I'd like to have a trace of category discussion here on the forum since this is much easier to access than digging through Twitter. I'll start off by simply linking to indy's pastebin.

The consensus on that pastebin was as follows:

Q1: Require codes in any%? Option 2 was the clear winner here. Having an any% run with no escape rooms would be both trivial and boring.

Q2a and b: Fast Text and New Game The consensus was to require runs to start from a New Game, and allow the Fast Text option to be set before the run, thereby removing the need for separate NG/NG+ categories.

Q3: Happy and Perceptive Ends in All Endings? The consensus was to include them in All Endings, since they are fun endings that are clearly unique.

Q4: Individual Endings runs require story locks? This hasn't had a consensus, and probably doesn't require one until someone really gets into these kinds of runs. I still don't really have an opinion on this.

I'm going to jott down all my various thoughts on this (sorry for length) and I want to emphasize that I appreciate this being its own thread. Since the written public reasonings for these choices are rather small maybe this can serve as a bit more comphrehensive answer to onlookers for this game on why these choices make sense.

Before I begin I want to highlight that when I originally did my run I didn't title it simply Any% it was Any% CQD:End 2 which I feel is an important distinction. It was more so fulfilling my own curiosity about how fast the game could be beaten under optimal settings (i.e. PC) with the already known Force Quit Box codes, it was not a competitive run. I did it in literally within 4 hours from first try to a time I was satisfied with. I never really considered it an Any% run since the speedrunning scene for it was all but nonexistent and rules were consequently very up in the air. What I am saying is that if you guys choose to go with option B, which I would be seemingly on the 'losing' side of, it's fine by me. That said I still have a warrior in this fight I suppose and this all interests me so here are my thoughts:

1. [leaning strongly towards option B] Any% shouldn't require obtaining codes (Option a) or Any% should require legitimate obtainment of all Force Quit Box Codes (Option b)

From my own standpoint I feel like Any% should be the epitome of speedrunning, no restrictions, no arbitrary rules, and glitches welcome. It is the static standard that represents the absolute fastest a game can be ran without outside manipulation. That said, because the layout of this game is so alien even when comparing it to its predecessors to the fact that you can complete the game in under 11 minutes (both VLR and 999 with no restrictions takes more than 1h 50m each for comparison) with literally not playing a single escape room (the defining gameplay aspect of the entire series) this questioning is more than validated.

I feel that the question that needs to be poised is this: A speedrun SHOULD be the fastest a game can be ran, but is it even a speedrun when the entire run is literally no exaggeration (I'd know) 75% skipping cutscenes, 10% navigating the menus (includes inputting codes), 10% waiting for the 3 unskippable 10 second waiting sequences for the yellow buttons (meaning 30 seconds of the ~11 minute run is literally waiting), and 5% user inputted decision games?

I am leaning towards Option B for the simple fact that a speedrun should be the fastest a game can be ran WITH A CERTAIN DEGREE OF USER INPUT that legitimizes it as a speedrun. There is reason why people don't speedrun movies or say visual novels that are simply the occasional two choice option in dialogue there is no competitiveness, there is little enjoy to be had by both the runners and viewers (subjective I know but I feel this is plainfully clear when viewing Option A & Option B side to side), and there is little to no optimization that isn't just increasing computer specs.

I am still not fond of considering runs with the restriction that codes must be obtained as the Any% category since I feel that is somewhat disingenuous since it's not the fastest the game can be ran. I feel that the best compromise and option here is what the VLR as well as 999 speedrun.com page kinda did. It did not have Any% as the first tab designating that it wasn't the "go to" competitive run but was the true Any% nonetheless. I feel that similarly the first tab on the ZTD speedrun.com page could be "Any% Codes" and be the definitive as well as competitive ZTD run with regular Any% (No codes) off to the side. Otherwise if that is not okay option B is fine by me and still beats option A in my eyes.

2a. [Yes] Fast text (Skip text/cutscenes) should definitely be allowed for Any%.

I kinda view this as a no-brainer but nonetheless I'm really pleased this was put up for discussion for communal feedback so that the foundation of the rules are open. You don't have to beat the game to have access to this, its open at the beginning regardless if you have played through the game 0 times or 10 times so designating it as NG/NG+ seems silly. I don't see any justified reasoning for packing on what has to be more than an hour of cutscenes into a speedrun which only serves to make it artificially longer and more annoying to the runner. This in contribution with previous past precedence, as shown in the pastebin, makes this decision very clear for me.

2b. [Yes] Runners should indeed start from a New Game File

Don't have much to say this but I feel this makes things a lot cleaner. With all the branching stories and timelines I feel this simple change goes a long way to making runs easier to follow and have more well defined starts.

3. [Yes] Should the All Endings Category thing be a thing?

I see little legitimate reason to abandon the All Endings Category so for now I think it would be best to keep it. Although I do fear that it is just going to be Any% (codes) with a little bit more time and clicking and it may clash too much with that category. The justification that those cutscenes are fun and are good material that would otherwise not be viewed in either Any% classification is true but with the Skip Text Rule it's just going to be a blurb of flashing cutscenes all the same lol. Considering both 999 and VLR have these same categories, best stay with precedent.

4. [Get rid of them] What to do with the Individual Ending Runs?

These are just obsolete with the layout of this game honestly. It was a great category for like 999 where depending on your choices from the beginning to end you were a guaranteed a unique ending bar the Safe Ending and True ending if I call correctly. But there is a reason that none of them besides the CQD ones have literally never been done despite the game being out for more than a month. There is little incentive to doing them as well as there is just so much annoying fluff that is in all those categories that makes them eerily similar. For all of them except CQD1 you have to do the 'kill which team' decisions for all three teams at the beginning for each single one which takes forever even with skipping text. When this is added with the fact that certain endings will end right before being genuinely completed because you haven't done other things first makes these kind of annoying truth be told and considering the length of these you may as well do the genuine Any% with codes. Not the best arguments I guess but I just see little reason to have these with the layout of this game although it would do no harm to keep them I guess, it's just if kept most are going to remain empty from what I can tell and I don't see the purpose of keeping empty categories no one is interested in.

5. [Yea] Anything else?

I presume that the 3DS and PC versions are going to be mixed as they are now since there is no mention of this and they aren't separated, this is usually a big discussion in regard to tiering categories for multi-release games so I was just wondering what are your guys thoughts on this. I played VLR on 3DS obviously but besides Rebcart I think all runs have been PC for ZTD and there has been little if any pull for 3DS being tiered differently. I have no say I was just curious.

Also I think a good substitute in lieu of the individual endings that no one is doing is an "All Escapes" category exactly like 999 and VLR does which is mysteriously absent here. A category that is done from a completed save and you jump from room to room completing them via the completed timeline. I think this would be rather fun honestly, where you have to do all 13 escape rooms and the timer ends on the "You found it" completion animation of the 13th room.

So yea my optimal setup would be.

1. Any% (Codes) 2. All Escapes 3. Any% 4. All Endings

Here is a crude example I made in like a minute and a half using the 999 page as a base http://imgur.com/a/xbCb3

Hopefully this helps I was writing this post longer then I liked to admit lol also shoutout to Golden Sun

I had more thoughts than I thought I would, so here they are:

1. I suppose having Any% (Codes) and Any% runs wouldn't hurt. What do others think about that?

2. All Endings contains one extra escape room and fragment compared to any% (the Q-Team Triangle fragment with the Study escape). It also has about 20 seconds extra to get the Perceptive and Happy Ends. On 3DS, this translates to about 5 minutes longer than Any% with codes. I feel the precedent in 999 and VLR as well as that one extra escape room justifies the existence of All Endings here.

3. I'm really not a fan of All Escapes as categories in VLR and ZTD because they feel quite artificial, since there is no separate mode where you just do the escapes naturally. I would prefer to scrap that category from VLR as well actually, which shouldn't cause any trouble since no one has done an official run of that. But I don't have a hugely strong opinion, so if people want to keep it they can. It's just not something I would do.

4. I think Individual Endings should perhaps be scrapped as well. You make a good point about 999 encouraging a linear playthrough that can give you any of the endings. One possibility to salvage them would be to allow Individual Ending runs in this game to start from a completed file. You would then have to complete, in order, each fragment leading to a specific end, essentially constructing the linear playthrough for that end. So for example:

D End 1 Individual Ending route:

• Coincide (failure branch)
• Execution fragments to execute C-Team
• Q-Team: Radical-6 fragment, don't inject
• D-Team: Outbreak fragment, run away Run ends when D End 1 pops up

Others could be built similarly. This might allow for the no-holds-barred "Any%" to exist as an IE CQD-2 run. To me, this would feel like the only reasonable way to have Individual Endings runs that make sense. This would be true for VLR too, but easier to implement because you could just start at the beginning and play to the end. Here we'd have to monitor fragment jumping. I kind of have the same problem with this idea that I do with All Escapes though; the rules here seem kind of arbitrary.

5. As for separation of 3DS and PC, I feel like that would just add clutter; the variable already exists on the leaderboards, and if people really end up caring that much about ZTD speedruns, they should probably get the Steam version anyway. Though having watched some Steam runs, holy moly the load times are shorter.

I think I've covered everything I wanted to say here.

1. Any% (Codes) and Any% sounds like a good idea actually. I just wouldn't want Any% becoming the main category people look at (Which will probably be unlikely anyway).

2. I agree with Indy

3. Again I agree with Indy, since VLR and ZTD don't have a mode like in 999 (Memories of the escape) it would mean having to keep going back to the flowchart which isn't ideal for All Escapes.

4. I don't really mind whether or not IE's get scrapped.

5. From what I can tell the only main difference between 3DS and PC is load times, so making them separate categories would be kinda pointless. I say run the game on whatever version works best of you. Or like indy said, if anyone really cares about ZTD speedruns then go for the PC version.

That is all.

1. I agree that no restrictions Any% shouldn't be the main category, I think having it far off to the side shows that it isn't a super serious category. Otherwise Option b from the pastebin works...whatever you guys decide. Any% (Codes) just made the most sense to me as I was writing all that up and I feel is the clearest way to do the categories that has the added benefit of avoiding comments like "This isn't true Any%" down the road.

2. I too agree with Indy. I just had concerns about the run being similar but since both other games have this category it should follow precedent.

3. I still feel like All Escapes would be nice even if it doesn't have a dedicate mode à la 999. The argument that it is artificial rings true but truth be told that is kinda true for a lot of these categories. I just find it weird that precedent for All Endings is being followed and not All Escapes since in my mind they somewhat go hand-in-hand but I've never ran 999 or VLR so I'll trust your guys judgment on this.

4. I think IEs in the state they currently reside are undeniably bad. I'm currently mixed on whether there is value in preserving them but if it had to be done doing it from a completed file seems the best way. Fragment jumping would be a legitimate concern though and a reason why going of completed save files isn't really optimal. I feel this wouldn't be an issue in the proposed All Escape Rooms however since its not a sequence of story and decisions rather than 13 defined rooms with clear starts and ends but I digress.

5. Agree 3DS shouldn't be separated from PC and would add clutter, I just wanted your guys thoughts since it wasn't mentioned.

Thanks for the responses

Edit @ below: Much cleaner now. Nice job.

But yea CQD:1 should probably go as you say, I also did a run of it and got like the exact same time as WR but never posted it. It's just kind of a funny gimmick category but that can be addressed later.

I cleaned up the leaderboards a bit today. I have removed the individual ending categories until we can decide what to do with them. I modified the categories to include Any% (Codes) for our main category, All Endings, and two Miscellaneous categories: Any% and CQD End 1.

I'm not sold on keeping CQD End 1, and I'm not sold on keeping Any% as a miscellaneous category; that could be added to the main board and I'd be fine with it. But this way we didn't delete any runs, and everything looks cleaner.

Let me know if you have comments.