Final Fantasy IV DS

2008-11-24 07:41:04 am

I'm new to attempting speed runs, but I thought I might give Final Fantasy IV DS a shot, it may be a while, since I have a feeling that I may have to practice quite some time to get a first playthrough that is acceptable. I'd rather do a first playthrough, since the second and third could be too easy with a full set of adamant armors or onion equipment.

Issues:
-Increased difficulty from SNES/PS/GBA versions
-Likelihood of death from random encounters (never had that happen in any other version, it's embarrassing)
-Boss strategy
-Ability decant strategy
-Luck for rare item drops (i.e. Stonesword for Cecil before the underground section)

Since Essentia has run or has designs on all of my favorites, and I haven't got a strategy thought out for the ones that she hasn't got the record on but plans on running, I figured that this would be the best for me. At least, unless I can come up with something on the FF3/6 run.

Thread title:

Khaos4wood

2008-11-24 09:27:12 am

:(

I've been thinking about doing a FFIV DS run, but namely a 100% run. I have only to figure out what the site counts as 100% (i.e. all maps are given, but do you have to do all 3 playthroughs or is it just do everything you can in your first playthrough? Are tails required? etc.)

Good luck, and if you need help planning I may be able to offer assistance.

Carcinogen

2008-11-24 09:30:49 am

Generally, 100% tries to capture all the side quests within reason.

Ruling for FFVI 100% was defined as all espers, all characters.

Pornosaurus Rex

2008-11-26 08:16:53 am

Thanks for the offer Khaos4wood, I may take you up on it.

I'm playing it now and am at the end, so I'm thinking about the Lunar Subterrane and what chests/treasures I'd need, and I'd say for a general speedrun, I'd have to have at least the ribbons and protect rings. It would be nice to get the Ragnarok, but unless I can come up with a really quick strategy for beating Dark Bahamut, I'll have to skip it. Maybe I'll try stardusts.

In terms of other necessities, I'd say Bahamut is one. HP +50%, MP +50%, Dualcast, Cry, Darkness, and Phoenix for augments. If I manage to get incalculably lucky I'd like to be able to get Safe Travel.

I figure that instead of tents or inns, I'll use chocobo forests to heal when I have white magic users.

Magic-wise I'll need Stop and Curaga. This should be encompass the highest level spells I need.

I'll likely grind out levels post airship near Eblan Castle and maybe in the Giant of Babil. I'm not at all sure what the minimum level needed in this version will end up being.

Let me know if you see something that you would figure for impossible other than Safe Travel or if you know if you can manipulate the levels that characters join the party at.

Thanks for the offer Khaos4wood, I may take you up on it.

I'm playing it now and am at the end, so I'm thinking about the  Lunar Subterrane and what chests/treasures I'd need, and I'd say for a general speedrun, I'd have to have at least the ribbons and protect rings.  It would be nice to get the Ragnarok, but unless I can come up with a really quick strategy for beating Dark Bahamut, I'll have to skip it.  Maybe I'll try stardusts.

In terms of other necessities, I'd say Bahamut is one.  HP +50%, MP +50%, Dualcast, Cry, Darkness, and Phoenix for augments.  If I manage to get incalculably lucky I'd like to be able to get Safe Travel.

I figure that instead of tents or inns, I'll use chocobo forests to heal when I have white magic users.

Magic-wise I'll need Stop and Curaga.  This should be encompass the highest level spells I need.

I'll likely grind out levels post airship near Eblan Castle and maybe in the Giant of Babil.  I'm not at all sure what the minimum level needed in this version will end up being.

Let me know if you see something that you would figure for impossible other than Safe Travel or if you know if you can manipulate the levels that characters join the party at.

Carcinogen

2008-11-26 09:00:11 am

I take it you can't level off of D. Machines like you could in prior versions?

Pornosaurus Rex

2008-11-26 08:23:54 pm

As far as I know you cannot revive mobs like in the SNES version. Also, unlike the GBA version and the SNES version, you cannot get summoners to summon indefinitely. The Alarm Eye will, but they usually won't summon anything that is susceptible to Hold or Break. If I am wrong here, I'd appreciate it if someone will let me know.

TimeSpaceMage

2008-11-28 01:32:13 pm

A hat riding a mage?!

Don't forget to also plan out which magic-casting items you pick up, say Hourglasses. Also, I expect it would help if you picked up Level Lust once you reach the moon.

Pornosaurus Rex

2008-12-01 03:27:49 am

In terms of magic-casting items, 2 rods, 1 fire rod, 1 ice rod, 1 thunder rod, the stonesword (I think it will cast break when used as an item), staff, and the mythril rod. A few decoys and some silver hourglasses are probable additions, but it depends on how much gil I have when I get there. I will likely grab level lust and will need bless to avoid using tents in the Lunar Subterrane. Also, I'm not 100% here, but I'll likely have to beat Asura and Leviathan to face Bahamut. Bahamut is a necessity since some mobs counterattack black magic. I'll also have to plan out which maps I'll finish too gain certain items. I won't need to complete all maps since I won't use this save to start another game.

Pornosaurus Rex

2009-03-07 11:19:39 pm

I have to say that after finishing the game twice and starting a third that I can't even look at it for a while. It just took too long trying to get tails and all the rare equipment, even with treasure hunter equipped. I'll come back to this, but not anytime soon.

Vulajin

2013-07-11 08:18:04 pm

Okay, this thread is 4 years old, but it is the main FF4 DS thread I could find. I have been playing this on stream lately, and I'm thinking that I want to try an any% route. In another thread, FionordeQuester laid out a portion of a route for this game:

https://forum.speeddemosarchive.com/post/final_fantasy_iv_ds_speed_run_route_intended_for_single_segment.html

This game is going to be very challenging to route primarily because everything is so damn hard. All the bosses like to kill you, and even random encounters later in the game have a chance to end your run. Fortunately, there are a lot of items you can use to make your life easier, and there are many cheesy strategies still possible. (e.g. Scarmiglione second form is one-shottable with an Elixir.)

So let me start with my thoughts so far:

- The difficulty level is completely reasonable right up to the Dark Dragon.
- Boss fights are SLOW. Like holy mother of god super slow. Granted, this is my first playthrough, but, like, there's so much stalling, it's ridiculous.
- For example, Demon Wall was 20 minutes. Literally 20 minutes (granted, many mistakes here, but still): http://www.twitch.tv/vulajin/c/2562682
- Random encounters in, for example, the Sealed Cave, can literally one shot your entire party.
- Vendors operate on a Costco-style bulk discount system. (buy 4-9 = 5% discount; buy 10-14 = 8% discount; additional 1% discount every 5 beyond that)

All that said, I'm excited about running this. This is my one of my favorite games of all time, and this version deserves some love. I'll try to post updates on my progress as I get an actual route developed. (Still wrapping up my first playthrough, hopefully finishing tonight.)

Okay, this thread is 4 years old, but it is the main FF4 DS thread I could find. I have been playing this on stream lately, and I'm thinking that I want to try an any% route. In another thread, FionordeQuester laid out a portion of a route for this game:

https://forum.speeddemosarchive.com/post/final_fantasy_iv_ds_speed_run_route_intended_for_single_segment.html

This game is going to be very challenging to route primarily because everything is so damn hard. All the bosses like to kill you, and even random encounters later in the game have a chance to end your run. Fortunately, there are a lot of items you can use to make your life easier, and there are many cheesy strategies still possible. (e.g. Scarmiglione second form is one-shottable with an Elixir.)

So let me start with my thoughts so far:

- The difficulty level is completely reasonable right up to the Dark Dragon.
- Boss fights are SLOW. Like holy mother of god super slow. Granted, this is my first playthrough, but, like, there's so much stalling, it's ridiculous.
- For example, Demon Wall was 20 minutes. Literally 20 minutes (granted, many mistakes here, but still): http://www.twitch.tv/vulajin/c/2562682
- Random encounters in, for example, the Sealed Cave, can literally one shot your entire party.
- Vendors operate on a Costco-style bulk discount system. (buy 4-9 = 5% discount; buy 10-14 = 8% discount; additional 1% discount every 5 beyond that)

All that said, I'm excited about running this. This is my one of my favorite games of all time, and this version deserves some love. I'll try to post updates on my progress as I get an actual route developed. (Still wrapping up my first playthrough, hopefully finishing tonight.)

Dragondarch

2013-07-13 07:00:14 am

Pudding%

You forgot to mention the Ice Hounds in Tower of Zot that can not only end your run with one Cold Breath, but can also come in pairs... Wink

Vulajin

Edit history:

Vulajin: 2013-07-13 09:24:27 am

2013-07-13 09:24:13 am

Cold Breath was actually okay, because I had Flame Mail, which was enough for at least one person to survive. Ditto for Icestorm later on in the Lunar Subterrane. What really killed me, though, was the Giant of Babil CPU's Laser Barrage. This attack deals more damage than any of my characters can withstand, regardless of defenses, and the Attacker almost always uses it immediately. I managed to get one lucky attempt where he was slow on the draw, which is the only reason I killed it at all.

The Phoenix augment (left by Fusoya if you gave him 2) is likely to be extremely important. I pretty much only made it to the end of the Lunar Subterrane courtesy of constant Phoenix-ing, and even then, I was unable to defeat Zeromus, because until you knock off 60k of his HP, he periodically casts back-to-back Big Bangs. There's just no time between the two of those to revive the Phoenix user and also restore their MP. (You could Slow him, of course, but Black Hole wipes that out.) You also don't have enough gil to buy Fuma Shurikens to make this boss quick, and there aren't enough alternative weapons in your arsenal. (Chests only provide a total of ~4 Fuma Shurikens.)

Long story short, I think this run will require a lot of grinding. Doing essentially a low-level challenge was interesting, but the boss battles took SO LONG that I'm pretty sure almost any amount of grinding will speed up the run.

Cold Breath was actually okay, because I had Flame Mail, which was enough for at least one person to survive. Ditto for Icestorm later on in the Lunar Subterrane. What really killed me, though, was the Giant of Babil CPU's Laser Barrage. This attack deals more damage than any of my characters can withstand, regardless of defenses, and the Attacker almost always uses it immediately. I managed to get one lucky attempt where he was slow on the draw, which is the only reason I killed it at all.

The Phoenix augment (left by Fusoya if you gave him 2) is likely to be extremely important. I pretty much only made it to the end of the Lunar Subterrane courtesy of constant Phoenix-ing, and even then, I was unable to defeat Zeromus, because until you knock off 60k of his HP, he periodically casts back-to-back Big Bangs. There's just no time between the two of those to revive the Phoenix user and also restore their MP. (You could Slow him, of course, but Black Hole wipes that out.) You also don't have enough gil to buy Fuma Shurikens to make this boss quick, and there aren't enough alternative weapons in your arsenal. (Chests only provide a total of ~4 Fuma Shurikens.)

Long story short, I think this run will require a lot of grinding. Doing essentially a low-level challenge was interesting, but the boss battles took SO LONG that I'm pretty sure almost any amount of grinding will speed up the run.

Dragondarch

2013-07-13 04:48:55 pm

Pudding%

I was more referring to the fact that you get the Flame Mail/Shield in Tower of Zot itself, and Ice Hounds can appear on the very first floor Tongue

But yeah, some amount of grinding will be necessary. Boss battle are still somewhat slow by default, though.

And Dr. Lugae is fucking evil.

Vulajin

2013-07-13 06:12:50 pm

Haha, I found an awesome strategy for Dr. Lugae: use two Elixirs right after his initial Reversal Gas. Battle over. (courtesy of a FAQ from GameFAQs)

Dragondarch

Edit history:

Dragondarch: 2013-07-14 02:39:31 am

Dragondarch: 2013-07-14 02:38:32 am

2013-07-14 02:36:26 am

Pudding%

So...I found this on YouTube...

You may wanna take a look at these.

EDIT: Bleh, the forums don't link playlists correctly. Just do a search for FF4 DS MBO and you'll find the full list easy enough.

mystakin

2014-03-16 07:36:46 pm

Instead of creating a new thread, I suppose I'll bring this one back from last year. I recently started running the SNES version of FFIV and thought "Y'know... I have the DS version that no one seems to run. Maybe I could give that a shot."

So I spent a while using the resources in this thread, the only other thread I could find, and the first FAQ I ran across to put together a complete run on New Game for FFIV DS. I did a cutscene% run on my twitch channel, and cleaned up my notes if anyone else is crazy enough to try the run or look it over. This is my first attempt to route... anything, really, so I'm confident there's tons of improvements to be made. Here's some highlights from the notes:

- Running away from battles on anything except Battle Speed 5 or 6 is almost guaranteed damage. Battle speed still affects both enemies and party members, though, so most of the run is knowing when a boss fight is coming and switching the battle speed accordingly.

- The run is effectively glitchless because I couldn't find any glitches during my routing. None of the SNES exploits work, and even an item duplication trick that works in the FFIII DS port appears to be fixed for FFIV DS.

- Outside of fighting a few random encounters on the way to bosses, the route is free of any grinding.

- Twincast isn't random in this version.

- The CPU fight... man, the CPU fight. I tried everything I could think of to survive the Attack Node's Laser Barrage, but to no avail. Cecil and Fusoya can sometimes survive it, especially if they defend, but there's not enough time to recover before it barrages a second time. The CPU fight, as it stands in my current route, is almost pure luck.

- The Zeromus fight, however, is awesome. While studying augments, I saw Hastemarch and thought "That could be really useful..." Turns out, it's a key component in MoogleBoss's Mandatory Battles Only strat. Basically, your party is so fast during the Zeromus fight that he might never cast an offensive spell... and if he does, it's Meteor -- which can be survived with the Phoenix augment.

So yeah... that was a lot of fun. I might look into a New Game+ run of this version as well, since that will be where you could actually beat the game as fast as possible. For now, though, the New Game run will have to do. I'm pretty sure I can get below 6 hours with this route, so that's my primary goal.

Instead of creating a new thread, I suppose I'll bring this one back from last year. I recently started running the SNES version of FFIV and thought "Y'know... I have the DS version that no one seems to run. Maybe I could give that a shot."

So I spent a while using the resources in this thread, [url=https://forum.speeddemosarchive.com/post/final_fantasy_iv_ds_speed_run_route_intended_for_single_segment.html]the only other thread I could find[/url], and [url=http://www.cheatcc.com/ds/sg/final_fantasy_4.txt]the first FAQ I ran across[/url] to put together a complete run on New Game for FFIV DS. I did a [url=http://www.twitch.tv/mystakin/c/3888650]cutscene% run[/url] on my twitch channel, and cleaned up my notes if anyone else is crazy enough to try the run or look it over. This is my first attempt to route... anything, really, so I'm confident there's tons of improvements to be made. Here's some highlights from the notes:

- Running away from battles on anything except Battle Speed 5 or 6 is almost guaranteed damage. Battle speed still affects both enemies and party members, though, so most of the run is knowing when a boss fight is coming and switching the battle speed accordingly.

- The run is effectively glitchless because I couldn't find any glitches during my routing. None of the SNES exploits work, and even an item duplication trick that works in the FFIII DS port appears to be fixed for FFIV DS.

- Outside of fighting a few random encounters on the way to bosses, the route is free of any grinding.

- Twincast [url=http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/939425-final-fantasy-iv/63697367]isn't random[/url] in this version.

- The CPU fight... man, the CPU fight. I tried everything I could think of to survive the Attack Node's Laser Barrage, but to no avail. Cecil and Fusoya can sometimes survive it, especially if they defend, but there's not enough time to recover before it barrages a second time. The CPU fight, as it stands in my current route, is almost pure luck.

- The Zeromus fight, however, is awesome. While studying augments, I saw Hastemarch and thought "That could be really useful..." Turns out, it's a key component in MoogleBoss's [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azm84dRRrB4]Mandatory Battles Only strat[/url]. Basically, your party is so fast during the Zeromus fight that he might never cast an offensive spell... and if he does, it's Meteor -- which can be survived with the Phoenix augment.

So yeah... that was a lot of fun. I might look into a New Game+ run of this version as well, since that will be where you could actually beat the game as fast as possible. For now, though, the New Game run will have to do. I'm pretty sure I can get below 6 hours with this route, so that's my primary goal.

Attachment:

FFIV DS First Route.txt

Vulajin

2014-03-17 12:29:41 am

Well, I must commend you for having the patience to do what I could not. I actually heard about your run from another FF4 runner (Neerrm?) the other day, and checked out parts of it. I was particularly impressed at the fact that you killed the Demon Wall in less than the 21 minutes it took me. ._. I think for this run to be even remotely viable, there needs to be a real strategy for the CPU besides prayer.

As a point of clarification, when you say "cutscene%," I assume you just mean you didn't skip cutscenes. How much time do you think this added? I'd be really interested to see an actual any% attempt, because I might be willing to pick it up if it's just a bit shorter.

djtifaheart

Edit history:

djtifaheart: 2014-03-17 01:53:36 am

djtifaheart: 2014-03-17 01:53:13 am

2014-03-17 01:50:27 am

Gotta Go Fast!

Since I said I'll drop this here for new game plus: (and some ideas)

+Augment Guide It's useful for the two new game plus', but it's something to work with for the new game plus route.

+Rare Drops Guide Where you can find them and he also notes what carries over:
++ Silver and Golden Apples, Soma Drops, Rare Summon Drops, the onion equipment, the adamant armor, the tails and the dark matter from zeromus (that's a steal and not a drop).
++ Stuff like the Protect Ring, Ribbons, the bow for Rosa and other things don't carry over.
++ While farming for the pink and red tails, you'll want the Treasure Hunter augment, which can be only gotten from completing all of the dungeon maps. I believe the only two missable dungeon maps are Giant of Babil and Tower of Zot.

+New Game Plus

+With a Soma Drop, you can throw one on Tellah during Mt. Ordeals after he learns Meteor. This is useful where you use Meteor on the SNES bosses.

+Safe Travels agument will allow you to just walk to bosses and bosses give XP in this game so leveling shouldn't be an issue. Dr. Lugae might be a slight problem. Though after seeing your run, probably not so much anymore.

+Level Lust on Rosa might get her to learn things quicker, haste/slow and the like.

+With the adamant armors, most bosses will be a complete joke. Most bosses shouldn't be able to hurt you. I'm not sure if you'll lose them if you don't take them off party members that are leaving, so I usually take them off before they leave. So I know for sure that I'll have five for the final five.

New game plus should be interesting to route out. Really impressed that you completed a run from new game (and with CPU problems).

Downloaded your notes, so thanks for that. Be looking over them within' the week or so.

Since I said I'll drop this here for new game plus: (and some ideas)

+[url=http://www.fftogether.com/forum/index.php?topic=491.0]Augment Guide[/url] It's useful for the two new game plus', but it's something to work with for the new game plus route.

+[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHf8QhDoZrQ]Rare Drops Guide[/url] Where you can find them and he also notes what carries over:
++ Silver and Golden Apples, Soma Drops, Rare Summon Drops, the onion equipment, the adamant armor, the tails and the dark matter from zeromus (that's a steal and not a drop). 
++ Stuff like the Protect Ring, Ribbons, the bow for Rosa and other things don't carry over. 
++ While farming for the pink and red tails, you'll want the Treasure Hunter augment, which can be only gotten from completing all of the dungeon maps. I believe the only two missable dungeon maps are Giant of Babil and Tower of Zot.

+[url=http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/New_Game_Plus]New Game Plus[/url]

+With a Soma Drop, you can throw one on Tellah during Mt. Ordeals after he learns Meteor. This is useful where you use Meteor on the SNES bosses.

+Safe Travels agument will allow you to just walk to bosses and bosses give XP in this game so leveling shouldn't be an issue. Dr. Lugae might be a slight problem. Though after seeing your run, probably not so much anymore.

+Level Lust on Rosa might get her to learn things quicker, haste/slow and the like.

+With the adamant armors, most bosses will be a complete joke. Most bosses shouldn't be able to hurt you. I'm not sure if you'll lose them if you don't take them off party members that are leaving, so I usually take them off before they leave. So I know for sure that I'll have five for the final five.

New game plus should be interesting to route out. Really impressed that you completed a run from new game (and with CPU problems).

Downloaded your notes, so thanks for that. Be looking over them within' the week or so.

mystakin

Edit history:

mystakin: 2014-03-17 10:51:07 am

2014-03-17 10:49:37 am

Quote from Vulajin:

Well, I must commend you for having the patience to do what I could not. I actually heard about your run from another FF4 runner (Neerrm?) the other day, and checked out parts of it. I was particularly impressed at the fact that you killed the Demon Wall in less than the 21 minutes it took me. ._. I think for this run to be even remotely viable, there needs to be a real strategy for the CPU besides prayer.

As a point of clarification, when you say "cutscene%," I assume you just mean you didn't skip cutscenes. How much time do you think this added? I'd be really interested to see an actual any% attempt, because I might be willing to pick it up if it's just a bit shorter.

CPU could be made a little safer with some ability changes, I think, but to be 100% consistent it would need some innate counter to Laser Barrage. As it stands, there is the possibility that Attack Node gets a turn before your party and there's almost no recovering from that.

That said, I'm going to try out counting damage on Demon Wall and seeing if I can throw all of that experience onto just Rydia/Rosa or Rydia/Edge. That should learn Hastemarch early, which will speed up the four fiends fight (which currently takes about 10 minutes) and may make CPU safer. Alternately, giving Edge Bardsong would give me access to Hastemarch immediately... so that's another option. Only time will tell.

I can't say for sure how much the cutscenes added to the run, but I imagine the average run would be 6 to 6 and a half hours. I'm doing a real any% attempt this Wednesday, so I'll report back.

Quote from djtifaheart:

**Awesome new game+ stuff**

+With a Soma Drop, you can throw one on Tellah during Mt. Ordeals after he learns Meteor. This is useful where you use Meteor on the SNES bosses.

+Level Lust on Rosa might get her to learn things quicker, haste/slow and the like.

Does MP+50% augment work for breaking Tellah as well? Since augments carry over, this may be a more permanent version of the Soma Drop idea.

I believe level lust works on the whole party, so as long as it's equipped on anyone Rosa is getting 1.5x experience from Four Fiends and CPU. This would make Cecil the best target for that augment, since he's in the party the longest.

I've been thinking... Augments that you attach to characters in previous runs carry over into new game+ and new game++. With that in mind, it would be fastest to do all the augmenting in the first two playthroughs and use the final playthrough as the run itself with little to no augmenting. It feels kinda weird doing a major part of the run before the run starts, but I suppose we must work with what we have.

[quote="Vulajin"]Well, I must commend you for having the patience to do what I could not. I actually heard about your run from another FF4 runner (Neerrm?) the other day, and checked out parts of it. I was particularly impressed at the fact that you killed the Demon Wall in less than the 21 minutes it took me. ._. I think for this run to be even remotely viable, there needs to be a real strategy for the CPU besides prayer.

As a point of clarification, when you say "cutscene%," I assume you just mean you didn't skip cutscenes. How much time do you think this added? I'd be really interested to see an actual any% attempt, because I might be willing to pick it up if it's just a bit shorter.[/quote]

CPU could be made a little safer with some ability changes, I think, but to be 100% consistent it would need some innate counter to Laser Barrage. As it stands, there is the possibility that Attack Node gets a turn before your party and there's almost no recovering from that.

That said, I'm going to try out counting damage on Demon Wall and seeing if I can throw all of that experience onto just Rydia/Rosa or Rydia/Edge. That should learn Hastemarch early, which will speed up the four fiends fight (which currently takes about 10 minutes) and may make CPU safer. Alternately, giving Edge Bardsong would give me access to Hastemarch immediately... so that's another option. Only time will tell.

I can't say for sure how much the cutscenes added to the run, but I imagine the average run would be 6 to 6 and a half hours. I'm doing a real any% attempt this Wednesday, so I'll report back.

[quote="djtifaheart"]**Awesome new game+ stuff**

+With a Soma Drop, you can throw one on Tellah during Mt. Ordeals after he learns Meteor. This is useful where you use Meteor on the SNES bosses.

+Level Lust on Rosa might get her to learn things quicker, haste/slow and the like. [/quote]

Does MP+50% augment work for breaking Tellah as well? Since augments carry over, this may be a more permanent version of the Soma Drop idea.

I believe level lust works on the whole party, so as long as it's equipped on anyone Rosa is getting 1.5x experience from Four Fiends and CPU. This would make Cecil the best target for that augment, since he's in the party the longest.

I've been thinking... Augments that you attach to characters in previous runs carry over into new game+ and new game++. With that in mind, it would be fastest to do all the augmenting in the first two playthroughs and use the final playthrough as the run itself with little to no augmenting. It feels kinda weird doing a major part of the run before the run starts, but I suppose we must work with what we have.

Vulajin

2014-03-17 11:09:31 am

Quote from mystakin:

CPU could be made a little safer with some ability changes, I think, but to be 100% consistent it would need some innate counter to Laser Barrage. As it stands, there is the possibility that Attack Node gets a turn before your party and there's almost no recovering from that.

You mentioned that BS6 lets you run from battles with less chance of getting hit...any chance this might be of use on the CPU?

djtifaheart

2014-03-17 01:06:14 pm

Gotta Go Fast!

I don't see why it wouldn't work on Tellah. With MP+50%, it depends on who'll be your casters: Rosa for sure should get one. Rydia for black magic. She'll also need Fast Talker if you're using summons. I'm not that fond of giving Tellah the MP+50% augment, but if it's on the third run through, I suppose that could work out okay.

As for Level Lust: Oh right, this is one of those rare augments that works on the whole party, I completely forgot about that. I think you can only get it once as well, so Cecil is the best choice in this case. Safe Travel should also go on him since he's with you the whole time.

I usually gave him the Treasure Hunter augment as well - the strat in the video above is the best one for farming pink tails.

Another thing to note; The onion swords/equipment and adamant armor can't be equipped by Dark Knight Cecil, you'll have to wait until he becomes a Paladin to put stuff like that on him. The augments will work on him either way (dark knight/paladin).

Also, the onion sword levels up with you, it might be a better idea to wait until Cecil has gained levels to put it on him later on. The sword he starts out with as a Paladin is stronger until he can gain at least 10-15 levels, I wanna say?

I don't see why it wouldn't work on Tellah. With MP+50%, it depends on who'll be your casters: Rosa for sure should get one. Rydia for black magic. She'll also need Fast Talker if you're using summons. I'm not that fond of giving Tellah the MP+50% augment, but if it's on the third run through, I suppose that could work out okay.

As for Level Lust: Oh right, this is one of those rare augments that works on the whole party, I completely forgot about that. I think you can only get it once as well, so Cecil is the best choice in this case. Safe Travel should also go on him since he's with you the whole time.

I usually gave him the Treasure Hunter augment as well - the strat in the video above is the best one for farming pink tails.

Another thing to note; The onion swords/equipment and adamant armor can't be equipped by Dark Knight Cecil, you'll have to wait until he becomes a Paladin to put stuff like that on him. The augments will work on him either way (dark knight/paladin).

Also, the onion sword levels up with you, it might be a better idea to wait until Cecil has gained levels to put it on him later on. The sword he starts out with as a Paladin is stronger until he can gain at least 10-15 levels, I wanna say?

FionordeQuester

Edit history:

FionordeQuester: 2014-07-19 12:16:17 am

2014-07-17 11:15:22 pm

Ok, so I've been talking with Mystaken, suggesting tweaks to the route. So, at his suggestion, I decided to write them down in this thread. They are as follows...

1) Fight Octomammoth with Rydia at either base level or about Level 8 (with the strongest defensive gear you have). To make up for lack of Poison on Rydia, have Tellah cast it instead. And, most importantly, set Cura on Tellah's Autobattle and use a Hermes Sandal on him so that he can keep up with Octomammoth's damage towards the end. Other helpful things to do are to set Defend on Rydia's autobattle and Attack on Cecil's Autobattle. Also, until Octomammoth gets down to about 4 tentacles, Tellah can keep spamming Thunder, but probably should switch to Auto-Cura once you get to that point. BE ABSOLUTELY SURE RYDIA LIVES THROUGH THE FIGHT!

2) Instead of Mystakin's current strategy against Scarmiglione's 1st form, simply have the twins use Comet, and finish off Scarm with a Cura from Tellah. As long as you use Spider's Silk on Scarm, he shouldn't have the chance to attack before Comet is finished.

3) Now, here's one I'm not entirely sure on, but it might be helpful for boosting Tellah's damage and survivability. Against Scarmiglione's 2nd form, let him kill everyone but Tellah (who casts Blink on himself) before killing Scarm with the Elixer. By doing this, Tellah literally gains SEVEN whole levels, and none of your other party members are lasting much longer.

4) Against Yang's minions, kill them with Break instead of Blizzaga, which has a 3x faster casting time and only costs 20 MP as opposed to 30.

5) Don't grind in the Baron Sewers until Cecil gets to Level 10. That's a waste of time.

6) Similar to Yang's minions, it turns out Baigan's two arms are susceptable to Break! So basically, have Porom Slow all the arms down, have Cecil attack Baigan's body or whatever he has to do (again, he doesn't have Protect), have Tellah cast Break on the two arms, and have Yang Focus and strike down Baigan! Also, get Haste on Yang after the arms are dead of course. Also, I believe Palom and Porom should die, although I'm not sure of the exact method by which they should bite it. Use Bomb Cores maybe? Or perhaps have Cecil kill them? I'm not entirely sure.

Either way, be sure to buy Fire Claw before Cagnazzo.

7) Ok, so for Dark Elf the 1st, make sure Yang has Fire Claw. After that, basically, just have Tellah use Haste on Yang, have Yang attack with a 2x Focused attack, have Cecil and Cid use Silent Bells, and have Cid heal Yang with a Hi-Potion when the first spell is cast. And obviously Cecil cries before Yang uses the 2x Focus attack. Then have Tellah use Firaga, maybe have Cid kill himself (I dunno), and have Cecil physical attack three or four times...but, MOST IMPORTANTLY, have Yang charge up 3x Focuses before the 2nd Form comes out.

Once it does, have Cecil Cry, Tellah uses Firaga, and have Yang use his 3x Focused attack. After that, have Yang and Cecil physical attack as Tellah uses a Tier 1 Fire spell. If Yang and Cecil don't kill him by themselves, Tellah's Fire should finish the job. If you have trouble landing those finishing blows fast enough, set Attack to Auto-Battle on Cecil and Yang, and set Fire to Auto-Battle on Tellah, so that you can do those last round of attacks.

Ok, so I've been talking with Mystaken, suggesting tweaks to the route.  So, at his suggestion, I decided to write them down in this thread.  They are as follows...

1) Fight Octomammoth with Rydia at either base level or about Level 8 (with the strongest defensive gear you have).  To make up for lack of Poison on Rydia, have Tellah cast it instead.  And, most importantly, set Cura on Tellah's Autobattle and use a Hermes Sandal on him so that he can keep up with Octomammoth's damage towards the end.  Other helpful things to do are to set Defend on Rydia's autobattle and Attack on Cecil's Autobattle.  Also, until Octomammoth gets down to about 4 tentacles, Tellah can keep spamming Thunder, but probably should switch to Auto-Cura once you get to that point. [b][i]BE ABSOLUTELY SURE RYDIA LIVES THROUGH THE FIGHT![/i][/b]

2) Instead of Mystakin's current strategy against Scarmiglione's 1st form, simply have the twins use Comet, and finish off Scarm with a Cura from Tellah.  As long as you use Spider's Silk on Scarm, he shouldn't have the chance to attack before Comet is finished.

3) Now, here's one I'm not entirely sure on, but it might be helpful for boosting Tellah's damage and survivability.  Against Scarmiglione's 2nd form, let him kill everyone but Tellah (who casts Blink on himself) before killing Scarm with the Elixer.  By doing this, Tellah literally gains [i][b]SEVEN[/b][/i] whole levels, and none of your other party members are lasting much longer.

4) Against Yang's minions, kill them with Break instead of Blizzaga, which has a 3x faster casting time and only costs 20 MP as opposed to 30.

5) Don't grind in the Baron Sewers until Cecil gets to Level 10.  That's a waste of time.

6) Similar to Yang's minions, it turns out Baigan's two arms are susceptable to Break!  So basically, have Porom Slow all the arms down, have Cecil attack Baigan's body or whatever he has to do (again, he doesn't have Protect), have Tellah cast Break on the two arms, and have Yang Focus and strike down Baigan!  Also, get Haste on Yang after the arms are dead of course.  Also, I believe Palom and Porom should die, although I'm not sure of the exact method by which they should bite it.  Use Bomb Cores maybe?  Or perhaps have Cecil kill them?  I'm not entirely sure.

Either way, be sure to buy Fire Claw before Cagnazzo.

7) Ok, so for Dark Elf the 1st, make sure Yang has Fire Claw.  After that, basically, just have Tellah use Haste on Yang, have Yang attack with a 2x Focused attack, have Cecil and Cid use Silent Bells, and have Cid heal Yang with a Hi-Potion when the first spell is cast.  And obviously Cecil cries before Yang uses the 2x Focus attack.  Then have Tellah use Firaga, maybe have Cid kill himself (I dunno), and have Cecil physical attack three or four times...but, MOST IMPORTANTLY, have Yang charge up 3x Focuses before the 2nd Form comes out.

Once it does, have Cecil Cry, Tellah uses Firaga, and have Yang use his 3x Focused attack.  After that, have Yang and Cecil physical attack as Tellah uses a Tier 1 Fire spell. If Yang and Cecil don't kill him by themselves, Tellah's Fire should finish the job.  If you have trouble landing those finishing blows fast enough, set Attack to Auto-Battle on Cecil and Yang, and set Fire to Auto-Battle on Tellah, so that you can do those last round of attacks.

Ritzblues

Edit history:

Ritzblues: 2015-05-05 12:03:29 am

2015-05-05 12:02:49 am

Today's Salt is Tomorrow's Rust

I'm in the process of watching Mystakin's 6:03:09 run, but I have a question: How does the DS version compare to iOS and Steam versions in terms of speed running? I know that for NG+/NG++ you only get one Limit Break augment, and Whyt was removed, and replaced with the Eidolon Search Sidequest.

I'm guessing the only major difference in the New Game category would be the loss of Whyt and a different method to obtain Piercing Magic Augment, and other differences would be in graphics and framerate.

As for NG+/NG++, would the loss of the second Limit Break be a bad thing, other than fighting Proto-Babil?

Has anyone completed a NG+ or NG++ speedrun? I'm concerned about losing out on all of the map completion items and xp/gil from Safe Travel, and how that would change the run from NG.

Also, does anyone still run this?

Thanks.

Melodia

2015-05-05 01:20:51 pm

Wow, 6 hours? No wonder no one runs this.

djtifaheart

Edit history:

djtifaheart: 2015-05-05 02:47:21 pm

djtifaheart: 2015-05-05 02:47:08 pm

2015-05-05 02:41:30 pm

Gotta Go Fast!

Mystakin's done a NG run on the PC version and it's vastly faster. 4:10:19. There's some new strats in that video that isn't in his 6:03:09 run on the DS/emulator version. I would recommend running the PC/Steam version over the DS version personally.

No one's done a NG+/NG++ run of either version.

I think we agreed to not include the two super bosses in the NG+/NG++ run. With the Proto-Babil fight, I only need one Limit Break casually, but that goes to Kain. So no, it's not a loss personally.

I haven't seen anyone run IVPC/Steam in a while. Both runners that I know of are done with the game. Webster and Mystakin have put the game aside and are focusing on other projects.