This Saturday: Join me for endless hours of Final Fantasy IV.

[Relena Peacecraft]

The following video game stream announcement has been shamelessly copied from Dr Unne's Final Fantasy Oneathon. Okay, I did change a word here and there.

Background Information

Lurking behind the scenes in the video game world is a little-known* pastime called the "speed run". Intrepid video gamers test their skills by attempting to complete a given video game as quickly as possible. When it comes to speed runs, there are two basic approaches:

• Multi-Segment: The player records the run in multiple segments, replaying each segment as many times as necessary to improve the overall time.
• Single-Segment: The player just records the run in one fell swoop, including every agonizing death and failure.

Multi-segment runs definitely allow for lower times, but single-segment runs present a different challenge, requiring the player to make as few mistakes as possible over the course of a potentially several-hour long run.

With that in mind...

Aexoden's Final Fantasy IV "Sorta Fast, I Guess" Run

Join me this Saturday, as I boldly attempt a single-segment speed run of the original SNES version of Final Fantasy IV, originally released in the U.S. as Final Fantasy II. The world record for a single-segment run of this particular version is apparently 3 hours and 21 minutes. Let's face it, ladies and gentlemen, I'm not going to come anywhere close to that. I estimate my run may take as long as 8 to 10 hours. On the plus side, this means there's plenty of time for you to stop in and see what's going on. On the other hand, that's potentially 8 to 10 hours I'm going to have to talk to myself. Then again, that is one thing I am good at.

Here's what you'll need to know:

Who: It's just you, me, and maybe some badly voiced guests.

What: Lots and lots of Final Fantasy IV. Probably lots of dying. Perhaps some agonized screams.

Where: Aexoden aka Relena Peacecraft's twitch.tv channel

When: Saturday, February 1, 2014, at noon CST (and therefore 18:00 GMT/UTC)

Why: Because I like making an epic fool of myself.

How: Through the magic of SCIENCE!

Wacky Names, James!

No publicized stream would be complete without an opportunity for the audience to give the characters completely absurd names. To that end, I'll be having some sort of competition to name the characters.

Anyone who posts in this thread will be automatically entered for a chance to name one or more characters. I'm not exactly sure how characters are going to be allocated, but if you have a preference, don't hesitate to mention it. If nobody posts in this thread, an alternate method for naming characters will be used. Otherwise, I'll PM selected individuals on Thursday night to make their selections.

By the way, in case you were wondering, character names are limited to six characters. You may choose among the following: uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and the following punctuation: "! ? % / : ' . - …". Yes, they included an ellipsis. No, you can't choose the double quotation marks.

Extra Notes

During the stream, I'll try to talk about strategy, any random comments about the game or any other game, or anything else anyone in the chat wants to discuss. Worst-case scenario, I get to ramble to myself for half a day.

*Somehow I doubt it's actually little-known, but we'll pretend for the sake of this announcement.

[Jiro]

I'll try and pop in for as long as I can. Big fan of this game, but haven't finished it before.

[fire_of_avalon]

HELLO I WOULD LIKE A CHANCE. Expect name choices like Pencil, Posa, Pain and of course Qualom and Quorum.

[Dr Unne]

post

[radicaledward124]

this could make a boring day much more interesting.

[Pumpkin]

[Relena Peacecraft]

There are approximately 24 hours left to post to be guaranteed an entry into the drawing to choose character names.

Meanwhile, after doing some preparation, there is a chance that I could finish this earlier than I initially estimated. I'm not entirely sure, but I will probably attempt to fill at least 8 hours regardless. I could be wrong, of course.

[Fonzie]

I want in it, to win it.

[Madonna]

You know you want to do it in four. No grinding for you, buddy.

[Relena Peacecraft]

You know you want to do it in four. No grinding for you, buddy.

Hey, I just want to provide a quality product for all the Australians who finally shlep on out of bed at noon. (Note: I'll almost certainly be done by the time it's noon in Perth in Western Australia.)

My original deadline for naming characters has passed, and anyone who has already posted is guaranteed the option to name a character I've selected for them. That said, there are still a few characters who will be part of the party for varying amounts of time, so please continue posting to get a chance to name the remaining ones. I'll probably send PMs to everyone who has posted within about 12 more hours (or choose names out of a hat if more people post than characters remain). After that, it'll be first-come, first-serve if there are characters remaining.

[Aulayna]

Post!

[Relena Peacecraft]

Gameplay begins in about an hour and a half. The stream will probably be up a few minutes before that for testing purposes (i.e. making sure everything's working correctly with video and sound).

There are still opportunities to name three more minorish characters, so post now or forever hold your peace. Otherwise, if anyone happens to be in chat at the relevant times, I'll ask them, or fall back on some backup names.

[Pike]

This is just about to start and more names are still needed! Twitch - Aexoden

[Relena Peacecraft]

Thanks to everyone who participated in the chat or watched the stream. People were in and out throughout the day, and I tried to keep it semi-interesting.

twitch currently has an archive of the stream at Aexoden - Going through Final Fantasy IV in a sorta fast way. - Twitch though who knows how long that will last. I also have my local copy, but since it's six gigabytes, I don't know what I can do with it.

Ultimately, by finishing the game in just over nine hours, I came right on target with my initial estimate of 8-10 hours. There were plenty of opportunities to do things better, and I spent a lot of time doing things that I didn't need to in order to make sure the stream was in the 8-10 hour range. I may have to do more research on the final boss, because that was tenuous with my levels as they were. The world record was a bit lower, except with Rydia and Rosa.

Due to a couple of deaths, the actual in-game time was something like 7-7.5 hours, I believe.

I may want to go through and compile a list of highlights, but that may take a while if I do it at all.

Anyway, I had fun, and I hope someone else found it at least briefly entertaining.

[BlueD]

Thanks to everyone who participated in the chat or watched the stream. People were in and out throughout the day, and I tried to keep it semi-interesting.

twitch currently has an archive of the stream at Aexoden - Going through Final Fantasy IV in a sorta fast way. - Twitch though who knows how long that will last. I also have my local copy, but since it's six gigabytes, I don't know what I can do with it.

Ultimately, by finishing the game in just over nine hours, I came right on target with my initial estimate of 8-10 hours. There were plenty of opportunities to do things better, and I spent a lot of time doing things that I didn't need to in order to make sure the stream was in the 8-10 hour range. I may have to do more research on the final boss, because that was tenuous with my levels as they were. The world record was a bit lower, except with Rydia and Rosa.

Due to a couple of deaths, the actual in-game time was something like 7-7.5 hours, I believe.

I may want to go through and compile a list of highlights, but that may take a while if I do it at all.

Anyway, I had fun, and I hope someone else found it at least briefly entertaining.

Thanks and great job! I didn't participate in any of the interesting conversations that were going on in the chat but I did have you up and was watching for the most part all 9 hours and 7 mins of it!