The BOX Challenge Series

redria7

redria7

CakeWatch
I had a whole plan of doing one or two of these and turning them into crummy youtube videos before sharing the concepts, but I've realized that I don't have the time, energy, creativity, or really even software/hardware to make something respectable. Also, wanting to wait and record my progress was stopping me from actually playing, so I've sat on this for half a year and I'm done with waiting. I want to see someone else tackle these.

Introducing the BOX Challenge Series! This is a set of different challenges that aim to push your boundaries at low levels and make Normal difficulty the most fun setting.

So what actually is this? To put it simply - clear episode 1 in single player from start to finish following different item and shop restrictions. Sounds easy? Let's set standard rules for all BOX challenges, then we can get into the meat of what makes each challenge unique.

Standard Rules
  • Objective: Full clear Episode 1 free roam - Clear Forest, Caves, Mines, and Ruins, along with the boss of each area.
  • Ironman - No trading or assistance from any other player characters, including your own. That means no meseta, items, experience grinding, or stage carrying from anyone. Single player only!
  • Hardcore - If you die and get sent back to Pioneer 2, you quit and remake your character (play on a hardcore account for easy resets). If you are lucky enough to find and have access to a scape doll, then your run can continue, following the standard hardcore account rules of Ephinea.
  • No replaying cleared areas - Each area must be cleared from start to finish in a single run, and each area may only be cleared once. Effectively, this strictly limits experience (and meseta/item) gain for everyone.
  • No questing - For similar reasons, quests are off limits to prevent farming of experience, meseta, or items.
  • No accessing episodes 2 or 4 - Same reasons as above. (Note, I am sure some of you might want to try these challenges on episode 2 or 4 instead of 1. The same rules would apply, but good luck surviving!)
  • /purist - to reduce leveling back to original rates
Yellow BOX Challenge

The yellow challenge focuses on the extremely limited amounts of meseta that drops in Normal mode, and the exorbitant prices in the shops in the early game:

Bonus Rules
  • All shops are available
  • Only meseta may be picked up from the ground
Without the option to collect items to sell to the shop, meseta is in extremely short supply. Do you buy weapons? Save up for defensive equipment? Stock up on consumables? Do you bother leveling your mag? The yellow challenge is an economic micro-game of managing your money!

Green BOX Challenge

The green challenge focuses on the impact consumables have on gameplay at early levels, and exploring the limits of normal mode drops.

Bonus Rules
  • The green shop and the MedBay are CLOSED. All other shops are available
  • Only meseta and green items may be picked up from the ground
Without being able to shop for consumables, each one you find suddenly has much higher value, and runs can quickly be blessed or cursed by RNG. With an extra income source in selling extra consumables and without the money sink of buying heals and pipes, weapons and defense become more accessible, but the limits on healing might become a threat during later stages and bosses.

Empty BOX Challenge

The empty box challenge follows the same concept as challenge mode.

Bonus Rules
  • All shops, including the MedBay, are CLOSED
  • All items may be collected
This should be an easier version of the green challenge, as the same consumables will be available, but better equipment can be found from drops than will be affordable in shops. This is effectively single player challenge mode.

Brown BOX Challenge

In a change from previous challenges, the brown challenge focuses almost exclusively on your endurance - your ability to hold onto consumables until exactly the right moment.

Bonus Rules
  • All shops except the green shop are CLOSED, including the MedBay
  • The green shop is only available once for each region, and can only be used before entering the region for the first time
  • All items except green items may be collected
  • No selling allowed
Similar to the yellow challenge, consumables are only available through the shop, except now the shop can only be accessed 4 times throughout the run. Better equipment can be collected through the run similar to the empty challenge, but without any way to resupply on consumables before bosses, you will need to ration resources carefully.

RED BOX Challenge

This one is very different, and almost doesn't belong in this post, but I like the naming convention.

To start, throw out the standard rules. The red challenge runs a unique rule set.
  • Objective: Solo clear as many quests on Ultimate difficulty as possible
  • Ultimate - No banking. If you are familiar with Runescape's Ultimare Ironman concept, the idea is similar. You can only keep what will fit in your inventory.
  • Ironman - No trading or assistance from any other player characters, including your own. That means no meseta, items, experience grinding, or stage carrying from anyone. Single player only!
  • Hardcore - If you die and get sent back to Pioneer 2, you quit and remake your character (play on a hardcore account for easy resets). If you are lucky enough to find and have access to a scape doll, then your run can continue, following the standard hardcore account rules of Ephinea.
  • No quitting or returning to lobby from the field - Only quit the game or return to lobby from Pioneer 2. Carefully consider whether you can handle or escape a fight before entering. Bosses are a character-wipe level threat at all times. Don't stress about this rule if your connection tends to drop or if your computer likes to crash your game. This is for fun, and we all play around the capabilities we have.
  • No resetting challenge mode (I don't know the limits of challenge mode. I'd like to include that the challenge mode runs should be done 2 player, but I don't know if you can S-Rank with only 2 people. Wiser minds than mine can chime in)
  • When you reach level 200, retire the character.
  • /purist - the experience reduction will actually be pretty important here just to get everything done that you want, but the rare drop rate bonuses are also removed to help maintain the challenge
The concept is simple. You have 30 inventory slots to play with as you progress through the game. You need to strategize how you wish to utilize them as you progress your character. The end goal is to see what is possible to solo clear prior to level 200 under these restrictions. Plan out how many inventory slots you want to dedicate to scape dolls and consumables. Plan out what section IDs you want in which order to collect your desired rare drops. Scout quests in easier difficulties to make sure you aren't biting off more than you can chew. And always keep in mind the level cap when considering which items to grind for - you might want an SJS on your account but grinding for it might take you over level 200 alone!

Take a look through these challenges. All but one have a relatively quick run-time to try, and should offer up some interesting twists to the normal ways you approach the game. And if you want something long-term? The red box challenge might just be right up your alley!

Let me know what you think, what changes or new box challenges you might suggest, and most of all, let me know if you try any of these, how much success you had, and what strategies you tried!
 
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I don't know when I'll try these, but I do like initial normal-mode playthroughs so I might sometime just to switch it up, specifically green and brown.
I reckon /purist to be mandatory?
 
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