I figured it was worth making a submission now and adding/completing the run notes later.
Hello and welcome to my fourth submitted TAS for TASvideos, and my first RPG run - Fire Emblem: Fuuin no Tsurugi (known as the Sealed Sword or Sword of Seals). This TAS is the painstaking effort of over 3 years of work, countless frustrated hours and many many retries. I've had a lot of help and support over those years, but I'm glad it is finally over.
There's a Lua script that will help when watching this on emulator:
TAS Categories
- Aims for fastest time.
- Aims for fastest (worst) ending.
- Takes damage to save time
- Uses death to save time
- Heavy luck manipulation
- Emulator: VBA v23.4-interim svn 324
There's a lot to explain, so I'll get right to it.
The RNG:
Any TAS of an RPG revolves around manipulation of the RNG, and this one is no exception. The RNG happens to be very fixed and easy to manipulate, as not only are attacks and level ups used by the RNG, but also the path finding algorithm used whenever a unit is moved. By changing the path from one result to another, the RNG is shifted forward a number of places. Moving the cursor along a diagonal and the further distance away from the unit shifts the RNG much more. You will see the cursor movement happen throughout the entire run to shift the RNG to my favour and give me the unlikely results I need for a faster clear. Ideally, I want to get as many critical hits as I can in a combat, however that is not always practical given the limitations of the RNG, and how long it can take to shift the RNG to the required position - it can often be faster to take a double attack to kill an enemy rather than a critical hit, especially in the early game where unit Skill is relatively low.
There's a second RNG that comes into play in Chapter 14, which determines if non-thief units can find items in the Desert. When the item menu is opened this RNG moves along at a non-fixed rate, somewhere between 4 and 9 frames at a time from my observation, so just waiting long enough in the item menu shifts this RNG to the position you need to get the items you want. The normal odds are 1/11 in trying to get an item randomly.
Glitches and Exploits:
The main glitch used through this run is something I've dubbed DOG - Double Occupancy Glitch. Basically, you can make two or more units occupy the same square in a grid by certain movement of the cursor. You move into the occupying unit's space, and the very next frame you press a direction away + A to confirm the movement. DOG is used several times through the run, sometimes required, sometimes just because I could. Either way it is a very useful tool.
DOG is not without its limits however. The game only allows you to move a certain unit from that space on subsequent turns, the last unit in the game's unit list. If you need to move units in a certain order then DOG might not always be the best option. Enemy phase interation for DOGed units is also not completely understood, as sometimes one unit is targeted and sometimes a second or third one is. However, DOG does allow for many time savers which are often not available without it.
There's a useful exploit when dropping a rescued unit. Normally, the screen manually scrolls to a place where that unit is to be dropped, but this can waste a lot of time (10 frames per square). By pressing away from that direction so the cursor is in a position where it won't cause the screen to scroll, and then pressing back into the direction + A, the unit is put into the position you want, and the game is tricked into not scrolling as it initially thinks the unit is being placed elsewhere.
Avoiding the game scrolling the screen is also important when targeting enemies to be killed. It is almost always better to manually scroll the screen yourself (as movement per square only takes 2 frames in one direction), and then scrolling back to the position you want to be in. I end up having to do this for a lot of enemies, mostly bosses.
There's a couple of visual glitches caused by scrolling the screen too fast when positioning units in the preparations screens. This changes nothing in the gameplay but looks like some of the terrain is in a different place to where it should be. This effect only tends to be temporary too and ends after the first turn of a chapter, but it's funny to see nevertheless. Chapter 12 has one such instance of this visual anomaly.
Chapter Summary:
Chapter 1:
After many starts, I found this approach to be the quickest. By not giving Alan and Lance (the cavaliers) any experience in this chapter, it avoids them levelling up later on and saves time that way. However, it will make Marcus level up once more, but 1 is better than 2.
Turn 1: Marcus picks up Roy and equips the Silver Lance. This weapon allows him to OHKO the three enemies he faces on enemy phase. Lance has to move back one space to avoid one of the fighters going for him.
Turn 2: Marcus equips the Iron Sword and critical hits one of the Fighters. The position of the terrain encourages the enemies to line up to the south and to Marcus' sides - normally the AI likes to attack from the north of a unit. I don't kill all the enemies here, even though they also move in the next turn, as it prevents some of the enemies from the south reaching Marcus and taking more time in combat.
Turn 3: Roy dropped here. With the Rapier equipped, he is easily able to critical one of the fighters that attack him and clear a direct path to the boss.
Turn 4: Marcus uses the Silver Lance to critical the boss. Roy seizes.
A new idea I thought of was to bypass the village in the south east corner, which gives 5000 gold. Since you also start off with 5000 g, for all the items I need to buy I would need to make up the rest I need by selling some items. This approach turns out to be quite a bit faster.
Chapter 2:
The strategy here was established early in my attempts, and I doubt there's a faster approach.
Turn 1: Roy kills one soldier and Marcus kills another in reach. Lance picks up Marcus and Alan drops him on the fort. I ensure Marcus is holding the Javelin, allowing him to kill all the enemies he can reach on the Enemy Phase (EP).
Turn 2: Alan takes the Javelin off Marcus (he'll need it in the next chapter), and moves back to avoid Roy having to DOG or move more than 2 spaces. If Alan didn't move out of Roy's way, Marcus would not be able to pick Roy up - a limitation of the DOG. Anyway, Marcus scoops up Roy and moves his full distance.
Marcus is given the Hand Axe and Iron Axe and Roy is dropped. Roy is then rescued by Thany, who moves into range of a soldier on EP. Dieck, Lot and Ward move so they are out of range of the enemies that are moving along the south east edge of the map. Thany needs to gain as much exp as I can feed her. I determined she could save a lot of time by reaching Level 12 before promoting, as the Str she will have allows for several key boss OHKOs and make dealing with later RNG manipulations easier as she reaches stat caps much sooner and requires less stat growths. The extra combat over an earlier promotion also allowed her to reach B Lances just before promotion (going to A Lances after promotion) and able to use the Silver Lance to OHKO the very next boss she comes across, so it worked out perfectly.
Turn 3: Marcus only moves one square here - any more and he encourages more enemies to move from the pack. Thany moves forward over the mountains towards the boss. Marcus clears up the enemies with the Hand Axe. Marcus starts with E Axes, and he does need to reach D Axes before the Chapter 7 boss, but that's actually an easy target.
Turn 4: Roy is dropped in front of the boss. With his starting parameters, Roy is just able to kill the boss with the Rapier, pulling out a necessary double critical. The level up he gains is vitally important too - Roy need to reach a certain level of HP and Defence to change the AI behaviour in Chapter 14, preventing him from being blocked off to the boss there. He starts with 5 Def, and needs a minimum of 7 Def with about 27 HP to cause a Hero to attack Thany rather than him (and thus preventing other enemies from going for Roy and being blocked off as he won't have the combat to kill anyone).
Turn 5: Thany kills the highest level enemy here for more Exp. Roy seizes.
This is really the only chapter before Chapter 9 that really has an advantage granted from flight. The 2 turn of Chapter 5 also requires Thany to kill an enemy that no-one else can reach.
Chapter 3:
The approach here was adapted from the previous version where Alan was the main attacker, to feed Thany as much experience as I could get for her. She needs to reach a minimum of Level 6 to have the combat parameters to kill Soldiers in Chapter 6, and it was the most optimal approach I find to feed her a bunch of enemies here. Overall this is slower than using Alan, but her flight advantage more than makes up for the extra combat required for her.
Turn 1: Thany takes an Iron Lance and is rescue-dropped ahead. Roy ends up next to Alan so he can easily rescue him next turn. A bunch of units all DOG into one square so they avoid enemies targeting them on later turns. Thany doesn't quite have the Strength to 2HKO enemies yet, and a lot attack from range anyway. Alan also has to be so far back as the enemies seem to prefer to go for him over Thany for whatever reason, but he's still far enough ahead that he can reach the combats he is needed for.
Turn 2: Thany clears the way for Marcus and Alan to head thronewards. On EP Thany is deliberately hit to 1 HP by the archer (bows do triple damage to flying units), which will encourage enemies to go for her rather than other units.
Turn 3: I finally get rid of the pesky archer. Marcus takes Roy and equips the Silver Lance here, allowing him to kill the knight easily.
Turn 4: Alan kills the soldier that blocks the way, and Marcus drops Roy. He has to drop him here as the next two turns both require Marcus to have combat and Roy won't have time to be dropped otherwise. Thany gets into a position with the Javelin that she can kill one enemy on the EP, barely 2HKO one more enemy and level up to have the Strength to 2HKO the other on the EP. I don't have to touch Thany for the rest of the chapter now. Roy also levels up here but it wasn't possible to get Def on him as well as allow Thany to survive and get the required stats. He will need to get one more level to allow for this but the most optimal place happens to be in Chapter 12.
Turn 5: Alan and Marcus kills enemies, giving Roy the freedom to reach seize range. Roy kills the fighter here and Alan takes the cavalier that Roy damaged. This is the first example of the levels ups giving the minimal amount of stats needed, given that Alan's usefulness for combat purposes is now over.
Turn 6: Marcus kills the boss and levels up. Marcus is required to only get +2 Str, +4 Skill and +2 Res, other growths aren't required but happen given the RNG results available.
Chapter 4:
Again, this was adapted from Alan mode to feed Thany a bunch of exp.
Turn 1: Marcus advances, and Alan takes Roy. Thany takes the Lockpicks from Chad (they sell well). Manage to get 2 crits here, which was nice.
Turn 2: Thany takes Roy for a turn towards their support. Alan heads towards the armory, taking a Lockpick and Vulnerary to sell. Marcus clears out most of the cavaliers.
Turn 3: Thany passes Roy along for the drop, and kills a nomad. Roy needs to use the Rapier to force one of the cavs to go after Thany for more exp.
Turn 4: Thany bags more exp. Alan sells the items and buys a Slim Sword, 3 Javelins and 2 Hand Axes. All of these are necessary purchases.
Chapter 5:
I let Wolt be killed in the previous chapter, which changes the starting positions in this chapter. Lance is now in a position to open the gate and save a complete turn over any other approach. Surprisingly this is one of the few instances where saving a turn over normal Low Turn Count approaches saved real time, most of the others require a lot more combat.
Turn 1: Lance advances and takes Roy. Marcus drops him just within seize range. Thany is in a position to get a nomad kill on the enemy phase. Roy can't be hit more than once or he'd be the nomad's target instead.
Turn 2: Thany clears a mercenary that no-one else is able to reach. Lance punches the way through to allow Marcus to kill the boss and Roy to seize.
Chapter 6
All the extra combat starts to pay off for Thany, as she now has comparable stats to Marcus, and will surpass them by the end of this chapter.
Turn 1: Marcus equips the Silver Lance, and advances. Thany is deliberately hit to 2 HP here, to make the rest of the enemies go for her, rather than attack Marcus who wouldn't be able to counter. Marcus is able to remove the knights while Thany removes some of the soldiers and mages.
Turn 2: Thany clears the way, and Marcus is given Roy to drop in seize range. He moves back one space after the drop to manipulate the mages near the throne to move into better positions.
Turn 3: Again, Thany clears the way for the boss kill and seize.
Chapter 7
One of the more complex chapters, this requires a lot of maneuvers.
Turn 1: Marcus kills one knight, and Thany uses the Javelin to kill another. Roy is dropped ahead for a recruitment next turn. I manage to get 3 crits here on the EP, which is crazy given such low average crit rates.
Turn 2: Roy recruits Zealot, who also recruits Treck to remove the Other Phase. Thany is able to kill one of the Wyverns, an impressive feat given their relative strength at this point. Marcus gets a double miss on one cavalier but the EP goes smoothly.
Turn 3: I sell a 1 use Javelin (I'm 5 g short of all the things I would need to buy, this makes up for it), and buy a Chest Key and 2 Door Keys. Marcus and Treck carrying Roy advance thronewards, and Thany moves to kill the other wyvern.
Turn 4: Roy is given to Thany for the support turns. Marcus moves into position next to the gate. By delaying opening the gate for a turn, I also avoid a set of reinforcements that appear near the throne, and save a lot of time in the process. Noah is rescued to again remove the Other Phase.
Turn 5: Killing the boss prevents the reinforcements from appearing. Thany drops Roy for the seize.
Turn 6: Easy seize now.
Chapter 8
One of the longest chapters, this long spiral has a lot to deal with.
Turn 1: Marcus has to avoid a crit to get a good level up. Thany grabs Roy, she needs all the support turns in this chapter. Lilina, the mage in the centre right of the map has to be killed to avoid an extra chapter, or gaiden.
Turn 2: Zealot is placed to kill the archer early after Lilina is killed. Marcus advances to kill more enemies.
Turn 3: I have to pass Roy to Marcus temporarily to crit the knight. Marcus passes him back to give Thany the support turns.
Turn 4-5: The next couple of turns are simple advancement and killing a couple of enemies.
Turn 6: Oujay and the other knights appear. Oujay brings an armorslayer which will be needed in the later chapters. Marcus kills a lot of enemies and grabs more Res, an increase important for a later chapter.
Turn 7: Thany can kill a knight here and get more exp towards the next level.
Turn 8: Advancement to the next set of enemies.
Turn 9: I have to drop Roy for the next few turns. Marcus crits the Killer Lance knight. Thany can't crit this mage easily, and he has Aircalibur which would OHKO her, so I have to take the double attack.
Turn 10: Roy and Thany advance together for more support goodness. Two thieves (one recruitable) appear at the end of the turn.
Turn 11: Thany kills one thief, and Roy blocks the second from heading north, forcing Cath to move towards the second set of chests, the same way I want to go. Marcus kills one mage.
Turn 12: Thany takes the second thief, and Marcus kills a second mage. I ignore the boss kill for the moment.
Turn 13: Marcus heads towards one of the chests. Thany picks up Roy again.
Turn 14: Roy gets dropped near the throne. Marcus grabs the Elysian Whip, which allows Thany to class change.
Turn 15: Now I kill the boss. Thany grabs the whip and promotes, resetting to L1 and gaining more stats. Roy seizes.
Chapter 9
The shortest chapter in the run, this really demonstrates the advantages of flight.
Turn 1: With promotion Thany also gains +1 movement range, which allows a turn saving here. Thany can fly to a position where only one enemy can reach her.
Turn 2: Only moving 7 spaces west means that Thany can't be reached by any enemy here.
Turn 3: Thany can drop Roy here, just about. Thany gets attacked by Shin, and Roy by one mage, the rest of the enemies give a clear run to the throne.
Turn 4: Since I got to L12 before promotion, Thany has just enough Str to OHKO the boss with the Silver Lance.
Chapter 10
There are actually two possible routes for chapters 10 and 11, and by ignoring the villages in chapter 9, I will be forced to go to the first route. The maps here are a little faster anyway I'd say.
Turn 1: By flying over untraversable terrain by most other units, it stops the more aggressive AI units from even moving. This fact will save much time in the upcoming chapters.
Turn 2-4: Going over the mountains here to avoid enemies.
Turn 5: Thany drops Roy. I rig Geese to miss killing the first enemy to stop more of them reaching him. The shamans leave a convenient gap here.
Turn 6: Kill the boss and seize.
Chapter 11
A short but rather complex chapter.
Turn 1: Lalum is added to the party here, who has the ability to dance and cause units to move again in a turn. She is rescued here and advanced forward. Alan grabs Roy for a rescue chain. Thany picks up Marcus, moving towards a specific drop point.
Turn 2: Marcus is dropped, and Thany moves back to get danced. Roy is transferred through Zealot to Thany, and is eventually dropped in seize range. Thany kills a Hand Axe Fighter to clear the way to the village, and Marcus causes the enemies to line up near him.
Turn 3: With the enemy positions, a path is cleared to reach the village and collect the Angelic Robe, a stat booster that adds +7 to max HP. Thany uses the Slim Sword to kill the boss.
Chapter 12
Turn 1: Marcus is used on the right side to kill enemies here. Thany takes Roy and clears out enemies with the Slim Sword, pushing more points towards getting the next sword rank. She starts at E after promotion, and I need to get to D rank Swords to use the Armorslayer for the last few bosses, so I take every opportunity despite it requiring a bit more combat time.
Turn 2: Thany has to dodge three archers on the EP here. Marcus gets more kills.
Turn 3: Marcus is used to advance the RNG to the next set of required results. Roy is dropped, Thany is moved into the only space she can be in without being attacked on EP.
Turn 4: Thany uses the Javelin to kill one enemy she can reach. She kills the remaining fighters, and deliberately misses an archer, preventing the rest of the units in the contained space from reaching her.
Turn 5: Slim Sword finishes off the warrior.
Turn 6: Roy is rescued to avoid being attacked.
Turn 7: Roy has to get to 7 Def, so the best opportunity for that was to kill the nearby priest. He gets dropped in kill range.
Turn 8: The nearest +Def level up also gains HP/Str/Skl/Spd. Marcus gives Roy the Robe.
Turn 9: Marcus opens the gate and stops on top of one of the reinforcement points. Thany kills the Sleep Staff priest.
Turn 10: Roy is dropped near Thany, and she has just enough Str to kill Aine with a Silver Lance crit + hit.
Turn 11: Thany moves back to block the other reinforcement point. Roy moves back to get more support points.
Turns 12-20: Turn skipping here avoids an extra chapter. This would add about 2 minutes, but the turn skipping is only 30 seconds or so, so it is the faster approach. Roy has to move on turn 20 to reach the throne next turn.
Turn 21: Seize time.
Chapter 13
This is where perhaps the most time is saved with flight.
Turn 1: Thany goes over the water carrying Roy. Again, none of the enemies can reach so they don't move.
Turn 2: I move just out of range of the ballista, and get the wyverns to line up for me. Miledy is recruited at the end of the EP.
Turn 3: Thany advances so she can kill a wyvern with the Slim Sword. Miledy has to take the hit from the ballista (has 80 hit).
Turn 4: Miledy kills the second wyvern to give Thany free movement. I rig the ballista to miss.
Turn 5: Miledy disarms and moves to encourage one wyvern to go for her. Thany kills the Troubadour, and kills several enemies with the Slim Lance to make the paladin attack her on the west. This prevents him from reaching anyone next turn.
Turn 6: Roy is dropped safely out of harm's way. With the one wyvern going for Miledy, Thany is not blocked off next turn, and she kills the boss on the EP.
Turn 7: I sell the Wyrmslayer and buy 3 Killer Lances. After all my shopping I have a mere 5g.
Chapter 14
Flight is invaluable here, as the desert hinders almost every unit's move (except magic and flying units).
Turn 1: Cecilia picks up the boots. Thany picks up Roy and gets danced, taking and using the boots and moving her full, now 10 move distance. Miledy heads south, taking the Silence Staff that Sophia picked up. Sophia has to die to avoid the gaiden following this chapter, so I disarm her and let the mage kill her in 2 turns so it doesn't go for Miledy.
Turn 2: Roy is dropped. Here is where all the HP and Def he got was important - he can survive the Hero enemy, so it goes for the low health Thany as her priority for being attacked becomes higher. This makes the path to the throne clear as more enemies would have gone for Roy.
Turn 3: Miledy's short move last turn left her out of range of most enemies. She can just about reach the area containing the all-important Warp staff this turn. Thany is amusingly 1 exp short of levelling after the boss.
Chapter 15
Short but busy chapter.
Turn 1: Miledy needs to be danced to reach her target in time. Lalum is rescue-dropped to recruit Percival next turn. Thany picks up Roy and DOGs into Miledy's position. I send a few units to rescue Percival's squad.
Turn 2: Miledy heads towards the village. Thany disarms and drops Roy next to the boss, just out of range of most of the enemies. This disarming saves a lot of time in combat. Rescuing Percy's squad not only removes the Other Phase but also prevents the wyvern from being triggered.
Turn 3: Miledy visits the village and collects the Hammerne staff, which can restore a weapon's uses. Thany can rearm and kill the boss.
Chapter 16
Turn 1: Cecilia had taken some of the Killer Lances in Chapter 14, and she can distribute them now to the paladins. Percival comes out to help kill the enemies in the middle of the map. Cecilia transfers Roy to Miledy, then to Thany, who is danced. Thany moves one space to the east to cause the enemies to move in line with her, giving her free movement next turn.
Turn 2: Lalum moves out of range of the Bolting mage. Percy starts to whittle down the central enemies. Roy is dropped so that Thany has the Speed to 2HKO enemies with the Javelin. I need to rig a miss on Roy with Purge. Thany kills a bunch of enemies over the wall, including Hugh, and one of the pursuing enemies from behind to save EP time.
Turn 3: Thany equips the Slim Sword here, which can easily crit the knight here.
Turn 4: Thany needed to have a certain level of health before she could reach the mercenary here, as he needs to hit her, get crit in return, and dodge the two mages with Aircalibur.
Turn 5: With Roy at full health, Thany is again the EP target. Douglas is killed to avoid the gaiden.
Turn 6: Narshen bites the dust.
Chapter 17
Chapters 17-20 are again a split route here. The Ilia chapters which I visit are gained from having more exp on the two pegasus knights over the nomads. The Sacae chapters are visited if the reverse is true. Recruiting the two nomads are pretty slow in comparison, so while Sacae route may be comparable or faster than Ilia, I would suspect overall it is faster to go straight to Ilia.
Turn 1: Again, flight saves time by hovering over the water. Thany is danced then rescued by Miledy over the water. This one square in the corner avoids the ballistae. Thany advances north.
Turn 2: Going around the enemies here is much faster than trying to fly through them.
Turn 3: Thany goes 9 move east, one more space would trigger the sleep bishop on this turn.
Turn 4: The second knight was manipulated to be just about 2HKOed with the Slim Sword, he has an Axereaver which makes this possible.
Turn 5: I can just about get a double crit with the Slim Sword.
Chapter 18
Ilia is heavy with move-restricting terrain, and this chapter is a prime example. Flight is a huge advantage yet again.
Turn 1: I had the support points last chapter, but this was the best point to activate Roy C Thany support. This support adds most importantly a crit rate on most of the later bosses, which would otherwise not exist. Again, Thany is danced, and Lalum is rescued. Having both fliers over the rivers prevents the foot units from moving.
Turn 2: Thany has to move here to reach a useful drop point next turn. I deliberately avoid getting hit or hitting the first merc to prevent him from being healed, and for Thany to get to the right level of health next turn.
Turn 3: Thany is de-equipped again here. She is hit to low health to prevent enemies going for Roy, but not all of them were persuaded, as I had to ensure both the Purge from the boss and the Berserk staff to miss him.
Turn 4: Thany can only crit the boss here with the Javelin with the support.
Chapter 19
I got Warp in Chapter 14, but I didn't have a unit able to use it until now. This staff warps a unit a good distance ahead of it's start position, at a distance of 5+Mag/2 of the Warp user. Niime has 21 starting Magic, so she can warp a unit 15 spaces. With +1 Mag from levelling, she can warp 16 spaces.
Turn 1: This turn takes a bit of explanation. This is another Fog of War chapter, and Warp range is limited by FoW. Thieves have increased sight over other units, so I rescue drop Chad ahead to see the spot I need to warp Thany to. Both the paladins in the DOG have Javelins equipped, which makes all the pegasus knights and falcoknight go for Cecilia, who can OHKO all of the pegs with the Aircalibur. The Slim Sword had too low uses so I had to get an Iron Sword to get to D Swords. Getting hit to low health with Thany is important as it saves Roy from being attacked more than once next turn.
Turn 2: Percival finishes the falcoknight. Thany drops Roy in seize range. Roy has to dodge the Silver Lance paladin, but Thany is at low health so the AI goes for her with the other units nearby, opening a nice space to reach the boss, and reaching D Swords in the process.
Turn 3: Falco boss is killed.
Chapter 20
Turn 1: Thany needs to advance a little, but she can get danced, warped over the walls near to the boss, and drop Roy in seize range. Niime is rescued back, importantly using Cecilia to prevent one ballista from attacking. Thany took the Armorslayer from Oujay. Niime has to dodge the two sleep druids here, and thankfully the Berserk druid goes for Thany and not Roy.
Turn 2: Niime uses the Hammerne staff to level, gaining the +Mag to extend her warp range and refreshing it back to the full 5 uses. Thany can crit the boss and OHKO with Armorslayer (other weapons have too low mt). I skip the gaiden by not recruiting Yuno (the green falcoknight).
Chapter 21
I reset the RNG after the end of the previous chapter, this importantly saves a lot of time in Chapter 22.
Turn 1: Thany is warped south. The extra range gained in the last chapter is important to avoid any combat in this turn. Miledy gives Yodel the Silence Staff, and all of the remaining units are rescued out of any combat range in future turns.
Turn 2: Thany moves adjacent to the throne area. The wyverns that appear here do not attack, a known glitch in this chapter and in Ch23.
Turn 3: Roy is dropped here so that only one knight can reach him. He still has to dodge the Bolting sage (70ish hit).
Turn 4: Murdock is the most durable boss, but he can be OHKOed with the Armorslayer.
The cutscene here is not skippable, and the long delay after the promotion can't be skipped.
Chapter 22
The final chapter in this run, and finishes very quickly.
Turn 1: Niime warps Percival towards the right trigger point, and is rescue dropped for the next turn. Importantly, she also takes the Knight Crest that Percival got from Chapter 15. Yodel silences the Berserk druid in the centre. Cecilia rescues Fa.
Turn 2: Niime warps Thany holding Roy, and the warp staff is taken from her. Zealot has been stripped down so that he could not attack in the EP, and a full inventory, which makes the item he get force one item to go back to Merlinus' stash. I use this to send the Warp staff over to Merlinus on the left side of the map. Yodel uses this to warp Cecilia to the left trigger. Fa has to dodge the general here. Percival uses the Killer Lance to finish off the hero on the trigger.
Turn 3: Fa just has the might to OHKO the hero here, and Cecilia can hit the trigger now. Percival can activate the right trigger. Marcus rescues Zealot out of combat range, and Niime finishes off the mercenary. With both triggers activated, Roy can open the door to the throne area. Lalum is warped and then dances Thany, who drops Roy in range of the throne. Thany is deliberately hit to make the enemies go for her, and kills the hero to make the bishop go for her and not Roy, and also open room for faster RNG shifting. Fa gained a Def point level last turn from the hero, so she can now just survive being hit by the General. All the remaining units near the reinforcements were moved out of range.
Turn 4: The reset after Chapter 20 was important to save time on the kill on Zephiel. Shifting the RNG here would take a full minute if I had not done so.
Special Thanks
I could not have got this completed without the help of certain people:
- Nitrodon, who helped with understanding the RNG, manipulating enemy stats in many levels and getting to grips with the desert RNG manipulation.
- Vykan12, who helped with testing many possibilities in the chapters, helping me thrash out ideas and optimisations and being the most vocal support.
- cheetah7071, who helped in the early incarnations of this TAS.
- DarkKobold, who provided invaluable Lua scripts and advice
- Rolanmen1, for throwing several useful ideas at me.
- dondon151, for discussions and comparisons with his real-time speedrun attempts
More coming soon!