Shoutout to Sevon for helping with this page
Here is a video showcasing this route: https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm22800824
This route attempts to change the time played on a clear save.
The basic idea is to use 64thIR to embed a blank 0 with SP393 and SP392 before Last Battle. Since the time can be reset with this, it’s basically a last battle time attack.
General Idea – Skipping the Pre-Boss Event
I was thinking that the fewer members you have in the party, the shorter the dialogue will be, and thus be faster. To achieve this, I would bring Watts and Greta, then leave 4 people behind at the elemental lords. The one remaining party member, Pimiera, has short dialogue.
Well, that was my original plan, but it turns out there’s a way to stop party members from joining the battle altogether (the same as if they’d been left behind at the elemental lords).
You’ll need to equip something with a durability of 160 on each character. Specifically, if you do 64thIR with SP138 (Gustaf), SP140 (Wil) to get blank 160, SP146 (Meythia and Roberto) to get Work Gloves 160, and SP147 (Pimiera) to get Work Gloves 64, you’ll only have Ginny in the final fight. You can skip doing this for characters that actually have been left behind to fight the elemental lords, of course. However, if you do this before an elemental lord duel, all characters with a durability 160 item will disappear after the duel, so you have to do this after the duel.
General Idea – Fighting the Final Boss
You can skip almost every single form with SP417, leaving you to fight just one normal phase and the final phase. The attack I’ll be using is Bear Crush since the animation is short and it deals lots of damage when paired with a Seven-Star Blade. Naturally, everyone’s role will be War God. If you raise your sword skill level sufficiently, you can with with just 3 people.
If the character in charge of time manipulation (SP392) tries to join the battle, it will take extra time to change equipment or Defend. Change the year to set their LP to 0 so they can’t participate in the fight.
To reduce Wil’s LP to 0 in Last Battle, in the Last Megalith, use 64thIR with SP416 to get 4 Anima Crystals, which sets the year to 1262, and then get Wil’s LP down to 1. If you do that, the year will go back to 1305 before the Battle starts, and Wil’s LP will go down to 0*. No character other than Wil can reduce their LP to 0, so Wil has to be the character used for time manipulation (SP392). Even if you set Roberto and the other characters’ LP to 1 before the Last Battle, their LP will be 2 once the fight starts because of age correction.
The three main characters will be Ginny, Primiera, and Roberto since they have high sword skill growth. Their WP should be 250, but because of the age training effect, they can be raised to 232, 224, and 217 respectively before the battle. Be careful: going 6 points or more over these values causes overflow.
Putting This into Practice
Raise the WP and sword skill levels of all three characters to some degree before the Last Megalith. I’ll also raise Ginny’s and Wil’s SP until Wil’s SP is 242 and Ginny’s SP is around 230.
Use role duplication to set Ginny, Roberto, and Primiera as War God. To make sure the roles won’t disappear by mistake, use 64thIR with SP106 to get a Rocky Wall, which will seal the battle style.
Once you get to the Last Megalith, defeat the Water Lord (and possibly get extra skill levels while you’re there), then send Gustaf to fight another lord (it’s okay if he loses). Then use 64thIR with SP146 to get a Work Gloves 160 and with SP147 to get a Work Gloves ∞.
Improve your sword skills at Flame Lord. Try to combo sword arts to defeat him. Ginny can also raise her SP with Gale Blade. Will supports by using Turtle Killer, etc. When Wil reaches 1 LP, have him Defend or use Megabolt.
The flag for the elemental lords is set by manipulating Wil’s SP (SP338=242+15+30*2+1+20, SP397=242+15+30*4+20).
Here’s what you need to do with Ginny at specific SP values:
- When Ginny’s SP reaches 236, use 64thIR with SP416 (236+30*6) to get Anima Crystal 4, which will change the year to 1262.
- When Ginny’s SP reaches 237, use 64thIR with SP417 (237+30*6) to get Anima Crystal ∞ and cut forms from Egg.
- Don’t raise her SP any higher once her SP reaches 248.
Raise Ginny’s, Primiera’s, and Roberto’s sword skill levels to 57, 54, and 53 respectively, and WP to 232, 224, and 217 respectively. Be careful not to raise WP too high.
Once you’re done training, with an item in the 64th slot that has a low durability (at SP392), Ginny uses 64thIR with SP393 to get blank 0 (created by destroying an accessory), which reduces the in-game timer. Get your equipment ready, fight once and set the command to Bear Crush before resetting the timer. Save just before the battle, have Wil use 64thIR with SP392 to get blank 0 (sets the in-game timer to 0), then immediately start the final boss. During the fight, all the trio has to do is use Bear Crush. Aim to destroy it in two turns. If you fail to beat the fight due to a mistake or lack of damage, load the save and start over.
The last save is now at 0:04.