I finally won the good luck lottery. Even so, I ran into too many enemies, the worst being in the Tower of Geddon. Rng was only unkind in the FATE fight, the Sky Dragon fight, and a 9-9 Viper Manor code. I used a 90k PS2 slim with a jp Fujikworks turbo controller set to the middle setting (which I guess is either 15 or 30 Hz).