I just forged 2 pairs of Blue Crescent Boots to check this.
Base stats: 4 str 2 dex
Crystals: Intermediate Power, Low Dark Crystal.
Boot 1:
Stim, Power, Dark.
Result: 5 str, 0 dex.
Boot 2:
Stim, Dark, Power.
Result: 7 str, 2 dex.
So boot 1 was obviously negatively affected by the dark crystal (dex ended up 2 below average) despite the stim, while boot 2 did not.
The trick is figuring out whether this is just the dark crystal not doing anything the second time. But it supports your theory. And eliminates the chance that stimulators prevent items from going below average entirely.
It's kinda expensive to test this further (tests generally making useless equips because it's not like I can use a str/dex/luk Lucida) but I'll try to forge a pair with black/amethyst at some point and see if I can get non-average speed. For now this 7 str shoe is ok on my Dragon Knight but I'll probably go for a 5 str 5 speed black one when I get the chance.
Base stats: 4 str 2 dex
Crystals: Intermediate Power, Low Dark Crystal.
Boot 1:
Stim, Power, Dark.
Result: 5 str, 0 dex.
Boot 2:
Stim, Dark, Power.
Result: 7 str, 2 dex.
So boot 1 was obviously negatively affected by the dark crystal (dex ended up 2 below average) despite the stim, while boot 2 did not.
The trick is figuring out whether this is just the dark crystal not doing anything the second time. But it supports your theory. And eliminates the chance that stimulators prevent items from going below average entirely.
It's kinda expensive to test this further (tests generally making useless equips because it's not like I can use a str/dex/luk Lucida) but I'll try to forge a pair with black/amethyst at some point and see if I can get non-average speed. For now this 7 str shoe is ok on my Dragon Knight but I'll probably go for a 5 str 5 speed black one when I get the chance.