I would like to figure out some other interesting categories to look at as well at some point but atm just the any% stuff is turning out to be more interesting with new stuff being found recently. So as for now things will remain as we have been doing so until we can decided what to do or see if the developers are willing to work with us to fix some issues such as the slider fixed positions as an example.

yes I am aware that with each victory for scheduled fights that the curve goes up each time, as the game always wants to create a challenge by design. Previous playthroughs on a more casual setting I was doing all fights but achieving all victories is something that is not really to be expected due to how harsh the nature of the game is. It would be a fun thing to try and do but from more and more trials of doing so its not possible no matter the difficulty at least on the newest patches.

Another thing to note recently that may have been there before but possibly not functioning as intended but there is a qwerk to how the difficulty slider works, as in sliding it to far one direction while it may not change the actual stated difficulty it does affect things in the game such as starting resources and in game time flow. I have contacted the developer of the game to ask about this issue and this was a feature in the game that was coded it, however he may look into fixing the slider so that it locks to positions that actually change values in game. Knowing this now ill change some things on the boards in time as of currently there is 2 starting values for each difficulty based on more testing but there could be more or less pending on if a adjustment to how the slider works will be made or not.

So my previous post while still correct in some instances for the starting resources per difficulty it will vary a bit for Normal as you can start with the same resources as Hard/Pro Gamer but my assumption is that there is other things like rewards and over difficulty curve and events that are also adjusted along with this. For now I will refer to the lowest value of each difficulty as A and the other known highest value as B till we know more. for the time being I suggest that the sliders be set to the lowest just as it turns to the difficulty you want, for Easy i suggest putting it as far left as possible.

More and more stuff I'm learning with this game as time goes on which is good, as had my first crash in a long time as well. last known crash i had was back before patch v1.1.0

So recently on Patch v1.1.18 I have done some recent testing and trial runs mainly focused at Pro Gamer which is going to require a very different way to stabilize at start up which also would work for Hard since they share allot of similarities. Now I have got this info for us to explore more and think about.

Starting values per difficulty; Easy - 1000x coin, 400x water, 800x food, 80x wine | 2 well-geared AI 100 gladiators and 1 AI 100 slave | 1 random card and 1 return cards. | 3 days takes 17 seconds approximately no inputs. Mild - 1000x coin, 400x water, 800x food, 80x wine | 2 semi-geared AI 100 gladiators and 1 AI 100 slave | 1 random card and 1 return cards. | 3 days takes 16 seconds approximately no inputs. Normal - 1000x coin, 400x water, 800x food, 80x wine | 2 geared AI 100 gladiators and 1 AI 100 slave | 1 random card and 1 return cards. | 3 days takes 15 seconds approximately no inputs. Hard - 500x coin, 200x water, 400x food, 40x wine | 1 AI 100 slave | 1 random card. | 3 days takes 14 seconds approximately no inputs. Pro Gamer - 500x coin, 200x water, 400x food, 40x wine | 1 AI 100 slave | 1 random card. | 3 days takes 13 seconds approximately no inputs.

Events still depending on difficulty will vary more harsh events on higher difficulties, and more favorable events on lower difficulties. On top of the events some of them are specific to certain difficulties I should start tracking which ones and the frequency at some point.

Timing for 3 days was done from the very start of the game once hitting "OK" till the first scheduled event popped up which is exactly 3 in game days from a fresh file for every difficulty. Tool-tip does state that difficulty does affect in game speed but again my testing is not 100% as it was done all manually multiple times but there is a very noticeable speed difference to me from Easy to Normal and from Normal to Pro Gamer. so between them I'm less sure about.

So far the only way I have been able to get a chance and stabilize at the start of Pro Gamer has been to do the following; Sell naked gladiator and buy a gladiator that is not naked for around 200-250 max gold. Set their training for strength as normal and upgrade their weapon to wooden sword if not already. Train Humility at the Doctore and set auto train. Buy x5 water from market. Hire the Medicus and set auto heal and train Antibiotics. Hire Architect and build 5 stone pits. Reject the first 2-3 fights until your gladiator is healed to full.

So with all of this Hard and for sure Pro Gamer is basically impossible it seems to do a no reject run / all victories without killing the run, right off the start.

If we were to have new or interesting categories/subs , we would need to make sure that they work well after we have explored more of the game and this information.

I will be starting a plan to track events per difficulty and the occurrence of them while doing test runs. If there are suggestions on better ways to maybe look at tracking these more accurately as this may be useful let me know.

Also would like to here some thoughts on this stuff or other ideas etc.

Once first phase of submissions end A new one will start shortly afterwards. If a run does not make it in past the cuts, you are allowed to resubmit it. Keep in mind the final list will be decided closer to the date of the marathon and as it is currently looking it will be in the first week of May. So keep that in mind as well.

Submission periods while they will go about a month each, will be done faster then waiting for a giant list which would make it allot more work overall with fewer people working on things. Also will let us know if we are gonna shoot for more then just the 3 days of that weekend.

check some of the already submitted runs. as far as it goes with what you stated should be okay but double check the requirements on submission rules as well.

Just to make sure everyone is aware, the marathon will take place in early May. The actual date(s) are not confirmed yet because it will depend on the number of submissions starting on First Phase of submissions since We are going to do a minimum of 3 days in that week but are aiming to do longer upwards to a week if we do get enough submissions to make it happen. The actual date will fall some where between the 1st and the 13th of May. After Submissions Close after the Second round of submissions, there will be a form to fill out for availability much like last time and to confirm runs from both submission periods.

Looking forward to having a great marathon again, and hopefully I will not sleep on my floor this time. =3

Been along while since I've posted an update here so here it is.

I am no longer managing or working on NieR: Automata currently, I may come back to speedrunning the game at a later point but I have many other games I'm looking to do runs of and continue doing runs of my main games like OG NieR.

Dale has been a great help and an amazing runner that picked up the game over the last long while and is currently rewriting my terrible Guide/notes as he has spent a great deal of more time recently being awesome at the game and actually giving me crap for not doing more then half the stuff that's actually in the notes because I forgot about them over the year(s).

The first True Ending run was finally done by Dale as well so big shout out to him, while it was talked about for a long while he finally took the time and beat me to it. I will be coming for you soon bud. =p

Non NieR specific stuff going on; PreNASA is soon so keep an eye out for that. ( https://www.speedrun.com/preNASA_2018/forum ) Proudly organizing and running ARPGME again this year. Submissions for that are open at this time for First Phase if you want to make a submission, also keep tabs on it for when the date is officially announced which is happening in early May. ( https://www.speedrun.com/arpgme2018/forum )

Not much else I can say that is interesting but doing what I can when I can, IRL keeps me busy enough as is but I do see that I lack allot of motivation currently to do much aside from what I'm currently doing with events etc. I need to start just being more active with streaming and hammer out runs a bit more perhaps is my problem.

Anyways looking forward to preNASA and Actual NASA, Aswell as ARPGME again this year like usual.

<3 Stay sexy

24th is closing for submissions.

Reminder that ARPGME is done purely through support of my self and the others who donate their time and skills to make this possible, without them we would not have such a great time. This means we have absolutely no revenue to put towards the event and do not collect anything during. If you want to support the Marathon best way to do so is either supporting the marathon directly or by tweeting out the event and sharing with others.

Every bit of support no matter how small is a big help.

If you want to get more directly involved with ARPGME this year or in the future please contact me through Twitter or Discord are the best options. (We would be looking for any of the following: Graphic artists, Sound and or Video Engineers as well as volunteers to help with Hosting,Commentary and other behind the scenes stuff that makes this possible.)

Thank you again to everyone for their consideration and support no matter what you do. <3

ARPGME 2018 Submissions Phase 1 will open today at 12 PM GMT, and will close after March 18th !

Please read the threads and ask any questions you may have either there or here. https://www.speedrun.com/arpgme2018/forum

<3

Submissions will be opening today at 12 PM GMT approximately 3 hours from now. And will run for the first phase till end of March 18th !

ARPGME does not have a very strict guideline set to follow but all submissions should adhere to the minimum to be considered for the event.

New to how submissions will work;

Submissions will be done in phases, This will allow myself and the others looking through them to get this done quicker for the final selections list before the event.

Submission periods for each of these phases will last approximately a month. If you submit during one of these phases and you submission does not get in, you can by all means resubmit it if you choose to.

Now for the actual guidelines for submissions, All submissions should adhere to the majority of these requirements;

• Character development.
• Emphasis on real-time combat.
• Item and or ability progression.
• Story-line or arch progression.

These are just the base ones that we would generally be looking at, this does not mean everything some games may have more or less of these elements but offer other ones as well but the biggest one that we will be looking at the most is the Emphasis on real-time combat in games.

Here is a quick list of examples of games that fit within the ARPG definition and with our's; Borderlands, Zelda Games, God of War, Hyper Light Drifter, Diablo, Witcher, Skyrim, Fallout, Torchlight, Mana Games, Dungeon Siege, Metroid, Vampire Bloodlines, inFAMOUS, Sacred, Mass effect, Baulder's Gate, Kingdoms Of Amalur, Bloodborn, Dark Souls, Bastion, Dragon Age, Horizon Zero Dawn, Kingdom Hearts, Deus Ex, Darksiders, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Order of Ecclesia, Portrait of Ruin, Symphony of the Night.

These are not the games we are looking for but just as an example.

Submissions for Races or other format types please indicate so. Feel free to submit multiple categories for the same or multiple games.

This is a showcase setting so we are not looking for the best runners, rather we are looking for interesting runs or runners that make it a relaxed and or fun time for all.

If you have questions about this feel free to ask. Looking forward to the submissions and to the event slated to be held in Early May this year of 2018!

Action Role-Playing Games Marathon Event is as it says a marathon that showcases an assortment of ARPG's and the communities around them.

We are not hard pressed on the general means of what some may class as an ARPG but we do like to see a variety of games that may take some of this formula we normally see in them.

This is an ONLINE Marathon, so everyone can participate or watch from the comfort of their own homes.

If you have an questions etc, Please let us know.

Big thank you to NASA again for collaborating with us to have the chance to do it again and the people that have donated their time and skills for the work used in this upcoming marathon. Without them we would not be able to do this, and more so you the runners/communities and the viewers that tune in to share the experience with.

<3

@raidenDX based on this matter the roll back seems to be the best solution and altering your hardware does change console runs baseline strengths with runs. Modifying the boards to allow third party modifications that impact the systems general performance and/or the games is something i can agree with is not generally okay in pretty much any leaderboard.

Previous submissions prior will remain as is in the knowing they were on original hardware before the most recent submission. I strongly encourage that you may join the discord as well and possible get into coop stuff or just be more in touch with everyone in general.

If there is any questions left pertaining to this feel free to discuss this but a board division based on un-supported and third party modifications and or hardware is now going to be a thing we will need to be aware of, we do at least appreciate the honesty with noteing it in the submission.

We have a new logo in works and we will hopefully have it done soon as well as submissions finally opening even if later then originally planned, fear not there will still be multiple submission periods as needed and an extension to the first one in regards to the delay.

~ MASH

IL runs would be submitted using the games in game time shown on the completion screen at the end of the quest. Full game runs would be using RTA timing from the start of the game when you confirm character creation to the point where you would reach w.e milestone for the RTA run which would be end of the quest for it.

As soon as you open up the console to remove or add third party or non-official modifications its voided. But the real reason behind why Hardware mods on consoles is not allowed in the broad general sense is because it changes the baseline comparison for consoles. Anything that directly gives an advantage like that is not generally allowed in a leader-board sense. KeynNaka only just recently mentioned about the conversation that took place a few days ago today, else we would not be having such a discussion about the particular case. It's not exaggerated by calling a non-official modification or clear advantage to the baseline as tampering. I do respect that you did indicate it with the submission tho at the very least.

I do agree that tampering with the console as such should not be allowed. Generally any sorta modding or tools being used outside the game would not be allowed. It may have been something the other mod over looked on the submission for the recent one for sure. But this does not help with the past runs either since now there is no proof that they were also not done on the modified hardware. Since it does have obvious gains it should not be allowed to be ranked with the rest of the runs. This is my stance on this, but hopefully we can come to a resolution to this.

The skill of the user determines the true potential of choice. Start with a stick and soon turn it into a mighty spear or sword.