United KingdomI actually beat this game once upon a time many years ago on PC, returning to it now though I have rediscovered how both tough and unforgiving this title was!
Furthest I have gotten so far, in a relative speedrunning learning sense, is just past the tree. At this point all my health was gone and some unfortunate spawns finished Ashley off.
Any general survivability tips would be much appreciated.
Hello all.
Having coordinated with Pazuzu_, you may notice we now have three categories for this game. Each have their own individual rules but also overarching rules which apply to all three categories. Should anyone be planning to start running this game, I strongly advice you check the rules first (to prevent any complications later).
Secondly, I strongly advise, regardless of where you obtain your copy of Blade Runner, that you manually download and install ScummVM and play the game from that rather than any pre-installed versions. - The default ScummVM installer for Blade Runner is, to my knowledge, version 0.2.0 which is VERY out of date. - This is, however, at your discretion.
In brief though the categories are as follows:
1 - Any% - No manual seed selection allowed - Original or 'Restored Content' versions both allowed
2 - Any 'Enhanced Edition' - This is strictly for the 2022 cough "enhanced" version of Blade Runner only
3 - Any SeedRunner - Manual Seed selection (predetermining/guaranteeing key RNG is allowed) - Original or 'Restored Content' versions both allowed
Again though, please see the overall speedrunning rules for Blade Runner as well as the individual category rules.
I always like to run a tight ship when it comes to rules, but occasionally that ship turns out to be the Titanic. So if there are any grey areas or confusing points, please don't hesitate to drop me or Pazuzu_ a DM.
In regard to the new 'SeedRunner' category, all information/downloads you require are below. Again though, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask. - Please note though that at the time of writing only ScummVM 2.9.0 guarantees seed selection. 2.8.1 claims it can do it, but that's not entirely true.
ScummVM 2.9.0 (or latest version) download - This is the most recent ScummVM working build and can be updated on literally a daily basis - https://buildbot.scummvm.org/#/dailybuilds
ScummVM Update Reel for Blade Runner (lists all fixes in latest ScummVM version) No need to update ScummVM if there's nothing new here - https://github.com/scummvm/scummvm/commits/master/engines/bladerunner
Darkshoxx's amazing RNG seed selector - https://darkshoxx.github.io/BladeRunNG/
Hello old and new Blade Runner speedrunners.
I've been running the game for around 2-3 weeks now and I tend to go at things rather hard. As such, I have a LOT of new information appertaining to my most recent submissions. - I'll try and keep this as brief and concise as possible, but if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.
SCUMMVM 2.9.0
Following the release of ScummVM 2.8.1 earlier this year, it was claimed that it was possible to manually select the RNG seed. As I'm sure we're all aware, Blade Runner is a horrific mess of RNG. Having spoken with ScummVM developer 'PraetorianWolfie', however, the update notes regarding seed selection was only a half truth.
Keeping things simple, although 2.8.1 would allow you to manually set a seed via the global settings, there were a number of potential conflicts within the game's menu system, as well as with the save files (including the mountain of autosaves you acquire), that could result in the manually set seed being overwritten into something random. I checked and was able to confirm this issue myself.
Put simply, this seed selection on 2.8.1 (the most current stable release of ScummVM at the time of writing) does not work.
With 2.9.0 currently in development though, 'PraetorianWolfie' confirmed that this issue had been fixed.
Yes, there is a means of manually selecting a seed and have it remain consistent throughout numerous attempts. - So, the doors were open to finding the optimal RNG seed! Something I think many of us who run/ran this game would consider the most frustrating issue!
FINDING THE SEED!
So, with ScummVM 2.9.0, the 'luck' could be mostly set. And by 'luck' what I mean is who is predetermined as a human/replicant when you start a new run.
The most obvious optimal luck route, as far as I could ascertain, was the following:
Izo - Replicant / Dektoka - Human / Lucy - Human / Gordo - Replicant / Luther/Lance - Human / Sadik - Replicant
This would allow Lucy/Dektora/Gordo pathing in act 3 which, again, I believe is the most optimal.
Speaking to my friend (and retro speedrunning legend) Darkshoxx - He has found a means of finding every single potential seed. - Better still, he actually made a GitHub page where you can play around with it!
Incredible work so clap clap for Darkshoxx.
Literally find your seed number (see above for what I think is optimal), set it in ScummVM 2.9.0 via Global Settings, and away you go. GUARANTEED rng.
https://darkshoxx.github.io/BladeRunNG/
TLDR - SEED #404 seemed a strong choice to me#
Oh, and presuming you want to check/confirm your RNG at any point in ScummVM 2.8.1 or 2.9.0, you can type 'cheat' in the debug menu (CTRL+ALT+D). This will reveal the human/replicant status of all important characters.
SEE PAGE 2 BELOW!!!
Hi all - Please try and include the IGT with any submission videos. IIRC it's displayed at the successful completion of each level. Just makes verification easier.
When Suck Up! was originally released I was not personally aware of any specific glitches or skips within the environment that could impact anything notable in regard to speedrunning. I did, quite literally, just map out what I thought was the most efficient route using the intended (most obvious) pathways.
Since that time, however, three fairly significant time-saving glitches have been discovered:
1 - The ability to clip through porches to knock on doors (saving time walking around them)
2 - The ability to clip through a wall in Mr. Boomer's house (making a more direct route to Sakura's house)
3 - The ability to jump over Karen's roof, coming from Elom's house (making a more direct route 'as the bat flies')
When the "Normal" category was created, this was solely in regard to it not allowing any glitched 'conversations' with the AI. In other words, interactions had to be, relatively speaking, 'as intended'. And in regard to the this category, it was only created because some very clever people found that there were ways to 'trick' the AI.
With that being said, however, the above skips have made me question the overall nature of 'Normal' vs 'Glitched' and specifically what definitions people may apply to those categories moving forward.
So, I've had to make a decision...
For the current patch version, and any future patch which does not fix or change any of the above, "Normal" will allow the above three skips and anything else subsequently discovered as long as it is nothing too crazy; Such as the ability to permanently fly as a bat, etc..
If this is an issue, I will happily rename the category to 'Normal% No Major Glitches" and create a new one "Normal% No Skips", but I'm going to leave the community to decide that as we have precious few runners and I wouldn't want to muddy the waters by making a whole new leader board nobody would participate in.
Around 2 months ago I attempted to tidy up the leader board to better comply with the updates Suck Up! received since its release 6 months ago.
To do this I did archive the original 0.2.11 submissions which, unfortunately, sent them to a metaphorical graveyard.
It was not ideal, but at the time I couldn't think of a better solution.
With that being said, I did regret losing the older records and talking with some of the Suck Up! speedrunning community, I have re-created those leaderboards and reinstated the records under their respective categories.
If I've made any errors, please let me know.
Sometimes, despite the strats, the AI can be very difficult, so consider this more of a generalised speedrunning strategy. There are definitely some inconsistent people in this game and you may want to experiment with finding your own methodologies.
Just an fyi to runners that I'm not going to archive past version leader boards anymore unless a new version release significantly alters something.
TLDR - If the games mostly the same, the leaderboard will stay the same. - If something significantly new happens, it might get renewed.
Hi all! - With the release of v.0.4.3 I've finally gotten around to updating the leader boards (apologies for the delay but I've been working away from home for, pretty much, the last 3 months). Alas, those on the prior release version have seen your runs consigned to the 'archive' pile as the undoubted release of more updates would only see this leader board get very cluttered (and mostly obsolete) very quickly.
The good news is that the runs should still exist on your own profile, the bad news is that they won't appear on the leader board any more.
But hey, you can always submit a new run... Apologies for any disgruntlement though.
Hello - Have we established at what point submitted times should be recorded? - I've been going from 'first' input (on the boat) to last input (walking into the portal in the end game).
Any issue with this?
Route guide which I may update according to new discoveries, but if you're looking for starting tips, this should be helpful!
Hi all - Not sure if this is a known glitch in the speedrun yet (I found it by accident).
Basically, if you get next to a car and start quickly toggling the direction controls, you can clip through the carraige, back up, and then hook onto it (clip below).
This was on PC version, so I can't vouch for PSVR2, but thought it worth mentioning.
Route:
I clipped through and back-up up onto carraige 1
Got 2 as normal
Clipped through 3
Got 4 as normal
Backed up, reset crossings, straight through to the exit
Don't know if this could be optimized into a time save, but thought it worth a showing.
Hi all. Not an aficionado of this franchise but in Monster Land you can get a random power-up 'Winged Boots'.
Speedrunning the game, these make a HUGE difference to my times, but given their completely random nature in 'dropping' I feel somewhat compelled to maybe split runs into two separate categories (boots and no boots). I just don't feel that a completely random and arbitrary element such as this should be deemed the sole "record".
Thoughts?
This category is open for both Amiga and Atari ST users with any system configuration accepted. Emulated or real hardware, it doesn't matter.
To compensate for the different loading times (making RTA impossible), runners will need to add up the sum total of the time spent on a level via the in-game timer (at the top of the screen for each level/mini-game).
So, for example, if a 3-minute level ends with the timer at 2.01, then your time for that level is 59 seconds.
This includes mini-games. So, for example, each of the target ranges will clearly be 30 seconds whereas the ID match and hostage mini-game might only be less than 10.
I've tested this thoroughly on both the Atari and Amiga (under various emulated settings) and the level/stage timer appears to remain consistent making it the best (if mildly awkward) form of measuring a run.
We have two categories.
Any% - Beat the game as fast as you can ED209% - Beating just the first level
