Self imposed challenges

[metalmonster13]

Hi everyone, first time poster here.
For one of my classes I'm looking into self imposed challenges in video games.

If I'm not making sense just imagine rules that aren't really stated in a game or part of its mechanics and it's up to you as the player to uphold them.
Examples include the Nuzlocke challenge, Ironman/No death runs, Handicapped runs, Speedruns, etc.

All I need is for you guys and gals to share your own experiences with any self imposed rule and if you're willing have some sort of text interview with me so I may probe your mind further for some more qualitative info.


I look forward to discussing challenges with you all and thanks in advance to all participants!


captcha: baby steps
How fitting.


Edit: I noticed some people weren't to flush about Skype which is understandable (personally that's a relief for me) I'll keep it to PM's or e-mail if you're willing and wanting to discuss further.

 

[Liquidprid3]

I'm not really into having an interview sort of thing, but I'm currently playing through Dark Souls with zero attunement slots. A little bit of magic, for spells such as making your own weapon have magic damage for period of time, is not allowed. I'm also facing every boss, and I'm doing some stuff out of order. I'm also going to upgrade many weapon damage types to +10 for achievements.

Another is whenever I play a Super Mario Bros., I try to beat it as fast possible. The world record is like 5 minutes, and I've gotten about 7 or 8.

Also, before Hardcore mode was added in Minecraft, many people would delete the world if they died. I occasionally did that as well.

Hope I helped.

 

[Altorin]

The only time I ever beat the first Final Fantasy Tactics game was in a Ramza Only playthrough. I found the game much easier that way actually so I'm not sure if it counts as a challenge. The only really challenging part is the first half where you have to grind very specific classes, but once you unlock your final build, the game is a breeze. Needing to manage an entire team, and deal with random encounters, I found the game bogged down and was horribly unbalanced. The Ramza-Only game is unbalanced as well, but it ends up unbalanced in your favor, so it's a little easier to swallow.

Each specific stage is laid out in a very specific way. You have a specific class, often one that is completely horrible on their own (such as Time Mage and White Mage). You have to earn enough JP and abuse the Squire abilities to win. Eventually you unlock the Calculator class's abilities, and get the Excalibur weapon off of TG Cid. Once you do that, the game sort of slides to a finish, but I found it quite enjoyable despite the relative ease of the game past a certain point.

Apart from that, I played through Dead Space using only the starting gun. There's an achievement for it, but I didn't even know about it before playing. I just really really liked that gun. I never bothered using any of the others because the horizontal/vertical, cut off the limbs gameplay was exactly what I wanted. The Cheevo was just a nice surprise at the end. I also tend to play almost all my games in an ironman sort of way - once anything goes awry, i tend to start over from scratch.

As for the Nuzlocke challenge, I don't really have the emotional fortitude for it. I've attempted a Nuzlocke several times, but the whole point of a Nuzlocke is to foster an emotional bond with your pokemon, to turn it into an actual pet. And then they die. Enough of your pets die, and if you don't have the right stuff, it just tears you apart. I can't do it. But I do appreciate it, and I do know what it's meant to do, and a few nuzlocke let's plays I've watched I've been entertained by. It's just not for me.

feel free to PM me additional questions but I certainly don't want to skype about it, no offense

 

[nesbitto]

What my friends and I do when we grow bored of playing CoD "legitimately" is come up with challenges to make it interesting again. The best one we did was the RPG challenge. No guns, just RPGs. You run out of rockets, start stabbing. So much more satisfying when you top the leader board, and any opponent rage just makes it even sweeter.

 

[dlharp2]

Follow the leader in Smash Bros.

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

One of the only self-imposed challenges I've ever completed is the NSG challenge in Final Fantasy X.

It stands for No Sphere Grid. Yes, that means you basically can't increase your stats or gain new abilities at all, but there's lots of different tricks you can use to level the playing field (which get cancelled out with other self-imposed challenge acronyms available but I'm not crazy enough to try those). This is probably the only Final Fantasy besides IX that this can legitimately be done in.

Alternatively, if I replay any game with levelling, I will usually try to complete it with as low a level as possible. Just to keep things interesting. I've managed most of the Paper Marios with single-digit levels (three cheers for the badge system).

 

[Menageryl]

I often end up creating self-made challenges for myself when gaming - but only in certain types of games, and generally only once I've gotten through the game in question completely at least once!

The kind of games that really lend themselves to that kind of challenge are more cerebral in general... Things like the Thief, Hitman, Splinter Cell, etc. games. Come to think of it, it seems to frequently be games that have contained mission structures...

Honestly, most games I end up clocking (beating) I uninstall more-or-less immediately when done, so more often than not I don't end up going through the motions of creating these kind of challenges.. It's something saved for those games that REALLY catch my attention and imagination - enough so that I actually want more than a single playthrough or want to repeat certain missions / scenarios.

I'd be up for chatting about this if you like, though I'm likely to be hard to contact over the next few days... I'll likely only really become easily available for something like this a few days into the new month.

But if you're interested, if you like, just let me know! Drop me a line, whatever.

 

[Haunted Serenity]

No restart in Civ 5. Crappy start place, with warmongers surrounding me? Too bad. tough it out.

Capthca: Look both ways

Ignore that as a real life no restart rule if you want.