So much of the run has to be improvised that it's hard to really describe my ideal run outside of a few "if A, then B" decisions.

I always grab Ash first, because it guarantees I won't have to walk back and forth to try to force a spawn later on. Then I get the bone puzzle piece so I never have to go in the office door again, then check toucan, library, and Atlantis.

If at any point I make a match with any two of those pieces and wind up with an empty inventory, I immediately head up the clock tower to grab whatever's there, guaranteeing that I'll never have to climb the tower again, and then check behind the curtain. If I don't make any matches until after I go upstairs, I'll usually hit up the theater/clock tower after I make my first downstairs ixupi (sand, water, crystal, possibly wax) match.

Then I check pharaoh's tomb and... from that point on, there are enough pieces in play that it's really just super improvised based on what pots I've put together and which ixupis I can trap with them. I prioritize emptying out wings of the museum so I can mentally cross off rooms I never have to go in again. And in the early game, I try to leave myself presents near friendly ixupi spawns, RNG allowing. If I get sand as one of my first few pieces, I'll leave it in Atlantis. If I get water/crystal/electricity, I'll leave it in the toucan. If I get wax/wood/cloth, I'll aim at leaving it in that whole utility room/myths and legends complex.

But my routing once I go upstairs gets inconsistent because it really is just a lot of gut feeling. Sometimes I want to get the Sumerian lyre out of the way so I know the biggest run killer is behind me. Sometimes I'll hold off until later because I'm not in love with the run and I'm waiting for one more thing to go wrong so I can reset before even touching the lyre.

I think my plan up through the downstairs area is pretty well mapped out, though.

I just wanted to create a thread where we could document what we all know about the easiest, fastest load-free spots to respawn each of the ixupi, and potentially document our research into finding better locations/methods for forcing them to respawn. I'll list what I know here, and if anybody wants to fill in some of the gaps in my knowledge or post as better locations and/or back-up strats are found, we can just work on making this a more comprehensive source of info.

First things first, in case any new runners are reading this: you can tell when an ixupi spawns because the music changes when you are a few screens away. The music has the same melody for every room in the game, but it will be played with the same instruments as whatever the normal music is for that room. Once you know that there is a musical cue and you recognize the song, you'll be able to tell when an ixupi's nearby without having to go in for a close-up on its exhibit. Once you are one screen away from the spaw location, the ixupi will also start making noises appropriate for its element, e.g. flowing water, scraping metal, tinkling crystal.

So, let's talk locations...

Ash: Always spawns in the fireplace in Windlenot's office, and his pot/lid are always in the same locations, so there is zero need to force a respawn. This should always be your first ixupi unless there is some huge shake-up in routing strategy some day.

Cloth: Fixed location guarding a pot piece in the utility room between the planetarium and the werewolf room. Gamebop says there is a respawn location in the Egypt room on the screen with the first Anubis statue, but I haven't been able to make this work or had a scenario where it would be more convenient - am interested in seeing more info on this in case my cloth pot comes together after opening the Egyptian tomb, though.

Crystal: Chandelier in the foyer respawns when you face the door to the tar pit/giant eagle's nest/unicorn room. You do not have to open the door and you do not need to load new music, so this is a nice, fast spawn. There is probably also a way to make the crystal ixupi respawn in the Mysteries of the Deep/Atlantis room without loading, but it's seriously two rooms away from the foyer, so I think there would be very little utility in forcing a respawn there.

Lightning: Always spawns at the underground generator at the end of the game, no respawn needed.

Metal: So far, the best respawn I know is the film canisters in the projection room, which respawns by the time you get to the bottom of the stairs back to the theater. This is a lot of clicks and involves load time at the door to the projector.

I once had the unicorn in the eagle's nest room despawn when I climbed the ladder up to the nest, but I have not been able to force it to respawn. If anybody wants to do some science, there is science to be done.

I'm also curious whether the suit of armor in Windlenot's bedroom has a respawn point, because that would be helpful in 100%.

Sand: Mysteries of the Deep/Atlantis room ixupi respawns at the bottom of the stairs to the subterranean maze. I always go all the way to the door because I don't know exactly which screen the respawn happens at, but I'd be interested in hearing if anybody already knows or wants to do some science on this one. There is also a sand spawn location in the plant room where you get the ash pot, but you never need to go back to that room and the clicks to get to the Atlantis room are easier, so I'm pretty sure the sandcastle is all you need.

Tar: Fixed location at the end of the subterranean maze. Similar to the cloth location, I've never really had a reason to do science on the other tar location, and this one guards a pot piece, so I haven't seen a need to force a respawn on the eagle's nest room location, but if someone wants to do science for the sake of science, feel free to fill us in on any info on respawning the second location.

Water: Does not seem to be a load-free spawn location for the fountain ixupi, and turning off/on the fountain does not force a respawn to my knowledge. I've had exceptionally good luck with this guy spawning in the utility room by the werewolf exhibit, so I'm not sure exactly where the respawn is on him. Please fill me in if you know more.

Wax: Candles in the library have a respawn location in the secret passage behind the bookshelf. Just go left in the secret passage, face the wall opposite the elevator, then head back into the library and listen for the ixupi theme.

The wax snake in the Anansi spider room has a spawn location in the hallway past the werewolf exhibit, between the utility room and the stairs up to the planetarium. This has my vote for best respawn location in the game, because it's the same as the one for...

Wood: ... the pallet against the wall in the room between the Anansi spider room and the werewolf exhibit (which, according to the blueprints, is the Myths and Legends room). As with the wax snake above, the respawn location is in the hallway on the other side of the werewolf exhibit.

Wood also has spawn locations in the bone puzzle room (in the opposite corner from that puzzle), the gods and religious items room (right by the entrance from the shaman room), and the pallet by the horse puzzle on the way to the fortune teller, but I've done almost no research into respawn points for these, so I'm curious if anyone knows more.

That's everything I know. Please add anything else you know or call me out if I've given any misinformation.

Ha! I assumed responding to this thread in the first place was just going to be a futile effort, but I'm pleasantly surprised that everyone but DaxSun has weighed in and there's actually a well-defined category now.

I've got birthday festivities lined up over the next few days, but I'd imagine I'm going to be making a claim for that WR and screenshotting it before someone more capable (GameBop) gives it a properly optimized time.

Yeah, the current description for 100% is super vague, and the way Daxsun verifies at the end of the room just led me to believe he only cared about flashback items, but that doesn't seem very 100%

There are actually 3 different versions of the elevator puzzle: 4x4, 5x5, and 6x6. After you successfully solve a set number of 4x4 puzzles, every elevator will only have 5x5, and after you've solved a set number of those, everything switches to 6x6 for the rest of the game. I think it's 3 4x4 and 3 5x5 before it switches, but don't hold me to that; I don't really go out of my way to do elevator puzzles now that I know you only need to solve one to beat the game optimally.

So would the criteria include that a 100% run solves one 6x6 puzzle? Three 6x6 puzzles?

I definitely agree on solving red door and the three optional pieces of the scavenger hunt (fortune teller, planets, stone slab), and that reading every plaque and pushing every rooms audio tour button would be silly, not to mention really painful to verify runs for.

In any case, DaxSun's run is painfully unoptimized, and if we can agree on a definition for 100%, I'd love to grab an easy WR. I could probably get GameBop to pop in and weigh in, too, since he's been sitting in on several of my most recent runs and offering advice.

I'm curious about this category, myself. The end of the only current run just shows him verifying after the run that he's found 100% of the flashback items. You can see his score as he flips through the menu, but it looks like he's only really interested in showcasing the flashback screen.

I just submitted my own run yesterday where I grabbed all flashback items, but skipped the red door puzzle (which is optional, since you can bypass it by using secret passages). I hadn't really thought too hard about whether this would be disqualifying, but I guess if I were designing a 100% category from the ground up, it'd probably include solving all puzzles, too.

I think it'd be helpful to spell out the criteria for 100% more clearly.