Dragon Warrior Playthrough, Part 3: I Will Make You Hurt

The words of my warrior ancestor echoing in my mind, I decide to set out for the nearest town. A villager suggested I go north to the seashore, and then follow the coastline, so I strap on my warrior boots and make for the north shore.

The trip is uneventful, as I dispatch the two slime species with relative ease. Having recently invested in some Leather Armor, I hold up to their attacks even better than before. After reaching the shore, I veer west and immediately encounter a Drakee. These bat-like minidemons no longer cause me much trouble, but at the end of the fight I'm greeted with welcome news. I have reached level 4!

The Hurt Spell

The level increase brings more than mere fuel for my avatar's nascent ego. I have also learned my first offensive spell: Hurt.

I fight the urge to experiment with my Johnny Cash impression and instead ponder the strategic possibilities of this new spell. Hurt costs two magic points, which is half the cost of a Heal spell, so using Hurt only makes strategic sense if it saves me from losing half (or more) of the HP I would gain from Heal. Heal restores about 15 HP, on average, so I would need Hurt to spare me 7 - 8 damage.

Let's look at some particular cases. By now, my battles against slimes aren't costing me more than 1 or 2 HP apiece, so I don't need any magical assistance there. Drakees are similar. The most unlucky Drakee battles lead to ~6 HP damage, but 2 - 3 HP is more typical. I won't know ahead of time if I'm going to be unlucky, so I should use the typical numbers to make my decision.

What about Ghosts? This is a more interesting case...

I lost 7 HP in this fight without using magic. Hurt will usually kill a Ghost in one hit, so it's likely I would have been spared any of that damage if I'd cast it. That means Ghosts are a borderline case, but given that Hurt also speeds up the fight (not a small thing in a game with so much grinding), I would lean towards using it in this situation.

At this early stage, any tougher enemy than the Ghost should be given a magical kick in the crotch, for sure. I only have enough MP to launch eight such attacks, however. If I'm in an area with a lot of tougher enemies, it won't be long before I have to turn back anyway.

The usefulness of the Hurt spell will be short-lived, unfortunately. As my level grows and my equipment improves, the strength of my attack will approach the damage doled out by Hurt, and it will be harder and harder to justify its use. My recollections of past Dragon Warrior playthrough are that I rarely used offensive magic and relied mostly on attacks.

Garinhamming it up

Magical upgrades notwithstanding, it's a short trip to Garinham.

The town that greets me is surprisingly small, or at least the parts of it I have access to.

A large building on the North end of town is inaccessible without a key and there are no clues about what may be inside. The only substantial information I get from the villagers is that the Princess has been taken East to a cave. Nobody tells me anything about Erdrick or the items he left behind.

While I'm in town, I also stop by the local shops. There is nothing new in the item shop, but here are the weapons and armor:

There are some substantial upgrades there; or, they would be, if I was anywhere close to being able to pay for them. The one upgrade I could actually afford at this point is a small shield, but that can only be found in Breconnary.

So my stay in Garinham is short. On my way back to Breconnary, I stumble on a rude surprise.

Yikes!

Apparently, the Magician wields the same offensive magic as I do, a fact that I took great off-... er, exception... to. Two successive Hurt spells would be enough to bury me, so it's fortunate I had a magical crutch in our tussle.

The lands of north Alefgard

In Garinham, I learned that the Princess was taken east, but before heading in that direction I want to survey the remaining lands in the northwest portion of the world. A villager in Tantegel had warned me that crossing bridges could be perilous, so I avoid crossing any bridges in areas where the battles were already challenging.

Here's the area around Garinham.

Not much to see here, just a bunch of forest and grasslands south of the mountains. I encounter several Magicians in the area, so decide not to cross the bridge just to the south.

By this time, I have reached level 5. While this doesn't grant me any new magic, it's a substantial upgrade in strength, so much so that the damage I dish out nearly doubles. This, along with the defensive improvement provided by the Small Shield, makes the battles with Ghosts and Magicians much more manageable.

Satisfied there is nothing left to see around Garinham, I venture east.

The area north and east of the Tantegel mountains is relatively harmless, with mostly Slimes, Drakees and Ghosts. There's a swamp in the southeast that injures me the moment I step on it, so I don't venture any further in that direction.

However, given the weakness of the monsters in this area, I decide to venture across the bridge in the northeast.

Surprisingly, nothing stronger than a Magician greets me in this part of the world. I did manage to find the other side of the swamp - I guess I didn't miss anything by choosing not to cross it. The only mystery here is what lies north of the mountains, a region that's inaccessible from this direction.

Feeling cocky now, I cross the southeast bridge with aplomb.

Whoa! Apparently, the Drakee has a magical cousin that casts Hurt spells. It's less like a Drakee than a beefed-up Magician, with stronger attacks and more HP.

Fortunately, I can handle it, but I'm running low on MP. As soon as the battle is over, I begin hoofing it back to Breconnary. If I want to live longer than an Alefgardian Slime, I'm going to need to build my level and improve my equipment.