Ok. Now to the game. You start out with nothing equipped; no spells, armor, weapons, and nearly no money. You will be by a town and castle. If you go to the castle, you’ll only find that the princess has been captured and who did it. There is an invisible person in the room where the scholar is who will say different things throughout the game. From the bottom right corner of the room, the person is 1 step up and one step left. After the castle are six towns. They are all the same town. Go there, get equipped with weapons, armor and spells. Talk to people to learn more about the princess if you want. Inns will restore all of your HP and MP and will also save your game. Even if you don’t stay there, your game will be saved if you enter the Inn. After equipping your things, leave the town. Before doing anything up north, you should walk around the forest area to get to at least Level 2. I suggest getting to Level 3. Now that you have some more money, go back to the town and get the spells that you probably couldn’t before. Go to the Inn to restore HP and MP if needed.
Now you are ready to go rescue the princess. Go northwest until you see the Temple of Fiends. After you enter the temple, go left until you see a room. In the room is the Cap. Equip it to your weakest character. Leave the room and go north till you see another room. This will have a Heal Potion and a Cabin. Now go to the large center room. Garland is pretty easy, so don’t bother using magic on him unless you don’t have good physical attack power. After you defeat him, go to the back of the room and talk to the princess. She will warp you back to the throne room in Coneria Castle. Talk to her and she will give you the Lute. Now talk to the king and he will have a bridge built so that you can continue. After leaving the castle, go directly north and you will see the bridge. When you cross it there will be a big happy interlude saying "What will happen next?" and will show some credits.
After all of that is done, go north and a little west until you reach Matoya's Cave. Watch out because there are Creeps and Ogres in this area. Once you enter the cave, pass through the door and get the treasures. You can walk over the skulls on the ground. Talking to Matoya, you find that her Crystal has been stolen. If you talk to the brooms you'll see the they say "...tceles B hsup. A magic spell?" Kinda obvious. When in the overworld you can hold "B" the push select to get a small overworld map. It points out all of the important places you can go. After leaving the cave go southwest until you pass the rivers then go east. After a bit of travelling you'll reach the city of Pravoka. Pravoka has been invaded by pirates. On the northwestern corner of town you will see a pirate. Talk to him and nine pirates will attack you. They are easy with low defense and medium offense. When you beat them talk to the pirate again and he will give you his ship. Now the townspeople return to Pravoka. Get better armor, weapons, and Level 2 spells here by sailing around and defeating monsters in the sea. Don't bother fighting Sahags, they are too hard and don't give much GP and Exp. Points. Red Sahags are worth fighting, though.
Now head west past Coneria and then northwest. When you land on the port that you will see, go southwest on foot till you reach Dwarf Cave. In one of the northern rooms you will find two treasure chests with a lot of GP in them. You can talk to the dwarves if you wish but there won't be any info to useful now. Go back to the port and head south until you reach land. Follow the coastline east until you reach Elfland. If you go the castle you find that the prince has been put under a sleeping spell. Go to the town now for better armor and weapons and Level 3 & 4 spells. Walk around the town and castle for GP and Exp. Points. I highly suggest getting Lit2 if you have the Red or Black Mage. If you don't have either, you'll probably need to gain a few more levels. Also get many Pure Potions, for there are many poisonous creatures in this area. Now you are ready for Marsh Cave. You'll need to make two trips here unless you are feeling lucky, overly confident, or are an experienced player. Marsh Cave is located west of Elfland, but there are mountains blocking a direct route to them. You'll need to make a loop around them, so use your quick map (B & select) as a reference. Once inside Marsh Cave, go north until you see a set of stairs. Go down them and find all treasures in this room, which are mostly weapons and armor. Go back up the stairs and back to the entrance. If you want to be risky, keep going south and ignore the path going east. If not, go back to Elfland and stay at the Inn, get more Pures, etc. Back in the southern most part of Marsh Cave, you'll see a room with stairs inside. Take the stairs and head south and a little west from that room. Ignore all other rooms until you hit the south wall following a row of alternating colomns. (Confused? Just go south.) Once at the wall, go east into the closest room. There won't be anything in it but if you look closely you'll see a door in the southeastern corner. From this door you'll see a set of stairs going down. Once taken, you will be in a huge room with lots smaller rooms in it. There are many treasures here, so go to all of the small rooms (some will be empty). When you reach a room with a chest surrounded by wierd stones, heal your party up (if you are using the Red Mage, be sure to save at least one Level 3 spell for Lit2). Go to the chest and you will be attacked by usually three or four Wizards. You cannot run from them unless you get the "chance to strike first." They each have 90 HP. Using Lit2 will take care of most of them. Once you defeat the Wizards, open the chest to get the Crown. Get any treasures you missed and leave Marsh Cave. Go back to Elfland and get any armor, weapons, or spells that you couldn't before. Also go to the Inn.
Now you are ready to defeat Astos. Leave town and head west until you reach the mountains and follow them north until you see a river with a castle by it. This is Northwest Castle. Go here and wander around until you enter a room with statues of dragons and a throne with a "king" sitting on it. Talk to him and he will reveal himself as Astos. He is fairly easy but will use Rub on you. When you beat him you will get the Crystal. Go back to your ship by Elfland and head North till you reach land (Coneria). Follow the coastline northeast until you reach the bridge. Go under it and go north a little. Land at the port and go north on foot until you get to Matoya's Cave again. Talk to Matoya and she will give you the Herb. Now go back to Elfland and talk to the prince in the castle. He will wake and give you the Key. Leave and enter the castle again. Before you move, go directly right and follow the outside wall up until you reach a room. There will be four treasure chests in the room. Now return to the Northwest Castle and go into the other room for three chests. There will be Images and Mummies in front on the chests but you can open them from the sides without having to fight them. Go back to Marsh Cave and into the bottom floor for the locked doors. There are also locked rooms that you can open in the Temple of Fiends, Coneria Castle, and Dwarf Cave.
You should go to these last three places in the order that I have listed. There are (I think) three good swords here: the Rune Sword, the Were Sword, and another. If you have the Thief, give him the Rune Sword. The main thing in Coneria Castle is the TNT. When you go to Dwarf Cave, give the TNT to Nerrick who is at the very bottom of the cave. Also at the bottom is a large room with various items, among them is the Dragon Sword (very good). When you leave Dwarf Cave you will notice that a small strip of land to the south has been blown away. Now you can sail your ship to most parts of the Overworld. If you go west from the hole you'll reach Melmond, a nearly destroyed city. Here there will be good armor (particularly the Steel Armor) and Level 5 spells. After getting equipped with better armor, walk around a bit and gain some levels and GP so that you can afford the spells. After this you should head for Crescent Lake, which is on the other side of the map. It's easiest to just "go west to go east" to get there (see map). The monsters around Crescent Lake hard but give good Exp. Points and GP. Once in Crescent Lake, get more armor. If you go to the very top of the town and then go right, you'll find a path leading to the Circle of Sages. These men will guide you on your quest throughout the early part of the game. You probably won't want to wait around fighting monsters to get enough money to buy the Level 6 spells there (you can't learn most of them yet anyway) so head back to Melmond. Once there, head southwest along the coastline until you see a cave. This is Earth Cave, the location of the first Fiend.
A quick note: on the first floor there is an arm on the very west side that is completely populated with Giants. Every step you take here you will be attacked by them. This is a good place to gain Experience and GP. Anyway, search around for chests on every floor of Earth Cave. The following is the locations of the staircases leading to the next floor/basement: F1, east side; B1, southeast corner; B2, center (covered by plate); B3, northwest corner. Once you get to B2 you will find the Vampire. He is in the center room. Use Fir3 on him, if you have it, to kill him in one hit. If you don't, he might be a little more challenging. Once you beat him, open the treasure chest to your left to get the Ruby. Leave Earth Cave now. Once you have, head back north then go west until you see another cave. This is Titan's Tunnel. Go in and give the Titan the Ruby. He will let you pass now. At the bottom of the cave is a room with a few treasure chests. Now go directly up from the room and you will see a staircase going up. Follow the path south and enter Sarda's Cave. Talk to him and he'll give you the Rod. Go back to Melmond to rest and to get any spells that you haven't gotten already. Go back to Earth Cave and all the way back to B2 where you faught the Vampire. At the back of the room there should be a path leading to a plate. Use the Rod on the plate to reveal the staircase to B3. Find the staircase to B4 (northwest corner), the last floor. You'll find a room on the west side with a greenish blue orb. Talk to the orb and Lich, the Earth Fiend, will appear. Use Fir3 on him for effective damage. He has 400 HP. Once you beat him, go up to the altar to light your orb and take one more step up to warp out of Earth Cave. Go to Melmond to recover you HP and MP. Now return to the Circle of Sages in Crescent Lake. Talk to one of them (I'm not sure which, but I know it's one on the bottom right) to receive the Canoe.
