Posts for Toothache

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Do you need people to breathe for you as well as think for you? I think the answer is obvious, and you answered it yourself - its a glitch that saves time, so obviously yes you should use it. RPGs are longer than other games by nature, so anything that reduces the length is a good thing.
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sonicpacker wrote:
Toothache wrote:
I propose a Dec 31st time limit
2011, right?
No, this year. We have time to compile a list of the currently known records for all 120 stars, and then try and match those into a full game TAS. Of course, some are entirely hexable so that's half the work done. The sooner you get started, the sooner a 120 star TAS can hit the workbench.
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Thanks for the encode p4wn3r. I can really see the difference the Yammar Option does in damage, especially in the seconnd High Max fight. Crazy TAS of an insanely hard game, and an improvement to boot. Gotta vote yes.
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Can we finally set a time limit on current individual star records, as I've suggested before, and get a 120 star TAS under way? I propose a Dec 31st time limit, any current records before that date should be included, and only updated if possible during the actual TASing. The eternal quest for perfection is noble, but does not matter in the long run. Get a run out, improvements can be added in a new version next time.
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If there's a miss, then you can fix it. That's what RNG manipulation is all about :-). EDIT: After watching the prologue, I can see where you went wrong. 1) Move Eirika first, you start on her and she's given an immediate crit if no RNs are shifted. 2) L target between units 3) Test how many RNs Seth needs to shift to do a counter kill on the first attack, and find the best way to manipulate that enemy phase. 4) Always use Select button to enter Options. 5) In options, you don't need to select Text to maximum speed. You will be able to skip all sources of text so you won't need to read any. It's a minor saving. 6) It is still arguable whether autocursor off is necessarily faster
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The Lua scripts used on FE6 should be easily adaptable for FE8, since more or less all the GBA games used the same engine. It shouldn't be hard to work out memory locations in FE8 comparable to the ones in FE6. Definitely be useful for some of the more complex enemy phases. For example there's this script which was created mostly thanks to amaurea: Download rngdisplay.lua
Language: lua

function nextrng(r1, r2, r3) return AND(XOR(SHIFT(r3, 5), SHIFT(r2, -11), SHIFT(r1, -1), SHIFT(r2,15)),0xFFFF) end function rngsim(n) local rngbase=0x03000000 local result = { memory.readword(rngbase+4), memory.readword(rngbase+2), memory.readword(rngbase+0) } for i = 4, n do result[i] = nextrng(result[i-3],result[i-2],result[i-1]) end return result end local phit = 0x0203CDAE local pdmg = 0x0203CDB2 local pcrt = 0x0203920A local ehit = 0x0203CDAC local edmg = 0x0203CDB0 local ecrt = 0x0203CDB4 while true do local nsim = 20 rngs = rngsim(nsim) for i = 1, nsim do gui.text(228, 8*(i-1), string.format("%3d", rngs[i]/655)) end gui.text(210,0,"RNG1:") gui.text(210,8,"RNG2:") gui.text(210,16,"RNG3:") gui.text(194,24,"Next RNs:") gui.text(0,0,"Player") gui.text(0,8,"Hit: " .. memory.readbyte(phit)) gui.text(0,16,"Damage: " .. memory.readbyte(pdmg)) gui.text(0,24,"Crit: " .. memory.readbyte(pcrt)) gui.text(0,40,"Enemy") gui.text(0,48,"Hit: " .. memory.readbyte(ehit)) gui.text(0,56,"Damage: " .. memory.readbyte(edmg)) gui.text(0,64,"Crit: " .. memory.readbyte(ecrt)) emu.frameadvance() end
This ends up looking like this on screen: Here, Marcus is performing a crit on the bandit. As you can see, it shows the RNs listed in memory, plus the next 17 RNs on the right side of the screen. It also displays the hit/damage/crit. The addresses in FE8 are different for the combat display, but as you know the RNG is the same so doesn't need changing. It should be pretty easy to find the hit, damage, and crit memory locations and adapt this script for those purposes. One final thing to change is the fact the current RNG value is divided by 655.36 in FE7 and 8, the 655 in this program is a rounding error present in FE6, and needs to be fixed here. One thing I want to add to this is the active player unit's wexp values. Not sure how to do that yet.
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mmarks, don't tell me what to do. I know full well. New encodes: Archive MP4 Archive MKV Streaming: Dailymotion
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Perhaps, since I've done all this work already I may as well finish the current version, and make any improvements in a future version. Seems a shame letting all this work go to waste. There is an improvement I can and should make now, in ch12 though. After Alan clears out the enemies in front of the boss door area, he should rescue Roy before he is targeted by the archers along the corridor. It won't be hard to redo Ch12 and 13 from here though, and should save a good few hundred frames. After that, its onto the desert. As for the reset trick in order to save time, I can start incorporating this.
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I've been contemplating restarting the entire run as it stands, given that I've discovered someone has a method to 2 turn chapter 5 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyUlCVnQPFs). This is a noticeable improvement, although it does require killing off 2 units in order to reposition Alan so he can open the door. There are other things that could be done with improving and changing too, but only now that I've got so far can I see these improvements. For instance, on one level up (Ch4) for Alan I allow the Skill level up to fail in order to get an early enough level up + crit. Since Skill requires the most growth and gives Alan more accuracy and crit chance, and Alan doubles everything with only a minimal gain in Speed, it would be best to guarantee Skill on every level up. For that matter, getting more defensive level ups might be a wise thing too - Res especially with the lategame staff users. Getting more Luck both adds to accuracy and avoid, so that should be another priority for level ups too. There are some item management improvements too. Merlinus has room a lot sooner to be useful in handing out the 1-2 weapons among the units, and he only fills his inventory once so far in ch5, and again in ch6 he empties the rest onto Roy for later. The hammer can be given to one of the units active in ch7 much earlier so Wade doesn't have to appear at all. Dropping items is much faster than selling them, so it's probably not worth selling the vulneraries or 1 use Silver Lance in ch4 (the Angelic Robe is a good early cash source though, which allows enough cash to get all the 1-2 weapons in ch4 and the killer weapons in ch13) There's one minor improvement possible too. Currently throughout the run, at the start of the turn the camera instantly locates to Roy's position. In some places this saves time, in other places it probably doesn't (such as the Ch12 turnskip). It is definitely worth doing a frame comparison to see if this saves time at all, but I very much doubt it. Probably in the long run, it saves more time to have the cursor locate on Roy at the turn start than not. One final note is that I didn't have access to the Lua scripts until Ch10. There is probably scope for better RNG manipulation using the scripts, since human trail and error can only go so far. With all this in mind, it's clear the current run has scope for improvement, and needs to start again. If there are any possible improvements people have spotted, please feel free to let me know now as I start again.
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Encodes ahoy!: Archive MP4 Archive MKV Streaming: Dailymotion Also throwing a yes vote in the mix.
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SD encode on its way
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Long game, but it didn't detract from the entertainment by any means. Yes vote.
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I guess my humour is so dry it makes the Atacama look damp
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7979 Fight Rockman! 797979797979797979797979 97979797979797979797979779797979797979797 7979 For everlasting peace!
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As a fan of actual strategy, I can't vote yes for this. However, I can see the effort put into this, so I will give it a Meh.
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Go go gadget Dooty! I'll make an encode of the next WIP if that's ok, would be good for anyone interested to see the progress. Good luck all!
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ElectroSpecter wrote:
Toothache wrote:
I would tend to go by what the game defines, rather than some arbitrary goal. And this 'perfect amounts of all missable items' goal is as arbitrary as it gets. In no other TAS, not even 100% playthroughs, does it ever define you to get maximum of every collectable item there is, so why should an FF9 TAS be any different. Ditch the arbitrary goal, go by what the game defines, and aim for the fastest time possible. It would make the TAS, at least from my perspective, much more entertaining.
The problem here is that the game does nothing to define what a Perfect Game is. The only person to do that so far (to my knowledge) is Atomos, and his definitions, while not exactly arbitrary, are tailored to fit a gameplay style that is "perfect" excepting cases like the missable purchasable items, which, since you can't get 99 of each, and since purchasing a maximum amount of each is nearly impossible to define or do in a real-time playthrough, is just defined as "perfect" @ enough to equip to every party member that can equip + one extra for the inventory. Which is somewhat arbitrary, but relieves a lot of work on the player at the expense of less items while still falling under Atomos' perfect guidelines. Which is what bothers me about the run.
Toothache wrote:
does it ever define you to get maximum of every collectable item there is
Exactly, I agree, but SINCE the run would be using Atomos' definitions, you would have to get 99 of SOME items. In section H04 of his guide, he mentions this about recovery items and gems. And because of this, getting 99 of some items and just 4 of others (even though you could get more) is bothersome. Sorry if I'm beating this to death.
Why do you need to use one person's definition of 100%? Nowhere in any other 100% speedrun definition have I seen a requirement to get 99 Potions, 99 Hi-Potions, etc. If you want to make the game a huge collect-a-thon, that's fine, but the goal of Excalibur II quest alone is not that. Sure, with a 12 hour time limit there's a lot can be done, but I'd argue against going for an arbitrary goal that one person decided that did not take into account the complexity and entertainment required for a TAS. tl;dr, let's have an intelligent debate about the goals here rather than just going by this arbitrary set of goals by some guy from GameFAQs. Common sense is needed here, and its not as common as advertised.
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I stumbled across LemmingsMaster's channel a while back, and he does have some impressive strategies for stages, including some exploits like the one seen in this video. But I did not expect the Japanese TASers to have a trick like the wall zip. With all these new tricks, its time for an improvement to Lord Tom's run.
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The story of your brave TAS of this game will be handed down through generations.... .... as a splendid legend. Yes vote
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I, like many other people would like to see a 100% LoZ TAS. First of all, I'd like to encourage discussion in order to define this. One thing that will need to be considered is the purchase of items, since you have a mere 255 rupee limit, the cash will need to be carefully micromanaged. Of course, there's the money-making game which is probably the best source of cash, but it will require several trips, unless enough cash drop manipulation can help reduce this. Let's see if I can get a potential list: Sword, upgraded fully All heart containers Arrows and Magic Arrows All dungeon maps and compasses Bombs, and all upgrades Bait Letter -> exchange for one of blue/red potion Blue Candle and Red Candle Magic Shield Bow Boomerang and Magic Boomerang Raft Ladder Bracelet Flute Magic Wand Magic Book Magic Key Blue Ring and Red Ring Now, that's a pretty huge list. I've probably missed one or two items, but I think that's everything. Obviously, lesser duplicates of upgraded items can be skipped in order to get the best version of an item (skip Boomerang and get Magic Boomerang, for example). Some might argue the maps and compasses need not be collected, but for a true 100% I would get them. With a 100% TAS there will be a lot more damage boosting for sure, since there will be more health to play with, as well as a defence increase from the rings.
Post subject: Team 5 encode
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http://www.mediafire.com/?7ifftagf66d22m1 2nd place encode. I'll have the first place one up in a few hours. http://www.mediafire.com/?bzln1dd5go15ix6 1st place encode. All done.
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I think 100% needs to be properly defined before a TAS can be made. But this isn't the right place for that. Yes vote, its a nice improvement.
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I did an encode of the Team Tortoise run. If someone wants to tackle the first and second place runs for encoding, feel free, if not I'll get them up tomorrow, since it is after midnight for me atm. http://www.mediafire.com/?e87jff47762hux5
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I believe it works when your HP is at 0, and the saving/resetting allows that to occur without Soma dying.
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Encodes: Archive MP4 Archive MKV Streaming: Dailymotion
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