Hi all,
Back in October I dug out the classic horror FPS Blood in order to get myself into the spirit of the season.
After replying the episodes a few times, I started messing around with speed running the levels and finding as many skips as I could. I checked the forums here and there was a
Blood 1 & 2 thread made many years ago, but all the video links were dead so I thought a new thread would be helpful.
Below are some recordings I did of practice runs of the first two episodes. The difficulty is set to easiest since anyone who has played before know how ridiculous the damage on the
cultist's hitscan weapons can be. I might try the higher difficulties later once I get the routes down.
If anyone has any questions or ideas for improvement, please let me know. I've also routed out the other episodes, but I haven't recorded videos of them yet.
Episode 1: The Way of All Flesh http://www.twitch.tv/northern_one/c/1730018
Approx Time - 10 minutes
Level 1:
- Right off the start I boost jump off of the tombstone/zombie to get into the second floor window. This skips having to kill the first cultist for the key and going though the front door of the building.
- I have to kill the cultist in the cremation room for the second key. Since it takes him a second to die from the flare gun, I use the time to grab a life seed health boost from the furnace.
Level 2:
- This level is actually already outdated. Just after recording this run, I found out it is possible to jump boost over the gate to the train platform, which eliminates the need to get any of the other keys and saves over a minute.
Level 3:
- The train level is fairly straight forward. I just run to the last car to grab a key and then work my way back to the start again. I don't think there are any opportunities for skips here.
- Once the engine overheat is triggered, it takes almost a minute before the level ends. I use this time to collect some power-ups and weapons.
Level 4:
- Once past the gates, I boost jump of the zombies to reach the jump boots.
- I have to go through the freak show room to unlock the door to JoJo's arena. I kill the cultists here as the ones with shotguns will knock me off the high rope.
- The key on the high rope is too high to be reached with the jump boots, but I activate them to negate the fall damage coming down.
- After grabbing the last key, I use the boots to jump back to the front gate as it's a bit quicker than running back through the carnival.
- I skip going to the bonus level and head straight for the regular level exit.
Level 5:
- Nothing too special here, mainly just optimizing the route since you have to go back and forth a couple times through the church in order to get the keys.
- The moving plates with the picture of the teeth needs to be activated in order for a gate later in the level to open.
Level 6:
- At the start, I use the jump boots to get onto the wooden bridge. This saves having to jump into the water and come up the other side.
- This level is quite confusing the first time through since some of the door triggers are weird. The main hindrance was determining that picking
up the reflective shot power-up is what triggers several necessary walls to open.
- In the final circular arena, if I press the switches that spin the room to quickly then the wall does not move and I have to wait for the switch to reset.
Level 7:
- Easy boss level. I use the jump boots to get to Ophelia which triggers the boss to appear.
- As soon as he shows up, I use the boots to jump to the secret area to grab the guns akimbo power-up.
- Using the alt fire on the dual-shotguns, I pin the boss against the wall until he dies. If he gets out into the open area, this fight can be really frustrating as he flies around quite fast.
Overall, a fun episode but there are not many opportunities for level breaking skips. This changes quick in the next one though.
Episode 2: Even Death May Die http://www.twitch.tv/northern_one/c/1731130
Approx Time - 8 Minutes
Level 1:
- I jump into the water and up onto the side of the ship in order to save a little time.
- Working through the ship, I shoot the one barrel early since when I come back to it from the other side, I would be too close to the blast.
Level 2:
- No skips in the lumber mill, just mainly knowing which enemies drop the keys.
- At the second key, it takes a few seconds for the water to raise higher enough to be able to jump out. I try to time jumping when the water is at just the right height.
Level 3:
- Now the fun begins.
- I jump boost of one of the first zombies to get into the little window above the hedge maze. This skips the entire first section of the level and also nets me an
invisibility power-up which makes the entire rest of the level a breeze since enemies won't attack.
Level 4:
- I boost jump off the first zombie again to skip over the hedge maze. This maze is not nearly as long as the one in the previous level though.
- Normally, this is a really long level since you have to collect all six keys which are scattered all over the mansion. But luckily, by using the teleporter
in the secret passage I can skip to the end, which requires only one of the keys to reach the exit.
- I make a slight detour to grab the jump boots pickup. They will come in handy soon.
Level 5:
- A smaller version of the last level but that doesn't matter. I use the jump boots to grab the last key right off the start and head to the exit.
Level 6:
- Another long level with tons of hard jumps... oh wait, I forgot I had the jump boots. I jump up to the room which has the switch that opens the door to the level exit.
Level 7:
- The jump to the bridge near the start of the map cuts this level in half and saves a ton of time, but it is a very hard jump to make and failure means death. A definite run killing skip.
Level 8:
- The spider boss is a complete joke danger-wise, but is a pain to kill quickly.
- I use the jump boots to get into the oddly placed small window which leads right into the boss room.
- I use the napalm cannon since the spiders hit-box is so small it makes hitting her with anything else frustrating. If I can get her stuck into the wall the blasts won't knock her around like they did in
this run.
Overall, episode 2 is probably my favorite since almost all of the levels can be significantly shortened, or skipped past outright using the jump boots.
Back in October I dug out the classic horror FPS Blood in order to get myself into the spirit of the season.
After replying the episodes a few times, I started messing around with speed running the levels and finding as many skips as I could. I checked the forums here and there was a
Blood 1 & 2 thread made many years ago, but all the video links were dead so I thought a new thread would be helpful.
Below are some recordings I did of practice runs of the first two episodes. The difficulty is set to easiest since anyone who has played before know how ridiculous the damage on the
cultist's hitscan weapons can be. I might try the higher difficulties later once I get the routes down.
If anyone has any questions or ideas for improvement, please let me know. I've also routed out the other episodes, but I haven't recorded videos of them yet.
Episode 1: The Way of All Flesh http://www.twitch.tv/northern_one/c/1730018
Approx Time - 10 minutes
Level 1:
- Right off the start I boost jump off of the tombstone/zombie to get into the second floor window. This skips having to kill the first cultist for the key and going though the front door of the building.
- I have to kill the cultist in the cremation room for the second key. Since it takes him a second to die from the flare gun, I use the time to grab a life seed health boost from the furnace.
Level 2:
- This level is actually already outdated. Just after recording this run, I found out it is possible to jump boost over the gate to the train platform, which eliminates the need to get any of the other keys and saves over a minute.
Level 3:
- The train level is fairly straight forward. I just run to the last car to grab a key and then work my way back to the start again. I don't think there are any opportunities for skips here.
- Once the engine overheat is triggered, it takes almost a minute before the level ends. I use this time to collect some power-ups and weapons.
Level 4:
- Once past the gates, I boost jump of the zombies to reach the jump boots.
- I have to go through the freak show room to unlock the door to JoJo's arena. I kill the cultists here as the ones with shotguns will knock me off the high rope.
- The key on the high rope is too high to be reached with the jump boots, but I activate them to negate the fall damage coming down.
- After grabbing the last key, I use the boots to jump back to the front gate as it's a bit quicker than running back through the carnival.
- I skip going to the bonus level and head straight for the regular level exit.
Level 5:
- Nothing too special here, mainly just optimizing the route since you have to go back and forth a couple times through the church in order to get the keys.
- The moving plates with the picture of the teeth needs to be activated in order for a gate later in the level to open.
Level 6:
- At the start, I use the jump boots to get onto the wooden bridge. This saves having to jump into the water and come up the other side.
- This level is quite confusing the first time through since some of the door triggers are weird. The main hindrance was determining that picking
up the reflective shot power-up is what triggers several necessary walls to open.
- In the final circular arena, if I press the switches that spin the room to quickly then the wall does not move and I have to wait for the switch to reset.
Level 7:
- Easy boss level. I use the jump boots to get to Ophelia which triggers the boss to appear.
- As soon as he shows up, I use the boots to jump to the secret area to grab the guns akimbo power-up.
- Using the alt fire on the dual-shotguns, I pin the boss against the wall until he dies. If he gets out into the open area, this fight can be really frustrating as he flies around quite fast.
Overall, a fun episode but there are not many opportunities for level breaking skips. This changes quick in the next one though.
Episode 2: Even Death May Die http://www.twitch.tv/northern_one/c/1731130
Approx Time - 8 Minutes
Level 1:
- I jump into the water and up onto the side of the ship in order to save a little time.
- Working through the ship, I shoot the one barrel early since when I come back to it from the other side, I would be too close to the blast.
Level 2:
- No skips in the lumber mill, just mainly knowing which enemies drop the keys.
- At the second key, it takes a few seconds for the water to raise higher enough to be able to jump out. I try to time jumping when the water is at just the right height.
Level 3:
- Now the fun begins.
- I jump boost of one of the first zombies to get into the little window above the hedge maze. This skips the entire first section of the level and also nets me an
invisibility power-up which makes the entire rest of the level a breeze since enemies won't attack.
Level 4:
- I boost jump off the first zombie again to skip over the hedge maze. This maze is not nearly as long as the one in the previous level though.
- Normally, this is a really long level since you have to collect all six keys which are scattered all over the mansion. But luckily, by using the teleporter
in the secret passage I can skip to the end, which requires only one of the keys to reach the exit.
- I make a slight detour to grab the jump boots pickup. They will come in handy soon.
Level 5:
- A smaller version of the last level but that doesn't matter. I use the jump boots to grab the last key right off the start and head to the exit.
Level 6:
- Another long level with tons of hard jumps... oh wait, I forgot I had the jump boots. I jump up to the room which has the switch that opens the door to the level exit.
Level 7:
- The jump to the bridge near the start of the map cuts this level in half and saves a ton of time, but it is a very hard jump to make and failure means death. A definite run killing skip.
Level 8:
- The spider boss is a complete joke danger-wise, but is a pain to kill quickly.
- I use the jump boots to get into the oddly placed small window which leads right into the boss room.
- I use the napalm cannon since the spiders hit-box is so small it makes hitting her with anything else frustrating. If I can get her stuck into the wall the blasts won't knock her around like they did in
this run.
Overall, episode 2 is probably my favorite since almost all of the levels can be significantly shortened, or skipped past outright using the jump boots.
Thread title: