Basic game mechanics you didnt realise you could do

20-08-2019 01:52PM #1

Recently I was playing Metro Exodus and on the 2nd last level I realised I could craft medikits on the go instead of having to go to a workbench, d'oh. In a way I'm glad I didnt know as I handled it just fine and completed the game regardless but it would have made certain sections a lot easier.

Another one, that's pretty mental looking back was that I got to the final boss of Resident Evil Dead Aim without realising you could aim in the vertical direction.. I think it was the first game I played where you shot with a shoulder button without aiming down the sight, and used dual analogue sticks, and I just never touched that 2nd stick. I headshotted all the zombies by changing the distance to the zed.. for the entire game.. until I got stuck on the final boss which had a timed section.

Anyone else got any examples?

HorrorScope · 20-08-2019 02:45PM

Blood & Truth - played through the entire game without figuring out once how to activate slow motion. Was wondering why I was dying so much in the last few levels, only found out how to do it with 10 mins left in the game (it was explained near the beginning of the game but I was, eh, a bit under the influence when I played that part)

YouSavedMyLife · 20-08-2019 04:25PM

Not knowing you could junction magic spells to different stats to boost them in Final Fantasy 8. Figured it out somewhere towards the end of the game...

Sephiroth_dude · 20-08-2019 04:30PM

In fallout 3 I never used vats for the longest time, as I didn't realize it existed until someone pointed it out to me.

raze_them_all_ · 20-08-2019 04:33PM

YouSavedMyLife wrote: »

Not knowing you could junction magic spells to different stats to boost them in Final Fantasy 8. Figured it out somewhere towards the end of the game...

But they make you do it at one point??

Hobosan · 20-08-2019 04:46PM

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

In fallout 3 I never used vats for the longest time, as I didn't realize it existed until someone pointed it out to me.

Same. I thought VATS was exclusively a kind of binoculars/limb health view. Wasn't until New Vegas that I discovered its main function was to compensate for the awful shooting mechanics.

Another one was that you can bring Agent 47 back to life at the end of Bloodmoney by mashing the triggers on a dualshock. Didn't realise until a few months later when a friend mentioned it, after reading about it in a Videogame magazine. At the time, I thought it was the end of 47 and potentially the franchise, which made me sad.

Sephiroth_dude · 20-08-2019 04:52PM

Hobosan wrote: »

Same. I thought VATS was exclusively a kind of binoculars/limb health view. Wasn't until New Vegas that I discovered its main function was to compensate for the awful shooting mechanics.

Another one was that you can bring Agent 47 back to life at the end of Bloodmoney by mashing the triggers on a dualshock. Didn't realise until a few months later when a friend mentioned it, after reading about it in a Videogame magazine. At the time, I thought it was the end of 47 and potentially the franchise, which made me sad.

By god it made the game so much easier and better when I discovered it!

TheValeyard · 20-08-2019 05:12PM

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

By god it made the game so much easier and better when I discovered it!

And you're friendly "Mysterious Stranger' perk

Retr0gamer · 20-08-2019 05:20PM

raze_them_all_ wrote: »

YouSavedMyLife wrote: »

Not knowing you could junction magic spells to different stats to boost them in Final Fantasy 8. Figured it out somewhere towards the end of the game...

But they make you do it at one point??

I didn't understand the game at all. You just doing summons saying the game is garbage until you get stuck on the fight with the witch in space.

Homelander · 20-08-2019 05:51PM

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

In fallout 3 I never used vats for the longest time, as I didn't realize it existed until someone pointed it out to me.

I'd never played any Bethesda game before, I didn't realise you could fast travel. I just walked everywhere for the first good while, character got great exercise.

Hobosan · 20-08-2019 06:05PM

(This is for for PES and FIFA players.)

I don't know if this has been fixed, but for any PES players (online or otherwise), it was possible to tackle players off the ball if you timed the tackle to when the ball was mid-pass.

So after the ball had left the passers foot and before reaching the receivers foot you can tackle, and potentially injure any player. If the ball goes for a goal kick then you won't be booked.

Tackle a player off the ball a few times and he will clutch his leg and roll on the floor, but will get up again after a minute or so.

Now, if you commit a soft tackle on the player who went down injured while he has the ball and give away a free kick in the process, that player will usually be forced off the pitch after one or two attempts.

It's possible to injure and remove 7 opposition players, so factoring in substitutions, you can reduce the opponent to 8 players.

Against the computer, you can easily remove the strike force by half-time and the computer won't be capable of moving into your half.

It's tricky to get 7 removed by full-time, assuming 10 minute halves, but it's tremendous fun trying. You have to be clever in tackling with players who haven't been booked and substituting booked players in order to avoid red cards.

For FIFA players, there was a similar trick where if the opponent has an unstoppable 1-on-1 through ball opportunity, you can soft tackle any player off the ball which will prompt an advantage call by the referee. While this advantage is played, you could tackle the receiver of the through ball from behind, and play will be brought back for the first offense, averting a goal/redcard/penalty.

This may have been fixed, but it's worth testing if you take your FIFA seriously and like the idea of your opponents controller going through the wall!

Sephiroth_dude · 20-08-2019 06:25PM

Homelander wrote: »

I'd never played any Bethesda game before, I didn't realise you could fast travel. I just walked everywhere for the first good while, character got great exercise.

I rarely used fast travel anyway, I preferred to walk to my destination as something random would always happen.

YouSavedMyLife · 20-08-2019 07:13PM

raze_them_all_ wrote: »

But they make you do it at one point??

Yeah they probably did. My first play through of that game was summon city. Thinking about how long the summon animation where, it probably took me twice as long to finish that game compared to everyone else :pac: Was only a kid at the time

gizmo · 21-08-2019 12:04AM

Pretty sure I was a non-trivial distance into Dark Souls before I realised you could jump. Granted it's not the most straight forward thing one can do and there was no such ability in Demons Souls but still, it's the principle of the matter.

And as of two minutes ago, after over 100hrs in Dragon Age: Inqusition with one post-game DLC down, I just got the loading screen prompt telling me that both Spell Purge and Dispel remove demon spawns at the Rifts. My team had Cassandra and Solas as mainstays...that information would have been considerably more useful earlier. Not sure if that's classed as a basic game mechanic but **** my life...

21-08-2019 01:20AM

YouSavedMyLife wrote: »

Yeah they probably did. My first play through of that game was summon city. Thinking about how long the summon animation where, it probably took me twice as long to finish that game compared to everyone else :pac: Was only a kid at the time

Oh that reminds me of a other one, I didn't realise you could boost during the animation until the 2nd playthrough of FF8

gimli2112 · 21-08-2019 07:28AM

I seem to remember discovering quite late there was no fall damage in Borderlands 2 which would have saved a lot of time. Worryingly I had played Borderlands 1 first and can't remember if it ever came up.

Retr0gamer · 21-08-2019 07:35AM

riffmongous wrote: »

Oh that reminds me of a other one, I didn't realise you could boost during the animation until the 2nd playthrough of FF8

My second playthrough I realized that using summons was utterly pointless as junctioning magic to stats was so gloriously broken.

21-08-2019 10:28AM

Picked up Fallout 3 back in 2008 on launch day

I played on x360 and got about 8 hours in before I realized what VATS was

#neverforget

CastorTroy · 21-08-2019 05:34PM

Going back to a game after time away always does this to me. Forgetting I could run in the Arkham games. Forgetting I can counter in Assassin's Creed Brotherhood.

The Phantom Pain · 21-08-2019 05:38PM

Most Bethesda games have stuff you don't realise you can do until a while in because the quality of life is often so poor much of the basic mechanics are not even explained.

raze_them_all_ · 21-08-2019 05:41PM

Retr0gamer wrote: »

My second playthrough I realized that using summons was utterly pointless as junctioning magic to stats was so gloriously broken.

Ultima to attack please.

sarumite · 21-08-2019 08:26PM

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

In fallout 3 I never used vats for the longest time, as I didn't realize it existed until someone pointed it out to me.

Considering how terrible the shooting mechanics were in that game, I am shocked you made it past Megaton!

TacoMan · 22-08-2019 11:39AM

In the early days of GTA Online, after finishing any job and earning $$$, the mad scramble to find an ATM before another player stole my money.

Felt quite stupid when I found out you can lodge the cash into your account using your phone

dreamers75 · 22-08-2019 12:10PM

Playing Elite Dangerous with gimballed weapons ( they track the enemy) the enemy will use chaff, making the weapons not lock on. After several hundred hours realising you can unlock the enemy and the weapons will fire
directly straight.......at the enemy..........

megaten · 22-08-2019 01:00PM

I remember playing a big chunk of Enslaved just assuming their was no dodge until I realised it was an unlockable on the skill tree.

K.O.Kiki · 22-08-2019 05:15PM

Ion Fury:
The Lovebringer (starting handgun) has a secondary fire which locks-on to up to 3 enemies for insta-kills.
Made those tiny spider-crab enemies much easier!

BeardySi · 22-08-2019 08:44PM

The entire Fallout series (even in the pre-bethesda days) are atrociously bad at explaining game mechanics. I did an entire play through of Fallout 3 without realising you could repair weapons yourself....

Zillah · 23-08-2019 10:22AM

In Planescape Torment you can hold down shift when you click and the party will run. The animations are pretty bad but you go twice as fast. Pretty sure I had finished the game at least once before I learned that.

MOH · 27-08-2019 10:16AM

BeardySi wrote: »

The entire Fallout series (even in the pre-bethesda days) are atrociously bad at explaining game mechanics. I did an entire play through of Fallout 3 without realising you could repair weapons yourself....

Isn't there a skill specifically for how high a level you can repair weapons to?

Zero-Cool · 27-08-2019 11:59AM

YouSavedMyLife wrote: »

Not knowing you could junction magic spells to different stats to boost them in Final Fantasy 8. Figured it out somewhere towards the end of the game...

I only got my head around the magic system on my 2nd playthrough.

Penn · 27-08-2019 12:09PM

Forgot when playing through Crash Bandicoot 2's ruins levels that you can spin the bouncing logs the gorillas throw at you. Wasted so many lives trying to perfectly time jumps over them.

Basic game mechanics you didnt realise you could do

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