Game objectives
- Emulator used: BizHawk 2.9.1 (SubNesHawk core)
- Aims for fastest time
- Abuses programming errors
- Manipulates luck
This run is for the Japanese version, which does not have the "item glitch".
This run improves
the previous run by about 8m38s. Improvements mainly comes from a bug which allows you to ignore the Soul Maze and related events. And I optimized various details.
This run is based on the excellent predecessor movies. Thanks!
This game has many programming errors (
example). So, there might be still some undiscovered improvements.
Sorpigal Town
- I encounter a Sprite and beat it. By the way, the main hero has 18 might, so he can always deal 4 damage with bare hands.
- I equip a club, open a chest, and get 2 gems or above. You can always avoid treasure traps by RNG manipulation.
- I move to Portsmith Town by the transport service (1 gem needed). When I step into this event square, I "reserve" the next encounter.
Portsmith Town
- By the reserved encounter, a Fire Ant appears. I beat it. It has at least 6 HP, and that's why I equipped a club.
- I open a chest, and get a Flying Carpet.
- I go out of the town, and fly to Varn B2 with the Flying Carpet.
Varn B2
- I get a Diamond Key from the Ice Princess.
- I fly to Varn C2.
Varn C2
- I talk to the gypsy, and determine the aura color of the main hero. Considering a later event, it is the fastest to choose a red color.
- I fly to Varn A4.
Varn A4
- I go to meet an old man. There is a forced encounter along the way, but I use "giveup" to avoid the battle. It is a bit faster than teleporting with a Diamond Key.
- I answer an aura color to the old man, and get a Coral Key.
- I fly to Varn C4.
Varn C4
- I go to the entrance of the Volcano Shrine. There is a forced encounter along the way, but I use "giveup" to avoid the battle. It is a bit faster than teleporting with a Diamond Key.
Volcano Shrine
- I manipulate a random teleport and go to the Volcano Giant's lair. I answer his riddle and get gold aura.
- I encounter an enemy, flee from it, and go out, reserving the next encounter.
Varn C4
- I flee from the reserved encounter to escape from the spell-forbidden area.
- I fly to Varn A4.
Varn A4
- I meet the old man just like before, and get a Key Card.
- I fly to Varn E3.
Varn E3
- I enter the door leading to the Astral Plane (a Diamond Key is needed).
Astral Plane
- I open all of the five gates. The locked doors can be unlocked by a trick. And I take a slight shortcut by "giveup warp" trick. I will describe these tricks later.
- I enter the Inner Sanctum. Normally, you cannot pass through the (7, 8) square unless you complete the Soul Maze. But this event is activated only when you are facing south, so you can avoid it by facing north beforehand and walking backward.
- I'm teleported to Sorpigal Town by an event.
Sorpigal Town to Ending
- I move to Erliquin Town by the transport service (1 gem needed).
- I go out reserving the next encounter.
- I flee from the reserved encounter, and go to the ending.
Tricks
Unlock a door by triggering its trap
In the Japanese version, initial characters except robbers can never unlock any door successfully. (This point differs from the US version.)
But, if you fail to unlock a door and trigger its trap, the door will be unlocked. In this case, you will take 0 to 255 damage due to a certain bug, but it's not difficult for TAS to manipulate the damage to 0.
Giveup warp
In pre-battle phase, you can avoid a battle if "giveup" command succeeds. Actuallly, "giveup" command has two successful patterns, and the one of them will let the party warp to a certain coordinate specific to each map.
In Astral Plane, the "giveup warp coordinate" is (15, 15). So, you can use giveup warp to save time a bit.
Reserve encounter
If a wandering encounter flag is enabled at the same time you enter an event square, the encounter is delayed until the event is completed. This saves a few frames if you want to encounter after the event. Furthermore, this make it significantly easy to manipulate the enemy composition, because this separates "encounter occurs" roll and "enemy composition" roll.
References
nymx: Claiming for judging.
nymx: Re-uploading to make sure that the cycle count it right.
nymx: Well...all I can say is, WOW! From the description, it looks like all the resources you cited were well used. Congratulations! Well done.
