My feelings on The Demon Rush
Game Page: Doesn't exist yet
Normal difficulty run
Verifier Responses:
After I told the runner I thought the run did have deaths.
Decision: Reject
Reason: This is a segmented run with a death, which is completely unacceptable unless the death saves time. According to the runner's comments and the verifiers responses, the runner loses time from the death. Also, everything the first verifier said.
If anyone is wondering why I rejected this run even though only one out three verifiers rejected it.
1. The first verifier actually has runs on the site, and is more knowledgeable of what is acceptable on SDA.
2. The first verifier's comments were the most detailed by far (this is the most important reason, BTW).
3. Death in a segmented run.
P.S. It didn't help that the third verifier didn't even spot the death until I reminded him about it.
Normal difficulty run
Verifier Responses:
Quote:
Even though I haven't heard from the runner themselves about some of the stuff or seen their comments, I believe I can make sound judgments from what I've seen. I watched the whole run and well... even if the death could be excused (and it really can't) the run has approx. one and a half or two minutes worth of mistakes, mostly ones that could've been corrected fairly easily and that stick out like a sore thumb, which simply cannot be excused. The mistakes are usually 5+ seconds long, too.
The run has a lot of good things going for it, mostly solid planning and execution is fine when the runner isn't too busy screwing up the maneuvering, but it's not enough to redeem the run. Simply redoing the run and fixing the mistakes would work wonders ("simply"... heh, like doing a full run again would be simple at all). More detailed stuff below.
On a side note it's a bit unusual that the console runner has a good aim but is scolded for not handling the movement, don't you think?
Oh, and could you send me the comments even though I've already given you my opinion? It'd be nice to see what the runner had in mind concerning some of the stuff in the run.
The run has a lot of good things going for it, mostly solid planning and execution is fine when the runner isn't too busy screwing up the maneuvering, but it's not enough to redeem the run. Simply redoing the run and fixing the mistakes would work wonders ("simply"... heh, like doing a full run again would be simple at all). More detailed stuff below.
On a side note it's a bit unusual that the console runner has a good aim but is scolded for not handling the movement, don't you think?
Oh, and could you send me the comments even though I've already given you my opinion? It'd be nice to see what the runner had in mind concerning some of the stuff in the run.
Quote:
It's a bit sad that I say this, but I recommend rejecting the run. Now, the runner did a lot of things right, they fire accurately, most of the time the maneuvers are okay (does some tricky jumping, too) and the strategies for various levels are top-notch. The game is hard and the runner has some tight energy management at times, too. However...
Sometimes the runner goes for stuff that's simply not needed, he fails to do jump to do jumps or similar maneuvers at times in the most awkward of places, fail at them repeatedly, wasting a lot of time in the process, crashing on walls in the RAT-racing segments and overall making a lot of time wasting errors in places where they should've restarted immediately after the mistake, over half the time it happens in the beginning of the segment, like 15 seconds into the segment. Combined the mistakes probably add up to 2 minutes overall. Last but not least, the runner dies in segment 11, and looking at how the player reacted to it, it simply cannot be something they planned. Not that I'd think they would purposefully plan to waste time, anyway.
The runner never gets the scatter blaster (shotgun) fully upgraded, which I believe could've saved a lot of time, since the fire power on that thing is just insane. Easily 10-20 seconds off from the last segment alone, I'd suspect. Of course, I've never actually timed the difference, so what do I know.
The audiovisual quality isn't outstanding, but it's good enough for it's purposes. Looks like it's been recorded on a video tape. See also the nitpick on segment 19. That's most likely a bug in the game, though.
For inconsistencies, see notes on segment 20. You might want to get the runner's input on that one. More might exist that I simply didn't notice.
As far as I could see the runner isn't cheating.
Some segment specific notes below.
--
Seg1: The player could've stayed further away from the first door at ~6:50 to accelerate before the door opens. It's minor stuff, though.
Seg5: Nasty-looking bump to the wall at 2:35. Lost 2-3 seconds because of that, I believe.
Seg6: The runner could've taken a straighter path at around 1:45.
Seg8: Ugly-looking bump at 0:31
Seg10: Considering the health, there's a fairly useless energy pickup at 4:32
Seg11: A death. Even if it was supposed to happen (and it certainly doesn't look like it) to segment (which, in turn, should be apparently guessed by the entering the menu), but I kinda doubt it and even if it was it still wastes a lot of time. More information needed, but as is it's grounds for a rejection.
Seg12: Nice short cut. Is there a point in the entering the menu thing?
Seg15: The hassle at 2:20 looks really bad and costs maybe five seconds. Not to mention the failed jump is fairly early on in the segment and really easy. Then the runner has some random hesitations and fails the same jump again whilst collecting some health!
Seg18: Could've killed the mil faster at the end (and used the wrong weapon which had a shorter range and ran out of ammo. Maybe 5 seconds lost?
Seg19: No sound from picking an energy atom.
Seg20: Why is the harpoon gun fully loaded at the start of this segment, while it was emptied in the previous one and not reloaded afterwards?
Seg21: Player pulled off a fairly tricky jump at the start of the segment, but hesitated & positioned oneself for over five seconds in doing so.
Seg25: Failed a command, not sure if it cost time this time, though; the commands didn't reset like normally.
Seg26: Stuck a bit on the doors, maybe ten seconds total? The second obstacle could be ran over, but it's a bit hard and luck-related, so it's not a big deal.
Seg27: Wastes ten seconds on doing something that should've been done in two or three seconds. Does some pretty impressive jumps later in the level, though.
Seg29: At 2:03-> the player has major difficulties to gain control of a mil soldier. 6-8 seconds lost. The runner took a nice, risky route after that, though.
Seg30: Impressive in planning and execution. Nice!
Seg32: Takes a lot of time in collecting weapons & energy before proceeding to the next are at ~5:10. Some of them were necessary, some not so much.
Seg37: Yet again crashes into a wall at the start. ...and again at 2:32... and a less drastic bump that cost a few seconds at 3:16... and at 3:49... and unlike in most other stages, the runner didn't earn a speed chip in this segment... all this tell something about the quality of this segment, don't you think?
Seg38: Great short cut at the start of the segment.
Seg39: Again, a well-thought and played segment.
Seg40: The runner gets a speed boost from an enemy. Might not be intended, but it works out really well.
Seg41: The chips are at fixed places, so it's unnecessary to blow up as many crates as the runner did. It can be done faster.
Seg42: Gathering the armament could've probably been done during the fight and not before attacking General Corrosive, which likely cost more than 15 seconds.
--
If the runner were to submit a run in the future that corrected ten or so of the major mistakes I think it could be accepted. If they were to fix most or all of the mistakes I mentioned, the run would be most definitely accepted (at least if I get to decide). However, the run has way too many blunders as things stand, it has to be rejected, which is a bit of a shame. I would've loved to see a Metal Arms run on SDA.
Sometimes the runner goes for stuff that's simply not needed, he fails to do jump to do jumps or similar maneuvers at times in the most awkward of places, fail at them repeatedly, wasting a lot of time in the process, crashing on walls in the RAT-racing segments and overall making a lot of time wasting errors in places where they should've restarted immediately after the mistake, over half the time it happens in the beginning of the segment, like 15 seconds into the segment. Combined the mistakes probably add up to 2 minutes overall. Last but not least, the runner dies in segment 11, and looking at how the player reacted to it, it simply cannot be something they planned. Not that I'd think they would purposefully plan to waste time, anyway.
The runner never gets the scatter blaster (shotgun) fully upgraded, which I believe could've saved a lot of time, since the fire power on that thing is just insane. Easily 10-20 seconds off from the last segment alone, I'd suspect. Of course, I've never actually timed the difference, so what do I know.
The audiovisual quality isn't outstanding, but it's good enough for it's purposes. Looks like it's been recorded on a video tape. See also the nitpick on segment 19. That's most likely a bug in the game, though.
For inconsistencies, see notes on segment 20. You might want to get the runner's input on that one. More might exist that I simply didn't notice.
As far as I could see the runner isn't cheating.
Some segment specific notes below.
--
Seg1: The player could've stayed further away from the first door at ~6:50 to accelerate before the door opens. It's minor stuff, though.
Seg5: Nasty-looking bump to the wall at 2:35. Lost 2-3 seconds because of that, I believe.
Seg6: The runner could've taken a straighter path at around 1:45.
Seg8: Ugly-looking bump at 0:31
Seg10: Considering the health, there's a fairly useless energy pickup at 4:32
Seg11: A death. Even if it was supposed to happen (and it certainly doesn't look like it) to segment (which, in turn, should be apparently guessed by the entering the menu), but I kinda doubt it and even if it was it still wastes a lot of time. More information needed, but as is it's grounds for a rejection.
Seg12: Nice short cut. Is there a point in the entering the menu thing?
Seg15: The hassle at 2:20 looks really bad and costs maybe five seconds. Not to mention the failed jump is fairly early on in the segment and really easy. Then the runner has some random hesitations and fails the same jump again whilst collecting some health!
Seg18: Could've killed the mil faster at the end (and used the wrong weapon which had a shorter range and ran out of ammo. Maybe 5 seconds lost?
Seg19: No sound from picking an energy atom.
Seg20: Why is the harpoon gun fully loaded at the start of this segment, while it was emptied in the previous one and not reloaded afterwards?
Seg21: Player pulled off a fairly tricky jump at the start of the segment, but hesitated & positioned oneself for over five seconds in doing so.
Seg25: Failed a command, not sure if it cost time this time, though; the commands didn't reset like normally.
Seg26: Stuck a bit on the doors, maybe ten seconds total? The second obstacle could be ran over, but it's a bit hard and luck-related, so it's not a big deal.
Seg27: Wastes ten seconds on doing something that should've been done in two or three seconds. Does some pretty impressive jumps later in the level, though.
Seg29: At 2:03-> the player has major difficulties to gain control of a mil soldier. 6-8 seconds lost. The runner took a nice, risky route after that, though.
Seg30: Impressive in planning and execution. Nice!
Seg32: Takes a lot of time in collecting weapons & energy before proceeding to the next are at ~5:10. Some of them were necessary, some not so much.
Seg37: Yet again crashes into a wall at the start. ...and again at 2:32... and a less drastic bump that cost a few seconds at 3:16... and at 3:49... and unlike in most other stages, the runner didn't earn a speed chip in this segment... all this tell something about the quality of this segment, don't you think?
Seg38: Great short cut at the start of the segment.
Seg39: Again, a well-thought and played segment.
Seg40: The runner gets a speed boost from an enemy. Might not be intended, but it works out really well.
Seg41: The chips are at fixed places, so it's unnecessary to blow up as many crates as the runner did. It can be done faster.
Seg42: Gathering the armament could've probably been done during the fight and not before attacking General Corrosive, which likely cost more than 15 seconds.
--
If the runner were to submit a run in the future that corrected ten or so of the major mistakes I think it could be accepted. If they were to fix most or all of the mistakes I mentioned, the run would be most definitely accepted (at least if I get to decide). However, the run has way too many blunders as things stand, it has to be rejected, which is a bit of a shame. I would've loved to see a Metal Arms run on SDA.
Quote:
Hello,
I finished the Metal Arms Verification about a week ago, and have been trying to reach you since. The messages haven't been working though, so after this I'll just use the forum.
The run is acceptable, however there is one death in Segment 11 that costs anywhere from a minute to two minutes (in Metal Arms you just respawn at your last checkpoint). Other than that, a few minor mistakes that probably don't end up costing more than half a minute.
I finished the Metal Arms Verification about a week ago, and have been trying to reach you since. The messages haven't been working though, so after this I'll just use the forum.
The run is acceptable, however there is one death in Segment 11 that costs anywhere from a minute to two minutes (in Metal Arms you just respawn at your last checkpoint). Other than that, a few minor mistakes that probably don't end up costing more than half a minute.
Quote:
Firstly, I'd like to apologise for my lateness in replying.
The run's pretty good. I didn't see any deaths. Didn't pick up any synch discrepancies, and as far as I know, there wasn't any cheating either. Good enough, I'd say.
The run's pretty good. I didn't see any deaths. Didn't pick up any synch discrepancies, and as far as I know, there wasn't any cheating either. Good enough, I'd say.
After I told the runner I thought the run did have deaths.
Quote:
My mistake; there is a death. Sorry about that.
Decision: Reject
Reason: This is a segmented run with a death, which is completely unacceptable unless the death saves time. According to the runner's comments and the verifiers responses, the runner loses time from the death. Also, everything the first verifier said.
If anyone is wondering why I rejected this run even though only one out three verifiers rejected it.
1. The first verifier actually has runs on the site, and is more knowledgeable of what is acceptable on SDA.
2. The first verifier's comments were the most detailed by far (this is the most important reason, BTW).
3. Death in a segmented run.
P.S. It didn't help that the third verifier didn't even spot the death until I reminded him about it.
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