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Posted: 4/7/2005 5:47 AM

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>I find trying every possibility to be just as big a pain with frame advance. Hmm? Why is that? At least with frame advance, you know exactly which frame you tested. For most instances you can circle in the frame you want easily by alternatively trying too early or too late frames. You don't really need to test all the frames. Doing it without knowing which frame you pressed the button (and also how many frames you held it) is a lot more cumbersome. I remember Genisto saying he did the same thing (without frame advance) to shoot as fast as possible every time for his Contra run. Alright, back on topic perhaps...

Posted: 4/6/2005 3:50 PM

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Thanks for the explanation, and the extra submission text! One thing I find a little funny is that you linked TouchOdeath's name all the time even though he has no page, but not mine even though I do have one. ;) Heh. Anyway, I voted your first YES vote now. I hope you'll get several more.

Posted: 4/6/2005 2:05 PM

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I've watched all of the last two worlds twice in slow-motion now and I still can't think of anything. :/ A winner is you.

Posted: 4/6/2005 1:39 PM

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He does fool around in the waiting sequences. Bombjumping among other things.

Posted: 4/6/2005 12:29 PM

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I remember this discussion well, because it was the first I had when I came here. One (difficult) way to do it is to check the instructions in the machinecode and see where next-item is stored and what triggers the change of it. That's probably overkill for this instance though. >It almost feels like the makers coded <insert irritating phenomenon here> just to make the life of tas-runners more difficult. Yeah, I've gotten this feeling more than once.

Posted: 4/6/2005 11:08 AM

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This was great. I hope you will make a short version with all these tricks soon, 100% is less interesting at least to me. >This is because I painstakingly re-recorded until every shot came out at the earliest possible frame. You can save 3+ frames a shot if you do this. I've done these types of things for every aspect of the run. Just checking: you ARE using frame advance, right? Without it I understand that could be a pain but with it it shouldn't be so.

Posted: 4/6/2005 10:51 AM

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Wohoo, a new X-men submission out of the blue. Thanks for that, I like the effort you have put into this game. The new bugs used look great, how about explaining them in your submission text? Didn't desynch and I even had DAC on the whole movie. There is one thing, at two of the final bosses, you don't stand at the edge of the screen when they die. Is there a reason for this? I have a vague memory of you doing the same thing in the last movie so maybe there's some good reason for it. Otherwise it's right at the very end so it's easy to fix. Voting yes as soon as that's answered.

Posted: 4/6/2005 9:38 AM

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Hey there Ouzo. Nice to see you haven't been lazy while I was away. I'll get right to analyzing the two last worlds.

Posted: 4/5/2005 4:53 PM

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>True, and I am willing to letgo of my theory when someone can prove that randomness exists. I was trying to say that it's impossible to know if randomness exists or not. >I know of it, but what you need to do is to se outside the human perspective. I know I might sound wierd now, but imagine if even that was possible. I is not possible today, but what says it's impossible in the future? The uncertanity law has nothing to do with humans or their perspective. Unless some new discovery completely invalidates this law (which seems unlikely - any new discovery would also have to explain earlier data which the law fits). What if is not meaningful. What if you traveled at the speed of light? What if you went north from the north pole? >I know this one sounds strange, but this way of thinking was natural in ancient times. Sokrates even "proved" this in an experiment. (Well, not so good maybe). Sokrates claimed that all knowledge was stored inside a person and could be brought up to the surface, i.e. learning. I agree with you and not with Sokrates. That was a pretty sorry excuse for an "experiment". ;) We know a lot more about the brain now than he did and it cleary does not operate that way. I guess my main point was: wheter the universe is predictable in any practical way (it's is clearly not) does not change if it's deterministic or not. That is unknowable.

Posted: 4/5/2005 4:32 PM

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Okay, here goes stupid suggestion time. At 2650, have you tried taking the right path? You can jump there from the very first block, and the ladder trick should work on the top too, but I'm not sure where that will get you because I don't fully understand that trick. At 5250, the game lags a lot. Is it because of the magnet beam or is it always like that? Could you use the magnetbeam ammo elsewhere? At 5800 something (paused too late, I don't know the specific frame) it looks like you hesitate for a few frames before exiting the wall above the guts block. I was going to write more but it's sleeping time. I'll edit this later or make a new post. Thanks for the welcome back too.

Posted: 4/5/2005 3:59 PM

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I was just suggesting another way of saying it. You are probably right about the sleeping comment, still.

A non quitter. Someone that does not give up.

But maybe that goes for you too. :P

Posted: 4/5/2005 3:52 PM

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>Example: If I knew how one person was raised, every single detail, then I would be able to tell how he/she will react in a certain situation since I know what experiences that would be used. No, because all behaviour is not learned. Some (more than you'd like to think) is genetic. >I am convinced that what many describe as "random" is something that only exists in theory. I think that it is possible to foresee anything if you just have enough data on earlier events. Depends. It is impossible to know if the universe is fully deterministic, at least at the moment. For example, radioactive decay seems to be random within some limits, but we don't know if this is because it is truly random or if it depends on some process we have not yet discovered. Then there is that pesky uncertainity law which prohibits you from knowing both the velocity and the position of an object at the same time. This means it is impossible to obtain enough data. >If everything is predictable, then do you already know everything you will ever know when you are born, since there is only a certain amount of information that you are meant to obtain. Or do you learn things by experience and impressions but what you will learn is still a result of earlier events. Even if which things you will learn troughout your life were deterministic, this wouldn't mean that you knew them before you actually learned them. (I think this is kind of obvious so I'm wondering if I'm really answering your question or somehow misunderstood it.) >But I am convinced that everything is possible to foresee, yes. To foresee everything you would need to know everything. To store all that knowledge you would need as many atoms and photons as there are in this universe, at a minimum. Where would you put them? You could simplify it (a whole lot) to some model of course (this is what all science does) but it wouldn't be wholly accurate anymore, especially not for something as complex as a human. That something is practically unforeseeable doesn't mean it's not deterministic though.

Posted: 4/5/2005 12:23 PM

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Yeah, there is a curse over the Sonic series. All who attempt disappear mysteriously for long periods of time and most never come back. I hope Quietust will find the time and energy to finish the last four levels, this was turning out to be one of the best (the best?) time attacks on this site. Get well soon, Q. At mr. Bag: Not-give-upper?

Posted: 4/5/2005 11:41 AM

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I have the same problem with the keystrokes on my laptop. I can only use two buttons at the same time. You know there's an accepted submission for this game right? http://tasvideos.org/movies.cgi?id=155M It's a bit better than yours.

Posted: 4/5/2005 9:58 AM

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Heh, another thing I never noticed. I always run by holding the button. TSA, why not simply get the emulator? I think your help during the making of this movie would be very beneficial and appreciated. But if you only give input after something is done it means a lot of extra work for the one making the movie.

Posted: 4/5/2005 8:45 AM

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More people didn't comment on this? It's... amazing. I had several "what is he doi.. what?!" I suggest updating the picture for this movie with something more extraordinary, perhaps with the glitched grappling hook. The current picture doesn't do this movie justice. Three things I thought about: 1) Could you get more life-refills and make up for it by more double stars? I know the random in this game is a bitch to manipulate, but anyway. Then you could take a hit or two more somewhere. 2) You kill very few of the shadow enemies in the final castle. Are they that strong? More tone on the final boss is always nice... 3) The previous version had some running-in-the-air in the overhead levels when you pushed against a wall while jumping, this version doesn't show that glitch. Any reason why?

Posted: 4/5/2005 7:54 AM

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I have watched this movie now and voted yes. However, this is mostly because I there already is a published version which is worse. I don't think the choice of game is very good, however well-played it might be.

Posted: 4/5/2005 6:50 AM

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This... was great. I like how you sneak in and between the falling objects and keep going in full speed as if they weren't there. I also played the Rockford clone, but I never got anywhere in it. That game was silly hard in some places. Maybe that's why I only recognized 2 something levels which were copied. Well, you guessed it: yes.

Posted: 4/5/2005 5:33 AM

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I didn't know that either. I always just pressed forward until he jumped. I noticed you always dropped down immediately when running but thought it had more to do with the running than with holding the button. Anyway, you already knew you had mistakes before this and decided to let them be, do that with this one too. You'll need to make a new version when this is done anyway.

Posted: 4/4/2005 6:53 PM

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I've been away for a while... I just had to say what everybody else did, those sandworms got royally stomped on. I have to ask one thing about the old part which I know you won't go back and redo... at 55580, you walk to the right to pick up a pot and get a key. After this you run the same path to the left. Shouldn't either walking or running be faster both times? For the tower and new parts: 63700: after walking the first ladder, can you dash right and then up? The distances seem long enough for it to pay off. 64440: after the second ladder, how about walking a tile to the right, and then dashing down and then right? One less dash-startup. 65560: After warping and jumping down the ledge, how about walking up a bit and then dash all the way to the right until you reach the stairs? Tower boss: Does everything give the same damage to this boss? Thinking mostly of charged sword vs regular sword. I am guessing this is so, I am only making sure. Later.

Posted: 3/19/2005 7:52 PM

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>I'll check it out, but I think it takes less time to move the cursor to run and send the command through, than it does to hit Fight ---> select an enemy ---> send THAT command through. You are right and I am wrong. >I plan to finish the final version on level 10. Didn't think of this. Scrap the EXIT idea too then. >I remember reading in this thread that while you're walking on damage tiles, you cannot encounter enemies. I don't mind taking an extra step or two to save me from an unneccesary/early fight. That might have been me. Thing is, the step counter is still decreased when you walk on damage tiles. So if you walk on some damage tiles before walking on some regular tiles, all you did was lose some health. The enemy appears at the same step anyway. The difference is that you cannot start a battle on a damage tile. So if you are already down to one step until battle, it will be postponed until you walk on a normal tile. Just wanted to clarify that. Another thought: 9) Could you juggle the usable items to the top so that you will have fewer cursor moves every time you use them?

Posted: 3/19/2005 6:36 PM

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It means he always gets the best spell from the slot machine. It's rigged, to your disadvantage mostly, but not if you know how it works. There was a link some posts back with technical descriptions on how to cheat it.

Posted: 3/19/2005 6:30 PM

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Read the instructions. "Please do not vote without watching the movie first."

Posted: 3/19/2005 5:28 PM

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Hey there Teri. I understand. I can't make movies at the moment either although I would like to. I am looking forward to your next version though, when you get the time. I like your style. >If someone want to make a new one ,substitute(instead of?) me, ... "instead of" is correct. I usually don't point these kind of things out (I know how difficult English is for native Japanese speakers and vice-versa), but you asked, sort of.

Posted: 3/19/2005 2:39 PM

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Ok, only watched a couple of minutes, here are thoughts so far: 1) Giving people interesting names takes no time compared to the length of the movie. It's a lot easier to follow to (who got attacked? who got the level up?) 2) When running, select run for the character which moves first only. Select fight for the others. This way you'll have to move the cursor three times less per run-away. (If you have to wait for the last character to select anything for randomness manipulation this doesn't apply. Same thing when someone fails to run away.) 3) Check the memory addresses to predict what's going to happen instead of testing every frame all the time. This applies for encounter rates, critical hits, first strikes, if you can escape or not, everything. Next encounter variable is set at an especially inconvinient time, when you enter or exit a battle (not sure which). Checking the memory address is so much less trouble than taking X steps to test. 4) Sometimes NPCs are in your way. Is there any way to affect their behaviour? 5) Sometimes you have easily avoidable ineffectives. Are all of them because the damage wouldn't kill the enemy any faster? 6) Can the Red Mage get EXIT? And is there anywhere where this could be useful? 7) Sometimes you walk on the damage tiles more than neccessary. I realize this doesn't matter when you're already down to 1 hp. 8) Does the Red Mage have a higher chance to hit with the bane? If not, have the first person to attack perform it. Don't perform banes when it misses everyone.