This game may not have much activity, or active community members, but I'd like open up a discussion here that introduces a Load Remover for the future (used in my current run), and the possibility of considering the "Sound Acceleration Error" as a separate category.

I learned this game in October, in order to submit to a contest held by Monolith. Upon looking into the game, I noticed that the Any% category allows for something called the "Sound Acceleration Error" to be active during runs. Despite the argument of "It's free time save, and anyone can do it", I think this is probably the main reason why people might not care to run this as much as the first F.E.A.R., as we don't allow audio to be muted in that game. I'd say it's a bit discouraging for someone to check the WR, and realize that they might not be able to get that time without muting the entire game, leaving out a huge part of what makes it even remotely entertaining. After seeing Snowfats comment on his submitted run, I felt that it's something that should be re-opened for discussion, as he even thought it shouldn't really be allowed. I know the community isn't very active, but having a World Record for almost 3 years because nobody wants to compete in a game with no audio, is a bit silly.

I think I've proven that this game can be much further optimized, without muting the entire game. I personally think that it should be moved to another category along the lines of Any% SAE (Sound Acceleration Error). I'd like to think this will help prevent any potential runners from being discouraged by having no audio, and allowing people who DO want to use the SAE, to further optimize that category.

As for the Load Remover, well that's just to keep everyone on an even playing field from now on. It works quite well, considering a lot of the flags are finicky in this game, and the person who worked on it did a great job. I'll provide the version I used in my run in the Resources tab. Only thing that is a bit weird, is the need to pause and unpause when you're waking up after the first mission, as the Load Remover will stay paused until Becket puts on his glasses. (An example of a weird flag) The Load Remover also makes the boards even more viable for a PC/Console split, as PC already has an advantage in RTA in the first place.

That's about all I wanted to say, and I'd love some past and present players to share their thoughts.

Hi I wouldn’t mind competing for the first place, but I’m very lazy and have a job at the moment I’m going to take the record for the Alan Wake game. Who knows, maybe someday I will find time to run this game :)

For my two cents.

Personally I think the game does have some issues that people may not enjoy about it and that is somewhat the reason people don't run the game. I found the character to be bulky and jumps to be inconsistent.

To split the leaderboards isn't a horrible thing to do, this wasn't done at the beginning because no one ran on anything but PC, though you will need to ask Redemption about it now, I have recently stepped down from this game. I don't actively run the game anymore and don't feel like I should be the one with decisions on how the leaderboards are made.

I agree, the run isn't necessarily as smooth as the first game. The only jump that I find inconsistent is Snake Fist skip, but the bulkiness of Becket makes getting caught on certain props/walls very easy. Thanks for giving some input, even though you've stepped down.

In that case, what are your thoughts @redemption99 ?

Direct contact with redemption may be needed as I don't think he checks on forum posts, at least not in the past, but it would be nice to use time with/without loads. Wasn't a fan when I was doing Reborn because of the length of loads on my laptop

I'm not currently actively running the game right now either, if someone who is running the game a lot wants to step up. I would be fine with moderating them and letting everyone decide how to move forward with the speedrun as a whole.

@redemption99 I would be happy to take over, but only if the community is okay with it. I have a lot of experience, and could help just about anybody who would potentially run the game.

Sorry for the late reply, but I have made you a mod for the game. Feel free to have discussions with anyone that runs the game and make changes as needed. If anything from me is needed just shoot me a DM on twitter/twitch as I will probably respond faster than on the forums here as I don't check them that often. :)

Hey @maxylobes, just as a heads up. Both my runs in Reborn and Any% do use the SAE