CONTROLS
-----------------
You move around with the direction-arrows, interact/select with Enter, call up the character-menu with TAB.
This is an evil game of lazy developers, so you don't get minimap, which is unfortunate.
You also can run, but it doesn't effect anything, this is a turn-based game, so either don't bother, or set to "always run".

NOTE: the controls are true, except when you go to the Options menu (sound volume, which is not a slider, just 3 stages and mute). To quit from that menu, you have to press X. No idea why. I suspect a bug.

character menu
---------------------
The "Chat" function is useless unless you are dong multiplayer.
Status brings up your character-sheet. Nothing interresting here.
Fight: DO NOT USE THIS. This initiate a random encounter.
Equip brings up the equipment-menu. It is clunky, meaning you don't get to check your whole backpack at once, you only see what applies to the currently selected character. Each character can wear weapon and armor, and that's it. Every item-categroy has 5 "level" of equipments, they are most of the time straight upgrades.
SAVE is not intended to be used, but you can do it now any time. You don't get healed when using this method to save.

On the character sheet interface you can also see how many gold, potion and battles are left. Gold you can spend in the shops, potions are used to heal during battles, and battles tell how many random encounters and scripted battles are left in the current area. This area-system can get complicated, I'll clue you in later.

You also collect DragonDuck Dolls. How many you found can be seen in the MAIN MENU when you select New Game -> Dragonduck Mode. You only have to collect 7.

CHARACTERS and character-progression
---------------------------------------------------------
You start with Dem, who has
Weapon:
1 - Sword: 20 STR, 10 VIT
2 - Iron Sword: 40 STR, 20 VIT
3 - Katana: 70 STR, 40 VIT
4 - Giant Sword: 100 STR, 60 VIT
5 - Excalibur: 150 STR, 25 MAG, 25 AGI, 100 VIT, 50 WIL
Armor:
1 - Bronze Shield: 10 VIT
2 - Iron Shield: 40 VIT
3 - Mirror Shield: 20 MAG, 20 VIT, 30 WIL
4 - Energy Shield: 20 STR, 60 VIT
5 - Aegis: 30 STR, 30 MAG, 70 VIT, 40 WIL
Swords and Shields are the only equipment-type this character can wear.

Attack: physical, 1 hit, ... power (the power seem to incrise by the turns of the battle. I'm not sure if this is a bug and only the monsters are supposed to get stronger, or as intended)
Tech:
Multi Strike 5 MP, physical, hits 1 enemy 2 times
Deathblow: 10 MP, physical, 1 hit, combo boost&break (this means it adds 1 to your combo total, hits, then resets the combo total to 0)

Sara starts with:
Weapon:
1 - Staff: 10 STR, 10 MAG, 10 WIL
2 - Mystic Staff: 10 mana, 20 STR, 20 MAG, 20 WIL
3 - Death Staff: 20 MP, 30 STR, 40 MAG, 40 WIL
4 - Merlin Staff: 30 MP, 40 STR, 60 MAG, 60 WIL
5 - Caduceus: 50 MP, 50 STR, 90 MAG, 90 WIL
Armor:
1 - Pretty Ring: 10 VIT
2 - Strong Ring: 50 STR, 20 VIT
3 - Health Ring: 50 HP 30 VIT
4 - Speed Ring: 50 AGI, 40 VIT
5 - Magic Ring: 50 MAG, 50 VIT

Lita
Weapon:
1 - Handgun: 10 STR, +1 hit
2 - Shotgun: 20 STR, hits all enemies
3 - Rifle: 70 STR, ignores defense (probably change to this when encountering bosses)
4 - SMG: 20 STR, 2 hits on random enemies (if there is only 1 enemy, it hits that twice)
5 - Laser Gun: 80 STR, +1 hit, ignores defense
Armor:
1 - Glasses: 10 MAG, 10 VIT, 10 WIL
2 - Geek Glasses: 20 MAG, 20 VIT, 20 WIL
3 - Heart Glasses: 40 MAG, 20 VIT, 30 WIL
4 - Cute Glasses: 60 MAG, 30 VIT, 40 WIL
5 - IQ Glasses: 80 MAG, 40 VIT, 50 WIL

Erik
Weapon:
1 - Axe: 30 STR
2 - Hideous Axe: 60 STR
3 - Bloody Axe: 100 STR
4 - Giant Axe: 130 STR
5 - Chainsaw Axe: 170 STR
Armor:
1 - Suit: 20 VIT
2 - Fancy Suit: 40 VIT
3 - Silver Suit: 60 VIT
4 - Gold Suit: 80 VIT
5 - Platinum Suit: 100 VIT

TROLL DUNGEON
--------------------------
2 scripted battles (includes the boss-battle)
200 gold
4 potion
The dungeon is easy to comprehend, no map needed.

WORLD MAP
-------------------
200 random battles. SPEND AS LITTLE TIME ON THIS SCREEN AS POSSIBLE, as the monsters later are stronger, what also means worth more EXP.
Head to the nearby city Paladennus (you can see which location you are at on the character sheet's bottom).

PALADENNUS
--------------------
There are 3 NPC outside houses, none don't tell anything crucial (or what you can't get from this guide). Did I mention this game's designers were lazy?

Weapon Shop:
Iron Sword: 80 g, 40 STR, 20 VIT. Buy this, as I did not find the swords for Dem for some reason.
Mystic Staff: 150 g, 10 MP, 20 STR, 20 MAG, 20 WILL
Iron Shield: 90 g, 40 VIT (you will find one soon)
Mirror Shield: 140 g, 20 magic, 20 VIT, 30 WILL
NOTE: for some reason you can't just ESC from shops, you have to toggle to the "Exit" option.

House next to the Weapon Shop:
Dragonduck Doll (1)

The Happy Skull (tavern):
you get your first companion, Sara, who is a "mage" and a "ghost". Neither category will effect your gaming.

House att he south: has 2 NPC, tells you info you cna find in this guide.

Inn: you can save here, which also refills your MP.

Pottery: you can by your usual "tavern info" here for 10 gold. It just tells you htere is a dungeon on the NW (your main quest leads you to E). Spare your golds I say, or spend for roleplaying reasons. Doesn't effect the game.
On the upper floor it has a locked door with a chest in the room, no idea if you can access it or not later.

UPDATE: I cam aaall the way back, and none of the locked chest can be opened. Lazy.

Go NW.

SECRET CAVE 1
------------------------
10 battles
Strong Ring
Hm. Now either the Dragonduck Dolls' location is random, or depends on the difficulty-setting, as now (playing normal) none of it is here unlike before (on easy).
Oh, the map is a simple circle with two inward alcove.

Fo east.

GRAVEYARD PASS
---------------------------
battles: 25
first go east to a chest with 180 gold. Then go back, and head north. GP is made of multiple areas, the battle-counter applies to all, not each.
Also, don't bother with the graves, they are inconsequential, and each GROUP of tombs have only 1 version of text, what is just lame.
Go north. Don't thnk too hard of the Grim Reaper fading out, it's just flavour. At the junction go west for a chest (150 gold).
Follow the road (you get back to the first area, but you went around a chasm), then at the junction go north for some potion. Head back then and follow the road to part 3 of GP.
You get to a 4-way junction. S is empty. North is a chest with 100 gold. West then south nets you the Iron Shield. Continue on and SAVE at the mirage. And if you are playing on harder than Normal, you definitely want to 0 the battle-counter! Well, if you aim to score high maybe AFTER the boss-encounter wwhich is actualy an ambush when you walk W -> E amongst that row of graves. I mean this boss is kinda easy. The game do gets harder in the later stages though.
NOTE: if you hit "Fight", it does lower your battle-counter.

When you are done, just enter the city-in-site.

LUFESTOPOLIS
-----------------------
Dead and Breakfast: your tavern. It has a locked chest, maybe I'll come back with later characters to try to open it.

Weapon Shop:
Weapons:
- Katana, 400 gold
- Shotgun: 750 gold (defnitely buy this, it'll be a long while until you find a better gun)
Armor:
- Health Ring: 600 gold (you'll find one, so don't waste your money)
- Speed Ring: 700 gold
- Geek Glasses: 600 gold (you probably want to buy this for Hard+)

the rest of the city is useless. Leave the town, pass 1 bridge, go south, enter the dungeon.

SECRET CAVE 2
------------------------
10 battles. So, uhm, there is a boss, but seems scripted battles are not part of the counter after all. Hm.
This dungeon is definitely not easy, so either come back later, or don't be ashamed to regularly go to the last city to patch yourself for MP. Uhm, well, come back later either way. The boss just instakilled me :D
Btw, if you manage to beat the boss, you get Death Staff.

HARD note: you won't beat the boss here until you've beaten the next area.

Pass the 2nd bridge, and enter the Small Ruins, another multi-part area.

SMALL RUINS
--------------------
30 battles
Go west for a chest with 900 gold. Go back and pick up Lita.
Follow the road, and when you spot a chest get behind the house and open it (700 gold).
Keep following the road, and when you spot another chest (4 potions) don't forget to pick it.
When you enter Small Ruins 3 (has a save-mirage) go north to get the Health Ring. In the next area you'll meet the boss. It is some kinda robot. SAVE before trying.
In SR2 there is an 500 gold chest on the west side. Go find it: when you reach the east side you can go through a ruined building's door.

Tip for the boss: it respawns the minions, so concentrate on The Boss.

To continue simple head north, but as there is a side-dungeon head East first (cross the bridge north).

SECRET CAVE 3
------------------------
battles: 10
Heart Glasses

For mapping it's a big spiral, and that's it.

TIP: concentrate on the back of the row, not the puke-zombies.

WATER CAVE
-------------------
battles: 35
The map starts to be more complicated here. Do not go left (unless dragonducks are random and want to check location). The next junction is whatever, it's a big O leading to the same place. Follow the road, and you'll stumble into an intersection while going north. The northern option soon turns out to be a dead end, so skip. Going left at the next junction leads you to the next sub-area, so go east instead for a brief time for a chest of 5 potions.
The next time you have to choose pass the left side of WC2 is an O with a path leading inward from the top, where there are 2 chests (500 gold, 3 potions).
In WC3 going east at the entrance is a short dead end. At the next occasion go west to pick up the Rifle from a chest. Go back and follow the road. Take note on where the exit will be, and continue in this area, we have chest to loot (500 gold).
WC4 is where the boss awaits (a dragon), and you probably too have plenty of battles on your counter, so zero it down before trying (at least definitely on Hard. For Easy I mostly did what was absolutely necessary, and on Normal I feel I have plenty of leavway still).

On the Overworld there is one direction only you can go, so follow that to the next city.
NOTE: I've encountered some Bigfoot on normal, and it almost liquidated my entire team, so you will have to equip that rifle at this point to be safe(er). Can't wait to try this on Hard.

HARD NOTES: the "Escape From Battle" spell seems to be VERY handy starting with Hard. Sure, you can do most battles, but if you have a 5-enemy encounter with 3-5 blue spiders, I just couldn't figure out how to solve that problem (without exhausting probably all the overworld batlle pool).

MOTHERBOUND
------------------------
The first house on the left is entirely useless, and is so lazy it even has 2 doors, pretending to be 2 flats! The chest there is to troll the player, don't bother touching it.
Angry Flower Inn is your local inn.
In Bone Apetite (nice pun) you hear about The Chainsaw Axe, but this rumour is less than useless. (Foreshadowing: it'll cost a fortune to buy it.)
The weapon-shop sells:
Giant Sword: 12,000 gold
Merlin Staff: 15,000 gold
Bloody Axe: 8,000 gold
Cute Glasses: 18,000 gold
Gold Suit: 60,000 gold
NEITHER of these are endgame items, and you definitely will find a free Gold Suite later (and those things barely offer any stats anyway), but even if they will play a larger role on Hard or Hard+, you still probably want to buy that Axe, because very soon you'll get your 4th companion, who only has tier 1 axe, and will only find tier 2 axe, while the area you find him will be "a bit thougher" than the game was until now.
When you are done shopping, head to the castle and get imprisoned. Yes, you can see 2 caves on the Overworld, if you try to enter, you'll be turned back from both right at the entrance.
If you talk to the castle-guards they throw at you reference-humour - guess how much a newer generation of players will care, or even notice this.
I suggest to make an ARCHIVE SAVE.

BUG REPORT: I bought the axe, went grinding on the overworld, and when I went to the Prison, I did not have the axe! I had to go back grinding for money!
PS: You cann ot buy multiple copies of items. The shop will say "you already have this item" instead of charging you.

PRISON
------------
15 battles
After getting arrested you immediately recruite the 4th party-member. Don1t worry about him being lower level, he'll catch up eventualy (the 3rd and 4th character's exp-need will be proven less than the 1st and 2nd characters on later levels.
Oh, just so you know, you only gain new and varied abilities / option for stat-improvement up to level 30. Then both of your choices will be the same: a flat +10 all stat.
WARNING: I better tell you this, as this remake was made so lazily, it does NOT ask you wether to overwrite a save-file or not, so it happened I accidentaly overwrote my Easy-safe, so I can't just check what the other ending is. But yes, the game does allow you to play after completion of the story, but there is no reason to, as there are no quests, subquests, collectibles, or like anything to do.
This is OF COURSE a multi-area dungeon again. Prison 1 is easy, there is no possibility for deviation. Then comes the more complex part: multi-screen areas, corners and junctions make this the first real hard-to-navigate maze. As the possible number of battle is that low though, there is like zero chance not using them all up, so at least there is that.
But first going north leads you to only the Hideous Axe (in chest), for which you likely bought a better alternative, so go east. Don't worry about the statues, they do not come to life - though they "foreshadows" a possible enemy in the dungeon. As always it doesn't matter which sub-area you are, all enemies in the dungeon can occure.
Follow the corridors, and obviously do not go up the stairs, but go the other way. On second thought skip that, going south only leads you to one of those untouchable chests.
Now we reached Prison 5 (according to the character menu), and we face our first real dilemma which way to go. At the first junction it doesn't matter, north is the forward option. Second time go left for a chest with the Fancy Suite.
North leads to two dead-ends, so go east again.
WARNING: good or bad news, but in Prison 8 you get another 15 battles to exhaust!
I'd really like an Encyclopedia to know what monster is voulnerable to what element, because those Executioners hit HARD.
Stay in Prison 8-9 to use up all your battles, continue only then.

About the auto-running: it is disabled if:
- you hit the on/off of the function (obviously).
- you hit the "run now" button
- you walk into a save-mirage

Next you arrive to Castle Wall 1, which is still part of "The Prison" section of the game. You get 3 battles. These battles last for all sections of the wall.

Eventualy you get back to the castle-area, and this must share battles with one of the previous sections (not the wall), but I don't think we lost like anything, so just explor around. Loot:
- chest: 5,000 gold
- chest: 4 potions

Tip for The Usurper: seems the minions do not respawn, but that 3-hit ice-storm-spell will eventualy take care of them anyway, so focus mostly on the boss. For Easy, or even Normal Hael+ might be enough, but Hard you likely want to use Regenerate by Erik ASAP on the party-members who are getting hit initialy. Also Puke on the first turn, the king is not immon to the effect!

Now leave the town and go south (you'll be turned back if you try to go west. But with a new dialoguebox, so might as well check it out once in your lifetime.)

Oh, despite freeing The Prince (Erik) no dialogue is changed in the town, the developers were that lazy. Not even at the entrance of the castle, who asks "Where is the prince?" Yes, this lazy they were.

UNDEATH MOUNTAIN
-------------------------------
battles: 20
Go west for a potion (everything is in chests, obviously).
Next crossroad south is a dead end. Grrr. Next time going west at least gives you a chest (SMG).
Now you are back on the Overworld and have to pick a cave-entrance randomly. If you go west - that's a dead end.
The next cave is a tunnel -> a circle -> a tunnel. While NOTHING is inside. This game can be VERY boring and uninspired.

Tip: the "ghosts" are the weak enemies here, don't worry about them. On the other hand you can't really do anything about crabs, they are damage-sponges, so always leave them last.

If you guessed going east now the way forward you guuessed right, still go that way for the Energy Shield.
NOTE: all the cave-tunnels here share the same battle-pool.

Now in the last portion of this travel stick to the east and go around, so you won't get lost, and even stumble into the only chest of the sub-area, containing Silver Suite.

HARD NOTE: this area was patheticly easy. Sure, always concentrate on the bigger enemies at the end of the line, but that's it, no ability needed.
Also, after this, or even just the Prison the Overworld-fights in the zone fell back to the usual "press A". Too bad the real good abilities (teamwork, Regenerate+, Drain+) only came very late-game.

LANGSONG
-----------------
battles: 20 (way too little for this multi-area sector)

TIP: bandits (no matter what colour) tend to run away from fights. You can't do anything about it, but plan accordingly: if you feel strong, aim all your power on the first in the line and hope to kill it before it runs. If you feel weak, target them last and prioritise on the other threats.
On the other hand fear the little dragons.

When you get the first chest (4 potions) on your left, head south at the junction to reach it. Don't forget to explore this route full (go back and east) to get the giant Axe.
North is how you further your progress.

Langsong 2 Sub has nothing to explain.

Langsong 3
There is Magic Ring in the NW corner here, and somewhere in the middle of the area 1 gold. I let you discover how exactly get to there.

SEWER
-----------
15 battles (this will definitely be bottomed out)
This will be a really annoying area, and we are actualy just taking a break in the middle of Langsong!

At arrivel go north, and follow the passage to a chest (Caduceus). From here go aaal the way back to the entrance, and this time keep at the south side following the passage to the west to the next screen. There keep at the south edge and go west even to the west border, then go north but not at the edge of the screen, but one before. Follow this passage to the east until you find a chest with a Gold Suit. Backtrack to the west edge, and go north. Follow the trail along the north edge to a ladder.

LANGSONG ... AGAIN
-------------------------------
If you guessed this area shares the battle-pool with the previous L-section, you are tight, so stop worrying about random encounters and explore! Not that there is much to explore now. Just go north, pick up the mcguffins, and fight the Twin Tank boss! Then you are teleported back to the last town.

OVERWORLD (heading to the final dungeon)
--------------------
TIP: when you see the Grey Golem know they are like absolutely resistant to ... physical damage I assume. Use "Unite" ability of Dem to oneshot them.
Also, those java-mages can be as much a pain as those dragon-younglings before, so maybe save regularly.
I had plenty of battles left for the Overworld, 180 to be precise when I've reached the Endboss' HQ. Enter it.

LABORATORY (first visit)
---------------------
WARNING: when entering watch you aim straight the gate. Once I got stuck on the pixels, and had to quit and reload!

At the entrance area there are no battles threatening you, so go ahead and talk to the vendor. You can buy:
- Chainsaw Axe: 60,000 gold
- Platinum Suite: 150,000 gold (I agree, this price is patheticly ridiculous, but what else to spend your gold at this point, right?)
I had 220,997 gold at this point on Normal. More on Easy as I did not had to buy anything on that difficulty.
Note that you are just short on cash, you can sell your lower tier equipment. Obviously do not sell your best stuff, I bet you can not buy back your stuff, plus the price-difference would be hugh anyway.
Exit, and head further east.

BUG REPORT: here when I first arrived on Normal I stepped on the save-mirrage, and then could do nothing. The cursor did switch between ok and cancel, but did not accept enter on either, so I had to force shutdown, and reload from the last town.

DRAGONDUCK LAIR
------------------------------
battles: 20
This is an entirely optional dungeon with a simple zounds-of-HP boss, who has Excalibur. That's why we came here.
TIP: if you get low on mana, crawl back to the Laboratory for a quick refill.

WARNING: standing at the entrance, before the line where the dialogue at the first entering comes up, when facing a battle, the battle-counter will NOT go down! Dang it!

LABORATORY (second visit)
---------------------
battles: 50
These battles pose like no real challange, but they are highly disorienting. Here is the most efficent way to explore and loot:
From the start go left, and stick to the west side until you reach a horizontal corrior with dead ends on the north side. One of those will have a chest with IQ Glasses. From there keep going east until you can only go south. You'll find another chest, this time with 20,000 gold. Go back north, and this time head north on the east side to get to Lab 2.
Seems Lab 2 has new random enemies - who cares, they die all the same, and we are already past level 30. You can go one way until you don't. There sticking to the west wall leads to the next area eventualy, and if you go past that, you'll find no less than THREE chests! First stick to the east edge going south to find the Aegis. From there head back north, and at the first instance go west, then south right after to find the Laser Gun. Then go west at the SECOND occasion, and in a dead-end corridor to the north is 25,000 gold. I assume all this goild is for those who bought a bunch of stuff in the last city, so need cash.
Now if you turn in the FIRST occasion to the west you get back to the first split of the road. I'm not trying to describe the pass from that direction.
Sooner-or-later you'll reach a save-mirage. When passing it, you'll face "yourself", aka. Your Evil Clones. They are pathetic, but I thought I'll mention it.
The area behind that (Lab 3) will again have some new enemies it seems - they are no harder than the fart-clouds and zombie security guard, so who even cares, right? Sticking to the east side you'll find a chest with 30,000 gold. Either in the NW or NE corner you can get past to the next area (Lab 4). I suggest the west as you immediately will stumble into a chest with 5 potions. In case you didn't figure out Potions are last-chance items to save you from having to reload when you notice you'll just loose a battle.
Now stick to the south side of the place and go all the way to the east for another chest, this time with 15 potions!
NOTE: at the east and west edge this place has 2 Sub-Labs, which has nothing in them. They literaly serve no purpose.
Anyway, go back west, to the NW corner for 50,000 gold! Not that there's anything to spend it at this point. Go east, and you'll find another save-mirage obviously marking the Final Boss Encounter. Save.
Now just head north to talk with the old man (obviously the Big Bad Boss of the game.
BUG: if you stick to the east side of the room, your movement will be blurry.
Doc Brown offers you a choice: give him the fuel for the time-machine, or not. Now that I'm looking at it, you have no option to deny the things from him, because programming in another ending would have been work, and this developer has neither fantasy, nor work-ethic, just uninspired lazyness.
Crap, if you look through all your abilities, you realise most are crap, and only a handful is programmed right to rise with your comboes and your level and stuff. Here is the list of the important skills:
- Dem: Teamwork (or Heroism, I assume), Attack Stance+, Blade Dance, Deathblow+
- Sara: Freeze Blast (slows a single enemy down, good against bosses), Hailstorm+ (good damage, multishot to boost your combo), Research (maybe. Boosts your magic power), Heal+ (also pick up the passive that makes it not break combo)
- Lita: Comp Virus (ok damage, ignores defense), Drain Life+ (potential), Call Bats/Wolves (that damage per turn is VERY useful)
- Erik: Regenerate+ (all party gains regeneration until the end of battle), Puke(+): poisons the target (if applicable), Smash+ (it's like its normal attack, but stronger)

Score Attack Mode is entirely pointless, as:
- the Epitah always keep track of your highest score anyway, and even on Score Attack you are not told what your score would be if you beat the next boss at your current level, so the only thing it offers is to know your score at any moment, what is just none cares.
- also, as the Epitah seem to only record the highest difficulty you have beaten, and that according to the order of the menu is Hard+, means you won't get an extra line for beating the game on Score Attack. Even worse: neither for Dragonduck Mode, what is an entirely different game!
- also, a bug, or more like design-flaw for the dev being lazy any not think things through, the Epitah will keep track of your HIGHEST character-level when beating the game, not the LOWEST, what we all know is nonsense.

NOTE: the most dragonduck the game will keep track of 8shows collected) is 10, even if you find more (I definitely found an 11th at the very least).

----------------------------
----------------------------

DRAGONDUCK MODE

Grab the coin, and heal with the heart. Go south 2 screens to the city, and exchange the coin to the sword.

There is no character-menu, TAB will reset the game which is very annoying bad design.
There is also no option to save at all.

Follow the road north, enter the cae, and grab the magnet. Follow the road to the next city - you can't miss it. Put down the magnet somewhere, and go back for the Sword and the Key.

The enemies do not respawn.
The function of the Magnet is twofold: in case you put your stuff into an unaccessible tile, OR the harpie steals an item of yours. The Harpie is randomly flying through the screen, if it touches you it takes 1 life, if it touches ani tem it grabs it and flies with it. Annoying, but not too much. Also immortal, so don't try to fight it.
Another untouchable enemy are the ducks in the ponds which shoot at you. No, you can not harm them either.

Now go west, and nring with you the Key. You'll enter a Dragonduck Nest. This one has the Bomb in its cave. The Bomb after like half a second explodes, and damages not just where it is but also in 4 directions (N-E-W-S). The Draongducks do NOT harm you just by touching you, so you'll have plenty of time to blow it up (takes like 2 hit or something.

Now continue, and eventualy you'll find the Blue Coin. Go back to the 2nd city and buy the Blue Sword. Leave the Key and the Magnet behind, also the first Sword is useless too now. You'll need to Bomb though to blast some rocks going north. You'll need the Bomb once more int the future.

If my memory serves right now, you'll accumlate the Gold Key and the Red Coin, and fight the 2nd Dragonduck (just use the Blue Sword, it's more effective than the bomb). The Gold Key opens the Castle in the 3rd Town, and the Red Coin buys the Red Sword. This is your endgame items by the way. Every sword is twice as strong as the previous if you wanna know.

There's one more dungeon/area, which has some dark-grey key (I suspect only out of obligation, as there's not much distance to carry it to use it), unlocking the 3rd Dragonduck, which guards The Crystal. Bring it to the Castle, and that's it. I hoped for 7 Dragonduck Boss, but this mode only has 3, because the dev was again lazy. There's alson o save-point, and as suspected the game could care less if you beat this mode (no Epitah-record).

----------------------------
----------------------------

Hard+
From previous playthroughs I know the females do NOT benefit rom additional mana, they'll eventualy have way more than they can consume. Also, Sara at the start can do no magic, and the healing is NOT useful lacking HP, or serious damage. So I just focus on STR. Sidenote: giving extra mana to Dem once of the levelups instead of some flat statboost can be a good idea.
When arriving to the 1st town I bought Mirror Shield (had only 260 gold). With this headed to the NWern cave, and came back with 463 fold. After selling my lower-grade equipment this went up to 496 gold, so I bought the weapons (289 gold remains).
The cemetary was smooth. Required attention, but nothing comlicated. Character-level at the end: 12/11.
Picked up the vampire-lady asap, got the chest, fought minions, ran to the city occasionaly to heal, fought the bosses when I saw fit. Leaving the area at 16/16/16.
Arriving the 3rd city my levels are 19/19/19, and I'm 16K gold short to buy everything in the shop. I'll grind to be safe.
For the grinding i could solve 3 blue spiders (that +25% DEF ability on Dem is actualy needed on Hard/Hard+), but 5 Blue Spiders is a RUN! scenario, so you should get the 100% escape ability, and watch your MP-amount. I mean why risk it.
Finished in the 3rd town at 23/23/23/22. The difficulty compared to other games was equal. I expect smooth sailing from this point.

Oh, on Dem: he is awefully slow, so any chance getting AGI is a good opportunity. Erik is also slow, but he can't truly catch up (still, give him AGI over VIT, being a bit faster is still a chance).
For the women: Sara's prime attack will be Hailstorm, so definitely need MAG during the second half of the game, while Lita will use Snipe Shot and as soon as can access it Compression (or whatever that is), so there I assume STR is the key factor.

Final notes on skills:
Dem:
- normal attack is decent
- Multi-Strike is somewhat useful in the first half of the game, but lacking later any use. On easy/normal it might be worth for boosting your combo, but that's it.
- Deathblow: ok skill, but on harder difficulties you'll find that it being physical makes it seriously lakcing, and will only be used in random battles with very low charges in the middle portion of the game, where enemies can be oneshotted with it with minimal charges.
- Atk Stance: it's a good skill. Very good actualy until Hard+, where you won't afford the upped version. Still nice though.
- Blade Stance: costly, but does ok damage, and hits 4 times boosting combo. Especialy useful if you picked up somewhere along the way a single +MP levelup option.
- Holy strike: costs too much, have no idea how its element effects its effectiveness, and doesn't seem to use any kind of synergie - thus useless. The alternative at that level equaly this bad too, so just pick one and move on.
- Fireball: actualy doesn't matter if you pick this or its alternative. You'll find barely any use of it. Seems it synergises better with your magic-stat, so maybe pick this, even if you only use it early game, and maybe against some early golems.
- Rain of Fire: the base skill is kinda pathetic, but at almost 30 clevel you'll have an option for +40 magic, so picking the improved version actualy does domething. I mean like 100-200 damage every turn that bypasses defenses, is not entirely bad.
- Rally: on Easy/Normal just pick the passive defensive boost, but if you play Hard(+) definitely pick this one, and even get the upgrade. It makes survival almost ensured.
- Battle Cry: I rarely used it, so it is up to you wether you want this as passive or active skill. But if I remember correctly, you can't have improved defense and attack boosting in the same playthrough...
- Teamwork: this skill is just magnificient. Mana every turn and statboost on top of it for the entire party? Don't even look at Heroic, it isn't competition.
- Fire&Ice: good against golems, and even has kinda decent damage, especialy it ignoring defense.
- Bone Storm: pathetic damage compared to Fire&Ice, and does not bypass resistances.
- Cross Slash: I think I can always to more damage using the characters individualy, and this even only damages ONE opponent, what makes it look like a joke.
- True Love: never used, never had to. Comes too late.
- Death Breath: the damage is pathetic, doesn't synergise with anything, so entirely useless. And the game seriously want to use all four character for this one!

Sara:
- regular attack is the only useful skill for you for a long while, and you'll even pick up an extra attack as passive for it, for the alternative is crap. Not that you'll use it much after like the first third of the game.
- Rasearch: it makes your magic hit harder. I did not find it THAT useful, but it is an inbuilt skill, so sure. Also: cheap.
- Boo!: a useless status-skill
- Blessing: +25% agility for the whole party. It is especialy useful early game against bosses. After like 2/3rd of the game it becomes unnecessary, but until that it IS useful.
- Hailstorm+ B: this is the character's prime attack if you ask me. Pick this version, as it hits "random enemies", meaning it'll hit 4 times at ever use, no matter how many enemies are there. Hitn: bosses!
- Freeze Blast: you don't need to upp this, but it is useful to slow down bosses with its -25% AGI. The damage is nice on top of it, though can not compete with Hailstorm. But if you just need to hit that particular enemy, this is not random.
- Heal: there are two versions when upping this, I always pick the revive-option. Otherwise you'll have to use potions. You should decide wether you add the passive which makes this not break combo, or the Heal Wave skill which heals everybody in the party. I also add the passive "heal ailments" too (I think it cures poison or something, as other statuses only last 1 turn - btw, poison is not a big deal).
- Heal Wave: see above
- Escape B: aka. run from battles. You'll be forced to pick this skill, so pick the 100% one, and be sure you have enough mana to use it. On Hard(+) it is mandatory (unless you are save-scumming of course).
- Holy Blast: similar to the holy skill Dem gets - and equaly useless.
- Relic: when you use this, gives 100% attack to Lita. I don't think it worth skipping a turn with both characters though.
- Gas!: in theory poisons all enemies. I think at the point you get this, all enemies are already immun to poison...

Lita:
- regular attack is kinda weak, but you'll pick up extra hit passive(s) to it, so it becomes cometitive with the others. (the other levelup options stink)
- Sleep: useless status effect
- Sniper Shot A: nice damage until you get Comp Virus which is the same just stronger. I always pick this version for the "ignore defense" attribute.
- Seal: useless status effect (and I don't even have idea what it does)
- Blind: useless status effect (not sure what it does, although I suspect all statuses just make an enemy skip a turn)
- Comp Virus: hits like a truck, and for Lita the cost of use is almost negligeable, so it'll last your battles, and make Lita kinda the most valuable member of your party.
- Drain Life: I practicaly never use it. It's not cheap, doesn't hit hard, no extra hits, and can't compete with other sources of healing
- Zap: a single-target weak spell. Maybe I used it somewhat in the Junkyard, but not sure. I think the alternative (element: earth) is supposed to work on either mechanical things or on undead better... Can't tell, point is I suspect they are supposed to work well on half the possible enemies.
- Lightning: low-mid all-enemy damaging spell. I felt it more than its counterpart Avalanche. Anyway, I found it SOME use when I wanned to eliminate big (5-enemy) groups very fast (used on top with Dem's Fire&Ice).
- Call Wolves/Bats: the Wolves hit harder, the bats build your combo a bit more. Both hit all enemy every turn after casting. Definitely pick one. Il ike bats on Easy/Normal, and Wolves on Hard(+)
- Death (or some other equaly useless skill, which I think is a combo-breaker): the idea is fine, but the success-rate in reality is too low (even against 5 enemies not always does anything), comes too late, and I think immunity against it also exists
- Cover Fire: whatever
- Scorned Love: Erik gets +100 attack. But Lita is just so much superb...

Erik:
- regular attack is kinda weak, especialy for his stats, and when the character comes... Still, better than nothing.
- Smash+: keep it simple with this one, hit 1 enemy, no statuses, so it works as a "me hit big" attack. Btw, if you pick up a +MP option at some levelup, you won't even have to worry for running out of MP with this.
- Call Horde: considering the price, that it's physical, only hits once, and its pathetic damage... Forget it.
- Puke: NEVER upgrade it. The ONLY time you will use it is the Usurper in the town's castle where you hire this dude, everything after is IMMUN to it. Still, as it comes with the character, against Usurper it is kinda good.
- Regenerate+: pick the heal-everybody version. This is just an uber-spell, even worth picking up some magic-points for it (with stronger magic it heals more).
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My times:
- Easy: ca. 4.5 hours (I pushed head first, not emptying battle-pools, but discovering dead-ends and such)
- Normal: ca. 9 hours (I exhausted battle-pools without using the Figh-button, aka. running up-and-down)
- Hard: 6.5 hours (cleared all battle-pools except the Overworld using the Fight-button, also backtracked for the locked chest, and grinded some around Town 3. Remaining Overworld Battles: 130)
- Score Attack: not applicable
- Dragonduck Mode: if you figured out what to do, approximately half an hour
- Hard+: ca. 5.75 hours, but why bother, the Epitach does NOT make notice of this achievement.

Some more bugs:
- sometimes the save-mirage does not work, or you are stuck in its menu. To escape, bring up the character-menu. The save from there always works.
- sometimes the cursor suring battle splits and whatever. Weird. But no, you won't cast 2 skill at the same time.
- sometimes the cursor during battle refuses to go "up". Fortunately there the cursor cycles over (it does not during shopping)
- some skills are programmed to deduct the correct MP, or shows you incorrect MP to be substracted. Eg. Teamwork supposed to cost 20 MP, but it actualy costs 30.
- some skills also make no sense, as when you are choosing when leveling up the two version costs the same, does the same, but one is very noticeably less effective. I guess the programmer fucked it up, and the menu simply does not share the full information, but who knows at this point.
- it'd be really good to now what skills are effected by the combo-counter, stats etc. Some seem to be not effected at all. I call them useless skills obviously, as without synergi they do practicaly nothing.
- some skills are marked "combo+". No idea what that means. I suspect the combo-meter applies more for them, but zero idea how much more.

And a bit of other complaint: why can't I check my battleskill outside of battles?