Posts for Dragondarch

Dragondarch
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Joined: 7/16/2006
Posts: 15
No, I'm not a TASer. I understand a lot of what's happening under the hood with this game, but I much prefer RTA runs. Mostly just posted the video so anyone else who's looking to TAS this has a better reference than an old SDA run.
Dragondarch
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I managed to beat the SDA run a while back with an improved route. Link to video I've also managed to get a sub 2 hour run with the same route, but my internet went out in the middle of the stream =/.
Dragondarch
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ars4326 wrote:
FINAL BOSS: n/a* * glitch can't technically be used here due to soft-resetting the game.
http://www.twitch.tv/zakkythegoatragon/c/6351782 The above run disagrees with your statement.
Dragondarch
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So I looked into why it took more hits to kill the Red Dragon in the JP version. Apparently they changed the attack power of the Short Sword and Normal Sword in the US version. In the US version the power of swords is 6, 9, 16, 24. In the JP version it's 4, 8, 16, 24. Didn't notice any differences in enemy HP.
Dragondarch
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TBH, I'm not sold on this route. Even with the zips, I'm unsure if it's overall faster than the current RTA route. RTA Route: Start Underground Reservoir (activate warp room) Forbidden Area Study (enter using the back door near Great Armor) Great Armor Manticore Chapel Warp (to Entrance) Creaking Skull Big Golem Headhunter Top Floor Warp (to Underground Reservoir) Legion Balore Arena Warp (to Top Floor) Death Graham I'll try and break down my reasoning why this may be the faster route. Start to Chapel Warp: RTA uses the Underground Reservoir to access both a warp room and the rear entrance to the Study, reducing the travel time to Great Armor. Once Manticore is down, the warp room is right there ready to be used. The Underground Reservoir route is slightly longer than using the Main Corridor, but spits us out at a better position, as there's no detour to get to Great Armor. It also gives us a convenient warp point for Legion later. Manticore is fought at the same strength he is in this TAS, though Great Armor would take slightly longer due to lower stats. This TAS deals with Creaking Skull first, then heads to the Inner Quarters warp room, which a decent detour from the Main Corridor. It then zips to Manticore, then makes the trek down to deal with Great Armor. While the zip definitely saves time, that time is then lost by having to make 2 trips through the Study. I'd say this TAS would come out slightly ahead if it didn't detour for the Inner Quarters warp, but with that I'm estimating both routes are pretty much dead even as of the warp in the Chapel. Entrance Warp to Top Floor (RTA) and Arena (TAS) Warps: This is where the routes really diverge, with RTA dealing with Creaking Skull, Big Golem, and Headhunter, ending with utilizing the Top Floor Warp, while the TAS route heads to the Floating Garden to zip to the Arena, and deals with Balore and Legion, ending with using the Arena Warp. My estimates have the RTA route entering the Dance Hall at about the same point the TAS route is initiating the zip, with both routes entering their respective boss rooms at the same time. Big Golem goes down first, and RTA should be entering the Inner Quarters at about the same time Balore goes down. TAS route should be entering Underground Reservoir about halfway through RTA's fight with Headhunter, and starting Legion as RTA enters Top Floor. Realistically, RTA should be warping from Top Floor as TAS finishes off Legion. TAS then still has to get back to Arena warp, putting RTA ahead. Underground Reservoir (RTA) and Inner Quarters (TAS) warps to Death: The trek from the Underground Reservoir warp to Legion is slightly longer than from Arena, so this would put TAS warping out of Arena slightly before RTA starts Legion. Legion would drop faster than it did for TAS due to +1 (or 2, from Manticore) Orbs. This should put TAS starting Headhunter at about the same time RTA is exiting Legion's room. Headhunter for TAS would go slightly faster than for RTA due to +1 Orbs. In the time it takes for Headhunter to go down, RTA should be just outside of the Arena warp. TAS should then be somewhere in the Minotaur hallway when RTA starts Balore. The higher Orb count (6 for RTA, 3 for TAS) would make Balore a fair bit faster than for TAS, reducing the cycles for phase 1 by 1. Phase 2 has reduced defense, increasing our damage output, which makes it preferable to push him into ASAP. RTA should finish Balore off a bit before TAS kills Big Golem. The time it takes both to reach their respective warp rooms is about even (would be tipped in RTA's favor if not for the elevator...), putting RTA slightly ahead at the warps. The big difference here is that RTA is warping to Top Floor while TAS is warping to Inner Quarters, giving RTA a sizable lead. Everything from here to the end is identical. Now don't get me wrong, this TAS looks really good, the route itself does look as if there was a lot of thought put into it. And really the route is my only gaffe with it, everything else looks fine (except the Crucifix use on Balore, I'm pretty sure jump kicks would have been a bit faster). Makes for a difficult vote. I think I'm gonna have to go with Meh, and hope the route I posted above is looked into a bit more for TASing.
Dragondarch
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ars4326 wrote:
Your post reminded me of something peculiar that I noticed while doing the run. The first dragon mini-boss in the beginning took a lot more hits to kill than it did in the USA version (32 hits vs 24 hits). I wasn't paying attention to any to any other enemies, but this leads me to believe that the USA version was slightly nerfed in difficulty. With that in mind, wouldn't the (J) version be preferred, due to it technically having the higher difficulty?
I located all the memory addresses that hold enemy HP, so I could look into this easily enough (also damage output as well, just need to locate each enemy...)
Dragondarch
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Get fucked Rubas. Giving this a yes vote. Undecided whether the US version run should be a separate category.
Dragondarch
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ars4326 wrote:
Dragondarch wrote:
That damage boost through the guards I something Feasel and I had thought of when we were playing around with the game back in 2012. It's unfortunately not useful RTA since there's no guarantee on that Scorpion being where we need it to be, we'd end up skipping a Max Heart, and I think we timed it out to being only like 5 seconds faster than going around, though everything was tested in real-time so it's probably more for TAS. Good(?) to see this game getting some love :P
My bad! I had an old gif up and replaced it with the newer method. Along with the Hyper Boots, a few well-timed diagonal shots will get you past those guards. I was able to pull it off in real-time after only three attempts.
Unfortunately, I won't have the Hyper Boots at that point, but I did manage to find a way to do it without them by stunning the one on the right instead. Since all doors are skewed to the right a bit, you can slip past the left one into the door so long as the right one isn't in place yet. Doing it near optimally seems to save 12-13 seconds over the other route, so it may be worth adding in to my runs. Unfortunately the Scorpion occasionally likes to be directly in the line of fire, preventing me from doing it quickly (or at all...), so this'll probably become the new reset point (Like I needed any more of those...)
Dragondarch
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Oh my god, I knew there was a pair of Hyper Boots hidden somewhere! Believe it or not, I used to play this a lot as a kid, and I knew I had found a pair when I was younger, but couldn't for the life of me remember where it was (and none of the FAQs/maps I checked had it listed). These will be added to the RTA route for certain (I timed it out to being slightly more than 2x as fast going up diagonal stairs, and ~40% faster than walking diagonally anywhere else) That damage boost through the guards I something Feasel and I had thought of when we were playing around with the game back in 2012. It's unfortunately not useful RTA since there's no guarantee on that Scorpion being where we need it to be, we'd end up skipping a Max Heart, and I think we timed it out to being only like 5 seconds faster than going around, though everything was tested in real-time so it's probably more for TAS. Good(?) to see this game getting some love :P
Dragondarch
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Brossentia has a run up on SDA as well, and both him and I know a bit more about this game than any person ever should... Either way, I think Bro found a way to do the block breaking for the Golden Harp faster (he found a Fire Sword shortly before it, which means a route change to ensure you can have the Red Sword for this area). As for the jumping, here's how it works: Your first jump will always be low height. Your second and third jumps will always be high. If you wait long enough after doing any jump you will revert back to the low jump. I don't know how long the timer is for this though.
Dragondarch
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TheAxeMan wrote:
Dragondarch wrote:
The game disables you from using the Teleport spell, but still allows use of Warp Boots.
Actually, the published run uses teleport there. The trick is that you need to hit a different button from the one you use to dismiss the last menu. So to use teleport you need to have it equipped, hit B when the dolphin thanks you and then A for teleport. All the frames in between are lag and the controller input is not polled so the game can't tell that you pressed the button on the first frame otherwise.
That's not what I'm referring to. What I'm doing is giving the Herb to the Dolphin, and after the dialog disappears and he starts moving, I can go into the menu, equip Warp Boots, and warp out at my leisure (Nothing frame perfect about it). I just tried to use Teleport (both having it equipped beforehand, and entering the menu separately after giving the Herb to the Dolphin) and it works exactly like you describe.
Dragondarch
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The only other place I know of where this might be of use is after giving the Medicinal Herb to the Dolphin. The game disables you from using the Teleport spell, but still allows use of Warp Boots. Unfortunately it's of no use in real time since it's not significantly faster due to the extra menu required.
Dragondarch
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Oddly enough, the scenario of giving Kensu the Love pendant in the lighthouse is exactly what is needed in the GBC version. He then teaches you Change in Swan just for tracking him down without any item requirements. (sadly in the GBC version there is no ghetto flight that I could find. I did find some other oddly programmed things though...)
Dragondarch
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Wow...I was mentioned =P As for the MGR thing, here's the formula in case anyone is interested...taken from IronKnuckle's FAQ: Damage = (Base DMG / 2) - (MGR / 4) + fluctuation I have noticed damage increases even when casting a spell an enemy is weak against, but it's minimal in most cases. The fact that MGR / 4 exists makes it near useless...however it can sometimes be used (talking about the Jute Helmet here) for manipulation purposes. Now if I could just get Camu to drop his damned Jewel...
Dragondarch
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My improved M&L run will be up soon enough over at SDA. I knocked an hour off the last one, so it would probably be a good idea to check it out.