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I'm working on a speedrun of Blade Runner on SDA

PostPosted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 1:17 pm
by saxman_52
Howdy,

I'm doing a speedrun of Blade Runner, and I plan to submit it to speeddemosarchive.com. I've figured out a lot about the game, mainly what needs to happen to trigger the end of a particular act and the events leading up to it. I've gotten Act 1 down to 3 minutes and 17 seconds, but I've yet to time the others yet.

I'm kinda stuck. There's one thing about the game I haven't figured out - probably due to its extremely random nature - in Act 2. How exactly do I trigger Grigorian's interviews to get uploaded into the police database?

Sometimes all that gets uploaded are Crystal's crime scene notes, and that's it.

Granted, because I'm speeding through the game, I'm picking up VERY FEW clues, and this may be affecting the game in some way. However, I'm sold on the idea that even though the game is very randomized, there are certain events that are GUARANTEED to happen in every playthrough. Therefore, there has to be some action that the player does to initiate the upload of Grigorian's interviews, because the player HAS to have those interviews to continue to the end of Act 2...

I apologize for spewing a big post, but of all the BR places on the net, this forum seems to be the most promising and helpful source of info I need to produce an excellent speedrun. You folks sound like you know your BR PC games ; )

When it's completed - which WILL be soon, once I figure out this Grigorian mess - I invite all you BR game enthusiasts to enjoy it on speeddemosarchive (SDA). I'm looking on running the game in around 20 minutes. Very exciting stuff!

Please, contribute ANY info that you might think is useful AT ALL. Even if you think it's useless, your info might spark my own creative gears into churning out a solution to problem I might be having with the game.

Thanks for taking the time to even read this, I really appreciate it!

Re: I'm working on a speedrun of Blade Runner on SDA

PostPosted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 3:48 pm
by martinland
saxman_52 wrote:I'm looking on running the game in around 20 minutes. Very exciting stuff!

Speechless I am, wow. :shock:

PostPosted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 8:21 pm
by Gene Ettix
No fun in that, IMHO.
I guess if you've just played a game so many times and gotten bored and there's nothing else to do with it but, that hasn't happened to me with BR even after ten years. I honestly don't see the point in seeing how fast I can finish a game. I revel in my time within a gameworld. But that's just me. Enjoy yourself :|

PostPosted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 8:36 pm
by deleted
Game speedruns are fun to watch. Look up Quake Done Quick on wikipedia.

PostPosted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 9:09 pm
by saxman_52
No fun in that, IMHO.


Yeah, I hear you on that one. But the fun I'm having with the game now comes from trying to figure what makes it tick. Through my speedrunning experiences with BR, I've discovered how truly rich of a game it is. I admit, speedrunning BR feels criminal, because I'm not even tapping into many experiences the player can have with the game for the sake of getting to the end in the fastest time possible.

Game speedruns are fun to watch.


Indeed they are. Especially if the viewer has played the game, which they probably have if they're even interested in watching a game's speedrun. I hope that every BR player who sees this run will really enjoy it.

I started this run because of a "speedrun bounty" I saw on SDA for BR. An SDA member offered $20 for a general speedrun, and $50 for all the endings. No one else was touching the offer, and I love BR - especially the game - so I decided to carve a little piece of speedrunning goodness for the world to see.

...But I have to admit, I don't care about the money anymore. I think figuring this game out is slowly turning into an obsession. I've considered publishing a speed-guide of gameFAQs once I finish the run.

I'm still having trouble scoring those Grigorian interviews. I'm starting the game as a Rep Sympathizer, since I let Zuben go in the warehouse. It's faster to let him get away than to take him down with the jumpy shooting system. But I'm wondering if Zuben's fate determines when the interviews are uploaded into the police mainframe. Or maybe it's something determined at random...

If you guys have any suggestions or thoughts, I'd love to hear them!

It probably isn't too important for seemingly humble folks like yourselves, but I already intend to credit the members of this forum in the run's comments on SDA. I'm surprised I've gotten this many replies in such a short time. Thanks for your interest!

PostPosted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 9:50 am
by Gene Ettix
Well, To each... his own. I wish you well and welcome, saxman_52. Who knows... Maybe I'll even be able to offer you some pointers. Although, I'm not real sure about the Grigorian predicament. :?

PostPosted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 8:38 am
by martinland
Gene Ettix wrote:I honestly don't see the point in seeing how fast I can finish a game. I revel in my time within a gameworld. But that's just me. Enjoy yourself :|

Don't get me wrong: I love playing adventure games at a leisurely pace, but doing something like the above requires certain skills - reaction time is a factor - don't you think? ;)

PostPosted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 1:32 pm
by Horoma
Hey guys, new to the forums here, but been playing the game for a long time.

saxman_52 wrote:If you guys have any suggestions or thoughts, I'd love to hear them!


saxman_52 wrote:Granted, because I'm speeding through the game, I'm picking up VERY FEW clues, and this may be affecting the game in some way. However, I'm sold on the idea that even though the game is very randomized, there are certain events that are GUARANTEED to happen in every playthrough. Therefore, there has to be some action that the player does to initiate the upload of Grigorian's interviews, because the player HAS to have those interviews to continue to the end of Act 2...


To be honnest, some clues are needed to progress in the game, but I don't think this is the case for the Grigorian interviews. Afaik, the only thing you need is a link between Izo and Grigorian, enabling the "Grigorian dialogue option that will make Izo run off. If you have the crime scene notes from Crystal, you should be able to talk to Grigorian in the lockup and he'll mention Izo.

I can't remember any playthrough where I got the interviews seperately from the crime scene notes. It looks to me that either you get them both together, either you only get the notes. Only explanation I can give is that Crystal also has a modified KIA and in some games decides not to upload the interviews, which is logical if the game works as advertised by Westwood. So if you really want the interviews, I think you'll have to start over. Perhaps retiring Zuben is a better option to get them, just a guess though.

PostPosted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 11:09 am
by saxman_52
If you have the crime scene notes from Crystal, you should be able to talk to Grigorian in the lockup and he'll mention Izo.


Hmmm... I tried talking to Grigorian with just the crime scene notes in my KIA, but I think the dialog just dead-ended with him saying how he wasn't going to answer any more questions until he had a lawyer present.

What you're saying makes a lot of sense, though, and I'll try it out again. Can you confirm that Grigorian has actually mentioned Izo with just the crime scene notes in your KIA? Can you give more specifics, such as other things you did during Act 2 beforehand? Thanks!

Also, the Universal Hint System notes for Blade Runner addresses the Grigorian/Act 2 issue. One thing it mentions is getting to Grigorian first before any of the other detectives question him (i.e. Crystal). I tested this by going to the lockup at the very beginning of the game, even before setting foot into Runciter's, but it yielded nothing. Just the same dead-end described above. Maybe that was a little too early?

I'm sorry I made a post concerning the run for some time. Semester finals have kicked into gear, but I'll soon be liberated from the bonds of academia...for a while at least. I haven't given up on this. It's on it's way :D