I didn't know that...

[byte4554_v1legacy]

So, fellow escapists. In some games there are gameplay features that have always been around, but that you never figured out, no matter how obvious it got that they were there.

Mine was this:I have been playing a lot of arkham city lately, I've beat the game before, but I only recently discovered that you can press a button to do a takedown combo regularly, not just when the indicator for a special combo shows up...Derp.

So, with that in mind, whats your best "I didn't know that..."moment?

 

[Zeke17]

I've had two games where that happened. The first was Half-Life 2, where I only figured out I could sprint when I was halfway through the game. The second, and this is really embarrassing, I just figured out yesterday that you could do the smash moves in Smash Brothers Brawl by using the c-stick on the gamecube controller. That's much easier that stick+A.

 

[shrekfan246]

I just figured out yesterday that you could do the smash moves in Smash Brothers Brawl by using the c-stick on the gamecube controller. That's much easier that stick+A.

The same thing actually applies to Super Smash Bros. Melee as well. You can't charge them, but I rarely ever land a charged smash anyway...

OT: Oh, I don't remember if it's ever actually explained in-game (there might be a hint sign that tells you in one of the levels), but in Banjo-Tooie you can run on water while wearing Running Shoes. It's not really something you'd expect to try, especially because I believe in the first game you just went into swimming mode if you fell into the water while their effect was still active.

 

[Diablo2000]

I am playing Dark Souls and I discover that I can backstab the lil mushroom. Quite the useless fact, but awesome none the less...

 

[The Wykydtron]

I didn't notice Dead Space's Pimp Stance until my second time through the game. I had to use the really crap map instead.

Oh and it took me a while to figure out you can just use RT to do supers in UMVC3 instead of two buttons. It does you no favours when going in to BlazBlue that's for sure but it helped me learn the basics a lot quicker.

 

[Tyrant_Valvatorez]

On my first playthrough of Disgaea:Hour of Darkness, I was getting frustrated at some of the effects from geo panels and when throwing a character accidentally threw them diagonally (game is in isometric perspective and can normally only throw in straight lines). Turns out it was an oversight on the developers part and became a regular feature in later games.

 

[sextus the crazy]

I didn't know you could run away from battles in Final Fantasy IV until I returned to baron and someone told me.
Also, that there was a town of Baron that you could visit separate from the castle.

 

[lacktheknack]

In Silent Hill 2 and 3, pressing both sidestep buttons at the same time makes the character do an instant 180 degree turn.

This isn't mentioned in-game.

But good grief, it made a couple encounters so much easier...

I found it by accident when fighting the Missionary in Silent Hill 3, which is one such encounter. I tried to side-step him charging me, but I pressed the wrong direction, so I slammed the other one, and Heather 180'd, leaving her in the perfect position to shoot him in the back as he rushed by. Brilliant.

 

[Ashadowpie]

i've just recently figured out you can replay the castle levels in Super Mario World for the Snes by pressing both of the R buttons. you have to beat the game to beat the game to replay the castle levels, and they were my favorite.

 

[Garrett]

Long ago my friend lend me Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory with "omgz this is liek da best game evar, my favourite level is bank, try doing it 100%". I beat about 3/4 of the game before we meet again.
Him: "How's the game? Where are you?"
Me: "It's decent, I guess, little easy though, I'm here(somwhere in the game)"
H: "Only decent?! You bas... how was the bank, did you beat 100%"
M: "No, I've got 95%, I don't know how to bypass last laser that turns on the alarm."
H: "What laser?"
M: "Oh you know, in the valut, after you take money it appears in the door. I can't jump over it, can't roll under it, can't find a switch for it."
H: "Why didn't you just turn it off?"
M: "How? I just told, I can't find switch for it."
H: "I mean with your gun."
M: "Why would shooting it switch it off?"
H: "Shooting it? You can just switch it off for a short period of time like other electric things."
M: "I can what?"
H: "... You do now that if you press rmb you disrupt electronic device you're pointing at, right?"
M: "What?"
H: "You beat 3/4 of the game without using this function and you say it's an easy game?!"
M: "Well, but it is."
H: "I hate you."

His reaction was hilarious, but yeah I didn't realize I had the ability to switch off electronic devices. Pretty major funstion too...

 

[Quadocky]

PC Version of Skyrim: Didn't know I could sprint. I saw the hint in the loading screen but did not mention how. Played for almost a 100 hours or so by that point. I head there were people who played much longer without it. Keep in mind though I never use fast travel. Yeah.

And in Xenoblade there are so many little things I have no idea and makes me feel sad and dumb. I need a strategy guide or something for this game.

OH OH, Arc Rise Fantasia too, I didn't know the Defend option was a valid tool. I was so used to the Final Fantasy style in which random encounters were so easy that defend was useless and a waste of time.

Newer Japanese RPGs really throw me for a loop for some reason. Or rather generally newer games do.

 

[maninahat]

I didn't know how to sneak past land mines in Deus Ex: Human Revolution. You aren't told that walking is effective, or even what the walk button is (the PC version requires you to press a toggle, unlike on the consoles, in which speed is controlled by the sticks). I just set them off on purpose whenever I saw them.

I also didn't know the hours of fun you can have with the force fields in Dishonored. You can throw stuff at them to wear out the whale oil fuel (which has the added effect of frying any guards who happen to be passing through) and you can send rats into it for the same results.

 

[Aeshi]

It took me about 6 hours in Warframe to find out that you could wall-run.

 

[Brutal Peanut]

Fallout 3/NV - you can hold down a button to drink continuously. I think it's A for the XBox360 and E for the PC. Ta-da. It's magical. So magical. I felt like such a dink. I had accumulated so many hours before I knew that. So...many...hours. I've known this for a while now, but, I was so blown away when I learned it; it's now my top moment.

 

[MoreThanANoob]

I run into these so often it's hard to pick out just one instance .

I didn't know you could run away from battles in Final Fantasy IV until I returned to baron and someone told me.
Also, that there was a town of Baron that you could visit separate from the castle.

Yeah, that's one that drove me mad for a bit. I only learned about that after I spent an hour trying to fight some zombies before I had a magic user, which rendered all non-critical hits damn near, or completely, useless.

 

[Tom_green_day]

I only recently found out that in GTA 4 you could hail taxis, and then use them to fast travel everywhere. I hated having to drive everywhere, this made it much easier.

 

[Jaeke]

It took me about 6 hours in Warframe to find out that you could wall-run.

Hahahaha that sucks, I was wall running the moment I got my hands on that game, although yeah, it is a bit buggy.

Needless to say it's my favorite "ninja-game" since Tenchu Z.

OT: Idk about most people that played the new Ghost Recon (which was few) but I figured out during the beta you could do combat rolls and parkour-esque moves that tied in perfectly with free headshots which left the people I killed in the final game pretty speechless and/or angry.

But for me, after I quit Dark Souls after about 10 painful hours (it felt like years) I found out the next day about the co-op and online mechanics that made the game much less painful. I was unaware because my Firewall apparently disabled Game For Windows Live.

I'm still not going back though. I don't care how big of a fan you are, that game is not great in any sense of the word.

 

[SadisticFire]

I didn't know how to sneak past land mines in Deus Ex: Human Revolution. You aren't told that walking is effective, or even what the walk button is (the PC version requires you to press a toggle, unlike on the consoles, in which speed is controlled by the sticks). I just set them off on purpose whenever I saw them.

It was possible to do that? AND there was walk toggle? No wonder why it got infurating at certain points.

OT: Like others said, didn't know you could sprint in Skyrim till my brother mentioned it. Hm..
I suppose I didn't know you could choose what weapons you wanted to toggle by holding down Ctrl while selecting your targets in FTL. Made game easier.

 

[Elfgore]

I only recently found out that in GTA 4 you could hail taxis, and then use them to fast travel everywhere. I hated having to drive everywhere, this made it much easier.

Damnit that was mine. Played the game five times before I learned that.

OT: In Mass effect 3 I never knew what the tactial thingy mobober (the thing that fully heals you) did in multiplayer until about six months of playing it. My accurate expression was "HOLY SHIT!!!! I'M INVINCIBLE!!!!!" as I charged headlong into reapers as a krogan.