I seriously doubt it would freeze. They designed Richter mode and Old Axe Armor mode with the intention of reaching Dracula, didn't they? Most likely the code is all there, but we just need to reach it.
Besides, SOTN is a different game.
effort on the first draft means less effort on any draft thereafter
- some loser
Joined: 8/14/2009
Posts: 4089
Location: The Netherlands
Yeah, the run looks really plain as it is. It looks like there's a lot more that could be done besides just slowly moving forward.
I once had the idea of a Sisters TAS some years back. At the time I figured you could use Stella's attack to write text in the air or do something similarly silly.
Also, it looks like you level up just a few rooms before the boss room (and level up again to lv5 at the boss). If you could avoid leveling up there, and instead level up directly from lv2 to lv5 at the boss, it saves a few seconds from the "level up" message.
If that's not possible (or if that's slower due to dodging and/or slower bossfight), maybe you could try defeating more enemies along the way so you're close to lv4 before the bossfight, and possibly skip to lv6 instead of lv5 after the bossfight.
Other than that, the movement and bossfight (simple as they are) look optimal.
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.
All right, I'm going to redo what I've done so far. I'll aim to make moving a bit more interesting. (Fidgeting and pretend jumping is all I can think of)
I'm also going to do this in Hard Level 1 mode now, which should be pretty interesting. That means a lot more enemies are going to die.
effort on the first draft means less effort on any draft thereafter
- some loser
Joined: 3/12/2013
Posts: 36
Location: Bullhead City, AZ
arandomgameTASer wrote:
All right, I'm going to redo what I've done so far. I'll aim to make moving a bit more interesting. (Fidgeting and pretend jumping is all I can think of)
I'm also going to do this in Hard Level 1 mode now, which should be pretty interesting. That means a lot more enemies are going to die.
Please don't do it on Hard level 1, bosses will drag out the game far longer than necessary once you get to Ashtarte, and when the rest of the TAS is already going to be a tad slow, you'll need all the help you can get.
If anything to spice up the game, perhaps doing all of the bosses would be better.
Joined: 8/14/2009
Posts: 4089
Location: The Netherlands
I made a verification movie file for anyone who wants to work on an Old Axe Armor run in the future.
User movie #28601423233692735
I made it on top of the existing all bosses TAS, so it uses DeSmuME 0.9.7 with Advanced Bus Timing off.
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.
Link to video
I remember I almost went out of bounds in the pyramid when I was playing the sisters mode, and I reproduced it. This results in the player falling through the map like what you can do in the main mode of this game and in DoS.
I don't know if there is a way to get in bound since you can't suspend in this mode. I also don't know if it's possible to do memory corruption while moving out of bounds like in DoS.
Link to video
This is a test-run for DoS made by mtbRc, mentioned in his submission text: #4070: mtbRc's DS Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow "Julius Mode" in 09:01.49.
In this video, Alucard somehow moved back in bounds after setting the flag for Abyss portal. I PMed him to ask how this works, but I think the chance he would ever reply is rather low because he hasn't posted since July 2014.
If it turns out to be possible to get back to the pyramid after setting the flag for the entrance of throne room, it would be great. However, it has to be timed to see if such method is actually faster than finishing the game normally due to how slow the sisters move when staying out of bounds.
I made a verification movie file for anyone who wants to work on an Old Axe Armor run in the future.
User movie #28601423233692735
I made it on top of the existing all bosses TAS, so it uses DeSmuME 0.9.7 with Advanced Bus Timing off.
Did you actually test to see whether it works all the way till the end? It starts to desync around frame 101000 for me.
So I started a Sisters Mode run.
Here is the verification movie: http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/33616556699131697
Here is the movie file of this run: http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/33616783777443840Link to video
I used a glitch at the beginning to transfer certain items into Sisters mode (http://pileofsecrets.wikidot.com/portrait-of-ruin#toc28). Therefore, I start with much higher HP/MP and deal much more damage to enemies. The run is done under Hard Level 1 mode so I can kill as many enemies as possible without worrying about leveling up. I need to redo the first stage though because I got a bad boss pattern, which is determined when I entered the stage.
Then there is a question for whoever is reading this. As you can see, arandomgameTASer's run from 2014 uses a trick that allows you to move downward a little faster than depleting MP.
However, doing so makes you unable to attack enemies before you touch the ground. Attacking enemies is pretty much the only thing one can do to increase the entertainment value of the run. The amount of time lost by not using this trick is probably a few seconds in total. Should I forgo this trick to attack enemies while moving down?
....Why? Also that data transfer only increases your HP/MP, not your damage.
Fortranm wrote:
The run is done under Hard Level 1 mode so I can kill as many enemies as possible without worrying about leveling up.
Again, why? Why not just do a regular TAS of sisters mode? Hard Level 1 is just going to slow bosses down in the long run.
Fortranm wrote:
Then there is a question for whoever is reading this. As you can see, arandomgameTASer's run from 2014 uses a trick that allows you to move downward a little faster than depleting MP.
However, doing so makes you unable to attack enemies before you touch the ground. Attacking enemies is pretty much the only thing one can do to increase the entertainment value of the run. The amount of time lost by not using this trick is probably a few seconds in total. Should I forgo this trick to attack enemies while moving down?
We're talking like, maybe ten enemies that won't die here. Sisters Mode is going to be really slow anyway, no point wasting time just to kill enemies.
effort on the first draft means less effort on any draft thereafter
- some loser
Konami Man, Vic Viper, and Twin Bee increase your STR, INT, and LCK by 50 respectively. You start with higher attack than you would ever have in a run without this glitch.
Hi I want to share some minor information regarding "All Bosses" category.
The two Creatures in the Nest of Evil and the single Creature in Dark Academy share the same "defeat" flag; if beaten the Two Creatures in Nest of Evil first through sequence breaking the single one in Dark Academy will also disappear - the game will read as you have also beaten the boss in Dark Academy area and Dark Academy subsequent quests will also appear (=skipping the whole Dark Academy level).
Hope this will help improve "All Bosses" TAS category and/or a potential "1000% map completion" category.
Joined: 8/14/2009
Posts: 4089
Location: The Netherlands
Acedoubleguy1993 wrote:
Hi I want to share some minor information regarding "All Bosses" category.
The two Creatures in the Nest of Evil and the single Creature in Dark Academy share the same "defeat" flag; if beaten the Two Creatures in Nest of Evil first through sequence breaking the single one in Dark Academy will also disappear - the game will read as you have also beaten the boss in Dark Academy area and Dark Academy subsequent quests will also appear (=skipping the whole Dark Academy level).
Hope this will help improve "All Bosses" TAS category and/or a potential "1000% map completion" category.
I'm inclined to believe that skipping a boss would sort of go against the point of an "all bosses" category.
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.
1000% Map is interesting. I just played this game again this week (school suspended), and I was thinking if there is a run that clears it 1000%. Luckily, I found it, lol.
