Side Post!

Lately, I haven't been able to think of any good Side Posts to rant about. There's only so much I can go around and say about RPGs and such. However, after much ado, I've finally stumbled upon a new topic to discuss... What is it? FIND OUT BELOW IN-

Recurring Fantasy Side Post Theater Proudly Presents...

Free-to-Play: Worth Your Time? or Not Worth a Dime!

Now, before I get too far, let's just briefly define "Free-to-Play". The basic idea is that the game is free for you to download and play without requiring any money from you. Up until more recently, the only way this seemed like a plan was for pirating games, playing flash games, or if someone was just an awesome person. However, with the evolution of micro-transactions and the slow but sure death of monthly pay-to-plays, the gaming industry is certainly looking at a change of pace.

Before I go too far into this, keep in mind that I haven't played a huge assortment of "Free-to-Play" titles, and the main ones I'll be talking about and referring to are MMOs. Of course, that's the main audience of the Free-to-Play games since there is a twist to it... But let's not jump right that quite yet.

Now, in general and up until recently, I wasn't a huge fan of the Free-to-Play model. Why? I'm not entirely sure why I hated it, but I guess I felt like it undermined gaming in general. The idea that the game publishers were getting away with micro transactions is what really got to me. Having dozens, if not hundreds, of different little nothings that you could pay out the butt for, or allow you to pay-to-win. I guess it's one thing to offer different outfits or designs, but it's another to let people just pay their way through things. What happened to earning and unlocking things the old fashioned way?

However, that's where most of my hatred for the Free-to-Play model was basically founded. I simply felt cheated when I should have been exploring more and realizing... There are some great free games out there. Now, I'm far off from playing EVERYTHING out there, but I've played and seen quite a few games that follow that basic model. I'll link some examples when I wrap up this post (namely ones I play/played/enjoyed), but for now, I'm going to group the idea in general.

So... How do you know when something Free-to-Play is worth your time? I feel that the first and foremost thing in gaming is that a game is fun. When you apply Mr. Free-to-Play, the game should feel the same way WITHOUT forcing you to shell out money to get anywhere. If you can unlock everything without paying for it, then you are probably off to a good start. You should be able to get from Point A to Point Z without having to pay money because the game is borderline forcing you to. I'd say the biggest thing to watch for is a separation between the game's money and real money. If you can just BUY game money, you should probably look around for something better. I mean the bottom line is "You enjoy this game", but you shouldn't let the game almost bully you into microtransaction-ing your wallet away.

There are a few things that sit the line between acceptable and unacceptable though. Things like Boosts (XP, in-game money, or otherwise) are the main ones on my mind at this moment. On one hand, someone is paying to get ahead, but if you think about it, all they are really doing is paying to cut down the overhead time of playing the game. For instance, let's say a general RPG or MMORPG requires a couple hours to gain one level. (Bear with me here.) Much like myself, not everybody has the time to put in a couple hours every day or even every other day to gain levels and continue through a game. The XP Boost could simply be a way to cut off all the farming time so you can get out of the lower ranks and head out into where everybody else is.

In essence, it only FEELS like cheating to those who are unwilling to spend a bit of money to gain extra levels faster. Thus what it really means is that... You're a cheapskate who's angry because other people have money. DON'T GET MAD AT ME! I AM A CHEAPSKATE TOO IN THIS CAPACITY! I don't want to throw out money unless I have to, but I'm also willing to admit that I've wasted money on worse things. Things I don't need mostly, but that's not the point here. Point is that don't feel cheated because someone else is using Boosts or other game items because chances are the item only costs like $1. If you get mad over a dollar, you may need to rethink your life or your budget.

Now we come to a better question, how do you know when Free-to-Play isn't worth a dime? First off, the most obvious point should be when EVERYTHING costs money. I don't mean in-game doubloons or gold, but I'm talking of if everything seems to cost you some real world dollars. It's one thing to have a double price point on things (in-game and real world), but if everything simply costs one denomination, and that denomination is purchasable with real world money. I can already tell ask... What's the point in playing? Just buy everything and then don't play it because you've already accomplished it all.

On top of that, a game should feel fairly even regardless of boosts and yet have a worthwhile reason to actually purchase things for it. It's kinda a mixed area here. You should have an advantage paying for certain items and benefits, but it shouldn't be such a massive advantage that people who DON'T pay for things are completely out of the running. It's gotta have a decent balance while being fair to all sides.

I'm being hyper critical here, but with what limited time I have, I feel like I should be more judgmental about what I pay for and play. In my days, I've bought a lot of games. A LOT OF GAMES! I've bought many winners because of input from various sources, but I've also invested in quite a few bad ones. It happens, so there's not much you can do to recover from them. Free-to-Play though? It's great for a lot of different reasons.

First off, it's free. The worst case scenario is that you wasted the time it took to download, install, and try it out. Therefore, you've lost very little. Whereas a full game would cost you the price of the game, and then you'd have very few options for getting rid of it if you didn't like it. Basically none of those options involves a full refund. Therefore? Free game is free and nothing truly lost.

Next, you aren't limited to just a select group. When something's free, it brings in a pretty big crowd of people to play. This is especially so if a game jumps from a monthly fee to Free-to-Play. Now I realize more people doesn't necessarily mean a better game, but it's nice to have in a new group of people to make the game bigger and all that.

And... that's all I got really. So I figure it's about time to wrap things up here.

Free-to-Play games are the next generation of MMOs, but they're more than what they seem. Sure, you might have to spend a little money here and there, but in most cases, the full game is available to you regardless. Thus, any money you spent simply improves your experience and goes to improving your game time. I wouldn't say to just go out and throw all your money towards one though. Always be sure to look around and beware of the crap that gets through here and there. In the beginning, I hated the idea of Free-to-Play because of micro transactions, but in general the Free-to-Play model does work. It lets the company create a great game, release it to everybody for free, and keep it running on very little. Even if only a small group pays for it, it generally keeps the entire game running.

However, in the end, whether you think Free-to-Play is worth your time and money is up to you. To help you along though, I'm going to post a couple different games up here, so be sure to look them over and check them out! Keep in mind, I'm trying to keep to ones I've directly heard about and/or played.

• MMORPG
• Tera Rising (PC) - Action RPG. Anime-ish Fantasy RPG with action elements.
• Star Wars: The Old Republic (PC) - General MMO-style RPG based in the Star Wars universe. Contains story missions with choice-based paths like Mass Effect.
• Defiance (PC, PS3, Xbox 360) - Third-Person Shooter based in the Defiance universe. The game costs money, but it's fairly cheap now.
• First Person Mech Shooter
• MechWarrior Online (PC)
• HAWKEN (PC)

• MOBA (Massive Online Battle - To briefly define, it plays from above like an RTS, but instead of armies, you control a single hero character. You fight against hordes of enemies and other heroes with special moves, items, and equipment. I played a bit of the original DOTA, so I prefer DOTA 2, but the other ones are fairly popular as well. 
• DOTA 2 (PC)
• League of Legends (PC)
• Heroes of Newearth (PC)

• Other
• Warframe (PC, PS4) - Online Third-Person Action Game.
• Dust 514 (PS3) - Online First Person Shooter.
• War Thunder (PC) - Massive Online Flight Simulator. Currently in the beta works but big plans for the future!

Yes, I realize my list is pretty poor here, but I wasn't going to go on forever and ever. If you see this post and have something better to suggest, I'm up for it!

And that's all I got. Free-to-Play is the (most likely) future of online gaming, and I look forward to seeing more great examples to win me over. As always, thanks for reading and look forward to more Dragon Warrior/Quest stuff soon!

~May the Crystals Guide Me~

Dragon Warrior II (GBC) - Final Thoughts

Oh yeah, it's that time again. I've finished the second Dragon Warrior/Quest, so it's time to look over it and decide... Was it worth it?

Find out... IN!

Dragon Warrior II (GBC) - Final Thoughts

Now, being much like the previous title, Dragon Warrior II is a pretty simple title. It was one of the earlier RPGs for the consoles, but it's still a winner in my book. I don't feel it's advanced enough to do a full review like I do with the RPG Reviews or even the Final Fantasy Final Thoughts. It's also been way too long since I've gotten a lot of work actually accomplished, so let's get right through this.

What did I think of Dragon Warrior II? Much like the first game, I did enjoy what I experienced. Despite the time it took me, Dragon Warrior II is good stuff. It's traditional turn-based 2D RPG. Nothing can ever top that!

The graphics and gameplay? It's pretty much all the same, but the addition of having more characters really spices things up. New characters, a much bigger world map, and a lot more to see and do. It makes for a bigger and better game. At its core, it's not that different, but it does still feel improved. Characters have their own classes, so each one has strength and weaknesses. This does change it up a bit since the original character was mostly a knight with access to some spells.

The game feels only slightly longer than the first one. It doesn't directly keep track of time, so I'm kinda unsure how much time I directly spent in-game. Of course, it is among the "first generation" of role playing video games (minus any PC titles around that time), so there's nothing you can really hold against the game.

If I had a complaint, it'd probably be the same as last time. It's cool to see a game that forces you to explore and look around to figure things out, but I'm honestly not sure how I would have done ANYTHING without a walkthrough to help me out. True, the first part of the game goes pretty easy and straightforward, but once you have a boat, things open up so much that figuring out your next move can be daunting at best. At worst, you are clueless of where to go or what to do. And finding some of the random items in game seems like dumb luck at best, like the Dew Yarn.

There's not much to say about the characters here because they don't generally talk a lot. If you're looking for character development, you are probably better off with later games in the series. (I don't know this for sure yet, but I do hope to find out!) There is a decent story to be had though, and it even continues off from the last one in a way. It was cool to see the old game's map inside of the new one too.

Overall? Another classic entry in the series! I'm definitely like what I'm seeing with the Dragon Warrior/Quest series, and from what I've read, Dragon Warrior III is one of the best ones. It takes place in the same timeline as the first and second game, but it's a prequel instead!

Anyways, Dragon Warrior II is pretty great if you're looking for a classic 2D RPG with lots of exploring to do. Dragon Warrior III... I shall see you soon!

~May the Crystals Guide Me~

Quest Log 3

Game - Dragon Warrior II, Log 3
Hours Played/Hours Total - 8 hrs / 12 hrs
Starting Point - Hamlin.
Current Goal - Find and defeat Hargon!

What Happened - Oh dear me, I'm certainly getting close to the month being over. I should have had this game done WEEKS ago, but in full honesty? It's not the highest item on my "To Do" list. I won't go into the full details right now, but I'm going to try and do better. I PROMISE! Now, let's get right into the game.

Hello again Hamlin!

     Yup, that's where I stopped, but now I have to figure out where I'm supposed to head to next. Lucky for me, there's always walkthroughs and guides! (Yeah, I need to make some real progress here so the guides are a must for now.)
     It's time to leave the town of Hamlin behind and head southwest. The journey will take me quite a ways away from Hamlin, but I'm more than prepared! We walk on down the south, past Castle Moonbrook, and then keep heading west, south, southwest, and so on. This eventually leads to a small shrine.

Could have just built a bridge, but that'd have been "too easy"

     I head inside and turns out less of a shrine, more of a bridge. It takes me straight across to the shrine on the other side. It's a new continent and a new set of monsters! I won't be staying here too long though, because I just need to head northwest and cross another river. A desert, some mountains, and a lots of battles later, I've located a tower.
     As you can see, there's a tower on both sides. Put one and one together... The Wind Cape is most likely what I'll need to use here. A quick climb up the tower and then a leap off the north side. Now I'm on the other side of the river!

Hurray for magical gliding cape!

     With the river crossed, I'm just a short distance from my next location. I realize I'm shooting through quite a bit here, but there's not much story to go with what's going on. Just a lot of walking and random encounters! Anyways, I quickly travel from the tower to the north... then east... And now I'm at the port town of Lianport.
     It's been a long journey from Hamlin to here, so I heal up real quick then look into purchasing some new equipment. The equipment shop in Lianport carries a fancy Evade Cloak which works great for my two lightweight characters who can't handle heavy armor. As I'm making my purchases, I noticed a lady off in the corner. She's being attacked by monsters! LET'S GO RESCUE HER! The monsters chase after her, and she asks us for help. The monsters tell us to hand her over, but of course we don't. BOSS BATTLE TI-

How did they get in town without ANYBODY noticing?

     Okay, it's not really a boss battle here. Sure you can try to call it that, but I beat the two monsters within just a few rounds. With the monsters defeated, the lady offers us her thanks and then asks us to follow her. She leads us to an old man, her grandfather, and she tells him how we rescued her. He thanks us and decides to let us use his boat as well. (Apparently, if you talked to him before the battle, he's all stingy about loaning out the boat.) Woot! I'm now nautically inclined.~

This is a boat. I have a boat!

     With the boat in hand, I'm able to sail the oceans of the world and reach quite a bit more places. Now, if you aren't careful, there's a lot of world to explore. It's pretty easy to get lost. There's actually a small location to visit before you even leave Lianport! When you first obtain the boat, there's a small side room you can visit before leaving the town. If you go in there, the man mentions something about his ship sinking in the ocean. Inside the ship was his massive fortune, and if we go retrieve it for him, he'll reward us handsomely. It's just something good to keep in mind!
     Now, at this point, you'd be free to travel to quite a few locations around the map, but like previously stated, I'm pretty much just straight following a guide at this point. Not like down to the letter, but I'd prefer to NOT spend forever looking for things. It helps speed up the process a little. As for the next location at hand, I need to head to... Can it be? The World Map of Dragon Warrior II actually contains a miniaturized version of the ORIGINAL Dragon Warrior's world! It's pretty cool if you ask me.
     I figure it's time for a little stroll down memory lane. I'm going to visit Tantegal Castle! It's pretty much exactly the same as it was, but the town has now been merged with the castle. (This is partially to decrease the size of the map really.) Everything seems to be going okay here, but the King has gone missing. It seems he has ran away from his duty out of fear of Hargon. Not much more to see here at this point though, I heal up at the Inn and then proceed to cross the river into Memory Lane Part 2 - Dracolord's Castle!
     I head inside his ancient and very broken down castle to find... That I'm not quite ready for it yet. The first couple enemies nearly slaughter me, so I have to run right back out and heal back up at Tantegal. It seems to be time for... GRINDIN' TIME! I fight my way through quite a few enemies to earn experience... Also money! I used the money to buy an iron helmet and hammer for Keep. Doesn't seem to be anything else for my other members, and the extra levels were enough to get me through Dracolord's Castle. Time to see what's going on there!
     The extra levels certainly helped to get through the enemies. The climb down through the current day Dracolord's Castle turns out to be pretty dang easy. While exploring the Castle, I located the ancient Loto's Sword! Keep has his fancy new hammer, but I'm able to equip the sword to Art instead. When I finally reach the bottom, turns out... Dracolord's Great Grandson is here!

Damn you Dracolord the Fourth!

     He tells us that he doesn't approve of this Hargon guy and offers to tell us a secret if we'll go and defeat him. I mean... I plan to regardless, so I say yes to his request. Dracolord IV tells me the secret to beating Hargon. To defeat him, I'll need to collect five seals located around the world and use said seals to obtain the protection of an elemental spirit. Without the seals or spirit protection, we can never defeat Hargon. Besides those important details, Dracolord IV also tells us the location of one of the seals.
     One of the five seals is on an island south of where the ancient city of Mercado used to be. (Either way, it's south of this continent.) Yay for useful information! I leave Dracolord's Castle, heal up at Tantegal, and then set out for more adventure! Despite the seal thing, the next thing on the list is locating a sunken treasure. A ways back, when I first got the ship, a merchant had a request of me. He lost his vast fortune at sea, and he asked if I could find and return it to him. (He was back there in Lianport.) With the magic of guide, I'm able to locate and obtain the treasure pretty easily.

Yay for random treasure!

     The treasure is located in the sea north of Lianport, and it appears as a sparkling spot that you can see in the screenshot above. After finding the fortune, I set sail straight back to Lianport to hand return it. He's thankful to have his fortune back and rewards it with his family heirloom, the Echo Flute. Aww yeaaah~ I have NO idea what it does, but I have it! Next up? Let's start working down the list of seals. First up is the first one I learned about from Dracolord IV.
     South of Tantegal and where ancient Mercado was is... a Lighthouse? It's a dungeon for the first seal. I enter inside, climb the Lighthouse, and things are going well. Too well. Then Nana dies, and I have to backtrack out and back to the nearest town to revive her. Revived and back to the tower for!... Nana to die again on the first floor. BLARGH... Let's try again. Aaand I try once more. Third time went just fine. I'm able to explore and traverse this lighthouse without Nana dying. If you look through the middle path, it leads straight to the top of the lighthouse which leads to nothing.
     Going back to the main path, I follow along the outside of the tower and find... a random old man? He says he'll lead me down the right path, so I get to follow him. After a few floors, he leads me straight to a chest. However, the chest seems to be empty... Turns out the random old man was very suspicious being in this tower in the middle of nowhere. (WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT IT?) The old man turns into a monster and several more appear around me. Looks like this was a big ol' trap. BOSS BATTLE TIME!
     Again, the boss battle time is probably not the correct term. I should probably avoid using it until I hit an actual boss battle. It was just four Gremlin-style monsters, and they weren't very hard at all. The only way to describe it would be "tough-ish", but it was far from impossible. ANYWAYS! Battle is won! One seal down, and only four more to go now. I sail back to Lianport real quick to heal up and then head back out into the massive world.
     Next up on the list is to obtain the Gold Key. To find the Gold Key requires leaving the inner space of sea among the continents and exploring the outer waters. (This sounds confusing but the World Map below explains this.)

Actually, that's pretty detailed...

There's a tiny little island in the Southeast corner of the map. It seems that the Gold Key is located there. Quite some travel time later... and I'm there! There's not much to say about this little town here. Nothing special to make note of at the moment other than the random dog who points out the Gold Key. You simply talk with it, and it walks over to a spot. Now I have the Gold Key. HUZZAH!
     I stay at the Inn to heal and then jump back on my ship. The next small bit is just exploring various places to obtain treasures that were unobtainable without the Gold Key. I'm just jumping to the next island at the moment though for a Warp Gate. I enter the Shrine, shoop-da-woop, and the Warp Gate takes me to Lorasia Castle. Just walk over to the Castle Treasury and open all the chests. Nothing special here except DUN DUN DUUUUUUUN! LOTO'S SEAL!
     Yup, the Seal of Loto makes another appearance in the game to unlock yet another item for my heroes. Unlike last time though, the item is simply a piece of equipment. From here, I use the multiple Warp Gates at the shrine to check out other places. Not much more to get out of it though... the Loto Seal was the best thing. Oh well, back on the ship and out to sea for more Gold Key things!
     Northwest of my position was a small island surrounded by mountains. In the middle was a single forest. If you get on the island and check the forest, it rewards you with the magical World Leaf. It's the only item in the game that can revive people, and it does so at full HP! Otherwise, you'd have to learn the Revive spell or visit a Church. From this island, it's just a short sail west to the nearby continent and the city of Wellgarth!
     You can only enter Wellgarth through a Gold Door, so the Gold Key is a must here. The city is built underground to avoid Hargon's wraith, so that's kinda interesting. Apart from that, it's a pretty loaded city. Lots of shops to buy from, and easily one of the bigger towns in the game. It's the only place in the game that sells the "Fur Robe" armor, and for whatever reason, it's actually a really good piece of equipment. Of course, it also sells for the "low, low" price of 60,000 gold... I'm not getting that anytime soon. Apart from the Fur Robe, there's also a few new weapons to acquire here. I buy a new sword for Art (all I can afford right now) and then look about the rest of the town.
     One item of importance here is the Jail Key. You need it to get into a few places that are necessary for finishing the game, but it also seems incredibly un-hero-like to open random jail cells... Not much I can do about that though! Checking into the local jail here reveals a bit more information about reaching Hargon. He's located in an area of the map called Rhone, but I can't get in there without an item called the Evil Statue. It breaks past the illusions that Hargon has set around his domain. This just adds to my quickly expanding To Do list. With nothing else to do, I leave Wellgarth and head for a shrine east of here called the Fire Shrine.
     Remember that random flute I got back there? The Echo Flute. It seems I've encountered the reason to have it now! At the Fire Shrine is located another Seal, but you can only locate it through the use of the Echo Flute. It's hidden just outside of the building (not on the world map, just the local one) and... THE SUN SEAL! (Yes, I'm certainly speeding through the post of this game, but I'm way behind as is.)
     The Fire Shrine isn't just for the Sun Seal though! There's a few Warp Gates here, and I figure to follow each one through. With three gates to choose from, I'm going to start with the rightmost one first. This teleports me to the shrine from the first game where I made the Rainbow Drop. The man there is guarding a piece of Loto's equipment, his helmet. With the Loto Seal in hand, he deems me both a descendant of the past hero and worthy to obtain the helmet.
     I equip my shiny new helmet to Keep and warp back to the Fire Shrine. Turns out the other gates don't have any use right now, so I leave the island and sail North for more islands. Our goal at the moment is Osterfair Castle, and it's located at the center of a... medium-sized island on the east side of the world. You can only sail in through the west side, and then you get to walk around. Osterfair comes equipped with bunny girls and an arena. Apparently the King here is very bored, but he promises us a reward if we amuse him with a fight. The group walks over to the arena area, and a lion is set loose for his entertaining/our battling pleasure.
     BO- No point calling it that. I beat the lion in the first round. Yup, that wasn't much of a fight at all. For my minute of effort, the King is pleased and hands us a Moon Shard. I believe it's one of the seals, or it's at least a Key Item I'll need for later. Whatever! It's in my hands now, so what does it matter? Now time for a little shopping plus stealing an awesome armor from the weapon/armor shop here. (If you go around the outside path of the castle, you can enter his shop through a secret passage and rob him blind!) Hooray for hero theft! That's all for Osterfair I'm afraid, and I leave this place to never return.
     Back into the ship, and we return to Lorasia Castle for a bit of unfinished business! We're here to visit the prison and release a prisoner! (Hurrah for bad choices!) I head inside his cell and talk with him. He thanks us for releasing him and promises to serve our corpses to Hargon! BOSS BATTLE TIME! It's an evil and powerful mage called Magus, and he's ready to leave this place. However, he's not as powerful as I would have thought... He survived two rounds against my group of fighting royalty. All I did was straight up attack him and lower his defense. With his defeat, I earned the Bolt Rod, Nana's best weapon. Woot.
    Now I'm off to Cannock Castle for another Gold Door item. And... it's the SHIELD OF LOTO!

That's just a classy shield.

Now we leave Cannock and head off to Hamlin for another Gold Door scenario. This one is a bit more important than the last one because it involves a seal. It's not quite as simple as just getting the seal though. I have to fight a group of Ozwargs (look like Gremlins) in a jail below Hamlin. Now is where I'd say my usual phrase if it applied, but as you may realize now, it did not. Two Ozwargs, two rounds, and the battle is done. Just need to search the far corner for the WATER SEAL! That's four seals down and one more to go...
     Next on the walkthrough is returning to the small islands in the corner of the map. (I didn't name them before, but it's called Zahan.) I make use of my fancy Jail Key and the spell Stepguard to obtain a few treasures. The Holy Loom and a Wizard Ring. That does put an end to the island this time I'm afraid. Nothing left to get here, so onward to the twin towers known as Drakhorn Towers. Which towers?
These towers.

Is it lazy to use the same image twice? ...Yes.

     It's been some time since I was last in the towers. I didn't even know their name back then. Anyways, I never actually went inside the Northern one at the time because I didn't need to. I'm coming back around though for a special little item called the Dew Yarn.

That's right. Not even in a chest, it's just a random tile.

That's it for the fancy Drakhorn Towers. Now I just need to head for a secluded little village called Tuhn. It's located in the middle section of the southern continent.
     Now, it took a bit of time to get there because of the distance and the confusion trying to find the right path. Tuhn is located just in-land, but it's mixed among a maze of mountains. There's only one actual path to get there, and I kept going the wrong way. I guess that just means more experience for me. After a few tries and some surprisingly hard enemies, I made it to Tuhn!
     Once there, I had two goals to complete. The first one was handing over the Dew Yarn and Holy Loom to this random old man known only as the Master Robe Maker. He requires the materials to make a Water Robe, which is the best armor for Nana and needs to happen. After giving him the materials, he says it'll take a day to make, so we'll have to come back. Since there is no clock in-game, I figure that means I have to stay at an Inn and come back. (To further complicate it, you have to sleep at an Inn OUTSIDE of Tuhn.)
     That turned out to not be any problem though because... I skipped a step. I forgot to retrieve an item from Wellgarth when I was there. Now I have to leave Tuhn, sail all the way back to Wellgarth, and obtain a "Dam Key". To summarize why I need it, there's a dam in Tuhn that needs to be open so you can reach a tower for a special item. (Somehow NOT a seal.) I run into Wellgarth, hit up the jail, find a missing prisoner (who just dug into the wall), and obtained the Dam Key! Now, let's head back to Tuhn. *One long boat ride later...*
     The Dam is located north of the Inn in Tuhn, so you have to work your way around the building because it's at the edge of town. I open the Damn, the water floods out, and now I can access the Lune Tower! Time to leave Tuhn, but then a pit stop before heading to the tower. Just southwest of Tuhn is a village called, Beran the city of Water. I'm only staying here for one reason though, and it's to eliminate an event in the game. Basically, if you sleep at the Inn here, one of your characters, Art in my case, will fall to a curse by Hargon. Then you have to run out and find a cure before they can join back up. Lucky for me, the cure is a World Leaf, which I have on my person. I immediately revive Art and move about my way.
     Of course, I run back to Tuhn one more time. I need to get the Water Robe from the Master Robe Maker. Doo doo doo doooooo! THE WATER ROBE! And Nana is now suited in her best equipment. Now to sail out from Tuhn and back in through a nearby secondary path to reach the Lune Tower.

So much work to get here...

     The Lune Tower is packed full of monsters and Seed items. (I hadn't mentioned it before, but Seeds are stat boosting items.) Time to climb, climb, climb the tower for an old man! Actually, the tower holds an event item called the Moon Shard. You need it to change the water level in one spot and access a cave. I warp out of the tower, and sail from one side of the map to the other. There in the middle of the sea is a random inaccessible cave. I take out and use the Moon Shard to raise the water up. Now I can get to THE VOLCANIC SEA CAVE!

Pre-Moon Shard look.

Post-Moon Shard look.

     The VOLCANIC SEA CAVE is called such because it's a sea cave... full of lava. Before you reach this point, you'll definitely need the Stepguard spell. (Art learns it at level 17.) Without Stepguard, every step of lava will harm the party. There are parts before where Stepguard would have been helpful, but most of those didn't directly require it. In this place, it is very much required. Anyways! Let's twist and turn through the lava while fightings lots of fire-based enemies! Slash, slash. Smack, smack. And now it's a boss fight! Or it would have been, but they were just average enemies so... nothing. All this way to get the Evil Statue.

That is one EVIL Statue.

     The Evil Statue is required to access the road that leads to Hargon. All that's left now is a single seal and gaining the help of the elemental spirit. In both a convenient and inconvenient way, the final seal is located along the path to Hargon, known as the Road to Rhone. Rhone is located around the middle of the world, but it's locked off by a large grouping of mountains, so how does one get there? I'll give you a hint. It's back to Beran.
     One ship ride later... Back in Beran, you have to enter a Warp Gate behind the temple.

This warp. Also a Jail Key is needed.

The Warp Gate teleports you to the area you can't reach normally. Then you leave here and... doesn't look like you can go anywhere. Just West of where you warp in is a marsh, if you use the Evil Statue there, the Road to Rhone is revealed. The final seal is located near the front, so I just have to run inside briefly and then right back out. Right inside, down one floor, check the corner, and THE LIFE SEAL!
     Now that I have all five seals, I have to leave the Road, teleport back to Beran, and head back out to the middle of the sea. There's another cave out in the middle of nowhere that I have to visit. This second random cave is located just a ways north of the Volcanic Sea Cave. You enter in, climb down quite a few stairs, and present the five seals. The elemental spirit, named Rubiss, appears and says it was expecting us. It gives us the Rubiss Charm, and now it is finally time to go take on Hargon! BACK TO BERAN.
     Now, the Road to Rhone is a fairly hard place, so I won't be immediately heading through it. I have to gain some extra levels and possibly a last minute armor, Fur Armor for Art. Unfortunately, that is 60,000 gold, so I don't see it happening, but WHO KNOWS?! Much like other dungeons, the further along you get, the harder the enemies that will show up. I spent around 30 or so minutes in just the front part of the road trying to gain levels and gold. Skipping past that, I did gain quite a bit of both, but the gold wasn't nearly enough for the Fur Robe. Thus, I moved right along through.
     During your trek through the road, there's quite a few items and equipment to find. It's all top notch stuff too, so much of it is worth the effort. Examples include Loto's Armor and the Thunder Sword. Both of them are for the "ultimate' items for Keep. Thus, we've got this in the bag.~ This final road is full of challenge and obstructions. There's a few areas that require a specific path to avoid dropping below. If you fall down a hole, you have to start all over from the beginning. I'm using a guide right now though... so yay for lack of errors! Things went pretty well until I his this stupid maze-like area. Even following directions, I got very much lost. I spent longer here than I care to admit...But once I got past, I exited the cave and found myself in Rhone!
     Turns out, Rhone is a wintery wonderland, and it's full of "HOLY CRAP THESE ARE TOUGH" monsters. Many of them feel like mini bosses, and I almost died while trying to traverse this terrible place. Lucky for me, there's a shrine as you're walking along. I enter inside, save and heal, and back out because it's time to end this! It's a spiral movement through Rhone until I finally reach... HARGON'S CASTLE!

Look at that fancy double-tower castle. DAMN YOU HARGON!

     Upon entering the castle, I'm faced with... Lorasia Castle? The people here seem to be greatly accepting of Hargon right now, but that just means things aren't right. Looks like it's time to pull out the trump card.. I activate the Rubiss Charm, and it reveals that all that lies around is an illusory lie! Suddenly Lorasia disappears and the true Hargon's Castle appears. Time to climb up this castle and defeat the evil behind this world's terror!
     The slow climb up is further slowed through by Hargon's generals. Each floor contains a new boss fight, starting with the second floor. Thus, without further interruption, I come up against the first TRUE boss fight in the game. BOSS BATTLE TIME! ROUND ONE - ATLAS!

IIIIIIIIIIIT'S ATLAS!

     Atlas comes at me bro, but he turns into a pretty easy time since the game's mechanics are generally pretty simple. As for this fight and all the later fights, your strategy should only require using Art to cast Increase (boosts your defense), and Nana casting Defense (lowers defense of enemies). Keep simply has to focus on attacking the enemy. Increase and Defense can only be used a few times as well, so after two rounds, you can start joining in on the attacks. After just three turns, Atlas goes down for the count. And thus I head to the next floor.
     And that floor? Contains another of Hargon's Generals. BOSS BATTLE TIME! ROUND TWO - BAZUZU!

Oh noes! Evil purple flying monkey!

He's some sort of flying demon monkey thing. However, this battle goes all the same. Only difference would be the necessity of healing here and there as he hits pretty hard. Oh, now he's dead. TAKE THAT BAZUZUZUZUZU!
     Now up some stairs, across a bridge, and BOSS BATTLE TIME! ROUND THREE - ZARLOX!

Uhh... Some sort of cow-dragon combo with a trident?

I'd like to say that these are fantastic names. I'd be ecstatic to hear these in a round of fantasy roleplaying. I realize technically I am right now, but just saying... They sound good out loud. Back to the game at hand, Zarlox goes down pretty much the same as Bazuzu and Atlas. Increase, Defense, and attacking. That's all you need.~ Guess what though? That's the final General. Now up one more floor.. to the final floor!
     It's Hargon Time! I approach Hargon on his fancy throne in the middle of the top of his castle... Let's do this! FINAL BOSS BATTLE TIME!

Looks pretty similar to a certain Dragon Lord...

Full honesty, he looks almost exactly like Dracolord does, but I'm not going to nitpick. Even with the simple strategy of Increase, Decrease, Attack, Hargon brings some challenge to the table. He's able to attack twice, cast Explodet (the most powerful all spell in the game), and heal himself! I'm a team of three people though, so this battle is already far easier than the 1-on-1 with Dracolord.
     Team strategy meeting. Keep attacks, Art supports and attacks, and Nana supports and heals. The Increase/Decrease effect works fairly well most of the time, and I was able to even throw a few offensive spells in there! (Firebane for Art, Explodet for Nana) It was a pretty rough battle, but I finally came out ahead and now HARGON IS DEAD! Huzzah!
     Upon his defeat, he's all "Blargh!", but then he offers himself to a 'Lord Sidoh' and collapses. This is clearly not over yet. I turn around to leave, but then the floor around us begins to crubmel and LORD SIDOH IS REAL! (Duh) ACTUAL FINAL BOSS BATTLE TIME! THE FINAL BOSS OF THE GAME EDITION!

LORD SIDOH! Now THAT is a Final Boss.

One might think that Hargon was bringing his A-Game, but in all reality, he was still a B+ villain at best. Sidoh is all about crushing us and destroying the world or something. In all honesty, I had to kinda cheat to beat this battle. (I only did so because I AM READY TO FINISH! I AM SORRY!) Basically, I kept rewinding it everytime he almost wiped out a member of my party, if not the whole party. Which was quite a few times surprisingly. I mean I didn't have much trouble with Hargon, but Sidoh seems to be on a different level entirely.
     He comes with the same basic attacks and abilities, but he's quite a bit more powerful and likely to kill someone without much effort. He likes to increase his defense, decrease ours, and I just have to keep rebuffing to keep myself alive. This battle ended up taking a lot of luck, a lot of attacks, and more rewinding than I care to admit. However, Sidoh isn't getting the world THIS time because HE IS DEAD!
     Hooray for us! The world is saved!... But now the castle is coming down! OH NOES! Lucky for us, Rubiss appears to save us. Hooray! The spirit teleports us outside of the castle, and it's time for a world tour.~ Just like the previous game, I'm able to explore the entire world free of monsters, encounters, and damage. The world tour is full of mostly thankful people. There are a few cool events that take place during this time though.
     The King of Cassock tells his son that he's proud of him, and his sister picks on him for being lazy most of the time. It's a fun moment. The biggest event worth mentioning was returning to Castle Moonbrook. The castle looks exactly the same, but speaking with the departed King has a special surprise! For a brief moment, he comes back to life and speaks with Nana. It's a nice touching moment between father and daughter, and he asks Keep to take care of her now. He then departs for the afterlife. *tear drop* Now... just one major place left to go.
     Back at Lorasia, the King congratulates us for defeating Hargon and saving the world. In light of our accomplishments, he offers Keep the crown, and I take it! WOOT! KING KEEP! Hooray!

I don't have the physical crown yet, but I do has a title!

Now this is followed by a small outro and then... credits!

fin

     The game is FINALLY over! Good lord, I'm getting so awful at this. I've had the game done for like a week now, but I've finally managed to finish it! I thank everybody for being patient with me because I've really slowed down recently. I'm still playing the games fairly enough, but work tends to make me just want to sleep when I get home. LONG STORY SHORT, I AM PATHETIC! However, Dragon Warrior III is on the horizon, and I heard it's a good one. Thanks for reading! Expect a review soon.

Ending Point - End of the Game.
Screenshots - Imgur.
Current Party -

• Keep - Level 26
• Art - Level 25
• Nana - Level 20

Goals Accomplished - Found the Five Seals. Gained the blessing of the Rubiss Charm. Located and used the Evil Statue to gain entrance to the Road to Rhone. Fought a lot of monsters. Defeated Hargon. Defeated the evil Lord Sidoh! Beat the Game!!!
Next Goals - Start Dragon Warrior III!

~May the Crystals Guide Me~