A couple of days ago, I posted my Diablo 3 Hardcore playthrough without using the AH. Well that's a bust, not because I died or anything, but because my graphics card died. So, until I get a replacement, I have no choice but to put my Hardcore progress on hold. I loved the idea of adding extra rules to give a challenge, so I decided to play Skyrim on my Xbox 360 again with a set of rules to spice things up a bit.
I've played through the game twice at this point with different builds and I don't think I have another normal playthrough in me. So I decided to do this which brought back the fun in this game.
Here's my set of rules for the challenge playthrough I just started yesterday:
1) No fast travel - Might sound a bit painful to some but it's actually not that bad. If you make use of the other forms of travels in the game like horses and caravans(which was considered useless right after you figure out how to fast travel), moving from point to point isn't so bad. Plus you get to explore new locations that you most likely missed thanks to fast travel.
2) No crafting and enchanting, only alchemy allowed - Everybody that has finished Skyrim knows that the best gears in the game can be crafted, making you overpowered for some content of the game. By restricting yourself from ever using these skills, items and gear you earned through chests and exploring the world in general comes out more satisfying. When I first played this game, nothing I found in the chest was ever helpful since my crafted gear always came out better. If I did find something good, I improve it even more with crafting.
3) One save file for the playthrough, can only save in inns or owned houses - This rule is to eliminate those constant saves before dungeons for when you die or make a mistake. With this, the game is a bit more intense too since you know you will restart back to the inn if you die. This also gives inns some sort of purpose at the start too.
4) Play on master difficulty - The max difficulty of the game. Beware of the two-handed bandit chiefs.
5) Never use any restoration spell - This was a bit too much I think. I noticed that the restoration school is always the go-to place to get health back, which results in me wasting experience on this school. This also makes health potions very valuable in this playthrough. My past playthroughs, regardless of what build I was going,I always had the restoration school up because I needed a heal now and then. I'm still considering this, but so far the game isn't so bad with this restriction.
6) No waiting, only use if required for a quest - This is to avoid an easy way to heal your character. When you wait in Skyrim, or any Elder Scrolls game, you regenerate your health, mana, and stamina. Usually, waiting for 1 or 2 hours would fill your bars.
That's the set of rules for my Skyrim challenge. A different spin on the game, which I'm hoping isn't too difficult as I get farther in, but enough to make it challenging, fun, and possible to progress when I sit down to play. A bit too early to tell, but this could make the game better. I could go overboard by saying if I die once, it's game over for good, but that's way too much. I'm not that crazy.
My character for this playthrough will be built as a stealthy ranger since I've always wanted to play this game with a bow as my main weapon of choice. As I write this, I just started and I'm now at level 6 and finding some bandit camps to raid to get stronger. The first dungeon in the main story is impossible at the moment (died twice already) so I'm going to save that for later. I played a couple of hours and it's doable....so far.
If you plan on playing the game again try it yourself if you want a different take on Skyrim, or apply your own set of restrictions and see how it goes.
So what do you think? A bit too much? Have any suggestions? Hit the comments below.
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