Phantasy Star IV

2014-05-02 01:00:05 pm

Again, up until Dezolis, the game is not too difficult. Sadly, there's way too much grinding required to be feasible as a speedrun. Lashiec and Dark Force just completely wreck you, even if you're at a solid level and have decent equipment.

Adgey

2014-05-02 09:06:23 pm

Yes, There grinding required obviously, I dont see how that means single segment is "not feasbile". Im guessing a good time would be like 2:30. Is that too long or something? And you say Dark Force 1 requires too much grinding when hes like the easiest boss in the game with Raja, you dont need to do any grinding for him. I think youll probably need about 45 minutes total grinding in the game which isnt too bad. Also I'm positive Zio will be the hardesy boss in the game in an optimized run, except maybe lassic.

Adgey

2014-05-02 09:47:36 pm

Also, What kind of times are you getting leaving Motovia?

krevett

Edit history:

krevett: 2014-05-03 06:25:21 am

krevett: 2014-05-03 06:23:25 am

krevett: 2014-05-03 03:47:22 am

krevett: 2014-05-03 03:44:02 am

krevett: 2014-05-03 03:43:14 am

krevett: 2014-05-03 03:39:49 am

krevett: 2014-05-03 03:39:41 am

2014-05-03 03:38:31 am

Glad to see a new attempt at running PSIV!! I'm not a skilled runner but I can tell you that Zio is far from the hardest boss (Lashiec is really a killer unless you are lucky and he uses possession often rather than his laserblast/anothrgate spells). I don't think the weapons/armor in the weapon plant are necessary for the run, but I'll greatly advise you to buy 2 psy shield for Rune if you can afford it, it will save you a lot of death. Against Zio 1st round you can ready a macro with Gryz using psycho-wand, Demi casting barrier, Rika casting saner, Chaz crosscut and Rune Gifoi (if I remember zio is very resistant to wat effects). On 2nd round you can use shift with Rika to boost Chaz's attacks and war cry with Gryz, using demi for healing. Then use Rika and/or Demi to heal (don't lose Demi as her Medic Power can ressurect your whole party)

I think about an hour for leaving Motavia would be good...

For Dark Force 1 indeed I think he can be beaten without too much grinding by having Rune and Raja each equipped with 2 silver shields (it's the best for them until the end of the game). Having access to Efess with Rune would be great (as the crosscut+efess combination do awesome damage to evil creatures/bosses), but will require too much grinding.

As a side note, you don't need deban for the Ladea tower boss (otherwise you need to grind Rika to lvl 14 if I remember and it may take a while to do so), but he could end your run most often in this case because he has 250 or so in dex and always gets a crit with its physical attacks. I posted my lowest level before Zio's fight on the previous page but it was segmented of course (Chaz 11, Gryz 11, Rune 18, Rika 13, Demi 13) as you see, Rika did not have deban yet, but a little grinding was required before Zio because the team wasn't powered enough. Equipment was as follow:
Chaz: crmc helm, lsr sword, psy mail
Gryz: crmc helm, struggl axe, crmc mail
Rune: psi circlt, grpt shld, lsr barrir, frademtl
Rika: grpt crown, sabr claw, lsr claw, crmc mail
Demi: head gear, impacter, titn armor

Glad to see a new attempt at running PSIV!! I'm not a skilled runner but I can tell you that Zio is far from the hardest boss (Lashiec is really a killer unless you are lucky and he uses possession often rather than his laserblast/anothrgate spells). I don't think the weapons/armor in the weapon plant are necessary for the run, but I'll greatly advise you to buy 2 psy shield for Rune if you can afford it, it will save you a lot of death. Against Zio 1st round you can ready a macro with Gryz using psycho-wand, Demi casting barrier, Rika casting saner, Chaz crosscut and Rune Gifoi (if I remember zio is very resistant to wat effects). On 2nd round you can use shift with Rika to boost Chaz's attacks and war cry with Gryz, using demi for healing. Then use Rika and/or Demi to heal (don't lose Demi as her Medic Power can ressurect your whole party)

I think about an hour for leaving Motavia would be good...

For Dark Force 1 indeed I think he can be beaten without too much grinding by having Rune and Raja each equipped with 2 silver shields (it's the best for them until the end of the game). Having access to Efess with Rune would be great (as the crosscut+efess combination do awesome damage to evil creatures/bosses), but will require too much grinding.

As a side note, you don't need deban for the Ladea tower boss (otherwise you need to grind Rika to lvl 14 if I remember and it may take a while to do so), but he could end your run most often in this case because he has 250 or so in dex and always gets a crit with its physical attacks. I posted my lowest level before Zio's fight on the previous page but it was segmented of course (Chaz 11, Gryz 11, Rune 18, Rika 13, Demi 13) as you see, Rika did not have deban yet, but a little grinding was required before Zio because the team wasn't powered enough. Equipment was as follow:
Chaz: crmc helm, lsr sword, psy mail
Gryz: crmc helm, struggl axe, crmc mail
Rune: psi circlt, grpt shld, lsr barrir, frademtl
Rika: grpt crown, sabr claw, lsr claw, crmc mail
Demi: head gear, impacter, titn armor

Adgey

2014-05-03 06:43:18 am

I was just on pace for a 1:08ish motovia finish but died on zio. I think i need to adjust my route slightly to get consistent kills on him. As for deban, Ive found it neccessary for the leaea boss for single segment otherwise its HIGHLY likely that he kills my most important characters chaz/rika.

krevett

Edit history:

krevett: 2014-05-03 08:45:56 am

2014-05-03 08:00:10 am

For sure single segment makes boss strats a bit harder as there is no room to rely on luck for beating them at a very low level... The hardest thing will be to find for each boss the optimal level of grinding necessary to beat him without involving too much luck to survive the fight (ie consistency is key in single-segment run)

Another thing for time improvement in single segment is having luck with your random encounters when grinding (max 4*sand newt with Rune at the beginnig, zol slug fusion in the passengeway)
Later in the game lifedeletr are good foes for XP hunting (you can find them in the weapon plant south of Jut/Gumbious temple) they can be hit with spark and are worth 10000XP each (divided by the number of chars in your party) but I don't know if it wil be worth hunting them as this is an optional area to visit but it contains equipment for wren and unlimited repair kits (I think)

RedArremer

Edit history:

RedArremer: 2014-05-06 02:47:40 am

2014-05-06 02:46:50 am

If you can do the entire game in 2:30, I'll be impressed, because that's only about an hour longer than the TAS that uses massive luck manipulation and the underflow glitch with Chaz. No, I think a more realistic time would be around 4h, and most of that will be spent grinding XP/money for equipment.

My estimated departure time for Motavia would've been at around 1.5h (and you being at ~1:10 before Zio seems to be close to that estimate), but Motavia is far from being the last place I had to grind for. My best time for Motavia was around 2h, but that was with experimenting, too.

I also said that Dark Force was difficult to deal with at low levels, not that he requires a lot of grinding. Of course he's easier than some other bosses, but he's been a pain in my backside several times. Nowhere near as bad as Lashiec, though, who just completely wrecked me most of the time. I didn't even bother with Motavia revisit, Rykros or Profound Darkness.

The amount of grinding required is just too high, in my opinion. That's what I meant with not feasible. I mean, yeah, you could run this game and just stubbornly go through it, but I'd rather spend my time doing something else than half of the run being grinding. It doesn't make for an interesting speedrun - as player or as viewer.

If you can do the entire game in 2:30, I'll be impressed, because that's only about an hour longer than the TAS that uses massive luck manipulation and the underflow glitch with Chaz. No, I think a more realistic time would be around 4h, and most of that will be spent grinding XP/money for equipment.

My estimated departure time for Motavia would've been at around 1.5h (and you being at ~1:10 before Zio seems to be close to that estimate), but Motavia is far from being the last place I had to grind for. My best time for Motavia was around 2h, but that was with experimenting, too.

I also said that Dark Force was difficult to deal with at low levels, not that he requires a lot of grinding. Of course he's easier than some other bosses, but he's been a pain in my backside several times. Nowhere near as bad as Lashiec, though, who just completely wrecked me most of the time. I didn't even bother with Motavia revisit, Rykros or Profound Darkness.

The amount of grinding required is just too high, in my opinion. That's what I meant with not feasible. I mean, yeah, you could run this game and just stubbornly go through it, but I'd rather spend my time doing something else than half of the run being grinding. It doesn't make for an interesting speedrun - as player or as viewer.

krevett

Edit history:

krevett: 2014-05-06 08:37:05 am

krevett: 2014-05-06 08:26:53 am

krevett: 2014-05-06 08:20:39 am

2014-05-06 08:20:06 am

Yes I also think that 2:30 to complete the game single-segment is almost impossible as RedArremer already stated the TAS is at 1:26 but more than just luck manipulation and underflow glitch, it only has one random encounter for getting the shadow blade!
Going through the whole game, even finding a way to reduce grinding to a bare minimum, you will still have to face a hundred encounters (even if you flee most of them, i can't imagine the frustration of a "cannot escape" in the middle of air castle or garubek tower decimating half of your party if the computer gets some crits but hey that's the stress of single-segment!)

I love PSIV because I find it a bit harder than many RPG (of course you can grind to insane level if you want but wich RPG isn't easy at high level??), but it may be because of that that we never saw a single segmented speedrun of PSIV for now...I'm sure a segmented one is feasible (you'll probably just need two or three small segment for grinding, and you'll be able to reduce these by restarting until you get the most rewarding encounters, like sand newt at the beginning or zol slug in the passengeway to kadary) but going single segment will be a very hard task!!!

Anyway, I'm always here to see it happen (finger crossed Wink

) good luck running it Adgey and see you here in the forum for your progress/questions!!

Edit: Here's a link to an old discussion about speed running PSIV (segmented this time) on gamefaq. The board is no more active but maybe you could find some advice too.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/563334-phantasy-star-iv/61457436

His attempt gave the following time (it was not fully optimized but it gives some ideas, and don't forget it was segmented)
-1:16 after zio's death cinematic
-2:04 before entering air castle

Yes I also think that 2:30 to complete the game single-segment is almost impossible as RedArremer already stated the TAS is at 1:26 but more than just luck manipulation and underflow glitch, it only has one random encounter for getting the shadow blade!
Going through the whole game, even finding a way to reduce grinding to a bare minimum, you will still have to face a hundred encounters (even if you flee most of them, i can't imagine the frustration of a "cannot escape" in the middle of air castle or garubek tower decimating half of your party if the computer gets some crits but hey that's the stress of single-segment!)

I love PSIV because I find it a bit harder than many RPG (of course you can grind to insane level if you want but wich RPG isn't easy at high level??), but it may be because of that that we never saw a single segmented speedrun of PSIV for now...I'm sure a segmented one is feasible (you'll probably just need two or three small segment for grinding, and you'll be able to reduce these by restarting until you get the most rewarding encounters, like sand newt at the beginning or zol slug in the passengeway to kadary) but going single segment will be a very hard task!!!

Anyway, I'm always here to see it happen (finger crossed ;) ) good luck running it Adgey and see you here in the forum for your progress/questions!!

Edit: Here's a link to an old discussion about speed running PSIV (segmented this time) on gamefaq. The board is no more active but maybe you could find some advice too.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/563334-phantasy-star-iv/61457436

His attempt gave the following time (it was not fully optimized but it gives some ideas, and don't forget it was segmented)
-1:16 after zio's death cinematic
-2:04 before entering air castle

Adgey

2014-05-06 10:28:22 am

Well, I just got a 1:13.52 zio finish and that was a pretty bad run with garbage menuing etc, but my route is pretty solid now. I think I can do about a 1:05 motaiva on a nice run. Zio is still a huge pain in the ass though but Ive somewhat minimized deaths on him at least. I started routing on Dezolis and thats going ok, next thing to do is air castle and thats going to be a major challenge to optimize - It's so ridiculously big! I may be underestimating how hard the rest of the game is going to be in a single segment but I dont see how at worst 2:45 would be gettable. These were my splits on my last Motovia run:

Iglanova - 3:59.3
Iglanova 2 - 17:42.6
Sandworm - 35:05.2
Juza - 47:15.3
gy-laguiah - 59:17.4
Zio - 1:13:52.7

krevett

Edit history:

krevett: 2014-05-06 01:24:21 pm

krevett: 2014-05-06 12:57:47 pm

krevett: 2014-05-06 12:52:45 pm

2014-05-06 12:44:42 pm

You're not so far from segmented for the motavia part (but the run was never finished, nor optimized) to compare with your time it was:
SandWorm 32:06 (saved after sandworm's death just in front of zio's fort)
Juza 41:38 (saved after getting land rover)
Gy-laguiah 55:39 (after alys's death cinematic)
Zio 1:15:59 (saved in spaceport after getting the ship)

Your time is even better after Gy-laguiah to Zio (the author of the dead run thinks he grinded too much before the fight)

Air castle major threat is of course Lashiec his attacks can almost kill your party (anothrgate/thunderalbrt are very dangerous) and when he's low on hp he casts "reinforce" and at low level it should be dispelled using psycho-wand or you risk getting killed after that. Having Rune at level 25 (Nafoi) is great for this fight but require quite some time (Rune levels so sloooooooowly). I think the best sport for this is weapon plant near Jut to get fast XP.

Profound darkness's third form could also be a problem as megid is such a blowout at low-level and he always casts it the moment he gets in his third transformation!

PS: I used to hack the game on emulator (altering stats and status effects of some monsters attacks) so if you need some data (hp, weakness or anything else) feel free to ask (but I'm sure you already have access to all of this probably)
I'm just excited with your run Wink

!!

Edit: Here's a link to NeoElfBoy low-level boss run on gamefaq, you might find some useful tips even if everything can't apply to single-segment run as these fight needed many restarts!!

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/563334-phantasy-star-iv/47833653

You're not so far from segmented for the motavia part (but the run was never finished, nor optimized) to compare with your time it was:
SandWorm 32:06 (saved after sandworm's death just in front of zio's fort)
Juza 41:38 (saved after getting land rover)
Gy-laguiah 55:39 (after alys's death cinematic)
Zio 1:15:59 (saved in spaceport after getting the ship)

Your time is even better after Gy-laguiah to Zio (the author of the dead run thinks he grinded too much before the fight)

Air castle major threat is of course Lashiec his attacks can almost kill your party (anothrgate/thunderalbrt are very dangerous) and when he's low on hp he casts "reinforce" and at low level it should be dispelled using psycho-wand or you risk getting killed after that. Having Rune at level 25 (Nafoi) is great for this fight but require quite some time (Rune levels so sloooooooowly). I think the best sport for this is weapon plant near Jut to get fast XP.

Profound darkness's third form could also be a problem as megid is such a blowout at low-level and he always casts it the moment he gets in his third transformation!

PS: I used to hack the game on emulator (altering stats and status effects of some monsters attacks) so if you need some data (hp, weakness or anything else) feel free to ask (but I'm sure you already have access to all of this probably)
I'm just excited with your run ;) !!

Edit: Here's a link to NeoElfBoy low-level boss run on gamefaq, you might find some useful tips even if everything can't apply to single-segment run as these fight needed many restarts!!

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/563334-phantasy-star-iv/47833653

MrStarbird

2014-05-10 07:04:57 pm

Leader of Starbirdia!

this is a game I've considered speedrunning as well, but I know that the TAS method is pretty difficult to pull off.

A long time ago I made a "shrine" for this game on RPGClassics which has a lot of information on the game, but to this day I haven't found a good method of playing the game fast. I have low leveled it to around the mid to upper 30s, so that might help with speed to know that it is possible to beat the game at that level (I used Kyra for my last character, though Raja would probably be a better choice).

I've gotten to around the Sandworm and haven't figured out much since then (probably because I'm at a really low level at that point). My suggestion would be that when you get Rune for the first time, remove his equipment (keep the Wood Cane for the free healing and sell the rest) and then make a couple of macros, one where he leads with Hewn and the other with Gra. Just grind the Valley Cave for some quick levels by just having Rune to the work until he is out of power. A decent start to at least boost you by later on. Once Rika gets Deban and you get Demi/Wren, you can start to low-level it a bit more. Until then, I've found that you do need the stats to survive the battles and at least make them quicker.

this is a game I've considered speedrunning as well, but I know that the TAS method is pretty difficult to pull off.

A long time ago I made a "shrine" for this game on RPGClassics which has a lot of information on the game, but to this day I haven't found a good method of playing the game fast. I have low leveled it to around the mid to upper 30s, so that might help with speed to know that it is possible to beat the game at that level (I used Kyra for my last character, though Raja would probably be a better choice).

I've gotten to around the Sandworm and haven't figured out much since then (probably because I'm at a really low level at that point). My suggestion would be that when you get Rune for the first time, remove his equipment (keep the Wood Cane for the free healing and sell the rest) and then make a couple of macros, one where he leads with Hewn and the other with Gra. Just grind the Valley Cave for some quick levels by just having Rune to the work until he is out of power. A decent start to at least boost you by later on. Once Rika gets Deban and you get Demi/Wren, you can start to low-level it a bit more. Until then, I've found that you do need the stats to survive the battles and at least make them quicker.

krevett

2014-05-11 12:53:51 am

At low level Kyra is probably better than Raja for the last battle because of increased resistance and more hp. She also have medice that is really good for healing.

MrStarbird

2014-05-11 08:04:30 am

Leader of Starbirdia!

yeah, that's what I ended up doing anyway. Demi might also be viable with her Medical Power and high attack power, but the Profound Darkness' 2nd form just destroys Wren/Demi if not handled quickly enough. I'd have to play around with it a bit.

Adgey

2014-05-11 10:45:39 pm

Raja will be the best choice in an optimized run, no doubt. Miracle/blessing/anarxia are far too strong.

I've been routing Dezolis the last few days and its turning out to be pretty challenging, I estimate a good time for Dezolis alone to be about 1:25-1:30 with my current route (I haven't really optimized it yet though). The enemies in Air Castle and the tower are really irritating because you cant run from some of them so youre forced to kill them. So you basically have to incorperate them into your grinding when the xp from them isnt as good as the monsters in the weapons plant next to Jut. I think 2:30-2:45 total time in single segment might be a bit out of reach now after seeing how annoying Dezolis can be.

The rest of the game after Dezolis is really easy though I think, The remaining dungeons are really small so I dont see the final part of the game after Dezolis taking more than 45 minutes at the most. Which would put a good finish time at a little over 3:00.

krevett

Edit history:

krevett: 2014-05-12 03:36:29 am

krevett: 2014-05-12 03:16:24 am

krevett: 2014-05-12 02:03:28 am

2014-05-12 12:58:32 am

Raja will be the best choice if his level is high enough because profound darkness's last form is really challenging with a low level and his physical attack can kill Rune or Raja in one hit as can Megid at level 30. But I suppose your level will be a bit higher than in a low-level challenge so Raja might be the better choice!

For the final part after Dezolis, I think 45 minutes is a bit optimistic, because you'll have to run to soldier temple, fight DF3, go to Rykros and fight the two guardian (quite easy but not so fast with LeRoof's introdution) then return to motavia for the final fight (between LeRoof's final dialog, travel to Esper mansion to meet Elsydeon, then travel back to spaceport to meet everyone and ready for the final battle, that's quite time consuming, 20 minutes or so, but I can be wrong I've not given myself a try at timing this part), and then the final fight will easily take 15 minutes just by itself! And that's without doing any side quest for getting better equipment/XP for Wren (Vahal fort comes to mind).

Do you stream some of your attempts/scouting sometime?

Raja will be the best choice if his level is high enough because profound darkness's last form is really challenging with a low level and his physical attack can kill Rune or Raja in one hit as can Megid at level 30. But I suppose your level will be a bit higher than in a low-level challenge so Raja might be the better choice!

For the final part after Dezolis, I think 45 minutes is a bit optimistic, because you'll have to run to soldier temple, fight DF3, go to Rykros and fight the two guardian (quite easy but not so fast with LeRoof's introdution) then return to motavia for the final fight (between LeRoof's final dialog, travel to Esper mansion to meet Elsydeon, then travel back to spaceport to meet everyone and ready for the final battle, that's quite time consuming, 20 minutes or so, but I can be wrong I've not given myself a try at timing this part), and then the final fight will easily take 15 minutes just by itself! And that's without doing any side quest for getting better equipment/XP for Wren (Vahal fort comes to mind).

Do you stream some of your attempts/scouting sometime?

MrStarbird

2014-05-12 01:15:31 pm

Leader of Starbirdia!

I've decided to try to speedrun this game. I probably could be doing better for my arrival to Tonoe, but I did grind a bit with Rune so that Alys could learn Zan and combo with Hahn for Blizzard, but with all the dialog and the intro, I thought 15 minutes wasn't too bad.

The lowest level I've beaten the game with for everybody was Level 36. As far as Raja being the best choice at a low level, I agree with Krevett and that at a low level he can take a beating unless you put some shields on him. Kyra with a pair of Reflect Shields can hold her own a lot better, and because she is faster than Raja, having her with the Guard Rod makes her much more viable IMO. at low levels, I have found that Agility can make or break a game.

krevett

Edit history:

krevett: 2014-05-12 01:53:24 pm

krevett: 2014-05-12 01:47:18 pm

2014-05-12 01:46:55 pm

Yes agility is the key for your main healer at low level versus bosses, because if they act just before you can heal your most important character it probably means a restart (if you're trying single-segment Smiley

) that's why saner is a key spell for Rika! I've always put two shields on Rune and Raja even at high level anyway they are never going to attack so never think of a staff for them it's useless, staff are only good as item use (wood cane/guard rod). I also think that at low level magic casting items such as the flame sword will be put to good use if you put some shields on other characters as well (Kyra perhaps)

Glad to see another speedrunner that will attempt to beat this game!! Are you also considering single-segment MrStarbird? 15 minutes to Tonoe considering leveling Alys to lvl 8 is not bad at all she's so long to level up! You just need luck to catch many groups of 4 sand newt and avoid other craps (carrion crawler and blobs!)

Looking forward for your progress Mr Starbird and Adgey!

Edit: The best places to grind IMO are the cave when you get Rune for the first time (4*sand newt only), the passengeway between Aiedo and Kadary (Meta slug) and the weapon plant near Jut/Gumbious (Lifedeletr)

Yes agility is the key for your main healer at low level versus bosses, because if they act just before you can heal your most important character it probably means a restart (if you're trying single-segment :) ) that's why saner is a key spell for Rika! I've always put two shields on Rune and Raja even at high level anyway they are never going to attack so never think of a staff for them it's useless, staff are only good as item use (wood cane/guard rod). I also think that at low level magic casting items such as the flame sword will be put to good use if you put some shields on other characters as well (Kyra perhaps)

Glad to see another speedrunner that will attempt to beat this game!! Are you also considering single-segment MrStarbird? 15 minutes to Tonoe considering leveling Alys to lvl 8 is not bad at all she's so long to level up! You just need luck to catch many groups of 4 sand newt and avoid other craps (carrion crawler and blobs!)

Looking forward for your progress Mr Starbird and Adgey!

Edit: The best places to grind IMO are the cave when you get Rune for the first time (4*sand newt only), the passengeway between Aiedo and Kadary (Meta slug) and the weapon plant near Jut/Gumbious (Lifedeletr)

Adgey

2014-05-12 02:17:15 pm

Maybe you guys are right about using Kyra for the final boss although im skeptical because when Rika runs out of tp and I have to anarxia (spelling?) Im pretty much screwed.

Good luck if youre going to try single segment Starbird, its really challenging finding an optimal route for the game. I'm pretty sure my Motovia route is close to perfect and im slowly getting there with Dezolis. Feel free to ask any questions if youre having trouble on it.

I haven't streamed anything yet Krevett I don't have a capture card or whatever you need. Maybe Ill do it in the future once im done routing the run.

krevett

Edit history:

krevett: 2014-05-12 02:34:35 pm

2014-05-12 02:34:11 pm

Using items like star-dew will help you spare the tp or Rika bacause sar family techniques consume too much tp especially for the last boss, only use gisar as a last resort and use guard rod as much as you can (it doesn't heal that much but free healing is always good) and try to get every star dew you can get in chests. You can also buy them when you get the hydrofoil if you got some spare mesetas!

MrStarbird

2014-05-12 02:40:25 pm

Leader of Starbirdia!

I'm not going to do a single segment, at least for my first submission. What is your time for Motavia if I might ask, Adgey?

When I low-leveled the game, I never really had to worry about Rika running out of TP. She never got NaSar to have to worry about it and the Guard Rod makes all my healing worries go away. In the PF fights, Rika uses Saner, Wren uses Barrier, and Kyra uses Warla. This makes all of my characters move faster than Profound Darkness and will help in dealing with her attacks. After that, Kyra becomes my healer while Rika is used as a backup healer. I don't think I'll get the Photon Eraser for Wren as I believe Flare will deal similar damage at that level.

Adgey

2014-05-12 03:03:16 pm

My route for single segment on Motavia gives me about 1:10 at the moment. I haven't had a fantastic run yet but 1:05-1:07ish would be a really good run. Segmented I think you could easily do sub 1:00. Maybe even sub 55.

MrStarbird

2014-05-12 05:08:17 pm

Leader of Starbirdia!

do you think it is worth it to do the Ranch Owner quest or should that just be skipped? the exp is astronomical at that level but the time it takes to kill him may be too much

Adgey

2014-05-12 05:23:19 pm

Yes, I do the Sandworm in my route as its optimal to do it. Im guessing its the same for segmented. I do the sandworm as soon as Hahn reaches level 7 so he has 51hp and less likely to get 1-shot from him. In a segmented run you can get away with a slightly lower level - probably 6.

MrStarbird

2014-05-12 05:38:28 pm

Leader of Starbirdia!

I can see that segment is going to take some time to work on to get it right... considering I'd also plan to get Hahn and Alys killed in the fight somehow. I tried a sandworm fight at level 5 and I will say that I could not win that fight at all.

I'm also debating on whether or not to do wreckage to at least get some of the equipment in there, but not finish the dungeon. I bought an Escapipe in Tonoe just for that. The extra equipment and money would probably come in handy to keep grinding to a minimum though.

krevett

Edit history:

krevett: 2014-05-13 01:09:42 am

2014-05-13 01:07:46 am

You're right doing the Ranch Owner quest is optimal because it allows you to gain much XP even if the fight is long, gaining this XP through grinding would take you even more time and 5000 mesetas are a boon for optimized run... I also think that picking equipment in the wreckage without finishing it is great because you'll need mesetas to buy a bit of psy equipment (and crmc mail is a good armor at this stage of the game).

If you're running segmented you'll be able to optimize fights as well, having optional chars getting killed to boost Chaz, Rune, Rika or Wren and that's not something Adgey can do easily, that's why you'll be able to reduce grinding much more than in a single-segment run. Adgey is right about having sub 1h for leaving Motavia in a segmented run it's what you should aim for!

After beating Zio perhaps taking on the Fissure of Fear quest is also a good idea it doesn't take much time and gives good XP.

A year ago I was totally disappointed to see noone would take care of running this game and now there's two run, single-segment and segmented, that will perhaps see the light of day Smiley

really enjoying your work guys!!

You're right doing the Ranch Owner quest is optimal because it allows you to gain much XP even if the fight is long, gaining this XP through grinding would take you even more time and 5000 mesetas are a boon for optimized run... I also think that picking equipment in the wreckage without finishing it is great because you'll need mesetas to buy a bit of psy equipment (and crmc mail is a good armor at this stage of the game).

If you're running segmented you'll be able to optimize fights as well, having optional chars getting killed to boost Chaz, Rune, Rika or Wren and that's not something Adgey can do easily, that's why you'll be able to reduce grinding much more than in a single-segment run. Adgey is right about having sub 1h for leaving Motavia in a segmented run it's what you should aim for!

After beating Zio perhaps taking on the Fissure of Fear quest is also a good idea it doesn't take much time and gives good XP.

A year ago I was totally disappointed to see noone would take care of running this game and now there's two run, single-segment and segmented, that will perhaps see the light of day :) really enjoying your work guys!!