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Edit history:
Ggrap: 2014-08-31 12:36:19 pm
Ggrap: 2014-08-31 10:23:41 am
Aegis only is now a thing! I used a modified  build with 6 levels in Power, 12 levels in Stamina and only 2 in Will. I only used Will attacks for Julius 1 and fought Julius 2+3 normally since I have the feeling that it's faster, but maybe not. For that the build has a nice balance and lets you survive 2 projectiles from Julius 1 and one hit from Julius 2 for more aggressive fights.

So the WR is now 37:08 Smiley
http://www.twitch.tv/ggrap/c/5038263
What's that gemma?
If you're going Aegis only, you could save some time by not stuffing your inventory with crap.  The odds for getting an Aegis normally as you level up to 21 are pretty good.

Don't press into a wall as it explodes from a mattock; it lags the game.

I think I like the screen juggling to find double elephants when there's an enemy set on both sides of the screen transition, but I'm not convinced that doing two screen transitions for a 50% chance to get one more elephant is worth it on average.

You lose 3 "Ask" commands' worth of time each time Julius 2 decides to do a diagonal dive.  I'm not convinced that the aggressive positioning allows enough extra damage in the ideal case compared to a safer strategy to justify that time loss.
I knew that Aegis would only work with a Stamina build. Glad that it finally worked out. I'm focusing on my Zelda Marathon right now, but I'll find some time to beat that record soon Tongue

Also, my Japanese copy arrived today, so I now own all three versions. As soon as I get a NGC GB Player I'll be able to submit a run to SDA
Edit history:
Ggrap: 2014-09-08 11:14:56 am
Ggrap: 2014-09-08 10:55:31 am
Thanks for the comments, I took them into account and the most optimal route atm looks like this in my opinion:

Levels: 2-9 into Power (8x), the rest until level 21 or 22 into Stamina (more on that later)
Power helps greatly with all the bosses and with blizzard farming (if not by much), as Crow said. There is no need to have any Stamina at all for Julius 2 and 3 because both fights can be done fast without getting hit. So all the Stamina is just for surviving Julius 1. If there was another way to get through Julius 1 the game could be beaten at around Level 15 with a pure Power build, but it doesn't seem possible in a real run.

Items: Only pick up what's necessary from enemies. Get one mattock drop, as many crystals as possible and blizzard. Aegis is (very) nice but optional.

I buy the Iron Helmet, glitch it and sell the bronze one to buy 1x keys in Topple. From there it's the standard route until you get to the elephants. I try to be level 6 at Hydra and 8 at Lee.
If you have Crystals (2-3 really help) and get the Aegis, level 21 is fine for Julius 1 even though it's still risky. Otherwise, one more level into Stamina makes the fight a bit more consistent.
Julius 1 is the biggest hurdle to a good run after that. I try to kill one clone asap with crystals and Will attacks, a fight with 2 clones is much more managable. Aegis is not strictly needed but it gives you a lot more possibilities to move around, although it is possible to block the Nuke projectiles with a sword attack as well.

With an okay early game and really good drop luck (3 crystals, 1st time blizzard, Aegis) I got a time of 36:08, and I lost more than a minute by dying on Julius 3. I'm almost sure the run would have been 34:5x otherwise.
http://www.twitch.tv/ggrap/c/5086572
What's that gemma?
While traveling to and from my Christmas destination, I played FFA a bunch (on the Game Boy itself).  I'm adding the following route changes to my magic build:

The first levels are now 3x Stamina, then right to Wisdom.  I used to insert one level of Power before the 3x Stamina, as that does make life notably easier through the end of Kett's (in particular, the Waterfall area is nightmarish if you have only 1 Stamina level heading into it, as the Imps take 3 hits to kill).  Instead, I'm taking a brief detour (a total of 4 screen transitions) so that I can be level 3 (or almost there) as I enter Imp territory.  2 levels of Stamina is enough to make Imps die in 2 hits.

The net result is I've moved 2 points of Power into 2 points of Wisdom; as far as 75% of the game is concerned, I'm as strong as I would have been were I 1 level higher.  This smooths out a lot of areas (notably, the transition between the Silver Cave and the Airship, as well as the Mt Rocks cave).

This does mean that Nectar is even more important against Davias than it was before.  I probably have to reset runs that don't get any Nectar.

Enemies with shields (such as Dark Lord, whose shield makes sense, and Julius 1, whose shield does not) are generally vulnerable to Lit and Nuke if those attacks originate inside of them.  So, if Dark Lord does not dash after I do a fully charged Lit against him, then I can walk down alongside him and continue to spam Lit until one of the spells misses, until he turns around, or until my invulnerability is at risk of running out (whichever comes first).  This potentially saves a lot of time if I get nice RNG.

A similar strategy works against Julius 1, where I take a hit from a Nuke in order to get inside one of the enemies and shoot from there; this is reasonably safe if that Julius is 1 hit from dead.

I can hit Julius 3 with 2 nukes (one charged, one not) per appearance for most of his positions.  This costs a lot of MP, however.

I'm doing one instance of saving and reloading while on the Elixir island.  I'm fairly certain that getting (and using) 1 more Elixir via a reset is faster than heading into a magic shop and buying (and using) several X-Ethers.
Edit history:
Crow!: 2015-01-02 12:46:38 am
Crow!: 2015-01-02 12:42:41 am
Crow!: 2015-01-02 12:42:29 am
What's that gemma?
The (warpless) record is now 2:05:39 (starting the timer at the disappearance of the "Now Fight!" message).
http://www.twitch.tv/iicrowii/c/5793026

The build is, as usual for me, a Magic attack build.

There were plenty of minor errors in that run (particularly as it approached the end), but each one merely required taking some safety action (cast Cure, save, etc).  I got all the drops I want most from enemies, none of the puzzle rooms went badly, and I was never out of MP.

This will be a very difficult time to beat without significant routing changes, as a single instance of a major time loss would negate even huge improvements in execution to avoid minor errors.  At some point, I'll do local recording and try to come close to this time for a SDA submission, but I don't think it's reasonable for me to expect myself to beat this run anytime soon.
SPEEDruns not SAFEruns
Congrats on your run Crow! Hopefully Bowie sticks with it and y'all keep bringing the time down.
To anyone who has done a Wisdom playthrough, how do you determine how much Wisdom you need to get by in an area?  I'm aware that Wisdom contributes to spell damage, but I don't know anything about base spell power or the magic damage formula to begin with.  Do you have access to that information?  Thanks a lot.
What's that gemma?
Below is how I THINK spell damage works in this game, based on experience and on RAM watching bosses as they took damage in a couple runs before I switched to running on the Super Game Boy.  Unfortunately, I don't have access to the actual formula, and haven't been able to find anyone who does.


Fire deals 20 damage, Lit does 60, and Nuke does 100 base damage.

Damage gets increased by your Wisdom, and decreased by the target's defense.

If your Will meter is full, you deal triple damage.
Otherwise, you deal bonus damage according to how full your Will meter was (scaling from normal damage if it's empty to double damage if it's almost full).


So, if you're a bit "behind" in Wisdom, you can make up for that by letting your Will meter fill a bit more before firing your shots, and you'll still kill everything in a single Fire cast.  Playing the game enough with a given route will teach you how much Will meter you need to beat each enemy type as you approach.

The big exception to this is the Shadow Zero enemies in the Medusa cave; those are the only enemies which are worth killing and yet will require two shots to kill.

I'll re-post an important glitch here, since it might confuse you if you're trying to figure out spell damage:
Quote:
There is a bug regarding loading saved games, where the game doesn't acutally set your Wisdom value for spell damages when the game is loaded.  Looking at the status screen (or leveling up, which shows the status screen) fixes this.
Thanks a lot for the quick response.  I took a look at your latest video to get an idea of how you were applying all this.

I did a little quick testing today to try and figure out how magic damage works.  I quickly ran up to Kett's with my first 6 levelups all going to Power, keeping my Wisdom at 2 at Level 7.  Then, I tested the Fire spell against Zombies, all with my Will gauge at zero, to minimize variance.  I'm testing this on an actual cartridge, not an emulator, so I don't know how precise these numbers are.  I'm just making empirical observations with trial and error.  A friend of mine also found a Japanese website with some numbers that I'm using here (http://www8.plala.or.jp/alice4/98.htm).

HP: 26-28
Defense: 3
Damage needed for kill: 29-31

With 2 Wisdom, remembering to check my status screen to avoid the bug, I was killing Zombies most of the time, but not every time.  This led me to believe that I was dealing 30 damage, only failing to get kills when Zombies spawned with 28 HP (+3 Defense).

So, I finished off the next level and gained 2 Wisdom this time.  Now, I was able to kill them every time, leading me to believe that at least part of your formula was correct.  I think the damage boost to the base spell power is equal to your Wisdom, causing me to deal 32 damage, which would guarantee the kill.

Finally, I intentionally used the aforementioned bug to keep my Wisdom down (at zero, I'm guessing).  At that point, I wasn't able to one-shot Zombies at all.  I figure that I was dealing 28 damage, and was just barely not able to kill them.

I don't think there actually is damage variance in the traditional sense, like "Damage = [Attack...2*Attack] - Defense" like Final Fantasy 1.  My guess is that instead, the variance is handled through variable enemy HP values and the Will gauge, which would make testing more convenient, by simply attacking immediately before casting a spell.  It would seem really odd to me for them to use two means of generating damage variance, yet still be able to deliver the consistent results that I'm seeing.

Still, I don't think I have enough information to derive the damage algorithm.  If the formula was simply "Damage = Spell Power (20) + Wisdom - Defense", then I should have never been able to kill a Zombie, even with 4 Wisdom.  My guess is that there's another variable at play here that I haven't identified yet, but I have a couple theories.

According to my source, Zombies are weak to the Excalibur (not that this would ever happen).  Maybe this somehow makes them weak to attack magic?  That seems like a real longshot to me, though.  Maybe magic doesn't use their Defense stat.  My source seems to have another stat next to it that I haven't found on another website.  Might that be a hidden magic defense stat?  This seems more likely to me, but doesn't compensate for the amount of damage I'm seeing.

In any case, I'll see about doing more testing with bigger numbers, later in the game.  Maybe smaller numbers aren't allowing me to see enough variance to get real data.  If you have any thoughts on this, let me know.  Thanks again.
Edit history:
Crow!: 2015-01-13 09:26:03 am
What's that gemma?
Can you read Japanese?  I would be very interested to have the rows and columns of one of those tables translated; Google Translate isn't doing a very good job with it.

The way I arrived at 20 base damage for Fire basically assumed that the Vampire's center portion had 0 defense.  So, fire probably deals more than 20 base damage.

There is definitely some randomness in damage dealt, but I don't have the slightest idea how that is implemented.
I cannot actually read Japanese, but I was able to cross-reference this bestiary with other sources.  I believe the upper columns read "HP, LV, AP, DP, ??, XP, GP".  Someone had once suggested to me that the missing column, "Mabo", was magic defense, saying that it was the same term used in the Fire Emblem series for (magic) resistance.  However, having not played the series for myself, I have no idea whether that is accurate or not.

Given your experience with the Vampire and my own with Zombies, maybe Fire's base damage is 28?  That would account for the Vampire's 8 Defense, while also giving me the 30 damage with my 2 Wisdom against Zombies.  However, 28 sounds like a really strange number for the base damage of a spell.  I suppose I could do more testing, based on that.
Professional Second Banana
Give this a try - http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy_Adventure/Translations
What's that gemma?
It appears that, indeed, "Mabo" is magic defense.  Case in point: the Vampire's open arms have 18 more Defense but 7 less "Mabo" than his center body, and I have just now confirmed that I deal more damage to Lee when I hit his arms with Fire than when I hit his center body.

Well, after a lot of fiddling around, I'm pretty sure this is the formula for magic damage:

Damage = (1 + Will%) * (Wisdom * 2 + Spell Base Damage - Magic Resist) [ * 2 if Will = 100% ]

Base Damages:
Fire: 22
Lit: 46
Nuke: 61

So, whereas I previously stated that fully charged spells dealt 3x damage, it's actually a whopping 4x damage.  Also, uncharged damage scales with 2x your Wisdom, not just 1x.  Physical damage is just like the above, only without the extra 2x damage for fully charged attacks.

Damage varies by a couple %.  I haven't tested how elemental weaknesses work yet.


It turns out that simply pausing is sufficient to get the Wisdom value to restore to its expected value after a file load; the status menu is not necessary.

Along similar lines, apparently buffing items (Nectar, Wisdom crystal) don't take effect until you pause the game.  However, conversely, buffing items don't time out, either, until you pause after the point where it should have timed out.


Apparently, either the Silver Sword OR the Silver Armor is sufficient to enter Gaia.  Buying the Silver Sword is unnecessary.

In the Flying Sword Attack, the first of the two hits has 2x damage, but the return trip deals only normal damage.  So, it's 3x damage total, not the 4x I had thought.  The sword's spin attack deals only normal damage.  All other weapons' special attacks deal 2x the normal damage (simply because the Will meter is full).
Edit history:
Crow!: 2015-01-15 10:13:43 am
Crow!: 2015-01-14 01:45:53 pm
Crow!: 2015-01-14 01:45:28 pm
What's that gemma?
Some conclusions from the past couple days' searches:

WISDOM STUFF:

- I'm finishing the game just barely short of enough Wisdom to kill Julius1 clones in a single Nuke shot (according to my calculations, I'm dealing 292 damage compared to the 301-320 HP range of Julus1's parts).  If I went back to Wisdom for levels 29-32, I should kill Julius clones in a single hit except for really bad damage rolls.

- My old calculations for optimal DPS are affected by the existence of magic resist.  Most of the end game bosses have around 60 resistance, which moves the optimum DPS toward Wisdom (instead of Will) by a couple levels.  This coincides nicely with the previous point.

- Some bosses have better places to hit than others:
--- Kett's open arms have 7 less resistance than his torso.
--- Medusa's skirt has 32 more resistance than her head.
--- Davias's head has 9 less defense but 21 more magic resistance than the rest of his body.  I don't know if this is useful or not; hitting his head is difficult.
--- Cyclops's legs have 27 more resistance than his head and arm.

- I can now calculate the base damages of the purchasable / dropable spell items:
--- Flame: 38
--- Blaze: 52
--- LitBlt: 57*
--- Thundr: 80*
* Important note: the lightning items neither expend nor utilize the Will meter.

- It's possible that using a single fully charged Flame (dropped by Mummies) at the start of Davias's fight would save time.  It's about 400 damage, which is equivalent to 16 Nectar-boosted Chain attacks.  It does mean at least one, possibly two extra menu accesses, though.

- Zombie Hydra is actually not weak against Fire, even though he is weak against the Flame chain.  The MP efficiency and the near 100% accuracy still mean that Fire is the way to go.

- There is no reason to buy the Silver Sword.


POWER STUFF:

- According to the table, Dragons are not actually weak against the Dragon sword.
- Most end game bosses have about 20 defense, so compared to the Morning Star it comes out to about 40% more damage per attack.

- As I said before, the Flying Sword Attack is a total of 3x damage, not 4x damage.
- If you have a choice between a 99% charged normal attack and a special attack, the 99% charged attack will generally result in higher DPS.

- Davias has 9 less defense on his head than on his body.  Perhaps proper positioning could cause horizontal axe swings to hit his head and not his body?

- Cyclops has 14 less defense on his head and arm than on his legs.  Using Bowie's current PB as a reference, this means hits to his upper body are 60% more effective than hits to his legs without a Nectar, or 30% more effective with a Nectar.
--- This isn't a huge improvement; attacking more frequently and safely is probably more important than going for a 60% increase in damage per hit.

- The Silver Sword could be skipped.  It is sometimes handy, but so many normal enemies are weak against the Axe that it doesn't see much use.


WARPS STUFF:

- The final bosses have about 70 defense, the walruses have 15, and the elephants have 50.

- Julius 1 has 301-320 HP, and using the current standard strategy, each sword attack deals 45 damage for a standard hit, or 90 damage for the outgoing Flying Sword Attack hit.
--- Therefore, a Julius clone that has taken 3 Flying Sword Attack hits should die in one more basic attack.
Sorry I hadn't been around for a few days.  Wow, that's a complex magic damage formula.  No wonder I couldn't figure it out on my own.  I'll see if I can do some of my own testing with it, as well.  Thanks a lot!
Something interesting I derived from your formula.  I heard a rumor that Nuke deals extremely little damage once your Wisdom goes over 94 or so, though they did not specify why.  My guess was that it was due to some overflow/rollover error, similar to boosting Human stats over 255 in FFL1, or having Benjamin cast Cure on the Dark King in FFMQ.  With your formula and base power, I'm pretty sure that my intuition was correct.  My guess is that your formula consists of parts that are calculated separately and cannot exceed 255, like this:

Base Spell Damage (before Magic Resist and Willpower are taken into account) = Wisdom*2 + Base Spell Power

With 94 Wisdom, Nuke's base damage would be 249.  A few more points, and you would hit overflow and deal no damage.  I heard this could be a problem with getting into the Cave of Ruins, since the rollover would cause Nuke to be unable to deal enough damage to destroy the crystal entrance.  However, coinciding with your information about reloading a game failing to load your Wisdom stat, the rumor also stated that the overflow could be worked around by reloading a save file and casting Nuke, though it didn't mention why that worked, as you did.  Not that any of this really matters for speed runs, but I just thought it was interesting.

On a related note, can you stats exceed the displayed 99, similar to Humans in FFL1, or are they hard capped at 99?
Edit history:
Crow!: 2015-01-22 01:41:03 pm
What's that gemma?
@ Mushboom: Casual runs should complete the game at around level 40; you'd have to spend a lot of time to find out what happens when you put 46 or more level ups' worth of stats into a single attribute.  I've never done it myself.


I have written a walkthrough for the Magical build.  I plan to post this on GameFAQs, but it's going to be a good resource for someone who wants to learn this route for speed runnning.

This is the first draft.  I'd appreciate any feedback regarding my formatting, and if someone wants to use this guide to learn the route, please let me know about any errors or anything that is unclear.

Final Fantasy Adventure

Magical Build Guide
by Crow!
Written January 2015

Contact:
Crow! on Speed Demos Archive
iiCrowii on Twitch: http://www.twitch.tv/iicrowii/


v v v v v v v

IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE IN THIS GUIDE, READ THIS!

The Heal spell reduces your Defense to 0 (as if you're Moogled) until the next time you pause the game.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Knowing this glitch can save you from many deaths.


-------------------------------
TABLE OF CONTENTS:

[0] Introduction: Why magic?
[1] The Build
[2] Dungeon / Area Walkthroughs
[2A] Topple and the Marsh
[2B] Marsh Cave
[2C] Kett's / Lee's / Vampire's Hotel / Mansion / Dungeon
[2D] Wendel Area
[2E] The Silver Mine
[2F] Gaia
[2G] Julius's Airship
[2H] Menos Area
[2I] Medusa Cave
[2J] Jadd / Davias's Mansion
[2K] Mt. Rocks: up to Metal Crab
[2L] Mt Roks: the climb
[2M] Mt Rocks: Golem's Cave
[2N] Glaive / The Dark Lord's Castle
[2O] From Ish to the Ice Cavern
[2P] Ice Cavern
[2Q] Floatrocks and Kraken's Cave
[2R] Undersea Volcano
[2S] Lich's Cave
[2T] Ruins
[2U] Dime Tower
[2V] Tower of Gemma
[2W] Mana Tree and Julius
[3] Math
[4] Legal

------------------------------
[0] Introduction: Why Magic?

This game's design will lead most players to lean toward using weapons as their primary source of damage.  After all, the big reward inside most dungeons is usually a weapon of some kind.  However, it turns out that for most of the game, Magic deals far more damage, far more quickly.

Also, Will acts as a damage multiplier - casting a spell with a fully charged Will bar deals quadruple damage.  Leveling up Will grants some Wisdom but no physical attack power, so fully charged Nukes deal insane damage.

If you haven't tried playing the game as a mage, it's an interesting change of pace. Some portions of the game are much easier, while others are much harder.

The linchpin to the strategy in this guide is the fact that getting a level up refills your MP.  Therefore, if you keep yourself at a fairly low level but high Wisdom, you can kill enough enemies with spells to refund all your MP so you can kill even more enemies.  Ethers and Inns aren't usually required.

For what it's worth, as of the writing of this guide, I hold the world record for speed running Final Fantasy Adventure, and I use (most of) the strategies described in this guide.  Here's a link to that run:

http://www.twitch.tv/iicrowii/c/5793026

A more casual playthrough might stop in additional Inns and Item Shops to make things easier, but this guide lists only a few of the the many shop options in this game.


------------------------------
[1] The Build

This is a list of which levels you select for each level-up, as well as which equipment you pick up.

Level Build Notes
0 N/A You start the game with 2 of each stat.
1 Stamina
2 Stamina Required to fight Imps "safely".
3 Stamina
4 Wisdom
5 Wisdom
6 Wisdom
7 Wisdom
8 Wisdom
9 Wisdom
10 Wisdom
11 Wisdom Buy Silver Armor from Watts.
12 Wisdom
13 Wisdom
14 Wisdom
15 Wisdom
16 Wisdom
17 Wisdom
18 Wisdom Buy Gold Armor, Gold Helmet, and Gold Shield in Jadd.
19 Wisdom Once you reach level 20, you will start leveling Will for a while.
20 Will
21 Will
22 Will
23 Will
24 Will Buy Flame Armor in Ish.
25 Will
26 Will Now you have 35 Will, which you need to fight Kary.
27 Wisdom
28 Wisdom
29 Wisdom
30 Wisdom
31 Will
32 Will Find the Dragon Armor in Dime Tower.
33+ Will You can complete the game at level 32 or level 33.


------------------------------
[2] Dungeon / Area Walkthroughs

Legend:

START: tells where these directions begin from.
Go N, E, S, and W indicate which direction you should travel off the screen.
Up, Down, and Door indicate stairways and doors.
(K) the door requires a Key.
(M) going this way requires a Mattock, or the Morning Star.
(Chain), (Sickle), (Axe) going this way requires the indicated weapon.
* indicates a landmark (so you don't get lost reading N, E, E, S, etc)
- indicates a general direction.
--- indicates more specific directions.

For example, here's the prologue:

___________________
[2Example]

START: after the character naming screens.

BOSS: Jackal
--- You will be healed after this fight, so go all out.

Go N, E, Up, W
BOSS: Jackal
--- This time, try to avoid damage.

Go W
- Get knocked down Waterfall.


___________________
[2A] Topple and the Marsh

START: at bottom of Waterfall ("Where am I? Where is this?")

- Goal: rescue the Girl.
- Kill enemies to gain Experience.
--- Goblins require 2 hits, while Mushbooms requrie 1.
--- Both give only 1 experience point.
--- Goblins drop Candy, which is worth 2G to sell or 8 HP when used.
- Your first 3 levels go in Stamina.

Go E, E, S, S
- You'll visit this screen and the screen to the east of it a total of 3 times.
--- Kill all but 1 enemy on the first and second visit, then clear them all the final time.
--- The goal is to be around 7 kills past your first level up before rescuing the Girl.

Go E, W, E, W, E, E
* Here is the Girl.
- Kill the Mushbooms, then talk to Hasim (the injured man)
--- You can now use "Ask" to heal, if necessary.
- Get your second level up and 165G ASAP.

- Goal: visit Bogard in the Waterfalls.
Go E, E, N, W, W, N, W
* This is the first screen with Imps and Rabites.
- Imps are brutal.  Be careful.
--- Imps take 3 hits to kill if you have only 1 level up, or 2 if you have 2 level ups.
--- Rabites take only 1 hit to kill.

Go W, N, N, S(take U-turn), W, N, Door (Enter house)
- Talk to Bogard 3x
Go N
- Take Chest.
Go S, S (Exit house)

- Goal: sleep in Kett's place
Go S, E, N, S(take U-turn), E, E, Door (Enter Cave)
* This is the Waterfall Cave.

Go S(M), S, Up
Go E, E, S, E, Door (Enter shop)
- Enter the shop with 165G.
- Buy Battle Axe, Key.
Go S (Exit shop), E

* This is the Marsh.
- Equip Axe.
--- Flowers die in a single hit.  Kill them, but ignore their treasure.
--- Marmablues die in 2 or 3 hits.  Avoid them if you can.
Go S, W, S, W, W, Door (Enter Kett's)
Go W, N
- Sleep in bed.
--- You will learn Cure but lose the Girl.
Go S, E, S (Exit Kett's)

- Goal: enter Marsh Cave.
Go E, E, S
- Defeat the Lizardmen to get the Bronze Key.
--- Lizardmen will take 2 or 3 hits to kill.
--- Lizardmen drop Cure potions.  Take up to 2.
Go N, E, N, Door (Enter Marsh Cave)
- Equip the Bronze Key to enter this door.

___________________
[2B] Marsh Cave

START: Just entered the Marsh Cave; "Man" will be wandering around.

- Recruiting Man is not necessary.
- Throughout cave: kill all the floating fish enemies, and kill the burrowing tentacle monsters if they get in your way.
--- Floating fish drop Mattocks, and you need at least one Mattock drop (or an extra trip to the item shop) to get through Kett's.
--- Floating fish deal a LOT of damage.  Use Cure liberally.

- You probably already got all 3 Stamina levels covered before entering this cave, so all levels will be in Wisdom.

Go N, W, Down
- Push button to make stairs appear.
Go E, W (go down vine), Door
Go E, S(M)
* This room has a chest surrounded by Ivy.
- Take Chest, then use Sickle to cut Ivy.

Go N, W, Up
Go E, W(go up vine), Door
Go E, S
* You're back in the room with Man.

Go S, W(M)
* This room is the first room with Skeletons.
--- Skletons deal a lot of damage, and aren't worth much experience.
--- If you run out of Keys, you can farm Skeletons in almost any dungeon.
--- Bubble Ghosts are not vulnerable to most weapons.  In later dungeons, they can be farmed for Mattocks if you run out.
Go W, N, N(Sickle), E, Down
- The rock conceals a stairway; Mattock it.
Go S, W, Door
Go W, S, E(K), Down
- Press the top button, then use two Mattocks to reach the second button to make the Stairs appear.

Go E
BOSS: Hydra
--- Hydra deals up to 13 damage; keep your HP above that.
--- Use Cure Potions and Candy if you have any to conserve MP.
--- Mash the Attack button to extend your invincibility after being hit for an abnormally long time.

- Take chests
--- Attack the first chest after opening it to reach the second.

___________________
[2C] Kett's / Lee's / Vampire's Hotel / Mansion / Dungeon

START: Just after exiting Marsh Cave

- Return to the hotel.
Go S, W, W, W, Door.

BOSS: Werewolf
- Equip Mirror and Axe, and talk to butler.
--- Werewolf deals about 10 damage, and may hit you as soon as the fight starts.
--- 4 Axe hits will kill him.

- Goal: find the girl, then backtrack to beginning.
- Throughout dungeon: Kill Owls and Zombies for drops, and kill Mice or Pumpkins if they are in the way.
--- Owls drop Crystals, while Zombies drop Ethers or Wisdom Crystals.
--- Zombies can be killed with Fire, or with 2 Mattocks if you are desperate.
--- Owls, Pumpkins, and Mice all die to either 2 weapon hits or 1 Fire cast.

Go E, E, N, W, Up, S, E(M), N, E, S, S, W, Down
- Press button (use Mattock to bust urn) to make the stairs appear.

Go E, N, N(K)
- Take Chain, then use it to escape the trap.
Go S, W, Up, Up
* This is the balcony.
Go W, W(Chain), S(leaves balcony)

Go N(M), N(M), Down
- Push the chest on the button to make the stairs appear.

Go Down
- Mattock the Urn to reveal the stairs.

Go E, S(K)
- The Girl is in the bottom row, 3 from the left.

- Now backtrack to the entrance of the dungeon.
Go N, W, Up, Up, S, S(M), Up
* This is the balcony.
Go E, E(C), S(leaves balcony)
Go E, N, N, W, S, W, N, Down, E, S, W, W

BOSS: Vampire
- Vampire will move left/right half a screen then stop to shoot bats.
- His middle position is randomly selected between a high position and a low one.
- Attack with Fire while he's moving.
--- Bonus points if you enter the fight with a full Will bar (that's 4x damage on the first Fire cast)
- Attack from a distance below him with the Chain while he's standing still.
--- Your Chain should destroy the bats as they approach.
--- Attacking his low center position is dangerous.

___________________
[2D] Wendel Area

START: Defeated Vampire

- Goal: meet with Cibba
- Ignore Marsh monsters.
Go E, E, S, W, S(Sickle), W, N, S(Chain), E, S
- The Moblin-esque enemies either require 2 Fires or 1 Fire and a chain hit or two.
Go S
- Bees are dangerous.  Kill them with Fire before walking by.
Go E, N, Door (enters Wendel)
- Keep going North until Cibba cutscene.
- Keep going South until Julius cutscene.
--- You will learn Heal.  Heal sets your defense power to 0 until the next time you pause.

Go S, S(exits interior), S(enters town), S, Door (enters Inn)
- Sleep in Inn to recover MP.
Go S (exits Wendel)

START: Just exited Wendel

- Goal: get Oil and enter the Silver Mine.
- Kill all enemies along the way.
- Get at least 1, hopefully 2 Nectars from the Crab enemies.
Go S, W, S, W, W(Axe), W, N, S(Chain)
Go S, E, Door (Enters shop)

- Buy Oil, 2x Key, and 2x Mattock here.
--- Fewer Mattocks may be required if you got extra drops in the Marsh Cave, or more may be needed if you spent some on Zombies.
- If you haven't gotten a Nectar yet, go W then E again after exiting the shop, killing all the Crabs along the way.
--- You have 2 more chances after Gaia to get Nectar, so don't panic yet if you still don't have any.

Go S(Exits shop), N, N(Chain), N, N(Axe), W(Axe)
--- Cut a path East, then North to the clearing, then West, North, West to your destination.
Use Door (Enters Silver Mine)

___________________
[2E] The Silver Mine

START: Entrance of the Silver Mine

- Goal: survive the mine cart ride.
--- Equip Oil and walk into the cart.
--- Attack any Spiders as you pass through them in hopes of avoiding damage.
--- Hit the second and third switches as you pass by them.
- If you miss, you'll loop back to the beginning.

START: After meeting Watts

- Goal: Defeat Megapede.
- Equip the Chain.
- Kill enemies as you progress.
--- Spiders can be killed with 1 Fire or 2 Chain hits.  They are not worth much experience.
--- Fleas are worth a lot of experience.  Kill with 1 Fire.
--- Ignore Mimics.

Go N, E(M), E(M), Down
- Smash the pot and press the button to reveal the stairs.
Go W, W, Door
Go W, N, Stairs
Go S, Stairs
Go S

BOSS: Megapede
- Megapede follows a set path.
--- It enters from the right, does some loops, then exits to top.
--- Then, it enters from bottom, does some loops, and exits to left.  Repeat.
- If you got a Wisdom Crystal from a Zombie but no Ethers, use the Wisdom Crystal now.
--- If you got neither, wait for a full Will bar before entering the Megapede fight.
- Hit Megapede's head with Fire.
- Take the chest to exit the cave.

___________________
[2F] Gaia

START: Just left the Silver Mine

- Goal: get to the Dwarf Cave to buy Silver stuff.
- You may be low on MP.  If you have an Ether, use it once you're out of MP.

Go E, S(Axe), S(Axe), S, W, Door (Enters Dwarf Village), S
- Talk to Watts and buy the Silver Armor.
- If you had no Ether, purchase the Silver Sword in addition to the Silver Armor so you can kill the Crab enemies without MP.

Go N, Up (Exits Dwarf Village), N, N, W, N, Door (Enters Gaia)

Go W, S, S
- The door here will close when you pass through the pillars.  Enter the pillars a second time to open them again.
Go Up (Exits Gaia)
* Bogard shows up here.

Go S
Depending on your MP and your inventory, you now have 2 options:
1. If you are in good shape, use Fire + Axe to kill the Werewolves as you chop through the trees.
2. Head south and get an extra screen's worth of Crab enemies.
--- The Crabs are nice because they can be killed with the Silver Sword in 2 hits, and because they drop Nectar.
--- If you don't have any Nectar yet, you should farm the Crabs until you do.
--- Enter and exit a Crabs screen until you get 2 to appear, then kill 1, and repeat the process until you have a Nectar.

Eventually, you'll reach a house.  This is an Inn, in case you're completely dry on MP.

START: outside the Inn mentioned above

- Goal: get to the Airship.
- Kill enemies with Fire.
--- Clouds drop Ethers and Wisdom Crystals.  Ignore the Pebbler's drops.
--- Do not attack the Sahagins / Water Thugs.  They do not give enough experience.

Go W(Axe), N, E, N, E(Axe), E(Chain)
- This gap requires a full Will meter for the Chain to get across.
--- Clear any clouds that block your path.
--- Use a Crystal if you have one.

Go N, E, W(Chain), W, S(Chain), W, N, N(Enter Airship)

___________________
[2G] Julius's Airship

START: You just entered the Airship, and are climbing the anchor.

- Goal: find the Girl.
- Kill profitable enemies, and ignore weak ones.
--- Ignore any enemies that you recognize from Kett's dungeon.
--- Exception: Kill the Owls with the chain, in case they drop a Crystal.
--- Ghosts, Eye Spys, Owls, Zombies (if they were blocking your path), and Clouds all drop useful things.

Go N, N, W, S, Door
Go W, W
* This is the first Eye Spy room.
--- Eye Spys may take 1 or 2 Fires to kill; attack when your Will bar is partially full and you'll usually kill them in 1 shot.
Go W, S, Down
- Press the right button to access the left button.
- Kill Werewolves using the same strategy as Eye Spys.

Go W, W, S(K)
- Talk to the Girl through the Fence.
- Bogard will leave you now.
Go N, E, E, Up

Go N, W, N, Up
Go S, W, W, N, Up(M)
* You're now on the Airship exterior.

Go E, N, W, W, S, E, S, E
- Talk to the Girl.

___________________
[2H] Menos Area

START: Just completed the Airship / Amanda cutscene.

- Goal: Enter Medusa Cave
- Note: there is a Chocobo near Menos.  This guide does not bother with that Chocobo because there are so many juicy enemies to kill that using the Chocobo is counterproductive.

Go S (Exits house), S (Exits Menos), S, S, W (Enters Desert)

- Kill Basilisks, ignore everything else.
--- Basilisks die in a single fire shot.  Ignore their treasure.

Go S, S, W, N, Door (Enters Medusa Cave)
* This is an Oasis.
- 2 Palm trees make 3 lanes (between them, to the right of them, to the left of them)
- Walk up the center, then down the right, then up the center, then down the left to make the entrance to the cave appear.

___________________
[2I] Medusa Cave

START: Amanda just joined you.
--- Amanda can cure the Stone status with her ASK command.

- Goal: Find the Ice spell.
- Kill enemies.
--- As usual, ignore old enemies.
--- Biting Lizards are invulnerable to Fire.  Amanda may kill them.
--- Mummies drop Flame, which is barely stronger than Fire.  Take them if you're feeling desperate for MP.
--- Shadow Zeroes deal about 50 damage, so keep your HP completely full!
--- Shadow Zeroes take 2 hits to kill, but grant 2x the experience of everything else.
--- Shadow Zeroes drop Ethers and Wisdom Crystals.
--- Did I mention Shadow Zeroes yet?  They're far more dangerous than Medusa.

Go S, S(M), W, W, S, W, W, N
* This room has a lot of rocks.
- You can use a Mattock if a Biting Lizard is making progress difficult to the south.
- The next room has a recovery pond to the West, behind a locked door.  Use it if you need to.

Go N, N, N(Key), E
- Press the lower button, then use the Chain to escape without sliding onto the second button.
- In the next room, open the chest to get Ice.

- Goal: Defeat Medusa
Go W, S, S, S, S, E, N(M), N
- Push the snowman onto the button.
Go N
- Use Ice to freeze a Spider, and push the snowman onto the button.
--- Don't let Amanda destroy your snowman!
Go Down, N, Down, W

BOSS: Medusa
- Medusa moves randomly, then shoots snakes for a random amount of time.
- Fire will destroy any snakes it passes through.
- Medusa's head takes much more damage from Fire than does her skirt.
--- Therefore, you should generally be along the top of the stage, except if her motion forces you away.
- You should have entered the fight with nearly full MP, from a level shortly before entering the fight.
--- If you're running out for some reason, wait for the Will meter to fill before each shot for glorious 4x damage.

- Kill Amanda, then walk into her corpse.  Bonus points if the 2 EXP that she drops gives you a level.
--- Your inventory must have space for the Amanda's Tears item.

___________________
[2J] Jadd / Davias's Mansion

START: Just completed the Medusa cave.

- Goal: Return to Jadd.
- Kill Basilisks along the way.
W, N, E, N, N, W, N, Door (Enters Jadd)

- Buy Gold equipment.
--- If you are short on money, skip the Gold Shield.
- Sleep in Inn if needed.
Go N, 2x Shops, S, W, N, N, Door (Enters Davias's Mansion)

Go Up, E, E, Down
- Give Amanda's Tears to the parrot in order to make the stairs appear.
- Lester will join your party.

- Goal: Reach Davias.
- Kill a few enemies.
--- Black Mages are invincible, and they deal huge damage.
--- The Gold Shield can sometimes block Black Mages' fireballs.
--- Flames can be killed with Fire with a mostly full Will bar.
--- Demons can be killed with a full Will bar, but they have an erratic shield that often blocks your Fire.
--- If a Demon does drop treasure, take that Crystal.

Go E, E, N(M), N, N, W(K), S, Up
- Reach the stairway by going through the room counterclockwise.

Go W, W, W, W, Down
- Make the stairs appear by pressing the right, up, left, then down button, in order.

Go N, W, S, S, E(M)
- If you failed to follow the earlier portions of this guide and don't have any Nectar, you can head south to get the Were Axe, then return here and THEN bust the East wall with a Mattock.  You'll need to complete an Ice puzzle and defeat some Fleas.

Go S, Up, N(K), Up (Takes you to roof), W

BOSS: Davias
- This is one of two bosses in the mid-game that we can't use magic against.
- Use that Nectar, then equip the Cure spell.
--- Nectar grants +15 to your attack damage.  Davias normally takes 5 damage from your attacks, so this is x4 damage.
--- Due to a bug, Nectar doesn't work until you pause (e.g. to equip Cure), and it also won't go away until you pause.  So, as long as you don't pause after selecting Cure, the Nectar will last the whole fight.
- Walk straight into Davias's face and mash the A button as fast as you can.
--- Like Hydra, the goal here is to extend your invincibility by continuously attacking.
- Cast Cure any time your HP is less than 45; his fireballs deal around 25 damage but his body deals around 40.

___________________
[2K] Mt. Rocks: up to Metal Crab

START: Lester starts playing music.
- If you need to restore MP, rest in the Inn.  Otherwise, exit town.

START: Exited Jadd
- Kill Molebears, Werewolves, and Gorillas with a single Fire cast.
--- Molebears and Gorillas are worth crazy high amounts of Experience.
--- Iffish are invulnerable to fire.

Go S, E, N, E, N, N, E(Axe)
* You should be walking from a Werewolf room with trees into a lake area.

Go N, N, E, N, W, Door (Enters Metal Crab cave)

START: entered Metal Crab cave
Go W, N(Axe)
- This room features Face enemies.
--- They will presently take 2 hits to kill, but they drop X-Ethers, which is nice.

Go W
- This room features rocks and Black Mages.
--- Consider using a Mattock to get past the Mages faster.
Go W(Axe), S, W

BOSS: Metal Crab
- Only his face is vulnerable
- His face is not accessible when he's on the bottom of the screen.
--- Therefore, attack with a full Will bar when he is on the top of the screen.
--- With practice, you can score a second hit each cycle.

- Goal: get out of the cave.
Go Down, W, W, W, Up (Exits cave)

___________________
[2L] Mt Rocks: the climb

START: Just exited Metal Crab's cave.
- Transition from leveling Wisdom to leveling Will.
--- Once you reach level 20, you will level Will until you have 35 Will.
- Reach Golem's Cave.
- Don't die to Springs.
- Kill Molebears and Gorillas.

Go W, S, E, S, S, S, S, N(Take U-Turn)
- This is the first screen with Spring enemies.
--- Springs are invincible, move fast, move unpredictably, kill you in 2 hits, and cause Moogle status.
--- If in danger, save!
--- A nearly full Will bar can kill the Orc enemies with Fire.
- There is a recovery pond to the east.
--- You probably won't need it (you'll be leveling up every few screens).

Go E, N, E, N, N, W, E(Axe)
- You'll need to go a bit west before you can find trees that can be cleared.
- If there are springs blocking your path, consider exiting and reentering the screen until they are in less dangerous positions.
--- You can also try the unreliable Slep spell if you're feeling brave.

Go N(Axe), N, E, S, S(Axe), E, N, Door (Enters Golem's Cave)

___________________
[2M] Mt Rocks: Golem's Cave

START: Just entered Golem's Cave.

- Goal: Find Cyclops to get the Morning Star
- Defeat enemies.
--- Face enemies can die to one Fire with a partly filled Will meter.
--- Face enemies drop X-Ethers.
--- Minotaurs die to one Fire.
--- Ghosts are still worth killing.
- Remember to level Will instead of Wisdom.
--- Once you reach level 20, you will level Will until you have 35 Will.

- If you go the wrong way, you'll return to the start of the cave.

Go N, E, E, N(M), W, N
- The Werewolf infested puzzle room is solved by pushing a chest onto a button and then destroying it.

Go E, E(K), E(Axe), S, S, E, E, Up, E

BOSS: Cyclops
- Cyclops's weapon can kill you in one hit.
- Cyclops has three rows (top, middle, bottom), and may charge forward up to 2 times at each position.
- Hits to Cyclops's eye deal more damage than hits to his feet.
--- While Cyclops is on the bottom row, let the Will meter fill, and target his eye for your next Fire.
--- Otherwise, just do rapid Fires; attacking his eye is too dangerous.
- If you have 2 Wisdom Crystals, spend one here.
--- If you have only 1, save it for Chimera.
- Win the Morning Star.

Go W, Down W, W, W
- You've teleported back to the beginning of the cave, Lost Woods style.
Go N, N(K)

BOSS: Golem
- Equip the Morning Star.
- Golem deals around 45 damage, so keep your HP at 50 or more.
- Fight Golem like an easier version of Davias.
--- If you have a Nectar, use it.
--- Mash the A button as fast as you can so you don't have to cast Cure too often.
--- Stay close to the Golem and you'll score 2 hits per swing.
- Win the Lit spell.

Go N, Up(M), E, Door (Enter the Dark Lord's Castle)

___________________
[2N] Glaive / The Dark Lord's Castle

START: just emerged from behind the waterfall.
- Goal: Rescue the Girl

Go E, N, W(Axe)
- There will be some Face enemies; if you have a full Will bar, the Morning Star will kill them in one hit.

Go N, Door
* You're in the sewers.
- Ghosts are still worth killing.  Kill other enemies if they block your path.

Go N
- Take the left path.
Go E, E
- Take the lower path.
Go E
- Take the upper path.
Go Up, N, N, Down.
- If enemies block your path on the vine, re-enter the screen.

Go Down, W

BOSS: Chimera
- This boss has an attack that cannot be avoided.
--- Specifically, each time he reaches the center of the screen, he may dive downward.
--- This deals about 45 damage; if your HP is below 50, cast Cure.
- Stay out of the range of the fireballs that his wings drop.
- Chimera is invulnerable to Lit; Fire must be used.
--- Cast Fire rapidly.
- If you have a Wisdom Crystal, now is the time to use it.

Go S (Enters Girl's room)
- The Girl can heal you with her ASK command.  Do this often.

- Goal: defeat the Dark Lord.
- Don't die to Wizards.
--- Wizards can be killed with about 10 Morning Star hits, but are otherwise invincible.
--- Wizards inflict Stone with their magic, or Moogle from touching them.
- Get a level or two from Dark Knights.
--- Dark Knights can be killed with a single Fire cast, but have to be hit from the side or the back.

- This, by far, the hardest portion of the game for this build.  Good luck!

START: in Girl's room

Go Down, Up
* You're now on the castle's roof.
- There is an Item shop / inn to the southwest, if you're desperate.
--- Reaching and exiting that shop is actually pretty challenging.

Go W, W, S, Door (Enter Castle)
Go N(K), E
- There are spikes in the previous two rooms.  They deal lots of damage; either avoid the second set while the Girl heals you from the first, or just cast a lot of Cure.

Go N(M), W
- The shiny things deal huge damage; don't step on them.

Go Down
- This is one of the 2 hardest rooms in the game.
- You must Chain to the middle platform, then use a full Will bar Chain to the left platform to hit the button, then a full Will bar chain to the bottom platform.
- I suggest entering/exiting the room until you get a room with only 1 Wizard.
--- Kill the Dark Knights.
- While you are flashing from damage, you cannot press a button, and you cannot enter Stairs.

Go N, E, S, S
- Again, don't step in the energy field.

Go W, Down
- The way this Werewolf room works is, if any of the treasure chests are destroyed or moved, the stairs wil disappear.
- If you're feeling fancy, you can take damage from a Werewolf to start flashing, then walk through a tresure chest.
- Otherwise, go through the corridor to the left, and be careful to only cast spells if you're sure they won't hit the chests.

Go E, E, E(M), E, N, Up

Go N(M), E(K), Up

Go S, W, W, Down
- This is an Ice room.
- The goal is to push a snowman onto each of the two buttons.
- Only the Dark Knights can be turned into snowmen.
--- You cannot push a snowman while flashing from damage.
--- You should probably enter/exit until there's only one Wizard.
- Sometimes, the stairs won't appear even when you solve the puzzle.
--- This is a glitch; the short story is that the Girl is to blame.
--- You can sometimes fix it by pusing both snowmen back off of the buttons, then pushing them back on.

Go W, N, Up

Go N, W
- This room looks like a throne room.
- If you are close to a level and low on MP, you should kill a few Dark Knights here before proceeding to the Dark Lord fight.

Go Up

BOSS: Dark Lord
- Dark Lord deals about 55 damage.
- Dark Lord can only be hurt by Lit.

- Our first obejctive is to get Dark Lord's AI stuck.
- Equip Cure and run off to the upper right or upper left corner of the arena.
- If Dark Lord is 1/2 tile to the side (rather than exactly aligned with you), he may get stuck rather than actually running into you.
--- Sometimes this doesn't happen, and I'm not sure why.
--- If it fails, try again on the other side until it does.

- Now to deal damage.
- Wait for your Will meter to fill.
- Equip Lit and walk down into Dark Lord.
--- This will make him turn away from you.
- Cast Lit.
--- This should hit his backside.
--- If he walks slowly away from you, fire a couple more Lits.
--- If he dashes away, just return to your safe haven.
- Cure yourself and use a Crystal if you have any left.
- Wait for the Will meter to fill, and repeat.

- It is possible that the Lit spell will glitch out and the Dark Lord will go flying off the balcony.
--- If this happens, attack him with the Morning Star and he'll die.
--- He'll wrap to the opposite side of the screen than the side he left from.


Go S (Exits to previous room)


___________________
[2O] From Ish to the Ice Cavern

START: Just got kicked out of Sara/Bogard's house
"What's that Gemma? ... It's You!"

- Talk to Sara
- Enter the Weapon Shop.
--- Buy Flame Armor
- Enter the Item shop.
--- Buy 3x Keys.

Go W, Door
- Sleep at the Inn.
Go W, Door
- You now have the Chocobot.

Go E, S, S (Exits Ish)
- Talk to your Chocobot to recruit him.

START: Just exited Ish and recruited the Chocobot.
- Goal: reach the Ice Cavern

Go W, N, N, W, W, E
- Get in the ocean via the dock.
Go E, E, S, E, S, S, S, S, N
- Get on land via the dock.

Go N(Axe), N, N
* This takes you to the first screen of the Lorim Snowfields.
- The Chocobo will be kicked to the previous screen.

- Kill some enemies.
--- Wolves and Snowmen die in one Fire cast, while Walruses will die if the Will meter is mostly full.

Go N, E, E, S, S, W, S, E, E, Door (Enters Ice Cavern)

___________________
[2P] Ice Cavern

START: Just entered Ice Cavern

- Goal: fight Kary with a Will stat of at least 35
--- Once Will reaches 35, you can go back to leveling Wisdom for a while.
- Defeat non-Eye enemies
--- Eyes are invincible, and they inflict Stone.
--- Air Elementals die in 1 Fire cast.
--- Potos (the white jumping things) die in 1 Fire cast, and drop X-Ethers.
--- Duck Knights die in 2 Fire casts or with a nearly full Will bar.

- Something to understand: ice in this game is actually a 1-way conveyor belt, rather than behaving like you'd expect ice to behave.

Go N, N
- In each case, use the upper-left available Ice tile.

Go E
- Press the button to move the snowman, then walk downward, then push the snowman onto the button to open the door.

Go N (Chain)
- Use a fully charged Will bar to reach the chain post.

Go W(Chain)
- Either let the Will bar charge to use the chain post, or swing the uncharged chain as you step onto the ice.

Go N(K), E, N
- You can either step one-half tile onto the right row of ice tiles and cross the ice to the north, or you can go across the (third?) ice tile from the bottom.

Go N(M)
- Go through the room in a counter clockwise direciton.
- Bonus points if you use a Mattock, which doesn't spend your Will bar.

Go N(Chain)
- This requires a fully charged Will bar.

Go W
- You can either step one-half tile onto the right (or left) side of the ice "box" and exit up or down, or you can exit via the rightmost side of the ice "box".

Go W, Up, S
- Use the left side of the ice path.
Go S, E, S, E, W
- Transfer to the northern side of the ice path.
Go N, N(M), Up

* You should emerge from the stairs on a screen with two horizontal lines of ice, and an obviously Mattockable wall to the north.
- There is a recovery pond to the north, if you need it.

Go E, N(K), Up (to Exterior)
- Go through the room clockwise.

Go E, Door (to Dungeon)
Go W(Chain)
- Either use a fully charged Will bar, or attack as you step onto the topmost ice tile.

Go W, S, S
- The door to the South here is opened by the button on the lower right.
- To get there, press the button in the center to make the ice on the left traversible.
- You'll have to hit a chain post while sliding, which works or doesn't work seemingly at random.

Go E, E(Axe), E
- Use the lower ice path.
Go E, S
- Use the rightmost ice path.
Go S, W
- Use the lower ice path.
- Use an UNCHARGED chain.
- Be very careful not to get hit onto the left side of the ice while reaching the lower ice path.

Go W, W(M)
- You'll step onto a lower ice path, then be taken into a horrible room where you must hit one of two chain posts on the left side.
- It helps to make sure your Will meter is NOT full.
- Save before attempting this; with bad luck, you could die with no ability to do anything about it.

Go Up (to exterior)
- Use the left chain post with a charged Chain attack.
- Then use the top chain post.

Go E, Door (to dungeon)
Go E(Chain), N, Up (Chain, to exterior)
Go E

BOSS: Kary

- This boss requires some practice to kill with Magic.
- You MUST have 35 Will.
--- If you have less, kill some more Ducks Knights and/or Potos.
- If for some reason you got Nuke before coming here, she is immune to Nuke.
- Only her head is vulnerable.
- You will hit her with Fire, then Lit, then Lit again

- Dodge her initial icicles.
- When she moves down, walk above her, aim to the right.
--- Shoot her as she starts moving to the right, so that your Fireball hits her head as it turns downward.

- When she moves down again, walk down and right, aim down, and equip Lit.
--- As she crosses back in front of you, hit her head with Lit.
--- Retreat to the top again immediately!

- Aim to the right, and start shooting Lit right as her left hands pass your body.
--- With proper timing, you'll hit her head as she stars moving upward again.
- Walk downward, dodge her charge and icicles, and repeat the pattern.

- Win Ice Sword.

___________________
[2Q] Floatrocks and Kraken's Cave

START: Just exited Ice Cavern

- Goal: talk to Cibba and get the Bone Key.

Go W, W, N, E, N, N, W, S, W, S
* This exits the Lorim Snow Fields.
- Talk to your Chocobo here to re-recruit him.

Go S, E(Axe), S, S, E, N, Door
* This enters Lorim
Go E, N
- Talk to Cibba and you'll get the Bone Key.
Go S, W, S (Exits Lorim)
- Talk to your Chocobo agian.

- Goal: go to the Elixir Island and win an Elixir.
Go S, W, N, N, W, S, N (Use dock to enter ocean)
Go N, N, N, W, N
* At this point you're at the mouth of the river.

Go E, E, E, E, E, S, S, E
* This is Elixir Island.
- Your goal is to use Lit to kill all the (fire breathing) sea horses.
--- If the seahorse arrangement is unfavorable, enter / exit until it is more practical.
- Collect the Elixir that appears.

START: Just completed Elixir Island
- Goal: go to the Kraken's Cave.

Go S, S, S, S, S, W
* Going W here takes you into a river.
Go N, N, W, S, N
- Use the dock to head North on land.

Go E, N
- There is a recovery pond here.  Get off the Chocobo and use it.
--- If you're too close to the usage point when you get off the chocobo, it may not work.  Exit and re-enter the screen to fix it.

* You are now at the Ammonite Coast.
- The enemies here are incredibly dangerous.
--- Kill them with Lit if you must, but there are better targets later.
--- Feel free to hop on the Chocobo for invincibility, even for short distances.
--- Manta Rays inflict Poison.
--- Griffin Hands inflict Moogle.  You can un-moogle yourself by hopping on the Chocobo.
Go S, S(Chain), S, E, S, S, S, W

* This takes you to the Floatrock Fields.
- Floatrocks can be destroyed by the Morning Star.
Go S, S, E, S, S, W, N, S(take U-turn), S, W, S, E, S, E, E, N, W
- Enter this cave by equipping the Bone Key.

START: Kraken's Cave / Cave in the Floatrocks
- Goal: defeat Kraken.

Go N, N(K), E(M), E, E
- This room has 2 buttons and a river.
- Press the first one to open the river, and the second to open the door.

Go N, N, N(M), Down, E

BOSS: Kraken
- You will defeat this boss with Fire, from safety.
- Cast one Fire as soon as you enter the room, then run to the second Bridge tile from the right.
--- This square is as close as you can be to the Kraken's right tentacle without taking damage.
- Only cast when your Will meter is full.
- The Tentacles are not vulnerable, only his head is.
- Kraken will shake a bit, then either extend a tentacle or not.
--- You can shoot when Kraken decides not to extend a tentacle.
--- You can shoot while Kraken retracts his left tentacle.

Go in door (Exits Kraken's Cave)

___________________
[2R] Undersea Volcano

START: Just exited Kraken's Cave.

- Goal: enter the Undersea Volcano
E, S, W, N, Door (Enter Undersea Volcano)

- Defeat Iflyte.
- Kill Enemies.
--- The enemies hit hard in this dungeon.
--- Earth Elementals die in 1 Lit cast and drop X-Ethers.
--- Moths die in 1 Lit cast with a partially full Will bar.
- Don't forget: Level Wisdom until level 31, then level Will again.

Go S, W, N(M), W, W(M)

Go Down (to exterior)
- This is one of the 2 hardest rooms in the game.
- You must sickle a path open to each button, then cast Ice on two Dark Knights, and push them onto the buttons.
--- The game may glitch out and not make the stairs.  You'll have to try again.
- Enter and exit the room until there is only 1 Wizard.
- Use your best Lolo skills.

Go W, Door (back into the cave)
Go W, N
- There is Lava you must cross to go north here.
- Lava will deal about 3/4 of your health in damage.
--- You can cross in a single hit, but if you're not confident, cast Cure twice while you cross.

Go N, N, E(M), Down (to exterior)
Go Door (back into cave)
Go N, E, E, S, E(K), Down (to exterior)
- The lower right rock conceals a stairway.

Right Door (back into cave)
Go S, W, N, Down
- This is another Ice room.
- Getting a snowman onto the upper button is harder than the right button.
- The room may glitch and not give you the stairs.  You'll have to try again.
--- If you killed all the enemies in the room, save, reset (ABSelectStart) and reload to bring them back.

Go W

BOSS: Iflyte
- Use Lit.
- Like Metal Crab, only his head is vulnerable.
- His head is still vulnerable when he's in ball form; aim for the center and lead your target as he bounces around.
- Win the Rusty Sword.

___________________
[2S] Lich's Cave

START: Just received Rusty Sword

- Stock up on supplies.
- Get the Chocobo.
--- If he spawned in the upper left corner, you'll need to enter /exit until he's somewhere you can reach.

Go E
* There is a Magic shop here.
- Check your X-Ether count and buy until you feel comfortable.
--- 4 is sufficient if you're good/lucky.
--- 8 should be sufficient regardless.

- Goal: exit the Floatrocks / Ammonite Coast.
- This is just backtracking.
Go S, W, W, N, W, N, E, N, N, S(take U-turn)
Go E, N, N, W, N, N, E, N, N, W, N, N(Chain)
- Cross the river using the Chain before going North here.

Go N
- Use the recovery pond.
Go S, W, S, N
- Get into the ocean via the dock.
Go E, S, S, E
- This is the mouth of the river.

N until you reach Elixir Island
- Defeat the sea horses again for another Elixir.

START: Elixir Island
- Goal: go to Lich's Cave

Go W, W, N, N, W, W, W, W, W, W, W
* At this point, you're at the Crystal Desert dock.  But don't use it.
Go N, N, N, W
- Get on the dock for the Palmy Beach.
Go S, W, S, W, N, Door (enter Lich's Cave)

Go Down, Down, North

BOSS: Lich
- This boss deals about 100 damage per hit.
- Use fully charged Lit spells.

- Lich follows the same movement pattern as Megapede.
--- First, let him cross under you as you cast Lit from the upper left.
--- Then, walk down and right, then left as he crosses over you.
--- Walk up and score another hit as he leaves the screen at the top.
--- Stay near the upper right, dodging skulls, and hit him as he crosses under you.
--- Walk left, down, right to let him cross over you.
--- Score one more Lit hit as he leaves the screen on the left.
--- Repeat from the beginning.

- Win the Nuke spell.

___________________
[2T] Ruins

START: Just got Nuke.

- Retreive Chocobo and enter the Ruins.
Go S, E, N, E, N, E, S
- Use dock to enter ocean
Go S, S, E
- Use dock to get onto the Crystal Desert

Go Down (Enters Ruins)
- Reveal the entrance by casting Nuke on the right crystal.

- Defeat some enemies.
--- Mirrors have projectiles.  Snails do not.
--- Both die in a single Nuke cast.
--- Nuke is not MP efficient, so keep the killing to a minimum.

Go W, W, S (Enters dungeon)

- Ignore Robots.
--- If you must kill one, Lit works, while Nuke does not.
- If low on MP, check if killing Snails/Mirrors/Earth Elementals/Moths is enough to level up.
--- Each of those enemies is 100-150 Experience, and you can see how close to a level you are on the Status screen or by saving.

Go N, N
- To go north here, use the left half of the center tiles until you get kicked to the right side, then use the upper right tile.
Go N, E
- To go east here, use the left half of the center tiles until you get kicked to the upper side, the use the upper right tile.

Go E, N, N, N, W, N

BOSS: Mantis Ant
- Don't move.
- Cast Fire when your Will meter fills.
- After he's dead, equip Cure, and survive the 100HP damage tiles as you enter the arena then exit to the right.

Go E
- Equip the Rusty Sword
- Press the button.
"The Rusty Sword released it is mystic power..."


___________________
[2U] Dime Tower

START: Just left the Ruins
"Tower of Dime will appear somewhere in this desert!!"

- Get Chocobo.
- Goal: arrive at Dime Tower.
Go S, S, E, S, W
Door (Enters Dime Tower)

* Marcie joins.
--- Marcie's ASK command gives you full MP.
--- Nuke anything that is convenient.
--- This is your last good opportunity to get levels.

- Goal: find Garuda.
- Defeat enemies.
--- Swords are not dangerous, but Gauntlets hurt hard.
--- Birdmen can poison, while the Beret wearing fuzzballs can Moogle.
--- Mirrors/Snails are also worth killing.

Go W, N, N, E, E(M), N
- You should now be in a room with 4 coffins.
Go W, Up

Go W, S, E, S, S, E, Up (to Exterior)
Go N, Door (to inside)

Go W, N(K), E
- Get the Dragon Armor
Go W, W(M), Up, Up

Go N
- This is an Ice room.
- Cut trees so you can freeze the Minotaurs.
- You can steer the Ice spell to go diagonally.
--- This can help to avoid having to cut trees that enable Marcie to kill your snowmen.

Go E(K), S, Up (to Exterior), N

BOSS: Garuda
- Garuda will hang out in an upper corner, shoot some feathers (0-2 sets of 2), then dive diagonally before rising to the opposite corner.
- When Garuda is on the left side, being in the lower left corner will evade his dive.
- Likewise, when he is on the right, hide in the lower right.
- You need to avoid the feathers, though.
--- Until Garuda is about to dive, stand near the center of the arena, so that his feathers won't be aimed near the corner.
- Kill Garuda with fully charged Nuke blasts.

- At the end of the fight, use Marcie to top yourself off.
Go W, W

- Marcie leaves
Go W, W, W
- You'll automatically go up the Waterfall.

___________________
[2V] Tower of Gemma

START: Just arrived at top of waterfall.

Go W, N, Door (Enters Tower of Gemma)

- Goal: defeat the 3 Dragons.
- DO NOT DEFEAT ENEMIES!
--- The exception is if you're right about to get a level.
--- All the enemies here would spells too expensive to justify the kill.
- Ninjas and Fiend Heads are scary.
--- Ninjas' projectiles deal around 90 damage.
--- Fiend Heads and Ninjas can both instantaneously teleport anywhere - including directly on top of you.

S, E, E, N, N, N(K), Up (to Dragon arena), N

BOSS: Dragon
- Dragon will go through the arena in a circle.
- Each time he reaches the top center, he will randomly choose whether his next circle is clockwise or counterclockwise.
- The only vulnerable square is the foot underneath his head.
--- Do NOT target his head!  His wing will intercept shots that high.
--- Again: target his FRONT FOOT.
- Use fully charged Nukes.
--- Be careful not to let your cast get interrupted by the (weak) fireballs.
--- Consider intentionally taking a hit from fireballs, then using the invincibility time to cast your spell uninterrupted.
- When fight is over, use Teleporter.

Go E, Teleport
Go W, N, W, W(K), Teleport (to Exterior)
Go E, Teleport (to Interior)
Go S, W(M), W, S, W, Teleport

Go W, S, S, E
- This is an Ice room.
- Steer the Ice spell through the labrynth, across the orb and to the Minotaur on the button.
--- It may take 2 tries, since there is an extra Minotaur down there.
Up (to Dragon arena), N

BOSS: Red Dragon
- This boss has more HP than the last one.  Aside from that, it's identical.
- Use the Teleporter when done.

Go W, Teleport (to Interior)
Go N, E, N, Teleport (to Exterior)
Go E, Teleport (to Interior)
Go S, E, S, Teleport (to Exterior)
Go W, Teleport (to Interior)
Go E, E(K), E, E, E, N
- This is an Ice room.
- The correct button is on the left side of the room, second from the bottom.

Go North until stairs.  Take the stairs to the final Dragon arena.

BOSS: Dragon Zombie
- This boss is like Hydra, except its fireballs aim toward you rather than horizontally.
- Fire is my choice; Nuke could be okay if you have a lot of X-Ethers left.
--- If you use Nuke, attack from below so that you don't miss his erratically moving heads.
- Touching his body hurts really, really bad.
--- Watch out for his

___________________
[2W] Mana Tree and Julius

START: Just teleported after Dragon Zombie

- The path here is one-way, so I won't bother giving directions.
- You'll get the XCalibr.  Weapons with that ridiculous an abbreviation don't deserve to be equipped.

BOSS: Julius 1
- This boss remains hard, even if you practice.
- The 3 Julius clones are equally powerful; there is no "correct" Julius.
- His Nukes deal about 20 damage, while touching him deals about 100 damage.
- He can move in a variety of ways, he can slowly fade out and reappear in the destination he was walking to, or he can instantly teleport.
--- Instant teleporting is allowed to target your current square, so keep yourself above 100 HP.
- Use fully charged Nukes, and you should kill the Julius clones in 1 hit.
- He has a shield.  In general, hitting his back will work, but sometimes hitting his side works and sometimes it doesn't.

- You MUST kill the final Julius 1 clone while standing on the left or bottom side of the screen!


BOSS: Julius 2
- This boss is kind of like Golem, only with extra lightning bolts.
- Julius 2 begins the fight in the center, heading right.
- On the right side, he may dive down (up to 3 times), and he may dive diagonally.
--- The diagonal dive is dangerous; don't attack Julius 2 from below when he's on the right or left side or else you cannot avoid the diagonal dive.
- When he returns to the center from the right side, he may dive down, but will never dive diagonally.
- When he goes to the left side, he again may dive down (up to 3 times) or dive diagonally.
- When he returns to the center from the left side, he will never dive; he will always simply move to the right.


BOSS: Julius 3
- This boss has a set pattern; his positions are NOT random.
- At each position, Julius will raise his hands then fire 2 Nukes toward you.
- His hands are invincible.
- Below are instructions.
--- The format is Enemy Position: Your position, your action.

Top Center: Bottom Center, walk left until shoot up.
Left: Right Center, shoot left (time shot to intercept Julius's Nukes)
Upper Right: Upper Left, shoot right (time shot to intercept Julius's Nukes)
Sort of Right: Upper Left, walk down, shoot right.
--- This, and the Sort of Left position, are the hardest ones.  Feel free to not attack here.
Upper Left: Lower Right, walk left, shoot up.
Sort of Left: Upper Right, walk down, shoot left.
Upper Right: Lower Left, walk right, shoot up.
Lower Left: Upper Right, shoot left, walk down to dodge.
Middle Right: Middle Left, shoot right (time shot to intercept Julius's Nukes)
Middle Left: Lower Right, walk left, shoot up.
--- You may win here.
Lower Right: Upper Left, shoot right, walk down to dodge.
Lower Middle: Lower Right, take a Nuke hit, shoot left.
Upper Right: Lower Left, walk right, shoot up.
Upper Left: Lower Middle, walk left, shoot up.

Julius will then repeat his pattern.


--------------------
[3] Math

This section explains some detail about how combat works in this game.


______
Your max HP = 19 + (Stamina * Stamina) * 0.1
Fractional HP is truncated.

Each point of Will grants 0.00625 of the Will bar each second.

______
Enemies have a random amount of HP, varying by about 6%.
Damage dealt is also is randomized by a few % up or down from the numbers below.

______
When enemies attack you, damage works like this:
Damage = Enemy's Attack - (Your Stamina + Your Armor + Your Helmet)

Enemies deal different amounts of damage by touching them vs their projectiles.
--- In general, bosses' projectiles deal less damage than touching them.
--- In general, normal enemies' projectiles deal more damage than touching them.
Some items (such as the Flame Armor) reduce damage from a certain element.

______
When you attack an enemy with a physical attack, damage works like this:

Damage = (1 + Will%) * (Power + Weapon Base Power - Enemy's Defense)

Will% is what fraction of the Will meter is full.
So, if you have a full Will bar, damage is doubled.
--- The Sword's spinning special attack acts as though Will% = 0.
--- The Sword's return trip from the Flying Sword Attack acts as though Will% = 0.

Some enemies have an elmental weakness or an elemental resistance.
Elemental resistance makes attacks of that element deal NO damage.
Elemental weakness doubles the Weapon's Base Power.

______
When you attack an enemy with a magical attack, damage works like this:

Damage = (1 + Will%) * (2 if Will is full) * (2 * Wisdom + Spell Base Damage - Enemy's Magic Resistance)

So, if you fire uncharged spells, each point of Wisdom grants 2 points of damage, whereas for fully charged spells, each Wisdom point grants 8 points of damage.

For enemies, Magic Resistance can be different from Defense.
Elemental resistance and weakness works like it does for weapons.
Although all enemies immune to the Flame Chain are immune to Fire, some enemies weak against the Flame Chain are not weak against Fire.


--------------------
[4] Legal

This guide is copyright January 2015 by "Crow!".
It will be sumbitted to Speed Demos Archive's forum, and for publication on GameFAQs.
Anyone else may not reproduce it in whole or in part without Crow!'s express permission.

That said, I'm eager to share.  Just let me know where you want to post this, and I'll probably tell you that you can!

Contact:
Crow! on Speed Demos Archive
iiCrowii on Twitch: http://www.twitch.tv/iicrowii/
Just so everyone knows, I have created the Speedrun.com page, please if you have a run, upload it to the right category and region. Video links required pls ladies and gents Cheesy

- http://www.speedrun.com/ffa

Tah!
Edit history:
Crow!: 2015-03-23 01:55:43 pm
What's that gemma?
I've added my time.  Super Game Boy's conversion is simply to multiply the time by 1.024115.  This implies that the time must be converted into seconds then back into hours/minutes/seconds, but that's not really part of the formula.
I was thinking about picking this up again this summer and wow was I surprised to see what happened in this thread!
Nice going, Bowie. Watching your video now.
New Warpless record today, 2:05:20 Cheesy
What's that gemma?
I'm going to need some new tech to retake the record, so I'll (as usual) document some stuff here.

The following elemental weakness data is taken from the Japanese site Mushboom linked above.

"Elemental" weaknesses:

Note that an enemy can be both weak and immune to a particular element.  In that case, the immunity takes precedence.

------
Axe:
The general theme here seems to be that beasts and plants are weak against Axes.

Mushboom
Rabite
Lullabud
Roper ("Worms")
Werewolves (both boss form and normal enemy form)
Nemesis Owl
Pumpkin Bomb
Pigman / Dogman / Orc (or whatever that thing is)
Pebbler
Mandrake / Carrot
Basilisk
Dinosaur (the desert things that drop Fang)
Molebear
Gorilla
Minotaur
Bulette
Wolf
Captain Duck
Griffin Hand
Mammoth / Elephant / Snuffleupagus

------
Mithril:
The JP page seems to suggest that anyone weak to Mithril is also weak against the Morning Star and weak against magic.

Notice that a lot of things that can only be physically hurt with the Mithril sword are actually not weak against it.  Using that sword against, say, Ghosts is a bad idea.

Mimic Chest
Eye Spy
Demon ("Gargoyle")
Floating Face (This explains why the Magic route can kill these this way)
Spring
Mirror
Bird Knight (in Dime Tower)
"Wonder" (fuzz balls with hats in Dime Tower)
Gauntlet
Sword

------
Thunder:
This supposedly includes the Morning Star AGAIN, as well as the Thunder Spear and all magic.

Marmablue ("Grell")
Lizardmen
Flying Fish ("Land Leech")
Sahagin
Biting Lizard
Snake
Iffish
Sea Horse ("Sea Dragon")
Walrus
Manta Ray
Turtle
Robot
Fiend Head

------
Ice Sword:
Moth
Earth Elemental
Iflyte

------
Flame Chain:
Enemies weak against the Flame Chain are not necessarily weak against Fire.

Snowman
Kary
(Zombie Hydra is not listed, but my experience is that the Hydra IS weak against the flame chain.  Perhaps this is a JP/US version difference?)

------
Dragon Sword:
Ghost Mouse ("Were Rat")
Dragon Fly (on the Desert)
(The two Dragon bosses are not listed, but they sure seem to be weak against the Dragon Sword given the difference between using it vs other weapons from watching Bowie's runs. Perhaps this is a JP/US version difference?)



I still can't quite get a reliable Fire based strategy vs Davias.  If he moved predictably or if I could get Lester to stop shooting arrows, things might be different, but as is the ideal case scenario for magic is pretty fast but has like a 10% success rate.

I have improved my Dark Lord strategy.  I have found that the Dark Lord "not getting stuck" as I pin myself to a wall is actually preferable to him getting stuck - I can face AWAY from the Dark Lord to score 2 quick Lit hits in that case.

It appears that carrying over damage from boss to boss with magic doesn't work; the damage gets cleared out once the spell's explosion animation finishes.  A glitched Lit might work, but that seems too unreliable for me to bother testing.


If there are two sliding ice tiles horizontally adjacent to each other which do not go the same direction, then walking halfway between the two will allow you to cross them up/down regardless of the direction they should send you.  This is useful in several rooms of the Ice Cavern; one example is shown in the image attached to this post.
I have also been boss testing and learnt some interesting things.

Dragon Zombie is quicker to kill with the Dragon Sword than flame whip. He's not actually weak to the Flame Whip, not sure if that actually affects magic flame too.

Gonna be testing loads of weapon load outs with all the weapons. See what I can find.
What's that gemma?
Hmm, it looks as though the image I tried to attach to my previous post didn't actually get attached.  Here's another attempt.

Attachment: