============================================================================== ``````````````````````````Speed Run FAQ/Walkthrough``````````````````````````` `````````````````````Version 1.0 by DavidK519 & Paltheos`````````````````````` ````````````````E-mail- DKK5@comcast.net & Paltheos@gmail.com````````````````` ````````````````````````````Updated March 6, 2006````````````````````````````` ============================================================================== BBBBBBB RRRRRRRR EEEEEEEEE A TTTTTTTTTT HHHH HHHH BBBBBBB RR RR EEEEEEEE AAA T TT T HH HH BB BB RR RR EE E AA AA TT HH HH BB BB RR RRR EE AA AA TT HH HH BBBBBB RRRRRRRR EEEEEEEEE AAAAAAAAA TT HHHHHHHHHHHH BBBBBB RR RR EEEEEEEEE AAAAAAAAAAA TT HH HH BB BB RR RR EE E AA AA TT HH HH BB BB RR RR EE E AA AA TT HH HH BB BB RR RR EEEEEEEEE AA AA TT HH HH BBBBBBB RRRR RR EEEEEEEEEE AAAAAA AAAAAA TT HHHH HHHH RR TT RRR ( TTTT (u) OOOOO FFFFFF FFFFFFFFFF (()) RRRRRRRR EEEEEEEEE OO OO F FFFFFFFFF u)) RR RR EEEEEEEE OO OO F FF F (((u)) RR RR EE E OO OO FFFFFF FF ((()) RR RR EE OO OO F FF IIII RR RR EEEEEEEEE OO OO F FFFFFFFFF II RRRRRRR EEEEEEEEE OOOOO F FFFFFFFFF II RR R EE E FF F II RR RR EE FF II RR RR EE E FF II RR RR EEEEEEEEEE FFFF II RRRR RR EEEEEEEEEEE II RR IIII RRR IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIII IIIIIII IIIIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIIIII IIIIIII IIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ================= Table of Contents ================= ____________________________________ / \ / 1. Version History \ | 2. Introduction | | 3. Rules of the Run | | 4. Playing Tips | | 5. Walkthrough | | I. The Beginning | | II. McNeil Manor | | III. On the Run | | IV. Contest of Champions | | V. Beyd and the Lighthouse | | VI. Reaching Angel Tower | | VII. The Beginning: Adulthood | | VIII. Plant Problems | | IX. Freeing Deis | | X. Fixing the Ship | | XI. Crossing the Ocean | | XII. The Lost Continent | | XIII. Crossing the Desert | | XIV. Myria Station | | 6. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) | \ 7. Acknowledgments and Closing / \____________________________________/ ============================================================================== `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ````````````````````````````` 1. VERSION HISTORY ````````````````````````````` `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ============================================================================== Version 1.0 - First release: Composed of 7 Sections (Version History, Introduction, Rules of the Run, Playing Tips, Walkthrough, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), and Acknowledgments and Closing). 3/6/06 177KB ============================================================================== `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` `````````````````````````````` 2. INTRODUCTION ``````````````````````````````` `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ============================================================================== ------- DavidK5 ------- Allow me to introduce myself! My name is David Kovaz, better known as DavidK5 on the GameFAQs message boards and other various places on the internet. Let me also introduce my partner in crime, Brian Lundin, more widely known as Ragnarok500, Paltheos, or "Rag" for short. Now I'll explain how this FAQ came to be. A few years ago, Rag first came to the Breath of Fire III board on GameFAQS seeking a co-author for his soon-to-be Single Character Challenge Guide. Although there were no takers, he stuck around and completed SCC's for every character, all the while informing the board of his progress through game logs. This was the beginning of what has virtually been an age of challenge games on the BoF3 board. Since the SCC FAQ was posted, countless topics about various challenges have been posted, and in-depth discussions on challenges have become common-place. So given the atmosphere of BoF3 challenge mania and the fact that I had become addicted to speed-running Perfect Dark, I guess BoF3 speed games from me were inevitable. Although, it was truly by whim that I decided to do my first three speed games. Before I started doing speed games, however, another long-time (but mostly scarce) member of the BoF3 board, known as SharpPaper, did two informal speed games; one with cheats and the other legit. His time with cheats was around 8-9 hours (I don't think he ever mentioned the exact figure), and his legit time was 14:24. My first speed game, which was done sometime late in 2004, was really just a casual "race" through the game that resulted in 13:50. I didn't really prepare or make any sort of log of it, so it wasn't a serious speed run by any means. My second run (11:31), which I completed in the spring of 2005, was a lot more serious. I made a log of saves and started truly developing speed strats. However, my third run, done in late 2005, was the most intense and the most formal. By getting 10:03, I easily exceeded limits that I initially thought to be absolute by successfully employing new and creative strats and just generally being quicker. What made this game so formal was the fact that I took it upon myself to tape the entire thing. Once I unveiled my results, Rag quickly took interest in the video (vid) and proposed that we use it to create a Speed Game FAQ. I agreed, mailed him a copy of the vid, and within a couple of weeks he managed to watch the entire run, noting all of the instances in which time was lost in order to derive a max time. And now Rag and I have worked together to create this FAQ, which will essentially put my vid into words and provide you with all the information you'll need to clear this game within a very impressive time of 10 hours. -------- Paltheos -------- David's pretty much covered everything, but I still wanna say my own little thing. ;P Prior to Speed Run 3, my involvement in the Speed Runs (SR) was little more than interest (a.k.a. practically nothing). However, as of SR#3, I became interested in the intensive time-cutting attempts and offered some advice here and there to help David out (plus the whole video and critique and FAQ writing thing David mentioned >_>). Even though I haven't been involved in BoFIII Speed Running for too long, one lesson clearly stands out above all the others: It's hard to gauge exactly how much time can be shaved off the last figure. We've made rough estimates before (namely David's claim after Speed Run 2 that 11 hours was the absolute minimum and my assertion that 9 hours 20 minutes was unpassable after Speed Run 3, where I'd calculated that 9:29 was the minimum with the current strategies), but it seems as if there's always more and more exploits that can cut off a precious few seconds here and there, so now we're cautious about issuing minimum times. Hopefully, I'll be wrong about the "absolute minimum", and Speed Run 4 will yield more saved time than ever thought possible. Finally, for a quick summary of all the Speed Run times thus far: Sharp Paper SR (w/ Cheats) - 8-9ish hours Sharp Paper SR (Legit) - 14:24 DavidK5 SR#1 (Late 2004) - 13:50 DavidK5 SR#2 (Mid 2005) - 11:31 DavidK5 SR#3 (Late 2005) - 10:03 ============================================================================== `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ```````````````````````````` 3. RULES OF THE RUN ````````````````````````````` `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ============================================================================== Simply put, the objective of a speed game is to finish the game as quickly as possible (dur). For RPG's like BoF3 which are exceptionally long, this means that the true objective is to finish the game with as little time on the game clock as possible. In BoF3's case, your final time is the time that displays in your Clear Save file, which you have the option to create after the end credits. Expecting someone to play for about half a day straight without saving/resetting is not only unreasonable, but the resulting in-game time won't be anywhere close to its maximum. And that is why we're not interested in real-time speed runs, but rather, shooting for the lowest in-game timer possible. Now here are the actual rules: 1. Cheating devices (i.e. Game Shark, Turbo Controllers, ect.) may not be used in any way. This is pretty obvious, but I'm pointing it out for formality's sake. 2. You may not play on an emulator. This may seem a little strict, but it's easier to simply ban emulators than saying "you may use an emulator ONLY if the emulator PERFECTLY replicates gameplay on console". Using save sates, altering the game speed, and exploiting other features of an emulator that cannot be performed on console would obviously be prohibited. Even if you are not intentionally using an emulator to alter gameplay, your settings probably don't replicate console gameplay perfectly, and thus you may still hold an advantage over those who play on console. 3. In-game REPEATABLE glitches may be used to your benefit. What exactly does this mean? It means that glitches which can be repeated by anyone, on any game disk, under the same conditions are allowed. An example of this is the item duplication glitch (which doesn't really help you in a speed game). As of right now, no such glitches have been discovered which would actually be useful in a speed run, but this rule is in place to account for any glitches that may be discovered in the furture. Examples of glitches that cannot be exploited are those that can only be performed on emulators or damaged disks, or glitches that result from using cheating devices or tampering with the game system or game disk. 4. You must end your game with a Clear Save to acquire your final time. In other words, you have to choose the "Choose your own path" option at the end of the game, fight the final boss, and make a Clear Save file (which officially marks the end of the run). I think we can all agree that choosing the "Give up your power" option does not constitute beating the game. ============================================================================== `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` `````````````````````````````` 4. PLAYING TIPS ``````````````````````````````` `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ============================================================================== -------------------------------------- The 10 Keys to a Successful Speed Game -------------------------------------- 1. Know the game. I can't stress this enough. If you need to look at a walkthrough every five minutes to figure out where to go, then this isn't a challenge you'll want to pursue. Sure, you can pause and consult a walkthrough, but ultimately you will be much faster if you just know this stuff off-hand. I'm not saying that you should have every nook and crany imprinted into photographic memory. However, it will help tremendously if you have a good (not perfect) mental map of each dungeon and town. You should know the basic route to get through each dungeon, and you should know where all of the important items are. Know how to clear all of the mini games and puzzles and know the basic strategies for all of the bosses. In essence, know what to do and how to do it. Being familiar enough with the game in order to take on a challenge like this requires that you have at least a few playthroughs under your belt. 2. Escape, escape, escape! You'll be using the Escape command a lot. It's faster to run from most random battles than to fight. When a random battle pops up, you have to decide almost instantly whether you should fight or run. Luckily, the answer will most often be run. However, if it looks like you can scatter the enemy in one quick round, then you should probably fight for the extra exp and zenny. If I had to throw a figure out there, I'd say that you'll be running from about 9 of every 10 battles. 3. Anticipate and plan. I say this primarily in reference to boss fights, but this bit of advice can apply to other things as well. You should be familiar enough with the bosses to predict what attacks they may use and when they may use them, whether it be at any time during the battle or during a certain attack stage. Based off this information, you should be able to anticipate situations that you are likely to encounter. Knowing that you cannot avoid these situations, you should plan ahead and figure out how you'll want to react. If you immediately know what to do when faced with a particular dilemma, you'll be able to fly through the command selection screens. You don't want to waste precious seconds sitting there thinking about what to do. 4. No fishing. No faerie village. No exce... er, ok maybe two exceptions. Obviously since this is a speed game, side quests like fishing and faerie village are generally a big no-no. However, with fishing there are two exceptions to this rule: 1) Getting a Mackerel for shisu, which is required in order to progress in the game, and 2) Getting a Silver Knife from the Manillo near the Farm, which ultimately saves you a lot of time in McNeil Manor. People have questioned whether or not getting certain items from the faerie village might end up saving time, and right now the answer to that question is no. Building up the village takes too much time, and there are no items that you can get from the faerie village that would make up for it. 5. Just the bare necessities! No, I'm not quoting "The Jungle Book"... I swear. This goes hand-in-hand with the "no fishing/faerie village" rule. You don't want to go out of your way for items that you won't need. You'll end up skipping most of the items lying around in dungeons and towns. Only pick up items that are vital in order to progress and items that will ultimately save you more time than it takes to get them. 6. Spend money wisely (and quickly). This mainly applies to the beginning of the game when zenny is scarce and you you need to make some vital purchases (i.e. the Claymore for the Contest of Champions). Try to think ahead and know exactly what you're going to buy before you get to the shop. That way you can blitz through your purchases as quickly as possible. Aside from obtaining key items like the Claymore, most of your money should be invested in Healing Herbs, Vitamins, Antidotes, Panaceas, and Ammonias. Decent equipment is simply too expensive, and the ability to heal yourself quickly without draining AP will prove much more useful. 7. Pause when necessary. When you're pretty much anywhere other than on the world map, you can press Start and a little white hand will appear over your head. This pauses the game timer and allows you to explore the area immediately around you. You should ALWAYS pause when you're adjusting the camera angles to locate items and other objects. It's also useful if you're in the middle of a dungeon and need to suddenly stop playing. Be aware that there's no way to pause during battles. 8. Make sure Ryu's apprenticeships are timed correctly. There are only two masters that you should even bother with: Bunyan and Meryleep. The levels at which you apprentice Ryu to these masters are very important in order to have certian skills available when they are needed. It is vital that Ryu gains access to Super Combo by the time you beat the Stallion, and you should acquire Shadowwalk from Meryleep right before you fight the Elder (although, given the new Elder strat that Rag has suggested, Shadowwalk isn't entirely necessary for Elder, but it will help). More details about this are presented in the walkthrough, but this is something you really need to keep in mind as you progress through the first half of the game. 9. Get Influence early! The current fastest strats for Mikba and Elder require that you have the Influence skill to control Weretiger. It's much faster to meet a Boss Goblin "by chance" and learn Influence on the fly than the other alternative: making an extra save before Mt. Levett and resetting until you get it on the fly there. So if you meet a Boss Goblin, have Ryu examine while your other characters attack. The sooner you get Influence, the better. 10. When in doubt, defend. Strategic defending is a great technique that I, unfortunately, only realized at the very end of my third speed run. In most boss fights you'll only have one main attacker (usually Ryu), and your other characers will be providing healing and support. However, on many turns your support characters may have nothing to do if the battle is going well. Instead of wasting precious seconds deciding on a command for them and then having even more time wasted with a possibly lengthy attack animation, just have that character defend. This will not only improve their chances for survival, but it will also save you time. Even using a regular attack in these cases probably won't help you, because the damage you deal will be insignificant, you'll waste time with an attack animation, and you can get burned if the enemy reprisals you. ============================================================================== `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ``````````````````````````````` 5. WALKTHROUGH ``````````````````````````````` `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ============================================================================== Before we get going, allow me to explain some of my notation: 1) When I say, "Go north", I don't mean, "Go up." North refers to the game's version of north, or "up-left". Similarly, all other directions are shifted 45 degrees counter-clockwise. However, on the other hand, if I say, "Go up," I mean, "Go up." 2) Brackets '[' and ']' are used to signify text scrolling, if just because I'm too lazy to come up with a snappy catchphrase for every trace of dialogue. However, if I'm feeling creative, I'll try to throw in something whenever I can. 2a) Just to remind you, there are numerous scenes throughout the game where the game takes over control of text scrolling, and I'll try my best to remember and make note of when those moments are (>.> Usually not outrigt though), but I'd advise just mashing the X button whenever text appears at all instead of depending on me for that. 3) Fairly obvious, but arrows '<' and '>' will contain your playing time. Just to be clear, the arrows are there for nothing more than a means of notation. >_> *wonders why he listed this* 4) Throughout the game, you're posed quite a few questions in which you must choose one of two (or more) responses. Whenever I say "Choose the first/second (default) reply", that means you can just continue mashing the X button since the cursor's already in the correct position. However, if I say "Choose the first/second (non-default) reply", you'll need to press up, down, or whatever before the X mashing resumes. 4a) When asked to save, "yes" is always the first reply, so I'll refrain from repeating myself in the walkthrough. 5) If you return to an area you've been to before yet my directions seem... too general, that simply means that I already listed the quickest path and I expect you to remember it. 6) The game has this bad habit of changing your formation without giving you the faintest clue. To alleviate your worries, I'll tell you exactly when the game does so so that you won't need to waste time checking your menu. 7) The format used for bosses means the following: o----------------------------o | Boss Name(s) | | | |maxHP of Boss(es) | |Attacks of Boss(es)* | o----------------------------o PC#1's** Name (Level #) PC#2's Name (Level #) PC#3's Name (Level #) Weapon: Shield: Helmet: Armor: Acc. 1: Abbreviation for "Accessory" Acc. 2: Likewise Master: Skills: Foreign Skills only Formation: Name (any additional information) *A boss's ordinary physical will not be listed since virtually all of them have one. **PC being short for playable character. Now, prepare your mind and fingers, and without further ado, giddyap! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I. The Beginning ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------- Pre-Game Setup Screen --------------------- Enter in Ryu's name (or whatever), set Message Speed to Fast, turn on Auto-Run, and begin. Don't worry about timing during this sequence, the clock doesn't start until you press Quit. ---------- Dauna Mine ---------- [Text Scrolling] Use Whelp Breath on Gary and Mogu. Afterwards, take the west path to the next room (south path takes much longer), then head south, east, south to enter the next room to encounter a rather frightened miner. [Text Scrolling] Continue heading south where you'll meet an engineer and a miner. [Text Scrolling] Whelp Breath the two, then continue heading south and then west to leave the room (Note: *Not* any of the staircases; avoid them all). You'll encounter yet another scared-out-of-his-mind miner. [Text Scrolling] Cross the mini-wooden bridge and run south until you're stopped by a buff mine worker. [Text Scrolling] Choose Whelp Breath as your command against the fellow but be stopped by a voice before you can carry it out. After being knocked out by the crane and consequently carried off on the train, rapidly rotate your finger around the pad to break free from the cage as quickly as possible. ----------- Cedar Woods ----------- [Plenty of text scrolling between Rei's hunting and Ryu's dream sequence] After waking up, head immediately down the steps, examine both drawers in the treehouse's main room for a Vitamin and a Worm, and head out. Walk along the pegs in a counter-clockwise direction to leave the vicinity of the treehouse, continue following the main path, and head south at the fork (a.k.a. the direction of the old, bearded man) into the next area. Run through the trees, then head east until you see a path going north that leads straight out of the woods. On the world map, travel south through the mini-maze straight to McNeil village. ------ McNeil ------ [Text scrolling through the trio's antics] ---- Farm ---- [More text scrolling] Open the menu, go to tactics, change your formation to Attack, and put Rei at point. Next head south to arrive at Yrall Road.