History GuideDangIt / TalesSeries

*** Her second one deserves its own point. She must have the compound Ex-Skill Overcharge (P. Charge + Taunt; both T-Tree), and she must be the ''only non-[=KOed=] party member'', and she must be at most at 16% health. Then she needs to have used Beast at least two-hundred times. ''Then'' the Overcharge must successfully occur in-battle, and ''then'' the player can use Beast in Overlimit to activate Hien Messhoujin. Oy!

* The "Uninhabited Island" sidequest is unmarked, and thus very easy to miss. It isn't PermanentlyMissableContent ([[AntiFrustrationFeatures thankfully]]) but starting it requires the player to backtrack to Tuah seashore after the final dungeon is unlocked - for no apparent reason. The boss at the end is also significantly higher in level then the enemies on the island, something the game doesn't at all warn the player of.

* The CollectionSidequest, "The Owl Forest", is fairly easy to complete and the only real issues arise from finding them. However, its also the ''only'' sidequest with PermanentlyMissableContent at play, as one of the Owls is located on the Mobile Fortress Gradia, a location that gets destroyed after the ArcVillain is beaten. If you miss the Owl or forget to get it before completing dungeon, then you can't at all complete the sidequest, locking you out of several accessories, costumes, and rewards. Naturally, the game does not even remotely warn you about this.

* Gaining Sophie's Level 3 Blast Caliber requires extensive synthesizing of a lot of items, and handing them to a certain NPC girl. While it makes somewhat sense that the player can do this, a lot of those items happen to be made with stuff that the game pretty much calls VendorTrash.

** The "Uninhabited Island" sidequest is unmarked, and thus very easy to miss. It isn't PermanentlyMissableContent ([[AntiFrustrationFeatures thankfully]]) but starting it requires the player to backtrack to Tuah seashore after the final dungeon is unlocked - for no apparent reason. The boss at the end is also significantly higher in level then the enemies on the island, something the game doesn't at all warn the player of.

* The fishing minigame is straightforward for the most part, but good luck figuring out which fish are located where without a guide, because the game does not at all document or allow you to see where specific fish are. The closest thing you get is the npc who introduces it will tell you what places you have fish to catch still, but since some fish need better rods and bait in order to get, it involves a lot of moving around to various fishing spots to figure out which ones you need.

* Coupled as an [[ThatOneAchievement Achievement]], seeing all the Mystic Artes in the game. This doesn't just mean the player must unlock the third Mystic Arte for each party member, and use them, but also view the Mystic Arte of bosses. The worst part is that the automatic occurence of Shigure's Mystic Arte during his [[HopelessBossFight hopeless]] battles does ''not'' count as having 'seen' it, or the fact that Phoenix has ''two'' Mystic Artes, which the player likely isn't aware of, ''or'' that one of those only ''randomly'' happens when he's defeated, meaning that [[LuckBasedMission if you beat him and it didn't activate, you'll have to restart the entire battle for another chance.]]

* Again, Blue Earth. Its activation is even ''worse'' than in Tales of Eternia, as it requires a very specific party combination of Hilda, Eugene, and Mao to be in the party, as Hilda and Eugene will trigger Dual the Sol but Mao will activate the rest. You must have two controllers plugged into the PS2 and hit buttons on Mao's controller at times and Hilda's at others, making things even more confusing. Nowhere in the game is this hinted at, and even players who are familiar with ''Tales of Eternia'' will likely be confused by the specific party and multiplayer requirements.

* Accessing the throne room in Terrazi Castle requires the player to know the western zodiac by heart. And even if one does, it doesn't start at the ''beginning'' of the zodiac, but at the very ''end'' of them. There is a guard NPC that will give a hint for 500 Gald, but his hint is only useful in telling the player what to start on if they already know the answer to the puzzle... 'Goat', indeed.

* Gaining Judas' Infernal Suffering [[LimitBreak Mystic Arte]] and Harold's full Crazy Comet spell require a certain number of ''playthroughs'' to unlock them in the Grade Shop. And what needs to be bought there for them does not have a very indicative name. Good luck even knowing about these without a guide. And this is especially bad because Infernal Suffering is Judas' most popular [[LimitBreak Mystic Arte]] because it unlocks an EasterEgg.
* Opening the [[BonusLevelOfHell Aqua Dungeon]] is tedious and counter-intuitive. The player needs to find twelve stones on the overworld. Not that bad, except one of them requires the player to land on a seemingly random island, and then ''run across the ocean'', with no indication that this is even a possibility, until a Pac-Man statue in the middle of that ocean is discovered. And then the Sorcerer's Scope must be used on it. And ''then'' the player needs to go to the optional Katz Town, and find a hidden door inside of the basement of a building.
** Finding Katz Town itself can be considered this, as it cannot be reached until just before the final destination is unlocked, and it also requires twisting the camera around to see it.

** The Flanoir scene, which is the scene that determines which character will be in higher focus for the endgame events, has the three characters with highest affinity come in descending order and ask Lloyd if he wants to go outside and have a chat. The Gamecube version made getting a different ending slightly less annoying because rejecting all three options would automatically result in [[TakeAThirdOption Kratos]] calling Lloyd outside, resulting in his path [[spoiler:and the death of Zelos]]... which was no longer possible in the [[UpdatedRerelease [=PS2=]/[=PS3=] version]] because Lloyd will automatically go outside with the third person to ask him, if the previous two were rejected.

* Combined with ScrappyMechanic, the game requires the player to actually ''type'' what they are going to say instead of getting dialogue options, and this several times during the game. And there are many synonyms to the 'correct' words that work because, well, they aren't the ''exact'' same words. There's a reason the most frustrating ones were dropped from the PSP remake. This makes it impossible for anyone who can't read Japanese to complete these puzzles without a guide, and might be a reason why the game [[NoExportForYou was not localized]].

** The secret mission for the second fight with Zagi requires you to knock him off the boat your fighting him on, except the game never even remotely hints such a thing is possible. Furthermore, while Zagi isn't a hard boss, his erratic attacks and AI make it where he rarely will be near the side of the boat, and even if he is, the game doesn't convey how you are supposed to do it.
** The Secret Mission with Estelle that requires the player to use a certain item during a specific battle, with said item, Mother's Memento, being something she gives after activating a certain event. If the player doesn't find the right window to do this, the item is lost. And to make things worse, there's ''another'' scene activated by the exact same requirements, but it comes first. This means the player has to do it ''twice'' to get Mother's Memento, which is something most players won't think of doing.

** The secret mission for the DuelBoss with Flynn requires you to have him use all his Artes, including his Mystic Arte. This is incredibly difficult because you naturally are not able to control when he uses each arte, but getting hit by his Mystic Arte can be a death sentence if you are not careful.

* The final boss in the ''Lineage and Legacies'' arc has a guide-dang-it in its battle. When the boss has about 10% health left, she will use "Dual the Sol", a different Mystic Arte than the one she's been using the whole battle. If the player does nothing (and indeed, someone who doesn't know the GuideDangIt will not know they can even ''do'' anything), she will never again use this attack and the battle will proceed as normal until its conclusion. However, by pressing and holding a ''very specific'' button combination, the player prompts [[spoiler:Fodra Queen]] to immediately follow up "Dual the Sol" with ''another'' Mystic Arte...and by inputting another ''very specific'' button combination, it [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill happens again, and again, and several more times.]] The result is a very long, and extremely painful Mystic Arte chain that consists of all the Maxwell extension spells from previous games, and if the player messes up at pretty much any point after the 2nd one, they will generally result in a party-wipe when completed. However, if done correctly (that is, by correctly inputting the whole string of ''very specific'' button combinations when each Mystic Arte is performed), [[NoSell all the damage will be nullified]], and [[{{Counterattack}} the party counters with their own special Mystic Arte, "Blue Earth",]] [[OneHitKill instantly defeating the boss.]] Nothing in the game tells the player that this is a thing. As a matter of fact, the only hint that you can do this at all is ''in a different game entirely.'' Players were supposed to either ''be'' a long-time fan who played a previous Tales of game where these artes previously appeared and ''guess'' that they could try replicating them in this one battle, or look up a guide to figure it out.

** The mission against [[ThatOneBoss Yaeger]] is particularly bad. In order to complete the mission, the player needs to cause Yaeger to stagger, and then hit him with Raven's Rain or Rainsong arte. This mission doesn't only require Raven to be in the party to complete, but is difficult to do because Yaeger is not easily knocked back, ''and'' the mission message to be misleading. The player needs to stagger Yaeger, then stop hitting him immediately, wait for Yaeger to run away, get exhausted, and ''then'' be hit by Rain or Rainsong.

* Unlocking your parties second level mystic artes in the UpdatedRerelease are not at all made clear in game and require looking outside the game to figure out how to unlock them. They require doing specific things with each character that don't really make sense. For example, Estelle can only unlock her second mystic arte by using each of her Burst Artes ''50'' times each, meaning you need to use a total of ''200'' Burst Artes for her to unlock it. Others like Rita require such a strange and out of the norm approach that you would have to be lucky to figure it out, as to unlock Indignation, you need to user her Thunder Blade arte well over a 100 times, than use in the arena against Dhaos and cast it in Overlimit.

* Unlocking the BonusDungeon requires the player to see one event by going back to Phaeroh's Crag at a very specific point in the game, otherwise the place cannot be accessed.

** The mission against [[ThatOneBoss Yaeger]] is particuarly bad. In order to complete the mission, the player needs to cause Yaeger to stagger, and then hit him with Raven's Rain or Rainsong arte. This mission doesn't only require Raven to be in the party to complete, but is difficult to do because Yaeger is not easily knocked back, ''and'' the mission message to be misleading. The player needs to stagger Yaeger, then stop hitting him immediately, wait for Yaeger to run away, get exhausted, and ''then'' be hit by Rain or Rainsong.

* Gaining the ''ingredients'' to create the Unsealed Weapons is worse. The player needs to custom order and create certain weapons to use as ingredients to unseal the weapons. While this isn't too bad, some of those ingredients only appear in fractured dimensions, and those dimensions are [[PermanentlyMissableContent gone]] upon leaving them. Special mention goes to Milla's ''Dual Edge'', a weapon only found in the fractured dimension of Chapter 10, and in a room that can only be accessed halfway through that place's dungeon, located in a hall that one can only get to by managing to find taht one hole in the wall to crawl through in the dark caves.

* Coupled as an [[ThatOneAchievement Achievement]], seeing all the Mystic Artes in the game. This doesn't just mean the player must unlock the third Mystic Arte for each party member, and use them, but also view the Mystic Arte of bosses. The worst part comes in the fact that Phoenix has ''two'' Mystic Artes, which the player likely isn't aware of, and that the automatic occurence of Shigeru's Mystic Arte during his [[HopelessBossFight hopeless]] battles does ''not'' count as having 'seen' it.

* The final boss in the ''Lineage and Legacies'' arc has a guide-dang-it in its battle. When the boss has about 10% health left, she will begin a very long, and extremely painful Mystic Arte that consists of all the Maxwell extension spells from previous games, and they will generally result in a party-wipe when completed. What the player is supposed to do is to ''press and hold certain buttons during each segment''. If done correctly, all the damage will be nullified, and the party counters with their own Mystic Arte called Blue Earth. Nothing in the game tells the player that this is a thing. And a guide is ''needed'' to survive this battle. The only upside is that lower difficulties allow the player to survive the Mystic Arte, which also gets shortened.

** The secret mission for the second fight with Zagi requires you to knock him off the boat your fighting him on, except the game never even remotely hints such a thing is possible. Furthermore, while Zagi isn't a hard boss, his erratic attacks and AI make it where he rarely will be near the side of the boat, and even if he is, the game doesn't convey how your supposed to do it.

* The TimeTravel mechanic in the game leads to several things being {{permanently missable|content}} because leaving a certain timeline means the player cannot return. This is especially bad if the player is trying to find all the Berselium needed to craft all the penultimate weapons.

* The TimeTravel mechanic in the game leads to several things being [[LostForever permanently missable]] because leaving a certain timeline means the player cannot return. This is especially bad if the player is trying to find all the Berselium needed to craft all the penultimate weapons.

* Getting all the treasure chests. This is particularly bad because some locations in the game become [[LostForever inaccessable]] past certain points, there are two trips through the Tower of Salvation that are one-time-only, each with their own set of treasure chests to open, ''and'' the Palmacosta Human Ranch has the really annoying mechanic that its treasures are invisible. The player must use the Sorcerer Ring's unique radar ability to make them visible, and that ranch also has a warp-tile puzzle, with some leading to treasures and some leading forward. The game tries to be helpful and kind by having the Katz offer a service of being sent to even-inaccessable places, to search and open any missed treasure chests, but they are very unreliable.

* Gaining the ''ingredients'' to create the Unsealed Weapons is worse. The player needs to custom order and create certain weapons to use as ingredients to unseal the weapons. While this isn't too bad, some of those ingredients only appear in fractured dimensions, and those dimensions are [[LostForever gone]] upon leaving them. Special mention goes to Milla's ''Dual Edge'', a weapon only found in the fractured dimension of Chapter 10, and in a room that can only be accessed halfway through that place's dungeon, located in a hall that one can only get to by managing to find taht one hole in the wall to crawl through in the dark caves.

!! VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia

* The Secret Missions the player can do during certain battles range from being blindingly obvious or fall squarely into this.
** The mission against [[ThatOneBoss Yaeger]] is particuarly bad. In order to complete the mission, the player needs to cause Yaeger to stagger, and then hit him with Raven's Rain or Rainsong arte. This mission doesn't only require Raven to be in the party to complete, but is difficult to do because Yaeger is not easily knocked back, ''and'' the mission message to be misleading. The player needs to stagger Yaeger, then stop hitting him immediately, wait for Yaeger to run away, get exhausted, and ''then'' be hit by Rain or Rainsong.
** The Secret Mission with Estelle that requires the player to use a certain item during a specific battle, with said item, Mother's Memento, being something she gives after activating a certain event. If the player doesn't find the right window to do this, the item is lost. And to make things worse, there's ''another'' scene activated by the exact same requirements, but it comes first. This means the player has to do it ''twice'' to get Mother's Memento, which is something most players won't think of doing.
** Alexei's Secret Mission is pretty unintuitive. During battle, Alexei will use a powerful [[LimitBreak Mystic Arte]] called Brilliant Cataclysm, which can very easily do a ton of damage to the party. Unlike previous bosses, he will not use his Mystic Arte once, but up to ''six'' times. For the Secret Mission to even appear, the player needs to ''let him'' use Brilliant Cataclysm around three times, then hit him when he's exhausted, which is random and may take more than three attempts. Why would anyone think to let a boss use such a devastating attack on their party, unless it was known to be the way to get the Secret Mission unlocked?
* The sidequest to find the Fell Arms is incredibly difficult to do without a guide. The Fell Arms themselves take a few minutes to find, if the player knows where to look, but otherwise could take hours of looking and searching before stumbling over one of them. And nothing in the game informs the player that [[spoiler:the last boss is powered up dramatically if the player has gotten all of them, and that the Fell Arms themselves are worthless until the game is beat and a cleared game save is made. So, these things don't even help in beating the ultra powerful final boss]].
* Unlocking the BonusDungeon requires the player to see one event by going back to Phaeroh's Crag at a very specific point in the game, otherwise the place cannot be accessed.

** Presea must have used Beast at least one hundred times. She also needs the P. Charge Ex-Skill (T-Tree) equipped, which allows her to get Power Charge if the player holds down a button in battle. After ''getting'' a Power Charge in-battle, use Beast during Overlimit for her first Mystice Arte.

** Alexei's Secret Mission is pretty unintuitive. During battle, Alexei will use a powerful [[LimitBreak Mystic Arte]] called Brilliant Cataclysm, which can very easily do a ton of damage to the party. Unlike previous bosses, he will not use his Mystice Arte once, but up to ''six'' times. For the Secret Mission to even appear, the player needs to ''let him'' use Brilliant Cataclysm around three times, then hit him when he's exhausted, which is random and may take more than three attempts. Why would anyone think to let a boss use such a devastating attack on their party, unless it was known to be the way to get the Secret Mission unlocked?

** The next part has the tiny, tiny time-frame of starting after defeating Demitel, but be no longer available when the player sails to Alvanista, which is the very next thing the player needs to do for the plot. The player must make sure to see the scenes of Elwyn and his father arguing about his love for Nancy, and Klarth will suggest the two simply elope.

* What items can be found via Kitty Dispatch, and which cats are found via Dispatch or by finding them in the field. While the Dispatch shows the amount of cats for each location, ''if'' the player has already found one for that place, it doesn't tell the player how to get the others. Either the player needs to walk around both worlds and search, while having the Dispatch going to see what works.

** The only upside to this is that the game does give ''visual'' indicators on which party member's affinity for Lloyd is currently the highest. For example, when Lloyd chooses to separate from the party to explore a tunnel in the Shadow Temple, the party member with the highest affinity will talk to him... however, this does not work for Kratos, as he's not in the party for majority of the game.

** Raine must use Ray (T-Tree) or Holy Lance (S-Tree) at least one hundred times, then use that skill in Overlimit to cast Sacred Shin. Her second Mystic Arte, Fairy Circle, requires having used Revitalize (T-Tree) one hundred times, then casting it in Overlimit.

** Unlocking [[BonusDungeon Niflheim]]. The player needs to defeat two stationary enemies in the [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon final dungeon]] to make two treasure chests spawn, which contain two stones. These will cause colored blocks to appear in the main area, which the player needs to put into a certain order to open a treasure chest that holds the Sacred Stone. Nothing in the game tells the player that this will happen. They might notice the stationary enemies, but will unlikely know what they mean. And the only hint as to where the book containing Niflheim, which the player needs the Sacred Stone for to 'recognize', is given by an NPC much earlier, whom the player may not have talked to or forgotten about. And even players that don't intend to do the BonusDungeon are likely to get this item, simply because it also allows quick-travel between the final dungeon and the Tower of Salvation, for the sake of finishing sidequests.

** The I hate Gels! for Genis requires the player to make to the first battle against Pronyma ''without'' using a single Gel in-battle. Most players are unlikely to do this, unless they are playing a SelfImposedChallenge, since Gels are the main HP-healing item and the ''only'' way to heal MP in-battle beyond the sub-par Charge spell.

** Finding Katz Town itself can be considered this, as it cannot be reached until just before the final destinationis unlocked, and it also requires twisting the camera around to see it.

* Getting all the treasure chests. This is particularly bad because some locations in the game become [[LostForever inaccessable]] past certain points, there are three trips through the Tower of Salvation that are one-time-only, each with their own set of treasure chests to open, ''and'' the Palmacosta Human Ranch has the really annoying mechanic that its treasures are invisible. The player must use the Sorcerer Ring's unique radar ability to make them visible, and that ranch also has a warp-tile puzzle, with some leading to treasures and some leading forward. The game tries to be helpful and kind by having the Katz offer a service of being sent to even-inaccessable places, to search and open any missed treasure chests, but they are very unreliable.

* ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia''
** Throughout the game, the player is given choices between two lines for the main character, Lloyd, to say in dialogue during cutscenes. Most assumed that the choices were just for fun and to enjoy the amusing reactions. But what the game does not even hint at, ''even once'', is that every choice you make in dialogue raises or lowers your RelationshipValues with the other eight party members, affecting the ending of the game. Without knowing this, nearly everyone would get Lloyd's ending with his default love interest, Colette. When really, if you made the right choices, you could have Lloyd end up ''any'' of the characters. (Even the guys. Yaoi fans are people too.)
** When you first meet Sheena she falls into a pit and you are given a choice between wondering if she is all right or not. Wondering if Sheena is all right raises her affinity even though she is not in the party.
*** The game ''does'' have a certain place where one can determine the current relationship values of all the characters. With some experimentation, it is probably possible to figure out for yourself how the changes happen- and since NewGamePlus is required for HundredPercentCompletion of the game, after ''several'' playthroughs you will probably be able to figure out how to get the character you want to like you. Certain areas in the game will also let you know who is in the lead. For example, one stage where Lloyd has to go through a hole in a dungeon will separate that sequence with a short scene with whoever likes him most whenever you do it.
*** Also, the whole process is made slightly less annoying by the fact that you only have to get the character you like the most in the Top 3 people who like you. Then a certain scene will hit and you can pick which one of the three you want. Or [[TakeAThirdOption take the fourth option]] and view the scene with [[spoiler: Kratos, which will mean Zelos will die]].
*** Made worse in the [[UpdatedRerelease [=PS2=]/[=PS3=]]] version, where said scene can ''only'' be viewed with the Top 3 people. So if a player wanted [[spoiler: Kratos to return]], they had to increase that character's [[RelationshipValues relationship]] with Lloyd, making the values even more important.
** At one point in the game [[spoiler: Zelos appear to betray you.]] If you choose Kratos at Flanoir [[spoiler: his betrayal will be real (as opposed to a ruse) and Kratos will join you in his place.]] The fact a player on their first playthrough couldn't possibly know it affects the story like that is what makes it a GuideDangIt, especially since it happens even if [[spoiler: Zelos]] is maxed out on disposition and you choose [[spoiler: Kratos]]. However, [[spoiler: his death]] is still such an unlikely outcome on a first playthrough just because only one character's scene triggers it.
** [[AwesomeButImpractical The Hi-Ougis.]] These super-attacks have no hint that you are even able to use them, let alone how to.
*** Especially Lloyd's (at least in the GCN version). Colette's especially and to some extent Genis' are relatively easy to stumble on accidentally. Lloyd's is such a Guide Dang It there's no way you'll be seeing it unless you know exactly which hoops to jump through to get it. Pretty much all of the new Mystic Artes introduced in the [=PS2=] version, save Raine's are even worse than Lloyd's, with Presea's second Mystic Arte reaching a truly special level of "why would anyone think to do that?" For reference...
*** Lloyd: after getting the Eternal Swordsman title (it does not need to be equipped), press the attack, guard, and arte buttons simultaneously while he is equipped with the Material Blades and his health is at 15% or less.
*** Colette: use Judgment and Holy Song fifty times each. [[LuckBasedMission Holy Judgment will activate randomly when you use one of them.]]
*** Genis: use Indignation fifty times, then use Indignation while in Overlimit.
*** Raine: use Ray or Holy Lance one hundred times, then use Ray/Holy Lance (the one that you have use a hundred times) during Overlimit. For Raine's second Mystic Arte, use Revitalize one hundred times, then use Revitalize during Overlimit.
*** Kratos: he must be equipped with his Judgment title after [[spoiler: he rejoins permanently.]] Press the attack, defend, and arte buttons simultaneously when Kratos' HP is at 15% or less with Lloyd either not in the active party or not equipped with the Material Blades.
*** Zelos: Demon Spear must be used one hundred times. After [[spoiler: the final battle with Yggdrasill (the one the player must win that is immediately preceded by a fight with Pronyma)]], use Demon Spear when Zelos is in Overlimit and his HP is at 15% or less. The first time this is successfully performed, Zelos will learn Judgment at the end of the battle. For Zelos' second mystic arte, use Judgment twenty times, then use Judgment while Zelos is in Overlimit.
*** Presea: You must have used beast at least 100 times. You also need P. Charge Lv 3 Ex Skill equipped. After proccing the Power Charge, use beast during overlimit. For the infamous second Mystic Arte, you must have the compound EX skill Overcharge (P.charge and Taunt). All party members must be KO'd except Presea, and you must be at 16% HP or less. Beast must also have been used at least 200 times. If those conditions are met, when overlimit happens, you must proc a successful Overcharge. Afterwards, use beast and you'll activate Hien Messhoujin.
*** Regal: use Force one hundred times. During Overlimit, perform a four arte combo with Force as the last arte used.
** The entire ''game'' is a living Guide Dang It. Have fun getting stuck when the solution to your puzzle is at the other end of the world and not the slightest bit intuitive. Furthermore, both the first game and the sequel are packed with sidequests that are [[PermanentlyMissableContent undoable]] past certain events.
** Speaking of side quests, the game never hints at when quests are unlocked, where they are or what needs to be done. The worst example would be in the final dungeon. A set of side quests are unlocked after obtaining a Key Item halfway through the final dungeon. Another set of side quests are only unlocked when the player unlocks the final door to the final boss, walks through it to view a cutscene, and then ''turns around and leaves''. There is also no indication at all that random minigames on the other side of the world have been unlocked.
*** To put the final boss unlock in perspective, Symphonia's BonusLevelOfHell can only be unlocked by getting a stone that you can only get by doing a puzzle in the room immediately before the final boss, ''and'' you're supposed to leave the whole place to go find a book in a library halfway across the world. This stone's only other function is to enable ZipMode in the last area, so you could easily skip the puzzle entirely.
** Sheena gets a title in the first game from opening every single chest in one game (including the ones before she even joins your party). Some of the chests end up [[PermanentlyMissableContent unobtainable]]. And you cannot miss a single one if you want that title. There are [=NPCs=] around the world that are supposed to know if you've gotten all the chests in specific areas, but they're really bad at math and often wrong. So if you get to the end and find out you've got 98% of the chests or something like that, you might as well just give up on getting the title until your next game, because you'll have no idea where in the world those missed chests might be and if you can even access them at that point.
*** Zelos's "Gigolo" title, obtained from his butler after speaking to every female NPC with him as your map character and his personal EX skill active, is just as bad. This is JustForFun/{{egregious}} in that there is at least one instance where you have to go behind the desk at an inn so that the "flirting" dialogue triggers instead of the normal innkeeper dialogue. Ditto the receptionist at the Arena.
*** There is a second way to get this title, but what it lacks in difficulty it makes up for in [[GoodBadBugs glitchy arbitrariness]]. After going through the moment when everyone learns the TrueMeaningOfChristmas, if you turn around and head to Zelos's mansion, the butler completely ignores the requirements and hands you the title anyway. Oh, and if you go onto the next part of the dungeon without doing this, it's [[PermanentlyMissableContent unobtainable]]. You have to leave immediately after getting the last key item. No sooner, no later.
** Several of the costume titles, especially the ones added to the [[UpdatedRerelease [=PS2=]/[=PS3=]]] version, as some of them are only given to certain characters, based on the RelationshipValues system throughout the game.
*** Colette's 'Twinsies <3' costume, requires the player to do two things. Lloyd must have had the Flanoir scene with Colette, which is easy and logical enough. Then the player needs to return to Dirk's house ''after'' sleeping in Heimdall later on and viewing the cutscene that takes place that night, but ''before'' heading into the Treant Forest [[spoiler: and fighting Kratos]], which is the next logical thing any sensible player would do.
*** Zelos and Sheena's biker outfits, as well as Genis and Presea's winter outfits. To get either set, Lloyd must view the Flanoir scene with Zelos or Sheena or with Genis or Presea, respectively. Problem is, if Lloyd views the scene with Sheena or Presea, he only gets their outfit from the scene. If the player wants both, he needs to view the scene with Zelos or Genis, though nothing in the game really indicates this, meaning one needs to know this ahead of time or go through [[NewGamePlus another playthrough]].
*** Raine's bunny outfit. Unlike several other costumes, this one does not require Lloyd to have a close relationship to her and can be gotten anytime the Casino has been unlocked. The costume is unlocked by purchasing it for 150.000 chips and it's labelled as ????????, so unless the player knows what they're getting, they could avoid this like the plague, in fear of wasting their hard-earned casino chips.
** Starting just before you go to the tower of Salvation, you open a side quest to help [[spoiler:rebuild Luin after it was destroyed]]. The sidequest itself isn't so bad, but if you give the questgiver too much money on a given step, the extra money just disappears. You have to donate a total of 455,500 Gald total, but four of the steps only require 5,000. The worst part is that the game gives no indication of how much is needed for each step, meaning the only ways to make sure you don't waste any money is to either use a guide, or donate in 1,000 Gald increments, leaving and reentering the town each time[[note]]though even that will waste 500 gald, as the third step, for no apparent reason, requires 21,'''500''' Gald.[[/note]]. There are 15 steps, and, for no apparent in-universe reason[[note]]The obvious out-of-universe reason is that towards the end of the chain, the weapon shop starts selling the [[InfinityMinusOneSword Infinity Minus Two]] {{Joke Weapon}}s[[/note]], only the first 7 can be completed before [[spoiler: you go to Tethe'alla]].
** In order to get "I Hate Gels!", one of the best titles for Genis, you have to reach [[spoiler:the battle with Pronyma in the Fooji Mountains]] without using ''any'' Gels in-battle - something no one would think to do unless they were either on a serious SelfImposedChallenge or looked it up in a guide, given that Gels are pretty much the ONLY healing items (and the only way to restore MP apart from resting at an inn and the totally useless "Charge" ability) in the entire game.
** Something not mentioned about the cooking system is that every character has a certain ingredient they really like, and one they really dislike. These determine how effective a certain dish is for each character. Something else that is not mentioned, is that using a preferred ingredient will increase a character's invisible Overlimit gauge, while using a disliked ingredient will lower the Overlimit gauge. Nor is it mentioned that these effects are improved for the chef. Once this is learned, it becomes very easy to set up a Mystic Arte against a boss by having Genis cook with milk, Raine cook with lemon, Sheena cook with rice, Zelos cook with snapper or tuna, or Regal cook with tofu.
** Finding all the Devil Arms. Some of them are easy to find, once the sidequest has been unlocked, as they are in unique treasure chests in somewhat easy to find locations. Others have you be lucky you stumbled upon them, as one is only found by checking out the broken remains of a Bacura slab; one is dropped by an enemy that you will never unlock, unless one has talked to some [=NPCs=] in a specific town and one of them is obtained by talking to a random NPC in Altamira. Though the latter was changed to exchanging the Devil Arm for 250 casino chips, in the [[UpdatedRerelease enhanced ports]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Tales of Destiny}}''
** There's a Guide Dang It moment built in by the games translators. Late in the game, in Helraois, the game asks for a password. There's hints to the 4 letters in the password given in the dungeon, unfortunately, two of the letters, both consonants, are one off their actual value. Have fun figuring out which ones are incorrect and what 2 of the other 14 letters you need without resorting to a guide. Incidentally, the password is FATE.
** The BonusDungeon is based on ''VideoGame/TheTowerOfDruaga'', and getting the treasures there is much the same problem as in that game. A few random villagers give clues, but they don't help that much. In order to even access this tower, [[spoiler:you must hold onto a worthless item and, actually, waste a Rune Bottle on it]]. Most definitely the hardest of the three staffs to find.
** In order to progress through the story, at one point you must talk to three [=NPCs=] in two different areas in a very specific order, then return to the King, then talk to one of those [=NPCs=] ''again''. If you miss talking to any of them or talk in the wrong order, you can't progress.
** Have fun figuring out what you're supposed to do to access the throne room in Terrazi castle if you don't know the western zodiac by heart. And even if you do, it doesn't start at the beginning of the zodiac, but at the very end. A guard can give you a hint for 500 gald, but his hint is only useful in telling you what you need to start on if you already know the answer to the puzzle...
** The sun-moon-star-Saturn puzzle in the Aetherspere/Aeropolis is essentially a matter of guessing where to put each orb until something works. There's no hints, no guide, nothing.
** Getting the Blue Dragon disc. During the game, you find an egg. Stahn merely comments it is 'too big to waste by eating'. To get it to actually do something, you must visit Lilith with it (Lilith is on a continent you will not visit for any plot reasons at this point) and after it hatches, you must go all over the world in search of recipes. It's pretty easy to figure out Mary is the speciality chef from Phandaria [[GuideDangIt (if you're in the middle of her sidequest, that is)]] but good luck figuring out about Philia's sweet-making or Johnny's master fish chef without a guide.
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfDestiny2''
** The tradition of having trouble opening the BonusLevelOfHell continues, requiring you to find twelve stones on the overworld. Not so bad, except one of these stones requires you to land on a seemingly random island and ''run across the ocean'' (there is no indication you can do this) until you find a Pac-Man statue in the middle of the ocean. And then you must think of using the Sorcerer's Scope on it. Once you have done this, you must go to a specific town you would normally have no reason to go to (as it's a bonus town), ''and'' find a hidden door in the basement of a building. The Katz town can also be this, seeing as you can't reach it until just before reaching the final area and it requires twisting the camera around to see it. On a larger scale, because of the TimeTravel required in the game, several sidequests are easily {{permanently missable|Content}} if you travel and remember them too late.
** Judas's Infernal Suffering [[LimitBreak hi-ougi]] and Harold's full [[OrbitalBombardment Crazy]] [[GameBreaker Comet]] spell are also this, as they both require a certain number of playthroughs to unlock in the grade shop (and what you need to buy does not have a very nice intuitive name). Good luck knowing about this without a strategy guide going over it. Made worse as this is by far Judas's most popular LimitBreak (as it unlocks an EasterEgg).
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia''
** There are simply so many possible events at every single part of a game that can easily last over 100 hours if going for side quests. Worse yet, many of these completely optional, easily missable events give titles or items, and all titles and items are necessary for HundredPercentCompletion. By the time you get the Airship, there will be events in parts of the world that have absolutely nothing to do with the story. And many events can only be seen after seeing one event and then going and sleeping at an inn/completing a game event, and going back.
** The random missable events and such that make it so easy to miss HundredPercentCompletion are one thing, but really all they do is make you miss 100% completion--they don't have much of an effect on the actual game. On the other hand, the Fell Arms quest for the {{Infinity Plus One Sword}}s (which is the main "traditional" side quest in the game) is just...absurd. If you know exactly what to do, it is painfully easy; many of the Fell Arms take only a few minutes to find, and even the more difficult ones aren't that bad. If you don't, you'll probably need to go pretty much everywhere before you'll actually find them all, and you might not even find them all then. (Granted, this isn't THAT bad, but a guide makes it so much easier that it's pretty ridiculous.) And of course, the game doesn't tell you that [[spoiler:the last boss is powered up dramatically by you having all of them, and that the Fell Arms are worthless until you actually beat the game and make a clear save, thus giving you no help in beating the ultra powerful final boss.]]
** Also there is the bonus endgame dungeon. If you don't see one event by going back to Phaeroh's Crag at a specific point in the game, you can't access it.
*** While some of the Secret Missions can be beaten purely by accident, some are easy to beat (Oh I can target something else...maybe I should hit it!) while others are practically Guide Dang It. There is also [[ThatOneBoss That one boss named Yeager]] who, when you fight him, reveals something that suggests a secret mission. Now how will you do this? You have to make him stagger and then hit him with Raven's Rain or Rainsong. You not only have to have a specific party member in your fighting team at the time, but you also have to do something that is VERY hard to do thanks to [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard Yeager not being knocked back easily]] and then at just the ''right'' moment, hit him with that party member's arte. Furthermore, after you stagger him, you must stop hitting him immediately, wait for him to run away, get exhausted and THEN use Rain.
*** The secret mission with Estelle, where you have to activate an event where she gives you an item called "Mother's Memento", and then use it during a specific battle. Easily, it's [[PermanentlyMissableContent lost for good]] if you don't get it within the right window.
*** Even worse in that during that specific window, there's ''another'' scene activated by the exact same requirements that comes first. So you have to do it ''twice'' to get the item, something there's a pretty good chance a person wouldn't do just for the heck of it.
*** Alexei's secret mission is pretty unintuitive to continue the examples. During battle, he uses a powerful mystic arte called "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhT8Z28YItQ Brilliant Cataclysm]]", which can VERY easily decimate the party. Unlike most other bosses you have faced, he will use this mystic arte not once but up to ''six times''. If you want the secret mission...you have to let him use it around three times and then hit him when he's exhausted, which is random and may take more than 3 times (Which is similar to another boss you fought, but he only had to use it once). Why on earth would you think to let him use an attack that can kill the ''entire party'' unless you knew that you would get a secret mission that way?
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia''
** Here's a quick list of all the ways the player can mess up the Elwin and Nancy sidequest.
*** Once you've completed the first portion of the quest in Euclid, Nancy will head off to Venezia to follow Elwin, stopping in Hamel on the way. If you don't see and talk to her at the Hamel inn before making the pact with Sylph, [[spoiler:she'll die along with everyone else when Hamel gets destroyed,]] and the quest will fail.
*** If you've completed the third part of the sidequest on your initial trip to Venezia, the next part [[EventFlags will trigger]] once you defeat Demitel... and promptly be [[PermanentlyMissableContent lost forever]] as soon as you set sail for Alvanista, your very next destination. During these events with the short window of opportunity, the couple will argue with Elwin's father, and Klarth will suggest that they elope.
*** After going to Alvanista and finding that they have taken Klarth's advice and gone to Alvanista, on your next trip to Venezia, you must go back to Elwin's father and ''tell him where they've run off to'', which seems completely counterintuitive to your goal of trying to help ''them'' be happy. (Don't worry; this can be done any time before you [[spoiler: leave for the present.]]) From here, it's pretty straightforward.
** In the [[UpdatedRerelease updated versions]], getting Suzu as your party member. The player must first view scenes in a specific area, to see Suzu. Later on, one needs to manage to find the [[{{Wutai}} Ninja Village]] in [[TheMaze Treant Forest]] and that forest is a guide-dang-it in itself. And ''then'', the player needs to participate in the Euclid tournament and fight specific enemies, then return to the Ninja Village and Suzu will be recruitable. The obnoxious part, aside from the forest maze, is the fact that nothing indicates a lot that the Euclid tournament is necessary and most people would leave that until much later, as the tournament can be brutal, since it's only fought with Cless.
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfRebirth'' combines this with ScrappyMechanic. At several points, you have to actually ''type'' what you are going to say rather than choosing it through choices. There are many synonyms to the "correct" words that won't work because, you know, they aren't the exact same words. There's a reason the most frustrating ones were dropped from the PSP rerelease. This flat out makes it impossible for anyone who can't read Japanese (such as importers) to complete these puzzles without a guide, and may have [[NoExportForYou contributed to the game not being exported]].
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfLegendia''
** Norma at the beginning is overshadowed by Will who can learn everything she does but with healing. [[spoiler: She is the only character who can heal multiple people at the same time.]] This applies doubly for [[spoiler: Shirley]], who begins as so weak and underpowered [[spoiler: compared to the rest of your team at the end-game]], but [[spoiler: she learns the most powerful move in game.]]
** You can completely miss type effectiveness in this game. The characters will say something, but it will never tell you outright. Many times it is the weapon that is ineffective, but there's no better one available. Sometimes it's the move, as some characters [[spoiler: Jay]] will have moves with an element even if their weapon is of a different element or has no element whatsoever.
* ''[[VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss Tales of the Abyss]]'':
** The game features many miniquests that have a very small window of opportunity to complete, otherwise they're [[PermanentlyMissableContent gone]] until you do a replay game. And you're not given much in the way of hints or indication that backtracking to an earlier area, often on the other side of the world, opens some of these quests, such as upgrading the [[CoolAirship Albiore II]], secret techniques for your party members, and Mieu's Ring Ability.
** The characters' various titles obtained all have passive effects to them, aside from the costume titles. Nothing in the game indicates that the titles have any effects to begin with and Natalia has two costume titles which, aside from changing her appearance, ''do'' have effects.
** Din's Shop demands use of an FAQ in order to get the items and equipment that you cannot get anywhere else.
** The Search Point items in the game. The Search Points themselves are easy to find, but the problem comes from the items they give. They are separated into five Levels from 1 to 5 and it's random what you get. Unless you use [[ScrappyMechanic Natalia's character titles]]. She has four titles that alter the chance of getting certain level items off of Search Points much in the player's favor. Problem is, nothing in the game ''tells'' you what the effects of ''any'' character title is or that two of Natalia's costume titles include this as an effect.
*** And the titles are guide-dang-its themselves. One of them is obtained through the story, which is easy enough. Her Level 3 outfit comes from a sidequest, which requires the [[CoolAirship Albiore II]] to be fully upgraded to gain access to the area it begins in, and then involves finding certain [=NPCs=] in Auldrant. The game does give you hints on where they are, but only if you return to the area, after getting each one. Her Level 4 title comes from doing a Labyrinth house, which has a small time-frame to create and costs a lot of money. And her Level 5 outfit requires the Level 2 title to be equipped, all Search Points to have been found and Natalia to be the on-screen character, to then talk to Din and get this title. And the last one is worse, because nothing says that this ''does'' anything, nor will anyone think to change their on-screen character for this.
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfGraces''
** If you want to get Sophie's level three Blast Caliber? You need to synthesize a lot of items and hand them to a girl. While it makes sense that you can do this; a lot of these items happen to be made with stuff the game practically calls VendorTrash.
** If you're looking to trigger all the skits, you'll have to do absurd things like wear a certain item in a certain place at a certain time, double back and forth through a particular dungeon for no adequate reason, walk in the complete opposite direction of the plot, ''skip'' to the inns in certain locations before triggering any other scenes, or do downright idiotic things like walk into an inn to rest while you're being chased by guards.
** The final boss in the ''Lineage and Legacies'' arc has a guide-dang-it within its battle. When the boss is only at about 10% health left, they will begin a ''very long, very painful Mystic Arte'' that consists of all sorts of high-level, full-field spells that give a ton of damage and will generally result in a party-wide KO and make you lose. What the player is supposed to do is ''hold certain buttons during each segment''. If done correctly, all the damage will be nullified and the party counters with its own party-Mystic Arte 'Blue Earth'. Nothing in the game helps you, by telling you that this is a thing. You will ''need'' a guide to survive that battle. The only upside is, if one is playing on the lowest difficulty, the Mystic Arte is shorter and will not kill the party.
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfXillia''
** Getting certain titles, especially the Skit Viewer one. A lot of skits appear by default throughout the game, but several Sub-Event skits and Etc skits are required to get the final title. And several of the Sub-Event skits won't appear if the player ''completes them too fast''.
** The Sub-Events themselves. Most of them appear in whatever city the player currently is, though some only count as sub-events, if the player goes into a room for a scene and then immediately re-enters the room for the 'real' scene. Some Sub-Events also appear in previous cities, so unless the player knows or finds some reason to go back to those cities, you likely won't get that sub-event.
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfXillia2''
** What items can be found via Kitty Dispatch and which cats are found via Dispatch or by finding them in the field. While the Dispatch shows you the amount of cats in each location, if you have already found one cat there, it doesn't tell you how to get it. So, either you walk all over creation in each part of the world, while using the Dispatch to see if you got a cat that way or you look at a guide.
** The game has RelationshipValues similar to Symphonia, in that certain [[DialogueTree dialogue options]] increase certain characters' affinity with Ludger. Unlike Symphonia, the other option doesn't ''decrease'' anyone's affinity, but the cutscenes or skits, where your dialogues matter, are rare enough that one needs a guide to get majority of the affinity with most characters. If you didn't get enough affinity with someone, either try a new playthrough or grind Poker for some Friendship Potions.
** How to unseal the Sealed Weapons. Getting the Sealed versions is simple, one is acquired through rather easy to complete Jobquests and the other by playing through the Advanced Rank in the Battle Arena. To unseal them, the player needs to find an NPC in the Nala Lava Tubes, who will only sell things to those who have shown their strength, meaning they need to complete the Elite Rank in the Battle Arena and that requires the player to be post-game, when this rank is unlocked. After doing that, talking to the NPC makes him open up shop and the option to Custom Order the unsealed weapons is available.
*** Worse is that some of the ingredients to create the Unsealed Weapons, the player needs to custom order and create certain weapons to use to unseal the weapons. While this overall isn't too bad, some of the fractured dimensions sell exclusive weapons that are [[PermanentlyMissableContent gone]] once you leave the fractured dimension. Special mention goes to one of Milla's weapons, the ''Dual Edge'', which is only found in the fractured dimension of Chapter 10, in a room that can only be accessed halfway through the fractured dimension, located in a hall that one can only get to, if the player manages to find that one hole in the wall to crawl through in the rather dark caves.
* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfBerseria'', the strength of healing spells is affected by the amount of SG a character has, as well as a few other factors. The trouble is that the game never bothers to tell the player any of this, and SG use is almost crucial late-game. As such, it's not uncommon for a late-game healing spell to only heal, say, 600 HP when a character has a max of 4000, against a boss who deals upwards of 1200 HP per hit. There are ways to increase a healing spell's strength, but most of them aren't that intuitive; it's possible to beat the game without ever finding out how to increase a healing spell's power.

*** Worse is that some of the ingredients to create the Unsealed Weapons, the player needs to custom order and create certain weapons to use to unseal the weapons. While this overall isn't too bad, some of the fractured dimensions sell exclusive weapons that are [[PermanentlyMissableContent gone]] once you leave the fractured dimension. Special mention goes to one of Milla's weapons, the ''Dual Edge'', which is only found in the fractured dimension of Chapter 10, in a room that can only be accessed halfway through the fractured dimension, located in a hall that one can only get to, if the player manages to find that one hole in the wall to crawl through in the rather dark caves.