I went to practice speedrunning DRDR today and saw there was an update adding a "casual" difficulty to the game. Is this going to end up being a separate category, or this allowed for NG+?

Hi there. Long time enjoyer of the game but new to speedrunning it and I just had a few questions before I dabbled with routing some stuff out. If I’m running a DLC category, let’s just say From Dusk til Casa Bonita, I noticed that in the rules it says “Any and all items, powers, etc. from any of the DLC's outside of "From Dusk til Casa Bonita" are BANNED”

So does that mean that at no point I can go into the “powers” menu and change what attacks I’m using? Also are you aloud to have artifacts equipped to have a higher overall Might?

I was on a really good pace and then somehow this door never flung as Carlos. Did I somehow soft lock the game?

So this is a question I’ve wondered since I started running the game. I’ve noticed, in watching other speedruns, that Nemesis only runs around the generators for a few seconds before he stops and Carlos calls out a number. When I get to this point in the game, I’m running around in circles for a good 15-20 seconds before he stops running and I can shoot the red boxes to get him down. In some people’s runs, he doesn’t even do a full circle before stopping.

So my question is: is this a DA thing? Am I landing too many perfect dodges and the game just wants to make it that much longer? Or is this a difference on platforms? A lot of the runs I watch are on PC which is just much faster in general. I am running the Any% Console category on Standard, and play on an xbox one.

If anybody know why this happens and maybe has tips on how I can speed this up, it would be very much appreciated. Maybe I’m just crazy.

On a side note, love how helpful people have been in this community. I’ve met tons of people because of this game and am super stoked to be a part of it in some small way.