We are hosting our annual ASF (Anime Speedruns Festival)! I myself will be doing my best to do a NG+ run with the final patch and try to show off as much of the new characters and content as possible. Things like Koby training might not fit but Yamato and potentially Roger's additional content are likely on the table. Please check out this link if you would like to submit or if you just want to see what kind of games we have for submission this year. Let your friends know if they are interested in these kinds of events.

https://oengus.io/marathon/animes

Take care everyone and I'll see you in the New World! -Nighlin

Song DLC such as the Anime Openings and Uta Soundtrack are likely to get striked for audio, especially in regards to the Uta Music. For this reason I warn against using them in run attempts and the run will be removed if the audio gets removed due to its inclusion.

With the inclusion of the Uta patch I will also look into the new skills and potential bugs. If anything notable is found I will edit this post with data about it and its potential legality. If you are curious what constitutes a "Illegal" glitch or tactic look at the "Upcoming DLC and What it Means For The Board" News post.

Current Glitches:

Kaido VFX White Lightning (Legal)

Gear 5 Cinematics Ignoring Invulnerability (Testing, if it goes through cutscenes Invulnerability then it's banned)

Cracker Duplication (Banned, can crash weaker consoles, and is too variable)

The vote is a unanimous decision for a split. The proof standard on runs pre patch will increase to require showing Growth map to confirm you dont have the Batch Upgrade Feature or you must show you have no Soul Map nodes prior to your run and of course arent using newer characters or content. This will only be required for runs submitted after September 14th, 2023. Playing on the pre 2023 patch version is best as it reduces bugs and is easiest to proof.

Runs with the new version wont require any additional Proof standards as more or less everything from those versions is allowed. The Macro Dash/Burning Resolve Technique will likely be reallowed in Post Patch since the additional Stamina alongside new skills likely makes it significantly less required to be used.

With the news that the patch will include a new Soul Map that boosts stats I would like to explain that unless changed in the back end this will mostly only affect Mid Whole Cake up to Wano for story based runs as stats are capped based on stage level.

But with news of this update along with other things I will make it known that you may submit runs when the update goes live of course but we will delay verification for a few days to make sure we understand pricing information on things like the Episode Packs since they include Soul Maps that allow for faster stages they may have to be separated if they cost money to obtain. New: It costs 300 Yen.

If the Episodes Pack is Free DLC there will likely be no split, but if it costs money we will add a split for the New DLC as a whole as its easier to proof that way and it will have a new category. The proof standard for this is likely to be that you will show that you are on the newest patch by entering and exiting the Growth Map which in the newest update will have a Batch Upgrade feature on the lower right. We will have more info for this as of the 14th when this DLC releases. New: Since it costs money despite being a low amount we will likely separate for safety but I will hold a vote in our discord.

Our stance is making it implausible to compete without buying large amounts of DLC is unfair to players and so we would like to limit that as much as possible. Currently Character Pass 1-3 didn't include necessary characters for a record time and so there wasn't a split but with characters like HB Kaido along with potentially pay to win stat maps and skill we will need to split if that comes into play.

Again I will keep you posted and thank you all for playing this wonderful game!

So with the Character Pass 4 coming out and the fact that if it is correct to the datamine it will include 2 new skills and potentially new stages among of course new characters. We will be monitoring the update closely and reserve the right to reject runs that include game altering bugs that weren't present before along with bugs similar to those found with Okiku and Oden where 1 or more moves aren't working as they did in older patches.

The Present Criteria for something that may be rejected is as follows:
1: A glitch that involves a ludicrous amount of damage that can one shot foes that are either immune to damage like 1-5 Crocodile or kill enemies in one hit despite apparent HP values. Think Ace dive glitch but stronger.
2: A Glitch that gives you really low HP. This would allow Maximum activation of Cheat Death on Easy mode stages which currently is implausible to do and such a thing would remove the need for any other character. Now this has to be a glitch so things like Urouge Giant Form making him take 10% of his HP is normal.
3: A Zip that moves much faster than what current characters can move or a OoB style teleport. Currently this game has very strong OoB protection. But if it happens that one is possible please run it by the mods first.

As with any of these criteria we are keeping an open mind to these tricks, but try not to horde them and then post a bunch of times using untested glitches that may be patched fairly quickly. If this kind of thing happens we will raise it to a community vote and see how it goes from there. On the topic of New Board spilts ect. I feel it would create a unnecessary divide between current and old patch and make the board look empty until it would be filled out. If new characters and skills are far too extreme we may think of splitting but again a community vote would be held. Now by too extreme I generally mean that they vastly outperform characters in the game to the point where they should more or less be used everywhere. Current Whitebeard is like this but there are reasons to use a few characters and he was always part of the roster and thus it wouldn't make sense to ban him outright as he makes for a great speed character and isn't entirely omnipotent, mainly he is just fast and hits very far with No Grow C4.

Take care and thanks for reading! - Nighlin

I have finally completed the 3rd Major revision to the FDM update!

All stages should work fine if any random bugs that are severe are observed please let me know. Below will be a list of changes that FDM provides along with "(New)" next to new features in the patch. The text speed is even faster in this version then before with conversations so this may save a little bit of time in places and a solid amount in places with dense dialogue streams.

Here are the overall changes as a whole with FDM which also includes the new changes:
FDM Features:
Conversation Dialogue is Faster.
System Messages are Faster.
Cutscenes that do not pause IGT are skipped. (New)
Set Door Timers to Instant. (New)
Fixed Screen Dimming
Patched Stages:
1-5: Consistent Croc Red Burst (New)
2-4: Speed Up second Gate from 2 minutes to 1 minute.
3-3: Icebergs are now Destructible in 3-3. (New)
4-5: Pica death animation is fixed and no longer takes 40s to truly die.
5-1: Tree softlocks have been patched and will no longer lock you in purgatory. (New)

Updated FDM to correct a few bugs. Namely 5-1 was not affected properly due to a line switch with the script order. It should work as intended now. If you run 5-1 on 1.21 it wont be allowed, you will be able to tell because the tree cutscenes early on wont be skipped in 1.22.

It now includes "Rerolling" you may reroll stages by entering the briefing screen and leaving. This doesn't cost IGT and in a perfect run you would do this endlessly for the best stage. So I have placed a limit of 3 free rerolls per mission and after that it will cost 5 seconds per reroll on that mission. If you roll the same stage back to back then it wont count towards your rerolls. But if its not back to back like in the case of Dressrosa, Mirror World, Dressrosa. then it will still cost your rerolls. This should curb extreme unluckiness, but keep the category from being a slot machine simulator for like 5 hours as well.