Post subject: Sword Master
Former player
Joined: 3/13/2004
Posts: 706
Location: Elyria/Oberlin, OH
OK, this quasi-sequel to Castle of Dragon is my current project and I think you'll all love it when I'm done. Some discoveries I made have revealed that this is actually an excellent game choice...VERY fast-paced and fun. As of right now I have completed the first four levels (out of 7) with a time of 3:10 and over 1000 rerecords. There are a couple ugly spots (particularly in level 2), and I didn't learn a certain trick until the level 3 boss...that might save some time in the first two. As with CoD, affecting enemy behavior can be frustrating (though not as bad this time). -Josh
but then you take my 75 perchance chance of winning, if we was to go one-on-one, and then add 66 and two-thirds ch...percents...i got a 141 and two-thirds chance of winning at sacrifice
Former player
Joined: 4/16/2004
Posts: 1276
Location: Uppsala, Sweden
I played this the other week just to see what kinda game that was. I had real problems with all the "bosses" or whathever, cus they blocked my attacks more then often! But yeah, it would be very interesting to see a run of this!
/Walker Boh
Former player
Joined: 3/13/2004
Posts: 706
Location: Elyria/Oberlin, OH
First version done, with a time of 8:05 (29122 frames) and almost 2200 rerecords. All magic spells except the cane (little damage, completely and utterly worthless) see use at some point. Also, I take no damage until the very last boss (using your invincibility after getting hit makes things go faster, as he shoots lightning bolts which are as tall as the screen). Work on version 2 shall begin as soon as I am done with Dash Galaxy (a far simpler game to timeattack). -Josh
but then you take my 75 perchance chance of winning, if we was to go one-on-one, and then add 66 and two-thirds ch...percents...i got a 141 and two-thirds chance of winning at sacrifice
Former player
Joined: 3/13/2004
Posts: 706
Location: Elyria/Oberlin, OH
Alright, for now I've got to prepare for Evolution (http://www.evo2k.com , national fighting game tournament). Afterward I'll get back to working on Sword Master. I think you're all going to enjoy this one when I feel it is ready. =) -Josh
but then you take my 75 perchance chance of winning, if we was to go one-on-one, and then add 66 and two-thirds ch...percents...i got a 141 and two-thirds chance of winning at sacrifice
Joined: 7/13/2004
Posts: 12
Good luck at Evo.. I hope you do well against the japanese. It's too bad you can't rerecord against them hey? :)
Former player
Joined: 3/13/2004
Posts: 706
Location: Elyria/Oberlin, OH
Hehe, nice to see someone else here who knows what's up. I actually got Daigo in my pool in 3rd Strike...managed to take about half his life off each round, for whatever that's worth. *shrug* I also ALMOST beat Raoh in Virtua Fighter, came down to the very last round...ah well. Anyway, work has already begun on version 2 of this, I am about 2 seconds faster through the first two levels. Post will be edited as progress continues... Rushin' that shit down for life, Josh.
but then you take my 75 perchance chance of winning, if we was to go one-on-one, and then add 66 and two-thirds ch...percents...i got a 141 and two-thirds chance of winning at sacrifice
Former player
Joined: 3/13/2004
Posts: 706
Location: Elyria/Oberlin, OH
ARRRGGGHHH!!! OK, so I was planning on getting this thing done today. After I beat level 3, I learned two important things which mean I have to go all the way back to just after the level 1 boss: 1. If you don't grab the normally-useless cane magic spell after level 2, you cannot turn into the wizard (and thus use any of your magic) at all. I skipped this spell since I thought it would make scrolling through the magic menu that much shorter...ah well. 2. There is a period of about 5 seconds after beating each level where you can move around and do whatever; after this time, the screen fades to the next level. It turns out that if you pause and unpause during this time, it instantly makes the screen fade. It doesn't work with the final boss's transformations into his various forms, but even still it probably saves around 25-30 seconds. Anyway, back to work... -Josh
but then you take my 75 perchance chance of winning, if we was to go one-on-one, and then add 66 and two-thirds ch...percents...i got a 141 and two-thirds chance of winning at sacrifice
Former player
Joined: 4/16/2004
Posts: 1276
Location: Uppsala, Sweden
Good luck man!
/Walker Boh
Former player
Joined: 3/13/2004
Posts: 706
Location: Elyria/Oberlin, OH
Alright, up through level 5 now. There's a big problem, though: The frame count and time got completely screwed up somehow. The rerecord count is right, and the movie plays back just fine, but the time is WAY higher than it should be. I don't own a stopwatch or anything, so I'm not sure how I could accurately time this now... (I use FCE Ultra, BTW.) Anyway, back to work, this WILL be done tonight! -Josh
but then you take my 75 perchance chance of winning, if we was to go one-on-one, and then add 66 and two-thirds ch...percents...i got a 141 and two-thirds chance of winning at sacrifice
Former player
Joined: 3/13/2004
Posts: 706
Location: Elyria/Oberlin, OH
OK, I decided to use my computer clock to time my movies. Just to be sure, I tested it with my Castle of Dragon one and it worked fine. Turns out that FCEU screwed up the times of both my Sword Master movies. The first one was actually 6:31, and this one is about 5:55. Thus, that's an improvement of about 36 seconds. The pause trick didn't save QUITE as much time as I thought it would, but there were many other optimizations as well. Is anyone out there willing to host this, as well as my final Castle of Dragon and Dash Galaxy movies? Invoker, are you still there? Thanks in advance, Josh.
but then you take my 75 perchance chance of winning, if we was to go one-on-one, and then add 66 and two-thirds ch...percents...i got a 141 and two-thirds chance of winning at sacrifice
Former player
Joined: 4/16/2004
Posts: 1276
Location: Uppsala, Sweden
?U?h?m?.? ?I? ?k?n?o?w? ?h?o?w? ?t?h?i?s? ?s?o?u?n?d?s? ?b?u?t? ?w?h?y? ?d?o?n??t? ?y?o?u? ?m?a?k?e? ?t?h?e?m? ?o?n? ?F?a?m?t?a?s?i?a??? ?S?w?o?r?d? ?M?a?s?t?e?r? ?w?o?u?l?d? ?b?e? ?v?e?r?y? ?c?o?o?l? ?t?o?o? ?s?e?e? ?a?n?d? ?s?i?n?c?e? ?y?o?u? ?n?o?w? ?k?n?o?w? ?t?h?e? ?g?a?m?e? ?p?r?e?t?t?y? ?w?e?l?l? ?(?I? ?a?s?s?u?m?e?)? ?i?t? ?s?h?o?u?l?d?n??t? ?b?e? ?t?h?a?t? ?d?i?f?f?i?c?u?l?t? ?t?o? ?m?a?k?e? ?i?t? ?a?g?a?i?n?.? ?B?u?t? ?o?f? ?c?o?u?r?s?e?.?.? ?t?h?a?t? ?m?e?a?n?s? ?m?o?r?e? ?w?o?r?k?.?
/Walker Boh
Former player
Joined: 3/13/2004
Posts: 706
Location: Elyria/Oberlin, OH
Well, thing is, FCE Ultra is IMHO clearly the best NES emulator, and I've heard so many bad things about Famtasia that I'm scared off. Like I said, I would like to find hosting for all of these movies. If you have the hacked FCEU, you can watch them that way until this site accepts this emulator (which it should eventually, given the superior quality compared to, well, any other NES emulator). -Josh
but then you take my 75 perchance chance of winning, if we was to go one-on-one, and then add 66 and two-thirds ch...percents...i got a 141 and two-thirds chance of winning at sacrifice
Post subject: SwordMAster
Joined: 8/7/2004
Posts: 40
Lol so f*cking cool that im not the only one that like SwordMaster in my opinion thats one of the coolest games to Nintendo And im looking forward to se youre movie dude!
Former player
Joined: 3/13/2004
Posts: 706
Location: Elyria/Oberlin, OH
The movie's done, check the link in my sig to get it (and the emulator needed to play it). Note that the actual time is around 5:55, not 11 minutes like the emulator says. *shrug* -Josh
but then you take my 75 perchance chance of winning, if we was to go one-on-one, and then add 66 and two-thirds ch...percents...i got a 141 and two-thirds chance of winning at sacrifice
Former player
Joined: 3/13/2004
Posts: 706
Location: Elyria/Oberlin, OH
Alright, I'm working on a new version of this. There is minor room for improvement in the movie on my filespace, plus I used an overdumped rom for the previous versions. Note that I may make a minor speed-for-entertainment concession, this being the level 6 ceiling glitch which is present in my v2. It may well be faster than going through the normal way, and if it's slower it won't be by much. Plus it just looks really cool. EDIT: Level 1 is done at exactly 52.5 seconds (3150 frames), 16 frames faster than v2. -Josh
but then you take my 75 perchance chance of winning, if we was to go one-on-one, and then add 66 and two-thirds ch...percents...i got a 141 and two-thirds chance of winning at sacrifice
Former player
Joined: 3/13/2004
Posts: 706
Location: Elyria/Oberlin, OH
FCEU screwed up the time again. Thankfully I still have my last version for frame comparisons... Anyway, level 2 is done with a 26-frame improvement. Total time is 1:19.7, 42 frames faster than v2. I also found a neat little graphical glitch in this level. =) -Josh
but then you take my 75 perchance chance of winning, if we was to go one-on-one, and then add 66 and two-thirds ch...percents...i got a 141 and two-thirds chance of winning at sacrifice
Former player
Joined: 3/13/2004
Posts: 706
Location: Elyria/Oberlin, OH
Alright, I am about to punch my monitor now. The first miniboss you encounter in stage 3 is a dinosaur. He has two different moves: 1. Stand still and breathe fire. This is a Bad Thing. 2. Run toward you, then tail-whip. He can run at you once or twice before the tail move. This is what you want, as your slashes hit him a bunch of times due to him moving forward. In my last movie, here's the sequence I got out of him: Fire breath, run forward twice, tail whip, fire breath, run forward once, die. Now, in this run, no matter what I do, he always breathes fire at least twice to start. I've been at this one for a hell of a long time and haven't gotten anywhere. Any hints, or do I just keep trying and hoping? Thanks, Josh.
but then you take my 75 perchance chance of winning, if we was to go one-on-one, and then add 66 and two-thirds ch...percents...i got a 141 and two-thirds chance of winning at sacrifice
Joined: 1/1/2022
Posts: 1716
I think I will attempt to get to that boss so I can give you some feedback on it...I have never played this game previously, and was pleasantly surprised that it was a fun game...So, I will edit this message shortly once I get to the boss in question...
Former player
Joined: 3/13/2004
Posts: 706
Location: Elyria/Oberlin, OH
Don't worry about it, dude. Just got back on it today and FINALLY figured it out. Managed to get an even better attack pattern out of him, actually (only one fire breath and three consecutive charges). Much thanks for the consideration, though, and glad to see that you like the game! =) Just completed level 3, with a surprising 215-frame improvement over v2. The aforementioned dinosaur fight, the battle with the knight, and the boss were the areas of improvement here. So already I'm 261 frames faster than my old movie at this point. And the good thing is, a lot of the frustration is out of the way with level 3 done...only the last level MAY be more annoying than that one. -Josh
but then you take my 75 perchance chance of winning, if we was to go one-on-one, and then add 66 and two-thirds ch...percents...i got a 141 and two-thirds chance of winning at sacrifice
Editor, Reviewer, Experienced player (978)
Joined: 4/17/2004
Posts: 3109
Location: Sweden
>Now, in this run, no matter what I do, he always breathes fire at least twice to start. I've been at this one for a hell of a long time and haven't gotten anywhere. Any hints, or do I just keep trying and hoping? I hate it when this happens. The only cure I've found is redoing a longer part, and then an even longer part, and so on. I spent several hundred rerecords to get okay (not even great) enemy movements in Kid Chameleon. Sometimes small changes just don't work. The position sounds like what should be triggering the boss movement. (That's how I would program it, at least.) Have you tried standing further and further away, pixelwise? Just tossing this out for you. I have no clue really.
Joined: 1/1/2022
Posts: 1716
i just jumped right in..and deflected his fire..then wailed on him...the deflection looks very kewl...so even a minor loss of time isn't that pertinent..not like its the easiest game in the world anyways...lol...
Former player
Joined: 3/13/2004
Posts: 706
Location: Elyria/Oberlin, OH
Thanks for the hints, guys. Already solved that problem, of course, but this info could be useful in the future... Just got done with level 4, 49 frames better than v2. More importantly to me, though, it looks much cooler and more fluid than it did last time. This also puts me over 5 seconds (310 frames) faster than before at this point. However, I'll be willing to bet that the next two levels, and possibly the last as well, will all be slower than v2. Why? Because my last run was cheated and I didn't know it at the time. Specifically, I somehow started out one experience level higher than I should have. This is important because your EXP meter also doubles as your magic meter, and it grows longer as you level up. In the first 4 levels magic is never worth using so it isn't an issue, but in each of the last 3 levels it helps somewhere. Specifically, in v2, I used magic on the following enemies: - First miniboss in stage 5. - Stage 5 boss. - Stage 6 boss. - First and third of the three stage 7 bosses. Now, with the lower amount of magic I have in this run, I'll definitely have to forgo the first and third uses on that list. The stage 5 boss and first stage 7 boss receive highest priority due to taking forever to kill with the sword, so I'll blow it on them and hope I have something left for the last boss. Hoping this run can stay at least 5 seconds faster, Josh.
but then you take my 75 perchance chance of winning, if we was to go one-on-one, and then add 66 and two-thirds ch...percents...i got a 141 and two-thirds chance of winning at sacrifice
Former player
Joined: 3/13/2004
Posts: 706
Location: Elyria/Oberlin, OH
Yep, this is going about how I expected. Level 5 = 146 frames slower. And it's all due to not being able to use magic on the first guy, as everything else was equal to or better than my playing before. Level 6, though, MAY end up being faster, as I may be able to afford using more magic on the boss. We'll see... -Josh
but then you take my 75 perchance chance of winning, if we was to go one-on-one, and then add 66 and two-thirds ch...percents...i got a 141 and two-thirds chance of winning at sacrifice
Former player
Joined: 3/13/2004
Posts: 706
Location: Elyria/Oberlin, OH
Well, level 6 turned out to be a pleasant surprise: 65 frames of improvement. This was all due to better movements throughout the level...I could only afford to use slightly less magic than I did last time vs. the boss, but it had virtually no effect on the time of that battle. One more level to go...at 228 total frames faster, I may be able to get this under 5:55. This last level will undoubtedly be slower than before, it's just a matter of how much so... -Josh
but then you take my 75 perchance chance of winning, if we was to go one-on-one, and then add 66 and two-thirds ch...percents...i got a 141 and two-thirds chance of winning at sacrifice
Former player
Joined: 3/13/2004
Posts: 706
Location: Elyria/Oberlin, OH
Well, the last level ended up being exactly 100 frames slower. Again it's all because of the magic thing, as I improved other areas. But I did, in fact, manage to get this thing under 5:55, though not by much; the total length of this run is 21276 frames, which comes out to a time of exactly 5:54.6. Submitting this baby right now... -Josh
but then you take my 75 perchance chance of winning, if we was to go one-on-one, and then add 66 and two-thirds ch...percents...i got a 141 and two-thirds chance of winning at sacrifice