Valkryia Chroncles 2, Any%

2015-03-16 03:16:13 pm

The name's Sheldor. InfiniteSheldor.

Quote from WanderingMind:

So I've been revisiting a lot of missions in the Any% route and I'm already finding ways to save more time than ever before.

The WR for this game is currently at 4:13:24.

With the new stuff I've been finding, sub-4:00 is inevitable. I'll post what I discovered once I get my notes more organized.

Nice finds! I've known this game for 2 years. I'm going to try some of this stuff if I can get RemoteJoyLite working

WanderingMind

2015-03-17 03:22:39 am

Stay chill, be cool.

So I went back to doing full runs last Friday and I set the new record at 4:04:27. There were so many places that I improved over the previous run and I can easily optimize a lot of them.

Just earlier yesterday I figured out a much better strat for the final mission. I no longer capture Area 3, I make Avan turn Baldren the other way to snipe at the engine on Baldren's back with the tank, and I finish him off with two more anti tank shots. Baldren's weapon takes a long time to fire a bunch of shots he counters, why waste the time.

InfiniteSheldor

Edit history:

InfiniteSheldor: 2016-04-16 05:01:03 am

InfiniteSheldor: 2015-03-23 01:14:35 pm

InfiniteSheldor: 2015-03-23 01:12:37 pm

2015-03-23 01:09:36 pm

The name's Sheldor. InfiniteSheldor.

Quote from WanderingMind:

So I went back to doing full runs last Friday and I set the new record at 4:04:27. There were so many places that I improved over the previous run and I can easily optimize a lot of them.

Wow... It's only that long? Were you on Easy then? I don't blame you, especially at October (I think it's October, the one where the rebels invade the campus) lol

Quote from WanderingMind:

Just earlier yesterday I figured out a much better strat for the final mission. I no longer capture Area 3, I make Avan turn Baldren the other way to snipe at the engine on Baldren's back with the tank, and I finish him off with two more anti tank shots. Baldren's weapon takes a long time to fire a bunch of shots he counters, why waste the time.

Would this be helpful or have you already adapted this?

Yes, it's slow, but it can be improved upon. He's done every mission on his channel, so it may be worth a look. I'm gonna try and get 100% once I re-find my PSP lol Once I do, I'll start running the game. After all, a 4 hour run on PSP is easier for me than 4 hours on a terrible laptop lol

EDIT: I noticed you've already got something of it. It may be useful to build someone up to survive going around and distracting Baldren, but that may add more time onto the run than just using the tank. It's kinda weird. You can not capture the first camp that he uses with Aliasse.

Anyway, would using the items from cheat codes (in-game cheat codes) count? And could we do runs on the DLC missions? I haven't got the 22 mission packs but I do have the Vs. Class E and Vs. Class F missions.

[quote="WanderingMind"]So I went back to doing full runs last Friday and I set the new record at 4:04:27.  There were so many places that I improved over the previous run and I can easily optimize a lot of them.[/quote]
Wow... It's only that long? Were you on Easy then? I don't blame you, especially at October (I think it's October, the one where the rebels invade the campus) lol
[quote="WanderingMind"]Just earlier yesterday I figured out a much better strat for the final mission. I no longer capture Area 3, I make Avan turn Baldren the other way to snipe at the engine on Baldren's back with the tank, and I finish him off with two more anti tank shots. Baldren's weapon takes a long time to fire a bunch of shots he counters, why waste the time.[/quote]
Would this be helpful or have you already adapted this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIdOZKtqa4g
Yes, it's slow, but it can be improved upon. He's done every mission on his channel, so it may be worth a look. I'm gonna try and get 100% once I re-find my PSP lol Once I do, I'll start running the game. After all, a 4 hour run on PSP is easier for me than 4 hours on a terrible laptop lol

EDIT: I noticed you've already got something of it. It may be useful to build someone up to survive going around and distracting Baldren, but that may add more time onto the run than just using the tank. It's kinda weird. You can not capture the first camp that he uses with Aliasse.

Anyway, would using the items from cheat codes (in-game cheat codes) count? And could we do runs on the DLC missions? I haven't got the 22 mission packs but I do have the Vs. Class E and Vs. Class F missions.

WanderingMind

2015-03-24 12:31:48 am

Stay chill, be cool.

Actually dyljaymac, I played on Normal mode. (There is no real reason to play on Easy since the only change is everyone takes less damage).

As for that one mission, it's in August, "Defending Lanseal." Normally it's a tough mission, but it is very easily broken. All you do is retreat Avan in one area, deploy a tank in another area, and in the last area, have 4 Shocktroopers crouch behind sandbags and pray that they don't get killed. In that last area, not killing any enemy units keeps a Supply Vehicle from spawning like it normally should on Turn 5. It also keeps the game from spawning either Commandos or additional V2 units into the area. Just keep on passing turns until the end of Turn 8 to finish the mission.

For "The Final Battle" I figured out that the best unit for distracting Baldren is Avan. When I tested stuff out, Avan was a Scout Veteran at Level 24. Running near the cylinder as you loop around to turn him around should provide some cover, and you also hope that some of his shots will miss you.

Now here is the interesting thing about that mission:

I looked at that video you linked and it looks very similar to what I do. It's easier for me to use Zeri to capture the camp in Area 2 since Aliasse is too much of a liability with the Solitude negative potential, and Zeri takes way more hits. Also I climb that space in the sandbag between the enemy unit and the wall, rather than run around. Also replace the sniper in the video with the tank. I never used to take out Baldren's engine in one hit with the Cptd AA Gtlg A1 turret attached to my tank until recently. I'm starting to think it has something to do with the position and angle I take aim at Baldren. The great thing about using a tank on him though is that he won't counterattack it like he did to the Sniper. Backup plan for not taking out Baldren's engine is to use Attack Boost on Avan to wreck it. From there it should take 1-2 tank shots to defeat Baldren.

This made me go back to "Battle for Anthold Harbor." I figured out I could one shot kill Dirk once the supply vehicle is destroyed. It used to take me two shots, but the Big Sister potential makes a huge difference. He can still block a shot, but it's pure RNG.

Meanwhile I'm getting more consistent with 2-turn finishes of Beyond the Flood Gate in December. This is a good thing because it is the toughest regular mission in the game for a speedrun and can easily be a run killer.

I'll have to figure out what rules and stuff would be in place for individual missions because you don't go into them with a set level or something like that. Really your best bet is to make a bunch of save states on emulator before every mission and to load them up to practice. That way you will feel ready when you do serious runs on console.

This is also the same reason I'm wary of doing runs of DLC missions, there are way too many factors going into a mission, since it's not like you have set stats or levels and it's up to the player. For now I like to keep it simple and stick to full game runs. There's nothing stopping you from timing practice runs of missions for personal use.

I don't see the reason to use any items from the in-game codes, or unlockable characters for that matter.

I have so much more I could say, but this should do for now. Seriously the amount of things I find in this game.

Actually dyljaymac, I played on Normal mode.  (There is no real reason to play on Easy since the only change is everyone takes less damage).

As for that one mission, it's in August, "Defending Lanseal."  Normally it's a tough mission, but it is very easily broken.  All you do is retreat Avan in one area, deploy a tank in another area, and in the last area, have 4 Shocktroopers crouch behind sandbags and pray that they don't get killed.  In that last area, not killing any enemy units keeps a Supply Vehicle from spawning like it normally should on Turn 5.  It also keeps the game from spawning either Commandos or additional V2 units into the area.  Just keep on passing turns until the end of Turn 8 to finish the mission.

For "The Final Battle" I figured out that the best unit for distracting Baldren is Avan.  When I tested stuff out, Avan was a Scout Veteran at Level 24.  Running near the cylinder as you loop around to turn him around should provide some cover, and you also hope that some of his shots will miss you.

Now here is the interesting thing about that mission:

I looked at that video you linked and it looks very similar to what I do.  It's easier for me to use Zeri to capture the camp in Area 2 since Aliasse is too much of a liability with the Solitude negative potential, and Zeri takes way more hits.  Also I climb that space in the sandbag between the enemy unit and the wall, rather than run around.  Also replace the sniper in the video with the tank.  I never used to take out Baldren's engine in one hit with the Cptd AA Gtlg A1 turret attached to my tank until recently.  I'm starting to think it has something to do with the position and angle I take aim at Baldren.  The great thing about using a tank on him though is that he won't counterattack it like he did to the Sniper.  Backup plan for not taking out Baldren's engine is to use Attack Boost on Avan to wreck it.  From there it should take 1-2 tank shots to defeat Baldren.

This made me go back to "Battle for Anthold Harbor."  I figured out I could one shot kill Dirk once the supply vehicle is destroyed.  It used to take me two shots, but the Big Sister potential makes a huge difference.  He can still block a shot, but it's pure RNG.

Meanwhile I'm getting more consistent with 2-turn finishes of Beyond the Flood Gate in December.   This is a good thing because it is the toughest regular mission in the game for a speedrun and can easily be a run killer.

I'll have to figure out what rules and stuff would be in place for individual missions because you don't go into them with a set level or something like that.  Really your best bet is to make a bunch of save states on emulator before every mission and to load them up to practice.  That way you will feel ready when you do serious runs on console.

This is also the same reason I'm wary of doing runs of DLC missions, there are way too many factors going into a mission, since it's not like you have set stats or levels and it's up to the player.  For now I like to keep it simple and stick to full game runs.  There's nothing stopping you from timing practice runs of missions for personal use.

I don't see the reason to use any items from the in-game codes, or unlockable characters for that matter.

I have so much more I could say, but this should do for now.  Seriously the amount of things I find in this game.

WanderingMind

2015-03-24 09:23:43 am

Stay chill, be cool.

I have a lot of stuff I want to put into posts, so I'm probably going to be doing a bunch of them as I think of them. Stuff that I could have put into this thread going back months.

Enemy units will fire at you until you pull out your weapon. This is very useful for canceling the attack animations of V2 units through what I call step-aiming. Step-aiming is to switch between moving and aiming to keep a V2 unit from ever attacking you. It requires keeping a steady pattern, starting with an initial aiming at the enemy unit to set the pattern. Aiming is the length of time between hitting the aim button and the moment the crosshairs show up on the screen. Each class has weapons that take different amounts of time to aim.

The most ideal thing to use for step-aiming is the Ragnaid because of how fast it can be pulled out. Grenades are a fairly good substitute if a unit is not Veteran/Elite-tier. Rifles/Sub-machine guns take the slowest to pull out. The benefit of Ragnaid is that it won't aim at enemy units.

Learning this technique is very important for speedrunning this game.

I have a lot of stuff I want to put into posts, so I'm probably going to be doing a bunch of them as I think of them.  Stuff that I could have put into this thread going back months.

Enemy units will fire at you until you pull out your weapon.  This is very useful for canceling the attack animations of V2 units through what I call step-aiming.  Step-aiming is to switch between moving and aiming to keep a V2 unit from ever attacking you.  It requires keeping a steady pattern, starting with an initial aiming at the enemy unit to set the pattern.  Aiming is the length of time between hitting the aim button and the moment the crosshairs show up on the screen.  Each class has weapons that take different amounts of time to aim.

The most ideal thing to use for step-aiming is the Ragnaid because of how fast it can be pulled out.  Grenades are a fairly good substitute if a unit is not Veteran/Elite-tier.  Rifles/Sub-machine guns take the slowest to pull out.  The benefit of Ragnaid is that it won't aim at enemy units.

Learning this technique is very important for speedrunning this game.

InfiniteSheldor

2015-03-24 11:39:22 am

The name's Sheldor. InfiniteSheldor.

Quote from WanderingMind:

Enemy units will fire at you until you pull out your weapon. This is very useful for canceling the attack animations of V2 units through what I call step-aiming. Step-aiming is to switch between moving and aiming to keep a V2 unit from ever attacking you. It requires keeping a steady pattern, starting with an initial aiming at the enemy unit to set the pattern. Aiming is the length of time between hitting the aim button and the moment the crosshairs show up on the screen. Each class has weapons that take different amounts of time to aim.

I think there's an escort mission in March or April. One of them. I actually couldn't beat it until I figured out that method myself. That's why I will run on Easy (and possible Normal).

Thanks for the info on Defending Lanseal. I'm surprised my PSP still works after that lol

Yeah, only now do I relise the problem with individual levels. Perhaps if for each level you need to use specific things? e.g. Units and where they start, they're equipment etc.

Beyond The Flood Gate wasn't really that difficult for me, as far as I remember, although I probably had a few problems with it originally. Mostly because I'd rushed through rather than take my time to level up units. Not a great idea since I was running on Normal and it was my first playthrough.

Battle for Anthold Harbour
Ah... Now that I had a few problems with. Mainly for the aforementioned problem not working on Dirk. That one was annoying. Congrats on getting almost consistent 2-turn wins there.

And yeah, it's RNG if he blocks it or not.

[quote="WanderingMind"]Enemy units will fire at you until you pull out your weapon.  This is very useful for canceling the attack animations of V2 units through what I call step-aiming.  Step-aiming is to switch between moving and aiming to keep a V2 unit from ever attacking you.  It requires keeping a steady pattern, starting with an initial aiming at the enemy unit to set the pattern.  Aiming is the length of time between hitting the aim button and the moment the crosshairs show up on the screen.  Each class has weapons that take different amounts of time to aim.[/quote]
I think there's an escort mission in March or April. One of them. I actually couldn't beat it until I figured out that method myself. That's why I will run on Easy (and possible Normal).

Thanks for the info on Defending Lanseal. I'm surprised my PSP still works after that lol

Yeah, only now do I relise the problem with individual levels. Perhaps if for each level you need to use specific things? e.g. Units and where they start, they're equipment etc.

Beyond The Flood Gate wasn't really that difficult for me, as far as I remember, although I probably had a few problems with it originally. Mostly because I'd rushed through rather than take my time to level up units. Not a great idea since I was running on Normal and it was my first playthrough.

Battle for Anthold Harbour
Ah... Now that I had a few problems with. Mainly for the aforementioned problem not working on Dirk. That one was annoying. Congrats on getting almost consistent 2-turn wins there.

And yeah, it's RNG if he blocks it or not.

InfiniteSheldor

2015-03-24 12:24:17 pm

The name's Sheldor. InfiniteSheldor.

I found this too, if you want it. It's old now, but there may be something useful in here
https://forum.speeddemosarchive.com/post/speedrun_challenge_valkyria_chronicles_2_2.html#speedrun_challenge_valkyria_chronicles_2_2

WanderingMind

2015-03-24 12:52:21 pm

Stay chill, be cool.

A lot of the stuff in the thread is pretty useless to me. I only discovered that thread after watching Ghoul02 stream VC2 back when he actively ran the game. The problem with doing the classmate missions is unlocking them and there is a reason why 'kill all enemies' missions are avoided in Any%. I messed around with the idea of doing an 'All Key + Story Missions' category, but I quit that halfway through because I got bored.

Oh yeah for the March story mission, step-aiming is too slow to pull off with a Lancer, so I use a Defend Boost order on Reiner, get him towards the south camp, take out the Supply Vehicle, and capture the base. The fog condition works in your favor here because it reduces the V2s accuracy, but you get hit hard anyway.

I should actually run through the game on emulator again to make a bunch of save states for practice. The last time I did it was back in August, way back when I was learning to run the game, and the old saves are really out of date as a result.

Now that I think about it, my strats for Beyond the Flood Gate are dangerous. I send a Shocktrooper out across the bridge right away to flip the switch, dealing with random enemy placement along the way. I also take out the Supply Vehicle in another area before the end of Turn 1. Whether it is placed in the northwest or southwest of that area can really change the strats I need to do for that mission. Best placement is in the northwest area since it's along the way to the camp I need to capture. (When I casually played this game, this mission was the only one I skipped in my main game playthrough and only went back to it during the second loop)

For Battle of Anthold Harbor, once Dirk was weak, I used to aim at his head from the back, then aim again once he turned around. Problem here with the old strat was that it was very difficult to get a good headshot at him when he was faced away. Also the best way to activate the Big Sister strat is to have Marion pre-deployed in the camp when you deploy the tank nearby. This is because Marion is one of the units that Lavinia likes, making it more likely for good potentials to activate, kind of like how Zeri has Helping Hand more likely to happen when Avan is nearby.

Oh yeah I was meaning to show off stuff I can do in Clash Aboard Deck:

A lot of the stuff in the thread is pretty useless to me.  I only discovered that thread after watching Ghoul02 stream VC2 back when he actively ran the game.  The problem with doing the classmate missions is unlocking them and there is a reason why 'kill all enemies' missions are avoided in Any%.  I messed around with the idea of doing an 'All Key + Story Missions' category, but I quit that halfway through because I got bored.

Oh yeah for the March story mission, step-aiming is too slow to pull off with a Lancer, so I use a Defend Boost order on Reiner, get him towards the south camp, take out the Supply Vehicle, and capture the base.  The fog condition works in your favor here because it reduces the V2s accuracy, but you get hit hard anyway.

I should actually run through the game on emulator again to make a bunch of save states for practice.  The last time I did it was back in August, way back when I was learning to run the game, and the old saves are really out of date as a result.

Now that I think about it, my strats for Beyond the Flood Gate are dangerous.  I send a Shocktrooper out across the bridge right away to flip the switch, dealing with random enemy placement along the way.  I also take out the Supply Vehicle in another area before the end of Turn 1.  Whether it is placed in the northwest or southwest of that area can really change the strats I need to do for that mission.  Best placement is in the northwest area since it's along the way to the camp I need to capture.  (When I casually played this game, this mission was the only one I skipped in my main game playthrough and only went back to it during the second loop)

For Battle of Anthold Harbor, once Dirk was weak, I used to aim at his head from the back, then aim again once he turned around.  Problem here with the old strat was that it was very difficult to get a good headshot at him when he was faced away.  Also the best way to activate the Big Sister strat is to have Marion pre-deployed in the camp when you deploy the tank nearby.  This is because Marion is one of the units that Lavinia likes, making it more likely for good potentials to activate, kind of like how Zeri has Helping Hand more likely to happen when Avan is nearby.

Oh yeah I was meaning to show off stuff I can do in Clash Aboard Deck:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1J33m2m7Tg0

InfiniteSheldor

Edit history:

InfiniteSheldor: 2015-03-24 12:57:34 pm

InfiniteSheldor: 2015-03-24 12:55:32 pm

2015-03-24 12:54:48 pm

The name's Sheldor. InfiniteSheldor.

Nice. Is that video by you?

Interesting. We could also try and get the Bloodthirsty potential in Lavinia
But as you know, it's too RNG

EDIT: I checked. It is you lol
Subbed Smiley

Have you ever played/thought of running VC1 (PS3 or Steam) or VC3?

WanderingMind

2015-03-24 01:00:44 pm

Stay chill, be cool.

Yup that video was done by me.

Relying on Bloodthirsty to do crazy stuff would be something I could see myself doing when I want to make a segmented run lol. For the purpose of a single segment run, I try to route these missions with the assumption that Bloodthirsty will never activate and treat that potential as a nice bonus. For example, for the September story mission, a single segment run would finish the mission in 2 turns. A segmented run of that mission would do it in 1 turn, where Lavinia has Bloodthirsty activate more than once to take out the boss tank unit.

Thank you for the sub! thumbsup

I'd love to pick up VC1 on Steam, especially since every runner I know no longer runs it on PC. VC3 is something I want to do in the far off future, once I play through the game at my own pace and 100% like I did with the other two games. It's crazy how much the speedrunning scene has revived for VC1. And right now I'm glad there's someone else interested in VC2, because for a long time I was the only one actively doing it haha.

Yup that video was done by me.

Relying on Bloodthirsty to do crazy stuff would be something I could see myself doing when I want to make a segmented run lol.  For the purpose of a single segment run, I try to route these missions with the assumption that Bloodthirsty will never activate and treat that potential as a nice bonus.  For example, for the September story mission, a single segment run would finish the mission in 2 turns.  A segmented run of that mission would do it in 1 turn, where Lavinia has Bloodthirsty activate more than once to take out the boss tank unit.

Thank you for the sub!  :thumbsup:

I'd love to pick up VC1 on Steam, especially since every runner I know no longer runs it on PC.  VC3 is something I want to do in the far off future, once I play through the game at my own pace and 100% like I did with the other two games.  It's crazy how much the speedrunning scene has revived for VC1.  And right now I'm glad there's someone else interested in VC2, because for a long time I was the only one actively doing it haha.

InfiniteSheldor

Edit history:

InfiniteSheldor: 2016-05-28 06:02:39 am

InfiniteSheldor: 2015-03-24 01:25:25 pm

InfiniteSheldor: 2015-03-24 01:24:44 pm

2015-03-24 01:15:34 pm

The name's Sheldor. InfiniteSheldor.

I own a lot of games on Steam, so I immediately pre-ordered it as soon as I could lol I actually played on the PS3 version because when I got my PS3 is 2013 (yes, it isn't that old) I was bought two games with it - Batman: Arkham Asylum and Valkyria Chronicles (for my love of VC2, which I actually found in an advert of my Professor Layton film disc case lol) but VC3 was also a gift I got for my love of VC2. It's good, and it uses a lot of the same features (maps, menus etc.) but also includes new mechanics (e.g. changing someone's class - from one main class - let's say Scout - to another - like a Shocktrooper -) and a few other stuff I won't say, either because of spoilers or because I can't remember XD (it's been a few months)

But yeah, VC3 gave me a few surprises over my time playing it, but it was fun and I would like to run it

That seems like a good idea for the Bloodthirsty potential. Segmented would be a good run I guess, but it would be pretty hard to splice mid-mission imo

No problem for the sub! Cheesy

P.S. I felt like being extra nice and follwed you on Twitch too Cheesy

I own a lot of games on Steam, so I immediately pre-ordered it as soon as I could lol I actually played on the PS3 version because when I got my PS3 is 2013 (yes, it isn't that old) I was bought two games with it - Batman: Arkham Asylum and Valkyria Chronicles (for my love of VC2, which I actually found in an advert of my Professor Layton film disc case lol) but VC3 was also a gift I got for my love of VC2. It's good, and it uses a lot of the same features (maps, menus etc.) but also includes new mechanics (e.g. changing someone's class - from one main class - let's say Scout - to another - like a Shocktrooper -) and a few other stuff I won't say, either because of spoilers or because I can't remember XD (it's been a few months)

But yeah, VC3 gave me a few surprises over my time playing it, but it was fun and I would like to run it

That seems like a good idea for the Bloodthirsty potential. Segmented would be a good run I guess, but it would be pretty hard to splice mid-mission imo

No problem for the sub! :D

P.S. I felt like being extra nice and follwed you on Twitch too :D

WanderingMind

2015-03-25 11:41:44 am

Stay chill, be cool.

The way I'd do a segmented run is one segment per mission. 55 missions means that I'd do 55 segments each, because each mission has a fair amount of RNG that can save time. It would let me do the riskiest and most dangerous strats I normally wouldn't dare do in a single segment run.

For the purposes of running VC2 in real time, timing begins from confirming a new file, the Yes or No option you get after setting difficulty. Timing ends on the final hit on Baldren, when you lose control of your character.

What I am curious about is how SDA timing would work for VC2, both single segment and segmented. I'd like to do both categories to submit to SDA eventually.

InfiniteSheldor

Edit history:

InfiniteSheldor: 2015-03-25 12:09:53 pm

2015-03-25 12:06:12 pm

The name's Sheldor. InfiniteSheldor.

Quote from WanderingMind:

What I am curious about is how SDA timing would work for VC2, both single segment and segmented. I'd like to do both categories to submit to SDA eventually.

Fair enough. I think that SDA timing for the game would just be taking out loading between different areas and missions. Unless I've forgotten something important that could be taken out.
One thing I originally forgot: When I meant splicing mid-mission, I meant so that if we mess up one strat we wouldn't have to do the whole recording of the mission again. But now that seems pretty pointless.

WanderingMind

2015-03-25 12:23:53 pm

Stay chill, be cool.

Quote from dyljaymac:

Quote from WanderingMind:

What I am curious about is how SDA timing would work for VC2, both single segment and segmented. I'd like to do both categories to submit to SDA eventually.

Fair enough. I think that SDA timing for the game would just be taking out loading between different areas and missions. Unless I've forgotten something important that could be taken out.
One thing I originally forgot: When I meant splicing mid-mission, I meant so that if we mess up one strat we wouldn't have to do the whole recording of the mission again. But now that seems pretty pointless.

Splicing is never allowed in anything ever, so if a strat gets messed up in one segment, I'd have to redo the entire recording. This would mean doing a segmented run can take a very long time.

Doing single segment runs is all about having backup strats in case your original strats don't work out. If something can go wrong during a run, chances are that it will.

What I recommend in starting Valkyria Chronicles II as a speedrun is to come up with easier, beginner-friendly strats for parts of the run that look tough to pull off. Once you get more used to how VC2 works as a speedgame and feel more confident in your skills, you can start doing more advanced stuff.

For example, a beginner strat in 'Night Combat Exercise' in February would see Zeri running around to grenade some crouching enemies, cleaning them out, and capturing a camp. The more advanced strat I use now is pre-deploying Helmut, running around, and throwing a grenade to damage both a crouching Scout and Shocktrooper. From there I finish them off and capture the base. This is more difficult to do because Helmut has lower health, defense, and attack power as a Scout than Zeri as an ST.

Video of this strat can be found here: http://www.twitch.tv/thewanderingmind/c/5788818

[quote="dyljaymac"][quote="WanderingMind"]What I am curious about is how SDA timing would work for VC2, both single segment and segmented.  I'd like to do both categories to submit to SDA eventually.[/quote]
Fair enough. I think that SDA timing for the game would just be taking out loading between different areas and missions. Unless I've forgotten something important that could be taken out.
One thing I originally forgot: When I meant splicing mid-mission, I meant so that if we mess up one strat we wouldn't have to do the whole recording of the mission again. But now that seems pretty pointless.[/quote]

Splicing is never allowed in anything ever, so if a strat gets messed up in one segment, I'd have to redo the entire recording.  This would mean doing a segmented run can take a very long time.

Doing single segment runs is all about having backup strats in case your original strats don't work out.  If something can go wrong during a run, chances are that it will.

What I recommend in starting Valkyria Chronicles II as a speedrun is to come up with easier, beginner-friendly strats for parts of the run that look tough to pull off.  Once you get more used to how VC2 works as a speedgame and feel more confident in your skills, you can start doing more advanced stuff.

For example, a beginner strat in 'Night Combat Exercise' in February would see Zeri running around to grenade some crouching enemies, cleaning them out, and capturing a camp.  The more advanced strat I use now is pre-deploying Helmut, running around, and throwing a grenade to damage both a crouching Scout and Shocktrooper.  From there I finish them off and capture the base.  This is more difficult to do because Helmut has lower health, defense, and attack power as a Scout than Zeri as an ST.

Video of this strat can be found here: http://www.twitch.tv/thewanderingmind/c/5788818

InfiniteSheldor

2015-03-25 12:28:09 pm

The name's Sheldor. InfiniteSheldor.

Quote from WanderingMind:

Quote from dyljaymac:

Quote from WanderingMind:

What I am curious about is how SDA timing would work for VC2, both single segment and segmented. I'd like to do both categories to submit to SDA eventually.

Fair enough. I think that SDA timing for the game would just be taking out loading between different areas and missions. Unless I've forgotten something important that could be taken out.
One thing I originally forgot: When I meant splicing mid-mission, I meant so that if we mess up one strat we wouldn't have to do the whole recording of the mission again. But now that seems pretty pointless.

Splicing is never allowed in anything ever, so if a strat gets messed up in one segment, I'd have to redo the entire recording. This would mean doing a segmented run can take a very long time.

I know, I meant in a segmented run, not single-segment.

Neat strat, but very risky. Something of a segmented strat

WanderingMind

2015-03-25 01:17:57 pm

Stay chill, be cool.

I've actually made it consistent enough for a single segment run. Worth the time save.

I'm finally uploading the new WR run from earlier this month, should be up later tonight.

InfiniteSheldor

Edit history:

InfiniteSheldor: 2015-03-25 01:25:25 pm

2015-03-25 01:25:00 pm

The name's Sheldor. InfiniteSheldor.

Ok, but I'm guessing there's a time zone difference, so I may not be able to watch it for almost a day, thanks to school
P.S. Found my PSP Cheesy

InfiniteSheldor

2015-03-25 01:37:05 pm

The name's Sheldor. InfiniteSheldor.

Question about menus - what are we supposed to do in menus and what weapons/equipment are easier to equip and are useful while in menus? If that made sense

WanderingMind

2015-03-25 02:17:02 pm

Stay chill, be cool.

Quote from dyljaymac:

Question about menus - what are we supposed to do in menus and what weapons/equipment are easier to equip and are useful while in menus? If that made sense

That is something that I may need to sit down and put together a big list since there is so much to keep track of.

-Menuing through the school to reach the "!!" marks in the fastest method possible
-When to make trips to R&D and the Training Field for equipment upgrades and leveling up/promoting units
-Switching in characters and assigning a second leader in August
-When to use Temporary Coating for certain missions

Really the one weapon drop you want for the Any% run is the Cptd AA Gtlg A1, a tank turret that drops in two missions in March: Defensive Exam and Storming the Bridge. We do Defensive Exam since it's a very fast defend mission and has to be done twice for the weapon to possibly drop. This turret has a 1/3 chance of dropping starting from the second time the mission is done with the Ace being defeated. It is 3 minutes per try, which is why I actually reset if I don't get it right away. It saves that much time over the course of the run and the reason why VC2 has gone from over 5 hours to eventually under 4 hours.

Materials drops to keep a watch for in the first part of the run are the Steel parts. These materials drop in any of the missions that take place in Arlem. You want 2 Steel A Lv 1 by the time you do 'Storming the Bridge' in March, because that will make the Constructor Arm. By the end of April, before you jump into 'Darcsen Liberation,' you want 6 Steel B Lv 1 to make the Light Tank B. Not having either of those by the cutoff points means you should probably restart.

The following missions that can drop steel parts are:

-Liberating Arlem (January)
-Night Combat Exercise (February)
-The War Hero (March)
-Storming the Bridge (March)
-VIP Escort (March)

Figuring out menuing for everything in VC2 may take me a while, but this is a start. Also yay on finding your PSP!

[quote="dyljaymac"]Question about menus - what are we supposed to do in menus and what weapons/equipment are easier to equip and are useful while in menus? If that made sense[/quote]

That is something that I may need to sit down and put together a big list since there is so much to keep track of.

-Menuing through the school to reach the "!!" marks in the fastest method possible
-When to make trips to R&D and the Training Field for equipment upgrades and leveling up/promoting units
-Switching in characters and assigning a second leader in August
-When to use Temporary Coating for certain missions

Really the one weapon drop you want for the Any% run is the Cptd AA Gtlg A1, a tank turret that drops in two missions in March: Defensive Exam and Storming the Bridge.  We do Defensive Exam since it's a very fast defend mission and has to be done twice for the weapon to possibly drop.  This turret has a 1/3 chance of dropping starting from the second time the mission is done with the Ace being defeated.  It is 3 minutes per try, which is why I actually reset if I don't get it right away.  It saves that much time over the course of the run and the reason why VC2 has gone from over 5 hours to eventually under 4 hours.

Materials drops to keep a watch for in the first part of the run are the Steel parts.  These materials drop in any of the missions that take place in Arlem.  You want 2 Steel A Lv 1 by the time you do 'Storming the Bridge' in March, because that will make the Constructor Arm.  By the end of April, before you jump into 'Darcsen Liberation,' you want 6 Steel B Lv 1 to make the Light Tank B.  Not having either of those by the cutoff points means you should probably restart.

The following missions that can drop steel parts are:

-Liberating Arlem (January)
-Night Combat Exercise (February)
-The War Hero (March)
-Storming the Bridge (March)
-VIP Escort (March)

Figuring out menuing for everything in VC2 may take me a while, but this is a start.  Also yay on finding your PSP!

WanderingMind

2015-03-26 02:47:47 am

Stay chill, be cool.

So I'm actually going back to Storming the Bridge to see and test how much faster I can do it now.

WanderingMind

2015-03-27 12:38:48 am

Stay chill, be cool.

The 4:04:27 run is up and ready to watch:

InfiniteSheldor

2015-03-27 01:33:43 am

The name's Sheldor. InfiniteSheldor.

Neat!
Thanks for telling me about that tank weapon drop, I don't remember how I got it lol
Yeah, it is good. I've never used temp coating, so I wouldn't use it in a run right now.
Is that an emulator or an actual PSP?

WanderingMind

Edit history:

WanderingMind: 2015-03-27 02:29:46 am

2015-03-27 02:01:34 am

Stay chill, be cool.

You can get the weapon drop in either 'Defensive Exam' or 'Storming the Bridge.'

I use Temporary Coating to give me a much needed push in some of the missions, although I will go back and see if I can do some of the missions without them.

This was recorded on a PSP 3000 model, hooked up with composite input. My copy of VC2 was digital, with data installed on the PSP. (I don't like running PSP games on UMD and try to do digital whenever possible) Eventually I would like to try this game out on a Playstation TV to see if it will make a difference and loading times and feel easier to control. Playing on the Vita itself is not going to happen because video capture equipment for it would be way too expensive and the start/select buttons are way too difficult to mash on the system. That last part is important becuase I need to be doing that constantly to skip cutscenes and dialogue.

InfiniteSheldor

Edit history:

InfiniteSheldor: 2015-03-27 12:20:42 pm

2015-03-27 12:19:17 pm

The name's Sheldor. InfiniteSheldor.

I would run on UMD because that's how I bought it. Although I do pay the price for random loading screens after I select a character on the field lol
I would also be running a PSP 2000 model, because once again, that's what I bought. I do have data installed and RemoteJoyLite won't work for me for some reason. What were you recording it with?
Also, I want to name my tank T55343 (a reference to the tank used in the 007 film GoldenEye) and my squad MI6 (to go with the tank) - does the timer still run on naming? Because I need to be quick if it does

WanderingMind

2015-03-27 02:30:22 pm

Stay chill, be cool.

Huhh, random loading screens after you select a character.... something... doesn't feel right. I kind of want to go back and test stuff out.

I was recording the run with Amarec, which was a total pain in the butt to set up. When it does work, all I have to do is hook up my PSP to the TV and there really isn't much else other than making sure the capture card is properly hooked up.

Yes, the timer will run from the beginning of the run to the end of the run, this includes naming things. You can set the text to instant speed, so all you really should be doing is mashing Start to skip through the entire thing.