How feasible is it to finish the game using only the bone?

Lately I've been on this track of finishing old games using only the starter weapons (or trying to). Like Super Metroid with only Metroid 1 weapons (Ice/Wave/Missiles), or OG FF7 with only the Buster Sword/other starting weapons.

How feasible would it be to finish SoE using only the bone? That means no damage alchemy, no playing as the dog.

Could also modify this to "only use Prehistoria weapons" meaning the Horn Spear is allowed, which might be more fun.

I feel like this could be interesting until Omnitopia when the dog becomes OP and necessary to switch to quite a bit.

You'd have a tough time with Salabog as the only time you can strike that boss with a melee weapon is when it lurches forward to attack you. Additionally you would need to constantly be switching back and forth between the bone and axe in order to advance in areas with brush that needs cut down. Same deal with the axe from Gothica etc. In Antique you need to level the spear in order to progress in the pyramids which would involve at least some killing of enemies with a spear. And as you mentioned in your post it becomes necessary in Omnitopia to switch to the dog albeit briefly to dispatch certain enemies to advance through the tubes.

So it may be doable with minor caveats

slavelabor53 posted...

You'd have a tough time with Salabog as the only time you can strike that boss with a melee weapon is when it lurches forward to attack you. Additionally you would need to constantly be switching back and forth between the bone and axe in order to advance in areas with brush that needs cut down. Same deal with the axe from Gothica etc. In Antique you need to level the spear in order to progress in the pyramids which would involve at least some killing of enemies with a spear. And as you mentioned in your post it becomes necessary in Omnitopia to switch to the dog albeit briefly to dispatch certain enemies to advance through the tubes.

So it may be doable with minor caveats

Sounds like the challenge should be "Prehistoria weapons only" rather than just the bone, can freely switch between those three weapons but can't use any later weapons or alchemy. Might allow Prehistoria alchemy (so Flash/Hard Ball/Acid Rain), not sure yet. Armor can be upgraded normally (since if you don't, at some point things will one-shot you). At the very least, it'd be a fun challenge up to Coleoptera, as the dog runs the show in Omnitopia.

One big question though: In Antiqua, don't you need to throw the "heavier" Bronze Spear to hit that switch? I.e. the Horn Spear wouldn't work? I can't remember. If you have to level up the Bronze Spear, obviously that'd mess with a Prehistoria weapon challenge.

Correct, the horn spear is not "heavy" enough or so the game tells you when you try it. You need to get the spear from Antiqua and I'm not sure but I think you only need to get it to level 2 just so you can throw it. So that would require a little grinding.

As for prehistoria alchemy only, if you're going for a challenge I'd stay away from damage alchemy. You can chain cast flash and hardball at lvl 9 and take down even the worst bosses in the game. Not to mention past lvl 6 speed makes you nearly invincible anyways. In my current playthrough right now I spent time leveling everything except cure and levitate to lvl 9 in prehistoria before I left. Both Salabog and Magmar took less than 10 casts a piece to defeat with flash alone.

You do not need to level the bronze spear to flip that switch in the temple in antiqua. You just need to stand at the right point and the boy will automatically throw it.

I agree on damage alchemy. If I do this challenge, for damage I'm going to stick to weapons only and Prehistoria weapons only. Bone, Axe, Horn Spear, no controlling the dog unless the game forces it. Alchemy is fine as long as it doesn't do damage. Should be an interesting run.

I recommend limiting the Horn Spear to grinding practice, Verminator, and maybe Carltron's Robot, the latter simply to avoid tedium. Trust me: the Axe L3 attack is VERY rewarding to use. Oh, and definitely ban Speed and Barrier, and also avoid too much Heal usage or you'd be healing up for too cheap.

Also, Verminator deserves everything he gets because his battle design is so stupid, so go ahead and drop alchemy restrictions for him.

Here's an interesting idea for an alchemy challenge. All alchemy is fair game however you can only use found ingredients or those dropped by enemies. But no purchasing ingredients.

slavelabor53 posted...

Here's an interesting idea for an alchemy challenge. All alchemy is fair game however you can only use found ingredients or those dropped by enemies. But no purchasing ingredients.

I actually was wanting to go for this, but spells legitimately suck at Level 0 in general, this particularly suffocates the spells like Regrowth that still suffer and like it regardless of Level or without an excessively high Level, and the game would still be beaten as soon as you get Barrier anyway.