Alundra Speed Run Discussion.

Edit history:

Psychochild: 2005-09-17 06:08:12 am

2005-09-16 10:44:35 pm

I'm sitting here, just kind of killing time while waiting for the prolonged first dream sequence with Lars and Melzas to finish (It won't let you put any input in whatsoever, and it's painfully long), so I'm making this thread, mostly as a note to myself, possibly to let others contribute, whatever.

The first segment is... still undecided. I want to practice it a bit more, to the point where I can complete the Coal Mine and such, but at the same time, I don't want to have to go out of my way in order to reach save points, y'know? I'll probably end it after Olen's dream upon getting the mining bomb, a fe practice runs have gotten me 28:34, but again, that's with unoptimized dashing and getting turned around a bit in Wendall's Nightmare, but eh....

Still practicing and taking notes, of course. Some miscellaneous notes, Radix should appreciate that the game features an accurate timer, and only the last segment would actually have to be timed...

Thread title:

scaryice

2005-09-17 06:42:23 am

It's been a while since I played this game. How long is the whole thing? Is there any way to save a lot of time?

Psychochild

2005-09-18 03:21:11 am

I'm playing through it again as fast as I can to gauge the game, but it looks like there's just not too many places to cut corners, and the game's speed will rely more on the overall execution of the dungeons/dreams, rather than optimizing routes and such since the game is so linear. It really is. There's so many times you have to hit all the speech/action triggers to proceed. I can skip the Fairy Pond where you get the Fiend Sword without consequence, never set foot in Merrick's shop or the casino, don't bother getting Nava's Charm, optional life vessels and chests scattered throughout the game, and of course, the Gilded Falcons. The portals, since I won't really be going back and forth through the overworld become fairly useless. I will probably skip all but two magic seeds (And get some magic elixirs for two very obnoxious boss fights that can be DEVESTATED with magic), and all of the armors, minus the best one in the game, as it takes no time to get. This is all courtesy of Daniel Garcia's reply to my query (He did the very helpful but still incomplete guide to Alundra on Gamefaqs under the moniker "Phantom Pain."

http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/psx/game/196598.html

BUT, I think that once I hit the half-way point, I'll be able to blaze through the game since I'd have gotten the Legendary Sword from the King Snow statue (I would have to kill myself 16 times to do that. Fortunately, a single bomb blast can take significant health from Alundra!).

Unfortunately, the first segment I don't actually get to do all that much in terms of actual playing. There's a 5-6 minute story sequence at the beginning that you can't speed through (But every other conversation in the game you can, apparently), then there's some story development, finally Tarn's Manor, then Wendall's dream, then the end of the segment. Future segments shouldn't HARDLY be this bad in terms of just watching the game play itself, but it doesn't leave me much time to do... well, MUCH. A perfect execution, I can probably shave two minutes off with optimal dashing and room executions...

I'm playing through it again as fast as I can to gauge the game, but it looks like there's just not too many places to cut corners, and the game's speed will rely more on the overall execution of the dungeons/dreams, rather than optimizing routes and such since the game is so linear.  It really is.  There's so many times you have to hit all the speech/action triggers to proceed.  I can skip the Fairy Pond where you get the Fiend Sword without consequence, never set foot in Merrick's shop or the casino, don't bother getting Nava's Charm, optional life vessels and chests scattered throughout the game, and of course, the Gilded Falcons.  The portals, since I won't really be going back and forth through the overworld become fairly useless.  I will probably skip all but two magic seeds (And get some magic elixirs for two very obnoxious boss fights that can be DEVESTATED with magic), and all of the armors, minus the best one in the game, as it takes no time to get.  This is all courtesy of Daniel Garcia's reply to my query (He did the very helpful but still incomplete guide to Alundra on Gamefaqs under the moniker "Phantom Pain."

http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/psx/game/196598.html

BUT, I think that once I hit the half-way point, I'll be able to blaze through the game since I'd have gotten the Legendary Sword from the King Snow statue (I would have to kill myself 16 times to do that.  Fortunately, a single bomb blast can take significant health from Alundra!).

Unfortunately, the first segment I don't actually get to do all that much in terms of actual playing.  There's a 5-6 minute story sequence at the beginning that you can't speed through (But every other conversation in the game you can, apparently), then there's some story development, finally Tarn's Manor, then Wendall's dream, then the end of the segment.  Future segments shouldn't HARDLY be this bad in terms of just watching the game play itself, but it doesn't leave me much time to do... well, MUCH.  A perfect execution, I can probably shave two minutes off with optimal dashing and room executions...

Purple Lizard

2005-09-20 05:28:52 pm

Yes, I do remember the game being painfully linear...

Is there a specific point that you have to start killing yourself? I'd imagine that the best time to do it is very early in the game, maybe as soon as you get the bombs, when your max health is still reletavely low.

Speaking of which, I wonder if bombs allow you to do damage boosting like in Zelda, and if so, if that would allow you to cut any corners...

Psychochild

Edit history:

Psychochild: 2005-09-20 06:28:49 pm

2005-09-20 06:23:47 pm

Quote:

Yes, I do remember the game being painfully linear...

Is there a specific point that you have to start killing yourself? I'd imagine that the best time to do it is very early in the game, maybe as soon as you get the bombs, when your max health is still reletavely low.

There really is no point in the game where health would be an issue with this. When you save your game, it records everything INCLUDING your health. A quick restart merely just takes you back to your last save. So, if I was to have around five life vessels, I could drop a single bomb, kill myself, quick restart, and I'm back... with five life vessels. So there's really no need to worry about health. But when I'd do it, it'd definately be in a dungeon safe room, since you got the save point, and a health refill tile right there for when you're ready to continue with the game. Running off of the default loading on the PS2, it takes about 18 seconds each time to kill myself this way, but I think it's the fastest way (I need to try under the fast loading option). So, almost five minutes of killing myself... I'll make it its own segment just so that way people don't have to be incredibly bored about it.

Edit: 15 seconds with fast loading on, for a total of four minutes flat.

Quote:

Speaking of which, I wonder if bombs allow you to do damage boosting like in Zelda, and if so, if that would allow you to cut any corners...

Well, unlike Link, Alundra can actually jump, but I did play with the idea. The bombs do way too much damage (Almost 5 Life Vessels a blast!) and they don't push you any farther than if you were stationary, jumped, and held a directional button. I tried timing it so that way I would be walking past it and jump, but that didn't lead to anywhere eventful.

D'oh.

[quote]Yes, I do remember the game being painfully linear...

Is there a specific point that you have to start killing yourself?  I'd imagine that the best time to do it is very early in the game, maybe as soon as you get the bombs, when your max health is still reletavely low.  
[/quote]

There really is no point in the game where health would be an issue with this.  When you save your game, it records everything INCLUDING your health.  A quick restart merely just takes you back to your last save.  So, if I was to have around five life vessels, I could drop a single bomb, kill myself, quick restart, and I'm back... with five life vessels.  So there's really no need to worry about health.  But when I'd do it, it'd definately be in a dungeon safe room, since you got the save point, and a health refill tile right there for when you're ready to continue with the game.  Running off of the default loading on the PS2, it takes about 18 seconds each time to kill myself this way, but I think it's the fastest way (I need to try under the fast loading option).  So, almost five minutes of killing myself... I'll make it its own segment just so that way people don't have to be incredibly bored about it.

Edit: 15 seconds with fast loading on, for a total of four minutes flat.
[quote]
Speaking of which, I wonder if bombs allow you to do damage boosting like in Zelda, and if so, if that would allow you to cut any corners...[/quote]

Well, unlike Link, Alundra can actually jump, but I did play with the idea.  The bombs do way too much damage (Almost 5 Life Vessels a blast!) and they don't push you any farther than if you were stationary, jumped, and held a directional button.  I tried timing it so that way I would be walking past it and jump, but that didn't lead to anywhere eventful.

D'oh.

Purple Lizard

2005-09-20 07:56:25 pm

Would skipping Nava's charm really save that much time? I don't remember it taking that long to get, and I think it saves some times in later boss fights?

... I've really got to find my copy. Theorycraft doesn't work out too well when you haven't played the game in over 4 years...