Ys: The Bug in Felghana

[Red Hairdo]

Ahem! For those who don't stay tuned in the infamous Spam thread, I have discovered a VERY BIZARRE bug in that game.
The most bizarre bug ever.

Below I quoted (in yellow) what I posted in the Spam thread, so that I don't repeat myself unnecessarily.

" Wow, YsF is ULTRA BUGGY

Maybe even more than Ys II Special, seriously!

Hehe, actually here's the thing...
I went early to Elderm Mountains. I leveled up lots there. Now, for some reason, I entered Genocide Mode. xD It's funny that I can even kill" the Berm leaves in the mountain. And it's funny that killing Elena raises your level by one. xD

But that's not why I'm saying this is the buggiest thing ever.
Something REALLY weird happened.
After I killed those people around, I loaded my save game in front the entrance of the Elderm Mountains, (a save file in which was in Genocide Mode). Anyway, when I activated Hero Mode to climb it up, I noticed I actually hit SOMETHING. O__O Then I started attacking and daming the nothingness while I was gradually and strangely losing HP without being knocked down. Then, suddenly, Adol died. Or so I thought! My HP was at 34 or something, but he did that dying animation. Then there was Adol, lying his face on the floor. But I didn't enter that Game Over screen, because my HP was not even zero!
Since I couldn't move, there was Adol, left dead. xDDDDDD

WTF!"

(Offtopic Note: sometimes Elena gives 1 exp. when she's killed, but that's when she can easily be killed. Apparently, in Genocide Mode, people can have different statuses everytime you move to another screen.)

"HAHAHAHA!!! I did it again!!! I recorded it!

The only difference is that this time my HP really went to 0. And the only thing that could actually hit that phantom was the hit we inflict when we get into the Hero Mode.
I'll try to do that thing I did before and die with my HP higher than 0. xD"

"

I re-watched the Phantom video.... it kind of like seems I'm actually hitting myself!

But that couldn't be... because sometimes I could inflict damage on that nothingness.

Anyway: weird. Really weird."

Then I finally got to understand what the hell happened.

"HAHA XDDD

I don't know EXACTLY how I pulled that off... but what happens is the following.

For some VERY weird reason, it's as if another Adol has been created. An invisible one that will hit you everytime you attempt to execute any form of attack (except for the diving attack IF you execute it when you're high enough).
Since it will attack you before you hit it (and you attacking animation will stop because you were hit), the only way to damage the phantom is when you are in Hero Mode, because you won't flinch when you're hit and your attacks will continue.

If you don't use Hero Mode and keep attacking, eventually you'll be killed.
FUNNY ENOUGH though, if you only attack while in Hero Mode (and use the Save Pedestal to heal you), you will kill the phantom. The problem is... the phantom is actually you!! XDDD So you kill yourself!!
What happens is, Adol will do that dying animation (after leveling up XD), but he actually didn't die. Your HP won't be at zero!! xDDDD


The best part is: I recorded it all!!! XDDD

I have no idea what this bug should be called. xDDDDDDDDD"

Also it seems this bug can happen anywhere. I recorded videos of it happening in Redmont too.

Now, the big question... how to make it all happen?
I still don't know for sure myself. But I'm pretty confident it has a lot to do with the Genocide Mode. I'll do further research on that.
The way I pull it off is simple, actually. To do it as fast as possible, let your Hero gauge fill up. Then save the game at one of those pedestals. Load the file you just saved, then activate hero mode. If you see you actually hit something and was hit by something during transformation, it means it worked. If nothing happens, just reload the save file and try again. It may take 1 or 5 minutes, but eventually it will work.
(Note: Again, I think this can only be pulled off if you are in Genocide Mode.)

Also, there's another thing. xD
If you kill that phantom, you will ENORMOUSLY level up. Last time I did it, my maximum HP jumped from 175 to 267. The problem is that you won't be able to move because the dying animation will be triggered. xD But it's curious anyway.

Enough talk. Here's the good stuff.

Meeting Elderm Mountains Phantom for the first time (173MB)
Adol hurts himself 1 (35MB)
Adol hurts himself 2 (41MB)
Dead but alive (26MB)
Adol hurts himself in Redmont 1 (21MB)
Adol hurts himself in Redmont 2 (12MB)
Adol hurts himself in Redmont 3 (26MB)
Adol hurts himself in Redmont 4 (33MB)
Phantom killed, MEGA level up (53MB)

(Note: I'd say the 173MB video is rather skippable. But I suggest you get the others if you want to see the bug, since these links don't last as long as they should.)

[Red Hairdo]

More research notes:

"... I found a way to kill the clone so that Adol dies in front of the save pedestal.

Like I suspected, you can save the game even "dead"! xD And when you load it, you're alive!

By killing the phantom/clone, you get an amount of experience proportional to your level. When I was in Lv 1, it jumped to Lv 2. When I was around Lv 18, it jumped to Lv 37 or so. When I was around Lv 37, it jumped to Lv 60! xDDD

The problem is that, like I also suspected, you can only face that phantom/clone when you are in Genocide Mode (or so my research tells)...

But what makes me curious the most is to know what made me go into the Genocide Mode. Over-leveling in Elderm Mountains at the beginning of the game caused it? I don't know... it didn't happen when I over-leveled there also in the beginning before.

Weird. Perhaps luck is involved. Some sort of probability.

And also...

"I think I found a way to revert from Genocide Mode back to normal, but only under a few conditions.

Anyway, the point is, I just found out the quickest way possible to maximize Adol's level in that game. XD


Well, also it REALLY seems Genocide Mode is triggered when your level is too high for where you are in the game.

So, what I'm going to write below is probably "safe" only if you have already gotten to Genos Island. Or maybe not. Use it at your own risk. xD (The risk is: one of your specific save files may be on Genocide Mode and you won't be able to revert it back.)


How to abuse of the huge leveling up glitch:

- Get into Genocide Mode somehow and save the game.

- Now load the save file you desire to use for the leveling up. That save file you just loaded will be in Genocide Mode until you close the game (it will be in Genocide Mode because you just used a saved file that is in Genocide Mode and will always be).
After you kill the clone/phantom, make sure you "die" in front of the save pedestal by using the jump slash attack while in Hero Mode... if you "die" a bit too far from the pedestal, but still facing its direction from below, you can PUSH your body using Hero Mode WHILE "dead". That can be done, because your Hero Gauge will still fill up since you aren't technically dead, and the Phantom (misteriously) will still be there. /That means when you get into Hero Mode, you'll hit the Phantom with your transformation, and you'll be misteriously pushed upwards. Repeat the process until you reach the pedestal and be able to Save by pressing the Attack button in front of it. After you saved, you can load your file and you will be alive!
Right after that, exit the game as an attempt to eliminate the risk of contaminating that save file with the Genocide Mode forever."


And of course, here's a video of it!

Resurrection and level keeping (75MB)

[Ascended Mermaid]

I don't have the codec for that?! But I freakin' installed a codec pack already!!!

[clement]

At times it looked like it was hitting you without you doing anything which was weird. That last vid really shows how exploitable this bug can be! You seem to really like Prelude to the Adventure.

[Ascended Mermaid]

It wasn't KLite, it was CCC / the Combined Community Codec pack. (I think)

// I'll check out KLite regardless.

[User]

Codecs are a thing of the past.

You must be the only two people in the world who doesn't use VLC.

www.videolan.org/vlc/

[Red Hairdo]

Dec 7, 2008 22:12:05 GMT -5 Ascended Mermaid said:

I don't have the codec for that?! But I freakin' installed a codec pack already!!!

At first I couldn't play my OWN Fraps videos due to codec issues, remember? xD Heh.

Well, what I did was: install Fraps again.

I'm not sure, but I think that if you get and install Fraps, that problem might be solved.

And I also recommend KLite codec pack.

[Red Hairdo]

Dec 8, 2008 5:01:56 GMT -5 User said:

Codecs are a thing of the past.

You must be the only two people in the world who doesn't use VLC.

www.videolan.org/vlc/

Wow!!!

It works perfectly! xD

At first my YsF videos suffered from slowdowns and desynch... but using that software it runs my videos perfectly!

Thanks a lot!

[Red Hairdo]

Well, I think I finally came up with technical names for these bugs/glitches.

For that insane suicide and phantom bug I came up with this:
Suicidal and Parallel HP Creation Glitch
If you ask "why 'Parallel HP Creation'", it's because that's what really happens. If you deplete your normal HP via the bug, you die. If you deplete your parallel HP, you do the dying animation, but you're still alive and can even resurrect after it like I explained above.

As for the HUGE Level Up + Resurrection glitch:
Resurrection Level Up Glitch
Self-explanatory. Fitting for the exploit.

[Ascended Mermaid]

XD I love watching corpse Adol jump to the save point. It's so funny.

[Red Hairdo]

It really is. xD I did it multiple times until I reached that save point (I only recorded the final push due filesize).
I was laughing my ass off. xD It looked like Adol was swimming on the floor. XD

[Ascended Mermaid]

I agree -- all videos should be compiled and compressed into one smooth video. All I saw was Adol humping the ground and getting to the save point. XD

[Red Hairdo]

Dec 8, 2008 21:09:47 GMT -5 MP83 said:

Is there any way you could record a new video that would combine aspects from "Phantom killed, MEGA level up" and "Resurrection and level keeping" videos? I think that one video would be enough to showcase this glitch in our collaboration project.

Yes, I can, that is possible.

However, I'm afraid I'll only be able to record it from this thursday onwards. As long as you wait a bit, it's OK.

And also I agree with you: uniting these two specific videos would cover that "Resurrection Level Up" glitch.
The only problem, though, is that the filesize will be HUGE. If that's OK with you, then I can do it. (Of course, I'll try to do it as quick as possible.)

[Red Hairdo]

Oh, thanks! That will surely help!

[Ascended Mermaid]

Ah, I need this VirtualDub. Also, whenever I record Faxanadu vids, I record very VERY slowly; how do I record in real time?

// I use FCEUXD SP

[Ascended Mermaid]

Actually, I use FCEUXD SP's built-in AVI recorder thing; and yes, in windowed mode. I think I should get Fraps.

[Red Hairdo]

Dec 8, 2008 21:09:47 GMT -5 MP83 said:

Is there any way you could record a new video that would combine aspects from "Phantom killed, MEGA level up" and "Resurrection and level keeping" videos? I think that one video would be enough to showcase this glitch in our collaboration project.

Well, I finally did it.

The problem is that, like I warned before, the video simply got immense. Its file size, I mean.

The video has 929MB and is 2 minutes and 19 seconds long.

That was caused because, after "dying", I had to "swim" to the save point. Adol only "swims" upwards, so I had to "die" below the pedestal, but far enough from it as to actually be able to "suicide". Or else the pedestal would heal both Adol and his "parallel HP".

The 'ressurection' video only showed the last upward "impulse". That's why it's small.


Well, anyway, will that video do? Sorry I couldn't make it shorter... it's a hard glitch to pull off so quickly.

|===|===|===|

Hm... also, just so you know, I recorded lots of videos covering about 90% of the places where the "Extended Jump Slash" is quite useful.
I also recorded 5 videos in that Tigray Quarry bridge showing the "Extended Jump Slash" being used in different intensities...

Just let me know if you would like to see every one of these videos to see which ones would be the best for the glitches video or if you just want a few of them etc..


Edit: Oh, only now I saw your compressing videos post. Hm, well, let me know if you would rather want the videos compressed or not.

[Ascended Mermaid]

Compress it!

[Red Hairdo]

Dec 8, 2008 21:39:34 GMT -5 MP83 said:

Why not use some codec to compress your videos (I use either Xvid or DivX myself)? You can use a free program called VirtualDub for that.

Here's an example how to compress a video with VirtualDub:


// There's plenty of other examples on YouTube, if needed.

... Holy shi*.
xD
Nearly 900MB to 8MB

That's a lie. XD
Impossible. Isn't the video quality butchered, by any chance?

Anyway, I'm getting this.

[Red Hairdo]

Aw, damn. xD Luckily that software is freeware. But I can't intuitively compress my videos. Damn. =/ Gotta watch these tutô vids again.

I'll leave my PC uploading 300 x 3MB tonight while I sleep, anyway.