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Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
This is amazing. I'm glad that someone else besides me is interested in this game, and that the other person is actually actively working on his run. I'm going to encode this to AVI since it's useful to be able to check what you did every now and then for my own run planning. I'll put it in the Archive when it's finished.
Former player
Joined: 10/27/2004
Posts: 518
2:12:06 before we're heading back to the floating isle for the upgrades of elixirs and fenix downs. so we'll have this much left:
Invincible
   -buy hipotions
Altar Cave
   -return here and upgrade
   -hipotions to fenix downs
Invincible
   -buy hipotions
Altar Cave
   -hipotions to elixirs
Statues Of The Quest
   -use 4 Fangs to advance
Ancients' Labyrinth
   -nothing
Sylx Tower
   -battle Zande
Dark World
   -battle Echidna
   -use Otterhead to warp back to entrance
   -battle Ahriman
   -use Otterhead to warp back to entrance
   -battle 2-headed Dragon
   -use Otterhead to warp back to entrance
   -battle Cerberus
   -use Otterhead to warp back to entrance
   -battle Dark Cloud
id show it now, but why spoil it with only so little to go. it should be finished by the end of the night unless something unforseen happens. but i felt the need to update.
Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
The speed with which you're churning out updates is pretty amazing. I find FF3j speedrunning incredibly frustrating (but maybe I should just focus less on things such as luck manipulation, which seems to be next to useless in this game).
Former player
Joined: 10/27/2004
Posts: 518
once FEOK's are gained, the game is almost mindless if you've the correct route in mind. the only thing that remotely stands up to them is Hekaton's physical attacks and thats prolly because of such low levels for my other 3. the Dark World minions are also quite a match with METEO and 2-Headed Dragon's physical attacks (Dark Cloud's Flare Wave is kind of an "oh, thats what pain felt like... ok, time for an elixir"). But Sir Bahamut's guide outlines the pattern of attacks so it shouldnt be hard at all (any other attack does 1 HP damage). 2-Headed Dragon should be the biggest frustration because i KNOW he'll kill my lead character at some point. but thats what all the Fenix Downs and Elixirs will be for. the only time for luck manipulation is for upgrading. sure, you use it to stop just a step or movement before to avoid battle, but nothing aside from that (and DAMN do airships ever run into some of the most frequent battles; when id open and close the menu in my last version, that wasnt because i forgot... it was because the encounter rate was still at 1). thank you, Omega. i knew i wasnt just imagining those views increasing. ^_^ well, back to game.
Former player
Joined: 10/27/2004
Posts: 518
2:48:26 < DeHackEd still rocks ;) Save States
F1	Seeing Griffon
F2	Get FEOK!'d
F3	Nepto's Shrine
F4	Hyne's Castle
F5	Disaster at Salonia
F6	Airship Invincible!
F7	Last Fang in our possession
F8	Ancients Labyrinth
F9	Dark World
F0	Dark Cloud awaits
doing this without the GodsWine was a bit harder. again, excess items, but the route is much better. it does not end at LAST INPUT, just with the last input of the Dark Cloud battle. this should be the last version i do. it was just to see how long FEOK's took to complete the game. id still like to attempt luck manipulation in some way... as far as getting potions, but ive been working on this for about a week straight now so ill take a little break.
Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
I was just done making the temporary AVI of the first one. :) I guess I'll delete it and start encoding this new version, then. Going to watch it now.
Emulator Coder, Skilled player (1311)
Joined: 12/21/2004
Posts: 2687
Would it be faster to wait until you get to the shuriken before getting FEOK? You would lose a lot of time mainly from longer boss fights and no otterhead teleports, but presumably you'd also gain a lot of time from not having to go so incredibly far out of your way get 99 potions at the start of the game (you'd still have to get some minimum amount to skip battles, but not nearly as many, and some of them could be bought).
Former player
Joined: 10/27/2004
Posts: 518
perhaps. you'd have a ton of money from that alone. you can always try for yourself. though remember, theres still a minimum of 25 battles (24 if you intend on skipping otterheads upgraded). but yeah, its possible. but so would be manipulating the battles to win more potions (and considering i could gain 70 some before even starting to upgrade, thats not many altar cave battles; half if you consistently win 2 potions and in the single digits if you can manage 3). so it needs testing. mines just a rough idea of what for FEOK run. im not doing a final version because my japanese is horrendous (well, what little i know). ... you could do all things possible to get those 70 some potions (as i did, such as an early griffon fight and all) and just skip many random battles, so that does make it seem somewhat quicker. however, im on hiatus for a bit. if someone else whats to play around (Omega, you were quite far on your WiP), then do so and compare. if its very little difference its prolly because of my half-assed menu scrolling.
Former player
Joined: 10/27/2004
Posts: 518
haha! it must have something to do with the round an enemy dies! in the first battle (which i think can only be manipulated from when you start), i went in and the first time killed everyone and got nothing. second time, my first 2 attacked and other 2 defended; we killed 2 goblins and left the upper left (back-most) one alive. next round, we all attacked and killed him. after battle, we got a POTION. so it must have something to do with round they're killed in. autofire strat was used. id post it, but its not really worth the effort, as it can be easily reproduced. just thought it was worth noting im not completely insane. RE-reEDIT:ok, so now i killed the back row top left one in the first round and in the next round i killed both other guys with auto fire (the front top one died first and then the bottom back row one died). i got 2 POTIONS! oh, and sorry for alarming you IRC people who dont really care. EDIT: doesnt appear to be so simple. i was waiting and waiting to take the other 2 out and after 2 rounds of the first goblin dying, i magically didnt gain the potion! meh... hmph... well, thats why pencils have erasers. one other thing though. and i should have mentioned this earlier. when i was in the dark world, i was coming back from ahriman and heading to echidna. somewhere in that main area (where you first appear; dark world's central point), i had a random encounter. so i reloaded and cant remember what i did different. i think i turned into a wall instead of rounding the corner. anyhow, i kept going and didnt get the encounter on the same step i normally did. and in fact , from then on, i could only encounter much further down the line. so either i was hallucinating or it somehow messed with the encounter rate. i couldnt replicate it, hence the reason i didnt post it. but has something similar happened to anyone else?
Emulator Coder, Skilled player (1311)
Joined: 12/21/2004
Posts: 2687
What happens if you have 99 potions already and set up the item-morphing trick, then get 2 potions in a battle instead of 1? Does it change the item 2 steps at once?
Joined: 2/12/2006
Posts: 432
the links are broken.
Emulator Coder, Skilled player (1311)
Joined: 12/21/2004
Posts: 2687
Bob A wrote:
the links are broken.
What links? You mean this one? It's not broken, it's just confusing. Open it as a browser page instead of saving it. EDIT: Oh, and DeHackEd's page goes down occasionally, as it did just now, so maybe that's what you meant. (I still think the links should contain a trailing / to avoid confusion.)
Former player
Joined: 10/27/2004
Posts: 518
if filespace went down, no biggie. that place doesnt seem to work for me anymore anyways.
nitsuja wrote:
What happens if you have 99 potions already and set up the item-morphing trick, then get 2 potions in a battle instead of 1? Does it change the item 2 steps at once?
this is the special part of SirBahamut's trick. it upgrades your character: from the FAQ:
SIDE EFFECT:
Unlike the other method I provided, Sir Bahamut's way has an alternate... 
effect. In my method, receiving 1,2, even 100 potions will always just 
provide you with the upgrade and nothing more.  
Sir Bahamut's method is different; if you receive 1 potion the item is 
upgraded normally.  But beware!  Receiving 2 or more potions in this 
method will not only upgrade your item but also your first character.  
The first thing you will notice is that the first character's name will 
be "upgraded".  For example:  If it was named Guy, It would now be called
Huy.  So the first letter value is given a +1 value.  Next, if you now go
to the status of that character, you will notice it will have:
9999999 exp
999L999 to next level

But these stats are misleading.  The truth is that after every battle, 
that character will level up!  YEAH!  So for the sake of your beautifully 
crafted, witty name, you will be level 99 in under 100 battles.  This is 
really handy in the challenges.
this is also why i named 1 and 2 AAAAAA and BAAAAA; when AAAAAA upgraded, i wanted to see what would happen; turns out, pretty much nothing. characters arent suppose to have the same name, but it still did nothing spectacular.
Former player
Joined: 10/27/2004
Posts: 518
FOUND A PATTERN FOR 2 POTIONS! FILE < - thanks DeHackEd EDIT: i noticed that in all battles, the last kills were made in a diagnol pattern; goblin 3 and then goblin 2. i wonder if this is an attributing factor EDIT 2: im believeing it has to be. in a battle with an eyefang and 2 carbuncles, i kill the eyefang and defend for first round; next round, we assault the carbuncles and win a potion where we previously did not. perhaps its just luck though. EDIT 3: this pattern is REALLY difficult to replicate. after altar cave, i returned as 3 monks and a red mage (yeah, that same combo; i dont wanna waste potions). anyhow, it took 114 frames to get a battle where autofire yielded a potion, and it was again against 4 goblins. but the same thing didnt apply. i still cant believe i just sat here and did that either... 114 tries and retries. EDIT 3 (no, im not so tired as to not notice EDIT3 is written twice; i just didnt wanna clump it all together since i actually had 2 things to add): also, i won 2 potions from an eyefang and 2 carbuncles. was kind of cool, didnt expect it... thought they'd have a less chance of dropping. though, i didnt autofire there. i hope this is worth it... that getting the potions sooner will reduce the FEOK upgrading time. ive got 22 potions now... which i dont know how it compares, but ive kept notes on all my battles thusfar, big and small... in openoffice (thanks for mentioning this FODA) and notepad. its in battles 2 and 3 that you'll notice it. i simple did what i had to in battle 1. but notice how exact 2 and 3 are. please disregard the G# and P#; they're just to let me know who was in battle and where they were. you'll notice them matching up to the movie.
!=-=!=-=!=-=!=-=!=-=
default-battle 1
!=-=!=-=!=-=!=-=!=-=

in the first battle:

G1 G3   	P1
		    P2
G2      	  P3
		    P4

round 1:
-P1 attacked G1
-all else defensed
round 2:
-autofire
-G3 died, then G2
result:
-2 potions won from battle

!=-=!=-=!=-=!=-=!=-=
3408-battle 2 [+75 frames from stop time]
!=-=!=-=!=-=!=-=!=-=

in the second battle:

G1 G3 	 	P1
		    P2
G2 G4 		P3
		    P4

round 1:
-autofire (default target: g4)
-p4 kills g4
-p1 misses g3
-g3 damages p3
-p3 misses g3
-g2 damages p2
-p2 kills g1
round 2:
-autofire (default target: g3)
-g3 damages p3

-p3 kills g3
-p2 kills g2
result:
-won 2 potions

pattern? i notice many of my p# killed the opposing g#'s. and i did go by the order the game set them in.

as well, i was far more prone to win a single potion from a battle with 3 goblins than any other combonation (though to be fair, i didnt run into as many 4's as 3's). however, the deciding time came in a battle of 4 on 4

!=-=!=-=!=-=!=-=!=-=
6474-battle 3 [+39 frames from stop time]
!=-=!=-=!=-=!=-=!=-=

in the third battle:

G1 G3 	 	P1
		    P2
G2 G4 		P3
		    P4

round 1:
-autofire (default target: g4)
-p4 kills g4
-p1 misses g3
-g3 damages p3
-p3 misses g3
-g2 damages p2
-p2 kills g1
round 2:
-autofire (default target: g3)
-g3 damages p3
-p3 kills g3
-p2 kills g2
result:
-won 2 potions

HAHAHAHAHA! A PATTERN AT LAST! its the culmination of all things i thought it was (frame entering, actions occured, who went after who and the order of damage). note i'd run into other 4 way battles before but the same exact movements did not happen. this was NOT the case this time, as it played action for action from the previous battle. so at long last, a pattern has been found!

the only problem with this is that it only seems to happen on a certain battle, so something must be rigged because all that was done was autofire. nothing special in the least. ill attempt now to go back and challenge one of the other battles and see what happens (against 4 with this pattern of attacking, from me at least, though i think the game wants to make the results happen from autofiring).

DEFUNCT NOTES:

:thus far, 1 eyefang and 2 carbuncles have been the 'magic setup', netting me more potions on average than any other combonation. i am beginning to think that this set of battles will be very hard to win a potion from. for 1, only 1 of the 2 monsters will drop a potion; the other drops nothing. and we've yet to run into battles with 3 or more carbuncles. so its either manipulate the closest battle with 2 carbuncles or wait a step before entering the second screen and attempt from goblins.

we could cut our losses all together and wait for a 1:1 eyefang/carbuncle and get a potion. well, we actually have a few options:

1-stop before entering screen 2 and toggle until running into a battle with goblins yielding 2 potions once more.
2-fight a battle with least damage (say, the single eyefang and carbuncle that yielded a fang) and move on with one potion.
3-experiment with current situation further (a battle with 2 carbuncles that already yields a potion).

im personally going for 1, since goblins are much more easy to gain potions from, and we wont be sacrificing battle too much. perhaps that single 3 potion was a fluke; potions do seem harder to come by early on.

dont get me wrong; i still have every reason to believe that battles can be manipulated to win potions in every battle. you may just have to so extravagently manipulate the situation that it would just ward off attempting (from me at least).
i hope this in someway eases minds. just note that getting such amounts from the next screen has not been possible thusfar (reason why i stayed on screen 1 for battles 2 and 3).
Former player
Joined: 10/27/2004
Posts: 518
3 POTIONS IN ONE BATTLE File FYI: THIS screen is the screen where 3 potion drops per battle are occuring. unfortunately, im taking some major damage from the battles so ill end up having to go back to Ur or something to heal up when i get too low. but still, 3 potions in a single battle! damn. this is the place to go for potions! (/*- is really happy, cant you tell?). as well, i didnt PLAN out getting a second set of 3; it happened via autofire. its close to the end of the movie, when i re-enter Altar Cave and enter the big screen with all the treasure and hole to beginning of the game. EDITS HAVE BEEN MOVED TO BOTTOM OF POST IN HOPES OF AVOIDING CONFUSION
!=-=!=-=!=-=!=-=!=-=
50206?-battle 11 [+ frames from stop time]
!=-=!=-=!=-=!=-=!=-=

E1 B3 C5	P1
		     P2
E2 B4 C6	P3
		     P4

round 1:
-P1 targets C5
-P2 targets B3
-P3 targets C5
-P4 targets B4
-P2 kills B3
-B4 damages P2
-P3 misses C5
-E2 damages P3
-C5 damages P2
-P1 kills C5
-C6 damages P2
-E1 damages P1
-P4 damages B4
round 2:
-autofire (default target C6)
-P3 kills C6
-B4 damages P2
-P2 kills E1
-P1 kills E2
-P4 damages B4
round 3:
-autofire (default target B4)
-P2 kills B4
result:
-won 3 potions
EDIT: im officially working on v3 incase no ones noticed ;D EDIT2: i managed to NOT get killed by a Griffon and also have him drop a Southwind (500 extra gil!). nifty. so that should topple on more saved time as well. EDIT3: BTW, im beginning to think your PARTY might affect drop rates (kind of like the randomness of FFV's Big Bridge). as well, im just over 20 minutes and have 86? potions (or 87). so that shoulda saved me some time, along with hopefully acquiring the set of 3 per next few battles. im thinking about upgrading an onion kid outside of the 25-26 battles that lie ahead, so ill benefit fully from the straight to 99 jump (acquire 3 potions in one battle while upgrading items). /*- edit'd his EDIT3 to rid it of the Ice spell BS... and explains more in EDIT4. he is reluctant to make a new post because he has nothing truly new to report. EDIT4: strike EDIT3, the combo just takes a while to get (not 114 like before, but i was just getting frustrated; have 93 potions now). i think its that the game has its own way it wants to give you those potions (and yes, it all happend in the same type of battle we've seen already with 2 of each enemy). such as, there is a set-up which we have observed that has repeated itself. trying to replicate this pattern manually by making certain characters use certain actions WILL NOT WORK, for whatever reason that someone else who understands code better could perhaps explain (but sure as hell, NOT me). EDIT4.5: as well, ive stopped taking notes so religiously due to the pattern of 3 potions being redundant and all that matters at the time. im thinking after the 99 potions are gained, ill return to altar's first room and get single potions there (saving antidotes > otterheads for last). returning to the second room and getting 3 potions in a single battle to give my FEOK char 1 lvl 99 with full benefits, hopefully resulting in some better boss battles down the line. SirBahamut mentioned it possible to get 6 potions since there is a battle with 6 enemies that CAN drop a potion, but that would be REALLY complex/far-off if possible at all. EDIT5: "...now im in a rut". the next set of battles on screen 2 have no eyefangs, which is resulting in single potion only drops (odd, considering they drop nothing in the first place). though i may be jumping the gun, im heading back to screen 1 for 2 potions and then screen 2 for 3 potions (98) and back to screen 1 for a single and then upgrading. after FEOK is obtained, back to screen 2 for a massive shoot to lvl 99 w/ 3 potions. EDIT6: 2 potions obtained through odd means once again. still 4 goblins though. just need another set of 3 and then back for 1 and let the UPGRADING begin!
Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Looks like I'm a little late. I had some encoding problems. But here it is, to those interested: an AVI of the Final Fantasy III FEOK run (v2).
Former player
Joined: 10/27/2004
Posts: 518
haha, cool :D. you're prolly really irritated im on v3 now. i posted over at GameFAQs as well to let them know. thanks Omega! as well, im ready to upgrade and got 99 potions in JUST under 27 minutes (whew!). but the next part really cant be helped. as well, i had a really weird dream about this game. i told Zande, Unne and Dorga i got 99 potions in under 27 minutes and they all looked at each other and asked if i tried at the town of Dita in the secret cave. and then they took me there and we tricked a cloaked figure into moving out of the way and getting on a ship so we could get more potions. sorry, just felt the need to share my dreams involving TAS's.
Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
I guess that's what hours upon hours of frame advancing past Goblins will do to you.
Former player
Joined: 10/27/2004
Posts: 518
EDIT: 99 potions file there it is. just gets you to 99 potions so the upgrading is next (it'd save time over my file i haev now). i see no reason to complete this game AGAIN since its the same song and dance after upgrading (with a few minor tweaks ill note):
-you cant via my movie unless you re-edit it, but keep the ice spell to kill the goblins in Amur faster.
-you'll need 7 antidotes instead of 6
-dont pick up ANYTHING in treasure chests. you wont need it if you get the shuriken. that with the boss battles will surely net you enough for the game considering my WiP2.
-try to never die (duh). well, what i mean mainly is griffon, hyne, garuda, hekaton. in the last dungeon, taking on 2-headed dragon first and then CW'ing it should be fine. you wont need your party after there.
-even if you die at Garuda or in the battle before, Dorga's has a revive and HP/MP restorer; so it really wont matter
its been fun working on this. i hope studies from this can help with an official run of the game, as far as drop manipulation goes. upgrading finished in under an hour this time (52-54 minutes). take into account that i got all the potions needed in under 27 minutes, and im leaning towards this being more optimal than waiting until after tower of owen and gishal for upgrading. anyhow, same routine hence forth... yada yada yada. on another note, it seems i was wrong about the 3 potion win = level 99; but its the bigger man who can admit his mistakes (and run like hell before he gets stoned by the angry mob) to ease you all, i could explain what i found as far as 3 potions winning went. it seems to only happen in the larger room of altar cave (check above for a link). the battle MUST consist of 2 eyefangs in the back row, 2 blue whisps in the middle and 2 carbuncles in the front. and there have so far been only 2 instances that yielded 3 potions: 1-autofire everyround. 2-consider this:
E1 B3 C5      P1
              P2
E2 B4 C6      P3
              P4

E# = eyefang and the number to go by
B# = blue whisp
C# = carbuncle
P# = players (you'se guys!) (1/2/3 = monk and 4 = red mage)
-P1 attacks C5 -P2 attacks B3 -P3 attacks C6 -P4 attacks B4 -autofire next round now, this isnt as scientific, but it seems to be an order in which they vanish which will lead them to give up 3 potions: -B3 and C6 die first -then generally its an order of C5-E1-E2-B4 -not limited to them dying in 2 rounds. can sometimes take 3-4 depending -anyone else see a sort of spiral effect here? (UZUMAKI IS EVERYWHERE!) note, sometimes the deaths do not occur in that order, but i noticed it always seemed to be something close to that. as well, ive thought of how the game must see it:
GAME: congratulations, you just killed an enemy and he dropped a potion. now, hurry up and kill the others or we're takin it back!

PLAYER: WTF!? WHY!?

GAME: i really dont know. /*- wrote this dumb@$$ scenario without even thinking of a logical conclusion or reason i might do such a thing. i mean after all, dont i allow you to become gods with all those jobs, equipments, armors, glitches and the FEOKs? why would i be so cruel?

PLAYER: i dunno... /*- is a liar and should be burned at the stake!

/*-: IM NOT A WITCH, MORON!

GAME: thats right, hes just one of the many under-educated masses that actually has dream scenarios involving video games... which tells us all he should spend more time focusing on his girlfriend and trying to find a job

:from here, it got a little ugly, so im gonna leave that out.
Former player
Joined: 10/27/2004
Posts: 518
WHOA NELLY! (props to EW Jim) can someone translate the info on those pages that the poster links to and see exactly how authentic they are?
Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Wow! I just started reading this, but it seems that he's saying you should start up the game with the cartridge half in so not all the pins connect properly (in the part about 99 hits).
つかこの電源入れたままカセット抜き差しは危険です。 ハード壊れてもなんかトラブル掟も責任は持てないので 真似しない方がいいですよぉ。
A machine-assisted translation seems to imply that he's telling the reader here that you must watch out to not shock yourself while removing and reinserting the cartridge, and that this works best with an authentic cartridge that is in good shape.
実際に与えるダメージは通常と変わらないみたいだし。
Again, with the help of Babelfish, this seems to read that the damage isn't different from normal, but that just the counter is different.
Former player
Joined: 10/27/2004
Posts: 518
so is it anything that we can use?
Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
I guess I'll just slowly read my way through this and make note of it if anything is possible to use. Japanese-savvy members's help would also be appreciated, though. :) EDIT: I think that this one is talking about using an Otterhead in the first cave... machine-assisted translation isn't very effective on this page. http://xb-lim2.hp.infoseek.co.jp/ff3/old/fc/openingtobasi.htm EDIT 2: now that I think about it, you might be able to use the Onion Kid glitch to level an item up to Otterhead! EDIT 3: I'll try out some of the stuff that's mentioned there. However, since I don't have much time tonight, I've tried a very short one for now. Steps towards an encounter are saved in a save game (this isn't a glitch, just something they noted on a page on which they're seemingly explaining how the random encounters in the game work). http://omega.avalanchestudios.net/personal/dropbox/garuda/steps-saved.avi
Joined: 3/27/2005
Posts: 37
This is the best Final Fantasy for me. Great heroic fantasy universe. Is someone planing a no-glitched TAS ? There is already a 99 potion TAS =(
Skilled player (1418)
Joined: 10/27/2004
Posts: 1978
Location: Making an escape
Recently I've been hooked into taking a look at the upgrade glitch - what makes it tick, etc. What I've found has been quite illuminating. Practically every single method stated on the internet is far more complicated than is needed, requiring a bunch of items to be in specific spots. The truth is you only need two items to pull it off, the potions and the item to be upgraded. And they don't need to be in any particular spot. And you can upgrade more than one item per round of combat. I'll probably post more in the nearish future, probably as an added resource page. All I can say is that, after poking around the memory, I know exactly what is going on. Also of interest is the potential to skip portions of the game this way. You can glitch Nepto's eye into existence and skip the accompanying dungeon. I'm looking into when you can get Cid to take the time gear, which should let you get off the floating continent real quick like. If everything works out, I believe you can beat the game soon after talking to the water crystal! Edit: Hmm, okay, I don't *quite* have a grasp on everything. Can't seem to bug kaiser claws into existence again, although I've done so before. Edit Jr.: Ah, that's it! You need two potions. And I see how that one works too...
A hundred years from now, they will gaze upon my work and marvel at my skills but never know my name. And that will be good enough for me.
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