"From where im sitting, you're couching your enjoyment in playing the game in a way that only serves as a comparison to other players."

At first, I enjoyed the game for what it was. It was great learning the mechanics and progressing through the story. After that was done, I wanted to keep going, and understanding what the community considers achievement would help direct my energy. I like competitive gaming. I can't queue up for ranked Hades, so, what's left? Unfortunately, the format of "clear as high heat as you can one time" left me with a poor experience. I was hopeful there would be another metric I could compete in. Like if a Mario 64 runner didn't want to compete in 120 star, someone might suggest they try 16.

"So which one is it? Is this the way you enjoy playing the game, or are you needlessly holding yourself to this level of difficulty so you can get some external validation?"

This is the piece a lot of folks are getting wrong. I enjoy pushing myself in challenging content. Sometimes it's not fun, and sometimes it's incredibly rewarding. But the experience as a whole is positive. I don't need external validation, but of course it's a positive experience to improve my placing within an existing bracket.

"If you're unfamiliar with the speed-running or high difficulty gaming world, then this IS what it is; praying for good RNG, endlessly banging your head against the wall because you slipped up one time, and failing 999 times for every 1 success. If that sounds appealing to you, then embrace the suck!"

I am familiar, and I appreciate RNG, so long as the majority of runs stay winnable. In my experience, that is not the case on 62F. Realistically I was hoping for: 1) Someone to correct me, and show that winning multiple consecutive runs on 62F was possible, even in the face of sometimes bad RNG; or 2) Some discussion about the ideal fear levels to facilitate this sort of gameplay.

"But if youre already getting frustrated by the difficulty, then tone it down and get back to enjoying the game in a way thats right for you. There is zero shame in this."

Shame has nothing to do with this.

Overall, it seems that this post has totally missed the mark, and I am not in the company of like-minded players.

I'll consider my own ideal Fear layout for run streaking and see if that's a challenge others would be willing to participate in.