I'll be blunt: there's an absurd number of categories, and some of them show no competition at all. For the sake of inspiring competition and cleaning up the boards a little bit, there's something I should explain -
We should only try to keep the separation of consoles as close to "just versions" as we can. As a community, at the base level, we don't do this to create an environment of "Free WRs", but because there are simply too many fundamental differences between all of them.
PlayStation version is the most "original". A lot of Japanese run this category on disc. It can be tiered once for a lower entry barrier since it emulates well. Rereleased on PlayStation network.
PC is the "fastest" in-game time due to doorskip, and has a Hard difficulty. Dreamcast has these same things, but has a fucked up game timer.
GCN is the "fastest" in real time (faster than PC even), because you can skip cutscenes. The "skipped cutscenes" are still factored into the final IGT.
N64 has alternate controls and a randomizer mode.
We further separate PlayStation into "disc" and "emu" tiers because of basic differences in load times, and to create another "low entry barrier" category in case there are people who can't run PC or whose computers can't run PC properly. The PC version is an old (and actually really bad) port, so creating a defacto second PC category is practical. Emulators load differently from discs, and as it turns out, Sony released "solid state" versions of the game (which are official releases). Those are the PSN versions. Right now, the leaderboards have 3 tiers for ONE VERSION OF THE GAME. You can tier it once to lower the "entry barrier" for players, but other than that, there is no reason to have that many tiers for PlayStation.
When I competed in Leon A playing PSN version on PSP vs. an emulator player who used PSXfin, I'd pretty much all but confirmed that those two emulators were comparable, and consequentially, could exist in the same category no problem.
This is a solid category. A lot of people are starting to pick up Bio2 and play it on emulator now, and are discovering which emulators run well and which don't, and are helping each other with compatibility issues for emulators. It creates a category with a low entry barrier. It is a category of a specific version of the game (a disc image of the PlayStation Version) with a low entry barrier (Play emu for free or buy a PSP and play it that way) and times are comparable between official and unofficial "consoles".
We already have three "low entry barrier" categories: "PC", "PS1/Emu", and "PS3". You have to pay money to play the PS3 version, but (if we can be real for a second) you don't have to pay money to play the PC and PS1/Emu categories.
Please take no offense PS3 players, but I hold it true that PS3 is more of a "free WR" environment than it is an environment for a low entry barrier. Mostly because I created that PS3 category for that very reason; Zenix thought it'd be a good idea, and I think it was at the time (6 months ago, when there were very few players utilizing these leaderboards), but becuase most runners' first step has generally become to play any version except the slow, laggy PS3 emulator, it's served its purpose.
A lot of people are starting to pick up Bio2 and play it on emulator now, and are discovering which emulators run well and which don't, and are helping each other with compatibility issues for emulators. It creates a category with a low entry barrier. PC or PSXfin can easily be run on most (if not all) computers, so there really is no need for a third "low entry barrier" category.
There is also no real competition in that category. Bawkbasoup (who has the WRs for both B scenarios on PS3) is running on PS2/Disc now, and Limburger plays Emulator too, so it is unnecessary to split WRs between PS1, PS2, and PS3.
I would rather encourage people to buy the PlayStation version on Disc (which people would be onboard with, fuck it, it's the original console with the original disc, who doesn't love that shit) since it's faster AND it's the same version of the game anyway if we can cut through the bullshit. Since emu exists, it just straight up does not need an extra tier, so I'm just going to go ahead and get rid of it.
It's fine. May run differently depending on the Gamecube or Wii (I've found it runs better on actual gamecubes) but as long as it's an actual gamecube console and nobody uses Dios Mios, it's whatever.
People asked about the N64 version all the time. It's a fine category to keep because a lot of speedrunners own N64s and it has its own modes/quirks that differentiate it enough.
This leaderboard needs to go too. My reasons for thinking it should go is, It has the exact same extras as the PC version (mainly Hard/Nightmare mode), there's no competition (making it a hotbed for easy WRs) and the timer is fucked up.
I recall a forum thread on SDA maybe 5 years ago where Trevor Seguin did a Leon A on Dreamcast just BSing around and got 52 minutes after finishing the game in 1:30. He didn't record it, but the proof is in every video of every Dreamcast version speedrun; the IGT is over 30 minutes lower than Real Time.
Not to mention the times that are submitted are highly unoptimized (these runs would get rejected from an SDA submission based on performance in a heartbeat) and are WRs only because they are the only runs on the console submitted. Consequentially, this means there is also no competition since there only two players who submitted times.
LordRage submitted a Leon B that was done in only 3 attempts (no offense to LordRage), and Twispy hasn't submitted a run to the Dreamcast board in 10 months (and placed 12th the same category on PC a month later). Whether there is a leaderboard or not, they are still WRs, but I think we should eliminate it and say "compete in any category BUT THIS, because it's not a good version for speedrunning anyway".
Thoughts?
i disagree with keeping N64 the only slight populated board is LEON A the rest have 1 time on them
i think ex battle mode category should go as most versions don't have this mode as far as i'm aware.
all scenarios category should go
that's just my opinion.
the only versions i play are PSN on PS3 and EMU, im happy to run EMU if needs be.
I dunno, I think the N64 version is fine. So are EX Battles.
All Scenarios is questionable, yes, but it sees a submission every so often. As a matter of fact, there was one last night (that I rejected). I think it should stay because it's actually a good category (and not just because I have a WR in it); it forces you to play everything back to back without resetting and is a great test of consistency.
N64 should go but keep it there.
Dreamcast should just go everywhere from these boards.
EX battle can go but Jikkachan might want to run them
PC version is the one to run. If you have PS1/2/GC run those versions. Don't go out of pocket to avoid competition.
EX Battle is supposed to be a "miscellaneous category" if we had everything organized under a regular leaderboard.
That stays.
I am a player in HK. Can we still have the ps3 version? It is not so easy to play on the orginal ps1 or ps2 as mine were broken... and I am trying to get the record on ps3 till i saw it was merged and felt a little frustrated Hope u guys can put back the ps3 version. really appreciate u guys's work, thanks =]
halo carcinogen ~I always see you stream XD yes i can do both, just a little bit sad as i can make a run on ps3
Running PSN/PS3, while being official and affordable for everyone with said hardware, has always been a comfort zone category for PS1 games, and I understand the decision to merge it with the rest of PS1 disc versions for the sake of competition. Even if it's "official" and "legit" to play a PSN version on PS3, I rather stick to emu or PC versions, which are obviously free and accessible for everyone.
Personally I would LOVE to play the JPN PS1 version on PS2 (as a matter of fact I have the original JPN Bio1 sitting on the shelf, acting more like a collector's item rather than a speedgame as of now), but I want to know what exactly I need to softmod my PAL PS2 in order to play the Japanese releases (which are ridiculously cheap, but no the console itself sadly).
About N64 and DC, I would keep them because after all it's an official console release. Same reason Sega Saturn category exists on RE1.
Coming from someone who has played every category except PC I can safely say that PS1 is by far the worst at the moment when it comes to random reasons for having a random final end game time. Hopefully something is figured out about that or that Claire A record is LITERALLY unobtainable by anyone in the world unless you get damn lucky with a god console. Other then that I'm super happy as long as GCN is here :) It's by far my favorite system to run this game on, as much as I love RE2 watching the cutscenes non stop can sometimes be a buzz kill.
Super sad for people who lost their consoles, but at least you can just check youtube for runs and claim records on your own twitch page :( :(
Decently happy with the changes I guess but... Damn something needs to be done about the random PS1 times.
Well Limburger, you can filter between regions and I guess we could add a little blurb about the overall differences between US and JPN.
Just deleted All Scenarios due to lack of interest.
