Posts for zidanax


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Experienced Forum User, Player, Published Author (215)
Joined: 2/12/2006
Posts: 373
Location: Oregon
Sorry I've been away so long. Here's the revised Marahna Act 1: http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/747451686/ActRaiser_%28U%29_Zidanax_and_Dunnius_v2_Marahna_Act_1_Done_with_new_trick.smv 123 frames saved using that new trick. It's not about 200 frames because Dunnius didn't notice that jumping to offscreen causes death. Dunnius and I checked for places before Marahna Act 1 and we don't think there's anywhere else this trick would save time. You need a wall that goes all the way to the top of the screen and that doesn't have a ceiling with it. A very rare thing indeed. PJ noted that although there's a place where you can use the trick in the beginning of Northwall Act 2 it doesn't really save time because of the time it takes to get hit in the right place. I tried it myself and a reasonable effort still left me 700 frames behind. The problem is that you have to get hit by one of those eyes, and you have to lead them to the right wall in that first section, which takes awhile. So I think Marahna Act 1 is the only place that this trick saves time. Frankly, I'm relieved. EDIT: changed SMV url
Experienced Forum User, Player, Published Author (215)
Joined: 2/12/2006
Posts: 373
Location: Oregon
Experienced Forum User, Player, Published Author (215)
Joined: 2/12/2006
Posts: 373
Location: Oregon
Here's Aitos Act 2 completed. 44 frames saved--7 frames saved up to the beginning of the boss, 37 frames saved in the boss fight. http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/1417627259/ActRaiser_%28U%29_Zidanax_and_Dunnius_v2_Aitos_Act_2_Done.smv EDIT: Whoops, I forgot to use neo_omegon's trick at the end of the Act. 14 more frames saved. http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/1296345182/ActRaiser_%28U%29_Zidanax_and_Dunnius_v2_Aitos_Act_2_Done.smv
Experienced Forum User, Player, Published Author (215)
Joined: 2/12/2006
Posts: 373
Location: Oregon
Since Dunnius hasn't responded yet, here's what he said the last time I bugged him:
Conversation with dunnius at 8/7/2010 3:17:22 PM on zidanax (aim)
(3:17:31 PM) zidanax: Any progress with the Aitos sim?
(3:19:48 PM) dunnius: I am about half way planning the route. I managed to save frames at the end using the same trick as Kasandora
Experienced Forum User, Player, Published Author (215)
Joined: 2/12/2006
Posts: 373
Location: Oregon
I noticed that your SMV was made using "Arcana (U) [h1C]". That is actually a hacked ROM. Your SMV still syncs with the clean ROM, but I suggest that you track down the clean ROM and TAS using that. You can check whether a ROM is good by using NSRT. Also, did your first link have a ROM or something? I'm wondering what would cause it to be removed.
Experienced Forum User, Player, Published Author (215)
Joined: 2/12/2006
Posts: 373
Location: Oregon
Do you have a link to an SMV with what you've done so far? If you do, put it up on dehacked's Microstorage at http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php Do you know about lua scripting? Especially since you're planning to TAS an RPG, it would be a good idea to know how to do it. One place to start would be http://tasvideos.org/LuaScripting.html. One possible application: if it turns out, for example, that waiting the right amount of time can make the character dodge, you could make a lua script that tries many different waiting times until it finds the right one. One more thing. Keep in mind that if you decide to submit this, it may not be accepted. I say that because although I personally like this game it doesn't seem to be very popular and wandering through mazes with little change in look may bore many viewers. But of course if you want to TAS it anyway, go ahead. I at least would like to see a complete TAS of this game :).
Experienced Forum User, Player, Published Author (215)
Joined: 2/12/2006
Posts: 373
Location: Oregon
A nice job, but what I'm more concerned about is game choice. Seems to me like things could get repetitive, especially since the look of the areas only changes once every 7-10 areas (or something like that). Personally I liked the WIP but I think we need to hear the opinions of those who haven't played the game much (Hopefully they won't just pass over this thread when they see the name). You could go ahead and TAS it, but don't be too surprised if it's rejected. I suppose that if that happens someone could still put it up on Youtube, though.
Experienced Forum User, Player, Published Author (215)
Joined: 2/12/2006
Posts: 373
Location: Oregon
Yep, still boring :). I think the only way this game would really have a chance of being published is if the pieces were set to 2D in the options menu. That way you don't get really long animations.
Experienced Forum User, Player, Published Author (215)
Joined: 2/12/2006
Posts: 373
Location: Oregon
Sounds like you put a lot of effort into making it technically competent, but the glacial pace makes it very boring. It doesn't help that there's no background music. Voting meh. If you're going to TAS a chess game,I think you should choose one that isn't so cosmetically lacking.
Experienced Forum User, Player, Published Author (215)
Joined: 2/12/2006
Posts: 373
Location: Oregon
Great job and entertaining run. Just a nitpick though: why is this recorded with 1.43 when, as far as I know, we're trying to transition to 1.51 on this site? Did you start this run a good while ago?
Experienced Forum User, Player, Published Author (215)
Joined: 2/12/2006
Posts: 373
Location: Oregon
I'd forgotten that it's OK to wait in the Kasandora sim since it advances the construction timer anyway. I took advantage of that, so here's a good boss time without waiting in front of the entrance to the boss's chamber: http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/1832452868/ActRaiser_%28U%29_Zidanax_and_Dunnius_v2_Aitos_Act_1_Done.smv
Experienced Forum User, Player, Published Author (215)
Joined: 2/12/2006
Posts: 373
Location: Oregon
Experienced Forum User, Player, Published Author (215)
Joined: 2/12/2006
Posts: 373
Location: Oregon
OK, here's up to the beginning of the Aitos sim. http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/1201118383/ActRaiser_%28U%29_Zidanax_and_Dunnius_v2_Aitos_Act_1_Done.smv Lost two frames against the Kasandora Act 2 boss over my WIP, but I gained 3 frames going to Aitos Act 1 (less lag?). Total frames saved so far: 1423
Experienced Forum User, Player, Published Author (215)
Joined: 2/12/2006
Posts: 373
Location: Oregon
Actually, I was thinking the same thing, although Hero also happens to learn Fake after the same battle Jerin learns Mirror, so I thought "maybe I should see see how useful Fake might be against Gades". But on second thought given how much time each Green Core battle takes, yeah, I'll probably end up just leveling Jerin to 31 as you suggest.
Experienced Forum User, Player, Published Author (215)
Joined: 2/12/2006
Posts: 373
Location: Oregon
Yes Courage and Dread slowly lose effect. And yeah, remembering to cast Courage earlier in the fight would be one improvement. I fought the Green Cores until Jerin had Mirror and no further (she gets Mirror at level 32). EDIT: Looks like I also forgot to try using Protect, which in my test run Lufia learned just after fighting the pirates. That spell could be helpful against both the Oil Dragon and Nazeby.
Experienced Forum User, Player, Published Author (215)
Joined: 2/12/2006
Posts: 373
Location: Oregon
First test run complete: http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/393632804/Lufia%20%26%20The%20Fortress%20of%20Doom%20%28USA%29%28test1%29.smv Clocks in at 3:14 in-game time, compared to the real-time run's 5:27. There's a lot of room for improvement. For example, it looks like I could get away with opening a lot less chests than I actually did. EDIT: and in this test run the luck manipulation for all bosses after the Goblins are manual. The only part after the Goblins that's automated so far is luck manipulation for item drops.
Experienced Forum User, Player, Published Author (215)
Joined: 2/12/2006
Posts: 373
Location: Oregon
Experienced Forum User, Player, Published Author (215)
Joined: 2/12/2006
Posts: 373
Location: Oregon
Yeah, I'll try doing that next time. I wonder if it will be of any benefit though: The ATP of Mid Arrow is 125 (or was it 120?). With Mid Arrows you can have your characters not wear weapons so that hopefully they'll be faster. With Scimitar your ATP is 90+your STR, with STR being rather low at the level I'm at when I reach Phantasm. Nevertheless, I'll test it out next time. The ATP of Big Arrows, however, is 250. Nevertheless the damage they do against Guardian is not very good. So I'm thinking I'll get Grand Blades (for STR +244), which combined with greater STR from leveling up does more damage. EDIT: I forgot to try using Power Gourds. So yeah, scimitars will probably end up being better, because the enhancement provided by Power gourd increases ATP of normal attacks, but not of arrow usage.
Experienced Forum User, Player, Published Author (215)
Joined: 2/12/2006
Posts: 373
Location: Oregon
OK, here's the next WIP, up to entering Belgen: http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/852798252/Lufia%20%26%20The%20Fortress%20of%20Doom%20%28USA%29%28test1%29.smv Yes, I forgot to rest at the Inn before entering the Ghost Cave, and as a result there's more waiting during the fight with Phantasm than necessary, including a particularly long wait. Nevertheless, it demonstrates that my idea of spamming Mid Arrows and manipulating Phantasm into doing non-offensive stuff works. I've also done testing after that point (playing in realtime for the most part and with the RNG locked most of the time to prevent random battles, then unlocked during boss battles). For the next two bosses, when I did some tests, it seemed that spamming Big Arrows and manipulating them into doing non-offensive actions works. It's when I fight against the Guardian that I'll want to level up. Since the Guardian doesn't move during battle, I can't simply wait until he does something non-offensive. To manipulate luck I have to either change how much I wait before entering battle or what actions the characters do. Fighting the Red Cores doesn't seem to be doable at the levels I'll be at at that point. However, Mimicker can be done, though it's kind of a pain. Fighting the monsters around Frederia yields about the same amount of experience (in fact, they can yield somewhat more), and with the right groups of enemies they're very easy to kill using Ex arrows. For this first phase, I think I'll want to level up at least until Lufia has Stronger, possibly more. By the time you aren't getting at least one level-up per battle (somewhere around level 18-20?), roughly speaking, you can fight the Red cores without getting your butt kicked. In this case, I try to get an enemy combination with Red Core(s) and one other group of enemies (since I've never seen Red Cores appear by themselves). Kill the other group, probably with Ex Arrows, then manipulate it so that all but one Red Core run away, unless my characters are doing particularly well against Thor. Then get that one Red Core. Level up in that way at least until Lufia has Boost, since that spell is incredibly helpful. I'll have enough money that, combined with the Engage ring and selling items I've picked up, I can outfit my characters with far better equipment, especially since I skipped several generations of equipment for the most part. At some point, probably once I can fight the Green Cores, level up at least until Jerin gets Mirror. I have the memory locations that indicate how long it is until certain characters have their mirrors expire. That makes it easy to have Jerin keep mirrors on the characters all the time, so that all Sinistrals except for Gades are a piece of cake. So yes, there will be some grinding, but FAR less than the usual amount due to taking advantage of enemies that yield particularly high amounts of EXP that usually run away. Sort of the Lufia equivalent of Metal Slime. EDIT: Here's an SMV with the Follower defeated. Much easier battle since my HP was actually healed and I now can use Big Arrows. http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/522078640/Lufia%20%26%20The%20Fortress%20of%20Doom%20%28USA%29%28test1%29.smv
Experienced Forum User, Player, Published Author (215)
Joined: 2/12/2006
Posts: 373
Location: Oregon
The test run is now up to leaving Grenoble to go to the Old Cave for the Fairy Kiss. http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/423642040/Lufia%20%26%20The%20Fortress%20of%20Doom%20%28USA%29%28test1%29%282%29.smv There are 5 random battles in this one in order to get mid arrows for the fight against the Goblins. The pauses there are to get good combinations of enemies, and getting the Kobolds to actually drop mid arrows. Thankfully, those mid arrows were enough to not only defeat the Goblins but defeat them fairly quickly. Hopefully the Apprentice and Phantasm will be fairly easy since they have non-damaging abilities I can try to manipulate them into using more often. EDIT: wrong SMV, changed that
Experienced Forum User, Player, Published Author (215)
Joined: 2/12/2006
Posts: 373
Location: Oregon
Yes, I know about that. To be more specific, it's linked to the enemy's "wobbling". It seems that each time they move the RNG state changes. So when there are more enemies the RNG changes more quickly. This also means that with bosses that don't move, the RNG state only depends on what actions are performed in what order. I have some locations associated with the "wobbling" in my documentation. And yes, I deliberately avoided taking advantage of the randomness derived from wobbling. Trying to take advantage of that randomness would increase possibilities to try to the point where lua becomes impractical. Even with the non-moving bosses, the number of possibilities to brute force by checking a combination of reasonable actions and before-battle waiting times is huge. Hence my desire to eventually write a simulator like what you did with Lufia II in Java. I learned how to use Geiger's snes9x debugger and how to read SNES ASM to try to do so. I've actually implemented in C++ two of the ASM functions that help decide who goes when. Also got a fair bit of info on various subroutines and memory locations, though a lot of it's still speculation. A lot left to do before I can pull it together into something useful. BTW, could I see your notes for Lufia II? Perhaps there are some similarities under the surface. I noticed in your submission notes, for example, that the RNG in Lufia II and Lufia are the same. same number of pseudorandom numbers, increments counter whenever the game asks for a random number, both use XOR to "reset" the table.
Experienced Forum User, Player, Published Author (215)
Joined: 2/12/2006
Posts: 373
Location: Oregon
OK, now I've got a WIP that goes up to just after beating the blue demons. I managed to beat them without leveling up Hero and Lufia first, and without getting anybody killed, but the Lua script had to wait about four seconds to get an initial RNG state that wouldn't get anybody killed. I'm sure that with more thorough manipulation (e.g., trying to have characters defend in case it manipulates the RNG favorably in comparison to attacking) that could be less. As for equipment: I didn't skimp on armor, but I sold off not only their old equipment, but also Lufia's knife since she'll be using either arrows or spells. I got both Foul Waters in Sheran because I think they'll come in handy when leveling up, and also the Mid Arrow there. I also picked up some items that sell for a good amount since I'm avoiding random battles. You'll notice that I actually go to Treck immediately after visiting Sheran for the first time. The thought is that I then warp back to Alekia (I buy a Swing Wing in Treck), and when I finally need to go to Treck to do stuff there, I can just warp there using the Swing Wing in Alekia Castle without having to go through the Sheran Cave again etc. I'm thinking that next I'll get in a few fights with Kobolds in order to get 5 more Mid Arrows. I'll be using those against the Goblins, and hopefully that will be enough to beat them in spite of those 5 fights with Kobolds being the only random battles in the game so far. The WIP is here: http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/540345496/Lufia%20%26%20The%20Fortress%20of%20Doom%20%28USA%29%28test1%29.smv
Experienced Forum User, Player, Published Author (215)
Joined: 2/12/2006
Posts: 373
Location: Oregon
I'm getting tired of trying to RE the battle system and I've been thinking that I ought to do a test run(s) to figure out basic strategy. So I've started a test run. There will be luck manipulation, but it will be far from exhaustive. So far, I'm up to the point where the hero can start moving around Alekia. For now, I'm using lua scripts that try waiting different amounts of time before fighting a boss, then pick from a very limited set of moves for each person (if the script even allows for more than one move for that person). It gives pretty decent results against the Sinistrals, certainly better than I would've gotten manually, but nevertheless it would be ideal to test a wider range of moves for each character, but that would take impractically long with lua, hence my efforts to RE the game. Here's my current WIP: http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/174976214/Lufia%20%26%20The%20Fortress%20of%20Doom%20%28USA%29%28test1%29.smv The reason for going into the menu at one point without even doing anything is to manipulate the RNG in order to avoid a battle (there are some places/times where waiting isn't enough to change the RNG).
Experienced Forum User, Player, Published Author (215)
Joined: 2/12/2006
Posts: 373
Location: Oregon
OK, so I've done some more RE'ing, but it'll probably be a while before I've pulled it together into something useful. Well, at least I sure hope it'll prove useful. If nothing else, I'll probably put up my findings on GameFAQs for the 12 people in the world who'd be interested. I know some people in that forum have looked at how monster's stats are stored, for example. People mentioned that they would enjoy seeing a run that manages to avoid the grinding usually seen in this game. That can probably be managed. First, it's possible to avoid random battles. Walk until a battle starts. Reload state and find out how many frames you have to wait before a battle doesn't start from walking onto that tile (it's usually only a few). Then you'll be able to walk for a little while longer. In that way, random battles can be avoided so that I'll only do them if necessary. The real-time run has to use a bunch of Smoke Balls to escape unwanted battles. Second, there are monsters that give a lot of EXP compared to other monsters around them. The caveat is that they're hard to kill since they have high DFP and love to run away. The current real-time run doesn't take advantage of these monsters due to how often they run away (although David might try to make a run with more segments in order to take advantage of those monsters), but of course that won't be an issue for a TAS. Third, a lot of bosses have spells or items that don't cause damage but instead do things like raise their stats. If I can manipulate them into doing nothing but those non-offensive actions, I might only have to worry about how to do a reasonable amount of damage. The only bosses I'm concerned about at the moment are the Goblins since I don't think they have any spells, and they're quite strong. I think I'll have to spend a little time fighting Kobolds in order to pick up Mid Arrows to dispatch those guys and probably gain a level or two in the process. The other thing is we'll have to see whether I really can manage to get these bosses to do nothing but their non-offensive actions. I should be able to, in combination with the other two factors, get away with very few random encounters. I hope you guys like lots of walking and cutscenes :).
Experienced Forum User, Player, Published Author (215)
Joined: 2/12/2006
Posts: 373
Location: Oregon
I'd be interested in seeing a run of this game. If you submit it, it may be accepted, but of course it is not guaranteed. For example, Star Ocean has a TAS on this site even though it was only released in Japan.
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