Personal Game Rules

[Superlative]

Whenever I play certain games...games I've played more times than I can count, I give myself certain rules. Something to spice things up and make my runs feel like my run and not just a run.

Spoiler: Fallout New Vegas

Every Fallout New Vegas run I do, good or evil, always includes a trip to the Gomorrah. Always involves a dispute with the weapons check guy, and always ends with me going all Paladin on everyone in the place.

Spoiler: Civ V

If America chooses Order or Autocracy they are I no longer consider them America. they are Heretic American and they must be destroyed. Doesn't matter if I'm allied with them, doesn't matter if they are on the other side of the map, doesn't matter if I'm playing Venice. War will be declared, nukes will be dropped, and their citizens will be liberated...MERICA style

Spoiler: Skyrim

Every so often on the road I run into people offering me sweets. "Sweets are awesome!" I said the first time "I'll buy out your stock!" I said "My horse is going to love me for sharing!" I said. Then I woke up the next morning.
In the Riften jail.
Wearing my horse.
@%$&!!!

So from now on whenever I find one of those Moon Sugar salescats the weapons come out. I liked that horse, frecken furball.

Spoiler: Pokemon

Whenever I catch a shiny (that isn't the red gyrados) it goes in my party. Hence I ended up with a red winged Noctowl and a pink Dragonair.

Does the rest of The Escapist do something like this?

 

[Zhukov]

Oh, so you mean things you always do when replaying specific games?

Lesse now...

When playing Mass Effect 2 I always save Tali's loyalty mission till last so I can take Legion along. It adds some fun little bits of extra dialogue. Plus the idea of marching a Geth onto a Quarian ship just makes me chuckle. Oh, and I never punch the reporter in the whole series. My Shep is a professional, not a bully.

When playing Mirror's Edge I do not use guns. At all. Ever. Guns are for pussies. I also avoid killing by other means, such as knocking enemies off rooftops. (This being videogame land where a full force kick to the head only ever renders someone harmlessly unconscious.)

When playing Bulletstorm I make sure to tick off every single kill method. It actually makes the game a bit stressful since many of them can only be done in a limited number of location and a few only give you one opportunity.

When playing Bioshock Infinite I make sure never to die during the sections where Elizabeth isn't around. I don't like what is implied when that happens.

That's about all I can think of. I don't replay games all that often anymore.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

My Resident Evil 4 rules.

Village
- Save the dog.
- Get the Shotgun for free.
- Buy the TMP (plus stock).
- Get the Punisher for free, then sell it back.
- Do NOT buy the bolt-action rifle.
- After the cabin fight you can choose between fighting the Bella sisters or another Gigante. I always choose the Bellas.

Castle
- Buy the semi-automatic rifle (plus scope).
- Do NOT buy the mine launcher.
- Do NOT buy the riot gun (same specs as the Shotgun, which you got for free and probably upgraded already).
- Do NOT buy the Killer7, you can get the Broken Butterfly for free.
- Sell the Handgun and choose between the Red 9 or the Blacktail. Red 9 for firepower, Blacktail for speed & capacity.
- Sell the Shotgun and buy the Striker.
- Stay behind to fight Verdugo (rather than escaping on the lift) and collect the treasures he drops.

- You can get an RPG for free halfway through the castle. I always pick it up and save it to one-hit kill Salazar. Takes up a lot of space and is a ***** to carry for so long, but I consider it a good investment. I never buy RPGs.

Island
- Buy the vest.

And then some general rules, like only upgrade gun capacity when your gun has no bullets in it, so you get a free refill, and try to do the (headshot + prompt + knife) combo as much as possible.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

oh man, I'll have to come back and update this, because I KNOW there are some major random ones out there (like certain npc's that I go all out for in an rpg, regardless of which side im on, because we're bro's for life) but for now I'll agree on the mass effect reporter one, I never punch her, even if I don't like her.

star wars: knights of the old republic: I never side with the black vulkars and I always lose the first swoop race, so my second heat I kick it into overdrive and *obliterate* their times, idk why, I just like that tid bit of wiping the floor with those smug black vulkars.

 

[HybridChangeling]

Fallout 3: Regardless of modded play or not, I limit myself to a level of reason. One to two weapons when I got out for adventures, only ammo for that gun. No exploits, no weight above 100-ish. No Fast Travel either, the game really shines with that.

Skyrim: Always steal a horse. It is never not funny as the entire guard legion and the horse keeper chase after me as I calmly trot a few miles per hour faster then them.

Knights of the Old Republic: Taris, Dantooine, Tatooine, Korriban, Kashyyk, Water Planet, Yavin, end. Makes the game more challenging and fun for me as well as tons of Carth time in the right order.

 

[Sleepy Sol]

I set no personal restrictions or rules as far as gameplay goes for myself. Definitely prioritize practicality above all else. In terms of morality systems? I can't ever bring myself to be anything but a goody two shoes. With mild exceptions like pushing a dude out of a a skyscraper in Mass Effect 2.

 

[Plucky]

my general playing rules is always play on Normal mode instead of the easiest. for Pokemon, the rules are pretty loose, just pretty much no events/legendary Pokemon a rule which i did break with X/Y's event Torchic but it covered a niche that i wouldn't have covered otherwise due to starter choices. (Froakie, Bulbasaur) if an event is something otherwise extremely uncommon like a Shiny or seldom seen species like Beldum, obviously i wouldn't use them just to keep them pristine even moreso if they came with moves that they never personally learn like the Hold Back (functionally identical False Swipe) Celebi or anything with Happy Hour.

Never use Old Save bonuses since it might trivialize the early game, BW2 gets a free pass since the most it influences is NPC dialogue and special-unique wild Pokemon encounters, in fact the Darmanitan would've been overpowered considering it's level (35) but is held back by the fact that it has Zen Mode rather than Pure Power which would've been a shame since the route it's found in has lots of perfectly usable Pokemon. Might even add no recovery items into the Pokemon rules, though i did break that one too when i was fighting Cynthia sometime after Pearl's JP release.

 

[SmallHatLogan]

In modern point and click games (like the Telltale games) I have a hard rule of always accepting my consequences and never checking any kind of walkthrough. I have broken that rule once though. I reloaded my game at the end of Life is Strange Episode 2 when I got an outcome that I was actively trying to avoid and really didn't want to have to live with. I'm such a weak willed person.

In Mass Effect I usually go paragon but there are a few renegade interrupts I will always take. The two main ones that spring to mind are shooting Udina and headbutting that uppity krogan.

 

[CeeBod]

For Skyrim, I once used a mod called "Achieve That" that gives you an achievement for reaching level 50 having not joined either side of the civil war. Since then, my replays have always used an adapted form of that - no main quest chosen one bollocks, until I reach level 50. It makes so much more sense to take the time to go from zero to hero, and THEN be the badass that everyone desperately wants to help deal with the flying lizard epidemic.

Other than that I can't think of any self-imposed rules I add, though Fallout 4 will probably get a few - I'm still on my first playthrough, but I'm already hopeful that mods will let me circumvent some annoyances on my next run.

 

[MoreThanANoob]

Just one jumps out at me.

Spoiler: Skyrim

No One Escapes Cidhna Mine.

The first time I stumbled on this quest was after the drinking game with Sam Guevenne. I hadn't visited Markarth before. I woke up in the Temple of Dibella, made my apologies for sorta trashing the place apparently, and and walked out into the city. Before I even know up from down in this city someone's stabbed, there's a note in my pocket, and I'm neck deep in a faction war. It was such a perfect shitstorm of intrigue and confusion that for every character I start, I always make an excuse to travel to Markarth.

 

[Veldel]

when given the option of choosing gender I always change with each new game I start or play so if my recent game was a male I will be playing a female in the next game i play.


Somehow all my Bioware games I seem to be a woman for my first playthrough xD



Oh yes females always get green eyes and dark red hair

Guys typically get blue hair

 

[Lawbringer]

In every RPG I ever play, I always remove all equipment and armour and destroy it at the beginning of the game. I must win the game on things earned, not things given.

In successive replays of both Oblivion and Skyrim I always have a specific bandit camp I remember near the starting position. With EVERY new character the first thing I do is attack that camp. This tradition spills over into other open world RPGs, of course.

Spoiler: How I always imagine the dialogue goes as they see the half naked halfwit running in their direction

How I always imagine the dialogue goes as they see the half naked halfwit running in their direction

For those interested:
Oblivion: it is the one in the ruins directly across the water when you come out of the sewer
Skyrim: When you come out of Helgen, keep following the road until it turns and just keep going straight. You will need to climb down some rocks and you will find a small camp in the trees.

 

[Pickles]

I generally come up with different rules for each play through, the only game I think I've consistently had the same rule would be Deus Ex. Always take the gep gun, its foolish not to.

Also http://www.scenariogenerator.net/ is pretty fun for determining rules for rpgs, 4x games etc.

 

[happyninja42]

When replaying Skryim, with different character concepts, I've done the following:

Master Thief: Would not kill anyone, but would steal from them happily. I stockpiled a collection of the quill feathers, and would leave them on the inner side of the door as I left as a calling card.

Son of Talos: I wouldn't loot the dead, nor would I loot anything except necessary quest items from the various Nord crypts. I wouldn't sneak...ever. I would walk into a dungeon, declare my presence with a mighty Fus Ro Dah! To trigger the nearest enemies, and then smash their faces. I'd then walk deeper into the dungeon, and Shout again to call them to glorious battle. Dungeons were crazy fast in that playthrough.

Dark Elf servent of the Dark Elf goddess/daedric lord (I forget her name): I would claim the souls of every sentient being I killed in black gemstones, and present them to her alter as a offering...the pile was quite large while I played that playthrough.

General rules: If the game allows me to play it without killing, I will. Not simply because of an achievement, but because I actually prefer the less-than-lethal method of gameplay if it's allowed.

I don't beat up random civilians/prostitutes. This is for games like GTA or Saints Row. I just don't find it at all fun to beat the shit out of a prostitute and take money back from her. In fact, any game where prostitution is presented, I am quite respectful of the working girls/guys, and treat them with *gasp* common decency and respect.

If the game has hacking, I max that shit out quick, to the exclusion of physical attributes. Stealth/hacking always number 1 to improve.

If there are the options of gender, I always play male. Because I frequently inject myself into the protagonist role, and it's easier for me to do that if it's male.

I won't side with factions that are primarily defined as "we're the assholes of this setting". Or the "lulz! Chaos rulez!" factions. Groups that are primarily trying to help others, or defend people from assholes, always get my support.

 

[SpydersByte]

I can't think of any cool in-game rules I have that make play more interesting but there are a few things I make sure to do with all games, MMOs included.

First, I always buy a guide, or find a good one online. Playing the early Final Fantasy games showed me that you will always miss content unless you use a guide, some of it is just too buried or too counterintuitive to find. Missing content is the theme through all of my "rules".

Second, and this applies more heavily to MMOs, I always take ALL the quests. I don't care how trivial they are, I take them and complete them. I also do my best to read every dialogue and every piece of flavor text I find... which can be a bit of a pain in games like Witcher where you find books to read every other step you take.

Lastly, I never save over an old file if I can help it. I also save at every opportunity. This again ties in with trying to experience everything. Usually it's for going back to experience the other side of a paragon/renegade decision or even just to watch an awesome cutscene again. My save file lists for games like Final Fantasy and Mass Effect are so huge that I've had to find the save directory and move the old saves to a backup folder to clear space multiple times.

Usually I do all of this because I want to see all of the content possible on my first run. Experience has taught me that I just don't have the patience to re-run entire games just to see the other side of the coin when I can just use my saves to see both sides in one run. In the case of full paragon/renegade endings that you can't possibly see in one run I usually resort to watching on youtube.

I don't beat up random civilians/prostitutes. This is for games like GTA or Saints Row. I just don't find it at all fun to beat the shit out of a prostitute and take money back from her. In fact, any game where prostitution is presented, I am quite respectful of the working girls/guys, and treat them with *gasp* common decency and respect.

I find this hilarious. You do realize they're just bits of code yea? Not legit people hard-up for a buck.

Don't get me wrong, I've never seen the appeal of using prostitutes in GTA or punching random civs in any sandbox, but *respect* them? lol that's just odd considering they aren't real people, how exactly do you treat them with "common decency and respect"?

 

[Harlemura]

When characters have unlockable outfits or skins, I almost never change them from their default look. You usually don't get the option to change them until you've finished the main campaign anyway, so it's rare I even have the choice to mess up how everything's meant to canonically look, but even when I'm playing the game through again for giggles I'll leave everything as is.

This is especially apparent in fighting games, where most games will give you the 10 different colour palettes for each character to define yourself from the hoard of other people online. But even then I just use their standard colours. That's how they were designed to look, that's how I want 'em to look.

 

[happyninja42]

I find this hilarious. You do realize they're just bits of code yea? Not legit people hard-up for a buck.

Don't get me wrong, I've never seen the appeal of using prostitutes in GTA or punching random civs in any sandbox, but *respect* them? lol that's just odd considering they aren't real people, how exactly do you treat them with "common decency and respect"?

*gasp* They aren't real?! O_O Holy shit balls! Are you serious!? Of course I know they're not real, but the game establishes them as something in the game, and I try and behave like I'm not a fucking asshole. I know, shock of shocks for a video gamer, to not just indulge whatever random petty impulse they might have and lul about it afterwards. I find it petty, childish, and silly to do it in games, so I don't do it. "Hah! I punched that whore in the ****! Lul!" *takes money back after having sex with her to replenish health* That's just a dick attitude to have, and I don't do it. I like to play (for most games) in a way that would reflect how I personally would behave. So I don't act like a dick if I'm given the option not to.

Find it hilarious all you want, I don't really give a shit.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Pokemon-
Never used the same starter type twice from the last game (well ok I broke it from the last games since I picked Frokie and then Mudkid since I didn't want Torchic and I can never get Treeko final form, stupid tail).

Always have a Pokemon that and surf and fly. Sure I have an HM slave have surf and fly are moves I used way too often.

Always have a psychic Pokemon or a pokemon with high special attack.

Guild Wars 2-
When mixing the armour skins, I must never picked the same armour set skins twice. All six armour pieces must be from six different armour sets. (Yeah I end up playing dress up with my characters.)

 

[Level 7 Dragon]

If a game allows a 100% pacifist run, take it, since they are usually interesting.

In Fallout: New Vegas - Try to offend every faction and every settlement in the game and try not to die of starvation or thirst.