(Link to video)

Details

  • Emulator used: desmume-0.9.7
  • Starts from SRAM
  • Aims for fastest time
  • Takes damage to save time
  • Manipulates Luck

About the run

This is a TAS of Julius Mode in Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow. The run was inspired by a testrun made by gocha a few years back, and improves upon that run by about 6500 frames. Julius Mode is only possible to access after finishing the game once, which is why the run starts from SRAM. The save data used to initiate the run was generated from this [dead link removed] .dsm file.
I won't go into detail on the entire run but I'll bring up a few points.
  • After taking a hit from a weapon there is a cooldown for enemies before they can be damaged by that weapon again. This is something like 30 frames for Julius whip, 21 for Yoko's stick and 13 for Alucard's sword. So if it looks like I'm not hitting as fast as I can, it's because it won't actually do any good.
  • Yoko moves slightly faster than Alucard on ground, but it's preferable to keep using Alucard as the time to switch characters is too long, and Alucard is usually preferable for bosses, sometimes needed to pass through certain terrain, and is usually faster when going up or down. Julius is a general chump.
  • The route should be fairly set. The only things I can see that's debatable is going for Rahab and Bat Company before Dimitri and Malphas. The two main reasons that I went for this is that being a higher level is of greater benefit for Dimitri and Malphas than it is for Rahab and Bat Company due to the lack of mana recharging between the former (the way it ends up now I have just enough mana to constantly spam hellfire with Alucard on both Dimitri and Malphas), and it's possible to skip one save room by going Rahab first while still not sacrificing any damage boosts.
  • Killing some extra enemies with Yoko's ice attack during the start of the run to gain a level before Dario is beneficial even though it takes 100 frames or so for the level up screen to flash by, because significantly more time is saved on Dario from the extra level.
  • The boss in Condemned Tower is a bit weird. He has 3800 HP. After bringing him down to 1900 he will crush the floor and drop to the bottom (though he'll finish his current movement pattern before breaking the floor). He then can't go below about 900 HP before his shackles break of, which is why I slow down after a while in the fight (as I'm not in a hurry to deal damage to him). However, having him go of screen, it's possible to inflict one more hit to make him go below 900HP. As it's only one extra hit I did a super long dropkick to do a lot of damage to him instantly, while still getting down to start hitting him again as soon as he could take more damage.
  • The last hit on death's first form is delayed slightly to make him go down a bit, which is needed to hit him with full frequency during his second form. The reason I could not sync this up to not delay any time is that he can only get that far down if he's dropping down to hit you with his scythe, and this can not be done earlier as it keeps me from hitting him twice with the ice attack at all times. Furthermore, if he's too far down in his second form he won't do any of the attacks I want him to make (ones that leave him constantly vulnerable). As his attack patterns are pretty fixed length, I did not find it possible to sync it up better than this (it's only about a 20-30 frame delay).
Here [dead link removed] is a link to a download of an AVI file. The quality is better than on youtube (60fps most importantly), but the file size is very big because I don't actually know how to encode stuff.

Special thanks

Thanks to gocha for his work on the game, his testrun and his collection of memory addresses.

Noxxa: Judging.
Noxxa: Very nice and entertaining run overall. Accepting for publication.

natt: processing

TASVideoAgent
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You work fast, man. Having watched your WIPs, I can almost garantuee this is gonna be a Yes.
Noxxa
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Wow, that was very fast indeed.
http://www.youtube.com/Noxxa <dwangoAC> This is a TAS (...). Not suitable for all audiences. May cause undesirable side-effects. May contain emulator abuse. Emulator may be abusive. This product contains glitches known to the state of California to cause egg defects. <Masterjun> I'm just a guy arranging bits in a sequence which could potentially amuse other people looking at these bits <adelikat> In Oregon Trail, I sacrificed my own family to save time. In Star trek, I killed helpless comrades in escape pods to save time. Here, I kill my allies to save time. I think I need help.
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Yeah I worked crazy hours these last days because I really needed to finish before next week. Also, somewhere around The Pinnacle the mechanics of the game started clicking a lot better for me which sped up the progress quite a bit.
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O_o
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Yeah, I can't say I was disappointed. The movement of all four three characters, Alucard, Trevor, Sypha and Grant Alucard, Julius and Yoko was very entertaining to watch, and the boss fights were an absolute highlight. You moved swiftly and efficiently, and made an absolute mockery of the game. For another thing, I'm really happy to finally see a Dawn of Sorrow run that shows off all areas in the game. Obvious yes vote right here. Also, here's a screenshot mothrayas suggested on IRC:
Joined: 7/2/2007
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Easy yes vote. Great work, cpadolf! And it's great to see Castlevania continue its tradition of having absolutely ridiculous methods for moving quickly. EDIT: I tend to favor screenshots where the monsters aren't in their hit flashes, so you can see the art better. Thus, I'd prefer the first screenshot.
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scrimpeh wrote:
Also, here's a screenshot mothrayas suggested on IRC:
Now that's one Gergoth *puts on sunglasses* that got his ass kicked. Once again an awesome run where it's easy to vote. Thanks cpadolf!
m00
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That was just awesome. I'm voting Yes, and hope that Alucard can get some serious therapy for his addiction to meth (or whatever drug he's using to become so speeded)!
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If the second screenshot is used, it would be the most deadly looking one on the whole site. I vote for the second one!
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Very well done, very entertaining. Yes vote. I also think that we should publish with the 2nd screen shot of the suggested ones.
Sir_VG
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It's too bad that you can't switch from Alucard to Yoko w/o going though chump Julius. Oh well. All my questions that I was going to ask were answered in the submission comments. Voting yes.
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Why not the screenshot at 2:21 where she's kicking the boss in the crotch for the last hit right as she levels up? Anyways, I liked the fast pace of the run. I think there was one underwater part with the spiky things where you could have done it faster (rather than go left around a certain wall of spike-balls underneath you, and hit the one once you hit the floor) you could have maybe hit the one at the top so that as you have the invincibility frames you could have passed through them from the top. Otherwise, yes vote.
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Comicalflop: if you're talking about the bit I think you're talking about, I don't think he had the health to take a hit at that point. Which isn't to say that perhaps taking a hit there and not earlier might be faster, but that's hard to judge.
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Amazing run. I was surprised to see Alucard was the favoured travel form instead of Yoko. Yes vote.
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Comicalflop wrote:
Anyways, I liked the fast pace of the run. I think there was one underwater part with the spiky things where you could have done it faster (rather than go left around a certain wall of spike-balls underneath you, and hit the one once you hit the floor) you could have maybe hit the one at the top so that as you have the invincibility frames you could have passed through them from the top.
Don't know if I fully understand this. Do you mean take damage from the topmost spike ball (at ~7:00), fall down and then pass through the bottom left ones while invincible? If so, as far as I remember it doesn't take any extra time to kill the spikes I kill in the run, so that shouldn't be of any benefit (also I don't have enough health anyway).
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When's the last time I didn't yes vote cpadolf? Answer: never, because his runs are always fantastic.
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Fantastic run. Easy yes vote. Now this is run is what tasing is all about and looks :)
Nitrogenesis wrote:
Guys I come from the DidyKnogRacist communite, and you are all wrong, tihs is the run of the mileniun and everyone who says otherwise dosnt know any bater! I found this run vary ease to masturbate too!!!! Don't fuck with me, I know this game so that mean I'm always right!StupedfackincommunityTASVideoz!!!!!!
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I don't want to get involved in this discussion, but as a point of fact C# is literally the first goddamn thing on that fucking page you linked did you even fucking read it
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NitroGenesis
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I wish I had cpadolf's TASing ability. I however do not. I wish I could vote yes on this epic run full of action and variety. I however can.
YoungJ1997lol wrote:
Normally i would say Yes, but thennI thought "its not the same hack" so ill stick with meh.
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Wonderful run Cpadolf! Yes vote!
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The best part is how all 3 characters have their own derpy way to move more quickly than intended. Also, I think Comicalflop is referring to the fish-heads, but it wouldn't be faster to take a hit while falling because you have more stun time when you're not on the ground, and the tops of them are solid anyway (you can stand on them, I think).
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GoddessMaria
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I've been watching the WIPs and I must say that I love the movements in the run. The boss fights were more entertaining and very quick! It even taught me a few ideas to use for my AR run which is currently slower than this TAS! The choice is clear! Super strong Yes vote!
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AzureLazuline wrote:
Also, I think Comicalflop is referring to the fish-heads, but it wouldn't be faster to take a hit while falling because you have more stun time when you're not on the ground, and the tops of them are solid anyway (you can stand on them, I think).
You can take damage from the top, but the invincibility time is not long enough to get to the bottom, so you have to take two hits which would slow you down later.
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Invariel
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Hot damn, this is enjoyable and impressive. Definite yes vote. Part of me wishes you didn't need to heal right before the Soma fight, but that's the value of speed. As to the fish head tower, I'm 99% certain that you can't stand on fish heads (but you can stand on bone pillars). As Cpadolf already mentioned, there would be extra damage in falling right, due to the lack of sufficient invulnerability, and the heads' desire to face the character.
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Yes, I liked this, Yoko & Alucard run.
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