Submission #7607: Cadit's PSX Alundra "100%" in 5:00:22.29

(Link to video)
Sony PlayStation
100%
(Submitted: 100%)
(Submitted: Alundra (J) [SCPS-10035] JPN/USA v1.0)
BizHawk 2.3.2
1080257
59.94005994005994
438539
PowerOn
Submitted by Cadit on 7/20/2022 10:48 PM
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Submission Comments
Here is the TAS video, but with commentary + tracking. If you prefer this version instead of the raw footage for the Encode Embed Link, please tell me and I will change it.
( https://youtu.be/N_i3JHOXPn0 )
Information
This is a Tool Assisted Speedrun of the Japanese PS1 game Alundra that was released in 1997.
The TAS starts at power on at frame 0 and ends at frame 1,080,256 (time = 5:00:22.27) when Alundra gives the last input to load the final cutscene.
In order to replicate the TAS yourself, please make sure that you have the following:
  • Copy of the game Alundra in Japanese (Alundra (J) [SCPS-10035])
  • Recommended but not necessary, the lua script on the official speedrun website ( https://www.speedrun.com/alundra/resources ) to get the position of Alundra on the map.
  • The emulation software EmuHawk version 2.3.2. Other versions do not have the correct loading times after some testing.
The software EmuHawk version 2.3.2 will need to run on these settings:
  • PSX BIOS (version 1.0 J) SCPH1000.BIN
  • Profile = Tool Assisted Speedruns (to not lose accuracy in the frames)
  • I have not found where to change the memory card settings, so I have not modified them. I believe that one is required for the 20 deaths but I am not certain as I never interacted with it.
The ROM checksums (SHA1) are:
Info Teddy: To answer your question, the site rules clearly state that posting copyrighted materials is not allowed. Not even on a temporary file host. Also, please use the Minor Edit checkbox, your edits are spamming the #updates channel in Discord and marking each edit as a minor edit will stop the update message.
Short Description
The game's protagonist is a young man named Alundra, who learns that he has the power to enter people's dreams. He is shipwrecked on an island, near the village of Inoa, where locals have been suffering from recurring nightmares that sometimes cause death. With his dream walking ability, Alundra proceeds to try to help the locals. After defeating many nightmares caused by the antagonist Melzas and obtaining the 7 crests required to access the final dungeon, Alundra defeats Melzas and the village is saved.
Rules of 100% completion
The category of this TAS is 100%, meaning that we need to do the following:
  • Collect 40 Life Vessels
  • Collect 50 Gilded Falcons and all individual items. Even items that get replaced must be collected (getting Fiend Blade while already having Legend Sword, for example).
  • Collect 4 Magic Seeds
  • All 8 portals must be activated.
  • Get to the final cutscene (after defeating Melzas)
  • Consumable items does not matter (Keys, Herbs, Strength Tonics, Strength Elixyrs, Magic Elixyrs and Wonder Essence).
  • Amount of gilder is irrelevant, does not need to finish with 9999.
To help you check for 100% completion, I have timestamped the moments I collect each item:
There is no need to timestamp the Magic Seeds, Live Vessels and Gilded Falcons. When Alundra reaches 50HP, we have all 40 Live Vessels and we obtain the Spirit Wand only by trading the 50 gilded falcons. The Magic Seeds are on screen at all time and if we see four of them at the top of the screen, we got all four.
This video of the TAS has commentary + tracker. You can use this to check for item collection if you want. It is much easier! ( https://youtu.be/N_i3JHOXPn0 )
CrestsCollection Time
Agate Crest4:04:12
Diamond Crest2:34:42
Emerald Crest4:16:29
Garnet Crest4:04:00
Ruby Crest0:42:20
Sapphire Crest1:49:34
Topaz Crest3:19:31
ArmourCollection Time
Ancient Armour4:08:01
Broken Armour3:31:15
Cloth Armour0:01:33
Leather Armour4:08:16
Silver Armour4:42:45
Charm Boots4:12:59
Long Boots1:09:08
Merman Boots1:20:02
Short Boots0:01:33
EquipmentCollection Time
Aqua Cape3:19:48
Miner's Bomb0:21:53
Nava's Charm2:17:26
Olga's Ring4:44:00
Power Glove2:16:11
Recovery Ring4:45:03
Sand Cape0:59:35
Silver Armlet4:44:31
Spring Bean2:31:24
Book/ScrollCollection Time
Earth Book0:57:45
Earth Scroll0:41:53
Fire Book4:15:13
Fire Scroll1:49:46
Water Book3:48:00
Water Scroll1:26:00
Wind Book2:33:59
Wind Scroll2:05:43
ItemsCollection Time
Book of Elna0:11:00
Book of Runes2:11:32
Book of Verses2:13:11
Bouquet0:35:55
Jess's Letter3:30:34
Secret Pass2:08:15
Zolist Stone2:34:25
Tree Gem3:46:35
KeysCollection Time
Curious Key2:14:07
Elevator Key4:01:07
Sluice Key1:10:20
Small Key3:30:17
WeaponsCollection Time
Dagger0:01:33
Fiend Blade3:51:24
Fire Wand1:28:38
Holy Sword4:40:58
Hunter's Bow1:41:23
Ice Wand4:11:22
Iron Flail0:56:33
Legend Sword3:13:55
Spirit Wand4:45:34
Steel Flail3:41:52
Sword1:08:56
Willow Bow4:05:24
PortalsCollection Time
North (Left) - Magyscar Area Arch1:57:36
North (Right) - Watermill Area Arch3:23:42
North-East - Inspiration Point Arch3:21:17
South-East - Cliffs of Madness Arch4:09:38
South (Right) - Dark Swamp Arch1:16:43
South (Left) - Fairy Pond Arch1:27:06
South-West - Fire Manor Arch4:06:00
North-West - Murgg Woods Arch4:05:13
Gitches/Exploits
Several glitches and exploits are used to break the game:
  • Bomb Glitch:
    • When Alundra is receiving damage and tries to carry a bomb, while another is exploding, it is possible to infinitely pull out a bomb without taking further damage and considerably reducing the time between each bomb explosion. (by Spiriax - https://youtu.be/4pVgsyt6uXU )
  • Bomb Jump Glitch:
    • When jumping, Alundra usually goes a bit under 3 tiles in any direction. However, it is possible to get additional recoil speed from a bomb when jumping and carrying another bomb shortly after the initial bomb's detonation. (by Cadit - https://youtu.be/YfYmGpK4cpw )
  • Weapon Swapping Glitch:
    • All weapons in Alundra have a fixed amount of damage they can deal. When initiating an attack, Alundra has a short attack animation. If during that animation Alundra pauses the game and switches weapon, the damage from both weapons are applied to the enemy in a single attack. E.g.: attacking with the fire wand and while the fire projectile is in the air, swap weapons with the legend sword to stack the damage from both weapons. This only works with a single swap however. If one were to swap more than once while the initial attack animation is playing, only the weapon equipped while the enemy is hit will count for the stack effect.
  • Ledge dashing Glitch:
    • When shoulder dashing (attack while running) off a ledge and carrying any item (i.e. bomb or magic bean) shortly after falling, Alundra will retain his running speed all the way during his fall.
  • Damage boost on spikes/lava Glitch:
    • Pulling out a bomb or a magic bean while taking damage on any spikes/lava will push Alundra in the direction he is traveling, saving 1 frame. It is not a lot but it is done many times.
  • Stool Pushing Glitch:
    • When pushing a stool, it is possible to change the direction it will travel by moving 1 frame after it starts to travel. It can skip having to walk around the stool and gives the illusion of "pulling" the stool. (by Cadit - https://youtu.be/X051JNe9bsU )
  • Door Jump Exploit:
    • Almost every door/gate in the game has a specific height, but it is usually too high for Alundra to jump over, usually height 5. One specific door has a massive hinge on the side and this can be jumped on at height 2, skipping the door. (by Cadit - https://youtu.be/n1rLdc0Te2g )
  • Bean Jump Exploit:
    • The magic bean is an item that Alundra can pull out of his inventory at will and was intended to be planted into pots to grow into spring plants. This item however has collision and when it is thrown, Alundra can use it as a stepping stool before it explodes on the ground or on the wall. If it is used on the ground (called DJ), it gives an additional 1 tile high to jump, but if it explodes on a wall (called 3DJ) before reaching the ground, it can give a bit of extra height.
JumpHeight
Normal jump~ 1.9 tile
Bean Jump (DJ)~ 2.9 tiles (by Cadit - https://youtu.be/hl4DH5qcK3E )
Wall Bean Jump (3DJ)~ 3 tiles (by Cadit - https://youtu.be/YGC9pbRutOQ )
  • Knockback Cancel Exploit:
    • If Alundra receives damage and takes knockback as a result, it is possible to cancel the knockback animation by carrying an item during the animation. This can be done by pulling out a bomb/spring bean while in mid-air during the knockback. Doing this trick in mid-air compared to on the ground has the advantage of cancelling the animation of the item being pulled out from the inventory when landing on the ground. This can still be done on the ground, but the animation of the item being pulled out of the inventory is slower than the knockback animation, so it would be pointless. Cancelling the knockback animation prevents all knockback, and so, Alundra can start moving again sooner than intended. This is often used to go through spike balls, burning bushes or even enemies by taking advantage of the invincibility frames from the recent damage.
TAS Breakdown
Here is a summary of the TAS. If you watch the associated video ( https://youtu.be/m7oAE5tAsRs ), I have placed the timestamps here so you can more easily locate the different parts.
Table of contents

0:00 - Power On

Nothing unusual here, just booting the game.

0:42 - Start

This is where the RTA run would start, when you press "Start" at the menu screen.

1:33 - The Klark

The Klark is the ship where Alundra starts to actually move. Basic movement here, not much to explain apart from the running mechanic used throughout the game. You run using the triangle button and a direction simultaneously. To do a quick turn, lift your finger off a direction for about 11-17 frames before pressing another direction, and you don't need to wind up a running animation twice.

6:44 - Inoa Arrival

You are greeted by most of the villagers. First mission here is to get a book to help to know more about the nightmares. The first task is to go to Tarn's Manor to get it. Basic movement here as well.

9:07 - Tarn Manor

First dungeon of the game. Very standard movement to get the book, only a single glitch where you stand on two buttons at once to skip one barrel. Since your starting weapon is weak, we take advantage of the jars and boxes in the rooms to throw them on enemies for an instakill We also meet Melzas as a hologram at the end of the dungeon as we pick up the book.

11:39 - Exit Tarn Manor

Running back to the village to deliver the book to Septimus and finally entering the first dream.

12:48 - Wendell's dream

Very first dream. It is so easy that it is all contained in the same room consisting of a giant maze. This dream is somewhat of a running tutorial since it is all you do here. It also unfortunately contains the hardest boss of the TAS, because of the insane RNG it takes to make it perfect. Regardless of what you do, it can always be improved because the boss is actually a big slime dividing and spreading, so this is a lot of enemy movement control. The first phase is fine, because there is only one slime, but on stages 2 and 3, every slime divides into 4 smaller slimes. The optimal fight scenario would have all slimes moving in the same direction so that we can hit them all at the same frame, but it is really hard to do.

15:43 - Exit Wendell's dream

We now learn a bit more about the dreams, talk to one of the characters partly responsible for all this mess, the Pastor Ronan, although the player isn't supposed to know Ronan is a bad guy yet. The mine collapsed and a miner got rescued.

19:29 - Coal Mine dream

We then enter a dream of a miner to know what happened at the nearby mine that started to crumble apart. Just after we learn that the Murggs are responsible of this, he dies and this motivates Jess to make the first weapon, the bomb. It is the second most glitchy item in the game and will be used a lot until we get the magic bean. We then go to the Coal mine to try and find more of the miners trapped in there.

23:04 - Coal Mine

Very standard back and forth to open doors, activate levers and gather a few items. The aim of the dungeon is to activate the various rails to use the minecart to get to the end of the mine. Some notable tricks include the bomb. The turtles can detonate the bombs sooner, used to break one wall. In one of the flooded rooms, pulling out a bomb will prevent the game from switching to slow walk mode in water and retain the normal walking speed, saving time. The first real glitch also happens here in this dungeon, the bomb jump glitch to jump over a gap. The dungeon boss isn't even a real boss, but just 4 Murggs so it's pretty easy.

30:41 - Exit Coal Mine

You get a first view of the Murggs' Tree, a dungeon that will be accessed later on. Alundra is shown a premonition by one of the villagers about the future of the village, and then he goes on to the next dungeon, Lars's Crypt.

36:31 - Lars's Crypt

A lot of movement in this dungeon, mainly to open rooms and talk to NPCs. The bomb is the main source of damage so it is used a lot, including carrying it to jump slightly further over gaps. This is where the bomb jump glitch would be used in RTA for a conveyor skip, but we can precisely jump here so no need for it. The boss requires the bomb glitch to get damaged here, since the bomb is the strongest weapon so far. We also get the first magic scroll here that will be used shortly after in the next dream.

42:50 - Exit Lars's Crypt

Virtually nothing happens here, just some more storyline and then going to the next dream.

44:47 - Bonaire's dream

Lots of button activating, but not really anything glitchy happens. Just standard route to the boss that is defeated in a single bomb.

48:39 - Exit Bonaire's dream

Learning more about the lore of the game, so nothing happens.

49:32 - 20 Death grind

Very boring to watch, dying 20 times to have the ability to collect the Legend Sword later in the game. Just some bomb deaths.

56:17 - End Death grind

Second death of a villager means we get the second weapon from Jess, the flail. It is a change from the sword since it is semi-ranged as it can keep enemies at bay and also break large rocks. We now move towards the next dungeon Ancient Shrine, collecting more items on the way, especially the Earth Book at Nirude. The desert is pretty funny to watch because while we don't have the next set of boots, it is faster to jump around than walking/running. Before entering the dungeon, one small exploit to bypass the last windy maze room where you stand at the very bottom of a loading zone.

1:00:43 - Ancient Shrine

Here, another bomb glitch to kill enemies faster. Lots of movement to get to the boss, but nothing noteworthy. The first boss is a replica of the golem from Lars's crypt and is pretty easy with the Earth Book, and the second boss is just a lot of zombies, so bombs take care of them pretty fast. It serves no purpose but when defeating the zombies, Alundra dies and then is revived by a falling health drop. It is purely for fun and it is only done here because of time to waste.

1:09:38 - Exit Ancient Shrine

We got the boots now so we can walk properly. We move on to Berue's Chamber to unlock access to the eight teleport arches scattered around the game. We need to activate all eight so it is better to do it early on.

1:11:47 - Berue's Chamber

Lots of precise movement, almost like a dance. Fun to watch if you struggle with it in RTA because the TAS makes it look easy. I run as little as possible, but it does not matter because it's pretty much an autoscroller area.

1:15:39 - Exit Berue's Chamber

More item gathering, and then enter the Coastal Cave.

1:18:09 - Coastal Cave

Bomb is still the weapon of choice for enemies. Standard movement to access the boss. The room just before the boss has a rolling boulder with a massive hitbox, and you can stand pretty far on the side of it. Boss is the first one that required a lot of RNG grind to be able to hit it at the first movement every time. No crest in that dungeon because the monkey boss Zazan stole it.

1:26:39 - Exit Coastal Cave

Alundra now goes on to the Fire Manor. We can sequence break to get in it with a bomb jump glitch on the left stairs.

1:27:49 - Fire Manor

The torches there can be lit with bombs so it is pretty fast. Get the Fire Wand and go to the village for some more storytelling.

1:29:02 - Exit Fire Manor

Just running to the village. We then learn that Kline went insane, so we need to investigate it. We will enter his dream to find out more.

1:33:50 - Kline's dream

A lot of damage boost here to take advantage of the additional speed and invincibility frames. One weird mechanic of the boulder in one room allow you to move it in an unintended place to go up a ledge, making a very minor skip. This dream is also home to the arguably most difficult puzzle of the game. You need to push ice pillars on a button, but one of the pillars can be pushed in an unintended direction, so it is easier. The boss of this area does not have health, but hit points. It is defeated after hitting it 20 times, regardless of the damage dealt.

1:39:27 - Exit Kline's dream

Kline goes berserk werewolf and we can have some RNG fun here in TAS. Hit Kline 10 times while collecting as much gilders as possible. My record is 76 gilders so far. Another death, another weapon. This time, we get the bow. It does 1 damage but one glitch towards the end of the game will make it overpowered. It is also the only weapon than can be used twice in a single jump because of how short the animation is. We now go on to the next dungeon, Reptile Lair.

1:43:12 - Reptile Lair

Some statue enemies here can be killed with the bow since they have a set number of hits required to be killed, and the first bow can hit twice in a single jump, so it is faster. The reptiles here are usually killed with bombs and the statues with arrows. Usual movements here with some item collecting. Pretty fun here for TAS with the large enemy groups that must be killed with bombs and charged sword hits. Boss is just a giant reptile that does not last long with the Earth Book.

1:50:17 - Exit Reptile Lair

Running back to the village to get to Giles's dream.

1:51:31 - Giles's dream

This dungeon is the first one that would give real trouble in time lost if not done well. There are many fights that are RNG heavy, with ghosts appearing an disappearing out of existence, and are mandatory to kill to go forward. That dungeon is basically "kill an enemy group to access the next room", all the way up to the boss. The boss looks a lot like the one in Kline's but this time it has a health bar, meaning that the Earth Book is the best weapon here.

1:56:48 - Exit Giles's dream

Running to the next dungeon again, but this one is way easier.

1:58:31 - Magyscar

This dungeon was intended to be done with the fire pots laying around, and coming back with the fire wand to collect the remaining items. Having the fire wand on the first time around here significantly shortens the solving time of the puzzles. Otherwise, pretty standard movement here with a couple trick jumps. The boss here is a giant centipede that requires some heavy RNG grind. It is possible, with a single Earth Book cast, to remove all it's armored skin, and hit it three times on the head. It then dies with three more charged fire wand hits.

2:06:08 - Exit Magyscar

Some more storytelling in the village, and get the secret pass for the casino later on. Then go to the sanctuary and activate it with a wind scroll cast from the front of the church.

2:09:03 - Sanctuary

Lots of back and forth here, mainly to do some missions for Septimus that is looking for clues in the church. The stool pushing glitch is used here for some timesave. After hunting a teleporting book, uncovering the underground statue, and talking to Ronan, you leave the sanctuary.

2:15:50 - Exit Sanctuary

You get one more item but nobody died, right? Nope, someone dies again while you slept. This time you get the power gloves and go on for some more storytelling before heading for the next dream.

2:20:06 - Meia's dream

The most calm dream by far, where no enemies can be found. Alundra is in the mind of Meia, another dreamwalker. This dream is home to long cutscenes and nice puzzles, so it is very relaxing. Basically running around activating levers and and buttons with some hide-and-seek until a final game of red-light green-light before leaving the dungeon.

2:28:52 - Exit Meia's dream

It is now time to go and get the most exploited item in the game, the magic bean. It allows for some double jumps, activating some buttons and cancelling jumps. It is found at Nava's hut so we rush there and sequence break with a bean jump to enter the next dungeon, Nava's Keep.

2:31:40 - Nava's Keep

This dungeon is hard to navigate without knowledge of the area since the doors teleport you around. Activate all the torches while doing lots of bean jumps around the place. Get the wind book behind the house and destroy the next boss with it. It is possible after the boss is dead to have it land on Alundra's head, which I did.

2:36:34 - Exit Nava's Keep

Collect some more items and move on to the Riverside Bar.

2:37:36 - Riverside Bar

That is just the entrance of the bar. Show the pass to the bartender and we can access the casino. There are three different games room that we will complete twenty times each. That is, four groups of five rounds per game.

2:37:53 - Slime Bash

Prove your skills here, since it is just an autoscroller. 30 seconds per fight regardless of how fast you can kill the slimes. Lots of time to show tricks here, but unfortunately, we can't pull out any items or change weapons in the ring.

2:51:36 - Slime Shooter

Same as before, an autoscroller, but this time we can max the score by standing still. Just jumping and shooting arrows are enough.

3:05:59 - Roulette

This part of the run is where a lot of the time difference is made for all 100% attempts. in RTA it is somewhat random, but in TAS, we can manipulate luck, so we are fine. However, not all is easy here, al lot of time can be lost by being careless. Basically, the aim of the game is to guess which color the light will land on after turning for a while. The light has a fixed range of 6-10 "ticks" away from the initial one on which it can land. Obviously, it is necessary to have the light land on the earliest possible color which is 6 ticks away. In addition, the light has three different speeds. Slow: it will take a while to land on the light, sometimes trolling you. Medium: it will slow down towards the color in a somewhat predictable manner. Fast: this is the one you want as it is the fastest, it will take two ticks of slowing down before landing on the light. The usual range of the light is 6-10, but if the black tile (instant loss) is at either 5 or 11 ticks away precisely, the game can exceptionally go out of it's way to land on it.

3:13:32 - Exit Riverside Bar

We talk to one of the sailors so that we can redeem the gilded falcons at the end of the game at Merrick's Shop. Collect the Legend Sword, the most powerful weapon in the game and collect more items on the way to Nirude's Lair.

3:16:08 - Nirude's Lair

One of the shortest mid-game dungeons, thanks to the DJs that you can do to bypass essentially all of it. It ends up being just a "go to the boss" dungeon with more cutscene than actual gameplay in it. If you pay close attention, the statue that appears after you kill the four goblins has a placeholder NPC that is the same one as the second boss as Ancient Shrine! It is here for one frame before changing to the normal statue NPC. The boss is pretty unconventional, as you defeat it by running away, breaking the boulders on your way.

3:19:28 - Exit Nirude's Lair

Do some more item collecting and then go to the Underground Waterway.

3:21:38 - Underground Waterway

This dungeon is done backwards, where we enter through the exit, collect items and exit through the entrance. DJs allow for some skips, and this area has no boss, so just exit it quickly.

3:23:10 - Exit Underground Waterway

Get a few more items and head to the village for a lot of storytelling and reminiscing of the past. Then, we enter Elene's Dream, which is one of the least linear dungeons of the game.

3:33:54 - Elene's Dream

This dungeon is intended to be done as a teamwork with Meia, but as with all games, NPCs are slow. We skip almost all interaction with her in this dungeon thanks to the DJs.The first part of the dungeon is done in reverse to skip the tutorial part of the teamwork training. We then move on the the real dungeon, which is divided in four main areas. Ice, Fire, Water Earth. DJs allow for many small skips, especially to climb up to get keys and we end up activating only the water pillar (we are meant to activate all four). We need this one because otherwise we cannot access the key stuck in the ground in the water area. Each area has a mini-boss, that dies in three hits of the legend sword in the central eye.

3:41:32 - Exit Elene's Dream

Although nobody died, for real this time, you are given a new weapon, the Steel Flail. Many items need to be gathered after this, and head to the Fairy Pond.

3:48:33 - Fairy Pond

This is an underwater dungeon that has no boss, but only one sword as reward. Since you have the Legend Sword by now, it is useless to get it, but for 100% completion it is required to have it. Since we are underground most of the time, we cannot DJ here but we can jump cancel to go faster by throwing a bean just after jumping so it lands on our head, cancelling the jump. Get the sword and leave by the entrance as the dungeon falls apart and closes as you exit.

3:52:38 - Exit Fairy Pond

Get a few more items on the way to Murgg Woods, especially in the large pit room that requires lots of beans to get through.

3:54:06 - Murgg Woods

Skip the entrance door and the next cutscene with a DJ, but play the one where the murggs argue, as it unlocks the Willow bow, that we will collect after leaving the next dungeon, the Murgg Tree.

3:55:01 - Murgg Tree

After getting captured, head through the tree mazes to free the locksmith. Use his services for the first door, then go collect the broken key at the very top of the tree so he can fix it for you. One particular room of the dungeon has a murgg battle trigger that we can skip by jumping over it. It cascades forward as many other fights are not triggered as a result. After that, head for the boss door to use the repaired key, and defeat Zazan, the giant monkey boss with four hits of the Legend Sword, and get back the stolen crest.

4:05:08 - Exit Murgg Tree

Just a couple seconds of walking to leave the tree. Nothing more to say.

4:05:45 - Exit Murgg Woods

As you exit the Woods, get the Willow bow and DJ over the door again.Warp to the Arch above Reptile Lair for some item collecting and head to Lurvy's for some purchases and to fix the armor obtained from Jess's chest. Warp to the Arch above the village and head to the Ice Manor with a nice DJ.

4:10:46 - Ice Manor

First room is same as RTA, with the pillar pushes, but the next puzzle is completely skipped with a DJ to the chest

4:11:52 - Exit Ice Manor

Walk to Torla Mountain. It is on the same map.

4:12:09 - Torla Mountain

When inside, go for the boots with a DJ and solve the next puzzles that are all fire wand based, lighting torches to open the doors along the way. This boss, Wilda, is a giant dragon that is immune to every damage, except the ice wand. We will use some weapon swapping with the Legend Sword to defeat it in three hits. Get the final crest here.

4:16:57 - Exit Torla Mountain

You wake up in the village and head straight to the last dream, Nestus's dream.

4:18:46 - Nestus's Dream

This dream consists of breaking three giant glass panes and restore the link between Nestus and his twin, captured by the Murggs. You do this by DJing all over the place and activating the three switches located after the glass panes.The boss of this area is the best example of the weapon swapping. It has 200HP and usually takes many hits to beat it, but with the following trick you can defeat it quickly. This boss has a single health bar, but two hitboxes because it is split in two monsters that move in mirror to each other. When you hit one, both enter the "invincibility flicker" animation, so you can usually only hit one at a time. However, with bow, you can make it so two different arrows hit the two monsters on the same frame. Add to this a weapon swap with the legend sword for big damage. Do one more Legend Sword hit and then with a charged fire wand, if you hit both bosses on the same frame and do a weapon swap with the Legend Sword, you will deal the highest damage possible in the entire game in a single hit, 91 damage.

4:23:57 - Exit Nestus's Dream

Head to the crests pedestal to place all seven of them, then go to the Outer Lake Shrine.

4:28:30 - Outer Lake Shrine

The aim here is to open the main gate to access the gardens. The buttons for this are located on either side of the mini-dungeon. Collect the necessary keys for this in here and activate the two buttons. Head in the gardens and throw a bean on the left button after entering. The trick is rather difficult in TAS and virtually impossible in RTA. Here is a video of the inputs: ( https://youtu.be/llfeNGnXT0E ). Go through the gardens to get the very last gilded falcon and go to the village through the teleporter in the top-right room.

4:33:07 - Exit Outer Lake Shrine

Free the burning village from the Murggs and go to the mayor's house for a long cutscene. Then, head to the church to defeat Ronan with repeated hits of the fire book.

4:39:29 - 100% Item Gathering

The remaining items of the game are going to be collected here, except for the last life vessel in the castle. Get the Holy Sword from the villagers' collective wish, head to the village shop and then go to Merrick's to redeem your fifty gilded falcons. After getting the Spirit Wand, go to the village well teleporter and go in the castle Inner Lake Shrine.

4:46:34 - Inner Lake Shrine

Right as you enter, Melzas freezes time in the castle and locks the door to the dungeon with a spell. The mission here is to go everywhere in the dungeon to undo the spell by pressing the six buttons scattered all around and activate the two machines to restore the flow of time. DJs and bean throws are used a lot to travel around. After undoing the spell and restoring the flow of time, head to the dinning room for the final puzzle that rewards the last item for the 100% collection, a life vessel. Then, go straight to Melzas for the final three fights.

4:55:30 - Melzas Fight

Equip the spirit wand and spam the fire book until each boss is defeated. There is little to no room for RNG here as the boss doesn't move around that much. Just hit it at the first possible frame. One thing to notice is at the second phase, you need to get the pattern where Melzas appears as three bodies instead of four because you can hit it sooner.

5:00:56 - The End

This is it, the end of the TAS. The last input is at frame 1,080,256 with one additional empty frame, mandatory for the software. All the rest of the recording is just a giant cutscene in anime style with "The End" as the last image. Thanks for watching the run! I hope you enjoyed it! I spent three years on it and I had a lot of fun! :D
Although the TAS is optimized, it is not flawless. The routing is near perfect but it can be improved in the future. Since this is a 5 hours long TAS, it is not a surprise that time can be saved.
Obviously, this run can be improved since it is 5 hours long and some very minor mistakes have been made. I lost a bit of time in one of the text dialogue, Wendell's boss can be improved and some general routing rework can be made. Otherwise I am very pleased with this run!
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you turn as you are running?
  • When you run, you have to hold the triangle button and a direction. That will make you run in that specific direction. If you want to turn, do not let go of the triangle button. Instead, change the direction by leaving a bit of time (around 11-17 frames = 1/6th - 1/3rd of a second) between direction 1 and direction 2. In a TAS, you almost always want to change direction as soon as possible (10 frames) because the sliding animation makes Alundra slower. However, it is not always the case, as sliding a bit longer might save time in some cases where you need to be on a precise coordinate that would not be obtainable with a 10 frames gap.
Are there any sequence breaks?
  • There are a few. The most important ones are the early Fire Wand Manor, the Earth Book chest and the early Nava's Keep dungeon. The early Fire Wand allows to seriously break Magyscar, the Earth Book makes many bosses shorter and Nava's Keep skips a back and forth trip at the end of the game. Fun fact is all these sequence breaks involve having to jump over where you are not supposed to.
Why do you throw a bean under a falling chest?
  • Alundra can open a chest if both him AND the chest are in a grounded state. That means, throwing a bean under the chest makes it land sooner, so you can open it sooner, by 1 frame exactly.
Can you stack the bean jumps to get infinite height, like a vanishing staircase?
  • It is not currently possible. If it was, then the route would be affected as some areas could be skipped if we could jump higher than a wall bean jump (~3 tiles). The best example of this is the locksmith in Murgg Tree that is locked in a cell. When you arrive in the dungeon you have to go all the way around to land in the chimney, but with any 4 tiles high jump, you could go from the ground to the chimney immediately.
Why do you sometimes jump, attack or charge a weapon randomly, when no enemies are around?
  • It all falls down to RNG grind. When you jump, attack and charge a weapon, the behavior of monsters is affected. I do this to get the optimal outcome to save as much time as possible.
Any new tricks recently?
  • Yes! I found The bean jump (DJ) in mid-February 2022. It is the reason why all runs now include it in their route. The bean jumps allow Alundra to jump on a magic bean that is thrown on the ground, giving the opportunity to jump to higher places. So far, only the magic bean has been found to have this property, so we cannot use another item (e.g. the bomb) to do this exploit.
Why do you run the game in Japanese?
  • The Japanese version is by far the fastest of all released versions worldwide. Not only do you save time with shorter and faster textbox dialogues, but the game itself is also different. Monsters in the other versions (EU and US) have the enemy HP increased by 50% on average due to a choice of game development, making every monster longer to kill, including all bosses.
How strong are the weapons in game?
  • The weapons in Alundra all have a fixed amount of damage they can deal, regardless of the monster. The only exceptions are some elemental weaknesses to a few monsters for +50% damage, and the late stage bosses that take around 75% damage from original stats.
WeaponDamageCharged Damage
Spirit Wandno attackno charged attack
Hunter's Bow1no charged attack
Dagger2no charged attack
Willow Bow25
Iron Flail3no charged attack
Sword412
Ice Wand412
Fire Wand412
Steel Flail612
Fiend Blade824
Holy Sword1646
Legend Sword51no charged attack
  • Weapon swapping makes the damage of two different weapons stack, so you can deal more damage in a single blow. Through a lot of testing, it was discovered that the damage of each weapons consists of two values: the weapon damage and the bonus damage. The weapon damage is the raw stat of the weapon and the bonus damage is a bonus applied to the weapon. The way it works is when you hit an enemy with a normal attack, the damage dealt is equal to weapon damage + bonus damage. The bonus damage is ALWAYS equal to 1, for some reason, so an example of an attack is:
WeaponWeapon DamageBonus DamageTotal
Dagger112
Fire Wand314
Legend Sword50151
  • When weapon swapping, only the weapon damages are stacked, so the new formula becomes: weapon 1 damage + weapon 2 damage + bonus damage = total damage. An example of weapon swapping:
Attack Weapon 1 DamageWeapon 2 DamageBonus DamageTotal
Bow swapped with Legend Sword050151
Charged Ice Wand swapped with Iron Flail112114
Charged Fire Wand swapped with Legend Sword1150162
Legend Sword swapped with Spirit Wand500151
How did you kill Nestus's twin boss in 3 hits?
  • This boss has a single health bar, but two hitboxes because it is split in two monsters that move in mirror to each other. When you hit one, both enter the "invincibility flicker" animation, so you can usually only hit one at a time. However, with bow, you can make it so two different arrows hit the two monsters on the same frame. Add to this a weapon swap with the legend sword for big damage. Do one more legend Sword and then with a charged fire wand, if you hit both bosses on the same frame and do a weapon swap with the Legend Sword, you will deal the highest damage possible in the entire game in a single hit, 91 damage. If we had Olga's Ring, we would be able to do even more, since the ring adds a flat +3 damage to all attacks, with some exceptions to late stage bosses. We don't have it at the time, so we can't use it here. Since this boss counts as one of the late-stage bosses, all hits done to it are at 75% power:
Attack Weapon 1 Left TwinWeapon 2 Left Twin Weapon 1 Right TwinWeapon 2 Right TwinBonus DamageTotal
Charged Fire Wand swapped with Legend Sword837837191
Why do late stage bosses only take 75% of weapon damage?
  • I don't know, I believe it is to make the fights harder. As an example, Ronan and Zorgia have insane resistance to weapons, where the Legend Sword only does 3 damage to them. Fun fact, the bow still does 1 damage, so in a way, the bow is not modified for the bosses.
Can you weapon swap with Scrolls/Books and bombs?
  • It is not possible to pause the game while we are casting magic, so it is not possible to do any swapping. The bomb damage is independent from the magic, so swapping to either scroll or book while a bomb is exploding will not change the damage.
Can you do the stool pushing glitch on ice pillars?
  • Unfortunately, no. This glitch is only possible on stools because they have no delay between the point of contact and the pushing action. Ice pillars have about half a second of push "charging" before the pillar moves.
Can you trigger a bomb earlier with fire?
  • Under certain conditions, yes. The fire from a turtle breath, or another bomb's explosion will trigger a bomb instantly. The fire from a Fire Wand projectile has no effect on the bomb.
Is there an in-game timer or an in-game completion percentage?
  • There is no in-game timer or in-game completion percentage. To know how long a player has played the game, you need to check your save file. We only use the save book at the first iteration of the 20 deaths (for Legend Sword), and there is no save data at that moment. To know if the game is done at 100% completion, there is no other way than to look at what was collected in the run and compare this to the obtainable items of the game.
Why do you jump and do actions mid-air?
  • When landing on the ground, the majority of animations are cancelled. We can use this to cut short the weapon attack animation and reduce the delay between to successive attacks. We can also do this when pulling an item, such as the magic bean and the bomb.
Why do you carry an item before certain jumps?
  • If Alundra is carrying an item over his head, he gets 1-2 additional frame in the air. This means he can jump further than usual, not higher. The jumps that require an item to be carried are most likely gaps that are too large for a normal jump but can be done while carrying an item.
Is there a way to gain more height with a bomb?
  • Currently, no. Bombs do not push us upwards in any way, but they can boost Alundra in any horizontal direction.
When was this TAS started?
  • The TAS started in early 2019. It took me two and a half years to get to Nestus's dream before finding the bean jump in there. I then restarted the TAS using the previous input as a base, so it was much faster to reach my previous progression. I made a few routing changes along the way and finished the TAS the 15th of July 2022.
What is the RTA time for this category?
  • The RTA WR as of 12 November 2022 is 6:03:13 by Spiriax ( https://www.speedrun.com/alundra/run/yd1xv4xy ). There is one reason for the 1h difference between RTA and TAS. That is the casino, which includes the roulette. This minigame heavily relies on luck, although there is some logic behind it. With TAS, we throw luck out the window and get perfect outcomes. The RTA run was completed after the TAS, and there has not been new techniques found since then as of 12 November 2022. To give you an idea of how much time the TAS saves if we do not consider roulette, we have: TAS without roulette = 4h53min, RTA without roulette = 5h23min, or a 30 minutes difference in execution.
Some walls look like they can be jumped over, as well as some items from the map. Why don't you do it?
  • The game developers tried to make the game as glitch-free as possible, and to prevent any possibility of Out Of Bounds, they made infinitely high invisible walls on all things that must not be walked on. That includes: room walls, many floor holes/gaps, decoration items, trees (with some exceptions), some doors and the top-side of some doors and all teleport arches. It is impossible to walk over an invisible wall, as Alundra gets his movement ability revoked when he is above/inside one of them. It is possible to hack our way in the wall, but we cannot move. The only way out is to hack out of them again. Not even bomb or monster knockback can move Alundra out.
What other games have you done?
slamo: Claiming for judging.
slamo: Amazing effort here. The optimization overall looks reasonable. For a 5 hour run, there are probably some mistakes in there, but nothing at all looks sloppy. The movement looks like it's actually had some thought put behind it (when and when not to dash, etc) and if there are any macro-level routing mistakes, they are not immediately apparent. It looks like you are up to date with any glitches and tech this game has.
I also want to make it a point to praise you for the submission notes. As someone who has never watched this game, let alone played it, the notes filled in a lot of blanks for me and helped expedite this process. They should continue to enhance the understanding of anyone else who wants to take a deep dive into this run in the future. Thank you!
There is no percentage counter or anything similar in this game, so the definition of full completion has to be decided by us. For a game like this, your definition is about as reasonable as it gets. You collected every one-of-a-kind item, fully upgraded the player, and unlocked every portal for good measure. The only empty slots in the inventory screens are for basic consumable items. Based on what I've seen in online guides, I could not find anything else meaningful to complete in this game.
Accepting to Standard as a Full Completion branch.
Cadit: Thank you very much! I am glad it was accepted. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask!
Spikestuff: But I would walk 5 hours, and I would walk 5 more. Just to be the one who walked 10 hours hours to fall down at your door.
Last Edited by Cadit on 12/17/2023 3:06 PM
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