In this final installment of the famous Phantasy Star series, the protagonist, while out on a routine assignment, uncovers evidence pointing to a sinister threat to the entire solar system. One thing leads to another and he and the rest of his party eventually find themselves fighting the root of all evil. Such a quest would normally take at least ten hours, but with copious amounts of luck manipulation, it can be reduced to just under an hour and a half.
Yes, I'm back with a vengeance! While I was doing the other PS IV speedruns, I noticed that the silver tusk gave quite an advantage against monsters of evil (i.e. most of them). So I tried a first test and save 5600 frames. I also tried to let Chaz live so he could fight Profound Darkness with a higher level; that was worth it too. Here are the major changes
  • Igglanova: Tristal suggested that I paralyze Igglanova so it wouldn't spawn... and it worked! -513 frames (setting the appropriate macro took about 120 frames)
  • Shadowblade: Tristal suggested that Hahn and Alys be killed immediatly. -146 frames
  • Juza: Gryz' animation is much shorter than Alys' and her Vortex. -301 frames
  • Gy-Laguiah: I couldn't get Chaz to do decent damage with tsu. +76 frames
  • Zio: I got luckier on that fight, despite Rika's failure (which was compensated by Demi's high attack). -110 frames
  • Chaos Sorcerer: Rika was able to attack first! -4 frames
  • DF I: I was luckier during that fight. -81 frames
After that, I had to get the Silver Tusk, so it was a detour. +2444 frames when arriving in Meese
  • Xe-la-thoul: Not only did I use the Silver Tusk, but I remembered that using macros save frames (so I killed the 3rd one first so the others could be taken care of with macros). -1771 frames
  • Lashiec: Rika was so strong that I needed healing only twice. -1438 frames (I also saved frames against Specter, but I didn't calculate it)
  • DF II: We were so strong that we didn't need to heal. -1711 frames
  • DF III: It's still long and tedious, but less so. -1098 frames
  • Tower of Force: I don't need to use double slash after all. -63 frames
  • Tower of Courage: I needed Chaz to stay alive (15-20 frames each time he is idle), so it was bound to be longer. +318 frames
  • PD I: Chaz was swinging his sword like crazy. -174 frames
  • PD II: I missed less since Chaz was at level 14. -390 frames
  • PD III: I was able to finish it in less than 10k frames. -2104 frames
Total save: 6498 frames. Possible improvement: better luck manipulation against Gy-Laguiah for sure
Frame suggestion: 10500, when paralyzing Igglanova

feos: Judging...
FractalFusion: Added Youtube module.
feos: Accepting and publishing this improvement.

TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #4096: janus's Genesis Phantasy Star IV in 1:26:34.35
Joined: 2/20/2010
Posts: 209
Location: I'm in space
i remember spending weeks gradually working my way through this game 15 years ago, never thought for a moment that it might be possible to complete it in only 1:26. very clever improvements, silver tusk change surprised me. i look forward to watching later.
Oh, play it cool. Play it cool. Here come the space cops.
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Temp encode: Download (you can also watch here): https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzSrmd9dwZ7qTjRiZExKNlhVTkk/edit?usp=sharing Youtube: Link to video
Joined: 2/14/2012
Posts: 73
Great improvement to a great movie, love it
Post subject: Movie published
TASVideoAgent
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This movie has been published. The posts before this message apply to the submission, and posts after this message apply to the published movie. ---- [2474] Genesis Phantasy Star IV by janus in 1:26:34.35
mklip2001
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Joined: 6/23/2009
Posts: 2224
Location: Georgia, USA
Sorry I didn't get to comment on this movie before publication. I'm impressed to see how many times you've revisited this movie, janus! It's an entertaining RPG, and you saved roughly 2 minutes, which is a big deal.
Used to be a frequent submissions commenter. My new computer has had some issues running emulators, so I've been here more sporadically. Still haven't gotten around to actually TASing yet... I was going to improve Kid Dracula for GB. It seems I was beaten to it, though, with a recent awesome run by Hetfield90 and StarvinStruthers. (http://tasvideos.org/2928M.html.) Thanks to goofydylan8 for running Gargoyle's Quest 2 because I mentioned the game! (http://tasvideos.org/2001M.html) Thanks to feos and MESHUGGAH for taking up runs of Duck Tales 2 because of my old signature! Thanks also to Samsara for finishing a Treasure Master run. From the submission comments:
Shoutouts and thanks to mklip2001 for arguably being the nicest and most supportive person on the forums.