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My feelings on The Demon Rush
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Nicholas 'Sir_VG' Hoppe's single-segment easy run

Verifier Responses

Quote:
Nicholas "SirVG" Hoppe
Castlevania: The Adventure Rebirth single segment easy "normal style" run

Audio/video quality are fine.
No signs of cheating.

Game start time: 00:27.444
Game end time:  20:53.803
Total game time: 20:26.359

I'm going to pass this run, only but marginally. It's a great time, and errors are kept to a minimum, but there is one really glaring error in Stage 5 that costs over 8 seconds, and there are also a few places where several seconds can be saved on fairly short stretches. I can see this run getting down to sub 20 with a little advice. I nitpick the run here to aid the runner should they try to beat their time with another go round.

Stage 1 (can save almost 2 seconds):
-Took a hit from the Mud Zombie on the first screen. Not a good way to start. (0.5 seconds)
-Whip timing is off on long drop after high platforms (about 0.33 second)
-Stopped to whip a skeleton on the screen with the Giant Slime; could have jumped onto the dumping platform and lept over it (0.5 seconds)
-Using only the whip on the boss is marginally faster (about 0.5 seconds)

Stage 2 (can save about 6 seconds):
-Using whip fireballs to kill the second knight is faster than using the axe (you don't have to stop to avoid damage that way) (saves about 0.5 seconds)
-There's a way to get through the second screen (the one with the Mutant Owls) without having to stop or take damage, you take the bottom route and utilize whip fireballs (saves about 1 second)
-Fighting the ogre boss is faster if you stand close to him; he'll continually pound the ground to hit you. You take far more damage but he barely moves and you can whip the crap out of him. I haven't tested if this happens every time you play, but I've done it a couple of times. (4.5 seconds).

Stage 3 (can save about 4.5 seconds):
-It is slightly faster to leap on top of the first of the three staircase spears and start climbing the stairs from there (0.5 seconds)
-In the first crushing walls area you can get past the first spear before its second thrust (2 seconds)
-You can drop through the first wall in the second crushing walls area; you can afford to take damage and it's quicker (1 second)
-If you jump straight up while on the last crushing wall (as it is opening), you can curve your fall to the right between the opening walls and land on the ledge leading to the door (1 second)

Stage 4 (can save about 1.5 seconds):
-Nothing major. There's a part early on where you could have jumped and whipped a knight instead of using an axe, and a part near the end where you missed a jump after a spider and fell to the ground. All together probably only lost about 1 to 1.5 seconds.
-Sucks that you can't kill the boss in 1 pass, doesn't it?

Stage 5 (can save around 20 seconds):
-As you jump onto the first clock to take the shortcut, if you whip you can hit the clock and the bird behind it with the fireball, then wait a heartbeat and jump up onto the top of the clock and onto the moving platform. That way you also don't get hit by the bird on its second pass. (1 second)
-If you use only the whip on the giant wizard you can kill him before any of his attacks can hit you (1 second)
-Oops on the steps there on the screen after the mid-boss (1 second)
-On the second screen with the tipping steps (the one before the elevator), you can go along the bottom of the screen, killing the sickle thrower and the knight; it is slightly faster than going along the top, killing the bats and waiting for the stairs to tip (0.5 second)
-You can afford to step forward on the elevator to get it moving; you might take damage from the steam monster but you'll save around a second
-You don't need the whip fireball on the elevator (0.5 second)
-Missed the second pendulum due to getting a moneybag (?), then missed the next tick due to the ensuing swarm of enemies (8.5 seconds)
-On the last screen before Death's passage you can *just* make the jump onto the second pendulum instead of waiting for it to tick one more time (3.5 seconds)
-When Death goes into his second attack phase (when he drops down to the ground), you can deal damage more quickly if you stop using the axe and just use the whip - often he won't have a chance to begin his third attack phase (1-3 seconds)

Stage 6 (can save about 2 seconds):
-Dracula's final form can be beaten more quickly if only the whip is used; he can be whipped 3 times before his first fireballs, 1 time before his first jump, 2 times before his second jump, 2 times before his third jump (you may take a hit), and 2 times before his second fireballs to kill him (2 seconds)


Conclusions: Overall, you're looking at over a half a minute that can be saved under optimum conditions. The biggest errors in the run came in stage five, mostly due to the pendulum issues. The first pendulum fudge up that cost nearly 9 seconds brought me pretty close to rejecting the run, but I think that the runner does well enough throughout the rest of the run that this error can be forgiven. My other gripe is that the runner uses the axe far too much. The axe does slightly less damage than the whip and should only be used when the whip cannot reach an enemy. Sometimes an extra whip strike can be landed in lieu of throwing an axe, and sometimes the game won't register a hit if an enemy is already taking a hit from another weapon, so there is time lost here.


Quote:
Again, this is my first verification process, but I'll try to adhere to the norms. Dunno how negligible some errors are, so I'll address as many as I can find, as well as impressive parts.

Audio quality: Good
Video quality: Good

Level 1
0:32 - Hit an avoidable zombie. Stun time isn't too long, though. The problem with this is that it's so early in the run, it could've easily been redone.
1:47 - Giant Bat fight is excellent, very fast and accurate.
2:45 - Boss fight is ok. First 2 axes miss, but overall, I don't think it wasted much time. Again, it's early in the run, so that probably could've slightly been improved.
3:03 - Could've jumped from the platform to get the orb and save slight time.
Overall, level 1 is average. A few errors that could've been avoided (first error especially is surprising), but it shouldn't add much time in total.

Level 2
3:44 - Could've turned left during the jump and whipped the bird on the landing, instead of taking 2 hits.
5:10 - Remained stationary on the water wheel as it was moving. Moving with it as far as possible would increase speed slightly. Same phenomenon occurs a second or 2 later, though not as pronounced.
5:45 - Boss battle was alright. Missed a few attacks, but got off some great ones as well. Took 2 hits, but didn't amount to much time wasted at all.
Level 2 is much better than 1, that's for sure. Pretty good level.

Level 3
6:25 - Beginning of this level is very impressive, great use of those axes.
6:44 - Didn't need to axe the candle for a single heart, though in hindsight, the wall lances he traverses a few seconds later seem to move at a constant rate, meaning it is negligible.
9:10 - Boss battle could be better, but overall wasn't terrible. Similar to level 2 boss battle. Missed a few hits and got caught in bad spots, but it shouldn't have wasted much time.
Level 3 was impressive. I'm beginning to see a pattern here...

Level 4
10:36 - Axed a skeleton ahead of time instead of jumping towards him and whipping, stopping movement for a moment. Latter technique would be faster.
10:47 - Stops moving briefly. Not sure what that was about.
12:08 - Falls off a platform instead of jumping, though it was difficult to avoid doing so.
12:28 - Boss battle was very good, probably the best so far. The cross was a good sub-weapon choice, and runner anticipated approaching enemies well. No complaints, really. Entertaining method to collect the orb.
Fairly decent level overall. The flaws were minor and don't add up too much.

Level 5
13:19 I'm disappointed in the beginning of this level. The runner has crosses that definitely could've helped with those annoying Gearheads. Instead, he/she chose to use the whip exclusively, probably wasting a few seconds at the most. Their usefulness is displayed better at 13:50, but that part could still have been executed better (several crosses don't reach).
15:10 - Excellent boss battle, superior to even last level's final boss.
15:32 - Accidentally walks up steps and throws axes. About 2 seconds lost.
16:46 - Unfortunate mistake here. Runner chose to stand and attack the Gearhead, instead of walking straight into it and taking a hit, which would have initiated the elevator and saved about 3 seconds.
17:37 - VERY unfortunate mistake here. Ran off the moving platform and failed to remount it, thus missing the jump to the pendulum. 7-8 seconds lost.
18:55 - Disappointing Death battle. Started out good, landing great hits. Later declined into missing 3 attacks in a row, which could've been avoided entirely by whipping Death instead of jumping on top of him. 3-4 seconds wasted.
Possibly the worst level, though it is a difficult one. Lots of errors.

Level 6
20:05 - Excellent Dracula battle. No noticeable mistakes here, very impressive.

Overall, this run could definitely be improved. Routes seem to be good, especially on level 4. However, runner grabbed the long range powerup a few too many unnecessary times, probably adding up to a few seconds. No cheating is observed.
A strange phenomenon here is that the quality for each level is almost parabolic. The run starts off sub-par, but gradually improves to the middle of the run, then starts declining again. I say accept. It's an entertaining run, and mistakes only add up to make around 30 seconds or so, just a fraction of the entire run.


Quote:
No problem with audio and video, and there's no sign of cheating.

Stage 1: Getting hit on the first enemy? Really? I guess that's okay, cause the rest of stage is flawless. Except for the boss. That looked like it could be a bit better with better ax placement. Also, shouldn't he have jumped on the rotating platform to collect the orb faster?

Stage 2: Is the fireball upgrade really worth it here? He unfortunately took a hit a 3:44, but that enemy's position is luck based. I can't explain why he took another hit off the same guy, though. Perhaps he shouldn't have whipped at that candle. There are a few times where he whips a candle and only gets one heart. On Easy, I don't think one extra heart is going to make a difference. The boss fight is a bit rough, but this guy is unpredictable most of the time.

Stage 3: At 7:14, can he jump from the middle platform to the next edge? Everything else before the boss fight is okay. The boss fight's terrible. He's facing the wrong way half the time and misses a few attacks.

Stage 4: Good overall. I don't think the last fireball upgrade he got was necessary, though. The boss fight's good. I don't know if it's possible to kill him in 1 round.

Stage 5: Now I know the fireball here is a bad idea. It's weaker than a whip hit, so a couple robots require an extra hit to kill when he uses the fireball. His Frankenstein fight might be slower because of this, too. At 17:36, I'm pretty sure he could've made the jump. It's really bad here, cause he has to wait for the pendulum to swing by two more times before he can get on it again. I'm not sure if the cross after that is worth getting. A hangup at the end, but otherwise a great Death fight.

Stage 6: The triple hit strategy on Drac's first form is new to me. Shame he couldn't get it to work each round. He got hit a bunch of times on the second form. That slowed him down a bit. I'm sure you can chuck axes at him quicker.

Not a great run, as there's a few bad choices made when it comes to attacking. But it's not bad, either. I'll accept this run.


Decision: Accept

Reason: A couple of mistakes, but overall a solid run that's a good start for this game
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