How was I meant to know THAT?!

[neverarine]

years ago when i started playing S4 League there was a problem with the game design that cuased the menu buttons not to show up, i played for the first month with only using starter equips becuase i coudlnt find the buttons.... took lots of asking and trail and error to finaly find the invisible shop and inventory buttons...

 

[Podunk]

Super Monday Night Combat- They never tell you how guns work, what skills do(in any depth), how to taunt(which actually matters, because it makes you money) within the game.

I'm done with that game though. I'm tired of playing against Assassin classes. If there's a way to deal with them I don't know it.

 

[Smeatza]

One of the Legend of Zelda DS games (I've forgotten which one) brought you to a point where a map with a destination marked was on the top screen and your map was on the bottom screen, you can memorise the destination, mark it on your map manually, but when you reach that destination the game never progresses.

Until you figure out you have to be on the screen with two maps, and then close the DS to imprint the destination marker onto your map for the game to progress.

 

[saintdane05]

Final Fantasy IV: So, I have to fight the Dark Elf, who kills all my party members in one hit. Don't worry, the guide says, 'cause Edward will come and save your ass by playing the flute.

Excepet he didn't. I just got a game over screen. Instead, I have to explore an obscure part of the allied castle that contains practically nothing else! The find Edward and talk to him! THEN he will bother rescuing you.

The actual boss was pretty easy. Silence-> Focus ->Focus for more turns -> Kick. Instant win.

 

[General Twinkletoes]

Any of the bits in the 2d metroids where you have to shoot a random bit of wall to advance.
I like those games but fuck, I don't want to spend half an hour running around shooting bricks until something happens.

Also something not really ingame, but still about a game.
I was trying to log into starcraft 2 for the first time, and it says put in your account name, which I tried many times and it didn't work.
Turns out you have to put in your e-mail address. THEN WHY DID YOU SAY BATTLENET USERNAME

 

[Fractral]

One of the Legend of Zelda DS games (I've forgotten which one) brought you to a point where a map with a destination marked was on the top screen and your map was on the bottom screen, you can memorise the destination, mark it on your map manually, but when you reach that destination the game never progresses.

Until you figure out you have to be on the screen with two maps, and then close the DS to imprint the destination marker onto your map for the game to progress.

I believe that was phantom hourglass, and that was pretty frustrating. Even more frustrating when after some time of trying to move it, I shut the DS to look up a walkthrough and find that I've already done it.

Also, Neverwinter Nights. On my first playthrough I had never played a D&D game before, so it was someway into the second chapter when I realised how to use spells. I was playing a ranger as well, and hadn't worked out how the feats system worked, so was massively underpowered.
That's kinda my fault, because there is an in depth guide, but I got bored after a few pages and went off to play it.

 

[scorptatious]

WHY WON'T MY PIKACHU EVOLVEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!?????
seriously, I had a level 80 Pikachu in Red and it didn't evolve! My brother got so frustrated when his reached level 90 he thought it had bugged and restarted teh game, only to 2 weeks later find out it has to be done with the stone. Oh the tears!!

I would be incredibly surprised if there wasn't some random NPC hidden somewhere that told you how to evolve Pikachu.

Anyway, sounds like you needed one of these.

Everyone I knew who played Red and Blue had a copy of this book. It was pretty much required.

Although, I'm fairly certain the whole point of the Pokemon anime was to teach kids how to play the games. They showed where certain Pokemon were found, how they evolved, what moves they could learn and the different type match ups. Of course they got a lot of that wrong so it wasn't always helpful.

I think I remember having both that and another guide of Pokemon Red and Blue as a kid. Although back then, I didn't really care all to much about going very far in the game, I just liked to look at the pictures of all the Pokemon in them. Heck, I think at one point I read it so many times, that I could recite all 150 Pokemon in order by heart.

Of course now I've finally beaten the game last year via emulator. Wasn't really that difficult a game to get through in my opinion.

OT: Well recently, there was Super Metroid. I was kind of stuck for a while and didn't really know what I where I was supposed to be going. Eventually, I checked a walkthrough and found that I had to use a Power Bomb to blow up the glass tube that led to Norfair I think it was in order to get to a certain part of Meridia.

It was kind of annoying to me as I couldn't really use the Power bomb in anything else besides blowing up blocks that had it's symbol on them and other breakable blocks. In hindsight, it sort of makes sense, but there was no way I could have figured that out on my own.

 

[Aerosteam]

That one thing in LoZ: Phantom Hourglass, you know the map puzzle where the solution was to close your DS?

In my opinion, best puzzle ever yet the worst.

 

[rob_simple]

Pretty much any game where the jumping mechanic is dependent on aiming at the right part of a wall (Enslaved, Uncharted.)

It works well most of the time, but sometimes you're left clueless; bouncing up and down until your character finally finds the one acceptable handhold on a wall covered in pipes and holes.

 

[Ranorak]

What about those missions in GTA where it's not really the goal to kill the other driver but just follow him, then he gets out of his car at a certain point and THEN you have to kill him.

But the mission just implies that you have to kill him.
GOD, I hate those vague details in GTA.

 

[bojackx]

How to solve the Regi puzzle in Pokemon Gen III. As a kid, that shit was hard as hell.

But... the braille in the caves translates to pretty clear messages (e.g. "right, right, down, down, use Strength"), so I'm not entirely sure you have a point.

Also, there was a braille guide in the game manuals, so it wasn't exactly hard to decipher the messages.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

That one thing in LoZ: Phantom Hourglass, you know the map puzzle where the solution was to close your DS?

In my opinion, best puzzle ever yet the worst.

Yeah that was hilarious.

I think learning dragon shouts in Skyrim. I think at least five friends asked me how you use them/activate them.

Dark Souls just kind of dumps you into the game and then wanders off saying 'Have fun!' It doesn't even tell you how to equip items. In a way it's nice that it doesn't hold your hand but it's incredibly vague at points.

 

[Podunk]

I think learning dragon shouts in Skyrim. I think at least five friends asked me how you use them/activate them.

Yeah, that was bad. It never tells you how to learn new ones, and on my TV the 'x to unlock' prompt was cut off on the screen.

 

[Blazing Steel]

Clive Barkers Jericho.

[video=14]

Skip to 2:14, where yatzee points out how retarded it is. I never ever got the hint I had to press every button combination on all 8 characters till I found it. Was not a fun level.

Skyrim.

How to become the leader of the guild. You have to complete the Thieves guild questline, then do 5 loot/smuggal/(other thing) in each of the 5 cities avalible. Pain in the arse I had to look up.

 

[Sean Hollyman]

How to solve the Regi puzzle in Pokemon Gen III. As a kid, that shit was hard as hell.

But... the braille in the caves translates to pretty clear messages (e.g. "right, right, down, down, use Strength"), so I'm not entirely sure you have a point.

Also, there was a braille guide in the game manuals, so it wasn't exactly hard to decipher the messages.

I didn't know that back then. 'Twas extremeley confusing.

 

[everythingbeeps]

Final Fantasy XII. To get the most powerful weapon in the game, the Zodiac Spear, you have to deliberately avoid opening four specific chests and then open a specific fifth one later in the game - the game gives no clues or hints whatsoever to which four chests you can't open. So if you accidentally open one of those four before getting the weapon, you lose the spear completely. And I wouldn't have even known about it in the first place if I hadn't bought the guide book as well as the game.

That's the one I always think of. Also, to a lesser degree, all the "recipes" in that game where you have to sell a certain combination of a certain number of items in order to unlock more things to buy...there's no way that would be possible without either a guide or an appalling amount of free time.

 

[rhyno435]

How to solve the Regi puzzle in Pokemon Gen III. As a kid, that shit was hard as hell.

I had to use a manual to get that. I don't see how very many children could get that on their own. They'd have to be super dedicated to decipher everything without just getting bored and giving up.

OT: Does it count if I say those puzzles in puzzle horror games that make absolutely no sense. The part in Silent Hill 2, where you have to use a case of orange juice to push something down a garbage chute or something along those lines, springs to mind. Awesome game, but that part just made absolutely no sense.

 

[ZehMadScientist]

Ah, this thread reminds me of the olden days of Lucasarts/Sierra adventure games, when the solutions to puzzles where not hampered by such silly concepts as logic. The nostalgia!

Ah, you mean the kind where you forget to do something completely unrelated, and die hours later because of it? Oh how I've raged...

OT: I think it in was The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for DS. There was a part at the end of a dungeon where you look at a wall painting with a mark on the top screen and you could see your own map on the bottom screen. All it said was: "Press the map against the stone for the mark to reveal itself", or something like that. I tried every button tens of times but I just couldn't figure it out!

Turns out that I had to close the DS to push the map against the wall (Bottom screen against the Top screen). It felt so obvious afterwards, but I did have a bit of a feeling of 'How was I supposed to know THAT?'

 

[Hugh Wright]

Pick and MMO, what equipment is best for each cahracter/ build? What do these feats/skills acutally do, and what the **** are these people taling about, CC, adds, dps, pull, kite, tank and so on.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

OT: I think it in was The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for DS. There was a part at the end of a dungeon where you look at a wall painting with a mark on the top screen and you could see your own map on the bottom screen. All it said was: "Press the map against the stone for the mark to reveal itself", or something like that. I tried every button tens of times but I just couldn't figure it out!

Turns out that I had to close the DS to push the map against the wall (Bottom screen against the Top screen). It felt so obvious afterwards, but I did have a bit of a feeling of 'How was I supposed to know THAT?'

I had a similar experience with that game. At a certain point you have to extinguish a torch to proceed. The hint said that I had to blow them out. Tried every button, every item, ability or combination. No succes. Turns out I literally had to blow on my DS to do it (to be more specific: blow into the microphone).