Games you play with special rules

I'm interested in the idea of people playing games with self-imposed restrictions in order to make them more challenging, fresh, or whatever. One well-known instance of this is playing Doom wads without saves. Do you guys do anything similar with other games?

Mega Man (2-6) without E-tank or Buster Only. Always play MM 2&5 Buster Only, No E-tank; Others no E-Tank.

Various self-made Doom challenges, including no certain type of weapon, no invulnerability or such.

In racing games i like to use cars are less powerful than those i'm up against, or i reduce the power and add some weight to make it more challenging.

On Duke Nukem 3D i use the pistol to take down some tougher enemies like Octabrains, i kinda like the way the pistol looks.

Also i tend to play most FPS games without saving, it makes it more satisfying.

DDR: I never, ever hold onto the bar and always play on Heavy. 

Doom: Once I get the SSG, I stop using it if I fall below 20 shells and don't use it again until I go above 40.  During that time I'll use the normal shotgun.

World of Warcraft: I never use (or even have) heirlooms.

You can loan people money in monopoly, if they're losing, with special stipulations. Like free rent for x amount of turns.

Special alliances with others in Risk. Like military access

Playing Thief 1 and 2 with no saves.

This makes the game really suspenseful and makes sure that every action you do is thought out and well executed.

I Mighty Foot start all Duke3D maps and Shuriken start Shadow Warrior to get the most "balanced" experience and not be drowning in ammo.

I play GTA 2 in debug mode on so I can max out my wanted level immediately without having to do the 'work' of being a hardcore criminal. Ive tried beating all the missions with a maxed out wanted level in the first and second city but its not really doable in the third city.

I always play Doom without saves.

Free Parking in Monopoly means you get all the money that was paid into various chance cards (income tax, state tax, etc.).

I have this rule where I always play games like Fallout 3 or New Vegas by making choices that I myself would in reality as a real person. What I choose in the game is how I would react and what I would do in reality if the nuclear war was real. I've tried being an evil character, it just doesn't work. I can't play the game like that, I have to play it as if I am there and making choices that actually matter. Helps quite a bit with immersion.

play Diablo 1 only with mods. The game is too easy otherwise and it's necessary to play without gifted items from multiplayer mode

Dark souls lvl 1 run. Don't spend souls on levels.

I like to stick to the Eagle in Carmageddon games, which is sadly the least effective in Reincarnation/Max Damage. I was able to keep it going until I wasted the Suppressor in the first game then I used that to finish the game off. TDR 2000 is notably more easy to keep the Eagle going since you become OP as hell with maxed out APO.

I do that with Deus Ex in a few ways (This is mostly for the first game, but it also can apply to the other games).

When dealing with people; 

- Always go for a non-lethal approach, only use a lethal weapon if necessary and aim for the legs if I do so, this way they won't die and retreat, allowing me to knock them out with a baton. (about 2/3rds into the first game I drop this rule)

- Never use explosives against human targets.

- Never kill a civilian for any reason.

- When dealing with certain targets or in unusual situations, use of a lethal weapon is justified.

- Fire is a cruel and unusual weapon of choice, so don't use it.

- Never do anything to cause a riot, or fire fight. Don't initiate one.

- Never speak in an aggressive or pushy manner, unless necessary.

When dealing with inventory

- Pistols and melee weapons stay on 1 - 4 on the hot bar

- One or Two spaces must be free, unless a special item needs to be used or easily accessed

- Spaces 7, 8, and 9 must always be in the Assault Rifle, GEP Gun(Rocket Launcher), Sniper Rifle order (a trend started by my father)

- Weapons in the inventory must be organized; pistols next to each other, usable items, grenades have their own order (Scrambler, EMP, Lamb, Gas) for example.

- Usable items like the medkit or biocells NEVER go into the hot bar

When dealing with health and augs/biomods

-Always keep limbs over 20% health

-Always heal at every opportunity, but never waste medkits

-Biomods must always work for your playstyle, and vica versa. And only install ones you know you will use.

-Always keep your energy charged as much as possible, but don't waste any biocells

For Doom 1 and 2, I get one manual save per level (typically before I do something that is likely to get me killed). I also reduce the Box of Shells to 8, the 4 Shells to 2, the Box of Rockets to 2, the Box of Cells to 50, and 20% chance for former humans to drop their weapons. However, the caveat is that I've only done this for the original wads on HMP, so I've no idea how much it screws with ammo in other wads.

I played the first Bioshock on hard without Vita-Chambers or damage boosts from the weapon upgrade machines, saved all the Little Sisters and completed the escort mission without a single loss. I don't think I'd ever do a melee-only run (I like shooting guns too much) or a no-hack run.

I don't allow myself to ever use medipacks whenever I play any of the earlier Tomb Raider games. I have also successfully completed "no scratch" runs of TR1,2,3 and most of 4.

I play Fallout 3/4 and New Vegas without using VATS. I've also done "very hard + melee weapons only" runs through all three.

I play Skyrim with a "no inventory usage during battle" rule.

Might and Magic 6-8 I play with only one character. Favourites would be lone sorcerer in 6 (best spells ever in that game), solo thief or monk in 7 are both excellent fun and solo vampire in 8. All might party in 6 is fun too as might is much more underpowered there. 

31 minutes ago, Nuxius said:

I don't allow myself to ever use medipacks whenever I play any of the earlier Tomb Raider games. I have also successfully completed "no scratch" runs of TR1,2,3 and most of 4.

If I remember correctly, there are some force damage in TR 1~4. Those don't count for "no scratch", right? Have to say, TR no medpack runs are very impressive, and the plannings are pretty cool.

I occasionally like to play Crash Bandicoot 2 without going into the bonus stages.

I never use shields in Dark Souls & sequels.

For Thief 1&2, although "Don't kill anyone" is technically an in-game rule enforced by the hardest difficulty, it quasi-counts for me because my personal rule there is "always play Thief on the hardest difficulty." It's one of the few games where (IMO anyway) you actually do get a lesser experience by cranking the difficulty down a notch.

My family and I have the most subjective house rules for Scrabble. "No stupid words" is the general gist, but this means no dumb words used once by a philosopher in 1492, no two letter words that aren't reasonable, proper nouns are strange territory, but if you want to play "Ezekiel" that's not gonna fly. English spelling. Dictionaries are only allowed to check spelling.

Fallout Tactics with a single character - much like the original Fallout. Although seeing how much more experience you rack up, this might make the game actually easier :D

I try to maximalize taking down targets at a long range in most games.

In every stealth game/stealth fps, if the game allows it, my first run is always complete pacifist. I also usually go for taking down all guards/hostiles, and often I hide the bodies, even if not necessary :D Ends up with unconscious people in every closet and bathroom stall.

I play majority of games without manual savegames, and more often than not on highest or second to highest difficulty setting even for a first playthrough. Stealth games (in my case it's mostly The Dark Mod and other Thief-related stuff) are especially fun that way unless detection fails the mission.

On 25/05/2017 at 4:53 AM, Nevander said:

I have this rule where I always play games like Fallout 3 or New Vegas by making choices that I myself would in reality as a real person. What I choose in the game is how I would react and what I would do in reality if the nuclear war was real. I've tried being an evil character, it just doesn't work. I can't play the game like that, I have to play it as if I am there and making choices that actually matter. Helps quite a bit with immersion.

totally do this as well.

i used to play Master League on Pro Evolution Soccer 6 with the following restrictions (because otherwise its an 8-0 every game walkover once you can buy every classic player and horde everyone:

- 25 man squad only (1st and 2nd eleven + 2 utility players and a 3rd goalkeeper

- salary cap has to be the average of the other teams in the league

- formation is completely randomised at the start of each season

what this means is you have to make smart decisions on your 25 players as you never know what positions theyll be forced into/have to play

also you have to contend with a new style of play each season

Sl1 playthrough of every souls game (Bloodborne was the hardest for me)

I'm going through Doom 2016 nightmare mode for the first time, and than limiting myself to not using any mods after the hell levels (game gets easier when that happens)

Playing through Serious Sam on Serious mode all secrets (sounds standard but dear lord is it difficult to play it on that difficulty, and the secrets are really hard to reach.)

I love ultima underworld but the game's too easy really, especially if you've already played it recently

I like to hold off on using levelling mantras until I've located them in the dungeon (you can use them before that if you remember them or look them up in the original manual) and then level all weapon skills equally so that you don't become a juggernaut early into the game

also drinking every potion and reciting every scroll you see as soon as you find it is mandatory

I got through FF7 using only green magic materia - no attacking in any other way. but then I learnt of people doing crazy "No Equip, No Fleeing, Single Character Itemless" challenges and balked at that lol

ps, i'm not a hardcore gamer in terms of twitch skill or general arcade playing at all but I'm good at games that ask you to go through hell in terms of sheer sod-you obtuseness and forced completionism

Much similar to Pokemons Nuzlocke challenge, Disgaea (atleast disgaea 5 for this) can be challenged in the similar manner, called Netherlocke. Or is it Nuzlord?

You can only:

Create a set few of characters, preferably to make a whole Dispatchable Team.

--If done in the beginning of the game with fewest characters unlocked, you can make a new character after a chapter. So grind away to obtain the classes.

--If at end game type file, you can go back to the past and remake your characters to fit the challenge.

Any Story Characters cannot be used due to the next requirement.

If your created character dies, EVERYTHING on it and the character are DELETED, as in all that hard work gone. Poof. no Hospital use to revive.

You CAN use the hospital to heal what characters you have alive.

You cannot capture Enemy characters to put on your team, but you CAN interrogate them to turn them into Stat Potions and "set them loose".

Optional Challenge Addition: You cannot Transmigrate/Reincarnate before beating the Story Boss.

Optional addition: You cannot use the Sage characters unique skill Land Decimator. Seriously, be preferred if you didn't anyway.

Optional addition: You can Create a Leader type character (IE, think of it as you on the field), and it has to survive. If it dies, then game over.

On Thursday, May 25, 2017 at 1:20 AM, GarrettChan said:

If I remember correctly, there are some force damage in TR 1~4. Those don't count for "no scratch", right? Have to say, TR no medpack runs are very impressive, and the plannings are pretty cool.

Sorry for the late reply (been super busy as of late).

Yes, there are certain areas in the various TR games where Lara is forced to take falling damage. Most can be mitigated or avoided entirely though; some through the use of glitches (which I avoid in my runs) and others through alternative means of navigation (versus what the developers intended). IIRC, that is why the community decided to call them "no scratch" runs instead of "no damage" runs... don't quote me on that, though (heh).