Fewest Steps challenge

[*Laurelindo*]

Has anyone tried this?
I have made it to the three-scenario part now and it's surprisingly fun, and it's also rather pleasant to just rush from point A to point B without having to muck around buying equipment etc.
But anyway, I recommend that you give it a try, there are some occasions when you will spend lots of time figuring out the shortest path in mazes etc, but overall it's very enjoyable, in my opinion.

[Mirage]

Do you know if there exists records for this challenge already?

[*Laurelindo*]

Do you know if there exists records for this challenge already?

I actually saw recordings on YouTube today, but I haven't really watched them yet.

[VeloZer0]

This actually sounds really cool. In an academic sense for me to enjoy watching someone else attempts at it. It sounds horribly unpleasant for me to do myself. I wish you the best of luck and keep us posted!

[*Laurelindo*]

Well, I have made it to the Opera House so far, no serious problems yet.
There have been a few irritating moments though, for example I couldn't get the Siren, Stray and Kirin Espers since that would cost a couple steps.
Oh well, at least I got Ramuh, and I will get the huge number of Espers in the MagiTek factory for free, so that's good too.

It's pretty fun so far, I constantly have this feeling that I could get wiped out at any moment but it's still manageable.
Perfect challenge level, IMO.

It also becomes evident in this challenge how useful Locke can be; thanks to him I managed to steal Bandanas from the Brawlers (very, very useful during the fight against HeavyArmour in Locke's scenario - not much of a fight though, all I did was equipping him with Gauntlet and Black Belt and kept using Potions) and he also stole the Air Lancet from TunnelArmr and the Mithril Vest from Rider.
I will also make sure to steal the Drainer and Tempest from Number. 024 and Number. 128, they will definitely be useful later.

[VeloZer0]

You forgot to post your current step count with the update.

[*Laurelindo*]

You forgot to post your current step count with the update.

Huh?
Ah, my step count so far is 4175, I believe I have managed to take the shortest possible route everywhere.
I managed to speak to Edgar in Returner's Hideout without having to walk up to him at all, and I ride Chocobos whenever it gives a less step count after reaching a destination.

I actually almost think there should've been some kind of reward for keeping Steps below a certain number, that would make it even more interesting.
Maybe giving you an incredibly powerful set of Paladin equipment and relics of some sort if you walk, say, max 10,000 steps before reaching the very last save point in Kefka's Tower or something.
Kind of like the Excalibur II in Final Fantasy 9.

[Skyblade]

Nah, something more direct. How about a weapon near endgame with power inversely proportional to steps taken? Give it a minimum value if the step count is over a certain amount, but give it the highest base Attack in the game and decrease it for each step taken.

[Heath]

I'm actually quite impressed with the originality of this challenge. Something I never would've thought of myself. I like the idea of an Excalibur II type quest around steps taken. Never tried it myself, but I can't think it's something I'd be very good at. I like wandering around talking to people!

[*Laurelindo*]

I'm actually quite impressed with the originality of this challenge. Something I never would've thought of myself. I like the idea of an Excalibur II type quest around steps taken. Never tried it myself, but I can't think it's something I'd be very good at. I like wandering around talking to people!

It's actually a surprisingly fun challenge, there is a certain satisfaction in planning your routes and testing things like whether walking or riding a chocobo will give you the shortest steps etc.
Of course it can be a bit frustrating when you have to walk very far or watch long scenes before you end up at a bunch of intersections that you need to test, but you only really need to do one testing since you can just count how many steps each path takes.
A few examples are the group battles against Marshal and Kefka #1, but just clear all the enemy formations and then start drawing a map and looking for the shortest path.