Playlist with all the recordings from the run I've made
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=E6319A2C918F63DD
After the battle against Ritz we had four characters in our clan. Marche, who was an Archer after that battle, Assassin, Gadgeteer and Bishop. Bishop was clearly useless at this point, as Break has no value in the boss battles. He was unequipped and fired. Here I also regretted not having fired the moogle as well, because he wasn't used in the final battles either.
I needed to hire new clan members. The old Fighter/Gladiator with Beatdown strategy would be of no use, seeing how I fired my ridiculously underlevelled Fighter & Gladiator a few missions before that, and Shadow Blade being a very mediocre weapon to hit things with endgame.
I had some good ideas of who to choose. I had two Masamune katana, an Orichalcum, a Trident (gives Templars Weapon ATK+) and Excalibur which powers itself up. The latter was worthless too, seeing how hitting Llednar and Li-grim with one just won't work - the damage will be nullified. I decided to turn Marche into a thief, so that he would benefit from the Orichalcum with its excellent attack power, as well as the attack power boosts from other equipment. I gave him Counter in case he would be hit by nearby units, just in case...
The Assassin, who was my fastest unit as well as the hardest-hitting one, was given a Masamune instead of the Gastra Bow.
I decided against recruiting a Templar because he's slow and doesn't move very far. I was afraid that he wouldn't even get to attack some of the bosses because of the low speed. Instead, I got a Sniper (best unit to utilise the Gastra Bow we got from Treasure Hunt) and a Ninja. The latter was given a Nosada and my second Masamune. Knowing that he hits twice, he's potentially strong, especially if he gets to hit critical.
Llednar was the first and the easiest of the final bosses. He has half the HP the next bosses do, and his defences are also weaker after Cid's aid. I only entered one unit on the field, that being my Sniper. With one physical attack from afar and a lucky Beatdown, Llednar would go down in two attacks. Surviving the first turn isn't easy, but was accomplished eventually.
Battle Queen Remedi was next and this time I entered everyone but the moogle tinker on the field. I didn't want the moogle to make the battle more luck-dependent than it already was... In previous battles, I had to reset way too many times just because Pandora's Box screwed up perfectly flawless scenarios. The moogle always goes last and often makes all initial effort and fortune futile. If I fired him together with the Bishop, my average level would also be higher.
BQR doesn't have anything to threaten us with except her physical attack, but when it hits it's an instant KO. Her allies have some damaging spells in their arsenal but due to terrible AI rarely use them. I got lucky with Ninja's Double Sword here, chaining two criticals in a row (though only the Masamune one really matters).
Li-grim was SO luck-dependent that I didn't put a Gadgeteer in my party even here. 60% of Descent is a game over, the other 40% is a blessing because we're not relying on magic or techs. We don't want to see her other spells much, either. Both Mateus have two spells that normally instakill, but choosing the right facing after characters' turns makes evading them more possible. Being back-turned against Li-grim isn't a problem because her most dangerous attack doesn't take evasion into account anyway.
Our objective is to surround her as quickly as possible hoping that all four characters survive the first turn. This is not all that easy. It's a good idea to risk attacking from the front when it is tactically effective. The Sniper should wait instead of moving during her turns so that she can shoot more often. Marche should use Beatdown, hoping it connects. Any more Beatdown use would make it once again very unlikely to finish the battle quickly as a speed run would require.
I recorded everything including cutscenes to see how much time it would take to get done with the final bosses.
My (first and) final raw save showed 4 hours 53 minutes, and putting all the clips on the Vegas timeline resulted in exactly 14 minutes of action, so the estimated speed run record would be 5 hours 7 minutes.
I may make another speed run attempt but not any time soon. If you have good knowledge of the game, try doing a speed run of your own. There are now some examples after my playthrough and times that can be improved, and improved quite a bit I must say.
If I had to say briefly what I would've improved if I could go back...
[ running out of space, see the first comments for the continuation ]
Feel free to speedrun this game and see if you can beat my score. I'm sure it can be improved.
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10 videos
should have taught the assassin last breath
The99kieran99 1 year ago
@The99kieran99
every boss in the shown battles is immune to instant death...
MoogleBoss 1 year ago 3
can you have more than one templar or gladiator?
biiirrd 2 years ago
Sure, why not.
MoogleBoss 2 years ago
Isn't it ironic that finishing the game as fast as possible requires insane amounts of patience?
LHSStuntman 2 years ago 5
Not many games allow speed runs potentially "perfectable" in one go, so it's commonplace, I'd say. I don't think such a thing as a perfect speed run is even possible in FFTA though.
MoogleBoss 2 years ago