How much practice until you were in the mix?

[shauN64]

Hey everybody, new member to the forum and new to speed running. I’ve started playing dam and facility on agent to try and get some baseline times to practice with. Best I managed on dam was 1 min 04 on dam and 1 min 20 on facility. A bit disheartening but need to remember I haven’t played Goldeneye for years. Just wanted to ask how long did it take others for their times to fall and be in the mix for records?

Thanks

[OHMSS]

1:20 on Facility A shows that you're pretty much at zero as far as speedrunning is concerned. If you're a competent guy and stick with 1.2 control style and some best practices (CLICK ME), you'll have Dam 56 or 55 soon. 54 is a homework PR. 53 too to some extend with 2.2 and 1-2 boosts, but it needs fairly clean lines and execution. But spending a lot of time on shallow level like Dam A is probably not a good way to learn the game; go for Facility A (0:59, 0:55, 0:49 are appealing targets) or similar interesting ones.

[KevinDDR]

I suggest looking at newer but solid players' PR histories on their profiles to get an idea of what it's gonna take. Don't be too discouraged with what you've done so far as it will honestly take most people (with some rare exceptions) a very long time to start seeing some results and there's no getting around that.
For reference you can see my GE and PD histories here:
Goldeneye
Perfect Dark

For a large chunk of this time I played between 2-4 hours a day with longer amounts of time spent when I was grinding Defense, Air Force One (probably 400+ total hours), and Caverns. My progression is considered "not that fast" but I did come out of this grind with a tier 4 PD WR so clearly I got somewhere. If you look at much better players than me you'll see many have been playing for 5+ years, but you also have people like Irie who managed to reach top 20 in approximately one year of playing every day.

TL;DR: Probably it'll take a long time to really see much as the ultra free points in GE for straight up beginners are largely gone now, but don't get discouraged. Just keep practicing playing whatever stages you find fun and approachable (as OHMSS said Facility is a good choice, as is Caverns Agent with 2.x and a cruise-controlled second stick). Make sure you are using 1.2 controls (or 2.x when required) and read the general guides available. Don't be afraid to ask questions too; usually people will be helpful or at least point you in the right direction.

[shauN64]

Wow that's great. Thanks for taking the time to write that feedback. It's appreciated. I didn't really think about control settings but it's definitely popped up in YouTube clips I have seen. What I found difficult today was trying to keep the strathing under control so think I should work on that. But I'll take both your advice on board. I knew 1min 20 for facility is poor but shows me all I can do is improve.

[mw]

One thing I would suggest if you're looking to get better: do a casual playthrough of the game on 00A. It'll get you comfortable with the general controls a lot better I think than just grinding a single level. It also teaches you the objectives for all the missions and general facts about the way the game works. It also adds a nice breakup to the monotony that grinding can be.

I would say I had about 150 hours between both games before I felt pretty competent. However, a lot of that time was kind of wasted because I was doing things improperly and had bad habits. When I first joined, I felt obligated to play for the most standard times, mainly Bunker 1 0:17 because it was the "easiest" record. Don't fall into this trap, the easier levels are actually some of the most boring and horrible to grind when you're just starting out. Learn as much as you can about the game and ask plenty of questions (join the Discord!), and get times that are fun for you to play for before you worry too much about getting points or doing a big grind or anything.

[Icy]

Read through this thoroughly if you haven't already.

Goldeneye and Perfect Dark take a long time to get very good at, with most players in the top 50 already having played for a few years, and almost all of the top 10 for over a decade. There's no rush; enjoy the ride!

[rhakiath]

For me, I'm still not good and it's been close to a year of playing, as well as casual play prior to that. I set a goal for one PR per day in 2018 and still have it going, some levels I haven't gone into much or haven't needed a tutorial yet (such as Statue, one of the worst levels IMO). That said I've gone through most stages 5-6 times or more and my overall skill has improved a lot, I have cut more than an hour since I started tracking my total time. I haven't spent more than a couple hours per PB except a couple cases, usually I can play 20 mins or so on a level that's ripe for improvement and get the PR.

I only got my first points this week by grinding out a hard level most people skip, but I got Bunker 1 :18 within a week of playing that level while I was new, which is a reasonable time formerly worth points. If you specialize to try to get points such as Dam or Runway Agent, you'll probably be able to get them but it will probably be boring AF. I think 6+ months is probably a good estimate before you'll be solid enough to get a range of times worth points, depending on your dedication and the levels you play. If your goal is points from the start it will probably be less.

I suggest you pick a goal and try to stick to it, that's really the biggest barrier in GE speedrunning, perseverance. OCB and skill will build as you play the levels over time, and knowledge is also hard to take in all at once so it can be good to learn at your own pace, try outdated strats for completions, and set goals based on your own times, not the WRs unless you really want to go for them. Agent is super optimized, so playing SA and 00A can usually be worth it as a new player to get better total time and for variety.

Also, it's good to grab a Japanese cart for playing 00A and certain levels, but it's definitely worth playing on a CRT if you can. I still have some PBs from playing on an LCD like Bunker 1 18, but I feel the CRT is an improvement in every way and prevents a lot of stucks and poor lines. The game lags enough as it is, the TV can at least give you an accurate timing. GL and feel free to share progress or ask questions, other new players often struggle with the same stuff.

[MadmanFlechr]

I second what Kev said. My PR history speaks for itself.

[Klewer]

As others have said, don't just grind away at the "easier" levels. Spread yourself with diverse levels. 00A play through are valuable as I've found working on that makes the others feel much easier.

[flukey lukey]

716.25 hours

[Irie]

What Luke said, but on B2 alone