Lindblum

This is a pretty easy segment. The reason it took so long is because I spent a lot of the past week working out changes to my plan that come due to an amazing discovery I made. More on that later.

I grabbed the gil in the inn's lobby on my way out, then proceeded to loot the Business District. After that it was time to execute the first Cotton Robe trick. Since it's not possible at this point to have enough money to do it all at once, this one has to be done in stages. I started by selling off all my extra stuff and buying 10 Steepled Hats. I kept my Bronze Armor and Rubber Helm to use later, however. Then I went over to the synthesis shop and synthesized 11 Cotton Robes (remember I already had 2 Steepled Hats from the Black Waltzes) and 4 Desert Boots. The Desert Boots are why I bought the Leather Shirts back in Dali. They give me a nice profit -- not quite as nice as the Cotton Robes, but it certainly helps!

After doing that, I went back to the equipment shop, sold the Cotton Robes and Desert Boots, and bought 20 Steepled Hats. I then synthesized 21 Cotton Robes and sold them. Next, I bought 31 Steepled Hats, synthesized 31 Cotton Robes, and sold them. For my final round of buying and synthesizing, I bought 1 Javelin, 1 Glass Armlet, 41 Steepled Hats, and 1 Linen Cuirass, and synthesized 1 Butterfly Sword, 36 Cotton Robes, 4 Yellow Scarves, and 1 Glass Buckle. I don't need The Ogre yet, and I'll get one for free before I do need it, so I don't bother getting it now. This means I don't need to buy the Dagger and Mage Mashers. The Linen Cuirass is so Freya can wear it against Beatrix and still leave one for me to synthesize in Treno. The Glass Armlet is so I can make the Glass Buckle, which I will be using shortly.

Looting the rest of Lindblum is very straightforward, so I'll skip the details. I will say, however, that I skipped getting the Silver Gloves in the synthesis shop because they're not missable, and getting them now would mess up Freya's optimization. When I reached the moogle in the castle guest room I exchanged letters but skipped saving. This part only has a small amount of luck with my new strategy so I figured it wasn't necessary. This whole segment only took me 2 tries once I got the practice down.

Now on to the Festival of the Hunt! This is where I make the biggest time savings in the entire challenge! Thanks to my new discovery it is possible to skip getting the Needle Fork from Zaghnol on either Ordered with Final Equipment stat path. It's also theoretically possible on the guide's Path B and Path C, but it's incredibly difficult on those paths. If you want to do it, you would have to dig up a Barette in Chocobo Hot & Cold. The only thing you have to watch out for in the festival is making sure Freya gets at least 100 points. I should also mention that, if you don't want Freya to win, you have to run down the festival clock anyway, so you might as well get the Needle Fork. If you want Freya to win or you don't care who wins, then this is a great way to save a lot of time on Ordered With Final Equipment!

After the festival I went through the scenes, picked up the Wyerd card, handled Mognet with the moogle at the Dragon's Gate, and saved. My time is now 01:55:21.