First post! :D I've been such a huge fan of this place for years now. I figured I would try my hand at my first TAS.
I've started a WIP of TAS: Valis III for the PCECD, US version because the terrible voice acting at the beginning of boss fights are hilarious. So far I've gotten through Level 2. It's been quite the learning experience with Bizhawk/Tastudio but nothing too difficult.
I've noticed quite a few things so far (feel free to chime in!):
Sliding - You're invincible the frame you begin the roll until you start to get up. You also do not fall during the slide, making it useful for getting over gaps. Unfortunately you have to have a certain amount of sword gauge filled in order to execute one so we can't spam slide.
Attack - Every time you attack you have a specific cool down (at least 12 frames, I'll test this more in the future) and during it the game eats all other inputs until the very last frame of the cool down. This means you can't run/jump/etc in the middle of the attack if you're on the ground.
Attack (Yuko) - Yuko's attack sends out an energy wave in front of her. How far it goes depends on your max sword strength and how hard it hits depends on how full the gauge is. I don't have exact numbers right now. Super useful during Jump Attacking since we can hit/kill enemies some distance away mid-jump and not have to worry about getting hurt when we land.
Jump Attacking - When we jump and execute an attack the same cool down applies, but if the cool down expires mid-jump, we can execute another attack right away. Of course if an attack's cool down overlaps the time we reach the ground we are still stuck waiting. If you time the attack(s) right however you can land right as the cool down ends and you can continue moving through the stage.
This means when we need to attack (to kill an enemy or open a red star thingy to get MP/Sword Power) we should be doing it in the middle of a jump.
Enemy Invincibility Frames - An enemy's invincibility frames last as long as the attack cool down: roughly 12 frames. This is just handy as we can be assured that our frame-perfect slashes will connect. Of course it is possible to hit an enemy with a spell (Yuko's flaming daggers) right as you attempt to slash them, which results in the dagger damage hitting but not your sword.
Spellcasting - When you cast you are invincible during the cast animation. I don't have exact timings for this as of right now.
Fire Spell (Yuko) - The Fire spell causes Yuko to summon 4 flaming daggers which will attack the nearest enemy to you (on or off screen). In Level 2 of my WIP I have only used the Fire spell once with Yuko to clear an enemy while I am ascending the stage so I wouldn't be stuck swinging my sword on a moving platform and wasting frames.
Bosses - They can absolutely be manipulated but I am not sure what all that entails. What I do know is that I got the Level 1 boss to sit and hurl his morningstar at me until he died from me spamming attacks. I think there is some RNG being polled at the beginning of the boss fight as well as at times during said fight.
EDIT1:
Handy RAM values:
[0390] - Current Attack Power
[0391] - Max Sword Power
