So I was watching Luzbelheims FF9 run and people got into a discussion about turbo runs. This is what Luzbelheim did: Any% run like normal but at the end when there was no chance of WR, he switched to a turbo controller to be able to get a time into the turbo category. Some people considered this to be a "dick move" yet not prohibited by rules. This made people discuss the turbo category and many said the category "doesn't matter", and I agree; in the current state of turbo category, it doesn't make sense, as Luzbelheims actions have shown. My first thought was that if it is allowed to switch (any) controllers during a run, then Luzbelheims actions were fair play. That made me think maybe switching controllers should not be allowed, thus having turbo runs be intended as such from the very beginning. This implementation of a rule to "validate" the turbo category doesn't seem like a good way to do it though.
This brings me to the point of the thread:
People were throwing out ideas about merging the two leaderboards and having an option of "Turbo: Yes/No" and I think this would be a decent option. There would be a way to filter out turbo runs to see only the non turbo runs and turbo runs would be shown together with the other runs as default.
Some food for thought for discussion:
The non turbo WR is, at the moment, faster than turbo WR and AFAIK people don't consider turbo to be a huge time save (2-3 minutes?).
The top 4 times for turbo are quite competitive times compared to Top10 of non turbo, even if you apply the couple minute penalty for using turbo.
Turbo provides a lot more for a run than just a couple minute time save: comfort. For FF9 where text boxes don't have scrolling text like older FFs, the mashing can be intensive and over the 9 hour run can be exhausting.
Combining the two points above: Some people probably would never have done FF9 runs if turbo wasn't a thing. Some might think "good, who cares if some pleb wants an easier run" but as said above, the turbo runners are good at the game, too. Having a category, a possibility, to use turbo can increase the number of willing participants and I can only think that's a positive thing.
Alright, this thread ended up being some random rambling during my last day of holiday vacation. I will be back at home tomorrow more involved in the community again (read as: posting dank memes on twitch chat). I hope everyone has had a nice holiday and a good start to the New Year :)
W1ndows
My 2 cents (i'm not a FF9 runner, but I have a decent knowledge of the category):
Given infinite runs by any runner (turbo or not turbo), turbo should be 100% faster than non-turbo.
In my opinion, people run the game because they love the game, not just for the Turbo/NonTurbo categories. Both categories imho should be merged since there is no strategy/route/goal difference between them, apart the hardware difference between a turbo controller or not.
Another point in favor of the merging is: if Luzbelheim was on WR pace and switched to turbo controller .... would it be eligible for both WRs? if yes=merge, if not=argue why not.
