Missed Opportunities

[RatRace123]

You know how in some games you get to play as or with an awesome character for a short amount of time, or the protagonist gets a temporary power/Weapon/Mech suit that's awesome; and you wish that there was a mode that let you enjoy those bonuses even further.
There isn't though, and you wish the developers put the options in, this is what I like to call a Missed Opportunity.

So, what game(s) holds your biggest Missed Opportunity?

For me I'm gonna go with Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, for a short time (the first level to be specific) You get to play as Darth Freakin' Vader! Now, I thought that it would've been pretty simple for them to allow you to play as Vader through the game, you know as a reward for beating it... You don't... Too bad, it would've been awesome too.

Oh right, and in the early build for Mass Effect, you were also able to take control of your party members in addition to Shepard, that would've been awesome too.
So I'll extend the missed opportunities to include awesome features that were cut during game development.

 

[oplinger]

...PLAY AS DARTH VADER! yeeaaaaahhh! ...*slowly walks towards objective* ....dum dee dum...

I'd say a lot of games have missed opportunities for coop campaigns. ...Way too many to list.

However, I can't think of anything a game has done for a little bit, that makes me wish I had more of it..

 

[Something Amyss]

I didn't know you could take control of your teammates in early builds of ME. That really is a missed opportunity.

 

[Gindil]

I didn't know you could take control of your teammates in early builds of ME. That really is a missed opportunity.

ME? Mirror's Edge?

 

[Something Amyss]

I didn't know you could take control of your teammates in early builds of ME. That really is a missed opportunity.

ME? Mirror's Edge?

Did you read the thread?

 

[badgersprite]

FFXII. Vaan wasn't ever intended to be the protagonist, but some higher up thought that Vaan was more marketable to the fanbase, so that's how we wound up with him instead of, you know, following the important characters from the start.

 

[Rylot]

FFXII. Vaan wasn't ever intended to be the protagonist, but some higher up thought that Vaan was more marketable to the fanbase, so that's how we wound up with him instead of, you know, following the important characters from the start.

That game was based around missed opportunities and bad creative directions. Uncontrollable allies for the final fight? Sigh...

 

[badgersprite]

FFXII. Vaan wasn't ever intended to be the protagonist, but some higher up thought that Vaan was more marketable to the fanbase, so that's how we wound up with him instead of, you know, following the important characters from the start.

That game was based around missed opportunities and bad creative directions. Uncontrollable allies for the final fight? Sigh...

Exactly. That was just the most glaring one that came to mind in a game series that's so heavily story-driven.

 

[King Kupofried]

Soul Nomad and the World Eaters. You possess an Onyx Blade that fused the soul of the god of death, Gig, into your body granting you power beyond a normal human. Gig is pretty much a captive inside of you, in many of the cutscenes he offers you more of his own power in exchange for more control over your body. Of course this is always refused as you want to save the world rather than unleash the god of death again.
There are only a few points where you can actually accept his power, one of the very first battles you fight against an opponent, one of the titular World Eaters, literally a thousand levels above you (In true NIS style). You run away to progress the plot, but you also get the option to accept Gig's power here and jump up a thousand levels to make the fight into child's play. You instantly get a game over after as Gig takes over your body.
You get another chance during New Game+ at the beginning to immediately give into Gig's will and become evil, but you don't gain any extra power, it just sets up for a different plot sequence.
One thing I was sort of expecting going in was that I would be allowed to use Gig's power at will. Perhaps dying in battle and being given a second chance with boosted power, doing this too many times could result in a similar game over sequence as before; or being able to take more and more of Gig's power over time and receive overall stat boosts that could potentially lead to a game over or reaching a certain point it could get turned around and cause you to be weaker than normal during later events. Perhaps even forcing you to have to fight against Gig. There are some items with Gig's name in them that give you a temporary level boost, but you can use them all you like and nothing gets changed,

This hardly made the game any less enjoyable, I still absolutely love it, but it was disappointing to see such a perfect opportunity go to waste, especially in a NIS game where half the fun is making characters disgustingly overpowered.