So, I'm planning on playing this game at Level 1 with the intention of one day being good enough where I feel like I could do a solid run, and I was thinking of maybe rolling with taking the Sword and ditching the Shield. Then I got to thinking, would the extra point of magic matter too much considering I'd be eternally level 1.

So basically, I'm wondering what all anyone else who runs level 1 does, what their thoughts are, any theories, whatever.

You go Staff and remove Shield. Difference is that stats don't matter but you get 2 extra AP for removing Shield and 1 extra MP for picking Staff. As we stay level 1, Strengh and Defense don't matter one bit :D

Really? I thought you gained AP for having Shield.

Wait, the AP doesn't matter, you start with 3 no matter what you drop as long as you pick staff. But you drop the shield usually.

Well, I'll give it a shot then.

Magic is the most important thing in Level 1 - speedrun or otherwise. You’ll want to do everything possible to raise your max MP, so yeah, taking Staff is essential unless you want an extra painful challenge.

lol, so far it's already pretty dang painful.

I mean, it is basically the hardest difficulty, what did you expect :D

slightly less 1-shotting by guard armor

You should never get 1 shotted unless your HP is below full. The game isn't THAT mean to players, so it won't ever let something 1 shot you at Level 1 as long as you're at full HP.

Except for gummis. You can get one-shot there.

I must have been barely short while fighting. In my adventures of "gitting gud", I'm currently in Twilight Town redeux. Been watching a few runs to see if I can pick up on anything along the way. But yeah, after Guard Armor, things have been pretty clear sailing for me.