Well now that Tilus is doing FF5 and hero wants to do this, I guess I will throw out that I would like to try this over the summer if nobody else has gotten around to it. I have decided that I will do my first TAS then, but I'm still trying to figure out which game. I'm very familiar with this one, but then again that might not be the best idea since all the strategies are already engrained in my mind.
SaxxonPike, are you referring to normal play, watching a speedrun, making a TAS, or what? Making the TAS for this has to be a lot more boring than the others, and playing is debatable, but IMHO watching a TAS/speedrun of FF3 is much more boring than FF2 or CT. It's not even close. Logically this is the case because it is more broken and degenerate, e.g. Joker Doom.
I mean, realizing of course that they are all very boring compared to watching games that aren't RPGs. ;)
I'm thinking it would probably be easier to do a non RPG for a first TAS, but if I decided to do FF2, I think I'd be able to do a very good job without too much hassle since I already know the route I'd take. Also it's apparently easy to manipulate luck in battle with pausing.
If you are referring to NES FF's, I'm not interested. For NES games in general, I'm actually thinking of doing Dig Dug 2 and might start a topic. But I have no idea if people would find that interesting or not, and my goal is to get published. This is a bit frightening with non-marquee games, since great runs IMHO like the El Viento (which was even obsoleting a previous version by the same author), took half a year or so to get published. At least with FF2, that would get published like a madman.
Joined: 11/14/2005
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I noticed that Phil said on his personal page that he was going to do the gba version of this game, so I kind of gave up. Recently Phil announced he would not be contributing to this site anymore, so I may continue working on the game. This of course depends on whether Enhasa starts working on it.
Enhasa; I strongly encourage you to do this game, since you hold the real world record and your knowledge of the game is vast. It’s not a hard game to tool assist, but it is very tedious. Manipulating critical hits is a pain even with pausing, but other than that most of the strategies used in the console run apply to a tool assisted run as well. I am not sure but it may be better to use the gba version, since that’s the one Phil was going to use.
Is Phil really quitting the scene? He seems so involved and dedicated, I find it hard to believe. And even if he's not just threatening, people quit making console speedruns at least and come back all the time. Anyway, if it's true, that's rather sad as his ability is absolutely top-notch, but maybe he is fed up with something because it seems like he's getting into fights in every other thread he posts in.
Anyway, he's kinda cast a long shadow over this thread, because everyone knows that if he's doing it, they should just let him do it as he'd probably do a better job. =p
Actually, I'm probably more concerned about the length, which leaves more room for things to go wrong. Is it really that tedious? Can you manipulate when you have your next random fight with say, when you end the previous fight? Because if you can't, the walking around would be pretty straightforward I think. And in battle, would you just pause and then unpause and see if that's a critical, and if not, frame advance once and try again? Maybe I'm naive about the difficulty. I certainly have been for console runs (ICO "one weekend" estimate -> actually over 3 months). =/
I think probably the biggest hurdle to me would be learning all the nuances of TAS making. Of course, this would probably apply (to different extents) no matter which game I did.
Oh and I would definitely not use the GBA version since I don't like it, don't like remakes in general, and I don't know it nearly as well as FF2 US. This is assuming of course that I do decide to do this. I guess I'm just scared at how long this would take, since I have more console runs I want to do, games I need to play and catch up on, and also my thesis to work on, heh. I mean, I think DW2 was done in 2 days or something (!) but that must have been a busy 2 days, and I think it would take me a lot longer. I think in several weeks, I will start this, see how it goes, and then decide whether or not I want to continue.
Although this game might not be as awesome as CT or FF3, go for it! I'd watch it, and there are swarms of FF fans who would, too.
And in battle, would you just pause and then unpause and see if that's a critical, and if not, frame advance once and try again?
Basically, yes. Although sometimes you can do other actions, too, to affect the random number. However, don't underestimate how tedious this becomes after a while :)
If this is your first TAS, I'd recommend playing around/practicing the game a bit first. Try a few battles, etc. Usually you'll need a while to learn about all the little things you can do to affect the random numbers, etc. Plus, playing a game with frame advance can be a little strange at first. An obvious but imporant piece of advice, is make sure your keys are all easy to press: for snes, you might want Z X your controller buttons, and Shift your frame advance.
The SNES emulator can desynch--that means, your movie file won't play back correctly. This is because the emulation is not exact, and occasionally gives slightly different results. So sometimes you might have to remake part of the movie, or at least get your hands dirty with hex-editing.
I think probably the biggest hurdle to me would be learning all the nuances of TAS making. Of course, this would probably apply (to different extents) no matter which game I did.
i don't really know, but i'd think an rpg would be fairly straightforward since you have a clearly defined goal for each event. i did think about playing with rudra no hihou but when i realized i have to learn large amounts of japanese gibberish i put that one aside (i think the game could make an entertaining run though, and i might still consider it).
at any rate, learning how to use the tools isn't too hard/time consuming on its own, but using them effectively is much harder, as far as i can tell.
Oh and I would definitely not use the GBA version since I don't like it, don't like remakes in general, and I don't know it nearly as well as FF2 US. This is assuming of course that I do decide to do this.
haa, i hate advance. so boring. and the battle theme sounds horrible (i programmed the melody into my cell phone for a ringtone! haha).
I guess I'm just scared at how long this would take, since I have more console runs I want to do, games I need to play and catch up on, and also my thesis to work on, heh...I think in several weeks, I will start this, see how it goes, and then decide whether or not I want to continue.
i feel the same way, and all i could reccommend is, don't rush it. i am thoroughly amazed at the people who can work what seems like very quickly to me. you do have a very big advantage over me, in my opinion, in that you're very familiar with ff4 and have completed a console speedrun of it.
i would certainly enjoy a tas on this game (i look forward to watching your run as well). working on a tas and then viewing your handiwork is...fun. but also quite strange. it's odd to go through things over and over again, very slowly, then see them happening so deftly and perfectly. i don't know if you'll like it, but if it means there's a run on this game here, then i'd be happy. =)
i don't really know, but i'd think an rpg would be fairly straightforward since you have a clearly defined goal for each event. i did think about playing with rudra no hihou but when i realized i have to learn large amounts of japanese gibberish i put that one aside (i think the game could make an entertaining run though, and i might still consider it).
Well many games, like say SMB, are level independent. RPGs tend to be harder because it's more like one big level, meaning the planning is harder since you have to make some decisions way in advance. About Rudra no Hihou, I've played it a little, but I couldn't keep interested at all. I do know you can basically cast all the spells from the beginning, but other than that I don't know how runnable it'd be or even if the game is any good.
spineshark wrote:
at any rate, learning how to use the tools isn't too hard/time consuming on its own, but using them effectively is much harder, as far as i can tell.
Well um, using them effectively is implied in using them at all! ;)
spineshark wrote:
haa, i hate advance. so boring. and the battle theme sounds horrible (i programmed the melody into my cell phone for a ringtone! haha).
You think it sounds bad in all versions or in the GBA port? I've never been the biggest Uematsu fan, but FF4-6 is definitely his best work IMO, and back in the SNES days he was rather good compared to most composers. His overworld themes tend to be very good. Yeah, just like Mitsuda, battle themes are pretty much a big weakness, but I thought the ones in this game were decent.
spineshark wrote:
i feel the same way, and all i could reccommend is, don't rush it. i am thoroughly amazed at the people who can work what seems like very quickly to me.
Heh, the last thing I am worried about is rushing it. =p
spineshark wrote:
i would certainly enjoy a tas on this game (i look forward to watching your run as well). working on a tas and then viewing your handiwork is...fun. but also quite strange. it's odd to go through things over and over again, very slowly, then see them happening so deftly and perfectly. i don't know if you'll like it, but if it means there's a run on this game here, then i'd be happy. =)
I don't know if anybody else feels the same way, but watching my own console runs already feels quite strange. ;)
at any rate, learning how to use the tools isn't too hard/time consuming on its own, but using them effectively is much harder, as far as i can tell.
Well um, using them effectively is implied in using them at all! ;)
well, what i meant was really that i feel like i'm slowly improving in my..."efficiency"...and not having to spend so long getting relatively simple moves right. it took me like 100 rerecords before i even did basically anything on my run.
You think it sounds bad in all versions or in the GBA port? I've never been the biggest Uematsu fan, but FF4-6 is definitely his best work IMO, and back in the SNES days he was rather good compared to most composers. His overworld themes tend to be very good. Yeah, just like Mitsuda, battle themes are pretty much a big weakness, but I thought the ones in this game were decent.
sounds bad on the gba. i actually really like the snes version's.
I don't know if anybody else feels the same way, but watching my own console runs already feels quite strange. ;)
haha, for me it's weird because i'm like "AAH HOW COULD I BE SO STUPID!"
