Some notes I wrote on Discord.
Watch file with some values:
https://tasvideos.org/UserFiles/Info/638978206843719439
Starting to suspect that the game has some strength matching script. Figuring that most of these people are not like me just trying to bust through to figure out the next area, but instead leveling.
However I did notice that there are some insanely powerful enemies that randomly appear in near the first dungeon that wipe the party though lol. What is an enemy (UniGigant) that does 74 hp damage a hit, doing in an area where other enemies do at MOST 8? Btw my characters have 30 hp too. Yea, and also end game HP values are like 200 hp too. So something seems busted with that.
Ok, nope, nothing is happening with this game. It is remarkable how determined the devs are to make the experience as painful as possible.
RNG for enemy encounters seems kind of fixed? It can be changed over long periods, but you cannot change the steps once in the overworld. You cannot manip the attacks in battle, neither can you manip the damage. Running away from enemies was fine at the start, but it seems related to something, possibly the Speed Stat. So once you go to the next area running works maybe 1/4 of the time.
What is even more funny is that you can kind of get the game in a state where you cannot continue. On party wipe, only one character regains full health and it cuts your money down by a bit too, and each new city has really high inn costs. So you can wipe then be unable to afford an inn, and then be unable to defeat tough enemies to get money to even heal.
RIP
There is an oddity with the game where the game does not seem to update the character Atk / Def / Spd values if you use buffing items until the next fight or until you talk to people. The two items you can buy from the shop to test this out are the Mamori no Kemuri (まもりのけむり) and the Genki no Moto (げんきのもと) which will increase stats. Tried a couple things, but got no exploits from it.
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Short Guide for the First Area
First try not to over level or the game will punish you with much harder encounters here. To get past the first area you first have to find the princess that was kidnapped. There is a cave to the north where the princess is. To get there move a bit west, then north, then east. Once you find it and enter it you are unable to get in since there is a locked door. You then have to backtrack to the starting town and get a Coffee item (コーヒ). There are two ways to get it, the easiest is to buy it from the item shop on the right side of town. The second is to find it on a skeleton pretty far east from the starting town. Once you have the Coffee there is a bar to the south east of town and there is a drunk guy. You have to talk to him, then you need to USE the item Coffee. This will then use it on the guy. He will tell you the password. Then you have to go all the way back to the previously closed off cave with the door. Walk up to the door and try to enter and it should open.
Inside the cave / dungeon there is a bit of a maze in a couple floors, but honestly the longest thing about this game is the EXCESSIVE ENCOUNTERS. Seriously, it is not uncommon to have an encounter every other step. To get more money and items you can search the pots. Once you find the princess she joins your party. There is something in the pot behind her too. Now you can either die to get back to the starting town which wipes out a good portion of your money, or you can tough it out and walk back to town. Note that Sinbad (the first character) starts with an an item that seems to act like a MegaElixir.
The princess will leave the party once you talk to the King and will take all items you gave her so take them back if you gave her anything. Once back to the town area, go to the palace a couple steps South. Enter talk to the guards, then talk to the King. After that the King allows the character to go South past the Palace. Going south was previously blocked, but is now open. After that I am not sure of the next destination.
Linking some videos since this is a pretty obscure game despite being on a popular console.
Review Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YKCJD1n-R0
Playthrough videos.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSJAWkAlk1Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6Fz92cMAYY
