Alright (insert game here), how the FUCK was I supposed to know that?!

[shrekfan246]

Pokemon being so tight-lipped about what natures do as well as EVs and IVs. Not to mention how certain pokemon such as Miltoic/Regis were incredibly hard to get unless you looked it up on the net.

Yeah, getting Feebas in the first place is a *****. Low encounter rate, and only in six randomly generated squares in a tiny pond in one area of the entire region. Ugh. But I love Milotic so much.

Carnival Night Act 2.

I was stuck on that cylinder for the longest time. Only thing in any Sonic game that ever flat-out stumped me, because jumping repeatedly just never dropped it far enough. Then I looked it up, tried out the Up+Down thing and was like "... SERIOUSLY? APSOIJHGQIOENGFOFQWIR."

And Metal Gear Solid had plenty of awesome moments like that. The boss fight it's hinted that you'll need to do something, because all of his cutscenes relate to stuff like reading your memory card for saves of other games like Castlevania and the Colonel really likes to break the fourth wall if you call enough times, but it also has stuff like needing to find a person's codec number by reading the manual, which you only find out by using the Codec to call the Colonel, and little things like how cigarettes will show you infrared lights, or how you can completely miss the tranquilizer pistol near the start of the game if you don't pay close enough attention, and you'll need to backtrack once or twice to get a sniper rifle or something if you don't pay attention... Ah, I love MGS.

 

[repeating integers]

Trying to figure out the Regi puzzle in Pokemon R/S/E.

No one could. No one. Barring looking it up, I would safely bet the my bottom dollar on there not being a SINGLE person who did it on their own, no cheats, no outside help.

Simply impossible.

OT: Halo CE. A lot of times. Those maps, they confused me, most notably the Library.

God, The Library... great game, but fuck that level. The very beginning of that level is the most confusing and frustrating part of the entire series.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Deus Ex: Human Revolution...I would place a confident bet that 99% or more players who played it all made the same mistake, namely:

Spoiler

After the tutorial level, Adam returns to Sarif HQ for his first day back to work. This is the first time the player has the opportunity to explore, hack office doors and the rest. However, drag Adam's heels too long and hostages held in the warehouse, which Adam is brought in to liberate from anti-aug "terrorists", are killed.

Listening carefully, there are hints but certainly not enough to spell out the consequences of hacking into every office, reading every magazine and stealing every candy bar from every desk drawer.

I certainly made this mistake first time thru and I bet everyone else did too. The game simply didn't tell us what the result of our actions at the stage would be. And the thing is I wouldn't want to change it. I love that a game didn't bash me over the head and wish more games would do the same and a) let me make mistakes b) let me learn things for myself and c) let me be smugly satisfied when I was quick enough second time around ;-) Mahatma Ghandi I am indeed!

 

[Sarah Kerrigan]

In Castlevania Lords of Shadow, the music box puzzle, the last round of the puzzle you had to go through. There was a right path and a left path. It didn't tell which one lead to the rose, but another led to a health upgrade. It took me fifteen tries and It turns out I was going the wrong path which the game NEVER TOLD ME.

 

[Sarah Kerrigan]

Deus Ex: Human Revolution...I would place a confident bet that 99% or more players who played it all made the same mistake, namely:

Spoiler

After the tutorial level, Adam returns to Sarif HQ for his first day back to work. This is the first time the player has the opportunity to explore, hack office doors and the rest. However, drag Adam's heels too long and hostages held in the warehouse, which Adam is brought in to liberate from anti-aug "terrorists", are killed.

Listening carefully, there are hints but certainly not enough to spell out the consequences of hacking into every office, reading every magazine and stealing every candy bar from every desk drawer.

I certainly made this mistake first time thru and I bet everyone else did too. The game simply didn't tell us what the result of our actions at the stage would be. And the thing is I wouldn't want to change it. I love that a game didn't bash me over the head and wish more games would do the same and a) let me make mistakes b) let me learn things for myself and c) let me be smugly satisfied when I was quick enough second time around ;-) Mahatma Ghandi I am indeed!

Strangely enough that never happened to me. I went around the office for a good two hours clicking on random shit and never once did I get a second call to go there. I went, saved the hostages, and everything was ok.

Well, one died, but that's another story.

 

[The Wykydtron]

Any moment in the Ace Attorney games when Phoenix goes "I have a plan!"

The trick is to usually present the newest evidence you've recieved.

Not that those moments are bad, I just can't deal with Phoenix actually having a plan for once rather than just pulling some genius luck out of the bag XD

Though the footprint/snowmobile bits in the final case in the third game always gets me completely stuck no matter how many times I go through it.

Maybe the bit in Persona 4 where the game just sits you down with a list of names (every person you've ever met is on the list btw) and says "pick the killer kthx!"

Not as hard as it looks surprisingly

Fucking genius in context though, scrambling about in the dark with zero clue wtf you're really looking for and simply reaching out to the truth is the theme of the entire game from second one.

Theming. Intro stage. FUCK.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Strangely enough that never happened to me. I went around the office for a good two hours...and everything was ok.

Well, one died, but that's another story.

Strange. That event is (supposed to be) on a timer and not a particularly generous one either. AFAIK it's the only one of its kind in the game. The idea was that if the player took too long getting to the VTOL to start the mission, it would be too late to get the good outcome. Maybe t'was a bug in your case as everyone else I know who played it had the same experience as I did first time thru.

As for the one that didn't make it, they probably had it coming :-D

 

[Reaper195]

Metal Gear Solid 1. "Meryls number is on the back of the game case."
...but I don't have that in my inventory..wtf? *Spends hours scouring game for a game case, look up online*
You mean not in the actual game? But...it's '98! You're not allowed to break the fourth wall like that yet!

 

[Sarah Kerrigan]

Strangely enough that never happened to me. I went around the office for a good two hours...and everything was ok.

Well, one died, but that's another story.

Strange. That event is (supposed to be) on a timer and not a particularly generous one either. AFAIK it's the only one of its kind in the game. The idea was that if the player took too long getting to the VTOL to start the mission, it would be too late to get the good outcome. Maybe t'was a bug in your case as everyone else I know who played it had the same experience as I did first time thru.

As for the one that didn't make it, they probably had it coming :-D

Haha, well, what deficulty were you on? I usually start my first play through on easy, because I like to experience a story first.

Maybe that was the reason? Makes some sense to me.

(and that one person was because I let the robber go out of my good mind)

 

[Lugbzurg]

I think your Sonic 3 example is a good one. And no, you're not the only one who got held up at that point. Me, and all my friends, always had trouble with it too.

Well, I could spout the names of several different adventure games and call it a day (Riven, in particular, jumps out at me), but I've got another good one.

In one of the X-Men games for the Genesis (I forget exactly which one it is at the moment), when you get to the end of the game, you basically reach a dead end, with no way to proceed. The solution? Hit the reset button on your console. THAT will take you to the final screen.

What in the flying name of FUCK would lead you be believe that would work?

that one reminds of one from Metal Gear Solid...specifically when you're fighting the psychic guy that cheats by knowing every button you press and reacts accordingly, making him invincible.......unless you plug your controller into the player 2 slot.

Now I've never played MGS (I played MGS 2, but by all accounts that's one that is best left forgotten ) so I don't know if there's any hints or tips that you have to plug your controller into the 2nd player slot. But if there isn't, I can't imagine how the hell you're supposed to think to do that.

You know how you were supposed to know that? Because, the Colonel actually tells you how to do it, straight up! The only way you could not know how to do it is if you were to mute the game and turn the captions off!

Anyway, I can remember a bit in Half-Life where I seemed to be at a dead end (and this happens dozens of times). My path was blocked by a gigantic hole with fanblades at the bottom. Somewhere, you're actually able to turn this fan on. And the blades move a bit slowly. So, how was I ever able to know that I was supposed to jump into the fan's wind current and it would blow me up to the ceiling where I could crawl into an air vent!? It didn't look in the slightest like that fan could lift Gordon Freeman's weight!

Captcha: No way. Wow... That seems to be almost true here.

 

[Noswad]

Minecraft, not going to name individual things, just the entire game.

 

[Jaeke]

I literally JUST posted this in another thread but I'll repeat:

Mass Effect 3 Reaper fight on foot on Rannoch: I was not aware that you were supposed to barrel-roll out of the way when it went into slow motion when the reaper got really close.

Damn I must have tried around 15 times, I felt like a real dumbass after I figured it out.

 

[ThePenguinKnight]

Every point and click adventure game ever made ever. . . yup that about sums it up.

 

[JediMB]

Besides Sonic 3, what comes to mind is some of the point-and-click adventure games. I only have some very vague memories of playing Day of the Tentacle as a child, and never really got that far, so now that I've finally had the chance to play the game for real... I'm completely lost.

I have an inventory full of stuff I'm not sure what to do with, and three different characters at different points in time to control. This just makes the second Monkey Island game look like a cakewalk.

At the beginning of Metroid: Other M you're explicitly told you can't use Power Bombs. Throughout the game you're told or prompted when new abilities are available. In the final boss fight you get sucked into the boss's stomach and can only kill it with Power Bombs.

My problem with that boss segment is that I was certain I did what I should to activate the Power Bomb, but the game just refused to do so. Took me another half hour of trying all sorts of things before I gave the Power Bomb another chance... and then it just worked.

 

[JediMB]

http://blogs.ocweekly.com/heardmentality/Metal_Gear_Solid_ntsc-back.jpg
Fucking christ.

I am sorry i was like 13 at the time and was not used to this 4th wall breaking bullshit.

"check the back of the CD CASE" I HAD A BLOODY CD IN MY INVENTORY! i spent hours banging my head against a wall on this shit >:C

Yes im still mad and bitter about this -_-

I believe they said "jewel case" rather than CD case, which confused me further. I had no idea that CD cases were referred to as such, so I figured there might be a box of jewels somewhere in the game.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

Phantom Hourglass. At some point in the Temple of the Ocean King, you come across one of the four maps you need to proceed in the game. Thing is, the map's mounted on the wall, upside down and mirrored. I tried everything to get it; frantically tapping it all over with the stylus, tapping every button combination, using all my items on the map. Nothing worked.

It wasn't until I'd shut my DS in exasperation to put it into sleep mode and gone and done something else that I solved the puzzle. Yes, that's right; you had to 'stamp' the map onto your own map by closing and opening the DS. What.

The exact thing happened to me. I worked at it for a half hour or so. I got frustrated and decided to close it, set it down to go to the bathroom, and maybe come back to try it again. I come back and open it and "ding'a'ling ling ling", "What the hell, THAT was the solution!"

 

[woodaba]

A great majority of the plot-critical items in Ultima VII: Serpent Isle can be actually lost forever very easily, forcing a complete restart.

What's that? That beer I picked up is essential to the plot? THEN DON'T FUCKING LET ME DRINK IT!

 

[The Unworthy Gentleman]

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, almost at the very end. Seriously, how the fuck am I supposed to know that being seen when I'm naked meant I couldn't progress from the big tunnel? I played that game so many times and there was no indication about that at all. The Colonel even says to turn of the console, like an asshole.

 

[DeathStreamer]

I think your Sonic 3 example is a good one. And no, you're not the only one who got held up at that point. Me, and all my friends, always had trouble with it too.

Well, I could spout the names of several different adventure games and call it a day (Riven, in particular, jumps out at me), but I've got another good one.

In one of the X-Men games for the Genesis (I forget exactly which one it is at the moment), when you get to the end of the game, you basically reach a dead end, with no way to proceed. The solution? Hit the reset button on your console. THAT will take you to the final screen.

What in the flying name of FUCK would lead you be believe that would work?

that one reminds of one from Metal Gear Solid...specifically when you're fighting the psychic guy that cheats by knowing every button you press and reacts accordingly, making him invincible.......unless you plug your controller into the player 2 slot.

Now I've never played MGS (I played MGS 2, but by all accounts that's one that is best left forgotten ) so I don't know if there's any hints or tips that you have to plug your controller into the 2nd player slot. But if there isn't, I can't imagine how the hell you're supposed to think to do that.

Maybe the fact that Psycho Mantis was a crazy and irrational boss was supposed to make you think and/or act crazy and irrationally to beat him?

 

[RaikuFA]

SPOILERS FROM SO3 AND PERSONA 1 AND 4

Spoiler

Taken from TV Tropes:

Star Ocean: Till the End of Time was full of this. The best example was perhaps the list of 300 "Battle Trophies" that the player must acquire by completing certain tasks in battle. If some of them are instinctive and/or will be earned sooner or later anyway (doing a certain number of battles, for example), others will require you to beat the final boss with a party of level 1 characters, or to stay in battle for 2 whole hours. ◦ Another one worth mentioning: the best available weapons in the game (without using the nonsensical crafting system, in itself another Guide Dang It, or going to the bonus dungeon that only unlocks after beating the game once)is to go into a house you never need to enter otherwise, and give two people directions to the previous town. This happens very early on in the game, and once missed is Lost Forever. Then, you have to do it twice more, and if you give them the wrong directions, guess what? No weapons for you. ¡ Not to mention the whole business about your last 2 party members...

◦ Also this game probably gave the WORST directions possible when it told you where to go next; if it actually gave you directions. Best line ever "It's past the pointy rock!" EVERY ROCK IS POINTY DUE TO LOW POLYGON COUNTS! Thanks old lady...

Also, the hospital scene in P4 where you confront that person in their bed. One wrong move and BLAM worst ending.

Also, in P1 you have to do the sme thing with a little girl and if you get it wrong its a boss bttle.