How do you learn a game?
7 years ago
New Jersey, USA

How do you learn a new game? How do you practice? Do you set goals? If so, then how? Do you have a personal philosophy or method? Do you take it seriously or casually? At what point to you post your first time? Do you wanna be the very best? Do you ever stop purely practicing, only playing for PBs? If so, then at what point do you feel that you don't need to practice? Do you play multiple games? When do you decide to stop playing a game? What motivates you to keep going? Do you go back to games that you already stopped playing? What motivates you to get back into a game?

Please share your perspective :D

Shade667 likes this
Kochi, Japan
  • When I learn a new game, I play as much possible and watch speedruns of that game, and the fastest possible (but I play MGS2).
  • I practice by using saves at certain areas of the game which are hard for me.
  • I set goals for myself. For example, my main goal now is going for sub 7mn E-Ex Tanker S-Rank on MGS2.
  • Personal philosophy ? Method ? Play.
  • Casually, I play for fun, nothing else (but eventually beating WR for Tanker-Plant E-Ex)
  • Umm, I don't want to be number 1 as it would not be fun to compete with others and it would not be fair.
  • Yes I do, run again and again until PB.
  • I think a good speedrunner never stops practicing.
  • I play at a high level (just below semi-pro) StarCraft II and MGS2 only.
  • When I got bored because I have all the WRs.
  • I am motivated by some players such as Anonymityhope, AmaebiUniO, Hikari, 131913055, and of course, having speedrun mates to talk with.
  • Umm, I stopped playing seriously MGS2 during 2014 (just punched guards in the balls), but I got back.
  • Getting the WR lol

(^^)

Havi likes this
New Jersey, USA

Thanks for your thoughts :)

I never considered running MGS2. It's my fav, of the ones that I have played (1-3), and I spent so many hours playing it years ago. Maybe I'll give it a shot, once I fix my PS2. "All Dog Tags" sounds like a fun category :D

New Jersey, USA

@Superspyro64

Thanks for the response! I'll check out that tutorial. I've seen one, which was the only one that I could find, so hopefully it's not the same one :D

Quick question: what do you consider to be a meme game, and why? You say that most of the games you play are meme games, but I wouldn't consider any of the games on your profile to be meme games.

Edited by the author 7 years ago
France
xDrHellx
He/Him, It/Its
7 years ago
  • How do you learn a new game? Personnaly, i try watching a run, if possible done live, it's better since you can talk with the runner(s) Also, during a live stream mistakes happens, so it's useful to see back-up strats also

  • How do you practice? Rarely do, but when i do i try to get the same conditions as during a run, to make sure everything is accurate

  • Do you set goals? If so, then how? Depends, most goals i've set were about better routing so far

  • Do you have a personal philosophy or method? Huh... fun is what should matter the most ?

  • Do you take it seriously or casually? Probably too seriously, but at the same time i find it hard not to, depending on the games A good example would be Boktai, i'm the only runner with an Any% run, and since we haven't found videos about runs, even on niconico, i guess that kinda means it IS WR... so yeah, to me that puts a lot of pressure when running it, because as the WR holder i feel that i should be really good at it

  • At what point to you post your first time? Let's see... about 1 year ago, i've started working on the Boktai games, the first run was alright, considering i barely had any memories from the games

  • Do you wanna be the very best? I don't know... i guess ? I'd like to be a great player on initial D, definitly, as for the other games... not sure, i'd just like to have a time i'm satisfied with, i guess (most up-to-date strats, if mistakes, nothing too bad, etc)

  • Do you ever stop purely practicing, only playing for PBs? Heh... hard question kinda, i mean, i rarely practice anything, i prefer to do runs directly instead, to me that helps because that way i can find back-up strats, also it kinda feels like i'm looking at the runs / routes from another perspective

  • If so, then at what point do you feel that you don't need to practice? Whenever i get the tricks right many times in a row, that's when i think it should be fine It's always good to atleast look at them sometimes too, just in case

  • Do you play multiple games? Yes

  • When do you decide to stop playing a game? Whenever i don't feel like playing it or when i don't have fun on it anymore

  • What motivates you to keep going? Communities, but not only that, for Boktai and Initial D games, it was more than that to me Barely anyone were streaming these games, not many people knew about them too, especially Boktai

When i realized that, i felt like i HAD to do something, so i started doing runs, routing the games, practicing, streaming them, i wanted to gather fans and to show to people how good these unknown games are too

  • Do you go back to games that you already stopped playing? Can happen

  • What motivates you to get back into a game? Seing streams of it, listening to the OST, sometimes it comes from people talking about it too

Edited by the author 7 years ago
New Jersey, USA

@xDrHellx

Thanks for responding!

That's a good point about watching runs live. I usually end up watching videos from the leaderboard, but there is an advantage to watching all the other attempts.

So, with a game like Boktai, every time you play it is basically from start to finish, or until you make an error?

I feel the same way about having a WR and being the only--or one of the only--runners. Besides Kirby and a couple other games, most of the games that I plan on running or that I'm currently practicing have zero to two runners, and the runners that exist are no longer active with the game. I look at some random games where someone created the page, posted what was basically a blind playthrough, and then never revisited it--and I just feel like that would be unacceptable for me. If I'm going to be the only time, then I want it to be the best possible. Aquas is a user here who has a pretty epic reason for running Ultimate Ghosts 'N Goblins Revised, as the only runner. He practices that game like a crazy person, with so much dedication, and his sole motivation is making a time as fast as a segmented run on SDA. I use his story as my personal motivation to run a game by myself.

I feel the same way about unknown games. I think that a lot of people might only want to play games that are popular, but a game's popularity has to start somewhere. I like your attitude.

btw, is the solar sensor of Boktai an essential function of the game? Does the emulated version account for that at all? Is there any advantage in playing with the actual cartridge? Oh, I just noticed that the categories are split, so maybe there is a difference.

France
xDrHellx
He/Him, It/Its
7 years ago

np

[quote] So, with a game like Boktai, every time you play it is basically from start to finish, or until you make an error? [/quote] Depends on how long it's been, most of the time i'd try to finish unless i do something that i think is unacceptable (like losing 5+mn where i shouldn't)

[quote] btw, is the solar sensor of Boktai an essential function of the game? Does the emulated version account for that at all? Is there any advantage in playing with the actual cartridge? Oh, I just noticed that the categories are split, so maybe there is a difference. [/quote] It's essential, in fact, basically the game works around it, especially the other ones, the energy you recover increases with how much UV Rays / sunlight the sensor gets. It's also needed for finishing bosses and it also affects some of the maps.

Like, if you have too much sun detected water would just evaporates, ice would melt, fire would do more damage, things like that.

It's one of the reasons why Console and Emulator are 2 different categories for these games, if you're using emulator you have to use a patch, with it, you can raise and decrease the sunlight block by block as much as you want. On console you would rarely get the max amount, also managing the blacklight to get UV rays while playing feels totally different compared to emulator, since on emulator you'd just do like; L + A buttons + right or left to increase / decrease amount.

Edited by the author 7 years ago
South Carolina, USA

How do you learn a new game? I do a couple of casual play throughs, watch some top runs, and then start running :) How do you practice? Depends on the game. If there is a level system, i practice individual levels that are giving me trouble for a little bit before i start my runs for the day. Do you set goals? If so, then how? I set broad time goals, sub 1 hr, sub 50 min, sub 45 min, etc Do you have a personal philosophy or method? You don't have to be the best, you just have to get better Do you take it seriously or casually? casually mostly. being married and in the military, i don't have the time to devote to full time streaming/running so i guess I'm seriously casual :D At what point to you post your first time? after completing my first run. I don't care if it's bad. My Song of the Deep time is over an HOUR off WR. I just care about getting better. Do you wanna be the very best? Like I said, I don't care about being the best. I'm more concerned with improvement. Do you ever stop purely practicing, only playing for PBs? Since I have pretty limited time to play, I generally just go for PB's. If so, then at what point do you feel that you don't need to practice? I think of going for PB's as practice. The more you run, the more you'll improve on each stage of the game. Obviously, you'll improve on the earlier parts of the game more until eventually you get to where you're just grinding the end (more or less) Do you play multiple games? Yes! I'm currently running Castle of Illusion HD and Song of the Deep. I've also run Inside My Radio, but I'm taking a break from that one for a bit. When do you decide to stop playing a game? If I don't enjoy playing it. What motivates you to keep going? I've never been particularly good at anything in my life, so I want to be good at the games I run. Do you go back to games that you already stopped playing? I hope to eventually reclaim my WR on Inside My Radio, but I'm not too worried about it at the moment. What motivates you to get back into a game? The first time I lost WR on Inside My Radio I was so hungry to get it back. Not so much now haha.

Philippines
kaiten619
He/Him, They/Them
7 years ago

How do you learn a new game? I just go for broke and wing it on the first few attempts How do you practice? deoends on the games idifficulty curve of what i need to ppractice Do you set goals? yes. i set a goal based on the categgory's slowest runner and try to avoid getting worst than that Do you have a personal philosophy or method? aim to get sub slowest time on category then gradually cut the time more Do you take it seriously or casually? both At what point to you post your first time? i'll post when it looks a decent showing Do you wanna be the very best? of course at a certain extent Do you ever stop purely practicing, only playing for PBs? no If so, then at what point do you feel that you don't need to practice? Do you play multiple games? yes i got over 40 categories im trying to do When do you decide to stop playing a game? if i get burnt out What motivates you to keep going? i always have that burning desire to get better Do you go back to games that you already stopped playing? yes What motivates you to get back into a game? if i need a break

Edited by the author 7 years ago
England

-How do you learn a new game? I prefer to learn who are the most well-known/'best' runners of a game, and then learn from them if they are willing. There are a lot of nuances to a game that you can't discern just from watching runs, so I prefer to learn from people if possible.

-How do you practice? Most of the games I run are SNES/Genesis-era games, which means emulator is very convenient. I'll generally have a savestate for each main stage, then practice individually. When it comes to full-game runs, I'll compare my splits to WR and see which stages I lose the most time on, which lets me know what my main areas for improvement are. From there it's a continual process of evaluating what my weakest areas of play are, and this applies to more general concepts too such as landing a specific track, overall movement, etc. I also do a lot of offline practice that nobody else sees, which contributes to some odd qualitative leaps between each of my PBs.

-Do you set goals? If so, then how? Depending on the game, my goal can be anywhere between "Get a PB" and "Get WR". For Sparkster SNES, after getting back into Normal and getting a substantial PB, I started running against WRs splits as it forced me to play as well as possible. It worked.

I also deliberately go for the riskiest strats whenever possible, as I believe the best runners are 'forged in fire' so to speak. If you're scared of trying new strats that could kill the run, you're never going to improve. I now regularly use strats in Sparkster that everyone else has been terrified of using, such as going for a quick kill on the Stage 7 boss, and it's just a matter of course for me now. Doesn't make it any less frustrating when a run does still die to it, mind.

-Do you have a personal philosophy or method? Never stop aiming for improvement. Speedrunning in my opinion is not a competition against other people (Though leaderboard ranks are a thing, obviously), but a competition against yourself. Once you're 'satisfied', you're kind of finished insofar as being able to push yourself to improve. For the same reason, I'm not content with just holding WRs, I want the times to be as good as I can manage. Look at the WR history for SNES Sparkster's Easy mode to see what I mean. My WR is currently ~12 seconds from my Sum of Best, and I still want to push it down by at least 6 seconds.

-Do you take it seriously or casually? Very seriously. It actually pisses me off when I see people treat speedrunning as a trivial matter, like submitting joke submissions for events/only running joke games/etc. Obviously people can run whatever they want and I don't harass people about it generally, but it still inwardly annoys me.

-At what point to you post your first time? When I complete my first run. I have no shame in putting a 'bad time' on the boards, largely because it motivates me to beat it so as to increase my ranking. I'm rarely happy with just leaving a poor time on a leaderboard to just sit there and remain bad.

-Do you wanna be the very best? In certain games, yes. There are others that I have accepted that I will never have first place in (QuackShot), and others, like Sparkster, where I am now very invested in being the best player, and not losing that position.

-Do you ever stop purely practicing, only playing for PBs? When you stop practicing, you stop getting better. If you think you're done practicing just because you can land the tricks and move fairly well, you're going to get overtaken by someone more driven. You'll also stunt your own ability to improve if you don't critically analyse your own play to a sufficient extent. If you have a deep understanding of your game, you should ALWAYS be able to recognise your weakesses and shortcomings, even if you're the WR holder. Are you losing frames consistently due to a bad movement habit? Fix it. Is there a skip you do that requires an elaborate setup, but it's possible that a much simpler and faster setup could exist? Find it.

-If so, then at what point do you feel that you don't need to practice? Already answered, I don't think I'll ever reach a point where I don't need to practice, because that would imply that I am a literal TAS, which I'm not.

-Do you play multiple games? Sure do, check out my profile page for a list. The more recent games are the ones I'm more interested in currently running, obviously.

-When do you decide to stop playing a game? When another one holds more interest, generally. If this means "When do you decide to QUIT a game", then that's harder to answer. I don't think I'm 100% done with ANY of the games I've ran, it's just a matter of having limited time and motivation. You can only play one game at a time, so you need to decide what you want to play the most.

-What motivates you to keep going? Lack of satisfaction with my own times. I don't believe any of my times are 'good' yet, insofar as being optimised to the point of being very difficult to beat, and that's the point I want to reach. Sparkster is the one that's closest to that point, but there's still a handful of seconds that are free to save on Easy.

-Do you go back to games that you already stopped playing? Already kind of answered above, I don't consider myself to have fully stopped playing any of the games I've previously ran.

-What motivates you to get back into a game? Taking a break often helps to re-ignite interest I once had further down the line, plus I might just need a break from whatever I've currently been running. It helps if new stuff has been found in the relevant game by someone else, as I'm interested in keeping my runs 'up to date' as far as tech goes.

French Southern Territories

How do you learn a new game? First playthrough How do you practice? First and second playthroughs Do you set goals? If so, then how? Having fun while playing and to stop when you don't have fun Do you have a personal philosophy or method? Use science to save time. Do you take it seriously or casually? Casually, I ain't no monster At what point to you post your first time? First playthrough with rushing. Do you wanna be the very best? More or less Do you ever stop purely practicing, only playing for PBs? No, noreset runs are the best way to PB, besides games with luck. If so, then at what point do you feel that you don't need to practice? Do you play multiple games? Yes, but I always return to the fondamentals : Portal, Half-Life 2, Super Meat Boy, Portal 2, E.T. : The Extra-Terrestrial. However I hate behind said to have "main games". I want to be free to quit a game whenever I'ld like to. When do you decide to stop playing a game? When not having fun. What motivates you to keep going? Fun. Do you go back to games that you already stopped playing? Of course. What motivates you to get back into a game? Free time and boredom.

Vienna, Austria

Let's do it as well ... even tho I don't think I'm a good speedrunner myself ... yet Kappa Since I learn ALBW (The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds) I think I can reflect what I do to learn that.

  • How do you learn a new game? Play through the Game casually first, then take a look at a run and do my best to do the same :P Also reading/watching tutorials, guides and infos about glitches/bugs.

  • How do you practice? Simply trying to do the run I guess xD When I have a choke point in the run, I practice that till I get it right. As soon as I get the run down preety much, I take a look at really advanced tricks and may search for new glitches/bugs and may get these to work. Otherwise just try to get better and reset a million of times.

  • Do you set goals? If so, then how? When it's a longer run, I try to get it to finish. After that I break up the game in parts/splits and just try to get better in each of these segments.

  • Do you have a personal philosophy or method? Not really I guess. Have fun while doing it and try to do it in a regular basis - daily if you really have the time.

  • Do you take it seriously or casually? Kind of both? Personally I really want to get it to work and do practice it allot, so therefore I take it seriously. But when I get too upset, I just let it be and do something else. Especially since I know that at some days the runs go really well ... while on others it's just never gonna go.

  • At what point to you post your first time? Long runs: As soon as I finally finish the game speedrun wise. Short runs: When I'm ok with the time ... mostly around when I'm "only" 10min behind WR, when I think that I didn't make major mistakes or when I think it's still good to watch.

  • Do you wanna be the very best? Nah. As long as I'm good at the run I'm totally set.

  • Do you ever stop purely practicing, only playing for PBs? Like I stated earlier: When I fail a part often/I feel like I can improve at a part, then I practice that. Otherwise simply go for PBs yea.

  • If so, then at what point do you feel that you don't need to practice? ...

  • Do you play multiple games? Is this a question about casually playing games or running them? For casual games, I already made a post about it in a thread where it was asked as well: http://www.speedrun.com/Talk/thread/8uiih Speedrun wise I don't really feel like running the Games I've so far except for FAST Racing NEO. Therefore I'm currently learning:

  • F-Zero: GP Legend

  • A Link Between Worlds

  • Redout

  • New Super Mario Bros.

  • When do you decide to stop playing a game? When I don't feel like it anymore. When I have to force myself to do the run or when the game simply doesn't fit me (anymore).

  • What motivates you to keep going? Nothing when the Game/run is really bad/I don't like to do it at all. When I think that I could do runs of it, but don't really feel like it, only other people could motivate me. Mostly when there's an active community to race with or people who would like to see it.

  • Do you go back to games that you already stopped playing? Sometimes to only figure out why I hated it and dropped it in the first time.

-What motivates you to get back into a game? Mostly because I think my run sucks and could be improved by so much or when new glitches/routes/tricks have been found.

Victoria, Australia
stoot
He/Him, They/Them
7 years ago

How do you learn a new game? I usually beat it normally a few times and then learn the route by watching a run and maybe a few tutorial videos.

How do you practice? Playing particular sections.

Do you set goals? If so, then how? Nope.

Do you have a personal philosophy or method? No, not really.

Do you take it seriously or casually? A bit of both, I like to get good times but I'm never fussed over losing time.

At what point to you post your first time? After my first session of full runs. May as well document my progress.

Do you wanna be the very best? I don't really care.

Do you ever stop purely practicing, only playing for PBs? When I get comfortable enough, but there'll inevitably be parts I need to work on so I'll go back and practice them.

Do you play multiple games? I play whatever I feel like, so yes and no.

When do you decide to stop playing a game? When I start to get frustrated while playing it.

What motivates you to keep going? ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Do you go back to games that you already stopped playing? If I feel like it.

What motivates you to get back into a game? Seeing a run, listening to the OST, basically anything that reminds me that running it was fun.

Kentucky, USA

-How do you learn a new game? Most of the time, when I pick up a game, I start by doing what I call a Fast-run through it, meaning I don't use any skips or tricks I don't already know. This gives me a base time on clearing the game. Because this time is usually a LOT longer than any speedrun PB I would have, it also motivates me because I tend to see improvement a lot. I watch other runs and records to pick up the tricks I need to get better.

-How do you practice? I try to break down my practicing by stage/major skips. I focus on larger, more difficult skips first because that will cut my time down the most. Once I learn enough to be comfortable, I'll do another full-game run using what I've practiced. From there, I'll work my way down to smaller tricks and movement pathing that I haven't incorporated yet. It gives me consistent improvement.

-Do you set goals? If so, then how? Once I practice a section, I'll set what I refer to as bronze, silver, and gold times for my next PB run. bronze is normally an easy-to-get, very conservative time, e.g. sub-30 when I know in reality I'll get sub-28 if I do everything well. the silver and gold times are personal incentives for me to push myself. If I get them, I usually will take a break/call it a day on practicing. I normally just keep those times in my head as a self-motivator.

-Do you have a personal philosophy or method? Not really, I just try to be consistently better. I don't want to set the game down until I make improvement in some way.

-Do you take it seriously or casually? Depends on the game. A lot of games, I can tell whether I have the immediate capability to get high in the speed leaderboards. On games I feel confident in, I'll pursue it a lot more diligently.

-At what point to you post your first time? I'll post my times on games when I'm only a bit behind another record I've set as a preliminary goal. That way I don't feel completely useless when I see my record and it gives me something to work towards. From there I can update and improve.

-Do you wanna be the very best? Duh. I know that I'm not going to be a phenom at most things and I know my limits, but when I know I can do something well, I want to push myself to be the best I can be, if not the best of the lot.

-Do you ever stop purely practicing, only playing for PBs? Once I get my major tricks down on a game, I tend to only do PB runs but if I feel like I'm getting sloppy on a particular part, I will go back and practice it to tighten up.

-If so, then at what point do you feel that you don't need to practice? See above

-Do you play multiple games? Yes! There are a LOT of games I like and anything I like, I consider speedrun material whether it's popular or not, or difficult or not. I'll do fast runs on a lot of games and decide they're not for me to speedrun but if I have a good feeling about a game, I'll go ahead and start tracking my PB.

-When do you decide to stop playing a game? Depending on how motivated I am with the game, I'll stop sooner or later. Some games I want to work towards WR and stay on top but some games I'll get a good time and call it quits.

-What motivates you to keep going? I want to improve myself always and be the best I can be. Also, streaming and speedrunning are both huge communities and I like being an active force in them. The community keeps me afloat as well.

-Do you go back to games that you already stopped playing? Yes! Sometimes I'll get burned out and need to take a hiatus. Then I'll get a notion and come back and start playing again.

-What motivates you to get back into a game? Usually nostalgia of the last time I played.

Ontario, Canada

¤How do you learn a new game? Playing through it multiple times to gain understanding of the basics of the game, usually afterwards or during said playthrough watching other runs if available can also help.

¤How do you practice? Playing through the game using the route(s) and at some sections stopping to practice things such as mechanics or tricks, to better subsequent playthroughs in the future,

¤Do you set goals? If so, then how? No goals at first just finish the game fully with a proper route, Then look for improvements one at a time to focus on such as getting the basics of the route down pat. And eventually moving on to advance things such as tricks or even glitches etc.

¤Do you have a personal philosophy or method? Not really just play it how I feel comfortable doing so and if it does not work well enough alter a bit and try other things till things seem better.

¤Do you take it seriously or casually? I always try to play in a casual mind set which helps me remain a bit more calm and allot more laid back for when errors happen as It will allow me time to catch and understand them or comment on them to myself or others on why errors had happened and what could have been done to correct them. Being to serious for me usually breaks my focus allot more as when things go wrong which is always possible it undermines your attitude and will to continue playing.

¤At what point to you post your first time? After several runs through the game and when I'm comfortable with the performance is normally when I think its time to post a run. This will varies per person as we all have a different mind set and I normally want to get it down to a consistent time before I post a run.

¤Do you wanna be the very best? Not if it means I will not enjoy the game as much when I continue to play it. If I cannot enjoy it and be good at it then no, I will just continue to play and do as best or better then I did last time.

¤Do you ever stop purely practicing, only playing for PBs? At some points just going for PB's is good practice but also following through with a run helps with consistences more so then just resetting all the time for a better overall start, because the end will normally be poor. At least that's how its been for me.

¤If so, then at what point do you feel that you don't need to practice? I don't think practice is something you ever stop every time you play the game you gain some sort of knowledge as you played it for what ever the results were.

¤Do you play multiple games? Yes but not to many that I do runs on as it would be hard to pull away from a game to long to play another and or just get confused with multiple games controls among the fewest issues other then confusing routes if the games are similar.

¤When do you decide to stop playing a game? When I stop enjoying the game and running it or playing it casually, is normally the point where I'm done with the game. This rarely happens tho because I find was to comeback to most games either for casual play, challenges or running them.

¤What motivates you to keep going? Just the will of wanting to do better at the games/route and getting a solid and consistent time even if its only a PB. After that its wanting to improve with there is all ways room to since we are human and mistakes or errors happen. Nothing is ever perfect unless your a machine and your imperfect with is what replicates from us being human.

¤Do you go back to games that you already stopped playing? Eventually if I forgotten most of the game or I want to revisit a game because its something to do I get around to it.

¤What motivates you to get back into a game? If I enjoyed the game at some point playing it or it was interesting enough to play, It's normally enough for me. Most times tho its because I want to try something different like a challenge while playing it. Speedrunning a game in general is what I consider a self challenge and should be motivation enough as long as your playing something you enjoy, Else your doing it for the wrong reasons. At least to my opinion that is.

Anyways I hope some of this information is helpful to someone maybe, I'm still fairly new to the scene I've only been running games going on 2 years now, And a small number at that.

Washington, USA
EmeraldAly
She/Her, They/Them
7 years ago

Not going to go point-by-point, but basically I like to learn "on the job." I know some runners who will painstakingly practice each segment at a time -- even know one who uses a timer when learning a run, to time what he knows will be runs that don't go all the way because he's only learned parts of it. I can't do it that way myself. As long as I have a reasonable ability to complete the game in one sitting, I'll just go ahead and start runs. Prime example was Escape Plan. After my first playthrough, I decided to run a timer with my second. I died 88 times, and took 1 hour 42 minutes. My latest PB is 2 deaths and 36 minutes. I could have killed myself with offline and/or untimed practice before I got in the sub-hour, sub-50, sub-40 range, but I just wanted to get in and do runs. Gives me a better sense of making progress too. To know how far you've come, you have to know where you started.

So yeah! As long as I know I know how to get through and finish the game (which is no small thing if the run is 3 or 4 hours or so in length, a game I'm looking at running right now is Zelda Twilight Princess), I just go for it. The early splits will be terribad, and then they get better. Circle of life.

kobepilgrim likes this
New Jersey, USA

Thanks for not going point-by-point :D

Not to complain about all the great answers, but I was hoping that my questions would be more of a way to spark ideas for things to mention, not necessarily as literal questions :P