Dragons of Flame/Walkthrough

FAQ
Q1: How much Japanese do you need to know to play this game?

A1: A fair bit to read all of the stuff in the game. There's a English patch available at donut.parodius.com that I recommend you use if you want to play this game.

Q2: How do I use the IPS patch?

A2: There are programs around that will do it for you. The easiest one as far as I know is LIPS. You need the ORIGINAL Japanese ROM of this game and the patch. Use the program, select the patch and the ROM, and you're set.

Controls
A Button     : Jump Select menu command Advance text/speed up text (hold down A)

B Button     : Swing your weapon Cancel menu command Advance text/speed up text (hold down B)

Start Button : Displays the main menu

Select Button : Not used

Directional  : Moves your party around

Up Button    : Aim weapon up when swinging it                Enter a door

Down Button  : Duck Pick up an item on the ground Aim weapon down when swinging it

--- Characters ---

All information here was ganked from the HotL manual. It should still be accurate.

Goldmoon

Goldmoon is the daughter of a Que-Shu chieftain and her chosen husband was to be chief -- but the higher powers had other plans. Goldmoon fell in love with the least suitable of her tribe, the warrior Riverwind. Her father hoped to get rid of the young man by sending him on a quest to find proof of the old deities. No one ever expected him to return.

Months later he did return with a blue crystal staff that he claimed was proof of the Ancients' existence. When the staff did nothing, the chief condemned Riverwind to be stoned as a heretic. Goldmoon threw herself into Riverwind's arms as he began to fall under the angry pelting. Suddenly the staff flashed and the pair disappeared. When they became reoriented, they found that they were miles away from the village, and that all of their wounds were miraculously healed!

in this game **
 * Skip the part about the blue crystal staff. She uses the Disks of Mishakal

Opinion: Don't use her to fight. She's weak and her physical attack is even weaker. It's much better to use her to heal the other members of your party and to attack using the "Magic User" spells.

Strum Brightblade Sturm is the son of a Solamnic Knight. The Knights were unjustly blamed for the Cataclysm and are now hated by the people of Krynn. Sturm has dedicated his life to the Oath and Measure of the Knighthood. The Oath of the Knights is "Est Sularis oth Mithas: My Honor is My Life.

Opinion: He's a strong attacker. He should be used along with Caramon, Tanis, and Riverwind to attack most enemies in the game.

Raistlin Mejere

Raistlin was so weak when he was born that no one expected him to live. But he did survive because of his half-sister Kitiara's efforts and his strong will. As young boys, the twins Raistlin and Caramon were taken to a local fair where a conjurer was performing simple magic tricks and illusions. That evening, the youngster astonished his family by reproducing every trick he'd seen.

A year later, Raistlin was taken to a Master Mage where he again amazed his elders by reading a spell book he had found in the master's library. Raistlin became the youngest mage ever to take, and pass, the Test of High Sorcery to become a full mage.

Opinion: Use him for his magic prowless. He'll get the crap beat out of him if you try to attack enemies with his staff.

Caramon Mejere

Caramon is the strongest of the Companions, and a fearsome warrior. He was trained in a battlecraft by his half sister, who later became a Dragon Highlord in Takhisis' dragonarmies. Although they are complete opposites, Caramon is never far from his twin Raistlin. Much of Caramon's experience in combat comes from dealing with the charlatans and fakes whom Raistlin delights in exposing and humiliating.

Opinion: He's probably the best physical attacker in the party. Use him to pummel enemies along with Strum, Tanis, and Riverwind.

Tanis

Tanis is a half-elf, with a human father and elven mother. He was never truly accepted by either race. Tanis was driven by his restless nature to leave the elven nation of Qualinesti to search the lands of Krynn for clerics with the legendary true healing powers. Until he fell in with the Companions, his only friend was the dwarf, Flint.

Opinion: He's quite versatile since he can use both a sword and a bow when you want to. He's also fairly strong, although not as much as Caramon and Riverwind, but he can put up a good fight.

Tasselhoff Burrfoot

Tasslehoff, 'Tas' to his friends, is a kender. The kender are a strange race. They stand less than four feet tall, and generally wear their hair in topknots braided with a brightly colored cloth. Like all others of his race, Tas has a tendency to 'find things.' In fact, he will often find things that might not otherwise have been lost. Kender call this 'borrowing' or explain that they were protecting an item from possible theft or misplacement.

Opinion: He's not very useful in my opinion. He does offer a number of good things to the part though. He has a ranged attack and he can clear traps. You can also use him to hit certain enemies and not get hit back, since he's so short. Keep him on the bench though, unless you need him for something.

Riverwind

Riverwind and his family were shunned in the Que-Shu tribe for their observance of the ancient traditions. When he asked for the chieftain's daughter in marriage, it was considered a grave affront. Goldmoon's father hoped to rid himself of this upstart by sending him on a quest to find some magical artifact that proved the existence of the old deities. The Riverwind who returned from the quest was not the same man who left.

Riverwind returned with a strange blue staff and no memory of how he had found it. The new Riverwind was somehow changed by his strange journey. He had spoken little and was very stern. After Riverwind and Goldmoon disappeared from the hail of Que-Shu stones, they made their way to Solace. They hoped to give the magic staff to a group of clerics known as the Seekers. The Seekers, they thought, would know the staff's power and use it for the cause of good.

Opinion: A very useful character. He can use both a bow and a sword, and he's very strong.

Flint Fireforge

Flint is a hill dwarf renowned for his skill in metalcraft and in battle. Tanis and Flint became close friends while the dwarf traveled through Qualinesti peddling his wares. Later he and Tanis met Tas and the rest of the Companions.

Opinion: He's an okay guy. He can use a ranged attack and he's short, so he can avoid getting damaged by some enemies. I don't use him that much though.

--- Spells ---

Raistlin and Goldmoon are the only characters that can use spells. They both start out with 255 MP.

Magic User Spells

Charm        : Confuses the enemy. Uses 16 MP. Sleep        : Puts the enemy to sleep. Uses 21 MP. Magic Missile : A projectile attack that damages the enemy. Uses 16 MP. Web          : Stops the enemy. Uses 32 MP. Burning Hands : A projectile attack that damages the enemy. Uses 21 MP. Fire Ball    : A projectile attack that damages the enemy. Uses 32 MP.

Clerical Spells

Cure Light Wounds   : Raises one character's HP by 51 points. Uses 5 MP. Hold Person         : Freezes the enemy. Uses 16 MP. Spiritual Hammer    : A projectile attack that damages the enemy. Uses 6 MP. Bless               : I don't know. I'll have to look into this one. Dispel Magic        : Same as above. Heal                : Raises one character's HP by 127 points. Uses 16 MP. Turn Undead         : Damages undead enemies on the screen. Uses 16 MP. Cure Critical Wounds : Raises one character's HP by 204 points. Uses 21 MP. Raise Dead          : Brings one dead character back to life. Uses 48 MP.

--- Gameplay ---

The Main Menu

Hero Select - Switches two party member positions. Select the first character and then select the second character. The two characters that you selected with switch positions.

Magic User Spells - Uses offensive spells.

Clerical Spells - Uses curative and other helpful spells.

Use - Uses an item that a character is currently holding. Select it and you'll be taken to a character profile screen. Select a character and use the directional pad to use an item if that character has one.

Drop - Drops an item that a character is currently holding. Select it and you'll be taken to a character profile screen. Select a character and use the directional pad to drop an item if that character has one. Don't drop an item unless you really have to because it will be gone for good once you do.

Give - Gives an item that a character is currently holding to another character. Select it and you'll be taken to a character profile screen. Select a character and use the directional pad to choose an item. Now select the character that you want to give it to and he/she will have it.

Save - Saves your game. After you save, you'll be given the option of continuing the game or quitting to the title screen.

Load - Loads a previously saved game. Choose the game and you'll start at the beginning of the area you were in.

Rest - Restores some health to the character you're currently using. You can only use this when there are no enemies in the room you're in and you have to wait awhile before you can use it again. It's very handy though.

The World Map

The world map is the same as any typical RPG you have probably played, except that every enemy appears in real-time on the map. That is, they walk around. There are few things to do on the world map, besides what you're supposed to be doing, and relatively geographic features.

Town - These should be noticeable for what they are on the world map.

Mountain - Impassable. You usually can't go around these.

Tree - Impassable. You can usually make your way around these.

Water - Impassable. You can usually go around these, except for the ocean.

Person - Dressed in purple. They will talk to you if you walk into them.

Enemy - Dressed in white. You'll go to the action screen if you touch them.

The Action Screen / Dungeons

When you touch an enemy on the world map, you'll end up here. It's very similar to the action screen in Zelda 2 but more basic. The action screen is basically a long stretch of ground viewed from the side where you walk around and kill the enemies inhabiting the area. You can't exit the action screen until you kill all of the enemies but you'll appear on the world map again once you do. There are several places in the game where you'll enter a much longer action screen, with enemies of course, but with several other features. These are dungeons. There are several things to note about dungeons.

Doors - Enter them and they will take you to another part of the dungeon.

Items - These are laying on the ground but you should notice them easily enough.

Traps - You'll know you found a trap when you're walking and you get hit by falling rocks from the ceiling. Using Tasselhoff will prevent this from happening. Even using Flint will work.

--- Enemies ---

Hornet - They fly at you but they are simple to kill. Back up when you see it raise it's stinger.

Human Warrior - They are the weak red/brown people you see on the world map action screen. They are simple to kill as well. Back up when you see it raise it's hand/club.

Baaz Draconian - Tougher to kill than Human Warriors but still no problem. These are the green lizard-like enemies you see on the action screen. Back up every few seconds to avoid it's sword. It comes out from it's torso region roughly so watch out for it.

Wolves - They are simple to kill. Just duck and swing your sword.

Bozak Draconian - Even tougher than the Baaz Draconian, these guys are one of the more annoying enemies in the game. They fire at you and back up when you get close and try to fire at you again when you're far enough from them. Duck to avoid it's shot, go forward, and hit it. Rinse and repeat until it's dead.

Troll - A very tall and strong enemy. They are tough to defeat since they hit hard and have quite a bit of health. I'd do what Brakzero recommends and cast Web and then jab away at the Troll until it dies.

Bat - They fly high at first and when you get close they'll slowly swoop in toward you. You have amble time to hit it though.

Zombie - A weak, slow-moving enemy. They attack by swinging their arms at you. Just stab and occasionally back up.

Spectral Minion - A slow moving floating skeletal enemy. They are fairly simple to defeat, just don't get hit too much by them since they hit rather hard. Back up every few seconds and avoid it when it raises it's arms.

Small Dragon - These things are tough to kill and they hit hard. The good news, however, is that they are rather uncommon and you can jump over them fairly easily. Wait for them to approach and dive, and then jump over them while they are flying near the ground. Just don't try to fight it. It's not worth it.

--- Tips ---

A good strategy against a lot of enemies to just wait for them to approach you and then stab away, back up, and then stab away again. Rinse and repeat until they die. This will save you some HP in the long run.

Use magic sparingly. Using magic to attack most enemies is useless in my opinion since you can just hack them with your weapons. It's better to use it for curing. Goldmoon and Raistlin are the only two characters that can use magic but the have a limited amount of it.

Search everywhere for items. A lot of them are hidden away in some obscure room but most of them are useful.

Use rest when you can. It will heal your party and allow you to save your magic and curing items for something more critical.

Use Tanis, Caramon, Strum, and Riverwind for physical attacking. Raistlin and Goldmoon should only be used for their magic, curative or attacking, it doesn't matter. Tasselhoff and Flint can be used for ranged attacks but otherwise they're backup if the others are weak.

When you use projectile spells, face in the direction you want it to go before you use it. Otherwise, you've just wasted MP.

Don't let your party members die if you can help it. That probably sounds obvious, but it's much cheaper to heal them than to revive them.

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================================================================== Walkthrough

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--- Prologue ---

[Tanis and company, having successfully retrieved the Disks of Mishakal from the ruins, watch as the town of Solace burns to the ground.

The Dragonarmy has already begun it's invasion.]

Caramon: How elaborate! Those Dragonarmy bastards have shown up again!

Tanis: There are an awful lot of Draconians here... I wonder if they have a base nearby.

Strum: Bastards! Women, children, they intend to take everyone! Let's go get them!

Raistlin: Please calm yourself, sir knight. If we went right now, we'd only get ourselves caught... But if we wait for the right chance...

Flint: I admit, it's regrettable, but what the mage says is right. Strum will just have to put up with it.

Goldmoon: I've heard that Pax Tharkas may have been completed.

Tanis: It's possible. I wonder where they've taken the people...

Caramon: You think they have hostages?

Strum: Such boundless cowardice! How can we, as knights, let them run loose like that?

Riverwind: Which way do we go? We'll just drop in on the way and see if there are any problems.

Tasselholf: Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go quick! Besides, we might get to see some dragons!

[Drawing up their plans, the party takes on a new adventure.]

--- To Pax Tharkas ---

-- The goal here, although it's not made apparent right away, is to find the person standing near Pax Tharkas.

You start the game in a field, near a person. You can talk to him or any of the other people standing around if you want some more of the story. The fortress is far to the South East so you have a fair bit of walking to do. Start by going South until you reach a river going in a West-East direction. Follow the river West until it ends and then continue South until you see another person standing around. Talk to this guy and he'll give you an item. After that, turn East until you reach a large body of water, an ocean presumably.

The guy you run into on the way talks about Verminaard, the commanding officer of Pax Tharkas and an important part of the story. Now, start walking South again, along the coast until you reach the treeline. Make your way through the trees, staying near the coast when you can, and you'll find Pax Tharkas and the guy standing near the fortress. You don't need to wander elsewhere unless you want to talk to the various people scattered about. Talk to the guy and the game will go to a short cutscene.

--- To The Cave of Sha Mori ---

-- The goal here is to find the Cave of Sha Mori.

The person standing at Pax Tharkas is Gilthana, who takes the party to the Elven village to heal them. A short cutscene ensues. Cool castle in the background though. Afterwards, he will accompany you to the cave entrance and open the door for you. The cave can be found almost directly South West of the Elven village. Take a walk as far South as you can go, and then turn West for a bit to find the cave. True to his word, Gilthana will open the door for you but will decline to enter it himself. It looks like your back on your own but that's alright, I'm still here to help you. =)

--- The Cave of Sha Mori ---

-- The goal here is to acquire the Wyrmslayer from the depths of this cave and then enter Pax Tharkas through a hidden door.

This map is incomplete, particularly a portion of the bottom where the door to Pax Tharkas is found unfortunately. I'll fix this map in a future update.
 * NOTE**

0 (zero) = Doors                ~ = Potion of Healing 1 = Javelin                     # = Potion of Healing 2 = Bullets                     $ = Throwing Axe 3 = Quarter Staff +2            % = Javelin 4 = Heal Scroll                 ^ = Arrows 5 = Raise Dead Scroll           & = Potion of Healing 6 = Bullets                     * = Wyrmslayer Sword 7 = Throwing Axe                ( = Quarter Staff +2 8 = Javelin                      ) = Raise Dead Scroll 9 = Arrows                      + = Battle Axe +2 ! = Throwing Axe                < = Arrows @ = Arrows                      > = Potion of Healing @ = Arrows
 * 1) = Potion of Healing

start_________0_______0 |      |                  0_________0       0_________0________0                  |                           |        |           0______0_______0___0          0____0    !___0____0           |              |   |          |                  |      1____0___2   0___3__0 )_0__0       0____    0____0____0                   |             |                |    |            0______0_______0     0___0            0_   0_____0___0            |              |         |                       |   |            0_____0____0   0____0____0___0            0___@__0   0__&                  |    |        |        |            |          6__0____0 4__0__5  0__0__0     0__r__s__t   0___0____0             |               |     |        |  |  |       |    |             0_____0_____0   0__0  0__0   see bottom  0___0  #_0                   |     |      |     |  left corner  |               0____0     0_    _0  +__0  for this map 0___0 |                                          |              0____0____0                 z____y____x_____w |   |                 |    |    |         0_________0  __0__              _0    0__  0________0         |                                                   |         0____0__t                                  p____0___0 | |                                  |    |      0_______0  t______0___0            0_____0____0    0______0 |                |   |            |     |                |      0____0____0    0__0_  0        0___0 0___0            0___0______0      |         |    |               |     |                |          |     __0__   0___0_78 0__0        0___0     0___0_______0    0______0   0_              |           |        |             |       |           |            0___9       0__0     0___0      ___0___0  _0     (__*__0                           |         |             |                        0__0     0___0_$%    0_____0                        |        |           |                          0__0     0_^                           Pax                           Tharkas I 0__r___________s___t    |           |   |              R_<_u     v_s   t_~                    |     |            u_G   v_w         |     |         G_>   |               |      z__y__x__w            |

The door will slam shut behind you. There's no going back now. The first floor here actually seperates the rest of the cave into left and right sides, with the except of a path a few floors down that leads to the mid-section of the right side of the cave. It's not worth fulling exploring the left side of the cave but you should go down at least to where the Heal Scroll (4), Raise Dead Scroll (5) are, as well as possibly the small pocket where the Battle Axe +2 (+) is, and the two Potions of Healing are (<, ~) and Arrows (>) in the center.

You might also want to go up the right side to grab the two Potions of Healing (&, #) there. The Wyrmslayer sword is located in the bottom right corner. This part of the map is accurate so there shouldn't be any problems.The enemies are tougher, particularly the Trolls, and Small Dragons that you'll encounter in the lower floors of this cave. Spectral Minions can be a pain if you're not careful as well. The rest of the enemies are weaker and you shouldn't have any problems with them.

Progressing through the cave depends on how you want to take it, since it's fairly open-ended. If you want the better items like the Potions of Healing, Heal Scroll, and Raise Dead Scroll, head down the left side until you reach the Heal Scroll (4) and Raise Dead Scroll (5). Now backtrack up two floors and right, taking the rightmost doors until you reach the central part of the cave. There's two Potions of Healing (<, ~) and Arrows (>) here. After that, take the second door from the right (door "s") and follow it until you reach the right side of the cave (you'll end up at door "w").

Continue down the right side to where the Wyrmslayer (*) room is located. You'll know you're in the right place when you see a large statue and a throne with a skeleton and the sword beside it. Some text will pop up and you can take the sword. Keep going to the far left side of this room to find a Quarter Staff +2 if you want it. Now this is the hard part to describe. I believe the door marked "p" leads to the confusion of this part of the cave.

You'll probably end up going some wandering here before you find the door to Pax Tharkas. You'll know you've found it when you go down several zig-zagging floors as evident when you look at the map. When you get close to the door, some text will pop up identifying that the door does go to Pax Tharkas. Sorry about the confusion. I'm going to fix the map for that part of the cave in the next update. But for now, I hope that you found it alright. Now, it's off to Pax Tharkas.

--- Pax Tharkas Part I ---

-- The goal here is to find the entrance to the interior of Pax Tharkas, and kill the dragon, Ember, guarding it.

x = Encounter (Goblin, Old Sage, Ember) 1 = Fire Ball 2 = Spear 3 = Potion of Healing 4 = Ring of Protection 5 = Bullets 6 = Arrows 7 = Ring of Protection 8 = Ring of Protection 9 = Raise Dead Scroll ! = Heal Scroll @ = Potion of Healing
 * 1) = Sword +3

Sha Mori__________0 |            0____0____0_____0             |    |          |             0_1  0___2      0____0                                  |                         0____0____0                        |    |                   0____0    0____0                   |              |              0____0____0    34___0              |         |                        0____0____0                             |    |                        0____0    0____0____0                        |              |    |                       _0____0    0____0    0____0____0                             |    |              |    |                          ___0    0_      6_0____0_5                                              |                                            0____0____0                                                 |    |                                            0x___0 |                                      0____0____0____0                                       |         |    |                                  0____0              0_x |                                 0____0____0                                       |    |                                  0____0                                  |                                  0____0____0                                       |    |                                             0____0____0                                                 |    |                                                      0____0                                                           |                                                      0_98_0                                                      |                                                 0_!__0                                                 |                                                 0____0                                                      |                                            0____0____0_                                            |    |                                       0____0                                       |                                       0____0____0                                            |    |                                       0____0    0___                                       |                                       0____0____0                                            |    |                                     @_0____0    0____0_____________0                                       |              |             |                                       0___#          0____0_____0                                                           |     |                                                             0___0                                                             |                                                             0_x__ Pax Tharkas Part II

The door will close behind you, leaving you with nowhere to go but ahead. The enemies are tougher here, meaning you'll encounter more Trolls, Small Dragons, and Draconians than while you were in the Cave of Sha Mori. You'll have the Wyrmslayer to even the odds though. I just drew the (almost) direct route to the second part of Pax Tharkas this time around... mainly because I was lazy.

You should grab the items I listed, or at least the Potions of Healing. I'm not sure what the Ring of Protection does but assume it's something for defence/health. The first couple of items are guarded by traps so switch to Tasselhoff or Flint before you walk around in the rooms where those items are. As you progress further into Pax Tharkas, you'll encounter the Goblin standing standing near a door. He'll talk for a bit and then attack you.

BOSS: Goblin

This guy is simple to defeat. His arrows do a fair bit of damage so rush him and stab him repeatedly until he quits.

After you beat him up sufficiently, he'll give you some information in exchange for letting him go. He'll tell you about the Old Sage and where to find it. You don't have to go far. Enter the door and then walk to the far right and enter the door there. Walk to the right to meet the Old Sage, an old dragon. It will talk about Ember, another dragon, and how to defeat it easily. Then it will restore your MP and let you continue through Pax Tharkas.

It's really more of the same walking around, killing enemies until you reach Ember, who is much further down from this point. It's worth going on a little detour to get Potion of Healing (#) and Sword +3 (@). The Sword +3 is guarded by some enemies but you should be able to take care of them. After you grab it, up back up and follow the path until you reach the door to Ember's room. The room is a lot like the one occupied by the Old Sage, so walk to the right until you reach Ember.

BOSS: Ember

Wow, what an imposing dragon. It's too bad it's such a weakling. When you're able to move again, walk to the far left and switch to Raistlin. Use Raistlin's Magic Missile repeatedly like the Old Sage said and jump over the dragon's fireballs when they get close. You don't have to worry too much about this since it fires randomly at the ground and the fireballs don't do much damage. After you hit the dragon three times with Magic Missile, it will diappear and you'll be able to continue on.

I lied. Before you're able to continue, you'll get a short cutscene with the children being released from the dungeon.

--- Pax Tharkas Part II ---

-- The goal here is simply to kill Verminaard.

x = Encounter (Verminaard)

0_________Pax Tharkas I         | 0_______x

You start at a dead end so there's no going back from here. No worries though, the boss is just ahead. Walk to the left there the door is to find Verminaard's room. In the next room, walk to the right to find Verminaard in all his glory. He'll talk for a bit and then attack you.

BOSS: Verminaard
He only has two attacks and both of them suck. The first one is a distance attack where he throws energy either high or low while you're far away. You can jump over the low ones and duck under the high ones. Just try not to get hit by them too much since they stack up rather quickly. He only uses his second one when you're close to him, where he'll use his whatever in his hand to club you repeatedly. I don't think there's any simple way to finish this battle so the long and difficult way it is.

That is, you have to rush at Verminaard, while avoiding his energy attacks, and stab him until he teleports to the other side of the screen. Repeatedly rush and stab him with your stronger characters, and have Goldmoon heal and revive as necessary. Use any Potions of Healing or Raise Dead Scrolls as well to save magic if it gets low. I don't think magic works on Verminaard at all so that's out of the question. After pummeling him for awhile he'll fall to one knee and disappear. That's the end. Congrats, on finishing the game.