• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Games that get better by playing them... differently

Spainkiller

Spainkiller

the man who sold the world
Hey guys, I'm really enjoying replaying old Pokémon games by way of the Nuzlocke Challenge, which has become quite a popular way to play these games. This has made me want to (re)play other games which have well-know alternative ways of playing them, but I can't really think of any! I mean, speedrunning Super Metroid is something that falls in this category, but since the game actively motivates and rewards the player to do so, I don't really consider this to be something like the Nuzlocke Challenge.

Anyone? :) Multiple heads are better than one.
 
adamsapple

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Hitman as a shooter because of how fragile 47 is. It's a challenge in itself.

Dead Space trilogy with just the basic plasma cutter, adds a fun challenge to the game.

Resident Evil games with just the knife.
 
Spainkiller

Spainkiller

the man who sold the world
Ha, that sounds awesome. And super hard :)

BTW, these alternative play methods don't necessarily have to be harder :) Although I guess most will be, due to the nature of the beast.
 
BigBeauford

BigBeauford

Member
Playing bomber man 64 multiplayer, my aim would be to knock other plays unconscious and then throw them off the edge instead of trying to blow them up. It prolonged their agony a few seconds more when they realized I was about to toss them over.
 
M

Menitta

Member
Use the console command "impulse 101" in Portal and you get half life guns. That's entertaining as hell.

Not sure if it works anymore though. Whenever I try it now I only get the revolver which is disappointing.
 
D

Devilgunman

Member
Play Armored Core like a pro.
gJTKYg7.jpg
 
A

AlexBasch

Member
chandoog said:
Dead Space trilogy with just the basic plasma cutter, adds a fun challenge to the game.
Click to expand...
Really? Talking about 1, since it's the one I remember the most, the plasma cutter was the best weapon of the game. :p The trophy for finishing the game with only that seems "oh so hard" but honestly, I liked using that weapon over the useless ripper, that assault rifle thing and the flamethrower that didn't do shit.

I like Dead Space, but the weapons in 1 weren't my cup of tea, using stasis and the cutter was all I needed.
 
zkorejo

zkorejo

Member
Witcher 3 with sign and sword build. Alot of people make the mistake of ignoring signs and complain about the combat, but when you mix things up it actually pretty fun.
 
L

Lightningboalt

Neo Member
New Super Mario Bros 2: Poverty%

I actually think this game is better than most give it credit for, the level design is actually pretty solid. But the coin gimmick is really dumb and meaningless, amounting primarily to "there's tons of coins in every level, so getting a game over is even less likely than ever before"... so why not try to collect as few as possible? I actually had a lot of fun with this stupid challenge, it's pretty difficult just because of how many coins are in the game.
 
B

Bergerac

Member
chandoog said:
Resident Evil games with just the knife.
Click to expand...

I understand people do knife runs etc but I honestly wish the series never had the knife. It's contrary to the earlier Survival Horror item managemwnt mechanics to have a constant resource, even if it's weak. I wish it'd been a case of no ammo - run. Not that you should ever be out of ammo after a first run.
 
LordKasual

LordKasual

Banned
Final Fantasy X -- Don't use the Sphere Grid, or artificially limit yourself. Really brings out the RPG quality that i love Square for because the game can still be completed. To this day FFX still has the most replayabiltiy to me because you can almost choose the difficulty yourself.

Final Fantasy XII -- Do the clan marks as you play instead of saving for endgame. Me and my sister had pretty different experiences because of this. There are areas in XII that you'd only ever know about for hunting marks, items and spells you wouldnt get otherwise. I had no absence of challenge in XII because i went for the clan marks as soon as i could hold my own, which brought me to areas the main story don't even hint about.

Any 3D Legend of Zelda -- Don't take the heart containers (or limit yourself to a very few.) Takes the game series from braindead to actually pretty exciting.

Bloodborne -- Play offline. Every fight becomes more challenging, every surprise more terrifying, every new area more cautious. Went the whole game without any partners and about 80% of the game without even knowing about the notes. On my NG+ i started online and couldn't believe how much easier the game becomes.
 
F

ForkNetwork

Banned
Digimon World Championship is absolute trash...unless you use a cheat to be able to control your digimons in fights, that fixes 60% of my problems with the game and it makes it go from a 3.5/10 to a 6.5 or even a 7.
 
H

HeeHo

Member
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 with most of your stats low to a realistic point. Feels like a Skate game. It becomes very hard to even do a kickflip to any type of grind or slide. Try it!
 
Spainkiller

Spainkiller

the man who sold the world
zkorejo said:
Witcher 3 with sign and sword build.
Click to expand...

Can you explain to me why this makes the game different than playing it normally? I haven't played TW3.

ASIS said:
Although I haven't done it myself. FFX no sphere grid challenge. Looks so interesting!
Click to expand...

Same question for you :)

Menitta said:
Use the console command "impulse 101" in Portal and you get half life guns. That's entertaining as hell.

Not sure if it works anymore though. Whenever I try it now I only get the revolver which is disappointing.
Click to expand...

What's the point of that, though? There aren't enemies to shoot.

Lightningboalt said:
New Super Mario Bros 2: Poverty%
Click to expand...

Is this a challenge you came up with yourself, or is it quite established? What are the exact rules?
 
R

Regiruler

Member
Lightningboalt said:
New Super Mario Bros 2: Poverty%

I actually think this game is better than most give it credit for, the level design is actually pretty solid. But the coin gimmick is really dumb and meaningless, amounting primarily to "there's tons of coins in every level, so getting a game over is even less likely than ever before"... so why not try to collect as few as possible? I actually had a lot of fun with this stupid challenge, it's pretty difficult just because of how many coins are in the game.
Click to expand...

There was a whole FAQ of these types of challenges for the original New Super Mario Bros.
 
Bl@de

Bl@de

Member
chandoog said:
Dead Space trilogy with just the basic plasma cutter, adds a fun challenge to the game.
Click to expand...

Challenge? The upgraded plasma cutter is a beast. Damage, accuracy and different angles for cutting. I never had the urge to use another weapon.
 
Spainkiller

Spainkiller

the man who sold the world
HeeHo said:
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 with most of your stats low to a realistic point. Feels like a Skate game. It becomes very hard to even do a kickflip to any type of grind or slide. Try it!
Click to expand...

This sounds great. Same game, no mods, but it completely changes the way the game is played.
 
R

Regiruler

Member
I haven't played through it this way yet, but from my original run it feels like Severed is better with a no skill upgrade mode (heart and brain pieces only). Could probably go from there to no skill + no pieces mode, to a sword-only mode.
 
W

WhateverItTakes

Banned
MGSV can make you very overpowered by the end of the game, but you can make very fun runs by stripping yourself of items. On site procurement is also a pretty cool challenge.
 
Spainkiller

Spainkiller

the man who sold the world
LordKasual said:
Final Fantasy X -- Don't use the Sphere Grid, or artificially limit yourself. Really brings out the RPG quality that i love Square for because the game can still be completed. To this day FFX still has the most replayabiltiy to me because you can almost choose the difficulty yourself.
Click to expand...

This sounds very interesting!

Can you quickly explain to me what the Sphere Grid is used for and how not using makes the game more fun? :) What is necessary to beat the game without it?
 
B

Bergerac

Member
MW3 MP - Recon/Recon Drone.

Instead of all out assault, all of a sudden there's a completely different way to play even kill based TDM.

Rather than being the lead killer, you tag the enemy team on radar and instead it's like your teammates become attack dogs.
 
K

KingBroly

Banned
Bl@de said:
Challenge? The upgraded plasma cutter is a beast. Damage, accuracy and different angles for cutting. I never had the urge to use another weapon.
Click to expand...

There's even an achievement for it in the first game. It's easily the best weapon in the game.

Dead Space 1 also lets you glitch it out so you can start the hardest difficulty with the Best Suit if you do some things right.
 
R

Rexatality

Member
Dishonored in High Chaos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCMsPvns-AE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5Ymh_wHjaQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jo6jUbjcOc

Or in a completely different manner, nihilist runs in Dishonored with these following rules:

-Very Hard difficulty
-Aggressive stealth (detection up to level 3 is allowed -- which is ok for Ghost)
-No powers (including Blink power available by default)
-No weapons or gadgets (lethal or non-lethal)
-No pickups of any kind (runes, charms, loot, consumables), except for keys
-No equipment upgrades, like stealth boots (obviously impossible without loot)
-No kills or knock-outs (except for main targets or unless required to advance)
-No damage to health during missions
-No side-missions and minimum special actions
Click to expand...
 
L

Lightningboalt

Neo Member
Spainkiller said:
Is this a challenge you came up with yourself, or is it quite established? What are the exact rules?
Click to expand...

I made it up for myself, though it's possible that others have thought of it too. I've just never seen it actually mentioned elsewhere online. I've thought about trying to make it into an actual thing with specific rules, but as it is right now it's a pretty casual run, think a speedrun but with a low coin count as the major goal. It sounds simple enough, but the levels are so packed with coins that large chunks of the game become huge danger zones and it really changes how you approach the levels in trying to avoid the coins.
 
E

EvB

Member
Dishonoured and the Darkness are both games that let you do almost 100% stealth and then 100% murder
 
adamsapple

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Bl@de said:
Challenge? The upgraded plasma cutter is a beast. Damage, accuracy and different angles for cutting. I never had the urge to use another weapon.
Click to expand...

True.

I guess it's a slightly different kind of challenge for people who haven't done it before.

Dead Space 2 and 3 are a bit tougher with just the cutter though. Especially 3 if you play it without putting any upgrades or secondaries to the weapons.
 
P

Piers

Member
In Hyrule Warriors, only give a character a badge upgrade when an Adventure Mode mission requires said character.
 
R

Rexatality

Member
Spainkiller said:
Sorry that I keep asking for explanations, but I haven't played a lot of the games you guys mention :)

What's 'High Chaos'? What are the rules of this playstyle?
Click to expand...

High Chaos means playing the game in violent ways (Killing lots of enemies, using lethal gadgets against them, and so on). The videos I've linked shows StealthGamerBR playing Dishonored in High Chaos in very impressive ways.

Of course, playing high chaos gets you a darker ending and some darker outcomes, but that's how the way a high chaos world works.
 
B

Bronetta

Ask me about the moon landing or the temperature at which jet fuel burns. You may be surprised at what you learn.
Spainkiller said:
Sorry that I keep asking for explanations, but I haven't played a lot of the games you guys mention :)

What's 'High Chaos'? What are the rules of this playstyle?
Click to expand...

High Chaos means playing lethal and killing lots of enemies instead of sneaking. By playing lethally, the game adds more enemies near the end of the game.



On topic - Play the Souls and Borne games without parrying. I never parry because I'm no good at it and I beat most of Demons Souls, Dark Souls, and Bloodborne without parrying. Spoiler - Parrying makes Lady Maria trivial but without it she will constantly and relentlessly murder you.
 
G

Geminosity

Member
Doubt I'm the only one who came up with this but...

Ingredients:
* 1 friend
* super mario bros 3

How to:
* start a 2 player game
* go to a location the other player is on and choose to battle them instead of doing the level
* if it's anything other than the battle mode based on the original mario bros, get it done
* if you get original mario bros battle mode you are now ready play 'survival bros' :p

The rules:
* Don't kill any enemies
* If an enemy isn't angry, knock it over so it'll get back up and be furious
* whoever dies loses
* bumping into each other and other such dirty tactics is a-ok :3

SMB3_Battle_Mode_standard.png
 
Spainkiller

Spainkiller

the man who sold the world
Ha, my brother and I used to do that all the time in SMB3 :D Memories <3

Thanks, btw; Dishonored that way sounds like a blast.
 
woopWOOP

woopWOOP

Member
Fire Emblem, classic mode, no reset run on atleast 1 difficulty higher than the easiest.
Basically to just force yourself to continue playing to the best of your ability when one of your (best) units bites it on the battlefield. For entries with overworlds and sidequests I'd alternate between doing a main mission and either doing a sidequest map or fighting a streetpass team. I'd also allow myself to hire one of the (weaker) streetpass units once between maps.
I got pretty far in Awakening playing like this, but enemy reinforcements move right away on hard mode. By the time I reached map 20-something my team consisted of mostly rental units, lol.

For Pokemon X/Y and ORAS, I've found turning off the EXP share, setting battle mode to SET and stopping Pokemon from evolving to their final form (so first or middle-forms only) to be pretty fun and a bit more challenging
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Insider Gaming: Sonic is Getting a New Free-to-Play Mobile Game Dubbed "Toys Party"
Rumor
1
243
Dacvak replied
Nintendo- Why are they eliminating challenge in all their games?
2 3 4
191
10K
Sojiro replied
RTTP: God Of War 3 ... a simpler and better time.
2
80
3K
Bernardougf replied
The Best Game No One Played in 2023: Immortals of Aveum
Opinion 2 3
109
4K
tylrdiablos replied
Final Fantasy 14 Director Says the Game's Become Too Relaxed, Will Increase the Challenge Going Forward
News 2
50
2K
Hudo replied
Top Bottom