Phantasy Star IV

2008-02-02 10:58:27 pm

新世紀進歩的羽扇子音楽

I've been asked a few times what I'm thinking of doing after Radiata Stories. Most recently when I said something in the Trusty Bell thread about how I was a lot more interested in other things, then intentionally gave absolutely no indication of what those things might be.

Well in short, PSIV is one of the possibilities, and probably the highest, since Landstalker would be frustratingly hard (and not in the Randomly Screwed way, but "you messed up, HA HA") and Enhasa seems to still be talking about Dragon Quarter.

I first played this game a couple years ago, and replayed it a few months ago. Today I was bored and since I couldn't use the VCR for RS I decided to try making a few .gmv's from the beginning of the game.

...but I screwed up, since Gens recording is clearly less intuitive than (or perhaps, because of) snes9x. I think I overwrote my first one stupidly, and I can't watch either of the others (which were less than a minute each anyway). So I'll try and redo it soon.

The first segment was the opening scenes and the first dungeon. I put Hahn in front so he'd be sure to die, and then just autobattled the boss, although I should probably see if anything else works (I do want Hahn dead though as he's a rather worthless experience thief otherwise).

The second segment was the walk to the next village, which although I saw it a bunch of times I've already forgotten its name (Zema?). It's possible to cross the desert there without any encounters, which I was surprised and pleased to find.

Because of that I put BIRTHVLLY in its own segment, which is another pretty stupid one...and after that I tried watching the videos, which didn't work so I stopped.

Looking further ahead though, I am kind of worried. The TAS got stalled at Lashiec (as I recall) and eventually died, which I find pretty scary. On the other hand, that is the hardest battle in the game... I don't actually have Frenom's wip and it seems to be a dead link now, so if anybody has it I'd love to see it. And in general, [good] advice would be much appreciated. Remember, "Someone keeping information from me is the sixth most dangerous thing in the world!"

Thread title:

I've been asked a few times what I'm thinking of doing after Radiata Stories.  Most recently when I said something in the Trusty Bell thread about how I was a lot more interested in other things, then intentionally gave absolutely no indication of what those things might be.

Well in short, PSIV is one of the possibilities, and probably the highest, since Landstalker would be frustratingly [i]hard[/i] (and not in the Randomly Screwed way, but "you messed up, HA HA") and Enhasa seems to still be talking about Dragon Quarter.

I first played this game a couple years ago, and replayed it a few months ago.  Today I was bored and since I couldn't use the VCR for RS I decided to try making a few .gmv's from the beginning of the game.

...but I screwed up, since Gens recording is clearly less intuitive than (or perhaps, because of) snes9x.  I think I overwrote my first one stupidly, and I can't watch either of the others (which were less than a minute each anyway).  So I'll try and redo it soon.

The first segment was the opening scenes and the first dungeon.  I put Hahn in front so he'd be sure to die, and then just autobattled the boss, although I should probably see if anything else works (I do want Hahn dead though as he's a rather worthless experience thief otherwise).

The second segment was the walk to the next village, which although I saw it a bunch of times I've already forgotten its name (Zema?).  It's possible to cross the desert there without any encounters, which I was surprised and pleased to find.

Because of that I put BIRTHVLLY in its own segment, which is another pretty stupid one...and after that I tried watching the videos, which didn't work so I stopped.

Looking further ahead though, I am kind of worried.  The TAS got stalled at Lashiec (as I recall) and eventually died, which I find pretty scary.  On the other hand, that is the hardest battle in the game...  I don't actually have Frenom's wip and it seems to be a dead link now, so if anybody has it I'd love to see it.  And in general, [good] advice would be much appreciated.  Remember, "Someone keeping information from me is the sixth most dangerous thing in the world!"

getter77

2008-02-03 04:54:28 am

100% runs=great to watch

If that TAS died...how is it that I'm almost 100% I recall seeing the entire game beaten a couple years back in TAS form? Huh?

At any rate, I'd love to see this...and have no power to help other than to probably exploit the hidden techniques/combos to maximum effect as well as segmenting certain crazily hard, yet rewarding, fights. I could picture some OBSCENE Exp gains if it is possible to manipulate such like how the Lufia II run did at times.

dexter

2008-02-03 12:20:22 pm

I would love to see this too. Unfortunately it has been some time since I played the game and I probably don't remember everything that would be useful for a speedrun. Here are just two tidbits (you probably know already)

- There are some attack combos that might be useful later in the game. There is a complete list (and lots of other good stuff) at http://www.rpgclassics.com/shrines/genesis/ps4/

- The sandworm (first hunter guild mission) can be a bitch but with some luck manipulation you can kill it very early (pretty much when the mission gets available). Not sure whether it's worth it (depends on how much trouble the first few parts give you) but it doesn't take *that* long and for the beginning you get lots of exp and mesetas.

getter77

2008-02-03 01:51:49 pm

100% runs=great to watch

And here's something you may have some fun with if this run doesn't forever drive you insane and off of this game:

http://www.romhacking.net/community/876/

RedArremer

Edit history:

RedArremer: 2013-07-11 03:08:37 pm

RedArremer: 2013-07-11 03:07:37 pm

RedArremer: 2013-07-11 03:07:36 pm

RedArremer: 2013-07-11 03:00:27 pm

RedArremer: 2013-07-11 02:59:39 pm

RedArremer: 2013-07-11 02:59:30 pm

2013-07-11 02:56:50 pm

*casts Rever on this topic*

I've worked through the current TAS and tested around with it earlier today. Zio's Castle (first visit) is as far as I've gotten so far.

So here's what happens in the TAS:
The TAS uses heavy luck manipulation to get the bosses to attack certain targets, get no random encounters and one drop off of an enemy in Zio's Castle. That drop is the Shadow Blade, which lowers some of Chaz's stats. Now, this is important because the TAS keeps Chaz at Level 4 (he learns Tsu there) to get his stats into the negative; and as such, underflow his Mental stat, allowing him to do obscene damage with Tsu.

I tried to apply as much as possible of the TAS strats into a normal run, but it's quite literally impossible. By the time you get into the Warehouse in Tonoe or the Bioplant, enemies start ambushing you or not letting you flee, which results in your characters getting one-shot, even if you get around buying armor. You can't reliably avoid encounters or flee, either.

Some of the TAS' strats are applicable to a normal run - the first boss (Igglanova) always behaves the same even without luck manipulation, and the same boss' revisit before the Bioplant is good too (you can use Gryz's Crash and instakill him; even if Gryz misses, you can just keep on doing it).

By the time I got to the Bioplant, my party was Alys at 7, Gryz at 6 (both the starting levels) and Chaz and Hahn at 5 each. Except for Gryz and Alys in some cases, the party still got oneshot by random encounters within said dungeon, even though I upgraded Chaz's armor (it didn't help a lot).
I got killed once in the passageway between Aiedo and Kadary, and again in Zio's Castle.

I also determined that the random drop from the enemy in Zio's Castle would not be feasible - by the time you get it, the underflow would not work anymore.
I don't think it's possible to beat Juza without the underflown Tsu and having your party at such low levels, however - I would say around level 10 at least would be required, as well as getting armor/weapons.

Now, between your first visit to Zema and Tonoe, you get Rune for a short period of time. Rune is great in killing random encounters on the world map, so it's possible you can use him to grind if so needed.

I'm not sure if single segment is possible in this game without hours of grinding levels/money or optional dungeons for good equipment. Segmented I can see it being possible.

*casts Rever on this topic*

I've worked through the current TAS and tested around with it earlier today. Zio's Castle (first visit) is as far as I've gotten so far.

So here's what happens in the TAS:
The TAS uses heavy luck manipulation to get the bosses to attack certain targets, get no random encounters and one drop off of an enemy in Zio's Castle. That drop is the Shadow Blade, which lowers some of Chaz's stats. Now, this is important because the TAS keeps Chaz at Level 4 (he learns Tsu there) to get his stats into the negative; and as such, underflow his Mental stat, allowing him to do obscene damage with Tsu.

I tried to apply as much as possible of the TAS strats into a normal run, but it's quite literally impossible. By the time you get into the Warehouse in Tonoe or the Bioplant, enemies start ambushing you or not letting you flee, which results in your characters getting one-shot, even if you get around buying armor. You can't reliably avoid encounters or flee, either.

Some of the TAS' strats are applicable to a normal run - the first boss (Igglanova) always behaves the same even without luck manipulation, and the same boss' revisit before the Bioplant is good too (you can use Gryz's Crash and instakill him; even if Gryz misses, you can just keep on doing it).

By the time I got to the Bioplant, my party was Alys at 7, Gryz at 6 (both the starting levels) and Chaz and Hahn at 5 each. Except for Gryz and Alys in some cases, the party still got oneshot by random encounters within said dungeon, even though I upgraded Chaz's armor (it didn't help a lot).
I got killed once in the passageway between Aiedo and Kadary, and again in Zio's Castle.

I also determined that the random drop from the enemy in Zio's Castle would not be feasible - by the time you get it, the underflow would not work anymore.
I don't think it's possible to beat Juza without the underflown Tsu and having your party at such low levels, however - I would say around level 10 at least would be required, as well as getting armor/weapons.

Now, between your first visit to Zema and Tonoe, you get Rune for a short period of time. Rune is great in killing random encounters on the world map, so it's possible you can use him to grind if so needed.

I'm not sure if single segment is possible in this game without hours of grinding levels/money or optional dungeons for good equipment. Segmented I can see it being possible.

Wallcrusher

2013-07-11 04:14:23 pm

Dogi the wallcrusher

I haven't played PS4 in quite a while but wouldn't it be possible to keep Chaz dead so he doesn't level past 4? I say this as I also don't remember if bosses gave exp. If they don't then you could use everyone else normally while keeping Chaz dead for Tsu on bosses. You'd still have to grind for the Shadow Blade drop which doesn't sound appealing.

RedArremer

Edit history:

RedArremer: 2013-07-11 04:29:22 pm

2013-07-11 04:29:06 pm

Bosses do give XP and the TAS manipulates their attacks into killing Chaz and the dead weight characters at the end of a battle.
On top of that, there's no easy way of reviving dead teammates. The revival item is only acquired through chests - no shop sells them, and you only gain the revive spell later in the game/with certain characters. The only way until then is to use an inn or the healing pads in the jeep base/spaceport.

It would be worth checking to see if you can find some revival items in the early dungeons to keep Chaz dead as much as possible. It would still require a lot of time investment for money and XP so you can survive random encounters, aside from the fact that you can't control boss attacks. If you're unlucky, they'll kill off Chaz.

As mentioned, I can see it being possible (if really infuriating) to do a segmented run of this with the TAS' strats, but single segment would have to change the strats entirely, and is probably going to be significantly longer than the TAS.

Bosses do give XP and the TAS manipulates their attacks into killing Chaz and the dead weight characters at the end of a battle.
On top of that, there's no easy way of reviving dead teammates. The revival item is only acquired through chests - no shop sells them, and you only gain the revive spell later in the game/with certain characters. The only way until then is to use an inn or the healing pads in the jeep base/spaceport.

It would be worth checking to see if you can find some revival items in the early dungeons to keep Chaz dead as much as possible. It would still require a lot of time investment for money and XP so you can survive random encounters, aside from the fact that you can't control boss attacks. If you're unlucky, they'll kill off Chaz.

As mentioned, I can see it being possible (if really infuriating) to do a segmented run of this with the TAS' strats, but single segment would have to change the strats entirely, and is probably going to be significantly longer than the TAS.

krevett

2013-11-06 05:36:25 am

Hi everyone. Using TAS strats in a segmented run is probably possible, but only for the first parts of the game (up to Juza, Zio perhaps??). Bosse's attacks can't be manipulated like in the TAS so it would be impossible to have the strat work for later bosses (even with lot of restart you will never see any boss act like in the TAS). Anyway I don't think that AS is the way to go to run this game.
I'm not a runner (not skilled enough!!!) but PSIV is my favorite game and I would be happy to see a run of it (segmented and single segment Smiley

) and discuss it here if anyone is interested.

For segmented run, I'll take the first segment up to Tonoe doing the following:
*Intro cinematic
*Set battle speed and msg speed to 1
*Pick Alys, Hahn and go for Igglanova (run away from encounters)
*Visit Mile, Birth valley pick crbn equipment [not needed it seems] (run away from encounters)
*Pick Rune and open menu (set macro [rune gra, everyone attack], unequip Rune and equip Hahn [if carbon equipment was picked])
*Fight encounters with 4 Sand Newt to tonoe with the gra macro (good luck to have a max of them), pick the 300 mst chest in the cave
*Rest at Tonoe inn (chaz and hahn lvl 4, about 2360 mst) useful??
*Do some shopping at Tonoe (sell Rune's equipment except wood cane, buy telepipe, escapipe)
*Pick up Gryz and put him in front of party and save in front of the warehouse

Second segment could look like:
*Pick alshline in the basement
*Teleport to Zema, go through bio-plant and meet up Rika
*Pick crmc equipment in the wreckage
*Take the Sand worm mission in Aiedo and pick the hidden chests in the hunter's guild
*Fight some Zol-slug in the passageway between Aiedo and Kadary (400XP)
*Teleport to Mile and fight the Sand worm
*Rest and save

Next step would be Juza of course (1 segment, trying to get Hahn and Alys killed by the end of the fight), Ladea tower (1 segment, I don't know if going through the plate system would be helpful for the run??), and then things become a little harder, You'll probably need a little grinding before Zio's fight.

Hi everyone. Using TAS strats in a segmented run is probably possible, but only for the first parts of the game (up to Juza, Zio perhaps??). Bosse's attacks can't be manipulated like in the TAS so it would be impossible to have the strat work for later bosses (even with lot of restart you will never see any boss act like in the TAS). Anyway I don't think that AS is the way to go to run this game.
I'm not a runner (not skilled enough!!!) but PSIV is my favorite game and I would be happy to see a run of it (segmented and single segment :) ) and discuss it here if anyone is interested.

For segmented run, I'll take the first segment up to Tonoe doing the following:
*Intro cinematic
*Set battle speed and msg speed to 1
*Pick Alys, Hahn and go for Igglanova (run away from encounters)
*Visit Mile, Birth valley pick crbn equipment [not needed it seems] (run away from encounters)
*Pick Rune and open menu (set macro [rune gra, everyone attack], unequip Rune and equip Hahn [if carbon equipment was picked])
*Fight encounters with 4 Sand Newt to tonoe with the gra macro (good luck to have a max of them), pick the 300 mst chest in the cave
*Rest at Tonoe inn (chaz and hahn lvl 4, about 2360 mst) useful??
*Do some shopping at Tonoe (sell Rune's equipment except wood cane, buy telepipe, escapipe)
*Pick up Gryz and put him in front of party and save in front of the warehouse

Second segment could look like:
*Pick alshline in the basement
*Teleport to Zema, go through bio-plant and meet up Rika
*Pick crmc equipment in the wreckage
*Take the Sand worm mission in Aiedo and pick the hidden chests in the hunter's guild
*Fight some Zol-slug in the passageway between Aiedo and Kadary (400XP)
*Teleport to Mile and fight the Sand worm
*Rest and save

Next step would be Juza of course (1 segment, trying to get Hahn and Alys killed by the end of the fight), Ladea tower (1 segment, I don't know if going through the plate system would be helpful for the run??), and then things become a little harder, You'll probably need a little grinding before Zio's fight.

RedArremer

Edit history:

RedArremer: 2013-11-17 04:49:16 pm

RedArremer: 2013-11-17 04:47:02 pm

RedArremer: 2013-11-17 04:46:05 pm

RedArremer: 2013-11-17 04:10:21 pm

RedArremer: 2013-11-17 04:07:20 pm

RedArremer: 2013-11-17 04:05:39 pm

RedArremer: 2013-11-17 04:04:24 pm

2013-11-17 04:03:09 pm

Alright, I've done some routing for single segment until Alys' death today. Here's what I found:

Up until getting Rune, you can do what the TAS does.
After this point, sadly, grinding will be required. I got Hahn and Chaz to Level 8, and also bought some equipment (armor doesn't seem to help much, but weapons definitely do - 2 titanium slashers for Alys and a titanium sword for Chaz are a must have). I first did some grinding in the vicinity of Krup and the ruined town (forgot its name), the only battles worth fighting there are those having at least 2 Sand Newts or 4 Crawlers. I then tried grinding some in the passage between Krup and Tonoe, where there are 2 enemy types that are worth killing (Sand Newts again, as well as green Crawlers). Rune can oneshot everything with 1 cast of Gra. -> Grinding to 8 in the passageway with inn breaks once Rune runs out of MP (might be possible to postpone this by using the wind Skill).

Once done, you can drop Rune, pick up Gryz (he starts at lvl 6), and go through the Tonoe basement. You don't have to fight anything in there, it doesn't give much XP. Then go to the Bio-plant. There's an enemy type that looks like a blue version of Igglanova (the very first boss as well as the boss at the entrance). Try to run from any other battles in the Bio-plant, they either give little XP or kick your ass quite easily. The dungeon is fairly short, so it's all good.

Once you pick up Rika, you can go to Aiedo. You can grind the Infant Worms and scorpions there for rather good XP; the passage to Kadary gives good XP too, but the enemies there are capable of one-shotting you. Do this until you're Level 9 with Alys, Chaz and Hahn, 8 with Gryz and 7 with Rika. You also should have enough money by this point to buy Titanium Mails for Chaz, Rika and Alys, as well as graphite items for Hahn. Again, Hahn doesn't need a weapon, he'll be casting only spells anyway.

I still have to figure out whether it's faster to pick up the Laser Sword from Zio's Castle and then porting to Mile or going to Mile with Titanium Sword. However, I did it with the Titanium Sword just as well. After picking up the Sandworm quest in Aiedo, you can use a telepipe to port to Mile and fight the Sandworm. Your main damage dealer will be Hahn with Wat, but try to get Rika's Double Slashes (except for turn 1 where she casts Saner to boost your speed), Alys' Vortexes and Chaz' cross-slashes out of the way. I mainly used Gryz as a healbot with Dimates/Monomates, same with Alys once she has no more Vortex left (then have Gryz attack instead). After Chaz is done with Cross Slashes, have him cast Tsu, and Rika can use Res to heal if necessary, or attack. Hahn's survival is critical in this fight, so keep him alive at all costs. The sandworm has around 1500 HP, so the fight takes a lot of patience, but after beating the sandworm, you should have everybody at level 10 or 11. If you've been to Kadary before, telepipe there, otherwise go to Aiedo (and cash in your 5k) and then through the passageway.

In Zio's Castle, make sure to pick up the Laser Sword and the Laser Claw for Rika. That's all you really have to worry about. Juza is somewhat of a pushover, in my opinion, unless he casts his high-damage AoE twice in a row, he won't deal enough damage. Just throw everything you've got at him - Hahn's Wat deals not as much damage, so he can heal with Gires if necessary. Juza has about 1500 HP as well. After killing him you'll have the forced loss to Zio, you can speed this up by trying to escape.

I tried to do Ladea Tower right after this. Your characters should be around 11-12 at this point. The Ladea Tower enemies just absolutely wreck you at this level, and the boss is very luck dependent (even with Rune), as you have to hope he doesn't attack the wrong people at the wrong time. He also has a ridiculous crit rate and his regular attacks oneshot everybody but Gryz, Demi and I think Rune. I managed to beat him with that party, but only barely, and only after several re-tries. I would suggest picking up Rune from here, then leaving to grind everybody up a bit. I think level 14 or 15 should be enough. I also think picking up better equipment from the town next to Ladea Tower might be worthwhile, I'll have to research which items would be good to go there, though I assume that Gryz and Demi don't really need anything after this.

Something to note for further routing is that there's a few optional chests to pick up in all required dungeons, as well as the Wreckage optional dungeon which might be worth checking for treasure that could be useful, may it be items, weapons or armor.

If optimized (particularly the grinding sections), I think it's possible to get through Motavia in about 2 hours or less (it took me 3 hours to do some fooling around, as well as attempts to beat certain bosses), as the only part left to do before going to Dezolis is beating Zio, and then picking up Wren and the Chaos Sorcerer on the ship.

If anyone is interested, I streamed all of it, found here:
http://www.twitch.tv/redarremer/b/480669749
http://www.twitch.tv/redarremer/b/480698287

Sadly my streaming program went boom, which is why there's two parts. Also hoping Twitch doesn't delete either one.

Alright, I've done some routing for single segment until Alys' death today. Here's what I found:

Up until getting Rune, you can do what the TAS does.
After this point, sadly, grinding will be required. I got Hahn and Chaz to Level 8, and also bought some equipment (armor doesn't seem to help much, but weapons definitely do - 2 titanium slashers for Alys and a titanium sword for Chaz are a must have). I first did some grinding in the vicinity of Krup and the ruined town (forgot its name), the only battles worth fighting there are those having at least 2 Sand Newts or 4 Crawlers. I then tried grinding some in the passage between Krup and Tonoe, where there are 2 enemy types that are worth killing (Sand Newts again, as well as green Crawlers). Rune can oneshot everything with 1 cast of Gra. -> Grinding to 8 in the passageway with inn breaks once Rune runs out of MP (might be possible to postpone this by using the wind Skill).

Once done, you can drop Rune, pick up Gryz (he starts at lvl 6), and go through the Tonoe basement. You don't have to fight anything in there, it doesn't give much XP. Then go to the Bio-plant. There's an enemy type that looks like a blue version of Igglanova (the very first boss as well as the boss at the entrance). Try to run from any other battles in the Bio-plant, they either give little XP or kick your ass quite easily. The dungeon is fairly short, so it's all good.

Once you pick up Rika, you can go to Aiedo. You can grind the Infant Worms and scorpions there for rather good XP; the passage to Kadary gives good XP too, but the enemies there are capable of one-shotting you. Do this until you're Level 9 with Alys, Chaz and Hahn, 8 with Gryz and 7 with Rika. You also should have enough money by this point to buy Titanium Mails for Chaz, Rika and Alys, as well as graphite items for Hahn. Again, Hahn doesn't need a weapon, he'll be casting only spells anyway.

I still have to figure out whether it's faster to pick up the Laser Sword from Zio's Castle and then porting to Mile or going to Mile with Titanium Sword. However, I did it with the Titanium Sword just as well. After picking up the Sandworm quest in Aiedo, you can use a telepipe to port to Mile and fight the Sandworm. Your main damage dealer will be Hahn with Wat, but try to get Rika's Double Slashes (except for turn 1 where she casts Saner to boost your speed), Alys' Vortexes and Chaz' cross-slashes out of the way. I mainly used Gryz as a healbot with Dimates/Monomates, same with Alys once she has no more Vortex left (then have Gryz attack instead). After Chaz is done with Cross Slashes, have him cast Tsu, and Rika can use Res to heal if necessary, or attack. Hahn's survival is critical in this fight, so keep him alive at all costs. The sandworm has around 1500 HP, so the fight takes a lot of patience, but after beating the sandworm, you should have everybody at level 10 or 11. If you've been to Kadary before, telepipe there, otherwise go to Aiedo (and cash in your 5k) and then through the passageway.

In Zio's Castle, make sure to pick up the Laser Sword and the Laser Claw for Rika. That's all you really have to worry about. Juza is somewhat of a pushover, in my opinion, unless he casts his high-damage AoE twice in a row, he won't deal enough damage. Just throw everything you've got at him - Hahn's Wat deals not as much damage, so he can heal with Gires if necessary. Juza has about 1500 HP as well. After killing him you'll have the forced loss to Zio, you can speed this up by trying to escape.

I tried to do Ladea Tower right after this. Your characters should be around 11-12 at this point. The Ladea Tower enemies just absolutely wreck you at this level, and the boss is very luck dependent (even with Rune), as you have to hope he doesn't attack the wrong people at the wrong time. He also has a ridiculous crit rate and his regular attacks oneshot everybody but Gryz, Demi and I think Rune. I managed to beat him with that party, but only barely, and only after several re-tries. I would suggest picking up Rune from here, then leaving to grind everybody up a bit. I think level 14 or 15 should be enough. I also think picking up better equipment from the town next to Ladea Tower might be worthwhile, I'll have to research which items would be good to go there, though I assume that Gryz and Demi don't really need anything after this.

Something to note for further routing is that there's a few optional chests to pick up in all required dungeons, as well as the Wreckage optional dungeon which might be worth checking for treasure that could be useful, may it be items, weapons or armor.

If optimized (particularly the grinding sections), I think it's possible to get through Motavia in about 2 hours or less (it took me 3 hours to do some fooling around, as well as attempts to beat certain bosses), as the only part left to do before going to Dezolis is beating Zio, and then picking up Wren and the Chaos Sorcerer on the ship.

If anyone is interested, I streamed all of it, found here:
http://www.twitch.tv/redarremer/b/480669749
http://www.twitch.tv/redarremer/b/480698287

Sadly my streaming program went boom, which is why there's two parts. Also hoping Twitch doesn't delete either one.

RedArremer

Edit history:

RedArremer: 2013-11-17 09:53:01 pm

2013-11-17 09:52:01 pm

Alright, I've checked through treasure lists for all the dungeons up to Zio's Fort revisited. Aside from Laser Claw and Laser Sword, there's a few treasures worth picking up.

In Bio-lab, there's a sword for Chaz which is stronger than titanium sword, and not too far out of the way. Have to see if the risk of running into inescapable fights is worth it. It would make the grinding for and Sandworm easier, but won't matter much afterwards since you pick up the laser sword in Zio's Fort.

Ladea Tower has 3 items - 2 Star Dews (revive item, those can't be purchased) and an armor for Rune. I'll have to check whether the Star Dews are too far out of the way to pick them up, the armor can be picked up with ease as it's just a few steps above a stairway you need to go.

krevett

2013-11-19 04:13:16 am

For useful items there's also a bunch of crmc items (mail, shield and knife if I remember?) in the wreckage near aiedo. The mail is probably worth picking as it boost defense and fire resistance. Also selling this equipment should help buy two psy shields for Rune (it's the best you can do for him as he'll never attack, the next step will be silver shields in dezolis). In zio's fort there's also a star dew and a moon dew I think that could help with boss battle at such low levels.

krevett

2013-11-19 04:20:56 am

Sorry for the double post. Moon dew are revive items (they restore a non-mech char with 1/4 hp) and star dew are gisar items (very useful for later bosses). These items are almost always out of the way because of their power, the only way you can buy them is late in the game with the hydrofoil on motavia but they cost too much so picking them in dungeons might be a very good idea. Also keeping the wooden cane from rune's first encounter is a good idea as it's a free res casting (at low level and only during a fight).

I'll take a look at your streaming later Wink

krevett

Edit history:

krevett: 2013-11-19 11:48:30 am

krevett: 2013-11-19 11:45:43 am

krevett: 2013-11-19 11:42:31 am

2013-11-19 11:38:41 am

Ok, I registered to the forum because I can't edit my post otherwise Smiley

Are you sure you want to start with a single segment run? If it's the case good luck with it (I can't imagine the number of restart it'll take!!!). Going segmented the first segment as i've described ten days ago take about 10 minutes, and you can add another 15 minutes for picking rika and the sand worm fight. Then for juza and Ladea tower I think about 25 minutes would be ok and another 15 minutes for Zio (that brings the time to leave motavia about the hour mark 1h15 at max perhaps?)

As fas as level go, the lowest i've obtained after the Gy-laguiah fight (at the ladea tower) is Chaz 11, Gryz 11, Rune 18, Rika 13, Demi 13, saved just outside of Zio's fort. But I think that i'll get my butt kicked against zio...

Edit: fot items you can pick the lasr barrir (zio's fort before juza I think or plate system I can't remember...) it can be equipped by rune

RedArremer

Edit history:

RedArremer: 2013-11-19 05:32:02 pm

2013-11-19 05:30:31 pm

I don't like doing segmented, because I have no way of recording stuff other than twitch, and I want to offer running this game at marathons in the future. Single segment is what I want to do.

Also, I must've mistaken Moon and Star Dew. But that's okay.

krevett

2013-11-20 05:57:38 am

Ok anyway I'm glad someone is interested in running this game! I'll watch your progression on this topic if you go on posting like this and you can count me in as a supporter Smiley

Even if I'm not skilled as a runner I can also discuss some strats for the game as I still play it for time to time, if I can be of any help...
Good luck!!

RedArremer

Edit history:

RedArremer: 2013-11-25 07:13:01 pm

2013-11-25 07:11:26 pm

I continued my research today.

Ceramic Sword is a good pickup for the Sand Worm, I managed to defeat him without any of my party members being dead, at the level I mentioned in my earlier post. In Tonoe/Aiedo, picking up Titan gear is good enough for both Sandworm and Juza, no need to get Ceramic items, except for Hahn.

I re-tried Ladea Tower with Rune at 19, Chaz and Rika at 14 and Gryz and Demi at 13. The boss was significantly easier this time around, though if he targets Rune with a regular attack and crits (which he usually does cause he has crit rate outta his butt), the run is basically over. I grinded around Termi (the town next to Ladea Tower) and picked up Psy gear for everybody but Gryz.
The entire party was at 14 (Rune 19) after beating the boss.

I then went to Zio straight away. I've beaten him, but it's very luck dependent for this party to beat him. There's some items worth picking up (Moon Dews and Repair Kits in particular).
I think Level 15-16 would be the best range for the party to be at in order to defeat Zio without having to rely too much on him not spamming Corrosion or targeting Rune with Dark Wave.

I continued my research today.

Ceramic Sword is a good pickup for the Sand Worm, I managed to defeat him without any of my party members being dead, at the level I mentioned in my earlier post. In Tonoe/Aiedo, picking up Titan gear is good enough for both Sandworm and Juza, no need to get Ceramic items, except for Hahn.

I re-tried Ladea Tower with Rune at 19, Chaz and Rika at 14 and Gryz and Demi at 13. The boss was significantly easier this time around, though if he targets Rune with a regular attack and crits (which he usually does cause he has crit rate outta his butt), the run is basically over. I grinded around Termi (the town next to Ladea Tower) and picked up Psy gear for everybody but Gryz.
The entire party was at 14 (Rune 19) after beating the boss.

I then went to Zio straight away. I've beaten him, but it's very luck dependent for this party to beat him. There's some items worth picking up (Moon Dews and Repair Kits in particular).
I think Level 15-16 would be the best range for the party to be at in order to defeat Zio without having to rely too much on him not spamming Corrosion or targeting Rune with Dark Wave.

krevett

Edit history:

krevett: 2013-11-26 09:22:49 am

2013-11-26 04:41:04 am

Do you equip Rune with two shields? Psy shields are a must for him until you can get silver.

RedArremer

2013-11-26 04:55:50 pm

Nah, I kept his Ladea Tower gear except for the armor, that I swap with what you find in the dungeon.

krevett

2013-11-27 02:10:02 am

Ok I think that your best bet is to equip him with two shields. Standard ennemies won't damage him too much until middle game, and he will be able to resist a black wave without being killed. The same goes for Raja later, equipping them with two shields give these two character much more resistance, otherwise you'll find that Rune will die too often, even during standard encounters.

RedArremer

Edit history:

RedArremer: 2013-11-27 12:50:51 pm

2013-11-27 12:50:13 pm

I haven't had much problems with Rune dying after the boss at Ladea Tower (though I only worked up to Dezolis for now), but if that'll help him survive that, it might be worth a shot, so thanks for the input.

krevett

2013-11-28 01:02:28 am

The more you'll advance in the game, the more you'll find that Rune definitely needs two shields Smiley

otherwise ennemies in Air castle or Garubek tower will probably one shot him in a speed run! You're already to Dezolis, things are starting to be interesting here!

krevett

2014-01-11 12:35:34 am

Hi RedArremer if you're passing by Wink

No news from your scouting through the game?

RedArremer

Edit history:

RedArremer: 2014-02-24 11:30:50 am

2014-02-24 11:30:41 am

I've been doing some work on Dezolis and Flying Castle off-stream, and I've come to the conclusion that single segmenting this game is not feasible, unless someone finds a way to cheese the game, or reliably manipulate boss RNG, or the shadow blade drop in Zio's Castle. There is way too much need for grinding XP.

Dark Force 1 and especially Lashiec are incredibly difficult to beat with the low level and lackluster equipment.

krevett

2014-03-09 03:23:20 am

Yes, I knew that Lashiec was one of the hardest boss in the game! So bad this run must come to an end, I hope someone will take care for a segmented one!!

Adgey

2014-05-02 09:29:52 am

Hi everyone, thanks to Krevett for directing me to this thread. I've been practicing The first part of the game for a single segment run(up to Zio) and I think I have a OK route. I can get out of motovia at around 1:20 at the moment which is probably still pretty far from optimized but not awful i guess, zio is really difficult in a single semgent run and is probably going to end up being the most difficult/run killer boss. He can screw you so hard.

for the route I first grind when I get rune on the way to tonoe (use up all hewn and gra then go into tonoe. Next grinding spot is Wrekage when I get Hahn to 7 then kill the sand worm. After that the next grind is zol slugs in the cave on the way to zios fort. They give about 450 exp when two of them merge. I grind those until Rika is close enough to get deban off Juza because youll need it for the leadea tower boss. Now the next bit Im not sure if its worth it to pick up the weapons/armour in the weapons plant next to leadea tower. Im guessing it isn't in an optimized run but for now im doing it. The boss in leadea tower is pretty simple with deban. After that is zio, hes really hard and I still dont really have a consistent strat for him, Ill continue to work on it more.

Hi everyone, thanks to Krevett for directing me to this thread. I've been practicing The first part of the game for a single segment run(up to Zio) and I think I have a OK route. I can get out of motovia at around 1:20 at the moment which is probably still pretty far from optimized but not awful i guess,  zio is really difficult in a single semgent run and is probably going to end up being the most difficult/run killer boss. He can screw you so hard.

for the route I first grind when I get rune on the way to tonoe (use up all hewn and gra then go into tonoe. Next grinding spot is Wrekage when I get Hahn to 7 then kill the sand worm. After that the next grind is zol slugs in the cave on the way to zios fort. They give about 450 exp when two of them merge. I grind those until Rika is close enough to get deban off Juza because youll need it for the leadea tower boss. Now the next bit Im not sure if its worth it to pick up the weapons/armour in the weapons plant next to leadea tower. Im guessing it isn't in an optimized run but for now im doing it. The boss in leadea tower is pretty simple with deban. After that is zio, hes really hard and I still dont really have a consistent strat for him, Ill continue to work on it more.