ULTIMA Exodus Distributed by: FCI Walkthrough by: Clint Kimball (karzab1@yahoo.com) Version: 1.0 ************************* Preface ************************* This game is the first NES version of the Ultima series produced by Newtopia Planning and is somewhat a remake of Ultima III for the PC. It falls under the category of Role Playing Game (RPG) and is enjoyed by people who enjoyed similar NES games such as Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy. Utlima, however, did not achieve the level of fame those other games reached. My theory as to why Ultima was never as popular is because it is more difficult. Unlike Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy you can’t just go to the nearest inn to get back all your hit points and magic points whenever you’re in trouble. Ultima is more like classic Tabletop Dungeons and Dragons in this fashion. The only way to replenish your hit points is to do it very slowly by walking around, or to use a magic heal spell. The only way to replenish your magic points is to walk around. Thus in Ultima, when you’re hurt in a battle, the consequences can be long- lasting and severe. Despite the apparent difficulty of the game, it can be passed fairly quickly and easily if you know what to do. When I played it I had to go through several tries and failures before I figured out the best strategy. Thus, I suggest you follow this walkthrough very carefully when you play this game. If you enjoyed finding everything out the hard way, you wouldn’t be reading this walkthrough. One last note before I begin. Ultima, Exodus is a very non- linear game. There are multiple different paths and options to lead to the end of the game. You don’t need to follow this walkthrough vigorously, though it explains what I believe to be the easiest way to pass the game. If you don’t use the sacrificial party technique, then do not under any circumstances level your characters up past level 4 or you will be sorry. Once they reach 400 experience points the king is off-limits until the end of the game. ************************* Forming a Party ************************* The beginning menus of the game are pretty straightforward. You must create at least 4 characters and select their races and classes. A character’s race determines their maximum ability scores, and their class determines what they can do. Choosing your character’s race may not seem important at first, but later on in the game when you start maxing out your abilities it will begin to make a very big difference. Use the following list to match races and classes. Race Max Str. Max Dex. Max Int. Max Wis. ---------------------------------------------- Human 75 75 75 75 Elf 75 99 75 50 Dwarf 99 75 50 75 Bobit 75 50 75 99 Fuzzy 25 99 99 75 Class Gender Spells Magic Pts. Dex. Best Race ----------------------------------------------------------------- Fighter Male None None Low Dwarf Cleric Female Will Power WIS X 1 Low Bobit Wizard Male Magic Power INT X 1 Low Fuzzy Thief Male None None High Elf Paladin Female Will Power WIS X 0.5 Med Bobit Barbarian Male None None Low Dwarf Lark Female Magic Power INT X 0.5 Med Human/Fuzzy Illusionist Female Will Power WIS X 0.5 Low Bobit Druid Male Both highest X 0.5 Med Bobit/Fuzzy Alchemist Male Magic Power INT X 0.5 Med Fuzzy Ranger Male Both lowest X 0.5 Med Human Strength affects how often and how hard you hit your enemies. Dexterity affects how often your enemies hit you and how well you disable traps in treasure chests. Intelligence affects how many magic points you have for Magic Power spellcasters. Wisdom affects how many magic points you have for Will Power spellcasters. Will Power spells are designed mostly to help your party, ie. heal your wounds and cure your sickness. Magic Power spells are designed to hurt the enemy. For Druids, the amount of magic points you have is half of the highest from either Int or Wis, so stack just one up. For Rangers it’s the lowest, so spead your points evenly between Wisdom and Intelligence. My recommended races are listed on the far right, but use your own discretion from the above values if you have something else in mind. Here’s my recommended party to begin with: Race Class Str Dex Int Wis ---------------------------------- Human Ranger 25 25 0 0 Elf Thief 25 25 0 0 Human Lark 25 5 20 0 Bobit Cleric 5 20 0 25 The Ranger is a good leader for your party – he can fight reasonably well and also cast both kinds of magic. He is very well-rounded. The Thief if there to help you open up treasure chests, of which there will be very, very many, and most of them have traps that the thief is best designed to disable. The Lark is your Magic Power spellcaster, and may end up being the best fighter on your team as well. The Cleric is there to patch up all your wounds which is an unexplainably important task since there are few other ways in the game to do this. ************************* Spells ************************* Here is a list of the spells you can use so you know the advantages/disadvantages of Will Power and Magic Power. WILL POWER SPELLS ----------------------- Spell MP Description Undead 0 Kills skeletons and ghouls. Open 5 Disables traps in chests before you open them. Heal 10 Heals 20-50 hit points. Glow 15 Works like a torch to light up dungeons temporarily. Rise 20 Move up one level in a dungeon. Sink 25 Move down one level in a dungeon. Move 30 Move to a different place on this floor of a dungeon. Cure 35 Removes poison. Surface 40 Teleports you outside of a dungeon. Star 45 Works like ‘glow’ but lasts longer. Heal 50 Heals a lot more hit points that the other ‘heal.’ Map 55 Reveals a map of the overworld/dungeon. Banish 60 Kills a chosen enemy. Raise 65 Revives a character. If it fails, they turn to ash. Destroy 70 Kills several enemies. Recall 75 Revives characters who have turned to ash. MAGIC POWER SPELLS ----------------------- Spell MP Description Repel 0 Kills goblins and orcs. Missile 5 Shoots a fireball in one direction for normal damage. Light 10 Works like a torch to light up dungeons temporarily. Descend 15 Move down one level in a dungeon. Ascend 20 Move up one level in a dungeon. Flame 25 Works like a ‘missile’ and does more damage. Trans 30 Teleports you to a different place in the overworld. PSI 35 Works like ‘missile’ and ‘flame’ but more powerful. Bright 40 Works like ‘light’ but lasts longer. Cleric 45 All the Will Power spells become available to you. Poison 50 Does damage to all enemies. Kill 55 Kills one enemy instantly. Stop 60 Stops time temporarily. PSIkill 65 Attacks several enemies at the same time. Rot 70 Works like PSI Kill, but more powerful. Death 75 Kills all enemies. ************************* Sacrificial Party ************************* This is my favorite strategy. It will add some time to your game, but will make it easier in the long run and may even shorten the overall game. Whenever you talk to the king and level up, the only change made to your characters is an increase in hit points. They do not get any stronger or faster. Plus, the enemies in the overworld get significantly harder – disproportionate to your gains in my opinion. Thus my best strategy is to not level up past level 2 until the end of the game (since level 3 is where the enemies start getting harder. This presents a significant problem, though, and that is that you need a ship for most of the game, and to get a ship your characters must be level 3 where pirates begin to appear. Thus I developed the sacrificial party strategy. Simply create a party however you want and get a whole lot of experience for one of them (all you need is one, prefereable a ranger. The others can stand idly by during the battles if you want). When and only when this character surpasses 200 experience points, talk to the king and level him/her up. Then immediate go outside, confront a pirate ship on the coast. Even if 3 of your characters die, don’t worry, this isn’t the actual party you are going to use. When you beat the pirates, go back into the inn at the castle, save your game, and hit reset. Then, under your same profile, create your real party. When you start the game the pirate ship will be right there waiting for you. Fight enemies until all of your characters have between 100 and 200 experience points, talk to the king and level everyone up to 2, and you can stay there fighting wimps for almost the rest of the game. Remember when using your sacrificial party to have your main character cast the ‘repel’ and ‘undead’ spells on the appropriate enemies (as I will soon explain) to get through battles faster. Also, do not delete your sacrificial party as you may need them to get your ship back later. ************************* Gold ************************* In this game you will need lots and lots of gold, but it is very dangerous since you will almost exclusively need to get it through rigged treasure chests. If you have the time and desire you can get gold more easily. Simply create lots of characters, party them together, give all their gold to one member, start over, delete the broke characters, create new ones, and repeat the process indefinitely until one character has as much money as you can dream of. This is by far the safest way to make money. To give gold from one character to another press ‘a’, then press ‘select’ to open the second list of commands. The ‘gold’ command should be right there for your use to transfer funds in denominations of 10, 100, or 1000. ************************* Weapons ************************* Your weapons don’t have as large of an effect on your attacking power as you may image, but they have some and are worth the extra money. You particularly will want ranged weapons so you can destroy your enemy before they even get to you, and you can use them in melee situations just as well as melee weapons. Begin by giving your characters Slings or Blowguns, since these are the first ranged weapons you can get. You can find these weapons in the Royal City, right next to the castle. Refer to the following list when choosing your weapons: Weapon Type Price Location Can be used by… Power ------------------------------------------------------------- Dagger Melee 5 Shop Everyone 1 Mace Melee 30 Shop B,D,F,I,L,P,C,R,T 2 Sling Ranged 60 Shop B,F,L,P,R,T 3 Axe Melee 125 Shop B,F,L,P,R,T 4 Blowgun Ranged 350 Shop B,F,L,P,R,T 4 Sword Melee 200 Shop B,F,L,P,R,T 5 Spear Melee 250 Shop B,F,L,P,R 6 Broad Axe Melee 400 Dawn B,F,L,P,R 7 Bow Ranged 1050 Dawn B,F,L,P,R 7 Iron Sword Melee 800 Dawn B,F,L,P,R 8 Gloves Melee 1200 Dawn B,F,L,P 8 Halberd Melee 2700 Dawn B,F,L,P 9 Silver Bow Ranged 6550 Dawn B,F,L,P 9 Sun Sword Melee 4550 Dawn B,F,L,P 10 Mystic Sword Melee Free Buried Everyone 10 Note, if you’ve chosen my recommended party then you can not give your Cleric a ranged weapon. For starters the Mace is okay if you desire, but before too long she’ll be getting the mystic sword. For everyone else the Bow is the main goal, or the silver bow if you’re ambitious enough to raise the funds. ************************* Armor ************************* You characters’ armor is fairly important, but I don’t recommend buying any since one of our first orders of business will be procuring the mystic armor for everyone for free. However, if for some crazy reason you have other plans in mind you may refer to the following list. Armor Price Location Can be used by… Strength -------------------------------------------------------- Cloth 75 Armory Everyone 1 Leather 195 Armory B,F,I,P,C,R,T 2 Bronze 575 Armory F,P,C,R 3 Iron 2500 Armory F,P,R 4 Steel 6130 Armory F,R 5 Dragon 8250 Armory F,R 6 Mystic Armor Free Buried Everyone 7 ************************* Equipping ************************* Remember to always equip your weapons and armor once you buy or find them. You may be carrying many different armors or weapons, but only what you have equipped will ever be used. To equip something at any time press ‘a’, choose ‘status’, choose the character you want to equip for (one at a time if necessary), then click on the weapon and armor successively that you want equipped. An asterisk will appear next to what you have equipped. Sell anything you don’t intend to use again at the nearest Shop or Armory. Note that you can not sell something that is equipped, and you can not sell something that is not sold at that shop or armory. ************************* Food ************************* You must always monitor how much food your characters have. You can see how much if you just stand where you are without pressing anything for a couple of seconds. Your food will gradually decrease as you walk around and should be frequently replenished at the various grocery stores in most towns. You will lose 1 food every 10 steps in the overworld, and every 40 steps in a town. I always like to replenish my food supply when it drops below 100 at my nearest convenience. Whenever you buy food ALWAYS pool it buy pressing ‘a’, ‘select’, then choosing ‘food’. This distributes your food evenly amongst your characters. ************************* Adventuring ************************* You’re now ready to begin adventuring. By the end of the game you will want your characters to reach 2,400 experience points, so there’s going to be a lot of walking around and fighting in the meantime. You will also want vast amounts of gold, much of which can be gathered by killing enemies and looting their treasure chests. As long as you stay at level 2 by not talking to the king like I recommend, fighting will be easy. If you’re at level 4 then it still won’t be too bad but will take much longer. If you’re higher than level 4 then you’re a fool. Whenever you face Goblins or Orcs, use the ‘repel’ spell by your Magic Power spellcasters, the ranger and lark in my suggested party. This will only work about half the time, but will kill most of the enemies instantly whenever it does, and it doesn’t require ANY magic points. The enemies should almost never get a chance to even touch you, and it will be easy experience points. Whenever you face Ghouls or Skeletons, use the “undead’ spell by you Will Power spellcasters, the ranger and paladin in my suggested party. This works exactly like the repel spell. As long as you’re at level 2, these should be the only enemies you face. If you do chance to level up you’ll have to face tougher enemies, and these instant wipe out spells will no longer work. You’ll have to plink the tough guys away one shot at a time, and you’ll get heavily punished in the meantime. You actually gain experience faster by fighting only the easy guys. If you’ve used my recommended party, you’ll have to always remember to leave guys for your thief to kill, since he can’t use any magic. At the end of the game you’ll want him to level up with everyone else. You may do your adventuring at any time, and explore any corner of the continent you want on land or sea. Note that the world is just one block shaped continent with a few scattered islands on the north, east and south. When you sail between what look like continents, they’re really just opposite sides of the same one. Adventuring may not be necessary for a while, however, as you can begin the rest of the walkthrough right away. You should probably get up to level 2 before procuring the mystic armor, though. ************************* Dawn ************************* First you must find the city of Dawn. From the Royal City it is located 8 spaces to the west and 35 spaces south. However, it is only accessible when both moons are new. The moons are seen in the upper-left window. When both moons are completely black, Dawn will appear. Simply walk back and forth in the aforementioned spot until it does. Dawn is the town in which you can go on a shopping spree. The best weapons are sold here and nowhere else, including my favorites, the bow and silver bow. You can also buy horses at the stable for 800 gold pieces. They don’t help you move around any faster but they do help you avoid battles when you want to. ************************* Items / Tools ************************* Here is the list of items and tools you can get in the game: Item Price Location Function ----------------------------------------------------------------- Torch 30 Guild Illuminates dungeons for a short period of time. Magic Key 50 Guild Opens doors. Gem 75 Guild Shows a map of the overworld or dungeon. Sands of Time 90 Guild Stops time. Tent 100 Guild Restore 100 hit points to every character. Silver Pick - Cave of Death Use it to dig for Mystic Sword. Gold Pick - Dawn Guild Use it to dig for Mystic Armor. Silver Horn - Yew circle Removes the Great Earth Serpent. Flower - Ambrosia Give it to Sherry to get a Compass Heart. Compass Heart - Royal City Teleports you to the castle. ************************* Mystic Armor ************************* Using the above directions, go to Dawn and find the guild. It will be the shop where the guy has all the treasure chests behind the counter with him. Feel free to buy some items if you wish. They all (except the gem in your case) can be quite useful. When you’re ready, press ‘a’ and choose ‘get’ while facing the treasure chest on the far left. It doesn’t look like you can take it from back there, but you can. You will find the golden pick. Be careful though! You will likely be caught stealing from the guild and will be chased by the red-colored guards. Avoid them at all costs! If you’re caught, refer far below on how to survive this deadly encounter. You have to back out the front entrance since the city is walled-in on every side. If you want to go to Ambrosia and get a Compass Heart first, that’s not a bad idea as it will get you out of the city immediately. If you’re caught and die you may feel free to reset and try again, but you should be able to defeat at least one wave of guards if you have full life and magic. When you get away you’ll soon be in possession of the strongest armor in the game. Get onto your ship and sail to the south side of the continent to a bay guarded by an island with a large terrifying looking snake on it. North-East of the snake island there will be a tiny island of just two squares. On the right square press ‘a’ and ‘tools’ and use the golden pick. Voila! The mystic armor! Give the pick to each character and have them all dig it out one at a time. Equip your new armor and go sell your old obsolete stuff. ************************* Ambrosia ************************* Ambrosia is a critical part of the game. The shrines in Ambrosia are the only way you can increase your base abilities, namely Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Wisdom. No, levelling up does not increase these. In Ambrosia, for 100 gold pieces you can increase any ability for any character by 1 single point, so be sure you’re rich whenever you go. You must also go to Ambrosia to find the cards to destroy the evil Exodus at the end of the game, but we’ll discuss that much later. To go to Ambrosia, get in your ship and find a Maelstrom, or whirlpool. It looks like a swirling mass on the ocean. Sail directly into it, and you’ll find yourself in the mysterious land of Ambrosia. IMPORTANT! If you’re following this walkthrough closely, then you’ll still be at level 2. That means that you can not get another ship. Thus, if you enter Ambrosia with the intent of using a Compass Heart to get back out, then when you sail into the Maelstrom, make sure that your ship is directly next to the main continent. This way, when you return you’ll want your ship to be accessible to the mainland. The first time you enter Ambrosia, though, this is not an issue, so don’t worry about it. If, by chance, you find yourself separated from your ship by accident, you can get a new one using your sacrificial party if they’re still around. The Flower: The first thing you want to do whenever you’re in Ambrosia is get the flower (it will help you return home easily in future visits). If you follow the clearing around the Western edge you’ll notice a path of clear ground between mountains. Do not take this path yet. Head north a little more and take the next path to the west into the mountains through the forest. Hug the left side and take the first path south. You’ll immediately come upon a clearing with a big flower. Have each character in your party take it. Leaving Ambrosia: When you leave Ambrosia for the first time, you must commandeer the pirate ship in the southern sea and sail it into the Maelstrom. To find the pirate ship, take the path of clear ground between the mountains on the Western side of the main clearing (slightly south of center). If you hug the left edge you’ll eventually reach the clearing with the pirate ship. To shortcut the process, when you begin to head east and are at a junction where you must turn north or south, go south. Then continue to hug the left edge. There is a level 5 monster in here, but with any luck you won’t face it. To attack the pirate ship you must press ‘a’ and choose ‘fight’ while facing it. Shrine of Strength To increase your strength, head into the brush in the North- Western corner of the map. After heading between mountains for a while the brush will eventually give way to forest at the top- left corner. Enter the forest and head generally south. You’ll only be forced to go left or right 1 space at a time. When you reach the bottom walled off by mountains, go up 2 spaces up from the bottom and right 3 spaces from the left edge. Shrine of Dexterity This one is a pain to get to. First commandeer the pirate ship as explained two paragraphs up in ‘Leaving Ambrosia.’ Then, instead of sailing into the Maelstrom, avoid it and sail east. Watch out! There is a Man-o-War that is after you. Do not, and I repeat, do not attack it while on your ship. Run aground and face the Man-o-War from the shore. You’ll stand a far better chance. Once past the Man-o-War, get in your ship again and land it on the first patch of ground past the narrow pass that is one square wide and three squares long. This opening you’ve landed on will take you to the shrine. For exact directions, head north-west until you see a door. Then, while standing in front of the door, go up 1 space, right 6 spaces, and up 2 spaces. Shrine of Intelligence Head through the forest gap between the mountains in the north- eastern corner of the main clearing. You’ll reach a second clearing. Head north and take the forest gap on the west side of this clearing. You’ll immediately reach yet another clearing, this one adjoining a lake. Fight the pirate ship by standing in front of it and pressing ‘a’ and ‘fight’, and sail across the lake. Land on the clear shore on the north-west edge. If you walk due west, straigth through the forest gap, you’ll run right into this shrine. Shrine of Wisdom Head through the forest gap between the mountains in the north- eastern corner of the main clearing. You’ll reach a second clearing. Head north and take the forest gap on very north point. It will wind you around to the right and eventually down. When you reach the bottom-most wall of mountains (there’s a door at the southern-most point if you get lost), turn west and hug the left wall. Pretty soon you’ll enter a clearing and see the shrine. You’ll probably want to return to ambrosia throughout the game until you max out the key attributes for you characters – that’s strength and dexterity for everyone, intelligence for your Magic Power spellcasters, and wisdom for your Will Power spellcasters. ************************* Compass Heart ************************* Immediately after returning from Ambrosia, go to the Royal City and find a woman named Sherry who is south and east of the central pond. Stand in front of her and use the ‘give’ command. She’ll thank you and give you the compass heart. Do this with all of your characters so they all have compass hearts. Whenever you use a compass heart you will be teleported directly to the castle wherever you are. This is particularly convenient in getting back out of Ambrosia whenever you go there, and you can always restock on flowers and get more compass hearts. **************************************** Mystic Sword – Cave of Death – Mark of Kings **************************************** The mystic sword is the strongest weapon in the game, and will be very important at the end of the game when trudging through Castle Exodus. You’ll need to make the dangerous journey to find the silver pick. Go to the Cave of Death located on the main continent in the mountains due north of the castle. Upon entering use a torch. You’ll notice that the game has now shifted from 3rd person to 1st person and is a whole lot more difficult to navigate. You’ll see the direction you’re facing at the top, so follow my directions closely. Note that sometimes these directions will take you into a wall. That’s because there are a lot of walls you can walk through in the dungeons. We will also get the Mark of Kings which is conveniently located on Level 2 of this dungeon. The Mark of Kings will allow your characters to level up past 5 all the way to 25, though you won’t want to actually do this until the end of the game. Level 1: Go E2, S8, E3, S3, E1, S1, E2, N2, E2, use the ‘climb’ command. Level 2: Go S1, W2, N9, E2, get the Mark of Kings for each character. It hurts 50 hit points, but it will be worth it. From the NW corner of this room go S9, E2, S1, use the ‘climb’ command. Level 3: Go S2, W6, N2, W4, N2, E10, use the ‘climb’ command. Level 4: Go W2, N4, W4, N2, use the ‘climb’ command. Level 5: Use the ‘climb’ command and choose ‘go down’ Level 6: Use the ‘climb’ command and choose ‘go down’ At level 7 I recommend using the ‘sink’ or ‘descend’ spell to go down to level 8. There are two parts to the level, and if you use the ladder you end up separated from the side of the silver pick by a long series of deadly traps. If you use sink or descend, however, you don’t know where you’ll end up. If you’re lucky you’ll end up on the good side. If you wander to the south-west end there will be a series of treasure chests. The one in the far south-west corner has the Silver Pick. If you find yourself on the half with all the traps, head to one space south of the north-west corner and head west into the wall. Then make your way to the south-west corner to get the silver pick. Now you have to get out. I recommend using a Compass Heart, but you can also use the ‘surface’ spell, a bunch of ‘rise’ spells or ‘ascend’ spells, or try to find a ladder up and backtrack my above directions. With the silver pick, now sail to the north side of the main continent to where there’s a series of small islands, one with a city on it. Land on the far-right island on the far-right space and use the silver pick. Voila! The mystic sword. Have everybody get, though I don’t recommend equipping it yet (except with your Cleric). Ranged weapons are still better for the time being. ************************* Moongate ************************* To move on in the game you will need to know how to use the moongate. The Moongate appears at various locations around the overworld according to the signs of the 2 moons in the upper-left window and teleports you to other locations. There are some places on the map walled-in by mountains that are only accessible via moongate. The moon on the left shows the locations of where the moongate is and the moon on the right shows where the moongate will take you. There are 8 phases of each moon, so there are 8 moongate locations, and there are 3 phases for the moon on the right for each phase for the moon on the left. Thus each moongate location can take you to 3 potential destinations or exits. Use the following table to navigate the moongate. # Phase Location Exits ------------------------------------------------------------- 1 New moon SE corner of main continent 1,2,3 2 Crescent Waxing Cave of Sol Island 4,5,6 3 Half Waxing Locked in Mountains top square 7,8,1 4 Gibbous Waxing Due S of Dawn, due W of Montor 2,3,4 5 Full moon Locked in Mountains bottom square 5,6,7 6 Gibbous Waning Exodus’ Castle Island 8,1,2 7 Half Waning Devil Guard 3,4,5 8 Crescent Waning Cave of Moon 6,7,8 ************************* Food ************************* Don’t forget to check your food! ************************* Mark of Fire ************************* The Mark of Fire will allow you to walk on fire without dying, which is vital since you will have to cross some fire to pass the game, so let’s go. The easiest way to get the Mark of Fire is through the Cave of Moon. Go to Moongate location number 4, due south of Dawn and due west of the dual city of Montor. It’s on the south end of the main continent, tucked under an alcove of mountains. Walk around until the left moon to rises to 3/4 of full (gibbous waxing), and the moongate will appear. Then step a few times until the right moon rises to half-full. Then step into the moongate. You’ll find yourself land-locked in a 3-space area in the mountains. Walk back and forth between the top two spaces only. The moongate will shortly appear in the bottom space, but do not enter it. Once it disappears, switch and walk back and forth only between the bottom two spaces. When the moongate appears in the top space, wait. Walk back and forth a few more times until the right moon fades to a crescent. Then enter the moongate. You’ll find yourself looking at the Cave of Moon. The Mark of Fire is on level 2. You can use a ‘sink’ or ‘descend’ spell and wander around if you want, or you can use the following directions: Level 1: Go E2, S4, E6, S6, E2, use the ‘climb’ command. Level 2: Go E2, S4, W4, N4, W2, S4, W6, N8, E2, S2, E4, N2. Have each character get the Mark of Fire and take the 50 hit point penalty. Then backtrack, ascend, or use a Compass Heart (it’s best to use a compass heart so you don’t have to figure your way back through the moongates). Your work here is done. ************************* Mark of Force ************************* The Mark of Force shouldn’t be too difficult to get. It allows you to walk on poison ground, which will be crucial in getting through Castle Exodus at the end of the game. Go to the Cave of Fool which is WSW of Dawn on the South-West corner of the continent. You’ll have to go through the forest around Dawn to get there, but you won’t get lost if you keep going south and west. You can get through the Cave of Fool fairly quickly. The longest paths you have to take are on the top two floors, and there’s nothing but easy enemies there to block your way. If you’re efficient and a little luck you won’t face anything more difficult than a pack of goblins. Here are the directions: Level 1: Go E6, S8, E2, S4, E2, N2, use the ‘climb’ command. Level 2: Go E2, S4, W4, N8, W8, N4, E4, S2, use the ‘climb’ command. Level 3: Use the ‘climb’ command and choose ‘go down.’ Level 4: Go N1, E2, S3, use the ‘climb’ command. Level 5: Use the ‘climb’ command and choose ‘go down.’ Level 6: Go N2, W2, use the ‘climb’ command. Level 7: Go E4, S6, E2, use the ‘climb’ command. Level 8: Go N2, W3, get the Mark of Force for each character and get out. ************************* Mark of Snake ************************* The Mark of Snake is required for removing the great serpent blocking the way to Castle Exodus. It is tucked at the bottom of the Cave of Sol, which can be a very perilous place, escpecially if you’re still Level 2, but it can be reached. I recommend maxing out your cleric’s wisdom or wizard’s intelligence first, though. That way you can enter the Cave of Sol with 99 magic points and some awesome spells. Also, be sure to carry some powder with you. The Cave of Sol is located on the southern-most of the 3 islands on the east side of the main continent. Enter it, use a torch, and use the following directions. Level 1: Go S1, E4, S1, E4, S2, E2, S6, use the ‘climb’ command. Level 2: Go W6, use the ‘climb’ command. Level 3: Go N2, E6, S2, use the ‘climb’ command. Level 4: Go E2, S4, E2, use the ‘climb’ command. Level 5: Go N6, W7, N1, use the ‘climb’ command. Level 6: Go S6, W1, S1, W2,, N2, W4, S2, use the ‘climb’ command. Level 7: Go E2, N6, W2, N1, use the ‘climb’ command. Shortly after walking through Level 8, your light will blow out. Don’t try to relight it, just follow these directions exactly. If you misstep one time, you may find yourself unnecessarily facing killer enemies. Also, whenever the message comes up that there is wind, press ‘a’ to remove the message before you continue walking. If you press forward while the message is up, you will not actually move forward. Level 8: Go S1, E2, S2, E4, S2, W6, S2, E5, get the Mark of Snake for each character and get out of there. When you face level 7 or level 9 enemies (not if), simply do one of two things. Use your magic powder to freeze them and wail on them, or spend the large amount of magic points for a ‘destroy’ spell from your cleric or ‘death’ from your wizard. Then walk over your enemies’ rotting carcases. ************************* Silver Horn ************************* The Silver Horn is very easy to get and you can do it any time after receiving the Mark of Fire. The Silver Horn, coupled with the Mark of Snake, will allow you to get rid of that fearsome snake on the island blocking the way to the final castle of Exodus. Here’s how you get it. Go to the town of Yew. It’s in the forest nestled inside the mountains directly to the west of the castle. The entrance to the mountains is on the west side. Yew is a forest city, even inside, so it can be very hard to navigate, but the path you want to take is simple. Go due east from the entrance until you run into a wall with lava around it (the lava won’t hurt you if you have the Mark of Fire). This building is the temple, and if you talk to the man on top twice, he’ll teach you how to pray. Now head due south of the temple and you’ll run into the circle of fire. Stand in the center and use your pray command (on your second list of commands). Bingo! You now have the Silver Horn. ************************* The Four Cards ************************* There is one last task to accomplish before travelling to the castle of Exodus to beat the game. You must travel to Ambrosia (remembering to enter the Maelstrom from the shore if you’re still level 2) and go to each shrine. Go up to the priest in each shrine and use the ‘pray’ command to him. Each one will give you a card – the card of sun, moons, love and death. These will be essential in defeating the last boss. ************************* The Castle of Exodus ************************* The Castle of Exodus is full of the most fearsome enemies in the game, so you’ll finally want to level up. I got through the castle and beat the game with my characters at level 11 and 13, though it was very close. If you max out your characters they’ll have at least 2400 experience points and be at level 25 (the highest you can achieve in this game). Use tents to fill up your hit points once you level up. You can’t use powder or tents in Exodus Castle, so don’t worry on stocking up, though one thing of powder might be nice if you hit a battle on your way to Exodus Castle. Be sure to save your game at the inn before you level up. That way, if you’re unsuccessful you can come back and get more experience before you try leveling up again. When you’re ready, leave the castle and your difficult run begins. Sail to the island of exodus and blow your Silver Horn. The big snake will sink into the water and you can sail on through to the castle. IMPORTANT!! Your can’t use ranged weapons inside Exodus Castle for some reason. So, before you go in (or immediately after), equip the Mystic Sword with everyone. You are going to have to win each battle hand-to-hand, though with full Strength and Dexterity for everyone and full hit-points it shouldn’t be too hard. If you run quickly and are mounted on horses you should be able to dodge quite a few of the monsters, but several fights are inevitable. If you have your cleric you can use a Destroy Spell for 60 MP to instantly win one battle, but I recommend not using it unless you’re facing Balrons or Devils. Save it for these really hard guys, or for the invisible floors you’ll face at the end. You can easily avoid the first dragon at the entrace of the castle if he’s on one side of the 3-square path or the other and run wide around. If he’s in the middle, exit the castle and come back in. Repeat this until he is on one side or the other and sweep around. Use the following directions: Follow the white path into the castle part and turn right (east) at the main atrium. You’ll run into another white path. Go north and hug the left wall. If you keep hugging your left side you’ll eventually reach the throne room, and here’s what you’ll see. You’ll skirt through the corner of some lava and come out at a green path. Then you’ll cross some poison ground that should now be safe to walk on since you have the mark of force. The green path will then take you west, and you’ll pass right by the entrance to the throne room. Turn away from your left wall and head north into the throne room between some pools of lava. When you get past the pools the green path will appear to dead end. Keep heading north and you’ll have a couple of encounters with invisible floors. These are the last encounters in the game. My favorite way to beat the floors is to line up your characters shoulder to shoulder and walk upward in a nice even rank. Whenever it says your character ‘can’t walk that way’, you know to attack that way instead. The floors are arranged in the same 7-square wide formation you’ve seen the whole game, so you should know about where the floors are and move there accordingly. Always try to move in a direction before you attack in a direction. After the dragons the floors are quite easy and they should go down without much loss of life on your part. When the floors are defeated and you’re standing on the top row right at the dead end staring at the lava strip across the water, use the ‘pray’ command. The entity of the castle will appear and ask you what cards you will use. Use them in the following order – ‘Love’, ‘Sun’, ‘Moons’, ‘Death’. An ankh will appear and you’ll take it. Leave the crumbling, enemy-free castle as fast as possible and, hooray! The credits are rolling. You may feel a deep dissatisfaction at the lack of resolution after you leave the castle. Just imagine your female characters making out with your male characters and it will help you feel a little better. OTHER TIPS ************************** Surviving Difficult Encounters ************************** If you’re facing a horde of difficult enemies, such as guards, and you’re only at level 2, first and foremost use some powder if you have any. Then you can wail on them for a few rounds. If you’re out of powder, use an upper-level spell such as ‘destroy’, ‘PSIkill’, ‘rot’, or ‘death’. If none of this is available to you, remember the simple strategy: Line up your enemies so that they can only attack you one at a time, and kill them one at a time. If I have no other recourse and I think my chances are slim and there are a lot of enemies, I like to immediately move my characters to the far left and line them up single file directly below the farthest enemy on the left. By the time my characters are lined up the enemies are upon me, but that’s okay. The characters who started on the left have been shooting their bows and blowguns while they wait for the slow pokes on the right to make it over, and one enemy is either dead or nearly dead. One character will have to take the front line. You’ll notice the enemies have lined up horizontally. That’s because they’re all trying to get to the front line character and are blocking each other’s path. If all your characters have ranged weapons (except a cleric, which may be a good choice for a front liner, especially if she has the mystic sword), then they can all attack the same enemy. Do it and kill them one at a time. After one or two kills you’ll notice that only one enemy can attack your front liner each turn, and you should be able to easy heal that character each turn to keep him/her alive. Whenever you kill an enemy, the whole line of enemies will shift left. Line ‘em up and bring ‘em down. You can survive incredible odds this way. Also remember this, never confront a sea enemy from your ship. EVER! You’ll be surrounded and outmaneuvered. If you absolutely have to fight a sea enemy, land your ship and confront them from the shore. You’re chances will increase several-fold. ************************* Lots of Gold ************************* If you want to max out your abilities you’re going to need a lot of gold. You can go around killing enemies in the overworld using repel and undead and make lots of money that way. This is actually recommended since you’re going to need the experience to level up your characters anyway. You can try your luck at one of the casinos. You can also create new characters and steal their gold like I mentioned before. However, if you’re greedy you can use the following method to get lots of gold fast at moderate risk. Get in your ship and sail to the eastern edge of the continent. There will be an island with a ring of mountains and a city nestled against their western edge called Death Gulch. IMPORTANT! Make sure you land your ship due west of the city on the narrow strip of ocean bordering both the main continent and the island. This is because you’ll probably want to use a compass heart to flee the city and you’ll still want the ship to be accessible by the main continent. If you mistakenly are separated from your ship you can use your sacrificial party to get another one if they’re still around. When you enter Death Gulch you’ll notice that the city is blocked off by a guard and a locked door. If you wanted to go out of your way unnecessarily and discovered the bribe command, use it, and use a key, you can get through. However, there are a couple of secret entrances. Head south and enter the narrow forest path. At the junctions go left, then right, then straight until you come upon a forest path 3 spaces wide. Head north until you reach the clearing. You’re now past the guard and the locked door. Open the door to the east with one of your keys, go through it and head south. You’ll come across a narrow forest path into the mountains by a blue guard. Enter it heading west. Go straight, right, straight, left, right, and you’ll emerge in an area full of treasure chests. There’s more than 1500 gold pieces in here, and at least 3000 if you have the Mark of Fire and can cross the lava patch. Be careful. Once you start taking chests you’ll be caught and guards will start appearing out of nowhere. If you’re still at level 2, then surviving a battle with these guards will be somewhat difficult (see my help above), so make sure you have plenty of powder. When you can’t take the pressure any more, swallow your greed and use a compass heart to get out of there. Lick your wounds, and when you return to Death Gulch the guards will be happy again and all the treasure chests will have reappeared. ************************* Resurrecting for Free ************************* When your entire party dies, King British revives your party leader for free. Thus, to resurrect any or all characters for free, just save, press reset, create 3 new characters, form a party using them and your dead character as party leader. Go out and die. Then King British will raise your dead character. Save, reset, do this with each dead character, and when you form your old party again everyone will be alive for free. You can even take the gold from all the other new characters you killed. ************************* Bribing ************************* This isn’t necessary for passing the game, but can help you get into places that are otherwise inaccessible. You must go to the city of Devil Guard which is accessible only via moongate. Go to moongate number 2 which is due south of Dawn and due west of Montor, tucked under some mountains on the southern edge of the continent. Walk around until the left moon is at gibbous waxing and the moongate will appear. Then wait and walk around a few more steps until the right moon is at half waxing and enter the moongate. You’ll be landlocked in 3 spaces in the mountains. Walk back and forth between the top two spaces only and the moongate will shortly appear before you. Do not enter it. Instead keep walking back and forth until it disappears. Then walk back and forth between the bottom two spaces until the moongate appears again, this time above you. Enter it immediately and you’ll be in the landlocked alcove in the center of the continent. Head west and enter the city of Devil Guard. Head east in Devil Guard until you come to the hospital. Talk to everyone twice and one woman will tell you about bribing. From now on you can use the bribe command on guards and they will disappear. This is particularly useful for getting into prisons and talking to prisoners to get more information. ************************* Monsters ************************* The monsters on the overworld increase in difficulty as you increase in level from talking to King British. Here is a list of monsters and at what level they begin to appear on the overworld. LEVEL 1+ ------------------------------------------- Monster HP Exp Special Abilities Goblin 19-33 3 None Ork 19-33 3 None Skeleton 35-48 4 None Ghoul 35-49 4 None LEVEL 3+ ------------------------------------------- Monster HP Exp Special Abilities Thief 123-133 5 Can steal unequipped weapons and armor. Brigand 123-137 5 Can steal unequipped weapons and armor. Titan 107-121 6 None Giant 107-118 6 None Golem 107-120 6 None Pirate 145-159 8 None LEVEL 5+ ------------------------------------------- Monster HP Exp Special Abilities Mane 175-189 8 None Gargoyle 175-189 8 None Demon 175-188 8 Poison Spell Serpent 219-233 15 Fireball LEVEL 7+ ------------------------------------------- Monster HP Exp Special Abilities Snatches 187-201 10 Poison Bradles 187-201 10 Poison Man-O-War 235-249 20 Poison Spell LEVEL 9+ ------------------------------------------- Monster HP Exp Special Abilities Griffin 219 15 Attack Spell Wyvern 219 15 Attack Spell Dragon 219 15 Attack Spell Balron 235 20 Poison Spell – Can’t use ranged weapons Devil 235 20 Poison Spell – Can’t use ranged weapons CASTLE EXODUS ONLY ------------------------------------------- Monster HP Exp Special Abilities Floor 43 3 Invisible As you can see, after level 2 the monster increase dramatically in power with little extra gain in experience, and you can’t kill anything but the level 1 monsters with your repel and undead spells at no magical cost. That is why I recommend staying at level 2 the entire game until Castle Exodus where you have to fight the big bad monsters. If you want to rise to level 4, I won’t object too much, but you should absolutely not rise past it. You could probably take on the Manes and Gargoyles pretty well, but the Demons and Serpents will kick your butt hard, as will all the level 7 and 9 monsters. ************************* Towns ************************* Dawn --------- Location: Large forest to the south. It’s only accessible during a double new moon. Services: -Armory -Weapons Shop -Stables -Guild -Pub -Inn -Grocery Store -Hospital -Fortune Teller Special: The weapons sold here are more powerful than in any other shop. The golden pick can be found in the left chest in the guild. Death Gulch ----------- Location: A mountainous island on the east side of the continent. Services: -Armory -Weapons Shop -Pub -Grocery Store Special: There is a secret entrance to the south. There is no need to talk to the person in the big lava field. There is lots of gold in the armory, but don’t get caught. Devil Guard ----------- Location: Landlocked in the central mountains. See the ‘bribing’ section for directions on reaching it via moongate. Services: -Stables -Guild -Pub -Grocery Store -Hospital Special: Talk to a patient in the hospital twice to get the bribe command. Fawn ----------- Location: On a tiny island on the north side of the continent. Services: -Guild -Pub -Grocery Store -Hospital -Casino Gray ---------- Location: Western edge of the continent – southern corner amongst the brush. Just north of Snake island. Services: -Armory -Weapons Shop -Guild -Pub -Casino Montor East ----------- Location: East side of river inlet, southern edge of continent. Services: -Armory -Weapons Shop -Pub Montor West ----------- Location: West side of river inlet, southern edge of continent. Services: -Armory -Weapons Shop -Pub -Grocery Store Moon ----------- Location: Northwest corner of continent. Services: -Pub -Grocery Store -Hospital Royal City ----------- Location: Right next to King British’s castle. Services: -Armory -Weapons Shop -Pub -Grocery Store Yew ----------- Location: Inside the mountains just west of Lord British’s castle. Enter on the west side. Services: -Grocery Store -Hospital Special: Watch out for lava in the dense forest. Learn the ‘pray’ command at the temple. Pray in the circle of light to get the Silver Horn. ************************* Curing Poison and Colds ************************* The only way to take care of these is to use the Will Power spells or go to the nearest hospital (there is one in the castle and several in scattered towns as seen above). If you desire you can let the character die. Then resurrect him/her for free using my above method, and they’ll be cured. Colds and poison are unavoidable when you delve into treasure chests. It may be cost efficient to cast ‘open’ on each one, but a thief with high dexterity can avoid a large portion of the trouble. ************************* Thanks & Permission ************************* Thanks to GameFAQs for hosting and information. Thanks to GameFAQs and RPGClassics.com for information. Thanks to FCE Ultra for NES emulation. Thanks to Nintendo for making the greatest RPG’s of its time. Feel free to use this walkthrough and any information contained therein for any purpose.