Self-imposed challenge modes

[Ninety-Three]

Sometimes, to make a game more interesting for myself, I will force myself to conform to an arbitrary rule or set of rules while I play. Usually it's for one of two reasons: making the game more challenging, or because working around the rule will force a change of playstyle in interesting ways. I've heard from other people who do this, and the most common challenge tends to be permadeath, where if you die, you have to delete your file and start over.

 

Permadeath might be the most popular, but there's lots of weird and unique challenges as well: Only use a particular weapon in an FPS, only one city in Civilization, never move less than 100% of your forces in a cell game, the list goes on. I thought I'd create this thread to share and discuss the challenge modes people have tried for themselves.

 

To start us off, my favorite is a challenge for Plants vs Zombies. PvZ is a great, fun game, but it's also really easy. In thinking about what it would take to make the game hard, I irreverently declared "No using any plant that fires a projectile". I thought it was silly, but upon reflection it didn't seem totally unworkable. Eventually I started a playthrough of it, and I was shocked that I was able to get all the way to World 5 with the restriction (at that point everything promptly fell apart, oh well).

 

It was a great challenge, as it managed to add some threat to a previously easy game, and it forced a lot of adaptation and lateral thinking to work around the restriction. It even ended up teaching me a tactic that improved my normal play of the game.

 

With that, I throw it open to the forum: what's the most fun, or the most interesting play experience you've had with a self-imposed challenge?

[tegan]

One of these days I'm going to do a proper Nuzlocke run:

 

It was finals week of winter quarter 2010 for a bored not-yet webcomic artist at UC Santa Cruz. Having taken nothing but bullshit classes that quarter, he decided to entertain himself while everyone else was studying by starting a new file in his old copy of Pokemon Ruby.

But he had grown tired of his old Pokemon games; they had become repetitive and unchallenging after many play throughs. Deciding to make the experience more interesting, he set two rules for himself:

 

1. He could only capture the first Pokemon he encountered in each new area.
2. If a Pokemon fainted he would consider it dead and release it.

 

The results were unexpected; rather than simply increasing the difficulty, these rules caused him to care for his monster companions more than ever before. He found new appreciation for Pokemon he would have previously never bothered to capture, and worried deeply for his team, knowing any knockout would mean goodbye.

 

It gets pretty intense.

[Goggles]

I played through Dishonored's main campaign on the hardest difficulty without killing anyone or being seen, purchasing no powers and using blink only when the game required me to in a few particular platforming sections. The moment I completed the game and all four relevant achievements appeared as unlocked at the same time was one of my most satisfying moments with any game.

 

While I did get personal satisfaction at basically playing the game without all the cool shit in the game, it did lead to a lot of save-scumming behavior and sliiiiight exploitation of mechanics. It also gave me an appreciation of the tendency for unconscious assassins to fall forward only when they're on the edge of a rooftop.

[Reyturner]

One of these days I'm going to do a proper Nuzlocke run:

It gets pretty intense.

So what happens if you run out? Game Over?

[mikemariano]

No fast travel.

[tegan]

So what happens if you run out? Game Over?

 

Yup.

 

It's not an official rule, but it's also recommended that you nickname everything for a stronger emotional bond.

[N1njaSquirrel]

I've started and about half way through a Dark Souls Level 1 run. Basically you don't level up. At all. To make it harder, I decided to become a level 1 dark wraith, which means defeating one of the last bosses half way through the game. I became one and then stopped, and haven't picked it back up since.

 

The main change to the game was how I viewed souls. I no longer cared about them, as my only use for them was to upgrade armour and weapons, which meant that I cared less about dieing, which I felt was a good thing to not get angry over. Likewise my weapon choices diminished quite quickly, giving me the options of club + shield or a duel-wielded zweihandler. To me the club felt like the better choice of the two.

 

Having a fixed health + stamina, my first prerogative was to get some buffs on those, so as soon as I got to Lodran I rushed to Ash Lake (using the theif's keys) to pick up the cloranthy ring (increased stam recharge rate) + dragon's covenant (to get the sweet fire breath), and then to kill Lautrec as quickly as possible to get the ring of favour and protection to increase my stats. After that it felt very monster-huner esq, focusing on upgrading armour and swapping out armour to get the best defence, whilst keeping under half weight so I don't lose my roll. I think the last time I went on, I was on my way to seath, with a +10 lightning club and a +10 fire club. Luckily most enemies in dark souls have a weakness to fire. It's certainly a lot of fun, and is a great challenge to a game I've completed multiple times already.

[Cordeos]

No fast travel.

 

No fast travel is also a great way to experience all kinds of things you miss. I did this in Skyrim and was so happy to really see the great world design that I missed the first time through. 

I did a play through of Fallout New Vegas where I was playing as a mass murderer. My character was named Kratos. I maxed out strength and endurance, ignored all other stats. Focused on melee, unarmed and explosives. I didn't do any quests or even talk to people, I just attacked instantly. The game was quite hard until I got to the boomers, loaded up on grenades and blew everyone up. 

 

Hitman Blood Money, Don't bring any guns on a mission. This can make the game easier in that you can pass through metal detectors without problems, but usually means you don't have any silenced weaponry for long range stealth kills.

 

 

[tegan]

I dunno if it counts because it was the way I originally played the game, but I deliberately kept my character at level 1 throughout the entirety of The World Ends With You. That game puts your character level on a slider whose maximum value increases as you gain experience. You get better drops at lower levels, so I just kept it at the minimum the entire time.

[SuperBiasedMan]

I did that exact same thing in New Vegas, it's surprisingly easy to punch out a robot.

Also I loved that system in TWEWY but really sucked at the game, did you beat the whole actual final boss like that?

[Bjorn]

I've always wanted to do one of the harder challenge runs in a Souls game (like level 1), but I always end up going with a theme build instead. Theme builds may still increase the challenge of some areas, but it's not really the same thing.

I was stupid good at Resident Evil 2 at one point, good enough to complete the game in a single session with limiting my weapon choice, no saves and no First Aid Sprays.

[Twig]

I got all Rainbow V ratings in Viewtiful Joe, but... I guess that's not really a self-imposed challenge, as that's sort of built in.

 

But I felt really fucking boss after doing is, so WHATEVER.

[Kazbit]

In games that allow for non-lethal playthroughs (Metal Gear, Dishonored, Splinter Cell, Deus Ex: Human Revolution) I feel immensely guilty about killing anyone since the game is outright stating I didn't NEED to do it to progress so I inevitably end up going for the no-kill run on my very first playthrough. This has the effect of pretty much ruining the game for me since non-lethal tools are always crappy and rare and hence more difficult to use, so going back and playing the game again without that self-imposed challenge is just kinda boring. Plus, the way I view the main characters in a lot of stealth series is so tied to the fact I played through them without killing anybody that it's actually deeply disturbing to play through them any other way. Adam Jensen the chief security officer who does his job but avoids conflict and fatalities (besides bosses) is unrecognizable next to Adam Jensen the cold murderer who's killed a hundred gangsters and security guards and is still warmly commended by his friends, and the former character sticks in my mind because I so rarely get to play that person.

 

I tried to play through Fable 1 without weapons, magic, or hair as kind of a monk character or something. It made the game pretty challenging (for the first time ever) for a while but unfortunately the strength upgrades are a kind of... multiplicative scale with your default damage... the point is upgrading strength takes you from 1 damage per hit to 2, to 4, as opposed to equipping a sword immediately taking you to like 50... it became tedious pretty quick and almost impossible when time or escorting people becomes a factor in quests. Really bummed me out.

 

Not sure if it counts as a self-imposed challenge per se but the times I played Skyrim and Oblivion as a pure mage, never using any physical weapons or armor, were probably the most fun for me. Not that I actually got any closer to finishing the main story, but...

[Gormongous]

This isn't my experience, but I thought it was an interesting way to test the bounds of Fantasy Life on the 3DS: http://www.thegia.com/2014/12/15/fantasy-life-devaluing-violence/

[Cordeos]

Not sure if it counts as a self-imposed challenge per se but the times I played Skyrim and Oblivion as a pure mage, never using any physical weapons or armor, were probably the most fun for me. Not that I actually got any closer to finishing the main story, but...

 

Its self imposed in that you are forcing yourself to use those games bad magic systems

[Reyturner]

I stalled out on Pokemon Y a while ago. A Nuzlocke run sounds like a fun way to go at it again.

Also, an obligatory link to No Wrong Way To Play on the off chance someone hasn't heard about it.

[Bjorn]

I stalled out on Pokemon Y a while ago. A Nuzlocke run sounds like a fun way to go at it again.

Also, an obligatory link to No Wrong Way To Play on the off chance someone hasn't heard about it.

 

I don't think I'd ever seen Burch's blog before.  The KU game tonight was a miserable mess (even though we won), so I spent the better part of two hours reading it.  Absolutely captivating examples. 

 

I did think of one of my Dark Souls 2 runs that really was a challenge, which was a whips only characters (named Devo).  The rule was whips only, which presents some massive challenges early on, as there are really only two good whips and one average whip, and they all have downsides.  The Old Whip is the best whip in the game, but it's hard to get (it's a rare gift from the crow girls), which means you have to farm items to trade with them, and it's got the durability of tissue paper (in part due to a bug in the PC version), and can easily break mid-battle.  The Spotted Whip is a late game weapon and fabulous, but not available for much of the run.  The Bloodied Whip is the only real choice for regular use, and its okay, but it's an infuriatingly rare drop that only drops from 1 or 2 specific enemies in the entire game, and they aren't particularly close to a bonfire.  Whips have a few advantages in combat, but are realistically the poorest weapon class in the game compared to anything else. 

 

That run was a ton of fun though, it forced me to rethink approaching combat as the timing and spacing is considerably different from any other weapon. 

[Patrick R]

I've been playing through F.E.A.R. with a track pad because the USB ports on my laptop don't work. Not recommended!

[Griddlelol]

While not "challenge" modes per se, I always end up playing as a "rogue" or "warrior" character in every game I play that gives me the option, even if they're sub-optimal, and make it significantly harder. I also tend to wear gear or use weapons I think look cool, rather than upgrading. I don't know if it's role playing, or whether it's just I've played so many games as those two types, that I know they fit my play style more often than not.

[Thrik]

Play through the entirety of Grim Fandango using the tank controls without ever colliding with anything. It'd be like the most demented and torturous rendition of those real-life toys where you have to move a metal loop around a bendy piece of metal without the two touching. If only Double Fine had added an optional huge siren and flashing red screen for when such a collision occurs.

[Henroid]

Something I like doing in the various Mega Man games is beating bosses without using the special weapons, just to test my handle on being able to dodge (no matter how easy or hard their pattern is). I couldn't say which games I've successfully beaten in this fashion.

 

For the "Metroidvania" games I've played through each using stipulations on sticking to a particular weapon type through the entire game.

 

In various jRPGs up until the last few years, I kinda unintentionally put myself through a challenge mode: no item use to recover health or status. I relied solely on my characters' abilities to heal / recover. And if I didn't have enough OH WELL. Most of them are still easy with that rule in place, but you spend more time grinding for levels. When I started using items (I forget which RPG just beat it into me as a must-do) revisiting these games, goddamn they were even easier and faster to play through. What was I thinking?

[Henroid]

Oh I almost forgot, another fun thing to do? No-engagement runs in stealth games. It's a step beyond no-kills. I mean don't even incapacitate guards. Leave them all active, and get through without being seen. I managed to pull it off on the hardest difficulty in Metal Gear Solid, Deus Ex, and  Deus Ex: Invisible War. I tried it for MGS2 but actually just got stuck on a boss so I never finished that run, and I tried it in DE:HR but got spotted during the first run through Shanghai in a very infuriating part of the game and gave up.

[Trip Hazard]

The opposite of this, but when I was a kid I would always play Doom with cheats on, being too scared of dying (that pained screech!) to play without. My dad eventually convinced me to wean myself off them. Can still remember how scared I was facing the Cyberdemon for the first time, without invincibility active.

 

I once tried to do a stealthy playthrough of Deus Ex, but I got bored of that when I got to the statue. Just like shootin' too much, damn it.

[clyde]

Figuring out whether or not you can jump off the world is enjoyable for me. Trekking out there, jumping off, spinning around, taking a screenshot, and then submitting it to http://bottomlesspitsingames.tumblr.com/

fulfills my National Geographic photographer fantasy.

[Architecture]

To try and make Far Cry 3 a better game, I've decided to impose some restrictions:

 

-Set the game to Hard

-Turn off all visual assists other than the hit indicator
-Turn off the music

-Restrict crafting severely:

--Rugged holster (3 weapons MAX, must also only carry one of each type of weapon)

--Simple rucksack (32 items MAX)

--Simple syringe kit (5 syringes MAX)

--Simple ammo pouch

--Simple fuel sling

--Small rocket pack

--NO grenade pouch upgrade

--NO munitions pouch upgrade

--Wallet & arrow quiver are unrestricted

 

I'm also minimizing my use of the camera and not min/maxing the radio towers in an effort to make weapon purchases more difficult and meaningful. I wish I could turn off the minimap, goal indicators, mission briefings on the HUD and disable the camera's tagging feature, but I guess I'll have to settle for this.