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====== Key Items ======

The seventeen key items of Free Enterprise are:

^ Key Item ^ Use ^
| Package | Bring to village Mist to burn it down, then visit the Kaipo Inn to face a boss and earn a character. |
| SandRuby | Bring to the Kaipo hospital to cure the desert fever and earn a character. |
| Legend Sword | Bring to Kokkol the Smith along with the Adamant to receive Excalibur. |
| Baron Key | Unlocks the sewer entrance and the weapon/armor shop in Baron Town. |
| TwinHarp | Breaks the Dark Elf's magnetic spell in Cave Magnes, allowing him to be defeated. |
| Earth Crystal | Trades for the hostages in the Tower of Zot. Also grants access to the Toroia Castle treasury. |
| Magma Key | Drop into the well in Agart to open the entrance to the underworld. |
| Tower Key | Unlocks the Super Cannon room inside lower Bab-il. After defeating the boss inside, walk out of the tower to trigger a cutscene and earn a reward. |
| Hook | Allows the airship to pick up the hovercraft, granting access to the Adamant Grotto and Cave Eblan. |
| Luca Key | Unlocks the Sealed Cave. |
| Darkness Crystal | Bring to Mysidia to raise the Big Whale. |
| Rat Tail | Bring to the Adamant Grotto to trade for a quest reward. |
| Pink Tail | Bring to the Adamant Grotto to trade for Adamant Armor. |
| Pan | Use to wake up Yang in the Sylph Cave. |
| Spoon | Dart with Edge to deal massive damage. (Can also be used as an offensive weapon for Edward if ''-spoon'' is enabled.) |
| Adamant | Bring to Kokkol the Smith along with the Legend Sword to receive Excalibur. |
| Crystal | Transforms Zeromus to his final form, allowing him to be defeated. |

Shuffling the locations of these items is the core gameplay element of the Free Enterprise randomizer, sending players to explore different paths each time the game is played.  The various ''K'' flags control where key items can be found.

Each key item appears at most once. Every key item is guaranteed to appear, except in cases where there are not enough potential positions to fit them all, which will cause either Spoon or Pink Tail to be omitted.

Even if the Pass is included in the key item distribution using ''Pkey'', the Pass itself does not count as a key item. (See [[Pass settings]].)

===== Key items in main quests =====

''Kmain'' is the core key item randomization flag, and is required when playing with randomized key items. When enabled, this flag allows key items to potentially by won by:

  * Receiving the starting item during the opening Baron Castle cutscene
  * Completing the Antlion's Nest
  * Defending Fabul
  * Entering the mirror room atop Mt. Ordeals
  * Defeating the Baron Inn bosses
  * Liberating Baron Castle
  * Speaking to Edward in Toroia Castle* (see: [[#Free key item]])
  * Completing Cave Magnes
  * Completing the Tower of Zot
  * Defeating the boss of lower Bab-il
  * Destroying the Super Cannon (reward is delivered when leaving the tower afterward)
  * Defeating the Dwarf Castle bosses
  * Completing the Sealed Cave
  * In the "Rat Tail chest" in the Town of Summons
  * Speaking to Yang's wife after finding Yang in the Sylph Cave
  * Returning the Pan to Yang's wife after using it to wake him up
  * Trading the Rat Tail in the Adamant Grotto

===== Free key item =====

Normally, visiting sick Edward in Toroia Castle grants you a free key item (where the TwinHarp is awarded in vanilla FF4). The ''Knofree'' flag moves this key item from Edward to Rydia's mother in Mist Village, who does not appear until D. Mist has been defeated.  (Note that this refers to the D. Mist boss, not the boss found in the Mist Cave.)

In either case, this is considered an ungated check for item's [[treasure_probability_curves#misc_quests | reward tier ]].



===== Key items in summon quests =====

Adding the ''Ksummon'' flag allows key items to also potentially be won:

  * From the Sylphs when waking Yang in the Sylph Cave
  * By defeating the queen of the Town of Monsters
  * By defeating the king of the Town of Monsters
  * By defeating the ghost on the throne under Baron Castle
  * By completing Cave Bahamut

(These locations correspond to the vanilla locations where Rydia learns Sylph, Asura, Leviatan, Odin, and Bahamut respectively.)

===== Key items in moon bosses =====

Setting ''Kmoon'' allows key items to potentially appear as rewards for defeating the sub-bosses in the Lunar Subterrane. (These locations correspond to the vanilla locations of the Murasame, Crystal Sword, White Spear, two Ribbons, and Masamune.)
===== Key items in trapped chests =====

Setting ''Ktrap'' allows key items to potentially appear as rewards from trapped treasure chests (ie. those containing monsters). For a list of trapped chests and details about their randomization, see [[Treasure randomization]].

The 9 trapped chests inside the Lunar Subterrane will be excluded from the key item pool unless ''Kmoon'' or ''Kunsafe'' is also enabled.((Note that the Procyote/Juclyote "Hair Dryers" chest is not a Lunar Subterrane chest))
===== Key item distribution =====

The randomizer applies some fuzzy logic in order to help spread the key items more evenly around the world. The algorithm is roughly as follows:

  * Start with the pool of main quest key item positions.
  * If ''Ksummon'' and/or ''Kmoon'' are set,
    * Randomly select half the slots made available by ''Ksummon'' and/or ''Kmoon'', rounded up, and add them to the pool.
    * Generate a random number N from 0...1.
    * Determine the greatest integer K, where N < 1/(2^K).
    * Add K more of the available summon/moon slots to the pool.
    * Reserve the remaining unselected summon/moon slots.
  * If ''Ktrap'' is set,
    * For each dungeon containing trapped chests,
      * Generate a random number N from 0...1.
      * Determine the greatest integer K, where N < 1/(2^K).
      * Select (K + 2) random trapped chests in the dungeon and add them to the pool (or all of them, if there are fewer than K + 2).
      * Reserve the remaining unused trapped chests.
  * Randomly assign key items among the slots in the pool.
  * The remaining unassigned slots in the pool, as well as the reserved slots from the summon/moon/trap steps, will receive non-key-item rewards.

Free Enterprise uses a random fill algorithm, verifying that each randomization is valid, and retrying if that test fails.

==== Hook seed protection ====

From observation, with a straightforward randomization approach, about 75% of seeds end up being "Hook seeds", i.e., seeds where the Magma Key is not readily available and the Hook is required to access the underworld, a much more difficult route with two challenging boss battles.

To ease the difficulty for newer players, when generating a seed without any of the extended key item position flags (summon, moon, and traps), the randomizer has a 50/50 chance of forcing a Magma Key underworld route to be available. This will be the 'logical' route, guaranteed to abide by any safety checks.
===== Safety checks =====

To help ensure a reasonable progression through the game, the randomizer guarantees there will be a path to the underworld that does not require any checks gated by the Darkness Crystal. This check can be disabled using ''Kunsafe''.

===== Forcing underground routes =====
The ''Kforce:magma'' flag guarantees a logical route to the underworld using the Magma Key without having to launch the Falcon via the Hook route. The Hook may still be available, but the Magma Key will be guaranteed to abide by any safety checks.

**NOTE:** Even with this flag, it is still possible for the Magma Key to require the Hook:
  * The Magma Key can be gated by the Rat Tail turn-in.
  * With the ''Ktrap'' flag enabled, it is possible for the Magma Key to be gated by the trapped chest in Cave Eblana (2 Stalemen) or the trapped chest in Upper Bab-il (4 Mad Ogres).
  * With the ''Knofree'' flag enabled, it is possible for the Magma Key to be gated by D.Mist at either of the Upper Bab-il (Hook route) boss locations.

The ''Kforce:hook'' flag  guarantees that the Hook route is the only way to reach the underworld.

===== Non-key-item rewards =====

Potential key item locations that are not assigned a key item instead deliver an alternate reward, dependent on treasure flag settings. (Also see [[Treasure randomization]].)

Under ''Tvanilla'', a pool is created containing the vanilla rewards from all enabled extended key item locations, (eg. if ''Kmoon'' is set, add Murasame, Crystal Sword, White Spear, two Ribbons, and Masamune), and randomly assigns the non-key-item rewards from this pool.

Under ''Tshuffle'', a pool is created containing the vanilla rewards from all potential extended key item locations (all vanilla moon, summon, and trapped chest rewards, regardless of K flags), and randomly assigns the non-key-item rewards from this pool.

Under ''Tstandard'' or ''Twild'':
  * Unused trapped chests receive a random item from tier 5-8. (See [[Item stats tables]].)
  * All other unused potential key item locations receive a random item from tier 6-8.

Under ''Tpro'' and ''Twildish'', non-key-item rewards are assigned based on their corresponding [[Treasure probability curves]].

Non-key-item rewards under ''Tempty'' are treated the same as under ''Tpro''.
===== Vanilla key items =====

If not playing with randomized key items, the key items can be found in their vanilla locations, with some exceptions:
  * Defending Fabul awards the Black Sword.
  * Liberating Baron Castle has no reward.
    * If combining ''Kvanilla'' with ''Pkey'', liberating Baron Castle awards the Pass. 
  * The Legend Sword is awarded atop Mt. Ordeals; it does not come with Paladin Cecil.
  * The Hook is earned by the destroying the Super Cannon, and is awarded during the cutscene when trying to leave the tower afterward.
  * If playing with ''Knofree'', the TwinHarp is awarded by Rydia's mom.
  * The Pink Tail is not available. (PinkPuffs directly drop Adamant Armors instead of Pink Tails in Free Enterprise.)
  * The Crystal, as in vanilla, is awarded in the cutscene directly before fighting Zeromus.
    * The Crystal is not awarded here if playing with [[objectives]] that award the Crystal.
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