FFTA Speed Run Part I: The Cheetahs

This game runs slow so I sped up the recording as usual. This video is best watched in high quality.

Time before entering "The Cheetahs": ~0:43
Time after clearing it: ~0:51

LaZodiac suggested that I'd play a speed run in a game, and I remember rejecting the idea. Before this speed run, I have never tried one in any game, as I'm very relaxed when I play games and like to take my time. So far I haven't got used to being quick but I think I'm doing well.

I can think of about two speed runs I saw other people do so I'm hardly experienced about this popular way of playing a game. I'll be glad to get some feedback and it'd be cool if other people tried to speed run through this game as well so that we could compare tactics and times.

I doubt there's a single right way of speed running through this game. Too many possible party formations, tactics and choices that can be made. Moreover, a "perfect" speed run is unimaginable, seeing how this is a tactic game where the length of the battle is very much decided by what the AI chooses to die, not to mention the accuracy of your attacks. So I won't be hard on myself, and use save states only outside of battles as well as just before beginning a battle to keep it fun.

This is my first speed run attempt, meaning I may do another one in some time when I feel like I can improve it. Every part can be improved though.

I'll upload some videos and use the description to write down how I went about the run.

When the game begun and I gave the protagonist a name of one letter (I hope it helps skip text quicker), the first thing I did during the snowball battle was to set cursor and message speed to the fastest and turn off attack name and EXP points. In the snowball battle, I had everyone wait to end it faster.

I left a save state before the lizard men battle. I opened state until I could kill the two in four turns. Montblanc's spells often miss so it's not achieved easily. Judge points should be turned off in the options during this mission and it's also a good idea to turn off the non-equippable item option so that your inventory shows only the stuff you can put on. Allows for quicker re-equipping.

Then I gave the clan another name of one letter. Bought a Rod for the Nu Mou and changed him to Black Mage. We don't need healing in this challenge yet. Accepted the Giza Plains mission and made quite a few resets until I was satisfied with the time. I should've written it down but I didn't.

Before doing Thesis Hunt, I took off all Viera's clothes (kinky) and had her leave the clan. This will force a Human Wanted! mission to pop up in the bar immediately after the next mission. It also means we'll be doing it 5-on-6, but the Viera is useless anyway.

This was a difficult mission to end properly, because of the healing mage, the countering thief and the enemy's melee units. Basically, the WM should die before he gets a chance to heal and the thief should be attacked with black magic only, because his counters hit hard. I got Kaiser Knuckles as an award for this mission, which will allow the White Monk to attack from a distance.

Then came the time for decisions. How much should I train here when random encounters are available? I did the Human Wanted mission and got a Fighter with a high watk stat. Fired the generic Soldier and did Bangaa Wanted! for a Gladiator with great watk. My party was (and will be for a while): Marche/Soldier, Montblanc/Black Mage, White Monk, Black Mage Nu Mou, Fighter, Gladiator.

I then entered 6 random battles asap using save states to provoke a shop upgrade. Bought 2 Shadow Blades to teach Fighter & Gladiator Beatdown.

I also reset after Thesis Hunt until two lv. 2 spell teaching rods appeared as prize.

Surprisingly, saving revealed that I'd wasted only 43 minutes doing all this stuff.

For The Cheetahs, a lot depends how stupidly Ritz and Shara act, and on your luck too, of course. I couldn't beat this recording in which I finished the mission with a time of around 43 minutes.

The strategy was to kill enemies already damaged by Ritz and Shara, and Beatdown those at full HP. Beatdown is very likely to miss, but FFTA experts agree that its accuracy in reality is higher than shown. I got lucky with connecting it twice here.

Stay tuned for more.

Category:

Comedy

Tags:

• final
• fantasy
• tactics
• advance
• gba
• ffta
• speed
• run
• speedrun
• marche
• montblanc
• moogleboss
• fighter
• gladiator
• black
• mage
• soldier
• ritz
• shara
• the
• cheetahs
• storyline
• mission

[Mad0racle]

@MoogleBoss What's your total time? And would you mind if I beat your time>?

[MoogleBoss]

If you use both in one battle, it's still a 25% chance that none of them hits the wrong team...

And you usually need both Pandora and Rockseal, because killing enemies before they wake up is impossible otherwise, when your level is so low.

[LinkTetraWW]

Hey, I was using Pandora and Green Spring or whatever that Haste move is in missions! I think they are easier than lucking RockSeals, Beatdowns, ect...

[mapler90210]

*remove this if it was already posted*

ah, thanks.

i see what you mean. anything that isn't picked up during the story would have to be picked up in a max of 2 battles. i'm pretty sure both night and twister can be learned in a "lost ring". they may also be learnable later in "royal ruins" along with matra magic (works wonders on tough melee units. battle queen perhaps?) and angel whisper. i'd need a fairy harp or some bad-ass manipulation for that last one. lv?-sflare during mateus too,

[MoogleBoss]

The Mechanics FAQ offers a good explanation as to how Treasure Hunt works. And you can look up the info on most valuable equipment in the guide dedicated to SCCs.

I'm sceptical to Blue Mage skills being beneficial in a speed run, even something like Night that would have use in any mission.

[mapler90210]

i probably could, but i'm not very familiar with the region create feature. i usually just plop things down in the first open place i see. as for damaging bosses, one thing i've consisdered is twister. 1/2 half to an area. i can't remember where i learned it, though. i'd have to wait until pretty much just before the final boss for it to be worth it anyway.

[MoogleBoss]

If you want to give up Excalibur, you should think of a way to deal damage to Mateus. Cinquedea will probably deal a lot of damage if used at that point in the game though. Are you sure you can't organise the areas in a way that could get you both the weapons?

[mapler90210]

i can just shut my game off and turn it back on, then. ii'm still deciding how i want to set the map up, though. i would like to get the cinqueda so i could snatch an ability or two instead of learning them, but it has such a low rate of success and i don't think the order in which the opponent loses abilities is random, so it could take several attempts to get a single useful ability. i would also lose the bonus excalibur gives to holy, too, though it wouldn't help at the end anyways.

[MoogleBoss]

If you have no facility of save states at your disposal, by all means don't even think about hiring a Gadgeteer. 50-75% of resets come from Pandora messing up.

[mapler90210]

ah, so that's what it was called. i've been looking for it since i left that comment.

20 battles would probably be a waste of time without letting 10 or so recruits join to screw up my average level, which'll mess up the recruits i actually want >_>

unfortunately i'm using my DS and i only have one available file >_>. i just won't worry about stats. getting all the jobs i want will probably edge on my patience by itself.