CREEPINGNET'S WORLD
DRAGON QUESTII
WALKTHROUGH
Welcome to my partially-insane Dragon Warrior II walkthrough - aka Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line as Japan calls it. This JRPG for the NES/Famicom is underrated and highly maligned due to the fact it was rushed during production, is 4x the size of the original game (Dragon Warrior), and is one of the least linear and hand-holding games in the series, with a grindfest so epic, randy dance clubs become jealous!

In Dragon Warrior II, it's now been 100 years since Dragon J. Lord started terrorizing Alefgard and was defeated by your grandfather, and Erdrick's descendant has been gettin down an' dirty with royalty since then, generating us, utlimatley, 3 heirs: the Prince of Midenhall (you), The Prince of Cannock (your runaround nephew), and the Princess of Moonbrooke (assumed dead).

Of course, I'll be playing the much maligned, grind-heavy, non-linear, base-trim-level NES release from 1990/1987 here. Maybe I'm a Masochist, maybe I'm the only "gamer" left on this planet with the guts to face a 8-bit, non-linear, JRPG with odd balancing head-on like that bald guy at nu-metal show in the mosh pit!
STARTING OUT - MAN THOSE MOONBROOKE GUARDS, THEY'RE SOMTHING ELSE!
So aptly name your savegame whatever the heck you want, the only thing it impacts is the names of your relatives this time. So it's not really that important. What is important, is how much do I need to explain the backstory. See, when Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the LEgendary Line was released in Japan in 1987, they did not have the nice little introductory sequence we got with Dragon Warrior II in America in 1990. They just tossed you in Castle Midenhall as your named character and you figured it out on your own - just like the first game. But in the USA....

It's a nice quet day at Castle Moonbrooke. The Omnipresent sun in the sky, fresh grass pixels growing, and the Princess of Moonbrooke and her daddy, the King of Moonbrooke are enjoying a nice cup of tea out in their postage-stamp sized courtyard....when all of a sudden....

Two demons show up and of course, as you can guess, a fight breaks out between the king and the demons, who, like Asian Giant Hornets to a beehive, descend upon the castle, killing everyone who does not escape, and setting the place on fire in the process....also, somehow the castle's garderobe (septic system) backed up too....jeesus, he shoulda' called Roto-Rooter or Dupre's Septic Sucking Services instead of spending all that GP on more bottles of Centipod Wine. Of course, Bart, the Village Jedi Knight, and castle guard, manages to escape the castle as it burns down....and makes the whole 50 mile trip on foot to castle Midenhall to bear tidings to the king and his son....

And our story starts with said Jedi Knight "dying" (dissappearing) before the King after his "evil tidings that just can't wait".

And so, dad will give you ONE chest with 150GP, a sword, some armor, and we're off. Probably a good idea to snag some medical herbs on the way out. Make sure to EQUIP everything before we continue, what good are some tools when you don't use em'!

Now, for this first part of the game, we can integrate the grinding into the progression of the story. Everyone focuses on much later in the game where we basically do nothing but blow up top-shelf enemies with insta-kill spells and armaments so strong you could kill Lord British in the Ultima universe with one hit! But here, this is the first time Dragon Quest actually makes it EASY on us.

Just head north, then go west yung' mann', and lookout for a town in a sandlot surrounded by sea and swamp - no, it's not Louisiana, but it starts with an "L" and is quite fittingly named "Leftwyne" - because you go "left" to get there, get it!

Now, let's talk about cheating here, there's actually a hack to accumulate money out the wazoo the first time you come to Leftwyne. See, there's a new fundraising activity in the tri-kingdom area, it's called the Lottery. And being of scientific mind, I know the odds are against me, but I also know one other thing - those Lottery tickets are like, 50gp apiece if I sell them - so that's what we'll do, buy things from the "tool" shop, and sell the lottery tickets to accumulate wealth. By the time we're done, Elon Musk is gonna' be in Leftwyne holding a empty bean can asking for handouts from US! We'll have so much GP, we'll be able to buy Amazon and Microsoft - and still have enough to spare to purchase all the strongest armor and weapons in the game.

Once were done piddling around in Leftwyne - so how many months WAS that? - now we need to head northbound to Cannock. To see our niece and nephew.


OH NEWPHEW, WHERE ART THOU?

FINISHING UP BEFORE WE GO

SOUTHBOUND AND DOWN, LOADED UP AND TRUCKIT!

MIRROR MIRROR

TOWER FOR A FREE CLOAK

AND JUST LIKE THAT, WE'RE SCANNIN' FOR NON-LINEAR CRIMES

SOMETHING ABOUT THIS PLACE IS HAUNTINGLY FAMILIAR

WHASSUP' SON!

GRINDFEST AT BEHRAN!

THE LIGHTHOUSE FROM HELL & THE WATERFLYING CLOTH

AROUND THE WORLD - OSTERFAIR, ZAHAN, WELLGARTH, and TUHN

THE SEA AND FIRE CAVES - THE EYE OF MALROTH

THE ROAD TO RAGNAROCK: THE LONG BLOODY ROAD INTO RHONE

THE FINAL, NOTORIOUS, MASSIVE, INFAMOUS, GRINDFEST

A STRING OF HORRID BATTLES - THE FINAL CHAPTER

APPENDIX