Do we have a discord server? If not I can make one and post it here under resources. I want a place to discuss routing.
If you guys want to just discuss here, I'd like to try and settle once and for all what the optimal scarab route is. Has anyone actually timed anything?
The 25 JTB got in his pb seems like overkill, and I'm quite skeptical that we need dabilahro. I noticed Unwary doesn't pick it up and neither does Caleb anymore. While I'm just about 100% certain that it would save time vs pill bugs in ch 13, and floors 1 & 2 of chapter 15's castle, you have to factor in:
- time spent collecting scarabs
- time spent upgrading the sword
- time spent equipping and equipping the sword in ch 15 (cause you would just use DS otherwise)
- time making sure you get enough $ to upgrade it, and more importantly opportunity cost of potentially buying more supplies from muramasa in ch 14 like a talisman
The potential time save on fights from dabilahro almost seems worth it, but what do you think? Is there anything else the sword would save time on?
That brings us to the 15 scarab reward: a spirit of the devils. It is pretty easy to get 15 scarabs directly in your path by ~ ch 10, but again this costs time to pick up. Good time to also bring up the prospect of skipping the spirit of devil in ch 4. Is the time save from ninpo really worth getting these items? I am thinking it is probably worth getting at least 1 of these, but maybe not on a truly optimal route. Extra ninpo would help mainly with:
- spamming inferno on alma 1
- emergency I-frames
- pyramid bugs
- fire wheels vs paz zuu and doku (both forms) for added dps
- the encounter at the start of ch 14 where you first see Marbus
- literally everything in chapter 15, especially the 4 tower rooms and the 2 forms of the emperor
- demon murai (I like to use chain inferno to stun him so I can roll in and gleaming blade)
That seems like a lot of potential benefit for getting as many spirit of devils as conveniently possible, and yet all of those things could technically be replaced by just getting really optimal fights and carefully rationing ninpo potions. Bear in mind that skipping dabilahro to get an extra talisman would also allow you to replenish your ninpo by dying.
No reward under 15 scarabs seems worth it to me. So one could maybe even argue that we should not pick up any scarabs at all (that does seem a bit more speedrun-ish to me). Thoughts on that?
Are there any other items that people tend to collect that we can just skip altogether?
Finally I was wondering if anyone could explain the Marbus quick kill please.
There is a Ninja Gaiden Discord, but it is for every Ninja Gaiden, this includes NGB.
I've been playing around with the Scarab route a bit in my most recent routing/attempts. Right now I'm still collecting 15 to get the spirit of the devils, especially since I've started skipping the SOTD in Ch.4.
My sum of best is a 2:04 without Dabilahro, and just fighting Marbus with the True Dragon, since it's uber safe.
I found JTB's run where he skipped all scarabs to be pretty interesting. I'm not too keen on giving up that life of the thousand gods though.
Didn't realize there was an NG discord. Gonna join now.
My personal scarab route is 40 on VH difficulty (I'll have to update this once I've familiarized myself with normal more) in order to get the armlet of tranquility, simply because I don't pick up health potions or talismans of rebirth, and I find the armlet helps make the last few chapters a lot easier for me. Having said that, though, if my route of the game changes to the point I don't need the armlet of tranquility, I can see myself stopping after getting the spirit of the devils in chapter 7
dehydratedninja is playing on ng04 btw, in case anyone is wondering about the armlet of tranquility
