Self-imposed challenges thread

Thought we should have a thread for challenges we have imposed on ourselves in video games! We can share ideas with each other, discuss progress, and spur each other on.

By definition, of course, a self-imposed challenge is not just a regularly difficult task in a game, but one which is made harder, by, for example, limiting one's self in equipment, abilities, or approach.

I'm not used to doing these, but I do have one planned for Golden Sun Dark Dawn - a no-Djinn challenge. That game is ridiculously easy (it was criticised a lot by fans and reviewers alike) though it does have a massive difficulty spike 2/3 of the way through the game. Djinn are the means by which the characters change job-classes, so using none of them forces me to use some of the worst classes in the game in their most basic form. It also prevents the use of the most powerful attacks in the game, Summon Magic. Getting around it will require much strategising with the equipment set up and grinding.

What ones do you have planned/in progress?

I have a blanket rule for any action game I play; with some exceptions, I'm never allowed to use instant-health restoring items during combat. Pausing the game, cycling to my inventory and somehow downing three healing potions in the blink of an eye so that I can instantly rebound and take down whatever was giving me trouble is singularly lame.

A lot of games seem not to realize that you having a nigh-unlimited supply of HP restoring items is something akin to a Game-Breaker. In Fallout 3 for example a player that lasts a few levels will be functionally invincible thanks to all the stimpacks they're carrying around. But even games like Onimusha, where healing items are relatively scarce, still seem to have their boss encounters built around you just having one health bar. Overcoming the challenges is just more fun when you actually feel like you need to avoid getting hit.

And on an off note, is it really THAT hard to code a quick potion-chugging animation? Dark Souls proved that healing leaving you temporarily vulnerable adds plenty of strategy to combat. Even Kingdom Hearts seems to get it.

Far Cry 3 Medieval Playthrough: Go through the game using only the bow and knife as weapons. I'm debating whether to let myself use syringes or not.

Playing Skyrim with no unnecessary NPC death. Somewhat easy with Oblivion but very hard in Skyrim.

Pacifist Run on Deus Ex. Always. Well, I kill Anna and Gunther and Bob Page

edited 4th Mar '13 5:44:29 AM by JAF1970

The only sort of self-imposed challenge I ever did was when I was playing Modern Warfare 2's online multiplayer. Mostly in Free-For-All (every man for himself mode). Usually it would be something simple like only use a pistol, shotgun etc or no killstreaks.

I seemed to enjoy that quite a lot.

I saw a speed run once where they only killed one enemy. Through a wall.

I had a weird idea for a challenge in the original Doom. Not sure what to call it, except perhaps Radar mode. It may have been done already, admittedly, but I haven't heard of it.

In Doom, there's the IDDT map cheat. Using it once fills in the map for the entire stage. Using it twice adds an icon for every monster, weapon, and object. Though it's the same icon for every object. Still, you can see monsters moving around.

So my idea is to type in IDDT twice, and then play the game purely through the map screen. Unfortunately, my computer is kaputz right now (Currently using the library computers) so I can't test it out.

As a general principle, in games that allow saving and loading any time, I never reload the game if I make a mistake that doesn't get me killed. (like getting spotted in a stealth game)

In normal play, you're supposed to need to kill three enemies (since unconcious counts as dead for gameplay purposes after mission 2), though if you don't count that, it's two enemies (Anna Navarre, Bob Page, and Howard Strong specifically. Strong can be knocked out though. Glitches mean the first of those can be bypassed.

I've done two runs of Pikmin 2 that were in 8 in-game days. That's the minimum possible amount of days you can take. They were also no-death runs, since Pikmin tend to die in droves.

I intend to replay Bowser's Inside Story after replaying Partners in Time to celebrate the announcement of the latest Mario & Luigi game. I've found that normal runs are too easy but runs where I use the Challenge Medal make the normal enemies take too long to kill. So I intend to play like normal but equip the Challenge Medal right before boss battles, as a compromise.

Any Assassin's Creed game (although I'm not sure if the first one has this option): Turn off the minimap and try to avoid pausing to the main map as much as possible (of course, you'll have to at least see where's the next event trigger, and that requires a map most times). Bonus points if you turn off the SSID too.

I don't remember how, but Anna can be skipped, and one of the last two can be as well.

Again, only through glitches (Navarre needs to die to get a key to leave the area she's in, and even if you don't directly kill the other two, they still die because of your actions. It's Gunther Hermann and Walton Simons who can be legitimately skipped.

Yeah, I realized it was because of glitches. But it's still a nice challenge to do.

(EDIT: Who's Howard Strong, anyway? I always seem to remember the first parts of the game better, and that name sounds so very... forgettable.)

edited 6th Mar '13 4:32:43 AM by Sabbo

Head of MJ 12 operations at the nuke silo. Dies when the nuke goes off anyway, but pacifist runs are still valid if you don't directly kill him first. Need to knock him out before you can leave though.

Ah. That sounds vaguely familiar now. I don't remember whether that was the guy to kill or not, but it might have been.