Legend of Dragoon (Discord Channel): https://discord.gg/rQWXgK5
Fruegel Skip (Tutorial Video) 2 Minutes Time Save
Mashing 250%+ without a turbo controller
Teleport (Debug Feature) You can press START after grabbing a chest or when you want to return back up to instantly get back.
Skip Questions (Kid - Black Castle) Glitch This one I have not been able to replicate on emulator, but it might be possible on console. Probably only on PS3?, but if someone finds out how to do it please let us know!
I will add more as more things gets discovered!
I have played this game since I was just a little boy (I'm 24 now), and this is by far my favorite game. I have beaten it probably close to 10 times, every time just being a normal play through, improving on my last one. Ive become a huge fan of speedruns and this website in the past 2-3 years, but I've only lurked, never made a profile, until today. And only for one reason. I happened across this little niche of this website, and I was absolutely blown away that anyone could possibly beat this game in the 11 1/2 hours that is the record. My fastest time was maybe around 35 hours (again, playing normally). Of course, now I had to know what the secrets were! And, wouldn't you know it, there's a few written guides here on how to speedrun it. But I hardly got very far into the first one before I became very stumped. I googled and scrawled the forum posts, but I cannot find an answer. So I was forced to make an account and post here, in hopes that my question will be answered:
TL;DR - What the heck is menu manipulation??
I cannot, for the life of me, find any information on this at all! What is it, and how does it work? I tried watching the video, but that provides no answer, either. And I had figured there would be a little bit on it here in the tips/tricks/skips post, but alas... I really hope someone finds this post and gives me a detailed response, because I'm itching to know :(
I have no idea what menu manipulation is supposed to be. Could refer to the fact that you get a few free steps after closing the menu, which allows you to remove fights when you have no charm potion. Like keep menu buffering and running a few steps until the next reset point. It might also simply refer to removing the majoritiy of random encounters by eating a charm potion in the menu.
For those who are wanting to maximize their potential in speedruns I will include some testing that was done to compare what to do in certain areas.
Fletz Guard Skip Conclusion: There is a QUICK pass that if you get through quickly you can actually save about 20 seconds. Faster method than shown on video, maybe a new setup will be shown later.
Zenebatos Guards Conclusion: Since test was done on emulator where loading screens are slower by a second for each screen transition. There are 12 extra screen transitions meaning the difference is less than 10 seconds on a PS2 console. So in your BEST CASE while running back you will save a few seconds, but if you get caught accidentally then you will lose a minute instead. So I would always recommend getting caught on purpose.
Ghost Ship (Easy corridor skip #1) Conclusion: While this one is easy, you also need to get the second one to make it worthwhile. Purposely getting into a battle with the 4th soul (from left to right) by holding UP + RIGHT (running) is considered the best for average time if you didn't practice extensively. That way you will only ever get 1 battle in this screen in total and you get it instantly at your request.
Ghost Ship (Very Hard corridor skip #2) Conclusion: This one is extremely hard because the souls don't seem to move exactly the same every time, but somewhat similar. The cycle is on a 25 second loop, so if you miss your shot then you would have to take a battle or wait another 25 seconds. You can save time by doing this, but not much. If you aren't looking for a world record. Just get a battle on purpose in step 1 so that there is a gap to freely run past them on your way back.
Some of you may not have known what is faster or not in these circumstances, but here you go. Now you know the difference between each scenario. Decide for yourself what you want to do. ;)
In Mayfil, there is a way to skip the dialogue where Rose talks to the spirits and her dragoon spirit glows. I'm pretty sure it's luck-based though. When you first enter that room you press down+O until you hit the wall and then quickly let go and press it again. Do it right and you will (maybe) walk toward the foreground and be able to avoid the middle part of that room, allowing you to skip the dialogue.
Yeah, it's known for a while since I already did it in 2016 in speedruns. Not everyone knows about it, but it's very easy and 100% consistent. You (RUN) and hold down DOWN + LEFT at the same time until you are at the bottom of the screen (middle) and then just adjust to run LEFT + UP. You can even open the menu without failing it, but nowadays no charm potion is needed because we no longer grab the Healing Rain item in the chest before Lavitz. Just make sure to menu abuse once or twice in the previous room. Preferably get to this screen with a Blue marker instead of yellow to ensure that you don't get an encounter at all before Lavitz.
Ah, so it's much easier than I made it out to be. The trick is to be holding the buttons while the screen is black so that the execution is flawless every time. Thanks for the tip!
Figure I'd put this here now. We got some new tech for the Black Castle!
Skip#1 Entrance Guard Skip: Very difficult, quick setup that takes less than 5 seconds. Worth it for potential 40~ second save!
https://gyazo.com/4e88798708c1f963f6083ffc50d63ed6
Starting at the bottom of the ladder, move straight up until Dart starts moving right, pause for a second. You should be on the bottom of the light green bar. Now move straight right until the center of the lane, and angle slightly upright and then quickly back downright around the corner and back upright into the corner with the ladder and go up. If you mess it up, they'll catch you at various states of Darts ladder progression.
EDIT: Another Possible setup would be as shown here: https://gyazo.com/78b9d5e0b065ca304b2506b2074e67b6 This ones a bit quicker to set up. What matters most, it seems to me, is getting the guards on the right angle and height.
Skip#2 Elevator Guard Skip: Much less difficult, easy set up with multiple back ups. Worth it for potential 40~ second save! https://gyazo.com/801199996cd0b2aa2b94f700cddd0ded
After going up to see Mr. Magi, come back down the elevator and bait the left guard off the red center carpet as shown, quickly return to the center of the room before entering back into the zone they chase you and run straight up to the elevator. Do not go too deep into the elevator, just enough so they stop seeing you, then HUG THE NORTH WALL (if you leave the north wall AT ALL they will SEE YOU and CATCH YOU!) to the switch, hit the switch, go back to the elevator HUGGING NORTH WALL! This is quickest way to do the trick, if you mess up you can run straight down and try again! Still faster than getting the fight. If you're not fast enough getting back to the elevator, you'll be stuck in the corner and have to wiggle down a bit to get around the right guard, totally fine, still faster than the encounter! Just make sure not to run into them! There is ONE pixel that can softlock the game, you will be STUCK! RIPRUN! So don't cut it too close, if the right guard is almost back to his post after you hit the switch for the elevator, it's safer just to bait them back down again like the initial setup. Note the pixel here: https://gyazo.com/3a8997d7ee027cf70535c2eaa4757ab9
And finally, more knowledge than a skip. The Trash minigame only has FOUR (4) patterns! The rate at which the trash balls fall, however, is RNG. So watch for fast dropping balls! https://gyazo.com/8516adba7b92b2d2f4d8aff4d049396d
All of this technology is thanks to Lasagnaaammm! Dude has been helping us reroute the game recently, saving those precious minutes! Also shoutout to MurisakiBeanz who pushed us to re-examine the entrance guard skip. We had given up testing ways to skip those until he brought this method to our attention!
These skips have me very excited to get back to running this game. I'm glad the Elevator Guard Skip was brought up. It's very fun to pull off, and not too hard either. The Entrance Guard Skip however . . . :O
I hope someone can create/add clips/videos of the Kazas guard skips maybe even with a tutorial lecture on how to do it so I can add it to the list. Gyazo don't show a preview window and embeded which is always nice to have. There is just so much right now. Even the Shield Skip of Emperor Doel which saves 2-3 minutes is also something we need to clip. If no videos will be made I will probably get around to it eventually in a few months.
Now that the PS5 version is fixed, here are some tips on how to utilize it to the max.
First off, the PS5 version, if you are from an NTSC-U or PAL region, has both of those versions of the game for both of those regions. Not Japanese, but the English regions have both. You change them by going into a submenu when you press the options button, and you can change between them at any time without losing any unsaved progress. This means you only need one account between those two regions. It's great for PAL players to easily access the faster version, as well as anyone who wants the easiest possible access to try for a PAL WR.
When practicing/routing, remember to use savestates and rewinds as often as possible. They aren't just training wheels for bad players, they're also valuable routing tools. See how many things you can test, change, and optimize with Rewinds.
Anyone curious if the Popo skip works on PS4/PS5? I am... Anyone brave enough to try it? I want to see if it works. The trigger seems to be by grinding UP/RIGHT after stardust and then release up and press X from the video (see the exact spot he gets it at every time). I don't think I have a save anywhere near so not sure if I wanna play 3 hours to get there again. :D
It was just discovered that you can grab the Dancer's Shoes chest in Kadessa from the platform below it (see image linked below). As long as Dart is facing straight up toward the chest, you shouldn't have any problem grabbing it. This is about a 15 second time save!
Shoutout to Luplow for finding this!
