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[ebil]

All these posts about FF8 remind me that on my first playthrough I somehow managed to completely skip Shiva and Quetzalcoatl (the first 2 summons you're supposed to get at the beginning of the game).
Needless to say getting through most of the first disc with only the 'attack' command on 2/3 of my characters wasn't a very compelling experience.
Oh, and since levelling up didn't require much xp, I decided to grind my way all the way through level 100 (not realizing that the monsters would eventually become much stronger than me as they level up with you), because gimping myself with missing GFs wasn't enough.

 

[Telaso]

MInes more of a hardware thing, than a feature in a game but oh well.

I owned a 3DS XL for a couple months, and didnt know you had to move the 3D slider all the way down till a click happened to fully turn it off. My friends went nuts giving me crap over this.

Sad part is I build and repair computers for a living.

 

[McLovin]

Heh, I went through 2/3rds of the game doing this.

In other AC3 things missed, I had no idea there was more Underground sections besides the one Samuel Adams showed you.

I never found any. So you're not alone.

 

[Zombie James]

Playing about 30 hours of Fallout 3 and finding out I could grab and move items. It's mapped to the fucking 'Z' key.

 

[IdreamofHIME]

I didn't know Mario could run in SMB until I had to make that huge jump in 8-1. I was like 6 or 7 though...

I'm reminded of an angry guy back on IGN's RE boards. He was pissed at how slow Leon moved in RE4, he got all the way to the Island without knowing you could run by holding the action button.

Now I know anolog running as been pretty much the standard since Mario64, but the idea of him slowly walking about that whole game. Guy must have been going nuts against the chainsaw guys. lol.

 

[sublimit]

I finished the first Kingdom hearts without upgrading my ship not even once.
Not because i overlooked it but because i couldn't understand how the Gummi blocks worked.

 

[RPGamer92]

As a kid, I never used Z-targeting in the N64 Zeldas

 

[Vally]

In Resonance of Fate I assumed the battles were completely real time, so when it was my turn I used to run around like chicken without head, trying to dodge the enemies' bullets until I decided what to do next. It took me like 3-4 hours to realize the enemies don't attack you if you stand still.

 

[Sithlord77]

I managed to beat this game without understanding most of the battle system.

 

[raven777]

I have never used cqc in mgs3&4

 

[Lysander518]

While playing Fire Emblem, I didn't realize that I should hold off using master seals until my characters were level 20 in their base class. I don't know if I really overlooked it. It just wasn't explained at all.

 

[Otherspacing]

I played KH2 without knowing most of the stuff that you could equip because it was the japanese version. When I finally got to play KH1 in English, I was like "ohhhh... ".

I also got about 40 hours into Xenoblade before I realized there was a fast travel system. Blew my mind when I figured it out, since I was waiting for the story to take me back to Colony 9 so I could mess with the gem system.

Glad to know I am not the only one that did that.

 

[jediyoshi]

Didn't realize until +10> hours in Kingdoms of Amalur that there was quick travel. Just about collapsed when I saw it. Fun part was picking the game back up recently and going another few hours without remembering it again.

 

[RockTurtle]

I beat Final Fantasy 9 and later found out you could target multiple enemies/allies with magic by just pressing a button

i assumed i just had to learn high level magic like other RPGs, but since i was struggling healing all party members/attacking entire groups of enemies with magic i just made an all physical team

 

[Gintoki313]

I went through Metal Gear Solid 3 and 5 not knowing how to backstab.

I remember I tried backstabbing once and it didn't work, so I went through the game not stabbing anyone. Everytime I was caught I'd just run to the exit or kill everyone. Now that I know how to sneak up on people and silent kill them, the game has been much better.

 

[thoseAREmySHOES]

I managed to 1000/1000 Skate 1 without realizing you could basically set a "checkpoint" to easily return to a spot. I think it was with LB.

 

[Professor Lich]

In Skies of Arcadia, Legends, it took me 2/3s of the game to figure out how to upgrade/level characters.

Or maybe it was using items to unlock your special/focus moves, I don't really remember, was a long time ago.

I just remember having really really long boss battles for the longest time until I messed around with the menu, and used some items. After that, I had a lot more special moves that made most things cake.

 

[SJS]

Eh, shouldn't really count since nothing gives you any indication that you should use the up/down buttons to move the barrel.

You literally missed the point of this thread due to an irrelevant technicality. Just because the barrel situation forces you to actively try to understand a game mechanic doesn't mean that people still didn't overlook the actual mechanic.

 

[Poltergust]

This. My 1st Final Fantasy game and 1st JRPG, all the menus and shit was confusing at 1st.
I didn't beat the game, but I got to Faijin and Fujin and just hit a wall. Couldn't beat them. Maybe a week of trying. One day I was bitching about it and my friend just LOL'd and explained the junction system to me.
I had to restart :/

The funny thing is, there was no point in restarting since all the enemies level up with you.

 

[cdkee]

I played through Skyward Sword the first time without using the shield AT ALL, because I didn't want it to break.

Demise with no shield...fuuuuu

 

[Rarity]

Knights in the Nightmare

I completely overlooked the whole gameplay system.

Seriously what.

I played it and enjoyed it. Still can't comprehend the system.

As for me, I never really used that slowing down time with increased attack power mechanic thing in Amalur.

 

[luokyl]

I spent most of Mass Effect 2 having no idea knowing how to use biotics.

Only on my second play through did I exploit the glorious Charge move.

 

[NinjaFridge]

Finished inFamous on Normal without realizing you could upgrade your powers.

 

[darkistheway]

I have been really struggling with MGS3 because stealth never works... so my mind is blown. Dpad=stalking!

This could change things

 

[Krusenstern]

I went through about 15 hours of Resident Evil 4 before I even realized that you could run

lol. I played through Resident Evil 4 the first time without knowing you could turn around quickly with 2 button presses.

 

[Lord British]

I completed Shinobi 3 not knowing you could block.

 

[Felix Lighter]

Kerbal Space Program. I played it for about 6 hours trying to get a craft into orbit using just the manual navigation controls, I eventually managed to get one into a very awkward asymmetrical orbit and then watched a tutorial where they explained how to plan precise maneuvers using the maneuver nodes, probably the most important mechanic in the game.

 

[Bill Rizer]

It passed days if not weeks for me to realize I couldn't defeat Ganon in Legend of Zelda without the missing item in my inventory

Spoiler

the silver arrow

. I even engaged him in countless battles where I inflicted him hundreds of hits without never come to an end. Well, I was 8 at the time and I know people that struggle even today to complete LoZ

 

[mclem]

Shadow of the Colossus. Completed the entire game, completely ignorant of the lizards and fruit mechanics to increase health and grip.

Don't get me wrong - this isn't through failing to find any. I explored a bit quite frequently and found multiple fruit and lizards. I just then... left them. I thought they were just there for ambience.

As a slightly backwards one: In Valkyria Chronicles, lots of people missed the mid-level saves. I knew about them - but never actually bothered to use them.

 

[TheFatMan]

Don't know if this counts, but every time I was asked to sneak past enemies in the Uncharted games I would instead just kill everyone on the screen.

Couldn't stand the stealth in those games.

 

[RawkHawk2010]

In Pokemon Stadium, I never knew the d-pad was the only way you could navigate through Pokemon on the Pokemon-selection screen (kept trying to use the control stick), and thus for months I played the game only using Bubasaur, Ivysaur, Venusaur, Charmander, Charmeleon, and Charizard.

Imagine my face when I finally found out there were 145 more Pokemon to choose from.

 

[Lihwem]

I also got about 40 hours into Xenoblade before I realized there was a fast travel system. Blew my mind when I figured it out, since I was waiting for the story to take me back to Colony 9 so I could mess with the gem system.

Holy shit, man ! I hope for you that you didn't bother with the sidequests like "find x objects in y area" before knowing that !

For me, in Metal Gear Solid (the first one), I didn't know you could knock the walls to attract the enemies closer...

 

[Dang0]

In Resident Evil Revelations, I never used the dodge mechanic, as it was hard to get the timing right and I never needed it, but the last boss requires you to use it, so I died a million times to that guy. Never did beat him.

 

[Hitoribhoshi]

I did MGS Portable OPS from start to finish only with Snake. (tried scientist and stuff but kept on getting alerts, unlike in MGS3 so I said just fuck it. forgot about the mecanic and Snake-alone made boss fights rally difficult for me :| (I realised when I told a friend boss fights were really hard in this game and he said...yeah but you have 5characters or something...-oh. wait. oh. Right...))

 

[MrT-Tar]

Another Xenoblade Chronicles one: I completely overlooked the whole trading and city development mechanic until around 70 hours in, then I just went on a binge catching up.

 

[Fasty]

How timely, I just beat all of chapter 1 and the majority of chapter 2 in Hotline Miami using a controller, and only just discovered the lock on mechanism. No idea how I managed it

 

[Dr.Acula]

Shadow of the Colossus - I didn't know you could STAND on your horse!!?!

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SugEdJ6meLg

Well damn.

 

[Lufiaddict]

Oh god this is me right now. THANK YOU.

You're welcome! Glad to see I was not the only one!

 

[kanuuna]

Most recently, switching the big guns in The Last of Us.
I thought it to be kind of weird that the game was feeding me ammunition for guns I had not used for the last four hours, and that I wasn't able to pick up another shotgun when I had though I had traded the one initially picked up when coming across an all new weapon. And the fact that I was upgrading aforementioned weapons along the way.

In the end, I'm actually glad I played it that way on Hard, although the Flamethrower / Shotgun combo I was rocking for maybe the last third of the game wasn't really ideal for every situtiation.

 

[casey_contra]

Reviving this thread to say that I beat Rez Infinite without knowing what the heck Overdrive was. Not that impressive, but when I finally realized I felt so dumb. Could've helped with the second phase of the Area 3 Boss...

 

[Akuun]

On my first Dark Souls playthrough (my first Souls game), I went through the whole game without knowing you could kick shields.

I always waited for enemies to lower their shield before attacking or parrying.