The Elite Forum
The Big Three Plus One => GoldenEye 007 => Topic started by: RWG on June 21, 2014, 07:06:32 am
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I figured I should finally put to rest the age old question "does strafing Val on Streets actually save time?" To do this, we need to take a look at some video frames from the first area. Now, I watch both cinemas, so I can only compare to those who watch both cinemas too. Strafing Val causes the switch to happen roughly 1 second later, so that instead of getting a 2:14.2 switch, you might get a 2:13.5 switch. This balances out though, because your ending will be the same faster. The timer switch is essentially pivoting on a teeter-totter of time. If it switches late due to strafing Val, then the timer starts from 6:00:00 at a later point in the level.
This renders looking at the switch itself ineffective. So you need to find a place AFTER the Val encounter, BEFORE the switch to compare some times. I've decided to use a certain corner for this.
Let's have a look at three 1:55s which did not strafe Val.
Mirrormage's SA 1:55
(https://i.imgur.com/84idz6x.png)
1:0 to Val resulting in a 2:14.7X at this point. You can see he got a 2:13.86 switch. So this point is roughly .9 from the traditional "no Val strafe switch point." This was enough for 1:55.
Marc's SA 1:55
(https://i.imgur.com/Us6xaQQ.png)
A faster run thanks to 2:0 to Val. 2:15.11 here is intense and resulted in a 2:14.20 switch. That is an excellent switch very capable of a 1:55. In fact, a mere 3:2 from this point got him the 1:55. With this speed, 2:0 to Val, +1 later is enough.
Karl's 00A 1:55
(https://i.imgur.com/JfdlcWw.png)
Crazy run. 2:0 to Val again. 2:15.20 for a 2:14.35 switch (close to best ever?) Karl got 3:0 more which gave him a 1:55.7X. Not bad. Perhaps if strafed better, gotten less lag, this could have gone down to 1:55.3X (based on Marc's run.)
Now let's take a look at a run I got tonight, with strafing Valentin.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GTyEtdp-5E
(https://i.imgur.com/t4HzITC.png)
This run was a 1:56.03, but that's besides the point. I only had 1:0 to Val, and my time at the comparison point is the same as Marc and Karl. And a full 0.3X ahead of Mirror. This means that strafing Valentin the way I did it on this run, saved roughly the equivalent of one good boost.
Of course, if I had gotten 2:0 to Val here, my timer at the comparison point might have been 2:14.4X. This would have been about 0.25 ahead of Karl, dropping that to a 1:55.4X. With better strafing, less lag, a couple more boosts, etc, this makes 1:54 very real.
The way I strafed Val, built speed, and left Val, was close to as well as I've been able to figure out so far, but it's likely there is an even more optimal way. Certainly Valentin can be strafed further out the door, so that should save a few more frames.
What I do is try to get Val to the door frame, then charge on the door's threshold, and leave at 2:18.50 if I got 1:0, or 2:18.75 if I got 2:0. The angle of leave is very important, but I've only worked on this for a few hours so I'm sure it can be refined.
Anyways, that should clear up that strafing Val is in fact the faster strategy. Have fun Ace, Karl, etc, on sniping up those 1:54s before I can get them!
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Luckily Streets is one of my bucket list of levels I will never play again in my life so good luck to Karl on getting it before Goose! :nesquik:
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I was planning on going for 1:54 before even without val strafe. I am getting the itch again to play some GE but only on really relaxing levels like s1 and streets. So I'll have a play soon :)
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Whoo, intense!