History Main / ChangingGameplayPriorities

* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI'', the big change comes when you learn Cure magic. The game can be easily divided into "pre-Cure" and "post-Cure" sections. Healing magic is so overpoweringly useful that it single-handedly makes Magic Points the most important stat in the game. This is true of [[Franchise/KingdomHearts most of the series]], but only in the first game is the difference so large and Cure learned so late.
** In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' something similar happens only replace pre and post Cure with pre and post Reflect. Prior to obtaining Reflect it's much more difficult to protect yourself against a swarm of enemies or attacks that come at unexpected angles. While Guard is better than it was in its previous game it's not enough to cover everything. This makes the early game in Critical Mode particularly tense, especially with Cure's massive nerf. Post-Reflect you can become much more aggressive as it's far easier to defend yourself from most attacks and Reflect will deal great chunks of damage on its own as well. On top of that Cure goes from emergency button to all but outright useless since it drains your entire MP Bar upon usage and it takes multiple Ethers to get you out of MP Charge (Elixirs do it instantly but at that point the Cure is unnecessary). As you need MP to use Reflect, using Cure becomes a massive waste.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Chess}}'' players treat the king this way. In the opening and the middlegame, it's important to keep the king in the corner of the board, protected by other pieces, because otherwise it's easy for one's opponent to simply checkmate the king, or use the threat of checkmate to accomplish something else. However, in the endgame, when there aren't many pieces left on the board, it suddenly becomes very important to use the king as an attacking piece, to chase down opposing pawns and escort one's own pawns up the board.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Chess}}'' players treat the king this way. In the opening and the middlegame, it is important to keep the king in the corner of the board, protected by other pieces, because otherwise it is easy for one's opponent to simply checkmate the king, or use the threat of checkmate to accomplish something else. However, in the endgame, when there aren't many pieces left on the board, it suddenly becomes very important to use the king as an attacking piece, to chase down opposing pawns and escort one's own pawns up the board.

* ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}} 5'' starts out with a single city, where you have to survive against barbarians and explore your surroundings in the bronze age, by the Renaissance you'll be forming trade deals with other countries and spreading your religion, by the modern era you'll be pushing Tourism and trying to win the Space Race. Averted if you decide to go for [[KillEmAll a Domination victory]], in which case your goals remain the same from the start - build an army and steamroll over the rest of the planet.

* ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}} 5'' starts out with a single city, where you have to survive against barbarians and explore your surroundings in the bronze age, by the Renaissance you'll be forming trade deals with other countries and spreading your religion, by the modern era you'll be pushing Tourism and trying to win the Space Race.

* In the early seasons of ''Series/RobotWars'' there was no point putting heavy armour on a robot because almost none of the other competitors were able to mount weapons powerful enough to do serious damage, and even the House Robots mainly did cosmetic damage. It was more important to simply make a robot which could drive properly without breaking down, and hopefully have ''some'' way of disabling its opponent[[note]]the 1st Wars Champions, Roadblock, were basically a solid mobile wedge which could tip its opponents over- they had a small circular saw on the back, but it was almost ornamental[[/note]], so heavy armour was considered a waste of your weight allowance. Then in the 3rd Wars a robot called Hypno-Disc [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w04BgclPmY8 debuted]] with the [[GameChanger first]] [[SpectacularSpinning heavy flywheel weapon]] and [[TheDreaded put the fear of god in everybody]]. Combined with improvements in engineering making drive systems (while still of pivotal importance) more of a basic element to be built on, Hypno-Disc kicked off an arms race where those who could make more genuinely destructive weapons strove to do as much damage as possible, and those who couldn't (or preferred a more BoringButPractical approach) started plating themselves with heavy metal armour to resist them. On the robot combat scene today, highly-destructive weapons like flywheels and spinning drums are so prevalent that a lightly-armoured robot is just ''begging'' to be reduced to scrap.

* Those who enjoy the [[GottaCatchThemAll collecting]] and [[SocializationBonus trading]] aspects of ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' might be shocked to find out how differently the game is played between other people. Using a haphazardly [[LevelGrinding level-grinded]] team with [[ElementalRockPaperScissors decent type coverage]] (or [[OneManArmy a single max-level]] [[OlympusMons Legendary Pokémon]], along with the gym badge that will make it obey you) is more than enough to breeze through almost all in-game battles, but raising a team to seriously compete against other players and in postgame battle facilities (which both disallow trainers to use items mid-battle, by the way � so much for those Full Restores you splurged on!) requires so much micromanagement, from IV inheritance to EV allocating, that it's like playing a different game entirely.

* In American Football as well as in Basketball, the team with a lead in the Fourth Quarter or last five minutes in basketball, changes its play style from an emphasis on scoring to an emphasis on clock management. Clock management is about taking as long as legally possible to score so that your opponent has insufficient time to catch up to your score. In football, a pass heavy offense will start running the ball more to chew up clock, while a basketball team will dribble and pass till the last second of possession before attempting to score. On defense, basketball teams with a lead will start intentionally fouling so that their opponent has to try to make two throws to score two points instead of one during regular play - and they get the ball back, further limiting their opponent’s time in possession.

** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'', unique for the series, has very limited LevelScaling and has the skimpiest StartingEquipment available, leading a tough EarlyGameHell situation. It's not uncommon to see players scrounging through outdoor crates and urns for loose coins and near-worthless VendorTrash at low levels just to scrape together enough for their first set of equipment. Once they start adventuring, they'll back every item they can carry from every dungeon, carefully deciding what items to sell at which vendor (who have limited gold and avert WeBuyAnything) to maximize profits. Later in the game, once money is no longer an issue, they'll only take choice loot while leaving behind items worth hundreds or thousands of gold as they've reached a point where the hassle of selling simply isn't worthwhile. By the end, they'll be god-slayers carrying legendary equipment (or self-enchanted custom equipment) only picking up items that they want to display in their [[AHomeownerIsYou player houses]] as trophies.

** ''VideoGame/Fallout4'' changes the franchise formula, removing BreakableWeapons and [[ClothingDamage Armor]], while making ammo generally more plentiful to address EarlyGameHell complaints of previous entries. However, you will still likely be a major hoarder of junk items due to another major series change - the addition of settlement building. Now, every single piece of VendorTrash in the wasteland can be broken down into component parts and used to upgrade equipment or build settlement structures. Early on, you'll max out your encumbrance leaving every ruin to bring back junk items. Once you have a fairly robust settlement network established, plus enough caps to buy shipments of the resources your need, you'll shift to only bringing back items with the rarest components needed for the highest level upgrades and structures.

** This occurs throughout the series regarding magic-oriented {{Player Character}}s. Early in the games, your low-level skills and small [[{{Mana}} Magicka]] pool combined with your typical [[SquishyWizard squishiness]] make things very challenging. You'll find yourself launching piddly fireballs at weak critters as you desperately attempt to both increase your skills, allowing you to cast more powerful spells, as well as your level, which increases your Magicka. Toward the mid-game, your [[LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards quadratic]] power increase will kick in and few enemies will be able to withstand your magical might. You'll continue progressing...then suddenly find high-level enemies [[AttackReflector reflecting your powerful spells]] right back in your face and/or [[AntiMagic negating them completely]] thanks to inherent Reflect/Magic Resistance. In some cases, such as the end of ''Morrowind''[='s=] ''Tribunal'' and ''Bloodmoon'' expansions, the game can becoming literally unwinnable for magic-oriented characters due to the sheer volume and power of these magic-resistant enemies. ''Skyrim'' attempts to resolve this by removing and reducing enemies with these abilities...but causes this issue in different way. High-level "Master" spells are AwesomeButImpractical, with lengthy casting animations and requiring both hands. Lower-level spells can last longer, but their damage is capped while the health of the [[LevelScaling Level-Scaled]] enemies is not. Increase a few levels and suddenly your spells are far less effective, with no means of gaining more powerful ones thanks to the removal of Spellmaking.

* In ''VideoGame/PrincessMaker 2'', it's important to build your daughter's Stamina/Constitution early on in her life, because all of the part-time jobs require her to be sturdy enough to make it through a shift without messing up. Farm work is good for this, as it grants a decent early income if you stick with it long enough. However, once your daughter reaches her teens and some of the more lucrative jobs open up, you'll need to spend some of that income on classes to build her other skills since farming becomes less viable (especially for those pursuing social-based endings, as it cuts into her Elegance stat).

** In ''VideoGame/TetrisTheGrandMaster 2: The Absolute PLUS'', the T.A. Death mode starts off with a race to level 500[[note]]Levels are counted differently in ''TGM''; rather than by line clears, level is effectively (pieces dropped) + (lines cleared), though every 100 levels the level counter will stall until you clear a lone.[[/note]]. Reach 500 in 3 minutes and 25 seconds or less and you get the M rank and continue playing. From there, reaching level 999 will award the Grand Master rank. Since the second half of the game has no time restrictions, the focus shifts from speeding through the game to pure survival. In other words, while many games favor an early-game defense and a late-game offense, T.A. Death favors the opposite.

** In the campaign, it's best to focus on building up requisition to buy garrison units and structures (especially in Soulstorm, which no longer remembers the buildings you placed on a previous attack/defense of a province) rather than attacking to gain more honor guard units. Later, when conquered provinces are sending you more requisition you can buy honor guard units with which to attack more efficiently.

* In the early seasons of ''Series/RobotWars'' there was no point putting heavy armour on a robot because almost none of the other competitors were able to mount weapons powerful enough to do serious damage, and even the House Robots mainly did cosmetic damage. It was more important to simply make a robot which could drive properly without breaking down, and hopefully have ''some'' way of disabling its opponent[[note]]the 1st Wars Champions, Roadblock, were basically a solid mobile wedge which could tip its opponents over- they had a small circular saw on the back, but it was almost ornamental[[/note]], so heavy armour was considered a waste of your weight allowance. Then in the 3rd Wars a robot called Hypno-Disc [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w04BgclPmY8 debuted]] with the [[GameChanger first]] [[EverythingsBetterWithSpinning heavy flywheel weapon]] and [[TheDreaded put the fear of god in everybody]]. Combined with improvements in engineering making drive systems (while still of pivotal importance) more of a basic element to be built on, Hypno-Disc kicked off an arms race where those who could make more genuinely destructive weapons strove to do as much damage as possible, and those who couldn't (or preferred a more BoringButPractical approach) started plating themselves with heavy metal armour to resist them. On the robot combat scene today, highly-destructive weapons like flywheels and spinning drums are so prevalent that a lightly-armoured robot is just ''begging'' to be reduced to scrap.

* In early-game ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' you tend to play much more cautiously. Since your low-leveled characters can't take many hits and [[FinalDeath death is permenant]], you need to bait and lure enemies one-by-one, and check enemy movement ranges carefully, to ensure you aren't overwhelmed, while making sure to weaken enemies enough for your lower-leveled characters to finish off. Once your characters start leveling up, [[PrestigeClass upgrading classes]], getting better weapons and [[RelationshipValues raising their support levels with eachother]], battles become much more about positioning your characters right to cut down hordes of enemies on the Enemy Phase. It's for this reason most games in the series suffer from EarlyGameHell.

** ''VideoGame/Fallout4'' changes the franchise formula, removing BreakableWeapons and [[ClothingDamage Armor]], while making ammo generally more plentiful to address EarlyGameHell complaints of previous entries. However, you will still likely be a major hoarder of junk items due to another major series change - the addition of settlement building. Now, every single piece of VendorTrash in the wasteland can be broken down into component parts and used to upgrade equipment or build settlement structures.

** This occurs throughout the series regarding magic-oriented {{Player Character}}s. Early in the games, your low-level skills and small [[{{Mana}} Magicka]] pool combined with your typical [[SquishyWizard squishiness]] make things very challenging. You'll find yourself launching piddly fireballs at weak critters as you desperately attempt to both increase your skills, allowing you to cast more powerful spells, as well as your level, which increases your Magicka. Toward the mid-game, your [[LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards quadratic]] power increase will kick in and few enemies will be able to withstand your magical might. You'll continue progressing...then suddenly find high-level enemies [[AttackReflector reflecting your powerful spells]] right back in your face and/or [[AntiMagic negating them completely]] thanks to inherent Reflect/Magic Resistance. In some cases, such as the end of ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]''[='s=] ''Tribunal'' and ''Bloodmoon'' expansions, the game can becoming literally unwinnable for magic-oriented characters due to the sheer volume and power of these magic-resistant enemies. ''Skyrim'' attempts to resolve this by removing and reducing enemies with these abilities...but causes this issue in different way. High-level "Master" spells are AwesomeButImpractical, with lengthy casting animations and requiring both hands. Lower-level spells can last longer, but their damage is capped while the health of the [[LevelScaling Level-Scaled]] enemies is not. Increase a few levels and suddenly your spells are far less effective, with no means of gaining more powerful ones thanks to the removal of Spellmaking.

* EuropaUniversalis has this in regards to combat. Early game your troops will break before they are all killed, which causes Morale to be very important. Later game, the combat skill of your units (Drill) is much better, because you can kill off almost an entire army before they break. Calvary dominates the early to midgame, while artilery such becomes a priority towards the end (with a few exceptions for strong Calvary nations, such as the Commonwealth or the Golden Horde).

* In the early game of ''VideoGame/GoldenSun2001'' managing Djinn is very important and very difficult, because of the way the game assigns new Djinni that you find. Come endgame, you have enough Djinn to keep summoning various gods over and over again, and it's much easier to line up the correct numbers of Djinn for massive stat boosts.

** In the sequel [[VideoGame/XCOM2]], the same holds mostly true: you want weapons over armor early, and then armor over weapons late. However, the early game has a priority on strong ''basic'' gear, while the late game skews more sharply towards weapon modifications and specialty ammunition. Basically, in the beginning of the game, your main weapon is how you deal the most damage, while in the late game, the gear you take with you and the ammunition you load in your main weapon has a greater importance, particularly with the introduction of mechanical enemies and the insanely useful Bluescreen Rounds.

* ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}: You start out in an exploratory, expansionistic phase, clawing for territory. After a while, you'll start running into other empires, and your expansion will more or less stop, leading to a stage of bunkering down, researching, and building structures on every resource point on your turf. Eventually, you'll probably start picking fights with the alien empires, opening up their territory for further exploration and exploitation (or possibly getting you butchered like a hog, but oh well).

** ''VideoGame/{{Diablo II}}'' is all about this trope. Early in the game, it may seem useful to put your stat points into Energy, but by the time you reach end game you realize that those points have essentially been wasted, as all you care about by then is having just enough Strength to equip the best gear and then nothing but Vitality. Likewise, in later difficulties enemies have excessive resistance to various kinds of attack, and some of your spells scale better than others; it would be a real shame if you [[{{Unwinnable}} put all of your ability points into something useless.]] Surprise!
** ''VideoGame/{{Diablo III}}'':

*** While leveling from Level 1 to the Level {{Cap}} of 60 (70 with the ExpansionPack), the game is about unlocking new skills and testing new skill combinations, boosting passive stats, and getting new {{Loot}} in roughly equal measure. Upon reaching the Level {{Cap}}, while there are still Paragon Levels to be gained for small passive bonuses, the emphasis is much more on unlocking top-tier {{Loot}} and fine-tuning the character's skill loadout to match the bonuses it gives, making it a ''de facto'' case of LootBasedProgression. Additionally, by this point the player has likely completed the story mode and has probably moved on to tackling bounties and Rifts, randomized dungeons that remix assets from all parts of the game.

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* In the early game of ''VideoGame/GoldenSunTheBrokenSeal'' managing Djinn is very important and very difficult, because of the way the game assigns new Djinni that you find. Come endgame, you have enough Djinn to keep summoning various gods over and over again, and it's much easier to line up the correct numbers of Djinn for massive stat boosts.