The island suddenly appeared in the sky. Let's Play Lufia & the Fortress of Doom!

Wave of Evil

Suddenly, another ship appears!



It rams right through Aguro's ship! Damnit! I needed that!



I'm going to go ahead and guess that these are the guys who have been interfering with shipping.



I like this guy already.


Boss

Here, we face our first real boss battle, four Demon Lords! And in a lot of ways, it's one of the tougher ones. I can't even tell you how indispensable that short sword we found is here.

Nowhere is the game's poor targeting AI more of a nuisance than it is here. Without the ability to focus our attacks, it can be difficult to pick off enemies.

Fortunately, we have some help. Aguro will back us up in this fight, and he's very powerful.



Lufia's Dew spell is useful here. We can't focus on individual enemies, so we might as well hit all of them.



Unfortunately, these bastards have it too, and if they all use it, that's a lot of damage. They can also cast Mirror, which makes Lufia's magic nearly useless. What is she supposed to do if she can't cast magic?



Eh, it was worth a try.



Luckily, Aguro really came through in this fight, and got a lot of critical hits.



Nine year-old Solitayre had a lot of trouble with this fight, because he never found the short sword. Without it, Medi will take more hits to kill these guys, and since there's four of them, that amounts to taking a LOT of extra hits.


Triumph

Even twenty-eight year-old Solitayre came out of that fight in pretty rough shape.



It may seem like Medi is getting a free ride off of Maxim's heritage, but every so often someone will acknowledge that Medi is kind of a badass in his own right.



Medi explains his mission to Aguro. He cannot rest until the Sinistrals are vanquished. Aguro wants in.



That sure is nice of him!



There's just one small problem....

Aguro means well, but sometimes he's a bit slow on the uptake.



With no more ships in town, our only course is to find another one. Aguro, being the only competent soldier in all of Estpolis, offers to help us out.



We sure can!



Aguro is the commander of the Lorbenian Army, and the second ally who joins forces with Medi. He is probably the least developed of the four main characters, and his personality is a bit inconsistent. He can be a bit rude and immature, but he's a smart guy and can always be counted on to come through.



More importantly, Aguro is a beast. His strength and HP growth are much higher than Medi's. Like Medi, he can equip all the heaviest armor, and he can use the very heaviest weapons like great swords and axes that even Medi cannot equip. These advantages come at a steep price, however. Aguro's agility and magic resistance are very low, meaning that he takes a lot of damage from magic. And speaking of magic, Aguro cannot learn any. Not that he really needs it.

Aguro's only option is to attack, but it's a good option. He's generally your party's best and most consistent option for reliable damage.

I went ahead and moved Aguro into the front line position. This means he'll get targeted by attacks more often than rear row fighters like Lufia, who don't have the defense or HP to take as much abuse.

Anyway, time to find us a ship.


Port

The only other ship in town, the Maberia, was taken by the monsters.



The captain isn't actually missing though, he's just drowning his sorrows at the bar. He does tell us that the ship was seen on a nearby island, if we can find a way out there. Let's go take a look!





With a three person party, even large groups of the local monsters aren't very tough.

One imagines that final space in our party will be reserved for Artea when we find him. That's a ways off yet, though. We don't even know where he is yet.



Medi learns the useful Float spell. We can use this to cross toxic marshes, which is good because the cave we're about to enter has some.



Cave

This cave is pretty short, but there's at least one pretty useful item here.



Kobolds are a bit of a joke since even Lufia could probably kill one in one hit with a basic melee attack.





You can drop down holes in this game! This can help you get to otherwise inaccessible areas.



This one leads to some helpful healing tiles, for instance.



Lufia learns the “Strong” spell. Her MP is generally better spent offensively, but there are times where this will be helpful.

Here's one of those toxic marshes I was talking about. We'll take damage if we walk on it.



We could go around it, but what's the fun in that?



Secret items are often hidden in toxic pools. Like this Miracle, the first we've found!



This little alcove hides the Daze Ring, a useful defense upgrade.



Aguro will use this since he's on the front line. Keeping him alive in the upcoming battle is going to be crucial.



This is the first time I actually missed because I targeted an enemy that was already dead.



Another power potion. Later in the game, Medi would be a bad choice for this item. But he has a non-trivial one-on-one boss coming up in the next update, and I'd prefer to power him up until then.



More levels always help too!



Time to leave this cave behind.


Field

Looks like we found the ship. But how did it get here?



Maybe these guys know.


Boss

...I don't think they're gonna tell us.

Now these guys can be a real pain. If you never got around to upgrading your armor in Treck, you will pay for it here.



These guys are called Goblins , and they hit hard.

]

Medi and Lufia have to spend some time healing in this fight. Aguro, with his ring, can soak up more hits, thankfully.



Targeting is a bit less of a problem, since there's only three of them, and you can reliably use Lufia's Dew spell. But these guys take a lot of hits. And again, without that short sword the fight is just going to be longer and harder.




Triumph

With the monsters who stole the Maberia dead, we're free to return it to Treck. It's a little unclear why they stole it in the first place, or why the monsters were disrupting trade with Lorbenia at all. If Gades was behind it, it's never made clear.

I don't know what Lufia thinks she or Medi know about sailing, so I'm gonna assume Aguro handled that part.


Sailing


Port

The crewman is overjoyed to see his ship again. Let's go tell the captain.





Now that he has his ship back, the captain decides to return the favor, and offers to give us a ride to Lorbenia.


Sailing

I guess Aguro's subordinate will have to find another ride.

Next stop, Grenoble, where hopefully we'll learn more about how to find Artea, who is our only hope in stopping the Sinistrals.

Next time: Shopping Extravaganza

Old man sense? Doesn't sound quite right. How about spider senior sense?

I didn't know it was possible for anyone else to save a fantasy world.

Yes, one could imagine that.

guy: he's just some guy, you know?

this was one of the worst scenes in that game

Sailing

Chapter 3: The Apprentice



Port

Upon our arrival in Lorbenia, Aguro announces his intentions to petition the Lorbenian Army for immediate assistance in our battle with the Sinistrals. It's about time!



Oh, sure. It's not like we're in the middle of anything important. Not like we're searching for the last remaining hero of old who can help us in stopping the four evil gods who are rampaging across the land as we speak. By all means, let's take some time to go shopping.



Lufia has Medi wrapped around her finger at least as well as he has her wrapped around his, however, and he recognizes the importance of keeping his number one gal happy. Besides, we should wait for Aguro anyway. So, looks like we're going on a shopping spree!



Lorbenia is one of the largest and most prosperous cities in Westland, with a bustling port, a powerful military and a thriving shopping district, so there's plenty to see and do here. Let's check it out!



This young lady is staring out to see, pining for her boyfriend, who is off sailing around the world.

This is a set-up to one of the game's best jokes that we won't see for many updates.



This must be where Aguro went. Unfortunately, we're not allowed inside.



Let's check out the shopping mall! There are a lot of shops here, but the ones inside don't really have anything useful. The armor shop next door does, though.


Shopping

This is pretty nice stuff! It's also expensive. We got a lot of money from killing the Demon Lords and Goblins last update, but it's not enough to completely outfit all three of our characters.



I pretty much never use Miracles, so I'll pawn one here to buy all the stuff we need. I can buy this Miracle back later if I really want it, but the game throws more at me than I'll ever use.

Medi in particular needs the best gear I can give him. He's got quite a challenge at the end of this update.



These potions are starting to be hidden in more obscure places! Keep your eyes open!

Mind potions raise intelligence, and there's really no better person to use these on than Lufia. I'm not sure Medi gets any benefit from higher intelligence, and the only other spellcaster's magic is situational at best. So Lufia will probably get every Mind potion I ever find, which raises her intelligence by 2-3 each.



The first floor of the shopping center has some miscellaneous item shops. But I rarely if ever buy items in this game because you'll generally find everything you need just lying around if you know where to look.

Lots of shoppers bustling around! One guy tells us where the dress shop is, and warns us to be prepared.

Let's check out the second floor, where the jewelry and toy shops are located.



This canny jeweler has an excellent strategy. Namely, putting Medi on the spot right in front of his “ladyfriend.” I mean, he can't NOT buy something for her now.

She has the second best sales pitch in the game.



These accessories are all pretty worthless statistically, we already upgraded from the Hair Band.



But look how happy she is. :3

Worth noting is that I did upgrade Lufia's weapon here, since I had the money. Keeping her competitive in physical attack power does have its uses, if her attacks are strong enough to kill something after Medi or Aguro hit first.



Toy store!!!



You already got your present! I'm not made of GP!

We can surmise that this man is probably the father of the little girl we met in Treck, which is a nice little continuity detail. Good to see that he's doing okay.

Anyway, you can use stuffed animals in combat to inflict status ailments on enemies, but it's not really worth it when you can just murder them instead.



Oh, don't look at me like- FINE.



Third floor, locks, shocks, stocks, and...




More Lufia frolicking!



Medi tries to humor her, but I'm guessing he hasn't had much practice at this sort of thing. We should help him out!



Okay Medi, this is a perfect opportunity! Just tell her how great it would look on her and-



Buzzkill...



Lufia's a good sport, at least.

Interesting note; there really is 'Plate Mail' in this game, and it really does cost 5,800 GP. That's how much attention was put into this game's script.

I'm sure there's a perfect dress for Lufia here somewhere, though! Let's shop!



Shopping!



Yay!!



How about this- where are you going, Medi?!



Hello preacher, I'm the choir.




Goddamnit Medi.

A S-SALE?!?!





Lufia goes into full-frolic mode! Medi isn't even invited this time.

Somewhere around here, you just know there's a perfect dress!



What the-?



Uh oh.





It seems a clever young pickpocket has made Luifa his mark!



Unfortunately for him, he's made a critical error. No doubt that while casing Lufia, he listened in on their conversation and concluded that the guy she was with was a completely oblivious buffoon.



Sadly, he lives in one of the few JRPGs where the protagonist is actually one of the smartest and most competent people around.

Which is just sad when you think about it.



Busted.

Considering we had around 2,000 GP, that would have been quite a score for this kid. Good thing Medi's on the ball!





Rather than bring the authorities in on this, Lufia feels the best course of action is a good old-fashioned scolding.



Sucker.



That's a strange thing to assume.



Anyway, it seems that getting robbed ruined Lufia's mood, and she's not interested in shopping anymore. Aguro said he'd meet us at the inn, so let's see if he's there yet.



Apparently, innkeepers are psychic in Estpolis.





We learn that the name of the young thief is Lou, who apparently steals things because his father isn't around to tell him not to.



Instead of taking his son with him, this Professor Shaia apparently decides that Lou will be much safer alone in a big city with no food or money.





So it seems like Lou only steals to eat. Poor kid! It seems that Lorbenia does not have very progressive social services, but the people of the city are apparently very accommodating.

Port

After our chat with the innkeeper, Aguro shows up.



Aguro is very interested in Medi's skill, and his quest to vanquish the Sinistrals. Even to a seasoned soldier like Aguro, he can tell Medi is no ordinary warrior.



He wants to join up with Medi and help him out however he can, which is more than can be said about pretty much everyone else we've met.



Oh come on dude, of course you are! You're like, the only cool person we've even met so far. Or at least the coolest person who didn't drop dead mid-conversation.



Of course, unsurprisingly, the real reason Aguro wants to join up with us is the army won't do its damn job. Apparently in Estpolis, armies have the option to just sit around and do nothing when dangerous threats suddenly arise.

To his credit, Aguro immediately recognizes that the right thing to do is go AWOL and help us do something about it. He'll stick with us and be a staunch ally to us for the rest of our journey.



Next stop is Grenoble, where we'll hopefully learn about Artea!


Field

The continent Lorbenia is on is much larger than the landmass where Alekia was located. The monsters here are all new, and much tougher. Fortunately, we're well geared up.




Among our new enemies are Roozards, which fortunately have low defense. The Rats are quite weak, but they can call for help, which just drags the fight out. These creatures aren't very threatening.

There are other, more horrible enemies prowling the Lorbenia region, but we haven't seen them yet.



Not far to the southwest of Lorbenia, we find this town, situated quite near an interesting looking cavern.


Village

Grenoble! Alright! Let's interrogate the locals!



Okay, find the old man, got it.

Everyone in town talks about the Old Cave, which is apparently quite popular among treasure hunters. Seems its quite a tourist attraction.



The town is also home to an old lady who is very knowledgeable about magic rings. Wearing certain rings increases the potency of certain elemental magics. We already saw how effective this was when Selan wore one back in the prologue, so we'll keep this in mind.



Apparently the town stays in business by charging admission to the Old Cave. The monsters on this continent drop way more gold than the ones near Alekia and Treck did, so this amount of money is hardly a deal-breaker.



Let's think of this as some “Return on Investment.”



Seems the old Cave is so popular they're actually running out of treasures! Asking a question like this actually invites the question of who is putting all these treasures in these caves, anyway. I assume since the Old Cave is a business, that it actually has a team of workers who refill the chests periodically?





This is the spring, where business for the Old Cave is conducted.

Let's figure out how this place works.



So, every five levels Medi has will unlock a new level of the Old Cave, with all the monsters and treasure that comes with it. Cool!

We'll probably be able to spend a lot of time here...

Wait, weren't we here for some other reason?


Ah, right, old man.




I don't know what the hell you're getting at, old man, but you touch the girl and you're Roozard food.



The less I know about why you want that, the better. I don't know if “Fairy Kiss” was euphemised from something else in the Japanese version, and now I'm kind of scared to.

The Fairy Kiss is hidden in a place only women are allowed to enter. Obviously, this excludes creepy old men.



So let's get our first task. As we've passed the first benchmark of level 5, we're allowed to access the second level of the Old Cave and find the “Secret Map.” Let's get to spelunking!

Cave

The Old Cave is so old, it has an elevator. Figure that one out. We only have access to level 2 right now.

Let's head down!



While not nearly as elaborate as the Ancient Cave of Lufia II fame, the Old Cave is still a fairly ingenious game mechanic. New content opens here all the time, based on the player's level, not their progress through the game. Opening new content here gives access to new weapons, armor, items, and monsters that give more money and experience. From the perspective of a player who's stuck, coming to the Old Cave just might be able to give them the boost they need to get them unstuck. It's really unique and useful.



The monsters here are nothing we haven't seen before. Even Lufia laughs at kobolds at this point.



As we were warned, many treasure chests in the Old Cave are empty. But most people don't search the toxic marshes, so things like this Ex Potion are still waiting to be discovered. It can completely refill HP.



Items like arrows and bombs CAN be useful, but I generally don't bother with them, with one exception later this update.



Dragon Eggs: 1/8

Dragon Eggs are special treasures that we can't do anything with until we have eight of them. I'll talk about these more later.



Each floor of the Old Cave has a unique treasure you can trade in for a pile of GP. This level's is the Secret Map. What we really came here for is the Fairy Kiss, though, so we're not done yet.



This Power Ring grants a useful boost to attack power. Let's give it to Medi.



Another level for Medi puts him close to level 10, which would unlock another level of the Old Cave.



Apparently the Old Cave runs on the honors system. Enough so that the old man in the Spring Basement has been pining for something in this room for 40 years but just can't bring himself to set foot inside.





Looks like Lufia will have to go solo from here. Again, Medi is apparently okay with letting Lufia go alone into a dangerous cave because a sign told him to. Though I don't think there's any reason to doubt he'd bust in if he thought Lufia was in danger.

This game is, normally, pretty good about not caging the player into certain tasks without good reason. There are two major exceptions. One will be in the next update, the other is right here. There's nothing stopping you from leaving Lorbenia and coming here without joining back up with Aguro.

However, if Aguro hasn't rejoined you yet, Lufia will, for no reason at all, refuse to enter this room.

Oh well, let's get on with it.



Lufia Quest!



Apparently the “Women Only” room is a treasure trove of the most fabulous accessories.

These Heeled Shoes raise attack power, which is pretty useless for Lufia. They'll sell for a ton of money though.



Here's the Fairy Kiss that creepy old man wants. Let's get out of here.



A newt tried to get in Lufia's way! But she slaughtered it, and her reward is the Drain spell. This is a very powerful defense debuff that is very useful during boss fights.

Lufia's got this under control, don't even worry about it.



We're done here.


Village

Just promise me you'll never, ever tell me what you wanted that for.



The old man is as good as his word, at least, and points us in the direction of someone who can tell us more about Artea.



Wow, Artea's apprentice! Someone like that must be pretty strong and knowledgeable. Maybe he can help us on our quest!



We'll also go ahead and turn in the Secret Map for 500 GP.

Next stop, the Northwest Tower!


Field



Oh good lord.



Huge Bunnies hit hard, have lots of HP and are unspeakably creepy.



The Northwest Tower isn't far from Grenoble, although the apprentice wouldn't have anything to say to us without the old man's letter.


Tower

Towers are the second variety of dungeon in Lufia. Most are fairly straight forward, just keep going up. This one, however, is a very annoying maze.



Oh God flash can't kill them.



New monsters include these very tough Ghouls that take several hits to kill. Vanquishing it gives Medi the Drain spell, which is identical to Lufia's. It's not generally worth it for him to cast this, but it will be helpful in this coming battle.



Smoke Balls can be used to instantly escape from a fight. In practice, running from battles is very unreliable in Lufia, so you're better off just killing everything than trying to run. But there are times where a guaranteed retreat is just indispensable.

There's a lot of stat potions hidden in the tower, so it pays to look everywhere.



The Sonic Ring gives a small bonus to agility. Agility is a very fickle stat so I generally find this ring to not be especially worth wearing.



These little armored Knights are called “Fights” which makes me laugh. In general, any enemy that wears metal armor is weak to Lufia's thunder magic.

The Goblins are basically toned down versions of the boss monsters we fought back near Treck.



Red Magi are terrors, since they can fling the Spark spell at your whole party, which can cause a lot of damage. Since they tend to come in groups, they can deplete your HP fast if you're not careful. They're fragile, at least.



This room contains some more stat potions and a rather peculiar message. It's encouraging, at least!



We're at the top level of the tower now. This must be where the Apprentice hangs out.



Behind his chamber, you'll find two chests with Mid-Arrows in them. I'm sure that is of no significance...



This must be him.



Not a very friendly chap, is he?



His demeanor softens a bit when we show him the letter. The idea of that creepy old man being friends with this guy when he was young is a bit worrying...



Thanks.



Being a shonen fighter who spends all his time training, obviously the only way to prove yourself is to best him in single combat!

Medi will have to handle this fight one on one, so make sure he's fully healed and equipped before you begin.



That Power Ring is nice, but I will switch it for Aguro's Daze Ring for some badly needed defense.

Boss

The Apprentice CAN be one of the most challenging boss fights in the game, since Medi is all alone here. The Apprentice is strong and fast.



Medi uses the drain spell to sap some of the Apprentice's defense away.



He responds by casting “Fake” to raise his own agility.





The apprentice has a basic attack, and a much stronger attack called “Jolt” that can really wear down your HP quickly. Medi's Strong spell can only barely keep pace.



It's a tough battle. The Apprentice will use potions to restore his own HP when he runs low, prolonging the fight. Medi himself will have to use a high potion to come back from this!



Jeez, this guy just won't give up! We're going to need an edge. Fortunately, there are several ways available to make this fight more manageable.

One of them was in the chest outside this room.



Mid-Arrows can be used in combat to target a single enemy. They do about twice as much damage as Medi's normal attacks do, and can help quickly vanquish the Apprentice if you're having trouble. Two Mid Arrows towards the end of the fight quickly helped put him down.

Better luck next time, my young apprentice.

This is a hard fight, but it comes at a time where the player has a lot of options available. At level 10, a new floor of the Old Cave opens up, giving us access to the treasures to be found there. There's also another city we could walk to and buy a new tier of equipment for Medi if we were really having trouble with this guy. Lufia is usually pretty good about making sure the player always has options, since at the very least you almost always have the old Cave to fall back on.


Lufia II: the Land Nobody Knew


The Apprentice can sense the good in us after we beat the crap out of him. He decides he can trust us with where Artea is.



He is hidden in the aptly named elf village of Elfrea. Apparently, we'll need the help of an elf to find it.



Unfortunately, Elfrea is very far away. Finding Artea will be no easy task. But that's okay; Lufia and Aguro signed on for the long haul.

We'll need to head south, cross a desert, pass through three towns, and find an island ringed by three other islands.



The Apprentice offers us some small aid, in the form of a Speed Potion. Oddly, however, despite the growing Sinistral threat, he doesn't seem the least be interested in joining up with us. Which calls into question what Artea taught this guy how to fight for, or what it is he spends all his time training in a monster-infested tower for.

We're off to go save the world while he misses the chance of a lifetime, remaining in his tower to “train” for the day he'll be called on to resolve some other disaster. Cest la vie.



One nice feature of towers is they almost always have quick exits back the overworld, by jumping out of the windows.


Field

We return back to the overworld none the worse for wear, ready to continue our quest. Our only lead at the moment is to head south. Elfrea is still far away, but we're one stop closer to finding Artea.

It says a lot about my relative experience with the two games that it's the Lufia 2 tower music that starts playing in my head when you enter the tower.

Great job so far, Sol! I really appreciate how you're pointing out the things that make this game special.

Well, Lufia I's Tower music is really nothing special.

Whereas Lufia II's tower music is awesome.

Wow, just listened to both of them. Agree big-time on that.

Though you could have dropped "tower" from your second sentence and it would hold up just as well.

Must..resist...temptation to...replay this game again...

For what it's worth, I'm glad I replayed it, in a lot of ways it's better than I remembered.

Well... It did work on Gades.

I've played this game but I have absolutely no recollection of the Old Cave.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that I would still really like the game, it's just that I can't see how I would fit playing this game in my current schedule. Haha. I was playing the talky-as-hell Golden Sun the other day (for the first time), and I wish I were re-playing this instead.

Not entirely. It was originally "てんしのキッス", or "Angel Kiss".

It's almost as if your party walked straight up into Guy's cabin and killed him.

i remember being worried about the women only area when i was younger, because oh my god you guys lufia is so weak by herself how will she possibly survive

They kind of did. They went into his house, and told a 120+ year old man the most disturbing information you could possibly think to tell him, and he suddenly has a heart attack and dies. It's not even the slightest bit coincidence, they killed him.

Delivered to him by the great-great-grandson of his abandoned friend and Erim, no less! Lufia's face might have induced a heart attack by itself.

You're making this game look much better than I remember. When I gave up on it I was on some giant multi-part fetch quest to make a better vehicle.

Yeah, how will she ever survive on her own with her instant death lightning spells?! Ain't easy being a squishy wizard.

I'd easily rate that as the low point in the game. Doing it on my last playthrough was a lot less painful than I remember, but it's still a lot of busywork.

You have to do similar hoop-jumping before you can meet Artea, as we'll see in a few updates.

This will be a relatively uneventful update. Nothing particularly dramatic happens, it's a standard “filler” chapter between major plot events, and most of the scenes in this story arc involve characters who are not in our party. In a lot of ways, Medi and company are just bystanders during this scenario, so I'll try to find other things to talk about.


Field

Chapter 4: The Hope Ruby

Last time, we finally learned where Artea was hanging out! Unfortunately, he's in the hidden elf village of Elfrea, which is far away. We'll have to traverse about half of this continent to get there!

Still, no use complaining. Artea's the only person alive who knows how to defeat the Sinistrals. Without his help we might as well go back to Alekia and drink tea until the world ends.

So let's continue our journey.


Village

And of course our first step on this journey is to go back to a place we've already been to. That's right, Medi is level 10 now! A new level of the Old Cave is open to us. It's almost always worth it to head back to the old cave whenever you unlock a new level. Some of the game's best items can be found there.


Cave

So, down we go!



Different color scheme this time, and new enemies we haven't even seen yet.



I think this stuff went bad from sitting down here for so long....


Battle

Dracu Roses are some of my favorite enemies. They don't really fit in well in a cave, though.

Really, the enemy design in Lufia is pretty creative. A lot of it is slanted towards being cute instead of frightening, a trend that carries over into Lufia II. In fact, fans of Lufia II might be surprised at how many enemy designs were transplanted from this game.

Lufia II mercilessly cribbed a lot of things from the original, including plot points, one of which we'll see in this very update.



Magic guards can raise magic resistance, but we already have a spell that can do that, and it's not usually a noticeable difference anyway. A lot of the stat boosting items can be nice, but most of them can be replicated by spells. One exception is the Mind Gourd, which raises INT. No spell can do that.

Still a lot of empty treasure chests down here, but there's a nice haul later. I suppose the empty chests do help to make the Old Cave feel more... traveled, I suppose? Like, you aren't the first adventurers to make it this far and won't be the last.



Spike Newts can do something annoying, but I forget what it is! I'm sure it will come to me...



By now, savvy players should realize that poison marshes often hide Miracles. Make sure to check often!



Hi-Arrows can hit whole enemy groups for nice damage. As mentioned, I don't usually use these, but I've known some players to make excellent use of the stronger types of arrows. Later we'll see bombs, which can hit every enemy.



Hi-potions will become increasingly important; regular potions are already not worth using. Hi-Magics are the most reliable way to restore MP in dungeons, so keeping a healthy supply is important. Of course, you'll find all you need in treasure chests, the game is pretty generous with them.



Another level for Medi. They learn fast when they're young, don't they?



Frogs can cast the Dew spell, and at this stage of the game, any enemy that can cast magic is a huge hassle. I sure hope I don't get ambushed by a group of four spell casters. That would suck.



FFFF---



That battle took a serious toll. Never underestimate enemy magic users. We do get a Hi-Magic for our trouble, at least.

Magic users won't be quite as much trouble later when we have mult-target healing available, but at this point, getting hit with a few too many spells can be a game-ending scenario.