Monday, February 4, 2019

HCBailly plays Faxanadu - Part 1 of 9


Oh, boy! A Nihon Falcom game! Believe it or not, this is a side story/spin-off of Xanadu: Dragon Slayer II, the second installment of Nihon Falcom's Dragon Slayer series.

This game uses a password rather than a save system. However, some of the games look similar, with capital H's looking like capital N's and capital O's looking like zeroes. Thankfully, the font is changed is the Wii Virtual Console version so everything is easier to read.


Eolis



The game begins with a nameless elf warrior heading back to his hometown of the Elf town of Eolis after a long journey. Unfortunately, when he comes back, his town has become almost deserted and the walls around the town are crumbling. It turns out that some meteorites have rained down around the nearby World Tree, and monsters controlled by The Evil One in the Evil Place are running amok. You are the only one who can set things right.

The hero (who can be named in the Japanese version) will then enter the town. Left and Right on the Control Pad let you move around, while Up lets you open doors and talk to somebody in front of you. The first person you talk to will tell you to go see the King right away.

As you explore Eolis, you'll come across the meat shop, where you can restore your power with dried meat for 50 Golds. Golds are the currency for this game. Press A to buy, and press B to back out. 

The P bar is your power, or health, meter. The M bar is your magic meter. The E followed by the number is your current experience, the T followed by the two-digit number is the time remaining on a magical item, and the G followed by the big seven-digit number is the amount of Golds you have. The brackets on the far right indicate your currently equipped item.

If you go to the right of where you start, there will be a monster. If you have him kill you, you'll get full health and magic and be taken to the Guru. Talk to the Guru, and you will be given a ring to take with you when you see the King. This Ring of Elf will identify you as an elf so you can enter the castle to see him. When you leave this area, you'll be back to the screen left of where you entered from. (Interestingly, the Guru's church has a faintly-noticeable cross that is censored out in the Western version, because Nintendo. Ironically, people are allowed to smoke, as you can see in the next screen to the left.)

There are shops to the left of the Guru, but there is nothing you can do in either of those stores for now. The smoking man will tell you that the Dwarfs are already in town and that the end is near. On the next screen to the left, press A while holding Left to jump over the two spiked creatures, then head over to the left. Jump over the next two spiked creatures, then go left and enter the door on the right. This guy will restore your magic for 200 Golds, but you're better off using the meat. The door on the left has a warrior will give you a martial arts lesson for 200 Golds, but you're better off using items. The person outside will tell you that the last well is drying up.

Further to the left is the castle. Go in and you will meet the King. Talk to him, and you will learn that the Elf fountain has stopped and the wells are drying up. Men have went to find out what has happened, but none have returned. The King names you the Elves' last hope, and gives you 1500 Golds to spend on supplies.

As you have probably figured out from moving around, by holding Left or Right, you move slowly at first, then you start moving quickly after a few steps. This takes a little bit of getting used to,

Go back to the stores near the smoking man. The one on the right allows you to buy some keys to open doors. Buy three Jack (J) Keys. Whenever you use a key, it will disappear, and you will have to use another one.

The store on the left is a tool shop. Here, buy the Deluge spell, an Elixir. The Deluge Spell is a fireball that you can equip in the Magic menu, and the Elixir will refill your life should you die. To call up the item menu, just press the Select button, and you can equip magic, weapons and armor as well as use items. The Elixir does not go into your Item section; instead it goes into the Player section that shows your current rank (out of sixteen possible ones), the amount of experience needed for the next rank, what you have equipped and your special items, which is where your Elixir will be.

If you buy a Red Potion - which refills your health when used - for 160 Golds and sell it back for 80 Golds (or buy two Red Potions), then buy a Hand Dagger with the 400 Golds you have left, you can go back to the King and get 1500 Golds again - something you're only supposed to do once. (Apparently, the game checks to see if you have absolutely no Golds first when you talk to the King.) From there, you can buy more things you aren't expected to buy. If you do that, you can buy the Hand Dagger for 400 Golds and fill the rest of your inventory with Red Potions for a low price, as items will get more expensive as you go through the game (and sell them back in future towns for more money.)

Leave the store, then equip a Jack Key and the Deluge spell. You must leave the stores in order to equip the things you just bought. To use the Deluge spell, hold Up and press B. It uses a little bit of magic, but it allows you to throw fireballs at the spiky creatures to the left in order to destroy them, as the Hand Dagger would not allow you to hit them. The spiky creatures always leave bread behind, and that bread can replenish your health. 

The house near the Guru has a man who will tell you about the meteorite that fell into the World Tree and caused the Dwarfs to come out of the underworld and attack the Elves.

Head to the screen to the right of where you entered Eolis. It's time to go.

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