So I decided on stream to do the comparisons between the 3 different versions of WA3. (PS2 DVD-ROM, PS2 HDD, PSN). I'll paste here the info I have collected. (Note: "PS2 HDD" refers to the official HDD support the game provides. In the title screen you are given the option to install data to your official Sony HDD to load off of. Once this is installed the feature is automatically enabled in settings of any game file and can be toggled on or off there.)

Wild Arms 3 Loading

DVD-ROM JP ~8 seconds World Map ~7 seconds City ~1.5 second Floor Transitions

HDD JP ~5 seconds World map ~3.5 seconds City ~1 second Floor Transitions

PSN ~7.5 seconds World Map ~6 seconds City

Okay I now have the frame data for World Map and City loads for both JP DVD-ROM and JP HDD here they are.

DVD-ROM JP World Map: 259 frames City: 202 frames

HDD JP World Map: 163 frames City: 111 frames

Note: This frame data was taken from as soon as the screen starts to fade (lose of character control) to when you are able to move your character (start of character control). Since this game runs at 480i NTSC, it runs at 29.97 FPS so the frame counts here are rounded when calculated.

What system was PSN performed on, and what was the drive type? I'm curious to see if HD vs. SSD would affect this game. Also, did that mean there was no load time for room transitions in PSN?

Did not do that much testing with the PSN version since I didn't have the equipment. It does not save too much time though especially compared to JP with HDD unit. With SSD you may see and extra 30 second time save per transition compared to PS4 with a spindle drive. Also PSN refers to NA PS4 original since the PSN version is only on NA PS stores. I also was using an original PS4 and not PS4 pro but in this instance it really should not make much difference.

I can also calculate the data for the Floor transitions. I did not see a difference between them for PSN and DVD-ROM PS2 but I can always go back and calculate them.