Major content you can easily miss in RPGs

[Dorateen]

I wish people would give concrete examples, though. Not just the names of the games but what features exactly are out there to be missed or found.

I'll tell you an example, which came to mind once I started thinking about the topic.

Spoiler

The original Pool of Radiance.

Players spend the game taking on missions, slowly piecing together the identity of The Boss, and finally infiltrating his castle. But the passage to the climactic confrontation and fabled Pool itself, lies behind an illusory wall. This was a game from 1988. All the wall sets and backdrops of an area look the same. There is no immediate indication that the room is designed differently. It is a wall that can only be found by walking into it and through it.

But wait, in that chamber with the hidden wall is another fight with a "false" version of the antagonist. He even comes equipped with powerful gear. That is classic misdirection. The player could find themselves defeating this cheap replica and wonder, "You mean that's it?" Not even realizing there is more to do before finishing the adventure. The only thing to tip off a player is if they have the sense to recognize that fight feels anticlimactic, and they continue to poke around the room.

 

[*-*/\--/\~]

Sadly, modern games go in pretty much the opposite direction, as in "We designed 5 hours of trash combat here so you better sit through it!" ;/

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

Sadly, modern games go in pretty much the opposite direction, as in "We designed 5 hours of trash combat here so you better sit through it!" ;/

Yeah, in fact, I was thinking, modern RPG content is so bad in some cases, optional content would almost be a boon to the player. I can see Bioware players actively searching for the dialogue option which would allow you to skip stuff with the same zeal as old school players would look for hidden content.

 

[Great Deceiver]

Some of the older Might and Magic games had completely optional content that was among the best in the entire game. For example, Dungeon of Death in World of Xeen.

 

[Nutria]

Old games had content that you could miss by accident. For example, there's chapters in Betrayal at Krondor where you're told to go to a certain place, but if you always take the most direct route you'll miss out on side quests.

Modern games have content that you miss because of boredom. In Skyrim there's always 20 more quest markers out there if you want another boring dungeon or fetch quest.

In a game that has optional content I would like some kind of hint that it exists so I know I should be exploring. But filling up the whole map with quest markers is like doing the exploration for me.

 

[*-*/\--/\~]

Sadly, modern games go in pretty much the opposite direction, as in "We designed 5 hours of trash combat here so you better sit through it!" ;/

Yeah, in fact, I was thinking, modern RPG content is so bad in some cases, optional content would almost be a boon to the player. I can see Bioware players actively searching for the dialogue option which would allow you to skip stuff with the same zeal as old school players would look for hidden content.

Well if they did not do it, they couldn't claim 100+ hours of, uh, "playtime". :D

 

[Alienman]

Risen.

Will you go with the bandits, or will you help the inquisitor? The quests adapts to whoever you join and helps. After a while it locks you out of one faction. Not sure if it counts as missed, but most new players follows the old bandit you meet after the coast to their hideout and never has any real interaction with the Inquisition dudes. From what I remember the only way to work for them is to get captured in the beginning.

 

[MrBuzzKill]

Risen.

Will you go with the bandits, or will you help the inquisitor? The quests adapts to whoever you join and helps. After a while it locks you out of one faction. Not sure if it counts as missed, but most new players follows the old bandit you meet after the coast to their hideout and never has any real interaction with the Inquisition dudes. From what I remember the only way to work for them is to get captured in the beginning.

Yeah, but that's kind of what we were talking about with the railroading - only this is a railroad fork which locks you out of the other branch. But if you're saying it's not obvious you can join the Order from the get-go, then yes, it's a good example.

 

[Pirata Alma Negra]

Doesn't Witcher 2 have a completely different middle act depending on who you decide to side with at the end of the first chapter?

You don't "side", you only choose where to go. I could bet this only existed for console limitations. There's just no reason why not just walk around. No surprise the act3 and the endgame played the same no matter what.

 

[Beastro]

The werewolf city in Legacy of Kain, annoying to find and have to wait around awhile for the gate to open.

 

[Hyperion]

Popularity of games, and availability of the internet has squashed any possibility of majorly hidden content. Sometimes you stumble on major spoilers without knowing it while just looking up reviews, or community opinions on specific things within a game. You decide to get that game, then you stumble upon the supposed hidden content, and it dawns on you that you kinda, sorta knew what to do already and had the experience ruined because of the previously vague, and seemingly useless descriptions.

Hell, I must have played Tactics Ogre 3 times before I realized all of the endgame content was a thing. Always figured the Warren Report was useless story information. But I stumbled upon it while looking up some info on the game's characters. Learned my lesson by the time I got around to playing Final Fantasy Tactics and always checked the Rumors section in a bar.

 

[Spectacle]

Doesn't Witcher 2 have a completely different middle act depending on who you decide to side with at the end of the first chapter?

You don't "side", you only choose where to go. I could bet this only existed for console limitations. There's just no reason why not just walk around. No surprise the act3 and the endgame played the same no matter what.

Are we blaming consoles for putting C&C in RPGs now? That's a new one.

 

[anvi]

Hi guys.

 

[deuxhero]

I missed out on Camp Golf on my first two playthroughs of New Vegas. I knew it existed (radio) but can't remember why I never looked for it or went where it is. I think it and Jacobstown are the biggest locations you are never directly to in the main quest, and Jacobstown is part of multiple companion quests.

The werewolf city in Legacy of Kain, annoying to find and have to wait around awhile for the gate to open.

Speaking of Legacy of Kain, Blood Omen has the HMCS Bitter, which nobody has found how to not miss yet (one of the developers said there's a hidden method of accessing it without cheating).

 

[Jazz_]

I would say that I missed like half or more of the content in VTMB during my first playthrough, I realized it after watching a video about the game's voice actors on youtube and I couldn't recognize a lot of the npcs they were voicing, I missed Poe in the hospital, missed the Giovanni mansion, missed the park, missed the haven, missed the society of leopold, and a crapload of other npcs and side quests. If you focus solely on the main quest you really miss a crapload of stuff in VTMB.

 

[Jazz_]

How the fuck did you manage to miss the main quest?

edit: Wait, this smells like bait.

Uh? You can actually finish the game without visiting any of those places.

 

[Jazz_]

Do tell...

Or not? Probably just my fuck up, I've just remembered that I changed the game status via console when I played the first time because there was a game breaking bug with the Barabus quest, changing the game status makes the game ''jump'' temporally so to speak as it kinda assumes you did some quests even if you didn't, that's I think what happened and why I missed that content the first time around. It's been centuries I played the game so I wrongly remembered it as being side content.
But even with the Mansion and Society of Leopold in you can still miss a great deal of content in VTMB if you only focus on the main quest.

 

[Jokzore]

In VTMB depending on your choice of clan NPCs will react differently to you , but if you choose Malkavian , not only do NPCs have unique reactions and responses but all of your dialogue options are completely different from the other vampires.Thousands of lines of dialogue you can miss by simply picking another option in character creation. Naturally this can't happen today because video game developers are so desperate to shove every single word of their B- philosophy class essay down your throat as if it were an awe inspiring holy scripture bestowed upon them by Sigmar himself.

 

[Delterius]

last time I had a bug in my game I tried hacking the computer with a chainsaw and so I missed the second half of the story, that counts

 

[Robespierre]

Well I don't know if we can consider it as a "major content" but the first time I played Fallout, I completely missed the Glow. What a blow it was when I discovered it. Foda-se, what a great game it is...

 

[MrBuzzKill]

In VTMB depending on your choice of clan NPCs will react differently to you , but if you choose Malkavian , not only do NPCs have unique reactions and responses but all of your dialogue options are completely different from the other vampires.Thousands of lines of dialogue you can miss by simply picking another option in character creation. Naturally this can't happen today because video game developers are so desperate to shove every single word of their B- philosophy class essay down your throat as if it were an awe inspiring holy scripture bestowed upon them by Sigmar himself.

Oh god yes, this is actually a perfect example. Playing as a Malkavian totally, completely changes the game dialogues. How cool is that? So much work done just to be faithful to the roleplaying roots of the game.

Spoiler

Brb, watching Deus Ex Malkavian mod playthrough

 

[Barnabas]

The first time I played Baldurs Gate I missed a lot of the maps in the south. Nothing major there mostly minor npc encounters but you do come across Larry Daryl and Daryl they give you an autograph I always carry it in my inventory ever after.

 

[laclongquan]

Fallout 2

Depend on the style you play you might never run across a few content associated with Slaver. Since I never join slaver gang, well...