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Messages - Softspeak

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1
Beef / Re: THERE IS EVIL IN THIS SITE. BROTHERS, FIGHT BACK NOW!
« on: February 09, 2015, 11:44:07 am »
^ I did a little checking. 999 rings is still the current "record" for most 4th mission rings in SA2(B). The exceptions are those charts that have been submitted to after the incident. So there seems to be a mechanism in place that will weed out the bogus stats on charts that are going to be updated anyway. That may also explain why SLW, SR:ZG, and StF are still in the dominion of test1: because no one's submitted to them since.

GerbilSoft didn't do a sitewide purge; what purging he did do (in Sonic 1 for instance), he did while submissions were disabled. Cleaning the rest now would mean losing all the legitimate submissions there have been since then. But there is hope. We can purge the evil in this site, chart by chart, just by submitting to those charts that are still under the curse. I call it fighting back.

2
Competition Central / Re: WTF
« on: February 05, 2015, 05:25:31 pm »
Probably just some kid trying to be funny. Seriously who would think it's a good idea to submit BS stats in such a massive quantity? Better question is, who would find enjoyment in that? The people like this are the kind of people this community, and the world doesn't need.

He sure didn't do it to get ahead in the actual competition. More to get people really pissed over something that in the big picture doesn't mean much. I could imagine someone who gets a kick out of that; my imagination's dangerous like that. I don't think that this was just for kicks though. The translation of the original screen name (too far back for me to quote from here) suggests there was a grudge involved. Banned player "flower" comes to mind... but I'm just speculating.

How to respond? Yeah it's sad that we have people like this who choose to inflict damage on online communities, not only because it hurts us directly, but because these people aren't likely to start trying to act with kindness. But I don't think that justifies getting really pissed over it, that's just returning the hate and possibly mission accomplished for the other guy. I've recovered from the initial shock that someone actually did this, and all I have left to say about it is that it's sad. Ready to move on.

3
Beef / Re: THERE IS EVIL IN THIS SITE. BROTHERS, FIGHT BACK NOW!
« on: February 03, 2015, 06:55:36 pm »
DsS may be a tyrant, but I don't think this is our rescuer. Just a false messiah.

But just because I disagree with the motive doesn't mean your demands are to be ignored:
1, 2. Can't help. Even if I could, we Americans don't particularly like giving aid to longtime allies anymore.
3. You wrote a whole post without emotes! I'm so proud of you!! :D
4. Slowly working on SAdva3 rings. But I'd like one of the admins to use the (top-secret, but I KNOW it's there) Time Machine 2.0 to find out what ring counts I'll have at the end of the year so I can just submit them now. (get back to me before the end of the year plz)

4
Competition Central / Re: Quick question - S3 RA
« on: January 05, 2015, 07:41:04 pm »
Absolutely! I've watched Vicklaw's Carnival Night Act 1 RA with Knuckles. He gets 10 rings from the signpost at the end.

5
Wikkity! / Re: FINAL TOPIC! Topic 14 - What Sonic Character matches you?
« on: December 31, 2014, 01:44:50 pm »
I don't think I'll even have to click the link and play along to find out. It's almost certainly Tails.

6
I never played the original Genesis/MegaDrive games. Most of what I know about those games comes from back when I watched speedruns posted on SDA. I think I'd most like to play Sonic 3 or S&K, to see what the game looks like when the player doesn't break it. (Or at least, doesn't break it intentionally.)

7
I was never really one for bosses. Probably the one I was the closest to liking was the Ocean Base boss from SAdva3. Easy for me to beat casually, but not stupidly easy. And unlike Big Foot, I don't have any particularly pathetic memories here, like not realizing I needed to hold the jump button longer >_<

8
Wikkity! / Re: Topic 9 - How did you become a Sonic fan?
« on: December 27, 2014, 12:59:00 am »
When I hit my early teen years I grew out of Sonic & almost forgot about it entirely, HAD IT NOT BEEN FOR MY CRUSH ON AMY ROSE. I also have a fetish with water peril, so what I would do late some nights was play specifically the levels that had a lot of water in them on Sonic Advance 3 & create water peril with Amy, and later on when I got my first iPod and a GBA emulator I did the same thing with Sonic Advance.

Wish I could say I never fed a fetish of my own using Sonic characters (and a few of my own creation). But I did. It's hard for me to talk about, but I think this deserves a second, more humbling story.

It started maybe eight years ago with thinking up a story of my own and daydreaming. Needless to say, some of the threads of the story went way too far; that's where the fetish took root. All in all, I devoted a lot of free time to all the threads of the story, and the fetish made it hard for me to fall asleep too. I never limited myself to one character, but if I had to pick one, it would've been Rouge. Somehow the fetish died down a bit after a few years, and the daydream stories started getting more realistic. Since I'm pretty bad at social interaction, it became more of a life simulator for me: what's right conduct, what do conversations really look like, etc. (Admittedly not a great simulator. Probably the only thing that improves social skills is practice doing the real thing.)

Then three years ago the fetish struck again, hard. It took on another form entirely, creating a whole new fantasy world (I'll call it "mind porn") and leaving the Sonic-inspired daydreams in the dust. Mind porn didn't just mean new settings and events (and some characters), it meant a whole new way of thinking. And I was captivated by it. Probably half of my time I've been awake since then has been spent either giving in to the mind porn, or looking for material to feed it, or (especially in the past year) fighting it. I'm glad I started fighting it, hard. The struggle isn't over yet, though. It's still present in my thoughts to some degree, and it needs to be eradicated completely.

As for the Sonic-inspired stuff, that still takes up far too much of my thinking time, even though I've effectively written out most of the borrowed characters. There's some personal encouragement and other good stuff that I still draw from it, but there's also a tenuous connection to the mind porn. If I really want to keep it, I ought to detach it from the Sonic universe entirely; and I don't even think it would be good in the long-term for me to keep it. That time would be better spent dwelling on bigger things. And maybe I wanna play Sonic games without any of that other stuff lingering over my head, you know?

I don't know how much people will really take from this. I guess my point is that many of us are on TSC (as opposed to other sites) not only because the Sonic games are naturally good choices for competition, but also because we've gotten a little obsessed with something in the Sonic universe. I suspect I'm not the only one who's had such an obsession become a struggle and a burden.

9
Wikkity! / Re: Topic 9 - How did you become a Sonic fan?
« on: December 26, 2014, 03:16:30 pm »
First experience with Sonic. Oh boy, embarrassing story time.

When my twin brother and I turned 10, we got SA2B. (Dad quickly regretted the purchase -- the music was "too loud".) First playthrough of City Escape was pretty fun, even though it was also pretty rancid (solid rank E). Then I hit a wall. Couldn't land a hit on Big Foot. "Aim for the cockpit! That's the weak spot!" Well I tried, but my homing attacks kept going for Big Foot's legs. Big Foot was just an impossible boss. So we ended up playing a lot of City Escape for a while, then got bored with the game.

Some time later (weeks? months?) we came back. I figured I'd start the Dark story for kicks. Made it through Iron Gate. Then came Hot Shot. The bigger arena seemed to make things easier actually. I started my jumps farther away from the boss, and found that once I was within range for a homing attack, I was actually high enough to hit the cockpit! Came back to Big Foot and made the breakthrough: The longer you hold the jump button, the higher you jump! In my defense, I think this was the first 3-D game with an actual jump control I had ever played.

That wasn't the last obstacle we faced in this game, but it was by far the biggest. We were into the game now.

10
Wikkity! / Re: Topic 8 - Have you ever had a "Christmas Miracle?"
« on: December 25, 2014, 04:15:33 pm »
Since most of my Christmases (but not this one, due to extenuating circumstances) have been regular family Christmas get-togethers, there hasn't been much room for me to ever have a Christmas miracle, even in the sense of getting amazingly lucky or achieving something really impressive in a video game. I had a good RA this morning (which I haven't submitted yet), but despite being perhaps my hardest RA yet, it's not even close to miracle status by any definition.

But answering this question is really about drawing on my memory of my past experiences. And I rarely ever try to pre-classify my experiences so I can answer the question, "When was a time you _____________?" (worked effectively in a group, pushed yourself to the limit, stood up to someone, etc.). I probably have a fairly decent memory of my experiences -- it's just not organized in that way at all. I think real miracles would stand out though. I have experienced a handful of those, but don't think any happened on Christmas.

So, sorry that I couldn't provide an affirmative answer. Maybe someone else?

11
Something to shoot video. I'd like to be able to submit videos of me playing SAdva3 sometime, but lacking a Game Boy Player add-on to the GameCube, all I can do is keep playing on the old GBA SP. Can't reasonably expect such a gift though, as my life isn't really "exciting" enough to justify it otherwise.

Barring that, I guess I'd settle for a productive day doing RAs. "500 golden rings..."

Merry Christmas y'all.

12
Wikkity! / Re: Topic 6 - What's your favorite soundtrack from a Sonic game?
« on: December 23, 2014, 09:38:43 pm »
I have a few. In SA2B, I like the music of Green Forest (come on, the island's gonna blow up!!), Prison Lane (high energy, even though the stage itself is kind of a pushover), and Lost Colony (it's probably too boring for others, but draws me in). In SAdva3, I like Chaos Angel Act 1 and the end credit music. Probably that end credit music is my favorite -- very welcome after a stressful and climactic boss fight! Plenty of other good music from those games too, but those are the ones that seem to stand out most to me.

I haven't actually played SADX, but from what I've watched, I really like the music for the first part of Twinkle Park for Sonic too. That happens to be a remix of Panic Puppet from Sonic 3D Blast, which I only happen to know because I've watched lots of speedruns on SDA in the past. Haven't really heard much music from games made in the past eight years though. I bet I'm missing out.

13
Wikkity! / Re: Topic 5 - What's your WORST stat on TSC?
« on: December 22, 2014, 03:58:18 pm »
Twinkle Snow boss in SAdva3. You try to climb up some platforms and drop them on Eggman's head. Climb too slow, you die. Try to climb too fast, you hit some sort of ceiling and maybe die as a result. Overshoot a jump, you probably die. Run off the platform without getting a jump off, you definitely die. Oh, and watch out for the spike ball when it comes. The one redeeming aspect of this fight is that it's entirely non-random. But there's not much room for error.

I was pretty happy to finish a run sub-50. Then I decided that I'd watch (most of) mike89's 100% run of the game on SDA again. When he did the Twinkle Snow boss, I saw that my strat was actually pretty weak. I had the spike ball after hits 4 and 7. I think he managed to get only one spike ball attack, which saved about five seconds; this, in the same run as finding all the lost Chao, collecting all seven Chaos Emeralds, and beating Nonaggression! All the worse for my opinion of my own time, to see video footage of how I could've done it better. I'm not coming back here yet, too fresh in my mind.

14
General Sonic / Re: Apologizing for my actions a couple of months ago
« on: December 21, 2014, 08:07:15 pm »
I think that fallout may have been before I got here. So I'm looking on this with fresh eyes so to speak. For my part, I haven't been one to submit false ring counts, but I guess I should probably start taking pics since I'm beating some of the old records.

I too would like to see you reinstated someday, but it's far beyond my control. Yes, it's good that TSC has a tough stance on falsified stats, when submissions must generally be accepted on the honor system. But I believe that when someone shows a genuine change of heart, it is right to respond with mercy and forgiveness. I can't tell if you're quite to that point yet. I'd say stay active in the forum and see what happens.

15
Rooftop Run Modern in Generations. I'm convinced I'm autistic for all the hours I've spent dicking around and going fast in that level.

I was diagnosed as mildly autistic some years ago, and still am to some degree. No offense taken though. I'm not exactly sure how to properly use the word either. In one sense, I guess everyone can be a little bit autistic at times -- getting super obsessed with something and liking it.

I previously didn't post to this topic because it didn't apply to me. My long-term obsessions have always been broader than individual levels.

16
Wikkity! / Re: Topic 4 - What's your favorite competition category?
« on: December 21, 2014, 01:22:36 pm »
Mine is forever Ring Attack of course !
These are easier to do than anything else since the time is not important in this category. Also, I like exploring the levels and get everything inside them, allowing me to know everything inside them.

I'm on the fence. I loved doing Time Attacks in SAdva3 for years, and to some extent still do, but now it'll be tough for me to beat some of them. Most of them are pretty solid.

Ring Attacks are a new thing for me though. Exploring levels for all the ring locations is pretty neat. True, competing for time isn't a big deal here, but sometimes in this game you're competing against the 10-minute time limit. So then the route through the level means something. Planning a route from start to end that hits all the important points quickly is a hard and interesting (and frustrating) problem...

When I get back into SA2B, ring runs will be much simpler. I might prefer score runs there because there's actually a good amount of skill needed.

17
Wikkity! / Re: What's your CRAZIEST run on TSC?
« on: December 20, 2014, 06:18:52 pm »
I just come up with them on the spot actually, so yeah. I'm open to suggestions if you have one (or more!) :)

I have at least one idea right now, but wouldn't post it here -- that would spoil the fun! Maybe I'll think of a couple more and PM you later...

18
Wikkity! / Re: What's your CRAZIEST run on TSC?
« on: December 20, 2014, 04:15:08 pm »
Come back every day for new Wikkity forum topics until the new year! :)

Does that mean you actually have eleven more topics planned out?

I don't really have much that I'm not sure how I got. All I can think of is Toy Kingdom Act 3, time, in SAdva3. It was the first run where I actually made a certain fast cycle, but I hadn't thought at all about how I was going to handle the next section. Handled it perfectly of course. And in every subsequent attempt where I made the fast cycle, I tried to figure out exactly what happened. Only ever got within a second of that time once.

19
Wikkity! / Re: Your opinion of TSC
« on: December 18, 2014, 01:39:09 pm »
I'll share some of my personal experiences too, then talk a little bit about what I think of TSC in general. I've only been a member at TSC for a month and a half, and I've had issues with spending too much time on the site too.

About 11 days after joining, I realized I was getting too wrapped up in where I was going to be on the charts someday. I knew my SAdva3 times would be (mostly) red; I felt that the ring records could be beaten with some planning and persistence (which I know I have based on my past gaming experiences). I was getting obsessed with what players I was going to pass at what points in my playing, both on the game charts and in the sitewide rankings. What about eventually submitting stats for SA2(B) and Riders? What about maybe getting more Sonic games to try to climb higher? But I was getting a swelled head, and I was spending far too little time on homework and studying and things that mattered more. I spent 12 days away from the site and from my GBA SP.

Then came Thanksgiving break. There was some homework that would be due the next week, but I figured it wasn't a big deal. I spent plenty of time in those five days working on some SAdva3 stats. The biggest achievement was me beating a four-way tie by one ring. But I was getting too self-centered again, too obsessed with what other records I might beat in the future. When classes resumed, I took another hiatus of about 12 days.

Then I came back for a couple days, but pulled out again, partly because I had final exams to study for, and partly because I still cared too much about my standings. Now most of my finals are over, so I'm cautiously coming back. But to keep my pride in check, I'll be submitting stats at least three at a time, and other than when I'm submitting those and/or reading new posts on the forum, I'm not letting myself peruse the charts again just for personal pleasure.

Well, enough about me. Now for my thoughts about TSC:

I like the site. I like the system it's built on. Ties for stats aren't broken by seniority or by newness; especially on the ties for first, this shows respect to the legends without stopping newcomers like me from joining the fun. Charts for ring records add variety to the skills needed to excel. The formula for translating game points to sitewide points is cubic; provides good incentive to get to the top of the charts, but it's not so steep that you have to be red in games to get anywhere at all. And where would we be without a forum?

But I get the impression the community isn't nearly as active or deep or involved as it used to be. I wonder how much of the change is from members seeing less and less free time as, well, life happens and other things take priority. I also wonder if the whole idea of the competition has been getting stale for many people -- they feel they've maxed out, or they really have maxed out, or they've just lost interest in striving for temporary TSC glory.

So how do I justify my continued competition here, besides the fact that it's still new to me and I'm a college student with too much time on my hands? Maybe it's not about the competition. Don't get me wrong, the competition is a vital part of the site. But there's something to be said about the experience we share of good and bad Sonic games, of good and bad playing sessions, and objective measurement will never quite capture that. We strive for the best of these experiences. And I want to share in that.

Well, enough about my thoughts. I'm just one player.

20
Wikkity! / Re: Predictions for 2015!!!
« on: December 08, 2014, 09:04:25 pm »
I guess I'll throw some predictions on the fire too.
- I'll submit to the rest of the SAdva3 charts and get that game red overall.
- I will snatch the Rings leadership for that game. Resistance will come more from the Leadership Disputes board than from other people actually sitting down and trying to match or beat my RAs.
- I will try to become a regular in the TSC community, putting myself out there and making a few friends and enemies in the process.
- But I will undermine these efforts by getting away from the site for extended periods of time, including a hiatus of at least one month.
- DsS will remain first place sitewide. Maybe 2016, HyperSonic.
- All of PsyMar's predictions will come true, even the last one.

21
Wikkity! / Re: Do you speedrun non-Sonic games?
« on: November 29, 2014, 07:50:12 pm »
Used to run VVVVVV back in the day. FieryBlizzard's runs on SDA are probably what got me really interested in the whole idea of pushing a game as far as possible. For sure, they're the reason I got the game myself. Yeah, I enjoyed it, and maybe I should come back to it sometime, but I'm never touching his 13:03 any% or 17:27 100% runs. I have no hope of completing No-Death Mode either; I suck at the Gravitron.

If I were better at NES games, I'd consider speedrunning those too. But alas, I haven't found the time to make it past World 8-2 of Super Mario Bros.

But really, full-game runs are a bit too much for me. I like ILs better.

22
Competition Central / Re: Your Personal Best Stat on TSC
« on: November 26, 2014, 10:42:51 pm »
Too soon, I haven't even posted many stats yet! My rule is to submit only new achievements since joining TSC.

Of the ones I've put down so far, my favorite has to be SAdva3 Toy Kingdom Act 3, time. 1'08"37 with Sonic and Tails. Apparently not the optimal team for the level, like many of my initial Time Attack team choices. But the run itself was awesome. I made a fast cycle, then ended up improvising the rest up to the fight. I lost a second or so on the fight, but could never quite reproduce that time. That last section was just too good and I didn't even know what I was doing...

Once I get more stats in, my new favorite might be SAdva3 Ocean Base Act 2, time. Sonic and Tails is the conventional team there, but I had much more success with a different one. I was going to hold out on revisiting this until I had video-recording capabilities, but maybe I should just go for it already.

23
Hiya Folks / Re: Hello TSC!
« on: November 03, 2014, 09:21:19 am »
Thanks for the warm reception everyone.

To kind of answer Pokemonmaster888's question, I'm in my third year of CS. I'm taking an algorithms class and a computer graphics class this semester. Algorithms is generally fun and/or easy for me. Graphics has just started daunting me these past couple of weeks. It's nice to gain an appreciation for how 3D scenes get rendered, but far from my favorite thing now that I know how much work there is to it. Looking forward to Compilers and possibly Intro to AI in the spring.

24
Hiya Folks / Hello TSC!
« on: November 02, 2014, 07:37:24 pm »
Figured I ought to say hi to the forum. I'm not great at coming up with names but I figured Softspeak would do ok. Just a little bit about me: I'm an undergrad student studying computer science, and for the most part I'm doing fine in it. But I'm also a soft-spoken introvert; hence the name.

I've played Sonic Adventure 2 (Battle), Sonic Riders, and Sonic Advance 3. I'm rather attached to the last one. I time attacked SAdv3 for years before actually getting around to collecting the last two Chaos Emeralds and beating the final bosses. And that game is where I'll focus my competitive efforts for now. Ring charts look like an easy place to start, but beware Quartz, your 1-point leadership in the Times category may slip to 2 points!

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