Submission #2572: janus's Genesis Phantasy Star IV in 1:28:43.40

Sega Genesis
baseline
Gens 11a
319404
60
134803
Unknown
Phantasy Star IV (4) [!].bin
Submitted by janus on 2/21/2010 9:44:41 PM
Submission Comments
In this final chapter of the Phantasy Star Saga, you finally get to destroy the root of all evil. Thanks to the absence of random battle, heavy luck manipulation and the use of a roll over bug, this game is completed in less than 1,5h!!

Game objectives

  • Emulator used: Gens 11a
  • Aim for the fastest completion
  • Manipulation of luck
  • Take damage to save time
This TAS is my second one. Although it is much shorther than BOF 2, PS4 was actually harder. In effect, the AI for this game is utterly unpredictable. During battle, pressing A at the same frame can yield difference results. The number of times I had to restart to find what I was looking for...
Anyway, here are general tricks to save time
  • •Random fights can be totally avoided
  • •Macros can be used to pre-determine actions. However, they are only useful if they can be used more than once (except for making combination attacks or specific orders, like the psyco-wand macro against Zio). Many people have claimed that targets can be pre-determined when using a macro; I have yet to find evidence for that.
  • •When useful, combination attacks use less frames than two individual attacks
  • •With luck manipulation, there is no need to hunt for treasures. Chaz uses only 2 swords during the whole game; I also shop only twice
  • •The target in front is most likely to get hit; it can save a few frames
  • •Having turbo A and B pressed is a (real)-time saver and an in-game saver. Since my characters leve-up during boss fights, they can gain quite a few levels at the time
  • Thanks to Fresh Feeling, I found a way to make boss fights after Juza much quicker. In effect, in Zio's tower, an ennemy drops a shadowblade. It does reduce stats like dexterity and mental power... but it can't be negative. Instead, it goes back to 255. So, Although Chaz can only cast tsu 3 times, the damage it causes shortens the battles by quite a bit. Also, with 254 dexterity, he never misses his target AND hits critically 100% of the time.
And now, for the bosses...
  • !!Iglannova 1 and 2 : no change
  • !!Juza : Tsu takes care of things. Also, since Rika gained a doubleslash, it makes things even quicker
  • !!Zio 1 : I never realized I could try to escape instead of making a defense macro
  • !!Gy-Laguish : I take full advantage of tsu. Also, I can manipulate him so he kills people with his attack rather than his fire breath
  • !!Zio 2 : One of the only fight that required healing AND resurection. This way, Rune and Rika and Demi can take Zio down without dying prematurely.
  • !!Chaos wizard : no change.
  • !!Darf Force I : Tsu made all the difference. At over 650 damage per hit, he goes down quickly.
  • !!Xe-la-Thoul : with a dopped up Chaz, the fight gets so much easier. It could be quicker if I could have casted blizzard, but no such luck in this fight...
  • !!Lashiec : the trickiest fight. Although Kyra has higher defense (thanks to the plasma shield), she still has to survive until the very end without healing. And when Chaz gets resucitated, his tsu is useful again.
  • !!Dark Force II : 3 rounds of tsu are still useful. Otherwise, shift to Rika gives a good boost
  • Dark Force III : healing takes too much time, so I tried sleeping instead. I saved 10% of the frames from the original publication
  • !! De-Vars : he is tricky. Not only is Chaz's dexterity very low (he gets the plasma sword; shadowblade only does 1 damage, but he is very quicl. Rika still gets shift, but saner is also necessary so Rune can get healed
  • !! Sa-Lews : much easier than de-vars. He responds well to tsu, and a shifted RIka does more damage.
  • Profound Darkness : Demi's attack are quite consitent, so it's always 150 damage. When Chaz can hit, his attack can near 250-300 damage. Against PD 3, Demi's medical power resurects every human in one hit. And since I didn't use deban, only Wren can get hit and withstand it. Finally, because the attacks are so consistent, I only need 4 macros.

adelikat: Accepting as an improvement to the published movie
Last Edited by adelikat on 3/14/2010 8:46 PM
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