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I read this yesterday. Personally, I shall wait until corroborating evidence (i.e. when it is replicated in other independent experiments) is presented before I get too excited.
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My vote is for Rockin Kats. I like the idea of using these contests to improve out of date runs. Also, because of how tough it is to optimise it would be the game I'd be most interested in seeing what each team comes up with.
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That's very awesome indeed. So I guess the bad clone glitch is confirmed possible on the -rr emulator?
Anyway, prepare for some noobish questioning...
I screwed around briefly with the input file. I noticed that the map distortion glitch stops working after using it to get into victory road i.e. you cannot cancel once you have entered the party menu. Does this not have implications for the instant victory glitch above? (I actually tried to get this glitch to work after diglett's cave, but had no luck, perhaps he didn't have enough pokemon?). Do you have a workaround for this?
I guess a TAS would look something like this:
- Choose Totodile
- Catch Geodude?
- Beat Falkner
- Buy Escape Rope at some point
- Catch four more pokemon at some point
- Beat Bugsy
- Get Cut and teach it to something
- Enter Daycare and create as many good clones as you need (I noticed in the vbm there was 20 in box1, 20 in box 2 and 15 in box 3. Has this been tested as optimal/necessary for bad clones?)
- Set up the Glitch
- Get the bike probably
- Get to Victory Road
- Heal and Beat E4 with Instant Victory
- ER back to Pokemon League
- Go to Mt. Silver and rule.
An Issue that still need to be resolved is how to solve the randomness of the bad clone glitch?
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Apologies for the time it took to reach a decision on this, but there were many things to consider. Unlike other submissions there were three outstanding issues to resolve in judging this. Firstly, whether this run is of sufficient quality to be published. Secondly, if the game is sufficiently different from Resident Evil Deadly Silence to be published alongside it. Thirdly, which version should be preferred if this is not the case. It should be noted that I do not necessarily intend this judgment to set a precedent for original version vs. remakes. I believe these issues should be resolved on a case by case basis by considering the comparative merits of each version for tool-assisted speedrunning.
The first issue is relatively straight forward. The run was entertaining, the play was precise and the route was fast. This run is certainly of publishable quality. Next.
On to the second issue. If an original title and a remake are to be published alongside each other the differences between them must be considerable. There is little point in publishing two virtually identical TASes. On this particular issue I don't find differences in graphics and music to be a compelling reason to have an extra publication. I see no reason to publish a run of game X and then a run of game X remade with different graphics/music. There will naturally be differences between different versions, but in my opinion considerable differences in gameplay (and, as a result, the actual substance of the TAS) would be required to have both the original and the remake published on the site. This may take the form of a commonly occurring glitch or a vastly different route with new challenges. The gameplay of Deadly Silence is different to the PSX version in a few respects, however, one cannot ignore that a Resident Evil TAS is composed largely, if not mainly, of running through corridors. That one run avoids zombies in a slightly different way to the other run is not a large enough difference when considering what these TASes actually involve. Some of you considered the ability to skip cutscenes as a large difference. I find cutscenes to be a difference in the aesthetic viewing experience, rather than something separate about the substance of the TAS itself. This point will be considered in respect of the final issue. I see no reason to publish two TASes that are virtually identical in substance, where the only difference is that one run has cutscenes and the other does not. Anyway, to summarise, while these games have some differences I didn't find that any of them affected the TAS itself in a large enough way to merit separate publications. Therefore, one version will be favoured over the other.
Because both games allow for virtually identical runs it is on the game aesthetics that one shall be favoured.
As to the sound I noticed no difference between sound quality of the two games beyond the superficial. Also, the DS version has a slightly modified soundtrack, whether one prefers this or the original is purely subjective and not a good enough reason to distinguish between these games.
Now to consider the cutscenes. I strongly dislike judging runs on reasons extraneous to the submitted input file and on this rationale the DS version clearly has an advantage. However, I think that one must be realistic and consider the issue holistically in this case. It is completely feasible that an accompanying encode can be published along with the PSX version that removes the cutscenes and door transitions. There are many version differences that cannot be easily dealt with (sound, graphics, gameplay etc.), but I don't believe that cutscenes are one of them. It would be irrational to favour the DS version for this reason as the unique appeal of the cutscene skip can, and probably will, be included along with a PSX publication. Furthermore, the absence of cutscenes and door transitions can also be seen as a negative aspect. Having played the original and the Gamecube remake the suspense of the door transitions is something I enjoy and find it integral part of the playing experience. I found that this translated well into the TAS. The same applies for the questionable voice acting. The point is that some people love it and some people hate it, but at least the PSX version has the potential to satisfy everyone whereas only the haters are served by the DS run. Therefore, I find the cutscenes to be to the advantage of the PSX version as opposed to the contrary.
While I found the difference in sfx to be comparatively superficial, the difference in gfx is quite substantial in my opinion. The graphics of the DS version are rather bland by comparison to the PSX version throughout, and some parts of the DS version are particularly bad. For example, the U-shaped corridor on the second floor of the mansion looks horrible in the DS version as does the room to the east that leads the player down to the Tiger statue. I found that areas where the colour brown clashes with bad lighting tended to look reddish and unappealing. Towards the end the laboratory looks far worse and the boiler room with the chimeras suffers from the same brown/lighting problem. Furthermore, one needs only to look at the 'blood' of Wesker in the DS version to see which version is more true to the franchise.
Therefore I am of the opinion that the PSX version of Resident Evil is to be favoured over the DS version. In short, the gameplay differences are too trivial to have both runs published and the ability to skip cutscenes in the DS version is not a good enough reason to disregard the superior visuals of the PSX version.
I am accepting this submission as an obsoletion of the currently published Resident Evil Deadly Silence run.
Notes:
- I deliberately avoided commenting on the status of the Gamecube version. My intuitive impression is that the a run of the GC version is different enough in style and substance to warrant a separate run, but that is a decision to be made when such a run is submitted.
- I also realise that there are three 'Original' PSX Resident Evil games; the Original, Director's Cut and Dual Shock. This judgment does not claim that the Original is the best of the three, only that the Original is superior to Deadly Silence. The others have aspects that may make them faster/more entertaining. I am not necessarily of the opinion that the original is the best version, merely that the DS version is the worst.
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Curiously, I also recently finished rereading the Fellowship of the Ring. I read the series back in high school and hoped to refamiliarise myself with them. So far I am finding it rather dry for a reread and am wondering if my time would be better spent elsewhere (I do not normally read fantasy novels), but hopefully I will get through the other two.
Speaking of movies I recently finished reading No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy. I enjoyed the Coen Brothers' movie during its release and would recommend the novel to anyone who found the various issues/dilemmas interesting as they are more fleshed out. Personally, I didn't think it was as good as The Road, but it has certainly added to my appetite for his work and have since added Blood Meridian and his trilogy to my reading list.
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I was unsure of what to vote as parts of this run seemed inconsistent. The fights against Ness, Zelda and Pichu were entertaining as there was a lot of interesting abuse and messing around. Some fights just seemed like pure speedruns. I almost missed the Samus and Mewtwo battles because I was eating cereal. Then again, those levels didn't seem particularly interesting anyway and so I guess it was a good stylistic choice to get them out of the way quickly. I'll give this a weak yes vote, hitting Ness with a car clinches it.
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Lex wrote:
You could, but that book would be very boring and repetitive. This topic doesn't merit much discussion.
I beg to differ there have been many great books written on this throughout history. For one Daniel Dennett has compiled a fascinating book on this and similar issues.
My own opinion is that the universe is probably largely deterministic (though, having read Dada's interesting post, I may need to reinvestigate the evidence, if any) and I agree that quantum fluctuations would not affect the implications of this in regards to an individual's thought process.
However, I believe that I make my own decisions, therefore I could be said to have an illusion of free will. This illusion, however, is my only frame of reference as to the definition of free will, and so is indistinguishable from true free will from my own perspective. The way in which I interact with the world will not differ if this perception is actually free will or merely an illusion and so, for practical purposes, I proceed on the basis that I am wholly responsible for my actions, though this assumption may be erroneous.
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Great to see that this is still being worked on. The 3-2 strategy was awesome, very good use of the bubble item. I look forward to seeing more, the next two worlds are my favourites.
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mklip2001 wrote:
I found this pretty interesting, though I do wonder if it makes sense to have both this and the DS remake included on the site. I would probably suggest that this obsolete the DS version, as it is the original, and the route in this run is also better.
CoolKirby wrote:
I agree that this version should obsolete the DS version (this one looks better and is the original). Yes vote.
Thank you for the comments. I'll hold off on judging this for a couple of days in order to get more feedback on the potential obsoletion. If any of you have a spare moment to provide an opinion on this that would be great.
Are the DS and PSX versions of this game sufficiently different to warrant having both published on the site and why? If not which version should be favoured and why?
Discuss.
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Hello. Just a heads up that the low glitch run of Sonic Advance has seen some nice progress recently if anyone is still interested. As a little teaser here is a WIP of the finished run of Casino Paradise 1.
Link to video
Thanks to Dada for the encode.
VBM: http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/297925349/sonicadvancecasinoparadise.vbm
Here I achieved a very nice 0:19:77, improving on my earlier post in this thread of a 0:24:73. The improvement was achieved by a more optimal strategy halfway through the level and a new zip at the end (thanks to Zeupar for the idea).
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Excellent WIP! The use of baby mario in 2-1 was particularly interesting. Stylistically I found this to be the strongest segment of the run so far (which is really saying something, you guys have gone the extra distance), with 2-2 as a prime example (the egg play was glorious and the ending was cool).
Keep up the awesome work!
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I think this is a tough one. I'm more of a fan of in-game fastest time i.e. I prefer to see the substance of the levels completed as fast as possible. However, if only the first level of each world will suffer as a result of resets then the time it saves will justify using it. Hopefully, not having the extra eggs won't damage the momentum too much.
Anyway, good to see that this is still being worked at after all this time. I look forward to more progress.
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Very nice. I didn't think that there would be as many as 13 frames left here and I certainly didn't think that the improvements would be noticable even if they did exist so good work on BitFS. Yes vote.
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Fantastic run and well worth the wait. Minish Cap WIPs have been kicking around the forum thread ever since I registered here, but I never anticipated that it would take until 2011 to actually get something on the workbench. Part of me feels that I should replay the game in order to fully appreciate what is being skipped with the ocarina, but an entertaining run nonetheless. Yes vote.
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Your run must be publishable on its own merits as it is the input file, not a subsequent encode, that is being judged. However, if the publishability is already established, and you choose to include a script or an encode that removes particularly boring aspects alongside the run in order to make it more interesting then you are free to do so.
See:
http://www.archive.org/details/SuperMetroidTAS_NoCutscenes_ByJXQ
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It should be noted that we already have a Resident Evil 1 run published. There was some discussion in that thread as to which version would be best for publication, however the debate was suspended as there was no other finished run at the time. If anyone has any opinions on versions/categories/obsoletion for this game then please express them when commenting on this movie. It would be a great help.
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Awesome! I've been looking forward to this for quite some time (I can't believe that such a popular game has had only one run, and from way back in 2004). Easy yes vote.
Some of my favourite parts:
Freezeframe after the first bossThe shortcuts in 3-2The playaround in 4-24-4 goes without saying
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Hey Exxonynm and welcome to TASvideos!
If you are looking for a more complete run of Aero the Acrobat you should check out the run on maTO's website:
http://www.freewebs.com/suklaalevy/files/megadrive/Aero.rar
I've not watched it, nor am I familiar with the game, so I can't vouch for how entertaining it would be. It seems quite long for a Genesis run, which will make it more difficult to gain support on the workbench unless the gameplay is really interesting. I suggest that you make a WIP of the first few levels, comparing to the movie above, in order to deepen your understanding of the tools and the process. If you then post your work here I'll happily watch it and provide some feedback. Even if it does end up sucking a little I assure you that your time won't have been wasted and you can carry these new skills to a different game.
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Very nice improvements! It's great to see that someone else has an interest in this awesome game. I hope that you can keep at this.
Also, I enjoyed looking at the list of improvements that you provided with your World 1 WIP. Could you provide something similar for future WIPs?
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It is possible to get all Pokemon with a single cart by using the celebi trick. This method would be incredibly time consuming. It would take hours to complete the pokedex this way (you may even need to do it for happiness evolutions).
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hezekiah wrote:
Could there have been time saved in the Elite Four by teaching a different move over Thunderbolt? Especially on Bruno, those "It's Super Effective" messages feel like they should be avoidable. A quick glance at Bulbapedia seems to indicate that a possible candidate would be Psywave, which is the reward for beating Sabrina. All I'm not sure of is if the time saved by using a different move (IE, removal of Super Effective and perhaps some Critical Hit messages) would be enough to make it worth taking the time to teach it the move.
This would not be desirable as Thunderbolt is by far the fastest animation we have (the Pokemon don't enter a flicker animation). Also, by the time you get to the Elite Four most of the pokemon can survive one hit form a L100 Mew so there are always going to be super effective and critical hit messages.
