Cheap deaths

[small]

i dug up a grave in divine divinity and it exploded for 100x my hp in the starting village

 

[lionsprey]

dark soul's only cheap deaths (as in "out of the blue") are the mimics, and that's only if you didn't read the messages. All other deaths are the player's fault for not paying attention to the game.

iwannabetheguy / boshy/ is king of cheap deaths

That's kind of the point of the mimics. You're not supposed to know it's a mimic.

Anyway, at least in Dark Souls 2 the mimics are very easily identified. They actually have a big difference in their appearance than the normal chests. If a chest has a lock on it, it's a mimic.

In the first game it's a bit harder, it's the way the chains face. I forget which direction means what though.

also mimic chests breathe

 

[Buzz Killington_v1legacy]

Came in to mention the toilet scene from the first Leisure Suit Larry, but got ninja'd. Early adventure games were famous for killing you off like this, as well as happily letting you get into unwinnable situations. Forget to pick up that inconspicuous doohickey back in the game's first screen, and now you need it at the end of the game? Well, you can't go back for it at this point, so START OVER, SUCKER. It was kind of a big deal when LucasArts came out with games that wouldn't do that.

 

[LaughingAtlas]

You can really just say 'Dark Souls' and close the book, but as this is 'cheap deaths' not 'cheap answers'...

There was some weirdness in the old Jedi Knight games where lightsaber combat would sometimes be over depressingly fast. I know they're lightsabers and all, but every now and then my or the enemy's saber would just insta-kill their opponent, which didn't really make for fun jedi fights.

Payday's cloakers operate on interesting logic. "You've been getting shot full of holes for the last hour by SWAT teams and blown up by your idiot team-mate's inability to aim grenades, but this guy in a Tom Clancy mask kicks you once, so you're down and helpless."

In Katamari Forever, there's a level where you're meant to roll up warm things to make a fireball. The temperature constantly drops and there are cold things all over the place, if the temperature hits zero, you lose. Some objects are apparently goddamn freezing, but you can only guess what is and isn't going to instantly drop the temperature by 100 degrees, and some things are so small, but have so much impact that you're more likely to beat that level through trial and error or looking up a how-to video than much of anything else. (also works in Dark Souls, coincidentally)

 

[Lotet]

Dark Souls 2, getting stepped on by the Ancient Dragon when it clearly didn't step on me. Getting hit once by a giant that blatantly ignores my shield (didn't shield-break, ignored) and proceed to get smashed into the ground by said giant. Rolling instead of jumping, Dark Souls has purposfully bad platforming controls and sometimes they like to challenge you to figure out how bad it is. Try to pick up a dropped item, character decided to open the mimic instead. Kill an enemy, walk backwards, camera auto-switches to an enemy on the left, fall off ledge that I was standing next to.

Maldron the Assassin. He's a special kind of designed cheap.

 

[Reincarnatedwolfgod]

i dug up a grave in divine divinity and it exploded for 100x my hp in the starting village

I don't remember that existing in divine divinity. I know there is a grave in divinity original sin that actuality asked two times if you are sure if you want to dig up said grave. if choose ignore those to warnings then an explosion kills you.

 

[Silvanus]

Destiny Bond [http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Destiny_Bond_%28move%29] is the epitome of a cheap move (even more so in the TCG).

Limbo is also a long succession of deaths, some of them pretty cheap, but that may be part of the point.