I completely felt that while doing runs. Not to sound too fatalist, but perhaps that is the nature of the run? Every game has its own flavour. I love adding fun categories, but I feel a category forcing extra encounters doesn't work very well in this RNG-ridden game. For example, I am trying to imagine the fast strats for this hypothetical category - to get a top time, the runner would just be hoping to get RNG that leads to no enemy encounters (or as few as possible). This devolves into the current Any% category as it exists. The top runs in both categories would optimally be the same. That isn't great.
I'm curious - how does it work in BPM? Are the number of rooms always consistent? I am trying to understand if there are any learnings to be applied here.
I'm not opposed to a reasonable approach to bring the combat to the fore. My 2 cents - add subcategories for the difficulty levels. Doing Any% on Tempestuous is a whole different ballgame and you might want to do extra combat to be able to level up.
It'd be almost impossible to verify if you cleared all enemies, given that there are hidden areas in each biome.
If you mean to just clear the optional reward arenas instead of skipping them, then that feels like a very minor difference from Any%, IMHO.
How does this work in coop? I've only tried it once and I don't remember if players can load into zones before others. That could lead to some complications around loadless time.
The usual approach is to make a load remover for livesplit, which doesn't typically work for consoles.
Thanks! It feels like Any%, which is why I'd suggest it be a subcategory rather than a separate category. As for the name, I can imagine something like "Fresh start" vs "Custom start" (going off the name you suggested). What do you think?
Thanks! You are correct on the distinction between Fresh File and Any%, I believe.
I'm not going to submit my run for now to avoid confusion, as I think there should be a subcategory under Any% to signify seeded vs. unseeded. I've seen other roguelikes have this - Hades and Binding of Isaac for example.
[Edit] IMO it makes even more sense in this case as grinding out a new save file might be a barrier to entry for someone trying to get into the run.
Hey - I had a few questions and comments about save file seeding. Having a save file with fewer things unlocked helps make it easier to get the build you want. You can go even further and grind out a save file to get the memories that you want, and then do runs by unlocking them at the robot (FR3ND 4EV3R). You then get to equip them immediately for a complete build at the start.
It's also fairly trivial to backup the save and restore it after a run to repeat the process.
I tried this and got this Any% run. The biggest timesave is honestly not having to menu. Ever.
Having a set start does feel like a different experience from an unseeded run - I would recommend having a subcategory to distinguish this (seeded vs. unseeded perhaps). What do y'all think?
(Also should there be a speedrun discord? I joined the main Windblown DC but there's no speedrunning channel on there)
These are documented on the discord - you'd probably find it easier to find answers to these and other questions there.
In the arena before the box, you can skip the second wave by killing the 2 grunts in wave 1 at the same time, as seen here (timestamp 5:07 in the video) -
This was published after the event was over...
Funny to see a submitted run the same day the board got approved - gg!
@ThatsANiceHat - it's bad sportsmanship and contrary to speedrunning ethos. This is not just my opinion - if you see the discord, the community agrees. Because of this one bad faith run, speedrun.com mods have decided to change the rules so that future challenges require livestreamed runs to be eligible to win money.
Stealth run? Kinda... interesting if it was hidden till the last minute