I couldn't find sleep at 4:30 AM, so when I saw your tweet, I immediately jumped on my computer to watch this. Oh, and in case you wonder, you did well with those "6 seconds of nothing to do" :)
Great video, nicely done!
3-2 was just a gigantic pain in many different ways.
Made me not want to touch the TAS for two months.
Main reason was being unable to skip the Firepot, which was really frustrating because I worked really hard on the concept and in the end it didn't work because this stage has different ledge mechanics (it would have saved >40 seconds).
Link to video
Eventually, I surrendered and continued working (thanks for the encouragement, guys!).
Link to video
So, what's new?
This time, TAS skips all Waterpots at least since they are no longer required due to FMC, which is also utilized to skip a lot of sections on the third screen.
Despite having to acquire the Firepot, I hope you enjoy that section still!
Of course, L2 Feather is back too.
For the boss fight, I implemented the use of bombs.
It helps a bit for the first phase, but more importantly speeds up the second part by decreasing the amount of attacks by 3 (reduced by 50%) as you can deal 128 damagepoints (180 health total) with four simultaneous bomb hits (literal hits, throwing the bombs won't deal any damage at all).
I've spent ~39.5 hours on this stage; a big part of it was excessive testing.
My hand issues also contributed for the boss fight, which was mostly done with one hand and really slow two-handed work.
There's a lot of other stuff I didn't mention at all; whatever.
Improvement: ~33 seconds
See you again in 6 months or so.
For those interested:
I've continued working on this TAS after a break that seems like an eternity.
A lot of bad things happened to me and my hands and I am still somewhat recovering.
Considering that at one point I was unable to type on a keyboard, I've made insane progress.
Pretty happy with that and I hope to be able to produce more WIPs in the near future.
Here we go again!
Link to video
3-3 didn't undergo a major route change (the concept of this stage prevents anything like that).
However, FMC still allows for some new shenanigans, like rolling through flame walls.
This skips a few puzzles and fights.
1st:
Using FMC to clip through the door so we don't need to wait for it to open and let us in.
2nd:
Skipping the slingshot as FMC made it obsolete.
Using pots to hit the switches for easy gems.
3rd:
Why wait when you can use FMC?
4th:
Manipulating this gem spring to get several red gems (worth 20) while getting the two big green ones (100 each).
5th:
FMC to skip the fight.
6th:
Gap Skip to completely ignore this floor; also skipping the feather entirely.
7th:
Taking the lower hole this time. With FMC the Link's can bypass the lava area.
After getting the key, using a combination of GaSaG and FMC to float towards, then through the flame wall to the key door.
8th:
Skipping the ball&chain boss using FMC.
Not that it would have been a serious fight anyway.
9th:
Using invicibility to avoid knock-back by starting a roll on the same frame damage happens or by dropping Blue down into the lava.
10th:
Dropping Green to have invincibility on the next screen.
11th:
This is insanely precise and crazy.
Performing a Gap-Skip downwards, then making the non-Green Links use their sword while Green returns to his initial position to then get pulled to Purple (only possible on one frame).
Racing down the platform to barely catch the second one leaving to the left.
This allows to leave the room as soon as we've got Bombs from the GBA screen.
12th:
Shadowlinks
Entering on a specific frame so the closest SL is the real one.
Pretty flawless action.
13th:
Getting enough gems.
14th:
Dodongos
Their RNG mechanism is crazily complex.
Each Dodongo has a Cycle Counter and a decreasing timer that increments the Cycle Counter when it reaches 0.
Once the Cycle Counter has reached at least 3, the next time it gets incremented, it may also drop down to 0, making the Dodongo open its mouth.
Whether that happens or not seems to be RNG too, as I've got it up to 8 once.
The timer values range between ~48 and ~90 and are set randomly everytime they reach 0.
However, they may also randomly increase their value or increment the Cycle Counter before they reach 0 (and then get a new value between said range).
This means that a timer value of 86 might be faster than one of 65 as it could randomly increment the Cycle Counter when it reaches 30.
At the same time a value of 50 could be slow as it might randomly get an offset of 30.
Additionally, even if the Cycle Counter reaches 0, it doesn't mean the Dodongo will actually open its mouth as the timer for that cycle influences the outcome.
You can manipulate the timers using the Formation Menu because they freeze when the Menu is open.
But as stated above, without knowing the actual code, you cannot assure that what you do is optimal.
I tried my best still and gave everything many tries and a lot of testing, and I am satisfied with the result.
The new Dodongos are 3 seconds faster than the old ones.
15th:
FMC through the flames to avoid having to go to the right where you'd talk to the owl.
On the way back, the flames would extinguish.
16th:
The Maiden
Saved ~20 seconds over the old TAS and presentend a better watching experience overall in my opinion.
Link to video
4-1 has changed quite a bit.
Thanks to FMC it's not longer necessary to destroy the gohmas so you could acquire the shovel.
Thus, the horses are actually used throughout their intended section, but I still cheat a little bit and use FMC to interrupt the cancel trigger.
That way, I can keep the horses a little longer until they disappear perfectly timed to enter the cave!
I had to redo this stage halfway in due to a new discovery. You'll see.
The beginning is pretty boring to be honest.
You have to escort Malon as the screen is locked as soon as you enter so there's nothing you can do.
She's also pretty sensitive to the Links' movements and the direction they are facing so there's little room to make this section look good.
Horse part is pretty standard. You can press B to go faster.
Before the bridge, I pick up a carrot revealed in the gras.
That way, the timer will run out perfectly.
There's a trigger that cancels your horses eventually, but with many consecutive FMCs you can reach the screen transition before the cancellation becomes effective.
Getting OoB off the cave entrance and using FMC to get up there.
Then, more FMCs after an unintended screen transition.
This skips most of this stage
(boots, L2 fairy, bow, killing Gohmas, getting the shovel, digging a hole, going through a GBA section).
Now the reason for the restart will reveal itself.
Picking up the 1k gem on the very first frame possible and then leaving the screen immediately after results in increasing your gem count while the game had no chance to remove the gem yet.
So, when I reenter the screen, the 1k is still there. Free money.
The soldier screen was fairly annoying. I spent the most time here.
I am satisfied with the result though.
Entering the skeleton fight on a specific frame to get a good enemy pattern.
The big skeleton has 50 health and thus needs at least 2 attacks so this is as fast as I could make it.
Breaking the barrier looks really cool this time.
Spin-charge because traditions.
Improvement over the old TAS: 28 seconds (and it just flows so much better. I am really happy with how this one turned out!).
GBA's are only required for multiplayer which is slower due to a results screen that only occurs during multiplayer. 1-player and 2-player both have some exclusive glitches I believe. There are no advantages to 3+ players. In RTAs, the last level is done in multiplayer because the gem results screen is after timing ends, but in TAS timing, it would be included anyways so yeah.
[16:36:31] <Mothrayas> I have to say this argument about robot drug usage is a lot more fun than whatever else we have been doing in the past two+ hours
[16:08:10] <BenLubar> a TAS is just the limit of a segmented speedrun as the segment length approaches zero
T H E S W A M P Link to video
1st:
Again, by drowning a Link the others cannot trigger the Owl cutscene.
Improved micromanagement and movement.
2nd:
Entering the cave to perform OoB.
Using FMC to clip into the bomb so the Links can move in a straight line.
Transitioning from an unintende place.
3rd:
Ending up in a wall, but with C-Formation shenanigans it's easy to clip out.
Grabbing the feather, then some precise jumps and movement.
4th:
If the Links are in formation with a desynced jumping-phase it is possible to jump off of the swamp area.
This is very complex and involves many factors, but looks super cool.
5th:
Defeating the boss and obtaining a 150.
6th:
With a very precise throw the lilypads at the bottom can be skipped.
7th:
Using the double jump to skip a puzzle that involves stepping onto four switches.
8th:
Another cool jump.
Then using the cave entrance to FMC up there.
This cave is pretty special and entering the needed way to perform OoB was difficult.
Thanks to FMC the sideview screen inside the cave is skipped.
9th:
Using the C-Left spinattack in a specific way, it is possible to speed up Green significantly.
For this, Green has to start a roll, the others must have rolled before so they'll perform a spin attack upon pressing B.
Green can't use his sword as he starts a roll, so by going into C-left and using the sword, the others perform a "broken" spinattack.
If they push themselves against walls in this state, it'll accelerate Green.
10th:
Another double jump.
This actually skips a huge part of the stage where you need to obtain a bow and two small keys to acquire a moon pearl.
The item in the house is a power bracelet to lift the trees.
With some very specific inputs Blue (who is lifitng the tree) can be moved to a different place,
where the tree is being dropped then.
11th:
Destroying the pot to lure the lights away. Usually you need to wait for one cycle.
There are two trees; only the right one contains gems.
12th:
The boss.
Same procedure, no significant changes.
The screen is locked until the boss has left so there's nothing I can do to speed things up.
Tingle gets owned (again).
13th:
Barrier and jumping around.
I spent about 28 hours on this segment and improved it by 18 seconds.
After two years, we are back on track!
Link to video
First and second:
Using C-left acceleration to improve movement.
There is a small frame window when a Link starts a roll during which he cannot use their sword.
So you can do crazy things like the broken C-left spin attack.
Third:
Using the roll frames again to make other Links use their sword to break pots and manipulate 20s.
Fourth:
Walking against the ledge as soon as possible to jump down earlier.
Fifth:
Getting the 300 with Purple to avoid a textbox.
Sixth:
Swimming mechanics can't really be optimized much.
Seventh:
Trying to manipulate as many 20s as possible.
Hitting Shadow Link is the priority here as I can collect more gems during his fade-out animation while I wait for the 100 to spawn.
Improved this screen by 2.4s alone.
Eighth:
Manipulating more gems while rolling.
Also getting two 20s from the pots brought from the prior screen.
Ninth:
Avoiding Anti-fairies using C-formations smartly and getting a small key.
Tenth:
Minor speedup due to C-formation.
Eleventh:
There's enough time to position Purple before the Moonpearl can be picked up.
Twelfth:
More smart movement using C-formations.
Thirteenth:
Activating the portal just in time.
The Anti-fairies are on an ugly cycle.
Getting the invincibility frames is very precise.
Awkward screen.
I tried to skip the bow but it's stil not possible.
Fourteenth:
You don't need to light the eyes if you know where to go.
Skipping a 100 Gem chest here to save 3 seconds.
Fifteenth:
Clever use of reuniting as the bridge spawns to get Purple further to the right.
Very nice movement.
Sixteenth:
Manipulating another twenty and leaving before the spotlights can do anything.
Seventeenth:
Putting Red in a good spot while getting the Lamp with Green.
Precise brazier lighting. Good hitbox detection.
Flawless collection of the 100 dropping from the sky.
Eighteenth:
Manipulating yet another 20 from a pot.
Nineteenth:
Simultaneous movement of all Links.
You want to stand in a very specific position as the boss starts sucking.
If you are off, they need to move a little bit, wasting a lot of time.
The enemy on the GBA screen must be hit 9 times total, 3 times per cycle.
Lighting up the braziers as soon as possible.
Repeat.
The gem spread collection was horrible to do, but thanks to FMC I could manipulate a decent pattern.
Very pleased.
Twentieth:
I love the way the barrier gets destroyed.
Considering the route has basically not changed at all, I was still able to save 9.57 seconds.
Very proud and happy.
5-1 will be completely new territory, so a lot of research will be required before I can continue this TAS.
Joined: 8/15/2005
Posts: 1934
Location: Mullsjö, Sweden
I bet you got 2015 gems on purpose because you just caught up with the WIP two years ago (Though you made this post 5 days too early).
Well... what to say, what to say... Just amazing!
Joined: 11/26/2010
Posts: 444
Location: New York, US
Wow I've watched it 4 times already and gonna watch it some more just amazing!!!
You finally caught up with the previous WIP and new territory awaits. Looking forward to what you have planned, thank you for the hard work Yadra121!!!
New territory at last.
Link to video
There's a lot of micro management going on everywhere.
Main challenge was the R button's functionalities (rolling, picking up and throwing items).
I don't want to write a long explanation this time.
I think one thing that still has to be pointed out though is killing the three chuchus and leaving on the next frame. The 100 will still spawn the next time the screen has been entered.
Enjoy.
