The Terminator - February 21, 2015

Edit history:

SDAVerification: 2015-02-21 04:34:07 pm

2014-12-30 10:53:46 am

Game Page: Doesn't exist yet

The Terminator (ntscus) (genesis) [Any %] [Single Segment] [Normal]

Decision: Accept

Reason: Nate says he can fix the audio desync on our end.

Congratulations to Chris 'thewizard' Jones!

Thread title:

SDAVerification

UraniumAnchor

Edit history:

UraniumAnchor: 2014-12-30 11:31:42 pm

2014-12-30 10:53:48 am

Run Information

The Terminator (Any %) (Single Segment) (Normal)

Verification Files

http://v.speeddemosarchive.com/terminatorgenesispal-v_HQ.mp4

Please refer to the Verification Guidelines before posting. Verifications are due by Jan. 13, 2015.

Please post your opinions about the run and be certain to conclude your post with a verdict (Accept/Reject). This is not a contest where the majority wins - I will judge each verification on its content. Please keep your verification brief unless you have a good reason otherwise.

After 2 weeks I will read all of the verifications and move this thread to the main verification board and post my verdict.

bangerra

2014-12-30 01:57:27 pm

Uhm, okay
first of all: this file crashes in Chrome, I had to use firefox before it would work
secondly: the audio is just crackling noises for me, unsure it's my setup or the actual video
thirdly: the video quality is pretty bad - blurry, lots of artefacts
and finally and probably most importantly: this is a stream highlight, including a timer AND webcam.

I haven't checked out the actual gameplay because the video is an autoreject atm.

Greenalink

Edit history:

Greenalink: 2014-12-30 04:59:41 pm

2014-12-30 04:59:26 pm

DS Dictator

You're not the only one.
I can't hear anything other than occasional cracking audio.
Reject on poor quality and *if you're really serious* on submitting the verification/final encode as a stream highlight.

UraniumAnchor

Edit history:

UraniumAnchor: 2014-12-30 11:31:55 pm

2014-12-30 11:06:04 pm

Not a walrus

Whoops, this was not supposed to make it to verification in this state. The runner sent in a different video but I forgot to delete the old one. I'll upload the new one shortly.

Edit: Correct video is now up, sorry for the confusion.

bangerra

2014-12-31 02:49:09 am

Take 2:

A/V: video quality is fine now, audio gets desync (about 2s at the end)
Run: Looks like an RNG marathon, I see a lot of room for improvement, especially on the final level. But this game looks like a trainwreck to play, so I'm tempted to give it the benefit of the doubt.

conclusion: Weak accept IF audio gets fixed.

philosoraptor42

2014-12-31 07:28:31 am

Dapper as fuck.

I would have to agree with bangerra. The audio desyncs very noticeably around the jail stage, and continues into the final stage. Video quality is fine though.

The run itself looks fine until the final stage where a few mistakes look to have been made.

I would have to say weak accept as well on the condition that the audio is fixed. I hope the runner will try to improve the final stage as well and submit again in the future.

LotBlind

Edit history:

LotBlind: 2015-01-01 02:36:58 pm

2015-01-01 02:33:42 pm

0:34 lost half a second for no reason being at the bomb spawn point late. In fact he should have been standing at the right edge of where you can collect them.
0:44 I think this bomb is completely lost. He still has to hit the robot 16 times which is the same as a reference playthrough I checked.
2:37 Half a second lost. This is a completely pointless mistake too as it looks like there's no air control so he only needed to wait a little longer before switching directions.

The lost bomb constitutes maybe 2 seconds of time lost seeing as it could've been put to use clearing mobs faster later. The last two bombs (I can see it's RNG) also don't seem to do anything for the runner so in a sense he's lost 5 seconds (the bomb respawn time) by getting 9 bombs instead of just 6. It's the first level so that's where the most RNG manipulation can happen. In any case I really think he should've reset after the wasted bomb on the surface.

4:35 Having this bomber here is bad luck and wastes 2 seconds. (none of the 3 other playthroughs I checked had it happen)
4:47 Here 2 playthroughs (the faster-running version, I'm guessing NTSC) jump directly off the top girder instead of dropping off. I'm curious why the runner here doesn't but maybe it owes to version differences.
8:20 Turns around to shoot the other guy too late, gets bumped back. Lost ½ second again to a seemingly unnecessary mistake.
9:20 I'm pretty sure you can get far better luck here. The whole idea with this level seems to be to shoot the guy 5 times to make him a crawler (maybe this isn't required if you can avoid him?) and make it to the press.
10:00 I think the runner's trying to use the left side crawlinator to make the right side one not spawn. However, he went too fast? So I'm thinking it's a mistake. I checked this fast playthrough:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=5f2vbTOuS2A#t=522

shows how much smoother this level can go (the faster version again, but the mechanics look the same to me). I think you just have to make it to the press fast [having shot the guy 5 times to wear him down probably also being required?].

With all this stuff, especially the first and last levels, and the good but not perfect execution (many times needing to crouch again to finish a bad guy off because didn't shoot enough times at first) makes me wanna reject this. No run comments either so... yeah.

weak reject

0:34 lost half a second for no reason being at the bomb spawn point late. In fact he should have been standing at the right edge of where you can collect them.
0:44 I think this bomb is completely lost. He still has to hit the robot 16 times which is the same as a reference playthrough I checked.
2:37 Half a second lost. This is a completely pointless mistake too as it looks like there's no air control so he only needed to wait a little longer before switching directions.

The lost bomb constitutes maybe 2 seconds of time lost seeing as it could've been put to use clearing mobs faster later. The last two bombs (I can see it's RNG) also don't seem to do anything for the runner so in a sense he's lost 5 seconds (the bomb respawn time) by getting 9 bombs instead of just 6. It's the first level so that's where the most RNG manipulation can happen. In any case I really think he should've reset after the wasted bomb on the surface.

4:35 Having this bomber here is bad luck and wastes 2 seconds. (none of the 3 other playthroughs I checked had it happen)
4:47 Here 2 playthroughs (the faster-running version, I'm guessing NTSC) jump directly off the top girder instead of dropping off. I'm curious why the runner here doesn't but maybe it owes to version differences.
8:20 Turns around to shoot the other guy too late, gets bumped back. Lost ½ second again to a seemingly unnecessary mistake.
9:20 I'm pretty sure you can get far better luck here. The whole idea with this level seems to be to shoot the guy 5 times to make him a crawler (maybe this isn't required if you can avoid him?) and make it to the press.
10:00 I think the runner's trying to use the left side crawlinator to make the right side one not spawn. However, he went too fast? So I'm thinking it's a mistake. I checked this fast playthrough:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=5f2vbTOuS2A#t=522

shows how much smoother this level can go (the faster version again, but the mechanics look the same to me). I think you just have to make it to the press fast [having shot the guy 5 times to wear him down probably also being required?].

With all this stuff, especially the first and last levels, and the good but not perfect execution (many times needing to crouch again to finish a bad guy off because didn't shoot enough times at first) makes me wanna reject this. No run comments either so... yeah.

weak reject

JackintheBox333

Edit history:

JackintheBox333: 2015-01-02 01:54:26 pm

JackintheBox333: 2015-01-01 03:16:26 pm

2015-01-01 03:16:02 pm

Professional Shaq Fu Speedrunner

As has been mentioned, the audio desyncs midway through the video. The visual quality is fine.

This is Pal, so it is going to look slow, and boy does it ever. That being said, up until the final level, I was prepared to give this a weak accept, because while there are some mistakes, the over gameplay is up to standards. However the final level is incredibly short and the runner makes far, far too many mistakes on the level. Going back and forth, hesitating, jumping up instead of over the pit and failing what appears to be a despawn trick. Not to mention, the runner appears to take a roundabout route compared to the video LotBlind found. All of this adds an excrutingly long period of time loss to what is already incredibly short run. In a run this short, this sheer amount of time loss is unacceptable.

Strong Reject

LotBlind

Edit history:

LotBlind: 2015-01-02 11:30:51 am

2015-01-02 11:29:57 am

About the route in the last level: I'm thinking the runner can't take the long fall route for version difference reasons because that would also explain why he does level 2 differently (coming off the girder bit). The reason he's going back and forth is to despawn the Terminator each time so it's not hesitation, just bad luck but also maybe sub-optimal decision-making.

So maybe it's not THAT bad. That's why I preferred the weak reject.

JackintheBox333

2015-01-02 01:55:46 pm

Professional Shaq Fu Speedrunner

Even assuming that there is some sort of version difference that makes the runner not be able to take that route that the NTSC version does, I'm still rejecting it because of "going back and forth, hesitating, jumping up instead of over the pit and failing what appears to be a despawn trick." It's still a strong reject just based on that.

LotBlind

2015-01-03 10:36:52 am

I'm thinking he's probably trying not to have to shoot the guy a lot early on because apparently you can't damage it when it's crawling. Anyway this is partially just speculation on both of our parts.

thewizard99

Edit history:

thewizard99: 2015-01-18 01:10:08 pm

thewizard99: 2015-01-18 10:00:35 am

2015-01-18 09:59:45 am

Just like to add on the points with a few of these things

0:34 : That time was lost due to the bomb not spawning as it should have done
0:44 : The Bomb on the Surface is to blow the second door prior to getting there, and the best time to do it is during the first fight.
2:37 : That movment in mid air now and again does not register, this is part of the game not me

4.35 : RNG Based couldnt be helped.
4.47 : There is a slight delay I have noticed from Jumping Right down from the top, it added a second or 2 due to the next input EDIT : turns out it was just me not the game, now fixed
8.20 : That was a mistake, but at the stage of the game, doing a total reset when the rest had been fine i continued on.
9.20 : Shooting him adds a whole different set of RNG, as you can no longer blast him back, and its only best to do it if you need to hense the waiting on the ladder.
10:00 : That correct, sometimes he will despawn and come from the front no matter what you do.

thewizard99

Edit history:

thewizard99: 2015-01-18 11:18:45 am

2015-01-18 11:13:09 am

After reading the rest of this and playing about ive since done a new run, hopefully this is to liking, ive limited problems as much as i can but with this game being very RNG related its impossible to do it perfectly.

Worked out timing for the bombs, fixed that
I no long blow the door on the top level, i instead do it later, clearing out the termies at the same time
You can indeed jump from the girder, i now do that
It is faster to Shoot him at the start of the 4th level, while it is quicker you get the crawlinator a lot earlier due to RNG and when he appears, and if you get him in to the second phase you cannot hit him at all so only damage boosts through him helps in that stage, which is hard to do.

thewizard99

2015-01-18 11:49:56 am

New file is uploaded, need someone to add the new file if they can please.

LotBlind

2015-02-07 11:37:56 am

Thanks for your clarifications. Still waiting to see the new file though...

nate

2015-02-08 10:07:04 am

a new video has been posted for this run: http://v.speeddemosarchive.com/terminator-v_HQ.mp4

LotBlind

Edit history:

LotBlind: 2015-02-10 12:23:21 pm

2015-02-08 12:27:19 pm

So this new run is about 53 seconds faster than the last one... I think we were right when we said it wasn't quite ready yet. Aside from better RNG it's clear that e.g. the damage boost in level 4 helped save a lot of time. Now it's easy to

accept

(level 1 is -14,
level 2 is -7,
level 3 is -4 and
level 4 is a whopping -28)

When your game is heavy on the RNG you just gotta expect to struggle with it when running. But then you'd have to do lots of attempts anyway to get sufficiently good at it.

Vulajin

2015-02-10 11:23:31 am

Could one or more of the previous verifiers please provide comments on the new video? Thanks in advance.

ktwo

2015-02-10 11:37:32 pm

There is an audio desync in the new file. Otherwise it looks good (only watched in firefox though).

I don't know this game at all, but I still have the feeling that more time can be cut.
- Are all the time bombs in the first level absolutely necessary? The runner collects a respawning bomb drop three times. Each time takes a few seconds and gives three time bombs. Only one of the three bombs from the last drop was used.
- Is there really no way to get 16 bombs to connect directly on the first enemy?
- There are two "boss characters" that get knocked down a couple of times (part of the game mechanics). Wouldn't it be possible to run past them when they are knocked out and start shooting them from the other side?

Maybe the above is just me not understanding the game though. The execution seems to be acceptable throughout. A few minor mistakes, but overall good and nothing major.

Whether my suggestions would be possible to implement or not, this looks like an

Accept (provided the audio desync can be fixed)

There is an audio desync in the new file. Otherwise it looks good (only watched in firefox though).

I don't know this game at all, but I still have the feeling that more time can be cut.
- Are all the time bombs in the first level absolutely necessary? The runner collects a respawning bomb drop three times. Each time takes a few seconds and gives three time bombs. Only one of the three bombs from the last drop was used.
- Is there really no way to get 16 bombs to connect directly on the first enemy?
- There are two "boss characters" that get knocked down a couple of times (part of the game mechanics). Wouldn't it be possible to run past them when they are knocked out and start shooting them from the other side?

Maybe the above is just me not understanding the game though. The execution seems to be acceptable throughout. A few minor mistakes, but overall good and nothing major.

Whether my suggestions would be possible to implement or not, this looks like an

Accept (provided the audio desync can be fixed)

philosoraptor42

Edit history:

philosoraptor42: 2015-02-11 05:23:05 pm

philosoraptor42: 2015-02-11 07:08:31 am

2015-02-11 07:08:17 am

Dapper as fuck.

Ok, so like ktwo said, the audio desyncs in the new video too, I noticed it starting around the jail level again.

This is a better run for sure, so I say accept provided the audio issue is resolved.

SDAVerification

2015-02-21 04:34:15 pm

Decision posted.

LotBlind

2015-02-22 12:31:51 pm

grats! It was a pretty decent improvement to say the least!

thewizard99

Edit history:

thewizard99: 2015-03-14 04:43:51 pm

2015-03-14 04:43:27 pm

Quote from ktwo:

- Are all the time bombs in the first level absolutely necessary? The runner collects a respawning bomb drop three times. Each time takes a few seconds and gives three time bombs. Only one of the three bombs from the last drop was used.

Runner : A total of 3 bomb are needed to take down doors / blow the reactor, i collect 6 more in case i need them on the escape, as due to RNG its possible that the game spawns a lot on the escape

- Is there really no way to get 16 bombs to connect directly on the first enemy?

Runner : There is but RNG and placement, and when the Hunter Killer fires can differ, ive had other runs where ive done it easy, and other times where ive went 3 cycles.

- There are two "boss characters" that get knocked down a couple of times (part of the game mechanics). Wouldn't it be possible to run past them when they are knocked out and start shooting them from the other side?

Runner : Sadly no, you take damage from him and you can only pass him when he is flashing.

[quote="ktwo"]
- Are all the time bombs in the first level absolutely necessary? The runner collects a respawning bomb drop three times. Each time takes a few seconds and gives three time bombs. Only one of the three bombs from the last drop was used.

Runner : A total of 3 bomb are needed to take down doors / blow the reactor, i collect 6 more in case i need them on the escape, as due to RNG its possible that the game spawns a lot on the escape

- Is there really no way to get 16 bombs to connect directly on the first enemy?

Runner : There is but RNG and placement, and when the Hunter Killer fires can differ, ive had other runs where ive done it easy, and other times where ive went 3 cycles.

- There are two "boss characters" that get knocked down a couple of times (part of the game mechanics). Wouldn't it be possible to run past them when they are knocked out and start shooting them from the other side?

Runner : Sadly no, you take damage from him and you can only pass him when he is flashing. 
[/quote]