More progress.
Test run 1, update 2, up until the End of Time. Time is 00:58:06, with the official game clock at 00:54.
A bit slower than Sampyla's supposed time he reached the End of Time, but I know I've made plenty of mistakes in the run already. And, because of this, I don't really like this version of the movie - it's mostly up to see if anyone can catch anything else I can improve on. Regardless, I'm certain I can improve on the current version by a good 5 minutes at least.
Notes on the run:
- Redid the movie up until Yakra, including in all the criticisms from the previous version as well as knocking 40 seconds off the version 1 time to bring it down to 00:16:09. Besides optimizing the Yakra fight itself, the strategy up to that point is pretty much final, with the exception of throwing in a trip to the market in 600 AD to buy Shelters.
- Decided to go the flashy route during the prison tower escape sequence - I didn't realize how short it was to just escape the hard way - I'm now convinced it might even be faster than waiting it out.
- Fights were fought with the goal of avoiding counterattacks above all else. They take up enough time and do enough damage that, especially at battle speed 1, that the extra time waiting through the counterattack and the extra time spent healing the damage caused isn't worth a slight damage increase in most cases.
- In Arris Dome, in the room before you reach the computer terminal which shows you the Day of Lavos, I took a slightly lengthier route (by 1 second) which I thought was more interesting than the left branch which winds around the perimeter of the room. This was one of those speed-for-entertainment tradeoffs that didn't really affect my time that much.
- Yes, you do have to go all the way through the right side of the factory. operating the crane and checking the computer screen to learn the XABY password, as strangely the game won't let you input it to get past the door at the bottom level without "learning" the password first.
Things I know I can improve on:
- I have no earthly idea why I wasted 30+ seconds to pick up the Shelter/1500G/Lode Sword (only ATK +2 over the SteelSaber for just one fight, ugh) in the jail escape.. that'll definitely be cut out in the final version. The money was spent on Iron Helms - losing them shouldn't affect the run any.
- The Guardian fight and the fight vs the 5 Acids/Alkalines in the Factory were both absolutely terrible. There's not much I can do about the first but hope I can manipulate the fates for a better string of criticals. The Acids/Alkalines are weak vs. thunder (Slash), but at that point I'm still quite a bit away from learning it, so I guess I've got no choice in that fight either besides trying to switch targets around to try to get better damage.
- I just remembered
all the enemies in Lab 16 can be avoided, including both mutants just before the end (bypassing the two battles vs Shadows as well).
- I didn't look too bad in the bike race (got passed up three times by Johnny, final score was 1930-something), but of course, that can be improved on too.
- I don't think my dancing is quite as good as some of the other dances in other games that are on the site, but they did get a little better later on.
- On second thought, bringing Lucca into the Factory instead of Marle might've been a bad idea. Everything in the Factory is resistant to fire, and Fire Whirl does no more damage to the Acids/Alkalines and the R-Series than just regular ol' Cyclone, not to mention Marle has better speed and her bow has better attack power.
Anyways, feel free to watch over the run, burn me twice as bad as you guys did on the previous version with your comments, and so on. My next release will likely be all the way up to the entrance of Magus's Castle, which also happens to be the place where the run should really start to get interesting.
