FAQ
- How much Japanese do you need to know to play this game?
- 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.
- How do I use the IPS patch?
- 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.
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.
Walkthrough
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.
- Note: 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.
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
# = Potion of Healing
@ = Arrows
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
# = 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.
Ending
The morning sun rises...
The night of battles seems not to have existed at all in the light of the sun...
This purifying light seems to give to the party its blessing.
- Tasselhoff
- This adventure is a fraud. There's been a deplorable lack of sovereigns.
- Caramon
- Hey! We are not thieves!
- Strum
- Just being able to see people's joyous faces isn't enough for you?
- Flint
- Huh? I don't want to end up with rocks.
- Tanis
- And besides, this has been dangerous. It would be nice if somebody helped us out.
- Goldmoon
- Surely, Mishakal will protect us.
- Riverwind
- But he could supply a meal every now and then. These days are the gods really the ones granting protection?
- Caramon
- Well, I'm fine, as long as we're opposing those bastards from the Dragonarmy.
- Raistlin
- Brother, have you learned nothing from this battle?
- Flint
- Don't be like that. I'm sure that Pax Tharkas isn't the only fort in the area.
- Strum
- In any case, shouldn't we clear up exactly what we should achieve?
- Tanis
- Uhhh... Well, we get going? To where they require us?
The gentle morning light envelops the party and thus their adventures draws to a close.