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[KilledByBill]

Resident Evil 4 got me a little.

I didn't read the manual so I thought the Golden ("Yellow") herbs were for curing poisoned status like in past Resident Evil games. I collected a bunch, hording them for what I thought would be an inevitable poisoning enemy. I even sold a few to that grubby merchant before I read online that they increased your max health. I forget how far along in the game I was before I realized it but felt kinda dumb. I really need to get back into that game to finish it (left off inside the Island base).

 

[Uncle AJ]

I never knew about sidestepping/air-dodging in Smash Bros. Melee for about 2 years after I bought my Gamecube. To this day, I can still kick all of my friend's asses without using it.

 

[Ra\/en]

I played most of Final Fantasy 8 with out having a clue what the hell the Junction system was.

When you're hitting Bahamut for 250-300 damage with your sword at that stage in the game, and know something is rong.

Yes sir.. i certainly did the same thing. I was some boss on disc 3, and i was totally frustrated.. i did not know why i was at like level 70ish with only 1000 life, doing like 500 dmg per attack. I killed most bosses with GF attacks.. lol..

it was only until later that i realized the junction system with ultima, etc. aura, junction makes things pretty easy.

oh.. and in mario 64, i spent a good hour or two trying to figure out how to find a painting, when i neglected to realize that there was a door i could go into (to the bomb battlefield) without a star # on it....

oh.. and i probably played for at least 10 hours in oblivion without advancing to the next level, because i did not know yhou had to sleep in a bed to level up. When i finally did, i slept like 6 times in a row..

 

[Willy Wanka]

The Getaway (PS2) - I played almost the entire game without realising you could lean on stuff to recover your health. In a strange way it added some needed tension to the experience!

Gears of War (360) - Played it for about 4 months without realising there was another level of zoom to the sniper rifle. Yes I know this one is bad... :lol

 

[Beezy]

In Resistance I had no idea you had to shake the controller to get rid of fire. I'd just run and jump around yelling "how the **** do you get this off?!?!"

Hahahaha..****ing idiot

*smacks forehead* My friend is an asshole for not telling me this...

Never knew about the MP burst in BKO till after I beat it.

I found out about it 20+ hours into the game.

Oh I've got it. In Twilight Princess, the dungeon where you get the rod to take over statues. It took me literally 1 hour to figure out that you hit the b button to swing the hammer as the statue. Somehow I overlooked it and tried a million different ways to get the statue out of where it starts but all you have to do is hit B and knock the fence out. Such bullshit.

Same here. Once I found out hat to do, I got pissed and turned of my GC.

 

[thetrin]

When I first got Grim Grimoire, I started playing the trial levels instead of the story, which gives you all the grimoires to fight with. I had no idea what the controls were, and managed to finish the first trial level with flying colors, without using anything past the first level of grimoires for each alignment.

It was a great trial by fire method, though, and it made the rest of the game much easier when I played through the story mode.

I think the perfect message to everyone in this thread: RTFM

 

[Rufus]

Yes sir.. i certainly did the same thing. I was some boss on disc 3, and i was totally frustrated.. i did not know why i was at like level 70ish with only 1000 life, doing like 500 dmg per attack. I killed most bosses with GF attacks.. lol..

I just don't understand... Did you ever think you were doing something wrong prior to that?

I think the perfect message to everyone in this thread: RTFM

 

[Saerk]

For the longest time I didn't know you had to use the sphere grid to level up in FFX. I think I got like 10 hrs into the game, before I realized you had to manually level up.

 

[thetrin]

For the longest time I didn't know you had to use the sphere grid to level up in FFX. I think I got like 10 hrs into the game, before I realized you had to manually level up.

What...seriously?! The game tells you that...

 

[Baryn]

Link's Awakening -- You have a shield, but no sword. You need to push some urchins with your shield outstretched, or else you can't get through to your sword. Clever puzzle! And I couldn't solve it for a year! Granted, I got it on release, so I was young.

 

[Slavik81]

My brother in law finished RE4 without realzing you could combine herbs.

I beat RE4 without understanding that the yellow ones increase your max health. I just combined 'em RBY and sold 'em.

 

[YaSeeTheoo]

Majora's Mask, took me till the end to realize that you could save without having to use the save points located on the map

 

[bigmakstudios]

pokemans diamond/pearl. i sucked at it. actually, i still do now. how do i fought better with pokemans?

 

[tanod]

Did you get involved with my thread on it?

yep

 

[Frenck]

I feel really bad for this one, it's so horrible that I almost want to keep it for myself.

I own PES 3, PES 5 and PES 6 and I played them all for a couple of ML seasons. Whenever my players had yellow or red fatigue levels I would let them sit on the bench and let all my green fatigue players play because my videogame instincts told me that red = bad, yellow = sorta bad and green = good.

A couple of months ago I was bored and decided to read the PES 6 manual :-(

And I played through Killzone's campaign without realizing that there is a sprint button, it was a pain in the ass.

 

[Tarazet]

I didn't figure out there was a run button in Super Mario Bros. until about a year ago. I always wondered how people could get so high on the flagpole jumps.

Also, finding out about the different spin options in Mario Tennis: Power Tour was a revelation.

 

[fistfulofmetal]

To add more

RE4: I also didn't know you could mix herbs until my 3rd playthrough. And it took me 2 hours before I realized I could turn around quickly

and in SOTC; I didn't know you could stand on your horse or lean to either side until I recently rented it again (7th time)

 

[ShinNL]

I didn't know you could roll-cancel out of a lot of combos in Monster Hunter Freedom.
I didn't know I could jump cancel air attacks in Devil May Cry 3.
Pressing R3 in Devil May Cry 1 changes my weapon.
Roy and Marth in Super Smash Brothers Melee can do customized combos with Forward+B (then variate it with different directions+B).
Discovered hotkeys in Diablo II quite late in the game.

Oh... my first online experience... I remember it quite well. Unreal Tournament Demo... and I changed server with someone... then saw he suddenly had a female character. Confusingly I asked "I thought you were a male?"... then he explained that males play as females. I was shocked.

And "k" means "ok". I seriously had to ask when I saw "k" responses to my questions.

 

[HugBasket]

I didn't know you could crawl in Metal Gear Solid.

...I didn't get very far.

 

[thetrin]

I didn't know you could crawl in Metal Gear Solid.

...I didn't get very far.

Uh...you can't get ANYWHERE without crawling. The first pipe in the game requires that you crawl...

 

[sableholic]

Fight Night 2 or 3:

Didn't know how to do the haymakers for a while there. I was like man this is pretty tough, then I got to a point where I couldn't win so I was watching the training videos and was like... oh

Edit: One positive from that was that I am pretty crazy at blocking and dodging.

 

[Air Zombie Meat]

A friend always used to say he didnt like the Super Mario Bros games because they were too slow. It always puzzled me until I saw him having a quick go on SMB1 and realized that he didnt know there was a run button.

Also have a friend who just can't aim at all in Resi 4 Wii. Its really bizarre. Theres a bit early in the game where theres some spinels on the ceiling you can shoot down and it took him a whole clip to hit one :-/ Was so frustrating to watch.

Only one I can think of for myself (i tend to always rtfm before I play) is that I didnt realise how useful guard breaks were in God Hand for quite a while. Made the game a lot easier when I actually started using them.

 

[Tarazet]

A friend always used to say he didnt like the Super Mario Bros games because they were too slow. It always puzzled me until I saw him having a quick go on SMB1 and realized that he didnt know there was a run button.

So I'm not alone! I had fun with it regardless, but it was a lot more fun after I found that out. The dumbest thing is I knew you could run in SMB3 and SMW...

 

[Brashnir]

Super Paper Mario:

Every single time a puzzle came up where the solution was to point the remote at the screen, I sat there dumbfounded and unable to progress for at least 15 minutes before realizing that I had to use that very stupid and pointless mechanic again.

I swear, Tippi should have been used for flipping to 3d for all characters rather than this retarded gimmick. It would have made the rest of the characters more playable.

 

[Fafalada]

Super Hang-On.
I was hopelessly stuck on trying to pass level 3/4 until I realized one day (by accident) that there was a button to switch Bike into hi-gear.

Mario Tennis (GBA)
I made it through more then half of the game until I discovered that you can hit ball a lot faster by pressing shot button twice in a row quickly.

Heroes Of Might and Magic 2
I am positive I am not alone on this one: I finished the main campaign several times without realizing there was an option to split army stacks by holding Shit+I (or something like that) when rearranging them.

 

[Jiggy]

This is a good one.

I am currently playing Baten Kaitos. I was about 25 hours into the game. I have all these Magnus that has multiple spirit numbers on them. I have been constantly scratching my head ever since I got the first multi-spirit number magnus... "How on earth do I use another spirit number other than the default one!?"

So I have been fighting all these battles and bosses, all with the default spirit number. And obviously now I finally figured out (from reading GameFAQs) that you can pull the C-trigger on the direction of the spirit number that you want to use...

Was this control ever even explained in the game itself? I am playing the Japanese version of the game so I might have missed it, but it is not all that obvious that you have to use the C-trigger...

Same thing happened to me, and I think it was around the same time. >_> Incidentally, I seem to remember a little girl telling you there's a way to use the other numbers but not what that way was... I could be mistaken, but I do distinctly remember some in-game conversation that led me to experiment with the control stick only to get no results.

pokemans diamond/pearl. i sucked at it. actually, i still do now. how do i fought better with pokemans?

Ah, now there's a good one, don't know why I didn't think of it. I played the series for at least six years before I even started becoming halfway decent, and now I'm sitting around ranking third in the GAF tournament.

 

[Flakster99]

Another vote for FF8. It wasn't until the last half of the game I realized you could customize your characters using summons. I've thought about it some, how the hell did I not pay enough attention and "get it".

Simple, I was kept off balance due to the way the game played itself out. The story, the pace, being thrown into different, obscure settings after settings. Never did go back and complete the game.

 

[Sean]

Condemned: Criminal Origins:

I didn't know you could sprint. The whole game I was complaining about the slow walking speed and then on one of the final levels

Spoiler

(the Apple farm thing with the puzzle on the walls that you have to use the forensic tools to see)

I was stuck for a bit and getting frustrated, so I just started randomly pressing every button to see if that would help me any. The character starts running. I literally smacked my forehead right there, felt so stupid.

 

[Aaron]

Why do games even bother having in-game tutorials if no one actually pays attention to them? :lol

I'm usually good at paying attention to controls and such, but what got me was Romancing Saga. A little complicated to explain, but don't play it like it's a cibified Morrowind. Just don't.

 

[ronito]

I played through rank 3 of FFXI, lvl 32 whm, lvl 16 blm, lvl 10 brd and only just then realized there was an auto run key. After all that time! I always had to stop running to type messages to my pt and would get killed.

I always wondered how people ran while typing. Boy did I feel stupid after that.

 

[Sinatar]

Fight Night Round 3: When in cornerman mode I'd wiggle the right stick as fast as I possibly could trying to bring the swelling down. It wasn't until I'd played the game a long ass time did I figure out that if you matched the pace of the little indicator at the bottom, you'd go 10x as fast. I nearly killed my wrist before figuring that one out.

 

[Pristine_Condition]

I got about 60 hrs into Oblivion before realizing that all the leveling up I had been doing had basically made the game impossible for me to finish and I had to start over from scratch.

 

[Lostconfused]

Well at least now i can say that you are only human but that still doesnt change change the fact that you are "a master ninja"

Well here go a couple of the one that i managed to remember.

Old snes days when i was about 8 and had no clue about a lot of design standards.

Axelay - i didnt know that you could hit the shoulder buttons to switch weapons, so i used to crash on purpose just to switch them.

Mega Man X - i had no idea what the heck those numbers were when i used up my continues or how the code system worked, so i kept my snes on for days at a time to clear the game

Metal Gear Acid - I had no clue how the ammo system worked in that game so i passed up on a couple of powerful weapons. It didn't hit me until i started playing the second game. Honestly i never finished the first one because it was rather bad.

Most recent event was with the Ace Combat 6 demo, i didnt notice the switch weapon function mapped to the back button. I mean honestly who uses the back button? It is so inconspicuous. Anywho, its not like the demon is hard but the ZOMG reaction i had when i got 4 lock ons at once was really priceless, according to my friend sitting next to me.

 

[a Master Ninja]

Wow, going by this thread, you can tell how many people had RE4 as their first Resident Evil game. Noobs.

I beat RE1, RE2, and RE3 (PS) and RE:CV (DC) years before. My only possible excuse was not playing a RE game for 4 or 5 years, I guess.

I know a few of the posts in this thread concerning RE4 and "running" are joke posts.... but for those who are serious I have to give a big ****ing :lol to you "hardcore" gamers who didn't figure that out within playing 5 minutes of the game. I find that completely unbelievable.

I seriously can't understand playing through one area of that game without run button. In fact I have the run button pressed in that game 98% of the time (maybe even more).

 

[Davidion]

:lol Nice thread theme.

I played through Doom and I believe Quake 1 without realizing the point of strafing. Holy crap did my FPS experience ever change once I sorted that out. *shakes head*

 

[Systems_id]

GRAW is the first thing that pops into my head. When I first played it, I tried playing it like an action game. Rarely using cover, never scoping out the battlefield before I went in, didn't use my teammates. At first I just thought it was another overhyped game until I rented it and gave it another shot. After that everything clicked and it has made GRAW without a doubt one of the most enjoyable next generation experiences I've ever had. I played the single player nearly a year straight and GRAW2 is the best game available for the 360 in my opinion. I just hoped the PS3 version isn't gimped, as I need my GRAW fix. GRAW3 will be a day one purchase for me when it's released.

 

[davepoobond]

I got about 60 hrs into Oblivion before realizing that all the leveling up I had been doing had basically made the game impossible for me to finish and I had to start over from scratch.

well i've been levelling up like hell and i always put on strength to my character. so far i've been okay, though it gets a little tough, i have to regain health after every enemy pretty much


and also i'm a vampire my first game around and i was all "WTF"

 

[KINGMOKU]

I had a problem in Twighlight Princess, that stalled me for over a week.


It was the part with the fish, and I would catch it, and couldnt figure out why it would just jump back into the lake. I had to come here, and ask in the thread what the hell I was doing wrong. I tried everything, and I mean everything possible to keep it from dropping back into the water.

You had to turn into the dog to sniff the thing.

Pissed me off I overlooked something so obvious.

Also, in Advanced wars DS, I didnt know you could asign skills to your commanders untill after I had put in well over 100hours into it. Now when I play it, I use them all the time, but it pisses me off I missed such a HUGE portion of that game, for SO long.

SO dumb was I.

 

[pissmypants]

Ditto :lol
I was so pissed when I found out that's all I needed to do... Haha.

I too suffered for about 30 mins trying to figure out how to get passed that effing fence :lol :lol :lol. I also beat Alien Hominid HD without knowing you could charge a shot. When I played it again with my newfound knowledge, it became a lot easier!

 

[MaddenNFL64]

Oblivion - I didn't know you could drag stuff around pick up objects by using the left bumper till 100 hours in. I kept using telekinesis .

RE4 - Didn't know about the suplex kill move until after I beat the game.

SotC - Thanks to this thread, I won't ****ing tap x all the time on the horse.

 

[Scrow]

not sure if i'm quoting this right, but..... pruwuuu

 

[blame space]

I didn't realize you could grab Yorda's hand in Ico. I thought you just had to yell at her to follow you the entire game.

O_O

 

[Night_Trekker]

I played through about 3/4ths of Cold Fear before realizing you could duck.

I also beat MGS3 without understanding how to effectively use CQC.

 

[Muppet345]

I played all the way to the last boss in Tales of Symphonia without knowing about Ex Gems, or how to combo techniques.

I thought the combat was pretty boring until that point.

 

[Wario64]

I didn't know you could crawl in Metal Gear Solid.

...I didn't get very far.

who approved ***'s account

 

[SonSon2]

All these accounts are reasons why I read the manual that comes with the damn game.

Except those that list moves that are glitches or witchcraft.

 

[Kuroyume]

I didn't learn how to lock on to vehicles with the Rocket launcher in Halo 2 until last year, even though I had the game since launch day.

 

[professor_t]

I don't know what it is yet, but I'm definitely doing something horribly wrong in Geometry Wars. I suck all kinds of hairy ass at that game.

 

[Slavik81]

RE4 - Didn't know about the suplex kill move until after I beat the game.

I always wondered why they made that move to use against a single enemy in a single spot in a 20 hour game...

You can only do that move at a single point, right? When you come through a door on the island. My brothers and I have played the game about 5 times through and that's the only place we've ever seen it.

 

[YYZ]

I don't read manuals anymore still.

Back in the day, I rented Bomberman 64 from BB and of course the manual was missing. I didn't know you could grow bombs before laying them down. I got to a point in the game where you couldn't progress without laying down a big bomb. I think the game was returned before I figured it out. I don't remember how, but I found out that you can lay big bomb by holding the button.

This is the only time I can remember of playing it wrong.

Well there was one other time with Crystalis. I got to level 16 without even being anywhere near the end of the game. My brother and I just kept killing enemies because we couldn't pass this trial of climbing the mountain, we thought we had to level up more. We basically killed enemies that gave 1exp to reach level 16 O_O