Log book percentage and Research section

avengah:

registered on 2008-01-25 07:22:42 pm.

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avengah

2011-11-17 06:53:13 am

I noticed, when playing through the game again after having not played for some time, that Research scans don't add to the Log book percentage on the pause screen. Only the first three categories - Pirate Data, Chozo Lore and Creatures, add to the percentage. Weird!

What happens if you scan all the Pirate Data, Chozo Lore and Creatures, but don't scan any of the Research entries - does the game still say "100% of Log Book entries scanned" when you reach Metroid Prime's second form?

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Opium:

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Opium

2011-11-17 08:22:10 am

Servin' you realness!!

Research scans DO add to the percentage. Did you draw that conclusion after adding just one scan? Because one scan =/= one percentage.

avengah:

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avengah

2011-11-17 07:49:33 pm

No, I'm certain and I double-checked. 25 Pirate, 16 Chozo, 74 Creatures, 20 Research makes 135, but 23 non-Research scans make 20%, you see? Total 115 for 100%.

TheOthin:

registered on 2010-09-06 03:21:05 pm.

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TheOthin

2011-11-18 03:59:01 am

It may not be that simple. You can't assume all scans are equal; it's plausible that Creatures scans are only worth half a % and the others are worth a full % or something. Which only adds up to 98%, but then, the Phazon Suit doesn't count for an item percentage, making the total percentage from items only 99%, and they worked that out, too.

What's the exact breakdown of your scans?

avengah:

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avengah

Edit history:

avengah: 2011-11-18 05:46:52 am

2011-11-18 05:44:23 am

I paused the game after every single Log Book scan (well, up to about 60%, at which point I saw no need to keep doing it). Here is how it worked:

No. of non-Research scans obtained / Current percentage
0 / 0
1 / 0
2 / 1
3 / 2
4 / 3
5 / 4
6 / 5
7 / 6
8 / 6
9 / 7
10 / 8
11 / 9
12 / 10
13 / 11
14 / 12
15 / 13
16 / 13
17 / 14
18 / 15
19 / 16
20 / 17
21 / 18
22 / 19
23 / 20
24 / 20
25 / 21
(etc. repeating after every 20%)

Research scans do not add to the percentage. I checked after getting each and every one of them. However, someone on GameFAQs recalls not getting the 100% scans message at Prime's second form after missing the Missile Door Lock, so I'm assuming the game holds the scan percentage at 99% if you've not got all the Research. That's what I think it would do.

So 0, 6, 13, 20, 26, 33, 40, 46, 53, 60, 66, 73, 80, 86, 93% all count for two Scans, the rest only count for one.

arkarian:

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arkarian

2011-11-18 06:12:44 am

mindfulness

fully erect

cool. sounds like maybe they either weren't planning on including research scans initially or just didn't feel like coding them to count toward percentage and put them all into one - that sounds very much like retro. nice find.

Opium:

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Opium

2011-11-18 09:07:21 am

Servin' you realness!!

So, research scans only count towards percentage if your last scan is a research scan?

Quietus:

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Quietus

2011-11-18 09:55:25 am

Super Secret Area - Dead Ahead!

I think he's saying that while the research scans do not actually count as a percentage of the total, you can only achieve 99% if you do not get them all as well. So you could get every scan in the game (excluding the research scans), and it'd display 99%, and it'd stay as 99% after each and every research scan until you got all 20 of them. It would then clock as 100%. At least that's how I read it.

Opium:

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Opium

2011-11-18 10:08:31 am

Servin' you realness!!

So instead of saying that research scans do not count towards percentage or do not increase percentage, would it be fair to say that research scans collectively account for 1%?

BioSpark:

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BioSpark

2011-11-18 11:45:48 am

hʌŋ laɪk

ə hɔːrs

yeah, it would seem like that, but i think that it's only counted once you've hit 99%. so if you've got all the research and 60% of the other scans, it'll show as 60%.

Opium:

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Opium

2011-11-18 11:49:36 am

Servin' you realness!!

lol I'd like to see the rushed bs code fix they must have thrown on there in the 11th hour.

arkarian:

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arkarian

2011-11-18 12:00:36 pm

mindfulness

fully erect

i'm thinking they just didn't give a shit in the first place because why would anyone sit down and count— oh

Opium:

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Opium

2011-11-18 12:07:33 pm

Servin' you realness!!

lol well I had to put my foot in my mouth when I realized that he had spent a lot more time pondering this than myself (or probably anyone). All I had to go on was the situation mentioned earlier: I had 99% and was missing a research scan.

avengah:

registered on 2008-01-25 07:22:42 pm.

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avengah

Edit history:

avengah: 2011-11-18 06:07:19 pm

2011-11-18 06:03:10 pm

It's precisely this sort of thing that people will sit and count - this is how tricks are discovered. For instance, look at the amount of messing about people have done to work out some of the more bizarre tricks in the series.

Imagine if 100% scans was possible without the Research - that would be 20 less scans required, which would probably save a minute in a 200% or 100% scans run. So yeah, BioSpark is probably spot on - the game doesn't count the Research towards percentage, but simply blocks the 100% mark unless all the Research has been scanned. I wouldn't be surprised if the game actually calculates the percentage as 100, but displays 99 as a fail-safe if the Research isn't complete.

Actually, I've just thought of something else. The NTSC version only has 18 Research scans, not 20, doesn't it (only one Missile refill instead of the three), and it also doesn't have a running total on the pause screen. This might mean that the running total was programmed specifically for the PAL version, and the NTSC version might only calculate a percentage at the very end of the game. Since they changed the number of Research scans, they might have just decided to be lazy and not bother counting them in the percentage calculations. It's just a theory, though.

It's precisely this sort of thing that people will sit and count - this is how tricks are discovered. For instance, look at the amount of messing about people have done to work out some of the more bizarre tricks in the series.

Imagine if 100% scans was possible without the Research - that would be 20 less scans required, which would probably save a minute in a 200% or 100% scans run. So yeah, BioSpark is probably spot on - the game doesn't count the Research towards percentage, but simply blocks the 100% mark unless all the Research has been scanned. I wouldn't be surprised if the game actually calculates the percentage as 100, but displays 99 as a fail-safe if the Research isn't complete.

Actually, I've just thought of something else. The NTSC version only has 18 Research scans, not 20, doesn't it (only one Missile refill instead of the three), and it also doesn't have a running total on the pause screen. This might mean that the running total was programmed specifically for the PAL version, and the NTSC version might only calculate a percentage at the very end of the game. Since they changed the number of Research scans, they might have just decided to be lazy and not bother counting them in the percentage calculations. It's just a theory, though.

Opium:

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Opium

2011-11-18 06:05:38 pm

Servin' you realness!!

Maybe since the logbook doesn't really reward the player, so it might be much less likely to be examined than the item percentage.

avengah:

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avengah

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avengah: 2011-11-18 06:10:29 pm

2011-11-18 06:09:46 pm

Then, of course, there's the fact that in Echoes, every Logbook scan counts towards percentage including all the Research (possibly due to the way every sub-category is given a running percentage), but in Corruption, Research scans are completely optional - you can get every single bonus credit and upgrade without any of them except the mandatory ones like Acid Rain.

UchihaSasuke:

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UchihaSasuke

2011-11-19 08:49:02 am

my umbrella goes directly to Bankai

mp1 didn't track this initially so it is no wonder the coding is so wonky.

Opium:

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Opium

2011-11-19 12:38:45 pm

Servin' you realness!!

Quote from UchihaSasuke:

mp1 didn't track this initially so it is no wonder the coding is so wonky.

Are you saying that it's different on earlier versions?

avengah:

registered on 2008-01-25 07:22:42 pm.

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avengah

2011-11-19 04:41:16 pm

Apparently the earlier versions don't track your scan and item percentages on the pause screen. I'm not sure about whether the scan percentage is displayed at the end of the game or not, though, having only ever played the original PAL version.

Opium:

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Opium

2011-11-19 04:47:48 pm

Servin' you realness!!

I remember going for perfect scans on my 00-0, but i dont remember where it showed the percentage.

sabata2:

registered on 2009-10-20 11:54:19 am.

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sabata2

2011-11-19 05:25:40 pm

ANKOKU

Early versions did not show percentages in the pause screens, but it still tracked the percentage internally.

Obviously, because there was a 100% scan log bonus in 00-0.

UchihaSasuke:

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UchihaSasuke

2011-11-19 08:59:01 pm

my umbrella goes directly to Bankai

all they had to do in the initial release was to check everything scanned to give you the award, so the actual value to each scan wasn't set back then.

in contrast, mp2 was made to measure the scans % in detail.

avengah:

registered on 2008-01-25 07:22:42 pm.

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avengah

2011-11-20 08:37:19 am

Wasn't there a 50% scans bonus even in early versions of mp1? I think for this to be calculated, there must be an internal counter, so the same about the Research scans probably still applies to the early versions. It'd be easy to test, too - simply scan everything as normal, but don't scan any Research entries, and you should still get the 50% message in the usual place (Phendrana labs). Then, of course, someone could play through the whole game skipping all the Research, and see if it says 99% at the end. (I'd do it myself, but I'm really slow and always take my time so it'll take me ages.)

avengah:

registered on 2008-01-25 07:22:42 pm.

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avengah

2011-11-22 07:12:08 am

So, anyone feel like playing through the NTSC and/or PAL version without scanning any Research to see if you still get the 50% message in Research Lab Hydra as normal, and to see if you end up with 99% at the end?

As I said, it'll take me ages due to me always wanting to scan everything and take in the scenery, and I'm in the middle of a Hard mode Echoes playthrough at the moment.