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Alright then everyone, welcome back to Let's Play Dragon Warrior 1! Sorry this took so long! In addition to all the Christmas shenanigan's, I just started at my new university, and I had some trouble figuring out how to do this update. The next grinding session turned out to be MUCH longer than I expected it to me, so I spent a while trying to figure out how to restructure this update to accomadate that! But here it is at last, so, anyways...here's the update! And this time with music and everything (which I...completely forgot to add when I started this...sorry)!

Overworld Theme

Last time, we got a Magic Key from Rimuldar, so now, we're going to put it to use. So, after saving, let us head, here...



Oh yes, Level 4, and already we'll have explored more than half of the world map by the end of the update. Aren't old-school RPG's funny that way?



Fortunately, THIS TIME, we're not going to be facing much risk, because one, the enemies in and around the Mountain Cave aren't nearly as strong as the ones in Rimular, and we're also not forced to walk through any marshes this time.



So here we are, let's see what awaits us!



Dungeon Theme (1st Floor)

Mmm, seems we have two dungeon floors this time, though again, the enemies aren't that strong. Sure, the 2nd floor has the Skeleton and Warlock...but even then, those two weren't quite as hard to run from as the Wolf and Metal Scorpion, so things still aren't too bad.

Also, there's that Fighters Ring that that one NPC mentioned last update, but, it doesn't actually boost your stats or sell for much money, so you can just ignore it. Anyways...



Like every other cave, this one is pretty dark. But if we use that Torch we got at the very first update...



Ha! There we go!

...I mean ok, that's still not a whole lot of visibility, but it's not so bad, right? I mean as long as you take the first up on the 1st floor, then take the first down on the 2nd floor, you shouldn't get too lost.



And of course, the 1st floor enemies are fairly weak, so death shouldn't be a problem there.



Dungeon Theme (2nd Floor)

That said though, you should still keep your HP up, especially once you hit the 2nd floor, which has these guys. Again, they're low tier Rimuldar enemies, but they're still Rimuldar enemies nonetheless. And yes, the Cave theme DOES get lower and lower in pitch the deeper you go! Rather nice touch if I say so myself.



Other than that, all you have to do is get this Gold chest along the way...



And get this chest at the very end!



Now, this chest has about a 94% chance of giving us Gold, but if we get lucky...



We can get the Death Necklace instead, which we can sell for 1200G! Which, now that I think about it, is kind of a jerkish thing to do to the merchant, because this here is one of two cursed items that you can find throughout the game. Put it on...



And you get this message, along with this sound effect! Fortunately though, despite what the message says, nothing really happens. You don't have any of your stats lowered, you don't take more damage in battle, you don't start having your HP drained...so it's not nearly as bad as any of the cursed items in later Dragon Quest games.

However, contrary to what I said last update, there IS one side effect to being cursed, as MaskedHuzzah pointed out. If you try to enter Tantegel Castle while wearing a cursed item...



The game shows you this message, then kicks you right back onto the overworld. And if you try to be cute, and get yourself killed while wearing a cursed item, you get this response...





Dang dude! Since when did we turn from being the Dragon Warrior to being Jazz?!? You couldn't even have healed me first?! Or let me save my game?! Thank goodness we have that old man in Brecconary...



Talk to him, and he just gets rid of the curse instantly and free of charge. And even before we had the Internet, we had Nintendo Power AND the Explorer's Handbook to tell us how to get rid of the curse. So really, it's more of a minor inconvenience than anything else. And considering the only two items that curse you to begin with are...

1) An item that only has a 6% chance of actually appearing in some remote cave in the middle of nowhere with no relevance to the plot.

2) Another item that is literally right on the final floor of the final dungeon where the final boss resides, and is even locked behind a door no less.

It really makes you wonder why they even bothered putting curses in the game to begin with. Was there some cut or unused content that was going to be in the game or something, but got taken out? I dunno. It's really kind of a dumb mechanic that I'm glad was changed in future Dragon Warriors...so anyways...



We get ourselves killed! Again !



Throne Room

And fortunately, the King is kind enough to NOT throw us out like beggers...but you know what, this is kind of unfair. Have I not been putting my LIFE on the line?! So why isn't the King giving me something awesome, like a flaming sword, or a tiger...or even a flaming tiger?! But no, instead I just get a few coppers and a torch. That's nonsense! Surely he has more than that?! Surely he's got some secret stash we can raid? Let's go and find out..



Aha! Those four chests we couldn't get yet! Let's open it up, with that Magic Key we got at Rimuldar, and...



...and...



......



Holy cow, the Dragonlord really DID attack Tantegel at some point, didn't he? Apparently the Light Orb wasn't the only thing he took...

.......

Except wait, why didn't that chest disappear? Let's try taking some gold again.



K, took the contents two more times, and it's still not disappearing...



.......Why, I do believe...



WE HIT THE MOTHERLOAD!! WAHOOOO!! INFINITE GOOOOOLD :HAW: !!!

Alright, so here's what's happening, as explained by our main man, Ryan8Bit...

Ryan8Bit posted:

[-=The treasure chest bug=-]

The handling of treasure chests in Dragon Warrior was done in a very strange way. Whenever you take a chest, it doesn't simply check to see if you are standing on a chest, but rather it checks what your position is on the map and it checks if you've already taken a chest at that position. These positionsare loaded into a collection of numbers. Whenever you leave a town or cave, this collection is wiped clean, which in part is why chests reappear when youre-enter. The only time this collection is not cleared is when you die because it was an oversight on the part of the programmers, which was later corrected in sequels to the game. Because the data is not cleared, it thinks you still picked up those specific chests at those specific coordinates.

Another thing is that whenever you enter the throne room in Tantegel, the original three chests that were in that room are placed into this collection to make certain you don't get them again. So if you die in one cave after having collected two chests, that makes the total chests it thinks you've collected as five. Because the maximum number of chest positions the game alotted is eight, that makes it so that when we pick up the fourth chest in the treasury, that it would be the ninth chest. Because the collection is full, it can't store that ninth chest's position, and therefore that position will never be on that list when you hit take. So if the game can't find that position on the list, the chest never disappears.

The bug allows you to pull as much gold as you want, which effectively gives you lots of gold really fast, and allows you to buy some of the best equipment very early in the game.


So, that all sounds pretty awesome, right? Only one problem with this method. See this minute long GIF below?



Yeah, that's how long it takes just to collect 200 Gold from the chest. And we're going to want to collect 5315 Gold by the time we're through here, so yeah...that's a bit of a grind, to put it lightly. About 20-22 minutes, to be exact.

And yes, unfortunately, this is still the fastest way to progress through the early levels. I don't remember exactly how much the trick saves, but I believe it saves around 20 minutes in a speed-run due to allowing us to immediately grind at Rimuldar, where all the Metal Scorpions and Wolves are. Otherwise, we'd be reduced to grinding on this green strip of land affectionately known as the "Hills of Hubris"...







Battle Theme W/Intro

And as you can see, all of the enemies except the Ghost either know HURT, or are very resistant to physical attacks, forcing you to spam HURT on them until you can buy a Copper Sword for 180G (and even then, physical attacks don't work well on the Scorpion until Level 6). And then of course, you'd get the Small Shield for 90G, just because it's cheap, and is kind of helpful until you can get the Large Shield.

Unfortunately though, because we no longer have infinite money, we are now forced to recharge at Tantegel instead of the Brecconary Inn. And that problem is only compounded by the fact that, even when you start getting stronger, the Magidrakee's and Magicians are still pounding you with HURT. So you're always having to heal up, despite the enemies otherwise being beneath you, as displayed in this screenshot...



Yeah, not much more Exp. than what we've been getting, is it? What really makes the Gold Glitch so fast however, is that it gives us access to extremely powerful armor that we otherwise would not get until around Levels 10-11. Without it, we would otherwise need to wait till Level 8 to grind at Rimuldar, and even then, we'd still be taking a lot of damage.

So, there you have it. Now let's get a shiny new shield at Garinham, after all the time that's passed!



As you can imagine, the trip is much easier when you're three levels higher, and DON'T try to fight everything on your way there. So, just head there...





Village Theme

And buy the Large Shield, the first of three pieces of equipment we will use to exterminate EVERY monster who dares to walk the Rimuldar region! And since the Half-Plate won't be enough for our purposes, we shall be getting the FULL-Plate armor instead, found in one other place we have to go to. But first, let's talk to the townsfolk, shall we?

Welcome to Garinham. May thy stay be a peaceful one.

Garin, a wandering minstrel of legendary fame, is said to have built this town.

I have heard of one named Nester. Dost thou know such a one?

Yep, there's our 2nd Howard and Nester reference. And here's a neat little fun fact in regards to that. From the looks of the Credits screen, the translation was actually done by a Japanese person. BUT, fortunately, they got an english speaker to look over and localize the text before releasing it to the public...and guess who that person was?

Scott Pelland. And if you didn't know, he was both the Managing Editor and Editor-in-Chief of Nintendo Power (yes, those are different positions). So there you go! Our translation was essentially written by Nintendo Power itself! Neat eh? Anyways...

Many believe that Princess Gwaelin is hidden away in a cave.

It is said that the Princess was kidnapped and taken eastward.

And here's where we get some follow up on the whole "Princess Gwaelin" thing. Remember her? Well, it turns out, she was that grey woman stuck behind that door we saw in the Swamp Cave! Unfortunately, despite having conquered the door (who was a terrible foe indeed), there is yet a greater danger that guards Gwaelin, a danger that we'd have trouble with even at Level 13, let alone Level 4. So we're passing on that for now.

So that's the townspeople outside...but what about inside?

I hate people! Go! Leave me!



I?m too busy. Ask the other guard.

I?m too busy. Ask the other guard.

And here's where the game blatantly trolls you. See those two guys behind the door? Well that's these two numskulls here, and boy are they irritating. What's worse, we're eventually going to have to go into Garin's Grave, which ALSO has a door that needs unlocking. So if you came here to Garinham with only two keys, and tried to raid the Grave, well...stinks to be you I guess !

Once there was a town called Hauksness far to the south, but I do not know if it still exists.

Remember this for later readers ...

They say that Erdrick?s armor was hidden long ago.

Erdrick? Didn't we here of that guy? ...Eh, maybe I'm just imagining things, pay no attention to that readers.

I suggest making a map if thy path leads into the darkness.

A useful tip, except, we Americans already had the Explorer's Handbook. Still good for those who didn't have it for some reason though.

The harp attracts enemies. Stay away from the grave in Garinham.

Now then, remember one of the golden rules of RPG readers! As HCBailly says, "if someone tells you to go and do something, you must therefore go and do it. If someone tells you NOT to do something, you must then go and do it." But, for now, we can't do anything else, so let's go get some more swag, here!





And once you get here, you can buy...



The Full Plate Armor! And in addition to that, you can also get...



The Fairy Flute, directly south of the springs! For now, it just takes up precious inventory space, but eventually we're going to need it for something. Anyways, with that done, let's talk to some more people...

This is the village of Kol.

Please, save us from the minions of the Dragonlord.

Art thou the descendant of Erdrick? Hast thou any proof?

This bath cures rheumatism.

Ok, so, it turns out, I messed up when I said the "Tomato Woman" in Rimuldar wasn't the Puff-Puff woman. It turns out, she IS the Puff-Puff woman in the NES version, but then she got relocated to the hot springs in Kol in the remakes. So, my bad...oh yes, and for those curious, a "Puff-Puff" is where a woman either jiggles her breasts for you, or rubs them into your face (usually the latter when it comes to the Dragon Quest series, though generally it turns out something else is being rubbed on you instead). So hurray for legalized prostitution I guess ...

Hast thou seen Nester? I think he may need help.

Yet another interesting fun fact. While this whole "Howard and Nester" thing obviously wasn't in the Japanese version, the actual Japanese dialogue is actually fairly similar. You see, instead of some guys looking for Nester, there are two guys named Miyaou and Yuutei looking for someone named Kim. And the joke is that, while all three of them were the scenario writers for this game, only Miyaou and Yuutei are actually listed as such in the game credits.

Now obviously such a joke doesn't really make sense outside of Japan, so the whole Howard & Nester thing is actually a really clever localization choice, in addition to being a cute reference .

East of Hauksness there is a town, ?tis said, where one may purchase weapons of extraordinary quality.

Said town is somewhere we will go someday, so remember this as well.

In legends it is said that fairies know how to put Golem to sleep.

Golem is afraid of the music of the flute, so ?tis said.

Now here's something else rather curious about the game. This "Golem" guy is, surprise surprise, an "optional boss" in the game. Meaning you don't technically have to fight him...but you need to in order to get the most powerful shield in the game. So he's basically mandatory, and we need the Fairy Flute to defeat him at a reasonable level...

But here's the thing. Nobody actually tells you where Kol is. In fact, the only "Non-Kolian" person who even tells us that there IS a town named Kol is that Howard guy in Rimuldar...but even then, he doesn't tell us WHERE Kol is. And of course, we're fortunate enough to have a fairly obvious Grassland trail that leads to Kol, but one could still theoretically miss this vital clue...

Point is, be glad we had that Explorer's Handbook !

Rimuldar is the place to buy keys.

"Ah! So THAT'S how I can get more keys!", your typical newbie would say upon finding Kol. However, as the game is then quick to point out...

Dreadful is the South Island. Great strength and skill and wit only will bring thee back from that place.

Hast thou been to the southern island? (Yes/No)

(if you say ?No?): To the south, I believe, there is a town called Rimuldar.

(if you say ?Yes?): I have heard that powerful enemies live there.

So that's your cue not to go till you're absolutely ready meaning you'll want to be able to get the Broad Sword when you get there. And we WILL want a Broad Sword soon. Because after all...

Though thou art as brave as thy ancestor, Hero, thou cannot defeat the great Dragonlord with such weapons. Thou shouldst come here again.

See? Our weapons sucks! We simply HAVE to have a Broad Sword, located here!



At last! A a proper weapon for the Dragon Warrior to wield! But before we put it to use, you're going to want to rest up at the Inn...



Yeah, 55 Gold. Quite a far cry from the mere 6 Gold amount that the Brecconary Inn charage you, huh? This is why I said to get 5315 Gold rather than just 5300. Because while you do get some extra money from selling off the Club and Clothes, that only adds up to 40G, and we REALLY don't want to start grinding until we've gotten all our MP back.

That said though, I'm going to end things right here, just for now. I was going to cover the grinding, but, that whole section turned out to be much longer than anticipated, so I had to rework this update to accommodate that. Instead, I'm going to split this update into two parts, and upload the grinding section either tonight or tomorrow. So, for now, look forward to next time on Let's Play Dragon Warrior! Have a nice night everyone!