Assassin's Creed II - September 13, 2016

Edit history:

SDAVerification: 2016-09-13 12:04:16 pm

2016-08-30 03:34:58 pm

Game Page: http://speeddemosarchive.com/AssassinsCreed2.html

Assassin's Creed II (pc) (pc) [Any %] [Segmented] [DLC]

Decision: Accept

Congratulations to François 'Fed981' Federspiel!

Thread title:

SDAVerification

2016-08-30 03:34:58 pm

Run Information

Assassin's Creed II (pc) (pc) [Any %] [Segmented] [New Game+] [Warps]

Verification Files

http://v.speeddemosarchive.com/assassinscreed2-20160725/

Please refer to the Verification Guidelines before posting.

Please post your opinions about the run and be certain to conclude your post with a verdict (Accept/Reject). This is not a contest where the majority wins - I will judge each verification on its content. Please keep your verification brief unless you have a good reason otherwise.

ymh

2016-09-02 10:57:41 pm

A question about the category: this run is labelled "NG+" because of the 25 knives upgrade, but isn't that an upgrade you buy in the Uplay store and which is then automatically available in-game, even when starting a new game from scratch?
From what I read, there is no NG+ option in AC2, and nothing gets carried over or is being unlocked by a previous save game, or am I wrong here?

So shouldn't this just be labelled "with DLC", like the existing 100% run (which is labelled "NG+" AND "with DLC") instead?

Best regards.

Fed981

2016-09-03 02:46:59 am

There has to be some kind of tag because you buy the knife upgrade with uplay points, which you acquire through playing. Thus the tag "NG+" but if you find a more relevant one then go for it Smiley

ymh

2016-09-03 09:31:04 am

But you can also acquire Uplay points by playing other games and/or simply buying them, or not? In that case I am not sure whether or not NG+ applies, because technically I could buy the upgrade without ever having started an AC2 save game (so the upgrade would be available even when starting completely from scratch).
And like I said, to my knowledge NG+ category requires that something is carried over and/or unlocked by a previous save game, which is not the case in the scenario described above.
So the tag "with DLC" should be sufficient.

Guess we'll wait for someone official to decide upon that Tongue

In the meanwhile I will continue verifying (only 4 sequences remaining ! ^^)

LotBlind

2016-09-03 09:45:20 am

If someone else knows the game, please let this thread know you're going to verify the game ASAP: I can come in (the last AC run was surprisingly fun Wink

) but I'm not going to be as fast as ymh.

Fed981

2016-09-03 01:37:45 pm

@ymh you're right about NG+, it's not really the correct definition of it. Nevertheless, since my very first run, I found relevant to precise that I got extra knives from Uplay. How should we proceed then? I'm not sure.

ymh

2016-09-03 05:10:08 pm

Quote from Fed981:

@ymh you're right about NG+, it's not really the correct definition of it. Nevertheless, since my very first run, I found relevant to precise that I got extra knives from Uplay. How should we proceed then? I'm not sure.

I think tagging it "with DLC" or even "with DLC (extra throwing knives)" would be the best way to go, because that definition fits. I'm sure the staff will come up with something, and the 100% run should be re-named then, too. Smiley

ktwo

2016-09-04 02:37:42 am

From how it's describe here, it definitely sounds like the category should be changed into "DLC" and that "NG+" should be removed. For information, the pre-verification check of categories is pretty basic. It's therefore not too unlikely that questionable category descriptions can pass through from time to time. So the category name is basically shaped by a) the runner's entry in the submission form b) a preliminary check before passing the run on to verification c) during verification. Thanks for bringing it up here or else it might have gone unnoticed.

Before changing the entries in the database, I have a few questions I would like to have clarified:
- Is it exactly the same case for the 100% run? So that is also just a pure "DLC" and not "NG+"? (let's consider Uplay points as part of the DLC content and not NG+)
- Are there other DLC upgrades that would be useful in a speedrun? If yes, any reasons they weren't used?
- Is there really a point in keeping "warps" as a separate category? This run is only half an hour or so faster than the current SDA-run. Since we're talking about a 5-hour run, it seems at least at first glance a bit questionable to both have "segmented" and "segmented with save warping" as different categories. Wouldn't the latter be the default anyways?

From how it's describe here, it definitely sounds like the category should be changed into "DLC" and that "NG+" should be removed. For information, the pre-verification check of categories is pretty basic. It's therefore not too unlikely that questionable category descriptions can pass through from time to time. So the category name is basically shaped by a) the runner's entry in the submission form b) a preliminary check before passing the run on to verification c) during verification. Thanks for bringing it up here or else it might have gone unnoticed.

Before changing the entries in the database, I have a few questions I would like to have clarified:
- Is it exactly the same case for the 100% run? So that is also just a pure "DLC" and not "NG+"? (let's consider Uplay points as part of the DLC content and not NG+)
- Are there other DLC upgrades that would be useful in a speedrun? If yes, any reasons they weren't used?
- Is there really a point in keeping "warps" as a separate category? This run is only half an hour or so faster than the current SDA-run. Since we're talking about a 5-hour run, it seems at least at first glance a bit questionable to both have "segmented" and "segmented with save warping" as different categories. Wouldn't the latter be the default anyways?

Fed981

2016-09-04 03:14:13 am

- Uplay points aren't related to DLC content or NG+ (there's no NG+ at all); they can be obtained by playing other games but still provide in-game content.

- The other Uplay "rewards" are useless, for example downloading a wallpaper... And since Ubisoft gifted everything there isn't any DLC that you can add from any PC version.

- Despite the run being 5+ hours it contains ~3 hours of unskippable cutscenes so the gameplay is actually much faster this time! Thus, indeed, the category with warps should be the default and for the other it should be specified; the total difference is on the order of a few minutes over the entire run.

ktwo

2016-09-04 05:47:38 am

It was poorly phrased about the Uplay points on my behalf. I should have said "let's forget about Uplay points".

So just to be perfectly clear, you don't think this should obsolete your no-warps run because it's in a different category, right?

I've changed this run in the database to "DLC" iso "NG+". Changing already published runs is done in a different way, but I'll pass on the information so it's looked into as well.

Fed981

2016-09-04 09:18:55 am

To be honest, the old run is very outdated and a new run even without warps would crush it apart (can you say that?).

Once again, the difference due to warps is on the order of a few minutes so I'm not sure if it's enough to be a separate category.

ymh

Edit history:

ymh: 2016-09-05 12:19:16 am

2016-09-04 10:08:27 pm

I also feel like this run should obsolete the existing one. If we go according to the rules, only "runs using warps that skip large parts of the game (e.g. warp zones in Super Mario Bros.)" are supposed to be labeled "with warps".
And a few saved minutes in a 5-hour run doesn't look like "large parts of the game" to me Wink

Also another thing: in the comments you say that the present parts (playing Desmond) do not add to the in-game counter ? That would mean that the displayed in-game time of 5:10:31 is not accurate and the present parts' time should be added.

Fed981

2016-09-05 10:58:49 am

The initial agreement was that in-game time is accurate (in the sense that one second spent playing equals exactly one second in real life) and that present time is only an extra, like loading times are. So we should stick to in-game time in my opinion. Especially since that would mean all runs have to be timed again...

ymh

2016-09-05 12:03:45 pm

But the Desmond parts are gameplay where you are in control and that can be run faster or slower, just like all the Ezio parts. So if I'm not completely wrong on this, it clearly has to be timed. And it should have been timed for the previous runs, too.
(I don't want to be a pain in the ass, I'm just curious about this)

EctorTutu

2016-09-06 12:37:28 am

Well actually all RTA runs use real-time now - there was huge argument about IGT time being removed completely even from segmented runs - and the only argument to keep IGT for them was that you need to recount Fed's runs.

You can watch this video to see how bad actually IGT is for AC games:

Present parts are actually not the only problem.

Anyway as Fed is only one who willing to sumbit runs to this site and he has already a lot of AC runs here and they all are in IGT - i think it should be kept as it is.
And actually his runs are made for fastest IGT - because if you want fastest RTA then you will do some small things differently.

EctorTutu

Edit history:

EctorTutu: 2016-09-06 07:43:34 am

2016-09-06 01:14:38 am

Here is my verification of this run:

I'm runner of this game myself doing RTA runs of Any% - you can see my runs on speedrun.com under EctorTutu username.

Gameplay:
This run is 30+ minutes IGT faster than previous segmented Any% and 20+ minutes IGT faster than current best RTA run - it uses all the newest strategies and has better execution than those runs. The only route mistake in the run is forgetting about bying metal cestus that does not lose more than 10 seconds overall.

A/V Quality:
Video quality is the best for segmented AC2 runs so far - 1080p 60fps max graphics settings - and no lost frames.

Verdict:Accept

ymh

2016-09-06 02:32:35 am

A/V Quality:
Really fantastic quality. I didn't spot a single issue either.

Gameplay:
Gameplay is really good. The strats are obviously very well thought of and executed. The very few mistakes are negligible because the rest of the segment usually turns out very fortunately.

No cheating

Verdict:
Accept.

And thanks for the nice commentary.

p.s.: I think I'm now perfectly able to insult people in Italian.

SDAVerification

2016-09-13 12:04:17 pm

Decision posted.

Fed981

2016-09-14 01:53:36 pm

Thanks.