Favorite Video Game Plot Holes

[Trivun]

Halo: Humanity has been able to use covenant technology for a long time apparently (thank you Halo Wars) but in all that time they still use bullets. In fact, if Spartans could use covenant technology to begin with, why didn't they use it more often (you know other than for scavenging, which by the way is not a part of war, thank you video games).

Explained, and justified with the scavenging (unlike every other shooter), in the expanded universe. Basically, there are standing orders for all Marines, ODSTs and SPARTANs to collect any and all Covenant technology they find in battle, so the ONI spooks can do whatever research necessary to replicate that technology. Bear in mind that it's perfectly reasonable to assume that we'll still be using similar weaponry and such in 500 years time as we do now, it's not a big logical leap really. In the books, however, it's stated that ONI haven't been able to replicate Covenant technology perfectly, which is why there are only certain things that are Covenant-based (particularly shield systems and artificial gravity) that humans can use. Thus the scavenging is justified and it explains how the characters can use Covenant technology, without having access to it through their usual weapon choices...

 

[Lieju]

Resident Evil is full of them.

-Why does Wesker hate Chris?

Chris screwed up his plans in RE1 and in RE: Code Veronica, and on other occasions. He's been a pretty constant thorn in Wesker's side since Raccoon City.

Except that Wesker had planned his death and it all went to plan. Why he'd want to fake his death like that is another plot-hole, or something like it. If he expected Chris and Jill to die, why fool them into thinking he died?
Wesker already hates Chris in Code Veronica, in which he is not much more than an annoyance to him, but still it's understandable he'd hate him for that.
But then in the incident in Russia Wesker doesn't seem to care. (And his attitude towards Chris and Jill is like that in the whole Umbrella Chronicles)

-What happened to the virus that brought Wesker back? They all just decided the virus that gave you superpowers without any ill effects just wasn't worth it?

Well, it was untested, for one. Birkin and Wesker had an idea of what it would do, but Wesker using it on himself was its first real trial. Also, Birkin did most of the work on it, and was killed in RE2 presumably before he could make more.

And yet they made a big deal out of G-virus even though there was a better super-soldier-serum around. I guess it could be explained Will was just so in love with his precious he didn't consider Wesker's virus interesting enough.

-What happened to Sherry/Steve/Billy a number of characters really.

As far as the ending of RE3 goes, Sherry is in the hands of the government and Barry is either with his family in Canada or helping Chris and Jill. Steve is dead, as far as we know. No real evidence has been given to him being anything other than dead.

According to Wesker's report he took Sherry.
Those might be more of loose plot-threads than plotholes, though. They left Steve's fate kinda open, hinting that he might come back to life if they ever felt like writing him in again.

-a bunch of timeline-stuff that doesn't fit

Eh, its RE. This isn't exactly classical literature we are dealing with.

Which doesn't change the fact that they are plot-holes. Caused by the franchise consisting of that many games with different people working on different ones.

-Good timing on the part of the protagonists sometimes, like how Chris and Jill just manage to get to Spencer right when Wesker is there.

Movie logic. Its not a plothole, just plot-contrived conveniences. After all, we wouldn't have gotten a cool fight scene if they'd just shown up to see a dead guy in a wheelchair.

I still count that as a plot-hole, especially since they make an attempt at explaining it. Ada knew Wesker was coming there, Jill and Chris got a tip, most likely from Ada. But it's still a huge coincidence.

-The whole of Resident Evil Zero

Well, I'm tempted to say "Its RE" again, but honestly, yeah. It was pretty dumb. Though I do find the idea of Rebecca going on this huge adventure and saving the day, just to show up at the Spencer Estate and have everyone treat her like dead weight to be hilarious.

She just never mentions it, even when they talk about Umbrella in Re1/Remake. Not to mention the timelines don't really fit.
And Rebecca and Billy just wandering around aimlessly until they happen upon Marcus and kill him. At one point they are in Raccoon city. Just outside of Birkin's lab. Enrico is there too!

I can't say I really hate zero(and in fact there's lot of unintentional hilarity in it), but damn is it stupid.

 

[Lieju]

-Chris and Jill stopped him from successfully esacping the Spencer Mansion with the BOW combat data when he defected from Umbrella. I never finished Code Veronica, but I'd assumed Chris got in the way there too.

No they didn't. Sergei and the Red Queen did(as we see in Umbrella Chronicles). Apart from that the whole thing with Wesker's death went according to his plan. Except maybe for Jill and Chris surviving, but if he wanted them to die, why bother faking his death in a way that required them to survive and report him dead?

-Wesker's virus did have ill effects. He has to take regular injections to keep the mutations under control. Also, RE5 revealed that Wesker's entire life was manipulated by Spencer, so maybe the virus was specially created for Wesker and would simply kill anyone else.

Birkin tested the virus on animals and reported decent success http://residentevil.wikia.com/Virus_Memo
And even if he had to take injections, it still was a better super-soldier serum the other viruses were.

-What timeline-stuff doesn't fit? Not doubting it; it's just that some examples would be appreciated.

Like, for how long was John (The one Ada dated) the head researcher at Arklay? I recall trying to find that out some time ago for a fanfic I was writing and different memos and raports giving different dates for when he came from Chicago.
Or Birkin mentioning Alexia in a memo and talking like she was alive, though at that time they thought she had died. Well, maybe Will was just insane.

-It makes snooping difficult, if I remember correctly. REmake had notes from the guy who built the Spencer mansion; I seem to recall the notes mentioning that Spencer wanted the mansion like that...and the man is obsessed with cranks, apparently.

But you could still find all the emblems and whatnot.
But that all can be filed under "stuff for the convenience of gameplay"

-Never played RE0. Specific examples please?

Rebecca has this whole adventure before the events in the mansion, fighting tyrants, zombie-monkeys and giant bats in an another mansion before that. And yet she never mentions this to anyone and is defenseless against one hunter, despite killing dozens of them just few hours ago.
And Rebecca and Billy wander to a random factory to kill Marcus who is there for some reason. They are in Raccoon city at one point (Enrico too)and somehow make their way back in time.

Not to mention the whole retconning the first virus-leak in the Arklay-lab raises more questions, as in, if Marcus was behind it, why are there no zombie monkeys or leeches around, and why did he choose such an inefficient method for his revenge anyway, given that it was Birkin and Wesker he was angry at, and neither was at that lab.

 

[Stuntkid]

Sonic 06

 

[Lieju]

Humans evolving on multiple planets isn't entirely unfeasible if the climate is similar, really. We have many examples of organisms acquiring similar traits without ever coming into contact with eachother. If the planet with Ferelden/Kirkwall/etc is a lot like Earth (and it seemed to be in DA), then humanoid life is entirely within the realm of possibility, since the human form was optimal enough for our species to survive here.[footnote]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convergent_evolution[/footnote]

Not really. Even if the world is very similar climate-vice, it would take quite a lot of coincidences to end up with a similar humanoid structure. It isn't even particularly good design choice and is a result of an accident more than anything. Humans are the only ones on this planet with this structure, so it isn't that advantageous. It works, sure, but it isn't that great a design, (especially in humans where it developed from a non-erect form so our muscles and organs are all stupidly placed). So why would evolution end up with something similar in a totally different world?
Some similarities, like the ability to hold things with hands or whatever passes for them would be present, but the whole humanoid appearance?

In the case of convergent evolution, it can end up with similar solutions in different evolutionary branches, but because the structure it starts with is similar enough the result is similar. As in, both fish and dolphins have evolved similar form, but both share an ancestor that had bilateral symmetry, and eyes, and a skeleton and whatnot so they do too.

If we would have another planet with their life evolving completely separate from ours, there's a long chain of mutations and chance playing part.

Convergent evolution would happen.
Creatures adapted to the life in water would take similar forms than what we have because they are advantageous in moving in such an element. Different creatures would develope eyes, because detecting light is advantageous and there are several ways to do it. Animals would develope ways to fly, and ways to dig and shield themselves from the elements, and same kinds of solutions would exist, but there's no particular reason to develope humanoid shape.

It is a result of a chain of unlikely coincidences, and not that great a design, and even on our planet, only one evolutionary branch went for it.

 

[carpenter20m]

Has anyone thought that the Earth of Mass Effect is our Earth?

An Earth that has played games of the Dragon Age franchise?

My guess: Dragon Age is huge, the best game ever in the future (ME's present). Big VR installations take you to Thedas, where you wield your sword against the darkspawn.

So, the Ogre is nothing but a reference to people's favorite game.

 

[Zechnophobe]

Not really what you would call "Favorite" since it kinda spoils the story but, Bioshock:

Spoiler

So Fontaine sends Jack to the surface as a baby right? What happens when he gets to dry land and exits the sub? How did he survive alone, as an infant no less, on the surface? We learn that his memories of a family are fake, so he probably didn't live with anyone on the surface, how did he make it as a baby all the way to able-to-buy-a-plane-ticket-for-myself adulthood?

Also, how did Fontaine know where to send the package? Did he have someone tailing Jack his whole life?

Er, that's completely answerable actually.

Spoiler

They have a fair bit of stuff in there talking about how he aged much MUCH faster than normal. Even if he was just a boy he'd have still been able to make it. As for getting the package etc etc, it isn't really a hole, as that would imply a contradiction or impossibility. There are plenty of ways it could happen, they just didn't tell us in the story.

 

[Zechnophobe]

Anyhow, my contribution comes from... Dragon Age 2.

At the end of Act 2...

Spoiler

Isabella will return with the 'relic' right before you confront the Arishok. She gives it to him. You can then choose to not duel, and instead kill every qunari in the Room.

Later on Isabella gets in trouble with Castillon for not having the Relic.

But... where did it go? You KILLED all those Qunari right? Couldn't you have looted it off the corpse of whoever had it? It basically just disappears, and no explanation of where it went is ever given.

 

[Ordinaryundone]

Except that Wesker had planned his death and it all went to plan. Why he'd want to fake his death like that is another plot-hole, or something like it. If he expected Chris and Jill to die, why fool them into thinking he died?
Wesker already hates Chris in Code Veronica, in which he is not much more than an annoyance to him, but still it's understandable he'd hate him for that.
But then in the incident in Russia Wesker doesn't seem to care. (And his attitude towards Chris and Jill is like that in the whole Umbrella Chronicles)

Well, Wesker doesn't seem to care because he's a smug bastard. Even if Chris did seriously screw things up for him, Wesker would never show it. Hell, even through RE5 where Chris is throwing a wrench into nearly all of Wesker's machinations, he doesn't even get angry until near the very end when literally everything is over.

And I'm pretty sure Wesker didn't PLAN his death in RE1, though it's been a while since I played it. From what I understood, his original plan was just to get the data and sell it, which Chris and Jill screwed up pretty royally. The rebirth virus was just a contingency plan in case things went awry. I'm pretty sure Wesker wasn't faking his mauling from the Tyrant; if anything, that was probably a genuine miscalculation on his part. Honestly, like I said, there was no way of really knowing what that virus would do. The only thing he seems sure of in the Wesker Report is that it would bring him back to life; I think superpowers were a happy coincidence. Wesker would be too smart to get himself killed on purpose over something that might not work.

And yet they made a big deal out of G-virus even though there was a better super-soldier-serum around. I guess it could be explained Will was just so in love with his precious he didn't consider Wesker's virus interesting enough.

Well, Birkin never got a chance to really see the effect IIRC. Wesker went into hiding after RE1, and RE2 happened shortly after. And like you said, Birkin was in love with G-Virus. It was his life's work, and he considered it superior to everything, even T-Veronica. Guy had an ego the size of a truck, so its fairly believable he'd snub the results of rebirth even if they were presented to him.

According to Wesker's report he took Sherry.
Those might be more of loose plot-threads than plotholes, though. They left Steve's fate kinda open, hinting that he might come back to life if they ever felt like writing him in again.

Didn't Wesker just say he recovered Steve's body? I mean, the virus is still in him but I doubt Wesker would have had any interest in reviving Steve. He probably just wanted the T-Veronica sample. As for Sherry, who knows? That story has long since stopped being relevant as G-Virus never came up again. I actually like the idea of her being safe with the government better, as it gives a more closed reason as to why she never shows back up.

Which doesn't change the fact that they are plot-holes. Caused by the franchise consisting of that many games with different people working on different ones.

Timeline inconsistencies don't necessarily equal plot-holes. In movies it happens all the time: The hero has only a minute to disarm a bomb but the scene takes longer. No one considers it a plothole, its simply done for drama. Likewise, not all the games fit absolutely perfectly together, but thats done more for the sake of storytelling than anything.

I still count that as a plot-hole, especially since they make an attempt at explaining it. Ada knew Wesker was coming there, Jill and Chris got a tip, most likely from Ada. But it's still a huge coincidence.

I doubt its from Ada, as she has no idea (as far as we know) who Chris or Jill are. My guess: Spencer sent it. He knew Wesker was coming to visit, and he knew it probably wasn't a social call, so who better to call for help than Wesker's archrival? If Chris had made it just a few minutes earlier its very possible Wesker would have tried to kill him before Spencer, and it might have saved his life. No one else would rank that high on Wesker's kill on sight chart.

She just never mentions it, even when they talk about Umbrella in Re1/Remake. Not to mention the timelines don't really fit.
And Rebecca and Billy just wandering around aimlessly until they happen upon Marcus and kill him. At one point they are in Raccoon city. Just outside of Birkin's lab. Enrico is there too!

I can't say I really hate zero(and in fact there's lot of unintentional hilarity in it), but damn is it stupid.

To be fair, no one really asks her where she has been, so maybe she'd feel rude bringing it up? After all, they did have bigger problems at the moment, and she wouldn't want to let anyone know about Billy. And yeah, the story is pretty aimless, but I kinda got that vibe from most of the early RE games. 1 and 3, especially. Though nearly all of them have heroes who sort of just wander about until the run into the story. Its probably why 4 and 5 feel so different.

 

[Silent Biohazard Solid]

Eh, its not really a plot hole so much as a retcon. In MGS3 they wanted Big Boss to look exactly like Solid Snake, which forced them to de-age him quite a bit from his previously established age.

But if what Liquid Snake said was his "established age" then it still wouldn't make sense. Because in Metal Gear 1, when Solid Snake first fought Big Boss, it was 1995, which would make Big Boss around 90 years old by then and nearing 95 by Metal Gear 2. So that number still makes no sense.

 

[Lieju]

And I'm pretty sure Wesker didn't PLAN his death in RE1, though it's been a while since I played it. From what I understood, his original plan was just to get the data and sell it, which Chris and Jill screwed up pretty royally. The rebirth virus was just a contingency plan in case things went awry. I'm pretty sure Wesker wasn't faking his mauling from the Tyrant; if anything, that was probably a genuine miscalculation on his part. Honestly, like I said, there was no way of really knowing what that virus would do. The only thing he seems sure of in the Wesker Report is that it would bring him back to life; I think superpowers were a happy coincidence. Wesker would be too smart to get himself killed on purpose over something that might not work.

They did know about the super-powers-thing, Birkin experimented on animals.
http://residentevil.wikia.com/Virus_Memo
Also, from Wesker's report:
"I injected the virus I obtained from Birkin in advance. If I made Umbrella believe I was dead, it made it far more convenient to sell myself to the opposing corporation. According to Birkin, the virus had profound effects. It would put my body in a state of temporary "death". It would then bring me back to life with super human powers. Therefore, I unleashed an awesome Tyrant from its slumber and let it attack me. "
http://residentevil.wikia.com/Wesker%27s_Report
According to that, his plan was a failure because he didn't get the Tyrant, although how he would have managed to get it out, is kinda confusing. And in any case, in Umbrella Chronicles it's the data he is after, and Sergei and RedQueen block his access to it, and in that game he is mad at them. And eventually kills them.

Didn't Wesker just say he recovered Steve's body? I mean, the virus is still in him but I doubt Wesker would have had any interest in reviving Steve. He probably just wanted the T-Veronica sample. .

Wesker says: "Maybe he will come back alive, just as I did"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGjER9Ivaj0 (Around 2.18)
It can be interpreted as him taunting and threatening Claire, but it's clear the writers intended it as a possible plotpoint for later.

Timeline inconsistencies don't necessarily equal plot-holes. In movies it happens all the time: The hero has only a minute to disarm a bomb but the scene takes longer. No one considers it a plothole, its simply done for drama. Likewise, not all the games fit absolutely perfectly together, but thats done more for the sake of storytelling than anything.

So what is your definition of a "plot-hole" then? As I would consider unexplained oddities like giving different dates in different sources as a plot-hole.

I doubt its from Ada, as she has no idea (as far as we know) who Chris or Jill are. My guess: Spencer sent it. He knew Wesker was coming to visit, and he knew it probably wasn't a social call, so who better to call for help than Wesker's archrival? If Chris had made it just a few minutes earlier its very possible Wesker would have tried to kill him before Spencer, and it might have saved his life. No one else would rank that high on Wesker's kill on sight chart.
.

I'm sure Ada is aware of Chris and Jill, given how important and well-known the mansion-incident and Raccoon city was(Chris and Jill are celebrities in the zombie-fighting community), and what their relationship to Wesker was. Ada played her own games, what her goals were, exactly, we don't really know, but she had close dealings with Wesker so she'd know about these things.
No, Spencer got Wesker there on purpose. He was certain of his influence over Wesker, and so not afraid of him.
http://residentevil.wikia.com/Patrick%27s_Memoirs_3
From a file in "Lost in nightmares", which also implies that Ada got the info about Spencer's whereabouts.
And I suspect he wouldn't have wanted BSAA to know where he was hiding.

To be fair, no one really asks her where she has been, so maybe she'd feel rude bringing it up? After all, they did have bigger problems at the moment, and she wouldn't want to let anyone know about Billy. .

So she never mentions anything she knows about Umbrella's involvement, or the weaknesses of the monsters, or that she had found a way to Raccoon city, but came back.
And is defenseless against a hunter, despite killing dozens of them just few hours ago.

 

[Nightcraft66]

Borderlands, seriously..

Spoiler

Vault opened, tentacle monster destroyed, claptrap does.. something, satellite! End game.

 

[EscapistUser123456]

Why can you use a (phoenix down,Restoration spell, etc...) in battle, but when they die in a cut scene you can't bring them back?

In battle, you're wounded/downed/etc. but when you die, you can't be revived.

 

[blind_dead_mcjones]

Borderlands - Not so much plot holes as massive annoyance in the story.

2. Elaborate please?

he's referring to the fact that

Spoiler

when you open the vault rather than there being any treasure in there, there is instead some giant eldrich abomination that you have to kill, when you do kill it, the game ends with it being revealed that the 'guardian' that was guiding you was actually a satelite owned by the hyperion company, and the claptrap robot is actully an assasin, the last two facts get addressed properly in the 4th DLC

incidentally i found the monster in the vault ending brilliant for two reasons. first, the place is called pandora and the vault is a box (don't think i need to elaborate on that). and second, if the player thinks they're disappointed, imagine what the characers are feeling

 

[RogerKevin]

They all grew up together in an orphanage.

 

[FalloutJack]

They all grew up together in an orphanage.

I'll do you a better one. The whole game is a big timey wimey ball set out too long in the sun and explodes into nonsensical nonsense.

 

[Scarim Coral]

This is a few plot holes I thought of during the Halo franchise-

Did the Pillar of Autumn have no Mongoose in the first Halo game? Better yet where were they in Halo 3?

Considering Master Chief Armour is the latest armour compare to Noble Team, why did MC had no ability like the jetpack, stealth, armour lock etc? Ok I know they didn't create the games in chronic orders but it like Star Wars timeline logics.

 

[SamStar42]

Call of Duty games:
MW2:Random militia soldier.He has access to some of the most potent firearms in the world as well as attack helicopters,fighter jets,supply drops,and sentry turrets.All he needs to do is kill people to get these things.
Black Ops:Hello soldier!You're being assinged to a combat mission in nearly every country involved with the Cold War.Also,you're brainwashed so that there's an imaginary Russian guy who seems to follow you around everywhere and is able to kill people when he doesn't even exist.
Yup,it all makes sense.

IMO the Reznov thing was handled rather well. On Rebirth, I shot Reznov a few times due to him CONSTANTLY GETTING IN THE WAY but there was no 'careful, my friend!' or something. I didn't see him kill anyone - or maybe you're projecting onto him, and the people you think he killed you actually did. Or something.

To me: At the end of AC2, if Ezio could use the apple to create five versions of himself, why didn't the Pope do the same thing?

that might be incorrect actually, was about a year ago D: