I like this idea. A lot. It might actually work, depending upon how hard a L230 Oddish is to kill. My assumption is *very* hard, but I'll definitely be trying this out.
3) Prior to the FC I'm begging for AP and I need 2-3 random encounters to set up the sketch glitch. This is not optimal. Then, immediately afterwards, I waste 20 AP without putting it to any use. To set up the sketch glitch Terra needs 20 AP on Stray, Setzer needs 20 on Shoat, and Relm 15 on Siren. This is almost free, but then nobody uses their magic ever again. (Terra does use Muddle on the tiers, but so couldn't anyone else.) Thanks to the Atma Weapon, the Naughties, Nerapa, and the WOR bosses Setzer learns Doom for free and he doesn't even want it. This looks bad. Can I solve #1 and #3 by swapping Setzer for someone else? Give me just a minute.
The Muddle+Phantom trick does work, but Kutan can't do it. So because Kutan is a brick I think I need to stick with Setzer/Kutan, Mog/Edgar, and Gogo. Flying the airship, getting in one battle and waiting for a special event is the common price of either Gau or Gogo. Gogo just requires another 80 seconds of walking. Replacing Gogo with Sabin+Gau and using Muddle+Phantom is a remote possibility. But Sabin has the advantage of speeding up Kutan. (Have I ever mentioned how much I hate Kutan?)
Zoneseek will teach me Rasp and Osmose at a whopping 20x each! So for just 5 AP I can clear two rows!
The first thing I tried was 2 Blitzes or Chain Saws and a Tiger Break. Then I realized that it would be much faster to manipulate one extremely high damage attack and use just one. Unfortunately, one Aurabolt does a calculated and verified [578..658]. Sabin's Tiger Break basically does 2615 if I do the 'right' one. Combined that deals a total of 3273 damage, which is 3 HP short!
Actually, that was the reason I wasn't looking forward to this game being done. Using Joker Doom on everything is just plain boring, especially for a long run like this.
dunno, check the algorithm FAQ; i checked battle timing, and it mentioned nothing there. i honestly dont know. however, if they all count as one, then remember only one can be used per character per battle.
so it'd take at least 25 seconds within each battle for them to be able to pull one off.
Well, if the advance version is exactly the same, I wouldn't mind as you can see the game in English (though you can rarely read something in a TAS run :P). But what if there are some differences that slow down the run? Like slower intro, fights, & so...
the 3rd chapter talks about having somebody (Terra?) be levelled up to 99 in the "world after the collapsing", then dying. how that works or why they don't just use the Lete River in the WoB is beyond me.
I guess that if you save at the Narshe Cave savepoint, then continue to play without saving up to level 99, then die, you will be back at the Narshe Cave with a level 99 Terra.
2)The complexity of planning FF3 isn't break into independant levels. You never know how a little action will affect your run : -The scenario order -To get or not shadow -Which magic to learn, when, and with who -Buying some items that you will use only 1 hour later without knowing how much exactly you will need (like rods, echo screens) -Managing HPs for desperation attacks -Manage EXP by running away
Speaking of FF3, there is some discussion on SDA forums about Japanese speed runs. The current best FF6 time is 3:21. Here's a document about it : http://ultimagarden.net/report/cole_ff6_ta.txt I don't understand japanese, but from Google translation, it seems they find a way to have Terra at lvl 99 early in the game.
The three-month bump. I'm not even sure who's working on this now, if anyone.
Ball 3: Oddish, Cut slave. Ball 4: Pidgey, Fly slave.
- Mega Punch (picked up in Mt. Moon, replaces Tackle) <- I cannot believe I overlooked this; an 80 power Normal move this early in the game!? This will save massive amounts of time on the Nugget Bridge gauntlet, and is probably worth redoing the run just by itself
- Body Slam (Found on SS Anne, replaces Mega Punch) <- Huh!?!! Okay, maybe this makes sense from a real time timeattack perspective, since it has "perfect" accuracy compared to Mega Punch's 85%, but is definitely not worth it in a TAS (only 5 more power, and has 5 less PP)
- Blizzard (picked up in Pokemon Mansion, replaces Ice Beam) <- Hmm.. very doubtful this is worth it. Might merit some research, however.
- Fissure (won from Giovanni, replaces Earthquake) <- This is really the one decision that has bothered me about my run before I ran into this walkthrough, I'll definitely have to test it out.
This probably is enough to get me to do the run over again.. if I do, I'll start back up on it shortly (which likely means I'm going to leave FF4 to someone who better knows what they're doing).. I might want to do a bit more investigation into this guy's strategy before I officially start again, though.
In every TAS or speedrun I've seen of a RPG, the dialogoues is scrolled as fast as possible, which IMO is not fun at all. The main part of a RPG is the story, which is brought forward by dialogues. It was quite some time now since I played FF4 on any system, but I can't imagine that the dialogues would be any slower here. Thus I wouldn't mind seeing a glitch I've never seen before because the story is sort of doomed anyway, because of the fast text ;)
