Irrelevant Importance: Difference between revisions

* In ''X-Wing Alliance'', there is a mission to recapture the space station that belonged to the Azzameens from the mercenaries occupying it. When its defences fail, a transport will launch and quickly jump into hyperspace. Afterwards, [[NPC|NPCs]] will state that it looked like your uncle's ship. The targeting system marks it as hostile, its survival is irrelevant to the main objective and the last family mission involves the uncle betraying your family. Yet if he is shot down, the mission will fail, with comments that indicate the station was somehow lost.

** Another mission requires the player to destroy a ship belonging to his family, and marked as such by the color-coded IFF system. Despite the fact that the mission cannot succeed unless this ship is destroyed, the player's helpful robot buddy will repeatedly insist that the player stop shooting.

** That's not the only example, either. In fact, it is possible with proper timing to gun down [[Big Bad]] {{spoiler|Alec Trevelyan}} virtually ''every time'' he appears, only for him to be there to taunt you next level.

** The Control level is an exception to the above rule. Your main objective is to [[Hold the Line|defend Natalya]] as she hacks the Goldeneye satellite in what is probably the most infamously difficult scene in the game. After a long and difficult fight, you still can't relax even after you've receive the message stating the satellite has been reprogrammed: In the few seconds between finishing her work and escaping to safety, Natalya can still be targeted by enemy guards, and her death will result in mission failure, despite the fact that--though it's pretty cold logic--she's outlived her usefulness. Then again, what's James Bond without his woman?

*** This is partially subverted in the same level: Shooting Boris to death after he completes his objective won't end the mission. However, Natalya will complain about watching you kill him over the security camera, and will then go back to the elevator, rather than disable the satellite, making the mission Unwinnable.

** In the spiritual sequel, ''[[Perfect Dark]]'', there was a major inversion: one level required you to carry a crate of bullet-sensitive explosives for a while to blow a hole in a wall. If they blew up while still relevant, you got the "Mission Failed" message, but it turns out they were never really relevant to begin with; there were other ways to blow the hole in the wall, and doing so would give you a "Mission Incomplete" message as the game realized you still had a chance.

** It's actually even smaller a margin than that: the goon says the password to open the door, and the door unlocks. You can't shoot the guy then, as it's game over. As soon as the door opens, he screams "It's a trap!" and runs into the room: gun him down. Better yet, stand right behind him and the goons in the room will gun him down ''for'' you. He never actually gets to a gun.

* ''[[The Elder Scrolls]] II: Daggerfall'' has an exploit during its "Cast the Sleep Spell" quest for the Mages Guild. You only have to prep the spell in the presence of the client NPC and can cancel it immediately afterwards, conserving your magicka and still accomplish the quest objective. Furthermore, after accomplishing the quest objective, you can ''kill'' the former client NPC without penalty.

* Inversion: Perfect Dark and Goldeneye. Free the hostages, then wait a few seconds until the computer acknowledges this. Then feel free to hunt the hostages down and shoot them in the face. You won't fail the mission.

* A few items in ''[[Illusion of Gaia]]'' can't be thrown away even after they become useless. This is irritating due to your limited inventory space, especially if you've been hoarding the Herbs you get throughout the game.

 

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