Final Fantasy Adventure (Seiken Densetsu/Mystic Quest) (GB)

2014-07-29 09:54:30 am

I may have screwed up the verification process, Crow. It said to put comments (Game knowledge, etc) as if it needed me to verify that I knew what I was talking about... So I just put some strat names in. Then it closed the verification. The box was tiny though, so I didn't think I could write much.

I tried another run today, and once again the RNG is hating me. I was performing okay, but RNG was pushing me behind. Lost 2 minutes in Dark Lord's Castle to the Ice Room behind a douche.

Then I had a solid late game then choked on the Dragon Zombie.

SoB is now 2:07:42... I know I can get closer in my overall PB, which is still 2:18:51... And that is getting annoying now after so many attempts. I get trolled continuously XD

BOWIEtheHERO

2014-07-29 09:57:45 am

Also, I'm going to join the darkside... Wisdom Build will be attempted.

BOWIEtheHERO

2014-08-04 06:09:43 pm

Got a great Power build PB today of 2:15:24. Now only 4 and a bit minutes off of Crow's Magic run.
It's here - I made some errors at times and a little RNG got me, but overall, a great run that I'm really happy about. I know where my areas are.

http://www.twitch.tv/bowiethehero/c/4821313

seka

Edit history:

seka: 2014-08-06 04:37:14 am

seka: 2014-08-05 12:14:08 pm

2014-08-05 12:13:37 pm

I just watched the run and it's good one indeed, congrats on your PB.

For the Mantis Ant and the Garuda fights, you might want to use flame chain, I find it way safer, as you can stay at the bottom of the room and watch out for charges (feathers will all be destroyed). This way, I thought you could avoid taking the dragon sword, but you're also using it for both Dragon and Red Dragon fights anyway.

For Kary's fight, you can stay on the left of the screen, she won't touch you there, and you can hit her head while she charges. I also tried using the morning star, staying above her head, it can hit twice with every swing. Not sure which is faster though, I'm still messing around with bosses. The second strat actually comes from the warpless TAS.

Also, in the Dime tower, on the last floor before Garuda, there's the room with those trees. You can cut the 2 in the middle, so you open the way for both monsters. That's not much, but still some seconds gained, I think. I saw this on a japanese run (here, in 4 parts, if you didn't watch it - kind of low level build).

As for my full power build, it's going well for now. The main differences with your build, other than being riskier, are the slow fights on Davias and the Crab and the opal helm. The 2 first dragons of the Gemma tower are also probably little slower. All those seconds lost are taken back everywhere in the run, little by little. However, I think I'll have a hard time taking back those 2min30 it takes at the beginning to buy iron helm. I might try not to do the glitch, but, it sounds like suicide... Whatever, I'll probably try sometime. So, yes, it might not be the fastest build, but I'll keep it until I get a good run (which might takes a while since I can't play as much as I would).

Edit : There's another japanese run here, which seems a bit faster, but I didn't watch it yet.

I just watched the run and it's good one indeed, congrats on your PB.

For the Mantis Ant and the Garuda fights, you might want to use flame chain, I find it way safer, as you can stay at the bottom of the room and watch out for charges (feathers will all be destroyed). This way, I thought you could avoid taking the dragon sword, but you're also using it for both Dragon and Red Dragon fights anyway.

For Kary's fight, you can stay on the left of the screen, she won't touch you there, and you can hit her head while she charges. I also tried using the morning star, staying above her head, it can hit twice with every swing. Not sure which is faster though, I'm still messing around with bosses. The second strat actually comes from the warpless TAS.

Also, in the Dime tower, on the last floor before Garuda, there's the room with those trees. You can cut the 2 in the middle, so you open the way for both monsters. That's not much, but still some seconds gained, I think. I saw this on a japanese run ([url=http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm9553557]here[/url], in 4 parts, if you didn't watch it - kind of low level build).

As for my full power build, it's going well for now. The main differences with your build, other than being riskier, are the slow fights on Davias and the Crab and the opal helm. The 2 first dragons of the Gemma tower are also probably little slower. All those seconds lost are taken back everywhere in the run, little by little. However, I think I'll have a hard time taking back those 2min30 it takes at the beginning to buy iron helm. I might try not to do the glitch, but, it sounds like suicide... Whatever, I'll probably try sometime. So, yes, it might not be the fastest build, but I'll keep it until I get a good run (which might takes a while since I can't play as much as I would).

Edit : There's another japanese run [url=http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm511015]here[/url], which seems a bit faster, but I didn't watch it yet.

Crow!

Edit history:

Crow!: 2014-08-07 09:20:39 pm

Crow!: 2014-08-06 02:49:45 pm

Crow!: 2014-08-06 12:21:29 pm

2014-08-06 12:21:15 pm

What's that gemma?

Wow, I never actually watched the Japanese version of this game before. That text display speed is crazy... I wonder if the gameboy is just lagging as it presents the English text due to bad coding for how to display English characters?

Also, apparently using a hexagram for the symbol of mana was considered too controversial for a US release, so we got a 8-pointed symbol of mana. Not complaining there; ours looks cooler.

I'll have to watch through those more thoroughly at some point for any new tech, but gameplay-wise the parts I randomly selected were... unimpressive.

For what it's worth, I think the initial time loss to getting the iron helmet is closer to 2 minutes than to 2:30 so long as the goblin farming goes well.

IIRC the warpless TAS doesn't make enough money to buy the flame whip, hence its needing to use the Morning Star on Kary. I'm pretty sure that it would have used the whip if it had the money for it.

BOWIEtheHERO

Edit history:

BOWIEtheHERO: 2014-08-10 06:28:13 am

2014-08-10 05:46:17 am

So in the early hours of this morning I took Crows WR Wink

I got 2:10:14. I had a pretty slow Mana Temple and Julius due to nerves, but it was a pretty solid run. Happy but I can optimise more. Glad it went well though. Happy to finally post a time like that Cheesy

EDIT - Here's the link to my new PB and the new WR Smiley

http://www.twitch.tv/bowiethehero/c/4873489

Crow!

Edit history:

Crow!: 2014-08-10 07:12:08 am

2014-08-10 07:02:58 am

What's that gemma?

Nice. It may be time for you to consider picking up a way to play and record a GB game from the cartridge.

Minor improvement suggestion: if you need a weapon or item in the near future, wait until you enter a screen with enemies. While it looks impressive to remember what you're going to need ahead of time, pausing at the start of a randomly spawned room has the advantage of giving you more time to think about how you will handle the enemies in the way they spawned this time.

Even more minor point: this time, you completed the game one level earlier than you previously did, which left you with 9 MP. Would it be better in that case to start leveling Will one level earlier, or would you rather have taken a Wisdom level at 33 for an extra Cure cast, or do you think what you did is fastest anyway?

seka

Edit history:

seka: 2014-08-14 12:38:22 pm

seka: 2014-08-14 12:31:54 pm

2014-08-14 12:31:14 pm

Hi guys,

Everything is set up, so I will be streaming saturday or sunday, not sure yet. Here's my channel : http://www.hitbox.tv/sekafirst
Note that I will stream other games too, not onyl FFA.

However, and I mean it, don't expect anything great. I did another try today and it was terrible. A couple of days ago I tried wisdom but didn't really like, and since I can't manage a good full run with my stupid build, I'll go for Bowie's. I'll probably make new splits too.

Hoping to see Crow get his WR back !

Crow!

Edit history:

Crow!: 2014-08-17 04:52:04 pm

2014-08-17 04:50:36 pm

What's that gemma?

The WR is back in more trustworthy hands Tongue

http://www.twitch.tv/iicrowii/c/4927715

Frankly, there's a lot I don't like about this run; I feel like I frequently played badly and barely got away with only minor time losses. There's still at least 1.5 minutes to be gained by more proper gameplay, and another maybe 2 minutes to gain by superior RNG in various button rooms. Better RNG will be quite a grind though, as I got a lot of the RNG to go well aside from the bad moments.

BOWIEtheHERO

2014-08-18 01:57:00 am

Trustworthy, he says! Cheesy

I agree on some of the moments, it's the big thing about this game, we both have incredible SoB's where certain moments just go fantastically thanks to RNG and performance, which is nigh on impossible to replicate all in one run. That would be the god run when it happens, of course.

Despite the more up and down nature, it was still statistically, a 'better' run, although I'd agree that the previous submission is the better one as a showcase of the game and the way to run the Warpless route.

seka

Edit history:

seka: 2014-08-18 02:14:29 am

seka: 2014-08-18 02:14:19 am

2014-08-18 02:13:58 am

I watched the end of your run Crow, just after your Ice Cavern split (and probably jinxed it, it often happens Tongue

), and despite the time loses, it was really nice to see you can still gain some minutes, just like Bowie can with his build.

Keep it up both of you !

PS : In case your wondering, I did stream saturday, but man, it was so terrible I ended it quickly.

BOWIEtheHERO

2014-08-18 02:20:47 am

I couldn't catch it on Saturday, as I was working, but is there a VOD we can catch? Which build were you trying? Full Pow/Wis/StaXPow Mix?

seka

2014-08-19 04:26:17 pm

Unfortunatly there's no VOD. Seems like hitbox didn't record my streams, although I do have the recording option turned on. It happened again yesterday while I was hopelessly tring to have a run going (Stinger dropped by, so he can confirm I'm bad !). And still no recording today while playing another game. I guess I'll have to stream on twitch for now. That's sad because I liked the hitbox dashboard.

And as to which build I was trying, it was your's Bowie but I just can't do the first part of the run right with it.

BOWIEtheHERO

2014-08-20 04:25:14 pm

Up to which point are you having trouble with it?

If it helps, here's my level up from start to Silver mine when you get Silver armour

2 - Pow = 3, 4, 2, 3
3 - Sta = 5, 5, 2, 4

Get Axe

4 - Sta = 7, 6, 2, 5
5 - Sta = 9, 7, 2, 6
6 - Pow = 10, 9, 2, 7

Defeat Hydra

7 - Pow = 11, 11, 2, 8
8 - Pow = 12, 13, 2, 9

Defeat Lee

9 - Sta = 14, 14, 2, 10
10 - Pow = 16, 15, 2, 11

Enter silver Mine

11 - Sta = 17, 17, 2, 12

That should give you 31 Att and 29 Def when you grab the Silver stuff.

Hope that helps a little.

BOWIEtheHERO

2014-08-22 05:39:40 pm

I MIGHT have retaken the Warpless any% WR Tongue

Gonna start looking at the Warped soon, now I finally got Sub 2:10:00 Cheesy

seka

Edit history:

seka: 2014-08-23 04:45:07 pm

2014-08-23 04:44:33 pm

So, finally recorded a run with full power build : http://www.twitch.tv/sekafirst/c/4972396

Nothing much to see, it's a pretty bad run with a stupid build, but it's obvious I don't run the game nearly enough to expect much better, at least with full power. I didn't even remember my route correctly after Dark Lord. At least you'll see some strats I used on bosses. Anyway, done with this build. Next week I'll practice power/stam build. Oh, and don't watch too closely at the splits, a bunch of them aren't done at the proper time...

By the way, thanks for the details Bowie. I think I was doing it righ last week, but my problem is more related to the way I handle ennemies. I often swing my weapon to soon or to late, the later being the worst since it means taking a hit myself.

And grats on your any% PB, didn't watch yet but will do that tomorrow.

BOWIEtheHERO

2014-08-24 08:54:43 pm

According to FF Speedruns I have the WR on Seiken Densetsu's any% as well. 48:41. I beat some japanese person by about 9 seconds, which is good for only running it 4 times XD.
Gonna do it on FFA as well, so bop Poxnor. Then extend my Warpless advantage, I think.

FF Speedruns still have Crow down as faster, due to the time conversion. Either I have to get a sub 2:06 normal time, or i have to do a similar run on the SGB. Still, been a good week for FFA runs, I think Cheesy

And Seka - checked that run out, good first official PB, mine was about 2:50, so you bopped my start. And good job on it being Full Power, brave man. Let me know when you're streaming and i'll see if I can catch it next time. Best thing to do when it comes to learning the route, besides where to go and that, remember which doors are locked. Can cost upwards of a minute if you keep stumbling upon locked doors. So try to find an alarm for each one, like after the two minotaurs in Dime tower, the next door is locked. After the Peeping eyes in the underwater Volcano etc etc Cheesy

[color=green]According to FF Speedruns I have the WR on Seiken Densetsu's any% as well. 48:41. I beat some japanese person by about 9 seconds, which is good for only running it 4 times XD.
Gonna do it on FFA as well, so bop Poxnor. Then extend my Warpless advantage, I think.

FF Speedruns still have Crow down as faster, due to the time conversion. Either I have to get a sub 2:06 normal time, or i have to do a similar run on the SGB. Still, been a good week for FFA runs, I think :D

And Seka - checked that run out, good first official PB, mine was about 2:50, so you bopped my start. And good job on it being Full Power, brave man. Let me know when you're streaming and i'll see if I can catch it next time. Best thing to do when it comes to learning the route, besides where to go and that, remember which doors are locked. Can cost upwards of a minute if you keep stumbling upon locked doors. So try to find an alarm for each one, like after the two minotaurs in Dime tower, the next door is locked. After the Peeping eyes in the underwater Volcano etc etc :D[/color]

BOWIEtheHERO

2014-08-25 05:08:03 am

BLOODY HELLFIRE. I attempted the FFA-J any% RTA again, and got the god run. First time on every trick, ridiculous item luck (second walrus ice) and I skipped an extra level. 43:27... Watch it here... Dear gaia that was insane

http://www.twitch.tv/bowiethehero/c/4983325

BOWIEtheHERO

2014-08-25 06:27:11 am

Did FFA any% RTA as well, bopped Poxnor HARD. 49:31

Crow!

Edit history:

Crow!: 2014-08-25 08:18:22 am

2014-08-25 07:58:23 am

What's that gemma?

Unfortunately, Bowie, you ran on an emulator, so SDA submission isn't an option for that run. It's still sweet, though. Also, do you record your runs locally, or do you only have the Twitch recordings? Downloading the Twitch recordings is not usually good enough for SDA submission, mainly because of the 30 minute splicing.

BOWIEtheHERO

2014-08-27 08:40:02 am

I will be getting a GBP on the GameCube to do home recording. When that arrives and SD, I'll be doing SD and FFA runs to record locally Smiley

Crow!

2014-08-27 09:28:54 am

What's that gemma?

Some notes regarding our optimization of the OoB category:

Bowie has found that the previous norm is much safer than he requires to consistently beat the game; he is now completing it at lower level and without the Samurai Helmet. He's still picking up the Samurai Armor, however, which does cost some extra time traversing screens and beating the Zombie Dragon, but grants huge defense power that lets him survive Julius 1.

I've established an alternative route which levels up Will a lot in order to survive Julius 1 with only the Aegis Shield. The notably lower amount of Power seems to make Julius 2 and 3 a bit slower, though, and I'm not actually sure which route is going to be faster. Mine is definitely harder, and Bowie's is probably a slave to RNG at the Ninjas (every Ninja that doesn't drop an item is a waste of time).

---
I'd like to make a case for using the helmet glitch for the warps route, even in the stamina build. The helmet glitch costs an initial 2:00 to 2:15 to farm up execute, and by the end of Kett's you'll have recovered a minute of that by not needing to cure as much and by getting to build straight power for the early dungeons. Having built straight power then lets you farm a Blizzard from the Walruses much faster - it turns out they have a rather high defense power, at least as far as a level 9 character with the Chain is concerned.

Also, since you aren't getting the Samurai Helmet, the defense power you gain will be effective against Julius and Ninjas. You can "cash in" that defense by selecting more Power levels instead of Stamina ones, by taking fewer levels total, or by just not having to heal as often. I'd be very surprised if those advantages didn't add up to recovering the remaining minute that setting up the glitched helmet cost.

As a convenient side effect, it makes the early game consistent. This isn't such a big deal for the warpless route since the mid game is pretty consistent, but when the speed of the OoB run is largely set by drop RNG, getting yourself as a player to the walruses ASAP will go a long way toward letting you grind out good RNG faster.

Some notes regarding our optimization of the OoB category:

Bowie has found that the previous norm is much safer than he requires to consistently beat the game; he is now completing it at lower level and without the Samurai Helmet.  He's still picking up the Samurai Armor, however, which does cost some extra time traversing screens and beating the Zombie Dragon, but grants huge defense power that lets him survive Julius 1.

I've established an alternative route which levels up Will a lot in order to survive Julius 1 with only the Aegis Shield.  The notably lower amount of Power seems to make Julius 2 and 3 a bit slower, though, and I'm not actually sure which route is going to be faster.  Mine is definitely harder, and Bowie's is probably a slave to RNG at the Ninjas (every Ninja that doesn't drop an item is a waste of time).

---
I'd like to make a case for using the helmet glitch for the warps route, even in the stamina build.  The helmet glitch costs an initial 2:00 to 2:15 to farm up execute, and by the end of Kett's you'll have recovered a minute of that by not needing to cure as much and by getting to build straight power for the early dungeons.  Having built straight power then lets you farm a Blizzard from the Walruses much faster - it turns out they have a rather high defense power, at least as far as a level 9 character with the Chain is concerned.

Also, since you aren't getting the Samurai Helmet, the defense power you gain will be effective against Julius and Ninjas.  You can "cash in" that defense by selecting more Power levels instead of Stamina ones, by taking fewer levels total, or by just not having to heal as often.  I'd be very surprised if those advantages didn't add up to recovering the remaining minute that setting up the glitched helmet cost.

As a convenient side effect, it makes the early game consistent.  This isn't such a big deal for the warpless route since the mid game is pretty consistent, but when the speed of the OoB run is largely set by drop RNG, getting yourself as a player to the walruses ASAP will go a long way toward letting you grind out good RNG faster.

Ggrap

Edit history:

Ggrap: 2014-08-29 10:15:12 am

Ggrap: 2014-08-29 10:02:44 am

Ggrap: 2014-08-29 09:26:51 am

Ggrap: 2014-08-29 09:25:24 am

Ggrap: 2014-08-29 09:20:12 am

Ggrap: 2014-08-29 09:18:45 am

Ggrap: 2014-08-29 09:17:21 am

Ggrap: 2014-08-29 09:15:58 am

2014-08-29 09:13:35 am

Hello everyone, it was time to make an account here so I can participate in the routing. I think I optimized the Any% OoB route a bit more by including the helmet and got a 41:54 with it, even though I choked in the end again ;_;

It's of course mostly based on the routes that were discussed in this thread and the runs done by BOWIE which were amazing. I think I just cut out a bit of the fat. Cheesy

Basically, here's how it works

- Farm 140 Gold to do the Helmet Glitch, get to level 3 while doing it and level up Power, Power. Hope for lots of candies.
- After Girl, go straight to Bogard and then to the shop near the swamp and kill nothing out of the way. You should still be able to get 30 to 45 gold that way, so buy 2 or 3 keys to fill up your inventory. I'm not sure about this step, more on that later.
- Once again, skip most enemies on your way to Kett's. Do the usual stuff to get to the Marsh Cave. If you level up, put one more into Power at Lv 4. Everything goes into Stamina after that.
- In the cave only kill the fishes since they give a ton of EXP and you need the Mattocks. Skip most everything else. You have enough defense to do so unless you get poisoned twice. You should get to level 5 or 6 (Stamina, Stamina) before Hydra.
- In Kett's try to get a Crystal and fill up most/all of your inventory except for one slot and get Lv 7. Skip everything after that.
- After Lee, do the usual. Pray for Blizzard, Sword Glitch, Snowman Warp.
- Level on the Elephants until Lv 20 (all Stamina), with the build and the helmet you can survive the Dragon Zombie. Get Aegis and hope for more drops if you need them.
- Heal up fully and farm the Ninjas in the very first room after that by save/reset. If you don't get it, just reset and load, no saving again since more levels are not needed. Not saving again also means you stay at full health and can easily kill the Ninjas without Will attacks. Pray to the RNG gods. The droprate is around 15%.
- Equip armor and go fight the Dragon. Don't get hit.
- Kill 4-5 more Elephants to get Lv 21 (Stamina) and get your magic back.
- Fight Julius. Hope Julius 1 and 2 are not dicks. The end. I don't think Julius 3 can be one-cycled with those stats anymore but it only needs 1 or 2 more spawns to kill him in a perfect fight.

Here's the run http://www.twitch.tv/ggrap/c/5024105

Next, possible time save estimates:
- At least 0:20-0:30 in the early game until after Lee. I had bad gold farming, meh Hydra and Lee fights and generally more optimization is possible.
- I can save 1:00 at the Sword Glitch. I fucked it up bad.
- Probably 0:15 at the Elephants. Died once.
- Samurai drop was good RNG, but not perfect. About 0:15 can be saved.
- Another 1:00 at the Dragon Zombie fight. I died. Sad

- 0:30-0:40 at Julius 1-3. Execution was only okay and RNG can be better as well.

Sum of time saves: 3:20 - 3:40
Estimated god run: 38:30. A realistic amazing run could be sub 39 and this is just for the NA version.

Up for discussion: Buying the keys. I don't know what is better.
Pro: Less RNG by filling up the inventory and not relying on Skeleton key drops. Enables you to skip more enemies and you need to open fewer chests.
Cons: Buying them takes time and you need to get the gold.

So I'm not sure. If you skip the shop and get a godly amount of drops it should be faster that way.

I'm curious about the Will/Aegis only route but I don't see how it's supposed to work yet in my head. I'd love to try it if you could post a more detailed build/route though.

Bonus fun fact: I ran the German version (Mystic Quest) on a real GBA for fun, and this is what consistently happens after the Sword Glitch:

http://imgur.com/a/PoFUC

You're in a minecart. Forever. It doesn't impact gameplay though.
Also happens on emu: http://i.imgur.com/oTDZ7F9.png
Interestingly, the Julius 2 fight is different on that version since he shoots projectiles differently and his hitbox is strange. But the run works.

Hello everyone, it was time to make an account here so I can participate in the routing. I think I optimized the Any% OoB route a bit more by including the helmet and got a 41:54 with it, even though I choked in the end again ;_;

It's of course mostly based on the routes that were discussed in this thread and the runs done by BOWIE which were amazing. I think I just cut out a bit of the fat. :D

Basically, here's how it works

- Farm 140 Gold to do the Helmet Glitch, get to level 3 while doing it and level up Power, Power. Hope for lots of candies.
- After Girl, go straight to Bogard and then to the shop near the swamp and kill nothing out of the way. You should still be able to get 30 to 45 gold that way, so buy 2 or 3 keys to fill up your inventory. I'm not sure about this step, more on that later.
- Once again, skip most enemies on your way to Kett's. Do the usual stuff to get to the Marsh Cave. If you level up, put one more into Power at Lv 4. Everything goes into Stamina after that.
- In the cave only kill the fishes since they give a ton of EXP and you need the Mattocks. Skip most everything else. You have enough defense to do so unless you get poisoned twice. You should get to level 5 or 6 (Stamina, Stamina) before Hydra.
- In Kett's try to get a Crystal and fill up most/all of your inventory except for one slot and get Lv 7. Skip everything after that.
- After Lee, do the usual. Pray for Blizzard, Sword Glitch, Snowman Warp.
- Level on the Elephants until [b]Lv 20[/b] (all Stamina), with the build and the helmet you can survive the Dragon Zombie. Get Aegis and hope for more drops if you need them.
- Heal up fully and farm the Ninjas in the very first room after that by save/reset. If you don't get it, just reset and load, no saving again since more levels are not needed. Not saving again also means you stay at full health and can easily kill the Ninjas without Will attacks. Pray to the RNG gods. The droprate is around 15%.
- Equip armor and go fight the Dragon. Don't get hit.
- Kill 4-5 more Elephants to get Lv 21 (Stamina) and get your magic back.
- Fight Julius. Hope Julius 1 and 2 are not dicks. The end. I don't think Julius 3 can be one-cycled with those stats anymore but it only needs 1 or 2 more spawns to kill him in a perfect fight.

Here's the run http://www.twitch.tv/ggrap/c/5024105

Next, possible time save estimates:
- At least 0:20-0:30 in the early game until after Lee. I had bad gold farming, meh Hydra and Lee fights and generally more optimization is possible.
- I can save 1:00 at the Sword Glitch. I fucked it up bad.
- Probably 0:15 at the Elephants. Died once.
- Samurai drop was good RNG, but not perfect. About 0:15 can be saved.
- Another 1:00 at the Dragon Zombie fight. I died. :(
- 0:30-0:40 at Julius 1-3. Execution was only okay and RNG can be better as well.

Sum of time saves: 3:20 - 3:40
Estimated god run: 38:30. A realistic amazing run could be sub 39 and this is just for the NA version.

Up for discussion: Buying the keys. I don't know what is better.
Pro: Less RNG by filling up the inventory and not relying on Skeleton key drops. Enables you to skip more enemies and you need to open fewer chests.
Cons: Buying them takes time and you need to get the gold.

So I'm not sure. If you skip the shop and get a godly amount of drops it should be faster that way.

I'm curious about the Will/Aegis only route but I don't see how it's supposed to work yet in my head. I'd love to try it if you could post a more detailed build/route though.

Bonus fun fact: I ran the German version (Mystic Quest) on a real GBA for fun, and this is what consistently happens after the Sword Glitch:

http://imgur.com/a/PoFUC

You're in a minecart. Forever. It doesn't impact gameplay though.
Also happens on emu: http://i.imgur.com/oTDZ7F9.png
Interestingly, the Julius 2 fight is different on that version since he shoots projectiles differently and his hitbox is strange. But the run works.

Crow!

Edit history:

Crow!: 2014-08-29 10:13:52 am

Crow!: 2014-08-29 10:13:15 am

Crow!: 2014-08-29 10:12:59 am

2014-08-29 09:59:01 am

What's that gemma?

As a matter of terminology: we call the floating enemies in the Marsh Cave that drop Mattocks "Fishes". The fish later on in the game are "Iffish", since they look like the Iffish enemy from Secret of Mana. I call the burrowing enemies with tendrils "Worms", and they don't drop Mattocks and grant only a paltry amount of experience.

As for the route, I suspect one more Power level in the early game might help kill Walruses and Lee faster. That may mean having to get up to level 21 before the Zombie Dragon rather than afterward, but it would probably pay off.

For what it's worth, if you sell the Iron Helmet at the Battle Axe item shop (equip the Iron Helmet before saving, so that the Bronze Helmet is the one that gets glitched), you can buy 70 more gold's worth of stuff from the item shop, without having to explicitly farm any enemies for it. But if you are willing to grind out amazing drop RNG, that would probably still be faster.

Here's a highlight of my proof of concept of the Will build, ending with my proposed improvements:
http://www.twitch.tv/iicrowii/c/5024612

As a matter of terminology: we call the floating enemies in the Marsh Cave that drop Mattocks "Fishes".  The fish later on in the game are "Iffish", since they look like the Iffish enemy from Secret of Mana.  I call the burrowing enemies with tendrils "Worms", and they don't drop Mattocks and grant only a paltry amount of experience.

As for the route, I suspect one more Power level in the early game might help kill Walruses and Lee faster.  That may mean having to get up to level 21 before the Zombie Dragon rather than afterward, but it would probably pay off.

For what it's worth, if you sell the Iron Helmet at the Battle Axe item shop (equip the Iron Helmet before saving, so that the Bronze Helmet is the one that gets glitched), you can buy 70 more gold's worth of stuff from the item shop, without having to explicitly farm any enemies for it.  But if you are willing to grind out amazing drop RNG, that would probably still be faster.

Here's a highlight of my proof of concept of the Will build, ending with my proposed improvements:
http://www.twitch.tv/iicrowii/c/5024612

Ggrap

Edit history:

Ggrap: 2014-08-30 06:20:38 am

Ggrap: 2014-08-29 04:34:26 pm

Ggrap: 2014-08-29 11:15:25 am

Ggrap: 2014-08-29 10:25:42 am

Ggrap: 2014-08-29 10:21:06 am

Ggrap: 2014-08-29 10:20:33 am

Ggrap: 2014-08-29 10:17:17 am

2014-08-29 10:14:36 am

Thanks, I changed it to fishes and Marsh Cave. Smiley

My first proof of concept for this route was 4 levels of Power, but level 20 was not viable then since I could only survive the Dragon Zombie (with exactly 1 HP) very very rarely.
I think the 1 level of Power more is not worth it because

1. Killing Lee should be way faster with the Helmet anyway since you can tank quite a few hits. I need to look at a better strategy where 1 extra point of Power stat probably wouldn't help much.
2. The Walrus killing is fast enough. I planned this route with perfect RNG in mind (because it will happen one day). So only killing one Walrus is necessary. I skip the first Walrus screen and charge my Will bar on my way to the second. That way I can kill two Walrusses with a almost full Will Slep spell and ~15 hits each very quickly. One point of Power more would cut out around 3x2 hits, but that's not worth it with perfect RNG. If The first screen doesn't give a drop there are another two chances at the Walrusses close to the cave entrance with another high Will charge. If there are no drops after those it's a reset anyway.

Actually, scratch that. I think you're right. I'll try it.

Selling the Helmet seems like a great idea, I need to understand the helmet glitch better before that though it seems. I'll play around with it.

Sorry for the wrong terminology, I'm still learning. Smiley

Gonna take a look at the Will route now.

EDIT: Alright even in the first few seconds of the VOD I saw improvements. Glitching the Bronze helmet and selling the Iron one right there means you can buy keys at the item shop right next to it and skip the Axe shop which has more text. You can also skip more enemies on the way there. Cheesy

Awesome

Thanks, I changed it to fishes and Marsh Cave. :)

[s]My first proof of concept for this route was 4 levels of Power, but level 20 was not viable then since I could only survive the Dragon Zombie (with exactly 1 HP) very very rarely.
I think the 1 level of Power more is not worth it because

1. Killing Lee should be way faster with the Helmet anyway since you can tank quite a few hits. I need to look at a better strategy where 1 extra point of Power stat probably wouldn't help much.
2. The Walrus killing is fast enough. I planned this route with perfect RNG in mind (because it will happen one day). So only killing one Walrus is necessary. I skip the first Walrus screen and charge my Will bar on my way to the second. That way I can kill two Walrusses with a almost full Will Slep spell and ~15 hits each very quickly. One point of Power more would cut out around 3x2 hits, but that's not worth it with perfect RNG. If The first screen doesn't give a drop there are another two chances at the Walrusses close to the cave entrance with another high Will charge. If there are no drops after those it's a reset anyway.[/s]

Actually, scratch that. I think you're right. I'll try it.

Selling the Helmet seems like a great idea, I need to understand the helmet glitch better before that though it seems. I'll play around with it.

Sorry for the wrong terminology, I'm still learning. :) Gonna take a look at the Will route now.

EDIT: Alright even in the first few seconds of the VOD I saw improvements. Glitching the Bronze helmet and selling the Iron one right there means you can buy keys at the item shop right next to it and skip the Axe shop which has more text. You can also skip more enemies on the way there. :D Awesome