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MGS for PS1 forever.
If I was you I'd use the speed guide on gamefaqs.com. I might help out a little bit...I've been curious about if for awhile...but I have another rpg I'm working on at the moment. This one, unfortunately, doesn't have any speed guide so it'll take me at least a few months to get everything done.
Do'h! Homer'D!
Yeah, I suggest you use the speed guite at GFAQs too and compare your times to the times those guys got (the times are listed in the FAQ)

Wish you the best, I don't have time to work on a game this long but I would be more than pleased to see a run!
I appreciate the replies and am glad to hear that you're looking forward to the run. I will be using the GFAQS guide btw.

Everyone here at the forum is great. Thanks Smiley
Edit history:
DBJordan: 2005-04-04 07:04:17 am
I love YaBB 1G - SP1!
Anyone ever considering something more like a "plot run" for a long RPG? (Uh even though this is the uh speed demos archive... ;-)

Seriously, though, one of the coolest aspects of the FF3/6 run is that I can watch it as a movie (although some of the txt gets a bit fast). I'd love to sit down and watch FF7 and FFX as more of "movies." Go for speed, but give the text boxes enough time to be read. Hmmm using a cheat device to disable random battles might keep things from getting tedious...

Maybe I'm speaking to the wrong crowd about this, but it's just a thought. I found the Xenosaga cutscene movie over at http://www.onegaistudios.com to be very interesting even though it has nothing to do with speed.
An update on the run: I just bought a load of blank tapes from the kingdom of Wal-Mart. I'm about ready to start.

As for the previous post by DBJordan, I have thought about doing an RPG "plot run." Now that I have a load of blank tapes I'm seriously considering doing some plot runs, thanks to DBJordan's post.

I don't think plot runs should just be confined to the RPG genre. There are opportunities for plot runs for games such as kill.switch, Max Payne, Grand Theft Auto, and the list goes on  Grin

Perhaps another thread should be started on this topic.
Wasted, Not Worried!
Plot runs are always great.

I'd want that on DVD more then on my computer though, as that would be a massive file, and a very long download, unless you could pull it off in under 12 hours.

I said I'd "Like" to take you up on this.


I'd be better made for a plot run, but I'd need a LOT of practise on this game again. It's been ages.
Just an update:

I've started taping my FF7. I'm using the speed guide from GFAQS and I'm comparing my time with the FAQ author's time.

My first save at the Mako Reactor in the beginning of the game is 7:23 by the game clock. The GFAQS guy's was 6:40. His is considerably better than mine, but my time is under his recommended time of 7:37, so I'm happy with it. I will not accept anything above his recommended time.

His times are based on the PAL version of the game which he says has some bearing on the game clock. He provided an explanation of this in his FAQ but I have a hard time understanding what he means.

My run is being divided into segments based on the FAQ author's save points in his guide.

This is my first speed run and it is most exciting  Grin
BTW, I'm using a PS2 for this run.
I'm addicted to games
How are you recording, tape? If so, use SP speed. Yes, that means you need more tapes. But the quality is pretty bad if you don't.
Yeah, I'm using SP mode. I've watched a little bit of my tape just to make sure everything works hunky dory. Everything looks nice. You can almost not tell it's a recording. Thanks for the advice, though  Smiley
MGS for PS1 forever.
In the speed guide the guy talks about saving after you walk a little ways so you don't get killed with random encounters. I hope you don't make several segments for something as small as walking from one town to another. If you do save and then load you should just keep recording and count all of the small things as one segment. I'm sure Radix would allow that so you don't have 50 different segments that are each 5 seconds a piece.
Yeah, I hear ya. I plan on having about 10 to 15 segments. I don't plan on making each little save into a segment, just the "checkpoints" the guy provides.
Edit history:
Lucid Faia: 2005-04-08 07:59:10 am
Yeah, I said it.
The top two things on my game agenda are on hold right now, so I'm fresh out of things to do. I think I might give this a try, just for the hell of it. This way there will be more people working on it, and we can get a better idea of just how realistic this run is.

Quote:

FF VII is like the most popular game ever, there sure are lots of people who would want to see it done fast



You're joking, right? This game isn't even the most popular RPG. It's nowhere close to being the most popular game ever.
Edit history:
Gorash: 2005-04-08 10:28:41 am
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Just some random trivia Lucid:

The only games that were fully dubbed in german from the rpg/action rpg genre were ALttP, Mystic Quest (SNES/GB), Secret of Mana/Evermore, Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma.

Immediately followed by Final Fantasy VII.

Since it was the first non action rpg since Mystic Quest, it got the hype it deserves even more, and many a player started rpgs with that game.

All the top games like Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VI and stuff have never been released here, and while I know about them and have played them, most people here aren't even aware of the fact that these games exist.

(This is not a lecture, just some explanation why the game is so popular here, if some euro french/hispanic/other might add their history...)

Yeah, I said it.
http://www.pokemon.com/

There's the most popular RPG ever.

FF7 was popular, and it practically sold the PS1 in North America, but that doesn't change the fact that it sold less than half of what Super Mario Brothers 3 did, and that the average Pokemon game outsells it.
Wasted, Not Worried!
do keep in mind though, Pokemon was very, VERY over hyped in comparison to Final Fantasy 7.

Final Fantasy 7 was advertized much like any other game, and launched into the stratosphere because it was THAT DAMN INCREDIBLE! while Nintendo totally went overboard on the advetising of pokemon, causing it to bring in nothing more then Mass profits.

Not to mention, Pokemon, unlike FF7, had an animated series, a card game, comic books, the works going for it.

AND!...let's not forget the biggest factor.
Final Fantasy 7 was aimed at a more mature audience, while pokemon was aimed at chilren and preteens, which are known to be more into games then teenagers, and more suseptable to corporate advertising, and prone to give in to whats "cool" to fit in.

Given all the factors, Saying Pokemon is better then FF7 is like Saying Harry Potter is better then the lord of the rings.

They were made for different age groups, although they shared a commen rhetoric between the two.

HP was made for little kids

LOTR was made for adults.

Pokemon isnt half the game FF7 is, and in all honesty, I['m glad I never got into it.
Edit history:
Lucid Faia: 2005-04-08 08:09:28 pm
Yeah, I said it.
Quote:
do keep in mind though, Pokemon was very, VERY over hyped in comparison to Final Fantasy 7.


The marketing campaign for Final Fantasy 7 was massive. Both games were hyped.

Quote:
Final Fantasy 7 was advertized much like any other game, and launched into the stratosphere because it was THAT DAMN INCREDIBLE! while Nintendo totally went overboard on the advetising of pokemon, causing it to bring in nothing more then Mass profits.


FF7 is a dumbed down version of FF3/6j, made for a less mature audience. Let's not get carried away, here. And both games sold for being good games, and they both sold for being marketed so much.

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Not to mention, Pokemon, unlike FF7, had an animated series, a card game, comic books, the works going for it.


Those proved to be fads. The games aren't.

Quote:
AND!...let's not forget the biggest factor.
Final Fantasy 7 was aimed at a more mature audience, while pokemon was aimed at chilren and preteens, which are known to be more into games then teenagers, and more suseptable to corporate advertising, and prone to give in to whats "cool" to fit in.


Give me a break. FF7 was aimed at pre-teens and young teenagers. FF7 sold copies due to it's commercials. I remember around the late 90s, meeting many people online who had never heard of the Final Fantasy series before that marketing campaign. I even met one person who thought FF7 was the first in the series, and that the 7 in the title was referring to 7th Heaven, Tifa's Bar, or the number of people in your party.

After talking to many of these people, they bought the game because their friends had it, or because the commercial made them believe that they could ride a motorcycle, or whatever. Suggesting that FF7 is any different from Pokemon in how it was sold and became popular is ridiculous.

Quote:
Given all the factors, Saying Pokemon is better then FF7 is like Saying Harry Potter is better then the lord of the rings.

They were made for different age groups, although they shared a commen rhetoric between the two.

HP was made for little kids

LOTR was made for adults.

Pokemon isnt half the game FF7 is, and in all honesty, I['m glad I never got into it.


This post is a joke. When I was a high school senior, everyone even slightly into gaming was playing Pokemon, even people older than I was. Say what you want about the show, movies, etc, but the games themselves are not made for kids at all.

Suggesting that FF7 was made for a mature audience is laughable. It was the ideal game for a 13-year-old, in that it was supposed to be more of a "cool" game than a "fun" game. Just look at Sephiroth.

FF7 is a great game. I like it's gameplay, particularly the Materia system, even if it did make the game way too easy. But let's be realistic. This game is not all it's cracked up to be.
Edit history:
Lucid Faia: 2005-04-08 08:37:09 pm
Yeah, I said it.
By the way, I'm checking out that speed FAQ at GameFAQs, and it's a bit misleading. The guy claims a time of 8:39, but he stops timing once he lays down the final save point in the Crater. If you count the final battle and end timing when it should end, his time was 9:19.

Also, this guy talks like sub-9 hours might be impossible without a ton of segments and some great luck.

So what do you say, Radix? There is obvious demand for this run, but is slightly over 9 hours too much? I say we make an exception here, just for history's sake. This game needs a proven record of some kind.
Don't think!  feeeeeal
I'd like to see a 9 hour ff7 run, about many segments would it be, how long would a single-segment be?
wait, wait, wait... in these 5 pages (just noticed the topic was growing), has anyone even started or mentioned strats for it outside of the SpeedRun FAQ?
Edit history:
Mkt2015: 2005-04-08 11:53:07 pm
MGS for PS1 forever.
Lucid Faia, Pokemon is one of the only reasons why gameboy stayed popular. Why do think there are 10-15 different pokemon games of every color in the fricken rainbow. And the only thing in each one is 'gotta catch 'em all!'? I never got into it either. I was going to at first but then suddenly three more came out and I was thinking how many hours would I have to put into each one if a final fantasy game takes me 40-60 hours to beat leisurely.

FF 7 was the first rpg that I really got into. There are other rpgs that people would say are the greatest...Secret of Mana, VS (vagrant story), Xenogears. People got into Secret of Mana if they had a SNES. I know a lot of people who never even owned a SNES so the first one they got into was FF 7 as well. VS is more of a cult favorite. I really enjoy it but I've never beaten it. And Xenogears...it might have a fantastic story, but I could never get into it. I was kind of forced into playing it by a guy who said "You've got to love it!" Well, I got 25 hours into the game and I still had to FORCE myself to play it. I finally just quit. When someone tells me I have to love or I have to play a game I take a step back and have nothing to do with it. And then there is XS I and II, which, in my opinion, is just milking fanboys. XS I didn't score very high in any review and neither did II, but the fanboys will buy it anyway. I'm not saying there's something wrong with Xenogears, but when a person goes and buys a game that scored poorly from literally every magazine simply because they've got to have it no matter what, I cringe.

FF7, in my opinion, is one of the only rpgs a person has to play, and it nots really for the story... it's for the graphics, for the gameplay, for the music, etc.

Considering that there is a speed guide I'm sure that we won't be able to come up with new strats until a few of us have gone through the whole game once or twice. Honestly, the guide tells you what to buy, what to equip...everything. I know a lot about FF7, but not nearly enough to come up with better strats to have a person beat the game in under 9 hours.
Do'h! Homer'D!
Quote:
I'd like to see a 9 hour ff7 run, about many segments would it be, how long would a single-segment be?


A run over 9 hours long will most likely have tons of segments... and single-segment would be a LOT longuer, I think. The guy mentions "saving then loading" every couple of steps on the world map in order to avoid random encounters. (saving/loading is faster than running from a battle) If you did it single segmented, you would have to deal with those fights and I guess you would have to level up (too risky otherwise), which I'm pretty sure he didn't. (got his lvls from boss fights) I never attempted a ff7 run so maybe I'm wrong...
Yeah, I said it.
Quote:
Lucid Faia, Pokemon is one of the only reasons why gameboy stayed popular. Why do think there are 10-15 different pokemon games of every color in the fricken rainbow. And the only thing in each one is 'gotta catch 'em all!'? I never got into it either. I was going to at first but then suddenly three more came out and I was thinking how many hours would I have to put into each one if a final fantasy game takes me 40-60 hours to beat leisurely.


The Gameboy was never, EVER in danger of going out of the spotlight. If I remember correctly, isn't the Clunker, the original Game Boy, the best selling video game system of all time? There are a ton of Pokemon games because it is a successful series, and that is what happens to successful series. Why do you think there are 15 Final Fantasy games? Try to pay attention to the logic we're using, here.

Quote:
FF 7 was the first rpg that I really got into.


It shows.

Quote:
There are other rpgs that people would say are the greatest...Secret of Mana, VS (vagrant story), Xenogears. People got into Secret of Mana if they had a SNES. I know a lot of people who never even owned a SNES so the first one they got into was FF 7 as well. VS is more of a cult favorite. I really enjoy it but I've never beaten it. And Xenogears...it might have a fantastic story, but I could never get into it. I was kind of forced into playing it by a guy who said "You've got to love it!" Well, I got 25 hours into the game and I still had to FORCE myself to play it. I finally just quit. When someone tells me I have to love or I have to play a game I take a step back and have nothing to do with it. And then there is XS I and II, which, in my opinion, is just milking fanboys. XS I didn't score very high in any review and neither did II, but the fanboys will buy it anyway. I'm not saying there's something wrong with Xenogears, but when a person goes and buys a game that scored poorly from literally every magazine simply because they've got to have it no matter what, I cringe.


VS and any Xeno game is not in the same league as FF7, nor is SoM, if you ask me. When people talk about classic SNES RPGs being the best RPGs ever, they're usually referring to Final Fantasy 3/6j, Chrono Trigger, and Super Mario RPG.

Quote:
FF7, in my opinion, is one of the only rpgs a person has to play, and it nots really for the story... it's for the graphics, for the gameplay, for the music, etc.


It's not the graphics, unless you like polygons. The music is good, but it's not Uematsu's best work (That would be FF3/6j), and the gameplay is honestly nothing special. Aside from the Materia system, every aspect of the gameplay was something that had been done before.

Quote:
Considering that there is a speed guide I'm sure that we won't be able to come up with new strats until a few of us have gone through the whole game once or twice. Honestly, the guide tells you what to buy, what to equip...everything. I know a lot about FF7, but not nearly enough to come up with better strats to have a person beat the game in under 9 hours.


There's a few reasons no one has posted their own strats yet. First, the speed guide pretty much covers everything, from what I've seen. But I haven't checked out all of it yet. Next, this is still a work in progress.
Edit history:
Mkt2015: 2005-04-09 05:08:52 am
MGS for PS1 forever.
If I was you I would look up the history of pokemon and why they keep making them in the first place.

Yes, the gameboy is the most popular handheld of all time, but it was getting boring. How many really good games are there for gameboy? Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Castlevania... I like gameboy and gameboy advance just as much as anyone else does, but do they have to port games from NES and SNES to gameboy. How many original games do they make for it? Technically, pokemon is an original game. It wasn't for the NES or SNES. Sorry to say, but they are milking pokemon for all its worth. Gameboy was not dead, but it was an old man and the arrival of pokemon kept it unique and interesting.

All of the final fantasies except for the first few each have different stories, different characters and different gameplay. Can't say that about pokemon.

When it comes to the graphics, they really are good. For that time period they were amazing. I still go back and play 2d games just for the graphics. Just because something isn't 3d doesn't make the graphics bad. <-- I know you didn't say that but I'm saying it now. Like some of the boss battles in FF6...the graphics are just amazing...so much detail.
In response to ssd's post: No, I haven't seen any other advice other than the speed guide.

The guy who wrote the speed guide seems to have covered everything. And since this is my first speed run and I've only beaten FF7 once, I'm not going to contend with anything he says.

The only gripes I have with the guy's guide are the times he posts as being his. For example, in the first part of the game, up to the first save point in the reactor, he says his time is 6 min. 40sec. To me that's impossible. I've played the same segment over AT LEAST ten times and I can't get anything less than 7 min. 18-20 sec.

And no, It's not because I'm horrible at the game. The more I played it the more I got better at it. Yet I still wasn't able to get under 7 min. 18-20 sec, even when all the planets aligned and the random variables of the game worked in my favor. And the ever so slight mistakes I did make would not even be close to causing a 40 second difference in time.

My "extra" time is due to two battles that occur on my way down into the reactor that aren't mentioned in his guide, and he covers pretty every battle thoroughly, from when they're supposed to happen to how to deal with them, etc.

Also, this guy uses the PAL version, which he says has a clock that's slower by a 1:1.2 second ratio. That means every 1.2 seconds in the NTSC version is equal to 1 second in the PAL version.

I think there are some differences between the NTSC and PAL versions of FF7 which warrant an NTSC run of this game.

My times are still under the author's "recommended" time, so I'm happy. But I'm not relying too much on his times.

No matter how the game is played, though, I think the run is definitely going to be 9+ hours.