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#3014: Hoandjzj's PSX G-Darius "Super Hard mode" in 21:46.03

Vote: Should this movie be published? (Vote after watching!)

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G-Darius Tool-Asissted Speed-run by Hoandjzj. This is very interesting game :D

Emulator used: PCSX-RR v0.1.3
About the run:

Play the Arcade mode, and use the game's defaul setting, just change the difficult to "Super Hard"
Aim for fastest in realtime
No death

Aim for fastest in realtime: it depends on the time of killing Bosses and Mini-bosses. With Mini-bosses, capture them is the fastest way. With Bosses, charge the captured enemy into a very strong beam and shot them. And I managed to chose the way with the easy bosses to kill.

Enjoy :D

Mukki: Judging...

Mukki: Simply blasting one's way through a shmup level may attain the fastest time, but I do not consider it acceptable content for a tool-assisted speedrun. Given the nature of shmups this is merely playing the game and we do not merely play the games here. In autoscrollers of any genre the tools must be applied to a different purpose. Where time is less of a factor the expectations of entertainment are greater. In a shmup I would expect to see a tightly crafted work that consistently flirted with death and destruction (see Gradius) or one that dealt out tightly executed death and destruction (see Gradius 3). This run provides neither of the above; the gameplay is psychotic and, furthermore, it is messy. As an aside, the volume of lag that this style generates also throws the level of optimisation into question. All of the above is reflected in the overwhelmingly negative criticism in the thread. Rejecting for failing to entertain despite sufficient opportunities to do so.

adelikat: Unrejecting this submission for consideration into the Vault tier

adelikat: While this game and goal choice are Vault eligible, Vault movies must still look like a TAS. This post clearly explains the general problems with this run in this regard. I am setting this back to rejected because it does not meet the Vault technical requirements.

Showing items [1 - 23] of 23

Posted: 2/25/2011 3:26 AM

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TASVideoAgent

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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #3014: Hoandjzj's PSX G-Darius "Super Hard mode" in 21:46.03

Posted: 2/25/2011 6:21 AM

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X2poet

Skilled player (1441)

Joined: 12/30/2007
Posts: 486
Location: Hubei,China

Nice game.I like it,yes.

Do the work.

Posted: 2/25/2011 9:14 AM

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moozooh

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Joined: 8/4/2005
Posts: 5777
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Watched the YouTube encode. I'll vote no. This looks like a person who likes G-Darius playing it as usual with the help of savestates and very moderate slowdown. Judging from the amount of rerecords, I might be just right in my assertion. You shoot all the time, but miss enemies you could have easily killed; you move all the time, but take hits where you could have avoided them; you don't play with danger remotely as much as other STG TASes published on the site; your score doesn't even reach the half of the arcade records; and lastly — please correct me if this is not the case — I thought shooting at point-blank allowed you to damage things faster. What I would like to see is a person who knows G-Darius inside and out playing it with superhuman precision and a clear goal that involves more apparent challenge. Killing all enemies, or only using captured enemies to kill anything except bosses, or playing around with the hardest route (Omicron, if I'm not mistaken). G-Darius is a good game, it deserves a better TAS.

Warp wrote:

Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.

Posted: 2/25/2011 9:31 AM

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MESHUGGAH

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I think the exactly very same as moozooh after watching it on youtube. Also I'm pretty sure that this movie is improvable with many seconds, not to mention the lack of entertainment. Please watch other sidescroller shmup TASes to understand what I'm talking about. I'm going to vote no. Sorry.

PhD in TASing 🎓 speedrun enthusiast ❤🚷🔥 white hat hacker ▓ black box tester ░ censorships and rules...

Posted: 2/25/2011 9:38 AM

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Warp

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What mozooh said. Having never played this game, I don't know if your ship shoots automatically all the time, or if it's a player's choice, but I'm assuming you are continuously firing by choice. Generally this kind of needless auto-firing is not deemed as very good style in TASing. (At least one run which used such an autofire has been rejected in the past. I think it was Contra, IIRC.) Every shot should count and do something useful (and moreover, the usefulness of each shot should always be maximized, if the game mechanics allow for such distinctions), else it's deemed as a waste and looks sloppy. TASes are not about what a game would look like if a very skilled person played it. They are about what it would look like if a god played it.

Posted: 2/25/2011 1:13 PM

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Wren

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Joined: 4/11/2005
Posts: 196
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Yeah, have to vote No as well. Pretty much for the same reasons stated above.

<i>A little rudeness and disrespect can elevate a meaningless interaction to a battle of wills and add drama to an otherwise dull day.</i>

Posted: 2/25/2011 1:28 PM

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Hoandjzj

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Experienced player (613)

Joined: 4/6/2010
Posts: 240

Oh, yes I was careless about this run, just played slowdown, and held the "shot" button all the time! Actually this is the first time I TAS on PlayStation1, so mistakes are unavoidable ^^! But this run is not aimless, it aimed for fastest in realtime, and didn't aim for killing all the enemy, so I used the captured enemy to fight bosses faster! Yes I was not good at TASing this run, read your comments I realized so much matters, and I hope next time my TASes will be better! Thanks for your comment!

http://www.youtube.com/user/Hoandizi

Posted: 2/25/2011 2:02 PM

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moozooh

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I'm looking forward to a new version! May I suggest choosing a harder route?

Warp wrote:

Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.

Posted: 2/25/2011 2:47 PM

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goldfish

Joined: 2/20/2010
Posts: 209
Location: I'm in space

Warp wrote:

TASes are not about what a game would look like if a very skilled person played it. They are about what it would look like if a god played it.

I too was getting the feeling that this could have been accomplished by an exceptionally skilled human; I've never played the game (or even heard of it), but in general it seems to me that this scrolling shoot-em-up sort of genre isn't terribly TAS-able, as it demands more innovation in conveying to the audience that it's not just a skilled play-through, e.g. Gradius. Voting no.

Oh, play it cool. Play it cool. Here come the space cops.

Posted: 2/25/2011 2:54 PM

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Brushy

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Joined: 11/13/2005
Posts: 1587

I agree with moozooh.

Posted: 2/25/2011 3:10 PM

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GabCM

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Shmups aren't good TAS material. TASing a shmup only gives a movie that doesn't look like a TAS. I think the only good shmup TAS is [711] NES Gradius by adelikat in 10:52.35. Sorry mate, I'm voting No.

Posted: 2/25/2011 4:30 PM

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Warp

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Mister Epic wrote:

Shmups aren't good TAS material. TASing a shmup only gives a movie that doesn't look like a TAS.

I wouldn't go that far. Even fixed-speed scrollers have potential for enteratining TASes, and Gradius(3) is a good example (as you yourself state). I don't think it's the only example in existence, and G-Darius looks like it could have TAS potential. The author should try crazy manoeuvers, miss-being-hit-by-subpixels, juggling with the enemies, 100% kills and other superhuman feats.

Posted: 2/25/2011 7:33 PM

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Zavalix

Joined: 2/6/2011
Posts: 130

Just as everyone said already; auto scrolling games aiming for fastest time is just not accurate in any sense. Maybe the only way to make an auto scrolling game worth is with some bullet dancing or something VERY creative, otherwise is just like looking at someone good at it just playing it. Voting No and expecting a better submission because this game have much to offer.

Posted: 2/26/2011 12:16 AM

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Patashu

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I enjoyed it, but it's not a superplay.

My Chiptune music, made in Famitracker: http://soundcloud.com/patashu My twitch. I stream mostly shmups & rhythm games http://twitch.tv/patashu My youtube, again shmups and rhythm games and misc stuff: http://youtube.com/user/patashu

Posted: 2/26/2011 9:41 AM

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Hoandjzj

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^^! I'm not skilled enough to make it better! Maybe I should choose another game! By the way, please help me, I can't make the gamepad works when TASing the PS1, I can only use the keyboard, so it's hard and slow :(

http://www.youtube.com/user/Hoandizi

Posted: 2/26/2011 11:43 AM

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moozooh

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Try Xpadder. It simply maps keyboard buttons to your controller, so all applications, theoretically, should not see the difference.

Warp wrote:

Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.

Posted: 2/26/2011 3:08 PM

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Hoandjzj

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moozooh wrote:

Try Xpadder. It simply maps keyboard buttons to your controller, so all applications, theoretically, should not see the difference.

Thanks so much :D it worked! You're great!

http://www.youtube.com/user/Hoandizi

Posted: 2/26/2011 11:05 PM

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Patashu

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Hoandjzj wrote:

^^! I'm not skilled enough to make it better! Maybe I should choose another game! By the way, please help me, I can't make the gamepad works when TASing the PS1, I can only use the keyboard, so it's hard and slow :(

If you want to make a godly seeming video of G-Darius, I'd do the following: 1) Kill as little as possible (e.g. to get upgrades and capture minibosses only) and shoot only to kill. 2) When not killing, weave around enemies and around their shots. Make as many close calls as you can and as tight as you can. Show that you are employing perfect reflexes and timing and bullet weaving. Something like the gradius video.

My Chiptune music, made in Famitracker: http://soundcloud.com/patashu My twitch. I stream mostly shmups & rhythm games http://twitch.tv/patashu My youtube, again shmups and rhythm games and misc stuff: http://youtube.com/user/patashu

Posted: 2/27/2011 8:06 AM

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Warp

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Posts: 7698
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Patashu wrote:

If you want to make a godly seeming video of G-Darius, I'd do the following: 1) Kill as little as possible (e.g. to get upgrades and capture minibosses only) and shoot only to kill. 2) When not killing, weave around enemies and around their shots. Make as many close calls as you can and as tight as you can. Show that you are employing perfect reflexes and timing and bullet weaving. Something like the gradius video.

OTOH, that's the easy thing to do, requiring very little work. At least in Gradius 3 killing everything is much harder, even for a TAS, and requires significantly more work. (OTOH, which one would be more entertaining is another question.)

Posted: 2/27/2011 9:26 AM

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Patashu

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Posts: 4043

It seems a lot harder to kill everything in gradius 3 than in g-darius.

My Chiptune music, made in Famitracker: http://soundcloud.com/patashu My twitch. I stream mostly shmups & rhythm games http://twitch.tv/patashu My youtube, again shmups and rhythm games and misc stuff: http://youtube.com/user/patashu

Posted: 2/28/2011 8:43 AM

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Kitsune

Joined: 4/29/2005
Posts: 1212

Unfortunately, I have to vote no. I mean, only 636 Re-Records over a 20 minute movie? Not only that, but there are a lot of wasted shots.

Posted: 2/28/2011 8:50 AM

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Warp

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Joined: 3/10/2004
Posts: 7698
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Kitsune wrote:

Unfortunately, I have to vote no. I mean, only 636 Re-Records over a 20 minute movie?

Just as a side note: That should not be the main reason to reject a submission. It's the contents that matters. (I know that you didn't mean for that to be your main reason, but just commenting.)

Posted: 2/28/2011 6:08 PM

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TASVideosGrue

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om, nom, nom... blech!

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