I think I can answer those two questions.
1) When screenscrolling to the left, you can pass an obstructed tile. Screenscrolling to the right, this is impossible and you get stuck.
2) In level 8, the dragon boss needs to be killed to open the door.
1) I see, thank you
2) Oh dear, I feel so stupid now... How could I miss that!? O_o
This was awesome. Very impressive and very entertaining. Thank you for making this TAS.
Two questions, if I may:
1) On the screen to the east of collecting the bracelet, why did you not screen-warp to the east instead of walking south, east, north to get there?
2) In level 8, what was the purpose of killing the little dragon ("level 1 boss") in the lower right corner?
The author flashing his penis at every reset was actually the most entertaining parts of this TAS. 😶
Even with optimization applied, I personally don't find this new branch very entertaining. I say "new branch", because I don't think it should be compared with any of the currently published branches.
Loved it. Really impressive and unexpected solutions to almost every room. Well done!
I support this being published. Entertainment was top notch throughout.
Btw, which game(s) is/are the music and sound effects from? I feel nostalgia tickeling my ears, but can't quite figure it out.
"Did you like watching this movie?"
Yes, yes I did. Hence, yes vote. It ties HappyLee in time, and almost ties HappyLee in entertainment. What's not to like? You guys who voted no must be really picky. :)
Should it be published? No, but that's not the question stated.
Well done, Thegame22!
Also, thanks for the great comparison video, GMP.
I don't think it should be published because of the goal, but I voted yes. I was very curious how this was to be done, got even more curious at the stairs, and smiled at the end if the video. I liked watching this video. Well done.
Although I didn't actually join until 2016, I've been lurking on TASVideos almost every day since 2005 when my first daughter was born (watching every TAS on the site with her on my lap (she's still watching speedruns, btw)). It always makes me happy when a "golden oldie" get his/her first TAS published. Congratulations in advance, impressive TAS, impressive work!
Meh = not very entertaining to watch.
But incredibly impressive achievement and submission description. Wow. Just wow. Thank you so, so much for taking the time to make and document this.
This run is entirely arbitrary. It assigns a "goal" at complete random. Another run for a game that is the first of its kind is going to be rejected on the basis that beating the game-assigned high scores is "arbitrary", but a player-assigned goal with no clear end ("62 A buttons") is somehow acceptable as the umpteenth branch of a game?
Acumenium, while I don't agree with all of your opinions, you are entitled to have them, and I defend your right to express them.
But let's stop this nonsense about the category being "62 A presses". It is not. It is "as few A presses as the player could achieve at the time of making the TAS".
I agree that "62 A presses" is arbitrary, but that is not what this is.
I understand that this is not for everyone because of the many unavoidable jumps and necessary waits, and I do agree with Spikestuff that the more general button-restricting TAS is a more interesting category.
I voted yes, though. I was entertained, and I am very impressed by the techical achievement. Congratulations and thanks to all authors.
My jaw dropped already at the ending of 1-1. Moon gravity!
While I personally see the nameless Mido man's sword skill / note / underwear to be conceptually equal to Bagu's note, my opinion is that Arc himself should be the one to define 100% in his own 100% TAS. And I think he did a damn good job in defining it.
It was never my intent to try to convince Arc to include the underwear. My intent was to make Arc aware of their existence and properties, so he himself could take them into consideration. And he as done so, and I am perfectly happy with Link not stripping the poor man of his briefs.
Samsara wrote:
Requiring things like that borders on Saturn territory where arbitrary decisions are made to go out of the way to collect things that are completely functionally useless in the long run and serve to do nothing more than just make the run "more 100%" when it doesn't need to be.
To be perfectly clear: I did NOT bring this up just to add more stuff to the 100% definition. I would actually have collected less stuff than Arc does, had I had the time and skills to do TASes (http://tasvideos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=34&start=850). It's that Bagu's note and the Mido underwear are treated differently that made me react, and inform Arc. I would have been perfectly fine with Arc NOT collecting Bagu's note, too, as that would mean that quest items are not really necessary to add in his 100% definition (since all other quest items would only be picked up to get spells, not because they "count").
Its fine that you disagree. I'm just giving you the info to consider.
The nameless Mido-man's "note" is the only permanent collectable (except the non-enemy-dropped P-bags) that you do not collect. It is the only "item" that is saved and restored from SRAM that you don't collect.
None of the other things you mention, such as walking every tile, reading every sign etc has this property. That's why I see the nameless Mido-man's "note" as a quest item.
By the way, the nameless Mido-man's "note" is stored at 0796, sharing address with the sword skills (downward- and upward thursts). So the nameless Mido-man actually doesn't give Link a note - he teaches Link a new sword skill (the infamous "Give me info on palace 3, or taste my steel" technique (only works on men from Ruto named Error)). Upon learning this awesome sword skill, bit #1 of the value at 0796 is set (in effect increasing the value by 2). So possible hex-values for 0796 are 0, 2, 4, 6, 10, 12, 14 and 16 depending on what combinations of these three sword skills Link has learned.
And let me say again what a formidable TAS you have made, Arc. Your best one yet, in my opinion.
Speaking of future versions, there is a seventh quest item that fits your category definition "actions or items that can be objectively measured": Talking to a guy in Mido permanently changes what Error of Ruto says when spoken to. Not much different from Bagus note (imagine the guy saying "Show my note to Error of Ruto" instead of "Ask Error of Ruto about the palace"). First time playing the game, Error's new message is practically essential for game progress, since it gives the location of the cave to palace 3.
Edit: If you agree with my reasoning on this seventh quest item, it should be trivial to edit into this submission on your only visit to Mido, since you reset after getting the fairy spell.
I'm glad you mentioned the quest items. I understand that it may appear that Link is only talking to Bagu (and, to a lesser extent, only talking with the Mirror Lady and Thirsty Lady). So it may appear that those are actions, because there is no visual representation of the note, mirror, or water—in contrast to the trophy, water of life, and child.
However, they are, in fact, all items. The six quest items appear sequentially in the RAM:
$0798 changes from 0 to 16 after getting the Trophy
$0799 changes from 0 to 1 after getting the Mirror
$079A changes from 0 to 8 after getting Bagu's note
$079A changes from 8 to 72 after getting the Water of Life (possibly 64 if no note)
$079B changes from 0 to 1 after getting the Water
$079C changes from 0 to 32 after getting the Child
And so the main point is that Bagu actually gives Link a physical note to give to the River Man, not just a verbal message.
I understand that Error is a famous meme. But if talking to him counted as a meaningful action, then I think that talking to any character that gives gameplay tips would also have to count. There is a red ache in Nabooru who gives a tip about a Heart Container if Link talks to it twice, for example. I think it would be subjective to determine which characters have useful tips, and I don't think getting tips from characters is meaningful. Also Bagu's note is a required item to cross the bridge in Saria to Death Mountain, whereas the Island Palace is accessible regardless of whether Link talks to Error.
It is not Error himself that should be talked to. It is the nameless man in Mido that should be talked to.
Talking to the nameless Man in Mido changes RAM (and the save file) permanently much in the same way that talking to Bagu does. Bagu's note changes the action of the river man in Saria permanently. The Mido-man's "note" changes the action of Error of Ruto permanently.
I fully agree that Link does not need to speak to Error, to the red ache in Nabooru, to the bot in Saria, and even to the river man in Saria. Neither of these are "actions or items that can be objectively measured". Neither change RAM (nor the save file) permanently.
Talking to the nameless man in Mido, however, is an action that can be objectively measured, just as talking to Bagu is. It changes RAM (and the save file) permanently and can be counted towards 100% completion.
Sorry for bringing this up so late. I was not around much on TASvideos while you were working on this.
Overall I think that it could theoretically work to save a little time. I am not sure that it would work in practice. If it works, it would require significantly redoing the second half of the movie. For now I think it is minor enough to allow some time to pass and then look at it again in a future improvement movie, when there may be other improvement ideas as well. It is an intriguing idea with real potential, though.
Thanks Arc. It was never my intention to have you cancel this wonderful submission and redo significant parts of it. Its not even proven to actually save any time, so putting it on a list of possible future improvements sound good.
Speaking of future versions, there is a seventh quest item that fits your category definition "actions or items that can be objectively measured": Talking to a guy in Mido permanently changes what Error of Ruto says when spoken to. Not much different from Bagus note (imagine the guy saying "Show my note to Error of Ruto" instead of "Ask Error of Ruto about the palace"). First time playing the game, Error's new message is practically essential for game progress, since it gives the location of the cave to palace 3.
Edit: If you agree with my reasoning on this seventh quest item, it should be trivial to edit into this submission on your only visit to Mido, since you reset after getting the fairy spell.
A question: When placing a crystal and the exp begins to tick, one can UP+A and have the exp continue ticking on restarting in the North castle. Was this considered (to avoid waiting for level up), but not useful anywhere?
As far as I know, XP from a crystal does not continue incrementing after restarting. I checked it again after your post. Restarting at any time before reaching the level-up resets XP to 0. Knowing that XP resets to 0 after a restart was a major factor in XP planning. If XP continued incrementing after a restart, then I could have restarted earlier after Palace 3. But if I don't wait for the XP to reach 5000 and accept the level-up, I lose it all on restart.
Also sorry about the notification sounds in the temp encode.
Hmm... It works that way on my Swedish PAL Zelda 2 NES cart from 1988. Perhaps it's a PAL only "feature"? If I have, say, 100 exp and next level is 5000 when I place the crystal, wait for the exp ticking, and A+UP-reset when it has ticked to, say 110, then when I restart, the exp starts ticking from 0 all the way to 4890 (5000 - 110).
I can actually even restart on any save file, and the "buffered" exp carries over to that save file. It was fun playing around with as a child, to get lots of exp to a new game file. Sorry, I thought this was well known.
Having rewatched all Z2 branches, I like this one the most. While it does not feature the most entertaining boss fights due to high attack, the added combat makes up for it, and leveling up is so satisfying compared to cancelling it.
A question: When placing a crystal and the exp begins to tick, one can UP+A and have the exp continue ticking on restarting in the North castle. Was this considered (to avoid waiting for level up), but not useful anywhere?
I've been thinking about which way would be most entertaining to TAS 100%. I think it's best not to do any serious gamebreakers, because if people are watching 100%, I think that they want to explore of whole game "in peace" without graphical corruption or other glitches that would make the game not "authentic." But otherwise it would be done as fast as possible, meaning warps are ok. And then for defining 100%, I think it should be:
-Attack/Magic/Life-8
-All Heart/Magic Containers
-All Link Dolls
-All inventory items
-All quest MacGuffins
-All spells
-All sword techs
-All keys
-All bosses
-All palaces
Exempt jars, fairies, and P-Bags because they are potentially infinite.
I agree with this. Definitely avoid L+R and scroll lock as an entertainment tradeoff, but include all kinds of warps (maybe there are even warps between palaces that can be utilized in 100%?). I believe that maxing out levels will make the TAS more enjoyable to watch, as Arc's monster killing is always a blast, and you have so many more locations to visit where you can raise entertainment by killing monsters. I would personally not have included the dolls, but I have nothing against it, either.
Looking forward to watching this!
Nominating for Submission text of 2020. I saw the movie playing in my head while reading. Amazing work.
Oh, and the TAS was great, too. Best this year in my opinion.
Thanks a million for making this. And I too would love to see a 100% TAS.
A question: What happens if Link attempts to leave a 7th crystal? How does it affect inventory screen and Great palace entry?
Very impressive and entertaining indeed. You are a great TASer, Mr Fruitbatsalad. Thank you.
It would be very interesting to hear about (and watch) your 1-upgrade-run-comparison if you attempt this, even if it ends up being slower. (and even better if it's faster!)