This is the sequel to Heroes of the Lance. There are some similarities between the games, but DoF is a step up from HotL. It was only released in Japan, but there is a good translation patch (not to be used for speedruns though).
Lately, I've studied the game to better understand the game mechanics and develop a speedrun route. I'm now at a stage, where I'm able to do full-run attempts. Just to demonstrate the route, I've uploaded the first completed run (10:51): https://vimeo.com/455046843. It only took me a few attempts and is admittedly terrible. But it's at least a start. The first part of the game (the overhead sections) is extremely random and I don't think a clean runthrough is even possible outside TAS-conditions. Still, I believe putting in more attempts could produce a considerably faster time. I'm not sure sub-10 will happen, but I hope to at least get somewhat close.
Pretty much everything I know about the game is documented in the knowledge base: https://kb.speeddemosarchive.com/ADnD:_Dragons_of_Flame
Edit (141120): 9:43 today. I'm done with the game. Below are the comments I posted on my twitch channel while doing attempts:
Lately, I've studied the game to better understand the game mechanics and develop a speedrun route. I'm now at a stage, where I'm able to do full-run attempts. Just to demonstrate the route, I've uploaded the first completed run (10:51): https://vimeo.com/455046843. It only took me a few attempts and is admittedly terrible. But it's at least a start. The first part of the game (the overhead sections) is extremely random and I don't think a clean runthrough is even possible outside TAS-conditions. Still, I believe putting in more attempts could produce a considerably faster time. I'm not sure sub-10 will happen, but I hope to at least get somewhat close.
Pretty much everything I know about the game is documented in the knowledge base: https://kb.speeddemosarchive.com/ADnD:_Dragons_of_Flame
Edit (141120): 9:43 today. I'm done with the game. Below are the comments I posted on my twitch channel while doing attempts:
(2020-11-14): 9:43! Good first and second overworld (both far from perfect though). The dungeons could have been slightly faster due to conservative play, but only minor time loss. Overall, I'm happy with this time. I'm done!
(2020-11-10): A lower 9:49 in today's stream. The second overworld level was a few seconds slower due to bad RNG, but that was made up for by the dungeons levels which were done without any significant mistakes.
(2020-11-05): 9:49. Okish first overworld, good second overworld, no major, but a few minor mistakes in the dungeons. It didn't feel like that special of a run, so I'll keep going.
(2020-11-03): 9:52 in today's second stream. Still improveable. I hope I can still cut off a few more seconds, but I'm getting closer. Thanks to a few findings in the forest area of the first level, a few more enemy manipulations have been added, somewhat increasing the success rate of that section.
(2020-11-02): 10 min flat in today's stream. A menu mistake in the dungeons and not great RNG in the overworlds. I will try to drop the time by a few more seconds.
(2020-11-01): 10:16 in today's stream. Not great RNG and a big mistake in the dungeon levels. Also a minor re-routing a few days ago in the dungeons. The new route uses Tanis as well to allow for tanking more hits. It's overall a small time save (~1s?), but doesn't present any particular problem (probably even easier to execute) and therefore makes sense to implement.
(2020-10-25): PB lowered to 10:17 (from 10:47). Good first overworld map, but otherwise lots of mistakes. The goal for now is sub-10. Anything above will most likely look very rough. Later in the stream, I had my best attempt so far, with a pace below 10 after the two overworld levels, which unfortunately ended with the game glitching out (hardware issue).
(2020-10-09): 10:47 in today's stream (terrible) and managed to drop the sum of best a few more seconds.
(2020-09-09): My pb is 10:51 (https://vimeo.com/455046843), which barely qualifies as a speedrun. It's more like a proof-of-concept. A lot of time can come off, but difficult to say exactly how much. Is sub-10 possible? Hopefully, the sum of best will soon start to paint a better picture of what to aim for.
(2020-11-10): A lower 9:49 in today's stream. The second overworld level was a few seconds slower due to bad RNG, but that was made up for by the dungeons levels which were done without any significant mistakes.
(2020-11-05): 9:49. Okish first overworld, good second overworld, no major, but a few minor mistakes in the dungeons. It didn't feel like that special of a run, so I'll keep going.
(2020-11-03): 9:52 in today's second stream. Still improveable. I hope I can still cut off a few more seconds, but I'm getting closer. Thanks to a few findings in the forest area of the first level, a few more enemy manipulations have been added, somewhat increasing the success rate of that section.
(2020-11-02): 10 min flat in today's stream. A menu mistake in the dungeons and not great RNG in the overworlds. I will try to drop the time by a few more seconds.
(2020-11-01): 10:16 in today's stream. Not great RNG and a big mistake in the dungeon levels. Also a minor re-routing a few days ago in the dungeons. The new route uses Tanis as well to allow for tanking more hits. It's overall a small time save (~1s?), but doesn't present any particular problem (probably even easier to execute) and therefore makes sense to implement.
(2020-10-25): PB lowered to 10:17 (from 10:47). Good first overworld map, but otherwise lots of mistakes. The goal for now is sub-10. Anything above will most likely look very rough. Later in the stream, I had my best attempt so far, with a pace below 10 after the two overworld levels, which unfortunately ended with the game glitching out (hardware issue).
(2020-10-09): 10:47 in today's stream (terrible) and managed to drop the sum of best a few more seconds.
(2020-09-09): My pb is 10:51 (https://vimeo.com/455046843), which barely qualifies as a speedrun. It's more like a proof-of-concept. A lot of time can come off, but difficult to say exactly how much. Is sub-10 possible? Hopefully, the sum of best will soon start to paint a better picture of what to aim for.
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