Speed run of Star Ocean: Till the End of Time in 28 segments completed on June 7 2005. Available in three versions: low quality, normal quality, and 60fps high quality.
Author's comments:
I had originally thought that this run would be pushing the 7 hour mark VERY hard. I managed to pull it off quite a bit below that (thankfully) and wound up with a time of 4:11 when Luther drops. Skipping all the cutscenes makes all the difference.
One of the main concerns I had with this run was money. Toward the end Ruddle sells some awesome equipment, but it's pricey. I had been stockpiling money throughout the run, and actually ended up with more that I needed...which I guess is better than not enough.
In Pesotto Forest and the Traum Mountains I go out of my way to get 100% map completion. Those 1/144 Bunnies sell for 8000 Fol a whack, and combined with the Worm-Eaten Tome I find in the Aqueducts, I could easily afford a Holy Sword for Fayt right off the bat, which made a lot of the early bosses MUCH quicker.
As soon as I get Maria I toss Nel aside. Honestly, I like Nel, but I already have Cliff and Fayt as my melee attackers, and I actually need Maria's ranged attacks for a few bosses, along with the fact that she learns the Power Up Symbology which is nice no matter how you look at it.
There were some fights that just sucked.
The 2 Legion Dragons before entering Bequerel Mine. Can someone PLEASE explain why these 2 do twice the damage that Demetrio does with their Fire Breath? These 2 do roughly 200 damage per hit with a strong one, Demetrio only does 100ish...and it's not like I gained a ton of levels or anything - Demetrio is only 8 fights later.
The 4 Soldiers before Demetrio. All I can say is: Poor Nel.
Albel. The only reason I hate this guy is because Fayt doesn't have any decent skills to Cancel Combo, and Albel is resistant to being tossed, making his long range strong attack difficult to use efficiently.
Vox. He's not even hard either, but again, Fayt still doesn't have a decent cancel combo skill to use yet, and Vox sometimes has a tendency to just keep me either face-planted or flying. His 30,000 HP doesn't help anything either.
Robin Wind. this kid sucked until I figured out the quick kill. At full HP he won't do either of his skills (Aerial Slash or Rising Stream), he'll just use a weak or strong shot, or Thunder Flare. MP kill is the easiest way to go since he only has 1,800 and Maria with Power Up and the Pulse Gun can wreck havoc with cancel combo'd Aiming Device.
For Crosell I use Cliff...and this is also the only battle where I take direct control of him. Fayt unfortunately doesn't have the Berserk ability yet, which means he can't cancel combo Side Kick for very long, whereas Cliff can combo Ekectric Fists for quite some time. I had tried using Maria, but she runs much to slow to avoid Crosell's Stampede. Fayt can actually outrun him, and Cliff is exactly the same.
Proclaimer. If Side Kick actually manages to connect most of the time, she's a pushover. But it seems that small targets and Side Kick don't agree that well, which causes Fayt to just dance around and kick the air.
Azazer. I was originally trying to abuse his fire weakness but Fayt could never get close enough to perform an attack without taking a hit. Again, Side Kick works wonders if it connects.
Belzeber and Berial. Berial is the deadly one here. That Rocket Launcher he pulls out of his ass is no joke, as you'll easily notice Cliff and Maria bite it more times during this fight than any other.
Both of the 'Eyes'. Neither one is hard but letting Fayt of Cliff near it while being controlled by the AI is a liability more than anything. If he does Red Circle attack, the AI isn't smart enough to run out of the area of effect, and he'll just regenerate a lot of HP. Fayt can actually drop them both a bit quicker than Maria using Side Kick combos, but they have a tendency to fly up and out of reach if I get near them with either Fayt of Cliff. Maria's Scatter Beam worked wonders though.
Watch my hit counter during the fight with the 3 Dark Armors. It never stops increasing until they're all dead. ;-)
The 3 Harpies guarding the Blue Crystal in Spiral Tower. These are easy but there was something that bothered me about this one: Where the hell did the 3rd harpy go? Fayt and Cliff were beating on 2, and Maria had one, one of the ones near Fayt and Cliff ran offscreen and...it vanished. I never heard a death scream from it...
Luther...is a pushover. Both fights took a combined total of a little over 2 minutes. I had Cliff with Fists of Fury since it has a decent chance to 'Lock' him in the flinching animation, which gives Fayt plenty of time to cancel combo Side Kick/Air Raid for massive damage. Maria I just kind of left to her own devices. I gave her Scatter Beam in all 4 slots since MP killing him isn't quick, and just let her attack/heal on her own. I never even let him get a single Insanity Prelude off...and to think - it took me almost 45 minutes to beat him my first time at level 55. 10 levels down and with better tactics I manage it in under 90 seconds =)
I should also note I start every segment with a boss or some other required fight save for the first 45 minute segment.
Really, there isn't much else I can say that the video can't explain better. Enjoy!