Naegleria and I have been getting back into Killer7, so I figured it would be best to make a new thread. There's an old thread, but much of it is outdated. However, I've actually found one or two things from it to be useful after skimming the thread.
My PB for Normal Any% is 2:55:17, which I think is still the fastest run out there despite being a couple months old. Quite a bit can be improved. I did a de-rust run the other day, which shows off some of my routes and tricks (or at least the ones I could remember), particularly my updated Sunset 2 and Smile 1 routes. The beginning couple of chapters were actually pretty solid and I got ahead of my PB until I choked it away in the second half (aside from the improved Smile 1). My route isn't written anywhere, so I plan on either writing it down or simply doing all of it in a run. Whichever comes first.
I also have a Killer8 run in 3:36:35, but it's nearly a year old, with none of the findings that I've put into the Any% runs. The main difference is the thick blood route, since you pretty much need Critical Lock Dan for the Duplicators later in the game. I plan on getting back into Killer8 and implementing the recent strats, but that will likely be a while from now.
Other miscellaneous notes about the game:
(I tend to write a lot when I do write things down, so bear with me. )
Bosses:
Naegleria discovered you can use a Collateral Shot to one-shot Greg Nightmare on his weak spot after you swing his pants off (...>_>), which saves a bit of time. That being said, it also changes how many Smiles you need to kill in Smile 2 for thin blood, since you need three vials for Greg, three for the Galactic Tomahawk, and one for Con's Mach Speed in Vinculum Gate; I'll test this later. I haven't tested the Collateral Shot on most of the bosses where you could, however, many bosses already have quick strats or have gimmicks that prevent you from using the Collateral Shot at all (like Curtis).
In terms of specific strats, my run shows off my Ulmeyda strat, and I can confirm that Collateral Shot does nothing on him. Likewise, while the Collateral shot can damage Ayame 1 and 2, it's better to use Mask's level 2 charge shot in both fights; might have to test Ayame 2 more, though. The scripted Handsome Men fight has a couple of really small time savers; Dan's opponent can be killed with a headshot, Coyote's can be killed with a shot to the left thigh, and Kaede can be sped up just by reloading immediately.
Serum/upgrading characters:
I can't recall what Naegleria does in his route, but I do very little upgrading for Normal Any% -- In Encounter 2, I upgrade Con to Level 2 Power and Level 2 Speed (for the Laser Smile), and Mask to Level 4 Power (for Ayame). I find that any more is simply unnecessary for Normal Any%, but upgrading is pretty essential for Killer8. Naegleria has a spreadsheet for the thick blood yields from each enemy. It's incomplete right now. I've added a little bit to it, and plan on adding more.
Con and his Mach Speed:
(It's not actually called Mach Speed, but I just call it that. >_> )
This is something Naegleria brought up, and something I've been wondering, too: when is it faster to use Con's ability? There are times when it's obvious, but times that are not. In both of my runs, I do most of the obvious ones, but for most chapters, I haven't done extensive testing. I did test many things in Angel, though, and came up with good findings.
In the room with the two sets of stairs with Iwazaru, it's slightly faster to walk up both stairs as Con without rolling up them. Rolling up these stairs wastes time based on the placement of Iwazaru and the entrance to the next room.
In the room after this (with Harman's Room in it), I tested whether using Con's Mach Speed here is faster or not. I found that they're pretty close, only fractions of a second apart, but not using Mach Speed here is marginally faster from my testing. Not only that, but I personally find it to be easier without Mach Speed.
In the next room where you see the first Micro Smile, you would Mach Speed into the next cutscene, which would then cause the running Heaven Smile to spawn further back. This is good, because you can shoot him to align him with the other Smile to dodge roll them both. However, even though I thought I understood how he works, he sometimes he gets stunned, meaning you have to roll each Smile separately, and I don't know why. I used to think it was due to hitting him in the upper body, but then it was still inconsistent. It might have to do if you hit him too far to the side, but I don't know. There is also the issue of using Con's Mach Speed here after you skip the cutscene. Honestly, I found it hard to get consistent results due to that dumb running Smile, but I think not using it is better, since it keeps the two Smiles closer together to dodge roll them and is much easier in general.
The room connected to the bathroom used to be one of the worst rooms in the game, but reading the old thread actually revealed a great, easy strat for this room. I used to use Estryark's strat with varying success, but then I read sshplur's strat from the thread, which makes the room a non-issue.
Here's how it works: You dodge roll the first Smile in front of you, then (before turning around again) you use Mach Speed, and go to the next room with ease. It works wonderfully. Even if you miss the dodge roll once with the first Smile, you still have enough time to do it again and still make it out of the room without getting hit.
Sshplur, I don't know if you'll ever read this, but thanks for the great strat.
In the laundry room, when going to get the Fire Ring, it's slightly faster to not Mach Speed and roll down the stairs. After getting the Fire Ring and shooting the Micro here, it is marginally faster (barely a second) to not use Mach Speed to get to the locked door.
After getting through the locked door and going to the room with the candle puzzle, there are two options: you can stay as Coyote to get to the next room and then change to Con or change to Con right away here. Con runs faster than Coyote, but the distance is incredibly short, so it may not even matter. The key here is not getting hit by the running Smile. As Coyote, if you hold up-left (for the first transition) and then up-right (to get into the room), you never get hit. It has never failed me. You can do something similar as Con, but I find it slightly inconsistent; you hold up-left (for the first transition) and then hold very slightly above the right notch of the GC controller to get into the room. If you're slightly off, you will get hit by the Smile. Like I said, I find it to be inconsistent, and I think the Coyote strat is better for consistency purposes as well arguably being just as fast.
After leaving the room with the candle puzzle, it's faster to not use Mach Speed to get to the next room; I also find it easier to dodge roll the Smile.
When retrieving the engraving after doing the bathroom puzzle, it is faster to Mach Speed to get the engraving in the laundry room, since you keep the speed after picking up the item.
In the room where you put the engravings in the control panel, I find that is is better to not use Mach Speed. Due to the placement of the Smiles, you have to wait for them to get into the middle of the room where the transition is, so Mach Speed-ing here wastes a few seconds. I've never been able to get past the transition and dodge roll the Smiles here, since it's pretty hard and I don't think you would have enough room without getting hit.
The rest of the chapter that I didn't talk about is straightforward, and the route for these rooms can be seen in my runs. That's all I could thing of to test.
There's still a lot of testing to be done in this game. @_@
My PB for Normal Any% is 2:55:17, which I think is still the fastest run out there despite being a couple months old. Quite a bit can be improved. I did a de-rust run the other day, which shows off some of my routes and tricks (or at least the ones I could remember), particularly my updated Sunset 2 and Smile 1 routes. The beginning couple of chapters were actually pretty solid and I got ahead of my PB until I choked it away in the second half (aside from the improved Smile 1). My route isn't written anywhere, so I plan on either writing it down or simply doing all of it in a run. Whichever comes first.
I also have a Killer8 run in 3:36:35, but it's nearly a year old, with none of the findings that I've put into the Any% runs. The main difference is the thick blood route, since you pretty much need Critical Lock Dan for the Duplicators later in the game. I plan on getting back into Killer8 and implementing the recent strats, but that will likely be a while from now.
Other miscellaneous notes about the game:
(I tend to write a lot when I do write things down, so bear with me.
Bosses:
Naegleria discovered you can use a Collateral Shot to one-shot Greg Nightmare on his weak spot after you swing his pants off (...>_>), which saves a bit of time. That being said, it also changes how many Smiles you need to kill in Smile 2 for thin blood, since you need three vials for Greg, three for the Galactic Tomahawk, and one for Con's Mach Speed in Vinculum Gate; I'll test this later. I haven't tested the Collateral Shot on most of the bosses where you could, however, many bosses already have quick strats or have gimmicks that prevent you from using the Collateral Shot at all (like Curtis).
In terms of specific strats, my run shows off my Ulmeyda strat, and I can confirm that Collateral Shot does nothing on him. Likewise, while the Collateral shot can damage Ayame 1 and 2, it's better to use Mask's level 2 charge shot in both fights; might have to test Ayame 2 more, though. The scripted Handsome Men fight has a couple of really small time savers; Dan's opponent can be killed with a headshot, Coyote's can be killed with a shot to the left thigh, and Kaede can be sped up just by reloading immediately.
Serum/upgrading characters:
I can't recall what Naegleria does in his route, but I do very little upgrading for Normal Any% -- In Encounter 2, I upgrade Con to Level 2 Power and Level 2 Speed (for the Laser Smile), and Mask to Level 4 Power (for Ayame). I find that any more is simply unnecessary for Normal Any%, but upgrading is pretty essential for Killer8. Naegleria has a spreadsheet for the thick blood yields from each enemy. It's incomplete right now. I've added a little bit to it, and plan on adding more.
Con and his Mach Speed:
(It's not actually called Mach Speed, but I just call it that. >_> )
This is something Naegleria brought up, and something I've been wondering, too: when is it faster to use Con's ability? There are times when it's obvious, but times that are not. In both of my runs, I do most of the obvious ones, but for most chapters, I haven't done extensive testing. I did test many things in Angel, though, and came up with good findings.
In the room with the two sets of stairs with Iwazaru, it's slightly faster to walk up both stairs as Con without rolling up them. Rolling up these stairs wastes time based on the placement of Iwazaru and the entrance to the next room.
In the room after this (with Harman's Room in it), I tested whether using Con's Mach Speed here is faster or not. I found that they're pretty close, only fractions of a second apart, but not using Mach Speed here is marginally faster from my testing. Not only that, but I personally find it to be easier without Mach Speed.
In the next room where you see the first Micro Smile, you would Mach Speed into the next cutscene, which would then cause the running Heaven Smile to spawn further back. This is good, because you can shoot him to align him with the other Smile to dodge roll them both. However, even though I thought I understood how he works, he sometimes he gets stunned, meaning you have to roll each Smile separately, and I don't know why. I used to think it was due to hitting him in the upper body, but then it was still inconsistent. It might have to do if you hit him too far to the side, but I don't know. There is also the issue of using Con's Mach Speed here after you skip the cutscene. Honestly, I found it hard to get consistent results due to that dumb running Smile, but I think not using it is better, since it keeps the two Smiles closer together to dodge roll them and is much easier in general.
The room connected to the bathroom used to be one of the worst rooms in the game, but reading the old thread actually revealed a great, easy strat for this room. I used to use Estryark's strat with varying success, but then I read sshplur's strat from the thread, which makes the room a non-issue.
Here's how it works: You dodge roll the first Smile in front of you, then (before turning around again) you use Mach Speed, and go to the next room with ease. It works wonderfully. Even if you miss the dodge roll once with the first Smile, you still have enough time to do it again and still make it out of the room without getting hit.
Sshplur, I don't know if you'll ever read this, but thanks for the great strat.
In the laundry room, when going to get the Fire Ring, it's slightly faster to not Mach Speed and roll down the stairs. After getting the Fire Ring and shooting the Micro here, it is marginally faster (barely a second) to not use Mach Speed to get to the locked door.
After getting through the locked door and going to the room with the candle puzzle, there are two options: you can stay as Coyote to get to the next room and then change to Con or change to Con right away here. Con runs faster than Coyote, but the distance is incredibly short, so it may not even matter. The key here is not getting hit by the running Smile. As Coyote, if you hold up-left (for the first transition) and then up-right (to get into the room), you never get hit. It has never failed me. You can do something similar as Con, but I find it slightly inconsistent; you hold up-left (for the first transition) and then hold very slightly above the right notch of the GC controller to get into the room. If you're slightly off, you will get hit by the Smile. Like I said, I find it to be inconsistent, and I think the Coyote strat is better for consistency purposes as well arguably being just as fast.
After leaving the room with the candle puzzle, it's faster to not use Mach Speed to get to the next room; I also find it easier to dodge roll the Smile.
When retrieving the engraving after doing the bathroom puzzle, it is faster to Mach Speed to get the engraving in the laundry room, since you keep the speed after picking up the item.
In the room where you put the engravings in the control panel, I find that is is better to not use Mach Speed. Due to the placement of the Smiles, you have to wait for them to get into the middle of the room where the transition is, so Mach Speed-ing here wastes a few seconds. I've never been able to get past the transition and dodge roll the Smiles here, since it's pretty hard and I don't think you would have enough room without getting hit.
The rest of the chapter that I didn't talk about is straightforward, and the route for these rooms can be seen in my runs. That's all I could thing of to test.
There's still a lot of testing to be done in this game. @_@
Thread title: