I just thought of a possible time save, if only you have the patience to do it.

During gameplay, you level up naturally. But once you reach the max level, it's pointless to level.

However, even when you go past max level, I'm fairly certain you still gain a minuscule bonus of like 1% to certain gameplay mechanics, ie swing speed, melee damage, etc.

So, if there isn't a true cap to how high your "Superior Level" gets, you could complete a ton of runs, getting an insane max level, then the following NG+ run could have you playing at insane speeds and doing a ton of damage where you could one hit every enemy.

Would this be a possible technique or not?

I'm curious about how to properly deduct the time for a completed run.

I'm going to be running in the 100% PS4 NG+ category, so the time deduction is 57 minutes and 10 seconds.

The way the rules seem to me is that if you want to use this time deduction, the cutscenes during the run need to be allowed to play.

To my mind, if you are skipping the cutscenes during your run, you shouldn't be allowed to use the 57:10 time deduction at the end of the run, as that seems like "double dipping" for a lower time.

Am I correct in thinking this or are we allowed to skip the cutscenes during the run and also deduct the 57:10 from your final time?