Topic by Heisanevilgenius

Posted: 1/25/2009 7:28 PM

Post subject: Wall Street Kid

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Heisanevilgenius

Active player (405)

Joined: 3/22/2006
Posts: 708

Yeah, I know, I know. This is a really bizarre game to TAS. I honestly can't decide if I should try it, so I thought I'd just ask to see if it would have any kind of place here. The idea wouldn't be a simple speedrun because that's kind of too easy and boring. I think what would be a bit more of a challenge and possibly more interesting is a run with the following objective: Earn as much money as is possible while spending as much money as possible on Prisila's constant demands. Some minor luck manipulation would be required to begin with, but it seems all the stocks are preset once the game actually begins. The challenge would be luck manipulating so you get the most money in the crucial first few days and allow you to skyrocket your money earlier. After that, there are lots of tricks you can use to build more wealth. For instance, the game allows you to take out a loan to buy something you'd be otherwise unable to afford. But a crafty use of this is to take out a loan where you only pay 3% interest after a month, and spend it all buying stocks which often pay you 5% or higher in a single day. It sounds like it would be interesting to see just how much you can abuse this game, but at the same time it's probably not going to be very entertaining to see a TAS of a guy buying stocks unless the game is beaten so fast it makes your head spin. Thoughts?

Posted: 1/25/2009 11:09 PM

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Rick

Former player

Joined: 6/25/2004
Posts: 607
Location: Maine

I think it would be interesting if we could know what's going on with notations and what-not. I'd probably lean toward a "no" otherwise, as a lot of people would complain there's no real "action" to be seen (and understandably so). It'd fall under Where's Waldo in terms of problems of TASing.

http://wiki.rustedlogic.net/The_Cutting_Room_Floor The Cutting Room Floor wiki.

Posted: 1/25/2009 11:21 PM

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Dromiceius

Joined: 10/3/2005
Posts: 1332

I played it for 10 minutes out of curiosity, and thought it would be interesting to see the thing beaten, if it were done with mathematical precision. Reverse-engineering the stock market code, and calculating the fastest "universe" that achieves the goals, (which are good goals, IMO) would be interesting to see, like in the Monopoly runs.

Posted: 1/26/2009 1:13 AM

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Heisanevilgenius

Active player (405)

Joined: 3/22/2006
Posts: 708

I think I'll try to get past the first goal and see how that goes. If it's really incredibly boring I'll leave it at that.

Posted: 1/26/2009 1:53 AM

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Heisanevilgenius

Active player (405)

Joined: 3/22/2006
Posts: 708

Now here's a real kick in the face. Even tool-assisted you can't complete the first goal in one try. When the real estate agent calls you up the first time to say the house is for sale you have to say no the first time, and wait for him to offer it to you a second time. Even with perfect knowledge of what stocks are going to go up and down, and careful mathematical precision in picking the right combination of stocks to make sure you make the most profit possible, it's impossible to double your money from $500k to one million in the first two weeks. What were they thinking when they made this game? Oh well. I guess I just have to say no the first time. Just embarrassing that you can't tool-assist your way into winning the mission on the first try.

Posted: 1/26/2009 2:03 AM

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Xkeeper

Banned User, Former player

Joined: 12/23/2004
Posts: 1850

Makes me wonder what happens if you do meet the demands (by hacking). Strange that it can't be completed, though.

Perma-banned

Posted: 1/26/2009 4:59 AM

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Rick

Former player

Joined: 6/25/2004
Posts: 607
Location: Maine

I actually did try cheating to see if I could purchase the house early, and it worked just fine, actually. Probably just there to be a trap for players.

http://wiki.rustedlogic.net/The_Cutting_Room_Floor The Cutting Room Floor wiki.

Posted: 2/2/2009 12:55 AM

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Heisanevilgenius

Active player (405)

Joined: 3/22/2006
Posts: 708

http://www.heisanevilgenius.com/Heisanevilgenius-WallStreetKid-WIP1.fcm The first task is completed. Even as a TAS, it came really close. Every single day, optimal buying and selling of stocks is done, and at the end of the month I reached the million dollar goal with only $116,000 above. Some notes: 1. I had to exercise late in the month or I have a stroke on the 1st of May. Luckily, the stock I'd bought soars over the other stocks for several days and 100% of my money is invested into it (which is hard to do since they tend to be uneven prices) so I can just go ahead and take an 8-hour hike instead of working that day and it doesn't affect my trading whatsoever. It also saves time because if I don't exercise on that day, the next day Prisila calls me up to tell me I don't look well, which means a lot of wasted time on dialogue that isn't needed. 2. This game is so boring. Definitely not fun to play, to TAS, and probably not much fun to watch, but the reason I decided to try it is in case someone was interested in exactly how much money you can make or how possible the game is to beat. I'd say it's practically impossible without save states as you can see how close I came to losing the first task even with perfect knowledge of the stock market and very careful trading to make the most use of it.