So I grabbed Circe Sorceress Odyssey last Tuesday night thinking it’d be quick. Went in blind first playthrough – bad idea. Got stuck in Chapter 3 farming essence for six hours like a clown. Game kept throwing me around between volcano dungeons and forest shrines without fast travel. Totally lost track of time till my cat walked on my keyboard at 3am.
My Dumb First Run
Started clicking every side quest like an idiot. Helped mushroom people, collected seashells for mermaids – zero progress on main story. Got wrecked by poison frogs in swamp because I forgot to upgrade staff. Boss battles took forever doing chip damage. Quit after dying eight times to spider queen.
Finding the Speedrun Tricks
Scrolled through forums Thursday morning. Found three game-changers:
- Totally skipped defensive spells – glass cannon build only
- Rushed fire dash upgrade immediately (ignored ice/wind paths)
- Used emerald golem skip glitch in castle basement
The Real Speed Attempt
Fresh save file Friday 7pm. Pizza on desk. Paused cutscenes constantly. Spammed fire dash through every zone ignoring loot. When bosses appeared:
- Chugged all damage potions
- Dropped meteor shower on cooldown
- Ran circles avoiding mechanics
Fell asleep during final tower grind around midnight. Woke up to character dead from respawned mobs – classic rage moment.
The Final Sprint
Saturday 10am serious mode activated. Skipped breakfast. Followed my own scribbled route:
- Ignored merchant side stories
- Exploited checkpoint respawns for potion refills
- Let companion NPC tank while I sniped
Final boss took three tries. Last phase I literally closed my eyes mashing buttons. Credits rolled at 4:37pm total playtime 9 hours 22 minutes. Would’ve been faster without that nap disaster.
What Actually Works
Real talk after wasting weekends:
- Essential path takes 7-10 hours if focused
- Rookie mistakes add 5+ hours easily
- Multiplayer lobbies slow you down despite XP bonus
- That “secret shortcut” in ice caves is a trap
My Switch now has permanent grease stains from potato chips. Worth it? For bragging rights maybe. Wouldn’t recommend speedrunning this while sleepy though.
