Run Information | |||
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Completion Date | July 15, 2014 | ||
State | Published | ||
Runner | Nicholas 'Sir VG' Hoppe | ||
Segments | 17 | ||
Internal Comments: | |||
Comment State | Information | Checkpoint | None |
In-game timer used - 3:56:35 This improves the run that was accepted in November but has yet to be posted. |
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Verification Thread |
Run Comments |
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There were four crystals, and together they formed one principle. And thus the world was created... Speed Run Rules: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers (phew, long title!) is the 4th FFCC game on the Wii, the 2nd on disc. Unlike the other FFCC games, instead of using deformed characters, it uses more realistic models. It also doesn't use any gimmicky multi game/system features like the original with the GBAs or Echoes with the Wii/DS multiplayer funkiness. The story follows around Layle and Keiss, a pair for hire who start the game escorting the new Lilty Airship Alexis II on its maiden voyage. But as all good RPGs go, shit happens. Monsters begin to appear and attack the ship. Keiss is a pussy and wants to run away, but good old Layle grabs a big gun, goes into a suicidal leap, and starts blowing shit up. HELL YEAH. The game takes place about 1000 years after some great war between the Lilty and the Yukes, in which the war brought about the apparent end of the Yukes. However, they were only sent to a dimension between existence and oblivion. Now they're back, ready to kick ass and chew bubble gum (and they're all out of gum!). I heard about this game via the E3 videos in 2006, but initially didn't pay much attention, since I wasn't much into FFCC at the time. However, in the last few months before its release, when the trailers started coming out, I was very excited. I jumped onto the Japanese version when it came out (Nov 2009) and loved it from the get go. I only played the first 15 minutes (equivalent of Segment 01 of the run), but had to stop due to a huge language barrier. Once the US version came out in December (some places were selling it a week earlier then street release), I hit the ground (and the game) running. Initially I figured that I was gonna wind up with about a 7 hour run, so I was going to segment it for that reason. v1 quickly chopped the time down to about 5.5 hours, a good starting point. I took some time and looked over the run and through threads at GameFAQs, and then began developing my v2 run. I found a lot of tricks on my own and redid parts in order to get what I needed for equipment. v2 brought me down to around 4.5 hours, an impressive improvement, since I was initially estimating about a 15 minute improvement. Yeah, that was more than 15 minutes alright. I was hoping some FAQs would come up, but nothing had, so I waited until I could get a copy of Brady Games' strategy guide on the game before working on v3 (Yes, I bought a strategy guide, you got a problem with that?). The guide helped me to come up with a couple minor inventory changes, helped me find 2 of the 3 myrrh fragments I collected (I found the one in Moogle Woods on my own by accident) and overall provided the final streamlining I needed. Finally, just a hair over 1 month after its (early) release, I finished up v3 with an awesome segment 20. Rejoicing, I was. And so for 3.5 years, the game videos sat on the SDA page, lonely, until Zewing picked up the game himself. With new strats, he managed to beat the run...single-segment. Obviously, this could not stand. It was time for Layle's Revenge. Using info from Zewing, I managed to pull within 5 seconds of his single-segment time with my v4. Impressive for not having played the game for a long time, but obviously not good enough. For v5, it was time to pull out all the stops. No holding back. YOLO strats had been activated. And victory was sweet. The run was accepted to SDA in November 2013. After a fine performance during Crystals For Life 2014, my desire to play with the game some more grew. The biggest thing was figuring out about the warps, mostly in regards to where they were, when they can be used, and if they would save time. I found out two would be usable for the run, saving MINUTES. And thus new attempts began. The vast majority of the improvement came from the two warps. Out of the 5 minutes of improvements from the SDA run, about 3.5 minutes came from the two warps alone. Unfortunately this skipped two of my save points, meaning my already torturously long Aerial Prison segment grew in size. Lovely. One more note before I begin - cutscenes are NOT skippable. Not on NG, not even on NG+. What a bonehead move by Square Enix. Granted I'm sure that without them, the time would probably be under 1.5 hours. ^^;; Segment 01 (0:13:48) This is a mostly straight forward sequence. There are things you can do in NG+ to speed it up a little bit, mostly during the time when you fly the Alexis II. Segment 02 (0:37:10) Segment 03 (0:44:16) Segment 04 (0:48:09) Segment 05 (1:03:04) Segment 06 (1:06:43) Segment 07 (1:16:58) Segment 08 (1:28:44) The time at the end of this segment is higher than my old v3 due to moving the save point from Grassland Station to Clock Plaza. Segment 09 (1:35:22) Segment 10 (1:42:44) Segment 11 (1:50:05) Segment 12 (1:52:50) Segment 13 (1:58:10) Segment 14 (2:28:16) I also moved the save point to Moogle Woods Station, to prevent having to watch the cutscenes over and over if I screwed up or got bad luck in the next segment. Segment 15 (2:34:21) The rest of the segment is the same after reading the UMA News and building. Segment 16 (3:26:08) The dance was an awesome (and a little bit glitchy) sequence. It's too bad that I get one dance in there...and it's not my favorite. If you look carefully, you'll see the lovely Chime at the dance. If you choose her as a partner (or any other Selkie), you'll get to do the Selkie Tango to the tune of "Veo Lu Sluice", which is from the original FFCC. Since I only did this in my v1 run, I ripped that part of the video, encoded it, and put it on my YouTube account. Not only will you get to see me tango, you get to see a tango master (perfect sequence). Oh yeah. After the dance, I purposely head back into the Queen's Garden to take a warp. I can actually go straight from there to the Selkie Guild instead of the old route, which saved about 2 minutes. The old route was taking the train from Grassland Station to Costa Faguita, and then running from there through High Tide Cove to reach the Selkie Guild. The warp's drop point is a bit weird at times though, I've had it dump me in at least 3 different locations. Luckily I got a relatively good location so I didn't have to go far to continue on. The Aerial Prison segment is probably my least favorite segment in the game. No, not because some Selkies die, but because the stupid Selkies don't. Seriously, they have really goddamn stupid AI in that sequence. They love to try to lift open the impossibly large door instead of taking the crane all of 2 feet from them. Yes, they're that stupid. Vaigali is the only one with special immunity to becoming crystallized, because plot. You do receive a medal for saving all 25, but good luck with that. After escaping Aerial Prison, I take my 2nd warp to get from there to Lett Highlands. This saves about 1.5 minutes. Much like arriving in Selkie Guild, I've been dumped in a few different locations (and even directions) so it takes a second to get my bearings before I head off to Victory Monument. Also, my thoughts on the Althea confronts Jegran sequence after the 2nd resurrection (aka the old Segment 19 notes): Segment 17 (3:56:35) So I play probably about 5 minutes of the 30 in that segment. Yeah. Really. But I must say, that is the BEST run though of the final battle ever. While no "Bullet-Dodging Legend (328)" medal this time due to game trolling (seriously, I wasn't hit once!), still an extremely quick board. And the final boss fight? Absolutely SICK. You know the cannons from phase 3? You can rip them off and use them in phase 4 FOR MASSIVE DAMAGE. Jegran didn't know what hit him. Playing though and speed running The Crystal Bearers was a fun experience for me. I enjoyed my time with this and hope you enjoyed watching. Thanks again to moooh and Zewing for new strats and to Zewing for the motivation to improve my old run. This run is Copyright (C) 2014 Nicholas "Sir VG" Hoppe and IMAMYTH Colosseum (http://www.imamyth.com/ and http://www.youtube.com/user/SirVG) and is allowed for downloading and private viewing. Permissions for hosting this run have been granted to the Speed Demos Archive website and YouTube channel. Public viewing of this run is prohibited without prior permission from the creator. The selling or distribution of this run for profit in any way, shape, or form including (but not limited to) selling on eBay and television for profit is prohibited without prior permission from the author. Video hosting sites (i.e. YouTube, etc.) may not host this video in part or in full, unless full permission is granted by the author. Any violation of the above listed may result in legal action. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers is Copyright (C) 2009 Square Enix. Sir VG, signing out. "We came. We saw. We speed ran." FIN |