Yes it is on PS2 with Fast Disc Speed.
If my estimation is correct I should still beat that time in the end but it's gonna be close.
Encoding as we speak...
Found another big improvement.
The rain in Burmecia at the end of Disc 1 happens to make the RNG roll like crazy.
So much that it takes only 8-10 frames to get a whole new set of Random Number.
With enough patience and testing I was able to get a table where 2 numbers doing Critical were apart by 32 addresses only which is more or less the number of addresses that pass between 2 turns of Black Waltz 3.
Then I just had to manipulate the ATB of Steiner and Marcus to be faster than BW and him doing hit instead of a spell.
That way we can skip one turn of Dagger which is time consuming and there it goes :
Link to video
5 seconds saved !
In the published run, I didn't buy a Barbut in Treno which is a huge mistake.
Barbut allows for Steiner to Critical even with the Power Belt on.
So it saves 5 seconds on Ralvurahva and will save a bunch against Zorn and Thorn, then Beatrix.
Finished Cleyra. Route change to visit Soldier Dan at the outside of the inn. Not taking the Yellow Scarf. Fight 2 Soldiers instead of 3 at the end at the expense of a longer "before fight". Total saved : About 9-10 seconds.
So about 30-35 seconds ahead of the published run in gameplay.
9 minutes 40 behind in total because of loading times.
Just shy of 3 hours.
Any% is halfway done.
12 minutes behind because of loading times but 45ish seconds ahead in gameplay.
Decent luck in Alexandria Castle fights made me able to not use Vivi's Blizzara, but no luck having Beatrix Critical.
Didn't steal the Oak Staff from Ralvuimago (16/256 odds) like in the published run but will take it from Soulcage (192/256 odds) which will save a couple of frames in setup times.
Spent a whole lotta time TASing today.
Managed to get the Moogle skip in Madain Sari after countless tries. This seems very precise and I'm surprised multiple runners did it in RTA, so kuddos.
One change in the Iifa Tree descent, I killed both Dagger and Vivi instead of just Vivi, so Zidane takes enough Exp to compensate for a possible 0 Mistodon tree roots.
However due to how rare a 0 Mistodon is, it may be possible that I can't do it and that would mean Dagger's suicide would be a consequent time loss, but no way I can tell right now. Just have to cross fingers...
Finished Disc 2 in 4h47min30s with a sweet 0 Mistodon Iifa Tree Roots :)
Loading times keep piling up. 20 minutes behind the published run but 1 minute or so ahead in gameplay.
Reached Esto Gaza in a little over 6h10min.
Despite the loading times I now believe sub 8 hours Necron is possible, though it's gonna be close.
Expect the new any% to be done with overlay before the end of the month.
Then I'll get back to 100%
I have been paying only passing attention to this thread, so please forgive me if this has been asked before, but how close to 12 hours do you suspect 100% will be? (That is, how close are you cutting it to getting Excalibur II?)
Also, I watched the published run in its entirety a few days ago, great work, and the commentary was really nice too.
I am still the wizard that did it.
"On my business card, I am a corporate president. In my mind, I am a game developer. But in my heart, I am a gamer." -- Satoru Iwata
<scrimpy> at least I now know where every map, energy and save room in this game is
Ah, so there's still plenty of game with which to enjoy the weapon. Sweet. Really looking forward to both of these.
I am still the wizard that did it.
"On my business card, I am a corporate president. In my mind, I am a game developer. But in my heart, I am a gamer." -- Satoru Iwata
<scrimpy> at least I now know where every map, energy and save room in this game is
Pandemonium fights hype ! 7 hours in. Should be done in a week or so as only Nova Dragon and Kraken are tough to TAS, rest should go like a breeze.
One or two more weeks for the commentaries.
Hopefully the new any% with no emulation errors will be in the Workbench before the end of the month.
Done !
Couple more weeks for commentaries and encode. But I have good hope it's gonna be in the Workbench before the end of the month.
8:10:19.75 in TAS timing
Commentaries are taking way longer than expected.
I'm trying to summarize what's in the dialog boxes so you can follow the story along to help keeping it interesting during the boring parts in addition to explaining tricks and stuff. I think all the hard work will pay off in the end but it's extremely time consuming. I've only done 3/4 of Disc 1 right now...
Actually, now that I have something to compare against, I want to try Tantarian strat.
Fighting him in Disc 2 takes 5 minutes which is definitely not worth it, but with Lucky Seven in Disc 3 it might.
So off to TASing again...
EDIT : While I am at it, I saved 3 seconds in Disc 2 by not stealing the Oak Staff from Soulcage. I thought I needed it against Red Dragons to stop them but Steiner can inflict them Heat. Even though that means Zidane has to suicide to not get Exp, it's still faster overall.
Red Dragons? Thought they were only in the Volcano, and Freya and Amarant stopped all of those with 'added effect' normal attacks rather than anything from Vivi?
Good call. Amarant is indeed used but didn't thought of the Heavy Lance in Esto Gaza which does Stop.
However this would require to equip Freya before and go back to the menu after to switch to the Holy Lance for Meltigemini, where using Vivi doesn't need to go to the menu twice. But using Heat from Steiner would still require to give him Coral Sword to learn Charge ! so Freya is indeed faster than Steiner.
So... you're probably right. Freya and Amarant is probably the way to go. Thanks :)
EDIT : The detour to fight Tantarian in Disc 3 is 1 minute 41 sec long thanks to Lucky Seven. Auto-Haste will save time by skipping ennemies turn using ATB on wait, but will this make up for 6000 frames... Wait and see...
I forgot that Vivi is mandatory in Mount Gulug... And Steiner does need to learn Charge ! against Meltigemini so I can't take Amarant and Freya to stop Red Dragons.
EDIT : But a Critical from Freya with Holy Lance plus Heat from Steiner does the trick and gives extra EXP, useful for Zidane in Pandemonium I guess.
The any% has been completed a while ago but I spend ages doing the commentaries.
At the moment the first 3 discs have them but it's gonna be worth the wait, as everybody will be able to follow the story, kind of like a TAS and a playthrough at the same time.
But I found a small improvment at the end (about 100 frames), I have to see if I can hex-edit Necron without losing too much.
For the 100%, I'm not sure. I kinda want to redo it on Bizhawk, now that I have route and everything planned and I am more knowledgable about Ragtimer encounter, Cards upgrade, aso... But because of loading times, I will lose about 45 minutes before Excalibur II so changes would have to be made (half of it can be done by skipping 6 members of the Nero sidequest though). Still unsure.
I'm finally done with the any% and commentaries.
I have trouble encoding the overlay around the game encode but hopefully it's just a matter of days now.
About the 100%, I want to let the one done on psxjin go, as there is a lot of mistakes that can be fixed, and I know now how Auction House, Ragtimer and Cards upgrade work so they can be much more optimized.
However the way longer loading times of Bizhawk makes for a lot of route changes to get Excalibur II in time.
I made a testrun, editing memory, to see with perfect luck how it would go and I reached ExII with 7 minutes to spare (with the route changes). I don't know if I can get decent luck enough with 7 minutes of manipulation, but I have at least something to compare with.
Not planning on working on the new version anytime soon though.
Joined: 9/7/2005
Posts: 144
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Lil_Gecko: Not to rain on the parade here, but is there a difference in the loading on Bizhawk vs. psxjin that makes up the seemingly large time gap between your now-completed any% and the currently published run? Yours is something like 98k frames slower.