Challenge ideas for my 2nd playthroughs?

[ositias]

Soooo. I just finished playing FE9 and set up a FE10 file to get the bonuses of it - and plan to get all the second playthrough extra events as well.
But simply playing it again on Normal mode (since Hard mode changes are stupid imo) will be boring.
Do you have any fun ideas which are more fun than PMU, ... (Also note that I play on a physical copy and have no access to hacking devices).

[Ace Pelleas]

Why not a swords only on hard?

If not try a Men/women only or even Laguz/Beorc only

[Interdimensional Observer]

Certain affinities only. Mounties or footies only. Mages only.

[Ace Pelleas]

One unit from each part only!

[Julizan]

In my last normal mode run I only used the worst rated units and forced units for the tower.
Was quite challening and also fun.
It also gave me the enlightment that Astrid and Fiona can turn pretty damn great if you seriously train them.

[Lord Tullus]

Howabout using All swordmasters/trueblades in addition to Fire/Light magic only?  By that I mean, you can't use thunder or wind.  Only light or Fire, and the only sword users you can use aside from Ike and Elincia are the swordmasters and trueblades and you must use all of them.  (I've never used all trueblades and Trained Tormod in the same file, so... it could be quite interesting to do so.)

Edited March 22, 2017 by Lord Tullus

[SavageVolug]

Something you could try is say for the Dawn Brigade only using Nolan or maybe Aran or Jill (but they don't join till later). For Crimea Just use Kieran (or whoever's your favorite) For the Greil mercenaries just use Ike and then pick a laguz to represent the Laguz Alliance. You now have a Factions play, which will be more interesting than an Ike solo which I once saw someone do ignoring segments where you can't play as Ike.

[Eliza]

If you have anyone willing to devote serious time to RD hard mode, then co-op can be fun. Just use a random number generator (1-however many characters you're able to acquire on the play through per part) and assign a number to each character. You and your friend will use the rng to select units 1 by 1. As for how to actually make co op work in terms of gameplay, just switch off using the remote- you use it for yours and your friend uses it for his/hers. I usually split up all the funds that are available, and in part 4 each of you get one army to yourselves and units that need levels go to the hawk army as usual. This scenario in part 4 can be a bit difficult to deal with depending on who your units are due to the many required units in each army, but that can be easily fixed just by trading around the required units between you and your friend before the game even starts. It takes a lot of preparation, but it can be fun and if you have the time and resources I recommend it.

Also, if you don't want to randomize who gets which units, then just pick amongst yourselves- but the randomizing can definitely provide a challenge if you don't get some of the stronger units. Part 1 can be a huge challenge if one of you ends up with the stronger members of the Dawn Brigade, but that just makes things more interesting.

Edited June 10, 2017 by Eliza

[ITZ_Taoc69]

Only Axes characters.

[Faellin]

Heres one. Promote Fiona and Meg to their 2nd tier class before the end of act 1. Then have them promote to their tier 3 class before act 4 endgame. With no using bonus exp on either of them. On hard mode, and the only other units you may use are Micaiah and Sothe. (And anyone else who is forced)

Edited July 11, 2017 by Faellin

[ositias]

Thanks for all the suggestions, by the way! I will keep them in mind for future playthroughs (which I certainly will do a few of as I love FE10 to death)! I started this run (I'm in the Tower of Guidance rn) and focused on using different units compared to my first playthrough and getting the 2nd playthrough bonuses, so no biggie. But for the next ones I will certainly use some of those recommendations.

[Dark Holy Elf]

I've done a bunch of challenge runs of this game, and yeah they're a lot of fun. I agree with you that hard mode changes are stupid and it's much more fun to get challenge in other ways. Some I've done which I recommend:

-Bronze weapons only. When I did this I extended it to ravens only (for laguz) and basic tomes (for mages). I realized this would make the game impossible due to one of the endgame bosses so I allowed myself to additionally use all knives, since hey they're the weakest weapon class.

-Use only characters of certain affinities. You can choose 1-4 affinities according to taste, and which ones.

-Laguz only. When I did this I allowed myself to always use at least 6 units, padding my roster with beorc if necessary, but that's mostly because I don't like when these sorts of runs turn into extreme low-manning.

On any run where you don't plan to use Ike, save him a Speedwing and a Hammer, and battle save past any misses or enemy crits in the E-2 duel.