After a lot of debate and discussion and experimentation with 7th and scaz, I've come to the conclusion that load times and fade to map are the main distinctions between copies of the game, console and emulator combined (aside from regional differences). The decision has been made to count submission times by manually subtracting load times and fade to map times from a submitted run. This will level the playing field, since different discs and different consoles will all effect the load times of the game, but will not impact actual gameplay whatsoever. The fade to black screens we are excluding from in this calculation will be map region transitions, and to and from cutscenes. These do not appear to be effected by the variable load times. This ruling is retroactive, applying to all previously submitted runs, and proactive, applying to all runs to be submitted in the future. I believe it's the only way to make things truly fair and test the actual skill of the player, rather than who is luckiest with their discs, console, and/or .isos.

In game time runs slower on PAL 50hz with no mechanical changes to the game other than increased lifespan of cards because of the slower clock. Even if all versions were the same, part of this game's mechanics is building the deck which isn't counted on the in game timer when on the overworld. I'd like to put forth that because the timer is inconsistent across versions and does not include the vital part of the game that is deck building, it should not be used, and records should be calculated using RTA.