Hello everyone. So I’ve been getting into this game as of recently and I’ve been thinking about some improvements and necessary fixes for this game. These are merely my own personal suggestions, so feel free to tell me what you think or even add your own ones.

Without further ado, here are my suggestions. ───────────────────────────────────── [big]Appearance[/big]

Add: Background • https://imgur.com/a/xeb9B These are merely ones I've found that look fitting, but of course there are countless possible ones that can be used.

They might not all fit perfectly, so try different ones are see which works best.

Add: Rank Icons • https://imgur.com/a/fvIh3 • https://imgur.com/a/71Jog

Above are two separate ideas that might work.

These are just what I came up with, if you have any ideas what can fit better, feel free to let me know.

Add: Favicon • https://imgur.com/a/Ua4Fp Nothing special, just a normal Mark of Sacrifice. If there are anything else that might work better, feel free to let me know. ───────────────────────────────────── [big]Rules[/big]

Add: Rules At the moment there is no rules whatsoever which isn’t acceptable.

• Time Starts: When Selecting “New Game” • Time Ends: When last hit depletes the remaining health of the Final Boss (First frame when the health meter is fully empty) • Allowed & Banned Emulators? DEmul and NulLDC seems to be the two popular ones. I supposed we just limit it to DEmul/NullDC (Latest Versions) unless someone else has more knowledge on the matter on accuracy and whatnot. ───────────────────────────────────── [big]Categories[/big]

Fix: Off/On ─> NLM: Off/On (NLM = abbr. for No Limit Mode) Off/On isn’t very clear what it means, even if you do it’s not very intuitive. Therefore, to keep it simple I suggest the abbreviated form of “No Limit Mode” as NLM.

Fix: Very Easy as Main Category Currently the main category is Very Hard which no one is running anyway, so why even have that as the main one? Makes no sense when Very Easy is the most run as well as the fastest one.

Add: Milliseconds When Submitting Runs (Optional) This might just be my personal opinion, but I like to have things exact which is why I prefer to include milliseconds as well.

I wouldn't know as this unfortunately happens in all of my attempts.

The only thing, except AI RNG that is, would be when you kill the last enemy. The ship keeps circling above until all enemies are dead. Depending on how fast or slow your fight is, the ship will be at different positions in above before when it heads back where it will land. This is the only thing I can think off that might affect, but I doubt it.

Hopefully you figure something out, otherwise you'll just have to hope it doesn't happen.

I think it's just the AI being the idiots they are, unfortunately nothing to do about it. You sure it loses time though? I mean the bridge will get lowered regardless of them leaving the ship or not so.

Suggestions & Ideas I know this community isn't the biggest nor the most active, but I think every game needs to have a polished and clean page for newcomers and veterans alike. Therefore I have some suggestions and ideas that I think could improve the usability of this site.

Give Me Your Thoughts Keep in mind these are not any demands, merely suggestions for the moderators. Feel free to give your own ideas and let me know what you guys think. ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Rules It's obvious that a game should have clear-cut rules for everyone to follow without exceptions. If there are none it's very hard to enforce fair competition between runners.

No DLC & DLC Rules Currently the rules only state: No DLC: "Complete the game without use of the Anti-Armor Pistol, Laser Cannon, or the Boost Machine Gun." DLC: "Complete the game using any weapons"

First of all, what does "Without the use" even means? What is the definition followed here? Based on this rule it seems atleast acceptable to pick up DLC weapons, since I'm not using it other than holding it. Is that acceptable or not?

Also, can I use it for melee attacks which makes Melee Dashing/Clipping possible? Does that count as using the weapon? It's obvious you're not allowed to actually shoot with the weapon but other than that it's not very clear what you're actually allowed to do with it.

The only fair way would be to only allowed picking up the weapons, but any other use (Melee/Shooting) is obviously then not allowed.

You get no advantage from picking up a DLC weapon, mistake or not you're not gaining anything doing so therefore it should atleast be allowed to pick up the weapons. This is because mistakes happen and it would discourage runners on PC to run the category. ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Time Starts & Time Ends

Time Starts I personally think it's way easier and convinient to start time after accepting "Skip Tutorial and begin game". It's easy and consistent timing method as opposed to once in-game and gain control over your character.

There needs to be an agreed upon rule for when time actually should start. As of now there is no such rule and therefore competition is not fair.

Time Ends Should time ends when you shoot the last shot on the final boss and he starts to fall back? Should time end when the screen turns to black? I have no real preference here but I guess when the black screen pops up would be more consistent method to end your time.

As said before, there needs to be an agreed upon rule so competition is fair.

Retime Runs After Rule Change After we agree upon whatever "Time Stars/Ends" we need to verify that the times of each verified run on the leaderboard is correct. This is because there has been no rules for the timings before and runners will have different ways of timing. Therefore to ensure accurate times we will need to retime the runs. ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── RTA or IGT (Optional) This is just whether you want to be extra clear when specifying the rules or not. When a game has a "Time Starts/Ends" it's obvious that the method is RTA. It's nothing needed but just a suggestion to provide rules that cannot be misunderstood. ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Encourage Timer I personally only think a speedrun needs to have a video to be verified to a leaderboard. However I think we need to at the very least encourage the use of some sort of timer as you can easily verify if their timing methods are according to the rules. ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Category Fixes

1. Add Casual Auto (New Category)
2. Add Normal (New Category)

These 2 difficulties present in the game is currently missing from the leaderboards, there are no reasons for not adding these.

Move A Few Runs After the new categories has been added I'd like to request moving a few runs:

1. Pentalek's "Any% Casual (DLC) in 1:39:58" run is done on Casual Auto, while being in the Casual category. Move his run over to that category.
2. Trekhaak's "Any% Casual (No DLC) in 2:30:14" run is done on Normal, while being in the Casual category. Move his run over to that category.
3. GuyBB's "Any% Casual (No DLC) in 2:20:08" run has no video proof. I suspect it had a video once and it then got removed. Therefore you might want to remove it from the leaderboards, but I'm fine with it staying if the case was it had a video in the past but it then got removed. (Optional) ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Visuals of the Site

Background Currently the background for the site does not fit exactly and simply looks sloppy and messy. It seems the picture is only 1680x945 and not 1920x1080 which you would probably want.

Below is a 1920x1080 version of the image currently used. If you want it the same way as the current background you could also just mirror it. You can simply use any background picture as long as it actually fits the size. ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Rank Icons We currently use the standard and boring trophies as rank icons. I've made some custom ones we could use. These are just what I came up with, obviously changes can be made if so needed.

• https://imgur.com/a/2wbyR ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Favicons Favicons is nothing important but doesn't hurt adding it. I just found an icon of the game and basically resized it down. Not sure how it looks when used but ou can just find another one to use if that's the case.

• https://imgur.com/a/JRRA7

What Is A Favicon? If you don't know what a Favicon is, check on my profile here: • https://www.speedrun.com/user/nordanix/info

You'll see a little icon next to the game that has a Favicon used. You're rarely ever on that page but it's just a nice touch to have. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

I tried to clip up to the to like you mentioned, but only managed to clip underneath the top of the area floor. I might give it a couple more tries later. Any details on how you got it would be useful.

If you can get it fast enough you could probably save a few seconds, however there is a risk you might fall out of the lift and have to restart checkpoint.

Give me some suggestions I'm up to try finding some additional skips. If you have any ideas or suggestions feel free to let me know and I'll see what I can find. I'll post as I find more stuff.

Just proof to show that this actually has a chance to also drop "Boost Machine Gun".

The key is to get as fast as possible to the rocks so you can get yourself in between the 2 rocks. From there perform just do a melee attack with Assault Rifle, I'm sure other works too. It's really simple and consistent.

If you get this you could probably kill all enemies before the rocks even move out of the way. Not sure if it saves too much times since you might still have to wait for Burns to get all the way up?

Could you specify exactly where this clipping is supposed to be done at? I'm not following you when you say "sort of tunnel".

I don't have that much knowledge about the in-depths of this game like you do, so it's really great to see someone actually put an effort into the finer details of the game. I'm probably going to take a break from this game though. I'm simply dropping all information I know before I move on to the next game. Hopefully my information can prove to be of use to someone out there.

Just a a quick pointer

• In your document you mention that on "5-1 Crystal Viper" there is a crate to the left that has a 100% droprate of EMP Grenades. This is false. I've gotten, although only once, a different drop. That drop being the "Boost Machine Gun". If you want I can upload a video of it if you would want to see it actually happening.

Just thought I'd add some more knowledge surrounding these skips. I like to refer these type of skips as "Melee Clipping". Anyways, all of the Melee Clipping skips can only be done, not only with Heavy Machine Gun but also with the Anti-Armor Pistol since they both share the same melee attack.

Anyway, below are my improved versions of the skips. I've included 2 versions of the 3-6 skip where the first one is a bit more safe and less risky version while the other fully optimal but far more risky to perform in a run.

The below information is just copy-pasted from my previous forum post, but decided to be useful to include it here as well. ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Must use: Heavy Machine Gun or Anti-Armor Pistol

I've found out that you can actually keep staying on top of the ledge instead of dropping down and then go the the checkpoint.

You can keep sliding all the way to the checkpoint and saving a few seconds. You need to fall on the middle of the ledge when you first drop down otherwise you can't go around it, or atleast not as consistent for me.

You will face an invisible wall on the way so simply go to the left and around it.

Must use: Heavy Machine Gun or Anti-Armor Pistol

I suggest that you dodge right after you clip outside the cart. This is because otherwise you might get pushed down and fall below.

Instead of normally boosting, use Drift Boosting. However this can be risky as it's very easy to fall down but it is much faster. Also use Boost Dodging to get even faster. Not the most optimal but decent enough.

Keep in mind to not press "E" to cover against the last wall too early. If you do it, sometimes you will cover in the middle of it where there are no floor which will make you fall down. Therefore I advice to be rather close before initiating to cover.

Must use: Heavy Machine Gun or Anti-Armor Pistol

I suggest that you dodge right after you clip outside the cart. This is because otherwise you might get pushed down and fall below.

Instead of normally boosting, use Drift Boosting. However this can be risky as it's very easy to fall down but it is much faster. Also use Boost Dodging to get even faster. Not the most optimal but decent enough.

In addition to my other "Improved Clipping Skip" video I've also added Melee Dashing. It is even more risky to use since using Melee Dashing makes you not exactly travel in a straight line and you will risk falling down if you make a mistake.

Keep in mind to not press "E" to cover against the last wall too early. If you do it, sometimes you will cover in the middle of it where there are no floor which will make you fall down. Therefore I advice to be rather close before initiating to cover.

I didn't get a Drift Boost at the end before the terminal, but you can obviously do one there too, I just happen to missed it.

Introduction I've been speedrunning this game for a little bit now and I've been exploring and done some researching for new, albeit small time saves. All of these are done on PC.

I've simply posted all videos from Skips & Tricks playlist individually and then copy-pasted my description from the videos underneath the corresponding video. This is merely for easy access.

At the bottom you can find 2 playlist, the first being useful Skips & Tricks and the second simply Bugs & Glitches that aren't really useful as of now, but I'll include it just in case it can be useful in the future.

Any Questions? Let me know if you have anything to add or questions about anything and I'll gladly help! ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Individual Videos I'll post the videos from the Skips & Tricks indivudually and talk a little about each one of them.

Must use: Heavy Machine Gun or Anti-Armor Pistol

While on top of the elevator you can actually exit a few seconds earlier than intended. However if you miss to go out you will get stuck up top.

Must use: Heavy Machine Gun or Anti-Armor Pistol

Not sure if this actually saves any time as I think you still have to wait on Burns anyway before the gates open.

Must use: Heavy Machine Gun or Anti-Armor Pistol

I've found out that you can actually keep staying on top of the ledge instead of dropping down and then go the the checkpoint.

You can keep sliding all the way to the checkpoint and saving a few seconds. You need to fall on the middle of the ledge when you first drop down otherwise you can't go around it, or atleast not as consistent for me.

You will face an invisible wall on the way so simply go to the left and around it.

For some reason the elevator opened up even before the dialogue was over and objective pops up, which normally would happen. I was already inside before they were done talking which shouldn't happen. No idea why this happened but it does save a few seconds.

Must use: Heavy Machine Gun or Anti-Armor Pistol

I suggest that you dodge right after you clip outside the cart. This is because otherwise you might get pushed down and fall below.

Instead of normally boosting, use Drift Boosting. However this can be risky as it's very easy to fall down but it is much faster. Also use Boost Dodging to get even faster. Not the most optimal but decent enough.

Keep in mind to not press "E" to cover against the last wall too early. If you do it, sometimes you will cover in the middle of it where there are no floor which will make you fall down. Therefore I advice to be rather close before initiating to cover.

Must use: Heavy Machine Gun or Anti-Armor Pistol

I suggest that you dodge right after you clip outside the cart. This is because otherwise you might get pushed down and fall below.

Instead of normally boosting, use Drift Boosting. However this can be risky as it's very easy to fall down but it is much faster. Also use Boost Dodging to get even faster. Not the most optimal but decent enough.

In addition to my other "Improved Clipping Skip" video I've also added Melee Dashing. It is even more risky to use since using Melee Dashing makes you not exactly travel in a straight line and you will risk falling down if you make a mistake.

Keep in mind to not press "E" to cover against the last wall too early. If you do it, sometimes you will cover in the middle of it where there are no floor which will make you fall down. Therefore I advice to be rather close before initiating to cover.

I didn't get a Drift Boost at the end before the terminal, but you can obviously do one there too, I just happen to missed it.

Must use: Heavy Machine Gun or Anti-Armor Pistol

If you can get it really fast it should save a few seconds since you can get off the elevator earlier than intended.

Must use: Heavy Machine Gun or Anti-Armor Pistol

If you get off earlier you may save a few seconds. Still not sure.

It seems that if you keep your distance the Sphere enemies they will simply just explode on their own. Not sure if this is supposed to happen or not but seems to be useful to skip having to actually shoot them and waste ammo and also a few seconds. ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Playlists

Skips & Tricks Here is a playlist with all the above listed videos. All of these seems to save time or atleast potentionally be useful. • https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIu4Xm07NlVvha_QnTDvn8IpEdvBSdnOI

Bugs & Glitches This, atleast for now, is just a playlist of various bugs and glitches that I've found. None resulting in anything useful but might be worth documenting for future purposes. • https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIu4Xm07NlVsiENW2UONBEuHIStbdRd3Y

Possible Improvements Here is my document where I compare my run to another 1:30:41 run I found on Youtube that is fairly well executed. The purpose is to see where I can still earn big time saves. • https://www.evernote.com/shard/s675/sh/c3b99854-713b-4bf7-ae94-220b167d4357/fbdee3947f7dcc222a79781f82aa97cf

** https://discord.gg/rcj6A4G **

Just thought I might as well create a discord, just in case people prefer using that. I'm not very active on discord for the most part so if you want to actually reach me and talk to me about anything, I suggest other methods such as Youtube, Twitter or just on here.

Excluded from Level Leaderboard The stage "A Way Out of the World" cannot be completed in any way and is more of a Score Attack than a Time Attack since you only try to stay alive as long as possible. Because of this I have decided to not include it on the Level Leaderboard here on Speedrun.com.

Playlist You can still find my times of all categories of the stage in the playlist below. ** https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIu4Xm07NlVu4JLGCwxlMYQsv2ZF7io8L ** ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Rules Just some few things so you know what is allowed and not.

"Infinite Hover Glitch" Is "Banned" Since the stage does not actually progessively get closer to you in any way, meaning if you stand still the distance to the "World's End" doesn't come any closer to you. Therefore the use of "Infinite Hover Glitch" is banned because you can otherwise just use it right from the start and stay in the air, never getting any bit closer to the bottom and hover in place. This is however not possible to do infinitely as you can read more about below.

Automatic Death You can't stay forever in the air with this glitch, because for some weird reason the game just kills your after around the 2 minute mark. Even if you can't abuse the glitch and cheese the stage forever it still takes away about 2 minutes of trying to climb higher and higher on the stage. This just takes away the skill nessecary to get a good start and staying alive and also just makes it less interesting overall. If you wish to use it, go ahead but I will not include any abuse of this glitch on this "leaderboard".

Below you can see the automatic death that I'm talking about.

Accidents Are Okay It's so easy to accidentally trigger this glitch by simply using Thruster and ride up some of the flatter surfaces in this stage. Therefore I will not just ban your run because of a simple mistake. What I ask however is if you notice the glitch happening to just quickly correct yourself and stop it. It's the abusing of the glitch to stay in the air for a prolonged period of time that I won't accept.

The Stage Doesn't Count Urgent Ascent Uses Normally all stages, at the end, will list the number times you've used Urgent Ascent throughout the stage. However in this case, "A Way Out of the World" simply doesn't keep a track of your uses of it. Regardless if you use Urgent Ascent or not it will always read "Urgent Ascent Activation: 0 time(s)" at the end.

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Leaderboard I've included a leaderboard in this thread below just in case people are interested in running this stage, even though it's not on the Level Leaderboard. If you have a faster time, let me know and I'll edit this to include your run.

Easy

1. Nordanix- 5:25.425 - www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMx_K31elms

Easy, No UA

1. Nordanix - 2:52.238 - www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZFuktiE6vM

Normal

1. Nordanix - 3:56.786 - www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeO3ewPPZys
2. Omyon - 3:40.000 - www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVSXt3Uv1ug

Normal, No UA

1. Nordanix - 2:13.768 - www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFZo9EhMvy0
2. 19 rr - 1:14.00 - www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaRZOvhY5gA&feature=youtu.be&t=6m43s

Quick Blink

1. Nordanix - 3:43.540 - www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQc9GUAWIzE

Quick Blink, No UA

1. Nordanix - 2:14.751 - www.youtube.com/watch?v=adI4bwMiH-g ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Is it really an issue to have one stage on a game that no one really knows about? I mean it's not like it's a normal "high score" or anything. It also seems waste to have a completely new site just for the sake of one stage.

Now that you mention it, I do fully understand that and actually agree. However I just don't like leaving stages out of the leaderboards regardless if it isn't really a "speedrun". I just want to have everything in one place for everyone to find.

I am about 99.99% sure it is infinite since it just keep spawning same stuff over and over. Furthermore dying in the stage doesn't trigger any actual death, it just ends the level as if you completed any other normal stage would do. I know of a Infinite Hover glitch I can use to actually check but since I have myself gotten 3min 23s PB on the stage I doubt there will be anything to be found.

Anyways I have found a work around for now. I just created "All Stages" as the Individual Level and then just put all actual IL's as categories instead which then lets me control "Time Ascending" on specific stages. (See: https://www.speedrun.com/Link_The_Unleashed_Nexus/Any )

Unfortunately it is kind of cluttered but as long as it does the job I'm happy.

The stage itself is basicaly an infinite vertical level. (Here's the level, this is not me playing though)

6:58

I don't include that level in a run, since even if you try to stay alive you will always, at some point, end up dying anyway so in a run you would just drop down and die anyway. And also since it's hard to time when it actually ends in a RTA run I exclude it and since the previous level is such a great finish anyways. However in a Individual Level Leaderboard you would obviously try to stay alive as long as possible.

Here is a run of the game if you're interested:

If I would make a specific category for that Individual Level, the problem is I would have 2 empty categories that are used in all other categories (Any% and All Spheres for my game) so then I would be left with 3 categories where only 1 is used. The only other way would be to have all IL's as categories but that seems way to messy.

Why don't they just allow specific IL's to be Time Ascending? :/

So I've created a Level Leaderboard for my game and as usually, the fastest time is the 1st place. However in one of the levels you are trying to stay alive as long as possible, so the higher the time you get the better.

So the question is: How do I use "Time Ascending" for that 1 specific level while keep normal timing for all other levels? Is it possible? It seems impossible due to you can only add "Time Ascending" on your Individual Level Categories and that counts to all levels.

https://discord.gg/9HFmGnz

Just created a Discord for the game in case people prefer discussing there.