Thanks Wizzy! I'll test this out:
TXT.rtf
This is kinda weird, it appeared as a separate document somehow inside my textedit document, but meh, whatever works.
I had tried the code block thing earlier, but maybe I did it wrong. It didn't seem any different than any other text.

It's so much cuter when you do it in Japanese ^_^ I don't know how to upload attachments either. I can only see eight buttons when I'm typing a message so my options are super limited. There's a button to upload an image (I'm not sure if I could lie and say the text is an image?) but I don't have image-uploading privileges.

Thank you for all the work you did figuring out the technology to make this happen, Wizzy and Fiery! Thank you to Gandreas and Bryce for returning to the Cythera community to share some of their extensive Cythera knowledge. And thanks for all the Cytherans who showed up and made the event so fun ^_^ This event revitalized the community for the couple of weeks leading up to it, and that was really pleasant. Thank you for continuing to love Cythera, everyone!

Edit: I guess I'll see if I can post the text-chat transcript in here. Edit 2: Sorry, I can't figure out. On the old forum I would have used maybe the "code" tag so it wouldn't take over the entire page and the weird symbols like smilie faces wouldn't mess up the whole message.... but the code tag here does not seem to do those things. Sorry, I haven't experimented much with the new forum.

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? ^_^

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.

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 ^_^

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

Interesting, thanks Wizzy! I want to experiment with that a little bit sometime.

Comments on Buzzy's second (29 min) video:

• Ahh, so that’s how you got the bombs! I was wondering if you’d found some way to skirt around Omen teleporting you back to LKH, so that you could steal the bombs there. You could potentially get a fourth bomb, if it would be worthwhile, just by taking the one intended to complete the test.
• In contrast with Wizzy’s videos, you took the time to beg Emesa for food. Food seems like it could be worthwhile, to protect your followers’ regeneration rates. However, you can’t divide food without risking someone eating Jinrai’s bread…
• Do you always play as a female character? Or does she just look faster than the guy?
• You took Eudoxus’ helmet, but not his mace. I think if I try this again, I’ll try mace as my primary weapon. It’s nearly as good as a short sword, and much better at bashing doors.
• I can’t believe Ariadne never gets killed by Eudoxus’ henchies. Once I forgot to destroy the spike trap and she was killed by that on the way back through -_-
• You must have been so frustrated when a random beggar blocked you in an alley and wasted five seconds :P
• 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…
• For a second I thought Dryas was going to get blasted by the bomb! Good thing you didn’t have any followers besides him and Hector!
• Interesting - there’s no need to get Halos’s side of the story at all during the murder.
• 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.
• The number of arrows or Mystic Arrows that are needed to take down the hydra seems to vary wildly :\

@Wizard said in Cythera Speedruns:

As far as I can tell, Ake will talk to you as long as no other NPC is on the screen. I've had her tell me everything through the window if the other NPCs are out of sight, but it's definitely easier to go into the house.

Really? That is interesting! I always thought she had to be closed off. Why then did she refuse to talk to you un the video? Because there were chickens on screen?

Comments on Wizzy's second (32 minute) video:

• A bit of time wasted talking to Ake. Remember, you need to close the doors and window shutters so that you cannot see outside in order for her to divulge any information (and even then, she'll only ask you for a midnight garden meeting unless you know persuasion).
• Going from LKH to iron mine: You took the seldane portal to headwater. Is that faster than just taking the underground to titan’s pass? You have to load the Ayrit and Headwater zones, your way.
• Don’t the undine say the crolna is a weapon? I feel like you should be able to use it to blast away all those crabs.
• Speaking of crabs. What on earth was going on when you were mystic arrow-ing them? You seemed to be attacking a living crab, but the log said you "reduced its body to ooze" and then "blood critically wounded" what??
• Oh dear, several seconds wasted on paralysis :( I guess waking up a mage by force is a dangerous undertaking. (Actually I didn’t notice if Charax or Timon paralyzed you, but Charax seemed super ticked off.)
• You’re going to go to sleep while your follower is poisoned? (You wake up and step carefully around Timon’s dead body) Yeah, saw that coming.
• Another paralysis? :o Dude don’t step on the moss!

Very impressive video though! I can't believe how fast you could finish, without any cheating or bug exploitation, and that's with two paralyses and a second journey to Charax!