Uploaded July 2024 | Updated September 2026, 3 hours ago
Shoutout to Catt Mercer for motivating me to get a proper fully optimized run after he demolished what I foolishly thought to be a record that would stand for a few weeks at least.
Check out his run here: youtube.com/watch?v=GsdwpgFJDz4
This is a world record in the sense that nobody has gotten a faster run as far as I know, but hardly anyone has given it a serious try, so it's hardly bragging material. That being said, if you decide to go for the record, you'll see the run is no joke and has a similar level of polish to the Kugane and Moonfire jumping puzzle records, although it took a lot less time and effort.
UPDATE: B̶̶e̶̶a̶̶t̶̶e̶̶n̶̶ b̶̶y̶̶ ?̶?̶?̶ (̶R̶e̶m̶o̶v̶e̶d̶ f̶o̶r̶ p̶r̶i̶v̶a̶c̶y̶)̶ o̶n̶ 2̶̶7̶̶/0̶̶7̶̶/2̶̶0̶̶2̶̶4̶̶ -̶̶ L̶I̶N̶K̶ R̶E̶M̶O̶V̶E̶D̶
UPDATE 2: After giving it a lot of thought and carefully analyzing and emulating the run mentioned in the previous update, I have come to the conclusion that it should not be considered part of the "no abilities" or "any%" categories, and thus I advocate that this record still stands. I understand this might be controversial but I have not made this decision lightly. Here is my reasoning so you can draw your own conclusions and decide for yourself which record is valid:
- The run was never made public, only posted privately and shared within the Strange Housing community, thus a WR claim was not made by the runner, whatever their reasoning might be. I was too quick to endorse the run even though at first sight I could tell it shouldn't be possible within the "no abilities" or "any%" rulesets. I didn't want to take credit for the WR when I was aware that a faster run existed, and I changed this video's title and description on a whim, without giving it enough thought or properly checking the validity of the other run.
- The run seems to make use of some sort of macro or software/hardware automation to ensure nearly all jumps are frame perfect. I have no way to prove this claim besides common sense, my vast knowledge and experience, and the fact that I was able to generate an experimental run where nearly all my jumps matched the positions of the original for all frames where the route was the same (90% of the puzzle), with a standard deviation of around 3 frames. No human should be capable of this level of perfection without spending hundreds, if not thousands of hours doing attempts, and the runs wouldn't look virtually identical if similar techniques hadn't been used. This would make the run a "with scripts/macros" run, and I argue that it has no place in the "no abilities" or "any%" categories, as all inputs should be 1:1 and no automation of any kind should be present.
- (Read previous point) The run I was able to obtain with "clever use of game mechanics" the same way the other runner likely did is slightly faster than theirs, and thus would be the new world record, but I don't consider the techniques used to be valid for standard categories. (Yes, I was petty enough to beat the "whatever-you-wanna-call-it" category would be record to have some authority when I speak and not seem like I'm a sore loser that's just trying to discredit the competition or gatekeep records). I personally consider such runs distasteful cheating that should not be given much attention, as they remove a huge part of the skill required to get legitimate manual runs with a 1:1 input to action ratio. They might be interesting to some, including myself (as a proof of concept, or exploration of possibilities), but I don't want to encourage such practices since I consider they go against the spirit of competition and fairness, and thus I likely won't be sharing them on my channel. If you're interested in seeing the video as proof of what I'm saying, get in touch with me privately and I'll gladly provide a side by side comparison of both runs.
As the most active puzzle speedrunner in FFXIV and multiple record holder, I feel I have some responsibility to ensure the integrity of things and maintain a healthy competitive environment, so that in the future this tiny scene virtually nobody participates in or cares about might be able to flourish.
I apologize if my previous statements and opinions upset some people or cause drama, but I felt it was necessary to clarify things. I'm as certain as one can be of my analysis and claims, but ultimately there is no way to prove that what I'm saying is correct or accurate, besides admission from the other party who likely isn't even aware of this senseless situation I foolishly created myself. It's important to note that there was no ill intent by the other runner who simply shared the run in a private community and didn't make any statements of what it was or what it wasn't. No attempts were made to claim a world record by them, and even if they did, the lack of well defined rules makes the whole thing a bit subjective, so they might've thought some things that shouldn't be allowed are fair game.
#FFXIV #JumpingPuzzle #Speedrun
Shoutout to Catt Mercer for motivating me to get a proper fully optimized run after he demolished what I foolishly thought to be a record that would stand for a few weeks at least.
Check out his run here: youtube.com/watch?v=GsdwpgFJDz4
This is a world record in the sense that nobody has gotten a faster run as far as I know, but hardly anyone has given it a serious try, so it's hardly bragging material. That being said, if you decide to go for the record, you'll see the run is no joke and has a similar level of polish to the Kugane and Moonfire jumping puzzle records, although it took a lot less time and effort.
UPDATE: B̶̶e̶̶a̶̶t̶̶e̶̶n̶̶ b̶̶y̶̶ ?̶?̶?̶ (̶R̶e̶m̶o̶v̶e̶d̶ f̶o̶r̶ p̶r̶i̶v̶a̶c̶y̶)̶ o̶n̶ 2̶̶7̶̶/0̶̶7̶̶/2̶̶0̶̶2̶̶4̶̶ -̶̶ L̶I̶N̶K̶ R̶E̶M̶O̶V̶E̶D̶
UPDATE 2: After giving it a lot of thought and carefully analyzing and emulating the run mentioned in the previous update, I have come to the conclusion that it should not be considered part of the "no abilities" or "any%" categories, and thus I advocate that this record still stands. I understand this might be controversial but I have not made this decision lightly. Here is my reasoning so you can draw your own conclusions and decide for yourself which record is valid:
- The run was never made public, only posted privately and shared within the Strange Housing community, thus a WR claim was not made by the runner, whatever their reasoning might be. I was too quick to endorse the run even though at first sight I could tell it shouldn't be possible within the "no abilities" or "any%" rulesets. I didn't want to take credit for the WR when I was aware that a faster run existed, and I changed this video's title and description on a whim, without giving it enough thought or properly checking the validity of the other run.
- The run seems to make use of some sort of macro or software/hardware automation to ensure nearly all jumps are frame perfect. I have no way to prove this claim besides common sense, my vast knowledge and experience, and the fact that I was able to generate an experimental run where nearly all my jumps matched the positions of the original for all frames where the route was the same (90% of the puzzle), with a standard deviation of around 3 frames. No human should be capable of this level of perfection without spending hundreds, if not thousands of hours doing attempts, and the runs wouldn't look virtually identical if similar techniques hadn't been used. This would make the run a "with scripts/macros" run, and I argue that it has no place in the "no abilities" or "any%" categories, as all inputs should be 1:1 and no automation of any kind should be present.
- (Read previous point) The run I was able to obtain with "clever use of game mechanics" the same way the other runner likely did is slightly faster than theirs, and thus would be the new world record, but I don't consider the techniques used to be valid for standard categories. (Yes, I was petty enough to beat the "whatever-you-wanna-call-it" category would be record to have some authority when I speak and not seem like I'm a sore loser that's just trying to discredit the competition or gatekeep records). I personally consider such runs distasteful cheating that should not be given much attention, as they remove a huge part of the skill required to get legitimate manual runs with a 1:1 input to action ratio. They might be interesting to some, including myself (as a proof of concept, or exploration of possibilities), but I don't want to encourage such practices since I consider they go against the spirit of competition and fairness, and thus I likely won't be sharing them on my channel. If you're interested in seeing the video as proof of what I'm saying, get in touch with me privately and I'll gladly provide a side by side comparison of both runs.
As the most active puzzle speedrunner in FFXIV and multiple record holder, I feel I have some responsibility to ensure the integrity of things and maintain a healthy competitive environment, so that in the future this tiny scene virtually nobody participates in or cares about might be able to flourish.
I apologize if my previous statements and opinions upset some people or cause drama, but I felt it was necessary to clarify things. I'm as certain as one can be of my analysis and claims, but ultimately there is no way to prove that what I'm saying is correct or accurate, besides admission from the other party who likely isn't even aware of this senseless situation I foolishly created myself. It's important to note that there was no ill intent by the other runner who simply shared the run in a private community and didn't make any statements of what it was or what it wasn't. No attempts were made to claim a world record by them, and even if they did, the lack of well defined rules makes the whole thing a bit subjective, so they might've thought some things that shouldn't be allowed are fair game.
#FFXIV #JumpingPuzzle #Speedrun
