Insane Difficulty: Insane Difficulty Olympics 2017 - Brainstorming Challenges! - Insane Difficulty

Three save files. Three pre-determined teams with unspent ELs, a pool of gear, and set levels. The fights are the Gold, Silver, and Brown dragons.

Suggest teams and levels.

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I suggest that Gau, Umaro and Gogo sit down from these challenges: The first two are too RNG-dependent and the last one can open black holes if it used by a good player. Besides of that, just take the others eleven characters and use a random name picker. Let us get surprised for once

seibaby, on 26 February 2017 - 12:53 AM, said:

The reason this is fun is because it gets people thinking outside the box. They see that the solution can't be "level more" or "use one combination i've used the whole game". People are forced to look at things differently when they're restricted. The puzzle would have more than one solution ideally.

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This would not be a speedrun at all. It would take me probably 6-8 hours to do this if I completely dedicated to it, and I've actually done some thinking and routing (not much). It would probably take a new player two or three times that long.

ronlyn, on 26 February 2017 - 03:09 AM, said:

I think it'd be important to construct your roster so that a fair chunk of equipment is shared between characters, and you only have one of each of some of the nicer things. So you've got some nice heavy armor or whatever but Celes and Cyan both want it, for example (I'm not positive how much overlap they have later on, so maybe pick a different pair if necessary to get the point across).

Mishrak, on 26 February 2017 - 08:19 AM, said:

Blast! My ignorance about BNW is showing! I'll shut up now.

Came up with an insane idea that will give the save editor a workout.

Old Man and Berserker Army

Premise:

Strago was frustrated. Constantly being left out because "we're concerned you'll hurt yourself" and all that. Wasn't risk a part of the journey he'd volunteered for? Relm was having too much fun blowing things up with forbidden magics to pay much attention to him. And on a recent trip for supplies to Thamasa, his close friend Gungho turns up injured.

Well, he'd take out his frustrations on the monster that injured his friend. As added incentive, what little lore existed on Hidon hinted that it possessed some unique magics not used elsewhere. Surely if he returned from the hunt wielding its arcane spells, Celes and the others would give him the respect he felt he deserved. So alongside the other neglected members of the band, he sets out.

Task: Defeat Hidon with Strago, Gau, Mog, and Umaro. Learn Black Omen and Shield. Sounds simple except that the team is rather unprepared to start.

Strago: Lv 20, EL 5 (all used on Shiva) WoB magic only, only Lores are those learned before regaining the airship in the WoB. No Holy Wind and no Refract, among others.

Gau: Lv 20, EL 0, all Rages except Magic Urn, no spells. While I feel it's more thematically fitting to give him nothing but Soldier and a scattering of WoB Rages, this is done in the interests of time and leaving out Veldt RNG.

Mog; Lv 20, EL 0, Dusk Requiem, Love Sonata, and Snowman Jazz, no spells

Umaro: Lv 30 with starting equipment Umaro gets to be awesome and beefy.

All others at Lv 30, EL 20

No restrictions on equipment, levels (of either type), or abilities. Other characters can be used outside the Hidon battle. Winner determined by greatest number of survivors at battle end. Between entries with equal numbers of survivors, a faster time is the deciding factor for ranking.

Game state: Start outside Thamasa with Ebot's Rock open. Inventory reflects whatever a competent player would have in the WoR with only Ebot's Rock, Fanatics' Tower, and Kefka's Tower unvisited. All Espers besides Crusader and Ragnarok available. Since the main team didn't care about Strago and the non-humans other than Terra, the Silver Dragon and the Tonberry were left unfought. So obtaining the other Snow Muffler and Bone Club entails defeating the bosses holding them first. The 22 pieces of Coral are already in possession so the team can challenge Hidon whenever they feel ready. Also, while rare steals are allowed, the team doesn't start with any so if one just got to have some Slim Jim or a Lazy Shell, it will take a detour to acquire.

So, brainstorming with people about it, I think it's safe to say that there's no way to do a good challenge for BNW (or for any rebalance mod, really), that suits both newcomers and veterans of the mod.

Then, what I want to suggest, and see if you guys agree, is to have 2 challenges. One for newcomers, (which would be pretty easy overall - like beating Dadaluma, or before it, with X restriction), and another challenge for the vets.

What do you think? I only posted this in the BNW forum, becaue you guys are both active and know well what the newcomers and vets will both appreciate for the experience of the Olympics.

That sounds pretty cool! Though if I had to pick something for beginners to do, I'd probably go with something after Dadaluma so that they can dip a bit into the new esper systems, which I find to be the most attractive aspect in the mod. Plus Dadaluma himself I feel has a complex and interesting script, but he comes at the end of a rather long learning period, teaching the players about counters, and whatnot. Maaaybe not a good "demo" to jump in on.

Now, where to go after Dadaluma... FC+Atma would be interesting, but also potentially very rough without some previous research. So I'm tempted to suggest either
- the IRMTF (long, variety of bosses culminating with the almighty cranes, even shows a couple fun script changes)
- or the Sealed Cave, (low party limitations, short and concise, has a new boss!) (also easier to setup a party beforehand) (IAF may be added as a requirement if it's still too short/easy)

Aside from that,
- "target levels/ELs"
- unspent ELs goes without saying (and maybe a mini-readme explaining the system and why stamina is good )
- okay-but-with-some-visible-deficiencies inventories/tools/rages/spells ("only 3 Phoenix Downs left...?" "oh no, there's no Bioblaster aaaaaa")

I don't think there should be wide encompassing limits aside from "don't buy new things, just do the dungeon/boss". This mod is too flexible and I feel would lose too much appeal if that flexibility was bridled for a newcomer. Hence my suggestion of "mini-restrictions" in the form of an incomplete inventory/skillslist.