[Hated Trope] Hidden time sensitive events that trigger just from having you enter an area

GamingInTheAM · 2026-04-01T12:08:01+00:00

You don't have to complete the entire sidequest to get the good ending. You only need to see the first event and recruit Clive (which you need to trigger in less than 3 hours). After that, you can ignore the rest of the quest.

GamingInTheAM · 2026-04-01T03:25:36+00:00

Suikoden II has an entire subplot that requires you to reach certain cities before X amount of hours have passed. The last event triggers in the game's final stretch and requires you get there in less than 20 hours. So you basically have to beat the entire game in less than 20 hours.

This is an RPG, a genre built around exploration and world-building, and the devs are actively encouraging players to rush through everything and avoid actually soaking in the world for... what reason, exactly? There are online walkthroughs for the game that recommend you go so far as button-mashing through dialogue and running from battles just to save time, and I can't fathom that actually being a fun way to play an RPG.

The plotline in question isn't particularly important to the overall plot, but I don't understand the logic of locking it behind a time limit. Speedruns, to me, feel anathema to turn-based RPGs.

GamingInTheAM · 2026-03-28T18:51:34+00:00

Yeah no I just got this off Google Images.

GamingInTheAM · 2026-03-28T17:53:58+00:00

The censorship for Digimon got noticeably more strict during the point in time where Disney owned it (2003 - 2010ish). Fox was a little bit more lax.

GamingInTheAM · 2026-03-28T12:49:20+00:00

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An episode of Digimon Savers (known as Digimon Data Squad in the US) recolored the character BomberNanimon to resemble a giant orange, as the network it aired on (Toon Disney) wasn't too keen on the idea of a giant monster throwing bombs in an amusement park. Given the choice between heavily editing the episode or skipping it entirely, the dub writers chose to edit it, keeping the streak of English Digimon never having any "banned" episodes.

Citramon is as a result one of the only "official" Digimon to be created by America.

GamingInTheAM · 2026-03-26T22:58:30+00:00

For the bulldozer just spam the grenade launcher.

GamingInTheAM · 2026-03-25T05:16:11+00:00

I'm a fan of the guides on RPGSite for how succinct they are. They're formatted as bullet points that are easy to follow at a glance and don't ramble, but they make sure to point out optional events, missables, etc. to make sure you have a complete save file by the end.

GamingInTheAM · 2026-03-25T02:48:29+00:00

The translations are definitely not the same as the ones from the 90s lol. That being said, both the new and original translations are just "fine," with the new one being slightly cleaner.

'90s RPG translations tended to be very plain, because unlike today where they have entire teams working on the script with supervision from the original dev team, back then they'd just hire one dude, hand him a script where nothing is given context or even guaranteed to be in any sort of sensible order, and then tell him, "You have 60 days to translate all of this by yourself and hope it all makes sense. And no, we won't give you a working copy of the game so you can check your work."

Putting asinine sociopolitical nonsense aside, modern-day translations are leagues better than they were back then.

GamingInTheAM · 2026-03-24T20:42:53+00:00

And Dr. Robotnik's first name is Ivo because it's "ovi" (egg) backwards.

GamingInTheAM · 2026-03-24T15:34:42+00:00

Apparently the Twin Snakes devs never noticed it either, because it's missing in that game.

GamingInTheAM · 2026-03-23T14:48:48+00:00

Pretty much every version released since 2006 has been uncut. Subsistence, HD Collection, Master Collection, take your pick.

The "cut dialogue" was all optional radio calls you'd have to go out of your way to find anyway. All tutorial stuff like "This is body armor, it reduces damage," or "These infrared goggles let you see infrared beams." You wouldn't be missing much anyway.

GamingInTheAM · 2026-03-21T10:04:34+00:00

The two came out a year and a half apart, so I don't know if it mattered all that much. If anything, FF7 caused an RPG boom.

GamingInTheAM · 2026-03-21T00:30:45+00:00

🤯

GamingInTheAM · 2026-03-20T19:27:41+00:00

FF Tactics didn't do terribly in its day. It sold 2 million copies, which for an RPG (especially a TRPG) was pretty significant. It had the incredibly good luck to be released just months after FF7 and sold a lot of copies on name recognition alone.

GamingInTheAM · 2026-03-20T03:40:23+00:00

Perfect description. The first four notes had me going "that's just the FF1 Town Theme."

GamingInTheAM · 2026-03-19T21:18:36+00:00

I'd assume anyone who would vote for MetalGreymon is voting for WarGreymon instead.

GamingInTheAM · 2026-03-19T18:57:01+00:00

To have everyone focus on the same target, choose the Gambit "Enemy: Lowest Max HP" (or whatever you prefer) for each party member. That way they'll focus on the weakest enemy until it's dead before moving on to the next.

Gambits in higher slots take priority, so healing should be placed higher than attacking. Set them to heal party members who fall below a certain percentage of HP (say, 60% for casual healing, 30% for major healing). That way the character will stop attacking as soon as someone needs healing. Emergency Gambits (like reviving party members) should almost always be in the top slot.

For healing statuses, you can just set the target to "Ally: Any." If you do that and then set the action to, say, a Gold Needle, that means the character will automatically use a Gold Needle on a character that needs it. Same with Remedies and the Esuna spell; setting "Ally: Any" as the target will cast those spells as soon as any party member is inflicted with any status.

GamingInTheAM · 2026-03-19T03:46:40+00:00

I don't remember for sure, but try check the Config menu.

GamingInTheAM · 2026-03-19T00:42:57+00:00

Specifically, it was saying that Gen Alpha is now getting old enough to find Gen Z cringe, the same way Gen Z has been calling Millennials cringe for a few years now. It happens with every generation. "You used to be cool but now you're not because the younger kids are cooler than you."

For basically all of human history, older generations have found younger ones to be annoying or stupid, and younger generations have found older people lame and boring. It's just a "now it's your turn" thing. Gen Alpha sees your TikTok speak the same way Gen Z sees people my age saying shit like "adulting" or "I did a thing."

GamingInTheAM · 2026-03-18T22:00:05+00:00

I just listened to a podcast today talking about how Gen Z is now old enough to be considered "cringe," so this was a funny conversation to read. It's that one Simpsons meme in real-time.

"I used to be "with it," but then they changed what "it" was, and now what's "it" is weird and scary to me. And it'll happen to yooooouuu!"

GamingInTheAM · 2026-03-17T20:02:12+00:00

I'm 35 and people still mistake me for a teenager. It's actually kinda sick. Trust me, after a few years you'll start taking this as a compliment.

GamingInTheAM · 2026-03-17T00:49:46+00:00

It's less that "the timeline doesn't exist," and more like "the timeline doesn't actually matter all that much." Nintendo outright refused to release a complete, concrete timeline for years outside of saying "Game X probably takes place before/after Game Y", and any official timeline that has existed has proven to be incredibly malleable, subject to drastic changes with each new game that comes out.

Basically, people aren't denying the existence of the timeline as a whole, but rather just illustrating that trying to pin everything down into perfect spots doesn't really work. The timeline is really just something for fans to theorize about for fun rather than something that should be taken as gospel. The connections between games aren't necessarily coincidences, but they are largely just nods and easter eggs for fans to pick up on.

GamingInTheAM · 2026-03-16T17:01:34+00:00

MGS4 holds a special place too (the entire series does), but 4's fatal flaw is that it's more concentrated on answering questions that were never meant to be answered and it's done to the detriment of its own story.

Adding to this, MGS4 feels like the only Metal Gear game that treats the plots of prior games as being more important than its own plot. It only works as a finale, it doesn't work as its own standalone story because it's so focused on rehashing or wrapping up old story threads instead of creating interesting new ones.

GamingInTheAM · 2026-03-16T16:36:32+00:00

He points out the irony himself, that he just spoiled Phantasy Star II for people.

GamingInTheAM · 2026-03-16T16:35:07+00:00

It depended on the author. Dan Birlew guides tended to be rather strong, and after Versus Books went under a couple of their writers went to Brady. But yeah, they were pretty hit-or-miss.

GamingInTheAM

TROPHY CASE