I am not 100% on the validity of this video (i am always a little suspicious when people disable comments on their videos) and for all I know this has been seen by many since it was published over 8 months ago. According to the author this works on the US version only when you use the stair glitch on Blk 4-01. If it is indeed valid it could be a ridiculous timesaver when optimized.
Link to video
I don't know if this is the right place to post this WIP, but I can't find another CV3 topic. :P
Link to videohttp://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/19089557368838353
This will be a hardmode, Trevor-only run.
I will take the Sunken City path since none of the published runs feature that level.
I don't know if this is the right place to post this WIP, but I can't find another CV3 topic. :P
http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/19089557368838353
This will be a hardmode, Trevor-only run.
I will take the Sunken City path since none of the published runs feature that level.
Pretty good WIP so far.
I like the goal choice, it's a nice combination of all the things this site hasn't seen yet.
I couldn't spot any obvious improvements either. Maybe you can manipulate the Zombies in the graveyard in such a way that you have to jump less times, but I'm not sure whether Hard Mode lets you do that the same way you can do it normally.
Keep it up.
Thanks! The only way I figured out to decrease the amount of generated Zombies is jumping, which contrasts the very meaning of manipulating the Zombies.
The first level of this run basically follows the strategy from your "Grant path" run. I feel surprised that the total time of my run by the end of first stage is not higher than that of the current "Sypha path" and "Alucard path".
I'll follow the strategy from Samhain-Grim's "Alucard path" run for the part of the game until the end of Alucard boss battle.
The only problem of the latter part of the game I can think of for now is the block-dropping room in stage 7. There will be a long time of waiting since Alucard is not in the team.
I will take the Sunken City path since none of the published runs feature that level.
Oh my! I have been waiting for Sunken City path for years now. I hope you can keep yourself motivated with this run :) It would be nice if this can get own category when it's completed.
EDIT: After watching the WIP, I realized that you weren't using Japanese rom. Since only one level is done by now, I suggest that you change your rom to JPN version. It has superior sound track quality. JPN rom is also used in other Castlevania 3 runs, so it might be problem when it comes to publishing and voting. Many people would like to have all runs done with same rom, so they are in-line with each other.
The code "AKAMA" doesn't work in JPN version. I don't know if there is any way to enter the hard mode directly with Japanese rom.
Also, since the gameplay is generally harder in USA version than in JPN version, using USA version with those goals can pretty much serve as the hardest non-arbitrary challenge.
Joined: 9/21/2011
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Fortranm wrote:
The code "AKAMA" doesn't work in JPN version. I don't know if there is any way to enter the hard mode directly with Japanese rom.
I can't find any mentions of Name entry codes to start on hard mode/second loop in the Japanese version, but here is a playthrough that uses a password to start on hard mode stage 1-1 with no partners:
Link to video
I can't find any mentions of Name entry codes to start on hard mode/second loop in the Japanese version, but here is a playthrough that uses a password to start on hard mode stage 1-1 with no partners
Thanks for sharing, but I decided to continue using U version.
J version is still easier than U version even under the hard mode. This fact would actually count against using U version for any% runs. However, I really think the goal choice of this run is supposed to be masochistic hard, so it's reasonable to use U version to keep the difficulty up.
BTW, U version has better graphics than J version does.
Here comes WIP2:
Link to videohttp://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/19258915758895093
WIP4 is finished.
Stage 6 and the first half of Stage 7 are included.
http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/19555820707732956Link to video
Giant Bat is dead, again.
As you can see at the end, a long wait awaits. I will try to make the waiting as entertaining as possible.
Unfortunately, it seems to be impossible to trigger it anywhere else, and because screen scrolling is deactivated, you get stuck at this point without being able to proceed:
I actually wonder how you got to Block 7-2. I tried this glitch and got stuck in Block 7-1 because there is no water drop.
Unfortunately, it seems to be impossible to trigger it anywhere else, and because screen scrolling is deactivated, you get stuck at this point without being able to proceed:
I actually wonder how you got to Block 7-2. I tried this glitch and got stuck in Block 7-1 because there is no water drop.
If I recall correctly, you can simply drop down the hole where the stairs are to get to the top of the screen.
//Watched the last WIP by the way, I was really entertained. Nice cross action through and through.
WIP5 is here.
http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/19622046614000699
Death is dead!
This is the last WIP for this topic. I will submit the movie after the last two stages are finished, hopefully before 2015.
Link to video
BTW, by the start of Stage 8, Trevor is about 30 seconds "slower" than Grant.
The block dropping room at the beginning of this WIP is such a time waster. >_>
I have started to wonder if I should switch the sub-weapon to axe in Stage 9.
Apparently, Grant finishes off Dracula with axes faster than Trevor does with crosses in published runs. However, I'm not sure if Trevor can use axes as skillfully as Grant.
The Doppelganger battle is another factor. If it is faster to use crosses in that battle, I'll postpone weapon switching to the beginning of Stage 10. It should be possible to get a shot multiplier in the auto-scrolling section, hopefully two.
Axes are good for Dracula's third form because Trevor can't reach him with just crosses without using the platforms. Hence, switching to axes should be faster.
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/244567501?t=19m52s
I just found out that RTAs use the stair glitch to speed up Level 9 in Grant%. Should this be allowed in a future Grant run? It is the same glitch that leads to the warp glitch, but it's not really used for a glitch warp here.
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/244567501?t=19m52s
I just found out that RTAs use the stair glitch to speed up Level 9 in Grant%. Should this be allowed in a future Grant run? It is the same glitch that leads to the warp glitch, but it's not really used for a glitch warp here.
For what it's worth, I have never been able to find a usable warp glitch in the J version of the game. While warp glitches do exist in the J version too, I don't think I've been able to reach any late game stage, with a way longer setup than in U.
Originally, I wanted to forego stair glitches on the regular Grant run because I felt that the character switching animation would kill the flow of watching. Instead, I was looking for an ACE route of the game that could showcase the stair glitches instead. Since that never came to fruition, I now think that the "safe" stair glitches should be included in the regular run too. There was a couple I linked in the thread earlier, but there may be more.
Going too deep into the glitched worlds can affect your game even after leaving them and returning back to the normal levels. The warp glitch is part of that. I think that an improvement to the Grant run should avoid triggering glitchy after effects to not overlap with the current warp glitch run. You could also draw an even stricter line by saying that the player must not enter any junk rooms.
At any rate, I'd be seriously looking forward to an improvement of the Grant run. In particular, lag managment should be given far more attention than I did back then.
I forgot to check all the previous posts so I didn't see your video on the same trick. The one in the ship level is pretty neat as well. Have you found any useful non game-breaking usage of the stair glitch other than these two?
I also have noticed that Grant% RTAs done on US version are generally faster than the ones done on JP version due to faster boss fights. Does this apply to TAS as well?
I forgot to check all the previous posts so I didn't see your video on the same trick. The one in the ship level is pretty neat as well. Have you found any useful non game-breaking usage of the stair glitch other than these two?
I also have noticed that Grant% RTAs done on US version are generally faster than the ones done on JP version due to faster boss fights. Does this apply to TAS as well?
I don't recall any other useful glitches. I believe there was one more in Mad Forest, but it didn't save any time. I'd have to go through the game once more and find out.
To be honest, I don't really know how the bosses differ between U and J. I wasn't aware there was a time difference there.
It's not about bosses themselves. While Grant's default weapon in JP version generally works better, it has a slower rate of fire than Grant's default weapon in US version. Cancelling attack animations might make a difference though.
Oh, of course. Well, if you're melee range, you can generally just attack cancel your way through the boss fights, so I don't think that should be an issue.
This is a short demonstration of what tricks would be feasible if the game had faster character switching.
Link to video
The character switch timer is at $32 in RAM. I simply swapped out the bytes in the ROM that are written into the timer address. I might continue with this if there's any more interesting tricks to show. Sadly, I don't get to use screen wrapping with Grant in the video.
//Edit: While going through the game, I also noticed another minor improvement to the current Grant run:
With the right subpixel position, you get automatically pushed through the corner by the wall. You don't need to do the climbing animation. This should save a couple of frames whereever it's used.
Exciting news from the CV3 Speedrunning Community: KutsuShita figured out that you can do vertical warps with Grant: Twitch Clip
If you jump into a wall while attacking and let go of Right on the exact frame where you touch a wall, the game freaks out and zips Grant vertically to a different position on the screen:
This only works in the U version of the game, and it only works on right walls.
You may zip either upward, if you're low on the screen, or downward if you're up high on the screen. If you're in the wrong position, you may end up below the screen and die.
In vertical rooms, this trick can be used to perform huge leaps, which can allow you to clear them quickly. If you do it more than once in a room, you can break the screen scrolling, which can potentially be used for more stair dismounts also.
Here's a short demonstration of where it can be useful in a TAS:
Link to video
This trick opens up a huge amount of new possibilities for a new Grant TAS. It might be faster to use the U version now, even for a non-wrong warp TAS. There's also a possibility now that the lower swamp route is faster now, since many of the rooms in that route might now be skippable.
With the right subpixel position, you get automatically pushed through the corner by the wall. You don't need to do the climbing animation. This should save a couple of frames whereever it's used.
This only works in the U version of the game, and it only works on right walls.
You may zip either upward, if you're low on the screen, or downward if you're up high on the screen. If you're in the wrong position, you may end up below the screen and die.
In vertical rooms, this trick can be used to perform huge leaps, which can allow you to clear them quickly. If you do it more than once in a room, you can break the screen scrolling, which can potentially be used for more stair dismounts also.
Here's a short demonstration of where it can be useful in a TAS:
Link to video
This trick opens up a huge amount of new possibilities for a new Grant TAS. It might be faster to use the U version now, even for a non-wrong warp TAS. There's also a possibility now that the lower swamp route is faster now, since many of the rooms in that route might now be skippable.
