Last Attract Mode!, AeonFrodo ran Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed Any% Normal! We saved Aionios with our favorite heroes, and escaped the endless now in this beloved JRPG! BeamQueenSol joined on comms!
Watch all the action here!
https://youtu.be/Jl2faG_F9vc š
LA: How did you prepare for this speedrun, was there anything different that time around that made this achievement different?
JERIKANDRA: In general Iāve been āgrindingā to get to 4:20 for a month or so. My last 2 PBs were 4:23 and then 4:22, a month ago. In general, I try to practice certain boss strats and certain menu combinations semi-daily so I have set save files for those areas of the run. For this run, I donāt think I did a whole lot different though. It was just FINALLY the perfect mixture of Good RNG and my own skill coming into play. Maybe lack of distraction and more focus?
LA: How long have you been playing Chrono Trigger in general and 100% glitchless?
JERIKANDRA: I first played Chrono Trigger back in the 90ās. I was at a friendās house and he had a Super Nintendo (my parents wouldnāt let me have one) and he let me play it. Iād never played an RPG before and I was enamored with the story, being able to name characters, and the battle techs too. It wasnāt until a year or two later when I had my own computer that I emulated it and played it to completion.
Over the years Iāve played Chrono Trigger on other platforms including iPad, and then PC but I kind of took a hiatus from video games in general after around 2009. When 2020 hit, I had been spending all of my time creating costumes for cosplay. Since we were stuck inside, my motivation to make costumes kinda dwindled and I rediscovered video games. I took to live streaming to find the interaction I still needed (because I play primarily single player RPGs).
I replayed Chrono Trigger on stream and then did all of the endings for the first time AND even the bonus dungeons that were added in the DS and PC versions. In 2022, I set up a community challenge to āSpeedrun Chrono Triggerā. I had previously seen speedruns but didnāt quite understand the thrill of them but figured, hey why not try it?
Side note: 100% Glitchless is basically playing Chrono Trigger to full completion to get the ābestā and āmost completeā ending. It involves doing all the side quests for the game.
February 2023, I finally did the challenge. I had read up on the Chrono Trigger Speedrun Community notes and had done an offline run by myself as well. I cosplayed as Ayla ( a cave girl character in the game) and did the run. My first run was 9 hours and 2 minutes, the lowest on the leaderboard by far. And yet I felt completely exhilarated! Speedrunning was a new way to play my favorite game and it provided a challenge.
This became a new āhobbyā for me in 2023ā¦to try to beat my last time. It kinda took over my life a bit. I am a published author as well and had some goals for the year to write my 4th book but the evenings I had set aside for writing, I more often felt like sitting down and speedrunning instead haha.
I also wrote and produced a parody song about Chrono Trigger speedrunning to the tune of Dua Lipaās New Rules , called āNew PBā lol.
LA: What were the challenges going into learning to speedrun this game?
JERIKANDRA: As a brand new speedrunner, I had a lot to learn. Chrono Trigger is turn-based but it uses an ATB system, which essentially means the NPCs and yourself get āturnsā but when your turn comes up, the enemy keeps getting turns, their timer doesnāt stopā¦.unless you are in the Tech or Item menu.
Battle speed plays a key role in the run and weāre constantly changing it to accommodate the best combination for speed of the run and being able to do things fast enough before the enemy gets their turn.
With that in mind, I had to learn to open that item or tech menu faster. Even start to hit the button before it is your turn pre-emptively. Some of these fights are that tight. If you miss it, the enemy gets a turn and you might wipe or at least have time loss.
The other major thing I had to get used to is the quality of life feature : AutoBattle. In Chrono Trigger DS/PC versions, Autobattle allows you to simply attack on all characters as soon as their turn comes up. This also speeds up all animations by 50%. For the speedrun, we take advantage of this every chance we can: enemy animations, our animations, etc. But if you donāt turn it off at the right time, your characters may simply āauto attackā when you didnāt want them to. So itās a constant flipping it on and off situation. It took me months to really get this right and there are still times when I choose not to trigger it for an animation for fear of auto attacking when I donāt want to. Or when I do trigger it when I didnāt want to haha.
Finally, the final boss is pretty tough and has a lot of RNG. For example, it can exemplify a certain era at certain times during the fight and that Era dictates what the bossās attacks look like. The worst era to get is 65,000,000 BC because he does the āGrandstoneā attack which does High physical damage and only 1 of 3 characters on the run can survive it. When I first started running, if that era appeared, it would wipe me. It was easy to just āfreak outā if that era appeared. The strat is to use a shield sphere asap on one of the characters and then 2 of them survive and you revive the 3rd. I feel fairly confident now whenever I see 65 mil era that I can handle it. =)
LA: How did it feel to accomplish your 4:15:37 time?
JERIKANDRA: Pretty friggin amazing, I have to say. I had been grinding to get to 4:20, hoping to get a good set of RNG and my own focus and started to see the PB time go up and stay up throughout the run. I tried not to get too excited about it because I didnt want to psych myself out but I somehow managed to hold onto it till the end! And shot way past my goal of 4:20! Very exciting and feeling very accomplished hehe.
LA: What's next for you in speedrunning this game or in general?
JERIKANDRA: I set a goal for 2024 for 4:10 for Chrono Trigger 100% Glitchless but maybe I should set it higher! Hehe.
I also learned to speedrun Chrono Cross and Dragon Quest XI although Iāve spent much more time on the latter this year. I have a 2024 goal to get sub-4 hours on the Any% run for DQ11.
Finally i set a sub-goal on twitch to learn to speedrun Final Fantasy X-2 because i love that game and I think we might hit that goal in 2024 so it may be next on the list to learn. =)
LA: Random fact about yourself/Advice
JERIKANDRA: With speedrunning and other hobbies Iāve taken up over the years, people often say Iām ātalentedā but this year Iāve contemplated that word a lot and I think the fact is I donāt have talent but I do have drive. I spend a lot of time and energy learning and honing the things Iām interested in such as cosplay, latex, speedrunning, writing, cheerleading, parodies, etc. Thereās a lot of failures behind the scenes that people donāt often see.
I guess I just want to put it out there for anyone who looks at what someone else is doing and thinks āI canāt do that.ā, I disagree. If you really want to do something, jump in and start figuring it out. In the case of speedrunning, most of the communities Iāve joined have been very helpful as well. Spend the time, do the thing! You can do it! =)
We've been making a list, checking it twice, and gee is the Lady Arcaders' taste in games ever so nice! Our 2023 Advent Calendar of free games starts today! Watch out for daily posts on our socials and in our discord highlighting free games suggested by our community members!
It's December 1st! That means it's time to kick off our 2023 Advent Calendar of free games suggested by our community! Don't shake your gift too hard, it might break! ā
Find out what it is below š
Advent Calendar Day 2!
What could it be? A management sim? A JRPG? Remember your wish list, Santa's elves worked all year! It's bound to be good! Great games are here! š¦
Advent Calendar December 3rd!
Fear not friends! Though music is in our soul, today's free game gift won't make you lose Whamageddon! š¶
Advent Calendar December 4th!
Have you ever wanted to just play with your food? Well, do we have the free game for you! Open your gift, and lose hours racking up the highest score possible!
Advent Calendar December 5th!
If you get dĆ©jĆ vu opening today's free game, it's all going according to plan! š
Advent Calendar December 6th!
Is there something you've been putting off for a long time? Well today's free game will help you solve it! š
Advent Calendar December 7th!
Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue! Open today's free game, and become the BLUE BLUR! š
Advent Calendar December 8th!
Okay, so we admittedly cheated for this next one. Irregardless, we hope you enjoy <3 (I say hoping you're more upset about irregardless than the fact we cheated)
Advent Calendar December 9th!
Ooh what are you hiding there I wonder?? Today's free game will find it!
Advent Calendar December 10th!
Will you save the world, or conquer it?? Hop into the action with today's free game! š
Advent Calendar December 11th!
Today's free game will have you singing!
Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack,
All dressed in black, black, black,
With silver buttons, buttons, buttons,
All down her back, back, back! āØ
Open today's free game, and enjoy the beats and maybe the addictive frustration as well! š
Advent Calendar December 14th!
Who says we can't have a little horror around the holidays? Check out today's free game recommendation! š
Advent Calendar December 15th!
What begins as a simple idle game will expand into realms you never could imagine! Dive into today's free game recommendation, and never look back!
Advent Calendar December 16th!
Today's free game will go perfectly with a warm bath. Please enjoy!
Advent Calendar December 17th!
Everyone loves a team-up! Today's game is a mashup of two franchises that you may not see coming!
Advent Calendar December 18th!
See if you can dodge today's free game recommendation!
Advent Calendar December 19th!
Let's turn up the heat as we approach the big day with today's free game recommendation!
Advent Calendar December 20th!
Today's free game recommendation will teach you that sometimes it is good to play with your food! š
Last Attract Mode!, Aalaizah and Valeria raced through their first playthroughs of A Juggler's Tale! They faced wild animals, hostile forces, difficult terrain, and increasingly difficult puzzles along the way! enbyzee and zokubun were our hosts!
https://youtu.be/H5IVMzY1HPg šāāļø