but I can't seem to find what it is. She's using a generic sprite, I can tell you that much- and there's another named NPC with the same sprite I'm sure I'm confusing her with.
There is no specified "church at the bottom of the mountain". Weaver's Peak is about to perform a ceremony in honour of its local spirit, so I imagine the intent is that this is the Hero being sacrilegious, but there's a simpler explanation he could've gone for.
Oh joy, something we agree on.
Tania is really possessive over her big brother. As a matter of fact, her desire to have a big brother plays a critical role in the story of DQ6. It's a little complex, but suffice it to say that she's not related to the DQ6 Hero.
Now, see, this is the simple explanation to what happened to the DQ6 Hero. He went down to the market village of Haggleton and bought too much stuff. Haggleton does have a Church, but it doesn't do much in the setting of the world.
Incidentally, Haggleton only exists in the Dream World, so we know this Weaver's Peak is the Dream World version.
Yeah, I think you've got the right idea this time. Say what you will about her intentions, at least she does her job.
That's a bit more of a logical leap, although considering his story, it probably makes more sense than the idea that this kid is the DQ6 Hero.
"My REAL brother" is referring to the DQ6 Hero. As previously mentioned, Tania is not really his sister, but the Dream World Tania fully believes he is, and we're not going to argue against that right now.
Patty's Party Planning exists in DQ6, although it runs out of Alltrades Abbey, not an inn. I also wouldn't expect Tania to know about it no matter the world.
We can't visit Patty in DQ6 (well, actually, we totally can), but the game wants us to check in on DQ9's Patty instead.
If we head to Patty's Party Planning, it's not actually any of the named characters we need to check in on- it's the NPCs. If you were paying attention when we came this way earlier, you might rememebr there were two NPCs sitting at the table, and now there is only one.
His friend is going to the Ruby Path of Doom to find an item that could be useful to us. Bodura Grass was a plot item in DQ9, where it served the same purpose as Ra's Mirror- you used it on an NPC to prove they were a monster in disguise.
Incidentally, Masayuki's Map leads to a grotto location in the Batsureg region, which is the place where the Town Story bodura grass was relevant to occurred. I love the consistency here- they only had three places to visit, and they extended the life of the Ruby Path of Doom by drawing on its physical location in the world map.
Snorts. You don't really find Grotto maps in drawers and bookshelves, mostly because Grottoes are postgame affairs and you've already pilfered all the drawers and bookshelves by now.
Fortunately for us, he's found some bodura grass and is willing to share. It was a bit of an ordeal for the DQ9 Hero to get his hands on some and I think it was in limited supply, but it's grass, it can be cultivated if need be.
It helps he doesn't need it himself.
You have to use it on the impostor. I always think you turn it in to Tania for her to do the job, but no.
Sometimes, the fact Erdward doesn't speak plays in the story's favour. I love the execution of this scene.
Surprise!
I love that the game lets you talk to Tania at this point in the quest.
OK, he's redeemed himself for the earlier remark. That's a funny one.
At least this guy called the DQ6 Hero cool. Granted, he's thinking of the gaudy version, but...
You're allowed to turn your nose up, although nothing will happen if you do.
You'll just get this dialogue until you do.
A bad-tempered brute without an iota of appeal who tried to get into Tania's good books by disguising himself as her brother.
Demon family
9600 HP
187 MP
The dud dude has the HP of the trolls he resembles, enough that this fight might actually take some time. He gets two or three actions a turn, and can throw out a painful blow, Crackerwhack, Knuckle Sandwich, Inferno, Venom Mist, and he has one magic spell up his sleeves... you know, if he happened to possess any.
His JP name is ニセおにいちゃん, and I think this supposed to be a play on "onii-chan".
Fortunately, everything he does goes through Kabuff, so it's just a matter of unloading everything we've got.
It'll just take us a few turns.
His ultimate trick is that he is fairly sure he knows the Kazap spell. "Fairly sure" does not mean that he can.
He also tries to flex for Tania, to her complete and total indifference.
"Please forgive me, I'll be good" is something that comes up from time to time with minor bosses- the haunted housekeeper in 5 and Larstastnaras in 9 come to mind immediately. I imagine it's more closely a reference to Larstastnaras, since that was the boss you used bodura grass on.
(If you're wondering "what the heck kinda name is Larstastnaras?", I can tell you it's Sarantsatsral spelled backwards.)
While DQ11 is big on forgiveness, most of its characters have demonstrated a willingness, on some level, to atone for their misdeeds and there is a general idea how they're going to go about being a changed person. This running joke has neither and every time you're But Thou Musted into giving them their new lease on life anyway.
None of them ever bother you again. Although I think maybe Robbin' 'Ood was like this in DQ3 and he did come back...?
Tania is pleased to not have anyone pretending to be her brother.
Glad someone seems to think so. I usually put him to work as a jester at the first opportunity.
Free Kaleidocloth, nicer than the Crimsonite, but still kinda lacklustre after going through all those Glacial Golems.
He has fallen out of the Dream World and into the Real World. Shouldn't be too hard to get back, he just needs to look down a well.
I wouldn't let your hopes down just yet.
I'm not sure how worried I should be about this. She does kinda toe the lie on being kinda incestuous, but considering this is a dream manifestation of Tania, and the real Tania is well aware the boy she's gushing over is not her brother... I think the situation is plenty creepy enough without that.
Would it still work if it were a King Slime?
...I didn't really like how the guy looked, either. I'd say he looked better as a troll, but the troll design could... it could use some work. It's no voodoogooder, but it's a brown guy with big lips swinging around a club.
This Spirit actually appears in the game and I still have no idea what the hell her deal is.
That's DQ6 down. You could do this as soon as you got the Ultimate Key- getting six Altars cleared is pretty easy once Act 3 starts.
Erik: From the first second we set foot in this place, everyone's been staring at me. At least now we know why. But if there really is some guy who looks just like me, I want to meet him. Right now, it seems he's out of town, so I guess we won't find out who's better looking anytime soon.
Even Akira Toriyama's most vehement defenders acknowledge the guy has a bit of an issue making characters look distinct, and the DQ6 Hero has a huge issue of basically being a more muscular Erik these days. I'm impressed the Party Chat went right for that.
With the main DQs out of the way, time to take a peek into DQ10's second and last Pastword. As disappointing as 3, 7 and 8 doubling up was, at least they escaped what happened to 10.
Veronica: It looks like these people come from a very old civilisation. Trust me, Erdward, I know what I'm talking about. I am from Arboria, after all!
Erik: I wonder what I'd be like if I'd grown up in a quiet little village like this. I mean, it's not so different from Cobblestone, right? Maybe I'd have turned out just like you, Erdward.
Jade: Imagine if I'd grown up as the Princess of Heliodor, as I was supposed to. I'd probably still be there now. And now we're here visiting other worlds. I guess you just never know how life is going to turn out.
Hendrik: I have no objection to visiting other worlds and coming to their inhabitants' aid. But I would urge you not to forget that our own world is also in a desperate state. There remains much for us to do back in Erdrea.
Serena: Did you hear the tockles talking about the giant tortoise who protects this village, Erdward? Tortoises do live for a very long time, so I suppose it does make them a good choice to be guardians.
Sylvando: Far be it from me to tell these people what to do, but honestly, with this weather and these views they could make a fortune turning the place into a tourist resort! I suppose the villagers might not like all the hustle and bustle at first, but I'm sure they'd learn to love it!
Rab: Visiting different worlds is quite the eye-opener, eh, laddie? I thought I knew a thing or two about the world- and now we find out there's more worlds out there than our own! Aye, it turns out I've still got a lot to learn!
Tenton is the hometown of the DQ10 Hero, I believe, and it definitely doesn't look like any classic DQ location. Kinda looks like Lonalulu, though, except less beachy.
...I... don't fully get who Tenda is? She seems to be some kind of village chieftainess who appoints the DQ10 Hero to go do something important, even if it's not "be the Hero".
I'm sure she has this kind of power.
This is relevant to DQ10's story: Tenton is ultimately destroyed by people seeking out the Shelled One.
This is... well, the Shelled One is currently absent, but not the way he's supposed to be.
The Galapagod is one and the same with the Shelled One. Once, it was Pegasus, who fought against Nelgel in the ancient past, but they turned into a tortoise and became a village guardian deity to avoid reprisal.
Apparently that manifests as visions accepted by the village chief.
This would probably be so much more impactful if I knew how the opening of DQ10 went...
Wait, Necrogond?
The Galapagod may be "retired", but it knows what it's doing.
Zoomstone is an item in DQ10.
I'm not entirely sure how it works, but in the world of DQ10, Zoom is unknown, and Zoomstone is its replacement. I know it's a clunkier system than just raw Zooming, so I suspect it is at least partially an adaptation of the Zoom mechanic to fit the gameplay of an MMORPG.
Right, back to the Necrogond.
The Galapagod is in Baramos's Castle, the first one. Fortunately, that means no random encounters!
Unfortunately, that means we have to go through the whole dungeon again. You can't do this and then do the Necrogondolier- the Zoomstone sends us back automatically.
I'm sure the Galapagod can be ridden, but in his native form, I'm sure it would not be a ride you take because you expect to go anywhere. As Pegasus, it's probably a lot more entertaining, but I doubt he can assume that shape on a whim.
Apparently some DQ1 monsters have snuck into this story. Huzzah huzzah!
I can only bemoan that this was not delivered in the sweet dulcet tones of Boodica's man from Limboo.
Wrecktor:
Demon family
1500 HP
579 MP
Heedoovoodoo:
Undead family
3000 HP
652 MP
Leger-de-man:
Humanoid family
1500 HP
579 MP
They may look like normal enemies, but these guys are indeed actually bosses and should be treated as such. The Wrecktor knows the spells Bounce, Kafrizz and Kazam, the Leger-de-man knows Whack, Kafrizz, Kacrack, Drain Magic and Fizzle, while the Heedoovoodoo, who can act twice a turn, has calamitous curses, Buff, Fuddle, Zing, Kathwack and Moreheal. The Heedoovoodoo can also use Pep Powers combined with either of his companions, although they can't Pep with each other.
Clearly there can only be one solution.
...That's an actual defensive bulk. Clearly he's got a high resistance to Wind- I presume this was Jade's Pink Tornado.
Here's a shot of 2D Kaboomle in action. It's certainly a shot.
Pictured: This guy being annoying.
Pictured: Veronica just not giving a damn.
They also pay out like bosses.
Without the Galapagod, the DQ10 Hero dies. Anlucia was somewhere else at the time, though, and I'm not sure what happens to her if the DQ10 Hero doesn't get involved in her life. I'm also not sure whether these demons were worried about Anlucia or the player character- if it were Anlucia, it'd probably be a capital H Hero, although it's not like DQ10 had been localised for such rules to exist at the time.
As of this writing, DQ Tact has taken the position that Anlucia is a "Luminary" as opposed to a "Hero". I suspect that the DQ devs want to start using the word "Luminary" to mean "Chosen One", because the word "Hero" has literary meaning and it is difficult to distinguish the player avatar of DQs 5 and 10 from the Chosen Ones if they're both called "Hero".
The Galapagod does not seem entirely inclined to speak. I'm not sure if this is a DQ10 thing or a DQ11 thing- it could be it speaks only to Tenda and/or the DQ10 Hero, or it could just be mute in general.
Pep Pop, that's nice. It's a lot of cash for us to get our own- I haven't liquidated the devilry drinkers I've been stealing, so I don't know how many I can afford to buy.
This is the timescale we're talking about the Galapagod having been Pegasus and fought Nelgel. Not unheard of- most ancient history is usually a thousand years ago.
Between Tenda and the Galapagod, you lot are in good hands.
Similarly to DQ4's Hidden Village and DQ5's Whealbrook, I can't help but point out that they are all going to die.
The turtle is pleased. All worship the turtle.
...I do, at least, know what Tenda is supposed to look like, and I don't think this is her.
(This is Tenda.)
And that was DQ10. Two Pastwords, both with bosses that occur in other Altars. Notice the complete lack of DQ10's battle theme?
It's actually kinda cool? Not sure it translates to chiptune, though. Especially not that iconic trumpet opening- that's the part you really want to land.
The DQ10 Hero and Heroine, as humans. The two don't spend long in this form before being turned into one of the Five Awakened Tribes and taking on new designs- hence the DQ10 Male Hero looking like he's copying the DQ9 Hero's homework and the DQ10 Female Hero being Anlucia with brown hair and a loincloth.
...Oh yeah, I never did wind up going to Cannock. To complete this Pastword, you just need Whealbrook from the postgame.
Veronica: Those heroes must have been quite something to have their stories written up in those dusty old books! Mind you, all the heroes I read about when I was a kid just sounded a bit boring, to be honest. It's easy to forget all the amazing things they must have done.
Erik: Wow. Nice castle. All this gold must have cost a pretty penny, too... Hey, don't worry- I'm not going to touch it! I just can't help noticing this stuff, you know?
Jade: Wherever you go, castles tend to have a lot in common. I mean, the throne room's just like the one back in Dundrasil.
Hendrik: Appearing in the throne room of a kingdom of which we know nothing is something I would normally try to avoid. Why, if a band of adventurers had appeared out of nowhere in the middle of Heliodor Castle, my troops and I would have thrown them into the dungeon without a second thought!
Serena: What a lovely castle! There's forests all around, and the air is so fresh! It would make a fine place to live, I'm sure of it!
Sylvando: Good news, honey! One of our new tockle friends told me that the prince who lives here is a really super guy. Apparently he can be a bit too laid-back at times, but I'd take that over an uptight person any day!
Rab: We'll need to mind our step here, laddie. We're only visiting this place, and we wouldnae want to do anything silly and undo any of the great deeds of the past. It's a scary thought, eh? Well, let's just do our level best to make sure nothing like that happens.
Welcome to Cannock Castle- between Midenhall, Cannock and Moonbrooke, this is certainly one of them.
And that attitude persists to poor Prince Cannock. Well, I say this, but considering this is the Famicom and Princess Moonbrooke is boring as dirt, Cannock may well be the most famous of the three Luminaries of DQ2 by virtue of being so pathetic.
Cannock is relatively famous among the people who actually played DQ2 (so, mostly Japanese people) for dying. A lot. He's not as strong as the Prince of Midenhall, nor is he as magically gifted as the Princess of Moonbrooke, making him a jack of all trades- and so it might seem, not a great one. One of his default names- Tonnura- became a recurring joke in the JP fandom, and one that made it into DQs 5-7 as minor jokes at somebody's expense. I do not believe any of these references survived the translation process.
Oh great. I'm not sure how much DQ2 was into the old tongues, but it seems this guy has plenty of it.
This is actually something that happened in DQ2 proper: Prince Cannock has recognised the need for him to join the quest to defeat Hargon, and sets out on his own to go find Prince Midenhall.
Cannock's departure here is not in line with his canon appearance: He's gone on walkabout!
In this quest, Prince Cannock is seeking "royal people", and thus travels to encounter royalty of nations other than the ones that exist in the world of DQ2.
All that's left is to wonder how he knows about the Roamers to begin with.
Time to hunt the man down.
The Princess of Cannock is a character who existed in DQ2, but from the looks of it, she didn't do anything of note.
This is Erdrick's Shield. You could only get that if you had the Gold Key (not quite the Ultimate Key, but the Key system wasn't codified into its final form until 3).
There's also doors down here we're just not allowed to open for no good reason.
Our first step, as directed, is to go visit the Roamers. Note that you do have to have finished the Roamer Encampment's Quest, so you need the Rainbow Mines too.
Kiefer is our man.
He did meet Cannock, but unfortunately for us all, Kiefer wasn't who he was looking for.
The plot only gets thicker from there. I appreciate that he mentions he's going to the Pantry for Alena and not, say, a location that Alena might logically be found in- Zamovska, for starters.
Alena is not actually found in her usual spot during this quest: You have to fall down this hole to meet her.
At least this proves Alena is trying to get the feverfew seed instead of just leading the party in circles outside. I guess she was level-grinding.
Neat how he asks if Alena is the Princess of Moonbrooke as opposed to the Prince of Midenhall. Would've been easy to forget this detail in service of the joke, but fortunately, Cannock was looking for two people of different genders, as opposed to being stuck with one.
...You do know how to get out of this area, right?
Next stop, and the reason we couldn't finish this quest until after Mordegon, is because we need to go check in on Whealbrook.
Pankraz is, in the literal sense of the term, royalty.
"Related" to the Prince of Midenhall? Trying to ascertain proof of that requires analysing whether DQs 2 and 5 can occur in the same universe, which is a horknighthive I have no plans of poking, but on the timescale you'd have to work with, the odds are that the answer to this question is "yes, but that's a trivial observation".
His last stop is, of all places, the Neverglade.
From the start, you have to go up to the north and around to a back room.
There's not much in this room- other than Cannock himself, of course.
...Does this man just not know what Midenhall looks like? I thought the three were familiar with each other before the game started, but I guess not. They're all so closely related as to be cousins.
Of course, to continue this farce, we are also a Prince of somewhere.
...Well, that explains things. Someone has been whispering in his ear, telling him to go missing who knows where searching for Princes.
And, in successfully leading him to a place he might never leave, the voice has done something alarmingly close to succeeding on its mission to screw up a past DQ story.
...Well, at least we got him out of there.
Just no regard for poor Tonnura.
In exchange, we get... uh...
...That is certainly armour. This is relatively impressive for the time you can acquire it, but not so much that I'd recommend it. This armour could be acquired back in DQ2 with the Gold Key, but it had no special properties and was as such probably not worth getting over Magic Armour, over which it enjoyed a very small advantage in terms of raw bulk.
He is talking about the DQ1 Hero here. As determined by DQ2 canon, the DQ1 Hero took Gwaelin and left Tantegel behind, and had three kids- the people who would eventually govern the newly founded kingdoms of Midenhall, Cannock and Moonbrooke. This happened recently enough ago that the kingdoms still hold the tale in high regard, although clearly long enough ago that this man is not the DQ1 Hero but also a descendant.
I'd say maybe Midenhall and Moonbrooke could go without, but he does know enough magic I wouldn't trust that.
Fortunately, Prince Cannock is not to be deterred by his errant wanderings, and will gladly join the Prince of Midenhall to go on his adventure.
As a side note, this sidequest is a reference to the join circumstances of Prince Cannock: He will set out on his own in that game too, and Prince Midenhall arrives to find he is gone before tracking him down every which way... and finding him resting back in Cannock's inn. In all, Tonnura- and the DQ2 Hero himself- were probably better off just sitting around and waiting for Midenhall to come collect him.
Anyway, that's Cannock down, time for the actual postgame Pastword: This came from the Luminary's Trial.
Veronica: Hey, Erdward, have you noticed Serena taking a deep breath every time we arrive in a new place? She's done it every since we were little girls. She has a very acute sense of smell- she can tell all sorts of things about a place.
Erik: I snuck into all sorts of places I wasn't supposed to back in my thieving days, but I'm not sure I ever felt as jumpy as I do in this cave. Maybe it's that nasty smell... Well, whatever. Let's just make sure we get out of here alive!
Jade: It seems that exploring this cave is going to take some time. Let's not be afraid to leave and rest up if things are getting tough.
Hendrik: Listen, Erdward. I hear monsters- a veritable horde of them. We must remain vigilant.
Serena: Ugh! This place reeks of monsters! But there's something else mixed in there too... Wait! I know what it is! It's snow! We may be deep underground, but up above it's a winter wonderland, I'm sure of it!
Sylvando: I tip my hat to you, honey. Not content with helping everyone in Erdrea, now you're coming to other worlds to lend people a hand! You really are one in a million, aren't you? Don't go changing, you hear?
Rab: How did those wee tockles describe this place again? 'A cave that leads to the snowy plateau of Rendarak, where you'll find the High Priest's castle...' That High Priest chap doesn't sound like he's any too friendly. We'll need to keep our wits about us if we want to avoid a grisly fate.
I don't think a guard was ever posted here in the originals, although a fire spirit does take that job in remakes.
...Verily, thou must... wait, no, thou means him...
- The Soul Sigil is one of five Sigils scattered across the world, which must be turned in to receive the Eye of Rubiss, an item that pierces the illusion placed on Hargon's Castle.
- The thunderbolt blade is the most powerful weapon the Prince of Midenhall can equip, and only appeared in DQ3 following. Since Erdrick's Sword hasn't been polished recently, it's become the DQ2 Hero's signature weapon.
- Erdrick's Armour is a recurring armour piece across DQs 1-3, and DQ2 is no exception to making it the DQ2 Hero's ultimate armour.
Our job here is to make sure the DQ2 Hero can claim all these wonderful prizes. This is DQ2, he needs everything he can get.
To find this opponent, we must go through the entire Cave Leading to Rendarak.
Welp.
Here we go, then...
First room is filled with staircases. You might notice most of them go down. This is because this room is also full of pitfall traps, and those are staircases to come back up.
The Soul Sigil is on the bottom floor here, so if you were playing DQ2, this is when you'd want to pick that up and then go back for the Eye of Rubiss.
Don't forget the random encounters.
We want this staircase, so we can go...
Oh. It's one of those rooms.
I believe you want the third path along to come into a room like this?
This level is one of the simpler ones. Just a lot of dead ends hidden behind loading zones.
Lottery ticket- for the tombola games.
Relentless reavers of souls and emissaries of the underworld who will stop at nothing until the entire world drowns in death and despair.
Hellbound heretics are the final stage on this hellbound tree that made it into DQ11 (DQ10 had the hellbound highness, but four of the things was bad enough). They have Kathwack, Kazammle, War Cry and a Charming Look, and have one thing of critical importance: they drop Black Tears in the rare slot. This is the only way to get Black Tears outside Krystalinda.
This is right next to the staircase we came up from. It was a Mad Cap (cuts MP consumption by 25%) in the originals. The game knows full well giving one of those to Veronica is asking for trouble.
Heading further south-east leads to an empty chest, which is where Erdrick's Armour is meant to rest.
140 Gold. I have no idea why this number, of all numbers, was picked for this chest.
This room is nothing but pitfalls. It is also not where I want to be- I still had bits to explore earlier.
Beautifully coloured birds said to inhabit the place between heaven and hell. Not quite so pretty when they're purging their enemies with great plumes of flame.
Hybirds are from DQs 5 and 10, and they have Scorch, Blessed Breath and Kazammle. Not too terrifying an attack list, but terrifying enough. They have Yggdrasil Leaves as their common drop and Uber Agates of Evolution on the rare.
Right, head as north as you can go and then head west- east is progress.
West gives you these, which were 560 Gold and... a trap chest. The remakes upgraded that trap chest to hold a Thanatos Shield, which is basically the same thing except it uses an inventory slot.
Noble guard dogs whose goodness was ground down by the darkness, causing them to run rampant.
King foo dogs are from DQ10, and alongside their Freezing Blizzard, they can also muster their strength and go on a rampage.
Prepare to see a lot of this room: If you fall down from the place where progress is, you have only one staircase back up- it's in the north-east.
Even worse is there's a pitfall in the south-west that takes you to the Thunderbolt Sword... and then you have to loop all the way back around through the whole dungeon again.
These monsters have been brought back from the beyond so many times they've lost count. They adore all that is evil and undead.
Troobloovoodoos are the last and probably the least sensitive of these enemies, having Death Dance alongside Frizzle, Moreheal, Drain Magic and the ability to call for Ghouls. If you want to complete your Beastiary, these guys are one of the more annoying enemies you'll run into: It only appears on floor 4F, which you'll only spend significant time on by falling into this big room.
Right, back here, there's a bunch of pitfalls, but they spawn in the same places every time, so any map of Rendarak (even if it's made for the original games) will tell you where they are: and if you're not into that, the pitfalls will be marked once you climb back up.
Masterful martial artists that have honed their craft to the point of perfection. Clash with one of these claw some canines and you're sure to be left sore.
Coming from DQ6, tiger jackal has War Cry, Multifists, Hardclaw and Thin Air. So, you know, the usual.
Final floor... and it's a maze.
This is a very Lost Woods sort of thing. You kinda have to follow a map here.
Monkeys with a penchant for magic who can be quite charismatic when they're not trying to beat adventurers to a bloody pulp.
Say hello to every Dragon Quest 2 player's worst nightmare: Batmandrills. Batmandrills did not actually appear in the Cave Leading To Rendarak, but were in the areas surrounding Rendarak itself, but they say enough- in DQ2, these had Kamikazee, and that was, no ifs, ands or buts, an instant game over. Suffice it to say batmandrills were not welcome in the series again until DQ10, where they were made a Rarefied monster of silvapithecus.
In this game, they do not possess Kamikazee, instead having C-C-Cold Breath, Kasizzle and Thwack. It says a lot that it's "only" Thwack.
...Say your prayers, you heathen batboons!
The end of that long and winding passage gets to find our errant thief.
"Something about batmandrills. I dunno what they're talking about, there's plenty of them in here." This staircase, obviously, takes you to Rendarak, and out of this dungeon.
I think even you might hesitate before Hargon's minions.
...Somehow I doubt the Soul Sigil is doing anything to help here.
A suit of restless armour decked out in Erdrick's signature kit who set out to engulf the world in unending terror.
Material family
4075 HP
299 MP
As the final boss of the Pastword section of Tickington, Erdrick's restless armour is an inspired choice. It has two attacks and the ability to block things, and comes knowing Kasap, Fizzle, Moreheal, Kazap, Falcon Slash, Gigaslash, and the ability to wield the Thunderbolt Blade as a Use Item. In the original DQ2, this had the effect of the Woosh spell, while DQ3 made it either Boom or Kasizzle, depending on what version you were playing. I'm not sure what this guy has.
I just know what we're up to.
And he's actually taking a bit of a beating.
And kinda responding in kind.
It hits everyone, I don't think the visual effect is that indicative.
Sometimes it does this, too. This counts as an action.
Time to move on.
...Not sure what the glowing is for, but I assume it's because they are now being wielded by a Hero again. Not the right Hero, but a Hero.
Best of luck to the Prince of Midenhall.
...Just the one?
He's going to put them back where the Restless Armour found them. And not, you know, in more convenient places. If nothing else, put the Thunderbolt Blade somewhere good, I left plenty of open chests...
This is either Erdward being a Prince or being a Hero, he has both in common.
Either way, we're done here.
The DQ2 Hero, also known as the Prince of Midenhall (I have been using both titles interchangeably) is the least fortunate of the bunch in terms of appearance: there is no sugercoating it, sir, you do not pull off an aviator's cap and goggles. An interesting element to this Hero is that he is the only one unable to perform any magic at all- they were still experimenting with the foundations of a Hero at this point, and it wouldn't be until DQ3 that the traditional DQ Hero build was codified.
On a similar note, since all three of Midenhall, Cannock and Moonbrooke have equal claim to Erdrick's descent, there is strictly speaking no narrative reason this character is the DQ2 capital-H Hero other than he's the only one strong enough to wield all the iconic equipment. He's the lead character, but as one of the first RPGs with a party system, he's making it clear this is a team effort.
Last stop for Tickington: Tantegel Castle.
Veronica: So let me get this straight- the tockles take care of those big books that record the adventures of legendary heroes from the past, right? Well, we're heroes too, aren't we? Do you think that means we'll have a book of our own in the Echo Chamber one day?
Erik: If this is where the King lives, I guess it must be the biggest castle around... The thing is, I'm not the world's biggest fan of castles. Let's finish what we came to do and get out of here.
Jade: There's something about Tantegel... It has a long and proud history, you can just tell.
Hendrik: The castle guards are clearly exceptionally well-trained. They would make formidable opponents on the battlefield, that much is clear.
Serena: The princess we saw in the throne room was ever so beautiful! She looked just like a princess from one of my old story books!
Sylvando: Owww... I hit my head on the way in here, and now it's pounding like a carnival drum! If there's one thing that's sure to throw the Great Sylvando off his stride, it's a low ceiling!
Rab: Aye, it's an auld castle, right enough. It reminds me a wee bit of how Dundrasil used to be when I was a bairn.
The room where it all began.
One of those most rare of circumstances: Seeing the princess rescued and actually returned to her father.
From the sounds of it, the DQ1 Hero is still grinding his way up to being strong enough to take out the Dragonlord.
(Incidentally, this would have the main effect of preventing the DQ1 Hero from saving his game.)
...The King has literally lost his voice?
Surprisingly, despite this being the DQ1 world, everyone is speaking less Old English than some of the other worlds threw our way.
This is the very last Pastword we have to solve, and they've thrown out the name of our ultimate culprit: the End of Time.
This goes some way to covering the unfortunate fact that, as ultimate quests go, this one is kinda lacklustre: We've done this song and dance before, we just need some birdsong nectar, as seen in DQ4 or this very game.
This time, though, we need something better. Still no problem for Serena, right?
This... well, this is a very blatant check. We can only get spectrum nectar once we've beat Calasmos.
Let's at least accept the quest.
So helpful. Her track record is giving us directions to a key item, though.
I feel whelmed.
The seed of life was a Torch in the original. I always thought it was a stick, or perhaps some plain clothes for armour- maybe it's different based on version. Either way, it's the most basic of stuff for a starting DQ1 Hero to be getting on with. That 120G number has never changed, no matter the version.
"Will thou tell me now of thy deeds so they won't be forgotten?"
The last Accolade is for all 10, and although of course that's the case... we're not going to see that until postgame.
Right, so what else are we going to look at? Well, we're just about at the level cap as it is... so how do we get all the way there?
Pep Powers.
First of all, we need a party of Erdward, Jade, Erik, Sylvando and Rab Pepped Up.
Step 1: Start a fight with something. It doesn't matter what, so long as it won't run away from you.
Step 2: Hallelujah.
Step 3: Have someone use a Pep Pip on Jade, and have Erdward Pep Up.
Now then, for the tricky part. You should use Electro Light, and you should only use it if Rab is in the party and hasn't taken his turn yet.
So what does Electro Light do?
It summons a massive set of curtains, and Erdward and Sylv watch expectantly as Jade transforms the enemies on the battlefield to something else.
Presenting...
...Of course it happened on the first go.
That can sometimes happen. I'm told the odds of it happening are 25%, but this is why we saved after Pepping everyone up. Don't forget that Step 0, it's a very important one.
(You get Hunter Mechs, Killing Machines or A3G15s depending on your level.)
That's more like it: We're here for Metal Slimes.
What kind also depends on your level.
Act 1:
- Levels 1-20: Three Metals.
- Levels 20-29: Liquid Metal and two Metals.
- Level 30+: Three Liquid Metals.
Act 2:
- Levels 1-40: Three Vicious Metals.
- Levels 40-49: Vicious Liquid Metal and two Metals.
- Level 50+: Metal King and two Vicious Liquid Metals.
Act 3:
- Levels 50-59: Three Vicious Metals.
- Levels 60-69: Vicious Liquid Metal and two Metals.
- Level 70+: Vicious Metal King and two Vicious Liquid Metals.
It should be noted that the Act 3 varieties aren't really Vicious, but more Malicious: They count as Vicious in the Beastiary, but they have higher EXP payouts. The level 50-59 group gives more EXP than the level 50+ group in Act 2 (130,670 as opposed to 180,480).
The Metal Slimes don't get to act on the turn in which they spawn, and so if Rab has a turn cued up, he's guaranteed to get to act before any of them have the chance to flee (yes, they can flee).
Dirge of Dundrasil doesn't always work, but it does a pretty good job.
Unfortunately, Erdward didn't have a turn after Rab's, but if the Metal Slimes are asleep, you really can switch out Erdward and Rab for Hendrik and Serena. While Sword Dance and Hardclaw are good at fishing for crits, hitting a Metal Slime is a good way to wake it up, so you want crits or nothing more than crits or hits.
Erik has guaranteed crits, so the battle will be over when he gets three turns.
Jade's Lightning Thrust, Hendrik's Hatchet Man, and Serena's Thunder Thrust and/or Naughty Stick will speed things up if they hit.
The base payout is around 322,890, I'm told, but Hallelujah has a random EXP multiplier between x1.5 and x3, hence the odd number.
Translation: A crapton of SP in the bargain. The last of the SP comes at level 97, but with the Seeds of Skill everyone has been fed, they should finish off their panels at that level and no further.
I'll need to do this process two or three times to get to that point, though.
Well, OK- Erdward, Erik and Veronica hit level 97 and got their Legendary Accolades.
Vicious Metal Kings have a Pep Pip as their Rare drop, so you can use the one on Jade "for free", while the Happy Hats are kinda passe at this point. What kind of endurance runs are we really up to, anyway?
Erik also hit level 99 from this one.
...Did that even do damage? Funny we got one while grinding up Pep for the next go.
If Sylvando is caught having a turn while the Metal Slimes are out, the best thing he can do is give it to Jade for Thunder Thrust. He really doesn't have much to work with for killing Metal Slimes.
I'm told this is a valid tactic in one (or both) of the DQ7 releases. Don't think it is here.
That's like 120000 less EXP based on random RNG rolls! No wonder the odds on Hallelujah is actually a barrier for speedrunners.
Poor Serena lags behind in levels to an annoying degree, which is why she hasn't got her achievement while everyone else did.
I figured I was close enough, might as well finish my grinding by getting the Beastiary entries I missed in Tickington and all the Rarefied enemies I missed out in the night-time Drustan's Trials and the like. You've seen everything I have to show about such matters except one.
A sweet-smelling bag bestowed with the gift of life by a witch with one heck of a sweet tooth. Made a name for itself by mimicking a deadly witch's dances.
The Bag O' Sweets appeared as early as the 3DS port of DQ7 as well as DQ10, and there wasn't really much option to pick him up other than grinding him out with no Circle or Wings of Serendipity before now. He can use the Fuddle, Sultry and Hustle Dances, although thankfully no Death Dance.
That's Serena done, as well as a good chunk of level 99s.
Legendary Luminary, Next-Level Luminary
Legendary Larcener, Master Thief
Legendary Legerdemadam, Flawless Sorceress
Heally Legendary, Virtuoso Healer
Living Legend, Megastar
Legend of the Ring, Undisputed Champion
Alive and Kicking, Venerable Elder
Chivalric Legend, Knight Exemplar
When it comes to levelling up, DQ11 has an unprecedented ability to actually hit a level 99 level cap Dragon Quest has been setting in place for years- as far back as DQ3. For the purposes of most DQ adventures, level 40 was the sort of level you'd expect to be hovering near for the final boss, and the best you could do for grinding was finding Metal King Slimes (or Platinum King Jewels) the conventional way, and hoping for the best on your crits once you did source them. The postgame bosses are suitably balanced for this, if erring a little on the harder end, and while DQ11 does expect you to soar no higher than level 70 for its endgame content (with the Definitive Edition's content being more suited to a level 99 team...) it sees no problem with letting you go the extra mile.
When it comes to Tickington, we end on observations very similar to where we started. This is a really cool thing for series veterans, getting to see classic locations retooled and interacting with each other, but in practice, the execution somewhat misses the mark. As content added on to a formerly complete experience, it's difficult to figure out when you're supposed to drop what you're doing and go investigate, and the fact several Pastwords depend on others is highly discouraging at the outset (shoutouts to the third Pastword you get being impossible until Act 2). Whether you find Tickington done well or done poorly depends on what you get out of it, and when you add on the fact that very few of the rewards have high mechanical value, there are definite issues when it comes to getting things out of it.
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