Today, I beat the game as emulator with Gandalf. I assume NG+ begins when you load a save after completing a playthrough and starting over from the beginning, keeping your stats, skills, and items. I feel as though to set up the best possible NG+ file would be a daunting task.

For starters, I don’t know what the maximum attribute and skill points are. Grinding levels to get these increased to max would take a long time.

Also, getting good item drops seems like it would be a tedious task, given how random the drops are.

Finally, you have to do this for five separate characters if you want to run all five categories. This is especially unfair if you run on console, because there are only four save slots, so you would need two copies of the game to avoid being forced to choose which character to cut. With savestates, emulator does not have this issue.

Are there any suggestions for setting these files up efficiently? I don’t want to resort to cheat codes if I can help it.

As an aside, should All Relics have a NG+ category? Because there are four save slots, one character would be forced to use NG stats and items, which seems to defeat the purpose of the category.

Thanks!

All Relics doesn't need a NG+ category, but I don't think it's possible to set up a category without the subcategories of the other categories in this site's current system.

I'm not sure about the best way to set up a NG+ file. I actually hadn't considered the use of cheats to obtain the best items/max levels etc, but I don't see any way to prevent their use. If you have any ideas on that, let me know.

One possibility is to have publicly available NG+ files for each character. This would at least allow for an even playing field on emulator, and maybe console could be separated later if there is serious competition in the category.

Too be honest i don't think ng+ is a viable category too have equally fair runs on.

If you play long enough on the same character they will become overpowered in the long run.
Since there are no rules indicating what is and what isnt allowed on a ng+ run and since there are no runs for the category yet I think it is the best to just remove the category completely.

But hey, that is just my opinion ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Thanks for your input. I like the idea of the category but if it proves too difficult to reasonably obtain a good file then I may need to stick to NG, hope to get lucky with item drops that increase move speed. :P

I’ve looked into the idea of NG+ further. I decided that using cheat codes would be the most efficient way to set up a file, with the caveat that the resulting stats and items had to be legitimate.

It was a struggle to find an emulator that would work for this. Bizhawk doesn’t work with cheat codes very well, and VBA wouldn’t emulate properly with codes applied. mGBA was the best option for this.

The valid cheats are as follows:

First, you need to set up infinite attribute and skill points. This is fine because the game caps your stats before items are equipped at 99. If you use a max stat code, this jumps to 9,999, which is not possible. This is acceptable because there is a shrine to purchase attribute and skill points, so it would be possible to reach these stats without cheats.

Skills are capped at 20 before equipment, but there is no max skill code that I know of so this should be okay.

Skills need certain levels to be reached to be unlocked, so a code for quick EXP is used to reach max level, which is 52. Again, this is possible in-game with grinding, so should be allowed here.

Items can be made with codes, too. The best items increase move speed so those are top priority, but other stats can be changed as well. Unique items like Aragorn’s Evenstar are obtainable, too. Note that characters are restricted in which items they can equip, so trial and error is necessary to find the ideal combination.

Finally, a 50,000 gem code is used with the sole purpose of obtaining the highest level whetstone for damage increase. The whetstones are not obtainable any other way.

To finalize a file setup, one playthrough to get the whetstones is required. After that a savestate can be used to easily start over after resets.

Unfortunately, with this setup, emulator is far easier than console to implement this, but at least it’s reasonably possible. I plan on setting up saves for every character after figuring out equipment and doing the necessary playthroughs for whetstones.

Let me know what you think. Thanks.

Sorry if I’m spamming the thread, I’ve just been active doing the setup for these potential files.

I’ve completed files for Frodo, Legolas, and Eowyn and I am almost done the Aragorn file. Once that file and the Gandalf file are completed, I will have all of them ready to go. Here’s what I’ve found so far.

When you max out stats, you are supremely overpowered. Most enemies take one shot to kill, and bosses are brought down in something like three attacks. Also, with all the Haste items equipped, movement speed is insane. This category is going to be so broken, but it should still be fun at least.

Eowyn’s quest is short; I suspect her time will be the fastest. Not much to do and no bosses to fight.

I’m worried about Frodo. He’s not quite as strong as the other characters, and late-game there are so many Crebain that either you use the ring to sneak past them or you deal with running from ringwraiths. They still do chunks of damage, but you can definitely survive. I’m almost considering redoing the file with Purity boosting items equipped but the risk is minimal with such high defense and speed.

Legolas needs to watch his health late-game. His healing ability requires you to stand still, not good for a speedrun. The Overdraw glitch is not necessary, as he’s strong enough to level enemies without it.

Aragorn is so easy, he decimates with strength and defense to spare and it’s virtually impossible to gain corruption. The Crebain and goblin drummers didn’t raise the meter at all.

That’s it for now. Thanks.