V. 1.0
By BabaJeanmel
Maps by Retronomicon
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. About the game
2. The Story so far
3. How to play
4. Walkthrough
4.1 First preparations
4.2 First floor
4.3 Second floor
4.4 Third floor
4.5 Fourth floor
4.6 Fifth floor
4.7 Sixth floor
1. ABOUT THE GAME
Dragon Knight is a Japanese dungeon-crawler RPG with slight erotic elements, released in 1988 for the NEC PC-8801 home computer. It was one of the first games of legendary eroge company Elf, who would release some of the genre’s top sellers: Doukyuusei, Shangri-La, Words Worth, Yu-No, you name it. Elf games were kind of unusual in the eroge scene as they were much more ambitious than their competitors; writing, art and music were really good, and gameplay didn’t suck! In fact, most of Elf’s best sellers have been ported to consoles such as the NEC PC-Engine CD or the Sega Saturn, without the porn, and still managing to be playable.
The third game in the Dragon Knight series was actually released for MS-DOS in the US by MegaTech Corporation, rebranded "Knights of Xentar". This port was a complete mess, with censored CG, largely re-written dialogue full of puns about the hero’s strong body odour and his tiny manhood, fourth-wall-breaking bad jokes and, as a cherry on the top, a full voice dubbing that should be recognized as one of the worst abominations in the video game history (yes, even worst than the original Resident Evil dialogue). Nevertheless, the game is still enjoyable and it was the first introduction to the series for non-Japanese speakers, yours truly included.
Now than a fan translation project for the original DK (well almost, as it’s the PC-9801 version) has been released, it’s time to enjoy the beginning of the series! Keep in mind that it’s a very bare-bone game, but it’s a nice little piece of history nevertheless. The art is really good despite the limited color palette, the script is fun and the music is awesome.
2. THE STORY SO FAR
You play as Takeru Yamato, a light-hearted wannabe adventurer with a huge liking for pretty women. As you venture into the kingdom of Strawberry Fields, solely inhabited by women, you meet Luna, daughter of the local priestess. She recognizes you – albeit, barely – as the hero from the old oracle Ubaba’s prophecy. You get to meet the princess and learn about the Dragon Knights, who sealed the goddess of water, captured all the kingdom’s female warriors in order to populate their brothel, and finally threatened to do the same to the princess. Apparently, according to the old hag’s sayings, you are the only one able to stop them. Now your mission is to kill the fuckers one by one, get back the jewels they stole, and use said jewels to restore the goddess and save the kingdom.
3. HOW TO PLAY
Moving through the tower or selecting options in town is done using the numpad. Validate using "ENTER" and cancel/return using "ESCAPE". Easy enough.
In town, you get to select between six options :
- TOWER : sends you directly to the dungeon you must conquer.
- SHOP : you can buy equipment here. Four levels of power exist for each piece of armor and for swords. Obviously, higher levels are more expensive.
- TEMPLE : here, Luna will lash at you in full, glorious tsundere fashion. At each level, she gets new lines to yell at you. Otherwise, Luna's mom will heal your HP and MP for some gold.
- CASTLE : you can seek an audience with the princess here. She gets new lines each time you defeat a Dragon Knight.
- OBABA : the ugly prophetess will give you hints. Or not. It depends on the progress you've made. It's not necessary to waste time with her, except for the part when you'll need her to take out the golem at F1.
- SYSTEM : save or load game.
Inside the maze, your coordinates and directions are always displayed on screen. The maps included in this walkthrough follow the game's coordinate system for more convenience.
Fighting is pretty straightfoward. You can choose between attacking, casting a magic spell or fleeing. The attack spell is basically useless but the heal spell is a must, as it totally refills your HP. Save your MP for the healing spell as you will need it a lot. Finally, as Dragon Knight is an old school RPG with a high focus on grinding (i.e. killing monsters for experience) try to flee as little as possible. Believe me, you'll need that EXP.
4. WALKTHROUGH
4.1 FIRST PREPARATIONS
As soon as the intro sequence is finished, you’ll have access to town. Begin by entering the shop and buy the cheapest weapon and armor. You can then exit and proceed straight to the tower. Enter a random fight and do your best to survive. Remember to use healing magic when your HP gets too low. As soon as you manage to win a fight, get out and pay Luna’s mom at the shrine to refill your HP and MP. Save in the "System" menu. Then rinse and repeat until you reach level 2. This part of the game can be really frustrating because you’re terribly underpowered and monsters WILL kick your ass. But don’t give up because as soon as you get to level 2, things will become a lot easier. You’ll be able to safely grind into the tower because most of the monsters will become harmless at once. So, kill a lot of ‘em in order to get to level 4 and, as you gain more gold, complete your equipment by buying the cheapest cap and buckler. Congratulations, you’re ready to hit first floor!
4.2 FIRST FLOOR
Go to the "W" spot on the map. Takeru will notice that the water isn’t flowing anymore. Go to the spot marked "1" and you’ll meet a big-ass golem with a massive stone dick. Takeru will retreat at once. Proceed to the "?" spot and you’ll hear a woman scream. Go the door granting access to the spot marked "2". It’s locked. Try to enter and Takeru will mention that the golem’s key might just do the trick. Return to the golem. Takeru will try to take it down without much success. Exit the tower and return to town. Go see Obaba and she will give you sleeping powder to shut the fucker down. If she doesn’t, try to trigger the even by returning to the golem and the locked door. Anyway, as soon as you get the powder, head to the golem. You’ll get the key. Go to the locked door again and you’ll encounter Ann, first of the Strawberry Fields warriors, about to get raped by a bunch of goblins. Tear the shit out of them and free Ann. She’ll give you the password to the torture chamber. Get to the spot marked "3" on the map and the door will unlock. Another warrior, Annie, is tied by some filthy orcs about to have some quality time with her. Again, show no mercy. Annie will give you a hint: there are stairs hidden in the northwest stone pillar of this floor (marked "S" on the map). Get there at once and climb the stairs. You’ll meet another warrior, Mei, about to be brought to this floor’s Dragon Knight by a gang of ogre lords for more rape. Kick the ogre’s ass and Mei will give you the password for the boss room. Return to the first floor; you have now access to the boss room where you will fight the first Dragon Knight. If you have enough gold, now should be a good time to upgrade at least your sword and armor. Grinding in order to get to level 8 can help a lot, too. When you’re ready, go to the "DK" room and it’s time for some action. Nothing really hard if you’re not under leveled, just remember to heal. When the Dragon Knight has bit the dust, you’ll get your first jewel along with the goddess’ thanks. Return to town to heal, upgrade your equipment if you can afford it, and visit the princess in her castle in order to unlock a conversation. Now it’s time to get to the second floor.
4.3 SECOND FLOOR
Go the "5" spot and get the note with the passcode. Then proceed to 3 to get the golden leaf and 4 to collect the evil earring. Now head to the spot marked "6" (don’t forget, "S" is an invisible door). You’ll enter the passcode found on the note. Inside the room, a bunch of lizardmen is torturing another naked female warrior, Sion. Take them down but careful, they hit pretty hard. Don’t hesitate to level up to 11 if the fight proves to be too hard. Free Sion, and she will explain to you how to use the evil earring to understand monster language. You will also get clues on how to get an elevator pass at the third floor. For now, just head straight to the "2" spot and listen the conversation between the two monsters; you’ll learn the password for opening the second boss room. Get there and you’ll fight the second Dragon Knight. Around level 12, you should be able to win; remember to keep HP high, as the bastard will attack you two times in a row. After he bites the dust, collect the second jewel and exit the tower. Heal and talk with the princess again. You can return to the tower and head to the third floor.
4.4 THIRD FLOOR
The monsters there are strong, so don’t hesitate to grind a bit. To take over the Dragon Knight on this floor, I suggest getting to level 16 and buying at least the third sword and armor, so you’re up to quite a bit of fighting. Rescue the half-naked fake orc female warrior Lulu at spot 5, and she’ll tell you how to use your golden leaf to turn temporary into an orc. To do so, head to the statue at spot 6. After touching it, the monsters will leave you in peace and the ones in charge will speak to you. Should you decide to leave third floor, your disguise will disappear and you’ll need to return to the statue for the monsters to speak to you again. Anyway, head to spot 2 to get a recommendation letter from the monster there. Then go to spot 1 and show it to the guy at monster employment office. He’ll hire you as a guard. Next, to the training station at spot 3. The instructor won’t accept you just yet (damn budget cutbacks). Cross the waterway and head to the elevator permit issuer at spot 4. The guy there will tell you to become a senior guard and come back. Return to spot 3 and you will pass an exam; you must destroy five rows of six enemies. Heal a lot, especially during the last two rows (lizardmen and trolls). After passing your exam, you’ll be promoted to senior guard. Return to spot 4, you’ll get the elevator pass from the skeleton guy. From now you can use the elevator (marked “E” on the map) to travel between floors. Saves a lot of time and hassle! Now go to spot 2 to get the key to the interrogation room from the monster there. You can now head for spot 7. Warrior Jane, who’s clothed for a change, is prisoner there. To rescue her you must beat six minotaurs that hit quite hard. If you’re too weak to subtend the damage, grind a bit (exit third floor and come back for the monsters to attack you again) or buy new equipment in town. When Jane is free, she’ll tell you the right path to evade all traps in order to get to the boss’ room, along with its password. Write down the directions if you want, or just follow the map to get to the sucker. Be warned: this guy hits hard, and three times per turn. Once again, don’t hesitate to train a bit before fighting him. Your third jewel earned, use the elevator to return to floor 1, then town. Speak with the princess, heal and upgrade equipment if you can afford it. Time to tackle the pyramid at floor 4!
4.5 FOURTH FLOOR
First enter the floor using the elevator. Monsters here are even stronger than those on floor 3 and come in numbers, so I suggest you retreat as soon as your MP runs low. Around level 18-19 and after buying the best sword for 8000 gold, you should do better. This part of the game involves some tiresome backtracking. First examine the red door, than the blue door. Both are locked. Then head to the blue sarcophagus (spot 2). A red gem in inserted inside. Go then to red sarcophagus (spot 1). A blue gem is inserted inside and this time, Takeru will take it. Return to the blue sarcophagus and swap the gems. The blue door is now open and you get the red gem. Now back to the red sarcophagus to insert the red gem inside and, surprise! The red door opens. You can now go rescue Lara at spot 3. She’s tied on the middle of a table filled with… fruit? And it appears demons are feasting on said fruit. Talk about weird fetishes; the girl isn’t even naked. Oh well. If the demons kick your ass, it probably means you’re underleveled, so time for more grinding. You need to have full MP to stand a chance, so go back to town and heal if needed. As soon as the fuckers are sent to meet their maker, and Lara has told you about the white sword, I strongly suggest you return to town and heal again. Then it’s time to hit spot 4 to rescue Leila. This time, she’s suspended on the ceiling of a meat locker like some ham or something. The six berserkers are comparable in strength to the six earlier demons, so prepare for a difficult fight. Rescue Leila and you’ll get the password for the boss room, along with a peek at the first bare tit since the last two rescue missions. After backtracking to town and healing again, go to the boss and kick his ass. He attacks four times per turn with above 20 HP of damage if you’re around level 19, so play it safe and keep your HP high once again. Once the yellow jewel is secured, return to the third floor and take the stairs to floor 3 this time. Get the smith’s note at spot 5. You can now collect the white sword at spot 6. Enter a fight. Takeru will try to use the white sword only to find out it sucks major ass. After three turns dealing the lowest damage ever on the enemies, he’ll revert to his usual sword. Finish the fight and exit the floor, then the tower. Return to town, heal and upgrade equipment as usual, and talk to the princess. Return to the tower and use the elevator to get to floor 5.
4.6 FIFTH FLOOR
This floor is brutally unfair. Before even being able to rescue the first girl, you'll need to grind up to level 21 and upgrade all your equipment to the best you can buy. You will use a LOT of MP to even survive each fight, meaning you'll travel a lot between the tower and the temple. And as if it wasn't enough, ghouls there have big apparent dicks for some reason. Anyway, go to the front door of Demon City at 9;0, you'll find out it's locked. Return to town and head for the temple. You'll learn that Luna has been kidnapped by monsters, and you'll get the key to Demon City that a monster has conveniently dropped during said kidnapping. Return to floor 5 using the elevator. Before raiding Demon City, remember to exit using the stairs at 3;16 at least once for one of your trips back to town. It's a trap and leads to 1F, but you must have done it for Takeru to accept using the waterway later. Now head to spot 6. Maria is there, charging monsters for her... services. Be sure to have full MP before fighting them, they're a very huge pain in the ass. When they're down, Maria will thank you for your help, tease you a little (sadly, you'll only be able to claim your prize in DK3), and finally tell you some information about the infamous match girl. Time to visit the freak at spot 7. Things are getting weirder and weirder, I guess even the developers hadn't a fucking clue of what was supposed to be going on there, but there you go. Another batch of ghouls and super skeletons follow, so beat them. After an apology from the girl for not even belonging to the game you're playing, go see the dwarven smithy at spot 1. He'll give you the password for the boss room. On your way to it, you'll find an altar at 14;13. Saying the password will make a secret passage appear. Beat the surprisingly easy Dragon Knight and Luna is free, along with the black jewel. You still need to save the two remaining warriors in order to proceed. As Luna has told you, the first one, Sheila, is go-go dancing at Popepo's House (spot 2). Get there, beat the weak guards, then head to spot 3 and it's back again to a bunch of ridiculously strong ghouls. Make sure you have enought MP before engaging into fight with them. One more girl to go : head to the cabaret at spot 4. Beat the bouncers and enter. At spot 5, you'll find Sasha forced to serve as a wraitress and being assaulted by a skeleton in a tie. After yet another fight, you'll get a magic wand for your trouble. Now you can exit Demon City and run to the waterway. It's finally unlocked, and the road to the last floor is open.
4.7 SIXTH FLOOR
Head straight to the stairs. They lead to the previous floor, into a small previously inaccessible room containing the white armor (spot 8 on previous map). Get the prize and return upstairs. The monsters will be much less intimidating. If you're around level 24, you can head to the last boss' room. You'll fight the five previous bosses on your way, but they shouldn't be much of a hassle now. The Head Dragon Knight himself is quite strong, but you've seen worse. As his damage input is quite unpretictable (generally around 70-80 but can go over 100 if you're unlucky), be careful to not launch an attack while you're too low on HP. After finally putting your white sword through his teeth, you can relax and watch the ending. Congratulations, you've done it !