Legend of Mana - Faerie Japanese Run [1:59] Notes

Faerie (Japanese) Run - 1:59:06, performed by しあん on December 27th, 2013. [IGT - 1:59]

Sir VG's Comments on Route.
Edit 2014.03.27 - Jawbreaker only requires 5 Glove Points and 5 Crouch Points, not 6 as previously stated.

Weapon Choice: Hammer

Starting Location: Default Location
Home Location: Up 2 from Default

Mission Order Cliff Notes:
Place AF Mailbox
Place AF Colorblocks
Place AF Wheel
Mission - Niccolo's Business Unusual
Place AF Flame
Mission - The Flame of Hope
Place AF Tablet
Mission - Teatime of Danger
Place AF Bottled Spirit
Place AF Medallion
Mission - Mine Your Own Business
Mission - Huntin' Du'Cate
Mission - Murmuring Forest
Mission - Two Torches
Place AF Stone Eye
Mission - The Gorgon's Eye
Mission - Niccolo's Business Unusual 2
Mission - In Search of Faeries
Mission - Pokiehl: Dream Teller
Mission - Star-Crossed Lovers
Place AF Brooch of Love
Mission - Heaven's Gate
Place AF Broken Doll
Mission - The Infernal Doll
Place AF Firefly Lamp
Mission - Faeries' Light
Place AF Trembling Spoon
Place AF Tome of Magic
Place AF Sand Rose
Place AF Moon's Mirror
Place AF Rusty Anchor
Talk to Elazul to get AF Jade Egg
Place AF Jade Egg
Place AF Torch of Coral
Mission - Cage of Dreams
Place AF Sword of Mana
Mission - Legend of Mana

Detailed Notes:

Place AF Mailbox
Sets Square to Defend (X left alone)
Sets R1 to Blammo

Place AF Colorblocks 1 block north of Home.
Interesting decision of going north after visiting Niccolo instead of West.

Place AF Wheel 1 block east of Home
-- Mission - Niccolo's Business Unusual --
Learned Counterattack on screen 4. Nice defeat of the first set of enemies there with Blammo.
Swaps abilities (both Square and X) to Counterattack.
Learned Counterstrike after beating Mantis Ant.

Place AF Flame 1 block south of Luon Highway
-- Mission - The Flame of Hope --
Interesting notes: 1. You can walk behind the tables. 2. They told Inspector Boyd that they wouldn't help (it's a but though must moment, but it seems to have a longer amount of test). 3. They sold items then bought a claw from the shop in Gato (ATK 13).
Auto equipped stuff after purchase.
Swapped abilities: Square to Jump, X to Crouch.

Place AF Tablet 2 blocks north of Gato Grottoes (east of Domina)
-- Mission - Teatime of Danger --
Learned Lightning Kick after first fight (Lightning Kick requires 2 Glove Battle Points and 2 Jump Points).
Sets Lightning Kick on R2.
Takes a very unusual route. They actually go in the BACK DOOR. Normally when I do the mission, I talk to the flowerling girls. But the room before that, the runner goes right and then talks to a single male flowerling to get to the normal labyrinth entrance from the right, rather than the left as I normally enter. They now have to talk to flowerlings 3 times, however this skips a couple of fights (the room where I normally fight the snake 3 times is now completely skipped).
In the first room of the dungeon, player learned Jawbreaker (Jawbreaker requires 5 Glove Battle Points and 5 Crouch Points).
Just before the boss, player changes X to Counterstrike and puts Jawbreaker on R1 (after accidentally putting on Lightning Kick first).
Draculark gets stuffed into a corner and pummeled to a pulp.

Place AF Bottled Spirit 1 block east of Luon Highway.
Place AF Medallion 1 block south of Ulkan Mines
-- Mission - Mine Your Own Business --
In the room with the save point, player makes a quick divergence to fight 2 Narcissos, which drop Gigas Gloves (12.5% chance, ATK 35). And got it in 1 fight.
Auto equipped again. Swapped X to Cheer. Yes, I'm not sure right now why they swapped out Counterstrike instead of Jump.
Learned Mental Barrier (16 Gloves Points, 10 Counterattack Points, 1 Counterstrike point) after Labanne.

--- END OF PART 1 ---

--- BEGIN PART 2 ---

-- Mission - Huntin' Du'Cate --
Mr. Fuddy Duddy is a cheater. :P
Slightly different route through to get to Hamson (1st time). Not sure if it actually saved time, since it's the same number of screens.
Du'Cate got DESTROYED by Jawbreaker.

-- Mission - Murmuring Forest --
Escad is a dick to faeries. Otherwise, status quo.

-- Mission - Two Torches --
Toto is a uncaring bastard to nuns. And to Spriggan, because that Jawbreaker did probably around 1100 damage (2 full bars = 800HP, and the green was about 3/4 filled for another ~300HP). Can anybody say, BROKEN?!

Place AF Stone Eye 1 block west of Gato Grottoes.
-- Mission - The Gorgon's Eye --
Skipped virtually the entire penguin dialogue about passwords by walking underneath all of them and talking to the walrus. GENIUS.
Faeries are a dick to Toto.
Tote is a lying dick to penguins.
Gorgon Eye was OHKO by Jawbreaker (well, technically a THKO since Jawbreaker hits twice). He had at minimum 3 bars (1200 HP) plus probably 1/3 of the blue bar (~133HP) meaning Jawbreaker did at minimum 1333 damage. BROKEN~~~~~~~~~~~

-- Mission - Niccolo's Business Unusual 2 --
Almost forgot to pick up Niccolo at the shop. Otherwise, nothing unusual here.

--- END OF PART 2 ---

--- BEGIN PART 3 ---

-- Mission - In Search of Faeries --
Choose the first option when talking to Tote. That was the only difference.

-- Mission - Pokiehl: Dream Teller --
Mission FAILED. As per protocol.

-- Mission - Star-Crossed Lovers --
Escad is a dick to Daena. And faeries are dicks to Toto. As are Flowerling girls.
Thanks for the 500 lucre. SMILE~~~~~~~!
Player sided with Escad. Daena died in one hit to Jawbreaker after doing her Around the World tech. Seemed like less dialogue at the end.

Place AF Brooch of Love 1 block west of Home. This makes the enemies weaker compared to placing it close to Gato.
-- Mission - Heaven's Gate --
Lightning Kick has some RANGE.
Also, he managed to wiggle past the first Selva appearance to skip his dialogue. WOW. As well as the second!
Escad dies. As does Irwin. And Matilda. And...well, pretty much everybody but Toto.
Sick Irwin fight though. :)
Since both Escad and Daena are dead, a nun brings the news of Matilda's death.

--- END OF PART 3 ---

--- BEGIN PART 4 ---

Place AF Broken Doll 1 block south of Gato.
-- Mission - The Infernal Doll --
Toto is a dick to broken dolls.

Place AF Firefly Lamp 1 block west of Junkyard.
-- Mission - Faeries' Light --
Gilbert is a dick to Monique.

Place AF Trembling Spoon 1 space south of the Junkyard.
Place AF Tome of Magic 1 space west of The Underworld.
Place AF Sand Rose 1 space west of Geo.
Place AF Moon's Mirror 1 space west of Lumina.
Place AF Rusty Anchor 1 space north of Tower of Leires.

Talk to Elazul to get AF Jade Egg. He gets even LESS screentime than before.

Place AF Jade Egg 1 space east of Midnas Ruins.
Place AF Torch of Coral 1 space north of Midnas Ruins.
-- Mission - Cage of Dreams --
"The workshop is NOT a meeting place." -Toto
Also, instead of listening to even the short amount of speech Pokiehl makes, the player skips it by leaving the screen then returning, THEN going into the shop.
Player swaps out Cheer (on X) for Counterstrike.

Place AF Sword of Mana 1 space west of Domina.
-- Mission - Legend of Mana --
Just before the 4th corner in the Sanctuary of Mana, player swaps out Jump (on Square) for Cheer. See, I told you that the player should have just put Cheer on Square and been done with it. Saved 2 menu usages.
Goddess survived with just a couple of HP after the 2nd Jawbreaker. Lucky bitch.

Player did finish strong. Good job.

--- END OF PART 4 ---

Final Thoughts: Great run with some interesting surprises that I can carry over to a US version run. 1:58 on the Japanese version is definitely possible though.