Username:
B
I
U
S
"
url
img
#
code
sup
sub
font
size
color
smiley
embarassed
thumbsup
happy
Huh?
Angry
Roll Eyes
Undecided
Lips Sealed
Kiss
Cry
Grin
Wink
Tongue
Shocked
Cheesy
Smiley
Sad
<- 12345678 ->
--
--
List results:
Search options:
Use \ before commas in usernames
What percentage of battles are you running from versus fighting?
Highly Evolved
Quote from scaryice:
What percentage of battles are you running from versus fighting?


Actually, a good question.  One of the things about battles that I've learned is some of the constructs of fleeing.  All tribute goes to 1whoistornapart over at Gamefaqs for most of these.  Assuming you're not at higher levels than the enemies you fight, you have a 50% of fleeing the first two times you try, then a 75% chance the third time, and 100% the fourth time.  Odds wise, you have a 1/12 chance of not being able to flee in three attempts (1/2 *1/2 *1/4).  Encounters I know I can defeat in one round are almost always auto fight.  Two rounds I base on how badly I'd get hurt if I couldn't flee in two rounds vs. amount of damage I'd likely take if I fought.  Three rounds to kill are kind of dependent on how fast I can get rid of the high damage enemies.  Let's say a Putregon and three Green Dragons.  If I fail twice, I'm likely dead, but if I attack, I can kill at least two of the dragons if not all three on the first round and then take the Putregon in the next two rounds if necessary.

I run from all normal enemies with regen that I can't kill in one round.  Boss Trolls, Troll Kings most of the time, three Stone Hulks, three Scalgons.  I run from enemies that compromise my party, Avenger Jackals with Surround, Hologhosts with Beat and Defeat, etc., although some I don't since they waste a turn casting it, like Defense if there are few enemies. 

Some oddities about running that I've found:  If you fail, it's not a given that all enemies will attack you.  One must, but some enemies will have their turn skipped.  I don't know why.  You can also still do the Parry bug.  Parry/Parry/Parry, back, back, back, run.  If you fail, your three up front still enjoy 1/2 damage.  Both of these things makes running safer.

Of course if I'm in need of exp., I don't run.  In segment one, I only run from babbles and big sets of Spiked Hares and Magicians.  I fight four Froggores even if they take three rounds.  I'll run from the moths if they surround me, something you'll see in the run.  I need to get the Hero to level four so I can bet 40 gold at the arena.  I got to Romaly several times with the Hero at level 3.  If I'm ahead of exp. expectations, I'll run more often.

I guess to summarize, I run either when it'll take a long time to defeat the enemy group, I'll take less damage over the long haul if I run constantly, or it'll be faster to run than fight if I don't need the exp.

I do this on the fly since random encounters, outside the first few battles of a segment, are exactly that, random.  I know what all the enemies do and can do, (and in what frequencies, thanks again 1whois.) and act accordingly.



Another interesting thing about enemies is that they're grouped into three ways in how they attack, normal, non-weighted, and concentrated.  Normal attacking enemies use a formula to attack the party, which ends up being about 44% against the head man, 41% against the second, 14% against the third, and 1% against the back.  Non-weighted is just that, 25% across the board.  Concentrated is random of the four and all enemies of that group target that one party member.  Concentrated is the most dangerous, but only Demon Anteaters are enemies with concentrated that I ever need to worry about, and I didn't get a random with them in Segment 1.

Non-weighted, though, is very dangerous.  Lots of enemies have 'em.  Froggores in Segment 1 are dangerous because of that.  Mummy Men and Mummies are one of the worst since they also have 25% chance of criticals.  That means every attack they make is 1/12 to one hit kill my back row character.  Granite Titans, Trolls, countless other are non-weighted, so those are more dangerous.  Normal characters are great since 99% of the time they'll attack a parried member.  I also take that into account when I decide to run or not.



Too long winded an answer?  Cheesy
Highly Evolved
Wow, had a run stopped one space from Isis. 
Highly Evolved
I've got Segment 3 done.  Some really good level ups for the hero and I'm slightly ahead Exp. wise from my practice run.  The one thing that concerns me is that I'm about two and a half minutes behind my practice run time.  However, I remember the practice run for Segment 4 having a lot of issues, so hopefully, I can get that time back.  One thing I'll need to do however is take time to throw away my antidote herbs since I surprisingly never got poisoned. 

Segment 2:
Target 2 years ago: N/A
Practice run:          4:08
Recorded run:        6:09

Segment 3:
Target 2 years ago: 37:00 (current seg. 2-3 combined)
Practice run:          22:37
Recorded run:        23:31

Segment 4:
Target 2 years ago: 39:50
Practice run:          47:51
Recorded run:            ?

Extra time wasn't just for sloppiness, though, it's due to doing some leveling on Catulas that I didn't do before.  I do have to gain 2 more levels that I didn't have to before.  I'd be happy with 45 minutes, I think.  I'm also going to take a different route out of the pyramid.  It's about 60 fewer steps to go up to the top of the pyramid and fall off than it is to backtrack out.  The negative, and why I never even tested it out, is the second level of enemies of the upper floors.  I was surprised to learn Mummies use normal targeting, so that may end up helping.  We'll see how it goes.
Highly Evolved
Well, I have a recorded run that I'm going to keep.  Was able to do the segment in better than 45 minutes.  Did it in under 43.  I'm pleased with it.

Segment 4:
Target 2 years ago: 39:50
Practice run:          47:51
Recorded run:        42:18


This puts exactly three minutes ahead of my practice run.

Next up is the quick getting the ship and restocking, then leveling in the Tower.

Segment 5:

Target 2 years ago:  N/A
Practice Run:          4:20
Recorded Run:          ?

Segment 6:

Target 2 years ago:  45:00 (Segment 5 and 6 combined)
Practice Run:            52:35
Recorded Run:              ?

Seems I did better 2 years ago than I did on my practice run.  Not sure if was just luck or not or wishful thinking.  I remember not having the greatest of luck in the tower in my last practice, so maybe I can cut another 5 minutes off here.

Just to let you know of the final times.

Through segment 4:

Target 2 years ago:  1:50:30
Practice Run:            1:42:07
Recorded Run:          1:39:07
Highly Evolved
Since I like to hear myself talk (or is it read myself type?), here are some other things about the segment.

I have three fairly glaring errors in this segment.  First is a menu error.  I fail to go to the second page right away to warp to Assaram (annoying for me since I did nearly every time). 

Second one is in Baharata.  I head to the inn instead of the item shop first.  Around 8-10 steps total.

Third one is in the Cave NE of Baharata.  I cut right coming out of the cave one screen too quickly, so I don't hit the stairs and instead hit an empty screen.  I head back and down since I initially thought I overshot the stairs, but during a random encounter, realize I had in fact undershot it.  It looks really bad, but I still needed to level to 12 anyway, so that one isn't as bad as it looks. 

All told, though, I think those three errors cost me all of about 10 seconds.
I think "read yourself type" is the one I'd go with.

Anyway, this is interesting stuff and I'll be watching this one.  I actually have wondered about a lot of the things you've broken down concerning random battles.  I had noticed how the enemies can sometimes be merciful after a failed run attempt.  And of course I've become infuriated before at the concentrated attack style enemies when they decide to beat up my wimpier characters in the fourth row.  I always thought that was just bad luck before though.
Highly Evolved
Well, there aren't many enemies that are concentrated.  I think just two, Demon Anteaters and Goopis.  There are tons of non-weighted enemies, though, who have equal chance of hitting any one character.
Highly Evolved
Segment 5:

Target 2 years ago:  N/A
Practice Run:          4:20
Recorded Run:          3:28

That was unexpected.  Maybe twenty seconds, but not fifty.  Must have been a real sloppy four minutes.

Off to attempt the first leveling portion of the run.
Highly Evolved
Well, the tower has been beating me up pretty good.  Best I've done is Hero 18, Fighters 17, or around 30,000 exp.

Fighters reach level 20 at 48,505.  I start at around 6500.  I know in the past I've gotten to level 19, and realistically, that's my goal, to go as far as I can get, then hit the Orochi for the final level up.  Just got to get lucky with Slime encounters and avoid, at all costs, the two garuda, sky dragon combo. 
Highly Evolved
Almost put a post on here earlier today that would've contained a lot of bad words concerning this game at the moment. 

I've put as much time into this segment has I've had the three times I've done practice runs.  Doubled.  Hopefully it won't get to triple the time.

After the initial fifteen minutes, should I survive that long, 100% of my deaths are occurring to the Two Garuda/Sky Dragon combo.  Garudas are essentially 3/10 to use Firebane, and Sky Dragons are 1/2 in using their breath.  These two attacks are by far the highest damage output the enemies have in this tower.  If I fail to run, I have slightly less than 25% to not get hit by one of those.  This last run had a cruel dichotomy of luck.  Fail to run-50%.  No breath/spell-25%.  Fail to run-50% (total 25% to not run).  No breath spell-25% (6.3% of no breath/spell for two turns) Fail to run-25% (total 6.3% to not run).  Dead.

I can't believe I'm not even getting close to finishing the segment.  I've documented here that I've done it before, from level 12.  I've been at level 14 before seeing my first Garuda.  Frustration is setting in.
Highly Evolved
A conundrum.  I have a completed segment.  It's at 51:10.  I'm at level 20 where I need to be.  It's one minute faster than my practice run.  As I noted here, I thought it possible to do better by five minutes.  It's possible, I guess, but in reality it's completely up to how many slimes I can kill.  I guess I had an average amount of kills and encounters. 

Another thing I did in the segment is I went ahead and defeated the Orochi twice and got the orb.  I have come to the opinion that Orochi abuse is NOT the fastest way to level.  I'm going to think on this for a little bit.
Highly Evolved
Funny little story happened today. 

Tried to redo the segment just to see if I could get better.  I kept dying.  Got frustrated and said screw it, I'm keeping this segment.

Started work on the next segment.  Had a couple resets.  The thing with this segment is that when you drop off/pick up characters, the game forces you to save.  Easy enough to handle with a backup save, but after resetting once, I deleted the wrong save.  I deleted the backup, and not the failed run.  So there I am, sitting farther into the game which is of course illegal.

Hurray for the third save, which was a copy before the start of the previous segment.  So my choice on whether to keep the segment or not was made for me.

So I spent today redoing that segment.  I have a time of 47:54.  My idiocy will end up saving a couple minutes.  The thing with this segment is that on the final random battle, one of my characters dies.  It will cost about thirty seconds to revive him at the beginning of the next segment, but that is completely outdone by the three minutes plus I've gained in the segment.

With me no doubt taking this segment, I'll make sure I have three saves so I don't screw it up.

There'll be two differences in the next segment that I didn't do in the practice run.  First is revive my lead fighter, and second is I can only afford one Cloak of Evasion in Lancel (need 9800 for Zombie Slasher in Tedanki).  I can buy two more I think when I return to Lancel later, so I think I'll take the time and do that, which is around six extra steps and 10 seconds or so to buy them and equip.

Segment 6:

Target 2 years ago:  45:00 (Segment 5 and 6 combined)
Practice Run:            52:35
Recorded Run:          47:54

Segment 7:         
Target 2 years ago:    30:00
Practice Run:            26:20
Recorded Run:              ?

Through Segment 6:
Target 2 years ago:    2:35:30
Practice Run:            2:39:02
Recorded Run:          2:30:29

Highly Evolved
Segment 7 appears to be done.  I believe I'm going to take my first completed run through.  I got really lucky on the way to Samanao and was able to kill two metal slimes.  There's only three in the party at that time and my sage is higher in exp than I would expect, so the next segment should be significantly reduced in time.  I'm going to do a little experimenting with the next segment anyway.

Segment 7:         
Target 2 years ago:    30:00
Practice Run:            26:20
Recorded Run:            26:39

Through Segment 7:

Target 2 years ago:    3:05:30
Practice Run:            3:05:22
Recorded Run:          2:57:08

I'm at a solid eight minutes ahead of pace.

Segment 8:

Target 2 years ago:    50:00
Practice Run:            52:13
Recorded Run:              ?



------------------------------------------------------


Oops, forgot I hadn't hit post yet.  The island that I mentioned earlier in the thread that has metal babbles also has a fairly high metal slime rate at night.  17 plus percent.  With the two plus percent chance of hitting a metal babble at night, I have a one in five chance to hit metal on that island.  Since I pick up the lamp of darkness in the previous segment, I can go here and level.  I had what a fairly unlucky and sloppy practice through this new area, and I got a segment time of 42 minutes.  I'm pretty stoked.  Sage was at 19.  Fighters at 24.  This is what I want.  I'll level there until I'm 6000 short of my goal.  Beating the Orochi guarantees me another 5000 and the cave up to the Orochi will net me another 1000. 
Highly Evolved
Segment 8

Target 2 years ago:    50:00
Practice Run:            52:13
Recorded Run:          41:23 

Now way ahead.  Necrogond is next.  I was surprised how quick I did it in the practice run.  We'll see if I can repeat that time.

Segment 9

Target 2 years ago:  28:00
Practice Run:            19:16
Recorded Run:            ?

Through Segment 8

Target 2 years ago:    3:55:30
Practice Run:            3:58:35
Recorded Run:            3:38:31
Highly Evolved
Despite many a hologhost death, I made it through the Necrogond.

Next up is collecting the rest of the orbs, getting Ramia and killing Baramos.

Segment 9

Target 2 years ago:  28:00
Practice Run:            19:16
Recorded Run:          18:53

Segment 10:

Target 2 years ago:  17:00
Practice Run:            14:23
Recorded Run:              ?

Through Segment 9

Target 2 years ago:    4:23:30
Practice Run:            4:17:51
Recorded Run:            3:57:24
Yes, a worthless avatar riding my posts.
Guess I'd better check the route, I'm surprised you didn't save the "omg hard levelup zone" for last.

I remember on my solo hero playthrough where I didn't know about regen I ended up doing the Necrogond before Orochi, because I just couldn't beat him despite doing easily thousands of damage. Until I learned Zap, which seemed to help for reasons I couldn't understand. Then I couldn't beat Boss Troll without Lightning...yeah...wish they'd told me about regen.

Btw it's impossible to beat Baramos as a solo hero. His regen is unbeatable even with mass Lightning and Wizard Rings.
Highly Evolved
Quote from ShinerCCC:
Guess I'd better check the route, I'm surprised you didn't save the "omg hard levelup zone" for last.

I remember on my solo hero playthrough where I didn't know about regen I ended up doing the Necrogond before Orochi, because I just couldn't beat him despite doing easily thousands of damage. Until I learned Zap, which seemed to help for reasons I couldn't understand. Then I couldn't beat Boss Troll without Lightning...yeah...wish they'd told me about regen.

Btw it's impossible to beat Baramos as a solo hero. His regen is unbeatable even with mass Lightning and Wizard Rings.


I do the first leveling so I can travel the sea safely and to beat the boss troll with no issues.  Since I have to level up anyway, might as well do it when I can.  I also need exp to make sure my sage gets stepguard and bikill for Baramos' Castle, though in my current run, I have to get bikill in the segment on the way to Baramos.  Sometimes I get it, sometimes I don't.  I have one run saved at 18+, but I think I want 16+, so I may redo it since it's a shorter segment anyway.  I might have spent too much time in the Navel of the Earth.

Regen is tough.  Main reason why I do the fighter fighter sage party.  Damage output is the number one priority to low level this game.

Baramos is beatable solo.  Requires the Noh Mask, though.

On another note, the Ultima Garden "real time attack" record for this game is 5:44:16.  While the timing is a bit different there, power on to end game screen, the runner there beats Zoma at 5:36, while I lose control, thereby ending timing, a minute or two after that, which in my practice run was 5:37.  I'm hoping this run is around 5:20, doable since my last three segments in my practice run totaled 80 minutes, and I'm currently sitting a couple minutes under four hours.

In the Famicon version, it appears by the babelfish translation that they obtain the golden crown from Kandar Ver. 2, but the Dream Ruby quest is not completed.  I'm not sure if you have to do the Crown quest in the Famicon version.  I could have done so for money and exp purposes, but I did not.

Oh wait, just reading it now seems as though the "Golden Nail" is the Golden Claw, which is obtained for cash purposes.  With my fighter combo and claws, money is quite unnecessary in the game.  Only issue is that I have to make sure I have enough for the Sword of Kings.
Also tenkiforecast
Only thing is getting the Golden Claw in a speedrun... well, you're fighting Random encounters every other step until you're out of the pyramid.  Depending on when you get it changes the difficulty, but... *shrug*  I doubt it's recommended, you can get better weapons soon anyway.

So far, the run times look VERY good.  I'm excited to see this speedrun... ^^;
Highly Evolved
Segment 10:

Target 2 years ago:  17:00
Practice Run:            14:23
Recorded Run:          14:45

Here's the cool thing, I beat Baramos without Bikill.  Sap was good enough, although I had to kill him on the round I did or I would have been wiped out.  My sage ended up 77 exp points from level 21, where I get Bikill most of the time. 

I'm currently 20 minutes ahead of the practice run with just Alefgard yet to go through (and getting the Ball of Light).

Through Segment 10

Target 2 years ago:    4:40:30
Practice Run:              4:32:14
Recorded Run:            4:12:09


Segment 11

Target 2 years ago:    35:00
Practice Run:              30:09
Recorded Run:                ?

This segment is quite straightforward. I get the Ball of Light, fall in the hole, go to Tantegel, get the Stones, travel to Hauksness, get the Oricon, go to Kol, get flute and Sword of Kings, save Rubiss, get Staff of Rain, get Rainbow Drop, sail/walk to Rimuldar, save.  The tower is the hardest part of the run.  So much so that I skip the Armor.  Less time spent in the tower is a plus.  It would be nice to get one metal babble kill, but I'm not expecting to get one.
I love default messages!
Oh wow. This is looking to be pretty amazing considering the length of this game and the lack of major game-breaking tricks. Looking forward to it.  Grin
everybody wanna tell you the meaning of music
This is looking good! How likely are you to kill a metal babble?
Yes, a worthless avatar riding my posts.
But I WAS wearing the Noh Mask. Ever since I discovered the confusion has no negative effects when you're the only team member, it was great. The only drawback is not being able to use spells outside of battle but when everything can do no more than about 15 damage to your 430+ health pile, walking out of a dungeon all the way home is no problem at all. Can you explain how to beat Baramos?

Fighter-fighter-sage sounds like a great team. Can't wait to see the run.
Highly Evolved
Quote from ShinerCCC:
But I WAS wearing the Noh Mask. Ever since I discovered the confusion has no negative effects when you're the only team member, it was great. The only drawback is not being able to use spells outside of battle but when everything can do no more than about 15 damage to your 430+ health pile, walking out of a dungeon all the way home is no problem at all. Can you explain how to beat Baramos?

Fighter-fighter-sage sounds like a great team. Can't wait to see the run.


Have a full inventory.  Beat Baramos.  Walk to the room with the treasure chests.  Open one.  When the game forces you to choose an item in your inventory, choose the Noh Mask.  You'll be able to throw it away.  Odd glitch, but it works.  At least that's what I've read.
Highly Evolved
Quote from Enhasa:
This is looking good! How likely are you to kill a metal babble?


Unlikely.  Possible, but not necessary.  I do need to gain a few levels in Alefgard, but not many.  Most of that happens in the Tower of Rubiss, which is HARD.  Long tower, some nasty enemies.  Leonas are bad if they are quick.  I can one round kill three of them, but sometimes they'll get a couple of Snowstorms off.  Winged Demons have Blazemost, which really, really hurts if they target my unparried character.  Magiwyverns chaosed my guys to death in the last try I've attempted.

I could also run into metal babbles near Rimuldar, but they appear to the north and east, where I walk a good portion of the last run, and I may kill one there. 

A little bit of info. on the metal babble.  It'll run 5/8 of the time, use fireball 2/8 of the time, and attack 1/8 of the time.  They have 5-6 HP.  I've gotten to four twice in attempts.  Once in segment 8 and once in segment 11.  I do not remember if that segment 8 metal babble happened in the completed segment or not.


EDIT:  Enhasa, I have a question about the timing of this run.  I'm a little unsure where exactly timing will start and end on the segments.  The timing I've done is end when the saver says "Until we meet again, ____" and begin when the saver says, "Be on your way, _____."  I'm not sure if that'll be accurate or not.  The FAQs on this don't fully fit the circumstances.