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An old game, but a classic, Dragon Force still piques the interest of players,
whether it's due to nostalgia for the Saturn, or just being drawn to the rather
different gameplay of this strategy-RPG. It even has secrets that are still
being discovered long after its release twenty-odd years ago.
This will be the first of a series of mini-guides intended to give detailed
information. Today we focus on the several types of items, and where they can
be found.
TABLE OF CONTENTS: For easier navigation, I'll precede each section and
subsection with a code that looks like this: ~X76JT. If you want, you can use
the browser Search (ctrl+F) and input that code as the search entry, so that
you can get to where you want more quickly. Or not... it's really your choice.
Section 1. A quick overview. ~X10QV
Section 2. List of items. ~X20IL
Section 3. Castles and their items. ~X30CI
Section 4. Sundry advices. ~X40AD
The legal:
Copyrights:
Dragon Force and related trademarks: c1996 Sega
English language version: c1996 Working Designs
This FAQ: c2016 R. Sturdevant. This may not be reproduced under any
circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any
website or otherwise distributed publicly without advanced written permission,
except as noted below.
This work may not be sold without the express written consent of all
interested parties.
Websites authorised to use this FAQ:
- Gamefaqs.com
- sandokiri.com
During the Domestic Affairs portion of gameplay, characters of 70 Intelligence
or higher will have the option of Searching or Fortifying the castle they
currently occupy, with the exception of your chosen protagonist. Fortifying
tries to upgrade the castle's level, and is not of interest to us for this
guide.
Instead, we will be focusing on Searching and trying to find items.
Early in the game, the Search has a fairly high probability to find random
officers that may or may not join your army; on occasion, this may include
officers that "glitched" out due to their monarch being recruited into your
forces. While these are available, the only way to "fail" a Search is if you
find one who fails to join; but after they dry up, a failed Search will give
a distinctive message saying so.
Now, as one massive in-before: there is a cheat (holding X during any
transition to the Domestic Phase) that allows you to spawn a single copy of
every item in the game (including glitched items called Ruined Treasure and
Rotted Treasure, which do nothing.) As this cheat can be repeated in every
Domestic cycle, it allows systematic maxing-out of stats and troop accesses,
removing the need of virtually anything here.
Naturally, I'm assuming that you are not using the item spawn cheat, and are
instead seeking this information for regular play.
There are 47 equipments and 19 consumable items in the world of Dragon Force.
Not all of these can be obtained by Searching, however.
This section will describe all of the items according to their function, user
list, and locations.
If you'd rather look at the drop table for your current castle, please go to
~X30CI instead.
*The stats*
This guide uses the actual "hidden" values for item bonuses; the reason is
because for STR and CMD, the user-facing values are 3/5 (round down) of the
actual values. This can lead to strangeness; for example, when starting in
Highland, Wein gets "Atk Pwr +4" from a Soul Buster, but Rudger gets +5. The
reason this happens is the rounding-down of the 3/5; since Rudger actually has
76.8 Str (128 ATKP) and gains 4.2 Str (7 ATKP) from the Soul Buster, he
appears to get a fifth point of Str.
- ATKP = Attack Point. Corresponds to STR.
- LEADP = Leader Point. Corresponds to CMD.
- INTP = Intelligence Point.
- DEFP = Defence Point; a -1 bonus reduces damage taken.
- CHUSEIP = Chuusei Point; loyalty.
*The castle sets*
Each nation has has several castles that share the same drop table, sometimes
with minor deviation. These are as follows:
HI: (Highland) Highland, Galfiel, Maryware.
FA: (Fandaria) Fandaria, Bloodly, Ginan, Stoic, Estonia
F0: Fandaria without Estonia (4 items)
MP: (Palemoon) Palemoon, Orvue, Claystal.
IZ: (Izumo) Izumo, Eternal.
TP: (Topaz) Topaz, Galfiel, Roguewar.
TR: (Tristan) Tristan, Blazart.
TD: Tradnor
BO: Bozack
TV: Travan
WZ: (War Zone) Starfall, Nikeral, Mikeral.
If a castle or unit is named, the item is found only on the named sources.
COINS and Dragon Statues will not call out locations; this is because the
coins are found in all locations that don't only have one item, and the
Dragon Statues are in all such locations except Travan.
----------
WEAPONS:
All "weapons" increase ATKP (AP).
Item | JP name | AP | Users | Locations
-----------------+----------------+----+--------+----------------------
Mars Blade | Mars Gear | 5 | Ft, Kn | HI, FA, TR
Soul Buster | Soulbuster | 7 | Ft, Kn | F0, IZ, TR
Psycho Sword | Psycho Sword | 10 | Ft, Kn | HI, Junon
Gaia Sword | Gaia Sword | 12 | Kn | Sophnik
Eclisis | Eclixis | 15 | Kn | Zanon
-----------------+----------------+----+--------+----------------------
Murasame Sword | Murasame | 16 | Sa, Ni | Nikeral, Hayate
Kusanagi Sword | Kusanagi | 10 | Sa, Ni | FA
Moonbeam Sword | Gekkou | 6 | Sa | FA, IZ
Phantom Sword | Yoto Shiranui | 11 | Sa | Zagat
Moon God Sword | Shingetsuto | 8 | Sa | IZ
Kamui Blade | Kamui | 14 | Ni | Royal, Shione
-----------------+----------------+----+--------+----------------------
Dark Axe | Majin's Axe | 10 | Fi | F0, TP
Thunder Axe | Thunder Axe | 8 | Fi, Be | F0, TP, BO
Igneous Axe | Ignis Axe | 12 | Fi, Be | Sardia
Earth Axe | Earth Axe | 11 | Fi, Be | FA, BO
Javelin | Javelin | 5 | Kn | HI, FA, TR, TD
Battle Spear | Battle Spear | 6 | Kn | HI, FA, TR, TD
Rune Lance | Rune Lance | 12 | Kn | Ayrios
Magical Lance | Magical Lance | 13 | Kn | Presto
-----------------+----------------+----+--------+----------------------
Beast Claw | Beast Claw | 5 | Mo, Be | TP, BO
Wicked Claw | Death Claw | 8 | Mo, Be | TP, BO
Dark Claw | Plasma Claw | 12 | Mo, Be | Litonia
Death Claw | Mistral | 15 | Mo | Ogrekeep
-----------------+----------------+----+--------+----------------------
Jeweled Rod | Jewel Rod | 6 | ** | FA, MP, TD, TV
Magical Rod | Magical Rod | 8 | Wi | Tradnor
* Jeweled Rod can be used by wizards, priests, and spirit users.
------
DEFENCE GEAR:
All of these items give DEFP-1, which reduces damage taken.
These items raise LEADP (LP) by the specified amount.
Item | JP name | LP | Users | Locations
-----------------+----------------+----+--------+----------------------
Valhart's Charm | War God Charm | 5 | All | FA, TD
Dragon's Eye | Dragonseye | 10 | Be | Claystal, Katt
Emerald | Emerod | 12 | SU | MP
Goddess Tear | Goddess Tear | 12 | All | MP, TV
Astea's Ring | Astea's Ring | 13 | All | MP*, TP, TD
True Ring | Tohru's Ring | 15 | All | Danyan
Ambition Ring | Ambition Ring | 10 | Mo | Gunner
* Claystal has Dragon's Eye instead of Astea's Ring.
* Katt can use Dragon's Eye despite not being a Beast Fighter.
* Gunner can use Ambition Ring despite not being a Monk.
----------
INTELLIGENCE EQUIPS:
These items grant INTP+1 (INT+6,) which is useful for pushing 64-Int
characters up to search/fortify rank... but only in a limited set of classes.
Item | JP name | Users | Locations
--------------+--------------------+--------+----------------------
Wisdom Armlet | Chieftain's Bracer | Th, Ni | IZ
Sage Bracelet | Sage's Bracer | SU | Laine
Wisdom Armlet | Wisdom Bracer | Wi | Shaia
* That's not a typo; there are two Wisdom Armlets in the English version. The
second is ONLY found on Shaia, who can use it despite being a Priest.
---------
CONSUMABLES:
These items go away when used, but have a permanent effect.
Item | JP name | Effect | Locations
-----------------+----------------+---------+----------------------
Strategy Runes | Strategy Book | INTP+1 | HI, IZ, TR, WZ
Ancient Runes | Ancient Book | INTP+1 | HI, FA, TD, BO
Virtuous Runes | Book of Virtue | INTP+1 | HI, MP, TP
-----------------+----------------+---------+----------------------
Astea's Herb | Astea's Soul | N/A | HI, MP, TP, TR, TD, BO, WZ
Dragon Statue | Dragon Statue | HP+3 | All but Travan
Astea Statue | Astea Statue | MP+1 | HI, MP, TP, TR, TD, BO, WZ
Faith Coin | Faithful Coin | CHUP+45 | All
Bravery Coin | Brave Coin | ATKP+3 | All
Honor Coin | Honour Coin | LEADP+3 | All
* Astea's Herb removes the Hospital status from an officer.
CRESTS:
These are a special case of consumables that grant the first level of the
specified troop type. "All except" still excludes the castles that have
single drops (unless, of course, the single drops ARE crests, as in the
castles Stalwart, Magicka, and Crystal.)
English | Japanese name | Troops | Locations
--------+---------------+---------+-----------------------------
Dragon | Dragon Knight | Dragon | WZ, Crystal
Soldier | Soldier | Soldier | All except Tradnor and Travan.
Honor | Knight | Cavalry | All except IZ and Travan.
Arrow | Bow | Archer | All except FA and MP.
Magic | Magic | Mage | All except Tradnor.
Samurai | Samurai | Samurai | IZ, TR, WZ
Cleric | Monk (Souhei) | Monk | All except HI and Travan.
Flying | Flying | Harpy | TR, Travan
Spirit | Ghost | Zombie | Blazart, Stalwart, Magicka
Savage | Beast Soldier | Beast | Blazart, Bozack
As for the Dragon Force artifacts:
- The lesser artifacts all give LEADP+15.
- The greater artifact gives ATKP+12 if the Cane, +15 otherwise.
Section 3: The castles and their item distributions.
As several castles share distributions for the most part, you'll want to know
what region a castle belongs to; or you can just search for the castle's name
in the following information blocks.
All three COIN items are found in every castle that does not have only one
item; and except for Travan, this is also true of Dragon Statues. As such,
these will not be called out in the list.
----------------------
HIGHLAND:
- Castles: Galfiel, Highland, Maryware.
- Number of items: 18
- Equips: Mars Blade, Psycho Sword, Javelin, Battle Spear
- Crests: Soldier, Honor, Arrow, Magic, Cleric
- Items: Strategy Runes, Ancient Runes, Virtuous Runes, Astea's Herb,
Astea's Statue
- Notes: Highland is the only region that has more than one of the INT books;
it has all three. This gives you a good chance of quickly building up your
roster of available searchers.
----------------------
FANDARIA:
- Castles: Bloodly, Fandaria, Ginan, Stoic. Estonia appears to have a few
omissions, but otherwise uses this pattern.
- Number of items: 22 (18 for Estonia)
- Equips: Mars Blade, (Soul Buster), Kusanagi, Moonbeam Sword, (Dark Axe),
(Thunder Axe), Earth Axe, Javelin, Battle Spear, Jeweled Rod, Divine Shield,
(Sacrifice Shield), Gauze Armour, Valhart's Charm.
- Crests: Soldier, Honor, Magic
- Items: Ancient Runes
- Estonia does not have the items in (parentheses).
- Notes: If you want to pull from the Fandaria table, Estonia is probably your
best bet, due to removing some of the "chaff." However, if you're willing to
put up with the Topaz/Izumo war zone, **Nikeral** is a better option.
- Notes: There's some contradiction in the info that's out there, as to
whether Izumo region has Astea Statues; if so, this would be a boon, as it
would offer Astea Statues without Astea's Herbs.
----------------------
TOPAZ:
- Castles: Gasparl, Roguewar, Topaz
- Number of items: 17
- Equips: Dark Axe, Thunder Axe, Beast Claw, Wicked Claw, Astea's Ring
- Crests: Soldier, Honor, Arrow, Magic, Cleric
- Items: Virtuous Runes, Astea's Herb, Astea Statue
- Notes: This area can be mostly ignored. Nearby Ogrekeep only searches for
powerful Death Claws, while the gearless Starfall is right next door.
- Note 1: Blazart also has Spirit and Beast (ie, all but Dragon.)
- Notes: Quite simply, Tristan is a better Fandaria, with less gear (but you
don't care about the weapons, since the strong Gaia Swords are pulled from
Sophnik,) less armour, and a wider selection of crests. Starfall is STILL
better, but you'll do fine in the frozen northlands.
----------------------
THE WAR ZONES:
- Castles: Nikeral, Mikeral, Starfall
- Number of items: 17 (18 for Nikeral)
- Equips: Murasame (Nikeral only)
- Crests: ALL
- Items: Strategy Runes, Astea's Herb, Astea Statue
- Notes: With no gear drops (or just Murasame, but that's the best katana,)
these three castles are ideal for power-up searching. The downside to them is
that they are hot spots for AI activity if the nearby monarchs are able to
deploy to them.
----------------------
Bozack:
- Number of items: 16
- Equips: Thunder Axe, Earth Axe, Beast Claw, Wicked Claw
- Crests: Soldier, Honor, Magic, Cleric, Savage
- Items: Ancient Runes, Astea's Herb, Astea Statue
- Notes: You're right next to Sardia (Igneous Axes,) Litonia (Dark Claws,)
and Mikeral. Compared to all of that, Bozack feels a bit weak.
----------------------
Tradnor:
- Number of items: 18
- Equips: Javelin, Battle Spear, Jeweled Rod, Magical Rod, Tempest,
Gauze Armour, Valhart's Charm, Astea's Ring
- Crests: Honor, Arrow, Cleric
- Items: Ancient Runes, Astea's Herb, Astea Statue
- Notes: Tradnor is the ONLY castle that carries the Tempest Rod, an item
which allows Mage officers to get a DEFP bonus.
----------------------
Travan:
- Number of items: 9
- Equips: Jeweled Rod, Shogun Armour, Goddess Tear
- Crests: Arrow, Magic, Flying
- Items: ONLY the coins (not even Dragon Statues.)
- Notes: While this is a narrow gear set, it's mostly quality, and can be
focused by your searchers.
This is a sundry list of advices for how to "shop" for the best items for
your roster via searches.
----------------------------------
*The more the merrier*
Only the 10-officer limit restricts your ability to search any given castle;
any success will not affect other searches' odds, so you want to post ten
searching officers in key castles.
-----------------------------------
*Highland is a library*
Highland, Galfiel, and Maryware allow you to get all three sorts of book, in
contrast to literally every other castle in the game. This results in much
faster INTP growth for your army, and more searching.
-----------------------------------
*Command is the key stat*
We're playing Dragon Force, not its sequel; the more LEADP your officers have,
the easier time you'll have. Since spells have a fixed performance, and you
should never be duelling if you can help it, ATKP shouldn't be as useful.
In other words, you're better off mass-pulling True Rings instead of Gaia
Swords and Murasames, given the choice.
-----------------------------------
*Armour is also fine*
Though many of the officer-classes have no such options, the DEFP items have
a considerable impact on your survivability, especially as your inherent
LEADP increases.
------------------------------------
*The Travan Mint*
Having just nine items, your successes in Travan will yield coins more often
than anywhere else; Goddess Tears and Magic and Flying Crests are also found
here. Even if (as certain sources report) castles with fewer items have
a lower success rate, that can be overcome by the brute force of repetition.
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