The darkness(PS3/Xbox 360)

2007-07-01 07:09:06 am

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

This game is awesome. It is quite short(I have probably beaten it in about 9 hours with watching all dialog and everything on normal mode) and time can definitely be taken down. I have found a few tricks to move around quicker(such as when your going around in the subway hop down the flights of stairs and jump over the ticket takers).

So i'm opening the floor on this one.

Thread title:

Psychochild

Edit history:

Psychochild: 2007-07-01 03:24:11 pm

2007-07-01 02:36:50 pm

Found lots of little things. Basically a majority of the time you don't really need to actually contact anyone to get an objective. The only exceptions I've found so far involve the Radio in chapter 5, when you have to interact with Aunt Sarah and I think when you meet up with Jenny in the subway you need to talk to Jimmy to get the Grinder's Lane objective. Also most Butcher discussions.

There's a couple of simple sequence breaks you can perform. The biggest one I found off the top of my head is being able to leave that first trench early in Otherworld right by where the plane crashes into the trench by using the broken post near the lamp as a platform to jump up and out of the trench and make your way straight to that german bunker. You can probably do this much earlier and in several places throughout Otherworld but I imagine you do need the Kamikaze Darkling that you can get right by the plane.

Other than that, there's small things you can do such as using the barrels near a wall to leave the Meat Processing Place in Grinder's Lane on both visits (On the second one it at least spares you the trouble of having to put up with the bullshit concerning two cars of goons). I've also been trying to use the Creeping Dark in a few places where you need to take out a specific target such as the ship captain with mixed results. In the case of the ship captain, he won't spawn if you're using the Creeping Dark to try to bypass the entire ship. Feh.

You can use the Creeping Dark (Provided your Darkness Level's actually high enough to use it for so long - Probably level 3 would suffice) to hit certain switches for you. Such as when you're getting the cannon shell in the second trip to Otherworld you hop onto the cart with the shell and use the Creeping Darkness to slither up the stairs and hit the lever. I haven't tried it myself but given how the Creeping Dark can interact with most things just like Jackie it's possible.

In the gunfight in the Cemetary at the start of the game, it's best to just run straight to the bathroom ignoring the goons (It's the only way I cleared THAT obnoxious fight in hard mode). I ain't sure when you hit the trigger (I assume it's when the guns get put away when you see the bum) but when you hit it you just turn around and head out - The Darkness revealing itself event will happen. Then you just gotta eat a heart to get the Berserker Darkling and use it to get you out of the cemetary. I've tried jumping the walls entirely but it didn't seem to work too well. At least you saved yourself the effort of putting up with those asses.

Oh, and smaller, less useful hint, it's easier to just blast on through Dirty Harry's hideout. Shoot the door guy in the face and keep firing straight ahead at the box on the wall. Three bullets will take out all the lights. While you're doing this you summon the Darkling and sic it off in a random direction while you make a bee line for Roach. Typically works out well.

That brings up an interesting question of when you intend to upgrade your Darkness level. You don't need too many hearts to get to a high level (I think I had something like 55 or 60 to get level 3, most likely level 4's at 100 and I know for a fact level 5's 180) and I imagine you can grab a decent number in Chapter 1 since I doubt you'd really wanna slow down to take out all the lights (Instead coasting on the hearts to refill the Darkness).

It does have a lot of speed running potential though. I'll see to making some videos but I certainly ain't tryin' this.

Found lots of little things.  Basically a majority of the time you don't really need to actually contact anyone to get an objective.  The only exceptions I've found so far involve the Radio in chapter 5, when you have to interact with Aunt Sarah and I think when you meet up with Jenny in the subway you need to talk to Jimmy to get the Grinder's Lane objective.  Also most Butcher discussions.

There's a couple of simple sequence breaks you can perform.  The biggest one I found off the top of my head is being able to leave that first trench early in Otherworld right by where the plane crashes into the trench by using the broken post near the lamp as a platform to jump up and out of the trench and make your way straight to that german bunker.  You can probably do this much earlier and in several places throughout Otherworld but I imagine you do need the Kamikaze Darkling that you can get right by the plane.

Other than that, there's small things you can do such as using the barrels near a wall to leave the Meat Processing Place in Grinder's Lane on both visits (On the second one it at least spares you the trouble of having to put up with the bullshit concerning two cars of goons).  I've also been trying to use the Creeping Dark in a few places where you need to take out a specific target such as the ship captain with mixed results.  In the case of the ship captain, he won't spawn if you're using the Creeping Dark to try to bypass the entire ship.  Feh.

You can use the Creeping Dark (Provided your Darkness Level's actually high enough to use it for so long - Probably level 3 would suffice) to hit certain switches for you.  Such as when you're getting the cannon shell in the second trip to Otherworld you hop onto the cart with the shell and use the Creeping Darkness to slither up the stairs and hit the lever.  I haven't tried it myself but given how the Creeping Dark can interact with most things just like Jackie it's possible.

In the gunfight in the Cemetary at the start of the game, it's best to just run straight to the bathroom ignoring the goons (It's the only way I cleared THAT obnoxious fight in hard mode).  I ain't sure when you hit the trigger (I assume it's when the guns get put away when you see the bum) but when you hit it you just turn around and head out - The Darkness revealing itself event will happen.  Then you just gotta eat a heart to get the Berserker Darkling and use it to get you out of the cemetary.  I've tried jumping the walls entirely but it didn't seem to work too well.  At least you saved yourself the effort of putting up with those asses.

Oh, and smaller, less useful hint, it's easier to just blast on through Dirty Harry's hideout.  Shoot the door guy in the face and keep firing straight ahead at the box on the wall.  Three bullets will take out all the lights.  While you're doing this you summon the Darkling and sic it off in a random direction while you make a bee line for Roach.  Typically works out well.

That brings up an interesting question of when you intend to upgrade your Darkness level.  You don't need too many hearts to get to a high level (I think I had something like 55 or 60 to get level 3, most likely level 4's at 100 and I know for a fact level 5's 180) and I imagine you can grab a decent number in Chapter 1 since I doubt you'd really wanna slow down to take out all the lights (Instead coasting on the hearts to refill the Darkness).

It does have a lot of speed running potential though.  I'll see to making some videos but I certainly ain't tryin' this.

Psychochild

Edit history:

Psychochild: 2007-07-01 11:17:43 pm

2007-07-01 04:33:16 pm

Played around some more. So far if the person who decides to run this doesn't hit 40 minutes by the end of the first chapter, I'll be horribly disappointed. That's the time it took my unoptimized ass from the title screen to the little autosave icon at the very end of act 1. Loooooots of cutscene banter.

Things to note - the basement of Dutch Oven Harry's as WELL as Grinder's Lane meat processing plant requires that there's not a single mobster running around in the plant itself when you torch the money or in the case of Dutch Oven Harry, before Harry'll try to contact Roach. The game doesn't seem to care about the office areas in the Meat Plant's case, but everything else has to be clear.

Having a Darkling out when you're in the Olive Grove restaurant before the truck comes through is VERY ideal since they seem to have a delayed time before they can be damaged after they leap out of the armored car and since you'll probably be starved for Ammo (I sure was, I had to whore the shotguns I got for a long time. Also, the Darkling will probably kill at least one police officer for you). And yeah, on Medium you can get away with just hauling ass around the police barricade but it'll require just a touch of luck.

Another random note, eat all the hearts in the Cemetery while you're waiting for the Darkling to open the door. Sounds obvious but I... didn't. Feh. I'd have had a level 2 Darkness before I had to tear through the aforementioned Barricade.

Edit:

15
50
110
180

Those are the hearts required for levels IIRC

Played around some more.  So far if the person who decides to run this doesn't hit 40 minutes by the end of the first chapter, I'll be horribly disappointed.  That's the time it took my unoptimized ass from the title screen to the little autosave icon at the very end of act 1.  Loooooots of cutscene banter.

Things to note - the basement of Dutch Oven Harry's as WELL as Grinder's Lane meat processing plant requires that there's not a single mobster running around in the plant itself when you torch the money or in the case of Dutch Oven Harry, before Harry'll try to contact Roach.  The game doesn't seem to care about the office areas in the Meat Plant's case, but everything else has to be clear.

Having a Darkling out when you're in the Olive Grove restaurant before the truck comes through is VERY ideal since they seem to have a delayed time before they can be damaged after they leap out of the armored car and since you'll probably be starved for Ammo (I sure was, I had to whore the shotguns I got for a long time.  Also, the Darkling will probably kill at least one police officer for you).  And yeah, on Medium you can get away with just hauling ass around the police barricade but it'll require just a touch of luck.

Another random note, eat all the hearts in the Cemetery while you're waiting for the Darkling to open the door.  Sounds obvious but I... didn't.  Feh.  I'd have had a level 2 Darkness before I had to tear through the aforementioned Barricade.

Edit: http://youtube.com/watch?v=rTKYmcaZriQ

15
50
110
180

Those are the hearts required for levels IIRC

SolrFlare

2007-07-02 02:26:16 am

15
30
55
110
180

To be Exact. And 3 seems to be the magic number to reach as well. You get more than enough travel distance with the creeping dark at that point(any more and you'll end up losing time not gaining honestly). And more than enough health to keep you alive and kicking until you get Black Hole. At that point the game is a non-issue.

joey9170

2007-07-02 04:52:25 am

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

also I found a way to take minimal damage and bypass the helicopter after the restaurant ambush. From leaving the building take the alley where the guys tell you to give up, they will close a gate in front of you but on the other side will be a portal where you could summon a berserker. get close enough to summon it and he will open the door back up for you. From here you've pretty much avoided the helicopter and the next area is pretty much a straight line down from where you are.

SolrFlare

2007-07-04 10:44:41 pm

Just another quick note on hearts. If you were to consume every possible heart along the way(including doing sidequests to make more available) you can hit level 3 darkness in chapter 1, level 4 darkness fairly early in chapter 2, and level 5 darkness right about the time you get Black Hole.

So, that's about 180 total possible hearts(maybe 190 if you went off the beaten track in the Hills in Chapter 2) between the start of the game and Black Hole which is roughly at the midpoint of the game.

joey9170

2007-07-13 07:08:50 am

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

now another thing to is trying to find a way to move around faster as jackie moves at the most slowest, leisurely pace I have ever seen in a videogame.

Also so you don't really have to deal with the dead germans, for the first part of chapter 3 chuck them aside with the demon arm, but after you get the darkness guns just use those exclusively on them, It kills them without you having to devour the hearts.

Sticky Keys

2010-09-20 10:24:51 pm

Hey guys,

I realize this thread is rather old, and I apologize for necroposting, but I didn't want to start a new thread on a topic that already had one.

I was looking through the list of requested Speed Runs today (I've been itching to do one, but I just couldn't find the right game) with Jukebox Hero, and we noticed the Darkness was on it. I'm a big fan of the comic series and the game, and so is Juke. So I'm going to see what I can do with this one. Anybody have any ideas/suggestions/interest in this?

Indextic

2011-08-11 11:21:31 pm

I'm looking to revive interest in this and hopefully make a run of this game... is there anyone who can help me out? I'm a complete newbie to speedrunning so I wouldn't mind all the help I can get. I really want to get into speedrunning and I think this would be a good start for me.

MAS8705

2011-08-12 12:59:12 am

SDA Apprentice -- (3-1)

hello indextic, and welcome to speed demos archive... Smiley

first off, you can go here if you want any beginner hints as to speed run...

http://forum.speeddemosarchive.com/post/how_do_i_start_.html

but long story short, if you have played the darkness alot and can playthrough it with little to no complications, then you are on your way to completing a speed run. Best of luck to you if you decide to persue this...

Indextic

2011-08-12 01:30:31 am

Thank you for that! I appreciate it and reading it has given me some insight on what is to come and what I need to do.

A couple questions to anyone: If I were looking to make this a segmented run, what would be the logical way to split up segments? Should I just do it chapter by chapter (there are 5 chapters in the game, and the game is a few hours long)?

Also, would the run still be accepted if it were on the Easy difficulty, or is it a requirement to play on the hardest difficulty?

MAS8705

2011-08-12 01:48:14 am

SDA Apprentice -- (3-1)

Man, good thing I have problems falling asleep at night... I'll be happy to answer those questions for you... Smiley

In terms of difficulty, you are welcome to do it at any difficulty you want. There are many games shown on SDA that have it at the easiest difficulty, hardest difficulty, and everything in between...

As for how you would need to segment the run, that is a bit more complicated to say. Normally anyone will say "Segment the run in the way you want to." So to speak you are welcome to do segments within chapters if you want, but make sure it is logical when you set them up. If you see that it would be easier on you to just playthrough a chapter, save, and call that a segment then you can do so. For "The Darkness" I don't fully recall how the saving system worked in here, but if you can save within a chapter and then continue from there, then you can; just avoid a situation where you are setting up too many segments since that might be looked against you if the segments aren't top notch...

Also I'm sure you read this in the thread I posted, but in case you didn't, Never be afraid to ask for help if you need it: Alot of people on SDA are happy to help each other out if that means we get to see a brand new speed run added. We want anyone to succeed, but just be sure to not overexert yourself when you plan your run. Smiley

Man, good thing I have problems falling asleep at night... I'll be happy to answer those questions for you... :)

In terms of difficulty, you are welcome to do it at any difficulty you want.  There are many games shown on SDA that have it at the easiest difficulty, hardest difficulty, and everything in between...

As for how you would need to segment the run, that is a bit more complicated to say.  Normally anyone will say "Segment the run in the way you want to."  So to speak you are welcome to do segments within chapters if you want, but make sure it is logical when you set them up.  If you see that it would be easier on you to just playthrough a chapter, save, and call that a segment then you can do so.  For "The Darkness" I don't fully recall how the saving system worked in here, but if you can save within a chapter and then continue from there, then you can; just avoid a situation where you are setting up too many segments since that might be looked against you if the segments aren't top notch...

Also I'm sure you read this in the thread I posted, but in case you didn't, Never be afraid to ask for help if you need it: Alot of people on SDA are happy to help each other out if that means we get to see a brand new speed run added.  We want anyone to succeed, but just be sure to not overexert yourself when you plan your run. :)

Indextic

2011-08-12 04:47:51 pm

Okay, so I decided to time my current (completely unoptimized) route for the first chapter of the game, and I did the timing the same way that the person above (Psychochild) did, and I ended up with 37:18, and that's with quite a few mistakes and other assorted slowdowns. I'm just glad I ended up with a time below 40 minutes. I'd love to try and get the time below 35 minutes but I'm not sure what else there is I can do. Is there anyone who knows this game well that can help me with route planning and possibly offer small (or big I suppose) timesavers that could shave off a few seconds, possibly minutes?

Indextic

2011-08-13 03:15:31 pm

Timed a slightly improved route today and ended up with 36 minutes. I'm confident I can get this below 35 minutes now.

I'm still looking for someone who can help me out with this... Until then I'll probably stop posting pointless updates like this because I'd imagine it's just annoying when I bump the thread like this ._.

Apjjm

Edit history:

Apjjm: 2011-08-14 08:04:42 pm

Apjjm: 2011-08-14 07:53:48 pm

2011-08-14 07:53:23 pm

What?

I posted a playlist of tricks which bring the time down on some later chapters (especially the gun hill skip).
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL791A94140DA8D0D4

Indextic

Edit history:

Indextic: 2011-08-14 10:47:30 pm

2011-08-14 10:30:41 pm

Thank you so much, Apjjm! I'm really liking these tricks.

EDIT: Just finished the playlist, and I really can't thank you enough. These are awesome. I'll be sure to utilize them all and perhaps expand on them if possible. Thank you again!

Indextic

2011-08-15 01:40:05 am

Sorry for double posting AGAIN, but I forgot to ask this much earlier.

Should I be worrying about my Darkness level? I know it helps with health and amount of Darkness power, but eating hearts seems like it'd be a big timewaster to me..

Khaos4wood

2011-08-16 02:03:05 am

:(

Quote from Indextic:

Timed a slightly improved route today and ended up with 36 minutes. I'm confident I can get this below 35 minutes now.

I'm still looking for someone who can help me out with this... Until then I'll probably stop posting pointless updates like this because I'd imagine it's just annoying when I bump the thread like this ._.

When you stop posting updates is when your interest in the run dies, there are likely at least a dozen topics where 90% of the posts are by the runner and the rest are just people saying they would watch the run. Keep practicing and keep those updates coming, and realize that with a lot of games unless there's already a pre-existing run you're going to have to do the majority of the work yourself. It's not annoying to have someone post that they improved their best time on a segment - that's what this site is all about Wink

I've never played this game, but I remember thinking it looked interesting when it came out. I'd love to see a completed run Smiley

[quote="Indextic"]Timed a slightly improved route today and ended up with 36 minutes. I'm confident I can get this below 35 minutes now.

I'm still looking for someone who can help me out with this... Until then I'll probably stop posting pointless updates like this because I'd imagine it's just annoying when I bump the thread like this ._.[/quote]

When you stop posting updates is when your interest in the run dies, there are likely at least a dozen topics where 90% of the posts are by the runner and the rest are just people saying they would watch the run. Keep practicing and keep those updates coming, and realize that with a lot of games unless there's already a pre-existing run you're going to have to do the majority of the work yourself.  It's not annoying to have someone post that they improved their best time on a segment - that's what this site is all about ;)

I've never played this game, but I remember thinking it looked interesting when it came out. I'd love to see a completed run :)

Apjjm

Edit history:

Apjjm: 2011-08-16 05:41:37 pm

Apjjm: 2011-08-16 05:40:18 pm

Apjjm: 2011-08-16 05:39:59 pm

Apjjm: 2011-08-16 05:37:44 pm

2011-08-16 05:36:13 pm

What?

Quote from Indextic:

Sorry for double posting AGAIN, but I forgot to ask this much earlier.

Should I be worrying about my Darkness level? I know it helps with health and amount of Darkness power, but eating hearts seems like it'd be a big timewaster to me..

You need darkness level 2 before the first darkness-arm flying trick - this is really easy to attain though (There are some hearts you can grab at the start of both chapter 1 and chapter two with no time loss, and the rest of the numbers can easily be made up on the move through chapter 1). It shouldn't cost you too much time. Darkness level 3 by chapter 5 is a reasonable aim, as it will help out with surviving a mad dash across the courtyard on the final level, but may not be required.

If you have a means of recording, would you post up a sample attempt at the first chapter, there may be one or two improvements or suggestions I can help out with.

Indextic

2011-08-16 11:30:35 pm

I'll try and plan out the quickest heart path I can, then.

I can record, but my Dazzle doesn't record audio for some reason, and I don't know how to fix it. :/ I'll post a sample probably in a couple of days anyway but the audio will either be nonexistent or recorded with a microphone. Unless I can somehow fix the audio problem between now and then. I assume I'd have to fix it if I ever want to get the run posted.

Indextic

2011-08-17 06:05:26 pm

A couple updates: I've practiced the prop-jumping a little bit and I think I've got the hang of it, somewhat. Very useful trick. As for the hearts, all I've really found are two good places to eat hearts without wasting much time, which is the beginning of the restaurant shootout, and waiting for a darkling to unlock the door at Grinder's Lane.. Also I found out that eating a heart and then immediately burning the money at Grinder's Lane saves a couple seconds. Not much, but still something.

I'm mere seconds away from getting sub-35 on the first chapter. Gonna start recording a few attempts tonight just to show what I've got so far.

Indextic

Edit history:

Indextic: 2011-08-18 11:16:13 pm

2011-08-18 10:37:13 pm

I just recorded a run of the first segment, but it had a couple of bad mistakes in it. Should I upload it for people to see, or try and record a better one?

MAS8705

2011-08-18 11:11:56 pm

SDA Apprentice -- (3-1)

Best thing to do indextic is to post what you have right now and let others see your progress so far... This way they can say how to better improve your run, but if you want to retry it again before posting it, you are welcome to do that as well...

Indextic

Edit history:

Indextic: 2011-08-19 05:44:04 pm

2011-08-19 02:15:00 am

Alright, I've uploaded the video. Before you watch, you should know that the quality of both sound and video is atrocious. I have an awful computer, and my dazzle doesn't work very well. I had to record by streaming through JTV :/ WMM keeps freezing and Sony Vegas doesn't let me record video...

Anyway, here:
http://www.justin.tv/indextic/b/292956026

Again, I'm very sorry for the horrible quality. :/ I'm going to try and get a better Dazzle + computer soon but I'm broke.

EDIT: I removed the three youtube links and replaced them with the JTV video because I'm an idiot and didn't realize that I didn't need to upload it to youtube lol

Apjjm

Edit history:

Apjjm: 2011-08-19 06:32:53 pm

Apjjm: 2011-08-19 06:27:19 pm

Apjjm: 2011-08-19 06:26:41 pm

2011-08-19 06:25:46 pm

What?

That was pretty smooth gameplay (though i couldn't really see what was happening in much detail at d.o. harry's because the video was skipping). The execution kills at the start wasted a bit of time but i'm sure you know that. Anyway, I seem to remember it being possible to creeping-dark from the back of the graveyard over the wall to destroy the fan, can't remember if the guy has spawned or not yet - This takes about the same time as collecting the hearts so probably isn't worth it considering you need 'em. IIRC the invisible wall surrounding the graveyard is removed when the gate opens, so you can actually cut the corner you take when you open the gate by hopping over the wall using one of the gravestones as soon as the gate opens, don't have access to a console currently to test so sorry if i'm wrong about that.