A new challenge to gamers

[Xaio30]

Rules:
-never buy anything.
-never upgrade/level up anything.

I think you just smashed together a Broke and Recruit run.

They are not very common, but they exist among the others like Ironman, Pacifist and Speed.

 

[maninahat]

When I finally get Dishonoured, I want to not only ghost as much as possible, but also avoid stealing anything or allow people to come to harm. From what I understand, it is technically impossible to 100% achieve those tasks, but it's worth trying to do what you can.

 

[StBishop]

This is a challenge that practically popped up in my head:

Rules:
-never buy anything.
-never upgrade/level up anything.

Exception:
-when you need the upgrade/thing to progress in the game.

ex. in Assassins Creed II when you need to buy medicine
or
in Ratchet and Clank like the hookshot.

the questions is:
-is it possible or completely insane to even try?
-it needs a fancy name too?

It has a name. Minimalist Run.

Just Saiyan.

OT: It's very possible. People do stuff like this all the time. Go for it.

 

[StBishop]

Pff, big deal, I did the Assassins Creed 2 thing (with the exception of medicine but I didn't even need that much) because I hate it when Ezio is clad in stupid armor.

Hope ACIII won't have armor.

I still say the Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne on Hard for your first playthrough is a f**king insane challenge (especially if you go the true demon route)

Why not hope for an option to wear no armour?

Some of us like being able to customise the way the character looks, some of us what armour to be part of that.

Also, if there were no weapon/armour upgrades I'd have enjoyed AC2 a whole lot less.

 

[Mikeyfell]

Let's beat Borderlands 2 with the starting pistol... Uh, I don't think so.

Or you could try to go through Dead Rising with only fists, that would be awesome

 

[getoffmycloud]

Completely possible, especially for a game like Dishonored. With just blink (mandatory ability) and patience you'd still breeze through the game as long as you allowed yourself to kill, if not then it may be slightly harder.

I'm probably not the first to have thought of this, but I'm wondering if a playthrough without the use of any powers is possible. With the way climbing onto stuff works, it seems like you could jump to nearly any location given some time. Then you could thumb your nose at The Outsider and his flashy antics.

It might be fun to get a list of games people have beaten with absolute minimum upgrades. I'm not a fan of the JRPG stuff like FF7 with initial weapons, but some people put themselves through it.
-My addition to the list would be Crysis &/Warhead Delta nokills (except objectives) and only suit speed.

I am doing that now and I think it is possible just takes a long ass time to get anywhere and you really have to plan ahead to not get yourself stuck.

 

[Akytalusia]

new challenge? this is an ancient time honored challenge... minimalistic runs have been around from the beginning. geez. kids these days. don't know their own history.

 

[Sombra Negra]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R34Ld6mBqpA&feature=relmfu

dark souls SL1 run. pretty challenging. i guess that would be semi-minimalist?

 

[DugMachine]

There was this dude (can't recall his name) who leveled a WoW troll that way, no armor, just the starting club. Took him ages, I believe.

There was also another person who leveled her gnome on just exploration and professions. No kills at all

Oh please no. That must have taken AGES.

And I just googled another player who got to 90 with no kills, one quest and tons of professions and archaeology. Jebus christ

 

[shrekfan246]

Never uppgrade OR level anything...
The Pokemon games just got a hell of a lot harder...

How would that even work? You get one Potion and five Poke balls, depending on the Generation you're playing, and you can never level any Pokemon you catch so you probably can't actually win any battles? You wouldn't even be able to make it through the Viridian Forest in Gen I, because there's one mandatory Trainer battle at the very end.

I mean, the exception would render the entire thing pretty much moot anyway. Who needs Potions when you've power-leveled your Pokemon to thirty levels above the strongest Trainer in the game? Sure, it'd be a hell of a lot of grinding, but you'd never need to buy anything as long as you pick the five Pokemon you catch well. And they don't break out...

OT: As far as RPGs go, there are a lot of times when there are BS enemies that annoy me even if I'm within the level range they're at. Trying to do those at level 1 without any way of healing myself would probably just frustrate me to no end. Yeah, I don't usually self-impose artificial challenges, unless I'm replaying a game for the fifteenth time, which doesn't happen all that often.

If I'm playing the original Genesis Sonic games, for instance, I'll try to get through a stage with the shortest amount of time I possibly can get, or try to find every secret in a level, or beat Robotnik without any Rings. But if I'm playing Pokemon, there's no way I'm going to do a Nuzlocke challenge or anything, because I often get the most terrible luck with my Accuracy Vs. the Accuracy of the opponent. Getting critical struck five times by Fury Swipes when my Pokemon can't even land a freaking Ember is annoying, especially when I haven't even been hit by Sand-Attack/Smokescreen and the enemy hasn't used Double-Team. In fact, the accuracy of the enemy while using attacks like Fury Swipes annoys me in general, because whenever I use it, if it even lands it only ever hits them twice, while they always get five strikes out of it.

 

[Guffe]

Never uppgrade OR level anything...
The Pokemon games just got a hell of a lot harder...

In fact, the accuracy of the enemy while using attacks like Fury Swipes annoys me in general, because whenever I use it, if it even lands it only ever hits them twice, while they always get five strikes out of it.

Hello brother of bad luck!
And as far as the pokemon game in general...
I have no clue It's pretty impossible, but of course the exception is that unless it is necessary so of course and it's pretty difficult not to level in pokemon ;D
But then I think you could survive with the pokeballs at the start of the game, but yeah, not levelling at all makes the game pretty much impossible.

 

[shrekfan246]

Never uppgrade OR level anything...
The Pokemon games just got a hell of a lot harder...

In fact, the accuracy of the enemy while using attacks like Fury Swipes annoys me in general, because whenever I use it, if it even lands it only ever hits them twice, while they always get five strikes out of it.

Hello brother of bad luck!
And as far as the pokemon game in general...
I have no clue It's pretty impossible, but of course the exception is that unless it is necessary so of course and it's pretty difficult not to level in pokemon ;D
But then I think you could survive with the pokeballs at the start of the game, but yeah, not levelling at all makes the game pretty much impossible.

Hello!

I'm absolutely positive that you could craft a team of Pokemon using only the balls you get at the start of the game, you might not fill up the bench until a fair way into the game, but it'd still be possible. Save before entering the area where the Pokemon you want to catch is located, so if it breaks out you can just reload (since that wasn't explicitly prohibited) until you catch the 'mon in question.

I guess for Pokemon there would need to be an added stipulation that you don't grind your 'mons to be ten-twenty levels higher than everything you're fighting? It'd be pretty tense to take on all of the Gyms/Elite Four at the proper level without any Potions/Revives/Status Restoring items, and using literally only up to six Pokemon.

 

[Aetera]

The main challenge that I hear people trying with pokemon is that you can only catch the first pokemon per area you come across, and if a pokemon faints you have to release it. It sounds interesting.

I keep meaning to try the three-heart challenge with OOT, but I haven't gotten around to it.

 

[ThatRandomGuy42]

Deus Ex: HR might be impossible, since you get upgraded at the start anyway.

 

[Guffe]

Never uppgrade OR level anything...
The Pokemon games just got a hell of a lot harder...

In fact, the accuracy of the enemy while using attacks like Fury Swipes annoys me in general, because whenever I use it, if it even lands it only ever hits them twice, while they always get five strikes out of it.

Hello brother of bad luck!
And as far as the pokemon game in general...
I have no clue It's pretty impossible, but of course the exception is that unless it is necessary so of course and it's pretty difficult not to level in pokemon ;D
But then I think you could survive with the pokeballs at the start of the game, but yeah, not levelling at all makes the game pretty much impossible.

I guess for Pokemon there would need to be an added stipulation that you don't grind your 'mons to be ten-twenty levels higher than everything you're fighting? It'd be pretty tense to take on all of the Gyms/Elite Four at the proper level without any Potions/Revives/Status Restoring items, and using literally only up to six Pokemon.

Yeah, non grinding would make it pretty interesting, only trainers and that's what you have to survive on. As you already said it would take some time to get all the mons since you'd have to think about how many are proper to have at the start of the game so that there isn't one overleveld but not 4 too low levels either.
Then of course if we take the later versions there's the phone so trainers call you up and challenge you and that'd make it a bit easier but not sure it's possible in first gen first version games

 

[rebelscum]

I tried something similar on Resident Evil 4. Just the knife and starting pistol, no merchant, stuff in the gaming world is fair play to pick up except free weapons.

Got as far as Salazar. Fuck that guy.

 

[vasiD]

I'm sure others have mentioned this, but minimalist runs have been around forever. I remember being pretty young and reading about a minimalist run on Ocarina of Time; three hearts, only grabbing equipment you need to progress.

I think they sound pretty awesome, but with games like that I am addicted to finding every little thing so that would drive me nuts. However in CRPGs I could easily see roleplaying that sort of character (more so if the game has a good hand to hand engine, I've always thought about making a monk who shunned material possesions).

 

[shrekfan246]

Never uppgrade OR level anything...
The Pokemon games just got a hell of a lot harder...

In fact, the accuracy of the enemy while using attacks like Fury Swipes annoys me in general, because whenever I use it, if it even lands it only ever hits them twice, while they always get five strikes out of it.

Hello brother of bad luck!
And as far as the pokemon game in general...
I have no clue It's pretty impossible, but of course the exception is that unless it is necessary so of course and it's pretty difficult not to level in pokemon ;D
But then I think you could survive with the pokeballs at the start of the game, but yeah, not levelling at all makes the game pretty much impossible.

I guess for Pokemon there would need to be an added stipulation that you don't grind your 'mons to be ten-twenty levels higher than everything you're fighting? It'd be pretty tense to take on all of the Gyms/Elite Four at the proper level without any Potions/Revives/Status Restoring items, and using literally only up to six Pokemon.

Yeah, non grinding would make it pretty interesting, only trainers and that's what you have to survive on. As you already said it would take some time to get all the mons since you'd have to think about how many are proper to have at the start of the game so that there isn't one overleveld but not 4 too low levels either.
Then of course if we take the later versions there's the phone so trainers call you up and challenge you and that'd make it a bit easier but not sure it's possible in first gen first version games

I dunno, generally in Pokemon I consider "grinding" to be going back an area you've already been through just to fight wild Pokemon. If it's the first time through, there's no issue in fighting the wild 'mons you find along the way, as long as you're not just walking back and forth in a patch of grass. Especially in the first Gen, there aren't really enough Trainers to keep you leveled up with the areas you're actually traveling to. Hell, I routinely make it to the Elite Four in the first Gen with my highest level being around 45, and that's with a bit of grinding.