The Final Fantasy Marathon Thread [locked]

2012-12-13 06:17:06 pm

7 hours for ff13 should be fine. ~5 minutes for either cutscene and barring MAJOR trolling (for like 40 minutes) I will be in under 7 comfortably. I have a different route that I will use that should hopefully cut all the trolling completely at the expense of ~5 minutes.

Terribleno

2012-12-13 09:21:43 pm

Quote:

could I please get a final(-ish) time estimate for each game that anyone is running.

FF1: I mentioned this on stream and in the last email I sent, but I'll say it again anyway. 2:40 is the current estimate.

Quote:

Dissidia/Duodecim: 60 minutes max.

I concur.

Poxnor

2012-12-13 10:40:37 pm

Moo! Flap! Hug!

Oh, I forgot to mention another thing: if there is anytime that someone can't play (e.g., they'll be at church or have other religious considerations, etc.), please let me know, and I'll be sure to schedule around that.

PS: "hopefully cut all the trolling" == LOL Wink

Welcome to marathon luck, population: us Smiley

FFgamer86

2012-12-13 11:00:50 pm

SDA Speedruns: 1

Quote from Poxnor:

Oh, I forgot to mention another thing: if there is anytime that someone can't play (e.g., they'll be at church or have other religious considerations, etc.), please let me know, and I'll be sure to schedule around that.

PS: "hopefully cut all the trolling" == LOL Wink

Welcome to marathon luck, population: us Smiley

He actually means Population Poxnor, but we can pretend its us.

Nitrodon

2012-12-14 11:34:10 am

I timed Anima today, and the donation incentive should take about 17 minutes. Less if Geosgaeno is kind enough to drop a No Encounters weapon. It seems my guess of increasing the estimate by 15 minutes was fairly accurate.

Breakdown of time cost:
Besaid: 0:50
Kilika: 1:00
Macalania: 2:40
Zanarkand: 2:20
Baaj Temple: 6:25
Seymour Omnis (showing off Anima): 1:20
Possessed Anima: not sure
Filling OD: not sure

AlecK47

2012-12-14 10:03:18 pm

I haven't mastered all of XII yet, but 8 hours sounds about right. After beating Bergan (about 4:20 or so into Youkai's run) the time should be about 4:45-5:00 in my experience, mostly because of additional grinding for safety, but also because Vaan has been feeling suicidal during my Dustia grinding (for those who don't know, Dustia is a rare monster that appears in a certain area when you are HP critical, which is used to gain a bunch of levels quickly - the catch is that item drops can heal you [and yes those drops are important to get], forcing you to damage yourself, and if you combo yourself to death...). Losing more time to that grinding is possible but unlikely. Fortunately, there is a workaround for nearly every other opportunity for trolling in the early game that will cost less time than a death.

The late game offers more opportunity for both trolling and mistakes, which is why I support Nitrodon's estimate even though I've really only got a very small portion of it down as of now. At least the game is nice about putting save crystals right before most bosses.

I'd be farther along, but personal responsibilities took some time away. At least I'm finally getting my degree (there were a surprising amount of difficulties with my senior thesis, which I won't detail here), so that's good. I will, however, be bringing my PS2 and game with me when I visit my mother over Christmas and New Years. The internet connection there is really slow, so don't count on updates until Jan. 4 or so, but I will keep practicing.

I haven't mastered all of XII yet, but 8 hours sounds about right.  After beating Bergan (about 4:20 or so into Youkai's run) the time should be about 4:45-5:00 in my experience, mostly because of additional grinding for safety, but also because Vaan has been feeling suicidal during my Dustia grinding (for those who don't know, Dustia is a rare monster that appears in a certain area when you are HP critical, which is used to gain a bunch of levels quickly - the catch is that item drops can heal you [and yes those drops are important to get], forcing you to damage yourself, and if you combo yourself to death...).  Losing more time to that grinding is possible but unlikely.  Fortunately, there is a workaround for nearly every other opportunity for trolling in the early game that will cost less time than a death.

The late game offers more opportunity for both trolling and mistakes, which is why I support Nitrodon's estimate even though I've really only got a very small portion of it down as of now.  At least the game is nice about putting save crystals right before most bosses.

I'd be farther along, but personal responsibilities took some time away.  At least I'm finally getting my degree (there were a surprising amount of difficulties with my senior thesis, which I won't detail here), so that's good.  I will, however, be bringing my PS2 and game with me when I visit my mother over Christmas and New Years.  The internet connection there is really slow, so don't count on updates until Jan. 4 or so, but I will keep practicing.

puwexil

2012-12-14 11:44:21 pm

Professional Second Banana

Quote from Poxnor:

Oh, I forgot to mention another thing: if there is anytime that someone can't play (e.g., they'll be at church or have other religious considerations, etc.), please let me know, and I'll be sure to schedule around that.

If there's a Roman Catholic church near your house I'd like to go to Sunday morning Mass if possible. Other than that my only scheduling request is to have a bit of breathing room between my runs (mostly between FF7 and FF9 - caffeine can only substitute for sleep and cooldown/warmup time so far Tongue

).

FFgamer86

2012-12-15 02:53:42 am

SDA Speedruns: 1

I think poxnor mentioned something about scheduling when you will be doing your bathroom breaks you had so much air time.

Poxnor

Edit history:

Poxnor: 2012-12-15 03:05:59 am

2012-12-15 02:55:31 am

Moo! Flap! Hug!

Big update to the first post. The deadline for adding new games is upon us, and I will be writing up a schedule Saturday. Once that is done, people can start booking travel plans, etc.

Also, because Kari Fry is an amazing person, she has offered to do up some artwork for Crystals For Life. We'll talk more about what sort of art (banner? t-shirt?) once AGDQ has passed.

My Twitch account (Poxnor) also made partner status this week, so that will probably make it a good account with which to stream the marathon (as opposed to the CrystalsForLife channel I created).

puwexil: What is the letter-limit for Bartz's name?

Driscollad: I added your FFIV and FFMQ carts to the equipment list. I don't think another SNES is necessary.

FFgamer: I added your incentives, plus a few of my own. Take a look at the first post. The only one I didn't add was the Rinoa-skip. I'm disappointed not to include that one, because personally I really like the Rinoa-skip as a donation incentive. But, I think the call that was made for SGDQ (namely, that it's too confusing or just-plain convoluted an incentive to have naming vs. the skip) was the right call -- the two names will probably bring in more with the clearer incentive than if the skip were added.

puwexil: I was planning on putting FF5, FF7, and FF9 in one contiguous 26.5-hour block. But fine, if you want breaks to eat, sleep, and hit the washroom between your games, I'll upend the entire marathon schedule for you Wink

And yes, we can certainly make sure that you, or anyone else who wants to attend any service on Sunday, can make it out there -- I sent you a PM about what's available locally so we can be sure to find something that's right for you. If you need me to look into anything locally or contact anyone before you arrive, just let me know.

Essentia: I haven't put Interludes on the game list. But, because that one's so short, and thus wouldn't really change the schedule, I could make an exception for that one short game if you decide to add it later (but please don't leave it too long).

Big update to the first post.  The deadline for adding new games is upon us, and I will be writing up a schedule Saturday.  Once that is done, people can start booking travel plans, etc.

Also, because Kari Fry is an amazing person, she has offered to do up some artwork for Crystals For Life.  We'll talk more about what sort of art (banner?  t-shirt?) once AGDQ has passed.

My Twitch account (Poxnor) also made partner status this week, so that will probably make it a good account with which to stream the marathon (as opposed to the CrystalsForLife channel I created).

puwexil: What is the letter-limit for Bartz's name?

Driscollad: I added your FFIV and FFMQ carts to the equipment list.  I don't think another SNES is necessary.

FFgamer: I added your incentives, plus a few of my own.  Take a look at the first post.  The only one I didn't add was the Rinoa-skip.  I'm disappointed not to include that one, because personally I really like the Rinoa-skip as a donation incentive.  But, I think the call that was made for SGDQ (namely, that it's too confusing or just-plain convoluted an incentive to have naming vs. the skip) was the right call -- the two names will probably bring in more with the clearer incentive than if the skip were added.

puwexil: I was planning on putting FF5, FF7, and FF9 in one contiguous 26.5-hour block.  But [i]fine[/i], if you want breaks to eat, sleep, and hit the washroom between your games, I'll upend [i]the entire marathon schedule[/i] for you ;)  And yes, we can certainly make sure that you, or anyone else who wants to attend any service on Sunday, can make it out there -- I sent you a PM about what's available locally so we can be sure to find something that's right for you.  If you need me to look into anything locally or contact anyone before you arrive, just let me know.

Essentia: I haven't put Interludes on the game list.  But, because that one's so short, and thus wouldn't really change the schedule, I could make an exception for that one short game if you decide to add it later (but please don't leave it too long).

FFgamer86

Edit history:

FFgamer86: 2012-12-15 03:54:06 am

2012-12-15 03:51:00 am

SDA Speedruns: 1

Poxnor. We could possibly do a Rinoa Skip incentive just to show it and then reset at the save on the train and continue with the game. Up to you though.

EDIT:

Also, we might also consider combining the Bahamut/Ultima Weapon incentives into 1 and calling it Underwater Research Facility Incentive. Comes with 2 bosses and Naming a GF. Again your discretion. Im for either way.

Poxnor

Edit history:

Poxnor: 2012-12-15 04:08:54 am

2012-12-15 04:05:21 am

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I like the underwater research facility as a single incentive -- simpler, and it's quite an entertaining extra level (and thus could have a good threshold). I'll make that change tomorrow.

I'm torn on resetting to demo the Rinoa skip. Because an ideal marathon run has no resets/deaths, I'm worried that resetting halfway through Disc 1 to demo a glitch seems like "admitting defeat," and might muffle some of the excitement about an otherwise-great FF8 run. I'd like feedback from other members of the community on this front.

Edit: err, just realized that a single incentive for the underwater facility would actually include naming two GFs (bleh). That might be messy. I might have to give that idea more thought...

Essentia

2012-12-15 10:59:09 am

Everything's better with Magitek

Poxnor, Denton and I would like to attend church on Sunday. If you PM me your address, I could look up the closest meetinghouse and find out what time they hold church service. Also, go ahead and add FF4 Interlude to the list, with an estimate of 45 minutes. Oh, and we need to add opera singing to the list of FF6 donation incentives. Smiley

FFgamer86

2012-12-15 01:00:41 pm

SDA Speedruns: 1

We could combine it to be like all donations for naming Bahamut/Eden. AKA One person donates 20 for naming Bahamut whatever, the 2nd person donates 15 for naming Eden whatever, thats 35 towards the research facility

Poxnor

2012-12-15 01:19:58 pm

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Essentia: Interlude added and PM sent. I also added the opera to the donation incentives, and I think I got all the parts (Maria, Draco, Ralse, Impresario, Locke, Setzer).

FFgamer86: That's just sounding like something that'll confuse the audience now. I think one donation incentive for Bahamut, then a separate one for Ultima Weapon (with the understanding that the Bahamut one has to be met first) will make more intuitive sense for anyone who's played the game. I expect they'll both be met anyways, given that it's pretty much the most entertaining donation incentive(s) in FF8, and people who like the game will want to see it.

FFgamer86

2012-12-15 01:25:27 pm

SDA Speedruns: 1

Thats fine with me. I will spend more time working on Omega Weapon. I have a couple more nifty ideas up my sleeve.

Poxnor

Edit history:

Poxnor: 2012-12-15 03:28:56 pm

2012-12-15 02:10:55 pm

Moo! Flap! Hug!

I have posted a preliminary schedule, with the marathon running from Friday evening to Tuesday evening (with Wednesday and Thursday being for fun stuff). If you have any objections to the dates of the marathon, please voice them NOW. As of Sunday evening, I'm going to declare the dates of the marathon to be final, so that people can start booking plane tickets and the like. (It's fairly easy for me to move when within the marathon you're playing; once the marathon dates are set, they're in stone).

I've tried to keep a good variety of games happening. But, if I've done something brain-dead like put puwexil's three games all back-to-back, or have one person on commentary for thirty straight hours, please let me know. Chances are anything like that is just an oversight (I was focusing more on getting a sane sequence of games going than on when individuals were playing), and not an actual attempt to be a jerk.

I'm not perfectly happy with the ending time (it would have been nice to end a few hours later in the day), but then the starting time wouldn't have made a whole heck of a lot of sense. Marathon luck might give us our later ending time anyway Tongue

Edit: I just realized that I have my final curling draw of the season on that Sunday night, so Stef and I have to duck out for a few hours. I trust that no one will burn the house down in our absence Tongue

I have posted a preliminary schedule, with the marathon running from Friday evening to Tuesday evening (with Wednesday and Thursday being for fun stuff).  If you have any objections to the dates of the marathon, please voice them [i][b]NOW[/b][/i].  As of Sunday evening, I'm going to declare the dates of the marathon to be final, so that people can start booking plane tickets and the like.  (It's fairly easy for me to move when [i]within[/i] the marathon you're playing; once the marathon dates are set, they're in stone).

I've tried to keep a good variety of games happening.  But, if I've done something brain-dead like put puwexil's three games all back-to-back, or have one person on commentary for thirty straight hours, please let me know.  Chances are anything like that is just an oversight (I was focusing more on getting a sane sequence of games going than on when individuals were playing), and not an actual attempt to be a jerk.

I'm not perfectly happy with the ending time (it would have been nice to end a few hours later in the day), but then the starting time wouldn't have made a whole heck of a lot of sense.  Marathon luck might give us our later ending time anyway :P

[i]Edit[/i]: I just realized that I have my final curling draw of the season on that Sunday night, so Stef and I have to duck out for a few hours.  I trust that no one will burn the house down in our absence :P

FFgamer86

2012-12-15 03:37:59 pm

SDA Speedruns: 1

If Im not scheduled to play at that time, May I come watch?

Poxnor

2012-12-15 03:46:08 pm

Moo! Flap! Hug!

It's Sunday evening, so you aren't currently scheduled to be playing at that point. If you wanted to come, I'd be okay with that. Fair warning: the league we play in is called GUSL, and drinking beer is emphasized over any manner of skill on the ice Smiley

The only issue might be that the final game of the season always has a banquet dinner, so I'd have to look into (a) if we can bring guests to that; and, (b) if so, how much the fee would be.

MetaSigma

2012-12-16 08:59:13 pm

Evermore Extrodinare ᕦ(° Д°)ᕤ

I'll hold down the house while you two are gone Poxnor. Considering I'm the only other person who's been there before I'll claim seniority :P. But the times should be fine. I'll fill out my time-off request now that I've got legit dates. Shouldn't be a problem on my end and I'll confirm everything with Leno, and Rini Smiley

obdajr

2012-12-16 09:08:57 pm

I will be bringing my own FFIV cart and controller; the cart has been dubbed by Rane to have incredible luck, and even though i am not the superstitious type, I'd rather play using my own stuff. Practice on FFIV has been going alright i guess... (*cough*jk WR RTA of 3:36:28)

Great work on practice and planning everyone! i feel like I'm not contributing much to these planning stages... please let me know if there is ANYTHING i can do to make things more smoothly!

I can probably commentate on FF 5,6,7,8,9 and legends 3 as ive watched those runs a tonne and even took a stab at a few. I was a little worried at first about playing the opening act of the marathon, but it should be fun! also dispite my best efforts, I may have to leave on Monday... I'll keep information on this updated. Tax Season is a busy season after all.

MetaSigma

Edit history:

MetaSigma: 2012-12-16 09:17:33 pm

2012-12-16 09:13:41 pm

Evermore Extrodinare ᕦ(° Д°)ᕤ

Obda you'll be awesome as the opening act. If Poxnor didn't think you could handle it I doubt he'd put you in that spot Wink

Also I'm gonna bring up SoE incase I decide to do some practice attempts offscreen man. Would love your input incase I haven't finished the full route or if something can be improved. I know you loved that game growing up so it'd be great to kinda collaborate with you on that :D!

Poxnor

2012-12-17 01:46:27 am

Moo! Flap! Hug!

I have updated the schedule with the correct dates Tongue

THE DATES OF THE MARATHON ARE NOW FINALIZED. The marathon will take place from Friday, 15 March 2013 - Tuesday, 19 March 2013. Bonus streaming and hanging around Edmonton will take place Wednesday, 20 March 2013 - Thursday, 21 March 2013. Feel free to arrive as early as Thursday, 14 March 2013. Feel free to stay as late as Friday, 22 March 2013.

Obda: of course I have faith in you Smiley

As for commentary, perhaps pick a few of those that you're most interested in, and I'll guarantee you a spot for those; as for the others, well, I'm sure there will be room for commentators to slide in, since there haven't been a lot of sign-ups for some of the games.

Meta: the notion of you not being under Stef's stern gaze is precisely what worries me Wink

MetaSigma

2012-12-17 06:39:23 pm

Evermore Extrodinare ᕦ(° Д°)ᕤ

Quote from Poxnor:

Meta: the notion of you not being under Stef's stern gaze is precisely what worries me Wink

You wound me dear Poxnor Tongue

I PROMISE that only HALF your gaming library will still be there when you return!!! I'm sure had it been ANYONE else it'd be fully removed!

FFgamer86

2012-12-17 06:45:20 pm

SDA Speedruns: 1

Yeah. The half that sucks!!! Take the other half Meta.

Nitrodon

2012-12-19 05:18:35 pm

I just realized I forgot to offer a bidding war for the snowmobile scene in FFX. The options are Rikku, Lulu, Kimahri, and Auron, and this should not affect the time significantly enough to change the estimate.