Default values for variables seem to be broken. It states that the leaderboard will be filtered by the default value by default, but this does not happen.

It has recently been discovered that the FPSFix mod which we decided to allow for PC runs a little over a year ago has effects beyond what we initially realized, particularly on machines with AMD processors. Below are the results of the investigation into this done by MrTyton:

"Ok, so good news and bad news.

There is a difference when utilizing FPS Fix. However, this seems to be localized only to AMD processors. As best I could tell, there is no difference between Intel, Intel w/ FPS, and AMD - the difference only arises when utilizing AMD w/ FPS, resulting in about a 4-5% speedrup in constant movement when compared to AMD, and transitively to any utilization of Intel.

Doom timer does seem to be affected by this as well - while I lacked any direct comparisons between AMD and AMD w/ FPS, by the transitive property described above the results should be the same. I am unsure as to whether or not it affects other battle issues (including, but not limited to, result screen, stagger duration, etc).

These conclusions are brought from 7 computers, 3 Intel 4 AMD. While I would have liked more data, I made did with what I did - I was unable to perform any statistical tests. The thing that I was looking for were increases in the differences between sequential events occurring, in order to try and account for slight differences in movement/inputs. If an increase was consistent over a long period of time, then this helps to eliminate random noise.

A small amount of the differences between AMD and AMD w/ FPS were due to base AMD having a large increase in sub-60 FPS. However, I do not think that this would have accounted for all of the difference seen.

Why is this happening?

Well, the likely cause is due to the removal of the framepacer, and AMD instructions operating differently than Intel instructions, such as a floating point difference. What these differences are... I'm not sure, sadly."

We now have to grapple with the question of what to do with a mod that has allowed quite a few people to have a better experience running the game, but is also causing some to gain an advantage beyond what is possible in the unmodded game, and which is hardware dependent and thus not attainable for everyone.

Potential ideas include straight up banning the mod, having runs with it hidden by default (similarly to emulator runs on Pokemon boards) or having some kind of leaderboard split. Furthermore, depending on what solution we go with, we will have to think about what to do with existing runs on the board. I will post my own opinions on these issues later.

Obviously this situation sucks for everyone, but please be civil and respectful to others' opinions on this matter. Thank you.

FF1 & 2 speedrun Discord: https://discord.gg/ZpKzVtE General FF speedruns Discord (includes a #hub-list channel with links to most other individual servers): https://discord.gg/0tjIC3eQA7VFd6Qw

Dual runners is totally allowed, there just haven't been any people doing full Babel runs as a pair I guess.

Boosters = Modifiers such as speedup, dealing 9999 with every hit, etc. These are only available on the HD releases.

Turbo = A turbo controller, which in most speedrun communities is not allowed. For FF9 we do have a console leaderboard that allows it, as well as allowing it generally on the HD version.

A few weeks ago an issue was brought up in the FF discord regarding the ease with which certain cheating methods could potentially be used for FF9 on console. A community vote was undertaken to decide on a potential rule change to prevent this, and based on this it has been decided to require a hard reset before every attempt. The rules for the relevant categories have been updated.

You can read the details in this pastebin: https://pastebin.com/rfjm6pf2

If there are any further questions, feel free to bring them up here or in the discord.

For now, I've set up subcategories for Catherine/Catherine Classic for all full game categories (since the ILs don't have load times and shouldn't be any different).

If people really want, I could change it to not be a subcategory, and instead just a value you enter that shows on the board. This effectively would merge the boards, but I could set it so values do not obsolete each other, so you can have a PB for both show up simultaneously. I find that a rather ugly solution, but if people prefer that to having a bunch of possibly empty subcategories, I could go with it.

I really hate obsoleting existing runs just because a new version with better loads comes along, especially for games that aren't super active anyway like this. So I'd prefer just splitting it. A separate board seems a tad pointless cause as far as I'm aware it's still the same exact game, unlike Full Body, which I think we agreed will get a new board.

So the console English release doesn't have difficulty options, apparently the JP version does, as well as PC. It would definitely be faster, though some fights might need new strats (I'm told you stagger some things almost uncomfortably fast). So it would definitely be a new category, but no one seems to want to route it so far.

Oh, I am most definitely up for that. Only times I have played Colosseum mode has been at previous ESA events, and it would be nice to play against some actual competition for a change.

Brahne being impressed or not just depends on whether you get all inputs correct. You did not, so not impressed. Simple enough.

The number of nobles is more complicated. You get two kinds of points for every correct input: combo points and quickness points. Combo points increase with each consecutive correct input, so failing the very first input like you did is less bad than failing one in the middle, since you got a full combo aside from that. Quickness points are just what they sound like: the quicker your input, the more points. At the end, all your points are added up, and if the total score passes a certain treshold, presto 100 nobles impressed!

Now usually this doesnt tend to happen with a failed input since you would need a lot of quickness points to make up for the missed combo points, but like I said, the first (or last) input is the least costly to fail, and I have heard that it is easier to get 100 nobles on the HD version, so the treshold might be lower or something. In theory I think it should be possible on the original version also as long as you are quick enough, but I am not aware of anyone having done this.

If anyone is curious about further details of the swordfight, Tirlititi helpfully made a readable version of the script for it, which you can find here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8ce6b73316gkx0x/AAA2-z3GCFZf3-Ed-6htDRmCa?dl=0&preview=Script_BlankMinigame.txt

PS1 is functionally identical to SNES except with higher movement speed and slower battle transitions. While those things might warrant very slight route changes to be truly optimal, the SNES route will work just fine, step manipulation and all.

Hi Serge,

To prevent category bloat, our policy thus far has always been to only add categories with at least two runs. As it stands, I think your run is the only one that we have time and video of, so I am holding off on adding it for now.

I always felt it should have been this way from the beginning, personally.

No, all runs on this leaderboard are single segment. I imagine the reason you are asking is because you have trouble finding time for a 5+ hour run. While I do sympathize with that, segmented runs would have an unfair advantage over single segment runs, so they would not be accepted.

The main leaderboards go by real time, so you are not allowed to pause the timer during a run. A true segmented run involves trying segments over and over to get each segment as fast as possible before moving on, which judging from your post I don't think is what you want to do. Of course you are free to do runs in segments if you want, but for the main leaderboard runs are required to be in one segment.

We go by RTA timing for this game. The ingame time will usually be a bit less iirc, but yeah no need to pay attention to it.

Also I do feel compelled to point out that PS3 is the slowest way to run this game. Real bad load times, probably loses like 40 minutes to PS2 w/ fast disc speed. Dont let that stop you from running it of course, just pointing it out so you are aware. I wish you the best of luck in your attempts.

If you are just playing the game casually, which I guess you are if you say you are stuck, I would not recommend trying to replicate the strat for Hello Kitty. It is very difficult. The bosses in general are the hard part of this game, so just practice and you will get the hang of them eventually.

Some further clarifications.

1. Yeah, pretty much what Nev said. I dont think it happens all the time, and you can still beat the stage if it happens, but the time loss would be significant. There might be other ways to prevent it, but I never really understood the specifics of it. If you really want to know, I suggest you contact Isuyaru, cause I am not sure he reads this forum. He goes by Isusaur these days on Twitch/Youtube.

2. We are all too lazy to run it. My PB is literally my first time playing easy mode, just trying to apply normal strats where I could. If you want a free WR, it is there for the taking. I asked Isusaur once, and he estimated an optimized time would probably be just above 1:20.

3. Just picking the right option is exactly what I do, but do watch out for the final question in that case. Choosing right for everything makes you basically reject both Katherine and Catherine, so if you then also say no to the freedom ending, the game tosses you another question to force you to choose, wasting precious seconds. So make sure to pick left for the last question (and yes, I have forgotten this in runs). Good news is that usually gets you True Freedom ending. :P

4. Honestly, if you are running either normal or hard mode, the best way to learn the game is to watch videos. Isusaur has a bunch on his Youtube.

One final tip that might not be immediately obvious I am just going to copy+paste from when Isusaur told me:

"When you:

1. go down and grab on to the edge of a block, or
2. transition from hanging on the edge to standing on a block by pressing X (so you're ready to pull the block you were hanging on)

then it's important not to simply hold the direction or button for where to move next, but to time it correctly. This will cancel the animation early and let you move faster. The effects of this are very apparent in the child with chainsaw fight, since in that first section where you have to wait for the blocks to fall, they actually will fall on time instead."

As far as I have been able to tell, there are no other relevant differences, so feel free to submit and I will just look it over.

One thing to note, if you are running Normal mode, the current strat for 9-4 contains one intentional undo that prevents a weird thing that happens occasionally, where the end of the stage spawns in weird. So without undo, you might run into that.