Former player
Joined: 8/17/2004
Posts: 377
Since I'm being productive today, here's the next planet as well, Sauria. Planet Sauria, 12:36 Not many notes, since this is a rather short world like Effluvia. Two of the hits I took against the Termites couldn't be helped since they can't be shot without jumping over them and shooting downward. The gate key puzzles in this level are a pain to do quickley, but I did them as fast as I could, and even spent the time on the last gate to get the planet's one energy bar. This is one bar I may eliminate from my final run when I get to it, after I decide how many energy bars I NEED to get, I'll only get those that are quick to pick up... Anyway, next up is Planet Vernia, and the game's first boss battle (and a different bgm, yay!).
Former player
Joined: 8/17/2004
Posts: 377
Planet Vernia is complete. Planet Vernia, 15:27 This is the first really difficult level of the game, mostly due to those irritating rock-flinging enemies, and the heat-seeking birds. This stage features two energy bars, and the Power Crystals, probably one of the most well-hidden items in the game. When I go to make my final run, I may likely skip going through Planet Sauria entirely, since the Power Crystals overwrite the Saurian Crystals, and are more powerful. The first boss of the game is in this level as well, fairly easy to beat, just use the crystals to keep the two robots apart until they both wind down. Now, on to the Asteroid Belt, this level will require some swift moves. For the first half of this level you only move by shooting, IE shoot to the right and you move to the left, shoot to the left again to stop.
Former player
Joined: 8/17/2004
Posts: 377
Well, since I have a ratehr steady stream of updates, why break that routine? Asteroid Belt, 17:25 The first part of this level went by much more smoothly than I had thought. The interior of the ship also went by fairly well. When I do the final run I may forgo getting the second key, since I don't really NEED to be able to see where I'm going in the final part (that's all the second keyhole does to my knowledge, turns on the lights) Though I still need to go to the computer to get the teleport locations for Odar and Utopia. I take a hit or two to save some time. And when up against the miniboss, I don't defeat it (normally you have to wait for it to walk under the toxic barrel to kill it, then use the teleport beacon to get to the upper level) and insteand position it so when I jump on it I don't fall off and am able to reach the parts for the ship.
Player (71)
Joined: 8/24/2004
Posts: 2562
Location: Sweden
Hehe.. I really like your so called "routine" :) Keep it up.
Former player
Joined: 8/17/2004
Posts: 377
Alright, I decided to skip a few steps, my preliminary run is (just about) complete. Here it is, going up to the final boss battle... Planet Telos-Final Boss, 31:14 Though take note that I don't actually defeat the final boss, since this is just my preliminary run and all. That, and the fact that he is really REALLY difficult, even with slowdown and rerecording this final boss is really hard. Since you have to maneuver his own missles into him, with occasional unresponsive controls, and the fact that the missles are really hard to manipulate, makes this one of the harder final battles out there. I might be better at this if I could work better with angles, since that's what a lot of the jdugement is based on. Just try fighting him yourself and you'll see what I mean... to be honest, this is one area that I may need some help on. I've only ever been able to beat this guy on my own once before, and while I would do it eventually with rerecords and such, there's probably someone here who could do it better... But, no need to worry about that for now. I've made up some plans for my final run. First of all, I plan on skipping Planet Sauria and Odar entirely, as I've metioned before the only point of going to Planet Sauria is to get the Saurian crystals, but the Power Crystals you pick up in Vernia override them. All you get in Odar is the Green Armor, which is largely unnecessary. On top of that, I'm not going to pick up as many energy bars. I think I could get by with just 4 (5 in total with the one I start with) thus I would pick up the third bar in Cyberia (right in the path) the bar in Utopia (in my way, I pretty much have to get it) and the one in Volcania (ditto), as for the last one, I'm not sure yet, I'll have to re-watch the video and decide which of the others is the fastest to get. When I get to Planet Telos I need to use the energy disc twice, so that's four bars I need to use right there, and I'll have one left for Agathos. So my current plan is: Cyberia: One Energy Bar Effluvia Turvia: Vertigun, Pink Armor Vernia Asteroid Belt: Teleportation Unit Utopia: Energy Bar, Maxigun Volcania: Energy Bar, Energy Disc Telos With one more energy bar thrown up there somewhere... Anyway, questions, comments, criticisms? ...advice for beating Kakos? ^^;
Player (68)
Joined: 3/11/2004
Posts: 1058
Location: Reykjaví­k, Ísland
Is the pink armor really neccesary? Does it do anything other than reduce damage? I mean, it seems to me like it could easily be skipped. Same with the white armor. Then again I suck at the game and haven't gotten very far. It would be neat to finish the game with a very small amount of energy and just the basic red suit. :) Anyway, good run. Now you just need to find the right route and play it perfectly while abusing the very nice glitch I'm about to explain. You can use the teleport thingy to go through walls. Just stand near the wall. In fact you can do it right up against it, but I don't reccommend that for a timeattack, because it's a waste of frames to walk closer to it than neccesary. Now DUCK, and shoot the teleport beacon. If you did it right, you'll throw it right into the wall. Press the button again to teleport into the wall. Now you can keep ducking and fire the beacon again, and the beacon will go even farther into the wall. Repeat often. It looks like you can't teleport off the left or right edge of the screen, but you can teleport up. If you want to go up, just stand (release down) and fire-teleport repeatedly. And maybe jump as well, I'm not sure. Sometimes it's better to hold left or right as well. Anyway, just experiment. The first time this becomes useful is right after getting it. Just teleport through the wall near the whatever it is you're getting in that level. You don't have to go around and through the 'door' or deal with the green monster at all. Utopia 1 When getting the teleport coordinates from the tiny little guy there. Just teleport through the floors where it rises instead of taking the long Z route through the room. Utopia 2 After getting into the enemy base, teleport into the right wall. Then go to the top of the screen. When you reach the top, walk right. You'll end up in the room just before the energy tank, saving a HUGE amount of time. There's a really obvious exploit in the energy tank room, I won't even bother explaining that. :) You don't have to kill the "boss". Just throw a beacon onto his ledge, then teleport and immediately jump. You can get past him very quickly and just enter the next room. Volcania Enter the first crater, then teleport out. Don't bother killing the boss. Just lure him far enough so you can jump over him, then teleport past the stream of lava. Can you do the asteroid field level sooner? Because the sooner you get the teleporter, the more shortcuts you can take in the other levels. I think it's worth it to investigate the levels further, that is, find out where you can save time by going up above the screen like in Utopia 2. This exploit will be VERY handy in the last level. (remember the huge ass door puzzle? Yeah...) Happy abusing! I think this run is going to be awesome.
Former player
Joined: 8/17/2004
Posts: 377
Well well, I'll be sure to use that to it's fullest, thanks. And unfortunately, you cannot get the item any sooner. You can't get to the Asteroid Belt until you get the coordinates for the Stargate on Planet Vernia, you can't get to Vernia until you get the coordinates for it from the Mayor in Turvia. But I'll be sure to abuse this glich as soon as I do get it, though I'll have to do some experimentation first to make sure I got it down pat. As for getting the Pink Armor, I've thought about it, but I do take some damage in Utopia, Volcania, and Telos which would be fatal if I just had the Red Armor and only 5 energy bars. I may be able to bypass that, though, with the help of this glitch, and that would save even more time right there.
Player (71)
Joined: 8/24/2004
Posts: 2562
Location: Sweden
I will watch this late this night or tomorrow. I'm soon going away to drink some with my friends and play videogames. :)
Player (71)
Joined: 8/24/2004
Posts: 2562
Location: Sweden
Here are some thoughts after watching: In planet utopia, can't you use those teleport things you throw around in a planet earlier to warp through those robots instead of waiting for them to go to certein places? Pillars in volcania - Could you use the teleport there as well instead of making them fall? Brain boss - Earlier firing so that shots hit just at the right frame where the boss can be hit.
Former player
Joined: 8/17/2004
Posts: 377
The run is done and submitted, so go take a look at it in it's proper place, and be sure to tell me what you think!
Player (68)
Joined: 3/11/2004
Posts: 1058
Location: Reykjaví­k, Ísland
Whoa, I just had a crazy thought. How about skipping the first (horizontal only) gun? You can destroy the security ball things in level 1 with just the sword, and the machines that need to be destroyed in level 2 can also be destroyed with it. According to my calculations, it takes about 9 seconds to get the gun, and the rest of the level would be slowed down maybe 1-2 seconds. Level 2 would then be slowed by maybe 3-4 seconds at most. I think it would save a few seconds overall. The Vertigun can then be collected in Turvia. If you don't want to make another run, I'll be glad to do it. In fact, I've just been doing a short test of the first level, and it's already 46 frames faster. So while this currently submitted run is very nice, it is definitely improvable. I'm not going to continue my run unless you're not doing it, so don't worry about that.
Former player
Joined: 8/17/2004
Posts: 377
Are you sure that would save time in Cyberia? While you can hit the Security Bits with the sword, you have to be right next to them to do it, meaning for the first two you would then have to stop to jump down, I think that would cost a bit more than one or two seconds... but I could be wrong. Well, if you can do it though, good luck. I'm about Rad-Gravity-ied out at the moment, if you brought this up a few weeks from now I might have been up to redo the run, but not immediately. ^^
Player (68)
Joined: 3/11/2004
Posts: 1058
Location: Reykjaví­k, Ísland
You're right, it would slow it down more than 2 seconds. I forgot the electricity doesn't go away until the 3rd one. I'm going to try it out anyway.
Player (71)
Joined: 8/24/2004
Posts: 2562
Location: Sweden
Really nice to see this topic going like this. And we are only 3 active persons or something in this thread. Hehe. :)
Player (68)
Joined: 3/11/2004
Posts: 1058
Location: Reykjaví­k, Ísland
Nope, the cyberspace area was only slowed by 58 frames (1 second). I didn't have to go under the electricity, I just took damage on a badguy who conveniently followed me. 58 frames is not enough to offset the 700 or so frames saved by not getting the gun. Hmm, this is looking good. At the end of the cyberspace area I'm 742 frames ahead of the current submitted run (not just due to skipping the gun). Okay, I did Effluvia (level 2) as well. Yeah, I know I said I wasn't going to continue, but it's just much too fun, and I'm too bored. Bleh. At the end of the level, it is 765 frames faster. 67 frames were lost in the final area because I had to walk to the green engine thing to kill it with the sword. I'm now entering Turvia with a 772 frame (12.8 seconds) improvement overall. Not sure if I should continue...
Former player
Joined: 8/17/2004
Posts: 377
If you want to, go ahead. Though I won't cancel my submission till you finish. :> While these improvements are good, I still don't trust the randomness of the final battles, you may wind up spending more time there than I did... or perhaps less, it's hard to say. Sure the run is fun, but Kakos will have you pulling your hair out, at least he did for me. ;) EDIT: I edited my submission to reflect this little oversight. It's staying up, though, until a better one comes along. ;)
Player (71)
Joined: 8/24/2004
Posts: 2562
Location: Sweden
Great guys! This is starting to get real good. :D Please continue Blublu!
Player (68)
Joined: 3/11/2004
Posts: 1058
Location: Reykjaví­k, Ísland
I have a suprise for you. It's in the submission pile. Check it out here.
Post subject: The Adventures of Rad Gravity
Alyosha
He/Him
Editor, Emulator Coder, Expert player (3808)
Joined: 11/30/2014
Posts: 2828
Location: US
Here is my latest WIP, I am pretty comfortable with it up to the last boss. I can't seem to improve blublu's last boss fight, but it seems like it should be possible. Maybe a Wizards and Warriors II situation where more eyes looking at it will lead to quick improvements. So anyone who wants to give it a try can be co-author, I really wonder how much it can be improved. http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/22507545392735988
Active player (475)
Joined: 2/1/2014
Posts: 928