Glaring plot holes in games

[subject_87]

What are the bizarre lapses in logic in a game's story that just leave you wondering 'Why'? For me, I was completely dumbfounded in Portal

Spoiler

as to why they'd even have a system for flooding the place with a neurotoxin, much less give control of it to a supercomputer of dubious sanity, or at the very minimum remove the capability after she tried it once.

So, your examples?

 

[Blue_vision]

I'm pretty sure that the neurotoxin flooder mechanism was a total black comedy joke (i.e. it's not really a plot hole because it's not supposed to make sense.)

Playing Just Cause 2 right now (which might not be supposed to make that much sense either,) I'd really like to wonder what Panay wants to do after nuking some of the biggest world powers.

 

[subject_87]

I'm pretty sure that the neurotoxin flooder mechanism was a total black comedy joke (i.e. it's not really a plot hole because it's not supposed to make sense.)

Okay, perhaps that was a bad example. But here's another: In Half-Life 2 (or pretty much any game where rag-tag rebels overthrow an evil government) what are they going to do after overthrowing the regime? Do they have any alternative lined up? After all, evil order is better than no order at all (and yes, that is highly debatable, but this thread isn't the place for that).

 

[L3m0n_L1m3]

*AHEM*

WHY DID SHEPHERD KILL ROACH AND GHOST?

 

[Hader]

snip

Pretty much all of Borderlands.

Well, okay, it was just a shit 'story' to begin with. But the biggest plot hole I felt was the fact that they gave all four characters a backstory as to why they came to Pandora in the first place. Then the second that weird blue AI lady starts telling them they should find the vault, they completely give up on their personal reasons for being here and go on this stupid treasure hunt.

The backstory for each character kinda establishes that they have personal reasons to be here, not the Vault, but that becomes irrelevant at the very start and they immediately become drone-like Vault hunters for literally no reason beyond some weird lady telling them they should.

 

[Fr]anc[is]

How Shepard knows about thermal clips after being dead for 2 years. They were invented while s/he was dead. Tiny one, but still there

 

[Dr. Paine]

I'm pretty sure that the neurotoxin flooder mechanism was a total black comedy joke (i.e. it's not really a plot hole because it's not supposed to make sense.)

Okay, perhaps that was a bad example. But here's another: In Half-Life 2 (or pretty much any game where rag-tag rebels overthrow an evil government) what are they going to do after overthrowing the regime? Do they have any alternative lined up? After all, evil order is better than no order at all (and yes, that is highly debatable, but this thread isn't the place for that).

... except when said evil order has prevented reproduction, assimilating humans into their regime (see Combine troopers and stalkers) and are killing the planet off fairly fast. That's when figuring out what comes next is secondary, just get the multi-dimensional planet eaters THE HELL OUT.

And for Portal, it was a defense mechanism, much like rocket/normal turrets. It's more classified than Area 51, I'm honestly surprised there was no mechanism to just blow the place to smithereens. A system to kill any spies/random person who accidentally got in is quite reasonable.

As for why GLaDOS has the controls... Aperture, in case you didn't notice, is not exactly the brightest when it comes to thinking things through- GLaDOS was originally supposed to be a fuel system de-icer. The portal device? Shower curtains- in fact, Aperture started out as a shower curtain manufacturer. Giving controls of the defense system to an AI- which is one of the main reasons for even creating an AI, or a highly developed computer intelligence- is far from the dumbest thing they've ever done, and they even realized the issue. Remember the Morality Core? Which you destroyed (which is a minor fridge logic moment, but sometimes Stupidity is the only option [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StupidityIsTheOnlyOption], and if you were in Chell's springs, you wouldn't be thinking clearly either)? That might not have stopped her from trying to kill you in other ways, but it did keep the neurotoxin from being released.

... I can't think of any examples myself, but as someone who has read nearly all there is to know about Portal, I had to point this out.

 

[triggrhappy94]

*AHEM*

WHY DID SHEPHERD KILL ROACH AND GHOST?

Cause someone had to

 

[Klumpfot]

How about most RPGs, in which magic, curative items and skills don't work outside of combat sequences?

 

[OrokuSaki]

What are the bizarre lapses in logic in a game's story that just leave you wondering 'Why'? For me, I was completely dumbfounded in Portal (Warning: mild spoilers ahead) as to why they'd even have a system for flooding the place with a neurotoxin, much less give control of it to a supercomputer of dubious sanity, or at the very minimum remove the capability after she tried it once.

So, your examples?

A bigger question concerning that same subject: If they imposed a morality core on GLaDOS to stop the flooding of the Aperture Science Research Center, then why is everyone dead?

 

[WorkerMurphey]

snip

Pretty much all of Borderlands.

The backstory for each character kinda establishes that they have personal reasons to be here, not the Vault, but that becomes irrelevant at the very start and they immediately become drone-like Vault hunters for literally no reason beyond some weird lady telling them they should.

Maybe I passed out due to the awesomeness of the Cage the Elephant or whatever song from the intro of that game but I don't remember much characterization. I'm curious about that now.


I always find it a little annoying that there are often torches lit in ancient or otherwise isolated places in games where presumably nobody besides the protagonist has been lately. In recent memory God of War 3 and Uncharted had some of this.

 

[WorldCritic]

In Heavy Rain, why did Ethan keep having those random blackouts and why did he have an origami figure?

 

[Ironman126]

anc[is]How Shepard knows about thermal clips after being dead for 2 years. They were invented while s/he was dead. Tiny one, but still there

Dude, i was thinking the exact same thing!

 

[indiangrunt91]

this one's just kinda minor, but why is a plumber saving the princess from turtles instead of say the army? if you have to be told the game then i feel bad for you

 

[Hader]

Maybe I passed out due to the awesomeness of the Cage the Elephant or whatever song from the intro of that game but I don't remember much characterization. I'm curious about that now.

There was a written backstory for each character, giving a brief explanation of why they each came to Pandora. I believe it was somewhat like this (just off the top of my head): Brick came to find his lost sister (I think she was in danger or...something...), Mordecai came to find an old friend of his (forgot his reasons), Lilith came to find another Siren like here so that she may better learn the secrets of her powers, and Roland came to locate some old colleague of his from the Lance and kill him.

Some of that is probably off a bit but that's the basics of what I remember reading about them before I played the game. Then they each seem to forget their reasons for being there to find this vault...like seriously, not even a side quest that fulfills each characters reasons for being there? Even that much would have been good.

 

[Dr. Paine]

What are the bizarre lapses in logic in a game's story that just leave you wondering 'Why'? For me, I was completely dumbfounded in Portal (Warning: mild spoilers ahead) as to why they'd even have a system for flooding the place with a neurotoxin, much less give control of it to a supercomputer of dubious sanity, or at the very minimum remove the capability after she tried it once.

So, your examples?

A bigger question concerning that same subject: If they imposed a morality core on GLaDOS to stop the flooding of the Aperture Science Research Center, then why is everyone dead?

Because it happened once before- if you read the history, you'll see that when she was first activated, she took complete control and killed off most people inside. Survivors put together the Morality core, attached it... but since the Combine had invaded, the facility was still in lockdown, and GLaDOS began a permanent cycle of testing the portal device. Most subjects are implied to have been the remaining staff. Portal takes place around 20 years or so after that event, and given the nature of the tests, it's easy to see why there would be next to no one left.

 

[DuctTapeJedi]

It always bothered me how every time I made it through one of the castles, Toad was there. Seriously, is he a double agent for Bowser, or something?

 

[indiangrunt91]

Oh yeah, also why do Ashley/Kaiden hate you even when you tell them that you died! There really wasnt much you could do and they saw you died?

 

[Merkavar]

that in most games fire is magic.