Ok, for those of you that thought the Chanterless Maze was huge, get ready, cuz the game just keeps getting bigger! This area is known as the Upper West Plains, and there is a LOT to do here, so prepare yourself for a lot of fighting, and probably a few game over screens. I think I went up a few levels just making this map, and I found a lot of things that I didn't see the first time I played the game. The first time I played the game I wasn't even a high enough level to fight Tamara the Witch at this point, so I guess I did well this time around, lol. Ok, well there's a lot to cover so let's get started. Here's a rundown of the map locations.
Location A: This is where you come out of
Mizabrandeau after finishing the Chanterless Maze. You can enter the Fairy
Town anytime by going through here as well.
Location B: Tamara the Witch. If you are low level when you
reach her, she will laugh at you and tell you how weak you are, but if you're a
bit higher in level, she'll challenge you to a fight. If you win, she'll
reward you with something cool, if you lose, it costs you 5000 gp. The
cool thing is that if you lose, you will gain 60 XP and she will revive you,
teleporting you back to Rillia.
Location C: This Weaponsmith sells nothing but Golden weapons and
Armor. You can't sell anything in here, just buy.
Location D: A Father and Son live here, and if you talk to the
Father he will warn you about the Tangar Mountains being perfect for an ambush.
Location E: 5 Lizardmen are hiding in this rose bush.
Location F: If you search this travelling merchant's home, you will
find 1 Tonic Tea.
Location G: This Fishing Area is one of the places in the game
where you can fight fairly quickly to gain levels. When you go to the
spot, and choose to "fish", you'll fight a series of battles before
Coryool tells you that you've killed all of the fish. The first round you
will face 4 Cave Piranha and 2 Half Sharks. Second round you will have to
fight 1 Cave Piranha and 3 Half Sharks. Third round gives you 2 Half
Sharks and 1 Octohuge. In the Final round of fighting you'll have to fight
2 Octohuge. You can "fish" at this spot a couple of times before
it disappears, but ...if you leave the Upper West and come back, sometimes the
spot will be there again:)
Location H: A very "happy" married couple lives in this
home. The only thing of interest you'll find might be some of the books on
the shelf, lol.
Location I: Dan the Bread Cooker sells a special bread, Succulent
Bread, which can heal you and give you 1 MP. For gaining MP back, however,
you're better off using Whale or Fairy Peppers. If you search the barrels
in the shop you'll find 3 Breads.
Location J: There's a boy hiding in this tree (Jack??)...
Don't forget that as you'll need to find him again for a later sidequest.
Location K: The Path to Glory is the "only" save point in
the plains, or so the owner says.
Location L: The Trout and Porcupine Inn will let you rest for 80gp.
If you talk to the old guy in the corner he will tell you a "secret"
about a hidden cave in Merthuns.
Location M: Geddy's Weapons seems to be vacant, but if you go up to
the counter and hit the book, Geddy will come out and try to sell you some
stuff. At least you can also Sell stuff at Geddy's shop.
Location N: This bush comes to live and you're attacked by a rather
vicious Monstrous Wine. The XP and gp just don't seem to be worth how hard this
guy was to kill at this stage, lol.
Location O: In Landstalker's supply shop you can buy/sell supplies,
while hearing rumours about the infamous Balthus Cave, guarded by the Balthus
Golem. You'll also hear about the guy in the plains who almost never loses
an arm-wrestling match.
Location P: If you go out to this spot, someone will tell you to
leave. If you don't, you'll have to face the Noble Guardian of Twin
Sisters Island of the Lone Beach. Defeat the Guardian and you'll get
Golden Wave Armor.
Location Q: This is the entrance to Merthuns' Cave, the one the old
man in the Inn was telling you about.
Location R: Gudar's Church is where you will find the key to
Gudar's Manor.
Location S: Gudar's Magnificent Manor, where you'll have to face
the ghost of the man himself.
Location T: If you ignore the nearby sign and disturb the Lionine's
in their lair, you'll have to deal with 3 rounds of battle. In rounds 1
and 2 you will face 5 Hungry Lionines each time. The last round you'll
face 4 Hungry Lionines and 1 Queen Lionines. Sadly, the only reward is the
gp and XP you get from the battles.
Location U: Talk about an ambush! If you walk into this spot,
you'll disturb a nestful of Harpies. Belive me I thought they would be no
problem after the first round but they just kept coming and coming and they got
stronger each time. There will be 4 rounds to this fight. Round
1: 3 Harpies, Round 2: 3 Harpies and 2 Harpy Queens, Round 3:
2 Harpy Queens and 1 Harpy King, Round 4: 1 Harpy - 1 Harpy King - 2 Harpy
Queens and 1 Harpy Archmagister. After this fight might be a good time to rest
and save your game!!
Location V: EVERY time you read this sign you will read the same
thing: "As the journey ended, all looked to the sky"...at which point
you will be ambushed by 3 rounds full of enemies. Round 1: 3 Plain
Dwarves and 1 Wolfen Rogue, Round 2: 3 Plain Dwarves and 1 Wolfen Rogue,
Round 3: 2 Plain Dwarves and 1 Wind G Octo
Location W: This counter was set up to help people who are stranded
on this side of the Tangar Mountains because the bridges are out.
Searching around you will find Misty Chainmail and 551 gp.
Location X: This is the entrance to the Tangar Mountains.
Location Y: Prepare to be ambushed by 5 Lizardmen.
Location Z: This chest contains a "HUGE SPIDER"....just
kidding...Coryool finally gets a cool weapon in the Magnus Fists:)
Location 0: Charly the slime offers to serve you if you will just
bring back his sexy fiance Wendala.
Location 1: After defeating the Balthus Golem, you will find a Raw
Scaloide and be able to enter the Balthus Cave. I wouldn't if I were you
unless your levels are really high though. The Balthus Cave is the hardest
Cave in the entire game, according to some.
Location 2: Balthus Cave - the "hardest" dungeon in the
game.
Location 3: Yet another ambush, this time by 6 Jungle Crotale.
Location 4: If you did your homework and talked to everyone
everywhere you've gone, you will remember that Gudar tried to steal the Barandos
DaMuhl, a fabulous sword, from Barandos the Red, and was killed for his
insolence. You will also remember that it was Gudar that stole Leanda's
Orb. Well, if you beat Barandos the Red and his Dog, you'll not only get
the fabulous Barandos DaMuhl, but you'll get Leanda's Orb as well!
Location 5: In Josh's house not only will you find Mithril and 433
gp, but he will challenge Coryool to an arm-wrestling contest. In order to
win, Coryool will have to be a very high level (I'll tell you how high when I
find out:) If you read the plaque behind Josh, it says, "Josh
6541 Victories, 12 losses." Your job is to become number 13 on his list!
Location 6: If you search this Oasis, you get to see Sarah in her
bathing suit, and you can also find 13 Ice Teas, 990 gp, and an Amethyst.
Location 7: Althar will tell you what happened to the town of
Pallalaa, and about the dreaful Minotaur King Orfuls. Search his house for
a Dwarven Mace.
Location 8: The Minotaur that lives here tells you that he's hiding
from Dorado, Orfuls little brother. 26 gp are hiding in here too.
Location 9: The Minotaur town of Capul is the southern capital of
the Minotaur Kingdom, and is headed up by Orfuls' little brother, Dorado.
Location 10: Mark calls his shop "Delicious Meals From the
Ocean". Well I don't know how they taste honestly, but they are very
good items to buy. Whale can be used 4 times, which means that if you buy
99 of them you get 396 uses out of it! Whale, Shark, and Trout can all
heal both HP and MP.
Location 11: Patre Magnusson the Thaumaturgist will create a
Teleport for you for 10,000 gp.
Location 12: The Oracle can save your game, Tell you some of the
prestigious victories you've had, and even perhaps tell a little bit of your
future.
Location 13: From the time that you step on this spot until the
next time you rest at an Inn, your entire party will be sunburnt, and you can't
heal it without resting at an inn. Sunburn not ony saps your health, it
really saps your MP. So until you can rest at an inn, make sure you've got
plenty of healing items on hand and that you are ready to fight a lot of hand to
hand combat.
Location 14: The town of Pallalaa used to be a nice little town, until
the Minotaur King got ahold of it. Now it's full of ghosts and goblins,
and even girls named Wendala!
The first thing you might want to do, if you think you're up to the task, is go get Leanda's Orb from Barandos the Red. Once you return her Orb to her, she offers to join your party. Leanda already has a lot of good equipment, and she's a powerful mage, but her health and defense are very low. I used her from this point on when I first played the game and she became a valuable character, but for the walkthrough I'm going to continue using Random, Sarah, Luciana, and Coryool. Where you go from here is up to you, but I'm going to finish everything in the area I can, perhaps except for Balthus Cave, before going on to the Tangar Mountains.