Okay, so first things first: new here, and as such let me apologize in advance for anything dumb I might do.
Anyway! Playing this recently, it kept occurring to me that it could actually make a really cool speedrun given how large, open-form, and kinda sorta super-broken the game is. I don't think you're exactly going to get it under an hour, but you've got a huge amount of time you can shave off, and it should be possible to get those strategies relatively consistent.
The troublesome part, of course, is just how many different variables you have to route around. You're going to need research probes, definitely, to get the Skell license; travel routes and the like will have to be constructed around that. And you want to get that license as soon as possible because of how much faster Skells make locomotion - in particular, if you need to do anything in Sylvalum or Cauldros, you're basically screwed without the Skell license. I want to say you're probably better off actually dumping the Skell as a combat tool for the last part of the run, since you're never going to get a level 50 frame in a speedrun and you need a pretty badass ground gear setup for Lao anyway - but even then, it's invaluable as a vehicle.
Experience, class experience, and battle points are going to be the biggest problems for the run, of course. You want to get through battles fast, except you're skipping basically every optional quest and you're avoiding every fight you can by abusing the hell out of Shadowrunner. The good news: Irina is a party member made available by the main story progression, very early on, and she gets Brainjack + Servant Sacrifice. Which means you can find something big and overleveled (spitballing here: the level 81 gorilla dude right outside of NLA seems pretty perfect, as long as he's not immune to control) and auto-kill it for preposterous amounts of experience and class experience. She's basically useless in battle apart from that, but that's more than enough - you get her to Psycorruptor 13, switch leaders to her, and then just save in front of Donkey Kong, Brainjack+SS, and reload until it works. It'll take a few times, then you get a giant pile of experience. Rinse, lather, and repeat until you're positioned to hit the level threshold for chapter 12 after the remaining mandatory quests. (I know the displayed EXP from a battle caps at 9999; does that actually apply to the received experience, though, or is it just the display? Because this'll go much faster if you get the full yield after factoring in the level difference.)
NPC builds - you control Elma to run past things with Shadowrunner as much as possible, but you really don't want her to have any TP arts but Ghost Factory (once you get it) when you're actually fighting something. Basically, build her to produce TP and spent it to spam Ghost Factory; Decoy is kinda crazy, and it's what's gonna keep you alive.
PC build - Duelist is probably mandatory for your initial class; the damage output is going to be a requirement. Once you have Irina up and running, you probably want to switch classes to the Full Metal Jaguar line at some point, though? Lao is basically going to require you to abuse Overdrive cooldown in order to spam Decoy; he hits too hard and his adds are jerks. If you max FMJ it's probably wise to switch back to Longsword+Dual Guns Duelist. (You're using the Longsword no matter what, of course.)
Skell build -I wanna say, dump the Urban 20 because it's a piece of shit that's going to get itself blown up. Buy a level 30 frame from the shop - light is optimal for movement speed. [Movement trick that's worth noting: you can turn on a dime in vehicle mode by pressing the stick in, inputting the direction you're turning in during the transform animation, and then pressing the stick in again. It's not twitchy or frame-perfect or anything - it's just that you hold onto your vehicle mode momentum during the transform animation, but have the handling of the robot mode.] Verus is probably the best pick here - G-Buster can one-shot things that you have to fight in the Skell.
The big open problem I see here is keeping up with level requirements (hard and de facto for bosses) before Irina hits Psycorruptor 13. The game's really balanced around the assumption that you aren't just going to bumrush everything. Hypothetically, there are probably a few spots where the fastest option is to try and suicide on the boss three times so you can put it into easy mode.
Really rough conjectural idea as to a sequence of mandatory content:
prologue
ch1
ch2
start probefessional
ch3
renewed will?
BLADE level basics
ch4
renewed will?
ch5
nine lives?
a friend in need
Noctilum 20%
ch6
nine lives?
skell license
noctilum license reqs [12 blitz blattas, solar starship map, armadillos if not already 8, mirrorstone if not already 1]
primordia license reqs [Shatshikh, ladybugs if not already 6]
Pip-Squeak?
oblivia license req [squashes if not already 3]
need lv30/$$ for Verus 30 by this point - dump Urban 20 immediately
close comrades? [during skell license test?]
matchmaker?
Oblivia 25%
ch7
nine lives?
spy games?
matchmaker?
Mira 10%
ch8
nine lives?
manhunt?
spy games?
sylvalum seabird's beak FN point
ch9
a girl's wings?
nine lives?
manhunt?
Sylvalum 15%
ch10
nine lives?
boot camp
Cauldros 15%
ch11
ch12
I'm not sure exactly when the fastest time to do a lot of the mandatory affinity quests/normal missions is.
EDIT:
Okay, so Control on tyrants is a no-go. No big deal, though, because you know what you can control?
The Everlasting Millesaurs by Biahno Lake. And they give you a shitload of experience. So - you get Irina to Psycorruptor 13, and that lets you Brainjack one of those, go into Overdrive, and start spamming Servant Sacrifice until it dies. Loads of experience.
Anyway! Playing this recently, it kept occurring to me that it could actually make a really cool speedrun given how large, open-form, and kinda sorta super-broken the game is. I don't think you're exactly going to get it under an hour, but you've got a huge amount of time you can shave off, and it should be possible to get those strategies relatively consistent.
The troublesome part, of course, is just how many different variables you have to route around. You're going to need research probes, definitely, to get the Skell license; travel routes and the like will have to be constructed around that. And you want to get that license as soon as possible because of how much faster Skells make locomotion - in particular, if you need to do anything in Sylvalum or Cauldros, you're basically screwed without the Skell license. I want to say you're probably better off actually dumping the Skell as a combat tool for the last part of the run, since you're never going to get a level 50 frame in a speedrun and you need a pretty badass ground gear setup for Lao anyway - but even then, it's invaluable as a vehicle.
Experience, class experience, and battle points are going to be the biggest problems for the run, of course. You want to get through battles fast, except you're skipping basically every optional quest and you're avoiding every fight you can by abusing the hell out of Shadowrunner. The good news: Irina is a party member made available by the main story progression, very early on, and she gets Brainjack + Servant Sacrifice. Which means you can find something big and overleveled (spitballing here: the level 81 gorilla dude right outside of NLA seems pretty perfect, as long as he's not immune to control) and auto-kill it for preposterous amounts of experience and class experience. She's basically useless in battle apart from that, but that's more than enough - you get her to Psycorruptor 13, switch leaders to her, and then just save in front of Donkey Kong, Brainjack+SS, and reload until it works. It'll take a few times, then you get a giant pile of experience. Rinse, lather, and repeat until you're positioned to hit the level threshold for chapter 12 after the remaining mandatory quests. (I know the displayed EXP from a battle caps at 9999; does that actually apply to the received experience, though, or is it just the display? Because this'll go much faster if you get the full yield after factoring in the level difference.)
NPC builds - you control Elma to run past things with Shadowrunner as much as possible, but you really don't want her to have any TP arts but Ghost Factory (once you get it) when you're actually fighting something. Basically, build her to produce TP and spent it to spam Ghost Factory; Decoy is kinda crazy, and it's what's gonna keep you alive.
PC build - Duelist is probably mandatory for your initial class; the damage output is going to be a requirement. Once you have Irina up and running, you probably want to switch classes to the Full Metal Jaguar line at some point, though? Lao is basically going to require you to abuse Overdrive cooldown in order to spam Decoy; he hits too hard and his adds are jerks. If you max FMJ it's probably wise to switch back to Longsword+Dual Guns Duelist. (You're using the Longsword no matter what, of course.)
Skell build -I wanna say, dump the Urban 20 because it's a piece of shit that's going to get itself blown up. Buy a level 30 frame from the shop - light is optimal for movement speed. [Movement trick that's worth noting: you can turn on a dime in vehicle mode by pressing the stick in, inputting the direction you're turning in during the transform animation, and then pressing the stick in again. It's not twitchy or frame-perfect or anything - it's just that you hold onto your vehicle mode momentum during the transform animation, but have the handling of the robot mode.] Verus is probably the best pick here - G-Buster can one-shot things that you have to fight in the Skell.
The big open problem I see here is keeping up with level requirements (hard and de facto for bosses) before Irina hits Psycorruptor 13. The game's really balanced around the assumption that you aren't just going to bumrush everything. Hypothetically, there are probably a few spots where the fastest option is to try and suicide on the boss three times so you can put it into easy mode.
Really rough conjectural idea as to a sequence of mandatory content:
prologue
ch1
ch2
start probefessional
ch3
renewed will?
BLADE level basics
ch4
renewed will?
ch5
nine lives?
a friend in need
Noctilum 20%
ch6
nine lives?
skell license
noctilum license reqs [12 blitz blattas, solar starship map, armadillos if not already 8, mirrorstone if not already 1]
primordia license reqs [Shatshikh, ladybugs if not already 6]
Pip-Squeak?
oblivia license req [squashes if not already 3]
need lv30/$$ for Verus 30 by this point - dump Urban 20 immediately
close comrades? [during skell license test?]
matchmaker?
Oblivia 25%
ch7
nine lives?
spy games?
matchmaker?
Mira 10%
ch8
nine lives?
manhunt?
spy games?
sylvalum seabird's beak FN point
ch9
a girl's wings?
nine lives?
manhunt?
Sylvalum 15%
ch10
nine lives?
boot camp
Cauldros 15%
ch11
ch12
I'm not sure exactly when the fastest time to do a lot of the mandatory affinity quests/normal missions is.
EDIT:
Okay, so Control on tyrants is a no-go. No big deal, though, because you know what you can control?
The Everlasting Millesaurs by Biahno Lake. And they give you a shitload of experience. So - you get Irina to Psycorruptor 13, and that lets you Brainjack one of those, go into Overdrive, and start spamming Servant Sacrifice until it dies. Loads of experience.
Thread title: