United StatesThe NEC XM29 Plus does have output connectors, but I believe it's only via BNC style connectors, not like the one VGA style connector it has that they seem to be using. I have one and can check when I get home. They'd need to buy a SCART to BNC breakout, which is probably cheaper then the splitters actually.
I'm a bit of a hipster when it comes to anime I feel like, but here's my favorites... maybe someone will find one of these interesting:
Ergo Proxy - The atmosphere is delightfully dark, and the story is thought provoking. Every time I watch it, I notice something new.
Serial Experiments Lain - A work so dense I wrote a college paper on it. It hit upon a lot of modern technological anxieties before they even existed.
Big O - Okay, so what if Batman's mask was a giant robot, and all the giant robots were a metaphor? Also, a perfect blend of gothic and art deco styled visuals.
Cybersix - This is a stretch considering it was a Canadian/US adaptation of a very mature (and sometimes off-putting) Argentinian comic that somehow got green lit as a Saturday morning kids cartoon, but it was animated in Japan I believe. It's a relatively faithful adaption that fixes a lot of problems with the source material too. It was unfortunately cancelled after only a single season, but it was way ahead of it's time in a lot of ways.
You are welcome regardless, no runs required. Most folks tend to specialize anyways, so focusing on one game isn't abnormal!
Good luck on your runs!
So far so good! Not a single frame drop while recording and streaming.
The HD60 S also worked right out of the box. No driver install needed on Windows 10 with OBS, which I was impressed with. I did end up needing to do some updates to drivers to get some of my newer consoles working though.
Still gotta test the Wii U's Wii mode.
Switch: Flawless straight from the box.
PS3: @MASH is correct, it definitely works better on 720p for PS3. You have to plug and unplug the cap card otherwise, should it switch video modes. And boy does it like to switch video modes.
The splitter works great for PS3 though. I purchased a View HD - VHD-1X2MN3D ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004F9LVXC/ ) Just something of note, the splitter isn't magic, you do need an HDCP device on one side for it to work, but that should be pretty common unless you are trying to output to something that isn't a TV.
Wii U: Works exactly as you'd expect, only the big screen shows up. No hard resolution changes, so it's fine on even virtual console. Probably should test Wii mode eventually. Initially I had some issues with the video and audio skipping on this console, but after updating video and mainboard drivers, everything is resolved.
PS4: If you have a PS4 Pro, you need to set the thing to 1080p only and reset your capture card. Otherwise, it works just as you'd expect! No hard resolution changes. Initially I had some issues with the video and audio skipping on this console, but after updating video and mainboard drivers, everything is resolved.
ZSNES isn't something folks should be using these days anyways.
Don't get me wrong, it was influential and important, but there are far more accurate and simpler to use options now.
If you want that nostalgia hit, sure, use it for fun, but other than that, there's really no reason.
Actually, is it just me or is the text really close to the sides of the screen on mobile? It makes it a little awkward to read I feel like. If it's not just me, perhaps a little padding might fix it?
It's weird, the actual typing field doesn't have the same problem. Good padding there.
I like how clean it is, but after playing with the theme features, I think it would benefit from a little more user control in terms of text color, background color and top bar color. There's situations I can create that make certain color choices unworkable, or at least a lot less readable.
I'll miss being able to change the speedrun.com logo. I had some really nice ones cooked up.
EDIT: Cool, thanks @Pac !
Just an update, so after saving for 3 months, I finally pulled the trigger on a refurbished Elgato HD S and a splitter. I'm a little worried about the "refurbished" part, but considering my tight budget, it was the only way.
It's arriving tomorrow and I'll update with any gotchas or oddness I run into. Hopefully it will help others looking to buy a newer cap card.
Mario Bros. Arcade is a bit more of a polished game. There's jumping mechanics that are necessary to perfect in order to kill enemies, there's several enemy patterns, there's several different enemy types, and optimal ways to do things. There's also clear break points in Mario Bros.; rounds end, which are all something this lacks.
The inspiration is there, but generally speaking, if a fan game takes something and makes LESS of a game out of it, it's probably not really worth your time to speedrun IMHO.
I wouldn't buy anything unless you know you like video blogging. Use your phone or a cheap web cam to start, both are more than adequate quality these days.
I use a Panasonic CT-1386YD CRT for normal runs. You can find them for pretty cheap ($50 or lower with shipping included on ebay, largely dependent on location, but in Pennsylvania that shouldn't be a problem) and they can be shipped relatively safely. They have input and output connections for composite and S-Video, and there might even be a few high-end models that support RGB or Component (at a higher price point). The picture quality isn't as nice as a Sony PVM, but you're speedrunning on it, not doing analogue video editing, so the picture is honestly more then good enough.
I also own an NEC XM29 plus which is GLORIOUS, but 100+ pounds, expensive and nigh impossible to ship properly. Got mine for free from a client of mine that was about to put it in a dumpster! It had less than 200 hours of use clocked when it came into my possession. My wife justly doesn't let that one come out of the basement.
If you go the CRT route, try to get a CRT that was made in the late 90s to early 00s. Assuming you'd be buying online, there's less of a chance that there's burn in or other defects that you might not initially notice in pictures.
I gotta just watch these at normal speed, it's way too hard to catch things. Yeah, I can confirm you're correct on all of those @NewSchoolBoxer. Thanks for listing out the times!
Personally, I like the idea that all characters are recruited (except Galf obviously). Makes it pretty interesting. Though an argument could definitely be made that Lyon doesn't count, since it seems to change so little either way, he really should be included.
The 100% Rep thing seems a little arbitrary, I agree. Especially considering how RNG heavy this game is, I'd think it would be unfair to require it. A single mistake or bad battle RNG could potentially invalidate a run, and I really don't think absolute perfection is the intent here.
I personally like the last hit rule as it kind of flows with the general concept of first meaningful action or input to last meaningful action or input that so many of the original SDA runs are timed by, but I guess it doesn't mater much either way.
At this point, at least for Dragon's Haven, it probably doesn't make sense to change it. The moderation team doesn't seem to have much interest in re-timing things or updating the rules anyways. >shrug<
Try to get a 79k model number PS2 if you're going that route. They are most likely the fastest disk speed. Any slim PS2 is better than a fat PS2 though.
Hmm, I missed that in his latest video. Went back and checked, and sure enough, Lyon does not appear to be recruited by Brootus or @Dragondarch. Watch Brootus skip Lyon at 24:00. I honestly thought Lyon was recruited all this time, but it looks like all the early runs skip him on closer inspection. The routing just makes it look like it.
Well one thing you could argue is that Lyon isn't really a special character. Aside from the initial dialogue, he never plays any story importance again, and he isn't a requirement for any additional dialogue or items. Ashe it seems can have dialogue, so his recruitment makes sense. And like I said, Deneb actually makes the run interesting and she does have additional dialogue and triggers getting items, so it makes sense that she would be a requirement.
I don't know, the reasoning seems pretty clear cut to me in terms of recruitment at least. What do folks think? Is there an argument against not recruiting Lyon?
I remember hearing that the Saturn version had more content, but I'm surprised at just how much after reading about it. Pretty interesting! Thanks for pointing that out!
Weird take, but Tyrian 2000. Easy to get into. Lot's of menuing though.
Oh, it's also free on GoG.com. D'oh, forgot to mention that.
Understood on the not wanting to turn the thread into an argument. 👍
I've been trying to descalate by providing direct feedback, so hopefully I'm achieving some of that. Let me know if not though!
@Liv - I understand the guideline is not meant to come off as condescending, but it could read that way as you're making a determination over what you think is functional. Others might disagree on what constitutes a functional game as it could mean anything from simply able to run, to what actually makes up the bare basics of a game. And once you get into the philosophical side of what constitutes a game, that's where the dander tends to fly. I don't think inviting that type of discussion is what anyone wants, as it's just not productive.
In this case maybe a less exact term might do. I use the word "polished" for this usually, but it might not be the best term either in all honesty. To me a level of polish doesn't mean completeness, just that it has enough to be a recognized as a cohesive presentation. People tend not to be able to argue semantics around it, which I think is one of your goals. There's certainly other words too.
@kirkq - The guidelines and rules you drew up are great in general. I felt kind of bad even writing some of this down as it's really just the perception of change that looks to be what's concerning some folks, and I understand the intent. All of it makes sense, it's just the devil in the last 1% of the details. I apologize if I've made you feel like you had to come back and explain all of this, or even contributed to it - not my intention at all. I was actually slightly worried about this and disappointed to see you chime in. Thank you for doing so regardless.
I too really don't like to see all this weird uncomfortable... I don't know, infighting? ...about the rules, or perceptions of the rules... or whatnot. My goal is to reduce this kind of thing. Right now typing kinda hurts physically to be doing to be honest. I'd rather not be doing it. Just hope I'm being helpful is all.
I think people are interpreting it wrongly and responding angrily because some of them are very ambiguous, and not in a good way, i.e. a way that supports the Admin staff doing their jobs on SRC. It's good to hear they are being worked on (as you just stated in your post actually). And hey, writing concise guidelines are hard things to do. I get it. It's ambitious and amazing that the staff is try to codify things and make things transparent. I love that personally.
Just think a few of those that I discussed probably don't accurately represent the intent.
And, yeah, proof that multiple people run it probably makes sense for adding very obscure things (just noticed that in your post).
While I get where you're coming from @Dangerless and @Liv, there's certainly a number of games that I run that seem like leaderboards might never have existed under the new rules. I run them simply because I saw them listed here and decided to give them a try. And now due to the activity and competition, others are too. But I don't think that's really the point in itself.
I think a lot of the concern over the rules stem from the wording in Request Processing Details. It makes it seem like there's very little wiggle room, and I don't think it's an accurate reflection of what is intended. I don't think things have changed much at all from how the staff has been doing things, as @Liv alludes to, but some of the rules wording certainly make it seem like it.
• The game should have a reasonable length such as 5 minutes or longer.
Okay, the game shouldn't be too short, but there's plenty of legit games that can be beaten in under 5 minutes. This makes it look like there might be a problem with all games under 5 minutes. Don't think that's intended. Maybe just putting that: Average non-speedrun playthroughs should be over 5 minutes with exceptions at the staff's discretion? That's what I think the intent is.
• The game should show some level of effort by the developer that is better than a week spent by a teenager using generic Unity assets.
Okay, beyond that this comes off as condescending, I don't think this leaves room in the wording for games that are somehow notable despite serious drawbacks in quality. Maybe something like: The game should have a level of polish or notability. There, leaves lots of grey area for the Admin staff's discretion, and doesn't come off too harsh.
EDIT: I still think it's pretty condescending with the edit @Liv stated, but at least it's better.
• The game should have been played by a reasonably large number of people.
I think this is meaning that it should have a notable player base? At some point? I can see a lot of exceptions and room for confusion in this one. I myself thought this meant that it should be speedrun by a large number of people on first read. Think this is again a notability thing, but I can't fix this one without knowing what's intended, so I'll ask some questions:
Does this mean played casually by a large number of people? Does this refer to the availability of the game, or that the game was popular and well known enough? How does this handle prototypes and recent re-releases that aren't widely available due to being packaged with a product?
