The Big One: Subtle VS Obvious Variants
6 years ago
Oregon, USA

It seems widely considered that the Obvious Variant is slower for The Big One heist. Has anyone actually tried routing it out, however? I am linking a video of me explaining a route (in post commentary) I timed for the Obvious Variant. Optimally. the random switch and the slight reroute, not shown, accounted for, I could save 2-3 minutes off my PB by switching to the Obvious Variant (Using Classic% rules). I've been speedrunning for 5+ years (multiple games), and I know that doesn't mean this is set in stone. I speedrun this game non-seriously for fun. My Classic% PB is around 8:30-9 hours (PB is 9:20, but I did a Classic% with cutscenes for my stream which was about 13:30, so I figure that would have been a high 8 hours, take it as you will). Long story less long, the Obvious Variant may be faster, or me being trash may be making skewed / inconsistent data. While my gameplay is pretty trash, I do think my route is pretty good for the mission. I also know I am not really known around here, but I really just want to help. If it isn't faster, oh well, but it didn't hurt to ask, ya know? (Take my commentary in the video with a grain of salt please, I recorded post-commentary at 3am) Best Regards, brightwolfz Video:

LOLMAN-0027 and Havi like this
New Zealand

I looked into this about a year ago while I was do all my IL runs. Like you've said, it isn't really viable since you have to drive to the trains (I couldn't get a good switch for it either). Would definitely be worth looking into it for Any% NMS and 100% though. My IL of the Driller mission doesn't wait for any of the people but I spawn right next to the entrance so don't know if that would make a difference but it makes it about 1:30 faster

Oregon, USA

That is a much better method than what I did. I only did the obvious variant for the first time recently (as I used all the "smart" options my first playthrough), so I was trying my best to avoid the cops. The method I used was from some YouTube video I found, but it is far slower than what you did here. Even with the drive to the train, these setup missions are really short. My two biggest concerns is that it would add RNG to the end of the run seeing as you have to hope for a 4-door before getting to the driller (for optimal time save), and, of course, the switch from Trevor to Michael or Franklin after getting the train. I really think it's worth testing. Thanks for getting back to me, Cheese. I was worried since people didn't really know me (and my PB is trash) no one would really look my way when asking this. :)

Latvia

Honestly i have never even seen other option of he big score since when i started running this game people always did what we still do, they give money to us.

Finished watching, well it looked super slow and complicated to what currently do, not sure if even for any% it would be worth it. I still gonna try to find time to optimize and set a time fort comparison.

In any case nice to see someone trying, we never really bothered with it :D

Edited by the author 6 years ago