those "you could've told me" moments in games

[teh_Canape]

so, as the title implies, what are your stories on those moments in games when you find out something that is pretty much vital for your progression and wasn't told to you when you were given the task?

mine is, while I was playing Daggerfall, I accepted a quest to clear a dungeon from the inhabiting Harpies
however, it wasn't until I looked up on a walkthrough due to being stuck, that I found out that Harpies are vulnerable only to Dwarven weapons, and I'm still pretty "young" in this game (level 4 or so) to have found any (haven't done much exploration either)
and, being an assassin, I don't have spells to use (haven't learned any and didn't start with any spell either)

so, what's your story?

 

[Tayh]

At the top of my head...
Storms of Zehir expansion for Neverwinter Nights 2.
I had played the game up to the last boss with a pretty much pure melee party - with a cleric thrown in for heals.
Thing is, you need magic to defeat the last boss. Specifically, a high level sorc/wizard spell-of-cheezy-I-Win.
That's the only NWN game I have never completed.

 

[StorytellingIsAMust]

There was a moment in Phantom Hourglass when I was supposed to put out two candles in order to get into the dungeon. I tried using my only item, the boomerang, in every way I can think of, before looking online and seeing that I had to actually blow into the DS microphone that no other game has ever used so I didn't even know that the DS had a microphone.

 

[OctalLord]

Starfox: Command on the DS, when you're fighting over a city in that game you're rescuing it from a giant mothership with a large laser thats razing the city. After fighting off all the fighters and turrets in the area. You're set up with an attack run on the ship where a flight path is lain before you which leads you up into the middle of the ship ala Independace Day.

However the first time you do this you'll fly up into firing all your weapons and possibly shouting a battle cry for justice! At which point you'll run straight into the laser and get shot down. During the following cutscene of your fighter dropping out of the sky. ROB, your tutorial/Tips helper suggests that you were supposed to spin as you flew into the laser to avoid damage. Which will destroy the ship outright leaving you unharmed.

Oh thanks for that ROB, a bit late though.

 

[piplink]

in zelda PH for the ds, i was stuck at the part where you get the 2nd map. you have to close the DS but the desc wasnt specific enough and i spent 30 mins trying everything until i cosed it to check a walkthough and i opened it and it solved itself.

 

[Melon Hunter]

in zelda PH for the ds, i was stuck at the part where you get the 2nd map. you have to close the DS but the desc wasnt specific enough and i spent 30 mins trying everything until i cosed it to check a walkthough and i opened it and it solved itself.

Oh, damn, I remember that puzzle. Phantom Hourglass was terrible for assuming you'd solve its puzzles like that when they had such an off-the-wall solution.

I never realised the Phantom Sword could kill Phantoms in that game, which led me to give up on the final floor, because I had no way of opening the door to the final boss without killing the patrolling Phantoms. I only realised this on a second playthrough.

 

[1-up]

Castlevania 2 for the NES. IF there is an NPC that tells you you need to equip the red crystal and then kneel for 5 seconds to move on past the cliff in the game, it's clear as mud. I remember cracking that particular puzzle only because I was so stuck I was just dinking around.

There have also been several games where a key ability such as "block" were not brought up in the tutorial or that you find out weapons don't auto-equip or something. Has led to several "Freakin' A this game is hard!" moments.

 

[lewwatt]

Oblivion. I was tasked with assasinating someone inside a tomb (something like that) and as soon as I entered the tomb door locked. There were two enemies there and I was ill prepared and auto save had overwritten my previous save. Took me a long time to get through that.

 

[Innegativeion]

The golden claw in Skyrim is the most recent in memory.

I don't know if anyone actually said "the answer is in the palm of your hand" or anything like that... but I just smacked my forehead at this when I figured it out.

 

[Oly J]

Final Fantasy IX...I forget the place name but Zidane and probably the strongest party members have gone away to a place where you can't use magic, it may well have been mentioned but I may not have been paying attention, I picked a party geared towards magic use,

I somehow managed to get past this bit and I had to play as the remaining characters, there was a dead end I couldn't get past, I bought the strategy guide just to get past this point (I knew nothing of GameFAQs at the time) and apparently I had to have a very specific combination of lit candles in a room to make a staircase of light...how the hell was I meant to figure that out?

 

[Hyper-space]

The golden claw in Skyrim is the most recent in memory.

I don't know if anyone actually said "the answer is in the palm of your hand" or anything like that... but I just smacked my forehead at this when I figured it out.

I think the clue was in the thief's notes, can't remember.

But yeah, on topic: Pretty much the entire control scheme in Witcher 2. Telling me how to block BEFORE I was supposed to block would have been great.

 

[tippy2k2]

Magic 2012. Myself and my friend enjoy playing online together but I don't have the expansion decks, which means he can't play with those decks if he's playing with me.

However, there is a free download that allows my game to recognize those decks without forcing me to purchase them. Now he can use his decks and I don't have to pay for them! Yah!

 

[TheKruzdawg]

The first time I went through Oblivion I had no idea that ghosts couldn't be hurt without using magical, daedric or silver weapons; of course I had none of those items on my person when I entered one of the ruins and it is filled with ghosts. Only spells I had were a crappy fireball and cold touch, and the ghosts were immune to cold. I found out on the load screen AFTER i ran out of that place as fast as I could that I needed those weapons.

 

[Tzekelkan]

I downloaded Magicka a few days ago, and other than the cast at target (right click) and on self (spacebar), I was unaware of other ways of using magic. Like the fairly important area effect (shift), that isnt mentioned (as far as I know...).

It is mentioned actually in the tutorial. Where they make you turn on two generators at the same time using an area electricity cast. Also know that you can cast spells on your weapon and right click without spells casts push.

Also don't cross the beams.

 

[StraightToHeck]

I was recently playing Serious Sam: TSE, where I was in a fairly large arena filled with kleer and those giant two-legged robot things

I finally kill them all and then I see, in the middle of the room surrounded by a wall, the cannon

I literally went "you could've told me, game!"

 

[Generic_Username]

Final Fantasy XII. At the very beginning of the game there are some chests you're not allowed to open if you want to ever be able to get the Zodiac Spear, which is basically the best weapon in the game. I've only found this out once I was almost at the final battle.

 

[Amarok]

Starcraft 1, an early-to-middle Terran mission where you have to transport a Psi Emitter to a certain location. They don't tell you you need an SCV to carry it. They start you out with an SCV carrying it but literally in the FIRST SECOND of starting the mission you come under huge, heavy attack, and the SCV carrying the beacon can (and in my case, did) die before you even noticed him.

I was playing that mission for 50 minutes, desperately trying to pick it up with Dropships, or with Kerrigan, or trying to get it to move on its own, before I finally googled it.

 

[The Night Angel]

In KOTOR 2, there is a part where they force you to fight as Atton Rand, but I had never levelled him up, as I didn't like him and hadn't been told that all companions needed to be levelled.