RGR009 - Wrong Turn

During our most recent bout of leveling up and saving money to buy better equipment, we decided to set out for the next town to see if the monsters there were worth more experience and gold. We had been told of the village of Kanave to the north, but a path to the east caught our eye. So we followed that path, through some mountains and across a bridge, until we finally reached a town called... Assaram. I'm surprised Nintendo let that one slide.

Assaram seems to be the home of some less than scrupulous merchants, who don't have set prices on items or equipment. Instead, they start high, and you talk them down. The problem is that the items they have for sale aren't really even worth the lowest amount they'll take for them. Still, they've got some impressive weapons, so we're thinking about saving up for a few things here as well.

We also learned that the town is more active at night, so we did a bit of wandering outside until nightfall, and then returned to find a sort of unimpressive new shop, as well as a girl who "told fortunes". I'm pretty sure she wasn't originally a fortune teller, because the dialogue seems to imply... another line of work. I'll leave it at that, since I'm trying to keep this blog family-friendly. There was also a club of some sort with dancing girls on stage, and oddly enough, the proprietors had no problem letting a 16-year-old in.

But in the end, this isn't where we're supposed to be at the moment, so we'll be heading back to Romaly Castle in the morning to make a fresh start of this leg of the journey.

Really? MORE keys?

Are you sure this is the right town?

*snicker*

Hey, aren't I underage?

There's kind of a rule in the Dragon Warrior universe where crossing a bridge more or less guarantees you'll be facing stronger enemies from that point forward. There's no exception here.

It's tough to make any money when you spend more bringing party members back to life than you actually earn from battles. Yeah, back to Romaly it is.

RGR009 - Magic Balls

Once we were comfortable enough with our abilities, we decided to set out to look for the Cave on the Promontory. It was actually not far at all from Aliahan Castle (a little over the width of one screen as the crow flies, I suppose). Inside, the enemies weren't much tougher than those outside, although they did gather in larger numbers. The cave led to a series of fancy passages with green brick walls, one of which appeared to lead to the castle's prison. The passage was blocked by a locked door, so I feel much safer. Strangely, we found an inn here, in the midst of all the monsters. Convenient, but very odd.

In the center of the passages was a staircase which led up to the ground floor of the Tower of Najima. The tower was fairly simple, with just a few winding passages that just looped around and led to treasure chests full of gold. Eventually, we found the mysterious man who stole the Thief's Key, just standing there waiting for us to show up so he could give the key to us.

Does anyone have a flashlight?

Oh, it's not that dark in here.

Ooh, an underwater passage!

Intimidating decorations!

I can see my house from here!

How do you keep the monsters out of here?

I has a key!

I WONDER WHAT I SHOULD DO NEXT.

With Thief's Key in hand, we headed back to the castle and opened every door we could find. Most of the people behind those doors spoke of a Magic Ball that could open a passage leading to a Travel Door. The passage was said to be in the Cave of Enticement to the east, near a spring. The Magic Ball was said to be in the town of Reeve to the northwest.

So we swung by Reeve and picked up the Magic Ball (it was wholely uneventful), and then made our way to the Cave of Enticement. The trip was rough, and we lost Theron along the way (his max HP is pathetically low, and growing slowly with each level), but we eventually reached the Travel Door and teleported to the next continent. Once we emerged from the cave on the other side, a short walk brought us to the castle of Romaly.

One thing: the "Magic Ball" was really just a simple bomb; people didn't understand things like chemistry and explosives back then, so they assumed it was all magic.

That wasn't magic, it was science!

Hey, they had these in the last game!

Next-gen special effects today!

Someone needs to dust in here.

Another castle!
Is the princess here?

I guess word travels faster than we do.

What colorful enemies...

Tonight only! The Humanabat 4!

I think I'm going to spend a bit of time here leveling up and upgrading my weapons and armor before heading out. Yeah, it's boring, but I've been nearly wiped out on several occasions by regular enemy parties, so I need to beef up a little.

RGR Game #009: Dragon Warrior III

About time, eh?

Exciting four-character party action!

All right, now we're back on track. Next up is the third installment in the outrageously-popular-in-Japan-but-not-quite-so-popular-in-the-US Dragon Warrior series, Dragon Warrior III. The game begins in the castle town of Aliahan, on the morning of your sixteenth birthday. As the son (or daughter; yes, you can choose!) of the brave warrior Ortega, who died fighting a dragon on the crater of an active volcano, the time has come for you to follow in his footsteps and make some tacos pop. Or maybe fight against the forces of evil. Yeah, that sounds more likely.

Once your mom finally manages to drag you out of bed and send you off to the castle, you meet with the king, who informs you that you've been approved to go out and fight as his successor. He then gives you a hefty quest: to seek out and destroy the Archfiend Baramos. He gives you 50 gold to get started, which I can only assume he happened to have found in his pocket, and tells you to go form a party and get going.

Having played through two Dragon Warrior games already, I think it's safe to assume Baramos will wind up not being the real final bad guy. Call it a hunch.

Mom, you're embarrassing me!

Jeez, I just turned 16!

Isn't it early to be talking about keys?

I feel like I'm being led somewhere...

Before forming my party, I went around and talked to everyone I could get to, and immediately started learning about some key called the Thief's Key made by a thief named Bakor. It turns out he's already in prison, and his key was stolen by an old man in a nearby tower (ugh, not a tower... I had my fill of towers with Faria), and I could get to the tower through the Cave on the Promontory. Looks like that'll be the first leg of my adventure.

I then headed to Luisa's Place, a little local eatery where potential party members gather, to recruit some help. For now, I decided to stick with the default party members waiting for me (Brindar the soldier, Theron the wizard and Viron the Pilgrim). You can also create your own party members, which amounts to selecting a name, gender and class; I made a few extra members, but I'll hold off for now, since I think these guys balance the party out pretty well.

That's a lot of slimes.

Apparently, Viron's a robot.

Once we've upgraded our equipment a bit and gained a few levels, we'll be heading out to the cave to get that key. Let the adventure begin!

RGR008 - Ding Dong, The Witch is Dead

Upon reaching the final town, I finally learned the reason why all these kyonshi appeared and started hopping around: an evil witch named Obo had settled in this town and begun spreading her magic throughout the area. So it was now up to me to destroy her and bring peace back to the people, so that the clichéd plotline could wrap itself up.

Again, the battle is prefaced with a gauntlet of lesser kyonshi, placed there only to drain my health and give Obo an unfair advantage once I reach her. The final faceoff would actually be pretty easy if the witch avoided you a bit better. She does exactly two things in this battle: she fires little magic arrow thingies, and she teleports. That's it. The problem is that she occasionally (though not occasionally enough) teleports to the spot where you're standing. The arrows are easily jumped over, but Kenchi lacks the ability to break into a sprint, so if she's about to appear where you are, you're going to get hit.

Luckily, Obo also has a habit of teleporting near you, with her back to you. When this happens, she's slow to realize, and you can get in several good hits before she turns around and teleports away. So with a little luck, you can bring her down nice and quick.

Don't you love how I keep switching between first and second-person perspectives?

No one said she was pretty.

Ha! Take that, witch!

Wait, do I get paid for this?

Kung Fu Staff Roll GO!

With Obo defeated, her magic influence over the region disappears, and the undead go back to being just dead. Kenchi, being the glutton for punishment I guess he is, goes looking for new challenges in "a far away land with sand storms raging." More power to ya, Kenchi.

I'll try to get back on track from here, so next up will finally be Dragon Warrior III! Don't miss it!

RGR008 - The Bosses

Since the game is kind of repetitive (enter a room, kick and punch the kyonshi until it bursts into flames, repeat until you have the three orbs, fight the boss, repeat), I'll skip over all the unimportant stuff and just give you a run-down of the bosses:

Boss 1 - Illusionary Kyonshi

Known as Genyoshi in the manual, this boss makes large, slow hops toward you, leaving a trail of phantom images of himself in his wake. The height and speed of his jumps makes him easy to beat, as you can just stroll on under him and give him a couple of kicks from behind each time.

Boss 2 - Knife-Throwing Kyonshi

The manual calls this guy Raunshi (he and Genyoshi are the only bosses named in the manual). He acts like every other tall kyonshi, except that after each jump, he pulls out a couple of knives and throws them at you. If you stick close to him and duck when he throws the knives, he's not too tough.

Ooh, fancy.

He really does have knives. Promise.

Boss 3 - Front-Armored Kyonshi

This boss has no special attacks, but he can be a little tricky because he can't be hurt from the front. This isn't a big deal, though, as you've most likely gotten used to attacking kyonshi from behind at this point.

There are occasional flashes of lightning during the fight, but they only serve as a distraction.

Boss 4 - Floating... Guy?

The fourth boss is drastically different from any enemy you've fought up to this point. He isn't a typical kyonshi, and his attacks are more direct than the mindless hopping seen up to this point. He actually floats, and quickly charges at you (looking a bit like a lion when he does), knocking you down on contact. I got lucky in this fight, as his pattern is interrupted when the two of you are too close to the edge of the screen, and he wound up standing there stupidly as I kicked him repeatedly.

You don't look so tough.

HATE. THIS. GUY.

Boss 5 - Super-Heavy Kyonshi

This boss acts like a normal large kyonshi, but he apparently eats bars of lead when there are no people around to feed on. When he lands from a hop, the screen shakes and you're knocked off your feet, interrupting your chance to fight back. But a small, well-timed jump avoids the knockdown, allowing you to get in a hit or two before he hops again.

Boss 6 - Axe-Wielding Numbskull

This guy is kind of ridiculous. A palette-swap of boss 4, all this boss does is slowly inch toward you and swing his little axe around when he gets close enough. Your turn kick has slightly better range, though, so you can keep him at bay and just kick him until he drops. As long as you don't rush, he's laughably easy.

EARTHQUAKE!!!

The foot is mightier than the axe.

Boss 7 - Magic Fireball Kyonshi

Ugh. The difficulty of this boss makes up for the lack of difficulty of the axe guy. It all starts when you have to fight four increasingly difficult lesser kyonshi on the way to him, so that you'll tend to have very little life left when you reach him. Then, he throws fireballs. It'll probably only take one to kill you at this point, and they're tough to deal with at close range. Fortunately, like every other kyonshi, he seems to get confused when you duck, and may turn around and hop the other way. You can use this to your advantage, especially if you have the Mirage Thrust and Mirage Walk techniques, which allow you to punch and move around while ducking, respectively. The fireballs are still a threat, though, and I only finally managed to survive this fight when I got to the boss with a fair amount of life left.

Fireballs? No fair!

Here goes nothing...

The final town contains nothing but the three orbs necessary to remove the "sealenter", whatever that is, and the final boss' hideout.

As long as there are no more fireballs, I'll be okay.

RGR Game #008: Phantom Fighter

Yeah, kick that F into place!

Who will claim victoly?

All right, folks, it looks like my guest player is going to hold off for now, so I'll get started with another game. Phantom Fighter (known in Japan as Reigen Doushi) is a one-on-one kung fu beat-em-up by FCI where you use your mad kung fu skills to fight... well, not phantoms, actually.

The story, according to the manual:

Those wacky Chinese phantoms, Kyonshies, are on the loose again, wreaking havoc in eight villages. The Phantom Fighter, Kenchi, and his incompetent assistant have been called in to save the villages. Using special skills acquired from the Kung Fu master and items gathered throughout the villages, they must chop and kick their way to victory. But the contest is not all physical--as the Phantom Fighter, you have to answer some tricky quizzes before the master will reveal the secret skills that will help you defeat the Kyonshies.

Uh, yeah. 1989. Anyway, the plot of the game is basically in there: you travel from town to town, fighting off the kyonshi and saving the people. When you enter a training hall to learn new moves, you have to answer some asinine question before you can talk to the master.

But kyonshi aren't phantoms. Phantoms, by definition, are immaterial or illusionary. Kyonshi are hopping zombies. They have substance, and it hurts when they hit you.

Oh, and I should probably mention that this game is very loosely based on a series of Chinese movies called Mr. Vampire. But it's basically irrelevant, so that's the only time I'll bother mentioning it.

But you already have a kung fu guy.

Remove the what now?

This should be a nice quick break between RPGs. Stay tuned!

RGR007 - The Thrilling Conclusion!

The Final Tower was a bit of a pain, mainly because of its size, but also because there are a few rooms with pits that drop you all the way down to the ground floor. Luckily, my maps guided me back to where I needed to be every time. Hooray maps!

After swearing and going back up several times, I finally made it to the boss room. I actually didn't get a chance to map out a good chunk of the top floor, since you can't go back once you reach the boss corridor. There, the Dragon (aka the Wizard) greeted me with his best pre-final-battle spiel.

This has to be one of the most disappointing final boss battles in the history of final boss battles. The Dragon barely shimmies from side to side, occasionally shooting a short stream of fireballs at you. These are easily jumped over. So you jump over the fireballs, hit him in the "base of the neck" (which really just means the general head region), and back off a bit to wait for the next stream of fireballs. He takes around six hits to defeat. That's it.

With the Dragon defeated and the Wizard's spirit once again sealed inside the Legendary Sword, I roamed around a bit to see what the townspeople had to say. They all just had words of thanks, so it wasn't very exciting. Once I reached the castle, I presented the king with the sword, and he offered me the princess' hand in marriage again. I politely declined, saying I needed to return to my homeland, and the princess decided to follow me. Funny, I don't remember being okay with that. Finally, the credits rolled with images of some people I met along the way, and of my journey back home with the princess.

Hey, neat dragon!

He's been practicing his villainese.

I want a sequel too.

He barely moved.

My mighty inventory!

Oh, what an ending.

And away we go!

You guys get a staff roll this time!

This marks the end of game #007, Faria: A World of Mystery and Danger! Stay tuned for the next exciting installment of Retro Gamer Ryan!

I may just have a guest player for the next game!