My feelings on The Demon Rush
Game Page: Doesn't exist yet.
Tony 'ZenicReverie' Foster's run
Verifier Responses
Decision: Accept
Reason: Another tactics game crushed by broken tactics.
Tony 'ZenicReverie' Foster's run
Verifier Responses
Quote:
Vandal-Hearts for PSone - the game where almost everyone has a ridiculously huge schnozz!
Audio/Video: No problems.
Cheating: Unless overleveling a Sorcerer and causing mass mayhem with Phase Shift and Salamander is cheating, then I didn't see any.
Note: I can't seem to find my copy of the game to test anything out.
Gameplay:
Short version: VERY solid run with great strats.
Longer version: The runner did an excellent job manipulating enemy AI, and also spreading the levels around where needed. Having a few lag behind (in levels) to be bait was an idea I had never thought of when playing this game normally.
I had questioned whether or not doing the level abuse in 2-4 would be an improvement, but the runner already touches upon this in his comments, so I'll leave it alone.
Also, his thought for 2-1 (using Spellbind to bottleneck the villagers) is actually exactly how I used to do that stage normally. I have no idea if it would be faster though.
Random first thoughts on a per level basis:
1-1: Very nice strat. Zoot is a pansy anyway.
1-2: Nice exploitation of enemy AI.
1-3: Don't see any ways this could have gone better.
1-4: Kira getting poisoned was unlucky, but using Ash as bait worked wonders.
1-5: Ash = bait...again. Gotta love the single minded focus of the enemy.
1-6: Brute forced. I love Grog's battle yell.
2-1: Always hated this fight. Nice herding of the villagers.
2-2: Bad luck on the block on the last enemy. Kira is badass. I love Huxley the monk's attack animation.
2-3: I remember why mages are overpowered. Also, Sara's attack animation is almost as awesome as Huxley's.
2-4: Heh, leaving people behind as distractions was genius.
2-5: Straightforward battle. That was probably about as good as it could have gone.
2-6: Nice use of Fire Gems. Also, this battle is free experience.
3-1: Geez...that couldn't have been easier.
3-2: Showing why the Sorcerer path is sooooo worth it.
3-3: Risky strat leaving Ash's HP that low like that, but it paid off after some mass AoE spells from Zohar.
3-4: How nice of the enemy to line up in front of that boulder...
3-5: Ummm...could Zohar BE any more overpowered?
3-6: Unlucky block right at the start...but I don't think it made any real difference.
3-7: Lengthy fight. Don't think it could have been avoided with how this battle was is set up.
4-1: Heh, sole survivor.
4-2: Could the AI have BEEN any more retarded at the start? Also, nice way to level Darius.
4-3: This map was set up with Phase Shift in mind.
4-4: I'm sure Clint, Grog, Dolan, Diego, and Darius sure do appreciate being left behind like that...
4-5: Hmm...I have nothing to say about this one.
5-1: The attack animations in the 2nd classes were so much cooler...
5-2: I think I saw Eleni actually stick her tongue out at Kurtz there. It worked.
5-3: Once again, a map set up with Phase Shift in mind.
5-4: Again, can't really think of anything to say.
5-5: Kane got gang-raped.
5-6: Waiting on NPCs to move somewhere is a painful thing to have to sit through.
6-1: Plasma Wave sucks.
6-2: Amon = god.
6-3: I'm starting to feel bad for the Dragoons now.
6-4: Talk about not playing fair with AoE spells...
Decision: Accept.
Audio/Video: No problems.
Cheating: Unless overleveling a Sorcerer and causing mass mayhem with Phase Shift and Salamander is cheating, then I didn't see any.
Note: I can't seem to find my copy of the game to test anything out.
Gameplay:
Short version: VERY solid run with great strats.
Longer version: The runner did an excellent job manipulating enemy AI, and also spreading the levels around where needed. Having a few lag behind (in levels) to be bait was an idea I had never thought of when playing this game normally.
I had questioned whether or not doing the level abuse in 2-4 would be an improvement, but the runner already touches upon this in his comments, so I'll leave it alone.
Also, his thought for 2-1 (using Spellbind to bottleneck the villagers) is actually exactly how I used to do that stage normally. I have no idea if it would be faster though.
Random first thoughts on a per level basis:
1-1: Very nice strat. Zoot is a pansy anyway.
1-2: Nice exploitation of enemy AI.
1-3: Don't see any ways this could have gone better.
1-4: Kira getting poisoned was unlucky, but using Ash as bait worked wonders.
1-5: Ash = bait...again. Gotta love the single minded focus of the enemy.
1-6: Brute forced. I love Grog's battle yell.
2-1: Always hated this fight. Nice herding of the villagers.
2-2: Bad luck on the block on the last enemy. Kira is badass. I love Huxley the monk's attack animation.
2-3: I remember why mages are overpowered. Also, Sara's attack animation is almost as awesome as Huxley's.
2-4: Heh, leaving people behind as distractions was genius.
2-5: Straightforward battle. That was probably about as good as it could have gone.
2-6: Nice use of Fire Gems. Also, this battle is free experience.
3-1: Geez...that couldn't have been easier.
3-2: Showing why the Sorcerer path is sooooo worth it.
3-3: Risky strat leaving Ash's HP that low like that, but it paid off after some mass AoE spells from Zohar.
3-4: How nice of the enemy to line up in front of that boulder...
3-5: Ummm...could Zohar BE any more overpowered?
3-6: Unlucky block right at the start...but I don't think it made any real difference.
3-7: Lengthy fight. Don't think it could have been avoided with how this battle was is set up.
4-1: Heh, sole survivor.
4-2: Could the AI have BEEN any more retarded at the start? Also, nice way to level Darius.
4-3: This map was set up with Phase Shift in mind.
4-4: I'm sure Clint, Grog, Dolan, Diego, and Darius sure do appreciate being left behind like that...
4-5: Hmm...I have nothing to say about this one.
5-1: The attack animations in the 2nd classes were so much cooler...
5-2: I think I saw Eleni actually stick her tongue out at Kurtz there. It worked.
5-3: Once again, a map set up with Phase Shift in mind.
5-4: Again, can't really think of anything to say.
5-5: Kane got gang-raped.
5-6: Waiting on NPCs to move somewhere is a painful thing to have to sit through.
6-1: Plasma Wave sucks.
6-2: Amon = god.
6-3: I'm starting to feel bad for the Dragoons now.
6-4: Talk about not playing fair with AoE spells...
Decision: Accept.
Quote:
A/V: No concerns here.
Signs of cheating: None that I could detect.
Vandal Hearts is one of my favorite early PlayStation games. I bought it sight unseen and couldn't stop playing it until I finished it. It was a joy to view this run.
I'm not going to go into great detail on all of the levels; suffice it to say that they were very well done. This game is a strange run for many reasons.
The Easy Part: You don't have to worry about leveling your characters evenly because if you don't use a character often, one action will level them, so they catch up quickly. Also, given the same statistics, the enemy AI acts predictably as long as you enter identical commands. It picks a strategy based on hero placement and character skill. Randomness only enters is when there are two or more valid targets; in this case you must keep trying until the AI selects the best strat. This doesn't happen often...there's usually one target that the AI will prefer.
The Hard Part: In order for certain strategies to work, your characters must have received certain level bonuses. Example: at the beginning of the game, when Ash levels he can gain up to 5 AT, 4 DF, 4 AGL, 8 HP and 1 MP. Chances of this perfect leveling is astronomical. Add in the fact that several characters can level up in any one combat, the situation becomes one of repeated play until you get the best leveling. In a speedrun you can't take time to check and see if the level was on par until you save and can take time to do it when the recorder is off. This results in having to complete a battle even if the leveling sucked. Another thing that makes the run hard is the trial-and-error development of strategy. Again, this depends on the stats of the characters; AI will change patterns based on that. Given the same stats, it takes time to determine the fastest way to complete a level. And since even one step can change the course of the entire battle, there are a lot of permutations to try. Is it difficult to do that? Not really; but it does require a lot of time and effort, and some degree of strategic thinking.
Of course, I'm not telling the runner anything he doesn't already know from experience.
Can the run be better? Of course it can, when you've got the leveling randomness. Not to knock the run at all, though. For this level progression, each fight's strategy was spot on. The execution doesn't leave much to be desired; the runner obviously practiced each segment several times to determine what he wanted to do, got down the timing of cursor movements, etc. and likely repeated segments that had more than minor mistakes. It would take an absurd amount of luck and probably an even more ridiculous amount of time and effort to better the run in a consistent fashion.
Decision: Accept.
Congratulations, runner. For fans of the game, check this out when it's posted. It's a long watch, but job well done.
Signs of cheating: None that I could detect.
Vandal Hearts is one of my favorite early PlayStation games. I bought it sight unseen and couldn't stop playing it until I finished it. It was a joy to view this run.
I'm not going to go into great detail on all of the levels; suffice it to say that they were very well done. This game is a strange run for many reasons.
The Easy Part: You don't have to worry about leveling your characters evenly because if you don't use a character often, one action will level them, so they catch up quickly. Also, given the same statistics, the enemy AI acts predictably as long as you enter identical commands. It picks a strategy based on hero placement and character skill. Randomness only enters is when there are two or more valid targets; in this case you must keep trying until the AI selects the best strat. This doesn't happen often...there's usually one target that the AI will prefer.
The Hard Part: In order for certain strategies to work, your characters must have received certain level bonuses. Example: at the beginning of the game, when Ash levels he can gain up to 5 AT, 4 DF, 4 AGL, 8 HP and 1 MP. Chances of this perfect leveling is astronomical. Add in the fact that several characters can level up in any one combat, the situation becomes one of repeated play until you get the best leveling. In a speedrun you can't take time to check and see if the level was on par until you save and can take time to do it when the recorder is off. This results in having to complete a battle even if the leveling sucked. Another thing that makes the run hard is the trial-and-error development of strategy. Again, this depends on the stats of the characters; AI will change patterns based on that. Given the same stats, it takes time to determine the fastest way to complete a level. And since even one step can change the course of the entire battle, there are a lot of permutations to try. Is it difficult to do that? Not really; but it does require a lot of time and effort, and some degree of strategic thinking.
Of course, I'm not telling the runner anything he doesn't already know from experience.
Can the run be better? Of course it can, when you've got the leveling randomness. Not to knock the run at all, though. For this level progression, each fight's strategy was spot on. The execution doesn't leave much to be desired; the runner obviously practiced each segment several times to determine what he wanted to do, got down the timing of cursor movements, etc. and likely repeated segments that had more than minor mistakes. It would take an absurd amount of luck and probably an even more ridiculous amount of time and effort to better the run in a consistent fashion.
Decision: Accept.
Congratulations, runner. For fans of the game, check this out when it's posted. It's a long watch, but job well done.
Quote:
Audio and Video are fine, and there is no cheating, unless if overpowered mages are considered cheats. 
Honestly, it's very easy to tell a lot of effort went into planning this game. There's almost no planning errors, and the runner mentioned the few there were. There's a lot of smart AI baits - 5-2 stands out in particular, because I remember that battle being a lot longer and harder than 3 turns.
I'm considering making the 2-4 leveling trick a separate category because it takes forever to perform, it's boring as shit, and destroys a lot of the smart strategies used. And yes this is Mike Uyama, and I used to play a lot of RPGs when I was younger. Shocking, I know.
The execution and luck is really good too. The runner only gets poisoned once throughout the entire game (1-4), and his attacks are almost never blocked. The map and menu manipulation is also really fast and tight, so much so that anytime the runner makes even a slight error, it really sticks out. I think there's only 15-25 seconds lost from menu and map mistakes.
Anyway, things that stuck out during the run:
-I knew guardsmen became useless later on because the stages became bigger, but I didn't realize that they just aren't that useful throughout the entire game.
-I thought Hawk Knights/Sky Lords became less useful later in the game because there are more archers on high ground, but I guess I'm flat-out wrong. In fact, they seem so good that it might be worth putting Darius or Diego on the same path and just go with one archer. Pretty big maybe though, because archers can hit spots other classes can't.
-Monks are a lot more useful than I thought they were. They have some good healing spells and some decent attack spells.
-I still love the blood spray.
-I remember the game having a better plot, but that's probably because I was 12.
-I'm sad Grog has to advance, his attack animation and voice is too good.
1-1: Very well done. Drawing Zoot out makes him an easy kill.
1-2: Nice job on manipulating the archers to hit Diego. Aside from the manipulation, this is just a really long stage because it takes forever to hit the switch that lowers the bridge.
1-3: Not much to say, it's a straightforward battle. Lining up the Golems for the boulder near the end was nice.
1-4: Nice job setting up those two brigands to hit Ash and Clint instead of Eleni and Huxley. I forgot the game sometimes targets people based on hp percentage. The runner does mention getting poisoned, but it only costs 2-3 seconds at most, and the rest of the segment was perfect.
1-5: Very nice battle, setting up the the sand worm for a kill on the second turn.
1-6: Wow, this game's AI is dumber than I thought. Kudos for finding such a funny AI bug. More importantly, Grog's attack animation and voice sample are awesome.
2-1: Very nice strategy with the boxes! I can tell you from experience that the spellbind strategy does work indefinitely (as long as you hit), but it's a bad idea if you want eleni to get her class change by 2-3, because villagers are all level 1 enemies. :-/ Also, I'm not sure if spellbinding is faster because spells take a while to cast, you'll end up counter attacking all of the villagers you kill, and IIRC, you trigger some scripted conversations when you kill villagers.
I'm also impressed you only got hit by one spell, maybe that's easy to do, but I always got hit by more when I played.
2-2: Kira dominating. Hawk Knights are too good. Nice job leveling everyone else up to 10 for the class changes.
That block at the end must have been so painful at the end of an otherwise great segment.
2-3: Lots of shopping, but it can't be helped. I like how one of the archers aims for Diego, the only character who can counterattack archers.
Best line of the segment: Kira saying, "I guess I should thank you for saving me today," despite one-shotting nearly everything herself.
2-4: No wonder this is a multi-segment battle, sitting through the elevator animations is torture. Wow the Hawk Knights aren't one-shotting everything, what's wrong? Very nice strategy, and I don't think Sarah wasted too much time in the end (maybe 5 seconds).
2-5: Nice job leveling up Huxley so he'd have a spell to attack Magnus with! Baiting Magnus made a normally long battle into a really fast one.
2-6: LOL fire gem's graphic is awful.
3-1: Zenic's comments covered this mission better than I can.
3-2: The runner does a really good job of leveling up Zohar so he can get phase shift ASAP, which is very important for running the game.
3-3: Wow Zenic really knew how to test Ash to his limit. That stray warlock is really annoying. :-/
3-4: LOL that boulder setup was classic.
3-5: More like just wait a little bit shorter.
3-6: Wow, I forgot the Juggernauts were just there for leveling. Over 200 experience in one turn, damn.
3-7: Honestly, this was done way faster than I thought was possible.
4-1: Great strategy and very well-executed too. It's missions like this that make me really like the game. Variety without stupid filler like escort missions. Well, I guess if you don't count the next mission and 6-2.
4-2: Well that's an interesting way to power-level Darius. I'm just wondering if there's a way to make those two bugaboos move so you can kill them a turn earlier. Maybe you moved Eleni out if the way?
Also, I'm pretty sure you're wrong about the stage. I think it's just a way to level up characters who are behind. As you can see, Eleni and Zohar hardly gain any experience.
4-3: I'm a bit surprised Zenic doesn't split up the party and take both sides in this stage, but I guess that would stretch the party thin.
4-4: Haha, nice touch with the blood spray. On a serious note, I can see why Zenic split up this mission into two segments and why it delayed his run so badly. Relying on Zohar blocking a hit takes a ton of luck, and it was necessary too.
4-5: That was a quick rescue.
5-1: That's some convenient AI for Ash.
5-2: Stay free Kurtz.
5-3: I miss Huxley's monk attack animation, it's a lot cooler than the ninja animation. Yeah, I have nothing to say because this stage was really well done.
5-4: That perfect guard strategy is smart stuff.
5-5: Yet another boss bait.
5-6: lol what a dumb finish. I can't believe the game forces Leena to be on that specific spot to win the battle.
6-1: About turn 3, are you just setting up to kill the warlock? His spells do take up a lot of time. Plasma wave is so cheap.
6-2: Flimsy excuse for plot point battle, meh. Seriously, why were a bunch of act 3 enemies used for this mission?
6-3: Getting yourself killed, now that's a good way to get out of a conversation.
6-4: 2 salamanders + 2 wyrm fangs > Dolf's army. I also love how Dolf's second form is easier than his first.
P.S. I remember getting 100% in this game and being so mad at the game for giving me such a crappy bonus ending.
Honestly, it's very easy to tell a lot of effort went into planning this game. There's almost no planning errors, and the runner mentioned the few there were. There's a lot of smart AI baits - 5-2 stands out in particular, because I remember that battle being a lot longer and harder than 3 turns.
I'm considering making the 2-4 leveling trick a separate category because it takes forever to perform, it's boring as shit, and destroys a lot of the smart strategies used. And yes this is Mike Uyama, and I used to play a lot of RPGs when I was younger. Shocking, I know.
The execution and luck is really good too. The runner only gets poisoned once throughout the entire game (1-4), and his attacks are almost never blocked. The map and menu manipulation is also really fast and tight, so much so that anytime the runner makes even a slight error, it really sticks out. I think there's only 15-25 seconds lost from menu and map mistakes.
Anyway, things that stuck out during the run:
-I knew guardsmen became useless later on because the stages became bigger, but I didn't realize that they just aren't that useful throughout the entire game.
-I thought Hawk Knights/Sky Lords became less useful later in the game because there are more archers on high ground, but I guess I'm flat-out wrong. In fact, they seem so good that it might be worth putting Darius or Diego on the same path and just go with one archer. Pretty big maybe though, because archers can hit spots other classes can't.
-Monks are a lot more useful than I thought they were. They have some good healing spells and some decent attack spells.
-I still love the blood spray.
-I remember the game having a better plot, but that's probably because I was 12.
-I'm sad Grog has to advance, his attack animation and voice is too good.
1-1: Very well done. Drawing Zoot out makes him an easy kill.
1-2: Nice job on manipulating the archers to hit Diego. Aside from the manipulation, this is just a really long stage because it takes forever to hit the switch that lowers the bridge.
1-3: Not much to say, it's a straightforward battle. Lining up the Golems for the boulder near the end was nice.
1-4: Nice job setting up those two brigands to hit Ash and Clint instead of Eleni and Huxley. I forgot the game sometimes targets people based on hp percentage. The runner does mention getting poisoned, but it only costs 2-3 seconds at most, and the rest of the segment was perfect.
1-5: Very nice battle, setting up the the sand worm for a kill on the second turn.
1-6: Wow, this game's AI is dumber than I thought. Kudos for finding such a funny AI bug. More importantly, Grog's attack animation and voice sample are awesome.
2-1: Very nice strategy with the boxes! I can tell you from experience that the spellbind strategy does work indefinitely (as long as you hit), but it's a bad idea if you want eleni to get her class change by 2-3, because villagers are all level 1 enemies. :-/ Also, I'm not sure if spellbinding is faster because spells take a while to cast, you'll end up counter attacking all of the villagers you kill, and IIRC, you trigger some scripted conversations when you kill villagers.
I'm also impressed you only got hit by one spell, maybe that's easy to do, but I always got hit by more when I played.
2-2: Kira dominating. Hawk Knights are too good. Nice job leveling everyone else up to 10 for the class changes.
That block at the end must have been so painful at the end of an otherwise great segment.
2-3: Lots of shopping, but it can't be helped. I like how one of the archers aims for Diego, the only character who can counterattack archers.
Best line of the segment: Kira saying, "I guess I should thank you for saving me today," despite one-shotting nearly everything herself.
2-4: No wonder this is a multi-segment battle, sitting through the elevator animations is torture. Wow the Hawk Knights aren't one-shotting everything, what's wrong? Very nice strategy, and I don't think Sarah wasted too much time in the end (maybe 5 seconds).
2-5: Nice job leveling up Huxley so he'd have a spell to attack Magnus with! Baiting Magnus made a normally long battle into a really fast one.
2-6: LOL fire gem's graphic is awful.
3-1: Zenic's comments covered this mission better than I can.
3-2: The runner does a really good job of leveling up Zohar so he can get phase shift ASAP, which is very important for running the game.
3-3: Wow Zenic really knew how to test Ash to his limit. That stray warlock is really annoying. :-/
3-4: LOL that boulder setup was classic.
3-5: More like just wait a little bit shorter.
3-6: Wow, I forgot the Juggernauts were just there for leveling. Over 200 experience in one turn, damn.
3-7: Honestly, this was done way faster than I thought was possible.
4-1: Great strategy and very well-executed too. It's missions like this that make me really like the game. Variety without stupid filler like escort missions. Well, I guess if you don't count the next mission and 6-2.
4-2: Well that's an interesting way to power-level Darius. I'm just wondering if there's a way to make those two bugaboos move so you can kill them a turn earlier. Maybe you moved Eleni out if the way?
Also, I'm pretty sure you're wrong about the stage. I think it's just a way to level up characters who are behind. As you can see, Eleni and Zohar hardly gain any experience.
4-3: I'm a bit surprised Zenic doesn't split up the party and take both sides in this stage, but I guess that would stretch the party thin.
4-4: Haha, nice touch with the blood spray. On a serious note, I can see why Zenic split up this mission into two segments and why it delayed his run so badly. Relying on Zohar blocking a hit takes a ton of luck, and it was necessary too.
4-5: That was a quick rescue.
5-1: That's some convenient AI for Ash.
5-2: Stay free Kurtz.
5-3: I miss Huxley's monk attack animation, it's a lot cooler than the ninja animation. Yeah, I have nothing to say because this stage was really well done.
5-4: That perfect guard strategy is smart stuff.
5-5: Yet another boss bait.
5-6: lol what a dumb finish. I can't believe the game forces Leena to be on that specific spot to win the battle.
6-1: About turn 3, are you just setting up to kill the warlock? His spells do take up a lot of time. Plasma wave is so cheap.
6-2: Flimsy excuse for plot point battle, meh. Seriously, why were a bunch of act 3 enemies used for this mission?
6-3: Getting yourself killed, now that's a good way to get out of a conversation.
6-4: 2 salamanders + 2 wyrm fangs > Dolf's army. I also love how Dolf's second form is easier than his first.
P.S. I remember getting 100% in this game and being so mad at the game for giving me such a crappy bonus ending.
Decision: Accept
Reason: Another tactics game crushed by broken tactics.
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