- Heavy glitch abuse
- heavy luck manipulation
- Aim for best ending
- Entertainment trade-offs
In this epic RPG, you have to fight an evil religion that tries to take over the world. But during this takeover, they apparently affected shops. Using a newly found glitch, Janus was able to make the run nearly 12k frames shorter (including the lag from BizHawk) from his normal run.
After re-working my PSIV runs, I wanted to look again at my old runs to see if they could be improved. In 2017, a Youtube/Twitch user found a glitch that happens when you try to switch weapons in any armory. First, you need an accessory (that you equip in your etc.) at the very first slot of your item inventory. Then, go to a weapon shop and switch Ryu's weapon - it's doable on a regular console, but emulators make your life much simpler. When you get to the screen where you can switch said weapon, press A and then B for the very next frame. This will bug the game into believing (in Hometown when you first start) that you want to switch the Nature Whip, which is worth 40k. You can do this A/B trick for as much money as you want (I think the limit is 12M).
But what's more, you can give glitched weapons to the members of your party! If the accessory you have in your list can be bought in groups of 9 (think fishing baits), pressing left or right on the glitched screen can give them an "item" weapon. You can give them one of 9 different weapons, depending on the number of accessories you want to exchange. I used 6 (the moondrop), which makes whoever has it "equiped" attack twice in a row. 4 would equip the van. ext., which I believe also makes the attacker attack twice in a row; other weapons may have elemental properties but they would only attack once. But that glitch equipment only works for people NOT in your party, starting at the 5th slot. So when starting the game, you can only do it for Nina (when Ryu leads the party) and Sten (when Ryu is #2 in the roster). If you want to equip other members, they need to be between the 5th and 8th slots of your party (with Ryu being between slots 1 and 4); the Hex editor can shop you the exact order of your party.
One more thing: to effectively activate the glitch, you either need the attacker to equip something defensive (works inside a battle) or win a battle with their new weapon.
Now, for the run proper, I admit it was a slow start. Having so much money made me able to spare defensive equipment for Ryu, so the harpie fight was much easier. But until Baba, I lagged behind from sheer lack of luck. But then...
- Dir. DH: Since he only uses dialogues, I was able to avoid all his attacks and do a few critical hits. About 70 frames shorter
- katt: I was able to have her only taunt AND finish the fight quickly enough in 5 rounds. -70 frames
- Augus: better manipulation with his dialogue. nearly -100 frames
And now, the fun begins with the glitched weapons
- Joker: Nina is a killing machine. -1630 frames, and I also didn't take the money nor the silver dagger
- Creon: only 2 attacks necessary! -1080 frames
- Terapin: It used to be the worst fight, but with Nina and Sten attacking so much, I saved over 4900 frames. The death warp might have been a little longer since everyone was alive...
- Nimufu: I still needed my dragon powers, but the glitched weapons made me save 400 frames
- Wildcat: Since Sten was on the team, I made him use his Bomb. -360 frames
- Worm: I got a little luckier. -60 frames
- Roach: Sten's attacks made me save 285 frames.
- Gold Fly: -470 frames thanks to Bomb again
- Kuwadora: also save 120 frames thanks to Sten
The death warp back to Simafort was shorter thanks to doped-up attackers
- Munmar: -670 from finishing the fight in a single round. And the death warp back to Tunlan was also shorter
- McTusk: He was uncooperative, so +45 frames on that one
- Torubo: Sten was strong enough not to need that magical object. -160 frames
- Gate: -170 frames from less reliance on dragons
- Shupkay: another expedited, single-round fight. -870 frames
I nearly lost it inside the Queen of Tunlan, where scary monsters just didn't want to show up.
- Ahuramel: Fortunately, I was able to manipulate him better and saved nearly 400 frames
- Daisy's garden: -1230 frames from not using my dragon powers except against the large rock
- Paladin: a doped-up Rand made me save over 2200 frames
- Guardian: Nina was still strong enough. -180 frames
As for the other fights, their duration was pretty similar (saved 240 against necroman from better manipulation, 50 against Habaruku, lost 50 against Barubary because he wasn't cooperative enough so I had to use my dragon powers and saved 120 frames against Deathevn from better manipulation).
Final save for previous run: 6214 frames (nearly 12.4k if you include the difference in lag)
Possible improvements: better luck inside the Queen. I couldn't find what influences the battle byte.
Suggested frame: 36062, the glitch in action
Please not that I couldn't upload the right movie file since it's too big. Find it here
GoddessMaria: Judging.
feos: Replacing with the proper movie, props to fsvgm777 for removing the second controller data.