Note: Two days left to vote!

Just a quick reminder: less than two days are left to vote for the system I play once I'm done with the NES Dragon Warrior games. The polls close at 11:59pm on Tuesday, March 31, so get out there (over there, to the right of this post) and vote!

Oh, and I'm going to break up the monotony a bit after Dragon Warrior II with an NES platformer or a short adventure game. I'm not sure what I'm going to play just yet, so feel free to make suggestions in the comments of this post!

RGR002 - The Road to Rhone

I guess updates have been a little less frequent lately; I don't just sit around and play video games all day, you know. But I did make some progress this weekend, and I've got a nice batch of screens too! The echoing flute turned out to be a waste of time, since I already had the crest I was being led toward. So I started visiting every place I could find, and happened upon a monolith north of Midenhall where I met an apparent expert on all things Eye of Malroth-related. This is good, because I happened to be looking for the Eye of Malroth at the time. She sent me back to the cave I had been searching, so I kept right on searching, and finally found a lava-lined corridor I had been unintentionally skipping up to then. After some more wandering, I finally found the Eye of Malroth.

Again with the specifics!

Eew, it's all squishy...

You sure know a lot, lady.

Oh, you mean this crest here IN MY POCKET?

Then I just had to figure out how to get to the valley where the entrance to Rhone is supposed to be. All around the world, there are a number of warps, many of which form a network. The warp I was looking for was, of course, not part of this network. It was behind a prison door in the town of Beran. On the other side of the warp, I found a hole in the wall that led me to a monster who told me where the Water Crest was. Except it wasn't there anymore, since I've had it for a while.

The caves leading to Rhone are a serious pain; there are hidden pits all over the floor you enter on, all of which drop you into an area overrun with Horks. Sitting right out in plain site, though, is a treasure chest containing the Life Crest, so I guess it's not all bad. I decided to keep exploring, and managed to get to some upper floor areas where I found Erdrick's Armor. I was getting pretty weak by that point, so I fled for the time being.

OHMYGODTHEMOUNTAINISOPENING!!!

Huh. That was easy.

Who put THAT there?

Now I just have to figure out how to get through the cave and actually make my way to Rhone. Easier said than done, I think.

RGR002 - Sweating the Petty Stuff

Okay, so I spent the weekend doing things other than playing Dragon Warrior II. But I did manage to get a little time in, mostly spent revisiting towns with my recently acquired keys of awesomeness. I also did some wandering and completed small tasks and what-not, which has gotten me more of Erdrick's Old Stuff™. I also finally paid attention to what people were saying and found the sunken ship with the Tresures(sic), which I traded with some guy in Lianport for the Echoing Flute. I kind of know what I have to do with that.

Oh, I also found the place where I had to use the Moon Fragment to open the entrance to some cave. So that's where I'm at right now.

What, no rainbow drop?

Ooh, boy. A cave. Sounds fun.

Yeah... BERRIED TRESURES!
BENEETH THE SEE!

Family resemblance FTW

I also decided to revisit the Dragonlord's grandson since I've got four of the crests now, but he had nothing new to say. And the enemies in his castle are actually kind of puny now. That's pretty sad.

RGR002 - The Tower of the Moon

Quick update... I did what I said I would, and headed back to Tuhn to open the watergate. Now the river that used to flow by the town does so again. The Tower of the Moon is a maze of staircases, which I somehow managed to navigate successfully to find the Moon Fragment.

Yay, no more awkward sand!

Just looks like a rock to me...

I guess I'm supposed to use it somewhere to get somewhere. I also picked up the Magic Loom in Zahan, but I need the Dew's Yarn before it'll be of any use to me.

That's AWFULLY specific.

YES I DO.

I guess I know where to look. Oh, and the second picture is the mysterious bad-breathed man above Wellgarth, in case someone didn't believe me.

RGR002 - Time Skip

Well, several things have happened since the last post, so I'll just list them:

• I defeated some sort of cat thing in Osterfair and received the Crest of the Moon
  
• I climbed the Lighthouse tower and obtained the Crest of Stars
  
• I found Zahan and the Golden Key after sailing around for a long time
  
• I headed straight back to the guy with bad breath near the World Tree and entered the building, only to find the town of Wellgarth, where I bought the Jailor's Key.
• I then used the Jailor's Key to enter Roge Fastfinger's cell, and found him hiding just outside it. He gave me the key to Tuhn's watergate.
  

This place again? Maaaan...

Yeah, you'd BETTER not.

I suppose I'll be heading back to Tuhn now to open the watergate. Then I'll be able to reach the Tower of the Moon. Hooray!

RGR002 - Landlocked

So I decided to check out Charlock Castle, just to see what's there now that the Dragonlord is dead, right? Well, not much has changed; I found Erdrick's Sword in pretty much the same place it was before, and on the bottom floor, a familiar face greeted me at the Dragonlord's throne. It was his grandson, who doesn't seem to be too bad a guy. He went on and on about Rubiss and crests, and I started to drift off.

There wasn't too much else to see in Alefgard, so I started exploring a little bit, until I happened upon the village of Tuhn. It's surrounded by mountains and streams, so there's some walking to be done to get there. Unfortunately, that also means there's some walking to be done to get back to the boat, and the enemies here are awfully strong.

Where'd we park the boat again?

Yikes.

Hmm... the weapon shop has some interesting stuff, so I think I'll try to save up some gold and level up around here.

RGR002 - Alefgard Ho!

You'd better be right about this...

Heh, I wasn't REALLY worried.

I had a bit of time to play, so I finally made my way up the south tower of the Dragon's Horn, donned the Cloak of Wind, and jumped. There wasn't much to the area to the north, except for the town of Lianport, where I saved an awkwardly-placed damsel from the wrath of two Gremlins. In return, her grandfather lent me his ship. I promptly sailed east to Alefgard, the kingdom from the first Dragon Warrior.

Funny, I remember Alefgard being bigger.

RGR002 - The Cloak of Wind

I managed to spend some time today playing Dragon Warrior II, leveling up and what-not, and I decided to head out on the next leg of my adventure. In order to get to where I need to be, I'll need to cross a river with no bridge and a tower on either side, known collectively as the Dragon's Horn. I'd heard something from a villager in Hamlin about the Cloak of Wind, which allows someone to safely fall from a great height. Since no game brings up something like that without it being important, I obviously need said cloak to cross said river. And guess what? It's in ANOTHER tower.

Here lies the Cloak of Wind.

The Dragon's Horn

I've had my fill of towers now. The Cloak of Wind wasn't terribly difficult to find, though there are some confusing paths in the tower, but I have it now, and will be heading across the river the next chance I get.

RGR Game #002: Dragon Warrior II (NES)

Okay, now we're getting somewhere. For my second game, I've decided to keep going with the Dragon Warrior series, so it's time for Dragon Warrior II! The game expands on the Dragon Warrior formula by having you build a party along the way through your adventure. You'll be joining this one in progress, since I've already started playing the game, and have already assembled said party. I'm nowhere near the end, though, so there's still plenty to enjoy. In fact, right now I'm leveling up around the town of Hamlin, where Gwen joins the party after you use the Mirror of Ra to break the curse that's turned her into a dog. She starts at level 1, and I've now raised her up to level 7.

The wizard's not part of the party.

The Zombie was a pushover.

Thanks to the fact that the rest of us are at such high levels, she doesn't die nearly as often as Glynn did when I first reached this area. ;)

RGR Game #001: Dragon Warrior (NES)

All right, I was a bit too late in creating the blog to document this one in any detail, but my most recently completed game was Dragon Warrior for the NES. I spent a couple of weeks, mostly leveling up, and just barely managed to beat the Dragonlord at level 21 by alternating attacks with casting HEALMORE. Yay me!

And it took me an embarrassingly long time to find the Stones of Sunlight. :)

Future posts will be more detailed, with screenshots and everything!

Welcome to Retro Gamer Ryan!

Thanks for visiting my retro gaming blog. I'm Ryan, and I'll be... well, I'll be retro gaming. I've been slowly compiling a list of games from the past that I either never got a chance to play, never managed to beat, or just feel like playing again years later. I've already made my way through several games on my list, but there are still plenty of games I plan on tackling. So sit back, relax, and subscribe to the blog so you don't miss any updates!