void Fox(); - Gaming - Speedrunning Live A Live

Speedrunning Live A Live

These are my run notes for Live A Live. They're rough and written for me to quickly understand and reference, so they're probably nigh useless for anyone else. Sorry about that.

Pre-run thoughts

Timing and Categories

These are my opinions, as the only active runner I know about. If a community forms, these are open to redefinition :)

RTA time starts once you hit A on "New Game" and ends when you hit a button to close the protagonist's dialogue just prior to his teleportation from the statue room.

The main category should include a seven hero boss rush and not doing Oersted's finale chapter. I feel this is the canonical way to finish the game and nothing else gives you the full proper credit sequence. I want to call this Any% but maybe "True End" is more accurate. This category allows all forms of taking items into the finale, redoing chapters, etc.

ILs should be timed such that 9 ILs add up to a segmented run (with a few seconds lost to menuing between chapters). For this I've settled on time starting when you hit A at "Is this okay?" or "Redo?", and ending when you see the save screen after the chapter ends. This means the ~4 minutes of credits are counted in the runtime but will make it easy to convert IL times to segmented run estimations. If you want to future-proof your runs, you can set a split at character control and the last action before credits start, so SDA compatible time is present in your splits.

The first eight ILs are pretty self-explanatory. Finish the chapter and get sent back to the main menu. The finale IL is the same, but timing stops at the same place RTA timing does. The finale allows you to bring in any items you want from prior chapters, so snagging a save with a Cola Bottle, Basic Rock, and Medicine Box is recommended.

General Optimizations

Except in very rare circumstances, you should assume any action you take will give the enemy a single turn. A turn consists of one action on their part, or moving 2-3 tiles. This is global across the entire game, except when your speed is extremely high or the enemy's speed is extremely low.
In combat, after your move, hold B (or any button really). This will auto-accelerate the enemy's turn, reducing the text popups for their moves, status effects, and field effects to 1 frame each. No need to mash. You can let go once you hear the "Ding" starting your turn. This will not buffer inputs during your turn so don't worry about holding too long. If you can afford to do it, you could hold L or R the entire run to auto-skip a lot of skippable stuff in battle without missing out on functionality unless you need to turn during battle.
For some reason you can't skip the text boxes that pop up for your own attacks and counters. No need to try.
Text rendering treats entire names as one character. There's no point in shortening names. Except for Cube because you have to re-enter his name during the chapter.
Mash text boxes with B. It works, and you won't accidentally pick a dialogue option this way, like in Sundown's chapter.
Once an enemy moves once, they'll move every time unit until you act. Most foes will move toward you to attempt an attack, so you should wait with Y and let them cross into your field of fire rather than you cross into their's; this gives you first strike.
MOST enemies have their most dangerous attacks on diagonals. Especially downward diagonals. If you run into a monster you don't know anything about, avoid diagonals. For most foes, standing one "Knight Jump" away is safe.

Stats

The stat system in Live A Live is a little opaque. Most of this is just anecdotal theory...

Atk: Base damage; improves every attack's effectiveness
Def: Base defense; mitigates every attack's effectiveness
PW: Power. Core stat for "Physical" attacks
SP: Speed. Reduces time required to act; also a core stat for some of Li's attacks
VT: Vitality. Physical attack mitigation?
IQ: Intelligence. Core stat for some "Magic" attacks, mitigation for "Magic" attacks

I suspect each ability has its own equation for damage derived from stats. Some abilities seem to gain more damage from stat gains than others. For example, Chill Wind is just ridiculous regardless of stats, but doesn't gain much from additional IQ, while the Shan Quan ultimate benefits strongly from both SP and IQ.

We only really go crazy with stat optimization choices in a few places:

Oboro's chapter, we want to stack Oboro with IQ so Strength of the Ninja hits harder
Pogo's chapter, we want to give Pogo plenty of Atk and PW since he does most of the damage
Oersted's chapter, we walk a VERY thin edge with IQ to meet the IQ requirement to stone Gynophobia
Finale, we want to give a hero a ton of IQ to both cause and mitigate Odio damage

On level up, stat gain is random. You can gain either 2, 3, or 5 of each stat. So bad rolls can total up to 20 missing points in a stat in some chapters. Unfortunately there's nothing to be done about this except to expect it and be able to mitigate the effects of bad luck a bit. This is most harmful in Oersted's chapter where bad rolls can actually put stoning Gynophobia out of reach, or make Algos eye not do enough damage to early guards to one-shot them.

Stat max is "99 + 127", that being 99 from level ups and 127 from equipped gear. In this route, no one we use will be getting close to a base of 99 in anything.

EXP Gain

Every level takes 100 EXP to gain. Once you level up, remaining EXP is just lost. So if you reach 99 EXP, you should take a 1 EXP fight rather than a 45 EXP fight. This is especially relevant in the finale when hunting Ishtars. If your main character is on the verge of leveling, you should stop fleeing and bump up to the next level before the next Ishtar.

For the most part, only heroes who act during the fight get maximum EXP. There are exceptions, but they're not worth mentioning here because they don't come up.

Characters who are of lower level than the monsters gain more EXP, characters who are higher level gain less. This curve is pretty steep and tops/bottoms out pretty fast. As an example: Masaru in the finale (Level 2) gains 11 EXP for a fight the rest of his party gains 4 EXP for. So while a low level character will catch up, it won't be fast.

In most open areas, fights tend to be decided by the total level of the party. Most areas also seem to have a minimum and maximum level where, if your party is outside that range, you'll just get the minimum/maximum level spawns instead.

Finale EXP

This deserves special mention. Out of all the methods of gaining EXP in the finale, the best by far is killing Ishtars. Ishtars are mini-bosses that spawn in most places in the world and are a guaranteed level for one hero if killed by stoning (up to at least 25, which is way stronger than needed to kill Odio). Stoning is easily accomplished with the Algos Eye found in the first room of Sundown's Dungeon. If the user has more than 70 IQ when the eye fires, the Ishtar is guaranteed to be stoned. Having more as a buffer is a good idea since Ishtars can also IQ down you.

If you use the second hero (left slot) to initiate the Algos Eye, the Ishtar cannot stop them aside from killing them outright with Escher Space. Ishtar can't/won't turn to use Tail or Morbius Rondo on them and will usually Escher Space or Constrict either the right or top hero. Sometimes Ishtar will Tail the top slot, knocking them back. That's why I advise against using that slot to initiate the Algos Eye.

Ishtars seem to begin spawning when the party's total level is equal to 32. They'll appear in indoor areas first, such as the Forbidden Land and Oboro's dungeon. For a few levels after, they'll have a very high rate of spawn before they begin tapering off as new molds enter the spawn rotation. In the mid 40s, they'll disappear entirely. You'll know this has happened when a mold of one Mustard Dragon and two Pistachios begin spawning. At that time, Ishtars can still be found in the outdoor area for a few levels yet. Effective leveling will get you ready for Odio long before Ishtars disappear.

The party we use in the finale comes in at levels 2, 8, 9, and 10. So total of 29. This means we need 3 levels before Ishtars begin spawning. This is best achieved with the mold that's two Bulldozers and the Master. Someone can sneak between the Bulldozers and kill the Master for an easy Break Down, giving them all the EXP. This mold is available right from the start in the Forbidden Land and is semi-common.

Nothing else is really worth the effort. Pre-Ishtars, the Bulldozers are worth 75 EXP a fight. Ishtars are a guaranteed level-up every time. If you're targeting 16 on your main damager, you could have everyone share in the EXP from the Bulldozers to get to 32 ASAP then let the damager hoard all the EXP from Ishtars to get to 16.

Keep in mind that once a hero levels up, their EXP is set to 0. Once you're Ishtar hunting, every other mold is literally a waste of time. Other molds could be useful in the Bulldozer phase, but not often and not by much.

Finale IQ

The finale strategy will require stacking IQ on one person. This will let them stone Ishtars with Algos Eye (70IQ) and stand up to Odio's attacks (as much IQ as they can get). There are two good options for this: Li and her ultimate and Sundown with Neo Shot Storm. That means we want the Medicine Box (which we want to buff Oboro's attacks anyway) and IQ items we can trivially pick up as we go. So my thoughts on IQ items littered through the game:

Accessories

Medicine Box: +30IQ. Yeah it's a self-heal, but we should have enough healing sources to not need it, so equip for IQ.
Martial Arts Tome: +10IQ to pick up on the way back from fighting the Tiger Gang, easy.
Basic Rock: +50IQ. I want this one, but it'll cost 5-7 minutes in Pogo's Chapter. Get it if we don't have enough IQ in the end.
Astra Plume: +15IQ. Dropped by Remiel. Remiels go down in one heavy attack before Oboro gets the party together.
Unicorn Horn: +10IQ. Four found in Lucretia Castle. These + Martial Arts Tome form the baseline Accessories.
Solomon Bone: +10IQ. If you miss the Tome or a Horn, these are dropped by Kerberos, shouldn't be necessary.

Body

Silver Holy Robe: +20IQ. We get one in the Armory of Lucretia Castle. The best choice, and easy to get.

Head

Uhoh Mask: +15IQ. Horn or Fang + Leather
Golden God Pin: +8IQ. Refined in Akira's Chapter but unreliable. Dropped by Ishtar. We'll probably get one?
Gold Topknot: +5IQ. Chest in Forbidden Land.
New Hat: +4IQ. Sundown's base equipment (Or stolen from Mad Dog? I forget). Base Head Armor. Crappy eh?

Foot

Mermaid Tail: +10IQ. Found in Li's Dungeon.
Kirin Shoes: No IQ but good speed. Grabbed during Li's chapter. Probably a better choice than going to Li's Dungeon.

Offhand

Dragon Hand: +9IQ. Dropped by Peicha in Li's Chapter (The fat boss in Odi's hall)
Mini Goddess: +16IQ. Found in Li's Dungeon.
PokopokoDrum: +12IQ. Crafted in Pogo's Chapter. Stick or Bone + Leather. If you have 1 leather, the mask is better.

The critical line is around +60IQ. This is enough that any one person can stone Ishtar even after the IQ Down from Escher Space. As noted this is easily met.

When fighting Odio, all we care about is reliably hitting Level Down from Sundown. +70 IQ is enough to do this.

Long story short, we don't need to go out of our way to max IQ. What's available in the finale is more than sufficient to get the job done.

Oboro (40:00)

Enter manor by fleeing from the first fight
Take left door then north
Run to house to left, take left door then middle. then secret entrance for chest
Crawl to left exit, use ninja cloak as soon as text is over to dodge fight
Run along roof to house over the front gate, get Storehouse Key
Run to the gear room and drop into the center hole immediately

Use cloak to trick guard into opening door, decloak when he's behind you
Run out and left exit, get chest on the way, run south to VIP hall
Exit south to back outside then enter storehouse to the right
Grab gear, optimize, then kill ghosts. Exit and return to respawn. Use Flame Art
Grind here til Lv6. Do not kill the woman.

Backtrack to the gear room and drop back into your cell, kill guard for key
Right and into secret entrance, unlock Ryoma's cell and drop down
No need to grind here, just kill the ghosts and the boss, get Ryoma

Run back to blue VIP hall. Take right door, door with guard for right chest
Now take right door and up stairs, then south and west for secret door
Take ladder into attic and go right for chest
Heading down, pass the fast breaking floor by going back-forth 4 times + 1 tile
Exit to southeast down ladder and into secret door
Exit south then go in one door right, open chests
Up stairs to right, then left door and into secret passage

Take red trapper fight, throw Fuma Shuriken for Break Down
Take blue trapper fight, throw Ode Shuriken for Break Down
Open chest in sight
Take statue fight, don't Birdlime. We don't use Shura Yin on this route, just kill
Kill the last trappers/statues here til Lv7. Get as many with one Cross Slash as possible

Down ladder in SE, in door for teapot scene. Distrust til he comes out.
Use Fuda item to kill goons then use Ryoma to tank while Oboro uses Strength.
Secret door then up stairs for three baskethead fight.
Careful of flute range. Use Strength while Ryoma tanks
Against eight swords, use Fuda and Fujin for fun times
Battle Musashi, Ryoma's first turn he should toss Birdlime. Ryoma WILL go down here, just use a heal

Into secret door. fight the Succubus. Put Ryoma between her and Oboro
Continue on, get Medicine Box by waiting for woman
Equip Ryoma with Genji stuff, optimize Oboro, equip Medicine Box on him
Talk to Ode for fight. Same story: Strength of Ninja or Shurikens, Ryoma tanks
Run south onto the deck for final battle.
Put Ryoma east of Ode's bottom row, Oboro SE of that. Same strat as always. Ryoma should heal himself
Your answer to Ryoma's invitation is irrelevant. I accept so I can spam A here

Masaru (15:00)

The most straightforward of the chapters. This is 7 fights with no puzzles, no walking, no leveling. There's RNG in that you can't progress past the first fight until you've learned both skills, and if you fail to turn in some fights, they can kill you in two hits.

There's no real route here. You'll need to pick up a few skills to smooth over the fights, and for the final chapter, but beyond that it's a matter of getting what you need and then winning fights.

As tempting as it is to skip Tsuda, you can't. Abise-Geri will NOT hit Moribe until you Tsuda him. Also it's nice to have to try to earn some time back by upping your damage if you whiff and get an enemy adjacent to you.

If you happen to get hit by Namcat and pick up Pancha Kick, it's a pretty reliable knockback and might be faster than Tsuda since your foe won't get a turn then.

Fight Moirbe
Move in directly E or S of him
Hit him with Blazing Fist until he uses Tsuda
Back up to 2E or 2S and Battle Cry to get your level back, then Y-wait until he uses Abise-Geri
Move back in and use Tsuda until it connects (It'll take a few tries)
Now back off to 1S 2E and spam Abise-Giri until he dies
Now take on everyone else. Order doesn't matter
For each fight, get in 1S 2E and spam Abise-Giri. This should be pretty safe
If someone gets adjacent, Tsuda them, take their hit, then back back up to 1S 2E and continue
Odie: Same story but DO NOT GET ADJACENT EVER. If you miss, he'll move to put you 2E. Take his hit then move 1S

Sundown (28:00)

Most of Sundown's route is text boxes. Spam them with B instead of A so you don't whiff choices. Always pick the one that's not "..." or the dialogue will repeat (or worse)

Goons do NOT "Break Down" once you kill O Dio. You have to wipe the entire board in the final battle to win.

Use Double Shot at maximum range to hopefully one-shot Mad Dog. If not, oh well.
Get into town, run into the bar, wait for music to begin playing again, then talk to bartender
You get two choice boxes in your chat with Pike, don't whiff them
Double Shot Pike; this one WILL be a one shot kill
Duel Mad Dog; double shot him like above
Warp back into the bar. After the conversation you'll need to talk to everyone, then Mad Dog twice

Talk to Sheriff twice, tell him you're ready
Get Bourbon from jar by bar
Get Tequila from side room if you think you'll need more healing
Go to Sheriff Office
Get Dynamite from chest, Peacemaker from Gun Rack
Remove Mad Dog's hat, then optimize Sundown, make sure he gets the hat (for Li later)
Drink until battle

Move Sundown down immediately. He's in Winchester range where he starts
Use Sundown to Dynamite the middle of the field. This will hit everything but right two columns
Mad Dog should Jitterbug, a lot
Sundown should Piercing Shot west, then northwest to clear Winchesters, then North
When Winchesters are cleaned up and Piercing Shot can only hit 1-2 foes, switch to Double Shot
You'll have one final duel with Mad Dog. End him. If you flee you have to fight him again anyway.

Akira (50:00)

We want to minimize our time here. Run through, don't upgrade anything, and flee from fights. Taro can take out the goons in the facility and every fight besides has cheese. You could take the whole chapter at Level 4, but it'll be faster to just kill some people than squeeze by them.

Run right, mind read when 4th goon walks up to trigger fight
Pummel the goons with Pissed Fist and Mother Image
Mindread Matsu to end segment

Enter home, talk to Watanabe (boy watching TV) to trigger him moving
Go talk to him in the first south room to the left, then go watch TV
Talk to Watanabe again then mind-scan Kaori (far left room) for story

Run to Antique Shop, mindread the bathroom door x.x
Run downstairs, get in teleporter then talk to Toei
Get in a fight and Teleport to warp home, or walk there

Talk to Kaori for story. Outlet is in bottom left corner, on left
Mindscan Toei for story. Mindscan Taro to make him follow. Leave the room
Go into north left room and talk to Watanbe
Go to north right room, talk to Taeko. She should leave
Go into right door, step on and off toilet til Taeko drags you out (this triggers continuation)

Go to the shop, down to Daoih and talk to Toei, then back to 1F
Talk to Toei, but don't do what he says. Return home, mindread Taeko
Go down left aisle to trigger story. Follow goons til you catch them

Mother Image, Pissed Fist the big goon
Mindread a goon, talk to Mastu, mindread Matsu
Go home, mindread Kaori, then go to facility

Say Nope, flee and squeeze into the next room
Take right door, then far right escalator and south
Cross skyway, go down left escalator, put Akira and Taro in bottom/right

If you don't have a Napalm Bomb here, go right, door, right door, loot lockers
If you're going this way anyway, pick up Matsu early in the toilet

Beat up the goon and go in to fight crusaders, use grenade for one-shot
Go into far left room, mindread guy in bottom-left, then go back to double door
The code is the 4th option, go in, story, have Matsu punch boss in back. GG

Go to Antique Shop, mindread Toei, then go to bar, mindread Matsu, exit
Return home, talk to Director out front, enter every room and talk to Taeko
Once done, the fire in front of the bedroom should go out, go in, mindread Kaori
Once Taeko storms onto Daioh, mindread Matsu for more story, then again
Once in control of Daioh, spam Halogen Laser on weak things and move north
Move directly under and Babylon Kick the carrier, one tile from right edge
Babylon Kick the boss until it dies

Pogo (60:00)

The MO here should be to rush until you have control of Bel, then grind until she hits Level 7 and gets LaaLaa. This will make the fight against O-D-O a giant joke.

The big bottleneck in the chapter, aside from getting Bel to Lv7, is getting her to kiss you just before the first Zaki fight. You can give her one of several items to do it. The only two good options this route are...

Meaty Bone: Looted from sheep, pigs, or elephants in the hunting field. After the mandatory hunting scene, you lose the ones you're "Given", so you have to loot one as a drop
GigigagaWaka: Foot Armor made from a Beast Horn + Hard Rock. We grab a Hard Rock early in the chapter just in case

The rest will cost you your Buzzing Knife by either taking the Stone Knife or the Cord, which is not a good call.

Run out of your room, Gori will follow. Poke guy.
Go to elder's room, talk to him and go out to right field
Talk to guy blocking path, get demonstration of sniffing, then talk to Elder to get kicked out
The fights here are in static locations. Do 3 then get let back in
If you didn't get either an extra Meaty Bone or Beast Horn, go back out and get one or the other
Return to your bed and sleep.

Go to Elder's bedroom and loot cord and knife from his shelf
Go to right top room, hit Gori. Exit. Return, talk top left-most hay bale. Then follow Bel around 3 bales.
Sniff, then poke middle bale, it'll run to the right. Grab meat, give to Bel. Leave, return, poke bale.
If you need to make a Waka, grab a bone here if you don't have one
Exit the room, try to return to your room, then return to food room and get left hay bale
NOW return to your room. Cutscene. Check hay bale, cutscene.
Go to shop and trade up your weapon

Cord + Knife = Buzzing Knife. Equip
If you don't have another meaty bone, also trade Bone + Beast Horn for shoes to give to Bel

Go back to Bel and give her meat/shoes for another <3, then attempt to exit north. Get punched. Cutscene

Fight Zaki's goons. Your improved weapon should help. These guys can't be spun by Ee!
Now Zaki. This is probably the riskiest fight in the chapter honestly

Move Pogo left until 1 column from edge, pass til Zaki is in hitting range
Bash Bash until Zaki kills Pogo
Move Gori NE of Zaki and Nyah! to finish him

Grind until Bel gets Laa Laa.

This will happen at Lv7. It'll take about 10-15 battles
These fights are EXP gain Rule B as noted in "EXP Gain" above. Have Bel act to get EXP
Some molds in the beginning will WRECK you, flee to get a new mold
Gori's Ee! makes enemies spin. Any mold where you can hit everyone with it is a keeper
Once Gori gets his fart, that's more effective than Ee!

Wait until dark if it's not already, then go in the cave in the top-right

Cutscene. Then another fight with Zaki. Bash Bash or Boom Boom his face
Go down and get Gori, then give chase to the cave door; fall into obvious trap.
Run north in the flower field until you wake up from the dream.
The door is in the same spot every time. Sniff if you need to find it. Go the east route.

Follow path to enemy tribe camp, go to overlook for cutscene. Try to leave, Gori will run off
Enter right door, talk to Gori until you deck him. Then right door
Go in skull door. If you can flee and work around the guards, that's faster than fighting. Go north to cutscene.
One more fight with Zaki. This should be a snore by now. Boom Boom hits harder
The fight with ODO should be short. Lower his level with Ee!, then use LaaLaa to wreck his face

Kung Fu (45:00)

Since the Inheritor will mainly be an ult machine in the finale, what moves we teach is irrelevant once we finish here. Go for the KO ASAP. I tend to favor Li and make sure she gets Squirrel Kick and Lao for use here and in her finale re-fight.

Super optimization involves getting your Inheritor to 7 in training then switching to beating up the other non-Sammo student for speed. You'll oneshot them or they won't counter because they know no counters. It saves quite a bit of time in an IL but may be over-optimization in RTA.

Run down the mountain and left to the forest
Pick up a plant as you progress through the forest. You need exactly one herb
Avoid combat, go in far enough to pick up Li
Use Lao for fast win
Exit forest and go south to town

Talk to the unconscious old lady on the left between a pot and a box, give herb to trigger Yuan
Go all the way south to cutscene, use Lao for a one shot
Take the second option to make Yuan join right away
Run north and right to the second town, then north until cutscene

Pay for the guy's dinner to make the 5chef walk away. Sammo will join right away
Return home to begin training. Trial battles should be fast downs

Train until your choice hits 7, then bonk someone else for fast KOs
During the dojo session, get Kirin Shoes from the rightmost shelf on the top-left

Run to the right town when the panic starts after the training, same story as before; Lao them
Talk to topleft girl in red for a SP+ item and the old man for an IQ+ item, then return to dojo for cutscene

Head into the forest and your chosen student will follow you

Move Kung Fu Suit and Iron Fist to student
Equip all accessories on Student
Order: U:Student, L:Master so student goes first

Head into the dojo and begin the beatdown party. Master's Lao and Student's Squirrel Kick are OP

When the tigers are released you can pull them against the rail and block them on the guard, then run around
Inside, grab Fukei Feather from middle left pot, dodge guards
In horizontal hall, mind tiger in the middle, take far right green curtain
Head north until another horizontal hall, run left to engage all five guards at once
Take left curtain and north to room with five more guards
In one of the last rooms, get both pots: healing item and Gourd for attack

Finally north to gauntlet. Take them up the right side

On the sisters, focus on the fat one first, she can one-shot you
On the old man: he has a diagonal stone. Squirrel Kick while Master uses Gourd. Even if the Gourd doesn't go off, it's less menuing so it saves time maybe

Talk to Ode for cutscene and final fight. Move bottom-right then Feather, Ult, and Squirrel Kick, you should outlast him. For safety you can run left once he closes in and continue Squirrel Kick

Cube (45:00)

The speed route is the casual route. There's no tricks here. Just a lot of mashing to fast skip text and knowing when the plot continuation triggers.

Exit Kato's room and exit south, this will skip the hide and seek game
Register at computer. Use a short name like "A", it's important here
Exit, go north to Kato, wake everyone, top-right last
Finish scene, go to break room (2N, around, in)
Get coffee to skip the coffee "Tutorial", talk to Huey, read book, talk to Corporal to get slapped
Captain should trigger, finish scene, go to cockpit (3N, 3F, S, left door), talk to Rachel

Everyone gathers, talk to Kato then Huey then Rachel then Kirk
Everyone leaves, go to airlock (1F, in door) to witness fight. Talk to both then break it up
Finish scene, return to Cockpit (3F, in door), talk to Huey, let event play

Go to sickbay (2F, right corridor, 2S, left bottom door) for automatic scene. Talk to Corporal to continue it
Go to cockpit, talk to Kato. TP to break room, coffee Huey. Scene
Go to airlock (1F) talk to Huey, then Kirk's room (lower bunks, top-left). Talk to Kato
Go to Sickbay, immediately leave to trigger "Kirk Gone" event. Don't even decontaminate
Go to Kirk's room, talk to Kato. Both leave.
Go to Sickbay for scene. Group TPs to Rachel's room for scene

Go to Cargo, enter Behemoth container from BACK to trigger escaped scene
Go to Airlock, talk to Huey. Scene. TP to break room for another scene. Coffee Rachel

Get coffee, then run in circles until Kato runs out. Follow out south for scene
Go to Computer Core, get password. Go to cryo for scene (skips TRYING the PW). Scene in Captain's room
Go to Corporal's room (lower bunks, bottom-left), register and go in. Talk to panel for data
Go to Captain's room, talk to Kato for scene. Lights go out

Power Jack north, go to vent at elevator. 2D and out and door south.
Just entering Cargo triggers next step. Go in vent, 4U, out, 4S for lift to 2F
See fake cube, chase to Kato's room. Scene. Your first name was "Rover". TP to Core

Go to vent, 2D, out, left fork to Kato's room. Talk to Kato to get hint
Go back to Corporal, talk. He'll run off
Go to vent, 2D for 2F. Left fork, get called by Corporal. Answer then enter break room
Talk to video game, use communicator. Hacking commences
Killing OD-10 is iffy. RTA consistent is to kill one column of pods then kick OD-10 away from the other

Go right, move right to the 2nd from bottom pod
Info Research OD-10, he will counter with Drive Back (This also changes his form to one that can't heal)
Begin walking around NW of OD-10, stop when field procs
Use Noise Stream to kill 3 pods
Move NW of OD-10, use Spin Drive to kick him SE twice
Use Mind Hack until OD-10 has less than 250 HP, then Maser Cannon

Give coffee you got 20m ago to Corporal as final action. Spam dialogue til end

Oersted (45:00)

The TAS circumvents the need to grind. There's six mandatory fights that serve as EXP gates. These are bypassed with either the Algos Eye for stone, or spin spam. The spinning is reliant on stats so some grinding may be required to make it hit; same with stoning.

V-Shine goon, Cut One Way then V-Shine Straybow, V-Shine dragon
Flee from everything from here EXCEPT one-shot fights to get Oersted 2 or 3.
Head out of the castle, pick up Straybow.
Go straight to Hash's house. Note the shortcut to the right of the mountain path
Talk to Hash, head in, inspect the shield. That's all that's required
Go all the way back to Uranus's house. Note the shortcut from mountain exit straight down
Inspect his shield for a cutscene
Back to Hash for a cutscene, pick him up. Take his shield before leaving
Go get Brion from Hash's grave
Organize: U: Hash. D: Oersted. R: Uranus. L: Straybow. Give Brion to Hash
If you run into a single drake, have Hash Death Trail it and Oersted whiff an attack for EXP
Head to the demon's chamber for the fight

Hash starts with Death Trail
Pass to Uranus
Uranus moves to bottom right corner
When trail fires, come back and heal
Repeat until win

Cutscenes, exit statue room. Loot on the way out:

Left treasure room: Flame Armor
Far left treasure room: Solomon Bone, Unicorn Horn
Far right of first "Castle" tileset: Algos Eye

Exit to caves, note shortcut between dark/light trees. Return to king and follow story to kill him
Go to treasure room and loot top-right chest for Horn
Go to left town, talk to kid, go in for scene, leave. This triggers continuation
Return to castle, get thrown in jail, talk to Uranus
At this point, start taking fights
Optimize Oersted and equip Bone and Horn and flee castle

Once you exit the dungeon hard down to evade first fight
Algos guards til level 4, then use Hammer Power
You should hit 4 + 1 fight in the hallway. If not, go to courtyard til you do

Go straight to Forbidden Land. Grind here with Algos Eye until level 7

Beetles and fat-dragons are immune to stone. Hammer or flee
Fairies can stunlock you, flee. Don't risk it

Door Boss 1: Safety save. Spam Hammer Power from diagonal. One miss and you're dead, reset
Door Boss 2: Spin to win with Hammer.
Door Boss 3: Run to the spore, smack with Hammer for a oneshot.
Door Boss 4: Safety save. Stone. If you fail, reload save. Can do at 9, but may need 10
Straybow: Stone. If you can stone Gyno you can stone him

Note: In instances where I missed Hammer on Claustro, or Stone on Gyno, they always hit after a save reload. Luck or is there something there?

Finale (50:00)

My party right now is Oboro, Sundown, Li, and Masaru.

Oboro: Movement speed, protagonist
Sundown: Brings the damage, needed for access to the Algos Eye
Masaru: Can't handle his re-fight without a few extra levels
Li: This slot is the only optional one. Getting Li a few levels helps her re-fight

This is the route to meet everyone. Take the ones you want. Then the real fun begins
Choose Oboro, run north until you get your stairs
Go into the hidden glen and get Pogo
If you are not taking Akira, go to the village and get him here
Run up the mountain, getting Cube's brain and triggering Sundown at Hash's on the way
Reach the summit, get Brion from the grave, then pick up Li/Yuan
Return down the mountain, triggering Sundown on the East side of the south mountain map
Trigger Sundown at the signpost in the forest, then NW of the courtyard
Go into the Castle treasure room for Sundown, also loot here
Follow Sundown to the castle throne room and bedrooms
Pick up the unicorn horn in the guest room
Pick up the Parasite sword and unicorn horn from the king's chamber
Go to the dungeon, pick up Masaru
Pop out onto the balcony, pick up Cube
Exit the castle, get Sundown
If you are taking Akira, go to the village and get him now
Go to Sundown's Dungeon, grab the Algos Eye immediately inside, then get his Magnum by going left, straight, left, straight. That's it. Leave.

Now we equip the party.

Organize L: Sundown, U: Masaru, D: Li, R: Oboro
Maximize Sundown for IQ then speed, make sure he gets his 44

Head straight to the room just before Odio's statue room. On the way follow this

Take the two-bulldozer fights. Whoever needs EXP acts. Piercing Shot/Squirrel Kick damage
Stone Ishtars for massive EXP, have anyone who needs EXP act too
Flee from everything else. No really. The EXP/minute ratio on everything else is bad

Grind just before the statue room until you're comfortable

All of Odio's abilities are resisted by IQ, Li's heal is boosted by IQ, and Li's ultimate attack is boosted by IQ (and Speed), Sundown's Neo Shot Storm's procs increase chance with IQ. IQ is god-tier here.

Target order: Eye near Sundown, eye opposite Sundown, mouth
Unless a part moves a ton, you can Hurricane Shot all three parts easily
If you need to move an eye, Lion Hand is a guaranteed knockback
Make sure Sundown is in a distant corner when phase 1 goes down, or you'll get stoned
The opposite eye can hide behind the mole. If this happens and Oboro can't finish it, you'll have to move Sundown. Make sure he's in his safe-spot before killing the last part
Phase 2 begins. Use only Neo Shot Storm and keep Sundown glued to his far upper corner. NSS damage will grow as Odio Levels Down. Once leveled down twice, Cancel Ray will never hurt you for more than 15.

After refusing to kill Odio, we return to the statue room to begin the boss rush. This should be easy but some thoughts...

Unequip the Medicine Box and make sure no one is wielding the Parasite Sword. Both are pretty necessary in the re-fights
Masaru: If he's level 4 or 5, Parasite Sword should kill Ode. For insurance, Medicine Box yourself into LvUp
Pogo: This is a scary one if you didn't level Pogo up. Medicine Box on himself to beef up his levels might be a good idea. O-D-O can hit for up to 300 in one shot :(

Move 1s2e of O-D-O
Spam Boom Boom for knock back so he can never hit you
If Boom Boom misses, O-D-O will probably use Throw Down and knock you to safety, yay!

Cube: Safe. Maser a few times for a win. Priority #3 for Parasite for speed
Oboro: Depending on your level, just slam dunk with Mirror Blade or Blade of Wind
Sundown: Two Neo Shot Storms to the face. Make sure you move out of Gatling range
Li/Yuan: Ult or Squirrel Kick, depending on what's available
Akira: Identical to his storyline fight, but even easier. Babylon > Bullet > Hit