Castlevania : Harmony of Dissonance

2010-11-05 02:00:56 pm

Rly Big Muscles

So I've been working diligently at this, seeing as there is not a single run posted on SDA, so far my best time is 1:05:39 - I don't use any warps or quick save glitches, I do use the ice fist jump early on to obtain the Platinum Tip early (1:05:39 is the time with the good ending by the way.)

I've gotten quite a bit of tricks of my sleeve since I set out to do this run, originally I didn't know that I'd ever be able to get below 1:15 but... I just keep dipping lower and lower, and with some routing improvements and some thought, I've managed to lower my time with each run.

At Maxim/Dracula, I am Level 26, with only 95.8% of the 200% exploration. Needless to say, the run is kind of dicey, because any error can lead to very sudden death. (Dracula's second form can easily 2 shot me, I am packing a mean 245 health, which will probably only get lower because I was thinking about clipping Max Health Up's to improve speed and what not.)

I've never recorded before so I was wondering what the best way to do so would be, what I would need to buy, or if I could just use a Visual Gameboy Advance emulator (it has a built in AVI recorder) - I have a GBA Sp and the original game though, and would actually prefer to use that since the controls feel more comfortable after all the hours of playing.

Well... anyways, I am still improving it but I would really like to submit something.

Thread title:

So I've been working diligently at this, seeing as there is not a single run posted on SDA, so far my best time is 1:05:39 - I don't use any warps or quick save glitches, I do use the ice fist jump early on to obtain the Platinum Tip early (1:05:39 is the time with the good ending by the way.)

I've gotten quite a bit of tricks of my sleeve since I set out to do this run, originally I didn't know that I'd ever be able to get below 1:15 but... I just keep dipping lower and lower, and with some routing improvements and some thought, I've managed to lower my time with each run.

At Maxim/Dracula, I am Level 26, with only 95.8% of the 200% exploration. Needless to say, the run is kind of dicey, because any error can lead to very sudden death. (Dracula's second form can easily 2 shot me, I am packing a mean 245 health, which will probably only get lower because I was thinking about clipping Max Health Up's to improve speed and what not.)

I've never recorded before so I was wondering what the best way to do so would be, what I would need to buy, or if I could just use a Visual Gameboy Advance emulator (it has a built in AVI recorder) - I have a GBA Sp and the original game though, and would actually prefer to use that since the controls feel more comfortable after all the hours of playing.

Well... anyways, I am still improving it but I would really like to submit something.

Kryal

2010-11-05 02:29:22 pm

from red to blue

To record GBA games you need a Game Boy Player to go with a Gamecube. They're fairly easy to find if you prowl around eBay. It would be wise to invest in a GC to GBA link cable so the GBA acts as a GC controller, too. SDA doesn't accept movies recorded on VBA, but feel free to use it so you can test stuff out.

Flood

2010-11-05 02:47:05 pm

Rly Big Muscles

I already have GC and a friend who has the adapter, so I will use that. What should I use to record it? Just a dvd recorder? From there I'm guessing I just rip it onto my HD and then email it, yadda yadda? Would it be prudent to record using VHS or something rewrite-able (I'm going to make countless mistakes I'm sure.) and then transfer it over once I get done? Sorry for all the noob questions ;3 - Thank you though for the help, and I'm kind of glad that you don't accept VBA because... I hate using this xbox controller. Hate.

nate

2010-11-05 05:13:21 pm

http://speeddemosarchive.com/kb/Main_Page

in particular:

http://speeddemosarchive.com/kb/DVD
http://speeddemosarchive.com/kb/Glossary_of_terms
http://speeddemosarchive.com/kb/Ways_to_get_your_run_rejected_for_video_quality
http://speeddemosarchive.com/kb/Anri-chan

Heidrage

2010-11-05 09:38:19 pm

Willing to teach you the impossible

2 points for nate!!

Flood

2010-11-07 12:14:48 pm

Rly Big Muscles

Thanks Nay8. Okay.... It might be a little bit before I can submit my run, because I'm broke ATM, but in the mean time that will allow me to try to get a better time etc etc. If anyone has any info on HoD speed runs, whether it's tips or blah blah blah, please do message me... Part of the fun for my run was planning the route and what-not on my own, but I'm sure it's far from perfect.

Hell, one of the biggest reasons I haven't already tried recording is because I'm having so much trouble replicating a run without deaths. (Averaging level 26 on Dracula/Maxim now). Things just get dicey when minor errors can result in sudden death ;/ (See: Harpies in Clock Tower, Devil fight, etc etc...)

LinkTheValiant

2010-11-07 09:17:05 pm

May the way of the Hero lead to the Triforce

Given that you've had such fun planning the route, do you care to share it with us? I'm not much for HoD myself, but I know a lot of people here will be happy to help with another Castlevania run.

At any rate, a few questions right off:

1. Segmented or single-segment?

2. Any reason you're not using the quick-save feature to speed up collection? It's a built-in game function, so it's not like it's cheating. At most it would be a separate category.

3. What subweapon/magic combination are you using?

4. What are you doing in terms of heart conservation and appropriate use?

5. How are you planning out your shop visits, if any? (Consider that the merchant shows up only under certain conditions in some places.)

Let me say that if you're doing this single-segment at level 26, you've got a decent level of skill. This isn't a hard game, but it's not zomg easy as some try to make it out to be. (Portrait of Ruin lolol.)

Flood

2010-11-08 11:57:12 am

Rly Big Muscles

1: I was going to submit both a segmented and single segment run. My segmented run would obviously be superior, because then I could make sure each segment was as close as possible to perfect.
2: I am not using the quick-save feature because I figured it would be a separate category, and I don't know much about how to do it to begin with. Once I have it figured out I was planning on making another separate video to utilize it.
3: I switch sub weapons and tomes through out the run, but in the end I only collect Ice Tome and Bolt Tome. For the first 2 bosses, I use Ice Tome + Holy Book combo, which is really overpowered if you can manipulate the bosses to get in a corner, seeing as the spell gets stuck in the corner and ends up hitting them over a dozen times instead of 3-4. For Devil and Big Slime I use Holy Water + Ice Tome - I don't particularly care for the actual spell, it's more the fact that holy water is the best damaging attack for both of these bosses (Especially Big Slime (( Max Slime lol)) because he just sits there and eats every hit from holy water. Later on in the clock tower I can trade my holy water for a Holy Book (whatever it's actually called) and then shortly after that I obtain the Bolt Tome. For the rest of the game I use Bolt Tome + Holy Book combo, which is hideously overpowered and as far as I can tell it does the most DPS in the game, especially since all you have to do is walk into things to do damage and you can continue whipping while hitting them with the little orbs. (In all my runs now I am killing Shadow in under 10 seconds)

4: I only really need hearts for the first few bosses, to hurry things along, later on in the game I abuse the fact that you can cast the Bolt/Book orbs and then replenish your mana to full and keep them for most bosses. I basically just have the location of big hearts memorized and I cross my fingers that mobs will drop more of them, ideally I try to max out my hearts before Devil/Max Slime encounter and after that I just pick them up as they come, they're not nearly as important at this point. There is nothing, as far as I can tell, that is more effective against Max Slime than Holy Water, since it's impossible to pick up the bolt book prior to encountering him.
5: I never visit the shop in my revised run, and it's a real shot in the foot because at level 26 it would benefit me a lot to guzzle potions, however I have figured out how to avoid damage from most everything and I have most the boss fights down well enough that it doesn't really matter. Also, I'm ending a lot of my trial runs with under 1000 gold so I don't think it would benefit me to go out of my way to find a merchant anyways.

As far as sharing my route goes, I plan on writing the entire thing out sometime when I feel up to it. I do some things that I think people might consider slightly unnecessary, for example: I skip the Bat Boss (Because he takes too long to kill at level 2 and is easy to skip) and go straight to Living Armor (whatever his name is), once I kill him I go back to the starting area from the door provided ahead of him and pick up the Soul Orb, which is arguably not a useful relic. However, I've found that when I'm having to hit mobs 4-5 times to kill them, it really pays off to actually know when I get a critical strike, because if I do then I can slide through them earlier, rather than risk taking more damage. I'm debating the importance of picking up the relic though because later on in the game I am able to skip almost every mob with double jump/downward kick etc.
Anyways, I double back early on to use the Ice Fist spell to help get me up over a platform that allows access to the Platinum Tip and Hint Card 3 much earlier on in the game, this also allows me to get the Lure Key early once I'm in the clock tower, which cleans up some of the walking I would have to do later on in my run and also makes it so I don't have to get the Skull Key (and in turn I don't have to deal with that son-of-a-bitch Talos). I also do not get the Dracula relic in starting area - even though it's easily available, I don't do it because later on it's much faster to just go through that area with Griffin Wing and overpowered spells and pick it up quickly when I have to double back to kill the bat boss.

And thanks, I definitely would agree that HoD is not "face roll" easy. In fact, at a really low level it's quite a nail biter, almost every boss from Devil onward will kill me in 2-3 hits, given the chance. The worst part about the game is that your hit recovery is terrible and you can take damage 2-3 times before you actually regain control of your character, which on a boss fight is a certain death. It doesn't help that the boss rush mode is stupid and doesn't allow use of tomes so I cannot practice problematic bosses any way other than playing the game through over and over, and of course saving right before a hard one. So far, the most grueling bosses are Devil and Death, Death is really easy but if I have an accident it's over, his scythe hits me for 120-150, I usually have less than 191 health when I fight him (lol oh yeah did I mention I hardly upgrade gear? :P)

Thankfully with my revised route, getting the Lure Key early allows me to pick up the Moon Armor, which is the best armor in the game if you're in Castle B ( in terms of defense) it makes a suitable difference on Maxim/Dracula, probably allows for another hit, or to narrowly survive what would have otherwise killed me. Lately though I've been killing Maxim/Dracula without taking any damage so... I might not even need that.

Anyways, TLDR, sorry. I hope this was interesting and what not, if anyone wants to know more please message me, I could talk about this all day. I will try to draw a route in Paint or something on a picture of a map so that people don't have to read paragraph after paragraph of my run details.

Hopefully I'll be ready to submit soon, buying a dvd recorder with my next paycheck! ^.^

1: I was going to submit both a segmented and single segment run. My segmented run would obviously be superior, because then I could make sure each segment was as close as possible to perfect.
2: I am not using the quick-save feature because I figured it would be a separate category, and I don't know much about how to do it to begin with. Once I have it figured out I was planning on making another separate video to utilize it.
3: I switch sub weapons and tomes through out the run, but in the end I only collect Ice Tome and Bolt Tome. For the first 2 bosses, I use Ice Tome + Holy Book combo, which is really overpowered if you can manipulate the bosses to get in a corner, seeing as the spell gets stuck in the corner and ends up hitting them over a dozen times instead of 3-4. For Devil and Big Slime I use Holy Water + Ice Tome - I don't particularly care for the actual spell, it's more the fact that holy water is the best damaging attack for both of these bosses (Especially Big Slime (( Max Slime lol)) because he just sits there and eats every hit from holy water. Later on in the clock tower I can trade my holy water for a Holy Book (whatever it's actually called) and then shortly after that I obtain the Bolt Tome. For the rest of the game I use Bolt Tome + Holy Book combo, which is hideously overpowered and as far as I can tell it does the most DPS in the game, especially since all you have to do is walk into things to do damage and you can continue whipping while hitting them with the little orbs. (In all my runs now I am killing Shadow in under 10 seconds)

4: I only really need hearts for the first few bosses, to hurry things along, later on in the game I abuse the fact that you can cast the Bolt/Book orbs and then replenish your mana to full and keep them for most bosses. I basically just have the location of big hearts memorized and I cross my fingers that mobs will drop more of them, ideally I try to max out my hearts before Devil/Max Slime encounter and after that I just pick them up as they come, they're not nearly as important at this point. There is nothing, as far as I can tell, that is more effective against Max Slime than Holy Water, since it's impossible to pick up the bolt book prior to encountering him. 
5: I never visit the shop in my revised run, and it's a real shot in the foot because at level 26 it would benefit me a lot to guzzle potions, however I have figured out how to avoid damage from most everything and I have most the boss fights down well enough that it doesn't really matter. Also, I'm ending a lot of my trial runs with under 1000 gold so I don't think it would benefit me to go out of my way to find a merchant anyways.

As far as sharing my route goes, I plan on writing the entire thing out sometime when I feel up to it. I do some things that I think people might consider slightly unnecessary, for example: I skip the Bat Boss (Because he takes too long to kill at level 2 and is easy to skip) and go straight to Living Armor (whatever his name is), once I kill him I go back to the starting area from the door provided ahead of him and pick up the Soul Orb, which is arguably not a useful relic. However, I've found that when I'm having to hit mobs 4-5 times to kill them, it really pays off to actually know when I get a critical strike, because if I do then I can slide through them earlier, rather than risk taking more damage. I'm debating the importance of picking up the relic though because later on in the game I am able to skip almost every mob with double jump/downward kick etc.
Anyways, I double back early on to use the Ice Fist spell to help get me up over a platform that allows access to the Platinum Tip and Hint Card 3 much earlier on in the game, this also allows me to get the Lure Key early once I'm in the clock tower, which cleans up some of the walking I would have to do later on in my run and also makes it so I don't have to get the Skull Key (and in turn I don't have to deal with that son-of-a-bitch Talos). I also do not get the Dracula relic in starting area - even though it's easily available, I don't do it because later on it's much faster to just go through that area with Griffin Wing and overpowered spells and pick it up quickly when I have to double back to kill the bat boss.

And thanks, I definitely would agree that HoD is not "face roll" easy. In fact, at a really low level it's quite a nail biter, almost every boss from Devil onward will kill me in 2-3 hits, given the chance. The worst part about the game is that your hit recovery is terrible and you can take damage 2-3 times before you actually regain control of your character, which on a boss fight is a certain death. It doesn't help that the boss rush mode is stupid and doesn't allow use of tomes so I cannot practice problematic bosses any way other than playing the game through over and over, and of course saving right before a hard one. So far, the most grueling bosses are Devil and Death, Death is really easy but if I have an accident it's over, his scythe hits me for 120-150, I usually have less than 191 health when I fight him (lol oh yeah did I mention I hardly upgrade gear? :P)

Thankfully with my revised route, getting the Lure Key early allows me to pick up the Moon Armor, which is the best armor in the game if you're in Castle B ( in terms of defense) it makes a suitable difference on Maxim/Dracula, probably allows for another hit, or to narrowly survive what would have otherwise killed me. Lately though I've been killing Maxim/Dracula without taking any damage so... I might not even need that.

Anyways, TLDR, sorry. I hope this was interesting and what not, if anyone wants to know more please message me, I could talk about this all day.  I will try to draw a route in Paint or something on a picture of a map so that people don't have to read paragraph after paragraph of my run details.

Hopefully I'll be ready to submit soon, buying a dvd recorder with my next paycheck! ^.^

Serris

2010-11-08 12:22:38 pm

I don't know much about HoD, just wanted to say that it's most likely riddled with tricks/glitches which may or may not end up being separate categories, so I recommend researching what you can (over at TASvideos most likely) so you don't end up putting too much effort into executing suboptimal routes.

Fragmaster01

2010-11-08 01:27:51 pm

Wiggle wiggle

2: It's been a while, so I might be wrong, but I believe the idea of the quick-save is thus:
Save your game in a save room where you need to backtrack to.
Once you're at the point where you need to backtrack, quick save, then reset.
You'll start up at the save room you last saved at, plus all your progress up to the quick-save(like XP, key items, inventory, and so forth).

5: Shop is mostly irrelevant, as the only items you really need are the Platinum Tip and Crushing Stone, both of which are found outside the shops. So, it'd take too much time for a benefit(higher Defense) that can be ignored in favor of segmenting the run.

Route: Soul Orb doesn't take long to get, and it's honestly expected by people who have watched previous runs(even the TASers grab it). And since it's almost in your way from Living Armor>Platinum Tip, there's not much point in avoiding it. As for other items, your priority should be Griffin Wing(Death), Crush Stone(Clock Tower), and Crush Boots(Castle B Wailing Way). IIRC, you can't directly warp between castles until you see the Death cutscene in the Clock Tower, so you should probably go thusly:

Opening>Double Jump>Clock Tower>Crush Stone>Warp Back to Entrance>Griffin Wing>Crush Boots>Dracula Relics>Maxim Bracelet>Final Boss.

Oversimplified, as it's been too long since I've played, but that setup ensures you face the toughest(and thus, most XP giving) parts of the run earliest, so you can do the rest of it faster. Also, I believe there's an Invincibility Item at the Crush Stone pillar in the Clock Tower and at the Dracula Relic at the Entrance, which will make Maxim/Dracula much easier to fight.

Looking forward to it!

2: It's been a while, so I might be wrong, but I believe the idea of the quick-save is thus:
     Save your game in a save room where you need to backtrack to.
     Once you're at the point where you need to backtrack, quick save, then reset.
     You'll start up at the save room you last saved at, plus all your progress up to the quick-save(like XP, key items, inventory, and so forth).

5: Shop is mostly irrelevant, as the only items you really need are the Platinum Tip and Crushing Stone, both of which are found outside the shops. So, it'd take too much time for a benefit(higher Defense) that can be ignored in favor of segmenting the run.

Route: Soul Orb doesn't take long to get, and it's honestly expected by people who have watched previous runs(even the TASers grab it). And since it's almost in your way from Living Armor>Platinum Tip, there's not much point in avoiding it. As for other items, your priority should be Griffin Wing(Death), Crush Stone(Clock Tower), and Crush Boots(Castle B Wailing Way). IIRC, you can't directly warp between castles until you see the Death cutscene in the Clock Tower, so you should probably go thusly:

Opening>Double Jump>Clock Tower>Crush Stone>Warp Back to Entrance>Griffin Wing>Crush Boots>Dracula Relics>Maxim Bracelet>Final Boss.

Oversimplified, as it's been too long since I've played, but that setup ensures you face the toughest(and thus, most XP giving) parts of the run earliest, so you can do the rest of it faster. Also, I believe there's an Invincibility Item at the Crush Stone pillar in the Clock Tower and at the Dracula Relic at the Entrance, which will make Maxim/Dracula much easier to fight.

Looking forward to it!

Serris

2010-11-08 01:44:21 pm

The TAS gets the Soul Orb to show criticals for entertainment. It has no purpose that I know of.

Flood

2010-11-08 04:32:21 pm

Rly Big Muscles

Fragmaster, what you posted is pretty much how my run goes, except the route I use makes it so that Griffin Wing and Crush boots are nearly the last things I get (aside from the relic that requires those to obtain) I found that the easiest way to get to death is to go get the Maxim Bracelet first, and then go kick Pazazu's ass (Once I obtain Bolt Tome every boss from there on is a joke aside from Death and Max/Drac). From there you can get down to where the Floodgate Key is really fast, and that allows you to get to death. (There are simply not enough potions to ignore getting the flood gate key Tongue

) Also you get to use your lure key to get a warp room that allows you to get to dracula faster once you have everything in order. I might play around with my route a little more to try and tweak things, since I figured out the Quick Save thing today, I was doing a run with that to see how much time was saved lol.

Also, on the Soul Orb, I would be willing to bet TAS runners get it to better calculate where the bosses health is at, so they don't waste mana or hearts if the boss is close to dying. I have no idea outside of that though.

Fragmaster, what you posted is pretty much how my run goes, except the route I use makes it so that Griffin Wing and Crush boots are nearly the last things I get (aside from the relic that requires those to obtain) I found that the easiest way to get to death is to go get the Maxim Bracelet first, and then go kick Pazazu's ass (Once I obtain Bolt Tome every boss from there on is a joke aside from Death and Max/Drac). From there you can get down to where the Floodgate Key is really fast, and that allows you to get to death. (There are simply not enough potions to ignore getting the flood gate key :P ) Also you get to use your lure key to get a warp room that allows you to get to dracula faster once you have everything in order. I might play around with my route a little more to try and tweak things, since I figured out the Quick Save thing today, I was doing a run with that to see how much time was saved lol.

Also, on the Soul Orb, I would be willing to bet TAS runners get it to better calculate where the bosses health is at, so they don't waste mana or hearts if the boss is close to dying. I have no idea outside of that though.

Flood

2010-11-08 04:48:02 pm

Rly Big Muscles

Oh and on the note of the "Item that makes you temporarily invincible" that is called a "Medicine Jar" and I pick up 3 of them during my run, they are all put to good use, I promise Smiley

Fragmaster01

2010-11-08 05:04:23 pm

Wiggle wiggle

I'd look at seeing if it's faster to save the Maxim Bracelet for the end. Coming back with the Griffin Wing later will let you grab the Chapel relic while you're getting Maxim's Bracelet, unless I'm remembering it wrong. It wouldn't make much difference, as you'd have a warp point activated at Pazuzu to return to on your route, but given that it's a speedrun, we'd wanna check such differences.

IIRC, the TAS runners are using memory addresses on damage, and as Serris pointed out, they grab it because it's more enjoyable to see criticals go flying everywhere when they do the multi-hit glitch. Still, since all runs now already use it, there's not much reason to skip it when it saves a lot of aggravation on the part of the runner(also provides a reference for people watching as to the relative power of things, which is nice if they've never played HoD before).

Satoryu

2010-11-08 05:08:03 pm

Visually Appealing

Quick Saves wouldn't warrant a separate category, I'm pretty sure. It's not like the door glitch where it breaks the game. They just cut out backtracking. I don't see why you wouldn't use quick saves in a segmented run.

And on the Soul Orb, I don't think a nonTAS should get it. You're not going to be manipulating criticals, so what's the point of seeing if you get them or not? Then again, a TAS shouldn't be getting it either. Isn't there a byte value that shows if a hit is critical or not?

Flood

2010-11-08 05:22:34 pm

Rly Big Muscles

The Relic in the Chapel that has the Maxim door in it is actually easy to get without griffin wing. You just downward kick a flying spear skeleton and then you can easily reach it :)) Granted that there is a luck factor that plays into how quickly you will get a skeleton at the proper elevation, there is almost always one in the right place because they are spawned based upon where you are looking, and when you are walking up to that part, they are slightly above eye level (I'm assuming the programmers of the game did this to maximize how annoying they are lol) - The only reason I didn't make it a point to figure out a route where I get the griffin wing quicker is because it really doesn't benefit you much until you revisit the Entrance / Corridor of Marble. As much as I would like there to be more high ceilings and stuff to abuse, I'm just not finding them. I guess also worth mentioning, from when I get the Crush Stone to when I get the Griffin Wing relic is only about 10-15 minutes tops. Most of which is spent running to get the Floodgate Key and then going to death.

Also, abuse of the dropkick or whatever it's called that you get once you obtain the Slyph Feather is just AWESOME. I think that is part of why I started loving Harmony of Dissonance so much.

The Relic in the Chapel that has the Maxim door in it is actually easy to get without griffin wing. You just downward kick a flying spear skeleton and then you can easily reach it :)) Granted that there is a luck factor that plays into how quickly you will get a skeleton at the proper elevation, there is almost always one in the right place because they are spawned based upon where you are looking, and when you are walking up to that part, they are slightly above eye level (I'm assuming the programmers of the game did this to maximize how annoying they are lol) - The only reason I didn't make it a point to figure out a route where I get the griffin wing quicker is because it really doesn't benefit you much until you revisit the Entrance / Corridor of Marble.  As much as I would like there to be more high ceilings and stuff to abuse, I'm just not finding them. I guess also worth mentioning, from when I get the Crush Stone to when I get the Griffin Wing relic is only about 10-15 minutes tops. Most of which is spent running to get the Floodgate Key and then going to death.

Also, abuse of the dropkick or whatever it's called that you get once you obtain the Slyph Feather is just AWESOME. I think that is part of why I started loving Harmony of Dissonance so much.

Fragmaster01

2010-11-08 05:28:40 pm

Wiggle wiggle

Flood: Right right, I'm forgetting this is HoD, not one of the other games. I forgot how lame Griffin Wing is here, that you only need it in rooms specifically made for it, and never use it anywhere else.

Satoryu: Because you need to know when those criticals have been landed. As Flood pointed out, knowing that allows him to do a slide as his last attack against a monster to speed up movement. If he doesn't know if he's criticaled(which happens often enough to be a factor), he'll be left smacking an enemy and being stuck there until the strike finishes. HoD's actions are rather sticky like that.

Speedwise, I'm sure you could argue either way, but I'd rather spend a few seconds near the beginning to make the rest of the run look cleaner. Up to Flood, though, as he's running.

Flood

2010-11-08 05:37:36 pm

Rly Big Muscles

I still can't decide on the whole Soul Orb thing... it's really gratifying to see all the numbers once I get my set up... and knowing when a critical strike occurs is very important on some bosses... especially Giant Merman, because sometimes I get lucky and that fight is over before he even summons some of his little fishies. I would say it helps on Shadow too... but I've gotten that fight to the point where it's just sort of a bad joke (on the boss's part) regardless of whether or not I crit. I suppose it would not be very difficult to figure out whether or not I need it, I can just try a run without it and see if I am much sloppier or just fine. In my recent improvement runs (I will not dare speak of the time ^.~) I have been just impatiently jumping over every mob I'm allowed to, assuming I can't one shot them by sliding into them. Not getting the Soul Orb will only save 5-10 seconds though, I would like to point out.