Star Ocean 4 : The Last Hope

2009-05-07 01:40:01 am

everybody wanna tell you the meaning of music

Those all sound like awesome changes! (I am a known minimalist.) In the end this is like SO3 with only IC'ing up one person. I guess I didn't realize you were winning in 30 secs. Shocked

Yako

2009-05-07 11:45:15 am

Satanail is a lot longer than 30 seconds, but he kills everyone else off so quickly, it's not like they do a significant amount of damage. I expected them to be more useful than they were too.

Yako

2009-05-10 10:55:41 am

Those are the links to the 2 parts of my last segment, segment 44. I haven't uploaded the rest of the run, I'm still working on splitting the mp4 files into the appropriate segments, and YAMB isn't cooperating. Is there a better program/easier way to do this?

On another note, the more I watch my run, the more I think I won't waste anyone's time submitting it, and I'll just redo it instead. Quite frankly, most segments are a lot worst than I remembered.

Enhasa

Edit history:

Enhasa: 2009-05-10 06:26:34 pm

2009-05-10 04:06:47 pm

everybody wanna tell you the meaning of music

That's a good mentality to take because sadly most people will only watch the first version of any run.

Maybe try avidemux.

Edit: Actually watched the youtube now. First thing I want to say is I would turn off battle voices, at the very least for the enemies. If it's anything like SO3, this will save a little bit of time. I think I mentioned this in my first post on the first page. So make sure you're doing the stuff there like turning blindside animations off.

Also, now that you know that the end of the game will basically be Reimi soloing, that affects your decisions on characters earlier. I don't remember what levels people come at, but it might be worth it just to stick to earlier characters like Edge or Bacchus because it takes time massaging people in the menus when you get them. Of course, most of the game is not like the end, so feel free to ignore this if it's nonsense. Meracle is used specifically for Amaros Manifest and Arumat specifically for Kokabiel, right?

This ties into a point I just want to make. Most RPG runners have a natural bias toward making fights fast and smooth (it might even be fair to argue that that's what viewers care about so it's valid), while most of the time is actually spent outside of fights. drkhades with SO3 really seemed to put his focus on the fights. Menu work isn't glamarous, but people really tend to underestimate how much time it takes and difference it makes. I remember Dragondarch's original SO3 run, he would go into the menu and do stuff for 2 mins (at not breakneck speed) and then brutalize a boss fight. But more time overall would have been saved with less time in the menu on the less important moves.

Good luck once again.

That's a good mentality to take because sadly most people will only watch the first version of any run.

Maybe try avidemux.

Edit: Actually watched the youtube now. First thing I want to say is I would turn off battle voices, at the very least for the enemies. If it's anything like SO3, this will save a little bit of time. I think I mentioned this in my first post on the first page. So make sure you're doing the stuff there like turning blindside animations off.

Also, now that you know that the end of the game will basically be Reimi soloing, that affects your decisions on characters earlier. I don't remember what levels people come at, but it might be worth it just to stick to earlier characters like Edge or Bacchus because it takes time massaging people in the menus when you get them. Of course, most of the game is not like the end, so feel free to ignore this if it's nonsense. Meracle is used specifically for Amaros Manifest and Arumat specifically for Kokabiel, right?

This ties into a point I just want to make. Most RPG runners have a natural bias toward making fights fast and smooth (it might even be fair to argue that that's what viewers care about so it's valid), while most of the time is actually spent outside of fights. drkhades with SO3 really seemed to put his focus on the fights. Menu work isn't glamarous, but people really tend to underestimate how much time it takes and difference it makes. I remember Dragondarch's original SO3 run, he would go into the menu and do stuff for 2 mins (at not breakneck speed) and then brutalize a boss fight. But more time overall would have been saved with less time in the menu on the less important moves.

Good luck once again.

drkhades

2009-05-11 03:19:01 am

tri-Ace 4evar!!!

Yeah I know my menu navigation leaves a lot to be desired but the battle system motivated me to run the game as well as Dragondarch's old run. Btw, did the old SO3 speedrun topic over here got axed? I was just a bit curious, that's all.

GJ on finishing your run Yako. I still need to finish the game (battle system turns me off a bit). Don't forget that you can decide if you want to the run to be up or not if the verifiers give you a thumbs up ;D.

Yako

2009-05-11 04:57:30 am

Does turning the voices off save time because the game loads them before the fight starts? I'm gonna do that on my next run. I already turn the blindside anims off, and next run I'm gonna turn the subtitles off in case the game loses time loading those too. Yeah, menu manipulation was one of the many areas in which my run was weak, so I'm gonna be working on that. You are correct in assuming that Meracle is used solely for Armaros Manifest and Arumat solely for Kokabiel. Menu fiddling will be reduced in run 2 because I won't get Foal Snaps to get more fol either, so I won't have to switch it around like I did this time around. Also, I tested this weekend, and it seems I was right in assuming that getting the Hunting Bow and the Storm Blade saves time. Now, I have to check to see if I'm better off giving Crit. Hit to Reimi and have her deal with Barachiel, or if getting the Flame Sword is quicker.

Enhasa

2009-05-11 01:20:04 pm

everybody wanna tell you the meaning of music

Nah, I was thinking more about Dragondarch anyways and besides, that 4D run was top-notch. Wink

We don't purge old topics here, the old SO3 topic is just kinda buried.

Here is an unrelated rant:

I haven't really looked at any message boards for this game so I don't know the reception, especially among people in the SO3 community (I know some of them might not have 360's either). I have a feeling that a different sort of gamer loves 4 instead of 3 (the same was true with 3 vs 2, although I loved both myself... no 2 tri-Ace games ever feel the same either). SO4 actually seemed to do best of any game in the series with the Japanophile Tales-loving typical JRPG gamer, FWIW. This game I beat Ethereal Queen on Galaxy and that was all I bothered with. drkhades hasn't even finished the game and neither has spineshark. I don't know what anyone else like TAF or crate or marty81 thinks of this.

Like others, the problem I have is with the battle system. It's just shallower, like a Tales game. Not bad, but a huge disappointment. After VP2, I thought they could do no wrong, but IU was definitely the worst game they've ever made (I still thought it was decent though, and the postgame that was actually really good saved it). A huge disappointment because I was expecting the world. And yet somehow SO4, while a bit better than IU, was even more of a disappointment (didn't help that it had the worst postgame of any tri-Ace game). Probably because I thought, well this would be really hard to mess up after SO3.

If I were to talk about all the strange decisions in both 360 games (IU should have let you save anytime you can camp, SO4's lame trophies and achievements, hotswapping characters, end bosses of both games being the least aggressive bosses for some reason, insert 50 more things about both games) it would take forever, but in the end the inexcusable thing is the lack of difficulty. Never died in IU past spiders first time (because I didn't put it Komachi and Touma at first) or in SO4 past Amaros Manifest first time (because I didn't put in Meracle and died of attrition). SO3 and VP2 had my favorite type of boss fights. You basically always get a save point right there for experimentation and easy retrying. Bosses were quick and brutal and challenging (at min levels of course). You might fight a particularly difficult fight (say, Sculpture Lord) several dozen times, but usually dying within a minute. You would refine your strategies and feel like you accomplished something when you won. SO4 is the opposite, more like a typical boring RPG. Satanail took me maybe 2 hours but I won my first attempt. UGH. And the problem is, most dumbass fucktard RPG players prefer this. That rpgamer reviewer actually said it was the most epic fight he's ever had!

Yako: Turning off voices saves more than that. It saves the time it actually takes for bosses to say stuff (at the start "I'm gonna kick ur ass!" and upon defeat "noooooo how did u defeat me"). Because it would look really stupid if a boss was standing there talking but with no sound, it just gets cut completely. I have to admit, I didn't test it though, so maybe I'm wrong, I'm just talking SO3. If you tried it and can't tell the difference, I'm probably just flat-out wrong, lol. Sorry about that.

If loading makes a difference, and I don't think you can turn voices AND subtitles off (wouldn't that be funny, mime city), it'd probably be fastest to skip voice loading over subtitle loading. Don't you just skip the cutscenes anyway though?

If you're using Arumat just for AOE Diabolic Edge vs Kokabiel, is there anyone else who can also AOE at those levels who is faster? You didn't say how you got past the phantom ambush, but I assume you already had to use a ton of AOE during that fight.

Nah, I was thinking more about Dragondarch anyways and besides, that 4D run was top-notch. ;) We don't purge old topics here, [url=http://speeddemosarchive.com/forum/index.php/topic,2500.0.html]the old SO3 topic[/url] is just kinda buried.

Here is an unrelated rant:

[spoiler]I haven't really looked at any message boards for this game so I don't know the reception, especially among people in the SO3 community (I know some of them might not have 360's either). I have a feeling that a different sort of gamer loves 4 instead of 3 (the same was true with 3 vs 2, although I loved both myself... no 2 tri-Ace games ever feel the same either). SO4 actually seemed to do best of any game in the series with the Japanophile Tales-loving typical JRPG gamer, FWIW. This game I beat Ethereal Queen on Galaxy and that was all I bothered with. drkhades hasn't even finished the game and neither has spineshark. I don't know what anyone else like TAF or crate or marty81 thinks of this.

Like others, the problem I have is with the battle system. It's just shallower, like a Tales game. Not bad, but a huge disappointment. After VP2, I thought they could do no wrong, but IU was definitely the worst game they've ever made (I still thought it was decent though, and the postgame that was actually really good saved it). A huge disappointment because I was expecting the world. And yet somehow SO4, while a bit better than IU, was even more of a disappointment (didn't help that it had the worst postgame of any tri-Ace game). Probably because I thought, well this would be really hard to mess up after SO3.

If I were to talk about all the strange decisions in both 360 games (IU should have let you save anytime you can camp, SO4's lame trophies and achievements, hotswapping characters, end bosses of both games being the least aggressive bosses for some reason, insert 50 more things about both games) it would take forever, but in the end the inexcusable thing is the lack of difficulty. Never died in IU past spiders first time (because I didn't put it Komachi and Touma at first) or in SO4 past Amaros Manifest first time (because I didn't put in Meracle and died of attrition). SO3 and VP2 had my favorite type of boss fights. You basically always get a save point right there for experimentation and easy retrying. Bosses were quick and brutal and challenging (at min levels of course). You might fight a particularly difficult fight (say, Sculpture Lord) several dozen times, but usually dying within a minute. You would refine your strategies and feel like you accomplished something when you won. SO4 is the opposite, more like a typical boring RPG. Satanail took me maybe 2 hours but I won my first attempt. UGH. And the problem is, most dumbass fucktard RPG players prefer this. That rpgamer reviewer actually said it was the most epic fight he's ever had![/spoiler]

Yako: Turning off voices saves more than that. It saves the time it actually takes for bosses to say stuff (at the start "I'm gonna kick ur ass!" and upon defeat "noooooo how did u defeat me"). Because it would look really stupid if a boss was standing there talking but with no sound, it just gets cut completely. I have to admit, I didn't test it though, so maybe I'm wrong, I'm just talking SO3. If you tried it and can't tell the difference, I'm probably just flat-out wrong, lol. Sorry about that.

If loading makes a difference, and I don't think you can turn voices AND subtitles off (wouldn't that be funny, mime city), it'd probably be fastest to skip voice loading over subtitle loading. Don't you just skip the cutscenes anyway though?

If you're using Arumat just for AOE Diabolic Edge vs Kokabiel, is there anyone else who can also AOE at those levels who is faster? You didn't say how you got past the phantom ambush, but I assume you already had to use a ton of AOE during that fight.

Signus

2009-05-11 03:09:39 pm

Actually, the Tales series has been pretty excellent lately. ToV is one of the more fun RPGs I've ever played. I haven't beaten SO4 since Breath of Fire(Where is my BoF6, Capcom? :'() capivated me yet again and I'm sitting right after you get off Roak. I feel that SO4 is far too cutscene heavy, the gameplay seems like a step-backwards from the excellent SO3 set-up, and the item creation is very weak.

SO4 is good, it's just a bit bland compared to the other games in the series.

Yako

2009-05-11 09:37:47 pm

Ok, tested turning off the voices. It works like you said. I know we're skipping the cutscenes, I was just wondering if turning subtitles off would speed up the cutscene loading so you can skip it faster. As for the voices during cutscenes, you can't turn them off, you can only mute them, which still causes them to load. Sad

For the Phantom Ambush, I'm going with Sonic Thorn as of now.

Yako

2009-05-12 07:17:50 am

Ok, first 8 segments have been linked to in the 1st post, the rest will follow by the end of Saturday.

Signus

2009-05-12 08:21:25 pm

Awesome. Watching now.

Enhasa

2009-05-13 01:39:00 am

everybody wanna tell you the meaning of music

Quote from Signus:

Where is my BoF6, Capcom? Cry

Really off-topic but I must cry with you. Cry

BOF5 is one of the rare games I can think of where the game was so great and the world so not ready for it, that it managed to kill an entire long-running series. Better to go out with a bang than a whimper like most other series I guess.

Then again, even if Capcom made a BOF6 one day, you know it would be a lot different than 5 to gain back fans. Also lol, I just realized that there's a very high possibility you don't even like 5. I cry with you anyway. Tongue

Signus

2009-05-13 05:15:58 am

I never had the chance to play BoF5. Can't find it anywhere. I've heard pretty good things from people I know that have played it.

Back on topic, I'm surprised the first segment was that long. I probably would have saved ASAP in order to skip the opening sequence every time I restarted, but it's a good segment, so I suppose you have more patience than I do.

Yako

2009-05-13 08:08:22 pm

Yeah, I've thought about that a bit since then, but saving costs around 4-5 seconds, so I'm trying to find spots where I can extend segments to save on overall time. Like you said, the cost is increased aggravation. In the case of the opening segment, it's a huge pain, but the Save Point outside the Calnus and the one inside are not very well positioned as you can't end on them on a dash, so they cost a little more than 4-5 seconds. You just have to find a way to be busy for 4 minutes every time you mess up. Sad

Signus

2009-05-14 10:20:10 am

Nice that the barriers cooperated with you mostly, save for the last one. Sahariel was awesome, nice to know Bacchus can deal out some damage.

Yako

2009-05-14 10:46:15 am

I missed the last one because I made a wrong turn two seconds before, or else I go through smoothly. Sad

They always have the same timing, so they always cooperate. I wish the enemies did, though. Smiley

Yako

2009-05-15 07:34:47 pm

Ok, so all the segments are finally up! Yay!

Goals for the future run:
No random fights at all
No bumping into barriers on the Cardianon Ship.
Secondary goal: Alanaire Citadel in one segment?

So yeah, I'm working on polishing everything up so it doesn't look so shabby, and aiming for sub 2:40:00.

rock1644

2009-05-23 06:58:51 pm

yes, a man carrying a gimp

Quote from Enhasa:

Nah, I was thinking more about Dragondarch anyways and besides, that 4D run was top-notch. Wink

We don't purge old topics here, the old SO3 topic is just kinda buried.

Here is an unrelated rant:

I haven't really looked at any message boards for this game so I don't know the reception, especially among people in the SO3 community (I know some of them might not have 360's either). I have a feeling that a different sort of gamer loves 4 instead of 3 (the same was true with 3 vs 2, although I loved both myself... no 2 tri-Ace games ever feel the same either). SO4 actually seemed to do best of any game in the series with the Japanophile Tales-loving typical JRPG gamer, FWIW. This game I beat Ethereal Queen on Galaxy and that was all I bothered with. drkhades hasn't even finished the game and neither has spineshark. I don't know what anyone else like TAF or crate or marty81 thinks of this.

Like others, the problem I have is with the battle system. It's just shallower, like a Tales game. Not bad, but a huge disappointment. After VP2, I thought they could do no wrong, but IU was definitely the worst game they've ever made (I still thought it was decent though, and the postgame that was actually really good saved it). A huge disappointment because I was expecting the world. And yet somehow SO4, while a bit better than IU, was even more of a disappointment (didn't help that it had the worst postgame of any tri-Ace game). Probably because I thought, well this would be really hard to mess up after SO3.

If I were to talk about all the strange decisions in both 360 games (IU should have let you save anytime you can camp, SO4's lame trophies and achievements, hotswapping characters, end bosses of both games being the least aggressive bosses for some reason, insert 50 more things about both games) it would take forever, but in the end the inexcusable thing is the lack of difficulty. Never died in IU past spiders first time (because I didn't put it Komachi and Touma at first) or in SO4 past Amaros Manifest first time (because I didn't put in Meracle and died of attrition). SO3 and VP2 had my favorite type of boss fights. You basically always get a save point right there for experimentation and easy retrying. Bosses were quick and brutal and challenging (at min levels of course). You might fight a particularly difficult fight (say, Sculpture Lord) several dozen times, but usually dying within a minute. You would refine your strategies and feel like you accomplished something when you won. SO4 is the opposite, more like a typical boring RPG. Satanail took me maybe 2 hours but I won my first attempt. UGH. And the problem is, most dumbass fucktard RPG players prefer this. That rpgamer reviewer actually said it was the most epic fight he's ever had!

I honestly didn't like anything about SO4, but I've really enjoyed what I've played of IU so far. (I bought IU after I bought SO4.) The only thing I honestly don't like about IU is long it takes for the AI to run up to you for their Connect Actions. That part where you lured the monsters to the door was a pain in the ass.

[quote="Enhasa"]
Nah, I was thinking more about Dragondarch anyways and besides, that 4D run was top-notch. ;) We don't purge old topics here, [url=http://speeddemosarchive.com/forum/index.php/topic,2500.0.html]the old SO3 topic[/url] is just kinda buried.

Here is an unrelated rant:

[spoiler]I haven't really looked at any message boards for this game so I don't know the reception, especially among people in the SO3 community (I know some of them might not have 360's either). I have a feeling that a different sort of gamer loves 4 instead of 3 (the same was true with 3 vs 2, although I loved both myself... no 2 tri-Ace games ever feel the same either). SO4 actually seemed to do best of any game in the series with the Japanophile Tales-loving typical JRPG gamer, FWIW. This game I beat Ethereal Queen on Galaxy and that was all I bothered with. drkhades hasn't even finished the game and neither has spineshark. I don't know what anyone else like TAF or crate or marty81 thinks of this.

Like others, the problem I have is with the battle system. It's just shallower, like a Tales game. Not bad, but a huge disappointment. After VP2, I thought they could do no wrong, but IU was definitely the worst game they've ever made (I still thought it was decent though, and the postgame that was actually really good saved it). A huge disappointment because I was expecting the world. And yet somehow SO4, while a bit better than IU, was even more of a disappointment (didn't help that it had the worst postgame of any tri-Ace game). Probably because I thought, well this would be really hard to mess up after SO3.

If I were to talk about all the strange decisions in both 360 games (IU should have let you save anytime you can camp, SO4's lame trophies and achievements, hotswapping characters, end bosses of both games being the least aggressive bosses for some reason, insert 50 more things about both games) it would take forever, but in the end the inexcusable thing is the lack of difficulty. Never died in IU past spiders first time (because I didn't put it Komachi and Touma at first) or in SO4 past Amaros Manifest first time (because I didn't put in Meracle and died of attrition). SO3 and VP2 had my favorite type of boss fights. You basically always get a save point right there for experimentation and easy retrying. Bosses were quick and brutal and challenging (at min levels of course). You might fight a particularly difficult fight (say, Sculpture Lord) several dozen times, but usually dying within a minute. You would refine your strategies and feel like you accomplished something when you won. SO4 is the opposite, more like a typical boring RPG. Satanail took me maybe 2 hours but I won my first attempt. UGH. And the problem is, most dumbass fucktard RPG players prefer this. That rpgamer reviewer actually said it was the most epic fight he's ever had![/spoiler]
[/quote]

I honestly didn't like anything about SO4, but I've really enjoyed what I've played of IU so far. (I bought IU after I bought SO4.) The only thing I honestly don't like about IU is long it takes for the AI to run up to you for their Connect Actions. That part where you lured the monsters to the door was a pain in the ass.

Enhasa

2009-05-26 04:13:46 pm

everybody wanna tell you the meaning of music

Sorry for more off-topic, but nice to see you again, rock. Smiley

I went and looked all this up after I finished IU, and I really really meant to include this in my other post but I forgot. People know Sakuraba and some people even know Gotanda, but check out this list of head game designers (I got this all from the Motoi Sakuraba Wiki, an awesome specialist site). This info is slightly hard to find because people credit "producers" and "directors" although designers and planners are what you should care about, similar to directors in films rather than producers or executive producers.

Tales of Phantasia - Masaki Norimoto
Star Ocean - Masaki Norimoto
Star Ocean 2 - Masaki Norimoto
Valkyrie Profile - Masaki Norimoto
Star Ocean: Blue Sphere - Mayumi Azuma, Susumu Imaishi, Yutaka Miya
Star Ocean 3 - Masaki Norimoto
Radiata Stories - Kentaro Arakawa, Shinya Ukawa, Kentaro Takemoto
Valkyrie Profile 2 - Masaki Norimoto
Infinite Undiscovery - Akira Nakamura
Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume - Miho Akabane
Star Ocean 4 - Shinya Ukawa

No surprise, I like every Norimoto-designed game better than any non-Norimoto game. He has graduated into higher levels of management, credited as a "supervisor" in RS, IU, VPDS, and SO4. I did not know about this until my opinion was already formed (in fact, while playing SO4, I assumed Norimoto), so there is no placebo effect. Only going to care about Norimoto RPGs in the future, it was fun while it lasted.

Sorry for more off-topic, but nice to see you again, rock. :) :) :)

I went and looked all this up after I finished IU, and I really really meant to include this in my other post but I forgot. People know Sakuraba and some people even know Gotanda, but check out this list of head game designers (I got this all from the [url=http://snesmusic.org/motoisakuraba/static/Home.html]Motoi Sakuraba Wiki[/url], an awesome specialist site). This info is slightly hard to find because people credit "producers" and "directors" although designers and planners are what you should care about, similar to directors in films rather than producers or executive producers.

Tales of Phantasia - Masaki Norimoto
Star Ocean - Masaki Norimoto
Star Ocean 2 - Masaki Norimoto
Valkyrie Profile - Masaki Norimoto
Star Ocean: Blue Sphere - Mayumi Azuma, Susumu Imaishi, Yutaka Miya
Star Ocean 3 - Masaki Norimoto
Radiata Stories - Kentaro Arakawa, Shinya Ukawa, Kentaro Takemoto
Valkyrie Profile 2 - Masaki Norimoto
Infinite Undiscovery - Akira Nakamura
Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume - Miho Akabane
Star Ocean 4 - Shinya Ukawa

No surprise, I like every Norimoto-designed game better than any non-Norimoto game. He has graduated into higher levels of management, credited as a "supervisor" in RS, IU, VPDS, and SO4. I did not know about this until my opinion was already formed (in fact, while playing SO4, I assumed Norimoto), so there is no placebo effect. Only going to care about Norimoto RPGs in the future, it was fun while it lasted.

Ransel

2009-05-28 11:20:54 am

In response to the installing disks to the HDD, I have a 120 GB and after I did it, I noticed a noticeable difference in load times, but whenever you enter a new map, come out of your menu or the saving screen, or out of a battle, as soon as you move or move your camera, there is a huge framerate blip. It would really detract from the game I think.... I know I get messed up when it happens to me.

On another note, how are you doing your bonus board? Are you actually shooting for something? Because with 140% Exp up (plus equipables and food) You might be able to get higher levels than you expected, especially during boss fights. I usually have 80% EXP up and 6% HP/MP (just because I use skills a lot). I am really looking forward to seeing this. Good luck

Yako

2009-05-28 08:04:14 pm

You can see a rough version of the run if you check out the first post in this topic, it has links to vids on youtube. As far as the bonus board is concerned, it is mostly ignored, as it takes too much time to fill up. However, if I were to do a single-segment run, which I'm kinda considering doing after I finish my segmented one, I would fill up before Armaros with 140% xp, and go from there.

As for installing the game to the hard drive, I haven't noticed the problem you seem to have. Look at some of the vids to see if you can spot the problem, and if you do, let me know. Thanks!

Yako

2009-06-04 07:36:07 am

Ok, so I've just finished testing my new route, using Sonic Thorn as my main Reimi skill instead of Crimson Squall, and some interesting things were discovered.

Amazingly enough, the boss where the most time was saved was... Kokabiel!? 2 minutes saved. Seems like Sonic Thorn was a great spawn eliminator, and it could actually hit Kokabiel, no matter what Reimi was targeting. A whole 2 minutes is saved there.

The other thing that amazed me is that hardly any time was saved in the Phantom Ambush. It seems like having Sonic Thorn lvl1 or lvl 10 didn't matter, the hits still dealt about the same damage.

As for bosses which do faster, Guardian Beast is about 45 seconds faster, and I've made Armaros about 15 seconds faster (thanks to Enhasa and turning off enemy voices mostly). Tamiel is a bit slower unfortunately, since Sonic Thorn does slightly less damage than Crimson Squall did, and the Apostle of Creation might be a bit slower too, since it takes 9-10 Sonic Thorns to kill him instead of 6-7 Squalls. All in all, I think switching to Thorn is a good decision based on Kokabiel alone. And as an added bonus, I need 90 less SP now, so that means less useless treasures to pick up! I should get started on recording my second try, which will be much higher quality playing wise, this weekend.

Ok, so I've just finished testing my new route, using Sonic Thorn as my main Reimi skill instead of Crimson Squall, and some interesting things were discovered.

Amazingly enough, the boss where the most time was saved was... Kokabiel!? 2 minutes saved. Seems like Sonic Thorn was a great spawn eliminator, and it could actually hit Kokabiel, no matter what Reimi was targeting. A whole 2 minutes is saved there.

The other thing that amazed me is that hardly any time was saved in the Phantom Ambush. It seems like having Sonic Thorn lvl1 or lvl 10 didn't matter, the hits still dealt about the same damage.

As for bosses which do faster, Guardian Beast is about 45 seconds faster, and I've made Armaros about 15 seconds faster (thanks to Enhasa and turning off enemy voices mostly). Tamiel is a bit slower unfortunately, since Sonic Thorn does slightly less damage than Crimson Squall did, and the Apostle of Creation might be a bit slower too, since it takes 9-10 Sonic Thorns to kill him instead of 6-7 Squalls. All in all, I think switching to Thorn is a good decision based on Kokabiel alone. And as an added bonus, I need 90 less SP now, so that means less useless treasures to pick up! I should get started on recording my second try, which will be much higher quality playing wise, this weekend.

Ransel

2009-06-06 05:09:29 pm

I watched the first and last segments you have up on YT, and I'm pretty impressed. I didn't notice the frame skips as much as with my game, they were there, but didn't really detract from anything. If had the proper equipment, I would probably be interested in doing a SS, but I don't have any way of recording it...

If you need anything tested though, I'll be happy to help. Grin

Yako

2009-06-09 07:01:55 am

Um, thanks for the offer, but as of now I don't really need anything tested. Unless you find a quicker way of going from the start to the beginning of the Cardianon Ship. I tested not getting the Hunting Bow and Flame Sword, but it ends up taking more time. Sad

I'd really like a better strat for the Dragon Newt, because fighting him over and over until he drops a Fire Gem, when you die most of the time, was a real pain last time.

Yako

Edit history:

Yako: 2009-06-25 11:42:24 am

2009-06-11 09:37:23 am

Ok, just started my second run. I'll list the segments, times, and links to eventual videos as segments are completed. I'll have vids up whenever I get about an hour of gameplay done. Also, I'm gonna be a lot more selective about the segments that I keep, so this second run will feature much better gameplay as well as better route planning. I'm hoping I can make the run sub 2:40:00, but I'm not sure I can. Sub 2:45:00 is a certainty though.

Segment - Time (improvement over first run)

1 Aeos, Before Armaros 7:19 (0:21)
I'm much better at dashing than when I began my first run. My Adephaga fight is tons better. I figured out that you don't have to talk to Reimi in the cockpit before the crash, you can just use the dashboard to skip straight to the cutscene. I no longer pick up the Fresh Sage x2.

2 Aeos, outside Exploration Base, after Armaros 11:53 (0:48)
I skip the harvest point, it's too hard to have a great Armaros fight and manipulate this to give a Bizarre Fruit, and since I only need to harvest 1 now, it's an easy decision to skip it. That last is usually a bee that cuts off the path I want to take, and when an Adephaga appears instead, it always costs me about a second because I don't expect it.

3 Lemuris, outside Alanaire Citadel 18:22 (1:56)
So I combined what was previously segments 3 and 4. The hard part is the exploration base, lots of tricky navigating because of the awesome camera work. I no longer collect my reward for the missing patient, and I open no boxes on Lemuris. Seems deciding not to allow sloppy playing in this run is paying dividends. Still working on this, my ic work had a small mistake in it. There's also a bit of luck involved in the ICing. If you're lucky, Hunting Bow and Flame Sword get learned at the beginning of the cycle, saving a bit of time. I just rewatched my segment, and my IC mistake was really small, but my ICing was really lucky as far as learning Flame Sword and Hunting Bow, so I'm gonna keep my segment after all, because to beat it, I would need to play perfect AND get great IC luck.

Ok, just started my second run. I'll list the segments, times, and links to eventual videos as segments are completed. I'll have vids up whenever I get about an hour of gameplay done. Also, I'm gonna be a lot more selective about the segments that I keep, so this second run will feature much better gameplay as well as better route planning. I'm hoping I can make the run sub 2:40:00, but I'm not sure I can. Sub 2:45:00 is a certainty though.

Segment - Time (improvement over first run)

[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4MnWl4RaFA]1 Aeos, Before Armaros 7:19 (0:21)[/url]
I'm much better at dashing than when I began my first run. My Adephaga fight is tons better. I figured out that you don't have to talk to Reimi in the cockpit before the crash, you can just use the dashboard to skip straight to the cutscene. I no longer pick up the Fresh Sage x2.

[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di0aMSJ1rV0]2 Aeos, outside Exploration Base, after Armaros 11:53 (0:48)[/url]
I skip the harvest point, it's too hard to have a great Armaros fight and manipulate this to give a Bizarre Fruit, and since I only need to harvest 1 now, it's an easy decision to skip it. That last is usually a bee that cuts off the path I want to take, and when an Adephaga appears instead, it always costs me about a second because I don't expect it.

[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ls35sP8Wc0]3 Lemuris, outside Alanaire Citadel 18:22 (1:56)[/url]
So I combined what was previously segments 3 and 4. The hard part is the exploration base, lots of tricky navigating because of the awesome camera work. I no longer collect my reward for the missing patient, and I open no boxes on Lemuris. Seems deciding not to allow sloppy playing in this run is paying dividends. Still working on this, my ic work had a small mistake in it. There's also a bit of luck involved in the ICing. If you're lucky, Hunting Bow and Flame Sword get learned at the beginning of the cycle, saving a bit of time. I just rewatched my segment, and my IC mistake was really small, but my ICing was really lucky as far as learning Flame Sword and Hunting Bow, so I'm gonna keep my segment after all, because to beat it, I would need to play perfect AND get great IC luck.