Finally got around to testing Ys II again the past couple of days; spent the majority of today just trying to work out the best leveling methods in the Moat of Burnedbless.
Here's the route so far:
- Talk to Banoa, receive Banoa's Letter
- Enter clinic to learn of Dr. Ralle's predicament (300 G)
- Buy Wing from Jade, and Short Sword from Guido (0 G)
- Talk to Karnell, exit Rance Village
- Head to Ruins of Moondoria; get Roda Fruit
- Level to 6; get Staff of Divinity, and receive ability to use magic
- Talk to Astal; enter Sanctuary of Toal; return Volume Hadal
- Enter Rasteenie Mine; return Volume Toba
- Get Mattock; save Dr. Ralle (not required to speak to him in the Mine, I think)
- Return Volume Dabbie; get "Fire" Magic; return Volumes Messa and Gemma
- Kill Velagunder (Level 12)
- Get Iron Ore, Celceta Flower, Evil Bell, and "Light" Magic; warp to Rance via Wing (~2000 G)
- Sell Iron Ore to Guido; buy Talwar (~0 G)
- Receive Lilia's Medicine from Dr. Ralle, and give to Banoa; receive "Warp" magic
- Investigate Jira's basement; ring Evil Bell; kill all monsters
- Return Volume Fact, and receive Scroll of Guidance
- Warp to Rance; head to Ice Ridge of Noltia
- Get Misty Ice Drops, and use in first cave
- Get and equip Hawk Idol; get "Alter" magic; ;get Marl Flower; get and equip Stone Shoes
- Warp to Rance; head back to Ice Ridge of Noltia
- Get Illusion Mirror, and use on fake boss door
- Kill Tyalmath (Level 19); get hidden 1000 G chest; head to Moat of Burnedbless
- Ring Evil Bell and enter Roos' Nest; get and equip Roda Leaf (and maybe the Roda Fruit for later use, if needed)
- Head to Lava Village; talk to Ruba as a Roo, and again normally; receive Whisper Earrings
- Warp to Roos' Nest; get Black Pearl; equip Whisper Earrings, and rescue Tarf/Keith
- Head back to Lava Village, and cross bridge
- Kill Gelaldy (Level 26/~10,000 G); head to Ramia Village
- Buy Hyper Cutter from Zalem (gold no longer needed)
- Warp to Roos' Nest, and get Roda Fruit; warp to Ramia Village
- Talk to Gorto; talk to Hadat and receive Voca Shell; talk to Gorto again
- Enter Solomon Shrine via "Alter" magic, and head east
- Get Pass, and talk to gate guard; overhear "tierra" password
- Warp to Ramia Village; re-enter Shrine, and head west; state password to guard
- Equip Light magic, and obtain Sacred Cup; head to Subterranean Canal (West), and get transformed into a demon; head to Runaways' Hideout (to add it to the "Warp" list)
- Warp to Ramia Village, and talk to Rheg to return to normal
- Warp to Runaways' Hideout, and talk to Lilia to receive Shrine Key
- Warp to Ramia Village; re-enter Shrine, and head to Subterranean Canal (East); get Silver Pendant
- Warp to Ramia Village; re-enter Shrine, and kill Druegar (Level 38)
- Use Silver Pendant on Goddesses' statue, and make way to Subterranean Canal (Central); talk to Keith to receive Canal Key
- Warp to Runaways' Hideout; head to canal control room, and pull lever to drain canal
- Make way to Subterranean Canal (Central); get and equip Battle Sword/Falcon Idol
- Head to Goddesses' Palace (to add it to the "Warp" list); head to Bell Tower
- Kill Zava (Level 44; note to self - should be at ~41,350 EXP beforehand)
- Climb Bell Tower, and confront Dalles; get and equip Dreaming Stone Idol
- Warp to Goddesses' Palace, and talk to Goddesses
- Warp to Ramia Village; talk to Tarf; re-enter Shrine, and head east; re-obtain Black Pearl
- Warp to Goddesses' Palace, and talk to Goddesses again; re-climb Bell Tower, and use the Dreaming Stone Idol at the top
- Warp to Goddesses' Palace; head back to Subterranean Canal (Central); make way to Sada (Western portion), and receive Cleria Sword
- Warp to Runaways' Hideout; talk to runaways, and receive Golden Pendant
- Warp to Ramia Village; re-enter Shrine; use Golden Pendant on Goddesses' statue; make way to Dalles' lair
- Kill Dalles (Level 47); head to Ancient Ys Core (maybe get "Shield" magic?)
- Find Lilia, and receive/equip Goddesses' Ring; head to Goddesses/Darm; get and use Silver Harmonica from Goban; talk to Goddesses
- Kill Darm (Level 50)
And now, some comments regarding certain route choices.
- I'm aware that you can get a free Short Sword from Legth in the Ruins of Moondoria, but it should be faster to purchase it instead.
- To kill the rock golems guarding the Staff of Divinity, you need to be at least level 6 (level 4 with the Long Sword, but I believe that's a waste of time to get). As far as I can tell, it's best to get to level 4 using the enemies in the upper-left corner of the Ruins (I think that's the best group of enemies), and then to use the ones in the first room of the Sanctuary of Toal to get to level 6.
- I was originally going to fight Velagunder at level 11, but it turns out that I'd be short 150 G or so (provided the Short Sword is bought). I did a bit of testing, and it seems like leveling to 12 before Velagunder should get me the necessary gold. The other option is to just get the Short Sword from Legth in the Ruins, and just fight Velagunder at level 11 as originally planned. I don't remember the exact details, but I believe buying the Short Sword/leveling to 12 should be the faster method, but only by a mere ~3 seconds. In regards to EXP, the two methods are very, very close, no matter what level I kill Velagunder; killing him at level 12 instead of 11 puts me at about 75-100 extra EXP going into the Ice Ridge of Noltia. I'm honestly not 100% sure killing him at level 12 is truly faster. At the very least, it will make the Velagunder battle a little easier to manage, and the extra EXP may save a couple of seconds later on, so that's the option I'm going with.
- Clearing Jira's basement is something I'll do to help level up for Tyalmath/the beginning of the Moat of Burnedbless. If I'm calculating things right, clearing the basement should get me to level 17, and then I'll go through the Ice Ridge of Noltia, killing whatever enemies pop up on the way, which should get me to level 20 for Tyalmath. I'll probably be low on MP, so that's why the Marl Flower is picked up (should save a couple of seconds in the Tyalmath fight). Lower than level 20 is doable, but it leaves me under-leveled for the beginning of the Moat of Burnedbless.
- The Hawk Idol isn't necessary, but it helps in killing out-of-the-way enemies for extra EXP. It also helps greatly in doing good damage to Gelaldy when he releases the worm; it's not necessary for damaging him then (diagonal fireballs would be the other, more difficult option), but it sure helps out a lot.
- For Gelaldy, level 26 (7500 EXP) is probably best (can kill him on fourth "worm-in" (~1:40), maybe fourth "worm-out" (~1:28)). Actually, I'd prefer to be at least level 27 (should be able to kill him at third "worm-out" (~1:05), maybe second "worm-in" (~0:53)), but I don't think I can gain the needed EXP fast enough to make up the time an extra level could save. Anyway, aside from killing the enemies in my path, I'm going to need to do a little bit of extra grinding to reach level 24 (6100 EXP) before rescuing Tarf, but it shouldn't take long at all. Then, there's the 900 EXP for returning Tarf to Ruba, and the rest should be acquired just killing the enemies along the way to Gelaldy.
- The reason I pick up the hidden 1,000 G chest after Tyalmath is so I'll have enough to buy the Hyper Cutter (10,000 G) from Zalem in Ramia Village. There's also the 2,000 G chest in the Moat of Burnedbless, but that's probably not needed.
- After buying the Hyper Cutter, there's two reasons I make a brief stop at the Roos' Nest. One, to pick up a Roda Fruit to replenish my MP before fighting Druegar. And two, it's actually about a second or so faster to get to Gorto via warping (can't warp to a location you're already in, barring a minor bug), although granted, that test was done without obtaining the Roda Fruit (will be using the item/warp glitch). Still, I figure the extra warping should be worth it to have full MP before Druegar.
- For Druegar, I plan to level to 38 before facing him, using the Diphtheloyds in the eastern portion of the Subterranean Canal. That may seem like overkill, and for Druegar alone, it is. However, there's some leveling that needs to be done shortly afterwards outside the Bell Tower, and I believe this is the fastest method of getting to level 38. Plus, Druegar's fixed 1,500 EXP is more useful at level 38, as opposed to level 34/35 (when I was originally planning to kill him).
- The Falcon Idol is obtained to help out during Zava. Not only is it a means of helping me evade the bats (can "stun" multiple bats easier), but it also seems to be faster than just using the Hawk Idol, probably thanks to the multi-hit charged shots.
- As mentioned above, I need to level some outside the Bell Tower. Not just for Zava, but also for Dalles and Darm. For Zava, the fastest I've killed her at level 44 is 1:40 (should be about ~1:20 to get to level 44, making the process about 3 minutes total). At level 43, my best attempt is 3:07, so thankfully doing that fight under-leveled is out of the question (should be ~1:05 to get to level 43, taking over 4 minutes total). Level 42 and below... well, I lasted about ~4:30 shortly after starting the 3rd wave of Zavaaz. Fighting Zava at level 45+ isn't worth it, as it took me about ~30-35 seconds to get from level 44 to 45, and the battle itself is only 15-20 seconds faster.
So, that leaves the question of getting that extra 1,350 EXP before Zava (level 44 takes 40,000 total EXP). It takes an extra ~15 seconds to gather, so why bother? The reason for that is so I can be at level 50 for Darm, instead of level 49 (should be about 30 seconds faster at level 50). Dalles doesn't matter, as I'll be level 47 for him with or without that extra EXP. There's a fixed 2,500 EXP for killing Zava, 2,700 EXP for undoing the petrification spell, 3,500 EXP for killing Dalles, and 2,000 EXP for freeing the Goddesses (and oddly, 5,000 EXP for killing Darm >_>). That alone isn't enough to get me to level 50, but killing the enemies on the way back to the Bell Tower, as well as the ones on the way to Sada, should do the trick.
- I'm not sure whether or not to get the "Shield" magic for Darm. Of course, I should be evading his attacks to avoid knockback and hit him quicker, but it's possible for him to deal a fair bit of damage, even when he's stunned. Opinions?
So, any comments about the route? Errors? Ways to do things faster?