Game objectives
- Emulator used: BizHawk 2.2.2
- TAStudio
- Multi-disk bundler
- Require more ROM: Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine Demo Disc 14
- Firmware: SCPH7003 (U)
- Aim fastest
- Luck manipulation
- Game information
- My recommend basic tutorials at here and here
- Skills damage data
- Other TAS for compare
Advanced Information
- RNG manipulation: most in them is depend time or how input buttons. Most time I need back to last scroll text, do something for change RNG
- Change pet's like/dislike data: when create a new pet, it use RNG to create pet's data. I have make pet like Nuts Oil for my strategy.
- Get more loyalty: when pass a week, it have random can get/lost 1 or 2 loyalty points. It need control for get little help in battles at early and mid game
- Pet' raise up stats control: pet raise up what stats is depend RNG. My strategy is main target to Int stats, sub is Skill stats
- Get/avoid events: before they happend/will come, just need change time it come
- Reduce meet hard competitors: change time join tournaments can change some competitors. I make reduce monsters have high Life and Defense stats. But this's not work after get S cup
- Give up unneed battles: for save time, I have give up/avoid to unneed battles.
- Setup battle: before join any battle, change time for change first AI think in battle, this's help control AI actions after ready
- Change AI think in battles: it's depend my actions/moving. Sometimes I can't avoid bad results, I need move out of range AI's attacks
- Critical attacks: it's depedend time make attack. But this's still depend other things (example sussces call pet attack, hit rate, damage attack,etc)
- Avoid AI can revival: some monsters can revival after got zero HP, for avoid this need change time attack to it
Notes
- This time is my first time try do multi-disk in a TAS. For setup before start, must setup Monster Rancher 2 at disk 1, Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine Demo Disc 14 at disk 2
- I'm not good with this games. This game have many ways can do. I'm alway worry my strategies, headache when planning, not sure it's best or not. I have remake 5th times for find best strategies, even try use Gut glitch of Fairy Hare in Monster Farm 2 (J version)
- I have pick Pixie monster because it have high attack damage, fast Gut recovery and avaible at beginning. Subtype Pixie/Dragon will help have hight Int at start and can learn Fire Breath skill
- With Errantry, just need go there for learn skill, not important for get success or failure
- Avoid get new house for save time. If remember not wrong, it just help get more events. That's why with TAS, it's unneed
- I think this run look like tutorial more than, didn't have any bug/glitch to do
- With game Japan version can help make battles faster because it have a Gut glich but it can't skip trainning scenes, at tottaly it's slower English version.
- Not target to get Great in trainning for save time. It can help more little points but maybe will lost alot frames to find it. In my run, just need it few times for get praise to pet
- Praise pet for avoid make pet have Worst nature, avoid must learn evil skill, more chance to learn need skill (this's my logic, not sure it's correct or not)
Thanks
- KurasuSoratobu in gamefaqs for need info
- あすとろ第二代目 in nicovideo for compare run
- someone shared skills data info, helped me should pick what skill to do
feos: This judgment either sets a precedent or introduces new policies. Judging...
feos: Delaying until the extra image that syncs with this movie is made.
feos: It's been a long journey, and a lot of things happened to make this submission acceptable. And it is
acceptable in principle. But to be actually accepted, we need an extra image to be created by hand so that it's not anything copyrighted. That would allow us to reproduce such an image freely anytime, as many times as needed, now and in the future, for the sake of replaying this movie. Even on console such an image would spawn the same monster as this movie uses.
The only problem now is that no one has spare time and dedication to actually generate such an image. It's unfortunate, because in the end I have to reject this movie for
breaking the rules we all agreed on. If at some future day such an image is finally produced, I can unreject this submission, and finally properly judge how it's played.
feos: Yeah so
the last 2 posts in the thread explain why it should be unrejected, and unlike me, Samsara knows the game, so I'm unclaiming this.
Samsara: Hi! I'm Samsara! I knows the game!
Alright, I think this one's gonna need some explanation.
In a vacuum, the original decision makes sense: If we strictly treat the second disk as a means of verification, then yes, we can't exactly legally provide it in the same way we can provide a verification input file. We can
synthesize the same result in a legal manner, of course, but it leaves one particularly large elephant in the room, and that's simply "isn't any game image a means of verification?" Well, to answer that question, yes! Yes, that is exactly correct. No run can be verified without the right ROM or ISO, so... Why should that apply here? Sure, this is a unique case where "Disc 2" can be Literally Any Disc, but at the end of the day it's still just disc 2 of 2. I think for the sanity of the Judges, though, it's best to limit this freedom to just other game images. As, uh, """"fun"""" as it would be to track down an ISO of Wheatus's self-titled debut album, featuring hit single "Teenage Dirtbag", I don't think that's really reasonable or sustainable for us.
...Yes, for those of you who are wondering, that album does generate the Pixie/Dragon monster used in this run.
I don't really see the other issue (optimality of the approach) as an issue at all, given that the game itself is pretty RNG-heavy and has tons of room for potential improvement regardless of what monster is generated or what strategy is used. If anyone wants to put in the work to try other game images, other monsters, other approaches in general, I don't see why we should stop them or limit them.
Personally,
I'm well aware of how fickle Monster Rancher can be in its battles, and this TAS makes an absolute mockery of them. While I do feel the menuing could be a bit better in places (I'm aware some of it's RNG manipulation, but there's a lot of autofiring so I imagine there's some frames being lost at times), it's not nearly enough to reject over, and the real meat of the run (the battles) far more than make up for it. Just... If you're not familiar with the series, trust me when I say the battles are astoundingly fast.
Just in time to be 4 days late for the 5th anniversary of this submission, accepting!
