Submission Text Full Submission Page
Objectives (in the order you will see them) :
  1. Find 100% Treasures rooms and Chests
  2. Aims for fastest time
  3. Takes damage to save time
  4. Uses deaths to save time
  5. Collect all treasures necessary for shops (still pretty much everything)
  6. Collect the Fire/Water gems
  7. Uses no passwords
I used ZSNES 1.51 for this run, with no particular options that would change the sync. There's also an AVI file I made here [dead link removed]. There's a little sync problem at level 3-2, but if you do a save at level 2-3 ending score just when reaching zero, it will keep syncing perfectly.
"Gods" is a pretty unknown and pretty hard game made by Mindscape, and is really unique in how it merge simple yet interesting puzzles within the platform-action gameplay it has. Another great thing is that the stages are elaborated and often rather large, yet well-made because they are never complicated or confusing at all. The goal of our char is to get past the puzzles and monsters of the three stages of each level and to beat the four end Guardians to attain the rank of "God" (like Zeus and others, which are in the highscores at first play) and reach immortality (as well as finding keys and resolving puzzles to get many treasures).
In this game, monsters aren't already in place but instead most of them appear as you walk along the ground and in an activator. This gameplay makes you need to be quick and on your guards pretty much all the time, but at the same time when you are at a puzzle-phase and cleared the room, you can take the time to try the levers and understand what you have to do to advance in the game. Some items I use in the game are, the starbust (the blue skull head) which sends stars flying all around and clears up the room of monsters, the invulnerability (the little red-cross in a blue circle) which gives me 8 seconds of invincibility, the big/little health regain (a big or little dark orange heart), and the weapons I buy or which are given to me in a level.
In this TAS, I use all the features I have or get (like weapons, health or invulnerability at the shopkeeper) to make it the fastest possible and beat it like the best player would. And it really goes well with this game. If it's faster and doesn't take away too much health, I try to take the missiles the monsters often throw at me instead of ducking under them, or even to collide with a monster because it will kill him no matter what, at the price of rather much health. I can also intentionally lose a live by monster-colliding, and use that to reappear nearly at the same exact place but with all my health and a very practical short temporary invulnerability. With ladders I found a nice glitch which makes me able to grab them when I'm just at the side of it, saving some time. And at the score screens, putting the attack button on autofire makes the score adding itself really fast. There are also many treasures to find in the game, and my goal was to resolve all the puzzles of the game, because one-half of them is made to advance in the game and the other is to be able to enter all the treasures rooms and find all chests in the game. I also get Fire/Water gems and most of the loot inside treasures rooms and chests. This way all of the money collected is very useful sooner or later, and it looks speedier.Speed is a thing this game lacks somewhat, but it also have much Quickness on the other hand. So in a way, it's better nice-looking.
I think you will understand what I'm doing better if you have already played the game (even not far), and I hope seeing this "not enough known" game TASed will make people appreciate it because it deserves it, even if it's a hard game, and will entertain you as much as I liked succeeding to make it really quick.

TASVideoAgent
They/Them
Moderator
Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 14776
Location: 127.0.0.1
This topic is for the purpose of discussing #1884: VolcanoStormWind's SNES Gods in 19:50.70
Skilled player (1403)
Joined: 10/27/2004
Posts: 1976
Location: Making an escape
I'm not quite sure I understand what the deuce is going on here, but I found it enjoyable. Routing seemed good and everything, things seemed as tight in the short run. Also, I guess I'm just sadistic, but I smiled every time Mr. Hero erupted in a burst of screaming skulls. :> Yes vote for good run and better audio. Very yes for screaming monkey death!
A hundred years from now, they will gaze upon my work and marvel at my skills but never know my name. And that will be good enough for me.
Joined: 12/29/2006
Posts: 119
Location: Japan, Anjo
This game is released by PC98, NES and SNES, and isn't sold in Japan. See Wikipedia I forgot to cast a vote, so it was put in.
DiffCalc .NET Frameworks 3.5 required.
Joined: 9/30/2007
Posts: 103
Oh, I remember playing this game in my childhood. Don't think I ever came past the second boss, though. The run looked well-optimized, and the route planning seemed solid. The bosses were a bit repetetive, but I guess there's not all that much to be done about it with the game's rather limited attack variety. Overall, it's a yes vote.
upthorn
He/Him
Active player, Emulator Coder (387)
Joined: 3/24/2006
Posts: 1802
Ferret Warlord wrote:
Yes vote for good run and better audio.
Funny, after listening to music from the genesis version I find the SNES version's audio so annoying I had to stop watching less than 3 minutes in. Also, I imagine it would be a good idea to give aqfaq a chance to look over this submission before accepting, as, although it is on a different system from aqfaq's run, aqfaq probably nows very well how to optimize a TAS of this game, and may see some flaws or improvements that aren't visible to people less familiar with the game. I'm voting a "meh" on this, since there's no way it could obsolete the genesis run. And if it is published I would be strongly in favor of a TAS on the genesis version being able to obsolete it.
How fleeting are all human passions compared with the massive continuity of ducks.
Joined: 4/3/2007
Posts: 27
@upthorn : There's no way this TAS is made to obsolete the Aqfaq's one, it just needs a second category. Isn't it really quite obvious ? It's a 100% Treasures run, why do you say it "should not" obsolete the Genesis run while there's no reason at all it could do so >_<. @Ferret Warlord : I'm finding the scream and the skulls funny too, and we are no sadistic ever ;). IMO they thought to make it funny because it has quite many more uses than in any other game. So why making it souding/looking painful ^^? @Neophos : I'm happy I could make you see/like again and entirely a game you played in your childhood. and for the boss fights, that's true it can't be helped much unless you can show off by being very near of the boss (which I quite do at 1st and 3rd Boss :D ). @Naohiro19 : I didn't know there was that many versions, thanks for the info. Maybe this game is somewhat well-known after all.
Skilled player (1403)
Joined: 10/27/2004
Posts: 1976
Location: Making an escape
Indeed, I wasn't voting for obsoletion.
A hundred years from now, they will gaze upon my work and marvel at my skills but never know my name. And that will be good enough for me.
upthorn
He/Him
Active player, Emulator Coder (387)
Joined: 3/24/2006
Posts: 1802
VolcanoStormWind wrote:
@upthorn : There's no way this TAS is made to obsolete the Aqfaq's one, it just needs a second category. Isn't it really quite obvious ? It's a 100% Treasures run, why do you say it "should not" obsolete the Genesis run while there's no reason at all it could do so >_<. Hopefully you didn't vote yet (I don't see any "meh" vote).
No, what I mean is that, if it were up for obsoleting the genesis run, I would vote "no". Instead I vote "meh".
How fleeting are all human passions compared with the massive continuity of ducks.
Editor, Expert player (2457)
Joined: 4/8/2005
Posts: 1573
Location: Gone for a year, just for varietyyyyyyyyy!!
Hello to you, VolcanoStormWind! I think the quality of play is good in your run, but the goals might be a bit arbitrary. Like, what is the point of collecting some of the stuff, if you don't collect everything? Why should ordinary gems not be included in a 100% run? I agree that an extra movie category for this game is reasonable, because the Genesis movie skips a lot of the game and the gameplay is normally oriented more to the item collecting. However, in my opinion, the movie should aim for truly 100% kills/treasures, not just treasure rooms and special gems. Your movements are precise and you obviously know how to handle the emulator tools, so I would be glad to see more stuff from you. I guess I did enjoy watching the movie, after I understood what you aimed for, but with these goals, the movie is a bit confusing and bland. I don't know what to vote... Maybe "meh".
Joined: 4/3/2007
Posts: 27
Well I understand what you're saying, I didn't precisely got everything but still very nearly. I thought it would look speedier and make the TAS rather more entertaining. Another good thing is that this way there is like no money left after shopkeepers. Or if there's it's all needed later (2-3 -> 4-2). To me it's better nice-looking this way ;). Anyway I think the best is to wait for the judges to tell us how important it may be and to see if that would make much of a difference.
Joined: 3/7/2006
Posts: 720
Location: UK
Whilst watching the other Gods TAS, my brother said "this reminds me of a kind of 2D Chaos Engine" (we were both Amiga-era kids). Why isn't there a Chaos Engine TAS? I'll watch this shortly.
Voted NO for NO reason
Editor, Expert player (2457)
Joined: 4/8/2005
Posts: 1573
Location: Gone for a year, just for varietyyyyyyyyy!!
LagDotCom wrote:
Why isn't there a Chaos Engine TAS?
1. Gens has some problems displaying Chaos Engine graphics correctly.
Tub
Joined: 6/25/2005
Posts: 1377
LagDotCom wrote:
Why isn't there a Chaos Engine TAS?
because there's no rerecording Amiga-Emulator. Unfortunately, it's currently technically impossible to create one that'll play most uncracked games. feel free to use the sub-par snes ports, but prepare for less colors, inferior sound and lag. edit: didn't know about a genesis port, but apparently that's not a real option either.
m00
Joined: 4/3/2007
Posts: 27
Naohiro19 wrote:
I forgot to cast a vote, so it was put in.
I would want to know what did you vote and why, if you can explain it with the english words you know.
LagDotCom wrote:
I'll watch this shortly.
So, have you been able to watch it ? What are your thoughts about it ? I edited the description and objectives of the movie to make them clearer and better explained.
Editor, Expert player (2457)
Joined: 4/8/2005
Posts: 1573
Location: Gone for a year, just for varietyyyyyyyyy!!
Aqfaq wrote:
I don't know what to vote... Maybe "meh".
I'm sorry, but I changed my mind and voted "no". Mostly, because the goals are not good for a Gods movie. There are also some parts, which could be done faster. For example, it is faster to kill the 2nd boss without the jewel, because with the jewel, the boss flies higher and the spears don't hit it so well.
Joined: 3/7/2006
Posts: 720
Location: UK
I managed to watch a good chunk of it, for some reason it desynched sometime after the second boss. Of what I saw, it looked okay; some good planning, but the goals are somewhat arbitrary and I'm not sure what to vote. Also, this is my first encounter with the SNES version, and I much prefer the audio on the MD. :) In a technical sense, it would also be helpful to have both Gods movies on the same ROM, so they are more directly comparable. I think the shopkeeper takes longer to turn up on the SNES, for instance.
Voted NO for NO reason
Editor, Expert player (2457)
Joined: 4/8/2005
Posts: 1573
Location: Gone for a year, just for varietyyyyyyyyy!!
LagDotCom wrote:
I think the shopkeeper takes longer to turn up on the SNES, for instance.
True. Also, the invulnerability does not last long and majority of the useful bugs don't work. The only speed benefit in the SNES version is that the character jumps differently, which allows better movement in the air. Oh, I just realised that it is impossible to make a Gods movie that collects 100% treasures, because (1) in order to get the chest in the end of the first level, you are not allowed to collect the lightning bolt, but (2) you can't get some gems without collecting the lightning bolt in the process. "Maximum score" run makes no sense either, because it is possible to kill infinite number of bees to slowly gain any amount of score. (Or in the Genesis version, activate a bonus gem loop.) "Maximum money" would work in the SNES version, but it would be arbitrary and boring, because the player would not buy anything from the shops. (In the Genesis version, it is possible to get nearly infinite amount of money, but it takes hours.) I don't really know what a 100% run would include (although it is possible to summon "1000% anything" with some bugs in the Genesis version). There are multiple ways to make a 99,99% run, but it is hard to decide how to do it and how to compare movies that do it differently. Pacifist run is possible in the Genesis version, but it uses the same route as the glitch run and is about 30 seconds slower. Nothing interesting. A "concept demo" showing bugs and funny things would be cool in the Genesis version, but probably not publishworthy. Now that I think of it, the only movie I would like to see is an "all bosses" run with the Genesis version. Oh, actually... Heh, I forgot that the first published movie is exactly that. :) Well, maybe there's no need for another Gods movie?
Joined: 4/3/2007
Posts: 27
@LagDotCom : That's the desync I talked about in the beginning of my submission text. Normally you do a save at 2-3 when score is near zero and everything keep syncing. About the SNES/Genesis differences, well it makes for a more challenging-looking movie, and I really prefer the SNES sound :), so I don't think I could re-do a TAS for this game with Gens. @Aqfaq : The point of my movie is to "show all of the game". I used all the money collected, so that wouldn't be changeable for example. I resolved all puzzles in this game, like I said in the middle of my submission text, and that's what should be very interesting with this movie. And also showing much Quickness/efficiency, a thing that only this game have up to that point. But maybe it's not obvious to see. Maybe it's only obvious to someone who have made the game entirely, like me. In any way, I seen most of the movies here, and this one is no less entertaining than the middle row is. And the middle row is already rather high. I'm saying that in all objectivity, really. I'll add to my description that it resolves 100% of the puzzles. The last thing to say is, this game definitely needs a second movie showing the 2/3 of the game that the other doesn't. About the level 2 Dragon, not using the gem will make him move too much and me having to follow him and losing time, and with the screen scrolling only 2/3 to the right, I won't be hitting all of him often enough anyway.
Joined: 4/3/2007
Posts: 27
Well, things have changed in my mind, and I'm canceling this submission because I decided myself to re-do it with the Genesis version, and to make it truly/completely 100% Treasures collecting. One advantage on Genesis is that the invulnerability shield last much longer (2 times as much) and it's very useful in some places to gain time. You can go see the thread of my new TAS here.
TASVideosGrue
They/Them
Joined: 10/1/2008
Posts: 2728
Location: The dark corners of the TASVideos server
om, nom, nom... blech, stale!