[TECHNICAL DETAILS & STARTING NOTES]
The game was recorded using FRAPS. It is the GOG.com release, at 10,000 cycles.
This 100% run of the game involves getting the maximum score of 500 by the end. The different classes have special things they have to do for points. The Fighter must fight one of every enemy. The Thief needs to do an extra questline. The Wizard has to learn every spell and fight a special battle. The Paladin has quests that ONLY the Paladin has access to. There are additional, class specific points as well. I will note them where they appear. I also want to thank God for the little bits of extra time I get where I can work on perfecting my runs of my favorite series.
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[TIMING]
Timing starts when the first dialog box appears. Timing ends when I click the Staff on the crystal, before I flip back up, because the flip is an automatic action (this is also where the last points are awarded).
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[CHARACTER CREATION]
All points go into Magic. Glide makes the Swamp amazingly easy to manage. If the Swamp wasn't such a blaring problem, I would, without a doubt, put those points into Pick Locks...
[BEGINNING]
The opening involves setting speed, getting the items in the room, the torch, and leaving. On the way out, I grab the Dark One Symbol, and using Force Bolt get the Bonsai Bush. I rest for 60 minutes to move time to day.
[FOREST]
I stop and grab flowers from the tree and head right the Rusulka. Afterwards I head up to town, grabbing Corn on the way.
[TOWN DAY 1]
This is the busiest day in the town. I head straight to the shop to get provisions. Of note is my purchase of Oil and a Shopping Bag. Both are required for points in this route. I get the Adventurers' Guild Key from Dmitri (he offers it on your second encounter with him, so I had to wait until I exited). I then head into the Adventurers' Guild, read the HERO magazine and sign the log book, and grab the Grapnel. I then head over to the hooks and open up the Thieves' Guild.
[THIEVES' GUILD]
It's a quick series of puzzles once you know your way around. I grab the dial, and then take my membership card from the poster and open up the door with it. I read the bookcase which teaches me about detecting traps. I then use the dial and spell out 'FILCH' which is the brand of the safe which opens it up for a Lock Pick. I can now disarm the trap on the desk and open up the desk. Failing to disarm the trap gets you poisoned, which isn't a big deal in this route but isn't necessary to take either. I then move the barrel and spell out a 'rhyme' in colors: Bad Boys Yell, Good Girls Giggle, Rich Girls Run. I forget where you read it in the Guild, but it's there. It translates to BBY, GGG, RGR in colors. This brings the Chief Thief out of hiding.
I then head to Dr. Cranium's lab, stopping on the way to talk to Nikolai.
[DR. CRANIUM]
You have to do the TRAP puzzle twice for additional points. The maze is always annoying. I get through the Door, and learn the magnificent Glide spell. I also get some empty flasks and do the puzzles for the Healing and Poison Pills. I will be collecting Healing Pills because there is a level of randomness later on that can leave me LITERALLY with no life while grinding Pick Lock skills. I leave and head out.
[FOREST DAY/NIGHT 1]
I get to the Leshy first, and answer his first two questions for points, and training Climbing on one of the trees. I head down to the swamp to get a Bone, and the rest until night before heading into the other part of the Swamp while grinding the Climbing skill more on trees.
I Glide south and engage the sole Chernovy Wizard. This also showcases the "Special Attack" that the Thief can do, which is overpowered. I get the Dark One's ritual out of the tomb (with the points from the puzzle).
Afterwards I head up, get the Will-O-Wisps, solve the Squid Stone, get the ritual and some Grue Goo.
I go to convince the Ghost that she is in fact dead and to learn her name. I then head down to the Elderberry Bush and get the berries and plant the Bonsai Bush at Erana's Garden. I then run back to town, grinding Climbing to the point where it almost kills me, and then sleep at the Staff in town.
[DAY 2]
I am now certain that talking to Dmitri multiple times eliminates game-breaking glitches on can occur on Day 5, so I will see him every day. I tell Nikolai about the ghost, and see Dr. Cranium again, getting another Healing item.
On the way I visit the Leshy and answer another question before resting into Night 2.
[FOREST NIGHT 2]
After resting till night, I reunite the ghosts. Since I now have his hat I can get to Baba Yaga, but first, I handle the Master Wraith. Combat with throwing daggers is a little funny; they will never kill an opponent. Thrown daggers can bring an enemy down to zero hit points, but it takes either a spell, a melee hit, or being hit yourself to trigger the game to end combat.
It's a little strange how that works, but this is why combat ends when I get hit by a spell.
I head to Baba Yaga now. You can skip an entire dialog with her by doing things this way: cook the pie and you will automatically enter the hut. I needed the Corn to get points, however, so you have to feed the hut first before cooking the pie. Next is giving her the pie and re-entering, giving her garlic to get the Dark One Ritual and the Good Humor Bar.
I rest at Erana's Staff again once I am back at town.
[TOWN DAY 3]
Another big day in town. I quickly stop by Dmitri, and get into Dr. Cranium's lab again using the '?' button to skip the bells which is faster than doing the puzzle this time, and give him the recipe for the Rehydration Solution. I also get another Healing Pill. I then rest until night to avoid a couple second cutscene with Igor the gravedigger and enter the Monastery. This is a little different from every other route. I have to climb up to get the Black Bird for a few points, and that wall you climb has a surprisingly high threshold for success, hence all the grinding. Grinding here has an animation attached to it every attempt, which is much slower. Everything else goes as expected; rehydrate the orange Domovoi, get into the basement and get the last Dark One Ritual, but I also use the Shopping Bag to collect a small Bug Statue.
I then head to the Inn to get the gnome his humor. You have to grab the Rubber Chicken for a few extra points, and I rest until it is after midnight, where it says, "You're getting tired." I head out and talk to the Domovoi twice, which bypasses having to meet him a second time and grab the doll. I then climb out of the window, which is actually a few points for the Thief, and use this night to do some preliminary Pick Lock grinding on Dmitri's windows.
There seem to be a random threshold for success on the window, and it is higher than I expected when I first started attempting this route. As you can see, even with a night of grinding, I still don't get into his office.
[TOWN DAY 4]
I head past Dmitri again to trigger one more conversation, and then head to the Inn to sleep through to Day 5.
[TOWN DAY 5]
Finding out how to avoid that glitch is such a relief. The glitch involves the townsfolk NOT being there, which means Igor isn't missing and the Gypsy hasn't been captured. It is a slight annoyance in this route, but not a huge deal even if it does happen. In Any%, having them there when you exit the Inn is the preferable outcome.
We won't be saving Igor, but we will loot his corpse later. Instead, I go back to the Thieves' Guild and save the Chief Thief for additional points, and exit using the secret passage before resting until night at the Staff.
I then grind my way inside. Having the Open spell could EASILY shave off about 4 to 5 minutes in this run, but you can only get it as an imported Thief or a Wizard. I have a choice between picking the lock on the cell, or picking the lock on the desk and using the keys. I have found the lock on the desk to be at a slightly lower threshold, but it is still outrageously difficult. I had several attempts end here in particular because you cannot just keep resting. You will die because Dmitri comes downstairs in the morning. So I have the Healing Pills specifically to save me from having to rest too much. I can use them and then use my Hit Points to continue working. (There was one attempt that left me with literally no visible health bar. I thought I had died, but the locked clicked and I was scared to death I would die climbing through the window.)
I rest at the Staff once the Gypsy is free.
[FOREST DAY 6]
I head to the Gypsy Camp, solving another Leshy riddle on the way. At the Gypsy camp I have my fortune read for more points. I then head back in the next day twice to hear about the Destiny Spell.
[FOREST DAY 7]
I head south and solve the rest of the Leshy's riddles, and then head into the Graveyard. When it looks like I will save Igor, it turns out he's already dead. Checking him gives you the Crypt Key, and I head inside. I also get the Borgov's Key and then exit, which gives me more points. I re-enter, and get into the Castle.
[CASTLE]
I have to immediately rest until night, because I need to Oil the hinges of a door for points. The conversation beyond the door is interesting, but necessary only to avoid death. If you barge in right away, they kill you. After you listen to the conversation, you can open the door and continue (for some reason). All of the doors in the Castle, except for three or four specific ones, are locked. You have to pick the locks as a Thief, but that's okay, because I believe this is faster because you don't have to click through menus.
I get through and save Tanya, getting the Staff after the cutscene where Toby sacrifices himself.
[DAY 8]
Is not necessary. I rest through it.
[NIGHT 9]
It says Night 9 specifically because if Dmitri catches me, I'm dead. Dmitri is not at his window at night, so I'm safe. I climb out and head over to see Ad Avis and get to the end game scenario. Since I have all five Dark One rituals, I am able to just exit the screen and re-enter to have the gate open for me.
[DARK ONE CAVE REVISITED]
I use Stealth so I don't wake the Pit Horror, which gets me the Essence Ritual. The rest is standard for the Thief, with each room and exiting awarding me more and more points. The world is saved!
Estimated time, if my recommendations above are used, is 43:05.
[POTENTIAL TO SAVE TIME]
It was a good run for RNG, but the amount of clicking involved in breaking into the Burgomeister's Office is a little absurd, especially because it also has a level of RNG that is pretty much unseen. In the perfect storm of RNG with maximum risk-taking, I might be able to get this time down to sub 40, but overall this is a fairly tight route.
As always, thanks SDA! |