Bard's Tale II(NES) FAQ/Walkthrough version 1.0.1 by schultw.andrez@sbcglobal.net Please do not reproduce this FAQ for profit without my prior consent. If you write a polite e-mail to me referring to me(and this FAQ) by name, then I will probably say OK. But if I ignore you that means no--and I am bad about answering e-mail. Sorry. Thanks to odino for all the translations. And for answering all my questions despite being busy. My maps on GameFAQs were intended to be used in conjunction with this FAQ. ================================ OPTIONS 1. INTRODUCTION 1-1. WHAT'S IT ABOUT? 1-2. BIG DIFFERENCES FROM THE PC 2. CONTROLS 3. STATISTICS 4. WALKTHROUGH 4-1. STARTING OUT 4-2. TANGRAMAYNE AND THE DARK DOMAIN 4-3. EPHESUS DUNGEON 4-4. FANSKAR'S CASTLE 4-5. THESSALONICA DUNGEON 4-6. PHILIPPI DUNGEON 4-7. CORINTH AND OSCON'S FORT 4-8. THE GREY CRYPT 4-9. TEMPLE OF NARN, COLOSSE, DESTINY STONE 4-10. DENOUEMENT 5. CHEATS 6. CHEAT-THROUGH 6-1. TANGRAMAYNE AND DUNGEON 6-2. EPHESUS DUNGEON 6-3. FANSKAR'S CASTLE 6-4. THESSALONICA DUNGEON 6-5. PHILIPPI DUNGEON 6-6. CORINTH AND OSCON'S FORT 6-7. THE GREY CRYPT 6-8. TEMPLE OF NARN AND COLOSSE 6-9. THE DESTINY STONE 6-10. THE FINAL FIGHT 7. VERSIONS/CREDITS ================================ 1. INTRODUCTION 1-1. WHAT'S IT ABOUT? Probably most of you who are playing this game are because you played and loved it for the Apple. So you are probably wondering how it compares. Pretty favorably, really, for its faults and limitations--the big one being only 256K of ROM. The Apple had more. You still have a Destiny Wand to build, and there are still seven segments. The dungeons are smaller, the monsters are fewer, the riddles are non-existent, and the mapping is not so tough. But it's still a fun game. And it's got some cool bard songs. Unfortunately due to my lack of Japanese knowledge, I can't tell you about the details of the plot at this point. There's an actual castle in Tangramayne, though, and you can't leave there til you solve the Dark Domain- -which was optional in BT2 on the Apple(BT2-A). Fortunately, it's an easy quest, a 12x12 dungeon with no riddles. With each dungeon you solve, a new one opens up, often with a town accompanying it. The town's weapon store has many items for sale. You equip, go in, defeat the dungeon boss, and work your way through a maze with a few gimmicks to find a piece of the Master Wand. Leveling up is weird in the game too--the amount needed for a level was capped in BT2-A but in BT2-NES it keeps going up. However, each level makes you almost ridiculously better, as it improves your stats, which improve how much you make per level. For those careful with their spells, they can move pretty smoothly up the ranks, and with magician class changes, the spellcasters become particularly powerful. The big problem with the game--and it's a big one--is what may have made it so accessible. You pretty much just need early dopey spells to blast the enemy. That helps you build up, and then you find more items, and that builds you up some more. There's a good item/level trade-off, but most of your ingenuity will be devoted, not too mapping, but to figuring how to chisel time off leveling up. The other big problem is that there'll be something challenging to do once-- deal with spinners, secret doors, or traps. Then the game will give up on it. It's as if it could've done more, but it did not have the space. Which is too bad. Everything else is there and there's even the occasional add-on to BT2- A--combat front lines are more easily adjustable, the enemy pictures are cool, you have a spell to replenish bard songs, and there's even an optional side quest late to make the ending easier. So while I can't judge the humor of the random fat guys carrying bags who pop up and yell at you, or the long cut scenes before the boss fight in each dungeon, I can say that it's a fun game to play even though you don't know Japanese. In fact it has retained some weird mystery for me. But I wanted to make this guide, so it did not maintain total mystery for everyone, and those who wanted to solve it, by methods cheating or honest, could. What else is there to add? Oh. Thieves are still useless. So that's all good. 1-2. BIG DIFFERENCES FROM THE PC Maps are 16x16 max, vs 22x22. Far fewer teleports, traps, and spinners, or spells to detect them. Treasure rooms replace death snares. Cool bosses. No boss fight in the PC version. Monks are not a character class. Knights seem to be a combo of Paladins and Monks. The princess in Tangramayne is not an ogre. You can leave town before completing the Dark Domain. Oscon's Fort(ress) is in Corinth. The Destiny Stone is in Colosse. No fights in NES towns except Colosse. All towns have a guild in the PC version, not just Tangramayne. Wilderness wraps in the PC and not the NES. You need more real levels to get spell levels, but you don't have to pay for spell levels. Experience per level doesn't top out. No dream-mage experience mill in the Maze of Dread. No maze of dread. No experience for disbelieving summoned monsters. Or even beating them. Weird guys babbling randomly in dungeons! Or in town! They look the same! No cool animated graphics. But at least there's yellow. No dream spell. No anti-magic zones! No level drainers And the big one...in the NES version, the Sage is not Lagoth Zanta, the big evil guy! I think. 2. CONTROLS Here are some heuristics for English speakers to get by in a Japanese game. In general option 1 is yes and 2 is no. up,A=go forward down=turn around left,right=turn left/right B=menu (B moves back through menu, A forward) option 1 = view character stats and items (select character up and down) option 2 = cast spell conjurer/mage/sorcerer/wizard/archmage in that order scroll left/right through spell levels(can wrap from 1 to 7) select 1/2 up/down option 3 = bard song 1=avoid traps/spinners 2=avoid encounters better 3=exit dungeon option 4 = equip A toggles equip. If you equip one helm with another already equipped, you lose the first one. option 5 = items (1) in detail. Move up and down to pick someone, then up and down for an item (1) use item(for instance, herb to heal) (2) trade. Select person with A. Automatically un-equips item. (3) drop item. Warning--no confirmation. (2) ???? option 6 = sort troops (1) you can exchange 2 players you select (2) the player you pick is at the back of your front line. You may wish to change this when a player is hurt or when you get a powerful NPC--expand the front line 1, or even shrink it to 1 if the NPC is super powerful and your fighters are unable to do damage. option 7 = use map ?? Small trick--trade unequipped items to yourself before equipping, so you can remember what to sell. Bard song notes: if enemy is vulnerable to magic, use defensive song, otherwise use offensive song Combat is pretty straightforward. Everyone has an option to fight, including a bard in the back ranks with a bow. If that is available, it will be the first. Bards and spellcasters have an additional option, too--singing or casting spells. Protective spells don't appear to be cumulative, and if you cast similar ones(M1-1, M3-2) the stronger one trumps. Bard songs aren't cumulative, either, and if you play one during battle, the old one will continue out of combat. Monsters always attack the first enemy in melee or have a set spell to cast. Statuses are not hard to understand either. Poisoned = lose 1 HP per turn Charmed = cannot be healed Confused/Blinded = lose 1 turn Petrified = need to be healed with special spell Dead = see petrified, but worse 3. STATISTICS 3-1. LEVELS Gaining levels is not terribly hard to calculate in BT2. Basically, you advance from level x at level (Class coefficient) * (x^3) The class coefficient is as follows: Fighter, Knight:6 Thief: 5 Hunter: 7 Bard: 4 Conjurer, Mage: 7 Sorcerer: 8 Wizard: 9 Archmage: 10 (0a) You can gain 98 levels in the game. So that means your fighter needs 6*98*98*98=5647152 total experience to max out. Don't worry about getting there right away. You can also change mage classes, and when you do, the first levels will be extremely easy to pick off. You may get several levels for your very first fight. It should not be bad to max out your spell levels for subsequent mage classes. You always should max out mage classes before moving on. It may seem like a lot of experience, but every level and spell counts, and of course you get the best spells at the end. Level 1 gets spell level 1 Level 3 gets spell level 2 Level 6 gets spell level 3 Level 9 gets spell level 4 Level 12 gets spell level 5 Level 16 gets spell level 6 Level 20 gets spell level 7 Mages should change class at level 20. While the level 7 spell is not always the most useful, it's rather nice, and later on they would be begging for a level a just 8000 points or whatever. That means they gain 19 levels, or 6859*(class index)... Mage/Conjurer: 48013 Hunter=20, Fighter/Knight=21, Thief=22, Bard=23 Conjurer/Mage(flip levels: 48013 more, 96026 total Hunter=24, Fighter/Knight=26, Thief=27, Bard=29 Sorcerer: 96026 + 8*6859 = 150898 Hunter=28, Fighter/Knight=30, Thief=32, Bard=34 Wizard: 150898 + 9 *6859 = 212629 Hunter=32, Fighter/Knight=33, Thief=35, Bard=38 Archmage: 212629 + 10 *6859 = 281219 Hunter=35, Fighter/Knight=37, Thief=39, Bard=42 You can see that the spellcaster levels pile up pretty quickly. Once you change classes the first time, your back row is much less of a liability against spells, too. They get rather good by the end. You will probably need at least Archmage level 20 to win the game. But fortunately there are ways to build up experience quickly. Not as good as the Maze of Dread dream mages, but good enough! I had a perl script which calculated the next level easily enough. It is not too difficult to write in any language. While you ultimately need to just put your head down and fight, or cheat up experience if you get bored, it's good to have a basic idea of which level you get, when. Here's a chart for details. Each new line is 10 more levels. | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | ---------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+---- --+ Bard | 0| 4| 32| 108| 256| 500| 864| 1372| 2048| 2916| | 4000| 5324| 6912| 8788| 10976| 13500| 16384| 19652| 23328| 27436| | 32000| 37044| 42592| 48668| 55296| 62500| 70304| 78732| 87808| 97556| |108000|119164|131072|143748|157216|171500|186624|202612|219488|237276| Thief | 0| 5| 40| 135| 320| 625| 1080| 1715| 2560| 3645| | 5000| 6655| 8640| 10985| 13720| 16875| 20480| 24565| 29160| 34295| | 40000| 46305| 53240| 60835| 69120| 78125| 87880| 98415|109760|121945| |135000|148955|163840|179685|196520|214375|233280|253265|274360|296595| Fighter | 0| 6| 48| 162| 384| 750| 1296| 2058| 3072| 4374| | 6000| 7986| 10368| 13182| 16464| 20250| 24576| 29478| 34992| 41154| | 48000| 55566| 63888| 73002| 82944| 93750|105456|118098|131712|146334| |162000|178746|196608|215622|235824|257250|279936|303918|329232|355914| Hunter&| 0| 7| 56| 189| 448| 875| 1512| 2401| 3584| 5103| Conjurer&| 7000| 9317| 12096| 15379| 19208| 23625| 28672| 34391| 40824| 48013| Magician | 56000| 64827| 74536| 85169| 96768|109375|123032|137781|153664|170723| |189000|208537|229376|251559|275128|300125|326592|354571|384104|415233| Sorcerer | 0| 8| 64| 216| 512| 1000| 1728| 2744| 4096| 5832| | 8000| 10648| 13824| 17576| 21952| 27000| 32768| 39304| 46656| 54872| Wizard | 0| 9| 72| 243| 576| 1125| 1944| 3087| 4608| 6561| | 9000| 11979| 15552| 19773| 24696| 30375| 36864| 44217| 52488| 61731| Archmage | 0| 10| 80| 270| 640| 1250| 2160| 3430| 5120| 7290| | 10000| 13310| 17280| 21970| 27440| 33750| 40960| 49130| 58320| 68590| Cue-card summary: Fighters are good all around, Hunters earn critical hit, Knights might as well have it by level 45(and hunters can't dent the REAL enemies,) you need a Bard to win, Thieves are lame, and you want a conjurer and a magician to start for spell variety. 3-2. ITEMS 4. WALKTHROUGH 4-1. STARTING OUT Well, first things first. You need to create a party that will work well together. I went with a fighter, a knight(paladin in the English version,) a bard, a conjurer and a mage. The fighter is option #1, the knight #2, the bard #5, conjurer #6 and mage #7. You might as well create them in this order. Here is a table of the beginning stats for males. * is important for that particular class. Females get +2 dexterity and -2 vitality and strength, not a good trade-off. STR DEX INT WIS VIT REF HP MP Fighter 15*19 07-11 01-03 01-03 19*21 01-04 24-30 Knight 17*21 09-13 01-05 01-04 16*19 04-08 23-29 Hunter 09-13 14-18 04-08 04-08 09-13 07-11 13-19 Thief 12-16 12-16 03-07 03-07 11-15 03-07 17-23 Bard 09-13 08-12 08-12 10-14 09*13 15*19 13-19 Conjurer 03-07 08-12 16*20 12*16 02*06 11-15 03-09 16-20 Magician 01-05 08-12 12*16 16*20 04*08 13-17 04-10 12-16 I'd assume vitality and strength are important for hunters and thieves, too. But I did not use them in the game. You can choose a different character by pushing B and A. You'll do a lot of this. Initial hit points aren't nearly as important as vitality, as each level, you gain hit points based on your vitality score. Similarly, magic points aren't as important as intelligence and wisdom. You want the very best vitality for your mages, who are susceptible to back-rank spells early on. Best 3 out of 4 good stats is good enough. It's nice if your players have good dexterity for fighting but not critical. Often you want to get the first attack in, and a higher dexterity early on helps that later. I named my characters after the first five characters BT2 gives you. You may wish to make their names repeating characters so you can be sure when something happens to them. Now join your players to the party--2nd selection, then 1st, then pick them in the order above. You have a starting party. 4-2. TANGRAMAYNE AND THE DARK DOMAIN You don't need to watch for monsters in town, so you can go where you please. First, you will want to buy some equipment. The shop is N 2W S 2W N 2W N of the main guild. Here is what to buy at first: Fighter: Normal Sword(#3), Leather Armor(#5), Small Shield(#6), Leather Gloves(#7) Knight: Normal Sword(#3), Leather Armor(#5), Small Shield(#6), Leather Gloves(#7) Bard: Normal Sword(#3), Leather Armor(#5), Small Shield(#6), Leather Gloves(#7) The sword is $20, leather $30, small shield $25, leather gloves $15. You can use this as a check-off in case you are worried you will buy the wrong items. This leaves 30 gold for later. I didn't buy the bard an instrument yet as you'd also have to buy a drink for it to be useful, and that's less protection. Save the game and go to the Dark Domain and look for your first fight. You only need 4 experience to get your bard a level, or 6 for your fighters, or 7 for your magicians. Still, you will want to take the fights one at a time. And of course you will want to equip your items the VERY first thing. Choose option 4, pick a player, and equip all his items. Do that for players 1-3. Now find the dungeon. You may wish to save at the inn first--S E and pick option 1 a few times. There'll be two Y/N options and hit yes both times. Go east along the north bit, then south when you hit the wall. (N from inn) 2E S 2E N E* 3S. You're now in the first dungeon to conquer. It's not a very big one at 11x11, but you still need to build your party up a bit before you can definitively win it. The most important thing is, don't get killed. That costs a lot of money to undo. In order not to get lost, just go north and south in the first corridor. You're just looking to win a fight--monsters like slimes should go down to just one hit, but you will want to focus on spell casters. In general you can spread the hits around, though the safest strategy is to have a fighter attack enemy 1 and knight and bard attack #2. Have your conjurer cast 1-1 on the fighter's enemy and your mage 1-1 on the fighter and knight. This should work well for the first fight. Don't worry about draining your resources. You can rest at the inn to recoup. It is only 10 gold. Soon, you will get a feel for which monsters go down with one hit and which don't. It's more important just to avoid two groups of monsters until level 3 or so. So winning the first battle should get at least your bard a level. You should get 10+ gold from it, but if not, rest up anyway. This is an immediate sacrifice of gold for long term gain. Of course, if you suffered no damage, you can take another shot at things. Once you get everyone to level 2, which should happen after 3 fights, you won't have to rest so much, and gold should be plentiful throughout the game. Where it's not, you can just level up for a bit in choice places. Your mages can cast a few more spells, too. So with everyone at level 2 you can afford to explore a bit. You also should not have to worry about stuff like being poisoned. None of the monsters have terribly special abilities. Watch your bard songs(they last for 32 square-moves,) but even if you are drained, cast C1-2 on your bard to give him a song back. Now you will want to build up cash to buy your bard an instrument. Either #9 or #10 at the shop--it sells for 50 gold. You'll also need to buy a drink at the tavern(2E 4S of the weapon shop) and now you can proceed by getting your first NPC to join. Be sure to have the sound on and play song #2. That will result in fewer encounters. It's a pretty long walk. If you get low on HP, play noncombat song 3 to retreat and leave the area, then drink up and try again. If you fail a few times, you'll probably gain a few levels, which will make you tougher in the future. So don't rush things. 3S 2W N 2W S 2W 3N E 2N W 5N 4W (if the bard song goes quiet here, and you're only level 2, just gut it out. Otherwise, play it again.) 2S 2E 3S 2W 2S. Accept the Wing Creature's offer to join you, then sing song 3 and go back home and recharge. Also flip him with your bard(option 6, option 1, him, your bard.) This guy really pulls his weight early on. He attacks the first enemy and usually kills it. That, and he has a use at another square in the Dark Domain. Before conquering the Dark Domain's big boss, it's probably best to build your fighting characters up to level 4. You can win with level 3 but it is tricky. This requires more milling around the Dark Domain. Bard songs aren't critical, but be sure to save one before you get to the fight--#1 in battle, and you won't need to retreat. Don't worry about building up items or gold along the way. You'll have enough gold for the Ephesus weapon shop later. So at level 4 you are ready to rumble. Be sure to have saved your game, or taken a save state or whatever, and then climb down. Play song #2 so you don't have any battle scars before the big fight. Be sure to save a song #1 for the fight. You will be automatically transported home. Try to run from anyone who might fight you. You can take a bit of damage, if you can't flee, but do use C1-1 when you can and C2-2(30 HP) when necessary. You'll have enough magic for the fight. 3S 2W N 2W S 2W 3N 3E 3N 3E 3N and the Wing Creature should jump you over the gap. Go to the very north and you will encounter the Wing Creature. Now you will want your bard to play the defense song(combat option 3, song 4) and then have everyone hit the big guy. Again, C1-1 is a nice addition, C2-2 is necessary if anyone is <40 HP, and M2-2 is handy to make your guys hit for as much damage as they can. It may be a few rounds, but you should make it. You are automatically transported back to the castle and can now enter the wilderness after a big long cutscene. You also get a dragon scale, which is worth 2000 gold, but don't sell it! It will come in handy down the line. 4-3. EPHESUS DUNGEON Your first order of business is to find Ephesus. The second tree you see on your right, turn right and enter just before there. It's time to improve your party some more. You probably won't have enough cash to buy everything, but here is what you eventually want: Broad Sword(3) for knight and bard $100 each War Axe(4) for fighter $150 Chain Mail(7) for fighter, knight and bard. Once you equip it, the Leather Armor will unequip, and you can sell that. Chain is 100. Helmet(8) for fighter, knight and bard $50 each Fight the outside battles as they give a bit more experience than the Dark Domain. While the simplest way to get fights is to go south and north by Ephesus til you've got some cash piled up. Don't skimp on going to the inn, temple or tavern to stock up. Against giants or when in HP trouble, use a defensive song. Whatever you pay for healing can be reclaimed in a fight or two. When finding your way further around, it's most useful to walk in the corridor just west of Ephesus, so should you get poisoned, you can return there immediately and go to the temple. A poisoned character loses 1 HP for each move you make outside, and while you can should an antidote at 50 in Ephesus, it's better to conserve money and just use the temple when you can, reserving the antidote for when a character is near death(stats red and poisoned.) As always, the temple heals your conditions, and the inn heals your HP and MP, and there's no markup as you move to the next town. The total bill is $600 for everything, and if you patiently fight outdoors, you will be ready for the Ephesus dungeon. You will still want to avoid combats, but you are ready for the next phase. I would recommend beating up on monsters there. Take it one fight at a time. If anyone gets a condition, sing song # 3 and heal immediately. You can actually get rid of the Wing Creature pretty quickly. Once you get to level 6, summon Elik's Wolf(C3-1) if you want a more powerful NPC. You can do a bit better with Ramsel, but first you want to mess around a bit. I went to the Tangramayne big guild(where you started) and removed the Wing Creature. From Ephesus to Tangramayne is easy: 1 square south, then east all the way. Choose option 1, then 2, then choose Wing Creature. He is now out of your party. Make a front line of 3(option 6, 2, player 3) if playing without the wolf(he will disappear if you leave a dungeon,) and now go back to the Ephesus dungeon. Have the sound up and play song 2 continually. Now you have the safety valve of M3-1 to forcibly flee. You have M2-1 to kill undeads(which is just about everything here, except obvious humans,) and you have C2-2 to heal. Bard songs in combat should be defensive. You can win fights outright with just magic and bard songs against the undead. They're easy enough you can try to flee from everything else. The only problem may be that spellcasters attack your back rank. But it is a chance worth taking, since you can reload. If you recognize a spellcaster, run til your mages have ~35 HP. But here is what to work up to if you want to get a shiny new NPC. If you fall short, just re-try. 2E 3S 2E 4S 2W 2S 3E (guy talking, ignore him) 2S and D. On level 2, 2N 6W N 2W S 4W 2N and say yes to Ramsel. Adjust him in the party as before and make a front line of 4. You may not be perfectly ready to face the big enemy, but you are on your way. I would recommend level 8 at least-- level 10 is probably best. The second boss critically hits. Hang around on the 2nd level for a while, and don't use bard song 2. You may wish to use bard songs in combat to improve your chance of winning. Remember always to save one to leave the dungeon. When you get fighters to level 9 or 10(8 is possible too if you feel comfortable with the controls of this game--the problem is, the boss may cast a death spell or a spell at your conjurer,) then, you'll want to use bard song 2 to get to the big fight with as little damage as possible. Save beforehand, of course, and then get to level 2 as before. 3N W 3N 3W 2S W 2N W N 2W S 3W and all the way north. Hit this guy with everything and I mean everything. Have the bard play song 3 in combat to decrease the enemy's magic attacks. He may hit your spellcasters if you do not watch it, and they are fragile. Use C1-1 constantly and M2-1 because he is undead. He has 600 hit points, but these spells should do him in. You may need to rest up after this. You get Magic Chain for winning this fight, so equip that. Now there are a lot of fights in the treasure room, so don't go down there yet. Heal, and if you still have enough spell points for a few more, don't bother retreating. It may be worthwhile to buy a Heaven Drop as the next bit is confusing. That is more for convenience's sake, though, as you may forget things. Your conjurer can also replenish your bard in an emergency, remember. The map of the treasure room is simple, but there are so many spinners that you will get distracted. There are two ways through. 1. cast M1-1 at every square to determine which spun you around. The squares only spin you once. 2. play bard song 1 at the start of each of the 5 hallways. Your bard should have the extra songs and that way, the song will not die, either. I recommend #2 as your bard should have extra songs especially with a Heaven Drop. The corridor is 13 squares long, and you get 32 moves per song, so that means you can make it across in just three songs. However, to be sure of things, at the end of a long walk, you may want to cast M1-1 and be sure you are at: (13,3) (0,2) (13,1) (0,0) where you'll see a door and take the pink gem. While the bats are not tough for a fully healthy party, they are a distraction and not worth the experience. Run from them if you can, just to save energy. Cast heal spells if your HP go below half the maximum. Also, the X and Y coordinates are backwards here for scry-site(M1-1), but it's not a huge deal. You need 2 bard song #3's to get to the surface. 4-4. FANSKAR'S CASTLE Fanskar's has some tough monsters worth lots of experience, including some nasty spellcasters not seen in Ephesus, so you may wish to just save states after each fight you win. You may also want your fighters at level 10 or so before starting. You'll need to use a lot of the old familiar spells. Fanskar's is unusual in that it has no treasure room. There's just an additional fight. Keep Ramsel for this. He is useful to beat up an enemy per round, which balances out the shared experience you lose. From Ephesus, go south til you hit a tree, east til you hit a tree, south til you hit a tree, and east til you are in an enclosed area. Fanskar's is to the south. For the most part, it has monsters that cast minorly annoying spells or fighters. There's one set of monsters where you have a minstrel/mage who confuses your players constantly, leaving the other monsters to clean up the mess. This is bad for you, and you should run from them. Maybe there is a spell to take them out, but I could not find one that would repel the confusion. Other fights are tolerably good, though bard song 1 in combat helps you win quickly. Probably M3-1 is best here though. You have some level building to do. Much more so than in Ephesus's dungeon, you'll find new items every now and then, ones which really improve your party. You even have a fixed treasure on the second level. There are two stairs up to level 2: the near one, which leads to small treasure, and the far one, which leads to Fanskar. The monsters are about the same either way. For the first trip you might as well play bard song 2, go 2 forward, take the stairs, 2 forward, left and go right. Treasure! Equip the Madito's Boots and use song 3 if you want. The armor class boost is handy. You'll probably have similar things fall out as you walk around fighting. It won't happen often, but you may be here a while. So you need to paddle around for a while on level 1. Spells like C5-1 are useful to blast enemies in the back ranks, along with M4-1 for a lot of bad guysC1-1 when you know there is just one spellcaster back there. You need the bard song to kill the instant wolf, and the instant ogres are tough enough early that it is worth running from combat. If an instant giant appears, run right away. They are deadly. In general, level 2 is a lot trickier than level 1, so don't go up there. Level 1 features groups of big beatable monsters. You want to get at least to level 5. To get to Fanskar's area of the second level, go 2W 5S 3W 6S and take the stairs. 3N E N 4E 4S 3W. Fanskar is not too bad. He only has 500 hit points, and with a M3-1 or two you can win in three rounds. But you should bring all your stuff anyway including a regeneration spell. You get a thief dagger when you win. I recommend that you try to flee from Fanskar and try to re-heal. If you are able to do this, then you can get to 20000 gold more quickly when you sell the thief dagger. Why 20000 gold? Because boss #2 will probably shred your spellcasters, and there is nothing you can do. But you should be able to win the fight pretty easily. The plan is to cast M3-2 on whomever you can. Sing song #1, of course. This enemy has 3600 hit points, so while the technique is the same as for Fanskar, but expect to take a while. You get a spell spear when you win. It is a handy weapon. You also get the second gem, and now Thessalonica, a new town, opens up for you. 4-5. THESSALONICA DUNGEON Thessalonica is in the SW corner of the map. The weapons shop is 3W 4S E 2N E S of the entry. There you will want to buy Magic Chain(6) and a Magic Sword(5), for everyone in the front line, and Gauntlets(3) for your fighter, unless you already have better--and if you have only 1 or 2 better, give them to your Knight and Bard. You can get a Magic Dagger(7) for your back row, since you should be rolling in cash by now. Also, you will either want to drop Ramsel off or let him die once you get to level 6. He has good attack strength, and he will help speed combats up a bit, but once you're at level 6, summoned monsters pull their weight better than he will--the ogre from C6-1 has 82/54 attack/defense versus Ramsel's 54/40. I recommend using them, because they take 1/6 of your experience and improve your attack by at least 1/3--you should have a 4 person front line. So that is a total gain of (4/3 * 5/6) - 1 = 11%. Remember that summoned monsters disappear when you return to town, so you need to cast your spell again when you enter the next dungeon. You get a nasty surprise if you forget. But it'll be nice that YOU can summon monsters to annoy the opponent now, instead of the other way around. Nobody here's good at magic, except for magic mushrooms, who hit your front line for 30 each. Fighters can't do much damage to you if you're properly equipped. This is great, til you get to the boss fight and can't even do significant damage with a bard song going. So you basically have to run around winning fights and using battle bard song #1 and mage spell 3-2(give to your guys in order of attack score--the more monsters, the more times you should cast it,) even if you just arrived from Fanskar's. Death strike works well against weak monsters(speeds up experience). You can use C5-1 and M4-1 if there are a lot of monsters, too. Remember, it's always easy to recharge, so while this may drain spell points(and is inadvisable as your fighters get better) it can win a few fights to get you started. And even if you lose track of spell points, enemies can't much dent a group with good armor. You'll get nice items along the way, both in battle and from specific treasure squares. Those will be the first item(s) of business(pun.) For the process below, just retreat if you're damaged, then go back up. Getting to level 2 is easy. Just go east all the way. Then go back west on level 2 until there are doors on each side. The Knight Shield is 3S 2E. Give it to your knight, because he has fewer hit points than your fighter. The new items will make your knight a superstar, though. There's a third your mages can't use yet, but it will be handy later. Return. N W N 3E N 4W 3N and W you have a mimic. Say no to avoid opening it, though you can beat it up for fun and practice. W and you get the Sword of Zar. Apparently the Sword of Zar is Graphnar's weakness, Graphnar being the boss of the dungeon. So says odino. Return. Go west. Up to level 3, 6E 3N 2E S 2E. The boss is nearby, but you can't really dent him yet. So you will need to build levels. But how much? And where? First, level 3 is best. You need spells to do damage anywhere, so go where the experience is greatest. Once you cast M3-2 on your knight, he can do 500+ damage, which is effectively a critical hit. By the time you get to level 20 for your fighters, they may not need M3-2 for the weaker fighter opponents, as the bard song will be okay. With 20 bard songs and 500 experience per fight, you can get a level each time through the dungeon. Now your object is first to get your mages to level 20. Then you can go to the review board and flip their classes(2nd option.) The review board is in SE Thessalonica. Flipping classes kicks them back to level 1, affording them a bunch of easy levels. Here it is your choice whether to cast 7-1(Elik's Slayer) at the start of a dungeon trek. It's good at attack, but at the same time, you may not always be able to use it. If there are 2 slots in the enemy front line, you can probably kill them with a M3-2 from both spellcasters and with your fighter, knight and bard. So the choice is yours. It's a bit safer to have the Slayer, and you'll need him for the boss fight. But he is not critical until the boss fight. So you will basically whizz around using bard song #1 and hammering your enemies with your fighters. The map itself is not tough--go straight east to get to level 2. Then you can go straight back west til you have doors on each side. When my fighters got to level 23 and my mages to level 12, I was ready. Here is your blueprint to winning the boss fight. 1. First round, play bard song 1. Cast M3-2 on fighter and knight. Attack the guy. 2. After that, you just need the knight to attack him. Others can and should guard. It will reduce the damage taken. 3. If someone is getting <2/3 hit points, have both mages cast heal, C5-2 and C6-2. They should cast it first thing, because after all the levels they gained, they'll have high dexterity. Your enemy hits for 400 points, and your knight goes for 500+. So the fight takes 10 rounds maximum, accounting for random damage. You should have 500+ spell points, which make the fight easy enough once you have the power and know how to use it. There's a small chance the enemy may attack one player several times in a row. So be proactive with the heals even if it seems like you don't need to be. You have enough spell points. You get a magic axe for this. This may help your fighter. Next you'll be asked if you want to go to the treasure room. It has no forced fights, so you should just go through with it. You can get easy experience casting 3-2 on your knight, but it is not much. It may be a way to get new items, but you'll be getting enough in Philippi in a bit. Go forward, ignoring all chests til you have a door on the right. Go through it, then go through the door on the left. Go forward and ignore the first chest. The purple gem is in the second one. Now leave. You can use two bard song #3's. 4-6. PHILIPPI DUNGEON Philippi is way on the east side of the map. Go 5N E* 3N 5E 2N 2W to get there. The dungeon here is probably the biggest of the game. It is the messiest to traverse. But it has some interesting treasure along the way. You also need to see one square to open up the boss fight. As always, though, you will want to stop at the weapons shop first. It's got some upgrades. The inn is right in front of you, and Philippi is arranged in a nice little grid. E 3W 5W 3N W S for the arms shop. Item 1 is a magic sword, which you should have. Item 2 is a magic shield, which you may not. Your front line can use this. Item 3 is magic scale, which is worth buying. Again, everyone on the front line can use this. I didn't find anything better til now. Item 4 is a bird sword, which only a bard can use. This may be an upgrade. Item 5 is a magic helmet. It doesn't give much more protection than a regular one, but you have so much cash that the safety is worth it. Item 6 is magic gloves. You probably won't need gloves, but give any excess ones to your back rankers. Item 7 is a magic bow, but there are better weapons out there. Herb, antidote and heaven drop are below that, as in previous towns(except Tangramayne.) Now you may wish to build your party up to sorcerers before tackling this. The Thessalonica dungeon is easier and does not have monsters who can knock out your back rank. But with patience, you can win fights giving bigger experience, or you can go item grabbing in the dungeon first. West down the center of the street, you have the stairs to the Philippi dungeon. Monsters are tougher here. They actually do damage! But you can hit them for a lot of experience. You should be building your guys up to sorcerers. The same formula applies as before. Eyeballs(which summon and should be fled from) and insects are your main enemies here. Hack away at them with M3-2 and your fighters, and don't worry about wasting any, because you should have well over 1000 spell points by now. However, you will learn that spells bounce off some monsters and hit you. The wall is one example of this. So stick to what works. On level 2 you have Social Plate. Only bards and theives can use it. It's great for boosting defense and should be your first goal(use song 2.) Here is how to find it: W N 4W 3N 3E S E* N 3W 3N 4E 3S to stairs 5W 2N 2W 2S E. There are more items on level 3. Watch out for walls here--they deflect magic damage back on you. Speed boots are in the NE. They are good for your bard, since you want him to sing before your other guys attack. The Pan Flute in the SE is good for your bard, too. It gives him extra attack and defense. Again, have song 2 playing because the encounters here really drag on. You will save a bit of time if you go the south way to level 2--5W 3S 3E N 8E S 3W 3S 4E 3N. Then W S W* 2S W* 4N 2E N E*. N 2W S 3W and it doesn't matter what you get first. 2N E N 3E N 2W 2N 2E. Now a word on the lower levels--the monsters are tougher and get less experience. I found level 1 worked great for building you up. The walls on level 2 protect spellcasters. Occasionally you may have to run(better, cast M3-1) from a summoned monster, but that is not so bad. There's no need to save spell points since (1) you get more with each level and (2) bard song 3 is still a safety valve. So when you want to get to the bottom(about when you have L9 sorcerers,) have bard song 2 playing. Also you may wish to have a heaven drop or two. The way down from the stairs to level 3 is pretty easy though. West from those stairs, then down. South out the door, 2E S E N* 3W 3N D. South all the way to the boss--heal before you start. If you do that, the boss is pretty straightforward. He has 5000 hit points, but I tried to see if he cast any terrible spells. Have the attack song going, cast S1-1, and cast M3-2. Then cast C6-2 a lot if you're low on HP. You will be able to tackle him eventually. It's not worth it to summon a powerful monster just for this fight. You get a War Staff for defeating the boss. It is good for mages, if they should ever be dragged into combat. The treasure room has lots of fights that regenerate on fixed squares. The usual ritual of raising strength with M3-2 and whaling away works very well here. Given that each fight is worth 750 for a 5-member party, it can be quite lucrative to mess around. Each fight should take 3 rounds, maybe 2 if you're really lucky, or if you improve as in step 5 below. The enemies have 1500 hit points. If you actually want some sort of progress in the meantime, you can find an Arc Royal near the corner, which I recommend. It is a great shield for your fighter. So I will make the detour. 1) go south--away from the stairs. There's a fight and a teleport to the corner.. 2) west, fight, 2 north, fight, east, north, and you get the arc royal. 3) bard song 3 to go to the entry. This time, 2 east, fight, south, fight, and south into a teleport. You'll see a long wall on the left and then it'll disappear. 4) go south and west. Get the green gem. Note--this walls this area off to you later, so just sit at an intersection as step 5 says. You can come back. 5) You may actually want to fight until your magic is drained here. Doing the mat, sorcerer level 20 is at 54872. 54872/750=73. That is not a lot of fights, though you may have to come back a few times to recharge spell points(remember, if you forgot your heaven drop, conjurers can give bards songs back with C1-2, and this helps you stay a bit longer.) 5) Play bard song 3 twice. Now for Oscon's. 4-7. CORINTH AND OSCON'S FORT Go E S* and W S W S to get to Corinth. The inn in Corinth is just as you enter, and the weapon shop is on the other side. Corinth has some more good stuff but you probably found better--or these exact items--on your travels. Pick up the magic plate(#4) for your fighter and knight. It's a steal. Then go south and talk to the man. Say yes. Not that you have much choice--it's a Dragon Warrior "but thou must" conundrum here. But it will allow you into Oscon's. Oscon's is 2N 4E 2S 2E 2S. It gives good experience though it takes a while to win fights. Also, you may need to flee from some of the nastier summoned monsters. So be ready to flee spellcasters. Your wizards should have good speed by now. So they can flee first thing. Oscon's dungeon is not hard, but the Oscon fight is. Your goal at the very least is a pair of level 12 wizards to beat Oscon. You probably also need a good NPC, which your wizard can summon. And as you win more fights, you may also find items like a Saw Hammer which will do a lot of damage. That in itself is worth several levels. You can probably win strictly melee fights easily without spells once you have it. To see Oscon, you need to rescue 3 kids who look like Alfred E Neuman. This is a potrzebie dungeon where enemies have a lot of things they can do to you, so I recommend having song 2 going and fleeing all fights, period, for the first bit. There's Carmine Plate in a chest on the east side of level 2. That will be your first goal. But since it's not too far out of the way, go west to the edge, 5S, 4E and 2S. You've rescued one kid! Then, 1N, E* and follow the path south to the next level. You will need to go along the south/west edge to rescue the next kid. The Carmine Plate is along the wall N* 2E N 4E 4S W. This is useful for your fighters in melee regardless of what you do next to pump your characters up. Again it is up to you whether to summon a monster or not. It helps avoid damage and it can soak up hit points. You can put your bard in the back row and the mosnter in slot #3. I built my guys up to wizard level 12 here. I was able to win without a monster, but I had a saw hammer. My advice is to try after each new item, to see if you can take him out quickly. If you can kill Oscon before he summons monsters, great. But it may take a little luck. Because Oscon(6000 HP) himself isn't very tough, but the monsters he summons are. So your very best extra monster will come in handy. He will blast Oscon, with or without M3-2 cast on him. Of course, you should still cast the basic spells, M3-2 first round and M3-2 and S1-1 the second. And you may need to make sure that the enemy does not burn your characters to death--Oscon can summon devils who whip your party for 1000 damage each. So you can try the luck route(hope to beat him up quickly) and eventually with a good monster. The alternative is to get to Archmage level 6 and then use the Kringle Brother on Oscon, which is overkill and takes too much preparation. There's no treasure room once you beat Oscon--well, you have to walk a bit to find it. E* S. This one is queer--there doesn't seem to be much of a puzzle. There are fights here which just give good low-risk experience but they aren't very practical, so try to flee when you can. The enemies charm you, so you need to cast W5-1 to heal--it is the only way to regain hit points. You can leave and return a few times if you'd like, but really, the Philippi dungeon was better. Enemies give more experience in the Crypt, and better items, too. If you get in a fight, your bard song should be enough. The enemies have 200 HP each. Go along the west wall to the south, through the door and to a place where you're asked yes/no. Say yes. Now exit the door. 7E N and you will find the yellow gem. You can get out of here now. 4-8. THE GREY CRYPT From Corinth, N* 2E 2N 2E N* W 2N E, down. Philippi is actually closer if you want to rest and come back. The pace changes significantly when you get through here. It's a pretty straightforward dungeon if you know where to go. The second level is divvied up, and the wrong stairs mean a dead end. But the only real risk is after you leave--the monsters outside become insanely tough! As before, bring the Kringle Brother along. Though you don't want to go out of your way, it's worth fighting here as you get some cool items for so doing. They will make your party very tough. Once you are at archmage level 7, new levels are not so important. You have all the spells you need. Make sure also that you have a bow for your bard as you start. And keep him out of melee. When he becomes a Destiny Knight, he will do a lot of damage, but it's a hassle to buy stuff otherwise. E S* E* 4S 2E 2N 2E N* E 2N 2W, down. (Note: there is a Dark Coat in the southeast.) 7W 5S E S W, and you'll see the Zen Master talking to you. Ignore him for now and win the boss fight below. Keep your party healed and you should be okay. You should have strike first capability. So use it to heal if the dragon breathes on you. The dragon has 11000 HP, so it'll take a while. If you're damaged here, go back to an inn and rest before the next bit. That's because, when you get the next gem, the monsters in the outside world become much tougher, and the Zen Master replaces the Kringle Brother in your party. Which is bad for you. The treasure room is straightforward. The monsters aren't worth dealing with, so play bard song 2. You want to get through a bunch of secret doors to the gem. Cast C4-1 to reveal them, or you can just follow the instructions: 3N 2E 6S E 2S 5E 7N 3E 2N. Get the white gem. The Zen Master joins. Bard-song out of there. 4-9. TEMPLE OF NARN, COLOSSE, DESTINY STONE Now you're in the outerworld. You need the Zen Master for the next bit. Use bard song 2 for as few encounters as possible. You need to get to the northwest. Head west, 1S, W*, N W* 3N 3W. You should see your bard change from "B" to "BD" and so he is now a Knight of Destiny. Also, his songs last a lot longer--109 moves and note 32. And his stats go to 99. Basically, you'll be wasting a move in combat with bard song 1, now. And you'll want to give him and your knight M3-2 first. You can dump the Zen Master in Tangramayne now or later. I say now, because he's probably the weakest in your group. Now head to Colosse, the only place you haven't visited yet, for a little plot development. This is the only town in the game where you have combats, and while the mages are easy, the dragons can do a bit of damage. From Narn, E* 3S E* S 2E N. From Tangramayne, 3N 3E 4N 3W 4N. Two places in town here: N* E 3N 4E S 2E 2N W*. Equip the Zen Blade for your bard immediately. It makes him very strong--even more than your knight. You'll see his attack numbers jump. You can use bard song 3 to exit. Or you may wish to head E* S E S* for a fight. The big boss you'll meet at the end of the game sends a minion down. This is a very tough fight, and while it is optional, I recommend it, because if you do not beat this guy now, you will have to beat him in the next-to- final fight, where he has three buddies as tough as he is. You should not only heal for this fight but also having archmages of at least level 5. You need a total heal spell for the damage summoned monsters may do. You can cast A-2 here for a boost, then M-3 on everyone and S-1 on the enemy. A-5 should be interpolated if someone goes below 1000 hit points. Let your Destiny Knight attack the summoned creatures. The enemy has 15000 HP so this may take a while. But if you are very lucky, a few hits will knock him out. This gets you an Iara shield when you win. Now from Colosse to the Destiny Stone. You won't have seen it before, but now you can go E* S* 2E S(2S W*, Philippi, E* 2N if you need to heal) 2E N. The Destiny Stone is pretty big, and it has mapping puzzles that are tough to figure, but as with other dungeons, it's a pretty straight shot once you know the way through. First, an overview of what you don't need: A red ring, which you don't need, is in the NE corner. A blue ring, which you don't need, is in level 2 7,0. Schaefer, an NPC, is at level 2 0,0. He is not as good as the Kringle Brother in some ways, but he does not go casting magic at people who bounce it back off you. So stick with Schaefer, because his lack of magic is a bonus. (Get rid of Zen Master?) You will want to play song 2 as you go about this, and it will last a long time. But if you get into a few fights, it is no big deal. M3-2, and even A2 if you have a lot of enemies. You may need A5 a few times as well. But try to conserve. Level 1: 3N 3W 4N 4W 3N E 2S 2E 3N E 2N E S* E 4N 2E 2N 2W 2N E D. Level 2: go 4E 10S D. It's tough to get your bearings if you get lost, but basically you can go east to the wall, south, and 2W, if you exited the stairs facing east. Level 3: this one has a group of cyclical teleports and a lot of hatchlings to avoid, or you will have some annoying fights. They have 4800 HP and great magic resistance. And you only get 500EXP for them. Unless you are facing west, go back north to the stairs, say no and go W. Go west, then face north and go 6N(til you see the wall ahead) and 2W. The details of all the teleports are in the maps. Level 4: zigzag SE to get to where you see a door to the north. Then enter it and zigzag SE again. The devil, who has 20000 hit points, means business. Have your bard focus on him, with mages casting M3-2 on him and S1-1 in the first round. Nobody else can do as much damage. You should have someone casting A-5 if anyone is below 1000 hit points, and because the game discounts summoned creatures, let your bard focus on the big bad guy. You can maybe sneak in an A-2. At level 40, your bard can do 4000 damage. That means this will last five rounds. Don't worry if the devil may kill a guy, because you can always cast A-5. You will get a seal ring at the end. In the treasure room, here is the solution. It could have been a lot worse. There's not too much branching, and they didn't use much of the available squares. 2E, teleport. 2W 2N E 2N 2W, teleport, 2W, teleport, W 2S W, teleport, E 3S E, teleport, E 2S E 4S 9W 3N 2W for the final (pink) gem. On my map, this is 0-3-4-6-7. But wait! Don't go so fast. You can get into fights here and make a lot of experience, actually--I fought 3 dragons for 15000. You just need to hit them constantly and heal when your HP get low--each one breathes for 300 damage. You can gain a level per fight for your archmages for a while, provided you do not run out of spell points. So in fact you may wish to defeat the devil and win here, then return home, then come back here later, before getting the final gem and triggering the final fight, building your characters up. Each dragon has 3000 hit points. This means your bard at level 40 can take 2 hits to kill--without magic help. With it, he kills them the first hit. You should cast M3-2 on whomever you can, too--the fighter and knight can kill a dragon per round that way. The time saved means fewer A5 spells to cast, a net spell point savings. You can also cast M3-2 on the knight and have everyone attack dragon #1--the bard goes before his bonus, but the knight goes after. That's the way to wipe out one monster right away. These guys are about as easy and quick as the monsters in the main area, but they take less time to beat. In either case, bard song 3 twice to leave. If you want levels in the future, though, A-7 all around is not a bad strategy to get them quickly. Now I mentioned Schaefer above. I recommend him for the final fight. Once your fighters are at level 50 or so, you can go to the last bit. You need to go to level 2 and get to the west wall. Go south and he will be in the very orner. He is the NPC you want for the final battle. 4-10. DENOUEMENT Save your game before attempting the next bit. If your party isn't good enough, they'll get damaged too easily. And past a certain point, you cannot rest anywhere. You will need to pay the healer the full 20000. You can probably win the 5-6 fights you need to make this up, but it's all a hassle. Return to Tangramayne. Go to the castle. Rest at the inn. Then return to the castle. You should face 3(4 if you skipped Colosse) enemies who are very tough. You should cast a heal whenever a character gets under 2000 hit points while fighting against them. First, your old standbys--M3-2 on the bard and Schaefer. Then S1-1 on all enemies. A2 is good. A5 will replace these whenever something doesn't work. When you get to the final lady enemy, count how many times your bard hits her. After #3, heal up so the final fight goes more easily. The enemies have 16500, 14000, and 13800 HP respectively, so that is about 4 hits each from your bard, or 16 turns. Your bard always gets to go first, so enemy spells should not be a problem. When in doubt, have both mages cast heal. The last fight is almost a letdown--the final enemy has 65530 HP, but you just attack him the same way as the others. Be sure to cast heal when anyone goes under 2000, as before. The guy will probably cast a lot of dumb spells, but if he attacks, look out. Also he may cast a healing spell(pay attention to the hex bits for this) and it seems he is more likely to if you have anyone but your bard hit him. Even at level 99 your bard can only do 5000 damage, so this may take 13 or more rounds(22, with level 56.) If you want to be a pedantic cheater, just push F5 after each round he does not heal. I think the bard-or-guard method works, though it seems inelegant, and it is fair to people who didn't just level up. I can only be 99% sure of it with all the other random spells the guy casts. Perhaps there is a clue that I couldn't read. See cheat below on the off chance I missed something, but I've tried all other spells. 5. CHEATS Control where you are on the map for easy teleporting: 0x2a8 = y coordinate 0x2a9 = x coordinate 0x330 = # of steps left in your bard song Set these to 0 for easy combat: 0x3b5 = 0 monsters in front row 0x3d8-9 = 1st monster's HP(low byte 1st) Each character's data is comprised of 0x3c bytes. 0x7252-7269 = name 0x726a-b = player 1's cur HP(low byte 1st) 0x726c-d = player 1's max HP(low byte 1st) 0x726e-726f = cur spells/songs(low byte 1st) 0x7270-7271 = max spells/songs(low byte 1st) 0x7272 = class 00=fighter 01=knight(paladin) 02=thief 03=hunter 04=bard 05=conjurer 06=magician 07=sorcerer 08=wizard 09=archmage 0a=NPC 84=destiny knight 0x7273 = status 0x01=dead 0x02=petrified 0x04=paralyzed 0x08=charmed 0x10=possessed 0x20=blind 0x40=poisoned 0x7274 = status 0x01=sleeping 0x02=confused 0x7275 = str 0x7276 = dex 0x7277 = int 0x7278 = wis 0x7279 = vit 0x727a = ref 0x727b = attack 0x727c = defense 0x727d = level 0x727e = spells(Conjurer=hi nibble, Magician=lo nibble) 0x727f = spells(Sorcerer=hi nibble, Wizard=lo nibble) 0x7280 = spells(Archmage=hi nibble) low bit = 1 if female 0x7281 = experience(low byte 1st) 0x7284-728d = items 6. CHEAT-THROUGH This is for people that don't want to understand the Japanese but just want to get through the game. It's how I got through the game. There are two versions--quick and super quick. I'll provide the super-quick in asterisks at the end of each section. Always take the first option in a menu unless I note otherwise. Note after some combats you may get a "yes/no." That means you need to drop something. There are no critical items in your inventory, so don't worry about that. Also, choose the first item in combat all the way through. If you lose your sense of direction after an instruction, walk into a dead end. 6-1. TANGRAMAYNE AND DUNGEON Create a party with bard, knight, thief, conjurer and magician. ??what to buy to start ??what bard song to play Talk to the king at the castle, forward from where you start. Go 2N 6E S* to the first dungeon. Enter it. It is not a very big dungeon. The object here is to go find the Wing Creature and use him to jump over the gap in the northeast. But you will also want to build your party up. The first level is easy to get as it occurs after your party gets 7 experience. Run from fights of more than 2 monsters. The next one takes longer, as they need from 32 to 56. You can beat up more enemies then, though, so it is not too bad. Work your way to 0,3. There aren't many branches here. **create just one guy, a bard. Cheat him up. ** (option 2 - 1 - 1 - 5) to create ** (option 1 - 1 - 1 - 1) to join ** go to the dungeon(see above) **set y=0a x=0a. Go forward. Beat the boss. Set y=03 x=0a. You're sent back to the castle. Lots of blather. 6-2. EPHESUS DUNGEON **go talk to the sage if you want at y=0b x=0b outdoors(exit is W) **visit Ephesus y=0c x=02 and north **enter Ephesus, walk to the dungeon **N E 3N W 3N E N E* S to dungeon ?? 0r y=06 x=0f **take the stairs down **y=02 x=0d, go south and take stairs **y=0b x=02 and go north to fight the big boss **y=01 x=00, go south, get the gem **play bard song 1 twice(option 3:bard:song 1) **y=02 x=01 to leave Ephesus 6-3. FANSKAR'S CASTLE ** outdoors, y=01 x=0b, south ** 2 squares forward, yes ** y=03 x=05, south ** win 1 fight, then another, get another gem ** y=0c x=08, south ** N to exit, 0e 08(work around stairs) 6-4. THESSALONICA DUNGEON ** y=02 x=03, go west ** 3W N 3W S E, take stairs ** plow forward(or x=0d,) take stairs ** plow forward(or x=02,) take stairs ** x=0d, go forward for fight ** descend to treasure room, respond 2nd option to all (no big deal, easy fight if you don't) ** 4E S 3E, or y=07 x=0a and forward to stairs ** y=08 x=04 and forward to leave ** x=08 y=02 and forward ** y=0d and forward ** y=02 and forward ** S 3E N 3E 6-5. PHILIPPI DUNGEON ** outside, y=0c x=13, go west ** W 3U 11W 3S 3W, or y=03 x=01 ** y=03 x=0d, north ** y=07 x=0b, east ** y=0d x=01, west. Talk to the guy. ** y=07 x=07, west ** y=0c x=06, north ** straight south, or y=04 x=06, win boss fight ** y=03 x=08, pick door right of wall, get gem ** y=0c x=08, up ** y=0c x=06, north ** y=08 x=06, south ** y=06 x=0c, north ** y=03 x=0d, north ** y=07 x=05, east 6-6. CORINTH AND OSCON'S FORT ** outside y=02 x=12, enter ** 2S E 3S W S*, talk to the guy ** exit ** y=01 x=18, enter Oscon's ** y=08, x=06, south, rescue kid 1 ** y=06, x=07, north, stairs ** y=08, x=03, west, rescue kid 2 ** y=08, x=07, south, up ** y=02, x=02, west, rescue kid 3, fight Oscon ** y=02, x=08, south, stairs to treasure ** y=09, x=01, north, say yes ** y=01, x=0a, north ** y=0d, x=07, north ** y=0e, x=08, north and up 6-7. THE GREY CRYPT ** y=16, x=15, east ** y=0e, x=0d, east, go down ** y=08, x=02, west, go down (x=03 if you want to see the Zen Master before he joins up) ** straight east, or x=7 and east ** y=0b, x=0c, north ** y=08, x=01, up ** y=0e, x=0d, east, up ** y=0f, x=01, west 6-8. TEMPLE OF NARN AND COLOSSE ** y=19 x=01, go west. Your bard will become "BD" or a Destiny Knight ** y=15 x=0b, enter Colosse. ** y=01 x=08, go south and fight the bad guy. ** y=05 x=00, go south, leave 6-9. THE DESTINY STONE ** y=0e, x=19, go north ** y=0d, x=06, go east ** y=03, x=0b, go east ** y=0d, x=01, go east ** y=01, x=0f, go south. win the fight. Go to the treasure chamber. ** y=04, x=04, go west(corner). ** y=03, x=02, go north ** y=0c, x=02, go north ** y=02, x=0c, go north ** y=0c, x=07, go north ** y=01, x=07, go south 6-10. THE FINAL FIGHT ** y=0b, x=0b, east, enter Tangramayne ** E S 2E N 2E S 2E N 2E (y=03 x=0a east) (long talk at castle) ** W S 2W N 2W S 2W N E (y=03 x=03 east) ** option 2, option 1, you'll see dialogue ** back to castle y=03 x=0a east ** blather, talk, win 1 fight ** win another ** more blather ** end text ** credits End of FAQ Proper ================================ 7. VERSIONS/CREDITS 0.6.0: sent to GameFAQs 11/11/2008, complete through Corinth 0.9.0: sent to GameFAQs 11/12/2008, almost done except for Zen Blade 1.0.0: sent to GameFAQs 11/14/2008, complete 1.0.1: sent to GameFAQs 11/15/2008, added good intro, still need proofreading Thanks to GameFAQs for being, well, THERE. Thanks to the NES completion project in general. Thanks to odino for translations(a ton) and AdamL(playtesting the quickthrough) Thanks to the usual GameFAQs gang, current and emeritus. They know who they are, and you should, too, because they get/got some SERIOUS writing done. Good people too--bloomer, falsehead, Sashanan, Masters, Retro, Snow Dragon/Brui5ed Ego, ZoopSoul, War Doc, Brian Sulpher, AdamL, odino, JDog, Lagoona, Da Hui and others I forgot. OK, even Hydrophant in his current not- yet-banned message board incarnation. I am not part of his gang, but I want him to be part of mine.