that was really impressive. all the partner switch cancelling involved was visually stunning. there's only a couple things i can point out.
you don't have to talk to Wind to initiate the first quest. you can just buy the map, then talk to Wind on the way out.
also, on the Death and Dracula fight, you should try to manipulate it so you hit both of them at the same time more often.
actually, i think it is possible to have Redire for the Eligor fight. the requirement for unlocking the secret dungeons is using the back door in the area where Blackmore is. but that's besides the point.
More importantly, isn't the speedup glyph back there? Granted, you'd still have to do the training hall for Redire, but...
it is there. maybe it wouldn't be too bad a detour to get.
actually, i think it is possible to have Redire for the Eligor fight. the requirement for unlocking the secret dungeons is using the back door in the area where Blackmore is. but that's besides the point.
in place of the Nitesco/weapon combo, Light/weapon should do okay. Light/Dark would be great if you have the hearts to spare.
i highly doubt doing Tengu Man first is faster than Grenade first solely because of Rush Cycle. you don't lose much from fighting Grenade without Thunder Claw, and you gain a little bit from using Ice Wave on Tengu.
Highspeed Charger will probably be useless. i forget, can you use special weapons while charging the buster?
Preddy: Step Booster increases the speed Mega Man climbs ladders. i think that's 100% unnecessary for a TAS. you should be MBBing the entire time.
the movie is clearly improvable. opting to save instead of cancelling just puts the nail the coffin by itself. i give this a very strong, albeit late, no vote. this run should in no way have been published. it's great DS runs can be done now, but there are better ways to handle tech demos.
if it really is to promote the site, i think that's bullshit. this run breaks the site's guidelines; it goes against what the site is about. an iffy run like this shouldn't be used to promote the site. one with a much more positive opinion should.
adelikat accepting his own publication, too, is bullshit. it is abuse of power, and unsportsmanlike. the least that could have been done is to let another judge accept it.
incredibly entertaining throughout, and fast to boot. the use of Z Knuckle is a definite hilight. at first i was confused why you didn't go after Mandrago sooner, but i figured it was to get Junk Armor as soon as possible.
definite yes vote.
i can't give an opinion on whether what you're doing is faster or not, but i find this WIP more entertaining than the published run. throwing crosses around is a lot more visually pleasing.
One question: It was pretty apparent you were going for 100% completion here (I imagine it's a LOT easier planning a route around grabbing everything instead of deciding which 90 notes to leave out). Why, then, did you decide to not grab the big feathers at the end?
while on the subject of that, why open those note doors at all? they're not kept track of on the pause screen, as well as the big feathers/eggs behind them.
perhaps a proper definition of 100% is in order. all jiggies, all notes, all extra honeycombs are obvious. the red honeycombs are also visible on the pause screen, so i would think those are counted. but the note doors aren't kept track of.
i can understand opening the door to the big egg, but why bother opening the other doors if you're not getting what's inside? it can't just be to see Banjo do a jiggy jig two extra times.
So because speedrunners used the last save room as a measuring point, this TAS doesn't beat the game?
We've had this argument before on TASVideos and the consensus is that "because speedrunners do it" isn't always sufficient.
not all speedrunners go by final save. SDA, for example, requires you defeat the final boss.
for what it's worth, there is at least one way for Julius to get out of bounds. using this, Julius can enter the Julius bossfight and Chaotic Realm. i see it requires a lengthy setup, but it's something to keep note of. especially if you want to fight every boss possible.
the music didn't annoy me, more so it just confused me.
so i ignored it the best i could and just watched the action. glad i did. that fight was very sexy.
isn't the Fist of Tulkas only gotten as a rare drop from Lions? if so, that's not even worth considering getting. the Inverted Library is way off the intended route. unfortunately, it seems Flamberge is the fastest method.
The gold armor upgrade should also include all four special chips from pink machines. There should be a pink machine at Toxic Seahorse and Toxic Hornet stages. The Gold Armor upgrade should be at Dr. D's first stage.
there's that mysterious Toxic Hornet again...
the pink capsules are completely useless in that the Gold Armor gives you all of the upgrades at once, whereas with the pink capsules, you can only be equipped with one part at a time.
however, Gravity Well is too slow to use on Hornet.
concerning the route, the only real change that could be made is to swap Buffalo and Tiger. but i don't think Ray Splasher or the crappy buster helps any in Buffalo's stage, and Frost Shield helps a lot on Tiger's miniboss.
I simply can't wait to see how Blade/Shadow armor can be abused for future runs, the very idea has me aching with anticipation given how good this run was.
not to be a killjoy, but Shadow Armor's pretty useless. everything that can be done with that can be done with other armors and/or damage abuse.
thanks for the encode.
my jaw was on the floor. everything about this run was amazing. never a dull moment. i'm amazed at how potent Yammar Option can be, especially against Illumina's cables. i never knew those slippery platforms in Sheldon were that slippery. using the Falcon air dash to attack was funny.
a perfect score in both departments. i can't wait to see an 8 boss run with this treatment.
i would like to see a 100% TAS of X3. but i'm having trouble thinking of things the TAS could do differently from a nonTAS. there are somethings a TAS can get without needing the up Air Dash, like the E tank in Buffalo's stage, and the Buster capsule, but i don't know if the existing route could be changed any.
i'll never understand why runners over there never opted to just use real time. it's by no means unreliable to measure the duration the video in minutes, seconds, and most importantly frames.
can't watch the run yet as i'm waiting for an encode. though i'm sure it looks great.
it impressed me. that was a very nice find. but the Hadoken on Sigma's final form was very funny.
very good job here. the new stuff is interesting, though i do think you could have farted around more during downtime.
8/7