Making a game harder by not using heroes/abilities/etc

[Jac_Solar]

I was just watching a video on DQ11, and the reviewer said that if it's too easy, just swap the main hero out. This made me think about difficulty in games, and how this suggestion doesn't work for me. I assume it's something other people can get enjoyment out of, but for me it just doesn't work. I want to use all the tools available to beat it. This is why I love Dark Souls so much. Like, the developers have created a challenge, and it's up to me to beat it.

So, I was wondering what other people think of suggestions like this. Can you intentionally make the game harder by not using certain abilities or heroes and the like and still enjoy it? What are some examples?

 

[SchuckyDucky]

The classic example would be the Pokemon Nuzlocke. Only play with the first Pokemon you find on a given route, give the each a nickname, and if they faint, you must release them or put them in a "Graveyard" box.

 

[Redcrayon]

I was just watching a video on DQ11, and the reviewer said that if it's too easy, just swap the main hero out. This made me think about difficulty in games, and how this suggestion doesn't work for me. I assume it's something other people can get enjoyment out of, but for me it just doesn't work. I want to use all the tools available to beat it. This is why I love Dark Souls so much. Like, the developers have created a challenge, and it's up to me to beat it.

So, I was wondering what other people think of suggestions like this. Can you intentionally make the game harder by not using certain abilities or heroes and the like and still enjoy it? What are some examples?

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What I often do with Monster Hunter when fighting against a creature I can already beat quite handily is to switch to weapons I'm far less experienced with and likely have less strong equipment for. That way I get some experience, learn something, it's still a bit of a challenge etc.

 

[astro]

It depends.

If there's one specific move or skill that's completely imbalanced then sure,ignoring it can make the experience better. Also for specific "fun" challenges like "melee only run" in a shooter, or "pistol only" in a game with a large arsenal, using only the starting items, only one specific character, etc... can be enjoyable challenges.

Usually though, if I have to ignore systems to find meaningful challenge the game is probably not going to keep my interest.

 

[Deleted member 59109]

Not using healing items in Zelda, some of the games can at least attempt at difficulty then

 

[Rassilon]

pacifist runs of MGS titles

Sure you could make things easier by killing, but imo sneaky no kill is more fun

 

[Daingurse]

I always do this in Pokemon to make it a bit harder. I just started playing Shield with my wife and am playing through the game pretty casually. But I refuse to use items in battle, and have the battle style set to Set like regular Wifi battles. Game is still super easy anyway, so I can't imagine what it'd be like If I wasn't doing that haha.

If I ever play through the game again I'm going to have to Nuzlocke it, or do some kind of minimal battles rule, because I got waaaaay overleveled without even really trying.

 

[super-famicom]

Diablo 3 on harder difficulties if you only used the default weapon attack and didn't utilize any skills at all.

Knife only runs in RE4 was fun.

 

[GaussianMultivariate]

I'm playing the division 2 campaign solo with only one skill instead of two (I use a turret and for second skill I would have the striker drone but I'm not using it unless I'm really pinned down during a very important mission that I'd rather not fail). It's a flexible commitment and I like the tiny extra challenge, I die from time to time which is okay. I guess when I start upping the difficulty I'll have to use both.

 

[Jac_Solar]

It depends.

If there's one specific move or skill that's completely imbalanced then sure,ignoring it can make the experience better.

Click to shrink...

Have you ever run into this?

What I often do with Monster Hunter when fighting against a creature I can already beat quite handily is to switch to weapons I'm far less experienced with and likely have less strong equipment for. That way I get some experience, learn something, it's still a bit of a challenge etc.

Click to shrink...

Yeah this makes sense to me too. If you love a game already, it can be fun and enjoyable to just use different, possibly weaker weapons/abilities because it can help you understand the game better.

 

[SubvertedTrope]

Fire Emblem 6 Hard Mode only low tier units, you're welcome.

 

[joeblow]

What a coinky-dink, OP. I literally created a Days Gone thread that instructs new players in how to artificially increase its easy difficulty.

 

[Jac_Solar]

What a coinky-dink, OP. I literally created a Days Gone thread that instructs new players in how to artificially increase its easy difficulty.

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😂

Great post though!

 

[Paroni]

Creating extra challenges in games can be fun, but I much prefer it if the game has flexible options to modify difficulty. I really like Xenoblade Chronicles DE's expert mode where you can manually level or de-level yourself (but not above XP you've gained) whenever you want to keep it more challenging if you wish. I also really like custom difficulty settings like in Warhammer 40K Mechanicus, where you can freely edit different difficulty modifiers to make different aspects of the game easier or harder depending on your own tastes. It's especially excellent tool to spice up replays.

 

[astro]

Have you ever run into this?

Click to shrink...

Yeh pretty often, have you not?

Pistol in Halo CE made many of the other weapons obsolete in the hands of a master. I actually had to force myself to use other weapons to mix up gameplay a bit, especially in MP.

The above goes for many MP games where certain load outs, skills, or weapons are so overpowered they can ruin the sandbox for a while.

Draw system in FF8 allows you to break the game's combat completely even if you're not trying to. When I first played I did this just by figuring out how to get the most from the system and it ruined combat that I had been enjoying.

Many fighting game characters that you just couldn't pick if you wanted a fair game.

Cyberpunk 2077, legendary hacks completely break the game in terms of challenge. At a certain point you can literally sit behind cover and target anyone and wipe out entire buildings while barely moving (to be fair, though, most higher level skills in this game break the combat... it's just that hacks make it so you don't even need to move..).

The healing system in FF15, spamming potions, made combat completely braindead. The combat wasn't the best anyway, but I found that going for no damage runs at least made the game a fun enough challenge.

Etc...

 

[Jac_Solar]

Yeh pretty often, have you not?

Pistol in Halo CE made many of the other weapons obsolete in the hands of a master. I actually had to force myself to use other weapons to mix up gameplay a bit, especially in MP.

The above goes for many MP games where certain load outs, skills, or weapons are so overpowered they can ruin the sandbox for a while.

Draw system in FF8 allows you to break the game's combat completely even if you're not trying to. When I first played I did this just by figuring out how to get the most from the system and it ruined combat that I had been enjoying.

Many fighting game characters that you just couldn't pick if you wanted a fair game.

Cyberpunk 2077, legendary hacks completely break the game in terms of challenge. At a certain point you can literally sit behind cover and target anyone and wipe out entire buildings while barely moving (to be fair, though, most higher level skills in this game break the combat... it's just that hacks make it so you don't even need to move..).

The healing system in FF15, spamming potions, made combat completely braindead. The combat wasn't the best anyway, but I found that going for no damage runs at least made the game a fun enough challenge.

Etc...

Click to shrink...

Probably have but I can't remember, and just appreciated being OP.. Or I just suck at games. 🤣

I haven't played Halo in a long time, but I can't remember the pistol feeling OP. But I rarely used it. It's been such a long time since I played FF8 that I can't remember that at all. I haven't played the other games. I do remember using a character in Killer Instinct that made my brother really, really upset. 🤣 Other than that I don't play much fighting games.

 

[Shin Kojima]

I like doing lvl1 runs in Souls games because it locks you out of a lot of usable equipment, if that counts.

pacifist runs of MGS titles Sure you could make things easier by killing, but imo sneaky no kill is more fun

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Bonus points for also not killing + eating animals in MGS3.

 

[Treestump]

I don't think it really counts considering there's achievements for doing it and it seems common but playing the Dishonored games without getting any abilities past the initial one is the best way to play them and leads to finding interesting paths in the levels.

 

[balohna]

pacifist runs of MGS titles

Sure you could make things easier by killing, but imo sneaky no kill is more fun

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This is really nice to because you get different rewards and a higher score at the end (though you won't really care much about the score unless you plan on replaying the game for a higher one).

But more importantly, I like how it changes the fiction. You aren't on a murderous rampage. You're on a sneaking mission and these soldiers are just doing their job. I wish more games offered pacifist playstyles, because it feels weird to be a "hero" that kills hundreds of people.

 

[SirNinja]

Final Fantasy X is all about this.

There's challenge playthrough runs where you are prohibited from:

• Summoning aeons
• Using characters' Overdrives
• Customizing equipment
• Obtaining characters' Celestial (ultimate) weapons
• Playing Blitzball (it does give some good stuff, for those who pursue it)
• Escaping battles, or equipping items with the [No Encounters] ability
• Using the Sphere Grid: a classic FFX challenge. Not really as difficult as it sounds, either, if you know what you're doing. It really opens up what the battle system is capable of.
  • Can also be spiced up with stuff listed above, esp. No Summoning, No Customizing, and/or No Overdrives
• Using any but one character: the others can't touch the Sphere Grid, and ideally must remove themselves from battle on their first turn, either by escaping or KOing themselves. They also can't equip anything that would help the solo character (Sensor, Initiative, etc).
  • It's possible to do a challenge run like this with all seven party members!
  • These runs often add the extra "Own Sphere Grid" constraint, meaning characters can only ever go on their own "path" (i.e., no opening any locks, no using special spheres to activate inaccessible spheres) on the Grid. Obviously the Expert Sphere Grid can't be used here either :P
  • Yuna-only challenges can also be made more difficult with things like No Summoning (with exceptions like with Sin's Fin; otherwise you'd have to learn Holy on Besaid, and unless you're that dude who got to level 99 on Destiny Islands in Kingdom Hearts 1, that ain't happening)

You can also mix and match anything and everything from the above (and more!) to make your own custom challenge. FFX's battle system is so robust that it's actually possible (albeit very difficult and grindy) to do a No Sphere Grid, No Summoning, No Customize, No Overdrive, No Escaping, No [No Encounters], No Blitzball run, if you know the game inside out and plan ahead carefully.


(Right now I'm doing a Kimahri-only playthrough on the Switch version, with the restriction that I can only open Lv. 1 locks on the Standard Grid. It basically lets me go into Tidus's, Lulu's, and Rikku's sections of the grid, but not Yuna's, Auron's or Wakka's. I may add more modifiers to the challenge later if it gets too easy, but so far it's been an interesting playthrough!)