I don't lose time when I encounter enemies. I'll be flying over them with the Aerial Gargoyle!
And the only boss that I lose time on is Crawler. I figure that the time I lose on Crawler is at least tied with your slower overworld route.
And the only talisman that effects my damage is the Fang talisman, and that's on the very last level.
Here is your route. Notice how you have to make these slow turns? (asterisks)
1. 3 to 4
2. 6 to 7
3. 7 to 8
4. 8 to 9
I figure that you lose many frames with these turns, and you also have to fly farther in between levels.
Also, I don't know for sure which is faster in your route, going from #7 to Level 1 on the left or Level 1 on the right. I think going left is slightly faster, but for the sake of clarity, I made the line go right.
Either way it is a big turn from 7 to 8.
Isn't it number 9? :(
Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 2687
Location: Seattle, WA
Every boss that you fight with Crest of Air instead of Crest of Time will be much slower. This isn't just frames: you'll lose full seconds on every fight. Also, the hand relic will help you speed up some fights. Furthermore, flying over everything with the Aerial form isn't always the fastest method.
I only fight one boss without the Time Crest, Crawler.
And you also lose full seconds... on the overworld.
I get the Hand talisman before you do!
I get it on my 9th level and you get it on your 12th.
You don't think so?
Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 2687
Location: Seattle, WA
-The Crawler also has a pretty high HP compared to most bosses.
-I doubt it would equate to the amount of time you would lose. We shall see.
-I was just using the Hand as an example. I doubt I would use any of the talismans until Fang for the simple fast that the boss recovery times are more than enough to set up the next optimal shot.
-Aside from having to switch the Aerial form, every time you ascend in that form causes you to pause, lose some forward velocity as you rise, and then pause again as you return to normal flight. Some areas will be faster with just the normal form, if not the Earth form.
Perhaps I should do some level test runs using the different crests and see which is the best combo for each level, and also test boss fight length with each crest.
Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 2687
Location: Seattle, WA
Don't bother with testing each boss with different crests: You will use fire until you beat Ovnunu, buster until you get the air crest, and then air until you get the time crest. Only change here is that you'll use air crest/water crest on Phalanx 2.
Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 2687
Location: Seattle, WA
I tried using the Earth Crest on the little eyes. It does about 1.5x-2x the damage of the fire shot when standing, so you'd have to do a lot of weird motions to get them in a good position. If you jump, your Earth shots lose range and lose their damage bonus. Therefore, it's probably better to just use your normal fire shots, since you can jump and fly without any loss in time.
Yes, the standing shots kill the eyes real quick.
But I can't rely on that in this case. It would be too slow.
I guess the best thing to do is to snipe the eyes with normal Fire.
This game isn't that hard at all. I would give it a 7/10 in difficulty.
I will post WIPs of my run if there is enough demand.
Fans! Let me hear your voices!
I should have a WIP with Arma defeated by Saturday.
Arma and Hippogriff take time because you have to manipulate their movements.
I think they're the only 2 bosses that really need manipulating.
Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 2687
Location: Seattle, WA
Arma2 requires some manipulation. Arma 3 does not, since you can trap him in a sequence using the Air crest. Ovnunu is manipulatable, but you can't make him or his cronies come out earlier. Crawler is manipulatable. Phalanx is manipulatable.
None of the other bosses are manipulatable, although you can make them look like jackasses pretty easily. The only one you will have a hard time with is Holothuron, since you have water physics and a crappy attack in that fight.
I'm thinking I'll have to use precision attacks on Arma because
1. shots can knock him out of the air so rapidfire isn't that great
2. its not good to beat him while standing right next to him because it makes you move and that costs time.
Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 2687
Location: Seattle, WA
Not bad. Your Hippogriff fight was cool, but I'm not too sure that autofire was the way to go. Maybe you should watch nitsuja's test to see how you should fight it. The area right after the hippogriff saw a lot of lost time. You can land in front of the first axe thrower and jump over him without losing any momentum. Also, you should have landed on/walked with the moving platform when it started going to the right: it moves faster than you by a lot.
I was really impressed with your area right before Arma, though. I wouldn't have thought to jump up the cliff to get to that last platform. Your Arma fight was also pretty cool, although it sucks how he flew all the way up there towards the end.
I think I'm going to just give advice to you on this run. You play at a pretty high level, and after showing a sloppy any% to some people in IRC, we came to the conclusion that an any% would be boring.
nitsuja's test? Where is this?
Yes, that's good advice.
I would hate to have to do this all over again though.
I've tried to copy and paste some replayed areas but it desyncs on me. :(
I think I'll just play the rest of the game, posting WIPs and seeing what people think, and if there aren't any massive flaws then I'll submit it the run.
If it's accepted, then later maybe I'll redo the run at a more leisurely pace and fix any flaws that people noticed.
Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 2687
Location: Seattle, WA
Bah. It's better to get set back a day and fix your problems now than it is to finish your run and have a few flaws haunt your conscience. I would say that you should go back and fix these things, since it's only a minute or so back from where you are, and everything up to Arma afterwards is a cake walk.
Also, nitsuja's test movie can be found here.
Joined: 8/1/2004
Posts: 2687
Location: Seattle, WA
Well.... uhh... it had a nice Hippogriff fight. Nothing to worry about too much, though: your fight was good as well. His was a bit faster because he somehow stopped the beast from firing off its feathers.