I mean, I would agree with you normally. And likely when I run this game I'll just deal with the time loss so I can name my character and such as well... But... 1st and second place are within 10 seconds of eachother. That timeloss does make a difference here. The leaderboard times are all very tight.

I haven't really done too much research yet, but wouldn't the purpose be so you can pick whatever character you want and choose a name that isn't "a" or whatever without having to stress?

I completely agree with the OP. I think having the freedom at the beginning to make your character without the clock harassing you would be nice.

Especially since we're speedrunning an RPG here. It would be nice to at least enjoy the appearance of your character for the next 2 hours. (Or is everyone shoehorned in this game into picking a specific race due to stats?)