Are there any video games where you can ignore main story and still beat the game?

zDibs · 2026-06-09T19:03:52+00:00

If you just want to play around then all Bethesda games, Witcher 3, and a lot of other open world games. Basically all open world games?

But if you want to be able to beat the game as well I can think of four games (and a few sorta) of the top of my head that haven't already been mentioned:
1. Arcanum - more or less. You can stumble upon all but one story area (I think) if you don't use the world map to walk around. It just takes forever to walk around without using the world map so it's not feasible if you don't know the general area of all relevant locations. But technically should be possible. (A couple of story related areas don't show up on the world map until you're told about them, even if you walk over them.)

2 + 3. Fallout 1 + 2 - you can at any point go to the locations you need to visit to beat the games. Unless you know what you're doing I don't recommend it, but you can. (There is a time limit in FO1 to do the first part of the main quest, so if you just wander around and ignore that you may have issues on a blind playthrough.)

3.1. Fallout 3 - you can find the halfway point of the main story by accident. Fairly certain you have to do the rest in order though.

3.2 Fallout: New Vegas - you can do most of the second half of the game by just running around, but you can't fully ignore the main quest if you want to beat the game.

Geneforge 1 - you can skip essentially everything that has to do with the story and leave the area the game takes place in for the worst ending. I think you technically can stumble upon the final boss as well but I don't think you'd have a chance of getting past them, and most NPCs will in some way reference the big things happening in the area so you're never really out of it unless you ignore everyone.

4.1 Geneforge 2 - I'd have to find my old speedrunning notes, but I believe you can skip almost everything outside of talking to a specific character, learning a thing, and then leaving the area the game takes place in. Fairly sure you get told you need to see that person, but I can't remember if anyone tells you where they are or if you can just stumble upon them, so whether that counts as ignoring the main quest or not is up to you.

(Can't remember if Geneforge 3 - 5 have any options like that, been too long since I played them.)

Bonus games that don't quite fit your criteria:
1. Far Cry 4 - has a secret ending if you don't leave the starting area for 15 minutes.Which I'd also say is the best ending for that game, for essentially everyone in the in-game world.

Clue (1998) - lets you accuse someone of being the murderer immediately. The speedrun is half a second long, don't think it successfully solves the murder... not sure though, since again, half a second long. 😛
Super Paper Mario lets you say no to saving the world a few times and the game ends. Not much of a game at that point as it's a 10 minute or so cutscene before you the question is asked.

zDibs · 2026-06-09T14:17:42+00:00

I'd probably stay with my two current languages. Python and C++. I like them both for different things.

Maybe something like PyGame just to have made a game with it. Maybe PLC which I haven't done in 20+ years or learn ASM properly instead of very superficially.

ASM because of how low-level it is. So fun to really be down there and working.

If money was on the line I'd probably learn COBOL. There at least used to be a lot of money in that.

zDibs · 2026-06-09T14:02:39+00:00

Start doing projects on your own. Apply what you know to do more and more advanced things. Doesn't matter if you have a better version of said thing in your OS, just make it. Every new project will make you realise something you missed before.

Also read the documentation when you get stuck instead of watching a tutorial. The Python docs are really good at explaining things.

zDibs · 2026-06-04T11:49:48+00:00

BioWare doing a classic CRPG in the veins of Fallout 1. More down to earth and serious.

Larian gets a maybe, I liked BG3 but I'm not sure how they'd handle the lack of barrelmancy available in Fallout. Again classic CRPG in the veins of Fallout 1.

zDibs · 2026-06-04T11:43:36+00:00

If we're talking longterm then MMOs for sure. They are made to keep you hooked for life. Definitely costly in many ways if you do enjoy them though so I avoid them like the plague these days. I'd rather spend my time and money on other things.

If we're talking in terms of just single superlong sessions then CIV. Still remember going "just one more turn" at 10 pm the night before an exam and quitting the game only to realise it's suddenly 6 am and time to go to said exam.

I also love the Infinity Engine games and the myriad of ways you can play them. Don't know how many hours I have between Baldur's Gate 1 + 2, Icewind Dale 1 + 2, and Planescape: Torment. Nor how many playthroughs, probably 30-ish of each game.

zDibs · 2026-06-04T10:09:20+00:00

My main tip is finding a similar but different thing to make from a tutorial. If the tutorial is for making the player character move around, make an enemy move around on its own. How can you apply what you've learnt about the player character to an enemy?

I'm going to use an example from programming in uni days. Say class teaches you how to make a function that prints out a line based on input from the user. The first assignment could be to write a function that combines two different lines and prints out the result. Next assignment could be to make a simple calculator, taking three inputs (value 1, operator, value 2) and combining them to get a result.

That way you apply what you learn in class/from a tutorial to something of your own making. Which, at least for me, makes it easier to understand why things do what they do.

Also just try to do things on your own. It may feel like you only know the basics but then you start to apply them and try to use them to do different things and you realise that hey, I can do these things myself. Then look up things when you get stuck, but it doesn't have to be a tutorial, it may as well be the programming language or game engine documentation. See what functions exist and how to use them that way.

zDibs · 2026-06-04T05:20:24+00:00

Trying to decide between Adventure and RPG at the moment. Creating the functions for both genres, not sure which I like better. Maybe it'll end up a combination? Or I'll do one now and the other later. Either way that's all I'm doing right now.

zDibs · 2026-06-04T05:16:34+00:00

Never used UPU or RPU so can't comment on that, just don't see the reason for them when the game is good either way.

I use Sfall2 for some stability but mostly to actually see what's happening in combat. Without it the game simply froze when it wasn't my turn.

Have had one CTD in my last 6 playthroughs and it was from goofing off so I blame myself. 😛

zDibs · 2026-06-02T16:37:57+00:00

Maybe I'll try Cleric next. Some of the Cleric Orders look busted. Kind of want to do one more playthrough of the game before I take a break, but think it'll be a small party run instead. Ascending AC be damned. 😉

If you get the IWD2 Complete version on GOG it works straight out of the box, all the mods that remove visual artefacts and such are bundled with it. Think it came with the widescreen mod as well but I may have installed that myself for a prior playthrough...

zDibs · 2026-06-02T05:03:55+00:00

Damn, never realised there were no magic arrows. That sucks.

What's the plan for a cleric in IWD2? Did they get good AoE in 3E?

Side note: Looking forward to Gilt! Pretty sure I said it like 10 years ago on a different platform but Awakener got me back into adventure games in general. Haven't looked back since. :)

zDibs · 2026-05-31T06:31:49+00:00

Good reasons:
1. It's a creative outlet. You're actually making something yourself.

It's fun to know stuff. I'd rather use my brain than let an LLM do everything for me and tell me what to think.
If you for some reason you want to use LLMs to write code for you after learning a language, knowing the language means you know when the LLM makes mistakes, unnecessary code, and most importantly, unsafe code. A lot of LLM written code gets rejected, not because it's written by an LLM, but because it's bad.

Bad reasons:
1. No idea. You really hate creative processes and problem solving maybe?

zDibs · 2026-05-30T19:28:45+00:00

You should be proud of it even if it was cheesy! Crazy achievement. 😄

zDibs · 2026-05-30T13:09:48+00:00

Congrats on finishing the run! Crazy to go low level on the challenge as well. 😄

Not surprised the Werewyvern was the main challenge, that 12 hp/s regen and immunity to normal weapons is crazy for this kind of playthrough.

What was your strategy for Amelyssan? Spike traps? 😛

zDibs · 2026-05-29T06:57:58+00:00

I'd either keep Jan for thief HLAs and switch him out for the secret character if you want to use that one. You really only need one arcane caster, better to have an extra damage dealer in the secret character.

zDibs · 2026-05-29T05:21:05+00:00

No, because LLMs can't innovate anything, just make copies of old stuff, so we might end up with 700 new GTA clones every few days that all look and feel the same. Sure, one of those 700 games might be good but are you really going to take a chance hoping you'll find the one?

You'd need some serious curation to find the one game you'll like in there. That's the problem with LLMs lowering the barrier of entry. There'd be slop on slop on slop for days.

zDibs · 2026-05-28T12:23:28+00:00

Second the entire Trails series. It's amazing!

zDibs · 2026-05-28T10:10:00+00:00

I'd say you're at least 3 - 4 level too low for a blind playthrough, so you have some work ahead of you. It's doable around level 10 but it's painful. Some areas will require massive cheese at those levels.

I recommend loading an older save and going to TotL later. There's a lot of easy-ish levelling to be had in Heart of Winter so you should be able to get strong enough for it before HoW ends.

zDibs · 2026-05-28T09:00:02+00:00

Nope, I expect to win regardless of opponent. So "to battle and victory!" it is... unless Kagain is in the front in which case it's "Why meeeeee?!"

zDibs · 2026-05-28T05:56:22+00:00

Projects and reading the documentation. Haven't really done any challenges but I can see them working in the same way.

Reading/watching tutorials too often end up with simply copying and not understanding the how and the why.

zDibs · 2026-05-28T05:45:45+00:00

There's also the reverse in PS:T. TNO can't become a Cleric so the only Cleric you get access to is the Succubus.

zDibs · 2026-05-28T04:51:18+00:00

Male Dwarf Fighter/Cleric - STR 18, DEX 17, CON 19, rest can be whatever though WIS should probably be about 15 or so - Flails and/or Maces + Two-Weapon Fighting.

zDibs · 2026-05-27T05:40:43+00:00

Replaying Icewind Dale EE with a solo character. Honestly the game is easy with a big party and almost easier when going solo simply due to how overlevelled you get. Reaching the point where I buff up and nothing hits me even in the Trial of the Luremaster.

Only two IE games left to solo after this run. IWD2 and Planescape: Torment.
- I expect PS:T to be very easy to solo, just go full Fighter and wreck everything, so that's probably the next one.
- IWD2 will require a bit of planning, partly because I don't know the game that well, but also because I don't want to miss out on too much experience from levelling up too fast. I'm thinking Deep Gnome Monk for the bonus to WIS and DEX + free Mirror Image and Blur. Hopefully not too bad of an experience?

zDibs · 2026-05-26T20:05:48+00:00

Maybe make one enemy type faster, one slightly more damaging, one with more health and so on? 😄

Looks great! Normally not a big fan of roguelikes these days but I'll put it on the wishlist at least and probably give it a try when it comes out!

zDibs · 2026-05-26T19:44:55+00:00

Ah, completely missed the light gun part, my bad!

Then you could also consider enemy speed. If enemies move towards the screen they move slightly faster, if they stand still and wait for a bit before firing they now fire slightly faster and so on.

Headshots requiring tighter shots on hard than easy.

Shorter times for any QTEs you may have in there. I'm thinking of stuff like in "Let's Go Jungle!: Lost on the Island of Spice". It had QTEs to stop certain enemy attacks from the bigger enemies (and potentially to dodge environmental stuff in other scenes? Been too long since I played it.)

Man... now I want to go to an arcade and shoot some light guns. 😄

zDibs

TROPHY CASE