DQ9 EncyclopediaThe essentials
- X opens the menu, Y the world map and the story so far, SELECT the Battle Records; hold B + the +Control Pad for a party trick.
- Saving: confess at a church, for free. One adventure per cartridge.
- Church: resurrection 10 × ⌊(level² + 20) ÷ 20⌋ G, poison 5 G, curse 30 G per level. Inn: 3 to 12 G per person.
- Defeat: you lose half the gold you carry and start again from the church. Gold in the bank is safe.
- 8 quests in progress at most.
The basics the guides cover, checked in the ROM: the game's own texts (Stella's 59 tips, the dialogue), data files and code. The prices and rules below are the game's, not estimates.
Controls
| Button | Effect |
|---|---|
| X | Menu: items, attributes, spells and abilities, misc. |
| Y | World map and the story so far (“if you're not sure where you are”, Stella). |
| SELECT | Battle Records: quest list, accolades, defeated monsters… |
| A or L | Confirm, talk, examine. |
| B + +Control Pad | Perform the party trick set to that direction (Misc. menu → “Set party tricks”). |
| L and R | Turn the camera, handy in narrow places. |
| Stylus | Move, pick in menus; the wing icon can be moved too. |
Creating your character
Eight steps, read from the creation screens: gender, body type (5), hairstyle (10), hair colour (10), face (10), skin colour (8), eye colour (8), then the name. Hairstyles and faces differ for a man and a woman. Companions are made with the same screens, at Patty's in the Quester's Rest (Stornway).
The church
- Confession: saves the adventure log, for free. The game keeps one adventure only; the quick save (menu) is deleted as soon as you resume from it.
- Divination: the experience still needed for the next level, for free.
- Resurrection: 10 × ⌊(L² + 20) ÷ 20⌋ G, L = level of the character's current vocation (10 G at level 1, 1,260 at level 50, 4,910 at level 99: table below).
- Purification (poison): 5 G. Benediction (curse): 30 × L G.
Inn and bank
- Stay the night or rest until evening: same price, HP and MP restored. Price per person times the number of party members (table below): 3 G at the Quester's Rest (Erinn's staff rate) up to 12 G in Upover; free bed at Swinedimples Academy. Changing the time of day matters for the day or night scenes of the walkthrough.
- Bank: Ginny, at the Quester's Rest, from your arrival in Stornway. Deposits and withdrawals in units of 1,000 G, no fees, up to 999,999,000 G in the account.
Quests
- A blue speech bubble over someone: they have a quest to offer. The list is in the Battle Records.
- 8 quests in progress at most: the 9th is refused (“You cannot accept this quest at the moment.”). An unfinished quest never disappears; some can be repeated, with another reward (rewards).
Battles
- Monsters are visible on the map. If they see the party, they chase it; they run away when the leader's attack + defence exceed 3 times theirs. Holy water stops them chasing.
- Touching a monster from behind gives a surprise attack more often (+10 points out of 100: the game's randomness).
- Defend: physical blows received are halved. Flee always works on the first turn of a surprise attack.
- Experience is shared by level and turns spent alive; +10% per extra player in multiplayer. Formulas: Battle.
Defeat
When the whole party falls, half the gold carried is lost and you start again from the last church (the game says so itself: a villager in Angel Falls, Ginny, Stella). Gold deposited in the bank is safe.
Treasure
- Red chests: once only. Blue chests, pots, barrels, wardrobes: contents rolled at random each time the room loads until you open them, and refilled each time a normal save is loaded (chests, furniture).
- Sparkly spots on the ground: they come back (sparkly spots).
- Locked chests and doors: the three keys. Where to find experience: levelling up.