Self-imposed challenges

>>3619982
usually the 1st thing that ever comes to mind though haven't done myself is Zelda 1 swordless. Has anyone ever done the 2nd quest swordless?

>>3619982
I don't really like challenge runs honestly.

The last I really did was RE4 Pro Knife only and it was a terrible experience and genuinely unfun.

I tried to do the FF5 Four job Fiesta, and I got very bad classes. I got Monk, and then I got Red Mage. It just makes a really genuinely fun and well paced Final Fantasy into this horrible experience because you have a game that's absolutely designed around you having access to specific spells and abilities and restricting yourself breaks that down hard.

I don't consider them challenges, but I'll do stuff that's sub optimum because it's fun and different like not getting everything in Mega Man X, or just doing a "basic" playthrough of something like FF8 and not going completely balls to the wall with abuse of junction.

A challenge can be fun, but It hink over all they just aren't.

I wanna do a run on Final Fantasy VI without ever using magic from Espers, only summoning them at most.

>>3619982
The only self-imposed challenges I've gone through that I can think of offhand were accidental; things I did due to a misunderstanding of the game mechanics.

I went through a good chunk of Final Fantasy Tactics with just Ramza because I inexplicably failed to figure out how to add other units to the battle. This isn't a big deal once he learns some of his squire abilities, but the early missions are really rough with just Ramza, especially when you're still learning how the game works. Going through the opening cutscenes again every time I failed the first mission was pretty agonizing.

I also went through Vagrant Story without switching weapons because I thought that would cause the weapon to eventually become good vs. all enemy types rather than shitty at everything. I relied on absurdly long chains to actually damage any of the later bosses.

I'm not sure it really counts as a self-imposed challenge, but I've also 1CC'd a few games.

>>3620061
It does seem like most self-imposed challenges revolve around removing massive chunks of fun content from a game. I don't tend to enjoy them either.

>>3619982
My most recent self imposed challenge was to just plain *beat* Takeshi's Challenge. Though... by name alone maybe that isn't self imposed... Either way it was a blast. Great game.

>>3620132
>I went through a good chunk of Final Fantasy Tactics with just Ramza because I inexplicably failed to figure out how to add other units to the battle.

haha wow didnt know people could be this dumb

In RPGs I never run away. Ever. Also if the game allows you to retry after dying, then I always reload my last save. No matter how far back it is. Not retro, but that really got to me in KH2FM Critical Mode. It's usually not a big deal, but that's the only self imposed challenge I have.

>>3619982
I've done a couple for Castlevania SotN
>Luck mode, no items, can only equip drops, no op weapons
>Luck mode, no op weapons, no saving

And I've also done a couple for Megaman X4
>X, no weakness, no E/W tanks
>X, no weakness, no armor, no E/W tanks

That latter of the X4 challenges took me a good half hour or so just to beat Sigma, but it felt really good when I did finally beat him.

>>3619982
you can 1 shot exor with geno whirl dude, no matter your equips. But, I suppose if you like the challenge, that's all you.

I did Resident Evil 1 and Biohazard 3 knife only. RE1 I did knife only, no saving.

Final Fantasy VIII no level up. The fun part was knowing how to do this efficiently after 10 years playing the game and figuring things on my own. (ie not checking a FAQ to tell me which item and card to turn into magic, because I already knew all that)

Several retro FPS: pistol start each level, no saving inside a level.

>>3620331
>no weakness, no E/W tanks

Isn't that supposed to be how you play every Mega Man ?

I don't normally do self imposed challenges, but I decided to do the FFV four job fiesta this year and quite enjoyed it. It was fun trying to figure out how to best use everyone's abilities and such.

I did try a single class challenge in FFT years ago. I went with all lancers because I had never really used them before. I got pretty far into the game, but hit a brick wall at one of the Zodiac Beasts. Never could kill that guy and ended up quitting.

>>3620201
>Also if the game allows you to retry after dying, then I always reload my last save

I do that whenever I play Vandal Hearts. If anybody dies, then I reload.

>>3620346
>no level up
Man I don't want to be THAT guy but that's not exactly a hard run to do or figure out. Hell most of the complaints levied about the game is typically from people who got diabolos and slotted enc-null, not realizing that the game was designed with the knowledge that that ability existed and by proxy returned no experience to help with enemy scaling if you wanted to play for the story.

File: 20-Soldiers.jpg (330KB, 1700x1476px) Image search: [Google]

330KB, 1700x1476px

>>3619982
I do plenty of self-imposed challenges when I play games, especially in JRPGs. However I tend to avoid challenges which reduce a game's tactical depth, for example those that allow only one character or one type of character in a game where team composition plays a large role in strategy. I might do a challenge where you do not level up at all on my first playthrough of a JRPG because that requires the player to understand the game mechanics and come up with tactics to best each enemy, whereas you can almost always win through basic mindless attacking if your stats are high enough.

My favourite challenge run is a warpless ironman 0% growths run of Fire Emblem Thracia 776. The warp staff allows you to circumvent a lot of the level design and while there is still a considerable amount of planning required in that sort of run I find it's a lot more complex and varied when warp is banned. Ironman just means that you can't reset if anything goes wrong and game over = game over, so you have to make safe tactics with lots of backup plans and you need to adapt your tactics as the situation changes. Another common approach is to figure out only one path through each level and reset constantly until the dice roll in your favour, but I think that approach ignores a crucial part of the game. 0% growths requires a (easily obtainable) patch for the ROM you're playing on and it works by preventing characters from gaining stats as they level up, which makes characters more unique and makes your tactics require more characters to succeed (the game is normally very easy and your leveled-up characters will be almost invincible). In addition to those restrictions, aiming for the lowest turn count makes every little movement of every turn a lot more important because you can make an astounding amount of optimizations to complete the game in as few turns as possible and you need to make a lot of sacrifices in order to do so, which makes the game harder.

>>3620560
>Man I don't want to be THAT guy but that's not exactly a hard run to do or figure out

The thing with a no lvl up run in FF8, and mine was trying to be as powerful as possible without lvl ing up, is that it is the sum of all the knowledge you've acquired about the game after many playthroughs. That's what makes it's good. I've seen people claim it's "not hard" except they did after getting help or checking tips online, which makes it completely moot.
The point is to get there and to do it effenciently, not as much the run in itself.

>>3620651
Also I imagine the main point is for it to be fun in figuring out how to do it.

>>3620651
isn't this actually the easiest way to play the game

all you do is play cards and junction

or even just use Zell's infinite over and over

now a speedrun that sounds kind of interesting

>>3620664
Depends on how you define easy. If you know the game's systems in and out then it's one of the fastest ways to get through the game. However it's only easy if you know what you're doing. Going in blind not knowing anything about the game just playing it normally would be easier than trying to figure out a low level run from the get go.

>>3620670
>all you do is play cards
There is more to it than that but they do play a role.

Also it's definitely not the fastest way to play the game.

Also keep in mind that a no lvl up run also means you're not getting any AP, at least until you unlock a way that get AP from fights without getting EXP. That's granted you know how to do that as well and haven't looked it up. So only bosses provide AP at the start and you have to make sure you know what you want to get with it.
This also makes junction quite limited for a time being.

There is a lot more to it than people make it sound.

>>3620657
exactly

>>3620341
>you can 1 shot exor with geno whirl dude,

Well aware of that. I never let myself use that exploit as it takes the fun out of the battle with him.

I also don't use red essence in any run, makes the game too easy

beating Zelda 64 with 3 hearts

>>3619982
Dungeon Master 2 - Only use one character instead of four. It makes item weight a bitch, but I've done it a few times.

>>3620630
>base stats othin can oneshot enemies near the end of the game

I gotta try this run. Only problem is that the manster maps(mainly 4x/5) are bullshit without growths and doing it ironman

>>3620676
>There's a lot more to it than people claim
No. Not really.

You run from every battle until you get to Dollet.

You kill off Squall and Zell, and put Ifrit, Shiva, and Quez on Seifer and grind until you get enough AP for the key junctions and specifically CARD from Quez, or if you want, just master them.

You revive Squall and Zell, then you continue to run from every battle, or just card everything to keep getting EXP.

Enc-None helps a little bit with day to day, but you generally want to learn specific junction abilities.

It has setup, but in general, it is -easier- to do a low level run because Junction plays a much larger role. As you level up your stats raise naturally, and that lessens the effect the junction.

It's easy as fuck to setup a no-level game. Don't act like it's something special.

>>3620981
and before you fucking freak out, I know there's like 2 parts you need to use Break. Just fucking relax.

>>3620981
>It's easy as fuck to setup a no-level game. Don't act like it's something special.

You still have you know the game's systems before playing to do that though, that's all he was really saying.

>>3620981
I know about the Seifer thing, but lvling up inside a "no lvl up" playthrough feels like you're not playing by the rules.
You didn't get my point though, he did >>3621015

>>3619982
So you have no Equips? No armour, no weapon and no accessories?

I was thinking about doing this except allowing Weapons so the battles don't take too long but are still a challenge.

I have beaten Mario RPG countless times and know all of the secrets so doing a challenge is the next thing I was thinking of.

>>3620201
>>3620201
>In RPGs I never run away. Ever.

I think one of the Romancing SaGa games does something fun with this.

>>3620759
I once did this but with the additional rules that I could only use megaton hammer, I had to wear hover boots (when I got them) and I never shielded ever.

Everything went fine, but the descent down ganon's tower took me 11 hours because I kept fucking up against the two stalfoes on the way down. With 3 hearts, a single lunge attack (very hard to avoid in my setup) was instant death, and of course I didn't use fairies either.

>Ocarina Of Time
>3 heart run

>Super Mario Bros (NES)
>no warp-zones
>no game overs

>Super Smash Bros
>hardest mode
>no continues

>mario kart (doesn't matter which version)
>150cc
>1st place in every race on every cup

>What are some challenges /vr/ puts on themselves when replaying through games they know like the back of their hand?
Becouse I mostly play action it's usually 1 life, no hits, that sort of thing. Though instead of replying easy shit, it's better to play games with very high skill ceiling, you can play an arcade shmup for a decades and still have plenty of room left for score improvement.