Yes, a worthless avatar riding my posts.
Anybody who's played this game knows it's damn hard, and speedrunning it would seem akin to running Dragon Warrior. But it's more like running Dragon Warrior III due to choices you can make in creating your party, and a huge variety of skill builds surely means there HAS to be a great exploit somewhere.
I'm posting this in the Casual Speedrunning board because I have no idea how this is going to pan out. I've been experimenting with running this game even though I've only beaten it once and I don't have a very solid idea of what I'm doing.
As cool as it would be to run this game on a flashcart to back up the game's only save file and optimize segments, that's still emulation, and not allowed.
Here's the segment guide.
SEGMENT 1
- name the guild SDA, duh
- Make these adventurers in this order.
Xyton, Landsknecht
Shiner, Troubadour
Escad, Medic
Flaire, Survivalist
Crono, Alchemist
Sheep, Alchemist
c1, Survivalist
c2, Survivalist
c3, Survivalist
c4, Survivalist
c5, Survivalist
t1, Survivalist
t2, Survivalist
t3, Survivalist
t4, Survivalist
mikwuyma, Survivalist
Form Shiner-Escad-Flaire-Crono-Sheep as your starting team. Leave them in that 3-2 formation so you can just mash A.
- go to Radha Hall, get mission
- go to Shilleka's Goods, buy 3 Hide Belts and a Wood Bow
- Equip all junk - the Bow on Flaire, distribute belts amongst the front. Skill builds for each character:
XYTON (L)
Get Blazer ASAP. So that means Swords 7, then TP Up 3, then alternate between Blazer and ATK Up as the situation fits. Note you won't actually need Blazer until Cotrangl but Blazer will help for grinding after Fenrir skip. Get a point in Freezer for Royalant. All of those should be maxed around Cotrangl so spend the rest of your points in TP Up, maybe with 1 point in HP Up. Don't cry if this guy dies (probably won't, he gets good armour and huge HP) because he isn't used in the final battle so if he's short on exp that's totally fine, he's only around to be an Inferno amplifier basically.
SHINER (T)
Don't bother opening the Custom menu for this guy until level 4. TP Up 5, Stalker 3, Return 1, finish taking Stalker to 10. Then, start learning Relaxing. Get Erasure at level 32 in time for Cotrangl. This guy doesn't need many skill points. You can sneak in 1 point in Bravery to make Fenrir a bit easier, I guess. Any extra points go into Ifrit. Yes, Ifrit, I'm not even kidding, it makes B20F a lot easier to handle and also faster.
ESCAD (M)
1 Healer, 2 Cure. Don't bother Custom'ing this guy again until he's level 5 when you can teach him Salve, another point in Healer is only 1 HP more of Cure. Be frugal with TP in the 1st Stratum but after that, get Immunize 10 obviously, then alternate between working toward Salve II (needed for Royalant) and ATK Up + Caduceus.
FLAIRE (S)
Get 1st Turn early on because it will help you kill things early on; it combos so hilariously well with Inferno. After that your next priority is definitely Bows 10, then crank up Apollon, because it does ridiculously high damage with a comparatively low TP cost. Also make sure to get Trickery up to 5 because it helps immensely with Royalant. Multihit actually doesn't get used very often, Flaire will be too busy spamming 1st Turn and when he ever gets a break to attack, it's obviously best used on Apollon. The points are better spent in 1st Turn to make it cheapter just because it gets used so damn much.
CRONO (Af)
Don't bother deploying these points until level 4. Fire Up 5, Inferno 1. Seriously. See segment 3 for justification. After getting Fire 1, get Inferno up to 10, then sneak a level into TP Up if you need the +10% BASE TP (not your +30 with Star Charms on) while you get Flame up to 10. Flame should be maxed in time for Cotrangl, so dump the rest into TP Up then TP Regen.
SHEEP (Ap)
1 Toxins, 2 Poison, don't spend his skill points until you reach 2F. But your objective with this guy is to get Poison to level 10 immediately so you can rape FOEs easily. This guy makes the underleveled trek through the Emerald Grove a lot easier. He gets benched after Fenrir is "skipped" though. Originally I was going to have him be a pinch hitter and learn ice skills but Royalant herself is weak to all 3 elements. Just tough out B11F and B12F with Crono because he'll need the levels to make the final battle faster.
From here on out, only Crono and Sheep will be referred to by name, everyone else by their one-letter class designation.
possible segment 1.5: I save everything up to this point, draw B1F, die, choose to "save my map data"...not sure about SDA ruling on this one, but come on, penalizing me for being forced to draw a map? reminds me of cup-stacking speed contests, epic but strangely unrelated to a game like this.
Surge forward and "Ask him what he's doing here", then "Leave quietly" and talk to him again, he'll let you through. Go south 3 spaces, then east, south, west all the way around to the chop room. Fight a Clawbug, get a Hard Shell, take the shortcut through back to town. Switch to c1-c2-c3-c4-c5, teach them all Chop 3 and go on a chop run. (this could be a separate segment to luck manip more Red Fruit to make slightly more money, but screw over-segmentation, saving takes longer) Come back, get reward from Radha Hall, switch back to TMSAA party, go to the pub and accept the "To taste it once more..." quest, sell junk, Talk to Shilleka to unlock Warp Wire, buy a Shortsword and some more Hide Belts (preferable) or Red Charms. Equip the Shortsword to T, equip any Hide Belts to the front row, especially to the T. Go to the inn and nap, Save to end segment.
In the early going your casters' low melee damage will be slightly helpful for cutting down enemies but Sheep's poison does 43 damage and works 100% of the time, so use him to one-shot Moles. Clawbugs have 45 HP, you'll have to follow up your poison with a swing from the back row while the front row defends.
SEGMENT 2
Grinding segment.
- Go north to the Whitestone boot first, then to the treasure room, then to the healing spring. Return here later to restore any lost TP, but the best places to grind are the chop room, the corridor south of the stairs, and the north treasure room. That's where you can fight Clawbugs or 3x Mole encounters. (well like I said before, 3 Woodflies gives slightly less experience but requires far less effort). Keep 5 Insect Eyes on hand. Anyway, make sure to grab the 100en rucksack, you'll be strapped for cash at the start. Grind until level 4 or until it's nearly 4am, whichever comes first; teach Shiner Stalker, teach Crono Inferno. Walk back to town and Sleep, then save.
It's possible to sell your Medica IIs for 60en, not too bad early on, but you can use Medicas to heal on the way to Cotrangl without using TP, a somewhat important consideration since I won't have time to unlock other grades of Medica except V.
SEGMENT 3
- Take your choppers for a run, switch to Medic in the front with Crono in the back. sell junk again. Get some Red Charms this time. Buy a Warp Wire.
- Take these two to the meadow where you can rest to fight 3 Venomflies. Get the medic killed on the way there somehow, but use Cure to keep Crono healthy on the way. You won't need that health for the actual fight though, Venomflies have a large chance to use Poison instead of melee attacks. Use Inferno and win on the first turn. Crono will gain nearly enough exp to go straight from LV4 to LV5. Teach him Fire. Warp Wire out, save.
SEGMENT 4
It's time to get the next mission. Buy a Staff for Crono if you can afford it, it's IMPORTANT. Switch back to TMSAA. Level up Sheep's Poison to LV 4. Head into the dungeon, use Stalker to sneak all the way to the door on B3F where those two brown-nosers block your progress. Grab the Warp Wire on B2F on the way. Avoid Ragelopes and Stalker. Against Fenders you just have to Defend with the front row, if someone dies it's not a big deal really. If you trigger the door and Crono has enough TP left for another Inferno, then linger and do one more fight near the door before you warp out and save.
SEGMENT 5
Revive anybody who died, get more Red Charms for medic, you don't need another Warp Wire, this loooong segment goes all the way to Fenrir.
- Get down to the healing sprinkler of B3F, this is easier than it sounds. Sure the enemies of B3F can really rape you if you don't have an Inferno ready to go but the trip from the door to the sprinkler is surprisingly short, with Stalker you'll probably only get into one more fight. Juking the Kuyutha beyond the second set of doors can take a few tries but basically you have to either follow him (much easier) or be a fair distance away from him while you run away.
- The sprinkler revives dead characters so go hog wild with your leveling here. Use Inferno to instantly win any encounters here, especially with 1st Turn. Don't bother opening the shortcut, it's a waste of time due to dialogue and turning and stuff. The best place to grind is the room directly west of the sprinkler room, the encounter rate is high and it's the group you want for best use of Inferno. Once Sheep is level 9, poison is maxed, so that's when it's time to move on to the wolves downstairs. Although it doesn't look like it, you DO accrue encounter steps on B4F's southern section so use Stalker. Use Return to make slightly faster trips back to the sprinkler. Grab the Plate just because there's another Wolf there and it will help your L later. Once all the Wolves are dead, heal one last time and make a mad dash all the way to Fenrir's lair. Grab the Amrita on the way. Warbulls are scary, you can probably run away from most of them. You don't need everybody alive, you just need to beat one Skoll, but if Sheep dies you should definitely use Return to get out of there.
- Beat the Skoll in front of Fenrir, try to start the encounter in such a way that the other Skolls won't be able to catch you. Once he's out of the way, lure Fenrir away toward the door. Once Fenrir starts moving, the Skolls on the side stop moving, so don't worry about him getting stuck (unless your froze the Skolls that way). Go out the door, go back in, go out again, and Fenrir will be red and chasing you but stuck behind the door. Lure him to the right, then switch back the other way, Fenrir won't be able to catch up once you go through the door and you can run past everybody to B6F.
- Mash through your gold medal 100m speech, take the pillar back to town and save. This segment will probably take about as long as my entire Faxanadu run *_*
SEGMENT 6
Time to reap the rewards of partially beating Fenrir. The mission can't be completed but this DOES open up B1F's secret area. Go on a chop run since you've been gone for so long. Buy a Warp Wire. If you have 10 monsters unlocked then take the Monstrous Codex quest to get a free Red Charm. (although I'd like to avoid this if possible so I can make a hilarious bonus segment of depositing the entire run's worth of codex/Item Compendium entries after beating Etreant). This part is where you'll really be strapped for cash, a stay at the inn will cost about 80en, Warp Wire costs 100, and chop runs add about 500en. You'll be staying at the inn a LOT though. Perhaps napping once to set the time to evening would be better, then I can just use the spring, it might be faster than the clock at the inn rolling around, switching to my choppers a lot... Changing characters has a high overhead cost so I should somehow calculate how much money I literally need to reach level 14 (Immunize 7 seems to be enough to barely beat Fenrir, although it might be worth looking into luck abusing a victory through Poison, Parry might be needed too)
- Switch your team to LTMSA. Enter the secret area, go through the second door, go around Ragelope to plunder the Rapier. You'll have to either Warp Wire out or fight him, but you should probably warp out. Repeat for the Plumed Hat; chances are Crono needs it to get to a second Inferno use. If you have Petal Ring unlocked it might help to get 3 of those. Get a Steel Lump from a Gel ASAP so you can unlock Broadsword for T. Now, I'm not sure if it's better to walk all the way to one of the Ragelope rooms and grind there (you can fight Waspiors, better experience) or just make quicker trips to B6F and warp back. Um...I'll have a better description for these segments eventually.
SEGMENT 7
GRINDAN
This is hard to pin down. You can do laps by the Pillar on B6F, true, but the encounter rate is lower and you can only fight 2 gels at best. In the Ragelope rooms in B1F's secret area, the encounter rate is higher and sometimes you can fight 3 enemies, so you'll get better yields for using Inferno + Blazer to nuke everything. The only drawback is the one-way entrance and extra steps needed to get there. You can spend 100en each time on a Warp Wire to get out, requiring tons of extra chop runs, or you could visit B2F, walk back up, then use Return to leave. And don't forget there's also all those Wolves for harvest on B4F, they're also very easy to kill. I'll have to measure the exp/min of these methods in my next test run. Segment 7 may needed to multiplied several times, depending on whether you're hardcore enough to grind to level 14 in one sitting or not. I don't remember how much luck is mandated.
SEGMENT 8
Fenrir dies, buy Warp Wire, go on Chop run to B6F to unlock Star Charm and Hard Sling, revive any dead choppers, buy Warp Wire, go on Take run, unlock Oils, buy Warp Wire, take on "Horticulture" and "Prayer to the stars" quests, save to end segment.
SEGMENT 9
Use TMSAA team. Grab the Down Staff by the Moa, warp wire out, buy another one, equip the staff on M. Kill a Cutter for Bear Fur. If you don't get it, restart. Go on additional Take runs if needed to buy more Star Charms, they're really good. random Take runs are always good because you need 1 Cross Seed for every Oil you buy, which should be 17 to 20 in total. End segment.
SEGMENT 10
Buy Bear Gloves and Star Charms as needed, Use LTMSA team. Grind in the northwest corridor of B6F if your A doesn't have 60 TP yet. When he does, go complete Horticulture quest. Use 1st Turn Inferno (Blazer if needed) to quickly win the first three encounters, use 1st Turn Immunize on the last one because Sloth is highly resistant to fire. The point is to gain experience quickly and fight a high concentration of Waspiors, Stingers unlock good armor and Amber Lump unlocks Nectar (which is useful; we need one to get past B23F but we can use a quest reward Nectar II if it doesn't get unlocked). Walk out, save to end segment.
SEGMENT 11
Go around and open the shortcut on B6F. I think once you enter the room, the Cutter guarding the door does a perimeter around the room, so he's avoidable. Visit the 7th floor, then Warp Wire out.
SEGMENT 12
Get the next mission from Radha Hall, get another Warp Wire, grab Chain Helm on the way down and equip on T, visit the dry healing spring, grab the Wyvern egg, warp out. Do a jog up and down the stairs if you need to reset the danger orb. Collect reward, save.
SEGMENT 13
Buy a Warp Wire, head down. Kill Pondclaw on the way down, have a drink, grab the Nectar and Oak Jacket on B9F, open the west shortcuts (run from those Assassins!), warp out. This could be combined with segment 12, I guess.
SEGMENT 14
Another really long one, the mission to kill Cernunos, plus the best grinding in the whole run. Get the next mission, buy 6 Shock Oils. Bungle down to the healing spring as usual, take the shortcuts through, head down to B10F. Go around through the north, the Moa fight is mandatory but Immunize should be level 9 or 10 by now; if you use it Moa can't do much damage but use two Shock Oils to increase your own damage. In the Armoth room, go around to the right and along the north edge, you can avoid them all. Go all the way around, hit the sprinkler, the two brown-nosers give you an Amrita II and there's another in the chest. Hang on to them, they'll come in handy vs Royalant. Grind around this spring, I specifically mean the two spaces in front of that chest because the encounter rate is higher there and it gives the group you want: you have a shot at getting Glowbird-Glowbird-Glowbird-Firebird, which nets a massive 450 exp. Level 24 is plenty for beating Cernunos because you can completely shut him out by spamming Inferno until his health reaches 25%. I would recommend grinding up to level 28 instead so you can do full damage to Cernunos (no level penalty), and also because 3rd stratum enemies are kind of tough when you first arrive, plus Royalant is a pretty tough fight. The experience up here is better anyway, and once the mission is complete it's gone, so take advantage. Don't proceed without a Tiger Fang and 5 Iron Shells. Try really hard to get 5 Tailbones. Hopefully you grabbed 3 Stingers and a few Amber Lumps by now in earlier segments too.
For Cernunos, like I said, make sure everyone goes in with a Boost. The fight should go exactly like this:
turn 1
L: oil up
T: boosted Relaxing
M: oil up
S: Apollon
A: Inferno
turn 2
L: boosted Attack
T: Oil up
M: boosted Attack
S: Oil Up
A: Inferno
turn 3
L: attack
T: attack
M: attack, Immunize if Cernunos is about to hit the red
S: attack or Apollon
A: Inferno
If your A runs out of TP before Cernunos reaches 25% health (unlikely) then have someone else use the Amrita a turn in advance. Whirlihit hurts but Glare will either miss or hardly slow down your massive offensive. Change to Flame once that happens even though its damage isn't that much better.
When he dies, head downstairs, collect reward, save.
POSSIBLE ADDITION: "Pest control" may be a worthy quest. The Nectar II reward seems enticing, it could be very useful in Pac-Man but the exp is not so great compared to where I'm headed. They have 211 HP, so it would require Inferno+Blazer spam most likely and there's 4 fights. The TP strain is large but the healing spring is close by.
SEGMENT 15
Buy Hindi if you unlocked it, buy two Vikings, buy better armor for the front row. Possible Segment 15.5 where I draw the maps and die. Anyway, I'll fill this one out later: basically the idea is to traverse plenty of squares on this floor (Amrita II should be grabbed as well), unlock the shortcut to the ant nest entrance, and unlock Self Bow and Gem Staff. Fight ants carefully, they take half damage from fire so save Flame for non-ant foes. Bloodants can still be killed with elemental damage surprisingly well, don't be shy when fighting them.
SEGMENT 16
Head into ant lair. Feel free to grab the Gum Helm from that room on the side, it's handy for M, you need to traverse squares anyway. You don't have to kill the first Servant, chase the north Bloodant and kill him, if you run past you'll get past before he respawns. The next Servant can be attacked directly if you step carefully. Once he's dead, traverse all the squares in this nest. Open the shortcut to Royalant and warp out.
SEGMENT 17
Buy 4 Freeze Oils, then kill Royalant. Easier said than done, I know, probably the hardest boss fight in the game given the power levels I'm at. The main problem is Royalant's high offensive capability. Boosted Immunize shuts off the damage completely though so you can go all out damage-wise. Trickery is AMAZING against her (taste of her own medicine, screw off Duster, maybe I should bring Theriaca Bs because blind means Apollon and Cocytus will miss). Wipe out the initial 3 Bloodants with Freezer + Cocytus, when the 4th one enters he will probably summon a Deathant, this will create for fun disjointed times when you nuke the opposing side. Because of Relaxing all you need to do is make sure your L and A don't have max TP. Even with Relaxing though, you'll probably have to reach for those Amrita IIs due to all the 1st Turn Salve II that needs to happen. Hopefully, after beating Royalant they'll let you complete the stupid, stupid, stupid mapping mission. I'll assume they do.
SEGMENT 18
Kill a Shelltor for its 100 Shell. If you don't get it, restart, it's kind of rare. That's all for this segment. This might have to be included in segment 15 if it turns out you do need to fall through every pit.
SEGMENT 19
Proceed to B13F. Selecting "yes" saves one prompt. Open the shortcut to the healing spring, warp out and end segment.
SEGMENT 20
Replace M with mikwuyma and go on a super awesome chop/take run to B13F's other side. Because you're already using Inferno + Blazer to kill everything mike will just gain levels for free on the way down. Go around the Muckdiles completely by following the perimeter of the box. Go to the take pile first (south one, closer to river), if you don't get 1 Ant Honey and 1 Stab Shell, add skill points in Take until you get them. Spend the rest on Chop, if you don't get 2 Strawberries and 1 Sea Branch restart. Warp Wire out and sell the stuff once you get it, end segment.
SEGMENT 21
Sea Charms are great, but they're pretty expensive; on my last test run I could only afford 2 at first. Don't sweat it though, the mine hole on B16F makes a lot of money so you'll be fine later. Buy 3 Blaze Oils for sure, buy a Warp Wire for later, spend the rest on Sea Charms. You can buy an Axcela II but it won't get used, trust me. There might be merit in buying some Medicas if you don't have any lying around (you should have tons from various quests and easy chest grabs. heh heh, chest grabs)
Sneak your way down to Cotrangl, visit the room on B15F with the two chests, hang on to that Scale Boot. Cotrangl should get beasted easily. He always uses his regular melee attack on whoever is lowest level, which will probably be Crono, but he's most likely to Tackle above all else. Blizzard is always followed up by Flood. These attacks can all be weathered easily with healing, especially if it's 1st Turn'd. Aquaveil has a 30% chance of being used so it's probably not worth spamming Erasure, but he never does Aquaveil twice, so if you want to make sure a boosted assault goes through then wait until the turn after Aquaveil goes up. Have your L oil up once he runs out of TP for Blazer. Your A should be able to Flame constantly no matter what (mine had about 130 TP). Don't cry if you don't get the Ice Spine, the Arc Drawer is way too expensive for this run and you can only have one anyway so it's not worth it. Take the pillar home, collect reward and end segment.
SEGMENT 22
Fin Bow is probably worth getting for an upcoming segment. Take on the "Love's uncertain promise" quest. Kill the Sickwoods at the mine hole in the north and Warp Wire out. Fire choppers and replace them with miners, then buy another warp wire and do a mine run. Careful, hang on to 5 Steel Chips and 3 Hard Shards. Buy one Steelsword and another Warp Wire. Switch back to LTMSA team and head into the dungeon. Grab the Brigandine, talk to Curse, grab the Bandanna, get perplexed by the door then warp out. Whine to Radha, do it again, grab Amrita II on the way down to B18F, warp wire out yet again when you get stumped by a big field. Go to the pub and complete the "Under construction" quest for a cheap Steelsword for your T. Whine to Radha for the LAST TIME, inspect the north tree then warp out again again and end segment.
SEGMENT 23
These next 3 should be a pain in the ass. Get 2 Gem Cores from Burstgels in the secret area (back and front have higher encounter rate), buy two Mystic Rods (do mine runs if you need it) and save.
SEGMENT 24
Get Space Claw from Desouler on B17F's secret area. Boosted Immunize (i.e. a quick fight involving using 3 Axcela IIs) may be necessary. Warp out. Buy a Pattisa, save.
SEGMENT 25
Get Royal Hide from Kingdile. Bring 4 Freeze Oil, Boosted Immunize is almost certainly necessary. This drop is really rare, it's a huge pain. Warp out. Buy two Failnaughts and 4 Freeze Oils, save.
SEGMENT 26
*eventual victory over Pac-Man*
Unfortunately the Radha cockblock you and the 21st floor so you have to warp back here and collect the reward before saving.
SEGMENT 27
Well, time to do the awesome mine runs of B21F. Unlock Axcela III, if you still need an Oleander send your takers upstairs to take some. It takes some time to walk so I think I'd end the segment after the mine run.
SEGMENT 28
Go kill the Dinolich and get a Sword Rib, get a Duergar and end segment.
SEGMENT 28
Buy two or three Theriaca As and maybe a Blaze Oil or two. Ren & Tlachtaga can be really easy to beat or a little annoying which merely takes longer. Basically Blazer + Inferno will demolish them pretty quickly, fire Apollons at Curse and shoot Flames at Ren if your L can't do Blazer or if Curse is already dead. There are other intricacies to this fight, I'll check up on those later. Don't bother using Erasure on Ren's stance, that just makes her mad, in fact the stance gives her less defense so you probably want it on. When they go down, warp out, save and end segment.
SEGMENT 29
Activate the elevator. For the Kingdile on the 23rd floor, when you try to sneak past him to the north, he will intercept you. Run away, use a Nectar if someone dies, then Benny Hill it all the way to the stairs. You have to kill a Desouler on a bridge in B22F (time limit of about 7 turns before a Kingdile catches up with you, shouldn't be a problem though), then at the end of B21F's other side you have to kill a Kingdile, save a boosted Immunize for that. An Axcela III might help. You should probably bring some Freeze Oils for this fight too then.
segment 29.5:
I was going to dedicate a segment to unlocking Angel Ring but I just realized, that's only an extra base of 30 TP, an Amrita II is cheaper >_<
SEGMENT 30
Head to B25F and attempt to open the shortcut. By backpedaling 3 steps, you can run past the Treetusk in the north corridor. For the fearsome Hellbull-Armoroll-Armoroll-Armoroll fight, Blazer + Inferno isn't quite enough to kill the Hellbull but since it's slow you can just have your T or M attack to finish it off. When the reach the big southern hallway, remember the Kingdiles only patrol up and down, they don't chase you, so start on the east edge of this hall before proceeding northwards. Warp out once you do and end segment.
SEGMENT 31
Kill a Treetusk with an elemental attack to unlock Athanor. Kill another Treetusk to unlock Ward Gems. Buy a Sylpheed and an Angel Robe if you have it. TEC up your A, switch everyone else's gear around in a similar fashion: anything with +STR will help. I guess extra TP to start with can't hurt. Hang on to those Bear Gloves! End segment.
SEGMENT 32
Buy 6 or 7 Axcela IIIs (this is number of turns required to kill Etreant / 6). Spend the rest of your money on about 15-20 Amrita IIs. This can easily total 25-30k ental alone of raw healing supplies. Hopefully it's enough. Remove L from your team, so your setup is TM,SA. Go upstairs to B20F, bonk into a Diabolix and have S use an Axcela III on M while everyone else attempts to flee. If someone gets hit, null perspiration. Head back down, use the west elevator and select B21F to reset the danger orb, proceed to other elevator and engage Etreant. Have your T use Erasure every turn no exceptions (unless this game really does have a Dragon Warrior III style RNG where I can just write down the turns Growth gets used and attack on the others...well that would probably affect Etreant's behaviour, nevermind), use 1st Turn on Boosted Immunize at the start (unless Etreant attempts to Growth on the first turn, in which case use S to fire an Apollon), have your A shoot Flames mercilessly every turn if able. Have your M heal occasionally if needed, otherwise use Caduceus. Your S will fire an Apollon if able, unless 1st Turning a healing skill would come first. If Apollon is airborne and healing is not needed yet, he's responsible for throwing Amrita IIs at people, loading the next Axcela III into your healer, or using Trickery on Etreant for fun. (I'd highly suggest doing so when he's down to less than 25% health, it might stop Inferno). About 38 turns later, you should be WINNER
POSSIBLE SEGMENT INSERTION: kill Iwaro again for experience and Gold Plume? I highly doubt it, the time it would take wouldn't be worth skill points I don't need.
This is Terence's documents about what he learned when he disassembled the game. AMAZING INFO HERE WOWWWWW
http://www.zshare.net/download/65328833a767ca3e/
also here's my old topic on GameFAQs, didn't get much interest
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.php?board=934287&topic=50298017
I'm posting this in the Casual Speedrunning board because I have no idea how this is going to pan out. I've been experimenting with running this game even though I've only beaten it once and I don't have a very solid idea of what I'm doing.
As cool as it would be to run this game on a flashcart to back up the game's only save file and optimize segments, that's still emulation, and not allowed.
Here's the segment guide.
SEGMENT 1
- name the guild SDA, duh
- Make these adventurers in this order.
Xyton, Landsknecht
Shiner, Troubadour
Escad, Medic
Flaire, Survivalist
Crono, Alchemist
Sheep, Alchemist
c1, Survivalist
c2, Survivalist
c3, Survivalist
c4, Survivalist
c5, Survivalist
t1, Survivalist
t2, Survivalist
t3, Survivalist
t4, Survivalist
mikwuyma, Survivalist
Form Shiner-Escad-Flaire-Crono-Sheep as your starting team. Leave them in that 3-2 formation so you can just mash A.
- go to Radha Hall, get mission
- go to Shilleka's Goods, buy 3 Hide Belts and a Wood Bow
- Equip all junk - the Bow on Flaire, distribute belts amongst the front. Skill builds for each character:
XYTON (L)
Get Blazer ASAP. So that means Swords 7, then TP Up 3, then alternate between Blazer and ATK Up as the situation fits. Note you won't actually need Blazer until Cotrangl but Blazer will help for grinding after Fenrir skip. Get a point in Freezer for Royalant. All of those should be maxed around Cotrangl so spend the rest of your points in TP Up, maybe with 1 point in HP Up. Don't cry if this guy dies (probably won't, he gets good armour and huge HP) because he isn't used in the final battle so if he's short on exp that's totally fine, he's only around to be an Inferno amplifier basically.
SHINER (T)
Don't bother opening the Custom menu for this guy until level 4. TP Up 5, Stalker 3, Return 1, finish taking Stalker to 10. Then, start learning Relaxing. Get Erasure at level 32 in time for Cotrangl. This guy doesn't need many skill points. You can sneak in 1 point in Bravery to make Fenrir a bit easier, I guess. Any extra points go into Ifrit. Yes, Ifrit, I'm not even kidding, it makes B20F a lot easier to handle and also faster.
ESCAD (M)
1 Healer, 2 Cure. Don't bother Custom'ing this guy again until he's level 5 when you can teach him Salve, another point in Healer is only 1 HP more of Cure. Be frugal with TP in the 1st Stratum but after that, get Immunize 10 obviously, then alternate between working toward Salve II (needed for Royalant) and ATK Up + Caduceus.
FLAIRE (S)
Get 1st Turn early on because it will help you kill things early on; it combos so hilariously well with Inferno. After that your next priority is definitely Bows 10, then crank up Apollon, because it does ridiculously high damage with a comparatively low TP cost. Also make sure to get Trickery up to 5 because it helps immensely with Royalant. Multihit actually doesn't get used very often, Flaire will be too busy spamming 1st Turn and when he ever gets a break to attack, it's obviously best used on Apollon. The points are better spent in 1st Turn to make it cheapter just because it gets used so damn much.
CRONO (Af)
Don't bother deploying these points until level 4. Fire Up 5, Inferno 1. Seriously. See segment 3 for justification. After getting Fire 1, get Inferno up to 10, then sneak a level into TP Up if you need the +10% BASE TP (not your +30 with Star Charms on) while you get Flame up to 10. Flame should be maxed in time for Cotrangl, so dump the rest into TP Up then TP Regen.
SHEEP (Ap)
1 Toxins, 2 Poison, don't spend his skill points until you reach 2F. But your objective with this guy is to get Poison to level 10 immediately so you can rape FOEs easily. This guy makes the underleveled trek through the Emerald Grove a lot easier. He gets benched after Fenrir is "skipped" though. Originally I was going to have him be a pinch hitter and learn ice skills but Royalant herself is weak to all 3 elements. Just tough out B11F and B12F with Crono because he'll need the levels to make the final battle faster.
From here on out, only Crono and Sheep will be referred to by name, everyone else by their one-letter class designation.
possible segment 1.5: I save everything up to this point, draw B1F, die, choose to "save my map data"...not sure about SDA ruling on this one, but come on, penalizing me for being forced to draw a map? reminds me of cup-stacking speed contests, epic but strangely unrelated to a game like this.
Surge forward and "Ask him what he's doing here", then "Leave quietly" and talk to him again, he'll let you through. Go south 3 spaces, then east, south, west all the way around to the chop room. Fight a Clawbug, get a Hard Shell, take the shortcut through back to town. Switch to c1-c2-c3-c4-c5, teach them all Chop 3 and go on a chop run. (this could be a separate segment to luck manip more Red Fruit to make slightly more money, but screw over-segmentation, saving takes longer) Come back, get reward from Radha Hall, switch back to TMSAA party, go to the pub and accept the "To taste it once more..." quest, sell junk, Talk to Shilleka to unlock Warp Wire, buy a Shortsword and some more Hide Belts (preferable) or Red Charms. Equip the Shortsword to T, equip any Hide Belts to the front row, especially to the T. Go to the inn and nap, Save to end segment.
In the early going your casters' low melee damage will be slightly helpful for cutting down enemies but Sheep's poison does 43 damage and works 100% of the time, so use him to one-shot Moles. Clawbugs have 45 HP, you'll have to follow up your poison with a swing from the back row while the front row defends.
SEGMENT 2
Grinding segment.
- Go north to the Whitestone boot first, then to the treasure room, then to the healing spring. Return here later to restore any lost TP, but the best places to grind are the chop room, the corridor south of the stairs, and the north treasure room. That's where you can fight Clawbugs or 3x Mole encounters. (well like I said before, 3 Woodflies gives slightly less experience but requires far less effort). Keep 5 Insect Eyes on hand. Anyway, make sure to grab the 100en rucksack, you'll be strapped for cash at the start. Grind until level 4 or until it's nearly 4am, whichever comes first; teach Shiner Stalker, teach Crono Inferno. Walk back to town and Sleep, then save.
It's possible to sell your Medica IIs for 60en, not too bad early on, but you can use Medicas to heal on the way to Cotrangl without using TP, a somewhat important consideration since I won't have time to unlock other grades of Medica except V.
SEGMENT 3
- Take your choppers for a run, switch to Medic in the front with Crono in the back. sell junk again. Get some Red Charms this time. Buy a Warp Wire.
- Take these two to the meadow where you can rest to fight 3 Venomflies. Get the medic killed on the way there somehow, but use Cure to keep Crono healthy on the way. You won't need that health for the actual fight though, Venomflies have a large chance to use Poison instead of melee attacks. Use Inferno and win on the first turn. Crono will gain nearly enough exp to go straight from LV4 to LV5. Teach him Fire. Warp Wire out, save.
SEGMENT 4
It's time to get the next mission. Buy a Staff for Crono if you can afford it, it's IMPORTANT. Switch back to TMSAA. Level up Sheep's Poison to LV 4. Head into the dungeon, use Stalker to sneak all the way to the door on B3F where those two brown-nosers block your progress. Grab the Warp Wire on B2F on the way. Avoid Ragelopes and Stalker. Against Fenders you just have to Defend with the front row, if someone dies it's not a big deal really. If you trigger the door and Crono has enough TP left for another Inferno, then linger and do one more fight near the door before you warp out and save.
SEGMENT 5
Revive anybody who died, get more Red Charms for medic, you don't need another Warp Wire, this loooong segment goes all the way to Fenrir.
- Get down to the healing sprinkler of B3F, this is easier than it sounds. Sure the enemies of B3F can really rape you if you don't have an Inferno ready to go but the trip from the door to the sprinkler is surprisingly short, with Stalker you'll probably only get into one more fight. Juking the Kuyutha beyond the second set of doors can take a few tries but basically you have to either follow him (much easier) or be a fair distance away from him while you run away.
- The sprinkler revives dead characters so go hog wild with your leveling here. Use Inferno to instantly win any encounters here, especially with 1st Turn. Don't bother opening the shortcut, it's a waste of time due to dialogue and turning and stuff. The best place to grind is the room directly west of the sprinkler room, the encounter rate is high and it's the group you want for best use of Inferno. Once Sheep is level 9, poison is maxed, so that's when it's time to move on to the wolves downstairs. Although it doesn't look like it, you DO accrue encounter steps on B4F's southern section so use Stalker. Use Return to make slightly faster trips back to the sprinkler. Grab the Plate just because there's another Wolf there and it will help your L later. Once all the Wolves are dead, heal one last time and make a mad dash all the way to Fenrir's lair. Grab the Amrita on the way. Warbulls are scary, you can probably run away from most of them. You don't need everybody alive, you just need to beat one Skoll, but if Sheep dies you should definitely use Return to get out of there.
- Beat the Skoll in front of Fenrir, try to start the encounter in such a way that the other Skolls won't be able to catch you. Once he's out of the way, lure Fenrir away toward the door. Once Fenrir starts moving, the Skolls on the side stop moving, so don't worry about him getting stuck (unless your froze the Skolls that way). Go out the door, go back in, go out again, and Fenrir will be red and chasing you but stuck behind the door. Lure him to the right, then switch back the other way, Fenrir won't be able to catch up once you go through the door and you can run past everybody to B6F.
- Mash through your gold medal 100m speech, take the pillar back to town and save. This segment will probably take about as long as my entire Faxanadu run *_*
SEGMENT 6
Time to reap the rewards of partially beating Fenrir. The mission can't be completed but this DOES open up B1F's secret area. Go on a chop run since you've been gone for so long. Buy a Warp Wire. If you have 10 monsters unlocked then take the Monstrous Codex quest to get a free Red Charm. (although I'd like to avoid this if possible so I can make a hilarious bonus segment of depositing the entire run's worth of codex/Item Compendium entries after beating Etreant). This part is where you'll really be strapped for cash, a stay at the inn will cost about 80en, Warp Wire costs 100, and chop runs add about 500en. You'll be staying at the inn a LOT though. Perhaps napping once to set the time to evening would be better, then I can just use the spring, it might be faster than the clock at the inn rolling around, switching to my choppers a lot... Changing characters has a high overhead cost so I should somehow calculate how much money I literally need to reach level 14 (Immunize 7 seems to be enough to barely beat Fenrir, although it might be worth looking into luck abusing a victory through Poison, Parry might be needed too)
- Switch your team to LTMSA. Enter the secret area, go through the second door, go around Ragelope to plunder the Rapier. You'll have to either Warp Wire out or fight him, but you should probably warp out. Repeat for the Plumed Hat; chances are Crono needs it to get to a second Inferno use. If you have Petal Ring unlocked it might help to get 3 of those. Get a Steel Lump from a Gel ASAP so you can unlock Broadsword for T. Now, I'm not sure if it's better to walk all the way to one of the Ragelope rooms and grind there (you can fight Waspiors, better experience) or just make quicker trips to B6F and warp back. Um...I'll have a better description for these segments eventually.
SEGMENT 7
GRINDAN
This is hard to pin down. You can do laps by the Pillar on B6F, true, but the encounter rate is lower and you can only fight 2 gels at best. In the Ragelope rooms in B1F's secret area, the encounter rate is higher and sometimes you can fight 3 enemies, so you'll get better yields for using Inferno + Blazer to nuke everything. The only drawback is the one-way entrance and extra steps needed to get there. You can spend 100en each time on a Warp Wire to get out, requiring tons of extra chop runs, or you could visit B2F, walk back up, then use Return to leave. And don't forget there's also all those Wolves for harvest on B4F, they're also very easy to kill. I'll have to measure the exp/min of these methods in my next test run. Segment 7 may needed to multiplied several times, depending on whether you're hardcore enough to grind to level 14 in one sitting or not. I don't remember how much luck is mandated.
SEGMENT 8
Fenrir dies, buy Warp Wire, go on Chop run to B6F to unlock Star Charm and Hard Sling, revive any dead choppers, buy Warp Wire, go on Take run, unlock Oils, buy Warp Wire, take on "Horticulture" and "Prayer to the stars" quests, save to end segment.
SEGMENT 9
Use TMSAA team. Grab the Down Staff by the Moa, warp wire out, buy another one, equip the staff on M. Kill a Cutter for Bear Fur. If you don't get it, restart. Go on additional Take runs if needed to buy more Star Charms, they're really good. random Take runs are always good because you need 1 Cross Seed for every Oil you buy, which should be 17 to 20 in total. End segment.
SEGMENT 10
Buy Bear Gloves and Star Charms as needed, Use LTMSA team. Grind in the northwest corridor of B6F if your A doesn't have 60 TP yet. When he does, go complete Horticulture quest. Use 1st Turn Inferno (Blazer if needed) to quickly win the first three encounters, use 1st Turn Immunize on the last one because Sloth is highly resistant to fire. The point is to gain experience quickly and fight a high concentration of Waspiors, Stingers unlock good armor and Amber Lump unlocks Nectar (which is useful; we need one to get past B23F but we can use a quest reward Nectar II if it doesn't get unlocked). Walk out, save to end segment.
SEGMENT 11
Go around and open the shortcut on B6F. I think once you enter the room, the Cutter guarding the door does a perimeter around the room, so he's avoidable. Visit the 7th floor, then Warp Wire out.
SEGMENT 12
Get the next mission from Radha Hall, get another Warp Wire, grab Chain Helm on the way down and equip on T, visit the dry healing spring, grab the Wyvern egg, warp out. Do a jog up and down the stairs if you need to reset the danger orb. Collect reward, save.
SEGMENT 13
Buy a Warp Wire, head down. Kill Pondclaw on the way down, have a drink, grab the Nectar and Oak Jacket on B9F, open the west shortcuts (run from those Assassins!), warp out. This could be combined with segment 12, I guess.
SEGMENT 14
Another really long one, the mission to kill Cernunos, plus the best grinding in the whole run. Get the next mission, buy 6 Shock Oils. Bungle down to the healing spring as usual, take the shortcuts through, head down to B10F. Go around through the north, the Moa fight is mandatory but Immunize should be level 9 or 10 by now; if you use it Moa can't do much damage but use two Shock Oils to increase your own damage. In the Armoth room, go around to the right and along the north edge, you can avoid them all. Go all the way around, hit the sprinkler, the two brown-nosers give you an Amrita II and there's another in the chest. Hang on to them, they'll come in handy vs Royalant. Grind around this spring, I specifically mean the two spaces in front of that chest because the encounter rate is higher there and it gives the group you want: you have a shot at getting Glowbird-Glowbird-Glowbird-Firebird, which nets a massive 450 exp. Level 24 is plenty for beating Cernunos because you can completely shut him out by spamming Inferno until his health reaches 25%. I would recommend grinding up to level 28 instead so you can do full damage to Cernunos (no level penalty), and also because 3rd stratum enemies are kind of tough when you first arrive, plus Royalant is a pretty tough fight. The experience up here is better anyway, and once the mission is complete it's gone, so take advantage. Don't proceed without a Tiger Fang and 5 Iron Shells. Try really hard to get 5 Tailbones. Hopefully you grabbed 3 Stingers and a few Amber Lumps by now in earlier segments too.
For Cernunos, like I said, make sure everyone goes in with a Boost. The fight should go exactly like this:
turn 1
L: oil up
T: boosted Relaxing
M: oil up
S: Apollon
A: Inferno
turn 2
L: boosted Attack
T: Oil up
M: boosted Attack
S: Oil Up
A: Inferno
turn 3
L: attack
T: attack
M: attack, Immunize if Cernunos is about to hit the red
S: attack or Apollon
A: Inferno
If your A runs out of TP before Cernunos reaches 25% health (unlikely) then have someone else use the Amrita a turn in advance. Whirlihit hurts but Glare will either miss or hardly slow down your massive offensive. Change to Flame once that happens even though its damage isn't that much better.
When he dies, head downstairs, collect reward, save.
POSSIBLE ADDITION: "Pest control" may be a worthy quest. The Nectar II reward seems enticing, it could be very useful in Pac-Man but the exp is not so great compared to where I'm headed. They have 211 HP, so it would require Inferno+Blazer spam most likely and there's 4 fights. The TP strain is large but the healing spring is close by.
SEGMENT 15
Buy Hindi if you unlocked it, buy two Vikings, buy better armor for the front row. Possible Segment 15.5 where I draw the maps and die. Anyway, I'll fill this one out later: basically the idea is to traverse plenty of squares on this floor (Amrita II should be grabbed as well), unlock the shortcut to the ant nest entrance, and unlock Self Bow and Gem Staff. Fight ants carefully, they take half damage from fire so save Flame for non-ant foes. Bloodants can still be killed with elemental damage surprisingly well, don't be shy when fighting them.
SEGMENT 16
Head into ant lair. Feel free to grab the Gum Helm from that room on the side, it's handy for M, you need to traverse squares anyway. You don't have to kill the first Servant, chase the north Bloodant and kill him, if you run past you'll get past before he respawns. The next Servant can be attacked directly if you step carefully. Once he's dead, traverse all the squares in this nest. Open the shortcut to Royalant and warp out.
SEGMENT 17
Buy 4 Freeze Oils, then kill Royalant. Easier said than done, I know, probably the hardest boss fight in the game given the power levels I'm at. The main problem is Royalant's high offensive capability. Boosted Immunize shuts off the damage completely though so you can go all out damage-wise. Trickery is AMAZING against her (taste of her own medicine, screw off Duster, maybe I should bring Theriaca Bs because blind means Apollon and Cocytus will miss). Wipe out the initial 3 Bloodants with Freezer + Cocytus, when the 4th one enters he will probably summon a Deathant, this will create for fun disjointed times when you nuke the opposing side. Because of Relaxing all you need to do is make sure your L and A don't have max TP. Even with Relaxing though, you'll probably have to reach for those Amrita IIs due to all the 1st Turn Salve II that needs to happen. Hopefully, after beating Royalant they'll let you complete the stupid, stupid, stupid mapping mission. I'll assume they do.
SEGMENT 18
Kill a Shelltor for its 100 Shell. If you don't get it, restart, it's kind of rare. That's all for this segment. This might have to be included in segment 15 if it turns out you do need to fall through every pit.
SEGMENT 19
Proceed to B13F. Selecting "yes" saves one prompt. Open the shortcut to the healing spring, warp out and end segment.
SEGMENT 20
Replace M with mikwuyma and go on a super awesome chop/take run to B13F's other side. Because you're already using Inferno + Blazer to kill everything mike will just gain levels for free on the way down. Go around the Muckdiles completely by following the perimeter of the box. Go to the take pile first (south one, closer to river), if you don't get 1 Ant Honey and 1 Stab Shell, add skill points in Take until you get them. Spend the rest on Chop, if you don't get 2 Strawberries and 1 Sea Branch restart. Warp Wire out and sell the stuff once you get it, end segment.
SEGMENT 21
Sea Charms are great, but they're pretty expensive; on my last test run I could only afford 2 at first. Don't sweat it though, the mine hole on B16F makes a lot of money so you'll be fine later. Buy 3 Blaze Oils for sure, buy a Warp Wire for later, spend the rest on Sea Charms. You can buy an Axcela II but it won't get used, trust me. There might be merit in buying some Medicas if you don't have any lying around (you should have tons from various quests and easy chest grabs. heh heh, chest grabs)
Sneak your way down to Cotrangl, visit the room on B15F with the two chests, hang on to that Scale Boot. Cotrangl should get beasted easily. He always uses his regular melee attack on whoever is lowest level, which will probably be Crono, but he's most likely to Tackle above all else. Blizzard is always followed up by Flood. These attacks can all be weathered easily with healing, especially if it's 1st Turn'd. Aquaveil has a 30% chance of being used so it's probably not worth spamming Erasure, but he never does Aquaveil twice, so if you want to make sure a boosted assault goes through then wait until the turn after Aquaveil goes up. Have your L oil up once he runs out of TP for Blazer. Your A should be able to Flame constantly no matter what (mine had about 130 TP). Don't cry if you don't get the Ice Spine, the Arc Drawer is way too expensive for this run and you can only have one anyway so it's not worth it. Take the pillar home, collect reward and end segment.
SEGMENT 22
Fin Bow is probably worth getting for an upcoming segment. Take on the "Love's uncertain promise" quest. Kill the Sickwoods at the mine hole in the north and Warp Wire out. Fire choppers and replace them with miners, then buy another warp wire and do a mine run. Careful, hang on to 5 Steel Chips and 3 Hard Shards. Buy one Steelsword and another Warp Wire. Switch back to LTMSA team and head into the dungeon. Grab the Brigandine, talk to Curse, grab the Bandanna, get perplexed by the door then warp out. Whine to Radha, do it again, grab Amrita II on the way down to B18F, warp wire out yet again when you get stumped by a big field. Go to the pub and complete the "Under construction" quest for a cheap Steelsword for your T. Whine to Radha for the LAST TIME, inspect the north tree then warp out again again and end segment.
SEGMENT 23
These next 3 should be a pain in the ass. Get 2 Gem Cores from Burstgels in the secret area (back and front have higher encounter rate), buy two Mystic Rods (do mine runs if you need it) and save.
SEGMENT 24
Get Space Claw from Desouler on B17F's secret area. Boosted Immunize (i.e. a quick fight involving using 3 Axcela IIs) may be necessary. Warp out. Buy a Pattisa, save.
SEGMENT 25
Get Royal Hide from Kingdile. Bring 4 Freeze Oil, Boosted Immunize is almost certainly necessary. This drop is really rare, it's a huge pain. Warp out. Buy two Failnaughts and 4 Freeze Oils, save.
SEGMENT 26
*eventual victory over Pac-Man*
Unfortunately the Radha cockblock you and the 21st floor so you have to warp back here and collect the reward before saving.
SEGMENT 27
Well, time to do the awesome mine runs of B21F. Unlock Axcela III, if you still need an Oleander send your takers upstairs to take some. It takes some time to walk so I think I'd end the segment after the mine run.
SEGMENT 28
Go kill the Dinolich and get a Sword Rib, get a Duergar and end segment.
SEGMENT 28
Buy two or three Theriaca As and maybe a Blaze Oil or two. Ren & Tlachtaga can be really easy to beat or a little annoying which merely takes longer. Basically Blazer + Inferno will demolish them pretty quickly, fire Apollons at Curse and shoot Flames at Ren if your L can't do Blazer or if Curse is already dead. There are other intricacies to this fight, I'll check up on those later. Don't bother using Erasure on Ren's stance, that just makes her mad, in fact the stance gives her less defense so you probably want it on. When they go down, warp out, save and end segment.
SEGMENT 29
Activate the elevator. For the Kingdile on the 23rd floor, when you try to sneak past him to the north, he will intercept you. Run away, use a Nectar if someone dies, then Benny Hill it all the way to the stairs. You have to kill a Desouler on a bridge in B22F (time limit of about 7 turns before a Kingdile catches up with you, shouldn't be a problem though), then at the end of B21F's other side you have to kill a Kingdile, save a boosted Immunize for that. An Axcela III might help. You should probably bring some Freeze Oils for this fight too then.
segment 29.5:
I was going to dedicate a segment to unlocking Angel Ring but I just realized, that's only an extra base of 30 TP, an Amrita II is cheaper >_<
SEGMENT 30
Head to B25F and attempt to open the shortcut. By backpedaling 3 steps, you can run past the Treetusk in the north corridor. For the fearsome Hellbull-Armoroll-Armoroll-Armoroll fight, Blazer + Inferno isn't quite enough to kill the Hellbull but since it's slow you can just have your T or M attack to finish it off. When the reach the big southern hallway, remember the Kingdiles only patrol up and down, they don't chase you, so start on the east edge of this hall before proceeding northwards. Warp out once you do and end segment.
SEGMENT 31
Kill a Treetusk with an elemental attack to unlock Athanor. Kill another Treetusk to unlock Ward Gems. Buy a Sylpheed and an Angel Robe if you have it. TEC up your A, switch everyone else's gear around in a similar fashion: anything with +STR will help. I guess extra TP to start with can't hurt. Hang on to those Bear Gloves! End segment.
SEGMENT 32
Buy 6 or 7 Axcela IIIs (this is number of turns required to kill Etreant / 6). Spend the rest of your money on about 15-20 Amrita IIs. This can easily total 25-30k ental alone of raw healing supplies. Hopefully it's enough. Remove L from your team, so your setup is TM,SA. Go upstairs to B20F, bonk into a Diabolix and have S use an Axcela III on M while everyone else attempts to flee. If someone gets hit, null perspiration. Head back down, use the west elevator and select B21F to reset the danger orb, proceed to other elevator and engage Etreant. Have your T use Erasure every turn no exceptions (unless this game really does have a Dragon Warrior III style RNG where I can just write down the turns Growth gets used and attack on the others...well that would probably affect Etreant's behaviour, nevermind), use 1st Turn on Boosted Immunize at the start (unless Etreant attempts to Growth on the first turn, in which case use S to fire an Apollon), have your A shoot Flames mercilessly every turn if able. Have your M heal occasionally if needed, otherwise use Caduceus. Your S will fire an Apollon if able, unless 1st Turning a healing skill would come first. If Apollon is airborne and healing is not needed yet, he's responsible for throwing Amrita IIs at people, loading the next Axcela III into your healer, or using Trickery on Etreant for fun. (I'd highly suggest doing so when he's down to less than 25% health, it might stop Inferno). About 38 turns later, you should be WINNER
POSSIBLE SEGMENT INSERTION: kill Iwaro again for experience and Gold Plume? I highly doubt it, the time it would take wouldn't be worth skill points I don't need.
This is Terence's documents about what he learned when he disassembled the game. AMAZING INFO HERE WOWWWWW
http://www.zshare.net/download/65328833a767ca3e/
also here's my old topic on GameFAQs, didn't get much interest
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.php?board=934287&topic=50298017
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