BOOK ONE: 1805
CHAPTER I

“Well, Prince, so Genoa and Lucca are now just family estates of the Buonapartes. But I warn you, if you don’t tell me that this means war, if you still try to defend the infamies and horrors perpetrated by that Antichrist—I really believe he is Antichrist—I will have nothing more to do with you and you are no longer my friend, no longer my ‘faithful slave,’ as you call yourself! But how do you do? I see I have frightened you—sit down and tell me all the news.”

It was in July, 1805, and the speaker was the well-known Anna Pávlovna Schérer, maid of honor and favorite of the Empress Márya Fëdorovna. With these words she greeted Prince Vasíli Kurágin, a man of high rank and importance, who was the first to arrive at her reception. Anna Pávlovna had had a cough for some days. She was, as she said, suffering from la grippe; grippe being then a new word in St. Petersburg, used only by the elite.

All her invitations without exception, written in French, and delivered by a scarlet-liveried footman that morning, ran as follows:

“If you have nothing better to do, Count (or Prince), and if the prospect of spending an evening with a poor invalid is not too terrible, I shall be very charmed to see you tonight between 7 and 10—Annette Schérer.”

“Heavens! what a virulent attack!” replied the prince, not in the least disconcerted by this reception. He had just entered, wearing an embroidered court uniform, knee breeches, and shoes, and had stars on his breast and a serene expression on his flat face. He spoke in that refined French in which our grandfathers not only spoke but thought, and with the gentle, patronizing intonation natural to a man of importance who had grown old in society and at court. He went up to Anna Pávlovna, kissed her hand, presenting to her his bald, scented, and shining head, and complacently seated himself on the sofa.

“First of all, dear friend, tell me how you are. Set your friend’s mind at rest,” said he without altering his tone, beneath the politeness and affected sympathy of which indifference and even irony could be discerned.

“Can one be well while suffering morally? Can one be calm in times like these if one has any feeling?” said Anna Pávlovna. “You are staying the whole evening, I hope?”

“And the fete at the English ambassador’s? Today is Wednesday. I must put in an appearance there,” said the prince. “My daughter is coming for me to take me there.”

“I thought today’s fete had been canceled. I confess all these festivities and fireworks are becoming wearisome.”

“If they had known that you wished it, the entertainment would have been put off,” said the prince, who, like a wound-up clock, by force of habit said things he did not even wish to be believed.

“Don’t tease! Well, and what has been decided about Novosíltsev’s dispatch? You know everything.”

“What can one say about it?” replied the prince in a cold, listless tone. “What has been decided? They have decided that Buonaparte has burnt his boats, and I believe that we are ready to burn ours.”

Prince Vasíli always spoke languidly, like an actor repeating a stale part. Anna Pávlovna Schérer on the contrary, despite her forty years, overflowed with animation and impulsiveness. To be an enthusiast had become her social vocation and, sometimes even when she did not feel like it, she became enthusiastic in order not to disappoint the expectations of those who knew her. The subdued smile which, though it did not suit her faded features, always played round her lips expressed, as in a spoiled child, a continual consciousness of her charming defect, which she neither wished, nor could, nor considered it necessary, to correct.

In the midst of a conversation on political matters Anna Pávlovna burst out:

“Oh, don’t speak to me of Austria. Perhaps I don’t understand things, but Austria never has wished, and does not wish, for war. She is betraying us! Russia alone must save Europe. Our gracious sovereign recognizes his high vocation and will be true to it. That is the one thing I have faith in! Our good and wonderful sovereign has to perform the noblest role on earth, and he is so virtuous and noble that God will not forsake him. He will fulfill his vocation and crush the hydra of revolution, which has become more terrible than ever in the person of this murderer and villain! We alone must avenge the blood of the just one.... Whom, I ask you, can we rely on?... England with her commercial spirit will not and cannot understand the Emperor Alexander’s loftiness of soul. She has refused to evacuate Malta. She wanted to find, and still seeks, some secret motive in our actions. What answer did Novosíltsev get? None. The English have not understood and cannot understand the self-abnegation of our Emperor who wants nothing for himself, but only desires the good of mankind. And what have they promised? Nothing! And what little they have promised they will not perform! Prussia has always declared that Buonaparte is invincible, and that all Europe is powerless before him.... And I don’t believe a word that Hardenburg says, or Haugwitz either. This famous Prussian neutrality is just a trap. I have faith only in God and the lofty destiny of our adored monarch. He will save Europe!”

She suddenly paused, smiling at her own impetuosity.

“I think,” said the prince with a smile, “that if you had been sent instead of our dear Wintzingerode you would have captured the King of Prussia’s consent by assault. You are so eloquent. Will you give me a cup of tea?”

“In a moment. À propos,” she added, becoming calm again, “I am expecting two very interesting men tonight, le Vicomte de Mortemart, who is connected with the Montmorencys through the Rohans, one of the best French families. He is one of the genuine émigrés, the good ones. And also the Abbé Morio. Do you know that profound thinker? He has been received by the Emperor. Had you heard?”

“I shall be delighted to meet them,” said the prince. “But tell me,” he added with studied carelessness as if it had only just occurred to him, though the question he was about to ask was the chief motive of his visit, “is it true that the Dowager Empress wants Baron Funke to be appointed first secretary at Vienna? The baron by all accounts is a poor creature.”

Prince Vasíli wished to obtain this post for his son, but others were trying through the Dowager Empress Márya Fëdorovna to secure it for the baron.

Anna Pávlovna almost closed her eyes to indicate that neither she nor anyone else had a right to criticize what the Empress desired or was pleased with.

“Baron Funke has been recommended to the Dowager Empress by her sister,” was all she said, in a dry and mournful tone.

As she named the Empress, Anna Pávlovna’s face suddenly assumed an expression of profound and sincere devotion and respect mingled with sadness, and this occurred every time she mentioned her illustrious patroness. She added that Her Majesty had deigned to show Baron Funke beaucoup d’estime, and again her face clouded over with sadness.

The prince was silent and looked indifferent. But, with the womanly and courtierlike quickness and tact habitual to her, Anna Pávlovna wished both to rebuke him (for daring to speak as he had done of a man recommended to the Empress) and at the same time to console him, so she said:

“Now about your family. Do you know that since your daughter came out everyone has been enraptured by her? They say she is amazingly beautiful.”

The prince bowed to signify his respect and gratitude.

“I often think,” she continued after a short pause, drawing nearer to the prince and smiling amiably at him as if to show that political and social topics were ended and the time had come for intimate conversation—“I often think how unfairly sometimes the joys of life are distributed. Why has fate given you two such splendid children? I don’t speak of Anatole, your youngest. I don’t like him,” she added in a tone admitting of no rejoinder and raising her eyebrows. “Two such charming children. And really you appreciate them less than anyone, and so you don’t deserve to have them.”

And she smiled her ecstatic smile.

“I can’t help it,” said the prince. “Lavater would have said I lack the bump of paternity.”

“Don’t joke; I mean to have a serious talk with you. Do you know I am dissatisfied with your younger son? Between ourselves” (and her face assumed its melancholy expression), “he was mentioned at Her Majesty’s and you were pitied....”

The prince answered nothing, but she looked at him significantly, awaiting a reply. He frowned.

“What would you have me do?” he said at last. “You know I did all a father could for their education, and they have both turned out fools. Hippolyte is at least a quiet fool, but Anatole is an active one. That is the only difference between them.” He said this smiling in a way more natural and animated than usual, so that the wrinkles round his mouth very clearly revealed something unexpectedly coarse and unpleasant.

“And why are children born to such men as you? If you were not a father there would be nothing I could reproach you with,” said Anna Pávlovna, looking up pensively.

“I am your faithful slave and to you alone I can confess that my children are the bane of my life. It is the cross I have to bear. That is how I explain it to myself. It can’t be helped!”

He said no more, but expressed his resignation to cruel fate by a gesture. Anna Pávlovna meditated.

“Have you never thought of marrying your prodigal son Anatole?” she asked. “They say old maids have a mania for matchmaking, and though I don’t feel that weakness in myself as yet, I know a little person who is very unhappy with her father. She is a relation of yours, Princess Mary Bolkónskaya.”

Prince Vasíli did not reply, though, with the quickness of memory and perception befitting a man of the world, he indicated by a movement of the head that he was considering this information.

“Do you know,” he said at last, evidently unable to check the sad current of his thoughts, “that Anatole is costing me forty thousand rubles a year? And,” he went on after a pause, “what will it be in five years, if he goes on like this?” Presently he added: “That’s what we fathers have to put up with.... Is this princess of yours rich?”

“Her father is very rich and stingy. He lives in the country. He is the well-known Prince Bolkónski who had to retire from the army under the late Emperor, and was nicknamed ‘the King of Prussia.’ He is very clever but eccentric, and a bore. The poor girl is very unhappy. She has a brother; I think you know him, he married Lise Meinen lately. He is an aide-de-camp of Kutúzov’s and will be here tonight.”

“Listen, dear Annette,” said the prince, suddenly taking Anna Pávlovna’s hand and for some reason drawing it downwards. “Arrange that affair for me and I shall always be your most devoted slave-slafe with an f, as a village elder of mine writes in his reports. She is rich and of good family and that’s all I want.”

And with the familiarity and easy grace peculiar to him, he raised the maid of honor’s hand to his lips, kissed it, and swung it to and fro as he lay back in his armchair, looking in another direction.

“Attendez,” said Anna Pávlovna, reflecting, “I’ll speak to Lise, young Bolkónski’s wife, this very evening, and perhaps the thing can be arranged. It shall be on your family’s behalf that I’ll start my apprenticeship as old maid.”

You'd post that in Guides, but you can post it here too, yeah.

Slightly updated, another different file this time but that's just because Google is bad at converting from OpenDocument files.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q_j2lo0Pbjvfd3cv3yJjPhlqzLLtuRPU/view?usp=sharing

Hikaru 3 vs. Enu timing adjust

--30FPS--

(30FPS video of a 60FPS game can take either 1 of 2 frames, this makes for an uncountable loss of .016 seconds that can occur in most loading screens.)

Load 1- New file to intro (timed from first frame "replacing save" prompt appears to first frame before intro text appears.)

H: 1.101
ENU: 2.117
ODW: 2.133
diff: 1.016

(Normal load screens- first frame GUI disappears to first frame Raguna renders in)

Mist House to Farm:
H: 0.966
ENU: 1.833
diff: 0.867

Farm to Kardia 1:
H: 0.633
Enu: 1.116
diff: 0.483

Kardia 1 to Clinic:
H: 0.667
Enu: 1.217
diff: 0.555

Clinic to Kardia 1:
H: 0.633
E: 1.117
diff: 0.484

Kardia 1 to Kardia 2:
H: 0.633
E: 1.066
diff: 0.433

Kardia 2 to Kardia 3:
H: 0.633
E: 1.066
diff: 0.433

Kardia 3 to Kardia 2:
H: 0.634
E: 1.067
diff: 0.433

Kardia 2 to Kardia 1:
H: 0.666
E: 1.050
diff: 0.384

Kardia 1 to Farm:
H: 0.800
E: 1.550
diff: 0.750

Farm to House:
H: 0.633
E: 1.150
diff: 0.517

Pass out to Clinic: (timed from the frame the grass disappears to first frame of the text box appearing)
H: 6.467
E: 7.500
diff: 1.033

Clinic to Kardia 1:
H: 0.633
E: 1.100
diff: 0.467

Kardia 1 to Clinic:
H: 0.666
E: 1.216
diff: 0.550

Clinic to Kardia 1:
H: 0.633
E: 1.100
diff: 0.467

Kardia 1 to Library:
H: 0.667
ODW: 1.233 (Enu's route doesn't go here)
diff: 0.633

Library to Kardia 1:
H: 0.634
ODW: 1.067
diff: 0.433

Kardia 1 to Smithy:
H: 0.634
E: 1.167
diff. 0.533

Smithy warp to House: (First frame white shows from top to first frame Raguna fully on ground)
H: 3.567
ODW: 4.367
diff: 0.800

Farm to house post warp (first frame Raguna turns around to first frame renders):
H: 0.767 (first try)
ODW: 1.267
diff: 0.500

House to farm:
H: 0.8
ODW: 1.6
diff: 0.6

Farm to outside toros cave:
H: 0.700
ODW: 1.433
Enu: 1.45
diff: 0.733

Outside toros to lake:
H: 0.667
ODW: 1.300
Enu: 1.317
diff: 0.650

Lake to forking cave:
H: 0.633
Enu: 1.016
diff: 0.383

Forking cave to Greed: (last frame of dialogue box to first re-render of Raguna)
H: 0.766
Enu: 1.534
diff: 0.768

Greed entrance to Greed 1:
H: 0.734
Enu: 1.317
diff: 0.584

Greed 1 to Greed 2:
H: 0.734
Enu: 1.350
diff: 0.616

Greed 2 to Greed 3:
H: 0.700
Enu: 1.383
diff: 0.683

Greed 3 to Greed 4:
H: 0.734
Enu: 1.383
diff: 0.649

Greed 4 to Greed End:
H: 0.633
Enu: 1.150
diff: 0.450

Greed End to Grimoire Arena: (last frame of dialogue to first frame of GUI)
H: 1.334
Enu: 2.233
diff: 0.900

Grimoire Arena to house front: (last of dialogue to first of dialogue)
H: 1.966
ODW: 3.267
diff: 1.301

House to Kardia 1:
H: 0.633
Enu: 1.067
diff: 0.434

Kardia 1 to Kardia 2:
H: 0.633
Enu: 1.067
diff: 0.434

Kardia 2 to Kardia 3:
H: 0.633
Enu: 1.117
diff: 0.484

Kardia 3 to Farm Teleport: (first frame of arms down, to first frame of top screen fade showing)
H: 3.666
ODW: 4.434
(Enu has to walk)
diff: 0.768

Farm to Outside Toros:
H: 0.700
Enu: 1.366
diff: 0.666

Outside Toros to Misty Bloom:
H: 0.666
Enu: 1.25
diff: 0.584

Misty Bloom to Sechs Border:
H: 0.7
Enu: 1.5
diff: 0.8

Total Load Time Difference: 24.258 (Last run: 23.095)

Loss of Control: 19:25:801

Final Time: 19:50:057

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hikaru2 vs. Enu timing adjust: 5/17/2022
--30FPS--

Load 1- New file to intro (timed from first frame "replacing save" prompt appears to first frame before intro text appears.)

H: 1.034
ENU: 2.117
diff: 1.083

(Normal load screens- first frame GUI disappears to first frame Raguna renders in)

Mist House to Farm:
H: 0.966
ENU: 1.833
diff: 0.867

Farm to Kardia 1:
H: 0.633
Enu: 1.116
diff: 0.483

Kardia 1 to Clinic:
H: 0.667
Enu: 1.217
diff: 0.555

Clinic to Kardia 1:
H: 0.633
E: 1.117
diff: 0.484

Kardia 1 to Kardia 2:
H: 0.666
E: 1.066
diff: 0.400

Kardia 2 to Kardia 3:
H: 0.633
E: 1.066
diff: 0.433

Kardia 3 to Kardia 2:
H: 0.634
E: 1.067
diff: 0.433

Kardia 2 to Kardia 1:
H: 0.633
E: 1.050
diff: 0.417

Kardia 1 to Farm:
H: 0.766
E: 1.550
diff: 0.784

Farm to House:
H: 0.633
E: 1.150
diff: 0.517

Pass out to Clinic: (timed from the frame the grass disappears to first frame of the text box appearing)
H: 6.467
E: 7.500
diff: 1.033

Clinic to Kardia 1:
H: 0.633
E: 1.100
diff: 0.467

Kardia 1 to Clinic:
H: 0.666
E: 1.216
diff: 0.550

Clinic to Kardia 1:
H: 0.633
E: 1.100
diff: 0.467

Kardia 1 to Library:
H: 0.633
ODW: 1.233 (Enu's route doesn't go here)
diff: 0.600

8.473 total so far

still a faster segment than my run at this point

Library to Kardia 1:
H: 0.634
ODW: 1.067
diff: 0.433

Kardia 1 to Smithy:
H: 0.666
E: 1.167
diff. 0.500

Smithy warp to House: (First frame white shows from top to first frame Raguna fully on ground)
H: 3.567
ODW: 4.367
diff: 0.800

Farm to house post warp (first frame Raguna turns around to first frame renders):
H: 0.767 (first try)
ODW: 1.267
diff: 0.500

House to farm:
H: 0.8
ODW: 1.6
diff: 0.6

Farm to outside toros cave:
H: 0.700
ODW: 1.433
Enu: 1.45
diff: 0.733

Outside toros to lake:
H: 0.833
ODW: 1.300
Enu: 1.317
diff: 0.467

Lake to forking cave:
H: 0.667
Enu: 1.016
diff: 0.350

Forking cave to Greed: (last frame of dialogue box to first re-render of Raguna)
H: 0.733
Enu: 1.534
diff: 0.801

Greed entrance to Greed 1:
H: 0.700
Enu: 1.317
diff: 0.584

Greed 1 to Greed 2:
H: 0.734
Enu: 1.350
diff: 0.616

Greed 2 to Greed 3:
H: 0.733
Enu: 1.383
diff: 0.650

Greed 3 to Greed 4:
H: 0.700
Enu: 1.383
diff: 0.688

Greed 4 to Greed End:
H: 0.667
Enu: 1.150
diff: 0.483

Greed End to Grimoire Arena: (last frame of dialogue to first frame of GUI)
H: 1.334
Enu: 2.233
diff: 0.900

Grimoire Arena to house front: (last of dialogue to first of dialogue)
H: 1.966
ODW: 3.267
diff: 1.301

House to Kardia 1:
H: 0.633
Enu: 1.067
diff: 0.434

Kardia 1 to Kardia 2:
H: 0.667
Enu: 1.067
diff: 0.400

Kardia 2 to Kardia 3:
H: 0.633
Enu: 1.117
diff: 0.484

Kardia 3 to Farm Teleport: (first frame of arms down, to first frame of top screen fade showing)
H: 3.634
ODW: 4.434
(Enu has to walk)
diff: 0.800

Farm to Outside Toros:
H: 0.700
Enu: 1.366
diff: 0.666

Outside Toros to Misty Bloom:
H: 0.634
Enu: 1.25
diff: 0.616

Misty Bloom to Sechs Border:
H: 0.7
Enu: 1.5
diff: 0.8

Total Load Time Difference: 23.095 (Last run: 23.276)

Loss of Control: 19:43:42

Final Time: 20:06:515

Due to some recent interest, I've gone back to RF2 and have been working on fixing my work for this up some. The guide's a lot cleaner and is focused on Yue, although information for the bachelorettes still remains at the end. I don't have all the time in the world to work on it, but I'm slowly getting there.

The most important change so far is far more detailed information regarding how FP/LP gain actually works in this game, and the answer is "quite a lot different from all of the other games."

This version of the guide is a separate file, so here's the new link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eg89yW_E04RES5O7PqKm4BYs9Qf_Icr9dmaJZ7Zq9Oc/edit?usp=sharing

Believe me, I've been casually doing a 100% playthrough, and while it's not impossible, we're talking hours of grinding cooking/crafting/pharmacy/forging alone, besides having to max out to beat every labyrinth boss.

It also depends on if you're just doing 100% shipping, or doing 100% trophies which includes the former as it has it's own trophy.
The rest of the trophies are their own problems, (some fish festivals are easy but I still need to figure out the bean one), especially the one that requires you to play to Year 5 (although having kids can help to skip quite a lot of that time).

...Honestly, it might be rather fun to route now that I think about it.

Oh, how do I manage to talk myself into these things?

It's been good to see the recent activity for this game and to finally see this start coming to fruition. I've been working behind the scenes with Hikaru on the routing on the category for a good long while now.

I don't have an opinion on what to do for the leaderboard change, myself. I've yet to even run this game, and I still don't know if I'll get around to it.

Hikarutetrio, March 08, 2022:

Timing Notes:
My run: 30fps video
Enu's: 60fps
Hikaru's: 52.314fps (possibly from inconsistent stream bitrate)

My run is used for some timings due to route differences.

New File to Intro (timed from first frame "replacing save" prompt appears to first frame before intro text appears.)

H: 1.067
ENU: 2.117
diff: 1.05

(Normal load screens- first frame GUI disappears to first frame Raguna renders in, unless specified otherwise.)

Mist House to Farm:
H: 0.933
ENU: 1.833
diff: 0.9

Farm to Kardia 1:
H: 0.633
Enu: 1.116
diff: 0.483

Kardia 1 to Clinic:
H: 0.650
Enu: 1.217
diff: 0.567

Clinic to Kardia 1:
H: 0.633
E: 1.117
diff: 0.484

Kardia 1 to Kardia 2:
H: 0.650
E: 1.066
diff: 0.416

Kardia 2 to Kardia 3:
H: 0.633
E: 1.066
diff: 0.433

Kardia 3 to Kardia 2:
H: 0.600
E: 1.067
diff: 0.467

Kardia 2 to Kardia 1:
H: 0.633
E: 1.050
diff: 0.417

Kardia 1 to Farm:
H: 0.783
E: 1.550
diff: 0.767

Farm to House:
H: 0.650
E: 1.150
diff: 0.5

Pass out to Clinic: (timed from the frame the grass disappears to first frame of the text box appearing)
H: 6.483
E: 7.500
diff: 1.017

Clinic to Kardia 1:
H: 0.660
E: 1.100
diff: 0.44

Kardia 1 to Clinic:
H: 0.684
E: 1.216
diff: 0.532

Clinic to Kardia 1:
H: 0.633
E: 1.100
diff: 0.467

Kardia 1 to Library:
H: 0.650
ODW: 1.233 (Enu's route doesn't go here)
diff: 0.583

Library to Kardia 1:
H: 0.616
ODW: 1.067
diff: 0.451

Kardia 1 to Smithy:
H: 0.65
E: 1.167
diff. 0.517

Smithy warp to House:
H: 3.666
ODW: 4.467
diff: 0.801

Farm to house post warp (first frame Raguna turns around to first frame renders):
H: 0.75 (first try)
ODW: 1.267
diff: 0.517

House to farm:
H: 1.1
ODW: 1.6
diff: 0.5

Farm to outside toros cave:
H: 0.667
ODW: 1.433
Enu: 1.45
diff: 0.783

Outside toros to lake:
H: 0.684
ODW: 1.300
Enu: 1.317
diff: 0.633

Lake to forking cave:
H: 0.650
Enu: 1.016
diff: 0.366

Forking cave to Greed: (last frame of dialogue box to first re-render of Raguna)
H: 0.75
Enu: 1.534
diff: 0.784

Greed entrance to Greed 1:
H: 0.733
Enu: 1.317
diff: 0.584

Greed 1 to Greed 2:
H: 0.717
Enu: 1.350
diff: 0.633

Greed 2 to Greed 3:
H: 0.7
Enu: 1.383
diff: 0.683

Greed 3 to Greed 4:
H: 0.733
Enu: 1.383
diff: 0.65

Greed 4 to Greed End:
H: 0.651
Enu: 1.150
diff: 0.499‬

Greed End to Grimoire Arena: (last frame of dialogue to first frame of GUI)
H: 1.316
Enu: 2.233
diff: 0.917‬

Grimoire Arena to house front:
H: 1.933
Enu: 3.217
diff: 1.284‬

House to Kardia 1:
H: 0.633
Enu: 1.067
diff: 0.434

Kardia 1 to Kardia 2:
H: 0.634
Enu: 1.067
diff: 0.433

Kardia 2 to Kardia 3:
H: 0.633
Enu: 1.117
diff: 0.484

Kardia 3 to Farm Teleport: (first frame of arms down, to first frame of top screen fade showing)
H: 3.667
ODW: 4.434
(Enu has to walk)
diff: 0.767

Farm to Outside Toros:
H: 0.683
Enu: 1.366
diff: 0.683

Outside Toros to Misty Bloom:
H: 0.650
Enu: 1.25
diff: 0.6

Misty Bloom to Sechs Border:
H: 0.7
Enu: 1.5
diff: 0.8

Total Load Time Difference: 23.276

Unadjusted Time: 19:50.633 (first frame of selecting save slot to firs frame of loss of control)

Final Adjusted Time: 20:13.909

As there's a text limit on run descriptions, I'll be putting this here.

Runs qualifying for 4th place or higher and run on emulation have to be retimed in order to be fair to hardware runners, while not excluding people from using emulation.

DeSmuME on average loads 0.6 seconds faster than hardware.
MelonDS on average loads 0.15 seconds faster than hardware.

This can change due to the power of the machine running the emulator, so for now, retiming is a very slow process.

The following is a place for the moderators to show all the retiming work done on emulator runs.

This is nested problem unfortunately. The short answer is that it's too slow and is weaker than just hitting the enemy and Mog is unfortunately just not good.

Magicstrikes or elemental focus attacks o whatever you want to call them, end up being much to slow to be of use, given that normal triple-a inputs are usually faster and more damaging anyways in most situations. (The only time it's not is when a character's STR is too low to break past the enemy's defense, and the FA would put them over that character's defense.)

The specific damage formula for a spell fused focus attack is: FA Damage * X, where X is the number of people casting the spell that was fused. In the case of singleplayer and Mog, this means a value of 1 for X. Basically it doesn't do any more damage than it normally would in singleplayer. It also has the problem of needing you to either menu through and set up a magicstrike on your Command List (likely foregoing a Phoenix Down, a really bad idea,) and that it takes extra time to release over a normal, already inefficient Focus Attack.

The one advantage it has is that it's strength in terms of applying status effects is rated at Fira/Blizzara/Thundara levels, which means a certain few bosses can be lit on fire for it (Armstrong from Tida). In practice, this is still a time waste given that the resulting flaming debuff barely lasts long enough to get a few hits off.

Mog's spells are also extremely random, and if I remember right, painting him has little to no effect on what he uses. He also has an internal MAG of like 6, so anything he casts does about 1 damage. I believe there are strategies used by the TAS to deal an increasingly minimal amount of extra damage with him though.

The magic strikes are cool, I wanted them to be good, believe me, but they're just not going to work in the speedrun.

Glitchless and All Bosses are still open right now. I really need to get back to those.

New categories have to go through the other mods, so I can't help there.

1. Hiding the book makes sense, but all that really does is delay the lumber in our case. The only reason why I can think it'd be useful is to get 3000 lumber from the festival in just 2 years so that you can build all the barns you'd need for Tabatha rather easily.

Maybe it's possible to just barely do it if you ride a Silver Wolf. In practice, I don't know if the time it would take to open up access to silver wolves would be any slower than just sleeping through another year. It might be a few minutes faster at best, but without favorite gifts you're going to probably need the 3rd year anyways.

2. Yeah, I knew this much, I just didn't know if the usual Any% sequence break affected it. We usually just skip the entire game and do only the final dungeon, and I was never able to figure out if we could just do that and it'd still count for marrying Mist. I do know that your whole field has to be tilled at the moment you try to marry her, unlike how the cave pass requirements work.

3. I would imagine so, but RF1 isn't always very secure. The game letting you sleep on Winter 30 while inside Misty Bloom Cave, or using Teleport to walk around outside during a typhoon comes to mind. I mean, heck, the whole reason we can ACE this game is because the JP version lets you use the A button while holding something with the stylus.

Yeah, I went in deep on this game back when it was my focus. Routing is my favorite thing to do in speedrunning, and I'd rather spread what I know than hide it.

Three quick things I thought of:
1. I've heard it's possible to get a reward of 2000 lumber from the Adventure Contest if you do it in under an hour, but I don't think I was able to achieve it on foot + use of Warp and Teleport. Well, either that or I debunked it and forgot that I did.

It wouldn't really save much time though. If it was real, about the only run it'd be considerable for is Marriage% for Tabatha.

2. I never was able to get the exact requirements to marry Mist: whether or not just beating Greed through sequence breaking counted, or if you actually had to meet all the other story flags.

3. If for whatever reason you need to avoid a typhoon, passing out the day before might prevent it? I know it does in Frontier, at least, but I don't know if it carries backwards to RF1.

Ah, don't worry about the menuing too much. You'll pick it up as you run. Especially in longer categories it doesn't make as much a difference as it does in raw Any%.

Anyways, here's those. They could definitely use a lot of cleaning and revisions, but they're there. I ended up getting distracted by other games and other projects at the time, and they just kinda got shelved.

Any% NMG + Glitchless Notes:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-xruDNKK1ExSzwnqdYPfb5iIGb1iK30p/view?usp=sharing

This guide is mostly an upgrade of the old Any% notes, back before JP exclusive glitches. It does contain a good amount of info on how to make do with little money, but really only covers Carmite, Toros, and Greed as those were the original stomping grounds of Any%. (It's a bit inefficient for NMG stuff as well.)

Marriage% Notes:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1b9BFXHURVmwyeJ9FiWiiElNXFaf1FXog/view?usp=sharing

Only a few girls are covered in great detail here, and they're all leaned towards a glitched approach, but there's still a lot of usable info regarding them. Felicity's route is the most detailed, with a decent bit of detail for Rosetta. I have some more specific stuff for Lara somewhere on my computer somewhere, but I don't think it's much different than what's in the document already.

And again, if you've got any questions about what's in the notes, or just want to talk routing, I'm up for it. RF1 was my first real speedgame, and part of me is always happy to mess around with it again.

Well, Marriage% is a lot easier and faster when you can cover the costs of the upgraded house in virtually no time, but it's still very possible to do it without any glitches. It'll probably a more interesting run than what I ended up doing at least.

I've got some old notes and routing for both Glitchless and Marriage% if you want them. They're a bit messy and unedited, but they're not lacking in information- I've spent many, many hours testing stuff for this game, and I'd hate to see it go to waste.

Regardless, I hope you have fun with it!

The Japanese release is only used for most categories as it has more glitches than international releases. Namely, the Cooking Glitch which is used to make large amounts of money, or to perform a credits warp.

Other languages than JP are absolutely accepted, it's just that they are slower if you're not running Glitchless. About ~25 minutes slower when compared to credits warp strats, and ~15 minutes slower compared to the usual Any% strats.

If you were interested in how an Any% run is done on a non JP version, here:

If you've got any more questions, just ask here or add me on Discord. I'm always up to answer stuff about this game, even if I haven't actively run it in a long time.

Usually speedrunning Discords are usually related to a certain series of games rather than by console. The small communities is usually enough for these games.

Not that it wouldn't be entirely out of the way to maybe try and form up some community that just goes out and does runs for various GBA games. There's a few communities that do a similar kind of thing, though their names escape me at the moment, but on a schedule, some game is randomly picked out and the folks in the community try and do some runs of it.

It's a console that has an undoubtedly large library, with a ton of stuff that likely fell to the wayside. In a Speedrunning regard, it also helps that accurate emulation for it is rather easy, so it's a lot more accessible.

It's possible it already exists, too, and I just don't know about it. Maybe try asking around in some other speedrunning related places and see what you come up with. The general forum, especially this sub-section, doesn't really see much attention in the grand scheme of things.

My honest answer is that the site and the forums just ain't what they used to be. I really only log in now just to check if I've got some run I need to verify. I had my fun for a few months with memes and pastas, but I'm just kinda done with ELO now.

The forums used to be pretty active, they've just gotten progressively quieter since the takeover.