Videos of GreatPlayers

[Tiktacy]

Is there a youtube channel, or even just a video, of someone playing DCSS optimally? More specifically, just a regular game, so not speedruns, just ordinary games played optimally or close to optimally or at least just very very well.

[ZoFy]

The thread title is quite misleading: being a greatplayer doesn't mean playing optimally.
zxc's channel is probably the closest to what you're looking for. Yes, it's that guy with a currently active 33 win streak.

[amalloy]

Also amalloy, who doesn't always play perfectly but is a greaterplayer and usually does pretty well.

[tasonir]

I'm generally terrible but I do qualify as a great player, I have a couple non-speed run wins posted on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGALL6 ... AbLbAYpzvA

The playlists are there for complete runs, I don't think I've missed any, maybe I did. There's a lot of speed run death videos but those should be marked as such.

[Sandman25]

After watching some of those videos I got impression that spectating optimal play requires almost as much patience as playing optimally yourself

[pubby]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SebJGVHUDG8

[moocowmoocow]

crate and n1000 uploaded some good videos on youtube.

[pumpyscump]

After watching some of those videos I got impression that spectating optimal play requires almost as much patience as playing optimally yourself

Watch zxc's DrFe video. It has some funny moments and also, he sounds miserable which is a different kind of entertaining.

[Sandman25]

Watch zxc's DrFe video. It has some funny moments and also, he sounds miserable which is a different kind of entertaining.

This was the video that made me write my comment. I did learn a few good tricks from it...

[ManMan]

While I wouldn't say he plays optimally, Demise plays well enough to have snagged second place in the 0.18 tournament (in fact you can see many of his tournament runs on the channel). The antithesis of zxc, his style is all about playing fast - I've nearly halved my average real-time for wins since I started watching his channel - which makes for much better viewing IMO. He's also one of the most prolific crawl posters: so much so that he has already achieved greaterplayer status through videos on the channel alone.


https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzmCTHcYFM5nnAPBYE26Fng

[Tiktacy]

I think its funny how zxc spends an entire hour on the first 2 floors of the dungeon in is draconian run.

Why is it that players choose to play a variety of species rather than just playing a bunch of berserkers followed by a bunch of minotaurs and trolls?

[Shard1697]

because that's dull

[Tiktacy]

because that's dull

I guess maybe the way I think of optimal play is sort of a sunken cost fallacy. You are already doing all these things to make sure you win no matter how much time you spend trying to optimize the game, so whats the point in taking that last leap and going full optimal with your race and class choices too?

[Hands]

Changing your race/background is like changing your opponent in an adversarial sport. It would be weird to say to a boxer 'if you want to win so much why don't you just fight this guy you're much better than over and over again'.

[zxc23]

For skilled and entertaining play, probably look elsewhere.

I make my streak videos for anyone curious to see what 'optimal play' looks like, or at least, the closest to it that has been recorded with tiles. Talking while playing is quite hard to do and given the choice between playing precisely and keeping a conversation going, I choose the former. In every video the early game is long and drawn out because it is the most dangerous stage, and the rest of the game I play considerably faster.

That DrFE early game really is an outlier and by far the most miserable experience I've had playing crawl. For some context: just before that game, I was arguing on tavern for the removal of gnolls and adders from D:1, citing randomness and the lack of player options.

The reason for switching combos every game is for variety and also because it's something of a streaking convention in crawl.

[Tiktacy]

For skilled and entertaining play, probably look elsewhere.

I make my streak videos for anyone curious to see what 'optimal play' looks like, or at least, the closest to it that has been recorded with tiles. Talking while playing is quite hard to do and given the choice between playing precisely and keeping a conversation going, I choose the former. In every video the early game is long and drawn out because it is the most dangerous stage, and the rest of the game I play considerably faster.

That DrFE early game really is an outlier and by far the most miserable experience I've had playing crawl. For some context: just before that game, I was arguing on tavern for the removal of gnolls and adders from D:1, citing randomness and the lack of player options.

I'm happy just to have somebody I can watch and learn from that doesn't use console. In my opinion, the beginning of your draconian run was actually the most entertaining part, it might have been long and drawn out but it felt like an extremely critical process to see take place for people interested in streaking. Honestly, I was entertained the whole time, it was a real treat. Very well done.

Just as a small request, I would like it if key decisions like god choice, spell choices, skill training changes, and various things like that were displayed in the description below the highlights though. That would make learning from them a little easier. That is, assuming informative videos are what you are going for.

[zxc23]

I'm happy just to have somebody I can watch and learn from that doesn't use console. In my opinion, the beginning of your draconian run was actually the most entertaining part, it might have been long and drawn out but it felt like an extremely critical process to see take place for people interested in streaking. Honestly, I was entertained the whole time, it was a real treat. Very well done.

Glad to hear it. Actually I often hear from viewers that that video is the most entertaining one. Pretty sure you guys just want to see me suffer.

Just as a small request, I would like it if key decisions like god choice, spell choices, skill training changes, and various things like that were displayed in the description below the highlights though. That would make learning from them a little easier. That is, assuming informative videos are what you are going for.

I've been looking for feedback on the highlight timestamps for some time. Do you mean that god selection, new spells, and skill training changes should be displayed with timestamps alongside the highlights? Originally I thought of the highlight timestamps as a way for viewers to skip straight to the most interesting parts of the videos while also allowing the full game to remain accessible. Of course, I don't really know what parts qualify as the most interesting (or informative) so I am open to suggestions there.

[Tiktacy]

For me, the most interesting parts are the critical choices you make that allow for your survival. The highlights you have now are good, but I personally place great value in some of the less action packed portions of the run simply because they are what really decides your ultimate fate.

More specifically, I'd like to see highlights for skill changes(although you might need to explain them every time you do it which might get annoying), spell choices(which spells you learn and why), maybe some of the more obscure uses for spells(like the fulmant prism against that orc knight), and even weapon/equipment choices that aren't super obvious(most people know a +1 glove is better than a +0 glove, but maybe scale mail vs platemail not so much).

Just for clarification, putting these in the description with the highlights and a time stamp is exactly what I meant. And I'm happy to hear that i was able to assist you in choosing highlights.