Since long combos are a lil harder to string together in this without the abuse of manuals and whatnot I think some tool assisted 2 minute runs would be beautiful to watch. Whatcha all think about it?
Oh yeah I almost forgot about collecting all the extra cash and other level goals in the process...It could make for some very aesthetically pleasing playarounds...maybe do it with less than favorable stats?
Joined: 4/30/2006
Posts: 480
Location: the secret cow level
assuming you can keep stringing together a combo with manuals, you can effectively go indefinitely... I've seen realtime videos (not TAS) running into 8-digit scores and lasting four or five minutes because it's all one combo, sort of like the Tetrisphere video.
Lol, the competition rounds were funny, looking great so far.
On Surburbia, I notice you spent most of the time in Switched Stance, which makes you go slower. This could've been avoided by doing half a turn less on the initial jump, or simply pressing R when you are just skating along flat ground. I'm sure that would help
You are right, I didn't notice that. Thanks.
I have to restart anyway, as I realized during the last competition, that I do have to get the gold medals for the credits to roll. So I won't submit it today.
About that 100% goals run: One problem with that run is, that I don't know, if one also has to get all gaps, which would take forever. The bonus level might have to be considered, too.
I started a new movie with the second level finished.
It gets all goals, except the gaps with Tony Hawk making some entertainment-speed trade offs (which is a little difficult for me^^).
Now at the contests I have many possibilities, not knowing what to chose.
a) do longest possible combos, exceeding the 1 minute time limit (might last very long, considering the fact, that the balance meters can be reset by starting a new combo right before the end, possibly even mid-combo)
b) skate the full minute and don't add tricks afterwards.
c) skate to a specific score (like 5 million)
d) skate until perfect judge score 99.9 (does 100.0 exist?)
f) skate till gold medal (like time attack, but also collecting the stats)
e) none, THPS 3 is just not suited for a tas
I personally tend to 1 minute runs, possibly mixing, like collecting stats in first run and do a 1 minute run at the second heat (but is a little bit too arbitrary).
I also have a question about stats:
I maxed speed after the first level as it makes sense due to faster runs. However, should other things be maxed out? Scorewise air, hangtime, ollie, turning and switch are useful. Balance is not such an important issue.
However to max out everything, the 10 stats in the extra level should be gathered, too. but then the credits might have to be skipped, too.
I'd be glad, if I can get some opinions about that.
Another question statwise:
What exactly do air, hangtime and ollie do?
Does ollie only enhance jumps on flat surfaces or also vert jumps?
How is hangtime prolonged? By less gravity, slower falling or higher jumping?
What does air do then?
I could not find answers at gamfaqs.com and would be glad, if someone can help me on this. thanks in advance
EDIT: movie so far
nice to hear that you're working on this :)
IMHO the most entertaining (but also somewhat arbitrary) way to deal with competitions is:
first run: go purely for score, land the combo just before time runs out
second run: get the stats, throw in a bunch of combos to reach the gold medal, then end the competition
showing a second 1-minute-combo probably wouldn't be a good idea, since the second run will either look mostly the same (boring!), or get a different score (showing that the other run wasn't optimal).
getting the stats first is probably a little slower in the menu, but might allow for higher competition scores if you spend them between runs, so that's an option too.
If you want to be a bit less arbitrary, you could state your goals as I mentioned here, do one 1-minute competition run that picks up all stats (in one combo), then a second 1-minute-run that'll go purely for score.
I'm not sure about stats. Since they're collectible in the levels they should be taken on a 100% run, so you'll need to do the bonus levels as well. You might call the run an "all-goal" run instead of 100% and simply ignore the stats though, adding a bit more arbitrariness to the definition.
If it was my call, getting the stats and bonus levels is probably more interesting than watching the credits. I rarely sit through the credits when watching runs anyway.
I really enjoyed your first run, so it is exciting to see you continue with this.
watching the run...
edit:
was the benihana close to the end of the first level faster than just turning around? Was this part of the speed vs. entertainment tradeoffs you were talking about?
Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 2687
Location: Seattle, WA
IIRC, Ollie makes your ollies more powerful in all situations, but it's not totally noticeable. Air makes everything you do in the air faster (ie tricks and spins), and Hangtime simply makes you fall slower (ie no gravitational change).
Would it be too much to ask for an avi(youtube would be great!) ? I'm using a mac, and I don't think Mupen works (please correct me if I'm wrong!).
If not, I can wait until its published, but it sounds exciting.
Good luck
-nospoon
Do not try to bend the spoon, that's impossible. Instead only try to realize the truth.
What Truth?
There is nospoon. Then you will see it is not the spoon that changes, it is only yourself
Sorry, that I can't be more active in the forum atm, but the internet connection is pretty bad here at my partents (-> no IRC and seldom forum for me). I expect to be back in munich around tuesday. Then everything is back to normal.
That sounds like a good idea to me. I'll go for that.
You probably mean the vert before the stat point before the "K". Too bad, that this is noticeable. I needed the speed to reach that stat point. I could not even chain it into a combo, as revert and manual would slow down too much. It's the least entertaining part of that level, but the only way I found.
Speed vs. entertainment tradeoffs so far are more reverts and manuals do create bigger combos (but slower) and doing a little trick (like a no comply) at the end, to force an instant point calculation displaying the final score before I leave the level.
That makes sense. Thanks for solving that mystery for me. I can't believe, I could not find something in the internet.
I would have tried to make an avi after each 100MB anyway. I just have to wait with the upload until I'm at home due to the internet connection.
I'm currently in suburbia and will upload a wip next week.