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AC:B completed in 2h23

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[Front-paged. -stabguy]

Playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAAB3xSA3bP0GhXfzeyN_jfvwEdQqqJSO

Sequence 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQwu-h-1Eyg

Present 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxE2IhBTz3w

Sequence 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S9uj1_0Fy0

Sequence 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsxcYwot5h4

Sequence 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrZESX7vP2g

Sequence 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7IsWmq2qB0

Sequence 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B85ygnrsyY

Sequence 7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSj74KNkiRo

Sequence 8: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6_OK-SWtMw

Sequence 9: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxj2OoldOgw

Present 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdCKqmde5iM

Hello everyone, this is Assassin's Creed Brotherhood speedrun in 2 hours, 23 minutes and 41 seconds by Fed981. The category is any%; it uses save warping (when three seconds or more can be saved) and the DLC "the da vinci disappearance", which means ten bullets are available.
The run has been recorded between January 7th and March 3rd, 2013. I wish to thank firstly fluojn; the planning part around May 2011 was a pleasure with him. Also thanks to my girlfriend for her endless support. I've been planning this run almost alone since October 2012, but with the help of what we had already done on SDA forum, and TheHiddenBlade forum too. Thanks to everyone there, especially Akheon, velocikiller, Phi and LisaMurphy.

Unlike my other runs, the game settings were at the minimum, except the resolution (1024x600, which gives 1024x576 after cropping). The number of segments is particularly linked to the game: 72. Some of them can be pretty short, but it's because of the use of save warping.
Timing note: once again, we can trust the in-game timer. It does not count the time spent outside of the animus, but it's not a big deal. Also, no time is added when you quit the game (to end a segment). I always quit to the main menu, not to windows, so that the game saves at this moment, not at the last checkpoint only.

A very difficult part in the planning was the money management. But, the result is, after about 30 seconds lost, I can have the crossbow at the beginning of sequence 4, the climb leap glove, the money for the courtesan in sequence 3 and the senator in sequence 5, and ammo fully replenished when necessary. The only negative point is I didn't need so much ammo in sequence 5, but I don't care about that.

As a side note, I'd like to say this run contains a resurrection (continue after desynchronization), sometimes a lot of luck, and a few great tricks and awesome moments.

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Rob's applause Rob's applause Rob's applause

looking forward to it. that's damn fast.

“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus

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Woah.... and by that, I mean.... woah!

Looking forward to this, Fed! Rob's applause

"Now you shall get an earful of my beloved sword! Behold, Pillow Talk! Let's rock, baby!"

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Nice job, dude! Looking forward to seeing it.

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"Well, neither is drinking liquor, but I'm drawn to its dangers all the same."

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Thank you all! I'm encoding and uploading the videos as quick as I can. The first post will be edited from time to time.

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First post edited with general comments and ready for links to other videos.

Also, for those who are interested, here are the stats:

Overall

- synchronization (%) 45.05
- time played 02:23:41
- distance covered (m) 32468

Fight

- deaths 0
- favorite weapon hidden blade
- enemies assassinated with the hidden blade(s) 13
- air assassinations 2
- double air assassinations 0
- longest execution streak 8
- enemies killed in fight 277
- enemies poisoned 2
- enemies shot with the pistol 54
- enemies shot with the crossbow 42
- disarms 0

Navigation

- height climbed (m) 633
- distance covered on ground (m) 14136
- distance swam (m) 70
- distance covered on horseback (m) 12177
- distance covered on gondolas (m) 0
- distance covered with parachute (m) 0

Social

- time spent blended 00:08:17
- times notorious 5
- borgia couriers killed 0
- courtesans hired 1
- mercenaries hired 5
- thieves hired 0
- courtesans guild challenges completed (%) 10.0
- thieves guild challenges completed (%) 13.24
- mercenaries guild challenges completed (%) 20.6

Economy

- money earned (florins) 91944
- money spent (florins) 43725
- fight winnings (florins) 0
- fight losses (florins) 0
- hazard game winnings (florins) 0
- hazard game losses (florins) 0
- paintings collected 6
- weapons collected 2
- armor pieces collected 1

Rome

- borgia towers cleared (%) 33.33
- shops rebuilt (%) 14.81
- landmarks owned (%) 0.0
- borgia flags removed (%) 1.98
- feathers collected (%) 0.0

Assassins guild

- call assassins triggered 43
- enemies killed by assassin recruits 100
- assassins recruited 4
- assassin recruits killed 0
- contract assignments completed 0
- assassins sworn in 0

Memories

- memories fully synched 39
- memories of christina completed 0
- assassination contracts completed 0
- thief assignments completed 0
- courtesan assignments completed 0
- memories relived 0

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Hey Fed, aren't you going to submit your run to SDA?

_________________

"Betraying the Assassins is never good for one's health."
"Well, neither is drinking liquor, but I'm drawn to its dangers all the same."

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As soon as all videos are encoded and all details comments written, I am going to submit, don't worry!

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161803398874989 wrote:
Hey Fed, aren't you going to submit your run to SDA?

I LOVE that site. I can watch the Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past run for SNES over and over.

Slowly, but surely, the job gets done.

XBL Gamertag: BigRouge04

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Finished watching today. Some of the things you managed to do were unbelievable.

Some of my favorite things from the run, in no particular order:
1 - Purposely desynching during the Juan the Banker assassination in order to spawn next to him for a blitz assassination.
2 - Calling the horse to spawn in front of the fleeing thief to tackle him faster.
3 - Use of horse superblending for the follow/assassintion early in the game.
4 - Using super blending again to get all the uniforms for the play.
5 - The run through the Lair of Romulus was beautiful.
6 - Killing Cesare in 52 seconds, before the first round of brutes arrives.
7 - Infiltrating the Castello the second time at the end of the game, getting from the open window you climb out of to the other roof was great.
8 - Freely jumping from the Castello to the bottom and getting right onto the horse... then being anonymous at the perfect time at the other side of the Vatican district.
9 - Hijacking a horse because, with the Apple, you can no longer call one.

“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus

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Well... thanks!

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I know it will be in your write-up, but can i ask you a question?

In video 5, at the very beginning of sequence 4, you kill a Borgia captain and climb the tower. Was this done for money? Or to remove enemies upon escaping the castello on horseback?

“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus

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I killed the captain and burned the tower is because it unlocks an assassin recruit, and I need 4 of them finally. Burning the tower gives some money anyway, and looting the captain gives even more money. Does this answer your question?

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Yes. Future missions were much faster with 4 recruits rather than just 3 (being able to call them in two parts). This 1m30s lost on the captain and tower made sense in the long run.

I guess I left out that option -
1 - money
2 - less bad guys to escape from
3 - extra recruit

“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus

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Double McStab with Cheese wrote:
I guess I left out that option -
1 - money
2 - less bad guys to escape from
3 - extra recruit

I don't understand what you mean there. Could you explain?

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Fed981 wrote:
Double McStab with Cheese wrote:
I guess I left out that option -
1 - money
2 - less bad guys to escape from
3 - extra recruit

I don't understand what you mean there. Could you explain?

I think what he's implying is that originally he asked if you killed the captain to remove the enemies from the area (thus making it easier to escape) or so you could get more money. He forgot that killing him also gives you the ability to recruit a fourth assassin.

Slowly, but surely, the job gets done.

XBL Gamertag: BigRouge04

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TheMethodicalAssassin wrote:
Fed981 wrote:
Double McStab with Cheese wrote:
I guess I left out that option -
1 - money
2 - less bad guys to escape from
3 - extra recruit

I don't understand what you mean there. Could you explain?

I think what he's implying is that originally he asked if you killed the captain to remove the enemies from the area (thus making it easier to escape) or so you could get more money. He forgot that killing him also gives you the ability to recruit a fourth assassin.

Exactly. Those are the three reasons to kill a Captain and liberate a zone during a speed run. When I first asked the question, I had forgotten about option 3.

“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus

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I'd just like to add that the 4 recruits aren't only a help in the fights, but also you need them in the colosseum in sequence 7.

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I just watched the race with Cesare to the apple last night and laughed. Heartily. When they do the intermediate cut scene with him running along the wall, you basically were already even with him.

I just had two questions.

First, what part was the most challenging for you to find what you considered to be the fastest route? Is there an estimate on the number of play-throughs you had to do before you perfected it?

And second, is there any area you feel as though you can still go faster? If so, which one?

Slowly, but surely, the job gets done.

XBL Gamertag: BigRouge04

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TheMethodicalAssassin wrote:
I just watched the race with Cesare to the apple last night and laughed. Heartily. When they do the intermediate cut scene with him running along the wall, you basically were already even with him.

I just had two questions.

First, what part was the most challenging for you to find what you considered to be the fastest route? Is there an estimate on the number of play-throughs you had to do before you perfected it?

And second, is there any area you feel as though you can still go faster? If so, which one?

In fact there was one time where I was about half a second before Cesare...

About your first question: I wanted to answer globally but I think you need to precise where. Nevertheless a mean number of choices was 2 or 3, and each one was done once or twice to decide, then several more times to become perfect/fastest.

About your second question: I believe the most frustrating moment was segment 57 (S7M1), in part 08. A big amount of time could be saved with better and luckier battles. There are a few other moments but they're not as important as this one.

Let me know if you'd like more precise answers.

By the way, I wrote detailed comments for every part; you can find them in the YouTube videos descriptions.

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If any of you would like to be a verifier for SDA, feel free. Apparently there are less than 6 persons at the moment.

https://forum.speeddemosarchive.com/post/runs_needing_verification_49_ne...

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Well, you know I'm signed up and ready to watch.

It says there's enough verifiers in the thread, though.

_________________

"Betraying the Assassins is never good for one's health."
"Well, neither is drinking liquor, but I'm drawn to its dangers all the same."

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Enough does not mean too much. By the way, if you're a verifier, please let me know when you have access to the files.

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Sure thing.

_________________

"Betraying the Assassins is never good for one's health."
"Well, neither is drinking liquor, but I'm drawn to its dangers all the same."

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I have a question about how multi-segment runs are thought of in the speed-running community when it comes to health? In AC, whenever you restart, you have full health - not the health you ending your last session with. This just means that there may be times where you do something as multiple segments not possible as a single run.

I also know there is no way around this in a multi-segment run. I was just wondering how the speed-running community generally feels about it. Does it "cheapen" the run at all for some people? Or do they just not care?

“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus

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Double McStab with Cheese wrote:
I have a question about how multi-segment runs are thought of in the speed-running community when it comes to health? In AC, whenever you restart, you have full health - not the health you ending your last session with. This just means that there may be times where you do something as multiple segments not possible as a single run.

I also know there is no way around this in a multi-segment run. I was just wondering how the speed-running community generally feels about it. Does it "cheapen" the run at all for some people? Or do they just not care?

From my experience, the two tend to be categorized differently within the same game. Obviously speed runs that allow saving and quitting will be faster, so if runs are done in both methods, both will be listed (from what I've seen). I'd venture a guess that a straight run through would be viewed as more "pure," but also that as games have gotten more in depth, it's less likely someone will take the time to go through and do it straight through, especially in a game like AC, where a majority of the run would be riding around on a horse. You'd have to spend additional time getting money to unlock the fast travel points as well.

Slowly, but surely, the job gets done.

XBL Gamertag: BigRouge04

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A large part of the speedrunning community thinks segmenting runs makes you a "scrub", even if the segments are half an hour long.

I think that's a stupid thing to say. What's the difference between running a half-hour segment and a half-hour game?

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"Well, neither is drinking liquor, but I'm drawn to its dangers all the same."

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The general purpose in speedrunning is to complete the game as fast as possible, no matter what.

Though there are mainly two categories: single-segment and segmented. In a segmented run, use as many segments as needed to be the fastest. And, obviously, a single-segment run which is faster obsoletes a segmented existing run (that happened for New Super Mario Bros Wii on SDA for example). I hope this answers your questions.

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Some news: the run has been accepted on Speed Demos Archive.

https://forum.speeddemosarchive.com/post/assassins_creed_brotherhood__ap...

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Some news! The run has been published on Speed Demos Archive:

http://speeddemosarchive.com/AssassinsCreedBrotherhood.html