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/vr/ - Retro Games

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3521434 No.3521434 [Reply] [Original]

For those retro games that you have played many times, what (if any) additional goals do you set yourself to make the game more challenging and interesting?

I'm not just talking about 1cc'ing your favourite side-scrolling beat 'em up, or "no reload" challenges on RPGs, but self-imposed limitations or personal "quests" with a bit more substance.

For example, I just completed the Planar Prison in Baldur's Gate 2 on core rules without killing a single Thrall, but killing each and every one of the Warden's hostiles. I also completed Nalia's Keep without allowing any of the surviving servants to get killed by trolls.

This is part of an overall play though where my aim is to witness every possible line of dialogue from every party member (which is fucking hard but not impossible).

And you?

>> No.3522330

>>3521434
>never resurrecting permanently dead chars
>going into the more scripted fights in a way you know it will look natural as if you never knew what was coming
>going through the game rushing it where you know your char would rush the events because of a "moral" decision
>going through the game paying little attention to hoarding the best items, trying to rely more on abilities and strategies.

>> No.3523270

>>3521434
I thought the trolls part was scripted

>> No.3523289

>>3523270
Some deaths are scripted in a "This attack will kill" manner, like Keldorn with the zombie. Most of those are preventable if you're smart enough.

>> No.3523458

>>3523270

If the troll sees a party member they'll immediately turn and gib the servant next to them. You have to conjure a skeleton or other summon and use them to lure the troll round the corner into the next room where your guys are waiting to pound them.

>> No.3523471

>>3521434

Not exactly a self imposed challenge but back in the day playing Pagan: Ultima 8 on my 486 DX2 66 (which I really enjoyed - fuck the haters) I was too young and dumb to intelligently solve the game so I decided that I would systematically empty every location of all it's portable contents and throw it into the river, which permanently removed items from the game. I figured by doing this I would eventually come across the items I needed to finish the game. Books, reagents, bric a brac, I gathered it all up and chucked it in the river.

Obviously this was insanely stupid and I never even scratched the hundreds of thousands of items in the game.

>> No.3524059

Last Baldur's Gate game I played I killed everyone that was rude to me. After the second town my reputation was stuck at 0, which made the rest of the game tedious.

>> No.3524346

>>3524059
That would show those cheeky quest givers.

>> No.3524892

>>3521434
I challenged myself with the "use potions instead of hoarding them" rule in Baldur's Gate 2. I failed.

>> No.3524901

>>3524892
wouldn't hoarding them be a bigger challenge?

i mean you get a lot of potions in bg2 and they only stack to five iirc also they tend to work a lot quicker than healing spells making them more useful in combat.

>> No.3524926

>>3524901
>they only stack to five
Bags solve the problem.

>they tend to work a lot quicker than healing spells making them more useful in combat
That's right, but healing potions are pretty much all I ever use. I tend to keep Potions of X Giant Strength, Oils of Speed, Potions of Master Thievery, Potions of X Resistance etc. for special occasions which never happen because I can pretty much memorize how to beat certain enemies after beating the game multiple times. It was an attempt to add some more roleplaying/immersion to the game and trying to make these items actually useful.

>> No.3524939

>>3524901
>>3524926

Using anything except potions of healing or haste in BG2 is quite unusual. Now, in BG1, potions of magic blocking are amazing and I chug em in quite a few otherwise difficult places. Freedom has a few key uses, too.

Potions of Strength are such a waste of time.

>> No.3524946

I always do the same in Baldur's Gate, i hoard all the potions during the whole game, then at the final battle i use them all at once without even seeing what they actually do.

>> No.3526335

Bump for BG

>> No.3526748

>>3521434
A good challenge for any Western-style RPG is "ironman", ie. no saves with the sole exception of avoiding having to keep the game running when you're not playing. If you save you must immediately quit, and you may not load that save more than once.

This usually forces a completely different play style. Let's say you have only 5% chance of losing a fight, eg. dying to a critical. After 14 such fights you have more likely game-overed than not.

I have completed Fallout 1 in this style, and almost Fallout 2 except I died to the end boss (playing with additional restrictions). Also XCOM and TFTD both on Superhuman.

It's not such a good challenge for JRPGs because in JRPGs you can just grind to remove all risk.

>> No.3526937

>>3526748
How do you beat the end of Fallout without dying ever? It seems like the Nightkin and the Master have a very high chance of critically 1 hit KOing you?

>> No.3526975

>>3526937
You can end Fallout without even killing the Master or any other enemy in the game. Also you can do it in less than 15 minutes if you know the game well.

>> No.3526980

>>3526937
If I recall, the master can be dialog-killed.

>> No.3527951

>>3526980
I don't think I've ever played Fallout and not had Nightkin crit for 200+ at least once.

>>3526975
That doesn't sound like much of an "ironman" accomplishment..

>> No.3528072

>>3526748

The trouble with ironman in non-procedural generated games is that it's tedious as fuck. XCom is designed for it, BG isn't.

Especially the Nereid shit, I'm still pissed about that.

>> No.3528082

>>3528072
Disagree. Ironman makes BG way more fun. Learning the optimum path for XP to level without dying, then playing it safe with proven strategies is fun. I've kind of got my gameplan down where I can run through the game quite easily. Now, it is a fairly long game, and there's a chance I'll get lazy and die to something dumb, but even on runs where I die, its usually a one of occasion.

>> No.3528273

>>3528082
You have to kill some niggas to finish the Shadow Thieves quests, don't you? How do you get rid of Bhodi's hive?

>> No.3528620

>>3528273
I was talking about BG 1. I don't think BG 2 is very fun for a true no load challenge.

But Bhodi's lair isn't that bad. Not sure exactly what you're asking. If you mean where is it, its in the graveyard underground, far north. If you mean how, you need to defeat 3 tougher vampires in the lair, then stake them. Then Bodhi will appear. Getting through the area is as simple as sending your toughest guy who can wear the amulet that Aran Linvale gives you that makes you immune to level drain. Send him alone, so that he eats any domination without a target in sight. If the vampires miss their dom spells, send in the whole crew after him. The toughest vampire is Hareshan in the tunnel. Send in skeletons one by one to waste her spells. Once she burns her best spells, you can engage.

>> No.3528683

>>3526748
>It's not such a good challenge for JRPGs because in JRPGs you can just grind to remove all risk.

http://www.dos486.com/ff/ironcore/
http://www.sullla.com/FF/ironcore1.html

You can totally grind random encounters in FO1/2 overworld, too. In BG potentially too if you constantly keep resting in risky areas that spawn monsters.

>> No.3528684

>>3528683
You can reach the exp. cap in BG1 in less than two hours if you know what to do.

>> No.3529227

>>3528683
>>3528684

The level cap in BG is low enough that you'll still game over if you play sloppy. Because the things you are going to get a game over to isn't (usually) raw damage. Its spammed AoE status effects.

>> No.3529350

>>3528683
That's also true. I guess the less risky way to play would be to hide the MC all the time.

>> No.3529417

>>3528683
>You can totally grind random encounters in FO1/2 overworld, too
Too risky with the huge damage variance, and in FO1 the time limit is a limiting factor. It's safer and faster to get XP from talking quests.