I honestly thought my last run was great...I knew it could be improved, but I NEVER thought it would be a 20+ minute improvement!

I'd like to give thanks to TMONT for all the extra info he threw my way. I'd also like to thank him for giving me a bit of a rival for the best time here...else I may not have made this improvement.

I performed a lot of little timesavers in this one, coupled with much better execution and better places to level up, which really managed to add up in the end.

I had done a "mock run" where I would save at certain points as repeat an area until I had a "very good" run through. I had my old run playing on my PC and from the comfort of my computer chair, re-ran every area in the game...more times than most sane people would even dare! I would sit in the entrance to an area, then start playing the old run at the exact location...I managed to save time in every area of the game, and when I finished I had a time almost 19 minutes faster by my calculations.

There's 2 sequence breaks in this run, along with some hefty abuse of the "Shop Bug." What's the Shop Bug you ask? It's a bug that allows you to buy items for different prices, preferrably lower. It goes like this:

You highlight the item you want to be the price. Then you move the cursor over the item you want to buy and press "A" immediately after moving the cursor. This only works if the item you want is in an adjacent slot to the price you want. In shops that have less that 4 items, that have an empty slot, you can actually buy items for FREE! I abuse the "Five Finger Discount" quite a few times, both early and late in the game. More on those in a moment...

(Note that this run is single-segment, like the last one. I'm just breaking down the comments for simplicity's sake)

1 - A LEAF AND A BROKEN WINDMILL

I buy the Alarm Flute for $30 instead of $50, then buy an Antidote as well for the same price.

I moved the levelling location to the Blue Slimes outside the entrance to the cave leading to the Windmill. I kill 2 Werewolves on the way to Zebu's Cave, then 3 more on the way to the Blue Slimes. Using a precise stab upon leaving the cave is the best method, but the Slime won't always agree with you.

If he moves up then you're pretty much guaranteed to take a hit, and probably get knocked back into the cave without a kill. If he moves left then your shot will miss. Anything else is easily managable.

2 - THE MAGICIAN'S BALL

The levelling here was pretty much identical to last time...I just executed it much more professionally, and a bit more aggresively as well.

Instead of grabbing the Antidote in here, I get the Warp Boots instead. I did what I could to level up quickly, but the Green Slugs in the initial area of the cave didn't all spawn, so I was a few XP short when I got the Ball of Wind. I just had to kill an extra Green Serpent to make up the difference.

I was a little timid around the Purple Slimes, even with the Antidote I still don't like getting Poisoned here. I wasn't slow, I just backed off a bit.

The Blue Magician fight went quite well. He seemed to like appearing in the same spot over and over which made for an easy kill.

3 - THE ONYX INSECT OF FIRE

First thing I do is hit Brynmaer to open the warp point. While there I "buy" 4 pairs of Warp Boots for free. I then use them quite liberally.

-One to Brynmaer after getting Akahana's Onyx Statue -One to Brynmaer after speaking with someone in Oak -One to Oak after beating Stom -One to Oak after rescuing the Child -One to Brynmaer after killing the Giant Insect

I also moved the levelling spot for 3-4 a little. I still kill the Axethrowers while enroute to the Onyx Statue, Poisonous Swamp, and Tornel's Hut, but I wait until after I get the Sword of Fire to finish it. I just use the Blue Mushrooms outside the Swamp for quick levelling.

The Stom fight went EXTREMELY well this time. I found stabbing hit 3 times on the first 2 tries seemed to weaken him up a bit for the 3rd fight. He barely fought back this time, easily making this my best fight against him.

The Giant Insect also went fairly well. Note that I didn't have to kill that last Purple Armadillo since XP doesn't carry over to the next level and the Giant Insect gives 50 XP.

4 - THE MOUNTAIN OF ICE

The spawns here really didn't agree with me this time. In the first cave, when I'm heading to bust the wall open behind Zebu, sometimes 2 Purple Serpents and one Squid (I don't know what the hell they're called, actually) will spawn at the first corner. Sometimes only the Squid will spawn. I got the worst case where none spawned. No biggie...or so I thought.

The Ice Zombie at the first fork didn't respawn when I came out of the cave...another 12 XP gone.

I grabbed the Medical Herb here for the Dolphin in Portoa, since it's the most convenient one in the game.

A couple of the Squids and I "think" one of the Purple Serpents also chose not to spawn in the cave just before Tornel.

All in all I was down about 100 XP when I got to Tornel. I was also at about 20 HP and 23 MP. All level ups in this game grant you 17 MP except for level 1-2, and I needed to cast Teleport twice after reaching level 6, so I couldn't spend any more MP since Teleport costs 20 MP. While earning the last 100 XP, I got hit again and was at about 5 HP when I finally levelled...that Inn in Oak never looked so good...

5 - SOME PURPLE SPINY THINGS

Really, all I do here is breeze through the cave after levelling up on the Purple Spiny Things. I don't bother with the Antidote OR the Medical Herb, and I perform the entire level in the same spot instead of only doing most of it. Level 2 Fire Sword (Flame Wave) attacks are VERY effective (thanks again TMONT!) and make for quick and painless XP.

Kelbesque isn't too bad. I found that if you fire a Level 3 Wind Sword (Whirlwind Rush) attack from above or below him, it will sometimes hit twice. Not always, but most of the time...I tried to ause this as much as I could.

6 - WATERED-DOWN POISON

I once again show my bargaining skills with the local shopkeeper and buy a Platinum Armor at 70% off!

I squirm my way through the Petrified people in the Waterfall Cave so I don't have to talk to the Queen/Fortuneteller at all. Levelling on the Medusas is much better for my sanity with the Platinum Armor equipped...

In the Kirisa Plant Cave I managed to get Paralyzed like an idiot by the FIRST Spider. To get rid of it I INTENTIONALLY thrust myself at the red spiny thing nearby to become poisoned, since it cancels the paralysis. Note, however, that I STILL had the Antidote I bought in Leaf...but I completely forgot I had it and made a mad (careful) rush through the cave so I could Teleport back to Portoa and use the Inn. I actually think not using the Antidote helped in terms of speed since it pressured me to make this quick so I didn't die (that and being poisoned is SEXY beyond belief...)

7 - THE VAST OCEAN OF SEQUENCE BREAKS

I levelled to 11 on the Turtles in the Island Cave...that's pretty much it for stuff that happens here.

...all else I'm going to say is that the Rabbit Boots make a great accessory...

8 - THE TOWNS OF THE EMPIRE

Learn Change...blah blah...go get Bow of Moon and Blizzard Bracelet in Amazones...blah blah...

In Shyron I manage to haggle the shopkeep down to a goose egg for both the Ceramic Suit and Battle Shield.

Plow up to the Sword of Thunder...

Archer levelling went quite well this time. I timed the Inn trips to recover MP for when I would be passing by the entrance (although I forgot when doing 12-13) and didn't get hit nearly as much as last time. I love the fact that with the Battle Shield equipped the Bird's shots bounce off me harmlessly.

Mado dropped in a timely fashion.

I'm rather glad the Flying Bugs didn't bother me any more than they did in the Power Ring cave. Multiple Paralysis would have sucked.

9 - GENERALS

Most of this section is boss fights.

Kelbesque performed perfectly. If he moves first then I have to chase him down to do any damage. He decided to stand still and fire his beam at me, which allowed me to engage "STAB TIME!" on him while blocking everything with Barrier.

Sabera sucked. The quick kill requires me to be just a couple pixels below her when the fight starts, then rapidly stab her with Barrier up until she dies. I was a bit too far below her and missed with my stabs. I then had to chase her around to finish the fight...which got worse when she moved off-screen and I couldn't hit her at all for a few seconds. I think I lost 8-10 seconds here, maybe more.

The Spider levelling went OK. They didn't seem to want to spawn to well for me this time. Meh...

Mado went as well as he probably could have. Trying to stab him while he's moving isn't very practical, so Level 3 Water Sword (Blizzard Ring) attacks are the way to go.

Karmine can be a bitch or a wuss, depending on his first attack. He'll either start shooting his Orange Spiny Balls at you, or he'll use the Nuper Ray. The Nuper Ray cannot be blocked by Barrier...so if he uses that you have to quickly use the Fruit of Repun that Sabera dropped and hope he doesn't do it again. The problem is that you'll be point blank when Karmine does anything since stabbing is the fastest way to drop him. There's asolutely no time to dodge the Nuper Ray if he uses it. Luckily he didn't use it but I wasn't as quick as I should have been in starting my assault. I lost maybe 2-3 seconds here.

The Warrior Ring only has one use and it's not until the Crystalis Tower.

10 - RELICS OF THE DESERT

I finish up my levelling on the Scorpions in the cave after Sahara. Instead of curing the Poison (since it's just sooooooo SEXY!) and healing myself, I just let the Opel Statue revive me when I hit 0 HP...then I started using Refresh. It buys me anough time so my MP reserves won't be completely depleted when I get to the Pyramid. I should also note that I got Poisoned at least 15 times...the main reason I didn't sure it is due to the fact that I would just get Poisoned again after curing it, thus wasting MP and time.

Emperor Draygon died quickly.

His True Form decided to not do the laser attack until about 45-60 seconds in, which is just a waste of time...that I can't do a whole lot about. I guess he just likes his Orange Spiny Balls. I had seen someone perform a quick kill on im before, but I could never quite duplicate it. It requires perfect timing of 2 Level 3 Thunder Sword (Thunderstorm) attacks. You have to start the first one the instant he becomes vulnerable, and the the second one the instant the first one ends...there should be no pause at all between the 2 Thunderstorms. I'm still not sure what otherworldly spirit was controlling my luck so well as to enable me to perform this trick perfectly this time!

11 - MECHSTORM

Ahhh...the Crystalis Tower. This area took a lot of practice and research to find a quick and sane way to kill everything faster than with just the Warrior Ring like I did last time...

I abuse Thunderstorm this time...a lot. Every Green Mech is killed by a Thunderstorm (with Power Ring equipped) combo except for one - which was killed by the Thunder Sword/Warrior Ring while I was herding it to another area (where it would have died to a Power Ring/Thunderstorm conbo anyway). I use the Warruir Ring to herd Green Mechs to other locations to I can kill more than one with only one use of Thunderstorm. The Sword of Water (well, actually any Sword aside from Thunder) works well for this since it can have more than one shot on screen at a time. All the White Mechs are killed by a Thunderstorm/Level 2 Thunder Sword (Thunder Rings) attack with Power Ring equipped.

DYNA drops in no time flat. The 15 MP I started the fight with was more than enough to keep Barrier up until it died.

Enjoy!