There have been some new bits of information come up in recent months that have changed the way one could look at this game as far as its mechanics go. I will do my best to explain these in an organized manner.

Contents:

1. Turn Order Calculation
2. Saner vs. Swift Helm
3. Stat Glitch
4. Forced Equipment Stat Glitch

====================

1. Turn Order Calculation ==================== Turn order has long been a mystery until recently, and though there is still absolutely no way to manipulate a perfect turn order, you can at least know what your chances are of having the order you need.

Step 1: The game finds the character with the highest agility (buffed or unbuffed, friend or foe) and creates a variable equal to half that agility value. Step 2: The game grabs a random number between 0 and the number taken from Step 1. Step 3: The game adds the value from Step 2 to a character's in battle (current) Agility. Step 4: Steps 2 and 3 are repeated independently for each character/enemy on the field at the start of the turn. Step 5: The turn order is then determined by highest agility at the time of the entire process' conclusion.

For instance, if Rika has the highest Agility on the field at 50, then the number in Step 1 would be 25. Step 2 would then take a number between 0 and 25 and add that to a character's current agility (say Rika rolls a 12, her agility would be 62 for the turn). Say an enemy on the field in the same scenario has an agility of 40 and Step 2 rolls a 25 for it. That enemy's agility for the turn would be 65, meaning that it would have its move before Rika would for that turn.

The game has always relied on heavy RNG, and turn order is no exception. Having an agility-increasing ability definitely will help with turn order reliability, though it is still not a perfect guarantee that things will happen favorably.

2. Saner vs. Swift Helm ==================== Both of these agility-buffs are extremely valuable in both casual runs and speedruns. Saner gives a flat increase to everybody's agility equal to the Mental stat of the caster: (AGI + Caster's Mental) = Buffed Agility. For most of the game, you will be relying on Rika's Mental state for Saner (which is also why the Psy Crown is very valuable as it gives bonus mental).

It was believed for a long time that Swift Helm, when used as an item, acted exactly like Saner and that it would raise the agility of the user by its own mental (meaning using it on Rune would have lead to him being super fast). It wasn't until recently that mor_mot informed us that Swift Helm raises the user's agility by a flat amount (that amount being 32).

This means that the Swift Helm will give a higher gain for one character until Rika reaches level 33, in which case Saner will give a larger stat gain than Swift Helm and will grant it to the entire party). Most likely, when you're going up against the Profound Darkness, Rika's level will (hopefully) be higher than that, making Swift Helm's value a LOT lower at this point.

That's not to say the item is useless. During the 3rd Phase of the Profound Darkness, the boss can use Evil Eye on a character, putting them to sleep. Sleep and Death will reset agility to their natural state, and since Rika's TP is limited during the 3rd phase of the fight, it would not be in your best interest to re-cast Saner for one character, especially since Saner's TP is best kept when reacting to Cancelling. Chaz will never need to use this, nor will Rune unless you are going double-claw strats with Rika and using Rune as the support.

==================== 3. Stat Glitch

This is another discovery by mor_mot that has made runners look at their runs a little more carefully. It would appear that when a character levels up, the game doesn't recalculate their new stats until you either check their inventory or status screen, or unless the party order is changed (HP/TP is the exception to this rule). Depending on which route you are planning to do, this can either be used to a huge advantage or can be a big hindrance when playing your run.

In most traditional methods of speedrunning the game (Tyler or Adgey strats), you will want to check equipment/stats/order before every boss fight so that you are not losing out on valuable stats (keep in mind that natural agility contributes to Defense/turn order and mental contributes to Magic Defense).

If you are going with Shadowblade strats, then this can be used to your advantage to keep Chaz's mental at its level 4 value even though you are leveling him up to give him more HP/TP and new Techniques. You would still have to keep an eye on everyone else's stats and make sure you don't change the party order. These strats are also notorious to making a glass cannon out of Chaz.

==================== 4. Forced Equipment Stat Glitch

This goes along with the normal stat glitch, but there are times when characters have equipment forced onto them. So long as you do not look at the equipment/stats/order, then their stats will stay the way they were before the equipment was forced (Attack and Defense included).

The following are times of forced equipment changes: *Getting Rune at the Ladea Tower *Chaz getting Elsydeon *Each of the final 5 characters at the Motavia Spaceport.

For instance, if you have the Guard Sword equipped when you grab the Elsydeon, Chaz will keep the +10 Strength and +10 Dexterity from the Guard Sword, but you will also lose the additional damage from Elsydeon (it does keep its element and instant-death ability though, oddly enough). This stat gain will maintain, again, unless you look at Chaz's equipment/stats or change the party order.

The only other plausible use (albeit unlikely you will need to use it normall) would be to not look at Kyra when you get her back at the end of the game (most likely she had two shields vs. Dark Force 2). She comes equipped when she returns with a Laconia Slasher and Moon Slasher, but if you don't look at her stat/equipment, the game will still see her stats and equipment from when she first left (level included). Theoretically, though, she will still be able to attack (though the damage would be very small since it would only calculate her natural strength at that point).