After beating FFVII for the first time in early March 2001, I obviously wanted more. As I mentioned in my first blog post, I also ordered FFVIII when I had to buy a new copy of FFVII. So, I started playing FFVIII, hoping for more of the same and I was greatly disappointed. As we all know, FFVIII certainly isn't more of the same, but a quite different game in many aspects. I could hardly lay down FFVII in the late night hours before school, but FFVIII, I could hardly make myself play, so it took months just to progress to the second disc, where I got stuck when you have to look for the captain and commander. That's when I had enough and started a new game of FFVII instead. I later picked up FFVIII again and got to the end in november, but I still didn't care much for it. Then I started a new game in early 2002 and played through the whole thing in less than a month. This time, I loved it, but FFVII was still the favorite. I also played FFIX during the summer of 2001, which I liked a lot more than FFVIII. It's currently my second favorite FF game.
Anyway, my second FFVII playthrough was just another regular playthrough, although I did try to find a few more things. My third playthrough was my first attempt at doing everything, but I was nowhere close. This was the first time I got Knights of the Round, and my very first victim was the Midgar Zolom. The fourth time, I just ran through the game quickly, beating it in 17 hours and facing Sephiroth with a party in the early 50s. This was my lowest yet, and I remember it was quite hard. I was level 99 in my previous two playthroughs. Then I did another attempt at doing everything. It was better than my previous attempt, but I still wasn't satisfied. I found a text file on my computer with some stats from this playthrough. The file was last edited March 3rd, 2002, exactly 9 years ago today. Here are the stats:
* All characters at level 99
* All the ultimate weapons
* All Limit Breaks
* 6 x Ribbon
* All Enemy Skills
* Time: 98:45:40
* Gil: 133.619.244
* Ruby, Emerald og Ultima Weapon defeated
* Done all side quests
* At least one of every Materia at master level, including 3 of each Master Materia
I most likely didn't have all the items and equipment, and I probably missed a lot of stuff. It was after this playthrough I decided to beat the game at a low level. This idea came to mind after talking to people who had beaten Sephiroth below level 40, and I wanted to be the very best like no one ever was, so I decided to start my first Low Level Challenge some time during the spring of 2002. I don't remember most of the strategies I used, but it was mostly trial and error, and it was incredibly hard. Back then, I had no knowledge of enemy AIs and attack patterns, and I believe Back Row was the only damage reducing action I was aware of. In the beginning, I even let all the characters survive the battles, and it wasn't until the middle of disc 2 I realized I had to start distributing the EXP to make sure my levels didn't get too high. My first ever battle plan was hand written, and I still have it somewhere, but I have no idea where. I'll find it some day. Anyway, I remember facing Demon's Gate with a party around level 19, and it was by far one of the hardest battles I ever fought, and the victory felt damn sweet. When I reached the end of the game, my highest leveled character was 36 (forgot who), but I never used anyone higher than level 34, which was Cloud's level at the end of the game. Sephiroth was defeated by a level 34-33-33 party.
My 7th playthrough was another attempt at doing everything, and I gotta say I did a damn good job this time. I still missed a few things, like some Fort Condor battles, but I honestly wasn't aware of them back then. This time, I did everything as early as possible, and I certainly had all the items and equipment. I also have a document for the ending results, but it's too long to post and it's all in Norwegian so I would have to translate it first anyway. Maybe I'll post it later. The file was last edited July 28th, 2002. I still have this file on my memory card. Another thing I know I didn't do was max stats, which I have still yet to do the legit way.
After this, I took a break from the game until February 16th, 2003, when I started my next LLG. This time, I only had one survivor from the very beginning of the game, and I let Aerith take all the EXP on disc 1. I was more familiar with the game this time, and it was during this challenge I learned how useful Poison, Sadness, Barrier and Defend could be. I also started learning how some of the bosses acted, so my battles were much more strategy based this time, and it was overall easier than my first LLG, even though I finished this one with a highest level of 30. Demon's Gate was still pretty damn hard, as my levels were lower and I had to finish the battle with only Aerith standing, and I remember needing a lot of attempt to beat him. Anyway, I knew I made several mistakes regarding the EXP during this challenge, so I decided I would redo it soon and write a guide for the challenge. For example, I found out too late that you can avoid EXP by not killing Carry Armor's arms, and my battle plan certainly wasn't optimal.
In the meantime, I did my first speed run with a final save time of 11:04. I honestly don't remember many details about this run, and I believe I just ran through the game as quickly as I could without really thinking about time saving strategies. I also did many things I wasn't aware you could skip, and I did one big mistake. I saved before Carry Armor without being able to defeat him, so I had to go all the way back to the surface and learn Magic Hammer. That sucked. In other words, I was far from satisfied with my end result and decided I would do another run soon.
Before that, I started my third LLG and at the same time started writing my first FAQ. By now, I had reliable, but not necessarily optimal strategies for most of the bosses, and I had a battle plan that allowed me to finish the game with all characters on level 28. This is the lowest level possible for the whole party. You can have some characters on lower levels, but it's not possible to have an all level 27 party, unless you use the trick to skip the Turks in Midgar. Demon's Gate was still by far the hardest boss, and I had just as much trouble with him this time, as my strategy hadn't improved. The only mistake I did in this challenge was not escaping the Attack Squad battle in Junon, which I didn't know you could do until someone told me a while after I finished the challenge. According to the guide, I finished the first version of it on June 8th, 2003. I redid the challenge a final time the year after, and accoring to my guide, most of the bosses got easier and optimal strategies. I'll have to read through it again to see if that's correct, as many things have changed over the past 7 years. That new guide was finished on February 23rd, 2004.
Before that, I did a few other challenges. The first one was No Materia, which I finished under level 50. It was way too easy and boring, and I don't remember having trouble with any of the bosses. So, I decided to do Low Level No Materia next. Back then, a lot of people thought it was impossible, but today, it's known as one of the easiest FFVII challenges. I don't remember many details about this challenge, but considering I had already done three regular LLGs, it was probably easier than my first LLG, maybe with the exception of a few bosses. Especially Carry Armor, since I now had to deal with Lapis Laser instead of just Magic Hammering him twice. I later wrote a FAQ about LLNM as well, which is still available on GameFAQs.
After doing LLNM, I started my second speed run. This time, I planned ahead and I did my best to save as much time as possible. I skipped a few more things and I didn't do any major mistakes. Still, my strategies were far from perfect and I ended up with a final save time of 10:14, a total of 50 minutes better than the first run. Not bad, but I still wasn't satisfied. According to my speed run FAQ, this run was done in late 2003. Then I took a break from the game until February, when I did my fourth LLG, before I started my third speed run in April. I finished this run with a final save time of 9:29, cutting off another 45 minutes, and I was very satisfied this time. I thought the run was pretty close to perfect, and lolo26 later said he agreed. Little did we know back then. After all, this was before the serious speed run discussions started.
That sums up the story of my first challenges and speed runs. All this happened before I made my first appearance in KADFC's LLG thread on GameFAQs on May 13th, 2004. This thread is responsible for kicking off the more serious challenge and speed run discussions, and I probably wouldn't have been writing this if I hadn't shown up in that topic and met lolo26 and BrutalAl. My first challenges and speed runs were only the beginning. That topic is where the fun really began.
To be continued...
