So, lately, there's been a bit of a discussion over at SDA about a good way to define the glitched category for this game, and whether or not they think such a run would be a good fit for their site. Regardless of what they decide, I'd like to also discuss this with the people who actually run / will run the game. I know I'm probably the only person to bother with these glitches at present, but still, I'd rather the community makes some kind of consensus, rather than just me alone.

Due to the nature of the Time Attack glitches (which are only possible in the Complete version, to my knowledge), it's possible to beat the story mode of the game just through Time Attack, by failing to exit the Darm fight at a certain point (you should be returned to the title screen, but aren't). This has been rejected by SDA for being much too similar to a standard Time Attack run.

It is also possible to start a new game, make your way to the first boss, and then by doing the glitch there (dying in TA, then quickloading a file), let the boss loop continue until Darm, then fail to return to the title screen as before (otherwise, it'll just show you the boss times after defeating Darm). This, too, was rejected by SDA for being to similar to a standard TA run, although it'd give the category a better sense of legitimacy, since you do actually select "New Game" whereas the previous suggestion never does.

The category they're debating about whether or not to accept is: allow the glitch to be used, but you must reach the final boss normally. This would allow the other applications of the glitch to be used (all items early, some events skipped, etc.), but would ensure the run still has enough story elements to be distinguishable from TA. While this proposal does abuse the boss loop out of necessity to get into the Shrine from Gelaldy (all items too early = Gorto doesn't let you in through the front door), it allows a better showcasing of the game being broken without it being too boring. Getting all items after Gelaldy (as the current glitched run I have posted does) avoids the boss loop abuse, but results in the first 3 areas being played pretty much as intended, but if all items are gotten earlier, it allows for skips in the Ice Ridge and Moat of Burnedbless.

So, my suggestion is to BAN the category where you select Time Attack, abuse the glitch at Darm, then end the run. The reason being that it's too similar to standard Time Attack, and it doesn't select "New Game" or a difficulty either.

Second, I'd like to propose that we ALLOW the category where you select "New Game", abuse the glitches, but reach Darm from the area you're intended to. Somewhat arbitrary, yes, but it makes for the most interesting category where this glitch is concerned. There is one possible hiccup: there's a glitch (which I'll try to record later) that allows you to activate the Dalles fight from the area you enter the Ice Ridge, in place of the other cutscene with Dalles when first entering the area (possible even in normal story mode). However, it is impossible to hit Dalles, or to exit to the Shrine, but if it was, the category would become even more arbitrary, though we could opt to ban the megawarp.

Finally, I'm unsure what to do about the other category, the one where you select "New Game", reach the first boss, activate the boss loop, and then abuse the glitch at Darm to put the game back in story mode. Personally, I don't think I'd run this category, but I wouldn't be completely opposed to ALLOWING it should other people decide to submit for it, albeit as a separate one from the other that I'm proposing we allow.

Thoughts?

Recorded the "megawarp" to Dalles. Turns out I was mistaken about activating the fight from a normal story mode playthrough, but it doesn't seem to work. Almost... but you end up running up forever instead of the fight activating. Doing it in glitched TA for some reason triggers the fight (probably because normal TA triggers it right away, no cutscene at all?), and so it could still be useful.

As a visual reference to the categories I'm talking about, here's links to each:

Completing the story mode just via Time Attack (Easy difficulty only, as that's what traditional TA damage values reflect):

Completing the game via the boss loop, but selecting "New Game" + a difficulty:

Abusing the bugs, but reaching Darm normally (this video doesn't actually reach Darm normally, but up until that point, it's an accurate representation of my proposal - it's an old "failed" speedrun demonstration before I knew of the severity of the failure to return to the title screen at Darm, and I don't really feel like messing with trying to record a properly updated run right now):

I agree with you on the run where you select Time Attack to begin instead of beginning a new game.

As far as the run where you reach Darm normally is concerned, I think the arbitrary nature of the run could warrant a separate category, depending on what everyone else thinks. Something like "Darm%" maybe?

The run where you begin a new game, reach the first boss, activate the boss loop and abuse the glitch at Darm to put the game back in story mode sounds like it should fit within the regular Any% category, since you start the game at difficulty select and then technically beat it by any means necessary, unless I'm missing something. I don't think that whether or not the run is interesting enough should change that.