Phoenotopia Awakening – Briskly Collecting All Badges – A Video Walkthrough Series (2024)

Added: May 17, 2021, 7:50am UTCSteamGuides0

Basically, this is a port of the PABCAB Index to make it easier for Steam users to find the series with all due clarifications.

Foreword

I realize that the Steam Community has a section for videos, but I’d rather present this series in the form of a guide, that way all the videos and clarifications are in one place. (I mean, I have a lot of clarifications to make, because the quality of my commentary betrays how introverted I am.)

Speaking of clarifications, I have a few primary ones to get out of the way.

• EchecCritiqueMisc is in fact my YouTube account, despite the lack of resemblance to my Steam name.
• This walkthrough was done on version 1.0.9 of the Nintendo Switch release. This shouldn’t matter too much, and I will clarify when I know that it does. (Even before that, the Steam release generally has better loading times than the Switch release.)
• My capture card setup, at the time of recording, involves using one of my PC monitors as a makeshift TV on which to play the game, and the other to read notes while running RECentral. The former monitor is a Grade A HP 25VX 25″ 7ms (GTG) IPS HDMI Widescreen LED. (Also, I play with a Pro Controller when docked and Joycons when undocked.)
• I apologize for the “quality” of my headset, especially in the moments when I emphatically announce the number of takes. I’m not proficient with audio engineering, let alone in RECentral, so I never notice anything strange until it’s too late. (Still, it’s better than the Macbook Pro built-in audio mic I was stuck with, back in my earlier YouTube days.)
• OpenShot Video Editor was used to edit the footage, so the editing is probably not as clean as it could be otherwise.
• The “Index” mentioned above is docs.google.com – https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Q1TDlJjzelQnE616ZGbnUh4_CQBN0quLzfk5V0T7mMg
• Collectible numbering is merely based on the walkthrough; it is not necessarily to be followed to the dot.

Use Ctrl+F to look for Oracle hints or particular names of collectibles, badges, etc. to find timestamps of the notables in question. (Box Breaker is omitted due to being easy enough to obtain without trying.)

Part 1: Getting Started

• I sometimes mistakenly refer to “energy” as “stamina.” The former is the official term, but the latter is what I called it while playing the Flash game. Same goes for “Badge” and “achievement.”
• miopasid (a.k.a. Whiskpl) was the first to demonstrate somersaulting and tumbling in that order. This movement tech makes the game so satisfying to run that it outweighs the Flash game despite being more than twice as long in every common category.
• Both upward and downward slopes slow Gail down, so it’s best to jump over them as much as possible.
• (Day 1) Upon further investigation, had I quick-equipped the Pumpkin Muffin along with the Slingshot, Alex would have not told me about the Gear Ring, and instead said, “Good luck!” This indicates that at least two items must be quick-equipped for the tutorial to be avoided.
• The scaber bypass on the way to the second pearlstone was not possible in Demo v0.06b, because I-frames (invincibility frames) were virtually nonexistent back then.
• There’s a shortcut to the fourth pearlstone (I don’t know why I said moonstone), but I forgot to mention that it requires the Bombs, which cannot be obtained until the next region.
• Leading up to the post-abduction cutscene, to make sure that I select the second dialog options, I use a sort of rolling technique from the Confirm button to the Cancel button, prioritizing the latter because it does not select dialog options.
• Regarding my explanation of why I don’t “Say everyone went camping,” I meant to say, “You get the unique text boxes from Alex’s fabrication, alongside the ones that occur either way.”
• (Day 2) Amanda is the blue-haired girl among the orphanage trio, which additionally consists of Alex (brown hair) and Seth (blond hair).
• Random encounters are technically not that big a waste of time (let alone as early as Panselo) in the Zero Trial portion of All Badges. You need 30 total, and 6 of them are mandatory for the Gold Moon badge.
• The treasure chest in the middle of the west side of South Castella Bridge is a dud; it only contains 1 Rin.
• As Vio says that Skye likes animals, Skye says that Porta likes the mayor, Porta says that Leaf likes the shooting gallery, and Leaf says that Mango likes dark places.
• “See, if you were to return to Vio, then he or she would tell you that [Skye likes animals]…or they, I guess” goes to show how much I respect the lore. I mean, some of it is trivial to fast gameplay.
• The solution to the song puzzle at southern Kingdom Bridge is in the engravings on the wall. You would have to blow up the rubble to see all of them.
• “So, the reason why I don’t need to learn the Song of the Ouroboros just yet…” is because of this sequence break that I’m about to perform. I blame the box weirdness for disallowing me to finish that thought.
• Speaking of the sequence break, my tutorial can be found

• Seriously, the lore dump art makes Lisa look curvier than she deserves.
• After the lore dump, you have the option to talk to Thomas and Bart before bed, to learn why and by whom the villagers were kidnapped. Wish I had any idea how significant this is.
• (Day 4) If you try to request equipment from Thomas without having freed Fran, his client (conspicuously called Narf) fails to respond to his call, and guess what happens? A whole lot of nothing, at the cost of nothing (except the run, if applicable).
• As a pacing guideline towards the Speed Runner achievement, in-game time should be no more than 2 hours before the hike from Panselo to Cosette.

Part 1 timestamps (1/2)

Part 1 timestamps (2/2)

Part 2: Finishing the Sprint

• If using the Franway (which obviously is an impossibility in Zero Trial), an alternative location to buy Honey Brews is at the Blue Lobster, in which they cost as much as in Sunflower Road with Bimmy’s discount, else 5 extra per bottle.
• Consumption in the overworld is instant, no matter what item is consumed. That’s why I ate the Nectear before entering Kingdom Bridge.
• The principle behind crossing Kingdom Bridge with the Sonic Spear (Anti-Franway?) is to toss the box far enough to not break it, and leap onto it after it starts to float and before it reaches the surface. This is quite precise, but really fast. (Faster, in fact, than the bomb step Ouroboros Skip.)
• In Cosette Village, the central barn contains a quick 30 Rin, which I would have picked up had I not forgotten.
• FYI: I use the term “automata,” plural for “automaton,” while explaining the three towers in the Cosette region.
• Speaking of which, falling from the summit of one of the three towers just gets Gail warped to the nearest platform.
• “I think of the Kobold Blaster as my weapon of choice.” I decided this the moment I learned Early Blaster and tried to learn any% with just that weapon.
• When editing the first farm for Cooked Mystery Meat, I made more jump cuts than I said I would, because my clarifications had awkward timings.
• I mistakenly referred to Bart as Billy. Honest to goodness, the Flash game will never leave my brain alone.
• Prior to the Cosette boss (which I like to call the Mainframe), getting too close before hitting the barrier (Aside: Why did I toss the Sonic Spear left before then?) will initiate a cutscene where Bart nearly meets the business end of the rightmost electric pillar. Mother Computer, on the other hand, is impervious to barrier damage until she beckons you.
• (Beyond the Walls) Past the middle save point in the Scorched Lands, my preferred strategy for breaking the first three crates is to fire the 5-way at the lower two and break the upper one with a midair attack.
• What really screwed my penultimate battery strategy in the Scorched Lands was the unusual bomb placement. I tried to improvise, but it didn’t work out, so…hilarity ensued.
• The pause menu strategy on the path to the final Scorched Lands battery is important, because quick-equipping will not guarantee enough time to protect the chain crate, nor is the Double Crossbow alone a potent enough weapon to fend off the ghoul.
• Credit to the Discord for the Mul Caves slope jump and the SPHERE “bypass” I mentioned, as well as the E.D.E.N. D block strat.
• In Ariadne’s abode, you want to leap as much as possible, because the webbing slows ground movement.
• To say that you “cannot” do a leaping hover over the first megalith obstacle in SPHERE is an exaggeration; just experience tells me that the jump to hover is leagues more consistent.
• (E.D.E.N.) When I mentioned prematurely picking up the first two Chrystalis in the counterclockwise circuit, I wasn’t necessarily poking fun at miopasid/Whiskpl’s 2:45:32 Zero Trial. Long before that, when I first had the idea to rehearse beforehand, I did exactly that and, having no backup saves in tow, couldn’t bear to do anything short of starting all over again.
• In the F block, were the evil eye to eliminate the lower rubble instead of the upper, you’d have to do a leaping hover off two bombs (For a more concise term, how about Liftoff?) from the edge of the basin to the rubble where the 10-Rin pot lies.
• Speaking of which, the rubble in question can only be destroyed by lasers.
• If 14 takes is somehow an insufficient indicator, it takes a crazy good combination of luck and execution to get through the end sequence. (Heck, my rehearsal probably took me way more attempts.)
• Katash 2 does not steal consumables with his slashing attack. Even otherwise, Rat Poisoning wouldn’t work under Zero Trial conditions.
• The times I fell to Katash 2 in rehearsal, I had to quit and reload the game via the HOME menu (the Steam equivalent being Alt+F4), just to keep the save file the way it is.
• To reiterate, it is not necessary to win against Katash 2 under Zero Trial conditions. The backup is to table that fight, along with the E.D.E.N. basem*nt business, until after Light Wings.

Part 2 timestamps

Part 3: Commence Collectathon

• If I sound strangely quiet or have some background noise in the recording (e.g. my text message notification is the moonstone noise), it’s because I decided to record in the afternoon as opposed to my usual “graveyard shift” hours. (Obviously, I should have had my phone muted, but the text message was an unforeseen circ*mstance.)
• When I mentioned my throat condition, I meant to say that I didn’t see it getting any better but wanted to get the series out by the time the Steam release drops.
• From this part on, if I say “excuse me” at seemingly random intervals, it’s because I’m burping.
• Evidently, I did not realize that the elevator transitions are good opportunities to consume the Cooked Mystery Meat from the Zero Trial.
• Spoiling food, such as for Rat Poisoning and the Mr. Planto sidequest, does not count towards the Experienced Cook badge. (If it did, then the Nutri-Food printer farm would involve less cooking Nutri-Meals in favor of consuming raw Nutri-Food.)
• Credit to the Discord for the box lifting strat that I demonstrate in the Royal Archive. Also, it’s more optimal to have two of the spears in the wall prior to the first or second version of the lifting, that way only two breaks are necessary.
• In recording this segment, I learned that you can hold the sprint button to buffer a sprinting input in the overworld.
• Even though this video is under 48 minutes long, the in-game time taken was closer to an hour. (I didn’t think to check the exact value until after editing Part 4.)

Part 3 timestamps (1/2)

Part 3 timestamps (2/2)

Part 4: From Rags to Riches

• “I keep forgetting” refers to the squandered recording attempt, in case that wasn’t obvious. Shortly after, by “lower-left entrance,” I mean “lower-left exit.”
• On the two-moonstone Daea City visit, if you have 5-9 Rin, the contingency is to donate to the fountain near the entrance and get the Energy Gem early. Any higher, and you’re better off making multiple donations to the inn fountain.
• What I found amusing about killing the mouse with the Ouro Guard Key is how much thought my mind put into improvising, only for a single Wooden Bat swing to do the trick.
• If you deal more than 15 damage to Birdy, then she will drop 10 Rin instead of 5. Also, as efficient as the farm is compared to other methods of obtaining Rin, the issue is that it can only be done in an unrepeatable fight / point of no return. (As recently discovered, https://twitter.com/astrohill/status/1392469515733143557)
• Looking back, I wonder how the Kobold Blaster 5-way hit Bubbles 10 times in one shot during the magma spewing phase.
• I think the oddity with Lisa was a byproduct of mashing too fast and creating a situation where a character would normally stay in a talking animation even after being done talking. And seriously, what a shame.
• During the badge progress report, I forgot to touch upon Not for Profit and the Overworld Encounters (and less importantly the usual bed, journal, and cat progress). Silly me.
• Even though this video is under 58 minutes long, the in-game time taken was 1:27:08.
• If you feel strapped for inventory space (e.g. when routing the Concentrate technique into Zero Trial), you can visit Tailoring Tracy’s in Atai Town before walking to Panselo with Lisa, to increase your inventory slot count to 23 (with the last slot being reserved for the second Tailoring Voucher).

Part 4 timestamps (1/2)

Part 4 timestamps (2/2)

Part 5: Many Good Deeds a Day

• This is the first completely unedited part of the series. No jump cuts or anything, just 100% raw footage.
• However, so much happened in this part that it may seem like my enthusiasm was dwindling over the course of my commentary. Please don’t take it the wrong way; my love for this series is unconditional.
• More importantly, this is the part where I realized that I should do dress rehearsals before I start recording, that way I don’t have to look at my notes every minute to demonstrate my route. (I mean, I’m confident in my memory, but I guess I can’t be that confident.)
• The trips through Sunflower Road are spaced more than 30 minutes apart, that way the Nectears respawn when they’re needed.
• Similarly to the last part, I forgot to mention Hoarder in the progress report.

Part 5 timestamps (1/2)

Part 5 timestamps (2/2)

Part 6: A Vault Load of Trouble

• Again, this is unaltered footage. Even though I truly meant to do the D block of Adar’s Vault earlier and forgot to save before the two Wreckers, I only died once (in the D block) and consumed one extra Nutri-Meal, making the segment shorter than I expected.
• I’ll admit, my self-awareness in this recording was entirely uncalled for, especially because just one Discord user at one point in time had one open-ended gripe about my commentary. Like, I should just acknowledge my tendency to ramble as novice commentary, because being picky with my words only leads to awkward silence, which perhaps is worse than repetitively constructed explanations. Not to say that I shouldn’t be mindful, just not in such a crude way. (In a manner of speaking, this whole ordeal is what I call sweating the small stuff.)
• When I recorded and edited Part 7, I realized that the Antique Cast Iron specifically reduces the speed of the cooking timer.
• Unmentioned in this part is the “Broken Doggoro?” item given by the scam-sleuthing guards at Adar’s House. Its purpose will be touched upon in the extra.
• The rockfall in Adar’s cave can be triggered by destroying blocks of rubble other than the particular ones that I destroy.
• My strat on screen 2 of the C block is not exactly a cheese. Call that a misnomer of habit. (Also, on the night I recorded this, a Discord conversation touched upon the use of the crate as shelter from the turrets/cannons. I personally could not translate this into a consistently fast strat, much less provide a demonstration.)
• I pick up all the Golem Cores from the Wreckers in preparation for a moonstone sidequest at the Last Wall.

Part 6 timestamps (1/2)

Part 6 timestamps (2/2)

Part 7: we can’t StoP HERE

The capitalization of this title is no mistake.

• Finally, another edited part. The jump cut didn’t mean much to the in-game time, however.
• Wendigos are technically not unkillable (if you damage them enough and finish with a powerful attack); they’re just not worth killing. (They only drop 1 Golem Core.)
• I came up with a better term for the trick at 20:23 than what I tried to name it. I would call it a Slip Roll, as it’s used to slip through holes in the wall.
• The other way to avoid Ariadne’s frenzy is to do a precise leaping hover. But, obviously, the one demonstrated is more reliable. (Also, Ariadne is invincible during that attack.)
• The green beetles are called Aciads. Close, but no cigar.
• In the environmental area beyond Pristine City, the third screen has multiple traps that punish reckless Spheralis use, not just the one that I pointed out. The one to the left of it punishes left and right notes with Moth Mines only, while the one to the right of it punishes all notes except center with Flying Scrappers on top of the expected mines.

Part 7 timestamps (1/2)

Part 7 timestamps (2/2)

Part 8 (finale): This Is Gold Country

• You can repeat the fights against the triple threat and two Arboars anytime, and the last enemy you defeat will drop 40 or 30 Rin respectively.
• I forgot the Panselo gamma fence moonstone mainly because I mixed up my final route with an earlier route (which had it on the first backtrack through Panselo, and I rerouted because it accidentally provides too much Rin to NfP the Daea City pianist). Between that and neglecting to recycle the first Gold Dragon Scale trio on the first Recycler round, this was such a hot mess of a “demonstration,” despite the first try PHALANX.
• The unraveling process starting at 1:24:20 is necessary to unlock the Steam achievements.
• I compiled a docs.google.com – https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tcALoSwcbZ8eNAN7TqkKZfypFonsnaRhg-QD8m0lSnE/edit?usp=sharing to summarize the fastest(?) way to obtain all badges.

…Surprisingly, that’s it.

Part 8 timestamps

Extra: Leftovers

Even the lengthy process of collecting all badges leaves a few stones unturned. This video serves to address the remaining collectibles of Phoenotopia: Awakening, as well as cover some bases that are unimportant to the All Badges route.

• PHST stands for Phoenotopia 100% (Hundo) Speedrun Tutorial, the Flash game counterpart and predecessor of this series.
• Like none of the main parts, this extra part wore me out and taught me more than I could have ever foreseen. Recall how unprepared I was in Part 5, and multiply that fourfold to get a rough idea how this recording went. Even so, I wouldn’t have it any other way, given the casual deviation thereof from my usual hasty style in the main series. (FYI: This footage is entirely unedited.)
• When playing hide-and-seek with the Perro in Daea and the Forbidden Lands, hitting them (such as with the Rocket Boot thrusters) will cause them to fly away.
• In Part 4, when I fought the first Great Drake, I wondered how I hit it 10 times with a single 5-way shot of the Kobold Blaster. Similarly, the two-drake fight also had its fair share of that sort of phenomenon. Could it be that the Great Drake has two hitboxes?
• I timed the Atai metro against overworld movement from the Ouroboros’ hideout to Atai Town and vice versa. Turns out the metro is slower as a whole.
• Just after the recording, I had put at least 325 hours total into the Switch release.
• Now that I’ve played the Steam release to a satisfactory degree, I must say that I prefer it to the Switch release because of its superior loading times, but at least the Switch has portability going for it. (Especially in my case, with my only recreational laptop being a 2012 MacBook Pro.)

Extra timestamps (1/2)

Extra timestamps (2/2)

This is all about Phoenotopia Awakening – Briskly Collecting All Badges – A Video Walkthrough Series; I hope you enjoy reading the Guide! If you feel like we should add more information or we forget/mistake, please let us know via commenting below, and thanks! See you soon!