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I can't tell you how many times I watched this. The game was fun in itself, especially challenging on Expert, but this run does everything I wish I could, and many things I didn't know were possible. Amazing run.
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Am I posting too often?
Problems with splicing forced me to learn hex editing. This really is tough. First Boss GMV
Rafflesia Training Grounds: Same route, but optimized. Arkiandruski unwisely goes through the entire course for 20 malins rather than zoning.
Dahlia Valley: I hit every monster when I can for a speed boost. The second one is literally pushed into the cliff, and killing him doesn't spawn an egg fast enough (luck manipulation?). I tried really really hard to get up the cliff quicker, but the springboard still seems the fastest path. Arkiandruski throws the sword at the dam as soon as possible, but I take advantage of the waterfall's speed boost to carry me down.
Wolf: First I charge up my sword and perform a spin attack. Then I remember I'm playing the wrong game. Primary speed methods: (1) throwing the sword at the first possible frame; (2) getting as close to the Wolf as possible to allow the sword to contact 1 frame after it appears; (3) swinging the sword at the stars to begin charging quicker; (4) killing the Wolf and taking damage simultaneously to jump towards the exit. I make chop suey out of the Wolf when all is said and done.
Dahlia Valley: Again, instead of waiting at the bottom for the waterfall to appear, I ride it all the way down.
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Atma wrote:
I'd also say you should to a point use the existing wip for comparison to see if you're faster, equal, or slower at certain points. It may not provide much use, but a reference point is always good to have.
So far I beat the WIP run in every section (except a tie when talking to the king) :P But I will still use it as a reference: for example, usually in Dahlia Valley I go straight for the spring pad, but now I'll check the feasibility of climbing the wall instead.
To be honest, the reason I made the normal speedrun was because someone on youtube posted an exceedingly crappy first part. It made me rage. Then I happened upon this WIP TAS and, well, it didn't make me rage, but I definitely felt that the game needs all the attention it can get. I guess you can call it my tribute to the game.
upthorn wrote:
But yeah basically the only thing you can do to corner tighter is to slow down every once in a while. If you know exact speeds, distances, and acceleration/deceleration you can calculate what the best times will be to let go of the d-pad.
Thanks for the tip! I made a spreadsheet with "skid distances" based on when I let go of the dpad. In a test of turning into a gap 17 pixels away, the table gave me six possible "best" inputs, two of which were the most efficient (one of which is my favorite method of cornering). The first two had too little velocity in the skid frames, and the last two included a diagonal input: when you make a 90° turn, you lose all your original momentum after 2 frames, and the diagonal caused me to overshoot the gap significantly. This will definitely help me line up troublesome areas.
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Highness wrote:
I have watched the entire speed run now, and I must say it was very cool. Nicely executed with very few misses.
I'm looking forward to see if your (Eratyx) TAS is going to hold the same quality.
Definitely. I'm up to Dahlia Valley now. The Rafflesia coin farming looks just like in my normal run, but optimized.
There will inevitably be points where I fail to catch specific pixels, and I wish I had a better method of cutting corners. Currently I make a save state shortly before a corner, figure out which frame puts you past the obstacle, and then try turning 2 or 3 frames beforehand, then comparing each result with a nearby marker. It all depends on how fast he's travelling at the time of turning...from neutral, his pixels/frame speed are: 0-0-1-1-1-1-1-2-1-2-1-2-2-2-3-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-3, etc., and that erratic 3 screws up my placement sometimes. It often takes me 1-3 minutes per corner to do it right. Does anyone have any tips regarding more efficient cornering?
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I'm actually making a TAS of this right now. It's quite intriguing and difficult. I gain control outside on frame 3451, and that's after entering my name as "Grif". I've also nailed the method, if not the mechanism, for slamming into Bill. By hugging the bottom of the table, you force yourself into it by one pixel. If you keep holding right for 11 frames, then suddenly hold down, by the time it registers in frame 14, the turn forces you out of the table at the same moment your movement forces you out of Bill.
If I could watch the memory I'd know what was going on better, but my theory is that by overlapping 2 pixels (1 in the table, 1 in Bill), you trigger the "you're going too fast" wall slam, and since bouncing on a diagonal is impossible, arbitrarily it chose down.
Unfortunately, the technique is virtually worthless since it requires you to hug the bottom side of an object while moving into an NPC.
First room GMV
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Okay, I've got it now. In a test movie, I press A on frame 100, then tell it to save the splice at frame 100. If I go back and pause at frame 50 and put the splice in there, A is pressed on frame 51.
Thanks for the hints!
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I see! So once I've created the splice file, I can reload from a save state and redo that segment, making it faster. As for desyncs, I know it's one of the nightmares of TASers. I doubt that this game will be subject to it due to (1) no lag frames except in very rare situations and (2) little randomness, only in enemy movement patterns. Supposing it still desynced, I could just make another input splice, correct?
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I'm starting my first TAS, Crusader of Centy. I've already done a regular, multi-segment speedrun of this so I already have most of my route planned out. However, there is a possibility that while playing it back, I'll discover some new tricks and will have to redo a certain part while keeping later inputs. This, I hear, is where the new "input splice" feature of Gens Movie 10a comes in.
The problem is that I don't know how it works, and I can't seem to figure it out. There's no documentation for it. Could somebody explain to me very carefully how input splicing is performed so I don't screw up later?
Amazing!