Thanks givin' out to EmptyEye out of Speed Demos Archive for displaying his single-segment run, which he completed in about 1 hour and 20 minutes. More thanks givin' out to Dromiceius for locating that clip so I can learn from it. Also, I deeply thank the people of TASVideos.org for their support as I spent countless hours day-in and day-out doing this. This movie, start to finish, is about 10 minutes faster than EmptyEye's run.
Here are some objectives of this run:
Aim for faster time - this will be based on judgment of character, excessive use of slow-downs/save states, judgment of the environment of each chapter, and number of items/rupias on hand.
Abuse a programming error or two - Isfa (the hero) can sometimes stay pink as he jumps. Also, a glitch I found somewhere along chapter 5 inside the Fire Maze where he just came out of a stairway - if he jumps to the right, he goes diagonal down+left all of a sudden. Weird! Disagree? Watch closely. And one more glitch where if you move Isfa just right, he could snap to trees/walls.
Hardcore luck manipulation - I'm talking straight up rupia gambling at the Casino, plus escaping from all but one menu-based battle.
Include a short entertainment tradeoff - perhaps a few viewers might want to see what it is like when TAS'ing through at least one menu-based battle. Find out in chapter 2 - vs. 4 Pandarms'.
And now a few things about this run...
Chapter 1 (Mooroon) involves obtaining Faruk from 50 years ago to make way to Gilga's palace of the present. I gambled to 910 rupias and made sure I was set with bread and mashroob. I used only two carpets. As soon as I reached LV 3, I didn't have to go too far to meet this boss. I did a little "magic dancing" while Gilga had eyes scattered all over the screen. I had to use awareness and wait a moment before I saw another completely open eye. The eyes of Gilga is best defeated by repeatedly using Bolttor1, but the player has to make sure at least one eye is completely opened. Then its true colors were revealed into three eyes where each of them can be defeated in 10 hits using the actual rod. If any better result, attend that Magic University out of the past to get the Flame rod.
Chapter 2 (Alalart) was the easiest and skipping Gun Meca and Supica was a breeze! Even that SDA video I saw did the same thing. I didn't feel the need for any carpets in this chapter. I felt that I went straight to the boss and probably felt the need to gain a level or two so I can start using Flamol1 against Curly, a Chapter 2 boss. First meeting was a statue which can be defeated by repeatedly using Flamol1 at least 8 times. Then after revealing its "true colors", it gives out 6 hands, however, it didn't matter which hand I should've attacked first! Again, Flamol1 was used repeatedly while Curly's "restoration" spell tried to keep itself in the game, heh...
Chapter 3 (Samalkand) did take time to beat, but the TAS abilities made it look formidably quick. It is very hard to underestimate completing this chapter without Mustafa, Pukin, or both! Going to another Magic University would give me an armor upgrade, but I had to skip that because I had a different plan. I had to change into a Saint going toward the time door; it was a requirement to get Cimaron fruit. Then I had to actually go into a future to get Pukin then meet up with Mustafa in the present on the way to the Demon Troll which was the boss of this chapter. Everytime I hit the Troll in the first appearance (row of 5), he would strike me with Thunder. After several hits, I noticed that I ran out of bread. BUT, I was still able to finish him off after Pukin revealed the real Troll and Mustafa slowed down that Troll's movement.
Chapter 4 (Celestern) was a journey off to the Salamander boss from 3000 years ago. I did pick up bread and only got two carpets. I also had to get Rainy as a fighter, then make way to the boss as a Magician. Chapter 4 is among the two chapters in this game where a class change (done at a Mosque) is needed to do certain things in the game. Therefore, as much as I been gambling, I needed to make sure I had enough of those crazy looking rupias to get the job done. There was a pool of lava out in the wilderness where part of it was pretty narrow. Considering that to my advantage and what TASvideos would call "doing the unexpected", I managed to jump across and perhaps it did save more time. I had to jump a few extra times to avoid all those bees and bats. There is a wizard or two in the palace, and you have to avoid their attacks which could transform you. Several rooms later, Rainy brought out the fire Salamander. I have to admit, I was hitting it with a Crystal rod pretty quick. I drained about half of its life when it dove into a fire field. On the SDA video, Rainy used his magic 2 times to bring back Salamander (during battle, not after the first time), but in this run, I was quick enough to have Rainy use it once. So that did save some time right there! But I can't believe that after I defeated it, I was short on HP and no bread on hand - one of its fire fragments actually made me walk away with zero HP! Dammit...
Chapter 5 (Evil Magician Sabaron) became indeed the last chapter. But what was funny though was that Sabaron wasn't even a boss! Probably a nemesis, but certainly not a real boss. On the other hand, ehh, this is a repeat of Celestern. I had to stock up on bread, tag the cities of Pao and Chigris so I can freely warp there using carpets, and then go to the past to get a Legend sword. After returning from the past, I had to warp to Pao so I can show some crazy looking guy a Legend sword and then he opened a gateway across a lake to a stairway with Light armor; I had no other option but to get it. Warping to Chigris so I wouldn't have too far to walk back to a pathway to Sabaron's palace, and finally I was in. According to gameplay, you can't get into Sabaron's palace without that Light armor upgrade south of Pao. Wiggling through the rooms and into a room where Sabaron was being held. He told me about Goragora (real boss). Then he told me about a certain curse which affected me, Scheherazade, and himself. He managed to set me free and hook me up with the Isfa rod when the only thing I told him was "CORONYA". One of my allies?! Sabaron, are you nuts?! Several rooms and a maze later, I opened up a pillar wall by standing on a moon, a sun, and a center star. From there on, it was all about me and Goragora. He showed up with a big face - that can be defeated by using Bolttor3 as quick as possible. By the time it used a transform spell on me, it was already defeated so it was too late. I came back to normal while Goragora turned itself into "spinning discs". The dark disc would be the target. I had to keep positioning myself in the right spot to score precise hits as quick as possible. Finally, I was done.
The movie ends with Isfa saying "Scheherazade, I'll be back for you someday!", so the movie does go on after defeating Goragora. On the SDA video, this message (Isfa) was seen at 1:23:55, but on my run, I saw that at 1:13:44. That is indeed why this is a pretty good bit of improvement! So again, big thanx to TASvideos.org... for good times like this, of course! =)
$/X