Final Fantasy VII

2014-05-31 06:29:02 pm

Kart for SMK, and Seven for FF7.

I don't know if you already knew this glitch, but I found a new one this evening at Nibelheim, during Cloud's past (saves 20-25 seconds) :

You can save about 20-25 seconds by skipping the picture scene. The idea is talking to the photographer at the same time you're trying to go into the Nibelheim's Mansion. You'll activate 2 dialogs at the same time (the photographer when you're talking to him, and Sephiroth who says it's not the moment to go in Nibelheim's Mansion). With this glitch, you can move Cloud and directly leave Nibelheim without the picture's scene.

You can try the glitch several times until it works. Of course, do it as fast as possible, as it doesn't save a lot of time. By the way, it's not very hard to do.

Cereth

2014-05-31 09:22:31 pm

I think this glitch breaks the game.

I get to the next area and the game softlocks because Sephiroth does not appear. Also Sephiroth does not join the party.

You did find a way to gameover in the flashback, however.

BrutalAl

2014-06-01 05:13:58 am

Aw, you found the Bounty Sad

But you got the Time save wrong Tongue

If you succeed on the first attempt it can save up to 29.5s on that scene alone.
And apart from this scene you will not have Sephiroth in your party, which will make most scenes in the mountain a little bit faster.
All in all it saves just shy of 50 seconds.

As for Cereth's comment.
The soft lock after the fall is avoided by not removing the first text-box until the blue guard has stopped moving.
And yeah, you'll be able to Gave Over now which is a down side to this skip, but escaping battles gets a lot easier though, indirectly making this skip able to save over 1 min relative to not skipping given the right circumstances.

KartSeven

2014-06-01 06:40:17 am

Kart for SMK, and Seven for FF7.

LOL, it's just too hilarious : I never tried to go that far, so I didn't know it could be very dangerous after the bridge ! Grin

Hopefully, it's possible (at least with my step counter) to get only 1 preemptive battle here, so Cloud can't die. Otherwise, it'd be too dangerous and I didn't recommand this glitch.

And I'm pretty sure I'll forget to not remove the first text-box at least once in my life, and it'll be lol. ^^

Kynos

Edit history:

Kynos: 2014-06-01 07:44:51 am

2014-06-01 07:44:39 am

I was trying this on PC and I get a softlock in the scene before the reactor. Just when Sephiroth is supposed to enter the reactor, after Tifa and Cloud have exchanged dialogue, the softlock occurs. :/

KartSeven

2014-06-03 10:36:28 pm

Kart for SMK, and Seven for FF7.

First try with latest strats, and new WR (7:44:09) ! Shocked

http://www.twitch.tv/kartseven/c/4393965

Needed 3 tries to do the skip in Cloud's past, but still saved around 35 seconds. I managed to dodge a random encounter with menu skip too (the 2nd one in Mt Nibel) and I could remove another random encounter with a different step counter in CD3. BrutalAl was really helpful for that (big thanks guy !), and I guess I couldn't PB tonight without him, as I improved by only 30 seconds. Smiley

puwexil

Edit history:

puwexil: 2014-06-04 09:06:12 am

2014-06-04 08:47:55 am

Professional Second Banana

re: the PC/Steam version, I played it for the 1st time a month or so ago for an Escape Midgar race (http://www.twitch.tv/puwexil/b/521271579), and everything about it (especially battle animations) was slower than the PSX version except for loading times for screen transitions and field/battle transitions.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to fix? Running Windows 7 with Core i7 and 8GB RAM, so I'm guessing it's just a matter of tweaking settings somewhere rather than needing a stronger PC.

Also, congrats Kart! Wouldn't surprise me if we see sub-7:40 soon at the rate new paralysis dodge skips are being discovered. Smiley

Kynos

Edit history:

Kynos: 2014-06-04 01:06:28 pm

Kynos: 2014-06-04 01:06:17 pm

2014-06-04 12:13:22 pm

Have you checked how fast FF7 runs when you are not streaming it?

The easiest way to do that would probably be using software that allows you to display the framerate (you could, I believe, use the trial version of Fraps to do that).

Here are the FPS values the steam version of FF7 should run at:
Field: 34
Battle: 15
World: 30
FMV: 15

From my own experience, the main issue is the field framerate as streaming usually lowers it. Some settings even seem to cap it at 30.
Apparently, you also have issues with the in-battle framerate as you mention slow battle animations. The only time I have ever experienced in-battle slowdowns was when I was using rather resource-intensive recording software at the same time (like recording with Fraps).

Kynos

2014-06-05 01:36:13 pm

Also, the Photograph Skip in the Kalm Flashback, which softlocks the game in the PC version just before Cloud and Sephiroth enter the reactor, can be used to skip Junon, Corel and Cosmo Canyon on PC.

Potato Handle

Edit history:

Potato Handle: 2014-06-10 06:12:50 pm

2014-06-10 06:12:04 pm

Plays games quickly. Eventually.

Quote from puwexil:

re: the PC/Steam version, I played it for the 1st time a month or so ago for an Escape Midgar race (http://www.twitch.tv/puwexil/b/521271579), and everything about it (especially battle animations) was slower than the PSX version except for loading times for screen transitions and field/battle transitions.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to fix? Running Windows 7 with Core i7 and 8GB RAM, so I'm guessing it's just a matter of tweaking settings somewhere rather than needing a stronger PC.

I had the same problem while doing Midgar races; framerate would cap at 30 instead of 35, and I needed to leave Aero on while streaming FF7 (No idea why.) to make it run correctly. If you use OBS there's an option to automatically turn it off under the video settings which is almost certainly ticked. (Because let's face it, for any OTHER game that's what you'd want, haha.)

Not sure if this is the best way to fix it, but it worked for me the few times I've tackled Midgar races. \o/

[quote="puwexil"]re: the PC/Steam version, I played it for the 1st time a month or so ago for an Escape Midgar race (http://www.twitch.tv/puwexil/b/521271579), and everything about it (especially battle animations) was slower than the PSX version except for loading times for screen transitions and field/battle transitions.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to fix?  Running Windows 7 with Core i7 and 8GB RAM, so I'm guessing it's just a matter of tweaking settings somewhere rather than needing a stronger PC.[/quote]I had the same problem while doing Midgar races; framerate would cap at 30 instead of 35, and I needed to [b]leave Aero on[/b] while streaming FF7 (No idea why.) to make it run correctly. If you use OBS there's an option to automatically turn it off under the video settings which is almost certainly ticked. (Because let's face it, for any OTHER game that's what you'd want, haha.)

Not sure if this is the best way to fix it, but it worked for me the few times I've tackled Midgar races. \o/

puwexil

2014-06-11 11:39:20 am

Professional Second Banana

I use XSplit (OBS doesn't work with my sound card), and it has a similar option that I've been using because having Windows Aero enabled while doing multiple screen region captures (like I do for FF9 between timer program and en-counter) causes massive slowdown on my PC.

I'll try leaving it enabled next time I try to stream FF7 PC, along with running frame rate tests as Kynos suggested - thanks!

Kynos

Edit history:

Kynos: 2014-06-18 07:05:34 pm

2014-06-18 07:02:09 pm

By catching a chocobo before going to Kalm, then engaging in a series of seemingly random actions on the worldmap before finally dismounting on the grasslands before the Mythril Mines, one can cause a glitch that looks quite promising (works on both PC and PS).

http://www.twitch.tv/xerokynos/c/4491005

Goran

2014-06-20 12:55:41 pm

It would be really good if you can find a way somehow with that glitch to go over the mountain to skip mythril mines.

puwexil

2014-06-20 03:29:38 pm

Professional Second Banana

If that can be done then it should be possible to skip Kalm, since the event barrier that stops you if you haven't gone through the flashback is inside the mines.

KartSeven

2014-06-21 05:18:59 pm

Kart for SMK, and Seven for FF7.

I was thinking about Long Range Materia, but you can still get it even if you skip Kalm, so why not. ^^

FionordeQuester

2014-06-22 12:21:53 am

Hey, would anyone happen to have any of Xero's routes written down for Final Fantasy VII? I mean, I'm most interested in his "All WEAPONs" run, but any of them would be great if anyone has any of them!

Kynos

Edit history:

Kynos: 2014-06-22 01:40:26 am

Kynos: 2014-06-22 01:38:21 am

Kynos: 2014-06-22 01:37:53 am

Kynos: 2014-06-22 01:37:43 am

Kynos: 2014-06-22 01:37:10 am

2014-06-22 01:36:23 am

As far as routes go, I tend to use paper notes and have only uploaded some notes so far, namely:

FF7 "100%" - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1J6_Dadxa66iOw46eVXCO8TtMgrZst-sNL7O2Nmggsg4/edit
FF7 PC NoSlots RTA - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1k6btQWN4I1eb_fcIiJ7yiMgV5myrkPqxzd8Yp_qtNoM/edit

Additionally, doicm has written notes for FF7 YW+, which should still be accurate:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yL_ZKDOT7gXQEOaLLR7LY6-sSapQp-77-i_myLIp2VI/edit#

I have some information on FF7 YW+ WEAPONs online but only little is covered:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/17YhwXr5u7qKEdkLi3eLWttde4wZGouDZpxzzqg_vF_Q/edit

For other routes, it is probably best to watch the VODs.
For FF7 NoSlots All WEAPONs, it is this one:
http://www.twitch.tv/xerokynos/c/3525325

Please note that the route for FF7 NoSlots All WEAPONs is definitely outdated by now (it uses Lucky7s to beat Emerald and Ruby).
If one were to run FF7 NoSlots All WEAPONs (either on PC or on PS), one should now use a very similar strategy to beat Emerald and Ruby as I use in YW+ WEAPONs and 100%:
Get 99 Power Sources, 198 Speed Sources for Cloud (see the notes in 100%); get Vincent.
Kill Emerald in the same way as in 100% (the lack of better Limit Breaks won't make a big difference).
For Ruby, do exactly the same as in 100% too.
About Ultimate, make sure to deal at least 9HP of damage to him in the storyline Mideel encounter so that you don't have to search for him when he flies around on the worldmap later.

As far as routes go, I tend to use paper notes and have only uploaded some notes so far, namely:

[color="red"]FF7 "100%"[/color] - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1J6_Dadxa66iOw46eVXCO8TtMgrZst-sNL7O2Nmggsg4/edit
[color="green"]FF7 PC NoSlots RTA[/color] - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1k6btQWN4I1eb_fcIiJ7yiMgV5myrkPqxzd8Yp_qtNoM/edit

Additionally, doicm has written notes for [color="purple"]FF7 YW+[/color], which should still be accurate:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yL_ZKDOT7gXQEOaLLR7LY6-sSapQp-77-i_myLIp2VI/edit#

I have some information on [color="yellow"]FF7 YW+ WEAPONs[/color] online but only little is covered:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/17YhwXr5u7qKEdkLi3eLWttde4wZGouDZpxzzqg_vF_Q/edit

For other routes, it is probably best to watch the VODs.
For [color="blue"]FF7 NoSlots All WEAPONs[/color], it is this one:
http://www.twitch.tv/xerokynos/c/3525325

Please note that the route for [color="blue"]FF7 NoSlots All WEAPONs[/color] is definitely outdated by now (it uses Lucky7s to beat Emerald and Ruby).
If one were to run FF7 NoSlots All WEAPONs (either on PC or on PS), one should now use a very similar strategy to beat Emerald and Ruby as I use in YW+ WEAPONs and 100%:
Get 99 Power Sources, 198 Speed Sources for Cloud (see the notes in 100%); get Vincent.
Kill Emerald in the same way as in 100% (the lack of better Limit Breaks won't make a big difference).
For Ruby, do exactly the same as in 100% too.
About Ultimate, make sure to deal at least 9HP of damage to him in the storyline Mideel encounter so that you don't have to search for him when he flies around on the worldmap later.

FionordeQuester

2014-06-22 02:35:53 am

Huh. Interesting. Thanks a ton Kynos! Do you still have to get Dazers for Ruby btw?

Kynos

2014-06-22 03:04:04 am

Yes, you do. You can get them on your way to Jenova-LIFE or after Jenova-LIFE by stealing them from Boundfats.

Wypy

2014-06-22 11:28:13 am

Deal with it!

Did anyone ever try to do a paralyze dodge to avoid having to wait for Hojo to leave floor 66? There are some NPCs running around there which could make that possible. I don't have an Emulator to test that though.

Kynos

2014-06-22 02:44:30 pm

Yes, KartSeven did a while ago.

On PS, it saves hardly any time.
On PC, it softlocks the game.

FionordeQuester

Edit history:

FionordeQuester: 2014-06-22 06:41:24 pm

2014-06-22 06:37:51 pm

Hmm...one thing I've been thinking about. Why does 9 HP of damage guarantee a kill on Ultimate Weapon? Is it because the Master Summon Materia kills him in one shot then?

Kynos

Edit history:

Kynos: 2014-06-23 01:40:23 am

2014-06-23 12:54:59 am

Actually, it is 8HP.

In the first aerial Junon battle, you should deal 4*9999 HP of damage. He will then leave.
In the second aerial battle, you will again deal 4*9999 HP of damage (using Doublecut twice with a Hero Drink'ed character).

At that point, if you have dealt at least 8 HP of damage in the Mideel battle, Ultimate Weapon will have sustained 80,000 HP of damage, which is just enough to trigger the final battle over Cosmo Canyon.

If you don't deal any damage to Ultimate Weapon in Mideel, you will have inflicted less than 80,000 HP of damage to him and you will need to fight him at least one more time before Cosmo Canyon.

In any but the final battle, Ultimate will leave under any of these circumstances:
It is his fourth turn; he has taken at least 20,000 HP of damage in a single battle; he has taken 80,000 HP of damage overall.

FionordeQuester

Edit history:

FionordeQuester: 2014-06-23 01:37:15 am

2014-06-23 01:31:25 am

Alright, so basically follow your 100% note's instructions on how to beat the Weapons, except do it in the order of Emerald, then Ruby, then Ultimate, right?

EDIT: Also, your 100% notes also say to get 198 Luck Sources. Is that still necessary, or can I safely disregard that?

Kynos

2014-06-23 01:47:09 am

You can discard the Luck Sources, they are for the Battle Square only.
You still need to follow the battle order of Ultimate, Emerald, Ruby since Ruby will only appear on the worldmap after Ultimate has been killed.

Also, I assume you will be using Tifa to deal the damage to Ultimate Weapon (or maybe Cid). Make sure to reset her Limit Break bar before any of the battles so that Limit Break does not replace Doublecut. You will likely need to use 3 Hero Drinks per battle, 2 will probably not be enough.