Hello, I'm the guy who wrote the speedrun walkthrough on GameFAQs. I see you were using it as a source for ideas. If there are no sequence breaks found in the game, then the TAS would follow a path similar to the FAQ's path. However, there are a few notables:
- I agree that the difficulty should be set to hard as soon as it's available at the end of W2D1. It's only fair that way.
- Clearing Another Day shouldn't be a goal because you can only play that after the credits.
- Playing at level 1 is pointless so I wonder why that was brought up. Pin drops add significant time, so the only pin drops that should happen in the TAS are 100% drops (unavoidable) or ones that are required to clear a wall mission.
- Fusions are still horridly slow compared to puck damage, so it'd only be used in boss battles where using a fusion would save time. Considering a fusion takes around ten seconds to perform, I'd only imagine the level 3 fusions are worth using, if even. This is sort of a relief because it means you don't have to manipulate the combo map cards themselves, only the arrow panels.
- Psychokinesis D (drag) should become the best psych in the game. Battles would be manipulated so that an SUV (large jeep-like object) or car is on the field every time. Using the psych itself would only last a few frames, thus maximizing the gauge. Sexy D is given at the end of W1D5, and Sexy + is required for a W2D2 wall mission, so there's no detours in obtaining them. However, this introduces the "fighting game problem" ... if every non-boss battle becomes Psychokinesis D abuse, some people may complain that it's repetitive. Then again, is this any different than using Gurdurr to solo most of Pokemon BW?
- If using Sexy D/+ along with Ice Blow, it'd be much simpler to manipulate trends so that D+B is #1 or #2 in every area. Some areas have a specific brand at #1 every time, but as far as I know, #2-#13 are randomized.
- It's impossible to no-damage clear the whole game. Some attacks against the partner cannot be avoided, such as W3D3's Uzuki fight.
- The "SOS" condition happens when a character's half of the HP bar is at 0. There are some equips that increase ATK when a character is in this position, and there is a pin (Tin Pin Thrift) that induces SOS and provides +30% ATK. It is actually possible for both characters to be in SOS, but any damage will result in a game over. I avoided SOS in the FAQ for practicality reasons, but in a TAS, the SOS option should be used as soon as it's available.
I could use dual SOS to make week 3 a breeze. Unfortunately, if both characters are in SOS, the annoying "critical" beep will last through the whole battle. See
here for an example of what it sounds like. (To the person who said I didn't have good recording equipment, watch that video) If only Neku is in SOS, the beeping won't happen. If the run were to go for absolute speed, I'd have to use dual SOS, but then some people may complain about the sound.
W1D3:
You get Poison Bones at the end of the day. This is a pin that sometimes halves the DEF of non-boss enemies at the beginning of battle. In most cases, this doubles the damage output. It wasn't used in the FAQ because it's luck-dependent. But in a TAS, it'd activate every time.
W1D6:
Accessing Spain Hill requires either 3 Rare Metal, to access it via Center St., or a Lv. 3 Murasame, to access it via Molco. The latter mission is better because it gives a Durable Leather, but when I played around I was a bit short on PP. W1D5 and W1D6 would have to go for extra battle bonuses in order to get the 222 PP required to level Murasame.
W2D3:
Scramble Crossing's trends can be manipulated so that Natural Puppy is the #1 brand, thus avoiding the wall mission.
W2D5:
Ditto here. Scramble Crossing can be manipulated so that D+B is the #1 brand. The optional Tin Pin battle would have to be played here in order to get Tin Pin Thrift.
Reaper bounties in W3:
These can be avoided entirely.
In all honesty this game is an absolute nightmare to TAS optimally. There are tons of random factors such as trends, noise symbol placement, and obstacles. In addition, with Zanoab's notes indicating that there are random lag frames, I don't think any full run should be fine-tuned to to an extreme degree. In addition, a stylus TAS requires another level of precision to pull off, and you'd need to co-ordinate it so that you pass the puck immediately (or almost immediately according to Zanoab) every time. Of course, if there were some way to glitch it in order to access W3D7 immediately, I'd be all up for that.
I could attempt the TAS, but note that I have no LUA knowledge or technical programming knowledge, so anything I'd do would just be brute-forced. I also can't guarantee that I'll even finish it this year. This is a huge undertaking if done with no sequence breaks and I don't know how much time I can spend on it.
Lastly, I think the absolute minimum amount of battles (not including tutorials) is 85. That's about 4 battles per day, so it's not much at all.
