I think it's well done, I did have a question though, would it be useful to get to level 13 before fighting Kael so you don't have to make another trip through Nockmaar?
Build a man a fire, warm him for a day,
Set a man on fire, warm him for the rest of his life.
Okay, because if I did achieve level 13 before stepping into Kael's room, this procedure would've required more level-grinding and more frames wasted. I mean, I had 8000 exp. points right there in front of me, and I figured I would put it to good use to save some time. I never said I wanted to end up with 47340 ex. (level 13 + Kael defeat) at the least or even 99990. And that is why I wanted to get to level 13 as quick as possible but without overdoing it. Yeah, good question! ^_^
...would it be useful to get to level 13 before fighting Kael so you don't have to make another trip through Nockmaar?
Well, the thing is, after you defeat Kael you'll have to walk all of the way back through Nockmaar, does it take less time to walk from the warp point to Kael's room than it does to grind 7900 exp from red ghosts?
(if you're level 13 before fighting Kael you can get the rod powered up before you face him and you don't have to backtrack.)
Build a man a fire, warm him for a day,
Set a man on fire, warm him for the rest of his life.
Of course, it does take less time to walk through a series of rooms at Nockmaar than to level-grind, especially if Willow already defeated Kael to achieve level 13. But if it's faster to backtrack than to level-grind more than I should, then I don't think this should be too big of a problem. Trust me.
Oh, yeah! Just what I thought. Big improvement on level-grinding! I studied both drafts, beginning with the frame number that I started on and the frame where I left the area:
2nd draft: 79,189 to 107,421
Length: 28,232 frames (7:50)
This draft: 181,608 to 201,722
Length: 20,114 frames (5:35)
Difference: 8,118 frames (2:15, saved)
This is only based on the spot where I did the most level-grinding. Even with the two screens of white ghosts earlier on, I still saved a lot of frames! Yay... ^_^
Joined: 6/23/2009
Posts: 2224
Location: Georgia, USA
Glad to see the improvements! With the Thunder spell being used in addition to sword-stabbing, the level grinding was slightly less monotonous to watch. There's still tons of walking to do... can death abuse be helpful anywhere else in the game to get back out of caves?
I had to watch a fair bit of this on fast-forward, because many of the screens look quite similar and repetitive, but the boss fights are awesome and the route planning with the health and magic seems quite good. The game now has a TAS feel to it.
Used to be a frequent submissions commenter. My new computer has had some issues running emulators, so I've been here more sporadically.
Still haven't gotten around to actually TASing yet... I was going to improve Kid Dracula for GB. It seems I was beaten to it, though, with a recent awesome run by Hetfield90 and StarvinStruthers. (http://tasvideos.org/2928M.html.)
Thanks to goofydylan8 for running Gargoyle's Quest 2 because I mentioned the game! (http://tasvideos.org/2001M.html)
Thanks to feos and MESHUGGAH for taking up runs of Duck Tales 2 because of my old signature!
Thanks also to Samsara for finishing a Treasure Master run. From the submission comments:
Shoutouts and thanks to mklip2001 for arguably being the nicest and most supportive person on the forums.
There's still tons of walking to do... can death abuse be helpful anywhere else in the game to get back out of caves?
Good question, but using death as a shortcut doesn't work beyond defeating Bogarda. Death does put Willow back in a safe place like a village but his status, items, weapons, and magic spells can be reset where he is forced to go back and do it all over again. I already tried it, even in my first draft.
The only way to get out of caves and places faster is if Willow fights all the way to the under-island caves, because that is where he will find Fleet. Fleet always warps Willow back to the exact same entrance that he walked into from the beginning. If Willow entered the under-island caves two screens north of Fin Raziel's hideout, and then uses the Fleet spell, Willow winds up back to that same entrance - which is an example.
The Fleet and Ocarina spells were well useful and planned out in this draft just so everybody knows.
I chose to cancel because there is a glitch in the game that I clearly noticed.
Sometimes when the Thunder spell is used while MP is still going up as it is earned by killing certain monsters, the game doesn't keep track. Watch MP continue to make its way toward 80 as Willow is constantly using the Thunder spell more than 4 times (4 x 20 = 80)!
http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/1043500498/Willow%20%28U%29%20%5B%21%5D.fcm
I chose to not make a fourth draft, but I seek to improve once again by trying to abuse this glitch - The aim is try to use the Thunder spell about 5 or 6 times instead of 4 before I seek to get more MP again. Hell yeah! ^_^
