Insane Difficulty: caffinator - Viewing Profile - Insane Difficulty

So for the longest time, I was hoping for a Tactics Ogre remake I could play on the go (Before I found the stuff I could really do with the PSP, of course), having grown up with the one for the GBA, but only hearing amazing things about the original. That being said, the remake was a really odd mix of systems, but had a lot of excellent aspects as far as strategy games go. Also unfortunate was how utterly over-powered You could get with little to no effort. ....

That being said, though, this game becomes a lot like FFT once You forbid the use of weapon proficiency skills. With this No-Skill run I've been trying, my archers have felt a lot more humble, and the 100% accuracy skills seem like they would be genuinely useful, and in place. Truth be told, it almost feels like the weapon proficiency skills are the afterthought that broke a lot of other good ideas. Bows become garbage in bad weather, daggers become a lot less reliable, though still really good, really the only weapon it doesn't seem to balance to it's old role would be cudgels, but it would take a miracle to raise them from the depths of their dumpster.

Now...I've seen a few challenges on here, and a couple other places, but the problem is that they were absurdly complicated to follow. (Bans of specific skills, books, crafts, weapons, races, tiles, huge lists)
So, I tried a few others, either mixes of ones I'd seen, or just curious ideas for gits and shiggles. I thought maybe someone could get some fun out of these.

1- So first off, just a general balanced/underpowered challenge, for a similar to a basic playthrough, or good for a no Knockout/dead run, similar to a lot out there as kind of a standard)
- No two-handed bows or crossbows (fixes some power/range issues)
- No books
- 3+ classes
- Crafting is fine, seems like it's self-balanced by being dull as hell
- Restart on knockdown (If You feel like having a non-cheesy run for that sort of challenge. Completed this, it's very do-able, and feels satisfying as hell to pull off)
- No resurrection or wake-up items.

2- Basic ironman run
- No books
- Delete save on loss
- Retreat is fine, maybe necessary with how crazy some randoms get
- 3+ classes
- No resurrection or wake-up items.

3- My personal favorite so far, the No Skill run
- No Skills from the menu whatsoever
- Crafting is fine, because some of the secondary effect items make this run viable
- Books are fine, balanced generally by being expensive
- 3 random battles per game, a retreat still counts as a fight. (This is mostly to allow the DLC areas to be semi-viable, depending on preference)
- No resurrection or wake-up items.
- I'm still testing some stuff, like if the late-game +2 weapon skill items actually unlock killmoves or not.
- No reloads of any kind.
- This one's a fun challenge at messing with mechanics and budgeting out what You can use.
- It's odd to not ban 2h bows and cbows, but their accuracy penalty is very noticeable without bow skills, down to 25-33% in the rain or snow.

I've been recording this run as it's been going, currently this is as far as the shenanigans have gotten, if anyone's interested.: https://www.youtube....cAXRFi3qpQTtrQo

(So far it's gone from straightforward to outright chaos to what can be best described as time manipulation nonsense by part 30. I'm trying to do at least one run of each of the big optional things for the run, but may scrap that if it gets annoying under this ruleset.)

4- XCOM Challenge (Probably the most specific of the bunch)
- 4 classes
- Snipers are Archers with 2h Crossbows, but no proficiency skill
- Heavies are Dragoons with 2h Crossbows
- Assaults are Rogues with 1h Crossbows and a dagger, but no skill for the dagger (Meant for backstabs)
- Supports are Knights with a 1h Crossbow and Lobber, just items and Field Alchemy
- Units are no longer useable upon losing a life.
- Unfortunately this run is somewhat hindered by not having Your classes limited until chapter 2, in most cases.
- Item drops and crafted gear only, no store bought weapons. Recovery items and consumables are fine.
- No Passive Skills aside from Trajectory, Field Alchemy 2 (For supports), bow/crossbow proficiency (For all but the sniper), active skills, recruit skills, and special moves are ok
- Grinding would be necessary, but kinda risky, seems to balance itself
- Recruits can be used for salvage, but not added to the roster unless they are Wallister (May change that last part).

5- Nudist Run
-Simple rules, no equipment on anyone. Naked and free on everyone.

6- Relative Pacifist Run
- Fairly straightforward, everyone needs a recruit move, and enemies can only be killed if there is absolutely no chance to recruit them. Actually, due to the nature of the game, odds are You'll need to cripple or knock out any recruits just to make sure that they don't break the rule.
- Obviously a total pacifist run is impossible, especially once You start invading the north, but there are still recruit-able characters at that point. This run doesn't include necessary recruiting for optional characters, just avoiding as much fighting as is possible.
- This one's untested, but seems very possible I'd say an exception for undead can be made simply because A: they're already dead, and B: necromancers are a really late-game find.

I've tried some other runs, such as one person per class, no specific skills or crafting, etc, but just generally ran into walls. Thought about trying some CW stuff at some point, but don't really even know where to start with all that.

I've been curious about trying a run with just items and cudgels, but haven't been able to try it just yet.

Also, as many people have figured out, a single class challenge in this game results in utterly stomping everything until level 30, and then hitting a brick wall courtesy of equipment. This is easily surmountable with items, considering how high You can get their skills by then, but ultimately results in maybe 2-3 interesting battles before getting back to just walking all over everyone.

So if anyone else has some interesting ideas, I'd like to try them. As much as I like this game, I've yet to find a run that will make it as engrossing as the original under ideal circumstances, or the GBA game. Frankly, if there was a way to cheat the GBA game's mechanics into this one, it'd be incredible.