Phantasy Star II Speedrun Exp

Phantasy Star 2 - Any%/Nei% Speedrun

By: Jiseed (twitch.tv/jiseed)

Much like my Baldur's Gate speedruns this game has an abundance of glitches that are used throughout, in which most of their uses and how they are actually performed are not immediately apparent. So, in an effort to increase clarity, and therefore hopefully the viewer's understanding I've created this document to help out in explaining things. Feel free to ask questions if you have any.

Inventory Glitch: This is by far the most important technique used in the entire run. Through this we are able to create several key plot items, and an important on use item to help speed up the beginning of the game. By emptying out Rolf/ABWX and Rudo's inventory by selling their equipment at the shop, we are setting up for it. When we go to the Room at the Central Tower and first select a character that has items (Nei), cancel out, then select a character without items (Rolf/Rudo) we enable the overflowing of the inventory for some strange reason. Since the default inventory is only 16, the corresponding  values of 0 and 17-255 in the menu correspond to OTHER character's statistics and inventories. The only exception is the values of names, which are slots 21-24, which apply to the character whose inventory has been glitched. So, by glitching out Rolf's and Rudo's inventory, they are now able to access both Nei and Amy's statistics respectively, and therefore able to manipulate them in order to quickly beat the game.

The most important inventory slots that are used throughout the run are slots 36 (the slot representing level), 56 (the slot that represents defense) and Slots 21-24 in Rolf's inventory (The characters used in his name). From these slots, we can manipulate what we recieve from the inventory glitch because we can control what numbers we want to appear in them (for the most part) because these values are actually hex addresses that correspond to items in the inventory as well. To get the items from the glitched inventory, we have to go down the list - past where the blinking icon shows (it disappears after slot 20) - to the slot we want. This is done by simply counting past where it disappears. Once we've reached the slot we need, we either give the item it contains to a character who has an inventory (Amy/Nei) if it is an important key item, or we simply toss it (for the level glitch).

Defense Underflow (Limited Invulnerability): By far the most important slot is 56 (defense) as it is easily manipulated with equipment, and the stats are always the same if the character is level 1 (every level up gives random stat bonuses).  From this slot, we manipulate it in order to get a Moon Dew (used to revive Rolf in order to enter Esper Mansion), Teim (To pass the bridge in order to get to Oputa), The NEISHOT, NEISHIELD, NEIEMEL, NEISLASHER (4 of the required 8 Nei Items) and a Storm Gear (speeds up fights before Nei reaches super levels). A side effect of doing this is that you underflow the defense stat, so only monsters that have fixed damage attacks (Mosquitos, Blasters, Final 2 Bosses) can hurt you, as your defense is far too high to be hit by normal attacks after it is done.

Infinite Leveling: From the Level slot (slot 36) we get several key items as well. If the level value is 3; we recieve the Key Tube in order to pass south through the bridge to grab the vehicle in order to reach the dams. Levels 5,6,7 and 8 correspond to the different colored cards we need in order to enter and complete the dams. This slot is also key in order to glitch out level ups. If you remove the level slot, the character's level value goes down to zero. However, the statistics remain the same AND when the next battle is completed, they will  level up to where they should be based on their EXP value. So if Nei is level 14, if I remove the telepipe from her level slot, it will turn to zero. However, her exp is still the same as it was before, so after the fight she will level up 14 times, each time gaining stats. This is how we get the high HP and Attack values we need in order to defeat the final two bosses. It is interesting to note that the max level in the game 50, however Nei and Amy will both achieve 'levels' that are higher than this statistically wise because of the glitch.

Rolf's Name: Slots 21-24 are the character values for Rolf/Rudo. However, we only rename Rolf to ABWX because thats all we need. Each of these letter's hex addresses correspond to the remaining Nei items that we need in order to advance. So A's value corresponds to the NEIMET, B's the NEICROWN, W's the NEIARMOR and X's the NEICAPE. This greatly speeds up the key item creation process, as before this discovery many roundabout methods to create the Nei items were necessary, including the creation of non-essential items to set up for the values we needed.

Item Duplication: This is a very simple trick. Select the item you want to dupe, and then cancel out of the USE/GIV/TOS menu. Then on the SECOND inventory screen (showing slots 9-16) hover over the "NEXT" button. Press B+C at the same time, and if you did it right the USE/GIV/TOS menu should appear. Simply use the GIV option to give to the other character and the item will be duplicated. Note that duplication uses up the item in slot 1 in order to accomplish this, so DO NOT put anything important there.

Miscellanous Information:

- Nei is the most important character for this run primarily because Nei levels up so quickly, enabling the usage of Infinite Leveling very early on comparitively (the level stat must be 14 or higher in order to generate an item that can be tossed, 1-13 are all important plot items which cannot be tossed). Hence Nei%.

- Amy and Rudo are necessary because we need someone who can equip a variety of armor in order to get the defense values that are neccessary for glitching some of the key items. Rudo is simply there to allow us to get into Amy's stats easily via the inventory glitch (Rolf's inventory CAN access Amy's stats, however the slots we would need to go down to would be in the 200's!) Amy is there because she can equip the items that we need, as well as being quite helpful in the Dark Falz fight due to her Techs, and being able to add some supplimentary damage. She is also helpful if Nei's level goes past a value we need as we can use her as a backup in that case.

- By getting the colored cards early we skip a large section of the game in which you fight Neifirst and Nei permanently dies. This means that from the Dams onward, Nei is not supposed to be there. Personally I think its pretty awesome that we're able to keep her and that she plays such a large role in the route. This is a great testament to how broken the game has become in my opinion.

- There are NO monsters in dungeons that are supposed to be entered after Nei dies, this is presumably due to a trigger not being fired. However, monsters are still present on the overworld on both Motavia and Dezo, as well as in the dungeons that take place prior to Nei's death.

- Sometimes I will spam the A button in order to avoid getting an encounter when I feel like its either too risky to fight or I'm close enough that the dialogue popping up repeatedly would be faster than an encounter.

- Dark Force/Dark Falz is the hardest fight in this game by far. When he 'turns party members evil' it places a curse on them. These curses can either be a non issue (agility decrease, techs disabled, etc.) or VERY dangerous (any disabling one, he has 3 of this type). In addition, being cursed by a 'minor' one also reduces the number of attacks performed from 2 to 1 if dual wielding. The real problem here is the fact that it is ENTIRELY up to RNG if the curses will be disabled by the NEISWORD, so Nei and Amy could both be disabled for 20+ turns, or only one. He is one of the biggest run killers.

- More in-depth information on the route can be found at
https://kb.speeddemosarchive.com/Phantasy_Star_II