Ever beat a game w/o using a major gameplay mechanic?

[MrPopo]

Final Fantasy VIII's biggest downfall imo. The system is great, but so complicated that the difficulty could in no way be crafted around assuming the player understands the system fully. In my first playthrough, the challenge was actually decent. With any understanding of the game, though, you can pretty much break everything.

Square must have really liked VI to go and make an even more broken game.

The first time I played VIII I had done some research beforehand on the mechanic; so I ended up doing a Squall-only playthrough. Was still a steamroll, because that game breaks in half if you know what you're doing.

But when I think about it, I think IV was the last FF that you couldn't become hilariously overpowered in. FFII was the precursor to it where you could become unhittable massive damage machines, V you unlocked Bard and Chemist (Chemist can solo both super bosses), VI you can become unhittable by everything but a handful of magics while doing 9999 with basic spells, VII once you realized you didn't want to stack every piece of magic on your chars you'd cruise through (and then you figure out some of the awesome combos), IX you can stack 20x auto effects, X you can stack several auto effects and then quickly reach a point that you can power your chars very rapidly (not to mention Yuna's celestial being very easy to unlock and 1 MP cost being as good as it's always been), XII the buffs were all excellent and it was trivial to keep them up thanks to Gambits, XIII Adamantoises vulnerable to Death and are kneecapped with Hecaton.

[lisalover1]

Final Fantasy VIII's biggest downfall imo. The system is great, but so complicated that the difficulty could in no way be crafted around assuming the player understands the system fully. In my first playthrough, the challenge was actually decent. With any understanding of the game, though, you can pretty much break everything.

Square must have really liked VI to go and make an even more broken game.

The first time I played VIII I had done some research beforehand on the mechanic; so I ended up doing a Squall-only playthrough. Was still a steamroll, because that game breaks in half if you know what you're doing.

But when I think about it, I think IV was the last FF that you couldn't become hilariously overpowered in. FFII was the precursor to it where you could become unhittable massive damage machines, V you unlocked Bard and Chemist (Chemist can solo both super bosses), VI you can become unhittable by everything but a handful of magics while doing 9999 with basic spells, VII once you realized you didn't want to stack every piece of magic on your chars you'd cruise through (and then you figure out some of the awesome combos), IX you can stack 20x auto effects, X you can stack several auto effects and then quickly reach a point that you can power your chars very rapidly (not to mention Yuna's celestial being very easy to unlock and 1 MP cost being as good as it's always been), XII the buffs were all excellent and it was trivial to keep them up thanks to Gambits, XIII Adamantoises vulnerable to Death and are kneecapped with Hecaton.

The first time I played FFIX, I got to disc 3 before learning about equippable abilities. >_<

[ZeroAX]

The first time I played FFIX, I got to disc 3 before learning about equippable abilities. >_<

Blame the people who complained so much about FF VIII's tutorials

[Tanooki]

Going back to the old 8/16 bit era there were usually run and gun types and brawlers and they'd have like a special move that helped bail you out, or you'd get a subweapon like grenades and all that. Often I'd play the games and not use the perks, or in some cases like TMNT2 and 4 where the 'special' move doesn't drain your life but is slower to let off I'd sometimes never use normal attacks and go that way with it alone.

[soul_hacker]

I never used the Brave/Default in Bravely Default.

I have beaten Castlevania: Symphony of the Night so many times without using magic or shields.

I tried to beat a Shin Megami Tensei game once without fusing demons. That didn't end well for me.

[TSTR]

Do Street Fighter arcade mode runs using only normals count? Then yes.

[marlowe221]

I beat the first Torchlight on the difficulty setting one notch above normal without ever slotting a single gem in a single piece of gear.

I just couldn't be bothered to stop and read what NPCs were telling me or read descriptions, etc.

[KalessinDB]

In Castlevania III for the NES, I didn't know for the longest time that Grant, Alucard, and Sypha are playable characters. I've never owned the manual for the game. I don't think I actually beat it though, before finding out I mean.

But why would you play with anyone except Grant? Climbing walls!! And dude's got HOPS! Who said white pirates can't jump?

[lisalover1]

Do Street Fighter arcade mode runs using only normals count? Then yes.

I was only able to beat SF2 originally by literally doing nothing but spamming hadokens. I'd like to say I have matured in my fighting game proficency, but that's just not true.

[Gunstar Green]

In Castlevania III for the NES, I didn't know for the longest time that Grant, Alucard, and Sypha are playable characters. I've never owned the manual for the game. I don't think I actually beat it though, before finding out I mean.

Damn that innocuous select button.