What is going on?

I am trying to complete a speedrun of vivid/stasis, a free rhythm game/visual novel hybrid.

Why?

The two main genres are the first things that come to my mind when someone asks me "what is and isn't speedrunnable?", but somehow this game seems like it could be interesting to at least entertain for a bit as a speedrun. If not, I'll return to the standard non-speedy grind of it. Also, no one has finished a speedrun of this game that actually plays it without skipping through content. All the runs of the game are of Any%, which utilizes autoplay+hyperspeed for the gameplay sections and the skip button for the visual novel sections. I kinda want to see a "regular" run of the game, so that's why I'm here. (I'll still be skipping the novel segments though. Play the game for yourself if you wanna read 'em! It's free!)

Isn't menuing the only way to lose time?

On a mechanical level, yes. The game only really has randomness in the fishing minigame, other than that the experience is entirely deterministic. Rhythm charts will pretty much always be the same, and the Betweenspace exploration minigame is a fixed map with no randomness to it.

There is a Theoretical Fastest Route (which I'll call TFR from here on) written down as an "Intended% route" on speedrun.com, but personally I can only imagine it being feasible for someone who is truly exceptionally skilled at rhythm games. Indeed, it also specifies that it has never been timed or performed in a live environment.

What category is this?

A made-up one that doesn't exist on the leaderboards. The best name I can think of for this would probably be Semi-Intended (x8 Currency) since it slightly breaks one of the rules of Intended%: "Accessibility Options cannot be adjusted".

In this run, Autoplay is turned OFF, and the Unlock Conditions stay at DEFAULT (just like in Intended%), but the Currency Multiplier is set to x8 instead of OFF. This change massively cuts down on the currency grind required to progress the story and... well... makes the run more accessible.

What's this webpage for?

There is a high chance that I won't be able to explain things as I focus on the game and not failing (too hard).

Have you done this before?

No.

This may end very poorly.

What is this route?

Mostly just the main "story" tracks and the songs required to open locks. Progress in the plot is made by unlocking nodes on the Node Flowchart using the battery charge currency and sometimes by opening locks which require the player to finish X tracks in Y conditions. TFR envisions playing "grode (DJ HOE SCARER REMIX)" perfectly multiple times in a row to generate enough currency to minimize menuing for later nodes on the Flowchart. While "grode (DJ HOE SCARER REMIX)" is the shortest track in the game (clocking in at 1:34), it noticeably exceeds the skill level required by the entire rest of the run, which is done on Opening difficulty tracks that never even reach a difficulty rating of 10 (out of 16).

The exact amount of battery charge received from finishing songs is dependent on the player's results. The maximum reward is paid out for a rating of VS (perfect score of 1,010,000), with lower results receiving less battery charge and Song Shop credits. With the x8 multiplier, the need to play perfectly is lowered as there isn't as much emphasis on getting an All Critical on every single song for maximum rewards – a slightly worse result will still pay out enough to cover all the required expenses.

I will spend some of the run going for ULTIMATE gauge clears (x6 rewards, but missing a note instantly fails the track), but will eventually switch to HARMONY gauge (x4 rewards, but you have a health bar that depletes with misses) towards the end of the run when battery charge stops being important. Keep in mind we are working with a x8 multiplier on top of the multipliers from different gauges.

Sidenote: Most recent route theorycrafting in the TFR expects the player to play the Soundscan mode and fish for >500% modifiers to the tracks, which include the ULTIMATE-XX gauge (every note has to be hit perfectly; kinda what you already want to do, but with zero room for the slightest offset) and the INVISIBLE modifier. I would just like to say that I know my skill limits and I Ain't Doin' That™.

What's your actual skill level?

At the time of writing this, my profile says Class 5 with a rating of 13.68, though I will have to restart my adventure from scratch because there's something wrong with my savefile post-Final Landing revamp and even though I've played the tracks from it, the door to it and the TVO door in Betweenspace do not open for me.

How do you move so fast in Betweenspace?

Entering Betweenspace after having held Left Ctrl in a story episode carries over that speed increase into the minigame.

Favourite fish?

grodefish