Summer 2020 Speed... "Plans"?

I'm gonna be completely honest: I'm kind of at an impasse in terms of what the next thing I want to focus on is lol.

The 108 grind was the first serious grind for a category I had done since the OG Crash 2 100% grind I did last summer. And it was the first one in a long time that I legitimately enjoyed the entire time (yes, I definitely had moments of frustration and real anger, but ultimately my entire experience with 108 was overwhelmingly more positive than negative, unlike when I went for 1:19 in Crash 2, or any of my grinds with Crash 2 NST back in 2017-2018).

And now that I've gotten what I was aiming for and decided to take a break from it for now, I guess I just don't know what to do. I have plenty of ideas, but idk how much I want to focus on any of them. I just don't have the same level of commitment to any of them as I had to 108. It's actually really tough trying to keep myself from doing MORE 108, but I know that I need to focus on something else and avoid the burnout I was starting to feel after three weeks straight of almost nothing but that category.

With that being said, here are some things I have in mind, starting with the two games that I should probably focus on for May:

*Crash 2 OG - Game Over Abuse and (maybe) 100%:
For those who missed the memo, I am running Game Over Abuse in PACE at the end of this month (Memorial Day weekend). The event was originally supposed to be in person, but due to the coronavirus it got changed to an online event. Game Over Abuse is, at this point, the OG Crash category I definitely enjoy the most, and I have always felt like the category is severely underrated, so I'm happy to be able to run it. It's just a bit nerve-wracking because GO Abuse is a very punishing category, and I've never done a speedrun for a bigger audience like that (then again I did embarrass myself in front of the entire AGDQ 2019 audience so y'know, what could possibly be worse lmao). Regardless, I am excited to participate in the event, despite any nerves.

As for 100%, it's no secret that I am very unhappy with the 1:19 I got last year. I honestly think the run is terrible, and the only reason I put the category down when I got it was because it was the goal I had, and at that point I was unbelievably sick of the game. After playing it yesterday, I found the game somewhat fun, but still very frustrating. It's actually insane how quickly time can just evaporate in that category due to how much it feels like you're fighting the game itself. I might need more time adjusting to Crash 2 overall before I really know how I feel, so I'll file a 100% grind as a "maybe". It would be useful to grind for the 1545 though, but I can reserve that for June/July if necessary.

*HP1PS1 - 100%:
I never mentioned it on Twitter because it happened recently, but I'll be racing this category with WHiP for Potterthon (coincidentally, ALSO Memorial Day weekend, but there's more than a 24 hour difference between my PACE run and this so I think I'll be okay). I do want to see what more I can do with this category, because I only did three runs of it and got WR (which has since been beaten) before I set it down and walked away. I'm curious to see if I have the capability of achieving the sub-2:00 that we now know is very possible, and if anything I would like the 100% WR to have a proper VoD; Redneck's VoD got completely fucked up by Twitch, and he wasn't local recording. The biggest reasons I vouched for it getting verified anyway were because a) I was there and saw it live, and b) I didn't want to still have WR on SRcom solely due to a formality; that just doesn't feel right to me. With that being said though, it bothers me when WR's don't have videos to go with them, so even though I know this wasn't Redneck's fault, it's an error I would like to see fixed, whether it's through getting the WR back myself or spurring him, WHiP, or someone else into getting it.

Those are the two things I SHOULD focus on for now. But here are some other things that keep lingering in the back of my mind.

*Crash Twinsanity - 100%:
I still love this game and this category, and I definitely know I'm capable of much more; even without upping some of my strats, I'm sure there's small errors over the entire run that I can make better. My biggest concern with Twins is just how huge of a commitment it is. This is definitely still on the table, I just don't know when I'll do it because I would want to hard focus on it like I did with 108.

*Crash 2 NST - 102% (and maybe 100%):
I know I said after my run for Camtarothon that I was done with Crash 2 NST for good, but like a true speedrunner I find myself second guessing this statement. I think I really am sick of Any% and don't have much interest in going for 42 in it, at least at the moment, but 100% and 102% ever since PC have always to me felt like scenarios of "what could be", in a similar vein to how 108 was; the last time I seriously grinded either category was during the PS4 era of NST, and I have simply never tried to put any true effort in either of them since. So I do find myself wondering what I could truly achieve in both categories if I actually tried. My biggest concern with both of them however, especially in comparison to both 108 and even to OG Crash 2, is that I find a large portion of the run to be painfully dull. It's hard for me to keep motivation for 102 up to the point where I think it becomes very fun (the Relic portion); 100% never even reaches that point. But I think I may be able to achieve great things in both categories if I can bring myself to enjoy them. So I'll leave these as maybes despite how much I've shat on Crash 2 NST in the past month. 102 WR also currently lacks a VoD, and as I mentioned with HP1 above, that kind of shit bothers me. But Cameron seems to be very close to taking care of that, so I'm not particularly hard pressed on that.

*Crash N-Tranced: Any% and 101%:
This game has always been on my radar, and I'm not gonna lie; watching both Tebt and Murcaz play it has made me really want to pick it up for real. Definitely keeping my eye on this one.


There's an assortment of other runs that I perpetually keep in mind, such as both Crash 1 categories, PowerMod runs of NST, TWoC, A Hat in Time, Spyro 1, Jak 1, etc. I have no concrete plans for any of these, but they're always a possibility.

My stream has really been growing well in the past few months I feel; The 511 gave me a huge viewer spike that stayed pretty consistent throughout all of my 108 grind. I was worried last night that maybe it wouldn't last after I switched to something else, and while Crash 2 did give me notably less turnout, it eventually still managed to be a pretty sizable amount of people watching. Hopefully I can keep this going even with Harry Potter (or any other non-Crash game I play); I think there's a fair amount of people now who watch me for me rather than the game I play, so that really helps me keep the motivation to stream. My other two hobbies are on hold for as long as this virus stuff is going on, so streaming has been huge in helping my mental state, so I really appreciate everyone who watches and supports me. This summer should be a good one (in terms of speed; jury's out on how it'll go in terms of the world and such lol).

~Riko