I finished with a final time of 3:47, an improvement of 1:42 over the previous movie. Here is the .fm2.
I managed to skip Matic completely, which also basically skips the entire last level. Other improvements include a new route in the last part of Australia which involves more zips, killing the first part of the Australia boss in one cycle, and precise optimization throughout.
I will submit an improved version by around a second or so that includes some small optimization improvements that I am going to hex in, but for now here is what I have.
EDIT: here is a quick youtube encode:
Link to video
EDIT2: Looks like hexing isn't as easy as I thought it would be, so I'm redoing the run completely from the start, and after the end of the first level I am just over 4 seconds ahead of my previous attempt, due to more optimization and a new ending strat
Very nicely done Kyman. I found that the tests I was running when I first TAS'd this game wouldn't let me get out of the wall in the red dragon to skip matic (I could zip down, but then I'd be stuck "halfway" and couldn't get the screen to scroll).
I look forward to voting yes on this :)
Link to video
Sharing an old video. I think this would be a superior route IF this game wasn't stupid. The game won't spawn disc 3 and end the level if you talk to Kain on this route unless you talk to the disc 2 guy first. But doing that seems a bit too slow at the moment. The perks of getting to Kain would be gaining an additional level (=more damage on Australia boss and health for stage) and the level would end after getting disc 3. We will see
An improvement to the run currently done in speedruns: in Red Dragon, you can use "JUMP" to skip directly to the final boss. Saves ~7 seconds.
Example: https://www.speedrun.com/stridernes/run/ydql5ljm Watch at Red Dragon (3:10)
If you go into Password Menu there would be a default password. By mashing A you automatically put that password in and skip stupid intro cutscene. Saves like 30 seconds.
edit:
Link to video
Also, maybe it's possible to clip into first boss room very fast and it could be faster than upper route
