- Fastest completion of the game
- Intense RAM watch
- Manipulation of luck
- Some entertainment tradeoffs
- Take damage to save time
In Paladin's Quest, you play Chezni, a boy born with natural magical talent. Because of a bet, you "accidentaly" turn on an ancient machine of doom. Your goal is to stop this machine. You will meet many mercenaries, blue trees, green mountains, walk on clouds and fight pig-like creatures.
Because Chenzi's time is precious, he took the means necessary to shorten his quest and get to the end of the game as quickly as he could. As a result, he saved over 24 minutes (86883 frames) over the previous run.
This was done (although imperfectly) using the RAM watch, a tool included with emulators that decomposes the game to its basic mathematical structure. With it, you can see when your next battle will be, how strong your magic is, when people are moving as so one. In PQ, the RAM for random battles (7e1868) is the one I used the most. This explains the weird walking pattern I have sometimes; when you enter a new screen (it becomes black) and the RAM is 0, it resets, delaying the battle some more. This is why I "run in circles" in the 2nd Jurayn and Karon temples, that I enter/exit towns repeatedly, walk inside towns before exiting them and sometimes "miss" an escape (on the way to the Skuuruu camp, notably).
I also used the RAM watch for my magic. It was especially necessary for Sp magic, since it was used for Freeze. It couldn't work on the Renegades in Jurayn if it's below 54. And for some reason, Chenzi's position in the fight influences the success rate of Freeze and other status-inducing magics (defense down couldn't work because the Sk magic was too weak).
Another great improvement, suggested by ars4326, has to do with abusing attack back, a magic that reflects back 1/2 of any physical damage endured. I couldn't possible get enough money to get a mercenary (Lilie) that had it but required quite a bit of equipment ($34k), but I certainly could get Fastjo first thing when I landed in Saskuot. He really was my punching bag; he casted AtBack, attacked even if it's for 1 pt (defending decreased the damage he receives, and therefore the damage reflected back) and usually died at the end of the fight.
Here are some highlights of the frame saving
- I minimized healing. Since talking to healers (in the Equator, with Jo-Ann) takes times, I avoid it and use bottles instead.
- A and X are interchangeable when confirming an action. Switching between them saves 3-4 frames everytime I need to confirm two consecutive actions
- I only got magic that was extremely necessary (warp, attack back) since Chenzi gets all of it in the Crystal Labyrinth. Midia can use bolt just fine for the few times she actually uses it.
- I tried to minimize in-battle action. If it means getting a little less experience (say, burn 1 heliopod instead of 3) or suffering more damage (the explosion bubbles against Zaygos or Gabnid's punching), I do it.
- I abused, as much as possible, critical hits. I saved 600 frames against Alornso and 200 against the Renegades
- Starting with Guardian in the Helm Temple, I had Fastjo casting AtBack (and put him in the first spot) so enemies would attack him and basically kill themselves attacking him. Guardian was 500 frames shorter, Garana was nearly 2200 frames shorter, Bubbley was 500 frames shorter and Admiral Alon was 370 frames shorter
- Starting with Gabnid, I also had Chenzi and Midia cast AtBack. I saved 4150 frames against Gabnid, 5044 against Zaygos 1 and 4183 against Zaygos 2 (he only uses physical attacks, despite looking like Blowup) - and I didn't even use the Spirit magic!
- But the best frame saving came from avoiding battle by watching the RAM closely. I saved 3800 frames on my way to save Midia, 2750 on my way to the Skuuruu camp, 640 on the Bird mountain, 4450 on the long road from Hagubo to Jurayn, 6700 in the 2nd Jurayn temple (no fights at all!), 1300 on my way to the equator, 1600 frames on my way to the Dragon Mountain, nearly 4600 inside the Dragon, 6300 inside the Throne, nearly 3000 on my way to Mistuo, over 12100 on my way back to Mistuo, 2900 inside the Karon tower, 1128 underground Naskuot (after Noi Green fight), nearly 1300 on my way to my home village, nearly 700 on my way to Piaz, 1000 on my way back to the Throne, and 1362 inside Dal Green.
However impressive these improvements are, they could still be much better. Despite TheAxeMan's very good advice, I couldn't quite figure what influence the RAMS influencing the 1868 address. If someone wants to go for it, do it!
And as always, I thank Tristal for advising me throughout the run.
Frame suggestion: 397 838, 429 997, 430 948, 436 762, 443 776, 445 346 (my favourite), all showing the power of Attack Back
turska: Movie file replaced at the author's request. The new movie is 3 frames longer and reaches the credits.
feos: Accepting as an improvement to the existing movie, for Vault, since there was no real enthusiasm about this run's entertainment value in the thread, and the previous run is in Vault and has low rating.
