Hey Duders,

If you didn't already know, I'm going to be speed running FFIX next month for the Giantbomb Community Endurance Run. I'm kicking off on Saturday, April 11th and I have a pretty good idea about what I have to do to actually beat FFIX as quickly as I can. However, I don't have many good ideas about what bonus fun stuff I can throw into my run that people would donate to see. I am already offering up character names as a donation incentive, but FFIX does not have as many easily attainable optional quests as FFVIII did.

So with that in mind I though I would ask the GB community directly: what type of FFIX stuff would you like to see me attempt in my speed run? I am open to all ideas, acting during the theater scenes, getting Vivi and Quinna married, even beating the chocobo side quest. There are no bad ideas! So what would you like to see?

Here's a bad idea: Fight Ozma.

I was wrong, there are bad ideas.

Honestly I don't know, what sorts of things are typical incentives for these kinds of things?

Shoutouts on Stream are something people expect to get for free right? That's about the only idea I can think of.

If you alter your play too much, it might screw up your run...

@slag: AGDQ had a donation incentive for acting during "I Want to be Your Canary," getting Quinna and Vivi married, singing during Melodies of Life, naming each character, and for who played the card game in Treno. All of those are fun things thrown on top of the run, rather than diverting the run itself (The Quinna and Vivi thing is on path but only slightly slower if its slower at all).

I'm willing to do the Chocobo side quest or some of the other stuff like Stelazzio if people want to see that. The Chocobo side quest would be tacked onto the end and the Stelazzio would only require a few detours here or there before wrapping things up at the end. I know I can't kill Ozma if I'm really playing for speed and I know Hades is another real issue if I'm going fast. The friendly monsters are too random and boring and so is the ragtime mouse. Mognet requires a bunch of detours over the course of the whole game so I won't do that.

All in all I think the Stelazzio are the easiest gameplay things to tack on and the Chocobo side quest would be the biggest possible addition, unless I'm forgetting something.

However, I will read things in funny voices for charity or do shoutouts. I'm not above singing or other goofy stuff either for something like this. Also I'm working on a little twist for the FFIX run that I should be able to announce later today or this weekend.

@dudeglove: If you personally get us to our goal of $3000, I would consider it. I don't know what I would do with Saturday though (or all of the time I've spent practicing this game). I guess I would do FFVIII again or something?

@dudeglove: I've only used hitbox up until now. Is Twitch so much more popular that the quality difference is negligible? Also can I give out icons to people based on how much they donate, or is it something I would give to all subs if certain goals are met?

@dudeglove: It takes time to even be considered for the Subscription service on Twitch, so he doesn't really have a shot at that. You also need to be a frequent streamer on Twitch, since it's a monthly payment intended to support the streamer's continued streaming.

Anyway, sorry I can't offer any suggestions for incentives, but like you said, there's not a lot of optional stuff that fits the bill. Stuff like "acting during the theatre scenes" is probably your best bet, unless you don't mind the speed run being slower. Then you could always come up with challenges like "Have to use melee attackers in the back row for the next hour" etc.

No Pants

if you have artistic gifts why not try a quick drawing during load times :P

@teddie: Good idea! Though attacking from the back row would be brutal. If it wasn't for Excalibur 2 I could include a lot more stuff, but that stupid sword is essential to the run basic run. So if I offer too many early things and don't hit the goal for stuff like the chocobo side quest, I could be stuck in grind land for an hour or two since I miss out on Excalibur 2.

@mortuss_zero: Wearing pants is already a donation incentive.

@dudeglove: That is Ark and I would need to do the Chocobo sidequest to get him. I can summon the second best summon or any other summons, but the best would require some additional stuff that would be a donation incentive unto itself. I could certainly summon for a bounty though. Good idea!

@darkvare: I actually am a terrible artist. Unless people want to see some Drawful-quality art i doubt that would be that compelling. I'm more of a writer than a drawer. I suppose I could try to come up with an essay during load times and cut scenes. I could try to write poetry during cut scenes based on suggestions from donors and chat commenters.

I like the poetry idea a lot actually. That could be fun and dumb in the right way.

What about fighting Tantarian? I don't know how well that would mesh with a speed run though, considering you can't really "tack it on" like other sidequests.

@locovoco: He is a bit dicey on a low level run like this where I am trying to get Excalibur 2. Getting some Running Shoes would be helpful, but the battle with him is time consuming in disc 3 and dangerous in disc 2. So I don't know if I could beat him, but I'll investigate it a little more.

@dudeglove: We actually did that last year as an endurance run wide thing. We also read Harry Potter fan fiction when we hit donation milestones. I think that stuff is either going to be free or not FFIX specific. But good ideas none the less!