Not sure how much my opinion matters here since I don't have any times submitted and I'm not a good player, but to me this category is fun because it's different from the others in that it makes the game the hardest it could be played while still feeling like like a normal playthrough.

Save file editing takes that aspect of this category away, and makes it more similar to the other several categories this game already has, which I don't find appealing. There are so many categories for this game, and most of them boil down to subverting RNG by buying OP items or making the game easier by running on lower difficulties.

What if we could have a category where the game is actually played at the hardest it could be, while still feeling like a normal run, without abusing lunar items? To me this is that category.

RNG is what makes this game fun for many people, and it's a shame that we can't have a single category without that aspect being "subverted". People who like having incredibly consistent runs have plenty of other categories to choose from.

For these reasons I would be against Fogbound being required, and I'm in favor of allowing vanilla solo runs.

As a new runner I also don't understand why this stage is included in the gauntlet mod, seems like it's such a random addition to an otherwise great mod.