Legend of Dragoon (Speed Run)

2014-07-28 07:55:54 pm

Okay? Okay!

Vulajin: It's obvious that the hardest part of this game is the mashing, of course, but not only in the fights where you need to mash a lot in 6-7sec, but in the whole game.
In the game if you do a normal mash the textboxes are slower, but if you hold the X button, the text goes faster. If you do that, then when the text ends you have to press X again to skip it.
In his run we can see that he is looking the chat, holding the X button and skipping the textboxes at full speed and in the perfect frame.
If you don't use turbo, you have to see when the text ends to press again X, otherwise you don't know when to press the button.

That's one thing and there are a lot more, but Deathtome will explain it better since he knows more the game than I.

I'm sure everyone that sees his run (even if they don't know the game) will think that it's suspicious that when he mash the button, he doesn't move his arm or he is looking the chat and talking like nothing while (in theory) he is doing an effort. So, why not discuss it?.
Maybe I'm wrong and he doesn't use turbo, but he is claiming a WR in a game where the mashing is the most important thing and he is hiding the controller for 13 hours and when he shows his hands, he acts suspicious.

I don't see nothing wrong with not believe 100% a WR run which makes doubt the people.

rudyxx: "I think your 15 year old mind completely missed the point of what I said."

I love your impotence.
Learn to argue mate, it's an advice.

Vulajin: It's obvious that the hardest part of this game is the mashing, of course, but not only in the fights where you need to mash a lot in 6-7sec, but in the whole game.
In the game if you do a normal mash the textboxes are slower, but if you hold the X button, the text goes faster. If you do that, then when the text ends you have to press X again to skip it.
In his run we can see that he is looking the chat, holding the X button and skipping the textboxes at full speed and in the perfect frame.
If you don't use turbo, you have to see when the text ends to press again X, otherwise you don't know when to press the button.

That's one thing and there are a lot more, but Deathtome will explain it better since he knows more the game than I.

I'm sure everyone that sees his run (even if they don't know the game) will think that it's suspicious that when he mash the button, he doesn't move his arm or he is looking the chat and talking like nothing while (in theory) he is doing an effort. So, why not discuss it?.
Maybe I'm wrong and he doesn't use turbo, but he is claiming a WR in a game where the mashing is the most important thing and he is hiding the controller for 13 hours and when he shows his hands, he acts suspicious.

I don't see nothing wrong with not believe 100% a WR run which makes doubt the people.

rudyxx: "I think your 15 year old mind completely missed the point of what I said."

I love your impotence.
Learn to argue mate, it's an advice.

CaneCraft

2014-07-28 07:59:10 pm

Wells have eye sockets

Quote from Raelcun:

This thread needs less drama and accusations and more Kongol in a dress.

rudyxx

Edit history:

rudyxx: 2014-07-28 08:40:54 pm

rudyxx: 2014-07-28 08:39:23 pm

rudyxx: 2014-07-28 08:17:00 pm

rudyxx: 2014-07-28 08:15:17 pm

2014-07-28 08:14:16 pm

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

So instead of arguing with anyone, I'm going to take this opportunity to teach everyone one of the main reasons why there is probably a massive gap in time between you guys, and why it's not anyone's ability to mash.

Ps1 games can be played on the following consoles in the following way:

Ps1 console:

SCPH 1000 series is the slowest and has unreliable loading
SCPH 5903 and all forms of the PSOne model have a tendency to load videos faster than other models
All other models run the same

Ps2 console:

SCPH 30000 series has problems loading CD based games as well as Dual Layer DVDs. In some cases it's really extreme. (Xenosaga for example, loading transition into a fight can actually sometimes take up to 2 minutes) But PS1 games are all CD based so Dual Layered problems don't really matter. Either way it's still pretty slow.
SCPH 50000 series is really complicated. Some versions (55000 for example) offer Fast disc load. The emulator used for Ps1 games on this model is 1.01 and is considered on average to be the fastest way to play PS1 games by disc except in the case of heavy graphics. But once again, not always. It kinda of varies from game to game. Another great example of this is in this video The game is being played on a 50000 series PS2 and the video in the lower left is a 90000 series (the newest model of the ps2)
SCPH 70000 series uses emulator 1.02 BUT it is much much slower than the 50000 series or the 90000 series. It is however still faster than all Ps1 models.
SCPH 90000 series is the newest model of the PS2 and uses a different version of the PS1 emulator. It handles frame lag better but loads the games slower. So if the disc is being read a lot, it actually will be slower than a 50000 series. But since there is less lag than a 50000 series model, it handles games that load things all at once a bit better.

PS3 console:

There are 3 major different versions of the PS3 console, but for the most part Ps1 games all run the same across all of them. The only major difference is that games downloaded via the playstation network vs actual game discs. PSN games always 100% of the time are slower on the PS3 than every other manner in which you can play Ps1 games. Actual discs will vary from game to game. Most of the time (but not all of the time) there is either no lag, or an increased frame rate. However, it still suffers with locating data on the disc over the 50000 series PS2 models. So sometimes it's faster on a 50000 series PS2 model, and sometimes it's faster on PS3.

PSP and PSP Vita

PSN versions of games played on a PSP or PSP Vita will always 100% of the time be the fastest way to play a PS1 game, but it is generally very marginal.

Also, PS2 games are effected by console model as well, but for the most part it is pretty standard. Except in the case that the game is installed to the hard drive.

Hard Drive > 90000 > 50000* >= 70000 > 30000

50000 series ps2's are the fat model, BUT they play CD based games faster than the 70000 model. It also varies from game to game. Dual Layered games typically play faster on 70000 models depending on when the game came out. Either way, the 90000 series is considerably faster than both of them.

I would like to take a moment to link everyone to this video:
Another great example is this video which, despite the fact that they are 2 different regions of the game, you can already see the difference just in the Squaresoft loading logo.

A game like Xenogears with it's massive length is about a 3 hour difference between running the game on a ps1 vs a psp. Chances are that you 2 are playing on different consoles and that most of the time just comes from loading. A game like LoD probably has a 45 minute difference just from loading between playing on a 30k PS2 model vs a 50K PS2 model. So even if you are using turbo, your time will be that much slower simply because you are playing on an inferior console.

So instead of arguing with anyone, I'm going to take this opportunity to teach everyone one of the main reasons why there is probably a massive gap in time between you guys, and why it's not anyone's ability to mash.

Ps1 games can be played on the following consoles in the following way:

Ps1 console:

SCPH 1000 series is the slowest and has unreliable loading
SCPH 5903 and all forms of the PSOne model have a tendency to load videos faster than other models
All other models run the same

Ps2 console:

SCPH 30000 series has problems loading CD based games as well as Dual Layer DVDs. In some cases it's really extreme. (Xenosaga for example, loading transition into a fight can actually sometimes take up to 2 minutes) But PS1 games are all CD based so Dual Layered problems don't really matter. Either way it's still pretty slow.
SCPH 50000 series is really complicated. Some versions (55000 for example) offer Fast disc load. The emulator used for Ps1 games on this model is 1.01 and is considered on average to be the fastest way to play PS1 games by disc except in the case of heavy graphics. But once again, not always. It kinda of varies from game to game. Another great example of this is in this video http://youtu.be/YI95tEPZ5pg?t=12m22s The game is being played on a 50000 series PS2 and the video in the lower left is a 90000 series (the newest model of the ps2)
SCPH 70000 series uses emulator 1.02 BUT it is much much slower than the 50000 series or the 90000 series. It is however still faster than all Ps1 models.
SCPH 90000 series is the newest model of the PS2 and uses a different version of the PS1 emulator. It handles frame lag better but loads the games slower. So if the disc is being read a lot, it actually will be slower than a 50000 series. But since there is less lag than a 50000 series model, it handles games that load things all at once a bit better.

PS3 console:

There are 3 major different versions of the PS3 console, but for the most part Ps1 games all run the same across all of them. The only major difference is that games downloaded via the playstation network vs actual game discs. PSN games always 100% of the time are slower on the PS3 than every other manner in which you can play Ps1 games. Actual discs will vary from game to game. Most of the time (but not all of the time) there is either no lag, or an increased frame rate. However, it still suffers with locating data on the disc over the 50000 series PS2 models. So sometimes it's faster on a 50000 series PS2 model, and sometimes it's faster on PS3.

PSP and PSP Vita

PSN versions of games played on a PSP or PSP Vita will always 100% of the time be the fastest way to play a PS1 game, but it is generally very marginal.

Also, PS2 games are effected by console model as well, but for the most part it is pretty standard. Except in the case that the game is installed to the hard drive.

Hard Drive > 90000 > 50000* >= 70000 > 30000

50000 series ps2's are the fat model, BUT they play CD based games faster than the 70000 model. It also varies from game to game. Dual Layered games typically play faster on 70000 models depending on when the game came out. Either way, the 90000 series is considerably faster than both of them.

I would like to take a moment to link everyone to this video: http://youtu.be/TvKFy7Wxbrk
Another great example is this video http://youtu.be/7e2lX_FeKLs which, despite the fact that they are 2 different regions of the game, you can already see the difference just in the Squaresoft loading logo.

A game like Xenogears with it's massive length is about a 3 hour difference between running the game on a ps1 vs a psp. Chances are that you 2 are playing on different consoles and that most of the time just comes from loading. A game like LoD probably has a 45 minute difference just from loading between playing on a 30k PS2 model vs a 50K PS2 model. So even if you are using turbo, your time will be that much slower simply because you are playing on an inferior console.

Raelcun

2014-07-28 08:30:27 pm

We require more minerals

I actually ran my run on a 70,000. One of the main reasons his is slower is because of one of the things I need to explain in the video about how I did text advancing. I've actually explained this particular issue on stream multiple times and to quite a lot of people, but I'll include it in the video since text is being brought up as an issue.

Vulajin

Edit history:

Vulajin: 2014-07-28 08:41:34 pm

Vulajin: 2014-07-28 08:40:53 pm

Vulajin: 2014-07-28 08:40:28 pm

Vulajin: 2014-07-28 08:39:59 pm

Vulajin: 2014-07-28 08:39:39 pm

Vulajin: 2014-07-28 08:31:56 pm

2014-07-28 08:31:48 pm

I believe Raelcun is referencing this: http://www.twitch.tv/raelcun/b/357099293?t=34m50s

Transcript in case Twitch loses the highlight in the future:

"I explained this earlier and some of you guys weren't here - in order to skip text quickly in this game you need to hold down the X button to make it speed up, and then once all the text is on screen you have to hit X again. Um -- you -- there's no other things like in other games where you can hold square or circle to make it speed up, then hit X, so I'm actually having to hold down X and then lift my thumb up and down very slightly in the pressure sensitivity range of the PS2 controller. So that it's still receiving a continuous X input but sending new X inputs at the same time. And it's a very awkward motion that can get tiring very quickly."

Raelcun

2014-07-28 08:44:04 pm

We require more minerals

That video is also a good example on how I got better at mashing over time. I was hitting 216% pretty reliably that day and my average percent only went up over time as I kept practicing.

Lenophis

2014-07-29 12:11:56 am

0-10

Childish drama aside, 226%? Get on my level. :p Kidding, of course. If it matters, I'm using a slim PS2, 7001 model with a GH edition of Dragoon and a half-broken dualshock2.

Something that I don't think has been addressed yet, at least as far as I can tell, because I don't want to read through that crap again, is what version of the game are you guys running if it's the PS? It'd be hilarious if black label Dragoon had a huge time-saver over GH, and vice-versa.

Deathtome

Edit history:

Deathtome: 2014-11-20 03:45:23 pm

2014-07-29 01:20:31 am

I can only say that I am 100% sure you used turbo for the run. You may not have used it to the fullest extent to avoid getting caught (of course).

Mashing a 226% like it's nothing is pretty unrealistic while READING and THINKING about an answer during a mash. I knew that you used turbo after watching your video for a couple of minutes the first time (since I route the game myself with a turbo controller). I actually got quite surprised to see that you used one.

MetaSigma

2014-07-29 05:24:02 am

Evermore Extrodinare ᕦ(° Д°)ᕤ

Quote from Deathtome:

I can only say that I am 100% sure you used turbo for the run. You may not have used it to the fullest extent to avoid getting caught (of course), but I have tried to mash in various ways and still maintaining my voice like normal... quite impossible. Mashing a 226% like it's nothing is pretty unrealistic while READING and THINKING about an answer during a mash. I could loop the most obvious proof over and over, but people would still not believe.

So...what you're saying is now you're an expert on this whole situation, and because you can't do it suddenly someone is cheating? Also the reason we don't believe you is because all you're presented is theory after theory with no physical proof to back it up. Showing a video that shows literally nothing to back up your argument and going I watched for 5 minutes! I'm sure he did it! is about as mud slinging as a politician. Not to mention the fact he also explains it to you HE USED A DIFFERENT ROUTE.

Also why did it take you over 6 months to even say anything and then the very first thing you post is a 'you cheated post' when there have been many other runners who have watched that same video and none of them think the same thing as you, and mind you these are not bucktooth runners they all have their chops in gaming. Just because you can't do it doesn't mean someone cheats, and your constant I know you used turbo after watching your video for 5 minutes theory is so full of holes I can see the rats crawling out of it like the holes in cheese. Furthermore you CAN mash 10 times a second without your voice straining while THINKING and READING. It's called MUSCLE MEMORY and it happens when you PRACTICE SOMETHING FOR SO LONG IT BECOMES NATURAL.

[quote="Deathtome"]I can only say that I am 100% sure you used turbo for the run. You may not have used it to the fullest extent to avoid getting caught (of course), but I have tried to mash in various ways and still maintaining my voice like normal... quite impossible. Mashing a 226% like it's nothing is pretty unrealistic while READING and THINKING about an answer during a mash. I could loop the most obvious proof over and over, but people would still not believe.[/quote]

So...what you're saying is now you're an expert on this whole situation, and because you can't do it suddenly someone is cheating? Also the reason we don't believe you is because all you're presented is theory after theory with no physical proof to back it up. Showing a video that shows literally nothing to back up your argument and going I watched for 5 minutes! I'm sure he did it! is about as mud slinging as a politician. Not to mention the fact he also explains it to you HE USED A DIFFERENT ROUTE.

Also why did it take you over 6 months to even say anything and then the very first thing you post is a 'you cheated post' when there have been many other runners who have watched that same video and none of them think the same thing as you, and mind you these are not bucktooth runners they all have their chops in gaming. Just because you can't do it doesn't mean someone cheats, and your constant I know you used turbo after watching your video for 5 minutes theory is so full of holes I can see the rats crawling out of it like the holes in cheese. Furthermore you CAN mash 10 times a second without your voice straining while THINKING and READING. It's called MUSCLE MEMORY and it happens when you PRACTICE SOMETHING FOR SO LONG IT BECOMES NATURAL.

Lurker

2014-07-29 06:05:58 am

Quote from Deathtome:

I can only say that I am 100% sure you used turbo for the run. You may not have used it to the fullest extent to avoid getting caught (of course), but I have tried to mash in various ways and still maintaining my voice like normal... quite impossible. Mashing a 226% like it's nothing is pretty unrealistic while READING and THINKING about an answer during a mash. I could loop the most obvious proof over and over, but people would still not believe. I know you used turbo after watching your video for 5 minutes the first time, since I used a turbo myself to route... (I was very surprised to see that it was not a legit run)

Watch this over and over and think about if you (anyone) can mash in the air or at a table or a controller while speaking. Your voice WILL sound strained, right? This is not a coincidence at all. That SHOULD happen if you mash about 10 times a second! Please, if you think this LOOKS legit I understand what is going on...
http://loopthetube.com#Sm6zqLUU5I0&start=24.632&end=40.923

You can clearly see how his body tenses up and then releases after he mashes. If you look at his older recorded runs on his channel he does the same thing.

[quote="Deathtome"]I can only say that I am 100% sure you used turbo for the run. You may not have used it to the fullest extent to avoid getting caught (of course), but I have tried to mash in various ways and still maintaining my voice like normal... quite impossible. Mashing a 226% like it's nothing is pretty unrealistic while READING and THINKING about an answer during a mash. I could loop the most obvious proof over and over, but people would still not believe. I know you used turbo after watching your video for 5 minutes the first time, since I used a turbo myself to route... (I was very surprised to see that it was not a legit run)

Watch this over and over and think about if you (anyone) can mash in the air or at a table or a controller while speaking. Your voice WILL sound strained, right? This is not a coincidence at all. That SHOULD happen if you mash about 10 times a second! Please, if you think this LOOKS legit I understand what is going on...
http://loopthetube.com#Sm6zqLUU5I0&start=24.632&end=40.923[/quote]

You can clearly see how his body tenses up and then releases after he mashes.  If you look at his older recorded runs on his channel he does the same thing.

Deathtome

Edit history:

Deathtome: 2014-11-20 03:50:18 pm

2014-07-29 11:20:02 am

Quote from Lurker:

You can clearly see how his body tenses up and then releases after he mashes. If you look at his older recorded runs on his channel he does the same thing.

Of course, he is enabling and disabling the turbo on his X button...

I would NEVER accuse someone of cheating if I don't know (100%) that they are cheating (and even if I do know someone is cheating, most of the time I don't even care about it). I knew he was using turbo before I did my first test run. I just didn't care about it until he suddenly jumps in at my Twitch chat & appears on my Youtube to bash me about using a turbo controller for practice... WHAT THE HECK?

So how can I tell that he is cheating? Well, it is very obvious to me, that have spent 3 months routing up the game with a turbo controller, to see what is done with a turbo and what is not. I believe HE can do 230% legit, but he cannot do most of the things he have done in his 13:03 run without a turbo controller (these things are DIFFICULT to tell if you don't have DEEP KNOWLEDGE about how the mechanics of this game work). Things that are obvious to me will not be obvious for someone who haven't been speedrunning LOD seriously... more so for people who haven't played the game at all.

I am 100% sure he cheated. I know I am right. I am going to get the truth out of this in one way or another. You guys ever took the time to investigate it instead of just blindly believe he did it legit? Seriously, I could do a speedrun of any game and SMARTLY use a turbo controller and claim to have done it legit (while making it look very difficult to tell).

I can only say one thing... this run is cheated. If people will blindly believe it is true, well then I cannot do much about it. I know the truth myself.

Thanks, and remember my name.

[quote="Lurker"]You can clearly see how his body tenses up and then releases after he mashes.  If you look at his older recorded runs on his channel he does the same thing.[/quote]

Of course, he is enabling and disabling the turbo on his X button...

I would NEVER accuse someone of cheating if I don't know (100%) that they are cheating (and even if I do know someone is cheating, most of the time I don't even care about it). I knew he was using turbo before I did my first test run. I just didn't care about it until he suddenly jumps in at my Twitch chat & appears on my Youtube to bash me about using a turbo controller for practice... WHAT THE HECK?

So how can I tell that he is cheating? Well, it is very obvious to me, that have spent 3 months routing up the game with a turbo controller, to see what is done with a turbo and what is not. I believe HE can do 230% legit, but he cannot do most of the things he have done in his 13:03 run without a turbo controller (these things are DIFFICULT to tell if you don't have DEEP KNOWLEDGE about how the mechanics of this game work). Things that are obvious to me will not be obvious for someone who haven't been speedrunning LOD seriously... more so for people who haven't played the game at all.

I am 100% sure he cheated. I know I am right. I am going to get the truth out of this in one way or another. You guys ever took the time to investigate it instead of just blindly believe he did it legit? Seriously, I could do a speedrun of any game and SMARTLY use a turbo controller and claim to have done it legit (while making it look very difficult to tell).

I can only say one thing... this run is cheated. If people will blindly believe it is true, well then I cannot do much about it. I know the truth myself.

Thanks, and remember my name.

Omnigamer

2014-07-29 11:57:50 am

All the things

Quote from Deathtome:

So how can I tell that he is cheating? Well, it is very obvious to me, that have spent 1-2 months routing up the game with a turbo controller, to see what is done with a turbo and what is not.

To be completely honest, if you only spent 1-2 months routing a 13 hour game, you can't hope to have anything close to an optimized route.

Everybody else has already addressed everything else you bring up, regardless of how much you wish to believe it.

Raelcun

Edit history:

Raelcun: 2014-07-29 02:11:49 pm

Raelcun: 2014-07-29 02:10:40 pm

Raelcun: 2014-07-29 02:09:25 pm

Raelcun: 2014-07-29 02:08:23 pm

2014-07-29 02:07:25 pm

We require more minerals

Quote from Deathtome:

My conclusion is also drawn from things like this
1. He finished one run because he would most likely never be able to beat it legit, also would add more opportunities to get detected.
2. He never announced it on his Twitch profile. He never saved it as a highlight on Twitch. He only mentioned it once and then went silent (yes, to not make too many people watch the run). It feels like the run itself is very hidden and I'm sure he is happy that most of the run is unwatchable.
3. He gains even more legitimacy by bashing more people for their strategies (one of the more common things I've seen earlier in this thread).
4. Nobody dares to question him because he's a high profile at SDA(?)

These statements are silly.

1) I finished one run and fully intended to do more, I mention in my video (if you'd actually bother to watch it) that I was going to come back and beat it. But when I was practicing and routing later on, I found out how lucky I was to have not had a crash in that run and didn't feel like running it again only to have a crash. ( http://www.twitch.tv/raelcun/c/2717834 ) LoD is a game I did for fun, if you paid any attention to me and my speedrunning habits, I tend to play games more to route them than to grind them out for good times. Me doing one or two runs of something and then not improving the time when someone beats it is normal.

2) I didn't announce it on my Twitch profile because I never do. There's no highlight because the stream crashed and it's in two parts so I didn't bother. I've lost count of the number of world records I've held by default because nobody else has run the game. Who cares about records like that? I don't. I also don't run games just for records, I don't go into things thinking "I'm going to get a record.

3) Robot and I got into things more rudely than we should have, and I have already apologized to him for that.

4) You're free to question me, just don't be a dick about it. Question me to my face. Don't trash talk me on my stream for nearly a week straight and then expect other people to respond positively to you later. That's not how grownups behave, so you're not being treated like a grownup now.

[quote=Deathtome]

My conclusion is also drawn from things like this
1. He finished one run because he would most likely never be able to beat it legit, also would add more opportunities to get detected.
2. He never announced it on his Twitch profile. He never saved it as a highlight on Twitch. He only mentioned it once and then went silent (yes, to not make too many people watch the run). It feels like the run itself is very hidden and I'm sure he is happy that most of the run is unwatchable.
3. He gains even more legitimacy by bashing more people for their strategies (one of the more common things I've seen earlier in this thread).
4. Nobody dares to question him because he's a high profile at SDA(?)[/quote]

These statements are silly.

1) I finished one run and fully intended to do more, I mention in my video (if you'd actually bother to watch it) that I was going to come back and beat it. But when I was practicing and routing later on, I found out how lucky I was to have not had a crash in that run and didn't feel like running it again only to have a crash. ( http://www.twitch.tv/raelcun/c/2717834 ) LoD is a game I did for fun, if you paid any attention to me and my speedrunning habits, I tend to play games more to route them than to grind them out for good times. Me doing one or two runs of something and then not improving the time when someone beats it is normal.

2) I didn't announce it on my Twitch profile because I never do. There's no highlight because the stream crashed and it's in two parts so I didn't bother. I've lost count of the number of world records I've held by default because nobody else has run the game. Who cares about records like that? I don't. I also don't run games just for records, I don't go into things thinking "I'm going to get a record.

3) Robot and I got into things more rudely than we should have, and I have already apologized to him for that.

4) You're free to question me, just don't be a dick about it. Question me to my face. Don't trash talk me on my stream for nearly a week straight and then expect other people to respond positively to you later. That's not how grownups behave, so you're not being treated like a grownup now.

MURPHAGATOR!

Edit history:

MURPHAGATOR!: 2014-07-29 07:13:13 pm

2014-07-29 02:08:14 pm

Terraffirmative!

Alright, this has gone on long enough. Deathtome, I appreciate that you want to keep the community honest and prevent cheating, but quite frankly your arguments thus far don't hold water at all. There are a LOT better mashers out there than Raelcun (No offense, man), who can also talk and pay full attention to other things while doing it. I'm not the best at mashing, but when I have to mash and not pay attention to what I'm actually mashing, I find it pretty easy to read/do other things while doing it on a ps2 style controller. Its a pretty minor muscle movement.

Raelcun and others, I understand that being accused of cheating is something that can flare up tempers, but these responses aren't helping anything at this point. If you still want to provide evidence of your ability to mash during a run here, Raelcun, that's fine, but otherwise I think it's time to just end this.

If people want to post further discussion about strategies and improvements for this game, please do so. Further discussion about who's cheating or not without very substantial evidence should not be entertained here.

Edit: Any more accusational posts will be met with a break from the forums. You've been warned.

Alright, this has gone on long enough. Deathtome, I appreciate that you want to keep the community honest and prevent cheating, but quite frankly your arguments thus far don't hold water at all. There are a LOT better mashers out there than Raelcun (No offense, man), who can also talk and pay full attention to other things while doing it. I'm not the best at mashing, but when I have to mash and not pay attention to what I'm actually mashing, I find it pretty easy to read/do other things while doing it on a ps2 style controller. Its a pretty minor muscle movement.

Raelcun and others, I understand that being accused of cheating is something that can flare up tempers, but these responses aren't helping anything at this point. If you still want to provide evidence of your ability to mash during a run here, Raelcun, that's fine, but otherwise I think it's time to just end this.

If people want to post further discussion about strategies and improvements for this game, please do so. Further discussion about who's cheating or not without very substantial evidence should not be entertained here.

Edit: Any more accusational posts will be met with a break from the forums. You've been warned.

Luzbelheim

2014-07-29 07:47:28 pm

Okay? Okay!

Good job mate ;----)

JimmyJamma15

Edit history:

JimmyJamma15: 2014-08-03 05:01:05 am

JimmyJamma15: 2014-08-03 04:08:39 am

JimmyJamma15: 2014-08-03 04:07:29 am

JimmyJamma15: 2014-08-01 11:05:25 pm

2014-08-01 09:25:00 pm

Hey everyone! I just wanted to drop by to let everyone know I will be doing a SS run of this game on my PS1 tomorrow (August 2nd). Start time will be approximately 12:00PM CST. Hopefully everything goes well and we can all have some fun! Cheesy

twitch.tv/JimmyJamma15

Last hit on Melbu 13:45:18 PS1 Normal disc speed, 100% manual mashing with hand cam on the entire stream. Smiley

Big thanks to everyone that came and watched and hung out with me! The end of disc 4 was incredibly exciting!!! Cheesy

JimmyJamma15

2014-08-08 12:53:02 am

Greetings once again everyone! I will be doing another single segment PS1 run today at around 8AM CST. I had it advertised at 7AM CST on my stream but something has come up to make me push it back an hour. The goal for this run is 13:15:XX...which means me not getting random encounters that aren't planned and gets at least average luck on the majority of bosses (I'm looking at you Melbu Frahma). twitch.tv/JimmyJamma15 hope some people can come chill for a while tomorrow! Cheesy

ChrisLaughs

2014-08-14 12:56:56 pm

Twitch.tv/chrislaughs

Is there a route written somewhere online? I'd really like to run this game and would really appreciate a starting point.

JimmyJamma15

2014-08-14 07:55:23 pm

Hi Chris! My notes are actually hand written! Sad

I do that to help me memorize things better (Just something about my learning practice I found from attending college). If you have any specific questions about bosses or itemization please don't hesitate to ask me! I'm here to help brother!

Raelcun

2014-08-15 12:42:19 am

We require more minerals

What was the time on your second run? I can't load the vod because Twitch gives me a failed to find video error. I've been watching through the previous run taking some notes on small things you could do to save a bit of time, but due to all of the medical issues I'm dealing with, I'm only through disc 1. I can post what I have so far, or wai tuntil I'm through the entire run. Let me know.

JimmyJamma15

Edit history:

JimmyJamma15: 2014-08-15 02:45:09 am

JimmyJamma15: 2014-08-15 02:44:28 am

2014-08-15 02:44:04 am

Hey Raelcun! I died on the Doel refight. I ended up loading a save and continued timing myself just to see how much time I could make up. I can't remember the time off hand but it was significantly better than my first run even with the stupid death. Turns out Doel wont double turn you unless you're killable :p

Also, I hope you get better soon man. I understand how medical issues can go.

Raelcun

2014-08-15 04:30:31 am

We require more minerals

Most of the stuff I've found so far are minor things that'll save a few seconds, but they can add up and some are closer to 30 seconds here or there. I'll post the rest when I get the time, but I'm about to head to bed and I want to make sure I remember so I'm tossing you the disc 1 stuff now.

1)Don't pick up the Charm Potion in the forest.

It's possible to pick it up on the second pass through at the end of the disc if you really need it, but you should be able to route it out completely.

Go through the entire "maze screen" without using the charm potion. The encounter rate there is very low and you can take 4-5 steps on the next screen before using the charm potion. If you do the steps right you don't need to use a second one. (If you're about to hit an encounter (it's very close) you can walk the last few steps out of the last screen to avoid it and this still saves more time than picking up the charm potion and using an extra one.)

2) The encounter rate on the screen with the Urobolus is extremely low. Generally I find the chest with the body purifier faster than needing to buy one at the item shop if Lavitz or Dart get poisoned. Plus it saves a bit of gold.

3) If you're careful with your steps, you can get out of the cave after Urobolus without using a charm potion. It's not the end of the world if you miss it, just a thing to aim for.

4) Why do you kill Greham first when the Dragon can put status effects on Rose that takes her out of the fight? That can result in a lot of time lost if he stuns her. He can also fear which halves her damage, which is why I pick up the despirit ring, besides the fact that it sells for a decent chunk as well. I can see killing Greham being faster, but I'm always way too scared of him stunning Rose to do it.

5) Why do you switch to Rod Typhoon on Drake?

You can use harpoon right up until Hellena 2 without really losing any time where you then use Gust of Wind Dance in conjunction with thunderbolts to clear all of the guards.

This also lets you skip the demon stiletto since Gust of Wind Dance does so much more damage for that part and Rose + Haschel can deal with the guards in Kazas without it.

Since Drake has so much health, the extra small bits of damage don't really contribute a whole lot on Drake when it's a significant increase in animation time. I've noticed that you can skip him healing with harpoon as well as Rod Typhoon if you get lucky enough on the turn order. So even if you do switch to Rod Typhoon for Hellena 2 anyway, it's not really necessary on Drake if you get that turn order.

6) Related, but you really should get rid of your extra Pellets at the entrance of the Hellena 2 shop menu. If you get the good luck on Drake those slots can be used for more healing or even more Thunderbolts to speed up even more of the guard fights. You don't really have anyone to throw those at and it would save more time to swap them out for something else in that shop.

7) If you take the mine cart back to the entrance of the shrine, you can skip using charm potions on the way back out of the Shrine. It's a long animation, but the menu load times are pretty significant on having to use 3-4 charm potions.

Related, but if you're good with your steps you can get right up before Drake's trigger and then walk into it to avoid another Charm Potion.

8) The only way you can kill Atlow without him using 5 sense blocker is if you get a double turn early. Without that turn order he's going to use the 5 sense blocker before you can beat him and fear you to where you can't win without losing time. If you don't get the double turn early, you should just fail the additions to make it go faster since guarding makes dying slower as well.

After Atlow levelling up Volcano doesn't matter anymore, so missing Volcanos from this point on to save time is something you should look at for Hellena and Kazas.

9) Jiango won't wake up as early if you don't attack him with Dart and Lavitz. If you only throw items at him he'll be asleep for three turns every time. There's still some variance because his turn order is unpredictable, but it makes the fight a bit more safe.

That's all I have since I only got through Disc 1 so far. It might seem like I'm nitpicking on charm potions, but each one can take 10-15 seconds based on how long it takes for the menu to load, so trying to reduce them is quite a big deal.

Most of the stuff I've found so far are minor things that'll save a few seconds, but they can add up and some are closer to 30 seconds here or there. I'll post the rest when I get the time, but I'm about to head to bed and I want to make sure I remember so I'm tossing you the disc 1 stuff now.

1)Don't pick up the Charm Potion in the forest.

It's possible to pick it up on the second pass through at the end of the disc if you really need it, but you should be able to route it out completely.

Go through the entire "maze screen" without using the charm potion. The encounter rate there is very low and you can take 4-5 steps on the next screen before using the charm potion. If you do the steps right you don't need to use a second one. (If you're about to hit an encounter (it's very close) you can walk the last few steps out of the last screen to avoid it and this still saves more time than picking up the charm potion and using an extra one.)

2) The encounter rate on the screen with the Urobolus is extremely low. Generally I find the chest with the body purifier faster than needing to buy one at the item shop if Lavitz or Dart get poisoned. Plus it saves a bit of gold.

3) If you're careful with your steps, you can get out of the cave after Urobolus without using a charm potion. It's not the end of the world if you miss it, just a thing to aim for.

4) Why do you kill Greham first when the Dragon can put status effects on Rose that takes her out of the fight? That can result in a lot of time lost if he stuns her. He can also fear which halves her damage, which is why I pick up the despirit ring, besides the fact that it sells for a decent chunk as well. I can see killing Greham being faster, but I'm always way too scared of him stunning Rose to do it.

5) Why do you switch to Rod Typhoon on Drake?

You can use harpoon right up until Hellena 2 without really losing any time where you then use Gust of Wind Dance in conjunction with thunderbolts to clear all of the guards.

This also lets you skip the demon stiletto since Gust of Wind Dance does so much more damage for that part and Rose + Haschel can deal with the guards in Kazas without it.

Since Drake has so much health, the extra small bits of damage don't really contribute a whole lot on Drake when it's a significant increase in animation time. I've noticed that you can skip him healing with harpoon as well as Rod Typhoon if you get lucky enough on the turn order. So even if you do switch to Rod Typhoon for Hellena 2 anyway, it's not really necessary on Drake if you get that turn order.

6) Related, but you really should get rid of your extra Pellets at the entrance of the Hellena 2 shop menu. If you get the good luck on Drake those slots can be used for more healing or even more Thunderbolts to speed up even more of the guard fights. You don't really have anyone to throw those at and it would save more time to swap them out for something else in that shop.

7) If you take the mine cart back to the entrance of the shrine, you can skip using charm potions on the way back out of the Shrine. It's a long animation, but the menu load times are pretty significant on having to use 3-4 charm potions.

Related, but if you're good with your steps you can get right up before Drake's trigger and then walk into it to avoid another Charm Potion.

8) The only way you can kill Atlow without him using 5 sense blocker is if you get a double turn early. Without that turn order he's going to use the 5 sense blocker before you can beat him and fear  you to where you can't win without losing time. If you don't get the double turn early, you should just fail the additions to make it go faster since guarding makes dying slower as well.

After Atlow levelling up Volcano doesn't matter anymore, so missing Volcanos from this point on to save time is something you should look at for Hellena and Kazas.

9) Jiango won't wake up as early if you don't attack him with Dart and Lavitz. If you only throw items at him he'll be asleep for three turns every time. There's still some variance because his turn order is unpredictable, but it makes the fight a bit more safe.

That's all I have since I only got through Disc 1 so far. It might seem like I'm nitpicking on charm potions, but each one can take 10-15 seconds based on how long it takes for the menu to load, so trying to reduce them is quite a big deal.

JimmyJamma15

Edit history:

JimmyJamma15: 2014-08-15 06:11:46 am

2014-08-15 06:10:54 am

Whoa Raelcun! Thanks for the feedback! I actually haven't streamed in a while because I have done so much off stream testing and practicing (Those darn Hex Hammer counters as well as Dragoon Additions). I have been rethinking what I should do with my charm potions as well. I will certainly practice things with your suggestions. I am aware of a lot of the points you make (getting through low encounter screens) and honestly I don't mind the nitpicking at all. I get frustrated with myself when I screw up something that loses a few seconds. My step counter work is something that needs major improvement. I am currently estimating that with my route I am using probably 4-5 extra charm potions which, if each is about 10 seconds, is almost a minute. Since it is only about a minute in a 13ish hour run, I have put that on the back burner while I try to further optimize my inventory and fights.

Just a couple of things that you touched on here:

I do fail a TON of Volcanos now. My completed run I completed way more volcanos than I should have. In my run that I died in (the one you can't access due to the video failing) I did fail Volcanos in every spot you mentioned but also did when I got a second turn (before lavitz) in prison one. Once Dart hits level three a completed Volcano and a failed one will kill the guard. I also fail volcanos as soon as I don't get a double turn early (something I have changed since my completed run but you wouldn't know because twitch videos suck :p ).

I switch to Rod Typhoon because the damage was relevant with all my testing on Drake. Then it also saved me some time in the prison because I wont be losing time with GoWD's long addition. My plans are to not throw tbolts on the first two forced fights in the prison revisit but to save them for the guard and bird fights as well as two Kazas fights. Throwing a TBolt during the double guard fights in Kazas saves me about 2 turns (Depends on turn RNG...I also fail volcanos here too). The small guards in the prison revisit take 1 Rod Typhoon and 1 Whip Smack. The Veterans take 1 Whip Smack and 2 Volcanos. I don't fail those Volcanos due to needed level 3 Volcano for the Doel fight (speeds up the fight by a turn or two which could me a TON of time if he decides to troll). With all of that said....I think you are right about sticking with Harpoon for Drake. I think my testing had him dying a turn faster if he healed if I used Rod Typhoon over Harpoon but honestly I have changed my strat on him so many times I can't remember.

I kill Greham first because he can potentially cause a MAJOR time loss. He has his "special attack" and magic attacks that he can use which are long animations. Not to mention he seems to have decent speed, at the least faster than the Dragon. While testing to see if killing the Dragon is better, he seemed to get way too many turns (usually 4) which meant he could end up as a "mini" Doel and spam his special attack instead of using his Dragoon addition. I pick up a body purifier (again, you didn't see this because it was in the run that I died on) to keep Rose save in case she gets stunned by the Dragon. Also, the Virage 1 drops a Mind Purifier which I use if she is feared. With decent turn order the Dragon will die before he gets a 3rd attack (excluding the power up animations). The Dragon dies with 2 Pellet, 2 Volcano, and 1 Harpoon with my planning and Greham with 2 Pellets and 1 addition per male party member (I am sure yours is probably very similar if not identical...just listed it because we are talking about it).

I appreciate your suggestions about the extra Pellets...I have been thinking I should replace any extra ones with something relevant and Tbolts would help a lot! Since we are talking about Pellets, is there any way to get Drake to not troll and heal or throw his bombs on his first turn? In my completed run I had probably a perfect Drake fight. Every time since then, he has been one stubborn fella. Also, not getting the Demon Stiletto is something I have wanted to do for a while.

Your Jiango suggestion is literally what I have been wondering about for a while. Thank you for that! Seriously that fight can make the rest of the prison a nightmare. My current plan is to throw 3 Spinning Gale with Rose, 1 Rod Typhoon, 2 Volcano, and have Dart throw a Spinning Gale after the two Volcanos. With Lavitz throwing the Sachet on his first turn.

With all of that said, these are things that I need to definitely improve on (things you mentioned are here too):

STEP COUNTERS!!! Holy crap! As mentioned before I am probably losing about a minute (at least) to menuing for the Charm Potions on disc 1 alone. Sad

Knowing what level Volcano is and failing them in specific spots. I already have situations where I fail them planned out but I think I can definitely save time by paying more attention to how many I have completed. Along with this, the Rod Typhoon or Harpoon situation at the Shrine of Shirley is something that I think you're right about and something I will be testing out.

I think I need to rehash my inventory for the Prison revisit. I like the idea of having extra Tbolts for the forced fights there as well as keeping some for Kazas. This means I will need to reevaluate my strats for the prison (Rod Typhoon vs GoWD...fail volcanos).

As far as for the gold from the despirit ring, it wouldn't be that big of a deal since I sell the extra gear anyway which keeps me in the range needed for the equipment I need to buy. This is a trade off because I take time to sell the stuff for the gold but I save some menu time (and saves me from equipping the wrong item and screwing that up). I keep a bracelet and leather shoes to swap the bandit items to Albert.

If I missed something, I apologize, I have been up all night now and am feeling prettttayyy scatterbrained.

Once again, I hope you get better soon! Thank you for putting all the time into analyzing my run as well as your post. I truly appreciate it! Cheesy

Whoa Raelcun! Thanks for the feedback! I actually haven't streamed in a while because I have done so much off stream testing and practicing (Those darn Hex Hammer counters as well as Dragoon Additions). I have been rethinking what I should do with my charm potions as well.  I will certainly practice things with your suggestions.  I am aware of a lot of the points you make (getting through low encounter screens) and honestly I don't mind the nitpicking at all.  I get frustrated with myself when I screw up something that loses a few seconds.  My step counter work is something that needs major improvement. I am currently estimating that with my route I am using probably 4-5 extra charm potions which, if each is about 10 seconds, is almost a minute. Since it is only about a minute in a 13ish hour run, I have put that on the back burner while I try to further optimize my inventory and fights.

Just a couple of things that you touched on here:

I do fail a TON of Volcanos now.  My completed run I completed way more volcanos than I should have. In my run that I died in (the one you can't access due to the video failing) I did fail Volcanos in every spot you mentioned but also did when I got a second turn (before lavitz) in prison one.  Once Dart hits level three a completed Volcano and a failed one will kill the guard. I also fail volcanos as soon as I don't get a double turn early (something I have changed since my completed run but you wouldn't know because twitch videos suck :p ).

I switch to Rod Typhoon because the damage was relevant with all my testing on Drake.  Then it also saved me some time in the prison because I wont be losing time with GoWD's long addition.  My plans are to not throw tbolts on the first two forced fights in the prison revisit but to save them for the guard and bird fights as well as two Kazas fights.  Throwing a TBolt during the double guard fights in Kazas saves me about 2 turns (Depends on turn RNG...I also fail volcanos here too).  The small guards in the prison revisit take 1 Rod Typhoon and 1 Whip Smack. The Veterans take 1 Whip Smack and 2 Volcanos. I don't fail those Volcanos due to needed level 3 Volcano for the Doel fight (speeds up the fight by a turn or two which could me a TON of time if he decides to troll). With all of that said....I think you are right about sticking with Harpoon for Drake.  I think my testing had him dying a turn faster if he healed if I used Rod Typhoon over Harpoon but honestly I have changed my strat on him so many times I can't remember.

I kill Greham first because he can potentially cause a MAJOR time loss. He has his "special attack" and magic attacks that he can use which are long animations.  Not to mention he seems to have decent speed, at the least faster than the Dragon.  While testing to see if killing the Dragon is better, he seemed to get way too many turns (usually 4) which meant he could end up as a "mini" Doel and spam his special attack instead of using his Dragoon addition.  I pick up a body purifier (again, you didn't see this because it was in the run that I died on) to keep Rose save in case she gets stunned by the Dragon.  Also, the Virage 1 drops a Mind Purifier which I use if she is feared.  With decent turn order the Dragon will die before he gets a 3rd attack (excluding the power up animations).   The Dragon dies with 2 Pellet, 2 Volcano, and 1 Harpoon with my planning and Greham with 2 Pellets and 1 addition per male party member (I am sure yours is probably very similar if not identical...just listed it because we are talking about it).

I appreciate your suggestions about the extra Pellets...I have been thinking I should replace any extra ones with something relevant and Tbolts would help a lot! Since we are talking about Pellets, is there any way to get Drake to not troll and heal or throw his bombs on his first turn? In my completed run I had probably a perfect Drake fight. Every time since then, he has been one stubborn fella. Also, not getting the Demon Stiletto is something I have wanted to do for a while.

Your Jiango suggestion is literally what I have been wondering about for a while.  Thank you for that! Seriously that fight can make the rest of the prison a nightmare.  My current plan is to throw 3 Spinning Gale with Rose, 1 Rod Typhoon, 2 Volcano, and have Dart throw a Spinning Gale after the two Volcanos. With Lavitz throwing the Sachet on his first turn.

With all of that said, these are things that I need to definitely improve on (things you mentioned are here too):

STEP COUNTERS!!! Holy crap! As mentioned before I am probably losing about a minute (at least) to menuing for the Charm Potions on disc 1 alone. :(

Knowing what level Volcano is and failing them in specific spots. I already have situations where I fail them planned out but I think I can definitely save time by paying more attention to how many I have completed.  Along with this, the Rod Typhoon or Harpoon situation at the Shrine of Shirley is something that I think you're right about and something I will be testing out.

I think I need to rehash my inventory for the Prison revisit.  I like the idea of having extra Tbolts for the forced fights there as well as keeping some for Kazas.  This means I will need to reevaluate my strats for the prison (Rod Typhoon vs GoWD...fail volcanos).

As far as for the gold from the despirit ring, it wouldn't be that big of a deal since I sell the extra gear anyway which keeps me in the range needed for the equipment I need to buy.  This is a trade off because I take time to sell the stuff for the gold but I save some menu time (and saves me from equipping the wrong item and screwing that up).  I keep a bracelet and leather shoes to swap the bandit items to Albert.

If I missed something, I apologize, I have been up all night now and am feeling prettttayyy scatterbrained.

Once again, I hope you get better soon! Thank you for putting all the time into analyzing my run as well as your post. I truly appreciate it! :D

Raelcun

2014-08-15 03:47:37 pm

We require more minerals

Yeah a lot of the gold route is very flexible. If you're not making up money somewhere, then you can easily fall short at the endgame from bad luck and having to buy extra healing items. As long as you have that figured out, it works fine. The main thing is to figure out how far out of your way you're going for any extra gold. There's a lot of semi-valuable items you can sell later in the game that are not very far out of the way. So, I actually pick up most of my extra gold in disc 3 and 4. As long as you have a bit of a buffer in your gold route for extra healing items, you're fine.

With Drake, if you get the perfect turn order, which I'm pretty sure is what you had during your first run, then you can kill him before he heals with Harpoon instead of Rod Typhoon. That's why I brought it up there. The hits from Rod Typhoon aren't enough to really give it enough of a power boost because between that fight and the forced guard encounters you're not going to use it 20 times. I wish it was possible to manipulated him to make him throw his bombs later, but sadly Drake is just a jerk like that sometimes. You used the Meteor Fall for the bombs, but what I would suggest is waiting to see if he uses the web first. If he decides to be a grade A jerk, I usually use the attack all item on the bombs + the web + Drake just so that Dart and Lavitz can keep attacking.

I actually experimented with getting Lavitz killed on that fight, but it didn't really give enough of a return to be worth it and removed the chance of killing Drake before he heals.

A lot of the rooms have particular ways you can move through them to reduce the step count somewhat reliably, they're hard to describe, but if you practice enough you can probably figure them out. One thing to keep in mind is that analog controls work in LoD but it's not 16 directional analog. It's just dpad movements in 8 directions, so on some screens using the dpad for more exact movement is your friend.

Yeah a lot of the gold route is very flexible. If you're not making up money somewhere, then you can easily fall short at the endgame from bad luck and having to buy extra healing items. As long as you have that figured out, it works fine. The main thing is to figure out how far out of your way you're going for any extra gold. There's a lot of semi-valuable items you can sell later in the game that are not very far out of the way. So, I actually pick up most of my extra gold in disc 3 and 4. As long as you have a bit of a buffer in your gold route for extra healing items, you're fine.

With Drake, if you get the perfect turn order, which I'm pretty sure is what you had during your first run, then you can kill him before he heals with Harpoon instead of Rod Typhoon. That's why I brought it up there. The hits from Rod Typhoon aren't enough to really give it enough of a power boost because between that fight and the forced guard encounters you're not going to use it 20 times. I wish it was possible to manipulated him to make him throw his bombs later, but sadly Drake is just a jerk like that sometimes. You used the Meteor Fall for the bombs, but what I would suggest is waiting to see if he uses the web first. If he decides to be a grade A jerk, I usually use the attack all item on the bombs + the web + Drake just so that Dart and Lavitz can keep attacking.

I actually experimented with getting Lavitz killed on that fight, but it didn't really give enough of a return to be worth it and removed the chance of killing Drake before he heals.

A lot of the rooms have particular ways you can move through them to reduce the step count somewhat reliably, they're hard to describe, but if you practice enough you can probably figure them out. One thing to keep in mind is that analog controls work in LoD but it's not 16 directional analog. It's just dpad movements in 8 directions, so on some screens using the dpad for more exact movement is your friend.

JimmyJamma15

2014-08-16 02:36:01 am

I don't like letting the bombs live any longer than I really have to. They take up time when they roll and I have had some really random turn orders where they get double turns and end up blowing up on a party member. It isn't life threatening to the party member, but it takes up a lot of time. That is why I elect to throw the Meteor Fall on Dart's first turn after he spawns them. I use Meteor Fall because it does reasonable damage to Drake as well as killing the bombs. The downburst only does about 43ish damage to Drake (When Dart throws it). Basically my plan is to try to blow him up as fast as I can to try to beat the heal and/or wire trap.

To have Lavitz die here would be difficult to accomplish. Drake doesn't deal a great deal amount of damage to any single target. The only way I could see Lavitz dying here would be to allow a bomb to hit him but that would take way too much time. I also don't think the extra XP to Dart would even be relevant either (I'm excluding Rose here because she is replaced pretty much immediately on disc 2). So ultimately, I agree with you about not trying to have him die during the Drake fight.

I do use the dpad for certain things. I use it for menuing, entering towns, as well as navigating the "puzzle" room in Mayfil. The only thing that I think I should look into is walking instead of always running on some screens. I honestly don't know if it even helps in regards to the step counter but it could, as you mentioned, provide more accurate movement to where I don't run into walls.

During my discs 2, 3 (Excluding the Llyod fight), and 4 (Before leaving to fight Archangel) I really don't buy a whole lot of Healing Breeze or Healing Potions. I really only carry enough to heal after boss fights by utilizing the Healing Potion drops from forced encounters. I try to minimize buying many healing items, especially on disc 2, since the bosses are not that scary. I really only keep one angel's prayer with me (I buy it at the merchant in the Kazas before the Doel fight) for the majority of the game except for certain boss fights. Since I take random encounters as soon as I run out of charm potions in Aglis/Zenebatos gold never seemed like an issue.

I'm not sure if you have watched through disc 4 yet, but the PBX missed....YES MISSED Archangel. This obliterated my time (along with screwing up the Executioners fight) for disc 4. Do you have any idea how often the PBX can miss Archangel? The only time it ever happened to me was during that run. I would like to find something to help compensate for the chance of that happening. I was thinking about taking one less Healing Breeze for the Melbu fight and getting an extra Trans Light to throw at Archangel if PBX misses. I don't know if the damage is great enough to warrant the item swap though. What do you think about this? The upside to this swap is that if PBX doesn't miss, I have an extra Trans light for Melbu. I could always grab a Spectral Flash at the Divine Tree and throw a Night Raid at Archangel instead. This would still leave me two attack all items for Meru to throw during phase 1 of Melbu to help kill the tentacles. The time difference wont be very significant since the Spectral Flash at the Divine Tree is like 4 steps out of the way.

I don't like letting the bombs live any longer than I really have to.  They take up time when they roll and I have had some really random turn orders where they get double turns and end up blowing up on a party member. It isn't life threatening to the party member, but it takes up a lot of time.  That is why I elect to throw the Meteor Fall on Dart's first turn after he spawns them.  I use Meteor Fall because it does reasonable damage to Drake as well as killing the bombs.  The downburst only does about 43ish damage to Drake (When Dart throws it). Basically my plan is to try to blow him up as fast as I can to try to beat the heal and/or wire trap.

To have Lavitz die here would be difficult to accomplish.  Drake doesn't deal a great deal amount of damage to any single target. The only way I could see Lavitz dying here would be to allow a bomb to hit him but that would take way too much time.  I also don't think the extra XP to Dart would even be relevant either (I'm excluding Rose here because she is replaced pretty much immediately on disc 2).  So ultimately, I agree with you about not trying to have him die during the Drake fight.

I do use the dpad for certain things.  I use it for menuing, entering towns, as well as navigating the "puzzle" room in Mayfil.  The only thing that I think I should look into is walking instead of always running on some screens.  I honestly don't know if it even helps in regards to the step counter but it could, as you mentioned, provide more accurate movement to where I don't run into walls.

During my discs 2, 3 (Excluding the Llyod fight), and 4 (Before leaving to fight Archangel) I really don't buy a whole lot of Healing Breeze or Healing Potions. I really only carry enough to heal after boss fights by utilizing the Healing Potion drops from forced encounters.  I try to minimize buying many healing items, especially on disc 2, since the bosses are not that scary.  I really only keep one angel's prayer with me (I buy it at the merchant in the Kazas before the Doel fight) for the majority of the game except for certain boss fights.  Since I take random encounters as soon as I run out of charm potions in Aglis/Zenebatos gold never seemed like an issue.

I'm not sure if you have watched through disc 4 yet, but the PBX missed....YES MISSED Archangel.  This obliterated my time (along with screwing up the Executioners fight) for disc 4.  Do you have any idea how often the PBX can miss Archangel?  The only time it ever happened to me was during that run. I would like to find something to help compensate for the chance of that happening.  I was thinking about taking one less Healing Breeze for the Melbu fight and getting an extra Trans Light to throw at Archangel if PBX misses.  I don't know if the damage is great enough to warrant the item swap though.  What do you think about this?  The upside to this swap is that if PBX doesn't miss, I have an extra Trans light for Melbu. I could always grab a Spectral Flash at the Divine Tree and throw a Night Raid at Archangel instead. This would still leave me two attack all items for Meru to throw during phase 1 of Melbu to help kill the tentacles. The time difference wont be very significant since the Spectral Flash at the Divine Tree is like 4 steps out of the way.