Okage: Shadow King

Edit history:

Kuinsan: 2009-06-22 11:07:06 pm

2009-06-22 10:23:25 pm

Hello SDA users, I'm Kuinsan. I've been a fan of this website for years and have always loved to watch speedruns of games I've barely heard of. But on to the point.

I was a little surprised when I found no Okage: Shadow King speedrun on the list, but more surprised when I didn't even see a post about it in the forum. I had the idea to do a speedrun of this game when I was recording for my Let's Play (Yes, I'm a let's player on Youtube, but that's besides the point) and I figured out a pretty neat little trick. The random encounter ghosts disappear whenever you examine something. This disappearance is very short, but comes in handy in tight areas, especially the Madril Sewers (spoiler spoiler, I know).

Now, just to be fair, I've never completed the game, but I appear to be pretty darn close, and I already plan to do another run of this game (all of the sidequests and such) before even starting to do a speedrun, but I really would like to know... is it possible? A lot of the battles can be lengthy, especially (for me anyway) the Chairman Evil King and Big Bull Evil King.

If you've played the game and know enough about it, please post. I'd really like to do a speedrun for this beautiful but under-appreciated game, but I can't do it alone (the rules say so, I need verifiers!).

Edit: Here's some more information that I thought may help.
- It will be segmented. It's nuts to do that all in one go, especially since Ari will be slightly lower leveled than usual. Death will occur.
- Final Party is likely to be Rosalyn and Linda. Frost and it's sister spells are essential for some encounters, and Omni Concert is a must for enemies with long attack animations and large groups (namely, bosses). These two also are ideal because they don't require a compatibility scene to get a decent weapon, saving time (you get enough money from dungeon enemies to take care of final shopping).

Thread title:

Hello SDA users, I'm Kuinsan. I've been a fan of this website for years and have always loved to watch speedruns of games I've barely heard of. But on to the point.

I was a little surprised when I found no Okage: Shadow King speedrun on the list, but more surprised when I didn't even see a post about it in the forum. I had the idea to do a speedrun of this game when I was recording for my Let's Play (Yes, I'm a let's player on Youtube, but that's besides the point) and I figured out a pretty neat little trick. The random encounter ghosts disappear whenever you examine something. This disappearance is very short, but comes in handy in tight areas, especially the Madril Sewers (spoiler spoiler, I know).

Now, just to be fair, I've never completed the game, but I appear to be pretty darn close, and I already plan to do another run of this game (all of the sidequests and such) before even starting to do a speedrun, but I really would like to know... is it possible? A lot of the battles can be lengthy, especially (for me anyway) the Chairman Evil King and Big Bull Evil King.

If you've played the game and know enough about it, please post. I'd really like to do a speedrun for this beautiful but under-appreciated game, but I can't do it alone (the rules say so, I need verifiers!).

Edit: Here's some more information that I thought may help.
- It will be segmented. It's nuts to do that all in one go, especially since Ari will be slightly lower leveled than usual. Death will occur.
- Final Party is likely to be Rosalyn and Linda. Frost and it's sister spells are essential for some encounters, and Omni Concert is a must for enemies with long attack animations and large groups (namely, bosses). These two also are ideal because they don't require a compatibility scene to get a decent weapon, saving time (you get enough money from dungeon enemies to take care of final shopping).

ZenicReverie

2009-06-22 11:32:39 pm

Waiting hurts my soul...

Yes, do it!

I've wanted to buy this game and play it again since I rented it, but I haven't been able to get a copy. You should probably complete it before running so you have a good idea of what's ahead. Try to get it down to around 7 hours, but we know that's difficult for many RPGs.

I really didn't play very far into it, but I'd like for there to be a run of the game.

Kuinsan

2009-06-22 11:43:24 pm

I'm pretty sure it can be done under 7 hours. Subtracting out all of the AFK time, raging time, Cutscene Time, and general lost time, it hasn't been a very long game. The first chapters are very threatening with long talking parts, but after the *counts fingers* third boss, it really becomes dungeon to dungeon with puzzles and maps that do not randomize. The hardest part will be dealing with a slightly lower leveled Ari. He's a pain to keep alive as it is, but doing it with even less encounters will be difficult.

AniMeowzerz

2009-07-12 01:51:17 pm

I would be veeeery interested to see a run done on this game. Good game from what I've played.

Depending on how far you progress on this, I think I might try and defy you:
"It will be segmented. It's nuts to do that all in one go, especially since Ari will be slightly lower leveled than usual. Death will occur."
Now I feel obligated to fill the SS category for this game.

But that'll have to wait beings that there are very limited sources for strategy on the game.
And of course the fact that I havent beaten the game myself. Whoops. :>

Equinox

Edit history:

Equinox: 2011-12-09 10:53:52 pm

Equinox: 2011-12-09 10:49:26 pm

2011-12-09 10:47:05 pm

Obsessicus Parrotus

I played this game all the way through about 3 years ago. Good story, interesting characters lovely art. I remember trying to the phantom and vampire at the level you normally reach them at(I don't remember), and I kept getting owned. I also remember having to get significantly higher level to take out phantom. I had to stall and recover over and over. It seemed like an RPG with significantly less options for dealing damage(from what I remember, I could be wrong). I don't know how far you've come or if you're still working on it but I am very interested to see this.

blsh

2012-04-04 09:35:21 am

I'm bringing the thread back from the dead to say that I'm very keen on attempting this game as I think it's one of the few RPGs that might be tailor made for the effort. My theory is as follows:

1. Ari (MC) starts with Overdrive which functionally doubles the damage of anyone it's cast on. In addition, after being cast, that character immediately gets a turn regardless of the ATB meter being unfilled.
2. There is an option to set characters to WAIT status, which allows them to be brought up again at any time to input commands. Also, characters in WAIT status can combo attacks with other characters. This, along with Overdrive, further increases damage.
3. I disagree with Kuinsan's idea about spell usage. Escape from random battles is guaranteed but the action pulls from the party's LP (Party Wide MP Pool). Since running would be essential to any speedrun it would be best to save all your LP for escapes. Then you could use Overdrive (which casts from HP) and heal Ari & Team with items.
4. All dungeons begin with a save point, which makes it perfect for a segmented run. Also, save points refill HP & LP.
5. Random encounters are a last resort for leveling as the best way to build up your team is always to fight the Urns that litter each dungeon. It makes sense to do this since you have to fight the Urns regardless. For those not familiar with the game, Urns are mcguffins that you have to destroy to open certain doors. They are also filled to the brim with EXP and Money. The fights are usually much easier than comparable random encounters as Urns are always solo.

Going off these, I have two theories on getting through the game. The hardest part of the game is going to be the bosses as they always come packing a dangerous punch and they have a fleet of four tough random encounter enemies.

1. The safe way would be to overdrive one character as your attacker. Ari and the other character would stand around healing everyone and trying to stay out of harm's way. Let the attacker kill the cadre of normal enemies with a series of Burst attacks (a special attack which hits all enemies that is only available to Overdrived characters, depletes Overdrive status). Then let the attacker chip away at the bosses life with normal, Overdrived attacks. Slow and steady wins the race.
2. Alternatively, you could throw caution to the wind and try overdriving everyone to bring down the troupe of normals as fast as possible and then blow the boss away with several rounds of Overdrived combos. This is, of course, really dangerous as bosses can do substantial damage and Ari dying means an immediate loss.

Admittedly, I haven't played the game in months but I think everything I've said is, at least, correct if not sound.

I'm bringing the thread back from the dead to say that I'm very keen on attempting this game as I think it's one of the few RPGs that might be tailor made for the effort.  My theory is as follows:

1. Ari (MC) starts with Overdrive which functionally doubles the damage of anyone it's cast on.  In addition, after being cast, that character immediately gets a turn regardless of the ATB meter being unfilled.
2. There is an option to set characters to WAIT status, which allows them to be brought up again at any time to input commands.  Also, characters in WAIT status can combo attacks with other characters.  This, along with Overdrive, further increases damage.
3. I disagree with Kuinsan's idea about spell usage.  Escape from random battles is guaranteed but the action pulls from the party's LP (Party Wide MP Pool).  Since running would be essential to any speedrun it would be best to save all your LP for escapes.  Then you could use Overdrive (which casts from HP) and heal Ari & Team with items.
4. All dungeons begin with a save point, which makes it perfect for a segmented run.  Also, save points refill HP & LP.
5. Random encounters are a last resort for leveling as the best way to build up your team is always to fight the Urns that litter each dungeon.  It makes sense to do this since you have to fight the Urns regardless.  For those not familiar with the game, Urns are mcguffins that you have to destroy to open certain doors.  They are also filled to the brim with EXP and Money.  The fights are usually much easier than comparable random encounters as Urns are always solo.

Going off these, I have two theories on getting through the game.  The hardest part of the game is going to be the bosses as they always come packing a dangerous punch and they have a fleet of four tough random encounter enemies.

1. The safe way would be to overdrive one character as your attacker.  Ari and the other character would stand around healing everyone and trying to stay out of harm's way.  Let the attacker kill the cadre of normal enemies with a series of Burst attacks (a special attack which hits all enemies that is only available to Overdrived characters, depletes Overdrive status).  Then let the attacker chip away at the bosses life with normal, Overdrived attacks.  Slow and steady wins the race.
2. Alternatively, you could throw caution to the wind and try overdriving everyone to bring down the troupe of normals as fast as possible and then blow the boss away with several rounds of Overdrived combos.  This is, of course, really dangerous as bosses can do substantial damage and Ari dying means an immediate loss.

Admittedly, I haven't played the game in months but I think everything I've said is, at least, correct if not sound.

Equinox

Edit history:

Equinox: 2012-04-04 11:49:20 pm

Equinox: 2012-04-04 11:48:26 pm

Equinox: 2012-04-04 11:47:25 pm

Equinox: 2012-04-04 11:45:06 pm

Equinox: 2012-04-04 11:42:27 pm

Equinox: 2012-04-04 11:41:24 pm

Equinox: 2012-04-04 11:37:42 pm

2012-04-04 11:35:44 pm

Obsessicus Parrotus

OMFG YES this is one of my favorite underrated games I have been closely watching this thread for a long time. I actually wondered if I was going to have to speed run this someday(I am not obviously, and I am still taking my sweet time with another run). I am very eager to help you and I actually played through this game again 2 months ago. It is short for an RPG, I timed in at 15 hours dead on not knowing what I was doing. Whether or not this would lower the standard 7 hour RPG expectation though I am not sure. The main issue I found my self wondering when somebody speed runs this is the Deep Grave Pit because its the longest dungeon in the game by far(it takes like an hour even if you know what you're doing and there's no way around killing that many urns). But its very very good to see somebody actually posting plans like this!!! You can do it and everything you said seems sound. I never bothered to tamper with a lot of Ari's abilities(He has to be the healer).

One thing though, is that as I have said before Epros(Aka Phantom Evil King) is very scary under leveled. Even lingering right below lvl 40 is very dangerous and after 5 attempts I found myself training over level 40. Perhaps with luck its possible because there is a save point right outside the gear tower. That's going to be a long fight due to him being ethereal(only damaged by magic), and he is still deadly by himself. Prepare to reset a lot on boss fights when they focus fire an under leveled Ari. Tongue

OMFG YES this is one of my favorite underrated games I have been closely watching this thread for a long time. I actually wondered if I was going to have to speed run this someday(I am not obviously, and I am still taking my sweet time with another run). I am very eager to help you and I actually played through this game again 2 months ago. It is short for an RPG, I timed in at 15 hours dead on not knowing what I was doing. Whether or not this would lower the standard 7 hour RPG expectation though I am not sure. The main issue I found my self wondering when somebody speed runs this is the [color="yellow"]Deep Grave Pit[/color] because its the longest dungeon in the game by far(it takes like an hour even if you know what you're doing and there's no way around killing that many urns). But its very very good to see somebody actually posting plans like this!!! You can do it and everything you said seems sound. I never bothered to tamper with a lot of Ari's abilities(He has to be the healer).

One thing though, is that as I have said before Epros(Aka Phantom Evil King) is very scary under leveled. Even lingering right below lvl 40 is very dangerous and after 5 attempts I found myself training over level 40. Perhaps with luck its possible because there is a save point right outside the gear tower. That's going to be a long fight due to him being ethereal(only damaged by magic), and he is still deadly by himself. Prepare to reset a lot on boss fights when they focus fire an under leveled Ari.  :P

blsh

2012-04-05 08:06:08 am

That's the sort of thing you forget after several months. Obviously, I haven't started yet but I think I have to amend my theory about leveling. Because of the game's leveling system where experience yeilds are lower the more often you fight an enemy, it might be more practical to build a list of what enemy groups net the best experience over the course of the game. That'll probably be my first project, after getting past the Sewer Evil King, since all the enemies before that IIRC are pretty stingy on both experience and money.

I can't say with certainty anything about Epros. I'm pretty sure I just spammed whatever magic I had with the two party members. But as you say, it might be possible because there's no dungeon between the save point and his fight.

I'm surprised to hear that you didn't use overdrive much. It has been the staple of every playthrough I've made. Perhaps, I'm being too dismissive of magic. Time to experiment, I guess.

Equinox

Edit history:

Equinox: 2012-04-06 01:28:39 am

Equinox: 2012-04-06 01:28:07 am

Equinox: 2012-04-06 01:23:35 am

Equinox: 2012-04-06 01:19:14 am

Equinox: 2012-04-06 01:16:38 am

Equinox: 2012-04-06 01:14:19 am

2012-04-06 01:12:38 am

Obsessicus Parrotus

I used a lot of magic, particularly Rosalyns. I was curious as to what other characters would be useful later on(this gets to be an issue for speed and was my primary concern when looking at a speed run of this), I never experimented with Epros or Linda though I have heard a lot of usefullness with Linda so perhaps that would be a character to consider late game as opposed to Big Bull(hes very good the only problem is his magic shortage but by all means he IS the definition of the physical offense in this game). I guess I only played the game 2 times through and was so caught up in the artwork and characters that I missed stuff like that. It's so easy to have that occur in such a pleasant game.

Regarding XP, the game is shorter than most RPGs and the rule of thumb is an average of lvl 50 at the last boss so to compensate they have implemented a strange system that I do not fully understand so plz enlighten me. My understanding is that the lower level you are to the target level of the enemy, the more xp 1-1000 you get. The further above the enemy the less you get, so its not your typical RPG. Another thing is that there are lots of high xp enemy packs, particularly in dungeons that level you up faster than urns I think(If there are lots of medium sized ones, I don't believe its possible for more than 10 enemies to be on the field at once). To kill them quickly aoeing them down with magic seems the most plausible route. Late game you need crap tons of those 'wild strawberries' to keep you from returning a save point. Maybe I am wrong about this and that's extreme, but the walk back up the save point takes several minutes I believe if your near the bottom. They are cheap and I remember buying them in Triste.

I know the picture you got that portrait for and I want it for my desktop. Although, my favorite character was Rosalyn cuz shes a BAMF.

I used a lot of magic, particularly Rosalyns. I was curious as to what other characters would be useful later on(this gets to be an issue for speed and was my primary concern when looking at a speed run of this), I never experimented with Epros or Linda though I have heard a lot of usefullness with Linda so perhaps that would be a character to consider late game as opposed to Big Bull(hes very good the only problem is his magic shortage but by all means he IS the definition of the physical offense in this game). I guess I only played the game 2 times through and was so caught up in the artwork and characters that I missed stuff like that. It's so easy to have that occur in such a pleasant game.

Regarding XP, the game is shorter than most RPGs and the rule of thumb is an average of lvl 50 at the last boss so to compensate they have implemented a strange system that I do not fully understand so plz enlighten me. My understanding is that the lower level you are to the target level of the enemy, the more xp 1-1000 you get. The further above the enemy the less you get, so its not your typical RPG. Another thing is that there are lots of high xp enemy packs, particularly in dungeons that level you up faster than urns I think(If there are lots of medium sized ones, I don't believe its possible for more than 10 enemies to be on the field at once). To kill them quickly aoeing them down with magic seems the most plausible route. Late game you need crap tons of those 'wild strawberries' to keep you from returning a save point. Maybe I am wrong about this and that's extreme, but the walk back up the save point takes several minutes I believe if your near the bottom. They are cheap and I remember buying them in Triste.

I know the picture you got that portrait for and I want it for my desktop. Although, my favorite character was Rosalyn cuz shes a BAMF.

blsh

2012-04-06 09:07:54 am

Oh my knowledge of this game is just as cursory as anyone else's. I don't know for certain how the XP gains work, as I haven't seen the need to pay close attention until now. But, now that I'm past the Sewer Evil King, I intend to do some experiementation. Actually, the SEK is what I wanted to talk about. I just finished my first successful fight without any level grinding. After getting past the story sequence at Madril, I had just over 1000 sukel so I upgraded Ari's sword and armor. Specifically, I wanted the +1 boost from the armor because Ari has only leveled up once (result of the mandatory introduction battle).

My strategy, right now, is to defend and heal with Ari as he is extremely weak against the combo attacks from the rats. Once Rosalyn picks off all the rats (she can one-shot them, if she doesn't miss) Ari can overdrive her and let her start hitting SEK. Obviously, there wasn't an option to do any magic attacks as Rosalyn and Ari don't know any offensive spells, right now. Despite having Lvl.1 poison on both Ari and Rosalyn, I was able to get overdrive on Ari and hit with some combo attacks. Once the rats were gone, it was about six turns to kill the SEK. Three of those turns were combos and three were just Rosalyn attacking. I feel like I could get trough the battle without buying either the armor or sword. As long as Ari is defending, which he would be most of the time, there shouldn't be too much of a danger of getting killed as it's not often the rats all gang up on the same person.

After getting through the battle and the subseqent cutscenes, the save timer told me I was at 44 minutes. That's not a particularly amazing time but I have a suspicion that the in-game timer might be off by several minutes. I'll be replaying the introduction, soon, and I'll bring a stopwatch along to make sure.

Oh my knowledge of this game is just as cursory as anyone else's.  I don't know for certain how the XP gains work, as I haven't seen the need to pay close attention until now.  But, now that I'm past the Sewer Evil King, I intend to do some experiementation.  Actually, the SEK is what I wanted to talk about.  I just finished my first successful fight without any level grinding.  After getting past the story sequence at Madril, I had just over 1000 sukel so I upgraded Ari's sword and armor.  Specifically, I wanted the +1 boost from the armor because Ari has only leveled up once (result of the mandatory introduction battle).

My strategy, right now, is to defend and heal with Ari as he is extremely weak against the combo attacks from the rats.  Once Rosalyn picks off all the rats (she can one-shot them, if she doesn't miss) Ari can overdrive her and let her start hitting SEK.  Obviously, there wasn't an option to do any magic attacks as Rosalyn and Ari don't know any offensive spells, right now.  Despite having Lvl.1 poison on both Ari and Rosalyn, I was able to get overdrive on Ari and hit with some combo attacks.  Once the rats were gone, it was about six turns to kill the SEK.  Three of those turns were combos and three were just Rosalyn attacking.  I feel like I could get trough the battle without buying either the armor or sword.  As long as Ari is defending, which he would be most of the time, there shouldn't be too much of a danger of getting killed as it's not often the rats all gang up on the same person.

After getting through the battle and the subseqent cutscenes, the save timer told me I was at 44 minutes.  That's not a particularly amazing time but I have a suspicion that the in-game timer might be off by several minutes.  I'll be replaying the introduction, soon, and I'll bring a stopwatch along to make sure.

Equinox

Edit history:

Equinox: 2012-04-07 02:21:39 am

Equinox: 2012-04-06 11:10:12 pm

Equinox: 2012-04-06 11:08:20 pm

Equinox: 2012-04-06 11:04:56 pm

Equinox: 2012-04-06 11:03:41 pm

Equinox: 2012-04-06 11:01:10 pm

Equinox: 2012-04-06 10:57:22 pm

Equinox: 2012-04-06 10:56:59 pm

2012-04-06 10:56:16 pm

Obsessicus Parrotus

I think the fights in this game are pretty basic and shouldn't cause too many headaches. It sounds like that couldn't go any better really without seeing it. If you can avoid being backed into a corner and spamming nuts and energy flowers to stay alive I'd say its good job(This happened to me on 2 boss fights : P I am kind of bad at this game I think). Though I am not sure how you have segmented this so far.

I don't believe Bubble Evil King will be a challenge at all but Chairman evil king has that drain move that could prolong the fight. Just things to consider. For all I know this could be nothing to be wary of but its good to think a few steps ahead I always say. Oh one more thing, feel free to upload a video of that I want to see it really badly and I may notice something useful(If you can I realize that's a big ass video file). Good luck, again I can't express how excited I am that someone is taking a good interest in this game.

blsh

2012-04-08 04:03:31 pm

Ari did spend much of the fight healing himself. That time I was playing it safe. When I play next time, I'll be testing to see just how lucky you have to get to overdrive both Rosalyn and Ari then double burst to clear the screen of rats. I don't know if it's possible to get a burst attack, from just Rosalyn, that'll take all of them out. Anyway, ideally, you would burst with Rosalyn and kill all the rats so that Ari could heal himself or defend. Then overdriving both of them and doing about five rounds of combos would likely kill SEK outright. Worst case scenario: I discover that playing it safe is the only sensible way to approach the fight, at that level.

I haven't been able to play the game, since that attempt, and I probably won't until later in the week. My chronic tendonitis is playing up so I have to limit myself for a little while, especially with the other artwork I'm planning to do for the marathon. I don't know about being able to record/stream anything, right now. I do have a capture card but it's unfortunately attached to a not terribly robust computer. I'll see if I can work it, though.

By the way, since you're a Rosalyn fan, you might be interested in seeing something I did a while back: http://blsh.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=24#/d2tbn81

Ari did spend much of the fight healing himself.  That time I was playing it safe.  When I play next time, I'll be testing to see just how lucky you have to get to overdrive both Rosalyn and Ari then double burst to clear the screen of rats.  I don't know if it's possible to get a burst attack, from just Rosalyn, that'll take all of them out.  Anyway, ideally, you would burst with Rosalyn and kill all the rats so that Ari could heal himself or defend.  Then overdriving both of them and doing about five rounds of combos would likely kill SEK outright.  Worst case scenario: I discover that playing it safe is the only sensible way to approach the fight, at that level.

I haven't been able to play the game, since that attempt, and I probably won't until later in the week.  My chronic tendonitis is playing up so I have to limit myself for a little while, especially with the other artwork I'm planning to do for the marathon.  I don't know about being able to record/stream anything, right now.  I do have a capture card but it's unfortunately attached to a not terribly robust computer.  I'll see if I can work it, though.

By the way, since you're a Rosalyn fan, you might be interested in seeing something I did a while back: http://blsh.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=24#/d2tbn81

Equinox

Edit history:

Equinox: 2012-04-08 11:09:04 pm

Equinox: 2012-04-08 11:07:55 pm

Equinox: 2012-04-08 11:06:27 pm

Equinox: 2012-04-08 11:02:19 pm

2012-04-08 11:00:40 pm

Obsessicus Parrotus

Whatever the reason you should never put your speed run before your health. I did with my current game and its become very very boring due to how much I played it every night, and then massive chronic headaches started happening. So don't stress about any time frame.

Good luck on your marathon, and since you did that awesome art, I think you're passionate about the game, which helps a lot.

blsh

2012-04-10 08:54:08 am

Good news! I got a chance to do another run of the beginning (New Game click to the inn at Madril) and the game tells me that I managed to shave a whole 10 MINUTES(!) off my original time. First time it said that I took 33 minutes, now it tells me 23. This is rather startling since I made a good number of obvious mistakes including talking to two NPCs that I didn't need to and attempting to save at Ari's bed without realizing the game won't let you. Those three errors, at least, cost me a minute or more. Failing to "juke" around an enemy encounter cost me 30-40 seconds. I did attempt to record this run but I must've set up the program wrong and it recorded twenty minutes of dead air. Sigh. Next time, I will get it right.

There is one important technique, I noticed, that I think will probably take several minutes off the final game time. Often times, especially indoors, the game will give you control of Ari before the screen fades back in. So, it's possible to take several steps ahead of time, if you know what direction to go. That's a lot of memorization but at least every area repositions the camera to a specific location so you can know where to point the analog stick.

Good news!  I got a chance to do another run of the beginning (New Game click to the inn at Madril) and the game tells me that I managed to shave a whole 10 MINUTES(!) off my original time.  First time it said that I took 33 minutes, now it tells me 23.  This is rather startling since I made a good number of obvious mistakes including talking to two NPCs that I didn't need to and attempting to save at Ari's bed without realizing the game won't let you.  Those three errors, at least, cost me a minute or more.  Failing to "juke" around an enemy encounter cost me 30-40 seconds.  I did attempt to record this run but I must've set up the program wrong and it recorded twenty minutes of dead air.  Sigh.  Next time, I will get it right.

There is one important technique, I noticed, that I think will probably take several minutes off the final game time.  Often times, especially indoors, the game will give you control of Ari before the screen fades back in.  So, it's possible to take several steps ahead of time, if you know what direction to go.  That's a lot of memorization but at least every area repositions the camera to a specific location so you can know where to point the analog stick.

Equinox

Edit history:

Equinox: 2012-04-10 11:39:53 pm

2012-04-10 11:38:23 pm

Obsessicus Parrotus

23 minutes seems very very fast! Keep it up great job now I want to see a video even more, I can't possibly say how excited I am to see something like that!

Little bumps like that I promise you that you will polish off and get optimized very quickly. I imagine that figuring what you didn't have to do to get up to the first boss was tricky, I mean I spent 2 hours trying to figure out who to talk to(particularly in Madril), not to mention that whole part up to the first battle is riddled with plenty of accidental things to say(I don't know if you remember Ari's Dad,"And several hours later").

Also, I have attempted to help people record stuff before(I don't know if I am good at it but hey, shoot), There are analog solutions that I am not too familiar with but I may be able to help with your recording issues. I am trying to record on my PS2 using my Hauppauge and seem to having the same dead air problems though, at least we can figure it out together then. That would really suck to grab that perfect attempt and have that happen(Nightmarish). It has luckily never happened to me on my run.

23 minutes seems very very fast!  Keep it up great job now I want to see a video even more, I can't possibly say how excited I am to see something like that!

Little bumps like that I promise you that you will polish off and get optimized very quickly. I imagine that figuring what you didn't have to do to get up to the first boss was tricky, I mean I spent 2 hours trying to figure out who to talk to(particularly in Madril), not to mention that whole part up to the first battle is riddled with plenty of accidental things to say(I don't know if you remember Ari's Dad,"And several hours later").

Also, I have attempted to help people record stuff before(I don't know if I am good at it but hey, shoot), There are analog solutions that I am not too familiar with but I may be able to help with your recording issues. I am trying to record on my PS2 using my Hauppauge and seem to having the same dead air problems though, at least we can figure it out together then. That would really suck to grab that perfect attempt and have that happen(Nightmarish). It has luckily never happened to me on my run.

Equinox

Edit history:

Equinox: 2012-05-14 09:25:11 pm

2012-05-14 12:27:44 am

Obsessicus Parrotus

Are you still here? Sorry

blsh

2012-05-14 01:03:34 pm

I didn't realize it'd been over a month. I haven't forgotten, just haven't had much opportunity to play it.

Equinox

Edit history:

Equinox: 2012-05-14 09:27:32 pm

Equinox: 2012-05-14 09:24:52 pm

Equinox: 2012-05-14 09:23:09 pm

Equinox: 2012-05-14 09:23:03 pm

Equinox: 2012-05-14 09:15:46 pm

2012-05-14 09:15:16 pm

Obsessicus Parrotus

I am so sorry btw don't mean to cause any pressure, thought I'd check in. Tongue

AniMeowzerz

2012-05-14 09:26:47 pm

IF YOU DONT CAUSE PRESSURE
THEN I WILL

I jk, I can't wait for future developments for this game :0

Equinox

Edit history:

Equinox: 2012-05-14 09:39:39 pm

Equinox: 2012-05-14 09:39:19 pm

Equinox: 2012-05-14 09:38:35 pm

Equinox: 2012-05-14 09:29:58 pm

2012-05-14 09:28:36 pm

Obsessicus Parrotus

Nah, you take your time, no stress. Cheesy

It usually is a good idea to post something every few weeks though. I popped this in last night actually, I was looking for a screen shot to use as an avatar(only underrated games for me Wink

).

blsh

Edit history:

blsh: 2012-05-15 07:19:44 pm

blsh: 2012-05-15 01:29:44 pm

2012-05-15 12:26:32 pm

Did another practice run of the intro (New Game Start to Madril Inn) and I got 24 minutes on the timer. Camera trouble gave me a few problems. Anyone who has played the game will know how finnicky the camera can be. I'm going to try and get my recording PC set up properly this afternoon and see if I can get a video of it up before the end of the week. If the computer won't work, I can always just run the s-video connection into my camcorder. I've tried that in the past and it's given me decent video quality. Good enough for practice recordings, anyway.

Edit: I just went through the Madril sequence to make sure I knew what order to talk to everyone and realized that stopping to save just after entering the town is extraordinarily stupid. I should be timing from Game Start to just before the Sewer Evil King fight.

Edit, the second: Did a recording of my first run through from the beginning to just before the Sewer Evil King fight. I'm not really sure it's worthy to upload since I made a bunch of mistakes including getting hung up on quite a few pieces of scenery. The upshot is I got a time of 29 minutes which, since I didn't have a stopwatch, I guess means I was a little slower getting to Madril. I can't imagine the Madril sequence takes more than four, maybe five, minutes. Anyway, I'll see about uploading tomorrow so you can all watch it and start having second thoughts about my ability to beat this game in a decent time.

Did another practice run of the intro (New Game Start to Madril Inn) and I got 24 minutes on the timer.  Camera trouble gave me a few problems.  Anyone who has played the game will know how finnicky the camera can be.  I'm going to try and get my recording PC set up properly this afternoon and see if I can get a video of it up before the end of the week.  If the computer won't work, I can always just run the s-video connection into my camcorder.  I've tried that in the past and it's given me decent video quality.  Good enough for practice recordings, anyway.

Edit: I just went through the Madril sequence to make sure I knew what order to talk to everyone and realized that stopping to save just after entering the town is extraordinarily stupid.  I should be timing from Game Start to just before the Sewer Evil King fight.

Edit, the second: Did a recording of my first run through from the beginning to just before the Sewer Evil King fight.  I'm not really sure it's worthy to upload since I made a bunch of mistakes including getting hung up on quite a few pieces of scenery.  The upshot is I got a time of 29 minutes which, since I didn't have a stopwatch, I guess means I was a little slower getting to Madril.  I can't imagine the Madril sequence takes more than four, maybe five, minutes. Anyway, I'll see about uploading tomorrow so you can all watch it and start having second thoughts about my ability to beat this game in a decent time.

Equinox

Edit history:

Equinox: 2012-05-15 11:56:08 pm

Equinox: 2012-05-15 11:54:16 pm

Equinox: 2012-05-15 11:50:46 pm

Equinox: 2012-05-15 11:47:29 pm

Equinox: 2012-05-15 07:49:26 pm

Equinox: 2012-05-15 07:47:32 pm

Equinox: 2012-05-15 07:42:56 pm

Equinox: 2012-05-15 07:41:20 pm

2012-05-15 07:39:56 pm

Obsessicus Parrotus

I think there are worse games out there to run, its largely luck based stuff in fights I think. I would think you should save right as you get in Madril, like the first time you go talk to the fat kid about the team stuff. Sure you would have to do the stuff over every time but its probably quicker for the final time than going back their from the gate right before the fight. You can save afterwards(I know this sounds like hell I probably don't know best.)

I don't think you should be concerned about errors at this point, not until you put the entire game in perspective. Personally I would avoid trying to film your SDA quality run until you have a solid time estimate for the entire game(You will also quickly lose your doubts once you figure out a fast run). A good example of this being a good mode of thinking would be you do a perfect job in one segment, only to get a few segments ahead and thought, "Should I have done something differently?" I think its going to be hard to avoid that until you get everything together in one piece. Also I believe its only possible to keep a maximum of 6 saved games(3 per memory card), this could make redoing stuff a little bit difficult. Use as many segments as you like at this point. Just gotta keep on truckin till u get a prototype run. Also this is a short RPG, like I said its about 15 hours if you don't know what you're doing, as opposed to the 30 that most are.

I, personally, am very curious about stuff like, what order you are talking to people in, how many battles you got in, what you were saying to people(I fail largely at this, there are some hilarious things you can say Smiley

). I am also interested to see what level you went into Sewer King with. I honestly tried to casually speed run this game up until that point( Not much success, I suck at interacting lol, I was looking for a good screen shot, I got a good one of Rosalyn first encounter but not much else). I think Ari was level 2 and I mean, well I got raped. Just the loss of hp from casting an overdrive was my downfall, I suppose its probably luck based but i wasn't really interested in getting through quickly and trying multiple times.

I think there are worse games out there to run, its largely luck based stuff in fights I think. I would think you should save right as you get in Madril, like the first time you go talk to the fat kid about the team stuff. Sure you would have to do the stuff over every time but its probably quicker for the final time than going back their from the gate right before the fight. You can save afterwards(I know this sounds like hell I probably don't know best.)

I don't think you should be concerned about errors at this point, not until you put the entire game in perspective. Personally I would avoid trying to film your SDA quality run until you have a solid time estimate for the entire game(You will also quickly lose your doubts once you figure out a fast run). A good example of this being a good mode of thinking would be you do a perfect job in one segment, only to get a few segments ahead and thought, "Should I have done something differently?" I think its going to be hard to avoid that until you get everything together in one piece. Also I believe its only possible to keep a maximum of 6 saved games(3 per memory card), this could make redoing stuff a little bit difficult. Use as many segments as you like at this point. Just gotta keep on truckin till u get a prototype run. Also this is a short RPG, like I said its about 15 hours if you don't know what you're doing, as opposed to the 30 that most are.

I, personally, am very curious about stuff like, what order you are talking to people in, how many battles you got in, what you were saying to people(I fail largely at this, there are some hilarious things you can say :) ). I am also interested to see what level you went into Sewer King with. I honestly tried to casually speed run this game up until that point( Not much success, I suck at interacting lol, I was looking for a good screen shot, I got a good one of Rosalyn first encounter but not much else). I think Ari was level 2 and I mean, well I got raped. Just the loss of hp from casting an overdrive was my downfall, I suppose its probably luck based but i wasn't really interested in getting through quickly and trying multiple times.

blsh

Edit history:

blsh: 2012-05-16 04:31:21 pm

2012-05-16 11:41:24 am

Well, there's really no point in me giving the impression that I'll be able to run this game. I have wrist pain and stiffness that simply will not stop regardless of how much I limit myself using the computer or drawing or playing games. And, since it's been a constant problem since last October, I can't reasonably assume that it'll get better within any specific time frame. Sorry to get your hopes up. I would like to run the game but I can't logically expect to, at least not any time soon.

Edit: Uhh, that was a little more overblown than it should've been. I do have wrist problems and they are likely to reduce the amount that I'm able to play. However, I would still like to continue working on the game; just know that I probably won't be rolling out the updates as much as I'd like. The above was more just misdirected frustration over my wrist giving me a lot of trouble while trying to edit the video, this morning.

Equinox

2012-05-16 08:11:56 pm

Obsessicus Parrotus

Never put your game before your health, its no biggie.

Equinox

Edit history:

Equinox: 2012-07-06 01:14:28 am

Equinox: 2012-07-06 01:10:04 am

Equinox: 2012-06-25 03:37:55 am

Equinox: 2012-06-25 03:37:30 am

Equinox: 2012-06-25 03:31:05 am

2012-06-25 03:30:12 am

Obsessicus Parrotus

Are you still working on this blsh? Text has such a cold tone I didn't mean this to sound rude.