Submission Text Full Submission Page
  • Emulator used: DeSmuME 0.9.9 and Advanced Bus-Level Timing ON
  • Contains speed/entertainment tradeoffs: forgoes a trick that allows you to move downward a little faster when MP is depleted in order to hit more enemies
  • Manipulates luck
  • Takes Damage To Save Time
  • Starts from SRAM: userfiles/info/33616556699131697
  • Uses hardest difficulty: Hard Mode Lv.1 Cap
This run is about 1 minute and 40 seconds faster than http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm25546884

Data transferring glitch

This glitch is used to transfer Konami Man, Vic Viper, Twin Bee, and 32 HP/MP Max Ups into Sisters mode from Johnathan mode.
With this glitch, I start with higher attack than I would ever have in a run without this glitch. Any runs in Sisters mode have to start from SRAM at the first place so this glitch probably doesn't change the nature of this run too much.

Boss battles

There are two worth mentioning boss fights that involve special tricks, and they are the main technical improvement over the run on Nicovideo.
As you can see around 6:55, I started attacking Legion before the camera moves back to the sisters. This only works when you are using Stella.
Something similar happens around 19:30. If you are using Loretta while entering the boss room, you have a window of a few frames to press buttons. As you can see, I switched to Stella and touch the screen where Mummy Man would appear. The magical line just stays there and kills Mummy Man before I would regain control normally.
I don't fully understand why these phenomenons happen. They probably have to do with the fact that HUD doesn't disappear when you enter the boss rooms of Legion and Mummy Man.

Samsara: Guess I'm taking this one. Will replace the file once I verify sync.
Samsara: Actually, that's not necessary. I have my decision already.
This entire movie just seems to be made up of arbitrary decisions. The use of the data transfer glitch while also using Hard Lv. 1 means that the entire point of Hard Lv. 1 is ultimately moot. I wouldn't consider it to be the "hardest difficulty" when you're intentionally making the game easier for yourself through glitch exploitation.
The "speed/entertainment tradeoff" doesn't make sense either for several reasons. One: It doesn't actually add any entertainment that you wouldn't have been able to add without it, and two: You transferred over extra HP and MP with that glitch. So really, you have more MP than you should have, and you're still refusing to use it. That makes absolutely no sense to me.
These choices make the run ultimately trivial to watch. Every choice you make seems to conflict with another choice, and it makes the run just... flat, boring, and void of any tension, and the (very vocal) posts I've seen so far in the thread very much agree with my assessment.
Rejecting.


TASVideoAgent
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Fortranm
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I just realized that the run desyncs around the five minutes mark. The reason seems to be the fact that the slot 2 was set to have a CV AoS cartridge when I started making the run because I was messing with DoS earlier, and I set slot 2 to be empty in the middle of making this run. I'm trying to make the run syncs without AoS cartridge right now, but is it allowed to submit a DS movie in which the content in slot 2 changes during the run?
Samsara
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Fortranm wrote:
is it allowed to submit a DS movie in which the content in slot 2 changes during the run?
No.
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warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Fortranm
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Well, I guess it's off-topic to ask this question here, but what can be done when a DS game requires slot 2 cartridge to be changed to access all contents? For example, you need Megaman Zero 3 cartridge to fight the bosses from this game in Megaman ZX and Megaman Zero 4 cartridge for MMZ4 bosses.
Samsara
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Do it before the run. I.E, have the cartridge loaded before you start the run, and leave it there until the run finishes. It's stable that way, unlike changing settings mid-run.
TASvideos Admin and acting Senior Judge 💙 Currently unable to dedicate a lot of time to the site, taking care of family. Now infrequently posting on Bluesky
warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Fortranm
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Samsara wrote:
Do it before the run.
I'm talking about the fact that you need to use two GBA cartridges to access all contents in that game so you have to change the content in slot 2 in the middle of the run. This discussion probably should be moved to DS Emulators forum though.
Samsara
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No need to. I can't see that being allowed at the moment. It sounds like a nightmare of potential desyncs.
TASvideos Admin and acting Senior Judge 💙 Currently unable to dedicate a lot of time to the site, taking care of family. Now infrequently posting on Bluesky
warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
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om, nom, nom... blech!
Fortranm
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http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/33868877693726780 The desync is fixed. I'm uploading an encode. Edit: It will be here when it's ready. Link to video
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Giving this a No, and I'm going to explain why. 1) The category. It's Hard Level 1 but also...New Game +, which buffs your damage. Kind of defeats the point of Hard Level 1. If it was so you can kill more enemies without leveling up, just kill less enemies and group your levelups on boss kills. Can't compare to the nicovideo TAS if your category choice is completely different. 2) Not draining your MP to fall faster. Just...what? Why would you not do that? MP regenerates incredibly fast on the ground and you can grab hearts to restore it even faster. Not doing this because you wanted to hit more enemies is really dumb. 3) Sisters Mode is boring.
effort on the first draft means less effort on any draft thereafter - some loser
Fortranm
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arandomgameTASer wrote:
1) The category. It's Hard Level 1 but also...New Game +, which buffs your damage. Kind of defeats the point of Hard Level 1. If it was so you can kill more enemies without leveling up, just kill less enemies and group your levelups on boss kills. Can't compare to the nicovideo TAS if your category choice is completely different.
This is not in New Game + mode because there is no such option for Richter, Sisters, and Old Axe Armor modes. I'm using a glitch to acquire certain items from Johnathan mode, and the use of such a non game breaking glitch probably doesn't make the category choice different. Not to say that any runs in Richter, Sisters, and Old Axe Armor modes have to start from SRAM at the first place.
arandomgameTASer wrote:
2) Not draining your MP to fall faster. Just...what? Why would you not do that? MP regenerates incredibly fast on the ground and you can grab hearts to restore it even faster. Not doing this because you wanted to hit more enemies is really dumb.
There are times when you lose time if you intentionally touch the ground to regenerate MP in order to hit more enemies. It's less arbitrary to forgo this trick outright. Not using this trick also gives Loretta more chances to appear because otherwise Stella would be used for most time in order to perform this trick despite the fact that Loretta usually deals more damage than Stella does under TAS condition.
Noxxa
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Fortranm wrote:
arandomgameTASer wrote:
1) The category. It's Hard Level 1 but also...New Game +, which buffs your damage. Kind of defeats the point of Hard Level 1. If it was so you can kill more enemies without leveling up, just kill less enemies and group your levelups on boss kills. Can't compare to the nicovideo TAS if your category choice is completely different.
This is not in New Game + mode because there is no such option for Richter, Sisters, and Old Axe Armor modes. I'm using a glitch to acquire certain items from Johnathan mode, and the use of such a non game breaking glitch probably doesn't make the category choice different. Not to say that any runs in Richter, Sisters, and Old Axe Armor modes have to start from SRAM at the first place.
You are still using a powerup bonus from a previous playthrough, and that still makes it newgame+. That it is a glitch just makes it a glitched newgame+, it doesn't make it a newgame run.
Fortranm wrote:
arandomgameTASer wrote:
2) Not draining your MP to fall faster. Just...what? Why would you not do that? MP regenerates incredibly fast on the ground and you can grab hearts to restore it even faster. Not doing this because you wanted to hit more enemies is really dumb.
There are times when you lose time if you intentionally touch the ground to regenerate MP in order to hit more enemies. It's less arbitrary to forgo this trick outright. Not using this trick also gives Loretta more chances to appear because otherwise Stella would be used for most time in order to perform this trick despite the fact that Loretta usually deals more damage than Stella does under TAS condition.
Forgoing any trick for any reason is more arbitrary, it never is less arbitrary. Use Stella wherever it's faster and Loretta wherever that is faster. If switching to Stella for this trick is slower than not switching, then that is a fair reason, but not switching to "give Loretta more chances to appear" or to "hit more enemies" is a very arbitrary choice, and it also reeks of laziness. In all honesty, this whole category choice reeks of laziness in general. With lvl1 hard mode to avoid level-up screens and experience management, yet with glitched newgame+ to still defeat bosses fast, and forgoing a trick that would require MP management and some character management (and all that in Sisters mode, which has some of the simplest motion physics and attacking methods of any Castlevania game), it just looks like the simplest road possible is taken. That doesn't really impress me. I'm voting no.
http://www.youtube.com/Noxxa <dwangoAC> This is a TAS (...). Not suitable for all audiences. May cause undesirable side-effects. May contain emulator abuse. Emulator may be abusive. This product contains glitches known to the state of California to cause egg defects. <Masterjun> I'm just a guy arranging bits in a sequence which could potentially amuse other people looking at these bits <adelikat> In Oregon Trail, I sacrificed my own family to save time. In Star trek, I killed helpless comrades in escape pods to save time. Here, I kill my allies to save time. I think I need help.
Fortranm
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Mothrayas wrote:
With lvl1 hard mode to avoid level-up screens and experience management, yet with glitched newgame+ to still defeat bosses fast
As long as the data transferring glitch is used, there is practically no EXP management. If there is no level cap, I simply need to make sure there is no leveling up outside of boss battles. The only thing lv.1 cap does here is allowing me to kill much more enemies without wasting much time so the trip to the bosses is not super boring.
dan
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I would have voted Meh if I had the option. A minute into the run, you establish already that you can fly, at constant speed, over or plow through the enemies with no trouble. Unfortunately, that's what happens for the rest of the run too. My favorite parts were when you broke this monotony, namely taking damage from a Medusa Head and breaking open the four secret walls. Finally, there wasn't much to appreciate aside from firing rapidly with 100% accuracy. This run was so safe, there were no seemingly close calls or danger. You spawned almost every heart and collected almost none of them, as if to say "Look how easy this is".