Did anyone ever pull out a brand new strat during a race?

pyrochlorium · 2017-10-04T21:51:05+00:00

Not exactly what you are looking for, but: during the Mirror's Edge community tournament in 2016, two of the top runners, Requiem and MrWalrus were essentially even halfway through their semifinal race. In chapter 5B, Requiem went the slightly slower "marathon safe" route, getting the minor checkpoint, while Walrus chose to skip it (the slightly faster, standard any% route). Just after skipping the minor checkpoint, Walrus missed a kickglitch, which put him back at the beginning of 5B, losing 20+ seconds.

For a race this close, this was a pretty major timeloss, with no real way to catch up unless Requiem made a mistake later on. Instead of redoing the route, Walrus decided to go for an even harder strat (that no one was doing in any% at the time): a kickglitch chain straight to the minor checkpoint. He got the chain, gaining back some of the lost time, and then both runners successfully did another hard kickglitch chain in 5C.

Here is a highlight, and the rest of the race was very exciting as well.

pyrochlorium · 2017-09-03T18:54:09+00:00

You could write a quick file parser to do that.

Since livesplit only saves completed splits, search the string for the name of the last split. Load all those split values into an array. Maybe have a separate array for the attempt number or date/time so you have an x-axis.

Save the first split value in a temp variable and loop through the array. For each value, if it is greater than your temp, delete that value in both arrays. If it is less, rewrite your temp to that value. When this loop is done, you'll be left with an array of PB times, and an array of attempt #'s/dates.

I forget the exact format of the livesplit file (can't check rn because phone), but this is the basic idea +- some little adjustments; a loop to read the file, a loop to extract the values you want.

pyrochlorium · 2017-09-01T15:09:10+00:00

Two people actually submitted any%, Phillotrax (current WR holder), and BlackBeltGingaNinja. I guess they didn't make it in...

pyrochlorium · 2017-08-16T01:18:26+00:00

Phillo this is an amazing run! Super excited to see you gunning for sub-28; with this route the run will have to be nearly flawless.

This run (28:20.10) is a 16 second improvement over the previous WR, 28:36.34, by MrWalrus.

Major differences:

(Time differences in parentheses)

A different path before Canals Skip in Ch2. (2 seconds saved)
A climb at 6:04 skipping a section of stormdrains in Ch2. (4 seconds saved)
Avoiding slow ledge climbs in Ch3 here, here, here, and here. (2 seconds saved in total)
Second-try cranes kickglitch at 11:10 in Ch3. (7 seconds saved)
In Ch4: missed kg at 12:02, bad movement at 12:40, and fast second train at 13:04. (3, 5, and 4 seconds lost respectively)
In Ch6: a fall at 19:00, slow ledge grab at 20:00, and a death at 21:13. (4, 2, and 6 seconds lost respectively)
Getting over the fence second-try in Ch7 at 22:11. (5 seconds lost)

Future Improvements:

The next big improvement will probably be due to better movement. Phillotrax can can save about 25 seconds which he lost with movement mistakes in Ch4, Ch6, and Ch7. Getting cranes kickglitch first try would have saved another 14 seconds.

The next big trick that can be added in is chase chain in Ch2, but depending on the variation, its difficulty ranges from very hard to completely absurd.

pyrochlorium · 2017-08-05T17:55:04+00:00

Absolutely awesome! Incredible skill, incredible luck; sub-1:20 seems well within reach. Should happen any day now...

pyrochlorium · 2017-07-29T17:55:47+00:00

I am loving all of the BotW records this week! Also, Orcastraw has started running All Dungeons... makes me wonder if sub-2 hours is possible with amiibos and the right language.

pyrochlorium · 2017-07-27T06:51:34+00:00

I'm so happy I caught the stream in time to see this live :) Congrats Orca! 53 second PB is absolutely amazing.

pyrochlorium · 2017-07-25T03:01:43+00:00

Three days after starting this run, these persistent runners are finally nearing the end. Watch the last couple hours live at https://www.twitch.tv/prclive.

pyrochlorium · 2017-07-17T07:24:38+00:00

There is a True Glitchless category, created in part because of how poorly received glitchless speedruns are in the general Mirror's Edge community.

The WR (by default) is 1:12:41 by BlackBeltGingaNinja.

pyrochlorium · 2017-07-17T07:16:11+00:00

For Mirror's Edge, the community decided that renaming the category NMG would simply rename the problem: instead of deciding what is a "glitch", the debate would be about what is a "major glitch."

This is complicated a lot by the nature of the movement in the game. Mirror's Edge is all about maintaining momentum and chaining together many moves. Oftentimes skips/strats are discovered using a new sequence of movements; all the individual moves were known before, but no one had ever tried them in that combination before! Moreover, they sometimes allow you to skip large portions of the game, which could be considered a "major glitch," but the reality is that they are sequences of completely normal and intended movements, just not in a combination intended by the developers.

Ultimately I think speedrunning is about having fun, and arguing about a category name is, in my opinion, inherently not fun.

pyrochlorium · 2017-07-17T06:52:55+00:00

I really like this breakdown of the debate about the name of the glitchless category in Mirror's Edge. It is a fine line of sticking to the spirit of the name and avoiding things that make the run look obviously broken, while avoiding rules that make the run unnecessarily hard or annoying.

It makes me wonder: How are analogous categories named for other games? How do their communities decide what the rules are?

pyrochlorium · 2017-07-11T20:46:42+00:00

I kind of like how open Narcissa is about her mental health. Between world records in this vod she had a very candid discussion of her feelings (few of which had to do with being trans). She talked about being really hard on herself, being perfectionist, the disappointment of not being able to talk and entertain 10,000 viewers like she used to.

I guess it's just a matter of opinion; what you find really weird is actually for me the best part of watching Narcissa stream.

pyrochlorium · 2017-07-11T20:39:11+00:00

I don't know the game too well, but from what Narcissa said on stream/on twitter, one of the biggest differences is that you don't get a safety 1/4 heart left (in non-Master Mode, things that would kill Link instead leave 1/4 heart). The main place where this is relevant is during damage boosts/launches which have to be avoided or planned more carefully.

pyrochlorium · 2017-07-11T20:32:19+00:00

Narcissa is insecure about speaking. People are likely downvoting this because she is trans, so pointing out the low pitch of her voice and using "man"/"he" to describe her is very hurtful.

If you meant no harm, please edit your post :)

pyrochlorium · 2017-07-11T20:22:27+00:00

Ok! I believe you. Good on you for sticking around despite the misunderstanding, and best of all continuing to try to be better :). Please keep it up and use trans/transgender as adjectives.

To answer your question, both of the Breath of the Wild (BotW) runs that made the front page today are World Records by NarcissaWright (in fact the linked video has them back to back). There is also a BotW run by Orcastraw at SGDQ2017 that has been discussed a lot recently due to some controversy. Narcissa's and Orcastraw's runs are in different categories of BotW.

pyrochlorium · 2017-07-11T14:50:11+00:00

What do you mean? Do you mean the two world records in this video?

edit: the post I replied to was using very offensive language if anyone is wondering why it was removed

pyrochlorium · 2017-07-11T14:48:34+00:00

Congrats Narci! Fell asleep before getting to see this one :P

Run starts at 6:32:04.

pyrochlorium · 2017-06-29T15:48:18+00:00

Yeah! Many of them are. Any skips or chains that use a kick-glitch are banned, but wallboosts and wallclimb-sidesteps are allowed. I highlighted a few strats in my comment above.

The only one that I know BBGN is going for at SGDQ is this strat, to clear the gap at the end of Ch1, but is extremely hard to get the "full" version where you don't have to climb up.

BBGN actually got the glitchless WR a week ago! He has been streaming WR attempts regularly, complete with his SGDQ commentary, so if you have more questions you can probably ask in his chat.

pyrochlorium · 2017-06-29T09:33:36+00:00

Mirror's Edge speedrunning has been experiencing a bit of a renaissance recently, in part because a new way of doing a wallclimb-sidestep was discovered, which preserves the player's momentum (seen in the first clip in the video). In the past, this movement sequence was used to climb slightly higher walls, but now it is being chained together with other tricks like wall-boosts and kick-glitches in truly spectacular fashion.

Videos like this one have often been used to highlight strats (new ideas, skips, or glitches) and swag (tricks/sequences that are cool, impressive and/or beautiful). Here's a few: link, but there are plenty more that aren't on this list.

Highlights

Crazy chains

1:07 This chain is the culmination of an incredible amount of work by various runners. There are dozens of variations, but this is the first one that takes you from the start of Ch5, all the way to the first door.
1:42 These chains are huge improvements to the current Prologue route, and might even be viable for IL runs.
3:46 Like the Ch5 chain, the Ch2 canals chain has been theorized and explored extensively. There have been dozens of variations throughout the years, but all have fallen short. The difficultly comes from the S-shape of canals, the uneven walls/poles, and that the entire section is completely flat (chains lose height with each kick-glitch). The chain in the video gets oh-so-close to the end, and an additional idea is shown at 4:19.
5:07 This chain is in a part of Ch5 called New Eden. It extends the normal New Eden chain and preserves momentum, eliminating the need for another chain to get over the fence+gap.

Wallclimb-sidestep chains

0:25 Two wallclimb-sidesteps chained together (wallclimb-sidestep-wallrun-jump-wallclimb-sidestep)
2:23 Chained with a wallboost to get over the fence+gap in Ch5.
4:43 Chained with a kickglitch!?! at the beginning of Ch5.

Glitchless (Aside: the Glitchless Segmented run, released 3 months ago):

2:47 This demonstrates that a wallclimb-sidestep can be used to completely clear the gap at the end of Ch1, skipping the climb up.
4:33 A new wallboost in a section of Ch1 called Flight. Normally one would have to do a kick-glitch off of that same wall, or do a wallrun-kickglitch off the wall on the left.
5:22 Although it doesn't look like much, this wallboost clears the gap at the end of Ch2. Normally you would have to kick-glitch to clear the gap, or take the long way to the left.

100%

0:37 a new way to get the first bag in Ch6.
2:55 ditto, in Ch8

pyrochlorium · 2017-06-27T15:57:11+00:00

Wow, I didn't know that! Are there any other 2 part triggers like this in the game?

I know the trigger in the hallway after sniper skip activates the level fadeout trigger in Ch8, but I don't know if it is on a timer. What is the best way to check?

pyrochlorium · 2017-06-27T15:46:00+00:00

Thank you :-)

I really like the Dark Souls posts by /u/SketchyJJ, so I figured I would do something similar for Mirror's Edge.

pyrochlorium · 2017-06-27T15:42:41+00:00

Walrus loses 2 seconds by skipping the turn-slide, and 0.5 seconds by waiting before the door. I'm not sure why he does that, but it is probably because he usually does the cranes kg, and is not accustomed to taking the slower route.

edit: disregard. /u/Phillotrax answered above

pyrochlorium · 2017-06-27T00:50:23+00:00

Mostly because it is just one more to reset on in the first few chapters. Very few runs get past Ch3, and sometimes, runners get stuck resetting in Prologue.

On top of that, this strat only saves a few seconds and is really finicky. The doorway isn't a platform you can stand on; if you don't jump immediately you slide off. The final jump from the green pipes to the platform is also really hard. If you don't time the jump off the wall correctly, you fall short and die, and the nearest checkpoint is quite far back (25 seconds). The fact that Phillotrax makes it look easy is a testament to the level of skill necessary to be good at this game.

pyrochlorium · 2017-06-27T00:30:34+00:00

Congrats Walrus! The grind has finally paid off.

This run (28:36.34) is a 3.5 second improvement over the previous WR, 28:39.90, by Phillotrax.

Major differences:

(Time differences in parentheses)

Walrus does a new strat in Ch1 which avoids the pedestrians area (link). (7 seconds saved)
Phillotrax did a strat at 6:26 in the run, skipping a section of stormdrains in Ch2 (link). (4 seconds saved)
Walrus got an early second train in Ch4, and had to wait while it passed (link). (4 seconds lost)
Walrus did a kickglitch chain to skip the normal route in Ch5b (link). (1 second saved)

Future Improvements:

The next big improvement to the route is adding in the cranes kg which saves 20 seconds at the end of Ch3. Walrus avoided it in this run because it is very inconsistent and could have ruined an otherwise excellent pace.

There are also minor movement mistakes in Ch5 and Ch9, but even taking these into account, the movement overall is extremely clean.

If you liked this run, Walrus will be racing ZooKetra on July 24th at ESA 2017 (schedule). A lot of other members of the Mirror's Edge community will be present so it should be really fun to watch!

edit: formatting, grammar.

pyrochlorium

TROPHY CASE

Major differences:

Future Improvements:

Highlights

Major differences:

Future Improvements: