RPGClassics - Dragon Warrior II

Sidenote: this walkthrough is based on the GBC version. A few things changed, and I usually point those out, on top of the fact that the weapons are better, mosters are weaker and the game's easier in general. In the NES version, the PoL is the Price of Midenhall, so its convenient for abbreviation's sake to call him the PoL. And as in all NES RPGs, if you get stuck because my level estimates don't match since these are level estimates for the GBC version, just level more. It'll cure all your ills. You'll probably have to. I don't get why anyone would want to play the NES version nowadays considering the GBC version is better in every way, especially visually. Also, later in the game you're supposed to get Crests. They're called Seals (except for the Loto Seal) in the GBC version.

Alrighty, so things aren't too swell in the Alefguard 100 years after Loto. Moonbrooke gets attacked, a guard notifies Lorasia, and you're off to kill the evil Hargon. To kill Hargon, you're going to need two companions, the Prince of Cannock and the Princess of Moonbrooke.

To get the PoC, you'll want to gain 2-3 levels around Lorasia before venturing west to Leftwyne for better leveling. I suggest getting a Sickle by fighting around Leftwyne. After that, head north and you'll hit Cannock, where you'll be told the Prince went to the Hero Spring to the east of Cannock. Don't go therewithout a couple antidotes and herbs. You should be level 6 or 7 by the time you're able to easily go around the cave. By this time, you should also be able to afford a Chain Mail. When you get to the old man in the upper part of the spring, he'll heal you and tell you to go to Lorasia, where the PoC headed after he left. So go home. There you'll be told he went to Cannock. He's not there yet. Go to Leftwyne. He joins your party at a measly level 1. Once you have the PoC you could also just go west of Cannock where you can acquire the Silver Key. The monsters there are easier than those around Hamlin, so it'd be good leveling to do it now. You might want him to at least have Fireball before going in there though. What you could also do is wait until you have the PoM and the boat and come back later since it's not vital for you to have the key at this moment. The cave will be laughably easy to go through if you do so.

Gain a few levels for the PoC in the passage under the water that leads south to Hamlin. When he's level 4, you should be ok around Hamlin. There, fight until you're around levels 8-9. The PoL should have a Steel Sword and Steel Armor by the time you venture south across the bridge (I suggest you get the sword first). Give the Chain Mail and Sickle to the PoC. Be careful against the Baboons and Centipedes, they hit hard and are hard to kill at first.

After crossing the bridge, you can go southwest to the ruins of Moonbrooke, where you'll learn the Princess was turned into a dog. If you talked to the dog in Hamlin, you'll have noticed it following you. That's the Princess. To turn her back into a human, you need the Lar Mirror, which you will find in a four-square big swamp to the east of Moonbrooke (or southeast of Hamlin). Return to Hamlin and use it in front of the dog and the Princess of Moonbrooke will join your party. She can't really equip anything and her attack is utter crap. She is the quintessential spell caster. You'll definitely want to gain a few levels with her before going anywhere, as she's very vulnerable.

At level 4, the PoM learns Infernos; now she can fight and you'll be able to venture south. If you go further west of Moonbrooke, you'll eventually cross a water path via shrines and get to this tower that faces another tower on the other side of a water line. That's where you eventually need to go. However, you can't jump across from the tower.

You need a way of getting across to the other side. To be able to jump from the top floor and land on the other side requires the Wind Cape, which you will find in a tower you can see over the mountains south of the swamp where you found the Lar Mirror, and it's quite a walk to get there from Hamlin. Just as a note, to get to the cape inside the tower, don't take the central staircase, they lead to a dead end. There is a staircase in the upper-left corner of the first floor that will lead to the cape, 344G, and a Wizard Ring at the top of the tower. With the cape equipped on a character, you can now jump from the tower west of Moonbrooke and land on the other side. Head east from where you land to reach Lianport.

The xenophobic old man at the top of the town won't share his boat. So go to the shop, buy some Evade Clothes for the PoC and PoM and the Wizard Rod for the PoM and go to the top right of the town to defend a girl against two Gremlins. Very easy fight. She'll bring you to the old man and he'll give you the boat.

It's clear sailing from here. You have to do a variety of things such as acquire the five Crests, but let's play Karn and get items and beefen ourselves up before doing anything relevant to the main quest: let's go to the Dracolord's castle! The monsters will be slightly challenging (it took me a couple tries of going in, having someone die and having to cast outside-return and going back), but the "big" prize is the Loto's Sword and it's good leveling anyway. I gave the Loto Sword to the PoC because he doesn't get too many half-decent weapons and though its slightly stronger than the Steel Sword (which you shouldn't trade for a Hammer), it's not worth giving to the PoL. Having two fighters do decent physical damage is more important than one fighter very slightly boosted. If you make it to the bottom, you'll find a Steel Armor, a World Map, an STR Seed, and some cash.

To easily get to the castle, go around the Alefgard continent, which is east of Lianport. If you follow the ring down south, it eventually opens up and you can sail your way in-between Tantegel (where ludicrously expensive gear is sold - the Iron Helm really isn't worth it) and the Dracolord Castle. Smiles. Something to keep in mind - you can get free uncursing and free MP regeneration in Tantegel. If you go to the bottom, you'll meet the great-grandson of the Dracolord, and it's pretty funny how he'll ask you to get rid of Hargon for him.

You can also get a revive item called the Worldleaf (or Leaf of the World Tree) at the World Tree, near the bottom right corner of the map. You can get as many as you want throughout the game, BUT only have one at a time.

Go south from Alefgard until you reach land, then keep going east until you reach a tower. On the second floor, you can pick from four stairways. The one in the bottom left leads to Crest. Take that staircase, then move your way up. Eventually you'll get to a floor where you'll see a little demon sprite move into a wall. Follow it into that wall. You'll meet an old man, talk to him, and follow him. He'll lead you to an empty chest where you'll be attacked by four Gremlins. Easy fight. After winning, you'll get the Crest, which isn't an item. You'll just "have it". You will definitely need the Silver Key to get to the Crest. And if you get to the "top" of the tower, where a large pot with a flame in it is (meaning it's probably a lighthouse), you went the wrong way, there's nothing there.

Go to Zahan. You can find it by going far northwest and slightly west of Lianport. It's a village on a very tiny island with a shrine on an adjacent island. It's the fisherman village with no men in it. In the right side of the village, a boy will cry about a dog. Go see the dog, and search in front of it. You'll find the Gold Key. With it, go to Lorasia, where you can get the Loto Seal to get the Loto Helm, the best helmet, at a shrine in the southeast part of Alefgard. It's hard to miss, the place is surrounded by mountains.

You can also go to Osterfair, north of Zahan, and get a Gaia Armor from a chest next to a merchant. Just follow the outer edge of the castle, don't go in the arena. You'll reach a dead end, but if you talk to the wall next to the warp thing, you'll get in. You can also go to Cannock and open the door in the castle to get the Loto Shield. Very nice.

Speaking of Osterfair, go talk to the king. He'll offer you a challenge. Take it and you'll fight the Saber Lion. He can hit hard (30s if you're around level 15), but he can die quickly if you have the Loto Sword on the PoC, the Steel Sword on the PoL, and you cast Defense on him with the PoM. You should buy a Dragon Sword for the PoL if you can. It makes Loto's Sword look bad. If you go southwest of Osterfair, you'll hit a mountain range on the side of the continent. Follow that mountain range and you'll hit a two-square wide opening. Get off your boat there and go south into the town.

If you have the Gold Key, you can open the door and enter the town of Wellgarth where you can buy the Fur Armor (very good, but very pricey - you'll probably only be able to get it towards the end of the game, but you'll want one for the PoC) and the Light Sword (very pricey also). I suggest getting a Light Sword for the PoC only, as it really boosts his damage while if you have a considerably cheaper Dragon Sword on the PoL, you'll still do impressive damage with him also. What is interesting in this town is the item shop where there is an invisible item for sale. That is the Jail Key. You want the Jail Key. However, it costs 2000G (even though it doesn't show it). So be ready to dish out some cash. Thankfully, the surrounding monsters sweat money, so it shouldn't be a problem to get. A clarification: there are a couple item shops in Wellgarth. The one that sells the Jail Key is the one in the top left part of town, under the old man who mentions he wants a robe made by Don Mohame (and you want that man to make you a robe, but I'll talk about that later). After getting the Jail Key, go into the top left part of town where the cells are. Go in the right one and walk into the wall right of the black hole mark. You'll meet Lagos. He'll give you the Dam Key. You'll need it later. It's convenient to get it now.

You can acquire the Water Crest in Hamlin. Open the wooden door with the Gold Key in the village, go down the stairs, kill the two Ozwargs and search the hole in the top right corner where one of the Ozwargs sat to find the Crest.

Northwest of Zahan or straight south from Lorasia is an island with a shrine on it. It has three warps in it. Don't go into any of those. Go one step outside the right wall and walk up to the tree. Search next to the tree to acquire the Sun Crest.

With the Jail Key, you can go back to Lorasia and enter the jail cells. The one at the bottom leads to the Magus. It is a HARD fight in DW2 GBC. He's a tad Explodet happy (50 damage to everyone is ungood) and you'll be rewarded with the Bolt Wand, the best weapon in the game for the PoM! However, if you die, the Magus is gone and you can't come back like in the NES version.

Other jail cells that are worth taking notice of are in Zahan. Open the door to the right to acquire a Wizard Ring, open the door to the left to acquire the Holy Loom, one of the two components you need to bring Don Mohame. The other, the Dew Yarn is in the Drakhorn tower south of Lianport, the one you didn't have to climb to get to Lianport. You'll find it on the third floor. Take one step up and take two steps left from the staircase leading down to the second floor and search, you'll have the Dew Yarn.

Once you have the Yarn, Loom, and Dam Key, go to Tuhn. You'll find it by sticking to the outer coastline of the continent alongside the Drakhorn towers south of Lianport. However, it is REALLY far down. You have to go past the mountains and the forest opening and get into the river that you can access from the ocean. From there, take the left-most river and head north, follow the hills in a circle, and you'll get to Tuhn. The Heal Shield is the best shield in the game for the PoC, so you want it. Open the wooden door with the Gold Key and bring the Yarn and Loom to the old man and you'll get your robe after spending a night at the inn. To open the dam with the Dam Key, go to the northwest corner of the village (you have to go around the inn) and use the Dam Key in front of the key slot. You'll have created a river. Now here's the bitch: to get your robe, you need to go save (as in not field log), restart your game, and go back to Tuhn. Sidenote: the river you created doesn't connect to the one you initially used to get to Tuhn, you have to go a little more down the continent from the first river to go up that river. Thankfully, you need to level to get that shield. You need to take that path to bring your boat to Tuhn so you can go in Lune tower, south of Tuhn, anyway. You'll find the Moonshard in it. The monsters here pay really well so you'll want to explore all of it. It's not a very large tower, unlike the Lighthouse.

Head southwest of Osterfair or straight south from Lorasia and you'll hit this island surrounded by mountains. That cave contains something very important: the Evil Statue. You need it to get to Rhone. Stepguard is your lava friend. You'll get it at level 17 for the PoC. Evil Clowns cast Firebane. It hurts. A safe level for this area would be around 20 for the PoL, 18ish for the PoC, and 15ish for the PoM. Beware of the two poison traps! These are chests which will hurt you. One is found south of the stairs leading to the first floor of the Sea Cave. The other is on the third floor, in an indentation in-between two other indentations that lead to the fourth level, next to a large wooden door. On the bottom fifth floor, you'll be attacked by two Evil Clowns. Pick up the Evil Statue and cast Outside. If you haven't started putting items you don't need, like the Dam Key and the Loto Seal, in storage, I suggest you do so. There are certain people that will allow you to do this in select towns like Osterfair. Very practical considering the inventory limit.

With the Statue, you can now get to Rhone. If you had talked to people, you would've heard that the fifth Crest/Seal is found in the Cave to Rhone. That's true. What's also good to know is that the Loto Armor, Thunder Sword, and a helmet, the Magic Hat, for the PoC, are also in that cave. So how does one get to this lovely cave? Through Beran (a town). How does one get to Beran? By going to that continent in the bottom left part of the map. Beran's near the middle. If you didn't buy a Heal Shield yet, now's the time to get it. You can't get a Light Sword for the PoL here if you want one though. You have to go to Wellgarth for that. However, you shouldn't want one because soon you'll be getting the Thunder Sword. Better. There is one little problem that arises (or rather, that doesn't) when you wake up from your first night's sleep in Beran: the PoC's cursed and you can't haul his ass over to the dude in Tantegel. Cure? Worldleaf. Yeah, it sucks. But it solves our problem, so hopefully you have a Worldleaf handy, like the good little adventurer you should be. PoC will rejoin your party after feeding him a Worldleaf.

To enter the Cave to Rhone, you'll need to go through the warp (also known as a Traveler's Gate) near the chick that does the reviving in Beran. You really want to use Stepguard. These suckers will sap you at a rate of 15HP a step. Ow. On the other side of the portal from Beran, go in the top right corner and search. You'll find an AGLseed. To go out of the little portal room, move down from the warp thingy. Go out of the little shrine and head west to get to the cave. You will see a dead end. That blows. This is where the Evil Statue's handy. Use it in the swamp and the cave'll pop out. You can get the Life Crest fairly easily: go down the first stairs you see, move your way down to the bottom right corner of the room, open the chest. However, don't leave before you get the other necessary goodies.

Going up: you want to go up the staircase in the middle of the first floor. This will lead to a level that has looping hallways (ie you keep going forever). From the staircase, go down two paths (ie go past two corners) and at the third one, go down. You should see a staircase. Go up. Because you want Loto's Armor, start by going south. To get the Magic Hat, go left and keep going left. Why should you care about the Magic Hat? It reduces spell costs in battle.

Sidenote: there are single Metabble fights in this cave (I've only encountered them on the 3rd floor though). 10150 exp if you can kill one. Oh. Yeah. This is why Falcon Swords are expensive (double your chances of a hit before it runs). You might think this is a good leveling spot. I would admit it's not bad, but the monsters will typically give less than 500 exp in non-metabble fights, while monsters in Rhone will give 1000-2000 exp per fight very easily. So long term leveling, once you have Explodet, go to Rhone for your leveling. Faster.

Don't jump Hargon just yet. You need to put those five Crests you've collected to good use. Go straight south from Lorasia and into a shrine that takes up one square. Here you'll get the Rubiss Charm. This will help you see through Hargon's illusions. Also, before you decide to go into Rhone and say hi to Hargon, you'll really want to gain some levels in the Cave to Rhone. By the time you're ready, you'll probably have enough cash to buy the PoC a Fur Armor. He'll need it. You also want the Revive spell, which you'll get around level 25 for the PoC and 22 for the PoM.

Once you're out of the Cave to Rhone and into the snowy abyss which is Rhone, you'll want to stick to the mountain side below you. It'll curve and as you follow the curve along the right edge of Rhone, you'll come unto a shrine where you can save, get free healing and reviving and where a portal will lead you out of Rhone. Very useful, especially considering local monsters can cast Explodet and Defeat and Gigantes can kill characters in 1 hit. Once you're ready, keep going along the outer edge of Rhone (it's a giant circle) and you'll eventually reach Hargon's Castle inside this desert patch within the snow. You'll be a little surprised by what you see when you get in, so use the Rubiss Charm to reveal everything. Maps are useful. Oddly enough, the only fight you'll encounter on the entrance floor is the one against 2 BatDemons (talk to the flame in front of the throne).

Note: the cursed (Devil Sword, Devil armor, Evil Shield) don't boost the PoL's stats enough to make them worthwhile to use. About 10 Atk and 20 def isn't that much for him.

Level 30 for the PoL, level 28-29 for the PoC and level 24-25 for the PoM should allow you to finish the game relatively easily.

To proceed to the next floor, use the Evil Statue in the middle of the white cross in the middle top part of the first floor. Now you'll start being attacked by monsters. In this part of the game, you can fight Maguses (yeah plural) and if you're lucky, you'll get Bolt Wands from these suckers. You can also find metabbles (yeah plural), but considering their escape rate and how you really don't want to leave Maguses alive too long in a fight, I have doubts on how useful fighting metabbles here can be in terms of leveling. As a note, your own Explodet and Stopspell don't work on them. The castle's layout is simple. However the monsters are powerful and there are 3 minibosses on the way to Hargon (which is a 2 monster fight in itself): Atlas, Bazuzu and Zarlox.

Atlas is easy. Cast Defense on him (it'll drop his Def by 80, so its quite useful) and Increase on your guys (since he attacks twice a round at high damage). With some healing and a few rounds of hits, he'll die.

Bazuzu is slightly more disturbing. I advise against wasting MP on him with Explodet (if anything, his picture should tell you that since BatDemons similar to himself aren't always hit by Explodet, he won't be either). Cast Defense and Increase and hope his Defeat and Sleep spells don't work.

Zarlox can cast Explodet and breath flames, which can be annoying, but the damage isn't too high. Once more, Defense and Increase are good. Keep your HP high on your characters. Zarlox can hit physically twice.

Before talking to Hargon, use some Wizard Rings to replenish your MP and heal yourself. He'll be really pissed when you talk to him. Cast Increase and Defense in the first round. Explodet also works. He can cast Explodet and breathe fire, but that shouldn't be too big a deal by now. He can do a sleeping breath, but if you have Amulets you shouldn't worry much. He can also hit twice, but he's not very strong. Keep your HP high. What sucks is he can cast Healmore.

So Hargon's dead. Yay. However, he summons Sidoh. Bad. You can heal yourself and use Wizard rings before fighting Sidoh. Good. At your first step downward, a flame will appear in front of you. As you try walk around it, other flames appear and you get attacked. Increase, Defense are a must. You might have to cast them multiple times. Explodet also works, but never cast Explodet if a character is not at full HP. He hits pretty hard (sometimes even twice), so be sure to stay healed. He can cast Increase, which can really make your PoC useless unless you cast Defense often. His flame breathing can also hurt all your characters really bad (100 damage anyone?). Revive dead characters whenever possible. The fact he can cast Defense can suck. But if you keep casting defensse on him, he'll cast Increase. It wastes a turn for him. Even if it costs you decent damage with your fighters, its better than the flame breath or a double hit.

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