Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (Gamecube any% and 100%)

2010-02-06 04:30:29 am

I gave up on this game because the PS2 PAL version is crap. You can't use the rewind trick at all so that cuts out a huge advantage. I've recently purchased this on the PC. I can now perform the trick with great ease. I'll see if I can record a few practice segments as well. On segment 3 your trick at 4:15 to skip the small cutscene, I discovered a while back. Its a little faster if instead of going to the right and grabbing the ledge, you can go to the left, wallrun up and jump off straight to the pillar to skip the scene.

I normally linked semgent 3 and 4 into one whole segment. Perhaps your way is better as there are far too many tricks to perform in one whole segment, especially with the damn randomness of the palm tree.

Segment 4 end fight, if you tap forward, forward then the attack button it will perform a big swing capable of knocking enemies down in one move. It doesnt always work, but this first time where you encounter the blue guards it seems to work more frequently than later on in the game, where they defend against it more often. One more thing, on the fight with your father its better to fight him on level surface. Fighting him on the stairs throws out the attack timing and he can defend against attacks. I know its only a practice run but I thought I'd mention it anyway.

Keep going. I'm looking forward to seeing more.

I gave up on this game because the PS2 PAL version is crap. You can't use the rewind trick at all so that cuts out a huge advantage. I've recently purchased this on the PC. I can now perform the trick with great ease. I'll see if I can record a few practice segments as well. On segment 3 your trick at 4:15 to skip the small cutscene, I discovered a while back. Its a little faster if instead of going to the right and grabbing the ledge, you can go to the left, wallrun up and jump off straight to the pillar to skip the scene.

I normally linked semgent 3 and 4 into one whole segment. Perhaps your way is better as there are far too many tricks to perform in one whole segment, especially with the damn randomness of the palm tree.

Segment 4 end fight, if you tap forward, forward then the attack button it will perform a big swing capable of knocking enemies down in one move. It doesnt always work, but this first time where you encounter the blue guards it seems to work more frequently than later on in the game, where they defend against it more often. One more thing, on the fight with your father its better to fight him on level surface. Fighting him on the stairs throws out the attack timing and he can defend against attacks. I know its only a practice run but I thought I'd mention it anyway.

Keep going. I'm looking forward to seeing more.

hepcecob

2010-02-06 08:57:01 am

There's no way in hell there is no interest in this game. The problem is that not too many people can contribute to it, so it seems that no one is interested because not that many people are actually posting in this message board (I happen to be one of the people that can't contribute what so ever, but can't wait for this run).

UCpro

2010-02-07 12:25:50 am

Quote from Reaver:

I gave up on this game because the PS2 PAL version is crap. You can't use the rewind trick at all so that cuts out a huge advantage. I've recently purchased this on the PC. I can now perform the trick with great ease. I'll see if I can record a few practice segments as well. On segment 3 your trick at 4:15 to skip the small cutscene, I discovered a while back. Its a little faster if instead of going to the right and grabbing the ledge, you can go to the left, wallrun up and jump off straight to the pillar to skip the scene.

I normally linked semgent 3 and 4 into one whole segment. Perhaps your way is better as there are far too many tricks to perform in one whole segment, especially with the damn randomness of the palm tree.

Segment 4 end fight, if you tap forward, forward then the attack button it will perform a big swing capable of knocking enemies down in one move. It doesnt always work, but this first time where you encounter the blue guards it seems to work more frequently than later on in the game, where they defend against it more often. One more thing, on the fight with your father its better to fight him on level surface. Fighting him on the stairs throws out the attack timing and he can defend against attacks. I know its only a practice run but I thought I'd mention it anyway.

Keep going. I'm looking forward to seeing more.

reaver, glad to see you here Smiley

i was hoping you'd point out a thing or two about my practice run. I'm playing through very casually right now as you can tell ... mostly just to get me familiar with the game again, and get used to speedrunning it.

thanks for your tips. i'll give those a try when i play back through again. Any little thing is perfectly welcome by me Smiley

and yes, i will NOT be combining 3 and 4 ... all because of that damn palm tree. so random. It doesn't really take much time to spawn that save point anyways, especially if the enemies spawn in the right spot (which they didn't in my practice vid)

I'm not really giving too much thought to the combat parts in this practice run, but again, any tips about combat strategies would be great.

@ hepcecob - thanks for posting. i realize there must be at least a little interest in an updated run for this game ... which is why i'm taking a stab at it. Hopefully i'll follow through with this. I know for sure i'll at least finish this practice run which is being done obviously for practice, but also to calculate what kind of end time i could potentially get. It'd be nice to get this calculated time as close as possible to satvara's 1:29 at the final game save.

and here is practice run segment 5 ... read the video description for details.

[quote="Reaver"]
I gave up on this game because the PS2 PAL version is crap. You can't use the rewind trick at all so that cuts out a huge advantage. I've recently purchased this on the PC. I can now perform the trick with great ease. I'll see if I can record a few practice segments as well. On segment 3 your trick at 4:15 to skip the small cutscene, I discovered a while back. Its a little faster if instead of going to the right and grabbing the ledge, you can go to the left, wallrun up and jump off straight to the pillar to skip the scene.

I normally linked semgent 3 and 4 into one whole segment. Perhaps your way is better as there are far too many tricks to perform in one whole segment, especially with the damn randomness of the palm tree.

Segment 4 end fight, if you tap forward, forward then the attack button it will perform a big swing capable of knocking enemies down in one move. It doesnt always work, but this first time where you encounter the blue guards it seems to work more frequently than later on in the game, where they defend against it more often. One more thing, on the fight with your father its better to fight him on level surface. Fighting him on the stairs throws out the attack timing and he can defend against attacks. I know its only a practice run but I thought I'd mention it anyway.

Keep going. I'm looking forward to seeing more.

[/quote]

reaver, glad to see you here :) i was hoping you'd point out a thing or two about my practice run.  I'm playing through very casually right now as you can tell ... mostly just to get me familiar with the game again, and get used to speedrunning it.

thanks for your tips.  i'll give those a try when i play back through again.  Any little thing is perfectly welcome by me :)

and yes, i will NOT be combining 3 and 4 ... all because of that damn palm tree.  so random.  It doesn't really take much time to spawn that save point anyways, especially if the enemies spawn in the right spot (which they didn't in my practice vid)

I'm not really giving too much thought to the combat parts in this practice run, but again, any tips about combat strategies would be great.

@ hepcecob - thanks for posting.  i realize there must be at least a little interest in an updated run for this game ... which is why i'm taking a stab at it.  Hopefully i'll follow through with this.  I know for sure i'll at least finish this practice run which is being done obviously for practice, but also to calculate what kind of end time i could potentially get.  It'd be nice to get this calculated time as close as possible to satvara's 1:29 at the final game save.

and here is [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAd1rsIig8s]practice run segment 5[/url] ... read the video description for details.

Reaver

2010-02-07 10:05:03 am

Yeah sorry I didn't turn up sooner when you started this. I've been away for a bit.

Cant really see anything wrong with this segment so far apart from the rewind trick needs some work Tongue

On the end fight before the save, I think you can get all 4 to stay around you rather than one moving off to Farah, by attacking the one that jumps down from the platform above. Attack him first and they should stay around you, saving some time.

Looking forward to the next segments.

VorpalEdge

2010-06-09 01:52:46 am

welcome to the machine

I have a question to ask: what are the differences between versions of the game? It seems like common knowledge to some people here, what with the references that have been thrown around, but I've looked and I can't find anything. Which version is superior for speedrunning?

Also, is there any consistent way to do the rewind trick?

Reaver

2010-06-09 04:27:20 am

Quote from VorpalEdge:

I have a question to ask: what are the differences between versions of the game? It seems like common knowledge to some people here, what with the references that have been thrown around, but I've looked and I can't find anything. Which version is superior for speedrunning?

Also, is there any consistent way to do the rewind trick?

Tough question. I don't think there are differences between each platform version apart from some slight differences in loading times. However being from UK I have the PAL version of the game which runs slower than NTSC and doesn't let you use the rewind trick.

I've played it on the PC and can perform the rewind trick. What the trick appears to do is replay your previous action even though you are in a different location. For example, if I wanted to jump to a platform out of reach, I'd jump to the platform, decide the point which I think will give me the correct distance to make it across, then fall a second or two beyond that. I'll then rewind to the point in the jump that I think was correct, fall for a second or two then rewind again. By the 3rd rewind it seems to replay your action in the new location so you appear to jump further than you can thereby making it across to the platform.

[quote="VorpalEdge"]
I have a question to ask: what are the differences between versions of the game?  It seems like common knowledge to some people here, what with the references that have been thrown around, but I've looked and I can't find anything.  Which version is superior for speedrunning?

Also, is there any consistent way to do the rewind trick?
[/quote]

Tough question. I don't think there are differences between each platform version apart from some slight differences in loading times. However being from UK I have the PAL version of the game which runs slower than NTSC and doesn't let you use the rewind trick.

I've played it on the PC and can perform the rewind trick. What the trick appears to do is replay your previous action even though you are in a different location. For example, if I wanted to jump to a platform out of reach, I'd jump to the platform, decide the point which I think will give me the correct distance to make it across, then fall a second or two beyond that. I'll then rewind to the point in the jump that I think was correct, fall for a second or two then rewind again. By the 3rd rewind it seems to replay your action in the new location so you appear to jump further than you can thereby making it across to the platform.

mercvii

2010-06-09 08:29:45 pm

Nice progress, definitely keeping an eye on this one. Thanks for the uploads!

D4D0uCh3

2010-06-10 07:01:09 am

So the original speedrunner gave up? Anyway I can't wait to see this run finished!

Reaver

2010-06-10 04:08:49 pm

I think everybody gives up on this game, which is a real shame. It has a lot of potential for shortcuts and new tricks. Once I finish my PhD in a few months time I'll give it a go properly. I know the game and all its shortcuts plus a few new ones. I really need to sit down with this and play it through whilst recording. Did UCPro quit trying this game too?

UCpro

2010-06-10 06:37:14 pm

im not sure if ive quit or not ... i dont have much time for speedrunning anymore, but i might pick this back up if my schedule opens up in the future. i would at least like to finish my practice run to see what potential time is possible.

UCpro

Edit history:

UCpro: 2010-06-24 01:13:46 am

2010-06-23 10:51:44 pm

ok, i've thought about it and i'm going to come back to this start my practice run back up. hopefully i'll have the next segment done within a week or two

EDIT: and here's practice run segment 6

UCpro

Edit history:

UCpro: 2010-06-26 04:54:57 am

2010-06-26 04:44:03 am

you know that very difficult speed trick at the VERY beginning of the game? i actually pulled it off Smiley

i've practiced it off and on for so long, i can't believe i was actually able to finally get it. This is most definitely the hardest speed trick i've ever done, in any game. Now if i'm just able to do it for an actual run Smiley

... here it is

oh, and here is practice run segment 7 ... again, realize that these aren't polished AT ALL.

Reaver

2010-06-29 05:47:16 am

Nice. I only ever managed that first trick one time. Managed it on the third attempt I tried it but never repeated it in about 200 attempts. Think its the hardest one in the game and its the very first thing to do.

Glad to see you are sticking with this.

Segment 6: Nice. fastest route to the top.

Segment 7: On the scarabs try using the big swing move. Forward, Forward, attack. Only do it on one or two times though, as the scarabs can attack quickly. It'll help save some seconds. Also when you were climbing up the tree, it might be more beneficial to jump between the wall and the tree as the wall was close. Could help you get up the tree faster than just climbing.

UCpro

2010-06-30 12:40:17 am

Quote from Reaver:

Nice. I only ever managed that first trick one time. Managed it on the third attempt I tried it but never repeated it in about 200 attempts. Think its the hardest one in the game and its the very first thing to do.

Glad to see you are sticking with this.

Segment 6: Nice. fastest route to the top.

Segment 7: On the scarabs try using the big swing move. Forward, Forward, attack. Only do it on one or two times though, as the scarabs can attack quickly. It'll help save some seconds. Also when you were climbing up the tree, it might be more beneficial to jump between the wall and the tree as the wall was close. Could help you get up the tree faster than just climbing.

thanks Reaver ... i'll try those suggestions for segment 7 when i get to the real run. I have a quick question for you ... when do you think would be a good spot to end my next segment? i'm having a difficult time trying to figure this out. Right now i'm thinking of making one long segment that ends when the save point spawns after that bridge collapses (at 50%)... but that's gonna be one long and difficult segment. Should i spawn a save point somewhere before that by taking out a specific group of enemies?

[quote="Reaver"]
Nice. I only ever managed that first trick one time. Managed it on the third attempt I tried it but never repeated it in about 200 attempts. Think its the hardest one in the game and its the very first thing to do.

Glad to see you are sticking with this.

Segment 6: Nice. fastest route to the top.

Segment 7: On the scarabs try using the big swing move. Forward, Forward, attack. Only do it on one or two times though, as the scarabs can attack quickly. It'll help save some seconds. Also when you were climbing up the tree, it might be more beneficial to jump between the wall and the tree as the wall was close. Could help you get up the tree faster than just climbing. 
[/quote]

thanks Reaver ... i'll try those suggestions for segment 7 when i get to the real run.  I have a quick question for you ... when do you think would be a good spot to end my next segment?  i'm having a difficult time trying to figure this out.  Right now i'm thinking of making one long segment that ends when the save point spawns after that bridge collapses (at 50%)... but that's gonna be one long and difficult segment.  Should i spawn a save point somewhere before that by taking out a specific group of enemies?

Reaver

2010-06-30 03:12:27 am

Quote from UCpro:

thanks Reaver ... i'll try those suggestions for segment 7 when i get to the real run. I have a quick question for you ... when do you think would be a good spot to end my next segment? i'm having a difficult time trying to figure this out. Right now i'm thinking of making one long segment that ends when the save point spawns after that bridge collapses (at 50%)... but that's gonna be one long and difficult segment. Should i spawn a save point somewhere before that by taking out a specific group of enemies?

Up to the bridge collapse would definately be faster but the amount of tricks you'd have to perform to get that segment would be very difficult. Getting the sword quickly and smashing the wall without the sand monsters interfering is troublesome enough. You would then have to get to the top of the mess hall very quickly and hit the ladder switch all before Farah died. hitting the ladder switch is dependant on how well you can kick off the scaffolding using the shortcut outside. It looks easy but sometimes doesn't come off right.

If you have to save before hand I would kill the enemies in the mess hall. Where the save point spawns lure then in between those two walls and keep using the wall attacks on them. It'll save time taking them down.

Before trying that though, give the full segment up to the bridge collapse a try a couple of times. I might be overexaggerating the difficulty due to my inability to pull it off Smiley

[quote="UCpro"]
thanks Reaver ... i'll try those suggestions for segment 7 when i get to the real run.  I have a quick question for you ... when do you think would be a good spot to end my next segment?  i'm having a difficult time trying to figure this out.  Right now i'm thinking of making one long segment that ends when the save point spawns after that bridge collapses (at 50%)... but that's gonna be one long and difficult segment.  Should i spawn a save point somewhere before that by taking out a specific group of enemies?
[/quote]

Up to the bridge collapse would definately be faster but the amount of tricks you'd have to perform to get that segment would be very difficult. Getting the sword quickly and smashing the wall without the sand monsters interfering is troublesome enough. You would then have to get to the top of the mess hall very quickly and hit the ladder switch all before Farah died. hitting the ladder switch is dependant on how well you can kick off the scaffolding using the shortcut outside. It looks easy but sometimes doesn't come off right.

If you have to save before hand I would kill the enemies in the mess hall. Where the save point spawns lure then in between those two walls and keep using the wall attacks on them. It'll save time taking them down.

Before trying that though, give the full segment up to the bridge collapse a try a couple of times. I might be overexaggerating the difficulty due to my inability to pull it off  :)

UCpro

2010-07-01 12:37:10 am

practice run segment 8

practice run segment 9

i decided to split all this into 2 segments ... i may or may not combine them for my real run. It'd be TOUGH to get a good segment with these two combined, since it involves another difficult trick you can't do when you split them up.

Reaver

2010-07-01 03:00:44 am

Nice segments. Bad luck with the enemies though Tongue

On segment 9 you dont have to die to get the ladder switch to work. Once you get to the top of the scaffolding to open the door you can walk to the right hand side and trigger the spike traps on the floor. Then run back and open the door and go down the stairs to activate the ladder. Might be a little quicker.

UCpro

Edit history:

UCpro: 2010-07-01 10:15:14 pm

2010-07-01 09:12:24 am

Quote from Reaver:

Nice segments. Bad luck with the enemies though Tongue

On segment 9 you dont have to die to get the ladder switch to work. Once you get to the top of the scaffolding to open the door you can walk to the right hand side and trigger the spike traps on the floor. Then run back and open the door and go down the stairs to activate the ladder. Might be a little quicker.

ah ... i was wondering if something triggered that upper mess hall room to load right. yeah, that should save about 10 seconds i would think. i think i'll go ahead and redo segment 9 and put that in ... it's an easy enough segment. And i'll make sure i don't get attacked by the birds at the end this next time Tongue

here's the new one practice run segment 9 ... i'm now at a high 54 minutes at 50% complete. I hope to be at a high 45 or low 46 when i reach this point for my real run.

mikwuyma

2010-07-02 01:15:46 pm

My feelings on The Demon Rush

I watched your videos and it's cool finally seeing someone incorporate all of Satvara's tricks (I never watched VisionofNine's run). However, I still don't understand the rewind trick, aside from just rewinding 3 times and then suddenly you get to wall-run again?

Segment 4, when you chase after the red soldier around 7:08, wouldn't it be faster to disarm yourself, run towards the guard, then re-arm yourself? I don't think it would save more than a second, but it might be something to consider.

Is it really faster to run over the enemies Farah stuns instead of just striking them?

BTW, this was a related video when I was watching segment 3, heh.

UCpro

Edit history:

UCpro: 2010-07-03 03:59:08 pm

2010-07-03 03:49:41 pm

Quote from mikwuyma:

I watched your videos and it's cool finally seeing someone incorporate all of Satvara's tricks (I never watched VisionofNine's run). However, I still don't understand the rewind trick, aside from just rewinding 3 times and then suddenly you get to wall-run again?

Segment 4, when you chase after the red soldier around 7:08, wouldn't it be faster to disarm yourself, run towards the guard, then re-arm yourself? I don't think it would save more than a second, but it might be something to consider.

Is it really faster to run over the enemies Farah stuns instead of just striking them?

BTW, this was a related video when I was watching segment 3, heh.

yeah, i'm not sure about the theory behind the rewind trick. I think when you rewind and stop it at a certain point, the game incorrectly references the prince's position and moves him to a different spot. I haven't played around with it too much, but when i start working on my real run i'll do a lot more testing to see if i can identify exactly what it is that causes the trick to work.

About the battles (like chasing the soldier that you mentioned) ... i haven't spent any time at all figuring out the best fighting tactics. that will come when i do the real run. But i think you may be right about disarming/rearming if im chasing someone like that to save time. hopefully i wont run into a situation where i have to do that though ... the best scenario would be to have all the enemies spawn and stay around me Tongue

... or at least do a lot of my fighting near Farah at that part

[quote="mikwuyma"]
I watched your videos and it's cool finally seeing someone incorporate all of Satvara's tricks (I never watched VisionofNine's run). However, I still don't understand the rewind trick, aside from just rewinding 3 times and then suddenly you get to wall-run again?

Segment 4, when you chase after the red soldier around 7:08, wouldn't it be faster to disarm yourself, run towards the guard, then re-arm yourself? I don't think it would save more than a second, but it might be something to consider.

Is it really faster to run over the enemies Farah stuns instead of just striking them?

BTW, this was a related video when I was watching segment 3, heh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AamofdarMJw&feature=related
[/quote]

yeah, i'm not sure about the theory behind the rewind trick.  I think when you rewind and stop it at a certain point, the game incorrectly references the prince's position and moves him to a different spot.  I haven't played around with it too much, but when i start working on my real run i'll do a lot more testing to see if i can identify exactly what it is that causes the trick to work.

About the battles (like chasing the soldier that you mentioned) ... i haven't spent any time at all figuring out the best fighting tactics.  that will come when i do the real run.  But i think you may be right about disarming/rearming if im chasing someone like that to save time.  hopefully i wont run into a situation where i have to do that though ... the best scenario would be to have all the enemies spawn and stay around me :P ... or at least do a lot of my fighting near Farah at that part

BARKLY

2010-07-20 03:06:51 pm

Nice segments so far. I liked watching. Grin

I'm curious as to what time you will get. Satvara's speedrun of 1:29 seems low. I'd liked watching his speedrun highlight vid. It's clear that the footage was taken from a full run he did. Anybody know why he doesn't upload the full vid? I'd die to see it. Probably be blown away like the few people that got to see that God of War speedrun he did years back that he now only has highlights of too.

UCpro

2010-07-20 11:25:50 pm

Quote from BARKLY:

Nice segments so far. I liked watching. Grin

I'm curious as to what time you will get. Satvara's speedrun of 1:29 seems low. I'd liked watching his speedrun highlight vid. It's clear that the footage was taken from a full run he did. Anybody know why he doesn't upload the full vid? I'd die to see it. Probably be blown away like the few people that got to see that God of War speedrun he did years back that he now only has highlights of too.

yeah, that's kinda why i'm doing this practice run first ... to see what possible time i would be capable of. Right now at 50% i'm thinking i'll be around a high 45 minutes for my real run (that's calculating all the possible improvements on my practice run). So a 1:29 at 98% doesn't seem too far out of reach, but i'm not sure how the second half of the run will go.

BARKLY

2010-07-26 08:14:01 pm

Cool. Will await your new segments. Smiley

Anytime soon?

UCpro

Edit history:

UCpro: 2010-08-01 12:49:55 pm

2010-08-01 03:04:56 am

practice run segment 10

practice run segment 11 ... i'm probably going to combine this with the next segment for my real run.

EDIT: practice run segment 12

mikwuyma

Edit history:

mikwuyma: 2010-08-02 10:01:03 pm

2010-08-02 09:45:42 pm

My feelings on The Demon Rush

I just want to say you're making great progress so far, even if this is only a practice run. I keep on seeing sweet shortcuts and ideas. Keep up the good work!

EDIT: In the third segment, how do you drop down and grab the pole about 40 seconds in? I keep on dying when I try that.