My feelings on The Demon Rush
Game Page: http://speeddemosarchive.com/CastlevaniaSotN.html
Andrew 'romscout' Schroeder's XBLA SS run
Kevin 'Xarugas' some really long Greek last name I can't be bothered to look up's PSP SS, Maria SS, and 100% runs.
Verifier Responses
XBLA run
PSP SS
Maria SS
Just wanna say that in the coliseum he picks up 2 heart max ups which are +30 hearts each he really had an excess of 18 hearts gotten he didn't (entered shaft with 18 hearts) the extra 12 do not matter as they are in a bunch with the rest... there needs to be a bit more execution and a little less stopping on hearts. On a run this short, i want to see the person RAPE the game. pull out the stops... USE THE LIFE BAR! its there, i know you dont wanna take a hit but it looks bad killing the werewolves and minotaurs to pass by. See about doing something about that!
Rejected...
100% run
Decisions:
XBLA and PSP SS runs: Accept
Maria and 100% runs: Reject
Reasons:
XBLA SS:Major improvement over the last run with less mistakes and a lot of new tech.
PSP SS: Solid run for a new category (argh why does every version of sotn have to be different).
Maria SS: Too many execution errors for a run that is only about 7 minutes. There are also some enemies the runner killed that could possibly be dashed over.
100%: "lol, Zoe does not approve." -romscout
Andrew 'romscout' Schroeder's XBLA SS run
Kevin 'Xarugas' some really long Greek last name I can't be bothered to look up's PSP SS, Maria SS, and 100% runs.
Verifier Responses
XBLA run
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Audio/Video: great quality for a verification copy.
Cheating: used some of my IC tricks and made some new time savers with the divekick->batmorph somewhere in the last parts
This is a great run. Way better than the previous XBLA run for sure. Anyway, I'll keep my comments short:
-the shield-dashing, although frikkin fast, is somewhat inconsistent early on. I know how hard it is to pull off that sort of dash speed and even harder to keep it consistent, though. There were some areas where the runner stops mid-dash because of a hiccup in the dash rhythm. The sheer speed of the dashing also caused him to bump into certain enemies as well. (zombie sword guy, diplocephalus, etc) All of the hiccups during shield dashing probably didn't cost more than a few seconds, though.
-W/M fight looked cool. A few hits taken but definitely a few seconds faster than Shield Rodding the fight.
-flea rider area went well. In my future runs i should exit the place with 2 divekick->batmorphs like the runner did here. It's much safer.
-accidentally re-entered some doors after exitting them. Few seconds lost there, though nothing major.
-the Death fight was AWESOME. It looked and played really well, even though the runner says it's the slower version.
-the Creature was unfortunate. The pressure was probably kicking in at this point since the runner had a few errors across the Reverse Outer Wall. At least the Creature died within 1 roll cycle, coz it could've been worse.
-the flight to the Power of Wolf kind of irked me. Could've been smoother, but the MP management is tough with IWS.
-i feel bad for Akmodan. I think it only takes 4-5 Holy Waters to kill him, but the runner showered him with 298374, blasting the poor mummy way past the underworld.
-no fiascos in the run. Sweet.
Verdict: Obvious accept. Great execution, new time savers, new maneuvering tricks, and great risk-taking play in the late game. Still improvable by a few seconds, though and i'm definitely looking forward to the runner's next improvement
Cheating: used some of my IC tricks and made some new time savers with the divekick->batmorph somewhere in the last parts
This is a great run. Way better than the previous XBLA run for sure. Anyway, I'll keep my comments short:
-the shield-dashing, although frikkin fast, is somewhat inconsistent early on. I know how hard it is to pull off that sort of dash speed and even harder to keep it consistent, though. There were some areas where the runner stops mid-dash because of a hiccup in the dash rhythm. The sheer speed of the dashing also caused him to bump into certain enemies as well. (zombie sword guy, diplocephalus, etc) All of the hiccups during shield dashing probably didn't cost more than a few seconds, though.
-W/M fight looked cool. A few hits taken but definitely a few seconds faster than Shield Rodding the fight.
-flea rider area went well. In my future runs i should exit the place with 2 divekick->batmorphs like the runner did here. It's much safer.
-accidentally re-entered some doors after exitting them. Few seconds lost there, though nothing major.
-the Death fight was AWESOME. It looked and played really well, even though the runner says it's the slower version.
-the Creature was unfortunate. The pressure was probably kicking in at this point since the runner had a few errors across the Reverse Outer Wall. At least the Creature died within 1 roll cycle, coz it could've been worse.
-the flight to the Power of Wolf kind of irked me. Could've been smoother, but the MP management is tough with IWS.
-i feel bad for Akmodan. I think it only takes 4-5 Holy Waters to kill him, but the runner showered him with 298374, blasting the poor mummy way past the underworld.
-no fiascos in the run. Sweet.
Verdict: Obvious accept. Great execution, new time savers, new maneuvering tricks, and great risk-taking play in the late game. Still improvable by a few seconds, though and i'm definitely looking forward to the runner's next improvement
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The video is jumpy, but I'm sure that'll be fixed in the official copy. Audio's okay.
This is a sweet run. A lot of new tricks, some trickier tricks than others, and he nails most of them. You can tell a lot of work went into this.
The new shield dashing is stupid fast, but it's unfortunate that it has some startup time before getting to full speed, and exiting it never looks fluid.
I think the runner covered most of his big mistakes in the written comments. Gaibon messed him up again, but I think he did mention that in the audio commentary, though. He also opened the map screen a couple times, which does dock him a second cause time does pass on the map screen iirc. I also never did agree with getting the $250 bags in the long hallway. Maybe it depends on luck, but he did have over $500 left over in this run.
Has the possibility of getting the wolf relics before Leap Stone been investigated? Just curious.
Did he kill Medusa with the Gradius Shield? That's awesome.
Easily accepted.
This is a sweet run. A lot of new tricks, some trickier tricks than others, and he nails most of them. You can tell a lot of work went into this.
The new shield dashing is stupid fast, but it's unfortunate that it has some startup time before getting to full speed, and exiting it never looks fluid.
I think the runner covered most of his big mistakes in the written comments. Gaibon messed him up again, but I think he did mention that in the audio commentary, though. He also opened the map screen a couple times, which does dock him a second cause time does pass on the map screen iirc. I also never did agree with getting the $250 bags in the long hallway. Maybe it depends on luck, but he did have over $500 left over in this run.
Has the possibility of getting the wolf relics before Leap Stone been investigated? Just curious.
Did he kill Medusa with the Gradius Shield? That's awesome.
Easily accepted.
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Definite improvement from the previous version - no Gaibon mugging before the Death fight, some cool new tricks like jump kicking into the bat transformations to build momentum, and smoother execution of shield dashing and infinite wing smashes. Easy accept.
PSP SS
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Time for the run is about 28:51 (assuming real-time is used).
The infinite wing smash apparently might be impossible on the U.S. version of SotN PSP according to findings in the thread. I am not really inclined to go pull out my copy of the game and test further so we'll give xarugas the benefit of the doubt and just say it's impossible on this version for now.
These were the mistakes that stood out the most to me:
-When warping to the keep to head to the inverted castle, multiple seconds are wasted trying to pull off a small trick that would save negligible amount of time for the effort it's worth. This looked bad.
-Awkward exit from Akmodan room... really awkward.
However, considering the other Alucard runs of this game on the site so far have far more errors navigating the map than this one, that's not really too much to complain about. There were a bunch of other tiny mistakes, as noted by the runner, but mistakes like that are pretty standard for a SotN SS run.
I have to wonder about the choice of Mana Prism usage a bit. What if you used the prism right after obtaining the leap stone and wing smashed as best as you could up to the Richter fight? Wouldn't the time saved there and then optimally using the save room in the reverse outer wall be more optimal than what you ended up doing? Or better yet, doing what you ended up dropping from your strategies and winding up with 2 mana prisms so you wouldn't have to reconsider your strategies as much. I hope the runner tested all these possibilities before deciding to stick with just one prism and then taking the route he did, but it just seems like the backtracking from the leap stone as you head to Richter took a much longer time than these other possible routes.
So yea, accept the run as a separate category from all the other SotN runs. Any PSP run is going to have to be a separate category due to the full stats while keeping Alucard equips (assuming those are abused), if not for all the other tricks exclusive to that and the Japanese version on top of it. Hopefully the SotN page never becomes as ridiculously cluttered as it has the potential to be. :p
The infinite wing smash apparently might be impossible on the U.S. version of SotN PSP according to findings in the thread. I am not really inclined to go pull out my copy of the game and test further so we'll give xarugas the benefit of the doubt and just say it's impossible on this version for now.
These were the mistakes that stood out the most to me:
-When warping to the keep to head to the inverted castle, multiple seconds are wasted trying to pull off a small trick that would save negligible amount of time for the effort it's worth. This looked bad.
-Awkward exit from Akmodan room... really awkward.
However, considering the other Alucard runs of this game on the site so far have far more errors navigating the map than this one, that's not really too much to complain about. There were a bunch of other tiny mistakes, as noted by the runner, but mistakes like that are pretty standard for a SotN SS run.
I have to wonder about the choice of Mana Prism usage a bit. What if you used the prism right after obtaining the leap stone and wing smashed as best as you could up to the Richter fight? Wouldn't the time saved there and then optimally using the save room in the reverse outer wall be more optimal than what you ended up doing? Or better yet, doing what you ended up dropping from your strategies and winding up with 2 mana prisms so you wouldn't have to reconsider your strategies as much. I hope the runner tested all these possibilities before deciding to stick with just one prism and then taking the route he did, but it just seems like the backtracking from the leap stone as you head to Richter took a much longer time than these other possible routes.
So yea, accept the run as a separate category from all the other SotN runs. Any PSP run is going to have to be a separate category due to the full stats while keeping Alucard equips (assuming those are abused), if not for all the other tricks exclusive to that and the Japanese version on top of it. Hopefully the SotN page never becomes as ridiculously cluttered as it has the potential to be. :p
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At this rate, SotN is going to have more categories than Metroid Prime, even if SWs are a separate category.
The video quality is very good for both runs. I take it that's RemoteJoy's fault?
Alucard:
After getting the Shield Rod, using Summon Spirit is an interesting choice. Are you always going to take a hit while dashing past the enemy, or does that depend on how he moves? Either way it's probably quicker than the Potion strategy, so a future PS1 run should use it as well.
He only buys one Mana Prism in this run. On the one hand that does cut out a Librarian visit. But on the other hand MP is tighter throughout most of the run. And considering future runs will likely use the PAL version which does have Infinite Wing Smash, MP will be even tighter.
I don't like the way he handles Castle Keep. As the previous verifier noted, the backtracking did seem to take a while. It probably would be better to fly straight up to the broken staircase and Richter, using a Mana Prism if necessary. At least there was no Fiasco this time.
Well, the warp room mishap is kind of the Fiasco of this run. Except this is all on the runner. After he fudged it the first time, he should've quit and just entered to warp normally. The trick saves maybe half a second, and he wastes about 4.
There are also little things strewn about the run, like not jumping high enough to the next ledge or messing up the Wing Smash command. These are signs that he's kinda new to the scene. But his shield dashing is very good, and he's really quick in the menus.
I don't agree with some of the choices made in this run, and the warp room mistake is particularly ugly, but there's enough good that I can accept the run.
The video quality is very good for both runs. I take it that's RemoteJoy's fault?
Alucard:
After getting the Shield Rod, using Summon Spirit is an interesting choice. Are you always going to take a hit while dashing past the enemy, or does that depend on how he moves? Either way it's probably quicker than the Potion strategy, so a future PS1 run should use it as well.
He only buys one Mana Prism in this run. On the one hand that does cut out a Librarian visit. But on the other hand MP is tighter throughout most of the run. And considering future runs will likely use the PAL version which does have Infinite Wing Smash, MP will be even tighter.
I don't like the way he handles Castle Keep. As the previous verifier noted, the backtracking did seem to take a while. It probably would be better to fly straight up to the broken staircase and Richter, using a Mana Prism if necessary. At least there was no Fiasco this time.
Well, the warp room mishap is kind of the Fiasco of this run. Except this is all on the runner. After he fudged it the first time, he should've quit and just entered to warp normally. The trick saves maybe half a second, and he wastes about 4.
There are also little things strewn about the run, like not jumping high enough to the next ledge or messing up the Wing Smash command. These are signs that he's kinda new to the scene. But his shield dashing is very good, and he's really quick in the menus.
I don't agree with some of the choices made in this run, and the warp room mistake is particularly ugly, but there's enough good that I can accept the run.
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Real SoTN Run (not really cause the PSP lets you cheat non stop):
do drac faster, dont hesistate so much with the holy water... at least a second or two is lost there... you can whip while that works... so delaying increases the dracula time.
accidentally drops down in the alchemy laboratory opening room, and then later instead of jumping down the plaforms, chooses to shield dash and fall (slightly slower).
runner needs to practice shield dashing some more, He seems to hiccup quite a bit in the motion. This is really apparent in the Marble gallery long hallway. He has the stops down perfect but, if you really listen you can hear dropped dashes, or something of the like. Although its not exhibited on the return trip. He misses a few jump or two in the outer wall, which really hurts him. He seems to have this problem every so often where he under jumps, while precise jumps are helpful, its better to over jump a little than under jump.
Regarding his exit to the shield rod room, the key to this is the alucard shield. it is not easy to drop the skeletons before you are hit, but the alucard sword has the "fastest" swing time of the game (not counting that broken sword we all love, which has NONE), and thus can be used inbetween hit animations. This is not necessarily true for fists, (which would be in a normal PSX/XBLA run) and thus would put more of a risk/reward into the run. The potion is also there as a fail safe so that if one wanted to /could skip the save room they would not be penalized the HP.
messes around too much in the warp room...
weird exit to akmodans room... (yeah i know i missed some time here, i get bored marking everything down ok?)
skips shaft... who isn't the bad mofo... anyway..
run ends and all is better right?
well the run has bits of execution errors, i can hear some wavering in the shield dashing early which leds me to believe this was either an early attempt inthe day (hadn't warmed up and then got into it) or did it late where he was initially tired then after some dopple he got into it( probably the former). there is a lot to say about this run...
on the position of the 2nd mana prism, he passes by the onyx and does card back to the librarian twice. theoretically if i wanted to be a douche, i could probably find some other awesome ring for him to abuse (like say a 2nd garnet next to the leap stone in the wall?) that could be used to buy a 3rd mana prism... But on each part, i dont know if the 3rd mana prism would be of any use. the 2nd one would have a good use in getting the leap stone but alas it would be too much of a cost as well.. as it'd take theoretically 6 wing smashes to get to the leap stone then up to the "broken stairs. And then another one to the fight... This might be too much and would upset the balance, which would then require a 3rd prism... or something else to off shoot it. Not looking to pretty. The mana prism affair for right now stands as "best to leave at one for now..." as i'd need a rather solid level to get an idea on how well a 2nd mana prism would work as well as if a 3rd could be used some where else instead, or used instead of the one picked up.
There is a lot to say and too much skeptical planning for me to do right now.
I'll accept under the condition the runner shuns the horrible voice acting of the psp version for all eternity (Well at least maria's annoying ass voice..)
do drac faster, dont hesistate so much with the holy water... at least a second or two is lost there... you can whip while that works... so delaying increases the dracula time.
accidentally drops down in the alchemy laboratory opening room, and then later instead of jumping down the plaforms, chooses to shield dash and fall (slightly slower).
runner needs to practice shield dashing some more, He seems to hiccup quite a bit in the motion. This is really apparent in the Marble gallery long hallway. He has the stops down perfect but, if you really listen you can hear dropped dashes, or something of the like. Although its not exhibited on the return trip. He misses a few jump or two in the outer wall, which really hurts him. He seems to have this problem every so often where he under jumps, while precise jumps are helpful, its better to over jump a little than under jump.
Regarding his exit to the shield rod room, the key to this is the alucard shield. it is not easy to drop the skeletons before you are hit, but the alucard sword has the "fastest" swing time of the game (not counting that broken sword we all love, which has NONE), and thus can be used inbetween hit animations. This is not necessarily true for fists, (which would be in a normal PSX/XBLA run) and thus would put more of a risk/reward into the run. The potion is also there as a fail safe so that if one wanted to /could skip the save room they would not be penalized the HP.
messes around too much in the warp room...
weird exit to akmodans room... (yeah i know i missed some time here, i get bored marking everything down ok?)
skips shaft... who isn't the bad mofo... anyway..
run ends and all is better right?
well the run has bits of execution errors, i can hear some wavering in the shield dashing early which leds me to believe this was either an early attempt inthe day (hadn't warmed up and then got into it) or did it late where he was initially tired then after some dopple he got into it( probably the former). there is a lot to say about this run...
on the position of the 2nd mana prism, he passes by the onyx and does card back to the librarian twice. theoretically if i wanted to be a douche, i could probably find some other awesome ring for him to abuse (like say a 2nd garnet next to the leap stone in the wall?) that could be used to buy a 3rd mana prism... But on each part, i dont know if the 3rd mana prism would be of any use. the 2nd one would have a good use in getting the leap stone but alas it would be too much of a cost as well.. as it'd take theoretically 6 wing smashes to get to the leap stone then up to the "broken stairs. And then another one to the fight... This might be too much and would upset the balance, which would then require a 3rd prism... or something else to off shoot it. Not looking to pretty. The mana prism affair for right now stands as "best to leave at one for now..." as i'd need a rather solid level to get an idea on how well a 2nd mana prism would work as well as if a 3rd could be used some where else instead, or used instead of the one picked up.
There is a lot to say and too much skeptical planning for me to do right now.
I'll accept under the condition the runner shuns the horrible voice acting of the psp version for all eternity (Well at least maria's annoying ass voice..)
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Alucard low%: Excellent A/V quality. Good route planning and inventory management. Runner has excellent knowledge of glitches (including ones unique to the PSP version of the game) and uses them to pull off some impressive boss skips (though he/she probably wastes more time trying to pull off the warp room dash glitch than was really worth it for a SS run). Gameplay was good - decent shield dashing and impressive use of backdashing to get more mileage out of wing smashes through moving during the bat transformation. A few missed or near-missed jumps and a slightly messy Shield Rod room were the only real issues I noticed. I vote to accept.
Maria SS
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Maria:
There are a couple times where he dashes on the ground, which you're not supposed to do. There are times where he moon jumps when it doesn't seem necessary or where a double jump would've sufficed. The Hippogryph fight looked slow, but that may just be because of how weak Maria is. In the thin rooms after Medusa, why doesn't he dash over everything like he does in the rooms before? And he collects way too many hearts. He has 30 left over when he finishes and goes out of his way to break some candles.
I'm rejecting this one. There's a lack of planning and the execution is off frequently, as if the run was rushed. I'm sure the runner can do better.
There are a couple times where he dashes on the ground, which you're not supposed to do. There are times where he moon jumps when it doesn't seem necessary or where a double jump would've sufficed. The Hippogryph fight looked slow, but that may just be because of how weak Maria is. In the thin rooms after Medusa, why doesn't he dash over everything like he does in the rooms before? And he collects way too many hearts. He has 30 left over when he finishes and goes out of his way to break some candles.
I'm rejecting this one. There's a lack of planning and the execution is off frequently, as if the run was rushed. I'm sure the runner can do better.
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Quote from Another verifier:
Maria:
.... He has 30 left over when he finishes and goes out of his way to break some candles.....
.... He has 30 left over when he finishes and goes out of his way to break some candles.....
Just wanna say that in the coliseum he picks up 2 heart max ups which are +30 hearts each he really had an excess of 18 hearts gotten he didn't (entered shaft with 18 hearts) the extra 12 do not matter as they are in a bunch with the rest... there needs to be a bit more execution and a little less stopping on hearts. On a run this short, i want to see the person RAPE the game. pull out the stops... USE THE LIFE BAR! its there, i know you dont wanna take a hit but it looks bad killing the werewolves and minotaurs to pass by. See about doing something about that!
Rejected...
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Maria low%: Decent controls and route, though not quite as polished as the Alucard low% run. Stops a few times to clear enemies that could probably be skipped with precise enough air dashing. Given the short length of the run, I think the runner should fix these flaws and resubmit. I vote to reject.
100% run
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During the any% run, I noticed it looked like the end of Final Stage: Bloodlines lagged more than it should've. I checked my UMD copy, and the lag is different compared to the ISO. And this PAL ISO seems to lag even more than NTSC-U, actually. Doesn't impact the verdict any, just saying it's weird.
He gets the Potion in this run to get out of the Shield Rod room. But in the any% he used Summon Spirit, which is technically quicker, isn't it?
The Spectral Sword Fiasco is kinda bad. Not as bad as the other Fiascoes by itself. But the runner should be more concerned about what I have to say about everything after it. After getting tossed around by swords and axes and spears and whatnot, he brain farts on the hammer enemy, forgets to go get the Shield Rod at first, screws up Soul Steal, pauses an extra two times, and just STANDS STILL for a few seconds after said Soul Steal.
This is really, really bad. This shows signs that the run is a rushjob and the runner didn't plan things out properly. This segment better be an outtake and was submitted by mistake, cause if it's not, this segment alone is enough to reject the run. A runner should NEVER allow this kinda mistake in a SEGMENTED run of all things. Hell, it'd be pretty bad in a single segment too. But because this is a segmented run, it's 90 times worse.
SEG 2
Was the stopwatch he used after Soul of Bat in the Armored Fleaman room intentional? If it isn't, that's hearts you can save for later when you really need them.
He modifies the route before the Faerie card, perhaps for the better. What's the item he jumps over before the Faerie? Is it an Anitvenom or an Uncurse? Either way, they both have the invincibility effect, as does the Potion he picks up. So why bother buying any Uncurses from the Librarian in the first place? And that also makes the $250 bags in the long Marble Gallery stretch unnecessary too. If you don't need to buy the stuff, you should redo the segment and not buy them.
To throw anonymity out the window (that's right, I'm master88), I fucked up on the Olrox portion of the map. The start and end points are switched. And I didn't include in my route to hit the switch in the Colosseum. The runner noticed this too. However, the route may actually work as it was drawn. You can activate Alucard Shield outside the statue room to zip into the middle of it. This possiblility should be explored.
Why jump over the Knight Shield?
I don't understand why he got the two hidden rooms in Alchemy Lab early, actually. His MP isn't in any short supply on the return trip, and he doesn't have to use Soul Steal anyway.
At the end of every segment, he saves to a new file. Wouldn't it be better to copy the file beforehand and just save over it?
SEG 3
Those corners in the Chapel staircase do seem annoying to get. Maybe those should be swapped out for something else.
I don't think you need the bat to get the bell tower spaces. But maybe it's easier that way.
Another route change before Leap Stone. And again, that might be a good idea.
Something he does when entering and exiting a room is backdash morphing into the room, then Wingsmashing out. Would it be better to walk into the room, then backdash morph out to cover less ground?
He Wingsmashed a little far in the Flea Rider room.
SEG 4
He loses a slight bit of time by talking to the ferryman. It's not even a second in total, but still.
At the last straight path in the Entrance, he doesn't use Rom's morph trick and just rams into the Emergency Turkey block.
He changes the route again in the clock room. But this time it's not for the better. The route goes down to Maria immediately after getting Gravity Boots. He gets the stopwatch room before getting Maria instead of after. What should be done is: enter the clock room with both rings equipped, fly up to the Gravity Boots while the floor is opening, and when you dive kick down the floor will be open.
Was the heart at 7:50 really necessary?
And I know this is in the route, but using the same save room twice should be avoided.
SEG 5
It is possible to skip fighting Cerberus by getting pushed into the ground by the door. Don't know if it works on PSP, but I don't see why it wouldn't.
I'm second guessing the Catacombs route. It's probably better to get everything in one trip, then Library Card out.
SEG 6
Would it be better to use Alucard Shield on Shaft's Orb?
SEG 7
I don't think the staircase blocks are as bad in IC.
SEG 8
It's really laggy in the long hallways.
SEG 9
Divekick off the Unes, dude.
And again I mention to not go to save rooms twice. This is again a sign of poor planning. He should've either saved the first time he went into the Galamoth save room, or put it off until after fighting Galamoth. The fact that this was a short segment makes the mistake even more ugly.
SEG 10
There's some Wingsmash errors here. Nothing big.
SEG 11
Can't really complain about anything here.
SEG 12
Pretty sure I made the route so that you didn't have to wolf swim for anything in the Reverse Waterway.
That first double save visit couldn't be worked around? The second one definitely can.
SEG 13
Depending on the game timer, one of the things in the IC clock room could be put off for the end of the game.
He was having trouble on the Werewolves and the top left corner of the Inverted Colosseum.
SEG 14
He WSed into the clock room when he didn't need to.
Why not double jump after each moon jump to get a little more damage in on Beelzebub?
Don't use the save point if you've been to it already. Either use a different one or put it off till later.
SEG 15
Execution looks okay. But now that I see it in action, the route seems messy.
I hope the runner didn't assume that this route was finalized. I put the route up for discussion, something to work off of. I didn't really test much of anything, especially in the inverted castle. It seems like there's needless backtracking going on. It really should be looked into. I hope there's no confusion here, but if the runner was misled, I apologize.
I cannot accept this run. While it does get better as it goes on, the mistakes in the first segment are atrocious. There's mistakes that really shouldn't be in segmented runs. The route needs work. There's poor planning in other parts of the run. And this run was made very shortly after the Maria run. It was completed only 2 weeks after the Maria run, and the actual recording looks to have taken 5 days. A run like this needs more time than that.
I do have to thank the runner, though, for actually recording video of the route. This will be a big help in making the route better. I've always planned to at some point in the future record this route myself as a proof of concept. So that's one less thing I have to do. What the runner should've done, though, is posted this in the forum before submitting. That way, we could've spotted the errors beforehand and offered advice for other improvements. Not only does a run like this need time, it needs teamwork.
He gets the Potion in this run to get out of the Shield Rod room. But in the any% he used Summon Spirit, which is technically quicker, isn't it?
The Spectral Sword Fiasco is kinda bad. Not as bad as the other Fiascoes by itself. But the runner should be more concerned about what I have to say about everything after it. After getting tossed around by swords and axes and spears and whatnot, he brain farts on the hammer enemy, forgets to go get the Shield Rod at first, screws up Soul Steal, pauses an extra two times, and just STANDS STILL for a few seconds after said Soul Steal.
This is really, really bad. This shows signs that the run is a rushjob and the runner didn't plan things out properly. This segment better be an outtake and was submitted by mistake, cause if it's not, this segment alone is enough to reject the run. A runner should NEVER allow this kinda mistake in a SEGMENTED run of all things. Hell, it'd be pretty bad in a single segment too. But because this is a segmented run, it's 90 times worse.
SEG 2
Was the stopwatch he used after Soul of Bat in the Armored Fleaman room intentional? If it isn't, that's hearts you can save for later when you really need them.
He modifies the route before the Faerie card, perhaps for the better. What's the item he jumps over before the Faerie? Is it an Anitvenom or an Uncurse? Either way, they both have the invincibility effect, as does the Potion he picks up. So why bother buying any Uncurses from the Librarian in the first place? And that also makes the $250 bags in the long Marble Gallery stretch unnecessary too. If you don't need to buy the stuff, you should redo the segment and not buy them.
To throw anonymity out the window (that's right, I'm master88), I fucked up on the Olrox portion of the map. The start and end points are switched. And I didn't include in my route to hit the switch in the Colosseum. The runner noticed this too. However, the route may actually work as it was drawn. You can activate Alucard Shield outside the statue room to zip into the middle of it. This possiblility should be explored.
Why jump over the Knight Shield?
I don't understand why he got the two hidden rooms in Alchemy Lab early, actually. His MP isn't in any short supply on the return trip, and he doesn't have to use Soul Steal anyway.
At the end of every segment, he saves to a new file. Wouldn't it be better to copy the file beforehand and just save over it?
SEG 3
Those corners in the Chapel staircase do seem annoying to get. Maybe those should be swapped out for something else.
I don't think you need the bat to get the bell tower spaces. But maybe it's easier that way.
Another route change before Leap Stone. And again, that might be a good idea.
Something he does when entering and exiting a room is backdash morphing into the room, then Wingsmashing out. Would it be better to walk into the room, then backdash morph out to cover less ground?
He Wingsmashed a little far in the Flea Rider room.
SEG 4
He loses a slight bit of time by talking to the ferryman. It's not even a second in total, but still.
At the last straight path in the Entrance, he doesn't use Rom's morph trick and just rams into the Emergency Turkey block.
He changes the route again in the clock room. But this time it's not for the better. The route goes down to Maria immediately after getting Gravity Boots. He gets the stopwatch room before getting Maria instead of after. What should be done is: enter the clock room with both rings equipped, fly up to the Gravity Boots while the floor is opening, and when you dive kick down the floor will be open.
Was the heart at 7:50 really necessary?
And I know this is in the route, but using the same save room twice should be avoided.
SEG 5
It is possible to skip fighting Cerberus by getting pushed into the ground by the door. Don't know if it works on PSP, but I don't see why it wouldn't.
I'm second guessing the Catacombs route. It's probably better to get everything in one trip, then Library Card out.
SEG 6
Would it be better to use Alucard Shield on Shaft's Orb?
SEG 7
I don't think the staircase blocks are as bad in IC.
SEG 8
It's really laggy in the long hallways.
SEG 9
Divekick off the Unes, dude.
And again I mention to not go to save rooms twice. This is again a sign of poor planning. He should've either saved the first time he went into the Galamoth save room, or put it off until after fighting Galamoth. The fact that this was a short segment makes the mistake even more ugly.
SEG 10
There's some Wingsmash errors here. Nothing big.
SEG 11
Can't really complain about anything here.
SEG 12
Pretty sure I made the route so that you didn't have to wolf swim for anything in the Reverse Waterway.
That first double save visit couldn't be worked around? The second one definitely can.
SEG 13
Depending on the game timer, one of the things in the IC clock room could be put off for the end of the game.
He was having trouble on the Werewolves and the top left corner of the Inverted Colosseum.
SEG 14
He WSed into the clock room when he didn't need to.
Why not double jump after each moon jump to get a little more damage in on Beelzebub?
Don't use the save point if you've been to it already. Either use a different one or put it off till later.
SEG 15
Execution looks okay. But now that I see it in action, the route seems messy.
I hope the runner didn't assume that this route was finalized. I put the route up for discussion, something to work off of. I didn't really test much of anything, especially in the inverted castle. It seems like there's needless backtracking going on. It really should be looked into. I hope there's no confusion here, but if the runner was misled, I apologize.
I cannot accept this run. While it does get better as it goes on, the mistakes in the first segment are atrocious. There's mistakes that really shouldn't be in segmented runs. The route needs work. There's poor planning in other parts of the run. And this run was made very shortly after the Maria run. It was completed only 2 weeks after the Maria run, and the actual recording looks to have taken 5 days. A run like this needs more time than that.
I do have to thank the runner, though, for actually recording video of the route. This will be a big help in making the route better. I've always planned to at some point in the future record this route myself as a proof of concept. So that's one less thing I have to do. What the runner should've done, though, is posted this in the forum before submitting. That way, we could've spotted the errors beforehand and offered advice for other improvements. Not only does a run like this need time, it needs teamwork.
Quote:
re: 100% segmented run
For Mike's sake I'm just going to say this right now: REJECTED REJECTED REJECTED REJECTED REJECTED!
Now if you are xarugas (the runner) or a bored person, continue reading.
SEGMENT 1:
I already see a spot you should have reset in about 30 seconds into the video, considering this is a segmented run. Dracula forms during the Hydro Storm and you have to go and run to him... that's not bad if you had Hydro Storm'd slightly earlier, but not throwing the water until after he is already taking damage is just a waste of time. I probably would have reset if this happened in a SS attempt, let alone segmented. I'm still not sure why you wait so long to throw the water on form 2. Only reason I didn't complain about it in the any% run is because you reached the clock sub-8. Does it really add the lag any more? This is way laggier than I've ever seen the game during the first battle, by the way. Definitely didn't lag like this on my PSP version. Is it because of the ISO?
Into the Alucard portion of the run. Shield dashing is nice. Missed jump in Alchemy Lab before breaking the hidden rooms, minor time lost. Missed two easy kills that wouldn't have cost time in the lab with the axe armor and the little wall climber skeleton (I've forgotten 90% of the enemy names in this game since speed running it due to never grabbing that relic). This would have given him an additional level gain, but perhaps the runner wanted to avoid it? I know the stats don't make that big a difference for most of the run outside of MP since you're just cheesing bosses, but I don't really see a level up hurting there. Correct me if I'm wrong.
If you aren't going to use the knives or axe, is there any point to grabbing either? The only thing you can do is accidentally use them and waste hearts. Oh wait, he threw it at the axe armor... and wasted hearts because he had to stop and wait for the guy to die before dashing for map coverage. Pretty sure it would've been as fast or faster to jump slash him or even stand and slash. Then there's another wall climber. You missed him with the axe. If the kill was that important to you (so much that you'd waste the hearts), then those freebies I was talking about earlier in the Alchemy Lab would have been perfect since they don't waste time or hearts. I'm sensing a serious lack of planning already. Segmented runs cannot have tons of improvisations in them. It doesn't work.
On to the Marble Gallery... stopping to collect every big heart and even turning around to get one he missed. Went kind of retarded on the flea man after Maria cutscene. These 50+ hearts he's grabbing better be used later, but even so 10 were wasted in the last Alchemy Lab room so some of the stopping could have been easily avoided. In the Outer Wall, he missed dashing into save room before Doppleganger and later missed a jump on the climb. I have not gotten that glitch where he skips through the floor to work in any console SotN; is that a PSP exclusive or does it work on Japanese console version as well? Anyone know by chance?
Stops more to grab hearts before moving past the clock room. 8:40 right before heading to the next room. Pretty decent considering the extra rooms that were snagged, and he owes a HUGE thanks to Uyama for letting him use the ISO which seriously has like zero loading because all those mistakes definitely would not have led to a sub-9 clock using the legit disc. I play on a version with very little loading too though, so I can't really whine too much there.
Oh one last thing right before he enters Olrox's Quarters. He avoids the health-up. This tells me that the runner believes the run is being timed manually, because if it was using the in-game timer and just adding the last segment manually, it would have been faster to continue shield dashing through the item since the clock stops as you do that. I bring this up for two reasons: the runner grabbed the potion earlier in the Alchemy Lab, which suggests he's going to use it in the Shield Rod room (the faster method for an in-game timer run, but probably not as fast as escaping with a spell in real-time), and we also didn't really decide on how the run was being timed before he started it anyway. Regardless of this fact though, he should have stayed consistent with in-game timer strats or real-time strats for the whole run instead of switching between them. I'm not particularly sure how we were supposed to time it either, but I guess I can time it in both ways just to be sure.
Onto Olrox's Quarters... OMG WTF HAPPENED? Why was there no reset at the sword enemy? THIS IS A SEGMENTED RUN! SEGMENTED! The Alucard Sword special was definitely a waste a room later. Another heart grab before colloseum... up to 60 now. I've yet to see any put to good use besides the Doppleganger fight. Before the Shield Rod room... wtf did he forget the route? How do you forget the Shield Rod room of all things? Also, how do you not reset in ANY run (SS or segmented) when you start heading in the completely wrong area? Also, why are you just standing there after pausing the game? Not even sitting still on the menu, standing out in the open so the timer goes up no matter how you think the run is being timed.
And finally it ends. The runner wasted far more time than they said they wasted in the thread when giving their update on this run, and it seemed fairly rushed and unplanned, especially for a segmented run. There are 70 hearts sitting there waiting to be used right now, and I can immediately think of two, maybe three places you'd want to use the stopwatch later (so 40-60 hearts). Hopefully I'm proven wrong about the heart usage later but for as many times as the player stops to grab them, it would even make more sense to grab enough for the Doppleganger fight and the library and then use the Heart Refresh later in the run (considering there's not really any subweapons in play with the later boss fights on the PSP version). This segment alone makes the run worthy of rejection.
SEGMENT 2:
Nice Minotaur/Werewolf kill and menu. The two uses of stopwatch in the library are definitely not worth it in a segmented run. The last flea man can be cleared pretty consistently on a SS run, so it wouldn't have taken many attempts for a segment to get through that area on just one stopwatch. Even taking a hit and going through the guy would have been less time than four of the instances where you stopped to grab hearts combined. This also makes me think back to the 10 wasted hearts in the last room of the Alchemy Lab... yea...
Alucard Sword on Lesser Demon was probably a good choice. If you're going to be using the sword this late into the run (I know, it just started, but you already have the Shield Rod), perhaps since it's a segmented run you should have tested stat growth and whether you could have killed the boss in less slashes with some luck (literal luck, not the stat). Perhaps you did and I sound stupid, but just based on how the first segment went, I'm guessing you didn't. I hope you at least time tested stopwatch usage (including hearts gained for it) and Alucard Sword vs. just equipping the Shield Rod after the shop and killing him with the Alucard Shield. I probably would've gone with the spell if the slashes couldn't be cut down any more. Since you can just cancel it by pausing very briefly, draining MP from shield dashing won't be an issue. You also have excess MP before the next save point.
Another stopwatch usage. Think about this... you are wing smashing through those guys you stopwatched on. You are invincible during that time. I mean, okay, there is one guy there you have to dodge... but guess what? You can wing smash there too! Way more than enough MP! So far it looks like you had enough to play with so that you could even IWS straight to the next room! You stop to use the save for MP refill anyway, so why not? Your MP would have been cut very close to 0 if you had done the additional wing smashes and the Shield Rod method of killing Lesser Demon, but just from the naked eye it looks like you would have made it.
Did I miss something about how the map coverage works here? Did you really need to use that ceiling as a guide for your wing smash to the upper room that badly? You could have turned around and wing smashed just fine before going all the way up the staircase and killing the extra enemy, and then could have covered the upper part when exiting even if you needed to for map coverage.
The MP management after library save revisit seems good. Nice IWS in Olrox's Quarters. Going from Chapel to Colloseum, why jump over the shield when it doesn't add time to shield dash through it? That's just stupid and a waste of time. Grabbing heart-ups in multiple places again makes me wonder whether you were certain of how the run was being timed. 64 hearts in the Alchemy Lab revisit, and considering you have wing smash at your disposal for invincibility and speed, it would seem kind of silly to use the stopwatch so much in the run. Maybe that's just me. Speaking of the wing smash though, you had a bunch of spare MP when using the Alchemy Lab save room; perhaps you could have at least wing smashed to it from the jump instead of shield dashing? Your shield dash is good, but not good enough to outrun the bat, dood. The lag in the glass room before the skill of wolf is bad on pretty much every version but XBLA and PSN. Did you time test whether your shield dash is faster through there in real time? It looks like a close call, and you spend MP wing smashing.
There was enough extra MP at the end of the segment to use at least one other wing smash before the finale. Yes, this matters in a segmented run. Perhaps stopping the IWS at the start of Slogra/Gaibon's room and then going up with another chain? There are a few possibilities for this, but what matters is that there was MP wasted in a segmented run. Also is that wing smash skip of the Maria cutscene PSP only as well? I've never bothered trying that on console, despite all the crazy things I've tried doing with the game.
SEGMENT 3:
When has there ever been this much lag in the Chapel staircase room? lol
I'm pretty sure flying a little bit with the bat plus the transformation animations is slower than just jumping for map coverage in the upper rooms of the Chapel. Considering you're at full MP in the lower Outer Wall, it seems pretty obvious you missed some IWSes at the start of the Keep. Also, that many stopwatches on the flea riders? Really? You understand they aren't as intimidating as Satoryu makes them look, right?
If all your heart collection was for this, I'd say that's a bit of a shame.
Nice IWS down long Marble Gallery hall. I'd say that's an essential trick in any 100% run, SS or segmented (though obviously I wouldn't reject a SS run just because it missed one in there). It looks impressive.
What?!? Oh, goddammit! Goddammit! Succubus? Goddammit! Goddammit! Succubus.... GOOOOODDAMMIIIIIIIIT! You know I kinda liked Succubus, too...
SEGMENT 4:
It's a shame the first 2 segments are so disappointing, because the constant IWS in this run is pretty entertaining.
Ok dood, there's an easy trick you need to learn. It's in that crappy marathon race and it's in that crappy xbla run (there are far better ones coming though, don't worry!), so you really don't have an excuse for not knowing it yet (considering you've even referenced the marathon video before for IWS). You can transform into bat from a wolf dash just like the jump kick and keep the momentum from it. You can also stop the momentum on a dime by turning the bat around. You could have done this heading to the room where Death was and then done a wing smash with an almost instant de-transformation to barely cover the spare room more quickly. It's obvious you're new to SotN running and you need to learn some of the tricks in addition to planning things better and having higher expectations of yourself for a segmented run. The lack of familiarity with tricks shines through yet again when you wait to open the floor instead of doing it in the first clock room revisit.
I really think Konami owes us a written apology for Maria's new VA.
I'm still astonished at the over-heart collection.
SEGMENT 5:
I've done this on console before, but I haven't properly tested how it works. I have one-shot Scylla before with an IWS that starts from the entrance of her room (the big room, not her corner of it) and ends going right through her. I have tested it a bit and have not been able to replicate this with just a single wing smash through her on the same file. I'm not sure whether this is boss-specific or damage from wing smashes stack as you do more, but just know for future attempts that you can totally kill her with an IWS (considering I've done it at lower levels than you and with obviously worse equipment). It's unlikely that wing smash damage stacks, so I probably just hit all of her parts at once or something, or because of the way her room is set up, it didn't set the battle up properly.
You apparently knew of the wolf dash to bat in segment 5, so I'm not sure why you didn't use it in segment 4 still. I'm not sure I'm going to bother commenting on many of the mistakes anymore. I'm starting to wonder whether the runner actually saw it more as a practice run to memorize the route rather than a serious segmented run.
SEGMENT 6:
The extremely liberal use of the stopwatch still baffles me. Hope Soul Steal vs. Alucard Shield was time tested. At the very least, shield would have given you some more room to play with for the IWS and could have avoided a Prism possibly.
SEGMENT 7:
Oh hey, it's that part of the anti-chapel I never visit! :p
SEGMENT 8:
Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag.
Delicious.
SEGMENT 9:
I need to show this segment to Lenophis so he quits trying to claim it's hard to kill Death quickly with the Alucard Shield.
You know you can jumpkick the weeds, right? Makes navigating that Cave room way easier/faster.
Another case of avoiding the upgrade items when you seem to deliberately run right into them at other times. I'm still confused.
SEGMENT 10:
This segment isn't bad, or maybe I've just lost so much interest in this run while watching it that I just stopped paying attention to mistakes. Nice use of bat-mist-bat in reverse clock tower.
SEGMENT 11:
Another must-have IWS for a segmented run nailed in the long gallery hallway. This is definitely one of those runs that got better as it went along, which is a sign that the runner didn't really prepare properly or didn't know what he was getting into until it was too late.
SEGMENT 12:
I'm surprised how often you choose to take damage from something when falling on it instead of trying to jump kick off it.
SEGMENT 13:
Werewolf got revenge for the Alucard Shield cheapo death in the first castle. Should've been a reset.
I'm mildly surprised the 100% definition doesn't at least include all bosses. Kinda weird. Not saying that needs to be added, though.
SEGMENT 14:
Beelzebub is a cool boss.
SEGMENT 15:
The map coverage in this segment seems kind of disconnected from everything else. I'm sure it can be reworked to blend in with the rest of the run better. Nice Shaft skip. Too bad for me that the glitch seems to be PSP and Japanese version exclusive. Konami ruined a classic Dracula line. Way to go, idiots.
OVERALL:
As if anonymity hadn't been thrown out the window already, I sacrificed a good night for SS any% attempts to watch this!
The runner rushed this and didn't prepare very well. The early segments were awful, the planning of the whole thing seemed a little off. He also seemed to pick up skills and tricks as the run went along, which indicates that this was practically a recorded test run.
Also, to reiterate my point about the timing: the runner seemed confused on how it was going to be timed but didn't ever ask (I think he may have mentioned once he assumed it was real-time?). He switched between using strats that were more beneficial to in-game timer and strats that were more beneficial for real time at random. Because I'm rejecting this and I'm pretty sure it's being rejected overall with multiple SotN runners verifying, I'm not going to bother doing the manual timing for the whole run after all. The in-game timer on the Dracula kill was 1:36:07. I'm sure the runner should be more certain about this issue next time so the strats can stay consistent.
Also, about the save files... I hope you didn't limit your segmentation just because of the number of slots you had on your card. That's not a good excuse. If you were worried about wasting time when you segmented, you could have tested to see when the game actually makes the save. On the XBLA version, the save is made right after you select the option to make it. On the PlayStation version, it has to go through most of the animation before it is made. I'm not sure how it works on PSP but if you had done a test to see how it affects the in-game timer as it saves and when it actually creates the save, you could have helped prepare everyone with timing in either case and seen whether you really lost time making another segment.
Well, sorry I can't accept your run, but I was entertained by some of the segments and it's cool that there's now video of this route so it can be improved more easily and I can work off it in helping make a slightly different route for the console versions and memorizing it. :p Congrats on finishing it though, and I'm glad there's another SotN runner putting runs out!
For Mike's sake I'm just going to say this right now: REJECTED REJECTED REJECTED REJECTED REJECTED!
Now if you are xarugas (the runner) or a bored person, continue reading.
SEGMENT 1:
I already see a spot you should have reset in about 30 seconds into the video, considering this is a segmented run. Dracula forms during the Hydro Storm and you have to go and run to him... that's not bad if you had Hydro Storm'd slightly earlier, but not throwing the water until after he is already taking damage is just a waste of time. I probably would have reset if this happened in a SS attempt, let alone segmented. I'm still not sure why you wait so long to throw the water on form 2. Only reason I didn't complain about it in the any% run is because you reached the clock sub-8. Does it really add the lag any more? This is way laggier than I've ever seen the game during the first battle, by the way. Definitely didn't lag like this on my PSP version. Is it because of the ISO?
Into the Alucard portion of the run. Shield dashing is nice. Missed jump in Alchemy Lab before breaking the hidden rooms, minor time lost. Missed two easy kills that wouldn't have cost time in the lab with the axe armor and the little wall climber skeleton (I've forgotten 90% of the enemy names in this game since speed running it due to never grabbing that relic). This would have given him an additional level gain, but perhaps the runner wanted to avoid it? I know the stats don't make that big a difference for most of the run outside of MP since you're just cheesing bosses, but I don't really see a level up hurting there. Correct me if I'm wrong.
If you aren't going to use the knives or axe, is there any point to grabbing either? The only thing you can do is accidentally use them and waste hearts. Oh wait, he threw it at the axe armor... and wasted hearts because he had to stop and wait for the guy to die before dashing for map coverage. Pretty sure it would've been as fast or faster to jump slash him or even stand and slash. Then there's another wall climber. You missed him with the axe. If the kill was that important to you (so much that you'd waste the hearts), then those freebies I was talking about earlier in the Alchemy Lab would have been perfect since they don't waste time or hearts. I'm sensing a serious lack of planning already. Segmented runs cannot have tons of improvisations in them. It doesn't work.
On to the Marble Gallery... stopping to collect every big heart and even turning around to get one he missed. Went kind of retarded on the flea man after Maria cutscene. These 50+ hearts he's grabbing better be used later, but even so 10 were wasted in the last Alchemy Lab room so some of the stopping could have been easily avoided. In the Outer Wall, he missed dashing into save room before Doppleganger and later missed a jump on the climb. I have not gotten that glitch where he skips through the floor to work in any console SotN; is that a PSP exclusive or does it work on Japanese console version as well? Anyone know by chance?
Stops more to grab hearts before moving past the clock room. 8:40 right before heading to the next room. Pretty decent considering the extra rooms that were snagged, and he owes a HUGE thanks to Uyama for letting him use the ISO which seriously has like zero loading because all those mistakes definitely would not have led to a sub-9 clock using the legit disc. I play on a version with very little loading too though, so I can't really whine too much there.
Oh one last thing right before he enters Olrox's Quarters. He avoids the health-up. This tells me that the runner believes the run is being timed manually, because if it was using the in-game timer and just adding the last segment manually, it would have been faster to continue shield dashing through the item since the clock stops as you do that. I bring this up for two reasons: the runner grabbed the potion earlier in the Alchemy Lab, which suggests he's going to use it in the Shield Rod room (the faster method for an in-game timer run, but probably not as fast as escaping with a spell in real-time), and we also didn't really decide on how the run was being timed before he started it anyway. Regardless of this fact though, he should have stayed consistent with in-game timer strats or real-time strats for the whole run instead of switching between them. I'm not particularly sure how we were supposed to time it either, but I guess I can time it in both ways just to be sure.
Onto Olrox's Quarters... OMG WTF HAPPENED? Why was there no reset at the sword enemy? THIS IS A SEGMENTED RUN! SEGMENTED! The Alucard Sword special was definitely a waste a room later. Another heart grab before colloseum... up to 60 now. I've yet to see any put to good use besides the Doppleganger fight. Before the Shield Rod room... wtf did he forget the route? How do you forget the Shield Rod room of all things? Also, how do you not reset in ANY run (SS or segmented) when you start heading in the completely wrong area? Also, why are you just standing there after pausing the game? Not even sitting still on the menu, standing out in the open so the timer goes up no matter how you think the run is being timed.
And finally it ends. The runner wasted far more time than they said they wasted in the thread when giving their update on this run, and it seemed fairly rushed and unplanned, especially for a segmented run. There are 70 hearts sitting there waiting to be used right now, and I can immediately think of two, maybe three places you'd want to use the stopwatch later (so 40-60 hearts). Hopefully I'm proven wrong about the heart usage later but for as many times as the player stops to grab them, it would even make more sense to grab enough for the Doppleganger fight and the library and then use the Heart Refresh later in the run (considering there's not really any subweapons in play with the later boss fights on the PSP version). This segment alone makes the run worthy of rejection.
SEGMENT 2:
Nice Minotaur/Werewolf kill and menu. The two uses of stopwatch in the library are definitely not worth it in a segmented run. The last flea man can be cleared pretty consistently on a SS run, so it wouldn't have taken many attempts for a segment to get through that area on just one stopwatch. Even taking a hit and going through the guy would have been less time than four of the instances where you stopped to grab hearts combined. This also makes me think back to the 10 wasted hearts in the last room of the Alchemy Lab... yea...
Alucard Sword on Lesser Demon was probably a good choice. If you're going to be using the sword this late into the run (I know, it just started, but you already have the Shield Rod), perhaps since it's a segmented run you should have tested stat growth and whether you could have killed the boss in less slashes with some luck (literal luck, not the stat). Perhaps you did and I sound stupid, but just based on how the first segment went, I'm guessing you didn't. I hope you at least time tested stopwatch usage (including hearts gained for it) and Alucard Sword vs. just equipping the Shield Rod after the shop and killing him with the Alucard Shield. I probably would've gone with the spell if the slashes couldn't be cut down any more. Since you can just cancel it by pausing very briefly, draining MP from shield dashing won't be an issue. You also have excess MP before the next save point.
Another stopwatch usage. Think about this... you are wing smashing through those guys you stopwatched on. You are invincible during that time. I mean, okay, there is one guy there you have to dodge... but guess what? You can wing smash there too! Way more than enough MP! So far it looks like you had enough to play with so that you could even IWS straight to the next room! You stop to use the save for MP refill anyway, so why not? Your MP would have been cut very close to 0 if you had done the additional wing smashes and the Shield Rod method of killing Lesser Demon, but just from the naked eye it looks like you would have made it.
Did I miss something about how the map coverage works here? Did you really need to use that ceiling as a guide for your wing smash to the upper room that badly? You could have turned around and wing smashed just fine before going all the way up the staircase and killing the extra enemy, and then could have covered the upper part when exiting even if you needed to for map coverage.
The MP management after library save revisit seems good. Nice IWS in Olrox's Quarters. Going from Chapel to Colloseum, why jump over the shield when it doesn't add time to shield dash through it? That's just stupid and a waste of time. Grabbing heart-ups in multiple places again makes me wonder whether you were certain of how the run was being timed. 64 hearts in the Alchemy Lab revisit, and considering you have wing smash at your disposal for invincibility and speed, it would seem kind of silly to use the stopwatch so much in the run. Maybe that's just me. Speaking of the wing smash though, you had a bunch of spare MP when using the Alchemy Lab save room; perhaps you could have at least wing smashed to it from the jump instead of shield dashing? Your shield dash is good, but not good enough to outrun the bat, dood. The lag in the glass room before the skill of wolf is bad on pretty much every version but XBLA and PSN. Did you time test whether your shield dash is faster through there in real time? It looks like a close call, and you spend MP wing smashing.
There was enough extra MP at the end of the segment to use at least one other wing smash before the finale. Yes, this matters in a segmented run. Perhaps stopping the IWS at the start of Slogra/Gaibon's room and then going up with another chain? There are a few possibilities for this, but what matters is that there was MP wasted in a segmented run. Also is that wing smash skip of the Maria cutscene PSP only as well? I've never bothered trying that on console, despite all the crazy things I've tried doing with the game.
SEGMENT 3:
When has there ever been this much lag in the Chapel staircase room? lol
I'm pretty sure flying a little bit with the bat plus the transformation animations is slower than just jumping for map coverage in the upper rooms of the Chapel. Considering you're at full MP in the lower Outer Wall, it seems pretty obvious you missed some IWSes at the start of the Keep. Also, that many stopwatches on the flea riders? Really? You understand they aren't as intimidating as Satoryu makes them look, right?
Nice IWS down long Marble Gallery hall. I'd say that's an essential trick in any 100% run, SS or segmented (though obviously I wouldn't reject a SS run just because it missed one in there). It looks impressive.
What?!? Oh, goddammit! Goddammit! Succubus? Goddammit! Goddammit! Succubus.... GOOOOODDAMMIIIIIIIIT! You know I kinda liked Succubus, too...
SEGMENT 4:
It's a shame the first 2 segments are so disappointing, because the constant IWS in this run is pretty entertaining.
Ok dood, there's an easy trick you need to learn. It's in that crappy marathon race and it's in that crappy xbla run (there are far better ones coming though, don't worry!), so you really don't have an excuse for not knowing it yet (considering you've even referenced the marathon video before for IWS). You can transform into bat from a wolf dash just like the jump kick and keep the momentum from it. You can also stop the momentum on a dime by turning the bat around. You could have done this heading to the room where Death was and then done a wing smash with an almost instant de-transformation to barely cover the spare room more quickly. It's obvious you're new to SotN running and you need to learn some of the tricks in addition to planning things better and having higher expectations of yourself for a segmented run. The lack of familiarity with tricks shines through yet again when you wait to open the floor instead of doing it in the first clock room revisit.
I really think Konami owes us a written apology for Maria's new VA.
I'm still astonished at the over-heart collection.
SEGMENT 5:
I've done this on console before, but I haven't properly tested how it works. I have one-shot Scylla before with an IWS that starts from the entrance of her room (the big room, not her corner of it) and ends going right through her. I have tested it a bit and have not been able to replicate this with just a single wing smash through her on the same file. I'm not sure whether this is boss-specific or damage from wing smashes stack as you do more, but just know for future attempts that you can totally kill her with an IWS (considering I've done it at lower levels than you and with obviously worse equipment). It's unlikely that wing smash damage stacks, so I probably just hit all of her parts at once or something, or because of the way her room is set up, it didn't set the battle up properly.
You apparently knew of the wolf dash to bat in segment 5, so I'm not sure why you didn't use it in segment 4 still. I'm not sure I'm going to bother commenting on many of the mistakes anymore. I'm starting to wonder whether the runner actually saw it more as a practice run to memorize the route rather than a serious segmented run.
SEGMENT 6:
The extremely liberal use of the stopwatch still baffles me. Hope Soul Steal vs. Alucard Shield was time tested. At the very least, shield would have given you some more room to play with for the IWS and could have avoided a Prism possibly.
SEGMENT 7:
Oh hey, it's that part of the anti-chapel I never visit! :p
SEGMENT 8:
Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag.
Delicious.
SEGMENT 9:
I need to show this segment to Lenophis so he quits trying to claim it's hard to kill Death quickly with the Alucard Shield.
You know you can jumpkick the weeds, right? Makes navigating that Cave room way easier/faster.
Another case of avoiding the upgrade items when you seem to deliberately run right into them at other times. I'm still confused.
SEGMENT 10:
This segment isn't bad, or maybe I've just lost so much interest in this run while watching it that I just stopped paying attention to mistakes. Nice use of bat-mist-bat in reverse clock tower.
SEGMENT 11:
Another must-have IWS for a segmented run nailed in the long gallery hallway. This is definitely one of those runs that got better as it went along, which is a sign that the runner didn't really prepare properly or didn't know what he was getting into until it was too late.
SEGMENT 12:
I'm surprised how often you choose to take damage from something when falling on it instead of trying to jump kick off it.
SEGMENT 13:
Werewolf got revenge for the Alucard Shield cheapo death in the first castle. Should've been a reset.
I'm mildly surprised the 100% definition doesn't at least include all bosses. Kinda weird. Not saying that needs to be added, though.
SEGMENT 14:
Beelzebub is a cool boss.
SEGMENT 15:
The map coverage in this segment seems kind of disconnected from everything else. I'm sure it can be reworked to blend in with the rest of the run better. Nice Shaft skip. Too bad for me that the glitch seems to be PSP and Japanese version exclusive. Konami ruined a classic Dracula line. Way to go, idiots.
OVERALL:
As if anonymity hadn't been thrown out the window already, I sacrificed a good night for SS any% attempts to watch this!
The runner rushed this and didn't prepare very well. The early segments were awful, the planning of the whole thing seemed a little off. He also seemed to pick up skills and tricks as the run went along, which indicates that this was practically a recorded test run.
Also, to reiterate my point about the timing: the runner seemed confused on how it was going to be timed but didn't ever ask (I think he may have mentioned once he assumed it was real-time?). He switched between using strats that were more beneficial to in-game timer and strats that were more beneficial for real time at random. Because I'm rejecting this and I'm pretty sure it's being rejected overall with multiple SotN runners verifying, I'm not going to bother doing the manual timing for the whole run after all. The in-game timer on the Dracula kill was 1:36:07. I'm sure the runner should be more certain about this issue next time so the strats can stay consistent.
Also, about the save files... I hope you didn't limit your segmentation just because of the number of slots you had on your card. That's not a good excuse. If you were worried about wasting time when you segmented, you could have tested to see when the game actually makes the save. On the XBLA version, the save is made right after you select the option to make it. On the PlayStation version, it has to go through most of the animation before it is made. I'm not sure how it works on PSP but if you had done a test to see how it affects the in-game timer as it saves and when it actually creates the save, you could have helped prepare everyone with timing in either case and seen whether you really lost time making another segment.
Well, sorry I can't accept your run, but I was entertained by some of the segments and it's cool that there's now video of this route so it can be improved more easily and I can work off it in helping make a slightly different route for the console versions and memorizing it. :p Congrats on finishing it though, and I'm glad there's another SotN runner putting runs out!
Decisions:
XBLA and PSP SS runs: Accept
Maria and 100% runs: Reject
Reasons:
XBLA SS:Major improvement over the last run with less mistakes and a lot of new tech.
PSP SS: Solid run for a new category (argh why does every version of sotn have to be different).
Maria SS: Too many execution errors for a run that is only about 7 minutes. There are also some enemies the runner killed that could possibly be dashed over.
100%: "lol, Zoe does not approve." -romscout
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