hit up pyrius on twitch, he's got notes you could look at

No further than testing and frustration?  What're talking about?  I have the whole darn route right here!

A.I. Notes: While the A.I. tends to target Max and Domingo above all else, the enemies tend to choose to attack someone else if that someone is standing right next to them.  Also, when grouping enemies together to get owned by Fire3/Ice3 and the like, it's usually a good idea to have a wall of some sort with Max in the middle, or a square to expose Max to only two enemies at a time.

Game Mechanics Notes:  Also, as far as I can tell, the formula for damage is something like (Attack - Defense) - Random number from 1-4)...seems like an odd way of calculating damage, but, it's the only one I've been able to come up with that's consistent between how I damage enemies in the final chapter, and how I damage them in the first few chapters.

Monster Exp.: Goblins: Lvl 1 -48 Exp. per kill, Lvl 2- 34 Exp. per kill, Lvl 3 - ~21 Exp. per kill.  Dark Dwarves: Lvl 2 - ~40 Exp. per kill, Lvl 3- ~32 Exp.

Chapter 1 (around 0:00:00):

1) Head straight to Sealed Gate, and kill all the enemies, giving all the kills to Tao, Max, and Luke.  In fact, you'll want to have Lowe, Hans, and Ken be killed before heading out, as they sap experience away from Luke, Max, and Tao (Max and Luke being people you'll want to promote after the Elliot fight, and Tao gaining the very helpful Blaze series), won't be too terribly useful anyways, and in fact, will actually slow you down greatly in the second battle.  Combine that some experience is going to be lost due to the accelerated rate, and you'll finOnce you've dealt with all the enemies. Then Egress when you can (slightly faster than manually moving Max to where Gong is) and recruit Gong.

2) Go through the long and tedious path while focusing a lot on Tao (within reason of course, like having her physical attack dudes at 1 HP, getting some Dark Dwarf kills, things like that.  But remember, her learning Blaze 2 is HELPFUL, not MANDATORY, so focus on speed above all else).  When you've almost made it, bait the Dark Dwarf and kill it before finishing the totally immobile Rune Knights for free experience. 

3) Recruit Gort and get the Defense Potion, Power Potion, and Herb from the treasure room before moving on to the next fight.  Keep your dudes in a straight line, at least one space away from being right next to the river (so as to make attacking the Bats easier).  Make a point of attacking the bats with Tao (they have a nasty habit of avoiding physical attacks), and don't worry about preserving MP for two Blaze 2's, as I find that to be too restrictive when fighting off like seven opponents at once.  Also, make a point of giving the usual trio all the kills, except in case of an emergency.

Now once you've approached Prompt, position yourself this way like so...

(map here)

...make sure whoever is next to Max is either Gort or Luke, and save, because this part can really troll you.  So, if the person next to Max is strong enough to survive a blow from a Rune Knight, attack the south-easternmost Rune Knight with them, then have Max go below that partner quickly.  Otherwise, wait until that warrior gets exterminated before moving past the danger line (tempting though that may be, as the A.I. can be kind of bad about killing that warrior sometimes), and then once the knights have moved back to their comfort zones (since the A.I. is THAT dumb!), finish off that knight with the other warrior and have Max go south of him as normal...

Obviously things can go wrong, hence the safety save and Max's Herb.  But when you can, run into the kingdom and don't look back!

4) Give Max's Middle Sword to Luke, and the rest of his items to Mae before getting the Power Potion on the island, and the Defense Potion, Bread of Life, and 2nd Middle Sword in one of the castle treasure rooms.  You'll know you have the right room if it has three treasure chests lined up on the left wall.  Then once in prison, use the Bread of Life and both Defense Potions on Max, saving and resetting until you've gotten the maximum boosts from them (Max needs to be able to live after all, especially in the mission AFTER this one!).

So once the actual fight starts, just take your Shining Force and just take your team in a clockwise loop of devastation!  And yes, this is the fastest way I've found, as your forces are spread pretty thin otherwise (especially if say, three bats tag team Max...yeowch!).  Suicide any of the people who aren't the main trio if it doesn't take too much time (for example, if Gort is still alive, he's probably not going anywhere, but Gong'll go down quite easily).

Chapter 2 (around 0:56:24):

1) Get the Speed Ring, equip it to Max, buy a full stock of Herbs for your main fighters (Luke, Tao, and Max).  Talk to mayor, beat up the enemies outside (don't kill any extra fighters, but don't feel free to keep them alive either).  Once the mobile enemies are killed, have Max go up the left side of map, and once you can put him two spaces south and one space west of the southern-westmost Zombie, save, and do so.  Once you do that, kill the north mage, and move Max two spaces south of the southern-westmost corner of the town while using an Herb.  Then get into Dodge.

2) Skip Anri for now, and once near the bridge of enemies, Blaze 2 the Zombie and Mage with Tao, conserve at least 10 MP with Tao, and kill all enemies you can without crossing the bridge.  There should be just one archer left by the time that happens, so once you get to that point, put Max one square northwest of the bridge and Tao somewhere behind Max, save, and have Luke attack the archer from above. 

What should happen is that the bats should form a line in front of Max, therefore allowing Tao to zap them with 1-2 Blaze 2's (don't feel like you have to save them for the final four enemies).  Once Tao is tapped on her MP, have her start going to get the Power Ring as Luke, Max, and whoever may be still alive takes care of business.  If able, have a Power Ring passing chain like so...

Then get it up to Max, equip it to him, and start having him school those poor fools who DARE oppose him!  After that, recruit Anri and Arthur, get the Domingo Egg,  and start the next battle!

3) Charge left and attack the puppet however you can while not standing anywhere but the stairs on the arena.  On Max's second turn, save, have him go one northeast of the east stair, and cast Boost on Luke if he's in range, and on himself if Luke isn't.  Then if the ring doesn't start smoking, cast it on the other melee fighter while heading up to kill the Marionette as  well as offing Anri and Arthur.  Save, and well...I think you can guess :)! 
Once that's done, get the Defense Potion near the kid, repair the Power Ring if it's breaking, give the Speed Ring to Tao, stuff the pockets of the trio with as many Healing Seeds as you can, and start the next fight!

4) Have Tao go directly south of Luke (if she starts first, as usual), and have Luke engage the right Zombie.  On Tao's second turn, she should Blaze 2 three of the group of Zombie to Max's right, and while she hopefully won't get attacked by a Zombie, she may have to back off and heal if that happens (especially likely if the Zombie line isn't a straight line).  Once Tao's healed, have her attack from the middle, as the other monsters aside from what Luke's engaged in doesn't seem to target her once you've already killed a few.

Once they're all mopped up, have Max cast Boost, heal him up, and kill the boss. 

Chapter 3 (around 1:36:48):

1) Note that at some point you'll want to stuff Zylo full of Healing Seeds, but I'm not sure whether it's best to wait until Chapter 4, or buy them for him after the first fight.  The first way saves steps and gives Luke the Middle Axe for the 1st fight, but on the other hand, the latter strategy may be safer (though not needed).  So, that's something that future runners may have to work out. 

But whatever the case, give Balbaroy the Power Ring and Speed Ring (I know for sure that it saves time during the final fight in this chapter, but I'm not sure how long the fight has to be for time to be saved otherwise), and have Balbaroy kill the bishop from the north first before taking out the Master Mage.

2) Get Lunar Dew, search Kokichi's machine and then talk to him, recruit Diane and Zylo, buy a Middle Axe for Luke and Healing Seeds for everyone else (also repair the Power Ring if you need to), put both new recruits in your party, and head on out.  Now, the best way I've found to clear this map quickly without taking a lot of risks is to have Max attack the closest skeleton from the south, have Tao attack that skeleton with Blaze 1, save, send Balbaroy all the way north while using his Power Ring again (reset if smoke starts rising), and pack everyone near around Max rather than sending Zylo off on his own.  Generally, this is what the scene looks like after all the enemies get their turn, at least for me...

(screenshot)

The reason Max still lives despite getting shot twice is because the injured skeleton will use an Herb if Tao shoots him, regardless of whether or not Max hits or misses.  Whatever the case, save, have Balbaroy kill the two Pegasus Knights near him before cleaning up the northmost enemies, and clear out the map (preferably with Diane dieing at some point).

3) Equip Speed Ring on Balbaroy, keep heading east, and once it looks like the Silver Knight is two turns away, use the Power Ring again, and own the poor fool.

Chapter 4 (around 2:04:42):

1) Talk to Elliot and clear Max of all but his weapon before getting the Long Sword and Bread of Life.  Then give the Long Sword and Bread of Life to some inactive member before buying Pelle a Power Spear and filling all active members but Max with Healing Seeds (though Luke and Max will want one space available).  Then get the Legs of Haste before recruiting Vankar and Kokichi.  Against Elliot, proceed east with all until you look something like this...

(snapshot)

...then save, and have Balbaroy use the Power Ring on Luke (no smoking) before Zylo goes one east, and what should happen is that a bunch of enemies will clump themselves in one big, delicious, flammable group, hopefully with Luke able to destroy the Heat Axe lizardman...

I say "hopefully" because unfortunately, this particular part of the fight is pretty random.  All I can do is say that Tao should hit as many enemies as possible no matter how exposed she is, Max should keep wailing on enemies, Balbaroy should guard Tao's east, Pell should kill the Heat Axe lizard, and Luke and Zylo should be standing guard and just generally holding the line...

And yes, it's possible some people may die an early death despite your efforts at keeping them healed, but...that's RNG for you.  So really, beating this part quickly and still having enough gas in the tank to beat Elliot kind of comes down to experience and know-how, though you should still win more often than not thanks to Pell...

On the bright side though, after all that, the battle is fairly straight forward, and as long as you keep Max away from Elliot and beat his henchmen first, the battle should be pretty self-explanatory ^_~!!

2) Recruit Domingo, get more Healing Seeds while leaving an open spot for Max and giving Luke his Heat Axe (and also repairing Balbaroy's ring if necessary), before recruiting Guntz and getting the Steel Sword.  Then, hopefully, you should be able to promote Max, Luke, and Zylo.  Otherwise, you'll need to make sure that gets done in the next fight.

Have Domingo join your active party, and once engaged, clear out the Silver Knights, and have at least Domingo and Pell ready to take out the third Silver Knight before Balbaroy goes 9 east and 12 north.  What should happen once Balbaroy does that is that Pell and Domingo should take out the Silver Knight, and the Pegasus Knights will go south, but not catch Balbaroy.  Have Balbaroy go all the way north before using the Power Ring, and have your guys stand around after clearing out the other enemies.  Then finish off with Balbaroy switching to the Power Ring, killing the Ballistae from the west, and then killing as many enemies near the Cerebus as you need to in order to get to Level 10 from the Cerebus's death.

3) Pass the Steel Sword onto Balbaroy, then fill everyone up on Healing Seeds before promoting Balbaroy. Save, then use all your stat boosters on Balbaroy (You don’t have to be picky with the Legs of Haste or defensive boosters, but rig 2 points out of the Power Potions)!

So, for this fight, you should literally not move anyone until about when a bunch of seabats have all clumped together around your group…and that’s about all I really have, other than that you should get Domingo to Level 4, and that you should also take any opportunity you can to funnel experience into Balbaroy. Also, have Luke use his Heat Axe on whoever Tao plans on Blaze 3’ing.

But yeah, this is another fairly random map, though you’ll want to keep the Power Ring unbroken for the next fight obviously.

Chapter 5 (around 2:56:24):

1) Move Domingo three spaces west, Pelle all the way down, Balbaroy outside of the Pegasus Knight’s range, but still close enough to lure them close, that you may destroy them with the Power Ring.

Once three bats line up in front of Domingo, have Luke use the Heat Axe on the two closest to Domingo, and have Domingo go two spaces south of the center one before using Freeze 2 on them all. If that kills most of them, great.  Otherwise, have Domingo go south and have Pelle go to his east (whether he can attack anyone from there or not).  The rest is pretty standard stuff.

2) Get the Mobility Ring, Shower of Cure, and Bread of Life, swap one of Balbaroy’s Healing Seeds with the Mobility Ring, pass the Shower of Cure to Mae, get the other Defense Potion, use one of the stat boosters on Balbaroy, buy the Steel Lance and Steel Sword for Pelle and Max respectively, use the other stat booster on Balbaroy, and make sure the Power Ring is in good shape.  Promote Pelle, cure and revive if need be, and fight the next fight!  Have Domingo and Tao destroy the first four enemies in front of them as Balbaroy equips the Mobility Ring, uses the Power Ring on his second turn, and destroys the Master Mage on his 3rd!

3) Make sure Luke and Balbaroy’s unique items are working, and go into what is yet another free-for-all, with the only movement related advice I have being don’t move Tao all the way south on her first turn, and have Domingo and Tao blast the southwest area where all the shells will bunch together.  Oh yeah, and give a Power Ring boosted Balbaroy as many kills as is reasonable, though you’ll want to focus on Max too when you can help it (after all, dude needs to live !).

Chapter 6 (around 3:36:28)

1) Recruit Lyle, repair Power Ring, and buy Healing Seeds while leaving a space open for Max.  Then Balbaroy equips Mobility Ring, goes all east, all north, then one up and then east from there to kick Durahan’s butt (saving in case things go wrong, as Durahan is pretty sturdy and strong)…after that, get the Shower of Cure and Halberd, and prepare yourself, because while kicking the butt under leveled and undermanned is cool as all, the enemies later on are pretty rough, and you’re also REALLY going to want Tao and Domingo to learn Boost, so…

2) Level Tao and Domingo up in this fight by having Tao/Domingo target two monsters with multi spells before having Domingo/Tao finish one off with a single spell. Basically stick to that formula for the magic users, and be sure not to have them stand right next to an enemy.  By doing stuff like this, you should be able to get the biggest bang for your buck in terms of leveling up Tao and Domingo.  As for the rest, have them take care of the three Gargoyles (make sure Balbaroy is at Level 9 at the end, and have the rest be at least Level 4), then Egress once Tao and Domingo have run out of enemies.  Promote Tao at Level 17, then rinse and repeat until Tao has learned Boost.  If Tao’s got at least one Boost spell in her, go and own that poor fool Kain, otherwise, Egress again and show him what’s what!

3) Have Balbaroy kill some Belial’s (hopefully without needing to use the Power Ring), and have the rest march a trail of destruction.  Have Balbaroy kill the three guys at the bottom with the Power Ring, and then the two other guys.  Don’t worry about breaking the Power Ring before the next fight, as you won’t need it.

4) Have Max go and get the Power Potion to the east, have Domingo go up to Freeze 3 the three Gargoyles, and have everyone else go up.  Basically, you’ll have Max get the Power Potion to the right, Pelle get the Evil Ring on the left, and have Domingo and Balbaroy kill Mishaela (be sure that Domingo is far enough away from Balbaroy that Mishaela can’t target both of them with her 3X3 Bolt spell).

Chapter 7 (around 5:09:24):

1) Buy Great Axe for Luke, use that Power Potion on Balbaroy (rigging it of course), give the Mobility Ring to Max, and go through the usual Riga moral before going on to the next fight.  Another straight up brawl, although you’ll want to lure the Laser Eyes and Dragons out rather than trying to take them head on.  Also, make good, liberal use out of that Sword of Light and Evil Ring!

2) Get Turbo Pepper, give Mobility Ring to Balbaroy, and at the start, have Balbaroy go three spaces north, have Domingo go north, have Balbaroy go north and use the Power Ring, and then kill the boss on the next turn.  And of course, take potshots at the two blue things with both Domingo and Max.

3) Recruit Musashi, equip Katana to Balbaroy, repair and buy items as needed, then rig both the Power Potion and Turbo Pepper for Balbaroy before passing on the Mobility Ring to Domingo.  Make sure Max has an empty slot before talking to the king, or else he won’t get the Sword of Darkness!
For this one, have Tao or Domingo cast a spell on Balbaroy, and have him kill one of those jellyfish things as he waits for Domingo to lure Chaos out.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group is dealing with the enemies on the left (make sure to equip Max with the White Ring, and try to keep him away from attacks).  Again, the Sword of Light and the Evil Ring are pretty incredible here.  But anyways, Domingo only has to go one space more towards Chaos than he can go on a single turn, and Balbaroy should have just BARELY enough power to 2HKO Chaos, so combine that with Pelle, Max, and Tao’s contributions (she can Boost someone to lay into Chaos if you feel it’s convenient), so this fight should be short but brutal.

4) This on the other hand, is just short ~_^!

Chapter 8 (around 5:50:24)

1) Recruit Hanzou, give his Doom Sword to Musashi, put Musashi and Alef into your party, and make all necessary preparations before this fight!  Make sure you don’t go past the top of the walls containing the treasure chests, otherwise, you’ll have to deal with every Chimaera at once, and unless I’m missing something, it’s just about impossible to deal with that kind of attack without losing at least one person.

Other than that, the fight is pretty much you steamrolling the enemies, though you will want Zylo to fetch the Atlas from the left treasure chest at some point.

2) Have Musashi go west, and make sure to keep Max away from Ramladu as you’re forces steamroll him.

3) If Pelle’s Evil Ring got damaged at some point, you’ll have to go to the priest to uncurse it before the shopkeeper will be willing to fix it (and you DO want it fixed!).  Unless of course, you didn’t equip it, which may be a valid option.  But anyways, give both of the Showers of Cure to Zylo (his role at this point is pretty much that of a healer), and make all due preparations!

So yeah, this fight can really troll you.  First of all, make sure Domingo and Balbaroy don’t get in range of the Chimaera’s, and then do your best to destroy them with Max, Pelle, Alef, and Domingo if you feel you can’t spare him (don’t be afraid to break either Pelle’s ring or Luke’s axe).  Basically, you’re going to try to kill the Colossus with Balbaroy, and if Domingo dies at some point, and Balbaroy is the only person capable of killing the Colossus, you’ll want to rig a double attack (part of the reason why he’s been getting all the Power Potions!), otherwise, Domingo is an EXTREMELY helpful meatshield.

So once you’ve taken care of the Chimaera’s (hopefully without having had to use a Shower of Cure), just have the rest of the party stay put.  Also, Domingo may just get Freeze 4, and if he does, hip hip hooray!

4) Don’t rush this one too much, just destroy the three robots in front of Darksol without going onto the stairs (otherwise, the rest of the monsters will attack you), and get as many people assembled as necessary without exposing them to enemy fire.  Get whoever you feel is needed Boosted, and once the cursor moves onto Darksol and his two dragons, bum rush the jerkwad!

5) This fight can go one of two ways.  One, you’ll have at least one Shower of Cure and/or Domingo’s Freeze 4, and be able to just tear into the two side heads, and then destroy the middle

Only run is the TAS

Far as I know no one's done a run of this SS/RTA cause it's a pain in the ass to complete a run of cause of all the random elements+length.

Definitely upload it! Thanks.