Things I want to research (Asterisk means I've investigated the item enough to satisfy my curiosity) - Test scent pouch effectivity inside dungeons for babble grind - 0x18 seems to hold address of encounter rate of tile you're on, but doesn't change with Repel or Scent Pouch - These things cost a fortune so I don't actually expect much (If only they were poison moth powder...) - Unsure even if scent pouches work in dungeons, or if they work on partitions * Figure out exactly how Repel works, so that I can repel consistently. * This was important beacuse it helps me repel to: Gardenbur, Cascade Cave (?), Dire Palace, Gottside/Z-Tower, Necrosaro's Castle * It's based on highest party level, but that's only updated on reloading a save or finishing a battle without running. x Try to get Aeolus Shield before grinding metal babbles x Walk straight to the Staff of Transform, then go get the shield. x If you're feeling super stupid, try to get Z-Armor, too? x You'd also get the Demon Hammer... x This is all a really stupid idea, why is it on this list??? x (These notes were left here well before incorporating them into the route but I'm leaving there because it's funny how dismissive I was) * Check night time enemy loadouts outside of Kanave * Looks like way fewer 1-2 EXP enemies, but the Rabidhounds murder me * Saw a formation of six Giant Worms, saw a formation of two hounds and two rats. - Check encounter rates EVERYWHERE (0x18) - See DW4MonsterOutput-rearranged in my Downloads folder (Data from Gameboy) * Try fighting Necrosaro at level 28 * Seems legit; leaving the grind after Cristo learns HealAll seems fine. HealUs for Necrosaro would be nice though... * Double-check how long it takes to get the Sage's Stone (It's like two minutes but I haven't actually timed it) * Try manipulating a metal slime outside Endor * No go, bro. Looks like all three files (i.e. the file you're playing on) seed the RNG. * ^ What an oversimplication of the problem * Map out Ch. 5 Repel usage to remove RNG from the "Alena Get" segment * How do I keep forgetting the Padequia Cave when I make statements like that? * Also: In progress, questioning the priority though * Done, but I didn't go past Keeleon * Figure out how the armor-haggler works in chapter three * Pulled some raw data from this. I have notes on it somewhere. * Time how long it takes to take a step * 16 frames * Somewhat unrelated, but time how long it takes to walk through a partition * 22-24 frames after the step * Do different areas take longer to load? * Yes * Time my actual mashing to see if Message Speed 8 is saving time * I really don't think so. * Definitely faster if you use turbo, but the situations where it's actually faster (misses) are uncommon * Did more timing on this and now I'm not so sure - Compare odds of beating Balzack with Panon, Sword of Miracles Ragnar, Hero, Alena vs P/S/A/C (Edit: S is Solo/Sofia btw) - This is what some JP runners do but I don't know if slightly better odds are worth a much slower setup to me. - This is really just slightly higher damage and durability for one character versus my normal setup. - I set up a fairly complex lua script to test this but I don't know if I wrote down the results 🙃 - I think the highest win chance was exactly what the top line suggests - Check the chances of Sword of Lethargy working - Other onhit effects, like Giant Bantam/Humanoid's sleephit and Hambalba/Pit Viper's paralyze hit - I have reason to believe Panon has SleepHit and doesn't actually use Sword of Lethargy. Is it the same odds? * Bantam SleepHit is 1/3 * Note that enemies don't always USE SleepHit... It may be a 100% chance. * It is not, confirmed when an Ouphnest used Palsyhit earlier * Lethargy is about 1/3 (See metal slime damage odds below) * Venomous Dagger is about 1/6 but doesn't work on bosses (See below) * Generate a table of average/stat ranges for each character, level 1-40 * Use LUA script or use code * Got all the data and make a web page to calculate percentiles * Distribution curves would be sick. Just store all the raw data. * Then we can figure the odds of getting decent stats for chapter two. * Odds of an enemy using each of their six abilities. * Seems to be pretty close to equal (16-17% chance of each) * Not sure if some enemies weigh them, but Ouphnest doesn't. * Neither do Metal Slimes or Balzack. This is very likely "the norm." * Some enemies go through a rotation (Dragon Riders, Gigademon) but I don't know which - Add abilities to my monster data chart - Mostly done, but I didn't name all "conditional" skills (things monsters only do at low HP, etc) - These are the skills named "Attack (79)" etc - Part of the reason I haven't done this is because I don't understand them. I know what most of the abilities ARE, but not what causes them to be used. * Also need to merge with the stat chart * Why are there two messages for monsters not seeing you? * Pretty sure it's for one monster group vs multiple monsters * Remake also has two messages. Still pretty sure that's why, but it's interesting. * Is wasting an herb faster than dropping it? * Wasting the herb is about 10-20 frames slower, but you probably lose that selecting "Discard". * Can bosses be paralyzed by venomous dagger? * Don't think so, tested it on Balzack 2 (I was told it could work on both Balzack 1 and Balzack 2) * I can't reiterate enough how unreliable a source this person is * I hit Balzack 2 a million times and he never got paralyzed, so it's definitely not him. * Actually, I saw it work on Balzack 1 in a randomizer. Need to check what resistance this uses. Definitely not broken like Lethargy though. * Maybe it was a random encounter Balzack? I don't remember this happening but the note says it happened so it probably did? * Metal Slimes can be paralyzed, too. Not sure it's tied to a resistance? Maybe the game recognizes boss battles? Need to get to Balzack 1 in an emulator. * No way Jose. Tested this in an emulator (no scripting, just high FPS) and hit Balzack (C4) 200-300 times with a dagger and he never died. * I also banned the person who said it was possible to paralyze Balzack from my chat a while ago. * If you cast RobMagic on a Healer, they indeed still have 255 (unlimited) MP * If an enemy has 255 MP, they won't lose MP when they cast spells or get robbed. * Odds of getting the free casino coins in chapter five * I've heard 1/32, but my suspicion is that you only ever get it on your first speedrun. * What's the trigger? Do I have to leave and re-enter the cave? * Tested this one and confirmed 1/32; iirc it's determined when you walk into the cave * Odds of Neta selling each item each night - 0x6254: Neta's gold - 0x61DB: Neta's inventory * 75% per item * Check out "Chances of Selling Things in Chapter 3.xlsx" for info on how many nights you should wait - What determines the actual price Neta sells things for? Is it RNG? What's the average/deviation? * It's random between 150% and 200% - I could write a chart or script that tells me what I should buy depending on how much gold I have - 1500 gold? Two daggers. - 22000 gold? Twelve abacusses (Can afford 13, but maybe you'll have 36k gold if you only move 12) - It would have to weigh time spent buying/selling against how much money you end up with leftover - Three chain sickles = 1650, but you should obviously just buy an abacus if you have 1650 gold - Chapter 3 part-time job - There's a Gamefaqs guide on this but I haven't confirmed any of it. It'd be funny if it were faster than getting the chain sickle. * Spell resistance hit rates * EvilAsh has science on this in his doc - Do DW4 menus take longer to render than DQ4 (FC) menus? - They don't seem to. In Burland with only Ragnar, the main command menu (and status block) took 10 frames to load + move the cursor in both games. - Do menus take longer to render in different areas? - Overworld, towns - Seems the same, tried both the main command menu and the list of all characters (Spell) - Caves with room partitions - In a small room - Outside a small room Odds of finding King Metals outside Gottside: 54/2000 = 2.7% Odds of finding King Metals NW of Gottside: (127,67)/1409 = 13.8% Odds of finding Metal Slimes outside Endor: 225/2100 = 10.7% Odds of finding Metal Slimes in Statuette Cave (Bottom floor): (169,53)/2306 = 9.61% (7.32% single, 2.29% duo) Odds of finding NO metals in the final cave (Last few floors): 1274/1486 (83.65%) - 1 Metal: 4.85% - 2 Metals: 2.49% - 3 Metals: 2.69% - 4 Metals: 0% - 5 Metals: 0.26% - 6 Metals: 1.24% - 7 Metals: 4.79% (NOTE: Blue slimes false-positively report as metals in my script) Odds of finding NO Metal Slimes in the Lighthouse (Bottom floors): 2133/3358 = 63.51% - 1 Metal: 17.92% - 2 Metals: 10.72% - 3 Metals: 3.3% - 4 Metals: 2.17% - 5 Metals: 0.59% - 6 Metals: 0.53% - 7 Metals: 0.38% - 8 Metals: 0.83% Odds of finding solo Metal Slime on top floors of Lighthouse: 5% Odds of finding solo Metal Slime in desert after Hector: 11% Odds of finding solo Metal Babble outside Gardenbur: 5% Odds of finding NO Metal Babbles in the top three floors of the Crypt: 86.28% - 1 Metal: 3.77% - 2 Metals: 4.87% - 3 Metals: 2.34% - 4 Metals: 2.72% Odds of finding NO Metal Babbles in the bottom floor of the Crypt: 53.92077779% - 1 Metal: 20.28% - 2 Metals: 16.23% - 3 Metals: 5.36% - 4 Metals: 4.18% Chances of damaging a metal slime - 1769 hits vs 3268 misses (35.1%) (Misses include actual misses) - Runs: 5287 (51.2%) (Includes crits) And Again, holding Sword of Lethargy: - 11846 hits vs 23449 misses (33.5%) (Misses include actual misses) - Runs: 36721 (50.9%) (Includes crits) - Sleeps: 4497 (37.9% of hits) Venomous Dagger vs Dragonpup: - 1511 hits, 210 paralyzes (13.90%) Venomous Dagger vs Metal Slime: - 661 hits, 104 paralyzes (15.7%) Brey having a Venomous Dagger raises the odds of killing a 4 HP metal slime from 10% to 13.5% but where am I gonna find the gold for that Only need 187 gold... ======================== "DQ Things to Test" file from server: - Test Sleep vs Sleepmore - Vaxherd says Sleepmore probably just rolls to hit twice. This is how DW3 does it but this is unconfirmed in DW4. * Test Chaos messages * Text dump on Gamefaqs has them all; they are character-specific * How is Boomerang damage calculated if you can't equip it? * It's based on the damage you'd deal if you equipped it - Test how the AI works - http://wikiwiki.jp/dqdic3rd/?%A1%DAAI%A1%DB * There are four levels of AI for each enemy. Only at level 3 do you stop casting Defeat on bosses. ======================== POISON Poison damage adds four frames per four steps, and takes ~250 frames to remove. ======================== DW4 Guide Totos 7/6/2019 Search "todo:" (28 hits in 1 file) Line 190: TODO: Look up the exact % chance that taking a step does not progress time, and add it here in a tooltip. Line 429: TODO: How does the game round minimum HP?
Line 430: TODO: Have I frame-counted the two options for screen transitions? The outside of the tower being grass instead of black may result in it not mattering. Line 506: TODO: I should do some more analysis on this fight since it was the first thing I ever dug into with emulator lua scripting, but I recall the odds of winning this fight being about 40%.
TO-DID:! Line 507: TODO: Figure out how the enraged eyeball actually works. Does its attack power change?
Line 508: TODO: Can Healie take half damage after he attacks/heals?
Line 509: TODO: Is that damage range on Blaze correct? Line 1542: TODO: Mathematically prove the ideal sell line for Iron Aprons. Line 1674: TODO: Explain some Chapter Five equipment options based on how many extra items you take away from this chapter. Line 1741: TODO: This Iron Shield really isn't necessary. Line 1933: TODO: Consider not suggesting Corpse/Orin/Girl. EvilAsh points out that healing takes more menuing when you order this way, even though the actual re-ordering is faster. This one might be worth it, though, since Mara will die more reliably. You also won't heal Orin in the Sphere of Silence cave. Maybe only do corpse first in that cave? Line 3040: TODO: Cloak of Evasion cut? Is it worth the 3k gold? Will skipping it stop Alena from having more defense power than Ragnar? Line 3209: TODO: Revisit this shopping segment yet again. The big thing I want to figure out is what equipment setup for Ragnar and Alena makes Cristo most likely to cast Increase twice without throwing any items away. Line 3265: TODO: Unequipping the Magma Staff here is contradictory to what was said up when we picked up the staff. Should he just not equip it earlier? Line 3368: TODO: Research Aeolus Shield effectivity in this dungeon. Line 3727: TODO: Time whether it's better to heal at Rosaville, Soretta, or Last Refuge.
TO-DID: I did this somewhere Line 3728: TODO: Do more testing on how to get Cristo to cast Increase twice. Line 3844: TODO: What if I anticipated this and swapped Alena for Lucia? Does Lucia even have less than 100 defense power? Does it even matter if I swap? Ragnar and Alena benefit the most from the Increase casts, since Hero's a tank and Cristo sits in the back.
Line 3846: TODO: Should Hero attack instead of lowering his defense power? This could stop Alena from bumping him into the second phase too quickly. Line 3893: TODO: What exactly is the Bikill HP threshold? 50%? What is it for phases two, three, and seven?
Line 3894: TODO: Why does Brey cast Bikill in that order? Is it based on attack power, lowest to highest? Can this information help at all?
TO-DID: Seems to be highest attack power first; if Hero equips powered-up Zen Sword he'll get priority over Ragman Line 3895: TODO: Does Offensive or another tactic (Save MP?) prompt Brey to cast Bikill sooner?
Line 3896: TODO: Who is the fastest corpse? (Mara?) Are they fast enough to matter?
TO-DID: Mara! She has like 20-25. Line 3897: TODO: Analyze whether counting his HP can ensure Brey casts Bikill right when he jumps out of the wagon.
Line 3898: TODO: Does putting Necrosaro to sleep encourage/discourage Increase or Bikill?
Line 3899: TODO: Does switching weapons reset the hero's attack power? (TO-DID: No!)
TO-DID: But getting the Zen Sword powered up takes about 61 seconds if it gives you a level up... Line 3900: TODO: Should you switch off of Message Speed 8 for this fight? (Frame-count Freezing Waves and breath) Line 4007: TODO: Still thinking about what to put in these appendices vs just linking to a folder of txt files, but I think some good stuff could go in a section about mechanics...
To Research 2020 12 17 - Necrosaro 4: Can you count actions from the beginning of the fight to know where he's at in his rotation? - Where is he USUALLY at in his rotation? Do a couple fights and see. - Necrosaro: Message Speed 8 vs Freezing Waves? x Chapter 3 Fairy Water: What if you recruited Laurent and DIED? - If Veronica were here to see this S H E ' D D I E - Laurent costs 600 gold and 33 seconds to recruit, plus 40 gold for two Fairy Waters - Gold might be the biggest issue? Do this if you get a crit on the full plate sale I guess? - The iron apron grind is linear gold growth. 600 gold isn't worth more time no matter what. And it's only worth about a minute. - Also the death would send you to Bonmalmo, unless you wait to die in cave and don't skip the encounters you get walking up there. x I don't see this ever being worth it sadly * Mara route for C4 Take Morning Star in C5 Chapter 4: Let Mara get extra EXP Nara only needs about level 3 Buy a fairy water and lots of herbs at Haville after getting Orin Still use Nara in the mine but don't fight stuff Chapter 5 start: Get feather hat, woodsman stuff Get Nara ITEM SHOP: Sell copper sword, leather hat, feather hat, mystic acorns Buy wooden hat Buy Wing WEAPON SHOP: Buy iron shield Use Inn? (Need 12 gold... might only have 7?) Get Mara Wing out to Endor Statuette cave Get Mara to 8 for Return Get Hero at LEAST 3; 4 is safer Armor + Sword + Deathwarp Buy four herbs and spend the rest of your money on fairy water Wing if you didn't get Return Continue as normal Buy extra herbs for Lighthouse to counter Nara's lower MP - Revise Mara Route in guide x Revisit Chapter 5 statuette cave skip. Maybe partial cave skip - get Morning Star and sell for an Iron Spear? - How much gold to work with? - Two feather hats 210, silk robe 82, leather dress 187, mystic acorns 412, tarot cards 375, leather armor 135, clothes 7, copper sword 75 = 1693... - Morning Star sells for 900, trade for Iron Spear - 1693 buys wooden hat 120, Iron Shield 650, Bronze Armor 700, 223 change (277 short of iron armor) - THE HALF SKIP IS WINNABLE. IT IS PROBABLY NOT SAFE. I was also level 5; that won't happen with the half skip. * Revisit shopping/small medals - Can we skip Endor instead and shop before the Magic Key cave? - Interesting but probably not, the leotard is too OP. - Cloak of Evasion skip = skip a small medal? Is that fine? - It's difficult to buy the first set of stuff, but it works! FIRST SHOPPING LIST: Sword of Lethargy: 8000 Sacred Robe: 4400 Total: 12400 FIRST SELLING LIST: Broad Sword: 1500 HERO Iron Claw: 1125 ALENA Staff of Punishment: 3225 ANYONE Pink Leotard: 4725 Whoever's there??? Subtotal: 10575 (+700 on hand generally, +1125 from one apron = 12400 exactly (Sell feather hat or Nara's weapon if short)) SECOND SHOPPING LIST: Killer Earrings (Trade for Fire Claw) Dragon Mail: 5200 Iron Mask: 3500 Subtotal: 8700 SECOND SELLING LIST: Fire Claw (trade for Killer Earrings) Full Plate Armor: 1725 Staff of Punishment: 3225 Sword of Malice: 2625 Half Plate Armor: 900 Subtotal: 8475 - See note above about Brey and a Venomous Dagger. - Only need 187 more gold to get it, only if you get the Birdsong chest early. Agility seed is 67 of it, plus 4-5 Endor monsters? * Panon before Padequia cave? Need to re-route Fairy Water. - But I need to re-learn the Fairy Water route anyway... - Also nail down how many Fairy Waters to buy and when. It's really not random! Just plan on resetting in Lighthouse and you're good. - Buy five fairy waters in chapter three, three in chapter five. - Route: WATER #1 is one step off of Branca WATER #2 is inside Konenber before the Lighthouse {Lighthouse} Konenber -> Mintos WATER #3 inside Mintos Mintos Shrine -> Soretta Inn at Soretta RETURN #1: ENDOR Endor -> Yeti -> Haville -> WATER #4 right before/when you get off the boat before Aktemto Aktemto -> Seaside -> Santeem WATER #5 right before/when you get back in the boat after Santeem RETURN #2: Haville WATER #6 AFTER casting Return to Haville and taking one step into the forest tiles Haville -> Keeleon -> Monbaraba Soretta -> Seed -> Root -> C2Cru Inn at Soretta (night time after cave) RETURN #3: Mintos RETURN #4: Aktemto WATER #7 Right after Return Magic Key Don't inn until Keeleon RETURN #5: Mintos Mintos -> Riverside WATER #8: Before you turn in the Riverside river delta RETURN #6: Endor RETURN #7: Stancia RETURN #8: Konenber Konenber -> Rosaville Inn before Keeleon (Soretta?) RETURN #9: Keeleon Balzack, blah blah DO NOT INN AFTER BALZACK Return to Soretta, Cast Repel Sail around the island to the tip and then go straight south Repel again right before you get off the boat Re-order to: Panon, Corpse, Alena, Hero Enter Gardenbur, etc - Revisit earlier Zenithian Armor as a bad Lighthouse recovery strat * If I have money, should I buy an iron apron? - To buy an iron apron: 3 + 6X seconds to buy X aprons - To sell an iron apron: 3 + 8X seconds to sell X aprons - To buy and sell an apron: 6 + 14X seconds per apron. Oof. 3 = 48 seconds... - One staff of punishment is worth 46 seconds (+ the time you spent giving useless stuff to Neta) - I think staves are faster. ========================== First-Try Runs: Attempting to run vs Slime: Free at 5+, not at 4 Attempting to run vs Stag Beetle + giant worm: Free at 6+ 1 => 6 Slime (Burland) 4 => 6 Stag Beetle (Burland) 8 => 6 Worm x2 (Burland) 10 => 8 Diverat (Izmit) 11 => 8 Babble (Izmit) 17 => 10 Sizarmage (Well) 21 => 10 Healer (Well) Actually it seems to be by area... 6 Burland 8 Izmit 9 Izmit @ Night 10 Well 32 All floors of the crypt 40 Bottom of Final Cave "Tower" 41 Necrosaro's Castle 42 Evil Mountain How running works??? It looks like it grabs your party's highest level and stores it in to 0x0009 and then ???