Have you ever bothered to try and do some sort of self-imposed challenge while playing a game?


For me the most common is the "ghost" challenge in a lot of stealth games, although I do confess to reloading save files to accomplish it rather than replaying the whole level. It just doesn't feel right, or fun, fighting my way out after getting caught, I prefer to try again and properly stealth my way through.

As for the greatest number of challenges in a game for me it's probably Pokémon. I've tried the Nuzlocke challenge, where you can only catch one Pokémon per area, the first one you see, you don't get to choose, and if any of your Pokémon faint you can't use them anymore and have to release them. I've tried the monotype challenge, you can probably guess it's one where you only use Pokémon of a single type, like the Gym Leaders. I've also done a few themed teams along the way, like one with only dog Pokémon, and now I mean to do my next playthrough with a Bloodborne inspired team, I've found 4 Pokémon that are great analogues for Bloodborne characters, but for the love of God I'm not finding 2 more to complete the team, once I do though I'll try to beat the whole game using just these six Pokémon.

One of my favorites is for a game that was only released in Japan:

In Game Center CX 2, beat Guadia Quest Saga (the RPG contained within the game) without upgrading armor or using permanent stat boost items. This gives a nice proper difficulty curve, and I have managed to beat everything but the post-game superboss with this rules. (Upgrading weapons is permitted.)

Not really, I'm too lazy for that.
I have however on occasion deliberately not used overpowered items that would have made the game too easy, e.g. that Dragon sword in Deus Ex, or that spell-deflecting cloak in Baldur's Gate 2.

Hmmm, i recall trying to fight Vile (in the war machine suit) as long as possible on MMX, which was something like 15 minutes before i eventually couldn't last anymore and HAD to accept the fate of Zero coming in and committing self-destruct while on the machine.

Mostly, I try to play through a game without losing any lives, even if having multiple lives is a game element. I would go so far as to restart a whole level because I messed up and my character died once even near the end of a level.

For some play-throughs I may avoid harming any NPCs or doing unnecessary environmental damage, even if there is no punishment for doing so. Other games, I'll try a ghost/non-lethal play-through even if it wasn't part of the intended design.

I like to really role-play in games, and I am not just talking about RPGs!
You mentioned stealth games for example. I always start off stealth games by not allowing myself to quick save and reload the game. I want to feel the same tension that the main character feels and really role-play the character I am given. If I get caught, I run away, and if I can't run away I fight and live with the consequences.

In RPGs, I try not to meta-game at all. I do not talk to random people unless I am given a reason to, and do not do things that my character wouldn't do. Sadly, most games aren't designed like that. If you are lucky, you just need to make compromises, but other times there just isn't a way to clear the game without acting out-of-character.

I even start out Point and Click adventure games like that! I try to think according to the game's and character's logic and not just go into rooms that I have no reason to go into. If a character says "Go THERE", I go there without stopping anywhere else on my way there, unless I think my character would have a reason to.
... That never works for too long.

I've given the Starter 7 challenge to Dwarf Fortress a few times.

I've tried Solo runs in other games like Avernum.

I'm usually too lazy for that but I will say I have tried to play certain games like World of Warcraft while drunk or tipsy. If it had not been the fact that I was driving that night, I would have gotten tipsy from beer at the bar section of an arcade that opened up near my house not too long ago and then played some of the car racing games.

Let's see...

Might and Magic 7 in my several playthroughs I picked a not well balanced party which turned out to be rather difficult either at the beginning of the game (4x sorcerer) or close to the end (4x knight). Once I solo'ed the game with a dwarf cleric. That was hard ;)

Patrician 3 I build a prospering company on hard difficulty setting without trading iron goods ever. Everybody who knows the game are surely aware how challenging is that.

Another World I finished the game in a single run without dying. Not even once. That’s my most hardcore achievement. It was a bet that made me do so but still...

Sometimes, I like to impose minor restrictions on myself to avoid the more serious balance issues present in a game. For example:

Final Fantasy 5:
No using the Freelancer/Mime jobs. (Excluding the beginning before you get the first jobs, of course.)
No throwing money at enemies.
No using the Blessed Kiss mix (which can inflict Berserk on targets that are supposed to be immune) on enemies. Using it on party members is OK (and actually quite useful).
No treating the Ninja's Dual Wield as innate for Freelancer/Mime (if I decide to allow those jobs); if dual wielding in those jobs, Dual Wield must be equipped. (I consider that ability to be too powerful to use without spending a slot.)

TES: Arena:
I am currently playing with one restriction: No changing the decay rate of Fortify effects. (You can reduce the cost by a factor of 10 by making the stat return to normal 10 times as fast once the duration wears off; this rule disallows that.)

In many FPS games, like Serious Sam games, I might try to survive with the basic weapons as far as possible, Like the dual revolvers with unlimited ammunition.

It is not about whether I can do it, but thinking that I must preserve mega-ammunition to boss fights and such. Usually though that seems to be unnecessary, there usually are some places to get lots of extra ammunition just before the boss fights.

I once soloed through Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor as a halfling monk. Several sources online had said it was the most challenging solo build to play. Not quite sure that's true; a halfling ranger would seem to me to have more trouble.

(Under the game's D&D v3.5 rules, halflings are too small to wield any of the best weapons in the game; and many others — including bows, which is what rangers are known for — require two hands, meaning you have to choose between more damage or the better AC that comes from using a shield. Monks don't have that issue, since they get AC bonuses for not wearing any armor at all, which has the added benefit of freeing up both hands.

Monks also have far better saving throws, and the fireball-dodging Evasion skill. On top of which, if you're soloing then the opportunity to use a bow is limited; most opponents immediately close to melee range, wherein using a ranged weapon gives them attacks of opportunity. So again, it's a trade-off.)

My understanding is that the game came out around the time D&D 3.0 came out, so there is no way that game could have used 3.5 rules.

DF is the game for self-imposed challenges. I mean, it's really, REALLY easy to seal yourself underground and have a perfecltly safe self-contained fortress, but it's also horrendously boring.
The game becomes fun when you put yourself in danger : have a surface outpost to defend your main gate (and not simply an iron portcullis or a solid slab of stone), help a merchant caravan attacked by goblins, tame horribly dangerous wild animals, build arches and hanging cities over lakes of magma, tunnel and defend an entryway to hell, or simply settling an evil area with acid rains, poisonous fog and necromantic energies creating horrendous abominations with melded skins, bones and fishheads from your refuse pile.
And then, hold out for as long as possible and wait for the small mistake that will bring you down. ^^

Yeah, I do something like this, i.e. - not to kill anyone unless the game requires it in Desperados or Chicago 1930.