So I've been running this game for a little while, and lately have not been able to complete a run. I seem to be able to bring myself to push till the mystic key split and then it seems to fall apart for me.
I know I can save time in the later half of the game, but I see so much red splits from terrible encounter rates and it breaks my focus and enjoyment.
I understand that this game (psp version) is heavily based in RNG for encounters so how do you runners deal with the annoyance of getting back to back 1 square encounters?
I play on the NES and it's even harder than the PSP version. I lose 95% of my runs before I finish the ice cave. Times in the game can swing so much from one or two unlucky encounters. When I hadn't finished a run I would compare myself to my average splits. That way it's easy to see a mix of green and or red, not just red splits.
Personally I usually just run races or no-reset runs mostly. You tend to be able to get pretty good times just from that already (feel free to join the discord btw (https://discord.gg/utGprnY)) and join in on those. Other then that, compare against average splits or just turn comparison off. Dont let splits discourage you too much as FF1 can just swing any way from time to time so splits dont really say too much generally.
When it comes to the PSP version, it's really a case of grinding it out. You'll always get much different splits, so avoiding looking at them is handy if it's frustrating.
Generally speaking though, just chill out, relax, and enjoy it. Just try your best to avoid the whole "welp this beginning game sucks" limbo otherwise you'll only get a good run for it to die to a mindflayer ambush, so yeah. Kappa
