Titan kill animation skip (frame-perfect)
7 years ago

Update: I have replaced my outdated discovery videos with a better tutorial from the latest WR holder:

Just watch the above. ^

Original post:

Hey hi hey.

This is really exciting!

This timesave skips the cutscene after killing Titans by quitting to menu on the same frame. (You can also quit by forcing the game to close, but that is NOT allowed).

It's useful in any% and perhaps even more so in 100%. It could save over a minute, we think, if perfectly executed. Here's the catch: it's very very unreliable, so far.

I like to call it RiskySkip but hey that's just a nickname for now. Maybe one day it won't be risky at all. We could call it TCSS or TKAS or Absorb Skip...

Here's how it works.

Terminology used here: Action button: (A on 360, X on ps4, X on keyboard) Cancel button: (B on 360, O on ps4, C on keyboard)

----Step 1: Storing the exit menu.

This is the easy part. Pause, select quit, then press and hold the action button. Hit the cancel button while still holding the action button. This will unpause the game but you'll still see the exit menu.

To do it quickly, in a run, there are different methods. Here's mine. First, you'll need to prepare the menu. Pause and hover over quit, then unpause. You can do this while waiting for doors to open or on elevators or wherever you like. It takes a second, but you don't have to lose time to do it if you plan ahead.

Then, push and hold action and pause at the same time. This should bring you directly to the Exit menu, and you'll be asked to confirm if you want to exit. If it doesn't bring you straight to the exit menu, try again.

While still holding Action, push the cancel button. This should now cancel the pause but you will KEEP the exit menu. You can now run around with the exit menu open.

As long as you have some input on the control stick or directional pad, you can't click Exit. So as long as you are moving, you won't accidentally quit. With a bit of practice, you can do all of this in just a split second. You can do it as soon as you enter a boss room, or if you prefer, at any break in the action while fighting a boss. If you change rooms, you will lose the stored pause.

If you push Action just before you push Pause, you will roll as this happens. Depending on the situation, you may wish to do it this way.

Play around in this state to understand what will and will not trigger the menu.

----Step 2. Kill the boss.

This part is easy, too. Kill the boss but don't finish it yet, as in, don't recall your arrow. You can fight the boss with an exit menu stored, or you can kill the boss and then store an exit menu. Up to you.

-----Step 3. Frame perfect quit.

While you have an exit menu stored, retract your arrow from the boss in order to finish it off. At the very moment when the animation is about to start, click Exit on your stored exit menu.

If you are too late, you'll have to watch the cutscene you were trying to skip. If you are too early, it's pretty bad: you will exit to the main menu but the boss kill will not be saved to your file.

It took me many tries to get it for the first time. Here are some tips to help.

-Practice on a quick kill boss that you can easily access from a nearby spawn point. I like Hevel and Eyecube. -Use a NG+ save so that if you finish the boss you can respawn the boss. Keep note of your file's number of kills, if you do this. -Use the text and ornamentation found on the exit menu to line up with certain background elements. -Most people seem to have more success by standing as close as possible to where the arrow hit the boss.

Update: I have replaced my outdated discovery videos with a better tutorial from the latest WR holder: (twitch.tv/videos/553072710)

If you ever want to attempt WR using Risky Skips, this is a must-watch. ^

Overall, you can do anywhere from 0 to 8 skips depending on how much risk you want to take. [big]Which bosses work?

Often, you will quit out and skip the animation and the trick will appear to work, but the boss kill counter will -not- increase and you'll have to fight the boss again. It's very unfortunate. We call this a Fake Skip. In addition to just randomly not working, Fake skips lead to a full on game crash for these bosses:

[big][big]☑[/big][/big] SLUDGEHEART [big][big]☑[/big][/big] BRAINFREEZE [big][big]☒[/big][/big] EYECUBE [big][big]☑[/big][/big] OBELLO [big][big]☒[/big][/big] VINETHESIS [big][big]☑[/big][/big] GOL-HEVEL [big][big]☑[/big][/big] ELDER [big][big]☑[/big][/big] KNIGHT ELHANAN [big][big]☑[/big][/big] AVARICE [big][big]☒[/big][/big] MOL-QAYIN [big][big]n/a ☒[/big][/big] GOL-QAYIN [small]always fakeskip and crash[/small] [big][big]☑[/big][/big] ROL-QAYIN [big][big]☒[/big][/big] ONYXIA [big][big]☒[/big][/big] YETI [big][big]n/a[/big][/big] STRATUS [small]always fakeskip[/small]

Gol-iath, Gol-set, Soul, Truth are not included because the skip saves no time. Hard mode bosses may or may not be the same, they can be tested too.

☑ = Works if done properly ☒ = Crashes on fakeskip[/big]

[small]Thanks to Sneeaaky, Zic3, and especially Nalae/Str00del for help with testing.[/small]

Edited by the author 4 years ago
UnyuuDreams and SNeaky like this
United States

6oliath. I've been doing some testing on PS4. It hasn't crashed for me yet. But when I seem to get it, I don't get the kill count? Have you had this on the PC? Thanks :)

6oliath likes this
United States

Zic3's Notes:

  1. Confirmed works on PS4. (Just did it on Ice Block)
  2. Sometimes does not give confirmed kill on PS4 (Making this even more Risky on PS4)
  3. PS4 Crashes when doing it on Eye Cube ( Not sure about PC. 6oliath? SNeaky?)
  4. I spent hours on this. This is awful
Edited by the author 7 years ago
6oliath likes this

Rofl ok.

Maybe it's just eyecube then. No idea why that would be.

And yeah, my current theory is that if you get too far from the boss, you get a bigger frame window to get the quit but there's still only one frame that will work. So that's what you mean by "not always getting the confirmed kill". Happens on pc too.

Just goes to show how little we understand about it. So far.

I'll test more on eyecube. Maybe it crashes on pc too.

We could also test every boss to see which ones actually work. Maybe I'll stream that.

United States

Alright. I'll do some testing with all the bosses on PS4. We can compare bosses then lol

Québec

Eyecube crashes for me on PC pretty consistently.

Québec

It works on Brainfreeze.

Massachusetts, USA

Threw together a quick video with more information on how it works and how I managed to get it semi consistent. 1440x900 is actually one of the best resolutions to use to line it up tbh http://puu.sh/r5NJf/acdbfaaf51.jpg

Edited by the author 7 years ago
6oliath likes this
Belgium

Would it be okay to change some textures to make the risky skip easier ? (better reference point)

(It's not like I would do it soon, but better sooner than later)

Edited by the author 7 years ago

No. Not on a run, anyway.

The game files or data are not allowed to be modified in any way other than through playing the game.

However, if you wish to change the graphics or sound for the purpose of __ practicing __ the skip, I encourage you to do so if it helps you learn the timing! I did that when I was trying to figure out how it worked and how unreliable it is. Just be sure to take all precautions and never upload a run that has or appears to have modified game files.

Belgium

Thanks for the answer :)

Rhône-Alpes, France

I've done some test for the any% and I found that :

  • RS WORKS on EyeCube (normal), it only crash on fail skip.
  • RS WORKS on VINETHESIS (normal), it only crash on fail skip. =>

My settings : Thruth mode ON / 1440¤900 / No Full Screen / Vsync OFF / English

Edited by the author 7 years ago