This guide is not meant to be eye candy, nor is it going to say any more than
it has to. This guide won't tell you how to beat this level or that level;
instead, it will give players that have already beaten each level short, concise
tips on how to beat par times, generally providing strategies that will work on
both Normal and Hard modes.
So far, this guide is extremely spotty and has certain missions and speedruns
missing. This is mainly because this guide is primarily supposed to fill in the
blanks in other existing walkthroughs of the game. I will be adding some
strategies in the future myself, but if you need extra help with a specific
mission, email me at:
thejunkiebox [at] gmail [dot] com
and I will write an in-depth strategy, or expand on one if I was too vague
before. This guide will expand according to the demand for it, so feel free to
shoot me an email!
[MISSIONS - - - - - 00Mis]
0.) Grinding Technique - Most players who have beaten Hero 3 will have inherited
this automatically, but just to clear things up, for most speed runs you're
going to want to stay moving at all times, walk on the map, and dash through
battles unless I specifically say not to. Grinding is important in the long run
because your movement stat increases as you level up, reducing your speed. In
short, if you have to choose between grinding now or later, go with now as you
will be playing the rest of the mission with increased speed.
1.) Hero's Departure - You can shave off more time by dashing through battles
and using the Herb to compensate for taking more damage during the boss.
Unfortunately, you can't get experience from grinding before the timer begins.
2.) Continental Bridge -
3.) Caves and Forests - Get into one battle, enter the first town, use your
Gold to buy a horse, dash far left, then down, get the bug swatter, and then
dash to the boss. For the best times, get a good feel of the map so you don't
hit any walls or shores to slow you down.
4.) Fire Starter - Use the Bug Swatter on the left forest, as all of the
enemies there are bugs. This allows you to grind very fast. Deciding when to
switch to a different weapon, recruit the elf, and dash back to the castle is
a very touchy-feely matter; just experiment.
5-2.) Through the Cave - Stall with battles until your Gold is up to 200,
then go through the cave at around 20 seconds left to buy the super food. Dash
to the boss as fast as you can and wipe the floor with him.
6-1.) Courage Mountain -
6-2.) Castle Over the Sea -
7-2.) Good Ol' Days - Head straight for the castle, dash through battles until
you get You > Evil, then dash through the boss battle. It's very straightforward
; ignore all of the subquest stuff.
8-1.) Village in Danger - Make a beeline toward the south town, medicine, north
town, and boss in that order. Walk on the map and dash through battles. This is
pretty tough on hard mode; I think the key was bringing the right equipment.
8-2.) Change the Current -
9.) Beautiful Evil Lord - Get the herb immediately, walk to the southwest cave
where Millenia is, then dash to the boss as fast as possible.
10.) Bandit Valley - For Hard Mode, grind next to the town but in the mountains
until your health is low, then run in, reset the time, heal, and buy an herb
all at once so you burn less time in town. Then all you have to do is recruit
the bandit and go down to the boss. As quickly as possible, obviously.
12-1.) Hero in the Dusk -
12-2.) Past the Ocean - This can be pretty tough for experienced players who are
used to dashing. You can't dash while you're in battles at first... You should
dash UP to an enemy, but not while you're in the process of colliding with them
Grind to Level 8, then buy everything in the first town, dash to the second, a
nd buy two herbs (using one). Dash to the boss and through him, using the Herb.
13-1.) Cleric and the Devil - Grab an herb and go south to the demon. Dash
through the entire tower and use herb along the way. Dash back to the town, then
to the boss.
13-2.) Dragon Island - Make a beeline for the egg and return it for 2k. Go to
the town and get the Dragon Lance. Dash to the boss and don't worry about HP
since you'll one-hit kill all of the enemies in the castle.
13-3.) Battle Ocean -
14-1.) Mummy Desert -
14-2.) Lizardman Nation - I think this may be impossible on Hard mode. I've
beaten it with a time of 26'70 on Normal, and I've realized you really have to
use the time you spend battling inside the tents wisely in order to fight off
of the clock. Even on Normal it's pretty rough; you have to flee from some of
the battles and fight strategically.
14-3.) Tiny Sailing Trip -
15-1.) Spinning Castle - Get an herb and axe while grinding, anticipate where
the castle will go and jump in with the right amount of seconds left. A bit of
practice will show you about how how much the castle will move per battle,
depending on your power level.
15-2.) Twin Valley - Don't bother with ANY random battles; just do all four
chores and attack each twin after both seals are broken. This is pretty tough
on Hard mode, as you'll be burning a lot of time indoors.
15-3.) Flower in the Dusk - Get an herb, camp by town until you can afford the
boots, make your way up to the castle with random battles, and beat the boss.
Use your herb when you need it.
15-4.) Treasure Island - Ignore the treasure completely; just grind as fast as
possible and defeat the boss when you can.
16-1.) Bust the Wall - Grind up to a safe level before heading west, getting
the bomb, and making a beeline for the boss.
16-2.) Ancient Riches - Dash constantly and don't get into any random battles.
Use your 100 G from the start to reset the timer for an extra bomb; this will
save a good several seconds.
16-3.) To the Snowy Country -
17-1.) Grail and Evil Lord - Get the real grail first and dash most of the way.
Cleared it with level 7 and make sure to bring Anima Plate. In this rare
instance, the defense is worth the movement penalty.
17-2.) Avalanche Pass - Walk straight to the cave, dashing through battles,
fight the Yetis, then burn the rest of your HP as close by as you can and lose
to a mammoth as soon as you leave, to save time going back down to the town.
Heal up and reset the timer to remove the boulder, then dash to the final boss.
Use a Wing Blade and Anima Plate for the defense from the latter amd the
weight compensated by the former.
18.) White Earth - Keep in mind you can dash straight up to the cave from the
start, which will save time spent steering. Other than that it's just running
and grinding. Nothing you can purchase is worth the trouble, except maybe the
Herb.
20.) Floodgate Panic - Use the Swimmer Ring and dash all the way over to the
east town, then the northern town, then the boss. The Bomb will one-hit kill
the boss, so do not get into ANY battles as they are a waste of time. You may
want to run while holding L and R to instantly flee any battle.
21-2.) The Have-Nots -
22.) Fire Mountain -
23-1.) Turtle and Hermit - If you want to speed up the training, tap L and R
on and off and you'll get more experience without having to exit and reenter
the cave. Don't do this too much, though, or you won't have enough gold for
food.
23-2.) Golem Valley - I won't lie; this is easily one of the hardest levels to
beat in par time, especially in Hard mode. I've heard it described as
impossible, but it can be done. Bring this as your setup: Crimson Robe, Pirate
Hat, Spike Club, Spike Shield, Bigfoot.
- Walk up all the way, then down. Dash through the battle. If you die, reset.
- Enter town immediately, dash through the town and refill HP and buy an herb.
I learned you have to do this in drive-by mode, meaning Dash and buy while
dashing. It's hard, but you will thank me. In retrospect, you could probably
slow down just a little bit just for the herb, but I found that getting the HP
refill while dashing was pretty much a necessity.
- Dash up, left, up, then right around the first cave.
- Get into the giant hole and dash. Get ready to use your Herb just as your HP
hits the 3-ish or 2-ish mark.
- Dash back around and go back through the cave, dash into the town and be
careful of the pause in which Slowpoke awakens.
- Dash into the town, reset the timer, buy an HP refill and an herb. I found
resetting time as soon as you got in to be very hard. Practice this several
times before you attempt a speedrun.
- Dash into the rock and initiate a battle. You should tap O a little bit such
that you have around 30 HP when all rocks are gone.
- Dash into the castle. Stay behind Slowpoke until he defeats four rocks (?),
then dash into the boss twice, retreat for one rock, then three, retreat for
one rock, then dash until you win. - Incredibly enough, I think I still got
hit by a rock on accident once AND had over a second left before I broke the
40 second mark, so you don't have to be perfect... But you'll have to be damn
close.
24-1.) Swamp and Witch - Grab an herb, dash to the witch, then sage, then back
to the town for a refill, and then up to the boss. You kill him in one hit so
the only non-boss critters you face are the minions in the castle.
24-2.) Treasure Land -
25-1.) Isolated Castle -
25-2.) Another Goddess - Choose Mage, Thief, and Machine. Thief and Mage use
ranged weapons and won't get killed when fighting Judgment, and the Machine is
slow but deals ridiculous damage. While he won't be good for grinding missions,
this will make him extremely good against Judgment. Dash to the second town and
beat the Grass monster quest once, then go back to the town and hire the Thief
and Mage. Defeat the Guardian at the east beach for the massive Gold, and beat
the quest for the Machine. The weapon for the Thief is right by the cave in the
frozen area, so go there next, then grind until level 20 or so before going
into the underground area. The enemies there don't give the best experience, so
it's a really bad waste of time if they deal more than 1 damage to you in
there, because you're burning a lot of HP for not much experience in return.
Get theother two ultimate weapons, then grind a until you're around level 35 or
so, then attack Judgment. The Machine is the key here.
26.) Grand Wings - Dash to get the dragon, but after that only dash through
battles. From there it's pretty straightforward, but make sure to ignore the
shield. Don't forget to bring the Balmung.
27.) Farewell Bandit Trio - Fly normal speed to the town with an Herb, then get
into the left island as soon as it appeares. Dash through the bird battle and
through the Larry battle.
28.) Infinite Weapon Lord - Use the Dragon Lance and dash to the dragon in the
cave up above, then heal at the town below and grind there until you can afford
the weapon. Heal again, then head for the boss.
[HERO 3 - - - - - 00Her3]
My best time on this level is a whopping 12'48, and I did it with this method:
- Move right, left, and battle a Jellium
- Enter town, buy Gladius
- Go up twice, defeat a crab, then down to town
- Reset time, refill your HP
- Dash left, battle a Scorpion, and enter the left town
- Reset time and refill your HP
- Go right twice and battle a Scorpion
- Go down and left, battle another Scorpion
- Dash down and enter town
- Buy Hero Sword and reset time
- Dash up and right, then fight a bird in forest
- Dash up and right to the last town
- Reset time, refill your HP, and buy Silver Mail
- Dash through the boss. I win with 11 HP and 0.03 seconds left
I don't know what to say about this level except that bringing your time down
by even 2% of a second is a gruelling process.
[COPYRIGHT - - - - - 00Rights]
(C) Copyright 2011
This guide may not be redistributed for commercial purposes, nor distributed
for noncommercial purposes if it is modified. Noncommercial redistribution,
however, is allowed if this document is left in its original form.
