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chuckroI used the Randomizer from https://hmsjayne.com/ and this time I flagged to randomize key items, magic and all treasures with high wealth level but a normal XP scale.
That randomized magic was first evident when I stocked up in Corneria, when my white mage got Curaga, Diaga and Healra as first-level spells, and my red mage got Blizzaga and Break. (And at level 1 MP costs of 3-5 MP each!) There was a 2,700 GP chest, a ruby armlet and a silver armlet in the Temple of Chaos; and I got the levistone and the canal for beating Garland. I immediately flew to Ryukahn desert and received the bridge, which I felt was hilarious. (I went and crossed the bridge just for funsies.)
Matoya’s chests had a ton of gold and an Aegis Shield I can’t use yet. The Pravoka stores got Full-Life, Stona and NullAll for white mage, and Haste and Slow for red mage. (I opted to skip Stop in favor of also giving RM Full-Life.) A single cast of Blizzaga wiped the pirates and got me the rat’s tail.
I was still too low-level to get new magic in Elfland at this point, but I noted Level 3 magic included Poisona for WM and Fira and Scourge for RM. Level 4 magic was super-exciting for WM (Exit, Protera, Diaja and Curaja) but forgettable for RM. I spent my surplus cash at Crescent Lake getting better gear, ground half a dozen levels in the Peninsula of Power, then bought level 3 spells.
The Marsh Cave still gave me some trouble with being stun-locked (cheap Diaga was very helpful) and poisoned (glad I waited to get Poisona). Treasure included a lot of cash, a Kenpogi (useless), a Black Garb (upgrade for my thief), and another silver armlet. The Piscodemons were easy and gave me the Warp Cube. The extra couple of levels from the Marsh Cave also let me load up on level 4 white magic.
I jumped over to Melmond; level 5 white magic includes NullDeath and black magic has both Flare and Thundaga, so that’ll be nice when I can grab it. Sadda won’t give me anything until I feed the Titan, but I could snag a Golden Apple and a bunch of gold from the cave. Golden Apples are lovely when you’ve got a red mage.
At this point I was about to do the earth cave, when I remembered that I had the rat tail and nothing stopped me from going to the Cardia Islands. I was able to class change at level 16. The caves had a Sage’s Mitre, a Saber, a Bard’s Tunic, an Ogrekiller, a pile of gold, and a Masamune. So…very glad I did that! Then I went to Gaia and blew all my money on ProRings for everybody.
The Earth cave had a Blue Curtain, a Red Curtain, a Vampire Fang, a Wyrmkiller, and an Ultima Weapon. Beating the Vampire (he died in one hit to Masamune-ninja) got me Nitro Powder, so I immediately gave it to the dwarf and got Adamantite; and Smyth turned that into the Crown. Astos also died in a single hit, dropping the Rosetta Stone. Dr. Unne then…gave me a Megalixer.
I decided to hit Mount Gulg next. On 2F I found a Great Axe, an Ice Shield, a Hero’s Shield, Diamond Gloves, two Murasames, an Ice Brand, an Iron Armor, and assorted consumables. With that much good weaponry, I moved my Masamune to the white wizard. Lower floors had mostly cash and consumables, but also a Dragon Mail and a Deathbringer. I went in at level 20 and emerged having beating Marilith at level 29, so clearly this was the right powering-up choice.
I ran around getting new spells for everybody, then headed for the Cave of Ice. Between high-level equipment, ProRing’s, and cheap Diaga, nothing was particularly threatening. Treasure included a Mage Masher, Gauntlets, another Ice Brand, a Diamond Armlet, my first Ribbon, and of course lots of cash. The Eye was laughable and dropped the Lute. I emerged only two levels higher.
I can’t access Ordeals or the Waterfall without the Canoe; but I could reach the Caravan and returning the fairy got her to teach me Lufeinian. The hike wasn’t too bad, and the Star Ruby was waiting for me. (The top level spells, by the way, were Holy and Blizzard.) I fed the Titan and Sadda gave me jolt tonic. I woke the elf prince, and he gave me the Crystal Eye. I gave to Matoya, and she gave me the Earth Rod.
Then I did an overpowered run back into the Earth Cave. I did find a Power Vest, Genji Shield and Ribbon I’d missed the first time. Downstairs had a Crystal Helm and a Ragnarock, so I rearranged the Ultima Weapon onto my RM and the Knight got both. Lich died in a single round and I hurried off to the circle of sages, who gave me the Chime.
And so at level 35 (but very well-equipped, I headed to Mirage Tower. There was Gaia Gear, Feathered Hat, Enhancer, another Megalixer, Murasame, Masamune and Kenpogi. Up in the Fortress, there was a Rune Staff and Red Cap and a bunch more outdated gear (including yet another Murasame). Tucked away in a corner was the Mystic Key. The next floor had a Tiger Mask, another Ultima Weapon, another Hero’s Shield, Genji Armor and an Angel’s Ring. Tiamat’s high defense meant she lasted a couple of rounds, but I emerged at level 44 with three crystals lit.
Corneria’s treasure was the canoe. Genji Armor and a Light Robe were also in the treasure room in Corneria. The Mage’s Staff was in the Temple, the Gladius was in the Dwarf tunnel, and there was plenty of duplicate armor. The Western Keep had another Ogrekiller and my third Ribbon.
Ordeals had the Oxyale and forgettable duplicate armor. (Upon reflection, it’s really weird that the Crown gated Ordeals in the original game, where it was completely impossible to get there without it.) The Waterfall had the Razer, the Black Robe, and my third Masamune. And the Excalibur, which was my fourth-best weapon at this point. In Onrac, I was amused that the level 7 white spells were Cure and Cura.
I actually went straight to Kraken and skipped the mermaids (I’m reasonably certain the only remaining item is the Ship, which only gates the bonus dungeons). The only noteworthy treasure was two Defenders and lots more cash. Kraken died in a single round.
I walked into the Past Temple at level 48; I reached Chaos at level 57 (with max gold). This was the four and a half hour point, so clearly the level slider made a big difference from my last run. (Chaos took half a dozen rounds, but my party was never in any real danger. My WM cast level 1 Healra almost every round.)
Overall: I think I was right that not increasing the XP slider when I had “high wealth” on was the more fun move. I remain concerned that without either of them, you could end up in a situation where you just needed to aimlessly grind because the key items were all blocked by Mirage Tower.
That randomized magic was first evident when I stocked up in Corneria, when my white mage got Curaga, Diaga and Healra as first-level spells, and my red mage got Blizzaga and Break. (And at level 1 MP costs of 3-5 MP each!) There was a 2,700 GP chest, a ruby armlet and a silver armlet in the Temple of Chaos; and I got the levistone and the canal for beating Garland. I immediately flew to Ryukahn desert and received the bridge, which I felt was hilarious. (I went and crossed the bridge just for funsies.)
Matoya’s chests had a ton of gold and an Aegis Shield I can’t use yet. The Pravoka stores got Full-Life, Stona and NullAll for white mage, and Haste and Slow for red mage. (I opted to skip Stop in favor of also giving RM Full-Life.) A single cast of Blizzaga wiped the pirates and got me the rat’s tail.
I was still too low-level to get new magic in Elfland at this point, but I noted Level 3 magic included Poisona for WM and Fira and Scourge for RM. Level 4 magic was super-exciting for WM (Exit, Protera, Diaja and Curaja) but forgettable for RM. I spent my surplus cash at Crescent Lake getting better gear, ground half a dozen levels in the Peninsula of Power, then bought level 3 spells.
The Marsh Cave still gave me some trouble with being stun-locked (cheap Diaga was very helpful) and poisoned (glad I waited to get Poisona). Treasure included a lot of cash, a Kenpogi (useless), a Black Garb (upgrade for my thief), and another silver armlet. The Piscodemons were easy and gave me the Warp Cube. The extra couple of levels from the Marsh Cave also let me load up on level 4 white magic.
I jumped over to Melmond; level 5 white magic includes NullDeath and black magic has both Flare and Thundaga, so that’ll be nice when I can grab it. Sadda won’t give me anything until I feed the Titan, but I could snag a Golden Apple and a bunch of gold from the cave. Golden Apples are lovely when you’ve got a red mage.
At this point I was about to do the earth cave, when I remembered that I had the rat tail and nothing stopped me from going to the Cardia Islands. I was able to class change at level 16. The caves had a Sage’s Mitre, a Saber, a Bard’s Tunic, an Ogrekiller, a pile of gold, and a Masamune. So…very glad I did that! Then I went to Gaia and blew all my money on ProRings for everybody.
The Earth cave had a Blue Curtain, a Red Curtain, a Vampire Fang, a Wyrmkiller, and an Ultima Weapon. Beating the Vampire (he died in one hit to Masamune-ninja) got me Nitro Powder, so I immediately gave it to the dwarf and got Adamantite; and Smyth turned that into the Crown. Astos also died in a single hit, dropping the Rosetta Stone. Dr. Unne then…gave me a Megalixer.
I decided to hit Mount Gulg next. On 2F I found a Great Axe, an Ice Shield, a Hero’s Shield, Diamond Gloves, two Murasames, an Ice Brand, an Iron Armor, and assorted consumables. With that much good weaponry, I moved my Masamune to the white wizard. Lower floors had mostly cash and consumables, but also a Dragon Mail and a Deathbringer. I went in at level 20 and emerged having beating Marilith at level 29, so clearly this was the right powering-up choice.
I ran around getting new spells for everybody, then headed for the Cave of Ice. Between high-level equipment, ProRing’s, and cheap Diaga, nothing was particularly threatening. Treasure included a Mage Masher, Gauntlets, another Ice Brand, a Diamond Armlet, my first Ribbon, and of course lots of cash. The Eye was laughable and dropped the Lute. I emerged only two levels higher.
I can’t access Ordeals or the Waterfall without the Canoe; but I could reach the Caravan and returning the fairy got her to teach me Lufeinian. The hike wasn’t too bad, and the Star Ruby was waiting for me. (The top level spells, by the way, were Holy and Blizzard.) I fed the Titan and Sadda gave me jolt tonic. I woke the elf prince, and he gave me the Crystal Eye. I gave to Matoya, and she gave me the Earth Rod.
Then I did an overpowered run back into the Earth Cave. I did find a Power Vest, Genji Shield and Ribbon I’d missed the first time. Downstairs had a Crystal Helm and a Ragnarock, so I rearranged the Ultima Weapon onto my RM and the Knight got both. Lich died in a single round and I hurried off to the circle of sages, who gave me the Chime.
And so at level 35 (but very well-equipped, I headed to Mirage Tower. There was Gaia Gear, Feathered Hat, Enhancer, another Megalixer, Murasame, Masamune and Kenpogi. Up in the Fortress, there was a Rune Staff and Red Cap and a bunch more outdated gear (including yet another Murasame). Tucked away in a corner was the Mystic Key. The next floor had a Tiger Mask, another Ultima Weapon, another Hero’s Shield, Genji Armor and an Angel’s Ring. Tiamat’s high defense meant she lasted a couple of rounds, but I emerged at level 44 with three crystals lit.
Corneria’s treasure was the canoe. Genji Armor and a Light Robe were also in the treasure room in Corneria. The Mage’s Staff was in the Temple, the Gladius was in the Dwarf tunnel, and there was plenty of duplicate armor. The Western Keep had another Ogrekiller and my third Ribbon.
Ordeals had the Oxyale and forgettable duplicate armor. (Upon reflection, it’s really weird that the Crown gated Ordeals in the original game, where it was completely impossible to get there without it.) The Waterfall had the Razer, the Black Robe, and my third Masamune. And the Excalibur, which was my fourth-best weapon at this point. In Onrac, I was amused that the level 7 white spells were Cure and Cura.
I actually went straight to Kraken and skipped the mermaids (I’m reasonably certain the only remaining item is the Ship, which only gates the bonus dungeons). The only noteworthy treasure was two Defenders and lots more cash. Kraken died in a single round.
I walked into the Past Temple at level 48; I reached Chaos at level 57 (with max gold). This was the four and a half hour point, so clearly the level slider made a big difference from my last run. (Chaos took half a dozen rounds, but my party was never in any real danger. My WM cast level 1 Healra almost every round.)
Overall: I think I was right that not increasing the XP slider when I had “high wealth” on was the more fun move. I remain concerned that without either of them, you could end up in a situation where you just needed to aimlessly grind because the key items were all blocked by Mirage Tower.
