(Old Route) Dark Cloud any% Glitched With Original Trigger

NOTE: This route is outdated. The current route uses the alternate trigger, but has a more complicated set up. I am currently unable to test the current route with the original trigger since I no longer have a console that supports it.

You can find the current route here: http://pastebin.com/vdsb8C01

Posted by TheGlitchKing on Twitch on 7/11/2016

Dark Cloud (NTSC-U) Any% Glitched Route With Original Glitch Menu Trigger & FAQ

For reasons unknown, this only works on select PS2 consoles, it doesn't work on emulator, PS3, or PS4, and even over 4 years later I still have no clue what determines if the glitch menu item will appear on that particular console.
Use the link below for a way to make the glitch menu item appear if your console supports it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61ITAP-vSIg (I Will make an updated video when I have the time to)


If you can't get the original glitch menu to work, try the route that uses the Alternate trigger, which can be found here: http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=1Y6GQn9W


Use the link below to see this route in action. - (Didn't even get PB due to RNG, and this route saves 6 to 7 minutes real time over the old one)
https://www.twitch.tv/theglitchking/v/40494669


*Before the run*
Use a memory card that has absolutely nothing on it except a single Dark Cloud save. Doing this will allow the game to save to and load from the memory card a few seconds faster. Another reason for doing this is because if you mess up the skip glitch and set the modified save to jump to a non-existent map, it will corrupt all of your Dark Cloud saves.


*Title Screen*


- Make sure Message Display Speed is set to speedy in options. The other options don't matter.
- Start game when you are sure the original glitch menu trigger will work.


*Divine Beast Cave Part 1*


- I only open chests if I'm looking for bone keys or mimics. Any other reason wastes time.
- Collect coins from enemy drops until the last digit in gilda count is 1, 2, or 6 so you can buy and sell stuff to get exactly 86 gilda. (4 can also be used with the tens digit being an even number if you don't mind losing around 30 seconds)
- Get a weapon from a chest on any floor and immediately place it on slot 3 of Toan's weapons, then place the dagger on slot 2.
- Fight enemies until your dagger's level is +1 with full Abs.
- Do not fight Statues unless you have a 2nd weapon or no other monsters had the gate key since Statues break weapons VERY fast.
- Cave Bats never have the gate key, and fighting them for Abs is not recommended since they're harder to hit and they poison.

- Complete floors 1 & 2 without opening any atla.
- Start opening atla on floor 3.
- Get a perfect duel on the 1st attempt in floor 4 to get the 1st powerup powder.
  If you don't get a perfect on the 1st attempt, you get an Undead Buster instead and the run is over.
- When you finish the duel, you will get a random gem. Out of the 12 gems in the game, only 5 of them are useful in the run.

  These are the gems I will take:
  Garnet for Statues and attack power
  Opal or Pearl for endurance
  Ruby for slightly more damage to Mimics
  Turquoise for slightly more damage to Statues and Mimics

- After floor 4 is finished, restock and open atla from floors 5 to 7 until you have all of Gaffer's georama parts. If you're lucky, all parts can be found by the end of floor 5.

  These are the georama parts you will need to rebuild Gaffer's:
  Gaffer's Buggy
  Lamp
  Odd Gaffer
  Sign
  Supplies

- Fight Mimics on floor 6 for Dran's feather to increase running speed. If you don't get one, you get another chance on floor 9, but you will lose time.

- If all of Gaffer's georama parts aren't found by the end of level 7, reset since going back to floors 1 & 2 can waste lots of time.
- By the time you have all of Gaffer's georama parts, the last digit in Gilda count needs to be 1, 2, or 6.
- If last digit is 1 or 6, leave the dungeon with an escape powder.
- If last digit is 2, discard all escape powders and leave the dungeon to lose half your money. This will make the last digit 1 or 6.
- 4 as the last digit with an even number as the tens digit also works, but you will have to leave the dungeon without an escape powder twice, costing around 30 seconds.


*Gaffer's*


- Restore Gaffer's and watch cutscene.
- When cutscene ends, move the Dagger to Toan's 2nd slot if you haven't already.
- Open options screen from edit mode menu. Close it and enter the store.
- Place the cursor on column 1 row 7 of any inventory, press left, then Right & X at the same time to get a broken dagger, sometimes you'll get an invisible attachment named Dagger (B), that works too since it has the same stats.
- Place it on slot 1 of your attachments. This broken dagger will be used to unlock all dungeon floors to skip the Seda duel and building Toan's house to get Xiao.
- Leave the store then open the game menu from walking mode, close it then go back to the store.
- Buy and sell stuff until you have exactly 86 gilda.
  The 86 Gilda will be turned into a "Dummy" that gets turned into 86 fire on a broken dagger later on.
- Place the cursor on column 1 row 8 of any inventory, press Left then Right & X at the same time to get the glitch menu item.
- Go to attachments menu, press Right once and drop the item.
- Press Left once then up. Then put the broken dagger on the first slot of the blank row.
- Leave the store and open the game menu again then grab the glitch menu item again.
- Go to attachments, press Right twice and drop the item, then press Left twice and grab the broken dagger.
- Press Left until the cursor won't go any further, then press Up, Right 10 times, Up 4 times, then go to weapon inventory.
- From here, press "Down" 144 times. You will find a stone breaker.
- When you find it, Press R1 then Down 5 times and drop the broken dagger.
  This will unlock all dungeon levels.
- Now press the following buttons in order: Down 5, Right 2, X, Right, X, Left, then X.
  This will make the Dagger's Wind stat 0 if you placed it on Toan's 2nd slot earlier.
- After that, press L1, Left once, then Down twice. You will find a powerup powder. Grab it, press L1 then Left twice.
- The cursor will be on the CHECK! button. Press Left and Up VERY fast but not at the same time until the cursor is back in the store.
- Drop the powerup powder, scroll all the way up in the shop and place the cursor on the first slot of the top blank row.
- You will find an item called "Dummy". This slot controls how much gilda you have. Grab it, then press L1, down 4 times, then X to place it on slot 1 of your attachments.
- Grab the powerup powder again and place it anywhere in your inventory that's not a negative slot.
- Leave the store. Open the game menu. Close it, and grab another glitch menu item.
- Go to attachments, press Right 3 times and drop it.
- Hold Left until the cursor won't go any further, then press Up, Right 11 times, then go to weapon inventory.
- Scroll down for around 9 seconds until you find some Candy.
- Then press Down 4 times and grab the broken dagger there and place it on slot 2 of your attachments.
  This B. dagger doesn't have any stats yet since attachments grabbed from the item or weapon inventory don't include stats.
  By moving that B. dagger, the titles that show when loading Norune Village or Divine Beast Cave will be removed until you reset, allowing the maps to load around 1 second faster (4 seconds on PCSX2).
- Go back to Divine Beast Cave.


*Divine Beast Cave Part 2*
WARNING: DO NOT GO TO FLOOR 11. THE GAME WILL CRASH SINCE YOU DON'T HAVE XIAO,
AND THE GLITCH MENU ITEM WILL STOP APPEARING UNTIL IT'S TRIGGERED AGAIN.


- Start on floor 9 and open every atla you find. When there are no more, leave the dungeon through the menu.
- Repeat this process on the other floors until you have all of the Hag's georama parts.

  These are the georama parts you need:
  Hag's House
  Bench
  Cabin
  Fence
  Hag
  Lamp
  Urn (Called Jar in menus)


*Hag's House*


- Restore the Hag's house.
- After the cutscene ends, go in and open the miracle chest left of the closet for the 3rd powerup powder.
- Open the check-in counter and deposit all 3 powerup powders or they'll be deleted along with the item menu spaces.
- Go back outside, open the game menu once again. Close it and get another glitch menu item.
- Go to attachments, press Right 4 times and drop the item
- Then press L1, Left, then X to remove all item slots.
- Leave the shop and go back to the check-in counter.
- When the counter appears, hold Left until the cursor won't go any further, then press Up once, Right 10 times then Left once.
- From here, scroll down for a little under 5 seconds until you find the "Dummy".
- Grab it and press "Down" 5 times, Left once, X, then Circle to drop it.
  The broken dagger you have should now have a fire stat of 86.
- Re-Equip the dagger since deleting the menu will make Toan wield nothing.
- Remove any attachments you have from the Dagger then place the broken dagger on any of it's slots, then upgrade it.
- Get the powerup powders from the check-in counter, and place them on slots 1 2 and 3 of your inventory, then use them from the item menu to upgrade the dagger to level 5, then Status Break it.
  You now have a synth sphere with 53 Fire and 0 ice wind and thunder.
  This gives a hexadecimal value of 00000033, which is the value for the map that shows the ending credits.
- Go into your item menu and bring down a blank row, then go to attachments and place the sphere on the first slot in the blank row.
- Open the counter again, go to attachments menu and grab the synth sphere without pressing Up.
- Then hold Left until the cursor won't go any further, then press Up, then Right 11 times.
- From here, scroll down for around 11 seconds until you find a fake weapon at +5.
  The name of the weapon is determined by how many enemies you defeated on floor 3.
- When you find this weapon, press "Down" 18 times and drop the sphere.
- Leave the counter. Open your item menu, bring down a blank row then go to your weapon inventory, grab the weapon in Toan's 3rd slot and place on the 1st blank row slot, then go back to the counter.
- When the counter opens, close the speech bubble, then press R1, X, Left 5, Up once, Right 10 times, then Left twice.
- From here, scroll down for a little over 9 seconds until you find a sapphire, then press "Down" 88 times then drop the weapon.
  The game will now think the map that will be saved is the ending credits.
- Now leave the counter, save, reset, then load the glitched save.

That was... a wonderful adventure,
making a new world...




Frequently Asked Questions:




Q: Why doesn't the glitch menu work for me?
A: My guess is that the glitch only works on specific PS2 models or versions. I can't even get the trigger to work on PCSX2. I have not tested the original trigger on a PS3 or PS4 since I don't have either, but I doubt it will ever work on them.
Below is the model, browser, and driver versions for two consoles that the glitch menu always works on:

Fat PS2 Model
Console    SCPH-39001
Browser    1.20
CD Player  1.20
Playstation® Driver  1.10
DVD Player  2.12U

Friend's Fat PS2 Model
Console    SCPH-30001 R
Browser    1.20
CD Player  1.20
Playstation® Driver  1.10
DVD Player  2.10U
Original and Greatest Hits versions of Dark Cloud (NTSC-U) both work on each of those two consoles.

Below is an example of a console that the glitch menu DOES NOT work on.
This one is a Slim model. Here are the versions it has:

Console    SCPH-79001
Browser    1.40
CD Player  2.00
Playstation® Driver  2.00
DVD Player  3.11U


Q: Are glitched speed runs possible in every version?
A: Skipping the entire game is currently possible in the NTSC-U and PAL version, but I haven't made a video on the exact steps in the PAL version yet. Also, this particular route only works on the NTSC-U Version.


Q: What is the shortest possible dungeon run to get every needed Georama Part?
A: With absolutely perfect RNG, all parts can be obtained by the end of floor 9.


Q: Why did you reset?
A: Excluding the Save & Reset needed at the end to load the glitched save, I will reset if (Not in any order):

1- Toan gets defeated
2- The Dagger broke
3- I don't have a 2nd weapon after collecting all needed atla
4- A Statue or mimic has the gate key (If I don't have a 2nd weapon)
5- A locked door is found far into the Floor I'm on, and there's no chest with the key close to it
6- I need to restock before floor 5 is available
7- An atla I needed was on Floor 1 or 2
8- A Cave Bat poisons Toan without an antidote early in a floor
9- An Opar puts Toan in Gooey condition without Dran's Feather
10- A dungeon floor takes too long to finish
11- I don't get a perfect in the floor 4 duel
12- I messed up the Skip glitch or anything involving the glitch menu
13- I don't have every required Georama Part by the end of floor 12 or in some cases floor 13
14- The last digit in Money Count isn't 1, 2, or 6 by the time I can restore Gaffer's
15- Toan gets cursed at a time I need a 2nd weapon to finish the level