The recent SDA FF2 release caught my attention, and from there, I came here and saw this. By the way, if anyone cares about the console speedrun, which I feel can be significantly improved,
here is the thread. I'll try to post there soon.
Well, I was waiting for ZSNES to become ready for serious runs (maybe by the next WIP), and then I was going to attempt this. But since Phil is on it, I know that being a veteran, he'd likely do a much better job than I would, and I know he'll follow through with this. When I get my SNES back in the fall, maybe I'll take on the SDA run instead. =p
I have finished watching the SDA run, and I'll try to offer some tool-assisted advice now considering some of Peter Tiernan's strategies. Tool-assisted here, console advice in the SDA thread.
First off Phil, I gotta defend myself a bit, my original post was regarding a console low-level run I did before, so of course a good bit of it doesn't make sense. ;)
The algorithm guide I am referring to is by BSiron. Although you probably already know most of the material inside. Uh, it does explain the equipping any sneakable weapon or shield trick at the bottom, although like I said, it seems pointless. On the SDA thread, Red Scarlet of Metroid fame said she likes to equip Rosa with the Earth hammer, but Peter Tiernan tested and it wasn't worth it.
Now that we're talking about a tool-assisted run, I am even more sure that you want to gain as few levels as possible due to luck manipulation possiblities. I think that in general, people tend to overestimate the amount of good that "cool" extracurricular stuff does, like getting Eggs in Lufia 2 or max INT in Ogre Battle. I'm a fan of minimal levels, items, and fooling around, so I'm glad to see that from the Ogre Battle thread, you have a similar mindset.
In FF2, definitely leveling before Paladin Cecil seems wasteful, as you are reset to 1. Afterward, new party members' levels are based on Cecil's, which is what Peter relies on in his run. However, through testing, I don't think it's worth it. The difference in Yang's level based on a level 1 Cecil and a level 9 Cecil? 13 and 14.
However, I am positive that no amount of luck manipulation will let you survive Big Bang, so leveling has to occur somewhere, and I think that is with the Globes as mentioned earlier in the thread. Also, it is very important that you manipulate the correct people to die during fights to maximize XP. Now what levels are needed for a TSA is up for debate, since Big Bang seems to do wildly varying amounts of damage at times.
Speaking of luck manipulation, this isn't DW. I wish you all the best, but I'm not sure if you'll be able to prevent everyone from dying at low levels without tanking. If you could though, that would be optimal.
Now time to address some of your points:
I think you should get the Darkness (mistakenly said Black before, that is what you get automatically from the King of Fabul) sword AND critical hits. You do a LOT more damage with it. I also suggest getting the Fire sword and Earth hammer in the Tower of Zot, and buying the Blizzard spear in Cave Eblana, which I forgot you could do until I saw Peter's run. (Peter gets similar stuff for his run; you can see exactly what he does in the SDA thread.) Most battles, magic will do the majority of the damage, but there are fights where better weapons make a significant difference. Don't mess with buying armor, of course. You get what you need from people joining your party.
I don't think it's worth getting any random drops, especially since you have to fight the battles. Drops pretty much suck; this isn't Lufia 2.
About the Excalibur, well more on that later, but the reason why I dupe near Baron is because of all the wasted time with enemies attacking you while duping while running. BUT if you can manipulate for first strike each time, then I think that would be best.
Now, originally I was sold on Excalibur, but after watching Peter's run, I'm not that sure anymore. What bothers me is that he got a similar time to my ZSNES test run with what I feel was a lot of wasted time. He saves time on me by: Warping and Exiting more (I didn't know about towns for example), better weapons, one less harvest, and... Excalibur. It really does take a good bit of time to do all that, and I think the time saved in battles might not be worth it, especially in a TAS. HOWEVER, I think that with Excalibur, globe harvest XP can be given to just Edge and Rosa, speeding that up a bit, so I dunno. Also like I said, the first striking. But like I said, from a battles standpoint, duping Excalibur wastes MINUTES. It's hard to imagine saving that much time compared to criticaling a lot. Edge is pretty much deadweight without it though.
To me the two key decisions are Excalibur or no, and who to give Globe XP to. Both affect primarily the Zeromus fight. I ask anyone with INFORMED opinions to contribute. I suspect however, that you will have to take a greedy algorithm approach, and use a lot of trial and error. Fortunately, most of the game would not be part of the trial and error bit.
The secret run was Lufia 2, which is now taken by quietkane, who is quite competent. BoF5 I tried, and I'll make a post later, but unless I figure something out I was so close but yet so far. And Ogre Battle you are doing. I am considering Valkyrie Profile, but there will be a new thread for that later.
Ok, that's it, and I should stop anyway because I'm tired. =p
Edit: oh and one last thing, since you are from Quebec, does my avatar mean anything to you?
