Self-Imposed Challenges

[TheTron852]

When thinking about my past, I remembered how I used to play first-person shooters with different controls. I once tried to play with that layout after I swtiched to WASD, and failed. And then I got an idea to create this topic.

So, to quote TVTropes on what this topic is about:

A Self-Imposed Challenge is a playthrough of a game wherein the player plays under a restriction not required by the game itself in an attempt to increase the difficulty (or immersion) and replay value. These restrictions can range from the fairly simple (a refusal to make use of a Game Breaker, for example) to the near-impossible ("Hey, can you beat Super Mario Bros. without pressing the "B" button?").

In short: you play a game with a restriction imposed on yourself, and do it until you achieve a set goal (most often beating the game)

Here you can post whatever challenges you decided to do while playing video games and share your experiences with them. And so that others can attempt these challenges too

 

Since I created this topic, here is my challenge for everybody who plays first-person shooters:

 

I'm pretty sure that most of you play with WASD layout. The challenge is to remap your controls to the following:

• W -> Right Mouse Button
  
• S -> Shift
  
• A and D -> Z and X
  
• Right Mouse Button -> Left Alt

And then beat any FPS game that has singleplayer, using this layout

If, by chance, you don't play with either WASD layout or the one I suggested, feel free to post your own

 

[Psychotic Ninja]

There's a shit-ton for the Final Fantasy series, some specific to a single title, others are for multiple titles. You have things like LLNIIENACMO for FF7. it stands for Low Level No Items Initial Equipment No Accessories Command Meteria Only.

 

You also have challenges like LLIE and solo character, both that can be done in any FF game. Exception is 8, because the game is easier, the lower your level, and even easier if you know how to abuse the Junction system.

 

 

The Kingdom Hearts series also has some. The one I know is KH2 (Final Mix) Critical Mode level 1 no damage taken (at least for boss fights).

 

The only challenge I've tried is LLIE for FF7. I got as far as disc 2 before I couldn't go even further.

[Heliocentrical]

FEAR 1 on highest difficulty with no slow-mo use. FEAR 1 is a completely different game without the slow-mo and it's really hard.

[Psychotic Ninja]

Half life 2 (and episodes) Gravity Gun only. Well once you get the Gravity Gun, that is.

[Templar Knight]

I tried a few challenges I made up for myself and have always wanted to try a few for certain games.

 

In Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath, I never spent a single bill of Moolah and tried to actually save up the 20 grand for the operation. So not a single bought upgrade throughout the whole game. Turns out if you just play the whole game and are good at capturing rather than killing you do end up getting just over 20 grand, too bad its no use when you find a hung Doc Vykkers. The last bounty missions basically became long-range snipe-fests with me going in and out of cover to regen health.

 

In Dishonored, I have seen some very neat challenges and have only started one of them. They were featured on a youtube video, so you can also look them up. The first is "What a horrible nightmare." Basically, you play as if all of the visions of the Outsider are just hallucinations of a flying Goth, and the mark on Corvo's hand is just some tattoo he completely forgot getting, which in gameplay terms mean you play with no magic at all, only raw human ability and technology. The second is "What an unfortunate accident." Where basically you have to play the whole game as an assassin trying to pull off the perfect kills that cannot even be traced to them, meaning you cannot kill anyone in any way that an investigator wouldn't think would be the result of an assassination, and not be spotted or use any sleeping darts. Lastly, there is "Corvo Attano, The Loudest Man in Dunwall." Where basically you throw the whole idea of stealth out the window, you walk out in the open and try and engage everyone in honourable combat duelling every enemy you encounter. Basically when you enter an area, fire off your pistol to get everyone's attention and fighting everyone one by one in the most honorable way possible. Magic can be used to even the odds (the example they used is like if someone is drawing a pistol to shoot at you, you can stop or slow time to step out of the way of the bullet, or to throw grenades away), but you can only kill enemies by getting their full attention and fighting them blade-to-blade.

 

I have also wanted to try to do full magic or sorcerer builds for each of the Souls games, not put anything into melee at all.

[TheTron852]

I'm currently trying to find out whether it's possible to do Quake 1 with starting weapons only (use only basic shotgun and axe, no other weapons allowed). I'm also thinking about attempting that challenge myself

[TheTron852]

So! Sorry for double-posting, but I haven't found any info about playing through the game with starting weapons only, so I've decided to do this myself. I'll be playing on Normal, and I'm allowed to use only the axe and the basic shotgun.

[Reverend_UshankaCat_]

I'm currently trying to find out whether it's possible to do Quake 1 with starting weapons only (use only basic shotgun and axe, no other weapons allowed). I'm also thinking about attempting that challenge myself

I think it is possible to beat Half-Life with just the crowbar. Also, after seeing the Half-Life

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-NV-OWPbWE I'm starting to wonder whether a pacifist run would be possible. You would have to use a lot of bugs and exploits though.

[Cyanosis]

Stuff like this tickles my fancy, though I have yet to employ most of these I did create a list of challenges tailored for FPS/TPS games or just action games in general. These are for those who think playing on the highest possible difficulty just isn't good enough.

 

No HUD: Disable the HUD if possible. If the game has sound and/or visual cues of low health/ammo this is actually not that hard.

 

Coop Mode: Play solo in enemy enriched co-op mode if possible. This one only seems to matter for Doom engine games, there's often bosses in unusual places and just a lot more monsters around in general.

 

Keyboard Only: No mouse allowed. This can be difficult if it's games that were designed with keyboard + mouse. Default or custom controls is up to you, but it has to be strictly keyboard.

 

No Autorun: Manual running. Newer games have limited sprint which doesn't really count, but I won't let that stop you from trying to play without it. Basically you have to hold down an assigned key in order to move quickly all the time.

 

No Health Items: Scorning health pickups. Consider yourself a pro? Try working with the only health you have. Can be on a by-level basis, but you absolutely cannot use health items.

 

No Armor Items: Neglecting armor pickups. Ditto. You can have all the health you want, but no protection to decrease damage taken.

 

No Power Ups: Avoiding power-ups. General pickups are fine, but any temporary super-boosters are zilch.

 

No Inventory Items: Ignoring inventory items. Pretend the inventory system doesn't even exist, good for BUILD engine games.

 

No Upgrades: Stock/underpowered character playthrough. Can be very challenging depending on the game, perhaps even downright impossible near the end.

 

No Damage: No damage received either via level based or the entire game. As it says on the tin, if you get hit once you already lost this challenge. Hitscanners will be your worst nightmare.

 

Stock Start: No consecutive play per level. Commonly referred to as the 'pistol start', the weapon you begin with in question varies game to game.

 

Hub Start: Ditto for hub based games. Quake II refers to its hubs as 'units' but it counts all the same. Quake II actually allows you to execute a config in the console to begin a particular unit and gives you the appropriate weapons and items for a fair start. That's too easy, so manually warp to the beginning of a hub instead.

 

Start Saves: Only saves at the beginning of a level. Dying means restarting, but you can keep the stuff you got from prior levels.

 

Hub Saves: Only saves at the beginning of a hub. Dying here will be a problem as it means a lot of work lost.

 

Progress Saves: Only saves when acquiring important items or performing important tasks. This is one of my favorites in key-based FPSes, I would save the game only when I got a key. The number of keys dictates the number of possible saves per level.

 

No Saves: No saving permitted. If you lose its back to the beginning with stock equipment, kind of like an endurance run, except you can repeatedly fail on this.

 

No Secrets: No aid via secret areas. Not all games require mandatory secrets to finish but some will be notably harder, maybe impossible without the aid of certain secrets.

 

Shareware Weapons: Only use weapons found in the shareware/demo version. For example on Doom you would not have a plasma rifle or BFG. Quake 1 isn't as bad since it only added the thunderbolt in the registered version. Other games could be harder.

 

Melee Weapons: Only use melee weapons. No firearms allowed. Might not be doable on all shooters.

 

Bullet Weapons: Only use hitscan weapons. No projectiles allowed. Might not be doable on all shooters.

 

Weaker Weapons: Only use lower-tier weapons of superior ones. For example a shotgun vs. a super shotgun.

 

No Special Weapons: No exceptionally powerful or unique weapons. Be it the last weapon you acquire, something with unusual properties, or extreme damage.

 

Start Weapons: Only use what you begin with. Again might not be possible on all shooters.

 

Original Weapons: Only use base game weapons, no expansion content. Self-explanatory.

 

First Person Mode: Play strictly in first person if an option. If it's a third person game by default this can radically change the way it plays.

 

Third Person Mode: Play strictly in third person if an option. If it's a first person game by default this can radically change the way it plays.

 

Fast Monsters: Use fast enemies parameter if available. This only applies to old id games sadly. Enemies are twice as fast and aggressive.

 

Respawning Monsters: Use respawning enemies parameter if available. Again an old id games stable. Enemies don't stay dead and continue to hound you throughout a level. Hexen II actually has a secret fifth difficulty that makes monsters (and mana pickups) respawn but its only in the expansion.

 

Endurance Run: No saves whatsoever in the entire campaign. This is the ultimate do-or-die challenge, it effectively means playing the entire game in one sitting and never failing once. If you die, it really is game over. You used to have to play rougelikes for perma-death, now you can have one anywhere!

[Psychotic Ninja]

Games like Crisis Core, and the Arkham Series you could do a ASAP challenge. Basically, 100% the game as soon as possible. Sorry Catwoman, can't save you from Two-Face, gotta get all of these Riddler Trophies. All of them. There's even an ASAP challenge guide for Crisis Core. The guide has you at level 40-50 before you start the first story mission (that is, the one after the tutorial and forced on). To put things into perspective, normally you'll be around level 10 at that point, and be between 40-50 at end game.

[Shinebox]

Whenever I play Thief 1/2, I put a limit on myself as to how many dudes I can knock out. That way I don't just run around blackjacking every guard I see (it's way too easy). However, I don't apply this to beasts, zombies, and pretty much anything I consider to not be totally sentient/thinking.

[AP_Pastor]

Postal 2 in IMPOSSIBLE mode without killing the pedestrians, even if they're attacking you. You only have to kill the baddies with just the assault rifle or shotgun as they're the weakest guns in the game. Good luck surviving a Week In Paradise.

[Psychotic Ninja]

Stealth games like Dishonored: Kill no one on the hardest difficulty. unless it's justified (like the optional duel in Dishonored) or if it's the only way to advance the plot OR kill every. Single. Person. Innocent or not.

[TheTron852]

Update on the Quake Starting Weapons only challenge: stuck at the end of chapter 2, with the elevator and Vores.

[TheTron852]

Sorry for double-posting, but on the subject:

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[Psychotic Ninja]

When playing a RPG like Skyrim, disable fast travel, walk everywhere, make sure to eat, drink, etc, stay at hotels/camps at night, stay warm (bonus points if you have mods like Frostfall installed), and only attack in self defense. If a character is like "I give! You win!" sheath your weapon.

[Cyanosis]

When playing a RPG like Skyrim, disable fast travel, walk everywhere, make sure to eat, drink, etc, stay at hotels/camps at night, stay warm (bonus points if you have mods like Frostfall installed), and only attack in self defense. If a character is like "I give! You win!" sheath your weapon.

 

That's cool, extended and self-imposed role playing elements. Once I was trying to get through a GTA game (PS2 era) by only killing those who posed a direct threat, avoiding confrontations with the cops, and not seeking out weapon pickups hidden around the map, having to buy them instead or whatever I'd get off of enemies. It's good theming and turns out in 16 game days I had killed 104 irredeemable criminals, with no civilian or police casualties.

[TheTron852]

Was playing StarCraft II just now, and a challenge came to mind: in the campaign, do not buy upgrades, do not research anything. For even more challenge also play on Brutal.