Speedruns

[etony33]

What's the absolute fastest each game could be beaten? Has anyone tested this?

I'd imagine 2 would take the longest, just because you absolutely have to grind somewhat, or there's just no way you could possibly get through some of the dungeons on Dezo and there's no way you could beat Dark Force. You have to get Noah to level 20 to learn OPEN in order to beat 1 (and Myau to level 15). I suppose you could kill off Alis and Odin to help them level up faster. 3 and 4 could probably be done relatively quickly.

[etony33]

In PS1, you could definitely forgo the Laconian Axe and possibly other Laconian equipment, too. You'd probably end up with this for equipment:

Alis: Light Saber (or Ceramic Sword)/Zirconian Armor/Ceramic Shield
Myau: Silver Fang/Thick Fur/Gloves
Odin: Laser Gun/Zirconian Armor/Ceramic Shield
Noah: Wand/White Mantle/Laser Shield?

You'd HAVE to get Myau and Noah up to their requisite levels to learn necessary spells, so you'd be earning MST as well. Now, how much MST do you NEED to finish the game?

Roadpass (200)
Passport (100, sold for 50)
Shortcake (280)
Cola (10) (Do you have to give a Cola to the bum in Gothic to reveal Luveno's location? I forget)
Luveno (1200)
Polymtrl (1600)
Ice Digger (12000)
Mag. Lamp (1400) OR flashes (does anyone know whether you need flashes for towers, Luveno's hideout, the Guaron Morgue, passageway to Dr. Mad, passageway to the Governor, etc? Or is it only dungeons?)
Total: 15340 plus Mag. Lamp/Flashes.

So, you need to get at least that much, plus any money for equipment.

You do NOT need the Gas Shield, because you do NOT need the Mirror Shield to finish the game. It just makes it far easier and it doesn't take much time. Furthermore, you can get to Sopia without it, you just have to keep healing, as everyone takes 30 damage each time.

Anyone brave enough to try?

[etony33]

If you were to marry Lena and Alair and use the Escapipe trick to cut off time, you might be able to beat PS3 inside of three hours (maybe even two).

[Tryphon]

In 2, you can escape boss fights, but it happens extremely rarely. So if the speedrun is tool-assisted, you could go in some hours.

[etony33]

You can escape boss fights? Interesting...although, what happens if you escape from Mother Brain?

[Tryphon]

I bet you finish the game. It never occured to me

If you escape Neifirst, Nei dies and game goes on.

[etony33]

What if you escape Army Eye?

[lorenzo]

The game won't go on so you're basically stuck since you already used all the cards.

[etony33]

I know the game won't go on if you were to BEAT Army Eye...it's the same way if you escape?

[etony33]

Tryphon and Lorenzo, you guys are the people I want to talk to since you have probably gone through all the code in PS1.

Is there any sort of internal timer in PS1? If there is...I was thinking, similar to the Excalibur II in Final Fantasy IX, that there could be some awesome weapon that you get really late in the game (maybe a gun for Odin that does 40 damage to each target), but ONLY if you reach a certain point within a specified time (I was thinking maybe Lassic's Shadow could give it to you). Maybe the time would be 6 hours, maybe 8, I don't know. Something incredibly difficult, bordering on impossible. If it was somewhere in the Air Castle, it would require backtracking to Dezoris to get all the Laconian equipment you missed and then to go see Damor for the Crystal. It would definitely add a new element of challenge to the game, with a very nice reward for the (surely) months of hard work.

[etony33]

Call it the THNDRGUN and give it the THUN animation when Odin uses it. It's a gun that Lassic uses to generate his Thunder spell, and he gave it to his Shadow to dispose of because he got a new one that is more powerful (which explains why it doesn't instantly kill anything)...but if you get there quickly enough, Shadow still has it.

[lorenzo]

I know the game won't go on if you were to BEAT Army Eye...it's the same way if you escape?

Yes, it's the same way if you escape

Tryphon and Lorenzo, you guys are the people I want to talk to since you have probably gone through all the code in PS1.

Is there any sort of internal timer in PS1? If there is...I was thinking, similar to the Excalibur II in Final Fantasy IX, that there could be some awesome weapon that you get really late in the game (maybe a gun for Odin that does 40 damage to each target), but ONLY if you reach a certain point within a specified time (I was thinking maybe Lassic's Shadow could give it to you). Maybe the time would be 6 hours, maybe 8, I don't know. Something incredibly difficult, bordering on impossible. If it was somewhere in the Air Castle, it would require backtracking to Dezoris to get all the Laconian equipment you missed and then to go see Damor for the Crystal. It would definitely add a new element of challenge to the game, with a very nice reward for the (surely) months of hard work.

Actually I haven't gone through PS1 code yet, so I can't answer that.

[BenoitRen]

While no one has disassembled Phantasy Star before, there have been archeological surveys for things like unused items. Nothing of the sort has been found.

[Edless]

reading the past months topic I fell on this topic and just in case wanted to point out that PSII is the fastest speedrun out of the 4
40 minutes in a normal speedrun where you have to fight your way through the bosses,
maybe 20/(14?) minutes in a TAS where you escape from your battles

All thanks to an inventory glitch that lets you keep Nei

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPO-Wb9DpiU

then Phantasy star IV is really great to see as a TAS tool assisted speedrun.
Janus the TASer invested a great deal of time and effort to make a perfect game

so here is a link for the anypercent 1h26min to finish PSIV
http://tasvideos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14538

He also did a 100% which is nice to see too

On PS1 and 3 there exist TAS too but aren't as entertaining in my opinion.

[MrStarbird]

The RTA speedrun community of the original series has actually been growing quite a bit. While TAS videos are fun to watch, generally many things done are unrealistic for a human to do (such as encounter manipulation/evasion).

I have speedrun all four, and even have a discord channel should anybody be interested in learning for themselves.

Oddly enough, Phantasy Star II is the fastest game to speedrun thanks to a plethora of glitches. The English any% category can be completed in just over 40 minutes and allows you to keep Nei throughout the entire game. The 100% category uses similar glitches but not as often and prohibits the use of the inventory glitch to pull out key items, thus making you visit every dungeon in the game. This category's WR is under 2:30:xx, which if many of us remember correctly, the thought of beating this game in a little over 2 hours would have never been thought possible years ago. By far the easiest of the original Phantasy Stars to speedrun.

Phantasy Star IV's any% category clocks in at the fastest so far around 3:12:44. There are not any glitches other than the Igglanova Skip that can be used to save a bit of time, but the amount of tech and strategy that go into this run is amazing. The 100% run finishes all Hunter's Guide quests and gets Megid as well and is close to 4:30:xx on average. I will say that out of all of the original Phantasy Star games, this one is the most brutal to speedrun because of the high encounter rate, as well as the Lashiec and Profound Darkness battles.

Phantasy Star III is the next longest. So far, only two categories have been completed: any% and AllGen%. Any% uses the Escapipe glitch to skip Nial's quest (known as a Generation Skip) and go straight to Aron's after a 2nd King Cille fight and clocks in at about 3 1/2 hours. The downside of Any% is that the items get carried over from Nial's quest (Laya's Pendant, Sub Parts, Twins Ruby, Mystery Star) do not work because the trigger in game was never met, so Aron actually has to scrounge for those items. The AllGen% route does not use the Generation Skip and goes through Nial's quest and takes Adan instead of Aron (Adan is faster because if you use the Escapipe glitch just as you get control of Adan and Gwyn, you end up back in Dahlia's Dungeon and can get Kara very quickly). I am the only one who has attempted AllGen% so far and clocked in at 4:20:35, though I did die 3 times in my run and took a lot of safety measures. I believe that AllGen% could drop below 4 hours easily. That being said, there is ONE more category that nobody has undertook for Phantasy Star III (yet anyway), and that is All Endings. In All Endings, you have to finish all four final quests. This wouldn't be as bad if the game had more than two save-slots, but this run would require at least Rhys to go through Cille castle once (saving the game at the Inn in Cille), Gen Skip to Aron's quest, play Rhys through Cille Castle again, play through Nial and Adan's quest, then play Rhys through Cille Castle again, play through Ayn's quest and beating Siren twice to get Crys and Sean's ending. As far as any run of this game that has been completed, AFTER you get past the Lyle fight, the game is practically a free speedrun. The Lyle fight is very dangerous for speedrunning.

Phantasy Star is the longest game and since there aren't really any glitches or tricks to use, it is very grind heavy (we're talking hours on Fishmen). The World Record right now is 5:25:18. I actually was on pace to break that record, but Dark Falz said no to me and cost me an hour just trying to beat him. As far as running this game, being able to save anywhere is actually a blessing as RNG will dump on you a lot. There is still quite a lot of strategy and even a hidden path in the Casba Cave that gives 5000 Meseta that I never knew about. Makes getting the Laser Gun much easier earlier.

Sorry for the long post. Just thought I would share my experiences with running this series.