RPG Limit Break 2017 - Game Submission Thread (VODs posted)

2016-12-29 11:30:33 pm

I've provided a 5 minute video for both of my two main submissions to help summarize the strengths of each run. Feel free to check out the full length runs below with their videos, but this summary video will give you a brief overview.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivc8X41zDQY

Dragon Warrior Monsters 2: Cobi's Journey
System: Gameboy Color played on Game Boy Player
Category: any% glitchless
Gameplay Estimate: 2:15:00 (~2:10:00 if not standard JRTA timing, which includes credits)
Description: Dragon Warrior Monsters 2 is the second entry in the Dragon Warrior/Quest Monster series for the Game Boy Color. The run features a team of monsters as your allies, where recruitable monsters that are bred with other monsters become your next generation of fighters. The speedrun is a tightly routed journey through the game, including very careful item management, breeding routes & boss strategies. The run features some flashy RNG manipulation that allows the runner to get access to specific (normally random) items on the world map. Otherwise, the run operates similar to other Dragon Quest runs, where the runner's knowledge to pivot and react to situations out of their control (such as how boss battles unfold) is critical. This game can be run in English (official release), which adds roughly ~5 minutes to the Japanese run due to text (the estimate given here is for the English version). Submission video is in the competitive Japanese version, but the game is mechanically identical in both versions.
Pros/Cons: The run is relatively straightforward to follow in both the pacing of the story & the battles, and the various manipulations are simple to understand and appreciate. This game allows a journey showing off many of the iconic monsters of the DQ series in a short timespan. Although some situations are somewhat dangerous, major timeloss is avoided by being able to save frequently. Menus in this game are impressively fast but easy to follow. Some fights are brutal and may have to be re-fought, but even those are rare and unlikely. There is a surprising amount of technical explanation of the mechanics that will easily occupy the commentary for the length of the run.
Incentives: All recruitable monsters can be named 5 characters. The route features monsters that come in and out of the party, but are typically bred to their next generation. For simplicity for viewers, the incentive could be to name the 3 monster lines that are in the party (e.g., Monster A is named [Dream], then is bred to form Monster B, which will also be named [Dream]). Can help clarify how to present monster lines if this is accepted.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSsPHHnt-oM

Mega Man X: Command Mission
System: Nintendo GameCube
Category: any% glitchless
Gameplay Estimate: 4:30:00
Description: Mega Man X: Command Mission is a turn-based RPG set in the world of Mega Man X. It features a wide cast of Mega Man X characters, some classic and some new ones debut here. The run features a fair amount of customization on each character to build their setups for each area & their bosses, and combines a tight menuing system with a battle system that requires the player to input time-based commands to maximize damage per turns in battles.
Pros/Cons: The run is linear and easy to understand what's happening, but offers a variety of strategies that many familiar with the game may have overlooked as being beneficial. Boss battles are fast paced and dynamic, and require the player to react quickly and decisively. Cutscenes are skippable (but there's a few that are funny and can be showed for some minor timeloss). Menus with equipment, shopping and setting skills are very fast, and movement in this game is a step up from standard RPGs in that good control of X is crucial and easily identifiable by a viewer. This RPG is a rare chance to see Mega Man X lore in a full-throttle RPG setting. Cons would be perhaps the game's popularity & voice acting (it's special but also entertaining), and that some sections of the game are stretches with mostly running from battles, but there are plenty amount of topics to discuss regarding upcoming strategies and other game mechanics.
Incentives: The main character X has a "scarf," which is the color of the jet that comes out of his back. X can equip either a red or blue scarf beginning in Chapter 3, so for 8 chapters of the game, an ongoing bid war could occur to change the scarf to either color at the beginning of the chapter (please see the video at the top of this post at 1:10 mark). Total time added to the run would be ~5m (if the color theoretically swapped every chapter, since each change takes about 30s). Alternatively it could be a one time bid war ending at Chapter 3 to determine red or blue for the rest of the game, either works.
Video: https://www.twitch.tv/cleartonic/v/110821686

[noembed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivc8X41zDQY[/noembed]

[b]Dragon Warrior Monsters 2: Cobi's Journey[/b]
[b]System:[/b] Gameboy Color played on Game Boy Player
[b]Category:[/b] any% glitchless
[b]Gameplay Estimate:[/b] 2:15:00 (~2:10:00 if not standard JRTA timing, which includes credits)
[b]Description:[/b] Dragon Warrior Monsters 2 is the second entry in the Dragon Warrior/Quest Monster series for the Game Boy Color. The run features a team of monsters as your allies, where recruitable monsters that are bred with other monsters become your next generation of fighters. The speedrun is a tightly routed journey through the game, including very careful item management, breeding routes & boss strategies. The run features some flashy RNG manipulation that allows the runner to get access to specific (normally random) items on the world map. Otherwise, the run operates similar to other Dragon Quest runs, where the runner's knowledge to pivot and react to situations out of their control (such as how boss battles unfold) is critical. This game can be run in English (official release), which adds roughly ~5 minutes to the Japanese run due to text (the estimate given here is for the English version). Submission video is in the competitive Japanese version, but the game is mechanically identical in both versions.
[b]Pros/Cons[/b]: The run is relatively straightforward to follow in both the pacing of the story & the battles, and the various manipulations are simple to understand and appreciate. This game allows a journey showing off many of the iconic monsters of the DQ series in a short timespan. Although some situations are somewhat dangerous, major timeloss is avoided by being able to save frequently. Menus in this game are impressively fast but easy to follow. Some fights are brutal and may have to be re-fought, but even those are rare and unlikely. There is a surprising amount of technical explanation of the mechanics that will easily occupy the commentary for the length of the run.
[b]Incentives:[/b] All recruitable monsters can be named 5 characters. The route features monsters that come in and out of the party, but are typically bred to their next generation. For simplicity for viewers, the incentive could be to name the 3 monster lines that are in the party (e.g., Monster A is named [Dream], then is bred to form Monster B, which will also be named [Dream]). Can help clarify how to present monster lines if this is accepted. 
[b]Video:[/b] [noembed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSsPHHnt-oM[/noembed]

[b]Mega Man X: Command Mission[/b]
[b]System[/b]: Nintendo GameCube
[b]Category:[/b] any% glitchless
[b]Gameplay Estimate:[/b] 4:30:00
[b]Description: [/b]Mega Man X: Command Mission is a turn-based RPG set in the world of Mega Man X. It features a wide cast of Mega Man X characters, some classic and some new ones debut here. The run features a fair amount of customization on each character to build their setups for each area & their bosses, and combines a tight menuing system with a battle system that requires the player to input time-based commands to maximize damage per turns in battles. 
[b]Pros/Cons: [/b]The run is linear and easy to understand what's happening, but offers a variety of strategies that many familiar with the game may have overlooked as being beneficial. Boss battles are fast paced and dynamic, and require the player to react quickly and decisively. Cutscenes are skippable (but there's a few that are funny and can be showed for some minor timeloss). Menus with equipment, shopping and setting skills are very fast, and movement in this game is a step up from standard RPGs in that good control of X is crucial and easily identifiable by a viewer. This RPG is a rare chance to see Mega Man X lore in a full-throttle RPG setting. Cons would be perhaps the game's popularity & voice acting (it's special but also entertaining), and that some sections of the game are stretches with mostly running from battles, but there are plenty amount of topics to discuss regarding upcoming strategies and other game mechanics. 
[b]Incentives: [/b]The main character X has a "scarf," which is the color of the jet that comes out of his back. X can equip either a red or blue scarf beginning in Chapter 3, so for 8 chapters of the game, an ongoing bid war could occur to change the scarf to either color at the beginning of the chapter (please see the video at the top of this post at 1:10 mark). Total time added to the run would be ~5m (if the color theoretically swapped every chapter, since each change takes about 30s). Alternatively it could be a one time bid war ending at Chapter 3 to determine red or blue for the rest of the game, either works. 
[b]Video: [/b]https://www.twitch.tv/cleartonic/v/110821686

2016-12-30 01:09:53 am

Is PJ

Game Name: Brandish
System: SNES
Category: Any%
Gameplay Estimate: 1:20:00 (extremely generous, and assuming worst possible luck on final boss)
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 5 min for ending + stats (most importantly, in-game time & deaths; these would be very useful for pledges)
Description: Brandish tells the story of our hero, Varik, and his mortal enemy, Alexis, as they try to return back to the surface after falling through the earth into ancient ruins. The primary identifying feature of the Brandish series is that the game maintains a constant overhead perspective by rotating the entire world around Varik instead of turning his sprite. This unique perspective allows for extremely creative perspective-based puzzles, and really emphasizes positioning and anticipation in combat. The franchise plays unlike any other action RPG and always has something new to share. The speedrun plays through the game severely underleveled, relying on short and scattered grinding sessions to increase only attack power. Varik is almost always one hit away from death.
Donation Incentive Offers: Kill/save Alexis. Alexis is the mortal rival of your character, but serves as comic relief throughout the game. In the final floor of the game, she is being attacked by an enemy and asks you for help when you stumble across her. You are expected to kill the enemy while he is distracted, but you can choose to just gang up on Alexis, kill her, and take her stuff instead.
Pros:
+Extremely good pacing. We clear over 40 enormous floors in roughly an hour.
+The floors keep a really good balance between intense combat, puzzles, and navigation. Some floors are strictly puzzle-based, others are combat-focused, others just involve a lot of movement.
+A few scattered short grinding sessions (1-2 minutes each) give some good opportunities for donation reading.
+Safe. Game auto-saves on every floor, and you can manually save at any point on any floor. Cannot create unwinnable situations.
+Incredibly tense game. We die in one hit for a majority of the run. Final boss is absolutely barbaric.
Cons:
-It is TOO fast for some new viewers to watch. Can be a very disorienting game until you get used to the perspective.
-Will require really good commentary to be accessible to new viewers.
-Not a very popular franchise, though it does have some very devoted fans.
Sample run video:

Game Name: Equinox
System: SNES
Category: Any%
Gameplay Estimate: 1:55:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 10 min for ending
Description: The sequel to Solstice, Equinox is an isometric puzzle platformer with over 450 unique rooms spread across 8 dungeons. Equinox takes advantage of the undeniable ambiguity of the isometric perspective by designing puzzles specifically to fit around them. Equinox is an incredibly cruel game for an uninformed playthrough, but it makes for a very entertaining speedrun. There are no significant glitches or sequences breaks, so the viewer gets to see every unique puzzle that the game has to offer.
Donation Incentive Offers: None.
Pros:
+Despite a slow movement speed, this game has really good pacing.
+Glendaal dies in one hit, and the speedrun route cuts jumps and combat incredibly close. Very tense run.
+Really good variety in puzzles. Very, very few puzzles and puzzle concepts are recycled.
+Safe. While I die in one hit, we maintain a rather large pool of lives. It is impossible for me to game over at my current level of play.
+Much, much easier to commentate this while playing than Brandish. Requires much less focus from me.
Cons:
-Is arguably not an RPG. While it was advertised by the developers as an RPG, has a save file, and has character progression (HP, MP, equipment, spells, key items), it very clearly does not fit with the standard RPG model.
-The boss fights are tedious.
-Really terrible audio balance. Tech might have to adjust the audio for each dungeon, because the game does a bad job of it.
Sample run video: https://www.twitch.tv/pjdicesare/v/100553534

[b]Game Name[/b]: Brandish
[b]System[/b]: SNES
[b]Category[/b]: Any%
[b]Gameplay Estimate[/b]: 1:20:00 (extremely generous, and assuming worst possible luck on final boss)
[b]Ending/Bonus Estimate[/b]: 5 min for ending + stats (most importantly, in-game time & deaths; these would be very useful for pledges)
[b]Description[/b]: Brandish tells the story of our hero, Varik, and his mortal enemy, Alexis, as they try to return back to the surface after falling through the earth into ancient ruins.  The primary identifying feature of the Brandish series is that the game maintains a constant overhead perspective by rotating the entire world around Varik instead of turning his sprite.  This unique perspective allows for extremely creative perspective-based puzzles, and really emphasizes positioning and anticipation in combat.  The franchise plays unlike any other action RPG and always has something new to share.  The speedrun plays through the game severely underleveled, relying on short and scattered grinding sessions to increase only attack power.  Varik is almost always one hit away from death.
[b]Donation Incentive Offers[/b]: Kill/save Alexis.  Alexis is the mortal rival of your character, but serves as comic relief throughout the game.  In the final floor of the game, she is being attacked by an enemy and asks you for help when you stumble across her.  You are expected to kill the enemy while he is distracted, but you can choose to just gang up on Alexis, kill her, and take her stuff instead.
[b]Pros[/b]:
+Extremely good pacing.  We clear over 40 enormous floors in roughly an hour.
+The floors keep a really good balance between intense combat, puzzles, and navigation.  Some floors are strictly puzzle-based, others are combat-focused, others just involve a lot of movement.
+A few scattered short grinding sessions (1-2 minutes each) give some good opportunities for donation reading.
+Safe.  Game auto-saves on every floor, and you can manually save at any point on any floor.  Cannot create unwinnable situations.
+Incredibly tense game.  We die in one hit for a majority of the run.  Final boss is absolutely barbaric.
[b]Cons[/b]:
-It is TOO fast for some new viewers to watch.  Can be a very disorienting game until you get used to the perspective.
-Will require really good commentary to be accessible to new viewers.
-Not a very popular franchise, though it does have some very devoted fans.
[b]Sample run video[/b]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIv-VT3iZZM

[b]Game Name[/b]: Equinox
[b]System[/b]: SNES
[b]Category[/b]: Any%
[b]Gameplay Estimate[/b]: 1:55:00
[b]Ending/Bonus Estimate[/b]: 10 min for ending
[b]Description[/b]: The sequel to Solstice, Equinox is an isometric puzzle platformer with over 450 unique rooms spread across 8 dungeons.  Equinox takes advantage of the undeniable ambiguity of the isometric perspective by designing puzzles specifically to fit around them.  Equinox is an incredibly cruel game for an uninformed playthrough, but it makes for a very entertaining speedrun.  There are no significant glitches or sequences breaks, so the viewer gets to see every unique puzzle that the game has to offer.
[b]Donation Incentive Offers[/b]: None.
[b]Pros[/b]:
+Despite a slow movement speed, this game has really good pacing.
+Glendaal dies in one hit, and the speedrun route cuts jumps and combat incredibly close.  Very tense run.
+Really good variety in puzzles.  Very, very few puzzles and puzzle concepts are recycled.
+Safe.  While I die in one hit, we maintain a rather large pool of lives.  It is impossible for me to game over at my current level of play.
+Much, much easier to commentate this while playing than Brandish.  Requires much less focus from me.
[b]Cons[/b]:
-Is arguably not an RPG.  While it was advertised by the developers as an RPG, has a save file, and has character progression (HP, MP, equipment, spells, key items), it very clearly does not fit with the standard RPG model.
-The boss fights are tedious.
-Really terrible audio balance.  Tech might have to adjust the audio for each dungeon, because the game does a bad job of it.
[b]Sample run video[/b]: https://www.twitch.tv/pjdicesare/v/100553534

Malagron

Edit history:

Malagron: 2016-12-31 09:02:59 pm

Malagron: 2016-12-31 08:46:01 pm

Malagron: 2016-12-31 05:43:10 pm

Malagron: 2016-12-31 03:16:46 pm

Malagron: 2016-12-30 05:38:12 pm

Malagron: 2016-12-30 12:43:05 pm

Malagron: 2016-12-30 11:38:49 am

Malagron: 2016-12-30 11:08:40 am

Malagron: 2016-12-30 06:08:48 am

Malagron: 2016-12-30 02:51:19 am

2016-12-30 02:45:25 am

Game name: Final Fantasy XV
System: PS4
Category: Any % Current patch
Gameplay estimate: 6:15:00 (this is high for the game even as it stands right now, and it will come down but is based on what I can do currently. Also based on current patch as of submission. Future patches may make changes to what is reasonable for an estimate )
Ending/Bonus content: ending 23 minutes, incentive cutscenes 10 minutes, Pitioss Dungeon 10 minutes (conservative estimate), music incentive picking up extra items and purchasing cds 10 minutes altogether, Malbodoom kill 5 minutes

Pros:
+Highly interactive and flashy combat, where even later bosses die quickly without the abuse of glitches or a specific mechanic. Also uses properties of even specific weapons (not just types) to optimize combat
+Very little RNG. Outside of catalyst/consumable drops in Ch2, there's not a lot to affect the run in major terms. Some consumables can make some bosses shorter, or gil drops for more safety elixirs, but that's about it.
+New entry in a beloved series. Visually impressive.
+Due to the Ascension grid (think Sphere grid, license board, crystarium, etc.), magic, and Armiger mechanics work, the route is heavy on planning and optimization (Think somewhat similar to FF6 and rods)
+No potential for a mercy kill. There are places for time loss but at the worst there are autosaves

Cons:
-Pacing. The run is hot and cold, with action, then driving, then action, then driving. Little to do on the car and train segments. The potential music incentive could mitigate this somewhat, but there's not a lot else to be done. Some of the chapters, particular 5 and 13 can drag on a bit.
-The fast pace of the combat along can make it difficult to follow and provide commentary for. Also the strings of combat leading to strings of little to no gameplay can lead to commentary piling up and things not getting explained. Couch would mitigate this a bit.
-Boss fights can be unforgiving if you don't get the strategy. Can cost minutes in some cases and there's no real way to save it, as any backup strats can't use the resources used for the quick kill.

Donation incentives:
Spoken language: English, Japanese, German, French. Set before run starts and cannot be changed. Subtitles will be on and in English.

Music incentive (10 mins) The car can play CDs with music from past FFs. CH 3 and onward allows you to have a Portable MP3 Player to bring these songs with you on your person. This would be a rolling bid war throughout most of the game for which FF would have their music to be played. Since not all music is available from the get go, this would work similarly to the Chrono Cross frame bid war from last time. This could be made simple or more complex. I would limit this to FFs 1-14. Can be limited further at committee's discretion. There are times when the game forces its own music over any being played via the car or MP3 player, and there are times when I believe the game's music should simply be played instead of anything else, but for a large part of it, this incentive can be active.

Extra scene incentive (10 mins throughout the run): Watching the scenes in the 'Stroll for Two' quest in Chapter 3. These are normally skipped. Watching the Summon animations play out. These are normally skipped. You are guaranteed 3 in a run. 4 is not unreasonable. 5 would be lucky. There are a few conversations that are funny or otherwise entertaining sprinkled throughout the run which we would normally just run past and skip that we would listen to. Individually, aside from maybe the summon animations, these would be too weak to offer on their own, but together they could fill out an incentive.

Pitioss Dungeon (10 mins likely a lot less, but I haven't spent time on the speedrun of this dungeon): This is a postgame dungeon that requires a prepared save, but instead of combat, it is completed entirely solo with Noctis, and uses platforming and other non-standard gameplay mechanics. Well, it would, but a lot of it gets skipped. A lot of players casually can spend several hours on this, and to see an exhibition on just how quickly it can be beaten

No magic Malbodoom kill (5 minutes): This is one of the monsters in the legendary weapons questline. It would require a prepared save file, but only of a completed speedrun to save time on getting to this point in the questline and travel time. It would literally be the exact same setup as the end of the speedrun otherwise. This is the furthest fight in the questline that also makes for a compelling showing.

Any compelling hunts are gated behind the second last rank and cannot be investigated before submissions end.

Sample run video: https://youtu.be/iN1aUjcAi2U
Here's another run that was a bit more commentary focused, particularly early onhttps://youtu.be/0rZRvPP86Tw

As a note, I can also do the unpatched or original version. As of submission, the only difference is that the original uses a glitch to give a higher HP/MP regen rate to make Chapter 5 a little shorter. The patched version relies on routing and restorative items instead of a glitch.

Another thing to note, if the constant jumping is considered too disorienting, the game can be done with sprinting and stamina refresh, it'll just take longer. I believe somewhere in the 5-10 minute extra range, but I don't have hard numbers. If you want me to do runs with this as an option to confirm what the added time is, just let me know

Pros:
+Highly interactive and flashy combat, where even later bosses die quickly without the abuse of glitches or a specific mechanic. Also uses properties of even specific weapons (not just types) to optimize combat
+Very little RNG. Outside of catalyst/consumable drops in Ch2, there's not a lot to affect the run in major terms. Some consumables can make some bosses shorter, or gil drops for more safety elixirs, but that's about it.
+New entry in a beloved series. Visually impressive.
+Due to the Ascension grid (think Sphere grid, license board, crystarium, etc.), magic, and Armiger mechanics work, the route is heavy on planning and optimization (Think somewhat similar to FF6 and rods)
+No potential for a mercy kill. There are places for time loss but at the worst there are autosaves

Cons:
-Pacing. The run is hot and cold, with action, then driving, then action, then driving. Little to do on the car and train segments. The potential music incentive could mitigate this somewhat, but there's not a lot else to be done. Some of the chapters, particular 5 and 13 can drag on a bit.
-The fast pace of the combat along can make it difficult to follow and provide commentary for. Also the strings of combat leading to strings of little to no gameplay can lead to commentary piling up and things not getting explained. Couch would mitigate this a bit.
-Boss fights can be unforgiving if you don't get the strategy. Can cost minutes in some cases and there's no real way to save it, as any backup strats can't use the resources used for the quick kill.

Donation incentives:
Spoken language: English, Japanese, German, French. Set before run starts and cannot be changed. Subtitles will be on and in English.

Music incentive (10 mins)  The car can play CDs with music from past FFs. CH 3 and onward allows you to have a Portable MP3 Player to bring these songs with you on your person. This would be a rolling bid war throughout most of the game for which FF would have their music to be played. Since not all music is available from the get go, this would work similarly to the Chrono Cross frame bid war from last time. This could be made simple or more complex. I would limit this to FFs 1-14. Can be limited further at committee's discretion. There are times when the game forces its own music over any being played via the car or MP3 player, and there are times when I believe the game's music should simply be played instead of anything else, but for a large part of it, this incentive can be active.

Extra scene incentive (10 mins throughout the run): Watching the scenes in the 'Stroll for Two' quest in Chapter 3. These are normally skipped. Watching the Summon animations play out. These are normally skipped. You are guaranteed 3 in a run. 4 is not unreasonable. 5 would be lucky. There are a few conversations that are funny or otherwise entertaining sprinkled throughout the run which we would normally just run past and skip that we would listen to. Individually, aside from maybe the summon animations, these would be too weak to offer on their own, but together they could fill out an incentive.

Pitioss Dungeon (10 mins likely a lot less, but I haven't spent time on the speedrun of this dungeon): This is a postgame dungeon that requires a prepared save, but instead of combat, it is completed entirely solo with Noctis, and uses platforming and other non-standard gameplay mechanics. Well, it would, but a lot of it gets skipped. A lot of players casually can spend several hours on this, and to see an exhibition on just how quickly it can be beaten

No magic Malbodoom kill (5 minutes): This is one of the monsters in the legendary weapons questline. It would require a prepared save file, but only of a completed speedrun to save time on getting to this point in the questline and travel time. It would literally be the exact same setup as the end of the speedrun otherwise. This is the furthest fight in the questline that also makes for a compelling showing.

Any compelling hunts are gated behind the second last rank and cannot be investigated before submissions end.

Sample run video: [noembed]https://youtu.be/iN1aUjcAi2U[/noembed] 
Here's another run that was a bit more commentary focused, particularly early on[noembed]https://youtu.be/0rZRvPP86Tw[/noembed]

As a note, I can also do the unpatched or original version. As of submission, the only difference is that the original uses a glitch to give a higher HP/MP regen rate to make Chapter 5 a little shorter. The patched version relies on routing and restorative items instead of a glitch.

Another thing to note, if the constant jumping is considered too disorienting, the game can be done with sprinting and stamina refresh, it'll just take longer. I believe somewhere in the 5-10 minute extra range, but I don't have hard numbers. If you want me to do runs with this as an option to confirm what the added time is, just let me know

eLmaGus-

2016-12-30 03:38:22 am

I must simply laugh.

Game Name: Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals
System: Super Nintendo
Category: Ancient Cave Any% (Race w/ ThatsFairZack , the_roth and ShadowKiller4826)
Gameplay Estimate: 2:00:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 0:05:00
Pros/Cons: As we are submitting this as a race, everything in ThatsFairZacks submission could be placed here aswell.
Donation Incentive Offers: see ThatsFairZacks submission
Sample run video: see ThatsFairZacks submission

Game Name: Final Fantasy Mystic Quest
System: Super Nintendo
Category: Any% (Race w/ whoever is up for it)
Gameplay Estimate: 2:20:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 0:05:00
Pros/Cons:

+ fast paced but very easy to follow
+ anybody can win in a race, excitement is guaranteed, lead changes happen in every dungeon

- lack of donation incentives
- for the viewer that expects the runs to have multiple glitches or for the runs to be heavily execution based, this is not the run for that

Donation Incentive Offers: Naming the Hero (8 Characters), could do in-depth Underflow Glitch showcase + explanation and what you can achieve w/ it(5-10 Min)
Sample run video: https://www.twitch.tv/elmagus/v/27419899 (Sample Marathon Race)

Game Name: Final Fantasy Tactics
System: PSX played on a PS2
Category: Any% / Any% No Math
Gameplay Estimate: 4:30:00 / 5:15:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 0:10:00
Pros/Cons:

+ hasn't had a major Marathon showing in a good while (the No Math category hasn't had any)
+ as this is an SRPG, the routing done for this game of course is something that is very impressive
+ while being a strategy game and consisting of menus, it does remain a fast pace outside of cutscenes
+ with few explanations it is an easy to follow game

- The game does have a lot of cutscenes, while the runner/commentators can narrate through them, this is certainly a weakpoint
- The strategies for the normal Any% run are pretty "samey" throughout Chapter 2-3 and only see small deviations in Chapter 4
- The great depth this game has is his weakness at the same time, if the commentary goes into detail about how this game works, the audience might be confused if it is not done very well (aka i need help with commentary)

Donation Incentive Offers: Category Bidwar/No Math Incentive (depending on what the Marathon wants), Naming Ramza (14 Characters), All Sidequests in Chapter 4 (Recruiting Beowulf/Reis -> Worker 8 -> Cloud / +30:00),
Sample run video: https://www.twitch.tv/elmagus/v/42342161 (Math) , https://www.twitch.tv/elmagus/v/42785381 (No Math - is vastly outdated, new route would be easy enough to learn though)

Game Name: Chrono Trigger
System: Super Nintendo
Category: Any% no LSS
Gameplay Estimate: 3:30:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 0:05:00
Pros/Cons:
+ The RNG manipulation Route has been revised immensly in the past year by CronoKirby, Redlash, Ottavino and many more that i cant list here, making for a new experience compared to the last time this was run at a big marathon
+ has not been done in a big marathon for a while now
+ has very few sections with downtime, most of the time there is something going on
+ wide variety of glitches that break the game heavily

- RNG manipulation means no excitement : (
- some donation incentives i put up would only be possible if other CT runners attended the marathon

Donation Incentive Offers: Naming 6 Character (5 letter each), Magus vs. Magus Showdown (Glitchless Battle w/ low level, +10:00), LSS showcase (provided Redslash or somebody else that is versed in this attends / +10:00),
Sample run video: https://www.twitch.tv/elmagus/v/18367280 (my old PB that is not using the new route yet, sadly I was not able to get a run w/ the new route in before submissions close due to me being bound to a lot of things. The concept in this run though still applies to the new route)

[b]Game Name:[/b] Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals
[b]System:[/b] Super Nintendo
[b]Category:[/b] Ancient Cave Any% (Race w/ ThatsFairZack , the_roth and ShadowKiller4826)
[b]Gameplay Estimate:[/b] 2:00:00
[b]Ending/Bonus Estimate:[/b] 0:05:00
[b]Pros/Cons:[/b] As we are submitting this as a race, everything in ThatsFairZacks submission could be placed here aswell.
[b]Donation Incentive Offers:[/b]  [i]see ThatsFairZacks submission[/i]
[b]Sample run video:[/b] [i]see ThatsFairZacks submission[/i]

[b]Game Name:[/b] Final Fantasy Mystic Quest
[b]System:[/b] Super Nintendo
[b]Category:[/b] Any% (Race w/ whoever is up for it)
[b]Gameplay Estimate:[/b] 2:20:00
[b]Ending/Bonus Estimate:[/b] 0:05:00
[b]Pros/Cons:[/b]

+ fast paced but very easy to follow
+ anybody can win in a race, excitement is guaranteed, lead changes happen in every dungeon

- lack of donation incentives
- for the viewer that expects the runs to have multiple glitches or for the runs to be heavily execution based, this is not the run for that

[b]Donation Incentive Offers:[/b] Naming the Hero (8 Characters), could do in-depth Underflow Glitch showcase + explanation and what you can achieve w/ it(5-10 Min)
[b]Sample run video:[/b] https://www.twitch.tv/elmagus/v/27419899 (Sample Marathon Race)

[b]Game Name:[/b] Final Fantasy Tactics
[b]System:[/b] PSX played on a PS2
[b]Category:[/b] Any% / Any% No Math
[b]Gameplay Estimate:[/b] 4:30:00 / 5:15:00
[b]Ending/Bonus Estimate:[/b] 0:10:00
[b]Pros/Cons:[/b]

+ hasn't had a major Marathon showing in a good while (the No Math category hasn't had any)
+ as this is an SRPG, the routing done for this game of course is something that is very impressive
+ while being a strategy game and consisting of menus, it does remain a fast pace outside of cutscenes
+ with few explanations it is an easy to follow game

- The game does have a lot of cutscenes, while the runner/commentators can narrate through them, this is certainly a weakpoint
- The strategies for the normal Any% run are pretty "samey" throughout Chapter 2-3 and only see small deviations in Chapter 4
- The great depth this game has is his weakness at the same time, if the commentary goes into detail about how this game works, the audience might be confused if it is not done very well (aka i need help with commentary)

[b]Donation Incentive Offers:[/b]  Category Bidwar/No Math Incentive (depending on what the Marathon wants), Naming Ramza (14 Characters), All Sidequests in Chapter 4 (Recruiting Beowulf/Reis -> Worker 8 -> Cloud / +30:00), 
[b]Sample run video:[/b] https://www.twitch.tv/elmagus/v/42342161 (Math) , https://www.twitch.tv/elmagus/v/42785381 (No Math - is vastly outdated, new route would be easy enough to learn though)

[b]Game Name:[/b] Chrono Trigger
[b]System:[/b] Super Nintendo
[b]Category:[/b] Any% no LSS
[b]Gameplay Estimate:[/b] 3:30:00
[b]Ending/Bonus Estimate:[/b] 0:05:00
[b]Pros/Cons:[/b]
+ The RNG manipulation Route has been revised immensly in the past year by CronoKirby, Redlash, Ottavino and many more that i cant list here, making for a new experience compared to the last time this was run at a big marathon
+ has not been done in a big marathon for a while now
+ has very few sections with downtime, most of the time there is something going on
+ wide variety of glitches that break the game heavily

- RNG manipulation means no excitement : (
- some donation incentives i put up would only be possible if other CT runners attended the marathon

[b]Donation Incentive Offers:[/b]  Naming 6 Character (5 letter each), Magus vs. Magus Showdown (Glitchless Battle w/ low level, +10:00), LSS showcase (provided Redslash or somebody else that is versed in this attends / +10:00), 
[b]Sample run video:[/b] https://www.twitch.tv/elmagus/v/18367280 (my old PB that is not using the new route yet, sadly I was not able to get a run w/ the new route in before submissions close due to me being bound to a lot of things. The concept in this run though still applies to the new route)

Yagamoth

Edit history:

Yagamoth: 2016-12-30 08:22:42 am

2016-12-30 07:15:01 am

INTJ

Game Name: Tales of Phantasia
System: SNES
Category: Any%
Gameplay Estimate: 4h 35min
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 12min (Ending) +4min (Extended ending if you hold L + R)
- Con: Text is in Japanese (English fantranslation adds ~25 minutes...), fairly unknown
- Pro: An amazing-looking and sounding SNES game with a story that lends itself extremely well to retell alongside the speedrun in a way, where there is almost no downtime in commentary for either speedrunning-things or story-stuff
Donation Incentive Offers : Name 5 characters (regular letters available as well as Japanese), Chester solos the final boss (~4min)
Sample run video :

Game Name: Secret of Mana
System: SNES
Category: Any% coop (With StingerPA and BOWIEtheHERO) / 1p1c All Bosses
Gameplay Estimate: 2h / 3h 10min
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 7min (Ending)
- Con: Really glitchy and som
- Pro: One of those games where people often come into my chat with their fond memories of it. Direct 3-p multiplayer with a lot of a action that is basically a boss-rush and tons of speed-tech. There has yet to be a 3-p coop run at any recent marathon with all new strategies.
Donation Incentive Offers : Name 2-3 characters (6 letters each), glitchfest with new things (5-8 min)
Sample run video :

Game Name: Diablo II
System: PC
Category: Any% Normal / Any% Nightmare
Gameplay Estimate: 2h / 4h
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 7min (Ending)
- Con: Extremely RNG-heavy (although it balances out over the course of the run... usually)
- Pro: A very popular game from a large portion of old players and is still played today, a ton of technical things to talk about for a speedrun
Donation Incentive Offers : Character name / Class choice (Assassin, Druid, Paladin)

[b]Game Name[/b]: Tales of Phantasia
[b]System[/b]: SNES
[b]Category[/b]: Any%
[b]Gameplay Estimate[/b]: 4h 35min
[b]Ending/Bonus Estimate[/b]: 12min (Ending) +4min (Extended ending if you hold L + R)
[b] - Con: [/b]Text is in Japanese (English fantranslation adds ~25 minutes...), fairly unknown
[b] - Pro: [/b]An amazing-looking and sounding SNES game with a story that lends itself extremely well to retell alongside the speedrun in a way, where there is almost no downtime in commentary for either speedrunning-things or story-stuff
[b]Donation Incentive Offers [/b]: Name 5 characters (regular letters available as well as Japanese), Chester solos the final boss (~4min)
[b]Sample run video [/b]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MweAq-IXWzg

[b]Game Name[/b]: Secret of Mana
[b]System[/b]: SNES
[b]Category[/b]: Any% coop (With StingerPA and BOWIEtheHERO) / 1p1c All Bosses
[b]Gameplay Estimate[/b]: 2h / 3h 10min
[b]Ending/Bonus Estimate[/b]: 7min (Ending)
[b] - Con: [/b]Really glitchy and som
[b] - Pro: [/b]One of those games where people often come into my chat with their fond memories of it. Direct 3-p multiplayer with a lot of a action that is basically a boss-rush and tons of speed-tech. There has yet to be a 3-p coop run at any recent marathon with all new strategies.
[b]Donation Incentive Offers [/b]: Name 2-3 characters (6 letters each), glitchfest with new things (5-8 min)
[b]Sample run video [/b]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-1F-yg20N0

[b]Game Name[/b]: Diablo II
[b]System[/b]: PC
[b]Category[/b]: Any% Normal / Any% Nightmare
[b]Gameplay Estimate[/b]: 2h / 4h
[b]Ending/Bonus Estimate[/b]: 7min (Ending)
[b] - Con: [/b] Extremely RNG-heavy (although it balances out over the course of the run... usually)
[b] - Pro: [/b] A very popular game from a large portion of old players and is still played today, a ton of technical things to talk about for a speedrun
[b]Donation Incentive Offers [/b]: Character name / Class choice (Assassin, Druid, Paladin)

DarkLordDracula

2016-12-30 01:34:12 pm

Game Name: Custom Robo (AKA Custom Robo: Battle Revolution, which is its full Japanese title)
System: Gamecube
Category : Any% New Journey
Gameplay Estimate: 2:25:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: ~3 min

Pros: This game is a childhood favorite of many Gamecube owners. It's a sort of action-RPG/Arena Brawler in a world similar to Pokemon, except unlike Pokemon you beat up other peoples customized robots with your customized Robots. The run is straight up execution and reaction to enemy AI, as many bosses have overpowered robot parts. The run has a solid action-to-cutscene ratio, with a lot of silliness within the cutscenes that make it amusing to watch. The game is marathon safe, as deaths only cost between 60-90 seconds. I've received a good amount of positive feedback for this run both from people who have never seen the game and from people who liked this game when they were younger and didn't know that it had anyone who did speedruns of it.

Cons: We stop getting new parts after about 30% of the way into the run, and the overall strategy remains the same for a decent chunk of the game, though different battles have their own nuances. Some of the 2v2 battles are a bit hard to tell exactly what is going on, and the game takes a bit of explaining how it works. It is a bit backloaded; the first battle that really can be considered a "boss" happens around an hour in (although the battles before it still can be tricky).

Extra Information: I am also offering a Relay Race offer with other runners (Tehrizzle, GhostKingG1, and StingerPA) in a 2 runners vs 2 runners race, though I am also willing to do a race or 2 person co-op run (it's difficult to sensibly divide this game among more than 2 people with its length). Races are a big part of our community and I would like to be able to showcase that. Should a 2v2 be accepted, we can also adjust the donation incentive for Metal Ape color to be the top two choices (e.g. have Team Yellow Ape vs Team Blue Ape). I have confirmed with Puwexil that this game is enough of an RPG to consider for an RPGLB schedule.

Possible Donation Incentives: Name the Hero (8 Character Limit), Metal Ape Color (Brown, Red, Yellow, Green, Blue), show off the bad ending (~2 minutes)

Sample Run Video: https://www.twitch.tv/darklorddracula/v/86914293

Game Name: Custom Robo (AKA Custom Robo: Battle Revolution, which is its full Japanese title)
System: Gamecube
Category : Any% New Journey 
Gameplay Estimate: 2:25:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: ~3 min

Pros: This game is a childhood favorite of many Gamecube owners. It's a sort of action-RPG/Arena Brawler in a world similar to Pokemon, except unlike Pokemon you beat up other peoples customized robots with your customized Robots. The run is straight up execution and reaction to enemy AI, as many bosses have overpowered robot parts. The run has a solid action-to-cutscene ratio, with a lot of silliness within the cutscenes that make it amusing to watch. The game is marathon safe, as deaths only cost between 60-90 seconds. I've received a good amount of positive feedback for this run both from people who have never seen the game and from people who liked this game when they were younger and didn't know that it had anyone who did speedruns of it.

Cons: We stop getting new parts after about 30% of the way into the run, and the overall strategy remains the same for a decent chunk of the game, though different battles have their own nuances. Some of the 2v2 battles are a bit hard to tell exactly what is going on, and the game takes a bit of explaining how it works. It is a bit backloaded; the first battle that really can be considered a "boss" happens around an hour in (although the battles before it still can be tricky).

Extra Information: I am also offering a Relay Race offer with other runners (Tehrizzle, GhostKingG1, and StingerPA) in a 2 runners vs 2 runners race, though I am also willing to do a race or 2 person co-op run (it's difficult to sensibly divide this game among more than 2 people with its length). Races are a big part of our community and I would like to be able to showcase that. Should a 2v2 be accepted, we can also adjust the donation incentive for Metal Ape color to be the top two choices (e.g. have Team Yellow Ape vs Team Blue Ape). I have confirmed with Puwexil that this game is enough of an RPG to consider for an RPGLB schedule.

Possible Donation Incentives: Name the Hero (8 Character Limit),  Metal Ape Color (Brown, Red, Yellow, Green, Blue), show off the bad ending (~2 minutes)

Sample Run Video: https://www.twitch.tv/darklorddracula/v/86914293

Spiriax

2016-12-30 02:33:56 pm

Game Name: Alundra
System: PS1 game, will be played on PS2
Category: Any%
Gameplay Estimate: 5:00:00 for JP version, and 5:30:00 for US version
Ending/Bonus Estimate: Ending around 8:00, credits around 5:00
Pros:
+ Execution heavy run with menuing, text fast forwarding, quick turn sprinting, platforming and combat
+ Tons of tricks and sequence breaks all over
+ Very easy to stock up on extra healing items to ensure no deaths
+ If played on US version, the dialogue is kind of readable when being fast forwarded
Cons:
- 7 minutes will be spent dying 20 times to unlock the best weapon in the game
- As saving is too time consuming, any unwanted deaths requires loading up a backup save
Donation Incentive Offers: None
Extra Information: Even though I only have a video for the JP version, switching to the US version is no problem if you prefer that.
Commentary would be done by Puri_Puri.
Sample run video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwjy6H1lAa8

[b]Game Name:[/b] Alundra
[b]System[/b]: PS1 game, will be played on PS2
[b]Category:[/b] Any%
[b]Gameplay Estimate[/b]: 5:00:00 for JP version, and 5:30:00 for US version
[b]Ending/Bonus Estimate:[/b] Ending around 8:00, credits around 5:00
[b]Pros:[/b]
+ Execution heavy run with menuing, text fast forwarding, quick turn sprinting, platforming and combat
+ Tons of tricks and sequence breaks all over
+ Very easy to stock up on extra healing items to ensure no deaths
+ If played on US version, the dialogue is kind of readable when being fast forwarded
[b]Cons:[/b]
- 7 minutes will be spent dying 20 times to unlock the best weapon in the game
- As saving is too time consuming, any unwanted deaths requires loading up a backup save
[b]Donation Incentive Offers:[/b] None
[b]Extra Information:[/b] Even though I only have a video for the JP version, switching to the US version is no problem if you prefer that.
Commentary would be done by Puri_Puri.
[b]Sample run video:[/b] [noembed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwjy6H1lAa8[/noembed]

GearlessRobot

Edit history:

GearlessRobot: 2016-12-30 03:20:43 pm

2016-12-30 03:20:01 pm

Game Name: Mother 3
System: GBA played on GC with GBP
Category: Any% English
Gameplay Estimate: 7:00:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 20:00

Pros/Cons: Although the game was never released in English, the fan translation patch was pretty popular, and it's what I would use to run the game. There's no overpowered 'I win' items, so I have to get creative at times to win boss fights. In addition, the party changes a lot throughout most of the game, so boss strats are varied. There's a couple boss fights that can choose to give you a bad time, but there's a save point before all of them so time loss will be minimal. The run has a lot of stuff to name, and a couple memorable boss fights that aren't too far out of the way to offer as donation incentives. There are a lot of cutscenes, especially early on in the game, but none of them are terribly long. There's two grinding points in the run, one is really short, and the other one needs a rare enemy to show up, which can cost time if I get unlucky.

Donation Incentive Offers: Name Lucas, Claus, Flint, Hinawa, Boney, Duster, Kumatora, Salsa, and Favorite Thing (8 char limit), Name Favorite Food (9 char limit), Name Player (16 char limit), pick Flavor, Osohe dance-a-long, fight Negative Man (takes 2 minutes), fight Porky Statue (takes 2 minutes), see Flint's bonus dialogue in the final area (takes 1 minute)

Sample run video: https://www.twitch.tv/gearlessrobot/v/110977871

Game Name: Star Ocean: The Second Story
System: PS1 played on PS2 with fast disc speed
Category: Any% Claude or Any% Rena (Bid war)
Gameplay Estimate: 5:18:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 25:00 (15 minute credits + 10 minutes for bonus fights)

Pros/Cons: A RPG with a real time battle system, and arguably the most popular game in the Star Ocean series. This run exploits one of the most overpowered weapons in all of gaming to quickly beat everything that gets in the way. The run also uses the game's deep item creation system to create items to make Claude even more overpowered. The Eternal Sphere isn't gotten until disc 2, so there are varying strats for the bosses on disc 1. There's an easy to perform glitch that lets you skip all random encounters in the game, so dungeon exploration is pretty safe. There are a ton of possible donation incentives, though some of them can take up to 10 minutes. It's also rather unique among JRPGs in that the English version is faster. However, there are a lot of cutscenes in disc 1, and you spend the first 30 minutes in and around the first town. The run is pretty safe, with save points before all the difficult boss fights. The big concern is that the Rena run needs AI Claude to win a fight about an hour and a half in. I can prepare a safety save in case he loses, but I'll also try to find a way to make that fight more consistent.

Donation Incentive Offers: Name all characters (Claude, Rena, Celine, Leon, Dias (Rena only), Noel, Chisato(if recruited), Bowman/Precis(if recruited, Bowman will be recruited if incentive is rejected), Ashton/Opera(if recruited) - 7 character limit for all) (Can be a rolling incentive), bid war for Claude or Rena(Adds about 5 minutes if Rena is picked), recruit Celine (takes about 1 minute if no other characters are recruited before a certain point. Saves time otherwise), recruit Noel (no time loss), recruit Chisato (takes 4 minutes), bid war for Ashton vs Opera (takes 10 minutes for either), bid war for Bowman vs Precis (10 minutes for Precis, no loss for Bowman), pick order I visit the four fields on disc 2 (small time loss from world map movement if a bad order is picked), post-run fight against Unlimited Indalecio or Iselia Queen on Universe mode

Sample run video: https://www.twitch.tv/elmagus/v/32804148 (Scrubathon run, Claude) https://www.twitch.tv/gearlessrobot/v/44400578 (Rena)

Game Name: Mother 3
System: GBA played on GC with GBP
Category: Any% English
Gameplay Estimate: 7:00:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 20:00

Pros/Cons: Although the game was never released in English, the fan translation patch was pretty popular, and it's what I would use to run the game. There's no overpowered 'I win' items, so I have to get creative at times to win boss fights. In addition, the party changes a lot throughout most of the game, so boss strats are varied. There's a couple boss fights that can choose to give you a bad time, but there's a save point before all of them so time loss will be minimal. The run has a lot of stuff to name, and a couple memorable boss fights that aren't too far out of the way to offer as donation incentives. There are a lot of cutscenes, especially early on in the game, but none of them are terribly long. There's two grinding points in the run, one is really short, and the other one needs a rare enemy to show up, which can cost time if I get unlucky.

Donation Incentive Offers: Name Lucas, Claus, Flint, Hinawa, Boney, Duster, Kumatora, Salsa, and Favorite Thing (8 char limit), Name Favorite Food (9 char limit), Name Player (16 char limit), pick Flavor, Osohe dance-a-long, fight Negative Man (takes 2 minutes), fight Porky Statue (takes 2 minutes), see Flint's bonus dialogue in the final area (takes 1 minute)

Sample run video: https://www.twitch.tv/gearlessrobot/v/110977871

Game Name: Star Ocean: The Second Story
System: PS1 played on PS2 with fast disc speed
Category: Any% Claude or Any% Rena (Bid war)
Gameplay Estimate: 5:18:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 25:00 (15 minute credits + 10 minutes for bonus fights)

Pros/Cons: A RPG with a real time battle system, and arguably the most popular game in the Star Ocean series. This run exploits one of the most overpowered weapons in all of gaming to quickly beat everything that gets in the way. The run also uses the game's deep item creation system to create items to make Claude even more overpowered. The Eternal Sphere isn't gotten until disc 2, so there are varying strats for the bosses on disc 1. There's an easy to perform glitch that lets you skip all random encounters in the game, so dungeon exploration is pretty safe. There are a ton of possible donation incentives, though some of them can take up to 10 minutes. It's also rather unique among JRPGs in that the English version is faster. However, there are a lot of cutscenes in disc 1, and you spend the first 30 minutes in and around the first town. The run is pretty safe, with save points before all the difficult boss fights. The big concern is that the Rena run needs AI Claude to win a fight about an hour and a half in. I can prepare a safety save in case he loses, but I'll also try to find a way to make that fight more consistent.

Donation Incentive Offers: Name all characters (Claude, Rena, Celine, Leon, Dias (Rena only), Noel, Chisato(if recruited), Bowman/Precis(if recruited, Bowman will be recruited if incentive is rejected), Ashton/Opera(if recruited) - 7 character limit for all) (Can be a rolling incentive), bid war for Claude or Rena(Adds about 5 minutes if Rena is picked), recruit Celine (takes about 1 minute if no other characters are recruited before a certain point. Saves time otherwise), recruit Noel (no time loss), recruit Chisato (takes 4 minutes), bid war for Ashton vs Opera (takes 10 minutes for either), bid war for Bowman vs Precis (10 minutes for Precis, no loss for Bowman), pick order I visit the four fields on disc 2 (small time loss from world map movement if a bad order is picked), post-run fight against Unlimited Indalecio or Iselia Queen on Universe mode

Sample run video: https://www.twitch.tv/elmagus/v/32804148 (Scrubathon run, Claude) https://www.twitch.tv/gearlessrobot/v/44400578 (Rena)

Dragondarch

Edit history:

Dragondarch: 2016-12-30 03:36:03 pm

Dragondarch: 2016-12-30 03:33:37 pm

2016-12-30 03:33:06 pm

Pudding%

Submissions are in order of preference.

Game Name: Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen
System: SNES
Category: Any% / 100% / Devil Ending
Gameplay Estimate: 1:20:00 / 2:20:00 / 1:40:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 0:05 / 0:05 / 0:12 (+10 minutes for Dragon's Haven)
Ogre Battle is a Strategy RPG with...very little to compare it to (other than Ogre Battle 64). Characters act on their own in combat, based on class and what row they're in. Tarot cards can be used to augment your own characters or deal damage to enemies.
100% is defined as Obtaining the World Ending, clearing all 29 maps, and obtaining all special characters except Galf (since he conflicts with the World Ending).
Devil Ending is defined as recruiting Galf, which is the only way to obtain the Devil Ending. While not complicated, it does require a very specific method to make your Opinion Leader evil enough for Galf to join.

Pros/Cons:
+Unique gameplay compared to most RPGs and a LOT to talk about game mechanics and route-wise. There's a ridiculous amount of stuff that goes into how the game actually functions.
+PLENTY of time to explain things, since I have to wait on units to cross the map.
+Routes are all fairly safe, and have multiple ways to handle bosses based on what cards I have.
-Lots of waiting while units traverse the maps. Usually no more than 45-50 seconds on the larger maps.
-Very RNG heavy. Cards are an essential part of the run, and not having the right cards will make things take longer. The speed of the run is determined by both these cards and just how often the characters feel like hitting.
-Opening card set I get is based on a frame-based seed that's set when I select my leader's gender. Some card sets are much better than others. Reseting to try for a better set takes ~30 seconds. Thankfully there's a handful of sets around the optimal one that will work, and I'll know which set I'm on based on the first (or second) card that's drawn.
-Not getting the manipulation for the first map will cost some time in the form of having to come up with money elsewhere.

Pros/Cons (Any%):
+Shortest category.
+Fewest stages to complete, thus requiring less Joker luck overall.
+Tristan has a slightly better back row attack than Debonair, giving me an extra option for handling bosses (vs. Devil Ending).
+Aisha, while inferior stat-wise to Norn and Yushis, has a group-wide electric attack once she hits level 15 (most bosses aren't weak to nor resistant to electric), which gives me the added option of burning the enemy leader's cohorts down with cards + Aisha (vs. Devil Ending).
-Most stages are just a rush to the boss with no sidetrips.

Pros/Cons (100%):
+Obtains all the special characters, which grants more options for handling bosses (I've rerouted the late game for this category to include more strat possibilities, so necessary Joker luck is reduced. Video is from before these new strats were added).
+Shows off the entire game.
+Most maps end up with having to make a side trip for one reason or another, adding a bit more flavor than the other 2 categories.
-Longest category, by a fair amount.
-Fair amount of backtracking to cleared maps to collect items necessary for the World Ending. I break it up a bit by completing uncleared maps in between some of it, but it adds up to maybe 10 minutes total for all the backtracking.
-Opinion Leader is the most fragile of all the routes, which increases the chance of a game over possibility (though it's still pretty low).

Pros/Cons (Devil Ending):
+Devil Ending is one a lot of people may not have seen, since the game tries to push the player to be good, and staying evil is actually harder than it sounds.
+Yushis is an absolute powerhouse magically, and has the Holy element which ruins some bosses.
-Even though I have to recruit Galf, he doesn't get used, since the fastest way to obtain him involves waiting until after the 3rd to last map is cleared, then becoming evil enough for him to join. In addtion, Galf primarily uses dark element attacks, which are useless against the final bosses.
-Likely requires the highest amount of Joker luck thanks to having fewer options available from the characters used.
-Same as any%, most stages are still a rush to the boss with no sidetrips.
-I consider this to be the hardest of the 3 routes, for a few reasons:
--Debonair having an inferior back row attack (compared to Tristan).
--Yushis lacking a group-wide attack until after it would be useful.
--Mid-game takes a different route than any% and 100%, which overall has more difficult bosses.
--Good special characters are recruited later than other categories. Doing the mid-game with Aisha and Norn is a crapshoot at best due to not having good accuracy against a couple bosses, and not having the correct element.

Donation Incentives: Opinion Leader name (8 Character Limit), Opinion Leader gender, Category Choice (any%, 100%, or Devil Ending), Bonus Dragon's Haven Run (~5 minutes long, 10 minute estimate to be safe, can be completed regardless of which cards I pull at the start), maybe reading the dialog out loud? I'm sure Metasigma and I could make this entertaining somehow...

Sample Run Videos:
Any%

100%

Devil Ending

Dragon's Haven

Game Name: Legend of Grimrock
System: PC
Category: 100%
Gameplay Estimate: 1:45:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 0:05
Dungeon crawler in the same vein as the old Dungeon Master games. Everything is done in real time, and the puzzles are varied from start to finish. A 100% run requires finding all 71 secrets, opening all 10 Iron Doors, collecting all 7 Treasures, and collecting all 16 Toorum Notes. The classes chosen are fairly specific, and cannot be changed due to the nature of how the speedrun works.

Pros/Cons:
+Run is very safe with this party. It's rare to have a character die, and the chance of game overing is low (though slightly higher for the final boss since his only attack is instant game over).
+Though I wasn't terribly talkative in the video, there's actualy plenty to talk about both route and game mechanics-wise.
+Very little downtime (Some secrets are a bit out of the way, but most have puzzles that can be explained while en route).
+Bare Hands end up being the best weapon. Who knew? =P
-Not every secret has something useful, and some are fairly out of the way with no reward for obtaining them.
-Game is very dark, since I don't generally carry torches nor use a light source. No free hands to hold a torch in, and don't have the required skill levels for the Light spell until very late.
-No music whatsoever, so gaps in commentary will be more apparent.
-Although I have to collect all of the Toorum Notes, I don't actually have to read them. Possible donation incentive to read them?

Donation Incentives: Name the 4 prisoners (20 Character Limit), Character Portraits (can make custom portraits, could make a few sets and make it a bid war between sets), Read the Toorum Notes (Out Loud).

Sample Run Video:

Game Name: Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume
System: NDS (I have my own capture device. It works, but is in...questionable condition. As long as it survives the trip it should be fine...)
Category: Any%
Gameplay Estimate: 2:45:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 0:05? (The ending is skippable, but I don't remember it being more than 5 minutes)
TRPG of the Valkyrie Profile series. Utilizes the same "timed hits" system used in previous installments, but also requires positioning. Also features a Plume system which kills a character permanently, but makes them massively overpowered for one map, while also giving the main character a powerful special ability. Route revolves around abusing this feature to significantly speed up maps, and make later maps easier with the abilties gained. In addition, the sin mechanic grants good items for meeting or exceeding the requirements.

Pros/Cons:
+Only a few maps are on the long side. Most maps are relatively quick, especially when a plume is used.
+More emphasis on execution than standard TRPGs, since maximizing damage on a combo requires a specific order of attacks and timing them properly.
+Sin mechanic prevents some "Rush the Boss" strats, since not meeting the sin requirements adds 1 or 2 very powerful enemies to the next map.
+All cutscenes and Soul Crush animations are skippable.
+Not a lot of RNG, and only a few places where it can cost any significant amount of time.
+Battle party changes multiple times, adding a bit of variety to the strats used.
+2 possible routes, depending on what paths is chosen in chapter 2. Chapter 3 onward will be the same maps regardless of chapter 2 path, but strats will vary heavily due to having different characters.
-The longer maps tend to drag a bit.
-Maps where a plume is used are a bit less interesting since one character can completely clear a map on their own.
-Instant death route uses almost the exact same strat for the latter half of the maps.
-Few options for donation incentives.

Donation Incentives: Chapter 2 Path (Instant Death vs. Non-Instant Death Route). Both routes still need routing done, but my initial estimates put them within a few minutes of each other. Likely no more than 10 minutes at most. Estimate accounts for both routes.

Sample Run Videos:
Instant Death Route

Massively Improvised and Not Super Practiced Non-Instant Death Route
https://www.twitch.tv/elmagus/v/75587357 (Part 1)
https://www.twitch.tv/elmagus/v/75587618 (Part 2)

Game Name: Crystalis
System: NES
Category: Any% No Wild Warp
Gameplay Estimate: 1:10:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 0:02
Crystalis is a top-down action RPG with a heavy focus on experience acquisition, as almost the entire route revolves around not overgrinding in any one area.

Pros/Cons:
+Fast-paced, with almost no downtime. There's very few spots where there's nothing going on.
+A couple neat glitches, and all are easily explainable.
+Not a lot of RNG outside of a couple specific points.
+Amazing soundtrack.
-Requires grinding in order to progress. Enemies have a minimum level requirement to be damaged. The current route minimizes this as much as possible, but there's no way around the points where it happens.
-Most bosses are just stab-fests, and late game bosses die without getting to do very much.
-Poison is lethal in the early game. I carry safety antidotes to counter this, but even those are sometimes not enough.
-Mt. Sabre South can cost a few minutes from a death, since there's no checkpoints, and poison exists / spider hitboxes are a thing...
-I'll need a decent set of commentators to help with this one, as this game demands a large amount of focus.

Donation Incentives: Name the Hero (6 Character Limit).

Sample Run Video:

Game Name: Paladin's Quest
System: SNES
Category: Any%
Gameplay Estimate: 4:30:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 0:05
Paladin's Quest is a lesser known RPG from the SNES era (Called Lennus in Japan). It features a magic system that uses HP instead of having an MP stat, which requires a balance to keep characters from dying. Also has mercenaries that can accompany the heroes (they generally occupy the 3rd and 4th slots in the group).

Pros/Cons:
+Mercenaries come at a fixed level, which allows me to deal with bosses without grinding (with 2 exceptions).
+Outside of the first 2 bosses and the final boss, bosses have consistent strats that have a low chance of game overing.
+Items have very abbreviated names, so we could let chat play guessing games with what the items are ACTUALLY supposed to be called.
+Cutscenes make up on a very small portion of the run, since text is displayed instantly.
-2 sections where I need to grind levels for the 2 main characters. The first one isn't overly long, but the second one is well over 20 minutes, probably closer to 30 to grab a couple extra safety levels.
-A few of the bosses are major RNG factors, with high chances of causing a game over, even with safeties. Final boss is the worst offender, costing 10-15 minutes on a wipe.
-Long sections where there's very little going on outside of running away from encounters.

Donation Incentives: Name Chezni/Midia (6 Character Limit).

Sample Run Video:

Submissions are in order of preference.

Game Name: Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen
System: SNES
Category: Any% / 100% / Devil Ending
Gameplay Estimate: 1:20:00 / 2:20:00 / 1:40:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 0:05 / 0:05 / 0:12 (+10 minutes for Dragon's Haven)
Ogre Battle is a Strategy RPG with...very little to compare it to (other than Ogre Battle 64). Characters act on their own in combat, based on class and what row they're in. Tarot cards can be used to augment your own characters or deal damage to enemies.
100% is defined as Obtaining the World Ending, clearing all 29 maps, and obtaining all special characters except Galf (since he conflicts with the World Ending).
Devil Ending is defined as recruiting Galf, which is the only way to obtain the Devil Ending. While not complicated, it does require a very specific method to make your Opinion Leader evil enough for Galf to join.

Pros/Cons:
+Unique gameplay compared to most RPGs and a LOT to talk about game mechanics and route-wise. There's a ridiculous amount of stuff that goes into how the game actually functions.
+PLENTY of time to explain things, since I have to wait on units to cross the map.
+Routes are all fairly safe, and have multiple ways to handle bosses based on what cards I have.
-Lots of waiting while units traverse the maps. Usually no more than 45-50 seconds on the larger maps.
-Very RNG heavy. Cards are an essential part of the run, and not having the right cards will make things take longer. The speed of the run is determined by both these cards and just how often the characters feel like hitting.
-Opening card set I get is based on a frame-based seed that's set when I select my leader's gender. Some card sets are much better than others. Reseting to try for a better set takes ~30 seconds. Thankfully there's a handful of sets around the optimal one that will work, and I'll know which set I'm on based on the first (or second) card that's drawn.
-Not getting the manipulation for the first map will cost some time in the form of having to come up with money elsewhere.

Pros/Cons (Any%):
+Shortest category.
+Fewest stages to complete, thus requiring less Joker luck overall.
+Tristan has a slightly better back row attack than Debonair, giving me an extra option for handling bosses (vs. Devil Ending).
+Aisha, while inferior stat-wise to Norn and Yushis, has a group-wide electric attack once she hits level 15 (most bosses aren't weak to nor resistant to electric), which gives me the added option of burning the enemy leader's cohorts down with cards + Aisha (vs. Devil Ending).
-Most stages are just a rush to the boss with no sidetrips.

Pros/Cons (100%):
+Obtains all the special characters, which grants more options for handling bosses (I've rerouted the late game for this category to include more strat possibilities, so necessary Joker luck is reduced. Video is from before these new strats were added).
+Shows off the entire game.
+Most maps end up with having to make a side trip for one reason or another, adding a bit more flavor than the other 2 categories.
-Longest category, by a fair amount.
-Fair amount of backtracking to cleared maps to collect items necessary for the World Ending. I break it up a bit by completing uncleared maps in between some of it, but it adds up to maybe 10 minutes total for all the backtracking.
-Opinion Leader is the most fragile of all the routes, which increases the chance of a game over possibility (though it's still pretty low).

Pros/Cons (Devil Ending):
+Devil Ending is one a lot of people may not have seen, since the game tries to push the player to be good, and staying evil is actually harder than it sounds.
+Yushis is an absolute powerhouse magically, and has the Holy element which ruins some bosses.
-Even though I have to recruit Galf, he doesn't get used, since the fastest way to obtain him involves waiting until after the 3rd to last map is cleared, then becoming evil enough for him to join. In addtion, Galf primarily uses dark element attacks, which are useless against the final bosses.
-Likely requires the highest amount of Joker luck thanks to having fewer options available from the characters used.
-Same as any%, most stages are still a rush to the boss with no sidetrips.
-I consider this to be the hardest of the 3 routes, for a few reasons:
--Debonair having an inferior back row attack (compared to Tristan).
--Yushis lacking a group-wide attack until after it would be useful.
--Mid-game takes a different route than any% and 100%, which overall has more difficult bosses.
--Good special characters are recruited later than other categories. Doing the mid-game with Aisha and Norn is a crapshoot at best due to not having good accuracy against a couple bosses, and not having the correct element.

Donation Incentives: Opinion Leader name (8 Character Limit), Opinion Leader gender, Category Choice (any%, 100%, or Devil Ending), Bonus Dragon's Haven Run (~5 minutes long, 10 minute estimate to be safe, can be completed regardless of which cards I pull at the start), maybe reading the dialog out loud? I'm sure Metasigma and I could make this entertaining somehow...

Sample Run Videos:
Any%
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkKE9Ap1Ok0

100%
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ct50ct187o

Devil Ending
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpemRVdv6r0

Dragon's Haven
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeKfBjeDhew

Game Name: Legend of Grimrock
System: PC
Category: 100%
Gameplay Estimate: 1:45:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 0:05
Dungeon crawler in the same vein as the old Dungeon Master games. Everything is done in real time, and the puzzles are varied from start to finish. A 100% run requires finding all 71 secrets, opening all 10 Iron Doors, collecting all 7 Treasures, and collecting all 16 Toorum Notes. The classes chosen are fairly specific, and cannot be changed due to the nature of how the speedrun works.

Pros/Cons:
+Run is very safe with this party. It's rare to have a character die, and the chance of game overing is low (though slightly higher for the final boss since his only attack is instant game over).
+Though I wasn't terribly talkative in the video, there's actualy plenty to talk about both route and game mechanics-wise.
+Very little downtime (Some secrets are a bit out of the way, but most have puzzles that can be explained while en route).
+Bare Hands end up being the best weapon. Who knew? =P
-Not every secret has something useful, and some are fairly out of the way with no reward for obtaining them.
-Game is very dark, since I don't generally carry torches nor use a light source. No free hands to hold a torch in, and don't have the required skill levels for the Light spell until very late.
-No music whatsoever, so gaps in commentary will be more apparent.
-Although I have to collect all of the Toorum Notes, I don't actually have to read them. Possible donation incentive to read them?

Donation Incentives: Name the 4 prisoners (20 Character Limit), Character Portraits (can make custom portraits, could make a few sets and make it a bid war between sets), Read the Toorum Notes (Out Loud).

Sample Run Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLL4XcFU4FI

Game Name: Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume
System: NDS (I have my own capture device. It works, but is in...questionable condition. As long as it survives the trip it should be fine...)
Category: Any%
Gameplay Estimate: 2:45:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 0:05? (The ending is skippable, but I don't remember it being more than 5 minutes)
TRPG of the Valkyrie Profile series. Utilizes the same "timed hits" system used in previous installments, but also requires positioning. Also features a Plume system which kills a character permanently, but makes them massively overpowered for one map, while also giving the main character a powerful special ability. Route revolves around abusing this feature to significantly speed up maps, and make later maps easier with the abilties gained. In addition, the sin mechanic grants good items for meeting or exceeding the requirements.

Pros/Cons:
+Only a few maps are on the long side. Most maps are relatively quick, especially when a plume is used.
+More emphasis on execution than standard TRPGs, since maximizing damage on a combo requires a specific order of attacks and timing them properly.
+Sin mechanic prevents some "Rush the Boss" strats, since not meeting the sin requirements adds 1 or 2 very powerful enemies to the next map.
+All cutscenes and Soul Crush animations are skippable.
+Not a lot of RNG, and only a few places where it can cost any significant amount of time.
+Battle party changes multiple times, adding a bit of variety to the strats used.
+2 possible routes, depending on what paths is chosen in chapter 2. Chapter 3 onward will be the same maps regardless of chapter 2 path, but strats will vary heavily due to having different characters.
-The longer maps tend to drag a bit.
-Maps where a plume is used are a bit less interesting since one character can completely clear a map on their own.
-Instant death route uses almost the exact same strat for the latter half of the maps.
-Few options for donation incentives.

Donation Incentives: Chapter 2 Path (Instant Death vs. Non-Instant Death Route). Both routes still need routing done, but my initial estimates put them within a few minutes of each other. Likely no more than 10 minutes at most. Estimate accounts for both routes.

Sample Run Videos:
Instant Death Route
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZatEcyRKFU

Massively Improvised and Not Super Practiced Non-Instant Death Route
https://www.twitch.tv/elmagus/v/75587357 (Part 1)
https://www.twitch.tv/elmagus/v/75587618 (Part 2)

Game Name: Crystalis
System: NES
Category: Any% No Wild Warp
Gameplay Estimate: 1:10:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 0:02
Crystalis is a top-down action RPG with a heavy focus on experience acquisition, as almost the entire route revolves around not overgrinding in any one area.

Pros/Cons:
+Fast-paced, with almost no downtime. There's very few spots where there's nothing going on.
+A couple neat glitches, and all are easily explainable.
+Not a lot of RNG outside of a couple specific points.
+Amazing soundtrack.
-Requires grinding in order to progress. Enemies have a minimum level requirement to be damaged. The current route minimizes this as much as possible, but there's no way around the points where it happens.
-Most bosses are just stab-fests, and late game bosses die without getting to do very much.
-Poison is lethal in the early game. I carry safety antidotes to counter this, but even those are sometimes not enough.
-Mt. Sabre South can cost a few minutes from a death, since there's no checkpoints, and poison exists / spider hitboxes are a thing...
-I'll need a decent set of commentators to help with this one, as this game demands a large amount of focus.

Donation Incentives: Name the Hero (6 Character Limit).

Sample Run Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csDbvPOQHxU

Game Name: Paladin's Quest
System: SNES
Category: Any%
Gameplay Estimate: 4:30:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 0:05
Paladin's Quest is a lesser known RPG from the SNES era (Called Lennus in Japan). It features a magic system that uses HP instead of having an MP stat, which requires a balance to keep characters from dying. Also has mercenaries that can accompany the heroes (they generally occupy the 3rd and 4th slots in the group).

Pros/Cons:
+Mercenaries come at a fixed level, which allows me to deal with bosses without grinding (with 2 exceptions).
+Outside of the first 2 bosses and the final boss, bosses have consistent strats that have a low chance of game overing.
+Items have very abbreviated names, so we could let chat play guessing games with what the items are ACTUALLY supposed to be called.
+Cutscenes make up on a very small portion of the run, since text is displayed instantly.
-2 sections where I need to grind levels for the 2 main characters. The first one isn't overly long, but the second one is well over 20 minutes, probably closer to 30 to grab a couple extra safety levels.
-A few of the bosses are major RNG factors, with high chances of causing a game over, even with safeties. Final boss is the worst offender, costing 10-15 minutes on a wipe.
-Long sections where there's very little going on outside of running away from encounters.

Donation Incentives: Name Chezni/Midia (6 Character Limit).

Sample Run Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qu1rHFLXsas

Aurilliux

Edit history:

Aurilliux: 2016-12-30 04:49:14 pm

2016-12-30 04:46:19 pm

Game Name: EarthBound
System: SNES
Category: Glitchless (relay race), or a race of any other category of this game
Gameplay Estimate: 4:30:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: ~18:00 for credits and ending scene.
Pros:
+RPG with equally important elements of planning, execution, and RNG to successfully run glitchless category.
Cons:
-Already been at previous Limit Breaks
-In some areas, poor RNG cannot be mitigated by a good player.
Donation Incentive Offers: Children names (5 characters), Pet name (6 chars), Favorite Food (6 chars), Favorite Thing (6 chars), Window flavor (Plain, Mint, Banana, Strawberry, Peanut Butter), Player Name (24 chars)
Extra Information: I'm not going to rehash everything the other EB runners have said. I would be happy to run this game as part of a team relay race, but I've had the privilege of running EarthBound solo at previous other events. Please give that opportunity to someone else if you want to see this game ran solo. As a member of a relay team, I'd work with my team members to hash out who is best at which portions of the game, and would set aside additional time to practice my portion of the run.
Sample run video: https://www.twitch.tv/aurilliux/v/101679340

Game Name: Drakkhen
System: SNES
Category: any%
Gameplay Estimate: 1:00:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 5:00 for ending and sweet "Fin" animation with a shooting star above it.
Pros:
+ Old-school RPG that seemingly many people have played, but few have beaten.
+ Terrible to play through casually, but is a more coherent game as a speedrun.
+ meme value, pots and pans
+ have access to a backup cart
Cons:
- RNG can significantly affect how long it takes to grind coin, kill bosses; can kill party members in random battles at low levels.
- Present at last year's Limit Break
- I am not nearly as fast as Dragondarch Undecided

- Risks destroying TVs, SNESes, carts, sewing needles
Donation Incentive Offers: Name/Gender of the 4 heroes (8 characters ea.)
Extra Information: Drakkhen started off as a meme on my stream, but honestly I quite enjoy the game. I'll be continuing to work on the game regardless of whether it gets accepted.
Sample run video: https://www.twitch.tv/aurilliux/v/110987612

Game Name: Mario Golf: Advance Tour
System: GBA (played on either Wii U VC or GBA player)
Category: all singles% single-segment / singles% / all tourneys%
Gameplay Estimate: 2:20:00 / 1:05:00 / 2:25:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 2:00 to watch credits. Add ~5 minutes if boy/girl golfer is allowed as an incentive choice.
Pros:
+ Singles% moves quickly with little downtime.
+ Sweet tunes.
+ Surprisingly suspenseful at times.
+ Most RNG can be accommodated for by player skill.
+ Can be mistaken for Golden Sun if you just look at the engine and/or soundtrack.
+ says "Role-Playing Golf" on the cover of the game
Cons:
- RNG can kinda affect all singles% single-segment, and strongly affect all tourneys% (doubles play is with an AI partner that likes to rubber-band)
- If you hate golf, I doubt this game will make you think otherwise.
- singles% and all tourneys% skip a lot of the RPG aspect of the game.
Donation Incentive Offers: Name the Golfer (5 characters), Choose Boy or Girl golfer (they have different stats and slightly affect the run)
Extra Information: Happy to race any of the categories with Neerrm.
Sample run video: all singles% single-segment: https://www.twitch.tv/aurilliux/v/110996622
singles%: https://www.twitch.tv/aurilliux/v/99802362
all tourneys%: https://www.twitch.tv/aurilliux/v/104936112

Game Name: Clue
System: SNES
Category: any%
Gameplay Estimate: ~6:00 average
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 0
Pros:
+ Extremely short and optimized speedrun. Could take as little as ~30s from power on.
+ Great for filling some weird 5 minute gap in the schedule between SNES games.
Cons:
- Reset-heavy run
- Is an RPG in only the loosest sense of the term.
- Possible that the run will not finish due to bad RNG.
Donation Incentive Offers: none
Extra Information: RNG in this game is kinda screwy, so the fastest input option (Col. Mustard, with the Knife, in the Hall) is correct about 1/12 of the time.
Sample run video: https://www.twitch.tv/aurilliux/v/110988390

also animorphs hype

[b]Game Name:[/b] EarthBound
[b]System:[/b] SNES
[b]Category:[/b] Glitchless (relay race), or a race of any other category of this game
[b]Gameplay Estimate:[/b] 4:30:00 
[b]Ending/Bonus Estimate:[/b] ~18:00 for credits and ending scene.
[b]Pros:[/b]
+RPG with equally important elements of planning, execution, and RNG to successfully run glitchless category.
[b]Cons:[/b]
-Already been at previous Limit Breaks
-In some areas, poor RNG cannot be mitigated by a good player.
[b]Donation Incentive Offers:[/b] Children names (5 characters), Pet name (6 chars), Favorite Food (6 chars), Favorite Thing (6 chars), Window flavor (Plain, Mint, Banana, Strawberry, Peanut Butter), Player Name (24 chars)
[b]Extra Information: [/b] I'm not going to rehash everything the other EB runners have said.  I would be happy to run this game as part of a team relay race, but I've had the privilege of running EarthBound solo at previous other events.  Please give that opportunity to someone else if you want to see this game ran solo.  As a member of a relay team, I'd work with my team members to hash out who is best at which portions of the game, and would set aside additional time to practice my portion of the run.
[b]Sample run video:[/b] https://www.twitch.tv/aurilliux/v/101679340

[b]Game Name:[/b] Drakkhen
[b]System:[/b] SNES
[b]Category:[/b] any%
[b]Gameplay Estimate:[/b] 1:00:00
[b]Ending/Bonus Estimate:[/b] 5:00 for ending and sweet "Fin" animation with a shooting star above it.
[b]Pros:[/b]
+ Old-school RPG that seemingly many people have played, but few have beaten.
+ Terrible to play through casually, but is a more coherent game as a speedrun.
+ meme value, pots and pans
+ have access to a backup cart
[b]Cons:[/b]
- RNG can significantly affect how long it takes to grind coin, kill bosses; can kill party members in random battles at low levels.
- Present at last year's Limit Break
- I am not nearly as fast as Dragondarch :-\
- Risks destroying TVs, SNESes, carts, sewing needles
[b]Donation Incentive Offers:[/b] Name/Gender of the 4 heroes (8 characters ea.)
[b]Extra Information: [/b] Drakkhen started off as a meme on my stream, but honestly I quite enjoy the game.  I'll be continuing to work on the game regardless of whether it gets accepted.
[b]Sample run video:[/b] https://www.twitch.tv/aurilliux/v/110987612

[b]Game Name:[/b] Mario Golf: Advance Tour
[b]System:[/b] GBA (played on either Wii U VC or GBA player)
[b]Category:[/b] all singles% single-segment / singles% / all tourneys%
[b]Gameplay Estimate:[/b] 2:20:00 / 1:05:00 / 2:25:00
[b]Ending/Bonus Estimate:[/b] 2:00 to watch credits.  Add ~5 minutes if boy/girl golfer is allowed as an incentive choice.
[b]Pros:[/b]
+ Singles% moves quickly with little downtime.
+ Sweet tunes.
+ Surprisingly suspenseful at times. 
+ Most RNG can be accommodated for by player skill.
+ Can be mistaken for Golden Sun if you just look at the engine and/or soundtrack.
+ says "Role-Playing Golf" on the cover of the game
[b]Cons:[/b]
- RNG can kinda affect all singles% single-segment, and strongly affect all tourneys% (doubles play is with an AI partner that likes to rubber-band)
- If you hate golf, I doubt this game will make you think otherwise.
- singles% and all tourneys% skip a lot of the RPG aspect of the game.
[b]Donation Incentive Offers:[/b] Name the Golfer (5 characters), Choose Boy or Girl golfer (they have different stats and slightly affect the run)
[b]Extra Information: [/b] Happy to [b]race[/b] any of the categories with Neerrm.
[b]Sample run video:[/b] all singles% single-segment: https://www.twitch.tv/aurilliux/v/110996622
singles%: https://www.twitch.tv/aurilliux/v/99802362
all tourneys%: https://www.twitch.tv/aurilliux/v/104936112

[b]Game Name:[/b] Clue
[b]System:[/b] SNES
[b]Category:[/b] any%
[b]Gameplay Estimate:[/b] ~6:00 average
[b]Ending/Bonus Estimate:[/b] 0
[b]Pros:[/b]
+ Extremely short and optimized speedrun.  Could take as little as ~30s from power on.
+ Great for filling some weird 5 minute gap in the schedule between SNES games.
[b]Cons:[/b]
- Reset-heavy run
- Is an RPG in only the loosest sense of the term.
- Possible that the run will not finish due to bad RNG.
[b]Donation Incentive Offers:[/b] none
[b]Extra Information: [/b] RNG in this game is kinda screwy, so the fastest input option (Col. Mustard, with the Knife, in the Hall) is correct about 1/12 of the time.
[b]Sample run video:[/b] https://www.twitch.tv/aurilliux/v/110988390

also animorphs hype

Caracarn

2016-12-30 04:46:50 pm

Group submission with Luzbelheim, Muttski, and Tojju.
Offering this as:
- Co-op run: we will run the game (one disc per person).
or
- Race: we have similar skill level, so we will race the game 2vs2.

Game Name: Final Fantasy IX
System: PS1 played on PS2
Category: Any%
Gameplay Estimate: 9:30
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 0:32 ending with Melodies of Life singing

Pros/Cons: The route for FFIX has changed significantly since its last major marathon showing at ESA 2015. The speedrun now fights Tantarian in disc 2 for EXP, AP, and the Running Shoes item, which changes the strats used in disc 3 and 4 significantly (including using Quina’s Night ability to sleep bosses in disc 4). Boss fights are varied and the menuing is fun to watch. The game has some RNG, particularly with regards to encounters, but is marathon safe. There are a few extended periods of downtime, but the run remains arguably the most popular Final Fantasy speedrun and has a very strong finish with disc 4’s boss rush.
Donation Incentive Offers: Naming characters (eight characters in total, seven character length), showing Vivi/Quina wedding cutscene (+2 min), fighting Hades in disc 4 (+~5 mins, still testing)

Game Name: Final Fantasy IX
System: PS1 played on PS2
Category: Any%
Gameplay Estimate: 9:30
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 0:32 ending with Melodies of Life singing

Pros/Cons: The route for FFIX has changed significantly since its last major marathon showing at ESA 2015. The speedrun now fights Tantarian in disc 2 for EXP, AP, and the Running Shoes item, which changes the strats used in disc 3 and 4 significantly (including using Quina’s Night ability to sleep bosses in disc 4). Boss fights are varied and the menuing is fun to watch. The game has some RNG, particularly with regards to encounters, but is marathon safe. There are a few extended periods of downtime, but the run remains arguably the most popular Final Fantasy speedrun and has a very strong finish with disc 4’s boss rush.
Donation Incentive Offers: Naming characters (eight characters in total, seven character length), showing Vivi/Quina wedding cutscene (+2 min), fighting Hades in disc 4 (+~5 mins, still testing)

LewdDolphin21

2016-12-30 05:03:58 pm

I just like stuff.

Game Name: Final Fantasy XIII
System: PS3/PC
Category: Any%
Gameplay Estimate: 5:20:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 0:15:00
Pros/Cons:
+ Lots of action, little RNG
+ Lots of strategy showcased in each fight
+ Each fight is exciting, few fights are considered trivial
+ One of the popular runs of last year
+ A few people might be able to race
- Was in last year's marathon
- No major route changes since last year
- Is somewhat long
Donation Incentive Offers: Blindfolded fights (more/different than last year), post-run super bosses (e.g. Vercingetorix, Long Gui)
Sample run video: (WR from last month)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Game Name: Final Fantasy XIII-2
System: PS3/PC
Category: Any%
Gameplay Estimate: 3:10:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 0:10:00
Pros/Cons:
+ Similar engine to FF13, so it's a nice follow-up to last year's run
+ Several inside jokes based on unskippable dialogue or music can be explained
+ More donation incentive possibilities due to adornments and monster names (though those are limited to in-game choices)
+ Shorter than FF13
- Not as much diversity in battle strategies as FF13
- RNG in several sections can each add several minutes to the run
Donation Incentive Offers: Serah/Noel/Mog outfits, Nekton/Gahongas/Chichu adornments, post-run DLC super bosses (e.g., Valfodr 99, Gilgamesh)
Sample run video: (PS3 PB)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Game Name: Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
System: PS3/PC
Category: Any%
Gameplay Estimate: 2:20:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 0:10:00
Pros/Cons:
+ Different battle system than FF13, more action-oriented
+ Lots of potential insight into battle mechanics via commentary that is frequently missed in casual play
+ Many difficult bosses beaten in seconds
+ Shortest FF13-trilogy run
- All fights except for the final boss have similar, repetitive strategies
- RNG in one section can add up to ten minutes to the run
[b]Donation Incentive Offers: Midnight Mauve dress color (or maybe more garbs as well), adornments, live Aeronite kill
Sample run video: (PC PB)

[b]Game Name:[/b] Final Fantasy XIII
[b]System:[/b] PS3/PC
[b]Category:[/b] Any%
[b]Gameplay Estimate:[/b] 5:20:00
[b]Ending/Bonus Estimate:[/b] 0:15:00
[b]Pros/Cons:[/b]
+ Lots of action, little RNG
+ Lots of strategy showcased in each fight
+ Each fight is exciting, few fights are considered trivial
+ One of the popular runs of last year
+ A few people might be able to race
- Was in last year's marathon
- No major route changes since last year
- Is somewhat long
[b]Donation Incentive Offers:[/b] Blindfolded fights (more/different than last year), post-run super bosses (e.g. Vercingetorix, Long Gui)
[b]Sample run video:[/b] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfEftX_LrGA (WR from last month)
 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[b]Game Name:[/b] Final Fantasy XIII-2
[b]System:[/b] PS3/PC
[b]Category:[/b] Any%
[b]Gameplay Estimate:[/b] 3:10:00
[b]Ending/Bonus Estimate:[/b] 0:10:00
[b]Pros/Cons:[/b]
+ Similar engine to FF13, so it's a nice follow-up to last year's run
+ Several inside jokes based on unskippable dialogue or music can be explained
+ More donation incentive possibilities due to adornments and monster names (though those are limited to in-game choices)
+ Shorter than FF13
- Not as much diversity in battle strategies as FF13
- RNG in several sections can each add several minutes to the run
[b]Donation Incentive Offers:[/b] Serah/Noel/Mog outfits, Nekton/Gahongas/Chichu adornments, post-run DLC super bosses (e.g., Valfodr 99, Gilgamesh)
[b]Sample run video:[/b] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwNa_lS5b9I (PS3 PB)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
[b]Game Name:[/b] Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
[b]System:[/b] PS3/PC
[b]Category:[/b] Any%
[b]Gameplay Estimate:[/b] 2:20:00
[b]Ending/Bonus Estimate:[/b] 0:10:00
[b]Pros/Cons:[/b]
+ Different battle system than FF13, more action-oriented
+ Lots of potential insight into battle mechanics via commentary that is frequently missed in casual play
+ Many difficult bosses beaten in seconds
+ Shortest FF13-trilogy run
- All fights except for the final boss have similar, repetitive strategies
- RNG in one section can add up to ten minutes to the run
[b]Donation Incentive Offers: Midnight Mauve dress color (or maybe more garbs as well), adornments, live Aeronite kill
[b]Sample run video:[/b] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rek3D5uwFq0 (PC PB)

FeralPigMan

2016-12-30 05:47:10 pm

Name: Final Fantasy Mystic Quest
System: SNES
Category: any%
Estimate: 2:20
Ending/Bonus: roughly 6 minutes for the ending.
Pros/Cons: Offering only as a race w/bich plus whoever wants to join (folks like magus and ddr come to mind). The game has had a bit of a break, and it may just be the time to remind the fans how glorious this speedrun is. Races are always a ton of fun, victory is never assured, and there will be plenty of suffering to entertain the people. There is always that chance that RNG skews towards one person, which would be unfortunate, but with enough people it becomes less of a thing.
Donation Incentives: Name the main character as many times as there are runners
Sample Video:
My PB: https://www.twitch.tv/feralpigman/v/20463130
Sample Marathon Race: https://www.twitch.tv/elmagus/v/27419899

Name: Funaki Masakatsu: Hybrid Wrestler
System: SFC
Category: 100%
Estimate: 25:00 (minutes)
Ending/Bonus: roughly 3-4 minutes for the ending.
Summary: This game may or may not be an RPG, I'll leave it up to you to decide. You create a custom wrestler, complete with nationality and name. After every match, you gain 1-2 character points, which you can place into something like 20 different stats, and you can also customize your wrestler with a signature move. You even get married and have a child.
Pros: Pretty hilarious game, gotten good reactions whenever I stream this. The main strat is to kill your opponent as fast as possible, usually by choking them out, which people find pretty funny. Pretty kickass music.
Cons: It's in Japanese (although I could put together a translation if necessary. There's one out there, but it's incomplete). It might not be an RPG; we don't actually apply any of the character points, or use the signature moves.
Donation incentives: Character name, character nationality, baby's name
Sample Video: https://www.twitch.tv/feralpigman/v/78145183

Name: Funaki Masakatsu: Hybrid Wrestler
System: SFC
Category: 100%
Estimate: 25:00 (minutes)
Ending/Bonus:  roughly 3-4 minutes for the ending.
Summary: This game may or may not be an RPG, I'll leave it up to you to decide. You create a custom wrestler, complete with nationality and name. After every match, you gain 1-2 character points, which you can place into something like 20 different stats, and you can also customize your wrestler with a signature move. You even get married and have a child.
Pros: Pretty hilarious game, gotten good reactions whenever I stream this. The main strat is to kill your opponent as fast as possible, usually by choking them out, which people find pretty funny. Pretty kickass music.
Cons: It's in Japanese (although I could put together a translation if necessary. There's one out there, but it's incomplete). It might not be an RPG; we don't actually apply any of the character points, or use the signature moves.
Donation incentives: Character name, character nationality, baby's name
Sample Video: https://www.twitch.tv/feralpigman/v/78145183

Highspirits

Edit history:

Highspirits: 2017-01-14 04:34:46 pm

Highspirits: 2016-12-30 06:52:40 pm

2016-12-30 06:51:41 pm

Game Name: Dragon Quest 5
System: PS2
Category: Any% with glitches
Gameplay Estimate: 50:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 10 minutes

Pros/Cons:
+ Very short run, filled with tons of entertaining glitches
+ Amazing visuals for a Dragon Quest game
+ One of the best stories in the series, and fun to talk about
- Japanese only, there is an English patch but opening tray to go OoB makes it not possible to use
- There is a couple spots RNG could cause a few minutes of time loss, extra time included for it

Donation Incentives:
-There are not much for donation incentives, everything is in Japanese and most of the story is skipped.

Additional Information:
-This run is a short run filled with several glitches that are entertaining. Not often a Dragon Quest game can be broken as much as this one, so it’s a nice added change. Buying extra armor early game eliminates most of the potential for death, there is still the possibility of getting a few encounters on the path to Fortuna that could cost a couple of minutes if unlucky. Offering this as a potential race with Hoishin.

Sample run videos:
Current PB: https://www.twitch.tv/highspirits/v/104742764
Hoishin RTA in Japan video with my commentary: https://www.twitch.tv/speedgaming/v/110862727

---------------------------------------------------------------

Game Name: Dragon Quest Builders
System: PS4
Category: Any%
Gameplay Estimate: 6:30:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 5 minutes

Pros/Cons:
+ Beautiful Dragon Quest game that is true to its roots
+ Unique Mix of combat, RPG storytelling, and Minecraft elements
+ Still a new run, lots of room for improvement
+ Even with lots of item collecting, the RNG doesn’t seem to affect the time too much
- Several periods of downtime between farming for materials and constructing buildings
- Length of game, and current uncertainty of proper estimate for now

Donation Incentives:
- Name and gender of the Hero
- Fight final boss without legendary armor
- Turn on 8-bit music as soon as its possible

Additional Information:
-This is a new and unique direction for the Dragon Quest series. It remains a typical DQ RPG at heart--with its story, charming characters and monsters, faithfulness to the DQ universe, puns, and major late game plot twist—while adding in elements of Minecraft as you rebuild the world of Alefgard after its destruction by the Dragonlord. I set the estimate at 6:30:00 as I am confident in this time, but it may be lowered even more after more optimizations. There are several periods of downtime while I am item collecting or building specific structures, but that gives me time to talk about the story and lore of the game, and allow for donations.

Sample run video:
Current PB with commentary: https://www.twitch.tv/highspirits/v/114799021

-----------------------------------------------------

Game Name: Dragon Quest 5
System: DS
Category: Any%
Gameplay Estimate: 6:00:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 15 minutes

Pros/Cons:
+ Popular title in the series, with a great dark story that’s unique to the series
+ Remake of the SNES, beautiful sprites
+ Puns, Puns, Puns and more Puns
+ Mountains of potential donation incentives
- Long title, especially with a shorter version being offered
- Typical metal slime hunting RNG, but most of that has been eliminated now

Donation Incentives:
- Name the Hero, Son, and Daughter (8 characters)
- Choose the Wife: Nera, Deborah, or Bianca
- Ship glitch
- Slime mini games

Additonal Information:
-Dragon Quest 5 has an amazing story that is deep and dark, unique to the rest of the series. This is the DS remake that adds a lot of interesting localization with puns and humor. The RNG in this game can be manipulated with the system clock, eliminating most of the horrible RNG. My current PB is dated, but lots of route improvements have been worked on lately and the times have started to go down considerably. The estimate of 6 hours I have given now may come down even more after more clock manipulations are worked on.

Sample run videos:
My PB: https://www.twitch.tv/highspirits/v/43977102
PurpleMario920 run from Scrubathon with more current tech: https://www.twitch.tv/elmagus/v/106708363

[b]Game Name:[/b] Dragon Quest 5
[b]System:[/b] PS2
[b]Category:[/b] Any% with glitches
[b]Gameplay Estimate:[/b] 50:00
[b]Ending/Bonus Estimate:[/b] 10 minutes

[u][b]Pros/Cons:[/b][/u]
+ Very short run, filled with tons of entertaining glitches
+ Amazing visuals for a Dragon Quest game
+ One of the best stories in the series, and fun to talk about
- Japanese only, there is an English patch but opening tray to go OoB makes it not possible to use
- There is a couple spots RNG could cause a few minutes of time loss, extra time included for it

[u][b]Donation Incentives:[/b][/u]
-There are not much for donation incentives, everything is in Japanese and most of the story is skipped.

[u][b]Additional Information:[/b][/u]
-This run is a short run filled with several glitches that are entertaining.  Not often a Dragon Quest game can be broken as much as this one, so it’s a nice added change.  Buying extra armor early game eliminates most of the potential for death, there is still the possibility of getting a few encounters on the path to Fortuna that could cost a couple of minutes if unlucky.   Offering this as a potential race with Hoishin.

[u][b]Sample run videos:[/b][/u]
Current PB: https://www.twitch.tv/highspirits/v/104742764
Hoishin RTA in Japan video with my commentary: https://www.twitch.tv/speedgaming/v/110862727

---------------------------------------------------------------

[b]Game Name:[/b] Dragon Quest Builders
[b]System:[/b] PS4
[b]Category:[/b] Any%
[b]Gameplay Estimate:[/b] 6:30:00
[b]Ending/Bonus Estimate:[/b] 5 minutes

[u][b]Pros/Cons:[/b][/u]
+ Beautiful Dragon Quest game that is true to its roots
+ Unique Mix of combat, RPG storytelling, and Minecraft elements
+ Still a new run, lots of room for improvement
+ Even with lots of item collecting, the RNG doesn’t seem to affect the time too much
- Several periods of downtime between farming for materials and constructing buildings
- Length of game, and current uncertainty of proper estimate for now

[u][b]Donation Incentives:[/b][/u]
- Name and gender of the Hero
- Fight final boss without legendary armor
- Turn on 8-bit music as soon as its possible

[u][b]Additional Information:[/b][/u]
-This is a new and unique direction for the Dragon Quest series.  It remains a typical DQ RPG at heart--with its story, charming characters and monsters, faithfulness to the DQ universe, puns, and major late game plot twist—while adding in elements of Minecraft as you rebuild the world of Alefgard after its destruction by the Dragonlord.  I set the estimate at 6:30:00 as I am confident in this time, but it may be lowered even more after more optimizations.  There are several periods of downtime while I am item collecting or building specific structures, but that gives me time to talk about the story and lore of the game, and allow for donations.

[u][b]Sample run video:[/b][/u]
Current PB with commentary: https://www.twitch.tv/highspirits/v/114799021

-----------------------------------------------------

[b]Game Name:[/b] Dragon Quest 5
[b]System:[/b] DS
[b]Category:[/b] Any%
[b]Gameplay Estimate:[/b] 6:00:00
[b]Ending/Bonus Estimate:[/b] 15 minutes

[u][b]Pros/Cons:[/b][/u]
+ Popular title in the series, with a great dark story that’s unique to the series
+ Remake of the SNES, beautiful sprites
+ Puns, Puns, Puns and more Puns
+ Mountains of potential donation incentives
- Long title, especially with a shorter version being offered
- Typical metal slime hunting RNG, but most of that has been eliminated now

[u][b]Donation Incentives:[/b][/u]
- Name the Hero, Son, and Daughter (8 characters)
- Choose the Wife: Nera, Deborah, or Bianca
- Ship glitch
- Slime mini games

[u][b]Additonal Information:[/b][/u]
-Dragon Quest 5 has an amazing story that is deep and dark, unique to the rest of the series.  This is the DS remake that adds a lot of interesting localization with puns and humor.  The RNG in this game can be manipulated with the system clock, eliminating most of the horrible RNG.  My current PB is dated, but lots of route improvements have been worked on lately and the times have started to go down considerably.  The estimate of 6 hours I have given now may come down even more after more clock manipulations are worked on.

[u][b]Sample run videos:[/b][/u]
My PB: https://www.twitch.tv/highspirits/v/43977102
PurpleMario920 run from Scrubathon with more current tech: https://www.twitch.tv/elmagus/v/106708363

ShadowKiller4826

Edit history:

ShadowKiller4826: 2016-12-30 07:03:53 pm

2016-12-30 07:03:27 pm

Game Name: Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals
System: Super Nintendo
Category: Ancient Cave Any% and/or race with ThatsFairZack, Elmagus, The Roth, and myself
Gameplay Estimate: 2:00:00 for either run
Ending/Bonus Estimate: No real ending necessary, but possible to get Key to Ancient Cave and show off treasures/Iris Treasures

Pros/Cons:

Pros:
- Quite a bit of excitement around upcoming tournament with a lot of new runners, the viewer draw would be very high.
- A nice change of pace from your standard RPG run.
- The race setting would provide plenty of opportunities to show off just all the ups and downs of this run.
- Keeps both runners and viewers on their toes because of the unknown nature of this run
- All runners would have a great amount of knowledge and insight to the game, so extra commentators probably wouldn't be necessary.
- This race would include four of the top Ancient Cave runners around the globe from the US, Germany, and Australia.

Cons:
- Because we never know what is going to happen, there is a small possibility of the run not finishing.
- The possibility of missing one of the runners is real, simply because of travel and distance for the out of country runners.
- There's potential for someone not showing up when 4 people are involved but the race can succeed even at 2 people. (two of the potential racers are out of country)

Donation Incentive Offers:
- Naming Maxim (5 character limit)
- Naming Capsule Monster (5 character limit)
- Choosing Capsule Monster
- The "Evanescence Clause" This is a recent joke with our Bingo community. Every time an Iris Item is found, the finder has to sing a line or two from "Bring me to Life" by Evanescence. If the other runners agreed to it, it could be kind of funny to do on stream.

Sample Runs:

Lufiathon Ancient Cave Run:

Scrubathon VI Race:
https://www.twitch.tv/elmagus/v/109340724

Pros/Cons:

Pros:
- Quite a bit of excitement around upcoming tournament with a lot of new runners, the viewer draw would be very high.
- A nice change of pace from your standard RPG run.
- The race setting would provide plenty of opportunities to show off just all the ups and downs of this run.
- Keeps both runners and viewers on their toes because of the unknown nature of this run
- All runners would have a great amount of knowledge and insight to the game, so extra commentators probably wouldn't be necessary.
- This race would include four of the top Ancient Cave runners around the globe from the US, Germany, and Australia.

Cons:
- Because we never know what is going to happen, there is a small possibility of the run not finishing. 
- The possibility of missing one of the runners is real, simply because of travel and distance for the out of country runners.
- There's potential for someone not showing up when 4 people are involved but the race can succeed even at 2 people. (two of the potential racers are out of country)

Donation Incentive Offers: 
- Naming Maxim (5 character limit)
- Naming Capsule Monster (5 character limit)
- Choosing Capsule Monster
- The "Evanescence Clause"  This is a recent joke with our Bingo community.  Every time an Iris Item is found, the finder has to sing a line or two from "Bring me to Life" by Evanescence.  If the other runners agreed to it, it could be kind of funny to do on stream.

Sample Runs:

Lufiathon Ancient Cave Run:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBVDjqVwYbs&t=136s

Scrubathon VI Race:
https://www.twitch.tv/elmagus/v/109340724

Iceplug

2016-12-30 07:58:19 pm

Antarctic Wind

Game Name: Final Fantasy VIII (Steam Version)
System: PC
Category: F1
Gameplay Estimate: 3hr 45min
Ending/Bonus Estimate: negligible
Pros/Cons: The normal FF8 run takes a little over 7 hours to complete. Pressing F1 allows this run to be completed in a little less than half the time of the original.
Re-live the experience of FF8 in a short amount of time. Has not been seen at a marathon since Crystals for Life.
Marathon safe routing used here to provide high likelihood of success, with estimate set to compensate for bad luck observed from all scenarios (also eight minutes longer than derust PB).
Witty commentary by runner to provide description of what is happening and why.
F1 run encompasses the spirit of going fast and FF8 is an "RPG" with "Limit Breaks", perfect for "RPG Limit Break"
FF8 is probably the dark horse of the series, but it still has its fans and its speedrun audience, and I think it would be nice to give FF8 another showing.
Donation Incentives: Name Squall, Name Rinoa, Name Angelo, Name the seven GFs.
After derust: https://www.twitch.tv/iceplug/v/111031693
PB: https://www.twitch.tv/iceplug/v/59731306

Game Name: Final Fantasy VIII (Steam Version)
System: PC
Category: F1
Gameplay Estimate: 3hr 45min
Ending/Bonus Estimate: negligible
Pros/Cons: The normal FF8 run takes a little over 7 hours to complete.  Pressing F1 allows this run to be completed in a little less than half the time of the original.
Re-live the experience of FF8 in a short amount of time.  Has not been seen at a marathon since Crystals for Life.
Marathon safe routing used here to provide high likelihood of success, with estimate set to compensate for bad luck observed from all scenarios (also eight minutes longer than derust PB).  
Witty commentary by runner to provide description of what is happening and why.
F1 run encompasses the spirit of going fast and FF8 is an "RPG" with "Limit Breaks", perfect for "RPG Limit Break"
FF8 is probably the dark horse of the series, but it still has its fans and its speedrun audience, and I think it would be nice to give FF8 another showing.
Donation Incentives: Name Squall, Name Rinoa, Name Angelo, Name the seven GFs.
After derust: https://www.twitch.tv/iceplug/v/111031693 
PB: https://www.twitch.tv/iceplug/v/59731306

AlecK47

Edit history:

AlecK47: 2017-01-31 09:01:00 pm

AlecK47: 2016-12-31 11:48:40 am

AlecK47: 2016-12-30 08:57:09 pm

2016-12-30 08:48:42 pm

I wanted to have videos for more of these, and better ones at that, but my health over the last couple months has been pretty terrible and prevented me from doing many things I wanted to get done - and not just speedruns. I'm feeling better now, fortunately, but streams and videos didn't happen as a result.

Main Submissions

Game Name: Mass Effect
System: PC
Category: any% or any% NG+
Gameplay Estimate: 1:55:00 or 1:50:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: under 5 minutes
Pros/Cons: Pros – A mostly fast-paced run with plenty of action and amusing glitches; popular game and series. Cons – The beginning is a little slow, but after ~15 minutes things pick up
Donation Incentive Offers: Male or Female Shepard, Shepard’s first name (10 character limit), Save Ashley or Kaidan (the other dies), final party (any two of Ashley, Kaidan, Garrus, Wrex, Liara and Tali), save/kill Rachni Queen (ng+ only)
Sample run video: https://youtu.be/LflSoiVbzow
Other Notes: any% is the better category, but I'm also offering NG+ because I can

Game Name: Final Fantasy XII
Category: any%
Other Details: see Roostalol, Hoishin and Freddeh’s submissions
Sample run video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fs2jtbxv8c (note that I was incredibly sleep-deprived when I did this run and would have fallen asleep at least once if not for my insomnia)

Game Name: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
System: PC
Category: any%
Gameplay Estimate: 1:35
Ending/Bonus Estimate: bonuses will add about a minute at most; credits are not really worth watching beyond the classic beginning of their music
Pros/Cons: Pros – A technical speedrun of a relatively popular game that abuses glitches and beats the game much faster than expected; the route has seen significant improvements since RPGLB last year, and is in several key ways a safer run in spite of said improvements. Would be run on my laptop, simplifying normal PC setup. Cons – Was just run at SGDQ this year, and if my laptop dies the run will probably have to be replaced because the game is far less speedrun-friendly on more powerful hardware.
Possible Donation Incentives: Main Character gender and name (18 character max.), Bastila vs. Bastila, save or kill Bastila
Sample run video: I haven’t run the game with the updated route, but am quite familiar with it and will be learning it in the near future. Here is glasnonck's current record

Secondary Submission

Game Name: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 – the Sith Lords
System: PC
Category: any%
Gameplay Estimate: 1:40:00 (very safe; has a good chance of dropping once I learn the run)
Other Notes: I’m only offering this as a backup in case another runner gets it in and has to drop. I could learn the run very quickly with my knowledge of the game and route. Like KotOR 1, this game would be run on my laptop.

[b]Main Submissions[/b]

Game Name: Mass Effect
System: PC
Category: any% or any% NG+
Gameplay Estimate: 1:55:00 or 1:50:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: under 5 minutes
Pros/Cons: [i]Pros[/i] – A mostly fast-paced run with plenty of action and amusing glitches; popular game and series.  [i]Cons[/i] – The beginning is a little slow, but after ~15 minutes things pick up
Donation Incentive Offers: Male or Female Shepard, Shepard’s first name (10 character limit), Save Ashley or Kaidan (the other dies), final party (any two of Ashley, Kaidan, Garrus, Wrex, Liara and Tali), save/kill Rachni Queen (ng+ only)
Sample run video: [noembed]https://youtu.be/LflSoiVbzow[/noembed]
Other Notes: any% is the better category, but I'm also offering NG+ because I can

Game Name: Final Fantasy XII
Category: any%
Other Details: see Roostalol, Hoishin and Freddeh’s submissions
Sample run video: [noembed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fs2jtbxv8c[/noembed] (note that I was incredibly sleep-deprived when I did this run and would have fallen asleep at least once if not for my insomnia)

Game Name: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
System: PC
Category: any%
Gameplay Estimate: 1:35
Ending/Bonus Estimate: bonuses will add about a minute at most; credits are not really worth watching beyond the classic beginning of their music
Pros/Cons: [i]Pros[/i] – A technical speedrun of a relatively popular game that abuses glitches and beats the game much faster than expected; the route has seen significant improvements since RPGLB last year, and is in several key ways a safer run in spite of said improvements.  Would be run on my laptop, simplifying normal PC setup.  [i]Cons[/i] – Was just run at SGDQ this year, and if my laptop dies the run will probably have to be replaced because the game is far less speedrun-friendly on more powerful hardware.
Possible Donation Incentives: Main Character gender and name (18 character max.), Bastila vs. Bastila, save or kill Bastila
Sample run video: I haven’t run the game with the updated route, but am quite familiar with it and will be learning it in the near future.  Here is glasnonck's [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLNeSY4RXQE]current record[/url]

[b]Secondary Submission[/b]

Game Name: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 – the Sith Lords
System: PC
Category: any%
Gameplay Estimate: 1:40:00 (very safe; has a good chance of dropping once I learn the run)
Other Notes: I’m only offering this as a backup in case another runner gets it in and has to drop.  I could learn the run very quickly with my knowledge of the game and route.  Like KotOR 1, this game would be run on my laptop.

cha0sSDA

2016-12-30 09:34:41 pm

Confirming my participation for the Saga Frontier All Scenarios/Race bid war submissions mentioned in bich's post. below are links for my Asellus, Emelia, and Blue PBs as samples for the runs included in the race offer.

Asellus: http://www.twitch.tv/cha0stwitch/v/57105279
Emelia: http://www.twitch.tv/cha0stwitch/v/57494268
Blue: http://www.twitch.tv/cha0stwitch/v/63796950

Rheinhold

Edit history:

Rheinhold: 2016-12-31 07:38:00 pm

Rheinhold: 2016-12-31 07:01:31 pm

Rheinhold: 2016-12-31 12:25:41 am

Rheinhold: 2016-12-30 10:11:57 pm

2016-12-30 09:55:01 pm

Game Name: Rogue Galaxy
System: PS2 on PS4
Category: Any%
Gameplay Estimate: 6:35:00
This can be a race or Co-Op run with Gerrick and Ruku
Donation Incentives:
1. Costume Bid - Each Character has multiple costumes available to them and could be bid upon. Using NG+ these can be accesible from the begining of the game. NG+ does nothing else for the run so it would still effectively be just any%

2. Banter On/Off active bid war - Each character has 5-6 phrases they cycle between in each area/chapter that are said every 45 seconds to a minute. This very quickly become an extreme annoyance to us as runners and is something we turn usually off immediately. This incentive is basically just there to annoy/distract us. It is fairly easy to turn on/off as the game progresses.

Pros/Cons
+Early game has a good variety of strategies that exploit game mecahnics to beat bosses with ease
+Boss fights are varied and can be very entertaining and provide a good challenge
+Routing is very tight with no excess items or abliities

- Several dead spot in the game, the gladius towers and mothers lair. Each of these areas will have about 20 minutes of walking through samey hallways
- Late game consists mainly of using the same ability to crush enemy groups

Sample Run Video: Coming Soon

Game Name: Shadowrun
System: Sega Genesis
Category: Any%
Gameplay Estimate: 0:50
Ending/Bonus Estimate: ~1min
Pros/Cons:
+ Good representation of the PnP
+ Good atmosphere with unique characters
+ Never been in an event before
+ Utilizes multiple glitches/programming oversights

- Several sections that can lose significant time to RNG

Donation Incentive Offers: None, primarily submitting this as a time fill or bonus game should runs come short of estimates.

Sample Run Video: https://www.twitch.tv/rheinhold/v/111246299 - This is a good example of a run with bad RNG. Really bad Matrix section, ok drop luck, and a death to the final boss.

Thanks for the consideration

2. Banter On/Off active bid war - Each character has 5-6 phrases they cycle between in each area/chapter that are said every 45 seconds to a minute. This very quickly become an extreme annoyance to us as runners and is something we turn usually off immediately. This incentive is basically just there to annoy/distract us. It is fairly easy to turn on/off as the game progresses.

Pros/Cons
+Early game has a good variety of strategies that exploit game mecahnics to beat bosses with ease
+Boss fights are varied and can be very entertaining and provide a good challenge
+Routing is very tight with no excess items or abliities

- Several dead spot in the game, the gladius towers and mothers lair. Each of these areas will have about 20 minutes of walking through samey hallways
- Late game consists mainly of using the same ability to crush enemy groups

Sample Run Video: Coming Soon
 
Game Name: Shadowrun
System: Sega Genesis
Category: Any%
Gameplay Estimate: 0:50
Ending/Bonus Estimate: ~1min
Pros/Cons: 
+ Good representation of the PnP 
+ Good atmosphere with unique characters 
+ Never been in an event before
+ Utilizes multiple glitches/programming oversights

- Several sections that can lose significant time to RNG

Donation Incentive Offers: None, primarily submitting this as a time fill or bonus game should runs come short of estimates.

Sample Run Video: https://www.twitch.tv/rheinhold/v/111246299 - This is a good example of a run with bad RNG. Really bad Matrix section, ok drop luck, and a death to the final boss.

Thanks for the consideration

shinbreakerseven

2016-12-30 10:50:13 pm

Game Name: Final Fantasy

System: PSP played on PSP

Category: Any%

Gameplay Estimate: 1:45 with horrendous RNG and resetting to a safety save or 2

Ending/Bonus Estimate: Ending movie would not be played out, as it consists entirely of very slow rolling text and is very long. Characters are named prior to game start, so any time spent naming characters would need to be accounted for in the schedule outside of the run estimate.

Desription: The four warriors of light travel the breadth of the land and time itself in the quest to save the world from the four fiends of Earth, Fire, Water, and Air and defeat the evil Chaos in the remake of the game that started it all. The game itself mostly follows the intended sequence of events with no skips but achieves speed primarily through clever use of an equipment glitch that allows late (or even post) game content to be available early on and to be equipped by any class. Additionally, non-weapon equipment can be equipped in any of the four armor slots (shield, helmet, armor, and gloves), allowing stacking of equipment bonuses. The entire party makeup is designed for a single encounter - the final boss. While the equipment glitch trivializes most bosses, Chaos is orders of magnitude stronger than any other boss and is a serious threat to the extremely under-leveled party.

Donation Incentive Offers: Naming characters (Warrior, Thief, Black Mage, White Mage) - 6 Character limit. Characters are named before game start and text boxes are drawn all at once, so naming characters has no effect on time

Pros:
+Shortest version of Final Fantasy
+Easy-to-follow run since there are no sequence breaks or warps
+Minimal cutscenes
+Extremely safe run. Ability to save anywhere allows for safety saves immediately prior to dangerous fights.
+Entire route builds to an exciting final boss showdown
+RNG makes for exciting races
+PSP version hasn't been featured in a recent major marathon

Cons:
-Extremely high RNG component with random battles (can swing a run by 10 minutes or more - hence the high estimate)
-No character development to make the few cutscenes interesting
-All battles except final boss have minimal depth
-Several points where game can decide to kill you with no possible response (trivialized by safety saves)
-Contains a brief (2-3 minute) grinding session.
-FFI NES will have been run at AGDQ just a few months prior to RPGLB

Sample run video: I have chosen an imperfect run with a serious error rather than my PB to demonstrate the relative safety of the run

https://www.twitch.tv/shinbreakerseven/v/111063514

[b]Game Name:[/b] Final Fantasy

[b]System:[/b] PSP played on PSP

[b]Category:[/b] Any%

[b]Gameplay Estimate:[/b] 1:45 with horrendous RNG and resetting to a safety save or 2

[b]Ending/Bonus Estimate:[/b] Ending movie would not be played out, as it consists entirely of very slow rolling text and is very long.  Characters are named prior to game start, so any time spent naming characters would need to be accounted for in the schedule outside of the run estimate.

[b]Desription:[/b] The four warriors of light travel the breadth of the land and time itself in the quest to save the world from the four fiends of Earth, Fire, Water, and Air and defeat the evil Chaos in the remake of the game that started it all.  The game itself mostly  follows the intended sequence of events with no skips but achieves speed primarily through clever use of an equipment glitch that allows late (or even post) game content to be available early on and to be equipped by any class.  Additionally, non-weapon equipment can be equipped in any of the four armor slots (shield, helmet, armor, and gloves), allowing stacking of equipment bonuses.  The entire party makeup is designed for a single encounter - the final boss.  While the equipment glitch trivializes most bosses, Chaos is orders of magnitude stronger than any other boss and is a serious threat to the extremely under-leveled party.

[b]Donation Incentive Offers:[/b] Naming characters (Warrior, Thief, Black Mage, White Mage) - 6 Character limit.  Characters are named before game start and text boxes are drawn all at once, so naming characters has no effect on time

[b]Pros:[/b]
+Shortest version of Final Fantasy
+Easy-to-follow run since there are no sequence breaks or warps
+Minimal cutscenes
+Extremely safe run.  Ability to save anywhere allows for safety saves immediately prior to dangerous fights.
+Entire route builds to an exciting final boss showdown
+RNG makes for exciting races
+PSP version hasn't been featured in a recent major marathon

[b]Cons:[/b]
-Extremely high RNG component with random battles (can swing a run by 10 minutes or more - hence the high estimate)
-No character development to make the few cutscenes interesting
-All battles except final boss have minimal depth
-Several points where game can decide to kill you with no possible response (trivialized by safety saves)
-Contains a brief (2-3 minute) grinding session.
-FFI NES will have been run at AGDQ just a few months prior to RPGLB

[b]Sample run video:[/b] I have chosen an imperfect run with a serious error rather than my PB to demonstrate the relative safety of the run

https://www.twitch.tv/shinbreakerseven/v/111063514

RaneofSOTN

2016-12-30 11:12:43 pm

I want off the ride....

Game name: Sweet Home
System: NES (I have an english patched Repro or i can use a flash cart)
Category: Any% - (Best ending by default)
Gameplay estimate: 1:30:00
Ending/Bonus content: Ending is <4 minutes

Pros:
+Horror RPG
+Includes Menu-y goodness
+Everyone Survives
+One of the coolest NES cutscenes w/ Man -> Skeleton
+See a mansion get cleaned and cleansed of evil just before it collapses.

Cons:
-Game is a bit rough but problems can be worked through
-Only 3 of the 5 cast are "core" to the speedrun.

Donation incentives:
Each Character's name: There are 5 characters (2 male 3 female) all capped at 6 characters. For reference each key item holder: Lighter (male), Vacuum (female), Master key (female) are used. Camera (male) and Med-kit (female) shouldn't need to be used

Sample Run Video:

*NOTE* If selected, i wont be able to appear for the first day or two. So if this changes weighting, thats ok.

AllTheHighwinds

2016-12-30 11:41:20 pm

Game Name: Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner HD
System: PS# played on PS3
Category: Any% or NG+
Gameplay Estimate: 01:20:00 for Any% and 00:45:00 for NG+
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 0:15:00 Kind of a lengthy ending

Pros: Super fast paced action with rarely a dull moment. It is a Hideo Kojima game. Entertaining run due to so many things happening at such a fast pace. If things go south and a death happens can immediately retry from the last checkpoint. Thus making this safe for the most part for a marathon.

Cons: Not very donation friendly. Probably the farthest stretch of being categorized as an RPG, but I wanted to submit it anyway. It does have leveling up and experience and they are actually integral to the run. It is a Hideo Kojima game. The rng on enemy and boss patterns/behavior is pretty intense.

Donation Incentive Offers: I can only think of offering this run as either Any% or NG+ as a donation incentive. By default I would love to show Any% since that is how the game was intended to be played.

Sample Run Video: https://www.twitch.tv/allthehighwinds/v/111078735

Pros:  Super fast paced action with rarely a dull moment.  It is a Hideo Kojima game.  Entertaining run due to so many things happening at such a fast pace.  If things go south and a death happens can immediately retry from the last checkpoint.  Thus making this safe for the most part for a marathon.

Cons:  Not very donation friendly.  Probably the farthest stretch of being categorized as an RPG, but I wanted to submit it anyway.  It does have leveling up and experience and they are actually integral to the run.  It is a Hideo Kojima game.  The rng on enemy and boss patterns/behavior is pretty intense.

Donation Incentive Offers:  I can only think of offering this run as either Any% or NG+ as a donation incentive.  By default I would love to show Any% since that is how the game was intended to be played.

Sample Run Video:  https://www.twitch.tv/allthehighwinds/v/111078735

Neerrm

Edit history:

Neerrm: 2016-12-31 02:18:05 am

2016-12-31 01:40:21 am

Game Name: Mario Golf: Advance Tour
System: GBA (played on either Wii U VC or GBA player)
Category: all singles% single-segment / Story Mode Singles
Gameplay Estimate: 2:30:00 / 1:10:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 2:00 for credits, 30:00 for additional post-game minigames
Pros:
+ Not your standard RPG, considering it's a golf game. Definitely something different!
+ Features many aspects of standard RPGs: Naming characters, leveling up, stat growth, collectible items (clubs).
+ A decent amount of incentives.
+ Catchy music. Often mistaken for Golden Sun soundtrack.
+ All singles% single-segment category was created to showcase the RPG elements of this game.
Cons:
- AI can be very, very bad at times. This could also be a pro from an entertainment standpoint, as some shot decisions are pure gold. Smiley

- It's a golf game. If you're expecting RPG battles, the battlefield is golf.
- Shorter category skips almost all RPG aspects of the game.
Donation Incentive Offers:
Name the Golfer (5 characters)
Bid war for Boy or Girl golfer (Boy adds about 5 minutes)
Bid war for route in single segment (Risky Clubs vs not, no time change)
Extra post-game Mini-Games:
+ Defeat Blooper, Spiny, Monty Mole (10 minutes)
+ Complete Coo-Coo Course (5 minutes)
+ Elf's Short Course (15 minutes)
Extra Information: Happy to race any of the categories with Aurilliux. Would also prefer Auri to be the runner if you're choosing between the two of us.
Sample run video:
all singles% single-segment: https://www.twitch.tv/neerrm/v/111083613
Story Mode Singles: https://www.twitch.tv/neerrm/v/105424840

Game Name: Final Fantasy IV
System: SNES
Category: Paladin% Tournament Finals
Gameplay Estimate: 1:05:00 - 2:10:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: Trophy Presentation (~15:00)
Extra Information:
The Mysidia Mayhem 2 Admin team (catastrophic4, eLmaGus, fcoughlin, neerrm, puwexil, riversmccown, the_roth) would like to submit the Mysidia Mayhem 2 Paladin Tournament Finals for consideration to be done live during RPG Limit Break. We have scheduled the tournament as such so that the ending of the tournament coincides nicely with the dates of the marathon. In our ideal scenario, we would be able to fly both finalists out to attend the event in person, and feature our finals as an in-person match.
Pros:
+ The tournament has already drawn a lot of interest from the community, with our signups already eclipsing that of our previous FF4 tournament.
+ Many people at the event would have a vested interest in the finals, as many attendees are already in the tournament. Should easily fill the room.
+ Would be the first tournament finals to be held at RPGLB, and would set a tone for this to be done in future events.
+ With very hit or miss strategies near the end, the race has high potential for some epic last-minute suspenseful position swings.
Cons:
- FF4 has been at both previous RPGLB events in some capacity.
- As the final bracket is double elimination, there is an hour variance in the estimate.
- We do not know who the finalists will be at this point, and won't know until the marathon is near. This can potentially cause a logistics issue with having our finalists attend the marathon, and we might need to improvise on how we present our finals (such as potentially having one person running from off-site).
- This is not a "full game" category.
- As the nature of this is a race with the most optimal strats, donation incentives are somewhat limited.
Donation Incentive Offers:
Window Color (would be pre-determined colors that are of equal hassle to set to be fair to racers)
Cecil, Kain names (+1.5 minutes, would be set in Mist (~10 minutes into the run) as to not interfere with attempted frame manipulated seed setting)
Sample run video:
Previous tournament finals:

[b]Game Name[/b]: Mario Golf: Advance Tour
[b]System[/b]: GBA (played on either Wii U VC or GBA player)
[b]Category[/b]: all singles% single-segment / Story Mode Singles
[b]Gameplay Estimate[/b]: 2:30:00 / 1:10:00
[b]Ending/Bonus Estimate[/b]: 2:00 for credits, 30:00 for additional post-game minigames
[b]Pros[/b]:
+ Not your standard RPG, considering it's a golf game. Definitely something different!
+ Features many aspects of standard RPGs: Naming characters, leveling up, stat growth, collectible items (clubs).
+ A decent amount of incentives.
+ Catchy music. Often mistaken for Golden Sun soundtrack.
+ All singles% single-segment category was created to showcase the RPG elements of this game.
[b]Cons[/b]:
- AI can be very, very bad at times. This could also be a pro from an entertainment standpoint, as some shot decisions are pure gold. :)
- It's a golf game. If you're expecting RPG battles, the battlefield is golf.
- Shorter category skips almost all RPG aspects of the game.
[b]Donation Incentive Offers[/b]: 
Name the Golfer (5 characters) 
Bid war for Boy or Girl golfer (Boy adds about 5 minutes)
Bid war for route in single segment (Risky Clubs vs not, no time change)
Extra post-game Mini-Games:
+ Defeat Blooper, Spiny, Monty Mole (10 minutes)
+ Complete Coo-Coo Course (5 minutes)
+ Elf's Short Course (15 minutes)
[b]Extra Information[/b]: Happy to [b]race[/b] any of the categories with Aurilliux. Would also prefer Auri to be the runner if you're choosing between the two of us.
[b]Sample run video[/b]:
all singles% single-segment: https://www.twitch.tv/neerrm/v/111083613
Story Mode Singles: https://www.twitch.tv/neerrm/v/105424840

[b]Game Name[/b]: Final Fantasy IV
[b]System[/b]: SNES
[b]Category[/b]: Paladin% Tournament Finals
[b]Gameplay Estimate[/b]: 1:05:00 - 2:10:00
[b]Ending/Bonus Estimate[/b]: Trophy Presentation (~15:00)
[b]Extra Information[/b]:
The Mysidia Mayhem 2 Admin team (catastrophic4, eLmaGus, fcoughlin, neerrm, puwexil, riversmccown, the_roth) would like to submit the Mysidia Mayhem 2 Paladin Tournament Finals for consideration to be done live during RPG Limit Break. We have scheduled the tournament as such so that the ending of the tournament coincides nicely with the dates of the marathon. In our ideal scenario, we would be able to fly both finalists out to attend the event in person, and feature our finals as an in-person match.
[b]Pros[/b]:
+ The tournament has already drawn a lot of interest from the community, with our signups already eclipsing that of our previous FF4 tournament.
+ Many people at the event would have a vested interest in the finals, as many attendees are already in the tournament. Should easily fill the room.
+ Would be the first tournament finals to be held at RPGLB, and would set a tone for this to be done in future events.
+ With very hit or miss strategies near the end, the race has high potential for some epic last-minute suspenseful position swings.
[b]Cons[/b]:
- FF4 has been at both previous RPGLB events in some capacity.
- As the final bracket is double elimination, there is an hour variance in the estimate.
- We do not know who the finalists will be at this point, and won't know until the marathon is near. This can potentially cause a logistics issue with having our finalists attend the marathon, and we might need to improvise on how we present our finals (such as potentially having one person running from off-site).
- This is not a "full game" category.
- As the nature of this is a race with the most optimal strats, donation incentives are somewhat limited.
[b]Donation Incentive Offers[/b]: 
Window Color (would be pre-determined colors that are of equal hassle to set to be fair to racers)
Cecil, Kain names (+1.5 minutes, would be set in Mist (~10 minutes into the run) as to not interfere with attempted frame manipulated seed setting)
[b]Sample run video[/b]:
Previous tournament finals:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZLv8udyga0

Ghoul02

Edit history:

Ghoul02: 2017-01-05 03:28:59 am

Ghoul02: 2017-01-04 09:29:02 pm

Ghoul02: 2016-12-31 01:59:26 am

2016-12-31 01:56:32 am

www.twitch.tv/ghoul02

Listed in order of preference. I expect to have better example videos for each of my two preferred runs by the end of AGDQ, but with the holidays and other commitments, I flat ran out of time to prepare these so I have to submit them as is.

Game Name: Persona 4 Golden
System: Playstation TV
Category: Hard Mode, Golden (Truest/Canon) Ending
Gameplay Estimate: 11:50 (I expect this to be closer to an 11:15 in two weeks, but I’m out of time before submissions end, with flat 11 hours being likely)
Ending Estimate: 0. Final boss kill is 15 minutes before the end, but the traditional end timing is on New Game Save
Pros/Cons:
+ Most popular Vita/Persona game casually, and the series is quickly gaining popularity. Limit Break will be shortly after Persona 5 English release as well, so relevant timing
+ Storied history of speedrunning and modern relevance. Initial P4 route had names like Neviutz and Romscout working on it. Vanilla P4 has had two new runners in the last year (Cereth and Oxwas), while P4G has had an explosion of runners from 2 to 5 in the last year alone, with others contributing strats and ideas.
+ Although SMT and Persona are known for their difficult battle system, P4G is completely marathon safe. The player is favored in every fight with speedrun strats, and death is not very punishing.
+ Incredibly deep combat system combines a deep weakness system, unique and interesting mechanics and a demon fusion system allowing us to tailor our character to best handle every scenario he’s in. Particular highlights include: Shadow Yukiko, Shadow Kanji, Shadow Mitsuo, Kusumi no Okami and the Final Boss.
+ Nearly endless incentive and prize potential.
+ I’d like to put an emphasis on the show during the game’s downtime. If it gets accepted, I’d like to reach out to Atlus, voice actors, people involved with the games music etc as potential 30 minute skype interviews to fill gaps in the action.
= Due to the game’s length, splitting the run into two parts may be required or preferred. There are 4 potential places that I’ve noted might be smart to segment the run. Incentives can be balanced across both of them. The places are on Shadow Mitsuo boss kill (ends on the best boss of the first half), between the two (still ends close to a great boss while splitting one of the between dungeon segments), on Shadow Naoto kill (Would end on a boss and would mean that the second half would have zero grinding commitments) and between Naoto and Heaven ( Similar to on Naoto kill, but splits the largest segment of cutscenes into two pieces).
_ While the ratio of downtime to dungeon crawling and combat is actually quite decent for an RPG (approximately 60/40 dungeon crawling to cutscene ratio), the downtime is very segmented from the rest of the game, which means that there will be gaps that need to be filled with strong commentary, donations, interviews etc.
_ Skipping cutscenes involves a VCR fastforward sound that on a vanilla copy of the game, cannot be turned off. I have reached out to the Vita hacking community about potentially helping me to create a hack that either removes it or replaces it with a song in the game. Unfortunately, there are quite a few sound files in the game, so isolating it may not be possible.
_ Some of the grinding has a fair amount of variance in the time taken to reach the necessary leveling milestones. The estimate takes this into account.
Donation Incentive Offers:

Naming the Main Character (8 characters for each first and last name) – Self explanatory. Costs no time, other than inputting it.
MC’s Girlfriend/Best Friend (Can choose from any party member) – While it hasn’t been fully tested, the worst case should add about 15 minutes. As a bonus, I can take them into the final fight without affecting the strats used.
Date or don’t date Marie – Marie is a very polarizing character as the major addition to the Vita port. Costs no time and doesn’t interfere with the above incentive
Costume – Rolling incentive. See the GameFAQs thread here: https://www.gamefaqs.com/vita/641695-persona-4-golden/faqs/65828 - most of the costumes that are not purchased can be obtained with minimal time/money investment.
Ending – We could start as a Bad End run and push up through Golden ending as certain milestones get reached (Bad > Normal > True > Golden). Each ending is about an hour added (8 – 9 – 10 – 11 in the estimate for each). This incentive likely works best if the run were to close the marathon (i.e. X donation dollars for the total marathon to extend the run)
Difficulty – similar to ending, but must be locked in at the start of the run. Very Easy > Easy > Normal > Hard. I can’t quantify the difference in time, other than that in theory, Very Easy would be a much shorter but less interesting run.
Dub (English vs JP) – with the undub now being created, it’s possible to have a bidding war between English and Japanese dub. This would cost no time but would not be a rolling incentive.
Remove the bzzt – This is still being researched, but using similar tech to the undub, it may be possible to remove the bzzt effect from the TV fastforwarding to be replaced with something else (two working ideas are a single song from the game or muting so that external music like remixes of the game’s soundtrack could be played, using a footpedal or keypad to toggle on and off.)
Dancing All Night – This would take 10 minutes max – would involve booting up a copy of Persona 4 Dancing All Night and either playing a high difficulty song or having the whole couch do a dance along. Or both. Could also be used to fill time if the first half ends ahead of schedule. https://www.twitch.tv/ghoul02/v/40006132
MC Cosplay – Self explanatory.
Gone Skiing – Can choose the party member that we go skiing with. Adds negligible time.
Sing the Junes theme– Every time the Junes theme plays, the runner and the couch has to sing along.
Attempt the Rainy Day Beef Bowl – A classic trip to the meat dimension. Normally not done in a speedrun, would maybe add a minute?
Play some animated cutscenes – Quite a variety to choose from. Normally skipped in a run, but some of them like the Concert would have an audience for sure. Add approximately 2-3 min per, depending on which. One of them is a song that the couch could sing along to. (
Yosuke’s weapon – Yosuke is supposed to use a pair of daggers, however, due to a few necessary quests for the run, we can have him choose between a pair of daggers, a pair of wrenches, a pair of fish, and two ears of corn. None of these would cost time to get or use, and he’s used for quite a few of the end game bosses.

Sample Run Video: https://www.twitch.tv/ghoul02/v/111095416

Game name: Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
System: Playstation 3
Category: Any%
Gameplay Estimate 7:15 (Will be adjusted soon)
Ending Estimate: 9 minutes of good music and art. I’d prefer to not skip it.
Pros/Cons
+ Popular game that combined Studio Ghibli (My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away) with Level 5 (Dragon Quest 8, Yo-kai Watch, Dark Cloud). This game was a spiritual predecessor to Yo-kai Watch and the similarities are plain to see.
+ Speedrun has an assortment of fun tricks and glitches, including menu storage, abusing spell text and jumping to avoid unnecessary encounters.
+ The game is seriously stunning. Great music, great art.
+ Combat plays out like a cross between Pokemon, Tales of, and an MMO, taking qualities from each. The strategies are decently varied and most bosses are very plainly different in how they’re tackled. There’s a counterhit system, which encourages kiting attacks and hitting right after they come out, which adds a very cool skill barrier to the run.
= While the story is relevant to the charity I think (Deals with loss and depression), most cutscenes are completely skipped. This does very much help the pace of the run.
_ Some of the bosses are true damage sponges. We’re very underleveled at times, and party AI is terrible leading to one boss in particular being run away and spamming ranged spells.
_ Gold Glim variance means that not getting ultimate attacks in fights may cost a few minutes. This estimate should be safe with bad luck.
_I’ll need to have a backup save for one gambling segment. We need large amounts of money to clear the endgame, which means gambling and abusing bad card AI. However, with the worst luck, we can lose both of our attempts which would force reloading a save either created before (could waste time if still unlucky) or loading a premade save (which would lose naming incentives)
Donation Incentive Offers:
Wizards Book name, naming Mitey, the monkey and the penguin.
2 players, 1 controller for the test of courage
English vs Japanese voices (Can be rolling incentive but I believe requires going to menu each time, so only switchable on saves)
Sample Run Video: Coming soon. I’ve been learning it slowly over the last 6 months but prepping for P4G and the holiday last month ended up leaving me without enough time to finish before submissions close. I will probably do my first runs the week of AGDQ.

Game Name: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles
System: Nintendo Gamecube (but please let me play on a Wii)
Category: Any% 2:45 (English)/2:38 (Japanese)
Ending/Estimate: 8 minutes, but the music is my single favorite part about running this game.
Pros/Cons:
+ Amazing music, and a decently fun Gauntlet style spinoff of the Final Fantasy series
+ The boss strats are very deep, including quick kills, abusing AI etc while being completely underarmored for the portion of the game we’re in. We’re a glass cannon, yet the game is relatively marathon safe, thanks to a forgiving continue system and Phoenix Downs working as a mid-fight revival item
+ 3 out of the 4 races are completely speedrun viable, each with a set of pros and cons. I’ve been competitive with two of the 3 and completed a run with the third for fun.
= English works without a glitch that makes the run much less safe from the early to end game, while Japanese abuses one of the odder glitches, requiring us to play in solo multiplayer mode for the first area and duplicating money using the GBA. This means Japanese does have less variance
_ Much of the time is down to luck for a few specific item spawns and world map “encounters”. The marathon estimate is very safe and takes this into account.
_ Done at RPGLB15, and did a very good showcase with the only exception being a disk read error that caused the final boss to be uncompleteable.
Donation Incentive Offers:
Singing Sound of the Wind/Moonless Starry Night – Probably two of the best vocalized themes for any video game. I used to boot the game up as a kid and roll the opening just to hear it. And the ending is just as good.
Race – Clavat/Lilty/Selkie are all viable, with about a 3 minute difference at top level, and each has unique pros and cons.
Character and town name – 6 character limit I believe.
Sample Run Video: (I promise, I can beat the final boss)

Game Name: Final Fantasy Theatrhythm Curtain Call
System: Nintendo 3DS
Category: Best of 5 Tournament finals/showcase
Estimate: 15 minutes, but can be lengthened or shortened to fit
Ending/Bonus Estimate: None
Pros/Cons
= Only submitting as a bonus/filler run. Would be a great, flexible and fun way to fill time should the schedule get way ahead.
= If accepted as bonus, I’ll schedule a time and date to get who will compete on stream. I’ll also recruit some e-sports style commentary to go along with it to make it just silly fun.
+ Where else are you going to have a potential bidding war between Dancing Mad, One Winged Angel, and Swords of Fury?
+This game is seriously fun, and Final Fantasy music is always amazing.
_ Not a true speedrun (And the RPG elements will be less present as well)
_ 3DS setup can be relatively involved, which might limit the appeal of using it as a quick stopgap between runs. Also due to the way save files are managed, would have to be done on two level 1 accounts for parity.
Donation Incentive Offers:
First song bidding war. Can be any Final Fantasy Song in the game.
Sample run video: (obviously not mine. Note this does work with a single screen and audio capture.

Game Name: Persona 4 Golden
System: Playstation TV
Category: Hard Mode, Golden (Truest/Canon) Ending
Gameplay Estimate: 11:50 (I expect this to be closer to an 11:15 in two weeks, but I’m out of time before submissions end, with flat 11 hours being likely)
Ending Estimate: 0. Final boss kill is 15 minutes before the end, but the traditional end timing is on New Game Save
Pros/Cons:
+ Most popular Vita/Persona game casually, and the series is quickly gaining popularity. Limit Break will be shortly after Persona 5 English release as well, so relevant timing
+ Storied history of speedrunning and modern relevance. Initial P4 route had names like Neviutz and Romscout working on it. Vanilla P4 has had two new runners in the last year (Cereth and Oxwas), while P4G has had an explosion of runners from 2 to 5 in the last year alone, with others contributing strats and ideas.
+ Although SMT and Persona are known for their difficult battle system, P4G is completely marathon safe. The player is favored in every fight with speedrun strats, and death is not very punishing.
+ Incredibly deep combat system combines a deep weakness system, unique and interesting mechanics and a demon fusion system allowing us to tailor our character to best handle every scenario he’s in. Particular highlights include: Shadow Yukiko, Shadow Kanji, Shadow Mitsuo, Kusumi no Okami and the Final Boss.
+ Nearly endless incentive and prize potential. 
+ I’d like to put an emphasis on the show during the game’s downtime. If it gets accepted, I’d like to reach out to Atlus, voice actors, people involved with the games music etc as potential 30 minute skype interviews to fill gaps in the action.
= Due to the game’s length, splitting the run into two parts may be required or preferred. There are 4 potential places that I’ve noted might be smart to segment the run. Incentives can be balanced across both of them. The places are on Shadow Mitsuo boss kill (ends on the best boss of the first half), between the two (still ends close to a great boss while splitting one of the between dungeon segments), on Shadow Naoto kill (Would end on a boss and would mean that the second half would have zero grinding commitments) and between Naoto and Heaven ( Similar to on Naoto kill, but splits the largest segment of cutscenes into two pieces).
_ While the ratio of downtime to dungeon crawling and combat is actually quite decent for an RPG (approximately 60/40 dungeon crawling to cutscene ratio), the downtime is very segmented from the rest of the game, which means that there will be gaps that need to be filled with strong commentary, donations, interviews etc.
_ Skipping cutscenes involves a VCR fastforward sound that on a vanilla copy of the game, cannot be turned off. I have reached out to the Vita hacking community about potentially helping me to create a hack that either removes it or replaces it with a song in the game. Unfortunately, there are quite a few sound files in the game, so isolating it may not be possible. 
_ Some of the grinding has a fair amount of variance in the time taken to reach the necessary leveling milestones. The estimate takes this into account.
Donation Incentive Offers:
[hidden]Naming the Main Character (8 characters for each first and last name) – Self explanatory. Costs no time, other than inputting it.
MC’s Girlfriend/Best Friend (Can choose from any party member) – While it hasn’t been fully tested, the worst case should add about 15 minutes. As a bonus, I can take them into the final fight without affecting the strats used.
Date or don’t date Marie – Marie is a very polarizing character as the major addition to the Vita port. Costs no time and doesn’t interfere with the above incentive
Costume – Rolling  incentive. See the GameFAQs thread here: https://www.gamefaqs.com/vita/641695-persona-4-golden/faqs/65828 - most of the costumes that are not purchased can be obtained with minimal time/money investment.
Ending – We could start as a Bad End run and push up through Golden ending as certain milestones get reached (Bad > Normal > True > Golden). Each ending is about an hour added (8 – 9 – 10 – 11 in the estimate for each). This incentive likely works best if the run were to close the marathon (i.e. X donation dollars for the total marathon to extend the run)
Difficulty – similar to ending, but must be locked in at the start of the run. Very Easy > Easy > Normal > Hard. I can’t quantify the difference in time, other than that in theory, Very Easy would be a much shorter but less interesting run.
Dub (English vs JP) – with the undub now being created, it’s possible to have a bidding war between English and Japanese dub. This would cost no time but would not be a rolling incentive.
Remove the bzzt – This is still being researched, but using similar tech to the undub, it may be possible to remove the bzzt effect from the TV fastforwarding to be replaced with something else (two working ideas are a single song from the game or muting so that external music like remixes of the game’s soundtrack could be played, using a footpedal or keypad to toggle on and off.)
Dancing All Night – This would take 10 minutes max – would involve booting up a copy of Persona 4 Dancing All Night and either playing a high difficulty song or having the whole couch do a dance along. Or both. Could also be used to fill time if the first half ends ahead of schedule. https://www.twitch.tv/ghoul02/v/40006132
MC Cosplay – Self explanatory. 
Gone Skiing – Can choose the party member that we go skiing with. Adds negligible time.
Sing the Junes theme– Every time the Junes theme plays, the runner and the couch has to sing along.
Attempt the Rainy Day Beef Bowl – A classic trip to the meat dimension. Normally not done in a speedrun, would maybe add a minute?
Play some animated cutscenes – Quite a variety to choose from. Normally skipped in a run, but some of them like the Concert would have an audience for sure. Add approximately 2-3 min per, depending on which. One of them is a song that the couch could sing along to. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R0vUAkEeZQ)
Yosuke’s weapon – Yosuke is supposed to use a pair of daggers, however, due to a few necessary quests for the run, we can have him choose between a pair of daggers, a pair of wrenches, a pair of fish, and two ears of corn. None of these would cost time to get or use, and he’s used for quite a few of the end game bosses.[/hidden]
Sample Run Video: https://www.twitch.tv/ghoul02/v/111095416

Game name: Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
System: Playstation 3
Category: Any%
Gameplay Estimate 7:15 (Will be adjusted soon)
Ending Estimate: 9 minutes of good music and art. I’d prefer to not skip it.
Pros/Cons
+ Popular game that combined Studio Ghibli (My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away) with Level 5 (Dragon Quest 8, Yo-kai Watch, Dark Cloud). This game was a spiritual predecessor to Yo-kai Watch and the similarities are plain to see.
+ Speedrun has an assortment of fun tricks and glitches, including menu storage, abusing spell text and jumping to avoid unnecessary encounters.
+ The game is seriously stunning. Great music, great art.
+ Combat plays out like a cross between Pokemon, Tales of, and an MMO, taking qualities from each. The strategies are decently varied and most bosses are very plainly different in how they’re tackled. There’s a counterhit system, which encourages kiting attacks and hitting right after they come out, which adds a very cool skill barrier to the run.
= While the story is relevant to the charity I think (Deals with loss and depression), most cutscenes are completely skipped. This does very much help the pace of the run.
_ Some of the bosses are true damage sponges. We’re very underleveled at times, and party AI is terrible leading to one boss in particular being run away and spamming ranged spells.
_ Gold Glim variance means that not getting ultimate attacks in fights may cost a few minutes. This estimate should be safe with bad luck. 
_I’ll need to have a backup save for one gambling segment. We need large amounts of money to clear the endgame, which means gambling and abusing bad card AI. However, with the worst luck, we can lose both of our attempts which would force reloading a save either created before (could waste time if still unlucky) or loading a premade save (which would lose naming incentives)
Donation Incentive Offers:
Wizards Book name, naming Mitey, the monkey and the penguin.
2 players, 1 controller for the test of courage
English vs Japanese voices (Can be rolling incentive but I believe requires going to menu each time, so only switchable on saves)
Sample Run Video: Coming soon. I’ve been learning it slowly over the last 6 months but prepping for P4G and the holiday last month ended up leaving me without enough time to finish before submissions close. I will probably do my first runs the week of AGDQ.

Game Name: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles
System: Nintendo Gamecube (but please let me play on a Wii)
Category: Any% 2:45 (English)/2:38 (Japanese)
Ending/Estimate: 8 minutes, but the music is my single favorite part about running this game.
Pros/Cons:
+ Amazing music, and a decently fun Gauntlet style spinoff of the Final Fantasy series
+ The boss strats are very deep, including quick kills, abusing AI etc while being completely underarmored for the portion of the game we’re in. We’re a glass cannon, yet the game is relatively marathon safe, thanks to a forgiving continue system and Phoenix Downs working as a mid-fight revival item
+ 3 out of the 4 races are completely speedrun viable, each with a set of pros and cons. I’ve been competitive with two of the 3 and completed a run with the third for fun. 
= English works without a glitch that makes the run much less safe from the early to end game, while Japanese abuses one of the odder glitches, requiring us to play in solo multiplayer mode for the first area and duplicating money using the GBA. This means Japanese does have less variance
_ Much of the time is down to luck for a few specific item spawns and world map “encounters”. The marathon estimate is very safe and takes this into account.
_ Done at RPGLB15, and did a very good showcase with the only exception being a disk read error that caused the final boss to be uncompleteable.
Donation Incentive Offers:
Singing Sound of the Wind/Moonless Starry Night – Probably two of the best vocalized themes for any video game. I used to boot the game up as a kid and roll the opening just to hear it. And the ending is just as good.
Race – Clavat/Lilty/Selkie are all viable, with about a 3 minute difference at top level, and each has unique pros and cons.
Character and town name – 6 character limit I believe.
Sample Run Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Phkd815kW8w (I promise, I can beat the final boss)

Game Name: Final Fantasy Theatrhythm Curtain Call
System: Nintendo 3DS
Category: Best of 5 Tournament finals/showcase
Estimate: 15 minutes, but can be lengthened or shortened to fit
Ending/Bonus Estimate: None
Pros/Cons
= Only submitting as a bonus/filler run. Would be a great, flexible and fun way to fill time should the schedule get way ahead.
= If accepted as bonus, I’ll schedule a time and date to get who will compete on stream. I’ll also recruit some e-sports style commentary to go along with it to make it just silly fun.
+ Where else are you going to have a potential bidding war between Dancing Mad, One Winged Angel, and Swords of Fury?
+This game is seriously fun, and Final Fantasy music is always amazing.
_ Not a true speedrun (And the RPG elements will be less present as well)
_ 3DS setup can be relatively involved, which might limit the appeal of using it as a quick stopgap between runs. Also due to the way save files are managed, would have to be done on two level 1 accounts for parity.
Donation Incentive Offers:
First song bidding war. Can be any Final Fantasy Song in the game.
Sample run video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgLdXLarppI (obviously not mine. Note this does work with a single screen and audio capture.

Turbodog702

2016-12-31 05:25:51 am

Game Name: Shining Soul
System: GBA via GBP
Category: Any% Archer/Wizard/?
Gameplay Estimate: 3:00:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 4 mins (Credits)
Pros: - Simplistic game that is fairly easy to communicate to a casual audience.
- Lots of references to the Shining series that can fill downtime with lore
- Various bid war incentives (Class, Color, name option)
- Very safe once money is established (first 10 mins or so)
- Short time frame comparative to RPGs
- Very structured but leaves room for adjustment

Cons: - Perhaps too simplistic
- Repetitive gameplay (can be masked by strong support commentary)
- Still a green route/game (I have done my best to work on this and will continue to push if accepted)

Donation Incentive Offers: No Cost - Character Color | Some Cost - Naming (affects starting stats slightly) | Most Cost: Class Selection (still comfortably within 3 hours)

Sample run video: https://www.twitch.tv/turbodog702/v/111089015 (Archer)
https://www.twitch.tv/turbodog702/v/111103578 (Wizard)

Commentary Videos (WATCH THESE): https://www.twitch.tv/turbodog702/v/111108907 (Archer)
https://www.twitch.tv/turbodog702/v/111109388 (Wizard)

Game Name: Parasite Eve
System: PSX via PS2 or PSTV
Category: NG / NG+ Good Ending
Gameplay Estimate: 3:08:00 / 25:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 8 mins (Credits)
Pros: Interesting foray into the Squaresoft RPG library post FF7, one of the first RPGs with a modern setting, boss sequences are tense due to light bullet hell elements, relatively short for a full RPG, no/extremely little grinding, more conclusive evidence that super rats are in every Opera according to Squaresoft, and interesting cutscenes given the time of creation. New developments in safety strats for Centipede+.
Cons: Admittedly long talking sequences at times, cutscenes are unskippable and there are two RNG chests in the run that can be saved before to manipulate but are necessary in the traditional run. I could pre-bake saves if necessary.
Possible Donation Incentives: Name Aya, no chest RNG manipulation (would have a back up Tool and could look into the feasibility of using the G3A3 instead of the Micro UZ, sing final credits song badly?
Donation Incentive Offers: No Chest Manipulation and Character Name
Sample run video: (NG)
No NG+ Run but I have a save is set up.

Game Name: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
System: PSX, played on XBLA
Category: All Bosses, ABRSR (All Bosses, Relics + Save Richter
Gameplay Estimate: 40 mins / 55 mins
Ending/Bonus Estimate : 8 mins (Ending + Credits) possible glitch exhibition (~10 mins)
Pros: - Lots of movement tech
- Very safe
- Fast paced change of pace
- Gothic horror aesthetic can provide variety

Cons: - Is this an RPG?
- This might be a follow up joke to RPGLB 2016 but meh, submit anyway.

Donation Incentive Offers: File Name, Glitch Exhibition
Sample run video: (I can easily improve these)
All Bosses: https://www.twitch.tv/turbodog702/v/41215552
ABRSR: https://www.twitch.tv/turbodog702/v/44531266

Game Name: Shining Force Neo
System: PS2 Slim 77k/90k
Category: Any%
Gameplay Estimate: 7:00:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 5:00
Pros: A literal roller coaster ride of danger, cutscenes and talking sequences can be skipped extremely fast, 30 random floors in Ordeals mean you have to be on your toes and adapt quickly, saves can be pre-baked for the most RNG heavy parts of the run, hate for this game would inspire people to watch a madman attempt to run this game, and the game is mostly playable with speedrun strats. Almost no one has seen this run, and a small group worked fairly hard to make this game playable through abuse of early access to high level spellcasting items, Invisibility spell abuse, structured skill leveling, and Chaos Gate abuse to avoid fighting rough spawns in Ordeals.

Cons: A literal roller coaster of a run, I save tons to avoid extremely punishing deaths, you can die in less than 1 second, RNG plays a heavy part in the first 30 mins and last 40 mins of the run (the first can be mitigated with a baked save), 30 floors of random dungeons make the Ordeals an erratic part of the run (I do my best to mitigate this by saving before going down to a new floor for favorable layouts), repetitive sound clips for allies attacking (Hot stuff coming your way!), and some grinding in the first 2 hours and some Legion Hives late game to power up items and skills. Legion hives are like mini- boss arenas.

Possible Donation Incentives: All Normal Legion Hives, watch select cutscenes (Bar Fight, Dragon Egg Hatching, etc.)
Sample run video: PB/WR Video - http://www.twitch.tv/turbodog702/v/13695164

Side note: This is the worst game I have ever played, but I would gladly submit it to help out other people.

Cons: - Perhaps too simplistic
- Repetitive gameplay (can be masked by strong support commentary)
- Still a green route/game (I have done my best to work on this and will continue to push if accepted)

Donation Incentive Offers: No Cost - Character Color | Some Cost - Naming (affects starting stats slightly) | Most Cost: Class Selection (still comfortably within 3 hours)

Sample run video: https://www.twitch.tv/turbodog702/v/111089015 (Archer)
https://www.twitch.tv/turbodog702/v/111103578 (Wizard)

Commentary Videos (WATCH THESE): https://www.twitch.tv/turbodog702/v/111108907 (Archer)
https://www.twitch.tv/turbodog702/v/111109388 (Wizard)

Game Name: Parasite Eve
System: PSX via PS2 or PSTV
Category: NG / NG+ Good Ending
Gameplay Estimate: 3:08:00 / 25:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 8 mins (Credits)
Pros: Interesting foray into the Squaresoft RPG library post FF7, one of the first RPGs with a modern setting, boss sequences are tense due to light bullet hell elements, relatively short for a full RPG, no/extremely little grinding, more conclusive evidence that super rats are in every Opera according to Squaresoft, and interesting cutscenes given the time of creation. New developments in safety strats for Centipede+.
Cons: Admittedly long talking sequences at times, cutscenes are unskippable and there are two RNG chests in the run that can be saved before to manipulate but are necessary in the traditional run. I could pre-bake saves if necessary.
Possible Donation Incentives: Name Aya, no chest RNG manipulation (would have a back up Tool and could look into the feasibility of using the G3A3 instead of the Micro UZ, sing final credits song badly?
Donation Incentive Offers: No Chest Manipulation and Character Name
Sample run video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MXCrNbns9E (NG)
No NG+ Run but I have a save is set up.

Game Name: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
System: PSX, played on XBLA
Category: All Bosses, ABRSR (All Bosses, Relics + Save Richter
Gameplay Estimate: 40 mins / 55 mins
Ending/Bonus Estimate : 8  mins (Ending + Credits) possible glitch exhibition (~10 mins)
Pros: - Lots of movement tech
- Very safe
- Fast paced change of pace
- Gothic horror aesthetic can provide variety

Cons: - Is this an RPG?
- This might be a follow up joke to RPGLB 2016 but meh, submit anyway.

Donation Incentive Offers: File Name, Glitch Exhibition
Sample run video: (I can easily improve these)
All Bosses: https://www.twitch.tv/turbodog702/v/41215552
ABRSR: https://www.twitch.tv/turbodog702/v/44531266

Game Name: Shining Force Neo
System: PS2 Slim 77k/90k
Category: Any%
Gameplay Estimate: 7:00:00
Ending/Bonus Estimate: 5:00
Pros: A literal roller coaster ride of danger, cutscenes and talking sequences can be skipped extremely fast, 30 random floors in Ordeals mean you have to be on your toes and adapt quickly, saves can be pre-baked for the most RNG heavy parts of the run, hate for this game would inspire people to watch a madman attempt to run this game, and the game is mostly playable with speedrun strats. Almost no one has seen this run, and a small group worked fairly hard to make this game playable through abuse of early access to high level spellcasting items, Invisibility spell abuse, structured skill leveling, and Chaos Gate abuse to avoid fighting rough spawns in Ordeals.

Cons: A literal roller coaster of a run, I save tons to avoid extremely punishing deaths, you can die in less than 1 second, RNG plays a heavy part in the first 30 mins and last 40 mins of the run (the first can be mitigated with a baked save), 30 floors of random dungeons make the Ordeals an erratic part of the run (I do my best to mitigate this by saving before going down to a new floor for favorable layouts), repetitive sound clips for allies attacking (Hot stuff coming your way!), and some grinding in the first 2 hours and some Legion Hives late game to power up items and skills. Legion hives are like mini- boss arenas.

Possible Donation Incentives:  All Normal Legion Hives, watch select cutscenes (Bar Fight, Dragon Egg Hatching, etc.)
Sample run video: PB/WR Video - http://www.twitch.tv/turbodog702/v/13695164

Side note: This is the worst game I have ever played, but I would gladly submit it to help out other people.

SDA Forum Index -> Support -> Community Marathons etc. Events -> RPG Limit Break 2017 - Game Submission Thread (VODs posted)

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