RPGLB16 Games List Post

RPG Limit Break 2016 Game List: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pQdfhQh66KZgBE1lnrVLyUfNMtsxANo-cLM6a_PF7Mw/edit?usp=sharing

Game selection was done by a committee of myself and 4 other people, all of whom have experience both with RPGs and other marathons.  I've decided not to post the names of the committee members as I'd prefer for questions about the schedule to come through this thread or private message to me - I'm more than happy to summarize the committee's discussions on specific games if anyone has questions.

Goals in game selection were:
1. Have a schedule strong for attracting viewers and raising donations
2. Give several games that aren't quite GDQ material a chance to be in an onsite marathon
3. Maximize the # of runners that can participate
4. Limit direct repeats (especially of both the same game and category) from RPGLB 2015 and recent GDQ marathons.  We are not a GDQ, but are expecting a majority of our viewers to be GDQ watchers as well

The Accepts/Declines tabs are self-explanatory.  The Backups tab is games that will be used to fill openings resulting from drops (as drops happen, I'll move games from Decline to Backup).  The Bonus tab is games that are all quite short and won't require very much practice by the runners, and will be added to the schedule if we end up getting ahead and needing to fill time (if any runners of these games would rather not do this, let me know and I'll remove them).

Right now the list just includes the runs' core gameplay estimates - we'll figure out extra incentives in a separate thread in the coming weeks.

A few games were accepted where the runner has done routing but hasn't finished a full run yet.  It is expected that over the coming months that these runners will stream or upload runs faster than their estimate, in order for them to remain on the schedule.

I'm already working on the full schedule, and expect to have that done in early February.  Thanks again to everyone that submitted games (we received 215 total submissions - about 100 more than last year)!

Notes on specific games:
Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy VI, Seiken Densetsu 3, Shining Force II - these will be co-op runs with the listed runners, split up as they see fit.
Dragon Quest III, Seiken Densetsu 3 - these will be played with their English translation patches, both to allow naming incentives for the characters, and to make the runs easier to follow for viewers (since the games didn't have official English SNES releases).  RPGLB staff can provide an SD2SNES flash cart if the runners do not have their own means to play patched ROMs on console.
Final Fantasy - decided to go with PSP Any% since it's the most different Final Fantasy Any% run from last year's NES run.  If the runner isn't able to make it, we'll do GBA Any% instead.
Final Fantasy X-2 - I'm not too keen on a race of this game since it has some pretty RNG-heavy battles (unless there's a more marathon-consistent route or something), so I'd prefer if the 3 runners can plan out a co-op run.
Mega Man Battle Network 6 - open to a race if the runners are up for it and think it would make a good race game, otherwise would prefer a solo or co-op run.
Kingdom Hearts 1.5, Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix - Still working out categories for these runs - if schedule time allows we might do donation incentives to do Standard or Proud instead of Beginner for 1.5 (I have a slight preference for Standard so it'll be different from the AGDQ run, though whatever the runner would rather do is fine) and Lvl1 Critical instead of Any% Critical for 2FM.  I'd prefer English version for KH 1.5 if the only difference between JP and English is ~1 min of text.
Legend of Mana - want to do a bid war between Dragon and Faerie storylines (the categories closest in length and which have the most active runners).  Open to a co-op race (2-way race by 2 teams of runners) if the runners would rather do that than a single-player race.
Yo-Kai Watch - Would prefer this be a solo or co-op run since it's a new game that hasn't been in a marathon before (and having another runner there would help the commentary a lot); but if Ghoul02/osey889 keep posting similar PBs I'll consider a race.
Undertale - while Toby Fox's statements about other marathons were a concern, this run was declined simply because we thought Essentia's other game offers were stronger.  Had this not been the case we would have given her the chance to contact Toby as per her offer.  I don't personally believe that there'd be any legal risks of having Undertale in the marathon (given Toby's support of it being streamed by Let's Players); but I'd rather just respect his wishes and not risk any bad publicity.
Zelda II - this game was considered on its merits and we decided it wasn't a good fit for this particular schedule.  We did not auto-decline it because of being 'not RPG enough'.