Since this game was recently divided into sub-categories by difficulty, I want to point out a couple quirks with the Eternal version.

As far as I know, Eternal only has 2 difficulties, Easy and Normal; Hard and Nightmare were added to later releases. However, the damage formulas for Eternal's Easy most closely resembles later versions' Normal difficulty, and Eternal's Normal difficulty most closely resembles later versions' Hard difficulty.

It's not an exact comparison to later versions, but in general, it lines up with the damage enemies deal / take (though there are exceptions, such as some bosses, like Vagullion, dealing less damage in Eternal).

Therefore, I'm requesting that people that submit runs for Eternal submit for Normal and Hard difficulties respectively, rather than Easy and Normal.

On second thought, what do people think about putting the Eternal runs into a separate category? The reason I bring this up is because I recently noted that the above information concerning the difficulties isn't entirely correct.

For example, take Jenocres on Eternal's Easy difficulty compared to other versions' Normal. In Eternal (on Easy), if facing him under-leveled, you'd only have to deal 34 hits; in newer versions (on Normal), you'd have to do 50. In addition, the damage he deals to you is lower in Eternal; 3 compared to 6 (armor or lack thereof doesn't matter for this fight).

Now, facing him at the "correct" level / gear, you'd do the same amount of hits (10), but the level differs. Eternal could do it at level 3, and newer versions at 4. Granted, Eternal gives lower EXP from the Minea Plains and Mountain Path enemies, and also nothing from saving Luta, but still.

Vagullion's another one that stands out. I can't remember for certain, but I believe he takes 11 hits in Eternal (Easy) compared to 13 in newer versions (Normal). Pretty certain the damage output in that fight is a bit lower in Eternal as well.

So, let's say I do a run of Eternal on Easy, and submit it here. The way we currently have it set up, it'd get posted under Normal difficulty. However, I'd almost certainly still do Jenocres under-leveled in this instance, and so my run would have an unfair advantage over someone playing Normal on a newer version. Even if they also did Jenocres under-leveled, they'd still be behind because I'd do 16 hits less than what they'd have to do (plus, I'd also have a higher survivability rate, not taking as much damage).

Granted, things like text speed would also play a factor in timing, and the above pertains to Eternal's Easy vs. newer versions' Normal, but still. About Eternal's Normal vs. other versions' Hard, I believe the chief factor is damage received, and not the amount of damage a boss takes, though I could be wrong about that.

Thoughts?

All of the releases have some gameplay differences, Eternal just happens to have the most prominent of the bunch. Rather than creating separate categories, I think it'd be most intuitive to either have Eternal runs be submitted to the difficulty categories that correspond to the difficulty selected in-game since all the other versions also follow that principle, or remove it entirely and create a new page for Eternal specifically. Creating new categories seems like a strange compromise because it's a game and not an in-game option or route.

I'd personally vote for the former. If a run on Eternal is done on what the game considers easy, it should be submitted under that difficulty. Those are just my thoughts though, what does everyone else think?

Hmm, I suppose we could do that. After all, the current run would have a slight edge over true Hard difficulty runs (well, I say that, but there's also stuff like Wings costing a lot more to take into consideration - 200 vs 2000). Take Vagullion again. The current Eternal run takes 5 damage per hit when properly equipped. I don't know what it is for a proper Hard run, but for Normal in newer versions, the damage taken is 8. So, despite needing to deal more damage, maybe the fact that you take less could be considered a good counter-balance?

Ugh, these version differences really suck sometimes. :(

I don’t play this game but going by what Korzic says I would agree with splitting Eternal in its own categories. The runs aren’t comparable.

Any further opinions on this? At some point (not sure when), I intend to do a run of Eternal, on at least the Easy difficulty, so we'll need to come up with a solution sooner or later.