Joined: 11/13/2006
Posts: 2793
Location: Northern California
Link to video
Oh boy, this is a fun one. I'll be walking through the "route" here basically action by action. Back at the VERY beginning of the run, I manipulated Claude to only start with the Sense of Design talent. This finally comes into play nearly 2 hours into the TAS with this long spree of Things Happening. Basically, RNG manipulation is either extremely slow, entirely unpredictable and inconsistent, or 1024 calls at once. If the video looks like it's doing things arbitrarily or out of order, rest assured that this "route" was specifically planned this way to be able to account for everything getting done with the lowest amount of manipulation.
1. I enter the menu and go to Claude's skills, wiping out his 42 SP: I max out Perseverance, which reduces the SP needed to learn all other skills, and I take 1 level in both Whistling and Animal Training, giving Claude access to the Familiar specialty.
2. I bought Pet Food in Linga to be able to use Familiar: I use 6 of them in a row for Claude to learn the Love of Animals talent, as it's the fastest way of manipulating that result.
3. With the 100 SP Claude gets from unlocking that talent, I have him take a level in Writing to get the Authoring specialty, I get Scientific Ability up to level 5, and I take a single level in Piety. Authoring creates skill books for certain skills, and you can only use Authoring when you have one of the skills at level 5. Scientific Ability is chosen because it's close, already partially leveled, and makes Claude stronger. Piety is normally a useless small stat raise, but it's helpful here as it calls the RNG with each level. I use this a bit later on as well.
4. The RNG lined up perfectly so that a single attempt at Authoring unlocks Writing Ability for Claude: He normally starts with this ability and has a very high chance of learning it if he does not start with it, so this was an easy way of getting another 100 SP.
5. Hilton is our next destination, we need to take the boat to Hoffmann Ruins but we need to detour slightly to get the best weapon in the game. This is where all the magic starts happening.
6. At the Italian stereotype Music Shop, I buy a Harmonica, a Feather Pen, and 2 Conductor's Batons. I immediately hop into the menu and have Claude learn Musical Talent, then equip a Rainbow Diamond onto him. The Rainbow Diamond increases all specialty skills by 1 level. In short: Extra success for free.
7. Celine uses Scout a couple of times to call the RNG, so when I go back to Claude, he's able to compose a song for the Harmonica. Celine Scouts one more time, and then I go into the item menu and sort my item list. Sorting items, as I mentioned in the previous post, calls the RNG 1024 times. It's essentially a soft reset.
8. This allows Claude to learn Pitch the first time he tries playing the song he composed. I apologize for the failed music, yes that it how it's supposed to sound.
9. I move over to the worst NPC in the game and somehow manage to talk to him. Seriously, this guy is the hardest NPC to talk to in the game. It's shocking that I even managed to do it as quickly as I did. I buy 2 Iron, a Ruby, a Green Beryl, and sell off a significant chunk of my inventory. The Iron is for more talent unlocking, the Ruby will be successfully Metalworked, and the Green Beryl is a safety net for a single battle if I can't manipulate it. Manipulation is weird in this game, that's why I'm writing this. Selling stuff in my inventory calls the RNG once per actual item (selling multiples doesn't work) while also giving me a solid chunk of money.
10. Claude learns the Metalwork and Customize specialties: He requires a Customize level of 8 to be able to even craft the Eternal Sphere, so I get him up to a base level of 7, which becomes 8 with the Rainbow Diamond. Metalwork isn't as high (Esthetic Sense is super expensive) but it's enough for what I need.
11. Celine advances the RNG quite a lot so that Claude can learn Dexterity off of his first Metalwork attempt. This is done for SP, but also to set up Pickpocketing later down the road.
12. Celine advances the RNG two more times, then I pivot and go into Bowman's skills. To craft the Eternal Sphere, I need two Mithrils. The only way I can get Mithril this early in the game is through the Radar skill, which gives you a random item every time it's leveled. I use Bowman for this to save SP on Claude. He takes 10 levels in Playfulness, giving me 100000 Fol (which I use after the video ends), and 1 level in Radar to get the first Mithril.
13. Celine advances the RNG again so that Claude can learn Originality off of a single Metalwork attempt. Originality is needed for Customize, plus it's another 100 SP.
14. I go back into Bowman's skills and take 4 levels in Piety to advance the RNG, just enough so that the next level in Radar I take will give me my second Mithril. Oracle is learned as a minor side effect, but that plays into my favor slightly.
15. Bowman advances the RNG using Oracle: It works the same way as Scout, it's used here to save some menuing frames. Claude uses Metalwork on the Ruby to make the Berserk Ring. Equipping this ring puts the character in berserk status, which is normally triggered in-battle by the death of a character they're close to. It's a straight up damage doubler, no side effect whatsoever.
16. The RNG only needs to be called once, and the fastest way of doing that here is from equipment. I equip a Weighty Ring onto Leon to call the RNG once and then go straight back in to Customize. Sharp Edge + Mithril = Minus Sword.
17. Bowman advances the RNG one last time so that Claude can Customize once more. Minus Sword + Mithril = Eternal Sphere. Claude now does way too much damage for this point in the game, and all is well.
This is the majority of the setup for the rest of the game. Claude only needs one more accessory (Meteor Ring) to basically be able to handle everything by himself: I could've gotten it now, but it'd require Metalworking a Star Ruby, and getting one takes more time than it would save before I get the free Meteor Ring in Eluria Tower. The rest of the manipulation from here on out will be spread out throughout the run, essentially being done whenever it's most convenient for me. There shouldn't be any further large scale manipulation sessions like this, at least.
TASvideos Admin and acting Senior Judge 💙 | CohostwarmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Joined: 11/13/2006
Posts: 2793
Location: Northern California
Link to videoUser movie #75231347125624701
First disc complete. For those unaware, the fight in the video is a one minute timed battle
I'm debating on whether or not to downgrade this back to "test run" status. I made some minor routing mistakes, planned ahead for a lot of things that I ended up not needing at all, discovered new and faster methods of doing things, and I already have some ideas on how to save time in earlier sections that shouldn't actually be too hard to implement, assuming I can get them to work. With the game being mostly dialogue, redoing it from scratch isn't going to be too much of a problem, and I want to do it justice.
I'll see where I end up when I close in on the end of the run.
TASvideos Admin and acting Senior Judge 💙 | CohostwarmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
