Objectives of this movie :
- Collect/find 100% Treasures
- Aims for fastest time
- Takes damage to save time
- Uses deaths to save time
- Uses no passwords
I used Gens 9.5b for this run, with I think no particular options that would change the sync. There's also an AVI file I made
here.
"Gods" is a pretty unknown and pretty hard game made by Mindscape, and is really unique in how it merge simple yet interesting puzzles within the platform-action gameplay it has. Another great thing is how the stages are elaborated and often rather large, yet well-made because they are never complicated or confusing at all. The goal of our char is to get past the puzzles and monsters of the three stages of each level and to beat the four end Guardians to attain the rank of "God" (like Zeus and others, which are in the highscores at first play) and reach immortality (as well as finding keys and resolving puzzles to get many treasures).
In this game, monsters aren't already in place but instead most of them appear as you walk along the ground and in an activator. This gameplay makes you need to be quick and on your guards pretty much all the time, but at the same time when you are at a puzzle-phase and cleared the room, you can take the time to try the levers and understand what you have to do to advance in the game. Some items I use in the game are, the starbust (the blue skull head) which sends stars flying all around and clears up the room of monsters, the invulnerability (the little red-cross in a blue circle) which gives me 16 seconds of invincibility, the big/little health regain (a big or little dark orange heart), and the weapons I buy or which are given to me in a level. At the shopkeepers I often buy an invulnerability shield and/or some health plus new and more powerful weapons when available.
In this TAS, I use all the features I have or get (like the items I talked about a bit earlier) to make it the fastest possible and beat it like the best player would. And it really goes well with this game. If it's faster and doesn't take away too much health, I try to take the missiles the monsters often throw at me instead of ducking under them, or even to collide with a monster because it will kill him no matter what, at the price of rather much health. I can also intentionally lose a live by monster-colliding, and use that to reappear nearly at the same exact place but with all my health and a very practical short temporary invulnerability. With ladders I found a nice glitch, which makes me able to grab them when I'm just at the side of it, saving some time but a few times it doesn't work. And at the score screens, putting the attack button on autofire makes the score adding itself really fast. There are also many treasures to find in the game, and my goal was to find and collect all of them, showing how many hidden things this game may reveal to you.
I think you will understand what I'm doing better if you have already played the game (even not far), and I hope seeing this "not enough known" game TASed will make people appreciate it because it deserves it, even if it's a hard game, and will entertain you as much as I liked succeeding to make it really quick.
An advantage the Gods Genesis version have over the SNES one is the invulnerability shield time. It lasts twice as long on Gens and it helps a lot at saving time and making the movie quicker. For those who have seen my SNES TASes tries, this run is longer because I discovered new treasures in the game that I didn't know at first, yet it's still faster because I found better strategies/tricks that gained some time.
Also some needed comments stage by stage follow hereafter :
1-1 : I have to reset the two first levers on my way to activate a shortcut and collect a fire gem. I need to kill myself to get past the spikes just after the shortcut teleporting. After that I pull the two levers on my right, middle one first or it doesn't work. The other lever at the far right gives me a nice blue chest, and after dying because of overcrowding, I reset the middle lever to get a fire gem. Another secret is at the stage end door, if you go pull its lever before visiting the treasure room (room just below), from the left wall a platform will come out and help you push the hidden switch above it. It gives another fire gem.
1-2 : Where I get the trap door key, I have to kill the monsters in my way and then push the hidden switch to get a giant jump potion, helping me access the large platforms above me and the many treasures along them. I also press the 3 other hidden switches to open trap-doors, making a gray chest fall at the end of the stage so that I can open it. It's also needed to take the two ceramic pots in the stage to get the world key and a fire gem later on.
1-3 : At the shopkeeper I buy 3 throwing stars for better power, some health and an invulnerability shield (I often buy one at every shop on my way). Two levers are at the left but only the left-up one is needed to put away the spike trap guarding the needed giant jump potion. After finding the treasure key on a late-spawning monster, I reset the trap-door opener so that the lever opening the treasure room will give me an inv. shield nearby as well. I cannot take the lightning bolt weapon (same for the two diamonds after it) because the game reward you with a nice gold chest if you beat the guardian without it.
2-1 : The hidden switch I press at the right side opens a trap-door, behind where are thieves which help me getting the treasure key, and just after are two other chests keys. At the far left after the Ice gem, I have to kill myself and become invincible to explode the serpents nearby. Near the end when I'm at the world door, the giant jump potion hasn't wore off yet and prevents me from jumping up to the ledge at the right for a little time.
2-2 : Here I take the 3 chalices (gold/silver/iron) they talk about in a hint, and gets a treasure key as a reward, plus a gray chest if I take the chalices out before going out of the "world key" room. I didn't need the room key or teleport key, there was a faster way. Near the end I let myself fall a long way down and lose a life/gain invulnerability, again to explode the serpents nearby (as well as saving time).
2-3 : In this stage pieces of a mosaic must be found to repair it and permits advancing further in the stage. At first I take out my inv. shield to be abIe to use it later, because my inventory will be full soon with the 3 mosaic pieces I need to get first. I collide with some monsters on the way to lower my health, so that I can take the globe for the 3rd piece and teleport-dying just after. Makes for a shorter way of completing the mosaic puzzle. Before this trick, at the crypt, I need to jump to the ladder so that it prevents the firing monster from appearing, and permits me to get the mosaic piece here more easily. After resolving the mosaic puzzle, I take the inv. shield I took out earlier and put it to good use. And just after at the trap-doors place, I return the 3 levers to make spikes disappear later in, opening the way for taking the cross which I need for getting the treasure key. I also take the candle at the right side here to make the world key appear in the study later on. and just after I have to backtrack, and fall on the trap in the middle of the ground, to get a blue key then go dying to teleport much nearer to the room corresponding this blue key. At the shopkeeper after the guardian here, I buy inv. shield and health but also the big shield for a nice added protection (around 2 times less damage).
3-1 : As soon as I'm in the stage, I take out my inv. shield and run to the right, getting a water gem, and after that opening the shortcut up-right above thanks to the fact I got near the ladder in less than 50 seconds. I keep running right up to a ladder I fall in and get two fire gems, then I open the door and fire to the left to break a ceiling with my maces, which lets a fire gem fall down to me. Then I arrive to the treasure room and fire maces to break a ceiling, giving me a starbust and the world key.
3-2 : There is the stage where I must find 3 tiny gems (fire/water/ice) to make the world door open itself. In the shop I buy 3 axes, as they will help me killing the guardian and the monsters in this level much faster. When I get to the little health heart, I'm not sure how but I've been able to prevent the very annoying "stealing the tiny fire gem" thief from spawning at all. After that there's a lever I have to activate, to the far right after the tiny fire gem, because it gives you a trap-door key when you get up all the way by the ladder and doesn't lose health, key which is useful to give you some quite nice treasures and an inv. shield. Which one will then be very useful at the next tiny gem place to bypass the very resistant satyrs and thieves with ease.
3-3 : It's needed to have the two first levers in the down position to get an inv. shield later with another lever in a higher place. I also need to take the two flask/pot to gain a key later in this stage. The treasure key is easy to get as it's on your way, and the treasure room is behind the door to the left of the trap-doors. In the shop after the guardian I buy some usual stuff, then buy a mace to sell back the axes and gain much money, this way I have enough to buy a hunter as well.
4-1 : I begin by getting the power potion which puts my hunters and maces up to 3, then use my inv. shield which will be of use for nearly all it's time. Then I get two fire gems as "special bonuses rewards", then destroy the blocks and also use the starbust on the way, and goes down to the ladder to take a fire gem now, because this way I can die just when I'm up before the ladder again, and it teleports me near the keys I need to take higher above.
4-2 : At this shopkeeper I buy a second big shield (now damage are around 4 times less, how nice) plus an inv. shield and an "intense arc" which will help much for the treasure room I do first in this stage. I go search the room key and just after, even if I'm at full health, I go for dying on the rotating trap because it gets me to the room door faster. In this room I have to destroy many blocks, and when I go down there's a starbust I have to delay using, because I need to wait for the flying monsters to approach me more. That is because they drop a nice blue chest. At the first room where there is an alchemist tool, I found that if you jump and try to fire just before hitting the ledge completely, you will arrive less far on the ledge, which helped me preventing the monsters that should appear from spawning at all (the moving ones). After that is the treasure room with many breakable blocks, I tried all I could find out and I think it's well-optimized. Same thing is true for the room with the lamp. At the end of this stage I'm at very low health, but I need to not lose my last life because I will use it in the next stage.
4-3 : For first action I kill myself and use the invincibility to pass through the monsters and advance to the ladder. Then I have to wait for the thief to steal the treasure key and pull the lever to make a ceiling appear and open the door. Behind the door I go the way right and fall, and the game in it's niceness gives me a life as a "help bonus". I go right some more and in the next room I have to lose a life to regain all my health. Just after this I activate levers and take the trap-door key that will be used to get the axes you might have seen before. Then I'm teleported to a room literally full of treasures and gems, and I go use the hidden switch with the trap-door key to gain the axes by breaking the blocks under them. I really need 3 axes to beat the last guardian the fastest way, as he his already quite long to beat when fully-armed. For that I go take the power potion, since it's only two axes which dropped and I need 3 of them. Then comes the last guardian, well it's a long and rather uneventful part, so you might want to skip right to the game ending. Watch the ending and the credits will come a while after the message ended. It's a nice ending scene.
adelikat: Rejecting. Reasons are posted in the discussion forum.
As for the actual movie, I think it's a somewhat interesting game, but Aqfaq makes some very good points. First of all, you're 3 frames slower than his published movie, just getting to the first frame of action (377 vs 374). Also, I'm not a big fan of fuzzy goals, unless the movie is very entertaining, and specifically aims for entertainment, as opposed to completing the objectives as fast as possible. Fuzzy goals are frowned upon because it makes judging harder, and discourages future obsoletion attempts. If a future submission decides to go for the treasures that you didn't collect, should the two runs be comparable, even though they collect different things? I'm sorry, but in your objectives you aim for 100% treasures, but fail to do that, so I have to vote no. If you manage to find a glitch that allows you to collect the ones you needed to skip over, and get the "super secret" treasure Aqfaq mentioned, I'll certainly reconsider. But as it stands right now, you didn't complete your stated objectives, and "showing all the game" is a poor goal for any game.
There it is, but at the moment I can't remember how to get it actually. :) (The screenshot is from the Amiga version, but I think the giant chest exists in the Genesis version too.)
By the way, game guides are usually written by average gamers who just want to write guides, so they often tell you misleading stuff. It is sometimes a good idea to read them, but I almost never believe what they say. I bet you, VolcanoStormWind, already know more about Gods than most of the guys who wrote the guides you've read.
