Final Fantasy VII at Games Done Quick

[cold_spirit]

Final Fantasy VII (PC) will be featured at Awesome Games Done Quick 2021, a speedrun marathon for charity. The time estimate is 2 hrs and 5 mins. Check out this schedule for when it'll begin (Friday evening in the US, but time is subject to change as some runs go long).

The Yetee is selling a sweet FF7 t-shirt and t-shirt/poster featuring Cait Sith as part of AGDQ. Pics of the graphics below. $5 from every t-shirt sale and $8 from every poster sale goes to Prevent Cancer Foundation. Or you can donate directly.

I really look forward to every GDQ event. Super friendly and wholesome runners, commentary, and chat.

 

[AllGoodInMyHood]

I have never been into speedruns... but I'll watch probably. I mean, how can you finish a game that's on 3 cd's in 2 hours?

 

[ForceStealer]

^I'm not particularly into speedruns either. But I have to admit the FF7 run they did a couple years ago was pretty fascinating.

 

[Eerie]

I have never been into speedruns... but I'll watch probably. I mean, how can you finish a game that's on 3 cd's in 2 hours?

Looked it up, FFVII best time is still 6 hours (or 6:30, can't remember which). That's... a long time for a speedrun. I will try to watch some of it tonight (for me)

 

[ForceStealer]

The ways in which they gamed how random encounters work is something else. Particularly in the Cave of the Gi to cancel out the spider fights.

 

[Eerie]

Oh wait up it's a PC version so it's indeed 2 hours. The PS1 version is roughly 7 hours long haha.

 

[JBedford]

The current PS1 world record (via a PS2 console) is 6h59m. The current Any% record actually doesn't use Cait Sith's Slots, which would make it faster (about 15 minutes I think), but no one has run the Slots category since putting the Cosmo Canyon skip into the run.

The PC speedrun is sub 2 hours because

Spoiler

they can make use of various warps available in that version, culminating in a warp to the Debug Room to get straight to the final battles.

It's not really a run they can explain the story while playing.

 

[Eerie]

Well it's speedrun. As one of the French commentators put it "well, of course we're going to cheat!" lol. That's often more than not the point of the speed run, to find bugs which will allow you to cheat and go faster. It's quite incredible that the PS1 run has not been cracked though.

 

[cold_spirit]

Run just ended. Should be uploaded to GDQ's youtube account within a day if you're interested in watching.

I'm glad the commentary went over how the lower menu framerate of all FFVII ports causes an issue with duplicated inputs. It's something I notice and hate, especially because I know the transitions and effects feel so good at 60fps on PS1. People will argue that framerate isn't important for menus, but I thoroughly disagree. Smooth menus create a lovely user experience. Every non-PS1 version of FFVII feels clunky as a result.

I didn't realize a consequence of the Sector 7 to Wall Market skip (showcased during the run) is that the player never gets access to the Materia menu. I thought that'd be a bigger deal, but they skip every boss after Midgar, so it basically a non-issue.

There was a noticable issue with people talking over each other during the run. I've had enough Zoom meetings to know there must've been an issue with audio lag. Too bad because I think there's a lot of interesting things to say about the skips, but the communication issues made it difficult to get an explanation across.

Overall is was okay.

 

[Eerie]

The French guys commenting the run were pretty great and made me laugh quite a bit (really the French GDQ team is awesome as a whole, kudos to the guy who comments only on Awful GDQ lol). They explained everything neatly, it was a good job :')

 

[JBedford]

I didn't realize a consequence of the Sector 7 to Wall Market skip (showcased during the run) is that the player never gets access to the Materia menu. I thought that'd be a bigger deal, but they skip every boss after Midgar, so it basically a non-issue.

Yeah, in warpless runs and old routes of the warps run they do the cutscenes in Sector 7 and then do Guard Skip after to get access to the Materia menu.

I haven't watched a warp run in a while. The route's gotten a lot simpler and a lot of the tricks are no longer present, like Yuffie warping. I'm also surprised that there was a warp straight to the very end that had eluded speedrunners for so long.

Being able to skip the Cloud naming screen is new to me--I guess on a warpless run the time saved from skipping that isn't worth it compared to the time saved by shortening their names.

 

[cold_spirit]

Another Games Done Quick, another showing of Final Fantasy VII

This year, FFVII is being run by Zheal, who currently holds the Any% No Slots world record on PS1. This is what will be shown off during the event. I believe this category was last run in 2017. I even wrote an article about it!

The run starts in about 50 minutes and is estimated to go over 7 hours, so get cozy! Here's the link. A lot of skips have been found in recent years, such as Kalm skip, bringing the estimate down a whole hour. Amazing.

For those who might not of heard of the event, Games Done Quick is a semiannual video game speedrun charity marathon which, depending on the event, raises money for Prevent Cancer Foundation or Doctors Without Borders.

There's also some exclusive FFVII merchandise provided through The Yetee. $5 of every t-shirt and $13 of every posted will be donated. Some pretty cool stuff this year!

Death Blow



Those Who Fight Further



AGDQ 2023 Ensemble Tee (also available in poster form)

 

[Shademp]

I'm so happy they named Vincent "Morbius" in this run.

 

[cold_spirit]

This will probably be too late for people to see, but for the past day, The Yetee has been selling some new FF7 t-shirts. Placing this in the Games Done Quick thread for prosperity because they often partner together.

https://theyetee.com/

In order to maintain membership in the Vincent Valentine fanclub I belong to (of which I'm the sole member), I am of course ordering the latter.

Next Mission by 1wing


Unforgettable by Japu

 

[Lex]

Those designs are awesome!

 

[cold_spirit]

In about 6 hours, an Any% Race of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII - Reunion will be run at Summer Games Done Quick 2023. The runners are desa3579 and BigSid. Expected to last 1hr 20mins.

Twitch

Twitch is the world's leading video platform and community for gamers.

m.twitch.tv

As per usual, The Yetee is selling themed t-shirts. Pretty rare to see Genesis featured on something! $5 from every tee sold goes to Doctors Without Borders.

https://theyetee.com/collections/sgdq/products/legendary-soldiers

 

[cold_spirit]

Dirge of Cerberus will be at Summer Games Done Quick 2024. I will be there no matter what. Only FF game on the schedule too.

Hoping they have some DC merch to go along with it.

 

[Lex]

Dirge of Cerberus will be at Summer Games Done Quick 2024. I will be there no matter what. Only FF game on the schedule too.

Hoping they have some DC merch to go along with it.

View attachment 16702

This is really neat just from a perspective of hearing people comment on it as they play. I'll keep an eye on this and try to watch it in real time .

Maybe we could do a community watch on Discord or something?

 

[cold_spirit]

The Yetee (partner of Games Done Quick) has best boy Vincent Valentine as their daily design today. Just posting it here for prosperity. Yes I ordered it, did you really have to ask?

The Yetee

Nice Shirt.

theyetee.com

Here's me with a design from last year (just a few posts above this). I took this photo in February and, coincidently, I'm wearing it again as I type this.