Ever overlook or outright miss certain game mechanics?

I just started playing Dead Space last week and went through the first few chapters before I realized that I could break the boxes with the flashing green lights to get items. I noticed them at the beginning of the game and tried to interact with one but no context came up and at the time I didn't have kinesis. Until that point I was watching my supplies like a hawk like I was playing the original Resident Evil.

So the question is have you ever done something like this? Have you ever gone through a significant chunk of a game without realizing you were unintentionally gimping yourself?

Two more examples that come to mind as I write this:

The Getaway for PS2. Went through at least half of the game without realizing you could lean on walls to regenerate health. It made the game trivial after I learned that since I became so cautious and of course had spent so much time dying that having an extra health bar or two per level felt like a cheat.

TMNT 2: The Arcade Game for the NES. I used to play that game with my cousin all the time without ever knowing you could do a power move by hitting both A and B at once. Lots of jump kicking needed to get through that game without that little nugget of info.

I actually remember hearing, somewhere, that someone went through the entirety of Dead Space without realizing that you can bust the green boxes for items.

Also, I know that I've had this happen but I can't exactly name which mechanic, when, or even what game. I know it's been a number of them though.

I tend to avoid a ton of Crafting systems in RPG's because nine times out of ten they are built around tons of grinding, fetch questing, and back tracking. Three things I despise in games.

I realized that I could break boxes almost immediately in that game just because I loved stomping the shit out of everything. I dare you to find a better stomp in a game than the one in Dead Space.
 
Edit: And yeah, probably. I can't really think of anything right now though.

I was avoiding the rest mechanic in Grimrock because I thought it made the game too easy, but then I was told that's where you get the story.

I never figured out how to fill a soul gem in Oblivion, so I just avoided anything that would require soul gems.

Ages ago when I started working for a small publisher groove games as a tester I playtested Pariah. This was before I'd test the game, they wanted to see how I played the game. Throughout the whole game, I thought I was collecting ammo and armor. 5 hours in. Things are getting really hard. So much so that the guy watching me play told me about the upgrade mechanic. Each armor token I was collecting was actually an upgrade token to change your weapons. Man. Fail.

I beat the arcade mode in Street Fighter III: Third Strike with every character without ever executing a parry. I only ever remembered the mechanic and attempted it after I was essentially done with the game.

Same thing with me with Dead Space. Not until I was about halfway through the game did I realise those crates had stuff in them.

One of my friends didn't realise what Pokemon Centers were for, for most of Pokemon Crystal.

It wasn't until I was more than halfway through Xenosaga that I figured out how to learn and trade skills. That... would have made the game way easier. To my credit, it's a convoluted system that actually requires you to spend points you accrue by using the character in a separate menu screen that I don't believe was ever shown in an in-game tutorial. Fucking Final Fantasy 7 had an in-game tutorial that explained the materia system, and the game came out six years before Xenosaga.

Lost Odyssey. I didn't realize what the hell Slot Seeds were for until 4/5ths of the way through the game. For those who never played, they give your characters (most of them, anyway) additional slots into which to put skills and abilities. Without using any, they have about four. I was playing at a point where I should have had twelve or more on each character, so my abilities were ridiculously limited, but I didn't realize what the hell was going on. I thought it was just supposed to be hard.

I nearly beat Mass Effect 3 without ever using that pull-guy-over-cover-and-stab-him thing. I didn't even realize that it existed until I saw people doing it in multiplayer and started trying to replicate the conditions.

It wasn't until long after beating Shadow of the Colossus that I learned it was possible to increase your health/stamina. Something about shooting tree lizards? Never went back to try it.

I feel like there are others, but I can't recall.

It also took me a few chapters as well to discover the box stomping in Dead Space.

I didn't have any mages in Grimrock so I completely avoided the spellcasting mechanic.

Also, it was only during my second Cryostasis playthrough that I realised there was a 'diary' feature on the main menu.

Well, it took me about two hours to figure out the grab meter in Shadow of the Colossus.

I know that I've done this before, but I can't remember any specific instances of this.

@Moonshadow101 said:

It wasn't until long after beating Shadow of the Colossus that I learned it was possible to increase your health/stamina. Something about shooting tree lizards? Never went back to try it.

Exact same thing happened to me! I forgot about that one. I had already beaten it and was going through time attacks when someone I knew mentioned the lizards to me. They're like the only living thing in that whole world and it never occurred to me to kill them. Guess I'm not as bloodthirsty as I thought.

I beat Tales of Vesperia without realizing you could control other characters during combat.

Grabbing a Hawk in Shadow of the Colossus and flying around

I played through the entirety of that Penny Arcade game (episode 1, never played the others) without knowing that apparently by hitting Spacebar as you got hit you could reduce the damage you took. I learned that later when someone said (might've been on a the bombcast) that you "really had to time those button presses if you wanted to get through the battles".

I just thought the game was really hard.

I was avoiding the rest mechanic in Grimrock because I thought it made the game too easy, but then I was told that's where you get the story.

Ever. Mechanic. In. Fez.

I played through 90% of Mass Effect without realizing how to use character abilities. I knew they were there, I just never knew how to use them.

dude, i ran out of munitions and I hounded out those boxes like a fiend!  

you're a genius/wizard/guy-who-is-better-at-games-than-me in my book

Of recent memory, probably Xenoblade. It's full of tutorials, but a lot of the information you have to really dig for. The skill tree stuff took me a long time to figure out and actually utilize, I went halfway through the game without knowing about the item collections and building them up for rewards, and I didn't even know you could gift items to your party members for affinity points until endgame. I've heard of people getting significantly far in it without knowing about the fast travel either. Gem crafting is a whole 'nother spiel that I won't get in to. Love the game, but damn if some of those mechanics are needlessly complex.

Other than that, I have to second soul gems in Oblivion. They're never deliberately explained to my knowledge.

@zombie2011 said:

I beat Tales of Vesperia without realizing you could control other characters during combat.

Wow, did you enjoy playing as Yuri the whole game?

In Deadly Premonition I had no idea there was infinite ammo guns or the fast travel radio, would of be nice to know that. In Alan Wake I deliberately avoided reading the script pages because I found it ruined the surprise of what was about to happen.

Playing Mario as a kid without realising you can hold down B to run.

Both 'Sucker Punches' and picking up items on the ground in GTA 4 were instantly forgotten the moment I finished those quests.

I don't remember, but I'm sure that I've done it once or twice in my lifetime.

Have you asked Brad about this?

@katanalauncher said:

Playing Mario as a kid without realising you can hold down B to run.

mother of god.

I went through 5 years of Magic the Gathering before discovering that you could block with more than one creature.

Have you asked Brad about this?

The same thing happened to me in Dead Space except it wasn't the crates, it was the lockers that I didn't know you could access. I was close to the end of the game and getting desperate because my supplies were running out and the enemies were getting tougher. Once I figured out you could open those lockers, the shroud of tension lifted and the last parts of the game became a bit of a cakewalk.

Fable: The Lost Chapters

I got almost to the final (well original final ... before the added epilogue) sequence of events before I realised that you could fast travel around the world map to places you'd already visited. Seriously, every bloody cutscene, whoever the hell at the time would yap at me then teleport out and I'd be all 'grrrr why can't I do that, walking from one side to the other of this world all the time, stupid game!'.

I probably should have felt very stupid when I accidentally discovered the remarkable ability, but I was too busy being thrilled.

@mandude: I imagine that made it incredibly more complex, but I can see how it would have happened. When my friends first tried to teach Magic to me years ago, I simply could not understand what they were trying to tell me. I don't know if I was just thinking about it the wrong way or they were useless as instructors (it may have been both, who knows) but I couldn't grasp even the basic idea of it. Then they sat me down in front of that video game done years ago by Microprose and I picked it up straight away after some experimenting.

@SockemJetpack: Went almost the entirety of Mass Effect w/o knowing the Mako had a scope. Hardly a game-changing mechanic, but would have helped deal with the not exactly pristine Mako aiming system.

@mandude said:

I went through 5 years of Magic the Gathering before discovering that you could block with more than one creature.

I'm still trying to imagine how you could've played MtG for 5 years without your opponent, at some point, saying "Oh by the way, I block your attacker with these 2 creatures", at which point you go "WHAAAAAAAA?"

Seriously, I don't even understand how you could go six months without that happening, unless you mean your entire circle of Magic-playing friends was unaware that you can block with multiple creatures.

I miss RPGs where stats weren't only for combat. Like having super low Intelligence in Fallout having hilarious consequences.

@mangopup said:

I miss RPGs where stats weren't only for combat. Like having super low Intelligence in Fallout having hilarious consequences.

He meant gameplay mechanics that you accidentally glossed over, not gameplay mechanics that have become less popular over time.

In lots of action games. I'll play it on hard, and once I unlock very hard you really gotta dig into the subtle stuff they threw in there. Like Fear 3 and its cover system, I didn't even use it til playthrough two.

I beat Tales of Vesperia without realizing you could control other characters during combat.

@DizzyMedal said:

@mandude: I imagine that made it incredibly more complex, but I can see how it would have happened. When my friends first tried to teach Magic to me years ago, I simply could not understand what they were trying to tell me. I don't know if I was just thinking about it the wrong way or they were useless as instructors (it may have been both, who knows) but I couldn't grasp even the basic idea of it. Then they sat me down in front of that video game done years ago by Microprose and I picked it up straight away after some experimenting.

The way some people talk about Magic confuses me as well. I think nerds take pride in the complex nature of the game and play it up a lot. In fact, there are tonnes of rules that come naturally anyway, that are better left unexplained initially. The stack for instance...

@BisonHero said:

@mandude said:

I went through 5 years of Magic the Gathering before discovering that you could block with more than one creature.

I'm still trying to imagine how you could've played MtG for 5 years without your opponent, at some point, saying "Oh by the way, I block your attacker with these 2 creatures", at which point you go "WHAAAAAAAA?"

Seriously, I don't even understand how you could go six months without that happening, unless you mean your entire circle of Magic-playing friends was unaware that you can block with multiple creatures.

My friend and I picked up Magic at the same time and taught ourselves how to play. Our entire circle was also taught by us, and it was about 12 people, so we were never short players...we eventually looked at some tournament play on Youtube and were astounded. It changed the way I play monumentally, to say the least...

@SockemJetpack said:

The Getaway for PS2. Went through at least half of the game without realizing you could lean on walls to regenerate health. It made the game trivial after I learned that since I became so cautious and of course had spent so much time dying that having an extra health bar or two per level felt like a cheat.

I had the same problem with this game. Went from an intense game to go around and lean after every time you get shot. Basically a cover mechanic before it was popular

@mandude: Rereading my post, I sound really condescending. My bad. I wasn't trying to sound arrogant, but I guess I just assume every group of MtG players (or any other game) has that one guy who is the rules guru that actually knows the ins and outs of just about everything. And multiple blocking is actually a pretty minor thing to miss, compared to some of the other things I've heard of people not being aware of.

@BisonHero said:

@mandude: Rereading my post, I sound really condescending. My bad. I wasn't trying to sound arrogant, but I guess I just assume every group of MtG players (or any other game) has that one guy who is the rules guru that actually knows the ins and outs of just about everything. And multiple blocking is actually a pretty minor thing to miss, compared to some of the other things I've heard of people not being aware of.

I'd actually consider myself that guy, strangely. After the amazing discovery, I re-verified I knew everything and it seemed to be the only thing I missed. I think it was just mostly lack of outside contact that allowed it to fester.

Completely ignored the crafting, cooking, modding and that stupid caravan game in Fallout: New Vegas. All those systems seemed too complicated for how little it effected the gameplay.

@Capum15 said:

At the same time I also found out you could hold the action button to continuously drink from a water source.

You, sir, have just blown my mind. I had no idea about this, and this is coming from a man that has put over 200 hours in Fallout 3 and New Vegas combined. I almost feel like putting the game in my PS3 just to make sure you aren't lying.

@crusader8463 said:

I tend to avoid a ton of Crafting systems in RPG's because nine times out of ten they are built around tons of grinding, fetch questing, and back tracking. Three things I despise in games.

Oh my fucking god, this soooooooo much.I tend to play a lot of NIS, Gust, Idea Factory, etc games (against my better judgement) and those games already have tons of questionable mechanics as it is and the crafting...well...to put it simply: fuck the crafting in all those games.

Watched a bit of a lets play of Kings Quest 3.

Had no idea you could hide stuff under the bed or that the point of the games was to collect items to cast a bunch of spells.

I remember spending house playing it as a kid, but clearly didn't have the first clue what I was doing lol.