P U N I S H M E N T This document contains theories on how to skip the Sword of Miracles, by buying more Staves of Punishment and potentially skipping some small medals. Early Medals Minutes required to get medal (Complete guesses; just flagging the longer medals) Konenber Other Ship 33 seconds from inn (+6 from church) (IF the lady in the cabin doesn't get in your way) Konenber Taloon's Ship 51 seconds from inn (+6 from church) Mintos Well 0 Mintos-Soretta Shrine ~15 seconds Yeti House ~10 seconds Seaside Village ~10 seconds Stancia House 24 seconds Stancia Castle 36 seconds (NOTE: Slower than first Konenber ship, but that inventory slot may be worth three seconds?) Magic Key Cave 0 Endor 52 seconds (NOTE: Comes with Pink Leotard, so worth 2.3 medals) Riverside 11 seconds Z-Armor Chest 0 (If you survive) Hat of Happiness Medals Zenithian Armor Cave <1 (2-3 encounters) Zenithian Armor Chest 0 Gardenbur 0 (Almost free if you get it on the way to the Zen Shield) Dire Palace 0 (If not skipping Aeolus Shield; I'm still not feeling this shield. I think you break even on time & get less EXP.) Alt: Crypt ? (Takes time, but you're grinding anyway) Skipping all of these and purchasing the hat saves... maybe two minutes? But you'll probably heal on the way to Esturk and once you hit Zenithia. MAIN SHOPPING LIST: Dragon Mail - 5200 (x2) (2nd isn't necessary; gives Hero 15 more defense and resistance only to fire breath (Dragonits)) Sword of Lethargy - 8000 Sacred Robe - 4400 Total: 22800 MAIN SELLING LIST: Broad Sword: 1500 Half Plate: 900 x2 (Hero, Taloon) Claw: 1125 Subtotal: 4425 (still need 18375, 19275 if we keep Hero's half plate) ALTERNATE SALES: Pink Leotard: 4725 -- is this the first small medal we'd skip, though? Full Plate Armor: 1725 (Post-Keeleon; sell for Cloak of Evasion?) Malice: 2625 (Post-Keeleon) Fire Claw: 7500 (Reminder that we need a 2nd shopping trip anyway) Staff of Punishment: 3225 Abacus: 1200 This shopping is pre-Keeleon, so we'll keep at least one staff for Alena, maybe one for Cristo (if no SoM) and/or Hero. Normally get nine medals = 19350 gold + 3 staves 1st option: Get nine medals, keep three staves, buy two dragon mails right away. Leaves 1175 gold in our pocket. And this is TWO Dragon Mails, and I forgot about the Pink Leotard. Option 1.5: Can skip two medals and Pink Leotard if we pass on the Dragon Mail and sell one Abacus; 25 gold remaining. 2nd option: Pass on 2nd dragon mail, get Hat of Happiness (Getting two boat medals and skipping Endor (I forgot about Pink Leo when calculating this)) Need: 17600 (14075 after selling equip above) Sell four staves & 2 abbies, four more medals for the hat, keep two staves, 575 gold leftover Doesn't let you skip any early medals, but you skip the Hat Medals. Option 2.5: As above, but get Endor medal/Pink Leo instead of boat medals - 325 gold leftover Sell three staves and the Leotard This is the better option but I didn't want to waste my math 3rd option: Skip 2nd Dragon Mail, skip Hat of Happiness (Or get it later, it's your life.) Need: 17600 (14075 after selling equip above) Sell four staves and an abby, or sell five staves. (Need 1175 on top of selling four staves) Skip Endor and one Stancia medal, keep 2-3 staves. 4th option: No early Dragon Mails, No early Hat of Happiness, Skip Endor and second Stancia medal No reason not to grab seven medals, so let's grab seven staves and sell four (12900) Buy Sword of Lethargy, Sacred Robe (500 gold leftover) Sell the stuff I listed up above (except Hero's Half Plate) to buy Hero an Iron Mask (525 gold leftover) At Gardenbur, sell Sword of Malice to buy Cloak of Evasion (still up 150 gold) In second Rosaville trip, trade Claw for Earrings and sell three staves and Half Plate to buy two Dragon Mails (Still up 1550 gold; buy Cristo an Iron Helmet?) Give Cristo the Magma Staff, and take it away when he learns Beat. This saves having to get the two longest medals (and Pink Leotard), and you don't need a single abacus from Chapter 3. Hyperaggressive Option: Get Zenithian Armor and Hat of Happiness before Keeleon As Option 2, but bonus medal inside the cave! Skip the Stancia medal; you deserve it, champ. If you only die once you might even save time over the other options!! And that 900 gold from the Hero's Half-Plate should revive at least half the people you lost!!! Keep in mind we need to pick up Killer Earrings, Cloak of Evasion, and a second Sword of Lethargy later: - Earrings are a straight trade for Fire Claw - Can sell Full Plate (1725) toward the Cloak of Evasion, or just sell a staff. - If you keep three Staves of Punishment, you should be able to buy the second Sword of Lethargy when you get the Killer Earrings. - Otherwise, sell the Sword of Miracles that the Infurnus Shadow drops. On skipping the Hat of Happiness: - I think you save like two minutes if you just skip the medals and skip buying the hat. - I think you'll need to heal on the pad on the way to Esturk (which I sometimes do anyway; it's cheap) and once you get to Zenithia (return to/from Soretta) - This probably isn't worth it unless you're also skipping the Aeolus Shield. - The shield clutters your inventory to make you break even on time if you just get it for Andreal. - It might be worth it for some World Tree encounters, but those encounters show up in groups and Defeat works just as often as the shield. - You miss out on easy EXP if you disperse Andreal and the World Tree encounters with the shield. I'd rather fight them and run from Final Cave encounters. ============================ Off-Topic: Nara > Mara in C5 ============================ If Nara survives the Balzack fight, you have a bit less damage to help you with the early C5 grind. Mara will not know Firebal, but she will know Blaze. Mara's options: Firebal (14-22 dmg) vs Blaze (8-14 dmg) - Survive C4 and learn Firebal (which is its own mess of pros vs cons) - Know Blaze either way Nara's Options: Tarot Cards (21 atk) vs Morning Star (33 atk), diff of 6 dmg/swing - Sell Tarot Cards and get Morning Star later - Keep Tarot Cards until Morning Star chest - Keep Tarot Cards, sell Morning Star in chapter five Hero's Options: Copper Sword/Parry -> Blaze x2 -> Broad Sword - If you have to sell the sword, Hero has to parry until s/he learns Blaze. - Not sure how much damage s/he does with the sword anyway? It's not a big deal to run from everything until the Morning Star chest. If you sell the Morning Star in C3, you have to keep the Tarot Cards - To keep the Copper Sword, you'd have to put off buying the Wooden Hat until Branca. Is this worth it? I think since "Nara Route" has less damage than "Mara Route", damage should be maximized: - Do not sell the Morning Star in Chapter 3 - Do not sell the Hero's Copper Sword at Endor - Should the Tarot Cards be kept or sold? If kept, keep Copper Sword and don't buy Wooden Hat for Hero? Shopping: - Iron Shield (650) - Wooden Hat (120) - Herbs x4 (32) - Wing (25) (To exit casino, extra C4 wing to leave shrine of bravery) - Total: 827g Resources: - Woodsman Pot: 50g - Mystic Acorns: 412g - Tarot Cards: 375g - Ceilia's Feather Hat: 210g - Hero's Copper Sword: 75g - Hero's Basic Clothes: 7g Acorns+Tarot are enough (10g leftover to use the inn) Acorns+Hat+Sword is not enough Nara will always have the acorns and Tarot Cards, so there's no inventory problem Pick up Nara, sell clothes/cards/acorns, buy 3 herbs, wing and wooden hat, buy iron shield, get Mara, use wing In Branca, fill Mara's inventory with herbs and Nara's with fairy water. (Sell Leather Armor) should be good from here ============================================ Back on topic: Demon Hammer shopping strats ============================================ Goal is to cut out small medals - how we do? We want to maximize Ragnar and Hero's defense power for the Colossus, but we want to save time by cutting medals from Endor and Stancia. If we don't skip medals, we can get nine Staves of Punishment and have boo-koo bucks. Route: - Collect seven small medals - Go shopping, buy Sword of Lethargy and Sacred Robe at minimum - H/A/C get Staves of Punishment. Keep Iron Claw. Cristo equips a staff. - Kill Keeleon (P/H/A/C) - Ragnar gets a Staff of Punishment and replaces Cristo. Ragnar can equip Full Plate if he doesn't have Dragon Mail yet. - Kill Balzack (P/H/R/A) - Kill Bakor (H/R/A/C) - Shopping again, load up on armor, Ragnar can have Hero's Sword of Lethargy for the rest of the game. - Hero's iron shield goes to Ragnar. Ragnar's scale shield and wooden hat can go to Cristo if you care. - Get Demon Hammer out of Colossus and hopefully make it to Dire Palace. Equip on Hero. - Grind babbles at least until Cristo learns HealAll - +1 babble gives Hero HealAll after Esturk - +2 babbles gives Hero HealAll before Esturk - +3-4 babbles gives Hero Vivify for Esturk (I think; don't care about doing the math on these cases right now to confirm) - Hero uses Zap on Esturk, Gigademon, and Infurnus Shadow. Expel/Fendspell on Radimvice, Aeolus on Andreals. - Uncurse Hero and sell Shadow's Sword of Miracles to get another Sword of Lethargy (not in that order). FIRST SHOPPING LIST: Sword of Lethargy - 8000 Sacred Robe - 4400 Total: 12400 FIRST SELLING LIST: Broad Sword: 1500 Half Plate: 900 (Taloon) Staff of Punishment: 3225x4 = 12900 Subtotal: 15300 (Shouldn't have to sell fourth staff unless you're hella broke) SECOND SHOPPING LIST: Killer Earrings (Trade for Fire Claw) Cloak of Evasion: 3000 Dragon Mail - 5200 (x2) (45 defense, full plate is 35, half plate is 30) Iron Helmet - 1200 (x2) Iron Helm Upgrade to Iron Mask: 2300 (0-2) (+9 def, 25 vs 16) Subtotal: 15800 > 18100 > 20400 (2 helms vs 1 helm 1 mask vs 2 masks) SECOND SELLING LIST: Fire Claw (trade for Killer Earrings) Iron Claw: 1125 Half Plate Armor: 900 Full Plate Armor: 1725 Staff of Punishment: 3225x3 = 9675 Malice: 2625 Change from 1st shopping trip: 2900 Subtotal: 19000 - Covers one iron mask, one iron helmet. Maybe two masks if you really scrape the bottom of the barrel. (Morning star, misc cheap shields/armors, leftover urchin money) THIRD SHOPPING LIST?: Sword of Lethargy: 8000 THIRD SELLING LIST: Sword of Miracles: 7125 ================================ Don't skip Sword of Miracles? Only getting nine medals = Sword + 3 Staves, want two for Keeleon. Get a tenth from one of the ships if you want safety cash. FIRST SHOPPING LIST: Sword of Lethargy - 8000 Sacred Robe - 4400 Total: 12400 FIRST SELLING LIST: Broad Sword: 1500 Iron Apron: 1125 Morning Star: 937 Pink Leotard: 4725 Staff of Punishment: 3225 Subtotal: 11512 (may have to scavenge: Feather hat, Leather Dress, Urchin money, Taloon's iron shield...) SECOND SHOPPING LIST: Killer Earrings (Trade for Fire Claw) Cloak of Evasion: 3000 Ragnar Dragon Mail - 5200 (45 defense, full plate is 35, half plate is 30) Debt from 1st shopping trip: 888 Subtotal: 9088 Ragnar's Iron Mask: 3500 Subtotal: 12588 ::Hero should be 101-108 def and Ragnar should be 86-92 def. ::Ragnar cannot improve. ::Hero can improve by buying Iron Helm (+10) or Iron Mask (+19), or Dragon Mail (+15) ::Hero could get Dragon Mail if Ragnar downgrades to Iron Helm, and you pick up another medal... ::Hero can also get the Zenithian Helmet (+24) but you have to yolo the colossus... SECOND SELLING LIST: Fire Claw (trade for Killer Earrings) Iron Claw: 1125 Half Plate Armor: 900 Full Plate Armor: 1725 Staff of Punishment: 3225x2 = 6450 Malice: 2625 Subtotal: 12825 THIRD SHOPPING LIST: Sword of Lethargy: 8000 THIRD SELLING LIST: Sword of Miracles: 7125 ================================ Shopping Inspired by RPGLB Want to get Dragon Mail in first shopping trip, give to Ragnar when I get the ZA early This is another "Skip SoM" route. Seven staves. FIRST SHOPPING LIST: Sword of Lethargy: 8000 Sacred Robe: 4400 Dragon Mail: 5200 Total: 17600 FIRST SELLING LIST: Broad Sword: 1500 Iron Apron: 1125 Morning Star: 937 Half Plate Armor: 900 Staff of Punishment: 3225 x4 = 12900 Subtotal: 17362 SECOND SHOPPING LIST: Killer Earrings (Trade for Fire Claw) Cloak of Evasion: 3000 Debt from 1st shopping trip: 238 Ragnar's Iron Mask: 3500 Subtotal: ::Have three staves left: One becomes Cloak, other two become Masks. Hero gets ZA. ::Ragnar keeps Malice, Cristo gets Magma Staff for Bakor ::Ragnar gets Lethargy for MB grind, goes back to Malice? ::Fight Infernus Shadow first, give Ragnar Miracles ::Hero should be 101-108 def and Ragnar should be 86-92 def. ::Ragnar cannot improve. ::Hero can improve by buying Iron Helm (+10) or Iron Mask (+19), or Dragon Mail (+15) ::Hero could get Dragon Mail if Ragnar downgrades to Iron Helm, and you pick up another medal... ::Hero can also get the Zenithian Helmet (+24) but you have to yolo the colossus... SECOND SELLING LIST: Fire Claw (trade for Killer Earrings) Iron Claw: 1125 Full Plate Armor: 1725 Staff of Punishment: 3225x3 = 9675 Subtotal: 12825 THIRD SHOPPING LIST: Sword of Lethargy: 8000 THIRD SELLING LIST: Sword of Miracles: 7125 ================================ New Shopping 2020 12 23 Still getting SoM, but skipping a medal (Stancia). We're cutting the second Dragon Mail and the Cloak of Evasion. FIRST SHOPPING LIST: Sword of Lethargy: 8000 Sacred Robe: 4400 Total: 12400 FIRST SELLING LIST: Broad Sword: 1500 Iron Claw: 1125 Staff of Punishment: 3225 Pink Leotard: 4725 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 THIRD SHOPPING LIST: Sword of Lethargy: 8000 THIRD SELLING LIST: Sword of Miracles: 7125 Staff of Antimagic: 3000 Aeolus Shield: 3k+