Submission Text Full Submission Page
Iji is an action-packed strategic platform shooter with a detailed story, large levels with multiple paths, powerful bosses and lots of secrets. There are alternate gameplay events, dialogues and scenes depending on what you do, a wealth of extras and bonus features, and seven stats to upgrade through a leveling system. Iji herself has superhuman strength and abilities, and can crack Nanotechnology, use her enemies' most devastating weapons against them, and be a pacifist or a killer - the story adapts to how you play.
This run is similar to the any% run I did, so if you are interested in the route notes and other tricks, got to #6298: Matslo123's Windows Iji in 27:41.87
The only rule / limitation of this category is to complete the game with 0 Kills, which awards you the Pacifist rank, so for this reason I use Normal difficulty. On the game's hardest difficulty (Ultimortal), a Pacifist run is impossible because you are required to kill a boss on that difficulty. On the Hard and Extreme difficulties, a Pacifist run would be far more time-consuming, due to required Nano farming and other factors, without a significant gain in difficulty under TAS conditions. This would result in a far less entertaining movie in comparison to one on Normal difficulty.
The .wtf file submitted is the one used for timing, if you want to get to the credits use this file: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1phQUR3hxak3d--dru4qbeD85S_Kwg5Sy
To get the run to sync, set Multithreading to Wrap. Also before you run the TAS, you need to:
  1. Go into the settings and set Screen shaking to low, Show time to on, go to more... and set Gamma and special effects to off/low.
  2. Go into a game and exit whenever (this is to save these settings).
  3. Exit out of the game and run the TAS.

feos: This movie has a number of issues.
The pacifist goal is defined imprecisely. The game itself calls you Pacifistic if you have 1-51 kills and provides different gameplay, dialogs, and the ending. The "fastest completion" branch that we published recently gets that rank. The author defines "pacifist" as zero in-game kills, which means the final stats screen calls you Innocent. Yet in this movie we see enemies being destroyed: the turrets count as enemies as long as they are hostile to the player, and the pacifist goal means you spare all the enemies that you don't have to kill.
Even damaging enemies without killing them may downgrade overall entertainment in the eyes of the audience, and viewer feedback is our primary factor when we judge movies that are neither "fastest completion", not "full completion". And actual feedback on this movie was uncertain indeed.
Another major problem is that this movie plays almost identically as its "fastest completion" counterpart, with a bit more delays and a few detours: it's largely the same route, just a little slower. Since the primary branch has to avoid killing enemies to keep their quantity and aggression low and dodge them easier, its main strategy is globally the same as in this run. As mentioned, any% is played as in-game pacifist, so these 2 branches are inherently similar: the pacifism approach is plain faster.
It was suggested that this movie isn't "pacifist", but "best ending". But apparently our definition of "best ending" doesn't blindly mean "the happiest ending for a human". We prefer more gameplay to be showcased in side branches, so for us, the best is whatever ending that shows the most gameplay, or involves the most challenges. We don't publish movies alongside any% branch if all they do differently is avoiding a few kills while otherwise looking the same. So if the happiest ending doesn't offer unique gameplay, we don't publish it as another branch. We may publish it when it represents maximum completion that is possible in the game. But for this game, there's already an "all items" submission that actually contains unique gameplay and completes 100% of something (to be defined what).
Rejecting.


TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #6362: Matslo123's Windows Iji "pacifist" in 27:48.80
Post subject: Re: #6362: Matslo123's Windows Iji "pacifist" in 27:48.8
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TASVideoAgent wrote:
The only rule / limitation of this category is to complete the game with 0 Kills, which awards you the Pacifist rank so for this reason I use Normal difficulty.
I still don't understand why you use Normal difficulty. Wouldn't be possible to get the Pacifist rank with the hardest difficulty as well?
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Post subject: Re: #6362: Matslo123's Windows Iji "pacifist" in 27:48.8
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ThunderAxe31 wrote:
TASVideoAgent wrote:
The only rule / limitation of this category is to complete the game with 0 Kills, which awards you the Pacifist rank so for this reason I use Normal difficulty.
I still don't understand why you use Normal difficulty. Wouldn't be possible to get the Pacifist rank with the hardest difficulty as well?
While it would be possible to do it on Hard or Extreme (not Ultimortal though), I would have to spend and insane amount of time farming Nano because you need level 27 for sector X, otherwise you have to kill Asha. As I have explained previously changing the difficulty also changes the amount of Nano you need per level. Anh hard really doesn't add anything of value. The faster enemies would hardly make a difference and the bosses would be basically the same so I really don't think that doing it on any other difficulty is worth it. If you want to see a TAS of the highest difficulty http://tasvideos.org/6302S.html
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As someone who once attempted a no-reboot true pacifist Extreme difficulty playthrough, I can confirm Extreme takes over twice as long to complete because 1) you actually need to explore every stage and kill most of the enemies in it for Nano pickups; 2) you still cannot kill directly, so in many cases you need to set enemies up to kill themselves by splash damage off of your body—but since you can take at most one heavy hit without dying, you have to constantly backtrack to heal yourself. Running this category on Normal is a wise decision in my opinion; Hard would just be slower and not necessarily more exciting because the no-damage Ultimortal run already exists.
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moozooh wrote:
As someone who once attempted a no-reboot true pacifist Extreme difficulty playthrough, I can confirm Extreme takes over twice as long to complete because 1) you actually need to explore every stage and kill most of the enemies in it for Nano pickups; 2) you still cannot kill directly, so in many cases you need to set enemies up to kill themselves by splash damage off of your body—but since you can take at most one heavy hit without dying, you have to constantly backtrack to heal yourself. Running this category on Normal is a wise decision in my opinion; Hard would just be slower and not necessarily more exciting because the no-damage Ultimortal run already exists.
I guess people see using the lowest difficulty as something bad or just think I was lazy and unskilled, but if they actually played the game like you they would understand why normal is a much better choice. Perhaps they think that playing on Extreme changes the game drasitcally when in a TAS all it does is it makes it so that you have to farm nano without any real gain in difficulty.
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Using the hardest setting is the baseline in TASing so just explain why you haven't in the submission comments if you don't want people wondering about it (your explanation is impossible to follow without knowing more about the game). Of course people shouldn't assume it's the worse choice before they hear you out. I like the various damage boosts not all of which I think were used in the other two TASes, and generally the changes resulting from the pacifist approach. Worth having done this category. I guess the only thing missing now is some kind of 100% thing.
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Matslo123, I would recommend editing the comment about the difficulty choice to something like this: "The only rule / limitation of this category is to complete the game with 0 Kills, which awards you the Pacifist rank, so for this reason I use Normal difficulty. On the game's hardest difficulty (Ultimortal), a Pacifist run is impossible because you are required to kill a boss on that difficulty. On the Hard and Extreme difficulties, a Pacifist run would be far more time-consuming, due to required Nano farming and other factors, without a significant gain in difficulty under TAS conditions. This would result in a far less entertaining movie in comparison to one on Normal difficulty."
c-square wrote:
Yes, standard runs are needed and very appreciated here too
Dylon Stejakoski wrote:
Me and the boys starting over our games of choice for the infinityieth time in a row because of just-found optimizations
^ Why I don't have any submissions despite being on the forums for years now...
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GJTASer2018 wrote:
Matslo123, I would recommend editing the comment about the difficulty choice to something like this: "The only rule / limitation of this category is to complete the game with 0 Kills, which awards you the Pacifist rank, so for this reason I use Normal difficulty. On the game's hardest difficulty (Ultimortal), a Pacifist run is impossible because you are required to kill a boss on that difficulty. On the Hard and Extreme difficulties, a Pacifist run would be far more time-consuming, due to required Nano farming and other factors, without a significant gain in difficulty under TAS conditions. This would result in a far less entertaining movie in comparison to one on Normal difficulty."
Thanks a lot for your suggestion, I have put that into the submission notes.
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Svimmer wrote:
Using the hardest setting is the baseline in TASing so just explain why you haven't in the submission comments if you don't want people wondering about it (your explanation is impossible to follow without knowing more about the game). Of course people shouldn't assume it's the worse choice before they hear you out. I like the various damage boosts not all of which I think were used in the other two TASes, and generally the changes resulting from the pacifist approach. Worth having done this category. I guess the only thing missing now is some kind of 100% thing.
I have done a 100% (kinda) TAS and will submit it shortly if there is enough interest.
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Matslo123 wrote:
I have done a 100% (kinda) TAS and will submit it shortly if there is enough interest.
Remember that most people only watch TASes/runs after they're through this stage.
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I watched this and the published any% run side-by-side using this amazing service: https://viewsync.net/watch?v=MZLeKvwdnw0&t=0&v=-jtb7r-uo0o&t=0&mode=solo And I think gameplay looks mostly identical, with a few route tweaks and several-frame delays here and there. It's clearly not as different as Ultimortal is. I would expect this run to be as entertaining as any%, but it's just due to vast similarity. So I ask the audience, people please compare this to [3937] Windows Iji by Matslo123 in 27:41.87 and tell how many substantial differences you see that make this movie unique and unexpected after the any% run.
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
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feos wrote:
So I ask the audience, people please compare this to [3937] Windows Iji by Matslo123 in 27:41.87 and tell how many substantial differences you see that make this movie unique and unexpected after the any% run.
There's an issue of definition: the game Iji calls you "pacifist" if you kill up to five enemies per level (not counting robots); whereas Speedrun.com (and this run) use the label "pacifist" if you get zero kills. The former makes a gameplay difference, the latter not so much. If you keep your kill count below 5*level, you get benefits like enemies turning non-hostile; with a higher kill count, extra enemies appear. You get vastly different dialogue, and different ending screens, depending on this 5*level threshold. But in terms of speedrunning, dodging is usually much faster than killing; so all speedruns I've seen are well below this threshold. One could make a case for a TAS that kills 51+ enemies; this would look visually distinct because of all the violence, it may make an interesting pathing challenge, and it gets the bad ending. The game does not, however, give different gameplay or dialogue or ending if you have zero kills; except that you get a special weapon for the final boss only (and since that boss fight is mostly about dodging, it doesn't even look that different). This means that this movie is not substantially different from the published any% run. Just because Speedrun.com calls it a different branch doesn't mean that we have to. $.02
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Thanks for clarification! Some goal that could result in tons of destruction and violence would look like a much better candidate in my opinion, Metal Slug vibe. Would fastest bad ending be like that?
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
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The game tracks several levels of player aggression which depend on their kill counts and some other plot-relevant choices. Aggression affects both gameplay (enemy AI, fights, itemization, and paths through levels change somewhat) and story progression (different sound effects, dialogue options, and endings). There are several possible endings in 1.6 and more are added in the currently unTASable version 1.7 which is superior for most intents and purposes. IIRC the overall breakdown goes as follows: • Innocent/full pacifist: 0 kills, Iosa spared—only available on Normal through Extreme/Expert. This is what this run is aiming for; it is recognized by the game as such and presents Iji with a secret weapon before the final boss. • Pacifist: 1–50 kills total. Similar to the above in most aspects but much easier to attain. No secret weapon at the end, different ending. • Standard: 51+ kills. This is technically the "fastest bad ending". • Full berserk: something like over 300 kills total (I don't remember which version had which number, but IIRC it was just over 50% of the total enemy count throughout the game), Tor executed. Most of these endings are also altered by other gameplay choices (e.g. spare/kill a certain NPC). Going full berserk is infeasible in an any%—too many detours to take—but might be something to consider for an all-items run since more areas are visited.
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moozooh wrote:
The game tracks several levels of player aggression which depend on their kill counts and some other plot-relevant choices. Aggression affects both gameplay (enemy AI, fights, itemization, and paths through levels change somewhat) and story progression (different sound effects, dialogue options, and endings).
You're mixing up 1.6 and 1.7. 1.6 only has pacifist (up to 5 kills per level) and destroyer (more than 5 kills per level), with two endings, and zero kills only affects the extra weapon at the end boss. 1.7 has pacifist, destroyer, Full pacifist (spare a particular boss) and Berserk (more than 30 kills per level), with two additional endings for these. Note that "full pacifist" does not require zero kills, only that you spare that boss.
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When I watched this run, I never in my right mind thought a Pacifist run of this game couldn't possibly be too similar to any%. I underestimate the power of TASing (and how surprisingly unrestrictive the pacifist plot branch is) as is turns out. In any case the Pacifist run has the value of showing exactly where the true differences lie even if it's stepping on the any%'s toes. In the video on the left in the comparison feos posted: https://viewsync.net/watch?v=MZLeKvwdnw0&t=0&v=-jtb7r-uo0o&t=0&mode=solo at 17:19, there's a forced fight. That's one of the most obvious differences I guess aside from the final boss. The pacifist approach is certainly entertaining as well. Could this be vaulted?
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First to clarify the "pacifist", I meant 0 kills and therefore the Innocent rank (and also Massacre right before Tor). I agree that any% and this are very similar up to sector 8. But for the sake of completeness (different ending, changed Iosa and Tor fights) I think it should be at least voulted. I think that Pacifist is restrictive enough to have its own category. There are skips you cannot do but the Massacre makes up for some of the time loss. This is also a "best ending" run so there is that too.
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The problem is I could still experience everything done in this movie just from watching the any%. There’s alot of pacifist runs on this site that look incredibly different to their any% counterparts. Just to name one: [3865] NES Castlevania "pacifist, minimalist" by Challenger & Grincevent in 12:25.29 The player is avoiding taking damage from bats because the bat will also die. This makes it so a skip is not used, showing a different path. Not only that but it’s incredibly fun to watch the player avoiding as many enemies as possible. This is type of pacifist run that makes them unique to me.
Svimmer wrote:
Could this be vaulted
No, only fastest completion and 100% runs can be vaultable.
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I would say a pacifist goal makes the most sense in games where you're supposed to shoot everything (Contra) or hack and slash like crazy (Ninja Gaiden). When the regular route already consists of avoiding/dodging/sparing most of the enemies, there's no explicit pacifist feel in the no-kills run - any% is already almost pacifist!
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Comparing back and forth between the published any% TAS and this one, I'm raising several concerns: 1) For some inexplicable reason, you stop at around 0:47 in this TAS, but not in the any% TAS. It should be noted that Sector 1 is also pacifist in the any% TAS, meaning that this one is actually a bit sub-optimal. 2) You actually destroy some of the turrets, which goes against the spirit of a pacifist TAS (unless they're somehow impassable, or I missed something), IMHO, even if the game does not count it as one. Therefore, this is not a pacifist TAS for me.
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fsvgm777 wrote:
Comparing back and forth between the published any% TAS and this one, I'm raising several concerns: 1) For some inexplicable reason, you stop at around 0:47 in this TAS, but not in the any% TAS. It should be noted that Sector 1 is also pacifist in the any% TAS, meaning that this one is actually a bit sub-optimal. 2) You actually destroy some of the turrets, which goes against the spirit of a pacifist TAS (unless they're somehow impassable, or I missed something), IMHO, even if the game does not count it as one. Therefore, this is not a pacifist TAS for me.
1) That is an issue with the video, not the tas. 2) Yes, the goal is to complete the game with 0 kills, not to not destroy anything. You need to destroy Proxima no matter what so a "no destroying" TAS wouldn't be possible anyways. For this reason I opted for the fastest time with 0 kills not the fastest time with nothing destroyed.
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MovieClassGuidelines wrote:
Pacifist version Used for movies that explicitly avoid killing enemies (or only kill as few as possible) when it is unnecessary for game completion, even at the expense of completion time. In games where avoiding unnecessary kills does not postpone completion, it can be used as a stylistic choice and should still be tagged.
Those turrets are enemies, we don't divide enemies into organic that we spare and mechanical that we can freely butcher - a pacifist person spares both. Even then, not only unnecessary kills but even unnecessary violence can put people off in a pacifist movie. It's a subjective thing, but our Moons tier where we accept side goals (other than any% and 100%) fully depends on subjectivity - entertainment, as well as whether the movie goal feels solid and sensible.
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
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You could rename it to "best ending" since that's what you get if you save Dan, go into deep sector in sector 9 and are pacifist according to the ingame kill counter.
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Then won't it be faster to kill more and still get that ending?
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
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feos wrote:
Then won't it be faster to kill more and still get that ending?
The good ending requires less than 51 kills, not zero kills. Saving Dan merely requires a brief detour in sector 8 to pick up the trapmine item; this would otherwise look identical to the current any%.