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[Synbios459]

To clarify, I mean you may reach a point in a game trying to solve a puzzle, or find where to go, only to find out that the answer was in front of your face the whole time!

Example: In Final Fantasy VII I was at the Temple of the Ancients, I spent a good 3 hours looking around and pressing the O button trying to find where to go. After awhile I finally looked at a FAQ only to find out all I had to do was go down an arch way that for some inexplicable reason I never thought to go through, even though it was right in front of me!

 

[Truelize]

I'm playing Wind Waker right now and I'm continually going through this same feeling. Ugh!!!! I took a year off from playing this game and now that I'm getting back into it I've forgotten so much. It's driving me nuts.

 

[ArcadeStickMonk]

I ran around the parking area at the very start of Max Payne 2 for ten minutes...

Then I learnt the side gate was open...

 

[Xizk]

When FF7 just had been released I played it in a game store and I couldn't even get out of the first area. But then I only tried in for 5 min before I gave up

 

[AniHawk]

Mostly every Zelda game I've played. Playing Four Swords, I couldn't figure out how to open this one switch... but all you have to do is shoot a freakin' arrow through some doors.

 

[Mister Zimbu]

Mine's also in FF7- when you first fight Rufus on top of the tower, I couldn't figure out how to leave the area after you beat him for like 20 minutes. This is especially bad because I believe that the time I had the little shiny exit arrows on.

 

[Kuroyume]

I ran around the parking area at the very start of Max Payne 2 for ten minutes...

Then I learnt the side gate was open...

Same here! Lol...

 

[bjork]

This one puzzle with gates in Alundra. You had to open them in a specific sequence, but I thought you had to open them at the same time.

I actually didn't play the game for over a year and then got stuck in the same spot before it dawned on me...

 

[Teknopathetic]

I got stuck at the very beginning of MGS, I didn't know how to get past the pipe.

 

[jiggle]

Destiny of an Emperor - I couldn't figure out how to rescue this guy, in Shu, from a prison cell. After ALOT of wandering back and forth I gave up and called the Nintendo help line(this was before the internet and gamefaqs). Found out all I had to do is push up against the prison door a few times and it'll disappear. Doh, that's what one of the villager said I needed to do.

 

[ruffles]

Mario Vs Donkey Kong - It was in the later worlds where you had to guide the key to hit a switch to move the direction of the conveyer belt to move the key. I was like "WTF?" at first.

 

[dream]

Getting out of the bathroom in Silent Hill 2.

 

[AniHawk]

Oh, I remember one time in Link's Awakening... My dad and I were playing it simultaneously, and we got to the boss in the second level and couldn't beat him. He gave up, and then I did. About 9 months later, I started the game over from scratch, and realized you had to pick the stupid thing up, and throw it against a wall.

 

[Wario64]

Getting out of the bathroom in Silent Hill 2.

opa-opa?

 

[kiryogi]

I got stuck at the very beginning of MGS, I didn't know how to get past the pipe.

OMGWTF! Tre is OpaOpa!

 

[Bog]

Ninja Gaiden. When you're in the sewers and doing all the puzzles down there, there's this one room off to the right that for some reason I just never saw. So I ran around down there for an hour before finally just looking it up. I hate maps, btw.

 

[Ramirez]

Damn Bog,I did the same thing,I quit playing for like a week it pissed me off so bad...lol...

 

[Dan]

It's a bit embarassing, but it took me forever to get through the first level of GoldenEye for one reason: I didn't know that the B button opened doors and activated switches. I was going up in the towers and shooting out at the enemies and making them come and get me, and open the doors on the way. Took me forever to figure out that the B button did more than reload, and I didn't realize that what the instructions called "activate" meant "open doors".

I sure felt dumb after figuring that out.

 

[buck naked]

On my way to the first dungeon in Wind Waker, I didn't figure out that I had to use the water on the bomb flowers to make them grow.

Probably spent 3 hours running around looking EVERYWHERE else trying to figure that out.

 

[Ollie Pooch]

moonwalker on megadrive.. in the 'graveyard' level with the jumping zombie boss-

after about 45 minutes of perfecting my 'step-pause-turn-pause-pivot-step-pause' as part of a convoluted attack plan to defeat the flying zombie torsos, i realised that you basically had to go left-right-left-right while doing that stardust dancing kick back and forth

:|

 

[cvxfreak]

Pokemon RBY - I couldn't figure out how to get into Saffron City's buildings. Turns out I needed to complete the Lavender Town Pokemon Tower quest to unlock the buildings.

 

[jcjimher]

In Sonic 3 (Genesis), in Carnival Night Zone Act 2, there was a platform that went up and down when you jumped into it, but not enough to let you pass a wall and advance through the stage. I was stuck there jumping and jumping, a whole weekend trying to find a way, until I realized standing on the platforn and pressing up and down was enough to make it move.

I've seen many people in the Internet who got stuck at the same place, so maybe it was a bad level design choice by Sonic Team. It's one of the most popular entriues in Sonic 3 faqs too!.

 

[Hooker]

^ OMG!!!



I was stuck in the same fucking place, I stopped playing the fucking game because of that and even sold it!! I was timing my jumps to get it higher and higher, I once reached the platform above but mistimed my jump to get on it.

Fuck, need to get an emulator quick

 

[atomsk]

pikmin

first played on a rental. no manual. took me a half hour to figure out what i was supposed to do with those bombs.

 

[shibbs]

In OOT, i was stuck in the water temple and i had no clue where to ggo, but it turned out that i just had to drop of the elevator and there was a key right there.

 

[Kiriku]

In Sonic 3 (Genesis), in Carnival Night Zone Act 2, there was a platform that went up and down when you jumped into it, but not enough to let you pass a wall and advance through the stage. I was stuck there jumping and jumping, a whole weekend trying to find a way, until I realized standing on the platforn and pressing up and down was enough to make it move.

I've seen many people in the Internet who got stuck at the same place, so maybe it was a bad level design choice by Sonic Team. It's one of the most popular entriues in Sonic 3 faqs too!.

Me and a friend of mine got stuck at the very same place, and yes, we kept jumping and jumping without success. Then my friend watched a tv-show about video games, and they just happened to show THAT very part of Sonic 3 during a review, and how the guy playing was just standing still while moving up and down, more each time. Talk about coincidence.

 

[Psymon]

This actually happened yesterday - I played Chrono Cross (great game this far, by the way) and was in that huge castle (What it's called? I forget...) just after Mount Pyre. Remember that puzzle there where you had to change the "Head-Body-Tail" formations? I tried everything there, I switched charaters with the Tele-Porter, I tried everything, searched every little corner, not only in those two rooms, but in the whole castle. I did that for over an hour or so.

I tell you I tried EVERYTHING...


Everything except pressing the Select button.

 

[sasimirobot]

In Sonic 3 (Genesis), in Carnival Night Zone Act 2, there was a platform that went up and down when you jumped into it, but not enough to let you pass a wall and advance through the stage. I was stuck there jumping and jumping, a whole weekend trying to find a way, until I realized standing on the platforn and pressing up and down was enough to make it move.

I've seen many people in the Internet who got stuck at the same place, so maybe it was a bad level design choice by Sonic Team. It's one of the most popular entriues in Sonic 3 faqs too!.

Haha. I got stuck there too and had to take the game back unfinished! I was so frustrated...never went back and finished that game.

 

[Brannon]

I figured it out pretty quick, but still got stuck on the thing for over an hour because TAILS KEPT FUCKING UP THE MOMENTUM.

Then I realized I could move Tails off the platform with the second controller. I always saw my brother move him, but it never clicked with me until that moment. From that moment on a socked foot kept Tails far, far away from me.

But the really 'D'oh!' moment was in Wild Arms 3. Inside the Leyline Observatory I was making good progress. Then I got stonewalled by the last computer terminal. There was a hint in the other room as to what the password was, saying passages like...

"The Guiding Light.... will show you the way"
"The Guiding Light.... will not be revealed if you blah blah blah"
"The Guiding Light.... more stuff here..."

For some reason I started getting way too analytical about it and put in any name I could think of. Names of the prophets, enemies in the dungeon, items, ANYTHING that was in that dungeon or hinted in the dungeon. Hours and hours passed and then a friend came over, saw me reading the password hint (but didn't see me struggle for hours and hours) and said,

"gee, why don't they just tell you the p'word is "The Guiding Light" if they're going to be so obvious about it."

We both laugh, I put in the password and continue on my merry way. After he left I put the controller down, turned off the game in the middle of a major boss fight and just shook my head in disbelief. What part of my brain missed the freaking obvious, and how can I punish it?

So... yeah, that sucked.

 

[TheGreenGiant]

umm.. Metal Gear Solid's Infamous "Check the back of the box". Spent ages running around looking for a box. Swore that the game was buggy. Can't say exactly how long. Then.. one day (weeks later). DOH!!!!

 

[Brannon]

Ah yes, this one deserves a post on it's own, but it may not qualify since it was just too out there at the time.

X-Men (Genesis). Play the game. Become God at the game. Make it to "the end" of the game. Reach the last room in "the end" and see the game tell you to RESET THE COMPUTER as time ticks down. Run around like a chicken with its head cutoff trying to find the computer it's referring to. Die every time.

Weeks (real time) pass.

Uber-Xmen Player Brannon still making it to that level and dying, and out of frustration, goes to turn off the Genesis but sneezes and hits the reset button at the same time.

Binary Text scrolls across the screen.

The game continues unabated...

HOLY SHIT IS THAT RIGHT? Genius and stupidity in one wholesome package. I still can't believe they would make us RESET OUR GAMING SYSTEM to continue the game. It blew my mind back then.

 

[Psymon]

Ah yes, this one deserves a post on it's own, but it may not qualify since it was just too out there at the time.

X-Men (Genesis). Play the game. Become God at the game. Make it to "the end" of the game. Reach the last room in "the end" and see the game tell you to RESET THE COMPUTER as time ticks down. Run around like a chicken with its head cutoff trying to find the computer it's referring to. Die every time.

Weeks (real time) pass.

Uber-Xmen Player Brannon still making it to that level and dying, and out of frustration, goes to turn off the Genesis but sneezes and hits the reset button at the same time.

Binary Text scrolls across the screen.

The game continues unabated...

HOLY SHIT IS THAT RIGHT? Genius and stupidity in one wholesome package. I still can't believe they would make us RESET OUR GAMING SYSTEM to continue the game. It blew my mind back then.

That is so cool!

 

[Hooker]

Hmm, another one.

Call of Duty. I have a habit of starting games at the highest degree of difficulty possible, same with CoD. But the game isn't that hard so I went through all the levels pretty easily and had fun doing so.

Then, I reach the "Guard the bridge level" and I kept dying EVERYTIME there. I was gunning people left and right. My friend counted the kills and I was well over 150. I was fucking Rambo in there. And someway or another I just kept dying when I was flanked from 5 sides with 10 enemies each. I just could not comprehend why or how I died. My next tries I stayed alive for over 30 minutes and still, at one point the whole fucking German army charged at me and killed me. I cursed at the game and threw it in the corner.

Now, fast forward 5 months. I'm preparing for this LAN party and install the game. I make a test run to see how everything works and make some changes to the settings. I try the single player and again I'm captivated by how awesome it is. I keep on playing and playing until I reach that godforsaken level again and remember why I didn't finish the game in the first place. Determined to finish this bitch I keep on trying and trying not to no avail. Pissed, and agitated I go read some strategies. In there I read something like this: "Go back to the bridge where you will find a big motherfucking gun bolted down on the bridge, waste the people coming from the sides and continue with the mission"

I did what the guide told me and was done in like 15 seconds. Goddamn scripted scenes

 

[dark10x]

In Sonic 3 (Genesis), in Carnival Night Zone Act 2, there was a platform that went up and down when you jumped into it, but not enough to let you pass a wall and advance through the stage. I was stuck there jumping and jumping, a whole weekend trying to find a way, until I realized standing on the platforn and pressing up and down was enough to make it move.

I've seen many people in the Internet who got stuck at the same place, so maybe it was a bad level design choice by Sonic Team. It's one of the most popular entriues in Sonic 3 faqs too!.

Ha ha, I HATED that part. I used to dread playing the game BECAUSE of that one area. It was just so incredibly annoying and the only time when the clock became an issue.

I actually got through it with jumping, though...which was tough. Also, before figuring out the true solution, I would sometimes have someone take control of tails and we would jump together and cause the thing to spin faster and higher.

 

[Gattsu25]

basically every RPG

i LOVE rpgs
i HATE mazes
i HATE how EVERY rpg HAS to have a FUCKING maze

FUCK MAZES
and FUCK the DEVELOPERS that INCLUDE them

 

[Diomedeskun]

Last night, playing 4 swords witha friend, we spent at least twenty or thirty minutes at the entrance of the village in level 2 trying to figure out how to get into the dark world. We assumed that, as the owl told us, we had to use the swords to do it. We tried everything, except going back one screen and talking to the old man at the entrance again.

 

[Bat]

Rayman 2: In the main plum riding lava level you end up with a room with a spider in it. After killing the spider, I thought you needed to take the one plum in the room and get back into the lava. However, the camera made doing that IMPOSSIBLE. After what seemed like hours of trying, I saw that all you needed to do with use the plum to jump onto a just out of reach ledge and exit the room.

 

[arter_2]

ninja five-0 on hard every level.
that and ikaruga

 

[Dagless M.D.]

Mostly every Zelda game I've played. Playing Four Swords, I couldn't figure out how to open this one switch... but all you have to do is shoot a freakin' arrow through some doors.

got stuck in the exact same place, I went around the whole map looking for another door or something that I missed

 

[Tenguman]

Mostly every Zelda game I've played. Playing Four Swords, I couldn't figure out how to open this one switch... but all you have to do is shoot a freakin' arrow through some doors.

Yup yup, Fours Swords is full of them

Last night, my friends and I were stuck in this one dungeon, not knowing what to do for a good hour and a half, when all we had to do was talk to these 4 little dudes who told us exactly how to open up a passage way.

 

[Dagless M.D.]

Actually I'm having more trouble on four swords right now, i'm in the town with the mirror world and i'm trying to get to the mage at the end of the long hall with the hole. I've got the feather to jump over the hole, but there are a bunch of barrels at the other side of the hole that I cant move. What the hell do I do?

Edit: I'm not a junior member anymore, Fuck Yeah

 

[Culex]

MGS: Twin Snakes.

Trying to find the codec for Meryl.

"Look at the back of the package"

I must have run around the game for an hour trying to find "a package" that wasn't in my inventory. I thought I had missed something and was about to cry.

Seemed that "the package" was actually the Twin Snakes box and it was printed on the back...

I was swearing.... a lot.

 

[Bob White]

A few of the box puzzles in Vagrant Story, but they're more "WHY THE FUCK DO I HAVE TO DO THIS MOTHERFUCKING BOX PUZZLE WHEN I CAN CONTROL THE FUCKING ELEMENTS OF FUCKING NATURE!" than d'oh.

 

[Suerte]

Buying a GC

Other than that, although they were cool, it was annoying at first with the European Dreamcast game cases, I didn't realise there was another CD compartment in the case and it caused some confusion when my game was "missing"

 

[The Faceless Master]

the mgs codec thing and the xmen reset thing were what came to mind for me...

 

[buck naked]

Just realised another: All the way through playing Mafia (PC), I wondered why they'd include a useless compass on the HUD.

After finishing the game, I went back and did the training mission (not sure why) and they told me that it points to your nearest objective...

I used to drive around with my map out figuring out where to go, and wasting loads of time because I couldn't find where exactly I was meant to be!

The whole thing annoyed me, because if its a compas, shouldn't it always point north? Thumbs down for 'realistic' HUD elements.