This is the exact same instinct that drives us to run away from the obvious path first. “Clearly that’s where the final boss is. Let me just check what’s down this way first…”
“…oh no wait, there’s a point-of-no-return ledge here. Ok, so maybe that other way was actually where the secret was. I’ll go back…”
“…hmm, there’s another ledge on this side too. Let me just put in a save point and…ok, yeah, this one is the final boss. Let me reload and check the other path…”
“…ugh, it restarted me way back here? And respawned all the enemies when I reloaded? That’s frustrating…”
“…THEY BOTH. LED. TO THE SAME. EXACT. PLACE.”
This is why I have 120 hours in 40 hour games.
This, plus looking at a tiny little toe-sized piece of unexplored minimap on the opposite side of the world and thinking, “but what if there’s something important there?!”
This, plus dragging every scrap of loot back to town to sell, no matter how bad the value/weight ratio is.
Oh this one’s not me. For the first hour maybe but I get really picky really fast because it’s more efficient to just find a new place to take the best loot from. Especially in something like Skyrim where the goons just respawn forever.
Borderlands 3 added an “auto-sell loot below [x] rarity” option, and it is amazing.
Only in games that make it clear what you’re supposed to sell. I know games these days usually don’t allow it, but all it takes is selling a necessary item once…
I play games this way too, but I feel like the bigger factor in my playtime way higher than necessary is that I don’t want to miss any dialogue so I talk to every NPC until they repeat themselves. Most of the time that’s the second time you talk to them so I definitely get a lot out of that.
…during the bg3 character creation
Accidentally going the right way is so infuriating.
Especially if you get too far and the game takes control of your character to start a cutscene before you can turn back around.
WTF I don’t come here to be attacked like this
It’s ok. We’re all here for each other.
No we’re not. You two are on your own.
I still remember being really mad I missed the “added effect” materia in the original FF7. You can never ever go back to that cave, so if you don’t turn around to pick it up you never get it. Pain.
I never even saw the “Alexander” summon materia until I played the game as an adult. Despite having the official Brady Games strategy guide.
In Breath of the Wild after the tutorial plateau, players are supposed to go between the two big mountains that are easy to see and easy to pass for a beginner. There they find a steed and this weird korok guy.
I on the other hand decided to go the direct route up a steep cliff where two guardians wait to tell you that this is not the way. After I snuck past them, which took me about 2 hours and like 20+ retries, I nearly stopped playing cause “the game was so hard”.
I have a bachelor in game design btw…There’s an old adage that says “doctors make the worst patients.”
I wonder if the same is true for game devs making the worst players.
Having a degree isn’t the same as being good at your job
Modern games have gotten super “hand-holdy” to the point where it’s fucking annoying… but one QOL improvement that I will take every time is when games prevent you from moving forward in a story because you missed something and moving forward means you’ll miss it forever.
I get it, and when I was younger I was all about that shit… But I’m too old for that shit lol
“But what if the developers don’t think it’s important but I’m going to wish I had it? I’ll go ahead and check anyway.”
Yeah… I felt that. Hard. I need to actively tell myself it’s not worth wasting so much time. Other times I just can’t be bothered and I mindlessly waste time checking everything cause it somehow feels like less work.
How dare that person not plant some pies in there every now and then
Aren’t sweets like really bad for dogs?
Edit: Don’t hate me, I was just asking a question. I know nothing about dogs.
Meat pie baby
Yeah it took me like ten seconds of confusions to understand what about a pie was being considered sweet. And then ohhhhh maybe they thought it meant a FRUIT pie?
“A pie” is a meat pie around here
They’ll mostly just get sick to their stomach and or fat. Dogs don’t process sugar very well, but it’s not that horrible for them usually. Worse for small dogs with bad constitution. Chocolate specifically is poisonous for dogs, but again… bigger dogs can often just tank the damage.
Doesn’t mean they don’t love them!
Same for humans basically…
Sweets are really bad for people too, but that doesn’t seem to stop them.
My dog would occasionally get into a bag of Hershey kisses, he lived to be 18 years old
That’s because Hershey’s chocolate isn’t actual chocolate, it’s milk mixed with vomit.
Good to know, I’m cooking chocolate chip cookies this afternoon, I’ll try your homemade substitutes per your suggestion 😁
FYI, the vomit thing is very real: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/hersheys-chocolate-tastes-like-vomit_l_60479e5fc5b6af8f98bec0cd
I also had a childhood dog that got into a bag of Hershey’s Kisses and was just fine. I’m nearly certain it’s because the amount of actual cocoa in it is basically negligible.
Oh damn, I thought you were just taking the piss out of Hershey
my wife’s childhood dog - schnauzer mutt - ate an entire basket of chocolates and sweets that was from valentine’s day. like multiple pounds of assorted fancy chocolate. lived for another 10 years (this was the 80s, I don’t think people grokked the choc / dog thing).
Around 2009 a neighbor lost their pyranese (sp? long haired tall dog) when it ate a single chocolate bar (it was dark and high cacao whole foods stuff). It was just dead when they got home from work, apparently ate it the night before.
seems like a bad gamble to make. but holy hell I can’t keep my dogs from eating random biohazards, dead birds, snails & slugs and god knows what, it’s a miracle they survive as long as they do.
frankly, that just tells me about the quality of 80s “fancy” chocolate
That’s why I find idea that no gamer in Ready Player One tried running a car backward offensive.
Its like, people rub against every square inch of geometry in say, Destiny 2, just to get out of bounds. It’s insane that no one just…tried cause they’re bored even.
I always remember back in world of warcraft, before you had flying mounts, there were spots you could spam jump on to slowly climb the barrier mountains and get up to the flat area they never meant for you to see. Good times.
or getting under stormwind, haha. good times.
Or old 3D platformers that didn’t disable collision on visual detail bits, so you could do skips or get out of bounds.
I was a frequent flyer in mod chat because I got stuck out of bounds a lot back in the day.
There’s a little explanation in that it costs to get in to the race. So naturally people wouldn’t want to waste the attempt, except there’s always someone that will pay the fee and try just about anything.
That might buy you a few days, but not the absurd amount of time in the story.
except there’s always someone that will pay the fee and try just about anything.
Especially when the prize is that big.
The book had a much better story for the first key.
I mean, how did he have the foresight to know that almost everyone would go to school inside his videogame?
He didnt, the intent was to put it somewhere that everyone could and should access, a place of learning. No gatekeeping, no financial or age restrictions.
Developer: here’s a fun little thing people will be excited to find!
Player: I will never trust anyone again
I love it, when Devs anticipate that players might break their levels and reward them for it.
E.g. when I played Supraland, I had it happen several times, that I managed to get to places that were obviously not intended to be reachable - you know the drill: Low poly terrain, low res textures, holes in the terrain, invisible walls everywhere,… You keep exploring that wasteland, carefully managing to not fall of, go around a corner and… There’s a chest there waiting for you.
Or some of the coin stacks in Super Mario Odyssey, that you’ll never really see or collect, until you do some crazy trick jumps or so to get on top of $building.
Super Mario Odyssey is such an amazing game. If the sequel is anywhere near as good, I might get a Switch 2 just for that.
IIRC the team behind SMO is the team that made Donkey Kong Bananza. So… Either another team is responsible for a new 3D Mario, or it will take quite a while before we get another 3D Mario. So far, there’s no announcement for a new 3D Mario (yet).
But Donkey Kong Bananza looks dope. Also I like that Ceave Gaming video where he overanalyzes the Donkey Kong trailer and goes over all the bits that have been revealed so far https://youtu.be/xc_YjHqqTm0
Every single waterfall I find I must check behind it, forever.
I still get irrationally upset when there isn’t. But, if a game gives me a waterfall find (or 2, or 3 like Avowed) it will rocket to the top of my list.
Lived in a place that had a koi pond and waterfall fountain years ago. I placed a small adventurer and treasure chest behind it. Wonder if it’s still there.
I really love that you did that. I hope some kid (or an adult that’s a kid at heart) found it! Imagine how stoked they were!
I hope so too!
Go play tunic!
Yeah, it’s all about waterfalls. And, I like it because a cave behind a waterfall makes some sense. It would be hard to see, but it’s not a solid barrier.
Donkey Kong Country did this to me forever
Also at the end of the level. I remember 3 had balloons n stuff there.
Mario world has some secret exits you had to access by going under the goal and past the ending as well.
Mario bros 1-2
Some of the levels seemed like you could jump over the flag pole, but it would grab it from the other side. Then Mario lost levels had one where you could get passed the flag and it felt so good finally being able to do it.
Tap for spoiler
Until you got to the end and it turned out to be a warp zone that brought you backwards instead of forwards lol
Super Mario Bros. 2/Lost Levels is full of fucked up stuff like this. Probably why they initially didn’t release it in the US lol
Super Mario World has to be one of the most creative when it comes to hidden exits and worlds.
I remember when a friend showed me the “Super Secret Area” that you can mine for 1ups and capes and it blew my mind.
Fuck, what an amazing game.
Yup.
Metroid.
The morph ball is to the left to show you that the screen scrolls both directions, as most games at the time didn’t let you go “backwards”
Donkey Kong Country…
This is the one.
There is another.
Replayed it the other week, soo many levels start this way
deleted by creator
How about that roller coaster race level on DKC2? If you don’t go backwards as soon as the race starts, you miss that sweet speed boost.
Why can’t we go backwards? For once…backwards…really fast…as fast as we can…really put the pedal…
Some of the skips are so fun, I love the cannon canyon level for it.
I always try to figure out which direction the game wants me to go so I can try going the opposite way first.
I mean, we can’t risk advancing the game and leaving unexplored areas behind
It’s almost frustrating to play something with no intended path because it takes away my option to deliberately take the wrong one.
There usually is an intended path regardless. Signposting is definitely something that’s done even in open world.
New Vegas shining brightly in the distance…
And that’s how I ended up at level 30 before finally taking out Benny… main quest, main… schmuest.
It’s not always explained though. A lot of games use flames/torches/lights though. Vast majority of games follow the same tropes unfortunately.
Credit to Tim Buckley for briefly becoming one of the most widely mocked people on the internet and spawning a meme that lives on to this day but just rolling with it and continuing with his dream of making webcomics.
Iirc correctly there was something about somewhat scamming his patreons or so. Ny memory is hazy but something about a drawing tablet?
Ah well if true then that sucks. I’ll have to look into this.
He tried to discourage people from going to a penny arcade convention and to his instead, didn’t donate to charity like he said he would and bought a 3k artist tablet instead, iirc.
Credit for Tim Buckley for being the father of one of the greatest vocalists in history, Jeff Buckley (RIP).
Err… wait…
Bonus points for your appropriate username
TIL CAD is still going and it looks different.
But can you truly see it when the quality is so bad it’s blurry af?
Original:
The most damning game for me was Dragon Ball Z: Super Saiya Densetsu on SNES.
It was an rpg. A good like 10 hours into the game you’re wondering around on Planet Namek and the only way to progress in the story is to find Dende. Well you get pretty much no info or hints about where he is. Well all the houses and huts all have decorative pots in them, kind of like the kind you could smash in Zelda games. In DBZ, at no point was anything in any of these pots, and you couldn’t break them, or even get acknowledgement that pressing a button near one of these pots even “checks” the pot. All the pots seem to just be decor you can’t interact with.
Of course, that’s where Dende was. The only thing in any pot in the entire game was a kid that you were required to find in order to continue progressing, found half way into the game after you’ve decided already that the game won’t let you interact or check pots, and then making you check all the rest of the pots for the rest of the game because “they hid one thing in a pot, surely there could be another”.
Yup. The worst Dragonball game, that for some reason I sometimes replay. I get the feeling that there is a spirit of a good game in there, if it was almost completely reworked. Something like a fusion with Legendary Super Warriors.
Anyhow, the game is pretty funky and has obscure stuff to it. Escargo being needed for fusing a Super Piccolo (1.9 billion BP), getting an third wish with Porunga, or getting Goku to Earth before the battle of the Saiba Men commences.
Other than that annoyance with dende and the pots, I still really enjoyed the card aspect of the game and playing through it. Not the worst rpg I’ve played. Plus I was all about dbz way back then, and just glad I could find a translated rom of the game.
Super Saiya Densetsu is actually a pseudo-continuation of a Famicom series that used the card system. In some ways, the older games had neater battle aesthetics, particularly in how fighters weave between background and foreground. The video below covers the assorted card-RPG games.
Well. There went like an hour and a half of me watching YouTube. I’ma have to check out the gbc one. It looks pretty cool.
Also in this list: checking under stairs and behind waterfalls
And hitting every bit of wall that looks suspiciously flat and empty. I’m looking at you, Miyazaki.
In Sega Genesis/Mega Drive Aladdin in several levels in the beginning you have go forward a bit and then return back to the start to find the secret. Needles to say, it also messed me up for life.
Sonic on the game gear does this on the second boss
And then the movie adaptation of Ready Player One acted like placing something before the starting line is some kind of super-sneaky hiding method.
That movie was a cringe fest start to end.
I look at that less as a plot point and more as a nod to video game design. I really liked that movie.
