darkSpyro

I'm posting this is the SF board because SF is at least out, unlike TT, however these rule sets I'm trying to lay out apply to all the console games. I need to make a separate rule set for the 3ds versions due to gameplay differences.


Skylanders Nuzlocke Rules
SSA RULES
-Must be a new game
-All Skylanders must start at level 1, with no gold, no heroics completed, and no upgrades (fresh start)
-You must preselect your team of 8 Skylanders (less is acceptable if you're hardcore like that)
-You may only have 1 of each element on your team
-Choose 1 skylander to start with of your 8, the remaining 7 can be introduced to your team at the first elemental zone of their element you come across.
-If a skylanders HP is reduced to 0, they must be reset, and cannot be used again untill you either fail, or complete the nuzlocke
-If the 8 skylanders you chose are all defeated, you have failed the nuzlocke, and must restart
-You may only complete the heroics that are unlocked by your team
-You cannot complete heroics until you have come across the elemental zone to introduce your character to the team (i.e. You haven't reached a life zone yet, so no completing Stump Smash's heroic)
-All surviving team members can move on to Giants with their upgrades, and stats remaining as is. All fallen can be reintroduced, but must be reset.
-You may only use hats you have found on your Nuzlocke save file
- No magic items (Adventure items can be used to unlock levels only)
- Failing a heroic due to time running out does not result in the loss of a Skylander, a failure by knock out however is a loss of a Skylander. For the sake of the challenge, its recommended to not use this as a grinding means.

SG RULES
- All of the above, unless survivors from SSA are involved
- You may add Giants Cores, or Giants if you have empty spaces from SSA, but they must start fresh, and again, only 1 member on the team of each element
- Nightmare Mode Only
- You may complete any heroics your team unlocks, and the heroics that aren't character specific.
-All surviving team members can move on to Swap Force with their upgrades, and stats remaining as is. All fallen can be reintroduced, but must be reset.
-You may only use hats you have found on your Nuzlocke save file (survivors of SSA may use whatever hats found in the SSA Nuzlocke save)
- No magic items (Adventure items can be used to unlock levels only)
-Survivors cannot be your starter, and must be re-introduced in an elemental zone (unless all 8 have survived, then 7 must be reintroduced)
- Failing a heroic due to time running out does not result in the loss of a Skylander, a failure by knock out however is a loss of a Skylander. For the sake of the challenge, its recommended to not use this as a grinding means.
- There is a point in Giants that flat out requires you to use a Giant to move forward. You may bring in a Giant without the need to reset them to clear the "Feat of Strength" that prevents you from moving on in the game. Once the "Feat of Strength" is complete, the Giant must be switched out for a Nuzlocke-lander before you even take another step. The Giant is not a team member.

SSF RULES
-All of the above, unless survivors are involved
-Nightmare Mode Only
-As charms and legendary treasures are effective to all character, you may only complete 5 bonus missions, and use only 3 legendary treasures, any charms you buy from the shop, or find in levels are acceptable
-You may only use hats you have found on your Nuzlocke save file (survivors of SSA and SSG may use whatever hats found in the SSA and SSG Nuzlocke save)
- No magic items allowed (Sheep Wreak and ToT may only be used for unlocking the levels)
-Survivors cannot be your starter, and must be re-introduced in an elemental zone (unless all 8 have survived, then 7 must be reintroduced)
- You may add Swap Force Cores or Swappers if you have empty spaces, but they must be a fresh start
- (Extension of above rule) (Optional, but recommended) Due to the sheer power of certain Skylanders in Swap Force, it is recommended certain figures shouldn't be used. For now I'm noting the ones I can think of off hand. I'll list reasons with them, but note that the reasons are why I personally find these Skylanders to be too powerful for this challenge. I would like some input from everyone else about these.
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-Bumble Blast: Regardless of path choice, Bumble Blast is a force of sheer destruction. With his Bee Keeper path, he can dole out huge dps that obliterates most enemies within seconds even on Nightmare, his Honey Tree Path is massively broken as it slows enemies and can dish out almost as much damage as the BK path.

-Magna: The top half of Magna Charge is fairly overpowered in PvE gameplay due to his magnet lift ability. Regardless of path, it is easy to pick up enemies, one by one, in rapid succession, and hurl them over and edge to an instant demise. Alternatively, using any enemy as a throwing item has a rather large hit radius, launches enemies upwards, and does a fair deal of damage. His blaster is quite effecient at wiping Chompies and Golem-esque enemies alike.

-Ranger: This bottom half, combine with Magna allowed me to carelessly waltz through most of the Swap Force. Free Rangers bottom half, regardless of path, can whip around and disable any enemy that isn't of the the "golem" class. This includes enemies with shielding ablities while they are shielded. Combine with a top half like Magna, immortality could be possible, even under Nuzlocke rules.

-Doom: Can block ANYTHING (some trouble with upwards parabolas), and damage while blocking. Would take ages to get through levels, but survival would be almost assured.

(There will be more after I revisit enough of my figures.)
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Thats it for now. If I think of anything else to modify this, I'll update it. I'll also make adjustments after TT is out and I have completed it. I've got to play the 3ds versions to relearn all the mechanics and such before I make a set of rules for that. Anyway, this isn't offical, but I though Skylanders would be a great game to get a sort of "Nuzlocke" going on. Share your opinions, or suggestions if you wish.

I did a Skylanders Nuzlocke variation a year or so ago (actually more than that, since Swap Force had yet to be announced), that had similar but different rules.

Obviously I had the "falls in battle=can't use it anymore" rule, but I also adjusted the "only one Pokemon per route" and randomization rules there. Now, I didn't finish the run, so I don't know what I would have done once I reached Giants, but here's how mine worked:

1. Shuffle the deck of Skylanders Trading Cards (the ones that come with the figures). Draw until you reach a Skylander.
2. This Skylander is your starter. Start SSA, and reset the character.
3. Every Chapter, bring the deck back out, and draw a card; any card. This is the figure (Skylander, Magic Item, Adventure Pack Level) you are allowed to use starting this level. The first time you use a Skylander, it must be reset.
4. Adventure Packs unlock levels. You may draw a new card when you unlock one.
5. You may only do the Heroic Challenges associated with characters you have already drawn.
6. If a Skylander falls in battle, it may not be used again for the duration of the game. I did not decide what happens in the next game, though.
7. Not official, but I didn't use more than one Skylander per element unless the Skylander of said element fell in battle. It was more due to not wanting to reset a Skylander I might not even be using than any official rule, though.

Obviously, my ruleset requires that you've kept the cards that come with the characters, and have enough cards to cover every level; which means it isn't possible for everyone. I also didn't account for what would happen if you drew a card whose figure is not compatible with your current game (I only had three characters that that was the case for at the time, and I didn't draw any of them).

However, I probably would have used a variation of my "for use in the future" clause. Said character is treated as if it was drawn at that point, and any character that replaced it gets put back in the deck when I get to the appropriate game.

I was starting to come up with 3DS rules too, but I didn't finish the console version and thus didn't get to the 3DS. My main concerns were: a) Level count; either there are 5-9 levels (the shimmery portals+the Adventure Packs), and thus there would be not enough cards drawn for a full elemental team unless you are really lucky, or 25-33 levels (the individual levels themselves), and it would be really tedious playing it since the levels are so short; and b) You'd get new Skylanders up until the final boss. Which means you'd have to grind new Skylanders up until the final boss. And that would be more tedious than fun.

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As far as your rules go, they look pretty solid. They focus a lot more on challenge than mine did (because really, by the end you'd have quite an army with my rules), and they look pretty fun. I played SSA with very similar rules to yours (minus the "faint=dead"-type-one, and the limitation of when you introduce a Skylander) just recently, and had a lot of fun doing so. The only times I had trouble were during the Undead Kaos fight (Chop Chop. Enough said.) and parts of Lair of Kaos. It was mostly because my team was almost entirely melee-based, though.

Granted, if I was using the entire ruleset, I'm not sure I would have made it to the end. All of my best fighters were taken out by the three-on-one part of the Undead Kaos fight. And I'd personally probably not use Nightmare Mode in the games it's available because I find it too limiting (melee characters=absolutely useless) and tedious (enemies aren't actually smarter, you just can't take a hit from them anymore, and they take longer to take down).

Anyway, feel free to implement anything from my rules into yours if you like them. Mine are more based on my favorite part of the Nuzlocke (being forced to use Pokemon/Skylanders that wouldn't be your first choice), than any actual challenge, though. Maybe they can just be alternate rules if anyone is interested.

I think I am going to give this a try starting tomorrow. However, I'm going to only play through SWAP Force. I'll limit myself to 1 Swapper, 1 Giant, and the rest core characters. I'll let you all know who my 8 are going to be tomorrow. I may have to go by another Skylander just for this!

I cannot wait.

I want to do this but I don't want to reset my Skylanders... Could I do it slightly different?

I don't think it would take long for you to level them back up in Nightmare.

Quote: lcopley98

I don't think it would take long for you to level them back up in Nightmare.

It's not that it's just I never want to reset them.

Quote: wreckingballbob

I want to do this but I don't want to reset my Skylanders... Could I do it slightly different?

This is why I haven't started this challenge myself. Due to my collection habits, I'm not concerned about Wow Pows, but I do want access to both paths and being level 20, so I can only form a team of landers I have 3 or more of. I can't really think of a way to do it diffrently, sadly, as a fresh start for each character is required to keep the challenge aspect of the Nuzlocke there.

Why is it called Nuzlocke ? That is a funny name .

It's called the Nuzlocke Challenge since it's based after a ruleset made popular by Nuzlocke Comics for Pokemon games.

Basic rules:
1.If it faints, it's dead.
2.One Pokemon per route.

The comic itself is named after the author's Nuzleaf, the first of his Pokemon to die. It was named Nuzlocke, after John Locke(?) from Lost, which the author was a fan of. Said Nuzleaf appears many times in the comic as a spirit advisor.

Oh i see . Thank you for explaining it .

Added some rules to round out the challenge a bit more. I've also started my own Nuzlocke run and I'm recording it as well. I wont be uploading it until I finish each game (i.e. I'll upload the SA part when I finish SA).

Tried to come up with my own Nuzlocke. I don't know much about Nuzlocke. So I was only getting information from here. So correct me if I'm wrong.

This nuzlocke is an all swap force nuzlocke. To start it, you must start a new Swap Force save file set on Nightmare Mode. The skylanders used must be swap force ones. There is no limit to the number of swappers you can use and they don't have to be reset. More upgrades and higher levels is an advantage.

At the start of each level, pick a combination to use. You are locked to this combination until the level is over. If this skylander dies, both halves may not be used anymore and you must bring up a new combination. If all halves are no longer in play, you fail. Copies of swappers may be used for extra chances.

The nuzlocke goes to 100%. So defeating Super Evil Kaos is not the main goal. You can go as far as you can into the nuzlocke.

When I've completed STT, I'm going to try and go through Story Mode with only Sheep Creep. I'll try and max his timer, so it'd be similar to Time Attack Mode in SSF, except I'm only using Sheep Creep.

I'll also use Snap Shot though, but I'm only going to use him so I have a Skylander on the Portal.

I've added a rule to the Giants portion, and come baring news.
I've completed the 1st 3rd of my Nuzlocke, which is completing Spyros Adventure. Had to do 2 seperate trys for this, my first ended on Kaos as I only had 3 Skylanders remaining starting against him. The 2nd run went much smoother, and I managed to make it all the way through with 7/8 of my team. I'm recording it all for posterity sake. The first part of the SA portion is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tkLYW7Fbm0

If you want to follow the videos, don't expect them to be up in rapid sucession. I record via capture cables, so I can't upload while recording (makes the frame rate spastic and unreliable), and my ISP gives me pitiful upload speeds making most 45 minute parts (roughly 1.5 gb of video) take 4-6 hours to upload. As such, I can only upload when I'm not recording, at work, or asleep, but I'll be jumping between recording and uploading often.

Quote: Dark fhoenix

Oh i see . Thank you for explaining it .

Nuxlocke was the screen name of the guy who came up with the idea of starting a pokemon game with a certain set of rules for playthrough to make the game harder or more realistic. They included if your pokemon fainted it was considered dead, you had to release it. You could only catch the first pokemon from an area...stuff like that. And they did comics depicting the events of the challenge :3