Video game lessons learned the hard way

Need For Speed: Carbon - You have crewmembers. Use them. Do not overuse them. Do not use Blockers if they are ahead of you near the finish and cancel them if they miss the guy they're after on their first pass. Use Drafters in the same situation. Use Scouts if you really aren't going to usw your crew, because they race fast and might make up for your own idiocy.

Curse the ill fortune that led you to me.

Rome Total War: When switching from Total War to Total Realism, be prepared for the Rome campaign. In RTW there are four Roman factions, in RTR there's only one, and you still have to face the same enemies the four factions did, plus some new ones.

Driver: San Francisco: Write off the Ram skill as useless at your own peril.

Curse the ill fortune that led you to me.

Minecraft again: If you go to the Nether and there's jack shit to look at except netherrack, don't dig upwards, dig down. The Nether has a ceiling, but not much of a floor; you'll hit open air (and Ghasts, and Glowstone, and lava) much quicker that way.

Ponders too much; thinks too little. Currently goes by Knowlessman.

Do that and you'll die falling into lava. No, it's much better to dig across, if you must dig.

League of Legends: Do not trust solo mid lane to someone who was outlaned by a MALPHITE.

As KARTHUS.

Similarly, unless you know them, don't expect the support character you're laning alongside to be good. Especially if they're Teemo. In that case, Expect KS and a lack of blinding darts when the enemy is attacking you

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. And also spiders.

Dungeon Defenders:Unless your playing with friends, people who play Squire will sell your towers and replace them with Harpoon Towers, even after they were nurfed. Also everyone plays huntress, even though I play Apprentice.

Hyped for Hyperdimension Neptunia V 2

@Sabbo: Please; I learned playing the PC Gamer demo that if you dig through the block adjacent to you, and only drop down if it's safe (which you can tell easily by the light of a nearby torch), and repeat the process, then you can, too, dig downwards safely. A two-by-one or two-by-two shaft is the only way you're going to get to the good caverns. Just bring lots of ladders.

Ponders too much; thinks too little. Currently goes by Knowlessman.

Digging down doesn't change the probability of hitting a cavern. That's just something to do based on height. The best way to hit caverns at middling heights is to dig across or dig a staircase, since those will cover more area.

Monster Hunter The recall bomb (I forget what it's called) will sometimes not work under a Lao Shan Lung. Assume it doesn't so don't use it, run away.

Hyped for Hyperdimension Neptunia V 2

MGS 2:Don't try to get close to Fortune. She will fuck you up.

"All worlds begin in darkness and all so end. The heart is no different."-Ansem

More Driver: San Francisco: as much fun as it is to ram a perp head on with a semi, you're not catching up to a Chevrolet Camaro (Or even an adventurous Volt) with one. Shift after your head-on attack.

Curse the ill fortune that led you to me.

Max Payne 3 overrides your weapon selection after every cutscene, and once you lose control of Max you can kiss your assault rifle or shotgun goodbye.

"If you're out here why do I miss you so much?"

Kingdom Of Loathing, Bugbear Invasion challenge path:

• In the Waste Disposal area, when the game informs you that The Walls Are Closing In after each non-bugbear combat adventure, this is NOT a meaningless flavor message designed to give an impression of urgency. This is an indication that, after about ten of these warnings, you will be crushed flat and have to find a way to deal with an unexpected Beat Up status.

I haven't known true fear in a very, very long time.

Sonic Adventure: Do Big the Cat's story first. He will make you want to throw kittens against a brick wall after a while, so getting him over with is the best case scenario. Also, you can die in the Tornado flight levels.

Super Mario Sunshine: FLUUD warns you when the jelly things are about to jump on you. Use the booster noxxle to defeat the masked racer guy, or else you're kind of fucked. Yoshi's suck because they lose juice even when they aren't spitting.

Skyrim: SAVE ALL THE TIME. Also, get your smithing up early so you can have the best of everything early on.

ADHD? Bitch please, those are battle instincts!

Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer:

• Put up your Tactical Cloak before deactivating a transmitter.
• You can't use survival packs while deactivating a transmitter.
• Exit the lobby before you spend any credits unless you want to have to quit the game, reload, and guess at what's new.
• A Mantis without a spare ammo clip will run dry during the later waves.

Panhandling sign glued to hands. Need $5 for solvent.

I have all of the autosave options on, and it's still not enough sometimes.

Skyrim/Oblivion (Elder Scrolls in general, I'm thinking): Wikis are awesome.

EDIT: Also, the Fus Ro Dah is incredibly satisfying, but not when you catch NPC's with it whom you kind of want to survive the fight.

Also, do not run with a knife. If you're moving forward when you try to backstab somebody, you'll charge 'em instead, and can kiss your sneaking bonus goodbye when you bump into them.

edited 21st May '12 1:55:33 AM by Artemis92

Ponders too much; thinks too little. Currently goes by Knowlessman.

Fallout: New Vegas. Folks have pointed these out before, probably.

• Deathclaws: If you are not good enough with Guns, Energy Weapons and Large Guns or lack sufficiently powerful examples of those weapons to get one-hit kills on them, cripple the bastards by Crippling both legs. It stops the evil overgrown Jackson's Chameleon bastards using their jump/lunge/slash attack. Don't just mindlessly go for head shots from your Varmint Rifle - it will not work reliably enough to be, well, relied upon.

I know from the forum topic for the game that there are tropers who love using Frag Mines as well, to provide a lethal carpet for the now-maimed Deathclaws to blunder on to. I don't use the tactic myself, but I can point you in the direction of the forum topic for further information.

• Robots: Pulse Slugs are your friend. Even a Caravan Shotgun with sufficient skill can kill just about any robot up to the really big Sentry Robots - the biggest ones found in the Vanilla game - with around three shots using those. Lever-action shotguns are better, of course. It may take more, but Pulse Slugs are always preferable to bullets or other shotgun rounds. They are designed to kill robots and should, therefore, be used. If you have the Gun Runners dlc pack, there is no reason not to buy some of them. Pulse Grenades and Pulse Mines also exist, but in hard-core mode, personally, I would rather use Slugs.

Mass Effect 3: Don't bother evolving your ammo power to increase capacity. The game's generous enough with thermal clip drops that you won't need it.

Panhandling sign glued to hands. Need $5 for solvent.

Metroid Prime 3

-Don't switch to the Scan Visor on the ziplines, or the grapple will disengage. The zipline creatures don't even have a scan entry. (did I post this one?)

Okay, fine! I'm going to do something I'm sort of good at!

Never let your younger sibling's friends influence him when it comes to portable systems. Otherwise stuff like this happens:

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=o5bs7q8xdneb9ssthccpnb9x&page=234#5848

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=o5bs7q8xdneb9ssthccpnb9x&page=245#6125

I'm wondering if should even bother getting a 3DS next year, considering how my brother's attempt to be "hip" with his friends has screwed us over twice.

For an actual game subject, Shining Force: Don't go halfway through the game without promoting your soldiers, otherwise it's near impossible to get through.

edited 1st Jun '12 7:12:26 AM by KrazyKopter

"Pancakes. Oh, I blew it." - Joel Hodgson Nobody better lay a Butterfinger on my 3DS!

Don't go into Mario Tennis Open, thinking you'll be able to kick the AI's ass in the later cups with your favourite character. The AI gets fierce, especially with those lucky shots, where you have to be on your toes all the time, or else you'll fail. Miserably.

edited 1st Jun '12 8:58:41 AM by Jaryl

Splatterhouse (PS 3)

• There are no secrets in the side-scrolling areas. You can safely go forward.
• Blocking does you no good. Rolling, however, is vital.
• Never ignore Teratoids.

I haven't known true fear in a very, very long time.

In general:

• Save early, save often.
• Don't just rely on auto-saves. Make sure to manually save as well.
• If the game has multiple save slots, use them. Don't only use the top slot just because it's more convenient. You never know when you've accidentally saved an Unwinnable game.
• There's no shame in playing on easy mode if that's what makes the game fun for you.
• Running away from enemies is a perfectly valid tactic...in moderation.

Mass Effect series:

• What the dialogue wheel says, what Shepard says, and how it affects your morality do not always match up.

Mass Effect:

• You thought that you were just having "friendly chats" with Kaidan? lolnope, sex scene time!
• Don't bother leveling both Charm and Intimidate.
• Make absolutely sure that krogan is DEAD before you try to leave.

Mass Effect 2:

• Biotics are useless on any difficulty harder than Veteran.
• So are freezing powers.
• It is impossible to play an effective Paragade/Renegon without modding saves.
• The New Game Plus is useless. Don't even bother. Just import your ME1 save again.
• Don't romance Thane if you want to import your save to ME3.
• If you're using Energy Drain as your bonus power, make sure to change it before you take on a mission without any shielded/synthetic enemies.
• Similarly, if you're using Neural Shock as your bonus power, make sure to change it before you take on a mission without any organic enemies.
• Don't use the Cain in enclosed spaces.

Mass Effect 3:

• If there's more than one Vanguard (including you) in the multiplayer lobby, leave. It's not worth it.
  • Unless you're all Vanguards. Then it's awesome.

Fallout 3:

• Don't use Fawkes as a follower if you don't want him to steal half your XP.

Skyrim:

• Just because you can only level up Magicka and ignore Health/Stamina doesn't mean you should. Yeah, you'll become a god(dess) of destruction, but that won't change the fact that draugr Deathlords will kill you in one hit at level 60.
• An item that's worth thousands of gold is worthless if there aren't any merchants with enough spare money to buy it.
• Make sure you're in the right menu when you're handling items, lest you accidentally eat the daedra heart you were saving up for the next time you come across an alchemy lab.
• Make sure you know what shout you have assigned to the shout button before you use it. Otherwise you will end up using Throw Voice while you're being mobbed by draugr, or using Unrelenting Force right before you jump off a cliff.
• Don't use an area-of-effect spell/skill if you're anywhere near non-hostile NPCs. Just don't.
• Being in werewolf form doesn't make you invincible.

edited 2nd Jun '12 4:25:23 PM by MissMokushiroku

Skyrim:

• If you move while sneaking and there's an enemy right in front of you, they might see you. If you hold still and they walk right into you, they will.
  • Also, higher-level Draugr have eyes in the tops of their heads. Trying to get a more literal drop on them is not a good idea.
• Proper use of the Fus Ro Dah requires careful aim; doubly so when there's an ally in the same general direction as your target(s).
• Fiem is good for more than just BASE jumping; indeed, it can be even more useful to a mage than the Fus Ro Dah, especially considering how quickly it recharges.

(Last one) I'll say; it doesn't even protect against falling damage.

Ponders too much; thinks too little. Currently goes by Knowlessman.