As it stands right now, there is a rule which allows Pre New Game manipulation. This means that before you start the timer, you are allowed to manipulate the RNG of the game and then start a run. What this means right now is that you could manipulate your danger value and step ID to start at a different spot than normal, thus leading to fewer encounters overall throughout the run.

As it stands right now, there has been no runs that have used this, but recently Luzbelheim has brought this rule to question, as he has worked on a new stepcount with this manipulation which would remove a couple encounters from the run, thus saving a meaningful (for WR) amount of time.

What this means in practice is that before you hit New Game, you would load a save file at some specific point, do your manipulation (walking/running around to get correct step ID / Danger value), then do a soft reset (Ctrl+R on PC) and then start the timer and the run as normal.

This kind of manipulation is not allowed for FF7 mostly because it also removes an important glitch from being acceptable, but is allowed for example in FF4 and FF6 for the same usage, a different step count.

Do you think this should be allowed or not? Please give a clear "Yes, allow it" or "No, don't allow it". Any reasonings for your answers are appreciated.

I don't see any problems with pre new game manipulation i actually am up for it ;)

Yes you could allow it. I see no reason to banning it.

This changes absolutely nothing for newer runners and will only be meaningful for top times. ( This could ofc change if new and interesting things gets found)

Like said in the main post its nothing new for games to allow pre newgame manips and i dont see why it should be different here for FF8.

I would not allow it. For me this right now only makes starting a new run more of a chore for no meaningful difference in the run. Encounters in FF8 are meaningless and pose no threat and provide no benefit.

Saying it doesn't change anything for new runners is, I think, a bit false. The game has everything (except Esthar Menu) challenging about it in the first hour of the run (Early Quistis, Zell card manip, Diablos fight). Adding another thing on top makes the game seem more challenging to a beginners eyes. Right now beginners don't have to follow a step count either, which right now saves about 2 minutes, adding this on top makes it closer to 3 minutes. It's a meaningful time save that beginners will look at, and think they will have to do that too.

Whether we should think about the beginner perspective when making rules is another discussion.