main story quests
Format:
Quest Name (where you get it)
Difficulty: a general guide to the difficulty of the task, taking you're level into account (some quests are easy when you get them, but are tough for a weak party)
Monsters: what you will find in the dungeon, and sometimes in overland regions
Where you go: self explanatory
Comments: general opinions on the quest, and hints on how to complete them
Introduction
Emerald Island
click here for a complete guide to Emerald Island
Part One: Castle Harmondale
This is the beginning of the main story line. There are only a few quests involved, and they are quite easy. You should do as many secondary quests at this time as your party can handle, however, since you'll need the experience for the war quests and the quests which follow.

Clear Castle Harmondale (Castle Harmondale)
Difficulty: easy
Monsters: Goblins, Bats, Rats
Where you go: Castle Harmondale
Comments: Simple. Just enter the castle and kill everything inside. There are no secret doors or buttons, so don't worry about the areas you can't seem to access: they will be opened later in the game. After you have killed everything inside, go to the Harmondale tavern and talk to the butler to get your next quest.

Repair the Castle (Harmondale tavern)
Difficulty: easy-medium
Monsters: Griffins guard the mines, Oozes, Medusas
Where you go: Stone City (Barrow Downs), Red Dwarf Mines (Bracada)
Comments: Talk to the dwarf king in Stone City. He will send you to the Mines to rescue seven dwarves (of course) to prove yourself. In the mines, all the dwarves are on the first level, which is inhabbited by Oozes. You only face the tough Medusas if you descend to the second level. Only go down there if you are doing the Archer promotion quest, or your party is relatively powerful. Once you have all seven dwarves, return to the king.

Part Two: The War
After rescuing the dwarves and returning them to the dwarf king, the next time you enter Harmondale, you learn that a war has started between the Humans and Elves, both of who want control of Harmondale. Talk to the ambassadors in your throne room, and you will be invited to see both the Human and Elven rulers, who will both ask for your aid in the war.
You can choose to do quests for one ruler, both rulers, or neither ruler. You get the most experience by doing the quests for both kings, just don't tell the other side what you have done.
This section of the game is timed, a follows: when you enter Harmondale for the first time, note the date. If you are in the Tularean Forest two months after this (any time before the end of the third month), you will be able to do the Trumpet quest. After three months, the Judge dies, and you will choose his replacement, and thereby choose which path you will follow for the rest of the game.
Finally, none of these quests, with the exception of choosing a new judge, are required. They just add to the story and allow you to gain money and experience.

Rescue Loren Steel (Castle Gryphonheart, Erathia)
Difficulty: this dungeon can be tricky, see below **
Monsters: Elves, Troglodytes, Wyverns
Where you go: Tularean Caves (Tularean Forest)
Comments: You get this quest from Queen Catherine of the Humans. You must rescue her "agent" from imprisonment by the elves. She gives you one month to rescue Steel and return to her.

Recover the Fort Riverstride Plans (Castle Navan, Tularean Forest)
Difficulty: see below **
Monsters: Archers, Soldiers, Swordsmen
Comments: King Parson of the Elves gives you this quest. He needs the plans to plan his assault on Erathia. Again, you have one month to complete this quest. You can make your life much easier by going through the lower entrance to the Fort (just go down to the river and you'll see the entrance). The plans are located behind a portrait of Queen Catherine.

Recover Gryphonheart's Trumpet (Tularean Forest two to three months after war starts)
Difficulty: easy
Monsters: Trees, you can avoid the warring humans and elves, and they'll ignore you
Where you go: just outside to Tularean Caves
Comments: If you enter Tularean Forest two to three months after the war starts, you will learn that the Humans and Elves are fighting over an artifact, Gryphonheart's Trumpet. Whichever side recovers it will win the war. You should go get the trumpet from a chest in front of the entrance to the Tularean Caves and give it to whichever side you want to win. Remember, there are three people you can give it to: the Humans, the Elves, and ...
If you don't recover the Trumpet, the game assumes the Humans recovered it and therefore win the war.

Choose a New Judge (Castle Harmondale)
Difficulty: easy
Monsters: none
Comments: Three months after the war begins, the Judge dies. The next time you enter Castle Harmondale, there will be two new ambassadors there: from Bracada and Deyja. Each presents a candidate to replace the deceased Judge. Both can be found in the taverns in their respective side's territory. If you choose the Bracada candidate, you choose to follow the path of light; if you choose the Deyja candidate, you choose the path of dark. Take your chosen candidate to the Judge's house in Harmondale.

** The difficulty of these quests depends on how advanced your party was before the war started. If you have already completed your first promotion quests and done some other secondary quests, they will be easy; with unpromoted, low level characters they can be a challenge, but still possible.
 

Part Three (1): Following the Path of Light
After choosing Judge Fairweather, you are sent to Celeste to meet the leaders of the light. Celeste can be reached via a teleporter in Bracada, southwest of the cluster of teleporters. You will receive the rest of the main story quests from people in Celeste.

Proving Grounds (Castle Lambent, Celeste) Must complete before doing the next quests.
Difficulty: hard
Monsters: Air Elementals, Genies, Sorcerers
Where you go: Walls of Mist (Celeste)
Comments: An extremely annoying dungeon, especially considering you can't kill the monsters inside! In the main room are three arches. Each teleports you to another part of the dungeon. In each of these three sections is a key. Recover all three keys, and then continue through the main room to the back. Use the keys to open the door, and go out through the back. If you're having trouble, here are some helpful hints. First, if you have Invisibility, use it. This eliminates the problem of not being able to attack, since you won't be attacked either. Remember, you can enter and leave whenever you want (so, you can get one key, leave and rest, and return to get another). This also leads to the second strategy. Kill anything you want inside. After you have all three keys, leave one last time and re-enter. This time, go straight to the back door and exit without killing anything. The game only recognizes monsters you killed on your last trip through.

Clear Out the Wine Cellar (Celeste, Crag Hack)
Difficulty: very easy (this is one reason the light path is so much easier)
Monsters: Bats, Necromancers, Vampires
Where you go: Wine Cellar (Tatalia)
Comments: An extremely easy quest at this point. The Wine Cellar is very small, and the monsters aren't too tough. You'll have no trouble with this one.

Retrieve the Soul Jars (Celeste, Sir Caneghem)
Difficulty: hard
Monsters: Ghosts, Liches, Necromancers, Vampires
Where you go: Castle Gloaming (The Pit)
Comments: I hope you are extremely powerful before attempting this quest. Wading through The Pit to get to Castle Gloaming, and then through the castle itself, is extremely difficult. You have to teleport three times to reach Castle Gloaming. The jars are not hard to find, once you get to the castle. Finally, one tip: don't bother trying to wade through the monsters. Just cast Invisibility in the Hall of the Pit, and then run as fast as you can to the jars, and then teleport out.

Recover the Altar Pieces (Celeste, Resurrectra)
Difficulty: easy-medium
Monsters: Vampires, Clerics of the Moon
Where you go: Temple of Dark (The Pit), Temple of Light (Celeste)
Comments: Don't be fooled by the difficulty, it refers only to the Temple itself. Getting to the Temple is extremely difficult, as you have to wade through The Pit. The altar piece can be found by going behind the altar in the Temple, and pushing the button there. The altar moves, revealing the altar piece.
The piece in the Temple of Light is easy to recover: just go in and take it. As long as you don't attack anything inside and don't go where you're not supposed to, the creatures there will not be hostile.

Kill Tolberti (Celeste, Robert the Wise) Must complete the above quests to get this one.
Difficulty: extremely hard
Monsters: Tolberti (you will quickly learn to hate him...)
Where you go: Tolberti's house (The Pit)
Comments: Again, you have to go through The Pit to get there. If you haven't used Invisibility, you probably have cleared out most of it by now, so it shouldn't be too much trouble. If not, just use Invisibility again, or fight your way through. Toberti is extremely tough, and you face him alone in his house. He carries a Blaster (extremely low recovery rate), can erradicate your party members, and casts Hour of Power and Power Cure on himself. Needless to say, you have to throw everything you have into this fight. This is easily the toughest monster in the game, and it may take you some time (and quite a bit of frustration) to beat him. If you need help, email me and I'll give you all the tips I have.

Part Three (2): Following the Path of Dark
After choosing Judge Sleen, you are sent to The Pit to meet the leaders of the dark. The Pit can be reached via the Hall of the Pit, in northeast Deyja. You will receive the rest of the main story quests from people in The Pit.

Proving Grounds (Castle Gloaming, The Pit) Must complete before doing the next quests.
Difficulty: hard
Monsters: Behemoths, Fire Elementals, Gogs
Where you go: Breeding Zone (The Pit)
Comments: Well, at least its not the even more annoying Walls of Mist, and you can kill anything you want inside. However, this dungeon respawns every time you leave, so you can't clear it out piece by piece. As for completing the dungeon, its tricky but you should be able to do it (sorry, but I have trouble describing how to get through this one). You'll need to push the three buttons on the control panel to lower a wall, and click on a fountain to create a bridge. Push a button past this bridge to open the back door, and then go find it.

Lower the Shield in Clanker's Lab (The Pit, Dark Shade)
Difficulty: medium
Monsters: Beholders, Gogs, Golems
Where you go: Clanker's Lab (Tularean Forest)
Comments: Not a difficult quest, you can find Clanker's Lab on an island in the Tularean Forest. You need to use a switch (disguised as a book - it sticks out, so its not hard to find) to continue through the lab after hitting a dead end. Find the control panel and click on it to lower the shield. If you want, clear out the rest of the lab: you can find many potions here, including Black Potions.

Retrieve the Soul Jars (The Pit, Maximus)
Difficulty: medium-hard
Monsters: Beholders, Minotaurs, Warlocks
Where you go: Thunderfist Mountain (Mount Nighon)
Comments: Not a tough dungeon to navigate, but the monsters are powerful. The jars can be found in the Warlock area in the southern part of the dungeon.

Recover the Altar Pieces (The Pit, Kastore)
Difficulty: medium
Monsters: Angels, Clerics of the Sun, Monks
Where you go: Temple of Dark (The Pit), Temple of Light (Celeste)
Comments: See the same quest in the Light Path section, but this time the Temple of Dark is friendly and the Temple of Light is hostile.

Kill Robert the Wise (The Pit, Tolberti) Must complete the above quests to get this one.
Difficulty: extremely hard
Monsters: Robert the Wise (you'll learn to hate him too...)
Where you go: Robert's house (Celeste)
Comments: You must go through Celeste to get to Robert's home. The Angels in particular can be tough to deal with. For information on Robert and his powers, read the Kill Tolberti light path quest. Robert and Tolberti are equivalent in every way, including the layout of their homes.

Part Four: Triumph of the Light/Dark
These quests are the same for both sides. You get the quests from the current leader of your side. These are the game's final quests, and are very difficult. Gain all the experience you can and make sure your characters are fully promoted before attempting them. However, you will not encounter an enemy as tough as Tolberti/Robert the Wise again.

Kill Xenofex
Difficulty: hard
Monsters: Devils
Where you go: Colony Zod (Land of the Giants/Eofol)
Comments: Be ready to fight through a swarm of devils to get to Xenofex. If you haven't been to the Land of the Giants yet, you get there by entering Thunderfist Mountain (Nighon) and finding the entrance to the Eofol Tunnels. These tunnels exit into the Land of the Giants. If you have been there before, you use the shrine in Harmondale to teleport back. Once inside the Colony Zod (southwest area of the Land of the Giants), your first task is to find and rescue King Roland. He's in a cage in one of the cells at the end of the dungeon. After clicking on Roland to rescue him, a new passage is revealed in the area you have already gone through. Enter the new area, ascend to the top level, and kill Xenofex.

Retrieve the Oscillation Overthruster
Difficulty: very hard
Monsters: Droids
Where you go: The Lincoln (The Shoals)
Comments: After killing Xenofex, return to your leader. They will supply you with wet suits, which you need to travel to The Shoals map. This mao can be reached by putting on your wet suits and leaving the Avlee map to the west (in the water). To equip the wet suits, you need to remove all other items, including weapons, armour, rings, gauntlets, and any other item your character is wearing. The only item usable with the wet suit is a blaster. You will enter The Shoals underwater. Since you can't cast spells, and there are Sharks everywhere, this area is dangerous. Your best bet is to avoid the Sharks (you maneuver just like you would if flying) and head straight for the Lincoln (west). Once in the Lincoln, remove the wet suits and equip your best items. The Droids here hit hard and fast. First, you must find the control panel to turn the ships power back on. This will activate a number of doors and elevators, and is necessary to reach the overthruster. The overthruster can be found by clicking on a pool in one of the rooms. Return to your leader, then sit back and watch the end game. Congratulations!

One last thing: in the southeast part of the Shoals map is a chest with a strange bottle in it. Using this bottle on one of your characters will take you to the New World Computing dungeon. It is not necessary to finish the game, and there is no good treasure there, but it can be fun to explore.