Is PJ
Did a practice run with the new route tonight. It clocked in at 1:38:13. I had a LOT of deaths. Well actually, maybe it wasn't as many as I think. In fact I can't think of many deaths I had except for the Porno Cavern (and Cloud!). Anyways, I forgot to save after leveling in the Porno Cave and then moved on and died to like, the very next fire dragon for a loss of almost exactly 2:00. I also died a significant amount against Battler for another loss of 3:50. There were a bunch of other misc deaths that maybe cost 2 minutes total or so, so it looks like a sub-1:30 might barely be possible. There were a lot of good things about this route and a lot of....not very good things. Haha.
Good:
Fighting Natela at level 6 is no problem, and skipping the Large Shield is inconsequential. I save like 35 seconds from skipping this and it doesn't matter. Definitely skipping from now on.
I found a way to manipulate Turdlecano, which is awesome!
Fighting Duma at level 14 is easy.
Fighting Thimale at level 17 is no problem either, and means I have to listen to less of the terrible ice cave music!
Thimale gives me enough experience to reach level 19 for Ella anyways (usually...if I kill all enemies on the way), and killing her at that level is easy.
The final boss rush at 25 is really easy still.
I save a lot of time that I otherwise spent leveling in Ice Cave and Lagoon Castle. Much less backtracking, much less risk of getting hit.
Bad stuff:
It took a long time to level to 13. Well, maybe only 2.5 minutes to level from 10 to 13, but there's no way to get around this. It needs to happen. It saves like 1:40 from the Turdlecano fight.
If I get hit by an ice crystal in the Thimale fight, I basically lose the fight. If I have full health when all the drones are dead, I win; if not, I might not win.
Battler is really hard at level 24. Rather, I need him to appear in a great spot and I don't think I can one-round kill him; it took 1:30 to kill him tonight (in the successful fight), whereas at level 25 he can be killed pretty easily in one round and the battle lasts like 20 seconds tops. However, I think it'd take longer than a minute to gain the other level.
Thorbird takes several more rounds at level 25 than at level 26.
There are only three changes to this route I may consider:
1. Reach level 25 before Battler. It'd save time on him, Thorbird, and (maybe) Red Gargoyle. It'd cut 4-5 rounds from Thorbird, but that's only 10 seconds. Battler was mentioned above. I need to test Battler more because that's the main factor. If I can still 1-2 round him, I won't bother.
2. Skipping the Bright Stone. I haven't used it in a really long time. It wasn't mentioned in the above post, but in the Ice Cave, I now just get the Elixir and then run straight to Thimale. I get the Bright Stone in Lagoon Castle because it's only barely out of the way. It'd save 10 seconds skipping this, but I don't need it so I may.
3. Skipping the Curing Ring. This scares me a little. It takes 20 seconds to pick up and 19 seconds to equip/unequip it against Thor/Thorbird. 39 seconds can be saved...but it makes the run a lot scarier. The last few times I played, I killed the final boss in the very first round without healing or anything. If I can do this consistently, I'll consider skipping the Curing Ring. It only saves like 50 seconds skipping both this and the bright stone, so it honestly might not even be worth it. I'll think it over.
Edit: Battler can barely be one-rounded even at level 25. I previously fought him at level 26, so 24 was a 2-level difference. I want to be level 25 for this fight, even though it'll take some time to level. Unfortunately I just need to sacrifice this time for consistency.
Good:
Fighting Natela at level 6 is no problem, and skipping the Large Shield is inconsequential. I save like 35 seconds from skipping this and it doesn't matter. Definitely skipping from now on.
I found a way to manipulate Turdlecano, which is awesome!
Fighting Duma at level 14 is easy.
Fighting Thimale at level 17 is no problem either, and means I have to listen to less of the terrible ice cave music!
Thimale gives me enough experience to reach level 19 for Ella anyways (usually...if I kill all enemies on the way), and killing her at that level is easy.
The final boss rush at 25 is really easy still.
I save a lot of time that I otherwise spent leveling in Ice Cave and Lagoon Castle. Much less backtracking, much less risk of getting hit.
Bad stuff:
It took a long time to level to 13. Well, maybe only 2.5 minutes to level from 10 to 13, but there's no way to get around this. It needs to happen. It saves like 1:40 from the Turdlecano fight.
If I get hit by an ice crystal in the Thimale fight, I basically lose the fight. If I have full health when all the drones are dead, I win; if not, I might not win.
Battler is really hard at level 24. Rather, I need him to appear in a great spot and I don't think I can one-round kill him; it took 1:30 to kill him tonight (in the successful fight), whereas at level 25 he can be killed pretty easily in one round and the battle lasts like 20 seconds tops. However, I think it'd take longer than a minute to gain the other level.
Thorbird takes several more rounds at level 25 than at level 26.
There are only three changes to this route I may consider:
1. Reach level 25 before Battler. It'd save time on him, Thorbird, and (maybe) Red Gargoyle. It'd cut 4-5 rounds from Thorbird, but that's only 10 seconds. Battler was mentioned above. I need to test Battler more because that's the main factor. If I can still 1-2 round him, I won't bother.
2. Skipping the Bright Stone. I haven't used it in a really long time. It wasn't mentioned in the above post, but in the Ice Cave, I now just get the Elixir and then run straight to Thimale. I get the Bright Stone in Lagoon Castle because it's only barely out of the way. It'd save 10 seconds skipping this, but I don't need it so I may.
3. Skipping the Curing Ring. This scares me a little. It takes 20 seconds to pick up and 19 seconds to equip/unequip it against Thor/Thorbird. 39 seconds can be saved...but it makes the run a lot scarier. The last few times I played, I killed the final boss in the very first round without healing or anything. If I can do this consistently, I'll consider skipping the Curing Ring. It only saves like 50 seconds skipping both this and the bright stone, so it honestly might not even be worth it. I'll think it over.
Edit: Battler can barely be one-rounded even at level 25. I previously fought him at level 26, so 24 was a 2-level difference. I want to be level 25 for this fight, even though it'll take some time to level. Unfortunately I just need to sacrifice this time for consistency.