Soul Hackers route

The original route for this game was made by ZAKO. and can be found here: http://www1.axfc.net/u/3534635
You can find his PB on speedrun.com. He has his route on the description of that video.
I made a rough bad translation, you can find it here: http://pastebin.com/pYwEQ4Ve
I improved his route in a few ways and that's what you'll see here. I also explain the route changes in the end of this document.

If you have a question over something you don't understand, I can probably answer.

General Info:
Parameter allocation priority:
	MC: Increase Ag to 40 asap in order to increase escape rate. Rest in Luck, but put some points in Luck early (for more escape rate, avoiding back attacks, dodging more attacks etc.)
	Ma is useless since he has no magic. You'd have to invest a lot of stats on St + forge swords and such to get his damage to be half decent so there's no point. The only other stat you could invest on is En and In for more def/mdef but frankly he doesn't need it (most of the time).
	Nemissa: Aim to get Magic to 40 quickly. Get In up to 8 after a few dungeons just to make sure she has decent magic hit and mdef. ZAKO came up with the 8 In but it seems it wasn't a number produced from a strict investigation, just a gut feeling. Maybe a slightly different stat distribution could be better.
	Nemissa deals stupid damage the whole game so you want to abuse that, In buffs damage by a tiny bit but it's more important for stuff like m.hit and MP.
	If she dies you don't GAME OVER like when MC dies, so it's fine to have her as a glass cannon. Having her go first isn't important so wasting points on Ag is also bad. Yeah she might die and not get her attack off, but most times she won't and she'll attack after the buffs/debuffs from other demons in your party. Nemissa being so slow is also important versus Juggler.
	In the route after some bosses I indicate what your stats should be, but this was taken from watching ZAKO's PB. The numbers aren't super serious or important, it's possible there's some optimization to be found here.

Demons:
The strategy for this route involves abusing Tetrakarn and Makarakarn to both kill and survive against the late game bosses. Tetrakarn/Makarakarn create a 1-turn shield on your party that reflects a physical/magical attack (respectively). Since it's only in effect on the turn you use it you need a demon that's faster than the boss you're facing (otherwise the boss attacks you and THEN you shield yourself which is useless). You can use these reflects to deal massive damage back to enemies by having MC and Nemissa without armor. They'll have very low defense and take several thousand damage, and you just reflect all of that.
It's also nice to have a demon with Makakaja, which boosts magical damage for your entire party. At +4 it boosts magic damage by 350%, which turns Nemissa into an even bigger monster. It saves a few turns here and there. It also makes a couple bosses much faster and more consistent (Satanael and Kadokura).
Rakunda isn't as important but it's still good. It only decreases defense by 40% at +4, but there's no physical/magical defense split so everyone will be doing increased damage (including reflection damage).

Optimally in a run you'd follow this demon route:
-Get Silky, Maruts, Dokkaebi and Oshira-sama from Judah (story related can't miss it)
-Get a La LLorona or Tenong Cut on Amami Float to help vs Finnegan
-Get a Bifrons, Wild Hunt and Leprechaum off Haunted Mansion
-Get a Beast somewhere (Katakirauwa/Nekomata/Kaso)
-Get a Duergar/Vivian in Amami Mall/Algon Microelectronics
-Trade Bifrons for Scathach on the Pet Shop
-Fuse Oshira-sama x Scathach x La Llorona/Tenong Cut for Dzelarhons (Tetrakarn)
-Fuse Dzelarhons with Duergar/Vivian for Amazon (fast demon with Tetrakarn)
-Fuse Beast x Leprechaum for Byakko (fast demon with Makarakarn)
-Keep Silky to make Shemyaza more consistent
-Keep Dokkaebi for Rakunda spam
-Get Botis off Amami Monolith for Makakaja

However you can't rely on this always working, since sometimes you just won't find these demons or they'll refuse to join you. Rather than wasting minutes grinding for the specific demons I mentioned it's better to grab whatever demons show up during the run and try to MacGuyver the final team from what you got.
It's not that bad of a timeloss either because you can use any demons you find to get a free escape from encounters that have the same demon.
I have some of the possible combinations for the above demons in the spreadsheet but it's not complete

Other general notes about the game:
-Mash L, R and/or A for text. One press of any button makes all text instantly appear. Another press clears the text box and moves it to another one. Mashing 2+ buttons is faster than mashing 1. Remember that "A" chooses dialogue options though, so be wary of that. On the other hand, mashing L/R on a dialogue while in a dungeon might lead into you side stepping after the dialogue is over.

-Hold B to run and not turn around when you touch the D-Pad.

-I feel like removing voices makes text a little faster, maybe because it doesn't have to load all the voice clips? Or maybe it's just my imagination. Text that you have to wait for, like Manitou's "SOULS..." at the start of the game, you still can't skip earlier even without voices.

-Press B to skip some cutscenes (fusions, Nemissa taking you to Paradigm X, shop cutscenes). Story cutscenes are unskippable, even on NG+.

-If you tell a demon with a single target heal skill to GO, that demon will determine who to heal when its turn comes up. For example if you tell a Pixie to GO during Carol J she'll heal whoever has less HP, or Guard if everyone's full. This is great because you don't have to guess who to heal beforehand.

-You want to remove demons from your party after most bosses, because they consume MAG with every step while inside a dungeon. MAG is scarce when you're not fighting every encounter you come across. You also don't get money from battles so the only way to afford armor and other items is by selling MAG. This means that during random encounters you have no demons to protect you, so good luck! Don't fail those escapes and try not to get ambushed!

-If you get an encounter with a demon that's already in the party, you can talk to said demon and the encounter will automatically end. This is faster than regular escapes because escapes have a little "..." before it tells you whether the escape worked or not, to create suspense. You can't fail escapes through negotiations like you can fail normal escapes, so that's also better. The only way to fail an escape through negotiation is if another demon in the encounter shoves himself in the conversation and you have to negotiate with him instead, but that's rarer than failing a normal escape.

-You want to abuse auto repeat as much as possible obviously, since it saves a million menus. If you press auto repeat on turn 1 of a battle, it'll do the last actions you did on the previous encounter.

-When negotiating, keep in mind that the exchange rate seems to be: MAG = demon's level x 10; Yen = Demon's level x 100

-Think about whether you're going for Joyous Bedding or not. On one of the sections at the end of the guide I explain what Joyous Bedding is.

The route:
Opening
	3 Dialogue choices. First one before name entry is faster to pick 1st option. After name entry there's 2 more choices, doesn't matter which you pick (so pick 1st to save a menu)
	-Choice: "Sexy defines her" (right option, this is what sets Nemissa down the electric path if you don't know)
	Check Gun-PC > Paradigm X > Blimp > VR theather
	When you exit the theather walk up to the wall in front of you and sidestep to the reception counter (to avoid a guy that is standing in the middle of the street, in front of the reception counter, that automatically talks to you)

1. Algon NS (Vision Quest 1 - Alma Capture)
	On 2F, don't go near the elevators to skip some dialogue about how they don't work.
	Change settings on first battle (Battle Message: Fast, Battle attack effects: OFF, Battle help: OFF, Battle confirmation: OFF) Just alternate between pressing left and down.
	For encounters, Attack with all and Leanan Sidhe should use Mabufu.
	Set actions once then Auto Repeat. Flee from Wendigos, fighting them is slow. Would be faster to escape from everything but it's inconsistent. (Actually fighting a single Wendigo might be ok)
	5F: First door you see then immediately south. Computer room is on the door to the right.
	Password: Just mash, you'll do 4x of the symbol your cursor starts on then the cursor auto goes to Enter.
	Stats: MC - 4 in speed, 2 in luck; Nemissa 5 in Magic
	After the vision quest there's a few dialogue options, always pick first option (only less text boxes for phone call). (if you idle on the phone call for a few seconds it automatically acts like you picked Ignore, neat)

2. Algon NS (reality, in Nikamimon)
	Don't go on the tile below the chest with Revival Bead (the chest next to the Chakra Pot chest), it triggers a conversation with Six about locked doors.
	When you reach 5F, immediately face left and sidestep to the door where you talk to Lunch. If you're not facing the door you lose a bunch of time with a slow, automatic forced turning animation.
	Items:
		Chakra Pot/Revival Bead (on the area to the south of the 2F elevators) these are safety items, skip them if you want.
		Balm of Life (5F, room at the bottom on tile next to stairs) this is a safety item, you can skip it if you want.
		300 MAG (3F, just before the stairs leading down in a small room with a door facing north) only go for this if going for a really early Joyous Bedding.
	Demons:
		Fairy Pixie Lvl 2 (optional, but healbot for early game bosses, makes them more consistent and she joins for free (pick second option, it's faster))
		Jirae Knocker (he joins for "free" (he has a billion textboxes though) and can act as a decoy for early bosses which could save your life)
		Beast Gally Trot Lvl 6 (an option to make Sylph)
	Boss: Carol J (HP 141)
	Party Setup:
		MC		Knocker
		Nemissa Pixie
	MC - attack the Pretas > Padlock/Ippon Datara if they're still alive > Carol J (use items if necessary)
	Nemissa - Zio Ippon-datara (far right) > Zio Padlock (far left) > Zio Carol J
	Pixie/Knocker - GO
	Auto Repeat except when MC and/or Nemissa have to change targets. Auto Repeat when it's just Carol J.
	Ippon-datara has Sukukaja so he should die first.
	Knocker is not necessary at all but he might misdirect some hits and finish off a Preta or so.
	Pixie will help you stay alive, but it's still possible to beat him without Pixie (you'll die sometimes though).
	Hardest thing is Carol J's Strength Song. If you lost this fight it's probably because it hit Nemissa and she stayed confused for 50 turns. If you have Pixie sometimes you can survive until Nemissa snaps out of it but..

2.5 Preparation
	Visit Gouma-den for plot
	Remove demons that you used for Carol J, put Nemissa behind MC (if she isn't already)
	Rx and Effects (this trip is just for safety, can do it later or never and if you're going for Joyous Bedding very early don't do it at all)
	 Revival Bead x3
	 Dis-Poison x3
	Don't go back to HQ  after Gouma-Den (skips 2 events), go straight to Warehouse District

3. Warehouse District (Amami Bay)
From now on, MC should only Defend on random encounters, his attacks barely do anything and if he dies you game over.
Nemissa spams Zio. MP should never be a problem because of level ups.
As a rule of thumb, it's safer to run from any encounter that has more than 3 enemies.
Go to Warehouse #1 then #3, finally go to #2. You don't need to check out #2 before getting clothes+password. Equip both clothes + Jabar Foot (see below) on MC (he needs the def more right now) whenever you pause for healing after getting 2nd set of clothes. Can do Best Equip on MC but it won't work on Nemissa. Consider equipping Clothes and Jabar Foot on MC immediately after you get the Foot. You'll do an extra menu but the extra armor might save you in the 1~3 random encounters between getting the Foot and second set of clothes.
Don't go to Dr. Thrill's door at the start, you can dodge an event by just never going there until the end. In fact never go near any frozen doors.
When you enter go immediately left to avoid all the doors in the middle. Take left elevator to B1F and just follow the paths to the next elevators.
	Items:
		get Jabber Foot on warehouse #1 (first room to the right after getting Insulated Clothes). Equip at same time as clothes (on MC)
	Demons:
		Brute Azumi Lvl 8 (has Rakukaja which could be useful but not needed at all)
		Beast Gally Trot Lvl 6 (an option for Sylph)
		Flight Harpy (option for Sylph)
	Boss: Gargantua Zero (HP 408)
		MC - Defend on front row. Medicine if necessary. Consider attacking (it's only ~10 damage but could help)
		Nemissa - Zio
		Can have something like a Harpy or Pixie as healbots to make it easier, Azumi with GO might spam Rakukaja and Knocker can do Tarunda. Other demons aren't that necessary though.
		MC should stick to defending/items if you have no demons in your party (he'll have to tank more stuff).
		This boss dodges like a God sometimes watch out. Played around with increasing Nemissa's In before this fight but I can't tell if it helps.
	Remove every demon from party afterwards, then use elevator to B1F then the other one to 1F, go to room in middle.
	2nd option for Dr. Thrill has one less text box I believe.
	I didn't test dialogue options when going back to HQ

3.5 Preparation
	Artists Allez! buy:
		Oxygen Mask, Metal Turban, High-Cut Armor, Universe Ring, Jamming Arm, Yellow Chaps (6380 yen total)
	Here you have a choice. You'll get more Armor in Astro Museum so you can choose to not equip this armor right now and instead equip it during Astro Museum to save a menu. However this means you'll have to go through 2 or 3 encounters with weak armor and you might die to something. Up to you. If you do it then do Best Equip in order Nemissa > MC > Nemissa (twice on Nemissa so she gets Jabar Foot)
	If you're going for Joyous Bedding just before Vision Quest 2 then don't buy any of these and instead trade all your MAG so that you have 50k yen. As you can guess this means you could die to anything but it pays off later (probably).

4. Astro Museum (Akanedai)
	take the right escalator (the other one goes down..)
	The Quiz:
		Keyword:	Answer:		Position:		Full Question:
		first 		Pisces		bottom right	What is the first sign...
		east 		Virgo		bottom			Which constellation is east of Leo...
		between		Libra		right			What sign lies between Virgo and Scorpius
		summer		Sagittarius default			Which of these is summer constellation?
		how many	12			right			How many signs...
		Order of the questions is random but the answers and their positions are always the same.
	Items:
		Samurai Armor (2F top left small room) Equip it on MC, if you haven't equipped the armor you bought just before then do best equip on Nemissa, then MC, then Nemissa again
		they should have
		MC: Oxygen Mask, Padded Armor, Jamming Arm, Yellow Chaps
		Nemissa: Metal Turban, High-Cut Armor, Universe Ring, Jabar Foot
		1000 MAG (2F bottom right small room) Only if you're going for Joyous Bedding before VQ2 and you just traded away all your MAG.
	Demons:
		Brute Azumi Lvl 8 (for Rakukaja, very optional)
		Flight Harpy (option for Sylph)
		Yoma Vodyanik (option for Sylph)
	Be wary of:
		Vodyanik. Null Electric, don't fight.
	Boss: Cyber Moowis (HP 578)
		Hero - Defend or recovery items
		Nemissa - Zio
		Knocker - Tarunda
		Azumi - Rakukaja
		Acheri - Magic attack (does about 30 damage?)
		Harpy - GO (Heal bot)
		Vodyanik - Zio
		This boss hits really hard. If you avoid getting armor it makes this fight way less consistent. You don't need any demons, you can beat with only Nemissa, but it's rough. If she dies you have to use revival items on her which means you aren't defending. Any other demon can potentially help, even if it's just to tank one hit.
	I didn't test dialogue options when going back to HQ

5. Amami Airport (Vision Quest 2)
	Go to PC into Paradigm X (choice doesn't matter so 1st)
	Remove every demon from party.
	Turn right, move up to the wall and sidestep left. Go into Clothes Shop then sidestep right into VR Theatre (required event near the alley but you pass right through there anyway)
	If you want super early Joyous Bedding, go to Casino, trade 50k yen for coins and buy it now.
	Once you're playing as Judah, use Estoma from Oshira-sama then return it to COMP
	For random battles do: Mist Slash, Sword, Rakunda, Loyal Ice. (again, it's faster to escape but this guy's Ag isn't that good, so on average it's faster to fight)
	Go find out that the door on the right (past all the corridors) is locked first... then back to central control room, and then back to the elevator you were trying to access.
	Up to 2F (don't teach the dude), Reiho (small room to the south), elevator north of you, B1F (room right below), back to elevator you just took into 3F
	Demons:
		Flight Gu Huo Niao Lvl 17 (option for Sylph, also has Tarukaja which is useful in some fights)
		There's some really good demons in 3F like Tenong Cut and Yato no Kami but you spend very little time there and encounter rate is low. Maybe worth going for an encounter or two?
	Be wary of:
		Wilder Jueyuan - resists physical, flee.
	Boss: Rei Reiho (can't win)
	return everyone before Reiho fight.
		Judah - Defend
	put party back how it was before this fight and media if needed, also give Silky a chakra pot if she's low (and Dokkaebi too since MP carries over and these Chakra Pots aren't yours anyway so just use them) Could consider retreating demons inside the fight, or maybe even not retreating. As long as you don't have to waste time reviving it should be fine. You can consider having Silky spam Media during fight too, but I don't think it's needed.
	Boss: Cyber Winpe (HP 3159)
		Dokkaebi - Rakunda
		Silky - Media
		Other - Attack
		Auto after first turn
		if you got Gu Huo Niao add her in for Tarukaja (it saves a turn or two, specifically the one where Winpe always petrifies Maruts, which saves time later since you won't have to heal him)

5.5 Preparation
	Rx and Effects
		Dis-Charm (optional, but consider fetching these just in case, for boss on Amami Airport)
	-Hakkaku Liquor
		6x Mansaku Sake (3000 yen) (4 for VR Art Museum, 1 for Amami Float, 1 for rare Airport strategy/backup)

6. Amami Airport (reality) (Amami Bay)
	forward to elevator > 2F tiny room on northwest > B1F waste disposal room
	After you get Judah's demons use Oshira-sama's Estoma (and use Recarm/Petradi on anyone from Judah's team (or yours) if needed) then return him.
	> 3F fight boss
	Items:
		800 MAG just south of the door that leads to Judah's event on 2F
		1000 MAG northeast corner of B1F (optional, get if you're low)
	Demons
		Jirae Koropokkur Lvl 13 (his Hama could save a bit of time on upcoming boss fight, but completely not necessary (maybe not even faster??))
		Beast Cunhur Lvl 15 (an option for Sylph)
		Yoma Apsaras Lvl 16 (an option for Sylph)
	Be wary of
		Raptor Moh Shuvuu - Drains Electric, run away
		Rumor Reiko Kashima - Resists Magic and has Sukunda, run away
	Boss:
	Bai Suzhen(Rf. Elec)	Yato no Kami(Nu. Strike+ Gun)	Jueyuan (St. Phys)
							La Llorona
	(1) Party Setup
		Dokkaebi	Maruts	Silky
		MC		Nemissa
	(2) Strategy
		MC - Defend
		Dokkaebi - Rakunda
		Maruts - Mist Slash, switch to Attack when there's only 1 guy left (who isn't Jueyuan)
		Nemissa - Zio in the order: Yato no Kami > Jueyuan > La Llorona
		Silky - Media
		if Bai Suzhen dies you can stop telling Nemissa who to target and just leave it on auto repeat
		If you got Koropokkur have him Hama Jueyuan and then La Llorona. His personality doesn't like it plus Hama doesn't hit that often but it's worth a shot. Can use some Mansaku sake to avoid his personality issues if you bought the 6th one before.
		Can add Gu Huo Niao for Tarukaja here too if you want. I've had it save a turn before.
		If you got Tenong Cut as Judah, his Babylon Pheromone hits everyone pretty often, can make this fight very easy and all your enemies will kill Bai Suzhen for you while you finish the other ones off.
Stats: MC 16 AG 10 Lu, Nemissa 7 In 16 Ma


6.5 Preparation
	Return every demon from party.
	HQ then you can go to EL-115
	Buy (gonna need about 22440 yen (+some more for healing), trade ~3k Macca at the O.E.A.)
	-EL-115
		Lady Killer, install it (along with Moon Adult and Back-Upper, remove the others) (480 yen)
	-Artits Allez!
		Full-Face Helmet x2, Hide Armor, Ming Guang Jia, Yamato Shukou, Foot Escape x2
	Equip
		Best Equip in order Nemissa, MC
		should have:
		MC: Full-Face Helmet, Hide Armor, Yamato Shukou, Foot Escape
		Nemissa: Full-Face Helmet, Ming Guang Jia, Universe Ring, Foot Escape
	Go to Sawamura Thai heal everyone (if you're trying to save money just heal more important users of MP like Dokkaebi and Silky)
	DON'T go back to HQ, go Home THEN to HQ (skips an event), Paradigm X, Theatre>Start>Culture>Art Museum
	you could buy Joyous Bedding here too, bit less stressful on the wallet but still annoying.

7. VR Art Museum
	YOU ARE FACING A PAINTING WHEN YOU LEAVE IT, DON'T HOLD FORWARD
	Visit Aqua Dolphin and leave immediately (no need to walk forward for the infinite loop event)
	- Ghost Waterfall
		Have Oshira-sama use Estoma then put him away to save MAG.
		The treasure in the middle won't open until you go around to all the dudes. You gotta go look at it at some point before or during first round of talking, to trigger second round of talking.
		Optimal route: bottom left, top left, check door to chest, top right, bottom right, bottom right (again), top right, top left, bottom right, bottom right (again, to get scroll), get treasure
		doing bottom left>top left>treasure saves time since you have to turn around less times (assuming you're holding B) and it's a bit less movement than doing treasure first.
	- Strange Area
		Demons:
			Femme Leanan Sidhe (option for Dzelarhons)
			Yoma Apsaras (option for Sylph)
			Fallen Shax (option for Wild Hunt (deprecated?))
			Snake Yato no Kami (option for Dzelarhons)
			Beast Katakirauwa (option for Sylph, Byakko and Dzelarhons)
		Items:
			1000 MAG (go forward and a bit to the right), then keep going to teleport and:
		west portal, west portal, south portal, room in center, leave the room and hold forward to leave the painting (directions are looking at minimap)
	- Chess by Window
		Items:
			Chakra Pot (before the warp zone) you don't need it but consider getting on your way out when you get warped
			Dimute Stone (after the warp zone, one per door on each side) you need one always, the second you only need sometimes, grab if you're feeling unlucky) (actually technically you need 0 but it's luck)
		give 2x Sly Sake each to Silky and Maruts
		Boss: Juggler (HP 830) + Lham Dearg x2
		Formation:
			Dokkaebi	Maruts	Silky
			Nemissa		MC
		Strategy:
			MC - Defend
			Maruts - mazio on the Lham Deargs
			Silky - Loyal Ice. Media if it starts looking bad (rare).
			Nemissa - 1st turn Dis-mute, Zio Juggler.
			Dokkaebi - Rakunda
			If Juggler gets frozen/shocked turn 1 then he'll do the silence turn 2. If he gets frozen/shocked on turn 2 then he'll do it on 3. If you're using your Dimute stone(s) hoping he doesn't get frozen/shocked, you might run out and get silenced, which is really bad. Consider only using Zio with Maruts and having Silky only using Loyal Ice turn 2, so Juggler doesn't get stunned. The other option is to go all in and assume he WILL get stunned. Zio him with Nemissa from turn 1 and hope for the best. If he does get a silence off then MC should Dimute next turn, but your characters won't be able to pick spells in that turn, so you'll essentially lose a turn.
		afterwards don't bother returning your demons, you lose 702 MAG walking between bosses with this party and it costs 1144 to resummon them.
		go activate the chess thing behind Juggler. On your way back hit the first warp panel you can (sidestep left), get the Chakra Pot behind you if you want then leave.
	- Aqua Dolphin
		Boss: Snappy
		Consider equipping Insulated Clothes on Nemissa. I never needed it. MC already has ice null gear.
		Strategy:
			MC - Defend
			Maruts - Mazio
			Dokkaebi - Rakunda
			Silky - Loyal Ice
			Nemissa - Zio
		With this setup you can just auto repeat from turn 1 since it's what you were doing for Juggler and you should still have Sly sake up (as long as you used 2 sake on each demon). It's better to just go in. Turn 1 he surprise attacks you and hits everyone for percentage based damage, but don't heal. Turn 2 he Guards. Turn 3 he uses Mabufu and Lullaby, which can freeze your guys/put them all to sleep. The longer you stall the longer the chances that everyone falls asleep and he murders all of your guys. Just end it ASAP. He'll be dead around Turn 3 or 4 if you keep going in. Even if Silky is the only one not asleep just have her attack, she might win it for you.
		Btw he absorbs all magic but eventually blows up from too much magic (that's why it looks like he's Draining but it's ok).
	Stats: MC 20Ag, 12Lu, Nemissa 8In, 23Ma

8. Front of house
	No need to remove demons since there's a boss up next and you don't spend MAG on town map
	Go home, when you try to leave...
	Boss: Cyber Moowis 2 (HP 2016)
	Nemissa might die but it's fine since this doesn't give a lot of EXP
	Formation:
		Dokkaebi	Maruts	Silky
		Nemissa	MC
	Strategy:
		MC - Defend
		Maruts - Zio (Attack if no loyalty)
		Nemissa - Zio until she dies
		Dokkaebi - Rakunda
		Silky - Diarama on Nemissa (can do Loyal Ice turn 1 for some minimal damage but if you do diarama you can just auto repeat)
		Auto Repeat on turn 1 to do what you did to Snappy. Turn 2 have Silky Diarama on Nemissa so she doesn't die on turn 3. Alternatively use a heal item with MC on turn 3, or just go in and hope she dodges or something.

8.5 Preparation
	Artists Allez! buy:
		G-Ladars
	Equip:
		Nemissa - G-Ladars
		Also re-equip your old armor if you used Insulated clothes. It's Ming Guang Jia on Nemissa.
	Heal at Sawamura Thai if needed.

9. Leon Auto Plant (Yurashima)
	Turn the power on then go up to 3F, try to go south to get key then go all the way around to reach emergency power room.
	After getting the key you can take the elevator to 4F and go straight south, fall down and get closer to emergency power room. It's slower in movement but will net you less encounters so it's overall faster (unless you're somehow at a level that can dodge all encounters with Estoma)
	Go back to 3F elevator, go to 2F, all the way around to lower elevator, go up to 4F, go forward and follow the path into the central area to fight boss
	Demons
		Femme Leanan Sidhe (1F only, option for Dzelarhons)
		Snake Yato no Kami (option for Dzelarhons)
		Beast Katakirauwa (option for Sylph, Byakko and Dzelarhons)
		Fallen Nisroc Lvl 24 (option for Dzelarhons)
		Yoma Shiwanna (option for Sylph)
	Be wary of
		Maruts (Null Elec) - Escape by talking
		Bai Suzhen (Drain Elec)
		Katakirauwa + Yato no Kami - There's too many of them so escape by talking
	Boss: Cyber Moowis 3 (HP 3812)
		Formation
			Dokkaebi Silky	Maruts
			Nemissa	MC
		Strategy
			MC - Defend
			Maruts - Zio (or attack if loyalty too low)
			Nemissa -Zio
			Dokkaebi - Rakunda
			Silky - Loyal Ice (or Defend if loyalty too low)
		Moowis does nothing. Maruts and Silky don't do that much damage, you can probably avoid using them.
		You can do this fight with Nemissa and Dokkaebi only, but he'll probably get an attack in. I haven't timed which is faster yet (more turns vs more guys attacking per turn + more menuing)
Stats; MC 22/13, Nemissa 8/29(with equip boost)

10. Amami Float (Amami Bay)
	Madame Ginko @ Goumaden (choice doesn't matter except for NG+), HQ
	EL-115 Buy:
		Back Mirror, Mr. Surprise
		install along with Lady Killer and Back Upper
		Optionally get Dark Man if you wanna try going for some Dark demons, replacing whatever app you feel you won't need, then when you're done switch it back.
		Could consider getting these after Float since you go to EL-115 (but get kicked out when cutscene's over) but having those two on this long dungeon seems worth it.
	Enter Airport between Full Moon and Half Crescent to later avoid Berserker's Crescent Slash hitting 3 times.
	Summon Oshira-sama, use Estoma when entering Amami Airport and again when you enter Amami Float then return him (it's only 72 MAG to keep him between both dungeons points)
	Don't fight any encounters
	This is the level where you go up each elevator to 13F pull a lever, go all the way back down and repeat for all elevators...
	Elevators: middle North, Southeast, Northeast, just Northwest of the previous one
	Items:
		3000 MAG (5F 1st elevator)
		2000 MAG (13F 1st elevator)
		1000 MAG (5F 2nd elevator)
	Demons:
		Femme La Llorona (option for Dzelarhons, makes Finnegan easier)
		Flight Tuofei (option for Sylph)
		Beast Nekomata (option for Byakko, Dzelarhons and Sylph)
		Snake Nozuchi (option for Dzelarhons)
		Jirae Tenong Cut (option for Wild Hunt, Dzelarhons and Byakko, makes Finnegan easier)
		Fallen Nisroc Lvl 24 (option for Dzelarhons)
	Be wary of:
		Maruts (Null Electric) Escape through conversation
	Boss: Finnegan (HP 1306)
		Hell Hound	Orthrus		Hell Hound
		Berserk (Reflect Electric)	Rakshasa (Reflect Phys and weak to Hama?)
	Formation:
		Dekkaebi	Maruts	La Llorona/Tenong Cut
		Silky		Nemissa		MC
	Strategy:
		give Sly Sake to La LLorona or Tenong Cut
		MC - Defend
		Maruts - Zio right hound, then Attack whoever's alive. (maybe just attack instead of zio 1st turn)
		Nemissa - Mazio left hound, Zio the Rakshasa, Zio Finnegan (you'll take some damage from mazio but it's not much)
		Dekkaebi - Rakunda 4 times then GO
		La Llorona/Tenong Cut - Frolic/Babylon Pheromone
		Silky - Media
	With this the hounds should die turn 1. Then you kill Rakshasa turn 2 (he reflects phys). Orthrus and Berserker hopefully kill themselves through charm while Nemissa kills Finnegan with Zio spam (mazio if and when Berserker dies). By the time Nemissa is done Zio'ing Finnegan she shouldn't take long to clean up any survivors, if any.
	Berserker has Deathbound which deals the biggest damage to center so Maruts should be there (he's the least important guy). Also Crescent Slash hits 3 times between 1/8 and 3/8 crescent moon phases.
	This fight can go pretty badly fyi.
	Keep note of how close you are to level 34. You want to catch a level 34 demon on next dungeon.

10.5 Preparation
	Six's house, HQ, EL-115
	O.E.A.: Need 16600 + heal money, trade about 2-3K MAG
	Robot Haus
		Repulse Water x10 (4800)
	Rx and Effects
		Revival Bead x10 (4800)
		Dis-Charm x5 (1200)
	Hakkaku Liquor
		Yumezakura Sake x10 (5800)
	Sawamura Thai
		Heal whoever needs it (especially fusion materials)
	Fusions
		Wild Hunt (opptional, can grab one on next dungeon)
	Walk around until it's about 7/8 waning (only do this if you're anywhere near 7/8 waning, it's just a minor timesave on the next boss, not worth it if you have to move a lot)
	HQ, Paradigm X

11. VR Haunted Mansion
	Use Repulse Water (unless you want a better shot at getting demons)
	Go into all the memory rooms. Make sure to always pick 2nd option on each of the memory events.
	On the left room, take the eastern path (faster than middle)
	On the middle room, take the second door (takes you north) and follow that path
	On the right room, just follow the path all the way north, take the door to the left and just follow the straight path all around.
	I know my directions suck but gamefaqs has some maps and you can just use automap hack ingame to learn stuff.
	After all the flashbacks are done, climb the tower to top floor, then just walk forward
	Demons
		[Fairy Leprechaun] (needed for Byakko)
		[Fallen Bifrons] (to trade for Scathach) He's level 34, you might need to fight an encounter for it
		Beast Nekomata (option for Byakko, Dzelarhons and Sylph)
		Snake Nozuchi (option for Dzelarhons)
		Yoma Shiwanna (option for Sylph)
		Night Wild Hunt (if you wanna skip the fusion, e.g., to do Maruts x another Yoma = Sylph)
	Be wary of
		Brute Galley Beggar (Reflect Elec)
		Tuna Roa (Reflect Elec)
		Fairy Leprechaun (Has Makarakarn, Nemissa will kill herself)
	Before the boss equip Insulated Clothes on Nemissa (MC still has ice null armor)
	Boss: Erika (HP 2845)
		Formation
			MC		Dokkaebi	Leprechaum
			Nemissa
		Strategy
			MC - Defend
			Nemissa - Zionga
			Dokkaebi - Rakunda
		Question Box returns all non-Calm demons. She uses it turn 2 faster than Leprechaum but slower than Dokkaebi (sometimes). I haven't seen her use it after turn 2 but she might if the battle drags on and/or if you have demons out.
		She'll have an extra minion with her for each time you picked the 1st option in the memory events (Lukoje, Goggie and Bugbear). From my very limited observations, I don't think they give more EXP. No reason to not fight her solo.
		Have Dokkaebi and Leprechaum (and any other Rakunda demons you might have) cast Rakunda on Erika, but don't bother resummoning when they come back. You'll get 2-3 Rakundas off if you have Dokkaebi+Leprechaum. Leprechaum might not obey you, feel free to use the 6th Mansaku Sake if you couldn't use way back on Airport (for Korokoppur strat).
		If you feel the need, resummon a healing demon (Silky, La Llorona) after Question Box and have her spam Media. Shouldn't be necessary though, but things can be rough if she Attacks a lot or charms MC/Nemissa.
		If you entered the fight at new moon you can have Wild Hunt use Sneak Attack once before he's Question Box'd. It only saves a second but makes the fight slightly shorter (turn wise) which makes it a bit easier. Also, if he crits he saves 5 seconds (don't count on it though). It's more than likely not worth it because you'd have to move back and forth to change moon phase to new moon, and then you'd have to do the same after this boss because you need new moon for Mayone. Just something to think about if you happen to be on New Moon and/or want to be as safe as possible on the run.
		You can choose not to equip Insulated Clothes on Nemissa, but she'll take extra damage from physical skills, so it's a trade off.
	Stats after grind: MC 29/13, Nemissa 8/35
	Stats after boss: yeah just put on ag and ma

11.5 Preparation
	Pet Shop
		Trade Biffrons for Scathach (Mr. DNA) (btw it's not faster to grab biffrons in haunted mansion, leave go to pet shop and go back into mansion)
	Fusion
		Make Dzelarhons
		Make Sylph if you haven't yet.
	Use
		Yumezakura Sake on Dzelarhons
	Restore your equip on Nemissa (take out your cold resist gear for the better one)
	Go to Six's house on New Moon

12. Ambush after Six's house
	Boss: Mayone (HP 1245) + friends
	Formation
		Dzelarhons	Dokkaebi	Wild Hunt
		Nemissa		MC 			La Llorona/Silky
	Strategy
		Dzelarhons - Mediarama until only Vetala and Mayone are left, then Tetrakarn
		MC - Defend, heal Wild Hunt if he runs low (or other items if needed)
		Wild Hunt - Sneak Attack until both Kasos, Mizuchi and Purple Mirror die, then Attack Vetala
		Nemissa - Zio(nga) Mayone > stragglers > Vetala
		La Llorona/Silky - Media/Diarama on Wild Hunt
		Dokkaebi - Rakunda (or other Rakunda demons if any)
		Who you have depends on who you used to fuse Dzelarhons
		If you have someone with Tarukaja use it (from Gu Huo Niao), if you have someone with Rakunda use that too.
		The general idea is that Wild Hunt takes down Purple Mirror, the Kasos and Mizuchi with 2 sneak attacks, while Nemissa kills Mayone with Zionga. Then Vetala will be the only one left who will die to Wild Hunt's Attack, Nemissa's Zionga, Tetrakarn and his own skills which consume HP.
		Biggest issue is that sometimes they gang up on Wild Hunt and he'll die/not have enough HP for Sneak Attack. He could also get Shocked by Mayone's spells (I've had 5 of my party members get Shocked by a single mazio!) He's in charge of killing 4 out of 6 of your enemies so if he's stopped everything gets really bad. All of the enemies start pounding in your party and you'll eventually die. If Purple Mirror doesn't die he can Makarakarn which will cause Nemissa to kill herself.
		Mediarama from Dzelarhons really helps with this. Also, sometimes Dzelarhons isn't faster than Vetala, I don't know if it's a speedtie or what, seems random. This makes Tetrakarn less useful since the other demons don't use physical moves as often. I focus on trying to keep Wild Hunt as healthy as possible in hopes he can get his Sneak Attacks off.
		This is probably the hardest fight in the route currently.
		if you GO on Dzelar she decides on runtime if she should tetrakarn or mediarama and won't tetra if she's going slower than Vetala on a 6v1 which is nice. Doing it early on can be slightly dangerous cause even 1hp might mean the difference between getting a sneak attack off or not

13. Akane Mall (Akanedai)
	From here on out have Nemissa on front row and MC on back so he survives a couple more turns.
	Use Repulse Water (1 on Mall, 1 on Warehouse)
	grab key on fridges on the right, open door to warehouse.
	flip yellow and blue switches, follow path to warehouse #2
	go southeast flip yellow, go northeast flip red
	from red then go 3 south, 4 west, 1 north, 1 east, elevator at north
	follow path down the elevators to end
	Talk
		Yoma Shiwanna (option to fuse Sylph)
		Yoma Roitschaggata (option to fuse Sylph)
		Jirae Duergar (option to fuse Amazon)
		Raptor Camazotz (option to fuse Botis) (dark demon)
		Beast Kaso (option to make Byakko and Sylph)
		Flight Tangata Manu (option for Sylph)
		Fallen Halphas (option to fuse Botis)

13.5 Preparation
	Fusion
		Leprechaum x Katakirauwa/Nekomata/Kaso = Byakko (has to be on goumaden for him to have Makarakarn)
	Go to HQ

14. Algon Microelectronics (Yurashima)
	Use Repulse Water
	Take eastern stairs to 3F. Follow path to western stairs go to 2F. Go into north tiny room and activate the switch. Go across the bridge to unlock shortcuts to stairs. Go back through the bridge and go into the room northwest to unlock Production Line 1. Take the western stairs down to 1F, go to top left area for event. Then take the east stairs to 3F and go to boss.
	Demons
		Fairy Vivian (option to fuse Amazon)
		Jirae Duergar (option to fuse Amazon)
		Beast Kaso (option to make Byakko and Sylph)
		Flight Tangata Manu (option for Sylph)
		Yoma Rolwoy (option for Sylph)
		Fallen Halphas (option to fuse Botis)
	Use (before boss)
		Yumezakura Sake on Byakko and Dzelarhons
		Strip Nemissa and MC
	Boss: Shemyaza (HP 6434)
		Formation
			Dzelarhons	Byakko	(Dokkaebi)
			Nemissa MC	(Silky)
		Strategy
			Byakko - Makarakarn
			Nemissa - Zionga
			MC - Defend
			Dzelarhons - Mediarama
			Dokkaebi - Rakunda
			You could have Dzelarhons spam Zanma but if he uses megidola you'll be in trouble.
			If he uses Megidola 2 turns in a row your front row dies and it's probably over. If you still have Silky then her Media with Dzelarhons's Mediarama will fully heal your party after a Megidola so you'll be fine. Alternatively you can have MC use an item on Byakko to at least keep the shield up a bit longer but you might still be screwed.
			Mazionga is the best move he can use since it's his only skill that he doesn't void/reflect. If you strip Nemissa and MC then he'll take 800 ish damage for each. It's worth doing it, especially since you buy armor after this.
			The other 3 moves get reflected but he takes no damage.
			I think he can Megidola the back lane, which is bad since it kills Nemissa and one of your Kind demons (protecting MC). Recovering is kinda rough, but you can try reviving Nemissa and having MC use Magical Mirrors to stop the boss for a while if Byakko died.
			Could try not removing clothes from MC and/or Nemissa to see if you can tank a Megidola. He uses Mazionga so rarely that it might not matter.
			I was wondering if having 1 or more electric-weak demons would bait him into using Mazionga more, but I never tested it.

-Vision Quest 3 - Where Destiny Slumbers
	Use Overlord on everyone.
	On the fork, go right.
	Boss: Apsu (HP 11119)
		Turn 1 Kanzeon Redemption
		then spam Kurikara Kokuryu, heal with Soma Gongen when needed
		if he misses one attack you can usually skip the last Soma Gongen but it might be risky.

14.5 Preparation
	Need 77600 yen for armor. Sell almost all of your MAG (5-6k)
	Artists Allez!:
		Armet x2
		Maximilian x2
		Laurin Ring x2
		(consider buying 2x inline skates here and ignoring mirage boots later)
	Robot Haus:
		Core Shield x2 (optional)
	Sawamura Thai if you need
	Best Equip on both MC and Nemissa (order isn't important, you bought 2 of everything)
	Fusion
		Vivian/Duergar x Dzelarhons = Amazon (can be done on comp unless you want mediarama)

15. Algon Main Building
	Only go to Nikamimon after all this cause it warps you to Spooky HQ and you can go straight to Paradigm X, turn around right away back into the reception
	Use Repulse Water and Core Shield (core shield isn't really that needed, especially if you have Joyous Bedding. just make sure to heal if you don't have bedding)
	Ally with Finnegan. Pick top option (red). (blue has a few less tiles (like 10 or so) but red can get a 6k MAG chest on Red Seal 1 which I don't know if you really need yet or not. Gotta look into this still).
	Red 1: southeast, Red 2: northwest, Red 3: north of Red 1, then go to the center area
	Yaksa are weak to Magic you can kill them quickly for EXP and MAG if you want/need (probably should so Nemissa gets Megido for Satanael)
	Demons
		Beast Orthrus (option for Sylph)
		Yoma Roitschaggata (option to fuse Sylph)
	Boss: Malsum (HP 9292)
		Use (before boss)
			Yumezakura Sake on Amazon, and Byakko
			Strip MC and Nemissa of Armor
		Formation
			Byakko	MC	Amazon
			Nemissa	X	Dokkaebi
		Strategy
			MC - Attack (so that Guard doesn't reduce damage reflected)
			Amazon - Tetrakarn
			Byakko - Makarakarn
			Nemissa - Zionga
			Dokkaebi - Rakunda if you have him
			sometimes he kills Nemissa and Byakko (who dies protecting me cause kind) I have no idea what move he's using..
			Positioning is important, he has a move that his positions 2, 4 and 6 so you want the squishy ones there for more reflected damage.
			He has a fire move so gotta use Byakko. Also Byakko stops the Silence.

16. Amami Monolith
	REEQUIP ARMOR
	You might have to fight an encounter or two for Megido before Satanael. You need to be at least level 46, 586 experience away from 47, to make it to 50 after Azazel. You want to do the encounter(s) before rather than after Azazel because you'll get more experience out of them (since you're underlevelled). Consider bringing Byakko/Amazon along since they make some fights really easy.
	If you need trade some macca and heal at sawamura thai
	From now on you can use Nemissa's Sabattoma to save MAG on summoning
	Artists Allez!
		Mirage Boots x2
		Best Equip on both
	Buy
		anything you might need if you ran out (repulse waters, yumezakura sakes, revival beads, dis-ailments etc.)
		should plan this shop trip a bit better
	Fusion
		Make Botis if you can
	Demons
		Raptor Camazotz (option to fuse Botis) (dark demon)
		Flight Rukh (option to fuse Botis)
		Fallen Botis (if you find him, faster than fusing him but you might not see him)
	Remember to use Repulse Water, you'll have to use it a second time one full lunar cycle later so remember what cycle you were when you first used the water.
	Save Lunch then Six on each 20th floor (slightly faster than Six first)
	do WIZ then go back to Six, use shortcut elevator to 1F, climb the other tower do FLY talk to Lunch
	go up do TWIN then go to PC room, shortcut elevator to 20F, cross the towers and do PIXY and go to PC room, then middle and boss
	Boss: Azazel (HP 8550)
		Yumezakura Sake on Amazon just in case
		Strip Nemissa and MC
		Formation
			Nemissa	MC	Amazon
			Dokkaebi Botis
		Strategy
			MC - use gun or something cause defend means you take less damage which means you reflect less.
			Amazon - Tetrakarn
			Nemissa - Zionga
			Dokkaebi - Rakunda
			Botis - Makakaja
		If he uses "Guillotine Fake" and sends Amazon back you can try resummoning her but he might kill since no phys shield for a turn.
		Don't re equip stuff on Nemissa but do it on MC
		Don't return your demons it only costs 560 MAG.
	Leave through the right tower (the one that had Six) to go to Roof
	see if you can get Nemissa killed, revive her before entering boss and leave her at low hp.
	Boss: Satanael (HP 13557)
		Give Yumezakura Sake to demons just in case (can probably look into stopping this if they loyalty is max)
		Save before just in case
		Formation
			Nemissa	Byakko	Amazon
			MC		Dokkaebi
		Strategy
			MC - Defend
			Nemissa - Megido
			Amazon - Defend or Mediarama in case of Megidola
			Botis - Makakaja
			Byakko - Makarakarn
			Dokkaebi - Rakunda
			A possible strategy is leaving Nemissa at low HP on front row, naked. If someone has low HP Satanael (or maybe bosses in general) seems to attack them with Attack or Agilao, both of which will deal a huge amount of damage if reflected. Reflecting damage doesn't really matter if you have Makakaja, but if you missed Botis it's a big deal (difference between ~28 turn fight and ~8 turn fight). Kinda sucks trying to get Nemissa killed between bosses though.

17. Underground Ruins
	Algon Electronics
	Go to Sawamura Thai heal (namely Amazon) if needed
	Use western exit of Shibahama to reach Nikaminon
	Along the way put Byakko, and some other demons in front row, to protect you from ambushes and bad random encounters. You don't really need MAG anymore at this point. If someone dies don't revive them just replace them with another meat shield. This goes for Nemissa as well.
	The phonecall's default option is "hear it again" don't pick it
	CHOICES: south door, north door, west door, west door, southwest door
	Before boss, revive Nemissa if she died but don't max her HP. Have her revive and sabattoma everyone, then heal her MP if low.
	Strip Nemissa, consider stripping MC (probably should)
	Boss: Kadokura (HP 10595)
		Save before boss, strip Nemissa and MC
		Formation
			MC	Byakko	Amazon
			Botis Nemissa Dokkaebi?
		Strategy
			Botis - Makakaja
			Byakko - Makarakarn
			Nemissa - Megido (zionga deals more damage but I feel like it triggers ultimate laser more often but maybe that's just coincidences)
			Amazon - Tetrakarn
			MC - Attack or heal Amazon's MP
			Dokkaebi - Rakunda if he's still around
			If he uses Ultimate Laser you lose cause it's almighty x3 damage and nobody can tank it.
			Like Satanael, he'll attack Nemissa if she's dying. This is good cause 1) lotsa damage 2) no ultimate laser
	Boss: Manitou (HP 24096)
		Strategy
			Just auto repeat. Consider returning Byakko since he does nothing (Manitou has no magic). I'm not sure if it's faster to go through all the menus to return him so he doesn't cast a spell every turn.
			He has a move that hits positions 1, 3 and 5 so positioning of your guys is kinda important.


-----------------
|Boss Experience|
-----------------
Boss experience drops (maybe even every enemy idk) based on some observations (from Let's Plays and speedruns + some testing of mine. I didn't test every possible level and interpolated some data so it could be wrong but this looks good).

I'm going to use Erika as an example -because-she's-cute- since you used to grind before her in the speedrun. (finding out how much you needed to grind to reach a certain level from Erika was what got me into doing this study)

A boss has a base EXP value. If you defeat a boss at the boss' level, you'll get said base EXP value. Erika, according to megamitensei.wikia is level 43 and from observations I can tell you her base EXP is 2752 (which is what you'll get if you're level 43 as well).
If you're below the bosses level, you get 50% of the base EXP for every level that you are below the boss. However, for a few levels below the boss you still get base EXP. You still get 2752 EXP from Erika between levels 40-42. At 39, however, since you're 4 levels below the boss, you get 4x (50% of 2752) which is 5504 EXP. If you're level 33, you're 10 levels below Erika so you get 10x (50% of 2752) which is 13760 EXP.

The number of levels below the boss' level that still give base EXP might vary from boss to boss.

Note that this depends on the level of each character. If MC is 39 and Nemissa is 38, then after defeating Erika, MC will receive 5504 EXP and Nemissa will receive 6880.
Also note the game does not take into account how much EXP you still need to level up. If you're level 34 it doesn't matter if you currently need 4 or 4000 EXP to get to level 35, you'll still get 12384 EXP after defeating Erika. (this means ideally you want to fight bosses just before you level up, so you get more exp).

There's also seems to be a cap on how much experience you can get. I don't know how this works exactly but being at level 46 or 47 against Azazel gives the same amount of experience (21760). It makes sense otherwise you'd explode from all the exp you got from certain bosses.

I do think extra enemies such as demons summoned by summoners like Finnegan and Mayone also give EXP. Erika's friends do not, however.

Here's a table of how much Experience you get from Erika.
Your level	Experience received
33			13760
34			12384
35			11008
36			9632
37			8256
38			6880
39			5504
40			2752
41			2752
42			2752
43 			2752	Erika's level
44			2752?

And Gargantua Zero
Your level	Experience received
10			1536
11			1280
12			1024
13			512
14			512
15			512
16			512		Gargantua Zero's level
17			512

If you're over the boss' level, it seems you on some cases receive the boss' base EXP for a least one level, but then the experience you receive starts decaying. I don't how the decay works, but it doesn't seem very useful since you're never overlevelled. The exception of this is Carol J where you're essentially forced to fight him overlevelled since he's level 7 and that's what you start with (and you want to level up at least once so Nemissa gets Zio). Carol J gives decayed experience on the level immediately above his, so maybe the level at which the experience decay starts is proportional to the boss' level.

Carol J's experience
lvl 7 508
lvl 8 502
lvl 9 496

Shemyaza (level 52) at level 40 gives 19968 experience which would mean his base EXP is 1664 (19968/12 levels)
I didn't do any more studies than this on experience.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
|Misc. answers that I asked myself and I believe I found answers to|
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Q: Is Zio path really the best?
A: It hits all bosses neutrally. Some bosses are, for example, weak to fire, but then there's other bosses that are immune to fire. Nemissa is an essential damage dealer for most bosses. The difference between hitting neutrally vs. weak isn't that big, it's not like on the Press Turn system where you get extra turns or something. Instant death spells from other paths are also not really useful, unlike Megido which comes in handy late game.


Q: Is there a reason to do fusions in Gouma-Den instead of COMP?
A: Yes, it's faster to do fusions on COMP since it saves the trip to Gouma-Den but there's a few occasions where you can't do that:
-There's a 5% chance of Loss, where both your materials will vanish and nothing comes out of it. It's not really a reason just something to remember.
-You can't fuse an Element or a Mitama on another demon on your COMP nor do Zoma fusions, unless you have a specific App (Steiner). You can create Elements just fine though.
-Fusing demons on Gouma-Den has them inherit more skills. Sometimes it doesn't matter, but for example Byakko won't learn Makarakarn unless you're at Gouma-Den.


Q: Is maxing 'In' first better than 'Ma' on Nemissa?
A: 'In' seems to increase misc. magic stats like Magic Hit and Magic Defense and MP. It also increases Magic Damage but by a much smaller amount than Ma. Magic Hit and MP seem fine with the arbitrary number of '8 In'. Magic Defense doesn't really matter that much later on, actually you want it small so it reflects more damage through Makarakarn.


Q: Any ailments that could be useful in a speedrun?
Well ailments don't affect bosses, only demons, so it's only worth it on boss fights that have regular demons. Those are Airport, Juggler, Finnegan and Mayone.
Charm: it's pretty good because not only does it stop enemies it also has them hurt themselves. It's also "in the way" since you can recruit those demons easily and you can use them in fusions. I go into further detail on charm on the "drunk smile" section, but charm is only used on Finnegan.
Sleep: Outclassed by Charm. Eternal Rest would be potentially neat but you can't get it without grinding until after Mayone.
Bomb: Can't get Bomb-inducing skills without grinding until after Mayone.
Poison: only deals damage when walking on the map, has no effect in battle. It cuts Attack but that's never that important when you can just charm instead.
Every other ailment is outclassed by Charm and also out of the way.


Q: Any casino items/mystic change rewards that could be useful in a speedrun?
A: Some of the mystic change rewards could be neat but take too much effort to get. Stuff like Candy Boots and Narcissus Flower lets you get a demon for "free" which is really good. Except it's not really free because 1) you need to catch a demon in the first place (in that case why not just catch the demon you want) 2) you need to max that demon's Loyalty (sucks unless you use items that cost money) and 3) have to go to Gouma-den and trade him (not so bad if you time it with another required fusion)
The money making items seem nice but not worth since money isn't that big of a problem. Peri's Treasure is something that I'd strongly consider if I ever route postgame though.
Then there's Joyous Bedding. It's unreasonable to get it in a run through mystic change, but you can get it from the casino for 500 coins = 50,000 yen = 5000 MAG. Joyous Bedding heals party HP by a set percentage every step. It's random, off some really rough testing it seems like there's a 50% chance it does nothing in a given step. When it does heal you the heal amount seems to go from as low as 2% Max HP to 16%. The reason why you'd want to consider this item is because late game you have a lot of situations where you fail an escape and a demon punches you for 1/5th of your HP. Now that's not very high and pausing to heal that amount is silly, but if next encounter you fail to escape twice you could die, and if you had healed maybe you wouldn't have died. I've had times where I had to pause and heal after every single encounter and that loses a bunch of time. Meanwhile with this you can just go and never heal and you're usually fine. It also heals your entire party so you can have demons out as tanks and not worry about healing them either. There's an App called Gulliver Magic that seems to do the same thing, but it only affects MC, which is way way worse. In the final areas Nemissa is on the front to try and prevent MC from dying in one turn. She ends up needing the heals more often than MC so Gulliver Magic does nothing. You also lose an App slot you could be using for something else.
One issue with Joyous Bedding is that it costs so much money that it kinda makes the rest of the route a bit wonky. It's still fine in most cases. You can get it really early (when going to VQ2) or leave it for later. The later you leave it the less impact it'll have in your money. If you do it at VQ2 you'll be struggling to beat Moowis 1 for example. Also if you have Joyous Bedding it's harder to get Nemissa to low HP, to try and manipulate Satanael/Kadokura into attacking her. You could always use the item after Azazel but it does come in handy for the final dungeon.


Q: What's the trick for grinding a lot using chests?
A: When you open a chest that gives you an item but you already have the maximum possible amount of that item in your inventory, then the game says "your inventory is full" and puts the item back in the chest. You can keep opening the chest as much as you want and you'll keep putting the item back in the chest, as long as your inventory is full.
Some chests are guarded by an encounter that you're forced to fight first before you get the item in the chest (kinda like a mimic).
What happens when you combine these two facts? Let's say you open a guarded chest with, for example, a Chakra Pot and you already have 10 Chakra Pots in your inventory. You'll fight the encounter guarding the chest and get the experience for it. Then, the game is gonna notice you have too many Chakra Pots already, so it won't give you the item and you can open the chest again. The encounter also gets reset, so you get to fight it again. As long as you have 10 Chakra Pots in your inventory, you can refight this encounter as many times as you want. There are four big advantages to this method of grinding:
1 - Usually the demons guarding the chest are stronger than the demons in the current dungeon, so they'll give more experience on average
2 - You don't have to walk back and forth trying to get an encounter, so it's faster
3 - The encounter is always the same. You won't get ambushed, find an encounter that gives low exp or an encounter that you aren't prepared to fight
4 - Because you aren't moving, the moon phase doesn't change. This lets you abuse moves such as Sneak Attack and Full Moon Queen, significantly speeding up the grind.
You can grind using this method in any guarded chest, but there's two noteworthy places:
a) the chest on the 5F of haunted mansion. It has a Chakra Pot (relatively easy to get 10 of them in a run) and is guarded by a Virtue. You can also easily get a Wild Hunt beforehand so he can use Sneak Attack. This was used in the route before to grind until you could fuse Mishaguji, but it's no longer needed.
b) the chest on Corridor of Time 5, just before Beelzebub. It has a Soma which is a bit trickier to max out. I don't remember which demons are there but there's 6 of them and they give a lot of experience. When Nemissa gets Full Moon Queen it's the best place to grind in the game. Only useful for silly categories that do postgame bosses, or for casual play.


Q: Have you looked into categories that do post-game bosses at all?
A: I have but didn't look too hard into it. Basically tried to load a save file after the speedrun and see how far I could go in corridor of time and Extra Dungeon. Here's some things I have noticed:
King frost & mara: easy when you give Byakko/Amazon a Nigi Mitama each (to increase Ag), but Amazon is a speedtie vs Mara so kinda scary
for maps, you go to top left area's bottom portal, turn around enter same portal.
for mara you enter 3rd from top
Lilith: actually hard cause megidola bodies you for free. reflecting seems to do nothing, but makarakarn keeps you away from ailments until byakko's murdered).
There's a few demons you can grab in Corridor of Time that can help. Guedhe and Purple Mirror have Makakaja. Guedhe can tank a Lilith Megidola (but Purple Mirror can't). Nemissa with her massive In and MC Guarding could tank it from back row too. My strat was Rakundas and Makakajas and Megidolas. I won through luck. A second demon on Guedhe's level to tank and a strong fast Mediarama demon could make it way easier. Wonder if Byakko is still faster from the back otherwise idk what to do.
I didn't think of this at the time but it might be possible to setup necroma demons to tank everything (might work cause she *seems* to start with only ailment moves). Issue is you can't mediarama but you can always have the Necroma guys Diarahan MC and Nemissa.
As for maps: go to top room for Lilith
Lucifuge: necroma demons tank really well, in the back row you take damage from nothing. just makakaja/rakunda and spam megido spells from nemissa and guedhe. map: I forget but it's not hard.
Beelzebub: is gonna be a bitch. Nemissa can actually tank hits. necroma is cool but it stops mediarama which sucks. necrobyakko reflecting random spells plus 2 necroma demons as dedicated healers for MC/Nemissa could work maybe. It would probably still take very long to kill him (65k hp), grinding on the Soma chest could potentially be worth it.
The Extra dungeon is mostly really simple and easy, outside of the final boss rush. The fights against the Raidous would probably need actual routing around it.
I think doing a speedrun of main game and then following it up with postgame + extra from that same file could be neat. NG+ Extra dungeon could be alright too I guess, but it'd be mostly a movement thing.


Q: What's this about Necroma?
A: Necroma is another really overpowered skill in the game but it's not very useful in normal speedruns. It resummons a dead demon as a zombie that takes no damage from any attacks. However, if you ever heal the zombie (or it gets hit by a hama skill) it automatically dies so you're locked out of AoE heals. It sounds strong but the big issue is that it takes quite a while to setup. You have to enter a fight with only a few units, and the remaining have to be killed beforehand somehow (which also takes some time). Then Nemissa, who is the only character that can learn Necroma, has to summon the zombie demons one by one, a turn each. Then you have to rearrange your party because more than likely you want the zombies to be on the front line to defend, which also takes a turn. You might die during this whole setup, but if you get it off it can be pretty strong. You can't use AoE heals but you can have the zombies cast single target heals on your non-zombies.


Q: Is there a faster way to get Scathach:
The only '10 In' demon with a level below Bifrons, besides Nigi Mitama, is Kuda. Kuda sucks though cause it's a fusion accident, but maybe RNG manipulation is possible. It should be 2% chance for accident + 50% to get Kuda instead of Oliver. I don't know what specific level you need to be to get Kuda off of accidents. Think that for the fusion that breaks you need to use a beast type demon (Beast/Holy/etc.)
	(one example: penanggal+gally trot = heqet x pixie = cunhur x something = something, that gives you 3 shots at an accident)


Q: Alternatives to demons used in the run?
I'm not gonna mention Nemechi demons in this section since you shouldn't use them.

Fast demons: Byakko and Amazon have the highest Ag for their level. The next demon that has equal or higher Ag is level 50, which you'd only attain after Azazel (really late) or through fusion accidents (really unlikely or you'd go for Copernicus which takes a decent amount of time). There's also Turbo Granny but she's Rumor so she cannot be fused. The highest Ag boss is Kadokura at 16, so you'd want at least a 17 Ag demon to feel comfortable. Rukh meets that description but he's level 48 which is still pretty high (would only get him after Malseum). Even if you count 16 Ag demons, the lowest one is also level 48.

Tetrakarn demons: The only viable demon with Tetrakarn is Dzelarhons (level 36). The next one is at level 50 (Pallas Athena) which is really high.

Makarakarn demons: Leprechaum (33) and Halphas (40) are the only viable ones since you really want Makarakarn for Shemyaza. The next demons are level 48 (Kukunochi and Balor). Unfortunately making a Byakko with a Fallen requires an Avatar (Kamapua'a) which is a pain to get. Also, if you got Halphas on Algon Microelectronics you'd have to leave to fuse Byakko on Gouma-den or he wouldn't get Makarakarn. You can make an Amazon with Halphas (using Nozuchi, Vouivre, Gurr or Camazotz) but then you'd have to make Byakko with Dzerlarhons which isn't possible with only one fusion. You're better off going for Leprechaum and trying to find fusion ingredients for him in case he never shows up.

Makakaja demons: Botis, Wu Kong, Anubis, Purple Mirror. Only viable ones to get are Wu Kong (lots of fusions) or Botis (tricky to get).


Q: Any misc. moves that could be useful in a speedrun?
Frozen>Ice Crush: *probably* useless because enemies are only frozen on the turn it gets inflicted so you have to keep targeting with an ice attack and a slower demon has to use ice crush and it *might* work (I don't even know what element it is so I don't know who it works on). The only one with ice crush is Botis and he would rather want to use his Makakaja or Zionga for guaranteed usefulness instead of a move that will often fail. Unless you put Botis on Zeed or something then resummon him which is very expensive MAG wise.

Infinite Taunt isn't good compared to Rakunda, it's too inconsistent and extra damage on phys bosses isn't that great since they can all die in 1 turn anyway.

Roma Fulgen: I've barely tested this but it seems to be just barely stronger than a zio when Nemissa's at 1HP. I've been meaning to test it a bit more but having Nemissa at low HP is kinda scary sometimes (except for the final bosses where the extra damage wouldn't matter that much anyway because of reflect).

Drunkenness: Physical drunk skills don't seem to do much since the demons are so weak and underleveled (I hear Mada can get pretty crazy but he's Nemechi and very high level)

Drunk Smile: At +11 it hits pretty much anything that doesn't null charm, even if they resist it. Charm's pretty good because it not only stops your enemies, keeping your team safe, but it also causes them to hurt themselves, finishing them off faster.
However it doesn't work on bosses, only on regular demons. You rarely fight random encounters. The only place where this could be useful is boss battles that have regular demons: Airport, Juggler, Finnegan and Mayone.
-Airport: you can charm everyone at +6 drunkenness with a Shiisaa. +4 on average gets 1 guy, +5 at least one guy.
However the fight isn't hard or slow enough to justify the detours you'd need to get a Shiisaa.
-Juggler: the Lham Deargs resist phys so they'll take no damage from hitting themselves, you're only stopping them. It's not worth it since they die so fast anyway.
-Finnegan: don't need drunk smile. Frolic/Babylon Pheromone aren't as effective as +11 drunkenness drunk smile but still work very well.
It's also much easier to get a La Llorona(Frolic)/Tenong Cut(Babylon Pheromone) anyway. Both of which can also be potentially useful for the fusion route.
You should definitely use charm for this fight as it makes it much more manageable, especially if you didn't get Scathach early.
Of course if Shiisaa/Ba Da Wang ever become part of the route you should consider this.
-Mayone: Most demons resist ailments so only Drunk Smile is viable, Frolic and Babylon Pheromone rarely get anyone.
Vetala is immune to charm I believe.
It could help, but the strategy I have with Wild Hunt seems good enough, making the detours necessary for Drunk Smile worthless.
-Prices: If this ever becomes relevant here's some info:
Sly sake is 500 yen, Wild is 380, Kind is 580, one big Wild is 1220 and is sold just before Amami Float.
You should use something like 5x wild and 1x sly cause wild is cheaper but you want sly so the demon obeys you (drunk smile is offensive magic).
5x wild + 1 sly is 2400 yen.

-----------------------
|3DS specific features|
-----------------------

---Nemechi---
Nemechi lets you obtain demons exclusive to the 3DS version of the game. Some of these demons are pretty good and useful (e.g., Goblin who gives you Makakaja extremely early in the game). However getting demons from Nemechi requires you to either get Streetpasses or use Play Coins.
Let's be honest you're not gonna get Streetpasses during a run. Even if you did you wouldn't use it in a speedrun it's stupid.
Play Coins you could either amass them before starting the run or collect them during the run. If you have them from before the run started then it's kinda like NG+ and a bit lame. If you collect them during the run you're stopping gameplay to close the 3DS and shake it for a few minutes... Also there's a limit to how many Play Coins you can get a day, thus there would be a limit to how many resets/runs you could do a day.
Overall it seems using Nemechi is kinda stupid so I'm against it.


---Hacks---
On the 3DS version, when you touch the bottom screen you're given the option to activate some hacks that change the game a bit. Here's what they are and how I feel about them:

-Difficulty Hack: You can raise or lower the difficulty of the game. I initially started running this to compare how much faster 3DS was vs PS1, so changing difficulty would have made that comparison bad.
Lowering the difficulty is dumb, don't do it. The only reason it's good is because it lowers the prices from Demon Compendium which is really useful when grinding Mitamas, but you don't do that in a speedrun anyway (you might in a postgame category but let's not think of that for now).
Increasing the difficulty could be interesting but it's probably only gonna inflate all the numbers. I know it boosts prices on Demonic compendium (which isn't used in the run) but it doesn't affect prices on the shops... I assume the run would still be the same but you have a higher chance to die which isn't particularly fun.
That being said I might try out the route sometime on hard just to see what happens, but I doubt I'll take it seriously.

-Automap Hack: Shows the entire map for each dungeon on the bottom screen, as opposed to only showing tiles you've walked on previously. I use it but I think it's kinda lame to use it. It makes navigating the maps easier especially when you haven't learnt them very well yet.
On PS1 there was an item that you could use that would put a minimap on the screen, consisting only of the current 2-3 tiles around you. It wasn't much but it helped with navigation. 3DS doesn't have that item at all, since you have the entire map on the bottom screen.
An alternative would be taking a screenshot of every map, uploading on miiverse, downloading to my computer then stare at my computer's screen for the maps instead of starting at my 3DS' bottom screen. I just went with this since it's way less work.
Once I learn the maps better I'll probably stop using it. While I think it's kinda lame to use it I also don't think it hurts since everyone gets access to it.

-Alignment Hack: This lets you have any combination of demons in your party, regardless of their alignment, so you can have for example an EX-Law demon and an EX-Chaos demon at once. Alignment has so far never been a problem in any routes, so this has never been useful. I don't really want to allow this but if a really cool route needed it I'd consider it.

-Analyze Hack: I honestly can't tell a difference with this lol.


---Demon Compendium---
I hear this is a 3DS specific feature. I feel like there's no harm in using it, even though I don't currently use it in this route.


---Holding B to go fast---
it's pretty good and makes the game better. Original version lets you do this too but you don't move faster (but pressing back makes you move back instead of turning around).
How fast is fast when holding B? I did some random rough timings.
Movement speeds over 28 tiles.
On Soul Hackers it was done on Warehouse District, 14 tiles forward, 14 back.
On EOU2 (demo) it was tested on Floor 1 Entrance, doing 4 tiles back and forth.
SH walking: 8.44 s
SH running: 4.44 s
EOU2 FAST: 8.28 s
EOU2 normal: 16 s
I used EOU2 since it's kinda similar to Soul Hackers (during dungeons), a game that's also on 3DS, a series that I like, and because the series has a few speedruns as well.


------------------------------------------
|Changes to original route (ZAKO's route)|
------------------------------------------

Get Scathach later:
-She's not really necessary before. Old route fuses her before Moowis 2 and fused her away before Mayone:
	-Moowis 2: She only saves a turn (sometimes only half a turn) which is very little time in auto repeat. Strategy in this route is 3 turns with the bonus that you have the exact same party setup as Snappy (no need for menus)
	-Moowis 3: She saves no turns, boss is very easy also.
	-Finnegan: With AoE Charm this fight is way safer and Scathach is no longer needed.
	-Erika: She's Calm so she doesn't get returned by question box. Has Mediarama so she's great at keeping your party alive. However after Question Box you can just resummon a La Llorona or a Silky as a healbot. Loses a bit of time but not bad.
-Grabbing a Bifrons takes way less time than grabbing 4 demons + doing 3 fusions.
	-Specifically Korokoppur is really hard to recruit. You also won't always find a Pixie+Knocker on time, and a second fairy can be hard to grab, too.
	-But finding Bifrons can be difficult if you're unlucky. If you miss him and don't want to grind encounters for him, you can try doing Mayone without Dzelarhons and finding another Int 10 demon on the mall, but chances are you'll die. Can also look for earlier demons that can fuse into a Bifrons later.

Get Botis instead of Wu Kong:
-Waaaay less fusions. In fact, if you grab a Botis off the Monolith it's even faster. It's crazy how much work you had to do to get Wu Kong and he actually does so little.
-You don't lose any time to Mayone, as Wild Hunt makes a fine replacement (although the fight becomes more dangerous). Malseum, Azazel and Manitou kill themselves with Tetrakarn anyway. Satanael and Kadokura are harder without Makakaja (it's still possible though, and it doesn't lose time, but you need luck). Hopefully by then you have Botis though.
-Shemyaza is the biggest problem. If you just auto repeat and nothing bad happens, not having Makakaja loses you 20~25 seconds (on 3DS). However, since he has more turns, he has more chances to cast Megidola and wipe your party. Then you have to watch 5 mins of cutscenes again...

Skipping Vouvire going straight to Byakko:
It's only for Mayone and it doesn't matter that much. It means the Kasos get to spam fire spells on your face all day but it's fine as long as they don't focus on Wild Hunt (they will sometimes).

More options for fusions:
Not really an improvement to the route itself just added information that might save your run.

Armor:
Skipping Active Camo cause the null ice comes in handy and Active Camo isn't used that long.
Getting Foot Escape earlier because you can and I don't know why ZAKO doesn't do it.
Misc. other things I think like never getting In-Line skates. (although maybe you should and instead never get mirage boots)

No grind at Haunted Mansion:
-you don't get Wu Kong after all, which was why the grind was needed (even if you did you could probably skip on the grind anyway)
-However skipping grind means you don't have Megido for Satanael so you gotta do an extra battle or two late game.


-------------------------------------------------------------
|Possible improvements and things that should be looked into|
-------------------------------------------------------------

-One time, while I was trading Nigi Mitama in the Pet Shop, I was mashing to try to get fast menuing, and the menu looking really weird (like it had text but no blue background) and I traded Silky instead of Nigi Mitama for the Scathach. I don't think that Silky had 10 In, so I don't know how that happened. I spent a lot of time mashing buttosn trying to replicate it later, but to no avail. It's starting to get to the point where I'm wondering if it was real (or if I somehow saw that wrong or if I somehow gave Silky a Nigi Mitama to raiser her In). I did manage to replicate the weird menu without the blue backgrounds behind the text, but wasn't able to trade another demon. I'm not even sure if it would be useful but would be nice to know.
-It'd be nice to have levels of demons you're trying to negotiate, so we know how much MAG/money to give them if they ask.
-There were a few dialogue choices I didn't time to see which was faster
-You can use Leprechaum to reflect gun beam back at Erika, wonder if you could insta kill her with this (highly doubt it)
-Raise difficulty on tetrakarn bosses so they kill themselves faster (mostly for manitou) (I don't wanna use that though cause if I do then why shouldn't I lower difficulty for everything else, and lowering difficulty is lame)
-Need to figure out how estoma mechanics work to see if it's ever worth grinding a tad so that I'll be high enough level to skip a bunch of encounters
-maybe if I have elec weak guys on Shemyaza he'll use elec attacks?
-research on dialogue options during negotiations for more successful recruitments.
-It's possible to just forget about saving and use those 2 app slots for something else. Question is is that worth it and if so which apps would we use? Maybe use the one that reduces acts like estoma and reduces enemy encounters which brings me to the question:
-How good is the app that reduces enemy encounters?
-When Byakko's/Amazon's/Botis' loyalty is max you could in theory stop giving them sake, but there's still a minor chance they won't obey you which could be disaster. Might be worth the risk at a higher level of optimization though.
-Armor can probably be router better. Might be possible to skip a few trips. Maybe even never buy armor for Nemissa past a certain point in the game or something. Would have more MAG maybe could use that for demon tanks??

-----My Runs-----
Casual Playthtough IGT: 40:50 (lvl 61)
Learning run IGT: 6:31 (lvl 56)
Review run IGT: 3:44 (lvl 56)
1st run: 3:29 IGT (lvl 56), 3:37:00.4 JRTA, 3:28:57 WRTA
2nd run, with my route improvement: 3:02 IGT (lvl 56), 3:17.45.6 JRTA, 3:09:44 WRTA
-----------------
Useful links:
List of demons: http://megamitensei.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_Devil_Summoner:_Soul_Hackers_Demons
List of Skills: http://megamitensei.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_Devil_Summoner:_Soul_Hackers_Skills
Some Zeed info: http://megamitensei.wikia.com/wiki/Zeed
Some Nemechi info: http://megamitensei.wikia.com/wiki/Nemechi
http://bmky.net/data/sh/3ds.html - this Japanese site has some info on the game, specifically on the 3DS version. Includes descriptions of some glitches that let you do super NG+ and stuff.