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My feelings on The Demon Rush
Game Page: Doesn't exist yet

'Lenophis's run

Verifier Responses

Quote:
The segments seem to be consistent (when you realise he's using two different memory cards). There aren't any cheats used in the run and the video seems to be synched.

The initial setup segments are well played, and he's quick about buying equipment. He picks his fights well throughout the run, but there a lot of random battles in a few of them. There's only one segment where this isn't easily excusable due to the encounter rate and lack of opportunity to save, and even there he only loses half a minute or so in a lengthy segment.

The route is well planned and he doesn't waste time following the wrong route. There are a fair number of missed menu options which cost a few seconds; he mentions something about a controller glitch which personally I haven't come across, but it's widely reported and doesn't cost much time, so it's not a problem.

He picks his chance to set his party up in the Ice Cave, which goes well, but there's a pretty tricky moment towards the end of the segment where the party is almost wiped out by a group of flayers, meaning he only has one character for much of the next segment. It doesn't seem to waste any time and, that late in such a long, difficult segment, it's not on its own grounds to reject the run in general.

I don't think there's any good justification for rejecting this run, so it's an accept.


Quote:
Segments seem consistent minus the non-recorded save game load in segment 2.  Audio/video look synched, and I found no cheating.

That said, there are some segments that are really bad with random battles.  I feel that some segments (8 in particular) could have used a few more runs to see if he got better random battle luck, but the run overall seems good.  I think an extra tent and splitting segment 8 would have been a good idea to help with the random battles.

The route seems good.  I cant find any issues with it and I actually enjoyed the near-death at the end of the Ice Cave.  I think it gives the run a bit of suspense that makes it more interesting to watch.

My only issue is the controller bug mentioned.  I cant seem to find any information on it, but I also think quick menu navigation is a bit of a learned skill, and doesnt really add much time to the run.  That being said, if the runner could either find a new copy or a good controller and get his menu navigation down, it would make for a cleaner looking run.

Overall, I found it enjoyable to watch and everything that needed to be executed well seemed to be.  Im going to give this a thumbs up and hope the runner keeps trying to improve it.

Verdict: Accept


Quote:
Comments

tl;dr version:

Pros: Substantial improvement execution wise over previous submission.
Cons: Many of the same inconsistencies exist from previous attempt (battle menu hesitation/uncertainty, some movement errors, general menu navigation), and some elements of planning I simply don't agree with, primarily where some segment breaks could have/should have been and were not (led to needless amount of random encounters in some cases).

Decision: Accept
Reason: It's enough of an improvement to accept, but it's a borderline accept for me. I would expect a segmented run to be much cleaner in terms of movement and menu navigation. It's an RPG, nothing really changes from attempt to attempt other than what enemies do in battle and NPC movements..

Long version:

Segment 1: Very surprised you allowed that minor blunder with the chain mail buying. You spent time modifying the screen color? Really? Curiously, the g from Imzog disappears after the file is saved.

Segment 2: An absolutely amazing pirates fight makes up for some movement gaffes leading up to it.

Segment 6: I love you, runner, for splitting up trek to castle in order to make Astos deathless, this was one of my biggest complaints of your last run, there is NO REASON to allow an Astos death.

Segment 8: From the castle to the ship is about a good 1 minute 30 seconds to 2 minutes of wasted time on random battles, this should not have been allowed, in the future I would suggest planning to save in front of the witch's house and focusing on minimizing the amount of random battles between the castle and there. This is one section of the planning that I absolutely disagree with, the entire segment by itself has probably 3-4 minutes of needlessly wasted time, in the future I would suggest splitting this one up into no less than 3 segments.

Segment 12: I'm honestly shocked this segment was kept.. between the menu disaster in the battle at around 2:40 and the bad luck with status effects, this really is a pretty bad segment.

Segment 13: By this point I'm wondering if it would be better to have 2 RMs and 2 F instead of 3 F 1 RM for the extra magic charges, healing status effects seems to waste more time than if you just outright killed some of the fights that they are prevalent in, it would lead to better levels and thus higher success rates later on and with 2 RMs, you double your chances of wiping out the field before any enemies move, and it would also give you the luxury of fighting certain battles that you would otherwise run away from, also really glad that you skipped the leveling off the Bone Dragons.

Segment 15: The amount of hesitation and uncertainty during battles in this segment is at a pretty high level, also, that close call at the end was so ridiculous, I've never seen something like that before, I probably would have retried this segment some more times to see if I could get a better result, but as it is, that was just some horrible luck.

Segment 16: The airship controls always were a pain in the ass for me too.

Segment 22: I assume that resting at the Cornelia inn was due to not having enough Cottages at the end due to the accidental use of one earlier. It's not a big deal, I guess, but kind of sloppy, especially since you have so much money left over.

Segment 23: Wow.. if you were REALLY adamant about healing in battle using the Healing Staff to get your HPs back up, you really should have thought about getting at least 1 of the 2 Healing Helms. That would have saved a whole lot of time instead of using single potions. The fact that you didn't mention this as a blunder is disappointing. The Ice2 against the first set of Aquos seemed needless, as the Knights were going to OHKO them anyways. Also, since you got the Masamune, why didn't you target fire in the random battles a little more efficiently? I'm pretty sure the Masamune Knight would have one shotted pretty much anything at that point, but a few of his attacks were wasted on weakened enemies. As well, using the Excalibur Knight instead of the Masamune Knight to attack Tiamat seemed like a blunder to me. The Masamune is stronger. I also feel like a single Haste and Giant's Glove on the Excalibur Knight would have been more efficient than using Healing Staff with him. Those few extra good damage attacks probably would have ended the fight one round sooner, and those spells take up less animation time than the total frames for all the Healing Staff uses.

Overall: Let's not mince words, this run was a bumpy ride. There was some planning that I simply did not agree with (for example, segment 8 being as long as it was, needlessly), and a lot of what I was really hard on the runner about last time has persisted, ESPECIALLY the hesitation in battles. Runner, I understand this is a hard game, but you had to have redone these segments 100s of times at times. You know where every single item is in your menu, you should have a plan for every formation that you encounter. It's a segmented run, you can plan for just about every occurrence in the limited amount of things that can happen in each segment. I mean, I'm not even talking about bad luck or anything like that at this point, just straight up things that can be corrected through repetition, as well as more segment breaks to minimize the amount of random battles. A shame, this run really could have looked quite a bit cleaner. That being said, this attempt is a substantial improvement over the previous one, and thus, I accept. However, I really hope you continue to improve this.


Decision: Accept

Reason: It's a good run.
Thread title:  
Re: controller bug

It's an issue with the US version of the game. Somehow, TOSE's US team did a lackluster job with reading input, so the game will at random, act as though the same buttons were pressed for an extra second, which means for dungeon navigation you keep moving when you don't want to. This appears much more frequently in battle, where the cursor will keep going (segment 13 experienced this when I want to fight instead of use the Gauntlets a second time). Although, some time after the run was over, I did confirm that there was a minor amount of input lag on my end, as well.

Quote:
That said, there are some segments that are really bad with random battles.  I feel that some segments (8 in particular) could have used a few more runs to see if he got better random battle luck, but the run overall seems good.  I think an extra tent and splitting segment 8 would have been a good idea to help with the random battles.

After a few runs, I've come to learn (the hard way) that I anticipated getting poisoned far too many times. I can cut back on at least 20 antidotes and buy more tents to compensate.

Quote:
Segments seem consistent minus the non-recorded save game load in segment 2.

Wait, what?

Quote:
and I actually enjoyed the near-death at the end of the Ice Cave.

It pretty much mimics my uploaded blooper, except I survived it. x_x

Quote:
Segment 1: Very surprised you allowed that minor blunder with the chain mail buying.

At that point I was trying to resist the trigger fingers to soft reset. Probably should have, though.

Quote:
Segment 2: An absolutely amazing pirates fight makes up for some movement gaffes leading up to it.

Neither memosave attempt had that good of luck with that fight. =\

Quote:
You spent time modifying the screen color?

The quest to be different! Cheesy

Quote:
in the future I would suggest planning to save in front of the witch's house and focusing on minimizing the amount of random battles between the castle and there.

That's a good suggestion, and one I'll have to do for the improvement.

Quote:
Segment 15: The amount of hesitation and uncertainty during battles in this segment is at a pretty high level

Welcome to Hell Incarnate. Considering everything that can go wrong, you really have to be cautious with everything. I lost enough segments just trying to kill a group of Piscodemons cause magic decided not to do enough damage, or a random group of Wraiths won't let me run, or what-have-you.

Quote:
Segment 23: Wow.. if you were REALLY adamant about healing in battle using the Healing Staff to get your HPs back up, you really should have thought about getting at least 1 of the 2 Healing Helms.

Problem is, both of them are pretty out of the way. Floating Castle would give you at minimum 5 battles to get it, and probably 6 or 7 for the chest in the Mirage Tower. I even wondered if the one staff would be enough, too.

Quote:
Also, since you got the Masamune, why didn't you target fire in the random battles a little more efficiently?

I know one battle was a massive blunder with targeting, and I was kicking myself for that whole battle, too. For it to happen on Tiamat's floor...

Quote:
Segment 22: I assume that resting at the Cornelia inn was due to not having enough Cottages at the end due to the accidental use of one earlier.

I thought my comments mentioned that. Huh.

Quote:
Decision: Accept

Excellent, I'll send my AC to nate then this week.

I will try and improve it in the future, but when is the question. Got a lot of stuff going on right now, and I may not get a chance to improve it for a while. We'll see though. I already have 2 route improvements in mind, one I mentioned with the antidote buying.
The AC is horribly out of sync in the whole run, no thanks to footage being cut everywhere. Another piece of the puzzle that seems clear now. I didn't think you guys had it in for me that much.
My feelings on The Demon Rush
Hi Lenophis, sometimes we just make mistakes and we're not trying to sabotage/ruin/assassinate you.
1-Up!
Quote from Terribleno:
I didn't think you guys had it in for me that much.

That's because we don't "have it in for you," Lenophis. I don't really get what's up with this attitude.
Quote:
sometimes we just make mistakes and we're not trying to sabotage/ruin/assassinate you.

I sent the start and end frame points of each segment to Nate twice. I still have the text file I sent him when I mailed out the AC, which is surprising considering what I lost that day.

Quote:
That's because we don't "have it in for you," Lenophis. I don't really get what's up with this attitude.

This entire year has been one collective me-getting-shut-out-of-just-about-everything. If you really want, I'll go into details, but for now I'll leave it at that.
sda loyalist
paranoia is ugly
Exoray
Sometimes audio ends up desynced after encoding for various reasons, regardless of frame points. Now, since audio commentary is just a bonus feature and completely the runners responsibility, I can see why nate didn't feel like going back and manually syncing up 22 segments.

Suggestions for different things you can try to fix it:
- Append all the segments to one file and then combine all the audio commentary pieces into that one file.
- Take the encoded videos but without the audio commentary muxed in, and mux them in piece by piece, manually syncing each one.
- Find someone on the boards willing to sync it up using the above mentioned method. There are plenty of people around who offered encoding help in the past so I'm sure someone knows how to correct the sync.
if the only reason the audio commentary is desynced is those trim points you gave me then i can probably fix it - usually people record audio commentary after editing so i had no idea that wasn't the case here. otherwise i'm not going to take responsibility for making sure audio commentary is synced in huge runs like this. it's really just pressing record and play at the same time and letting me know whether the five seconds for the statid are already in there or not.

on a more personal note, speaking from experience, there is very little you can do to change how you feel when bad things happen to you. however, having said that, the reality you perceive is not the only one that exists. the vast majority of the time, true malevolence is just too much work, and people aren't really out to get you, even if that is precisely how you see it. "magfest is trying to screw over the first sda marathon? no, actually their isp is incompetent." you have to work really hard to make enemies, and then your enemies have to work really hard to keep screwing you. it's just too much work. so at the end of the day, you can relax, because you know that there are a lot of people out there just like you, trying to do the right thing when they feel like it, and maybe they don't feel like it today.
Quote from Terribleno:
The AC is horribly out of sync in the whole run, no thanks to footage being cut everywhere. Another piece of the puzzle that seems clear now. I didn't think you guys had it in for me that much.


If I had it in for you, I probably would have rejected this run. >:E
Quote from nate:
usually people record audio commentary after editing so i had no idea that wasn't the case here.

If it makes you feel any better, I did briefly think that there was an issue with the vobs I sent, because of this:
Quote:
Segments seem consistent minus the non-recorded save game load in segment 2.

Which lead me to believe that more was missing. I wish whoever said this would've given more info, cause I still have no idea what was going on there.

Quote:
true malevolence is just too much work, and people aren't really out to get you, even if that is precisely how you see it.

When the same shit has been going on for 8 months, it's hard to see anything else.

Quote:
it's really just pressing record and play at the same time and letting me know whether the five seconds for the statid are already in there or not.

Quote from text file on DVD:
The AC is already synced up with a statID present, so everything should be good to go.

All you had to do was look at the start/end points on the next 23 lines of that file. :p
Exoray
Yes, this corporation is out to get you, so you better run like hell.
right now trims look like this:

Code:
trim((90*2)+300, (9120*2)+300)


notice the +300s - that's the length of the statid at ntsc f1. if i add the trim after the statid then i need those - if i add it before then i don't. i'm dyslexic so i'm prone to getting it wrong. usually it's obvious when it's wrong. i think in this case it's probably wrong because when i deleted the +300 on segment 2 just now, it started at the title screen instead of after the save data screen. this would also neatly explain the "about 5 - 6 seconds" delayed audio commentary (if it's actually always exactly 5 seconds delayed). anyway i'm going to reencode the run with those +300s deleted and post the link for approval here.

flip, what do you think about also giving v links to the runner? that probably would have prevented this in this case and i see little reason not to. they don't have to look at their own run if they don't want to. it also has the added benefit that they know when their torrent is finished.
I no longer have the AC or the original vobs, so I can't tell how precisely off they are. Going by eye, looks like they're off by a good 3-5 seconds in each clip. If I had the AC, I could determine it in a heartbeat, since I still have the original encodes I made way back when. At least muxing that in is simple enough.
All this fancy encoding stuff is gibberish to me! I will probably re-watch this run with the audio commentary. Is it completely unwatchable as it currently is?
Balls jerky
If your media player of choice has a way to offset the audio +5 seconds, you can sync it up yourself. It does get annoying after a few vids though.
try this ... http://v.speeddemosarchive.com/ffo
Excellent, now all 23 segments are in perfect sync. I only downloaded the normal quality, didn't want to waste time getting an additional gig to test, so I'll assume LQ and HQ are good.
Edit history:
Eternalspirit: 2011-10-02 10:13:13 am
When I heard about the audio commentary, I had expected.. commentary. Not just some random tunes. :/

Also, that first blooper must have been so depressing to have happened. LOL!

Also, in that second blooper video, I was hoping to see the Mech show up and slaughter your team. Cheesy
corrected run is up and is going up to archive now.
Thanks, and sorry. I did come off as a bit harsh. It's been a rough few weeks, and I shouldn't have been taking it out on you guys.
Quote from Terribleno:
Thanks, and sorry. I did come off as a bit harsh. It's been a rough few weeks, and I shouldn't have been taking it out on you guys.


After losing a respectable Ice Cavern run to a bullshit 4x Dark Wizard, triple Fire 3 rapage, I don't blame you. Tongue