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Recorded with vba rerecording version 17.1
Goals of this movie:
  • Aims for fastest time
  • Takes no damage
  • Manipulates luck
  • Abuses programming errors
  • Uses SRAM to unlock Julius mode
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, played using Julius mode (unlocked via SRAM generated by the currently published TAS).
One of the first things you may notice about this TAS is that I choose the normal mode over hard mode. In this game, hard mode doesn't add anything to the viewer entertainment side of things, and simply serves to make enemies/bosses take more hits to kill, which I dont think would be overly enjoyable to watch (a hard mode run killing an extra boss would still have a graham fight as long as the one present in this TAS).
The overall goal of Julius mode is pretty much to kill Graham, and you can actually achieve this without even killing a single boss. However, doing so means you do a grand total of 1 damage per hit against him, which means it would take one hell of a long time to kill him.
Each boss you kill (and orb you grab) as Julius adds to your overall power, and the more you kill the stronger you get. In this TAS I kill 2 bosses, Creaking Skull and Manticore, for a grand total of 2 powerups.
I use a grand total of one glitch in this run, but I estimate it saves at least 35 seconds doing it. I use a Catoblepas to activate a zipping glitch which places me outside the Chapel walls, from where I can either head to a black screen, the Underground Reservoir (where i zip some more to a black screen), the previous room in the Chapel but inside the walls, or by the warp room. Going to the warp room is by far the best choice, as it links directly to the boss room.
After that, its pretty much direct to Graham, as deviating for a third boss, while decreasing the Graham fight time itself, adds up to be considerably longer (this is roughly 1:30 faster than a test I did where I also fought Death).
Hope you enjoy :)
Thanks go out to Zurreco for pointing out that glitch a while back, those on IRC who commented on it, and Bisqwit for allowing me to use SRAM in this case.
Cancelling this because i came up with a slightly faster boss fight using a couple of different tactics, new submission shortly.

TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #1018: Atma's GBA Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow in 06:23.43
Former player
Joined: 2/2/2005
Posts: 198
Neat stuff, wish there'll be more SRAM movies as a result.
Joined: 11/20/2004
Posts: 236
Location: United States
I dunno about this movie. It's flawless in every aspect, except for one. No, not the matter of the SRAM thing. That's perfectly fine in this case.(Call it an "appendenture" to the original submission.) No, what I'm talking about is the fact that you used a glitch that was a little above your average glitch. I'm not too sure about the Cathedral glitch being alright... I'm probably just being paranoid, though. Despite my worries, I'm gonna vote Yes. My Vote: Yes Why?: 'cause as far as I can see, it's as flawless as possible. The two boss fights didn't take long at all and the final battle with Graham was kind of fun to watch, despite its length. Anything Else?: Nothing I can think of.
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Tub
Joined: 6/25/2005
Posts: 1377
not much to say about the run, except 'yes vote'. Usage of the glitch added a surprise and variety to this boss-fight-biased mode and skips some of the slow walking, so I agree on the usage on julius mode. I don't mean to influence anyone on what run to work on next, or anything, but... /me whistles innocently and slowly walks away..
m00
Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 380
Location: Finland
Well done. It's fast, it has a cool zipping glitch and it's castlevania. An easy yes.
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Active player (277)
Joined: 5/29/2004
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Aw, no hard mode?
put yourself in my rocketpack if that poochie is one outrageous dude
Joined: 1/23/2006
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Doesn't the jumpkick have higher horizontal speed than normal walking? Seems like that to me. As long as your kicks land on enemies or candles it should be faster to move that way (especially since you can do a new kick after kicking something). Or am I missing something?
Former player
Joined: 9/1/2005
Posts: 803
KDR_11k wrote:
Doesn't the jumpkick have higher horizontal speed than normal walking? Seems like that to me. As long as your kicks land on enemies or candles it should be faster to move that way (especially since you can do a new kick after kicking something). Or am I missing something?
I did notice that (rather late at that), but I'm not even sure where I would've began trying to optimize something like that, as it has a ton of different possibilities going for it, so I decided against it for visual smoothness. Bag: I covered that one in the submission text, so just browse over the first paragraph. Tub: hahaha, I'll be back on it soon, dont worry.
Player (24)
Joined: 4/23/2005
Posts: 435
Location: Germany
Yes from me. Never hear from this glitch before or see it. Nice one. And looks great played and fast only the last Boss takes so long.
Last TAS finished: Final Fantasy Adventure (4.0 Warp Glitch Run) WIP in the moment: Tail Gator (GB) Matty
JXQ
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Overall this run was not entertaining for me to watch. Besides the glitch, this almost looked like a normal speedrun. Julius's moves may destroy the bosses quickly, but when it's done by the cross's special ability or a couple boomerangs, that isn't impressive to watch for me. A bummer, because I really like the Soma run.
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Former player
Joined: 8/1/2004
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Voting no, because I'm staunchly opposed to using SRAM. edit: I DID watch it, and it was enjoyable. Still, the vote stands. edit2: graham 2 has some big flaws that Atma is too lazy to fix.
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Zurreco wrote:
Voting no, because I'm staunchly opposed to using SRAM. edit: I DID watch it, and it was enjoyable. Still, the vote stands. edit2: graham 2 has some big flaws that Atma is too lazy to fix.
(not voting -- cannot watch movie at the moment, check back later.) However, I will comment on this -- there's no reason to go against the use of SRAM in this movie. Why? 1. Bisqwit has given it permission. 2. It continues from the previous run of this game. Technically, it would be exactly like saving, then turning the game on again... if SRAM can't be used, I fear for the idea I have upcoming. (meh) EDIT - - - Judging from the conversation by you (Zurreco) in the IRC channel, it seems an awful lot like Zurreco is trying to get this submission rejected for the sole reason it uses SRAM (blowing problems out of proportion -- e.g, making it out like Atma is simply lazy, and not busy and/or taking a break from this game to improve another run) by use of propoganda... constantly remarking things like "now no one will accept this -- NO ONE" when editing his post, etc. Take this information as you wish.
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Well at a combination of Xkeeper and Zurreco's opinions and such from IRC, I'm going to test out a different boss strategy and an alternate path (which I'm highly doubting will actually be faster, but still) on this one. If it turns out to be faster (and potentially more entertaining), I'll cancel this one and submit a new one.
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Joined: 12/23/2004
Posts: 1850
Regardless, voting yes -- Atma provided me with a low-qual AVI and I could watch it :) (I couldn't spot anything in the boss fight... though the hands may still be manipulatable)
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No hard mode. :(
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THe run looked truely nice, and as you've described in the movie description, it's bad-ass :P However, i have my doubts about using the axe against Graham3 instead of the holy cross. Is the holy cross really slower? I know it takes up a big chunk of MP, but it also does a great deal of damage towards Graham. I'll vote after i've gotten your anwser.
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McBAIN wrote:
THe run looked truely nice, and as you've described in the movie description, it's bad-ass :P However, i have my doubts about using the axe against Graham3 instead of the holy cross. Is the holy cross really slower? I know it takes up a big chunk of MP, but it also does a great deal of damage towards Graham. I'll vote after i've gotten your anwser.
By holy cross do you mean the blue one I throw at the creaking skull in the beginning, or the one i use against the manticore? here's how things work out: Julius has 500 MP, and 4 'spells'. Holy water, axe, cross, grand cross. Holy water takes 10 mp, and is completely ineffective against graham. Axe takes 12 mp, and does 35 damage per axe, and can only hit once per throw Cross takes 25 mp, and at most can deal 3 hits for 13 damage each, for a total of 26-39, but requires me to go next to the doors to get the three hits in, otherwise its 2. Grand cross takes 150 mp and deals 6 hits of 22, for a total of 132 damage. Given this, were i to use 3 grand crosses, I'd get a massive 396 damage out of it, and would have to spend almost the rest of the time whipping, which woudl take ages. i use somewhere in the range of 35-38 axes (not sure on exact number right now), which deals a total of 1225-1330, for only slightly higher overall cost to that of three grand crosses. Given that Julius' mp doesn't recover as somas does, you cant get more out of it than whats available, and thus axes are the best choice for damage vs mp consumption (since whipping is done inbetween and does 17 damage per hit to fill out grahams health, as he has 2000 hp in his second form). I think that should cover your question :)
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Voted yes :)
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Nice, but too short. Graham part was a bit boring (especially before he started to shoot those magma balls), but aside from that, there weren't any really dull moments. Besides, Julius's musical theme is my favourite. :) 'Yes' for a clean execution, but I can't say it entertained me much.
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Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
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Atma wrote:
Axe takes 12 mp, and does 35 damage per axe, and can only hit once per throw
I have some issues with this statement, but I'm not able to get on IRC and talk to you, Atma. I think its possible to hit 2 times, if not 3, with the axe.
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Zurreco wrote:
Atma wrote:
Axe takes 12 mp, and does 35 damage per axe, and can only hit once per throw
I have some issues with this statement, but I'm not able to get on IRC and talk to you, Atma. I think its possible to hit 2 times, if not 3, with the axe.
I checked this out a bit on several bosses, and not one of them I could get to receive two hits from an axe. An axe hits graham 2 on the very first possible frame for damage. However, since the axe hits on the lowest possible point of the arc on the way down, I can throw one sooner, pretty much right when i hit the ground. Even with this benefit of early throwing however, i checked this before, and again just now, and its 61 frames before i can actually deal a second hit with the axe. I guess they did it that way because of the strength of the axe, similar to how you can only throw one at a time.
Sir_VG
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There's absolutely no way for the Axe to hit Graham 2 for 3 hits. Given the way that the area for taking damage is setup, the axe could only possibly hit it twice. It would need a larger vertical nature to be able to hit it 3 times. I see nothing wrong with the way SRAM was used. In fact, I'd like to see it used this way more often *AHEM*ActRaiserProfessional!*COUGH* Great run. Voting YES.
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