My feelings on The Demon Rush
Game Page: Doesn't exist yet.
Daniel 'Axel Ryman' Fitzgerald's easy SS run
Verifier Responses
Decision: Accept
Reason: It's a pretty good run, and it's not like this game is going to have a lot of competition/critics.
Daniel 'Axel Ryman' Fitzgerald's easy SS run
Verifier Responses
Quote:
Audio/Visual seems fine.
No signs of cheating.
---
Stage 1
Everything went well, almost perfect. The only extremely minor thing I spotted during the level was the full jump between the two toads in the last section which I assume was meant to be a short-hop. Boss fight was almost perfect and the couple of hits the runner took barely cost anything.
Overall: Very fast and clean.
Stage 2
2.08 - Took a hit on the mini frog.
2.11 - Slid off the edge and had to hover back up losing a bit of time.
Boss fight again was good.
Overall: A couple of mistakes but fast and impressive apart from that.
Stage 3
3.30 - Takes a hit on the bat but the invincibility allows the runner to cross the spikes without stopping, looks a tad sloppy but not too big of a deal.
3.32 - A bit of a mess here, runner just kind of bundles their way through it.
3.57 - Messes up on the hovering, looks sloppy though probably only costing about a second.
4.00 - Collects some unneeded soul when it would be quicker to slide.
4.03 - Small movement mistake, probably only costs about 1/2 second.
4.07 - Mistimes a slide and takes a hit, very noticeable mistake and costs about a second or so.
4.10 - Stationary whips the skeleton instead of short-hopping.
Boss fight is excellent, tiny mistake collecting the orb.
Very good up until the spiked room, a few small mistakes later on but nothing too major.
Stage 4
5.03 - Takes a hit.
5.38 - Takes two hits on the fall here but it's almost unavoidable and barely costs any time.
5.41 - Collects some unneeded soul instead of sliding.
5.46 - Jumps instead of sliding.
Boss fight is decent although it would have been faster if the first Cirno hadn't missed.
Overall: Another stage well done, fast and impressive with only minor mistakes.
Stage 5
The first room is a bit of a mess, lots of small mistakes (first jump is too short, unneeded hover, takes hits on both guillotines, accidental Cirno, slight unneeded hover at the end). The amount of time lost here isn't massive but it is more than need be and it looks very sloppy. Also collects unneeded soul at the end of this room, should have have slid instead.
6.52 - Collects unneeded soul, should have just slid past it.
6.55 - May as well have just ran through the skeleton knight first time instead of stopping first and the jump immediately afterwards was unnecessary.
7.01 - Takes a hit on the bone throwing skeleton.
7.04 - Goes the wrong way at the start of this room.
7.06 - Bad jump lands on the skeleton knight.
7.18 - Takes two poor hits in this room, completely unnecessary and looks bad.
7.25 - Takes two hits from the werewolves in this room. To be fair they're unpredictable and difficult to dodge, but there was no need to whip the first one after taking the hit, should have slid straight past.
7.42 - Collects unneeded soul instead of sliding.
7.45 - Goes out of the way to collect health which wouldn't have been needed had it not been for so many mistakes, uses an unnecessary slide when collecting the health, then takes another hit straight after.
7.58 - Jumps into an enemy instead of sliding, then slides into the next enemy.
8.08 - Slides into a skeleton knight on the stairs, then for whatever reason turns around and whips him which just wastes time.
8.11 - Could have hovered straight over the werewolf instead of dropping and taking a hit.
Boss fight was OK, a few missed attacks but not too slow.
Overall: Here's where things take a turn for the worse. This stage is littered with mistakes which not only look very sloppy but also add up to a decent amount of time lost. To be honest, I'd have thought about resetting about 3/4 of the way through this stage.
Stage 6
9.03 - This room looks nice and clean although I'm wondering if it would be marginally faster to intentionally take a hit just to plough through at the beginning.
9.15 - Slides into a skeleton.
9.18 - Although taking a hit here is unavoidable, sliding into the fairy rather than jump-attacking would probably have been faster.
9.21 - Slight movement error on the book case.
9.25 - Using Marisa here is a good idea, however some bad jumps lose a second or two and collecting the health is completely unnecessary at this point and is a waste of time.
9.37 - Takes a hit, could have whipped the axe thrower instead of using Marisa?
9.51 - Soul here isn't needed, wouldn't it have been quicker just to slide past?
9.57 - Should have slid here rather than jumping.
10.06 - Hit here is unavoidable.
10.12 - Would it not have been faster to slide underneath the first fairy and use Marisa on the second?
10.15 - Takes unnecessary hit on the bone throwing skeleton.
10.20 - Again, soul here isn't needed, wouldn't it have been quicker just to slide past?
10.25 - Collecting the health here is being far too overly cautious considering the runner is already at about 80% health - it's completely unnecessary. Not to mention the fact that the runner makes a real mess of it and wastes a good 7 seconds in doing so.
Boss fight is fine apart from another tiny mistake on the orb.
Overall: Much better than Stage 5, most of the mistakes were small and not too costly but the health cock-up at the end was unforgivable.
Stage 7
First room is just a mess, gets hit by just about everything.
11.19 - Using Marisa in this room would probably a safer/faster way of getting through rather than rushing and taking two hits.
11.34 - Why bother attacking these enemies? Just fly past, the extra soul isn't needed.
11.42 - Didn't need to land here, should have just carried on flying, although the hits taken in this room didn't lose much time.
11.51 - This extra soul really isn't needed, just fly/jump past.
11.55 - Slightly mistimes the jump/hover.
11.59 - Unfortunate to take a hit on the bat here.
12.02 - Why not slide underneath the bats here?
12.24 - Nearly hits some spikes and has to land, then jump again instead of just sticking to the right.
12.26 - Takes a hit from the skeleton knight, could have just flown over his head?
12.35 - Collects some unneeded soul here, should have just flown up the left side behind the fairy.
12.48 - A real mess here, the first hit was acceptable but not the second and third.
12.59 - No need to whip the candle, could have just carried on flying up.
13.19 - Unnecessary hit taken, looks sloppy.
Boss fight was a bit slow, not terrible but missed twice with Cirno and took a few hits.
Overall: As with Stage 5, far too many blatant mistakes, not pretty to watch.
Final Stage
Remilia: Shame she went up high but I would still have stuck with Cirno since the runner didn't hit her with Marisa until she came lower anyway. Fine overall though.
Hong Meiling, Patchouli, Sakuya: Nothing much to say here, all 3 go down fast on Easy, nothing to worry about.
Remilia 2: Missed the second Cirno and getting cornered looked a bit messy, but timewise it was still OK.
---
Summary: The first half of the run is good, not entirely perfect but impressive nonetheless. However, Stage 5 really kills the run and it's clear that from here onwards, far more optimisation is required. There's very much a feeling of the runner just rushing through by any means necessary rather than using the cleanest most efficient way through each section and the run is far too sloppy as a result. Stages 5 & 7 are the biggest offenders, if the runner were to spend more time improving these stages whilst ironing out as many of the smaller mistakes littered elsewhere throughout the run as possible, there would be a much stronger case for accepting the run. As it is, there are just far too many errors which add up over time and a few really ugly blunders which really stand out.
Verdict: Reject
No signs of cheating.
---
Stage 1
Everything went well, almost perfect. The only extremely minor thing I spotted during the level was the full jump between the two toads in the last section which I assume was meant to be a short-hop. Boss fight was almost perfect and the couple of hits the runner took barely cost anything.
Overall: Very fast and clean.
Stage 2
2.08 - Took a hit on the mini frog.
2.11 - Slid off the edge and had to hover back up losing a bit of time.
Boss fight again was good.
Overall: A couple of mistakes but fast and impressive apart from that.
Stage 3
3.30 - Takes a hit on the bat but the invincibility allows the runner to cross the spikes without stopping, looks a tad sloppy but not too big of a deal.
3.32 - A bit of a mess here, runner just kind of bundles their way through it.
3.57 - Messes up on the hovering, looks sloppy though probably only costing about a second.
4.00 - Collects some unneeded soul when it would be quicker to slide.
4.03 - Small movement mistake, probably only costs about 1/2 second.
4.07 - Mistimes a slide and takes a hit, very noticeable mistake and costs about a second or so.
4.10 - Stationary whips the skeleton instead of short-hopping.
Boss fight is excellent, tiny mistake collecting the orb.
Very good up until the spiked room, a few small mistakes later on but nothing too major.
Stage 4
5.03 - Takes a hit.
5.38 - Takes two hits on the fall here but it's almost unavoidable and barely costs any time.
5.41 - Collects some unneeded soul instead of sliding.
5.46 - Jumps instead of sliding.
Boss fight is decent although it would have been faster if the first Cirno hadn't missed.
Overall: Another stage well done, fast and impressive with only minor mistakes.
Stage 5
The first room is a bit of a mess, lots of small mistakes (first jump is too short, unneeded hover, takes hits on both guillotines, accidental Cirno, slight unneeded hover at the end). The amount of time lost here isn't massive but it is more than need be and it looks very sloppy. Also collects unneeded soul at the end of this room, should have have slid instead.
6.52 - Collects unneeded soul, should have just slid past it.
6.55 - May as well have just ran through the skeleton knight first time instead of stopping first and the jump immediately afterwards was unnecessary.
7.01 - Takes a hit on the bone throwing skeleton.
7.04 - Goes the wrong way at the start of this room.
7.06 - Bad jump lands on the skeleton knight.
7.18 - Takes two poor hits in this room, completely unnecessary and looks bad.
7.25 - Takes two hits from the werewolves in this room. To be fair they're unpredictable and difficult to dodge, but there was no need to whip the first one after taking the hit, should have slid straight past.
7.42 - Collects unneeded soul instead of sliding.
7.45 - Goes out of the way to collect health which wouldn't have been needed had it not been for so many mistakes, uses an unnecessary slide when collecting the health, then takes another hit straight after.
7.58 - Jumps into an enemy instead of sliding, then slides into the next enemy.
8.08 - Slides into a skeleton knight on the stairs, then for whatever reason turns around and whips him which just wastes time.
8.11 - Could have hovered straight over the werewolf instead of dropping and taking a hit.
Boss fight was OK, a few missed attacks but not too slow.
Overall: Here's where things take a turn for the worse. This stage is littered with mistakes which not only look very sloppy but also add up to a decent amount of time lost. To be honest, I'd have thought about resetting about 3/4 of the way through this stage.
Stage 6
9.03 - This room looks nice and clean although I'm wondering if it would be marginally faster to intentionally take a hit just to plough through at the beginning.
9.15 - Slides into a skeleton.
9.18 - Although taking a hit here is unavoidable, sliding into the fairy rather than jump-attacking would probably have been faster.
9.21 - Slight movement error on the book case.
9.25 - Using Marisa here is a good idea, however some bad jumps lose a second or two and collecting the health is completely unnecessary at this point and is a waste of time.
9.37 - Takes a hit, could have whipped the axe thrower instead of using Marisa?
9.51 - Soul here isn't needed, wouldn't it have been quicker just to slide past?
9.57 - Should have slid here rather than jumping.
10.06 - Hit here is unavoidable.
10.12 - Would it not have been faster to slide underneath the first fairy and use Marisa on the second?
10.15 - Takes unnecessary hit on the bone throwing skeleton.
10.20 - Again, soul here isn't needed, wouldn't it have been quicker just to slide past?
10.25 - Collecting the health here is being far too overly cautious considering the runner is already at about 80% health - it's completely unnecessary. Not to mention the fact that the runner makes a real mess of it and wastes a good 7 seconds in doing so.
Boss fight is fine apart from another tiny mistake on the orb.
Overall: Much better than Stage 5, most of the mistakes were small and not too costly but the health cock-up at the end was unforgivable.
Stage 7
First room is just a mess, gets hit by just about everything.
11.19 - Using Marisa in this room would probably a safer/faster way of getting through rather than rushing and taking two hits.
11.34 - Why bother attacking these enemies? Just fly past, the extra soul isn't needed.
11.42 - Didn't need to land here, should have just carried on flying, although the hits taken in this room didn't lose much time.
11.51 - This extra soul really isn't needed, just fly/jump past.
11.55 - Slightly mistimes the jump/hover.
11.59 - Unfortunate to take a hit on the bat here.
12.02 - Why not slide underneath the bats here?
12.24 - Nearly hits some spikes and has to land, then jump again instead of just sticking to the right.
12.26 - Takes a hit from the skeleton knight, could have just flown over his head?
12.35 - Collects some unneeded soul here, should have just flown up the left side behind the fairy.
12.48 - A real mess here, the first hit was acceptable but not the second and third.
12.59 - No need to whip the candle, could have just carried on flying up.
13.19 - Unnecessary hit taken, looks sloppy.
Boss fight was a bit slow, not terrible but missed twice with Cirno and took a few hits.
Overall: As with Stage 5, far too many blatant mistakes, not pretty to watch.
Final Stage
Remilia: Shame she went up high but I would still have stuck with Cirno since the runner didn't hit her with Marisa until she came lower anyway. Fine overall though.
Hong Meiling, Patchouli, Sakuya: Nothing much to say here, all 3 go down fast on Easy, nothing to worry about.
Remilia 2: Missed the second Cirno and getting cornered looked a bit messy, but timewise it was still OK.
---
Summary: The first half of the run is good, not entirely perfect but impressive nonetheless. However, Stage 5 really kills the run and it's clear that from here onwards, far more optimisation is required. There's very much a feeling of the runner just rushing through by any means necessary rather than using the cleanest most efficient way through each section and the run is far too sloppy as a result. Stages 5 & 7 are the biggest offenders, if the runner were to spend more time improving these stages whilst ironing out as many of the smaller mistakes littered elsewhere throughout the run as possible, there would be a much stronger case for accepting the run. As it is, there are just far too many errors which add up over time and a few really ugly blunders which really stand out.
Verdict: Reject
Quote:
Verifier: its one of those deals where the runner clearly has great skill, and even seemed to have a nice plan for the whole thing, but got kind of fucked over in a stage where theres a question of whether it's faster to sit and kill things or just move forward, because they have a bunch of annoying enemies with too much HP
Verifier: also considering this run will have like 5 viewers ever, and as far as i know this is the only runner, it seems like it'd just make more sense to accept it and if someone else wants to try being this skilled at the game and overtake the run, then they're welcome to
me: true
Verifier: so i guess you can use that as my verification notes, i accept because it's a run that seems to be well planned and mostly good execution but just has that one rough stage
Verifier: and it's not anything that makes me as someone who has played through the game before think less of the runner
Verifier: the impressiveness overshadows the b.s. by a long shot
Verifier: also considering this run will have like 5 viewers ever, and as far as i know this is the only runner, it seems like it'd just make more sense to accept it and if someone else wants to try being this skilled at the game and overtake the run, then they're welcome to
me: true
Verifier: so i guess you can use that as my verification notes, i accept because it's a run that seems to be well planned and mostly good execution but just has that one rough stage
Verifier: and it's not anything that makes me as someone who has played through the game before think less of the runner
Verifier: the impressiveness overshadows the b.s. by a long shot
Decision: Accept
Reason: It's a pretty good run, and it's not like this game is going to have a lot of competition/critics.
Thread title: