EDIT: Reduced time by 6 secs in accordance with the ruling that timing should start at "New Game".
Timing ends on confirming a save, not when the bar fully fills.
This is the recorded WR as of April 11th, 2015, and was played on a Playstation 2 Slim Model 77k using Fast Disc Speed.
Dreamboum has gotten a 3:07:01, but that footage was lost. I will continue to push for something like a 3:06. I feel like a 3:04 is possible with my current strats and tech, but it would be extremely hard and RNG heavy for encounters.
It is also possible that a 90k PS2, PSP, PS Vita, or a PSTV might be faster to run this game. I have yet to do testing on it. I have been told 77k and 90k are equal for many games. Perhaps this is one of them.
Mod Edit: Time updated to reflect new timing method.