Cythera Speedruns

Buzzzzy

Do you always play as a female character? Or does she just look faster than the guy?

I didn't always, but I like how the portrait matches the sprite. Also, a lot of (most?) games force you to play as a dude, so I usually play female characters when the game gives you a choice.

Begging for food is definitely a waste of time. I stopped doing it on later runs, and you can just have Timon cast Nutrient if absolutely necessary.

Grabbing Eudoxus's mace is definitely worthwhile in a True and/or 100% speedrun. You can skip the rescue entirely in a False run, though (I haven't done so yet, but I did test to see if it works).

I was extremely Not Impressed with that beggar.

I am super confused. When you’re going up toward the magic staff, it sounds like three spells are being cast. The log isn’t shown in the video, so I have no clue what’s going on. You haven’t learned magic, and don’t have Timon in the party…

I'm just as confused, but it happened a number of times (always in that area). The log doesn't show anything when it happens.

Steal a potion in order to get Palaestra to stop teaching her class and talk to you about wine was really clever! I would not have thought of that.

I thought so too at first! But I think the time just happened to advance an hour, because when I tried the trick later, it didn't work.

453

I think you can actually just kill the beggar without anyone caring. Would even technically increase your karma... Kinda sad.

I experimented a little bit with awakening Charax to set up the distiller. I'm now pretty sure Wizzy's mistake was in his position. In Cythera, characters can not move around obstacles diagonally. So when Wizzy stood between the wine urn and the desk, he effectively blocked Charax from getting to the distiller. This can be fixed by standing by the head of Charax's bed when awakening him (though if you have any followers, you probably have to make sure they're out of the way too). My original idea of blocking the door was a terrible one; if Charax can't get to the distiller, it doesn't matter if he's inside or outside. I crashed my game too :x

Wizard

Wait, so if I had just been standing in the doorway, that might have worked?? I'm both frustrated and thrilled to know that!

453

Comments on Wizzy's third (23 min) video:

Did you mess up the final buttons-puzzle, but finish it just as quickly anyway? Nice.
Polyp cave didn’t go great… Hector died and then Timon refused to go through the hole, costing precious seconds! (And then later Timon died, so maybe his reluctance to descend to the next level of the cave was justified?)

Not much to comment on anymore since y'all seem to seriously have this down to a science. I don't know how I feel about skipping the whole Jhiaxus plot, which I feel like the game really intends to be mandatory, but it is undeniably effective at reducing play time ^_^

453

Comments on Buzzy's third (20 min) video:

Do you think it was quite safe to throw the map onto the lamp?
So one bomb doesn’t kill Eudoxus?
I appreciate that you included the log in the video ^_^ Especially when you were attempting to get the kelp from the vat of wine. "The vat isn’t locked…" "You can’t take a vat!" I love it because that’s totally me when I’m trying to be fast. (I also hate how you have to actually click on a locked door to use your keys, you can’t just use an arrow button.)
You made that Sapphire glitch look so easy! I always thought the glitch required throwing the false books on the floor and picking them back up. It looked like you could move them from your pouch into your inventory, while still keeping them in your pouch?

Idea: Would the Cythera Menu Patch save any walking time?
I tried to do a "speedrun" using Ignae as my character (invincible, can fly), but it still took me about an hour! I forgot to check exactly how long. Speed is so stressful for me, I want to do everything "right" and I end up having to backtrack. I also neglected to get any followers, which forced me to fight my way out from enemies surrounding me on a few occasions. I obviously was a pretty weak character, so that was time consuming even though I was in no danger. Got slowed down by harpies both times I visited Jhiaxus...

In summary, I have much respect for how well you've been able to speed through the game, Wizzy and Buzzy ^_^

Edit: I've installed the menu patch now and I feel like it speeds up travel significantly. However, it may also make it harder to control your character, so I'm curious whether this feature would be helpful for a speedrun.

Buzzzzy

18-minute False run

Credit to @vIsitor for the Stentor timing suggestion, doing so saved close to a minute alone. This is probably the last one I'm doing in this style for now. I'm guessing ~16 minutes is the fastest possible time without hacking or using the menu patch feature.

@453 said in Cythera Speedruns:

I've installed the menu patch now and I feel like it speeds up travel significantly. However, it may also make it harder to control your character, so I'm curious whether this feature would be helpful for a speedrun.

Yeah, I just tried it out, and it's dizzying. I also wonder what the fastest possible time on the slower setting is.

I tried to do a "speedrun" using Ignae as my character (invincible, can fly), but it still took me about an hour! I forgot to check exactly how long. Speed is so stressful for me, I want to do everything "right" and I end up having to backtrack. I also neglected to get any followers, which forced me to fight my way out from enemies surrounding me on a few occasions. I obviously was a pretty weak character, so that was time consuming even though I was in no danger. Got slowed down by harpies both times I visited Jhiaxus...

I keep a checklist open to avoid having to backtrack. It seems like @Wizard made a similar set of notes. This is the one I used for the 18-minute run:

storyteller

Omen's Test: shortcut

LKH
get items: equip, death strike + direct nexus
	+ cloak from dresser + pouch
death strike on magic chest
ask hector to join
hadrian train defense (2)
grab white purple black potions
get hector

Odemia
get ariadne mission

Vineyard
ask sad guy about name
get kelp, shovel, grapes
dig book, put in pouch

Catamarca
put book in pouch
cure plague (get hector to kill polyps)
	make sure mustache man follows up
ask propontis about comana

Kosha
ask itanos about stentor
ask itanos about idom
sleep until dawn + 1 more hour

Cademia
ask stentor about job and pelagon
sleep 1 hour
ask halos about prop
	Kosha: ask pelagon about dead
go to sewers, straight past bridge, ask dryas about awful
leave sewers via ladder, bomb door, talk to stentor
back to sewers and out via pipe
turn dryas in

Pnyx
train casting (6) and mana (2) for now
ask lindus about crystal
ask pala about charax and wine and teach
	heal + antidote potions
turn in books (6 - three times)
save + reload when done!
learn spells
	mystic arrow: main library, right, middle
	directed nexus: scroll
	paka (s): remote manip (right)
	tiri (e): fetch (second from top)
max out mana
meet timon, ask to join
use merged crolna on pedestal
	Ayrit: west portal

Maayti
remote manip entrance
mage's friend potion + timon heal
fetch door
stick to inside path
get crolna shard
directed nexus out
sleep to recharge mana

Kosha
fetch secret door
sleep to recharge mana
enter grotto: "no" until force? "yes"
Cove: avoid crabs
arrow'd hydra, get book
directed nexus out
sleep until dawn, directed nexus
fetch table
bomb alaric's door
get alaric help

get mushroom from sabinate (just talk thru door)
west portal
give charax stuff
use distiller on crolna
directed nexus out
cure alaric

Pallas Athene

This is great. Who needs side quests? Who needs main quests? Who needs fetch quests?

@Buzzzzy said in Cythera Speedruns:

Vineyard
ask sad guy about name
get kelp, shovel, grapes
dig book, put in pouch

I like that you’ve cut this conversation down to the point where all you do is ask him his name, and he’s still “sad guy”.

453

Wow, that checklist has everything! I can see that I would need to make something similar if I were to truly speedrun the game. But I probably won't, since I find it more stressful than enjoyable $:\$ But watching you and Wizzy do it is fun!

Notes on Buzzy's fourth (18 min) video:

How did you come up with the brilliant name 'abc'?
Hector had way too easy a time with those polyps in the citadel!
Did you speed up the going to sleep and waking up process? I know that just clicking the mouse can speed up the fade-out, but this seemed faster than I’ve seen before.
Attack a trapdoor. "You could have simply opened it." I kinda agree with the log there - was 'A' easier to hit than 'U'?
Maayti: Another instance of giant crabs being considered dead bodies or blood @_@ I never knew crabs were so glitchy.
Did I ever mention how awesome I think it is that your Cythera machine has lasted at least 3149 days? ^_^

Buzzzzy

I just did the click-and-hold trick to speed up the sleeping, but normally you'd still see it fade to black. Music and fading have never worked on my SheepShaver build for some reason.

Wizard

@Buzzzzy said in Cythera Speedruns:

Music and fading have never worked on my SheepShaver build for some reason.

This is a symptom of pre-2013 Sheepshaver builds which lack support for the gamma ramp functions frequently used for fade effects. The main indicator is the screen being visible instead of black during sleep (you can see how the time & location pane updates live). Those older builds were also more likely to stumble over audio, and a number of games like EV Nova and Ferazel’s Wand will crash.

E-Maculation’s forum has a nice collection of recent builds if you’re looking to update.