I was chatting with a friend, fondly reminiscing about old videogames, when he told me about how he once beat The Legend of Zelda without picking up any extra heart containers. Lean Link! I thought back to my favorite game back in the day: Shining Force. I wondered how a new challenge could be made, and decided to try a solo game with the main character (“Snowball”)…
For those of you unfamiliar, Shining Force was one of the first tactical RPGs for consoles, released for the Genesis in 1993. An army of 12 characters tackled armies of enemies, in what was basically battle --> exploring town to trigger next battle --> battle, etc. To play the game solo, I just got all the characters as normal, but then killed them off in the next battle until all 11 other slots were taken up by dead characters (characters who join afterward sit in the waiting room until you rotate them in). Note I didn’t let Snowball act until his teammates had died, so as not to abuse their cannon-fodderosity.
It’s amazing how different the game has played; I’ve been forced to use every dirty trick in the book:
Saving/Loading before level-ups to ensure good stats. Essential since the game has such wild swings in level-ups; sometimes you get 4 attack, 3 defense, 2 speed, 5 HP and sometimes you get 1 speed on a different reload! If you have a party of 12, this is balanced, since some will get good level-ups, and some will get bad ones, and some characters are just so good they don’t even care.
Saving/Loading during battles. Often necessary because double-attacks and criticals on your character will just end it quick. Also for some bosses, I have to keep saving/loading until I get a critical, since the boss regenerates too many HP for me to put a serious dent in him.
Figuring out and exploiting the crappy AI. I often just inch my little Snowball along bit by bit to trigger enemy advancement. Note that some units will advance if you reach X square, but other units won’t advance until you hit X + 1 square. Tremendously useful for not getting mobbed. If the AI just rushed me with all its units, I’d be done for. Also, some enemies don’t move, so when I finally got a ranged attack (pretty late in the game, actually), I’ve just sat there and picked’em off. Also, some enemy units won’t chase you past a certain point, so you can take advantage of that to use your healing items.
Using the alternate route to victory. You can always just kill all the enemies, but some maps will end if you destroy the boss or if you make it to the town/tower/whatever. When I played the game oh so many years ago, I always killed every monster. Now there have been situations where it’s not been feasible. In one map, I had low HP, no healing items, facing off 5 centaur thingies. They were blocking the next town, and I couldn’t outmove them; they had movement 7, I had movement 6. However, they only move 2 in forests, while Snowball can zip along at 3. So, I got them to start chasing me through the forest, and many turns later, I had them stranded in the forest while I zipped out of there like Robin Hood, finding myself at the next town. Huzzah!
Right now Snowball is an absolute tank with killer attack and defense, but the enemies at this stage all have attacks that bypass your defense rating (magic, breath attacks, lasers etc.), which means he’s been getting raped in this particular battle I’m stuck on (fighting a short-circuited robot and an army of wizards, serpents, and vaguely spider-looking robots).
But have no fear, Snowball shall overcome, for he’s one ruthless ally-murdering SOB!
Sounds like an interesting way of playing. I never did play Shining Force, but I might have to hunt down a copy.
Speaking of Zelda, I’ve heard of people making it to Ganon without even picking up the first sword. There’s a in-depth FAQ on how to do it, but it’s not hosted on GameFAQs anymore. Google “swordless questing FAQ”, or some variant.
Basically, the first thing you have to do is find a cave that gives 100 rupees free, and buy some bombs and a candle; then cheat at MONEY MAKING GAME with the old Up + A trick to reset when you lose so you can buy a crapload of arrows. From there, finish the first few labyrinths and then go directly to the sixth one to get the Wand. It’s cake from there.
On another note, there was this place I used to hang out back in Missouri. They had an arcade game called Mace: The Dark Age. It was a fairly standard violent 3D fighter. I knew a few people who could beat it without touching the joystick.
And then there are some really crazy feats which I’ve only read about. Like beating Soul Calibur using the Dreamcast fishing controller, or the fellow in Japan who beat the original Resident Evil using only the knife. Walking backwards the entire game.
As for myself, I can only think of one feat I pulled off, and it was completely accidental. I managed to beat Emerald Weapon in Final Fantasy VII after the character with the Final Attack+Phoenix materia combo got the last of his MP zapped. After I lost the ability to do the Final Phoenix combo, I got hit with Aire Tam Storm and everybody died… except Cid. It turns out Emerald Weapon’s famous Aire Tam Storm attack doesn’t automatically deal 9999 damage to each character, but rather 1111 per materia equipped on each character. Luckily, I only had one materia on Cid: the Mime materia which allowed me to quickly copy off enough Knights of the Round summons to defeat Emerald.
I got my ass to a save point right quick after that, I tell you what.
Do newer games count? There’s all sorts of ways people have chosen to play “Thief” over the years. The hardest corest one is called “Lytha” style, where you have to play the entire game without giving or taking any damage, getting all the look, and (IIRC) never being seen.
I’m not good enough to play Thief 1 or 2 like that, but after beating Thief 3 on expert handily I went through again and played it this way. Made it a lot more challenging and fulfilling because rather than waiting for everyone to turn around and knocking them out it turns into a cat/mouse game of thief vs guards. Very entertaining!
Well, there is the “Mongolian Peace Corp” variation for Civilization 3 - you play as the Mongols, but during the entire game you can’t build a single military unit at all, and have to go for a Space Race, Diplomatic, or Cultural victory. Or even more difficult, turn off those victory conditions, and win by Domination by culture flipping the AI cities.
mine’s rather simple. for designated games, especially single player FPS, i end the game session when i die. more challenging than anything that requires a save-and-reload i tell ya.
When I play Minesweeper, I generally give myself one of two handicaps: Either I never mark any mine at all (playing just with the left button), or I mark every mine, and only ever clear squares using the both-buttons click trick (except for the first square, of course).
I’ve taken several hogeneous parties through Final Fantasy (the original). Four fighters is surprisingly powerful, actually: In the early game, they tend to do more damage than mages, and in the later game, you have spellcasting items anyway.
One other surprisingly difficult handicap in Final Fantasy and many other RPG-type games: Only use information once you’ve gotten it in game. No wandering around to find interesting castles or dungeons off in the wilderness: You’re not allowed to go anywhere until you have some reason to do so. Towns, I go to once someone mentions them (“My home is Pravoka, a beautiful port city far to the east of here”), but dungeons, not until I have a quest and some indication of where it is (“The Vampire of the Earth Cave is causing the rot of the Earth” and “The Earth Cave is on a peninsula southwest of here”). Man, the Ice Cave is hard without already having the Heal Staff and Zeus Gauntlet.
I read an account of one guy who beat Final Fantasy I with a party of 4 White Mages. :eek:
I also read an account of a guy beating it with only a single Fighter (having killed off the other party members early on and never reviving them at a clinic). Which is impressive, but not at the same level as the 4 white mages guy.
The most difficult thing I’ve done I think is go through Super Mario RPG without using Princess Toadstool. It’s surprisingly hard, especially the secret boss Culex, though if you stock up on Kero Kolas and Red Essences then it’s not too bad. I found a new appreciation for those items without having Toadstool’s “Group Hug” to rely on.
Once, I played a Panzer General campaign and beat Poland, Norway, and France purchasing nothing but fighter-bombers and mobile anti-tank guns.
That’s doable since the mobile anti-tank gun can take on a tank 5 times its cost, and can fight toe to toe with infantry of the same price out in the open.
Goldeneye (N64, not the Rogue Agent crapfest), I got though normal difficulty using throwing knifes on limited ammo. Got up to the train level in 007 difficulty before giving up.
I heard of someone using a pacifist Necromance in Diablo II, just killing the bosses and not touching anyone else.
Similarly, has anyone ever managed to finish Metal Gear Solid (for the PS1, though I suppose any of the other MGS games will count) without killing any of the baddies?
I’d love to try what the OP mentions Loved that game.
Some fond ideas/memories:
Diablo 1, Ironman - clearing all sixteen levels (plus the Poisoned Water Supply, Leoric’s Chamber, Chamber of Bone, etc. if in single-player) in one run without using the townspeople. (Died on level four in multiplayer, never tried solo)
Fallout Tactics, Tough Guy mode (a game feature that allows saving only between levels and grants a slight exp bonus) on hard or impossible difficulty. The first level is pretty rough even on normal with loading, if only because the characters’ accuracy leaves much to be desired before the first level-up. (will try someday)
Betrayal at Krondor without triggering items from the inventory in battle. Yep, no healing, no summons unless you find the River Song scroll prematurely. (Actually did this - not intentionally, but because I was too stupid to figure it out until the second time around.)
The “Pyramid” scenario in Heroes of Might and Magic II on impossible difficulty, playing Sorceress or Knight. (never tried)
I’ve been able to do it in 2 and 3, as well as Twin Snakes (the GC remake of 1) because they all have nonlethal guns. I don’t know if you can in the PS1 version, but I wouldn’t be surprised.
Loved that game.