The main version I'm using is product number NES-DQ-USA, which is the copy I've had since I was, I dunno, 14, 15 years old in the late 1990's. I use no map, I use no guides, I played this through about 5-6 times without a hint guide or anything. That's how I suggest playing it the first time if you want the most authentic and exploratory experience. Part of the reason I write these walkthroughs, is as a form of "edutainment" in a more "adult" sense of the word (ie crass humor, cussing, weird pop-culture and nerd references, and whatnot). While I generally am PG-13 or better, I might give a light jab in the NC-17 direction once in awhile. That said, it's tame enough to be posted publicly because anything else will just go over someone's head (or chances are, I'm just being a bit, uh, extreme).

• Listen to the King for Your Mission - Otherwise, you're going to be roaming around without a clue
• Talk to EVERYONE - vital clues are found by talking to some of the most unseeming sources
• Run, Don't Trot - to Breconary for Weapons/Armor - Spend that 150gp wisely to work yoru way up
• Leverage the Man of Shining LIght in the Castle for free healing until you get the heal spell
• Once you get the heal spell, recoup on any medical herbs you have, maybe even try and get that Dragon Scale
• Keep working up the Equipment Ladder piece by piece to get ready to go to Garinham
• Don't Venture beyond Tantgel/Breconary until past Level 3 or so (start off only fighting red slimes and blue slimes)
• Venture more northward (but don't cross bridges) until past level 3
• Once you have the "Hurt" Spell you know for a fact you are ready to reach Garinham

Okay, so the first thing we need to talk about, is your name....why? Oh yes, because your actual name determines the stats, level growth, and other aspects of your character. You can download a utility here that will help you with this process, for further explaination, there's also a pretty good post at Digital Press forums about this as well.

Long story short, if you name your character a certain way, you will get different stats and different growth levels for your character. If you just want to do this the organic way - like I do - then just name your character whatever and play with the cards the game dealt you, a lot like real life has. After all, I would like to think the Dragon Quest universe probably universally borks us all like real life does. Plus Mike and Mad-Mike + Creepin have all done pretty well in their respective quests, so honestly, IDGAF personally.

So of course, your journey starts standing court to King Lorick who will tell you you're the descendant of "Erdrick" - a man who "Fought demons with balls of light" (Jeeze, I've heard of "Balls of Steel" but not "Balls of Light"). In the middle of his, most likely Mead induced rant, we find out his daughter has been kidnapped (the Princess), and the Dragonlord needs to be defeated - about the same way your dad tells Roto-Rooter to clean the septic tank IMHO. Anyway, our oddly single parent Monarch basically gives us 3 chests and tells us to take em' and go on our way. Alright.

In the chests, thou shalt find a sword, 120 Gold, and a key. The key is to get out of the King's chambers, odd since once I unlock this door he's no longer barricaded should the Dragonlord and his Minions decide one day to seige the castle. Talk about a security issue!

Now, go downstairs, and it's a wise idea in games like this to be social. Ya' know, talk to everyone in town, get the word on the street! Catch the shit from the stool pidgeons, got it! Make the little birdies tweet! Go lookin' for Clues like Robert Palmer! Or you can just skip it (for now)....

When you go outside the castle, and the soundtrack changes from Yngwie Malmsteen to Drunk Yanni on a piccolo, you'll want to head east to that town over there. We need some stuff if we're going to go out and start leveling up - which we BADLY need to do.

Breconary - in the town of Breconary, we have a few tasks to do. Since we have 120GP, let's look at weapons and armor. Now, this is where I'm going to lend you a hint. In most of the Dragon Warrior/Dragon Quest games - especially these early ones - DEFENSE is the most important attribute. You have two choices when it comes to leveling up....

1. Die a whole bunch with a strong weapon and weak armor...and struggle to afford better weapons and armor
2. Have longer battles with strong armor and a weak weapon....and while it still takes as long to level up, the gold you save will cut that time in half of method #1!

And here's our options....

So, as we can see here, we have a few options. I typically snag the shield and Bamboo Pole, then spend the rest on Medical Herbs until I get the "Heal" spell on level 2 or 3.

Now, let's talk about my new book The Zen & Art of Grinding ~ By: CreepingNet (ISBN 66669698428675309, (C)2023, nonexistant press) ~ those of you with the dirty minds are working overtime. Basically put, this seems to be the very thing that will let you know if Dragon Warrior/Quest is your *thing* or not, especially on the older platforms. See, you're going to be beating up monsters, one by one, one on one, until the day you kill the dragonlord and save the Alefgard!

I suggest when you start out, just circle Breconary, unless you plan to save your game, then circle Tantgel Castle. When you get too weak to fight, just bump left/right/up/down into Breconary, and spend 6GP for a visit to the Inn, or some GP on some medical herbs, and keep on going. Starting off, I'd just attack the little blue dabs of toothpaste with a smiley face on them (slimes), they take about 4 hits to die, and give about 1Gp and 1EXP. Once you get about 5EXP, you can start SLOWLY introducing red slimes into your repretoire - while watching your HP. By level 2-4, you should have the "HEAL" spell.

Now, let's discuss a QoL (Quality of Life) hack in the original Dragon Warrior game, see, remember how I told you to go out, be social, talk to people...well, by now you should know of some old geezer on the southeast side of the castle that you can reach who looks like he's going to sell you broomsticks and magic wants, but instead tells someone or something to shine the light on you - the screen flashes, and of course, nothign happened. THe reason nothing happened is....oh-oh it's Magic! (A5..D5..E5......)

See, this guy can restore your MP. So you can tell the Inn to go stuff itself, and go on a grinding spree like some transient hopped up on stimulants - day and night, night and day, (well....day and day and day and day - we don't get Day-night cycles in Dragon Warrior until Dragon Warrior III), just grinding and grinding. You'll soon find you'll be up to level 7 in no time, maybe even level 10!

While I grind, I usually have two goals - one is a destination/plot/item based goal - ie go to this cave here, or go to this town over there....and the other one is to upgrade to the best weapons and armor in the area. Usually I'll just grind patiently and bump up to the copper sword without even bothering with the club. Next thing I know, I'm at level 7, Copper sword, leather armor, small sheild, and the questionably helpful Dragon Scale too...and I'm disposing of Red Slimes, Blue Slimes, Drakees, and Ghosts, and even Magicians with the help of "Hurt" spell left and right. With my inital goal to make it to the town of "Garish Ham" or whatever they call it - sounds disgusting - j/k - it's called Garinham, and it's basically Alefgard's version of Seattle.

There is a little cave to the north and west in a sandlot a few "miles" from Garinham. If you're the type to take a 23 and Me Test or wonder about your ancestry, then be my guest, not much - if anything - to grind in there, but you'll get to read your family history, that's assuming you're not just some random stranger having your ancestry imposed on you by an unwitting monarch (who probably think's you're Erdrick's descendant because you're the only guy in the kingdom dressed in blue-tinted Viking Armor despite not having actual Blue Tinted Viking Armor).

• Level 5 or up - Because before you have "Hurt", those Magicians are going to murder you
• No real big story here - This is just the next safest "Grinding grounds", you'll find Magicians, Red SLimes, Green Slimes, Ghosts, and Drakes (not the pop star) here.
• Basically, grind around Garinham, then rest in the Inn, occasionally upgrading your weapons/armor/shield at the weapon's shop
• You will still want to take the trek back to Tantgel to save your game on foot
• Once around level 7-9ish, you'll be ready to tackle the enemies around Kol, or south by the Marsh Cave

Me, I prefer, the more casual, safer route. BTW, there's some pretty good weapons and armor to be had here. Granted, you will are going to have to trek all the way back to Tantgel Castle to Save (especially if you are playing this on a real NES like I do)

At this point, it's just more grinding, thsi time for gold, to upgrade your weapons and armor. Unfortunatley, the "Dragon Warrior Economy" has not been invented yet, so you have to save up the FULL amount for your tools of the trade, before you buy them here, so none of this trading-up stuff like the later games unfortunatley.

Magicians are best dealt with using the Hurt Spell until you have enough firepower to do equivalent damage with melee weapons. Magidrakees seem to have a lower defense so you can whack' em with melee from the get-go. Ghosts should be drawing quickly closer to "Slime" territory. Slimes should now be one or two hit kills (red might be two hits for a little bit).

In town we'll find some clues, like that the town was made by a egomaniacal old man named Garin, and he had his "tomb" built out behind the boat-shed that takes up about 2/3rds of the town's real-estate (and that we cannot yet get to because we don't have any keys and nowhere to buy them yet that does not involve actually HAVING a key first). So mostly, this is going to just be for grinding up a few levels and arming up until you are strong enough to beat up some enemies. So here you'll mostly be encountering Mages, Magidrakees, Ghosts, and the occasional red or blue slime or regular Drakee (not DRAKE - Drakee - please spare us of these Gen Z musical nightmares!).

It is in this area, you will, once passing hte SECOND bridge (so the guy in the castle or Breconary lied!), you will encounter the most powerfl enemies you have seen in awhile, basically, Scorpions and Skeletons. Skeletons are more difficult than Scorpions. Just bash scorpions and heal, Skeletons though....early on, you may need to make a hasty retreat before he kills you. Just sayin'. And if you can, because you might not get to run - so you might want to be very cautious with your hitpoints....once I'm down to 1/3rd of my maximum...or maybe a tad more, that's when I choose to retreat, especially with Skeletons at this phase.

Let's go into Kol.....Shall wee!

When you enter, it kind of reminds me of my best friend's backyard that was mix of patchy grass, and a lot of trees, and his sandbox stretches out of the actual box and all over the backyard. And Dad's leftover attempts to recreate Better Homes and Gardens on a Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood budget did not quite work out. Maybe the Dragonlord carried out some retaliation on this place but did not finish the job?

Anyway, while here, we're going to grind and grind and grind, until we're ready to head SOUTH of here (after a brief detour through the west side cave - if you feel like it of course (it's optional). Here we'll start dispensing with Scorpions big enough to qualify for a handicapped spot, and a bunch of grinning skeletons that like to beat you up with that wand Lieutenant Thaddius Harris was always polishing in the Police Academy movies! Physical attacks are best on these two, but what's nice is there's a north and west peninsula inhabited by a crotchety old guy - and that place is what I dubbed the "Peninsula of Relief" - where oyu cna run around and go back to beating up critters like dobs of toothpaste and Slimer's pasty wiccan cousin!

• Level 10-15ish - because those Skeletons and Scorpions will ruin your day otherwise, maybe slowly inch your way in with short sessions here then crossing back over the bridge?
• IF you know where it is, you can get the Fairy flute at this time
• Grind and update weapons and equipment as usual
• Still make long trek back to Tantgel Castle to save!!!

• Continue Grinding up to LEvel 15, you need to do this before going to the second Marsh cave south of Kol
• You want to, ideally, be able to hit once on enemies in this areas, before going down to the marsh cave
• Prepare for the marsh cave by stocking up on Medical Herbs and MP (You WILL need it)

So usually I'll take several grinding sessions switching up between the greater Kol area and the Western pass to Hell (Hauksness) - probably somewhere about 10+ blocks away from that bridge! If you start seeing Goldmen and getting killed endlessly by Wyverns - you've gone too far! Focusing on Scorpions and Skeletons (especially Skeletons) most of the time. Saving my gold, rasising experience - that's what you do in this game!

• Strategically follow the least number of tiles to get to the cave entrance
• Follow the cave straight down, right, down, right, down, then left till you can see some stairs pixels beneath you, then use the "Stairs" command.
• Do the above without a spell or torch to save MP if you feel brave enough to try it
• You will be fighting Druins down here quite a bit
• Once you exit the cave to rimuldar, you'll hit the hardest enemies you've seen so far about 9 tiles down - Werewolves, Warlocks, and Wraiths

Okay, so I'd suggest using as FEW blocks as possible before hitting this cave. The reason being, not the cave itself, but rather, what comes after it. You might want to drag some Medical Herbs and maybe an Anecdote with you as well. You also want to be high enough of a level to have Stopspell in your reprotoire, we're going to need it for those pesky Warlocks later on.

Once in the cave, I'd head southbound and STAY on the west side wall, there's something on the east side that will OUTRIGHT destroy us in our current condition. Just follow the wall down, then sort of a stair-like shape of blocks down, and then to the left, and there's your exit. Once you've done it enough times, you won't even need a torch or radiant spell to get down there and can do it blind. Mostly you'll just encounter, scorpions, skeletons, druins, and magidrakees down here.

But once you come out the other side, you'll probably want to heal as soon as you get out of the poisonous marsh because we're about to encounter a whole new world of enemies - wolves, Warlocks, and Rogue Scorpions. And your travel path is going to be down the east side of the mountains, and then turn up into a "J" pattern toward the "C" shaped lake that surrounds a town - this town, is Rimular.

Which brings up the next class of characters to start beating around: Goldmen, and Wraiths. Honestly, you might want to hit up some Goldman before some of these expensive weapons and armor, just to get the gold faster, it won't level you up. You're using Goldman for gold, and Wraiths for Experience. These are found in the immediate mountains to the south of Rimuldar, and in the west just east of the bridge that leads to the desert from hell.

Why? Because about 2 levels UP From here, you're going to want to start fighting further south - toward the island south of Rimuldar, and near Hauksness. This is where you'll start to see the third hardest class of enemies in the game: Knigts, Wyverns, and Rogue Scorpions. We need to build up on those first before progressing to the next chapter.

**SPOILER** **SPOILER** **SPOILER** - So, you chose to fare Hauksness now didn't ya? There is a nice reward here that will save some gold, and save some time. See, in Cantlin, if you'd gone there, there's a guy who mentions that his cousin Wynn (Keenan Wynn? You mean Alonzo Hawk from the old Disney Movies?) left something of note behind his shop.

So, if you'd like, save up your MP, run as much as you can, and make sure you have the SLEEP spell before you do this. Go to Hauksness, and go to the weapons/armor shop, and out behind there, sitting under a tree, is an Axe Knight - cast stopspell, and put em' to sleep, then beat the SHIT Out of him on repeat, putting him to sleep when he wakes up, and then search the ground below, and you'll find the most powerful armor in the game - Erdrick's Armor. I do this in most of my current Let's Plays. Erdrick's Armor will auto-heal your character as he walks, and provides immunity from the poisonous marsh, opening the entire planet all over.

Another guy you will need to find should already have been hinted at, if you have not found it yet. This old guy lives in the Castle Tantgel Basement and holds the Stones of Sunlight.

So first let's go to Tantgel Castle and find the castle cellar. The cellar is located right next to the moat on the southeast corner of the castle. Just walk down the wall on the east side of the castle until water stops you - move over one block, and then walk down to the stairs and STOP once you are standing on the stairs, hit Stairs, then go talk to the old guy, and he'll give you the stones......of sunlight....simple enough.

Get some keys from Rimuldar/Cantlin/Tantgel, and bring em' with you. You'll need to at least unlock the door to the boat shed that takes up like.....2/3rds of Garinham. While in there, you can listen to two guys give you the back and fourth behind a second locked door (zero out of ten, would not reccommend) - remember that "wall of darkness" - that's just the back wall of the boat shed, and that will take you out back where a Wizard will tell you to stay out of the grave in garinham.....of course we're not going to listen to him.

After Garin's Grave, and you have the silver harp, take it to the old geezer downstairs on the recovery peninsula, and give it to him, and he'll give you the Staff of Rain...

Once you find a 1-block gap you can't cross, time to use the Rainbow Drop. Now I don't know what your imagination is thinking but considering the Willy Wonka Boat Scene change of the color of the ocean I'm not sure of Erdrick's descendant pitches it into the sea, or if the eats the Rainbow Drop and has a little "trip". What I do know, is it makes a bridge appear there, and that bridge is very real (after the water finishes cycling through every flavor of Kool Aid ever made).

To get to Charlock, you have to cross the bridge, faring dangerous beasts, in a "U" shape, to the castle - which now you should feel really funny, because now you can see TANTGEL right across the ocean from Charlock.