Dark Cloud

2010-02-11 09:34:08 pm

Hi, I am very interested in a run on dark cloud, because it is one of my favorite games (with FF X)
I just saw your glitch with the gun Sepcial that appears, I do not know :p
Do you know if this glitch works with a French version of the game ?

I have a little trouble to understand everything you tell in this topic but I think that rereading several times and asking a seasoned translator, I could use all the features you mention, and especially this passage :

Quote from edman3d:

- Efficiency of the glitch actually working.

- Whether or not to upgrade weapons for ALL of the characters (remember those limited dungeons? Well Toan's sword won't help Xiao get through any easier).

- Whether or not to upgrade the weapons all the way to the max evolution. (i.e. is the max evolution of a weapon really going to save THAT much time?)

Usu

2010-02-12 07:13:47 am

OK, I tested the glitch and it works very well!
Don't just forget to put the dagger equipped weapon: p
By repeating many times, here's what I got:
- Broken dagger
- A black square where he is rated a number (129 if i have a good memory)
Then I noticed two things:
-> If you just do the glitch to get an item, you can not directly have a second item, you must exit the shop's menu and go in the personal menu, and return in the shop's menu to the restart the glitch
-> If we had broken dagger first item won then all the following will also broken daggers
It's all ok.

I tested my equipment in different ways "broken daggers.
- Just put in the field of weapons
- Put in the field of weapons and use a "powder lvl" so that the broken dagger is "in the gun"
In any case when after I fight with weapons is sprayed (prrrrrr, BOUM... xD) in a sudden and sometimes it does not even kill the monster :s

It's because my weapon statistics are too high ? I think this isn't possible because even with the dagger "without lvl" it breaking soon: s

In this video, we can see that the "bar" for the wind and magic are left: p As if they were negative point! In my game it makes me all the bars "anti" in the "negative" except anti-beast.

Perhaps this is why the weapons break right now! Because when I put a piece of magic / wind "normal" I feel that the bar size decreases and "off again to the right"...

Question : if user uses this glitch, the speedrun will still be validated or not?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Quote:

I found the fastest character to be Xiao.

It is also my opinion, Xiao early and then Osmond.

I'm going to do some tests on the first tower just to see what I find interesting ^ ^

OK, I tested the glitch and it works very well!
Don't just forget to put the dagger equipped weapon: p
By repeating many times, here's what I got:
- Broken dagger
- A black square where he is rated a number (129 if i have a good memory)
Then I noticed two things:
-> If you just do the glitch to get an item, you can not directly have a second item, you must exit the shop's menu and go in the personal menu, and return in the shop's menu to the restart the glitch
-> If we had broken dagger first item won then all the following will also broken daggers
It's all ok.

I tested my equipment in different ways "broken daggers.
- Just put in the field of weapons
- Put in the field of weapons and use a "powder lvl" so that the broken dagger is "in the gun"
In any case when after I fight with weapons is sprayed (prrrrrr, BOUM... xD) in a sudden and sometimes it does not even kill the monster :s

It's because my weapon statistics are too high ? I think this isn't possible because even with the dagger "without lvl" it breaking soon: s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X70ma46W2CE#t=0m49s
In this video, we can see that the "bar" for the wind and magic are left: p As if they were negative point! In my game it makes me all the bars "anti" in the "negative" except anti-beast.

Perhaps this is why the weapons break right now! Because when I put a piece of magic / wind "normal" I feel that the bar size decreases and "off again to the right"...

Question : if user uses this glitch, the speedrun will still be validated or not?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=edman3d]I found the fastest character to be Xiao.[/quote]
It is also my opinion, Xiao early and then Osmond.

I'm going to do some tests on the first tower just to see what I find interesting ^ ^

Usu

Edit history:

Usu: 2010-02-15 08:41:13 am

2010-02-13 09:26:18 pm

ok, I started a bestiary, a translator of words / sentences fr-en and a calendar of events of the game on Open Office, I started when I was barely does anything for the moment, I think that tomorrow I would make a "mini-site (only information on white pages) for all the world to see.

-> In effect, cave bats never give the dran's crest, and moreover, they are rather "chiantes" a win and we empoissonnent very easily, it is imperative to avoid the run
-> I noticed that for Divine Beast Cave B1 is always a dasher, which gives the dran's crest, even when I saw a lot of skeleton soldier, the people never gave the crest at B1.
-> I am trying to see what would be the Georama's objects really need to continue following the adventures but other houses give good things to increase the stats of weapons and characters, is it would not be useful anyway to rebuild the villages ? (or else by choosing homes that provide the most good things (with a segmented run, i can restart to have other objects maybe?) ?)

Tks you for your future help ;p

P.S : sorry for multi-posts, i think someone reply to my post before i "re-post" ^^ "

ok, I started a bestiary, a translator of words / sentences fr-en and a calendar of events of the game on Open Office, I started when I was barely does anything for the moment, I think that tomorrow I would make a "mini-site (only information on white pages) for all the world to see.

-> In effect, cave bats never give the dran's crest, and moreover, they are rather "chiantes" a win and we empoissonnent very easily, it is imperative to avoid the run
-> I noticed that for Divine Beast Cave B1 is always a dasher, which gives the dran's crest, even when I saw a lot of skeleton soldier, the people never gave the crest at B1.
-> I am trying to see what would be the Georama's objects  really need to continue following the adventures but other houses give good things to increase the stats of weapons and characters, is it would not be useful anyway to rebuild the villages ? (or else by choosing homes that provide the most good things (with a segmented run, i can restart to have other objects maybe?) ?)

Tks you for your future help ;p

P.S : sorry for multi-posts, i think someone reply to my post before i "re-post" ^^ "

edman3d

2010-02-14 11:35:04 pm

ow

Haha, funny how your stats go negative like that. It's been a long time since I've had a chance to play this game, so hopefully someone else will be able to help you here.

Lag.Com

2010-02-15 02:57:55 am

sda loyalist

Hey, great that somebody is taking this up.

If you want other people to be able to view and suggest improvements to your plans, I suggest you use Google Docs. It's very useful for this kind of collaborative editing.

Usu

2010-02-17 06:00:47 pm

Yeah after your suggestion, I signed up on google and I started my first document on google docs: D

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AsdWfp3u3grFdHc3TmN2YWloLXdMWkFTdGpZM0RRdXc&hl=fr
This is my first document on google docs, the stats on each level.
I'm looking for people who want to help me make a stats, bests ways (the shortest), etc. ...

I have argued in my prognostications at the beginning of the game ^ ^

I think we can spend the first 8 stages by beating little monsters. Using the opportunity (perhaps by making a save between each level), one can find the key to the first monster every time (this happened at least 2-3 times out of 15 courses is that approximately 15 -- 20%).
But if I did not change my dagger, he'll have that I use the glitch or the very strong chance until the end: p (with great "re-resave)
I also know what documents are to get compulsory to continue until level 8 and have Xiao and his team so I can select areas in Georama internships (and still use the opportunity to immediately find the right areas)

Yeah after your suggestion, I signed up on google and I started my first document on google docs: D

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AsdWfp3u3grFdHc3TmN2YWloLXdMWkFTdGpZM0RRdXc&hl=fr
This is my first document on google docs, the stats on each level.
I'm looking for people who want to help me make a stats, bests ways (the shortest), etc. ...

I have argued in my prognostications at the beginning of the game ^ ^

I think we can spend the first 8 stages by beating little monsters. Using the opportunity (perhaps by making a save between each level), one can find the key to the first monster every time (this happened at least 2-3 times out of 15 courses is that approximately 15 -- 20%).
But if I did not change my dagger, he'll have that I use the glitch or the very strong chance until the end: p (with great "re-resave)
I also know what documents are to get compulsory to continue until level 8 and have Xiao and his team so I can select areas in Georama internships (and still use the opportunity to immediately find the right areas)

Usu

2010-02-17 08:15:30 pm

I just remind me of another tip for the game: p
This is the content of odd Gaffer.
If we built the house with paige dike before seeing the odd scene of gaffer, then one more object in the store!
Without Dike, Odd Gaffer sells only: bread, regular water, Repair Powder et auto-Repair Powder, Escape Powder, revival powder et de stand in powder, antidote drink & gold bullion.
When Dike help odd gaffer using to install the sign, there is more in store :
bomb, dran's feather, attack +1, endurance +1, fire, ice, thunder, wind, holy, dragon slayer Cheesy

and then without it, the glitch would not be possible :p

Moreover, the scene of the masion of Dike allows for a greater pocket (60 item even if it does not serve a great thing for a run ^ ^)
I will try tomorrow to see if the trick of teaching also works without the cinematics of the house's paige

Umbrella Employee

2011-02-20 10:53:53 pm

any updates? this one of my favorite ps2 games. Like many of u it was one of the first games on the system for me. waiting in anticipation

Usu

2011-04-03 02:29:11 pm

hum... been a year since my last post ... I continued to play many hours (at least 150 hours) but I did not notice the stats, the motivation has declined since nobody helped me ^_^"
I'm always interested to make it but I also lack the tools to capture (my dazzle is dead :s )

Maybe i restart my stats but not on google docs, I think there are too many constraints

Sonickrazy

2011-06-15 11:33:55 pm

Hey, just came across this, I love dark cloud and thought it would be great to speedrun it if I had the equipment. As for the route and strategy and the like, it would seem to me that Usu's stats are quite helpful in clearing up some things I was wondering:

1. The monsters on each floor are of the same type every time, but not in the same quantity
2. The monster that carries the gate key is not the same each time; it is randomized as well
3. The reward for excellent duels is a random gem rather than a specific one

However, there are still some questions I have, namely:

1. Are the Atla the same every playthrough, or are they changed per floor? If they are, are they randomized at the start of the game, or before entering the floor?
2. Do the same floors have gates and keys every time, or is that randomized?
3. Who is really faster, Xiao, Toan, or someone else?
4. Way in the future, but is it needed to complete all the georama in Dark Heaven Castle?

I really appreciate all the work that's been done, and hope I can help somewhat. It's obvious that we need to have the broken dagger glitch to speed up the game (it's not illegal; if you've ever seen the Ocarina of Time speedrun, that thing is full of glitches), and as such, Paige's house is needed before Gaffer's, as well. Other than that, the sooner we can get the required atla, the better; 100% completion simply isn't worth it at any point with the broken dagger glitch.

I don't know if anyone has mentioned it yet, but Dran's Feather is essential to this run; it speeds up the characters' running extremely, and I recall being able to make it through 4 or 5 floors before it wore out when I was going through and killing every single monster. I'd try and get a dran's feather in floor one, and complete Paige's and Gaffer's houses as quickly as possible to be able to buy them. You also get one from Laura's House, but that's probably too much effort for just one feather.

Well, I'll try and test a few of those questions out on my own if I get the time to do so, but for now, I hope this project gets picked up again; really want to see a run of this game done. Cheesy

Hey, just came across this, I love dark cloud and thought it would be great to speedrun it if I had the equipment. As for the route and strategy and the like, it would seem to me that Usu's stats are quite helpful in clearing up some things I was wondering:

1. The monsters on each floor are of the same type every time, but not in the same quantity
2. The monster that carries the gate key is not the same each time; it is randomized as well
3. The reward for excellent duels is a random gem rather than a specific one

However, there are still some questions I have, namely:

1. Are the Atla the same every playthrough, or are they changed per floor? If they are, are they randomized at the start of the game, or before entering the floor?
2. Do the same floors have gates and keys every time, or is that randomized?
3. Who is really faster, Xiao, Toan, or someone else?
4. Way in the future, but is it needed to complete all the georama in Dark Heaven Castle?

I really appreciate all the work that's been done, and hope I can help somewhat. It's obvious that we need to have the broken dagger glitch to speed up the game (it's not illegal; if you've ever seen the Ocarina of Time speedrun, that thing is full of glitches), and as such, Paige's house is needed before Gaffer's, as well. Other than that, the sooner we can get the required atla, the better; 100% completion simply isn't worth it at any point with the broken dagger glitch.

I don't know if anyone has mentioned it yet, but Dran's Feather is essential to this run; it speeds up the characters' running extremely, and I recall being able to make it through 4 or 5 floors before it wore out when I was going through and killing every single monster. I'd try and get a dran's feather in floor one, and complete Paige's and Gaffer's houses as quickly as possible to be able to buy them. You also get one from Laura's House, but that's probably too much effort for just one feather.

Well, I'll try and test a few of those questions out on my own if I get the time to do so, but for now, I hope this project gets picked up again; really want to see a run of this game done. :D

Sonickrazy

2011-06-16 05:35:47 pm

Ok, I've done a few tests, which are added to Usu's results below. I reset each and every trial and started from the beginning of the floor, and got different results each time. This means that the atla in each floor is not the same, there are variations. However, there are most definitely "constants", which are the atla that are always gotten no matter how many times I go through the level. Unfortunately, none of these constants are of ones we need... which makes things tricky.

Feel free to add your own trials to the list below. Constants are in italics, while Required Items are in bold.

https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ajo6hs_ruIOEdFlqMjJwWU90RE9YdE1nLWdhaTRRSHc&hl=en_US

Also, I've listed all the Norune Village required Georama, which includes Paige's House. I recall from previous playthroughs that you only really need Pike, his Wheel, and his Cabin to set up shop in Gaffer's Buggy entirely... but I'm not sure if you really need the Wheel and Cabin, or if it's just Pike's young back that we're after. Again, please feel free to add required stuff for future towns.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YoiuW4wbMO8NiXDFIEayZBdF_-Q0EPu_wCM8__SECEM/edit?hl=en_US&authkey=CKKd7-gI

With all that in mind, I'm thinking that there should be one segment for the beginning of the game through when the mayor gives Toan the materials, then a savewarp to the gates of the town, after which we open the door to Dran's Cave, do the first level, and try to achieve the following:

-Get the only Atla that isn't constant ASAP, make sure it's required.
-Skip all chests but a large one, guess curse and if you get it wrong, guess the one that it was. Equip whatever sword you got; its final form doesn't matter too much.
-Don't fight Cave Bats, only Skeleton Soldiers and Dashers, and fight only enough to get Dran's Crest.

Reset until close to perfect, and move on to the next segment... where I guess we'll have to run through the dungeon up to Seda's duel, and get all the atla that aren't constant through trial and error, then keep the best segment. That's what I have so far, we still need to find out the rest of the constants for the floors before we can finalize Norune Village, though.

Ok, I've done a few tests, which are added to Usu's results below. I reset each and every trial and started from the beginning of the floor, and got different results each time. This means that the atla in each floor is not the same, there are variations. However, there are most definitely "constants", which are the atla that are always gotten no matter how many times I go through the level. Unfortunately, none of these constants are of ones we need... which makes things tricky.

Feel free to add your own trials to the list below. Constants are in italics, while Required Items are in bold.

https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ajo6hs_ruIOEdFlqMjJwWU90RE9YdE1nLWdhaTRRSHc&hl=en_US

Also, I've listed all the Norune Village required Georama, which includes Paige's House. I recall from previous playthroughs that you only really need Pike, his Wheel, and his Cabin to set up shop in Gaffer's Buggy entirely... but I'm not sure if you really need the Wheel and Cabin, or if it's just Pike's young back that we're after. Again, please feel free to add required stuff for future towns.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YoiuW4wbMO8NiXDFIEayZBdF_-Q0EPu_wCM8__SECEM/edit?hl=en_US&authkey=CKKd7-gI

With all that in mind, I'm thinking that there should be one segment for the beginning of the game through when the mayor gives Toan the materials, then a savewarp to the gates of the town, after which we open the door to Dran's Cave, do the first level, and try to achieve the following:

-Get the only Atla that isn't constant ASAP, make sure it's required.
-Skip all chests but a large one, guess curse and if you get it wrong, guess the one that it was. Equip whatever sword you got; its final form doesn't matter too much.
-Don't fight Cave Bats, only Skeleton Soldiers and Dashers, and fight only enough to get Dran's Crest.

Reset until close to perfect, and move on to the next segment... where I guess we'll have to run through the dungeon up to Seda's duel, and get all the atla that aren't constant through trial and error, then keep the best segment. That's what I have so far, we still need to find out the rest of the constants for the floors before we can finalize Norune Village, though.

Sonickrazy

2011-06-17 03:35:49 am

Hmm... upon gathering more data, it would seem that most of the atla in the game is, in fact, NOT constant... especially as you progress further and further down into the dungeon. My hunch is that each dungeon has a few "starter atla" that you always get on a certain floor, and the rest are shuffled randomly where they're needed (as in, you'll never see Toan's House after Floor 8, since you need it to progress past there, as well as the rest of the atla found before that). With that in mind, it should be very much possible, if all the atla that aren't constant are luck-manipulated, to get all 13 required atla within the first three floors, so you can make a mad dash for Dran's Crest during the rest of them. If you allow yourself to spread them over 4 floors, it should be a walk in the park.

What's more, only Pike, Paige's House and a complete Gaffer's Buggy are needed for the Broken Dagger Glitch, meaning you can easily get as many broken daggers as you want as early as Floor 3 of the first dungeon. Not only that, but considering the fact that powerup powders are found on occasion in chests (especially level 4), it is possible to get the Chronicle Sword before Xiao even joins the party. However, it may be wise to only use a few build-ups on Toan, in favor of the speedier Xiao, since the first point where we'll need to worry about Toan's base weapon's max stats would be at La Saia, way in Chapter 3.

If I were to guess right now how many broken daggers we'll need over the course of the game, I'd have to put it somewhere around 8-9. Xiao should be able to one-shot most of the enemies until La Saia, and even then she'll only need about 2 overall to make it to a point where she can one-shot anything that is needed until Osmond joins. I don't know if Osmond is even that much faster, but if he is, he'll only need 2 to get him to his best laser weapon, the supernova. We don't even need to bother with anyone else but Toan, since slapping on a spare Broken Dagger without upgrading when they need it should be enough to get them through most limited zones and bosses. I'm using Toan's Gladius to test, and so far, I've only needed 2 daggers to make it to the 7-Branch Sword, which is 2 levels away from Chronicle. I'd give him 4 or 5 daggers to be unstoppable.

So yeah, if we can get all the atla we need in the first 3 levels and pick up some powerup powders here and there, the rest of the game should just be a matter of manipulating the atla of the first few levels of a dungeon, then running the rest without picking up a single one. I'm really excited, I'll try and post a full route of Norune Village at least sometime tomorrow. And hope someone with recording equipment picks it up. >.>;;

Hmm... upon gathering more data, it would seem that most of the atla in the game is, in fact, NOT constant... especially as you progress further and further down into the dungeon. My hunch is that each dungeon has a few "starter atla" that you always get on a certain floor, and the rest are shuffled randomly where they're needed (as in, you'll never see Toan's House after Floor 8, since you need it to progress past there, as well as the rest of the atla found before that). With that in mind, it should be very much possible, if all the atla that aren't constant are luck-manipulated, to get all 13 required atla within the first three floors, so you can make a mad dash for Dran's Crest during the rest of them. If you allow yourself to spread them over 4 floors, it should be a walk in the park.

What's more, only Pike, Paige's House and a complete Gaffer's Buggy are needed for the Broken Dagger Glitch, meaning you can easily get as many broken daggers as you want as early as Floor 3 of the first dungeon. Not only that, but considering the fact that powerup powders are found on occasion in chests (especially level 4), it is possible to get the Chronicle Sword before Xiao even joins the party. However, it may be wise to only use a few build-ups on Toan, in favor of the speedier Xiao, since the first point where we'll need to worry about Toan's base weapon's max stats would be at La Saia, way in Chapter 3.

If I were to guess right now how many broken daggers we'll need over the course of the game, I'd have to put it somewhere around 8-9. Xiao should be able to one-shot most of the enemies until La Saia, and even then she'll only need about 2 overall to make it to a point where she can one-shot anything that is needed until Osmond joins. I don't know if Osmond is even that much faster, but if he is, he'll only need 2 to get him to his best laser weapon, the supernova. We don't even need to bother with anyone else but Toan, since slapping on a spare Broken Dagger without upgrading when they need it should be enough to get them through most limited zones and bosses. I'm using Toan's Gladius to test, and so far, I've only needed 2 daggers to make it to the 7-Branch Sword, which is 2 levels away from Chronicle. I'd give him 4 or 5 daggers to be unstoppable.

So yeah, if we can get all the atla we need in the first 3 levels and pick up some powerup powders here and there, the rest of the game should just be a matter of manipulating the atla of the first few levels of a dungeon, then running the rest without picking up a single one. I'm really excited, I'll try and post a full route of Norune Village at least sometime tomorrow. And hope someone with recording equipment picks it up. >.>;;

Sonickrazy

2011-06-18 01:30:48 am

Interesting side-effect of the Broken Dagger glitch I discovered; when I attempted to go to the customization menu of my Wooden Slingshot to remove the Broken Dagger Attachment, the game froze, as if I had paused the game (the music was still playing). This shot my attempt of Floor 12 to heck, so I'm not entirely sure what the constants are for that level, but it would seem like Hag's House and Road are possibilities. Anyway, for the sake of the run, I suggest all broken dagger-swapping be done at the start of segments to avoid what happened to me (I've been able to get into the customization window since then outside of the dungeon).

I've still got a bit of testing to go before I can type out a full route, but it looks to me like we can get all of the stuff for Dran's Windmill on the 9th floor, so then the rest of the cave can be a matter of getting the key and finding the exit. Oh, and slingshots are a pain to get; might want to get one in the 9th floor segment.

systemf

2011-06-18 09:08:20 am

Debonair is cool guy, yes?

I don't really have the knowledge or time to help out with this run, but I hope things go smoothly and you eventually get a speedrun finished Sonickrazy. Smiley

I'd definitely look forward to watching it. With that said, good luck! Lots of luck manipulation to be dealt with!

Sonickrazy

2011-06-18 01:17:57 pm

Quote from systemf:

I don't really have the knowledge or time to help out with this run, but I hope things go smoothly and you eventually get a speedrun finished Sonickrazy. Smiley

I'd definitely look forward to watching it. With that said, good luck! Lots of luck manipulation to be dealt with!

Hey, thanks for the comment, it really helps with my morale to know that someone's interested. XD

But yeah, something I forgot to include in the previous post: I did a few tests with Toan and Xiao along a particularly long stretch of randomly-generated cave, and Xiao ended up running a whole half-second faster than Toan did with the Dran's Feather. It's not like it will be much faster if you're constantly switching between the two while collecting atla, but after all the required atla are gotten, it seems Xiao is the faster one to speed through the level with, especially with long-range.

Naegleria

(user is banned)

2011-06-18 06:32:36 pm

I played this game last year, it was a casual speedrun, but I didnt know how to do the broken dagger glitch. Instead I just abused the back floor of floor 14 of the Boat to speed level. I have since looked the glitch up, and it doesn't sound to hard to execute. I don't think I will be providing competition for you at the moment though. Hope to see your run soon.

Sonickrazy

2011-06-18 06:36:22 pm

Quote from Naegleria:

I played this game last year, it was a casual speedrun, but I didnt know how to do the broken dagger glitch. Instead I just abused the back floor of floor 14 of the Boat to speed level. I have since looked the glitch up, and it doesn't sound to hard to execute. I don't think I will be providing competition for you at the moment though. Hope to see your run soon.

lol, "competition"? I love some good competition, but unfortunately, I won't be doing the playing... i don't have the finances to afford recording equipment... if you know someone who might want to run it, though, you might want to send them here. Cheesy

Sonickrazy

Edit history:

Sonickrazy: 2011-06-18 11:55:52 pm

Sonickrazy: 2011-06-18 10:30:14 pm

Sonickrazy: 2011-06-18 10:29:25 pm

2011-06-18 10:28:05 pm

Okay, I'm finished with Norune Village and am moving on to Matataki Village. Everything has gone smoothly so far, the only thing I'd mention is that Dran can't be taken down entirely by Xiao's slingshot; it only does 7 damage per hit, even with max on double impact. Toan needs to get up close and personal and OHKO that... flying... dog... thing?

Anyway, here's the route I'm thinking of for Norune Village. Tell me if you spot any flaws.

-Segment 1: Name Toan as Toan, skip cutscenes, talk to mayor and get all freshened up. Save after talking to him to be savewarped to the town gates.

-Segment 2: Press select and move over to Dran's Cave by Georama. Run through the first floor and pick up the non-constant atla within a few tries, resetting if it isn't a required one. Find a large chest and equip whatever sword you get unless it's a crysknife. Don't fight Cave Bats, get to the exit ASAP. Exit, rest at the Mayor's House, and save afterwards.

-Segment 3: Press Triangle and warp to the dungeon. Run through Floor 2 and collect the four non-constant atla and make sure they are all needed, then exit, visit the Mayor, and save.

-Segment 4: Run through Floor 3 and 4, collecting all the atla on 3 and resetting if you don't have the 7 required for Gaffer's Buggy. On 4, score an Excellent on the duel to get a jewel (600 gilda), and pick up the treasure chests. If you got a powerup powder, congrats, you got a perfect segment. Either way, exit the dungeon and set up Gaffer's Buggy and Paige's House near the gates you spawn at after saving, then put Pike in his house, then complete Gaffer's Buggy entirely. Watch the Event Sequence and save.

-Segment 5: Walk a few feet to Gaffer, and press Triangle and flip through your Item, Weapon, and Attachment menus once, quickly. (I've found this to be the most reliable way of ensuring you can get the glitch to work) Exit out, open his shop, and go down to the base of both his inventory and your ITEM inventory, then press right + x until you get the attachment. Exit, flip through your Item Menus again, re-enter, and do it again. Repeat until you have 9 daggers. Afterwards, put one on Toan's weapon, effectively making it a one-hit killing machine for the rest of the dungeon. Save the powerup powder(s) for later. Afterwards, sell all of your "real" attachments and buy as many Auto Repair Powders and Dran's Feathers as you can. Exit and save.

-Segment 6: Warp to the dungeon and pick up the rest of the required atla on Floor 5. Run through the rest of the dungeon up to 8, opening any chests in your way and upgrading your weapon if possible at the end of 6 to avoid losing ABS in that limited zone. Score Excellent with Seda if you can, and pick up the Stray Cat atla. Mind-connect to the fairy king and leave. Set up Toan's House near Gaffer and Paige's Houses, complete it, and watch the cutscene. Save afterwards.

-Segment 7: Buy some more Powders and Feathers from Gaffer if you want, then Warp to the dungeon. Open all 8 atla on Floor 9 and reset if you don't get all five that you need for Dran's Windmill. Once you've completed it, exit and set the windmill up near the other houses, then run in, grab the Miracle Chest with the horned key in it (near the main pillar) and save.

-Segment 8: Warp to the dungeon, and find a large chest with a slingshot in it on Floor 10. Equip it to Xiao, and use her to find the gate key and exit, then save.

-Segment 9: Warp to the dungeon, go through 11 to the Boss in one go. Defeat Dran with one hit from Toan and Xiao's weapons, then watch the cutscenes and you will find yourself near the Town Gates. Ride the georama over to the Mayor's House, then grab the Fruit of Eden on the table, the Prickly (sell it later) and Pocket from his supply closet, and the Gourd upstairs, then use the pocket and save.

-Segment 10: Run to Gaffer and stock up on Powders and Feathers [save about 8 spaces in your inventory], then search the back of his buggy for a Fluffy Doughnut. Move over to Toan's House and grab the Gourd near the left side of the Stable Entrance and the gourd on the Llama's side of the stable. Finally, move to Dran's Windmill and grab the Fluffy Doughnut and Fish Candy outside, then the Fruit of Eden on the inside. Open your menu and divvy out the powerups between Toan and Xiao, then open the world map and warp to Matataki Village. Follow Goro into his treehouse, score an Excellent with his duel if you can, and grab his Hunter Earrings. Run over to Treant and talk with the Fairy King, then save.

Okay, I'm finished with Norune Village and am moving on to Matataki Village. Everything has gone smoothly so far, the only thing I'd mention is that Dran can't be taken down entirely by Xiao's slingshot; it only does 7 damage per hit, even with max on double impact. Toan needs to get up close and personal and OHKO that... flying... dog... thing?

Anyway, here's the route I'm thinking of for Norune Village. Tell me if you spot any flaws.

-[b]Segment 1:[/b] Name Toan as Toan, skip cutscenes, talk to mayor and get all freshened up. Save after talking to him to be savewarped to the town gates.

-[b]Segment 2:[/b] Press select and move over to Dran's Cave by Georama. Run through the first floor and pick up the non-constant atla within a few tries, resetting if it isn't a required one. Find a large chest and equip whatever sword you get unless it's a crysknife. Don't fight Cave Bats, get to the exit ASAP. Exit, rest at the Mayor's House, and save afterwards.

-[b]Segment 3:[/b] Press Triangle and warp to the dungeon. Run through Floor 2 and collect the four non-constant atla and make sure they are all needed, then exit, visit the Mayor, and save.

-[b]Segment 4:[/b] Run through Floor 3 and 4, collecting all the atla on 3 and resetting if you don't have the 7 required for Gaffer's Buggy. On 4, score an Excellent on the duel to get a jewel (600 gilda), and pick up the treasure chests. If you got a powerup powder, congrats, you got a perfect segment. Either way, exit the dungeon and set up Gaffer's Buggy and Paige's House near the gates you spawn at after saving, then put Pike in his house, then complete Gaffer's Buggy entirely. Watch the Event Sequence and save.

-[b]Segment 5:[/b] Walk a few feet to Gaffer, and press Triangle and flip through your Item, Weapon, and Attachment menus once, quickly. (I've found this to be the most reliable way of ensuring you can get the glitch to work) Exit out, open his shop, and go down to the base of both his inventory and your ITEM inventory, then press right + x until you get the attachment. Exit, flip through your Item Menus again, re-enter, and do it again. Repeat until you have 9 daggers. Afterwards, put one on Toan's weapon, effectively making it a one-hit killing machine for the rest of the dungeon. Save the powerup powder(s) for later. Afterwards, sell all of your "real" attachments and buy as many Auto Repair Powders and Dran's Feathers as you can. Exit and save.

-[b]Segment 6:[/b] Warp to the dungeon and pick up the rest of the required atla on Floor 5. Run through the rest of the dungeon up to 8, opening any chests in your way and upgrading your weapon if possible at the end of 6 to avoid losing ABS in that limited zone. Score Excellent with Seda if you can, and pick up the Stray Cat atla. Mind-connect to the fairy king and leave. Set up Toan's House near Gaffer and Paige's Houses, complete it, and watch the cutscene. Save afterwards.

-[b]Segment 7:[/b] Buy some more Powders and Feathers from Gaffer if you want, then Warp to the dungeon. Open all 8 atla on Floor 9 and reset if you don't get all five that you need for Dran's Windmill. Once you've completed it, exit and set the windmill up near the other houses, then run in, grab the Miracle Chest with the horned key in it (near the main pillar) and save.

-[b]Segment 8:[/b] Warp to the dungeon, and find a large chest with a slingshot in it on Floor 10. Equip it to Xiao, and use her to find the gate key and exit, then save.

-[b]Segment 9:[/b] Warp to the dungeon, go through 11 to the Boss in one go. Defeat Dran with one hit from Toan and Xiao's weapons, then watch the cutscenes and you will find yourself near the Town Gates. Ride the georama over to the Mayor's House, then grab the Fruit of Eden on the table, the Prickly (sell it later) and Pocket from his supply closet, and the Gourd upstairs, then use the pocket and save.

-[b]Segment 10:[/b] Run to Gaffer and stock up on Powders and Feathers [save about 8 spaces in your inventory], then search the back of his buggy for a Fluffy Doughnut. Move over to Toan's House and grab the Gourd near the left side of the Stable Entrance and the gourd on the Llama's side of the stable. Finally, move to Dran's Windmill and grab the Fluffy Doughnut and Fish Candy outside, then the Fruit of Eden on the inside. Open your menu and divvy out the powerups between Toan and Xiao, then open the world map and warp to Matataki Village. Follow Goro into his treehouse, score an Excellent with his duel if you can, and grab his Hunter Earrings. Run over to Treant and talk with the Fairy King, then save.

edman3d

2011-06-22 05:12:58 pm

ow

My thread from Feb of 2008 lives! I can't believe it's been that long since I posted this. The thread has been resurrected many times. All I have to offer was the information in my inital post, but I do read the bumps because I'm very much still interested in the run. I can't remember if I said this but if you're going for the broken dagger glitch you should put the shop in it's correct place so that the item to do the glitch (I used the blue orb, only one that worked for me) is available. If you put the shop in the wrong place he will have less items to sell.

Good luck with your planning and such sonic.

Sonickrazy

2012-04-23 10:43:44 pm

Man, over a year since I've worked on this. A lot has happened since then, and I'm almost finished with high school. But I've been craving some Dark Cloud recently, and have started back up on getting data! I should get a fair amount done over the coming weeks, since I need some real downtime after my stressful days, recently. And what better way to do that than with some nice, easy data-collecting? ^^

Anyway, I went from levels 5 to 8 of the Wise Owl Forest today, and I'm thinking that the best strategy for wise owl forest is to kill the monsters in a room with Xiao, and while waiting for them to die so you can see what they drop, get treasure chests and atla in that room. Pick up any snacks for the owl, but don't pick up any other items; you'll run out of space, fast. Picking up the pocket in Goro's treehouse when you go back the second time with the bone pendant is probably a wise idea.

As for the atla, Floor 8 always seems to give a lot of river atla, but beyond that, not much is constant in these floors. I'm thinking that constants were just for the first couple floors of the first dungeon, and otherwise, everything in the game is totally random. I'll need more trials to confirm that, but that's my hunch for the moment.

So yeah, this run is still alive! I can't wait to finish up all the routing so we can see this done; I'm going off to college soon, so I might be able to record it myself down the line if I save up enough. But I'll for sure be doing test runs if and when I finish to get a general sense on the time it'll take. Cheesy

Man, over a year since I've worked on this. A lot has happened since then, and I'm almost finished with high school. But I've been craving some Dark Cloud recently, and have started back up on getting data! I should get a fair amount done over the coming weeks, since I need some real downtime after my stressful days, recently. And what better way to do that than with some nice, easy data-collecting? ^^

Anyway, I went from levels 5 to 8 of the Wise Owl Forest today, and I'm thinking that the best strategy for wise owl forest is to kill the monsters in a room with Xiao, and while waiting for them to die so you can see what they drop, get treasure chests and atla in that room. Pick up any snacks for the owl, but don't pick up any other items; you'll run out of space, fast. Picking up the pocket in Goro's treehouse when you go back the second time with the bone pendant is probably a wise idea.

As for the atla, Floor 8 always seems to give a lot of river atla, but beyond that, not much is constant in these floors. I'm thinking that constants were just for the first couple floors of the first dungeon, and otherwise, everything in the game is totally random. I'll need more trials to confirm that, but that's my hunch for the moment.

So yeah, this run is still alive! I can't wait to finish up all the routing so we can see this done; I'm going off to college soon, so I might be able to record it myself down the line if I save up enough. But I'll for sure be doing test runs if and when I finish to get a general sense on the time it'll take. :D

Sonickrazy

2012-04-25 11:12:43 am

Hmm, it seems like flying monsters never drop gate keys: I've noticed that Hornets and Witch Iilsas never seemed to give me any gate keys, so I've been avoiding them on purpose and thus far have had no trouble finding the keys from the other monsters. This added to the Cave Bats from the previous dungeon leads me to conclude that the game is simply incapable of having gate keys drop from creatures that are constantly airborne until the moment they die. Looking at the data I have from Dungeon 1, Ghosts also have never dropped gate keys for me, who are very similar to Witch Ilsa in that they never touch the ground until they die. This means that flying monsters should be able to be skipped altogether to ease a bit of luck manipulation! A great find, if I do say so, myself. ^^

Sonickrazy

2012-04-25 12:33:12 pm

Whoa, I just stumbled upon a glitch found by pokemonfan4000 that completely changes the route for Norune Village! It lets you skip right to Matataki Village as soon as you complete Gaffer's Buggy, even without Pike! And all you need is a Gladius+2 and 2 broken daggers!

http://www.youtube.com/embed/OD_hHuW5m18

While this certainly will come in great use, allowing us to skip a sizeable chunk of the dungeon, there are two things that somewhat limit how and when this gitch can be used:

The first is the question of what happens if Xiao is not in the party in Wise Owl Forest. There are three possible outcomes I can think of... the first is that the game crashes outright, which I'm nearly certain is what will happen for Territory 4, a Xiao-only limited zone; the game will likely try and switch the player character to Xiao when she does not exist, leading to a crash. The second is probably the most likely for floors 1-3, which is that the game does not crash, but there are points at which Xiao is needed to jump across gaps, so the player will need to reset and look for a setup without such a limitation. The third and final possibility, which would be very interesting indeed, would be if the game recognizes that Xiao is not in the party, and as such does not load any Xiao-only jumping sections. If this is true, it might also be possible for the 4th zone to result in Toan being summoned instead of Xiao, meaning that XIAO WOULD NOT BE NEEDED IN THE GAME AT ANY POINT. Though, we might still want to get her, since she is much faster at clearing out rooms and running in general than Toan is. I'll test this tonight.

The next concern is that it appears that the glitch needs to A. Be done immediately after completing the Buggy, and B. Be done without the extended inventory from Pike. This means that we would have no access to Dran's Feathers until Rando's shop in Queens, though we could still luck-manipulate some from the chests in the dungeons. Also, if we need to get Xiao, we would not be able to set up the buggy until Floor 8, meaning that every floor would require an entire segment devoted to it so that we could run to the Mayor's for supplies every time, not to mention not having any Broken Daggers until then.

Assuming the worst-case for both of these conditions, it would still be workable; you could get the atla for the Buggy ASAP, do the glitch, warp to Matataki, perhaps duel Goro for the gem and more money, warp back to Norune, buy supplies, and then finish out DBC down to floor 8 while hoping to find dran's feathers. But with a bit more leeway, it could be done much faster, particularly if we can get Dran's Feathers from Gaffer and still do the glitch. Check back soon for some more test results!

Whoa, I just stumbled upon a glitch found by pokemonfan4000 that completely changes the route for Norune Village! It lets you skip right to Matataki Village as soon as you complete Gaffer's Buggy, even without Pike! And all you need is a Gladius+2 and 2 broken daggers!

http://www.youtube.com/embed/OD_hHuW5m18

While this certainly will come in great use, allowing us to skip a sizeable chunk of the dungeon, there are two things that somewhat limit how and when this gitch can be used:

The first is the question of what happens if Xiao is not in the party in Wise Owl Forest. There are three possible outcomes I can think of... the first is that the game crashes outright, which I'm nearly certain is what will happen for Territory 4, a Xiao-only limited zone; the game will likely try and switch the player character to Xiao when she does not exist, leading to a crash. The second is probably the most likely for floors 1-3, which is that the game does not crash, but there are points at which Xiao is needed to jump across gaps, so the player will need to reset and look for a setup without such a limitation. The third and final possibility, which would be very interesting indeed, would be if the game recognizes that Xiao is not in the party, and as such does not load any Xiao-only jumping sections. If this is true, it might also be possible for the 4th zone to result in Toan being summoned instead of Xiao, meaning that XIAO WOULD NOT BE NEEDED IN THE GAME AT ANY POINT. Though, we might still want to get her, since she is much faster at clearing out rooms and running in general than Toan is. I'll test this tonight.

The next concern is that it appears that the glitch needs to A. Be done immediately after completing the Buggy, and B. Be done without the extended inventory from Pike. This means that we would have no access to Dran's Feathers until Rando's shop in Queens, though we could still luck-manipulate some from the chests in the dungeons. Also, if we need to get Xiao, we would not be able to set up the buggy until Floor 8, meaning that every floor would require an entire segment devoted to it so that we could run to the Mayor's for supplies every time, not to mention not having any Broken Daggers until then.

Assuming the worst-case for both of these conditions, it would still be workable; you could get the atla for the Buggy ASAP, do the glitch, warp to Matataki, perhaps duel Goro for the gem and more money, warp back to Norune, buy supplies, and then finish out DBC down to floor 8 while hoping to find dran's feathers. But with a bit more leeway, it could be done much faster, particularly if we can get Dran's Feathers from Gaffer and still do the glitch. Check back soon for some more test results!

F5inator

2012-07-05 02:31:40 am

I'm glad this thread has been here so long. I've never bothered to look for glitches or such to help me beat the game; my last playthrough took me about 30 hours to complete! Course, that was collecting everything and completing each town 100%, even to points where I tried to max everyone's weapon to the final stage. But I digress. I put Dark Cloud in my PS3 again (probably should be a PS2, but oh well) and started to look for what needs to be done.

I've only tried Divine Beast Cavern for a couple runs, to see what I was in for. I jot down some notes after every save and notice there are some small improvements at every interval. The randomness is a bit annoying at times, but it can't be helped.

I've read Sonickrazy's posts after I've tried my hand at it and have to say, I'm not sure if his way's optimal or mine's been thought out enough. That, and I thought you needed to complete Paige's House before you can have Gaffer's Buggy fully stocked. I'll try it later to make sure. Otherwise, I think my way would be the way to 100% the game as quickly as possible. That is, collecting all the Atla and fulfilling all town requirements.

The way I've been trying (for Divine Beast Cavern so far, haven't tried out other areas yet) is to not really to rely on segments to get everything that's needed. I've been collecting all the Atla around, opening chests regardless if there's a gate or not, and just running through the dungeon until you're required to collect something from town.

I'll post my notes here later. They are similar to what Sonickrazy has for his segments. All except for the Atla. He wants to manipulate it; I say collect it and worry later. Maybe I'm just impatient and don't want to reset a hundred times.

More about this later. Need sleep.

I'm glad this thread has been here so long. I've never bothered to look for glitches or such to help me beat the game; my last playthrough took me about 30 hours to complete! Course, that was collecting everything and completing each town 100%, even to points where I tried to max everyone's weapon to the final stage. But I digress. I put Dark Cloud in my PS3 again (probably should be a PS2, but oh well) and started to look for what needs to be done.

I've only tried Divine Beast Cavern for a couple runs, to see what I was in for. I jot down some notes after every save and notice there are some small improvements at every interval. The randomness is a bit annoying at times, but it can't be helped.

I've read Sonickrazy's posts after I've tried my hand at it and have to say, I'm not sure if his way's optimal or mine's been thought out enough. That, and I thought you needed to complete Paige's House before you can have Gaffer's Buggy fully stocked. I'll try it later to make sure. Otherwise, I think my way would be the way to 100% the game as quickly as possible. That is, collecting all the Atla and fulfilling all town requirements.

The way I've been trying (for Divine Beast Cavern so far, haven't tried out other areas yet) is to not really to rely on segments to get everything that's needed. I've been collecting all the Atla around, opening chests regardless if there's a gate or not, and just running through the dungeon until you're required to collect something from town.

I'll post my notes here later. They are similar to what Sonickrazy has for his segments. All except for the Atla. He wants to manipulate it; I say collect it and worry later. Maybe I'm just impatient and don't want to reset a hundred times.

More about this later. Need sleep.

Sonickrazy

Edit history:

Sonickrazy: 2013-08-13 11:41:07 pm

2013-08-13 04:09:21 pm

Hey, finally got around to buying a capture card and recording the first segment to this. Dunno if anyone still cares, but it's been rolling around in my head for so long that I figured I may as well try it and see how it goes. Sorry the quality's not so great, still getting used to the program I record it with.

Oh, and I practiced the Matataki Early glitch; it'll definitely save a good half hour or so of the run. It could go wrong if I mess up, though, and possibly corrupt my save data, which is why I've got a backup memory card in case that does happen. Unfortunately, you still do have to get Xiao, so my plan is to do the glitch after Floor 4, stock up on the free broken daggers it gives you and then warp back to Norune and get Xiao. Hopefully I can get some good Segments in to start the run; these first couple floors I expect to be the hardest part of the run in terms of luck manipulation.

EDIT: Next two parts:

Hey, finally got around to buying a capture card and recording the first segment to this. Dunno if anyone still cares, but it's been rolling around in my head for so long that I figured I may as well try it and see how it goes. Sorry the quality's not so great, still getting used to the program I record it with.

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt0maqDXous[/url]

Oh, and I practiced the Matataki Early glitch; it'll definitely save a good half hour or so of the run. It could go wrong if I mess up, though, and possibly corrupt my save data, which is why I've got a backup memory card in case that does happen. Unfortunately, you still do have to get Xiao, so my plan is to do the glitch after Floor 4, stock up on the free broken daggers it gives you and then warp back to Norune and get Xiao. Hopefully I can get some good Segments in to start the run; these first couple floors I expect to be the hardest part of the run in terms of luck manipulation.

EDIT: Next two parts:

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0MaUu72R9I[/url]

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GUfGAXUplc[/url]

Sonickrazy

Edit history:

Sonickrazy: 2013-08-16 03:03:23 am

2013-08-16 03:02:59 am

I'm having really, really good luck with this. I've got all the atla I need by floor 5, which means I can run through 6-8 in one go next time. But before I do... Next segment is the big one. The Matataki Early skip. I'm gonna try and get it as perfect as I can, but there's a lot of steps. Wish me luck?