Saving during speed runs?

2004-11-17 04:15:56 pm

I'm new to the whole speed/low percent/etc. runs, and I was just wondering how you guys do them with respect to saving. I'd assume that they would be done without saving, but then I came across a single segment topic in the Metroid Prime forum which would lead me to believe otherwise. So do you save when going for speed runs, so that effectively you're putting together the best runs for each section to get your best time? Or do you not save at all during a run?

Thread title:

Izo

2004-11-17 04:59:31 pm

soaking through

They save, but saving takes time, so it's a delicate balance between time taken by saving and time saved by perfecting each segment. It also make downloading easier if they're done in segments.

Off topic, do you play Ikaruga? :D

USBCD36

2004-11-17 05:04:04 pm

Two cases:

The best Metroid Prime speed runs have segments, which means that each piece of the game was done between saves. MP runs generally have 12-14 segments and are WAY better than single-segment MP runs because the person playing/recording it was able to do the best that they could on each segment by restarting from the last save after every mistake.

Most very good Fusion speed runs are single segment because it is quicker to do a single segment run, (the first Fusion speed run I watched [DaveB's 1:16] took me "more than a day…" to download when I had dialup) and Fusion is an easier game than Prime. I am best at it out of all of the Metroid games, though I still suck. My best time was 2:05 100%!! I was 5 frickin' minutes away from getting the best ending!!!!!

If you are still confused and you have a faster connection than dialup, consider downloading and watching a few. Don't take my example and download 4,043 MB of junk (well all except the speed runs were junk) with a dialup connection.

Also, this probably shouldn't be in the Echoes forum, as there are no real speed runs of this game yet.

Two cases:

The best Metroid Prime speed runs have segments, which means that each piece of the game was done between saves.  MP runs generally have 12-14 segments and are WAY better than single-segment MP runs because the person playing/recording it was able to do the best that they could on each segment by restarting from the last save after every mistake.

Most very good Fusion speed runs are single segment because it is quicker to do a single segment run, (the first Fusion speed run I watched [DaveB's 1:16] took me "more than a day…" to download when I had dialup) and Fusion is an easier game than Prime.  I am best at it out of all of the Metroid games, though I still suck.  My best time was 2:05 100%!!  I was 5 frickin' minutes away from getting the best ending!!!!!

If you are still confused and you have a faster connection than dialup, consider downloading and watching a few.  Don't take my example and download 4,043 MB of junk (well all except the speed runs were junk) with a dialup connection.

Also, this probably shouldn't be in the Echoes forum, as there are no real speed runs of this game yet.

Jugem

2004-11-17 05:08:31 pm

Thanks for the info. USBCD36, I remember trying to download some vids before, and then realizing they require divX. And I'm unable to view vids that require divX.

Quote from Izo:

Off topic, do you play Ikaruga? :D

Yeah, I've gotten 30 million in Ikaruga. Guess you recognize me from there? :)

Ekarderif

2004-11-17 05:42:45 pm

Saving all depends on the game. In Prime, saving simply takes the time to get to the save point (usually 5-10 seconds) so it's no big deal. Plus there are a lot of crazy hard tricks that you can pull to save quite a bit but failing costs a lot. In Fusion (and Super and Zero Mission), saving not only takes time to get to, but also the time winds down during the save process. So in reality it takes however long to get to the save point plus 8 seconds or so. And in 2D games, the tricks tend to be a lot easier to pull. Hence, the small number of saves.

Zeke

2004-11-18 12:29:42 am

Time bomb set get out fast!

Quote from USBCD36:

and Fusion is an easier game than Prime.

It is? Oh, God help me. Fusion creamed me in my first playthrough (and I creamed it the second time, but this is my first time through Prime).

DominicanZero

2004-11-18 03:51:15 am

直死の魔眼使い

Jugem: You might want to download the VideoLan VLC Media Player to deal with the DivX problem. Try searching for it, you won't regret it.

Mafus

2004-11-18 04:27:17 am

www.videolan.org I believe. The best media player out there IMO. It's not resource heavy like media player and can play many files that media player wont, and it also previews half downloaded torrents etc.

DominicanZero

2004-11-18 04:54:02 am

直死の魔眼使い

The main advantage of the VLC player (which Mafus involuntarily spoiled >.<) is the fact that it has most of the codecs you'll probably need for a while built in when you download it. Which means, you don't need to download DivX, for example, since it comes built in with the player. Same applies to XviD, and the Matroska codecs, I believe.

But, if you have the time to download and install the codes, I recommend using Media Player Classic. It's the native Matroska player, and one of the best players I've ever used.

Blublu

2004-11-18 09:00:52 am

Another player that could be useful is Mplayer. Yeah, there's a Windows version.

http://deje.uw.hu/

Jugem

2004-11-18 04:06:32 pm

I currently use university computers to go online, so I don't know if I'll be able to use any of those. But thanks for the help. Maybe one of those will work.

Izo

2004-11-20 05:10:57 pm

soaking through

Quote from Jugem:

Quote from Izo:

Off topic, do you play Ikaruga? :D

Yeah, I've gotten 30 million in Ikaruga. Guess you recognize me from there? :)

I do indeed. You run with Shiner, I believe?

It's quite random that you've suddenly turned up here. Very cool though.

Jugem

2004-11-21 04:55:06 pm

Quote from Izo:

I do indeed. You run with Shiner, I believe?

It's quite random that you've suddenly turned up here. Very cool though.

Strange coincidence I guess. Unfortunately, MP2 hasn't hooked me like I'd hoped it would, so I doubt I'll be playing it for speed runs. In a strange ironic twist, I've started playing Ikaruga again instead, and MP2 has been put aside. Rolling Eyes

nate

2004-11-21 05:02:57 pm

imo, give it time. any classic takes a while to get into. (yes, i believe that the phrase "instant classic" is an oxymoron.)

Jugem

2004-11-22 02:42:05 pm

Quote from njahnke:

imo, give it time. any classic takes a while to get into. (yes, i believe that the phrase "instant classic" is an oxymoron.)

I'm going to have to disagree with you there. There are a lot of "classics" that I've gotten into right off the bat. So far, MP2 has been too easy, and felt too much like mindless wandering. The atmosphere has been amazing, but there's a lack of real (or at least fun) gameplay. The boost ball boss is the only thing that's given me any trouble, and even it was easy after a few tries.

Having said that, I'm slowly enjoying it more and more as the action picks up a little. Who knows, there may be hope for this game yet. :)