Dragon Warrior 2 - Un-puppy-fying the Princess

Not too much to add with this update. Last time, we found this gigantic dog in Hamlin, right?

This bitch again.

Then after visiting the ruined castle of Moonbroke, the ghost of the king told us that dog was actually the princess under a curse. And since she is the last member of our adventuring party, we needed to lift that. Another ghost in the ruins of Moonbrooke told us about the item we needed... The mirror of Ra.

Why does this ghost even know this?

This place IS geographically southeast of Hamlin if you look on the overall map. However, it's actually a lot easier to get to from the ruins of Moonbrooke if you can manage it. For me, I had gotten worn down so much going to Moonbrooke, that I had to go back to Hamlin to rest. I also bought a Wyvern Wing to get back to the save point in Hamlin faster.

I wish I had remembered to take a screenshot where I found the mirror,but I forgot. Basically, not too far to the east of Moonbrooke, there is a patch of swamp with four bridges in sight on screen. If you use the SEARCH command on one of the squares, you find the mirror.

Then, when you go back to Moonbrooke, you find the dog and use the mirror on it to break the spell...

This dog has a pretty reflection.

She is super grateful to not be a dog anymore. So, that's got to be good for your karma. Now, I wonder of the English version is missing something in translation here, because I found it weird that escaping from Hargon's attack in the intro would somehow "curse" the princess into dog form.

Well, you're welcome. Want to come fight monsters with us?

And why would I need a magic mirror to release her? That whole plot point seemed tacked on as an excuse to give me busywork.

You are weak as hell, girl.

Anyways, she joins the party at the weak ass level one, and has no equipment. So, next order of business is to level her up, and maybe go back to the earlier town of Leftwyne and buy her a magic knife. Because she can't use any of the equipment for sale in Hamlin.

But after that, we are going after the "Cloak of Wind" that gimpy guy in Hamlin told us about. I have no other leads to follow up on anyways.

Dragon Warrior 2 - South to Moonbrooke

So - been a little while. Over a month without posting. I had some end of the year business to wrap up. I actually played and beat another game I will write about soon, but for now, I've just gotten back into Dragon Warrior 2.

 

Last time when we left off, I'd found Prince Lars, and had to put in a little time to level him up and buy him some decent gear. We did that pretty easily and with that wrapped up it was time to head south to the village of Hamlin. It turns out that is on the way to Moonbrooke castle.

 

Which is the castle we watched get destroyed by the forces of Hargon the wizard in the intro. As you may recall, we are looking for the princess, who will complete our little adventuring party.

 

Hamlin is the first time I can think of that a place name in the game has come from actual folk tales (that I know of). As you may recall, the pied piper is set in a town called Hamelin. Anyways...

 

Hamlin is on the continent south of the starting one, but there's no bridge there. There is this little shrine you can enter and it's a lot like the swamp cave with the green dragon from DW1. It's an undersea tunnel. I had found it when exploring before, but the guards at the gate didn't let me pass without the prince. Now that I have him, here we go...

 

Not a grave. Just a shrine.

On the southern continent, you bump into Hamlin pretty quick. As you do in any new town you find in these old console RPGs, you chat up everyone. People will give you clues as to what stuff you need to find, and where it can be found. Like so...

These dudes still look like bondage gimps to me...

In addition to that bit of useful intel, we also find this little doggie. If you talk to it, it follows you around. Cute. Probably important.

 

That dog is sort of huge, proportionally...

Of course we also find a new weapon shop with new gear to buy... And we find ourselves short on the gold we need to suit up. So that means grinding for levels and loot outside the town. And that means fighting guys like these below (along with baboons and centipodes and zombies and magidrakees).

 

Those snakes are poisonous, which is super annoying.

Instead of just grinding levels around town though, I decided to go on walkabout and find the ruined castle of Moonbrooke and see if I can find that missing princess. Turns out having Lars and his magical healing spell is VERY handy for this journey. You have to cross a bridge to get here, and as you know, crossing bridges means harder monsters in Dragon Warrior. But eventually, here we are...

 

Looks familiar...

The castle is surrounded by swamp, which damages you to walk through. And it is, indeed, ruined inside. And everyone who was killed has been turned into a flaming ghost. But they do have some useful info. Like this clue about the Mirror of Ra, and where I can find it...

 

Thanks for the tip, buddy.

Then the ghost of the king himself drops this bomb on me.

 

Ooh, a PUN!

That dog in Hamlin that follows you around IS the princess. We are going to have to figure out how to fix that. Probably one of these items I've been told about (the cloak or the mirror) will sort it. But first, back to Hamlin to buy the new gear: Broadsword, Full Plate, Steel Shield, and then an Iron Spear for our buddy Prince Lars.