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Hmm, the best thing for me to do would probably be to just describe what I do on Mystic Forest, so I'll run through my overall level strat. Incidentally, these descriptions will probably make far more sense if you read them while playing the game, so if you're not lazy enough to have your Saturn set up next to your PC you might want to print this out or something. :)
Also, parts of this almost certainly re-hash what tabitha said above, but for the whole thing to make sense it seemed best to do a full explanation. OK:
Course 1 (my best: 107,520)
First you'll want to collect 13 chips as Claris, probably with the method I described in this thread:
http://www.scoreattack.net/scoreattackforum/forums/165/ShowPost.aspx
This'll let you destroy the Ideya Capture on your first lap. Now, I'm guessing you know more or less what to do for the infinite link (if you don't, just let me know), so for now I'll just describe how to get through the difficult bits where things can Go Wrong:
1) The hardest part is almost certainly the bit where you have to paraloop the group of 7 chips, then get to the group of stars floating high up to the right *without* losing the link. The way I do this is by looping the chips more or less like this: [Link] Basically, I'm collecting only one or two chips to start off with, them doing an anticlockwise loop and hitting at least one more chip to keep the link going, then orienting myself and dashing off towards the group of stars just as I close the paraloop. This means that I'll be heading away very fast in a fairly straight line, so it'll take the paralooped chips a little while to catch up with me; and by the time they do, I should be halfway to the group of stars, so I consequently shouldn't lose the link before I reach them.
EDIT: So essentially, do what tabitha does in the video that's now on the site. :)
2) The next place where things can go wrong is those big bouncy vines that NiGHTS launches himself between near the end of the course. To make things considerably easier, keep tapping the dash button as you go between the vines, as this'll cause NiGHTS to launch himself off of them instantly instead of waiting a second first.
3) The final place where things can really go wrong is linking the 3 chips before the Ideya palace to the 3 stars beyond it. In this case you simply have to line yourself up and dash in a straight line from one to the other: if you don't hit the first star dead on, you'll probably lose the link. Takes a bit of practice.
This course is pretty hard to get the hang of really, and it's by far the hardest of the "normal" infinite links, but if you persevere you should get a feel for it in time. I can give you a couple more tips, too:
- A note I made says that it's a good idea to kill both of the pink enemies on your first lap, as they can get in your way later on when they move around. One's near the 7 blue chips, the other's somewhere to the right.
- Once you get the hang of the course, you'll normally finish your final lap with a slightly random amount of time left over (six or more seconds, I think) which isn't enough to do another lap with, but also shouldn't be wasted. Instead of going straight into the Ideya palace, pass over it and open the link ball one more time with these spare seconds, then backtrack to the palace and finish.
Course 2 (my best: 60,630 with five laps)
Unlike Course 1, where your score will vary quite a bit depending on how long you can keep the link going for, Course 2 is pretty normal and consistent.
Strategy: from the start of the course, fly straight to the right through the chain of rings, collect the 3 blue chips in the air beyond, go through the two yellow rings and down into the speed-booster below. This'll propel you towards 5 blue chips and a slightly fiddly bit of level that is far easier to draw than describe: [Link] The yellow blobs are stars and the blue blobs are chips, but the other stuff in that illustration probably needs some explanation. The red line is the route I'd recommend for lap one, and where I've marked "hidden chips" there's a spot with 4 stars where, if you perform a paraloop, 7 chips will appear. You can then proceed into the speed-booster, do a funky loop to collect the line of 5 chips and head off to the right, where you'll find more items and (beyond them) the Ideya prison. If you manage to link all the stuff shown, you'll end up with a respectable 20+ link.
Important thing #1: you'll need to collect every single chip in the level before the prison in order to have 20, so be sure not to leave any behind.
After you destroy the prison, fly straight up to collect the link ball floating above it, then head right and open it by going through the rings. Don't hit the speed-booster at the end of the rings, though: instead, dash under it to the right and collect the two chips that are floating above a stone block, then dash onwards. This'll allow you to keep the link going all the way to the bouncy vines to the right, so by the end of the course you should have a 23 link.
Your other laps should be basically the same as your first, only I'd recommend not detouring for the 7 hidden chips because it takes up too much time: instead, try using the alternate route in that image I posted, the route marked in purple. That'll allow you to link a lot of stuff in the middle of the course without using up too much time, letting you squeeze in a full five laps (which seems to be optimal).
If you find yourself with quite a lot of time left on your final lap though, by all means detour for the hidden chips again (i.e. do the lap like lap 1, taking a bit more time to collect a bit more stuff).
Also, don't forget to grab the link ball on every lap, as it helps your score quite a lot.
Important thing #2: instead of heading straight into the Ideya palace when you finish the course, do a paraloop around the 3 chips just before it, then dash into the palace to end the course before they reach you. This'll mean that you only "collect" these chips when you're officially on Course 3, so it basically lets you start Course 3 with extra chips, which really helps.
Course 3 (my best: 103,980 with four laps)
Your Course 3 score will probably fluctuate quite a bit, as it's mainly determined by how well you do with the stunt ribbon in the cave, and as you've probably noticed it's bloody hard to do stunt ribbons consistently!
Strategy: as soon as you start the course, head left, collect the 3 blue chips near the palace, then dash further to the left and break the chip cage for another 8. Then dash back to the right and get started on the course properly: fly through the first two groups of items (yellow rings, orange rings, chips, stars and stuff), and when you hit the first speed-booster, angle yourself up slightly to clip one of the four stars that are floating slightly above your tradjectory. If you continue to the right quickly, you'll make it to the last group of 4 chips, stars and rings without losing the link, netting you a 20+ link overall. Then head right to destroy the Ideya prison.
Problematically, this method will only get you 19 chips in this course before you reach the prison, which is why you need to "carry over" at least one chip from Course 2 as mentioned above. Otherwise, you'll have to fuss around trying to snag a chip in the background / foreground with a paraloop in order to have enough.
After breaking the Ideya prison, head right and fly around the big temple thing, collecting and opening the link ball (by flying through all the rings) and hitting the switches so that you'll be able to enter the cave.
The cave is where you'll acquire most of your points for this course: your aim is to grab the link ball, pass through the stunt ribbon, then open the ball while performing a whole lot of stunts. I'd recommend that you crash through a few stars then do a reasonably big paraloop to get enough stars to open the ball, preferably doing some L / R stunts at the same time, then just mess around with stunts until the ribbon wears off. Of course, it's much easier said than done, but if you can consistently get 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 stunts in whilst opening the link ball, you're doing very well. As soon as you've finished doing your stunts, head out of the cave and proceed with the next lap.
To get a really good score for this course you absolutely have to squeeze in four laps, with four trips through the Cave of Much Bonus, which means you can't waste much time on the rest of the course. Fortunately, there isn't much else to do in the rest of the course apart from "head to the right while collecting stuff" as described above, so just rinse and repeat...
Course 4 (my best: 49,030 with four laps)
Like Course 2, Course 4 is pretty normal and should give you a fairly stable score.
Strategy: from the start, head right and up, collecting the 3 chips above the spike ring and entering the speed-booster. Continue right, through some yellow rings and down to another speed-booster, at which point you'll be in a section of level that you've already seen in Course 2, the part shown in that image I posted. On your first lap, treat it exactly like your first lap on Course 2: collect the 5 chips before the sign, then detour to get the 7 hidden chips etc.
After that you'll get to the slightly dull top-down view section, which I usually rush through pretty quickly. From the entrance, head directly up-right, through the gap between the marble blocks, and continue up-right to the Ideya prison, which you should have enough chips to break. Then head "south" from the prison, going through all the orange rings before hitting the speed-booster that takes you out. You should be able to carry the link on through all the rings after the booster too, getting a 20+ link overall. You'll then hit another booster, at which point you should angle upwards to hit yet another booster, then collect some final rings and chips and you've finished the lap.
Overall you'll want to squeeze in four laps, so you won't usually have enough time to detour for the 7 hidden chips again after lap one: in subsequent laps you should probably use the "quicker route" through that middle section, the one I described for Course 2. If you find yourself with excess time on your last lap though, by all means go out of your way and pick them up.
I'd recommend that you do go though all of the orange rings in the top-down section in every lap, as they're more or less on your way and they get quite a good link going.
Disclaimer!
Any or all of this may not be the best way of doing things, but I'm fairly certain these are the strats I used to get over 600,000 on Mystic Forest, and that I at least haven't forgotten anything important. This certainly isn't the be-all and end-all of Mystic Forest methods though, merely "what I thought was a good idea last time I played the level".
Anyhow, hope that helps! Just let me know if any of that's unclear, as NiGHTS levels are a bit awkward to put into words... EDIT (01/02/2007): broken link(s) fixed.
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