SDA Knowledge Base - User contributions [en]

Faxanadu/Casual Speedrunning

2015-07-17T12:05:42Z

Presjpolk: /* Guide video */

There are three major ways to make this game more friendly for a casual or no-reset run: Add wing boots, add ointment, and add red potions.

= Add Wing Boots =

* A casual runner probably won't do the pause glitch well or at all, so it becomes necessary to get extra boots to be able to complete the run. Get an extra pair at the Jo Key (your boots should run out around the time you get up to the ledge to get the first pair, without pausing). Then use that second pair you get to fly over the wyvern and up to the fountain.

* Likewise without pausing your wing boots used at King Grieve will run out before you even exit Castle of Fraternal. Get an extra pair at the Hospital in Mist. Use that second pair when the boots are about to run out.

* It's also possible that pair of boots will actually run out before the Evil One dies. Get a second extra pair (three total) at the Jo Key if you'd like to be able to use another pair of boots before the Evil One's screen, so that they never run out at the end.

= Add Ointment =

* Get the ointment in the Tower of Mist. Getting past the Wyvern on the way to the Black Onyx is very difficult without it.

* Get the ointment in Branch just after the A Key door. If you get the Mist ointment there is no count manipulation required. Just kill the enemy and the ointment is there.

* On the way to the Magical Rod and Battle Suit, there is an ointment spawn the record route passes. Stop and manufacture that spawn (just make sure to fix your spawn counter when you get the boots by the Magical Rod!)

* Two screens away from the evil one there is an ointment spawn that exists. If you let your ointment run out the screen before that, then the ointment will appear below the ladder. Use a pair of boots (the third optional pair in the previous section), get that ointment, and the final boss is easy.

= Add Red Potions =

Because unintentional deaths are so costly, effectively ending the run, red potions are a great safety strategy. Here are a few good ones to get:

* Spawn the Red Potion in the room where you use the Mattock. Just make sure to set the counter back to 1 after!

* Three screens right of the Joker Spring (door locked with the Joker Key) there's a dead end with a white mage enemy. Red Potions spawn there every 4th visit. (todo: test which visit it is if you walk straight there)

* Buy a Red Potion in Forepaw after dying.

* Buy a Red Potion in Conflate after dying.

= Guide video =

* There is a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV8Qe5NxYHY Faxanadu safe route tutorial] for those who would like some ideas on how to get started finishing runs and getting familiar with the game.

* There is also another [http://www.twitch.tv/shinerccc/c/5731310 safe route] ([http://www.twitch.tv/shinerccc/c/5731358 part 2] [http://www.twitch.tv/shinerccc/c/5731387 part 3]).

Faxanadu/Additional Resources

2015-07-17T11:32:21Z

Presjpolk: /* Times and videos */

= Maps =

[http://www.vgmaps.com/Atlas/NES/index.htm#Faxanadu VGMaps] has complete Faxanadu maps, including item spawns and needed keys.

= Times and videos =

[http://speeddemosarchive.com/Faxanadu.html SDA has a page] for this game, of course.

[http://www.speedrun.com/Faxanadu/ Speedrun.com] has a community leaderboard, often including a run more recent than SDA's.

= Passwords =

[http://tasvideos.org/PasswordGenerators.html TASVideos has a mantra generator,] but here are some premade mantras for training:

Forepaw after Fortress: <tt>MGoYADkQAAJDw</tt>

Victim after Black Onix: <tt>sYQsEPsQAAaBSve8</tt>

Conflate after Battle Suit: <tt>ZYUuUPsQIcBYPe8o</tt>

= Routing =

Shiner has a [http://www.twitch.tv/shinerccc/c/5731435 New route theory] featuring the [http://www.twitch.tv/shinerccc/c/5926497 "ultimate flight plan"]

Faxanadu/Additional Resources

2015-07-17T11:31:18Z

Presjpolk:

= Maps =

[http://www.vgmaps.com/Atlas/NES/index.htm#Faxanadu VGMaps] has complete Faxanadu maps, including item spawns and needed keys.

= Times and videos =

[http://speeddemosarchive.com/Faxanadu.html SDA has a page] for this game, of course.

[http://www.speedrun.com/Faxanadu/ Speedrun.com] has a community leaderboard.

= Passwords =

[http://tasvideos.org/PasswordGenerators.html TASVideos has a mantra generator,] but here are some premade mantras for training:

Forepaw after Fortress: <tt>MGoYADkQAAJDw</tt>

Victim after Black Onix: <tt>sYQsEPsQAAaBSve8</tt>

Conflate after Battle Suit: <tt>ZYUuUPsQIcBYPe8o</tt>

= Routing =

Shiner has a [http://www.twitch.tv/shinerccc/c/5731435 New route theory] featuring the [http://www.twitch.tv/shinerccc/c/5926497 "ultimate flight plan"]

Faxanadu/Casual Speedrunning

2015-07-17T11:30:02Z

Presjpolk: /* Guide video */

There are three major ways to make this game more friendly for a casual or no-reset run: Add wing boots, add ointment, and add red potions.

= Add Wing Boots =

* A casual runner probably won't do the pause glitch well or at all, so it becomes necessary to get extra boots to be able to complete the run. Get an extra pair at the Jo Key (your boots should run out around the time you get up to the ledge to get the first pair, without pausing). Then use that second pair you get to fly over the wyvern and up to the fountain.

* Likewise without pausing your wing boots used at King Grieve will run out before you even exit Castle of Fraternal. Get an extra pair at the Hospital in Mist. Use that second pair when the boots are about to run out.

* It's also possible that pair of boots will actually run out before the Evil One dies. Get a second extra pair (three total) at the Jo Key if you'd like to be able to use another pair of boots before the Evil One's screen, so that they never run out at the end.

= Add Ointment =

* Get the ointment in the Tower of Mist. Getting past the Wyvern on the way to the Black Onyx is very difficult without it.

* Get the ointment in Branch just after the A Key door. If you get the Mist ointment there is no count manipulation required. Just kill the enemy and the ointment is there.

* On the way to the Magical Rod and Battle Suit, there is an ointment spawn the record route passes. Stop and manufacture that spawn (just make sure to fix your spawn counter when you get the boots by the Magical Rod!)

* Two screens away from the evil one there is an ointment spawn that exists. If you let your ointment run out the screen before that, then the ointment will appear below the ladder. Use a pair of boots (the third optional pair in the previous section), get that ointment, and the final boss is easy.

= Add Red Potions =

Because unintentional deaths are so costly, effectively ending the run, red potions are a great safety strategy. Here are a few good ones to get:

* Spawn the Red Potion in the room where you use the Mattock. Just make sure to set the counter back to 1 after!

* Three screens right of the Joker Spring (door locked with the Joker Key) there's a dead end with a white mage enemy. Red Potions spawn there every 4th visit. (todo: test which visit it is if you walk straight there)

* Buy a Red Potion in Forepaw after dying.

* Buy a Red Potion in Conflate after dying.

= Guide video =

* There is a [http://www.twitch.tv/presjpolk/c/5402791 Faxanadu safe route tutorial] for those who would like some ideas on how to get started finishing runs and getting familiar with the game.

* There is also another [http://www.twitch.tv/shinerccc/c/5731310 safe route] ([http://www.twitch.tv/shinerccc/c/5731358 part 2] [http://www.twitch.tv/shinerccc/c/5731387 part 3]).

Faxanadu/Casual Speedrunning

2015-07-17T11:28:24Z

Presjpolk: /* Add Red Potions */

There are three major ways to make this game more friendly for a casual or no-reset run: Add wing boots, add ointment, and add red potions.

= Add Wing Boots =

* A casual runner probably won't do the pause glitch well or at all, so it becomes necessary to get extra boots to be able to complete the run. Get an extra pair at the Jo Key (your boots should run out around the time you get up to the ledge to get the first pair, without pausing). Then use that second pair you get to fly over the wyvern and up to the fountain.

* Likewise without pausing your wing boots used at King Grieve will run out before you even exit Castle of Fraternal. Get an extra pair at the Hospital in Mist. Use that second pair when the boots are about to run out.

* It's also possible that pair of boots will actually run out before the Evil One dies. Get a second extra pair (three total) at the Jo Key if you'd like to be able to use another pair of boots before the Evil One's screen, so that they never run out at the end.

= Add Ointment =

* Get the ointment in the Tower of Mist. Getting past the Wyvern on the way to the Black Onyx is very difficult without it.

* Get the ointment in Branch just after the A Key door. If you get the Mist ointment there is no count manipulation required. Just kill the enemy and the ointment is there.

* On the way to the Magical Rod and Battle Suit, there is an ointment spawn the record route passes. Stop and manufacture that spawn (just make sure to fix your spawn counter when you get the boots by the Magical Rod!)

* Two screens away from the evil one there is an ointment spawn that exists. If you let your ointment run out the screen before that, then the ointment will appear below the ladder. Use a pair of boots (the third optional pair in the previous section), get that ointment, and the final boss is easy.

= Add Red Potions =

Because unintentional deaths are so costly, effectively ending the run, red potions are a great safety strategy. Here are a few good ones to get:

* Spawn the Red Potion in the room where you use the Mattock. Just make sure to set the counter back to 1 after!

* Three screens right of the Joker Spring (door locked with the Joker Key) there's a dead end with a white mage enemy. Red Potions spawn there every 4th visit. (todo: test which visit it is if you walk straight there)

* Buy a Red Potion in Forepaw after dying.

* Buy a Red Potion in Conflate after dying.

= Guide video =

* There is a [http://www.twitch.tv/presjpolk/c/5402791 Faxanadu safe route tutorial] for those who would like some ideas on how to get started finishing runs and getting familiar with the game.

Faxanadu/any %

2015-07-17T11:26:25Z

Presjpolk:

The Faxanadu Any% route is difficult. After ShinerCCC got ahold of the game, hetook the run in the direction of following the TAS, which works and saves much time, but is unforgiving to execute. A rough outline of the route follows:

# Go right, die.
# Talk to Guru, get Ring of Elf
# Talk to King, get 1500 golds
# Buy Red Potion, Sell Red Potion (1420 golds left)
# Buy Elixir, Dagger, Deluge (300 golds left)
# Buy 3 x J Key (0 golds left)
# Talk to King, get 1500 golds
# Leave Eolis (use J key)
# Pass Apolune
# Enter Tower of Trunk (use J key)
# Manipulate room drop counter to get early Mattock spawn (drop counter at 4)
# Use Mattock (drop counter at 1)
# Arrive Forepaw (2851 golds with optimal kills)
# Buy Wing Boots (51 golds left) (1 Wing Boots)
# Talk to Guru to set death warp
# Leave Forepaw (drop counter at 2 at first screen right of Forepaw)
# Use Wing Boots to fly to sky fountain, talk to crazy man HO HO HO, use pausing to conserve wing boot ticks from here until death (0 Wing Boots)
# Go to Tower of Fortress (use J key, drop counter at 3 when passing Forepaw)
# Fly up to Guru, kill bees for Wing Boots (drop counter at 4) (1 Wing Boots)
# Talk to Guru, get Jo Key (drop counter at 1 after leaving)
# Fly up to fountain
# Die
# Leave Forepaw, get Ointment (drop counter at 2, use ladder above to get counter to 4)
# Drop to Jo door. Kill wyvern, revive fountain, get Ruby Ring (talk to the man ***twice***), kill wyvern 3x more (2880 golds)
# Return to Forepaw (drop counter at 1)
# Buy Long Sword, Q key (780 golds left)
# Leave Forepaw (drop counter at 2)
# Push rock from fountain, enter Mist door (use Q key, drop counter at 3 at first room there)
# Kill things for golds
# Enter Mascon
# Buy Meats for magic refill
# Leave Mascon
# Kill things for golds
# Go to hospital, kill bird inside, get Wing Boots (drop counter at 4) (2 Wing Boots)
# Grind golds, move drop counter to 3 using hospital door (Should be at least at 4300 golds)
# Use Wing Boots to fly up toward Victim (use pausing to conserve some ticks past Victim) (1 Wing Boots)
# Kill things for golds
# Enter Victim
# Talk to Guru for death warp
# Buy 3 x K Key (costs 4500 golds, try to have as close to that as possible) (Boots counter should be at least 9 if you're not pausing)
# Leave Victim
# Get Wing Boots spawn on the way to Tower of Mist (drop counter at 4) (2 Wing Boots)
# Enter Tower of Mist (Use K key)
# Get Black Onyx (drop counter at 1 on the way)
# Die
# Leave Victim
# Use Wing Boots to fly to A Key house, get A Key, (counter hits 4) (extend boots past poison jump) (1 Wing Boots)
# Enter Branch (use A Key)
# Run/Fly to Conflate (counter at 1)
# Enter Conflate
# Talk to Guru for death warp
# Leave Conflate
# Enter next branch (use K key)
# Run to Magical Rod (counter at 3)
# Get Wing Boots below Magical Rod (counter at 4) (2 Wing Boots)
# Get Battle Suit
# Die (counter at 1)
# Talk to Guru to get Ring of Dwarf
# Leave Conflate
# Enter next branch (use K key)
# Manipulate counter to 4 for ointment
# Pass Daybreak (counter at 1)
# Enter Castle of Dartmoor
# Enter Town of Dartmoor, talk to Guru
# Use Wing Boots to enter Castle of Fraternal (1 Wing Boots)
# Run to Grieve (counter at 3)
# Kill Grieve, use Wing Boots when they run out (and extend for rest of game) get Dragon Slayer (0 Wing Boots)
# Get Demon Ring from Guru
# Die
# Enter Evil One's Fortress
# Use wing boots at end of first screen
# Get ointment on third screen
# Fly to Evil One
# Kill him before your ointment and boots run out

Faxanadu/Additional Resources

2015-07-04T19:34:04Z

Presjpolk: /* Times and videos */

= Maps =

[http://www.vgmaps.com/Atlas/NES/index.htm#Faxanadu VGMaps] has complete Faxanadu maps, including item spawns and needed keys.

= Times and videos =

[http://speeddemosarchive.com/Faxanadu.html SDA has a page] for this game, of course.

[http://www.speedrun.com/Faxanadu/ Speedrun.com] has a community leaderboard.

= Passwords =

[http://tasvideos.org/PasswordGenerators.html TASVideos has a mantra generator,] but here are some premade mantras for training:

Forepaw after Fortress: <tt>MGoYADkQAAJDw</tt>

Victim after Black Onix: <tt>sYQsEPsQAAaBSve8</tt>

Conflate after Battle Suit: <tt>ZYUuUPsQIcBYPe8o</tt>

Ultima III: Exodus/any %

2014-12-10T12:40:19Z

Presjpolk: /* NES Version Route */

= Overview =

To win the game you have to shut down Exodus (and in the NES version, escape the Castle).

To get into the Castle you need the Mark of Snake for one party member and the Mantra (Silver Horn in the NES version).

To get through the Castle you need the Marks of Fire and Force for all party members you want to survive to the floors, the ability to get through/past wandering high level encounters, and to defeat two Floor encounters.

To shut down Exodus you need the cards.

To get the Cards you need PRAY and the Ship.

To get the Mantra/Silver Horn you need PRAY.

To get the Ship you need one character at Level 5.

Barring any new skips, these are the essentials of the Any% Route.

= NES Version Route =

# Create a party of 1 Druid (in front), and 3 Wizards. All four characters should have 25 STR, 0 DEX, 25 INT, 0 WIS.
# Go to the town of Gray as fast as possible. Be willing to fight, since you need the XP anyway, but skip all chests.
# In Gray, gather all gold to the Druid. Buy 2-3 Gems. Spend all remaining gold on Food. Share food.
# Go to the Cave of Sol, again fighting monsters on the way to gain XP for the Druid.
# In Sol, DESCEND to Level 8. Use a Gem to see your location. Head to the Marks of Fire and Snake. Give your Druid Snake. Give all party members Fire. ASCEND out.
# Go to the Cave of Fool, fighting monsters on the way to gain XP for the Druid.
# In Fool, DESCEND to Level 8. Use a Gem to see your location. Head to the Mark of Force, and give it to your whole party. ASCEND out.
# Go to Yew, again fighting monsters on the way if your Druid doesn't yet have 400 XP.
# In Yew, talk to the cleric in the back of the church to get PRAY. Go south from him to the center of the lake and PRAY for the Silver Horn.
# Leave Yew and grind wandering monsters until the Druid has 400 XP, heading toward Lord British's Castle.
# Go to Lord British's Castle, and talk to Lord British to advance the Druid to Level 5.
# Save the game
# Manipulate RNG to get a ship and whirlpool quickly.
# FIGHT the ship.
# Find and Sail into the whirlpool.
# Navigate Ambrosia to PRAY at the shrines of Wisdom, Intelligence, and, Strength to gain the cards.
# Manipulate RNG to get another fast pirate battle.
# Go to the Shrine of Dexterity and PRAY for the final card.
# Sail into the whirlpool.
# Sail to the Isle of Exodus, drive the Snake away, and enter the Castle.
# Navigate to the Floor battles in front of Exodus, defeat them.
# PRAY in front of Exodus, and insert the cards in the order of LOVE SUN MOON DEATH.
# Run out of the castle, hoping you don't get walled in by volcanos

Ultima III: Exodus/Game Mechanics and Glitches

2014-12-10T12:37:55Z

Presjpolk: /* AI (NES) */

= Leveling =

Gaining levels only increases a character's max hit points. That's all.

More importantly for a speed run, gaining levels also changes what kinds of wandering monsters appear in the main Sosaria map. This includes ships, which appear at level 5. The highest level in your party determines the maximum type of overworld encounters that will appear.

It is possible to get a ship, then replace your Level 5+ character with a different, lower-leveled character, or even a new Level 1 character, but this is unlikely to matter in a speed run.

= Saving =

Saving can only be done at Lord British's castle, and at the secret inn behind a door in Ambrosia. This limits the options for a Segmented run.

= Status Screen Glitch (NES) =

The key glitch that saved many minutes in the NES Speed run is the status screen glitch. It turns out that if you hold a D pad direction while leaving the STATUS screen, but before the map appears again, no wandering monsters will move on the map until such time as the D Pad goes neutral again. This was discovered by accident by Gyth in his TAS of the game (he originally believed, and wrote in his TASVideos submission, that speaking to the Time Lord did it, but in fact what happened was that the TAS's optimal movement, combined with going to the STATUS screen to group the party, triggered the glitch).

This does not work on the overworld map. This only works on submaps, such as Towns, Castles, Ambrosia. Critically, this lets us avoid fighting a single wandering encounter in Castle Exodus. It also lets us freeze the wandering monsters in the southwest forest maze on the way to the Shrine of Dexterity in Ambrosia, as well as freezing the strong water monster there, and the Whirlpool itself. Thus the only battle we fight in Ambrosia is the pirate battle on the way to the Shrine of Dexterity (which you even have ROT for in a casual run), and the only battles we fight in Exodus are the Floor battles.

= Pirate ship glitch (NES) =

On the way to the Shrine of Intelligence, just before the lake in your way, there's a one tile wide pass of forest squares that you walk west through. As you pass through there, stay on that line. Do not veer north or south. Keep walking until the pirate ship just barely appears on the far left edge of the screen. Then walk right and left one square, causing the pirate ship to go off screen and back on. Repeat until the ship turns orange. When that happens, the stack order of the Ship and the Pirate Ship have reversed, and you just skipped a Pirate battle.

= Skip the opening credits and opening cutscene (NES) =

Hold B when pressing reset. You'll skip directly to the main menu, bypassing the credits.

This can also be done to save time skipping the opening cutscene. Reset when the cutscene starts, then just start the game. You'll skip the cutscene and come up in Sosaria.

= Stats and Stat Gain =

Stats can only be improved by go ing to Ambrosia and donating at the shrines. Each shrine is named for a stat. To raise a stat for a character, go to that shrine, and have that character donate 100 Gold for each point to raise. Thus, to raise a character's key stat from 25 to 99 costs 7400 gold.

A class's MP-controlling stats are most important for magic users. For melee, Strength is much more important than Dexterity, at least on the DOS version. As Dexterity, when maxed, doubles your hit rate, thus only doubling your rate of damage. Strength increases the rate of damage by far more than that.

= Spells =

The spells you can cast are determined by your current MP and your class. Your MP is determined by your INT and/or WIS, and your class. A druid gets half of the higher of Intelligence and wisdom as his max MP. A wizard gets his intelligence as his max MP. Thus, leveling does not increase your magic ability at all. Only stat gains do so.

In terms of combat there are a few types of spell. Some are more useful than others in the speed run.

# Guaranteed-hit missiles that insta-kill.
# Guaranteed-hit missiles that do damage.
# Sometimes-hit mass effect spells that insta-kill.
# Guaranteed-hit mass effect spells that do damage.

The lowest level Cleric (UNDEAD on NES/PONTORI on DOS) and Wizard spells (REPEL on NES/REPOND on DOS) are of the third variety. They are useful because they are free, though UNDEAD/PONTORI only works on undeads, and REPEL/REPOND works on weak non-undeads like goblins. On the NES, REPEL works on all lowest-level non-undead encounters. The Druid can cast both, critically, for the early experience grind. However they fail half the time. On the NES, if you cast the spell, the final step selecting the spell, when the Wizard sprite's right foot is visible, the spell will however work every time (however it won't hit every monster every time, in any case).

Further, on the NES version you can repeatedly re-cast the spells to eventually wipe out the whole party! This is not the case in the DOS version. You get one shot, making the spells far less useful in a speed run.

The next Wizard spell (MISSILE on NES/MITTAR on DOS) is your bread and butter distance attack, against encounters like Pirates.

Two other Wizard spells are also useful. ROT on NES/NECORP on DOS is a spell of the fourth variety, and is useful because it's guaranteed to hit hard every enemy on screen, allowing them to be mopped up with one MISSILE/MITTAR each. Useful against groups of 8 higher level enemies.

KILL on NES/DECORP on DOS takes out one enemy guaranteed. Useful against the highest level encounters, which spawn pairs of large enemies.

= Safe MP refills in dungeons (NES) =

On the NES version, if you're in a dungeon you can refill your MP safely, without any risk of a random encounter, by spinning around in place.

= Death =

Don't die. Resurrection is not guaranteed unless you have the highest level Clerical spell. It's also very expensive if you don't yet have such spells, and is slow because you have to head back to town. Don't die. Reset instead.

= AI (NES) =

The monster AI is only random in when it chooses to use missile attacks or ranged spells. Therefore, all wandering monsters and monsters in combat without such range, have AI that are completely deterministic. In particular, wandering monsters will attempt to match your Y/Vertical coordinate before trying to match your X/Horizontal coordinate. This is critical for herding monsters in Castle Exodus, and is something that was only figured out after the 43:37 SDA run, and therefore is one of the bigger points of possible improvement over that run.

This also means the Floors can be fought blind the same way every time. To fight them without ROT, assuming a party of Druid (12MP)/Wizard(25MP)/Wizard(25MP)/Wizard(25MP), do this, turn by turn:

# MISSILE/MISSILE/MISSILE/MISSILE
# MISSILE/MISSILE/MISSILE/MISSILE
# DOWN/LEFT/LEFT/RIGHT
# DOWN/MISSILE/MISSILE/MISSILE
# DOWN/MISSILE/MISSILE/MISSILE
# RIGHT/DOWN/RIGHT/LEFT
# PASS/MISSILE/RIGHT/LEFT
# PASS/PASS/RIGHT/PASS
# PASS/PASS/MISSILE

With a party of Wizard(75MP)/Wizard(25MP)/Wizard(25MP)/Druid(12MP), this route is possible:

# ROT/MISSILE/MISSILE/MISSILE
# MISSILE/LEFT/LEFT/RIGHT
# DOWN/MISSILE/MISSILE/MISSILE
# DOWN/MISSILE

= RNG Manipulation (NES) =

Yogidamonk has put out a demonstration video explaining the process of manipulating the pirates to get a minimal number, centering on *saving* after the gain of Level 5 in the route: http://www.twitch.tv/yogidamonk/c/5637501

Moon Crystal/Game Mechanics and Glitches

2014-02-17T10:31:33Z

Presjpolk: /* Jumping */

= Movement =

Coming to this game, the most immediately noticeable feature of the game is that movement is not like a Mario game. Turning around takes time. Ducking takes time. Jumping and moving aren't possible while ducking. Turning around isn't possible while attacking.

However there is a way to turn around quickly, and that is to jump in the direction you want to turn toward. That avoids the turning around animation, but obviously it also means you have to jump in that direction. It's useful in a speed run, but must be applied with practice.

= Treasure Chests and Upgrades =

All item drops in the game come from treasure chests which must be attacked to open. Some items give one-shot boots (temporary invincibility gem, one-heart small life refill, three-heart large life refill, and a 1-up). Others give a 'permanent' upgrade that lasts until the end of the stage, or until death, whichever comes first. This includes the wing boots (see Jumping below), the sword (see Attacking below), and extra heart containers (see Life and damage below).

Treasure chests only respawn on death.

= Life and damage =

You start with a life bar of three hearts. It can grow as high as five. Even if you pick up a third additional heart container, it will just refill one heart, and not extend the bar to six hearts.

= Jumping =

The game gives you a double jump when you acquire the wing boots. However you can only use the double jump while you're still moving upward. If you're coming back down from your jump, the double jump will not function.

There is one [[https://twitter.com/htrb_ta/status/430386688552996864 frame and pixel perfect jump]] in 6-2. It was not done in the Hotarubi 9:27 run, but it has been done in live runs by StuckInAPlate. Here are a few key frames from the [[http://tasvideos.org/2394M.html 8:19 TAS]]:

[[File:MoonCrystal-24306.png]]

This is frame 24306 of the 8:19.05 TAS. We’ll call this frame zero. It is the first frame Riki is visible on this screen. The controller is holding Right.

[[File:MoonCrystal-24309.png]]

This is frame 3. Three frames later, A is pressed, while Right is still held.

[[File:MoonCrystal-24318.png]]

This is frame 12. Nine frames later, A is released, while Right is still held..

[[File:MoonCrystal-24327.png]]

This is frame 21. Nine frames later, Right is released, and Up is pressed.

[[File:MoonCrystal-24328.png]]

This is frame 22. On the next frame, Up is released. The controller is neutral.

= Attacking =

The base weapon you start with has little range. However an upgraded sword can be acquired. This extends range.

When you have one heart of life left, jump attacks will do additional damage, up to three hearts' worth on bosses. However the attack is cut short if you do your double jump before the full damage is done.

= Death glitch =

By dying after a boss finishes exploding, and pressing start, the end of stage fadeout can be forced to happen faster. This should not actually cost a life, though.

File:MoonCrystal-24328.png

2014-02-17T10:29:31Z

Presjpolk:

File:MoonCrystal-24327.png

2014-02-17T10:29:21Z

Presjpolk:

File:MoonCrystal-24318.png

2014-02-17T10:29:10Z

Presjpolk:

File:MoonCrystal-24309.png

2014-02-17T10:27:25Z

Presjpolk:

File:MoonCrystal-24306.png

2014-02-17T10:25:25Z

Presjpolk:

Moon Crystal/Game Mechanics and Glitches

2013-11-27T07:15:43Z

Presjpolk:

Moon Crystal/Additional Resources

2013-11-01T11:59:02Z

Presjpolk: Created page with "Current TAS http://tasvideos.org/3974S.html by Hotarubi"

[[Current TAS http://tasvideos.org/3974S.html]] by Hotarubi

Moon Crystal/Casual Speedrunning

2013-11-01T11:55:01Z

Presjpolk: Created page with "This game is hard. My best advice is not to try to do the 1-heart strategies on bosses until you absolutely need to use them to save time. Don't feel bad about picking up 3 h..."

This game is hard. My best advice is not to try to do the 1-heart strategies on bosses until you absolutely need to use them to save time. Don't feel bad about picking up 3 heart containers in every stage and going into bosses with full life.

Moon Crystal/Game Mechanics and Glitches

2013-11-01T11:53:43Z

Presjpolk: /* Treasure Chests and Upgrades */

Moon Crystal/Game Mechanics and Glitches

2013-11-01T11:53:15Z

Presjpolk: Created page with "= Movement = Coming to this game, the most immediately noticeable feature of the game is that movement is not like a Mario game. Turning around takes time. Ducking takes ti..."

Moon Crystal

2013-11-01T11:36:33Z

Presjpolk: Created page with "Category:Famicom Category:Games = Categories = Any % - Do whatever it takes to beat the game as fast as possible = Additional Informatio..."

[[Category:Famicom]]
[[Category:Games]]

= Categories =
[[Moon Crystal/any %|Any %]] - Do whatever it takes to beat the game as fast as possible 

= Additional Information =
[[Moon Crystal/Game Mechanics and Glitches|Game Mechanics and Glitches]] - Some explanations about how the game works, specific techniques, and glitches 
[[Moon Crystal/Casual Speedrunning|Casual Speedrunning]] - Some adjustments to make speedrunning the game easier 
[[Moon Crystal/Additional Resources|Additional Resources]] - Links to other helpful resources

Faxanadu/Additional Resources

2013-10-03T21:26:25Z

Presjpolk:

= Maps =

[http://www.vgmaps.com/Atlas/NES/index.htm#Faxanadu VGMaps] has complete Faxanadu maps, including item spawns and needed keys.

= Times and videos =

[http://speeddemosarchive.com/Faxanadu.html SDA has a page] for this game, of course.

[http://nintendo-records.com/faxanadu/ Nintendo Records] has a community leaderboard.

= Passwords =

[http://tasvideos.org/PasswordGenerators.html TASVideos has a mantra generator,] but here are some premade mantras for training:

Forepaw after Fortress: <tt>MGoYADkQAAJDw</tt>

Victim after Black Onix: <tt>sYQsEPsQAAaBSve8</tt>

Conflate after Battle Suit: <tt>ZYUuUPsQIcBYPe8o</tt>

Faxanadu/Game Mechanics and Glitches

2013-10-03T21:22:25Z

Presjpolk: /* Experience and Titles */

= Item Drops =

There is no random element to drops in this game:

* Enemy golds and bread drops are completely fixed in when they drop (every time) and in the amount of health or number of golds given.

* Some room spawns are completely fixed, as their items will appear every time you enter the screen.

* However some room spawns will only appear about one fourth of the time. These rooms work on a global counter. Count from 1 to 4, increasing the count by 1 every time you enter a room with one of these spawns. If the count is at 4, killing every enemy in the room will force the drop (as with the Mattock, all Boots spawns, and some Ointments), or the item will just appear automatically on room entry (as in the case of the ointment by Grieve and the ointment by the evil one).

= Experience and Titles =

Higher titles from experience tend to be a net negative in this game. While you do start with more golds after death or password entry when you have a higher experience level, and you do accelerate faster, there's one big disadvantage that outweighs both of those in a speed run. That is, your ointment and wing boots timers get shorter at higher levels. The Speed Run never goes up to a level where the timer reductions begin.

{| class="wikitable"
|TITLE
|EXPERIENCE
|GOLDS
|WING BOOTS TIMER
|-
|Novice
| -
| -
|40
|-
|Aspirant
|1000
|500
|40
|-
|Battler
|2200
|800
|40
|-
|Fighter
|3500
|1200
|40
|-
|Adept
|4800
|1600
|30
|-
|Chevalier
|6200
|2100
|30
|-
|Veteran
|8000
|2800
|30
|-
|Warrior
|10000
|3500
|30
|-
|Swordsman
|12500
|4300
|20
|-
|Hero
|15000
|5200
|20
|-
|Soldier
|18000
|6200
|20
|-
|Myrmidon
|22000
|7500
|20
|-
|Champion
|26000
|9000
|10
|-
|Superhero
|30000
|10500
|10
|-
|Paladin
|35000
|13000
|10
|-
|Lord
|45000
|15000
|10
|}

= Timer Extensions =

While the Ointment and Wing Boots timers are tracked separately, they are both decremented on a global counter. Every 64 frames, if a Wing Boots or Ointment is active, their counters will be reduced by 1 if the timer is above 0, or deactivated if the timer is at 0. However this only happens if the game is not paused.

So, by pausing the game in rhythm with that timer, so that the game is paused every time the 64th frame hits, it's possible to extend ointment and boots indefinitely. In fact, with perfect pausing, it's possible to keep ointment active even in boss rooms where the ointment counter is automatically reduced to 0, such as at the Black Onyx.

= Gold from the King =

The King will give you golds if you have 0 golds. Therefore if you spend all of your golds, he will give you more.

= Shiner Strikes =

Casting a spell or using an item will cause you to stab with your weapon. This means careful use of magic can enable you to get double hits. This is most notable in two places: at the start of the game, Shiner Strikes will instantly kill the jumping enemies with a Dagger hit plus a Deluge hit. Additionally, after getting the Black Onyx, when using the Wing Boots to fly to the A Key, using the boots at the right time will cause you to slash with your sword, knocking the squid away, saving time to let you fly up while taking no damage.

= Casting magic while moving forward =

Hold up and forward, then press A and B at the same time. You will jump and cast magic without stopping, and your magic will be low enough on the ground to hit two-tile-high enemies. This is useful at the Mist Hospital when getting Boots, as well as against other enemies like the tall bread-dropping enemies on the way to Forepaw.

= Movement =

Flying is the slowest way to move. Always walk, jump, or climb ladders instead if you can, and always start any flight with a jump.

Jumping is faster than climbing. Always jump onto ladders.

Ladder climbing is much faster if you have wing boots active, than if you don't. That is why ladder climbing is also faster than flying.

Always jump off a ladder if you can, as well. This is possible if you get hit on a ladder. Getting hit 'resets' you so that you are standing on the ladder. This is used in a number of places in the speed run, including on the way to the sky fountain, by getting hit on the ladder just outside Forepaw.

= Acceleration =

Attacking with your weapon will lose your speed unless you perform a (frame perfect?) trick to attack as you land on the ground from a jump. The TAS does this. Attacking with magic will lose your speed unless you are in the air. Therefore, aerial Shiner Strikes are the fastest means of attacking, but they do cost magic.

To sweep and hit annoying flying enemies in the air in front of you, press B then press A right after. Your weapon will be stuck out, and you can hit enemies at a variety of heights that ordinarily will be difficult to hit. This is notable when generating the ointment on the way to the Jo door.

Faxanadu/Additional Resources

2013-10-03T21:13:14Z

Presjpolk:

Faxanadu/Additional Resources

2013-10-02T19:18:55Z

Presjpolk: Created page with "= Maps = [http://www.vgmaps.com/Atlas/NES/index.htm#Faxanadu VGMaps] has complete Faxanadu maps, including item spawns and needed keys."

= Maps =

[http://www.vgmaps.com/Atlas/NES/index.htm#Faxanadu VGMaps] has complete Faxanadu maps, including item spawns and needed keys.

Faxanadu/Game Mechanics and Glitches

2013-10-02T19:17:20Z

Presjpolk:

= Item Drops =

There is no random element to drops in this game:

* Enemy golds and bread drops are completely fixed in when they drop (every time) and in the amount of health or number of golds given.

* Some room spawns are completely fixed, as their items will appear every time you enter the screen.

* However some room spawns will only appear about one fourth of the time. These rooms work on a global counter. Count from 1 to 4, increasing the count by 1 every time you enter a room with one of these spawns. If the count is at 4, killing every enemy in the room will force the drop (as with the Mattock, all Boots spawns, and some Ointments), or the item will just appear automatically on room entry (as in the case of the ointment by Grieve and the ointment by the evil one).

= Experience and Titles =

Higher titles from experience tend to be a net negative in this game. While you do start with more golds after death or password entry when you have a higher experience level, and you do accelerate faster, there's one big disadvantage that outweighs both of those in a speed run. That is, your ointment and wing boots timers get shorter at higher levels. The Speed Run never goes up to a level where the timer reductions begin.

= Timer Extensions =

While the Ointment and Wing Boots timers are tracked separately, they are both decremented on a global counter. Every 64 frames, if a Wing Boots or Ointment is active, their counters will be reduced by 1 if the timer is above 0, or deactivated if the timer is at 0. However this only happens if the game is not paused.

So, by pausing the game in rhythm with that timer, so that the game is paused every time the 64th frame hits, it's possible to extend ointment and boots indefinitely. In fact, with perfect pausing, it's possible to keep ointment active even in boss rooms where the ointment counter is automatically reduced to 0, such as at the Black Onyx.

= Gold from the King =

The King will give you golds if you have 0 golds. Therefore if you spend all of your golds, he will give you more.

= Shiner Strikes =

Casting a spell or using an item will cause you to stab with your weapon. This means careful use of magic can enable you to get double hits. This is most notable in two places: at the start of the game, Shiner Strikes will instantly kill the jumping enemies with a Dagger hit plus a Deluge hit. Additionally, after getting the Black Onyx, when using the Wing Boots to fly to the A Key, using the boots at the right time will cause you to slash with your sword, knocking the squid away, saving time to let you fly up while taking no damage.

= Casting magic while moving forward =

Hold up and forward, then press A and B at the same time. You will jump and cast magic without stopping, and your magic will be low enough on the ground to hit two-tile-high enemies. This is useful at the Mist Hospital when getting Boots, as well as against other enemies like the tall bread-dropping enemies on the way to Forepaw.

= Movement =

Flying is the slowest way to move. Always walk, jump, or climb ladders instead if you can, and always start any flight with a jump.

Jumping is faster than climbing. Always jump onto ladders.

Ladder climbing is much faster if you have wing boots active, than if you don't. That is why ladder climbing is also faster than flying.

Always jump off a ladder if you can, as well. This is possible if you get hit on a ladder. Getting hit 'resets' you so that you are standing on the ladder. This is used in a number of places in the speed run, including on the way to the sky fountain, by getting hit on the ladder just outside Forepaw.

= Acceleration =

Attacking with your weapon will lose your speed unless you perform a (frame perfect?) trick to attack as you land on the ground from a jump. The TAS does this. Attacking with magic will lose your speed unless you are in the air. Therefore, aerial Shiner Strikes are the fastest means of attacking, but they do cost magic.

To sweep and hit annoying flying enemies in the air in front of you, press B then press A right after. Your weapon will be stuck out, and you can hit enemies at a variety of heights that ordinarily will be difficult to hit. This is notable when generating the ointment on the way to the Jo door.

Faxanadu/Game Mechanics and Glitches

2013-10-02T19:06:19Z

Presjpolk: Created page with "= Item Drops = There is no random element to drops in this game: * Enemy golds and bread drops are completely fixed in when they drop (every time) and in the amount of healt..."

Faxanadu/Casual Speedrunning

2013-10-02T18:57:01Z

Presjpolk: /* Add Ointment */

There are three major ways to make this game more friendly for a casual or no-reset run: Add wing boots, add ointment, and add red potions.

= Add Wing Boots =

* A casual runner probably won't do the pause glitch well or at all, so it becomes necessary to get extra boots to be able to complete the run. Get an extra pair at the Jo Key (your boots should run out around the time you get up to the ledge to get the first pair, without pausing). Then use that second pair you get to fly over the wyvern and up to the fountain.

* Likewise without pausing your wing boots used at King Grieve will run out before you even exit Castle of Fraternal. Get an extra pair at the Hospital in Mist. Use that second pair when the boots are about to run out.

* It's also possible that pair of boots will actually run out before the Evil One dies. Get a second extra pair (three total) at the Jo Key if you'd like to be able to use another pair of boots before the Evil One's screen, so that they never run out at the end.

= Add Ointment =

* Get the ointment in the Tower of Mist. Getting past the Wyvern on the way to the Black Onyx is very difficult without it.

* Get the ointment in Branch just after the A Key door. If you get the Mist ointment there is no count manipulation required. Just kill the enemy and the ointment is there.

* On the way to the Magical Rod and Battle Suit, there is an ointment spawn the record route passes. Stop and manufacture that spawn (just make sure to fix your spawn counter when you get the boots by the Magical Rod!)

* Two screens away from the evil one there is an ointment spawn that exists. If you let your ointment run out the screen before that, then the ointment will appear below the ladder. Use a pair of boots (the third optional pair in the previous section), get that ointment, and the final boss is easy.

= Add Red Potions =

Because unintentional deaths are so costly, effectively ending the run, red potions are a great safety strategy. Here are a few good ones to get:

* Spawn the Red Potion in the room where you use the Mattock. Just make sure to set the counter back to 1 after!

* Buy a Red Potion in Forepaw after dying.

* Buy a Red Potion in Conflate after dying.

Faxanadu/Casual Speedrunning

2013-10-02T18:55:29Z

Presjpolk: /* Add Ointment */

There are three major ways to make this game more friendly for a casual or no-reset run: Add wing boots, add ointment, and add red potions.

= Add Wing Boots =

* A casual runner probably won't do the pause glitch well or at all, so it becomes necessary to get extra boots to be able to complete the run. Get an extra pair at the Jo Key (your boots should run out around the time you get up to the ledge to get the first pair, without pausing). Then use that second pair you get to fly over the wyvern and up to the fountain.

* Likewise without pausing your wing boots used at King Grieve will run out before you even exit Castle of Fraternal. Get an extra pair at the Hospital in Mist. Use that second pair when the boots are about to run out.

* It's also possible that pair of boots will actually run out before the Evil One dies. Get a second extra pair (three total) at the Jo Key if you'd like to be able to use another pair of boots before the Evil One's screen, so that they never run out at the end.

= Add Ointment =

* Get the ointment in the Tower of Mist. Getting past the Wyvern on the way to the Black Onyx is very difficult without it.

* On the way to the Magical Rod and Battle Suit, there is an ointment spawn the record route passes. Stop and manufacture that spawn (just make sure to fix your spawn counter when you get the boots by the Magical Rod!)

* Two screens away from the evil one there is an ointment spawn that exists. If you let your ointment run out the screen before that, then the ointment will appear below the ladder. Use a pair of boots (the third optional pair in the previous section), get that ointment, and the final boss is easy.

= Add Red Potions =

Because unintentional deaths are so costly, effectively ending the run, red potions are a great safety strategy. Here are a few good ones to get:

* Spawn the Red Potion in the room where you use the Mattock. Just make sure to set the counter back to 1 after!

* Buy a Red Potion in Forepaw after dying.

* Buy a Red Potion in Conflate after dying.

Faxanadu/Casual Speedrunning

2013-10-02T18:51:39Z

Presjpolk:

Faxanadu/Casual Speedrunning

2013-10-02T18:51:19Z

Presjpolk: Created page with "There are three major ways to make this game more friendly for a casual or no-reset run: Add wing boots, add ointment, and add red potions. = Add Wing Boots = Time-wise thes..."

There are three major ways to make this game more friendly for a casual or no-reset run: Add wing boots, add ointment, and add red potions.

= Add Wing Boots =

Time-wise these are the least-costly steps to take.

* A casual runner probably won't do the pause glitch well or at all, so it becomes necessary to get extra boots to be able to complete the run. Get an extra pair at the Jo Key (your boots should run out around the time you get up to the ledge to get the first pair, without pausing). Then use that second pair you get to fly over the wyvern and up to the fountain.

* Likewise without pausing your wing boots used at King Grieve will run out before you even exit Castle of Fraternal. Get an extra pair at the Hospital in Mist. Use that second pair when the boots are about to run out.

* It's also possible that pair of boots will actually run out before the Evil One dies. Get a second extra pair (three total) at the Jo Key if you'd like to be able to use another pair of boots before the Evil One's screen, so that they never run out at the end.

= Add Ointment =

These are the next-costly steps to take.

* On the way to the Magical Rod and Battle Suit, there is an ointment spawn the record route passes. Stop and manufacture that spawn (just make sure to fix your spawn counter when you get the boots by the Magical Rod!)

* Two screens away from the evil one there is an ointment spawn that exists. If you let your ointment run out the screen before that, then the ointment will appear below the ladder. Use a pair of boots (the third optional pair in the previous section), get that ointment, and the final boss is easy.

= Add Red Potions =

Because unintentional deaths are so costly, effectively ending the run, red potions are a great safety strategy. Here are a few good ones to get:

* Spawn the Red Potion in the room where you use the Mattock. Just make sure to set the counter back to 1 after!

* Buy a Red Potion in Forepaw after dying.

* Buy a Red Potion in Conflate after dying.

Faxanadu/any %

2013-10-02T18:44:04Z

Presjpolk: Boots fixes

The Faxanadu Any% route is difficult. After ShinerCCC got ahold of the game, hetook the run in the direction of following the TAS, which works and saves much time, but is unforgiving to execute. A rough outline of the route follows:

# Go right, die.
# Talk to Guru, get Ring of Elf
# Talk to King, get 1500 golds
# Buy Red Potion, Sell Red Potion (1420 golds left)
# Buy Elixir, Dagger, Deluge (300 golds left)
# Buy 3 x J Key (0 golds left)
# Talk to King, get 1500 golds
# Leave Eolis (use J key)
# Pass Apolune
# Enter Tower of Trunk (use J key)
# Manipulate room drop counter to get early Mattock spawn (drop counter at 4)
# Use Mattock (drop counter at 1)
# Arrive Forepaw (2851 golds with optimal kills)
# Buy Wing Boots (51 golds left) (1 Wing Boots)
# Talk to Guru to set death warp
# Leave Forepaw (drop counter at 2 at first screen right of Forepaw)
# Use Wing Boots to fly to sky fountain, talk to crazy man HO HO HO, use pausing to conserve wing boot ticks from here until death (0 Wing Boots)
# Go to Tower of Fortress (use J key, drop counter at 3 when passing Forepaw)
# Fly up to Guru, kill bees for Wing Boots (drop counter at 4) (1 Wing Boots)
# Talk to Guru, get Jo Key (drop counter at 1 after leaving)
# Fly up to fountain
# Die
# Leave Forepaw, get Ointment (drop counter at 2, use ladder above to get counter to 4)
# Drop to Jo door. Kill wyvern, revive fountain, get Ruby Ring (talk to the man ***twice***), kill wyvern 3x more (2880 golds)
# Return to Forepaw (drop counter at 1)
# Buy Long Sword, Q key (780 golds left)
# Leave Forepaw (drop counter at 2)
# Push rock from fountain, enter Mist door (use Q key, drop counter at 3 at first room there)
# Kill things for golds
# Enter Mascon
# Buy Meats for magic refill
# Leave Mascon
# Kill things for golds
# Go to hospital, kill bird inside, get Wing Boots (drop counter at 4) (2 Wing Boots)
# Grind golds, move drop counter to 3 using hospital door (Should be at least at 4300 golds)
# Use Wing Boots to fly up toward Victim (use pausing to conserve some ticks past Victim) (1 Wing Boots)
# Kill things for golds
# Enter Victim
# Talk to Guru for death warp
# Buy 3 x K Key (costs 4500 golds, try to have as close to that as possible) (Boots counter should be at least 9 if you're not pausing)
# Leave Victim
# Get Wing Boots spawn on the way to Tower of Mist (drop counter at 4) (2 Wing Boots)
# Enter Tower of Mist (Use K key)
# Get Black Onyx (drop counter at 1 on the way)
# Die
# Leave Victim
# Use Wing Boots to fly to A Key house, get A Key, (counter hits 4) (extend boots past poison jump) (1 Wing Boots)
# Enter Branch (use A Key)
# Run/Fly to Conflate (counter at 1)
# Enter Conflate
# Talk to Guru for death warp
# Leave Conflate
# Enter next branch (use K key)
# Run to Magical Rod (counter at 3)
# Get Wing Boots below Magical Rod (counter at 4) (2 Wing Boots)
# Get Battle Suit
# Die (counter at 1)
# Talk to Guru to get Ring of Dwarf
# Leave Conflate
# Enter next branch (use K key)
# Manipulate counter to 4 for ointment
# Pass Daybreak (counter at 1)
# Enter Castle of Dartmoor
# Use Wing Boots to enter Castle of Fraternal (1 Wing Boots)
# Run to Grieve (counter at 3)
# Kill Grieve, use Wing Boots when they run out (and extend for rest of game) get Dragon Slayer (0 Wing Boots)
# Manipulate counter back to 3 in room south of Grieve, using ladder
# Get Demon Ring from Guru
# Get Ointment (counter at 4)
# Fly out of Castle of Fraternal
# Enter Evil One's Fortress
# Fly to Evil One
# Kill him before your ointment and boots run out

Faxanadu/any %

2013-10-01T20:02:02Z

Presjpolk: Created page with "The Faxanadu Any% route is difficult. After ShinerCCC got ahold of the game, hetook the run in the direction of following the TAS, which works and saves much time, but is unf..."

The Faxanadu Any% route is difficult. After ShinerCCC got ahold of the game, hetook the run in the direction of following the TAS, which works and saves much time, but is unforgiving to execute. A rough outline of the route follows:

# Go right, die.
# Talk to Guru, get Ring of Elf
# Talk to King, get 1500 golds
# Buy Red Potion, Sell Red Potion (1420 golds left)
# Buy Elixir, Dagger, Deluge (300 golds left)
# Buy 3 x J Key (0 golds left)
# Talk to King, get 1500 golds
# Leave Eolis (use J key)
# Pass Apolune
# Enter Tower of Trunk (use J key)
# Manipulate room drop counter to get early Mattock spawn (drop counter at 4)
# Use Mattock (drop counter at 1)
# Arrive Forepaw (2851 golds with optimal kills)
# Buy Wing Boots (51 golds left)
# Talk to Guru to set death warp
# Leave Forepaw (drop counter at 2 at first screen right of Forepaw)
# Go to sky fountain, talk to crazy man HO HO HO, use pausing to conserve wing boot ticks from here until death
# Go to Tower of Fortress (use J key, drop counter at 3 when passing Forepaw)
# Fly up to Guru, kill bees for Boots (drop counter at 4)
# Talk to Guru, get Jo Key (drop counter at 1 after leaving)
# Fly up to fountain
# Die
# Leave Forepaw, get Ointment (drop counter at 2, use ladder above to get counter to 4)
# Drop to Jo door. Kill wyvern, revive fountain, get Ruby Ring (talk to the man ***twice***), kill wyvern 3x more (2880 golds)
# Return to Forepaw (drop counter at 1)
# Buy Long Sword, Q key (780 golds left)
# Leave Forepaw (drop counter at 2)
# Push rock from fountain, enter Mist door (use Q key, drop counter at 3 at first room there)
# Kill things for golds
# Enter Mascon
# Buy Meats for magic refill
# Leave Mascon
# Kill things for golds
# Go to hospital, kill bird inside (drop counter at 4)
# Grind golds, move drop counter to 3 using hospital door (Should be at least at 4300 golds)
# Use Wing Boots to fly up toward Victim (use pausing to conserve some ticks past Victim)
# Kill things for golds
# Enter Victim
# Talk to Guru for death warp
# Buy 3 x K Key (costs 4500 golds, try to have as close to that as possible) (Boots counter should be at least 9 if you're not pausing)
# Leave Victim
# Pick up Wing Boot spawn on the way to Tower of Mist (drop counter at 4)
# Enter Tower of Mist (Use K key)
# Get Black Onyx (drop counter at 1 on the way)
# Die
# Leave Victim
# Fly to A Key house, get A Key, (counter hits 4) (extend boots past poison jump)
# Enter Branch (use A Key)
# Run/Fly to Conflate (counter at 1)
# Enter Conflate
# Talk to Guru for death warp
# Leave Conflate
# Enter next branch (use K key)
# Run to Magical Rod (counter at 3)
# Get boots below Magical Rod (counter at 4)
# Get Battle Suit
# Die (counter at 1)
# Talk to Guru to get Ring of Dwarf
# Leave Conflate
# Enter next branch (use K key)
# Manipulate counter to 4 for ointment
# Pass Daybreak (counter at 1)
# Enter Castle of Dartmoor
# Use boots to enter Castle of Fraternal (extend boots for the rest of the game)
# Run to Grieve (counter at 3)
# Kill Grieve, get Dragon Slayer
# Manipulate counter back to 3 in room south of Grieve, using ladder
# Get Demon Ring from Guru
# Get Ointment (counter at 4)
# Fly out of Castle of Fraternal
# Enter Evil One's Fortress
# Fly to Evil One
# Kill him before your ointment and boots run out

Faxanadu/100 %

2013-10-01T19:20:59Z

Presjpolk: Created page with "100% has not yet been run, but you would likely need to get: *The Pendant (which is a pain since it makes your attacks weaker, due to the programming error, skipped in Any%) ..."

100% has not yet been run, but you would likely need to get:

*The Pendant (which is a pain since it makes your attacks weaker, due to the programming error, skipped in Any%)
*Tilte (per the standard of only needing the highest upgrade, skipped in Any%)
*Battle Helmet (skipped in any%, required to wield the following two)
*Battle Suit
*Dragon Slayer
*Elixir
*Elf Ring
*Ruby Ring
*Black Onyx
*Dwarf Ring
*Magical Rod
*Demon Ring

This requires buying two extra keys over the Any% route. Added would be a Q key at Forepaw or Mascon to get into the Tower of Suffer for the Pendant, and a K key at Victim to get into the branch for the Battle Helmet.

Faxanadu

2013-10-01T18:54:00Z

Presjpolk: Created page with "Category:NES Category:Games {{sda run|http://speeddemosarchive.com/Faxanadu.html}} = Categories = Any % - Do whatever it takes to beat the game as f..."

[[Category:NES]]
[[Category:Games]]
{{sda run|http://speeddemosarchive.com/Faxanadu.html}}
= Categories =
[[Faxanadu/any %|Any %]] - Do whatever it takes to beat the game as fast as possible 
[[Faxanadu/100 %|100 %]] - collect all items 

= Additional Information =
[[Faxanadu/Game Mechanics and Glitches|Game Mechanics and Glitches]] - Some explanations about how the game works, specific techniques, and glitches 
[[Faxanadu/Casual Speedrunning|Casual Speedrunning]] - Some adjustments to make speedrunning the game easier 
[[Faxanadu/Additional Resources|Additional Resources]] - Links to other helpful resources

Ultima III: Exodus/Game Mechanics and Glitches

2013-08-24T20:19:22Z

Presjpolk: /* Spells */ REPOND/PONTORI issues on DOS vs NES

Ultima III: Exodus/Game Mechanics and Glitches

2013-08-16T02:33:12Z

Presjpolk: /* Skip the opening credits (NES) */

= Leveling =

Gaining levels only increases a character's max hit points. That's all.

More importantly for a speed run, gaining levels also changes what kinds of wandering monsters appear in the main Sosaria map. This includes ships, which appear at level 5. The highest level in your party determines the maximum type of overworld encounters that will appear.

It is possible to get a ship, then replace your Level 5+ character with a different, lower-leveled character, or even a new Level 1 character, but this is unlikely to matter in a speed run.

= Saving =

Saving can only be done at Lord British's castle, and at the secret inn behind a door in Ambrosia. This limits the options for a Segmented run.

= Status Screen Glitch (NES) =

The key glitch that saved many minutes in the NES Speed run is the status screen glitch. It turns out that if you hold a D pad direction while leaving the STATUS screen, but before the map appears again, no wandering monsters will move on the map until such time as the D Pad goes neutral again. This was discovered by accident by Gyth in his TAS of the game (he originally believed, and wrote in his TASVideos submission, that speaking to the Time Lord did it, but in fact what happened was that the TAS's optimal movement, combined with going to the STATUS screen to group the party, triggered the glitch).

This does not work on the overworld map. This only works on submaps, such as Towns, Castles, Ambrosia. Critically, this lets us avoid fighting a single wandering encounter in Castle Exodus. It also lets us freeze the wandering monsters in the southwest forest maze on the way to the Shrine of Dexterity in Ambrosia, as well as freezing the strong water monster there, and the Whirlpool itself. Thus the only battle we fight in Ambrosia is the pirate battle on the way to the Shrine of Dexterity (which you even have ROT for in a casual run), and the only battles we fight in Exodus are the Floor battles.

= Pirate ship glitch (NES) =

On the way to the Shrine of Intelligence, just before the lake in your way, there's a one tile wide pass of forest squares that you walk west through. As you pass through there, stay on that line. Do not veer north or south. Keep walking until the pirate ship just barely appears on the far left edge of the screen. Then walk right and left one square, causing the pirate ship to go off screen and back on. Repeat until the ship turns orange. When that happens, the stack order of the Ship and the Pirate Ship have reversed, and you just skipped a Pirate battle.

= Skip the opening credits and opening cutscene (NES) =

Hold B when pressing reset. You'll skip directly to the main menu, bypassing the credits.

This can also be done to save time skipping the opening cutscene. Reset when the cutscene starts, then just start the game. You'll skip the cutscene and come up in Sosaria.

= Stats and Stat Gain =

Stats can only be improved by go ing to Ambrosia and donating at the shrines. Each shrine is named for a stat. To raise a stat for a character, go to that shrine, and have that character donate 100 Gold for each point to raise. Thus, to raise a character's key stat from 25 to 99 costs 7400 gold.

A class's MP-controlling stats are most important for magic users. For melee, Strength is much more important than Dexterity, at least on the DOS version. As Dexterity, when maxed, doubles your hit rate, thus only doubling your rate of damage. Strength increases the rate of damage by far more than that.

= Spells =

The spells you can cast are determined by your current MP and your class. Your MP is determined by your INT and/or WIS, and your class. A druid gets half of the higher of Intelligence and wisdom as his max MP. A wizard gets his intelligence as his max MP. Thus, leveling does not increase your magic ability at all. Only stat gains do so.

In terms of combat there are a few types of spell. Some are more useful than others in the speed run.

# Guaranteed-hit missiles that insta-kill.
# Guaranteed-hit missiles that do damage.
# Sometimes-hit mass effect spells that insta-kill.
# Guaranteed-hit mass effect spells that do damage.

The lowest level Cleric (UNDEAD on NES/PONTORI on DOS) and Wizard spells (REPEL on NES/REPOND on DOS) are of the third variety. They are useful because they are free, though UNDEAD/PONTORI only works on undeads, and REPEL/REPOND works on weak non-undeads like goblins. On the NES, REPEL works on all lowest-level non-undead encounters. The Druid can cast both, critically, for the early experience grind. However they fail half the time. On the NES, if you cast the spell, the final step selecting the spell, when the Wizard sprite's right foot is visible, the spell will however work every time (however it won't hit every monster every time, in any case).

The next Wizard spell (MISSILE on NES/MITTAR on DOS) is your bread and butter distance attack, against encounters like Pirates.

Two other Wizard spells are also useful. ROT on NES/NECORP on DOS is a spell of the fourth variety, and is useful because it's guaranteed to hit hard every enemy on screen, allowing them to be mopped up with one MISSILE/MITTAR each. Useful against groups of 8 higher level enemies.

KILL on NES/DECORP on DOS takes out one enemy guaranteed. Useful against the highest level encounters, which spawn pairs of large enemies.

= Safe MP refills in dungeons (NES) =

On the NES version, if you're in a dungeon you can refill your MP safely, without any risk of a random encounter, by spinning around in place.

= Death =

Don't die. Resurrection is not guaranteed unless you have the highest level Clerical spell. It's also very expensive if you don't yet have such spells, and is slow because you have to head back to town. Don't die. Reset instead.

= AI (NES) =

The monster AI is only random in when it chooses to use missile attacks or ranged spells. Therefore, all wandering monsters and monsters in combat without such range, have AI that are completely deterministic. In particular, wandering monsters will attempt to match your Y/Vertical coordinate before trying to match your X/Horizontal coordinate. This is critical for herding monsters in Castle Exodus, and is something that was only figured out after the 43:37 SDA run, and therefore is one of the bigger points of possible improvement over that run.

This also means the Floors can be fought blind the same way every time. To fight them without ROT, assuming a party of Druid (12MP)/Wizard(25MP)/Wizard(25MP)/Wizard(25MP), do this, turn by turn:

# MISSILE/MISSILE/MISSILE/MISSILE
# MISSILE/MISSILE/MISSILE/MISSILE
# DOWN/LEFT/LEFT/RIGHT
# DOWN/MISSILE/MISSILE/MISSILE
# DOWN/MISSILE/MISSILE/MISSILE
# RIGHT/DOWN/RIGHT/LEFT
# PASS/MISSILE/RIGHT/LEFT
# PASS/PASS/RIGHT/PASS
# PASS/PASS/MISSILE

With a party of Wizard(75MP)/Wizard(25MP)/Wizard(25MP)/Druid(12MP), this route is possible:

# ROT/MISSILE/MISSILE/MISSILE
# MISSILE/LEFT/LEFT/RIGHT
# DOWN/MISSILE/MISSILE/MISSILE
# DOWN/MISSILE

Ultima III: Exodus/Game Mechanics and Glitches

2013-08-16T02:31:58Z

Presjpolk: /* Spells */

= Leveling =

Gaining levels only increases a character's max hit points. That's all.

More importantly for a speed run, gaining levels also changes what kinds of wandering monsters appear in the main Sosaria map. This includes ships, which appear at level 5. The highest level in your party determines the maximum type of overworld encounters that will appear.

It is possible to get a ship, then replace your Level 5+ character with a different, lower-leveled character, or even a new Level 1 character, but this is unlikely to matter in a speed run.

= Saving =

Saving can only be done at Lord British's castle, and at the secret inn behind a door in Ambrosia. This limits the options for a Segmented run.

= Status Screen Glitch (NES) =

The key glitch that saved many minutes in the NES Speed run is the status screen glitch. It turns out that if you hold a D pad direction while leaving the STATUS screen, but before the map appears again, no wandering monsters will move on the map until such time as the D Pad goes neutral again. This was discovered by accident by Gyth in his TAS of the game (he originally believed, and wrote in his TASVideos submission, that speaking to the Time Lord did it, but in fact what happened was that the TAS's optimal movement, combined with going to the STATUS screen to group the party, triggered the glitch).

This does not work on the overworld map. This only works on submaps, such as Towns, Castles, Ambrosia. Critically, this lets us avoid fighting a single wandering encounter in Castle Exodus. It also lets us freeze the wandering monsters in the southwest forest maze on the way to the Shrine of Dexterity in Ambrosia, as well as freezing the strong water monster there, and the Whirlpool itself. Thus the only battle we fight in Ambrosia is the pirate battle on the way to the Shrine of Dexterity (which you even have ROT for in a casual run), and the only battles we fight in Exodus are the Floor battles.

= Pirate ship glitch (NES) =

On the way to the Shrine of Intelligence, just before the lake in your way, there's a one tile wide pass of forest squares that you walk west through. As you pass through there, stay on that line. Do not veer north or south. Keep walking until the pirate ship just barely appears on the far left edge of the screen. Then walk right and left one square, causing the pirate ship to go off screen and back on. Repeat until the ship turns orange. When that happens, the stack order of the Ship and the Pirate Ship have reversed, and you just skipped a Pirate battle.

= Skip the opening credits (NES) =

Hold B when pressing reset. You'll skip directly to the main menu, bypassing the credits.

= Stats and Stat Gain =

Stats can only be improved by go ing to Ambrosia and donating at the shrines. Each shrine is named for a stat. To raise a stat for a character, go to that shrine, and have that character donate 100 Gold for each point to raise. Thus, to raise a character's key stat from 25 to 99 costs 7400 gold.

A class's MP-controlling stats are most important for magic users. For melee, Strength is much more important than Dexterity, at least on the DOS version. As Dexterity, when maxed, doubles your hit rate, thus only doubling your rate of damage. Strength increases the rate of damage by far more than that.

= Spells =

The spells you can cast are determined by your current MP and your class. Your MP is determined by your INT and/or WIS, and your class. A druid gets half of the higher of Intelligence and wisdom as his max MP. A wizard gets his intelligence as his max MP. Thus, leveling does not increase your magic ability at all. Only stat gains do so.

In terms of combat there are a few types of spell. Some are more useful than others in the speed run.

# Guaranteed-hit missiles that insta-kill.
# Guaranteed-hit missiles that do damage.
# Sometimes-hit mass effect spells that insta-kill.
# Guaranteed-hit mass effect spells that do damage.

The lowest level Cleric (UNDEAD on NES/PONTORI on DOS) and Wizard spells (REPEL on NES/REPOND on DOS) are of the third variety. They are useful because they are free, though UNDEAD/PONTORI only works on undeads, and REPEL/REPOND works on weak non-undeads like goblins. On the NES, REPEL works on all lowest-level non-undead encounters. The Druid can cast both, critically, for the early experience grind. However they fail half the time. On the NES, if you cast the spell, the final step selecting the spell, when the Wizard sprite's right foot is visible, the spell will however work every time (however it won't hit every monster every time, in any case).

The next Wizard spell (MISSILE on NES/MITTAR on DOS) is your bread and butter distance attack, against encounters like Pirates.

Two other Wizard spells are also useful. ROT on NES/NECORP on DOS is a spell of the fourth variety, and is useful because it's guaranteed to hit hard every enemy on screen, allowing them to be mopped up with one MISSILE/MITTAR each. Useful against groups of 8 higher level enemies.

KILL on NES/DECORP on DOS takes out one enemy guaranteed. Useful against the highest level encounters, which spawn pairs of large enemies.

= Safe MP refills in dungeons (NES) =

On the NES version, if you're in a dungeon you can refill your MP safely, without any risk of a random encounter, by spinning around in place.

= Death =

Don't die. Resurrection is not guaranteed unless you have the highest level Clerical spell. It's also very expensive if you don't yet have such spells, and is slow because you have to head back to town. Don't die. Reset instead.

= AI (NES) =

The monster AI is only random in when it chooses to use missile attacks or ranged spells. Therefore, all wandering monsters and monsters in combat without such range, have AI that are completely deterministic. In particular, wandering monsters will attempt to match your Y/Vertical coordinate before trying to match your X/Horizontal coordinate. This is critical for herding monsters in Castle Exodus, and is something that was only figured out after the 43:37 SDA run, and therefore is one of the bigger points of possible improvement over that run.

This also means the Floors can be fought blind the same way every time. To fight them without ROT, assuming a party of Druid (12MP)/Wizard(25MP)/Wizard(25MP)/Wizard(25MP), do this, turn by turn:

# MISSILE/MISSILE/MISSILE/MISSILE
# MISSILE/MISSILE/MISSILE/MISSILE
# DOWN/LEFT/LEFT/RIGHT
# DOWN/MISSILE/MISSILE/MISSILE
# DOWN/MISSILE/MISSILE/MISSILE
# RIGHT/DOWN/RIGHT/LEFT
# PASS/MISSILE/RIGHT/LEFT
# PASS/PASS/RIGHT/PASS
# PASS/PASS/MISSILE

With a party of Wizard(75MP)/Wizard(25MP)/Wizard(25MP)/Druid(12MP), this route is possible:

# ROT/MISSILE/MISSILE/MISSILE
# MISSILE/LEFT/LEFT/RIGHT
# DOWN/MISSILE/MISSILE/MISSILE
# DOWN/MISSILE

Ultima III: Exodus/any %

2013-08-14T20:28:45Z

Presjpolk: /* NES Version Route */

= Overview =

To win the game you have to shut down Exodus (and in the NES version, escape the Castle).

To get into the Castle you need the Mark of Snake for one party member and the Mantra (Silver Horn in the NES version).

To get through the Castle you need the Marks of Fire and Force for all party members you want to survive to the floors, the ability to get through/past wandering high level encounters, and to defeat two Floor encounters.

To shut down Exodus you need the cards.

To get the Cards you need PRAY and the Ship.

To get the Mantra/Silver Horn you need PRAY.

To get the Ship you need one character at Level 5.

Barring any new skips, these are the essentials of the Any% Route.

= NES Version Route =

# Create a party of 1 Druid (in front), and 3 Wizards. All four characters should have 25 STR, 0 DEX, 25 INT, 0 WIS.
# Go to the town of Gray, fighting monsters on the way to OPEN chests to gain gold as well as to gain experience for the Druid.
# In Gray, gather all gold to the Druid. Buy 2 Gems. In the NES version, buy 4 Sands. Spend all remaining gold on Food. Share food.
# Go to the Cave of Fool, fighting monsters on the way to gain XP for the Druid.
# In Fool, DESCEND to Level 8. Use a Gem to see your location. Head to the Mark of Force, and give it to your whole party. ASCEND out.
# Go to the Cave of Sol, again fighting monsters on the way to gain XP for the Druid.
# In Sol, DESCEND to Level 8. Use a Gem to see your location. Head to the Marks of Fire and Snake. Give your Druid Snake. Give all party members Fire. ASCEND out.
# Go to Yew, again fighting monsters on the way if your Druid doesn't yet have 400 XP.
# In Yew, talk to the cleric in the back of the church to get PRAY. Go south from him to the center of the lake and PRAY for the Silver Horn.
# Leave Yew and grind wandering monsters until the Druid has 400 XP, heading toward Lord British's Castle.
# Go to Lord British's Castle, and talk to Lord British to advance the Druid to Level 5.
# Grind for a ship you can quickly and safely reach, entering and leaving town/castle until one is visible.
# FIGHT the ship.
# Find and Sail into the whirlpool.
# Navigate Ambrosia to PRAY at the shrines of Intelligence, Wisdom, Strength, and Dexterity to gain the cards.
# Sail into the whirlpool.
# Sail to the Isle of Exodus, drive the Snake away, and enter the Castle.
# Navigate to the Floor battles in front of Exodus, defeat them.
# PRAY in front of Exodus, and insert the cards in the order of LOVE SUN MOON DEATH.
# Run out of the castle, hoping you don't get walled in by volcanos

Ultima III: Exodus/any %

2013-08-14T20:28:30Z

Presjpolk: /* NES Version Route */ Typo

= Overview =

To win the game you have to shut down Exodus (and in the NES version, escape the Castle).

To get into the Castle you need the Mark of Snake for one party member and the Mantra (Silver Horn in the NES version).

To get through the Castle you need the Marks of Fire and Force for all party members you want to survive to the floors, the ability to get through/past wandering high level encounters, and to defeat two Floor encounters.

To shut down Exodus you need the cards.

To get the Cards you need PRAY and the Ship.

To get the Mantra/Silver Horn you need PRAY.

To get the Ship you need one character at Level 5.

Barring any new skips, these are the essentials of the Any% Route.

= NES Version Route =

# Create a party of 1 Druid (in front), and 3 Wizards. All four characters should have 25 STR, 0 DEX, 25 INT, 0 WIS.
# Go to the town of Gray, fighting monsters on the way to OPEN chests to gain gold as well as to gain experience for the Druid.
# In Gray, gather all gold to the Druid. Buy 2 Gems. In the NES version, buy 4 Sands. Spend all remaining gold on Food. Share food.
# Go to the Cave of Fool, fighting monsters on the way to gain XP for the Druid.
# In Fool, DESCEND to Level 8. Use a Gem to see your location. Head to the Mark of Force, and give it to your whole party. ASCEND out.
# Go to the Cave of Sol, again fighting monsters on the way to gain XP for the Druid.
# In Snake, DESCEND to Level 8. Use a Gem to see your location. Head to the Marks of Fire and Snake. Give your Druid Snake. Give all party members Fire. ASCEND out.
# Go to Yew, again fighting monsters on the way if your Druid doesn't yet have 400 XP.
# In Yew, talk to the cleric in the back of the church to get PRAY. Go south from him to the center of the lake and PRAY for the Silver Horn.
# Leave Yew and grind wandering monsters until the Druid has 400 XP, heading toward Lord British's Castle.
# Go to Lord British's Castle, and talk to Lord British to advance the Druid to Level 5.
# Grind for a ship you can quickly and safely reach, entering and leaving town/castle until one is visible.
# FIGHT the ship.
# Find and Sail into the whirlpool.
# Navigate Ambrosia to PRAY at the shrines of Intelligence, Wisdom, Strength, and Dexterity to gain the cards.
# Sail into the whirlpool.
# Sail to the Isle of Exodus, drive the Snake away, and enter the Castle.
# Navigate to the Floor battles in front of Exodus, defeat them.
# PRAY in front of Exodus, and insert the cards in the order of LOVE SUN MOON DEATH.
# Run out of the castle, hoping you don't get walled in by volcanos

Ultima III: Exodus/any %

2013-08-14T20:25:21Z

Presjpolk: Check my $tat$

= Overview =

To win the game you have to shut down Exodus (and in the NES version, escape the Castle).

To get into the Castle you need the Mark of Snake for one party member and the Mantra (Silver Horn in the NES version).

To get through the Castle you need the Marks of Fire and Force for all party members you want to survive to the floors, the ability to get through/past wandering high level encounters, and to defeat two Floor encounters.

To shut down Exodus you need the cards.

To get the Cards you need PRAY and the Ship.

To get the Mantra/Silver Horn you need PRAY.

To get the Ship you need one character at Level 5.

Barring any new skips, these are the essentials of the Any% Route.

= NES Version Route =

# Create a party of 1 Druid (in front), and 3 Wizards. All four characters should have 25 STR, 0 DEX, 25 INT, 0 WIS.
# Go to the town of Gray, fighting monsters on the way to OPEN chests to gain gold as well as to gain experience for the Druid.
# In Gray, gather all gold to the Druid. Buy 2 Gems. In the NES version, buy 4 Sands. Spend all remaining gold on Food. Share food.
# Go to the Cave of Fool, fighting monsters on the way to gain XP for the Druid.
# In Fool, DESCEND to Level 8. Use a Gem to see your location. Head to the Mark of Force, and give it to your whole party. ASCEND out.
# Go to the Cave of Sol, again fighting monsters on the way to gain XP for the Druid.
# In Fool, DESCEND to Level 8. Use a Gem to see your location. Head to the Marks of Fire and Snake. Give your Druid Snake. Give all party members Fire. ASCEND out.
# Go to Yew, again fighting monsters on the way if your Druid doesn't yet have 400 XP.
# In Yew, talk to the cleric in the back of the church to get PRAY. Go south from him to the center of the lake and PRAY for the Silver Horn.
# Leave Yew and grind wandering monsters until the Druid has 400 XP, heading toward Lord British's Castle.
# Go to Lord British's Castle, and talk to Lord British to advance the Druid to Level 5.
# Grind for a ship you can quickly and safely reach, entering and leaving town/castle until one is visible.
# FIGHT the ship.
# Find and Sail into the whirlpool.
# Navigate Ambrosia to PRAY at the shrines of Intelligence, Wisdom, Strength, and Dexterity to gain the cards.
# Sail into the whirlpool.
# Sail to the Isle of Exodus, drive the Snake away, and enter the Castle.
# Navigate to the Floor battles in front of Exodus, defeat them.
# PRAY in front of Exodus, and insert the cards in the order of LOVE SUN MOON DEATH.
# Run out of the castle, hoping you don't get walled in by volcanos

Ultima III: Exodus/100 %

2013-08-14T15:01:19Z

Presjpolk: Fix wording

= Overview =

100% has not yet been run as of this writing. However, one theory of 100% would be to take Any% and add:

# Get all four marks for all four party members
# Get the Silver and Gold Picks
# Get the Mystic Armor and Weapon for all four party members

An argument could be made for buying up all stats for all party members, or at least buying up max INT/WIS for spellcasters.

One could also say that speaking to the Time Lord is mandatory.

The Golden Pick should be gotten while at Level 1. On the NES Version the Silver Pick should probably be gotten at level 1, as well. The Mystic items would have to be gotten after getting the ship. To get one of each for each party member, pass the pick from party member to party member, allowing each to take a turn digging with it.

Ultima III: Exodus

2013-08-14T15:00:37Z

Presjpolk: Fix 100% description

[[Category:NES]]
[[Category:DOS]]
[[Category:Games]]
{{sda run|http://speeddemosarchive.com/Ultima3NES.html}}
= Categories =
[[Ultima III: Exodus/any %|Any %]] - Do whatever it takes to beat the game as fast as possible 
[[Ultima III: Exodus/100 %|100 %]] - collect all items 

= Additional Information =
[[Ultima III: Exodus/Game Mechanics and Glitches|Game Mechanics and Glitches]] - Some explanations about how the game works, specific techniques, and glitches 
[[Ultima III: Exodus/Casual Speedrunning|Casual Speedrunning]] - Some adjustments to make speedrunning the game easier 
[[Ultima III: Exodus/Additional Resources|Additional Resources]] - Links to other helpful resources

Ultima III: Exodus

2013-08-14T15:00:10Z

Presjpolk: SDA run

[[Category:NES]]
[[Category:DOS]]
[[Category:Games]]
{{sda run|http://speeddemosarchive.com/Ultima3NES.html}}
= Categories =
[[Ultima III: Exodus/any %|Any %]] - Do whatever it takes to beat the game as fast as possible 
[[Ultima III: Exodus/100 %|100 %]] - Do not collect any items 

= Additional Information =
[[Ultima III: Exodus/Game Mechanics and Glitches|Game Mechanics and Glitches]] - Some explanations about how the game works, specific techniques, and glitches 
[[Ultima III: Exodus/Casual Speedrunning|Casual Speedrunning]] - Some adjustments to make speedrunning the game easier 
[[Ultima III: Exodus/Additional Resources|Additional Resources]] - Links to other helpful resources

Ultima III: Exodus/Additional Resources

2013-08-14T14:59:00Z

Presjpolk: Created page with "[http://mikesrpgcenter.com/ultima3/index.html Mike's RPG Center] is an invaluable resource for game maps for the NES version. [http://tasvideos.org/Game/nes-ultima-exodus.htm..."

[http://mikesrpgcenter.com/ultima3/index.html Mike's RPG Center] is an invaluable resource for game maps for the NES version.

[http://tasvideos.org/Game/nes-ultima-exodus.html TASVideos] also has information and its own route (though the 21:22 run is out of date in that it should not visit the Time Lord, therefore that whole dungeon trek can be eliminated).

Ultima III: Exodus

2013-08-14T14:58:42Z

Presjpolk: Fix Resources link

[[Category:NES]]
[[Category:DOS]]
[[Category:Games]]
= Categories =
[[Ultima III: Exodus/any %|Any %]] - Do whatever it takes to beat the game as fast as possible 
[[Ultima III: Exodus/100 %|100 %]] - Do not collect any items 

= Additional Information =
[[Ultima III: Exodus/Game Mechanics and Glitches|Game Mechanics and Glitches]] - Some explanations about how the game works, specific techniques, and glitches 
[[Ultima III: Exodus/Casual Speedrunning|Casual Speedrunning]] - Some adjustments to make speedrunning the game easier 
[[Ultima III: Exodus/Additional Resources|Additional Resources]] - Links to other helpful resources

Ultima III: Exodus

2013-08-14T14:55:34Z

Presjpolk: DOS

[[Category:NES]]
[[Category:DOS]]
[[Category:Games]]
= Categories =
[[Ultima III: Exodus/any %|Any %]] - Do whatever it takes to beat the game as fast as possible 
[[Ultima III: Exodus/100 %|100 %]] - Do not collect any items 

= Additional Information =
[[Ultima III: Exodus/Game Mechanics and Glitches|Game Mechanics and Glitches]] - Some explanations about how the game works, specific techniques, and glitches 
[[Ultima III: Exodus/Casual Speedrunning|Casual Speedrunning]] - Some adjustments to make speedrunning the game easier 
[[Ultima III/Additional Resources|Additional Resources]] - Links to other helpful resources

Ultima III: Exodus/Casual Speedrunning

2013-08-14T14:55:08Z

Presjpolk:

= NES =

Get ROT. Seriously, once you have ROT the game is basically insta-win. You can the get the necessary gold fastest by repeatedly doing this process:

# Save
# Create ready made party
# Move all gold to lead party member
# Save
# Create ready made party
# Move all gold to lead party member
# Save
# Create ready made party
# Move all gold to lead party member
# Save
# Create party with your main party's lead member, and the lead members of the above three parties
# Move all gold to lead party member
# Save
# Delete the 12 characters created above
# GOTO 1

Each pass nets 1200 gold, which would take a minimum of 12 chests to open normally, and probably closer to 20. Make sure to use the opening credits skip.

Also, get sands for your pirate battle before ROT.

Ultima III: Exodus/Game Mechanics and Glitches

2013-08-14T14:54:39Z

Presjpolk:

= Leveling =

Gaining levels only increases a character's max hit points. That's all.

More importantly for a speed run, gaining levels also changes what kinds of wandering monsters appear in the main Sosaria map. This includes ships, which appear at level 5. The highest level in your party determines the maximum type of overworld encounters that will appear.

It is possible to get a ship, then replace your Level 5+ character with a different, lower-leveled character, or even a new Level 1 character, but this is unlikely to matter in a speed run.

= Saving =

Saving can only be done at Lord British's castle, and at the secret inn behind a door in Ambrosia. This limits the options for a Segmented run.

= Status Screen Glitch (NES) =

The key glitch that saved many minutes in the NES Speed run is the status screen glitch. It turns out that if you hold a D pad direction while leaving the STATUS screen, but before the map appears again, no wandering monsters will move on the map until such time as the D Pad goes neutral again. This was discovered by accident by Gyth in his TAS of the game (he originally believed, and wrote in his TASVideos submission, that speaking to the Time Lord did it, but in fact what happened was that the TAS's optimal movement, combined with going to the STATUS screen to group the party, triggered the glitch).

This does not work on the overworld map. This only works on submaps, such as Towns, Castles, Ambrosia. Critically, this lets us avoid fighting a single wandering encounter in Castle Exodus. It also lets us freeze the wandering monsters in the southwest forest maze on the way to the Shrine of Dexterity in Ambrosia, as well as freezing the strong water monster there, and the Whirlpool itself. Thus the only battle we fight in Ambrosia is the pirate battle on the way to the Shrine of Dexterity (which you even have ROT for in a casual run), and the only battles we fight in Exodus are the Floor battles.

= Pirate ship glitch (NES) =

On the way to the Shrine of Intelligence, just before the lake in your way, there's a one tile wide pass of forest squares that you walk west through. As you pass through there, stay on that line. Do not veer north or south. Keep walking until the pirate ship just barely appears on the far left edge of the screen. Then walk right and left one square, causing the pirate ship to go off screen and back on. Repeat until the ship turns orange. When that happens, the stack order of the Ship and the Pirate Ship have reversed, and you just skipped a Pirate battle.

= Skip the opening credits (NES) =

Hold B when pressing reset. You'll skip directly to the main menu, bypassing the credits.

= Stats and Stat Gain =

Stats can only be improved by go ing to Ambrosia and donating at the shrines. Each shrine is named for a stat. To raise a stat for a character, go to that shrine, and have that character donate 100 Gold for each point to raise. Thus, to raise a character's key stat from 25 to 99 costs 7400 gold.

A class's MP-controlling stats are most important for magic users. For melee, Strength is much more important than Dexterity, at least on the DOS version. As Dexterity, when maxed, doubles your hit rate, thus only doubling your rate of damage. Strength increases the rate of damage by far more than that.

= Spells =

The spells you can cast are determined by your current MP and your class. Your MP is determined by your INT and/or WIS, and your class. A druid gets half of the higher of Intelligence and wisdom as his max MP. A wizard gets his intelligence as his max MP. Thus, leveling does not increase your magic ability at all. Only stat gains do so.

In terms of combat there are a few types of spell. Some are more useful than others in the speed run.

# Guaranteed-hit missiles that insta-kill.
# Guaranteed-hit missiles that do damage.
# Sometimes-hit mass effect spells that insta-kill.
# Guaranteed-hit mass effect spells that do damage.

The lowest level Cleric (UNDEAD on NES/PONTORI on DOS) and Wizard spells (REPEL on NES/REPOND on DOS) are of the third variety. They are useful because they are free, though UNDEAD/PONTORI only works on undeads, and REPEL/REPOND works on weak non-undeads like goblins. On the NES, REPEL works on all lowest-level non-undead encounters. The Druid can cast both, critically, for the early experience grind. However they fail half the time. On the NES, if you cast the spell, the final step selecting the spell, when the Wizard sprite's right foot is visible, the spell will however work every time (however it won't hit every monster every time, in any case).

The next Wizard spell (MISSILE on NES/MITTAR on DOS) is your bread and butter distance attack, against encounters like Pirates.

Two other Wizard spells are also useful. ROT on NES/NECORP on DOS is a spell of the fourth variety, and is useful because it's guaranteed to hit hard every enemy on screen, allowing them to be mopped up with one MISSILE/MITTAR each. Useful against groups of 8 higher level enemies.

KILL on NES/DECORP on DOS takes out one enemy guaranteed. Useful against the highest level encounters, which spawn pairs of large enemies.

= Death =

Don't die. Resurrection is not guaranteed unless you have the highest level Clerical spell. It's also very expensive if you don't yet have such spells, and is slow because you have to head back to town. Don't die. Reset instead.

= AI (NES) =

The monster AI is only random in when it chooses to use missile attacks or ranged spells. Therefore, all wandering monsters and monsters in combat without such range, have AI that are completely deterministic. In particular, wandering monsters will attempt to match your Y/Vertical coordinate before trying to match your X/Horizontal coordinate. This is critical for herding monsters in Castle Exodus, and is something that was only figured out after the 43:37 SDA run, and therefore is one of the bigger points of possible improvement over that run.

This also means the Floors can be fought blind the same way every time. To fight them without ROT, assuming a party of Druid (12MP)/Wizard(25MP)/Wizard(25MP)/Wizard(25MP), do this, turn by turn:

# MISSILE/MISSILE/MISSILE/MISSILE
# MISSILE/MISSILE/MISSILE/MISSILE
# DOWN/LEFT/LEFT/RIGHT
# DOWN/MISSILE/MISSILE/MISSILE
# DOWN/MISSILE/MISSILE/MISSILE
# RIGHT/DOWN/RIGHT/LEFT
# PASS/MISSILE/RIGHT/LEFT
# PASS/PASS/RIGHT/PASS
# PASS/PASS/MISSILE

With a party of Wizard(75MP)/Wizard(25MP)/Wizard(25MP)/Druid(12MP), this route is possible:

# ROT/MISSILE/MISSILE/MISSILE
# MISSILE/LEFT/LEFT/RIGHT
# DOWN/MISSILE/MISSILE/MISSILE
# DOWN/MISSILE

Ultima III: Exodus/Casual Speedrunning

2013-08-14T14:53:25Z

Presjpolk: /* NES */ Clarify

= NES =

Get ROT. Seriously, once you have ROT the game is basically insta-win. You can the get the necessary gold fastest by repeatedly doing this process:

# Save
# Create ready made party
# Move all gold to lead party member
# Save
# Create ready made party
# Move all gold to lead party member
# Save
# Create ready made party
# Move all gold to lead party member
# Save
# Create party with your main party's lead member, and the lead members of the above three parties
# Move all gold to lead party member
# Save
# Delete the 12 characters created above
# GOTO 1

Each pass nets 1200 gold, which would take a minimum of 12 chests to open normally, and probably closer to 20.

Also, get sands for your pirate battle before ROT.