Dark Cloud/Queens

Enter Village

The town walls are still intact but all the people and buildings are gone as in the Norune and Matataki. There are four sections with a canal running down the middle. Head down to the end of the canal and through the doorway to the docks.

There is a dialog where you meet Rando, the only survivor. He's a merchant and invites you to his shop where you fill him in on what's been going on in the world. He says the Moon Orb was probably stored in the undersea treasury, a sunken ship that the locals used to store their valuables. A hundred years ago it was the favorite ship of the Queen who ruled here, but she died suddenly and the townspeople sunk the ship in tribute. Rando shows you the submarine that they now use to get to the ship and back.

You can fish right away near the submarine and Rondo's store is open for business with supplies and some new items.

Shipwreck

The first time you enter the shipwreck there is a cutscene where you board, pilot your way down to the ship, and disembark. Then you need to go to the lift to actually enter the dungeon. The cutscene is rather lengthy but you can skip it in the future by using the map to enter. In this dungeon you need a Hook to get to the next level and a Shipcabin Key to unlock doors. Getting to the back areas is tricky here. The item you need is a Flapping Fish, but it's only good for a short period of time. Then it turns into Rotten Fish which you might as well just throw out. You may also find Ice Blocks which will keep the fish fresh, but they melt to Small ice, then Tiny ice, and then finally disappear. Eventually you'll be able to buy Ice Blocks in Queens.

The monsters here are generally either undead or sea creatures, but there are some obvious exceptions. They are, of course, tougher than in previous dungeons so if you haven't been paying attention to monster types and elements then it's time to start. The undead will generally be weak to Holy and the sea creatures are usually weak to Thunder. There will be some additional wear on weapons so be sure to always have a few Repairs Powers and keep an eye on your Whp. Level 5 is a Xiao only restricted zone, but by now Xiao's weapons should be comparable to Toan's so there's no need to worry about this anymore. You may get randomly determined thirst and/or Abs. reduction zones before and after that. Continue on through level 8.

In level 9 there is a set battle with a Corcea, Captain, and Pirate's Chariot. Individually these aren't a problem but all three in close quarters can be a bit tricky. There is a chest here with a hook, but you can't go any further without a new character.

Ruby

After completing level 8 you should have the components to complete King's Hideout. Do so and complete the cutscene so Ruby joins your party. If possible, complete Jack's Store after she is in your party to receive a Platinum Ring for free. Otherwise, you can buy Ruby the Platinum Ring before she joins your party so you don't have to fool around with her default weapon. Finally, it's a good idea from now on to make sure that for each element (Fire, Ice, Thunder, Wind, Holy) Ruby has either a weapon with a positive value for that element or an attachment for that element. So starting our with the Gold Ring and the Platinum Ring, you have Fire and Ice covered. Then if you have Thunder, Wind, and a Peridot (for Holy) then you're all set. You need to be careful not to use the last remaining attachment with a needed element when you upgrade weapons for other characters. Eventually Ruby will have enough elements in weapons so you don't need to worry about this, but for now there is a danger of getting stuck in some dungeons because Ruby doesn't have the element needed to open a door.

Shipwreck (cont.)

Enter level 9, fight the monsters there if you haven't already, and get the Hook from the chest. There is a door here which only Ruby can open and from this point on dungeons will have similar door. The way this works is there is a colored crystal next to the door. The color of the crystal tells you which element you need to activate it, for example the crystal here is red so you need to activate Fire on Ruby's weapon. If Ruby still has the Gold Ring equipped then its default element is Fire so you should be set. If Ruby's current weapon has zero value for the needed element then you need to customize the weapon and give it the corresponding attachment first. That's why it's important to have at least one attachment for each missing element on hand. With the proper element active, switch Ruby to first person and shoot the crystal to open the door. Once the door in level 9 is cleared, attach the hook and go on to the next level.

Level 12 is a Ruby only zone, but with the Platinum Ring it shouldn't pose too much trouble. Continue on through level 17; the enemies here will be more and more challenging, so redo some lower levels to build up weapons if necessary. As usual, there may be randomly placed thirst and Abs. reduction zones along the way. There is no Hook in level 17 as usual, instead you must obtain a special item in Queens to get to the next floor.

It's probably not required, but complete the Cathedral and watch the cutscene to learn the backstory. Now go to the Divining House to learn your fortune. Yaya's method of fortune telling seems dangerous, not to mention highly inappropriate, but it's effective. Ask her about the Moon Orb to see that it was found by Lana, the fruit seller. If you follow up with Lana though, she doesn't remember what she did with it. Ask her about the Dark Genie to see him in his castle plotting his next bit of mischief with Flag. Finally, ask about the man loved by the queen and you see Rando store, but Rando is gone. (Note, once you do this Rando's store will close for the rest of the game, though most of the items sold there can be found in other stores now.) Go to Rando's store to find that he really is gone, but there is something sparkling on the counter. Check it learn about letters written by La Saia and Rondo a hundred years previous. The letters were kept in a music box which was the symbol of their engagement. La Saia kept the box and Rando kept the key, and the letters were to be read when they were married. You get the Music Box Key.

Heav'n has no Rage, like Love to Hatred turn'd,
Nor Hell a Fury, like a Woman scorn'd.

—William Congreve

Go back to the Shipwreck, level 17, find the exit and use the Music Box Key on the music box. (You don't have to fight any monsters this time so just avoid them.) You read Rando's letter in which Rando says he must wait until her subjects will accept him as her husband before he can marry her. You enter the Cathedral and meet La Saia, but her bitterness has only grown over the years and now she's out for revenge.

Before fighting or doing anything else, use Escape Powder to exit the dungeon and save your game. That way if you "accidentally" hit the reset button during the battle, you can go directly to the battle again without having to go through level 17 or the dialog.

Ice Queen La Saia

This is a tough battle, especially when compared with Masterutan, so it's easy to get discouraged with it. It's still doable though, even if your weapons are somewhat underpowered. If you've been checking for treasure in the villages then you should have gotten a number of Fluffy Doughnuts etc. to boost your defense, and La Saia's attacks will be painful without them. You'll need healing items (of course), Dran's Feathers and whatever Stamina Drinks you have on hand. Customize your weapons with Fire, especially Ruby's, and select the Fire attribute on everything, but don't be afraid to experiment with different setups. For example if your Platinum Ring is stronger on Holy than Fire then try selecting Holy as the attribute to see if you get more damage.

La Saia's only attack is to shoot balls of ice at you. This doesn't sound too bad but you get a lot of damage when it hits, then you're frozen, then you're hit with even more damage when the freeze wears off. Not only that, but the balls of ice home in on you so it's not enough to just dodge them. If you get hit, and it's really hard not to until you get some skill at avoiding it, check your HP and apply a healing item before the next hit comes, then check your HP again after the second hit. Of course the best thing is to not get hit or frozen in the first place. The ice doesn't go faster than you can run, especially if you use Dran's Feather, so one thing you can do is keep running until the ice dissipates. You can also hide behind one of pillars on either side of the room, so the ice harmlessly hits the pillar instead of you. The third thing you can do is keep taking Stamina Drinks; these reduce the damage from the ice and make you immune to the Freeze effect so you can get out of the way before the second hit comes. For some reason, the Anti-Freeze Amulets are useless here, though you can get rid of Freeze with a Throbbing Cherry. If the flying balls of ice aren't bad enough for you, the room also has ice whirlwinds which will also hurt if you don't avoid them.

La Saia starts with a shield around her which makes her invulnerable; it appears as a kind of spherical shell around her. So before you can attack her you need to bring down the shield, which is immune to magic so Ruby will have no effect on it. The shield takes about 100 HP damage before dropping and when it does you can see a wave of force spread out around La Saia; the wave does damage if you're too close to it. With the shield gone, La Saia can be attacked, but she is only vulnerable to magical attacks, which means that only Ruby can do damage. But after each of Ruby's strikes La Saia changes to her shielded form and she is invulnerable to magic once more. So the idea is that you need to keep switching off between Ruby, who does the actual damage, and other characters who have to keep getting rid of the shields.

There at least two ways of going at this battle. For the first you need a supply of Stamina Drinks, but it's much faster so even if you only have a few then it's better to go with it at least until you run out of them. Give a Stamina Drink Toan (or Goro if he happens to have a stronger weapon) and Ruby. Then attack the shield with Toan (or Goro), who should be able to knock it out with one blow while Stamina is in effect. Step out of the way before you get the blow back, then quickly switch to Ruby and shoot a bolt of Fire, switch again and so on. By switching and attacking quickly you can keep La Saia from striking back much. Don't use targeting with Toan since you can avoid the ice better without it and it's not hard to hit the shield. A variation of this is to toss Fire gems at La Saia when her shield is down. This doesn't actually do that much damage compared to Ruby's magic, but it doesn't cause La Saia's shields to appear so it may work better if you're having trouble with them.

The second way to remain hidden behind pillars and take pot shots when it's safe. The idea here is that after a ball of ice hits a pillar you have a few seconds to pop out, take a shot, then duck behind it again before the next piece of ice gets too close. You're not doing a lot of damage with each shot so the process may take some patience, but with practice you should be able to whittle away La Saia's HP without getting hit yourself. Remember to use Xaio when you see the shield, and Ruby for one shot when it's down. This is not something you want to try without a few Repair Powders on hand. La Saia will tend to wander closer to you, which means you do more damage but it also cuts down on the time you have to shoot, so if this happens then dash over to another pillar.

After about 700 HP of damage (not counting damage to shields), La Saia falls to the ground.

La Saia is still carrying a grudge, but Rando comes in saying that he always regretted not being at the wedding. Another version of the story is shown; this time Rando arrives at the Cathedral apologizing for being delayed. Rando was kept alive all this time by the Life Sphere, but lost he what he most valued, which was La Saia. Rando gives you the Moon Orb and apologizes because he had it the whole time, but he needed you to reach La Saia so he could be reunited with her. Rando breaks the life sphere, ending the spell that's been keeping him and La Saia alive and taking them, at least in spirit, back to their wedding day.

Brownboo Village (return)

Use the map to go back to Brownboo Village now that you have thee Moon Orb. The chief confirms that you do have the right orb, and uses it to send a signal into space. The signal reaches the temple with the Moon Ship, but nothing else happens. After much discussion and speculation about what went wrong, the chief sends you and A Moon Person named Theo to the Sun & Moon Temple to investigate.

House completion events

This is a list of events related to completing houses in Queens.

House	Dialog	Reward
Jack's Store	Jack thanks you for getting his store ready for business. No gift but the store now open. If you wait to complete Jack's Store until after Ruby joins you, she will persuade Jack to reward you with a Big Bucks Hammer for Goro and a Platinum Ring for herself.	(none) / Big Bucks Hammer, Platinum Ring
King's Hideout	King, with his two minions, is afraid you're going to want money in return for restoring his house. Stew whispers an idea to King and he agrees, he then calls you into the conversation pit for a little chat. He gives you a magic lamp, but you drop it and out pops a genie (a nice one this time). It seems the genie has been more of a bother than a help for King so he was trying to pass her off to you. The genie tries to force King to tell her who summoned her; you can change her name from the default, Ruby, now. King says you were the one who called her and you meet her on the balcony to continue. You tell her about the Dark Genie and Ruby joins your party.	(none)
Sheriff's Office	Sam invites you in and Sheriff Wilder thanks you for restoring the office. You ask about the Moon Orb but they haven't seen it. But Sam thinks the Joker might know about it since he's in the jewelry business and seems to be hiding something. But Joker's shop is closed, so they give a Search Warrant to force Joker to open up.	Search Warrant
Joker's House	For this event you need to get the Search Warrant by completing the Sheriff's office. Knock at the door and after Joker says the shop is closed you show the warrant. Joker lets you in and you ask about the Moon Orb, but he hasn't heard of it. Joker is looking for something called the Life Sphere, which grants eternal life, but at the cost of one's most precious possession. Having shared his secret, he feels he can trust you enough to open his store.	(none)
Basker's	Basker thanks you for completing his store, but he doesn't have anything you can buy. (He's really a wholesaler.) He asks if you've seen any rare herbs in your travels. Give him the Ointment Leaf you obtained in Matataki and return he gives you the Foundation makeup. You can store and retrieve items here as at the Hag's House and Couscous's House any time after completing the first part of the dialog.	Foundation
Divining House	Yaya offers to tell your fortune free of charge in return for restoring her house.	(none)
Suzy's Store	Suzy welcomes you to her grand opening. She asks you if she should change the name of the store. You can have her keep the name or change it to another.	Premium Water
Ruty's Store	Ruty offers you a special prize since you're her first customer after reopening.	Flapping Fish, Ice Block
Lana's Store	Lana welcomes you to the reopened store and gives you a reward.	Gooey Peach
Cathedral	Phil thanks you for restoring the building and gives you a reward. Then he tells you about a curse; there have been no weddings there for a hundred years. In the past, those that did marry there ended up separating, so the Cathedral became known for being bad luck. The curse started when La Saia, the queen who ruled the town, fell in love with a commoner. They planned to marry secretly in the Cathedral, but the groom did not come. La Saia continued to wait every night but in vein, so her love turned to bitterness and she threw herself into the ocean, cursing the Cathedral and all who got married there. Phil promises to keep guarding the Cathedral until the curse is lifted. Then he suggests you visit the Divining House.	Holy

Georama completion

There are 10 requests you need to complete. The person listed shows who you need to talk to in order to learn them, but you don't actually have to do that since they're listed here.

• Ruty's store must be close to the ocean. (Ruty)
• Suzy's store must be near the fountain. (Suzy)
• Lana's store must be near King's hideout. (Lana)
• Jack's store must be near Suzy's store. (Jack)
• Joker's house must not be near the Sheriff's Office. (Joker)
• The snake on the Divining House must be facing East (away from the ocean). (Yaya)
• Cathedral must be close to the Leaning Tower and facing the ocean. (Phil)
• Basker's Store must be in a high place, in other words in southeast section. (Basker)
• King's Hideout must have road around it. (King)
• Sheriff's Office must be close to King's Hideout (Wilder)

Place King's Hideout, Lana's Store and the Sheriff's Office together and put some road around the hideout. Apparently King will be satified with just one secttion of road at the end of his driveway. Put the Fountain, Suzy's Store and Jack's Store together in a different section. Place the Cathedral and the tower together in the third section. The remaining houses should be easy to place with a few adjustments. As usual, adjust according to taste and sprinkle trees around.

Change back to walking mode to start a dialog with Wilder. He gives you the Macho Sword (originally made for the Macho Bros. in Norune) as a reward.