Video game lessons learned the hard way

• Devil Survivor: Relying on physical attacks might seem like a good idea at first, but you will regret it soon enough.
• Pokemon: Save before confronting a gymleader, elite four member, team criminal boss, or Legendaries.
  • Pseudolegendaries are about twice as awesome as actual legendaries, and totally worth the effort.
  • you shouldn't use evolution stones before level 45. Ever.
  • Just because you could beat the game with nothing but your starter doesn't mean you should.
  • There is no shame in dripfeeding yourself to victory if the alternative is grinding till judgement day.
  • Heracross is a Disk One Nuke, and will still be helpful later in life.
• Etrian Oddysey: the bard won't do you much good before he learns Song of Relaxing.
  • Warp wires are a VERY good idea.
  • Training a few extra party members for the sake of covering all bases will pay off eventually.
• Tatsunoko vs Capcom: Hold back to block.
  • Even if you don't like Zero, everyone else does, so get to know him.
  • Giants are a bad idea if you don't know what you are doing.
• Mad World: Points are more important then high kill count, so don't use the chainsaw on regular mooks if it's not a finisher.
• Neverwinter Nights: Don't listen to Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards. Fighter+improved two weapon fighting+haste=carnage.

You don't seem to be particularly good at Kirby games. Fatty Whale can even be beaten without Kirby taking damage, if you defend the whole time. (And that's only mentioning one of the bosses you listed)

edited 4th Feb '11 5:36:24 AM by Sabbo

I use an emulator. L/R buttons are hard to use, even when set to the C button.

Primarily because jump and attack are necessary to complete levels, and block isn't very useful in reg. levels.

Kracko is only slightly more of a challenge than reg, bosses, and I find Whispy's Revenge harder than Kracko's revenge.

Mecha Kracko has two health bars, and can rearrange the floor. Dark Daroach and regular Daroach have loads of cheap attacks, so it's a pain in the ass to beat them without Tornado.

edited 4th Feb '11 6:55:06 AM by Altoid

• Quake: Learn to strafe and mouselook, and stop using the friggin' arrow keys to move.
• Diablo II (and by extension, any other game that uses a "skill point" system): Having a character who's very good at a few things is better than a character who's just "ok" at several things.
  • But don't focus on a single ability to the exclusion of all others, or you could be in for a very nasty surprise.
• Oblivion (though also applicable to Fallout3 and Fallout New Vegas): The best defense is to not get hit in the first place.
  • But it's still a bad idea to ignore your hitpoints or go without armor altogether - you can't avoid every hit.
• Fallout New Vegas: If you have to choose between bringing a slow but powerful weapon or a weak but rapid-fire one, go with the slow but powerful one. They're much more practical on ammo costs and don't suddenly turn to shit against anything with armor.

Yeah, that's all I got.

edited 4th Feb '11 8:04:15 AM by Reflextion

Pokemon: Making an EV-trained team for a normal playthrough is more trouble than its worth.

edited 4th Feb '11 9:39:53 AM by Neo_Crimson

The Sims: Every home MUST have a smoke alarm. (yes, I'm one of those weirdos who actually wants their Sims to survive as long as they can or as long as I'm interested in them)

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon:

• Don't go a big boss fight/set of big boss fights right away if you can help it, stock up on Reviver Seeds first by doing rescue jobs and things like that. (this is only if the game lets you choose when you want to go to the big dungeon, like with the Sky Tower in the first games or the Hidden Land in the second series)
• Don't have a team member with the Run Away ability. The reason this is a problem is because when that team member's HP gets under half, they literally run away from your party, too scared to attack and they just end up getting knocked out/use up your Reviver Seeds. This is why even though I like Eevee a lot, I don't think I'm going to try having Eevee as my partner again in Explorers of Sky because she kept running away from me and getting knocked out, especially in sandstorms. Luckily, those Pokemon are okay if YOU'RE playing as the Pokemon with the Run Away ability because it doesn't affect the leader.
• Status effects seeds are your best friend in boss fights, and so are Gravelerocks against Ghost types.

edited 4th Feb '11 10:18:27 AM by Rainbow

^ Also on the Sims: House Alarm is also a must-have, even if it means you have to dip into your budget early on, they're totally worth the 400 Simoleans.

Mass Effect 2: If you pick the vanguard class, THINK before you use biotic charge, otherwise you'll end up killing one guy, then getting shot by his five friends who are surrounding you because you charged into the middle of them like an idiot.

Jacob is useless once you finish Omega.

Mordin is useless period

Always keep Miranda in the squad. Enemies all hace sheilds after the first few missions.

You dont need to strip-mine every planet you come across.

Mass Effect has contracted the Gears of War syndrome. Find cover or die.

Singularity may sound awesome, but its just a flashier version of Pull Field.

Put all your points into Warp and Overload.

Soul Calibur 2 and onwards.

• You can't whore Siegfrieds forward vertical any more. Whore a variety of hard to stop moves instead.
• I don't care how l337 you think your mad gaming skilz are, trying to complete story mode in your underpants with the Joke Weapon is a bad idea, and may lead to awkward moments.
• Even if your characters are clothed, the precaution of wearing the chainmail outfit is always worth doing, for your reputation if female, for your sanity if Voldo.
• Algol cheats.
• If you can't see Cervantes, he can see you. If you can see Cervantes, you may only be seconds away from death.
• The exile is the same, minus the few seconds to prepare for your painful demise.
• Picking a purple colour theme for your team in the tower in IV does not make your characters look regal. It makes them look ridiculous.

edited 4th Feb '11 11:59:49 AM by GameChainsaw

Fallout 2: If you run into a fight between two factions, make sure your burst fire only hits the ones you're not currently allied with.

Left 4 Dead: If you're in the safe room and one of your teammates is knocked down and being swarmed outside - leave them to die. They'll respawn, and you won't get anyone else killed.

Ace Combat 6: Always complete the objective that gives you an airfield first.

Street Fighter II: Never, EVER jump towards Ken.

Altoid says:

I use an emulator. L/R buttons are hard to use, even when set to the C button.

Primarily because jump and attack are necessary to complete levels, and block isn't very useful in reg. levels.

Kracko is only slightly more of a challenge than reg, bosses, and I find Whispy's Revenge harder than Kracko's revenge.

Mecha Kracko has two health bars, and can rearrange the floor. Dark Daroach and regular Daroach have loads of cheap attacks, so it's a pain in the ass to beat them without Tornado.

I figured out the blocking vs. Bosses tactic while I was still using an emulator. Pity it doesn't work so well against certain attacks, or at all for grab moves. I suggest using Mirror.

I'll definitely agree with you regarding Daroach, but those others you list in the post I quoted are easy. Whispy is always easy, and Kracko is only hard as Mecha Kracko... at which point you should use either Tornado or Hi-Jump. Not so hard any more.

You're right. Most bosses in Squeak Squad go down fairly easily with Tornado.

I was talking about the Dedede fight in Nightmare in Dreamland. Six health points + Dedede's absurd amount of HP + small resolution screen = AAAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHH

Never liked Nightmare in Dreamland, but Kirby's Adventure is harder. :/

Kirby: Everyone is your bitch. Wispy? Your bitch. Lo-lo and La-La? Your bitches. Dyna Blade? More like Dyna Bitch. Meta-Knight? Him too. De De De? The bitchiest bitch of all.
Profanity aside, I've 100%ed Kirby Super Star Ultra. Yeah, Helper to Hero too. The real lesson learned. There is nothing, NOTHING better than hammer Kirby.

Metroid: DO NOT CONSERVE MISSILES FOR BOSSES ONLY. THIS IS A PATH FOR FOOLS AND DEAD PEOPLE.

Star Fox 64: If you end up on the lava level in hard mode, just go ahead and hit reset.

Touhou (Perfect Cherry Blossom): The Princess ISN'T the last boss. Don't stop paying attention just because you beat her.

Mega Man Zero: Save. Save very often. YOU WILL DIE.

League Of Legends:

• If everyone is a carry, no one gets carried.
• No one buys wards, so you have to.
• It's a team game.
• Enemy + enemy tower = DO NOT ENGAGE unless your entire team is backing you up, or everyone is crazy-fed
• Dying as a tank is bad. Not dying as a tank with everyone else dead is WORSE.
• Winning team fights is useless if an enemy took out all your side lanes while you were fighting.
• This game is hard, but rewarding.
• Team composition (ranged + melee, ap and ad) is important.
• If there is fog of war and you know what enemies you are against, call anyone who shouldn't be where they should.
• Learn the lingo.

List goes on forever...

General Shoot em up advice:

Focus on the bullets, not the weak point of a boss or other enemies. Trust me.

U.N. Sqaudron (SNES Version): Even after you buy the best plane, DON'T BUY EVERY SPECIAL WEAPON FOR IT. Also, bs aware you can switch special weapons while paused.

Freedom Fighters: Don't mindlessly charge into enemy territory, even with a sqaud. Find other ways to surprise them.

R Type: Don't die in level 7 or it'll be impossible to beat the second half of the level.

edited 5th Feb '11 5:54:54 AM by Psychopulse

Profanity aside, I've 100%ed Kirby Super Star Ultra. Yeah, Helper to Hero too. The real lesson learned. There is nothing, NOTHING better than hammer Kirby.

Fire Kirby has a stronger attack. (Hold the attack button, hold the back button to shorten the flame)

Stone Kirby not only has a reasonably strong attack, but can also become invincible, ungrabbable & immovable. (Helper-TAC is also good in this way)

So you beat all of the Helper to Hero thingies? What's your fastest time?

Dunno. I haven't even seen the game since I gave it to my little brother. I found that Hammer Kirby had the best balance of control and power, though. Also I HATE Stone Kirby. It takes freaking forever to kill the stronger bosses.

edited 5th Feb '11 6:04:20 PM by Zeromaeus

• Final Fantasy: Don't even think of challenging the last dungeon without AFIR, AICE and ALIT (or NulBlaze, NulFrost and NulShock).
• Street Fighter IV: Setting the round count to 1 won't stop Seth from going all out.

Persona 4: Unless you know that the enemy can't weakness-rape you ("you" being the main character), doing Rush Mode on an enemy—even one you're overleveled on—is a bad idea.

Aero Fighters 2/3:

• Bombs have a couple frames of delay between you pressing the button and their activating. That is more than enough for you to die before it goes off.
• Stick to Robo-Keaton and his F-117 in 2. It feels just that extra bit faster while having a bomb that does a better job of cleaning the screen of enemy bullets.
• Credit-feeding does you no good on the final stage, because you get to start from the very beginning all over again when you continue. As if losing your powerups every time you die wasn't bad enough...

Radiant Silvergun:

• You can't make intercolor chains like the later Ikaruga (which the XBLA remake might add), and weapon levels are dependent on scoring, but it's sometimes better to cut your losses and start chaining a different color if it means destroying the enemies that are very likely to kill you right about now.
• You have seven weapons from the very start. You will need every single one as the situation changes. Better learn the quirks of each one FAST if you want to survive, like how one of them shoots through obstacles. Perfect for taking out those turrets on the other side of those blocks. Also make sure you learn how to keep them from killing enemies of the wrong color when chaining.

Soviet Strike:

• USE THE MAP OFTEN. Supplies are limited, especially fuel. Plan your approach to each supply cache well before you run low on fuel, armor, or ammo.
• Don't be afraid to use Hellfires and Sidewinders. Plenty of enemies in this game can dish out damage fast, even with your vain attempts to circle-strafe, so kill them ASAP! Don't try to conserve your more damaging missiles by using weaker weapons for slightly longer, because you'll probably end up with hundreds of armor points lost for those precious few seconds. Hit hard, hit fast, and get the hell outta there before they can retaliate!
• Analog controls are a must if you want to be able to hit exactly what you're aiming for, since it's too easy to overshoot with digital controls. It's easiest with the Mission Stick, but the analog pad works in a pinch if you can get used to the sensitive analog nub and the massive deadzone on the triggers. (Yes, I'm talking about the Sega Saturn version.)

edited 6th Feb '11 5:23:34 PM by NamelessFragger

Castlevania Symphony Of The Night: The backdash is your friend. Never forget about it.

Also, learn to cast Summon Spirit as soon as it becomes available- it lets you hit those enemies who insist on floating out of the way of your attacks.

Emulators in general:
* A lot of laptops and keyboards have a limitation on 2 or 3 keys pressed at the same time

• Some laptops/keyboards also have the issue of that the arrow buttons are wired in the same input as roughly the rest of the keyboard
• The entire QAZ line somewhere towards somewhere around YHN tends to be in the same line, which generally limits you to 3 or 4 buttons pushed

• Ctrl, shift, caps, tab, super and alt along with space tends to not be mapped to the same input line as the rest of the keyboard, so if you are running into issues, remap a button to either of those
• Do you have a gamepad? Use it, and forget the keyboard.
• Running on a insufficant CPU can create strange issues, the most noticable is when running N64 emulators on Intel Atom cores, the framerate sucks and it plays slow
• P Sx, PS 2, Dreamcast emulator? Torrent. Will save you the pain of hunting down a ripped BIOS for it
• Gamecube and Wii uses the same emulator(and it works quite well)
• Some emulators supports scaling filters, Super Sai and some others tend to look quite good in some games
• Setting up Dos Box is a pain, but it is worth it. Remember that you can change CPU cycles ingame with the last of the f-keys
• Dracule X and Rondo of Blood are the same NES games, the only difference is that 1 runs slow, the other runs at appropriate speed
• Save scumming is OK on most NES and SNES games

Resident Evil 5: During the boss fight with Jill Valentine, if you grab her your partner will always opt to shoot the device. Bearing that in mind, make sure that Sheva is carrying at least one weapon that isn't a shotgun.

edited 17th Mar '11 1:02:38 AM by ABNDT