RPG Limit Break 2016 - Game Submission Thread (schedule posted)

StingerPA

2015-12-19 08:00:10 pm

FYI, I edited my Soul Blazer submission with the video of a new PB from today.

GhostKingG1

Edit history:

GhostKingG1: 2016-01-08 05:44:12 am

GhostKingG1: 2016-01-08 05:43:04 am

GhostKingG1: 2016-01-08 04:46:02 am

GhostKingG1: 2016-01-08 04:45:09 am

GhostKingG1: 2015-12-26 04:02:54 am

GhostKingG1: 2015-12-21 07:07:49 am

GhostKingG1: 2015-12-21 07:06:54 am

GhostKingG1: 2015-12-21 07:04:21 am

GhostKingG1: 2015-12-20 12:50:42 am

GhostKingG1: 2015-12-19 08:20:03 pm

GhostKingG1: 2015-12-19 08:19:26 pm

GhostKingG1: 2015-12-19 08:19:18 pm

2015-12-19 08:18:59 pm

Why Hello it is Me

Might as well.

Game Name: Ys Origin
System: PC (Steam version, US)
Category: Toal Any%
Gameplay Estimate: ~~2:15:00~~ 2:05:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate (ending + any glitches/other bonus content you'd like to show post-run): ~15 minutes

Pros: Fast paced action RPG with plenty of exciting glitches and is marathon-safe. Since its last major marathon appearance at C4L2014 it has seen several improvements including a few more door clips, faster combat, a boss skip and an invulnerability glitch for two other bosses.

Cons: There's not much as far as donation incentives, there is some rng with enemy buff drops and patterns, some early game bosses carry some risk of death (Though the game allows you to retry), the game is also played on Easy difficulty which some people dislike.

Possible Donation Incentives: Play the opening and ending cutscenes (3 and 5 minute long cinematics which can ordinarily be skipped), Feed all the Roos (ingame animals that you give food to for items, in a normal run only two of them are fed. This would take a couple more minutes), or let them go hungry (faster).

Sample run video: (EDITED TO ADD) - Twitch.

Might as well.

Game Name: Ys Origin
System: PC (Steam version, US)
Category: Toal Any%
Gameplay Estimate: [s]2:15:00[/s] 2:05:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate (ending + any glitches/other bonus content you'd like to show post-run): ~15 minutes

Pros: Fast paced action RPG with plenty of exciting glitches and is marathon-safe. Since its last major marathon appearance at C4L2014 it has seen several improvements including a few more door clips, faster combat, a boss skip and an invulnerability glitch for two other bosses.

Cons: There's not much as far as donation incentives, there is some rng with enemy buff drops and patterns, some early game bosses carry some risk of death (Though the game allows you to retry), the game is also played on Easy difficulty which some people dislike.

Possible Donation Incentives: Play the opening and ending cutscenes (3 and 5 minute long cinematics which can ordinarily be skipped), Feed all the Roos (ingame animals that you give food to for items, in a normal run only two of them are fed. This would take a couple more minutes), or let them go hungry (faster).

Sample run video: (EDITED TO ADD) - [url=http://www.twitch.tv/ghostkingg1/v/34232048]Twitch[/url].

Dowolf

Edit history:

Dowolf: 2016-01-14 05:35:46 pm

Dowolf: 2015-12-20 12:27:13 am

Dowolf: 2015-12-20 12:22:28 am

2015-12-19 08:43:46 pm

Was debating whether or not to submit, but figured "Why not?" So let's go:

Game Name: Half-Minute Hero
System: PC
Category: Hero 30
Gameplay Estimate (excluding ending and bonus content): 25:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate (ending + any glitches/other bonus content you'd like to show post-run): Up to 30 minutes
Pros/Cons (honest assessment based on above submission guidelines): A really cool, ultra-fast-paced RPG featuring very little downtime. While featured at the previous RPG Limit Break and at SGDQ, attempts by the developers to make the game easier in the PC port make for a significantly harder and faster run. If everything goes well, every level can be completely within 30 seconds in a new game, which should be impressive for anyone familiar with the game. While many levels do have extremely precise RNG manipulations, messing these manipulations up only costs a few seconds, 30 at the worst. Additionally, I would like to do Evil Lord 30 mode, which is an RPG/Strategy hybrid mode where I abuse the lack of I-Frames to kill everything stupidly fast (~10 minutes), and I could do the rest of the game in Neo Cartoon mode in ~20 minutes, including Hero 300 and Hero 3 (unfortunately, due to the PC version being seven kinds of awful, doing Hero 300/3 in Classic graphics would require me to exit the game, manually switch the save file, and reload. Which, I mean, is an option.)
Possible Donation Incentives: Classic vs. Neo Cartoon graphics (the former is beautiful pixel art, while the latter makes the recently released FFVI PC port look like the Mona Lisa), Evil Lord 30 mode, the full Neo Cartoon game, name incentives for the Hero (and the Evil Lord). Note that language cannot be switched from English for the run.
Sample run video: http://speeddemosarchive.com/HalfMinuteHero.html (all the various modes are here except for Neo Cartoon EL30/Princess30/Knight30; however, these are all very short (and kinda awful). The runs are by me, too, so yeah.)

Game Name: Half-Minute Hero 2: The Second Coming
System: PC
Category: any%
Gameplay Estimate: 1:50:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate (ending + any glitches/other bonus content you'd like to show post-run): 5:00
Pros/Cons (honest assessment based on above submission guidelines): Super-fast RPG gameplay continues! Tons of level-ups! More level-ups than your body has room for! Literally thousands! That said, the argument could be made that there is such a thing as too many level-ups, especially since there's about a five-minute grinding segment about a third of the way through. The run itself also has less finesse than HMH1, since there's no way to manipulate the RNG and leveling up is OP, and it might overstay its welcome. On the flip side, it features more varied level design than its predecessor, including a few racing levels, a DDR-type level, and everyone's favorite thing in a speedgame, an auto-scroller. Oh, and the soundtrack is literally a who's who of the Japanese videogame soundtrack industry: it features work from Hideki Asanaka, Motoi Sakuraba, Kumi Tanioka, Hiroyuki Iwatsuki, Kenji Ito, Tetsuya Shibata, Yoshitaka Hirota, Yasunori Mitsuda, Yui Isshiki, Masaharu Iwata, Masashi Hamauzu, Manabu Namiki, Yoko Shimomura, Michiko Naruke, Yasuo Yamate, Takushi Hiyamuta, Maiko Iuchi, Takaaki Nakahashi, Yasumasa Yamada, Yoshino Aoki, Toshikazu Tanaka, Takeshi Toriumi, Tomonori Arai, and Takashi Jinno (thanks Wikipedia!).
Possible Donation Incentives: Aforementioned auto-scroller does have a vocal song I could maybe be convinced to sing along to. Also: names for the three main characters. Language can be set to Japanese or English; I usually run in Japanese, but English loses no time so >_> Additionally, there is Hero 3D Hard Mode, which is like Hero 3 only with 100% more 3D glasses. Also: time doesn't stop in towns.
Sample run video (strongly encouraged but not required):

Was debating whether or not to submit, but figured "Why not?" So let's go:

Game Name: Half-Minute Hero
System: PC
Category: Hero 30
Gameplay Estimate (excluding ending and bonus content): 25:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate (ending + any glitches/other bonus content you'd like to show post-run): Up to 30 minutes
Pros/Cons (honest assessment based on above submission guidelines): A really cool, ultra-fast-paced RPG featuring very little downtime. While featured at the previous RPG Limit Break and at SGDQ, attempts by the developers to make the game easier in the PC port make for a significantly harder and faster run. If everything goes well, every level can be completely within 30 seconds in a new game, which should be impressive for anyone familiar with the game. While many levels do have extremely precise RNG manipulations, messing these manipulations up only costs a few seconds, 30 at the worst. Additionally, I would like to do Evil Lord 30 mode, which is an RPG/Strategy hybrid mode where I abuse the lack of I-Frames to kill everything stupidly fast (~10 minutes), and I could do the rest of the game in Neo Cartoon mode in ~20 minutes, including Hero 300 and Hero 3 (unfortunately, due to the PC version being seven kinds of awful, doing Hero 300/3 in Classic graphics would require me to exit the game, manually switch the save file, and reload. Which, I mean, is an option.)
Possible Donation Incentives: Classic vs. Neo Cartoon graphics (the former is beautiful pixel art, while the latter makes the recently released FFVI PC port look like the Mona Lisa), Evil Lord 30 mode, the full Neo Cartoon game, name incentives for the Hero (and the Evil Lord). Note that language cannot be switched from English for the run.
Sample run video: http://speeddemosarchive.com/HalfMinuteHero.html (all the various modes are here except for Neo Cartoon EL30/Princess30/Knight30; however, these are all very short (and kinda awful). The runs are by me, too, so yeah.)

Game Name: Half-Minute Hero 2: The Second Coming
System: PC
Category: any%
Gameplay Estimate: 1:50:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate (ending + any glitches/other bonus content you'd like to show post-run): 5:00
Pros/Cons (honest assessment based on above submission guidelines): Super-fast RPG gameplay continues! Tons of level-ups! More level-ups than your body has room for! Literally thousands! That said, the argument could be made that there is such a thing as too many level-ups, especially since there's about a five-minute grinding segment about a third of the way through. The run itself also has less finesse than HMH1, since there's no way to manipulate the RNG and leveling up is OP, and it might overstay its welcome. On the flip side, it features more varied level design than its predecessor, including a few racing levels, a DDR-type level, and everyone's favorite thing in a speedgame, an auto-scroller. Oh, and the soundtrack is literally a who's who of the Japanese videogame soundtrack industry: it features work from Hideki Asanaka, Motoi Sakuraba, Kumi Tanioka, Hiroyuki Iwatsuki, Kenji Ito, Tetsuya Shibata, Yoshitaka Hirota, Yasunori Mitsuda, Yui Isshiki, Masaharu Iwata, Masashi Hamauzu, Manabu Namiki, Yoko Shimomura, Michiko Naruke, Yasuo Yamate, Takushi Hiyamuta, Maiko Iuchi, Takaaki Nakahashi, Yasumasa Yamada, Yoshino Aoki, Toshikazu Tanaka, Takeshi Toriumi, Tomonori Arai, and Takashi Jinno (thanks Wikipedia!).
Possible Donation Incentives: Aforementioned auto-scroller does have a vocal song I could maybe be convinced to sing along to. Also: names for the three main characters. Language can be set to Japanese or English; I usually run in Japanese, but English loses no time so >_> Additionally, there is Hero 3D Hard Mode, which is like Hero 3 only with 100% more 3D glasses. Also: time doesn't stop in towns.
Sample run video (strongly encouraged but not required): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pMRZ5xApTw

Aithere

2015-12-19 09:22:56 pm

Edited my post with an update to donation incentive and bonus/ending time, added my Scrubathon 3 run which was solo commentated.

puwexil

Edit history:

puwexil: 2015-12-19 10:07:35 pm

2015-12-19 10:04:04 pm

Professional Second Banana

And that's a wrap, with 214 submissions (about 100 more than last time) totaling 832 hours! Shocked

My games committee (4 other people) and I will work on picking about 130 hrs of runs over the next few weeks, along with a waitlist for replacing drops.

Thanks to everyone that submitted! We are both humbled and grateful to see so much interest in RPGLB. Smiley

puwexil

2015-12-22 09:17:51 am

Professional Second Banana

I've gotten a few questions about PB updates. If you PB and that would mean a significant change in your marathon estimate (10 minutes or more), feel free to let me know.

obdajr

2015-12-23 05:22:28 pm

i PBed bravely default by over 10 minutes, but until i get those times more regularly, i'll leave it as is

starofviolence

2015-12-24 08:35:51 am

I've edited my submission slightly, it completely slipped my mind that DQ2 has a couple of songs with lyrics that can be sung as donation incentives.

As well, to update progress on DQ2, as I had not completed any runs at the time of my original submission, I have been playing the game for the past week and am within 40 minutes of estimate. Pretty sure I can knock that into real run territory by May. Tongue

WanderingMind

2015-12-24 09:52:17 am

Stay chill, be cool.

I edited my submission to include running Valkyria Chronicles II on a PSTV since I have been learning to play it on there. I haven't ruled out running it on a PSP, but now I'm starting to see it as a backup system in case the PSTV for some reason doesn't work out.

Omnigamer

2015-12-26 08:37:58 pm

All the things

Updated my submission with new Suikoden II PB. Luck was about as bad as the prior video, but it shows the newer route and has my commentary in the same video, rather than separate.

GhostKingG1

2015-12-26 09:45:03 pm

Why Hello it is Me

Updated mine (a few posts above this) to have a recording of a significantly better time.

glasnonck

2015-12-28 12:08:36 pm

Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend the event. I have updated my submission to reflect this.

puwexil

2016-01-02 08:12:26 am

Professional Second Banana

Year-end holiday plans ended up impacting our games committee more than expected; and we could use a bit more time to ensure that we produce the best game lineup that we can. With AGDQ starting tomorrow and many runners who submitted games on their way there today, we've decided to post the games list afterwards (most likely during the 2nd full week of January). Thanks for your patience!

FNG_ZFG

2016-01-12 05:37:05 pm

I edited my submission to reflect my possible attendance issue.

GhostKingG1

2016-01-13 12:35:12 am

Why Hello it is Me

Edited mine because of an additional donation incentive that I didn't I initally consider.

puwexil

2016-01-16 01:10:06 pm

Professional Second Banana

RPG Limit Break 2016 Game List: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pQdfhQh66KZgBE1lnrVLyUfNMtsxANo-cLM6a_PF7Mw/edit?usp=sharing

Game selection was done by a committee of myself and 4 other people, all of whom have experience both with RPGs and other marathons. I've decided not to post the names of the committee members as I'd prefer for questions about the schedule to come through this thread or private message to me - I'm more than happy to summarize the committee's discussions on specific games if anyone has questions.

Goals in game selection were:
1. Have a schedule strong for attracting viewers and raising donations
2. Give several games that aren't quite GDQ material a chance to be in an onsite marathon
3. Maximize the # of runners that can participate
4. Limit direct repeats (especially of both the same game and category) from RPGLB 2015 and recent GDQ marathons. We are not a GDQ, but are expecting a majority of our viewers to be GDQ watchers as well

The Accepts/Declines tabs are self-explanatory. The Backups tab is games that will be used to fill openings resulting from drops (as drops happen, I'll move games from Decline to Backup). The Bonus tab is games that are all quite short and won't require very much practice by the runners, and will be added to the schedule if we end up getting ahead and needing to fill time (if any runners of these games would rather not do this, let me know and I'll remove them).

Right now the list just includes the runs' core gameplay estimates - we'll figure out extra incentives in a separate thread in the coming weeks.

A few games were accepted where the runner has done routing but hasn't finished a full run yet. It is expected that over the coming months that these runners will stream or upload runs faster than their estimate, in order for them to remain on the schedule.

I'm already working on the full schedule, and expect to have that done in early February. Thanks again to everyone that submitted games (we received 215 total submissions - about 100 more than last year)!

Notes on specific games:
Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy VI, Seiken Densetsu 3, Shining Force II - these will be co-op runs with the listed runners, split up as they see fit.
Dragon Quest III, Seiken Densetsu 3 - these will be played with their English translation patches, both to allow naming incentives for the characters, and to make the runs easier to follow for viewers (since the games didn't have official English SNES releases). RPGLB staff can provide an SD2SNES flash cart if the runners do not have their own means to play patched ROMs on console.
Final Fantasy - decided to go with PSP Any% since it's the most different Final Fantasy Any% run from last year's NES run. If the runner isn't able to make it, we'll do GBA Any% instead.
Final Fantasy X-2 - I'm not too keen on a race of this game since it has some pretty RNG-heavy battles (unless there's a more marathon-consistent route or something), so I'd prefer if the 3 runners can plan out a co-op run.
Mega Man Battle Network 6 - open to a race if the runners are up for it and think it would make a good race game, otherwise would prefer a solo or co-op run.
Kingdom Hearts 1.5, Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix - Still working out categories for these runs - if schedule time allows we might do donation incentives to do Standard or Proud instead of Beginner for 1.5 (I have a slight preference for Standard so it'll be different from the AGDQ run, though whatever the runner would rather do is fine) and Lvl1 Critical instead of Any% Critical for 2FM. I'd prefer English version for KH 1.5 if the only difference between JP and English is ~1 min of text.
Legend of Mana - want to do a bid war between Dragon and Faerie storylines (the categories closest in length and which have the most active runners). Open to a co-op race (2-way race by 2 teams of runners) if the runners would rather do that than a single-player race.
Yo-Kai Watch - Would prefer this be a solo or co-op run since it's a new game that hasn't been in a marathon before (and having another runner there would help the commentary a lot); but if Ghoul02/osey889 keep posting similar PBs I'll consider a race.
Undertale - while Toby Fox's statements about other marathons were a concern, this run was declined simply because we thought Essentia's other game offers were stronger. Had this not been the case we would have given her the chance to contact Toby as per her offer. I don't personally believe that there'd be any legal risks of having Undertale in the marathon (given Toby's support of it being streamed by Let's Players); but I'd rather just respect his wishes and not risk any bad publicity.
Zelda II - this game was considered on its merits and we decided it wasn't a good fit for this particular schedule. We did not auto-decline it because of being 'not RPG enough'.

RPG Limit Break 2016 Game List: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pQdfhQh66KZgBE1lnrVLyUfNMtsxANo-cLM6a_PF7Mw/edit?usp=sharing
 
Game selection was done by a committee of myself and 4 other people, all of whom have experience both with RPGs and other marathons.  I've decided not to post the names of the committee members as I'd prefer for questions about the schedule to come through this thread or private message to me - I'm more than happy to summarize the committee's discussions on specific games if anyone has questions.
 
Goals in game selection were:
1. Have a schedule strong for attracting viewers and raising donations
2. Give several games that aren't quite GDQ material a chance to be in an onsite marathon
3. Maximize the # of runners that can participate
4. Limit direct repeats (especially of both the same game and category) from RPGLB 2015 and recent GDQ marathons.  We are not a GDQ, but are expecting a majority of our viewers to be GDQ watchers as well
 
The Accepts/Declines tabs are self-explanatory.  The Backups tab is games that will be used to fill openings resulting from drops (as drops happen, I'll move games from Decline to Backup).  The Bonus tab is games that are all quite short and won't require very much practice by the runners, and will be added to the schedule if we end up getting ahead and needing to fill time (if any runners of these games would rather not do this, let me know and I'll remove them).
 
Right now the list just includes the runs' core gameplay estimates - we'll figure out extra incentives in a separate thread in the coming weeks.
 
A few games were accepted where the runner has done routing but hasn't finished a full run yet.  It is expected that over the coming months that these runners will stream or upload runs faster than their estimate, in order for them to remain on the schedule.
 
I'm already working on the full schedule, and expect to have that done in early February.  Thanks again to everyone that submitted games (we received 215 total submissions - about 100 more than last year)!  
 
[u]Notes on specific games:[/u]
[b]Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy VI, Seiken Densetsu 3, Shining Force II[/b] - these will be co-op runs with the listed runners, split up as they see fit.
[b]Dragon Quest III, Seiken Densetsu 3[/b] - these will be played with their English translation patches, both to allow naming incentives for the characters, and to make the runs easier to follow for viewers (since the games didn't have official English SNES releases).  RPGLB staff can provide an SD2SNES flash cart if the runners do not have their own means to play patched ROMs on console.
[b]Final Fantasy[/b] - decided to go with PSP Any% since it's the most different Final Fantasy Any% run from last year's NES run.  If the runner isn't able to make it, we'll do GBA Any% instead.
[b]Final Fantasy X-2[/b] - I'm not too keen on a race of this game since it has some pretty RNG-heavy battles (unless there's a more marathon-consistent route or something), so I'd prefer if the 3 runners can plan out a co-op run.
[b]Mega Man Battle Network 6[/b] - open to a race if the runners are up for it and think it would make a good race game, otherwise would prefer a solo or co-op run.
[b]Kingdom Hearts 1.5, Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix[/b] - Still working out categories for these runs - if schedule time allows we might do donation incentives to do Standard or Proud instead of Beginner for 1.5 (I have a slight preference for Standard so it'll be different from the AGDQ run, though whatever the runner would rather do is fine) and Lvl1 Critical instead of Any% Critical for 2FM.  I'd prefer English version for KH 1.5 if the only difference between JP and English is ~1 min of text.
[b]Legend of Mana[/b] - want to do a bid war between Dragon and Faerie storylines (the categories closest in length and which have the most active runners).  Open to a co-op race (2-way race by 2 teams of runners) if the runners would rather do that than a single-player race.
[b]Yo-Kai Watch[/b] - Would prefer this be a solo or co-op run since it's a new game that hasn't been in a marathon before (and having another runner there would help the commentary a lot); but if Ghoul02/osey889 keep posting similar PBs I'll consider a race.
[b]Undertale[/b] - while Toby Fox's statements about other marathons were a concern, this run was declined simply because we thought Essentia's other game offers were stronger.  Had this not been the case we would have given her the chance to contact Toby as per her offer.  I don't personally believe that there'd be any legal risks of having Undertale in the marathon (given Toby's support of it being streamed by Let's Players); but I'd rather just respect his wishes and not risk any bad publicity.
[b]Zelda II[/b] - this game was considered on its merits and we decided it wasn't a good fit for this particular schedule.  We did not auto-decline it because of being 'not RPG enough'.

Sir VG

2016-01-16 01:12:08 pm

Fucking Weeaboo

2 Player Legend of Mana is a damn fun play and I think a better watch, if both players are on their game. Not that I'd know or anything like that. *whistles and walks away*

PX_

2016-01-16 01:17:10 pm

twitch.tv/pxmacaiah

2 Player Legend of Mana is definitely better than single player since we don't have to bother with laughing/complaining at the AI partner. I can easily teach a buddy of mine how to be a co-op partner no problem if we have co-op race Tongue

Falexxx1

2016-01-16 01:17:54 pm

Co-op also opens donation incentive mid run if we do Faerie for Daena or Escad.

mrprmiller

2016-01-16 01:21:08 pm

Everyday is puppies and sunshine...

Woohoo!

2bitmarksman

2016-01-16 01:26:55 pm

Ate the extra spicy banana

I'd actually prefer to coop Legend of Mana. Faster and more consistent as well. I'm happy teaming up with anyone that wants to run it though I'd prefer to be 2nd player if doing Faerie route Tongue

Freddeh

2016-01-16 01:28:00 pm

Congrats everyone that made it in! See you all there! Cheesy

Deadmansl

2016-01-16 01:28:40 pm

This is going to be an amazing event. This game list has me super hyped.

PX_

2016-01-16 01:30:45 pm

twitch.tv/pxmacaiah

Oh right, addendum to LoM but races can get extremely close and co-op will make it more so, so co-op race should be fine

WanderingMind

2016-01-16 01:33:46 pm

Stay chill, be cool.

I'm legit excited for Yokai Watch. Also everything else really.