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Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles is a videogame where your main goal is to beat several dungeons to collect drops of myrrh, wich makes you advance in the game, year after year. The goal is to reach the final dungeon and beat the final boss, and for that you need several key elements from the world, including waiting for at least the 5th year. This movie uses the Yuke race, the magicians, in order to skip having to buy equipment and beating all the dungeons at least one time each the fastest possible. In contrary to the normal RTA runs, this TAS abuses the use of magic and frame perfect movements to compensate for the low resistance of the main character.

Game objectives

  • Emulator used: Dolphin 5.0
  • Complete all dungeons at least one time (beating the boss)
  • Finishing the game as fast as possible
  • Blow RTA runners minds by using the sub-optimal race

Comments

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles is my favorite game of all times. That's why I dedided to honor it with a TAS. I love the community, and the videos, and I personally wanted to study this game deeeper than ever before. I started this project more than 2 years ago, and since then, I learned a lot, about TASing, and about the game. Today, I finished it, and I'm very proud of it, as well as my decision to choose the all dungeon category to show more of the game. At first, I was using the strategies from the current RTA records, but I did some testings, and I saw some big opportunity: Yukes cast magic faster than any other race attacks, even simple triple autoattacks. Here is the chart calculating the time needed from first frame pressing button to first frame where you can control you character again:
Clavat: Attack:50 Focus Attack:69 Defense:27 Magic:55
Lilty: Attack:50 Focus Attack:68 Defense:19 Magic:68
Yuke: Attack:50 Focus Attack:63 Defense:21 Magic:48
Selkie: Attack:50 Focus Attack:60 Defense:31 Magic:58
With that in mind, I decided to play Yuke. The other reason is simple: I don't need to buy any equipment. It saves time buying and crafting them, but also, since it's an all dungeons, I need a lot of money. So now that I know I'm safer in cash and in damage, I started a first run. This run was routed to make the dungeons as fast as possible, but I soon saw that I wasn't using all my potential. Needing a lot more of money to save time, after my third year, I stopped for a wile. Got demotivated. Worked on other projects, some meme runs. And then, about 3 months ago, I regained the energy. I crafted a newer route, which now made the dungeons longer, but I would gain more magic power and optimise my item drops, and then I would sell everything to my merchant dad at the end of year 3. Also, I find it more entertaining to see more of the dungeons than totally rushing them, so it's a plus. Today, I'm very proud to not only show you the result of my hard work, but also honor the game that raised me at loving videogames. The final time is 2:08:31.03. Even if it's TAS timing, it's really close to RTA timing. For the sake of comparison, here is the world records in each category of the game:
  • Any%: 2h01m00s by Neviutz
  • Any% Glitchless: 2h09m27s by ナナカ
  • All Dungeons: 2h23m37s by Neviutz
  • All Dungeons Glitchless: 2h36m29s by Littletonbi
As my first submission for this game, and also for this site, I think I did pretty well. It shaves off 28 minutes from its own category, and beats the any% glitchless by 1 minute. The glitch in question is called the Infinite Gil Glitch, which exists only in the japanese version, and needs a gameboy advance. For now, it's not possible to TAS it, that's why I'm sticking with glitchless.

Stage by stage comments

Maybe one day I'll have the patience to fill this section. English is not my first langage and there is so much to describe. But be certain I'll answer any question.

Other comments

This movie features optimised fights and routings in the dungeons. Furthermore, I manipulated the RNG a lot, so there is a lot of one frame tricks to better run, including some perfect bonus points. Unfortunately, this run is not perfect. My routing mistakes total aproximately 1 minute, this including: talking to my dad too much, missclaculations in Lynari Desert, a detour in Conall Curach and the optimisations of the last bosses. Also, I do not master TAS imputs, so I'm limited to 8 directions. I hope you enjoy.

Special thanks

  • Maelias, my close friend, who was always there for me in my difficult moments
  • Leossier, my best friend, for wich this run is dedicated
  • The RTA runners, without them I would have no basic idea what to do
  • The FAQ of the game I read to help me route everything
  • And finally, the TAS community, for always being there entertaining me with motivational videos (wich in this case are TASes)

Noxxa: Cancelling, as an improvement is in the works.


TASVideoAgent
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Having not played the game for a long time I can only go of what I see in the video. But as far as speed / combat / item manipulation etc. goes it seems to do the job well especially with inventory management being quick and painless. Taking into account the problems you mentioned it is clear this can be improved upon but with this being entertaining I think its worth accepting until such an improvement is submitted. I skimmed through the any% record and the person mentioned multiplayer mode making his route quicker somehow, whether this is something that relates for this all dungeons run I have no idea. But speaking from entertainment wise I would say making the NPC carry the pot for you freeing yourself up for more action is a worthwhile entertainment trade since it is far more enjoyable to watch the NPC try to catch up with you as you try to go off-screen rather than you lugging the pot around 24/7. My main criticism would be that I expect you don't need all of the drops you are picking up like money and the artifacts you end up not choosing to keep at the end of the levels. It seems like you need X amount of things to be able to keep the powerful artifacts but it does appear like you might be looting too much unless it is being manipulated to be worth looting all of it. Again I might simply be missing how the game works and it might not be an issue but I thought may as well mention it.
Enjoys speedruns but hasn't actually tried making any yet.
Fog
Emulator Coder, Experienced player (640)
Joined: 4/5/2014
Posts: 459
I'm having issues syncing this on my system.
fsvgm777
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Fog wrote:
I'm having issues syncing this on my system.
For what it's worth, it needs an empty memory card in Slot 1. It might also require portable.txt to be created in the installation folder.
Steam Community page - Bluesky profile Oh, I'm just a concerned observer.
Wobmiar
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Joined: 10/20/2015
Posts: 171
Ragnarokia wrote:
I skimmed through the any% record and the person mentioned multiplayer mode making his route quicker somehow, whether this is something that relates for this all dungeons run I have no idea. But speaking from entertainment wise I would say making the NPC carry the pot for you freeing yourself up for more action is a worthwhile entertainment trade since it is far more enjoyable to watch the NPC try to catch up with you as you try to go off-screen rather than you lugging the pot around 24/7.
He may be talking about the IGG (Infinite Gil Glitch) which is used in the glitched categories. It's only possible in the japanese version, and with GBA. That's why it's not used. And that's why this run is glitchless.
Ragnarokia wrote:
My main criticism would be that I expect you don't need all of the drops you are picking up like money and the artifacts you end up not choosing to keep at the end of the levels. It seems like you need X amount of things to be able to keep the powerful artifacts but it does appear like you might be looting too much unless it is being manipulated to be worth looting all of it. Again I might simply be missing how the game works and it might not be an issue but I thought may as well mention it.
Let me explain this ^^ This game has a mechanic of bonus points in the end of each dungeons. There is many ways to fulfill the criterias, but in general, I can't simply abuse the best bonus points, because what I do is limited to 100 points, was it not doing anything not requested or doing the thing requested. On the other hand, killing an ennemy gives 1 point, and picking up an item/money gives you also 1 point. To get the artifacts I want, like in the Goblin Wall, I need 172 points. Wich means I need a supplementary of 72 points. I get those points by killing/picking up 72 times to get my magic +5 I want. ALSO, the reason my father is merchant is because all dungeons uses a lot of money (the boat). Items are sold, and money is used. Maybe not optimaly (like I said, I talked too much to my dad) but the bonus points are optimised my best, and that's why I do detours in dungeons killing and picking up things (took a long time routing those, I've redone the Goblin Wall entirely when I was off 1 point lol) EDIT: Here is the bonus points needed for all dungeons. When it says 0, it's because I don't need bonus points. So those dungeons are naturally the ones I have the less points possible to save frames: River Belle Path(1) Kris+3(B+119) Mushroom Forest(1) Sage's Staff+3(B+135) Cathuriges Mine(1) Moogle Pocket(B+116) The Goblin Wall(1) Dark Matter+5(B+172) Tida(1) Chocobo Pocket(B+0) Moschet Manor(1) Red Slippers+3(B+84) River Belle Path(2) Mage's Staff+5(B+119) Selepation Cave(1) Rune Bell+3(B+158) Daemon's Court(1) Wonder Wand+3(B+103) Kilanda(1) Noah's Lute+5(M) Conall Curach(1) Gold Hairpin+5(B+193) Rebena Te Ra(1) Goblin Pocket(C) Lynari Desert(1) Star Pendant(B+0) Veo Lu Sluice(1) Ring of Blizzard+1(B+0)
Fog wrote:
I'm having issues syncing this on my system.
I needed to play the game one single time to prepare the memory card A. Then, the message at the beginning does not appear anymore, and everything is fine (for me at least)
I like colors
Fog
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Joined: 4/5/2014
Posts: 459
fsvgm777 wrote:
Fog wrote:
I'm having issues syncing this on my system.
For what it's worth, it needs an empty memory card in Slot 1. It might also require portable.txt to be created in the installation folder.
I've gotten it to sync now.
Noxxa
They/Them
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Posts: 4089
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Since it seems an improvement is in the works, should this run be cancelled?
http://www.youtube.com/Noxxa <dwangoAC> This is a TAS (...). Not suitable for all audiences. May cause undesirable side-effects. May contain emulator abuse. Emulator may be abusive. This product contains glitches known to the state of California to cause egg defects. <Masterjun> I'm just a guy arranging bits in a sequence which could potentially amuse other people looking at these bits <adelikat> In Oregon Trail, I sacrificed my own family to save time. In Star trek, I killed helpless comrades in escape pods to save time. Here, I kill my allies to save time. I think I need help.
Wobmiar
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It may be a good idea yes. Receptions made me think and I've redone the entire route in hope it will be faster. So yeah, I'm not against cancelling it :) I'm really sorry if it disturbed you.
I like colors
Spikestuff
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I mean you could just do what Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time did. Have an improvement found whilst in publication hell and never updated/cancelled the submission. Especially if it takes a long time to actually do (considering it's an RPG ontop of that).
WebNations/Sabih wrote:
+fsvgm777 never censoring anything.
Disables Comments and Ratings for the YouTube account. Something better for yourself and also others.
Wobmiar
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I'm not used to how things work here, I'll let you be the judges of that :) I'm working a little fast (I've gained experience), maybe I'll be finished in January.
I like colors
TASVideosGrue
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