Posts for skater43

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Near as I can tell, the Magic Shield has no special properties or is magical in any way, it's just a name. Yes, you'd think if they'd bother to call it a Magic shield, it ought to be magical, but not this time. Of course, the Magic Sword in the Legend of Zelda was also not magical, so there is a precedent.
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Been a while, any more progress janus? Looks like things were clicking along there pretty good. Main reason for posting, though, is I'm looking for some help. Friend of mine and I recently played through this game and were going through it again using the super strength trick. Doing the trick was no problem, but questions came up regarding some of the limitations and "what if we...?" We weren't able to really find any documentation other than how to do the trick itself. So, we started testing a few things. No RAM watching or anything fancy, just trial and error and seeing what the results were. You can see some of our results here: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/586515-sword-of-vermilion/72071087 G_T has since found that equipping a better sword after doing the trick with the silver sword dropped her strength to 150 or so, which is below what it would normally be (she was level 18 or 19 when she tried the Mirage Sword). So, we're hoping some of the folks here that get into the nuts and bolts of games can help with figuring out what makes the trick tick, why the Bronze Sword will lock your strength in at 1500, but a better sword will keep your strength at 2700+ and go up at level ups, that sort of thing. I'll also mention, though it's prolly already known: when you're poisoned and it kills you/your HP drops below 0, briefly you can see your hit points read 5800+. A second later, you're back at the church missing half your gold. Obviously, this is the same thing that happens with the super strength/ultra strength/ultra AC tricks, just without the effect sticking around. Anybody looked into a way to keep the extra HP, exploiting this bug? Obviously, in a TAS, you're avoiding enemies, avoiding most damage, so hit points aren't a real concern, but looking into it might lead to other discoveries. Anyway, any thoughts or help would be appreciated. Thank you.
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I voted meh. While the run seemed technically sound, the game itself didn't overly excite me.
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Offhand, I'd say no. The star for the 100th coin appears wherever the 100th coin is collected, whereas the other stars appear at designated locations, usually off by themselves. As I recall, the red coins stars aren't particularly close to any other coins, and I don't remember any other stars close enough to coins to grab the 100 coin star and another simultaneously. Now, the eighth red coin being coin number 99/100 collected, that is certainly doable, but the usefulness would be dependent upon the level.
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I have no idea what I just watched, but you can't argue with the results. Yes vote.
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You'll have to double check the rules, but it's my understanding that you'd have to submit the save file (of you playing through the game however many times) to submit a TAS starting from that save file. However, the save file doesn't have to be of great quality. What I mean is that it doesn't have to be "TAS worthy". Time doesn't matter, you don't have to show off fancy tricks or anything, the object is to get through the game to unlock the other levels and to show the judges how you got where you did when you submit the actual TAS (the last playthrough with all the levels). Other games have started from a save file (see http://tasvideos.org/Movies-C4015Y.html), so I don't see why you couldn't do that here.
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What about starting from a save file? Yes, you'd still have to beat the game 7 times or whatever to create the save file, but the submitted TAS would only be the last time through all the levels.
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adelikat wrote:
(exemptions of this nature have already been allowed and published in the concept demos section).
Sounds to me like we've got the solution right there. I haven't watched this yet so can't personally say whether it's any good or not, but several others have commented on how entertaining it is and how it offers something different than the other Super Metroid runs currently on the site. So it's apparently worthy of being published. However, it does use a cheat code so can't/shouldn't be part of the main site. But I can't see why it can't be a part of the concept/demos section.
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But just because a run is faster than the current run doesn't mean it will automatically be published. If a run is submitted that is faster because it uses the pixel trick, but is otherwise sloppy and/or less entertaining, it will/may not be accepted.
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Paused wrote:
skater43 wrote:
As I recall, maps and compasses aren't required for the other games and thus shouldn't be here either.
Required where? I know there are 100% Zelda runs at SDA, but as far as I know there have been none accepted (or even submitted?) here. Even so, especially with a series as large as this what might be acceptable for one game may not be acceptable for another. Why could a Wii game effect the rulling of a NES game?
I guess I was thinking of SDA. I brought up other runs as a possible starting point for determining 100%. For example, if it had already been decided that collecting the maps and compasses in Link to the Past was pointless and shouldn't be part of the 100% definition, then we could exclude them here for many of the same reasons that would have been outlined when the previous ruling had been made. However, that doesn't mean we'd have to adhere to that. Nothing's stopping us from deciding that every room must be visited or something, even if that's never been part of an 100% definition before. Baxter: can you give a ballpark estimate how much longer a 100% run would be if it were, say, all items and heart containers? We looking at something like 5 or so extra minutes or something closer to 15+ (thus almost doublign the length of the any % )?
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I guess we should start by looking at 100% runs for other Zelda games. As I recall, maps and compasses aren't required for the other games and thus shouldn't be here either. Bomb upgrades are similar, though it's much less tedious to get them in this game than, say, A Link to the Past, so I would be okay with getting them. I don't recall what other runs have done regarding sword upgrades, but I can't imagine it would be faster here to skip one and be doing less damage to everything. The letter should be acquired and shown to the old lady, but I don't think medicine should have to be bought, although other than money concerns, it wouldn't be that out of the way. I agree that the upgraded items (ring, candle, bomerang) can be gotten without the preceeding versions. So, my definition of 100% would be all subscreen items (final versions, letter but not medicine) and all heart containers, maybe bomb upgrades. Maps and compasses only if the precedent has been set with previous Zelda runs.
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Rest assured, there are plenty of us lurkers waiting to see this run.
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DarkKobold, you forgot Mega Man. I think I'm going to have to go with no on this one. As stated by others, this fails as both a speedrun and a playaround; it would be better served as one or the other, rather than trying to be both simultaneously. That said, there is some great stuff in here and it's not the most boring run I've ever seen. Based on some the tricks and stunts seen here, I would like to see a full playaround (which could incorporate some of the enemy avoiding stuff seen here). And if this is accepted, I think a full playaround should obsolete it. Thanks for the mp4, feos. And thanks to Happylee for making a run that's making myself and others think and type out a response other than "Dude, that was wicked awesome. Yes vote." or "Boring as heck. No."
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2 minutes instead of 1:30? I'd say go for the good ending, unless there's a particularly compelling reason not to.
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Ha, ha. Man, that was sick! Loved the gun and laser action on the floor panel. And Alec just starting his spiel when you had already left the train and were halfway to the exit.
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Mukki wrote:
This run scores big points on 1). The game seems tailored to make speedrunning difficult. The author runs away from many battles, which confused some of you. When you run from a battle in this game you keep the money that you would have won from the battle, but don't get the experience points. Furthermore, the enemies level up depending on how many battles you have fought, which means that if you run from a battle the enemies are levelling up faster than the player. The author runs a lot but is able to get the balance right and the game is still beatable. This was interesting to watch. Also, when you run outside of battles the game hides the enemies from you in an attempt to cause more encounters and ultimately slow you down. This was another interesting quirk that the author dealt with well. There was also some impressive glitches towards the end. The game also has a completely non-linear storyline and you can beat the seven heroes in any order that you wish, which provided interesting route possibilities.
Thanks for clarifying the running stuff. Still not sure I'd vote for this run, but at least I appreciate it a little more.
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This was short but it still got old after a while. Going with no for game choice. And thanks for the download, sgrunt.
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Well, I was going to vote no because I happened to really like that frame in Bowser 1 you cut out. But the rest of the run was so awesome, in the end, I had to vote yes.
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Thanks for the encode, Velitha. My vote would be meh to no on this one. I am abstaining from voting, however, because I think my vote is heavily biased by not being familiar with the game. About half of the movie is spent sitting in one spot repeatedly running from enemies (which is boring as all get out), but due to my lack of knowledge of the game/ability to read Japanese, I can't understand why the author did that (i.e. you have to fight x number of battles to move on and ruinning is the fastest way to end the battle, author is setting up a glitch, running away raises your agility skill or something so the bosses later can be defeated faster).
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Thanks for the encode, Mister Epic. This was short, but really didn't do anything for me. "Meh"'s a pretty appropriate choice: not bad, but nothing to write home about either.
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ALAKTORN wrote:
can I make a noob question? what does hexing mean?
See http://tasvideos.org/InputFileEditing.html
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While it was a bit repetitive, I thought it was fast enough and good enough for a yes vote. And thanks for the encode, Mister Epic.
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I downloaded the file (the direct download link) and it played just fine for me (Media Player Classic). Thanks for the encode, Mister Epic. Yes vote, though I don't really have an opinion whether it should obsolete the current glitch run or not.
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I think we can safely file this one under "what the heck just happened?" Yes vote.
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I guess this would go here: the archive.org link for RBI Baseball (http://tasvideos.org/1118M.html) is of the River City Ransom movie, not RBI Baseball.