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Well, this run didn't blow my socks off, but there were moments I enjoyed and the game is colorful and pleasant to look at, so I'll vote "yes" for this.
I had some questions about taking or not taking damage near the beginning, but looking at your health, it seems you made the right decisions there.
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http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/49878076640857887
Okay, I have been working on this in the background while waiting for the Saturn core to be updated.
Link to video
While it may not be 110% optimized, it's definitely good enough for a test run, and I don't see much more improvement coming out, really.
Some things to note:
While in the Saturn version, you can bump yourself forward by landing on enemies, in the Playstation version, that will cause you to stumble and waste time, so it's best to not make contact with enemies at all
If I don't attack in the air, running into an enemy will bump me backwards. The attack negates it under certain circumstances. There are times where an enemy's hitbox is too large to just attack through.
Pretty much every attack I do serves a similar purpose to that. They are to prevent the compy from losing momentum or being bumped backwards.
This game has fall damage, but you can jump out of an attack after it's over, even if you are in mid air at the time. This lets me fall distances that would normally kill me and ignore the platforming I'm supposed to do.
At the end of the video, I have a preview for what you can expect in every single human level. This is the main reason I would prefer to do the Saturn version, but I can't until the core is updated. From what I can see, at its max, that movement is faster than running. The disadvantages of it are that you can't move diagonally while doing it, and every once in a while it can stall. I'm not sure what causes that. Also it comes accompanied with a really annoying sound that lasts the entire level, and renders all human levels trivial.
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Oh, right. That. Well, once you travel a certain distance up the exit stairs, the game takes control away from you to bring the character up to the roof. Once you are up on the roof, you are stuck there until the level ends.
If a brother happens to game over while the other brother is already at the exit, then the brother at the exit is unable to leave, so the game rewards the brother that made it by letting him go on to the next level.
What happens in my run is the brother dies after the game has taken control away from the other brother, but before he hits that invisible wall that checks whether or not you completed the level task, so the wall blocks him, and he continues through the animation of going to the roof, and when that completes, the game thinks he's at the exit, so it responds in the appropriate way.
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fsvgm777 wrote:
TASVideoAgent wrote:
The only difference between the difficulties in this game is the points you get in the final score tally of each level. It doesn't change the time limits on the levels, enemy behavior, or the points you get for doing any actions in the stages.
Actually, it seems the time limit ticks down a wee bit faster on Hard than on Normal (judging from the comparison encode).
Man, if that's the case it's beyond stupid. Either way, the level input from the movie still syncs in hard difficulty, and I'm not counting the menus toward the improvement.
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Welp, since the reason for keeping this project secret is gone now, might as well reveal what I was doing.
The Lost World: Jurassic Park was released both for Saturn and Playstation. While I played it on the Playstation as a child, the Playstation version has a glitch in the human level which I hate because it's accompanied by a very annoying sound and may very well be the fastest way to move anyways. Also, the Playstation version doesn't allow me to bump myself forward by hitting enemy tails.
However, I figured if I submitted the Saturn version, which doesn't include that human level glitch, people might start asking about it, so I decided to do both versions of the game in tandem to be released at the same time, allowing the audience to decide what's the better version.
Sadly:
Link to video
As you can see, the game locks up in the third level. It doesn't accept input beyond this point. It still locks up when I play the game in real time and even if I use the level select code. As it is right now, the game is unplayable on current Saturn emulators. As such, this is what I've got, and what I'll continue to have until emulation is fixed.
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http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/48968249755490348
And here's level 3
Link to video
The big notes are on the turtle boss. The ring doesn't drop until the icicles dislodged by his stomp attack stop falling. Based on that, you want him to stomp as soon as possible, but not before he dies because if he stomps before he dies, the stomp will freeze you and make the fight take longer.
I jump on to the turtle's shell because that actually changes the icicle pattern into something I can dodge. I know it might look weird, but it was for a purpose.
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Link to videohttp://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/48952838770970742
Second level is 356 frames faster than published run.
The desert area is the only place in the entire game that really lags, but it lags hard. Not collecting the High jump ring from the worm meant that I had to be much more diligent about my lag management, which was much tougher, since I couldn't have as many projectiles on screen, I think it was worth it, though, since it is faster to collect from that statue right before you're forced to high jump to continue the game.
Firebird was manipulated to come out of his phase where he zooms across the screen a lot quicker.
I went on to the screen after level 2 because I needed to test that to measure actual time save over collecting certain health refills that are a little off the path. Verdict is: I still come out faster not collecting them.
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And actually name your characters properly this time. Remember, text is not going to have any effect on the judgement for speed. It's the gameplay that matters.
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Okay, so this is long overdue. I think my plan is to alternate potential longer and more involved projects with ones that should be much shorter, so I can get kind of a palette cleanser between runs. My less involved project this time is Jewel Master.
The run that's currently on the site is incredibly sloppy and unoptimized, and watching speedruns of the game has convinced me that there is a lot of room for improvement.
When I first tried to run the game, I made an effort to find RAM values but ultimately failed for whatever reason. I'm not exactly sure what kept me away from getting it right, really. Anyways, I was able to find the values I needed. Most important is finding Player health and X position, and boss health.
So my plan for this run is mostly to clean it up. There are going to be a few new strategies, mostly on bosses, but the large portion of it will be just making better inputs. Also, I think I could benefit by being a little more aggressive taking damage.
So here's what I got for level 1: It's 84 frames faster than published.
http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/48779407286752783Link to video
Some notes:
Watching RAM values was very helpful, here's what I found and used to my advantage:
When you don't have the speed ring, damage boosting saves time, and turning around is slower than just holding right.
When you have the speed ring, taking damage will slow you down, but if you absolutely have to take damage, turning around is faster.
Taking damage on the ground will push you forward more than in the air.
This is why you see my technique for taking damage completely change partway through the level. Also, I know there's a point where I have the speed ring, but don't turn around, this is done for better positioning on the next plant.
For the tiger, having two attack rings doesn't allow you to attack any faster than having one, but the trajectory of the wave spell allows me to get more attacks on the boss at the very beginning of the fight.
That's all I have for now. Please leave feedback.
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As far as I know, PS2 emulators have not yet developed to the point where they are viable for TAS tools, so any work on PS2 games in mostly speculative.
As for glitches, Maybe this will help?
https://www.speedrun.com/docff7/guides
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Yes. In both cases, the entire time Aero is respawning, the boss is invulnerable, so I'm not missing any extra hits there.
In Boris' case, taking damage allows Aero to bypass a damage barrier that's protecting him. Dying gives me two more hit points to do it again.
In Alter Aero's case, taking damage from the fireballs skips a long time where Alter Aero is just sitting there invulnerable while the fireball chases you around the screen (watch the world record speedrun of this fight to see how long the fireball attack lasts) The point where two fireball attacks in a row happen, Aero's normal damage invulnerability is not long enough to prevent him taking to damage and dying anyway, so I intentionally die to the first one so that Aero can be back in the game when Alter Aero becomes vulnerable again.
I hope this answers your question. Thank you.
EDITED TO ADD
Here's a link to an old WIP which doesn't die on the Boris boss fight for comparison
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf7l5skgpDQ&t=10m26s
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To a layman, it doesn't look like a lot of super crazy stuff is going on, and the fact that a lot of bosses really come down to waiting and dodging until they decide to just give up really counts against this movie.
On the other hand, this game does have a sort of goofiness to it that helps it a bit, and I didn't get bored watching, so I guess I'll vote "yes"
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Haven't watched the run yet, but this can only be in the moons category, which means the audience should be considered in all decisions. The guidelines page on this site says to use interesting names if you can name your characters. I tend to prefer default names personally, but naming everyone the exact same thing is way out.
I'm always in favor of glitch avoidance runs, though, especially if the fastest run skips as much of the game as the current Earthbound run does. Just know aiming for this different category puts your run in a higher standard for entertainment. Don't do anything that would detract from that.
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http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/48313338740558231
So, I know it's been a while since I've posted, but Exonym and I have been busy on Discord shaving frames off of every level. Now we're finally at the point where we can show our fruits.
Link to video
Pretty much every level except for the Boardin' Zone levels has been changed in this version. We're aware that it's starting to look samey and less like gameplay, though and are already talking about making a zipless version of this game. I'd like to finish this run first before tackling that run though, but it's definitely in the backburner for future runs.
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Wait, that second picture looks reachable, and if you can jump off the wall afterward, that should be enough height to reach the powerup. Why do you say it's not?
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Alright, I'm currently trying to collect the fire powerup in Dr Dis Industries without taking the long road. Right now it appears to be just out of reach. If you can help me gain just a little more height, or push Aero a bit more to the left, so that he just barely clips into the powerup, that'd be great. I'll keep trying on this side.
http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/47856774724568461
EDIT: And after I posted this, I went through and got the powerup the developer intended way just to see if it was worth it.
http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/47857104999592493
That's all from me today. I'll get back at this tomorrow.
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The fact that you got into that gap might be relevant.
Not sure what time zone you're in, but if you stick around a little longer, you might be able to provide some insight to get the Fort Redstar boss done one hit earlier.
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Alright, I'm currently going over an idea I had for Fort Redstar 3. I'll look at this boss run after I get done with that.
EDIT: Never mind, it didn't pan out. i thought that since we were clipping through the left side of the platforms anyways, grabbing the other health upgrade that we were skipping might be faster, but if you just run through, the enemy for the down screw refuses to jump in time.
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Okay, yeah, that fire powerup thing should be tried. I know there's a powerup in each level. I might even be able to reach them going backward from developer intended route.
