Quit chapter skip discussion
6 years ago
Denmark

A couple of weeks ago Blasterpoard found a way to make a level end earlier by quitting the game just as the end level trigger is completed. Basically the game considers a chapter to be beaten the moment the final main quest is completed — even though the game would usually force you to wait a few seconds and then trigger an in game cinematic. This means that as soon as the main quest is completed, you can actually quit the chapter — thus skipping the in game cinematic — and proceed to the next chapter, which will now be unlocked. The glitch is demonstrated in this video:

So the question is: Should this be allowed?

Generally I dislike incorporating strange glitches into speedruns, which have basically nothing to do with how the game is played. But I can't really see why it should not be allowed, since glitches like these are usually always allowed in speedruns. And even if we do choose to ban it, we will still have to deal with end-chapter-glitches in general, as demonstrated by Orangutan in his HU-1 run where he presses escape at the exactly the right moment, to cause the cinematic to trigger earlier than usual. (And this glitch is far more inconsistent and annoying to pull off than Blasterpoards quit-early-glitch).

What are the pros of allowing this glitch?

  • It is consistent with speedruns in general, where the runner is allowed to use glitches to beat the game.
  • It makes far more finicky end-chapter-glitches obsolete
  • The game does in fact consider the level over as soon as the final quest is completed. The next chapter is unlocked at that moment and your heroes will become invulnerable and any experience they gain or items they pick up beyond that point will not carry over to the next level anyway. Basically nothing matters after you complete the end chapter quest. It is in fact only the timer which continues for some arbitrary reason.

What are the cons of allowing this glitch?

  • It will basically require every existing run to be retimed. The end for a level and a campaign will have to be defined to be when the main quest of the (final) chapter is completed.
  • Unless we can create an autosplitter which can handle this, it will be far more difficult to time and verify runs. How can we tell if the runner did not quit the level too soon?
  • It adds an annoying (and potentially run ending - if you screw it up) element to all campaign runs — which is admittedly far less annoying than some of the more inconsistent alternatives

Here is what I am thinking at the moment: Basically I think we should define the completion of the main question trigger (when your heroes become invulnerable) to be the end of a chapter. That would not force us to change anything about the existing IL runs — except that they have to be retimed. It would also not change much about the campaign runs, if we choose to consider all time in between levels to be "loading times" — it would thus only affect RTA. It does mean though, that the in game timer at the end of a chapter becomes worthless. The feasibility of this redefinition depends on whether or not the autosplitter can be updated to reflect this change. But if it can, then the runners would only have to quit out early if he cares about the real time, which would only be relevant for campaign runs anyway.

And remember, if we do not allow make this change, then we will be forced to deal with the that alternative end-chapter-glitches, which are far more inconsistent and annoying to pull off.

What do you guys think?

MicroElf and ROMaster2 like this