How about Gauntlet II for the NES? The highest level I remember getting to was around 170 or so. After a while, the levels begin to repeat themselves. If you have multiple players, you get infinite continues. If you do single player, you get one life.
I remember the hardest part of that game was killing the dragon, but not firing an extra shot, so you don't destroy the powerups that are dropped.
What about using barrier items? A magic barrier will cut magical damage by a cool third, which can end up being quite a bit. The items do wear out after a minute or so, so you may have to get too many of them to be worth it.
What about equipping one character with all +MDef equipment, and manipulating as many magic attacks on him as possible? MDef isn't very meaningful at low levels, but the closer you get to 99%Mdef, you become practically immune. The flea vest would be perfect for that.
I thought the bomb room door only locks after you get the bombs. In that case, maybe you could use the chozo as a platform, and use the arm pump+mockball to get extra speed on the way out. I don't know if the item ball itself can be used as a temporary platform to get some extra acceleration, but it just might do it.
The girl's Fire Boquet magic reduces enemy attack power. That won't be useful in a speedrun like this. I guess you'll have to see if the girl's limited offensive magic will help or not. After all, two casters could be better than one.
Don't forget that the girl also has offensive salamando magic. Her spells decrease enemy stats as well. It may be helpful in dealing more damage in a short time.
There are two problems with Lunar beam- it costs 8 mana, and it will be at level 0. This means the beam itself will do very little damage for the menu time required, and the lower level girl won't have enough mana to deal good damage. In a speedrun like this, it's far better to pick one or two schools of magic and level them up as much as possible.
Some recommendations:
- Use light saber instead, for the extra damage and boss weakness. A level 0-1 saber won't have many attacks on it, so apply it before charge attacks. You can likely get more damage out of the saber than the light beam.
- Lumina magic is acquired around the same time as Lunar magic. Moon energy gives 100% critical strikes, so it will be essential to use. IIRC, Critical strikes double your damage before enemy armor is applied.
- Bosses that are weak against Lumina, also take significant damage from Salamando. Salamando is useful against lots of bosses, so it may be better to use that instead.
I saw the movie, and I wonder about the party AI. In some spots, the computer characters get stuck and slow you down. Maybe by changing their AI settings, you can make them "stick" less to the monsters and follow you more? It'd be something to experiment with.
I had my characters set to aggressive most of the time, with a distance setting appropriate for their weapon. If an AI character gets too aggressive and risks injury, I'd just quickly hit select and move them out of the way. I'd also hit select to move them out of engagement range, if they wouldn't leave a monster alone. I got pretty good at it too. On some occassions, I'd join in player 2 just to keep both AIs away, while the hero went solo.
Having two computer characters follow you in a line is very difficult. The last one always seems to get stuck somewhere. You'll definately need two players at some points to better navigate your party. Or, you might be able to just leave one dead. Who cares about healing magic anyway?
In some areas, you have nothing but a staircase to travel on. Even though you can't constantly dash on the stairs, the characters do for a very short time. Would dashing save a few frames there?
There are some monsters that can be one-shotted if you get a critical hit on them. Rabbites are a good example. Have you considered doing that? I'm sure no one would mind a quick pause to liquify a monster here and there.
Oh, that tiger is a pain. When I fought him, I simply found it easier to let the other characters die, and avoid his attacks myself. The trick is knowing when to keep your distance, but you should be able to avoid his rolling attack without too many reloads. You may find the select button really handy in that battle, as a way of quickly repositioning the other two characters. Also, you could have a second player to keep the two aside, while the hero does the dangerous stuff solo. But you'd likely need all three characters attacking to get a good time.
One thing I noticed when fighting Tropicalo. When you use charge attacks, try to have the attack finish just as the boss becomes vulnerable. That'll leave you more time to ready more hits.
Another thing, is that some items have a +Agi bonus to go with them. Extra agility will save you a tiny amount of frames for preparing an attack, or running. I don't know if it's worth going out of your way to get the items, but prolonged use of the items will add up. They are:
Quilted hood- +5 agi helm. Girl and sprite only.
Griffin helm -+5 agi helm. Best helm, hero only.
Wolf's Band - +5 agi bracelet.
Ninja gloves - +5 agi bracelet. Protection from slow effects.
Faeries' Ring - +5 agi bracelet. Best def and Mdef in the game. lots of status protection.
Just about all character equipment can be found from treasure chests and luck manipulation. Handy for equipping characters on the fly. The act of opening the chest will take time, but it may save time over making a trip to town. Since you won't have alot of gold to spend, it may be the only way to get decent protection for your characters. Luck manipulation would mean you won't need much armor anyways.
Okay, I found the biggest problem in the video. Why the heck you pull out the mana sword?! You realize you just doomed the entire world. You should've just pulled out those thorny weeds by hand, it would've saved you all the trouble. Or, you could've 'silenced' those talkative friends of A, and none would be the wiser. Just kidding, of course. ;)
Awesome trick used at mantis ant. By using evade manipulation, you stopped your character from having to recharge his attacks. Very clever. I didn't know that could be done, and to such great effect.
I think it wouldn't be bad if you named your character something other than A, Zero. You get to pick the name of course, since your run. But I think a good name would add some entertainment value to the video.
Edit: Wierd. I used the Seiken2.smc Rom and it worked fine. No desynchs. The savestates don't work because of the different file name, but that's easily remedied on my end.
The real power of magic is going to be in its ability to stun bosses. The trick to doing it is to let the spell just barely finish and do its damage, before the next spell hits. You can deal slash damage in the meantime, loading up the next big damage number the boss is going to get. If executed correctly, the boss should never have a chance to move while you pound away at it.
Don't forget, that it takes time to do a magical effect. The damage is not dealt during the spell, you have to wait until it's done. Then, you have to access the menus, which will take even more frames. Slashing damage may be done slowly, but magic damage is done even slower.
But, it is possible to slash away while waiting for the next damage number to pop up. The total damage will happen when the next number pops up. That's why it'll be a good idea to have multiple characters participate in boss fights, to maximize your damage potential. A good level charge + chain casting can easily do massive damage. Combined with moon energy, you can't do anything that isn't 999.
I dunno, is it possible for charge attacks to deliver multiple hits? It is definately something to consider when fighting bosses.
The ability to quickly one shot monsters may come in handy if power levelling needs to be done. It is possible to lay many physical hits at once, which when combined with moon energy can quickly kill monsters. I guess it depends on how handy levels are going to be, though.
Mnnyes, i forgot to mention that wouldn't this make leveling up kind of pointless? Well atleast "normal" leveling where you level up your characters, because I assume you can avoid everything and anything in this game so you wouldn't need high defense or high HP. You could just cast spell Y, X times if you need it to be at higher level before situation Z for example.
True, but it's practically impossible to get a low level in SoM. Just killing the bosses, the best a low level run can do is about level 40, keeping all the characters alive. Level 40 is very decent, so don't expect physical or magical attacks to be very weak. As long as you orb up your weapons, you can keep doing good damage.
Anyway, I wouldn't trust so much on weapons on this game, because magic works so much better, this imbalance of magic vs weapons wasn't fixed until the next sequel Seiken Densetsu 3 (which was never released outside japan).
Yeah, magic is powerful. But it takes a ton of frames to do. Physical attacks happen instantly, which means it can deal damage faster than magic. That's why I think moon energy will be very effective. One moon energy spell will imbue your characters with a ton of potential damage. Plus, moon energy will let you one-shot many monsters, which is free XP on the run. Just join the hero in, whack the monster, and then quit him out again. I don't think you'll lose much speed that way.
I don't know if it's been said or not, but damage is capped at 999, and is dealt with every number you see. Any time you see 999, some overflow damage was wasted. Damage numbers pop up about every second, and is paused when a monster is getting hit by a spell. There is a trick to do double hits on enemies, I just don't know how to do it.
Yeah, you do keep your items in a New Game +, but you don't keep your gold, which I thought was wierd. Oh, well, it's easily remedied by loading up on expensive equipment, and simply selling it in the next game. There are a few items that are lost between games, but I don't know which ones they are. Two items that come to mind are the Masamune, and Magus' amulet.
You don't need to worry about quest specific items, since you can get them every game. The only items you need to worry about are the "one or the other" choices. Since this is a single run, you'll have to choose which items you can live without.
I believe there was also a place where you had to decide between the Prism dress, or Three Prism helms.
The Prism dress provides a much-needed shell effect, (cut's magic damage by 1/3) as well as the highest defense in the game.
Both items can be charmed off of the Final Zeal boss.
The prism helm "locks status", whatever that means, and boasts the highest defense in the game. The safe helm defends better, though, because of its permanent safe effect. (cuts physical damage by 1/3) I'd rather use the haste helm, though, because double speed is likely going to be far better in a speed run.
But other than deciding between two or more items, there is no inventory limit. At least none in the normal course of the game (dunno about quest specific items) Chrono trigger keeps track of every item you can get, up to 99 of each.
There are two things that could've got your hero's damage over 400 on a normal attack, mazzeneko. He could be using a saber that the monsters are weak to, or he could have moon energy. Sabers give a small damage bonus, as well as imbuing the weapon with the saber's element. Moon energy gives a 100% chance to land a critical for some amount of hits. 250 damage sounds about right for a normal attack on a weak monster without any buffs.
Leveling spells and weapons will take a long time for each one. Be sure to only train in the skills that you need, and only use the weapons essential to beating the game.
Edit: Also, some versions of the weapons have bonuses against certain monster types. Some are strong against insects, flowers, dragons, etc. Upgrading the weapon again will replace that bonus with something else.
Oh, this game is great. I remember that at the beginning, the gun has exactly enough shots to make it past that first door. Shield, big blast, and kill the guards, then the gun runs out. Waste any, and you die. Classic.
You really have to play the game to know just how hard it is. As an example, if you don't hold up at that very first water scene, a tentacle drags you down to your death. Those leeches are fatal, the beast takes alot of practice to get past, you have to rattle your cage free, the first gun fight is very tough, the steam in the pipes is fatal, you can drown, spikes, teeth, tentacles, leaps of faith, and tons of gunfights. The colleseum scene is a puzzle in itself- you better hit the buttons in the right order, or you'll get caught. And you better make it to that control panel at the end, or the guard will kill you. Just like the Sierra games of old, there were a million ways you could die, and only one way to survive. It was truley a great adventure game like no other. And the best part is, there weren't any box puzzles! How many adventure games can you say that about?
If you're going to try to race faster than 478Kph, you'll need to master the turns. I made a little pic here to show the best way to handle the turns, IMO. You want to start on the outside of the turn, turn as early as possible to hug the inside of the turn, and exit on the other side of the road. It should give you the biggest turn possible. Careful use of the L and R keys will help even more, as I've outlined in the pic. With a little practice, you may be able to do some of those impossible turns yet!
Edit: Ha! My diagram is even uglier than yours, FODA! How do you like that? :)
Doesn't Lufia II have that special 100 floor dungeon? I'd like to see a run through that. IIRC, it doesn't matter what you have when you enter the dungeon, because you start off at lvl 1 essentially naked. So you can likely start from a save state at the island, and do the dungeon from there.
Also, isn't there a "new game +" in Lufia II that gives bonus XP? It starts out just like a virgin game, but all the battles give 4 times the XP I think. That would definately make for a faster run, but would likely require starting from a save state (the game has to be beaten once). I'm not sure if the boosted XP run works in the 100 floor dungeon, but IMO that would be the L2 run to do.
Edit: Ha! My diagram is even uglier than yours, FODA! How do you like that? :)