Gathering a reasonable amount of gold is a point of consternation in almost every Dragon Quest game. New locations regularly reveal themself as the stories progress, and they’ll almost always come with a bumper selection of new equipment, items and general desirables. Further still, taking advantage of the Alchemy system will likely require a great deal of ingredients, and whilst it’s admirable to believe that you can gather everything from enemies on the map, the drop rate in DQ8 specifically will put a rather large spanner in those works. Thus you shall require a great deal of gold, so pay a visit to some of the following locations and fill your wallet as much as possible! For 3DS players, bringing Red and her passive gold increasing skills from the Roguery tree is also highly recommended!
Enemy images used courtesy of the Wiki over at DRAGON-QUEST.ORG
Swordsman’s Labyrinth
- Goodybag – (106 Gold)
- Restless Armour – (13 Gold)
- Phantom Fencer – (12 Gold)
As much as our second recommendation is likely by far the best most ‘well known’ location for farming gold, this first choice is probably our overall favourite, and one that we’ll often return to until the ship becomes available. That location is Swordsman’s Labyrinth, which you’ll reach following the events at Pickham.
Now, the main reason for coming here is the Goodybag enemy, and at first glance the 106g might not seem like a great deal, but you should note that they’ll often be encountered in large groups. These, combined with one or two of the others noted here, will often result in 300 – 500g from a single battle, which is fantastic for this point in the story. We’d recommend running around a few locations, particularly the main descending steps in the Labyrinth, and specifically targeting the Goodybag as much as possible. As a bonus, they’ll even rarely drop the Prayer Ring, which is a fantastic accessory as well as a crucial Alchemy item for some powerful late game equipment.
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Holy Isle of Neos
- Gold Golem – (726 Gold)
- Volpone – (43 Gold)
- Hipster – (36 Gold)
As noted above, the Isle of Neos is probably the most infamous of gold farming locations in Dragon Quest 8. With good reason too, because it’s home to possibly the most profitable enemy that can be found in the entire game, the Gold Golem. On the western side of the island, which is where you’ll likely land in the grand scheme of things, you’ll find these large golden lads ambling around, waiting to be taken down. They’re worth an immense amount of gold and should be liberally farmed until your coffers veritably overflow.
We will issue a note of caution, which is that other enemies in this area can be a bit of a pain to deal with, especially if you choose to visit the island earlier than the story dictates. Gryphons will have an annoying breath attack and Hipsters can deal significant damage to your entire group, so you’ll want to restrict yourself to the Golems alone if possible. Mind you, if you’re as crazy about grinding and completing Alchemy recipes as we are, then you’re likely a bit overleveled and may find it a breeze! You won’t find a better farming location than this, so take whatever number you think you need and double or triple it; you can thank us later.
Godbird’s Eyrie
- Dark Dullahan – (138 Gold)
- Dark Minister – (101 Gold)
- Dark Star – (66 Gold)
In almost any other RPG game, the later portions of the adventure would continue to scale upwards in terms of both loot and gold, however as you can see here the latter doesn’t continue to grow. We’re not sure why this is the case, because you’ll likely find yourself returning to the Isle of Neos more and more as the game progresses. Alas, we’ll highlight a few recommendations regardless, the first of which is taking down some of the ‘dark’ enemy variations in Godbird’s Eyrie.
Generally speaking, players do not spend a great deal of time here, especially given its relative closeness to the end of the game, but if you do then it’s best to give the above enemies the most attention, because they provide the best gold and loot combination. Dark Dullahan has a chance to drop a Zombie Mail, which is valuable and can be alchemised into a Platinum version though liberal usage of Saint’s Ashes, themselves rarely dropped by the Dark Minister enemy. This might not be the most reliable or desirable way to get both gold or indeed loot, but at least it’s a change of scenery for grinding and Saint’s Ashes in particular have a whole host of uses, particularly in un-cursing cursed equipment.
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Untrodden Grove
- Metal King Slime – (240 Gold)
- Diemon – (87 Gold)
- Cyclops – (69 Gold)
Once again we must note that the Isle of Neos is the best option from a purely gold farming perspective, however by the time you reach the very end game new locations will have become available to you, in the form of previously inaccessible pieces of land. These are known as ‘Untrodden Groves’ and tend to feature difficult and often valuable opponents. Heading to one of these groves will likely feature primarily loot and experience with lesser gold values, but that doesn’t mean they’re completely worthless.
The hill north of Rydon’s Tower is a prime example of this. This area has been dubbed ‘Slime Hill’, due to it featuring various types of Metal Slimes, making it ideal for farming up experience and, in the process, a reasonable amount of gold and loot. Outside of this, these areas can also feature some high level opponents, however the main benefit will be loot rather than gold. High Rollers may only give 87 gold, but they give a reasonable amount of experience and may drop a Prayer Ring. Similarly, the Cyclops will drop 69 gold but may also grant you easy access to Amor Seco Essence. So yes, the Isle of Neos is still the best, even more so when you consider the scaling aspect of having Red and her % increases in the party, but that doesn’t mean that other locations aren’t worth your while.
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Categories: Dragon Quest VIII