Game 16: Dungeon Magic: Sword of the Elements (NES) - Unlocking the Magic

There's something intriguing about a game that allows for exploration and discovery. It's part of what I consider a good RPG. Alchemy and runes have a mysterious nature that lend themselves to this wondrous aspect. But, as tempting as such a system is to investigate, the experience is sullied when there's very little feedback. Such is the case with Dungeon Magic's magic system, but I'll get to that shortly.


Last I left the game I was told to seek out the wizard in Bell. In exchange for my newly enchanted sword I was offered earth magic. I tried to take the sword instead to the fairy magic wizard in Granville, but he refused. Earth magic allows me to heal status ailments. This magic is necessary for the next dungeon.

If that's all you're offering I guess I don't have a choice

At the next town, Sull, I was directed to the Galess Maze where I was to find a ring of flight. The worst enemies in this game are the magic wielding ones. While my physical shield is powerful enough to block nearly all damage, my magic shield blocks only a quarter. In addition to that the spells have chance to darken my vision, paralyze, hurt, curse, or poison. Poison is what the enemies in this dungeon did. Without a way to rid myself of it, it would mean certain death.

Where's my poison spell?

I continued to notice the majority of my time was taken up by mapping. So, I decided for the next few dungeons I would hug the wall and hope for the best. Eventually I should get fairy magic which has a map spell.

The HP difference is starting to scare me

With the ring of flight I found myself floating up to the island of Temrass (according to the map). The only point of interest here was a cave. Townsfolk of Sull suggested I'd find a ring of sight that would allow me to see something currently invisible. My plan worked well and I found the ring in only one loop of the cave. Stepping outside I found a fortress that wasn't there before.

Okay, now it's getting a bit ridiculous

I recklessly charged into the Versus Temple. Everything was going well until I managed to get myself killed. Isn't that the way it usually goes though? I forgot that my character gets weaker the longer I stay away from an inn. It also doesn't seem to be a gradual weakness. This is another area where there isn't enough feedback to make good judgement calls. Luckily I hadn't lost too much time.

These guys cast darkness

My second attempt went much smoother with a rest at the inn between the cave and temple. I found an already enchanted sword at the bottom of the temple. Returning this to Sull allowed me to learn the magic of the fairies. Finally I had the ability to display the current map, my character's stats, and the enemy's stats. I was a little underwhelmed when I saw I could only see physical attack power and defense.

Every sword I'm finding is apparently a sword of Magi

I was next directed towards Gran where there was mention of a sword frozen deep in the forest. I remember seeing a strange figure, statue, possibly frozen object in the forest. It was easy to find again. I tried a spell from the fairy magic I had just received and managed what I believe was a fire spell. This shattered the ice and left a sword in its place.

Boom!

I was fairly certain this was the fire sword. Taking it to the flame spout nearby enchanted it with fire magic. This was by far the easiest sword and magic to obtain. Why, if they were all this easy I'd probably be done by now. Only wind magic left.

And enchanted a mere 15 steps away

Going from plot point to plot point seems to only require going to the nearest town, and then being directed to another town. Alternatively, if you're already in the correct town, then you'll get a slightly cryptic NPC suggesting something you've never heard before.

Why do I want this flower?

The Darius Maze near Zandor was fairly easy, and I picked up the flowers without much trouble. Returning to town I received no more clue about what to do with the flowers, and instead was directed to Deirus. In Deirus I was told of a Legendary Temple under the sea south of Bell. Well, I guess that's my next sto... wait; how exactly do I go under the sea?

The map shows monster locations as M, treasure as T, and points of interest as solid squares

It seems one of the spells in the game allows me to either walk on water or possibly breathe underwater. Well, that's simple enough; I'll just try every spell I can. Of course that's easier said than done.

It's a daunting task to say the least. There are 5 types of magic, of which I have 4. Each type has  4 runes; one is shared between all magic, so really there are 3 per type. The one rune shared by all magic if used first seems to always cast the same spell. Each spell can have one, two, or three runes. That means there's only 12*13*13 + 12*13 + 12 possible spells: 2196 spells if my math is correct. Luckily I only got as far as two rune spells inside the same type of magic before I found it.

Octopus!

The majority of magic spells seem to be attack spells, but there isn't a noticeable difference. Some look like fire while others look like ice. There are purple ones, green ones, and sometimes yellow. Do any of them have status effects, lower enemy attack or defense, or take advantage of elemental weakness? I found six different shield spells, but I don't know if they increase physical or magical defense. It's interesting that so far all the attack spells have had a unique animation.

Well, I wasn't going to spend more time with spells than I had to, so off I went to the underwater temple. There I found formidable foes; in fact a foe so formidable it forbade further forward progress.

This guy wasn't too bad, but I'm only doing 20 damage

This guy on the other hand took 1 damage from my spell and 0 from physical attacks thanks to 201 defense

I was at a bit of a loss for what to do; I searched the temple as much as I could, avoiding the dragons. Eventually I came to a point where all paths were blocked. I needed to find a way past. I tried magic, but even a 10 HP spell only did 1 damage. The book hidden within will remain until I find my way.

I tried other dungeons, but so far they've all proved more than I can handle. I hadn't been avoiding combat, so I don't think I'm under-leveled. In fact, I ran through the floating island dungeons twice so if anything I should be a level ahead. Maybe there's a spell I'm missing that would be really helpful at this point.

Doing 51 damage and taking 2

Math checks out, it seems combat calculations are very basic

The problem with playing such an obscure game on such an obscure blog is I can't really reach out for help the way Trickster and Chet do; however, if there just so happens to be someone that can point out what I'm missing I'd be grateful for the assist. It's either that or I try to grind some levels and test more magic. Both are something I'm sure viewers wouldn't exactly find fascinating. As I see it though I'd have to double my damage to even have a chance at killing a dragon.

Session Time: 4h55m (Total Time: 9h11m)