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FFMQ Randomizer. I'm using standard settings here, since this is basically to showcase the randomizer itself, but you can customize the settings to suit your tastes.
Standard parameters for this randomizer, for the record:
-Important (or "key") items can be found in any location that would normally have them, with a few additions which I'll point out as they come.
-The Sky Coin (details later) can be in any one of the aforementioned locations.
-You start with a random Tier 1 weapon.
-Enemy group density is halved (you get 2.5x experience to compensate for this), but where exactly they are placed on the map is randomized.
-All enemies can have anywhere from 25% to 125% of their vanilla stats; I'm pretty sure this isn't even uniform by enemy, so, for example, something could have 74% HP and 113% Attack.
-Some particularly annoying dungeons have been tweaked to be less annoying; I will point them out if/when they become relevant.
-Battlefields will have a random number (between 1 and 5) of fights before their clear reward is given.
-Progressive equipment is off; you can skip straight to Tier 3 of any given equipment, find Tier 1 while you have Tier 2, or any combination thereof.
-Optionally, you can randomize the player character's palette. I'm using this option for this seed, because why not.
For the record, I am a smartass. I usually don't use names like this, but when the game leaves itself this open, how can I resist?
Also for the record: The seed I am using is 35703513, using the 1.4.17 beta version of the generator. Just in case anyone else wants to give this a shot.
Here we are, at the start; the randomizer skips the tutorial fight. Like most randomizers, the goal here is to collect the items necessary to complete the game. So, what does "Go Mode" consist of here?
-A sword (any): Required to trigger certain switches in the final dungeon.
-Tier 3 Claw: Acts as a grappling hook, required to enter the boss rush in the final dungeon.
-Tier 3 Bomb: Used to destroy certain obstacles at range. Required to enter the boss rush in the final dungeon; also required to free the ship that takes you to the final dungeon.
-Sun Coin: Unlocks the door to the fourth region. Required to access the ship that takes you to the final dungeon.
-Sky Coin: Unlocks the door to the majority of the final dungeon. Required for obvious reasons.
-Thunder Rock: Creates a bridge in the fourth region. Required to free the ship that takes you to the final dungeon.
-Captain's Cap: Required to convince the ship's owner to take you to the final dungeon.
-Mobius Crest: Used to activate certain teleporters. Required to reach the ship that will take you to the final dungeon after it's freed.
Also like other randomizers, this is not necessarily (or even likely) the complete list of required items; for example, I could need an Axe to chop trees down, or the Sand Coin to access the second region, or a lower tier of Claw to climb walls.
Sorry for the infodump right off the bat; I wanted to make sure everyone reading is on the same page regarding the run's requirements. Let's get started, shall we?
To start off, we'll enter the location we were standing on at the start and push a boulder, so the old man will give us an item- specifically, the Cupid Locket, the Tier 3 Accessory. Score!
This unfortunately does nothing for progression, but it's still a very good find because of the massive boost it gives to my defenses. I mean, 6 physical defense isn't impressive compared to the other Tier 3 armor items, but it's still a sizable boost (equal to my starting armor, for the record), and it even comes with two very good status immunities (plus a third that's less important): I will never be inflicted with Blind, Confusion, or Silence for the entirety of this seed (though I make no promises for the partner characters- more on them later).
Since there's nothing else I can do in Level Forest beyond picking fights at the moment, I'll head over to the nearby town to see what I can scavenge.
Heading around to the back door of the top-right house gives me... well then. Another top-tier armor item?
I feel this is arguably the least important Tier 3 armor item in the game; it only gives 15 physical defense and halves Fire damage taken (the latter of which is also on the Tier 2 Helmet). Still, not gonna argue with upgrades!
...I'm very well defended for a guy who's only been playing the seed for like two minutes and hasn't even gotten into a fight yet. I swear I didn't rig the seed!
And yes, the brown chests' items (which, for those of you who've never played FFMQ, are replaced whenever you go to the world map) are shuffled amongst themselves. Case in point: I may not need to worry about running out of bombs, depending on whether this is an ammo chest (some partners use ammo-based weapons; chests with ammo give bombs when you have no such partner) or specifically a bomb chest.
There technically aren't any items here, but...
...my first partner (second in vanilla, but the first requires a key item I don't have) is camping here. This is useful for several reasons: First, I will no longer be soloing any fights I get into. Second, each partner has a specific location which, if you bring them to it, will prompt them to give you an item.
Incidentally, some universal changes to partners in the randomizer:
1. With only a single exception, partners will not leave your party when they fulfill their role in the original story.
2. You can recruit them from their respective locations at any time you can access them.
3. Upon checking their respective item locations and dismissing them from your party, they will "level up," and (again with a single exception) permanently leave their initial locations. You will generally need to go to a different location to re-recruit them, but they will be higher level (in most cases by a pretty large margin), and frequently come with new spells as well.
Speaking of which, Tristam's spell list is... anaemic. He only has Life, which, while an excellent healing spell (fixes literally everything for one target in battle), is standard-issue for partners.
In fact, Tristam is typically considered the worst partner in the game even when leveled up because his sole claim to fame is sheer speed. He's the physically weakest of the upgraded partners while having the worst spell selection and no useful resistances.
Anyway, how better to celebrate recruiting a lackey than by going off to blow up a battlefield for the rewards?
Fairly simplistic battle screen, isn't it?
Two nice things about bombs: First, they hit everything. Second, they never miss.
Bad thing about bombs: Their damage is divided by the number of targets. Thankfully they tend to have high attack power to compensate, though by Tier 3 it kind of falls off relative to its tier.
Anyway, after blowing the place up five times, I get a few levels and... holy crap, that's simultaneously a Go Mode item and a huge offensive upgrade: The Tier 3 Bomb, the Mega Grenade!
For reference, my starting Bombs only had 63 attack power. That's a boost of almost 100! What the hell is this seed?!
...I shudder to imagine the logical hoops it'll force me to jump through later if it's being this generous right now.
Nowhere left to go but here. I guarantee there's gonna be at least one Coin here.
Kaboom!
I suppose you could call this "French Vanilla" if you squint? You normally find the Tier 1 Shield here, but I got the Tier 2 one. At least it broke my streak of Tier 3 equipment?
It's not perfect, but 10 defense and immunity to paralysis is still good. Also worth noting is that I have yet to find any armor that isn't for an empty slot.
...I'm kind of an unstoppable juggernaut around here, aren't I?
Here's Tristam's item location, giving me the Tier 2 Axe, just in case I need it.
It's a lot weaker than my bombs (barely over half their attack power), and, in my (and many other players') experience, tends to have pretty bad accuracy, but at least I have an infinite-ammo weapon should I need one. Plus, y'know, the whole "lumberjack" thing I may or may not need later.
Sir (or madam, as applicable), your teeth offend and obstruct me. Prepare to be detonated.
Speaking of "French Vanilla" locations, here's the Tier 1 Shield I mentioned before, in a room directly behind the above skull. It's completely irrelevant since I have the Tier 2 version.
This guy couldn't look more like a boss fight if he tried.
I would like to state that the boss music in this game is awesome. Too bad this guy's not gonna last long enough for me to enjoy it; at least I still have YouTube!
Oh, hey, he can actually do multiple points of damage to me in a single attack! (Also, he's faster than me, but slower than Tristam.)
Too bad he's on the losing end of this exchange.
A nice detail for this game is that it's an early example of enemies that actually show the damage they've taken; the number of different sprites each enemy has depends on that sprite's importance, for lack of a better term:
-Standard enemies, like the Poison Toads from the battlefield, only have two sprites ("healthy" and "damaged").
-Minor bosses, and palette swaps thereof, get three.
-Major bosses, such as Flamerus Rex here, get four; this is his second. Given my damage output relative to this early-game boss, I could very well skip his third sprite.
Ow. I may have underestimated this guy slightly. Fortunately, Tristam, as mentioned, has the ever-valuable Life spell available.
Okay, didn't completely skip his third sprite, since Tristam's damage output is nowhere near mine. And yes, this game tells you how each combatant is attacking every time; this particular attack is nothing to worry about, because it does nothing but inflict Poison, which isn't all that dangerous in this game.
Oh, hey, all his sprites made appearances! Also, a bit of reference to show how low the threat from Poison is.
For the record, he's also got a reasonably threatening multitarget attack, but it's too late for him.
The randomizer devs have removed the flashing from all these cutscenes, in order to make it more accessible to epileptics. Also, I get a full heal from this thing.
...jerk boss didn't even have the decency to give me enough experience to level up...
In vanilla, Tristam steals this chest and runs. Here... I get a key item that reveals the encounters in a later dungeon. Nothing too important, really, but a nice convenience (these settings may require diving into the relevant dungeons without the items to reveal the enemies).
And there's the Coin I promised you, giving me access to the third of four regions. Now I just need to hike out of here (no real issue, since I can just walk around all the enemies like I did getting here).
For the record, that chest I got bombs from before turned out to be an ammo chest; not really a surprise, since I'm pretty sure ammo chests outnumber the bomb chests. Guess I'll have to switch Tristam out or look somewhere else for my Blowing Stuff Up needs.
This feels overly short, honestly (it only took me like 10 minutes of play time to get this far), but in the interest of not having 100+ images per update (yet again, as tends to happen when I post an LP) I'll leave off here for now and start banging my head against Region 3 (thankfully with a better partner to pick up the slack) next time.