NoWorries presents:
the "How to" for speedrunning Shining Force
Game: Shining Force II
System: Sega Genesis
FAQ: Beating Shining Force II in under 8 hours
Written By: NoWorries
Best Time: 5:31 (at the kiss)
Allowed Website: www.gamefaqs.com
www.neoseeker.com
www.supercheats.com
*If you have a website you would like to post this at just shoot me an email*
**As always, the most up-to-date guide will always be found at gamefaqs**
Version History: 1.0 Submitted 20 of August of 2015
2.0 Submitted 24 of October of 2015
-Updated a number of different spots with new strats
-Added quite a bit in the "little bit extra"
-Added a twitter feed for updates regarding guides as well as speedrunning
That's right, I have a twitch now
twitter is twitter.com/tskisoccer
twitch is twitch.com/tskisoccer
There are other things as well but that's how you'll find me. I use the
twitter exclusively for updates when I'll be live-streaming so no fear
for excessive newsfeeds
-Look for another major update concerning 100% and Super when I get more
time to both re-run those as well as get the strategies better
2.5 Submitted 25 of December of 2015
-Updated times across the board for both Super and Any percent categories
-Fixed a couple of spots for clarification
-Added Mithril to the "where to find" list
-Added a section detailing Hero Placement
-Rewrote a few sections to use Jaro as a hero now
3.0 Submitted 23 of May of 2016
-Updated times for Normal
-Broke old record, 6:15!
-Broke old record, 6:00! on Feb 6, 2016
-SHINING FORCE 2 IN UNDER 6 HOURS OMG. Yeah.
-Changed a number of spots to reflect new changes
-Broke old record, 5:31! WTF
-Here is the video link for the best current run:
https://www.twitch.tv/tskisoccer/v/55662115
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Table of Contents
A. Introduction
B. The Dirty Walkthrough [WWWW]
C. Comments by the truckload [XXXX]
D. Putting in that "little bit extra" [YYYY]
E. Final Thoughts and Contact Info [ZZZZ]
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-Who should be reading this FAQ?- #The NoWorries Contract to Greatness
I put this in every faq I've ever written, and it goes something along the
lines like this. By writing this, I commit to you the reader that I will bring
to you not only my vastness of knowledge but do it with a sense of humour. I
understand it's easy to get bogged down in detail as well as a mush of opinion
but I strive to bring you something more than just a guide to greatness.
IT'S BEEN BEATEN! But mostly recorded which I must admit is an astounding
victory for myself. Basically this game has been in the back of my mind ever
since I started doing SFI. I can't help it. I love these games. The turn-based
action, the amount of strategy that goes into these things, and of course the
amount of variability in each run due to the number of characters makes for
each run to be fun and "rather" new and interesting.
Regardless, I sat down a few months ago and played through SFII without
repeating any battles. Actually I redid the second battle once and then fought
in the Fairy Woods to level up Peter some because I couldn't do the Harpy
battle. And then I killed Zeon. I was like WTF!? It's actually possible?
Sure enough I turn around about a week later and do what I call my
"sketch" speed run where I attach a timer to the whole process but it's a
very "loose" timer in that I stop it sometimes if things get rough as well as
I use save states rather liberally before fights to better learn the mechanics
of each battle.
See, in SFI the game is infinitely shorter. Combine that with a much more
stupid AI (like insultingly stupid) and SFI can be replayed through waaaay
faster. There's also Chapters so the whole game is just easier to practice.
With SFII, the game is much longer not to mention that certain areas are hard
to practice as your choice of playthrough effects certain characters being or
not being there. Creed characters or which promotions come to mind as an
example.
But I've gone ahead and set the guide up to include descriptions for both
"Super" and "Normal" since they are similar but not quite. The biggest
difference in that Normal is much faster but people don't die so much so there
you go. Who should be reading this guide? Anybody interested in speed
running Shining Force II.
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So, let's talk for a moment. There are some stark differences between
these two games (I apologize, but I'm going to reference my other guide A LOT
so if you haven't checked out my SFI Speed Run Guide yet, might want to
consider giving it a look). Here' a quick rundown:
Shining Force I
Shorter (30 Battles)
Dumb AI (Max-session and refusing to move guards)
Insane Promotion Level Ups (10+ stats on a level is silly)
Musashi (Dude is strong)
Skips and Snipes (We only kill all about 66% of the time)
Boost (Static 15 damage is sick early)
Clumping and AoE (See Dumb AI and Magical Mages)
Magical Mages (More Mages, less enemy life, levels carry over)
Super Items (Sword of Light, Chaos Breaker, Evil Ring)
Shining Force II
Longer (40+ Battles)
Super AI (Both intelligence-wise and +25% damage)
Consistency (Levels rarely vary)
Peter (Dude will be used and become very strong)
End-Game Snipes (After Ketto, almost all battles are snipes)
Boost (37.5% boost is insane for Peter but useless otherwise)
Useless Members (Skips hurt much more here for other members)
Crappy Mages (Way less Mages not to mention more enemy life)
Bad Items (Force Sword sucks, don't receive broken item messages)
Two Turn Bosses (It's not really fair)
So we have to take advantage here of the only thing there is to take
advantage of: Peter and Consistency. We are quite literally going to win with
a level 33 Peter who leveled about 55 times or so and has over 150 attack.
There will be some other people there too but this way Peter only needs 4 good
attacks against Zeon which really helps because the dude hurts.
As a result, there are a lot of corners being cut here. If we can skip a
battle we will. Our party is going to be really small all of the time to take
less time. We will IBS (in battle save) quite frequently. And most everything
I said regarding SFI stands true. Yes, I'll still be playing on an Emulator
but this is due to system limitation, not to take advantage of save states.
Besides Fraps showing the text regarding if a state was saved, it's cheating
and it won't be done. To elaborate further on system limitation: it is
uncommon to have a *really solid* genesis anymore nowadays with the console
being so old and most of the time mine won't even save. To further complicate
matters, frequent resets (which I do alot) can erase the data as well. Thus,
that is my reason for using the emulator as my console.
Now, unlike SFI there are no chapters. I can't imagine playing this in
one solid straight runthrough for 8+ hours, like I would have to pee. Instead
I give myself four "break-spots" in the game. They are: returning to Granseal,
Granseal, and Granseal. OK so there's actually 3 spots (the fourth being when
you win) but strangely enough they DO all involve Granseal. The first natural
break happens when you return to Granseal after North Cliff (the first battle
on Parmecia). The second comes when you return again to Granseal after doing
all what you need to do, namely Creed. The third then happens when you return
to Grans Island with the Nazca. Then we can win the game.
This breaks the 8-9 hour run into 60-75 minutes, 3-4 hours, 2 hours, and
1-2 hours depending on how well the many boss battles go back on Grans Island.
As the game doesn't let you stop (as in no Chapters or whatever) you just kind
of have to do what you need to do before resuming or whatever. This game is
way more split-timer focused due to the difficulty of when battles start. I
check time after the last enemy has been defeated and work it that way (so
it is a bit different than SFI in timing).
So let's talk briefly about the run before we walkthrough it. Once again,
name Bowie "Z" for shortness. Set message speed to fastest(4) and I'd suggest
turning battle messages off. Now, this is risky because if an item breaks or
something drops we won't receive it. However this does speed up the game A LOT
regardless so pay attention. As for difficulty, while Ouch seems harder, it
is in fact Super, being the hardest difficulty. Don't ask me why it went that
way but that's just how it works. Enemies on Super get +25% damage which on
most of the enemies is just dumb with how much damage they do. Granted, it
barely matters as most of our team dies in one hit regardless of 100 or 125
(I mean, if you're gonna die why not tack on an extra 25 damage?) but since
it can matter for Peter (as well for the early game) we have to do Super it's
only right.
As a minor aside though, the major difference between Normal and Super is
who gets to come along. For Super, it's basically the Peter show with Eric
tagging along trying to boost him and not die. On Normal, we can actually have
a semi-decent team and beat the game much faster, but 25% less damage and a
toned-down AI makes that possible.
Technically again, this is "any percent" as I don't get all the characters
though, I would still argue that "getting all characters" is a very dumb
requirement for "100%". At least with SFII, there are *some* other qualifiers,
like get all characters, find all 15 mithril, find all secret promotion items,
fight all battles (including Fairy Forest AND Secret End Battle). Hell, that's
not a bad definition, but regardless I'm not doing that. This is "any" percent
for the record-books.
So let's quickly talk about these chaps we have to call our "team"
*Side Note*
This section has been heavily modified in recent weeks due to massive
strategy overhauls that have come to light. I apologize for any confusion
that may arise from this. ~NW, Feb 21, 2016
Bowie
We have to use Bowie but unlike Max, Bowie gets no cool items. Now Bowie
does learn Bolt but that doesn't really help. For most of the game, Bowie
will be a decent member but after he beats Taros we basically won't use
him after that. It's too risky. As a Hero he gains +2 DEF as a minimum so
we will be promoting him at 20 or 22 depending on when that happens
Sarah
Sarah has suffered in the polls as of late due to some new developments.
She is still my main Wifu, but she has fallen off pretty hard thanks to
Karna and some new Roft-ness that happens. As such, Sarah will stick
around till Creeds, then we'll send her back to the group to sit back
and play cards while Peter does work
Chester
Chester is basically the scape-goat in the game. He receives tons of
negative press though he serves to be useful in a few spots. We don't
want him to gain any experience outside of helping to set up kills, but
he is still useful in a number of spots because of his starting position
and movement capabilities
Jaha
Poor Jaha, too slow to be of any real use outside of Granseal, but still
strong enough to help out. I tend to let him go away sometime around
Ribble, but him surviving up to Taros doesn't hurt that much either
Kazin
Kazin is a very important hero in this run that continues to become less
important everytime we find something new. As the run currently stands, we
want to hang onto Kazin up through about the Desert battles, having him
perish in Desert 2 is likely our best option
Slade
Slade has been up, down, up, down, and now he's in the halfway zone. Slade
has finally found a use! In the first few battles, try to feed him some
important EXP. We probably won't by him a weapon, and we definitely won't
use him past Taros, but Slade's strength is the midgame part of this run,
and that's exactly how much we'll use him
Peter
Peter... Peter... Peter... There really isn't a situation in which we
wouldn't want to use Peter and here it is much of the same. He's simply
the best character in the game and we are going to take full advantage of
his insane attack power and his ability to fly. Thanks Peter!
Gerhalt
Gerhalt serves a very important role for 3 battles. After that he has
simply fallen off too hard due to skips. It's OK though
Luke
Luke joins our team sucking. With some updated strats, Luke is a bit more
useful but we still stop using him right around Taros, the same time that
many people stop being used
Elric
One of four archers in the game, and the first of three required ones, the
major trend among all of them is that they require time and energy to
become major players. As such, we shall not be using any of them
Eric
While Karna is certainly a safer option, Eric does allow for the fastest
end battles with Geshp, Odd Eye, and Zeon, so strictly for speed, we'll
be grabbing the wonder knight
Janet
Janet, like Elric, is extremely useless for the speed run. Bench her right
away when she joins
Rohde
Rohde's placement in the party is messed up. He joins after Luke, but
doesn't become active until after Janet. I put him here but the game
sticks him up there. Oh right, as for the speed run he's useless
Higins
Higins is like many other people here that we aren't using. Bench him
Jaro
Jaro is essential for 1 battle though we will be using him for several
since he flies. His speed his fast enough to perform the Galam snipe (more
on that below) so he is absolutely essential
Frayja
As of May 22, Frayja does have a mild use (detailed more below) with the
basic premise that Detox 2 is still useful in Galam's battle and Frayja
will have an opportunity to die for his sins
Gyan
Gyan basically is useless. Even in Geshp, he seems like he could be used
to tank but we really don't need him. I'd bench him right away. Though,
on Super, a case could be made for keeping him around to take a hit or two
Lemon
Our last member who has very high natural Def and Speed. That's about it
These are all secret heroes that we won't be seeing much of this run
Kiwi
Low attack, defense, speed, and health make Kiwi just not so good here
May
We literally never see May as we don't clear Ribble. She's too weak
Rick
Rick is inferior to Eric and doesn't gain enough defense to compensate for
low levels
Randolf
Randolf doesn't fly
Karna
Karna can be used to help simplify things as she is a much safer hero to
use over Eric, but with an improved Zeon battle, Karna won't even be
around to make use of it
Tyrin
Tyrin has some lame starting spells and doesn't fly
Taya
Don't make eye contact while you walk past her
Skreech
Skreech dies if you look at him on Super
Sheela
Karna allows Sheela to be skipped, saving nearly 3 minutes of recruiting
Zynk
Even for Super, Zynk ain't so helpful
Claude
Takes too long to recruit to be worth
Chaz
Chaz takes too long to recruit and Freeze 3 ain't that good
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B. The Dirty Walkthrough [WWWW]
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So a quick note; I'm going to make references to the end section quite a
bit. Rather than bog-down this part, I want to move all of that to the end.
Something like "land effect" is a very important part here that will be
discussed in greater detail at the end of the guide. One important thing
though is some minor set up. During the opening logo (Sega bouncing) you
can tap U-D-U-D-L-R-L-R-U-R-D-L-R-B then Start (keep holding Start) until
you have selected your file. This lets you access the options bit to where
you can say "yes" followed by three "no's" to turn on Super Turbo. It helps.
You do have to re-enter that any time you restart but that's fine. Just think
of it as "UDUD"
"LRLR"
"URDL"
"U *B* *START*"
Not too hard to do. Also, once in battle you can set message speed to fastest
(4) and turn off battle things to cut some animations (just your friendly
reminder)
As a friendly effort of mine for the community, I have started uploading
youtube videos under a SF2 walkthough that detail everything from movement
glitches, to quick kills, to even battle descriptions. Feel free to use
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxjw_S_KLpTZ3al2-tgxNxnGWhSXVxXBZ
The tool used is RPtools
The maps are Apathetic Aardvark from gamefaqs
The icons are from the game, but specifically Moogie's ultimate SF2 guide
Part 1, Finding a new home
Battles 1 through 8
Time: 60 to 90 minutes
So name Bowie Z, it helps or at least keeps things simple. One huge
problem you'll realize quickly is that for exploring you can outrun the screen
which isn't a huge deal but it's important to be aware of obstacles lurking
beyond the borders. Anyway, head to school. Go see Astral.
Now, here is an important item, a Medical Herb. We aren't buying any
health items because we'll find everything we need. The vase in the basement
has this Herb and I'd suggest we grab it. This is mostly for Super, but on Any
percent it's not terrible either
Anyway, move along and watch Astral run off. Normally we'd go get more
items but not today. Instead head to Astral and get led into the first battle!
WAIT! Well you can do this before or after the battle, but grab the Mithril.
What Mithril? Behind Granseal Tower (about when your screen is centered
between the two windows) is where it is (searching up). We need it for Roft
Battle I (The Ancient Tower)
Split: 6:07 (7:40) [6:49]
Good (Hard) [Normal]
<>I'm going to list the 3 times separate like this. The "Good" time is <>
<>largely what I'm considering "Ideal" if you remember my SFI guide. The <>
<>"Hard" time is my best time on "Super" difficulty. The "Normal" time is <>
<>then obviously my best "Normal" difficultly time. Hopefully this is a <>
<>helpfuly guideline for you to work with <>
This battle is one of the hardest but luckily we can reset pretty quickly
into a new game. Our goal is to win in one attempt because resetting the
battle requires too much walking. We want Bowie and Sarah to reap experience
but don't leave Chester dry.
The Gizmo's will pound us into a loss fairly quickly if we spread out so
be aware. Our usual defense is going to seem much lower than normal. Don't
fight on the stairs, rather the flat surfaces will work best. The Gizmo's
move 2 spaces at a time with a max of 5 so trying to lure to Chester is the
best option. Use Sarah to heal, but that's why having some herbs for Bowie and
Chester can be lifesaving. Anyway...
On Normal, move Chester to the max and then position him up one left one
from the statue, do the same for Sarah on the right side. This will draw two
Gizmo's down faster and you can take it from there. On Super, this does not
work so well because people die faster and it might not work out...
After we win, just go and follow Astral and trigger the various story
that we need to. Once we regain control in the throne room, go buy a new sword
for Bowie, a spear for Chester, and recruit Jaha and prepare to enter...
Battle II (Outside Granseal)
Split: 12:26 (14:22) [13:52]
This battle is quick and painless(ful). Hopefully Chester moves first, if
so, move him down to the grass, but right at the edge. This will draw the Rat
over to pound him, but keep the Rat on 15% as opposed to 30%, meaning Jaha
will deal 5 instead of 4 damage. Strangely enough, the Rat has 10 life so you
can see why this is important. The rest of the battle is getting Chester to
perish while getting levels onto Bowie, Sarah, and Jaha. Ideally, all can be
level 3. Just know that Sarah deals ~2 damage at level 1 to Oozes. She'll
never hurt Rats. If the Rat goes before Chester, then move Chester all the
way over and down one and attack the Rat (for 2) thus Jaha can move all the
way over and attack the Rat twice for 4 damage each time.
After we secure victory, there are a few things to do before heading to
Yeel. First, there's a Mithril in the tip of the southern mountain below
Granseal. Grab it as well grab the Power Water.
As for some item management:
Try to throw all useless items on Chester (Wooden Stick, Sword, Spear)
Keep Power Waters on Bowie
Now head to Yeel which is an extremely boring city. There is a Healing
Seed inside the first house though so go ahead and grab that. Talk to Kazin
and head towards...
Battle III (Outside Yeel)
Split: 16:01 (19:20) [18:29]
This battle is a rinse of the last one but with stronger people. Try to
keep Bowie at 4 on Normal and 5 on Super, this is for the next battle. Move
along now.
Watch Hawel die... blah blah blah Kazin joins. Before you leave, grab the
Healing Drop which is on the right of the two chests. Now prepare to get
captured...
Battle IV (Gettin' Nabbed)
Split: 18:19 (21:20) [20:50]
Since you skip this with Bowie's death, have him die. Move everyone else
up as far away as possible and move Bowie down; 3 hits should bring him down.
Anyway, there's a load of story to work through before the next battle
but the only important thing here is when you fall through Slade's secret
little hole there's a Mithril in the middle of the wall right after falling
down. Grab it and then move forward...
Battle V (Breakin' out of Prison)
Split: 25:26 (30:13) [29:07]
This battle is easy to lose time on so let's gameplan. Kazin has enough
magic to cast 3 Blaze ones and 1 Blaze two. This means he needs to level off
his first 3 Blazes, basically killing two at a minimum. This allows Blaze two
on the Knight which helps a LOT. Bowie needs to level quickly as he gets the
+2 ATT here (almost always at level 5), and Sarah and Jaha are important as
well. Try to use Chester to block the Archer or lure the Mage. From where the
Mage can move, two spaces over is the max range for the Knight. Drawing him
over when you are ready is very important because again, it speeds things up.
Do we want everyone alive? Basically we have to have everyone alive for
the next fight, so keep them up.
Battle VI (The Siege of Granseal)
Split: 32:25 (38:57) [38:44]
This battle is done in two parts, the initial battle and then the early
Roft (described more below). Basically Bowie, Sarah, and Chester will set up
early Roft while Slade, Kazin, and Jaha finish off the battle. This means the
bottom enemies (two soldiers, healer, and mage) will need to be taken out by
them. I'd immediately move Chester over into early Roft position, leaving
Sarah to heal some and letting Bowie grab some EXP from the nearby enemies.
Getting Kazin to 7 is basically essential here as well as Slade at 7 makes a
big difference.
We're doing early Roft (this is why we grabbed all the Mithril earlier)
now head to Roft. We're going to sell all the Mithril and everything useless
(which is all the wooden weapons and Chester's short spear) and purchase a
Great Sword (throw it on Chester for now). Don't forget the Blizzard on your
way out (hand that to Jaha). Leave and Egress back to Galam and head towards
the next battle
Battle VII (These are Devils now?)
Split: 42:34 (53:18) [50:40]
I'd IBS as soon as this starts because we don't want to lose someone to
some unlucky RNG. Move to the right to draw those enemies over and hopefully
they'll be down by the time the stuff on the left comes over. Once that gets
cleared up, things are rather smooth sailing.
Dark Smokes do 27 damage which is insane. Kazin likely dies in a hit and
Sarah might depending on how well she has leveled. As they get two turns,
definitely try to lure with Bowie or Chester and then quickly pummel them
down. Blaze is rather strong here, and in fact Blaze 2 does at least 10
damage to them which is good to know.
On Normal this battle is much easier though Dark Smokes can still pose an
interesting threat. This is where having Jaha helps (hence the major
difference) as Jaha can lure them down and survive several hits. It's vitally
important for Kazin to be able to Blaze both of them at least once since you
do very little to them.
Anyways, once that finishes there's some more story and now it's time to
board the ship. But first; there's another Mithril for us (it's hidden in the
small hole near the north side of where school was) as well as the front of
the ship has a Quick Chick in it in the more furthest barrel. Time to head
out and see our new home!...
Battle VIII (Need... New... Weapons...)
Split: 59:12 (1:10:59) [1:07]
This battle is tough and the goal is to minimize the number of attacks to
defeat enemies. If Kazin is level 9, he should go before the Witch, meaning
you can draw it down by moving him into the treeline, this is helpful. From
there, we need to clear the immediate threats (Chester can block or lure the
northernish Hunter Goblin down). As Blaze can deal 6 or 8-10 damage, we want
to conserve our efforts with Kazin and basically figure out the number of
attacks needed to defeat enemies. Goblins at 18 life are tough, but Jaha
and Bowie can each deal 6+ damage meaning Kazin can Blaze 1 them to finish.
Slade will likely not deal 6 damage unless he is 10-11 OR the Goblin is
standing on a 0% land effect square (the pathway). Hunter Goblins have 24
life so it works similarly. Green Oozes are not dangerous and take a little
more from Blaze. Witches are scary but their lower defense makes stabbing
easier. Keep all that in mind as you try to keep this split under 20 minutes
A minor update as we now HAVE a Blizzard for this battle: we have two
options. If Slade doesn't immediately die, then send Jaha up to the upper left
through the trees while everyone else goes right (send him once the immediate
enemies are eliminated, the 5 of them). Blizzard OHKOs Hunter Goblins so you
can see Jaha is able to take a Witch solo. Option 2 is if Slade died early or
you aren't using him. In this case, keep Jaha with the party, but you can
still Blizzard the Hunter Goblin. On a recent run, I had Kazin use it as he
was out of magic.
Regardless, before you return to town this is where I take the first
break as there's a natural break in the game. Even if you don't take a break,
get ready to enter...
Part 2, Surviving the Stretch
Battles 9 through 23
Time: 2 to 3 hours | 3.5 to 4 hours in total
We regain control inside the throne room and again have quite a bit of
story to endure. Once we do regain control, there's a Cheerful Bread on the
left side of the castle in one of those barrels/vases. Head down but before
seeing Peter go into the incomplete house on the hill; there's a healing bit
in the barrel that becomes harder to grab once everyone returns to normal.
Watch Peter, do the story, and regain control with Peter. Say hello to
our most important member of all. The first thing to do is head to the Priest
and talk to him (from the front) and save the game. Now use the Power Water,
we really need +4 attack, reset otherwise.
Let's talk briefly here about this Cheerful Bread. There are a number of
stat-items that we will find in the game, some good and some not so good. Each
Power Water is going to be on Peter, this should be obvious. Each Protect Milk
will also be on Peter, he needs to get hit, thus, use on him. Some people may
ask, why not Bowie? Certainly helps with Taros. My answer is: Bowie can beat
Taros without it, so why bother? Peter is going to get hit alot, and that
DEF can realy go a long way. There's 2 Bravel Apples to be used on Peter, and
we're only grabbing 1 Quick Chicken that Peter gets as well. We skip the
Honey as we don't need them; so what about the Bread?
The Bread have an interesting effect. When used on a deceased person, they
are brought back to life. It grants them +2-4 life, and in this case, raises
them from 0, thus they are back to life. It's very helpful. As such, I would
save these for key moments when we need to revive someone and we aren't near
a Priest. Some situations are raising Kazin, Eric, or Jaro back and this can
be at nearly any stage in the game. If you haven't used some of them by Zeon,
go ahead and use em on Peter.
Now head to the weapon shop and get a new weapon for both Bowie and
Jaha and get ready for a long trek...
Battle IX (Let's move it Peter)
Split: 1:12:07 (1:26:54) [1:21:59]
The only tricky thing here is getting Peter to move. As he is AI
controlled, he won't move but 2 spaces unless moving to hit something. As such
it is important to lure enemies within 6 spaces of him so that he attacks. Not
only do we need him to gain experience, (level 15 by Polca), but he makes it
go faster as he's very strong.
With new weapons, the next several battles are very easy, we just want to
minimize time and maximize experience. Ensure that Chester disappears, but
try to keep everyone else alive for now since they are going to be useful
still. Now, ignore Ribble and keep walking...
#This is a good time to note if Sarah dies here, wait to Cheerful Bread her
until after battle 10 as she is far more important for 11 than 10 and if she
were to die again in 10... it would be bad
Battle X (I've got the Power!...ring)
Split: 1:19:18 (1:38:46) [1:32]
Nothing much new here except getting the Power Ring from the Witch. The
only thing to comment on is move everyone far to the right to start. The
Goblins will group up for a Blaze 2. Other than that, try not to lose Peter
moving too slowly.
Once you win, keep going along and head towards...
Battle XI (Hobgoblin boss isn't the boss)
Split: 1:25:36 (1:46:58) [1:40]
Despite what it may seem, even the Hobgoblin dying doesn't end the battle.
So let's gameplan. If Slade is a live, have him go up the middle to lure
enemies over for Peter. If Slade has passed on, then Jaha can do this instead.
Kazin with a Blaze 2 and an attack from Bowie (with Power Ring) can take out
Dark Dwarves. Slade and Jaha surviving is fine, but them dying is also fine.
All our major players, Peter, Kazin, and Bowie, need to be 13 by the end here.
Anyway, ignore the Silver Tank and head to Polca. There's a Protect Milk
in the house in the cliff, I'd use it on Bowie, but I would wait until he's 16
as he might miss out on a +2 level up negating it's effect a bit. Also buy a
Long Sword and turn around to the Item side and buy about 10 Healing Drops,
this should last us to the end of the game.
Battle XII (Odd Eye is as strong as Volcanon?)
Split: 1:33:01 (1:56:50) [1:48]
This battle is very easy but it can troll pretty hard with timeloss. The
biggest thing is trying to get Peter up and unleashed, so always keep in mind
enemies that are 6 spaces away from Peter can lure him out there. Once you are
near the Death Archer, try to focus on him, and several attacks from Bowie,
Kazin, and Jaha can bring him down.
Bedoe is pretty useless as well. There's a Speed Ring on the third floor
in the bottom right corner for Peter, other than that go trigger a bunch of
story. Basically, head back down to Polca in a few minutes...
Battle XIII (Yay Peter!)
Split: 1:41:50 (2:08:03) [1:57]
Now we have Peter under our control which is awesome. Now is a good time
to mention something you can read a lot more about below: Magic Numbers. In
short: the MN of an enemy is the life+defence*landeffect+rounding error. If
your attack is greater than the MN, you know you can kill the enemy. As such,
the Mage's MN is 52 so a level 15 Peter should have enough attack that boosted
he will kill it. Typically he'll have about 42 with the Power Potion at 15 so
there shouldn't be any huge concern. (38*1.375 is 52.25)
As for getting there, head left and try to swarm enemies and avoid getting
hit too much as enemies are really starting to hurt. Once the nearby things
are cleared, have Peter move into position (on the cliff but at ground level)
above the Black Mage. Equip the Speed Ring on this turn. Have Bowie Boost
Peter (so swap that over to him and leave it there for a while) and Peter
should move quickly the next round and kill the Mage. Yay Peter!
Anyways, more story and now we get Oddler who shan't be sticking around
with us but for a couple hours. Normally we'd go do some desert and stuff, but
we have a different path. Give Luke the Long Sword and Power Ring and sail to
visit the Kraken...
#Of Sarah, Chester, Jaha, Kazin, and Slade, you need at least 3 (but not all)
of them to be alive. This moves Peter up 6 spots and allows for the battle to
be completed an entire round sooner
Battle XIV (Release the KRAKEN!!!)
Split: 1:46:39 (2:13:45) [2:02]
This goes pretty smoothly and simple, though it only works if Peter is
stronger. How strong? At 56 attack he can OHKO the Head when boosted. He'll
never be that strong, but he'll likely have 42+ attack which can two shot it.
Move him and Luke up (in between the raft, if you go too far to the right
the leg will attack). Position on turn 2 and then turn 3 fight. The Head will
likely go and kill Luke but that's fine, he's served his purpose. Go ahead and
go to Hassan.
Some fine tips:
-This is a good opportunity to transfer items around quickly. I try to have
nothing on Bowie, the Quick Chicken on Gerhalt, and free space on Sarah and
Jaha. Kazin is great at holding Mithril
-Not having the Speed Ring equipped on Peter is important here as you can
limit the number of Kraken Head attacks by simply equipping the Speed Ring
the turn you attack the Kraken Head. My best split here was 4:48.99 and that
split had zero Kraken Head attacks. You just have to get a little lucky
-This is the marked battle in beginning the weeding process of our team. Of
our members, Bowie, Peter, and Kazin are all very important and need to get
levels. Jaha, Slade, Luke, and Gerhalt all should expire by the end of Desert
2, and there is no clear moment as to when this is important
After the Kraken, there's a lot to do here but we're going to break it up.
For now, immediately go left and grab the Mithril through the fence. Then save
at the Priest, this is important. Now go to the weapon shop: Steel Sword,
Power Axe, and Thief Dagger are all potential items depending on who is alive.
There is still Rohde not to mention the Running Pimento, but we'll worry
about those in a moment. Let's go to the right desert battle now...
Battle XV (Desert Battles are never fun)
Split: 1:56:41 (2:26:27) [2:14]
The big thing here is to avoid having +agility items equipped right now.
We want to let the enemies take their turns first before we move, so Slade and
Peter should not have the Speed Ring and Thief Dagger equipped yet. On their
first turns, go ahead and equip em. The battle again is all about optimizing
EXP for our team. Black Mages and Monks should be exclusively killed by Peter,
we want him to be level 19 at a minimum at the end of this battle (this
guarantees the Arrow Launcher snipe) and Kazin and Bowie should both be 17+
ideally. Take advantage of the movement glitch here, as extending movement
by 1 here is very helpful.
It's a hard battle but once you win go find the old guy whom I guess is
Petro's Grandfather. Talk to him, agree to go with him, and head out. Time to
go to the Shrine though I'd Egress and then walk there as it's slightly
faster (makes sense to save in Hassan now eh?)
Battle XV (Snipe #3)
Split: 1:59:18 (2:29:29) [2:16]
Peter needs 46 attack to OHKO the Arrow Launcher which should happen on
his third turn which should take just two full complete rounds. Bowie can
boost him. You might be able to kill the far right Golem for some experience
to Kazin but it's also dangerous.
Get sad (but not really) about the door and grab the two chests, the Panel
and the Power Water. Head up to Ribble, but don't bother with clearing the
"You're a Spy". Just go grab the Sword and leave. Once outside, Egress back
to Hassan. We've just saved quite a bit of time if you can believe it. Go
ahead and save and get another +4 to Peter. Now, this next part differs pretty
hard depending on the mode. There is also a Mithril in the sand pit that we
can use for later.
Always grab the Pepper (in the bar) and Rohde (most southern house) but
our party changes. On Normal, we need Bowie, Sarah, Kazin, Peter, Jaha, and
Gerhalt maybe. On Super, we need Bowie, Sarah, Kazin, Peter, Luke, Gerhalt,
and our strongest of Jaha/Chester. This is purely because the enemies hit
really hard and we can't survive on the other team, we need the extra fodder.
Battle XVII (Seriously, Desert Battles Suck)
Split: 2:11:01 (2:44:21) [2:29]
The battle is a sludge-fest and how well it goes depends on Peter smoking
enemies. This is true for both difficulties, though on Normal it's much easier
and that's a proven fact. Just look at my time differences! As for EXP, save
Arrow Launchers for Peter, combo Soul Sowers with Blaze 2 and Peter, and yeah.
On Peter's first turn, if he moves down 6 spaces from the Gargoyle, that is
good for getting if over to us (it's basically up from the water a bit, just
measure it out though)
Once we win, go west and enter...
Battle XVIII (I wonder who the boss is?)
Split: 2:18:55 (2:57:40) [2:37:53]
So luckily we can go right and up and the battle goes quite smoothly,
even letting us ignore most of the enemies on the left side.
As for Taros strategy, Peter needs both rings. Boost Bowie but then on
that same turn equip the Speed Ring. This should hopefully allow Peter to
move again and give Bowie the Power Ring. The extra attack should let Bowie
2 shot Taros... and definitely 3 shot him. Sarah can be on stand-by with a
minimum of one Heal 2 and Peter can have some healing items (maybe the
Healing Drop/Seed).
So we then get the Caravan which is amazing (grab the chest also for the
Water). Go ahead and purge everyone save for Peter and head up to
the Fairy Forest...
Battle LEVELING
Split (starting the next battle): 2:34:49 (3:21:09) [2:53]
Here's the deal. The Fairy Forest has the secret battle, something that
will allow us to madly level Peter up. Our goal here before we promote and
leave is the following:
1) Have Bowie promoted
2) Have Peter promoted with 80 attack at level 1
So how are we going to do this? Let's address each point together
1) This is simple enough if you've been working Bowie properly. The main goal
here is to have him with Bolt. He can gain some EXP early on if Peter
messes up on a Lesser Demon
2) Here is the interesting part. By 29, if you've given Peter +8 on the Power
Waters, he will have 74 attack, give or take 1-2 for variable levels. So
we are going to level him to about 33. Here's the gameplan
Peter needs the Speed Ring and Quick Chicken (use it now), at 24 he will
go before the Lesser Demon, at 22 and 23, he may not. At 25, he ought to OHKO
the Lesser Demons with a turn 1 and turn 2 boost, below that he may not. We
want our party to be just Peter and Bowie here (give Bowie some Healing Drops)
and basically we are going to level Peter up to about 27, maybe 28 depending
on if the Power Ring has cracked or not. To fight Lesser Demons:
Spawn
Peter
Space
Space
Space | Bush
Bush | Bowie
Using that rough diagram, there's your set up. The lowest Space will
spawn it. Bowie can boost from the Bushes. He shouldn't die from full health
if something bad happens IE a miss. Now, once Peter is around 27-28, we want
to fight the Master Monk. This process seems silly, but by getting Peter to
80 attack, we can do a number of things, like not level anymore in the grind
and Peter is strong enough to do everything we need and Peter has 6 extra
attack for smoothing out the late game.
From the beginning, you can move Peter up 3 spaces and over 3 spaces. On
his next turn, you are going to move up about 4 spaces, the water nearby
spawns a Mist Demon and that is bad news. We need Peter to be close enough so
that he can move into the leaves on his next turn, just past the water. Peter
will be visible but partially hidden; this despawns the nearby Dark Madam and
avoids the Mist Demon. From there, move up 6 spaces; this spawns the Master
Monk.
It can heal itself 4 times with Heal 3. The goal is for Peter to knock it
to 19 health. At 18<, it will Heal 4, that's bad. Each attack nets about 25
EXP, with killing it granting 49. Peter should likely just keep the Speed
Ring equipped, to avoid over-damaging it. Once it has 9 MP, you can use the
Power Ring then for slightly more EXP. At 9 MP, it still can Heal 3, don't
ask why. Our goal is to get Peter to 80 attack, this number is important. The
fastest it can happen is 32, that is +2 at 30, 31, and 32. Now the level ups
post 30 are very odd, with about a 50% chance to gain either 1 or 2 of a
stat. Worst case scenario, you can level Peter to 34, and even 35 if you need
to; but I have found that Peter tends to gain something like 2-2-1-1 or
something similar to that for levels 30, 31, 32, and 33. My best split had
Peter gain 2, 2, and 2 so I stopped at level 32 since he had 80 attack. At 80,
go ahead and promote Peter, use the Pepper, and re-group and head on out.
Battle XX (Peter is HUNGRY... for Harpies)
Split: 2:40:54 (3:28:31) [2:59]
Our set up here is Bowie (Great Sword, Speed Ring equipped, Power Ring,
and a Healing Drop) and Peter (two Healing Drops). This is why we collected
the Great Sword, as Bowie with it and the Power Ring should be able to OHKO
Dark Madams, Arrow Launchers, and possible High Priests if they're on a 0%
square. All Harpies and Orcs need to taken by Peter. If you can avoid missing
it takes just over 6 minutes to beat the battle. Bowie should have the Speed
Ring equipped unless attacking because we want to keep him going second. In
particular, Peter will move up and take down the upper left harpy on turn 1;
but Bowie needs to move about 5 spaces up and to the right to draw over that
other harpy; this is Peter's turn 2 target. From there, defeat enemies and
whatnot, you'll likely need to heal Bowie after the Dark Madam as Freeze 2
with a harpy attack hurts.
Once you win, boot Elric to the Caravan and go inside the cave. Just before
the exit, there's a little tunnel to walk through. In the middle chest is a
Brave Apple. Save it for now and head back out too...
Battle XXI (Snipe #4)
Split: 2:43:13 (3:32:29) [3:03]
The Skeleton's MN is 82 which Peter should have 82+ attack UNBOOSTED so
cool. Peter should have an open space so that he can walk across the desert,
kill the Witch for the Shield Ring, and then kill the Skeleton. GG
Before going inside Creed's, there's a Shower of Cure to the left. Toss
that to Sarah now go inside. Story...story...story... go declare war...
Now before going in, let's re-arrange our team a bit. We want: Bowie,
Sarah, Chester, Kazin, and Peter, and let's make sure Chester has the P Ring.
Battle XXII (Snipe #5, this used to hard)
Split: 2:47:03 (3:37:04) [3:07]
With the above team, Peter moves up 6 spaces ending on a Black Square. The
King will come down and engage him, Chester moves up and boosts Peter, GG.
Now, Peter IS capable of OHKOing the King, but with his slightly lower attack
from not leveling, it's possible he will not. Simply move Bowie and Kazin up
and left on their first turns, this way they are close enough to finish the
job if needed. As a minor aside, having Bowie EQUIPPED with the Speed Ring
here to start and then unequipping it on his first turn can help him to not
outturn the King if Peter fails to beat it.
Afterwards, boot everyone. Give Bowie all the rings and fall down into
that hole.
Battle XXIII (Willard don't run!)
Split: 2:50:00 (3:40:34) [3:10]
Peter will move 8 spaces right and down 1 (ending in a corner). It's just
enough space for Bowie to reach. IF the nearby Rat doesn't move before Bowie,
then move Bowie over, equip the SPEED ring, and boost Peter. If the Rat did
move, equip the SHIELD ring instead. Turn 2, move Peter over by Willard and
attack a Rat, attack Willard on turn 3. For Bowie, he needs to survive the
turn so depending on turn 1 will dictate what you need to do, run away or
heal or boost or some combination.
Once Willard falls you can then go and watch more story. Once you regain
control as the choose a hero section: pick Eric, and then go directly to the
chessboard and search by the chair for the Move Ring. Give that to Peter.
Our inventories should look like:
Bowie | Shield Ring, Great Sword
Peter | Move Ring
Eric | Power Ring, Speed Ring
Outside Creed's Egress back to Hassan. Go ahead and buy a Power Spear for
Eric. Head to the Dwarf Village now, get the Cannon and Dry Stone and then
move on to Granseal for the Sniping Spree.
Part 3, Yay Snipes!
Battles 24 through 34
Time: 1.5 to 2 hours | 6> hours in total
Firstly go get Astral. Then grab the Dynamite (put that on someone
useless). Get Janet, kick Janet, and let's make sure our set up is good.
Bowie should have Great Sword, Shield Ring, 2 Healing Drops
Eric should have Power Spear, Speed Ring (equipped), Power Ring, and Healing
Drop, and Peter should have the Mobility Ring and 1 Healing Drop
Battle XXIV (UGH almost done)
Split: 3:08:38 (4:12:32) [3:29]
On turn 1, move Peter to attack the Skeleton on the path (from above)
as this will draw the Dark Sniper up to where Eric can attack it. Hopefully
Eric does go before Bowie but either way. Peter will spend the next couple
turns attacking the approaching Skeletons while Bowie and Eric fight the
Sniper and Skeleton from the woods. Basically have Peter always kill something
but don't leave TOO much for the boys, though they can handle quite a bit.
Heal when needed. Make sure Peter has an open spot before killing the Dark
Priest and collecting the Blizzard. Eric has the Speed Ring to elevate his
turn order, basically needing whichever ring according to our needs.
Anywho, hopefully that wasn't too hard and now we are acquiring Rohde,
kick that worthless trash, and go do the last kill all battle (make sure we
got our Healing Drops!).
Battle XXV (LAST KILL ALL TECHNICALLY)
Split: 3:17:01 (4:24:01) [3:38:57]
Not a hard battle but visibility is annoying. There's a Fairy Tear there
but we don't need it. Try to have Peter kill the Dark Snipers, we want him 11,
though 10 works just as well.
Afterwards, kick everyone except Peter. Throw everything on Peter, all 4
of our rings (the Blizzard can just move for now to anyone as Jaro will take
it later). There is a Healing Water in Ketto (right of town in the shops) it's
slightly faster than Galams Healing Water so I'd go ahead and grab it (we want
two for Zeon).
Battle XXVI (Snipe #7)
Split: 3:20:20 (4:28:29) [3:42]
As Peter will have between 98 and 100 attack now (thanks to the extra
grinding) we have no reason to boost. Simply move Peter 10 spaces to the
north side of the Lesser Demon and kill it. It's now 11 spaces to the Dark
Sniper (equip the Speed Ring here). It's another 11 spaces to the Lizardman,
bring it down with equipping the Power Ring.
Afterwards, kick Higins. Go to Pacalon, grab the Bread, revive Chester at
the Priest and then save. We're not promoting Eric yet. Go to the next snipe.
Battle XXVII (Snipe #8)
Split: 3:23:09 (4:34:02) [3:46]
Move Peter up 10 and over 1 (keeps the Dark Dwarf from attacking), then
move Peter another 11 spaces, then go finish off the Lizardman. My split here
is a little long, about +90 seconds because Peter missed. Oh well. Afterwards,
grab the Mithril that's in the tip of the mountain and go to Pengoat Valley
Keep heading up and right to...
Battle XXVIII (Snipe #9)
Split: 3:24:49 (4:36:12) [3:47]
This is a 2 minute split that takes just 2 rounds. Move Peter 10 spaces
down and kill the lower of the two Wyvern (the other one doesn't move). From
there, it's 11 spaces to the Wizard, take it out.
Once this battle is over, put Chester in our party and move the Power Ring
over to Bowie. In Tristan, there's nothing to do except grab the Protect Milk,
use that on Peter and then go save a Goddess.
Battle XXIX (Snipe #10)
Split: 3:28:16 (4:40:53) [3:51]
Peter needs to be boosted here. The top left corner of the pond (which
Peter won't get attacked from) is 10 spaces from the chapel steps which is
great as Peter can move and take out the Knight. Bowie can reach and boost him
From here, give Peter back the Power Ring and go up and find...
Battle XXX (Greater Devil #1, Zalbard)
Split: 3:31:01 (4:54:50) [3:54]
We need Chester for another reason (you're probably wondering why we have
him). Chester is helpful in battle 31 and here he moves Peter over perfectly.
Peter is going to move up to one spot below the water and use the Shield Ring
(there are 3 spots you can stand in front of the water, we want the left one,
and one spot from the water. It's exactly 11 spaces to reach Zalbard from
here). If Peter has natural attack of 102+, then with the Power Ring equipped,
he can kill Zalbard over two turns.
You're probably wondering, how? This is done by abusing the enemy movement
which is detailed below. Regardless, nothing will bother Peter, and he takes
two turns and deals 40+ each attack, bringing down Zalbard very easily.
After the battle, ignore everything except the Power Water in the left
room. No need to save for it here, I just tend to use it in Pacalon but
guaranteeing +4 is not important anymore here. Head outside, make sure your
Rings are good, and Egress back to Pacalon. Give Chester the Power Ring and
then go talk to Frayja and get trapped!
Battle XXXI (Snipe #11)
Split: 3:36:57 (5:03:16) [4:01]
The Devil Soldier is the boss and we are minimizing efforts here. Move
Peter down to the nearby water droplet. The Knight and Harpy Queen will come
attack but no big deal. Move Bowie up and away, have Chester boost Peter. Now
move Peter down to the Fountain. It's a 3x3 area, we want him in the middle of
the bottom row. If the Necromancer has already moved, go ahead and just equip
the Speed Ring. Otherwise, use the Shield Ring. Chester will die, bummer. Now
Peter can move exactly 11 spaces to the Devil Soldier and kill it. Note that
the movement here is really important because we actually have the enemies
move out of the way for us.
Once that's over, give Peter back the Power Ring and go find Jaro up
north.
Battle XXXII (Snipe #12)
Split: 3:38:13 (5:11:44) [4:03]
Move Peter up and over and attack the dog nearby (Hellhound or Cerebus,
I can't remember). From there, we move up 11 spaces, ending with Peter in
front of the path. The Bowmaster will move over to us and Peter with the
Power Ring can defeat it easily. Jaro joins now, but luckily is not in our
party, it's still just Bowie and Peter. Head to Moun
Battle XXXIII (Snipe #13)
Split: 3:41:29 (5:20:03) [4:06:58]
Again, a simple battle. Move Peter up 9 spaces and equip the Speed Ring.
His next turn will move 11 spaces so that he can take down the Necromancer.
From there, he moves up the nearby door, stand in front of it exactly. It's
9 spaces from there to take down the Shaman, the boss. I guess I should
mention if it's not clear, have Peter equip the Power Ring when hitting these
leaders for these snipes. Have Bowie stay away but send Frayja to his doom, we
will revive him later for Galam.
Once we win, go and talk to Zynk. Then talk to Gyan. Also there's another
Running Pimento for Jaro (yay!). Before going to Nazca, let's kick Gyan and
Chester, and bring in Jaro. Give Jaro the Power Ring.
Battle XXIV (Greater Devil #2, Cameela)
Split: 3:47:39 (5:28:09) [4:13]
There's the fast way, and the fastest way. I'll detail both.
The fast way involves moving Peter and Jaro to the left 3 times, then
moving them up twice before boosting Peter and taking down Cameela.
The fastest way involves moving Peter about 20 spaces over two turns
(keeping him within Jaro distance of 18 spaces + 3 spaces for Boost). Peter
will end up near a tail feather near the middle. If you're curious, it's
11 spaces from Cameela to the Dragonewt that's right around the middle of
the map, and 11 spaces from the LEFT side of that enemy to where Peter will
end up. It's in between a P Knight and the Newt. Peter gets boosted by Jaro
on this turn (have Peter use the Shield Ring here on himself when he's
between the two enemies). Peter will zip up, kill the nearby Newt, and then
go attack Cameela twice and win the day. It's slightly more tricky, but
significantly faster.
Once you win, story...story...story... and Part 3 ends once the ship
crashes and you COULD talk to Astral but we don't if you need a break.
Part 4, We're almost done!
Battles 35 to 43
Time: 2 hours | 8 hours in total
Anywho, go to the house and find Monks there. The right vases have a brave
Apple in the top one, and there's a Mithril on the right side of the trees
that you have to navigate through. Skip Sheela and everything else. Make sure
our rings are good and let's roll.
Battle XXXV (Snipe #14)
Split: 3:54:14 (5:38:08) [4:20]
The Bowrider is the boss and the battle goes something like this. Move
Peter 33 spaces (right so 3 full 11 turn moves) down and left. On Jaro's
second turn, boost Peter. Peter should end up at the shore (within range,
strangely enough) of the Dragonewt. Ideally you move and take it out, the
enemy will sometimes troll with movement, sadly there's nothing you can
do to control that as even a slower approach doesn't guarantee it. Now skip
Roft and go right to the next battle.
Battle XXXVI (Snipe #15) (Executioner Grind)
Split: 3:57:39 (6:01:32) [4:24]
The Execution is our target, make sure Peter has an open slot for the
Battle Sword to drop, and now let's talk. This is the best time to Brave
Apple Peter in the entire game, so we want to ensure that Peter levels off
of the Executioner (or basically right there before to minimize EXP loss).
This dictates how often we attack the Flowers. Best case scenario, Peter moves
about 10 spaces over to attack the one on the left from the top, then moves
again to attack the one in the corner. Jaro boosts, then Peter takes two turns
to make it down and finish the battle. However, this is the time to check
because Peter may need to stay a turn and attack the flowers once more for
that perfect EXP rounding.
Now, this is the last time also to level Peter at all. We are going to
Brave Apple him, but because of how stats work, Peter may be feeling a bit
weak. If Peter does not have 120 attack at the end of the battle, this is
the time to do some more fighting to have him with 120 attack before the
apples.
Time for...
Battle XXXVII (Greater Devil #3, Red Baron)
Split: 4:04:50 (6:10:01) [4:31]
*Make sure Jaro has the Blizzard here*
A seemingly hard battle made much easier with the extra grind levels for
Peter and using the Brave Apples. Peter should have 125-130 attack here and
well, that's great. Here's what we do (always just move Bowie up and right,
hiding him).
Turn 1: Move Peter down 11 spaces, move Jaro down 7 and over to the right 2
Turn 2: Move Peter down to the left of the bridge, move Jaro down 9. IBS
on Bowie's turn (this is to prevent missing the Mist Demon)
Turn 3: Peter moves to the south of the Mist Demon and kills it. Jaro moves
down and left below Peter
Turn 4: Peter moves over about 10 spaces inside the treeline (just inside).
Jaro moves down and left, right to the bottom of the map and corner
of the land (we don't want the Hell Hound attacking him
Turn 5: Peter kills the Hell Hound (or Jaro runs over and finishes it)
Turn 6: Peter moves down and left, (bottom of the map) about 9 spaces from the
left side of Lemon and uses the Shield Ring. Jaro moves next to Peter
and boosts him. IBS with Bowie
Turn 7 and 8: Peter moves to the left of Lemon and attacks. Jaro runs over and
Blizzards. We just have to dodge Desoul, hence the IBS, and that will
do it.
Once we drop Lemon, sadly we don't get him yet. Instead we get to make
Mithril Weapons which is awesome! Head first to the Priest, save, and promote
Eric into a P Knight. Now, let's make sure we have 45000 gold by selling any
useless junk (some of these useless late-game joiners have some expensive
weapons luckily). We also need to rebuy those Mithril we sold earlier.
There's a nearby Healing Water by going through the stairs, and we can
skip the White Ring.
We are going to use 8 Mithril, all on our Knights. We want at least 2
Mist Javelins with 4 Valks, but if we don't get our items it's not the end
of the world. If we got ZERO Valks, that's why the save is OK. Here is the
list of the Mithrils that we've found or sold or could quickly find. The
other 5 Mithril are a bit too far out of reach to pick up (as opposed to
just selling items to rebuy 3 Mithril assuming we have 7 of them).
1. Behind Granseal Tower before the first battle
2. Cave below Granseal, by Power Water
3. After escaping Prison, in the Galam castle basement wall
4. After Dark Smokes, on the way to the boat in the smal hole
5. In Ribble, the center square of the sand box
6. Through the fence in Hassan near the Priest building
7. In the Fairy Forest
8. In the tunnel to Creed's near the Brave Apple
9. The tip top of the mountain between Pacalon and Pengoat Valley
10. The chest in the Monk Monastery
What's interesting is if we get x1 Mist Javelin and 2x Valkyrie in our
first go around, we don't need to do another round as that's enough. That is
our absolute minimum. We DO NEED a Mist Javelin though so if we get like 4
Valkyries on our first trip, we need to go again.
Anywho, let's add Eric to our party and get ready for Geshp. Bowie can
have the Healing Rain and Healing Waters. Jaro needs a Mist Javelin and
Valkyrie, Eric needs a Valkyrie and the best weapon still available
Battle XXXVIII (Greater Devil #4, Geshp)
Split: 4:15:41 (6:23:43) [4:42]
Seems weird to have a level 1 Eric, level 4 Bowie, Jaro, and Peter right?
Yeah, we're OK. Just move Peter a little to the left, not too far. Once the
White Dragon has moved, go ahead and move Eric and Jaro as far over as we can,
we need them about 2 squares into the mountains. Peter will take out the White
Dragon, keep moving Bowie into the trees. On Peter's third turn, he will move
over and down by the Knights. I'd go ahead and boost here. Have one of them
Valk Peter for damage, and then here we go, move in and attack Geshp. Peter
will need 2 attacks, but with Eric or Jaro getting in there (possibly both
if Peter doesn't do enough) we will win and Peter is unlikely to die unless
strange things happen.
As long as both knights didn't die, go forward again...
Battle XXXIX (Snipe #16)
Split: 4:18:00 (6:27:25) [4:44]
Let's boost Peter with someone and have Peter drop the Hydra on turn 2.
Peter doesn't have to have the Mobility Ring, but from the corner of the brush
if Peter is up like two spaces then he can avoid any enemy movement which
speeds things up. Go grab the Force Sword, then Egress if we need to revive
anyone. Send the Battle Sword to Lemon and let's move along.
Now let's navigate this thing inside that skull... thing...
Go up to the wall, go EAST
NORTH at the fork
WEST at the stairs
WEST again at stairs
SOUTH from here and don't slide
UNDER the 3 bridges of stairs
UP the next stairs but then DOWN
SLIDE down the ramp to the LEFT
Yay! I mean...
Battle XXXX (Greater Devil #5, Oddler)
Split: 4:30:17 (6:57:00) [4:59]
We're going to snipe Oddler. It's not that hard, basically, move Peter out
some, not too far, again, that White Dragon. Everyone else can sprint away.
Have Peter kill the Dragon and keep moving people forward. Lemon, Bowie, and
Kazin will end up in a corner away from danger, we will kill 2 Cyclops, the
White Dragon, and the Demon up by Oddler. Outside Oddler, save, boost Peter
up, and go at Oddler. You shouldn't have any trouble outside of Sleep from
Oddler, as Eric and Jaro provide excellent fodder for Peter and ample damage
so there is no question about beating Oddler.
Battle XXXXI (Last Snipe, #17)
Split: 4:33:09 (7:00:38) [5:03]
The general plan here is to move Peter up to the second tier, but not up
to that third row (the space between the second and third floors). This way
nothing dangerous can attack except for the Demon Master, which equipping
the Speed Ring on Peter reduces that chance. Have someone boost Peter and
shazam, here we go.
Let's get set up now for this Galam snipe. Eric needs the Shield Ring,
Peter needs the Mobility and Power Ring, and we're ready to revive Frayja now.
Battle XXXXII (Final Round, Part 1)
Split: 4:38:02 (7:13:18) [5:09]
And we snipe Galam. Here's a link showing how to do it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHhu1MJQwJ4
Basically move Peter up to where he is down and over 1 from the Horseman.
Lemon moves next to Peter, Jaro moves below Peter and boosts with Valk, and
Eric moves below Jaro and Shield Rings the flyers. Hide the others. Using
the same principles from Zalbard, we fly up and have Peter attack twice and
Jaro attack once, that does it. I would save here on Peters turn though, for
the first attack, because we don't want Peter getting Slept or Muddled by an
off-attack from the nearby Evil Beast or Reaper. Quite simple, like real easy.
The reasoning here for Frayja is two-fold, he can cure a stunned Peter on turn
one if the Chaos Warrior does so AND then he dies so that Eric may live. In an
ideal world, both Eric and Jaro survive so that we can proceed directly into
Zeon with no Egress.
Battle XXXXIII (Final Round, Part 2)
Split: 4:52:36 (7:48:20) [5:23:43.56]
This is not a hard battle, but it is made hard because our team is so
small and weak. Before we can fight Zeon, we probably need to revive people.
By having Peter with the Mobility Ring, hopefully he kills the Shaman that
drops the Healing Rain. That way, Bowie can have both of them before the
main battle starts. Once we're ready, we move Peter over a bit. It's not
exact, but we need him 11 spaces from the lefternmost Demon Master as that's
who he attacks on turn 2 (which BTW, Peter can have back the Speed and Shield
Rings, assuming we have the Healing Rain. If we don't leave that Shield Ring
on Eric). Everyone else is going to go after the Arch Demon in the BL corner,
this is where the land-dwellers will hang out.
After the Demon Master, Peter needs to take down the Horseman, then the
other nearby Demon Master. Thanks to triggers, the nearby enemies are of no
threat. Once we can take out the Shaman and Arch Demon (Peter needs some
help here) then we are ready for Zeon. With Peter above Zeon, it will take
about 5 good hits to kill Zeon. We have 4 full health heals with the Waters
and Healing Rains (if Peter has about 75 life or so, just save and avoid
double Demon Breath). We only need boost Peter twice to do so and whambam,
game is done.
Add in the kiss! (If you want to) which takes about 7:30 and there we go. Now
we are finally done! 5:02:04, 5:31:12.06, and 7:56:04.230
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
C. Comments by the Truckload [XXXX]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I can't believe I have finally gotten the sub 6, it's just amazing. This
was a process and a lot of effort from everyone involved, to find all these
time-saving strategies that really made it possible.
As to review my best run to date:
Part 1 was acceptable. It took just over 50 minutes to fell the Dark Smokes
which is fine with doing early Roft (takes roughly 2 minutes to do so). The
early game portion here has roughly 2-3 minutes to save despite early Roft,
but having great RNG through each of the first 7 battles is quite difficult to
manage. Looking ahead to the last battle of the first section, North Cliff,
I have about 60 seconds to save in this battle as the 5:31 run did not reflect
usage of the Blizzard here, which did set a new gold standard for this battle
(not yet reflected above in the splits). That being said, I continue to hover
between a 1:07 and a 1:09 through this first section, whereas a 1:04 would be
great (including early Roft).
Part 2 was mostly bad, with the exception of the Grind. To date, I have not
nearly replicated my performance of the Grind which is where the most time
loss in the run occurs. That being said, my Power Ring battle has 3+ minutes
to save in it as well as minor time saves across the board. I'm at a 2:02
Kraken that should be at a minimum, 1:58, even though 1:55 or lower is very
achievable.
Part 3 was very good across the board except for the second cave battle (lost
about 2 minutes) and the Pacalon snipe (lost another minute there). North
Cliff 2 was very strong and all the snipes were fine as well.
Part 4 was a mixed bag, with great success ranging across the major battles of
Lemon, Geshp, and Zeon, as well as the snipes going well save for the Tower
snipe. That being said, Odd Eye was slow by several minutes, I had to redo the
Tower snipe, and I've yet to have a good Galam battle outside of the random
double attack from Peter that set an insane gold split that I'll never meet
again.
All that being said, I could be 2-3 minutes faster through part 1, 5-8 minutes
faster through part 2, about 3 minutes faster in part 3, and could save 5
minutes in part 4 which would bring the 5:31 down nearly 20 minutes which
blows my mind but I think it's entirely possible. As it stands, the 5:31 is
still the best RTA run and will likely stay a 5:31 until someone hits the
stride and nails a sub 2 Kraken and an eventual sub 4 Cameela (yes it's
possible). Right now we're sub 5 Odd Eye but moving that backwards to a sub
5 Galam is also huge. The current goal is 5:15 and until that happens, I'll
be continuing to work at it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D. Putting in that "little bit extra" [YYYY]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The point of this section is simple. There are a number of fine mechanics
I want to talk about but without dragging down the walkthrough; I moved them
to here. So here is the list of what we are going to discuss:
i. Enemy Luring
ii. Land Effect
iii. Boost and Boost/Attack
iv. Enemy Magic Numbers
v. Where stuff is
vi. Certain Choices
vii. Peter!
viii. Walking (da glitches)
ix. Experience Caps
x. Hero Placement
xi. Everything is Awesome!
i. Enemy Luring
One important thing that both games share, is the art of enemy luring.
In SFI, this was accomplished mostly by crossing pre-designated thresholds
that would cause the enemy to move forward. In some cases, the enemies were
to never move and would only defend themselves if you were within physical
attack range.
In SFII, everything moves if it can. Enemies move 2 spaces at a time
usually towards you unless they are waiting; but they move 2 spaces at a time
unless they can reach you. This hurts, but what this means is we can lure
enemies towards us by taking advantage of that. There are two other types of
movements as well.
Section 1, Creepers
Example 1
Gizmo moves 5 spaces.
[G][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][X]
The X indicates where we should place a hero, as we *force* the Gizmo to have
to move there to attack. By putting a stronger unit in X, we can prepare
ourselves more aptly for the attack.
Example 2
Powerful Beasty moves 6 spaces.
[G][ ][ ][ ][X][Y][Z]
If Peter is in X, then Y still can be hit by Beasty. Thus, putting Peter in
Y means you can put someone safely in Z as Beasty cannot reach them. Granted,
you could just put Peter there in Z, but often times we are wanting to move
forward as much as we can.
Section 2, Zoning
Example 3
Powerful Dark Knight moves 7 spaces
You might recognize this from Zalbard (a battle we snipe now, but the idea
to describe this is still relevant, in fact all types of movement are in
Zalbard's battle). Most enemies creep 2 spaces at a time until they can
attack, I've called them creepers (section 1 here). Others are Zoning enemies,
like the Dark Knight in Zalbard's battle. They NEVER MOVE, unless there's a
target for them to hit. Avoiding them is easy, stay out of range. Other times
you may not be able to avoid them, in which case, knowing their distance can
set you up for something similar to section 1 where a strong hero takes the
damage instead of someone dying.
Section 3, Triggered
Example 4
Zalbard and his army
There are 2 types of triggered: Creepers and Zoning (interesting huh?!) The
idea of classifying as "Triggered" is that these enemies, regardless of HOW
they will move later, is that they won't move AT ALL until their trigger is
broken, AT THE BEGINNING OF A NEW ROUND!
This is a distinction between Zoning and Triggered, as enemies that are Zoning
wait for you whereas Triggered will literally stand there until the next
round. It's a huge exploit that needs to be taken advantage of. Many battles
have triggered enemies, see if you can spot them! It saves time
Section 4, Paired or Linked
Example 5
Battle 9, the Witch and the Vampire Bat
There are many examples of this, but this is basically a sub-category of ALL
movement types, in which case one enemy is paired or linked with another. The
idea is simple, the paired enemy will always move next to its friend or try to
keep up with it. In battle 9, this is obvious with the furthest enemies, as
Vamp Bat may sprint towards you and the Witch having done nothing now sprints
as well. Similarly in battle 2, the furthest Ooze and Rat are linked to where
the Ooze stays with his friend.
Understanding HOW the enemy moves can greatly increase YOUR ability to move
your team around safer and more effectively.
ii. Land Effect
One interesting thing that seems to go undetected is Land Effect. And
more interesting is that this has NOTHING to do with movement. Instead, LE
works like this. The number (represented by a percentage) is what gets
added to your defense. If I have 100 defense and am standing on a 30% LE
square, my true defense is 130.
What this means is rather simple: Always try to fight FROM 30% squares
onto enemies standing on 0% squares. It makes sense too, as standing in trees
or mountains offers a tactical advantage as opposed to an open field. Peter
NEVER gets this cool effect because he flies but whichever. I think
technically unpromoted he does but regardless...
This mostly helps us early on. Getting enemies lured onto open squares
while we fight from protected areas can give us an edge that we really truly
need. If you don't believe me, have Bowie stand on the stairs and fight Gizmos
and then have him standing on the floor and fighting Gizmos. Even at level 1
there's a difference; though he still ultimately dies fairly quickly early on.
iii. Boost and Boost/Attack
This is a pre-req to the next section (as is LE). These affect the hero
by 37.5% of the BASE STAT. Thus, this is why Peter gets HUGE benefits from
Boost whereas Eric really doesn't. This is also why getting Peter as much
attack is REALLY HELPFUL. The 150 attack Peter gains an extra 56 attack from
Boost, whereas the 125 attack Peter only gains 47. Basically, every 3 attack
earns Peter another attack from Boost.
This is why I harp so much on the +4 to Peter, as cutting corners not only
loses that extra attack, but you can lose an extra Boost attack. For instance,
+9 instead of +12 results in -4 attack afterwards for the Boost, it matters.
Speaking of which, these spells wane after each turn. The percent each
turn is something like this:
Turn 1 (just casted/moving now) +37.5%
Turn 2 (has taken 1 turn so far) +25%
Turn 3 (your last turn with it) +11.16%
As you can see, you lose 33% the first turn and then nearly 50% on the
next turn. This is why timing Peter's attack with a freshly boosted Peter
is so important as he can lose 33% of the boost for the attack. Since percents
are sometimes weird for people, think of it like this. If Peter has 100
attack against Zalbard, which isn't unreasonable, and Eric boost Peter on
his turn, then Peter with have 137 attack. He'll likely do about 65+ damage
or so to Zalbard. If for whatever reason Peter had already been boosted,
he then has only 125 attack, a 12 attack loss! He now only hits for 50 or so,
a number that sure, he can two-shot still, but Eric isn't doing 30 damage
at this point. Hopefully, this helps understand more how these spells work
It works the same for Defense, which is why those Protect Milks are
important to try and keep Peter alive.
*Minor aside, I use "Boost" as "Attack" quite often because of well, SFI,
the spell was called Boost and Quick as opposed to Boost and Attack. I know
it's wrong but whatever, I can do what I want because I know the difference
iv. Enemy Magic Number
To be honest, this is where I started when I began plotting this thing.
I combined my guide with some LE numbers and came up with a rough chart of
every boss in the game to determine just where Peter would need to be to win
in a single boosted attack.
To calculate MN, take the enemy's defense multiplied by 1.3 as this
assumes they are on the MAXIMUM land effect and add it to their health. That
gives us their MN. However, Boost gives 1.375 so it's not quite as simple;
though we simply solve for X by dividing MN by 1.375. For instance, the
Death Archer is 27/19, or 52 MN. 52/1.375 is 37.8 or 38 attack.
To roughly estimate Peter's level from his required attack, simply
subtract 26 and then divide by 2 to figure the level he would need to be.
Obviously Power Waters can affect this but regardless... here is the dirty
list...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Battle | Boss | HP/DEF | MN | Peter's Level and Attack |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Bedoe | Death Archer | 27/19 | 52 | LV 15, ~38 |
| Polca | Master Mage | 28/18 | 52 | LV 15, ~38 |
| Shrine | Arrow Launcher | 35/24 | 63 | LV 19, ~46 |
|-----------Power Water Number 2-----Power Water Number 2--------------------|
| River | Kraken Head | 35/29 | 73 | LV 24, ~56 |
| O. Creed | Far Skeleton | 30/40 | 82 | LV 27, ~62 |
| Chessboard| King | 55/40 | 107| LV 35/5, ~78* |
| Rat Maze | Willard | 50/36 | 97 | |
| N Parmecia| Lizardman | 40/45 | 99 | |
| After Pacalon, another Lizardman |
| Bridge | Wizard | 37/40 | 89 | |
| O Mitula | Dark Knight | 50/48 | 113| LV 38/8, ~84* |
| Mitula | Zalbard | 80/50 | 145| PLV 16, ~106 |
|-----------Power Water Number 3-----Power Water Number 3--------------------|
| Pacalon | Devil Soldier | 60/48 | 123| PLV 10, ~90* |
| Moun | Shaman | 56/42 | 111| PLV 7, ~81 |
| Nazca | Cameela | 99/52 | 167| PLV 24, ~122 |
| Crashed | Bow Rider | 61/55 | 133| PLV 13, ~97* |
| PrismFlwrs| Executioner | 64/46 | 124| PLV 10, ~91 |
| N Galam | Red Baron | 150/54 | 221| PLV 35, ~161 |
| S Galam | Geshp | 180/51 | 247| PLV 45, ~180 |
| O Force | Hydra | 70/62 | 151| PLV 19, ~110* |
| Riv Flames| Odd Eye | 200/54 | 271| PLV 65, ~198 |
| Tower | Reaper | 82/48 | 145| PLV 16, ~106 |
| End 1 | Galam | 240/50 | 305| PLV 87, ~222 |
| End 2 | Zeon | 500/50 | 565| PLV ??, ~411 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The numbers do not reflect Power Waters or +3 level ups. PLV means Promoted
Level, and certain ones are skipped because the MN is lower than a previously
fought enemy that wasn't a Greater Devil. The *'s indicate certain benchmarks
to aim for. Basically, Peter should be at least promoted 5 by the King, level
8 by Pacalon, 13 when returning to Granseal, and 20 before heading into the
final bit.
v. Where stuff is
Here is a rundown of everything important for us to find
Power Water (x3) Cave south of Granseal, Shrine south of Ribble, and Mitula
Cheerful Bread (x2) New Granseal and Pacalon
Protect Milk (x2) Polca and Tristan
Running Pimento (x2) Hassan and Moun
Brave Apple (x2) Passage near Creed and Monk Village
Quick Chicken (x1) Furthest barrel on the ship leaving Granseal
Power Ring, dropped by the Witch after Ribble
Speed Ring, found in Bedoe on third floor
Shield Ring, dropped by Witch-thing outside Creed's
Mobility Ring, found after being un-shrunk
Blizzard, dropped by the Dark Bishop in North Cliff 2, Roft
Healing Water (need 2) Taros Shrine, Ketto, Dwarven Village, Galam Castle
Shower of Cure/Healing Rain | Creed's Mansion, dropped by Blue Shaman
Secret Book | Elven Village
Pegasus Wing | Pacalon Castle
ALL the Mithril (those that are numbered are easier to grab for a speed run)
1. Behind Granseal Tower before the first battle, position Bowie in the
center of the tower and search up
2. Lower part of the mountain south of Granseal, near the Power Water
3. After falling from the prison, search the wall behind you
4. Escaping Granseal, the smaller hole near school
5. In Ribble, search the sandbox center square
X. After the Power Ring battle, go RIGHT instead of UP over a different
bridge that leads to an indented mountain, search the deepest indent
6. In Hassan, walk through the fence to find it
X. Again in Hassan, below Rohdes house on the port, search the barrels
7. It's in the Fairy Forest, c'mon
8. The passageway to Creed's, the path of the Brave Apple has a hidden path
that leads south to this one
X. After the Desert-Creed battle, search the top of the indent mountain near
the passage
X. In Pacalon Castle on the left side, there's a spot you can walk through
the castle wall indicated by some rocks on the outside. The stairs lead
you to it
9. Going to the bridge/Pengoat Valley, search the tip of the mountain
10. The right chest in Mitula's temple
11. Chest in the Monk Monastery in the trees on the right
vi. Certain Choices
Want to critique me? Let's discuss some of the gameplay choices made.
Q: Why do you use Kazin instead of ____?
A: As the run has gotten much quicker, there is simply no experience to be
had for anyone. Counting every single non-boss snipe, Peter performs 17 of
them in this run. Of those, people will get EXP out of those battles only
once (the Polca battle). Counting the Greater Devil battles, Peter takes care
of Zalbard, Cameela, Lemon, Geshp, and Galam by himself, which is an
additional 5 snipes. Odd Eye does give some EXP to other people, but not
really, meaning that of the 23 snipes performed, there is just 1 very early
on where peopple get EXP. As such, Kazin can get up to some decent damage
with minimal EXP as Peter blows through the map.
That being said, as the end-game has been tightened up, we aren't even
continuing to use Kazin post Taros. For Super%, Kazin still has a special
spot reserved due to his ability to damage from low levels.
Q: Why not just use Peter, Bowie, and ____?
A: Using Red Baron as an example, Peter needs someone to boost him for the
damage, and in some cases like Odd Eye, to help tank off the damage for
Peter. A TAS does not need it, I do.
Q: OK I think I get it now. But why not have a more equal team?
A: Good question. Why not take 15 hours to speed run when we can do it in
less than half the time?
Q: I really feel like some other combination could work!?
A: Let's address this in pieces.
Why not use Birdmen?
A: 6 movement and unable to use Valkyries
Why not use Karna over Eric?
A: Changes in the route make Karna useless after the next two battles you'd
have her for. Eric makes several of the snipes far easier
Why not use Sheela?
A: We have the Shield Ring for boosting (the only time we must boost is for
Galam once we can't repair it anymore) and she takes a long time to recruit
Why not use Slade more?
A: Slade is strong, but he isn't as much a time-saver as you'd might think.
A comparison of splits reflected that Slade save no time of using some other
hero. As everyone gets ditched after Taros, we just have to make it TO him
regardless of who we have. For the Harpy battle, you can certainly bring
someone to help (I tend to use Kazin because of his speed and inability to
miss with magic) but evenso that's it.
Kiwi?
A: Freeze 4
Q: Do you really need ____? #For Super%
A: As evident by the desert battle outside Hassan, certain people are
necessary for the later battles in the game. Just as Peter needs someone to
get hit for him, we need the same thing later on in the game. The huge
difference is that early on, the unit may not be directly taking damage for
Peter, but they are stalling the enemy. Later on, the enemy will literally
walk away from Peter to go hit Zynk, Lemon, ETC.
Q: Are you going to speed run____?
A: No idea. Maybe if people request it enough. Someday Sword of Haija might
get my character guide treatment if I ever can finish the damn game. It's just
more boring for me than the others not to mention it's a watered-down SFI at
its core meaning much of the analysis is exactly the same. Also the character
level ups aren't very stochastic meaning it feels much more wasteful to
tediously go through each level up.
vii. Peter!
*NOTE, this section is a bit outdated, not accounting for leveling Peter more
during the Grind. The major takeaway is that he will have 80 attack when
promoted, not 74
So here's the deal and this is why Peter gets his own section. Because so
much of this run relies on his attack power (and knowing if he will OHKO
something) this section is devoted to his stats so we can better understand
him and look ahead.
Peter starting stats: LV 9, 22 HP, 26 ATT, 16 DEF, 12 AGI, and 6 MOV
Unpromoted, his average growth is going to net you 1-2-1-1 almost every
single time with some extras tossed in there. Simply put from level 9 to 29
his attack will grow by 2 each and every time. This means promoted Peter will
have at a minimum: 66 ATT, with +8 from the two Power Potions.
Now is a good time to address an obvious question: why 4 and not 3?
Simply put: we need every single attack. If we allowed 3-3-3 instead of
4-4-4, that's 1 less attack for Boost besides the obvious 3 less attack he
has to hit with. Play through with Peter not being strict and be frustrated
at the number of enemies that survive at 1-2 hit points when they should have
died.
Peter promoted: 42 HP, 74 ATT, 36 DEF, 32 AGI, 7 MOV
Granted, he will have upwards of +8 for both HP and DEF along the way not
to mention potentially +8 for AGI as well. Also his MOV will be 9 with the
Pepper. Now, his promoted levels are much better. The average levels are:
2.36 HP/lvl, 2.41 ATT/lvl, 2.08 DEF/lvl, and 1.12 AGI/lvl
But even moreso, his levels from 11 onward (and mostly from 20 onward) are
the best chances to gain +3 ATT which we really hope for. The window then for
his ATT at level 30 when you are at/near Zeon is 136 to 165, with the average
being about 148 ATT by level 30.
This is significant so we can know what we need him to be at in certain
areas as to OHKO enemies.
Here is a quick chart of MN's to reflect situations where we want Peter to
have that attack amount UNBOOSTED.
Ratmaze: 83 (Rats)
N. Parmecia: 89 (Lesser Demons*, Dark Sniper/Bishop)
Around that: 95 (Dark Soldier)
Bridge: 97 (Wyvern*)
Mitula: 104 (Harpy Queen*, Orc Lord)
Moun: 123 (Devil Soldier), 109 (Cerberus), 114 (Pegasus Knight*)
Cont... 115 (Bow Master), 122 (Mud Man), 115 (Dragon Newt)
Prism: 134 (Prism Flower), 122 (Mist Demon*), 119 (Griffin*)
Lemon: 126 (Hell Hound)
Geshp: 125 (Minotaur), 127 (Evil Bishop), 131 (White Dragon*)
Cont... 133 (Dark Gunner), 131 (Cyclops)
Odd Eye: 141 (Chaos Warrior), 151 (Hydra), 140 (Demon*)
Rest: 138 (Demon Master), 146 (Chaos Dragon*), 145 (Reaper)
So what exactly does this mean for us? Well, simply put we know what
level we want Peter to be in certain areas as these are the enemies that he
may need to attack unboosted. We know then that at level 1 he'll have 74 at
a minimum: so let's go from there.
Ratmaze: 84... Level 6
N. Parmecia: 90... Level 9
Mitula: 104... Level 16
Moun: 110... Level 17 (with Power Potion used of course)
Geshp: 125ish... Level 20/22
End o Game: 30ish
The relative point of this being to stress the importance of certain
benchmarks for Peter. Specifically, to level him to 9 in the Fairy Forest
may prove to be the best that way he'll hit 10 from King/Willard so that
N. Parmecia he can have a better time OHKOing things. There is a bit of a
gap then once we leap into Moun but by that time we also have people to help
out. IF he can have 130 attack by Geshp which puts him around 22 promoted that
will help tremendously but know that is hard to accomplish with experience
lagging from being overleveled. Regardless, hope this helps.
viii. Walking Glitches
So SF2 has a very interesting effect. If walking down or right, you can
walk one step further than you are allowed. Here's a rough drawing.
[Hero][space][space][space][space][space][space]
limit
The Hero has only 5 movement, hence the spot marked limit. You can reach the
other spot though. This works by placing a hero in the limit spot. Then, the
Hero on their turn can walk and as you are approaching the occupied limit
space, mash the stop/menu screen (C button). If done correctly, you'll here
the "err err" error sound but they will slide over and stand in the space to
the right. This can put people on cliffs, water, space, and ceilings. It's
extremely useful. This also lets you walk further more quickly though that
bit is more cutesy than helpful.
Where does this help us? A fair number of spots.
In Battle 1, you can (on Super) put Chester/Sarah on the stairs so you can
walk Bowie onto the wall by the stairs. This gives Bowie +25 LE instead of 15
and when the Gizmos come to fight, they'll stand on 0% LE on the stairs. This
can help since your people will net 5 more experience for hitting them.
In Battle 5, you could walk over the wall to engage the Knight. Like I said,
this doesn't work so well but it's an option. You can also walk over the
armory depending if you need to.
Battle 6 and 8 can help speed up movement with this, as well 9 and 10.
Battle 12 has an interesting spot where this is useful. There's the choke
point (middle of the map) where you can walk onto the cliff and engage from
there as well as move from there. You can also walk over to the other side
though that's pointless.
Battle 13 you can walk down (the area by the Black mage) onto the cliff to
get a little closer if you need to.
The Kraken battle you could do this to get closer though iirc you don't need
to
The first desert battle benefits from sliding one more to the right
On Normal, you can walk over the pillar in Taros to try and win more quickly
if you are feeling confident.
Both the Harpy battle (20) and Willard (23) you can do some movement though
nothing stands out as key
North Cliff (24) benefits from extra movement
Against Geshp this is useful. Might have some use with Galam and Zeon though
again, nothing stands out in my head as helpful.
Regardless, it's a neat trick that can be really helpful. There's a fair
number of spots that scream for exploiting, most notably, you can go to North
Granseal waaaaay before you are supposed to. This is the current strategy for
the runs known as EARLY ROFT. We go across and sell Mithril to purchase an
end-game weapon! Very cool
Anyway, you can do this "half-step glitch" to put Bowie up there. This works
in a hard to explain way. The premise is that you cannot go up or left with
this glitch, only right and down. However, when going right, you can continue
walking over onto bad spaces (so kinda going up) by doing this half step.
In battle 6, the Granseal Seige, this is where you can do this. There's the
water that looks something like
Grass | Water | Water | Water | Water | Grass
Grass | Gras1 | Wate1 | Wate2 | Wate3 | Water
Grass | Grass | Gras2 | Gras3 | Wate4
Grass | Grass | Grass | Gras4 | Water
Basically, from Gras1 you walk Bowie to Wate1 (have someone in Gras1). This
is just simple walking glitch. Now, you need people in the lower Grass spaces
below Wate1 and Wate2. On Bowie's turn, you're going to end up in Wate2. What
we do is try walking up from Gras3 into Wate 2. You kinda have to get a
running start. If done properly, Bowie will end up *almost* in Wate2. If he's
walking really fast and freaking out, then you've done it properly. Now,
before Bowie gets another turn, do any action (attack, heal, item). This will
re-position Bowie into Wate2, your clue you've done it right. Now, we're not
done yet as we need to get to Wate3.
We're going to do the same thing, but from Wate4. This means we need someone
in Wate4. Again, the plan is to walk from Gras3 into Wate4 but then upwards
into Wate3. The timing is not exact and it's kinda hard; you just have to get
a feel for it. Anywho, once Bowie is walking fast and freaking out just stand
him there and do something. This should put him in Wate3 and he won't be able
to move. Now end the battle by killing the last enemies off.
You can now walk up onto that Grass from Wate3 (the game doesn't view the
north Water as Water apparently). What can we do here? We can go to Roft
which is pointless. You could sell 3 Mithril for 4500 gold and buy something
but there is nothing worth buying for a Speed Run. We can't get Zynk, we can
go to the Ancient Tunnels but the door is locked on the other end. We can't
get Claude. The Prism Flower battle is not loaded, but both Lemon and the
Welcoming party are. Unfortunately there is no benefit going here. It's just
kinda cool. In theory, you could get Sheela really early but that requires
beating the Welcoming party which without cheating is pointless. It takes
about 4 hours to level Sarah to a point to where she can fight as a level 50
Vicar (that's a lot of Heal) so for any Speed Run purpose it's kinda well,
pointless.
All in all, you need at least 2 other people to do this, though 3 is better
and 4 is suggested since you can do the glitch and kill enemies without
wasting so much of your life.
This is however a neat application that can still be useful. Besides the
obvious "walking one more right or down" we can half step glitch in other
places simply for better placement. The practice is much simpler than that
above description. Assume that someone can walk up to 3 spaces in either
direction, so that it looks like this:
[SPOT][ ][ ][MNST]
[SPOT][SPOT][SPOT][HERE][ ]
[SPOT][SPOT][SPOT][SPOT][DUDE][DUDE] WALK HERE
[SPOT][SPOT][SPOT][HERO][SPOT][SPOT][SPOT]
[SPOT][SPOT][SPOT][SPOT][SPOT]
[SPOT][SPOT][SPOT]
[SPOT]
So our HERO is Kazin for instance (the Desert battle comes to mind. With
how things have gone, our setup is something like this, where Kazin *could*
glitch from the first DUDE into where the second DUDE is standing so that
Kazin could zap this abomination. Unfortunately, we can't. Actually we can.
We're going to put Kazin into the spot marked HERE, which is just north of
the first DUDE. How we do it is exactly like the half step glitch for going
to Roft. Have Kazin moving RIGHT (moving from left to right) on the same plane
as the DUDE, here marked WALK HERE. As Kazin is approaching that intersection
of SPOT HERE, you can have Kazin walk up into HERE with the half step glitch
SPOT DUDE
It works exactly the same as the step glitch. The obvious advantage here
is that Kazin can now zap the MNST that otherwise he would not have been able
to reach.
NOTE! This ONLY works if they could walk up. What this means is look at
something like this.
[NOPE]
[SPOT][SPOT][SPOT][HERE]
[SPOT][SPOT][SPOT][SPOT]
So the HERE spot is something they could reach, if someone was in either
of the two SPOTS near it (either direct glitch or half-step) but the NOPE
spot that seems like we could apply the same strategy doesn't work. The way
this works is the game lets you walk because there was a spot near there,
kinda like "clipping" in a sense. However, since for whatever reason you
can't walk in the spot next to nope, you can't do it, sorry.
ix. Experience Caps
Here's the deal. AA posted this to his guide. It was incomplete, and in
alphabetical order which really doesn't help for any kind of playthrough. Here
is the re-organized chart. This is important for several reasons.
1) At the level cap, you no longer receive experience, IE you gain 1 exp
2) At one before the cap, you gain about 20 exp for killing it
3) At two before the cap, you gain about 40 exp for it
As we really need to pay attention to levels around here, this list is
essential and I play the game with it up so I can plan my attacks better. Off
the top of my head, saving Arrow Launchers for Peter is a big thing as they
give him experience long past most other enemies.
I'm grouping them by level and by area. The areas make a lot more sense when
you are constantly thinking of Peters level.
Granseal Escape (through Dark Smokes)
7 Gizmo (only give half experience regardless)
7 Ooze
7 Huge Rat
7 Huge Bat
9 Galam Soldier
10 Galam Archer/Knight/Mage
10 Dark Cleric
14 Dark Smoke
CPU Peter (through MT. Bedoe)
12 Green Ooze
13 Goblin
14 Hunter Goblin
14 Witch
14 Vampire Bat
14 Dark Dwarf
15 Death Monk
16 Hobgoblin
17 Death Archer
17 Evil Cloud
Through Creeds
*Goal: Peter be 23 through Taros
*Bowie be 21/22 fighting Taros
18 Zombie
19 Golem
21 Black Monk
21 Master Mage
22 Gargoyle
22 Kraken Leg (pointless)
23 Kraken Arm (wasted)
23 Soulsower
24 Arrow Launcher
24 Dark Madam
24 Harpy
24 High Priest
24 Orc
25 Chessboard Evil Bishop (only King matters)
25 " Rook
26 " Pawn
26 " Queen
27 " Knight
28 Bubbling Ooze
28 Skeleton
29 Rat
31 Chessboard King
32 Willard
Through Mitula
29 Lesser Demon
30 Dark Bishop
30 Dark Soldier
31 Dark Sniper
31 Lizardman
32 Worm
33 Wizard
33 Wyvern
34 Dark Knight
34 Harpy Queen
34 Orc Lord
35 Master Monk
Mostly Snipes (through Lemon)
*Goal: Peter needs 120+ attack through Prism Flowers
36 Devil Soldier
37 Bow Master
37 Cerberus
37 Necromancer
37 Pegasus Knight
38 Mud Man
39 Dragonewt
39 Griffin
39 Purple Worm
39 Shaman
40 Bow Rider
40 Executioner (Prism Flowers, 47)
42 Hell Hound
42 Minotaur
43 Chaos Wizard (Burst Rock, 50)
43 Cyclops
43 Mist Demon
45 Dark Gunner
45 Evil Bishop
45 White Dragon
46 Hydra
Rest of the game
47 Chaos Warrior
47 Demon
48 Chaos Dragon
48 Horseman
48 Reaper
49 Blue Shaman
49 Demon Master
49 Devil Griffin
51 Arch Demon
51 Pyrohydra
52 Zeon Guard
x. Hero Placement
So I've decided to go ahead and touch on this as it keeps cropping up as
something of interest. Unlike SFI, dead heroes do not occupy a spot. Meaning
that to fill your team looks something like:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | etc
where 1 is always Bowie, but 2 is the next alive person. Right away, this
comes to mind as the Ketto snipe looks something like
4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
so having Peter in spot 3 still allows for the 3 turn snipe. This section is
just going to detail which battles this can really matter.
Battle 9, first one with Peter
If you have Kiwi, it puts Peter in a much worse spot. A reason, if any, to
skip him for this run
Battle 10
| 7 | 6 | 5 | 9 |
| 3 | 4 | 2 |
| 8 | 1 |
With Bowie, Sarah, Jaha, and Kazin alive, that puts Peter in 5, the best
case scenario given the circumstances. Having Chester or Slade alive, shoves
Peter back into 6 or even 7.
Kraken Battle
If you have 3 of the heroes between Bowie and Peter alive (Sarah, Chester,
Jaha, Kazin, or Slade) then you get Peter into a more optimal spot, reducing
the battle by a round. The exact spots are:
| 12| 8 | 11|
| 6 | X | 5 |
| 1 |
| 7 |
| 4 | X | 2 |
| 10| 3 | 9 |
As our party is likely going to be Bowie, Sarah, Kazin, Peter (and others),
you can see where Peter could end up in spot 4, almost an entire turn away
from where he could be at spot 5. Having our party be Bowie, Sarah, Kazin, and
one of Jaha, Chester, or Slade, then Peter goes to spot 5, which is above
Bowie. Luke will then be in either 6 or 7 depending on Gerhalt surviving the
Polca fight, which doesn't matter.
Battle 20, the Harpies
As I've said before, having Jaha (or anyone else) messes with Peter's spot.
Bowie goes in the middle of 3-1-2-5, with 4 being below. Of the people between
Peter and Bowie, you can only have 2 of them, less Peter gets shoved into spot
5 which is 10 spaces from the Harpy and too far.
Battle 21
It would seem to matter, but Peter makes it across the same regardless
Battle 22
With the above described team of Bowie, Sarah, Chester, Kazin, and Peter, it
sets up for a much faster turn. You must have Sarah and Chester, because he is
the only one who can make it there. You could have Jaha, Kazin, or Slade, but
only one of them, otherwise Peter ends up too far away. Fascinating
Battle 23
Just have Bowie, Sarah, and Peter. It's a fast battle, and having anyone
else between Bowie and Peter moves Peter over a tad too far which makes for
slightly worse movement. Sarah obviously heals Bowie, who will need it
Battle 26, the Ketto Snipe
As I was saying, the spots are weird. 11 and 12 go below Bowie, the rest
fill out away from them, IE 4-3-2-1, 7-6-5-11, and 10-9-8-12. After much
testing; I have decided that Eric, Peter, Sarah, and Bowie with the items
described are the best way to consistently beat this battle in 3 rounds;
though with updated Grind strats, it doesn't matter.
Battle 28, Pengoat Valley
If there is ANYONE between Bowie and Peter, it messes up the movement. We
need Peter in spot #2 for the most optimal starting position, straight up
Battle 30, Zalbard
We need 1 person of Sarah, Chester, Jaha, Kazin, or Slade in our party to
move Peter over that 1 space for us. Use Chester
Battle 33, Moun
Unfortunately, there isn't much you can do to change this. From the Shaman,
it's 11 spaces to be one spot below the Church door. Another 11 spaces from
there is the south side corner of the weapon/item shop. From there, 11 spaces
puts you right at... nobody. That's right, if you had a full 12, the top/left
spot of your party where nobody stands is where Peter could be for this to
happen. As such, having the minimum party is best here to reduce wasted time.
Battle 42, Galam
If you have Bowie, Peter, Eric, Jaro, Lemon, then Lemon cannot move into
range to block for Peter (risking getting stunned or muddled). Bringing
Frayja into the equation solves everything
xi. Everything is Awesome!
With some of the major changes, I have felt compelled to come up with a
full list of what but also who came up with it. This is in no particular
order and may not be fully complete or accurate, but I hope it gives a solid
basis for what has come so far.
1) Early Roft
What it is?
Early Roft is using the half-step glitch to go to Roft early from battle
six (the Granseal Siege). The purpose is to buy a strong weapon to have for
after Taros. Currently we buy a Great Sword (5100), done so by selling 2
Mithril and 1 Blizzard
Who found it?
A player named Kilieni (sp) found the half-step glitch specifically going
to early Roft. The Great Sword strategy was adapted from BowieTheHero
2) The Grind
What it is?
The Grind refers to leveling up Peter in order to greatly speed up the
game, and in some cases, make it beatable.
Who found it?
I was one of the first to really showcase the Grind and how effectively it
reduces time later on. A player named Kruncha showed that you can grind Peter
up post 27 off of Master Monks so that you can promote Peter at 33 instead of
29, netting extra attack and ultimately saving time
3) Zalbard Snipe
What it is?
The improved Zalbard battle that is completed in 3 rounds, using triggered
zones to break the battles.
Who found it?
Kruncha was the player who first did this. Originally it was for a OHKO
on Zalbard, but later just became a two turn kill on Zalbard that works so
long Peter does not miss.
4) Cameela Snipe
What is it?
The much improved Cameela battle that is safer for Jaro to not die but
still just as reliable for winning.
Who found it?
Kruncha first show-cased this strategy; I revised it.
5) Galam Snipe
What is it?
Taking advantage of triggered zones again, we turn the worst battle in the
game into a simple snipe
Who found it?
ThorimGauser first showcased this on stream while I was watching. I
immediately uploaded a "how to" video to youtube showing it off
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E. Final Thoughts and Contact Info [ZZZZ]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This concludes the guide. As with SFI, I will update this when I can if
new information or times happen. This guide is copyright, me, Todd Lesinski,
AKA NoWorries and tskisoccer. You cannot use or copy this guide; claiming it
as your own. I really don't care if you use this for personal use, (I
encourage it) but I wrote and performed this, you didn't.
If you feel the need to contact me about ANYTHING pertaining to THIS
guide, you may contact me at (AT) (.)
[email protected]
Please specify with "SHINING FORCE II SPEED RUN" to differentiate from
my other SF guides. I do appreciate your time and comments, and I will try to
respond. You can also go to the speeddemoarchives website and search under
"Older Consoles" and find the "Big Ol Shining Force Thread" and leave a
comment there. I check the website frequently so I should see it.
Thanks
I want to give thanks to Gamefaqs, again, for being so helpful
I want to give thanks to Awesome Games Done Quick and the Speed Demo Archives
website, for inspiring me to do speed runs.
I want to give thanks to DarkKobold, again, for his TAS had some amazing
tricks that I learned and put to use here. Most notably, the idea of using
Peter as the only strong member
I want to thank you, the reader, because it really means a lot to me when
people comment, send emails, and let me know I'm doing a good job. My
guides to date (8/20/2015) have reached over 100,000 hits which BLOWS my
mind that so many people are reading what I've written. I can't thank you
enough. This is also a shout out to people who are watching and subbing to
me on youtube and keeping up to date with my work. Can't thank you all
enough
I want to thank Camelot and Sega for this game. You guys have stolen so much
of my life.
Lastly, I want to thank the Shining Friends over at Twitch, for getting me
into streaming and making such an integral part of what I do now.
Length - 109364
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