Dragon Quest 8: Journey Of The Cursed King
Completion bonus
Successfully complete the game and continue from your cleared saved game file to play the Dragonvian Trials bonus dungeon. Successfully complete that dungeon and defeat the final Boss of the game again to unlock an alternate ending sequence.
Gospel Ring
Fight all 295 different types of monsters to unlock the Gospel Ring when you view the enemies defeated section of the battle records menu. This item will prevent random battles.
Easy experience
To gain about 1,000 to 2,000 experience points early in the game, once Angelo asks you to check on the Abbot, go to the Ruined Abbey slightly north of there. Instead of flying through the dungeon, walk around until you encounter a Metal Slime. Metal Slimes will run usually on the first turn, but if not, try hitting it. Metal Slimes have low amount of HP and sometime appear in groups of two. Make sure your main character is equipped with a Boomerang — if you fight two you can hit both of them. Attack normally with Yangus and Jessica. Do not use spells, as they have no effect. If you manage to kill the Metal Slime(s), you will be rewarded with about 1,000 to 2,000 experience points, and about 299 to 499 gold. Repeat this as much as desired.
When Angelo asks you to check on the Abbot, go to the Ruined Abbey slightly north of there. Use Angelo’s ring to open the entrance underground. Once there, be patient, as at first you will encounter regular enemies. After a few battles you should encounter a Metal Slime(s). They possess only 4 HP but are difficult to defeat because they either dodge or run away immediately. Once you encounter a slime or slimes (up to three), concentrate on only one of them, as it is hard to kill one. To get an easy kill, equip a sword with “The Hero”, and you must know the ability “Metal Slash”. With Yagus, just attack normally. Equip a whip for Jessica and you must know the ability “Twin Dragon Lash”, which she will strike twice (and make it very likely to land at least one). It is best to train in the Ruined Abbey after you get Angelo, as he also knows the Metal Slash with a sword like “The Hero”. Since the Metal Slime is metal, when you strike it with a Metal Slash technique it is likely to take 2 HP from the 4 HP that the Metal Slime posseses. When Jessica strikes, it is likely she will land at least one hit and take another HP from the Metal Slime. It is not not important if Yagus lands or not, because Angelo’s Metal Slash (which can do up to 2 HP damage) will definitely hit. Thus, you have a definite kill, giving you up to 1,000 or more experience points. Also, it is much faster to use Whistle by Yagus to get into battle much quicker, as the slime appears randomly. Additionally, standing in one location is slower — try running around until the slimes do not appear for awhile. When this happens, change locations and use Whistle.
Metal Slimes in the Ruined Abbey (after you acquire Angelo’s Templar ring) are worth about 1,300 experience points per kill. Also, do not always wait until your characters are at a few HP/MP unless they have the Evac and Zoom spells. Fight the Dingaling squads who summon Jargons, and only kill the Jargons with Yangus and the Hero from psyching. This will give you some earlier experience than Metal Slimes, and the experience gained is more stable than trying to kill Metal Slimes.
Go to the area before Maella Abbey and run around until you get into a battle with at least one Dingaling. Kill anything besides the Dingaling(s). After only the Dingalings remain, psyche yourself up, heal, or use magic to raise your stats. Eventually, with a little patience, one of the Dingalings will call for backup and a Jargon will appear. If you are psyched up, use one person to kill the Jargon. Leave the Dingalings alone, and continue to heal, psyche up, or use stat-raising magic. Do not kill any of the Dingalings. The more of them there are, the better the chance of them calling for backup. Continue to attack only the Jargons and psyche yourself up. It is important to kill the Jargons on the first turn, because they can cause heavy damage and blind your party. If more than one Jargon is called, try using Jessica’s psyched up attack. It hits an entire group, and should kill any number of Jargons. When you get low on health, or have killed enough, just kill the Dingalings; they are relatively weak. Technically, you can get unlimited amounts of experience per battle. However, if you get to about Jargon P or Q, you should get about 1,000 experience points. This is very useful for the area. Make sure to equip your characters with a lot of medical or strong herbs.
In the room with the two treasure chests (one of which contains the magical key) in Castle Trodain, there is a creature called Liquid Metal Slime. Use Yangus’ Whistle technique to try to encounter this enemy. It may take a while for you to encounter this creature. When encountered, use Metal Slash for both Angelo and Hero and use Twin Dragon Whip Slash for Jessica to defeat it before it runs away. It is the same as the Metal Slime in the ruined Abbey, but it has about 10 HP and high vitality. If you defeat it, you will gain 10,050 experience points.
When you get the ship, press Square to access the world map. On the very bottom left of the map (southwest), at the very corner, there is an island that is not visible. Go there on your ship to find the island. On this island it is very common to encounter a Liquid Metal Slime, unlike in Castle Trodain where it takes a long time. Run around the whole island, as they appear much faster this way, rather then casting Whistle on the same spot. You will encounter this Liquid Metal Slime frequently, and if defeated you will receive over 10,000 experience points. Note: When you encounter the Liquid Metal Slime, use Metal Slash with the Hero and Angelo and Twin Dragon Slash with Jessica. Attack normally with Yagus. This place is not far from Neos, so it is recommended to first visit there as you will get access to cast Zoom to appear there after you trained on this secret island. Once refreshed, the sail is not that far off. You can easily transport from Neos to this island and then cast Zoom to teleport for healing.
This trick requires the Godbird’s Soul, which is acquired later in the game. East of Orkutsk and north of the tall tower is an elevated forest (non-snowy area). All types of Metal Slime can be encountered here, including King Metal Slime. Metal Slimes appear very frequently. It can take awhile to encounter Liquid Metal Slimes and King Metal Slimes, but it is possible to get into a battle with one King Metal Slime surrounded by six Liquid Metal Slimes.
This trick requires the Godbird’s Soul, which is acquired later in the game. Once you obtain the item, fly around Orkukst until you reach a place with no snow near Rydons Tower, up on a hill. When you reach that place, you will encounter a lot of Metal Slimse, Liquid Metal Slimes, and a Slime King. Slime Kings have 20 HP and the same defense as the Metal Slime. When you hit the Metal King Slime, it will only take about 1 or 2 damage. If you are able to defeat the Metal King Slime you will get about 30,051 experience points. Note: He will run away quickly just like the others, so it is difficult to hit him.
This trick requires the flying ability. Go to the east side of Empyrea’s Nest (where egg was being held captive). There is patch of land with a treasure chest containing a Skull Helm and lots of Gold Golems during the day. At night there are Liquid Metal Slimes. Do not use Yangus’ Whistle. It is more effective if you just run around.
When you get the Godbird’s Soul, use it to go to the elevated area between Rydon’s tower and Orkutsk (also known as Howlwind Hill). On this hill is the Conquerors Axe and all types of Metal Slime. No matter where you are on the hill, it usually follows the same sequence of enemies. Use your whistle option. You will encounter at least one Metal King Slime about every fifteen battles. It is imperative for Yangus to have the Executioner ability with an axe. They run instantly 50% of the time before you even have a chance to strike at them. The most rounds you will have with them are three. The hero should concentrate on the Liquid Metal Slimes that often accompany the Metal King. Have him use Metal Slash. Have Yangus do an Executioner move on the Metal King or any Metal Slime. If you can, try to equip Jessica with the Timbrel of Tension and have her use it. Her Dragon Tail move is rarely effective against the Metal Slimes. Then, have Angelo use the Metal Slash. Use this same technique on any Metal Slimes from regular to King until Yangus runs out of MP. You will usually gain at least two or three levels, depending on your luck.
In the forest northwest of the Royal Training Ground, there are Metal Slimes that are easy to find during the day in groups of one to eight. They yield 1,350 to 5,000 experience points by Metal Slash acquired by the Hero and Angelo. You can take at least one to five of the eight and get lots of experience points to reach level 40 quickly. Use Yangus’ Whistle to make the Metal Slimes appear faster.
At Dark Ruins near where you face Dhoulmagus, there is a break in the wall where water comes out and forms a pool. This pool completely restores HP and MP. Either run around outside the break (no monsters go in that room) or use Yangus’ skill Whistle. The battles range from 210 experience points (a lone troll) to over 1,000 experience points (depending on how many enemies you face and whether they are “kazing” their fallen comrades back to life). When running low on HP/MP, return to the pool of water to get fully restored.
Easy gold
Use the following trick to get gold easily on the Island Of The Temple Of Neos. Just southeast of Simpleton are Gold Brick monsters. They are best found on the southern half of the island, around the temple entrance. They are fairly common and have about 100 HP and they drop about 726 in gold. Sometimes you can find multiple ones. Additionally, go to the Isle of Neos. The enemies there are not too strong compared to your character, and the battles should be easy. You will often encounter Gold Golems, which drop just over 700 gold each.
Use the following trick to get more gold from Gold Golems. Gold Golems are found in the desert island of Neos, in the central ocean. They appear as single enemies or in groups of two, three, and four. They are also mixed in groups with other monsters. You will earn 54 experience points and 726 gold by defeating a single Gold Golem. They sometimes drop, or you can steal from them, Gold Bracers and Gold Rings. This trick only works if there is a combo of one or two Gold Golems and one to three Tap Devils together. This is also a risky tactic, because Tap Devils have the ability to confuse members with their Fuddle Dance and kill team members with their Death Dance. Start by killing any Gold Golems first, then allow the Tap Devils to cast the spell Kerplunk. If this is successful, they will revive the fallen Gold Golems, and the Tap Devil that cast it will die. Then, kill the Gold Golems again. You will earn double the experience and gold, as if there were two to four Gold Golems, instead of one or two.
Faster alchemy cook time
Alchemy cook times seem to be based on the number of steps taken. To speed up the process, begin a recipe in a town and run in place against a building or object; corners seem to work best. Your recipe should be ready in a little less than two minutes.
Thief’s Key
In Farebury, go on top of the church (where the bell is located) and get the Thief’s Key recipe. On the ship (just after you defeated the sea monster), search around to find the Bronze Knife. Talk to Trode to get the Alchemy Pot. After you get to Peregrin Quay, go to the Inn and talk to the man with the black hood. He will talk to you about his days as a thief, then give an Iron Nail. Once you have acquired all the items, put those two items (Bronze Knife and Iron Nail) into the Alchemy Pot. Wait a while until it makes the Thief’s Key.
Rare equipment
Save rare equipment early in the game. Do not get rid of items you do not know where to buy or make from alchemy, because you might not get them for a long time again; and that will prevent you from making some of the better equipment early in the game.
Old equipment
If you get new equipment, do not be steadfast to sell the old. Some of that equipment can be used in the alchemy pot for better items. For example, Bandit’s Vest + Bandanna. It is not an overall great item to turn out, but it can be useful in the very beginning. Also, a normal Boomerang + Iron Nail = Reinforced Boomerang, which is one of the better boomerangs which can be acquired very early.
Cheese
At the beginning of the game you can talk to the Troll that lives in a house on a hill behind the waterfall cave. He will ask you to get his bag by a red tree. The first thing he will give you is eight pieces of cheese. You can go back to him later in the game to get some special cheeses (Cured, Angel, and Mild). Those cheeses will help you with the more difficult Bosses in the game.
Milk
Talk to any cow on the field to get a free bottle of Fresh Milk.
Seeds
Keep seeds for a save point. If you only gain 1 for a stat, you can reset and use the seeds more wisely. Also, use the seeds on characters that need the stat. For example, do not use a Strength seed on Yangus, or a Magic or Wisdom seed on Jessica. If you do so, be warned — some characters will be overall weaker if their weaknesses are not compensated.
Statues
Once you get to Rapthorn’s Castles and must go in the circle, just before you get to him, look behind you when you go down the steps to go in the circle. You will see a Yangu, Jessica, Angelo, and The Hero statue. Also, when you look at The Hero statue his head will be gone.
Determining item upgradability
When trying to figure out what items to sell to make extra money, unequip any item you have then go to the alchemy pot. Any item that is darkened cannot be used in the alchemy pot, thus you know that it is safe to sell. This is especially helpful after you make items and you are not sure if they can be upgraded again.
Dancing monsters
Go to the battle records in the menu, then choose the defeated monster list. Select any monster that you have defeated (for example, the Monster Slime). Press X to make him wiggle or Circle to make him do other things. Try doing this with all the other monsters.
Hit hero’s head on the ceiling
Buy a Cheameara Wing and use it inside a building to see the hero hit his head on the ceiling.
Casino items
Spend the indicated number of Tokens at that Casino game to obtain the corresponding item:
- Agility Ring: 1,000 Tokens at Pickham
- Falcon Blade: 10,000 Tokens at Baccarat
- Gringham Whip: 200,000 Tokens at Baccarat
- Liquid Metal Armor: 50,000 Tokens at Baccarat
- Magic Water: 100 Tokens at Pickham
- Platinum Headgear: 5,000 Tokens at Pickham
- Prayer Ring: 1,000 Tokens at Baccarat
- Rune Staff: 3,000 Tokens at Pickham
- Saint’s Ashes: 5,000 Tokens at Baccarat
- Silver Platter: 500 Tokens at Pickham
- Spangled Dress: 3,000 Tokens at Baccarat
- Titan Belt: 1,500 Tokens at Pickham
Dodgy Dave trades
Trade the indicated item after Dodgy Dave opens his special shop to get the indicated item:
- 500 gold: Trade a Special Medicine
- 1,200 gold: Trade a Reinforced Boomerang
- 6,000 gold: Trade Robe of Serenity
- Bandit Axe: Trade Ring of Immunity
- Big Boss Shield: Trade Crimson Robe
- Happy Hat: Trade Sandstorm Spear
Monster Arena awards
Get the indicated rank at the Monster Arena to get the corresponding award:
- Bardiche Of Binding: Rank B
- Bunny Suit: Rank F
- Dragon Robe: Rank S
- Hero Spear: Rank A
- Hero Statue: Rank S
- Mighty Armlet: Rank D
- Ring Of Clarity: Rank E
- Saint’s Ashes: Rank C
- Strength Ring: Rank G
- Call team ability for hero: Rank E
- Fight against your team option: Rank F
- No entry fees: Rank S
- Second monster team: Rank B
- Three more reserve monster slots: Rank D
- Three more reserve monster slots: Rank G
Mini Medal purchases
Give the indicated number of Mini Medals to Princess Minnie to get the corresponding item:
- 28 Mini Medals: Fishnet Stockings
- 36 Mini Medals: Posh Waistcoat
- 45 Mini Medals: Staff of Divine Wrath
- 52 Mini Medals: Gold Nugget
- 60 Mini Medals: Meteroite Bracer
- 68 Mini Medals: Miracle Sword
- 75 Mini Medals: Sacred Armour
- 83 Mini Medals: Orichalcum
- 90 Mini Medals: Metal King Helmet
- 99 Mini Medals: Dangerous Bustier
- 110 Mini Medals: Flail of Destruction
Defeating Metal Slimes
In the medical shop, buy the Holy Water. When in-battle with Metal Slime, choose command item and use it on the Metal Slime. It will always do 1 damage. Do this four times for Metal Slimes when you are at levels 20 to 25.
Final Fantasy 8 reference
Angelo shares the same name as Rinoa’s dog in Final Fantasy 8 .
Final Fantasy 9 reference
Alexandria is the name of the Castle where Princess Garnet used the summon to protect herself form Bahamut in Final Fantasy 9 . In Dragon Quest 8 , that is the name of the town where you meet Jessica.