Turok 2 hard mode speed run

Edit history:

giganotabehemoth87: 2011-08-06 11:22:12 am

2011-08-06 11:20:21 am

Right I found a little timesaver for level one. You can use the over head item trick to get the level 3 key on the balcony of the big house near the end. So all you'd have to do is go up to the 2nd floor and flick the two switches, then come back to the little walkway above the shotgun and two 10 healths pickups, jump from it and grab the key through the ceiling. I initially thought it would save a lot of time but in hindsight it wouldn't.You normally just have to go up the ladders and run round to the key and drop down, but this still saves some seconds I'm sure.

I've also cut down my segments to about half what they originally were, in order to make a more watchable run. Luckily it is no more difficult than before and if anything actually has made it easier. The level is simply not hard enough to need a save after every portal. So I have about 5 or so saves instead of about 10 :D. Right now I casually got 13:21 final time, including totem. I don't know whether the reduced saves helped. Might have done. I think because this time I was strafing up ladders, it really feels faster although Turok doesn't actually strafe up them, but just climbs faster. I still got that full health near the end on the fallen piece of ruins. If I can just try to keep my health good on this level then I won't need to get it. So I can certainly reduce this time further. There was also a few occasions I got stuck behind some enemies and lastly my totem was average to crap. So who knows, maybe sub 13 isn't so impossible after all. If anything I think I can match Ewil time.

Right I found a little timesaver for level one. You can use the over head item trick to get the level 3 key on the balcony of the big house near the end. So all you'd have to do is go up to the 2nd floor and flick the two switches, then come back to the little walkway above the shotgun and two 10 healths pickups, jump from it and grab the key through the ceiling. I initially thought it would save a lot of time but in hindsight it wouldn't.You normally just have to go up the ladders and run round to the key and drop down, but this still saves some seconds I'm sure.

I've also cut down my segments to about half what they originally were, in order to make a more watchable run. Luckily it is no more difficult than before and if anything actually has made it easier. The level is simply not hard enough to need a save after every portal. So I have about 5 or so saves instead of about 10 :D. Right now I casually got 13:21 final time, including totem. I don't know whether the reduced saves helped. Might have done. I think because this time I was strafing up ladders, it really feels faster although Turok doesn't actually strafe up them, but just climbs faster. I still got that full health near the end on the fallen piece of ruins. If I can just try to keep my health good on this level then I won't need to get it. So I can certainly reduce this time further. There was also a few occasions I got stuck behind some enemies and lastly my totem was average to crap. So who knows, maybe sub 13 isn't so impossible after all. If anything I think I can match Ewil time.

Squeebles

Edit history:

Squeebles: 2011-08-06 12:12:21 pm

2011-08-06 11:51:17 am

Man, always picking out those last few details ^o^ Great work, and from the sound of it I imagine you'll make sub 13 soon enough. Unfortunately I don't have anything to add and it's looking like I won't be finding anything in the foreseeable future.

giganotabehemoth87

2011-08-06 05:45:00 pm

No problem bro. Right now this test run is a segment planner mostly and an ammo management checker. If I find things I'll be sure to let you all know.

I redid the last part of Port of Adia. Perfecting it as much as possible, avoiding that full health I mentioned, perfected the totem and I'm happy to report a new record for the level. 12:56 ! I'm really pleased with this as I'm sure you can imagine. I will say though that in my actual run I won't be saving it in the hub after the levels. Instead I'll save when I regain control of Turok in the next level. Just to avoid having a small pointless hub segment. It will mean that I'll have to keep going through the level intro just to check my time which could be annoying. So to make it less monotonous I'll only continue to the next level if my totem battles were really good, and then just stick with the very best one I do.

Phazon

2011-08-07 12:34:31 am

Nice job on sub-13, can't wait to see it.

Ewil

2011-08-07 02:35:03 am

Yeah, bring it on !

Squeebles

2011-08-07 08:01:12 am

Congratulations, and your plan definitely sounds good. In what few casual runs I did through the game after my recorded one I also found that the game flows more naturally when you save in the next world rather than the hub. Also, just an idle thought but in level 5 if at some point you wanted to quickly take out one of the queen embryos but didn't have enough flamethrower fuel to finish the job after they're on the ground- I've noted that it's fairly easy when crouching at close range to get the green shell shredder shots stuck under the embryo, doing absurdly high damage. Of course your planning probably doesn't leave such an ammo shortage to need it but it seems worth mentioning. Another couple things I've noticed in level 5 near the last queen embryo that might be useful are as follows; In the first part of the map where the mite nests are up above you there's a wall you can blow open that has a heavy mantid(stationary) and four different weapons though I forget exactly which ones.. And the other thing- In the lava near the exit to the last queen embryo chamber there's a platform down low that has like 5 different weapons on it- I remember a shredder being there, scorpion missile launcher, and grenade launcher I think, but the rest seems kinda fuzzy...

Congratulations, and your plan definitely sounds good.  In what few casual runs I did through the game after my recorded one I also found that the game flows more naturally when you save in the next world rather than the hub.  Also, just an idle thought but in level 5 if at some point you wanted to quickly take out one of the queen embryos but didn't have enough flamethrower fuel to finish the job after they're on the ground- I've noted that it's fairly easy when crouching at close range to get the green shell shredder shots stuck under the embryo, doing absurdly high damage.  Of course your planning probably doesn't leave such an ammo shortage to need it but it seems worth mentioning.  Another couple things I've noticed in level 5 near the last queen embryo that might be useful are as follows;  In the first part of the map where the mite nests are up above you there's a wall you can blow open that has a heavy mantid(stationary) and four different weapons though I forget exactly which ones.. And the other thing- In the lava near the exit to the last queen embryo chamber there's a platform down low that has like 5 different weapons on it- I remember a shredder being there, scorpion missile launcher, and grenade launcher I think, but the rest seems kinda fuzzy...

giganotabehemoth87

2011-08-07 10:58:00 am

Thanks guys. Can't wait to show you all a run of this level, which could be quite some seconds faster than even this if I perfect some of the earlier segments. Its weird how I thought I couldn't get much lower than 13:40 or 13:30. I remember my first run I didn't strafe up ladders but in this run I did. If they made my time around 30 seconds faster just through this then it is a fantastic trick because I don't recall doing it anywhere else in the entire run. So maybe I can drop my end game time by several minutes alone Smiley

Squeebles - Yeah I believe (I think it's the 1st and 2nd embryo) I didn't have much or any flamethrower ammo so opted for shredder. What I did on last run, was use firestorm cannon from a distance to get the embryo on the ground, then switch to green shell shredder and crouch from a distance to finish it off quickly.

yep I used that breakable wall for the last embryo to pick up some guns. I believe they were Firestorm cannon, Flamethrower, grenade launcher and one last one, might have been Cerebral bore or charge dart I'm not too sure. I did it mainly because I was out of flamethrower and my strategy was to annihilate the embryo as quick as possible and then get killed by a nearby mantid for a death warp back. O yeah I'm aware of the platform with the guns on the lava. I didn't really need them before so I doubt I'll grab them this time. But we'll see what my ammo situation is when I'm there again.

Thanks guys. Can't wait to show you all a run of this level, which could be quite some seconds faster than even this if I perfect some of the earlier segments. Its weird how I thought I couldn't get much lower than 13:40 or 13:30. I remember my first run I didn't strafe up ladders but in this run I did. If they made my time around 30 seconds faster just through this then it is a fantastic trick because I don't recall doing it anywhere else in the entire run. So maybe I can drop my end game time by several minutes alone :)

Squeebles - Yeah I believe (I think it's the 1st and 2nd embryo) I didn't have much or any flamethrower ammo so opted for shredder. What I did on last run, was use firestorm cannon from a distance to get the embryo on the ground, then switch to green shell shredder and crouch from a distance to finish it off quickly.

yep I used that breakable wall for the last embryo to pick up some guns. I believe they were Firestorm cannon, Flamethrower, grenade launcher and one last one, might have been Cerebral bore or charge dart I'm not too sure. I did it mainly because I was out of flamethrower and my strategy was to annihilate the embryo as quick as possible and then get killed by a nearby mantid for a death warp back. O yeah I'm aware of the platform with the guns on the lava. I didn't really need them before so I doubt I'll grab them this time. But we'll see what my ammo situation is when I'm there again.

Squeebles

Edit history:

Squeebles: 2011-08-08 04:49:06 am

2011-08-08 04:39:16 am

Good stuff, I'm glad my weapon advice continues to be of use. I also have one more bit of weapon advice for the last level, though I'm not sure how useful it will be to you- I've found that with practice you can fairly often throw the razor wind at the ground in front of a wheel robot and have it bounce up for a very likely one hit kill. Between the PC's improved aiming and heavy abuse of the save system I think you might be able to cut a lot of time and ammo waste out of your run by not stunning them, and maybe pick and choose which ones you wait for the ammo drop from.

giganotabehemoth87

2011-08-17 05:43:03 pm

Yeah I did have to kill some wheel robots for some dart ammo in the test run. But I never stunned them, but used tri-rocket launcher instead for a quicker, explosive death, which gives you back their dart ammo faster than their slower death would. If I recall the razor wind gives them the slower death so it might not be useful in this particular run unfortunately.

I just finished another speed run of port of Adia, taking out one save I used to grab the level 3 key via the overhead item trick, and opting to do the last big segment and risk the trick in one take. Also improving some earlier segments and doing a crazy good totem. I got 12:38 :P. I made one mistake trying to climb a ladder in the second to last save costing me about 3 or 4 seconds. So I should be able to drop the time even further. I'm starting to wonder if saves take more time than initially thought. Yes I did a better run through improvements, But 18 seconds better than my 12:56 !. It didn't feel like it was that much better. If dropped saves can make the time better, it will undoubtedly make the run much harder. I'll do some further testing to diagnose this. But really I hope that it's just improvements that made the time better.

I was going to start the run last weekend but we had some technical difficulties on my friends PC. His specs are too high to run the game normally and were causing the game to crash, make enemies disappear and cause a few other annoying problems like the game speeding up and slowing down for no reason. Just before I left to go home he found some cure and it plays normally now (fingers crossed). Another reason I couldn't start the run is his keyboard and mouse just feels weird in my hands. He's got like a 'gaming' mouse, but quite frankly it's way too bulky for my taste. So I'm going to take all my stuff up there to record.

In the meantime I'll keep testing this save business and try and get another record on Level 1 Cheesy

Yeah I did have to kill some wheel robots for some dart ammo in the test run. But I never stunned them, but used tri-rocket launcher instead for a quicker, explosive death, which gives you back their dart ammo faster than their slower death would. If I recall the razor wind gives them the slower death so it might not be useful in this particular run unfortunately.

I just finished another speed run of port of Adia, taking out one save I used to grab the level 3 key via the overhead item trick, and opting to do the last big segment and risk the trick in one take. Also improving some earlier segments and doing a crazy good totem. I got 12:38 :P. I made one mistake trying to climb a ladder in the second to last save costing me about 3 or 4 seconds. So I should be able to drop the time even further. I'm starting to wonder if saves take more time than initially thought. Yes I did a better run through improvements, But 18 seconds better than my 12:56 !. It didn't feel like it was that much better. If dropped saves can make the time better, it will undoubtedly make the run much harder. I'll do some further testing to diagnose this. But really I hope that it's just improvements that made the time better.

I was going to start the run last weekend but we had some technical difficulties on my friends PC. His specs are too high to run the game normally and were causing the game to crash, make enemies disappear and cause a few other annoying problems like the game speeding up and slowing down for no reason. Just before I left to go home he found some cure and it plays normally now (fingers crossed). Another reason I couldn't start the run is his keyboard and mouse just feels weird in my hands. He's got like a 'gaming' mouse, but quite frankly it's way too bulky for my taste. So I'm going to take all my stuff up there to record.

In the meantime I'll keep testing this save business and try and get another record on Level 1 :D

Phazon

2011-08-18 04:31:43 am

12:38 sounds awesome. You keep improving and it makes me even more impatient with regards to seeing this run D:<!

Squeebles

Edit history:

Squeebles: 2011-08-18 06:24:24 am

2011-08-18 06:23:17 am

Hmm, I really wouldn't be the least bit surprised if the game keeps counting while you save- I've already confirmed this for the N64 save portals, though I haven't been able to confirm whether the game keeps counting during cutscenes or not. In any event, weight the benefits of saving vs. gambling every time and in the later levels don't skimp on the saves over a couple seconds technical time- Shit starts hitting the fan big time in levels 5 and 6 if you try to do it with minimum saves.

giganotabehemoth87

2011-08-18 07:29:31 am

The game still counts in portals, save portals and level intro cutscenes. But not pause screen, which should mean PC saving is reliable for saving with next to no time lost. Perhaps the game begins counting again as soon as you load a save. As in when the screen is blue and the portal sound kicks in. So that would be a few seconds lost right there. Either way it's not that much time, I'd say 3 seconds or so. And if i drop anymore saves on level 1 I could end up getting worse times I think. I agree with the last levels. There will still be more saves on those levels compared to the first two by a considerable margin. Mainly because they are just longer though. And yeah they are incredibly hard and random.

giganotabehemoth87

Edit history:

giganotabehemoth87: 2011-09-11 04:14:10 pm

2011-09-11 03:52:00 pm

I finally managed to get some recording done this weekend and can happily post Port of Adia speed run done in six segments

I started the recording of segment 1 on the options of the main menu title screen to show it's on hard mode and various other setups you may be interested to see I'm using. Overall I feel the run went really well and doubtful I could even improve it, if at all. As stated before I saved after the totem but in the next level, the death marshes. But out of curiosity on one totem attempt I did a save straight after the totem in the hub select area and beat my old record by 5 seconds and got 12:33. The totem attempt you see in this video went fantastically and better than the aforementioned one. So who knows perhaps that one could have been 12:29 or something.

Anyway hope you enjoy the run as it was quite frustrating, especially the last two segments before the totem gave me a lot of grief (stupid unpredictable AI)

[edit] the video seems to run much better on the actual youtube page. This video here is all choppy for some reason.

I finally managed to get some recording done this weekend and can happily post Port of Adia speed run done in six segments

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEYnzaAkOOc

I started the recording of segment 1 on the options of the main menu title screen to show it's on hard mode and various other setups you may be interested to see I'm using. Overall I feel the run went really well and doubtful I could even improve it, if at all. As stated before I saved after the totem but in the next level, the death marshes. But out of curiosity on one totem attempt I did a save straight after the totem in the hub select area and beat my old record by 5 seconds and got 12:33. The totem attempt you see in this video went fantastically and better than the aforementioned one. So who knows perhaps that one could have been 12:29 or something.

Anyway hope you enjoy the run as it was quite frustrating, especially the last two segments before the totem gave me a lot of grief (stupid unpredictable AI)

[edit] the video seems to run much better on the actual youtube page. This video here is all choppy for some reason.

Cool Matty

2011-09-11 04:51:37 pm

Crawlathon WR, get down on my level.

It amazes me how much faster the PC version is without all that lag! Very nice job on the totem, that thing is a nightmare.

giganotabehemoth87

2011-09-11 05:06:46 pm

While the PC version does run faster due to reduced lag the speed increase in movement is down to the PC versions ability to strafe run. On N64 it doesn't work too well so you have to just run normally. Also when I'm running really fast that's because I've done a water boost trick coming out of the water to run extra fast.

Thanks, Yeah the totems are stupid. It's usually the enemies quick turn in direction that make your shots miss on injure them, when instead you just want to head shot kill them. When I did that totem (probably only the 15th attempt) I knew immediately it was for keeps.

Squeebles

Edit history:

Squeebles: 2011-09-12 10:54:35 am

2011-09-12 10:51:26 am

Magnificent work Giganotabehemoth, congratulations on such a finely tuned level 1 run! Along with the damage and aiming I'm noting a good couple curious differences in the PC as well- The default running speed seems faster, or maybe the teleporters don't take the water boost away? The commands seem much faster to respond too, and perhaps my favorite difference of all- Many of the jumps you made in that version wouldn't have connected right on the N64. Particularly in that wooden walkway over the pitfall segment; Almost every jump I've ever made between one part of the walkway and another part of the same one has always resulted in me falling right through it, thus it's very refreshing to see you make those jumps with such ease and confidence.

giganotabehemoth87

2011-09-12 06:38:31 pm

Thanks, I'm glad you like it. I real pleased with it and I can't stop watching it, which I don't mind shamelessly admitting ;D. As for water boosts - No they don't linger through teleporters. I think watching the run and on you-tube kind of doesn't reveal the speed difference between normal and water boost speeds as effectively as when I'm sitting there playing the game. But yeah perhaps Turok's normal walking speed on PC is somewhat faster than N64 walking speed in any case.

Thinking ahead to the death marshes - I think that level is a very slightly shorter level, and in my speed running experiences I've had with it, isn't quite as difficult either. So that could be hopefully done in one weekend like this one.

Cool Matty

2011-09-12 10:35:36 pm

Crawlathon WR, get down on my level.

Random: I just wanted to say that I'd love to see this at AGDQ2 on one condition: a "challenge" for playing the game with disco mode. Sorry, just being a bit nostalgic. Resume your normal speedrun discussions. >.>

Squeebles

2011-09-14 05:00:59 am

With a run like that it pretty much goes without saying that you can't stop watching it- There are very few forms of entertainment greater than seeing a video game that would normally be slow and frustrating run through with total ease, quickly. Also with the use of reference points I'm starting to understand the normal and boosted speeds in the PC. One thing that I've become certain of is that the PC has a -much- faster normal running speed. The reason I can say this with such certainty is because of the purple shots that the green dinosoids use. My eyes tell me they are the same speed as the N64, and yet you manage to outrun them in close quarters while strafing. Particularly where you hit the first of the two switches to open the last door of the level- Even when I diagonal run I get hit by each shot because my character simply isn't moving fast enough to avoid them.

giganotabehemoth87

2011-09-14 07:16:16 am

I see. Yeah that first Endtrail at the end going to the switch can be easily avoided on PC, where as the second Endtrail has to be shot, and he is lethal because he's facing right at me.

If I was to point out one mar in this run it was in the tunnel coming into this big area. Where I use the slope bounce trick to chain jumps together. It's possible to get the last jump off the slope to glide right over the endtrail guarding the exit. Instead I got stuck by him and probably wasted 2 - 3 seconds. I know this because I've managed to save it before the totem with 11:46 on the clock. On this one I got 11:49, but I kept the segment because I actually miraculously got the key via the overhead item trick and this one is very hard to do and doesn't always work. So I didn't want to try the segment again to do the glide over the endtrail (as it's a bit tricky) AND manage to get the key in the same way. Anything under 11:50 at that save was going to be kept I remember thinking so it was all good.

Exo

2011-09-14 09:02:45 am

Sandbagging

Looks very promising so far behemoth. Keep up the great work Smiley

giganotabehemoth87

2011-09-14 01:40:24 pm

Thanks a lot dude. I can't wait to get stuck into it again. Seems annoying to have to wait a fortnight to do recording but whatever, it gives me time to really plan the segments here at home i guess

Squeebles

2011-09-15 07:32:46 am

That's a good way to look at it, and with your fighting style I'd say it's very important to get an accurate count of the ammo that you can efficiently pick up along the way. You might be surprised at some of the not-so- secret pick ups that go overlooked. I think I've got one for you in the Death Marshes if you don't already use it; On the map where a rock gunner attacks you right after you turn the corner after the portal, there's a broken section of wall with 10 green shotgun shells on the other side- I can occasionally make that jump and I imagine on your more reliable version it should work just about every time. So then, you spend up 10 or more green shells coming up to that point and instead of taking the log bridge over the mud you diagonal jump and follow the wall. The cost of time should be almost exactly the same with the added benefit of the ammo.

giganotabehemoth87

2011-09-15 05:15:23 pm

Well death marshes more than the rest has me skipping near enough all enemies apart from gunners, which I take down with pistol anyway. I think I'll stick to blitzing the level like before as it never gave me any trouble. After all I'm looking for thrashing my last end game time of 2 hours 13 minutes, which should be easily done. Port of Adia is a minute faster on this run for a start.

What I am only slightly worried about is accumulating explosive shells for level 2 soul gate destroying. I know the 3 shell pack near the first prisoner of death marshes but it looks like I might have to manipulate the totem to gain another 3 shells, unless I've forgot how my last test run planned out. Either way I don't think it'll be that bad. If I recall, after dismounting the triceratops and going into the portal, we shoot the barrel on the top left to open the secret passage to the early war blade; There's also 3 explosive shells up there too.

Squeebles

2011-09-16 04:59:05 am

You've got that one right, and while this answer isn't exactly perfect, I know that in a pinch you can mix in a few green shredder shells to finish the portal off- Though it does roughly half as much damage per hit against a flat surface.