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berserker status
Argh.  Reached Dark Coast but i saved when i probably shouldn't have.  the last couple boss battles in limestone quarry could've gone better and i wasted about ten seconds just looking at time on the menu.  i'm definitely just trying to wrap this run up since i know pretty much where the most time can be saved throughout the game.

*Dark Coast 1:41:50; i was about a minute ahead of babo07052 at the Auction Block when i saved prematurely. 

I'm not going to discuss much more details until i get to the Cathedral unless someone has a specific question about the Water Elemental, Snow Dragon or the Ogre Lord.  The Water Elemental is the more dodgy of the bosses that's for sure.  The Faerie Wing was quite useful but i'll find out later whether this saves any more time than avoiding the ichthious.  I'm not trying to be a douche it's just that i wasn't planning on making it to the Temple of Kiltia on this note.  Besides like i said i just want to finish this run so that i can start planning a real run in the future.
berserker status
Finally reached Plateia Lumitar in a decent time.  1:50:09; the Temple of Kiltia segment went smoothly.  The Great Cathedral seems kind of tough but surprisingly i took down the first three bosses quickly.  I'll be done with this run in a few days most likely...sub 2:25 will be final time.  I doubt i'll get sub 2:20 with the errors i've made.
Edit history:
Riskbreaker Y: 2009-05-06 04:12:36 am
berserker status
There were times during this segment when I was just about ready to quit.  The first segment of the Great Cathedral can be brutal and for reasons you'd least expect.  Last time I didn't necessarily give any details but this time i feel like some things need to be said.

*The Atrium  2:15:24; *correction*, i'm about 30 secs. ahead of babo07052 and frankly it can be better.  I'm not talking about overall but this particular segment went craptacularly.

Great Cathedral

*The first boss you face is the Marid water elemental.  It dodges a lot of your attacks but shouldn't be too annoying (at least until you face it for nth time that is).  If you manage to chain 15+ chains three times then it should go down depending on how many hits land.  You should take him down after he does one Aqua spell but he manages to get in a couple on me

*After Marid you have to face Ifrit who isn't too bad either.  He's across the room so you may need to hop a few times to get the initial hit first.  Most of the time he'll beat you to it so prepare for Flameball, Flame Sphere lv. 3, and another called flame storm i think??  Flameball is the easiest to absorb followed by flame storm.  He should go down in a couple 15+ chains.

*Next you face the Djinn who can be tough at times.  Although the faq lists his head as his weakness i had an easier time chaining his chest (plus his head was hard to reach at times and you leave yourself open trying to get a head shot).  He usually does lightning bolt which shouldn't be hard to absorb by now but sometimes he does lightning storm lv. 3 which can be tricky to absorb.  he does the storm on me but i absorb the attack.  He goes down like the other bosses:  three chains usually.

*The Flame Dragon is a joke.  Take him down quickly before he does anything.

*ahhh, the room with the lever.  This room is a f*ckin b*tch.  Why you ask?  Simple.  The long jump.  It can be so freakin inconsistent it's not even funny.  I died in this room so many times simply because ashley refused to grab onto the ledge.  In this segment i fell a couple times.

*The next area that you have to traverse to get to the Lich and the Lich Lord is equally appalling.  I don't know if it was just me but there are certain angles from which it is difficult to jump and reach the other platforms.  I fell down a couple times in here too (just in case you're wondering how i fell so many times and survived without curing myself, the lightning storm lv. 3 that i absorbed gave me ample HP to survive the falls).

*The Lich down the stairs is not hard but he can kill you if you're not careful.  I find it is best to simply run halfway down the stair and kill him from above.  If you jump down, chances are he'll do some spell and my absorb magic skills aren't 90% there so i relied on the above strategy to get through. 

*In the opposite room, the Lich Lord and the skeletons aren't a problem at all.  Just immediately jump to get the first strike on the Lich Lord and kill him in one chain unless you want to suffer a spell or a physical hit (i'm not sure but i think you can't impact guard his physical hit since magic users for some reason are immune to this tactic) and take care of the skeletons.

*After going to Sin and Punishment I go ahead and defeat the Arch Dragon to return and save with a time of 2:07:30 i believe (i think i may have fallen once because of the cloudstones but i don't recall).  I also waste about ten seconds just looking for the damn save point too.

*The Dao earth elemental comes next.  If this battle is done right, he shouldn't cast anything.  Go into the room bare handed (that's right) and follow the Dao up the boxes quickly (sometimes he'll cast Vulcan Lance or even Gravity before) and dispose of him before he leaps back onto the ground.  Simple yet effective strategy since he runs away constantly.

*The cloudstones leading up to the Dao can be misleading and you can die here just falling.  The trick is to get on the first cloudstone, wait until it goes 'up' (toward the next cloudstone) and jump at the peak.  You will almost always reach the third cloudstone on your first try.  On the way back, you have to jump on the 'third' cloudstone just as it comes toward you (the peak) and then jump.  It's so fast you'll reach it once it goes it back and returns.  Time the next jump as the cloudstone is moving back so that you can use the momentum to make it across the abyss in one jump. 

*In the room before the Nightmare dark elemental, there is a puzzle.  This is where i use my second and final faerie wing.  Just climb onto to square that is slightly elevated above the ground and is almost adjacent to the platform you need to climb onto.  Use the faerie wing and jump off this square.  You may need a couple jumps but you'll reach the ledge in one jump.  Honestly i'm not really sure if this saves a ton of time but it may save at least ten to fifteen seconds.  In the end, i have to say that the faerie wings were pretty damned useful and may have saved me a minute.  But like i said, that may not be the case since killing the ichthious in the snowfly forest takes time.  But then it's spiral shell attack takes time and i don't even think i had absorb magic then so......obviously i gotta think about this further.

*Since you have the quickness status still at this point, more often then not you'll get the first strike on Nightmare.  If you can take him out in one chain, kudos to you.  But more likely you'll miss and have to absorb a magic attack.  He does meteor lv. 3 and dark chant.  luckily he does dark chant which is A LOT easier to absorb. 

At this point all i have to figure out is how to kill Guildenstern's second form.  The first form is pathetically easy.  The faq says i have to have at least 300 HP, 100 something intelligence, yadayadayada but i'm going to try and kill him without going into my menu screen first.  So seeing that i'll probably get sub 2:25 or a few seconds over, i want to say a few things regarding this run.  It's completely DOABLE.  the difficulty curve is not that high for someone who has played Vagrant Story multiple times and has some chain/absorb magic/impact guard skills.  I think this game can most probably be completed sub 2:10 since i did make some blatant mistakes that cost a lot of time and killed a lot of monsters.  A sub 2:00 time though?  That would be nigh impossible.  I know i made some mistakes and could optimize a few things but it's not like i made errors which lead to five minutes being lost.  Every monster killed and missed ledge counts in a tight run but to achieve sub 2:00 would be quite glorious to say the least.  I'm definitely not the best Vagrant Story player out there but i know there are good players out there who can come close to that 2:00 mark.  Unless someone can discover a glitch that allows you to go through bolted doors (in Town Center East there's a bolted door which leads directly to the Great Cathedral which would allow for someone to complete the game in less than 1:30 probably), a time of 2:05 is probably the lower limit without any tool assistance and the like.  After i kill Guildenstern and see my final stats, i'll most likely take a break from this game and go back to playing my Samurai Shodown Anthology (part 2's the best!) and eventually i'll get back around to making a solid run for this game.  Just gotta figure out some strategies and learn the necessary tech stuff to submit....and save cash of course for that expensive DVD recorder.  Some people in another thread said that DVD recorders can be bought for under a hundred bucks but when i looked around the avg. prices were between 150-200 bucks????  Sorry for the long post guys  Grin
Edit history:
ZenicReverie: 2009-05-06 07:35:25 am
Waiting hurts my soul...
Well, the bounty is for 150 if it's up before August, so if you don't make the sub-2 hour mark, you're only missing out on 50.  That should offset the expense of a DVD recorder if you can front the initial cost for that time.

Edit:
I actually might be mistaken, as Zugzwang says this in his post "I am going to require that the Vagrant Story new game start be under 2 hours"
Of course, he lists this after it, "$ 50 additional for a sub 2 hour first play through run" so I'm not sure what is meant by first play through run.  Have you checked with him about the details?
berserker status
ahahahahah, guildenstern II is easy.  i got a nice strategy down for him.  for some odd reason i didn't get the screen with the completion time, number of kills, or chest percentage.  i got 56% map completion and finished with a berserker ranking.  my time to kill guildenstern could not have been more than five minutes because i raped the bastard.  he only got off a stun cloud attack in his first form and only managed to get off degenerate in his second and last form.  i didn't use any elixir of sages or queens and i didn't even cast enlighten or go into the menu screen.  I'm pretty sure i got sub 2:23 (and quite possibly 2:20) so this is definitely good news for me.  The hardest parts of the entire run have to be Town Center East, Undercity East, and the first segment in the Great Cathedral.  Nothing too difficult though considering i completed this shoddy run in less than two weeks.

*more good news:  looks like a fortunate change of events has allowed me to afford a DVD recorder.  I'll probably purchase one tomorrow since i'll be getting something for my mum.

So....let me see a show of hands of people who want to see this run completed??  Hell with that last boss strategy maybe a sub 2:00 time is possible, who knows?  One thing for sure though:  single segment is out of the question because i manipulate a lot of boss actions, especially guildenstern. 

OK, i just went and checked the gazette section that keeps track of your stats.
For chest percentage i got 11% and i killed a total of 109 (!) enemies, excluding guildenstern.  Ummm, yea there's room for A LOT of improvement here not to mention other platforming errors.  i can save almost five minutes avoiding enemies alone.  i will definitely try and complete a sub 2:00 speedrun for sure now!  hopefully, the official run will be completed in less than two months because if i'm gonna do this, i want to make sure the next person who attempts to improve my time will have a nervous breakdown.  Tongue
berserker status
Quote from ZenicReverie:
Well, the bounty is for 150 if it's up before August, so if you don't make the sub-2 hour mark, you're only missing out on 50.  That should offset the expense of a DVD recorder if you can front the initial cost for that time.

Edit:
I actually might be mistaken, as Zugzwang says this in his post "I am going to require that the Vagrant Story new game start be under 2 hours"
Of course, he lists this after it, "$ 50 additional for a sub 2 hour first play through run" so I'm not sure what is meant by first play through run.  Have you checked with him about the details?


I need to get a hold of him sometime but honestly i just want this run to be completed so that i can actually enjoy it myself!  A little cash wouldn't hurt either XD
Great job finishing the first run! So now you need to cut down about 25 minutes? I know you killed a lot of enemies at the beginning and made some platforming errors, but is a sixth of your run really wasted time?

When you do start recording onto dvd you definitely need to upload your segments to youtube first so we can go over them.
berserker status
Honestly i'm not too concerned over the quality of my future run.  Saving 25 minutes from my current run is going to be a bitch.  Saving fifteen minutes from the run shouldn't be too much of a problem but trying to get it under 2:00 is going to take a monumental effort.  I'm not too sure i understand when you ask if a sixth of the time was wasted (?) but i can assure you i followed the guide on GAMEFAQS fairly strictly and from my own experience playing the game i can tell you 95% of the route is already pretty optimized.  furthermore i accessed the menu screen fewer times than babo07052 so like i said before:  most of the time wasted was from killing excessive monsters and some glaring platforming errors.  You'd be surprised how much time you waste killing enemies alone.  And that's assuming you off them in one consistent chain instead of a bunch of broken combos without getting interrupted by an enemy action (with impact guard/absorb magic).

Unfortunately, i went to bestbuy today but i couldn't find sh*t there.  I will most likely have to order my DVD recorder online so that should take at least a week which isn't bad since i did want to take a short break.  If you guys know of any specific recorders to recommend for me please do so  :).  About posting them on youtube, i'm not really tech savvy so that means i'd have to put some effort in learning how to post vids online.  Also, i'm pretty reluctant to post stuff ahead of time because i want this run to be REALLY appreciated.  But you know, i'm open to that idea because some of my fav super metroid speedrunners and tasers post updates constantly on youtube so i wouldn't mind carrying on that tradition.  Some oversight would definitely be appreciated though.  Glad to see there are people interested in a run for this spectacularly underrated game (among gamers).  At least Famitsu knows what's up.  If you guys have ANY speedrunning suggestions, don't hesitate to post since i'm open to any time saving techniques.  Although like i said before, most of the strategies and routes are already optimized so it's a matter of execution.  That'd be cool if someone managed to glitch through a bolted door.  Doesn't seem likely though.  Just to let you guys know i will be attempting a low% run of this game meaning i will not be getting the buckler at the beginning this time.  I don't think it really helps your defense much anyways so impact guarding/absorbing magic shouldn't restore too much health back.
I'm the man.......nothing else needs to be said
Quote:
Great job finishing the first run! So now you need to cut down about 25 minutes? I know you killed a lot of enemies at the beginning and made some platforming errors, but is a sixth of your run really wasted time?


Quote:
I'm not too sure i understand when you ask if a sixth of the time was wasted


I think what he was trying to say was that your run was a total of roughly 145min and you need to cut down by about 25 minutes so roughly a sixth of your total time.

Not to say that a sixth was wasted, but you just need to try to cut down your run by a sixth of its current time, is what i believe was being said. (correct me if I'm wrong)

I know that seems fairly daunting, but due to the fact that its mainly down to execution it will be that much more glorious when you do pull it off (there is no IF in that sentence)
berserker status
Quote from Ryuken:
Quote:
Great job finishing the first run! So now you need to cut down about 25 minutes? I know you killed a lot of enemies at the beginning and made some platforming errors, but is a sixth of your run really wasted time?


Quote:
I'm not too sure i understand when you ask if a sixth of the time was wasted


I think what he was trying to say was that your run was a total of roughly 145min and you need to cut down by about 25 minutes so roughly a sixth of your total time.

Not to say that a sixth was wasted, but you just need to try to cut down your run by a sixth of its current time, is what i believe was being said. (correct me if I'm wrong)

I know that seems fairly daunting, but due to the fact that its mainly down to execution it will be that much more glorious when you do pull it off (there is no IF in that sentence)


Ok, i knew it was just simple like that.  I tend to overanalyze things  Tongue

Don't worry, i wasn't planning on submitting a 2:10 plus run that's for sure.  I will try my hardest to get sub 2:00 but like i said, if it's possible it will be cutting it close (1:57 to 1:59 even) so my goal for now is submitting a sub-2:05 run.  Luckily for me i have babo's guide as a reference as well as my previous run so i will definitely be able to predict whether a sub 2:00 time is possible once half the run is completed.

The odd part about the run i completed is that it is roughly the same time as babo's but i kill 29 more enemies than him.  This means that every other part of my run went MUCH MORE smoothly than his.  Of course that's just a guess.  Assuming i spent about 20 secs. on each enemy killed, that's a total of 580 seconds or about nine and a half minutes.  Oh Yea.
Yeah that's what I meant about a sixth. I should've been clearer. Tongue

It's definitely on you whether you want to submit parts to youtube as you complete them. Don't worry about the finished product being unappreciated; you'll have your fans.

As for dvd recording and encoding, you should check out the stuff in the Tech forum (http://speeddemosarchive.com/forum/index.php/board,5.0.html).

Just bsing numbers because I have some time, but assuming each extra enemy took 20 seconds to kill, you could save about 20x29= 10 minutes right there. That would be substantial.
berserker status
Yesss.  Just got my DVD recorder today via UPS.  I'm going to hook it up, test for quality/lag, and hopefully starting playing through the first segment.  My first segment will be up to the entrance of the sanctum because there are a couple enemy encounters i'm hoping to avoid in the sanctum.  plus i want to keep the wine cellar/catacombs as tight as possible.  Minutes saved here will go a long way later in the run.  I highly doubt i'll purchase a capturing device or anything at this point since they're expensive.  If i have time later i'll figure out how to post segments up for you guys to dissect.  Wish me luck  Tongue

*A few notes

*I will be doing the Crimson Blades skip on the first cloudstone no matter what, luckily i've practiced this part a little before.

*The only monsters i'll be killing will be enemies which slow you down while you're trying to move boxes around.  If you avoid them, you wouldn't be saving any time since they'll just continually attack you anyway so it'll be best to kill them as quickly as possible (no more than one chain for ANY regular enemy).

*I may have to kill an additional slime besides the one i kill before the golem to get Raging Ache because i may need the faerie chortle drop for the future because there are quite a few enemies with poisonous attacks and also traps. we'll see how this one works out.

*Timing Issue:  when you begin the game after skipping the intros, you start with a time of roughly thirty seconds (when you have control of Ashley).  I don't know whether it counted the loading times or what but this may be an issue for those who track time in the runs.  For now, all times that i'll report will be in-game clock without corrections, if any are  even needed.
Edit history:
Riskbreaker Y: 2009-05-12 10:57:50 pm
berserker status
Alright, finally i got this thing hooked up and ready to go.  There is no lag as far as i can tell.  The sounds and animations seem to occur smoothly and at the right times so thankfully lag won't be an issue.  The visual and audio quality is superb and i only used the A/V components.  Quality can be improved slightly with an S-cable but i don't think i'm gonna pay for one of those considering the quality is already pretty damned good.  Details in people's facial reactions and the architecture look good.  This video will be dark but people should know that this game is pretty dark already and it isn't due to bad setup.  Oh yea, this was (and will be) recorded with SP quality FYI.  I set the recorder to wide screen mode and i activated the progressive scan, even though this game is old.

Now....finally...i will begin my hellish journey through Lea Monde! 

I'm just gonna start recording as soon as i grab the controller so i'll record part of the title screen.

I recorded the VKP/merlose (along with the initial psone screen, loading screen, and cg intro) intro as well as the formal intro (it is played after the first intro in the title screen if you wait) for my own entertainment since i'll skip them as soon as i start a new game.  If i make it to the sanctum today with a good enough time, i'll post again today.  Grin

One LAST thing:  i forgot to mention my copy of vagrant story is pretty scratched.  Thankfully the only time during the entire game where this is an issue is at the title screen.  Sometimes the audio skips like f*ckin hell but no worries, this ONLY happens in the beginning at the title screen!

Edit:  I am going to purchase an s-video cable because the quality can be better even though it's acceptable.  Some parts do some a little darker than anticipated so maybe i'll mess with the brightness settings and find some middle ground or something.  It doesn't seem likely progress today is likely anyway since my best time so far is 19:3X.  I want to strive for something below eighteen minutes if it's possible.  It's easy to make a few clumsy mistakes which can add up to a lot.  And in the beginning it's crucial to land the first hit to cut down time on the bosses.  Ghost can take anywhere from 3-4 hits to thirteen for example.  Even though i'm avoiding more enemies than before it still feels difficult to keep that advantage.

Second Edit:  MAJOR disappointment.  This recorder does not seem to agree with me at all and does not record consistently.  At first i thought i was connecting to many wires to it but it doesn't make a difference how simple i keep it.  I'm going to return this refurbished one and just order a brand new one.  Piece of crap.  i better improve on 19:29 next time.  Angry
Exoray
That's unfortunate about your recorder. Once you have your new set up, be sure to record some test footage and post a quality test in the tech forum. This is to ensure that you are recording with the right settings and such so that you won't end up having completed the run before finding out that some recording setting had to be changed.

Looking forward to seeing some progress segments. That will ultimately be the best way for us to be able to give accurate feedback.
berserker status
Quote from moooh:
That's unfortunate about your recorder. Once you have your new set up, be sure to record some test footage and post a quality test in the tech forum. This is to ensure that you are recording with the right settings and such so that you won't end up having completed the run before finding out that some recording setting had to be changed.

Looking forward to seeing some progress segments. That will ultimately be the best way for us to be able to give accurate feedback.


Hopefully posting vids online won't be too difficult because I really do want to put some up eventually.  I've read about the necessary settings or whatnot in the other forums but i def don't want to run into some unexpected problems in the future so i'll follow your advice!

Fortunately, i've placed another order for my next dvd recorder.  unlike the last one, i'm purchasing a new magnavox dvd recorder with 160gb of space.  i got a really good deal at walmart (of all places) online for about 270 bucks (with shipping) so HOPEFULLY this one will cooperate with me.  i'm in the process of returning the other 'refurbished' model but it's a pain since they're going to charge me again for shipping and an additional $15 shelving charge (wtf?!).  I also ordered the necessary s-cables for my ps2 and stuff so i will be achieving decent quality next time.  Don't worry guys, if this run goes as planned it'll be very entertaining and awesome to say the least!  The first segment will require considerable luck though to pass SDA standards  Undecided  Hopefully i will have my run started by next weekend!  !$W^@% luck!
Glitch advocate
This run is something I'm eagerly awaiting. Hopefully you get your DVD player to work.
berserker status
So lately i've been practicing the first few segments to get back into rhythm before my recorder arrrives.  Like i said before, these segments will require good execution and some decent luck to be acceptable as it's very easy to make an ugly mistake that will make any viewer wince.  Fortunately for me, i've found a pretty reliable strategy to reach Town Center West in sub 00:25:00.

*Rue Lejour (i think it's called..)  00:24:32; it's definitely possible to get a time of below 00:24:00 because i didn't get too lucky and the dragon battle could've gone better.

*it's extremely important to manage your risk points efficiently in the very beginning before recalling raging ache since grinding out a victory in any of the first battles is unsightly and slow. 

*sheathe the fandango all the way before facing the dullahan and attempt to strike the abdomen and chain it since landing a hit in its weak spot can shorten this fight at least.

*the ghost ought to go down in 2-4 hits.

*it's important to land the first strike against the lizards because this battle can go much more quickly instead of panicking and trying to land a bunch of ineffectual blows.  you also shouldn't be afraid to impact guard a few hits if it means patiently trying to land a good combo.  both should go down fast.

*by know your sword should be quite strong since after while the dp or pp? builds up.  the hellhound should die in about 2-3 hits.  the skeleton goes down in a 10+ chain and the slime dies in a single blow without chaining! 

*save: pre-sanctum, withering spring, 16:12 or 16:13?

*as usual, it's important to get the first strike against the golem and dragon.  after the dragon fight, i get raging ache and save out in the open.

if i can consistently shave time off each segment than a sub 2:00:00 may be possible.  for this particular segment of the run, i will try really hard to get below 0:24:00.  it's probably best to try and learn raging ache as late as possible while insuring some good luck.
Edit history:
Riskbreaker Y: 2009-05-18 10:12:09 pm
berserker status
Well, i was meaning to post a lot earlier but haven't had the chance till now.  like i said before, i'm polishing up on some parts before seriously tackling this behemoth and today i got through abandoned mines in one minute faster than my previous run.

*Before i meant to say Rue Vermillion NOT Rue Lejour...the names can get confusing after awhile.

*Rue Bouquet, pre-Undercity West:  39:42;  compared to about 42:54 last time this is a modest improvement without requiring mind numbing luck.

*The fight with Duane could not have gone better as i killed him in one 19 hit chain even though many hits missed.  He didn't initiate any animations.

*I still kill both hellhounds in this segment but they go down quickly.  I'm trying to avoid going to the menu screen until i get absorb magic or if i need to cure a status ailment so without fire proof getting hit by these kinds of attacks are deadly.  besides, there's the animations (both the hellhound's fire breath and ashley's fire proof) you'd have to wait through anyway so why not see action instead?

*The wyvern was more annoying than usual as he avoided a sh*t load of my strikes but luckily i didn't have to impact guard or anything.

*In the room before getting the necessary sigil in the chest, i kill all the stirges since they can slow you down.  remember that if you can manage to land the first hit in these early stages you can shorten your chains by a few hits.  I activate the eruption panel a couple times since i stepped on the heal panel previously to lower my HP and strengthen raging ache.

*In the chest room, one of the orc-things with the golden armor casts stun cloud on me twice so i killed him and wasted time curing myself.  I avoid the other one though this time around.

*The Fire Elemental is put away in one 15 hit combo i think.  no problem.

*I kill both stirges before facing the ogre.  I'll see whether i can get by later without fighting and wasting too much time.

*The Ogre fight also could've gone better since i tried chaining his right arm and it didn't work and i wasted 15 hits or so.  I impact guarded once but this fight could go faster by going straight for the body.

So at this point i have saved about three minutes from last time and there's definitely room for improvement.  I would say that a sub 00:38:00 time is possible at Rue Bouquet with some luck and execution.  I probably won't be practicing the Snowfly Forest since that part relies a lot on luck and i want to wait until i get my recorder to push my luck.  I'll probably practice these first few segments some more if anything.  So assuming 2:23:00 is the time to beat and babo's time was 0:44:00 at this point, i've shaven off about *correction* 4'18'' from 23' i think.  gotta keep pushing to make sure i can even get close to 2:00:00.
Awesome, glad to hear it's going well. 
berserker status
Gawd, i just luv the shitty ass luck i've been getting.  I was sooo damn excited today because my recorder got here by fedex along with s-video cables i ordered, i was ready to start recording my first segment but NOOOOOO.  The piece of shit dvd recorder won't even fucking turn on!!!  i have less problems with vcr's wtf?!?!  Now i have to go to walmart in person, get my damn refund, and order the damn thing online ALL OVER AGAIN because NONE of the stores have this item in stock.  this is so exasperating.  honestly getting a functional recorder is turning out to be harder than just doing the damn run in itself!!!  even the first crappy recorder turned on!  i'm so disappointed and bummed right now, i'm seriously starting to get discouraged from doing this run.  now i have two fucking recorders to return tomorrow whoopee.  oh well....time to order a recorder....again, for the third time.  if the next one doesn't work i don't know guys.  i'm just lucky that my account is strong enough for me to just order these fucking things back to back even though i'll be getting my money back tomorrow...sorry for the long rant and cursing.  it's just really frustrating because i just want to get started on this speedrun.  i'm gonna go and have a good smoke and chill now after this crap.
Waiting hurts my soul...
Maybe I should get this game, play through it, practice it, and run it before you get a new recorder setup.. hehe  Wink
berserker status
Quote from ZenicReverie:
Maybe I should get this game, play through it, practice it, and run it before you get a new recorder setup.. hehe  Wink



honestly, sheesh....for real.  i already placed another order so i should be getting it this weekend or tuesday at the latest....hell, you should buy this game because it's just THAT good.  i honestly think someone else who's played the game as much as me can run it at a comparable time to mine but after all these setbacks, i'm gonna go balls out and make a good run.  I won't strive for perfection but let's just say if i have to chain ANY enemy more than three times then it's an automatic reset.  at this rate i may finish another practice run, shit.  BTW great progress on bushido blade.  i want to get around and run that game but with all this mess i probably won't get to it until i finish half the VS segments.
berserker status
so i played to vent a little and improved the undercity west and part of Snowfly Forest segment in about thirty seconds faster than before.

*Forest River, 47:11;  this time could be a little bit faster but not by more than 10-15 seconds.  i also didn't get the faerie wing drop this time.

*The next part is tough unless i go into the menu and equip the necessary defenses since i haven't gotten absorb magic and won't have it for Duane and the Last Crusader.  i could rely on luck but i'm just experimenting right now anyway.

*I think i got the earth dragon down now, without the random acid breath.  i've semi-mastered the hop technique that allows you to get a preemptive strike every time against pretty much anyone.
berserker status
So finally reached Warrior's Rest with one faerie wing drop.  Most of the battles went very smoothly so it's definitely possible to avoid accessing the menu twice until you learn Absorb Magic after Duane and the Last Crusader.

*Warrior's Rest, 55:40;  this is a pretty reasonable time although in a real run i'd like to improve this by at least a minute or two.  it keeps getting harder and harder to cut out time but we'll see which enemies i should avoid...
give me your eyes!!!
Just one more person throwing in their support, I played this a tiny bit back in the day and liked what I saw despite being too young to get into it, which led to me recently wasting a week away playing on an emulator. It took me by surprise at times how difficult a game of this nature could be but I loved it, though at no point could I even say I was close to proficient. So I'm greatly anticipating someone blowing through it with the confidence you express in your posts. Hope the recording works out soon, though your perseverance in shaving time while you wait impatiently is great!