Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow

2005-10-07 04:17:22 am

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Time to make this baby even faster.

The boss battles can be further improved (wingled skeleton against Creaking Skull, using Kaladbolg against Julius instead of Death's sickle as well as an attacing soul rather than black panther (time doesn't count when using the menu, right?) as well as an attacking soul against Chaos.

The REAL Dracula must be awakened.

I wish I was Dracule [> >]

Thread title:

Sandbag29

2005-10-07 08:10:47 am

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Here's some details of how to improve dragon's 54, minute run and turn it into a 45-minute run

(1 Less killing, taking more damage to save time
(2 Optimizing boss battles
(3 grabbing less items/potions
(4 Better routes (I think the castle corridor portal is automatically activiated)

Segment 1 I calculated can be improved by more than 30 seconds. I do believe Sub-45 may be reachable.

Persona

Edit history:

Persona: 2005-10-07 11:38:19 am

2005-10-07 11:07:15 am

Castlevania?

Sub 45 is indeed possible.

And the Manticore soul is your best friend.

Zurreco

2005-10-07 09:23:35 pm

Just call me the cynicism machine

Yes, there are many route changes that I brought up with Dragorn, but he dismissed them without really looking into them.

Also, Manticore is fine, but Curly is easier to get.

ALSO, the whole first segment would be a lot faster if a Baselard was dropped from one of the first zombies. Two slashes = tons saved until the combat knife. And yeah, there is also the Laevatein that can be used.

No one gives enough love to the Buer soul.

Sandbag29

2005-10-07 10:30:21 pm

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

The first 2 segments can be improved by up to 45-60 seconds simply because of more monster evasions and cleaning up the mistakes.

Can someone test a "theory" that you DO NOT have to activate the castle corridor portal? I keep killing myself trying to act like i'm a speedrunner.

Other notes

It's possible to jump over or damage boost past the 2nd axe armor you encounter but it isn't easy.

You can save time by not fighting the rock armor in the castle corridor but you need to kill the 2nd skull archer and have about 120 HP left since you take THREE hits (2 from contact, one from the rock)

You can go between the manticore and its tail to deal extra hits but 3 problems. (1 Small margin of error (2 90+ Damage and POISON (3 saves only 3-5 seconds. Leave this trick to the emulator cheerleaders.

There's probably a better monster-killing method in the form of small-jump & attack followed by the basic attacks (try it on zombie solder) and using winged skeleton to hit both the blue crow and baer which saves tenths of a second.

Other Ideas: Using zombie grenade or winged skeleton before you start stabbing manticore.

I'm studying segment 3 now which shows basic enemy evasion but still there may be evil butchers and arachane's that may need to be malphas'd over (double-jump)

Most important of all REVENGE! REVENGE on the student witch that humiliated Dragon in BOTH of his runs.

The first 2 segments can be improved by up to 45-60 seconds simply because of more monster evasions and cleaning up the mistakes.

Can someone test a "theory" that you DO NOT have to activate the castle corridor portal?  I keep killing myself trying to act like i'm a speedrunner.

Other notes

It's possible to jump over or damage boost past the 2nd axe armor you encounter but it isn't easy.

You can save time by not fighting the rock armor in the castle corridor but you need to kill the 2nd skull archer and have about 120 HP left since you take THREE hits (2 from contact, one from the rock)

You can go between the manticore and its tail to deal extra hits but 3 problems.  (1 Small margin of error (2 90+ Damage and POISON (3 saves only 3-5 seconds.  Leave this trick to the emulator cheerleaders.

There's probably a better monster-killing method in the form of small-jump & attack followed by the basic attacks (try it on zombie solder) and using winged skeleton to hit both the blue crow and baer which saves tenths of a second.

Other Ideas:  Using zombie grenade or winged skeleton before you start stabbing manticore.

I'm studying segment 3 now which shows basic enemy evasion but still there may be evil butchers and arachane's that may need to be malphas'd over (double-jump)

Most important of all    REVENGE!  REVENGE on the student witch that humiliated Dragon in BOTH of his runs.

Sandbag29

2005-10-07 11:15:26 pm

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

The theory works. I teleported from the Chapel area to the Castle Corridor without having to activate it first. The can be done by grabbing CASTLE MAP 1.

This theory will save 1 minute 25 seconds.

Sandbag29

2005-10-08 06:24:41 am

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Does anyone have more ideas?

Mr. Dragon have you found ideas of your own?

Persona

Edit history:

Persona: 2005-10-08 08:20:19 am

2005-10-08 08:18:09 am

Castlevania?

I haven't touched the game at all after speedrunning it so my memory might fall short.

Isn't Curly only in Inner Quarters? And if so, we don't have to go there since we can just take the shortcut and skip the Golem and Headhunter right? I do remember there's a special ability in the Inner Quarters but I forgot what it was or if we actually need it to progress further.

If Curly is only in Inner Quarters and we don't have to go there, wouldn't the Manticore soul be A LOT more useful? There is a save before the Manticore room afterall.

Sandbag29

2005-10-08 08:43:16 am

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Did you see dragon's 54:34 speedrun?

There is a shortcut dragon discovered which allowed early access to inner quarters so golem and headhunter is skipped.

You're required to go to the inner quarters to the castle roof area in order to obtain the undine soul (required to progress further in the game)

I've carefully went through half of the segments in dragon's run. This game can very easily break sub-50 with sub-45 a very real possibility.

Persona

Edit history:

Persona: 2005-10-08 09:00:40 am

2005-10-08 08:49:27 am

Castlevania?

I honestly haven't watched his run since just by looking at the time he got, it didn't interest me enough to download it. Japanese players can get around the same time and still do it siingle segged, so you probably know why I didn't bother to download.

Shortcut as in the um, double jump against the wall right? To get to Floating Garden.

Sandbag29

2005-10-08 09:02:45 am

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Congratulations. You get a cookie.

Persona

Edit history:

Persona: 2005-10-08 09:11:34 am

2005-10-08 09:05:39 am

Castlevania?

*eats cookie*

Sorry if my posts sounds like I'm acting like an ass. I'm just seriously irritated lately due to a very bad week. So I tend to be bitter very easily.

Anyway, I'll leave the thread.

Sandbag29

2005-10-08 09:16:10 am

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Skipping the Inner Quarters means sacrificing the Claimh Solias as well since you can't reach the forbidden area without Undine.

That means the Balore boss fight will be much slower.

Sandbag29

2005-10-08 09:34:03 am

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

I'm making a rough estimate that the gain of skipping the inner quarters and thus skipping the Claimh Solias is about 10 minutes.

But the time it takes to kill enemies with the Mystletain and a MUCH MORE DIFFICULT Balore fight will definitely take out a chunk of the gain.

This invites a whole new strategy. You no longer have a sword that swings at an arc, your range weakens, your strength plummets and you're even weaker than before. I have a good feeling these potential losses and hardships will fully compensate for the early gain!

Captain, we need more testing!

mikwuyma

2005-10-08 09:59:18 am

My feelings on The Demon Rush

Sandbag29 I don't think you realize who Persona is. He is the best Castlevania speedrunner I know of.

Need proof of his skills? Look here:

http://www.combovideos.com/page.php?id=768

Yes, you need to sign up, but it's free.

Sandbag29

2005-10-08 10:41:50 am

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

It doesn't mean he's the REAL Dracula.

This new route requires testing. Try calculating the time needed to kill Balore with just the Mystletain or another sword somewhere.

I've noticed that the Kaladborg (instead of Death's Sickle) can be used against Julius due to its quickness and it takes less time to get it.

Persona, The boss fights from dragon's 2nd version run aren't fast enough.

Axe Armor can be used to kill Creaking Skull, Manticore and Axe Armor quicker. Red Minotaur and Lubicant should be used against Julius and Chaos.

Other Notes: You could sacrifice 15 seconds to get the potions/mind up needed at the shop area. The game timer will run while you're shopping.

Dragondarch

2005-10-08 12:07:45 pm

Pudding%

OK, I meant to reply here yesterday but didn't have the time (my job sucks BTW :-/)

I need to watch through my run again...I was attempting a new run not too long ago but lost interest at the time. After I finish my current run, I'm coming back to this one (again).

I'll post more after I re-watch my run again. I haven't seen it in ages now Tongue

Sandbag29

2005-10-08 12:52:00 pm

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

I've already made comments to it.

Acquiring more powerful souls/better use of souls
Killing less monsters, faster boss fights

Persona mentioned a bug in the game allowing you to skip the inner quarters completely, but sacrificing the Claimth Solias (apparently, you can't reach the Forbidden area without Undine)

Before Persona's shortcut I was predicting Sub-45 was possible. If Persona's route does work out and the gains outweigh the losses, perhaps Sub-40 is possible.

Dragondarch

2005-10-08 06:17:40 pm

Pudding%

It's possible...I know how to do it too, I just didn't know about it before doing this run. Makes the warp to the entrance infinitely more useful in the process.

siriusql

2005-10-08 08:55:02 pm

Are you a vampire ? yes... and soon you'll join me

Anyone wants to make a game with his old game ? a friend of me as make 1/2H to finish the game like that (so if you do it in less 40minute with a new game you can do it in 15minuts with an old game ? o_O)

Sandbag29

2005-10-08 11:28:29 pm

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Let's start optimizing Segment 1.

The first improvement involves invading the skeletons slightly faster (that is if they cooperate) About 1-2 seconds

Next, is to get the Axe Armor soul. it's 22MP to use, but it has more hits and more damage than winged skeleton resulting in a quicker Creaking Skull fight.

The first save point is about 5 seconds out of the way. Probably not necessary to get unless it's extremely hard to get both Axe Armor and Combat Knife at the same segment.

The first mind up is 10 seconds out of the way and is used for the battle against Death. Grabbing this will depend on how fast the sickle can be taken out. (Segment 5)

The last part of segment 1 you try to get combat knife as early as possible and try to jump over axe armor.

There's about 40 seconds of delays in segment 1. so probably 25-30 seconds improvement available.

AJMDH

2005-10-09 03:27:26 am

Castlevania <3

As for the Red Minotaur + Lubicant against Julius, you could get Rotten Meat from the Zombie Soldiers to get the maximum impact out of the Lubicant soul. I don't know if this is done or not... I'm downloading right now.

Sandbag29

2005-10-09 03:38:25 am

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Rotten Meat from the Zombie Soldiers are semi-rare

The best way is to have him slap you around and make him think he's winning

At level 20, this is relatively easy to do.

Sandbag29

2005-10-09 06:12:11 am

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Any new ideas?

I thought of sub-45 but now it looks like Dragon's old time could be shattered by more than 15 minutes.

On a side-note There was once a "rejected" emulation of this game. One person got it done in 3 minutes 43 seconds.

Nikuvilin

Edit history:

Nikuvilin: 2005-10-09 10:48:36 am

2005-10-09 10:48:27 am

DMC3,ZOE2 and Xenosaga 2.  Am I crazy?

3min 43s!!!!!!!!
Thats AMAZING!
Did he use some of the Emulator tricks?