Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem

2011-08-06 10:55:55 pm

General Kong - Bullets and Bananas

Another great segment. Great work on Edward in it's entirety. And starting Michael without taking the arsenal at the beginning makes you look so beast.

Uilnslcoap

2011-08-07 02:57:45 am

F*ckin' sanity effects...

Cannot tell you how much the kudos mean to me, UCpro and DK28. It really means a lot that someone out there is loving the results of the work.

Spiralout, if you are out there, did you do much research on Michael's chapter? The thing I am most curious about is whether I am better off casting the two five-point shields that you cast in your practice segment (besides the two that are required for traversing the yellow/electric floor--the other two are once fairly early in the level after acquiring the tome and once during the escape sequence) or using a single seven-point sanity heal in there somewhere instead? Obviously I can figure it out, but if you KNOW the shield spells work better, you could save me a couple hours of mucking about, and I can just directly copy your strat (I have some friends of my wife's in town at the moment, so I can't really do any research for a few more days yet as we entertain guests and show off the baby!).

I'm planning to do some re-assigns directly after acquiring the tome, as you can see from my spell re-assignment strategy on page 1 of this thread. (Seven-point bind replaces five-point dispel and seven-point magic pool replaces seven-point health pool.) I'm thinking that if a seven-point sanity heal could be used AFTER crossing the yellow floor the second time, I can replace the five-point shield with that (as I'll certainly be casting a seven-point sanity heal spell once fairly early in the level as Alex and then I could replace the seven-point sanity heal with the seven-point shield for all or most of the Ehn'gha business). That would mean two different assigning sessions in the segment...my guess is using the five-point shields as spiralout did is probably going to be the way I go. I haven't directly copied spiralout's strats since chapter 3, but I think he may have had the best possible plan already set up for Michael's chapter.

Finding out which spell usage strategy prevails will be fun (assuming spiralout doesn't answer or doesn't know). I suspect running past the trappers in the small hallway just before the horror binding...will not. That and doing the light puzzle at the start of each run of the segment. Finicky freaking Eternal Darkness controls.

Cannot tell you how much the kudos mean to me, UCpro and DK28.  It really means a lot that someone out there is loving the results of the work.

Spiralout, if you are out there, did you do much research on Michael's chapter?  The thing I am most curious about is whether I am better off casting the two five-point shields that you cast in your practice segment (besides the two that are required for traversing the yellow/electric floor--the other two are once fairly early in the level after acquiring the tome and once during the escape sequence) or using a single seven-point sanity heal in there somewhere instead?  Obviously I can figure it out, but if you KNOW the shield spells work better, you could save me a couple hours of mucking about, and I can just directly copy your strat (I have some friends of my wife's in town at the moment, so I can't really do any research for a few more days yet as we entertain guests and show off the baby!).

I'm planning to do some re-assigns directly after acquiring the tome, as you can see from my spell re-assignment strategy on page 1 of this thread.  (Seven-point bind replaces five-point dispel and seven-point magic pool replaces seven-point health pool.)  I'm thinking that if a seven-point sanity heal could be used AFTER crossing the yellow floor the second time, I can replace the five-point shield with that (as I'll certainly be casting a seven-point sanity heal spell once fairly early in the level as Alex and then I could replace the seven-point sanity heal with the seven-point shield for all or most of the Ehn'gha business).  That would mean two different assigning sessions in the segment...my guess is using the five-point shields as spiralout did is probably going to be the way I go.  I haven't directly copied spiralout's strats since chapter 3, but I think he may have had the best possible plan already set up for Michael's chapter.

Finding out which spell usage strategy prevails will be fun (assuming spiralout doesn't answer or doesn't know).  I suspect running past the trappers in the small hallway just before the horror binding...will not.  That and doing the light puzzle at the start of each run of the segment.  Finicky freaking Eternal Darkness controls.

Blumenriecher

2011-08-07 07:13:50 am

E=mc²

This is really a high quality speedrun you are puting together. Don´t let the fact that not many people post here discourage you. There are always a bunch of people following the progress of runs silently(me included). I loved this game when I was younger, and really enjoy watching this now. Keep up the good work for the last few segements.
Btw, what are the differences between the 3 colours/runes you can pick at the beginning? Aren´t these difficulty levels? I only played on easiest iirc.

spiralout1123211

2011-08-07 10:23:14 am

Quote from Uilnslcoap:

Cannot tell you how much the kudos mean to me, UCpro and DK28. It really means a lot that someone out there is loving the results of the work.

Spiralout, if you are out there, did you do much research on Michael's chapter? The thing I am most curious about is whether I am better off casting the two five-point shields that you cast in your practice segment (besides the two that are required for traversing the yellow/electric floor--the other two are once fairly early in the level after acquiring the tome and once during the escape sequence) or using a single seven-point sanity heal in there somewhere instead? Obviously I can figure it out, but if you KNOW the shield spells work better, you could save me a couple hours of mucking about, and I can just directly copy your strat (I have some friends of my wife's in town at the moment, so I can't really do any research for a few more days yet as we entertain guests and show off the baby!).

I'm planning to do some re-assigns directly after acquiring the tome, as you can see from my spell re-assignment strategy on page 1 of this thread. (Seven-point bind replaces five-point dispel and seven-point magic pool replaces seven-point health pool.) I'm thinking that if a seven-point sanity heal could be used AFTER crossing the yellow floor the second time, I can replace the five-point shield with that (as I'll certainly be casting a seven-point sanity heal spell once fairly early in the level as Alex and then I could replace the seven-point sanity heal with the seven-point shield for all or most of the Ehn'gha business). That would mean two different assigning sessions in the segment...my guess is using the five-point shields as spiralout did is probably going to be the way I go. I haven't directly copied spiralout's strats since chapter 3, but I think he may have had the best possible plan already set up for Michael's chapter.

Finding out which spell usage strategy prevails will be fun (assuming spiralout doesn't answer or doesn't know). I suspect running past the trappers in the small hallway just before the horror binding...will not. That and doing the light puzzle at the start of each run of the segment. Finicky freaking Eternal Darkness controls.

Yeah, I really don't remember. =/ I didn't do very much research in my practice run, so if I had the best possible plan for Michael's chapter, then it's a remarkable coincidence. =P I remember this chapter being pretty random in regards to sanity, but that's really all I can recall. And yeah, that light puzzle was quite annoying.

[quote="Uilnslcoap"]Cannot tell you how much the kudos mean to me, UCpro and DK28.  It really means a lot that someone out there is loving the results of the work.

Spiralout, if you are out there, did you do much research on Michael's chapter?  The thing I am most curious about is whether I am better off casting the two five-point shields that you cast in your practice segment (besides the two that are required for traversing the yellow/electric floor--the other two are once fairly early in the level after acquiring the tome and once during the escape sequence) or using a single seven-point sanity heal in there somewhere instead?  Obviously I can figure it out, but if you KNOW the shield spells work better, you could save me a couple hours of mucking about, and I can just directly copy your strat (I have some friends of my wife's in town at the moment, so I can't really do any research for a few more days yet as we entertain guests and show off the baby!).

I'm planning to do some re-assigns directly after acquiring the tome, as you can see from my spell re-assignment strategy on page 1 of this thread.  (Seven-point bind replaces five-point dispel and seven-point magic pool replaces seven-point health pool.)  I'm thinking that if a seven-point sanity heal could be used AFTER crossing the yellow floor the second time, I can replace the five-point shield with that (as I'll certainly be casting a seven-point sanity heal spell once fairly early in the level as Alex and then I could replace the seven-point sanity heal with the seven-point shield for all or most of the Ehn'gha business).  That would mean two different assigning sessions in the segment...my guess is using the five-point shields as spiralout did is probably going to be the way I go.  I haven't directly copied spiralout's strats since chapter 3, but I think he may have had the best possible plan already set up for Michael's chapter.

Finding out which spell usage strategy prevails will be fun (assuming spiralout doesn't answer or doesn't know).  I suspect running past the trappers in the small hallway just before the horror binding...will not.  That and doing the light puzzle at the start of each run of the segment.  Finicky freaking Eternal Darkness controls.[/quote]

Yeah, I really don't remember. =/  I didn't do very much research in my practice run, so if I had the best possible plan for Michael's chapter, then it's a remarkable coincidence. =P  I remember this chapter being pretty random in regards to sanity, but that's really all I can recall.  And yeah, that light puzzle was quite annoying.

Uilnslcoap

Edit history:

Uilnslcoap: 2011-08-08 02:59:06 pm

2011-08-08 01:41:32 pm

F*ckin' sanity effects...

Thank you, Blumenreicher. I think I probably would have finished this run even without the moral support/encouragement along the way, but it really does help to hear back directly (though I can see at least a few people besides me are watching on Youtube...I think I probably account for like a third of the viewings, though :P).

ETA: Oh, and Blumenreicher, although the different colors are not EXACTLY difficulty levels, certainly I think the green one is easiest (except that you get the red rune last of all the alignments, so you don't have infinite health spells until Max's chapter). Red's probably hardest (in terms of enemy health/tenacity), but honestly, if you know what you're doing, this game is kind of a cakewalk, since you have all the time in the world and effectively infinite magic to prepare before you get into any combat situation.

@spiralout...dass cool, I'll figure it out when I have a little time at some point this week (it'll be pretty sweet if your route turns out to be optimal without having even tried!). Gahhh, light puzzle!

Thank you, Blumenreicher.  I think I probably would have finished this run even without the moral support/encouragement along the way, but it really does help to hear back directly (though I can see at least a few people besides me are watching on Youtube...I think I probably account for like a third of the viewings, though :P).

ETA: Oh, and Blumenreicher, although the different colors are not EXACTLY difficulty levels, certainly I think the green one is easiest (except that you get the red rune last of all the alignments, so you don't have infinite health spells until Max's chapter).  Red's probably hardest (in terms of enemy health/tenacity), but honestly, if you know what you're doing, this game is kind of a cakewalk, since you have all the time in the world and effectively infinite magic to prepare before you get into any combat situation.

@spiralout...dass cool, I'll figure it out when I have a little time at some point this week (it'll be pretty sweet if your route turns out to be optimal without having even tried!).  Gahhh, light puzzle!

Uilnslcoap

2011-08-08 05:23:19 pm

F*ckin' sanity effects...

Okay, I had a little time to sort out a route while my wife was taking some of her friends to the airport and my son was sleeping, and the decision is...only one extra shield along the way (three total). This requires a little luck in terms of certain enemies not seeing you (especially one little oddity...most of the time, the very small Mantorok zombies in the escape sequence don't take sanity away...but sometimes they do).

I also made one other decision. Far too often in the hallway leading to the horror binding room, I get trappered on the way in or on the way out, so I'll spend an extra second or two making them "go off" to guarantee a safe exit.

There's at least one place random sanity effects can screw up the run (in the four-trapper room before the room where you have to summon a trapper), and there are two inescapable sanity effects (one easily gotten out of like in Anthony's chapter, and one is the last Edward/Pious and Alex scene).

Segment done hopefully by this weekend, maybe sooner.

Okay, I had a little time to sort out a route while my wife was taking some of her friends to the airport and my son was sleeping, and the decision is...only one extra shield along the way (three total).  This requires a little luck in terms of certain enemies not seeing you (especially one little oddity...most of the time, the very small Mantorok zombies in the escape sequence don't take sanity away...but sometimes they do).

I also made one other decision.  Far too often in the hallway leading to the horror binding room, I get trappered on the way in or on the way out, so I'll spend an extra second or two making them "go off" to guarantee a safe exit.

There's at least one place random sanity effects can screw up the run (in the four-trapper room before the room where you have to summon a trapper), and there are two inescapable sanity effects (one easily gotten out of like in Anthony's chapter, and one is the last Edward/Pious and Alex scene).

Segment done hopefully by this weekend, maybe sooner.

DK28

2011-08-08 11:34:38 pm

General Kong - Bullets and Bananas

Sounds good uilnslcoap, I'll be right here on the edge of my seat. Wink

Wrapping up a tremendous effort here. Bravo.

Uilnslcoap

Edit history:

Uilnslcoap: 2011-08-13 02:39:31 pm

2011-08-13 02:25:58 pm

F*ckin' sanity effects...

Michael!

ETA: the light puzzle's fairly crap and there are some other minor mess-ups, but I'm mostly happy with it!

UCpro

2011-08-13 05:08:45 pm

Great job once again! Smiley

DK28

2011-08-13 10:23:48 pm

General Kong - Bullets and Bananas

Awesome segment. Running the whole thing with a depleted sanity meter too, like the rest of the run. Epic.

Uilnslcoap

2011-08-15 10:44:07 pm

Thank you again, kind sirs!

Spiralout, I have to give you huge kudos on your route through Alex's chapter. Only using seven shields? Only using ONE health/sprint pool? AMAZING! I have my own possible route charted (also seven shields), but I'm not sure if I can get away with only one health pool this way...on the plus side, if it goes perfectly (and the shocks are kinda difficult to get EXACTLY right), I won't get shocked by the floor at all, and spiralout's route includes one built-in floor shock. The other downside to spiralout's route was that it ended with Alex still shielded (or with a built-in wait time if you were to use it in a final run, waiting for the shield to disperse on the yellow/electric floor), and as spiralout discovered, you need to have no spells active when you go into the Pious fight or you waste time waiting for Pious to cast his disenchant before you can enchant your sword (since he'd just take the enchant off it anyway at that point).

If I end up having to use two health pools, so be it (it'll just cancel out having to wait for the shield to wear down on the electric floor if I were using spiralout's route), but I'm still kind of hoping to figure out a way to use only one.

Thank you again, kind sirs!

Spiralout, I have to give you huge kudos on your route through Alex's chapter.  Only using seven shields?  Only using ONE health/sprint pool?  AMAZING!  I have my own possible route charted (also seven shields), but I'm not sure if I can get away with only one health pool this way...on the plus side, if it goes perfectly (and the shocks are kinda difficult to get EXACTLY right), I won't get shocked by the floor at all, and spiralout's route includes one built-in floor shock.  The other downside to spiralout's route was that it ended with Alex still shielded (or with a built-in wait time if you were to use it in a final run, waiting for the shield to disperse on the yellow/electric floor), and as spiralout discovered, you need to have no spells active when you go into the Pious fight or you waste time waiting for Pious to cast his disenchant before you can enchant your sword (since he'd just take the enchant off it anyway at that point).

If I end up having to use two health pools, so be it (it'll just cancel out having to wait for the shield to wear down on the electric floor if I were using spiralout's route), but I'm still kind of hoping to figure out a way to use only one.

Uilnslcoap

2011-08-24 06:59:33 pm

Okay, I think I've got a route planned now. I've managed to get 16:42 (which is slightly faster than spiralout's practice segment) with a lot of mistakes and hesitations, so I'm hopeful for around the 16:05-16:15 range or something. My time was better than his mostly on the strength of knowing a good spot to cast the summons of the three creatures to quickly get them teleported.

Seven shields and two sprint (health) pools.

Uilnslcoap

Edit history:

Uilnslcoap: 2011-08-28 10:47:42 am

2011-08-28 10:21:09 am

F*ckin' sanity effects...

Very relieved to say everything but the final boss is done!

I got shocked right before the end of the segment...considering how well everything else went and that happens about half the time I make it that far, I'm okay with that.

I was hoping for 16:05-16:15, and I got 16:15...but that's after I decided to do the enchant assigns in this segment as well. Without those, the segment probably comes in at 16:08 or 16:09, so overall I'm really happy.

A few blips, but a lot of great stuff, the plan went almost to a T! See the Youtube comments for more detail on all this silliness and hope the final boss segment comes very soon!

ETA: I think this segment, the one with Paul/Roberto/Peter, and the Lindsey segment have turned out to be my favorites.

Very relieved to say everything but the final boss is done!

I got shocked right before the end of the segment...considering how well everything else went and that happens about half the time I make it that far, I'm okay with that.

I was hoping for 16:05-16:15, and I got 16:15...but that's after I decided to do the enchant assigns in this segment as well.  Without those, the segment probably comes in at 16:08 or 16:09, so overall I'm really happy.

A few blips, but a lot of great stuff, the plan went almost to a T!  See the Youtube comments for more detail on all this silliness and hope the final boss segment comes very soon!

ETA: I think this segment, the one with Paul/Roberto/Peter, and the Lindsey segment have turned out to be my favorites.

ucpro

2011-08-28 05:06:40 pm

awesome to see this almost finished! it's always a great feeling to be one segment away from finishing a run that you've spent a lot of time on....and then it's an even better feeling to finish that last segment! good luck on the last one, and great job overall Smiley

Prognosis_4

(user is banned)

2011-08-28 08:21:54 pm

Hey Uinslcoap, I'll be glad to offer any moral support I can. You're doing great on the run so far.

I've watched up to segment 12 and I have a question. Wouldn't it be better to cast a 3 point sanity regeneration spell than casting a 5 point sanity healing spell? Even a 5 point regeneration spell would seem better since its effect would last longer than a direct sanity heal.

Uilnslcoap

2011-08-28 09:01:20 pm

F*ckin' sanity effects...

Funny you should mention that Prognosis...I thought of that two days ago and have been kinda kicking myself since...I'm not sure how much sanity it would generate or if it would generate sanity fast enough to keep up with the possible sanity effects you'd encounter (I'm pretty sure it would not be practical to use as Peter to avoid sanity effects at the end of segment 9 since it wouldn't generate sanity fast enough during the trip from the corpse closet to the basement). The only person it might be useful for is Roberto...well, I suppose it might also be useful for Peter if you could use it to make sure you had enough sanity so you didn't lose any health from the zombies during the boss fight BEFORE you cast magic pool near the end of the level.

Something for future runners to keep in mind, at any rate. I'm even wondering whether my run should be submitted to SDA because it has what I now recognize as quite a few mistakes. I feel like it's very good, but still in the category of practice run, and I won't have time to do this again. Well, even if I don't submit, at least there'll be a better-quality video out there for someone else to hopefully build on.

Funny you should mention that Prognosis...I thought of that two days ago and have been kinda kicking myself since...I'm not sure how much sanity it would generate or if it would generate sanity fast enough to keep up with the possible sanity effects you'd encounter (I'm pretty sure it would not be practical to use as Peter to avoid sanity effects at the end of segment 9 since it wouldn't generate sanity fast enough during the trip from the corpse closet to the basement).  The only person it might be useful for is Roberto...well, I suppose it might also be useful for Peter if you could use it to make sure you had enough sanity so you didn't lose any health from the zombies during the boss fight BEFORE you cast magic pool near the end of the level.

Something for future runners to keep in mind, at any rate.  I'm even wondering whether my run should be submitted to SDA because it has what I now recognize as quite a few mistakes.  I feel like it's very good, but still in the category of practice run, and I won't have time to do this again.  Well, even if I don't submit, at least there'll be a better-quality video out there for someone else to hopefully build on.

Prognosis_4

(user is banned)

2011-08-28 09:38:07 pm

In my mind an improvement is always worth submitting. Remember that the author of a run is his own worst critic because you know what mistakes are made better than anyone else. I bet the average viewer would barely notice half the mistakes that bother you.

The only thing that irks me about your run is the slow pace of the menu management. I can't remember if the game's menus are that laggy, but I recall spiralout's menu management was much faster. Other than that, this is completely worthy of submission, IMO. According to your last segment notes you're beating the current SDA record by over 16 minutes, which is very significant even for a 2+ hour run. Also, people don't put in 4 hours to shave 1-2 seconds in practice runs Wink

Uilnslcoap

2011-08-28 10:14:04 pm

F*ckin' sanity effects...

Yeah, the menu stuff is just not my forte...I've been a little bit embarrassed of it, but I've practiced fairly extensively and I don't see myself getting better. The only part of the menu that really is crap lag-wise is going from the inventory to the magic page (with the map screen clogging up the works on the way...still better than going the other way around through the menus, though)...all the other problems you see are just me not being very good. I've always done this run knowing I'm not the best man for the job; it just appears I'm the only man for the job at the moment...I can't WAIT for someone better than me (and with a little more time) to take some of my improvements and run with 'em.

Thank you for the encouragement to submit! It's certainly true that I devoted time to this like it wasn't a practice run, but certain bits of bad planning and such do bug me (the unnecessary weapon arms and possibly the lack of sanity regeneration in a segment or two). Still, it's the best thing going right now, and that'll have to do until someone with more time and skill comes along to really bust this game open.

Yeah, the menu stuff is just not my forte...I've been a little bit embarrassed of it, but I've practiced fairly extensively and I don't see myself getting better.  The only part of the menu that really is crap lag-wise is going from the inventory to the magic page (with the map screen clogging up the works on the way...still better than going the other way around through the menus, though)...all the other problems you see are just me not being very good.  I've always done this run knowing I'm not the best man for the job; it just appears I'm the only man for the job at the moment...I can't WAIT for someone better than me (and with a little more time) to take some of my improvements and run with 'em.

Thank you for the encouragement to submit!  It's certainly true that I devoted time to this like it wasn't a practice run, but certain bits of bad planning and such do bug me (the unnecessary weapon arms and possibly the lack of sanity regeneration in a segment or two).  Still, it's the best thing going right now, and that'll have to do until someone with more time and skill comes along to really bust this game open.

Prognosis_4

(user is banned)

2011-08-28 10:16:48 pm

Glad to hear you'll submit. I checked the SDA page for the game, and the currently published run is from 2005! That's 6 years without an improvement, and if you don't submit, who knows how much longer it could go unimproved.

Uilnslcoap

2011-08-29 10:59:18 pm

Also wondering what spiralout wondered about at the end of his practice run... how was Mad Andy's (the current SDA) run timed? The depreciation of expected time by a couple minutes makes me think they manually timed it from character control after the loading screens...which would be great for my run's time. Even better if timing doesn't start till you gain control of Alex during the nightmare.

Hoping to knock out the final boss tomorrow...I'm working the night shift, my wife is back at work, and my son will be in daycare...I'll have from whenever I wake up (around 10?) till 5:15 or so to get a good one without any interruptions. Hopefully I get it in the first couple of hours.

DK28

2011-08-30 09:45:33 pm

General Kong - Bullets and Bananas

Wow, you know how I feel Uilnslcoap. Applause, applause. So glad to see you saw this through. Can't wait for the big finish. Respect.

Uilnslcoap

2011-08-31 06:49:31 am

F*ckin' sanity effects...

Well, that took longer than I wanted, but it really is done now. I just had such a crazy run of luck that I'll never be able to duplicate. It certainly has a low point too, this particular segment, but wow, what a high (and the high might not have happened but for the low).

I was looking for something in the 3:40's, but after about four and a half hours of effort, the best I had was a 3:53...although I will say it did not have a single mistake...Alex took some licks of course because that's how it works if you're up against Pious with no shield and you want to kill him quickly, but fewer than usual. I had not missed a single swing at either Pious or the essence, and that is pretty damn great, for me anyway. I took the DVD out and did the stuff I do to prepare it for Youtube, but I had to go to work before I could upload...and it irked me that I had not had a single piece of luck with the essence's teleporting...it had gone back and forth across the tiny arena like a ping pong ball the entire time...

And so when I got home at 2:45 am, knowing that I was going to have to be up at 7:00 (or earlier) to take care of the boy, I did the smart thing and played videogames. And after about 40 more minutes to tack on to all the hours yesterday afternoon, I got even better than what I was looking for...a run under 3:40...3:39 to be exact (if I go from when the save/load screen fades out just before "The Darkness Comes..." to when the Tier rune is picked by Edward)--14 seconds better than my previous best effort, and 1 minute, 45 seconds better than the current SDA segment. 2:11:06 by the in-game timer: about 16.5 minutes ahead of the SDA-listed time for the current run, but really more like 18.5 ahead (so hopefully I did get it under 2:10:00 by SDA timing!).

I’d like to thank DK28 and UCpro for their support throughout the run, as well as everyone who watched all the segments. Thanks for enjoying something I wanted so much to see others enjoy…even if some aspects of it could stand serious improvement (Karim, I’m looking at you). Thanks again to spiralout for his practice run (which I constantly went back to for information and inspiration) and for his help when he could give it (knowing about items sometimes getting the quick camera cut and sometimes getting the slow zoom made a significant difference in this run, and the help with how to control the stopping point of the clock was invaluable too--the route in Anthony's chapter is completely and utterly his).

I really hope someone will improve this run and soon...hopefully someone gets inspired by this. I can assure you, however, that knowing when to press B, A, A instead of B, A, B or B, Scroll, A or B, A, B, B, A is not the most fun job you ever had...that and all the menu stuff are such huge detractions in the fun factor of running this game, but I'm not the best and someone better needs to do the job properly.

Have fun!

Well, that took longer than I wanted, but it really is done now.  I just had such a crazy run of luck that I'll never be able to duplicate.  It certainly has a low point too, this particular segment, but wow, what a high (and the high might not have happened but for the low).

I was looking for something in the 3:40's, but after about four and a half hours of effort, the best I had was a 3:53...although I will say it did not have a single mistake...Alex took some licks of course because that's how it works if you're up against Pious with no shield and you want to kill him quickly, but fewer than usual.  I had not missed a single swing at either Pious or the essence, and that is pretty damn great, for me anyway.  I took the DVD out and did the stuff I do to prepare it for Youtube, but I had to go to work before I could upload...and it irked me that I had not had a single piece of luck with the essence's teleporting...it had gone back and forth across the tiny arena like a ping pong ball the entire time...

And so when I got home at 2:45 am, knowing that I was going to have to be up at 7:00 (or earlier) to take care of the boy, I did the smart thing and played videogames.  And after about 40 more minutes to tack on to all the hours yesterday afternoon, I got even better than what I was looking for...a run under 3:40...3:39 to be exact (if I go from when the save/load screen fades out just before "The Darkness Comes..." to when the Tier rune is picked by Edward)--14 seconds better than my previous best effort, and 1 minute, 45 seconds better than the current SDA segment.  2:11:06 by the in-game timer: about 16.5 minutes ahead of the SDA-listed time for the current run, but really more like 18.5 ahead (so hopefully I did get it under 2:10:00 by SDA timing!).

I’d like to thank DK28 and UCpro for their support throughout the run, as well as everyone who watched all the segments.  Thanks for enjoying something I wanted so much to see others enjoy…even if some aspects of it could stand serious improvement (Karim, I’m looking at you).  Thanks again to spiralout for his practice run (which I constantly went back to for information and inspiration) and for his help when he could give it (knowing about items sometimes getting the quick camera cut and sometimes getting the slow zoom made a significant difference in this run, and the help with how to control the stopping point of the clock was invaluable too--the route in Anthony's chapter is completely and utterly his).

I really hope someone will improve this run and soon...hopefully someone gets inspired by this.  I can assure you, however, that knowing when to press B, A, A instead of B, A, B or B, Scroll, A or B, A, B, B, A is not the most fun job you ever had...that and all the menu stuff are such huge detractions in the fun factor of running this game, but I'm not the best and someone better needs to do the job properly.

Have fun!

Prognosis_4

(user is banned)

2011-08-31 11:25:59 am

Looks good!

Couple questions, on a few occasions you circle the green rune thingy you have to hit, wouldn't it be better to attack it right away? Also, I always had the impression that increasing the strength of enchant item would only increase the duration of the enchantment, not the power of the weapon you're enchanting. Did you test to see if a 3 point enchant would kill the boss at the same rate?

Regardless, well done, now SUBMIT!

Uilnslcoap

Edit history:

Uilnslcoap: 2011-08-31 11:59:25 am

Uilnslcoap: 2011-08-31 11:53:29 am

Uilnslcoap: 2011-08-31 11:51:59 am

Uilnslcoap: 2011-08-31 11:51:15 am

2011-08-31 11:41:18 am

F*ckin' sanity effects...

I circle it when I am running toward the camera because I am not quite sure where it is and I have to readjust once my brain catches up with my eyes (the essence gives off a slight green glow and makes a bit of noise once it's damaged, but I still usually end up going slightly past it and come back around shortly to get it)...Karim is the worst example as I run WAY past it, then go, "Oh there it is!" and attack it. Attacking it the second time in the first wave kinda stinks too. This really wasn't the best run except that suddenly everything went effing great for a second there in the Max/Paul/Roberto wave.

Yes, 7-enchants are faster to kill Pious (or anything) than 3-enchants (this is why I bother enchanting the revolver with a 7-enchant as Edward...you'll take the vampire's first stage down in four shots, whereas with a 3-enchant you shoot every bullet and then have to punch it twice on top of that--watch spiralout's first Edward segment). You'll also note that 7-shields are stronger pound for pound than 5-shields, which are stronger than 3-shields. That is, an electric floor will disperse a 3-shield in 3 shocks, a 5-shield in 7 shocks, and a 7-shield in 14 shocks. Each little "dot" takes 1 shock on a 3-shield, 1.5 on a 5-shield and 2 each on a 7-shield. Otherwise I'd have used a variety of shields in segment 15 instead of just 7-shields.

I circle it when I am running toward the camera because I am not quite sure where it is and I have to readjust once my brain catches up with my eyes (the essence gives off a slight green glow and makes a bit of noise once it's damaged, but I still usually end up going slightly past it and come back around shortly to get it)...Karim is the worst example as I run WAY past it, then go, "Oh there it is!" and attack it.  Attacking it the second time in the first wave kinda stinks too.  This really wasn't the best run except that suddenly everything went effing great for a second there in the Max/Paul/Roberto wave.

Yes, 7-enchants are faster to kill Pious (or anything) than 3-enchants (this is why I bother enchanting the revolver with a 7-enchant as Edward...you'll take the vampire's first stage down in four shots, whereas with a 3-enchant you shoot every bullet and then have to punch it twice on top of that--watch spiralout's first Edward segment).  You'll also note that 7-shields are stronger pound for pound than 5-shields, which are stronger than 3-shields.  That is, an electric floor will disperse a 3-shield in 3 shocks, a 5-shield in 7 shocks, and a 7-shield in 14 shocks.  Each little "dot" takes 1 shock on a 3-shield, 1.5 on a 5-shield and 2 each on a 7-shield.  Otherwise I'd have used a variety of shields in segment 15 instead of just 7-shields.

Arrow

2011-09-01 04:04:16 am

Now a hit show on the CW

Congratulations on finishing the run! I've been eagerly following your progress and have not been disappointed once. Nice work!