Final Fantasy VIII

Enhasa

2006-03-31 09:12:07 am

everybody wanna tell you the meaning of music

I knew there were sequels, but I've never read any.

Back to your scheduled FF8 discussion...

sdafan

2006-08-30 12:45:06 am

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

I'm looking forward to this run because I did a test run myself, and got 12 hours before Lunatic Pandora/Adel. I used the faq in gamefaqs and seeing the discussions here, it isn't the best one. I'm interested in what segments you skipped, your save points, how you dealt with cards, and how you dealt with minigames (like that blasted paratrooper........ugh).

Much support to ya.

loa

2006-09-03 03:15:26 pm

how can you
guys finished in 8 hours?
i personally need 14 hours

sdafan

2006-09-05 12:33:03 am

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

I've read the entire thread and I'd like to contribute some improvements. Although I'm not sure if anyone mentioned these before-

-You can get 6 fish fins after getting into just 1 fight with 2 fastitocalons. Although Shiva won't learn I Mag-RF right away (26/30), she will learn it in the Dollet mission, just before Anacondour. 1 fight is better than 2 timesaving-wise, right?

-Quistis' card appears the first time you battle Trepe Groupie #3. Therefore you only need to do Triple Triad once.

These strategies were done using the Greatest Hits version under Square-Enix, if that changes anything.

fitzy_87

2006-09-06 12:22:48 pm

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Are you still working on this run cos i would love to see it

biggie1982

2006-09-08 01:06:42 am

Quote:

Are you still working on this run cos i would love to see it

i sure hope so because im really anxious to see it myself Cheesy

darkwasabi

2006-09-08 08:50:52 pm

King of hearts

Heh, it's funny because today I finally started the game up again. Knocked off the first two segments and decided to check the forums, much to my surprise to see this ol' thread alive. I wasn't going to bump it from death until I finally finished it, but since it's on the first page I might as well comment.

About the two Fastitocalon-F battles, I've been debating on that since I first started the run last year. One thing is that after hundreds upon hundreds of battles with them, I've yet to ever see more than 4 Fish Fins dropped in a single battle. I may be unlucky or maybe our version differences affect the outcome(I don't have the greatest hits version, but I still doubt there's a difference here). The AP I get from the second battle is semi-important, but not worth the extra minute and 1/2 that it takes for the extra battle. I wish I knew if it would actually be possible to see if I should even attempt it. 4 Fish Fins makes the upcoming battles a good amount longer and harder so it has to be 5 or more. I remember seeing that the ultra rare drop is something like 1/255? Not only that, but the other Fastotocalon-F has to drop at least 2 Fish Fins also... I'll try for a while for it since the segment it's in is easy.

The Quistis card is quicker to get from Groupie #1 since the Cafeteria is on the way from the Dormatory. It's faster to have two battles with him than to go all the way up to the second floor and have a single battle. Thought this game I'll try to get the cards I need in the first card battle.

Heh, it's funny because today I finally started the game up again.  Knocked off the first two segments and decided to check the forums, much to my surprise to see this ol' thread alive.  I wasn't going to bump it from death until I finally finished it, but since it's on the first page I might as well comment.

About the two Fastitocalon-F battles, I've been debating on that since I first started the run last year.  One thing is that after hundreds upon hundreds of battles with them, I've yet to ever see more than 4 Fish Fins dropped in a single battle.  I may be unlucky or maybe our version differences affect the outcome(I don't have the greatest hits version, but I still doubt there's a difference here).  The AP I get from the second battle is semi-important, but not worth the extra minute and 1/2 that it takes for the extra battle.  I wish I knew if it would actually be possible to see if I should even attempt it.  4 Fish Fins makes the upcoming battles a good amount longer and harder so it has to be 5 or more.  I remember seeing that the ultra rare drop is something like 1/255?  Not only that, but the other Fastotocalon-F has to drop at least 2 Fish Fins also...  I'll try for a while for it since the segment it's in is easy.

The Quistis card is quicker to get from Groupie #1 since the Cafeteria is on the way from the Dormatory.  It's faster to have two battles with him than to go all the way up to the second floor and have a single battle.  Thought this game I'll try to get the cards I need in the first card battle.

sdafan

2006-09-09 03:26:08 am

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Can't get 6 fishfins after one battle huh? That's weird. But what's even weirder is that I've battled against Trepe Groupie #1 close to 40 times in a row and the Quistis card never showed up. Could it be that the Greatest Hits Square Enix version is different?

Perhaps someone else could try these on their originals and GH versions?

darkwasabi

2006-09-13 10:06:28 pm

King of hearts

Gah! I'm done facing Fastitocalon-Fs. If I spend too much more time facing them, I'll end up not wanting to ever complete this speed run. One minute and 39 seconds is not worth facing them this many times considering the entire run is almost 9 hours long. A minute is nothing. I seriously doubt that there are any differences between the GH and original versions, since I looked around and didn't find anything, just our luck is different.

...Are you positive you weren't facing them at high levels when you got 6?

KnifeRun

2006-09-13 11:00:24 pm

more keys then pablo escobar

whats the best time?

and isnt there a 7 hour limit?

sdafan

2006-09-13 11:39:06 pm

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

I believe Squall was still at level 7 and Quistis at level 8 when I got the 6 fishfin item drop. I did it twice on two different runs. But, like you said, a minute or so difference is only a trivial amount of time. Unless you're a machine and/or doing TAS runs.

Did you manage to beat your best time (8:47~) by the way? And have you started recording them at least?

I got 2:01 at the forest owls' base. I doubt that my time is better than yours since I'm not aiming for the perfect time, but it was great improvement compared to my run using the gamefaqs speed guide. Thanks to your strategies and this board, of course.

By the way, I'm still curious on how you beat Omega at low levels. What strategies did you use?

darkwasabi

Edit history:

darkwasabi: 2006-09-14 12:44:50 am

2006-09-14 12:39:51 am

King of hearts

I never did beat my 8:47 run. It was my latest run that I intended to submit long ago, but shit happened.

Edit: Oh, and I am recording my current run. So far I'm done with segment 3, which is to get the Fish Fins and then save at Dollet. I still have my previous segment just in case I try to get those 5 Fish Fins in one battle.

About the 7 hour limit. That serves more as a guide, as in you shouldn't go too much over that, especially if it's an unpopular game. VIII has a pretty good fanbase along with the other runs up that approach or are over 7 hours.

About Omega... It's a very risky battle to say the least. To add to it's awesomeness(at least IMO), I will face Omega in the same segment I as I face all the other bosses in Ultimecia Castle when I unlock abilities. It's not just to make it interesting, but I'd either have to face another boss to unlock the save option or I'd have to backtrack to get outside and save.

Since I'm not going to use Selphie, Zell or any items at all, it's a MUST to know Omega's attack pattern and anticipate the next attack. His attack pattern goes lvl 5 Death(only used once in the beginning of battle), Meteor, Megido, Gravija, Terra Break, and Ultima. At any point he may attack in between anything. My party is basically one attacker: Squall, one defender, and one backup. The Defender's priority is to survive everything, and to have the highest Speed in order to revive at least one person. The backup is really nobody, he/she will pretty much have no speed since I'll only have 2 people with Speed-J. He/she is there basically in case shit happens. Squall will be pounding away with Renzo and occasionally provide support.

That's the jist of it, but I have it all planned out with who gets what GF, abillity, magics, and all that stuff. I have done it twice before by using the exact same options on another file, so I know it's possible.

I never did beat my 8:47 run.  It was my latest run that I intended to submit long ago, but shit happened.

Edit:  Oh, and I am recording my current run.  So far I'm done with segment 3, which is to get the Fish Fins and then save at Dollet.  I still have my previous segment just in case I try to get those 5 Fish Fins in one battle.

About the 7 hour limit.  That serves more as a guide, as in you shouldn't go too much over that, especially if it's an unpopular game.  VIII has a pretty good fanbase along with the other runs up that approach or are over 7 hours.

About Omega...  It's a very risky battle to say the least.  To add to it's awesomeness(at least IMO), I will face Omega in the same segment I as I face all the other bosses in Ultimecia Castle when I unlock abilities.  It's not just to make it interesting, but I'd either have to face another boss to unlock the save option or I'd have to backtrack to get outside and save.

Since I'm not going to use Selphie, Zell or any items at all, it's a MUST to know Omega's attack pattern and anticipate the next attack.  His attack pattern goes lvl 5 Death(only used once in the beginning of battle), Meteor, Megido, Gravija, Terra Break, and Ultima.  At any point he may attack in between anything.  My party is basically one attacker:  Squall, one defender, and one backup.  The Defender's priority is to survive everything, and to have the highest Speed in order to revive at least one person.  The backup is really nobody, he/she will pretty much have no speed since I'll only have 2 people with Speed-J.  He/she is there basically in case shit happens.  Squall will be pounding away with Renzo and occasionally provide support.

That's the jist of it, but I have it all planned out with who gets what GF, abillity, magics, and all that stuff.  I have done it twice before by using the exact same options on another file, so I know it's possible.

sdafan

2006-09-15 01:21:56 am

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

That sounds really good, and thanks for the strats. By the way, you're going to make the Omega battle into a separate, "bonus" segment, apart from the speedrun, right? Because I read some past arguments in this board regarding that issue, and I don't want your run to be rejected just because they didn't want the Omega fight in the speedrun (since it doesn't save time). Making it a bonus segment would probably be reasonable.

And about the 6 fishfins, I forgot to mention 1 minor detail. I used Quezacotl against them, so I dunno if that changes anything. Your method of Renzo + Laser Eye for 2 fights might be faster, but check it out nonetheless to make sure that they really do drop 6 fishfins.

CubbieBlue66

2006-09-15 02:01:57 am

Drunken Fool

Quote:

I never did beat my 8:47 run. It was my latest run that I intended to submit long ago, but shit happened.

Edit: Oh, and I am recording my current run. So far I'm done with segment 3, which is to get the Fish Fins and then save at Dollet. I still have my previous segment just in case I try to get those 5 Fish Fins in one battle.

About the 7 hour limit. That serves more as a guide, as in you shouldn't go too much over that, especially if it's an unpopular game. VIII has a pretty good fanbase along with the other runs up that approach or are over 7 hours.

About Omega... It's a very risky battle to say the least. To add to it's awesomeness(at least IMO), I will face Omega in the same segment I as I face all the other bosses in Ultimecia Castle when I unlock abilities. It's not just to make it interesting, but I'd either have to face another boss to unlock the save option or I'd have to backtrack to get outside and save.

Since I'm not going to use Selphie, Zell or any items at all, it's a MUST to know Omega's attack pattern and anticipate the next attack. His attack pattern goes lvl 5 Death(only used once in the beginning of battle), Meteor, Megido, Gravija, Terra Break, and Ultima. At any point he may attack in between anything. My party is basically one attacker: Squall, one defender, and one backup. The Defender's priority is to survive everything, and to have the highest Speed in order to revive at least one person. The backup is really nobody, he/she will pretty much have no speed since I'll only have 2 people with Speed-J. He/she is there basically in case shit happens. Squall will be pounding away with Renzo and occasionally provide support.

That's the jist of it, but I have it all planned out with who gets what GF, abillity, magics, and all that stuff. I have done it twice before by using the exact same options on another file, so I know it's possible.

You're not using Zell?

I'd keep him around just for his limit... if he's pumped even half decently he can take down just about any enemy in the game.

[quote]I never did beat my 8:47 run.  It was my latest run that I intended to submit long ago, but shit happened.

Edit:  Oh, and I am recording my current run.  So far I'm done with segment 3, which is to get the Fish Fins and then save at Dollet.  I still have my previous segment just in case I try to get those 5 Fish Fins in one battle.

About the 7 hour limit.  That serves more as a guide, as in you shouldn't go too much over that, especially if it's an unpopular game.  VIII has a pretty good fanbase along with the other runs up that approach or are over 7 hours.

About Omega...  It's a very risky battle to say the least.  To add to it's awesomeness(at least IMO), I will face Omega in the same segment I as I face all the other bosses in Ultimecia Castle when I unlock abilities.  It's not just to make it interesting, but I'd either have to face another boss to unlock the save option or I'd have to backtrack to get outside and save.

Since I'm not going to use Selphie, Zell or any items at all, it's a MUST to know Omega's attack pattern and anticipate the next attack.  His attack pattern goes lvl 5 Death(only used once in the beginning of battle), Meteor, Megido, Gravija, Terra Break, and Ultima.  At any point he may attack in between anything.  My party is basically one attacker:  Squall, one defender, and one backup.  The Defender's priority is to survive everything, and to have the highest Speed in order to revive at least one person.  The backup is really nobody, he/she will pretty much have no speed since I'll only have 2 people with Speed-J.  He/she is there basically in case shit happens.  Squall will be pounding away with Renzo and occasionally provide support.

That's the jist of it, but I have it all planned out with who gets what GF, abillity, magics, and all that stuff.  I have done it twice before by using the exact same options on another file, so I know it's possible.[/quote]

You're not using Zell?

I'd keep him around just for his limit... if he's pumped even half decently he can take down just about any enemy in the game.

darkwasabi

2006-09-15 03:32:44 am

King of hearts

Quote:

That sounds really good, and thanks for the strats. By the way, you're going to make the Omega battle into a separate, "bonus" segment, apart from the speedrun, right? Because I read some past arguments in this board regarding that issue, and I don't want your run to be rejected just because they didn't want the Omega fight in the speedrun (since it doesn't save time). Making it a bonus segment would probably be reasonable.

Yes, I will continue with the challenge with one of the saves in Disk 3 from right when I get the Ragnarok. This is to optimize time on both runs without compromising any time.

Quote:

And about the 6 fishfins, I forgot to mention 1 minor detail. I used Quezacotl against them, so I dunno if that changes anything. Your method of Renzo + Laser Eye for 2 fights might be faster, but check it out nonetheless to make sure that they really do drop 6 fishfins.

Actually, I only use Renzo because it takes too long to get Quistis at low HP. But I will try using Quezacotl against them to see if that helps. Though, I do think that your set of random encounters is preset by your save. After many many encounters, I saw that if I got into a battle with Fastitocalon-Fs the moment I touched the beach(happened about 3 times, or at least that's how many of those I remember), they would always drop just one Fish Fin. Since there were too many differences from each encounter, I couldn't really see any patterns, but that set of encounters were unique so they were memorable. Another thing was that the battle would 100% always have the same camera angle(shot from behind your party), and if I encountered them again it would be the other angle(from behind the Fastitocalon-Fs).

Even if this WERE true, I would not spend the insane amounts of time making a different save from the previous segment, and then face Fastitocalon-Fs without being able to tell whether there would be a 6 or 5 Fish Fin drop in one of its preset encounters.

Quote:

You're not using Zell?

I'd keep him around just for his limit... if he's pumped even half decently he can take down just about any enemy in the game.

Zell is too good, but he's slow. At any point during the run there are faster options than Zell. As for Omega, he'd be the same amount of time as my other strategy, but it's not a challenge anymore. If I can just beat Omega in two turns, then it would just be boring to watch. So I included 'no Duels' in the rules of the challenge.

The rules are no The End, Duel, or Heros(or any invincibility items). Since beating Omega by itself as a speed run is arbitrary and won't be allowed in SDA, it will be uploaded on archive.org separately and I'll ask Radix if I can include a link to it in the author's notes.

[quote]That sounds really good, and thanks for the strats.  By the way, you're going to make the Omega battle into a separate, "bonus" segment, apart from the speedrun, right?  Because I read some past arguments in this board regarding that issue, and I don't want your run to be rejected just because they didn't want the Omega fight in the speedrun (since it doesn't save time).  Making it a bonus segment would probably be reasonable.[/quote]

Yes, I will continue with the challenge with one of the saves in Disk 3 from right when I get the Ragnarok.  This is to optimize time on both runs without compromising any time.

[quote]And about the 6 fishfins, I forgot to mention 1 minor detail.  I used Quezacotl against them, so I dunno if that changes anything.  Your method of Renzo + Laser Eye for 2 fights might be faster, but check it out nonetheless to make sure that they really do drop 6 fishfins.[/quote]

Actually, I only use Renzo because it takes too long to get Quistis at low HP.  But I will try using Quezacotl against them to see if that helps.  Though, I do think that your set of random encounters is preset by your save.  After many many encounters, I saw that if I got into a battle with Fastitocalon-Fs the moment I touched the beach(happened about 3 times, or at least that's how many of those I remember), they would always drop just one Fish Fin.  Since there were too many differences from each encounter, I couldn't really see any patterns, but that set of encounters were unique so they were memorable.  Another thing was that the battle would 100% always have the same camera angle(shot from behind your party), and if I encountered them again it would be the other angle(from behind the Fastitocalon-Fs).

Even if this WERE true, I would not spend the insane amounts of time making a different save from the previous segment, and then face Fastitocalon-Fs without being able to tell whether there would be a 6 or 5 Fish Fin drop in one of its preset encounters.

[quote]You're not using Zell?

I'd keep him around just for his limit... if he's pumped even half decently he can take down just about any enemy in the game.[/quote]

Zell is too good, but he's slow.  At any point during the run there are faster options than Zell.  As for Omega, he'd be the same amount of time as my other strategy, but it's not a challenge anymore.  If I can just beat Omega in two turns, then it would just be boring to watch.  So I included 'no Duels' in the rules of the challenge.

The rules are no The End, Duel, or Heros(or any invincibility items).  Since beating Omega by itself as a speed run is arbitrary and won't be allowed in SDA, it will be uploaded on archive.org separately and I'll ask Radix if I can include a link to it in the author's notes.

Mkt2015

2006-09-15 05:17:50 am

MGS for PS1 forever.

I suppose the two turns is with The End, right? I know that when I finally beat Omega it took probably thirty minutes...I relied on Rinoa's dog invincibility thing.

darkwasabi

2006-09-15 03:16:11 pm

King of hearts

Two turns with Duel. I've been using Armageddon Fist long before I ever knew its name when I first played this game, so I've gotten pretty good with it. Well, actually it'd be three turns because I need to use Meltdown.

niebezimienny

2006-09-16 08:13:13 am

pierdole zdejmuje kominiare

How's it goin'? Any clips released yet?

I know one thing, you probably know that, but they used it in the FF7 run, If you name your characters like 'S' with one character, it will take less time every time they are mentioned or say anything and overall that can save quite some minutes Tongue

Lag.Com

2006-09-16 08:40:32 am

sda loyalist

FFVIII only allows you to name Squall and Rinoa IIRC. So it wouldn't save that much.

niebezimienny

2006-09-16 08:48:50 am

pierdole zdejmuje kominiare

Bah you're right :/ But, it would save at least a few minutes, given the number of dialogue that those two say throughout the game.

I assume to clips released yet?

KnifeRun

2006-09-16 08:57:18 am

more keys then pablo escobar

what do you do with they're names?

and with ff8 you obviously use a ps2 right?

do we have any clue how much different the times are? between psone and ps2

MatrixTN

2006-09-16 01:27:40 pm

You got a deletion wish?

Quote:

FFVIII only allows you to name Squall and Rinoa IIRC. So it wouldn't save that much.

Ditto for her dog, Squall's ring, and the GFs.

darkwasabi

Edit history:

darkwasabi: 2006-09-16 04:27:35 pm

2006-09-16 04:26:37 pm

King of hearts

I thought about the names when I first started this run and thought that it wouldn't really save much time at all. I had completely forgotten about it until now, and I remember reading that they have saved something like a minute or so over the entire course of the run.

After looking back at some videos, I've seen that it takes no more than 2 frames for Squall's name to be written out. Since I'm recording at 30 fps, it would mean that a little more than every 15 times they say his name would save a second. To save a minute, his and Rinoa's names would have to be said over 900 times. Right now I'm 1:10 into the game, so it'd be a real pain to start over. I wish I'd know exactly how many times they say his name so I can see if it's worthy enough to restart.

I really don't have the time or patience for that, since my patience for this run has been drained the first time I completed it. But if someone is willing to help, I'll send over a low quality version of my old run if you can count the times they say Squall and Rinoa's names. Most of them don't have audio because I only needed to save the video so I can watch it as a guide for what to do when I started the run again. You can basically get a sneak peak at the run, if that's any consolation...

I thought about the names when I first started this run and thought that it wouldn't really save much time at all.  I had completely forgotten about it until now, and I remember reading that they have saved something like a minute or so over the entire course of the run.

After looking back at some videos, I've seen that it takes no more than 2 frames for Squall's name to be written out.  Since I'm recording at 30 fps, it would mean that a little more than every 15 times they say his name would save a second.  To save a minute, his and Rinoa's names would have to be said over 900 times.  Right now I'm 1:10 into the game, so it'd be a real pain to start over.  I wish I'd know exactly how many times they say his name so I can see if it's worthy enough to restart.

I really don't have the time or patience for that, since my patience for this run has been drained the first time I completed it.  But if someone is willing to help, I'll send over a low quality version of my old run if you can count the times they say Squall and Rinoa's names.  Most of them don't have audio because I only needed to save the video so I can watch it as a guide for what to do when I started the run again.  You can basically get a sneak peak at the run, if that's any consolation...

sdafan

2006-09-16 09:00:46 pm

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

I'll help. Which method would you send the file? I'd be more than glad to read the game's story and dialogue again to count Squall's and Rinoa's names despite it's painfully unskippable cutscenes.

darkwasabi

2006-09-16 10:15:08 pm

King of hearts

I'll make a torrent since that way is the easiest. IM me on AIM and I'll send you the torrent file.