6 Ways Games Fixed YOUR Mistakes For You

[@KingStarKraken]

In the Baldur's Gate series, it's sometimes possible to kill an npc that has something important to say to you before they say it. If this happens, a completely different npc named Biff the Understudy appears and says the lines instead.

[@seanslaysean7097]

That’s hilarious

[@FrostGlader]

Ok but what happens if he somehow dies?

[@carcer451]

@@FrostGlader Biff is only spawned in to replace missing characters during scripted dialogue/sequences, so I don't think it's possible to kill him while that's happening... but I suspect the technical answer if it was somehow managed would just be that the game spawns a new Biff. AIUI the engine just creates a Biff whenever it tries a dialogue or action and discovers that a character the script expected to be there isn't.

[@FrostGlader]

@@carcer451 ah, that’s actually really clever. I do think that’s a cool way to do it.

[@3possumsinatrenchcoat]

not gonna lie, that's absolutely brilliant.

[@AZ-rl7pg]

Fun fact: for the Demon Door you can actually exploit this by going to the nearby Snowspire Village to the Donation Store which lets you donate anything, donate all your Silver Keys, open the Demon Door then go back and buy all your Silver Keys back. This way in can still keep all your Silver Keys in case you haven't opened all the Silver Chests yet.

[@Stratelier]

At least the door is fair enough to acknowledge that "zero" can be a valid value for "all".

[@nathanhall2689]

So if you go and donate all but one of your keys at that village like you described and go to the door, you can satisfy his desire of getting a silver key and still be able to open most of the silver chest?

[@Mish_the_Elder]

That IS a fun fact. I must’ve played Fable a zillion times and didn’t know this. Better get the Xbox on. Thanks my dude.

[@AZ-rl7pg]

@@nathanhall2689 You can but I wouldn't because there's only 30 Silver Keys in the game and there's a chest that requires having all 30 keys.

[@SteamGeezerUK]

If anyone's interested, in the studios this is generally referred to as a technical hang, when the game is still running and playable but the player is unable to progress. It should be part of the QA process to find such instances where a tech hang is possible so the dev team can fix it. Sometimes these can be found just as a part of regular testing, but a lot of QA's time is spent trying to break the game in new and imaginative ways to try and ensure players don't get stuck and have to reload a save or even restart the game. One of the "fun" aspects of QA is running what is known as a "loser playthrough", where the player has to die or fail repeatedly at every opportunity to ensure this won't adversely affect the game. I imagine there's a lot of this kind of testing in "Souls" type games... 😂

[@WFierce]

Well, that's my new excuse: I'm not bad at the game, I'm just doing a pro-bono loser playthrough.

[@t.n.carhart1097]

Cool! My mom was a QA runner between college and her first child. The devs loved her, because she gave them a genuine challenge in trying to build something she couldn’t break. The sales team, on the other hand, loathed her, because she was always pushing back their deadlines!

[@DestinyKiller]

My son is learning coding and creating games. I have become his unofficial breaker lol. He'll call me over to try it out because it's working, I'll sit down, do like one or two things and break it It's gotten to the point of me not even telling him anymore, I just get up and say you're welcome

[@De1337ed]

The technical term for that is actually "Gay Baby Jail"

[@sinteleon]

In mario maker community, this is called a softlock. (when a level is rendered uncompletable without timing out and/or restarting)

[@Artaimus]

How about the first Portal game? In one of the first few levels it's possible to get yourself trapped by placing the companion cube you need to unlock the door on the other side of said door then locking it. GlaDos will berate you then open the door to let you through so you're not stuck.

[@vojtadrasner2440]

don't remember this in first game, but it has definitely happened in second one - one of levels between introduction of light bridge and running away with wheathley

[@LilacVeritas]

Also in the 2nd game there's a few sections where if you place the wrong portal you would die, but the game actually lets you shoot the wrong portal and just switches things so it's the right one (eg excursion funnel during Wheatley escape)

[@azraelle6232]

@@LilacVeritas Also the final shot of the game.

[@gutigerpj]

I'd argue that changing the boss fights in Deus Ex from the combat-only option (which they contracted out to another studio) to one which fits both playstyles was the developer fixing their own mistake.

[@theonlyambi]

agree completely. went the entire game completely stealth and non lethal and spent an hour on the first boss fight because I was trying to find a non lethal way to do it. i thought, surely if the entirety of the game so far has allowed non lethal playthrough, why wouldn't the boss? well an hour later I finally looked it up and was incredibly disappointed

[@yarondavidson6434]

Yes, it was absolutely not, in any way, the player's mistake for playing Deus Ex game as if it was a Deus Ex game. It was entirely the game's fault. And the developer didn't do anything "cheaty" to fix it in anticipation of players doing something stupid. They released the game with this glaring problem. It was only fixed later, after the facts, following the game being justifiably widely pummeled for this. Plus, the eventual change wasn't anything "cheaty" like the other examples. It was just a different better level design to allow for all supposedly valid playstyles. This one really doesn't belong in this, otherwise good (I think, hopefully the rest aren't just as bad examples which I'm just not familiar with enough to know) list.

[@TheBlackSeraph]

True, but most games that claim to be playable via any character build still tend to favour specific playstyles.

[@MultiWicht]

IIRC they outsourced the boss fights to another studio which let to the disconnect between the stealth gameplay that was actually encouraged with extra XP and the fight sequences requiring players to go offensive.

[@IHateUniqueUsernames]

I don't fully agree. The prepared Adam Jensen is the best Adam Jensen. By building to excel at stealth, it is basically an accepted part of the game to carry grenades and other high damage armament to "just in case" an obstacle demanded a more heavy handed approach. It is unbecoming to expect the game to feed you a stealth option every time, and frankly more immersive that a few scenarios need to be dealt with head on with excessive brute force. Even if the writing did not hint at such possibilities, a complementary backpack with such fallback options is something that I think of as being smart; and it felt really good whenever these items I've been collecting and lugging around unused for most of the chapter/game were brought to bear.

[@daffyfable1983]

I remember in Pokémon Sword and Shield, when battling Eternatus, you are prompted to catch it and it is your only opportunity to do so. If you didn’t have any Pokeballs, the game would give you a single Pokeball to catch it.

[@ivoryowl]

Can you actually catch it with a single ball? I thought legendaries were extremely difficult to capture, unless its scripted...

[@ericstelzman5190]

​@@ivoryowl Because it IS scripted.

[@Stratelier]

@@ivoryowl The catch is performed via cinematic and is scripted to always succeed. You can even throw a Beast Ball (0.1x normal catch power!) and it will always work. It's like how with the final boss in Pokemon Legends: Arceus (Origin Dialga or Palkia) you are given a "one of a kind" and "irreplaceable" key item (the Origin Ball) to catch it with. The catch is performed via cutscene upon defeating the Pokemon in battle.

[@alexandergotze3323]

The final battle of the 4th story path in Scarlet/Violet is also extremely heavily scripted It was badass tho so I don't care

[@flyingwithbirbs1202]

I'm not sure why this is the first time I've heard it but "as useful in a fire fight as a chocolate teapot" absolutely got me and I will be remembering it

[@scottneil1187]

The phrase I'm familiar with is 'useful as a chocolate fireguard', was a favourite of my grandparents.

[@Kaitou1412Fangirl]

I love all their creative analogies. ❤

[@Mulbert]

Bit NSFW but when I was at uni my politics lecturer declared something was "as useful as a chocolate dildo" mid lecture, everyone was shook lol

[@l33tsaber]

I remember wondering if you'd softlock yourself in Golden Sun 2 by giving Piers the Lash Pebble before he leaves the party for a while, when you need it to get up to a window. Turns out, the devs thought of that and someone else just throws a rope down for you.

[@catoninetales]

Don't forget to join the OX Supporter's Club, your donations go towards sending Andy to Games College where he can learn to play games competently, much to the relief of Leons and Ashleys everywhere.

[@makitstop]

you could have added coyote jumping from pretty much any platformer for context: in a lot of platformers, if you barely wiff a jump, you'll jump anyway even though you also fell off whatever ledge you're jumping off the reason it's called "coyote jumping" is because it's named after wile e coyote, and the fact that he defies gravity in a similar way regularily

[@0PercentImagination]

Yep. Some series like the Donkey Kong Country games even encourage it as it lets you jump out of a roll, regardless of if said roll puts you into the air, to get far more distance than would otherwise be possible.

[@Stratelier]

That's probably a different list (that they've covered in other videos). This one was more about getting (actually or mostly) "softlocked" into a legitimately unwinnable situation where your normal alternative is to reset your save file and start the whole game over.

[@dummy_vicc2976]

in the first part of borderlands 3, claptrap will continuously throw healthkits at you to keep you alive while he's suspended from the magnet. Also, if you take too long to find the chest with the shield in it, he'll point it out for you to make sure you can beat the first boss

[@moogle9148]

In the infinitely charming 'Frog Detective' you get money in the second case to pay a bribe however, if you decide to spend that cash on a framed picture, the game's creator pops up and tells you you've biffed it whilst handing you more cash for the bribe

[@zombieham904]

I was about to comment this exact thing! Nice to meet another person of culture :p

[@Mx_Rae]

Excellent video! If I may also add: Dragon Age 2 has the quest "Friends in Low Places", which is there to make sure you can pay the 50 sovereigns required to complete act 1 even if you somehow spent all your money on other things. While it's not that difficult to earn the required money while playing (and I don't really feel like the quest is worth taking, if you already have 50 sovereigns and are thinking it's a good way to save money, considering the annoyance it causes later on), it's still nice that they thought to add it instead of making people start over.

[@Daniel_Coffman]

In some Pokemon games, though you do have to try really hard to softlock yourself, there are workarounds in place to prevent you from being softlocked! For example, in HG/SS, if you avoid all of the HM's that can be avoided, have no items or money, all of your required HM users in the daycare since they cannot be released, and only an Abra that only knows Teleport in your party, and you use it to teleport to Cianwood City before curing Ampharos, an NPC in the Pokemon Center who just so happened to have just caught a Tentacool that he was going to release will notice that you only have one Pokemon and take pity on you, giving you that Tentacool. It's pretty *Tenta-cool* that devs think of these things.

[@TurkeyMuncher117]

I take it you know of Pikasprey Yellow's Pokemon softlockpicking videos

[@Daniel_Coffman]

@@TurkeyMuncher117 Yep.

[@WFierce]

There's another one in HGSS with Cinnabar Island. If you do the same setup, the game just won't teleport you to Cinnabar. It sends you to Viridian instead.

[@katfromthekong414]

That little compilation of gaming fails should be extended to a full video cause it was excellent! 😆

[@TheMAZZTer]

In Portal 2 the final portal you fire must be the one NOT already set under the final boss (otherwise the end game cutscene wouldn't work now would it?). If you fire the wrong portal... the game will just pretend you fired the correct one instead. In addition in Portal 1 and 2 there are ways you can softlock yourself in test chambers. In those cases GLaDOS is nice enough to let you out.

[@jardex2275]

Unlike the Portal segment in The Stanley Parable, where the narrator mocks you for breaking the game.

[@TheRavenofSin]

The silent hill one isn't really throwing you a bone. It's just designed that the boss fight won't end until you run out of ammunition to give the illusion that you won "with your last shot". The devs didn't really expect people to use up all their ammunition before the boss.

[@chrismanuel9768]

​@@ste887 If you run out of ammo during the fight it automatically dies, giving the illusion you won with your last shot. It can, however, be defeated without using every bullet as well

[@jamescoyne4559]

Reminds me of how in the Lego Star Wars and Indiana Jones games if you keep dying repeatedly to play forming segments, the platforms or traps will slow down

[@Michael_Lindell]

6 and not 7? Are they cheating us out of an entry?

[@Amaranthyne]

Shhh 🤫 We get more content than ever now. Reward the creators with nice compliments to motivate them to turn out more videos. If we run them ragged they might go…on hiatus 😱🫣

[@ashketchum1624]

@@Amaranthyne have they ever done that before? I'm legit curious

[@Michael_Lindell]

@@Amaranthyne Oh, I reward them alright. Speaking of a hiatus, I would not mind that one bit if they want one. Their bosses might have something to say about that though...

[@Amaranthyne]

@@ashketchum1624 Not to my knowledge. They occasionally put out fewer videos because of other things going on, like work trips. Mike and Luke were on paternity leave for a while. Ellen’s been out for extended periods because of poor health and being immunocompromised.

[@Amaranthyne]

@@Michael_Lindell So they might just quit instead. Burnout is a serious problem with creatives and any number of other professions. The video had six entries, but was of sufficient length and quite entertaining. Perhaps they chose to go with six entries because the seventh was sub-par. Maybe they would’ve needed to delay the video to add another. If we pester them till they are stressed then we will ultimately only shoot ourselves in the proverbial foot.

[@PetersonZF]

Fun fact, that padlock in Half-life 2: Episode 1 is the only time you *have* to fire a conventional gun in that game, hence The One Free Bullet achievement for that being the only shot you take. You can do the rest with just the gravity gun, but it's far from easy.

[@jodinsan]

In the amazing Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragonkeep DLC for Borderlands 2, there is a platform puzzle to reach an important quest item. You _can_ attempt the puzzle, which is a challenge but not terribly so... or you can fail like three times and the puzzle goes "poof" and Tina turns it into a simple and safe bridge instead.

[@zillizli]

In Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass if you skip the heart container gained by beating the boss in the Ghost Ship, which you can never return to again once defeated, then the devs made it so you get a letter in the mail providing you with one more chance to get that heart container. Say no to that generous second chance, however, and the container is gone for good, leaving you at nineteen hearts maximum on that save file.

[@ginger_cryptid]

It didn't fully *fix* your mistakes, but the adaptive difficulty in the Crash Bandicoot N-Sane trilogy giving you extra checkpoints if you died too often was an absolute godsend

[@azuredragoon2054]

Resident Evil games, namely 4 and beyond, typically had Adaptive Difficulty as well.

[@generalsleepy3859]

It's not this extreme, but I do really enjoy how Dragon Age 2 lets you choose a dialogue option where you announce you're a mage to the guy whose job is putting mages in prison, but then if you choose it another character interrupts you before you can, you know, get yourself sent to wizard jail for the rest of the game.

[@626games]

Stuck in the hospital waiting for surgery yet Andy still makes me smile

[@bilbo_t_baggins2762]

Did Andy say that there have been a few times that they've screwed up while playing video games? Because I don't believe that. Surely they've never made mistake? I couldn't imagine Mike for example doing something silly with a grenade. Wouldn't happen. At all.

[@tubensalat1453]

Like announcing their arrival with an explosion on a stealth mission? Never.

[@patience1926]

@@tubensalat1453 Like blowing up mission critical bikes(in GTA Online)? Never.

[@commanderzander580]

In Portal 2, when Wheatley is trying to smash you with a metal spike plate, you get away by placing the light funnel you're riding in lower down, catching yourself and moving you further away. If you place it with the incorrect portal (thus breaking the funnel) the game switches the portal colors so that your chosen portal will still catch you with the light funnel. Later, at the climax of the game, you can shoot either portal color at the moon to get the ending.

[@sergentboucherie]

I don't remember the title of the game but when I was working at testing games we were testing a police FPS, you could run out of ammo in a zone without enemies and you had to shoot an object that would open the next zone. So the devs added a NPC that would throw ammo at you if you ran out.

[@FredCDobbs-rd5wi]

In Fallout 4, if you make it to the mandatory main plot section where you have to call on your trusty doggo companion Dogmeat to follow the trail for badguy Kellogg BUT you managed to get this far into the game without first encountering Dogmeat, the game will summon him anyway. Nick Valentine will suddenly announce that *he* has a dog friend who can track Kellogg and blow a whistle that summons the pooch.

[@ayleth891]

I softlocked myself in the FRIENDS section of the Lego Movie 2 video game by solving the puzzle to get up the ledge, doing a plot-relevant task, and falling off the ledge. The puzzle didn't respawn, and the game autosaved, so I was stuck on the lower level.

[@daynechart]

Six? SIX?! I have come to enjoy a standard of 7 items in each list video from this channel. This is egregious! How am I to live on knowing there could be another cheaty way a game may have fixed my mistakes? Absolutely ridiculous. By now you may have guessed I'm speaking ironically and have nothing but good things to say about what you do.

[@gwishart]

It's OK, they made some "Eight things..." videos a few years ago. So it still averages out - the mighty list Gods are appeased. All hail the List Gods!

[@SigmaSyndicate]

In Persona 5, you can manage to strand yourself in one of the many areas of Tokyo by having just enough money to pay for the ticket there but not enough money to return. If this happens, your trusty cat will actually cough up enough money to make sure the player gets home.

[@HylianFox3]

In GoldenEye you can also get the guards to open locked doors for you. Very thoughtful of them.

[@jordpb]

Recently played the amnesia games and when you die by the grunts or most enemies in the game, they'll despawn making it easier to navigate the level when you "wake up". Kept that up with the creatures in Machine of Pigs to an extent, and Rebirth with the ghouls

[@SonicTimewarp]

In Portal 2, when faced with the “Holmes vs Moriaty” Mashy-Spike Plate, the game specifically changes your portal so whichever portal you shoot will have the gravity funnel attached. And the devs admit to it in the commentary nodes in the game.

[@Taracinablue]

The fixes that are more creative (random scientist running into a warzone) are definitely better than the instant fixes (padlock randomly falls off)

[@spiritmuse]

That San Andreas part reminded me - in Persona 5 Royal, you are required to travel to a location as part of the main story, which costs money. If you don't have enough (which is pretty hard to do considering how cheap the train tickets are) Morgana will make up the difference so you can go anyway.

[@TheMAZZTer]

You reminded me Pokemon Red/Blue have the same thing At one point in the story you are required to go into the Safari Zone, each trip in there costs money. If you don't have enough, the guard lets you in anyway. (Edit: another comment pointed out it was only fixed in Yellow. So my below comment is void.) Considering how many other ways it is possible to get yourself stuck (though you really have to be trying hard to do so) it's surprising the devs thought to add this in.

[@Ryu_D]

Thank you for the video. I'd also recommend The Stanley Parable's broom closet ending for this list. But also, basically the entire game. Playing it wrong is pretty much the whole point of the game.

[@paxarcana5811]

U got teh bro0om closit ednign?

[@Dhalin]

Portal 2 (and maybe the first portal? not sure about that one) helps the player out in subtle ways regularly. Many portal spots that are critical to actually getting a portal jump right will auto-snap to the exact location and orientation to make the jump possible, and the game will even subtly adjust your trajectory and momentum to make sure you make the jump, as long as you fired the portal close to where it's supposed to be, and you did what the developers meant for you to do (jumping off the correct ledge, or what-not). As long as you got it close, the game would gently nudge you to make sure you made the jump.

[@theworldisafrog]

this is actually an option in the settings! it's called something like "portal assist" and if you turn it off, it's a lot harder to make those jumps...

[@aeloswindrunner]

There's one of these in the first portal. There's a puzzle where you can lock the necessary cubes on the other side of a door. Glados then berates you and opens the door for you

[@SolaScientia]

FromSoftware makes is so certain NPCs can't be killed or aggroed due to their importance to the game. Friede because she's a boss. Gehrman, because he's a boss. Gael will leave the scrap of painting by the alter in the Cleansing Chapel to get to the Ashes of Ariandel DLC if he gets "killed", but he also can't really be permanently killed (again, boss). The Doll and the Fire Keeper (at least the DS3 one) can't be permanently killed because of being required for leveling up. Less fixing your mistakes and more preventing them in the first place though, so it doesn't fully apply here.

[@emeraldaly7646]

There are some points in Assassin's Creed Revelations (possibly the other games, but I specifically remember it in ACR) where you have to shoot weight bags down in order to progress parkouring. If you somehow manage to expend all your bullets, throwing knives, and crossbow bolts, there's an infinitely-replenishing supply of knives available right nearby. Kinda works within the game's metafiction, too -- of course Ezio didn't *actually* run out of ammo, so the Animus compensates by providing extra in a patently unrealistic way.

[@marybdrake1472]

Indeed Andy, right you are. We all mess in video games at times.

[@thehittite6982]

Dark Souls 2 has a couple of areas that you can't simply walk out of once you get to them, plus a couple more that you can get stuck in if you burn a bonfire ascetic in the wrong spot. Usually you can just sit at the nearby bonfire and fast travel away, but that's not an option if you somehow made it to those places without ever lighting any other bonfires. If this happens, you still have one emergency exit option. Using the Darksign (or Homeward Bone if you have one) will take you to the very start of the game instead of the last bonfire like how it normally works.

[@kalythai]

In Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow. You need to enter the Safari Zone to obtain the very important HM03 Surf and the gold teeth for HM04, two items required to progress in the game. But entry to the Safari Zone will cost you 500 PokeDollars. If you happen to run out of money and/or lost all means to make money (money is very finite outside of re-battling the Elite Four or gambling for items to sell), you can pester the gate guard to the Safari Zone enough times, he will eventually relent and have over one Safari Ball and you can enter the Safari to get those important items.

[@dankeykang8243]

In Pokemon (at least ruby/sapphire) if you release your last pokemon that knows surf, it will come "swimming back to you!" because the game doesn't want you to be stuck on an island. Adorable AND thoughtful!

[@4rkain3]

In Portal, there’s an early level where you can *intentionally* get stuck in a room with no way out. It’s tricky to do, but when you do it, GLaDOS will _graciously_ open the door to let you out.

[@ericstelzman5190]

In Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow, you had to enter the Safari Zone to progress the game (for the Surf HM and the Gold Teeth to get the Strength HM). If you don't have enough money to enter, you're pretty much screwed in Red and Blue, since you can't re-battle trainers, but you can still enter in Yellow, but with fewer Safari Balls. Fire Red/Leaf Green doesn't do this, but there is a Key Item called the Vs. Seeker that allows you to re-fight trainers, allowing you to grind for cash.

[@trinketsphinx3212]

I've seen some folks decrying the torturing of koroks, to which I always point out that Breath of the Wild straight up proved that each and every one of them you found took a %#$& in your hand and then laughed in your face about it. They've got it coming.

[@tyvulpintaur2732]

Perfect Dark has a similar assist to GoldenEye. In the Area 51 mission, you have to use a grenade to blow open a wall. If you use all your grenades before then, the screen will start flashing an “OBJECTIVE FAILED. ABORT MISSION” message, but if you set your SuperDragon gun to proximity mine setting and then shoot it near the wall, it will blow the wall and allow you to continue the mission.

[@ShaoShaoMienshao]

Ah yes, the mission where you have to escort the floating explosive crate without it being destroyed by the guards. Once I realized that the SuperDragon also explodes in its proxy detonation mode, I never bothered with the silly crate ever again. In fact I think this strat might be required to speedrun the mission fast enough to unlock a cheat code.

[@brianhull2407]

Surprised you didn’t mention Portal. On several occasions, you can make a puzzle unsolvable (like by locking the only cube out of the room), and GLaDOS will sigh and open the door anyways, though not before messing with you as she usually does. You can even do so in the very first puzzle!

[@Matti2ooo8]

Portal has a test chamber where you can softlock yourself and Glados has to intervene to let you progress. With an appropriate amount of verbal abuse of course. There's even an achievement for that if I remember correctly. LA Noire has a more annoying version of that mechanic. You can screw up every interrogation and misinterpret all pieces of evidence, but still you'll get a "new info from the precinct" call after the stage ends to ensure you don't fail your investigation

[@pokemonprincess0497]

In Pokemon Red and Blue, in order to progress the story you need to enter the Safari Zone to pick up some guys Golden Teeth to exchange for the HM surf. Problem: you have to pay to enter, which, if you were dead broke, could create a softlock. This was fixed in Pokemon Yellow where if you tried enough times to enter the Safari Zone while broke, the attendant would take potty on you and let you enter anyways, just with fewer Safari Balls.

[@1stRune]

The best one is from Baldurs Gate, a character named "Biff the Understudy" appears to do the dialogue and interaction of some of the essential NPC's if you kill any

[@FnRenner]

Fable Lost Chapters is my Kingdoms of Amalor. Playing that game just makes me happy.

[@OLBICHL]

12:55 oh do I know the struggle... you're doing everything perfectly well and the run is going smoothly... until that damn couch ruins it -...- bare floor, don't disappoint me now

[@hill2hell]

Andy: you done? OXBOX: we haven't even started yet. 😂

[@adamm2716]

dang shrink-flation even hitting best of 7 videos

[@michaeledmunds7056]

Fun fact: in Silent Hill 2, they made it possible to beat the final boss with melee, and if you do, you unlock a gun with unlimited ammo

[@WildDogSir]

In silent downpour you must enter in a hospital, but the door is barricaded and must be broken with an axe. If you doesn't have an axe you must enter in some sort of "nightmare room" nearby and you will find one. When you come back to the hospital door, if you break the ax without destroying the door, you only have to go back up to the "nightmare room", which will be sealed with bricks, with just a second ax laying on it.

[@lilharm]

in one of the Pokémon games, if you manage to be on a specific island without a Pokémon who knows/can learn surf, there’s an npc who will gift you a tentacool to stop you from becoming softlocked

[@Narpas]

I just watched "7 bosses you killed without firing a single shot" yesterday and got some major dejavu from the first entry of this list

[@Llamasaurus_Rex]

You sound great andy, love your intros. They have come a long way from great to undeniably the best

[@willcalvert1608]

No mention of when Mike broke the rusty crowbar needed to shimmy open a locked door by smashing someone over the head with it instead?

[@kingspilly4381]

Both of the Portal games have parts that will just open the door to the next area if the game thinks you've softlocked yourself.

[@staticradio724]

1) In the Portal games, it's basically impossible to get yourself stuck in a puzzle; the game will just lower a wall or drop another cube or something. That's just astounding to me. The devs really had to anticipate every single thing a player could possibly do. 2) In Red Read Redemption 2, there are a few points in the main quest where you're required to spend money. If you don't have it, either the person accompanying you will hand it to you, or you can threaten the shopkeep into giving said item to you for free.

[@matrixislandcow511]

There's Metal Gear Rising, too. In the second level, there's a gate you need to open by cutting off a high-ranking baddie's left hand. If you instead decide to cut off everything but the left hand, the game, and your in-game buddies go "...really. Fine, just cut the lock open, I guess."

[@NutSaxs]

In Pokémon Black and White, you are given the chance by N to catch a Reshiram or a Zekrom depending on which one you played. But for some odd reason you beat up said Pokémon or have an already full party, the legendary Pokémon will be waiting for you in the next room after you beat N and came back. Idk if it’s considered cheaty but in most cases legendaries are mostly a one time thing.

[@ChocolatierRob]

While not a 'permanently stuck' situation the remake of Resi 3 has an overly charitable section. When the Nemesis gets his laser targeted rocket launcher to chase you with you only actually need to dodge every third shot as the other two are programmed to miss regardless of your dodging prowess.

[@SevCaswell]

Surprised that the Elder Scrolls series isn't on here, given that in the entries to the series before Oblivion it was quite possible to make the game unwinnable by murdering a crucial quest NPC, something the game only told you about *after* you'd done it. Then in Oblivion and Skyrim such things were impossible due to quest giving NPCs being entirely immortal, provided they are still required for a quest.

[@gwennifergracie-mclauchlan5675]

I'm sure you've already covered it, but not mention of portal 2s ending? WIthout spoilers there's a very specific final portal surface you've got to shoot at, to connect it to one below the final boss, but if you shoot the same colour portal instead of the other end of the portal? Valve takes pity on you and swaps them over, or at least I think its pity, they might just want you not to spoil their very pretty ending sequence

[@vaette]

I expected this one too! But I believe it has been on at least one similar list before so that may be why it didn't get featured. Entirely correct by Valve, as the game has absolutely started building the cinematic climax for the ending starting already before that click, and it'd deflate everything badly if you could do it wrong.

[@roguedogx]

I'd like to add one. In the Sims Busting out the game won't let you go broke in the games tutorial level, your mom's house. Instead every time you get close to zero, the in game phone will ring and give you some money. The best part is you can use this as an exploit for infinite money, but just buying lots of stuff for you mom, and then selling it when you leave.

[@BewareTheLilyOfTheValley]

Perhaps not exactly the same, given it's informed to you directly, but in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, your phone is given a rescue app to take you to a safe haven if you get stuck. Your tools break in the game and probably the most important tool is the pole that you can use to spring across rivers. Would really suck if the pole broke after jumping to a new area and couldn't easily get back to an area where you can buy or make a new pole. So, they have an app on the phone that will send a helicopter to pick you up and carry you home or to a few other destinations where you can buy or make the tools you need.

[@Mulbert]

I like how it's run by Resetti, who has changed his angry ways towards you 😅

[@BewareTheLilyOfTheValley]

@@Mulbert This is the first Animal Crossing game I've ever played, but that name does spund familiar from reading other Animal Crossing relating comments over the years :) I always thought Tom Nook was this greedy character, but so far, he's been really pleasant. Not sure I'm crazy about my mortgage for extensions being added to the house costing more than when I bought the house (a difference of about 100,000 bells), but...otherwise, he's been nice.

[@Jonathon_Hennessey]

In the game Fallout New Vegas there exists a character called Yes-Man who is a model of robot called a Securitron. If the player tries to kill Yes-Man, the game will respawn him in a new body so that if the player is unable to ally with the NCR, the Legion or Mr House, they can still complete Yes-Man's questline and finish the game.

[@LilacVeritas]

I do love how Yes-Man is both a fully fleshed out alternative path and an anti-softlock

[@VonBlade]

9:28 I too loved Bull Durham, Mr Mike.

[@Chaoticbanana]

In Cianwood City pokemon Centre, there is a trainer who will trade you a tentacool if and only if you have run out of surf-capable pokemon; this prevents you getting stuck in Cianwood even if you're trying to and release all your pokemon.

[@privacyvalued4134]

Snarks, satchels, tripmines, and the gluon gun were all removed in HL2 and made the game arguably worse for doing so. Satchel camping was hilarious and tripmines were fantastic to mess around with in HL1 multiplayer. Players that went AFK would find a tripmine glued to their face when they returned. The gluon gun was the OP n00b cannon, but a good player could easily take down someone hauling it around. The gravity gun in HL2 was innovative but ultimately wasn't nearly as fun as the weapons that were removed.

[@katfromthekong414]

Just remembered why I loved the Fable series so much! 🤣

[@Mr_TheHan]

Nice of Andy to bear the weight of two of Mike's previous Oxbox gaffes in the intro.

[@BierBart12]

I haven't played Human Revolution yet and Barrett caught me off-guard He even has a minigun arm. Straight up FFVII reference slapped in your face

[@johannesbragelmann6629]

I just want to note how the go-to association clip for screwing up seems to have changed... For years it was Mikes A+ grenade throw 😂

[@isabeltheacegal3384]

There's that bit in Portal where you can get stuck on a level, and GLaDOS snarks you for it, but eventually frees you so you can try again

[@sharkbatez4534]

Shooting smiley faces at walls. Core memory unlocked.

[@Eckister]

5:00 I mean ... restoring a crime family to power involves power statements, that oughtta do...

[@Gmanunit13vers2]

In portal 1, you can essentially make at least 1 puzzle unwinnable and gladous will roast you before opening the exit for you.

[@BlueSpring3]

In Need for Speed 2015, if you get caught by the police without enough money to pay for the fee, a random person helps you out and pays the rest of the fee for you.

[@avereynakama9854]

I think Huey gives you some cards if you run out right before you deliver the final blow to the final boss if Paper Mario Color Splash. He's shocked that you ran out at the most critical moment, but he's helped you out for this long on your quest, so...

[@Draugo]

Seriously, why is Barret fight from Deus Ex always brought up in this context? It's much easier as a stealth build in the original game since he takes like three darts to the head and goes down. Why that fight is annoying as a stealth build is that there's no pacifist route since he blows himself up even if you stun him, it has nothing to do with it being a difficult fight.

[@KigaiOkasu]

How about a list of pointless rescues? These are npcs that you have to go out of your way to protect only for them to die in a cutscene or something.

[@michaelandreipalon359]

Wolfenstein: The New Order+The Old Blood might count to this.

[@KigaiOkasu]

Me personally, I would suggest Dr. Young from Arkham Asylum. You have to save her after she gets captured twice, and she winds up getting blown up by a Joker bomb in a cutscene.

[@nuxxexe3968]

In Portal 1 on test chamber 18, there's an energy pellet receptor inside a box with a door timer and if you manage to open the box and jump in before it closes up, GLaDOS will permanently open it up and scold you for breaking it

[@Dreadjaws]

Here to point this out, because people have been complaining about Deus Ex HR's boss fights for years but no one ever seems to mention it: _you can defeat the bosses with non-lethal weapons._ I think the last one is the only exception. Yes, it sounds counterintuitive, but you can just attack Barret with your stun gun and then throw one of the numerous gas cans in the arena at his face, keeping him stunned until he basically suffocates. As a matter of fact, I really don't want to install the original game to play through the whole first part just to check, but I think _just_ the stun gun is enough (you can probably justify this by claiming enough stunning might stop their hearts). You don't need anything but what the arena provides. There's really no way to get stuck in those fights. Granted, it still screws up your RPing, but that's a whole other deal.

[@AdamAddictL]

I got one: Bioshock 2: Little Sister gathering failures: When you FAIL to complete an ADAM gathering session due to being killed,instead of leaving your Little Sister to mobs of so,icees to keep bugging her,and subsequently YOU when you exit the Vitachamber,the game kindly helps you out by NOT ONLY ending the ENTIRE sequence AND wiping away whatever mob of splicers killed you in the FIRST PLACE…..BUT instead of having you walk ALL THE WAY back to your Little Sister…..the game ALSO has your little sister WAITING FOR YOU right OUTSIDE THE VITA CHAMBER!!! Thanks Bioshock 2!!! 😎😎😎👍👍👍

[@JoshTigerheart]

In the Kanto Pokemon games there's the Safari Zone which is needed to complete the game as it's necessary to obtain HMs. If you manage to spend all your money so you can't afford the entry fee then, if I remember right, they'll do you a favor and let you in for free anyway, albeit you'll only have a single Safari Ball instead of 30.

[@Stratelier]

Alongside that, remember the checkpoint guards surrounding Saffron City who won't let you into the city proper until you can give them a drink? In Gen 3 this was a Key Item you obtained from an NPC in Celadon City, but in original Gen 1 this was simply any drink you could purchase (via money) from a vending machine. Oh, and money was a limited resource in Gen 1 (only obtained via winning non-repeatable Trainer battles, or selling items, but loseable by being defeated in any Pokemon battle) so it was technically possible to run out of money, and if you DID actually run out of money to buy this drink then: - The only Pokemon that can naturally farm Money (Meowth/Persian with Pay Day) were version-exclusive to Blue - There is only one copy of TM16 (Pay Day) for you to teach the move to other Pokemon (most of which must be caught via Poke Balls, itself a resource purchased with money) - You could easily discard this TM without using it, or for that matter any Pokemon capable of learning it (like Eevee you can get for free in Celadon City, which can learn the move) So _in theory_ you could potentially softlock yourself out of entering Saffron City (and with it, the rest of the game), even though it was very unlikely to actually happen (you basically had to set it up intentionally).

[@dogishappy0]

7. Pokemon Sword and Shield- in the event you have filled up your entire PC with pokemon and ran out of pokeballs in fight against Eternetus... they give you a pokeball with a 100% catch rate and a brand new box to store it in 8. Re4 remake- in the knife fight against Krowser they give you a free knife spawn in case you either had no knives, or all your knives broke. 9. Zelda Windwaker- in the Temple of the Gods, if you run out of arrows the boss literally just gives you more. The final boss will also spawn easy to kill Kees to help you top off on arrows and magic so you can use the essential light arrows 10. Megaman/Metroid franchises- many areas have infinitely spawning enemies you can use to restock your HP, weapon ammo, etc. 11. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon- if you happen to be far too underleveled for any boss, you are revived at a fork in the path. Simply go the wrong way again until you are more experienced. 12. Dark Souls- lol, you have infinate lives. Get gud.

[@gloweye]

No mention for Portal? There's several test chambers where you can softlock yourself, and then the game is very nice and gives you an out.

[@InfernotheFox]

Ridge Racer 7 bails you out in the "Devil" boss race of that game. If for whatever reason you end up going a lap down to the boss in this 3 lap race, it will conveniently stop just before the line. Sneaky players will obviously take advantage of this and spend roughly 5 - 10 minutes pushing the 13th Racing car back up the track towards the tunnel and then speed past it before it has a chance to cross the line, giving you win... albeit a bit unsatisfying.

[@docette2015]

We do love a game that looks at fails, sighs, and goes "Fine, I'll help." Even if it encourages people to do things like not bring any ammo to a boss fight, or avoid silver keys. XD

[@Slouchy-tw1rw]

In portal you could soft lock the puzzle and Glad0s would let you out while insulting you

[@JDexia]

6?! Wtf is this???

[@elcarlitormaximus]

Very of you vis a vis Mike not to show the Payday 2 frag clip during that initial bit!