Revelations that make you start... all... over... again.

[aozgolo]

Some games are just so much fun that once you beat them, you want to replay them, over and over again. Sometimes however... the replay is triggered by more insidious revelations.

You didn't know opening that chest would kill your girlfriend
You didn't know that magic is so much better than melee
You didn't know that not talking to that guy in chapter 1 prevents you from getting the Plus One Sword of Destiny
You didn't know your character's mustache was slightly askew

Share your moments in gaming that made you decide that you'd rather just start over from the beginning than continue the current playthru (after some much needed cooling off)

 

[Sniper Team 4]

The abysmal drop rate for the Proof of a Concord Kept in Dark Souls III. Got all the way to Anor Londo, and once it became clear that the Silver Knights really didn't want to give them to me, I started a whole new character. Figured if I jumped into the Blue Sentinel right away, I'd have a good stock by the time I reached Anor Londo a second time.
My mistake. Never got summoned once. Ended up spending days farming that stupid item.


And, while it didn't cause me to start all the way over from the beginning, I did lose several hours of playtime in Mass Effect 2 once I saw what happens if you don't start the final mission the MOMENT it is open to you. Had to load an old save to prevent that outcome.

 

[happyninja42]

Realizing when I was playing Dragon Age: Origins, that with the right team makeup of classes, I could have a wolf pack at my beck and call. Restarted, chose the rogue/ranger build, and filled out my party with the other rogue types, and built them all ranger to unlock the "summon wolf" ability.

I found out, that if you quickly tap the little icon in the corner when they summon their wolf, it brings up the entire AI Attack Protocol tree tab, and you can tweak their behavior as if they were a full party member (meaning like 8+ IF/THEN protocols you can put in.) I set them all up to follow my Dog's behavior, who I programmed to always go after any magic users first, then go for the lowest health character next. I set them all up to do the wolf dashing charge attack, which would knockdown/stun the target, and then giggle as my literal wolfpack would bum rush the poor robed magic user in the back row, waving his hands in the air like he just don't care, only to be buried in dogflesh, as they tore him apart in seconds. The actual humanoids in the group (a group of 7 now, 3 people 4 dogs), hardly had to do much to actually win the fight, the dogs were so lethal. It was the most enjoyable restart I've had in a long time, even if it was broken as hell xD

 

[sageoftruth]

Spoiler warning (Then again, these are all spoilers)

Sunless Sea is full of them. I helped a colony of rats win a war against a colony of Guinea Pigs. Then, I helped both sides form an alliance. Then I helped them build their colony into a thriving kingdom.
Two armies approached them and offered them the chance to be vassals for either of them. Since the kingdom's might was maxed out, I encouraged them to fight for independence instead.
They were all wiped out. I guess rodents are still rodents no matter how much you put into the kingdom's might.

I was too far along to start over, but I wished I could undo my mistake.

 

[Dalisclock]

And, while it didn't cause me to start all the way over from the beginning, I did lose several hours of playtime in Mass Effect 2 once I saw what happens if you don't start the final mission the MOMENT it is open to you. Had to load an old save to prevent that outcome.

Actually, you can do ONE loyalty mission without compromising the best ending, and if you've done everything else first, you'll need that for legion's mission. But yeah, the game more or less railroads you into that after a certain point.

 

[Saelune]

I restart Morrowind alot due to being unhappy with my custom class. Even now, with my current character, I regret having all Willpower skills as class skills, but Im too far in to restart now. Also wish I didnt have illusion or short blade as class skills, but whatever.

Was trying to replay Neverwinter Nights a while ago. First intended to play it as a Paladin, but after getting a few unsavory quests and being a completionist, restarted as a rogue. Then found the mage guild which has quests for magic users, so I made a rogue/sorcerer, but then decided to make a wizard. Then I picked starting spells but found scrolls for those spells in the start, and I want to maximize my spells, so I restarted, and havent played since. Will get to it eventually...maybe.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

That you could save Prince Sol in Lost Kingdoms 2 by giving him a stone of protection and carbuncle card.

Also when I got Dragon Age Inquisition the gamestop employee told me the Tower thing that lets you create the history of the past games would be released in a few months, so I was free to play a little before then.
Turned out it was there all along and I could have been playing a game representational of my previous DA games. So fuck that guy.

FF6 when I found out you could save Shadow.

State of Decay when, through an amazing glitch, a horde was approaching the church in early game. Except it wasn't normal zombies. It was Juggernauts. And I mean a horde. Easily 30+. And we put up the best defense we could, using cars as battering rams and dodge-rolling with crowbars and shotguns. But in the end...

 

[Saelune]

Back when I played Demon's Souls and Dark Souls religiously, I started over constantly because of bad looking faces, sometimes hours into the game. There was nothing you could do to make them genuinely attractive, though.

It contributed to my distaste for character creation. I'd rather have good characters to choose from. The devs have far better creation tools.

Or just ways to change your appearance post-start. Not that it has good character-appearance creation, but Mount & Blade lets you change your entire looks whenever you want from your character screen. This is a common reason I restart too.

I love Bethesda games, but they rarely even let you change your hair. They did in Fallout 3 and I would change it for RP purposes. Starting all neat and proper, then changing it to all messy, then eventually purple raider hair.

 

[Fox12]

I replayed cheater 3 of The Walking Dead in an attempt to save Riley. There was nothing I could do, though.

 

[Nuuu]

I was already planning on replaying it, but in Metal Gear Rising there is a title/achievement for going through the game on hard mode without a single upgrade to health or fuel (Naked and Unloved).
But you can't UNEQUIP health or fuel upgrades meaning you had to reset your save file, getting rid of any previous upgrades, purchases, and battle ranks. Luckily I found this after my FIRST playthrough rather than later.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

I restarted Morrowind because I cheated and killed the first main quest giver, upon which the game then politely informs me the world I inhabit is now completely doomed. DOOMED!! That I could continue playing if I really wanted to, but by the way, you're DOOMED!!! And so is everyone you'll ever grow to love. Cheerio! Can't quite shake the feeling I was being slightly guilt-tripped.

I restarted Divinity: Original Virtue because my first group of created characters weren't assigned the power to communicate with animals, which apparently blocks me from many animal related quests, therefore denying me my delicious experience points. I must commune with your woodland creatures! Animal diplomacy is necessary for the grand plan! Didn't help me communicate any better with the guards when I accidentally click on the steal object button in broad daylight though (multiple fucking times, the fiddly fuck).

I restarted Inside, because of a secret ending and more observation was required.

I restarted Enter the Gundgeon like a million times because it keeps being so damn difficult.

I restarted Wolfenstein The New Order because of a newer console and different murder decisions were very tempting.

Season 1, episode 2 of the walking dead; oopsie, Clem may have accidentally seen me murder someone. ERASED *Phew* Wish life had one of those options.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Back when I was a teenager with more time than I currently do, I recall playing through then restarting Knights of the Old Republic and, Sith Lords several times each so that I could play as light side and dark side males and females. Specifically in Sith Lords, I restarted a Sith run because I didn't realize I could literally turn everybody (except Jolee Bindo) into a...well, Sith. It's utterly hilarious and it's my preferred way to play, or rather it would be if I didn't completely burn myself out on those games.

 

[Zeras]

Back when I was a teenager with more time than I currently do, I recall playing through then restarting Knights of the Old Republic and, Sith Lords several times each so that I could play as light side and dark side males and females. Specifically in Sith Lords, I restarted a Sith run because I didn't realize I could literally turn everybody (except Jolee Bindo) into a...well, Sith. It's utterly hilarious and it's my preferred way to play, or rather it would be if I didn't completely burn myself out on those games.

I'm not entirely sure, but isn't Bindo NOT recruitable in KoTR II: The Sith Lords? It's been quite a few years since I played it, but Jolee Bindo was only a recruitable character in the first KoTR.

 

[SmallHatLogan]

I restarted Morrowind because I cheated and killed the first main quest giver, upon which the game then politely informs me the world I inhabit is now completely doomed. DOOMED!! That I could continue playing if I really wanted to, but by the way, you're DOOMED!!! And so is everyone you'll ever grow to love. Cheerio! Can't quite shake the feeling I was being slightly guilt-tripped.

It's worth noting that that message that pops up is a bit misleading. While you can lock yourself out of completing the main quest the "normal" way you can still beat the final boss and have everyone live happily ever after.

 

[Chanticoblues]

I made it pretty far into Pokemon Red the first time without realizing that you could catch wild Pokemon.

 

[MHR]

Playing Metro 2033 on an easier difficulty than I wanted after discovering part of the way that my health was regenerating.

Entire run invalidated -- start from scratch.

A few days ago I saw someone complain about the new Zelda for being an open world RPG type game without character creation. I remember the same complaint about Witcher 3. Get out of here with that shit! Your character creators suck. Geralt has way more personality, expression and a more recognizable face than your rigid, mute, ugly mannequin.

Character creators are way overrated. All that development time put into something you're going to use once and probably never again. I'd rather all that modeling go on to make more variety in weapons or something.

 

[Tanis]

Not 'start all over', but 'kick myself in the genitals' moment:

Didn't know about shinny Pokemon in Gold, let about four or five 'weird ones' go by...because I thought they were glitches, like MissingO.

Fuck me...fuck me hard.

 

[aozgolo]

This has happened to me so many times that it's hard to keep track, leaving out the normal "Let's try a different type of character" restarts, here's a few frustrating revelations that occurred in games that made me just want to start over.


Pokemon Red Wait... I wasn't supposed to use my master ball on Zapdos?

Dragon's Dogma You should've done that quest to find that girl before you went into that dungeon, now you are locked out of that ENTIRE FOREST... FOREVER >.>

Final Fantasy XII You're not seriously gonna restart the game just because you learned opening that chest prevents you from getting a cool spear weapon later... well that's not the ONLY reason, just the last straw.

Banished Maybe if you built a woodcutter sometime in the first two years your people wouldn't be freezing to death

Mount & Blade Warband Probably shouldn't have ticked off 3 entire kingdoms worth of enemy commanders right before deciding to take a castle for your own right smack in the middle of all of them.

Skyrim Oh you want to obtain the house in Riften, Honeyside? Well too bad, the Argonian who gives you the quest you have to complete to get the deed died quite some time ago from a random dragon attack... oops.