RPGLB 2020 Games List Thoughts

Just some random thoughts on the games list. I'll do what I can to avoid putting any game or runner down - that's not my intent in the slightest. Runners jobs are to offer, every submission has value and the speedrunning community as a whole is amazing. Also note that there's a good amount of this that's going to be colored by my own biases and you can take a lot of the points with a grain of salt.
That said, this is probably my least favorite RPGLB list made so far... which is kinda meh... Usually, I try to mute my initial reactions because they warm up over time and I'm sure the event will go well and everyone will put on an amazing show but I'm not really a fan of the committee's approach here. I always like to say that we make educated guesses and learn more about the committee's approach each year and... I don't really like some of the lessons learned this year.
1. NG+ runs do not happen at the event, almost regardless of what NG+ entails. Admittedly, I have no idea how to feel about this one. I definitely get the idea - in general, NG+ routing is significantly easier and not the same. I still think that in the event's 6th year, probably one or two of these have to be ready to be showcased at some point because it's like completely shutting out a part of the RPG speedrunning audience. It's something that I think should change in the future and one or two trial runs, especially given the shorter length is probably a good thing for those communities to feel like they have a chance.
2. In general, they went with many shorter games and fewer long ones. Again this is fine, the biggest thing is that it's a back track on the previous years. It's fine to have some years where this happens but I'm also wondering what this means for future years. Looking at 2018 and 2019, they started to really start to add longer other games which seemed like it was a way of getting new games in and avoiding repeats.
3. There's so much Square Enix... and it's really frustrating. Going by hours of games, Square is responsible for almost half the hours at the event. It's even weirder because they're missing some crazy common staples like the only SNES Final Fantasy is Mystic Quest and they had good offers of 4-6. Of the games over 5 hours, all of them are published by Square and 2 of them are repeats for the event. This is *incredibly* biased but previous years had stuff like Shadow Hearts and Breath of Fire 4 which I thought performed well. I do think Square games have the metrics to justify the extra games relative to the rest of the field and the games tend to be longer. I also think half the hours of the event being Square is past the point of diminishing returns. Yes there are different series represented but... even separating by series, I'm pretty sure most series are larger cuts than Western or Nintendo or other demographics and I don't know if I think the metrics support that.
4. There's almost no indie. The only two I saw on the schedule were Cat Quest 2 and Steamworld Quest, which are fantastic picks but one or two more I think is a feel good storyline that adds a different energy. They make for very easy donation prizes and I'm curious why, given the relatively short length and different market, it wasn't more heavily indexed into.
5. Going on specific game series, there was a very strong Mario RPG offer and they've never avoided taking one when they had one until this year. Given that the stated goal of the marathon has been in the past to take runs that have struggled to get into larger events despite having an audience and a huge speedrunning history, the lack of Super Pape is especially apparent. Probably the only game I'll mention by name in this and I'm not going to speculate where it goes instead but yeah.
All in all, the list it reminds me the most of is 2017 which was a year the committee felt rushed and unsure of - to the point they admitted later they might have been overly safe due to the nature of how the event and its timing happened (which is understandable. There was some last second event juggling that essentially moved the days of the event around which is a scary proposition for marathons). Following 2017, 2018 and 2019 were *significantly* riskier and I'd argue they were bigger successes for it. 2020 about 24 hours after the list is released feels like a step back to me. The event will still be great and as always, it's the best time of the year when I go. I truly believe in the event's mission and stated goals and the charity. The only reason I'm critical of the event is because I want it to excel and to grow. I still would like to know who the mystery RPGLB committee members are; not to be critical of them but because I don't feel like the schedule is necessarily balanced this year which scares me somewhat.

As far as stuff I'm really happy to see - Pokemon Mystery Dungeon was the biggest miss of the previous year and I'm incredibly happy to see that taken. I'm super happy to see Trails in the Sky taken - I'll probably stream a blind playthrough in the near future. I'm super happy for the chance to meet PeteDorr and ClosetoWar who are runners I have incredible amounts of respect for. The storyline behind Manamon is really cool and it's something I should have pushed harder for in my own predictions although I was talked out of it. I think it has the potential to be the most feel good moment of the marathon and I'm super excited to see how it goes. Plexa is a legendary figure in the community and having the chance to watch him play Golden Sun sounds like a treat. Other than that, I'm just happy at how many friends I'll be seeing again at the event although a bit sad I won't get the opportunity to see others.


As for my own submission, it's fine. Persona is a hard offer and a hard take. I get it. I'm over 30 min away from Mul and was rushing to reroute and relearn the game on the fly while also dealing with health issues during the months leading up to submissions. They want a promise of a slam dunk for the 9 hour commitment and given a solo run (offer with me next year Mul), there's probably enough risk there that they can look to go elsewhere. I'll keep working at it in the future. As for stuff to work on in the future - I need to get back to Shallie routing and Indivisible learning as well. I'm a bit sad - I don't think there's a game on the schedule I'm necessarily qualified to commentate for so... I'll have a lot of free time outside of interview team commitments and hosting if I get the chance. On the bright side, sounds like I'll be able to run the VGC tourney and go play some YuGiOh with After5 without problems.