Question Games where you missed/forgot a mechanic?

[Pifanjr]

Have you ever discovered you were making a game much harder for yourself because you missed or forgot an (essential) mechanic? Or have you ever flailed about aimlessly because it wasn't clear on what to do or where to go?

For example, I started Final Fantasy 8 several times throughout my teens, but it was only in my 20s that I learned it uses level-scaling. I remember at least one attempt where I got stuck because I was underleveled and no amount of grinding seemed to help. Which makes sense, as I was really just making the game harder on myself by gaining more levels. And I didn't really understand how the junction system worked either, which didn't help.
I'm pretty sure I also gave up at least once because I had forgotten where I needed to go and trying to figure it out with the help of a walkthrough was too hard, especially with my more limited grasp of English at the time. Apparently there's a journal in the game, but it's only available at a computer in Balamb Garden.

Another example: the first time my brother and I played Pokémon Blue, it took quite a while to figure out how to leave the house you start in. It wasn't clear to us that the weirdly coloured floor was supposed to be a floor mat and that we had to walk into the wall at that spot.

Spoiler: Can you blame us?

I don't think we were the only ones with this problem either, as in the remake they made it a bit clearer by slightly putting the floor mat into the void and showing an arrow when you get close.

Based on this Reddit thread I saw a while ago.

 

[Colif]

Have you ever discovered you were making a game much harder for yourself because you missed or forgot an (essential) mechanic? Or have you ever flailed about aimlessly because it wasn't clear on what to do or where to go?

Isn't that life? But anyway, Yes... all the time.

Diablo 4 has level scaling as well. Helps to know that going in, you can never be better with current gear.

I often miss mechanics and have to restart games to fully take advantage of them... most times I play a game first time I am in a fog and only after notice things that would have helped.

reason I have yet to play Sacred 2 is I have forgotten so many mechanics

 

[Alm]

I have done this a lot. In FPS games I never really bother learning the nades.

In WoW I got to a certain level and had about 40 different abilities and just kept using the ones I had.

There is so much to the mid-late Civ game that I just don't understand.

The reason there are many games that I don't return to is that I forget the controls.

 

[Johnway]

i guess Chivalry 2, when the red mist descends and/or i'm under pressure everything i learnt goes out the window. feints/dragging/proper weapon distancing just gives way to me slashing wildly in desperation. yes chivalry is a school of hard knocks and frankly i'm not going to play that game any more as it brings the very worst out of me and i don't have fun when i'm spending most of it dead and eating dirt.

RPGs where you're given loads of abilities but don't use them as A: you don't know what the hell they do, B: aren't that good or C: rarely use them, you stick to your bread and butter attacks. ARPGs where you don't know what some stat does and you just go for the core important stuff you do know.

Strategy games, various special abilities some units have. I spend too often just using the basic ones or i lose control and forget to use them at all. Made infinitely worse when your units blob together and trying to use different unit abilities is just a nightmare. Thank god i don't play them competitively or i would have been trashed under 30 mins.

 

[Brian Boru]

As Colif said, all the time.

Royal Envoy
This is a strategy-puzzle combo series, and it originally took me a long time to realize that it occasionally hid resources behind buildings. Since the games revolve around constructing buildings, it never occurred to me to start out by demolishing pre-builds. Only discovered it when I clicked on the wrong button, ie Demolish instead of Upgrade

Far Cry 6
♣ During first playthru on Normal, had a bad time taking on tank & chopper combos. Took me a couple of RIPs to remember I had a lethal Supremo—backpack rocket launcher—on my back at all times.
♦ Not until 2nd playthru on Hard did I realize I could swap between weapons out in the field. So when tougher enemy combos showed up and I used up my RAT4 rockets on a couple of choppers, I could just swap out the RAT for a bow with explosive arrows.
♥ Also 2nd playthru before I figured out I should use those intel laptops near enemy bases—good info there re alarms, cameras, MG emplacements, ammo refills and turrets.

 

[Zloth]

Ugh, I remember getting stuck in Final Fantasy 6 a few times. It was difficult to know where exits were, or when you can walk behind a building or some such. (FF7 fixed that by adding a button that showed the exits when you hold it down, so I'm guessing I wasn't the only one.)

And I didn't really understand how the junction system worked either, which didn't help.

Finding out just opens up a new kind of pain.

In WoW I got to a certain level and had about 40 different abilities and just kept using the ones I had.

I got that in City of Heroes, too, with roughly 15 powers I could use in combat. I would realize "oh, I haven't used snow storm in months, that's a really good power!" And I would start using that, but then some other power would get forgotten. I had room in my brain for about a dozen options.