Post subject: Faery Tales
Joined: 1/1/2022
Posts: 1716
Very old game that I haved played a very long time ago. Faery Tales, anyone ever play this game ? Requesting a speed run if possible or something. Edit by Bisqwit: Changed the topic title so that it's more informative in the topic list of the forum.
Former player
Joined: 8/12/2004
Posts: 651
Location: Alberta, Canada
You know what they say. Want something done [well], do it yourself.
Post subject: The Faery Tale Adventure.
Joined: 4/26/2008
Posts: 46
Location: Glasgow, Scotland.
An extremely underrated game. I had considered this game totally un-TASable due to being rather slow-paced and linear. However (And major props to Aqfaq for suggesting, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered to look) it is extremely manipulatible. Enemies can be manipulated into not showing, and if you choose to let them, can be manipulated to drop pretty much whatever you want. With items in the game such as the Jade Skull which obliterates all on screen, (Except possibly Wraiths if I remember correctly) and better equipment, you could be basically untouchable from the start. The story involves getting 5 gold statues to make an invisible town appear, which allows access to a golden swan to fly over Lava into the final castle. But according to Aqfaq (I'll do my best to test it out soon as I can) upon death, your character shifts a little. Abusing death would allow you access to the final area from near enough the beginning cutting off hours of trekking and essentially breaking the game to the max. I'm strongly considering taken this one up as there's been little interest in it so far (according to the search feature anyway.) But have absolutely no prior experience in making a TAS. Hopefully anything I find out could be usefull to others should they take an interest.
Post subject: The Faery Tale Adventure test run in 30 minutes
Editor, Expert player (2460)
Joined: 4/8/2005
Posts: 1573
Location: Gone for a year, just for varietyyyyyyyyy!!
Heh. Hah. This game is awesome. Here is a route demonstration in 30 minutes: THIS ROUTE IS OBSOLETED! http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/582928197/faerytaletest.gmv THIS ROUTE IS OBSOLETED! Note: The waiting time at the cemetery/crypt may look like a desync. Sorry about that. A polished TAS would use that time for more creative entertainment. These are the two main tricks involved: 1. Used a lot of healing potions (glass vials) to walk through lava instead of using the flower of lava protection. This saves maybe an hour and feels a lot better: 2. The final boss can only be killed with a magic wand. Coincidentally, the final boss himself has a magic wand and it can be stolen from him by using a time stop spell (gold ring). Spells aren't supposed to work at the final boss, but it is possible to backtrack out from the spell-restricted area and return there immediately, while the spell is still in effect. These items were manipulated from enemies: - 3 red keys (for secret doors in the tombs of Hemsath) - 1 grey key (for the crypt) - 17 glass vials (15 should be enough in a real run) - 1 gold ring (for the final boss) Some explanations: - I bought some apples from a shop to avoid starving, but the optimal amount is unclear at this point. My guess is that 2 apples are enough, but they should be collected from somewhere instead of bought, because shopping and screen transitions stop the in-game clock... - Crystal shard is required to get through a force field. An undead NPC (who lives in a crypt) gives the shard in exchange for a bone fetched from the tombs of Hemsath. The guy appears in the crypt at 22440 in-game time. The game begins at clock 8000. The game progresses 1 time unit in 4 frames. So, it takes about 16 real-time minutes for the NPC to appear at the crypt. An optimal run would use this 16 minutes to collect all the items listed above and then use the possible time that is left to entertain the viewer as well as possible. Even in this sloppy test run I had thousands of frames to waste while waiting for the guy to appear. Here are Lua scripts to help planning and testing stuff:
-- Change these values to get items (max. 255):

	arrow = 0
	bluestone = 0
	greenjewel = 0
	glassvial = 15
	crystalorb = 0
	birdtotem = 0
	goldring = 1
	jadeskull = 0
	yellowkey = 0
	greenkey = 0
	bluekey = 0
	redkey = 3
	greykey = 1
	whitekey = 0

-- Your numbers are then applied to the item slots:

	memory.writebyte(0xffefcc, arrow)
	memory.writebyte(0xffefcd, bluestone)
	memory.writebyte(0xffefce, greenjewel)
	memory.writebyte(0xffefcf, glassvial)
	memory.writebyte(0xffefd0, crystalorb)
	memory.writebyte(0xffefd1, birdtotem)
	memory.writebyte(0xffefd2, goldring)
	memory.writebyte(0xffefd3, jadeskull)
	memory.writebyte(0xffefd4, yellowkey)
	memory.writebyte(0xffefd5, greenkey)
	memory.writebyte(0xffefd6, bluekey)
	memory.writebyte(0xffefd7, redkey)
	memory.writebyte(0xffefd8, greykey)
	memory.writebyte(0xffefd9, whitekey)
Use this script to travel fast and through walls:
gens.registerafter( function ()
	x = memory.readwordsigned(0xffa57c)
	y = memory.readwordsigned(0xffa57e)
	buttons = joypad.get(1)
	if buttons.right then x = x + 8 end
	if buttons.left then x = x - 8 end
	if buttons.up then y = y - 8 end
	if buttons.down then y = y + 8 end
	memory.writeword(0xffa57c, x)
	memory.writeword(0xffa57e, y)
end)
Use these to teleport to an important location:
-- Auto-travel to the tombs of Hemsath:
	memory.writeword(0xffa57c, 13500)
	memory.writeword(0xffa57e, 19326)
-- Auto-travel to the crypt:
	memory.writeword(0xffa57c, 19870)
	memory.writeword(0xffa57e, 17330)
-- Auto-travel to the Citadel of Doom:
	memory.writeword(0xffa57c, 11245)
	memory.writeword(0xffa57e, 29134)
-- Auto-travel to the final boss (you must be inside a building/cave for this to work):
	memory.writeword(0xffa57c, 10170)
	memory.writeword(0xffa57e, 34000)
This might help too, when saved as a WCH file:
0
22
00000	00FFA58F	b	u	0	Player HP
00001	00FFF1BF	b	u	0	Bravery
00002	00FFF1C1	b	u	0	Luck
00003	00FFF1C3	b	u	0	Kindness
00004	00FFF1C5	b	u	0	Gold
00005	00FFEFCC	b	u	0	Arrows
00006	00FFEFCD	b	u	0	Blue stones
00007	00FFEFCE	b	u	0	Green gems
00008	00FFEFCF	b	u	0	Glass vials
00009	00FFEFD0	b	u	0	Crystal orbs
0000A	00FFEFD1	b	u	0	Bird totems
0000B	00FFEFD2	b	u	0	Gold rings
0000C	00FFEFD3	b	u	0	Jade skulls
0000D	00FFEFD4	b	u	0	Yellow keys
0000E	00FFEFD5	b	u	0	Green keys
0000F	00FFEFD6	b	u	0	Blue keys
00010	00FFEFD7	b	u	0	Red keys
00011	00FFEFD8	b	u	0	Grey keys
00012	00FFEFD9	b	u	0	White keys
00013	00FFF1D2	w	u	0	Clock
00014	00FFA57C	w	u	0	X-position
00015	00FFA57E	w	u	0	Y-position
Who wants to optimize it? I can help. :) P.S. I think this game has the longest straight corridor ever and it is walked through twice.
Post subject: The Faery Tale Adventure in 22:30
Editor, Expert player (2460)
Joined: 4/8/2005
Posts: 1573
Location: Gone for a year, just for varietyyyyyyyyy!!
Now it is done in 23 minutes: http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/1561573221/faerytaletest2.gmv (Edit: Don't bother watching it. Faster version is below.) Improvements over the previous route: - Sleeping is used to speed up time, so no need to wait so long for the crypt guy to appear. - No apples needed. It was enough to buy the cheaper food once. - Used only 15 glass vials. It might be possible with 14, but I believe there is enough time to collect 15 while waiting for the crypt guy. (I already had 10 glass vials at the crypt, so it shouldn't be too hard to get a few more.) Edit: Completed in 22:30, possibly my final version: http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/985927927/faerytalefinal.gmv
Editor, Expert player (2460)
Joined: 4/8/2005
Posts: 1573
Location: Gone for a year, just for varietyyyyyyyyy!!
Anyone wanna try to beat my time? There could be a faster route, because the game is pretty non-linear.