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My feelings on The Demon Rush
Game Page: Doesn't exist yet.

Nicholas 'Sir_VG' Hoppe's very easy single-segment run

Verifier Responses:

Quote:
This was a pretty clean run, about as optimum as can be reasonably expected from an Ace Combat game besides a few easy shots missed. The purchasing strategy was spot-on as well.

Video and audio quality were fine and I didn't see any cheating.


This verifier thought the run was acceptable, he just didn't explicitly state so.

Quote:
[18:30] Verifier: I'm watching Ace Combat Zero now.
[18:36] Verifier: OK, I already take issue with the fact that he didn't use SAAM missiles in the first mission.
[18:37] Verifier: It's pure air-to-air and SAAMs have a much longer range than regular missiles.
[19:14] Verifier: He could be using his special weapons more efficiently.
[19:15] Verifier: It hasn't cost him much time yet but if he keeps going like this it'll add up.

My main issue  is that he spent too much time watching his missiles, wasn't alternating special weapons and missiles to get his overall ROF up, and never used the QAAMs or his guns at all. He also could've done mission 17 in one less pass if he had bought FAE bombs for his Su-37.


Quote:
Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War

VERIFICATION

After watching the video, and testing a few of the things myself on my copy of the game, I think the run is flawed in a few areas. I believe, in general, it (the run) is somewhat shoddy. There are moments that had me impressed, and moments that had me confused. I think there are too many moments where I was confused, and not enough where I was impressed. There are 3 main points I have to support my statement.

The first is the process by which he finishes the missions. The 2 in particular that stood out to me are mission 3 and mission 17. In mission 3, it is possible to complete the mission without shooting down any of the non-necessary targets on the map. However, he didn't go to the trouble of shooting down all of them, which leads me to believe that he shot down what he needed to purchase the plane he bought prior to mission 4. If so, than this argument is invalid. One thing I cannot overlook, however, is mission 17, when he went in three times into the V2 area to destroy the necessary targets. I contend that this should take no more than 2 runs through, destroying (at each juncture) two lock joints with your missiles followed by the other 2 with the machine guns. With sufficent skill and practice, this should be possible on very easy, difficult though it is.

The second is his use of the secondary weapons. In any Ace Combat run, 3 things are critical. One, the selection of plane for each mission (as well as later planes' acquisition), two, the route taken through each individual mission, and three, the use of secondary weapons. Once again, two instances stand out in my mind, this time in mission 1 and 2. In mission 1, we see on a few occasions where he approaches two bombers, takes one out with his missiles, and circles around to destroy the other one. I believe this can be sped up exponentially if he would use the basic secondary weapon he starts with, the Quick Air-to-Air Missile (QAAM). This is arguably one of the best AA weapons in the game, and I was shocked to not see it used. I know it is possible, through my own testing,  to destroy both bombers in one pass using this weapon. Since it destroys them in one shot, it is still only necessary to fire two missiles, and no changing of weapons is required. The second part of this is on mission 2, a mission that is primarily Air-to-Ground. For this mission, he equipped bombs to use, which is the right call, of course. There are no mandatory air targets to destroy, and so bombs are the way to go. However, he hardly ever touches them. I expected to see bombs flying from some 8,000 feet away or more on this mission, and instead saw bombs being dropped from close range. It should have been possible, in the final group of enemies, to destroy them all without having to turn around. At the very least, use the bombs you don't intend to use so that you can get money with which to buy new planes sooner. If you had to destroy those aircraft in mission 3 to get the money, as I suspect, you may have been able to speed it up by destroying a few extra enemies in this level instead, and not have to waste time with the enemy fighters next mission. I believe speeding up the run is possible through more liberal use of secondary weapons, which, again is attainable through skill and practice.

My final point is brought about because of the first two points, which is why I saved it for last. Before that, though, I want everyone to understand my love for this series. I own all of the Ace Combat games for Playstation 2, (4, 5, Zero), and have the limited edition Ace Combat 6 with the flight stick. I have beaten all of the games multiple times, have achieved virtually everything there is to acheive in all of them, earned all the medals, gained "S" ranks on all the mission on "Ace" difficulty (the hardest), unlocked all the achievements I can (AC6 - for 360), ect. I'm not trying to boast or sound arrogant here. I just want everyone to understand how dedicated I am to this series. Which is why it was a little sad to watch the run.

It was sad because I felt as though the runner was not doing the game justice. I think the skill of the runner himself, but much, much more important, the dedication of the runner was lacking. Most of the arguments I made are from experience with the game, from playing it so much, from understanding many of the little nuances that casual gamers with almost always miss. I think I'm the perfect person to verify, because I wanted to see someone better than me go and impress me. I set the bar very high, and I don't feel as though this run even scrapes that bar. I do feel, however, there are many positives to take from it, and that future runs will be built upon those positives pioneered here. I think this run can be incredible, but to me, this run is, if I had to give it a rating, poor. I believe, with just the two points mentioned above put into strong use, that minutes can be shaved off the time. I also believe that the skill of the runner at the game itself must improve, or else the run is doomed to mediocrity, and it will only be a matter of time before someone comes along and does a much better job, making people ask why the first run was accepted at all, when compared to this new run.

With all of these things on my mind as I write this, I cannot see how this run can be accepted. A lack of use of the game triggers available with which to speed things up, improper use of any AC runners' best friend, secondary weapons, and a lack of dedication to the integrity of the run make me feel as though improvement is necessary before the run should be considered for verification again.

I am forced to REJECT the Single-Segment run of Ace Combat: Zero.


I talked over what the last verifier had to say with the second verifier, and he said everything in that response was correct, but he also thought the guy was being too harsh.

Decision: Accept

Reason: Though the runner might not have optimized his special weapon usage, most verifiers thought the run was well done.
Thread title:  
Let's fight to computer!
It may be possible to do mission 17 in two passes without FAE bombs (I've never tried it myself) but it seems pretty risky to do at the end of a long single-segment run like this. The last thing you want to do is crash, scrub the whole run and start over, and it's very easy to do in there (God knows I did it a dozen times myself.)