Weekend Question: Do you ever set self-imposed challenges when playing videogames?

[PCG Ted]

Heidly-ho, Gamerinos. Another week, another weekend question. I ask the same question of the PCG staff and forums for a regular feature on the site. If you'd like your answer to be considered for this week's post, feel free to comment on this thread!

This week's question is: Do you ever set self-imposed challenges when playing videogames?

Pacifist runs, "Nuzlocke" attempts of Pokémon, heck, even the venerable speedrun are just a few ways that players have derived new challenges from games outside your usual difficulty slider. Some developers have even responded by building such challenges into their games: the Thief series used to instant-fail you if you killed anyone on the hardest difficulty, while "hardcore" modes in games like Diablo 4 or The Witcher 2 introduce mechanically-enforced permadeath.

I've been thinking about this sort of thing as I replay Deus Ex for the umpteenth time, quicksaving before and after practically every stealth takedown. Similarly, my early game pacifism always gets replaced with a late-game eagerness to slice up MJ-12 commandos with the Dragon's Tooth Sword. I lack the self-discipline for anything else.

 

[Frag Maniac]

If it's a game I really like, I usually play it to death and often set challenges like no upgrades and sometimes no HUD on hardest mode. I particularly like games that think outside the box and use more than just higher HP for enemies and more damage dealt to players on the hardest mode, like more enemies or enemies that are smarter and faster. I've also played some race games on hardest mode with a head start for the AI.

I usually make video walkthroughs of such challenges.

Monster Energy Supercross 4 on Realistic with 10 Sec AI Head Start

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHB6vX_n-5BOjstA115-SkK_WcNCroTCt

Halo Infinite on Legendary with No Upgrades and Grappleshot Only

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHB6vX_n-5BN-ZomK0MyuBCHDRGFxjXmm

Days Gone on Survival II with No Upgrades and Massive Hordes Mod
(I never made a full walkthrough of this, just captured a few videos)

(This is a quick kill no damage method of the knife fight with Jesse)

Ghost Recon Wildlands on Extreme with No HUD or Upgrades

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHB6vX_n-5BOwb6B4izux5HjNAf0YFt00

The Evil Within on Akumu with No Upgrades

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHB6vX_n-5BP6l80RHREtCPPce4IfaVfc

I'm currently playing Far Cry 6 on Guerilla with all HUD elements off. I'm not doing a video walkthrough of it though, as it would be far too many lengthy videos for my slow 5Mb upload speed. It's been going pretty well, but I had difficulty on the mission where you fly a plane over Castillo's tobacco fields and drop napalm bombs on them with a contraption Philly made with a baseball pitching machine you stole for him. With no HUD markers onscreen it was really hard to tell exactly where to drop them, causing me to make several passes and the plane got shot down. Worse yet, because I had to replenish my ammo at a workbench, when I got back to finish up the first set of tobacco fields, the game reset my progress to where ALL of them needed to be burned again. So it was back to a workbench to equip my Supremos with as many incendiary throwables as I could, That along with a couple of Resolver shotguns with incendiary shells allowed me to finish the burning of the fields part. Taking out Jose's chopper was even harder though, as I had not unlocked any RPG type weapons yet, or the Resolver weapon that fires explosive devices long range. Instead I used the Resolver weapon that fires an EMP pulse long range, a Resolver shotgun with rotating magazine, and a Resolver sniper rifle with blast rounds. It still took a long time and I died twice. The Resolver EMP rifle is pretty much useless on that chopper.

 

[Brian Boru]

Usually. In shooters I avoid the biggest weapons, as they don't suit my preferred non-melee playstyle. Also minimal use of explosives like grenades, mines etc.

In strategy games like Civ, sometimes I'll refuse to initiate any tech trades or diplomatic overtures. Other times it'll be to wipe out other civs on my continent.

Essentially when playing games, I write my own story or narrative, so it depends what self goals or challenges support the story I want to write at the time.

 

[McStabStab]

There was no "100% everything" achievement for Mad Max, but I wanted to 100% everything anyway. My goal was to do it without fast travel. Mission accomplished:

 

[Pifanjr]

Does not playing as a stealth archer in Skyrim count?

I've tried a nuzlocke run, but I quit after losing my starter. I realized it would take more grinding than I was willing to put up with to get through the game.

For most games however I get bored of the gameplay long before I can come up with my own challenges.

 

[Frag Maniac]

There was no "100% everything" achievement for Mad Max, but I wanted to 100% everything anyway. My goal was to do it without fast travel. Mission accomplished:

LOL, yeah I did that too, and I don't typically strive for 100% completion. I couldn't help but think afterward that getting all the Archangels was a waste because there was really only a couple I saw as useful.

 

[Colif]

I set a rule for my characters in Torchlight 2. If they die at all on way to 100, the build is wrong and I start again. Last time I played I got one to 100 without dying which was an achievement as she used cannons and one of them is more dangerous to my health than enemies as it does 8 damage to me per second. I would show a screenshot of it but TL2 doesn't seem to like the clipping tool in win 11. Use it and screen just drops to desktop

 

[mainer]

I've been thinking about this sort of thing as I replay Deus Ex for the umpteenth time, quicksaving before and after practically every stealth takedown. Similarly, my early game pacifism always gets replaced with a late-game eagerness to slice up MJ-12 commandos with the Dragon's Tooth Sword. I lack the self-discipline for anything else.

The first game I thought of when I read your post was Deus Ex. Like yourself, I've played it countless times over the years, and always go with a stealth-type character, thinking that this time I'll be able to complete a true pacifist playthrough. It never happens, because at some point my self-discipline fails as well, and that's when I first get access to the sniper rifle. The lure of sneaking and lining up that perfect head shot is just too strong, it's just too much fun to pick off unsuspecting enemies from a distance.

Almost every single player game that I've played, I have certain goals that I set for myself, even though they make no difference in the outcome of the game or in what Steam achievements that I receive. Such as romancing Jaheira in Baldur's Gate 2. That's a game-long internal quest that's accomplished through dialogue (and there's a lot of dialogue). One wrong dialogue choice at any point will result in failure, and it's definitely a challenge, as she's quite opinionated.

Another big challenge that I set for myself is getting all the collectibles in a game, and I'm thinking mainly of the Fallout and Elder Scrolls games from Bethesda. Some are known collectibles, like the Bobble Heads in the Fallout games. Others I create in my head. Like collecting all the Gnomes in Fallout 3, one each of the Nuka Colas in Fallout 4, and my big one, collecting one copy of each book in Skyrim; then displaying them, in alphabetical order on bookshelves in my home. It does require a few mods for the shelves & organization, but it's a challenge that I've set for myself for every playthrough of Skyrim, but have yet to achieve.

 

[Ngwaz'man]

Literally... in fact that's how I game before the story line

 

[Johnway]

Not so much these days. But when i was young I certainly did. I would replay the same games and to spice things up I usually added challenges, namely don't lose a life, beat game without powerups, play all levels that sort of thing. Nothing too fancy. Then again, when I was young beating games without the cheats on was a challenge so...

 

[Sarafan]

I sometimes self-impose some challenges, but these are usually restricted to very old games. For example, Eye of the Beholder from 1990 has a feature which allows you to manually set all attributes to the maximum value during character creation. I imposed a restriction that I can increase only two or three attributes to max to make the game a little more challenging. I also restricted myself during playthrough of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection games. I decided not to use saves like in the original version of this series, unless I have to stop playing for some reason. In newer games I rarely impose any artificial restrictions.

 

[SirDJCat]

I occasionally do, but often get distracted and forgot about it. My most frequently attempted challenge is pistol or sniper only which, as you can imagine, gets quite tricky somtimes.

 

[Zloth]

That's pretty rare for me, but it happens in games I play for hundreds of hours. For instance, in The Last Remnant, I did a playthrough by refusing to use David and his generals - which were some of the most powerful and easily accessible characters in the game. A lot of people believe it's just about impossible to get through that game without cheesing its reward system by avoiding as many fights as possible, so I played it the normal way with this self-imposed limit to prove them wrong.

 

[taylorhindman]

The first game I thought of when I read your post was Deus Ex. Like yourself, I've played it countless times over the years, and always go with a stealth-type character, thinking that this time I'll be able to complete a true pacifist playthrough. It never happens, because at some point my self-discipline fails as well, and that's when I first get access to the sniper rifle. The lure of sneaking and lining up that perfect head shot is just too strong, it's just too much fun to pick off unsuspecting enemies from a distance.

Almost every single player game that I've played, I have certain goals that I set for myself, even though they make no difference in the outcome of the game or in what Steam achievements that I receive. Such as romancing Jaheira in Baldur's Gate 2. That's a game-long internal quest that's accomplished through dialogue (and there's a lot of dialogue). One wrong dialogue choice at any point will result in failure, and it's definitely a challenge, as she's quite opinionated.

Another big challenge that I set for myself is getting all the collectibles in a game, and I'm thinking mainly of the Fallout and Elder Scrolls games from Bethesda. Some are known collectibles, like the Bobble Heads in the Fallout games. Others I create in my head. Like collecting all the Gnomes in Fallout 3, one each of the Nuka Colas in Fallout 4, and my big one, collecting one copy of each book in Skyrim; then displaying them, in alphabetical order on bookshelves in my home. It does require a few mods for the shelves & organization, but it's a challenge that I've set for myself for every playthrough of Skyrim, but have yet to achieve.

What mods do you have for the Skyrim bookshelves? That sounds like a blast to try to attempt.

 

[mainer]

What mods do you have for the Skyrim bookshelves? That sounds like a blast to try to attempt.

This is from my 2021 Skyrim modded build (that's still active). There maybe better mods now, but these are what I've been using:

If you're going to display all those books that you've painstakingly lugged around, you want them to look nice & detailed.

Book Covers Skyrim

Book Covers Skyrim is a retexture of all the readable books, journals, and notes in Skyrim. It gives each book and journal its own unique cover and adds many additional paper styles to the notes.

www.nexusmods.com

Absolutely critical if you want to organize your books on shelves in alphabetical order (so they just don't flop around or fall on the floor.

Unlimited Bookshelves

Lets you place as many books on a bookshelf as will fit, instead of a fixed number, as well as any other kind of item. Up to around 90 letter/note type books on a single shelf, and not limited to just

www.nexusmods.com

This one can be a tricky install, as there are two parts, but it's the only house modification that I've found that gives me enough shelf space to work with. I've looked at nearly every house mod & house modification mod, but in 2021 this was the best I could find. There might be something better now, but this one definitely worked out for me.

Lakeview. Manor - As It Should Be

Remodels and decorates Lakeview Manor. House intended for the wealthy familist/collector Dovahkiin.

www.nexusmods.com

I've still never gotten every single book, as there's just so many of them. Some have copies almost everywhere, others have only 1 or 2. And Skyrim is a huge world to track down a single book. It's my ongoing project every time I play.

 

[taylorhindman]

This is from my 2021 Skyrim modded build (that's still active). There maybe better mods now, but these are what I've been using:

If you're going to display all those books that you've painstakingly lugged around, you want them to look nice & detailed.

Book Covers Skyrim

Book Covers Skyrim is a retexture of all the readable books, journals, and notes in Skyrim. It gives each book and journal its own unique cover and adds many additional paper styles to the notes.

www.nexusmods.com

Absolutely critical if you want to organize your books on shelves in alphabetical order (so they just don't flop around or fall on the floor.

Unlimited Bookshelves

Lets you place as many books on a bookshelf as will fit, instead of a fixed number, as well as any other kind of item. Up to around 90 letter/note type books on a single shelf, and not limited to just

www.nexusmods.com

This one can be a tricky install, as there are two parts, but it's the only house modification that I've found that gives me enough shelf space to work with. I've looked at nearly every house mod & house modification mod, but in 2021 this was the best I could find. There might be something better now, but this one definitely worked out for me.

Lakeview. Manor - As It Should Be

Remodels and decorates Lakeview Manor. House intended for the wealthy familist/collector Dovahkiin.

www.nexusmods.com

I've still never gotten every single book, as there's just so many of them. Some have copies almost everywhere, others have only 1 or 2. And Skyrim is a huge world to track down a single book. It's my ongoing project every time I play.

Wonderful! Thanks for the recommendations. I saw you quoted in that PCG article the other day and have been curious ever since.

 

[Brian Boru]

Some have copies almost everywhere, others have only 1 or 2

Are you saying there are no ebooks in Skyrim?
The horror, the medieval, the… pain.

Give Zed a shout, you two should be able to mod that

 

[Zloth]

They are ebooks. The interface is weird, but you can only read them on your PC unless you take pains to print them all out yourself.

 

[ZedClampet]

Every single game. Most of the games I play these days have minimal narrative and are more along the sandbox line, but even if I played something like Prey, I'd still be setting goals constantly.

 

[Colif]

My not dying rule applies to most arpg, I have to blame sacred 2 for that really. The experience bonus of staying alive made game harder. Dying in that game would reduce the difficulty and the quality of possible drops. Having save games just in case was necessary... but it doesn't help as though game didn't know I died, I did. Dying at lvl 137 or so really sucks.

Mind you, if I really cared so much I would play hardcore but losing gear is worse than dying really. It can be used on another character... D4 killed that choice really. rarely find anything for another class... never find armor... only weapons sometimes..

I died a few times in D4 now, mostly costs gold. I died yesterday on a boss and saw others around and waited for someone to click ghost. Someone did... went to repair, no cost... hhmm

 

[WilhelmScream]

Certainly. No damage runs of Hitman, Commandos and Arkham games come to mind, i'm sure that there have been others. In F2P games with character/unit/equipment(etc.) power tiers i almost always try to get as far as i can with the lowest tier stuff and start incorporating higher tier stuff as slowly as possible. Quite liberating to see sales and offers on the best stuff and just be completely disinterested

 

[Frag Maniac]

No damage runs of Hitman, Commandos and Arkham games come to mind...

I'm always envious when I see people do no damage runs of the Batman Arkham series games. It takes a keen eye and well timed counters. I often just vault over attacking enemies, but now and then I still get caught missing a counter or even getting hit by an unblockable attack.

I'm improving though, and I'm now running up the hit counter quite a bit higher than I used to. I managed to get it up to 110 on the very difficult last phase of the Catwoman's Revenge DLC for Arkham Knight the other day, but after uploading it to YouTube I realized I'd made an editing error and left out the first phase of the moving lasers part. I'd already deleted the raw clips, so I had to redo it.

 

[WilhelmScream]

I'm always envious when I see people do no damage runs of the Batman Arkham series games. It takes a keen eye and well timed counters. I often just vault over attacking enemies, but now and then I still get caught missing a counter or even getting hit by an unblockable attack.

I'm improving though, and I'm now running up the hit counter quite a bit higher than I used to. I managed to get it up to 110 on the very difficult last phase of the Catwoman's Revenge DLC for Arkham Knight the other day, but after uploading it to YouTube I realized I'd made an editing error and left out the first phase of the moving lasers part. I'd already deleted the raw clips, so I had to redo it.

For the sake of clarity and honesty, i'll add that i've only done Arkham Asylum this way (i remember that the Bane fight gave me some trouble) and that it wasn't a "hardcore" challenge or anything i didn't start the entire game over every time that i failed Don't remember what the save system was like in that game though...certainly couldn't save mid-fight.

 

[Frag Maniac]

For the sake of clarity and honesty, i'll add that i've only done Arkham Asylum this way (i remember that the Bane fight gave me some trouble) and that it wasn't a "hardcore" challenge or anything i didn't start the entire game over every time that i failed Don't remember what the save system was like in that game though...certainly couldn't save mid-fight.

Well, it's still a pretty good accomplishment for ANY of the Arkham games.

 

[WilhelmScream]

Well, it's still a pretty good accomplishment for ANY of the Arkham games.

I remember being at least two thirds of the way through Commandos 2, having meticulously spent every map gathering up health items in addition to everything else *that i'd actually use* to then for some reason stop and realize that healing items were a waste of time to me if i didn't take any damage. So much time wasted managing my Inventory!