- General -

Hi everyone! Sarah here with the text comments.

Nathan and I threw around the idea of running this game almost from the get go. We were thoroughly enjoying the story and characters, but what stood out to us most was the monster party member feature. It's incredibly fun and we had a great time trying out different monsters. Eventually, we discovered the overpowered Super Saiyan bear that is the Galf Beast. It destroys everything in its path, is fast, and has acceptable AI. The run became a reality after that.

Though we were confident in the Galf Beast's ability to get things done, we tried out other monsters to make sure we weren't missing any other gems. While other monsters were certainly strong enough for casual play, none other than the Galf Beast and Wolf Heddin were both powerful and fast enough for a speed run. Ultimately, we decided our team would be three Galf Beasts and one Wolf Heddin. After maxing their physical attack stats and getting all three to level 200, we were ready for our run.

This run was done in 4 days, the first day being practice run day. We had a 5 day time limit because that was all the time Nathan could spare. Initially, we weren't sure if we were even going to be able to finish in time. There are a number of things in this run I am unhappy with and wish we could have fixed, but it just wasn't possible with the time restrictions.

While watching the run, you'll notice some frame dropping and audio slowdowns. This happened while capturing and we didn't notice it until the run was complete, and it was impossible to fix.

Despite everything, we are very happy we did this run, and hope you all enjoy it.

- Segment 1: Game start ~ First part of Lake Sinoa cave -

Thank you Kratos for the overdramatic intro that is not skippable!

Most of this segment is typical "beginning of RPG" bullshit. Cutscenes, talking, and tutorials. AWOOOOOOOOOOOOO~.

Richter is so strong that he can finish off that Polwigle when the Galf Beasts and Wolf Heddin couldn't! Courage is the magic that turns dreams into reality.

I save and continue because this is Babby's First Speed Run. I eventually get the idea.

We determined that pushing Richter was faster than pushing Marta to the ground as Marta has to ask Emil why the fuck he would do that.

- Segment 2: Main part of Lake Sinoa cave -

For whatever reason, the choice "Form a pact" is the second one. Messed me up more than once.

More tutorials and more pushing the bears into position. You have to do what the tutorial says to advance it, so I do.

You're forced to make a pact with both the Imp and the Wolf. We have quite the collection of them because of this.

- Segment 3: Finishing Lake Sinoa Cave -

Nathan did this segment. Overall very good Lloyd battle, but sadly we had a better one we couldn't keep because of a fuckup later. The random shit you have to do to get out of that room is hard to keep straight even with instructions...

What the fuck is up with that poster? Probably one of the worst looking things in the game, and there are a lot of terrible looking things in this game.

- Segment 4: Luin ~ Asgard part 1 -

This is a pretty long segment and I'm proud of it because I did it on my first try. By the time I got halfway through it, I realized how long it was going to be and started to fear having to redo it if I fucked up, but I managed to keep it together.

There are a few bad looking things in here, like getting caught on corners in Assguard and a less than optimal Garuda fight, but I don't think they're too bad vs. the length of the segment.

Anyway, back to Luin. You can infinite loop Vanguard battles if you go the wrong way here. Nathan and I did that for about 20 minutes one time just because it was funny to watch the bears kill Vanguards. :3

Marta's forced to be in the battle with Magmar.

The Magmar fight made me remember something, so I'll explain it here. We don't bother with adjusting the bears's AI/field positions at all for a number of reasons. Mainly, it resets every time the party changes, which is quite often, meaning we'd have to redo it every time that happens. The time saved by doing so would be negligible, and in the worst case scenario, it may have ended up wasting time. Plus, the game's AI is mostly terrible; we're not totally sure how it works, or if changing the settings even does anything anyway.

The Alice fight went very well. Very happy with it.

The Garuda fights are annoying in general. RECKLESS ASSAULT. BRAAAAGH!

Because Mr. Garuda has plot armor and the bears can't kill it, we go obtain suicide bomber baby dragons. Of course! The shamelessly blown up Imp model gets annihilated despite buffing itself up. I was worried about accidentally hitting an enemy here in Hima, but didn't have trouble.

Time for my favorite part!!! The mini game!!! I have yet to succeed at this stupid ass Wiimote gimmick bullshit so Nathan always does it for me. He almost fucked up there at the end, which would have cost me my segment, so we were glad he didn't.

Lovely miss there by the Wolf Heddin. Would have been a beautiful fight if the punch connected.

- Segment 5: Entering the Underground Ruins -

And that's a good Garuda fight. Easy to get as it's at the beginning of the segment.

Marta does some shrine maiden shit that doesn't make much sense and is not skippable.

Short segment because it is really easy to fuck up when aiming at the bells at the beginning of the next segment.

- Segment 6: Underground Ruins -

Of course, the bell hitting is more Wiimote fuckery.

I believe I utilize the Z button trick for the first time here. Simply put, aiming the Sorcerer's Ring causes the enemy AI to reset after hitting Emil, which allows Emil to run past the enemy without it seeing him because it thinks he is no longer there.

Thanks to this trick, there are no optional monster battles in this game; the only fights are required ones. Both of us are proud of this as there are some enemies that are incredibly hard to avoid later in the game.

At this point in the run I still wasn't very good at it, so I wait until I can see the AI resetting before I move on, but I eventually gain a lot of experience........

And another save 'n run. This one was actually because I continued on to practice, but the boss battle ended up being above average so we kept it.

It's impossible to make it by that Basilisk without Z tricking it.

- Segment 7: Leaving the Underground Ruins ~ Hakonesia Peak -

I Z trick the Ghost or Poltergeist or whatever blind here. It was on my first try, but that's not too impressive as it's the first thing I do in the segment...

And ANOTHER save 'n run. I knee-jerk saved because I did the Z trick successfully even though the rest of this segment is trivial.

- Segment 8: Dynasty Ruins -

Nathan did this segment.

Marta goes to the bar so Richter and Emil can have homo homo time. Richter's bgm is one of the best tracks in the game.

This dungeon is mysterious. I always find new ways to fuck up even though it's not hard. Even after I had written run notes I was positive were correct I got lost because I couldn't find the door. Turns out the "door" was a wall and the actual door was just a black maw to the left of it. Thanks, TV brightness. Anyway.

That Jasconius Jr. is REALLY ANNOYING because it's hidden when you have to start Z tricking it.

The triggers on interactive things like chests and Sorcerer's Ring machines are totally broken. Nathan has to try numerous times before it finally connects. The best part is it appears totally random.

Another good Alice fight. Nathan tries targeting numerous enemies because at one point we believed that doing so makes the bears target individual enemies, but it may be as effective as holding down B when throwing a Pokeball.

- Segment 9: Entering Iselia -

So here's this giant enemy whale. Having it eat our entire party and washing up on a different continent is the only way they could think of to get us to Iselia.

A walking around segment.

- Segment 10: To the Human Ranch -

This little kid wants to be like Llyod McIrving, so he goes full retard and needs us to rescue him. Sounds right. Off to the Human Ranch, or as I call it, Dotland.

All the bears go after one enemy in the Roper palette swap fight. Did I mention how shitty the AI is in this game?

This area's music is good, but it's hilarious slowed down.

- Segment 11: More Human Ranch -

SPITEFUL OLD NAG. <3 Tenebrae.

That ogre thing is turbo and makes me laugh every time I see it.

Okay, time for a scene... oh fuck stopped an inch too soon... okay!

This entire area is a huge pain in the ass. I run into a ton of shit and Emil has to move to the center of the dot every time I don't hit the center in the first place. I never had a segment where those things didn't happen, though, so whatever.

I still don't know what that water-looking substance is supposed to be. Shit sails through it without even disturbing it. The worst part is how you can see the exposed corners....

I fuck up on those Chimeras EVERY TIME. Wiimote bullshit. Looks way worse than it is at least.

- Segment 12: Human Ranch boss -

Just a minor boss fight. Tried a couple times and kept this.

- Segment 13: Exiting Human Ranch -

So now that we've saved Llyod Jr., we head back to Iselia to have a wonderful time with Raine Smage. Not until I get stuck on some more shit in the Human Ranch, though!

- Segment 14: Iselia stuff -

Talking.

- Segment 15: Iselia to Triet Ruins to Triet -

Talking and some fishing, which is more Wiimote bullshit!!!!!! This "mini game" is hard to predict and easy to fail at. It happened a couple times, and sitting through all those scenes at the beginning was annoying as hell.

Marta apparently wasn't programmed to have a sitting/fishing animation, so if you try to fish with her she makes up an excuse and says no. Talk about lazy.

Here I save in the inn rather than on the map. It had been a year since I last seriously played through the game and I forgot it was possible to save on the map. By the time I remembered it was too late to redo everything I had done. It looks bad but doesn't waste much time at all; plus, I only do it a few times.

- Segment 16: Triet Ruins -

I was very worried about avoiding those Jabbers; they're fast and I have to go by them several times. I ended up doing this segment on my first try. I couldn't believe it, and it's a pretty good segment to boot.

- Segment 17: Triet Ruins boss -

Another boss fight. Incredible noise from Raine.

The enemy's formation is random, and this formation happened to work well with the bear AI. Looks pretty good.

- Segment 18: Leaving Triet Ruins ~ Richter dragon fight -

We had to watch the first part of this so many times because of dragon fight fuckups. The way the characters exit the ruins and turn the corners at 90 degree angles... how it's not skippable... just beautiful.

Genius belches and the girls get mad at him. Emil is tasked to find firewood, and boy does he find a bunch!!!!!!!!! ............

Suddenly, Richter is here to tell Emil that Elvis is behind him!

This battle is the reason we went for 10x experience instead of half. The Elvis, ahem, Jabber, was enough to slaughter Emil; the dragon was basically impossible.

I didn't get the Jabber in one combo. ;_;

Nathan controls Richter because his AI is HOLYSHITBAD. The dragon has a very long recovery window, which causes Nathan to miss it, but overall this is more than satisfactory.

That is totally what a baby dragon looks like.

Emil has a headache, so Richter does what any good friend would do and starts to smell his ass. They bond over this, and Richter exits with a blush/glasses shove/hair flip combo. Richter is my favorite character, by the way.

Emil somehow fails to bring back any firewood. No way.

Immediately after typing this, the novel with Richter and Aster on the cover fell off my shelf. Spooky.

- Segment 19: Izoold ~ Camberto Caves -

Lots of talking, nothing much to note here. Giant shroom fight was great except for Wolf Heddin punching it upward.

- Segment 20: Leech (caves) -

I failed getting around that leech so many times that I gave up and just stood there until it faced the other way. Nathan does it in the next segment flawlessly. What even is this segment? Blame the leech for being turbo!

- Segment 21: More caves -

I take the upper path to avoid a bee. Close encounters with Ok Suk Whang, our caterpillar friend.

-Segment 22: Caves -

Nathan owning the leech and another giant shroom fight. Tried to direct the mini shrooms but went a tad too far. Still very good.

- Segment 23: CAVES ~ Izoold -

It seems like the the more annoying I find an area, the more segments it'll be spread out over. Finally we are done with the caves and we head back to Izoold.

Lots of talking.

- Segment 24: More Izoold ~ Flanoir -

So because fishing just once wasn't enough, we are forced to do it again. At least it's at the beginning of the segment this time.

So the Nazdrovie - I mean Light Frog - materializes for an almost optimal fight. Stop popping things up into the air, Wolf Heddin...

The skit on the boat is forced.

Arrival at Flanoir comes with a bunch more talking.

DAT DECUS.

- Segment 25: Temple of Ice -

This segment is my least favorite one. It was the first one of the day, and even after spending over two hours on it the best I could get was "barely acceptable." Really wish we had more time because I hated to move on.

Those Light Frog palette swaps are probably the fastest enemies in the game and can turn on a dime. More often than not it would hit me. If I made it past it, the Lamia or Selkie or whatever the hell would hit me next. If I got by them both the first time, one would hit me on the way back up. Can't go by the frog when it's on the bridge so I had to wait for it to turn around.

Next I had to deal with a ghetto ice cube and a yeti. The block likes to get stuck in one place, whereupon it becomes impossible to move it in the direction you want. The yeti is very wide and likes to sneak up on you from behind, so I lured it out instead... or at least I tried to. Lol, yeti can't go across ice cube. It ends up working the same as the Z button trick though, resetting its AI and allowing me to sneak past it. It's very possible to get around it by Z tricking it and being fast, but I was done at this point.

- Segment 26: More Ice -

Really good fight here. Great example of why we have a Wolf Heddin. It took it two hits to kill the yeti, but it did it before the other Galf Beast got there.

Great Vanguard fight. It starts out looking bad, but the bear AI somehow pulls through perfectly. Totally random, I'm sure.

Kratos Bra pulls out his Bramehameha and ... slices that boulder into evenly sized chunks which promptly disappear into thin air. I go back and save because I would never get out of here if I didn't.

- Segment 27: Ice -

And indeed, had to reset quite a few times for this fight. Looks good.

The statues' triggers are broken, same as with chests and ring changers. It can't be helped.

The bear is actually blind, but is wide enough that it'll still collide with me if I don't wait for it to come down. There are a number of enemies in the game that are inexplicably blind and just don't see Emil.

Another wide enemy on the stairs.

- Segment 28: Lice -

Oh wow, we're finally leaving. Nothing here but avoiding enemies and Sheena scratching her lice-infested head.

- Segment 29: ICE -

Still not out! Almost there though! Sheena's bgm with slowdown is amazing.

We head back to Flanoir and find a palette swap of that old man wearing a skirt. Alrighty. Off to Meltokio!

Lots of talking, with another good Alice fight. Her monsters have a lot of HP but don't do much else.

Tenebrae gets reverted to core form here, which is an excuse to go to the Temple of Darkness to get him back.

- Segment 30: Temple of Darkness -

Ah yes, the Temple of Darkness. I was dreading this because of all the enemies in the narrow hallway; I wasn't sure it was even possible at first. Once I discovered it was, the segment came together quickly. The enemy movement patterns are much more predictable than they are in the Temple of Ice, which helped tremendously. The winding basement pathway scared me a few times, but went well. I am proud of this segment.

- Segment 31: More Darkness -

Going back up from the basement and saving before fighting Richter. No problem here.

- Segment 32: VS Richter -

Nathan did this segment; you can tell because he usually waves the pointer around. :)

It took us AGES to get an acceptable fight here. Richter absolutely loves to start casting shit, which is unacceptable when it's okay for Emil to die. It was virtually impossible to predict what Richter would do. Physically attacking him caused him to respond with a close range attack this time, but that didn't always work. The reason Emil guards is because Nathan was trying to free run, but Richter immediately started a combo and caught him before he could start. Free running makes an enemy attack register as a critical hit 100% of the time.

- Segment 33: Back to Meltokio -

We get booted down into the basement again, but it's no big deal. Exit and return to Meltokio.

Decus kidnaps Zelos's gimp sister, so of course we decide to rescue her.

- Segment 34: Cape Fortress -

Nathan did this segment. I hit those enemies on the stairs so many times in a row that I gave up and made him do it for me.

Radical music slowdown!

Great Z trick on the bat there. It's hard to predict what that one does, and the giant golem being right there didn't help.

He changes the ring first, and messes up the save a little but recovers.

- Segment 35: More Fortress -

More Wiimote asshattery!!!!!! Nathan also did this segment.

THE IMPOS-

AAAAALICEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!! The bears do what they do best here. Decus has a ton of HP.

Beautiful Richter "fight." Had to reset a lot but it was worth it. The problem that usually happened is that a bear would get to him before he would attack.

- Segment 36: Leaving Cape Fortress -

That Carbuncle is surprisingly hard to avoid.

Nathan aaaalmost hits that Imp palette swap but sees it and swerves out of the way.

Time to take gimp back to Meltokio.

- Segment 37: Meltokio again -

100% talking.

- Segment 38: Sybak -

We head to Sybak after finding the path leading to the Temple of Bzzt blocked by people wearing metal.

A bunch of important talking happens.

- Segment 39: Temple of Lightning -

I was terrified of doing the Temple of Bzzt. It's so long and convoluted and there are enemies all over the place. However, like the Temple of Darkness, it was much less difficult than I was expecting.

They appear to be dead.

The jelly is annoying, but it's pretty fast so luring it doesn't take long.

That Ok Suk Whang is another one of the game's blind enemies. It would be annoying to have to avoid it so it's very convenient.

- Segment 40: Lightning 2 -

Poo golem avoid count: 1.

These dark rooms are... really dark. We had to jack the brightness on the TV up to max just to see what I was doing.

Oh boy, Vanguards! Guess we don't have to feed the bears today!

Can see how much better I've gotten with the Z trick when I use it on that Whang.

- Segment 41: Lightning 3 -

That bat was in a different place every time I came back up from the lower area. Always a surprise.

Poo golem avoid count: 2.

Poo golem avoid count: 3.

I changed the Sorcerer's Ring element to fire before it gave me the hint. Sequence break?!?!??!

Lots and lots of back and forth in here. So very thankful for that save point in the main area.

- Segment 42: Lightning 4 -

Poo golem avoid count: 4.

Yay, more Wiimote shit!!!!!!!!!

That is what a boulder really looks like when it explodes.

Wow, all that just to change the ring to red lightning! Couldn't he have just climbed up the side or something? Have Tenebrae give him a lift? ...

Marta slams herself into Emil at full force to get him to stop. She slaps him, but his face reacts before it connects. Insensitive Jerk!

- Segment 43: Lightning Boss Battle -

Lots of enemies here, but the bears make short work of all of them. UUUUAAUUUGHGHHGH!

- Segment 44: Leaving Bzzt -

Would you ride down that thing? I wouldn't, not even if my life depended on it.

Nathan skillfully dodges that jelly. It was one of the enemies we weren't sure we'd be able to avoid as it isn't facing us.

A metal comes to report and Emil thinks about Richter while Marta hugs him.

- Segment 45: Back to Sybak and Meltokio -

This meadow looks familiar. Almost as if it's the same one we've walked through many times...

Talking talking talking plot RPG.

- Segment 46: Temple of Earth -

Love that meadow.

I love Axe Beaks. They and their numerous palette swaps are my favorite Tales monsters. Sadly, this one insisted on hitting me 90% of the time I attempted this segment.

Narrow miss with Cockatrice on one side and shroom on the other.

It is unstable. Suddenly, a massive dragon.

- Segment 47: Earth 2 -

Are you ready for ANOTHER stupid mini game? A lovely tune plays when you screw up and fall through. WAH WAH WAH WAAAAAAAH.

For some reason, doing that opened a door. Behind the door we find a bunch of pissed off Whangs! These guys are annoying as hell because they roll around the screen with random, incredibly fast movements. They cooperated wonderfully in this battle.

- Segment 48: Toize Valley Mine -

Not much to say here. Just following directions, avoiding enemies and ... blowing boulders to smithereens in a completely realistic way. Amazing sound effect.

- Segment 49: Altamira -

Altamira symbolizes the beginning of endgame to me. Always nice to see.

Lots of running around.

- Segment 50: More Altamira -

Choosing the wrong floor on the elevator is the most frustrating segment ruiner in the game.

More running around.

- Segment 51: Motto motto Altamira -

Nathan did this segment.

You either clip through that NPC or run all the way around the back of the lobby. Clipping is faster.

Almost two minutes of cutscenes followed by two battles, one of which you have to get the enemy to kill you. Not a very fun segment at all. Luckily all that comes after is a bunch more talking.

- Segment 52: Altessa's House -

No u, Magmar. Dude has a massive amount of HP.

He decides to take a shit on the ground right where he's standing.

- Segment 53: Mizuho -

Lol whoops, forgot to boot Marta. She keeps the Vanguards from scattering though, so it actually worked out very well.

Check out how Marta walks in place after the first Vanguard fight................

Well... 2/3 great battles isn't bad!

- Segment 54: Building #2 -

After much talking and stupidity, we finally move along. Nathan does all of Building 2.

Poor Vanguard takes a bear clap to the face. Second one takes a bear punch to the gut. Their screams really take it to the next level.

The last part of the segment (yeah, the last part) is the most difficult thing we had to do for the run. There are three Vanguards in the way. After much testing, we found a way to get around all of them. There is absolutely no room for error here. Mistiming the Z trick, hitting the edge of the staircase, standing a pixel too far to the right or left... all would result in failure. After hours and hours of practicing, Nathan was able to do it consistently enough to manage this segment. And it's beautiful.

- Segment 55: Building #2 2 -

This segment is not much easier. It's long, there's a lot of running around, every hallway looks the same, and there are Vanguards roaming everywhere. Nathan does a great job again.

- Segment 56: Building #2 3 -

Basically, all of Building #2 is hard. Nathan swirls the pointer around on the screen because he has had enough of this crap.

Sadly, Richter doesn't get Emil on the first try, but it's still quite fast.

And the segment is only half over. Remember what I said about the elevator being the most frustrating segment killer? Yeah. Feel the rage.

He continues all the way to the Tower of Salvation, where the segment finally ends. Amazing.

- Segment 57: Martel Temple -

But he's not done yet. Nathan starts out the segment by picking Martel Temple out of the giant list of locations without stopping.

Naturally, a box puzzle awaits us inside. He tries to lure the golems toward the corresponding holes to save time pushing the boxes around.

He dumps the boxes he doesn't need to get rid of them.

Brittney here is another monster we weren't sure we'd be able to avoid. Instead of drawing it out, Emil just sneaks past it, saving a ton of time.

The scorpion on the next level is yet another one of the blind enemies. Again, very helpful.

We have a chat with Belius... uh, Verius... before ending the segment.

- Segment 58: Return to Luin ~ Otherworldly Gate -

I start playing again here.

A quick forced battle and a lot of pre-endgame stuff.

The Carbuncle right at the entrance to the Otherworldly Gate fucked me up so many times it was ridiculous. I finally just stopped and waited for it to hit me and then went around.

- Segment 59: Otherworldly Gate 2 -

This next part is so ridiculously dumb. I guess burning shiny tree roots looks cool.

After the Symphonia 1 party members disappear thanks to PLOT, it's time for Decus and Alice. All the bears can do is hack at their HP until they go down.

The bears destroy the serpent that doesn't do anything, and it's time for the final boss.

- Segment 60: End -

Richter teleports away at the start, but the bears combo him to oblivion once they surround him.

Emil goes down incredibly quickly thanks to his lack of equipment, skills, and the utilization of free run. We weren't sure what we were going to do about this originally, since letting Lloyd and Marta win is required to get the "good" ending and the credits. We thought we'd have to go with 1/2 experience in order to have him die in a reasonable amount of time, but this worked just fine.

There is no way Emil could beat Ratatosk, so I free run as much as possible in order to lose. Ratatosk makes some poor attack choices, but Emil still goes down pretty quickly.

After a bunch more cutscenes that are thankfully skippable, the game is over!

Thank you for watching our run! Nathan and I also did audio commentary, which is pretty hilarious, so please listen to it too!