Posts for Lord_Tom

1 2
15 16
Lord_Tom
He/Him
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Expert player (3277)
Joined: 5/25/2007
Posts: 399
Location: New England
Submission is in; final time was 23:24 for an improvement of 7:37. Not quite as much as I'd hoped, but waaaay below where I thought I could get it early on. Enjoy!
Lord_Tom
He/Him
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Expert player (3277)
Joined: 5/25/2007
Posts: 399
Location: New England
As stated by others above, and avoiding any controversies, an outstanding run. My personal stylistic fave is when you space jump along the surface of some lava on one screen. Bravo! 0:23 is impressive to see. I amateurishly speed-ran this game for a month or so in '98 and at the time thought my 1:12 was REALLY hot stuff! Now, at the risk of being flamed for sheer SM ignorance, it seems (just eyeballing it) that the high jump boots allow significantly faster vertical corridor negotiation due to the higher initial impulse speed. Does anyone know how close, in the aggregate, such a speed increase goes toward offsetting the realtime cost of obtaining them? Obviously this is more relevant to Hero's run, since the in-game timer cost looks negligible...
Lord_Tom
He/Him
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Expert player (3277)
Joined: 5/25/2007
Posts: 399
Location: New England
Been waiting for this one! Outstanding, a much larger improvement than I expected! I like your at times minimalist style in fighting bosses, e.g. when you stand on the same x coordinate for the entire 1st half of the Ridley battle. Easy yes.
Lord_Tom
He/Him
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Expert player (3277)
Joined: 5/25/2007
Posts: 399
Location: New England
Yes, I like to write very-detailed run comments and will describe the memory addresses I used along with all the tricks I discovered with some use for saving time. Also, there are many more hidden items in the game than appear in any speed run, TAS or online map that I have seen. After the run is done I will try to put this info up on a web site or something.
Lord_Tom
He/Him
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Expert player (3277)
Joined: 5/25/2007
Posts: 399
Location: New England
The ghost can be killed and gives 8 life points (out of a total of 80 max), but due to the way and speed at which the ghost moves it cannot be killed without taking an extra swing (20 frames). The only boost that I recall skipping after this point was a spaceman up in the sky, which only saves ~10 frames, so not worth it timewise. Obviously, if the ghost gave golds, it would be a different story. Incidentally, I refer to those big white monsters that shoot fireballs as "spacemen"
Lord_Tom
He/Him
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Expert player (3277)
Joined: 5/25/2007
Posts: 399
Location: New England
http://tom.seufert.googlepages.com/lordtomfaxanadu27.fcm Here is a link to what I had done before discovering the 2 new big changes. I don't have time now to write extensive run comments, but will answer any questions anyone has. The above file is optimized through the mist world and up until just past the battle suit, at which point it goes on a little further, unoptimized, just for planning things out. The big route differences to watch for: 1. secret mattock & different farming location in 1st part 2. no long sword (yes, it's faster to skip) 3. better wing boots aquisition & thus more extensive use 4. the expensive K key is bought 2 & 2 in different towns, instead of all 4 at once to avoid the need to farm at the cost of a somewhat longer branch route. Of the above, only 3 and 4 are affected by new discoveries. Fewer wings will be obtained, of course, and death abuse used fewer times, as wings/invincibility now unlimited by time. With the ability to skip the battle helmet, only 3 K keys are needed, and with invincibility it will be quite easy to maul wyverns for the necessary 4500 golds.[/url]
Lord_Tom
He/Him
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Expert player (3277)
Joined: 5/25/2007
Posts: 399
Location: New England
The trick requires only 2 frames be lost; the counter at address 1a cycles from 0 to 255. To skip the decrement at 64, say, hit pause at 62, unpause at 64. Further, time does not decrement if the key frame occurs at a screen transition, etc, so many skips are granted for free. I'll spend some time figuring out what the shortest, most abusive route would be with this new info and see what people think before really starting in earnest. Sub-20 minutes is *very* speculative at this point, but doesn't seem wildly out of line. I have identified the counter addresses for all time related items (wings, glove, potion, hourglass) and confirmed the same trick works for all of them.
Lord_Tom
He/Him
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Expert player (3277)
Joined: 5/25/2007
Posts: 399
Location: New England
Yeah, so this run is taking forever because I keep finding new game-changing techniques and having to redo huge segments. The big two: 1. The battle helmet can be skipped (saving one K key=1500 golds, a boss fight, and several screens); the side effect is you can't wield the dragon slayer when you get it, but game can still be beaten with (in my case) the dagger 2. Strangely, I deduced this bug just an hour ago while walking with my newborn son, so I guess I have him to thank. It is now confirmed: by pausing/unpausing the game every 64 frames it is possible to never have the wing boots or hourglass (and presumbly the gloves and invincibility potion) expire. In case this is not screamingly evident, this means that if, at the beginning of a life, one uses wings and invincibility potion one can fly completely unencumbered by enemies until it is convenient to take damage and die (e.g. for death abuse). Prior to discovering the bug with the timed items, I'd done to just about the end of mist about 5 minutes ahead of the previous run, with at least 60-90 more seconds coming off. Now, it looks like as much as 8-10 minutes could be saved from the previous run. Off the top of my head, it decreases the number of wings needed for my route from eight all the way down to four. The downside is that if it turns out to be fastest to fly invincibly for long stretches of the game, it could be quite boring compared to slashing my way through with the dagger. Dunno...
Lord_Tom
He/Him
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Expert player (3277)
Joined: 5/25/2007
Posts: 399
Location: New England
Nice TAS. Is it a trick/bug to extend the balloon ride or can the player normally choose when/where to re-enter the action? Yes.
Lord_Tom
He/Him
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Expert player (3277)
Joined: 5/25/2007
Posts: 399
Location: New England
Okay, I've been working on this game pretty steadily and thought I'd post. Figuring out how to use FCEU's memory watch tool was greatly helpful in deciphering which screens have secret items and how to manipulate when they appear. At present it looks like 4-5 minutes can come off the previous run. I've done up to the world of Branch about 4 minutes ahead, but am reworking my route to make use of the item locations and some new tricks. Indeed, I do mean tricks and not glitches...this game is pretty solid! I have to say...optimizing money gathering and item collection is *complicated*. After testing umpteen options, my current strategy is to revisit the king for the $1500, get the secret mattock, buy the wing boots (only) on getting to Forepaw, then buy the long sword just before getting the ring of ruby. Selling wing boots in Forepaw looks like it may be superior to killing Wyverns to get the $6k needed for the mist town purchases.
Lord_Tom
He/Him
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Expert player (3277)
Joined: 5/25/2007
Posts: 399
Location: New England
Dromiceius wrote:
I would be up for helping with finding difficult memory addresses and finding out how stuff works. If someone wants to improve the old run, that is...
Thanks for the offer. I've read some other posts about using memory addresses to decode various aspects of games, though I confess I don't quite understand how it works for things more complicated than "boss's hp is x". Can you, for example, somehow locate values used in a boss' AI to use as surrogates to predict their behavior? I am working on this run, though I'm taking my time in studying the game and the existing runs first.
Lord_Tom
He/Him
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Expert player (3277)
Joined: 5/25/2007
Posts: 399
Location: New England
Yeah, I'm looking into skipping the long sword, or at least buying it a little later in the sequence of things; it's difficult to judge the amount of time saved/cost. Walker's run gets a lot of gold by killing enemies along the way; some time could be saved by jumping over them, but I think it'll have to be judged screen by screen exactly how much. Any time saved thus, however, needs to be weighed against time lost on the enemies I do kill (with the dagger). My hunch is the weapon upgrade will turn out to be worth it. Another intriguing possibility is selling wing boots in Conflate (a later town; the shop buys wings for 2750 golds apiece) and buying the big blade for 8500. Probably not worth it though, since the town is late in the game, and buying/selling expensive items takes a lot of time because the animation to drain/refill gold is slow.
Lord_Tom
He/Him
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Expert player (3277)
Joined: 5/25/2007
Posts: 399
Location: New England
Twelvepack wrote:
I believe that time could be saved by using one of the wing boots earlier. at frame ~58000 wing boots are used, but one screen earlier if they had been used there, it would have saved some unneeded ladder climbing. Also, I think its worth checking about the death shortcut taken in this run. I wonder if it actually saves any time.
Will check that out. I think Walker's run may have generally underused wing boots; he may not have been aware of a few places where unlimited boots may be obtained for as little as 11s apiece. The death shortcut Walker uses appears to save a significant amount of time in my testing because after collecting the battle suit, the hero would need to walk all the way back to that same guru to get the ring (of dworf). Death has another major benefit which could make it worth it even in some cases where you lose a little time; it gives you some money according to your rank and refills magic and health. Refilling magic is nice b/c there is no monster that drops something to refill magic, and magic is the only way to attack from a distance. Other items I'm looking into are another death abuse (atop the Tower of Mist) and getting the 'secret' mattock near the entrance to Tower of Trunk (Walker goes all the way to the top, in part apparently to farm the wyvern for cash; he may not have known about the secret mattock though).
Lord_Tom
He/Him
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Expert player (3277)
Joined: 5/25/2007
Posts: 399
Location: New England
JXQ wrote:
Ummmm I don tremember if I conment ed on this fmovie but it's godo and fun anlso I am drink
Ha! Glad to know that enjoyment of my movie is not limited to the sober demographic! Watching it at 400% emulation speed gives me the spins... Not sure about the delay in publication, I seem to recall my 1st run for this game also took a few days...my guess is that the .avi is ready, but someone who knows the game needs to write the blurb.
Lord_Tom
He/Him
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Expert player (3277)
Joined: 5/25/2007
Posts: 399
Location: New England
I am looking at doing an improvement to the current run. It looks like the money collection with the wyvern can be carried out significantly faster by pinning the wyvern to the left instead of the right...decreases walking distance and gives 720 instead of 400 gold per kill. There may also be room for improvement using some damage boosting/death abuse in the first town. It looks like damage boosting isn't generally a good strategy because of how your walking speed takes a few seconds to accelerate, and being damaged slows you down. Funny that you can pull a 180 without losing speed... Anyone have any hidden gems they've been sitting on for this one?
Lord_Tom
He/Him
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Expert player (3277)
Joined: 5/25/2007
Posts: 399
Location: New England
As I said before, I think the submitted run is outstanding. I've been wondering why so many seem fixated on the laser, and think I have a reason from my own experience playing the game in the arcade... I was always excited to get the laser because it is so precise and (on some levels) powerful. Every time I saw that red capsule I'd have visions of rocking level after level with it only to get distracted and lose the ball (I'm terrible at real-time gaming). In contrast, I never really considered the 3 ball bonus cool because I'd lose 2 of them almost instantly. I agree with Baxter that 'variety' is a bogus reason for accepting a future 'shortest time, any items used' run that employs the laser. But even if laser is a misnomer anyways (plasma cannon?), it has its irrational attraction. If interesting firing patterns/paddle movements could be used, it might even be entertaining...I guess we'll have to wait & see if someone actually makes a run using it to its fullest.
Lord_Tom
He/Him
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Expert player (3277)
Joined: 5/25/2007
Posts: 399
Location: New England
Wow. Excellent. Even in real-time, I could sense the planning that went into each shot. I initially thought the occasional paddle wiggles were to manipulate capsules into not appearing, but you said they don't appear anyway with three balls on-screen. Manipulating enemy movement?
Lord_Tom
He/Him
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Expert player (3277)
Joined: 5/25/2007
Posts: 399
Location: New England
Both runs rock. I prefer real-time to in-game time because that's the length of what you actually end up watching. That said, I'm new here but I think too much emphasis on the exact time NEEDING to be faster is misplaced. What's 20-25 seconds in a half-hour run if it showcases clearly superior techniques that are significant to gameplay and entertaining to watch? My case study here is the NES A Boy & His Blob Run. Wow, it's fast, but you watch a sprite run on flat ground for a minute, the game glitches, and it's over. An impressive technical achievement, but entertaining...?
Lord_Tom
He/Him
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Expert player (3277)
Joined: 5/25/2007
Posts: 399
Location: New England
anubis wrote:
I don't know what the developers were thinking adding that one room to this game
Each crown is designed to be obtainable by only one character, via his/her special ability. The boring room is designed to make it so the mother can't get through, but the father can. Given the mother's superior abilities in all other areas, this is really the only way to do it, but it does boggle the mind they chose to make players give up in exhaustion rather than put in some artificial, but absolute, barrier.
Lord_Tom
He/Him
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Expert player (3277)
Joined: 5/25/2007
Posts: 399
Location: New England
Just got up and checked the forums...wow, thanks for all the positive feedback!
Banarak wrote:
Did I mention I never got a crown all that time? I did have a password and beat the dragon, at least. ;)
Ah memories. I gave up on the game after spending all day getting Xemn's crown with the mother (the 'boring' screen literally takes hours because you have to shoot each block and wait for it to stop). Imagine the look on my face when Rockgaea killed me in 1/4 of a second...
Lord_Tom
He/Him
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Expert player (3277)
Joined: 5/25/2007
Posts: 399
Location: New England
I see, thanks.
Post subject: nickname and "lurker" status
Lord_Tom
He/Him
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Expert player (3277)
Joined: 5/25/2007
Posts: 399
Location: New England
I recently submitted my first movie (NES Legacy of the Wizard) to this site and was pleased to see it published. I have a new movie of the same game, but have a few questions about accounts before I submit. 1. I show up on the players list, but am still listed as a 'lurker' when I post. Is there more to being listed as a 'player' (and being able to vote) than having a published movie? 2. My account name is 'tss' but my nickname is 'Lord Tom'...any way to get my posts to show my name as 'Lord Tom' without creating a new account? My only concern creating a new account is 'disowning' my first movie... Sorry for any cluelessness implied by the above, I couldn't find the answers elsewhere on the site. Thanks.
Lord_Tom
He/Him
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Expert player (3277)
Joined: 5/25/2007
Posts: 399
Location: New England
Thanks. I agree that luck manipulation will be the key to any large gains in time. Apart from killing enemies at the bottom of the screen, manipulating to get crosses (which kill all monsters on the screen) at the start of a large screen with many monsters in your path could save a lot of magic, life, and time. The downside is that crosses are not all that common and once you get one it can be difficult to impossible to manipulate the item drops you want. On the topic of how many characters are required, I have found a way to theoretically beat the game with only two characters, Lyll and Roas, but it is useless in a speed run. The spikes that you need the wings to cross in Mayna's level can be crossed *very* slowly by holding the direction you need to walk and repeatedly pressing start to pause/unpause. Obviously, even if a special "low %" run were made, it would never be accepted because no one would want to watch that for 10 minutes. And finally, yes, it is sad that the new route is less representative of the game, and lacks Walker Boh's transcendant usage of the glove in Xemn's level. I examined any number of routes that included the glove and, even using the new glitches, none looked like they'd be close, timewise, because the detour to get the glove is just too long. With the glitches, though, Xemn can probably complete the level itself a touch faster than Lyll, since he wouldn't need the magic bottle and the inn stay required to equip it.
Lord_Tom
He/Him
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Expert player (3277)
Joined: 5/25/2007
Posts: 399
Location: New England
Thanks for the props and the votes. I hope to do another run if I get enough improvements together; if anyone has any ideas I'd love to hear them. Route planning and item collection is very complex, so there's definitely still work to do. I can see another minute or so coming off easily, with maybe 15:30 as my predicted "perfect" time for the game, barring discovery of more productive glitches.
1 2
15 16