Video game lessons learned the hard way

Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker: the Battle suit is damned handy in missions where you know you're going to be taking a beating. Not only that, it lets you hold three ballistic weapons instead of just two like the assorted camo suits do.

Mark of the Ninja

• It's impossible to make perfect pacifist run of the game the first time you play.

The Legend Of Zelda Majoras Mask 3D:

• Deku Link's Spin Attack doesn't give you an instant speed boost anymore.
• I don't remember if that was in the original as well, but if you try to spin off of a ledge as Deku Link, he won't jump.

The Spin Attack was usable to impulse the water hopping in the original. Man, they nerfed Deku Link badly.

Fortune Summoners - Secret of the Elemental Stone

• Spamming the attack button blindly will not do.
• The EXP rates are really stingy.
• Antidotes are actually important to have a supply of, because fuck snakes.
• Those bees to the west of town is annoying, not to mention dangerous because escape is basically impossible because of the Sleep status.
• Auto-heal is your friend.
  • You can never have enough healing items.
• Auto-guard is your friend, too.
• It's not until an enemy like Kobold appears does one realize how fun the gameplay actually is... for melees.
• Wide slash is actually not a good move when you don't need the extra distance.
• Despite all the praise Arche threw at them, mages are actually really hard to play as. Exhibit A: The underwater sections in the Shrine of Wind. Exhibit B: Goddamned Stella.
• Learn to solo with Sana when you can, because a plot-induced POV change puts you in the shoes of a level two mage with sucky stats, equipped with nothing, despite hailing from a rich family.

edited 14th Feb '15 5:52:26 AM by FlowingCotton

Huniepop:

• The effect that prevents you from losing tokens when you use a Date Gift (the Cork Heel Pumps)? That applies to Broken Heart tokens, too.

Any game where you can play single-player online: Don't pause unless you're in a safe one, because you will die if you take too long checking the menu. Learned this the hard way playing Abyss Odyssey and wondering why nobody would join me.

The Legend Of Zelda Majoras Mask 3D:

• By changing how you fight Gyorg and Twinmold, the Fierce Deity Mask isn't really as useful in these fights as it was before anymore.
• The Goht Labyrinth on the Moon can go die in a fire.
• Do not use a map of the original Gyorg Labyrinth that you can go through on the Moon.

edited 15th Feb '15 2:29:54 AM by Jaryl

Sunless Sea :

• Nope, the sisters leaving on Hunter's Keep will not always be there for getting your Terror down. Find other ways.
• NEVER attract the attention of lifebergs at the beginning of the game.
• Putting the lights on limits the increase of Terror, but drains fuel. Learn to alternate between lighting and staying in the dark.
• By the way, use more money for stocking fuel than for stocking supplies. The events that allow you to gain supplies are much more frequent than those giving you fuels.
• A Deck weapon is different from a Forward weapon. Don't buy the latter when you still have your first boat, you won't be able to equip it.
• Buying something in Wither requires tales from the zee or tales of terror instead of echoes. When playing the "your father's bones" motivation, no need to go there if you don't have those.
• There are places where you can sell artefacts at a higher price than in the University. Find them.

Monster Hunter 4 U

• just because you can jumpevade with the insect staff doesn't mean the monster doesn't have high attacks
• just because the insect staff can force mounts doesn't mean you don't need to learn the rest of the moveset

RollerCoaster Tycoon 3: Platinum!

• It is often very difficult to ensure certain pool rides finish in water. Some fire guests for miles whilst others drop them off gently.
• You can put multiple kinds of animal in the same enclosure. If you don't, it's a fair old waste of space.
  • If you put a predator and prey species in the same enclosure, the former will eat the latter.
• Social requirement is a thing - but you need to bear in mind what you know about real animals - for example, a pack of lions is always led by a single male.
• It needs to be said again. Big cats eat equines.

EDIT: Big cats in general don't like co-habiting.

edited 20th Feb '15 7:34:11 AM by Plumbum

Dynasty Warriors 7:

• Do not confront multiple enemy officers alone. You're a One-Man Army, but that doesn't mean you can win that one.
• Always grab any power-ups you come across. If you don't need them now, you will in a second.
• Generic enemy officers don't have Musou attacks. If you hear the Musou sound, either one of your allies is using it or you're in big trouble.
• Keep rotating the camera.

Maimai:

• Crossover songs are meant to be played by expert players. Players playing on their current level are expected to barely pass them. This applies to other games which received those songs as well.
• Always heat yourself up properly before playing or you will suffer muscleaches around the shoulders and painful joints on the wrists. Cotton or Kevlar gloves is a must or the palms would injured as well.
• Tell your playing partner if you don't want to play at master difficulty. Level sorting forces players who share the same cabinet unit to play at the same level. I ended up playing FLOWER at level 12 thanks to this.
• It is very impolite to cut song selection queue. It wasn't me, but thanks to this I was forced to play B.B.K.K.B.K.K. twice while still suffering from pain as described above, which made my performance suffered as a result.
• Sliding moves is effective when mastered, but before then, expect goods or even misses if the speed is wrong. Ironically, I can do this better than other players when playing FLOWER in master difficulty during the segment just before the notes stop appearing, perhaps by observing others playing this song before.

edited 21st Feb '15 4:00:13 AM by murazrai

Fallout 2

• Being smart is important, stupidity may bring laughs, but it cripples NPC interactions, badly...
• You can't just shoot the mob boss and expect people on the next floor to not shoot you!
• Wandering aimlessly in the wastes will get you killed, always pick a direction.
• Energy weapons are important, since you will need them for later enemies. Turns out they make the combata lot easier, I should upgraded them early!
• If you don't take the chance to aim at the head, legs, or eyes of a boss fight, you will get yourself killed.

edited 21st Feb '15 4:13:31 AM by YoKab

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

• Putting a laser-sight on a shotgun means you will get hit in the face every single time. Prepare to die to Navarro a lot.

Man, fuck Navarro.

His death was so totally worth it, though. That was a classic Indiana Jones move.

Battlefield 3

• Yes, you can get killed by the rotating rotor blades of enemy helicopters.

While this lesson wasn't learned the hard way, it was close enough that I think it's worth a mention.

So I just got Majora's Mask 3D. Now, I really like the original Majora's Mask. So much so that I am able to beat the first two dungeons on the first real cycle of the game. However, the subtle changes in MM 3D has caught me off guard which has forced me to learn the game's new tricks. This ate up a good amount of time on my first cycle. How much? I started Snowhead on the start of the final night.

Still thinking I could beat 2 dungeons in one cycle, I pressed forward. I eventually learned that I didn't have enough time to get all the stray faeries and went straight for Goht... with 90 in game minutes left to spare. But I still thought I could do it, so I continued to fight Goht. By now you probably guessed how fruitless this became. Want to know when I figured that out? I played the song of time when I had 44 in game seconds left!

edited 24th Feb '15 10:39:35 AM by OrionAurora

The Legend Of Zelda Oracle Games

• According to the Zelda Wiki, the Gasha Soils all have varying ranges of tiers, governing which rings you get from them.
• Now, what the Zelda Wiki doesn't tell you is WHICH SOILS HAVE WHICH TIERS.

edited 24th Feb '15 11:03:33 AM by Jaryl

Team Fortress 2:

• The Eyelander and Tide Turner combination can intimidate enemies, and sometimes, you just want to intimidate them away.
• Those two can lead to a one-hit kill on most classes. Don't even try with the heavy, unless you know he's been heavily harmed. Attempts to charge crit the heavy with the eyelander will ninety five out of one hundred times end in one dead demoman.
• The Eyelander will patch you up a bit for a kill building up your life capacity, but if you're burning, ya should still find a medical pack.
• Scouts are the bane of a demoman. Don't think you'll ever hit one of those pests unless they're preoccupied.
• Tauntkilling a sniper that's scoped up is nice and all, as well as a diverted heavy, but keep in mind you may die horribly shortly after.
• Yes, the spy can backstab you mid-charge. (Still aggravates me.)
• Even if you're getting air blasted off the cliffs of insanity on hightower, fight back and make that pyro die! (Managed to take a pyro with me as my death was sealed as soldier. (Also, had no base jumper due to bad luck on the drops)).

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days:

• Yes, you do have to complete all the missions.
• Efficient panel arrangement matters.
• Always, always, always dodge roll.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown

• Busting down that door is probably a bad idea. Doesn't matter what door it is, open slowly, carefully and preferably with your designated Red Shirt.
• MEC's are flipping badass... but they aren't invincible, even at colonel level.
• Vahlen is an idiot. Follow the Myth Busters Doctrine: When in doubt, explosives.

Gaming In General

• Always, always, always save. Don't know if you should save? Then save. This keeps you losing a few hours of progress because it's getting way too late and you didn't know this level would have no save points. True story.
• Never underestimate an enemy's ability to whoop your ass.
• Some offline games really don't pause. It's stupid, but you need to be aware.

Mount And Blade Warband:

Steppe Bandits give no fucks and will run you down the instant you step out of Tulga. They also laugh at your pitiful attempts to escape imprisonment.

Pick a few skills for your character to be good at and let companions cover the rest.

Weed out bandits from every area regularly. You may leave the tundra alone for an in-game year only to realize on your return that a death blob of 400 Tundra Bandits is destroying everything.

Tactics makes slightly uneven battles more fair and battles in your favor even easier. All it does for battles weighted heavily against you is make you cry.

Yeah, Tactics can only do so much, and since the Lords are the same sort of immortal skill builder as you, odds are they all have it too. Those with Bahestur on their team are told not to go into situations like that, because he talks about not getting into battles you can't win, and gets mad when you have bloody battles that cost most of your party.

I read a strategy guide for one of the mods that actually seemed to apply to all of them. The relevant part: You and the Lords are on opposite sides. They cannot recruit soldiers from anywhere but their own land. Other than the piddling defense forces they always get after coming back, which are good for little more than caravanning. You, on the other hand, can recruit from anywhere. To them land is important. To you your army is important. Better to give up a castle or three and hammer the enemies' turf while they're wasting their time on yours.

Xenosaga Episode I: There are 3 fights where A.G.W.S are worth your time. DOMO Carrier is not one.

SPORE Creatures: The correct option is always the violent one.

Castlevania Symphony of The Night: When in doubt, check the map.

edited 4th Mar '15 3:57:21 PM by GenericHSFan