Final Fantasy VIII

2013-05-19 10:34:27 pm

I just got a new PS3 WR with 9:33:17. Still plenty to improve on but I'll be moving on to PS2 next to see how I compare with those times.

FFgamer86

Edit history:

FFgamer86: 2013-05-22 12:31:35 am

2013-05-22 12:30:46 am

SDA Speedruns: 1

Congrats, I think ill do a PS3 Run this friday just to make sure I have the route down good enough plus see what the time differences are. My estimate is about 9:10 but we will see Friday.

My ps2 runs have been having bad fish fin luck since I need to be resetting more often to try and get the record, but on ps3, time is not that big of issue.

FFgamer86

2013-10-31 01:21:44 pm

SDA Speedruns: 1

Thought I should post my findings on the "Double-GF Glitch" and maybe some others can mess around with it some more to see if it would be useful anywhere. My findings have been unable to yield any positive results though.

To perform this glitch you must be at the beginning of disc 3 about to head into the 4th Laguna Dream(The Ruby Dragon Fight) and the GF(s) you want to duplicate must be equipped to Squall.

In the menu where you assign which character will be assigned to Kiros and Ward, before you leave the Menu, do a Junction Exchange with Squall and a character not participating in the Laguna Dream.

When you get into the Laguna Dream, make sure to re-junction the GFs because Laguna and co. will not be junctioned at all for the Ruby Dragon Fight.

When you finish the dream, The characters assigned to Laguna, Ward and Kiros will have the GF(s) junctioned to them during the dream, and the character you swapped with before the dream will also have the GF(s) that you swapped with him before you entered the dream.

Why this works?
- The Game Auto-Unjunctions your characters prior to the dream so that this trick could be used. When your inside the Laguna dream the game is only checking if Laguna, Kiros, or Ward are junctioned before it allows you to junction a GF to your character. So the game leaves Squall junction, allowing you to give his junctions to someone outside the dream before you go in.

Research Needed?
This trick would be very useful in a speedrun if you could manage to do it in the 5th and Final Laguna Dream because then you could have the GFs duplicated for the rest of the game. Unfortunately, all the methods I have tried have been unable to succeed and I think it has to do with the game wiping your characters GFs multiple times. If anyone can find a way to get it through the 5th Laguna Dream, I'd be extremely happy.

Stuff Possible once you Double-GF.
- You can summon him on both characters same time(His health will be @ the amount of the 2nd summoning) I.E. If he is killed on the 1st summon and the 2nd summon goes off, he will have the life of the 2nd summon attempt.
- He does not get Double XP or Double AP
- You can Have both characters junctioned with him to utilize the same ability. IE- Pandemona's Innitiative

Thought I should post my findings on the "Double-GF Glitch" and maybe some others can mess around with it some more to see if it would be useful anywhere. My findings have been unable to yield any positive results though.

To perform this glitch you must be at the beginning of disc 3 about to head into the 4th Laguna Dream(The Ruby Dragon Fight) and the GF(s) you want to duplicate must be equipped to Squall.

In the menu where you assign which character will be assigned to Kiros and Ward, before you leave the Menu, do a Junction Exchange with Squall and a character not participating in the Laguna Dream.

When you get into the Laguna Dream, make sure to re-junction the GFs because Laguna and co. will not be junctioned at all for the Ruby Dragon Fight.

When you finish the dream, The characters assigned to Laguna, Ward and Kiros will have the GF(s) junctioned to them during the dream, and the character you swapped with before the dream will also have the GF(s) that you swapped with him before you entered the dream.

Why this works?
- The Game Auto-Unjunctions your characters prior to the dream so that this trick could be used.  When your inside the Laguna dream the game is only checking if Laguna, Kiros, or Ward are junctioned before it allows you to junction a GF to your character.  So the game leaves Squall junction, allowing you to give his junctions to someone outside the dream before you go in.

Research Needed?
This trick would be very useful in a speedrun if you could manage to do it in the 5th and Final Laguna Dream because then you could have the GFs duplicated for the rest of the game.  Unfortunately, all the methods I have tried have been unable to succeed and I think it has to do with the game wiping your characters GFs multiple times.  If anyone can find a way to get it through the 5th Laguna Dream, I'd be extremely happy.

Stuff Possible once you Double-GF.
- You can summon him on both characters same time(His health will be @ the amount of the 2nd summoning) I.E. If he is killed on the 1st summon and the 2nd summon goes off, he will have the life of the 2nd summon attempt.
- He does not get Double XP or Double AP
- You can Have both characters junctioned with him to utilize the same ability. IE-  Pandemona's Innitiative

Crocogoat

2013-11-23 09:37:56 pm

Hi all, I'm Theo from the Netherlands and I've been running this game since last march or so and did my first serious run of it in may. I did get 1 run of 8:44:03 but well there was a bug with the mic in OBS so that instead of it being muted it recorded plenty of private conversation so I deleted it later. I was planning to just do another run and leave that up etc. and come here to show what I did different, but summer was hot and busy, got sick etc. so I didn't do much with it for the past 5 months or so. Lately I've been getting back into it though and if all goes ok I'll be running this when I have time. If I get decent cards at all I'll try to finish one of the runs so I have my current strategy up.

So now for what I do. I don't really have proof that the way I play the later part is faster, but I think it potentially is though not by that much. It needs more luck though since Irvine is pretty much a required starter in the final battle. The start of the run up until Esthar is basicly the same as Caracarn's strategies, with a few slight menu changes here and there. The "major" change comes with the pandora menuing (check my notes) where I do stuff somewhat different ending up with S fully loaded to later switch that to Irvine after we leave for Laguna. So this essentially gets Irvine to be like 200+ str for the rest of the run. This way he doesn't need to learn darkside and can do fewer hits with his limit. Damage-wise this doesn't help that much (though all ap-ammo shots are 9999) but there is less menuing overall.

Anyway, I'll walk through that menu a bit after coming back from space:

beforegoingtopalace: (after the scene with Rinoa)
Item
Mexalixer
Ability
Ammo-RF
Chef's knife
running fire/missiles
sharp spike?
Switch
Irvine S Selphie
exchg
Irvine - Quistis
Irvine - S

The consequense of this is having Irvine at 699/2700 or so health but with Ifrit, Pandemona and Cerberus on and 20,40,60 str + initiative. This way he doesn't need to be Aura'd in the multi-sorceress fight,
as long as Selphie berserks S. There's a bit of extra risk here too if a sorceress casts meteor it can kill him, but Selphie can phoenix down if that is the case.

Pre-sorceress:
Menu
Junction
Unjunc Irvine Cerberus auto-atk
Junc S Cerberus (>) auto-atk
Item str up S
(ammo rf laser cannon)

This is the switch you need to give both Spd-junc, it's handy cause when you switch junctions the game goes to auto-*** so you can combine the two things.
The str-ups here for S are usually needed because Sphinxaur can have just about too much hp to get him in 2 hits otherwise.

Castleparty:
Irvine S Quistis
Junc exch
Irvine - S

This is a bit awkward then but I need to switch here and switch back after sphinxaur, S is very weak otherwise and he does all the hitting. This requires an extra very short menu but in a good way I don't need to do the whole switch thing to lower health. I normally don't kill Quistis in the fight either as I need Irvine to start anyway so it would just waste time.

Pre-ultimecia:
Item
potion irvine ~1000
Rocket engine on Panda
Junction Irvine
Ability >str+60 >spd40 >str20 >str40

So pre-Tri I switch back and then after Tri this final menu. If all is well S should have enough health, but he might need a hi-potion. Let's hope Ultimecia doesn't just ruin everything lol.

So that out of the way there are still a few things that are slightly faster not in the notes, I try to list all that I can think of:
-Out of trabia you can switch Zell and S, slightly more efficient than switching them in the garden-fight.
-That same place after the menu you can go backwards with the garden while holding right-dpad. The garden will ride the mountains and when you get to the point you can go forward, so not needing to turn it all around (I also use this back-forwards idea with getting on the white seed ship, but it's a bit tricky so I'm not sure if it is faster)
-A few dialogue choices can be x'd through instead of making choice. On emulator with the frame timings I noticed the difference can be next to zero cause selecting an option instead of mashing X (I mean confirm) takes a bit of time too. Among them are the "for who" Selphie in the missile base, the "Yes, no" thing after S gets down from the ladder in Garden before Oilboyles and S's answer to Quistis after Norg
To be honest I really need to frame-time them though.
-Speaking of Oilboyles the start of this fight is triggered by a line, if you step over it and stand still the dudes will come out, this saves some frames (just what we need before they kill us)
-In the air-fight with the soldier I just hold all 3 attack/block buttons. The soldier will mirror your actions or something and you will be faster with the punch, it's a bit weird but so far I've never lost this fight with this, it seems more consistent than mashing or death-blow. (I got this idea from Poxnor when he speculated the game wants to help you, at the marathon Smiley

-When you exit the space-launch base you can hold the drive-backwards button while getting in the car, maybe people already did this? (I'm starting to grasp at straws here, a lot of things were already optimal after all)

Can't think of much more really, but if I do I'll post it. When I have a run up I'll maybe highlight some of the later menus to put in this post. Showing is a little easier than telling after all.

Also attached are my notes, they are a bit messy but if you have any questions feel free to ask.

Hi all, I'm Theo from the Netherlands and I've been running this game since last march or so and did my first serious run of it in may. I did get 1 run of 8:44:03 but well there was a bug with the mic in OBS so that instead of it being muted it recorded plenty of private conversation so I deleted it later. I was planning to just do another run and leave that up etc. and come here to show what I did different, but summer was hot and busy, got sick etc. so I didn't do much with it for the past 5 months or so. Lately I've been getting back into it though and if all goes ok I'll be running this when I have time. If I get decent cards at all I'll try to finish one of the runs so I have my current strategy up.

So now for what I do. I don't really have proof that the way I play the later part is faster, but I think it potentially is though not by that much. It needs more luck though since Irvine is pretty much a required starter in the final battle. The start of the run up until Esthar is basicly the same as Caracarn's strategies, with a few slight menu changes here and there. The "major" change comes with the pandora menuing (check my notes) where I do stuff somewhat different ending up with S fully loaded to later switch that to Irvine after we leave for Laguna. So this essentially gets Irvine to be like 200+ str for the rest of the run. This way he doesn't need to learn darkside and can do fewer hits with his limit. Damage-wise this doesn't help that much (though all ap-ammo shots are 9999) but there is less menuing overall.

Anyway, I'll walk through that menu a bit after coming back from space:

beforegoingtopalace: (after the scene with Rinoa)
Item
Mexalixer
Ability
Ammo-RF
Chef's knife
running fire/missiles
sharp spike?
Switch
Irvine S Selphie
exchg
Irvine - Quistis
Irvine - S

The consequense of this is having Irvine at 699/2700 or so health but with Ifrit, Pandemona and Cerberus on and 20,40,60 str + initiative. This way he doesn't need to be Aura'd in the multi-sorceress fight,
as long as Selphie berserks S. There's a bit of extra risk here too if a sorceress casts meteor it can kill him, but Selphie can phoenix down if that is the case.

Pre-sorceress:
Menu
Junction
Unjunc Irvine Cerberus auto-atk
Junc S Cerberus (>) auto-atk
Item str up S
(ammo rf laser cannon)

This is the switch you need to give both Spd-junc, it's handy cause when you switch junctions the game goes to auto-*** so you can combine the two things.
The str-ups here for S are usually needed because Sphinxaur can have just about too much hp to get him in 2 hits otherwise.

Castleparty:
Irvine S Quistis
Junc exch
Irvine - S

This is a bit awkward then but I need to switch here and switch back after sphinxaur, S is very weak otherwise and he does all the hitting. This requires an extra very short menu but in a good way I don't need to do the whole switch thing to lower health. I normally don't kill Quistis in the fight either as I need Irvine to start anyway so it would just waste time.

Pre-ultimecia:
Item
potion irvine ~1000
Rocket engine on Panda
Junction Irvine
Ability  >str+60 >spd40 >str20 >str40

So pre-Tri I switch back and then after Tri this final menu. If all is well S should have enough health, but he might need a hi-potion. Let's hope Ultimecia doesn't just ruin everything lol.

So that out of the way there are still a few things that are slightly faster not in the notes, I try to list all that I can think of:
-Out of trabia you can switch Zell and S, slightly more efficient than switching them in the garden-fight.
-That same place after the menu you can go backwards with the garden while holding right-dpad. The garden will ride the mountains and when you get to the point you can go forward, so not needing to turn it all around (I also use this back-forwards idea with getting on the white seed ship, but it's a bit tricky so I'm not sure if it is faster)
-A few dialogue choices can be x'd through instead of making choice. On emulator with the frame timings I noticed the difference can be next to zero cause selecting an option instead of mashing X (I mean confirm) takes a bit of time too. Among them are the "for who" Selphie in the missile base, the "Yes, no" thing after S gets down from the ladder in Garden before Oilboyles and S's answer to Quistis after Norg
To be honest I really need to frame-time them though.
-Speaking of Oilboyles the start of this fight is triggered by a line, if you step over it and stand still the dudes will come out, this saves some frames (just what we need before they kill us)
-In the air-fight with the soldier I just hold all 3 attack/block buttons. The soldier will mirror your actions or something and you will be faster with the punch, it's a bit weird but so far I've never lost this fight with this, it seems more consistent than mashing or death-blow. (I got this idea from Poxnor when he speculated the game wants to help you, at the marathon :)
-When you exit the space-launch base you can hold the drive-backwards button while getting in the car, maybe people already did this? (I'm starting to grasp at straws here, a lot of things were already optimal after all)

Can't think of much more really, but if I do I'll post it. When I have a run up I'll maybe highlight some of the later menus to put in this post. Showing is a little easier than telling after all.

Also attached are my notes, they are a bit messy but if you have any questions feel free to ask.

Attachment:

thff8 - cerberus.txt

Crocogoat

2013-11-25 07:27:23 pm

Hey all, I think this can better go in a new post.

I completed a run yesterday with new pb, wich had lots of card-luck (1,1), worst rinoa skip, a few messed up things (nothing too bad) and a laughable ending. Not having Irvine at the boss start was bad, but that's the risk taken, Ultimecia final form blew away his Triples just before he did his last limit lol. I still beat the game at all because of a holy war drop really. But anyway I highlighted some of the menus I describe in my post above:

http://www.twitch.tv/crocogoat/c/3300270

The pandora long menu. I got a bit confused twice somehow. First with the order of the shops and later I thought I forgot to buy tents, but it was ok.

http://www.twitch.tv/crocogoat/c/3300300

Away from orphanage. Btw before going there with this strategy you have a small chance at an encounter because Quistis is holding Diablos and I don't switch them until this menu. But the chance is very small due to almost not having walked, it's a very short walk and you go in the menu to switch party.

http://www.twitch.tv/crocogoat/c/3300312

I guess seeing this makes more sense than my description.

Hey all, I think this can better go in a new post.

I completed a run yesterday with new pb, wich had lots of card-luck (1,1), worst rinoa skip, a few messed up things (nothing too bad) and a laughable ending. Not having Irvine at the boss start was bad, but that's the risk taken, Ultimecia final form blew away his Triples just before he did his last limit lol. I still beat the game at all because of a holy war drop really. But anyway I highlighted some of the menus I describe in my post above:

http://www.twitch.tv/crocogoat/c/3300270

The pandora long menu. I got a bit confused twice somehow. First with the order of the shops and later I thought I forgot to buy tents, but it was ok.

http://www.twitch.tv/crocogoat/c/3300300

Away from orphanage. Btw before going there with this strategy you have a small chance at an encounter because Quistis is holding Diablos and I don't switch them until this menu. But the chance is very small due to almost not having walked, it's a very short walk and you go in the menu to switch party.

http://www.twitch.tv/crocogoat/c/3300312

I guess seeing this makes more sense than my description.

Crocogoat

Edit history:

Crocogoat: 2013-12-02 03:24:35 am

2013-12-02 03:08:55 am

I beat it in 8:38:54, wow Smiley

http://www.twitch.tv/crocogoat/c/3330377

Good luck to any of you who'll try to beat it. Tbh I got way too lucky with only 2 runs and good cards. I did have a bit of a weird one with the flying soldier were I lost about a minute due to me not knowing the hp-effect from S in the mini-game, I always asumed he would just have full hp, but a soldier cast demi on him or something so I lost and had to refight. The final battle was about as good as it gets, except Rinoa is a bit of a slow shooter. All in all I'm pretty happy with it.

Again good luck to all, and I'll attach my updated notes here later btw, there were some things in it that are not correct.

Caracarn

2013-12-03 01:05:28 am

Congrats on getting the record, it's nice to see competition on this game again. I'll definitely try to take it back at some point, but I will have to reroute and practice before I actually do serious runs again.

Crocogoat

2013-12-03 11:47:36 pm

Thanks man, couldn't have done it without ya. And I know what you mean, don't want to get good fins and cards and then mess it up somehow with this game.

Btw I know this may sound a bit dumb but I hope you don't mind if I unlurk myself from your channel lol. I've often been watching when you run FF's (how I got motivated to run this myself in the first place) but under an alt from before I got a new account to stream.

Anyway, my fixed notes are attached.

Attachment:

thff8 - cerberus.txt

Deuceler

2013-12-04 10:19:44 am

SPEEDruns not SAFEruns

Congrats Crocogoat!! This game is always a fascinating run to watch, can't wait to see Cara retaliate!

gyth

2013-12-05 01:35:17 pm

On Steam with chocobo world and "magic booster"

Quote:

When Magic Booster is used, the player’s inventory of the following spells is increased by 100:
Cure, Cura, Curaga, Fire, Fira, Blizzard, Blizzara, Thunder, Thundara, Sleep, Blind, Silence, Berserk, Bio, Esuna, Aero, Confuse, Break, Zombie

Caracarn

Edit history:

Caracarn: 2013-12-06 02:15:30 am

Caracarn: 2013-12-06 02:12:10 am

2013-12-06 02:11:37 am

so I have run into sort of an ethical dilemma when it comes to performing the diagonal running strat in the NA version. I just found out that it only works with an analog stick that has true analog control, like the one on the Fujiwork turbo controller that I use for JP versions. Apparently the Dualshock 2 analog sticks only have 8-bit precision (basically it's a dpad but with a stick). The question is, as long as I'm not using turbo (which I obviously wouldn't for NA version), would it still be legit to use that analog stick in an NA version run?

On one hand, I would feel bad for forcing people to get a 3rd party controller to use this strat, but on the other hand I would feel stupid for not using a strat that obviously saves time. I'm not sure that there is really a rule on this issue, because its probably never come up before.

Caracarn

Edit history:

Caracarn: 2013-12-06 03:48:19 am

Caracarn: 2013-12-06 03:46:15 am

Caracarn: 2013-12-06 03:43:08 am

Caracarn: 2013-12-06 03:36:25 am

Caracarn: 2013-12-06 03:30:20 am

2013-12-06 02:51:12 am

ok, after further analysis, it turns out the diagonal running DOES work with a Dualshock 2 controller... but not as well.

I timed the run from Timber to the end of the bridge before you run to the forest:

Running straight - 30 seconds
Running diagonally with Dualshock 2 - 23.7 seconds
Running diagonally with Fujiwork - 22.6 seconds

This makes the situation even more silly

I'm starting to go insane trying to figure this thing out, the fujiwork is only 1 second faster now for my best times. But to get the maximum speed with the fujiwork, you have to have a really precise angle, so it could probably be a lot faster with better execution.

I think I should probably just use the dualshock for NA version just to avoid all this confusion

Gaël

2013-12-06 03:54:28 am

Quote from Caracarn:

so I have run into sort of an ethical dilemma when it comes to performing the diagonal running strat in the NA version. I just found out that it only works with an analog stick that has true analog control, like the one on the Fujiwork turbo controller that I use for JP versions. Apparently the Dualshock 2 analog sticks only have 8-bit precision (basically it's a dpad but with a stick). The question is, as long as I'm not using turbo (which I obviously wouldn't for NA version), would it still be legit to use that analog stick in an NA version run?

On one hand, I would feel bad for forcing people to get a 3rd party controller to use this strat, but on the other hand I would feel stupid for not using a strat that obviously saves time. I'm not sure that there is really a rule on this issue, because its probably never come up before.

IMO, turbo controller aren't banned, it's the turbo functionalities that are banned

Caracarn

2013-12-06 04:08:18 am

Well, from the SDA rules -Third party controllers: Third-party controllers are allowed, but players must only use features present on controllers that were officially bundled with the system.

Does a more precise analog stick count as a feature NOT present on an official controller? I should mention this controller has a switch that changes the "feel" of the analog stick, although I didn't really test if changing the settings affected the running speed or not.

jetfirexx

2013-12-06 08:28:43 am

Gotta go fast!

Quote from Caracarn:

Well, from the SDA rules -Third party controllers: Third-party controllers are allowed, but players must only use features present on controllers that were officially bundled with the system.

Does a more precise analog stick count as a feature NOT present on an official controller? I should mention this controller has a switch that changes the "feel" of the analog stick, although I didn't really test if changing the settings affected the running speed or not.

I would think that an analog stick that is more precise than the official controller would not be allowed because its not present on the original controller but thats just me

puwexil

2013-12-06 08:36:50 am

Professional Second Banana

I talked this over with 2 other SDA admins, and we agreed that DualShocks should be used for NA FF8. SDA's rules on hardware and controllers are designed to put anyone who wants to compete at a given game on an even playing field; and using a 3rd party controller to get an advantage over the stock controller would be against that spirit.

jetfirexx

2013-12-08 09:54:15 am

Gotta go fast!

I have a question about using the magic booster on the Steam release of the game. Because you use it before you start the game, where does it come in to timings? Would you have to include the time it takes to quit the game, apply the booster and restart the game in your timing or would you be able to do it off screen?

rinimt

2013-12-08 10:11:30 am

Kupo!

Quote from jetfirexx:

I have a question about using the magic booster on the Steam release of the game. Because you use it before you start the game, where does it come in to timings? Would you have to include the time it takes to quit the game, apply the booster and restart the game in your timing or would you be able to do it off screen?

I believe it wouldn't be allowed as it's a cheat device, but a green name would have to confirm this.

puwexil

2013-12-08 04:22:09 pm

Professional Second Banana

Yeah, since you'd be quitting the game after starting and using an external tool (albeit one officially bundled together with it) to modify your save file, that wouldn't work for an SDA submission run.

FFgamer86

2013-12-23 09:07:36 am

SDA Speedruns: 1

So, I have been pondering about what we could use as a 100% category for this game and so far I have come up with this.

All-GFs / All Cards / All Bosses

This pretty much sums up all of the collectibles in the game albeit "items" such as Magazines and enemy drops and the such.

Regarding Cards, the CC Group appear on the Ragnarok in Disc 4 and you can win all the rare cards "except Pupu" from the Left Diamond Girl. This takes a lot of the mini-games out of play such as CC Group(I think), Queen of Cards, and Chocobo Forests.

Missing out on the CC Group and Queen of Cards doesn't really detach from the run itself, but missing out on Chocobo Forests might.

I am wondering if we should decide to call the category 100% or call it All-GFs / All Cards (leaving out bosses if it isnt 100% since Omega is a pain no matter what), and If we allow the player to obtain the rare Cards from Disc 4, then should we make the Chocobo Forest Quest doable(at least 1, since it gives us Biku) or if we don't allow the rare Cards from Disc 4, then this run will be heavily RTA since you need to force Queen of Cards to go from Dollet to Balamb and back twice. Once to lose the first 4 cards she wants. Then the 2nd time to lose the Phoenix Card that she creates. I might have to test out if you can do it with just 1 trip losing to her to Dollet and then losing the Phoenix Card in Dollet.

I'm leaning a bit towards not allowing the Disc 4 Card Gathering as this pretty much takes all the sidequests out of the run. It depends on time of completion as well though since you don't want this run end up being 13 hours long. Right now the Any% is around 8:30:00 so I'm not sure yet on how much extra time this will add but I think maybe optimized a couple of hours possibly looking at somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-12 hours.

So, I have been pondering about what we could use as a 100% category for this game and so far I have come up with this.

All-GFs / All Cards / All Bosses

This pretty much sums up all of the collectibles in the game albeit "items" such as Magazines and enemy drops and the such.

Regarding Cards,  the CC Group appear on the Ragnarok in Disc 4 and you can win all the rare cards "except Pupu" from the Left Diamond Girl.  This takes a lot of the mini-games out of play such as CC Group(I think), Queen of Cards, and Chocobo Forests.

Missing out on the CC Group and Queen of Cards doesn't really detach from the run itself, but missing out on Chocobo Forests might.

I am wondering if we should decide to call the category 100% or call it All-GFs / All Cards (leaving out bosses if it isnt 100% since Omega is a pain no matter what), and If we allow the player to obtain the rare Cards from Disc 4, then should we make the Chocobo Forest Quest doable(at least 1, since it gives us Biku) or if we don't allow the rare Cards from Disc 4, then this run will be heavily RTA since you need to force Queen of Cards to go from Dollet to Balamb and back twice.  Once to lose the first 4 cards she wants. Then the 2nd time to lose the Phoenix Card that she creates.   I might have to test out if you can do it with just 1 trip losing to her to Dollet and then losing the Phoenix Card in Dollet.

I'm leaning a bit towards not allowing the Disc 4 Card Gathering as this pretty much takes all the sidequests out of the run.  It depends on time of completion as well though since you don't want this run end up being 13 hours long.  Right now the Any% is around 8:30:00 so I'm not sure yet on how much extra time this will add but I think maybe optimized a couple of hours possibly looking at somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-12 hours.

eLmaGus-

Edit history:

eLmaGus-: 2013-12-23 12:05:20 pm

2013-12-23 10:11:55 am

I must simply laugh.

you have to do the CC-Group sidequest fully in order for them to appear on the Ragnarok and carry all the Cards. You could skip the Queen of Cards and Chocobo Forest Sidequest though.

And i dont think allowing Disc 4 Card Gathering takes out all the Sidequests, you have the UFO sidequest, you need to do Odin + Tonberry, you still have to go down the Research Lab to fight Ultima Weapon.

On the contrary, i think allowing Disc 4 Card Collecting would make this run somewhat doable since the Queen of Cards sidequest is heavily RNG dependent like you said and tideous(you have to play with ALL rules applied against her at the Rescue Pod to get a card iirc, which would include the "Random" rule, good luck with that Smiley

) and you might have to do a lot of reseting which is not a good watch.

FFgamer86

2013-12-23 01:08:14 pm

SDA Speedruns: 1

I don't think Queen of Cards is as hard as it might seem. I have thought of a way to abuse her based off some guides I have read and would have to test it out. It would require RTA strats since you want her to go from Balamb to Dollet to make the quest go as quick as possible.

FFgamer86

Edit history:

FFgamer86: 2013-12-23 01:10:07 pm

2013-12-23 01:09:47 pm

SDA Speedruns: 1

The hard part with gaining cards would be some of the rare cards like Laguna from Ellone. You would have to save before hand and then try to win the card from her and then reset if you lose your rare cards.

EDIT: Whoops meant to edit the last one, not double post.

Dtchow

2013-12-31 08:18:21 am

Hello ! I'm quite new to SDA and not having really posted anything but been around twitch for awhile. ^^

I'm just curious about afew things looking at my new PB of 9:17 and the WR run.. (i probably shouldnt compare as this was my 4th RTA and did improve from my previous 9:25)

But here we go. I know im loosing quite abit of time during Dollet and in my PB run i am roughly 2minutes behind..

Now. i didnt use 5Fish Fins during this attempt and my Spider was abit meh. is that enough to loose 2 minutes?
I know i tend to get a encounter on the Bridge and never the red soldier in the end at the bar. Is this totally random or does my running just suck badly?

My Disc 2 is SOSO and i completed it in 3hours 6minutes.. if i recall an average run seems to take less than 3 hours at WR pace ?

On Disc 2 i dont see any big time savers from my current PB and i do the "Hotel skip" in Balamb.. my Soldier fight during Garden is rather Solid..
I cant think of anything but my menus.. but i dont think they would take 6minutes roughly?

Disc 3 im beating in 2hours 20 / 2hours 30 roughly.. and that is terribly long.. Idk what the heck im doing wrong here?

Disc 4 is relative straight forward. For Sphinx i use Squall with Ifrit + Pandem for big hits due to his Gun trigger and then swap for Tri-Point for 1 Fire Ammo shot and then Ultimecia?

If theres anything you could think of it would be amazing and a big help to break that Sub 9.
Im not trying to take the easy way around the problem so just a slight explanation.
even the most trivial things is probably where i loose time that i just dont think of.

If you wanna see my run it can be found at http://www.twitch.tv/dtchow/c/3453103

Hello ! I'm quite new to SDA and not having really posted anything but been around twitch for awhile. ^^

I'm just curious about afew things looking at my new PB of 9:17 and the WR run.. (i probably shouldnt compare as this was my 4th RTA and did improve from my previous 9:25)

But here we go. I know im loosing quite abit of time during Dollet and in my PB run i am roughly 2minutes behind..

Now. i didnt use 5Fish Fins during this attempt and my Spider was abit meh. is that enough to loose 2 minutes?
I know i tend to get a encounter on the Bridge and never the red soldier in the end at the bar. Is this totally random or does my running just suck badly?

My Disc 2 is SOSO and i completed it in 3hours 6minutes.. if i recall an average run seems to take less than 3 hours at WR pace ?

On Disc 2 i dont see any big time savers from my current PB and i do the "Hotel skip" in Balamb.. my Soldier fight during Garden is rather Solid..
I cant think of anything but my menus.. but i dont think they would take 6minutes roughly?

Disc 3 im beating in 2hours 20 / 2hours 30 roughly.. and that is terribly long.. Idk what the heck im doing wrong here?

Disc 4 is relative straight forward. For Sphinx i use Squall with Ifrit + Pandem for big hits due to his Gun trigger and then swap for Tri-Point for 1 Fire Ammo shot and then Ultimecia?

If theres anything you could think of it would be amazing and a big help to break that Sub 9.
Im not trying to take the easy way around the problem so just a slight explanation. 
even the most trivial things is probably where i loose time that i just dont think of.

If you wanna see my run it can be found at http://www.twitch.tv/dtchow/c/3453103

Crocogoat

2013-12-31 11:18:02 am

Hey Dtchow, I'll try looking it over a bit more later but I can tell at least about the red soldier thing. Normally you get it coming out of the cafe and the reason you didn't get it there was because you got that encounter already while in the building just before spider-robot fight.

As you suspect this is probably due to walking, it doesn't suck but it has to be close to optimal in every screen where you can get an encounter. I can't quickly pinpoint where in that run you walked "too much" but at least something like the 16:00 (wsplit time) screen in the firecave you jiggle a bit for example.