Seriously, I hate to say it but I'm sort of in doubt that I can pull off a faster time... well, actually there was one trick up my sleeve I did not incorporate in that run that would shave off a second. I say this because my previous time was a whopping 4+ seconds slower.
But yes, I've been busy with Unleashed. I have attempted to record this stage, but I didn't like the results. Still, I should be saying that I can do better. Running this stage was me starting at 1:40ish to 1:30ish to 1:20ish and now sub-1:20. The fastest time I believe is Kakipi1000's run who did it at 1:07 (and yeah, I'm using glitches as most non-glitch runs are low to mid 1:20s).
I really would have loved that run recorded because it seems like some of the success is luck based. Compared to Generations, Unleashed just feels like a more unstable environment.
Not to mention Sonic is a more unstable hedgehog here, too.
Seems like taking a break from speed running Sonic (or just games in general) wasn't such a horrific idea. At first I was convinced that I'd have to keep playing to stay sharp. Eh... perhaps if it meant me trying to execute a speed glitch, maybe. Otherwise, I can't say that I've really unlearned anything.
Throughout January and December of 2012 (Happy Belated New Year, btw) I was occasionally playing Generations, and instead of taking on something new and large like a main stage, I decided to focus on taking on something new and small, like a mission. It wasn't something I was doing too often, just whenever, really. I had always wanted to speed run the Way Past Fast mission in Green Hill Act 2 and 1 minute turned to 58 seconds... which turned into 57 seconds... and eventually turned into 56 seconds, and here I thought that it's probably a good time to start recording.
And the result is that I believe this is the fastest non-glitched run of the stage (so far). I think it can go faster. It may seem minor, but the mistake I made here was holding on to the boost button after Sonic was launched where the drift section ended. That small amount of boost could've been used at the end of the run. I can't help it if he looks so cool covered in his own blue speedy element.
After that, I gave my favorite stage another run and almost effortlessly broke my old record. Time to record again? Yeah... and what semi-strange times I trapped...
Even after I record a run, I look back at it over and over and ask myself, "Can it go faster?" For a much more complex stage such as this one, the answers come clear (also after looking at other people's runs not so compulsively). There are quite a few things I could've done better. The difficult air boost to platform->jump to next platform thing I pointed out at the start is still weird, but after a thousand deaths I realized it seemed a bit more successful not only boosting as late as possible but to the far left of it as well.
On the same token, I feel like it's possible that Sonic's jump height from the platform is almost always high enough (though it does fluctuate). It's just that if it's low, then I might have to air boost earlier. I decided to play with the skill that slows down time and tell me... why is it that when I used that skill to play in slow motion, 3 out of 3 times when I landed on the platform, I made that jump every - single - time.
I made a mistake after the first pulley because I hadn't practiced that part with boosting it and that resulted in a late homing attack on the spring (and I know now to aim for the far right one).
The cloud... oh... I hate the cloud. It's always more rewarding to hit the cloud as early as possible, but it's placement + Sonic's controls after hitting it just make it much easier to land on the far left of it so you line up with the tick launcher.
Maybe I should've tapped boost going down the rail or attempt the new way of leaving the rail with an air boost in 3D... because I was a full second behind to the next checkpoint, geez...
After landing on the rotating platform, I could've air boosted a bit earlier to that brief narrow hallway as it's not that high.
And when I air boosted to the transport thing - that was completely spontaneous and was the first time I did it while recording.
Just before the side-step area, I was able to do that faster by boosting as soon as I landed on that area. It can go faster if your jump to there lines up right in front of the dash pad so you can just boost right on it's path (or maybe side-stepping to the right as you boost, maybe - though I think side-stepping in this game without skills slows you down a bit).
And everything else after that went pretty much the way I wanted it to. I ended the stage with a lot more boost meter than I expected.
I will be attempting Sky Sanctuary with skills along with another mission. SS2 will be my first serious skills run. The Green Hill skills run with the Unleashed run I did back in November '12 wasn't really serious. It was really just filler and seeing how tieing two speed runs in 1 video would work. (The Unleashed run however was serious.)
Outside of my speed runs, anything in the Sonic universe that concerns me? Actually, yes. But that will be in a near future post where I'll be talking about what I've come across in what is known as the worst Sonic game of all time. The speed runners I keep up with still seem pretty active and I've managed to collect a few new names that have come out and even best one of sobatuyu100's times. Who in the world Japan could do this? Find out next time!
A few days ago, I made a very unimpressive Green Hill Act 2 speed run on Generations. I wasn't really looking towards getting a specific (let alone a spectacular) time. Because it's been so long since I've really played, I decided to practice with a skilled run, and after about 25ish tries with 1 glitch, I managed a mid 1:34. This was after I had re-ran Skyscraper Scamper Act 3, and instead of putting them into separate vids, I decided I would experiment one time by putting both in one video. There was about 20 times the effort put into simply making the vids as a while ago, Craigolette suggested I try a different method of rendering. He's been an excellent help for me with this, as I also got to learn a bit more about my video editing options. Unfortunately, I didn't have much success in making videos of a higher quality (yet!) but I still had fun. Admittedly, I'll have to use a more efficient way of experimenting with rendering, but I think I was always hoping that the next video would be the one that would be free from desync issues. So I wound up doing it the old fashioned way, except I paid attention to the bitrate this time! It wasn't set at 400 this time!
Street Fighter EX + Alpha music - the composer of that OST... is so friggin epic. Literally one of the greatest soundtracks of all-time to me and aside from a lot of Asian influence being thrown into most of the songs I enjoy, it just felt right to use for Sonic. It's fast paced, it's energetic, it changes and stays interesting most of the time. For as long as Sega has made games, from my experience, they know what a great composer is and this is one of those composers who I probably wouldn't mind doing music for Sonic games. Gosh, I feel so disrespectful... let me Google this guy's name... credited are:
Takayuki Aihara, Shinji Hosoe, and Ayako Saso.
I don't know who did what, but I'm guessing Takayuki was the lead composer. Definitely an EPIC soundtrack. If you are a fan of the Street Fighter 4 series and have never played EX Plus, the game pretty much laid the foundation of Street Fighter 4. It's a really fun game and I still have my PS1 disc of it.
But, back to Sonic. When I was out today with my sister, I found this little Sonic The Hedgehog themed vending machine. It gave out these little ornament-like heads of the main cast (I don't think this included Amy or Blaze but it did include Silver, Big, Metal Sonic and Super Sonic along with everyone else you'd expect.) Who did I get? Out of about 10 different outcomes, I got Tails! A dollar well spent. It's so tiny, though... in fact, I was going to take a picture of it, but I can't even find it...
I'm looking forward to getting some racing games and right now, two have my attention. The first would be Forza Horizons and obviously, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. The new All-Stars Racing game has me hyped after seeing the gameplay and the levels and it appears to look like it's going to be really, really good. I've never played the full version of it's predecessor (which I found okay, didn't really give it enough time to grasp it too hard) but this just seems so much better.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting back into the speed run game.
OH! I MUST SEE WRECK-IT-RALPH THIS WEEK. NO, TOMORROW.
I love Sonic's Japanese voice. I blame all of the speed runs for me falling for it. Otherwise, I'd be going WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! in English... though QSSing in English sounds weird.
It's been a while. Admittedly, I decided to take a break from focusing on Sonic. Information overload? More like information motherload. What does that mean? I think that staring into the screen, peering through various fan sites, various forums, certain youtube accounts (NOT youtube comments, most people on YT are just dumb kids) and my own efforts towards expressing my love for this franchise, simply got a bit overwhelming. It was also the first time in a long time that I was consistently playing a Sonic game at a high level. A part of me was yearning to play something more laid back as I seem to have forgotten how to do that with a Sonic game (until recently).
What I wanted was an RPG. Sonic Chronicles? No. In fact, I don't really see myself enjoying that game. I tried to watch a playthrough of it (something that's become somewhat of a past time for me this year, watching playthroughs of video games) and I didn't get far for two reasons. First of all, the story was poorly written, and secondly... I was not in the mood to watch a Sonic game of Sonic doing something that doesn't express his speed. It's a deal breaker because how he expresses his speed is a big deal. (Why do you think there are so many people throwing in custom Sonic voices in Generations? Voices from Unleashed and Adventure 2. To put it simple, it brings him to life.) So I picked up FF13 - yeah, I said it. A non-Sonic game in my blog. You know... this is actually something I've been wanting to point out, actually (especially since I've been playing Unleashed lately). When I was looking at what people were saying about Final Fantasy XIII, they seemed to say two things about the game that were very similar to what some people were saying about Unleashed. Yeah, you guessed it.
1. Linearity: Now, if Role-Playing Games happen to be something new to you, or you've never played any games in the FF series, I'll try to keep it simple. RPGs such as FF have always offered a sense of diversity and openness. On a large scale, you get a world map with plenty of exploration, a variety of ways to travel, a long story, a battle/character development system and hopefully a thoroughly developed cast. On a smaller scale, you get various vehicles, various mini-games, side-quests that have various tasks that offers either a reward or if you're lucky, it can add to the story, sometimes optional characters, a ton of monsters (some of which may aid you in battle), tons of items that rank from useless to too good to use unless it's the hardest battle in the game (though it still may never get used), side-bosses, weapons/armor, etc.. 13 was in fact missing a lot of things longtime fans were accustomed to. No world map, no various transportation, no sense of exploration (everything's mostly a long narrow hallway), no mini-games (maybe one). Final Fantasy XIII is really an all or nothing game, and people bitched.
Sonic Unleashed's linearity was criticized in it's level design of course and people bitched because it didn't have much of a platforming game.
2. Auto-play: In FFXIII, people said that the battle system requires little to no effort thanks to auto-battle. Now this was only true up to a certain point. First, if you didn't reach the part of the game where the character development system opens up (give it an hourish) then you'd eventually learn that you can not just mash autobattle. The irony of this is that most people who started the series (like myself) played FF7, and honestly, that game's battle system in comparison was extremely linear. Everyone pretty much leveled up the same and your physical power would eventually reach a point where you could just HOLD down the button that selects the command while you waited your turn and just auto-attacked with your normal attack. I have never, ever died so much in a FF game like I have in FF13. It does to a very solid degree, require a lot of micromanagement to develop strong characters and to earn high scores in battle, you must be strategically efficient with your attacks (which will also depend on how you developed your characters). It does boil down to making the right decisions fast enough.
Sonic Unleashed's auto-play, you've heard it... boost-to-win. I've probably already given my opinion in the past on what I think of that term. Personally, I think it's a scrubby term that suggests to me (when referring to Unleashed) that the game requires little or no effort to get from point A to point B. Some people may argue back that old school games were just hold right-to-win in some cases. Again, like in FF13, if you do not reach a certain point of the game, you will soon find out that braindead boosting doesn't work for very long. The linear level designs won't allow it. Another thing is that there is a reason why in Sonic games, the clock ticks forwards instead of backwards. There is a huge gameplay in Unleashed that's still to this day being developed which dictates how fast Sonic gets from point A to point B to point Z. I don't think many people get it. Just because you get from point A to point B in Sonic Unleashed by holding down the boost button doesn't mean you win. It means you just aren't able to figure out the other things Sonic is capable of in terms of creating speed. It's not that simple as pressing a button in Windmill Isle Act 2. (I had something else to say, but I forgot.)
In the end, FF13... for what it was worth, I felt it was a pretty decent game. It may not have been closer to it's roots, and it did have room for improvement (yeah, 13-2 pretty much let me down by dumbing down the battle system and making a story I could hardly consider captivating.).
Unleashed on the other hand... yeah, you think I'm going to start bitching about the Werehog? No. For what it's worth, it took a while for me to appreciate Unleashed, but it somehow seems to surprise me to this day (even moreso than Generations) what people can do in that game to make the fastest time. It's NOT EASY. I felt like Generations sort of closed the gap a bit with how advanced you can be in the game (granted it's newer and yeah, I've still been paying attention to it - the D and even M-speed is possible in Generations, though it's harder to execute.) Unleashed really had the makings of a great 3D Sonic game with the daytime levels.
Well, that is all... oh wait... almost all. Yeah, I made a vid. I'll go into details about it later.
Man... I'm telling you - I was so stressed making this, but the music I put in makes it all worthwhile.
So what's next? I think I'm going to go for Chemical Plant Act 2. Why not? It's the only stage I haven't recorded from the Genesis Era and I've covered all of the Dreamcast Era stages. I believe my current time is something around a 1:41ish. There's plenty of room to improve and I still want to save my favorite stage for last.
I'm on it! The good news is that this took me less than 2 hours to pull off (for once) and I'm confident I can do it again. Couldn't record earlier sadly.
But can it go faster? It can, but I don't know if it will go faster than 3rd place. Gonna test some things in the stage before I start recording to make sure everything goes as smooth as possible.
If I ever said I liked Seaside Hill 2... I'm sorry. I don't feel that way anymore.
First of all... I know it can't just be me (or maybe it is) but I find the stage rather boring when you're taking the speed run route. Not that my heart doesn't beat out of my chest when things are going right and Sonic's going consistently fast, but... idk. Maybe because the challenging areas are rather... uninteresting (not all of them). I can't say that about the rest of the stage's alt paths because the stage is actually quite flexible overall. Although I now completely understand what it takes to get on top of that falling orange platform after running over water (stop boosting before you turn right or you'll cause Sonic to "understeer."), I dunno... just seems so plain. Secondly, to add insult to injury, after hitting the black speed booster that launches Sonic, you boost down to the end, only to jump and stop all of Sonic's momentum because for some reason, Sonic Team doesn't want Sonic to... go relatively fast around a corner to the left. For a shortcut, it sure does seem rather bland to kill Sonic's flow. Last but not least, I'm annoyed at the territory of this game when it comes to the controls in this stage. Again, air boosting after the cannon launches you to the springs, air boosting seems to be an option on and off like. It's just like Green Hill 2's last set of springs before hopping over the trip step which you can overcome any control issues by air boosting before hitting the springs.
Well, I've got the early morning ahead of me and after getting 6th on XBL (as I said, I should at least get 8th or 7th), I felt it was time to actually show some progress. I actually ran out of meter in the final part of the stage and if I didn't, I possibly could've snatched 4th. Well... that's the plan when I record the run. The current ruler of the XBL leaderboard is none other than KYUURI999@ 1:30:44. Right now, I don't see myself knocking 5 seconds off my time. Still have a lot of work cut out. Right now, my biggest concern is making the most out of the last 2D section with the wall jumping as it doesn't make much sense to me yet.
... I actually look forward to getting through this stage so I can focus on Crisis City Act 2 again. I think this stage is definitely more fun to watch played than it is to play it as a speed run. Maybe a red ring attack would be better...?
Once upon a time, in an alternate dimension, where everything in this dimension moved in the 2nd tense, there was a blue hedgehog who could run at the speed of sound, but was speed capped for about 80mph. His name... was Sonic The Hedgehog.
Although Sonic was bestowed with the top speed of a Toyota Prius, like the Prius, Sonic's journey starting in the blue, green, brown, white, yellow and purple zone where the hills were most definitely green, sought out to stop the unenvironmentally friendly Dr. Eggman.
Nothing was going to stop Sonic in his quest to stop Sonic from preventing the evil doctor to prescribe trickery amongst his friends and the land. Not even the rocky hills themselves would get in his way.
Not these spikes that grew through the plains.
Nor the doctor's underlings.
Sonic pushed on with the momentum of a pinball, the weight of a 3ft marble, and the sharpness of a blade sharpener. Always looking forward and with each step, each jump and each spin he was closer to signs that would point him towards his goal.
Sonic...
Nothing was ever so flawless as the beginning, and when you finished, you'd often return back to where you started to make sure you left it looking better than how it was at the jump.
But sometimes... things don't always remain that way.
After enough time passes, pollution eventually rears it's ugly head upon our lands again.
Things change.
You've changed.
And today, to make everything right, all you have to do is run, breaking the sound barrier at will if you must to set things straight again.
Someone... was nice enough to bestow you your true power, unaffected by 80mph speed caps and given a world where you can move more than just up, down, left and right.
Sonic...
Let us use that power...
So I can break my damn Green Hill Act 2 record! OHHHHHH YEEEEEEEAH.
Okay, I'm done with the cut & paste dramatizations. Yes, Green Hill Zone is definitely my favorite stage in Sonic games. As a kid, I NEVER wanted to leave it and it still looks as profound and amazing to me 21 years later. Gotta love the result of what Sega was scheming when they were starving for success and fame. Green Hill in Generations was a pretty good reimagining of the stage and it really made me wish that the camera in the game was free like it was in Unleashed. If it was, I'd probably find myself spending tons of time just staring at it like I did when I was a child. What about the classic Sonic version, you say? I think it's gorgeous. Perhaps it could've felt like there were 3 levels of paths instead of just two like the original had (Acts 1 and 3), but for what it's worth, it's sheer beauty. However, the 3D version really seems to just make you feel surrounded in it opposed to peering at it like a painting with the value of the property you sleep on. I never ever once thought I'd see it. Green hills, blue pools and rivers of water, pencil shaped mountains in the distance, and a blue sky... and a blue anthropomorphic hedgehog... in my most childish love for all that is Sonic...
... wouldn't ask for anything more.
Oh, am I going to talk about my speed run? I left all that in the video description.
btw, Happy Birthday to my Dad today. Fun fact - it was him who took me to Toys 'R Us and bought me the Sega Genesis with Sonic 1. He hooked it up to the TV that day and as my mom told me (as I got older), he would just sit watch me play. I love you, Dad. If it weren't for you, I may not have been able to find the one thing that has had such a positive and profound effect on me to this day. Thank you for providing me the opportunity to find things in life as a child that would simply make me happy for a very long time... seemingly a lifetime. I only wish there were a way I could tell you these words as elegantly as they are typed.
I didn't even try. The only difference was getting off the boost on the rail in the cave, and next thing you know, I'm 1:30 in the green by the next lamp post lolol. It was a really sloppy run and I decided I would just practice without recording. That's probably going to be a bad habit because I'll never know how I pulled off the rail glitch (people have said the cave rails are not easy.)
When I said Speed Highway 2 was the easiest... apparently, I was wrong. I suppose SH2 is more involved, whereas GH2 has more room for exploitation (as far as I know). You can exploit the super speed glitch up to two times in the first 2D section and once in the second 2D section.
So now my goal for this stage is 1:39 or less. I have been practicing super speed, but it's still very much a challenge. Not sure if I'll try and record a run tonight. Don't even have the music I want for this stage yet.
Dunno why I decided to take a picture with my phone still knowing PVR is forever plugged into the 360 and TV - and is turned on. I could've tried seeing how taking pictures with the recorder works. Soon enough.
Episode 2 is still getting the smackdown by reviewers (both official and consumer) on metacritic. I'm a bit surprised just how many of these "official" reviewers are finding this game mediocre at best. It's probably just me being in the midst of all the hype. GameInformer showed no mercy in their review. Look at the sub title: "Sega Desecrates The Corpse Of Sonic 2 With Inane Co-op."'
Using Sonic as a marketing tool... oh! Speaking of reviewers who show no mercy...
This guy, lol. Not the best reviewer, but most of what he says is pretty accurate. Personally, I wouldn't mind reviewing this game if it meant I could get the game for free. I'm totally against buying this game if it supports a future episode which is the case of this 4 series. However, I'm not sure if PC sales count (I don't really know if this computer can run it, but I assume it likely can.) Well, that's all for today.
It's been a while since I've touched this stage and I think the challenging parts are hitting the speed pad while on the board over the house. It's weird. I don't want to say it randomly wants to send Sonic in various directions, but for the most part, I can control it. Getting the most out of it seems to mean getting Sonic propelled far enough so that he lands early - that is kind of tricky.
Second challenge on foot during the 1st 3D section is the jump into the trick ring. Not so much the jump itself, just placing Sonic in the right spot so that he can jump. If he runs into the low wall to the left, it tends to fling him right into the springs and if you're over to the right, well you'll just run into a tree. Not too difficult, though my particular jump was so high I landed in the ring. Alternatively, I could've boosted early before I reached the peak height of my jump. I just didn't expect it to go that high.
Third, the section before the first 360 just before the 2D transition. I try to avoid hitting ALL of the speed boosters except the last (which you have to hit) or second to last usually, so that's how it worked out. That was due to the angle of the drift from leaving the grass area. In fact, there are two rows of speed boosters after making that left from the grass and it seems like if you're gonna hit them, the left ones push Sonic faster.
The only challenging part about the 2D section is boosting immediately after killing the last enemy in 2D. If you don't, you'll land on the yellow platform and that will just... not help.
In 3D, after hitting the springs, I could've boosted to the stairway immediately, but this was something I realized much later.
Like most stages in this game, the last bits are the least demanding and for now, it seems like luck if I don't get tagged while drifting from the gun truck (or maybe I'm not starting it early enough when I do get hit). Definitely wanna remember to hold RIGHT when you do it. Yeah, I missed a LOT of rings and twice I actually ran out of boost in that area while recording.
And holy crap that truck came CLOSE. O_O
And that concludes that.... ! Maybe I'll run it again.
Crisis City or City Escape is next. I'm probably gonna go for City Escape. Most of it is just boarding and boosting. Crisis City... admittedly, that could take a while, but there's nothing within the normal realm of things that makes it have any sort of challenge that rivals that one platform in Sky 2. Yesterday/today I think I visually got it down after 564524845348443848545 deaths. :3
Live as in, it took me over 24 hours to make my first speed run video.
I needed a test video so I decided to run Speed Highway Act 2 and find out my options for editing it. A somewhat tedious process. The run didn't take long, however, Windows Media ANYTHING doesn't seem to be very useful for me, but I won't go into all the details about why this particular computer (AND my previous computer) just don't have a good chemistry with Windows Movie Maker and Windows Media Player... and Windows Media Center. Yeah...
Because the run was relatively close to my original time (as I made a few mistakes) I decided to just label it a speed run video. Hopefully my future videos will have a higher quality (I won't be uploading it in a ridiculous 1920 resolution again most likely). I don't think I'm all that interested in performing that level skip glitch in this particular stage atm. Who knows, it might wind up being an interesting challenge to take, knowing that it's not exactly the easiest level skip glitch.
