Been (offline) running the PAL version for half a year and watching REFPSIs runs as well as シャーフ quite a lot.
Apart from the title screen and languages, the western releases look identical from an RTA perspective. Same enemy placements, timings, damage, ammo, glitches etc.
I plan to get a good time in the PAL version before moving on to JP. The versions seem different enough to qualify for a separate category, judging by the standards of other communities.
Agreed! My plan is to mainly run this game for the next years. As I speak both English and Japanese I hope for opportunities to bridge the gap a bit and make things more accessible!
I did one unrecorded full run but at the moment I still grind IL until I feel more confident in a full run!
For running NA or PAL I suggest studying this run by Shaaf for routing and strats:
And refer to this run by REFPSI for strats due to different enemy placements and damage that makes certain sections harder or impossible:
Shaaf also has a level-by-level guide on NicoVideo but it uses alternative routes in some sections and is not as helpful for NA/PAL details due to enemy placements.
Edit: I tried timing some alternative routes in PAL (like adding the first Obismaru race or Yae part time jobs to skip a stage) but the JP routing is still fastest in NA/PAL too so far. Also switching to Goemon like REFPSI does helps with the different enemies. But the character switch is not optimal and it can be done without like in JP you just take more hits.
Edit2: Now that I have been accepted as moderator (thank you very much!) I have added the PAL region to options as well.
I still want a category split but I do not want to make this decision by myself, so waiting for more input. My main reason for a split is to encourage more western players to pick up the game without worrying about getting the JP version from the start. NA/PAL is also quite a fun challenge compared to JP.
Right now I set it up so you should be able to submit multiple regions and they will all be in the leaderboard... I think.
I plan do make a comparison of differences relevant to the current route but probably not this year.
