Pointless things in games

[mid]

GTA parcel collection - urgh. I did about 40 odd in GTA3, but hardly bothered in Vice City; its just far, far too annoying. Then you forget which ones you've done, and even the obligatory use of an FAQ (these things [i] are just added to help strategy guide sales, aren't they) is pointless, because you don't know what you're missing.

[Darwock]

the dog tag collection in metal gear solid 2, i just couldnt be bothered, i had 1 in the end i think.

That right there was the main appeal of the game for me, and what kept me going back. Trying to get some tags was a real strategic challenge! A worthy replacement of the VR missions, I reckon.

[Lyris]

In NiGHTS, if you paraloop around a bridge-like thing in Spring Valley, an object will appear underneath. Picking it up seems to do nothing other than making a noise.

[Magnakai]

In NiGHTS, if you paraloop around a bridge-like thing in Spring Valley, an object will appear underneath. Picking it up seems to do nothing other than making a noise.

I LOVE things like that. Stupid little things that make you feel good about knowing them for some reason.
Remember the "good bee" in Zelda: LTTP?

Even better are the things that are probably bugs or really obscure easter eggs or were left in from an unfinished feature or something. Those make me so happy.
I'm a dork.

[Family Fry]

Tell you what gets my goat, most "Death" spell's in RPG's, why in the hell cant you just use a level 100 death on the last boss WITHOUT it saying MISS and just kill most swines in one hit generally!!

[Adam Stone]

The mask you get from the women teacher (after giving her a certain number of joy butterfly jewels) in Wind Waker...

What was the frickin point? It allowed you to observe the damage of an enemy. But there was literally no need for such an item. Not once was it necessary, helped in anyway, or even added strategy. Completely and utterly useless... unless i missed something.

The Flame thrower cannon in Metroid Prime. It ate the missile content hastily and generally didn?t have any major impact on enemies. I think the only times i ever used it was to experiment and try to find some use. My efforts were in vain though...

Two observational details which seem useless... maybe part of an unfinished idea or was taken out: In Ocarina Of Time. Firstly the 3 large gashes in the large tree in Hylia Lake (just above Water Temple) and the Shark locked behind the cage at the bottom of the water within the professor?s lab in Hylia Lake (where you get the gold scale).

Oh, also the ?Mysteries? book in Mario Sunshine found in the stage where u enter the bottle? (i forget the name of the level and which mission it was sorry) to see it within the building at the bottom of the bottle, you need to span the camera to create a graphical glitch (so the camera gets stuck and allows you to see through the ?solid? building) and u can see it resting on a table. Probably just part of an idea that was removed from the final game? but still? is now rendered useless all the same.

[Ady]

Even better are the things that are probably bugs or really obscure easter eggs or were left in from an unfinished feature or something. Those make me so happy.
I'm a dork.

In Majora's Mask, if you go to the astronomer's observatory and look out towards the stone pillars through the telescope, you'll see a man atop one of them waving his arms. He's there any time of the day.

Leave the observatory and head towards the pillars and he's not there.

To this day, I don't know what that was about. Zelda games don't usually throw red herrings at you.

[Chadruharazzeb]

Rez trance mode. Abysmal "music", torpid visuals, stultifying to play. Why??

[Ravon]

Think your ment to be high while playing it...you want to play something, but your attention span is that of a dead wasp...

[Chadruharazzeb]

Funnily enough I tried that and it was still ****.

[Papercut]

Rez trance mode. Abysmal "music", torpid visuals, stultifying to play. Why??

matter of taste.

this thread is turning into a 'what stuff don't you like/understand' discussion.

[MD]

Indeed, so to get us back on track.

In Nekketsu Downtown Monogatari (River City Ranson to you non Japanese playing people like Strider ), there is a shop where you can buy fast food and one of the options is Smile - 0 Yen and what do you get? Well a smile and you blush... oooh. (And before anyone points it out, yes I am aware that some shops do offer Smile for 0 Yen, although Im sure if you order a smile and nothing else you'll probably get a raised fist...).

In F1 Grand Prix on the Megadrive, the Monaco track, on the far right of the circuit you can wiggle through the tire barriers and get a super speedway circuit which seems to have magical properties (as it is diffirent if you drive around it backwards). Another track you can wiggle through the tire barrier to a black screen with the programmers name in Kanji (in 8x8 blocks...). Useless but a nice easter egg.

[Ratso]

I think I found a 'pointless' bit in Crimson Skies last night - I saw a blue $ sign so I hit X to land my kite, only to be greeted by a lengthy cut scene of Zachary entering a wooden out-house.
A long pause (and several camera angles) later he re-emerged, wafting the foul air away from his nose, then reboarded his crate and took off. No indicator of any reward whatsoever.

Actually, I guess it wasn't totally pointless as I did think it was kinda funny.

[112]

What about in Daytona where you shifted off course to find a sign saying "congratulations you have lost your sponsors!"

Hmm....... pointless bit of programming.

I never did understand why every game suffer the collect everything syndrone? its a waste of time and a cheap way to sustain the life of a title. If the programmers really cared they would think of more ways to prolong a game. Surley they could think of somthing better than obtain 100 golden coins............sheesh...........

112

[Ratso]

Or worse, BLUE coins...