Video game lessons learned the hard way

Pokémon Legends: Arceus: Glowing Eyes of Doom + Red Eyes, Take Warning = alpha = DO NOT ENGAGE UNLESS YOUR POKÉMON ARE STRONG ENOUGH. (Granted, I didn't even think to throw one out against the alpha Rapidash that nearly killed me, but also I don't think I had a water type on hand to take it down so it wouldn't have mattered. Ended up just booking it back to base camp.)

• Pokémon Legends: Arceus:

There are some Pokemon in this game who could only evolve in the mainline games through being traded while holding specific items. Since Pokemon can't hold items in this game, all you have to do is use the trade items on them instead. Other Pokemon who evolve through trade but without the use of trade items, such as Machoke and Graveler, can be evolved without trading through the use of the new Linking Cable item (which I am only just now realizing looks like a Game Boy link cable).

• Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair:
  • There are a total of four Free-Time Event (FTE) opportunities in Chapter 1. If you don't talk to Nagito within those first two opportunities, you'll get locked out of doing his FTEs for the rest of the game.
  • Fuyuhiko's FTEs don't become available to you in the main game until Chapter 4.
  • If you don't know which options will net you the most hearts when taking people on trips in Island Mode, feel free to use a guide. You'll need to know which options give the most hearts if you want to get anyone's Island Mode ending.
  • Hope Fragments and skills earned in Island Mode carry over into the main game.
  • In Magical Girl Miracle Monomi, you can't jump on enemies while in Usami Mode. If you do, you'll end up taking damage instead.

Stella Glow:

Do not aggro Giselle. Just... don't. Yes, this means forget about that special condition about having Alto land a hit on her. In this battle, if anyone is KO'd, you'll lose the battle. I was so furious when I lost the battle when I was very close to having all of my team member escape that I turned off my 3DS... and then I remembered that you can't save at all during the whole string of events, meaning I have to replay the chapter from almost the beginning (that is, since long befoe the whole Anthem scene occurs).

I likely won't play the game again for a very long time. I'm really not in the mood to repeat SO MUCH to make up for the massive progress lost.

Edited by MyFinalEdits on Mar 24th 2022 at 2:46:00 PM

Resident Evil: save your ammo! 2 was the first RE game I played and had no ammo left when I got to the final boss…

Pokemon Shield:

• The levels of the Pokemon in the Wild Areas will even out to match your party's average level. From what I can gather, this only happens in the Wild Areas and nowhere else.
• The longer you press A while holding a ball in your camp, the farther you'll throw it.
• The final battle against Hop in the Slumbering Weald seems like it'd be pretty standard fare... that is, until he pulls out his last Pokemon, Zacian, who is incredibly fast — and not to mention incredibly strong, too. Chances are if you can't outspeed Zacian, you'll have a total party wipe on your hands.

Rune Factory 5:

-The farm dragons are not this game's answer to the seasonal fields (farming spots that are one specific season year-round) in previous entries; in fact, seasonal fields aren't a thing this time.

-Good news, crops no longer die off once if planted/grown out of season; instead, they merely grow slower (and possibly are more fragile?), with the penalty increased for seasons a crop hates. This does alleviate the loss of the seasonal fields some.

-When crafting, using more than your current max RP in a single crafting action will always result in a failure. Yes, this does apply when you're crafting multiple of a single recipe, so decrease the quantity you're crafting at once. Note that boosted max RP from food does raise the RP cost cap, and also note that spending more RP than you currently have is okay (it simply drains your RP then starts eating into your HP).

Edited by Hunter1 on Mar 31st 2022 at 1:42:04 PM

Horizon Zero Dawn:

• You need to pick up the Blaze separately from the Strider if you shoot the fuel tank with an arrow.
• Aloy doesn't grab ledges unless they're specifically designed to be grabbed. Look for other ways up the mountains.
• You have to hold the button to heal with the medicine pouch.
• Against anything bigger than a Watcher, your spear is a last resort.

No matter what kind of game you play as, no matter how stable it often is...

Freaking save here and there. And hope it doesn't bug out otherwise. D:

Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon:

• Ultra Wormholes come in five different colors: red, blue, green, yellow and white. Only the white Ultra Wormholes lead to Ultra Beast Dens.
• If you don't like using motion controls during Ultra Warp Rides, there's an Aether Foundation employee in the Game Freak building in Heahea City that you can talk to that'll let you switch to using the Circle Pad.

Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days:

• Fire is more valuable than Fira, as the former homes in on enemies while the latter only travels straight forward.
• Aerora travels along the ground. Stop trying to cast it on airborne enemies, it won't do anything.
• Never Land is the only world where you can glide infinitely. Everywhere else, you'll only glide if you hold Y.

Age of Empires II:

• The towers in Lake Poyang are stupidly OP. Avoid them.
• One of the transport ships you need to protect sails right by one of said OP towers, so prepare to sacrifice a ship or two as bait.
• In Sundjata 3, the gates of Djenne are guarded by mangonels. Lure them out before you send in the battering rams.
• After clearing the river in Sundjata 4, be ready to protect the traders. Sumanguru will try to wipe them out, and you can kiss your lumber shipments goodbye if he does.
• They fixed the "infinite gbeto spam" bug.

Edited by ABNDT on Apr 22nd 2022 at 12:49:55 PM

Rune Factory 5: The Yellow and Blue Dragons in the postgame dungeon have stupidly high defense. If you aren't doing much damage to them, use fist weapons to knock them down and throw them, because the throw attack bypasses defense.

Triangle Strategy (demo)

• These AoE spells I've been using awkwardly for two thirds of the demo? They're actually Friendly Fireproof.

Civilization VI: if there is a Tribal Village or Meteor Strike that can be picked up by a unit, but a city-state unit is sitting on it, you can still pick it up by passing through the unit as long as you have the movement to do so.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain:

• Patience is a virtue. A virtue that will be essential for getting through this game (or any stealth game, for that matter).
• First-person aiming is your best friend.
• Pay close attention to your surroundings. Blindly rushing into enemy territory without a care will result in death.
• Always assume that there are more enemies at or around a base or camp than you can identify with your binoculars.

For that matter, D-Dog is your best friend at detecting enemies, especially in the total stealth or extreme difficulty missions. Doubly so when you research the stun-knife kit, which allows him to perform non-lethal K Os on a single soldier.

Oh, another thing... MGSV doesn't explain this at all, but in order to take full advantage of the master gunsmith's ability to fully customize your weapons, you'll need to start researching the guns that have any particular parts or attributes you need. Most important one being the suppressors: if you want to start putting a suppressor on your sniper rifle, you'll have to research a sniper rifle that already comes equipped with one first. You CANNOT use a suppressor that was researched from an assault rifle on a sniper rifle, and vice versa. Same goes for scopes, grenade launchers, foregrips, ammo magazines, etc.

In Fire Emblem Three Houses most fight can be cheesed by giving Petra an Evasion Ring, Manuela is a surprisingly good unit, on NG+ give Catherine the Shield Dragon Sign and she gets even stronger

Edited by Archsage on Apr 26th 2022 at 11:45:43 AM

Horizon Zero Dawn:

• Pretty much anything that can be called an "inventory" can be updated, so no, you don't have to go through the entire game with just twenty materials slots.
  • Even upgraded, if you insist on being a pack-rat, you will run out of space.
• Shop Fodder is clearly marked.
• If the ledge is yellow, Aloy will grab it. If it's not, she won't.
• There is no such thing as "too much Ridge-Wood".

Caveblazers:

• Blue slimes explode when killed, including at close range.

Persona 5 Royal

• If a Shadow spots you even for a brief moment, it will begin to actively pursue you. This isn't like other games where you can leave an enemy's aggro range.
• SP recovery is scarce, at least in the early game. Battles can go smooth as a baby's bottom exploring a Palace but that doesn't mean you won't have to call it a day eventually.
• Shadows drop the same items consistently, whether you get that item as a random drop or you barter with them. So, no, higher level enemies don't necessarily mean better loot- it's gonna be the same thing every time for that Shadow type.
• Traveling everywhere on the subway and shopping at every store doesn't take up any time, but doing laundry does. Go figure.

Pokémon Legends: Arceus: Hisuian Avalugg is Ice/Rock and has Earth Power, so all that time spent grinding up a Fire type team was for two things: jack and shit.

In Fallout 3 and New Vegas it's easier to just level up your character's repair skill and fix your weapons and armor yourself the merchants in the game can only repair your stuff to a certain extent and the caps you save by repairing your equipment on your own can be used to purchase ammunition and medical supplies.

Dune: Spice Wars

• Sandworms seem to be attracted to any sort of commotion, be it a battle, spice harvesters, or large group of infantry marching across the sands.
• You can receive a wormsign warning directly under your harvester working at a spice field, and suddenly see it devoured mere seconds later. Which sucks, given that it takes a moment for the Carryalls to respond and recover the harvester upon receiving the warning.
• Same goes for the sandstorms; they can appear without notice and kill off an entire group of veteran infantry in less than a minute. Happened to me once when I had just taken over an enemy town and yet to convert it, leading to my group dying out of shelter.
• If you run out of Solarii credits, remember that you can increase or decrease the amount of Spice being sold on the market via the silder on the top left of the game interface at any time. Just make sure to do it BEFORE running out of Solarii, because the penalty can be rather severe.
• RNG in this game can REALLY screw up a match, especially in the earlier phases. So don't be afraid to restart if necessary.

Doki Doki Literature Club Plus!: The special menu that only has a 1/64 chance of showing up after reaching a certain point of the game is required for 100% Completion.

Horizon Zero Dawn:

• Not all quadrupedal machines can be mounts.
• Different types of the same weapon can fire different types of ammo. Therefore, you do need to buy more than one bow.
• If there isn't a little candle icon over that human's head when the fighting starts, they're hostile.
• Shopkeepers in Meridian sell an item that lets you fast travel an infinite number of times. Most of the sidequests you pick up in Meridian send you way back into the Sacred Lands. Get that item as soon as possible.
• From a distance, Longlegs and Watchers look very much alike.