Rescuing Dagger

I started off this part by reviving Quina and making sure s/he had 1 HP. Then I prepared for the upcoming fights against Beatrix and Zorn and Thorn. Instead of removing everything from Quina, I let him keep the Needle Fork and Yellow Scarf. No point in removing those. My fight against Beatrix went very well on the first attempt. I stole the Ice Brand and used Limit Glove to end the battle. I then went through the scenes, did some business with Mognet, and saved on the Red Rose.

The next part is a bit tricky. The fastest you can break out of the cage is in 12 swings or 6 back-and-forth motions. I started out by leaning left, then leaned once on the next 3 swings as well (for a total of 4), twice on the next 4 swings, and 3 times on the last 4 swings. It takes some good timing to do this correctly. It's best to avoid leaning when the cage isn't going anywhere. Wait just a second when there's time, and your lean will add more height on your swing.

As if that weren't enough, you then have to dodge Alexandrian soldiers. I find it best to run right at them, then make a 90 degree turn at the last second to run around them. You have to do this twice to get around the guards as Steiner. Then you have to hope none of the other guards are smart enough to run around their various obstacles and catch Zidane. Once you get past them all, it's pretty easy to run the rest of the way to where Dagger is.

Along the way, make sure to remove Marcus's equipment and prepare Steiner for Zorn and Thorn. I gave Marcus my remaining Broadsword and took off the rest of his equipment. I set up Steiner as instructed in the guide except that I don't see any point in having him keep Counter. Beatrix is never going to target him, so he'll never get a chance to counterattack. I gave him HP+10% instead. Since I stole the Ice Brand from Beatrix, I was able to do this at the same time as removing Marcus's equipment, thus saving time.

With that out of the way, the only thing left in this segment is to battle Zorn and Thorn. This is one of the easiest bosses in the game if you're prepared. The battle went exactly as described in the guide. Everyone but Freya went to critical HP from Vivi's Blizzard, and Zidane stole the Mythril Armor from Thorn and the Partisan from Zorn, both of which Freya will put to good use shortly.

After the battle, I adjusted everyone's equipment to prepare for the next set of battles. I put the best headgear I own on everyone, optimized Freya, gave her a Coral Ring, and activated Man Eater, Cover, Insomniac, and High Tide (just because it was convenient and I had extra Magic Stones). I forgot to move Freya to the front row, so I'll need to do that when I reload.  Finally, I read Mosh's letter and saved with a time of 03:46:13. One of the hardest parts of the whole challenge is coming up next, so here we go!

The Battle of Cleyra

After messing up in the last battle twice, I finally made it through this part. I haven't played at all most days, but I'm still tired of being on this one segment.

I started by heading to the entrance of Cleyra and making a couple changes in my equipment. I gave Zidane the Mage Masher, Mythril Vest, and Germinas Boots, and Vivi the Gold Choker. I also made sure everyone was in the back row. Then I went down the trunk, picking up the rest of the treasures along the way. I used MT Bio against all three pairs of soldiers, giving Vivi an Elixir after the second one. When I got back to the settlement I defeated the black mage with a single casting of Stop. As I went to save, I healed up Zidane, who was down to 2 HP, gave Vivi another Elixir, and changed Freya's equipment to prepare for her last level gain before Tantarian. She got the Mythril Spear, Iron Helm, Mythril Gloves, Linen Cuirass, and Glass Buckle. I also gave Zidane back the Butterfly Sword and moved him to the front row. I then picked up the next Mognet letter and saved.

The first battle after the save was against three soldiers. Since Zidane now had the Butterfly Sword (necessary for the next battle) I had Quina as backup for Vivi in case Bio didn't do enough damage. It turned out to not be necessary on my successful run, but it's possible for Quina to save the situation in such a case. The next battle went perfectly. Quina began by petrifying one of the mages. Zidane then attacked the other one, Freya jumped, and Vivi toasted the party with MT Fira. The mages didn't even get a turn! Freya leveled up to 8 and is now at the maximum level she can afford with my current set of equipment. I had originally planned to have Freya kill the first mage since it shows up by itself, but this way turns out to be much faster.

Before the next battle, I made sure to revive and heal everyone and switch out Freya's equipment. I optimized her, then gave her the Cachusha and activated HP+10% and Ability Up. I also moved Zidane back to the back row. I opened the battle with MT Bio, causing the soldiers to retreat. Then I had Freya give Vivi an Elixir since he was out of MP. Zidane had nothing better to do, so he stole an Ore. I figured trying to petrify the mage wasn't worth the risk, so I had Vivi cast Stop. He failed on his first attempt, but succeeded on the second. After the battle, Zidane mastered Protect Girls, Vivi mastered Auto-Potion, and Freya mastered Bright Eyes.

With just one battle left to go, I gave Zidane the Mage Masher before proceeding. I made sure to knock out Quina before casting Bio, which succeeded in forcing all the soldiers to escape. After going through the scenes and collecting rewards from the survivors, I saved with a time of 03:32:42. I was a little over the target time for this part, but I'm happy with the result.

Antlion

Now it's time to return to the settlement, picking up treasure along the way. When I got there, I equipped Quina with the Needle Fork, Mage's Hat, Bone Wrist, Silk Robe, and Yellow Scarf, and activated Add Status and Ability Up. Millionaire was already active. I then went up to the inn, got the treasure inside, read the letter from Ruby, and saved.

After that, I followed Dan the slowpoke down the stairs, picking up the Phoenix Pinion along the way. Several times I accidentally initiated conversation with him when I was trying to pick up the Phoenix Pinion. That just shows you how slow he is.

Then came the fight against Antlion. Zidane went first and stole the Annoyntment. Then I waited for Antlion to take a turn and it used Sandstorm, reducing Quina to 1 HP. I then had Zidane steal again, getting the Mythril Vest, before finishing it with Limit Glove.

When the long scenes were finally over, I took Freya over to the cathedral to pick up the treasure there. With that done, I returned to the inn, bought Stiltzkin's deal, read the letter from Monev, and saved. My time is now 03:17:55.

Gargan Roo and Entering Cleyra

After being away from my PS2 for a week and a half I'm now back into it. Gargan Roo is fairly straightforward. Just a couple chests and some machinery to set in motion for the gargant.  I already did the setup for Ralvurahva while in Treno, so now I move straight to the boss fight.

Just like Gargan Roo was straightforward, so is Ralvurahva. Steiner and Dagger attacked nonstop. Marcus stole the Mythril Fork, then joined in the attacking. That gets me a couple thousand extra gil. On Ralvurahva's turns it cast Blizzara on Marcus and used Devil's Kiss on Steiner, but both of them survived. Unfortunately Steiner didn't counterattack, but I still managed to match the target time for this short piece even with the steal. When control switched back to Zidane and co. I ran to the edge of the desert and saved at 03:00:50.

Now it's time to enter Cleyra. The encounter rate here and in Gargan Roo can be pretty annoying, but it's still not too bad to get through. Before I reached the part of the trunk where encounters begin, I set up my party as follows:

Zidane                       Freya                    Vivi                 

Butterfly Sword          Mythril Spear         Oak Staff         
Bandana                   Iron Helm               Bandana                       
Glass Armlet             Mythril Gloves        Bone Wrist   
Leather Shirt             Chain Mail              Magician Robe      
Gold Choker              Cachusha              Glass Buckle        
______________________________________________
                                HP+10%
                                Ability Up

With that, these three are ready for the upcoming fight against Antlion. I don't have all the equipment I need for Quina yet, so I ignore him for now. Freya and Vivi have to be set up before reaching the settlement, though, because they will then leave the party and not come back until the fight.

I followed camdad04's strategy from his last set of videos for getting through Cleyra, including skipping the first save with Monev. Of special note is the fact that he (and thus, I) skipped the Phoenix Pinion in the middle of the first set of stairs in the Cleyra settlement. This is because it's more convenient to get it later, when you're chasing Dan down the stairs. Also, I didn't buy the Mythril Rod from Dan because I bought it in Treno. After watching the ATEs and gathering the treasure, including the Silk Robe and Magician Shoes from following Quina down the sinkhole, I went to Monev this time around, delivered Atla's letter, and saved. My time is now 03:06:54.

Treno

And here we reach Treno. This is where I make my second biggest time savings in the challenge. I entered the city and proceeded as normal to the synthesis shop. There, I bought a Cachusha (requires Magus Hat and Rubber Helm), 2 Coral Rings, a Gold Choker, and 56 Cotton Robes. After that, I went to the weapon shop, sold the Cotton Robes, and bought all the things I needed. These are the changes I made from the guide's list:

I already had the Magus Hat and Linen Cuirass, so I didn't need to buy them again.
I bought a Mythril Rod here instead of Cleyra simply because I found it more convenient.
I bought 3 Bone Wrists instead of 2.
I bought all 9 of the missable Bandanas here instead of splitting them between here and the Black Mage Village.

NOTE: If you're going to have Steiner take Abadon's experience, then you should buy 3 Barbuts here instead of 2.

When I finished shopping, I optimized Steiner and gave him Silver Gloves, then activated Counter and MP Attack. Bird Killer was already activated in the previous circuit. In the fight against Griffin, Steiner's turn came up immediately, so he threw a Tent. Griffin did nothing but attempt to cast spells while Steiner finished him off with two attacks.

I saved after the fight, then proceeded to the auction house. When the Magician Robe came up I bid 8,000 for it and won instantly. That was all I was after, so I got out quickly. While Madain's Ring and the Reflect Ring have some minor uses, I don't think they're worth the large expense in time and gil at this point. A while ago I did devise a strategy that would let me skip the auction altogether, but in the end I decided the Magician Robe was too good to pass up. You can skip it if you want, but be warned that Cleyra, the escape from Alexandria, and the Iifa Tree will be harder without the Magician Robe.

With the auction done, I went straight to the pub for the scenes with trying to steal the Supersoft. After that, I headed over to Tot's tower. Along the way I got ready for the upcoming boss fight. Dagger and Steiner were already prepared, so I just had to equip Marcus. I equipped him with a Mythril Sword, a Bandana, a Bone Wrist, a Leather Plate, and a Yellow Scarf. The Chain Plate would provide more defense, but the Leather Plate halves ice damage, which will let him survive Blizzara. Steiner has taken no damage since I began disc 2, so I didn't bother messing with his HP. With that done, I picked up the Mythril Dagger and went inside. I gain a few more minutes over the target time by skipping the extra trip to Dali. I'll get the money I need through other means. Once in Gargan Roo, I delivered the letter to Mochos and saved. My time is 02:55:29.

South Gate & Dali

Time to begin disc 2! We open with some scenes in which we reunite with Marcus and Cinna. I like to break away from them after saying "hi" to do my shopping and Mognet because I think it's more streamlined that way, and I think it's funny to do all that right in the middle of the conversation.

I bought and sold as instructed with the following exceptions:

- I kept the Mythril Spear, the Leather Wrists, 1 Cotton Robe, and 1 Germinas Boots.

- I sold the Ice Staff I got from Gizamaluke as well as 2 Antidotes that I got from Chocobo Hot & Cold.

- I also bought 2 Magus Hats. I'll need to use one of them before I hit the weapon shop in Treno, so I might as well get them both now.

After taking care of Mognet with Nazna, I set up my party for the upcoming battle and boarded the car to Alexandria. I skipped saving here because there's nothing luck based at that point since the last save. I optimized both Steiner and Dagger, then gave Dagger the Feather Hat and Wrist and Steiner the Bronze Armor. This will put him only 1 AP away from mastering Bird Killer. I also made sure to activate Man Eater from the newly bought Mythril Gloves as well as Bird Killer because it was convenient to do so now.

My battle with Black Waltz #3 wasn't the best, but I still beat the target time for this circuit, so I kept it. BW3 opened with Thunder on Steiner, which he survived. Steiner and Dagger did nothing but attack whenever their turns came up. On his first turn Marcus stole the Steepled Hat (oh well). BW3 then attempted to Freeze Marcus, but he missed. This gave Marcus another chance to steal, but he blew it. I thought I was going to have to reset, but then BW3 missed with his next attack as well! Marcus was then finally able to steal the Lightning Staff, and then Dagger finished him off.

You may be wondering why I insisted on getting the Lightning Staff when I already have a Coral Ring. My strategy for the Alexandria rescue involves three Coral Rings, so I'll be synthesizing two in Treno. The third one isn't absolutely necessary, but it will make things a bit easier. I actually had two attempts where Marcus stole the Flame Staff, but couldn't get the Lightning Staff, so I had to reset.

I then went to Dali, saving along the way. In Dali, I bought 99 Wrists and a Rod, then grabbed the Elixir and left. I crossed the plain to South Gate without saving, went through, then saved again halfway to Treno. My time is 02:45:20.

EDIT: I decided to redo this part because of a change in my plan for a future circuit. I plan to use a Headgear before the guide tells you to buy one, and this is my last chance to do it before then. My battle with BW3 went better this time, and I am now saved outside Treno with 02:45:11 on the clock.

EDIT (again): When I got to the part where I was planning on using the Headgear, I changed my mind again and ended up not using it.  At least I got a better time by redoing it!

Burmecia

The first order of business upon approaching Burmecia is to set up for the last Type A battle. The strategy is pretty much the same as the first one. The difference here is that Vivi now has access to a much more powerful spell (Bio), so I don't need to remove everyone's headgear, thus making it easier to survive the fight.

With my strategy the chance of successfully completing the battle in one round is approximately 2/3. For me, this is high enough that I'd rather not backtrack to the world map to save afterwards. You can do so if you want, especially if you're going to have Steiner take Abadon's experience as that path has a large time buffer. With this battle Freya gained another level and has now mastered her first ability -- Antibody.

After the battle I proceeded straight through Burmecia, eventually getting no encounters. In the balcony area after rescuing Wei and Kal, I went through the first opening and back out again to reduce the chance of an encounter. In the next screen after that I opened the first chest for a Tent to give me some extra gil.

After saving with Atla I made some changes to my equipment to prepare for Beatrix and to switch over to Dagger and Steiner. I gave Zidane the Mythril Dagger, Yellow Scarf, and Wrist, and gave Vivi a Wrist. Then I removed Vivi's Cotton Robe and Yellow Scarf, Freya's Bronze Gloves, Quina's Cotton Robe, and Zidane's Bronze Vest and Feather Hat, and activated Zidane's Bandit. From Beatrix I stole the Phoenix Down and Chain Plate. It's definitely not worth going after the Mythril Sword. After skipping the FMV and saving my time at the end of disc 1 is now 02:36:26.

Gizamaluke's Grotto

Now it's time to take on the black mages in Gizamaluke's Grotto. Before engaging the first Type As, I made some last-minute changes to my equipment so they ended up as follows:

Zidane                       Freya                     Vivi                       Quina

Butterfly Sword          Javelin                    Mage Staff             Fork
-                               Iron Helm                -                            -
Glass Armlet             Bronze Gloves        Leather Wrist         Leather Wrist
Bronze Vest              Linen Cuirass         Cotton Robe           Cotton Robe
Coral Ring                 Glass Buckle          Yellow Scarf          Yellow Scarf
_________________________________________________________
Man Eater                                                                           Millionaire

It is essential that Freya be equipped exactly as shown. Here's how the first Type A battle went: Zidane attacked first for a guaranteed one-hit kill. The remaining Type A hit Freya with a Blizzard spell, but she survived. She then jumped and Quina attacked. Due to Quina's random damage formula, there's a chance s/he might not do enough damage, but s/he did. Vivi then toasted the party with a Fire spell to knock everyone out, and Freya finished the battle with her landing. Freya went up to level 5, and I got some bonus gil. :) It's possible to get through this battle without the Type As ever getting a turn, but I was satisfied with this result.

After this battle, I revived only Zidane, healed both him and Freya just in case, and then immediately engaged the other Type A. Since taking the experience results in much easier battles, I rearranged the order of things here to make it a bit easier overall. I had Zidane attack for another one-hit kill, and Freya attacked since I didn't have Quina to do that this time. The remaining Type A used Thunder on Zidane (guess I didn't need to heal them. Oh well). Zidane then knocked himself out and Freya jumped to end the battle. Freya gained one more level to reach level 6.

I handled the scene with the moogles and saved. After reloading, I revived everyone, making sure Quina was revived with 1 HP. When I got that, I made some equipment changes to take advantage of Gizamaluke's AP. I gave Zidane the Feather Hat and Yellow Scarf, Freya a Yellow Scarf, and Vivi the Leather Hat and Coral Ring. I also activated Zidane's Steal Gil just for fun. I got really lucky in the fight because I was able to steal the Ice Staff (1/16 chance). I would have been happy with anything because the gil difference isn't all that great here, but it was still nice to get the best thing. I then fired off a Limit Glove and Gizamaluke died without even getting a turn.

I screwed up a lot in South Gate, but it only cost me a few seconds, so I kept it. I've found that talking to the worker on the left, then his boss, then Mary is fastest. Other than that, there's not really much to say about this part.

Getting back to Zidane and company, it was now time to dig up some Chocographs! Since leaving Gizamaluke's Grotto is scripted, the RNG is fixed when you leave, allowing you to run a great distance without fear of random encounters. I ran until just short of the gap between the mountains past Cleyra before saving. Then I ran to the tracks, called Choco, and dug up the Healing Shore Chocograph to get the Reef transformation. With that, I rode back to the Grotto and ran back through, picking up the other Gizamaluke Bell from the dead Burmecian soldier that you get the first bell from.

Back on the Lindblum side again, I ran toward the chocobo tracks, saving by Qu's Marsh. I then dug up the Small Beach and Streamside Chocographs for some goodies (especially the Oak Staff) and returned once more to the grotto. The only thing left to do here was to get the last Gizamaluke Bell from the soldier at the end of that long walkway. It took quite a few tries to get it without any encounters, but I eventually got it. With that done, it was time to finally say goodbye to Gizamaluke's Grotto and head to Burmecia. I ran a little over halfway to Burmecia and saved with a time of 02:25:35.

Chocobo's Forest

After grabbing the Tent on my way out, the first order of business upon leaving Lindblum is to recruit Quina. Once that was out of the way, I headed straight to Chocobo's Forest. I got pretty far before saving; I managed to cross the bridge over the river before stopping to save. This made the next bit easier.

I entered the forest and met Mene and Choco. I played my first game and got the Stone with Patterns, then immediately played another game. I didn't bother saving after the first game because getting the Stone with Patterns is just about guaranteed. In my second game I got a Chocograph Piece and the Healing Shore Chocograph, so I went over to South Gate, looted it, and saved.

At this point it was time to learn Limit Glove. I prepared my party for the upcoming battles by optimizing everyone, then removing everyone's headgear except Freya's and giving Zidane the Mage Masher and Coral Ring and Freya the Glass Buckle. I then activated Zidane's Man Eater and Quina's Millionaire. I was hoping for a preemptive battle against the Mandragora. I didn't get one, but the battle I got was still pretty good. Zidane, Freya, and Vivi all attacked, Quina ate the Mandragora, and Zidane used Flee. None of my characters got hurt.

With Limit Glove learned, it was time for another game of Hot & Cold. The Small Beach Chocograph proved more elusive than Healing Shore. I eventually got it, though, as the last item in a game with a nice limit bonus to boot! I don't remember what the other items I got in my games were, but they were all junk, and I can't be bothered to compare the item stashes in my files to see what the differences are.

Now I'm done with Chocobo Hot & Cold until disc 3, so I headed over to Gizamaluke's Grotto and saved outside. My time is now 02:08:05.

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.

Black Waltz 2 & 3

This one took a long time because I kept messing up on the Black Waltz 2 fight. The first time I got to him I accidentally attacked Black Waltz 2 when I shouldn't have and triggered the multi-target Fira. The second time I got to him he targeted Steiner in round 2, so I had Vivi attack him to finish him off, but he survived! (d'oh!)

Here's how it went when I finally did succeed. After looting the chests and rescuing Vivi, I opened the door and encountered two ghosts. Zidane's turn came up immediately, so I had him Flee. I got the chests in there and headed out of the underground, equipping Zidane with the Mythril Dagger and Feather Hat and activating Bandit. The guide doesn't say to give him the Feather Hat, but I do it so he's guaranteed to survive Black Waltz 3's Thundara without needing a Silk Shirt. I want him to gain more AP for Protect Girls, so he's keeping the Leather Shirt on.

When I got control of Steiner, I optimized him and activated Bird Killer since I forgot to do that earlier. The only change in his equipment is the Iron Helm. Then I'm ready to take on the Black Waltzes. Black Waltz 2 opened with an attack on Zidane, and I retaliated with Fire Sword and an attack from Zidane. Black Waltz 2's next move was to blast Vivi with a Fire Spell and knock him out, which was just what I wanted him to do. Steiner and Zidane continued to pound him, and I had Dagger heal Zidane just in case. It turned out to not be necessary because Black Waltz 2 attacked Steiner next. Still, I wasn't about to risk another screw up! By keeping track of the numbers I saw that one more attack from Steiner would finish it. Due to my aforementioned kleptomania, I had Zidane use his turn to steal and got a Steepled Hat. Steiner then finished the battle with another attack.

Once that was over I knew I was home free. The battle against Black Waltz 3 is practically scripted as long as you do what the guide tells you to do. When Zidane's second turn comes up he has nothing better to do, so you might as well steal. I got another Steepled Hat. In Lindblum, I removed everyone's equipment except for the Wrists, read Ruby's letter, and saved. My time is now 01:35:11.

Black Waltz 1 and Sealion

It didn't take me too long to get my perfect boss fight. Here's how it went:

Round 1 -- Sealion attacks, Zidane steals Ether, Black Waltz 1 attacks

Round 2 -- Sealion attacks, Zidane uses Potion, Black Waltz 1 attacks

Round 3 -- Sealion attacks, Zidane steals Mythril Dagger, Black Waltz 1 attacks

Round 4 -- Sealion attacks, Zidane uses Potion, Black Waltz 1 attacks, Trance!

Round 5 -- Sealion attacks, Zidane uses Free Energy, Black Waltz 1 is dead

Round 6 -- Sealion attacks, Zidane attacks

Round 7 -- Sealion attacks, Zidane uses Free Energy for the win!

It only took 8 hits to get Zidane to trance, which was perfect for this situation. I barely managed to survive at the end. Zidane was left with just 2 HP. After the battle I went back to Mois and saved with a time of 1:01:38. Now that I've experienced my new strategy, I think it's decent for the average player.  Extreme speed-runners, however, will probably want to use the more traditional method because you can get better results that way if you're patient enough to get the best outcome.

With that out of the way, I proceeded to the exit of the Ice Cavern (finally!). On my way out, I equipped Vivi, Garnet, and Zidane with Wrist so I could get them out of my inventory. I didn't save on the way to Dali. It's not that far, after all.

At Dali, I spent the night at the inn, then gave Gumo his letter from Mois. Outside, I took a couple seconds to pick up the 120 gil on the ground. Then I quickly visited the farm, followed by two visits to the pub. When that was done, I talked to Vivi, then into the shop to talk to Dagger. Choosing the first option followed by the second option saves a bit of time here. I then sold my three Phoenix Pinions, and bought 99 Wrists, 5 Feather Hats, and 3 Leather Shirts for synthesis later. After some scenes, I entered the underground and looted the first two screens. In the third screen, I checked the barrel to get the moogle to pop out, then climbed the boxes to the Ether. I then picked up the next moogle letter and saved while still standing on the first box. This saves a second or two-- not a whole lot to get worked up over, but still something.

My time now is 01:12:35.

Ice Cavern

This segment clearly showed that my lucky streak has ended. It took several hours of attempts, but I finally made it through this part!

From my last post, you can see that my save was not in an optimal spot. That was part of the reason why I decided to do some trance-gauge building using Mus. I got into a battle right outside the Ice Cavern with three Mus. I knocked out everyone except Zidane, then had him shift to the back row so he could absorb all the hits. After making him endure a couple rounds of hits, I ran. From save to save, this took 1 minute and 33 seconds.

Zidane's trance gauge is now about halfway full, maybe a little more. My aim is for Zidane to trance in 9 hits from Black Waltz 1 and Sealion. This will allow me to steal both the Ether and the Mythril Dagger. My reasons for including the Ether as well are:

1) I am a kleptomaniac when it comes to Final Fantasy games.

2) The extra 1,000 gil from the Ether will be nice to have for my shopping spree in Lindblum.

With that out of the way, I proceeded to attempt to get through the Ice Cavern with no encounters, and it certainly took a long time. What was most frustrating was the time I got an encounter when I was only two steps away from being home free. In the screen with the Potion and Ether, I got the Potion first, left the screen, got the Ether, left the screen again, then went through to the next area. There, I got the Potion and Mage Masher, went back the way I came, then got the Elixir and went through. On the last dangerous screen, I got only the Phoenix Down before going on to save. After saving, I went back for the Leather Wrist. Finally, I healed up Zidane and equipped him as follows before saving again:

Mage Masher

Leather Hat

Leather Wrist

Leather Shirt

Moonstone

Now I'm ready to go take on the bosses! My time is now 00:56:01.

Escaping Evil Forest

I took a few seconds to heal up at the spring before heading off. It seemed like I had a rather large percentage of attempts fail from getting a random encounter, but I finally made it to Plant Brain.

I started off the fight by having Vivi attack Zidane. This brought him to critical HP, causing Blank to appear. One attack from Blank and a Fire Sword from Steiner were all it took to kill the boss. It did manage to get an attack in, but it was a quick physical attack and didn't knock anyone out, so I let it slide.

In the forced encounter with the 2 Plant Spiders Vivi's turn came up immediately, so a multi-target Fire ended the battle as soon as it began. I unequpped Blank after the battle, giving him a Broadsword instead of his Iron Sword.

I got a bit turned around on the world map, so I wasn't quite at the entrance to the Ice Cavern when the nameplate disappeared. I just saved outside since I'm not too bothered by having to watch the scene each time I try to go in. I can just remember how I save some extra time by doing it this way. :) My time is now 00:48:50.

Quitting Tantalus

This part opens with marching into the forest and battling the Prison Cage. The starting ATB positions are scripted, so there's nothing you can do about them. Prison Cage will always go before you and will always use the same attacks. In the second battle, I stole the Broadsword before finishing it off with Steiner. (I forgot to mention it until now, but I messed up when naming Steiner. I didn't want to waste my excellent King Leo battle and first try sword fight, so I kept it. On my file, Steiner's name is Steine.)

I ransacked the Prima Vista and went to fight Baku. In this fight, I deliberately dragged the fight out an extra turn so I could get Zidane's trance gauge to fill a little more. As a bonus, I managed to steal the Iron Sword in that extra turn. I'll definitely be putting that to good use.

I read Ruby's letter and saved with Mosco, then headed out to search for Garnet. Luck must be on my side right now because I made it to Monty on my first try! I optimized Steiner and Zidane, read the two letters, and saved. My time is now 00:42:51. Zidane's equipment is the same as before except that he now is wearing a Silk Shirt. Steiner is equipped as follows:

Iron Sword
Bronze Helm
Bronze Gloves
Bronze Armor

Absconding with the Princess

This part was pretty easy. I got through on it on my first try once I managed to fix the disc reading problem. Rounding up all the knights was a piece of cake. When I got control of Zidane I optimized him. He now has the Mage Masher, Leather Hat, Wrist, Leather Shirt, and Moonstone equipped.

In the first fight with Steiner Zidane got the first turn and attacked. Blank and Cinna stole the Leather Hat and Silk Shirt, and Zidane then finished Steiner with one more attack.

The other fights with Steiner are as simple as they get. Just knock out everyone except Garnet to get through them quickly.  Steiner and the Pluto Knights never even got a turn.  After a few FMVs, I'm now saved in the Evil Forest with a time of 00:31:21.

I Want To Be Your Canary

This one wouldn't have been so bad if I didn't keep having to deal with the PS2 not reading the disc right after swapping in order to skip the FMV. I'll have to look into ways to fix that.

The King Leo battle I had was very close to perfect. I took out the small fries immediately and then focused my attention on the king. Surprisingly, it took 7 attacks to take him down, so he got 2 attacks in, but thankfully I didn't have to see any of the SFX "attacks".

The sword fight was no problem.  I impressed all 100 nobles on my first try.  That, along with my excellent battle gave me a finishing time of 00:17:42 for this part. I have 10,814 gil.

Finally getting started!

Hard to believe it took me so long to get everything straightened out, but now that's all taken care of and I'm ready to start for real! Here's how my first circuit went:

As soon as I gained control of Zidane, I changed the cursor position to 'Memory', the movement speed to 'Run', the battle speed and message speed to maximum, and the target window to 'Always'. The other settings are already how I want them, so I left them alone.

The Masked Man battle was excellent! I started out with Zidane stealing the Wrist. Cinna then stole the Mage Masher. After that, the boss attacked Cinna, KOing him, and the others knocked themselves out. I couldn't have asked for a better battle.

I looted Alexandria with Vivi. I made a slight mistake with the little girl running back to her house. She was running back to the house as I approached, but I thought I could loot the house if I got in before her. Turned out not to be true. As I was leaving the house, she went out again, so I turned around and went back in to loot the place. My time at the end of this circuit is 00:08:33, which I think is pretty good, especially with that screw up, so I'm keeping it.

I had a previous attempt where I clocked in at 00:08:41, but I decided that wasn't good enough, so I did it over.

Welcome to my Final Fantasy IX Excalibur II Perfect Game: Ordered with Final Equipment -- Balanced Quina blog!

Since I completed my first perfect game run, it has been my desire to record a run for all to see. Circumstances, however, prevent me from making a video walk-through, so I decided to create this blog instead. Here I will record my progress through this amazing challenge for all who are interested enough to read.

First of all, if you are not familiar with this challenge, I highly recommend you check out Atomos199's excellent guide on www.gamefaqs.com. It can be found at http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps/197338-final-fantasy-ix/faqs/41181.  Anytime I refer to "the guide" I mean this one.

In his guide, Atomos199 sticks to stat paths that do not account for final equipment. There are valid reasons for doing so, and I do not wish to disparage any who prefer to do it that way. The reasons why I choose instead to pursue a stat path that does account for final equipment can be summed up by one simple phrase: "more power." Simply put, accounting for final equipment in your stat path allows your characters to be more powerful than if you don't because you will not be wasting any Spirit bonus due to it being capped at 50. I believe that, in a perfect file, the only thing that should be left to do is to defeat the final boss(es), so more flexibility in choosing equipment is not necessary.

That being said, let's talk about what it means to pursue an ordered-with-final-equipment path. From Atomos199's guide, you should already be familiar with the ordering of the stats. Steiner and Freya will gain 1 Spirit from their final equipment, and everyone else will gain 2 Spirit, so their ending stats are adjusted accordingly. Here's how the forced experience breaks down:

Freya can defeat Amdusias and Dagger can defeat Shell Dragon with no stat loss, so those are taken care of. In addition, Freya is the only one who can defeat Tantarian without losing any primary stat points, so she is the obvious choice for that battle. She loses 2 Magic points. That just leaves Abadon. There are two possibilities, depending on your preference for Quina. Steiner can defeat Abadon and lose just 1 Magic point, which is better than any other character except perhaps Balanced Quina. Balanced Quina can defeat Abadon with a net gain of one point (in Speed). S/he also loses one Strength and gains one Magic. Personally, I think this is still balanced, especially considering that Quina's initial stats have 2 more Magic points than Strength points. This keeps that the same.

In my previous run, I had Steiner defeat Abadon. This time, I want to do it with Balanced Quina, which is more difficult. I have spent quite a bit of time going over improvements that will help to achieve this, and I believe I can do it. All that remains at this point is to actually sit down and get it done (obviously much easier said than done). Each time I make a post, I will highlight strategies I used, particularly when such strategies deviate from the guide.

One important point that needs to be made is that it is very likely that updates to this blog will be few and far between. I don't have a whole lot of time to spend on this, so I will only be playing for a little bit each day. What this means is you shouldn't be surprised if it happens sometimes that I go for weeks without an update. Be assured that I haven't given up; it's just taking a while. If for any reason I do end up setting this aside I will say so.

Well, that seems like a good introduction to me. Feel free to make comments, ask questions, etc.  Here's to a great adventure!