Video Game Thread

[dethwing]

Ocarina of Time has finally crossed the 50 minute mark, if anyone cares about speed running. Cosmo recently recorded the first ever sub-50 run, thanks to the new "Ganonless" glitch.

I don't play too much anymore, but I love watching them. Lately I've been following Jiano's quest to break the MM10 record, and Josh the funk doc's attempt to break 31 minutes in the grant run of CV3.

[Death Mage]

Which site do you get your speed runs from?
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[raekuul]

I keep seeing bullet patterns and cherry blossoms when I look away from the screen. Touhou 7 (Perfect Cherry Blossom, or Youyoumu if you prefer) seems to have triggered the Tetris Effect in me :/

[dethwing]

http://www.w00ty.com/sda/stream/

Is the SDA stream site. If you want races, go to:

www.speedrunslive.com

[Death Mage]

Can you download the videos? I'd love to see that quick run.
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[dethwing]

http://www.twitch.tv/cosmowright/b/309586919

Here's the twitch recording of his run. It's 9 hours, cause that's how long it took him to get there. The record breaking attempt starts at around 8 hours in.

[dethwing]

This game is so unbelievably glitched at this point, you wouldn't even recognize it if you had just played it casually. For my money, MST [medallions, stones, trials], is a far more entertaining run than Any%.

[dethwing]

So, ZFG broke Cosmo's record already by about another minute or so.

And Jiano tied duck's MM10 record a few days ago with a 35:36.
Actually, his was a low :36, and Duckfist's was a high :35, so there was a difference of about .6 seconds.

Apparently it still counts as a tie though.

[Scurra]

As usual, about five years late to the party, but I am finally playing Super Mario Galaxy. And I can see why it was rated so highly when it came out.

Although I am hardly a newbie to the genre (I still remember playing the original SMB in the arcades...), I missed out on the arrival of the 3d element in SM64. However, I really, really enjoyed Sunshine on the Gamecube which was a beautiful mix of game styles. As I am only an average gamer, I never quite managed to get all 120 stars but this never really mattered. The sheer verve and style and perfectly judged balance of frustration and achievement was amazingly good, and I didn't think it could be easily topped.

How wrong I was. It takes a ridiculously short time for Galaxy to completely win you over, with the insane variety of settings and the introduction of gravity to add twists to the levels that are constantly innovative and amusing. And although I feel as though I am a fair way into the game (having collected around 30 stars and knowing that usually you only need 60 to actually get to the endgame), it is still pulling new surprises out of the hat, with a sufficiently graduated difficulty curve to mean that frustration is kept to a minimum in favour of observation and learning.

As noted above, I am at best an average gamer, and my reaction speeds have diminished with age, so I suspect that I will never be able to complete some of the more extreme challenges. But - as with Sunshine - I don't really care. The fun of the game overrides the need for maximum completion. The real question I am asking myself is why the hell it took me five years to get here..?
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_{still Quiz Olympiad champion. Must get a life.
New definitions: COFFEE - someone who is coughed upon}

[Death Mage]

I've still got Mario Galaxy... and just about every other Wii title I own, sitting on a shelf waiting for me to dust off the machine and play.

Don't get me wrong. I love the system. And they have simply THE best first party games, hands down... I just have too many other games to play on the other systems.
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[JDTAY]

Oh my god, you guys, Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky is amazing. Go buy it so the sequels can come over here.
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[Jedo the Jedi]

Oh, dammit. I bought a new computer powerful enough to play SWTOR, and now I've opened up a whole new realm for myself. (The computer only cost about $600 and more than meets the recommended requirements.)

Anyway, in quick succession I have bought Skyrim and both Arkham games. Plus, Diablo III is around the corner. I don't have time for all this! If I hadn't deprived myself of a new console since the original Xbox, I probably wouldn't be in this situation.
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Paragon Tally: 18 mafia, 3 SKs (1 twice), 1 cultist, numerous chat scum...and counting.

[JDTAY]

Don't forget to pick up Diablo 3.


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[dethwing]

I was running SMB3 yesterday, and was 7:22 ahead of my personal best of 1:17:58 going into world 8. I was crushing it. Then I absolutely choked on Bowser, losing my hammer suit. And then I died over ...and over...and over...
Didn't even finish after all my time was gone.

[Neo]

I finished my first run of Mass Effect 3 this weekend.

I almost feel like discussing how to interpret the last 5 or 10 minutes alone could take a dedicated thread.

FWIW: I picked the Destroy option, but thanks to a convenient quicksave, I have seen the Control and Synthesis endings. I don't see how those two are anything but playing into the hands of the Reapers. On the other hand though, I'm still thinking about the Destroy ending.

Is there anybody willing to discuss it? I haven't read anything about the ending, so I'm a bit curious about what others thought.
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[Dread Pirate Westley]

Invisopost!After seeing the history of the geth, I decided that the annoying kid was wrong, so went with the synthesis ending. I just started an Insanity playthrough who will probably go with Destroy (As an aside, this Shepard wouldn't give a damn about the kid dying in the prologue).

One of the major complaints I've read is the Citadel showing up at earth, but I don't see a problem with The Indoctrinated Man having moved it. My suspension of disbelief ends when Shepard somehow survives the laser while trying to teleport to the Citadel, then wakes up in his utilities.

[Neo]

[Dread Pirate Westley]

Once he's indoctrinated, I don't see much difference between TIM and the Reapers. It's been a while since I finished it, so I may be misremembering some details. I do remember Liara getting off the crashed Normandy, after she was in my active party at the end of the game, and presumably incinerated by Harbinger. For that matter, the Normandy was in combat at Earth, then all of a sudden was FTL'ing near some jungle paradise.

I didn't figure the kid had any motivation to lie, and the Shepard that I was playing was always a big softie; I think he made one Renegade choice in three games. Being told the Destroy option would wipe all synthetics after he wasn't able to save the Quarians; he couldn't kill the geth, too. I considered the Control ending, but it just didn't feel right.

[dethwing]

w00t, new PB in SMB3 any%, no warps. 1:07:58. Beat my old mark by over 8 minutes. Maybe some day I'll cut the 1...

[MNOWAX]

you want to go 1V1 with runs Deth?

I tend to use emulators, but there would be no cheats.

You go the route you prefer, three recorded attempts, best time wins? I have not done a speed run of SMB3 in a LONG while, but it would be fun to have some competition!
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The Man The Myth The Legend
MNOWAX

[dethwing]

I use virtualnes myself. I have a copy on VC, but I tend not to use it. We could just use SRL to do a race if you like. What's your best time? I'm certainly not the greatest!

[Death Mage]

Can't talk. Skyrim.
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[dethwing]

Ever gotten the 7-1 wall-skip? I've been practicing it. Takes me about 10 tries to get it. Not sure if that's worth it in a run.

[Neo]

I'll just leave this here.

http://www.artemis.eochu.com/
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[MNOWAX]

[dethwing]

Clouds and P-wings are allowed in warpless runs.

The best levels to cloud at 5-9, 7-4, and 7-F.

[raekuul]

Playing through Dark Sun: Shattered Lands again, but with a slightly unusual party this time. Half-Giant Gladiator, Fighter/Thief Dwarf, Psionicist/Druid Halfling, Cleric/Preserver/Ranger Half-Elf. If this works, I'll try without the levels in Cleric next time around.

[dethwing]

1:06:35. Let's see what you've got MNOWAX

I died 4 times in W6. The spinner in 6-4 just decided it was gonna kill me for no reason. Moving sideways? No, you go down now.

So I went from ahead by 30 seconds going into W6, to behind 1:10 afterwards. Fortunately, I had been practicing W7, and got the 7-1 wall-zip on the 2nd try. w00t.

This saved a p-wing and let me skip 7-6 as well.

And then this time, I remember to get the hammer suit...but stupidly got hit before bowser! Ugh. Lost another minute or so doing the "natural" Bowser kill.
I want to stream my attempts, but my laptop can't handle it. Lags like crazy and then crashes.

[MNOWAX]

will do an attempt tonight. i'm so screwed.

keep in mind this is my first attempt at a full run so i'll probably embarrass myself.
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The Man The Myth The Legend
MNOWAX

[dethwing]

No worries man. My first ever timed run my goal was just to break 2 hours, which I did...just barely. 1:54.

My next run I got it down to 1:17, just by not dieing as much.

[lexprod]

[Neo]

[Jedo the Jedi]

Does anybody have/know any particularly good emulators for NES, SNES, and N64? I have browsed a few myself, but I wanted to see what recommendations there might be.
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Paragon Tally: 18 mafia, 3 SKs (1 twice), 1 cultist, numerous chat scum...and counting.

[MNOWAX]

[dethwing]

4-3 is actually fairly tough. I have to take it slow and careful to make sure I don't die.

Keep practicing, it gets easier.

[dethwing]

If you have any questions on routing, proper use of clouds and p-wings and so on, let me know.

[Deception]

So basically the only rule is no world warping?

I want to try this, just need to find 3 hours.. maybe one midnight I'll do it.

[dethwing]

Yes, you can get whistles [and you should, the 1F whistle is faster], you just cannot use them.

The WR is around 54 minutes.

[JDTAY]

Hey, E3 is in 12 days, anyone looking forward to that?
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[dethwing]

Best W2 ever, 10:30. Followed by an awful W3, died to big bertha, then again on 3-4. Can't seem to find my rhythm anymore.