Posts for wekhter

Experienced Forum User
Joined: 7/22/2010
Posts: 53
Wowee! Seems to have been some changes around here. While I agree with the new tiering system in function, it's a bit difficult to navigate. I think the system could do with some filtering options. For one, I can see all the Moon+ runs for, say, NES/FDS, and I can see all the runs for NES, but there doesn't seem to be any way to easily view only vault runs for NES. Or if there is, it's not very clear. I think on the Movies page, it would be nice to have all consoles listed something like: - NES/Famicom/FDS (All) (Vault) or maybe even - NES/Famicom/FDS (All) (Vault) (Moons) (Stars) ... though I will admit that might be a little too much. In the same vein, I think I filtering tool like the one on the Submissions page would be handy. So, say, at the top of the NES movies page, in the empty space off to the right hand side (right of the key) there could be 2 selection boxes (or dropdowns) to filter by, the first being a list of consoles and the second being the tier list (and perhaps also commentary, improvements and console-verified options). I suggest this especially because the key in the top left seems to imply that you can use it to sort submissions. I know that that's never been the case, but now that not everything will be shown in the "default" view, it seems helpful! Also, I think the notable lightning bolt icon should be 18x18, the same as the rest of the icons. It just makes the key look messy otherwise.
Experienced Forum User
Joined: 7/22/2010
Posts: 53
The guidelines say the hardest difficulty is preferred unless the only difference is the enemy/boss hit points, in which case choose the fastest difficulty. That's basically the gimmick behind all the Shadow Dragon hard modes, each one just has progressively more overpowered enemies. So Normal mode isn't really a bad choice... Except that hard mode skips the prologue chapters. So I wonder, is Hard 1 maybe the fastest difficulty choice? Or does "Uses easiest hardest difficulty" just sound dumb? Either way, I agree w/ the above that this game really needs its RNG cracked to be a good game choice.
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Joined: 7/22/2010
Posts: 53
Mr. Kelly R. Flewin wrote:
But is it only doable from a continue as shown in the video... or?
Not having tested it myself, it looks like some kinda variation of this trick used in the current run:
Submission Text wrote:
Getting pushed down while on a vine/ladder (in this run, ladder): Normally if you're on a ladder and a bomb falls down on you, you'll catch it while still climbing, however if you're already holding a bomb as in this run and another one falls at you it'll push you down the ladder.
Just with enemies instead of bombs, kinda? Looks like that, since the first place was at a vine and the second at a chain. So it shouldn't have anything to do with the continue (unless I'm wrong). Might make it worth trying to check out what's underneath all the ladders/vines in the games, hehe. Thanks for the video, Pointless Boy!
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Joined: 7/22/2010
Posts: 53
Ah, I see. That explains it. I clearly haven't watched the Olympics in a while, that scoring didn't even occur to me. Last night after I made that post I actually went and learned how to TAS, using this game... probably not the best choice as it is probably the most unrewarding game I've ever played, but hey, what can you do. I succeeded in consistently getting the same (averaged) score as you, although I did all the tricks in a different order just in case there was anything weird about doing the camel-spin sit-spin combo exactly after the camel-spin and sit-spin separate (didn't seem to make a difference, so there goes another theory). But pretty much, I found the same thing as you about the game game having very particular timing about when it will accept input on tricks, so I think it's all down to some really precise-yet-incomprehensible timing. It might be down to how the timing affects how the skating animation flows into the trick animation. (Which is basically that "flow" stuff the FAQ was talking about.) Intensely frustrating. Also, the first thing I tried was doing a single trick and then skating forward until the end just to verify the score breakdown. I ended up with a .3 so either I did the trick really, really poorly or there also might be some points deduced for not doing a trick for a certain amount of time (like how the last 8 seconds or so are you just skating forward). Obviously the sensible thing to do would have been to verify that with all the tricks, but I admit, there was only so much of that song I could take... My apologies. Could be a dead end, but even the "world record" listed in the FAQ is 5.4 so there could be something wacky going on with the scoring that we still don't know. And yeah, no problem. I check out most of the WIPs for any emulators I can run, which includes all the NES games you do. Unfortunately I happen to be particularly lousy at NES games in general so I often don't have anything constructive to add other than "hey good job bro" and I don't believe in artificially boosting my post count. (Could explain how I average .07 posts per day.)
Experienced Forum User
Joined: 7/22/2010
Posts: 53
OK, I started writing a reply but somehow managed to close my browser while doing so, so forgive me if any of this comes off disjointed from retyping. First of all, I'm really confused by what your score actually is. On the results screen it says JPN 5.0 but then at the bottom it says TOTAL 4.9. I think the TOTAL is actually the average of all the countries' scores (why, I have no idea, but from checking out a few Youtube videos of figure skating the numbers seem to point to that). Thankfully that means you have an even score, which makes pinpointing the problem much easier! What I think is going on is: you got -.2 points for lacking grace in 5 out of 7 tricks. According to the FAQ, when doing spins you have to spin exactly 6 times, when doing axels you have to start when the skater's legs are apart and when doing lutzes you have to start when the skater's legs are together. Both your double and triple axels were started when her legs are together (-.4) and both times you did a sit spin (alone and in the combo) you only spun 3 times (-.4). I know that adds up to -.8 , but I think you also might have ended the first camel spin too early during the 6th spin animation, which allowed her to finish the 6th spin but didn't count it? Or else there was this weird frame dropped there or something which might have something to do with it? Anyway, it would equal an even -1. That's the best I've got, sorry. Hopefully even if I'm not right it'll at least help get you on the right track.
Experienced Forum User
Joined: 7/22/2010
Posts: 53
I was also going to mention Dragon Buster and A Week of Garfield (although I'm not serious about the Garfield one... maybe). Also, Donald Land. User hisatoki's Youtube Channel has a few Famicon-only TASes that may give you ideas.
Experienced Forum User
Joined: 7/22/2010
Posts: 53
Slowking wrote:
Meshidaru wrote:
In their weekly episode, the french site http://www.jeuxvideo.com and their speedrun (and TAS) "reporters" commented Swordless Link's TAS. Here is the link : http://www.jeuxvideo.com/chroniques-video/00000342/speed-game-the-legend-of-zelda-ocarina-of-time-nintendo-64-n64-fini-en-19-45-00000191.htm Enjoy ;)
Damn those french with their french, which I can not understand! *grr* :D Anywho, I may not understand much, but I think they talked about the "boss cutscene". Only that cutscene doesn't have anything to do with this, afaik. It's the deku tree entrance cutscene that matters.
They talked about everything as it happened, as well as why it's on the Japanese version and a general explanation of the reverse bottle adventure. The main thing they discussed during cutscenes was how very short child Link is compared to where the camera was focusing, as well as how ridiculously tiny his sword is. And of course, the sheer number of cutscenes for such a short run. Maybe you need to brush up on your French. :V Anyway, thank you for the link Meshidaru! Fun video. I'll probably never stop being amused by the French pronunciation of the English word "sword". :>
Experienced Forum User
Joined: 7/22/2010
Posts: 53
I... I actually quite like this! I'm a little surprised with how much I enjoyed it, after having read the other comments about how boring it was. I didn't really feel it was boring. It didn't seem a simple "run right" affair to me, it seemed more like an exciting chase, and every enemy was gaining fast. Especially the ghost, which was of my favorite variety--the type that looks like she's wearing underwear on her head. Perhaps it's a testament to my inexplicably poor taste, but it's a definite "yes" from me. For anyone wondering, you're not missing terribly much from the text. The first text screen explains that Kantarou is going to the Sumida River to meet with his darling Momoko. The second text screen explains that Gozaemon's minions are after Kantarou. Every other text screen just says "Player 1 start", a "keyword" and what leg of the journey Kantarou is on.
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Joined: 7/22/2010
Posts: 53
sonicpacker wrote:
This is just a test so I could see how some of this game's physics work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgoC8lzLlUM This isn't WR or anything. I was just trying to see how much Dolphin has improved. I will probably redo this and upload it as public. It's also a quality test, so let me know how you guys feel about that. Trying to TAS this game isn't really worth it at the moment. Dolphin is pretty difficult to work with for Wii games (that don't use the GC controller). It's definitely improved in terms of desynchs, but it's still not quite practical enough for efficient TASing to be done.
Video quality looks great but what's going on with the sky behind Luigi at the end? The textures look crazy.
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Joined: 7/22/2010
Posts: 53
A yes vote from me! I really enjoyed this run! I thought the Cucco collecting segment was pretty entertaining. And of course, the complete nonsense that happens after Gohma... I made a subtitle file for those interested. http://www.mediafire.com/?7tjvum3jvp8kr7x It's an .srt file (soft subs). It's timed to sync with the current Youtube encode.
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Joined: 7/22/2010
Posts: 53
Saethori wrote:
amaurea wrote:
You make it sound like this publication suddenly makes it ok to, say, start from a hacked save-state. But such a run wouldn't be published because the rule against starting from a save-state has a solid backing in the community.
That's because that's how it feels to me, albeit somewhat exaggerated. This run's version choice, despite being made arbitrarily, is based on using Abashi's run, previously considered an exception, as precedent; something that would otherwise be unthinkable. As unfortunate as it may be, the mere acceptance of this run proves that rules don't actually matter when a high-profile run is involved.
From the rules:
Site rules still apply even if the published movie breaks them. We make mistakes sometimes, that doesn't provide a green light for you to do so.
Under this rule, Abeshi's run was an exception, not a precedent. If this run is accepted, it too becomes an exception and not a precedent (although I believe the rules themselves may warrant reexamination). Additionally, although Abeshi's run was also OOT, it was under a different branch and (in my opinion) makes this run a separate case.
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Joined: 7/22/2010
Posts: 53
Oh man... It took me a few days, but I managed to finish making subtitles for this movie... While it wasn't really hard, it was certainly time-consuming! I hope you guys appreciate it. :| SRT file: http://www.mediafire.com/?szhpvb6upm9vv7n The SRT can be applied to the youtube encode. Or any downloadable encode, obviously. You can also see them at this site for now. (No fullscreen. Also, maybe a little glitchy because I don't think it was meant for 2 hour videos...) Some of it was purposefully "mistimed" to be readable (or, if you don't read as fast as me, easier to pause on). Other things... weren't, so sorry about that. Nothing important, though. I didn't subtitle anything that has to do with playing the game (what buttons to press), or shopkeeper lines. But I did subtitle all the "item get" stuff for some reason. So, if you don't understand Japanese, enjoy! And if you do understand Japanese, you can still enjoy all the translation changes! Mostly to Goron dialogue! If there're any mistakes I'll cry fix them, so just say... I know I typed a lot of it up in the middle of the night and had to fix a lot of "Ganondorgs" while timing, derp.
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Joined: 7/22/2010
Posts: 53
I always viewed the U rom rule more as a "the only improvement in your movie can't come from faster text/cutscenes." This TAS, although violating the "we prefer English" guideline, is still ~35 minutes faster than the current one after factoring the cutscene handicap. This is not exactly a negligible amount, and makes it easy for me to cast my vote as Yes. It is not as if there aren't already movies on TASVideos that don't have notes about misleading improvement times due to various versions/whatever. Actual gameplay time is most important. As far as "can't read what's going on in cutscenes" goes, that issue is not so big in this game as it might be in some RPGs. Nothing a subtitle file couldn't fix, in other words. The game script is readily available, so nothing even has to be translated. Although as someone who is able to read the text (mostly), I have to say... it's honestly so completely sequence broken at this point that the cutscenes don't make sense anyway. Especially stuff like Great Deku Sprout's speech being followed by Great Deku Tree's. In terms of the run, I was especially impressed by the Shadow Temple boss key skip (kudos, MrGrunz!), the entirety of Death Mountain + Fire Temple, and the first stage of the Twinrova boss fight (all I can remember off the top of my head). Really fantastic work!
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Joined: 7/22/2010
Posts: 53
Ah, Déjà Vu... I've always liked the TASes of this game because I can still read the text at normal speed. (Also because the part about Ace's dog always makes me laugh.) Great improvement! An easy yes. Although I feel a little bad for Mrs. Sternwood... Thanks for the subtitles, by the way.
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Joined: 7/22/2010
Posts: 53
MUGG wrote:
"The End" screen TAS in 9 minutes This smv aims to go to the The End screen as fast as possible. Another crazy thing pirohiko found!
How does pirohiko find this stuff? I was staring nervously at the frame counter the entire time, thinking there's not even enough time for the credits... And there wasn't! A very different story than usual, to be sure. What does this mean for this submission? By the way, thanks for the glitch music rip, Dada. I find it oddly... compelling.
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Joined: 7/22/2010
Posts: 53
The game over example link in the submission text is broken (truncated). I believe this is the correct one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Exv1di1B1U Are you all planning on explaining any of the glitches? Because, well, I'd really like to hear about them! It was pretty fascinating watching all the strange goings-on but I'm curious as to what was actually going on...
Experienced Forum User
Joined: 7/22/2010
Posts: 53
Wow, this run was very entertaining! Somehow Albus's insane movements were even funnier because they kept being interrupted by the dramatic dripping-blood place names. And of course the constant "You can't hit me!". Probably the only thing I didn't enjoy was that I felt quite bad for the Crab boss by the end of his fight. *laughs* Definite yes vote. Thank you for uploading to NicoNico.
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Joined: 7/22/2010
Posts: 53
You know, I'd actually watched your previous full run a few times and I was wondering whether I wanted to sit through another half hour of Barbie... but I'm glad I did. I loved the new final boss fight. I nominate pothead Genevieve to be the screenshot if this is published. :> Yes vote.
Experienced Forum User
Joined: 7/22/2010
Posts: 53
Wow. I haven't finished watching yet, but I wanted to say that this:
TASVideoAgent wrote:
Hitting her with 3 fireballs and a sword and a machine gun shot on the same frame is not easy
is probably the most impressive piece of submission text I've ever read.
ais523 wrote:
Is 100% an interesting category for this game, incidentally?
As much as the words "Cave Story 100% TAS" excite me, it's not entirely possible; three of the weapons in the game are mutually exclusive. The machinegun is only received if you trade the polar star (first gun). By trading away the polar star you can no longer get the snake or the spur (snake = polar star + fireball, spur = polar star upgrade). You can get the snake if you skip the machinegun, but at that point you're skipping the machinegun, so then what does 100% mean?
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Joined: 7/22/2010
Posts: 53
Not only did this TAS jump over every obstacle in this game I've ever tried to jump over (and even many obstacles I didn't even consider possible to scale), it did it with egg-juggling style! I enjoyed this run so much, I tried to watch the encode again at work and it crashed my computer--and if that's not an indication of how much crazy moving entertainment is jammed into each second, then I don't know what is! (It's also probably an indication that I shouldn't watch videos while working...) I also agree with the screenshot being of the other side of the potted ghost. That was pretty amazing. Yes vote.
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Joined: 7/22/2010
Posts: 53
I love that the game knows you never unlocked Luigi and Wario. As far as improvements go, I'll be pretty impressed if someone manages to get even through Mario's 8-star door without 8 stars, but it the meantime, this is quite impressive in and of itself! I wonder how a 100% run of this game would be. Luigi's high jumps are pretty boss.
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Joined: 7/22/2010
Posts: 53
Huh! I actually used to play the first 3D Frogger game as a kid, I had no idea there was a sequel. It's nice to see that the baby frogs don't explode when you touch them, like they did in the first. I found this run very enjoyable since Frogger hops so fast, especially with the quick hop butterflies. It actually got kinda dizzying when you quick hopped around rotating stages, like the space station. Yes vote, and thanks for the temporary encode.
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Joined: 7/22/2010
Posts: 53
Really nice! I rather enjoyed the niconico encode with all the info on it, it made the room skips slightly easier to follow. Well, easier than normal, I guess.
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Joined: 7/22/2010
Posts: 53
I somehow managed to get both encodes perfectly synced on my first try, sweet. Yes vote for improvement. For some reason I found the "debug players" part of the credits very funny. :> It would have been really cool if you had managed to save 13 frames since the current submission claims to be within 13 frames of optimal, but 10 is pretty good, too. EDIT: Oh! I'm not a newbie anymore. Nice.
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Joined: 7/22/2010
Posts: 53
Well, I just wanted to say that I had no problem playing the movie all the way to the credits (though I did it at about 400% speed). It looked fine, but... it's just very long. Very, very long. I have to wonder how much time could be saved by optimizing movement and menus. I mean, it might not seem much to pick up a few frames here or there, but when the movie is over 6 hours long... it could turn out to be substantial. And considering the amount of text in this game, there's probably a bunch of time to be saved just by naming all 8 nameable characters to 1-letter names. I mean, I usually don't like that sort of thing, but they're awfully chatty. Why didn't you use the retreat glitch, anyway?