Posts for Derakon

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Posted: 2/17/2008 6:29 PM
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Derakon
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Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
Nice! Lots of really impressive shots that just come in from out of left field. Now all you have to do is teach the bot to write the submission commentary. :)
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 2/16/2008 6:29 PM
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Derakon
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Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
My personal suspicion is that the music is purposefully 8-bit to sound like the old NES games. Thing is, the tunes suck anyway, 8-bit or 16-bit or 4096-bit. At least it lives up to its name.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 2/13/2008 4:17 PM
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Derakon
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Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
It's typically the rule that you play on the hardest difficulty mode possible, unless doing so makes the game less entertaining. So for example, if a beat-em-up's hardest difficulty was just like the previous difficulty except enemies had four times as much health, then playing on the hardest difficulty would just mean more time chipping away at the mooks with less room for the neat stuff. This kind of situation is pretty rare, though. I'd say that having enemies moving twice as fast is worth playing on the hardest difficulty.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 2/6/2008 6:50 AM
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Derakon
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Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
Well, that was just a stated preference, since I tend to prefer to see games played reasonably completely (not necessarily 100%, but the fun's in the journey, not in getting to the destination). Since it looks like that preference isn't tenable, obviously I'm not going to get to see what I want. Which is fine. :)
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 2/4/2008 11:40 PM
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Derakon
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Posts: 3960
I'd say use B only to use items, and then play through all of the game without using whistles. But I know that there are plenty of people here who would complain that that means that the game is not as fast as it could be, especially considering the no-running rule. I do think that using B only on the overworld is a better constraint than using B only when it doesn't accelerate you, since the latter is much harder to show cleanly without inspecting the inputs.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 2/3/2008 6:18 PM
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Derakon
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Posts: 3960
I think it'd be fair to use items, since that use of B is outside the normal play of the game. Frankly, so long as he makes a TAS that's interesting, I don't care what rules he uses.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 2/1/2008 7:57 PM
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Derakon
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Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
I was just re-re-watching this video...does the "bat spread" fired at the end of the second boss do damage? If so, that'd be an opportunity to speed up the bonus tally screen by a handful of frames. Edit: ditto with Death's scythe fling when he dies, though that might do enough damage to kill you.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 1/31/2008 4:35 PM
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Derakon
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Posts: 3960
If we're just going to go volunteering different shooters that could be interesting, Super Aleste (SNES) has a difficulty with death bullets from the enemies, and moreover has a ton of different weapons, each with at least two different modes (and the standard "vulcan cannon" weapon has something like eight different firing modes at its highest level).
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 1/30/2008 10:43 PM
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Derakon
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Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
I suspect you'll just have to track down their locations in memory. Alternatively, every time you end a level you could cheat yourself over to the other side of the map to see where they are, but I suspect that'd rapidly become too annoying to be worth doing, assuming you need to manipulate them.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 1/28/2008 9:17 PM
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Derakon
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Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
If that's really all that changes, then I doubt anyone will care what difficulty you use. Difficulty upgrades are mainly used for games where there are more enemies, obstacles, and the like on the harder modes. There is precedent for not using the hardest mode because it can actively detract from gameplay (e.g. a game where the enemies simply have doubled health, so you just spend more time beating on them and less doing various insane stunts). Still, codes to skip the game aren't gonna fly.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 1/17/2008 1:29 AM
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Derakon
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Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
Ahh, fair enough. Sadly, Gens doesn't appear to exist for Mac, so I can't use the .gmv file (and the AVI is no longer available). Oh, well. Someone mentioned a while back the possibility of a run of S3K with Super/Hyper Sonic already unlocked. Obviously this would have to start from a saved game.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 1/16/2008 5:44 AM
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Derakon
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Why do these games desynch so much? There has to be something that makes them more prone to desynchs than other games.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 1/16/2008 5:42 AM
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Derakon
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Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
I wouldn't mind seeing a glitchless S3K run. Nitsuja's run is awe-inspiring, but it doesn't always show much of the actual levels, which is a shame.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 1/14/2008 7:13 PM
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Derakon
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I get the impression that you'd have difficulty getting the "pornographic" version (as per Wikipedia) published here.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 1/11/2008 3:19 AM
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Derakon
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Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
Games don't usually get un-published here, though, so if we have an improvement on a game that's already been published, then we may as well publish it. We went all over this a while back when the princess-only run of SMB2 was updated.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 1/9/2008 2:31 AM
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Derakon
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Posts: 3960
So...on a totally unrelated note. Finally got around to watching this, and I have one question. On the giant bat boss fight, there's a lot of lag at the end. I assume most of this is due to the processor-intensive death animation, but you do also have a cross flying across the screen during this period which it seems like you could have thrown earlier; would that have made any difference?
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 1/6/2008 5:53 AM
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Derakon
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And the silly thing about the bloodlines is that the Belmonts get noticeably more powerful in the later generations. Richter can fly, and Julius in addition has more hitpoints than anyone should ever reasonably need.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 1/4/2008 7:16 PM
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Derakon
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It sounds like the Four Swords palace is like a bonus area; correct me if I'm wrong. If that's the case, though, then it seems like it should be permissable to allow starting from a savefile, as has been done in the past for e.g. Maxim/Julius Modes for the GBA Castlevania games. Then you could just make the run be "fastest run through Four Swords palace without using exploration glitches". Mind, I'm not certain how well that meshes with the three-hearts thing.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 11/20/2007 11:36 PM
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Derakon
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It really depends on how the difficulty is done. If the AI is simply smarter, without having artificially boosted stats, then I could see an argument for playing on the harder difficulty. However, the game was hard enough to plan out on Easy, so there's a counterargument there too. Definitely it's not worth playing, say, Castlevania on its hard difficulty, where you simply take much more damage when hit, with no other gameplay changes.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 11/20/2007 5:53 AM
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Derakon
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Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
I took a shot at this on Super Metroid...bad idea. The game's quite complex and requires precise motion; trivial by now for me at normal speed, but at 200% it's much more difficult. Formerly trivial platforming became much harder, even if there weren't any monsters in the area. Plus, that little invincibility window after getting hit is barely enough to register that I'm not where I meant to be. I spent a lot of time standing on spikes. :( I did use savestates; Kraid and Phantoon both took multiple tries (Kraid particularly loved to toss me off of the high platforms repeatedly). I am in fact still stuck at Ridley, with 9 E-tanks, 2 reserve tanks, and just not enough skill to beat him. Draygon oddly enough was cake, and Botwoon merely very hard to hit (went in with 105 missiles, came out with 6). I did the early supermissiles, early Spazer, Kraid without hi-jump, and skipped Grapple Beam; that's about it for sequence breaks. Oddly enough, I got the mockball on my third try. I don't know of any way to get less of a speedup than 200%; the only setting I have that appears to modify emulation speed is the turbo multiplier, which has only integer values. I'd like to try this at 150%; that seems like it'd be much more doable. Also, I would make a .smv, except that every movie I've ever downloaded desyncs, so I suspect that any movie I'd upload would also desync. Is there a guide somewhere to playing .smv files on SNES9x 1.4.3 for the Mac? Or alternatively, I downloaded 1.5.1, but it appears to do nothing when I select the .smv file after choosing "Play Movie...".
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 11/14/2007 5:13 PM
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Derakon
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As an example, Devil May Cry 3 (PS2 game) has an edition with a "Turbo" mode that ups the game speed by 20%. Playing on turbo throws you off for moves that require careful timing - things like jump-cancelling attacks multiple times in succession - until you get used to it. But you get very good at dodging attacks, and eventually you get the timing down for all of your tricks again. Drop it down to normal, and suddenly your re-learned timings are all wrong, but the monsters seem to move in molasses. Hmm...I should try a Super Metroid run at enhanced speeds. Should be interesting, but I'd have to take an alternative route with more energy tanks, since I'm pretty certain to take more damage.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 11/5/2007 6:34 PM
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Derakon
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Tremalkinger wrote:
And "takes no damage", assuming its slower than a regular run, is quite silly in a TAS, unless it differs significantly from the main run.
I wouldn't say that. Consider, say, a game where the enemies are laid out as an obstacle course, and the player is supposed to carefully weave between them (with only limited abilities to kill the enemies). Without tool assistance, you have to move slowly and carefully. With tool assistance, you can be much more "reckless", and that's entertaining. With tool assistance and taking damage, you can just run straight through them all - still entertaining, but potentially not as much as playing the game "the way it was meant to be played" but much more skillfully than ever expected. Ultimately it's a judgement call.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 11/5/2007 5:05 PM
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Derakon
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Does anyone know what determines if Draygon will keep firing his goo? I've had times where I lay one powerbomb and he'll keep shooting afterwards, and times when he stops mid-explosion. If I had to guess, I'd say it has something to do with how close I'm standing; I had a great (non-tool-assisted) fight where I was running along underneath him, firing missiles straight up into his belly and he didn't do anything about it. Of course, it could also just be random.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 11/1/2007 5:11 AM
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Derakon
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Consider your options: in Link to the Past, hearts are basically there to give the player a chance to make mistakes. In TASes, mistakes aren't made, which allows hearts to be used for other purposes, like purposefully ignoring an enemy that's in the way, or getting damage boosts. Is the game more interesting because you have to kill every enemy that's in your way? I don't personally think so; I think it's more interesting when the player makes use of all the resources available to him (with the possible exception of outright glitching). That includes health. This is exacerbated by the fact that Link just isn't very agile, so there aren't really many interesting acrobatic feats you could pull off. Your fastest option (when dealing with a foe in your way), in most cases, is going to be to walk through your enemy; your second fastest will be to kill it. In contrast, the Contra games are actually significantly more complicated to TAS when you don't kill everything you meet. Killing things tends to make the game faster, not slower as it would in a Zelda game. Moreover, the extra enemies must be dodged, because the protagonist dies in one hit, while in a Zelda game extra enemies don't usually affect the game strategy much one way or another. There's been similar debates about various other self-imposed restrictions, like the powerup-less Super Mario World run, the Capless Cannonless Coinless Mario 64 run, the minimalist Super Metroid run, and so on. The upshot is that each game, and each potential restriction for a game, must be taken on its own merits (and those merits are not just in how it impacts the game speed, but also in how it impacts the entertainment value of the run); you can't really use one game's use of a restriction to justify the use of a restriction in another game.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 11/1/2007 2:47 AM
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Derakon
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I'm not remotely close to the skill levels that most of the rest of you have - I never really got the hang of mock-balling, for example. But I tried my hand at an any% run today and got 0:58 (and 40% item pickup). My goal was to break 1 hour, so I'm happy with that. My major mistakes/omissions: * Well, obviously I didn't skip Spore Spawn. * I grabbed the Norfair reserve tank, since yesterday's attempt had me die to the Golden Torizo and it was the only extra energy supply remotely on my route. * I tried to grab the energy tank in the turtle room in Maridia, before discovering that the turtle doesn't actually get you high enough to grab it; oops. * I didn't even try the Zebetite skip. Additionally, there were plenty of missed shots, missed jumps, unnecessary damage, and unnecessary killing of enemies. Overall I got something like 85 missiles, 15 super missiles, 10 power bombs, and six energy tanks. I skipped the grappling beam; Draygon went down pretty easily without it and I didn't need it otherwise. Turns out all I needed to do differently for Golden Torizo was pick up the Plasma Beam; he's cake with it and a pain without it. Ridley was a bit tricky, but he calms way down if you drop the occasional power bomb in the middle of the room. The Mother Brain fight was damn-near choreographed - I knocked her out of her tank with my last super missile, and had 34 health left after she used her Plot Beam once. :) Route: morph -> missile -> Torizo -> bomb -> Spore Spawn -> super missile -> charge beam -> spazer -> Kraid -> varia -> hi-jump -> speed booster -> wave beam -> ice beam -> power bombs -> Phantoon -> gravity -> Botwoon -> Draygon -> space jump -> plasma -> Golden Torizo -> screw attack -> Ridley -> Mother Brain
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
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