Theorizations and Observations


Index


I'd like to preface all of this by saying: I am no coder, nor do I have any significant coding experience. All of what you see here is my assumptions and theorizations based on the little I know of C and sometimes FreeBasic.



Theorizations



Why does Keyduping work, and is it possible on the PC version?

Ever since I discovered keyduping, i've had the burning question: How and why does it work?


What was/Who was Five Star Reject, and where did Syn get ahold of "spiders in the willow trees", used as gardens.ogg in game?



Who were the beta testers?



Why did The Griffon Legend 2 never release?



The Jammed Door



Observations



"Slow Chests"



Spell Damage



The Fear State

When I talk about "The Fear State", I'm referring to a change in behavior that occurrs when an NPC is at low HP. In this state, they no longer advance towards the player, but prioritize getting as far away as possible instead. They only seem to attack when the player is close enough while in this state.


The Dreaded "Miss!"

At the start of every playthrough, it feels you're bound to encounter a situation like this:
Well, luckily, I've figured out why this happens so much, or at least I have a rough idea.


The Frustrating Nature of the Metal Essence

So, at this point, I have 3 of the 4 element locations down. I know exactly where to be and where to stand to find them. Earth is right in the same room you beat the boss that gives you the crystal, Water is in the outside of the dungeon, one map down. (The map where four green dragons spawn.) Fire is right outside the first temple key door in the final citadel.

But Metal?

Oh boy. I cannot find it for the life of me in runs. Sometimes it's where you duplicate the regular key after beating the first boss, sometimes it's not. Sometimes it seems to be in a random room. It feels like you just have to pray you find it, honestly.

One run I had was on the best pace ever, possibly sub-30 or maybe just seconds over 30 if things went right. I had just finished duping the lightning bombs for the final citadel and just needed the Metal Essence.

I reset so many times looking for that thing, and just couldn't find it! I eventually gave up and went to sleep, defeated and frustrated at my loss of a phenomenal pace. That's speedrunning, I suppose... Some runs are just not meant to be.

I've been thinking, though...

If the three other essences have guaranteed spawn spots, then the metal essence has to have one SOMEWHERE, right?

Well, that's where I tried looking in the code of the 3ds port, and I found this.



(Lines 231 through 248 in the griffon.c file, 3ds port source)

...Yeah, that doesn't explain much. So, I decided to look in the .bas code of the PC original. The element locations are the same there, so maybe this will be clearer...?

(lines 403 through 418 in the griffon.bas file, pc version)

Dammit.

Well, I do think this at least helps corroborate one thing, that element locations are interchangeable in a way. I've tried routes where you get Earth from the four green dragons area outside the dungeon, and that does seem to work. However, it does seem to screw up the Water essence location, as it won't spawn in the boss room...

Well, perhaps if I dig deeper, I can uncover the mystery of the Metal Essence's location...

Or not, since I performed so badly in homeschool coding my mom excused me from actually having to code.