Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem

2011-02-08 05:15:17 pm

Regarding the video brightness: Awhile back I wanted to use some footage from the "Paul's unfortunate meeting with the Guardian" cutscene, and when I used my DVD recorder and then converted it to mp4 I found the same problem, it was extremely dark. I've never had that problem with any DVD recorded from my recorder, or any other game for that matter. I had to crank the brightness setting in the ingame menu and the tradeoff was it made things a little washed out.

http://www.fixyournintendo.com/paul.htm

Took me several capture attempts with various brightness settings in order to find something relatively workable. I think it's just one of those freak things with this particular game's video output. It drove me crazy!

Kudos on updating the run, this game remains one of the finest on the gamecube, in my humble opinion. The first time I encountered the "examine the bathtub" scene it freaked me out like I'd never experienced in a game. Brrrghgrbh.

Uilnslcoap

Edit history:

Uilnslcoap: 2011-02-10 01:13:19 am

2011-02-09 05:52:34 pm

F*ckin' sanity effects...

Thank you, eatsnackysmores. I have made sure that it is definitely not the computer with regard to brightness (you got it, it's the game/recorder). I am wondering whether I can keep my current progress or have to start from scratch with super-high brightness. I'm trying to mess with vdub/anri to see if I can get the brightness up on the video, but I don't have much time to mess around with it at my in-laws' (my computer is a Mac). Perhaps this weekend I'll get a final answer on whether I need to start over or keep the current brightness setting and adjust post-facto.

I LOVE Eternal Darkness; it's my favorite Gamecube game (nosing out Metroid Prime), and it's my third-favorite game ever (1st: Portal, 2nd: Banjo-Kazooie, 4th: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, 5th: Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest). No videogame I've played (and mind you, I'm an action-adventure guy, not so much with RPG's--though I have finished a couple I liked) has a story that's more suited to translating into a book or movie. The fact that the dialogue, story, and voice-acting don't totally suck is pretty amazing for a videogame; to have them be actually good is incredible. I also think the spell system is really well thought-out and there are so many small touches that are nicely done (idle animations, Mantorok spell effects, etc.). It was obviously made with love.

Edited to add: I think I'll just start fresh (again). It'll give me a chance to nab that elusive 4:30 on Pious maybe? And implement spiralout's red zombie strat (which I somehow missed in my initial research) in Ellia's chapter. I really can't wait to get past these though. The game (and the run) really starts in Anthony's chapter (LOTS of menu stuff...) in a lot of ways.

Thank you, eatsnackysmores.  I have made sure that it is definitely not the computer with regard to brightness (you got it, it's the game/recorder).  I am wondering whether I can keep my current progress or have to start from scratch with super-high brightness.  I'm trying to mess with vdub/anri to see if I can get the brightness up on the video, but I don't have much time to mess around with it at my in-laws' (my computer is a Mac).  Perhaps this weekend I'll get a final answer on whether I need to start over or keep the current brightness setting and adjust post-facto.

I LOVE Eternal Darkness; it's my favorite Gamecube game (nosing out Metroid Prime), and it's my third-favorite game ever (1st: Portal, 2nd: Banjo-Kazooie, 4th: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, 5th: Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest).  No videogame I've played (and mind you, I'm an action-adventure guy, not so much with RPG's--though I have finished a couple I liked) has a story that's more suited to translating into a book or movie.  The fact that the dialogue, story, and voice-acting don't totally suck is pretty amazing for a videogame; to have them be actually good is incredible.  I also think the spell system is really well thought-out and there are so many small touches that are nicely done (idle animations, Mantorok spell effects, etc.).  It was obviously made with love.

Edited to add: I think I'll just start fresh (again).  It'll give me a chance to nab that elusive 4:30 on Pious maybe?  And implement spiralout's red zombie strat (which I somehow missed in my initial research) in Ellia's chapter.  I really can't wait to get past these though.  The game (and the run) really starts in Anthony's chapter (LOTS of menu stuff...) in a lot of ways.

Zeupar

2011-02-10 02:27:32 pm

Sonical!

Quote from Uilnslcoap:

I LOVE Eternal Darkness; it's my favorite Gamecube game (nosing out Metroid Prime), and it's my third-favorite game ever. No videogame I've played (and mind you, I'm an action-adventure guy, not so much with RPG's--though I have finished a couple I liked) has a story that's more suited to translating into a book or movie. The fact that the dialogue, story, and voice-acting don't totally suck is pretty amazing for a videogame; to have them be actually good is incredible. I also think the spell system is really well thought-out and there are so many small touches that are nicely done (idle animations, Mantorok spell effects, etc.). It was obviously made with love.

I am surprised that you didn't mention its awesome original soundtrack.

I can't wait for those new segments. Good luck! Tongue

Uilnslcoap

2011-02-12 02:41:12 pm

F*ckin' sanity effects...

New Pious! Better execution, worse loading luck, still 4:31. Slightly more detailed comments on post where video was originally posted (first page of thread).

Zeupar

2011-02-13 12:28:28 pm

Sonical!

Congratulations! By the way, your video suffers from severe saw tooth type edge distortion. You should deinterlace your videos before uploading them to YouTube. This site should help you with that.

Uilnslcoap

2011-02-13 09:45:16 pm

F*ckin' sanity effects...

Quote from Zeupar:

...your video suffers from severe saw tooth type edge distortion. You should deinterlace your videos before uploading them to YouTube. This site should help you with that.

Hmmm...well, the video program I have can deinterlace it (VisualHub), so I'll do that and see if it improves for future segments. Interesting that it looks that bad for you. Next video will be the acid test, for sure.

Uilnslcoap

2011-02-16 02:57:08 am

F*ckin' sanity effects...

I got a 6:03 on Ellia about an hour ago that had two very ugly mistakes, so I'm trying further. I'll settle for a 6:04 where the execution is done well and I have a little bad luck on loading. I'll hope for that miraculous 6:02, but I'll definitely take the 6:04 right now because maaaaaaan, I am so tired of running Ellia down hallway after hallway after hallway after hallway and getting good runs shut down by sanity effects or stupid mistakes or being juuuuuust out of range of the item you're supposed to press B to interact with. I'm gonna try very hard to make sure this chapter/segment is out of the way by the weekend. Look for a (deinterlaced) video sometime before then (I hope it'll be tomorrow, but school and infant might interfere).

UCpro

2011-02-16 09:44:49 pm

i like the effort you're putting into this run Uilnslcoap! I just wanted to wish you luck as you continue forward with this project and let you know that i'm enjoying your progress so far Wink

Uilnslcoap

2011-02-17 09:57:02 am

F*ckin' sanity effects...

New (visible!) Ellia on first page of thread! 6:03, some mistakes, but good.

Thank you, UCpro. Congratulations on your marriage, by the way. I am following the PoP: SoT thread with great enjoyment, so good luck to you as well!

By the way, I am remiss in not thanking Caveberry and DK28 by now, thanks guys! Also, DK28, I have really enjoyed a couple of your runs, especially Super Castlevania IV and Super Punch-Out!!.

DK28

2011-02-19 12:22:27 am

General Kong - Bullets and Bananas

Thanks Uilnslcoap. All for the love of running. thumbsup

And this is one game I really look forward to seeing a new run on. Good stuff so far, I hope you see it through to the end.

Uilnslcoap

2011-02-22 03:12:16 am

F*ckin' sanity effects...

Anthony! 7:49! I'm very happy with this.

Some notes on this segment:

1) It was much more about actually completing the chapter in a satisfactory manner (I managed it three times in maybe five hours of attempts) than getting good loads for this segment, and I think that will be true going forward.

2) There's a more aggressive strat against the trapper that saves at least 4 seconds (see spiralout's first segment video), but I couldn't pull it off more than 10% of the time, so I went with this more wussy strategy because it was too frustrating to pull off all the accursed menu navigation only to fail on one risky thing in the latter part of the chapter after all that menu stuff was over.

3) About half the time (often enough that I didn't bother restarting if I hit it) in the torch room, it takes me two swings to get the second Mantorok zombie...this was one of those times. Sad

4) A lot of the failures came from screwing up menu navigation, so I might play it a bit conservative/slow (it's easy to hit the thumbstick in the wrong direction or press B one time too many, etc.), but I still think it's entertainingly fast for the person who's never seen it run quickly.

5) That one sanity effect is completely unavoidable and is quickly escaped from anyway.

Enjoy!

Anthony!  7:49!  I'm very happy with this.

Some notes on this segment:

1) It was much more about actually completing the chapter in a satisfactory manner (I managed it three times in maybe five hours of attempts) than getting good loads for this segment, and I think that will be true going forward.

2) There's a more aggressive strat against the trapper that saves at least 4 seconds (see spiralout's first segment video), but I couldn't pull it off more than 10% of the time, so I went with this more wussy strategy because it was too frustrating to pull off all the accursed menu navigation only to fail on one risky thing in the latter part of the chapter after all that menu stuff was over.

3) About half the time (often enough that I didn't bother restarting if I hit it) in the torch room, it takes me two swings to get the second Mantorok zombie...this was one of those times.  :(

4) A lot of the failures came from screwing up menu navigation, so I might play it a bit conservative/slow (it's easy to hit the thumbstick in the wrong direction or press B one time too many, etc.), but I still think it's entertainingly fast for the person who's never seen it run quickly.

5) That one sanity effect is completely unavoidable and is quickly escaped from anyway.

Enjoy!

spiralout1123211

2011-02-22 05:48:12 pm

That fuggin Mantorok zombie is so irritating, but the worst part of this chapter is by far the stupid Horror at the end. That asshole ruined so many of my amazing runs, and when it comes at the end of an almost 18 minute segment... yeah, really frustrating.

You could definitely shave at least 6 or 7 seconds off this time with some practice. The menu nav is really difficult if you only try to do it in the context of a segment attempt, but if you slow it down and practice it over and over, speeding it up, it becomes almost automatic. When you do the first three chapters in one segment, you REALLY need consistency at the end of the seg, and I got really consistent by just doing it slowly a lot. Also, that Trapper trick is also something that you get better at with practice. It's DEFINITELY more than a 10% trick, or else there's no way in hell I would've used it in my run. =P I probably only screwed that up less than 5% of the time. You get a feel for how close to the Trapper to come, although sometimes he's not very responsive and you have to get too close. It's a short chapter, though, so a reset isn't a huge deal.

That fuggin Mantorok zombie is so irritating, but the worst part of this chapter is by far the stupid Horror at the end.  That asshole ruined so many of my amazing runs, and when it comes at the end of an almost 18 minute segment... yeah, really frustrating.

You could definitely shave at least 6 or 7 seconds off this time with some practice.  The menu nav is really difficult if you only try to do it in the context of a segment attempt, but if you slow it down and practice it over and over, speeding it up, it becomes almost automatic.  When you do the first three chapters in one segment, you REALLY need consistency at the end of the seg, and I got really consistent by just doing it slowly a lot.  Also, that Trapper trick is also something that you get better at with practice.  It's DEFINITELY more than a 10% trick, or else there's no way in hell I would've used it in my run. =P  I probably only screwed that up less than 5% of the time. You get a feel for how close to the Trapper to come, although sometimes he's not very responsive and you have to get too close.  It's a short chapter, though, so a reset isn't a huge deal.

Uilnslcoap

2011-02-22 10:52:17 pm

F*ckin' sanity effects...

You are right that I could save time with more practice (although I have to say I have definitely done plenty of practice work on menu navigation and that stupid Trapper trick...I must have spent at least an hour trying to get more consistent at that dumb Trapper, re-loading, re-loading, re-loading--call it 10% for me anyway if not in general), but I find myself in a weird scenario where I'm off work until early April (and I'll continue to take night classes at that point), and my son is getting older and pretty soon the images will be scary for him instead of meaningless. I'm only about 15% through the game and there are deadlines working against me. I really appreciate the advice, and I hate to discourage feedback, but for me, I don't have the luxury of spending a lot more time on this than I already am.

HOWEVER, I would actively encourage anyone else (for instance, those I KNOW are better at this game than I am...spiralout!) to do this run instead. For me, running this wasn't a matter of how much fun I would have doing it (in fact, I would not classify the actual running as fun, I enjoy the research more). For me, it's that I want to see a very good run of this game and that run is not out there, and if no one else is doing it, I have to. But if someone else wanted to, say, take up where they left off on an amazing first effort... *wink wink, nudge nudge*

You are right that I could save time with more practice (although I have to say I have definitely done plenty of practice work on menu navigation and that stupid Trapper trick...I must have spent at least an hour trying to get more consistent at that dumb Trapper, re-loading, re-loading, re-loading--call it 10% for me anyway if not in general), but I find myself in a weird scenario where I'm off work until early April (and I'll continue to take night classes at that point), and my son is getting older and pretty soon the images will be scary for him instead of meaningless.  I'm only about 15% through the game and there are deadlines working against me.  I really appreciate the advice, and I hate to discourage feedback, but for me, I don't have the luxury of spending a lot more time on this than I already am.

HOWEVER, I would actively encourage anyone else (for instance, those I KNOW are better at this game than I am...spiralout!) to do this run instead.  For me, running this wasn't a matter of how much fun I would have doing it (in fact, I would not classify the actual running as fun, I enjoy the research more).  For me, it's that I want to see a very good run of this game and that run is not out there, and if no one else is doing it, I have to.  But if someone else wanted to, say, take up where they left off on an amazing first effort... *wink wink, nudge nudge*

spiralout1123211

2011-02-23 06:54:59 pm

I have no time for gaming any more, and don't even really feel like playing; I'm enjoying school way too much. Besides, it's more fun to sit on the sidelines and yell at the people currently putting in the effort. =P

But yeah, I understand where you're coming from. Unfortunately, from this point on in the run my knowledge doesn't go at all past my practice run, which really really sucked (I think I did it in a week? Don't remember). I know there are huge improvements to be made over the later chapters in my run, and you'll probably have to do all of the strategizing. Good luck with the rest of the run, though. =D

Uilnslcoap

2011-02-24 06:49:50 am

F*ckin' sanity effects...

Thank you for that, and I would certainly appreciate you (or anyone) pointing out any bad routes/planning or such you see in my runs; even though I don't have infinite time, I would certainly do a level again if I was doing something dumb or unnecessary. Execution you may have to let slide a little with my lack of time to get it really, really perfect, though.

With regard to Karim, I have one question (if you happen to know, of course...if not, I can research). In the Xellotath rune room (the one where you get the Ram Dao and go on the first of the two killing sprees), do you know if doing spells (heal or Ram Dao enchant) delays the beginning of the new wave of enemies (or the door opening if you finished the last wave)?

spiralout1123211

2011-02-24 06:15:03 pm

My understanding of that room was that the new wave spawns a certain amount of time after the last kill has disintegrated, so doing spells would slow you down inasmuch as it takes time away from killing enemies and doing finishing moves on them. I can't remember where I was doing the enchant, but you need to wait for the rune in the final wave anyways, right? Otherwise enchant is useless there. My strategy in there was to find a good spot (you'll need to do research since I don't remember) around the center of the arc of zombie spawns, and to just kill quickly, but to save finishing blows for the last zombies killed since one or two of the early kills will have disintegrated on their own by that time. I also don't remember whether I switched to Ram Dao or not for the fight; I may have just used enchant after the fight (OH YEAH, I didn't enchant until the end of the last wave, and I had enough time to do so without losing time since it takes a while for the door to open) and used that to equip the weapon instead of using the menu. You'll have to mess around some.

This is a pretty frustrating chapter; there are so many ways to get screwed, and sanity and health are BIG issues. You should be able to get through without sanity or health boosts, but the margins for error are pretty much nonexistent. The first Horror is really random, too. Sometimes I can get the quick kill (more that you'll have to experiment on since I've forgotten how to do it :P), and sometimes it seems to give you back more sanity than others (and also sometimes it can take a ton).

My understanding of that room was that the new wave spawns a certain amount of time after the last kill has disintegrated, so doing spells would slow you down inasmuch as it takes time away from killing enemies and doing finishing moves on them.  I can't remember where I was doing the enchant, but you need to wait for the rune in the final wave anyways, right?  Otherwise enchant is useless there.  My strategy in there was to find a good spot (you'll need to do research since I don't remember) around the center of the arc of zombie spawns, and to just kill quickly, but to save finishing blows for the last zombies killed since one or two of the early kills will have disintegrated on their own by that time.  I also don't remember whether I switched to Ram Dao or not for the fight; I may have just used enchant after the fight (OH YEAH, I didn't enchant until the end of the last wave, and I had enough time to do so without losing time since it takes a while for the door to open) and used that to equip the weapon instead of using the menu.  You'll have to mess around some.

This is a pretty frustrating chapter; there are so many ways to get screwed, and sanity and health are BIG issues.  You should be able to get through without sanity or health boosts, but the margins for error are pretty much nonexistent.  The first Horror is really random, too.  Sometimes I can get the quick kill (more that you'll have to experiment on since I've forgotten how to do it :P), and sometimes it seems to give you back more sanity than others (and also sometimes it can take a ton).

Uilnslcoap

2011-03-01 07:46:47 pm

F*ckin' sanity effects...

AUUUUUGGGGHHHHH! I was one Horror away from a great run and I effed it right at the end. I'm gonna give myself more wiggle room away from that electric wall thingy next time.

So my current best is 9:57 with some mistakes...hoping for significantly better. Hopefully late tonight or early tomorrow, certainly by the weekend I would imagine. Gonna be close to a 2-minute improvement on the current SDA segment (about a minute on spiralout's scrub run).

Uilnslcoap

2011-03-03 01:12:01 pm

F*ckin' sanity effects...

NOTE: due to crappy video editing software, there's a hitch in the video about 6:20 and the video after that has a video/audio lag issue (probably fuzzier quality as well)...my apologies for that.

The spell assignment is very, VERY ugly...and a Xellotath zombie gets back up at the final Horror, forcing me to use a heal to get to the artifact/idol quickly 'cause I got shocked...but I haven't come close to this time since in a number of finished attempts, so I'm letting these errors stand: Karim in 9:41! Two seconds off a 2-minute improvement on the SDA segment (if I hadn't messed up the spell assignment......grrrrrrrrr). The damage I take from the zombie near the first rune is on purpose to get Karim out of his finishing animation. I do mis-aim one swipe in the first big battle (against the first Xellotath zombie) and there's some finishing move shenanigans, but it isn't too bad.

I'd consider running this again, though, if anyone has a better idea of how to handle the rune Horror and it's not too risky a strategy (or a better idea about anything else, naturally). This Horror is about as good as it goes for me (very rarely, the first head hack--second blow overall--stuns him and I can get the final blow in after I get shocked but before he turns around).

I feel like not more than 6, MAYBE 7 seconds could come off this if things went absolutely perfectly (luck and performance) with my current strats. Considering how random this game is at times and the luck it takes to get through the trapper and avoiding sanity effects, that seems good for me.

NOTE: due to crappy video editing software, there's a hitch in the video about 6:20 and the video after that has a video/audio lag issue (probably fuzzier quality as well)...my apologies for that.

The spell assignment is very, VERY ugly...and a Xellotath zombie gets back up at the final Horror, forcing me to use a heal to get to the artifact/idol quickly 'cause I got shocked...but I haven't come close to this time since in a number of finished attempts, so I'm letting these errors stand: Karim in 9:41!  Two seconds off a 2-minute improvement on the SDA segment (if I hadn't messed up the spell assignment......grrrrrrrrr).  The damage I take from the zombie near the first rune is on purpose to get Karim out of his finishing animation.  I do mis-aim one swipe in the first big battle (against the first Xellotath zombie) and there's some finishing move shenanigans, but it isn't too bad.

I'd consider running this again, though, if anyone has a better idea of how to handle the rune Horror and it's not too risky a strategy (or a better idea about anything else, naturally).  This Horror is about as good as it goes for me (very rarely, the first head hack--second blow overall--stuns him and I can get the final blow in after I get shocked but before he turns around).

I feel like not more than 6, MAYBE 7 seconds could come off this if things went absolutely perfectly (luck and performance) with my current strats.  Considering how random this game is at times and the luck it takes to get through the trapper and avoiding sanity effects, that seems good for me.

spiralout1123211

2011-03-03 03:24:55 pm

Yeah, that rune Horror cost you a lot of time, and the spell assignment could definitely be faster, but other than those, it was a pretty solid segment. You probably lost closer to 10 or 11 seconds total, but it's a rough segment. If you have time I'd try to improve it by 4 or 5 seconds (not as crazy as you think =P). I think there were a couple times where you delayed a finishing blow on a Xello zombie at the end when you could've squeezed it in safely, and that probably set you back a couple seconds total, but a good rune Horror will save you probably 4 seconds alone.

Question: have you ever avoided that sanity effect after the trapper? One time I got a BIG sanity refill from the rune Horror and didn't get any sanity effect there. o_O That never happened to me again, though.

Uilnslcoap

2011-03-03 04:16:58 pm

F*ckin' sanity effects...

Never did avoid that sanity effect, no (craziest thing, though, one time I saw that scene during ELLIA'S chapter upon exiting a room--only happened once). Doesn't that scene HAVE to appear somewhere since it's part of the plot? It's crazy that it didn't happen to you that one time.

One thing that didn't work out in this run that did work out in about half of them was that the Ram Dao enchant and button dismiss overlapped the door opening so as to save a second or two of character/time inaction. It's too bad it didn't happen this time...it looked really slick.

I really did make a good-faith effort to improve this chapter (I think I got all the way through it 10 more times after this and the best I did was 9:44) and it does irk me to have to move on, but they moved up my job restart a week, and I would love to have a lot more of this done by the time that starts near the end of March (ideally I'd like to be up to the Peter boss fight by that time, but we'll see--then I'd have just two very long segments--Peter/Edward and Alex--and one super-random segment--Michael--to go...I might have the Pious fight be its own segment, though).

You can be certain that the spell creation/assignment stuff is going to go MUCH better in Max's chapter! Smiley

There's a fairly large amount of it...I think I've decided to put the shield spell create/assign in Max's chapter (even though you get the rune pretty late and don't need that spell for the boss fight) so that the Lindsey spell creation/assignment is a little more reasonable.

Never did avoid that sanity effect, no (craziest thing, though, one time I saw that scene during ELLIA'S chapter upon exiting a room--only happened once).  Doesn't that scene HAVE to appear somewhere since it's part of the plot?  It's crazy that it didn't happen to you that one time.

One thing that didn't work out in this run that did work out in about half of them was that the Ram Dao enchant and button dismiss overlapped the door opening so as to save a second or two of character/time inaction.  It's too bad it didn't happen this time...it looked really slick.

I really did make a good-faith effort to improve this chapter (I think I got all the way through it 10 more times after this and the best I did was 9:44) and it does irk me to have to move on, but they moved up my job restart a week, and I would love to have a lot more of this done by the time that starts near the end of March (ideally I'd like to be up to the Peter boss fight by that time, but we'll see--then I'd have just two very long segments--Peter/Edward and Alex--and one super-random segment--Michael--to go...I might have the Pious fight be its own segment, though).

You can be certain that the spell creation/assignment stuff is going to go MUCH better in Max's chapter!  :)  There's a fairly large amount of it...I think I've decided to put the shield spell create/assign in Max's chapter (even though you get the rune pretty late and don't need that spell for the boss fight) so that the Lindsey spell creation/assignment is a little more reasonable.

Uilnslcoap

2011-03-18 07:41:13 pm

F*ckin' sanity effects...

After a lot of experimentation and timing, I've decided enchanted pistols is the way to go in Max's chapter. The reloads are a little painful, but given that you don't have to close with your enemy and that I was going to use enchanted pistols no matter what in the Guardian fight at chapter's end (it saves a Guardian teleport and several attacks over using the sword, reducing the luck factor and just saving time in general), it makes sense not to have to bother with collecting and equipping the sword for the two Horror fights. I don't think it saves too many seconds on average, but it saves some. I haven't nailed down whether I want to get the pump handle before or after collecting the Tome, though. Hopefully I can work on that tonight a little.

I think maybe if you were just about perfect (and lucky) with the sword in both Horror battles, it might be worth using it, but I cannot dispatch them quickly enough to justify using the sword (like I said, the Karim Horror was about as well as it goes for me--maybe subtract a second or two from that one since I took a little time to "line up my shot" in that chapter for the final blow). And believe me, I've tried to get better with the sword, but those Horrors are too random.

So hopefully before the weekend is out, I'll have another segment finished. If not, sometime during next week.

After a lot of experimentation and timing, I've decided enchanted pistols is the way to go in Max's chapter.  The reloads are a little painful, but given that you don't have to close with your enemy and that I was going to use enchanted pistols no matter what in the Guardian fight at chapter's end (it saves a Guardian teleport and several attacks over using the sword, reducing the luck factor and just saving time in general), it makes sense not to have to bother with collecting and equipping the sword for the two Horror fights.  I don't think it saves too many seconds on average, but it saves some.  I haven't nailed down whether I want to get the pump handle before or after collecting the Tome, though.  Hopefully I can work on that tonight a little.

I think maybe if you were just about perfect (and lucky) with the sword in both Horror battles, it might be worth using it, but I cannot dispatch them quickly enough to justify using the sword (like I said, the Karim Horror was about as well as it goes for me--maybe subtract a second or two from that one since I took a little time to "line up my shot" in that chapter for the final blow).  And believe me, I've tried to get better with the sword, but those Horrors are too random.

So hopefully before the weekend is out, I'll have another segment finished.  If not, sometime during next week.

Uilnslcoap

Edit history:

Uilnslcoap: 2011-03-26 06:24:59 pm

2011-03-26 04:07:17 pm

F*ckin' sanity effects...

All right, so "next weekend" still totally counts as part of "next week". Tongue

I got a 6:28, but I'm having technical difficulties with uploading (audio/video always out of sync even though the original is fine). I'm gonna try some other stuff before I post it here to see if I can't get a better version. If not...I'll post the crappy version.

The three most notable errors were: 1) stopping short of the door into the kitchen and needing to take an extra step, 2) an unnecessary move in the first spell menu session, 3) on the way down the basement stairs, ran into the wall a bit before hitting the bottom. I had some more polished runs that didn't get as good a time because of bad Guardian or loading luck.

Figuring out when to get the pump handle and when to reload the gun turned out to be a real pain! But the final pattern I came up with works well, minimizes inventory scrolling, and keeps Max from running out of sprint.

Watch this space for something before day's end!

ETA: Here! The Guardian luck was so crazily good that it overruled the minor issues throughout.

All right, so "next weekend" still totally counts as part of "next week". :P  I got a 6:28, but I'm having technical difficulties with uploading (audio/video always out of sync even though the original is fine).  I'm gonna try some other stuff before I post it here to see if I can't get a better version.  If not...I'll post the crappy version.

The three most notable errors were: 1) stopping short of the door into the kitchen and needing to take an extra step, 2) an unnecessary move in the first spell menu session, 3) on the way down the basement stairs, ran into the wall a bit before hitting the bottom.  I had some more polished runs that didn't get as good a time because of bad Guardian or loading luck.

Figuring out when to get the pump handle and when to reload the gun turned out to be a real pain!  But the final pattern I came up with works well, minimizes inventory scrolling, and keeps Max from running out of sprint.

Watch this space for something before day's end!

ETA: Here!  The Guardian luck was so crazily good that it overruled the minor issues throughout.

eatsnackysmores

2011-03-30 02:22:25 pm

If you have the original video on DVDRs then once everything is all said and done you can send them to Nate for encoding. As long as the original is in good shape then I don't think you need to concern about a crappy / desynced temporary encode for the sake of putting up on youtube.

Uilnslcoap

Edit history:

Uilnslcoap: 2011-04-14 02:51:47 am

Uilnslcoap: 2011-04-14 01:15:49 am

2011-04-12 08:04:47 am

F*ckin' sanity effects...

Been planning away on Lindsey when I can. I've got the first two floors pretty well mapped out with one or two small variables to test still (whether it would be better to kill certain zombies so they don't set off traps when I come back or leave them be and deal with it, etc.), and the third floor is just a matter of learning where to run to avoid setting off any of the more annoying traps. I do a LOT of green shield casts (I think it will be 17 if everything is perfect, and 18 if I have to improvise a little), but it's not just for the sanity/health protection; it's to give Lindsey time to rest so he can keep on sprinting (and sometimes it saves time to barrel through a trap with shield instead of waiting for the right moment to avoid it). So if it seems like a lot when you see it, just know it's for a good cause. He ends up having to take a breather on the last floor anyway, so I'm definitely putting him through his paces. Should be over two minutes saved, possibly significantly more over the current SDA segment. Hopefully by this weekend!

Edit: got a 10:45 just now that had two significant mistakes near the end, so hoping for 10:40, maybe 10:41. It's late; I might try one more hour's worth of attempts before bed.

Edit 2: Well, I'm gonna pay tomorrow but it was worth it. 10:37 (time saved over SDA segment: 2:17). I might just stay up and upload it anyway since I'm screwed tomorrow no matter what.

Been planning away on Lindsey when I can.  I've got the first two floors pretty well mapped out with one or two small variables to test still (whether it would be better to kill certain zombies so they don't set off traps when I come back or leave them be and deal with it, etc.), and the third floor is just a matter of learning where to run to avoid setting off any of the more annoying traps.  I do a LOT of green shield casts (I think it will be 17 if everything is perfect, and 18 if I have to improvise a little), but it's not just for the sanity/health protection; it's to give Lindsey time to rest so he can keep on sprinting (and sometimes it saves time to barrel through a trap with shield instead of waiting for the right moment to avoid it).  So if it seems like a lot when you see it, just know it's for a good cause.  He ends up having to take a breather on the last floor anyway, so I'm definitely putting him through his paces.  Should be over two minutes saved, possibly significantly more over the current SDA segment.  Hopefully by this weekend!

Edit: got a 10:45 just now that had two significant mistakes near the end, so hoping for 10:40, maybe 10:41.  It's late; I might try one more hour's worth of attempts before bed.

Edit 2: Well, I'm gonna pay tomorrow but it was worth it.  10:37 (time saved over SDA segment: 2:17).  I might just stay up and upload it anyway since I'm screwed tomorrow no matter what.

Uilnslcoap

2011-04-14 04:59:05 am

F*ckin' sanity effects...

I am not lying when I say that I think is the best segment yet. 10:37 for Lindsey (2:17 better than the SDA segment). If you'd told me 45:00 was doable (I'm 9 seconds over) for the first six chapters, I'd have said you were nuts.

Only a few things happened that I didn't intend, and only two of them set me back at all, which is pretty awesome considering this is the longest segment so far. The two semi-costly mistakes were 1) getting shocked by the damage field Horror after grabbing the silver necklace (I'm about 50/50 on getting out of this room in time to avoid the shock) and 2) the first Mantorok zombie I kill (first hallway of second floor) usually gets knocked down, doesn't flail around being all on fire. So I had to improvise 'cause I usually use the other side of the hallway to run down, but I think these mistakes probably cost 3-4 seconds total, and I'm okay with that. I also set off a couple of gas traps without meaning to, but as long as I don't run out of shield at a costly time (i.e. when I need a sanity barrier), I don't care about slight health damage...no effect on my time.

The spell creation/assignment is a little slow in both spots it comes up, but I don't make any mistakes, and there's a lot of pressure on those last two spell creations and the last 3-point assign (the level's basically over once I get those done as long as I don't hit a sanity effect).

I kill non-rune zombies if they're going to step on an annoying trap or otherwise be a headache when I revisit a hallway.

So yeah, almost everything went as planned. I even got the single-shot kill on the enemy at the start of the temple which only happened about a third of the time.

Also I am very much in danger of getting a sanity effect in those last few rooms…it drove me crazy when a good run would die that way, but the results are worth it.

Enjoy!

I am not lying when I say that I think is the best segment yet.  10:37 for Lindsey (2:17 better than the SDA segment).  If you'd told me 45:00 was doable (I'm 9 seconds over) for the first six chapters, I'd have said you were nuts.

Only a few things happened that I didn't intend, and only two of them set me back at all, which is pretty awesome considering this is the longest segment so far.  The two semi-costly mistakes were 1) getting shocked by the damage field Horror after grabbing the silver necklace (I'm about 50/50 on getting out of this room in time to avoid the shock) and 2) the first Mantorok zombie I kill (first hallway of second floor) usually gets knocked down, doesn't flail around being all on fire.  So I had to improvise 'cause I usually use the other side of the hallway to run down, but I think these mistakes probably cost 3-4 seconds total, and I'm okay with that.  I also set off a couple of gas traps without meaning to, but as long as I don't run out of shield at a costly time (i.e. when I need a sanity barrier), I don't care about slight health damage...no effect on my time.

The spell creation/assignment is a little slow in both spots it comes up, but I don't make any mistakes, and there's a lot of pressure on those last two spell creations and the last 3-point assign (the level's basically over once I get those done as long as I don't hit a sanity effect).

I kill non-rune zombies if they're going to step on an annoying trap or otherwise be a headache when I revisit a hallway.

So yeah, almost everything went as planned.  I even got the single-shot kill on the enemy at the start of the temple which only happened about a third of the time.

Also I am very much in danger of getting a sanity effect in those last few rooms…it drove me crazy when a good run would die that way, but the results are worth it.

Enjoy!