Hey, look, man, if I'm gonna be playing
this game, I'd think I'd be allowed at least a few Ch!pz
references along the way.
I was going to go for a movie
reference, but I think that might better serve as the title in a
couple issues. Until then, I'd best start off with an explanation of
how leveling up and getting some of the items actually works in this
game. Since there are no random battles and there's a distinct lack
of shops in Mystic Quest, a lot of the experience grinding and
gaining of spells, armor, accessories and the like comes from places
on the map called Battlefields. There are a few of them that, at
least presumably, were meant for Ben to clear out on his own, but one
of the few things I remember as being actually useful from the
strategy guide for this game is that it usually helps to have the
second party member along for the ride. May as well make it a little
harder for the monsters to kick my ass, since only Ben levels up in
this game, as the NPC party members are all at fixed levels while
they're in the party.
It's a good idea to clear these
battlefields out because they help beef up the character some.
Taking them and clearing out the regular dungeons as well is a fairly
useful thing, I'd thing. Seems to me that this game is set up so
that the player can reach the maximum level of 41 by doing that. I
tested that theory once, last time I played the game, and came pretty
close to doing it. There's still an element of chance, of course,
because there's no guarantee that you'll get the maximum amount of
experience each time. That would require getting three monsters in
every battle, and that doesn't always happen.
But first, we're going to move the plot
along a bit first and go get our second NPC party member from the
Sand Temple. His name's Tristram. He's the
treasure-hunter-slash-ninja in this game who says he'll sell you the
Elixer for the absurd price of 9000 gold, but upon hearing that we
don't have that much, he'll offer to help us dig up some in the Bone
Dungeon.
Before we actually move on to the Bone
Dungeon, though, even Tristram suggests dealing with one of the
Battlefield things I was talking about before. There's one between
the Level Forrest and the Sand Temple that's mostly filled with tree
monsters called Mad Plants. They're weak against axe attacks, which
Kailie was good enough to give us last time. Clearing this one out
yields an extra 54 experience.
There's another to the west of the Sand
Temple that's got Poison Toads and lizard monsters in it. Cleaning
this one out gets us our first additional piece of armor, a pendant
called the Charm. All it does is boost Ben's defense by one. Better
than nothing, but given all the monsters that can inflict poison as a
status ailment, I had hoped that this would protect against that. I
guess we get that later, though.
Maybe in the Bone Dungeon, which is
represented on the map by the big horned skull with glowing eyes on
the map. But we'll get to that next time, folks. Until then, stay
safe, have fun, keep gaming, and DFTBA!
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