Insane Difficulty: [1.7] Official Single Segment Routing Thread - Insane Difficulty

After much discussion, I've finally started putting pen to paper routing this game. It's going to be a pretty huge project which will take some time. At this stage I just hope I actually finish it. The run itself will probably take upwards of 12-14 hours. I can't really start doing runs and getting into the late game routing until 1.7 is out of beta, but I can at least start routing the World of Balance. I have debated posting this in the other thread, but it has so much pre 1.7 info in it, that it would get confusing really fast. It's probably better to just let it fade than it is to continue adding to it.

Some overarching concepts that are influencing the run:

Gotta grind:
I don't think a LLG is feasible under any capacity. I'm already planning to run 9 characters to progress through KT in 1 trip, and to do that, I'll need to level. I'm estimating that level 30 will be OK enough to get through the fights properly, but I'm not sure yet. This means the run will probably have around 2-2.5 hours of exp grinding at different parts, most being in the Wold of Ruin. The rest of the necessary exp will be gained as the game progresses. Hopefully it will prove to be less in actual routing, but that's what I'm guessing at this early stage.

Running from battles is slow:
nATB makes it hard to run from random battles. This is most evident in the game prior to getting Warp Whistles. It's often quicker to actually fight them than it is to run. The exception being pre-Kefka @ Narshe, where you cannot get ambushed via a back attack or pincer. Running from a battle with a solo character is much quicker. Of course, pre-emptives also make this faster.

No Rare Steal Grinding:
Not gonna do it. I'll attempt it where it won't cost me time (Zozo especially), but I won't base the run around having those items.

No Bugs
There aren't many (any) bugs to exploit and skip parts of the game. If one surfaces (unlikely), we need to get BTB/Synchsyi to fix it.

I has a tool:
I made a bestiary tool that's not finished, but it's finished enough to help me route the game. I'll be glad to share it, but I won't link it publicly because it uses Unlockme information. I ask that anyone who I share it with would also exercise the same discretion.

I'm going to make a rough outline of how I see the World of Balance and discuss what I feel like are major objectives to prepare for. The idea is to pick an "end point" and then work backwards to achieve those goals, so everything done is moving towards that goal. With that in mind, here's how I would divide the World of Balance:

Objective 1: Dadaluma
Target Level: 10-11
Party Comp: Cyan, Edgar, Sabin, Locke (more on this later)
Brief Analysis: The Pre-Esper game is pretty linear and there are some very clear options that are better than the others. Dadaluma is the obvious bookend to the first phase of the game.

Objective 2: Number 024 / Number 128 / Cranes
Target Level: TBD
Party Comp: TBD
Brief Anaylsis: TBD

Objective 3: Atma Weapon
Target Level: TBD
Party Comp: TBD
Brief Analysis: TBD

The route:
See current notes for this segment. Bold is what I have routed up to so far.
Objective 1: Outline

A: Intro - S. Figaro
B: Mt Koltz - Vargas
C: Returner's Hideout - Ultros 1
D: Scenarios
E: Scenarios
F: Scenarios
G: Kefka @ Narshe
H: Narshe - Zozo
I: Dadaluma

Objective 2: TBD
Objective 3: TBD

This is as much a place to organize my thoughts as it is to discuss them, so feel free to question and debate and ask away.

Reserved.

MOD APPROVED: QUALITY POST

tl;dr

This post has been edited by Stann: 10 December 2015 - 07:08 PM

Quality posting I see.

Gooooo Mishrak!
(I have no opinions on your route. Just generic encouragement.)

Not sure how this will affect your Mt. Koltz strategy, but I asked Synchysi in the next version to move the Butterfly to where the Main Gauche used to be.

I've been thinking about it. Will definitely be worth seeing what kind of damage Locke does with it. It's quite out of the way though.

Some changes, will update the notes soonish:

Narshe Intro: Terra to 6 in the Cave. 3 battles to 5, 5 battles to 6. Steal Rename card and hope Locke doesn't get hit with Net.

3-4 randoms on the Overworld w/ Locke and Terra, this isn't a grind, will probably just run into this many in the plains / desert.

Arrive at Figaro with ~6000 GP. 5,000 for Bio Blaster, 500 for ACB, 2-3 Phoenix Downs. Loot Remedy, Tonic(sell - 250) and Antidote from the merchant chests. Sell Rename Card (- 668). The selling of items is part of the 6,000.

At level 6, Edgar's Bio Blaster 1 shots the Magitek battle, which otherwise takes 3 rounds.

Gain level 7 in Figaro Cave while picking up the money chests. No extra grinding should really be necessary. Should have around 6,000 GP at S. Figaro. Terra and Locke should be about halfway through level 7 and Edgar just hits level 7.

S. Figaro Shopping: 2x Boomerangs, Bio Blaster, 1 Goggle, 1 Star Pendant = 5,000 GP Save the rest.
Loot Phoenix Down and Tonic that are directly available upon entering S. Figaro.

Locke: Goggles, Edgar: Star Pendant
Fight Randoms in Mt Koltz, but no grinding. Try to avoid Condor Battle.

Fire + Bio Blaster kills Tuskers and Trilliums.
Bio Blaster kills Vaporites and Brawlers.
Power Glove + ACB kills Condors (even @ level 7)

Vargas 46:05

The goal, of course, is not to just get to Vargas and kill him or this could be much faster. Rather this is the method to use with Dadaluma as the goal.

A few things to note:

Fighting all four intro battles insures Terra being at level 4 before Whelk. This means you can 2 round Whelk properly as well as have fire accessible immediately in the cave when Terra is alone.

Putting her in the back row was a big mistake and I didn't notice it right away. She stayed that way and I lost some time on the randoms there.

I'm glad I realized I should pick up the Tincture (to sell) in the Cave, as I only ran into two randoms on the Overworld and thus didn't have enough GP at Figaro without that.

Mt. Koltz randoms can be trolly as hell.

Lots of menu / movement mistakes.

Mishrak? Menu mistakes? Never.

BTB, on 13 December 2015 - 05:21 AM, said:

menus 2op plz nurf

Not losing time on menus is really really difficult. It's something I've always admired about the top runners of rpgs.

Scenarios: I prefer Terra then Locke then Sabin due to getting more Veldt creatures and higher starting levels for Cyan and Gau, which seem to matter.

There are no (new) Veldt-enabled formations in Terra's scenario or Locke's.

Definitely not to the scenarios yet. Still not done routing up to Vargas. Need to time some random encounters and time the level grind to 8 in Figaro cave as well as yolo running in Mt Koltz with just Locke.

Also very few decisions will be about preference. Most everything will be decided by what is faster. The exception is when preference doesn't cost time.

If you manage to run into Brawlers on the Veldt, I suggest getting that Rage for Gau. You probably don't want to spend any extra time on the Veldt farming Rages, but that one in particular is incredibly helpful in the trench. Mass damage and confuse saved my ass more than once during my only speedrun of this game.

That's good to know actually. Vaporite is similar in that regard. Berserks everything. So I could get through the trench with either rage then.