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Resources

'Red Scarlet'Dragon Quest 4 (PS1) - 'Red Scarlet' (2006)

Hello. When I first requested suggestions for my summer project of playing through Final Fantasy 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, X-2, 12 and then the Dragon Quest games over the summer at a forum I go to (http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=100904), there were a couple of video requests for particular parts of the game this group of videos is for, the remake of Dragon Quest 4 for the PS1. The game never was released outside of Japan/Asia, and a number of people were pretty dismayed about that. There were also some requests at the Dragon Warrior 4 NES board at gamefaqs.com for some parts of the game. I figured that doing it all would allow whoever to watch whatever they wanted from the game.

I only finished the FF games over the summer, but I felt that due to the requests about this game, I may as well fulfill those requests. There were also some requests for the PS2 remake of Dragon Quest 5, which I may do the same thing for later on for that game (which was also never released outside of Japan/Asia).

The video and my comments pretty much assume that you have played the NES version of the game story-wise, but I will try my best to explain what is going on and why I am doing whatever. Also I will try to discuss things that were changed in this version of the game. Maybe you'll see something you did not know about, or perhaps you will see something I did not do/know and can help myself and others play better.

This is not a 'speed run' of the game. I am playing it how I regularly do, except I did use a few stat bonus seeds that I would normally save for later on in the game. This was so I could hopefully save some playtime and avoid some levelling-up. Also in a regular playthrough for me, I take 0 game overs, 0 party escapes, and complete the 'Monster Picture Book'. I am somewhat rusty at the game, since it has been awhile since I last played it on a new file, and I had just spent the summer playing all of the (offline) Final Fantasy games.

I'd like to thank DJGrenola for taking the time to sync the audio to all of these, Nate Jahnke for putting these up on archive.org, and SaberinBlue for letting me use up all his bandwidth constantly.


---PROLOGUE---

Right off the bat, the game begins with an added prologue before going to Chapter 1. The prologue more or less sets up the Hero's friend Cynthia being able to cast the moshasu (aka Transform) spell, which plays an important role at the beginning of Chapter 5. After the Hero has lunch with her parents, the game formally begins at Chapter 1.


---CHAPTER 1---

In this chapter, the player uses a soldier named Ryan (Ragnar in the NES version), who along with the rest of the royal soldiers, are to find out what has happened to children in the region.

In town, the old guy by the castle still follows you around if you talk to him (he says he is a former soldier or something). Then I just look around town to grab some Medical Herbs and money, then leave.

After reaching level 2, I head into the cave that connects Batorando (aka Burland) to the town of Imuru (aka Izmit). What you need to do is enter the town at night, then you can talk to the man in jail (Alex). Once you do that, head back to Batorando and speak to Furea (Flora? in the NES version). She will follow Ryan to the town. I take a side trip at the inn, though. Furea isn't very faithful..

Back at Imuru, Furea makes Alex snap out of whatever daze he is in, and he will tell Ryan where the hidden well is in the forest outside of town.

In the well, the voice tells you to go this way or not this way, but in order to get Hoimin (aka Healie) and a free 600 gold, you have to ignore the voice and go the wrong way. After I get those and the Flying Shoes, I leave the dungeon and buy an Iron Shield for 650 gold. There was the temptation to save up for a Crossbow (changed from Boomerang due to what Boomerangs do in Dragon Quest 5 onward), but I figured I might as well save the money and hold out with the Copper Sword until I get the Evil Crushing Sword (aka Sword of Malice in the NES version) in a little while. The difference in Attack Power was only +6, so that didn't seem worth the price of 350 gold.

After using the Flying Shoes, I'm at the tower. The badguys here really suck when you first enter. Those Ducksbill guys cast rukani/Sap (removes a target's Defense Power), the Lilipat guys cast sukara/Upper on a fellow enemy (doubles the target's Defense Power), those Big Chicken things can put you to sleep with their pecking attack, and Baby Magicians cast hyado/Icebolt. That can only be cast once by each of them, though. After reaching level 7, I bail out to go to an inn and save. Just leap off the top floor of the tower to get off the tiny island and back to the regular continent.

Back in the tower at level 7, I figure it's time to go and try to get the Evil Crushing Sword. As anyone who has played the game before knows, this is a really nice weapon. Not only is it pretty strong early on in the game, but it also casts the gira/Fireball spell, which does about 20 damage to a group of enemies. This makes Ryan a much more capable fighter for the rest of the chapter.

After getting the sword, I'm just grinding around for a few more levels to have an easier time against the boss at the bottom of the tower. The healing spot on the second floor is handy (restores all HP and MP). Once I hit level 9, I figure that's a high enough level to not have to worry too much about the two bosses.

The two bosses are the same as the NES version, except I think the 'main' boss's name translates to "Pisaro's Fingertips" instead of "Saro's Shadow". Pisaro is Saro's regular name in the Japanese version of the game. As in the NES version, when the Giant Eyeball is near death, it gets angry and does a critical attack (now in visible form) that does 15 damage.

If I remember right, the boss tells Ryan of his plan: he is kidnapping children because a legendary hero is still a child, so if he kills all the children of the world, then the hero would be dead too.

Ryan rescues the children, drops them off at Imuru, gets a Power Seed by the well, then returns to the king.

I can't remember if Ryan receives 10,000 experience in the NES version or less, but that is how much he gets in this version of the game. Ryan then decides to leave in search of the hero to protect him or her.

Onto Chapter 2! The cumulative play time at the end of this video is 00:59.


---CHAPTER 2---

Chapter 2 is my least favorite of the first four chapters, and for me is also the longest one for me to complete (just over 2 hours). It stars the "Tomboy Princess" Alena, and her compatriots Clift (aka Cristo) and Brai (aka Brey).

The 50 gold on the rooftop of the castle I believe was added in this version of the game. Whatever helps, though! I was tempted to sell the Feather Hat (for 210 gold), but I decided to keep it for the very beginning. Things start a little rough, but Alena perseveres.

Brai doesn't need a weapon right off, the hyado/Icebolt spell does better than a weapon would right now anyway.

I should have sold the Feather Hat at the start, then gave Clift's Club to Alena and bought a Copper Sword for Clift, but that didn't sink in again until a few minutes later.

I try my luck with some harder monsters and that lets me get to around level 3-4 for the party. That's good enough for the first boss in the chapter. In the next town (Tenpe/Tempe), there is a Small Medal in the well, which was an added medal in this version of the game. It is a little easier to get that medal now than later on.

The Chameleon Man (aka Chameleon Humanoid) and two Wild Lion Dogs (or whatever) aren't too bad, but they don't go down without a casualty from my side. I believe there is a Life Nut on the ground where the fight takes place on the NES version, but it does not seem to be there in this one. Onto the next town, Frenor.

At this town, it appears that the Princess and her escorts have arrived! But it is a group of imposters, which are promptly attacked and the fake Princess is kidnapped.

After some grinding, I opt to skip the next dungeon in favor of trying to reach the bazaar and fight monsters there. Much better experience and gold is gained from those enemies. The rariho-/Sleep spell is very handy.

I purchase some armor upgrades (a Scale Shield for Brai and Clift), then go through a couple of mishaps and decide to just go into the cave for the Gold Bracelet since it is almost nighttime and I have to enter Frenor at night to trade the Gold Bracelet for May (the fake princess). After the trade, May gives the Thief's Key to the real princess.

Once you get the Thief's Key, you need to talk to a townsperson at the bazaar, then speak to Alena's now-mute father. Then you go to the town of Saran next to the castle and figure out how to find the cure for the king at the top of the Birdsong Tower.

At Frenor, I save the game then reset. This was so the priest would appear at the top and not block the garden he is tending. I grab the Mysterious Nut there, then go to the Birdsong Tower.

I *really* hate this tower, but luckily did not have a tough time there. Some chests were skipped, and I almost died trying to get a couple of monsters to appear (namely a Pteranodon and those Dragon Butterflies). After curing the king, he allows the party to go through the shrine that leads to the castle-town of Endor.

I lucked out killing a Metal Slime on the way to Endor, then bought an Iron Claw for Alena, then stocked up on some Medical Herbs. After reaching level 13, I decided to go and try the tournament.

A couple of people requested the tournament, and hopefully those people will enjoy the results. Lagos/Rorik(?) has a Crossbow instead of a boomerang because of the switch from Boomerangs to a Crossbow in the game. Simon/Sampson is a real jerk, and sometimes heals himself. I got very lucky when I killed him, and the final round of the tournament is pretty funny, and a relieving victory.

Once the tournament is over, the chapter ends with the trio returning to their home and all of the inhabitants are missing, except the cat on the rooftops. The party also wonders what happened to the other winner of the tournament, Death Pisaro (aka Necrosaro), who disappeared while Alena was fighting. Now onto Chapter 3! The cumulative play time at the end of this video is 03:04


---CHAPTER 3---

Chapter 3 is a story of greed, rip-offs, deviant acts, and just making lots and lots of gold, starring a merchant named Torneko (aka Taloon), from the town of Reikunaba/Lekanaba. What's extra cool is that you can pass on the greed to a later chapter. My goal was to get someone to sell an Evil Crushing Sword (aka Sword of Malice) within 4 days of work maximum, and I got it on the 2nd day after 2 resets of 4 workdays with crap. As shown, you can still push the old guy to the doors of the church and get paid.

However, I stupidly stayed at the shop for the rest of the 'work day' with really stupid customers that would not take "no" for an answer. Too bad you can't run out and hit those people, but I tried anyway. For some reason, I had a massive brain fart and thought a Copper Sword cost 150 gold.

I also went to the "classic perspective" for the screen as it was in the NES version (customers walking in from the right). After the second workday, I pick up a Copper Sword and head out to get to level 2 and hopefully some good drops. I didn't get any.

All I go for in the cave north of Torneko's hometown is the Chain Sickle in a chest and for whatever goods are dropped (for those that don't know, item drops are much more frequent in Chapter 3 and the contents are completely random; a Slime can drop a Steel Sword, for example). The "prize" in the cave is an Iron Safe, which allows Torneko to keep all of his gold if he is killed in battle. But since I don't plan on dying and the Iron Safe can't be thrown away, I do not get it so I can carry a 12th Evil Crushing sword into Chapter 5. The amount of items a party member can carry was increased from 8 to 12, which allows you to get more money from being sneaky with Torneko's inventory.

At the castle of Bonmo-ru/Bonmalmo(?), Tom needs a Chimera Wing (aka Wing of Wyvern) to escape from jail. Speaking to the escaped prisoner back at Reikunaba lets you borrow Tom's dog, cleverly named Thomas. Thomas is used at the village southeast of Reikunaba to get Don Gaade to repair the bridges to Endor.

The fox "leader" gives Torneko a suit of Steel Armor, which is very nice to sell to the old man at the castle (they need armor, and the man offers to buy whatever armor you have for random prices, up to or surpassing double the buy price). I enter the castle at night to get the Prince's letter, then stay at the inn to sell that Steel Armor to the poor armor guy. I got really lucky on the first try and the man offerred a whopping 4,021 gold for the Steel Armor. Who was I to say no? With this money, I had enough to buy an Evil Crushing Sword for Torneko.

A point to note is that if you are working at the weapon shop in Reikunaba, there are 3 new weapons that people can bring in. If you buy any of those off the customer and another customer comes in and buys those weapons, the weapon leaves the shop list. That is why I kept saying "no" to those people that wanted to buy the Evil Crushing Sword. But when Torneko buys any of those weapons, the store stays in stock, which is very handy.

After returning Thomas to his owner, I enter the castle and speak to the king, who is elated at the bridges to Endor being fixed so he can invade.

Upon entering Endor, Torneko reads the Prince's letter to the Princess of Endor, and the King of Endor overhears the problem (the Prince and Princess are in love, and he is warning her of his father's impending invasion). The King gives a letter to Torneko to give to the other king, to hopefully reach a more peaceful result between the two countries. Why use military force when your son can marry the princess and take over anyway? With this crisis averted, the King of Endor allows Torneko to own his own shop. But he needs 35,000 gold to do so.

Instead of levelling up, I just recruit the soldier guy Scott to help out in the cave with the Silver Goddess's Statue. I leave most of the chests in the cave for them to be opened early on in Chapter 5, where they are a little more helpful.

The Silver Goddess's Statue sells for a nice 25,000 gold. I forgot that the shop costs 35,000 and not 30,000, so that's why I bought some armor and sold it to make some more money. Oops.

Once the shop is bought, the chapter is basically over and there is very little walking around or fighting to be had. Torneko's wife, Nene (I do not remember her name in the NES version), is an excellent seller. She sells any item or equipment at 150% the regular cost. So really, you can buy anything and have her sell it, and make money.

When I have enough money from selling Iron Aprons, I then start buying some Evil Crushing Swords so Nene can sell them for over 5000 gold apiece. Once I have enough money to start on the King of Endor's order (6 Iron Armor and 6 Steel Swords, changed from 7 of each, if I am remembering right). The reward for filling the King of Endor's order is 60,000 gold, exactly how much gold is required for the old man east of Endor to resume his tunnel going east.

I make enough money to not only fill the King's order, but to actually fill Torneko's entire 12-slot inventory with 12 Evil Crushing Swords. This comes in handy early on in Chapter 5 for the party to have a method of hitting a group of enemies for no cost of MP, and to also get a little more than 18,000 gold instantly after Torneko joins the party.

Torneko pays the old man to resume digging the tunnel eastward and leaves his wife in search of really powerful weapons and stuff. So ends Chapter 3. The cumulative play time at the end of this video is 04:24.


---CHAPTER 4---

Chapter 4 stars two sisters, one named Minea (aka Nara) and Maanya (aka Mara). They are on a mission to find Balzack, the man that killed their father. Minea is a fortune teller, while Maanya is a dancer. After Maanya quits her job dancing, the game starts.

I grab some items in town, along with a handy 80 gold someone dropped at the dancing theater. I thought this 80 gold was added to the remake, but I searched afterward on the NES version and the 80 gold is there, too. I am not sure if BTB added that 80 gold to his guide at gamefaqs.com, but it is there to help out NES players that did not know about it.

Maanya's opening armor is really poor and worth good money, so I sell her Dancer's Clothes for 300 gold and equip the free Silk Robe found in a dresser. I also trade up Minea's Copper Sword for the stronger Crossbow and buy a Hairband for both sisters. Maanya can get along fine without a weapon for awhile due to her mera/Blaze spell. Then I set off to the next town, Kormizu (Kievs? in the NES version).

Kormizu is the hometown of the sisters, so the innkeeper does not charge them to stay. This is handy for some initial grinding with stronger monsters just west of town. In town, the grave of Minea and Maanya's father, Edgan (Edgar in the NES game if I remember correctly) hides a Life Nut. Kind of creepy.. My goal is to get 350 gold so Maanya can have a Crossbow. When the sisters reach level 5, I have that much and return to Monbaaraba to buy a Crossbow, then enter the cave west of Kormizu.

Some of the monsters in the cave can be annoying, like the mushrooms that poison and the Stone Dolls that cast sukara/Upper on themselves, making them harder to damage.

At the end of the cave, I grab the Lamp of Darkness and get Orin to join the party. As he is much stronger than the sisters, I make him lead the party. Instead of leaving right away, I grab the Sphere of Silence to help with some battles later in the chapter. In this cave (and to the north) are little green monsters with pitchforks named "Xemime" in the NES version. As far as I know, they are the only missable monster that cannot be fought in Chapter 5 if you are going for a fully complete Monster Picture Book. If you are going for that, make sure you fight one of those guys in Chapter 4. Check around 21:55 or 31:57 to see what monster I am talking about.

With Orin in the party, heading north is a lot safer. Near the town of Habaria (Haville in the NES version), there are groups of Slimes that form a King Slime. Those Slimes are different than regular Slimes, but they are not a part of the Monster Picture Book. You do not need to kill one for a complete MPB. After some grinding, I buy some Iron Armor (Half-Plate Armor in the NES version) for Minea, then grind a little more for a Fur Coat for Maanya to equip. Now I have the strongest armor for both sisters, which helps for going to the next destination, Attemuto (called Aktemto? in the NES version).

The ruined town was attacked by monsters in the mine, so that means the party's next place to go has to bethere!

My initial goal in the Mine is just to grab the Silver Tarot Cards for Minea, as they are a slightly stronger weapon for her (and free). Then I walk back to Habaria and purchase a Scale Shield for Minea, a Feather Hat for both sisters, and a Poisoned Knife for Maanya.

I would imagine some people pick up the Poison Needle instead, as it is helpful against Metal-family monsters (1 damage nearly all the time). I go with the Poisoned Knife instead because of the chance to paralyze monsters, including the Metal-family ones. Whether or not this is a good choice I do not know.

After getting the Gunpowder Jar in the mine, I sell the Silver Tarot Cards. I found it really disappointing in how nerfed the cards are in this version of the game. In the NES version, there were 10? different cards that could be drawn per battle. Once a card was drawn, it could not be drawn again. If all 10 cards were drawn in the same battle, an 11th card would be drawn for the rest of the battle, the 'Card of the Terminator'.

This card would summon a Death God (called Necrodain or Necrodian in the NES version), which was really powerful to fight at this stage of the game. If it was paralyzed (via the Poisoned Knife), you could keep drawing the card to try and get good experience and gold from them.

In the remake, that card does not seem to exist, and a card could be re-drawn before the other cards showed up. On top of this, the worst card to be drawn, the one that can instantly kill the party members, seems to be the most often drawn card. I tested it a few times, drawing around 25-30 times in a single battle, and the instant death card seemed to be drawn around 40% of the time. The risk is simply too great to try for double experience/gold or critical hits for the party, in my opinion. This is why I sell the Silver Tarot Cards.

Once the sisters reach level 11, I go and fight Balzack. The Sphere of Silence makes him much easier to kill, then you are meant to die against King Leo (aka Keeleon in the NES version).

In jail, the old guy gives the sisters his boarding pass, which I forgot was in a treasure chest. For some reason I was thinking it was hidden on the floor, which I soon found out that it wasn't. Orin keeps the guards of the castle busy while the sisters escape, and upon return it appears that Orin has died.

With the Boarding Pass in hand, the sisters take a boat (I forgot I needed to talk to all the people on the boat) to Endor, ending Chapter 4. The cumulative play time at the end of this video is 05:33.


---CHAPTER 5 (part 1)---

Due to the length of the chapter and limits of my hard drive, Chapter 5 is divided into four parts. It takes a little under 10 hours for me to get from start to end in Chapter 5.

The chapter starts out with just the Hero, destined to meet up with the previous 7 characters from earlier chapters. It's a regular day in the secluded village, as the Hero gets (and eats) the lunch for her father. An old man says he will teach the raijin/Zap spell after lunch, and the innkeeper of town found a wandering traveller. Going against the rules of the village, he allowed the traveller inside.

In the original game, the traveller looked like a woodsman or hobbit. In this, the traveller is none other than Pisaro himself (I didn't catch it until later on in the game or the second time through).

The hero's friend Cynthia (the one that used the moshasu/Transform spell in the prologue) is resting in a field of flowers.

As the hero goes home to eat lunch, a townsperson barges in and says that monsters found the town. Now it's time to hide the hero and protect her, or die trying. The hero's father in the NES version said that he and his wife are not the hero's true parents, maybe that's what they still say in this.

The hero is hidden off in a secret room at the basement, then the man gives the Monster Picture Book to her and says to stay hidden. After some fighting, Cynthia comes in and says the hero will be safe, then casts moshasu/Transform to look like her. Cynthia says goodbye, then walks out to the monsters.

After Cynthia's sacrifice, the hero can leave and view the destruction of the village. A check of the inventory shows that you start with the handy item bag at the start of chapter 5. The hero leaves the village then gets some items at a small house to the south. Supposedly, the man at that house is the hero's grandfather, while the grave is where the hero's real father is.

Onto Branca, then southwest to Endor! I go through the cave a few times in hopes of being the 1,000th (or 2,000th) person to cross, where the game gives you a prize, but the game did not want to cooperate.

At Endor, Minea joins the party for the low, low price of 10 gold for reading the hero's fortune. When she realizes who the hero is, she joins and says that her sister is probably gambling their money away at the casino.

The prizes at the casino are different in the remake than in the original (no Metal Babble Shield, for example), and poker was seriously nerfed. You can now only bet 10 coins maximum instead of 100 per hand, and it appears that it does not matter what card you choose, the game moves the card to whatever choice you pick. As far as I know, the only viable way to gain coins in the casino is by betting on monster fights, which takes a long time to do. Because of this, I do not play casino games. Much later in the game, I do buy some casino prizes thanks to the Monster Picture Book. If you fully complete the Monster Picture Book, the game gives you 300,000 coins.

Back in Endor, I purchase/sell some equipment then head off to the Goddess Statue Cave from Chapter 3. Since I left most of the chests there in Chapter 3, they are available to grab in Chapter 5 where the contents are a little more useful, like some Iron Armor and a Steel Sword for the Hero to equip for free.

I head to Bonmalmo looking for a Poison Arrow Hood. After a few minutes of trying, they finally show up. East of Branca, I try to find some Mandrake, which elude me for a little while. Then I head east to the Cave of Betrayal.

In here, the hero is split up with Minea and Maanya, then has to fight two battles. The first one is against two 'Lick Lick' guys, which can be annoying if they cast the manuusa/Surround spell (which one did). The actual boss of the cave isn't too hard unless the little guys on the left start building up power then attacking.

After the boss fight, the hero meets up with the real sisters, which they ask if Minea was at the casino. Even if you say the incorrect answer, you are just asked the question again. Back as a group, the trio finds the Heart of Faith, then heads to the desert shrine.

At the desert shrine, Hoffman (called Hector in the NES version) joins the party after seeing the Heart of Faith. He brings along his wagon and the horse Priscilla to help cross the desert. Hoffman refuses to join until you have the Heart of Faith in your possession.

The first town to show up is Aneaux, with very little of use available. The next town is Konanberry, which has a couple of small medals that are missable. If you do not get the medals on the ship before beating the next dungeon, they cannot be found again. To the east is the Lighthouse, a pretty annoying dungeon.

Once at the Lighthouse, the party meets Torneko. The problem is that monsters have taken over the Lighthouse, and no ships can depart from Konanberry. The goal is to find the Sacred Spark (or something like that) at the top of the Lighthouse. Some of the badguys in here can be rough. The 8 Metal Slimes was pretty insulting.

At one point, you can speak to a Minidemon that decides to go get Torneko. Luckily for him, the Minidemon casts ruura/Return indoors and knocks itself out. At the top of the Lighthouse is the boss, a Lighthouse Tiger and a pair of Fire Soldiers. After they are beaten and the Sacred Spark is used, the lighthouse is safe.

Back in Konanberry, Torneko joins the party and invites everyone onto his ship to sail south to the town of Mintos. In Mintos, Hoffman leaves the party to study under the resident businessman, Hiltan. He allows the party to keep the wagon and Priscilla.

With Torneko in the party comes some nice goodies. Each party member is given an Evil Crushing Sword, then 7 of the remaining 8 are sold for 2,625 gold each. That's an instant 18,375 gold. One extra is kept for Alena to use for a little while after she joins the party. The extra gold comes in handy to purchase some really good equipment for the hero very soon. Speaking to Hiltan nets a Treasure Map for the party, which is useful.

If you go into the inn, you can meet Bray and a sick Clift. Bray can join the party right now, but I don't really use him, so I just wait to get all three characters from Chapter 2 to join up at the same time. For now, I just go to the other areas on the continent with Mintos.

First up is a shrine that has a hidden small medal. It can be tricky to stay inside, for me anyway. The kingdom of Soretta is southeast, but there isn't much to do there until after the cave to the southwest is beaten. So into the Padequia Cave I go.

Alena leads a party looking for a Padequia Seed (to cure Clift). Why Alena knocks the door out while she has the Thief's Key in her possession is weird, but that's Alena. If you speak to her, she suggests a race to get the Padequia Seed.

At the bottom of the dungeon inside a chest is the Padequia Seed. Getting that, I warp to Soretta and speak to the King, who quickly plants the seed and the party receives some instantly-grown Padequia. Back at Mintos, the party uses the Padequia on Clift, then Alena and her cohorts join the party after finding out that the hero is looking for Death Pisaro too. As the party leaves the inn, a bard tells the party that Ryan is at the castle of King Leo, looking for the hero.

With Alena in the party, I make my preferred group for most of the game: Minea, Maanya, the hero, and Alena. Call me sexist if you want. I prefer the battle theme of the two sisters, and in order for it to play, Minea and Maanya must lead the party. It is a little tougher in this game to do that thanks to the lack of a Metal Babble Shield at the casino. Oh well.

Now it's time to put that money to use, so I sail southwest to Riverside (aka Riverton in the NES version), and just have enough gold to purchase a Dragon Killer, Dragon Mail, and a Dragon Shield for the hero. These purchases make getting quick experience easier. Gaining some levels quickly speeds up the game and makes the upcoming boss battles not as frustrating.

Now I have the Thief's Key, which is needed in order to get the next key, the Magic Key. The Magic Key is found in the cave west of Kormizu. At the very end of the cave where the Lamp of Darkness was, you can find a switch inside the chest that opens up a staircase to the basement, where the Magic Key is.

When you have the Magic Key, there are some free items to find. At Endor, there's the free Pink Leotard and you can access the armor shop that has the best armor in the game, Solitary Metals/Metal Babbles (whatever their Japanese name means.. I've been told about 4 or 5 things). I can't remember if the armor cost 35,000 gold in the original or not, but that's how much it costs in this version. It's the strongest armor in the game, and about half of the party can equip it (the Hero, Ryan, Minea, Clift, and Torneko can). My next big purchase will be a suit of the armor for Minea. Afterward, I warp back to Monbaaraba to find an elusive Dragon Puppy/Papi.

Winding up this part of Chapter 5, I go to Saran/Santhaim for some items and monsters. Savnucks aren't very friendly. After that is Stanciara/Stancia, where the king is giving away a Sky/Heavens/Ether (Zenithian in the NES version) Helmet to anyone that can make him laugh. Although the party tries, the attempt fails. Going back to Monbaaraba during the day enables the party to enlist the help of the male comic, Panon. Panon does not make the king laugh, but he knows why the king was trying to laugh (to cheer up the people despite what's going on in the world), and the king gives the Tenkuu Helmet to the party for the hero to equip. At the very end of this part, I enter Rosaly Hill (aka Rosaville) and purchase a Killer Pierce (called Stiletto Earrings in the NES version) for Alena to equip in a little while. Thus ends part 1 of Chapter 5. The cumulative play time at the end of this video is 8:01.


---CHAPTER 5 (part 2)---

Part 2 starts off with the party going to the Seaside Village to grab the Stone of Drought, which allows you to get into the depths of the Waterfall Flow Cave, where I pick up the Time Sand (called Sandglass of Regression in the NES version).

The Time Sand is a little different in this version than the original. It's now easy to abuse. What the Time Sand does is when you use it, the battle goes back to the start. It's helpful if things don't go your way. After one use in the original version, you could not use the Time Sand again until you rest at an inn. In this version, you can use it as many times as you want to without the one use restriction. This is handy for killing Metal-family monsters easier, which I am preparing to do.

Just south of Endor is the Royal Crypt, where you can fight those Metal Babble guys. Each one gives 10,050 experience. Accompanying them are some relatively strong monsters that can give the party a tough time at this stage of the game. The Dragonit monsters (the green dragons) are probably the deadliest of the bunch, due to their high defense and flame attacks that can do 30+ damage to all party members without breath defenses. The purchases made at Riverside make the hero strong enough to take the Dragonits out and not be damaged by the flame attacks.

When I do bump into some Metal Babbles, Alena equips the Killer Pierce to do two attacks a round. After a few level-ups, the Killer Pierce becomes her permanent weapon due to the increased damage from the two attacks. Once the party gains a few levels (and quite a bit of experience), I head to King Leo to fight the boss with the same name as the castle and Ryan joins the party. Up and to the right of the exit of the castle is a bard named Hoimin. Looks like Ryan's buddy from Chapter 1 became human after all!

With Ryan in the party, the group is complete. Along with the complete group is a new overworld song, as well as a new sidequest in the game. Entering the Desert Bazaar from Chapter 2 with the complete party allows you to initiate the "immigrant town" sidequest with Hoffman. If you've played Dragon Quest 7 you are probably familiarwith the immigrant town.

After speaking to Hoffman, you can find randomized townspeople at certain locations that you can recruit to populate the immigrant town. There are several final forms of the town, but I tend to just go for the generic one with no specific character types. At certain points in the game, it looks like you can get more people. Some of the people you can recruit are NPC's from earlier points in the game. I will note them if I can figure out who they are. Something important to know is that there are several items (mainly some small medals) that are missable if you recruit a large amount of townspeople without checking on the town in the early stages. After recruiting a certain number of people, you cannot get back to the earlier phases of the immigrant town again.

I try to bump into some new sea monsters in the ocean, then enter the cave north of the Medal King's Castle (called the Shrine of Breaking Waves in the NES version, I think). At the end of this cave is the Tenkuu Armor for the hero.

Back at the Medal King's Castle, I get the second prize, a Protect Ruby. I think the first prize was some Fishnet Tights. The Medal King is different in this version from the NES version. In the original, there was a list of prizes you could purchase with medals, but now the medals work like later versions of the series where you get a prize from the Medal King after finding a certain number of medals. The only way to get a Metal Babble Shield in this version of the game is by finding 52 small medals. At 25 small medals, the party will receive a Magical Skirt.

After this, I begin searching for immigrant townspeople to recruit. Of note, I recruit May (the fake princess Alena from Chapter 2) at the 1:11:15 mark, the man from Branca/Alena's party in the Padequia Cave at 1:13:05, Orin is alive and well at Frenor at 1:14:25 (but not recruitable) and with the party talk you can see that Minea and Maanya are relieved. I recruit Lagos (the 2nd battle from the tournament) from Chapter 2 at the 1:16 mark, name the town 'Scarletland' via Hoffman's second suggestion (you can choose to name the town whatever you like if you refuse Hoffman's suggestions), then go down to the stage at Monbaaraba at night, where the audience wants the party to dance and even strip. I think the female party members laugh at the idea. Party members such as Ryan and Bray get offended, though. Back at the immigrant town, take a look for the cow that sleeps in a bed!

Other noteworthy townspeople (like the other participants in the tournament) are found later on. At Santhaim, the party fights Balzack again (called Balzack+ in the Monster Picture Book I think), then grabs the Magma Staff and Flute of Uncovering (whatever it's called in this version) and leaves. Balzack is gone for good, at least. A neat change (I thought) is that during the Balzack+ fight, Minea and Maanya's battle song plays regardless of your party.

Back at Rosaly Hill, the Flute can be played to fight a boss, the Pisaro Knight. Beating him nets the party another Sphere of Silence, and a meeting with Rosaly. She's pretty much Pisaro's girlfriend, hidden in the tower away from humans. When Rosaly cries, her tears are made of ruby. Because of this, greedy humans would beat her up to make her cry and get her Ruby Tears. Rosaly asks the party to stop Pisaro, then cries. The tears crumble away, though. Rosaly plays an important role in the bonus content added to the remake, which will be explained later.

After meeting Rosaly, the party sails to Ryan's homeland. At Imuru, you can have the different dreams, but there's no reason to view them now. The well east of Imuru now holds many monsters from Chapters 1-4 that are not fightable in Chapter 5, which is helpful. There are still a few monsters that do not show up in this dungeon, so you have to watch out. I forgot to bump into a Numbing Broadsword (called Zappersaber I think in the NES version) in Chapter 4, so I fought around inside the well until I did run into some, then left the dungeon.

A mountain/landslide blocks passage into the 99%-woman town of Gardenburg. With the Magma Staff you can make a path to the castle. When you use the Magma Staff, it leaves the possession of the party. I'm not sure if the Magma Staff disappears if I leave the area without taking it.

At Gardenburg, a man suggests you search a dresser, then as the party leaves the room, the nun believes you stole her bronze cross. You are arrested, then taken to the queen. After convincing the queen that you were framed, she allows the party to find the real thief, at the expense of a party member remaining as a prisoner. The coffin-ized Ryan does not seem to be happy to stay in jail..but who cares? He's dead right now!

The Cave Southeast of Gardenburg isn't too eventful. There's some treasures there (one that I forgot to grab and had to walk back to get) as well as the real thief inside. After beating the boss, the real thief is arrested and the queen gives the Final Key to the party. Now that I have the Final Key, I can go back and grab some more items that were behind some jail cell doors, such as the Tenkuu Shield at Gardenburg, various small medals in several towns, the handy Ice Blade at Reikunaba, the now a little more useful Massacre Sword (Sword of Decimation in the NES version) at Konanberry, and a Staff of Thunder from the cave south of Frenor. This was added to the remake; I just randomly tried chests and found it in this, then tried in the NES version and it was not there. After getting some more treasures, part 2 ends. The cumulative play time at the end of this video is 10:33.


---CHAPTER 5 (part 3)---

Part 3 is the longest video (almost 3 hours), due to searching for some new sea monsters. As you may have noticed, there are some monsters in the ocean that weren't in the original game. I read somewhere that those monsters (some, maybe all) were in the original, but dummied out and not fightable in a regular play of the game. Either way, there are more monsters to encounter in the ocean, and some can be a little annoying to find. The last one was the irritating Mud Looper (or Mad Looper), which I finally found at the 1:29:49 mark.

The first destination in part 3 is the Waterfall Flow Cave, now that I can go through it. Inside at the end of the cave is the Hagure Metal/Metal Babble Sword. It's the strongest single-attack weapon in the game and does 2 damage to Metal-family monsters. Minea gets this weapon in my game. After that, I go through the Royal Crypt to grab the Staff of Change, which is needed in a little bit. At 54:25, the inevitable happens. A Hambalba drops a treasure chest, with a Full Moon Herb inside. *Every* single time I have played the game, NES version or PS1, I have always gotten a chest from one of those guys. I really thought I was going to break the 'curse' this time, but no. I'm curious if this happens to anyone else, or just me. I am completely serious in my statement that every single time I have played this game that I have gotten a chest from those guys, one day I hope I can get through without doing so. But not this time.

After another roundup of immigrants, the next stop is the Majin Statue/Collossus, which takes the party to Death Palace (aka Dire Palace). The Staff of Change is needed here to assume the form of monsters. At the meeting, it is announced that the (I think) Sovereign of Hell (called Ruler of Evil in the NES version) Esturk has been found at the Attemuto Mine. There used to be a Staff of Thunder found here, but it was replaced with a megante/Sacrifice Armlet.

At the Attemuto Mine, the third floor has expanded, which leads to where Esturk is. After killing Esturk, Pisaro appears and is shocked at his death. Then he is angered at the news of Rosaly's abduction. The flame guarding a chest is gone and you can get the Gas Pot/Canister. Giving that to a scientist-looking guy at Riverside allows him to make a hot-air balloon, the game's airship.

North of Soretta is where the 'x' on the treasure map is. Taking a party of 3 is required, I believe, in order to get Lucia to join the party and to get the last piece of Tenkuu equipment, the sword. The initial attack power of the sword is pretty weak. Not too impressive. After getting the Tenkuu Sword, it's time to head west of Konanberry to the island with the town of Gottside.

There are a couple of other interesting places to visit on this island, such as the Horn Shrine. In there is a Goddess Bracelet and the Baron's Horn, which is useful later and now in battle can sometimes hit random enemies four times. South of Gottside is the Tenkuu Tower. After getting the Baron's Horn, I do one last swoop of collecting immigrant townspeople, culminating in some more small medals and getting a free Falcon Sword for the hero. I just get enough small medals (52) for the Metal Babble Shield, which greatly aids Maanya.

Some noteworthy immigrant townspeople are the priest from Alena's Padequia Cave party at 1:04:44, Vivian (the third enemy in the tournament from Chapter 2) at 1:14:58, and the 'Lick Man' (Linguar in the NES version), the final enemy in the tournament from Chapter 2 at 2:32:58. I thought I also got Mister Han and Simon (the other participants in the tournament), but I couldn't find where in the video they were. The cumulative play time at the end of this video is 13:25.


---CHAPTER 5 (part 4)---

After going back and getting a couple of earlier monsters I missed, I trek up the Tenkuu Tower. I got pretty lucky with some of the rarer monsters here (like the Flame Dog), then get the Tenkuu Sword powered up by Master Dragon. Lucia invites the monster Doran to join the party. Up next is the 'Final Cave', where I think I missed a chest in the large, swampy area with the raft. Oh well. The Mirror Shield was kind of nerfed in this version of the game; reflected spells no longer hurt Metal-family monsters when a spell is cast, so it isn't a dependable way to kill Metal Kings anymore.

In the small final area, I kill the Gigademon (which still drops an awesome Club), Hell Battler (I think it was Infernus Shadow) which drops the second Miracle Sword in the game, then the Andreals (Anderougs in the NES version), then finally the Evil Priest (aka Radimvice). He plays an important role in the bonus content. I believe before
the fight, he says he ordered Rosaly to be killed.

With the four seals gone, the way to Death Pisaro's Castle is opened, where I get the Sage's Stone, save, then fight and beat Death Pisaro at level 36. Clift proves pretty handy thanks to his sukuruto/Increase spell. After the ending, you can save your game to begin the bonus content, Chapter 6. In Chapter 6, your 'final' stats and rank are shown, and here is a screen cap of my stats after beating Chapter 5:



Ending Time: 15:15
Number of Battles: 701
Enemies Killed: 1981
Gold Gained from Battle: 102,519
Number of Victories: 701
Times Defeated: 0
Times Fled: 0
Most Damage in One Move: 251 points
Hero's Level: 36
Rank: 'King of Fast Solve' (or something like that)

Onto Chapter 6!


---CHAPTER 6 (part one)---

Chapter 6 involves a new dungeon, some new monsters and bosses, a new party member, and a new final boss. The new dungeon is found at Gottside, and the floors of the dungeon are comprised of various places in Dragon Quest 7 as well as Dragon Quest 4. There are some pretty rough enemies, such as Pandora's Boxes. As soon as I get a total of 60 small medals, I warp to the Medal King's Castle to receive the final small medal prize, the Gringham Whip. The whip is a few points stronger than the Hagure Metal/Metal Babble Sword and hits a group of enemies.

Near the end of the dungeon, I have to walk around for a little bit to find the last remaining regular enemies in the Monster Picture Book. At the very top are the two bonus bosses, one resembling an egg and the other a chicken. I believe they are arguing about which object they look like came first. Either way, a battle with them ensues (with the casino music of all songs to play in the background). I kill Eggura first due to his use of "Icy Pulse" and I think he revives Chikiira as well. After beating them, the two guys create a large flower on a painting of a huge tree. Now it's time to get a new party member.

Eggura and Chikiira complete my Monster Picture Book, so after looking at it, I receive a nice 300,000 casino coins. Now I can buy Meteorite Armlets for each party member.

At the top of the giant World Tree (where the Tenkuu Sword was) is the huge Flower of the World Tree. Since a Leaf of the World Tree can revive a fallen party member, a flower must be pretty powerful. Back at Rosaly Hill, using the flower at Rosaly's grave brings the elfin girl back to life and she joins the party. After leaving the village, Doran leaves the party.

With Rosaly in the group, it's time to go for a somewhat happier ending. Back at Death Pisaro, he begins to say what he did at the end of Chapter 5, but Rosaly stops him and a flashback begins about how the two met (a human was looking for her, and Pisaro protected her). Rosaly cries her Ruby Tears, and they revert Pisaro back to his humanoid form. He realizes that not all humans are so bad, and he joins the party to either pay his debt to society or to go after the true villain, the Evil Priest.

Pisaro has some nifty attacks from later games in the series, such as Metal Slash, Dragon Slash, and Moonsault (a 0MP group-hitting attack). Pisaro can also equip cursed weapons and armor without being cursed. Unfortunately, he cannot equip that mask that gives +200 defense or so. The cumulative play time at the end of this video is 17:33.


---CHAPTER 6 (part 2)---

     I head to the bonus dungeon again. At the end of the bonus dungeon, you can fight Eggura and Chikiira for Pisaro's 'version' of the Tenkuu equipment, Demon stuff. The first time the poultry pair are beaten, you receive the Demon Shield. I'm not positively sure, but each piece of equipment may only be received after beating the pair in a certain number of rounds. If not each piece of equipment, then some definitely are (I 'failed' twice in part 2 for items).

The painting over the volcano is a knight, and as each piece of equipment is won, it is taken out of the painting. Now begins a series of going back up to Eggura and Chikiira for Pisaro's equipment. After the Demon Shield, the prizes are the Demon Sword, Demon Armor, Boxer Shorts (took two tries to get), a Leaf of the World Tree, then the Demon Helmet. After that, the painting is completely naked. If you beat the poultry pair within 10 turns, the demon comes out of the painting and can be recruited to the immigrant town (similar to a character in Dragon Quest 7). I missed the final prize by 2 turns (it took me 12), but if you actually watch any of the fights with these guys, I'd give the last one a look due to the more team-oriented battle to beat them quickly. The last fight with them begins at the 1:34:56 mark.

Now I had a choice to make. I could either fight around some to destroy the two guys within 10 rounds, keep trying at my current level, or say screw it and not worry about it. I chose option 3, instead saving the game and giving the new final boss a try. Warping to Death Palace with Pisaro in the party (which is required), I give the Evil Priest a try with Pisaro, Minea, Alena, and Clift in the party. Unlike Death Pisaro, you cannot use the Baron's Horn to get the other party members to switch out. You have to use the 4 characters you enter Death Palace against the Evil Priest.

Shocked at Pisaro's return, the Evil Priest attacks and assumes a palette swap of Death Pisaro, then attacks already in the changed form. The Evil Priest has some different attacks than Death Pisaro, such as spells like ionazun/Explodet, merazouma/Blazemost, and madante/Magic Burst. Thanks to Clift's sukara/Increase spell, the Sage's Stone, Minea's fubaaha/Barrier spell, and Pisaro's behomaraa/Healus spell, I was victorious. The Massacre Sword and rukanan/Defense spell were also helpful.

The ending is pretty much the same as it was before, except instead of visiting Rosaly's grave, Pisaro and Rosaly watch the balloon fly by, and Master Dragon notes Pisaro's role in vanquishing the true evil, the Evil Priest. After the ending, I hit reset to display my Chapter 5 end stats and Chapter 6 end stats. Here is a screen cap of my stats after beating Chapter 6:



Ending Time: 19:32
Number of Battles: 825
Enemies Killed: 2315
Gold Gained from Battle: 160,433
Number of Victories: 825
Times Defeated: 0
Times Fled: 0
Most Damage in One Move: 347 points
Hero's Level: 43
Rank: 'Thanks for Playing to the End!' (or something like that)

After that, the video is over! I hope you found whatever parts of the video you watched enjoyable and that they aided in your curiosity of this gem of a game. Hopefully this video will get more players from around the world to produce some videos from this series. I am really anxious to maybe see some videos from the ultimagarden.net site, which has some really amazing times listed there for these games and the Final Fantasy games, but no videos.


This movie is part of the collection: Speed Runs

Producer: 'Red Scarlet'
Production Company: Strawberry Express
Audio/Visual: sound, color
Keywords: PlayStation

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Reviewer: Jucksalbe - - May 20, 2008
Subject: Thanks! :-)
Dragon Quest is always a good choice. Though I'll probably watch the whole thing when I finished DQIV DS (that's after the US version comes out). Don't want to spoiler too much since I've never even played the nes version.

Reviewer: Telephone Toughguy - - March 13, 2007
Subject: This has the highest batting average?
Someon playing playstation? Can I upload my old commodore amiga demos and stuff I recorded even though I think all this is copyright protected? I am at a loss for words today between this, SPAM, the jihadi nonsense and the pirated DVD's and software...