Speedrun mode is prone to crashes.

[King Bee ♚]

After completing the game 3 times and completing Bitterblack Isle twice, I decided I'd try and get the achievement for Speedrunning the game with my level 101 Assassin.
Bear in mind that the game had a minimal amount of crashes while I was playing casually. Maybe 2 or 3 times.

During my first speedrun attempt, i was 45 minutes into the run and completing my third or fourth Aldous task when using a main door in Gran Soren caused the game to crash. This means that I had lost all of that progress because Speedrun mode doesn't allow saves. I gritted my teeth and tried again, which happened to run faster than the first.

I had reached the Deny Salvation quest which leads to the Grigori fight, meaning I was close to finishing the first portion of the game, at 58 minutes. Simply running forward through the castle archway my game black-screened and crashed again!

My laptop is built for gaming and doesn't have any issues the majority of the time but it seems this Speedrun themed mode in this game is buggy because loading too much into the game too close together (which is expected in a speedrun) messes with the game and can cause it to crash at random without any warning.

Two hours of trying came to nothing, not through dying but down to the game struggling with speeding through areas.

So basically; if anyone is thinking of starting a Speedrun, just be cautious that you CAN'T save during it and that the game seems prone to crashing when loading too much onto the screen or area too quickly. Be weary

[Reynard]

I crashed at the very end when I decided to take a screenshot of Savan during a cutscene...
Before getting the achievement, naturally.

I simply ran through it again immediately, but it was kind of annoying still.

You may be on to something. My game has crashed several times in BBI while trying to reload areas (going out and back in) too quickly. Other than what was stated previously, I never had any issues even with my speedruns. Which were even shorter, at around 25 minutes or so. So I'm not entirely sure.

Pausing the game from time to time (going through inventories or just taking a break) may help, and the timer stops during that as well.

[Maestro Virgoreo]

Ha, I just finished getting this achievement today, and yea I noticed that the loading screens were longer, and my game would laaaag in some areas, which is weird since normally, it's fine. Interesting how they'd include a feature, with a complementary achievement, that the game apparently doesn't like to handle very well.

[King Bee ♚]

Hey guys, it's nice to know I'm not the only one who's had issues with it! Feel very bad for those of you that had their games crash during the end of the game or the Grigori fight, that must really suck (I wasn't far off from the Grigori fight). But yeah, the game rewards you for playing it as fast as possible and then crashes for the same reason... quite an oversight from the devs.

Aside from the crashes, does anyone have any speed tips? I have Portcrystals set up in most of the relevant areas to quickly port to areas near all the quests. A big, tedious time-sucker is the god awful "Escort the bison carrying the Hydra's Head to GS" mission. It takes so long and kicking the bison barely makes him move a few feet before stopping again.

Also, in GS am I right in thinking that you only need to do two of the first Soldier's missions to progress to the Duke and then you need to do all 4/5 of Aldous'?

[Reynard]

Yes, I do have a few tips!

1. Use Liquid Vim and spam Shearing Wind (not sure if Cutting Wind is gonna... cut it) to move around quicker. Be careful not to harm someone accidentally to avoid the guards' wrath though!

2. Prepare copies of various key items in advance if you haven't already, via the Black Cat.

3. For the bison, use group curatives to restore it to full health once it drops to half or at least when low. With more health, it runs for longer before stopping. I suggest Ne'er-Do-Part if possible (you'll need 10 or so), but other curatives may work just as well.

4. That's correct, you only need two of the Wyrm Hunt quests. The Cipher should be one of them, and either the Watergod's Altar or a Fortress Besieged is your best option. Just remember to prepare key items if possible.

5. Use the Gorechimera before Grigori to your advantage, use Maker's Finger on Grigori.

Just plan it out thoroughly, think what you'll need, write it down and prepare.
I hope this will help! Good luck!

[Maestro Virgoreo]

Following up on RD's great tips, I'd also recommend being a Strider. In addition to the advantages of bows being OP with periapts and blast arrows (goodbye stupid Griffin), it provides the fastest way of clearing Lure of the Abyss because all you need to do is run toward the edge of the Everfall spiral hallway, and WITHOUT jumping, do a normal Helm/Skull Splitter attack move (as in just press the button for the move without making your character jump beforehand), and you just spiral all the way down without taking any damage, which is the key feature of that ability. The trick is just to keep moving as you do the attack, because your momentum will carry you forward with the leap integrated in the attack. Then, you just inspect, and eternal ferrystone your way back to GS and boom, quest done in less than 30 seconds.

[King Bee ♚]

Ahhh awesome, thanks fellas!

I probably won't bother switching to Strider because I'm fully ranked in Fighter, Assassin and Sorcerer and the rest are minimal, so I would have to grind the hell out of a vocation to get it up to scratch for speedrunning with it. (FYI Assassin works so much better than sorcerer, I thought the massive Gicel and Bolide spells were sick until I reached Daimon and suddenly dealt no damage! Assassin daggers OP)

[zadymek]

1. IMO Gaming laptops are an oxymoron ;) They are a bit better for gaming applications (than laptops), but not comparable to a fine desktop under stress. And even desktops crash when running DDDA long enough time (at least sound does). From my experience DDDA crashes predominanatly when skipping between few areas quickly like after crossing a gate then teleporting aso. Probably when attempting to save or sumthn - idk what kind of task crashes it if there is no saving allowed.

2. I'd strongly advise you to make sure your "gaming laptop" runs at its peak performance when you do a speedrun mode: possibly chilled, high performance power mode, properly restarted (not hybrid or sleep or sumthn like this), and without a bunch of crappy apps runnning in background. Going offline mode would be a good idea too.

[King Bee ♚]

Originally posted by Hina Nitta:

Glicel is a bad spell.period.

I must say from my sheer sorcerer experience that Gicel is great majority of the time. Obviously enemies resistant to ice are an exception but the absolute size and damage of the spell does serious damage. Even more so when an enemy, like you said, has multiple targets; multiple heads, golem magic discs, etc.

Bolide however, I didn't think it worked anything like how you've taught me, I thought it was literally just a set number of projectiles that landed in any random spots (as you can't target with it, just cast). That's great that it does target enemies with at least one or two of them! More than I thought.

I think Assassin with daggers is the best vocation, I must say. Last night I killed the Ur-Dragon that I'd tried before with a bow and again with a staff, nothing worked as well as getting up in there with a dagger, clinging to his weak spots and spamming Hundred Kisses. Love the set up!

[Reynard]

Originally posted by King Bee ♔:

Originally posted by Hina Nitta:

Glicel is a bad spell.period.

I think Assassin with daggers is the best vocation, I must say. Last night I killed the Ur-Dragon that I'd tried before with a bow and again with a staff, nothing worked as well as getting up in there with a dagger, clinging to his weak spots and spamming Hundred Kisses. Love the set up! :Lacerator::snowslimehappy:

I liked the Assassin initially, during my first playthrough. But that was only because I had not properly explored all the other vocations. Over time, it became the most boring vocation.

The Assassin is the true jack-of-all-trades and master of none in Dragon's Dogma, to me.
The vocation just doesn't have anything cool to it compared to almost all the others. Nothing that I would consider outstanding, anyway. It's kind of versatile, has a couple unique and fun skills, but I still find it lacking.

Fighters get Hindsight Sweep/Strike and Dragon's Maw, Striders get Soaring Stone and Brain Splitter, Mystic Knights and Magick Archers are the definition of outstanding, Sorcerers get to cast cool spells and Rangers can utilize some tools (arrows and periapts) to their full potential, making them the best at killing things in the end.

Assassins get Clairvoyance, Masterful Kill and Deadly Gouge, among other things, but these are the most notable. And they are quite boring if you ask me. Better than Mages, but not enough to provide an enjoyable experience for me.

I'm not trying to discourage anyone from using the Assassin vocation, don't get me wrong. But I feel like many people are sleeping on how good/fun other vocations are. 'Tis a matter of taste, aye. Still, I highly recommend trying out Strider if you like climbing monsters and using Hundred/Thousand Kisses, because they are the only vocation that has an innate property of climbing monsters very fast, plus have other things that one may find enjoyable.

Also, give Deadly Gouge a try! Just carry around a decent sword as an Assassin and swap to it when you get to a weak point. You could make use of some other skills, too. Shields aren't so useful from what I remember, but there is that Swift Castle skill. It can nicely compliment your sword should you choose to wield it in place of daggers.

[Reynard]

Originally posted by Hina Nitta:

You forgot to mention that strider have fracture dart and hailstorm volley, for OP shortbow skills, plus a hidden 50% boost to damages (stackable with the 80% cap), movement speed and stamina consumption when climbing a monster... they're basically the best giant monster killer in the game by far.

Yes, probably should have mentioned bow skills as well. But I was not even aware of the increased attack power, so thank you! Apparently, it only applies to some enemies, but still good to know!

[Loksanor]

This just happened to me. I was doing Deny Salvation and the game crashed. I'm really sad right now. :(