=============================================================================== | Money Making FAQ | | by meph | | October 17, 2009 | | Only at GameFAQs.com | =============================================================================== _________________ ___ |Table of Contents\ /TOC| =============================================================================== Version History ...........................................................*VH Purpose ...................................................................*PP Alchemicon: Ear Cosy and Gold Mail ........................................*AC Platinum/Mythril Item Farming..............................................*PM Ear Cosy Trips Chart.......................................................*ET Ear Cosy Cost and Profit Table.............................................*EP Gold Mail Trips Chart......................................................*GT Grottos....................................................................*GR projectargus's Method......................................................*PA Special Thanks.............................................................*ST _______________ ___ |Version History\ /*VH| =============================================================================== 09/14/2012 v1.2 Changed Purpose, added to Grottos section, added projectargus's method, fixed Table of Contents, changed contact info to special thanks. 08/26/2012 v1.1 Changed shortcuts, fixed formatting and added Grottos 10/18/2010 v1.01 Fixed formatting 10/10/2010 v1.00 Completed all sections _______ ___ |Purpose\ /*PP| =============================================================================== The purpose of this guide is to have an infinite amount of gold at your disposal in Dragon Quest IX. Although all of the methods can be found through forums, they are collected here and I have added tables for the convenience of knowing how much Alchemy ingredients you are capable of purchasing. I have also listed tips I for keeping track of alchemy ingredients. There are various methods of getting large amounts of gold. Every method has a use depending on how far you are in the game. Early game you should focus on making money through alchemy. A couple of hours will net you nearly half a million gold. This will allow you to purchase rare DQVC items even before post game. When you have access to higher level grottos then you should change your strategy so that you can make larger amounts of money in a shorter amount of time. I'd also advise against using alchemic items outside of the ones that I have listed. Although a lot of alchemic items are useless and are better off being used for profit; there are a variety of items that will cause you to face palm when you realize how important they are to producing higher end items like the highly sought after Agate of Evolution. __________________________________ ___ |Alchemicon: Ear Cosy and Gold Mail\ /*AC| =============================================================================== Ear Cosy = Fur Hood + Bunny Tail + Lamb's Wool The ingredients are listed in a table below. Visit the cities in the specified order. Batsureg is chosen first because When you are ready to quit Batsureg has a church right next to the item shop. You can buy the items you need from the shop and then quit. It's a good idea to buy the exact number Ear Cosies that you can make in Lamb's Wool. When you quit you won't have to remember how much of the other stuff you have to buy. Slurry Quay is chosen second to save time. Since Fur Hoods cost more then the other stuff they are the easiest to buy until you can afford 99 of everything. Hit directional left and you will be at the max number you can buy; because Fur Hoods cost the most the max number you can afford is closest to the number you want to buy. After you buy the ingredients head to the Stornway Inn and use the Alchemy Pot to make the Ear Cosies. ____________________________________________________________________________ | VISIT | LOCATION | ITEM |COST x1| COST x99 | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Batsureg | Lamb's Wool | 180G | 17820G | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Slurry Quay | Fur Hood | 550G |54450G | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | Port Llafan | Bunny Tail | 240G |23760G | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------| | TOTAL | 970G |96030G | -------------------------------------------- COST SALE PRICE PROFIT x1 PROFIT x99 Ear Cosy 970G 1200G 230G 22770G Once you've made 316960G it's best to make Gold Mails: Gold Mail = Silver Mail + Gold Bracer + Gold Ring ____________________________________________________________________________ | VISIT | LOCATION | ITEM |COST x1| COST x99 | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Bloomingdale | Silver Mail | 4000G | 396000G | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Port Llaffan | Gold Bracer | 350G | 21780G | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Port Llafan | Gold Ring | 220G |34650G | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------| | TOTAL |4570G |452430G | -------------------------------------------- COST SALE PRICE PROFIT x1 PROFIT x99 Gold Mail 4570G 4900G 330G 32670G When you reach 453000G do the trick once everytime you need gold. You will earn 32670G each time you do it. That is most likely enough to cover everything DQVC offers that day. If it's not you'll just have to do it again. Never fall below 453000G or your profits will drop. Before you go out adventuring buy the maximum number of ingredients you can so that if you die the gold that will be cut in half will be profit. Going from 453000G to 278000G is a huge loss you shouldn't risk. Alternatively, you could use the bank. However, if you buy the ingredients you are setting yourself up for the next time you need money. ______________________________ ___ |Platinum/Mythril Item Farming\ /*PM| =============================================================================== Doing this will give you good money to start with. I used this method to make money before I took the time to make the 99 Ear Cosies/Gold Mails. The Pros are that there are 2 Nectar Spawn points near Batsureg and Swinedimples. The Cons are that it takes so long to gather the items and it takes even longer for the items to respawn. Zoom to the locations listed below and follow the instructions to find the item spawn points. If you have the Starflight you can Zoom to the locations and then use the whistle to land close to the gathering spots. However, it will still take around 2 hours of having the game on and being in a town for the items to respawn. When you get them just sell the items you have gathered and you will be using your profits 25500G to start making Ear Cosys. With the Whistle, if you don't mind the wait this method is actually faster and it works wonders on your play time. LOCATION ITEM SELLING PRICE _____________ |Bloomingdale| -------------------------------------------|-----------------|------------- Head 1 screen North and the head Northwest.| Platinum Ore x3 | 4500G _____________________ |Swinedimples Academy| -------------------------------------------|-----------------|------------- Head 1 screen East and then head North. | Platinum Ore x6 | 9000G _________ |Batsureg| -------------------------------------------|-----------------|------------- Head 1 screen North, 1 screen East then | Mythril Ore x4 | 12000G follow the East until you run out of road | | and head south. | | When you have sold all the items you should end up with 25500G in addition to whatever you started with. You are now ready to use the Ear Cosy Trips Chart. ____________________ ___ |Ear Cosy Trips Chart\ /*ET| =============================================================================== The following chart shows you how many Ear Cosy trips it will take to get enough money to start producing Gold Mails starting at 25500 which is how much money you can make from the Platinum/Mythril Item Farming Trip. It also lists how many Ear Cosy Ingredients you can buy with the money you have. The amount of Ear Cosies you can make is the same as the amount of ingredients you can buy. Trips | Ear Cosys | Gold Held ------------------------------------------------- 0 | 26 | 25500 ------------------------------------------------- 1 | 32 | 31530 ------------------------------------------------- 2 | 40 | 38890 ------------------------------------------------- 3 | 49 | 48090 ------------------------------------------------- 4 | 61 | 59360 ------------------------------------------------- 5 | 75 | 73390 ------------------------------------------------- 6 | 93 | 90640 ------------------------------------------------- 7 | 99 | 112030 ------------------------------------------------- 8 | 99 | 134800 ------------------------------------------------- 9 | 99 | 157570 ------------------------------------------------- 10 | 99 | 180340 ------------------------------------------------- 11 | 99 | 203110 ------------------------------------------------- 12 | 99 | 225880 ------------------------------------------------- 13 | 99 | 248650 ------------------------------------------------- 14 | 99 | 271420 ------------------------------------------------- 15 | 99 | 294190 ------------------------------------------------- 16 | 99 | 316960 At this point we will stop making Ear Cosys. When you have 316960G the Gold Mail combo makes slightly more money than the Ear Cosy combo. It will take you the same amount of trips to the 453000G you need to make 99 Gold Mails whether you switch to Gold Mails at this point or stay on Eary Cosys. However, the Ear Cosy takes 4 trips (Batsureg, Port Llaffan, Slurry Quay, Stornway) and the Gold Mail takes 3 trips (Port Llaffan, Bloomingdale, Stornway). So what you save in time far outweighs the benefit of the routine you stuck to for 16 trips and as a bonus you end up with more money (480640G versus 453580G). ______________________________ ___ |Ear Cosy Cost and Profit Table\ /*EP| =============================================================================== Use this table to determine how many ingredients you need to start buying. Remember for each Ear Cosy you need 1 Fur Hood, 1 Lamb's Wool and 1 Bunny Tail so the number of each ingredient is the same as the number of ear cosys. It is pointless to make the same chart for the Gold Mails because you won't start making them until you have enough money to make 69. From that point on you will produce a set profit. # of Ear Cosys | Cost | Profit ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | 970 | 230 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 2 | 1940 | 460 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 3 | 2910 | 690 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 4 | 3880 | 920 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 5 | 4850 | 1150 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 6 | 5820 | 1380 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 7 | 6790 | 1610 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 8 | 7760 | 1840 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 9 | 8730 | 2070 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 10 | 9700 | 2300 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 11 | 10670 | 2530 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 12 | 11640 | 2760 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 13 | 12610 | 2990 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 14 | 13580 | 3220 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 15 | 14550 | 3450 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 16 | 15520 | 3680 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 17 | 16490 | 3910 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 18 | 17460 | 4140 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 19 | 18430 | 4370 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 20 | 19400 | 4600 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 21 | 20370 | 4830 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 22 | 21340 | 5060 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 23 | 22310 | 5290 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 24 | 23280 | 5520 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 25 | 24250 | 5750 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 26 | 25220 | 5980 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 27 | 26190 | 6210 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 28 | 27160 | 6440 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 29 | 28130 | 6670 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 30 | 29100 | 6900 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 31 | 30070 | 7130 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 32 | 31040 | 7360 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 33 | 32010 | 7590 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 34 | 32980 | 7820 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 35 | 33950 | 8050 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 36 | 34920 | 8280 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 37 | 35890 | 8510 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 38 | 36860 | 8740 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 39 | 37830 | 8970 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 40 | 38800 | 9200 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 41 | 39770 | 9430 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 42 | 40740 | 9660 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 43 | 41710 | 9890 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 44 | 42680 | 10120 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 45 | 43650 | 10350 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 46 | 44620 | 10580 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 47 | 45590 | 10810 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 48 | 46560 | 11040 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 49 | 47530 | 11270 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 50 | 48500 | 11500 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 51 | 49470 | 11730 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 52 | 50440 | 11960 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 53 | 51410 | 12190 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 54 | 52380 | 12420 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 55 | 53350 | 12650 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 56 | 54320 | 12880 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 57 | 55290 | 13110 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 58 | 56260 | 13340 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 59 | 57230 | 13570 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 60 | 58200 | 13800 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 61 | 59170 | 14030 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 62 | 60140 | 14260 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 63 | 61110 | 14490 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 64 | 62080 | 14720 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 65 | 63050 | 14950 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 66 | 64020 | 15180 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 67 | 64990 | 15410 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 68 | 65960 | 15640 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 69 | 66930 | 15870 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 70 | 67900 | 16100 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 71 | 68870 | 16330 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 72 | 69840 | 16560 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 73 | 70810 | 16790 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 74 | 71780 | 17020 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 75 | 72750 | 17250 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 76 | 73720 | 17480 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 77 | 74690 | 17710 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 78 | 75660 | 17940 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 79 | 76630 | 18170 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 80 | 77600 | 18400 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 81 | 78570 | 18630 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 82 | 79540 | 18860 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 83 | 80510 | 19090 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 84 | 81480 | 19320 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 85 | 82450 | 19550 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 86 | 83420 | 19780 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 87 | 84390 | 20010 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 88 | 85360 | 20240 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 89 | 86330 | 20470 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 90 | 87300 | 20700 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 91 | 88270 | 20930 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 92 | 89240 | 21160 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 93 | 90210 | 21390 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 94 | 91180 | 21620 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 95 | 92150 | 21850 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 96 | 93120 | 22080 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 97 | 94090 | 22310 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 98 | 95060 | 22540 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 99 | 96030 | 22770 _____________________ ___ |Gold Mail Trips Chart\ /*GT| =============================================================================== This chart shows you how many Gold Mails you can make when you reach 316960G and how much you profit with each trip. It will take you 6 trips to be able to buy the ingredients for 99 Gold Mails. Just like the Ear Cosy Trips Chart he number of Gold Mails you can make is the same as the number of ingredients you can buy. Trips | Gold Mails | Gold Cost ------------------------------------------------- 0 | 69 | 316960 ------------------------------------------------- 1 | 74 | 339730 ------------------------------------------------- 2 | 79 | 364150 ------------------------------------------------- 3 | 85 | 390220 ------------------------------------------------- 4 | 91 | 418270 ------------------------------------------------- 5 | 98 | 448300 ------------------------------------------------- 6 | 99 | 480640 Once you reach over 453000G you will always have enough money to buy the ingredients for 99 Gold Mails. The profit for each Gold Mail run is 32670G. So every time you need money for the DQVC just do a Gold Mail run or two and you should have enough to buy out everything that is being offered. If your willing to invest the time, you have infinite money. _______ ___ |Grottos\ /*GR| =============================================================================== The best way to make money in Dragon Quest IX actually comes from hunting in Grottos. The enemy you are hunting for is the Gem Slime. A single Gem Slime will yield 10,000 gold. In the time it takes you to do a Gold Mail run you could have killed 5-7 Gem slimes if you are unlucky. That is about double the amount of money. It is also less boring and less stress on your fingers. However, getting a grotto with Gem Slimes in it isn't easy. Lucky for us, you can find out what's in a grotto by knowing what type of grotto it is and what enemies you find on the first floor. In addition, if you're extremely lucky you will find a Gem Slime Treasure Map that will have one floor in the Grotto dedicated only to Gem Slimes; so you won't even have to run around waiting for Gem Slimes to pop up because they will be the only enemy that pops up! Use this treasure map searcher from woodus.com to locate the grotto: http://www.woodus.com/den/games/dq9ds/tms/ Now use this Grotto Calculator also from woodus to check if the grotto has gem slimes: http://www.woodus.com/den/games/dq9ds/dq9_grotto.html#Predict_H0_Netxc_I0_R0 The grottos you are looking for are Water, Ruins and Ice grottos. These are the only grottos that contain Gem Slimes. Water is the worst Gem slime grotto to have so don't settle for it. Ice grottos are the best grottos to have for Gem Slime farming. To distinguish the grottos look at the scenery. For water grottos you will be walking on a giant puddle of water. Ruins will look like an underground castle. Ice grottos look like a frozen cave. Monsters are grouped in ranks, I will list the Gem Slime rank of each grotto below: Water: S-Rank (Appears as early as B13) Ruins: A-Rank (Appears as early as B9) Ice: B-Rank (Appears as early as B5) The lower the rank the sooner you can get to the Gem Slime. By sooner I'm talking lower level treasure maps and in some cases lower level floors in those grottos. So Ice; which is one of the rarer treasure maps, is the best treasure map to have to farm Gem Slimes. Below I will list the enemies that you will want to be on the lookout for on the first floor to get a map that has gem slimes. Note that these aren't all the monsters on the floor; these are the monsters that if present on the first floor will guarantee that your grotto will be a Gem Slime in the floors that are listed below. You must also have a grotto that can reach those floors before reaching the boss. S-Rank Grottos (Gem Slime Floors): Enemies on 1st floor Water (B13-16): Boogie manguini, Mandrake monarch Ruins (B9-12): Sluggerslaught, Freaky tiki, Alarmour Ice (B5-B8): Firn fiend, Darkonium slime, Grim reaper, Wight emperor A-Rank Grottos (Gem Slime Floors): Enemies on 1st floor Ruins (B13-B16): Barbatos, Gem jamboree, Sluggerslaught Ice (B9-12): Charmour, Night knight, Firn fiend, Cannibelle, Freezing fog B-Rank Grottos (Gem Slime Floors): Enemies on 1st floor Ice (B13-B16): Freezing fog, Wight king, Great troll, Belisha beakon In addition to normal grottos, there are special treasure maps that will have Gem Slimes only on specific floors. As they are extremely rare I only know of them and have never acquired one myself. Certain names are more likely to have these floors then others. However, keep in mind that there is no guarantee that having a map with these names will actually turn out to be a Gem Slime Map. These are simply the names of maps that have been found in the past and are more likely to be Gem Slime Maps. The names I have found on the forums. Special thanks to ignasia7 for his post on the Gem Slime maps. He has credited foifoi2, ohitsthatguy1 and MelonGx for information leading to the post. Known Gem Slime Only Maps (Name of map, Lv): Emerald Crypt of Bliss Lv.57 Platinum World of Glee Lv.64 Silver Crypt of Dread Lv.69 Diamond Glacier of Bane Lv.72 Emerald Ruins of Gloom Lv.72 Diamond World of Bliss Lv.74 Sapphire Maze of Dolour Lv.74 Diamond Glacier of Hurt Lv.75 Steel Crypt of Ruin Lv.79 Silver Ruins of Dolour Lv.80 Emerald Snowhall of Hurt Lv.81 Emerald Maze of Gloom Lv.81 Platinum Ruins of Dread Lv.83 Diamond Path of Dread Lv.86 Diamond Crypt of Gloom Lv.86 Ruby World of Evil Lv.89 _____________________ ___ |projectargus's Method\ /*PA| =============================================================================== projectargus came up with an ingenious method of making money that rivals Gem Slime. His method is to steal from the Cumulus Hex monster that appears as early as B-Rank in Nature grottos (Caves). What makes this method better then regular Gem Slime farming is that the Cumulus Hex monster is a common monster and doesn't require a lot of running around to see. In addition, the types of grottos that Cumulus Hex appears in are among the most common. However, if you happen to find a Gem Slime Map with a Gem Slime floor; don't bother using this method. The items as well as how much they can be sold for are listed below: - Mistick (common) - sells for 8250 - Flowing dress (rare) - sells for 9000 The best setup for stealing these items are to have at least 3 LVL 99 thieves or rangers in your party. Note that a Ranger has more deftness than a thief so they will actually be better at stealing than thieves. You will also want to try to get a hold of some Dire Critical Fans for your thieves as the fans give +10% chance to Coup de Grace and the Coup de Grace of a thief guarantees loot from an enemy even after you steal from that enemy. The 'Thieve's Theory' scroll can also get you a chance at another loot. This means you can potentially get 27k in a single fight; but that is an extremely rare case. Either way, the average is around 10k per fight which is about the same as Gem Slime farming on a normal map. Again, since a Cumulus Vex is not a rare monster you'll be able to get into more Cumulus Vex encounters than you will Gem Slime encounters; unless you have a Gem Slime only map. The treasure maps you are looking for are nature grottos that are listed as Caves in the Grotto Calculator provided by woodus.com. Caves look like they are described; caves. However, they can be confused with fire grottos which also look like caves with magma running through them. Don't confuse the two. Below I have listed the enemies to look for on the first floor to see if you have the a Cumulus Hex map. In parenthesis you will find the location of the Cumulus Hex. Rank-E (B13-B16): Cumulus vex, Cobra cardinal, King cureslime, Gem jamboree, Red dragon Rank-D (B9-B12): King crab, Genie sanguini, Prism peacock, Terror troll, Moai minstrel, Drakulard Rank-C (B5-B8): Drakulard, Sluggerslaught, Cosmic chimaera, Wishmaster ______________ ___ |Special Thanks\ /*ST| =============================================================================== Originally written by meph. I'd like to thank my family for having the patience to deal with my video game addiction. Also, Thanks to Mimas for the original post on the Gold Mail method and xckx and GrandAlchemist for bringing it to the attention of the Dragon's Den. Thanks to Celestrian for the Ear Cosy method. Thanks to the Dragon's Den for keeping the information of who originally came up with these methods. Special thanks to ignasia7 for his post on the Gem Slime maps. He has credited foifoi2, ohitsthatguy1 and MelonGx for information leading to the post. Also, thanks to projectargus for his method of stealing items to make money. Thanks to the various posters that indirectly brought these methods to my attention. Lastly, thanks to GameFAQs for hosting this FAQ as well as all the other FAQs they host and keeping it free. You read it exclusively at GameFAQs.