Hello everyone. Recently Drakengard 3 (also know as Drag-On Dragoon 3) was released in Japan on the 19th and I've been planning a speedrun of it. For those who don't know, Drakengard is in the same universe as Nier.
Anyway, an explanation of categories I'm planning.
Basically, the game has 4 endings (A, B, C, D), however they are not branched. When you obtain ending A, you are given a new "route" of missions that eventually leads to ending B. Ditto with ending C. Route D, however, requires you to obtain every weapon in the game to unlock. So, in a way, truly "beating the game" requires you to obtain Ending D. However, I would say that reaching the end and beating the game are two different categories. For this reason, I am planning an Ending A run and an Ending D run. Ending A brings you through most of the "settings" in the game and has the most content of the routes, where as the other routes have a fair bit of rehash. Because Ending A goes through the "content" and reaches a credit sequence, I think its fair to call this Any%, while calling Ending D 100%. These are also two good categories because they have radically different play styles. Ending A is getting the best weapon you can early on and powering through the game as fast as possible. Ending D requires you to be more meathodical so you obtain weapons along the way in the most efficient fashion.
Anyway, to the planning itself.
Ending A
Trial run I did Christmas Day (This was after only 2 playthroughs so of course its sloppy)
http://www.twitch.tv/thesenzura/c/3450168
A few things
1: I obtain a certain heavy sword (I don't know japanese so bear with me on these names) and upgrade it throughout the run for a few reasons
Most swords have a "cone" like hit radius. This is all fine, but doesn't do the job for the grinding that is needed to keep up with the enemies in the run. This particular heavy sword has a massive cone, allowing me to mow down large numbers of enemies and get the experience/gold I need to keep up. The attack is slower, but kills things faster overall considering enemies are usually in groups.
2: Its air special is incredible broken. I call it "rising slash" for purposes of the run. First of all, using it extends my jump and gains my a little bit of air which allows me to jump to places I shouldn't be able to or hit enemies the game wants me to use the disk weapons for (the disk weapons are terrible but allow me to target enemies from afar. Obviously this wastes time). In addition, I use this to get over invisible walls that the game wants you to use lances (terrible weapons overall) to break. Theoretically I should be able to use this to clip OoB, but I've only been successful in one part of the game and it jsut slides me back in bounds. The second reason I use it is because its hitbox is just plain huge. During the run, I jump up at lease 3 sword heights above enemies and STILL this attack hits. This allows me to kill archers behind barricades and other groups of enemies without losing the momentum that normal attacks take from me.
A note on dashing with this weapon - While with the smaller swords and other weapons, dashing is faster than walking, with this particular sword, I'm not so sure. I've timed in on a straight bridge, with mixed results. However, you can actually "dodge cancel" your attacks with this weapon if you hit it on the right frame and immediately dash out out of this dodge, effectively double dashing, but this seems to be inconsistent.
The other weapon I use is the default claw and boots I'm given halfway through the run, which I eventually upgrade to Lv4. These have a special combo that attacks until my SP runs out, which allows me to drain bosses HP quite easily (Most boss enemies are hit sponges.) These also let me side dodge then dash out of it, allowing for faster movement as I simply zigzag forward.
Ending D
This is a much different speedrun because it requires grinding and doing side missions. As far as I know, quite a few of the weapons you get from completing a set of side missions can actually be bought at the menu, so I think completing every side objective is not a concern. In addition, some side missions are literally RNG whether you actually beat them or not (particularly the foggy forest claw/jewel missions) I could one hit everything and still not be able to get the items fast enough. Because of this, it seems gold grinding for some of the weapons may be faster. Other than that, the dificulty jumps between routes so some careful grinding has to be done/.
Anyway, an explanation of categories I'm planning.
Basically, the game has 4 endings (A, B, C, D), however they are not branched. When you obtain ending A, you are given a new "route" of missions that eventually leads to ending B. Ditto with ending C. Route D, however, requires you to obtain every weapon in the game to unlock. So, in a way, truly "beating the game" requires you to obtain Ending D. However, I would say that reaching the end and beating the game are two different categories. For this reason, I am planning an Ending A run and an Ending D run. Ending A brings you through most of the "settings" in the game and has the most content of the routes, where as the other routes have a fair bit of rehash. Because Ending A goes through the "content" and reaches a credit sequence, I think its fair to call this Any%, while calling Ending D 100%. These are also two good categories because they have radically different play styles. Ending A is getting the best weapon you can early on and powering through the game as fast as possible. Ending D requires you to be more meathodical so you obtain weapons along the way in the most efficient fashion.
Anyway, to the planning itself.
Ending A
Trial run I did Christmas Day (This was after only 2 playthroughs so of course its sloppy)
http://www.twitch.tv/thesenzura/c/3450168
A few things
1: I obtain a certain heavy sword (I don't know japanese so bear with me on these names) and upgrade it throughout the run for a few reasons
Most swords have a "cone" like hit radius. This is all fine, but doesn't do the job for the grinding that is needed to keep up with the enemies in the run. This particular heavy sword has a massive cone, allowing me to mow down large numbers of enemies and get the experience/gold I need to keep up. The attack is slower, but kills things faster overall considering enemies are usually in groups.
2: Its air special is incredible broken. I call it "rising slash" for purposes of the run. First of all, using it extends my jump and gains my a little bit of air which allows me to jump to places I shouldn't be able to or hit enemies the game wants me to use the disk weapons for (the disk weapons are terrible but allow me to target enemies from afar. Obviously this wastes time). In addition, I use this to get over invisible walls that the game wants you to use lances (terrible weapons overall) to break. Theoretically I should be able to use this to clip OoB, but I've only been successful in one part of the game and it jsut slides me back in bounds. The second reason I use it is because its hitbox is just plain huge. During the run, I jump up at lease 3 sword heights above enemies and STILL this attack hits. This allows me to kill archers behind barricades and other groups of enemies without losing the momentum that normal attacks take from me.
A note on dashing with this weapon - While with the smaller swords and other weapons, dashing is faster than walking, with this particular sword, I'm not so sure. I've timed in on a straight bridge, with mixed results. However, you can actually "dodge cancel" your attacks with this weapon if you hit it on the right frame and immediately dash out out of this dodge, effectively double dashing, but this seems to be inconsistent.
The other weapon I use is the default claw and boots I'm given halfway through the run, which I eventually upgrade to Lv4. These have a special combo that attacks until my SP runs out, which allows me to drain bosses HP quite easily (Most boss enemies are hit sponges.) These also let me side dodge then dash out of it, allowing for faster movement as I simply zigzag forward.
Ending D
This is a much different speedrun because it requires grinding and doing side missions. As far as I know, quite a few of the weapons you get from completing a set of side missions can actually be bought at the menu, so I think completing every side objective is not a concern. In addition, some side missions are literally RNG whether you actually beat them or not (particularly the foggy forest claw/jewel missions) I could one hit everything and still not be able to get the items fast enough. Because of this, it seems gold grinding for some of the weapons may be faster. Other than that, the dificulty jumps between routes so some careful grinding has to be done/.
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