I also play games that aren't Theatrhythm, because buying two copies of the game would be silly!
Grandia 3 - So I am replaying this. I decided to go with an easier challenge than last time (where I used two PCs), and set for myself the following somewhat zany run:
(a) each character can only use spells of "their" element. Based on the techs various PCs have, this is obviously Yuki = wind, Miranda = earth, and Ulf = fire. Process of elimination from there insists that Alfina has water, as does Hect, and Alonso has fire.
(b) no items or orb use
(c) MP restoration ban. The item ban mostly does this already but I could theoretically circumvent this with crap like Meditate and Magic Absorb in a slow and grindy fashion, so I did the more elegant thing and just banned it entirely
(d) no egg fusion
Anyway I am on disc 2 and have just beaten the Eternal Corridor. Some highlights of the run so far:
-Earlygame isn't terribly affected. Crackle is way too good for an attack spell you gain at the first shop in the game (it's still useful on disc 2).
-Yuki got poisoned in Arcriff forest (the small "dungeon" with the sheep) and this persisted between battles and I had no way to heal it! It's an easy area anyway so it's not a big deal, but I did mean I couldn't get any Excellent victories.
-Characters dying is bad as I have no way to revive them until Dahna joins and I teach her Resurrect (and even then, I have no way to resurrect Dahna). G3 battles are extremely controllable and nothing save Desert Lord actually dishes out OHKO damage (I did not fight Desert Lord) so this isn't actually too bad, but does keep me on my toes. It only really goes south once when I lose two PCs in the fight against Green Man x3 in Dragon Valley (the last dungeon before Dahna joins) but this is very near the end of the dungeon so Yuki was able to haul the two corpses to the end.
-I'm way better at this game than I was the first time I played it. Armed with a better sense of how the game's timing works, a healthy respect for the Perception (evade) skill, and when to use cancel/defend/move, I get a large number of Excellent victories despite the nerf to my offence.
-To break down the elements... fire is the best attacking element, but it's on the weakest mage (the MP has been a larger issue than the Mag stat ever since I got BOOMOR. That spell is too good). Wind is a less extreme case; probably the second best attacking element, and on the second weakest mage. At least Yuki now has the option of the Rune Sword if I want to emphasise this side of him, but the MP is still an issue unless I give him Wind Mastery. Water is mostly all about healing; to my point in the game it still only has one attack spell but at least it's a good, fast, cost-effective one albeit sadly ST. (Good thing Alfina has Ripple Shot.) Earth gets slow, unimpressive, attack spells but at least two of them are pure MT. Quake is quite costly though. Of course, earth also has Diggin/Cure/Resurrect which are very important. Overall the PC balance under this challenge so far is Alfina > Yuki >= Ulf > Dahna I think, but it varies.
-Hardest opponents have been the Green Men, Golems (though they weren't as bad as I expected even with my nerfed magic), EXCISE PSI (ohgod, closest I've come to resetting, twice), and most boss battles. Disc 2 in general has been a significant step up but nothing new there!
Wild Arms XF - Since I am incapable of doing just one zany challenge replay of a game I enjoy, here's another! This one's pretty simple.
(a) Only "basic" equipment (the stuff that costs 200 gella... fortunately this exists even for PCs/classes who join late!)
(b) Since this nerfs my offence and that is part of the point of the playthrough, no attacks which deal damage independently of offensive stats (i.e. Valiant, Item Toss, gravity, petrify/death).
I expect this will end up feeling like a LLG, since you can't actually do a true LLG of the game without hacking. So far I am in early chapter 2, where the game expects you to have upgraded equipment either once (by shops) or twice (by synthing) and already I can feel the difference, but I imagine it will be much more pronounced lategame. It's not really hard enough to draw resets but the last five battles (1-14 town defence through 2-2 sentinel switches) have all been rough. Except 1-15, which I learned you can cheese out if you kill the last two undead at the same time (go go Widespread Sanctify) to avoid seeing the reinforcement swarm. Ragnar is worse on this challenge due to being hit extra hard by his already low attack/hit becoming lower, but Felius has been more useful than normal due to my valuing of his raw durability and Upper Hand's ITE. Party is Clarissa/Felius/Levin/three generics so far.
