Alternative ways to play games.

[Blinge]

Sharing time yo. Have you ever made conscious effort to play a game in a manner not intended by its developer? If so, tell us about it.
Could be challenge runs, speed runs etc.

Recently I've been messing around with The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and have managed to finish the main storyline without killing anything. The stats page shows 0 kills for creatures or people. Some of my methods have been tedious, others are downright silly but it worked without glitches. I'm trying to do it again but quicker and more efficient, hopefully do it in under 7 hours

Discussion about "emergent gameplay" in multiplayer games is also welcome.

[BIL]

Dare you witness Contra Hard Corps' NIGHT OF 1,000 COCKS ? (teh rulez: the infected soldier on the right is the boundary, if he blows you're out mufucka)

I found Castlevania: Lament of Innocence's "@crazy" mode really intense and enjoyable after cutting out all healing items (save points only). Some gripping boss battles in there when you've not got a portable ICU/deli in your pocket.

[dunpeal2064]

Cool thread!

I used to do stuff like this all the time with the Final Fantasy games when I was younger. Cutting out OP moves, going for low level clears, no junction runs in VIII, no materia runs in VII, stuff like that.

Mega Man X is another game I played so much that I started to mix it up. No Heart upgrades/Sub Tank runs, Buster Only (Not very hard in this game), and even attempting to do pacifist/speedrun stuff, before knowing that this was a thing people actually did (So, obviously, my attempts were pathetic in comparison).

I've recently discovered the wonderful world of speedrunning, AGDQ, SDA, and all that jazz, and have been speedrunning Sonic 1 for about a month now. Most fun I've had with gaming in quite some time.

[Ghegs]

I've done some Pulstar and R-Type Delta without the pod/Force. Makes for a very different experience when you can't rely on the indestructable friend anymore.

[Ruldra]

Apparently it's a thing now to play the game blindfolded. Saw this the other day and it blew my mind (not the glitch, but the fact he's doing it blind).

http://www.zeldauniverse.net/2014/09/04 ... happening/

[cools]

I used to be able to play up to the second Jungle Zone on Sonic 1 SMS with my eyes closed for everything *except* the Bridge Zone boss.

[dunpeal2064]

I used to be able to play up to the second Jungle Zone on Sonic 1 SMS with my eyes closed for everything *except* the Bridge Zone boss.

Thats impressive. iirc, the jungle zone has the vines everywhere? Those things would be a nightmare in blind runs, since the slopes on them can be so weird, and sometimes just eat inputs completely. That boss gave me a lot of trouble as a young one.

[cools]

The first level is a straight run, not too much trouble with vines. The second relied on precise positioning - I'm sure it's doable blind but I never developed the muscle memory to do it, far too many button presses required compared to the previous levels. The boss would be impossible as it's RNG, same as the BZ boss.

[Squire Grooktook]

Low Tier Mvc2 is basically an entirely different fighting game than regular play. Quite fun too, if not quite as insane.

[Chaos Phoenixma]

My favorites for these tend to be solo runs in RPGs.

I've done FF1 GBA solo low level(though failed by getting a little too much extra experience ending at 26 instead of 25), solo FF II GBA(which is probably actually easier than playing normally), several FFV solos(Single Class for Monk, Blue Mage, Knight, Freelancer), FF VI solo(want to do some more of these for other characters), some FFX SCCs, a solo Vaan in FF XII. Also some solo single class runs for both FFT and FFTA.

Didn't finish FF IV solo(got stuck on the grinding for trap doors) or FF1 PSX since I couldn't manipulate good level ups since that actually matters in a solo for that version.

I've done a few Star Ocean 3 solos but have never soloed in any of the other games in the series or in any of the Tales games. I kind of want to solo all the Star Oceans sometime and would consider soloing in Tales of Graces f for most characters and Xillia 2 Ludger sometime.

Also an SMT Nocturne solo on Normal could be fun(NG obviously since I'm pretty sure Hard solo requires NG+ for the press turn) or P3/P4 could be interesting, but I doubt I'd want to plan fusions for P3 or P4.

I've done a few low level stuff in games too, though I tend to not be as much of a fan of this. There's that FF1 low level solo mentioned above. I've done FFV low level and am considering a level 1 run where I keep Bartz/Faris dead outside of capturing or refighting to avoid experience and duo it with the 2 level 1 characters(would be solo if the first bosses weren't BS and I'd likely solo most of the bosses anyway). Also have done some NSG runs in X and started a low level run in XII then quit because I decided later that it was pretty much cheating to have used Penelo mk1 strat, but solo level 1 sounds interesting there too.


Haven't gotten into speedrunning much(I mainly watch it, but I've casually tried to go fast in some stuff), but there's a few things I wouldn't mind learning. Some of the Ys stuff, Half Minute Hero 360/PC, and maybe some other stuff, but I'd need to get a streaming setup first.

[Blinge]

Apparently it's a thing now to play the game blindfolded. Saw this the other day and it blew my mind (not the glitch, but the fact he's doing it blind).

http://www.zeldauniverse.net/2014/09/04 ... happening/

So I think literal blind runs were first developed to help a blind kid finish the game. I remember reading that he'd made progress but couldn't finish it so it became a collaborative effort. http://kotaku.com/5484361/with-the-help ... d-of-zelda

Oh man Phoenixma, wasn't the FF1 solo play really boring?.. I'm assuming you used a mage of some kind?

[Chaos Phoenixma]

It was a White Mage for Blink casting and better healing. GBA FF1 solo is pretty easy though with how nerfed the game is, even with Thief since that class got buffed on GBA. Lowest level on PSP for a solo is 22, so it'd be harder than the GBA version by a bit, but it still wouldn't be hard.

For a low level solo, you can just abuse the save anywhere to avoid all the unrunnables.

I've never taken a PS1 version solo past Astos since I figure I may as well do the hardest class and pick thief, then I stop when I can't get good level ups by resetting. It probably wouldn't be difficult if I picked the Warrior, Red Mage, or White Mage. Lowest level possible for a solo on the NES or PS1 version is 14(though it might not work on PS1 because I'm guessing that involved a lot of Bane Sword), but I would never go for that, I'd be satisfied with the level up to 50 and still probably have trouble beating it.

[Prinny]

Not sure if this counts but I've managed to defeat the final boss of Star Ocean 3 with a level 1 party on Universe.

The developers intended a low level party setup for the final boss on that difficulty to be level 10 or lower if I remember correctly. I didn't know that at the time since I was also going for the level 1 final boss battle trophy so I thought why not attempt it on Universe (I've yet to unlock 4D mode at that point). Kind of a depressing run at the start since you don't get a lot of party members to work with until a few hours in. It became depressing again when I had to figure out how to set up Fayt, Peppita, and Sophia to do decent damage against the final boss since all I could rely on were their AAA's and their main attacks.

Apart from that, tail cuts with weapons that shouldn't be used for cutting off tails in Monster Hunter 3U. I've done tail cuts using the melee attack with the bow before as well as from throwing boomerangs.

[cicada88]

i play shmups without using allotted continues

[mastermx]

When I play fighting games, I sometimes impose rules on myself, like I'd ban certain inputs. And restrict my self to jabs. No super moves either.

Sf4 single player gets too easy after you get decently good. It's not like arcade games where the cpu was psychic.

[Squire Grooktook]

When I play fighting games, I sometimes impose rules on myself, like I'd ban certain inputs. And restrict my self to jabs. No super moves either.

That would be a potent strategy in Melty Blood, actually.

[Xyga]

I don't even turn the console on anymore, it is called 'shadow-gaming'.

[Specineff]

NES Contra with only the pea shooter and the "R" powerup. Done it, couldn't finish the game.

[Pretas]

Avoiding all heart pieces and containers makes Zelda games from the N64 onward considerably more thrilling.

[Blinge]

Haha yeah! I've beaten Ocarina under those terms, also forbidding bottle-healing items aswell.

It is rather thrilling when the later enemies can one shot you.

[TwinBee Hypno]

null.

[BIL]

NES Contra with only the pea shooter and the "R" powerup. Done it, couldn't finish the game.

I've done that a few times - found it incredibly boring but entirely doable with good knowledge of the game's layout and enemy behaviours. Pea shooteR is fatiguing but actually a better setup to have than vanilla Machinegun, I'm not sure you can actually destroy the snowfield's crusher tanks in time if you have the latter.

[Ebbo]

Resident Evil 4 No Merchant run comes to mind. It's suprisingly more manageable than I thought at first.

[Captain]

I once gave myself a stupidly random (actually awesome as fuck) challenge to play Arrow flash from stage 2 (stage 1 is played normally) without shooting.

BUT THIS WAS NO PACIFIST RUN. I was to kill as much as I could using only the options that damage enemies they collide or pass through. It is doable, and I half-made through the game like this. Boss fights are amazing.


In fact, I dare you all to do this.

[Necronopticous]

Currently working on a "perfect" playthrough of Final Fantasy VI with my wife. (max stats, all item acquisition, all skill completion, full veldt completion)

I've done tons of low level challenges on the Final Fantasy series. The level one Ozma challenge in Final Fantasy IX is one of the most incredible RPG experiences I've ever had (I've actually done it three separate times)

Lots of one-life clears, the most memorable being Super Ghouls & Ghosts (both loops), though I worked on an "Impossible" mode one-life clear on Battle Kid to be just about as memorable (never quite managed it, but completed a good 60% or so of the game on my best run)

I've played through the original Zelda just about every way imaginable (3 hearts, no sword, no sword 3 heart, only acquiring items that are absolutely necessary for game completion, etc).

I'm a conduct Nethack player, and have ascended under some fairly difficult combinations of conducts such as illiterate atheist. I worked on pacifist for a very long time and made it as far as the astral plane before giving up.

Too many to count, really.

[shmuppyLove]

I became so good (in my small circle of friends) at Street Fighter II on the SNES with Chun and Honda that I would handicap myself by playing with only my left hand on the controller, which restricts you to movement and a single shoulder button.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Resident Evil 3 - knife only. Probably the easiest one in the series to do though, since there's only one boss you technically need to kill using the knife. The rest you can either run from, or can be killed by using the environment (you can hit the lamppost and acid levers with the knife, let the railgun do all the work, etc). The knife is also way stronger than in previous RE games, and the controls make you a lot more manuverable.

[BIL]

RETRACTIONZ: Well, Contra FC peashootin' isn't boring - more picky compared to the joy of blanketing everything in spreadfire and reaping walls of glorious, booming Hidenori Maezawa explosions. Some nice tests of accuracy and agility in there. Here's a no-miss replay I just did. No autofire because actually with fast AF, Peashooter+R is really damn strong! The game's fastest killer in Base stages, IIRC. I let rip with it in a few dead spots to demonstrate.

[Ruldra]

For those familiar with FTL, this is the most amazing shit I've seen: an airless victory with the Slug B ship (pretty much the worst ship in the game).

http://imgur.com/a/PGkXK#0

[Blinge]

Fisticuffs only run of Dragon quest VIII and a pokémon nuzlocke are the only things that come to my mind.

Nuzlocke has always been a great idea. i'll do that in the unlikely event I ever play pokeymen again.

So last night the forum member (and vegetarian) JWS, got 3 of us to try out a hunting sim - 'theHunter'
It's free to play but without membership you can only hunt 2 types of animal on one of the maps. You can't start your own server either, so we had to join these ultra hardcore hunting dudes who take their game very seriously and kick people at the slightest provocation. I asked a guy something along the lines of does he treat this as a legit simulation, and does it compare to the real thing. He responded yes, that he's ordered [some new gun] and is going out after [animal] next month.

Our names were-
Posterior_Seeker
FetidCorpse
I_killed_bambis_mum

My two companions as we set out online- note the character models are too big for their t-shirts o_0


After being bored to tears for an hour sifting through deer shit and tracking them on these odd little smartphone devices (wow much realistic, very hunter) we just messed around instead. A guy wanted us to follow him so he could teach us how to play... I was just trying to sneak up on people and take pictures of them with the in-game camera from the bushes so the game became paparazzi/voyeur simulator for me.

We were then getting near other humans and using the fake deer call to fool them into thinking some prey was close. Next time we play I think we're just gonna go full troll and fire rifles to make noise and spook whatever target the pros are chasing.