you can exit to the main menu by pressing F1
also what soft locks are you talking about, I can't think of a single soft lock except for if you fall off the map
if you're talking about ledgeboosts, they're definitely not required to beat the game, and even if they were, they're really easy to do
it's a speedrunning game, of course you're not required to beat the game but instead the time, because that's what speedrunning means
the reason to master it is to beat your PB, or to beat the WR, because it's a speedrunning game
