Games that you have mastered

[octavius]

I always play TBS games like Civ 1-2, SMAC, MoO, HoMM 2-3, AoW 1-SM on Impossible.

CRPGs I play on default difficulty, as I have no interest whatsoever in HP bloated enemies. I instead use "house rules" like no rest spamming, no save scumming and mandatory "diversity squads" for party based games* as well as mods than make things more intresting, like SCS for the BG games.

FPS games I used to play on the the second hardest difficulty, but nowadays my reactions and interest have decreased, so I play on Normal difficulty.

Thief 1 and 2 I always play on highest difficulty.

*As long as the races actually are diverse, of course. Once the current trend is completed and humans and orcs will have the same stats in the name of anti-racism, I will see no reason to play anything else than parties of male humans. So it's ironic the effect anti-"racism" may have on diversity.

 

[DalekFlay]

CRPGs I play on default difficulty, as I have no interest whatsoever in HP bloated enemies. I instead use "house rules" like no rest spamming, no save scumming and mandatory "diversity squads" for party based games* as well as mods than make things more intresting, like SCS for the BG games.

This is a great point. I play games like New Vegas on default to avoid bullet sponge enemies, but I do put restrictions on myself like sticking close to one character archetype or wearing realistic clothes/armor instead of going for whatever is the best. In other words if I'm a charming rogue spy type (my usual style) then I'm wear normal clothes or a simple leather setup, and mostly use pistols.

 

[Jason Liang]

NES - Castlevania, Zelda 1, Zelda 2, 1943, Jackal, Shadow of the Ninja, Tetris, Ninja Gaiden 2
Genesis - Shadowrun, Ecco the Dolphin, Shining Force, Warriors of the Eternal Sun, Battletech, Master of Monsters
PC - Wizardry 1, Pool of Radiance, Castles 2, Fantasy General, Red Alert, Spaceward Ho!, SMAC, Pirates!, Chaos Overlords, Diablo 2, Civ 4, Temple of Elemental Evil, Neverwinter Nights, Europa Universalis 2, EU 3, Sengoku Rance, Dragonfall, Invisible Inc, Age of Decadence, Underrail (not much to master), Lords of Waterdeep, Twilight Struggle

Castlevania I can beat blindfold without dying, or speedrun under 13 minutes. Jackal and 1943 I can beat both start to finish without dying. Zelda 1 I've beaten without getting the 1st or 2nd sword. Wizardy I've beaten without Mage spells. Ecco the Dolphin I can make that ridiculously impossible vault in City of Forever. Age of Decadence I've beaten all hard fights with 0 combat skills. Civ 4 I beat on Deity. Chaos Overlords I beat on homicidal maniac.

 

[Twiglard]

Arcanum (did a zero-kill run), Fallout 1&2 minmaxing (still remember solution to every quest), VTMB xp grinding, Quake 1/2 (average q2 MP, bad qw MP, but single-player is too easy), Diablo 1.

Didn't do a Praetor run in AoD though.

If you never did an Arcanum zero-kill run then shame on you.

 

[DalekFlay]

If you never did an Arcanum zero-kill run then shame on you.

Well this gives me something to google in bed five minutes from now.

 

[Kev Inkline]

CRPGs I play on default difficulty, as I have no interest whatsoever in HP bloated enemies. I instead use "house rules" like no rest spamming, no save scumming and mandatory "diversity squads" for party based games* as well as mods than make things more intresting, like SCS for the BG games.

This is a great point. I play games like New Vegas on default to avoid bullet sponge enemies, but I do put restrictions on myself like sticking close to one character archetype or wearing realistic clothes/armor instead of going for whatever is the best. In other words if I'm a charming rogue spy type (my usual style) then I'm wear normal clothes or a simple leather setup, and mostly use pistols.

Do you guys also take shoes off when you go to have a rest?

 

[Parsimonious cook]

The games in which I trully feel like I became a master would be probably the following three:

SpellCross (not very well known TBS from the 90s, I finished it many times, I know all the units/maps/meta perfectly, can finish any mission of the game on the highest difficulty pretty much in my sleep)
Operation Flashpoint (the first real milsim, I got so good that I pretty much broke some missions, like in the second one I could single handedly stop Soviet tank counter attack on Regina that is supposed to crush you just with stolen RPGs, I was shooting down helis left and right, clearing maps etc)
TIE Fighter (one of the best "space sims," I could get all the secondary/bonus objectives, destroy Calamari cruisers in a TIE Fighter etc)

 

[deadmeme]

CRPGs I play on default difficulty, as I have no interest whatsoever in HP bloated enemies. I instead use "house rules" like no rest spamming, no save scumming and mandatory "diversity squads" for party based games* as well as mods than make things more intresting, like SCS for the BG games.

This is a great point. I play games like New Vegas on default to avoid bullet sponge enemies, but I do put restrictions on myself like sticking close to one character archetype or wearing realistic clothes/armor instead of going for whatever is the best. In other words if I'm a charming rogue spy type (my usual style) then I'm wear normal clothes or a simple leather setup, and mostly use pistols.

There is always a way to get beyond that sponginess, with the viable builds. In Oblivion on max difficulty you use poison and right enchantments and it results in really short exchanges between you and the AI. They start dropping like flies (even in the late game).

 

[Caim]

I've gotten pretty good at Mega Man 4. It's the best of the classic Mega Man games as well.

 

[pidstuff]

Vagrant Story, Suikoden 2, Arcanum and PlayHome. The first three, I've beaten them lots of times and the last game got me hard.

 

[DraQ]

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.s, Morrowind, Deus Ex, Children of a Dead Earth, Frontier Elite 2 - I guess.
I won't be mentioning shit like Q2 singleplayer because that's kindergarten level of skill ceiling, and for anything multiplayer "mastering" implies being on an esport champion level.

 

[Hag]

Mechwarrior 3
First time I finished it was with a blackhawk.
I won the final trial of strength or whatever 1vs3 battle with my 45 tons blackhawk. Then I finished it several other times.
The plot was stupid but for the teenager I was everything was great about this game. Got me hooked on giant robots.