Interface Spoiler: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|'''[[Wizards and Witches|Wizards]]''': ''What makes you think we're Wizards?''

 

[[I Thought It Meant|Not a spoiler about the interface]]. This is when the way an in-game menu or other interface element is constructed gives away details about the rest of the game. It may be some [[My Name Is ???|unexplained question marks]] instead of a menu item, a few suspiciously blank spots in a circle menu, or any number of other forms.

 

See also [[Missing Secret]], [[Disc One Final Dungeon]] and [[Spoiled by the Format]]. Can easily lead to [[Not So Fast Bucko]] A [[Tech Tree]] can be especially prone to this. Occasionally overlaps with [[Spoiled by the Manual]]. [[100% Completion]] and [[Sidequest]]s can actually create [[subversion]]s or [[aversion]]s of this, by making it so that finishing the main game/storyline doesn't also fill up a mission roster or what-have-you.

 

== General ==

 

 

* The ''Zelda'' series typically has inventory screens with each slot reserved for a specific item, and by the end of the game the player will have acquired most of them.

*** ''Ocarina'' also has an outline of the Triforce in the inventory screen. [[Urban Legend of Zelda|You can't get it.]]

* Again avoided in ''[[Kid Icarus: Uprising]]'' with Palutena's Treasure Hunt, styled in a similar way to the challenges in [[Super Smash Bros Brawl]]. The 120 individual challenges censor the names of potential spoilers until you've reached that point. (e.g. Defeat ??? using the ???) And then it goes one further: {{spoiler|It only features challenges related to the first 9 chapters, supposedly the entirety of the game, so it will seem to be near completion by the time you reach the "final boss". There's actually a second batch of challenges called Viridi's Treasure Hunt, which doesn't even appear until you meet her in the story. There's also a third set that won't appear until you've beaten the game, but there are no spoilers to hide at that point.}}

* You can tell the [[Disc One Final Dungeon]] of ''[[Okami]]'' just from the fact that you don't have all the brush techniques yet (and seriously, what kind of final dungeon has you making an appetizer for the boss?), but if that didn't tip you off, the fact that your equipment screen looks so empty is likely to.

* The ''[[Ratchet and Clank|Ratchet & Clank]]'' games tend to do this too, if you look deeply enough into the menus. The Skill Point lists tell you which planet each is found on, effectively spoiling every level in the game and making it easy to see [[Your Princess Is in Another Castle]] moments coming. A particularly egregious example from ''Up Your Arsenal'': It's pretty obvious a certain character isn't really dead when you know you'll later visit a place called {{spoiler|Qwark's Hideout.}} Another possible one from that game is "Crash Site." {{spoiler|Although ''what'' exactly crashed may not be immediately obvious.}}

** There's also arena challenges such as "Defeat all enemies using only the Rift Inducer", which appear long before said weapons are available.

* The challenge achievement for beating the game in both ''[[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]] 9'' and ''10'' say "Whomp Wily!", despite the plotlines of both leading you to believe otherwise.

** Throughout the franchise, the menu screens almost always have exactly enough room for every weapon and item in the game. When you get one Sub-Tank, for instance, you can see where the Sub-Tanks appear on the menu, how much more room there is, and therefore how many more Sub-Tanks are in the game (generally a total of four).

* ''[[Iji]]'' spoils the existence of the Komato from level one as their weapons are an upgradable stat.

* In ''[[New Super Mario Bros.]].'' for the DS, you can scroll through and view the entirety of the current world, no matter which levels you've unlocked. Except for the last world, where once you beat the "final castle", Bowser Jr. runs across a bridge to the second half of that world, which previously wasn't able to be viewed.

* ''[[Jumper (video game)|Jumper Two]]'''s unlockables menu blatantly spoils the existence of "secret" levels. Chances are that you will see said menu ''long'' before finishing the last sector (one requirement for secret stage 1. The other is getting total record time below certain threshold.)

* ''[[Psychonauts]]'' presents all the minds you can enter as doors. Already from the start, you can see how many minds you get to enter over the course of the game.

== Role Playing Game ==

 

** Also, you'll find claws for Gabi on sale long before you even meet her. And equipment for Rufus is available in only one town (Although by then you've already met him, and he offered to join your party more than once), but unless you backtrack immediately after he joins {{spoiler|he gets killed by Gideon before you ever get the chance to shop for his equipment}}.

* ''[[Children of Mana]]'' has a similar situation: there are slots in your equipment screen for several weapons that you don't start with, and the gem inventory screen can rather taunt you with its emptiness.

** Also, the battle menu, specifically the discrepancy between Terra and every other party member. At first, she can only use magic, and there's a gap where her special ability would be. Similarly, characters like Locke and Edgar have their special abilities, and a gap where the magic would be. Think people will eventually be able to cast spells, or that Terra will develop a secret power?

* In ''[[Final Fantasy V]]'', Faris is [[Bifauxnen]]. You learn it early, but it's spoilered even earlier when you change jobs first: Faris uses female sprites (especially noticeable in the [[White Mage]] and [[Black Mage]] jobs)

* ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'' has a fairly subtle one; four of your starting characters have two ATB slots and get a third when they become [[Touched by Vorlons|l'Cie]]. Vanille, however, already has three slots before this happens, because {{spoiler|she already was a l'Cie before supposedly getting transformed alongside the rest of them, a fact also hinted at by her relatively high starting stats compared to the normal humans.}}

* In ''[[Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne]]'', the Cathedral of Shadows has 12 slots demons for use in fusion when you can only have 8 in your party at a time (the size expands by 2 twice before midgame).

* ''[[The World Ends With You]]'''s save stats {{spoiler|shows your current partner. Towards the beginning of the game this will spoil that you get more than one party member.}}

* In ''[[Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door]]'', the fact that enemies you don't use Tattle on have their entries given to you for the log if you can't fight them again supplies some spoilers. In particular, there's the fact that {{spoiler|while Marilyn and Beldam are refought, Vivian is not.}}

* In ''[[Tales of the Abyss]]'', the records screen shows the names of all your party members, including a guest, right from the beginning.

** In Baticul, one of the citizens mentions that Princess Natalia is a master of the bow. The store in Baticul sells bows. None of your other party members can equip bows.

* The "fill-in-the-blanks" party menu also appears in ''[[Knights of the Old Republic (video game)|Knights of the Old Republic]]'' and ''[[Jade Empire]]''. Basically, [[BioWare]] is '''very''' fond of this.

** In ''[[Jade Empire]]'', Wild Flower has ''two'' portraits, one for each spirit possessing her. When Ya Zhen (the evil spirit) reveals that he may aid you in return for your support, it comes as little surprise.

* ''[[Suikoden I]]'' has a somewhat subtle one in that Sanchez, who you go to to change your team, is not listed on the Tablet of Stars, which reveals which of the 108 Stars of Destiny you've recruited. {{spoiler|It's because he's not on your side; he's [[The Mole]].}}

* ''[[Suikoden V]]'' avoids this by taking a while before it gives you the Tablet of Stars. {{spoiler|In doing so, it hides that one of your allies, Sialeeds, is set to betray you.}}