(Link to video)
Submission Text Full Submission Page
  • Execute Arbitrary Code/Use a password
  • Aim for fastest completion
  • Manipulation of Luck
Breath of Fire was Capcom's first traditional RPG. It follows a boy named Ryu, one of the last surviving members of an ancient race with the ability to transform into mighty dragons, as he searches the world for his sister. Along the way, Ryu meets other warriors who share his quest and comes into conflict with the Dark Dragon Clan, a militaristic empire who seeks to take over the world by reviving a mad goddess.
But since he has better things to do, he uses a strategic name to skip 3/4 of the game, right before first entering Scande. The game therefore ends after a mere 50 minutes.
After "cleaning up" my act with PS IV, for which significant improvements were found, I decided to look back at old games I made. In the early 2010s, someone found a code, probably used when testing the game, where you could start the game at 5 different stages of the game (more details here). Youtube has several videos showing people using the code on actual SNES! I obviously chose DeeJ, which put everyone on my team at level 29 - higher that what I achieved with the regular speedrun - right before Scande, i.e. the fight before Zog.
However, everyone was wearing their original equipment and no sidequests (including the dragon and Karn's spells) had been done. Therefore, I carefully planned my route to minimize actions and focus on the main story. I only got the rod5 in Tunlan, 2 worms in Auria (yes, the same bait can be used more than once) and then went on the full dragon quest (!!). Karn's Puka spell would have taken a while since I needed the second-to-last one where he merges with Ox in order to push the crates leading to Puka.
As a result, all bosses but Sarah (I still use Dragon Heart + a regular attack) are defeated using Agni, which greatly reduces the number of actions and speeds up the fights. I even made sure that the bosses used their quickest attacks: Zog's nose attack, Jade's "balls" attack and Tyr's "black beads" attack.
Many thanks to ars4326, who first mentioned this code in the BOF thread 5.5 years ago

FractalFusion: Added encode.
Memory: Judging
Memory: Changing branch name since no arbitrary code execution is actually performed.
Memory: This submission uses a password that advances you further into the game. It appears that the party is level appropriate from this password as well, meaning there is no real unique challenges that one can get into here, like with [2059] SNES Mega Man X "password glitch" by FractalFusion in 16:56.88. Given poor reception and the rules regarding password usage, I cannot accept this tas.
Rejecting.

TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #6733: janus's SNES Breath of Fire "password" in 50:50.78
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Here is an encode (720p60 available): Link to video
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That was quick :P. Thanks
mklip2001
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I'm posting this before I've actually watched the run, but the description brings up an important question. If the choice of player name gives your party high levels, how do we know this is a glitch and not an in-game cheat? How do you end up running arbitrary code? (Compare this, for instance, with the "GT Code" run of Super Metroid.)
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.
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I would compare it to the Legend of Zelda (NES), where you can start the 2nd quest with the right name
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Looks good, but I guess adding a description such as "Uses a level password" could be a better fit... yet it's interesting how this "sequence skip" was only recently found.
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I never played this game, so this might sound noob, but if this is "Execute Arbitrary Code" why does it still beat the bosses instead of skipping to the end?
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I think "DeeJ%" or just "DeeJ" would be a better name. It's a good run aside from the battles, which use an attack with a really annoying visual repeatedly. The repeatable conditions and limited number of passwords make it seem like a reasonable branch.
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jlun2 wrote:
I never played this game, so this might sound noob, but if this is "Execute Arbitrary Code" why does it still beat the bosses instead of skipping to the end?
That category seems a little loose; in the Legend of Zelda (NES), naming Link a certain way makes you skip directly to the second quest
I think "DeeJ%" or just "DeeJ" would be a better name.
Categories are meant to be wide and repeatable. I used what was the closest
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"Arbitrary Code Execution" is not a loose category, it is clearly defined here: http://tasvideos.org/ArbitraryCodeExecutionHowTo.html Reading your description & link, it seems that what you're actually doing is entering a secret developer's cheat code. This is generally not allowed. While there is precedent (read this post), I don't believe your case qualifies. Did you ask any TASVideos staff about allowing this code before starting your tas? Personally, I don't find this gameplay adds anything over the currently published movie. You're just using a cheat to skip to the last part of the game. It would have been slightly more interesting if you went for the bad ending, although my gut tells me it would still be fastest to get the ultimate dragon form & just not use it in the final battle.
Dimon12321
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Excuse me. I'm too lazy to watch the whole movie. Could you please give me the timecode to see when the code was executed?
TASing is like making a film: only the best takes are shown in the final movie.
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Floogal wrote:
"Arbitrary Code Execution" is not a loose category, it is clearly defined here: http://tasvideos.org/ArbitraryCodeExecutionHowTo.html Reading your description & link, it seems that what you're actually doing is entering a secret developer's cheat code. This is generally not allowed. While there is precedent (read this post), I don't believe your case qualifies. Did you ask any TASVideos staff about allowing this code before starting your tas? Personally, I don't find this gameplay adds anything over the currently published movie. You're just using a cheat to skip to the last part of the game. It would have been slightly more interesting if you went for the bad ending, although my gut tells me it would still be fastest to get the ultimate dragon form & just not use it in the final battle.
The bad ending would be accepted? As for the present run, I object to your assessment. It skips 3/4 of the games - the story goes left and right with an approximative translation. It makes the game more interesting
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This isn't what Arbitrary Code Execution means. Arbitrary code execution means finding a way to write and execute your own programming code in the game. It is not related at all to built in cheat codes.
[16:36:31] <Mothrayas> I have to say this argument about robot drug usage is a lot more fun than whatever else we have been doing in the past two+ hours
[16:08:10] <BenLubar> a TAS is just the limit of a segmented speedrun as the segment length approaches zero
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om, nom, nom... sweet!