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Edit history:
Carcinogen: 2009-07-18 05:08:55 pm
Quote from scaryice:
Quote from Humorisk:
Actually, in the remake of 1 and 2 for the SNES, doesn't the leveling go quicker?  You could try that.


That's no fun.


While I can see where you're coming from as far as planning goes, all that levelling up isn't fun to watch =p

For what it's worth:
http://ultimagarden.net/report/mitsukan_dq1_rta2.txt

Here are some times and levels.
Code:
"Lap Time"
Power on               0:00:00
Rimuldar                0:09:37(Lv 5)  0:09:33(Lv 5)
"Dragon #1" slain       0:40:03(Lv 9)  0:38:35(Lv 9)
"Dragon #2" slain       1:05:23(Lv14)  1:05:16(Lv14)
Silver Harp               1:10:33(Lv15)  1:09:34(Lv15)
Defeating Knight*      1:12:24(Lv15)  1:11:30(Lv15)
Rainbow Drop            1:22:07(Lv16)  1:29:59(Lv17)
Defeated Dragonlord  1:34:46(Lv17)  1:43:23(Lv18)
THE END                  1:37:42          1:46:17


*I assume they're talking about defeating the knight to get Loto/Erdrick/Whatever's armor.

There was only one dragon, the Green Dragon guarding the princess, right? It's been about a month since I beat the game (the Japanese SFC version in particular). I only recall one dragon. Rescuing the princess is a sidequest anyway afaik. I'm not sure what they're talking about by "Dragon this" defeated, etc.

For the record, I haven't completely translated an ultimagarden document yet, so don't ask me to translate the rest. I wouldn't be able to promise that I can get around to it.
Talk to the Hand
Quote from Carcinogen:
*I assume they're talking about defeating the knight to get Loto/Erdrick/Whatever's armor.

There was only one dragon, the Green Dragon guarding the princess, right? It's been about a month since I beat the game (the Japanese SFC version in particular). I only recall one dragon. Rescuing the princess is a sidequest anyway afaik. I'm not sure what they're talking about by "Dragon this" defeated, etc.

For the record, I haven't completely translated an ultimagarden document yet, so don't ask me to translate the rest. I wouldn't be able to promise that I can get around to it.


Hmm. In the GBC release, while I'm not going for speed, I'm also nowhere near those times (I just got Loto's Armor at Level 15 and I'm at 2H20M. Note that this involved a bit of luck where he Axe/MadKnight tried and failed to cast Sleep on me rather than just killing me). Despite that, I'm guessing that the SFC remake is closer to this one than to the NES original.

Yeah, there was only 1 noteworthy Dragon, guarding the Princess. Note that in the remake, the Dragon that guards the princess specifically is given a bit of an upgrade to mini-boss type status. As you say, it's just a sidequest, but the experience it gives (900 in the GBC version) may make it worth killing the dragon anyway.

So yeah, if I were to take this on, it'd be on the Game Boy version. Like I said, it loses some of the "awe" factor of it being the original...but it also loses a lot of the boring-as-hell grinding on the part of the runner. Wink
You might as well not bother if you're going to do a remake. Plus, I doubt anyone here is ready to beat any of the Japanese DQ times anyway.
Why not, scaryice? A game's a game. =p
100% runs=great to watch
Go for it on the remake!  8)  Gotta start somewhere right?  FF games are lording over the place with their SDA representation.  Cheesy
Edit history:
Emptyeye: 2009-07-23 05:49:56 am
Talk to the Hand
Okay, so would there be sufficient interest in a DW1 GBC run if I were to investigate it more seriously? If so, then I'll see about getting my GBA player back from my parents' house and taking a crack at it. Oh, and just because Kareshi told me not to, it would be single-segment too. Gotta keep that 1 segment/run average and all. Wink

EDIT: Because I don't know what a 'Karesih' is. 'Kareshi', on the other hand, is a top-tier speedrunner whom I occasionally like to poke fun at for sharing a name with an author who doesn't research his novels properly.
Also tenkiforecast
I'd be really interested... and ONE SEGMENT for Dragon Warrior? 0_o;
Good luck... GOOD LUCK.
I'd be interested in seeing a run of dragon warrior, or any DW run.  The version doesn't matter.  I only have the original DW for NES that I haven't played much so I can't be of much help.  Unless someone wants to do a DWV DS run all I can offer is moral support.  Good luck, you'll need it.

I do agree that SDA needs a DW run since there's more FF runs.  There aren't any for the NES/Famicon games though.  Don't worry about not being able to beat the time from Ultima Garden, or any other posted times.  I think that might be discouraging people from making attempts instead of inspiring them to beat them.

This really makes me want to look into a Dragon Quest V DS run.  I've already got a few games I want to run, or just play for fun.  There doesn't seem to be much interest in one so I never bothered looking into it more.
Talk to the Hand
*Looks at list of runs on site* Wow, we really don't have any DW runs on the site, do we? Also, it appears that if I pull this off, I'd have the second-longest Game Boy/Color run on the site (Stupid pokemans*).

Anyway, it seems like for normal console play, Level 17 is the absolute minimum required to beat the game (Makes sense; that's when you get Healmore). Currently, still more or less playing around, I have all the equipment I'd need but am only at Level 16, at about 2H55M. Note that several minutes of this was due to me thinking "Oh I'll just go ahead and leave Loto's Seal/Erdrick's Token in that giant swamp, no big deal, the dude will give me the Rainbow Drop anyway**." and being shocked--SHOCKED!!--that that was not how events played out.

I'm going to do what I can to reduce the luck required given that this would be SS and all. Right now, the main sticking points are A. Getting Loto/Erdrick's Armor and B. Unfortunately, the DracoLord/DragonLord. The problem is that, in the GBC re-make, enemies (I'm guessing those who are faster than you) can occasionally go first in battle, so healing during the last battle isn't quite as simple as "Attack until below 50 HP, Healmore, repeat". Further, his first form gains some nasty new stuff in the GBC version (I remember being shocked the first time he put me to sleep.). I'm not quite sure how I'll handle this just yet, but I'll find a way.

*- I actually like Pokemon. It just annoys me that I won't have the longest run for another system. Wink
**- Actually, I just totally forgot about it. Whoops!
Original version or not, you've piqued my interest.

Ascetic Swordsman - Keep in mind that the Ultima Garden time is an RTA; UG rules allow for saves to be used. Although, it's quite possible that it is an SS, due to the length of the run.

Someday I'll translate the report, but I've got two other translation projects I've barely made headway on.
The time for DQ I under real time attack is 8 hours, 4 minutes and 30 seconds for the famicon version.  The time for the super famicon version is 1 hour 37 minutes 42 seconds.  The mobile (which I’m assuming is the gbc port) is 2 hours 45 minutes.

http://translate.google.ca/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://ultimagarden.net/&ei=FItoSqmDOMPblAfV-7DJCQ&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dultima%2Bgarden%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DG

That’s the link to a translation of the SF report.  Be warned, the grammar of it is pretty bad.  A proper translation would be better, but hopefully the basics of it can be understood.

The results for the gbc version were posted on their bulletin board so I’m going to have to hunt them down.

Oops, the link takes you to the front page for ultima garden.  Well it shouldn't be too hard to find the report from there.  Just click on database and it'll take you to the lists of games they have reports for.

Edit: DQ1アプリ版リアルタイムアタック About: DQ1(mobile) From: ぬえ on 08/04/09 18:20:09

    はじめまして、ぬえと申します。
    記録データベースにはありませんが自分が達成したものだと2時間45分になりますが殆ど自己流の記録なのでまだまだ更新の余地はあると思います当方もう少しやり込む予定なのでアプリ版向けの攻略などの記事をご存知でしたら紹介下さい。 

That's it's entry from the bulletin board.  Here's a translation using babelfish:

DQ1 application edition real time attack About: DQ1 (mobile) From: Sew ON 08/04/9 18:20:09 Beginning, you say that sew. There is no record database, but when it is something which by his achieves it is 2 hour 45 minutes, but because it is record of most oneself style, still this one which you think that it is, already to do the margin of renewal a little, because it is the schedule which is packed when you know the article of capture and the like for the application edition, introduction.
There is a port of DQ1 to cell phones... That time might be for the cell phone version.
They use a lot of slang in their grammar when writing the reports. Google Translate is garbage. Find a Japanese guy who will be willing to translate it for you. To be honest, I think 8 hours for a speedrun sounds a little long, even if it is on the NES version.

Also, I.S.T. - No. The UG links posted were Super Famicom and NES respectively.
Talk to the Hand
Yeah, I'm curious as to this "mobile" thing myself. I'm also curious as to just how different the SFC version is that the GBC version would take an extra hour-plus. Hmm.

Anyway, interest for this seems to be there, so I suppose I'd better research this a bit more seriously. Wink
I said don't! Not do!
Sad
I wouldn't. Good luck.
Talk to the Hand
Quote from kareshi:
I said don't! Not do!
Sad
I wouldn't.


This is going to be the opening quote to the comments for this. Wink

Anyway, more messing around got me to Level 17 at a time of 3H8M. And then it got hard.

Actually getting to the DracoLord wasn't that tough, oddly. I got to him (Took about 10 minutes from Tantagel to the DracoLord)...and he kicked my ass. As I mentioned before, his first form is actually a lot nastier than in the NES version. Here, he can HealMore, and (Just as dangerous) can also Sleep you. At Level 17, the battle is almost luck-based. There are a couple ways I can deal with this: Maybe gain a few more levels, or just forge ahead and hope to get lucky right at the end of a multi-hour run.

You may now all point and laugh at me for my thinking that this wouldn't be as luck-dependent as it will apparently be. Whoops.

But I will complete this.
I beat him my first try at L17 on the SFC version.

He still gives you the beatdown on the GBC version with the same stats, even if you have Erdrick's Sword/Armor/Appendectomy?
Talk to the Hand
It's not so much that he's guaranteed to curbstomp me (And I don't know how much levelling up more would really help in an SS run), but just the fact that it can happen at all kind of dismays me. I guess I'll just have to hope for a lucky AI roll from him, and that I don't get put to sleep/have him use Healmore that much.
Yes, a worthless avatar riding my posts.
EmptyEye, I should share this knowledge I have gained while researching my Final Fantasy Legend speedrun:

The Game Boy Advance does not have a random number generator. It has a long list of numbers stored in its hardware that it loads up in order. That means if you hard reset the game (power slider on and off, not A+B+Start+Select) the exact same thing will happen every time.

Start practicing on a GBA or Game Boy Player as soon as possible. Get the first 20 minutes committed to memory. Find a way to take out a Magician early on or something. If this run were segmented you could even find a way to critical snipe the Axe Knight or something.
Some research materials courtesy of Ryan8Bit:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.php?board=563408&topic=51528053
http://theshizz.org/forum/index.php?/topic/29976-a-cool-dragon-warrior-glitch-i-found/page__gopid__811169&#entry811169
Edit history:
ShinerCCC: 2009-12-26 03:11:20 pm
Yes, a worthless avatar riding my posts.
Oh snap! Thank you Kareshi and Ryan8bit!

I was doing some testing on the GBC version, it's way easier and enemies give bigger rewards, the enemy zones are reworked as well. It definitely won't be using the same build so that glitch probably won't work.
You definitely need XP to beat the Dragonlord in a SS setting like this BUT having the best gear money can buy will help your grinding immensely. The only problem is that you could get to mountain cave by about level 12 to 15 or something, hard for me to remember, and that's kind of a low level to zerg rush to Cantlin and beat Golem.

Max level is 30 I think, 24 is a reasonable minimum IMO, it's too easy for that fat bastard pet dragon to kill you because of his huge damage, and Hurtmore never wants to work. Look how many frames the TAS has to wait just to get all those Hurts+staying asleep to go off.

Anyway my grinding plan for GBC goes like this, using the consistent stat growth of a character named Kell:
Lv 1 to 3
- grab junk
- grab the Herb in the castle
- grab the Wing in the drawer on the 1st floor of the inn in town
- sell Torch + Wing
- buy Club and Leather armor
- grind slimes until Level 3. Drakees will hurt too much and you'll be forced to rest.
- When you get 20 gold buy a D-Scale. You should also be level 3 right after this, go talk to the free magic guy to heal yourself. Head for the north coast to grind off Spookies and Drakees. Buy a leather shield next.
Lv 4
- You'll learn Hurt. You can use this to one-shot tougher enemies despite having a crap weapon. Go either to Kol or the bridge south of Garinham to grind Magidrakees and Scorpions. Magicians probably aren't worth the trouble, they barely take 3 hits to kill and they CAN just use Hurt on you 3 times and explode your head. All that for only 4 XP and 10 gold, Scorpions give 16 XP and 25 Gold for comparison. It's probably worthwhile to run but I have never successfully run away on GBC, hmm. Don't go too far south here, you can bonk into Skeletons if you do. Magidrakees also have low defense, as you gain some levels you can just bash their heads in easily. Grind straight up to Iron Axe, skip Copper Sword. (well something like that. grind up to something expensive)

Not sure how that would pan out on NES right now. I just beat Dragoon X Omega a few months ago but I won't use that to test, duh.
Yes, a worthless avatar riding my posts.
With nothing to do here at home, I busted out Dragon Warrior and churned out half a test run on the NES version. I've pulled some startling information. I'll try to just break things down here by level. I started with the character name 'Shiner', saw my first levelup was Strength +1 HP +7, then decided to copy the TAS and name the character ! and saw the exact same levelup. How convenient. It's a great stat growth for sure. If anybody runs this game and DOESN'T pick a one-letter name, if I verify the run I will reject it. There's so much damn dialogue in combat, saving 1-8 frames every time your name comes up will add up because I think a run of this game would still take around 8 hours.

LV1
You start with 15 HP. Buy a Club, sell your Torch, exit town to the right. Get up to 70 gold by killing Slimes and Red Slimes and buy Leather Armor.
LV2: STR+1, HP+7
More of the same, you might need to stay at the inn. Drakees will cause significantly higher damage, and the reward is only a single extra point of Experience. Don't bother. Buy a Dragon Scale ASAP.
LV3: (I forgot, I'll fill it in later...I'm pretty sure you gain a very large STR boost, 10 MP and learn Heal)
Talk to the free magic guy and heal yourself. You can grind off Drakees now, you can find them in the forest to the west of town for sure. I'll have to ask Ryan8Bit if there's an area where they're more common (say, 2 in 5 instead of 1 in 5 or something). Ghosts should be beatable too so I guess you could wander north too, but there's a high overhead cost of running back to the castle and spamming Heal, probably not worth it. Buy a Small Shield when you can afford it.
LV4: big boost in AGI, big boost in MP, learn Hurt
Final Fantasy has the Peninsula of Power. Dragon Warrior III has the River of Rape. This game has what I call the Hills of Hubris. Go southwest of Tantegel and patrol the southern edge of hills nestled against the mountains and you can fight enemies from across the range: Scorpions (rarely, sadly), Magicians and Magidrakees. I think Ghosts show up sometimes too. Magidrakees are by far the most common though. If there's another area where Scorpions are more common, it's probably smarter to go there instead even if it takes longer, and then just grind there until you're dead, because the infinite money glitch is coming up soon. Because you have good armour and a junky Club, you're engineered to kill Scorpions, but Hurt just goes right through all that. I should point out that Hurt costs 2 MP and Heal costs 4. Two Hurts will often save you from more damage than a Heal will recover, so be aggressive. These enemies usually take 3 uses of Hurt to kill. Trying to finish them off with your Club is usually a bit greedy. Anyway, this is a great place to level up ahead of the curve, or gain enough money to buy that Small Shield.

LV5: (don't remember)
Time to get rich. Get to Rimuldar by any means necessary. You need to bring at least 106 gold to buy two keys with. Any excess gold isn't so bad either, if you can get two more you can unlock the pair of Wings in the inn (what for??) When you get through the tunnel (I don't need to write out directions for how to get through it in the dark, do I? Every gamer has this in their blood. I bet it's written in Mike Uyama's DNA somewhere if both his parents are Japanese.) go around to the right, turns out that's shorter but I didn't know that in my test run >_<. Run from everything obviously, you should barely make it. You'll probably notice that the enemy frequently goes first when you're underleveled. This trip is probably doable at level 4 but why bother when it's easier to die at the Hills of Hubris to level up there? Once you buy your two keys get yourself killed to get back to Tantegel.

Now go to the cave with the Fighter's Ring in it, you should probably run from Skeletons, and everything in general. I've written out directions for how to loot the place in the dark, although I find it's pretty hard to take 1 step without seeing how far you're going. A Torch is a trifling 8 gold if you want to be sure.

Notation: L is left, R is right, U is up, D is down, b means "go until you hear the 'bonking against the wall' sound". Numbers mean "take that many steps". If nothing is listed then I mean 1 step OR bonking. I tried to use as much bonking as possible.

R2,Ub,Rb,Ub,Lb,Ub,Rb,Db,Rb,Ub,Rb,Db,Take,Ub,L3,D,Lb,Stairs,
R4,Ub,Lb,Db,Lb,Take,Rb,Take,Ub,R2,Db,Lb,Db,Rb,Db,Rb,Take,Lb,Db,Rb,Db,Lb,Ub,R1,Ub,Take,die.

You'll wake up in Tantegel with that array deliciously full. Plunder the chest up to (this amount should prove controversial) 24,000 gold. Here's what's free:
800 for a Large Shield
1500 for a Broad Sword
7700 for Magic Armor (this is Rimuldar gear, you literally only need 10000 for this)
14800 for a Silver Shield (later, LV11 or 12).

Make sure to grab the Stones of Sunlight from the basement while you're at it. Remember, the chest won't disappear, so only grab it ONCE or else you can render the game unwinnable with an untossable junk inventory. I LOL'd when it said the chest contained the "Harp Knight". That was a great WTF moment. I'll have to read Ryan8bit's GameFAQs thread to try and guess why that happened.

In my experience, the tweaked gear doesn't help all that much. I thought I would be able to immediately raid Garin's Tomb but the 3rd floor enemies are too tough. You'll notice the Flame Sword is not even mentioned. More on this later.

Go to Garinham and buy the Large Shield. Get to Rimuldar by the skin of your teeth and buy a Broad Sword and Magic Armor. All of a sudden, you have to power to fight Rimuldar enemies, although the Wolf is still a pretty tough cookie.

I studied the 5 enemies that can appear in the following areas, these are their experience rates (they don't change, gold can be random).
Garin's Tomb B1:
Droll: 10
Warlock: 13
Drakeema: 11
Poltergeist: 8
Skeleton: 11
Magic Armor? it keeps you alive pretty well here. Keep your health high, sleeplock can happen to anyone.

Garin's Tomb B2:
Metal Scorpion: 14
Skeleton: 11
Wolf: 16
Warlock: 13
(one of these is doubled...probably Metal Scorpion)
Magic Armor? less sustainable, Heal is needed.

Garin's Tomb B3:
Wraith Knight: 28
Specter: 18
Druinlord: 20
Drollmagic: 22
Wolflord: 20
Magic Armor? what the hell are you doing here? You're probably dead already.

B4 is small and has Wraith Knight, Drollmagi and Wolflords for sure, I died before I could confirm anything else, it's probably the same. You won't be grinding here anyway.

Rimuldar (north):
Warlock: 13
Wolf: 16
Metal Scorpion: 14
Skeleton: 11
Magic Armor? It helps but you'll have to heal somewhat often.

I declare that Rimuldar is unquestionably the best place to grind for pretty much the entire game. Why?
- Garin's Tomb costs 1 key to enter, another one to get to the better floor
- You have to die to leave Garin's Tomb, not an option if you want to do the infinite gold glitch only once. It's actually kind of hard to get killed in the Fighter's Ring Cave at level 12, you have to spam Stopspell every turn for quite a while. You don't learn Outside until LV 11.
- Rimuldar has its southern area where you can fight Goldmans (run from them for the entire game), Wyverns (for 24 but they're not worth fighting until you get the Silver Shield), Wraiths (17), and Wolflords (easiest 20 exp anywhere period). And did you know a small patch on the west coast has Cantlin enemies? I've only fought Magiwyverns, Demon Knights and Werewolves there but there could be other types. Wizards are an easy, easy 50 exp, if only they would show up. And since Rimuldar's inn is close by, you can do this forever.

LV 6 (don't remember)
Take your new gear and GRIND! Get 3 keys: 2 for Garin's Tomb, 1 for Cantlin. I don't remember if you need any for Charlock.

LV 7 (don't remember but you should have Sleep by now, helps against Wolves)
Don't forget to grab the Fairy Flute at some point.

LV 8
Keep grinding. You need 10,000 exp just to reach level 15, which is not nearly good enough to beat the Dragonlord. Might as well gain some gold while you're at it.

LV 9 (STR+8, AGI+1, HP+4, MP+7, Radiant learned)
Don't forget, Rimuldar doesn't have a tool shop, so bring your 6 Herbs before you get there.

LV 10 (STR+4, AGI+8, HP+4, MP+4, Stopspell learned)
With Stopspell you should be able to bring down Wolflords for sure. Wraiths aren't quite worth the trouble, it's better to have reliable, sustainable grinding.

LV 11 (STR+5 AGI+4 HP+8 MP+10)
Okay, for me this was sufficient to take down Golem. "WTF Shiner? Don't you just put Golem to sleep and forget about it?" HELL NO. He can attack the turn he wakes up and it's usually for 40+ damage, and your max HP is 63. You have to keep your HP really high. Golem only has about 50 HP though so an Excellent Move can really help to bring him down. The hard part, really, is the run over there. It's pretty hard to escape from Demon Knights. Use Heal on the way there, save your Herbs for the Golem fight. Make sure you have at least 14,800 for that Silver Shield, and YOU NEED A KEY to get into the shop. With all the deathless grinding you've been doing, you might have the 9800 needed for a Flame Sword too but I find it doesn't really help at all. It doesn't change the nature of combat all that much. Given that every fight in Dragon Warrior is a complete slugfest, both sides wearing each other down more or less equally, a high defense goes much farther than a few more points of damage. Pretty much every enemy survives a few hits with single digits of HP and it can't be helped. Or at least it seems that way. Anyway, buy the shield (very important, it raised by defense from 53 to 63!) and any missing Herbs while you're here, then buy Wings to escape. The Silver Shield makes Wyverns from extremely dangerous to nearly harmless, that was the most noticeable defensive change. Actually powerful enemies such as Knights and Werewolves still destroy me though. It means we can grind in southern Rimuldar without fear though.

LV 12 (STR+7, AGI+5, HP+1, MP+8, learned Outside)
I somehow beat the Axe Knight at this humble level with my Flame Sword and Silver Shield. His damage is overwhelming (usually 25), and you can only do about 10 or 11 to him. Cast Stopspell on the first turn. I got very, very lucky with him wasting his turns on Stare Sleep, just like I did in Dragoon X Omega. Erdrick's Armor doesn't look impressive defense-wise but it seemed to reduce my damage quite a bit. The real benefit, however, is the insane regeneration. It goes from Magic Armor's "2 HP every 7 steps" to 1 HP per step.
This is also a suitable level to grave-rob Garin too. Here's directions to the harp:

RB,U4,RB,DB,LB,DB,RB,DB,L2,Ddoor,DB,LB,DB,LB,UB,LB,DB,LB,U1,R1,Stairs
UB,LB,DB,R1,U1,Stairs
UB,RB,UB,RB,UB,RB,U2,RB,DB,Stairs (on the second last up, if you go right and get stuck, just go down one space and you'll be fine)
RB,DRDRDRB,URB,U2,LB,Stairs
RB,U3,R2,Take,Outside (if you haven't bought Flame Sword yet)

LV13 (STR+3, AGI+7, HP+7, MP+6, learned Return)
I had Flame Sword by now. But I had also managed to retrieve Erdrick's Token without checking the TAS or anything. It was time to loot the Dragonlord's Castle. I had a pretty sweet homo-genius moment when I successfully evaded everything on the first floor with great ease, then two steps away from the secret passage an Axe Knight surprised me and sleep-locked me to death. LOL.

Use the upper sandbar by the bridge to fight easy enemies, and recover with Erdrick's Armor, to get a good start to the raid. Might as well grind a bit anyway.

I have an incomplete path through the Dragonlord's Castle. It's probably worth using a Torch anyway once you get to B3 because you can't just bonk your way around any more.

DRB,URB,DB,LB,UB,LB,DB,RB,DB,LB,DB,RB,Stairs
RDB,R,D1,RB,DB,LB,DRB,D,L1,DB,LB,UB,L,U1,LB,UB,RB,U,R1,UB, Stairs
Rb,D2,L?

I barely managed to get Erdrick's Sword at the tender level of 13. It makes a decent difference in damage, suddenly I was able to go toe to toe with southwest stuff.

LV14 (STR+8, AGI+6, HP+8, MP+6)
I spent several minutes grinding to this level in the southwest area where Metal Slimes lurk. A lot of them got away. Magiwyverns, Knights, Wraith Knights and Demon Knights also make their home here. I was trying really hard to die here once I ran out of MP but Erdrick's Armor actually kept me alive for quite a while. It was here that it dawned on me: this infinite gold glitch isn't that great. It takes 3 or 4 seconds to pull the chest once, which always contains between 6 to 13 gold. That means the average is 9.5 gold. You're getting about 3 gold per second. It can take up to an hour to loot the free gold you need but it could be spent gaining experience as well. It takes 10,000 total exp just to reach LV15, which is nowhere near what we need to achieve to beat the Dragonlord, especially if you're crazy enough to RTA this game. (I'd love to do the run like that, with LIVE audio commentary, but the best SDA can do for me is something like a...segmented single-segment run where I scrap the unsuccessful underleveled touchdowns)

So the leveling route is what needs a lot of work. I haven't read the GameFAQs board much yet but somebody mentioned the Axe Knight grinding station. 64 exp a pop, seems a lot better than the unlikely Metal Slime, especially once Repel is learned. I think the payoff of skipping straight from Club to Broad Sword, and Leather Armor to Magic Armor, is worth exploiting, because all of a sudden at level 5 you're chilling in Rimuldar nonstop. And while the Silver Shield is very good, it might be smarter in the long term to just keep grinding in north Rimuldar for the necessary money while gaining easy experience. Flame Sword should NOT be glitched for under any circumstances. Another trip to Cantlin can be necessitated if you don't already have Erdrick's Sword. Taking a time-out to grind for cash to make exp grinding "faster"?...I'm not feeling a payoff here. As long as you don't die it can't be all that hard to build up 15000 gold.

I'm going to go read the GameFAQs board intensively and then post again or update this information. Whether it's me who does this run or not...I don't know. I really want to do it. I know when I started out I was babbling to myself like crazy and feeling extremely hyped. But actually playing the game alone and thinking quietly to myself...seems to take the excitement out of it. I'm imagining too much, giving too much expectation to how fun it will be to run this game with a bunch of friends around. I wish I could RTA the game so I could single-segment it too! Dragon Warrior in 6 hours, with glitches, and rape! GAAAAAH
Highly Evolved
Awesome read.  I'm about to eat dinner so I can't comment too much.  Be nice to have two DW runs up (assuming mine is accepted).  Should I feel bad that I don't have the cave to Rimuldar path memorized?

EDIT: You're nuts, by the way.  This AND Etrian Odyssey at the same time?
This world is all we have,cherish it
i havent played this game since i was like 12 and i still remember.. lol
Highly Evolved
All right, out of principle, I'd vote to reject any run NOT done on the NES.  If you're going to do it, do it right*.

Axe Knights give 64 exp?  That doesn't seem right.  Isn't it 46 or something?

Is there a youtube vid of the endless cash glitch?  I'd like to see it.  Maybe I'll go searching.

I am in agreement that Wolflords are THE thing to grind on.

It's interesting that defense is more important than offense.  Quite different than what I'd expect.

My experience with the Flame Sword is similar to what you've found.  It doesn't seem to help nearly as much as the attack power boost would lead you to believe.

* I hope Mike Holmes doesn't come after me, eh?