About this game
Lagrange Point was released only in Japan by Konami in 1992. This game was produced not only by workers for Konami but also by the readers of one of the video game magazines, Family Computer Magazine. The team created this game is called Game Koubou, which was founded for the anniversary of the 100th publication of that magazine. It was the readers that designed characters, monsters, events, message-texts, music and the title-screen, etc. The sound quality of this game is incredibly excellent because of the Konami's VRC7 sound generator Integrated Circuit. That's why many Japanese people say that this game is a masterpiece on Famicon, and I think that, too.
This game itself is a field-type RPG. The battle system is turn-based. The era on this game is near future. The story is that a biohazard occurred in one colony, so the investigative team headed for there. Main character is Gin, who belongs to the team. What will happen around him?
Emulator information:
- FCUEX 2.1.3 or later version with Old PPU
Note: Please avoid using 2.1.2 or older version. It causes a chain of desyncs because the RAM is not initialized. And don't forget to check Old PPU.
- English subtitles. -> http://pastebin.com/VWSHN1zW
- Fewer subtitles. -> http://pastebin.com/u5Lj3mya
Just run this script before you replay the movie.
Goals
- Aims for fastest time
- Takes damages to save time
- Uses a lot of death warps as a shortcut
- Manipulates luck
- Abuses programming errors
- Genre: RPG
Streaming Video
Whole run in one with full of subtitles.
If it's annoying, fewer subtitles are here. (Note: Nicovideo's account is necessary.)
part1,
part2,
part3
How to luckmanipulate
Avoids random battles
By changing RNG when and how to push the direction key or A-button, you can avoid a random battle. You can also change the monster formation you encounter by this.
What you have to be careful is that you can't walk pushing A-button just when the step-counter gains in dungeon. I was very careful in order not to do so. On normal play you have to fight at least once every twenty steps, so avoiding random battles may be harder than it looks.
Manipulates luck in battle
The order of one turn and the action each character takes have been determined by the display of the first message in the turn. So the timing of the last character's command input is very important.
After the display of the battle messages in one turn starts, you can manipulate critical and the amount of damage by delaying the message display. The critical or the effect attack of the first actor can NOT be manipulated by delaying messages. These are manipulated by the timing of the last character's command input.
That when and how to delay pushing A-button was quite difficult problem because the results were very different even if it was the same frames' delay.
Glitches, Tricks and Strategies
Glitch Battle
First you have to disorder the enemy which attacks twice in one turn. Then when the disordered enemy attacks another enemy and beats it by the first attack, the second attack hits a glitched enemy and beats it.
The glitched enemy has a lot of EXP and Colon (Money) and is different according to the monster formations. I tested this a lot and optimized this. Ranking (Leveling) up is very long but it is necessary. Character's rank must be high in order to equip a strong weapon on this game. Obtaining infinite Colon is also quite long and essential because you need a lot of Colon in order to composite a strong weapon. Glitch battle itself is well-known to Japanese players.
Obtaining EXP and Colon running away
On this game you needn't win the battle in order to obtain EXP and Colon. Just run away after beating some enemies. This was found by me.
Item duplication glitch
When you use an item in a battle and then you are knocked out at the same turn, the item you used is not consumed. This glitch was found by me. Thanks to this glitch, I saved the time buying for one Shulla Bomb, which disorders one enemy.
Buying a hidden item
Press up + A at the same time when the cursor is the top item, which is sold at the store or the armor shop, then you can buy a hidden item. This glitch is also well-known to Japanese players. I used it in order to buy Heat Sabre x2 at Fiber City and Heat Sabre x24 at Satellite Base.
Changing direction during dialogue
Just hold the direction key during dialogue, you can change the player's direction. It's funny, in my opinion. If you are keen on reading subtitles, you might not be noticed it. This trick was found by me.
Making a door in void
This glitch can work at the limited places and was found by me. Press the direction key where the door doesn't exist just before you open a door, then you can make a door in void. It is neither timesaver nor slower, but it's funny, isn't it?
Death Warps
There are not any escaping item or spell on this game, so I have to rely on death warps.
In order to do quick death warps, first, I manipulated Gin's HP to be the lowest during ranking up. Second, monster formations are very different according to the number of step-counter when you encounter. Third, the lag when the monsters are appearing is also defferent according to the monster formations. Fourth, the minimum steps are ten on field and seven in dungeon. I checked this by over 20k re-records on another fm2. And the battle itself, all things considered, I did the fastest death warps.
Obtaining a Hydro-Wing earlier
This is a little sequence break. After obtaining an Oxygen Cylinder at Cosmo City, you can walkthrough Vesta 2 and obtain a Hydro-Wing, which enables you to warp to the town which you have ever visited. Thanks to this glitch, you can skip a dungeon to Ozone City. Although Vesta 2 is a long dungeon, I used a Hydro-Wing several times in endgame, so getting it earlier is faster. This glitch is also well-known to Japanese players.
Minimize the lag when you choose a vehicle
When you choose a vehicle, don't select a Mobile unless it is necessary. The lag for choosing a Mobile is longer.
Boss Strategy
The basic strategy is Chris's flash, Astro's bomber and then critical.
Chris's flash stops enemies for two turns. It is effective even against a boss. I found this when I was watching someone's let's play on nicovideo. I feel the probability of its effectiveness is about ten percent. Any boss has its own attack animation on this game. It's cool. But, unfortunately, this is a TAS so I have to skip it by Chris's flash. Astro's bomber enhances character's attack power to be 1.5 times for three turns. Both special attacks consume their own HP. I tested and calculated in order not to have any surplus curing item.
It is needless to say that the final and the second final boss were the hardest parts. I'd like to say the final Oregi and Ash were harder than they looks. I had to manipulate not only critical twice successively but also the amount of damage to be high.
Secret message from KONAMI
If you wait for about thirty minutes after the display of the 'Fin' message on endroll, you'll see a secret message from Konami. I suggest cutting the time for waiting it like Secret of Evermore when we encode this.
Known Improvements
Like many other RPGs, better luckmanipulation would save time, but I doubt it. You can guess from the re-recording counts that I manipulated luck severely. There are a few things you may take it for slow, but it's the fastest. e.g. Morita's battle message could be cancelled but only seven frames you could take to do. I tried to cancel it but it took over seven frames to do.
At first I was very reluctant to submit it, and I have still been because of the language barrier. But Star Ocean, Metal Max, Madou Monogatari I, etc. are on this site. Some members encouraged me, so I submitted it, thanks. I hope you enjoy it.
FractalFusion: Might as well admit that I'm accepting the run. I'll handle the encoding. We'll use caitsith2's encoding.