Chapter 1

Start up the game and select your name and message speed and such. Note that your name won’t be of any concern to you until you get a good ways into the game. Get acquainted with Ragnar and his situation as a soldier at Burland castle. Children are being kidnapped (reports from a nearby village called Izmit) and you are dispatched to learn more. Your adventure begins here. Constantly you are going from one castle to the next with caves and such in the way. As you start, explore the town and check out the various shops and things around town. The more battles you fight the more gold you are going to accumulate and you are going to want to build this up for a few select choices at Izmit later in this chapter. When you are ready, go out and fight a few battles.

Veterans of past Dragon Warriors will smile at the gameplay. If you are new, you’ll learn a few things. With Ragnar fighting is your only option and unfortunately, he can not heal himself. However you can purchase medical herbs at nearly every item store in the game, so do so, at least until you get another character to help him out. If you perish in battle you start off at the shaman, but with half the gold. The monsters outside of Burland should not be too much of an issue for a powerful soldier like Ragnar, but when night falls (another cool feature) babbles come out, and they can do some damage physically (best attack in the area) and with their poison attacks. For now get up to level 3 or 4 and then venture to the cave out west.

There are a few items at the cave. Stick to the right when starting and grab the medical herb when the path splits to the right. Keep heading north to talk to a Burland soldier who is also going to Izmit. You must be on the right track (although this guy spends the entire chapter looking for Izmit). Head to the north west and grab the gold before you leave.

When you are outside head east to Izmit and hopefully it is dark out, if not you may want to fight until it is. The reason being is that you must talk to the man in jail in the upper right corner of Izmit village at night, as he will then reveal his name to you. If you do not do this you will not get his name, which you need consequently to finish the next thing in the storyline, so talk to him and do your thing in Izmit. If you have the money, buy an Iron Shield or Half Plate Armor. Wooden Hat would be nice also. Anyway, when you are ready head back to Burland, and talk to the lady in the house (or outside of the house moving about) and she will reveal herself as Flora and she happens to be in love with this Alex character. Take her back to Izmit now to get the two to meet, and Alex will reveal a secret he heard from the children (eh?). Four steps south and four to the east (of the sign east of Izmit; look at the location below if need-be), so heed this advice and you will find a well. Try to be at level 7 or higher as you go, as there are some tough monsters here.

As you near the well you will hear a voice calling you to move closer. This is a prevalent theme in this well, I guess to teach you the basics of cave-exploration or something. But before you jump down, head west and grab an agility seed and a medical herb in the jars after you go down the staircase. Now jump down and head south, ignoring the western path (takes you back). Continue on, again ignoring the paths that tell you not to go that way (they are dead ends). As you make you way down and left and back to the right again, continue going right against the will of the voice and get a medical herb. It is a long route but will familiarize you with the tough monsters here. Sizarmages can cast blaze and Lethal Gophers can build up their power and hurt Ragnar severely. Be careful here, now head back and take the southern path. Take this east and continue east, again against the advice of the voice. You will fight some monsters here but after a long road you will meet Healie! Let him join; he is much like the healers you meet, and he will allow Ragnar to not have to worry about healing himself. Head back now and go north at the intersection this time. Ignore the first two west/east routes as these circle around eachother and accomplish nothing. Continue north and take a right, following the path for 600 gold. Head back and take the left path for some Flying Shoes, and then you can leave for Izmit.

Before using these shoes you should make sure of a few things (as using the Flying Shoes will take you to the tower across the river (note that you CAN jump out and return to Izmit once you use them). First of all try to make sure you have at least a few of the following; Half Plate Armor, Iron Shield, and a Wooden Hat. Do not waste money on a nice weapon, you’ll get a really good one at the tower shortly. Healie, in case you noticed, can not equip or have any items. Work your levels to 8 or 9 (although you will fight up a bit at the tower) and then use the Flying Shoes. As you fly onto the tower you will see a witch or mage of some sort abusing some child, chase them down the staircase.

Now the bulk of the tower begins. Head north for a wing of wyvern, then continue south following the play to the right. This takes you to another soldier, who praises you for picking up Healie, but continue to the staircase. Head north to another staircase, which is a strength seed. South and to the left is a door, which after being opened is 640 or so gold coins. Nice, again you can head back and buy nicer equipment if you failed to do so earlier. Moving on, head south and to the left, opening the door at the south end of this structure. Inside is a scale shield and further north is a staircase down. Head north, and then go west and then east. To the west is a Sword of Malice (a great weapon, by far the best Ragnar can get in this chapter) and to the east is a luck seed. Also of note, you can “USE” the Sword of Malice and it acts as a Firebal spell (one group). South of this area is another staircase, leading to a healing pool! Wonderful, now I would suggest you fight around a bit and abuse the Sword of Malice and this health pool, gaining a few levels in the process. Moving along you find a soldier, and this part is important. He mentions the coming of evil, and of a certain hero, and keep this in mind as this is your first information regarding your true main goal in the game. This isn’t clear for a while though. Head on now and a kid will run up to you asking for help. Heal up and talk to the sorcerer to the north.

Saro’s Shadow and the Giant Eyeball are a tough duo. If you are level 10 or higher this should be easy, just make sure your health is up. The problem with Healie is that sometimes he neglects healing to do pointless things like attack and block, so if your hit points hover too low take the initiative yourself to do the healing. Attack the Giant Eyeball and get him eliminated first, although be careful because his “expression might change” which causes either critical hits (of 15 damage) on his part or he’ll miss. After he is gone, go right after Saro. He’ll cast firebal and will cause flame damage to all without magic as well. Also his attack is strong and he can wallop Healie if Healie is unguarded and low on hit points. Again, keep your hit points up and the first boss should be toast. The children then join you, so head out of here. The soldier outside is dead but you remember what he said; leave the tower and use the shoes to get to the top of the tower again, and then jump off. Head to Izmit to drop the kids off now. The mothers are joyous obviously, and you can head back a victor. Burland celebrates you (no random encounters by the way) and the king offers to grant you anything! Ragnar seems to have an itch regarding this whole evil ruler resurrection/hero thing so he asks to go on an adventure. The king gives you some experience points and you’ll gain a few levels and head out, ending the chapter.

ENEMIES OF CHAPTER ONE

Throughout Ragnar’s quest you are introduced to a bunch of enemies/characters and being your first chapter, they are all new to you. The Slime, Stag Beetle, Giant Worm and Diverat appear outside of Burland and extend to the cave. The Babble can be fought near this area and outside Izmit, but only during night. Demon Stumps are also outside of Izmit. In the well, you fight Sizarmages, Lethal Gophers and Healers only. The tower yields more monsters, as the first level has Ducksbills, Lilypas, and Oswargs. The lower levels include Pixies and Giant Bantams. Finally, the boss of this area is Saro’s Shadow with a Giant Eyeball.

Slimes and Stag Beetles are worthless, really. Giant Worms and Diverats are decent but again should rarely outhit Ragnar. However beware at night, as the Babble can and will hurt Ragnar, if not poisoning him at the same time. Keep an antidote ready if necessary. Demon Stump’s can use medical herbs but really aren’t much better than your past enemies sans his hit points. Inside the well, Sizarmages are here. They are like Ozwargs but they cast Blaze while the Ozwarg casts Icebolt. Lethal Gophers can charge up their attack and take off 8-10 on Ragnar, so you may wish to take them out soon. Healers cast Heal and little else but can be a nuisance when paired with some offensive enemies. Inside the tower you fight some decent monsters. On the first floor, Ducksbills are there to cast Sap on you while the Lilypa will cast Upper on himself or his friends. Later on you’ll meet Pixies who cast Speedup, and Bantams who may put you to sleep with their attack. Again, the boss is Saro’s Shadow with the Giant Eyeball

From left to right (also in relative order of appearance): Slime, Stag Beetle, Giant Worm, Diverat, Babble, Demon Stump, Lethal Gopher, Healer, Sizarmage, Ducksbill, Lilypa, Oswarg, Pixie, Giant Bantam, Giant Eyeball, Saro’s Shadow

Further Reading:

• Dragon Quest IV DS release date news
• Dragon Warrior 4 IV Chapter 5 Walkthrough ENIX

Chapter 2

Alena has a deep chapter. By the end of it you have a relatively complete party and in turn you have some difficult battles. Starting off go around and speak with everyone. Cristo and Brey will join you later so be sure to say hi. You have to talk to all the important characters (not sure entirely; definitely the king, counselor, Cristo, Brey, and maybe the gate guards) to advance the storyline. You can find a Feather Helmet for Alena in her room, as well as a Fairy Water in the back of the House of Healing. Go back to your room and check the wall. It turns out you can kick it, so do so and you will be able to jump on the roof and ultimately off to leave Santeem. When you leave the Brey and Cristo will join you. First of all, Alena is a fighter and will have really high agility and good attack with a propensity to get critical hits. Cristo is a “Chancellor”, and he specializes in healing/white/infernus magic and also is a force with his ability to equip a lot of weapons and armor. Brey is a dangerous Wizard who is a liability when fighting in battle and also he likes to die on you. Careful of this, keep him alive and you’ll have an offensive machine. Build up a few levels and get a Thorn Whip or something at Surene for Alena.

At about level 3 or 4 start venturing towards the northeast where you will encounter more dangerous monsters and a outlet to a new town, Tempe. Basically Tempe is being oppressed by some monsters that demand girls. You probably aren’t strong enough to be able to stop these monsters quite yet so don’t accept the liability to do so when you talk to the town shaman. Instead get to level 5 or maybe higher and try to get the best equipment possible at this stage, as this is pretty early in the chapter to have a boss battle. Well, the shaman and his workers get you into a litter box, pretending that you are the female offering, and sending it to the north of town. A Chameleon Humanoid comes with two Rabidhounds as guards. Cast Upper on Brey immediately as he could be killed in the first round otherwise. At the same time have Brey cast Sap on everyone and then start throwing Icebolts around, with Alena attacking the corresponding rabidhound that Brey hits with Sap/Icebolt.

The Chameleon Humanoid is a pretty versatile guy so beware, he can too cast spells and even use an attack that hits everyone (for under 10 damage fortunately). I’d save him for last, as he is easy to gang up on at that point and the Rabidhounds go down much easier. Again, if you are of sufficient level, your three should end up trouncing their three. You’ll get a Lifeforce Nut afterwards and the town will be transformed into a jubilant one. Also of note their item shop will re-open, so check that out and grab a Boomerang if you see fit.

When you are ready, head north and east to Frenor. It is not a long trip, and when you get there you’ll see a few people rushing to a scene at the Inn. The “princess” has been captured by some thieves and everyone implores you to help if you can. Asking around, you’ll learn of the Golden Bracelet that they want, and that the southern cave houses this item (talk to the little boy during the day and the pirate at night for this information). You may want to get a Chain Mail or something else at the item shop before you go, and I’d also probably build up to level 7 or 8 maybe as these monsters get harder both on the way to the cave and in it.

As you enter the cave, make your way south through the passage to get a Wing of Wyvern. Further west you will have a three-way fork, with north being 360 coins, south being an Agility Seed, and west continuing your path. In fact, this goes all the way to the staircase leading down. From here, ignore the path going left and instead continue east and then south, leading to a choice of west/south. Go west for a Magic Potion and then south. Follow the path east over the skull bone heads and then south and west for the Golden Bracelet! Use Outside and Return to Frenor (if Brey has them). Maybe it’d be a better idea to walk there, as you MUST be there at night. At the graveyard you will meet the thieves who will trade you the princess for the Golden Bracelet, which you will learn to be much more important later on in the game. However the princess does apologize and proceeds to give you the Thief’s Key. The weapon shop opens up here, but I’d wait and just go south. Great, so go south of the Frenor cave and a little west to see a desert with a lake. Walk around this area to find the Bazaar.

Great weapons and armor are stored here. A Morning Star and Venomous Dagger are vital for Cristo and Brey, respectively. The Scale Shield can aid those two as well, and the Bronze Armor is good for Cristo. West of the Inn is a purple woman and a bunch of barrels; search the two for a Strength Seed and a Gum Pod. I think the Gum Pod is worthless save for a few gold coins after being sold. A Santeem guard will find you and tell you to go see the king immediately! Hmm, well go Return there. You will hear that the king cannot speak, and that the chancellor tells you to talk to Goz out back. Well you have a Thief’s Key, so you can enter his house (just jump out your window as if you were escaping). Goz tells the tale of Marone, whose voice was once out too. He is in Surene and he probably knows what to do. Talk to him (second floor balcony of the House of Healing). He refers you to a Bazaar, one that you have already been to. So go back here and it’s the item shop owner (talk to him from the side, not from the desk) that tells you to go west to the Birdsong Tower.

Interestingly enough, you can reach an Inn if you go immediately north and down the staircase. This is good for leveling up, as the enemies (especially on the later floors, like the Butterfly Dragons) are significantly more difficult than those you’ve fought so far. Try to be in the early teens as you make your way through the tower. The thief running around complains about not having a key to go up, but you do so use it and head to floor two. Directly south is nothing, but southwest of the initial staircase is another. It looks like a dead end here, but head left and north to go through the wall! Two chests are here, a Strength Seed and 1200 gold coins.

Fabulous, now head back to the staircase, and go north and then east from here, taking your second south. This will take you to the next staircase (ignore the two right options, they both lead to dead ends). Directly north of here is a Wing of Wyvern, while west is the way to the next staircase. Careful with the pitfalls, but you should be ok. Head south and then west on the next floor, and you will end up on the top with two elven females. They scatter when you move towards them, and one says that she forgot the medicine! Search anywhere in that desert-like circle, and then you can leave and Return to Santeem! Administer the medicine to him and he will be fine, and will explain that he was strucken with this illness after a few horrible and seemingly real dreams. He then allows you to go on with your journey, and the guard at the shrine east of the Bazaar will now let you go to Endor, so go see him!

Endor is the only thing on this side of the shrine, as the gates are closed going north and east. Endor itself has lots to do, fortunately, including armor and weapon upgrades. First, grab a Half Plate Armor and Iron Shield for Cristo, and then talk to the king. He will eventually ask you to win the tournament that you’ve been hearing about going on in Endor, so head either east or west of the main door to one of those side doors, which takes you north. The music will change here and talk to the western guard to let you in. Do not go up the stairs right away, the end-of-the-chapter battle will ensue and you don’t want that yet. Instead talk to the item shop guy to fill up on Medical Herbs and to buy an Iron Claw for Alena, which is her second best weapon in the entire game. Fight up (outside, of course) to level 14 or 15, and at that rate Alena should be ready for the contest. Hopefully she has a Chain Mail and Feather Hat along with the Iron Claw, this is probably the best equipment she can get right now. Before you leave though, understand this is the end of the chapter so you may want to check some things out. The casino is open and you have a chance to win some great items here. Personally, my luck lies at the slime poker table, or whatever. Just do the double or nothing thing (and if you have a save state emulator, you can’t go wrong) until you get enough coins to get all the Metal Babble Shields and Meteorite Armbands that you’d like. Do understand that these Metal Babble Shields will upgrade your defense by 48 over an Iron Shield and 53 over a Scale Shield. Yikes, needless to say Cristo and Brey will be very ready for Chapter 5 if you happen to get a pair of these in the Casino. You can try your luck at the battle arena, although that tends to be more entertainment for me, rather than income. The slots are there as well, although I haven’t played them enough to tell you whether they are valuable or not. When you’re ready (get a Meteorite Armband for Alena if you can) and full of medical herbs, go up those stairs at the arena.

That Linguar guy is weirding you out again isn’t he? Well maybe you’re not at him yet. But anyway as you go up the stairs, Brey and Cristo announce that they’re going to cheer for you from the staircase area. The king then addresses you, saying that you must defeat 5 enemies, and only Necrosaro has done this. Hun comes out first, and he doesn’t do a whole lot other than take off about a third of what you take off on him. Afterwards use a medical herb if you wish (definitely if you’re full, you’ll get another after Roric).

Roric is next and he has a boomerang. Scary, and sometimes he throws it, which doesn’t really take off any more than his physical attack does. Use the medical herb he drops, and Vivian will be next. Vivian uses Icebolt and Firebal and Healmore, but will run out of magic eventually. After this she’ll pretty much just parry the rest of the time. Just attack her until she needs to cast Healmore on herself and by this time she’ll have fried her MP count, not like it matters. Sampson is next, so rest up. He is a knight and one that will hit you nearly as tough as you hit him. You’ll be faster and you have something called medical herbs at your disposal. Outlast him and heal up for the final battle against Linguar. Okay, so he splits once the battle starts. You have to guess which one is him, and it’s random. Fortunately, you only have to hit him two or three times to ounce him. This may be frustrating for you as ya, you have a 1/4 chance of doing it. If it gets to that point just attack a constantly until you luck out. It’s really not that difficult though. Necrosaro is called out next, yet fails to come out. The tournament is rewarded to Alena!

The king thanks you, as his daughter (the princess) no longer has to marry the winner (you’re a girl!). He suggests you tell your dad, so cast Return to Santeem. You won’t be able to go, as “the strange force works and contains Return!” so you must walk out. As you do, a soldier will approach you. He tells you to return and then disappears. Leave Endor and then cast Return, and you’ll finally be at Santeem. No one is here, except the cat on the roof. What is going on? These Santeem people have some obvious secrets involving their dreams and the sudden disappearing of everyone. The chapter closes mysteriously, with the three journeying for answers.

ENEMIES OF CHAPTER TWO

As you begin Alena’s quest, you would think that the enemies would be repeated to some extent, but they face completely different enemies. You’ll find blokes like a Kaskos Hopper, Elerat, Giant Worm or Red Slime outside of Surene. Prank Gophers and Troglodytes are around as well, although the latter is more often found near Tempe. As you move towards Tempe in the mountainous area, you’ll come across Rabidhounds and Minons, dangerous monsters.

Inside Tempe, you fight a Chameleon Humanoid and two Rabidhounds, which is a sort of boss battle. Near Frenor you will run into Blazeghosts, Brahmirds, Demon Toadstools, Carnivore Plants, and the Healers that the Carnivore Plants summon. The cave of the Golden Bracelet holds harder enemies, including the Thevro, Vampire Bat, Crested Viper, Ozwarg, Somnabeetle, Orc, and Demon Toadstools. All of these monsters appear elsewhere, except for the Vampire Bat and Ozwarg I believe. Continuing on, the Bazaar and the surrounding area has even harder monsters. Crested Vipers, Thevros, Sand Masters, Kordras, and Armored Scorpions are in the area. The Birdsong Nectar tower boasts the Pteranodon, Flythrope, Poison Lizard, Razor Wind, Grislysaber, Spectet, and the Butterfly Dragon at the upper levels of the tower. Lastly, near Endor you’ll find Skeletons, Metal Slimes, more Armored Scorpions, Rogue Knights, and the Healers they summon. The coliseum provides five opponents, including Hun, Roric, Vivian, Sampson, and Linguar.

Kaskos Hoppers and Red Slimes are the worst of the enemies you fight. Elerats and Giant Worms aren’t much better however, neither are Prank Gophers. Troglodytes are the first enemies that have some ability, although not much. The Minon is strange and rare, with a defense that is tough to crack, not to mention Icebolt is useless. Try using Sap on him, and also on the powerful Rabidhounds, who have upwards of 20 hit points. The boss you fight is the Chameleon Humanoid (with two Rabidhounds).

The Chameleon Humanoid can use attacks to hit your entire party and can heal himself and his friends. Try using Upper on everyone and Sap on the Chameleon, and then gang up on each Rabidhound to consolidate your problems. By himself the Chameleon Humanoid will go down. The Demon Toadstools near Frenor are annoying as they can poison you, and the Carnivore Plants can summon Healers. Worse yet, the Brahmirds are sometimes asleep and when they wake up they take off a massive amount with a “roll” of theirs. The Blazeghost can evade your attacks and even duplicate sometimes, so try to use Icebolt as much as possible. Thevros can also attack your entire party and have a good defense. Vampire Bats can put you to sleep but really aren’t too difficult. Crested Vipers use Defence on you, so kill them off quickly. Ozwargs will use Icebolt and Somnabeetles will try to put you to sleep. Orc’s cast Surround on you and can attack decently, but these cave monsters aren’t too tough overall. Near Bazaar though, you get some tricky ones. Kordra is an eccentric creature. He will run occasionally and sometimes he’ll get you with a critical hit. Be careful. Sand Masters are fast and have good attacks, not to mention they come in large groups sometimes. Armored Scorpions have a legit defense, so use what you can to whittle them down. The Birdsong Tower has more enemies with magical ability.

The Pteranodon casts Firebal, the Flythrope will use Stopspell, the Razor Wind likes Infernos, and the Spectet will create a barrier around themselves with Ironize. The Grislysaber can attack and duplicate, while the Poison Lizard can poison your entire party. The hardest monster in this tower is the deceptive Butterfly Dragon, who can use deadly attacks on your entire party, along with having a good strength and hit point total. Endor brings the last batch of random enemies, with the solid warrior that is the Skeleton and the elusive one that is the Metal Slime. The Skeleton casts Defence also which can be tricky when paired with the Rogue Knight, who is powerful in his own right. The Metal Slime will try to run away often, so attack him with everyone when you get a chance. You’ll get 1000 experience points and that’ll help. Alena likes to get critical hits on them though so that is nice, and if you have an emulator feel free to cheat and re-load if the bugger runs from ya. Cheap but hey, you’ll be leveling up like a lord. The coliseum people aren’t that difficult really and you can skim up for the walkthrough if you need some help.

From left to right (also in relative order of appearance): Kaskos Hopper, Red Slime, Prank Gopher, Elerat, Giant Worm, Troglodyte, Minon, Rabidhound, Chameleon Humanoid, Demon Toadstool, Carnivore Plant, Healer, Brahmird, Blazeghost, Thevro, Vampire Bat, Crested Viper, Ozwarg, Orc, Somnabeetle, Kordra, Sand Master, Armored Scorpion, Pteranodon, Flythrope, Razor Wind, Spectet, Grislysaber, Poison Lizard, Butterfly Dragon, Skeleton, Rogue Knight, Metal Slime, Hun, Roric, Vivian, Sampson, Linguar

Further Reading:

• Dragon Quest IV DS Alena Kiryl Borya Guide

Chapter 3

Taloon’s chapter starts and ends much differently than the others. Fighting hardly is the most difficult part of his chapter, yet there are some instances where he is tested. More importantly he is entrenched into the Dragon Warrior entrepreneurial world. Unfortunately he begins employed with the local guy who sells below-average weapons in Lakanaba.

Neta wakes Taloon’s lazy self up, and gives you a Lunch (she gives this to you each time you rest after speaking to her; it’s effects are similar to a Medical Herb). Explore the town. Taloon is basically VIP around here and all the merchants will give you important business advise. Currently though you’re broke, but there are some nice choices for armor at Lakanaba. You can push Uncle Tom to the House of Healing for ten gold coins. This isn’t really going to net you too much money. Also you can work at the weapon shop, as Neta suggested. Chances are you’re going to get between 80-140 gold coins per day, and remember that it is completely based on how much you sell.

If you have an emulator then you may deem this worth speeding through. When I play on a console, well, it’s just too tedious and I get impatient fast. But do it for a while so you can grab a nice piece of armor, like a Chain Mail or Leather Shield/Hat. I wouldn’t advise spending anything on a weapon as you’ll get a fine one soon enough. Oh, and if you do it long enough you may notice that customers may sell a Boomerang, Chain Sickle, or even a Sword of Malice! You’re really fortunate if the latter is sold, and never let anyone buy it. It’ll stay there. Maybe level up once if you want, but at any rate head up to the cave in the north.

Upon entry just follow the path through the staircases. When you come to the first grey wall, hit the switch, it’ll save you some time. The next grey wall, however, ignore the switch and walk to the other side of it to find a Chain Sickle.

That’s the decent weapon I was talking about. Taloon is a force now, and no monster here should trouble him now, especially if you bought some armor. Now go back and hit the grey switch, as you have to do this to get past the water spots further to the south. As you fall, you are left with two choices. Going right and subsequently up the staircase leads back towards the beginning, specifically it puts you a little north of the Chain Sickle chest. Instead, take the left passage and take this all the way to the left. Note that the staircase down leads to nothing, other than some guy who is walking in circles looking for the Iron Safe also. Well, as you walk left and south, the boulder will roll after you. Quickly take the first right, which leads the boulder that way. Head south and left now, and the boulder will roll into the left hole and close it. Now you can advance to the Iron Safe (note that the other hole leads to the unimportant guy). You’ll see two blocks, so take one of them north with you. Take the Iron Safe from the treasure, but a wall will act as a brockade. This is where you place the block that you hopefully brought up with you. Careful, if you leave the boulder too far south or in a corner that you can’t get it out of, you’ll have to reset. When you’re ready, head back and rest at Lakanaba.

After spending your earnings, get some armor if you wish. You’ll probably notice Taloon tends to find items in battle. This is useful in terms of getting gold fast (ie turning around and selling nearly everything you find). Taloon is pretty powerful with the Chain Sickle, so head south of Lakanaba and you’ll find a strange forest town. Not much to do here, although you can buy a “Medical Herb” and “Broad Sword” at the item shop. However they are the Gum Pod and Cypress Stick, so don’t be fooled. Da Gardi the architect is here, and is stuck because of some girl who yelps. What’s more is that when you talk to the counselor-looking guy, he asks you to rest and you can for free. You aren’t restored though and you wake up in the middle of no where. Move on south and you’ll notice a new castle and a blocked bridge. Enter Bonmalmo and buy a Wing of Wyvern. This town is low on armor due to the monsters, so feel free to sell some of your acquired armor to the old man in the castle.

Everyone here will tell you something important, and do talk to the prince Reed. He’ll request to see you at night. You’ll hear also of a Lakanaba man in jail. Head there and avoid the guards as best you can (you can always do it again if you get caught). He’ll ask for a Wing of Wyvern to get out, so hand him one, then go visit him in Lakanaba. Tom’s son will entrust his dog to you, saying that he is good with foxes. With everything you’ve heard at Bonmalmo and Lakanaba, it’s time to bring the dog to Foxville. Tov will run off to the counselor-looking guy and the guy will freak out and the scene will shift to the one that comes up when you rested at Foxville. The fox is there this time and begs for help, so you must let him free. Not before he gives you a Full Plate Armor though. De Gardi comes out and says how he has to go fix the bridges now. You still have Reed’s letter for the Endor princess, so head south to Endor now that the bridges are fixed! Tov can be returned beforehand, but is not necessary (you can keep him to the end of the chapter).

Ah, Endor, and you were just here. Things have changed a bit though. The casino is closed, although Ragnar of Burland is running about in the area. For Taloon, assuming you have the gold after the Full Plate Armor, you should pick up an Iron Apron, Abacus of Virtue, Wooden Hat and Iron Shield. That is his best equipment (save for a rare Sword of Malice) for the chapter. Show Mia the princess Reed’s letter and the King of Endor will overhear the situation and give you a Royal Scroll for the King of Bonmalmo. The King of Bonmalmo then commends you for this idea you’ve given him, and he celebrates the marriage knowing that he won’t have to invade Endor but rather will just marry into the castle. Back at Endor, the king will thank you and will give you permission to own a shop. Now you can purchase the shop from the old man south of the House of Healing, but you’ll need 35,000 gold coins to do so. Ouch, well you’ll also learn of a wealthy family looking for a Silver Statuette. This high-priced item is in a northeast cave, one accessible now that the bridges are in working order. You can hire Strom the guard or Laurent the Troubadour to help you if you wish. However they are pricey and being that the idea is to accumulate money right now, I would ignore them. Laurent can use Heal and Firebal and Sleep, which helps, and has a Venomous Dagger. Strom is more of a physical type and comes at a much more reasonable price. Also of note is that Strom will not join you if you have Tov following you still, although Laurent doesn’t seem to mind.

Head east of Endor and talk to the old man in the cave. Another pricey project is in order here, as this guy is looking for upwards of 60,000 gold coins for excavation purposes. You can’t do anything about this yet so head north, with or without help. This cave houses several treasures so you may wish to head back to Endor to sell some of it off so you don’t end up discarding items. As you enter you’ll see a staircase but it won’t get you anywhere, so head further east into a ship, which you’ll take all the way to a pit. Head north and grab the Wing of Wyvern, and then make a beeline to the southeast corner. Enter the staircase and head to the west, and then north. Step on the weird-looking space and a switch will be there. This switch changes the water level on both floors.

More or less it reduces the water on this level, allowing you to get the blocked-off treasures, and the lower level is drenched so you can ride your boat around and get treasures (Silver Statuette) down there. Immediately after hitting the switch, you’ll see you can go west to grab a Morning Star or go up the stairs to return to Endor. Stick it out and continue east to grab 760 gold coins and a Medical Herb. The passage east of the gold coins is an Iron Spear, and south of here is a staircase that leads to the bottom floor. Before this you may wish to return to Endor, depending on whether you want to sell the items you’ve come across so far. Anyway, on the bottom floor head north to see a guy who took the two treasure chests next to him. That sucks, but further west you can go south or north, and south gives you a Broad Sword while north nets you the Silver Statuette! Wonderful, and finally west of this passage is a Half Plate Armor. Now head back to Endor and give the Statuette to the old guy in the east part of town. He’ll offer you 25,000, leaving the other 10,000 for you to come up with. Chances are, with the rate Taloon finds weapons/armor (and GOOD weapons/armor) combined with the increased rates at Bonmalmo for armor, this shouldn’t be too difficult for you. Once you reach 35,000, the old guy will gladly give you the shop.

Once Taloon buys the shop, his family comes to live and work with him. Neta works the register, and basically Taloon is expected to go out and get certain weapons and armor, and then she goes around and sells it for 150 percent of what you paid for it. Moreover I don’t believe it matters which item you sell, so generally I just go to the weapon shop 10 paces east and drop my entire budget on Abacus of Virtues and then rest for 3 days to make sure Neta sells them all. Or you can go to the king and give him what he asks for, but why bother running around being an errand boy when you can just buy one item and make the dough just as fast? Your choice though, just get it up to 65,000 so Taloon can help with that excavation project so you can go east. Really I enjoy this part of the game, it reminds me of when I used to…oh excuse me, I’ll focus now. Since money is so easy to make this way, I’d advise at the end of it all that you buy Taloon 7 Broad Swords (to go along with the Iron Safe) so that you can sell them all when you get Taloon in Chapter 5. Just my suggestion, you’ll need all the cash you can get when you have to supply weapons and armor for 8 people. And remember, the cash never carries over, but the items do. When you’re ready, the old man will take your money and will send for you at Endor (through a letter that Neta gets) when the cave is done. Rest a few nights or check out the newly opened Casino, just go across the tunnel once you get the letter. This is the end of the chapter, no big battle or anything. Things are starting to get interesting in Dragon Warrior land and there is only one more chapter before the final one.

ENEMIES OF CHAPTER THREE

Taloon fights an enemy base that is very similar to that of Ragnar. Initially, Slimes, Prank Gophers, Giant Worms and Stag Beetles will be your opponents. Things don’t change much in the first cave, other than Babbles showing up. South, near Bonmalmo, you’ll come across the occasional Demon Stump or Healer, but they aren’t too tricky. Near Endor you’ll get a decent crop, with Lilypas, Ducksbills, Lethal Gophers, Carnivore Plants, and Blazeghosts. Lastly, the cave presents Sandmasters, Giant Bantams, Poison Lizards, Vampire Bats, Flythropes, Metal Slimes and the only unique enemy to this chapter, the Elefrover!

Around Lakanaba, the Slime, Prank Gopher, and Stag Beetle shouldn’t be an issue to you. Once you get the Chain Sickle in the cave north of Lakanaba, no monster will be an issue to you until you get to Endor. The Demon Stump can be annoying and takes off a decent amount, but they appear rarely around Bonmalmo. As soon as you are in the Endor area, upgrade Taloon’s weapons and armor and the surrounding enemies shouldn’t take off more than 5 on you. The Elefrover is the only new enemy and never takes off anything, assuming your armor is what it should be. Really though even without Strom or Laurent, Taloon should be able to handle the foes in his chapter rather easily.

From left to right (also in relative order of appearance): Slime, Stag Beetle, Prank Gopher, Giant Worm, Babble, Demon Stump, Healer, Blazeghost, Carnivore Plant, Ducksbill, Lethal Gopher, Lilypa, Giant Bantam, Vampire Bat, Sandmaster, Flythrope, Poison Lizard, Metal Slime, Elefrover

Further Reading:

• Dragon Warrior IV Chapter 4
• Dragon Warrior IV Monster List

Chapter 4

Chapter 4 is similar to 2 in many ways. The fighting is more difficult than 1 and 3, and you get 3 members along the way. Mara is a dancer that specializes in Blaze-type attack spells (in contrast to Brey’s Ice-type attack spells) while Nara is a Fortune Teller. Similar to Cristo, Nara has healing and status spells, and is a decent fighter who can equip mid-range weapons/armor. The story begins with the two discussing Balzack and his role in your father’s murder. You are currently in Monbaraba, a town at the southern coast of the continent (Mara and Nara are from Kievs, a short walk north). Mara comes with a Dancer’s Costume, which you should sell as it nets 300 gold, much more than it is worth defensively. With the 100 gold coins you start out with, this should give you a decent amount to spend (try to buy a Boomerang for one of the two girls and then start building up). When you return here at night, you’ll notice it is much more lively than it is during the day. Anyway, fight up until 3 or 4 and then you can consider stopping by Kievs to the north.

Kievs is your hometown and the people are nice here. Feather Hats and Chain Sickles are nice too, so definitely buy two of the former and a Chain Sickle if you can afford it. In your old house are some Lifeforce Nuts, in a barrel. Other than that you can rest for free and you’ll get information on your father and his pupils, including one who may be in the western cave. This cave is pretty tricky so try to be around level 5-7, with adequate equipment. As you enter follow the path and continue up and talk to the shop owner from Monbaraba, who claims it’s hopeless to get downstairs. Continue along and take the next detour for a Wing of Wyvern. Further along the path and you’ll get to a dead end with an elevator-type yellow button on the ground. Step on this and you’ll figure out what the shop owner never did. In this new area, you’ll come to a main area with a bridge and water surrounding you. Directly west is to continue on. As you take the west passage elevator, you’ll come to a new place where you will acquire the Lamp of Darkness and Orin will join you as well.

Orin is basically a Ragnar clone at this point and will take off 30 consistently, a huge addition to your party. Furthermore, head back to the area you were just at (with the bridge and water, before the Orin area). So head down from here and you are stuck with a west or east fork, and the west one gives you 240 gold coins. Heading east you’ll come to a Lifehouse Nuts treasure chest at the first passage, and then the Sphere of Silence at the end of the south passage (after a few elevator trips). This is what you came here for so leave.

With the Sphere of Silence in hand and Orin beside you, heading northeast of Kievs is now feasible. Skip past the castle Keeleon and go to the port town Haville north of here. Rest and do what you need to and hit the shops, with the money you inevitably got at the Kievs cave. Nara is going to need a Morning Star, Half Plate Armor, Scale Shield, and a Feather Hat if you didn’t get one at Kievs. Mara meanwhile will need a Venomous Dagger, Fur Coat and a Feather Hat if you didn’t get her one at Kievs either. I know this is a lot of money, but you’re going to need to build up some to beat Balzack anyway, so fight around Haville/Keeleon/Aktemto to get the cash to buy all this, because you’ll thank yourself later. Having a strong Mara and Nara is vital for a smooth transition into the fifth chapter while the Hero is still weak. Around town you’ll hear more about the oppression at Keeleon by Balzack, and also of Gunpowder in Aktemto. You can check out Keeleon first but you can’t advance the story so you might as well check out Aktemto. Along the way on the eastern peninsula is a Sage who proclaims that the Hero and his friends are close to joining eachother. At the very northwest is Aktemto, a mining town that is in very dire straits. The citizens are obsessed with the potential of gold, yet are dying of the venom being spewed out of the very caves that they are digging in. Even the House of Healing guy is sick at night and can’t help you. Fortunately for you the monsters in here shouldn’t pose a problem, assuming your equipment is as stated earlier. You’re looking for Gunpowder remember. As you enter you’ll see a miner and a treasure, so take the Mystic Acorns (MAX MP).

Head north, ignoring the first two west forks but taking the third for Silver Tarrot Cards. These are for Nara and are worse in terms of attack power compared to the Morning Star, but cause all sorts of ailments when “used” in battle. For me it’s a little too high-risk to be using all the time and most of the time I end up having Thor used a magic spell on my party or having my party be killed by the Defeat spell. Just stick with the Morning Star but if you want to have fun, then use them. Continue east and hit the stairs. From here head north, and ignore the two west exits, as they lead to a miner and a dead end respectively. To the northeast is the stairs where there are two more miners and the Gunpowder. Cast Outside and get out of this depressing place. Rest and save at Haville and head to Keeleon when you are ready.

Normally you would need a Magic Key to open the doors around here. Orin just breaks through them. Everyone in the castle say the same thing you’ve been hearing; scare the counselor with the Gunpowder and follow him to the King of Keeleon. When you do this, stay a decent distance away from the counselor, or he’ll never actually open the door. As he enters the king’s area, go after him and search where he searched. Press the button and you will be in front of Balzack! Use the Sphere of Silence in the first round and cast Sap on him with Mara. After that, his spells will be neutralized so hack away and use Healmore and Firebane with Nara and Mara. Balzack shouldn’t be too difficult for you. Afterwards the real King of Keeleon shows up, and he absolutely demolishes you. You end up in prison, and you wake up next to an old man who gives you a Boarding Pass! Go south and grab it, and then east to get out. This secret path takes you to the outskirts of the castle, where a group of guards go after you. Orin sacrifices himself to allow you to get away. Leave Keeleon and then go right back in. Orin is dying and wishes you luck. Sadly, he passes away. Alas you must continue on towards Haville. Any extra money you have I would convert into weapons/armor so you can sell them first thing in Chapter 5 to get perfect equipment for the Hero.

The ship to the northwest of Haville will allow you to leave towards Endor. Talk to everyone on the ship and only then will the captain ask you if you really want to leave. Say yes and you’ll be on your way, ending the last solo chapter. Now, onto the meat of Dragon Warrior IV.

ENEMIES OF CHAPTER FOUR

Mara and Nara fight some difficult monsters, many of them being new to you. The majority of the repeat monsters you see are from Alena’s chapter. Starting off, you’ll come across Red Slimes, Kaskos Hoppers, and a new monster called the Monjar. Further north towards Kievs, another new monster will come along called the Angel Head. The Minon, Sizarmage, Demon Toadstool and Rabidhound lurk these parts as well. The cave presents even tougher opponents, including a few new ones such as the Xemime and Lava Doll. Blazeghosts are present, and in the later floors you may run into a dangerous Magemonja. Moreover, once you get in the Keeleon area the monsters are ridiculous. Liclicks, Infernus Beetles, Brahmirds, Zappersabers are all in the Haville area. You’ll also run into groups of Slimes. Some of them are regular slimes, but others are an odd breed that multiply and then turn into a King Slime after 8 of them are out! Careful with him, he’s a hefty one. Use Sap or Sleep to get the battle in your favor. Towards the Aktemto area, you fight Viceters, Weretigers, Dark Doriards and Mad Clowns.

All of these are new to you so be careful. The Aktemto mine has the hardest monsters of the chapter. On the first floor you’ll run into Vampdogs, Viceters, Weretigers, Rogue Whispers, Mad Clowns, and Liclicks. Baby Salamands, Garcoil Roosters, Metal Scorpions and Vileplants can be found in the bottom floor. At the end of the chapter, Balzack and Keeleon show up in boss battles.

Many of the new monsters will give you fits. The Monjar and Angel Head are pretty generic, but the Lava Doll can cast Upper. Not really a pain when done on themselves but it can aid their friends (Demon Toadstool, Sizarmage, etc) immensely. Infernus Beetles can cast Infernus, and Magemonjas can cast Icebolt. The Xemime is tricky and can steal MP from you. The Slimes will multiply into a King Slime, who can be done in with Sleep, Sap, Firebane/Firebal, etc. Liclicks cast Surround while Mad Clowns will hit you with Firebal. Viceters multiply at an alarming rate and thus are good for gaining levels. Weretigers can make you shriek (ie you lose a turn). Rogue Whispers are strange creatures and start off flustered but can do some damage if left alone. The lower part of Aktemto has really tough monsters. Metal Scorpions have tremendously high physical defenses and can knock out your party members quickly. Garcoil Roosters just seem to attack and do little else and Vileplants aren’t too difficult either.

The Baby Salamand can use a fire breathing technique that attacks your entire party. Lastly, Balzack can use some difficult spells and also use a non-magic technique to attack the entire party, When the Sphere of Silence is used though, he can’t use magic. Keeleon is the last enemy you face and he’ll attack 2 or 3 times per round and destroy you in 2 rounds; and that’s a best-case scenario.

From left to right (also in relative order of appearance): Kaskos Hopper, Red Slime, Monjar, Angel Head, Rabidhound, Minon, Troglodyte, Sizarmage, Blazeghost, Demon Toadstool, Lava Doll, Xemime, Magemonja, Brahmird, Infernus Beetle, Slime, King Slime, Zappersaber, Liclick, Mad Clown, Viceter, Dark Doriard, Weretiger, Rogue Whisper, Vampdog, Metal Slime, Garcoil Rooster, Vileplant, Baby Salamand, Balzack pre-Sphere of Silence, Balzack post-Sphere of Silence, Keeleon

Further Reading:

• Dragon Quest 4 IV DS Maya Meena Walkthrough
• Dragon Warrior IV 4 Taloon Chapter 3
• Dragon Warrior IV Monster List

Chapter 5

Finally in the fifth chapter you are allowed to use the Hero. Regardless of whether you decide to have your Hero male or female, you’ll have the best overall character in the game at your disposal. At this point though you’re young and feeble. Talk to everyone and you’ll learn that you are a very important person for the future of the world. As you return from giving your father lunch, the monsters have found you (must have been that bard they let in last night). You are brought to an underground area in the northeast of the little village. You are instructed to wait here, and eventually your friend Cecilia comes in and transforms into you, baiting the enemies into thinking you are dead. When the coast is clear, go out (search the barrels first for a Medical Herb) and head south to the shack. Supposedly, this is your father’s house. He is a cranky, pirate-looking guy, who eventually warms up to you. The three vases in the separate room give you 50 gold coins, a Medical Herb and a Leather Armor. From hear you can go to Branca or back to Endor (through the recently-built Taloon tunnel).

I’d suggest going to Endor, as you get new characters here. But you have time and Branca is so close so just stop in there to get some advice. You’ll learn that a certain Fortuneteller and Dancer are looking for the Hero. Makes sense. You probably don’t have the money to buy anything here and there’s really not much to do, so now go to Endor.

Low and behold, you’ll see Nara telling Strom his fate outside the House of Healing. For ten gold coins, she’ll tell you your fate too! Nara reveals that you are indeed the Hero that she has been searching for and joins you. In the Casino, Mara will be there gambling her money away. She joins you as well and now you suddenly have a powerful party. If you bought a bunch of random items like I advised, you can sell them now and buy the Hero a Broad Sword, Half Plate Armor, Wooden Hat and an Iron Shield. Make sure he/she has these because the following cave more or less demands a competent Hero. Because of this, I’d level up until level 9-11 with the Hero.

Go back to the Branca area, and east of this is a valley that heads south. An Inn is here, but you cannot cross due to the sand. You need a wagon, but the wagon-owner in this area doesn’t trust anyone, including you. You’ll hear about the eastern cave and the situation that happened to Hector, the Inn-keeper’s son (guy with the wagon). Before you go off to the cave let me say a thing or two about TACTICS. Generally, I use Offensive especially with good attack spell casters, because the random battles get mopped up really quickly. You’ll run out of magic fast though and it’ll be inefficient. When I’m going through a cave I’ll generally use either Normal or Use No MP for a while to make sure that my time using Offensive doesn’t suck my MP dry. These are the only three I tend to use in battle, except for extreme cases.

This cave is interesting to say the least. You don’t fight random battles and you need all three characters present in your party to destroy the boulders. As you walk through, Mara and Nara will fall into a pit, leaving you to fend for yourself.

Walking along you’ll come up to what looks to be Nara and Mara, but they are imposters! Two Liclicks to be exact, and be careful; this battle is difficult if they get Surround off on you. Dispose of one at a time, isolation is the key. You’ll fall into a pit with two monsters chasing Mara and Nara. This is yet another trap unfortunately, as two Tricksy Urchins are here with two Vampire Bats. The Bats are easy so you may wish to get them down quick incase they put you to sleep with their attacks. The Tricky Urchins aren’t that special although their attack is rather high, and they give a ton of EXP. When this group is dead you’ll come to Mara and Nara again, and they’ll question you about which one of them was at the casino in Endor. Obviously they fought some monsters just as you did. They trust you even if you answer wrong, and with them back you can continue into a puzzle of blocks with the Symbol of Faith hidden underneath one of them. With this, head back to Hector and he’ll join you with Primrose and his carriage. Great, now rest up and head south through the desert.

When you reach grass you’ll be at Aneaux. Not much to do here, although this town does have some history so talk to everyone. The middle grave in the upper-left area of the map nets a Strength Seed for you. Again, not much to do so leave. Southwest of here is Konenber, a port town that is stalled due to monsters controlling the waters via the Lighthouse to the east of Konenber. Check out the area and go on the ship that is waiting; in the housing area underneath is a Small Medal. These are vital; collect them vigorously. At the armor store is a Golden Barrette; if you have a female Hero (like I do this time around) buy her one, along with two for the ‘Ara sisters. Basically it’s going to come down to you and your party going to the Lighthouse to save Taloon and destroy the monsters controlling the sea, because there really is no else on land for you to explore. Head east when you are ready and equipped. Enter this purple-clad “lighthouse” and go north, avoiding the structure. Before you reach Taloon, head into the middle of the blocked off structure and you’ll see two treasures, 400 gold coins and a Luck Seed. Now go see Taloon, who should be just north of you as you leave this area.

He will beg of you to help him and will thoroughly explain the situation, even asking to repeat it. Taloon then runs off to Konenber where he will be waiting until you are finished here. The first staircase takes you to an area with several permutations. The upper left and right paths lead to nothing, while the mid-western path takes you to a Magic Potion ( a long path; probably not worth you getting). The path directly across from this takes you to a Strength Seed, and the single path under these two takes you to the staircase to advance. Careful here as you don’t want to fall into the pit. Take the east path to see a Xemime-like creature try to cast Return, only to hit his head and pass out. Continue on and follow the path as it wraps it’s way across the eastern part of the level. Take the east fork for a Full Moon Herb. Now take the west path and continue west and south. Two treasures are here, with the left being a Man-Eater Chest and the other being a Boomerang. The Man-Eater is pretty tricky so you may wish to avoid it. Head back now and take the north passage with the two statues, this leads to the second to last level where the Fire of Serenity is. Pick this up and then take the upper-right staircase. The other two are closed in.

Walk around now and you’ll see two Flamers (lol) and a Lighthouse Bengal running around a pot. So these are the trouble-makers messing with the boats. They are pretty tough but hardly boss-level. The two Flamers are tricky since Mara uses blaze-based attack spells, so she’ll miss often. Hopefully she’ll knock out the Lighthouse Bengal, who isn’t much of a threat other than to make your characters cower. Heal when you are hit with the Flamers magic/techniques. When the battle is over, pour the Fire of Serenity into the cauldron. Peace settles, so head to Konenber.

Everyone is happy and the town is thriving. Taloon is at the port and asks you to protect him from the monsters that are furious at him. Now the boat is yours, and Taloon suggests going to Mintos in the south. Do so by going straight south and following the coast to the east and you’ll see it. Land and enter. Go to the Inn and rest, and then go to the second floor. Brey and Cristo are here! Brey asks you for help and will join if you allow him to. Now you’re starting to get a decent amount of party members. At this point, I’m using Brey, Mara, Hero and Taloon.

Brey and Mara have Metal Babble Shields, while all the saved up items from Taloon’s quest gave me enough money to give him and the Hero a very good arsenal of weapons and armor. The Sword of Malice is good for both, as is the Iron Helmet. Take Howden’s quiz and say nothing, which you automatically do. You get the Treasure Map, which is more or less a good compass for you. Leave Mintos now and head due east, stopping in the Portal Shrine to get a Small Medal (following the exterior path along the exterior of the place until you get to where it converges at the very center of the top and head down and search. Nothing else to do here so head east a little and south to Soretta. This poor rural castle houses the Padequia, the cure-all herb. There is a drought and the only thing left to save the plants is buried deep in the southern cave, which is guarded by monsters. Of course you must go to save both Soretta and Cristo.

This cave has an interesting concept, blocks that act as “ice” that you slide across. You must have foresight to see where you are going (or patience).

Right as you enter you’ll have a practice session around an Agility Seed. Continue on to the stairway, where you’ll see Alena and her party walking in circles looking for the Padequia Seed also. Great, well head to the northwest to go on, and take the left-most passage. Don’t hit the arrows here, just follow the path to a set of Mystic Acorns. Now hit the ice to your right and it’ll take you to another fork. Take the left-most passage, and then go left and take the left-most passage once again. Follow this up and west and open the huge door to get a Robe of Serenity. This is great defense for females, I’d give this to Mara. Continue east again as you go back and out the door you just opened. Take the ice blocks that lead to the treasure, which is 800 gold coins. Now you’re back at the initial fork, so take another left path. Instead of going left again though, following the path right and take the staircase. This will take you to the final room, which is a pretty crazy room. It’s hard to follow where things go, so pay attention. Head north and take the far right path, the one against the wall. This will get you in the northern area. Go left now and take one of the last three paths to get to the west side of the structure now.

The chest that is reachable now is a Man-Eater Chest. Ignore it or kill it, then take the path that is just above the water patch, facing east of you. You will land right on the Padequia Seed. Cast Outside and Return to Soretta. The king will plant the Padequia Seed and give you a Padequia Root! Wonderful! Go to Mintos and administer this to Cristo ASAP, and the two of them (or the three of them if you didn’t get Brey earlier) will join you. The guy outside tells you of Ragnar who was in Keeleon. Ragnar is the last one to get, so you may want to head over there. As you leave, Hector will announce that he is going to study management under Howden. Great, bye Hector, thanks for the carriage.

The game really opens up at this point. I’d suggest heading back to the Mara/Nara continent that is Keeleon and exploring that. The monsters (and weapons/armor at Kievs) are very advanced. This is good but dangerous. Head due west of Mintos to get to Keeleon, but instead go back to Kievs. Rest for free at the inn, then talk to the guy staying there.

Turns out he was at the Bazaar, and he has improved weapons and armor for you. An Iron Mask for the Hero is imperative. Cloak of Evasion for Alena or Mara or Brey is useful too. For the record, I’m using Mara and Brey and Alena for the rest of the game (with Ragnar switched in for Mara or Brey occasionally). Throughout my experience, I’ve found that this group has too much firepower, and as long as you can be a competent healer for them, you should be able to tear through just about anyone. Also at Kievs you’ll hear (from a slime no less) that there may be a Magic Key in that western cave. The shop owner who is still stumbling around looking for the elevator confirms that you must search at the bottom of another treasure chest to find it. Go to where Orin was and search the Lamp of Darkness treasure chest, and you will find a button. This opens another staircase, so go down here and search the barrells for a Small Medal. The treasure at the bottom right of the room is the Magic Key. Now you have some things you can do. First off, I would go to Endor and head east as soon as you get in. Use your keys to get in and get to the armor shop, where you can buy Metal Babble Armor for 15,000. This is well worth it; the best armor in the game.

A slight detour, but I’d head back to Keeleon to get Ragnar now.

A humanized Healie is chilling to the west as you enter Keeleon, and he confirms Ragnar’s involvement. Well, use your nice new Magic Key, because you know something bad is going on in there. Towards the King’s room (you DO remember, right?) is Ragnar with two soldiers. As you approach him, he decks both of the soldiers and recognizes you as the Hero. You barge into the King’s room and Keeleon calls a bunch of guards. Ragnar takes the guards while your party takes Keeleon. Fear not, he is no where near as dominant as he was when you saw him with the two girls. Use Offensive tactics for sure, and hopefully Mara can spray him with Blazemore and Brey with Snowstorm. Better yet, if Brey could Bikill Alena or the Hero that would be even better. In three or four turns he should be dead with this party; but be careful as this party could also die quickly. Obviously if you have Metal Babble Shields for Brey and Mara, they’ll go from being a defensive liability to being a straight up rock.

Again, if you keep your health up Keeleon should go down, thus uniting the eight lights. Head back to the western prophet; she’ll disappear in a fateful moment.

What to do now? Feel free to explore, you have the boat and can check out everything you’ve already seen or haven’t seen. With the Magic Key, look for treasures that you can now get. One thing I like to do at this juncture (once I get everyone) is go to the Royal Crypt (via boat, south of Endor on a cape by itself) and fight Metal Babbles until I gain a sufficient amount of levels. On an emulator this is very easy. They don’t appear as frequently as you’d probably like, but these little buggers can get you from the early 20’s in levels to the early to mid 30’s in a couple of hours. Also with all the new characters, try to find a group of four (or narrow it down to 5 or 6) characters that you use the majority of the time. For me, that’s the Hero, Mara, Brey, Alena, Ragnar and maybe Cristo.

I just can’t justify using Nara at all, and Taloon is a likeable character and has some nice random moves he does, but usually doesn’t provide the firepower of a magic user or Ragnar/Alena. Cristo is on the maybe list because I hate how the AI controls him, too often he wastes his turn on a status ailment or Beat spell that won’t work against bosses or certain creatures. Now with this group, try to only get their weapons and armor, as you’ll save time not buying for every last person with you. Around Keeleon you’ll hear of Balzack taking refuge in Santeem castle, so head there. You may wish to Return to Endor and then work your way back, checking on Frenor, Tempe and Surene before you go. Orin is at Frenor and gives you some advice about the Secret of Evolution you keep hearing about. In Surene (the newly accessible area with your new Magic Key) you’ll hear of Zenithian tales in Stancia, far to the northwest. We’ll deal with that afterwards. Rest up, be in your early to mid 20’s in level, and head to Santeem. Finally, it’s time to mow down Balzack. Some Mini-Demons are roaming the area, and a Flamer (?) is guarding some treasures that you could have gotten too with your Magic Key. Balzack is sitting on the throne. Again, I’m using Brey, Mara, and Alena along with the Hero. Make sure you act as the primary healer, because that’s what you are.

Hopefully Brey will Bikill Alena, and hopefully Mara will make contact with a Blazemore or two. He likes to use Snowstorm on you and emit freezing winds. The former takes off 35-40 on everyone while the latter takes off about 10 on everyone. Oh, he goes twice a round too. So if he gets off two Snowstorms, you’re in trouble. Again, just make sure the Hero is there to boost up whoever gets low and you should be fine. With Balzack dead, three Mini-Demons come in and bark about the Secret of Evolution being rushed and not ready to use. Get the three treasures that were previously guarded, and you’ll have a Strength Seed, Flute of Uncovering, and a Magma Staff. Those last two are very important. Now though head to Stancia as that Surene sign instructed you.

Basically, go straight north from the western coast of the Surene/Santeem continent. You will come up to the Stancia area, and you must get out (towards the right side of the land mass) and walk around the water to get to Stancia. The Sacred Robe and Dragon Mail are nice, but I wouldn’t waste any money here. Just talk to everyone and you’ll learn much regarding Zenithia and it’s importance.

In the first area, take your boat to the upper-right portion of the screen and enter the stairs. In this woman’s house you’ll find a Small Medal. Continue north towards the king’s area and take the side paths and search around them. Another Small Medal will be found in a drawer so be sure to get it. When you speak with the king, you won’t be able to make him laugh. You will hear however, about an entertainer named Panon who could make him laugh. If you searched Monbaraba during your last visit to that continent, you may have already met Panon. At any rate, he’s at Monbaraba so go there and he’ll join you. He must be in front of your party, and instead of making the Stancia king laugh, he’ll just convince him to give you the Zenithian Helm. This is the best helmet for your Hero, so leave it on him/her for the rest of the game. Panon leaves, and you’re left to search for more. If you recall, someone mentioned the Zenithian Shield being in Burland, so head east and south a little and continue past Frenor and Lakanaba until you get to Burland.

In Burland you’ll hear that the Zenithian Shield is probably in Gardenbur, and that Gardenbur is sealed off and you need the Magma Staff to unseal it. Thank the heavens, you already have it. Raid the treasure area in Burland, for 2 treasures of gold (total of roughly 500 gold coins), a Strength Seed, Iron Helmet, Agility Seed, and a Lifeforce Nuts. Other than this there is not much else to do here, so head to Izmit. It seems you can have strange, repetitive dreams at the Inn here. The one I got when I went here was Saro going to tell Rosa of his ambitions. Again, not much to do here so take the river south of Izmit and follow it east, taking the first south exit past Burland. Walk south and east and north as it wraps around, and use the Magma Staff at the end of the road, where one mountain blocks your advancement. The mountain will crumble after using it, so head on into Gardenbur now! This is a female-only castle, yet there are a male or two around. The Pink Leotard is a great piece of armor for females, so you may wish to get one for Alena. Before you do anything else, head to the staircase in the center of the first floor. Enter it, and re-enter it on the other side to go back to the first floor.

Now head north, even though it looks like you can’t go north. You’ll find a secret passage, leading to the Fire Claw, which just so happens to be Alena’s best weapon in the entire game. On the first floor, there is a small medal in the south-western portion of the screen, while an Agility Seed is in a drawer on the second floor. As you search around, you’ll see a guy who looks like Laurent searching a drawer. When you talk to him, he’ll flee and the lady who bragged about the Bronze Amulet will come in and say you stole it. Alas, you don’t have the amulet but you’re still in trouble. The queen of Gardenbur throws you in jail but allows you to look for the thief, on the condition that you leave one of your friends there. I’d put in Nara or someone you’re not going to use, and then go to the southeastern cave that you’re advised to visit.

This cave is big and houses some dangerous monsters, not to mention there is a boss at the end. Keep all this in mind and conserve the best you can.

Head south and at your first intersection, go west. You’ll get to a four-way stop as you approach southwards. Head east for a Small Medal, and west to continue onwards. This will wrap around for a while, and take the south path instead of the east one, when you can. This will take you to a three-way intersection, so take the east path for an Agility Seed and then go north to continue. Ignore the south passage for a second and take the second southern passage to get that treasure of 1200 gold coins that is mounted on that plateau. Then take that first south exit as it wraps around to the south and eventually to the staircase to get you to the basement level. Take the western bridges here, and then take the south exit when you can. This will take you to two small ladders, climb them both and head north to pick up the Strength Seed. Take the southeastern ladders now and take the first west you can. This will go on for a while, and the north path nets you an Iron Mask while the southern one gives you a Dragon Shield. This is a nice addition for the Hero for the 5 minutes before you get the Zenithian Shield. So now head back to where you initially went west, and go south instead. This takes you to the last staircase, and ultimately to the real thief. He has a nice pad here, and also is sleeping with the Bronze Amulet.

When you “talk” to him, he’ll get up and try to run. You don’t want this to happen, so head south to the exit and cut him off, or just catch him and talk to him. The man, Bakor, will fight you. He can cast Snowstorm and Increase on himself, so be careful. Brey likes to use Snowstorm on Bakor but it works rarely, hopefully Brey is wise enough to cast Bikill on you and Alena. Again, with the well-oiled offensive machine of Mara, Brey and Alena going full force, Bakor probably should go down in 5 rounds. Increase might help him a bit, but Alena can still plug him with a critical hit to negate that, and Increase doesn’t stop Blazemore. A Gardenbur guard comes with you to apprehend Bakor, so cast Outside and Return to Gardenbur. The Queen thanks you for your efforts and gives you the Final Key to open your jailmate’s cell and also to receive the Zenithian Shield! Go to the two basements to do this. With the Final Key, there are plenty of places you can go now. I’d suggest Returning to Izmit and sailing east, and wrap south when you can. You’ll come to the Shrine of Breaking Waves and also the shrine where the king of Small Medals dwells. Give him all that you have, you should have about seven if you followed my guide in order.

I bought a Hat of Happiness for Brey, but you can save up for that Metal Babble Helmet if you want. Remember, throughout Dragon Warrior IV there are enough Small Medals to buy ONE of everything, so use them how you wish.

Since you’re in the area, head north to the Shrine of Breaking Waves. Be warned; these monsters are tough in here, although the layout of the cave is rather simple. Completely ignore the left and north passages, they lead nowhere. Instead, go east with your boat. You’ll begin sailing north and the passages will be separated by giant blocks. Take the fourth western passage and you’ll walk through the wall to get that treasure, which is a Small Medal. Continue north and don’t get off the boat. You’ll get to a stone maze, but it’s easy to navigate. Get to the west exit of the room and head south after that and take the stairs. You’re there already! Grab the Zenithian Armor and the Small Medal. Alas, the Zenithian Armor is significantly worse than the Metal Babble Armor (at least at this point) so leave the Metal Babble Armor on the Hero.

Cast exit and drop off those two Small Medals you acquired. Then begin sailing south along the eastern part of the Burland/Gardenbur/Rosatown continent. You’re looking for Rosatown, as the Queen of Gardenpur did refer you to them. Anyway, as you begin following the south part of the continent, a river will come up. Take this all the way to Rosatown. The old man to the left is all the shops, you just have to talk to him in the different booths. At the weapon shop I’d pick up a Dragon Killer if you can. I had a Sword of Malice for the Hero still, pretty weak. By the way, you should go to Lakanaba (Return to Bonmalmo and walk north) and visit Taloon’s old store. Remember the Final Key door in his shop? It leads to a Strength Seed, Chain Sickle, and the Ice Blade! This is worse than the Dragon Killer, but is the free alternative (albeit 15 points less attack power) to the Dragon Killer. Anyway, at Rosaville use the Flute of Uncovering near that tower, as Saro did. A Saroknight will be up there, and he’s pretty tough. He has a Sphere of Silence that will silence your entire party. If he doesn’t get that off in round 1 he probably has no shot of beating you. When he dies, you get the Sphere. Rosa and the Slime have some advice for you. Heed the Slime’s and go to Endor, rest up, and sail south.

Actually, before you go you can put your Final Key to work once more. Head into Endor castle and head to the very north part of this room, just above the staircase leading down. Use the Door button on the wall (you can’t see the door, just the middle-black space above the staircase) and you’ll go through the wall. Talk to the guy at the very top and jump down; you’ll be in the Metal Babble Armor shop. Grab the Multi-Edge Sword and the Strength Seed. Now go to the Royal Crypt.

Hopefully, you’ve already been here. Metal Babbles are everywhere, just asking for Alena to give them a critical hit. When you get to the main floor (with the Soretta cave-like steps) head north. These will take you to a staircase to the north. Take one of the paths here, they lead to the same staircase. Hit the path again, and you’ll come to a treasure just north of you. Grab the Staff of Antimagic and head west as east leads you back to the start. You’ll wrap around to the south and have the choice of continuing or detouring east. Go east and grab the Small Medal, and then go further south, not hitting the steps.

Take the east fork when you are going north, and you’ll hit a staircase. The path to the north just in front of you is a recovery pond. Go south, again not hitting the steps, as you’ve been down that staircase. Head to the bottom of the left without hitting anything and you’ll be at yet another staircase. Take the lower of the two west exits, and this one will wrap down and to the east. Now take the lower of the east paths and you’ll see a treasure, which is the Staff of Transform. That about does it, you can leave now. With this you can go to Riverton and ultimately the Dire Palace, where the monsters live, now that you have the Staff of Transform. I’d suggest doing some sidequests, so you can skip these if you wish and just head to Riverton.

Near Rosatown is the Cascade Cave. Now you can’t enter this because a waterfall blocks you from doing so. However there is something to relieve this, in the Seaside Village. You may have stopped by this town; it’s not necessary that you do so.

You’ll want the Metal Babble Sword though, so let’s do this. Sail to the southwest of the Birdsong Tower and you’ll come to a land mass that is the Seaside Village. Talk to everyone here, you’ll get some info on things you haven’t heard of before. Head back at night and you’ll discover some more useful things. First off the item shop owner tells you of the Sandglass of Regression, which is a wonderful item used to reverse time after a bad move in battle. You’ll get this later. Also note that east of the Inn is a dry space within all the water. Remember this and search it during the day (it’s in the picture if you need). The Stone of Drought is here! Before you leave, search the statue just above the counselor for another Small Medal. With the Stone of Drought in hand, Return to Rosaville. There is no easy way to get to the Cascade cave but this is probably the easiest. Take the river north of Rosaville until you get past the Symbol of Faith cave. When you can, go east onto the land and then wrap around south, hugging the west mountain range. You’ll get to the Cascade cave eventually this way, make sure you bring the Stone of Drought. As you enter this sharp looking area, you’ll notice the best sea monsters are here. Use the Stone on the dimmer wall and it’ll reveal a passage.

Enter and open the doors, grabbing the Sandglass of Regression along the way. In this new area, go west and ignore the first north passage, but take the second for a Small Medal. Head south and this wraps a long way now, as it goes north, east, and south along the outskirts of the room. It brings you to a staircase, and go down when you get out. You’ll get a Mask of Corruption, which is very powerful but is cursed so you should never equip it. Go back north and east by the staircase. When you have a choice of north or south choose south for 1040 gold coins. Follow the north path now and keep east as it wraps around. You’ll be at a staircase, which leads all the way down to the lovable Metal Babble Sword. Equip this on the Hero for a 40 point attack power boost over the Dragon Killer. Oh my. At this point, your Hero should have a Metal Babble Sword and Armor, along with the Zenithian Helmet and Shield, and a Meteorite Armband to boot. Now you’re in real good shape. Head to Riverton now.

The easiest way to get there is to Return to Monbaraba and go north about 10 spaces and straight east, you should run into the continent that Riverton is on. At the top there will be a river going south, take this and you’ll be in Riverton. Not much to do here. They talk often about air balloons so you can assume you’ll be getting one of them in the near future. The weapon and armor shops are nice but probably don’t have anything worth buying. There is another Small Medal in the center island of town where the Laurent-looking guy is. Search the very south of that island and you’ll find it. Move on south now, and you’ll be at the stone giant. Enter via the Final Key and head north. Don’t go in the staircase, but further north you should grab the Small Medal. Now hit the staircase. In this room, there is 640 gold coins to your left and a staircase to your right. Quickly hop in the next staircase to the northwest now. Follow this path and take the east most of your choices for an Agility Seed. Now go south and follow as it wraps west to the staircase. You’re in a big room now, on the exterior of a large structure. Head west until you get to a staircase; take that for a Demon Hammer. Go back and keep going north along the exterior and you’ll come to a room with a staircase; enter it and grab the treasure you see for a Mimic!

These are like Maneater Chests but more difficult. Shouldn’t be an issue for you though, hit the staircase when you’re done. On this top floor, jump off the LEFT side. If you jump off the right side you’ll be by the Demon Hammer. Head north now and you’ll get to the head of the colossus. Hit the lever anywhere and it’ll move to the other side of the lake. You’re probably decimated in terms of MP, so just head east and get to Dire Palace. Now Return somewhere nice and rest, and then Return back to Dire Palace. Nice, eh? Inside Dire Palace is interesting. There are monsters who will make conversation with you if you are a monster, or will attack you if you’re a human. Search around as both, you can always leave and they’ll reappear. In the basement there is a Small Medal in one of the jars. Work your way to the floor where the throne room is, and take the exit to the northwest of you. You’ll be in a courtyard-type area. Go left and stick south, but don’t leave the Dire Palace. Instead, hug the western edge of the map and move north in order to get to the staircase you see. Inside is four treasures; the bottom two are Mimics and the top two are a Small Medal and an Aeolus’ Shield.

The Aeolus’ Shield is probably the best shield Ragnar can get at this point. Back at the throne room level, jump off to the south and you’ll be in another courtyard area with the option to use Stepguard. Go to the east now and search the grave after hitting the staircase; you’ll find some Lifeforce Nuts. Okay, all the treasures are procured, so head to the throne room for the meeting. Change into a monster and wait next to the Minidemon, Sara will come. He’ll tell of Esturk reviving at Aktemto! That explains the poor health in that town. Return over there now, but only when you’re ready as Esturk is a tough boss. Try to be around level 29 or so.

Aktemto is worse than ever. There are three people here, and one of them is near death. Head in and follow the path you took to get to the Gunpowder. Go north past the Bengal and then east when you can. Go north when you can, and then east when you can for a staircase. Go straight north from here and you’ll come to another miner who is bragging about getting to gold.

However he just knocked open the evil lair it seems as when you enter you’ll be in a completely open space. North is a room with a recovery spring, so use this to your advantage. Head east into the big structure, and go north upon entry. Grab all the treasures here for 2480 gold coins, a Small Medal, a Mimic, a Strength Seed and an Agility Seed. Continue on to the staircase and go east and then south, ignoring the first staircase. Now you are at two treasures, with the left being a Small Medal and the right being a Mimic. Follow this to the northwest and before you know it, you’ll be right in front of Esturk. Well, his cronies are there, but the Rhinoking and Bengal aren’t much more than a short delay. Afterwards, heal up and go up to the great Esturk! Who to use? Well again, I like Brey and Mara and Alena. Healing is rough but if the Hero can do it for 3 or 4 turns, you probably have him. You have to hope Mara and Brey connect with their powerful spells, and also hope that Brey has the wherewithall to Bikill either you or Alena or both. As far as Esturk, well, he’s the ruler of evil! He is not fully revived fortunately, and he starts off sleeping. However an eerie light emanates from his fingers and assaults your party by 50 hit points each.

If you brought Cristo, hopefully he’ll use Healus. If you’re using the Hero, well, I’d wait another turn and then use Healusall. In the meantime, Have the Hero use Lightning if you have it, and Mara should be using Blazemost while Alena should be getting critical hits. Brey’s dumbass decided to use Chaos 3 or 4 times against Esturk, so you may wish to bring someone more competent like Cristo instead. He’ll cure the Poison you inevitably got from the Ryverns. Anyway, Esturk can do some damage when he wakes up as well. Sometimes he goes twice a turn, and he often uses lights from his fingers to erase Bikill or any other status effects you have on your characters. His physical attack is devastating and could take out Brey or Mara easily. Remember though, he is weak and it shows in his overall hit point level. After a while he’ll go down for good, dead prematurely. Saro is dumbstruck as he realizes you’re the Hero. He flees and you should too, but not before you grab the Gas Canister from the treasure chest that was guarded by the Skeleton. Leave and head to Riverton and present the Gas Canister to the guy at the shop below the weapon shop. He tells you to come back the next day, and when you do you have a balloon!

Take this north of Soretta, to a previously unaccessible mountain range. Elfville is here. Not much to do here, other than get the idea to go up the tree. Before you go, you may wish to get a Shield of Strength, or more likely some Water Flying Clothes for Brey or Mara. Lastly, make sure you only bring up three people otherwise your trip will be in vain. I’m taking Mara and Alena with the Hero. Take the left entry for a Staff of Healing, then go right to continue. From this staircase, ignore the north pass and go south, being careful not to fall. Hit the staircase, and then go south when you have a choice. This leads you to a Dew of the World Tree. Return back and head north onto the leaf. Take this all the way to the south, and then west, and then north, and then east to the staircase. On the next floor you work in a counter clockwise manner until you get to the next staircase. On this final floor, head to the middle and recruit Lucia, the Zenithian. She asks you to take her there and you need to go there anyway. Before you jump off, head to the southeast of this floor and grab the Zenithian Sword (remember that this is FAR worse than the Metal Babble Sword).

When you were venturing to Riverton, you may have came across an inaccessible area, near the center of the world. Well, make your way here with the balloon. Land anywhere in this area and you’ll be put in the southwestern point of this island. Make your way east and you’ll find Gottside. All your answers lie in this little town. Turns out there is a tower to Zenithia in this area. There is even a fallen Zenithian who begs of you to go there ASAP. First though, go east to the Shrine of the Baron’s Horn. Head north upon entry and jump down the pit; head south and go down the staircase afterwards. The Baron’s Horn is here, but don’t leave quite yet. Go to the bottom floor and bring the elevator up. Now use the stairs to the bottom, and you’ll have revealed a staircase underneath where the elevator was on the bottom floor. Down here is a Dress of Radiance, great equipment for Mara or Alena. Now you can leave, rest up at Gottside, and go south to the Zenithian Tower. You must have all the Zenithian items equipped for you to have access; if you don’t you’ll be send back.

You can re-equip your Metal Babble wear right after though. Inside this unique place, go left first and take the path all the way to a Magic Potion. Go back and take the right path now, and go in the building immediately to your left for some Mystic Acorns. Go north into the next room, and take the first left passage for a Small Medal. The right one is a dead end, so take the north one. Follow this until you reach a fork where you can go south down a staircase or up into a room. Take the staircase and follow the winding room as you get to a staircase or a mini-ladder. Take the ladder and follow that path until you get a Mysterious Bolero, an armor that is a little weaker than the Water Flying Clothes. Now go back and take the stairs instead, until you get to a two-way fork. Go right to get a Dragon Shield, and then go west and follow the red rug until you get to the next staircase, and from there you’ll be transported to Zenithia! Put Lucia in your party to drop her off, and go left when you get in and find her. She’ll be in the basement with Doran, who is a Baby Dragon. Doran is useful but unreliable, keep this in mind. Searching the room in the lower floor will net you a Small Medal. Not much else to do, but the information here is vital so be sure to talk to everyone.

The dragon that runs the area is through the double doors. He gives you experience points and upgrades your Zenithian Sword. Now go to the basement and drop off to get to the cave leading to the land of evil.

As you enter this gigantic cave, go north twice to get a Dress of Radiance. Go west and follow this north and you’ll have a choice to go down or left. Go left and navigate the easy floor tiles to get the Small Medal, and then leave going down this time. This looks like you’re going in a circle, but more or less you’re going down a level. Take the LONG path around and take a left again at this intersection. Continue left and you’ll have the Staff of Jubilation. Turn around and head down and use Stepguard, then get the chest. It’s a Mimic though, so you may want to rethink that, depending on whether you want to be amused or not. You’ll come to a staircase after a long walk, and from hear head south and hit the far left floor panel to take you to the cursed Demon Armor.

Now hit the panel that’ll get you to the right portion of the screen, and go down the staircase. You’ll be by four treasures, 3280 gold coins, a Strength Seed, Agility Seed, and Lifeforce Nuts. Continue on and you’ll be in the middle of a lake with a boat by you. In the upper left corner you find Lifeforce Nuts and in the low-middle area you’ll find a pair of Water Flying Clothes. When you want to advance, head to the staircase leading down in the middle of the lake, just a bit right of your initial starting point. Follow this long path and you’ll be in a new area, with blue walls and red floors. Dive down the pit when you get a chance, you’ll get a Mirror Shield. Use the staircase to get back up and get the Lifeforce Nuts afterwards. Now keep going down and you will be out of here, so go to the building immediately left of you. You are at the last refuge, where the ghost will turn into a Zenithian and allow you to rest and save.

There are four barriers here, in each corner of the land.

You must destroy each before having access to the Final Castle that is directly north of you. There are boss fights in each one, but they are all relatively weak. Also, keep in mind you have the Last Refuge just steps away, so throw Mara and/or Brey in there and have them throw everything they have. Head to the southwest temple first, the Den of the Gigademon. Cast Stepguard and make your way to the other side of the swamp and search the very far corner for a Small Medal. Head into the staircase and you’ll come to a dead end, so leave and take the southernmost one. You’ll be in a room with a bunch of statues that move corresponding to how you move. If they touch you, you’ll be sent out. The idea is to obstruct them with the walls, and you can do it in various ways. What I do is walk four steps north (from the staircase) so that I’m one spot south of where the lowest walls are. Then, I go east four steps, and then north to the wall. From here, head west and exit, not too bad eh. Before you walk through the wall here, you may wish to cast Stepguard. Go up and talk to the Gigademon, who will try to trick you by telling you he has something behind you. He then battles you, and is not much of an issue. His attacks are good and he can defend, along with going twice per turn.

Throw Lightning at him, and hopefully Mara will use Blazemost, with Brey and Alena (or whomever) using their best Offensive tactics. He’ll die and a barrier will break. Rest up and take a trip to the northwest temple. No trickery here, just the Infernus Shadow waiting for you. He emits a blaze and a blizzard of some sort, with the former taking off 80-90 and the later doing 50-60. In addition he has Explodet which is no fun either. Fortunately he has one attack per round and should be gobbled in by round 3. Your reward is a Sword of Miracles, which may or may not be useful to you at this point, depending on your party of preference (ie I never need it, I don’t use Cristo). Again, rest up and take the southeast temple. You have to do some walking to get to this boss, but it’s easy walking. In this battle, you fight three Anderoug’s, which are black dragons basically. They emit some sort of tactic on you and can reproduce, but are easily the weakest of these minibosses you’re fighting. Use offensive tactics that attack all three of them, which will completely destroy their means of reproducing. Rest and go to the northeast one now, the Den of Radimvice. This is the final one and Radimvice is arguably the toughest of these four, which isn’t necessarily saying much. Take the northeast staircase when you’re left with the option, and you’ll pick up a worthless Zombie Mail.

Then take the southwest one to get you to Radimvice, and don’t fall! Radimvice is an evil priest, and he taunts you by saying he ordered the abduction of Rosa. In battle, he has Bounce up constantly and he will use Infermost frequently. He comes with three Demighouls, who can be dispatched with a group attack on them. Sometimes I’ll just use Lightning and absorb the reflection hit, because it’ll trounce the three Demighouls. When alone, Radimvice isn’t too tricky, just throw Ragnar in there or some physically powerful character. The barriers are broken!

Rest one more time at the Last Refuge, and the guy there will remind you to call the Baron’s Horn before you get to Necrosaro. Anyway, this is it, so be smart about it. Most of the monsters are repeats here. As you enter, watch out for the three Clay Dolls. They will fight you and can use Beat to kill a character of yours. They come by themselves though so shouldn’t be a problem. Cast Stepguard and follow this path until you get to an area with a pit, and a staircase going up and one going down.

The staircase and pit lead to a Small Medal at the bottom of that swampy area. Now take the staircase up and follow that path until you get to an elevator and a staircase going up that is just above the elevator. Don’t use the elevator, but hit the staircase. From here, cast Stepguard again and head directly north and you’ll go through the wall. Follow this LONG path and you’ll come to a Sage’s Stone, which casts Healus only in battle. Still very useful, plug that on the Hero and you can go through this area without using any MP and just healing with that. Return to that original room that you walked through the wall in, and head southeast instead. You’ll come to a Lifeforce Nuts and a Staff of Thunder. The former casts Firebane on one group of enemies. Return back to the elevator and take it. After getting off, go south then east, and then north up the staircase. Take the elevator back down, and then go back up the staircase to reach a previously inaccessible area. Follow this path north and well, you’re outta here. Careful, you’re at a black mountain. Can’t be good. You KNOW Necrosaro is here.

This is it, so let’s do some pre-battle consultation here. First off, before you enter this mountainous structure, USE the Baron’s Horn to get the carriage with you. You can’t use it inside the mountain, and you have to make sure someone in your active party of four has it in their inventory. Of course, you could always re-enter the castle and give the item to one of the four. At any rate, make sure the Hero has the Sage’s Stone, and also be wary of the items your other characters have; you don’t want Ragnar using the Staff of Thunder in battle, you know. Now in terms of who you should use, well with the Baron’s Horn you can rotate in and out. I usually do the Healing with the Hero’s Sage’s Stone or Healall spell. Alena, Ragnar and Mara tend to do the most damage for me so they start the battle. If I’m getting hammered I’ll get Cristo in there to clean things up. Brey can help with Bikill, while Taloon is another force you can use. Nara, well, I don’t use her, but you may have some need for her (or Doran for that matter). Blazemost will deal a lot of damage, as will Alena’s critical hits and Ragnar’s regular hits.

My Ragnar has the Metal Babble Sword, Armor and Helmet, so I suggest you get those three for him as well. Now Necrosaro himself has some powerful spells, and goes through plenty of transformations. The first Necrosaro looks like an orange Esturk. All he does is attack, but he does it twice per round and still warrants attention. Keep yourself clean with the Sage’s Stone and after a little under a thousand damage points, he’ll lose an arm. Now he only goes once per turn, but still takes off the same amount. Take off another 800 or so and he’ll lose that second arm. He’s screwed, right? Well now he casts Snowstorm and Firebane and Beat and even puts you to sleep with sweet breath. After about 1000-1100 hit points, he loses his head. At the beginning of this next battle, he begins to “writhe grotesquely”. A head pops out and he turns green and looks more menacing than ever before. Take off another 1000 or so and he’ll grow new arms. During all this, he’ll probably use a violent breath on you to take off 100 on everyone. He can also use what Esturk was notorious for, the shooting waves of light to cancel positive effects (Bikill, Upper, etc). Eventually he’ll grow new legs as well, and for some reason his attack is nearly doubled. After this mutation, you’ll see him grow another head and cast Bounce immediately.

Okay, your strategy needs to change here. Mara probably should be dumped, in favor of another healer like Cristo or in favor of another warrior like Taloon. Personally, I threw in Taloon to join Alena and Ragnar, and used the Hero to heal vigorously. Look, this is Necrosaro at his most powerful form. He still has more than 2000 hit points to eat up, so you’re not out of the clear yet. He attacks twice per round, and has an icy attack that takes off upwards of 130-140 on your entire party! Needless to say if he pulls this off twice in one round (I don’t know if he ever does that) you’re screwed, period. Use Healusall and do whatever you can to buy yourself time. You’re still going to be taking off a decent amount on him, it’s just a matter of weathering the storm and having Ragnar and Alena and Taloon hack away. When he goes down, his body flashes white and disappears slowly. The mountain begins to crumble, and your party is saved by the dragon from Zenithia. You are carried to Zenithia and commended for saving the world. Each character has their own distinction, and when you are ready talk to everyone and leave. The ending sequence begins, and congratulations, you just beat arguably the deepest NES RPG made.

Further Reading:

• Dragon Quest IV DS : Chapter 5 Zenithia Walkthrough
• Dragon Quest IV DS release date news
• Dragon Warrior IV Chapter 1

Chapter 1

From left to right (also in relative order of appearance): Slime, Stag Beetle, Giant Worm, Diverat, Babble, Demon Stump, Lethal Gopher, Healer, Sizarmage, Ducksbill, Lilypa, Oswarg, Pixie, Giant Bantam, Giant Eyeball, Saro's Shadow

Further Reading:

• Dragon Warrior IV 4 Taloon Chapter 3
• Dragon Warrior IV Chapter 4