Quest RPG: Brian's Journey: Any% US
This is a remake of Quest 64 for the GameBoy Color. The basic outline of the story is the same. You'll still travel through Celtland to get the four elemental jewels, then get the Eletale Book and finally confront the evil Mammon to Save the World (TM) While the basic shell of where you go is similar and a working knowledge of Q64 can be helpful, there are enough noticeable differences of story and mechanics that you should not just blindly follow the Q64 route and expect it to be anywhere near optimal. I'd recommend watching a video along with reading this guide before attempting your first run since some minutiae may be overlooked in typing this.
These notes assume the US release. The JP version has some minor differences, but as I have not played that version, I cannot comment. The literal translation of the JP version's name is: "Elemental Tale: Jack's Great Adventure - Demon's Counterattack". This has no bearing on the guide, but it's cool and I would feel remiss not mentioning it somewhere.
Now, onto the guide.
Some mechanics notes:
HP: Pretty self-explanatory. HP gains by 10% of one HP for each physical hit you deal or are dealt. Unlike in Quest 64, you do not gain HP by being dealt magical damage, nor do you gain HP after defeating a boss.
MP: Equally self-explanatory. You gain MP by using magic. MP seems to gain considerably faster than in Q64 so it is very possible to hit 45-50 max MP in this game.
AGL: Governs movement area, and being faster than the fastest enemy in the battle allows you to take the first turn in battle. Since you can always escape battles on the first turn and dodging (MISS!) doesn't seem to be a thing in this game, it's less important than in Q64. You gain AGL by moving - more distance moved in battle = more AGL. You do want to get to the second-level of movement area as quickly as possible, so you do want to move around in battle when possible
DEF: Self explanatory. Worth noting that in Q64, you gain defense based on the number of hits you take, with total damage being irrelevant, while in this game, your defense increases based on the amount of damage that you are dealt. So, taking a few high-damage hits is a good way to increase your defense pretty quickly.
The Spells:
Wind Cutter 1/2/3: (>, >>, >>>) Your bread and butter damage-dealing spell. Yes, we will be using Wind Cutter against most bosses and random encounters. They buffed WC3 especially a huge amount, and let it hit up to 8 times divided among various enemies. Requires 1/4/12 Wind for Levels 1/2/3
Wind Bomb: (>v>). We use this on a few of the bosses. By getting into a specific spot (below, and a little to the left of center) relative to the enemy, we can cheese the game into giving us twice as many hits (and double the damage) as should be the case. This will be used on several of the bosses, though Cutter is used for most randoms. Requires 13 Wind and 13 Water.
Healing 1, 2 (v<, v<<). Not much to say here. Can be used both in and out of battle. Requires 4 Earth/Water for L1, and 13 for L2
Magnet Rock: (<v<). We use this on Shilf and Leonardo as they are Wind element and take very little damage from our Cutters and Wind Bombs. Requires 12 Earth and 12 Water.
Spirit Armor 1/2 (<v, <vv). This gets used on nearly every boss after Leonardo for the double defense effect, to allow us to minimize the time spent grinding defense and spend more time advancing forward.
Exit: (v>). Causes you to instantly warp back to the start of the dungeon. This gets used once or twice during All Spirits. Requires 10 Wind and 10 Water.
That's it. That's all the spells we use. Notable is the lack of Magic Barrier, but it just isn't good in this game. Spirit Armor 2 is sufficient for the route.
Other stuffs: For whatever reason, you gain a lot of EXP when fighting three enemy mobs. The EXP system is not fully understood, but in general, you gain more EXP for fighting a three enemy mob than fighting three mobs each of the same single enemy. You cannot gain more than one spirit per battle. Extra EXP may be wasted if you are near a level then gain a lot of EXP in the next fight. So try to keep EXP management in mind.
You can save anywhere, except in battle, of course. Use this frequently, as some portions of the run aren't particularly safe if you get certain nasty encounters, or against certain bosses. Especially Mammon.
You need Seven Spirit Gemstones by Limelin for the lottery. You will be save-scumming for the Warrior's Cape for the Defense boost, which will be needed for the endgame bosses.
Items other than HP/MP restoratives are to be avoided. They take up inventory space and waste time in menuing.
Heal/Save before each boss. Solvaring and Kiliac are free so you don't need to save before them though.
Maps of the dungeons on GameFAQs:
Connor Forest: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/gbc/575868-quest-brians-journey/map/5935-conner-forest-map Blue Cave: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/gbc/575868-quest-brians-journey/map/5936-blue-cave-map Cull Hazard: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/gbc/575868-quest-brians-journey/map/5947-cull-hazard-cave-map Windward Forest: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/gbc/575868-quest-brians-journey/map/5946-windward-forest-map Baragoon Tunnel: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/gbc/575868-quest-brians-journey/map/5972-south-ruins-cave-map Boil Hole: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/gbc/575868-quest-brians-journey/map/5971-desert-cave-map
To conserve space, I'll refer to items/spirits by letter on these maps when discussing dungeon routes.
General Route of Spirit Leveling:
Start > Wind 23 > Water/Earth 4 (for Healing 1) > Water/Earth 12 (for Magnet Rock) > Water/Earth 13 (Healing 2) > Wind 49 >Earth 50 (or through Shilf) > Wind 50 > Fire 50 (mash them to save time since they don't matter after this). Reach the previous milestone before beginning to invest spirits toward the next milestone.
The Route:
After the cutscenes, leave the monastery and head to the left. Check the house, and pick up a Spirit.
Leave the house, head down the path below the monastery into Melrode town.
Head toward the pasture area on the right side of the map. There's a spirit in the field there. Then head into the house just above to fight
Tim The Dark Lord (20 HP)
Cast Wind Cutter (5-8 damage) 3 times. If needed, use physical attacks to finish the fight.
Return to the monastery. There is no need to grab the chest in that house.
After cutscenes with Grand Abbott, head right at the fork in the path after the little courtyard area and enter the room. Grab the Spirit Gemstones (1). Head back and head to the room to the left of the central hall. Also note Brian's Mailbox. That'll be important later.
Talk to Pat, grab the Honey Bread, then head into the room off the side of the kitchen. Grab 2x Dew Drops and a Spirit Gemstones (2).
Leave for Melrode Town. Grab the White Wings. You'll need to talk to the guy twice. Head to Dondoran. Try to get to Wind 7 before you get there.
There's a spirit in the Courtyard in Dondoran. Get it, then grab the Yellow Wings, then rest at the Inn. Head to the Castle, upstairs in Flora's room for a cutscene.
You'll fight a Goblin and 2x Kobolds. You'll get Wind 9 on this fight.
Heal at the Inn on the way to Connor Forest.
Head right, pick up Spirits B/C. You'll need to hit a minimum of Wind 12 for the boss, but ideally you'd like to hit Wind 13 before Solvaring. If you hit Wind 9 on the Goblin fight, you'll need 2x battle spirits to get there. Frogs are good EXP. Bats and Kobolds are wind element and take less damage from your cutters.
Solvaring (150 HP)
Cast Wind Cutter 3. He dies in one round.
You'll go back to the castle. Get the three chests (2x Dew Drop, Spirit Gemstones (3)) in the Bedroom and the Heroes Drink, Healing Potion, and Spirit in the treasure room.
Heal at the Inn (again), head to Connor Forest. Pick up Dew Drops and Spirit (D/E; the guide is wrong - D is a Dew Drop) en route to Dondoran Flats
Dondoran Flats: There are three overworld spirits here. Get them all. Go for Wind 23 by the boat. Start filling Water/Earth to 4 after Wind 23 if you have extra spirits along the way. If you have less than 25 HP and/or less than 3 MP, heal at the Inn.
When you get to the inn, talk to the man on the right and say Yes to get on the boat.
Kiliac (300 HP): Cast Wind Cutter 3. Again, a one-shot.
Stay at the Inn in West Carmagh if you didn't before.
There are two Spirits on the overworld on the way to Larapool near the top of the map; both of them are on detours to the right. Get them. You need at least 23/3/2 by Larapool but having 23/4/4 is ideal. You may need to use a Fresh Bread along the way; this is fine. You can easily defeat the Orcs or Merrows with Cutter, but the Ghost Hounds and Gremlins are Wind element and will not die easily to cutters. Also, Ghost Hounds hurt like hell.
Head to Larapool. You'll be sent into the Blue Cave. As you enter Blue Cave, immediately leave to pick up 3x Spirit. Make sure you have Healing L1 before entering.
Path through Blue Cave: C/D > B > J > I > H > end. You'll get your 4th Spirit Gemstones among the first two treasures you pick up.
The Multi-Optics are good enemies to fight but I wouldn't fight anything else. Try to take a moderate amount of damage - you want to have a little defense for the Wyverns and Dragon in Cull Hazard but you don't want to overgrind and have a less productive grind against the Termants in Windward Forest.
When you finish Blue Cave, you'll be sent back to Larapool. After cutscenes, head to Cull Hazard. There's a spirit along the way past the Inn (you should heal up).
Cull Hazard Path: A > B > G.
You want to have at least 11 Earth / 11 Water by the time you get to the Dragon. There are three spirits in Normoon to get you Healing 2 and Magnet Rock before Leo if you get to that level before the Dragon fight (1 battle spirit from Dragon)
Dragon (400 HP): 2 casts of Wind Cutter 3 will finish the fight. However, the boss can often one-shot you. While difficult to explain, you can, with good movement right for 1-2 frames and then up, dodge enough of the fire breath to not get one-shot. You'll need to have the second-level movement radius by this point to get up and above the Dragon's flame breath hit box.
Head on to Normoon. Note that:
- There is the potential for random encounters on the small bit of overworld movement, and
- You cannot stay at the inn here.
So you may want to heal up as soon as you gain control of Brian
There are three spirits in the fields here. Go ahead and get any of them necessary to get to 13 Water/Earth. Also go to the windmills. Between the three of them are a Spirit Gemstones (5), Heroes Drink, and 2x Fresh Bread. Make sure you have at least 40 HP and 15 MP, then head upstairs in the Inn and talk to Leonardo to start the fight.
Boss: Leonardo (350 HP): You'll want to get just above and a tiny bit to the right of center of Leonardo. You can dodge the Wind Blade by heading to the top-right corner of the map, but you want him to cast his Water Pillar attack, which is much faster in terms of animation. Cast Magnet Rock 5 times and Leo will relent, then pick up any spirits you didn't get before the fight, head down to pick up the Green Wings, save your game, and head into the Forest.
You want to find a pair of Giant Ants to grind defense against. Generally, if you expend three full MP bars casting Heal 2 (and bashing when you are out of range of getting KO'd), you should gain an optimal amount of defense to go on. I recommend doing a second grind fight if you get the chance, which will take considerably less time than the first as the Ants will only do 7-12 damage as opposed to the 17-21 damage they will do during the first fight. You should be able to come close to taking out packs of Orcs as well with Wind Cutter. Do note that until you do your first Defense fight against the Giant Ants, that the Sprite enemies can one-shot you from full HP. Keep this in mind and be extremely judicious in which fights you take here! You will want to pick up all the items in the forest. Among them is your 6th Spirit Gemstones
Go ahead and save your game before the Zelse fight, due to a potential chance of death here. If possible, you'd like to get close to 63-65 HP.
Zelse (580 HP) Start with Spirit Armor L2. If needed, heal up. Then cast Wind Bomb. You'll want to cast it in the special position where it'll do double damage (100-140 damage depending on your number of Wind spirits) per cast. Depending on your Wind spirits, it'll take 4-6 casts to end Zelse. Do note that the super Wind Gust attack (not the basic cutter attack) can one-shot you without Spirit Armor even if you have full HP, and unfortunately, there is no way of knowing when Spirit Armor has worn off. Because of this, some of the bosses will be potentially problematic going forward if you get unlucky with Spirit Armor; Mammon is the most extreme example of this.
After the fight, say 'Yes' and be warped to the Epona's Cottage. After scenes, you'll end up on Kiliac's Boat. Get the spirit, the chest (your 7th Spirit Gemstones), and rest to restore your HP/MP. You'll be forced into a fight with a Winged Sunfish; it will die to a single Wind Cutter 3 barrage. Head into Colleen's house and then on the path toward Stone Circle. There's a spirit in Colleen's house; unlike in Q64, you can get it right away and don't have to wait until after Nepty. There are three additional spirits on the path, none of which are too out-of-the-way. Get them. The Thunder Jell fights are good for EXP (use Wind Cutter 3) and there are 2x Giant Ant fights if you want a little more HP/Defense. If you can get to 68-70 HP, that'd be ideal.
Head down through the Stone Circle to the path to Nepty; there are no encounters on the Sea Floor. Save before talking to Nepty and starting the fight. Nepty (700 HP). Spirit Armor 2 + 2x Wind Bomb = GG. If in the special location for double damage, Wind Bomb will easily do 400-500 damage.
Head to Colleen's house. You'll then be transported to Larapool. Head up, view the scene with Leila, then leave. Head back to the inn near the boat, stay the night, then talk to the man in the inn to head to the East Limelin region. There's a spirit along the way to Limelin. Get it. Head to Limelin and go to the lottery. Spend the seven Spirit Gemstones for the [Warrior's Cape] option. You'll be needing to save-scum to win the lottery. The game polls to determine whether you won when the bird arrives to give you your result, so you will want to save scum right around then. In general, if you are judicious with not taking unnecessary steps, then in all spirits you will trigger the bird shortly after the hut near the entrance to Baragoon Tunnel, and right near the entrance to the tunnel further along in any%. Leave Limelin right after entering the lottery. There's a spirit close to the path below Limelin, and a couple off to the sides once you get into the south part of the region, though they are a little out of the way so you don't necessarily want them. There are two spirits in the aforementioned hut. Get these - you should be getting close to 49 Wind by now. Save scum the Lottery until you find that you have won a fabulous prize.
Baragoon Tunnel path: A (if needed) > B > C > Boss #1
Boss: Lavaar (900 HP). Spirit Armor 2, Wind Cutter 3 x2.
Boss 2: Fargo (1000 HP). Spirit Armor 2, Healing 2 if needed, Wind Bomb x2
Get item L (Dew Drop) if needed, then on to Dindom Dries.
Dindom Dries: Go to the tent, heal and grab the spirit, then on to the left path toward Greenoch and on to Boil Hole. There are some spirits, but unless you are very low, you shouldn't need to go much out of your way to grab them all.
From this point on, there is no need to fight any encounters for levels! So no need to waste time. Do take incidental hits for defense though.
Head into Boil Hole
Boil Hole path: A > B > C (if needed) > End. No bosses here today!
The Ghost Stalkers here do a LOT of damage. However, I do recommend grinding on them for a bit because they have pretty fast attack animation and their high damage output means that they will allow you to gain defense quite quickly. A little bit of defense grinding around this time will be very helpful for reducing the reset-heaviness of the Mammon fight.
When you leave Boil Hole, head out through Baragoon Moor and on to Brannoch. Unless you are doing All Spirits, there's no need to head to the Baragoon Moor Inn, nor to grab any spirits not right off the path. Head to Brannoch Town. Grab the Black Wings, then leave the shop and use the White Wings to head to Melrode. Heal if you need to at the inn, then head up to the Monastery, go to the room on the right side of the main room, check the mailbox, and get the Warrior's Cape for the extra defense boost. Leave the Monastery, then use the Black Wings to warp back to Brannoch. Head back to the Wing shop, grab another pair of Black Wings and then on to Brannoch Castle. Like in Q64, you need go around to the back to get into the castle.
After cutscenes, time for a boss: Lavaar 2 (900 HP): Same as Lavaar 1, but you have more defense this time.
Lavaar 3 (1400 HP): Spirit Armor 2, Heal as needed, cast Wind Cutter 3. It should take 4 casts. Heading down and right toward the middle of the bottom (but not along the bottom) seems to bait Lavaar into using the Ice Knife attack - this is the attack you want to see since it doesn't do much damage.
After this fight, you'll view cutscenes, then be warped to Melrode. After the scenes, use the Black Wings and warp to Brannoch. Leave the town, head back through Baragoon Moor, back through Boil Hole, on to the Dries, then through the Desert and toward Shamwood. There's a spirit in the midpoint in the Desert, and there's no real reason not to grab it.
There's a handful of spirits in Shamwood. Get the ones along the path. There are also a couple of healing items in the Treasure Room. Get them if needed. Head into the Throne Room and then encounter Shilf.
Shilf (1400 HP): No need for Spirit Armor (she does lots of low-damage hits). Cast Magnet Rock until she falls.
Head out of Shamwood, then use the Yellow Wings to head to Dondoran. Grab another pair of Yellow Wings, head to the top-left house, and you will learn that you need a Dragon Scale. Hmm… Where is there a dragon?
Use the Green Wings to warp to Normoon, then head out and into Cull Hazard. Talk to the Dragon, fight it.
Dragon (1500 HP). Four Casts of Wind Cutter 3. The attacks aren't too strong.
Leave Cull Hazard, use the Yellow Wings to head to Dondoran. Save/Heal at Inn if needed - once you head into Clay's house again, this is the point of no return for the game. After doing so, view cutscenes, get thrown into boss fight.
Guilty (1200 HP). Spirit Armor 2, Wind Bomb, yadda yadda.
View more cutscenes, go through hallway, heal then save outside door, fight boss.
Beigis (1800 HP). Same as Guilty. Can cast a Wind Cutter 3 as needed while getting into the Special Wind Bomb spot (TM)
View more cutscenes, meet with Shannon, head through World of Mammon (it's a straight line for the most part. With the rooms that look like dead ends, just leave to be transported to the next area. This is very much in the spirit of Quest 64.
The Judgements have 0 speed and you outspeed them. Pin Heads and Pale Riders don't do too much damage (7-15 if they hit). Spriggans' Ice Knife will do close to 30 damage so you will want to stay above about 32 HP at all times. If you grinded some extra defense, the damage will be closer to 22-24 but it's not wise to overly push your luck here at the end.
At the end of the path, say Yes to get healed by the Spirit of Stone, then head into Mammon's Room. Unlike in Q64, there are encounters in this room. Save before the Mammon fight; it can be nasty, and the missile attack is usually a reset.
Mammon (2500 HP). Spirit Armor 2, Wind Cutter 3. Refresh Spirit Armor and/or heal as needed. You need 6 casts of Wind Cutter 3 to beat Mammon. The Missile attack normally necessitates a reset if it is cast while you don't have Spirit Armor up. The steam attack should be survivable if you did enough defense/HP grinding. The Hyper Laser can be dodged if you stand in the right place and move up and then to the right. This fight can be tricky and may require a number of resets but he'll eventually go down with enough luck / patience / favorable RNG.
You did it! Yay! You get an actual ending in this version!
