#ftpverse

thread:

so anyway in a fire emblem like game where you can recruit units. ftp riku would be a boss that is SOOO easy to cheese if you just spam lightning spells at him BUT doing so makes all other ftp recruits leave your party effective immediately

honestly I first imagined them leaving after the fight like "bro that was our friend, fucked up?" but you know what. I think that happens if you defeat but dont recruit him (normal)

if you spam lightning spells congrats your ftp recruits are now the superboss of this stage as they take riku's side

(smiling, evil) you wanted an easy boss? fuck you. it's hard now.

bonus nuance: the boss fight scales to how many ftp recruits you already have. if you got all of them before Riku you are SUPERRRR boned

speedrunners having to weigh easy boss fight (requires skipping all ftp recruits) vs at least a few of the ftp cast MUST be well desired units... aerith is obviously best healer but I bet kairi has an exploit that makes her one shot enemies SOOO easy

the speedrunners puzzle: recruit kairi for exploit (makes later bosses a breeze) and deal with slower riku fight or forgo kairi and cheese riku to death

no kairi exploit % makes serious considerations to cheesing riku fight for speed (recruiting him is slow because map-dialogue is unskippable)

recruiting only aerith before fighting Riku is actually the fastest way to defeat but not recruit him. (after three lightning casts targeted at riku, aerith blasts you with holy IV and absconds) HOWEVER. it does mean you permanently lose ALL ftp recruits - even if they werent recruited yet

aerith in your party otherwise forces you to recruit riku - regardless of how many ftp recruits you otherwise have - because she just heals him every turn while forcing you to talk this conflict out. you can either recruit riku or force her to abscond.

if there are OTHER ftp units then they stay behind to kick your ass after you force aerith to abscond with Riku. good luck :)

first lightning cast: aerith teleports immediately to riku's side

second lightning cast: she casts stop, wasting your turn. she insists that you can work this out without fighting, and warns against casting lightning again

third lightning cast: holy iv and abscond

if you cast lightning on anyone who isnt riku once aerith is defending him it doesnt tick towards the abscond counter but it DOES waste your turn because she casts stop and tells you not to do that

other notes: if you dont cast lightning on riku, your ftp recruits will not immediately flock to his side. they will remain where they are, engaged with other enemies, but will shout at you that 1) you dont need to fight him 2) if you can get one of them close, they can recruit him

also if you have only recruited namine before the riku fight, and cast lightning on riku, it just returns the fight to normal difficulty, if a little longer, because namine doesnt fight you but does protect riku against further lightning damage. and heal him occasionally.

she will also try to negotiate a riku recruit, but will not force it like aerith does (who puts you in a stalemate by refusing to let any ftp recruit take damage) - at three deliberate lightning casts at riku, namine stops negotiating. your only choice is to finish the fight.

in general recruiting Riku is slow because the entire ftpcast has dialogue and they all have something to say, which is so slow to sit thru, which is why you may be tempted to cheese the Riku fight. Unfortunately, His Friends Will Kill You, Instead

((addition for posting: i think it'd be funny if the game was bugged and like, it's not meant to play dialogue for every ftp unit on the map, it's supposed to pick max 5 with an internal priority calculation, or maybe the first 5 you recruited but aerith has priority, but um. it's bugged. it will play dialogue for every ftp unit you have in your party. there are 12 ftp units + riku. each has around 3 textboxes on the riku map. oops!))

the autistic urge to rank the fastest methods to complete this map but i think my autism requires me to start determining actual concrete numbers for how many dialogue boxes there are / how many turns you can do it in / etc . so that i can be. Accurate.

---

spreadsheet:

however for now here is the gdoc i made that's got it part way thru filled out

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12rvjLxpGI1wfbeaPeW8RDyuslDvzu_5MR3x0YdgYMmA/edit?usp=sharing

here's some of the data from it, and then even more below that, more musings about the other characters who didn't go on the spreadsheet,,,,

thsi tumblr post has been up in my tabs for weeks as i slowly filled it out.... once again posessed

(watching blaze union gameplay might have helped)

---

spreadsheet data:

UNIT QUIRKS:

kairi has some kind of exploit that makes her super desirable for speedruns

aerith is the best healer, and recruits early, though you can recruit her Whenever, so long as you haven't locked yourself out of ftp recruits post riku map

roxas requires some dumb shit to recruit before riku map, like "do this on this map, then that on that map, and THEN you can recruit him on THIS map", and is a really strong desirable unit

tho i also think roxas can probably be recruited Whenever, so maybe it's less on the fight maps and more on like whatever you are doing in town between fights...??? idk maybe he's just easier to recruit post riku map, it's just  getting him before that's a pain

riku isn't even like a super desierable unit but the riku map is mandatory and you have to recruit him if you want to keep aerith (best healer) or kairi (insane exploit)

i think most speedrunners probably pick up kairi but skip aerith, since that is the fastest (presuming, of course, none of the other ftp units are desireable)

and while aerith has the fastest recruit, ON the map, she has a long unskippable cutscene AFTER the map. cutscene is aerith exclusive, so recruiting just kairi is faster,

idk about any other units tbqh

---

RIKU MAP INFO/NUMBERS:

this map is mandatory and must be completed,

but also, it is full of text boxes, which makes it tedius especially for speedrunners. it is also bugged, meaning that all text boxes will play for all characters, even when that number gets absurd (if all ftp cast members are on this map, you can have up to 72 extra text boxes, i believe,)

BASELINE NUMBERS (MINIMUM POSSIBLE)

RECRUIT: 5 TURNS, 4 TEXT BOXES

(RECRUITING TAKES 4 TEXT BOXES, AND CAN BE DONE IN 5 TURNS MIN)

DEFEAT: 10 TURNS, 3 TEXT BOXES

(DEFEAT TAKES 3 TEXT BOXES, AND CAN BE DONE IN 10 TURNS MIN)

CHEESE: 3 TURNS, 2 TEXT BOXES

(CHEESE ONLY HAS 2 TEXT BOXES, AND CAN BE DONE IN 3 TURNS)

these are the numbers before you add any text boxes incurred by having more ftpcast members on your map

NO OTHER FTP UNITS

RECRUIT: Recruiting Riku with no other FTP units = he's more suspicious, and harder to convince. when you can have another FTP unit talk to him, it greatly reduces the time spent convincing him

8 turns, 7 extra textboxes, does not lockout

(recruit will never lock you out from recruiting other ftp units; defeat or cheese might prevent you from recruiting other ftp units, though, depending on the circumstances)

DEFEAT: Defeat Riku normally. No FtP units = no extra text

10 turns, 0 extra text boxes, lockout = no

(no one was there to see MC act against him, so no one is suspicious of MC - except Riku, who can nontheless still be recruited later if you defeat him... you just have to have some of his friends/family with you to convince him)

CHEESE: By spamming lightning spells on Riku, you can kill him in three turns. He's weak to lightning, and it stunlocks him, so it's basically free. ...if Riku is the only ftpverse unit on the map, anyway.

3 turns, 0 extra textboxes, lockout = yes

(Riku tells everyone else that you were mean to him and that he doesn't want to even RISK being around you)

(...Roxas doesn't communicate with the rest of the FtPcast, though, so in most cases you can still recruit him even if you can't recruit the others.)

-

ROXAS IS ONLY FTP UNIT

RECRUIT: Roxas has one line pointing out Riku on the map, and that's all

5 turns, 1 extra textbox, lockout = no

(yes, Roxas counts as someone who can tell Riku to join MC, and someone who Riku trusts to listen, cutting down recruit time)

DEFEAT: Roxas yells at you for killing Riku, becomes the map's boss. He's a higher level than the final boss. Good Luck.

??? turns, 4 extra text boxes, lockout = no

(Roxas does not communicate with the rest of the cast - which means that they will not hear what happened here. You do lose both Roxas and Riku forever, though.)

CHEESE: Roxas yells at you for killing Riku, becomes the map's boss. He's a higher level than the final boss. Good Luck.

??? turns, 4 extra text boxes, lockout = no

(You do still lose Riku and Roxas forever, though, and FtP units are sometimes harder to recruit because of this)

Roxas% definitely exists. Game continues as usual if you win.

--

AERITH IS ONLY FTP UNIT

RECRUIT: Fastest map BUT. Long, Unskippable cutscene convincing Aerith to stay after. Quicker if more FTP units recruited.

3 turns, 5 extra text boxes, lockout = no

(Aerith gets x2 movement speed buff on this map, which lets her reach Riku faster than other units)

+Aerith's Unskippable cutscene

DEFEAT: N/A. Aerith forces recruit by preventing you from killing Riku until you talk this out. Endless stalemate until you recruit. (She can heal him and herself indefinitely, after all.)*

CHEESE: 3 direct lightning casts on Riku forces Aerith to abscond with him after casting Holy IV.

1st cast: teleports to Riku, casts stop, wasting 2nd turn

2nd cast: casts stop, wasting 4th turn

3rd cast: casts Holy IV; massive damage and stuns, letting her abscond on turn 6

Lightning not focused on Riku: casts stops and warns you, doesn't uptick abscond counter

Non lightning cast: plays regular "let's just talk this out" dialogue after 1st cast

Any lightning cast before recruit: adds 3 textboxes in that unskippable cutscene

6 turns, 7 extra text boxes, lockout = yes

(Aerith tells everyone else that the MC is Bad News.)

-

*.... okay, you know what. i suppose it might be possible to attack Riku, and in very specific circumstances, crit Aerith to kill her in one shot, but also, if any character was going to have Once More / Second Chance, um, it would be her, wouldn't it? And she almost definitely has an AOE heal, so it's not like you can make her prioritize Riku and leave herself open to attack, so, nevermind, yeah, she forces a stalemate unless you cast lightning at Riku directly

"And she won't run out of mana?" she might, but let's be real, 1) if she doesn't, no wonder she's a damn desireable healing unit 2) it probably is possible but takes like 100 turns and no one wants to sit there that long! she definitely runs out of things to say (she'll start repeating herself) long before she runs out of mana, that's for sure

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ANY OTHER FTP RECRUIT

(being Not Aerith is especially important, and Roxas plays by his own rules)

RECRUIT: Any FTP unit will add +2 textboxes to the map, but not any unskippable cutscene (so long as no aerith)

5 turns, 2 extra text boxes, lockout = no

DEFEAT: Any FtP unit complains if you don't stop attacking Riku; all leave your party when the map ends

10 turns, 5 extra text boxes, lockout = yes

CHEESE: Any FtP unit flocks to Riku's side asap and becomes the map boss instead of/as well as him

?? turns, 6 extra text boxes, lockout = yes

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NAMINE IS ONLY FTP UNIT

RECRUIT: Namine gets extra text upon recruiting Riku when it's just her and Riku.

5 turns, 4 extra text boxes, lockout = no

DEFEAT: Namine will leave your party and tell everyone else you suck.

10 turns, 5 extra text boxes, lockout = yes

CHEESE: Namine is the only character who does not become a boss fight instead of Riku. Rather, Namine simply lets Riku continue to be the boss of the map.

Namine functions as protection for Riku, making him immune to lightning/cheese. Boss fight continues as normal + a health regen, which makes it a bit more difficult.

1) she will attempt to negotiate until a third lightning bolt is cast @ riku. this adds text for every lightning not cast.

2) at third lightning bolt she is silent, so is Riku

3) you can still swap from cheese to recruit before lightning cast #3, it just takes Riku's 7 + an extra 3 textboxes convincing them (this is true of all character combos)

14 turns, 7 extra text boxes, lockout = yes

--

AERITH + 1 OTHER (2 UNITS TOTAL)

RECRUIT: Aerith's x2 movement speed means the recruit can be this fast, but the textboxes… Any FTP recruit will add +2 textboxes; + Aerith's unskippable cutscene. 

3 turns, 7 extra textboxes, lockout = no

DEFEAT: N/A. Aerith forces recruit by preventing you from killing Riku until you talk this out, + other unit(s) chiming in

CHEESE: Aerith still absconds at turn 6, leaving behind all other FtP units to fight you.

?? turns, 13 extra text boxes, lockout = yes

--

AERITH + NAMINE (2 UNITS TOTAL)

same as above, except for

CHEESE: Namine will abscond with Riku and Aerith.

6 turns, 13 extra text boxes, lockout = yes

--

ALL FTP UNITS (12 UNITS TOTAL)

(12 units is the "max" because there are 13 ftp units, and Riku is one of them, and he's currently a boss on this map, so, you can come in with 12 in your party, in theory**)

(**i don't actually know how many units having on the map is traditional/acceptable for these games. i feel like the fire emblem games i've watched at least allow 10)

("which 13 characters?" it doesn't matter. it's just 13 because, like, duh,)

(it's also probably either annoying or not actually possible to get all other ftp units before riku. but you know. HYPOTHETICALLY.)

RECRUIT: 3 turns, at least 27 extra text boxes.

This is frankly absurd. Game might cap at only 5 units being allowed to talk per turn. BUT. imagine if it was bugged. and all text played on this map and this map only. it'd be so funny.

+Aerith's unskippable cutscene.

DEFEAT: N/A, Aerith forces recruit. So those +27 extra bits of dialogue on top of whatever extra stall dialogue you get from Aerith or the rest of the cast to try and convince you into recruiting Riku.

+Aerith's unskippable cutscene.

CHEESE: Aerith (and Namine) abscond on turn 6. The remaining units fight you. If you have recruited Roxas, consider yourself boned!

?? turns, 73 extra text boxes.

enjoy your super super super boss, i guess

--

ALL FTP UNITS BUT AERITH (11 TOTAL)

RECRUIT: 5 turns, 22 extra text boxes. lockout = no

There is NO way it is optimal to get Riku last, due to. The.

but at least if you get him before Aerith, you don't get her long unskippable cutscene... you just get 22 extra unskippable map text boxes instead.... lol...

DEFEAT: 10 turns, 55 extra text boxes, lockout = yes because all units walk out at the end of the map

Defeating him normal is not incentivized... but you can do it...

CHEESE: ?? turns, 66 extra textboxes, lockout = yes

Neither is cheesing him, for the textboxes alone, nevermind the Really Hard Boss Fight. If Aerith isn't there, Riku stays.

Namine will prevent lightning damage to Riku, so he is up and and pissed for the rest of the fight.

--

ANY UNITS, -AERITH, - NAMI

CHEESE: Only Namine and Aerith can prevent Lightning damage*, so if neither are there, Riku is on the ground for most of the fight. There is probably a turning point where - presuming you aren't continuously hitting him with lightning, you bastard - he will get back up on his feet and join the fight, Super Pissed. But it's probably the halfway point, or after X number of turns (10? 15?) since he was last hit with lightning, or if you managed to down Y number of his friends.

If it's Roxas, let's say Riku will get up when Roxas hits half-HP, unless you have already killed him / are constantly disabling him with lightning. lol.

--

Other musings / more unit quirks

*Leon can also probably prevent lightning damage to Riku without wasting his own turn.

*Sora also can, but it wastes his turn, ditto for Kairi.

Aerith is focused more on getting out than keeping Riku safe, but she can shield + attack + heal in the same turn if she is in "boss" mode.

Namine can shield + heal on the same turn in "boss" mode.

-

3 casts of lightning targeted at Riku = officially on "CHEESE" route, regardless of whether or not he takes damage from the lightning.

-

if any ftp unit has been equipped with an item that negates or reduces lightning damage, they will pass it off to Riku the moment he gets hit with lightning - WHETHER YOU CASTED IT, OR YOU RECRUITED HIM AND AN ENEMY HIT HIM

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SORA

Sora will teleport to Riku and reactively casts a shield to prevent Riku getting hit with lightning again. he has dialogue about this, and it wastes his turn

Sora, like Aerith, will attempt to force recruit. Sora, unlike Aerith, does not have the raw power to actually do so. Instead all Sora has is a lot of text trying to convince you to stop attacking Riku, and if you won't, about how he thought you were cool but apparently not. Sora solo = Sora joining the fight against Riku on the side of Riku, and he will fight you alongside Riku.

Sora is out of you control the moment you cast lightning on Riku, and you will lose control of Sora the moment you have attacked Riku three times (he is not the actual objective of the map, but he does appear as an enemy unit you have to recruit)

lightning = Sora teleports directly to Riku

attack = after 3(-5?) attacks, Sora goes "hey, what the hell" and starts attacking your units to get closer to Riku.

after reaching Riku, Sora will attempt to flee the map with him on foot, presuming his turns aren't being wasted by deflecting lightning.

if you continually spam lightning on Riku, Sora will block it, and Riku can attack (though he needs a turn or two to recover after being hit with lightning) but neither will flee in this scenario, because their movement is being eaten. sadly whittling away their hp while Sora does nothing but protect Riku... and can't even heal him.... Sora does not significantly impact the Riku fight, like Namine does (by making it a little harder since she gives Riku a regen), because unlike Namine, Sora's turns are wasted by shielding Riku - he can either shield or he can heal, he can't do both.

Sora's dialogue goes "hey that's riku" -> "you don't have to fight him" -> "just get me close, and i'll talk to him," hinting at how to recruit, but if you keep attacking past that point (maybe two more text boxes/turns, featuring "hey, would you quit that? i'm trying to reach him" followed by "i'm serious, attack him again and we're thru" - if you crit on riku and bring him below 10% hp, Sora jumps immediately to "attack him again and we're thru")

anyway what I'm envisioning here is a special bonus trait that Sora and Aerith have. Aerith's recruit Riku can be done in the least turns, at 3, but if you cast lightning on Riku (CHEESE route) -> Aerith/Sora teleporting to Riku, you can back out into RECRUIT because they - and only they - will go "hey, this was a mistake, right? you want to recruit him, right?" and give you a prompt to hit yes to recruit on turn two, which hilariously makes the fastest way to recruit him to hit him with lightning. whoops.

(hitting him with lighting does incur more text boxes than normal recruit, though, so while it has the lowest number of turns, it might not actually be the fastest)

even if you say "no", you can still recruit Riku, it's just slower,

bonus map quirk: i think it's fun if Riku is still targetable after you say you'll recruit him. you have to complete the map without attacking him again.

this is in place mostly so you don't clip him with AOE lightning spells, because if you do you get yelled at

which might be the only way you can hit Riku with lightning without getting the superboss... recruit -> 3 lightning aoes clip riku -> all ftp units just leave the map because you aren't being careful with Riku, but it might not have been intentional, so they aren't going to turn into a superboss about it

except Roxas. Roxas will still turn into a superboss about it. he thinks it's funny and SOMEONE has to take offense / revenge

it'd be cute if Kano also stayed with Roxas for this reason, i think. guy who wants to avvenge Riku's honor.

-

OTHERS,

Kairi = unit who will also join the fight against Riku on the side of Riku,

as well as like, Kano, Leon, and Yuffie. Namine suggests talking it out, but does not attack, rather prioritizes healing Riku (her heals can be outdammaged, unlike Aerith's)

if Joseph is a unit, then ne tries to talk it out with you about recruiting Riku, but 1) is more likely to just grab Riku and free teleport out asap, locking you out from all FtP units, ((perhaps even including Roxas, who communicates with Joseph, if no one else, which would be a fun little quirk)) 2) otherwise more likely to stand there and not attack anyone while talking a bunch.

but I think if Joseph's unit quirk is that ne can flee from any battle no matter what, and ne uses it to get Riku out when things start looking bad on this map, thats' fun+unique.

um i don't have the rest of the units solidified here but they all probably fall in the "will get mad and start attacking you for attacking Riku after X number of turns, or at Riku's 10% HP gate, or at 3 turns if you use all 3 turns to cast lightning at Riku"

also i think they probably have a "normal unit but attacking you to defend riku/leave the map" state and a "boss" state, the "boss" state which is triggered when you try to "CHEESE" Riku by 3 lightning bolts targeted directly at him. "boss" state affects their AI and possibly their stats + abilities. Namine can heal+shield in one turn if she's in "boss" state when she can only do one of those actions in "normal" state.

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RE: ATTEMPTING TO DEFEAT RIKU

I think units can be broken down into who is going to try and FLEE and who is going to try an FIGHT , as well as who is likely to force RECRUIT,

like,

to make it clear i mean flee as in will start moving with Riku towards the map edge. you can let them flee, which might allow you to recruit or re-recruit later, but it's by no means faster

RECRUIT: Aerith (forces), Sora (attempts before fighting at 50% hp threshold) and Joseph (attempts before fleeing at 50% hp threshold)

FIGHT: Namine (prioritizes staying with Riku, no matter what), Kairi (stands ground with Riku after X attacks, or after Riku dips below 50% hp), Kano (stands ground with Riku at 50% HP, but swaps to flee at 10%), Roxas (fights you when Riku hits 0% HP), Leon (will stand ground and cover for Riku to leave at 10% HP threshold, replacing Riku as the boss)

FLEE: Vexen (least talkative, but will slam an ice move that gives him a turn's worth of lead when Riku hits 10% HP - if Riku hits 0% HP, he does the same, but throws Riku over his shoulder to escape), and then Kano is technically under fight but he will flee with Riku at 10% HP threshold, Yuffie (only unit who can convince Riku to flee at 70% HP, and will immediately move to flee at 2 lightning casts - she can move herself and Riku and attack on the same turn, as well,)

and then. idk what other units there are. Cid might be a noncombatant, but I think he's flee if he is a unit, and Alpha would be flee, and Amaryllis would be fight, and if we let 7 have a slot, I think he picks flee like Vexen but he can heal and run so 7 actually can force flee, because you can't stop them by defeating before they leave the map

Aqua is "fight" and Ven is "flee" and Mickey is probably "recruit" in that he tries to force it but I don't know if he fights or flees .... then again the poetic symmetry, unlikely foil, of Mickey sharing Kano's fight until Riku hits 10% HP at which point he flees is fun. Mickey and Yuffie get x2 speed on flee actions, also, (Joseph has an instant flee which is unique to nim)

i think i've skidded past 13 units btw lol

riku

kairi

sora

kano

namine

joseph

roxas

aerith

leon

yuffie

cid

mickey

vexen

i think those guys would be my major picks.... sorry to aqua and ven and also to the lesser rebellion members... 7 is a vexen clone (lol) and Alpha and Amaryllis don't have much to bring to the board, and like, Aqua and Ven are not super specific to ftpverse the way the hb gang is, you know?? YOU KNOW???

and of cource certain units will swap their default action if you go from "DEFEAT" to "CHEESE", usually at that third lightning cast

Aerith will swap to flee, Joseph insta-flees, Kano and Yuffie start at flee, and Leon will make cover so Riku can leave instantly, and Vexen probably picks up an unresponsive Riku and runs...

Mickey I think is the only one who would swap from flee to fight, because this is direct action taken specifically to harm someone and he draws the line there so he is standing his ground, even if it would be smarter to get Riku out of there faster....

and of course there are character combos on top of that. Sora and Kairi = Sora using his turn to protect Riku while Kairi fights. But Sora and Yuffie means that Sora will stay and fight while Yuffie gets Riku away. Yuffie doesn't have to flee with Riku if Leon is there, since Leon gives Riku a "get off map for free" card, and Yuffie and Leon don't even have to sweat that if Joseph or Aerith is there, because both of those will instantly get Riku off the map (Joseph does it at turn 3, but Aerith - still trying to negotiate - will wait until turn 6,)

and honestly if Roxas is there I think Sora+Mickey will swap to flee, but Kairi wouldn't, and maybe Cid is fight, and,

it's possible that if joseph is there then aerith doesn't flee, (though aerith being there makes joseph wait until turn 6,) but also that would make the fight unwinnable since aerith is set to boss state, but like, lol, lmao, giving you a literally unwinnable fight is fun. you might instead be forced to flee on that map, yourself.

(if you flee then you can retry the map and riku isn't there but also all of your ftp units are forfeit, the map is easy to complete but it's eerie and wrong)

(except if you had recruited roxas, then roxas is still there. this fight becomes more fair because he's solo, but um, it is the roxas superboss, permanently blocking your story progression. you didn't, uh, save after fleeing, did you?)

anyway fleeing with riku priority is like aerith -> joseph -> yuffie -> vexen -> kano -> sora*

*sora only flees if the above characters are missing AND he has roxas or mickey to cover him.

vexen does his ice attack no matter what (freezes your units for a turn) to give whoever is fleeing with riku cover. i think more specific arrangements might actually put yuffie and vexen at roughly the same flee priority - yuffie is faster at getting riku to safety, but vexen wants to be there less

god i have to cut myself off here for sure

but at some point i will update the spreadsheet with these new thoughts now that i have them more concretely. lol.

some thoughts i cut / may have forgotten

1) technically joseph is the "fastest" cheese re: turn order (minus no other units besides riku) because he absconds with riku on turn 3, but because joseph has like twice as many text boxes as everyone else, and map dialogue is unskippable, well, joseph is not the fastest by far

2) i think for gameplay purposes it makes no sense that you could just walk past riku, but the concept of this being an option is mildly fun. aerith doesn't let you do this, namine does and also leaves your party when the map ends. sora+kairi+joseph will let you walk past riku but afterwards will go "hey we aren't doing that???" and will recruit riku for you off screen

2b) you'd THINK this would be faster, but it's not, because in my ideal world, it takes 8 turns minimum to complete the non-riku-related map objective, and every turn without recruiting riku adds dialogue in which the ftpcast points him out to you, and i think it would be funny if like, if speedrunners could figure out how to finish the map on turn 6, it would almost be worth it to walk past riku, because the "hey that's our friend riku" dialogue is shorter than any post-recruit reunion dialogue with riku, and if the map ends on turn 6, then who cares anyway. but no. turn 8, maybe they JUST got it down to turn 7, but turn 6 seems impossible.... for now.......

but i think the ability to just walk past riku is ultimately less fun. i think this whole exercise is more interesting if you are forced to either recruit him or defeat him. and then of course you can also "cheese" him which actually turns your units immediately against you in a superboss scenario.

3) maybe fleshing out what hte units would do when you try and defeat riku is also a bit detracting from the point of the exercise, but let's be real here, sora is not going to stand there and let you beat riku to death, he's going to step in and say something, the same way aerith does... etc, etc, etc,

4) in general it's best to think of them having an "enemy" state and a "boss" or "desperation" state, and boss/desperation is hit usually at the 10% HP threshold for riku, but will also be hit if you keep targeting him with lightning attacks, lol