Lost Forever: Difference between revisions

 

 

Lost Forevers frequently appear in areas that can only be accessed once, or are rendered unavailable after a certain plot event occurs. [[Doomed Hometown|The early town that is destroyed]], the mountainous area that caves in once you leave it, the village that you're banished from, the [[Load-Bearing Boss]]'s [[Collapsing Lair|hideout that goes boom]] after you beat it, the one-shot place that you're never given the option to return to, and so forth.

Forgiving developers will sometimes provide an alternative means to reach what would otherwise be Lost Forever. However, reaching it with this second-chance method is usually much more time-consuming or difficult than if you had just gotten it the first time around. If a player knows such an item is coming, a common tactic is to [[Save Scumming|save immediately beforehand, and restore repeatedly from that save]] [[Trial and Error Gameplay|until they manage to get it]]. This is often true when getting the Lost Forever is [[Luck-Based Mission|based on luck]], such as when a [[Boss Battle|boss]] [[Randomly Drops]] a unique piece of equipment.

 

 

Due to their tendency to induce great frustration, smart developers tend to avoid implementing these, and allow players to collect items or do [[sidequest]]s [[Take Your Time|at their leisure]], whenever and in any order they want. Sometimes, this can result in silly situations where the player is presented with the option of returning to a location where there would be no logical reason to return to, such as, say, the site of a nuclear explosion. But, really, it's the lesser of the two evils.

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{{examples}}

=== [[Action Adventure]] ===

* The freeware game ''[[Cave Story]]'' contains numerous easily missable one-shots, many of which are required in order to reach the [[Bonus Level of Hell|secret hell level]], which leads to the game's [[Multiple Endings|best ending]]. The worst of these moments: if you don't {{spoiler|search the corners of a certain room before triggering a cutscene, or search it after the boss fight and before [[Fission Mailed|your air supply runs out]], the tow rope, Curly Brace and}} the ability to obtain the best ending are Lost Forever in one fell swoop.

** [[Brutal Bonus Level|Hell Temple]] is also permanently sealed off if you screw up the unlocking process, which is quite easy to do. Given the general nature of [[Platform Hell|Hell Temple]], though, this is probably something of an act of mercy.

* ''[[The Tower of Druaga]]'' is really evil about this. [[Guide Dang It]] if you don't know how to get the treasure on a floor (while paying mind to the [[Timed Mission|time limit]]), but if you don't you might not be able to get some later, necessary treasure.

 

=== [[Adventure Game]] ===

* ''[[Hotel Dusk: Room 215]]'' features a sidequest in which you can earn a prize from a vending machine. There is only one very short point in the game in which you can exchange your cash for change; after that, it's lost forever. (There is also no warning, making it a [[Guide Dang It]].)

** There is a kind-of new game plus mode after completing the game with an extra puzzle and ending, but the scavenger hunt item you get out of the machine changes, making the original Lost Forever unless you start a clean game. In addition, the original scavenger hunt vending item can be given to two different characters, but the only way to give it to one of them is to randomly guess the vending machine number, because there is no opportunity to give it to her after legitimately completing the scavenger hunt.

* ''[[Return to Zork]]''. Most notoriously, if you cut instead of dig up the bonding plant at the very beginning of the game, killing it, you're [[Failure Is the Only Option|screwed]]. Even worse, it's very late in the game when you find this out. Additionally, there are many ways of killing it by accident if you do dig it up.

** Likewise, the earlier text game ''Spellbreaker'' had a plant that you needed to dig up rather than cut to solve a puzzle. And just to make sure as many people as possible found that out too late, the game placed a [[Red Herring]] pair of shears near the plant.

* ''[[Luigi's Mansion]]'' features both golden mice and blue ghosts. Blue ghosts appear in the blink of an eye in certain dark rooms and vanish just as quickly; if you don't catch them in one go, they'll vanish forever. Golden mice are similar, but instead of just vanishing, they move really quickly, and can be vacuumed up in one hit. Both types will disappear if you turn all the lights in the room on (by defeating all the other ghosts) first. Both of them drop the same thing: Lots and ''lots'' of money, and, in the case of the blue ghosts, gems.

** It also has a plant in the Bone Yard that can be watered after every chapter. Miss it once, and the plant dies, meaning you lose the chance to get one of the giant diamonds worth a lot of money, and a huge amount of assorted coins and bank notes.

 

=== [[Card Battle Game]] ===

* In ''[[Digimon World|Digimon: Digital Card Battle]]'' for the PSX, you get to choose a partner Digimon at the very start of the game, and you get two more later in the story. What nobody told you is that you have to choose them from a pool of 6, and that the decisions are permanent; the three partners you didn't choose are lost forever unless you cheat. That means that if you chose V-mon, Patamon and Tailmon/Gatomon (depending on the localization) and you were later aiming to get Wormmon, well, sucks to be you. At least the programmers had the courtesy of letting the player use "Borrowed decks" from people to get a chance of getting the card data of the partner Digimon you didn't choose, and their respective Armor Evolution data. [[Guide Dang It|Not that it's explicitly stated by anybody on the game, though]]...

 

 

=== [[Fighting Game]] ===

 

 

*** Brought up again in two mutation modes, Last Gnome on Earth and Healing Gnome. Both modes require you to carry the gnome from start to finish (on any map, not just Dark Carnival this time) and you can't advance to the next level without the gnome in your hands. If the gnome gets tossed over a fence or left behind a [[Point of No Return]], the game is then [[Unwinnable]]

** This might be a shout out to ''[[System Shock 2]]''. In the training mission (before you pick your class etc.) you can find a basketball. If you pick it up, it will stay with in your inventory to the actual game (in between of which there is a three year training period, mind you :)). If you keep it with you all the way up to the recreational sector of the ship (very far into the game), you can throw it into a hoop. You then recieve a secret prize.

** ''Bioshock 2'' has you collecting research information on enemies in exchange for unique character abilities. The early [[Mook]] enemies [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil|stop spawning once you're strong enough]], so if you haven't maxed out their Research Track, say goodbye to their bonus and the [[One Hundred Percent Completion]] achievement for Research.

** Given the finite amount of ADAM one can receive in any given playthrough, certain Plasmids, Gene Tonics and Upgrades can be Lost Forever if you did not purchase them before your ADAM ran out. Likewise, there are only a limited number of Power to the People Vending Machines in the game, which is less than how many times you can upgrade each weapon in total (each Power to the People will be permanently deactivated when you use them). On top of that, if you Kill Sander Cohen, one of these limited machines will also be Lost Forever, further limiting your upgrades.

** Considering you can't backtrack between levels at all in ''[[BioShock (series)]] 2'', any audio diaries you haven't collected when you advance to the next level become this.

* ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' gave users the ability to permanently delete unlocked weapons. For a brief period, players were panicking over the prospects of not being able to re-unlock these weapons, because they were tied to achievements whose records were stored on Valve's servers—in other words, those achievements could not be manually cleared. Then Valve introduced their new [[Randomly Drops]] system of attaining unlockables, and not only could players breathe easily, but suddenly being able to delete duplicate items became VERY important.

** A give-away for unique medals for the Soldier class was held on a first-come first-serve basis. If you missed the giveaway there is no other way to get a medal for your Soldier.

* ''[[Doom]] II'' has a level (''[[MAP 27]]: Monster Condo'') with an area which sneakily seals itself off 30 seconds after the level starts, and is thereafter totally inaccessible (it can be opened only from the inside). It's not too far away from the start point, but unless you know about this sector beforehand there's absolutely no way you'd find it in a normal play through the level. What's worse is that it's a marked Secret Area, so it affects the score on the intermission screen; if you get to the area too slow, you're not getting 100% secrets.

* In ''[[Descent]] II'', some secrets are only accessible by one-shot timed doors or become blocked off by [[Mobile Maze]] barriers. If the door closes, fugeddaboudit.

* In ''[[Red Faction]]: Guerrilla'', the most useful vehicles are the Walker mechs. Because they're so perfect for destroying things, you will almost never see them outside of the specific missions where you use one. There are a few places where you can find a Walker, unless you destroyed the building that was there. In the unlikely event that you either just happened not to destroy the building where one of the Walkers might spawn, or you knew beforehand not to destroy that building, you could very well see a Walker there. Most of these buildings are EDF property which you are encouraged to demolish, and if the building is gone, you can't get a Walker from there anymore.

* ''[[Killing Floor]]'' has added a few promotional playermodels, only obtainable by preordering another game (such as the protagonist of ''The Ball'') or unlocking a specific number of achievements during an event (10 of 13 summer achievements to unlock a [[Steampunk]] version of [[Ensemble Darkhorse|Mr. Foster]]); when the game is released or the event ends, you can no longer get the models.

* In ''[[Strangers Wrath|Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath]]'', we have the Binoculars, which are ''only'' available at the General Store in Gizzard's Gulch (right at the ''start of the game''), and said General Store gets destroyed in the battle with Boilz Booty. Didn't buy the Binoculars? Well then, you won't be able to use the game's [[Sniper Rifle]] equivalent, the [[One-Hit Kill|Sniper Wasps]], as they can only be accessed/used through the Binoculars. [[Guide Dang It|This is mentioned nowhere.]]

 

=== General ===

 

 

* A ''[[Final Fantasy XI]]'' example: There are actually quite a few items you can only get once, and worse, they can't be sold or traded to other players, so you can save space on your character-that-can-do-anything. Most of these aren't exactly that good, but then you have examples like the Bibiki Seashell, a very decent tanking item... that once could be ''accidentally thrown'', before a patch fixed it.

** ''[[Final Fantasy XI]]'''s [[Game Master]]s will generally restore ''one'' item you accidentally lose. Needless to say, this ability is [[Too Awesome to Use]] for most people.

** Another fun thing from the tutorial was a special item that the little girl Gwen gave you. It didn't do anything. Even if you finished the game, there was no use for it, as Gwen was never found, and it was taking up space in your inventory. After some 3 real-life years, the 3rd expansion came out, and Gwen was there. Anyone who had saved the item could now use it for a bonus quest/item. For everyone else: Make a new character.

** Then there're the lost riches of the duping scandal. In 2007, a bunch of players figured out how to manipulate a new mechanic in order to dupe items. Naturally, they started producing mass quantities of Armbraces of Truth (a high-end item that could be traded in to collector NPCs for rare items, which were commonly used as high-denomination currency. [[Arena Net]] shut them down, but not before they were able to buy pretty much everything they wanted. The community is still trying to figure out how many ultrarare, limited-edition minipets were lost when the dupers' accounts were deleted. (The wave of bot-related account bannings in 2010 probably didn't help either, judging by the wails of some of the banned).

** Some of the main story quests have the option to skip them. Doing so loses a few good items or titles forever, or eliminates the ability to convert from [[An Adventurer Is You|Paladin to Dark Knight]]. It also makes some of the later story quests more difficult; though they're still available.

** Special titles are available to players who "break the seal" on newly-released zones and dungeons by matching a particular set of conditions. Since each seal can only be broken once per server, they are unique, and unavailable to other players once the seal is broken. If the player character is deleted (by the player, or by the [[Game Master]]s for rules violations), the seal remains broken, and the title is lost forever.

** You can buy them from another user's shop, most Advent Calender items are valueless until the next year because so many people have them.

** A real example of this trope on that site is the fact that apparently there are a few very old retired items that no longer exist in the game at all because every copy was ate/discarded/destroyed by a random event/ or left on an account that was frozen or deleted due to inactivity, the fact that there are items like this was proven in an editorial, but they refused to say which ones...

** Also, some items like the Half Jug of Wine, Santa Hats, or Party Hats can no longer be obtained, and unlike the above items, are tradeable. This has made them extremely valuable as only a few exist. If a player were to drop one and no one picks it up, then it would be lost forever and that item would grow even more rare.

** How valuable, you ask? Party Hats (colorful paper crowns that were a holiday drop during Runescape's very first Christmas), go for around 700 million gold!

* ''[[Jak and Daxter|Jak 2]]'' has a few one-time-only Precursor Orbs, most notably in the Strip Mine and Construction Site.

** Actually, only the seven orbs in the Metal Head Nest are lost forever if you miss them. All other locations can still be reached after beating the game. Some are just trickier to reach than others, which is probably why some people think they're lost forever if they miss them (the Strip Mine, for example, can still be accessed via the warp portal in the prison cells where you rescue Jak's friends at the beginning of the third act).

** ''[[Super Mario 3D Land]]'' does something similar. Die five times in the same level, and you get a special powerup that makes you invincible. But then, even if you don't use it, the save file stars don't sparkle.

* ''[[Super Star Wars]]: The Empire Strikes Back'' has Force power ups for Luke to collect as part of his training with the Force. Most are in plain slight but others are somewhat hidden in the level. If the player beats the level boss and misses on a few Force powers, they are gone for good the player can be at a handicap later when they use Luke later on. The sequel adverts this by giving Luke all of his powers in the start and doesn't need to find them again.

 

=== [[Roguelike]] ===

** ''[[TOME]]'' has a few dungeons with special named levels, which are different in that they aren't randomly generated, and thus the same in every game. They also have the same unique monsters and artifacts in every game. They ''also'' disappear if you leave (for example via the down staircase) and if you attempt to go back to it, you'll just get a randomly generated level instead. So, you only get one shot at grabbing those artifacts (whether found on the floor or dropped from a unique) before leaving the level, or they're Lost Forever. Make sure to have some free inventory space when you get there.

* In ''[[Ancient Domains of Mystery|ADOM]]'', the Pyramid (which holds two awesome artifacts) is a prime example of this trope. It closes as soon as you reach level 17. Besides, it is a rather difficult place, which means that you want all the skill you can. So...

 

 

* In ''[[Final Fantasy II]]'', you can permanently miss the Blood Sword, a gimmick weapon that works wonders on the final boss. It's in Paul's stash, which he'll share with you if you ask him about the key term "Cyclone." But you can only learn that term from Hilda, and you must do it ''after'' the cyclone appears and ''before'' you call the wyvern so you can enter it.

** The above only applies to later versions, as the original and the PSX version had a second Blood Sword in the Fynn Dungeon.

** Another big one in ''Star Ocean: The Second Story'' is the Sharp Edge. It's a rather weak weapon for Claude that you can only get if you take second place in the fighting tournament, then speak to a specific NPC. Oh, wait, after the tournament was over, you left town BEFORE you spoke to that NPC? Guess what, the sword's Lost Forever. And did you know that Claude can customize it a few times and end up creating his [[Infinity+1 Sword]]? Guess you shouldn't have forgotten to get it!

** Another interesting variance from ''Star Ocean: The Second Story''. There is a particular hidden witch you may talk to in an early town, which promptly becomes uninhabitable a few minutes of game play later, and then much later in another town. If spoken to in both locations, she unlocks Indalacio Limiter Off, an alternate form of the last boss. It's a variance due to the fact that most players ''don't'' want this to happen, as [[That One Boss|he will destroy you]].

** And while it's pretty good at not having quests Lost Forever, it's not good at all with items. Specifically, one of the guild merchants sells a bunch of rare items. He's the only person in the game you can get these items from. You have to kill him for a quest. He also sells a bunch of rare spells, but you can get those again once you're done with the quest line.

*** There's another guild merchant with a unique spell that only ''he'' sells. And he's killed as part of a quest. If you didn't buy the spell from him before he dies, it really is Lost Forever - no other spell in the game has that type of effect!

* The ''[[Xenosaga]]'' series mostly avoided this in full; despite that you couldn't actually return to most areas after having visited them, there was an Environmental Simulator where you could pick up things. However, this only worked (for the most part) with combat areas; in the third game, for example, there's a small sidequest that can be missed. In addition, the first two games have extremely useful items that either have an extremely low drop rate or have to be stolen from bosses.

** ''Xenosaga Episode I'' also had the e-mails, some of which were very unlikely to be found by playing the game normally, [[Guide Dang It]]!. Not only were many of them Lost Forever once you'd gone past them, but missing one would often make it impossible to get later e-mails, as well.

** Likewise, Ness's [[Infinity+1 Sword]] (at least the one of the two that actually works), can only be found on one enemy. In one area. This enemy only appears in the immediate area before the final boss, making it almost useless, especially since you are past the [[Point of No Return]].

* ''[[Star Wars]]: [[Knights of the Old Republic (video game)|Knights of the Old Republic]]'' contains a fairly egregious example: as you progress through the game, {{spoiler|two visitable planets/cities are destroyed by the Sith}} with [[Guide Dang It|little to no forewarning]], and all items and sidequests therein are rendered Lost Forever.

** When it comes to the 4 major DLC in ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'' (''Dead Money'', ''Honest Hearts'', ''Old World Blues'', ''Lonesome Road''), you can return to any of their areas as often as you like upon their completion, with the exception of ''Dead Money's'' Sierra Madre. Once you leave, you can't return, unless you use console commands in the PC version.

** As in Fallout 3, potential companions can be killed in New Vegas. Unlike Fallout 3, though, some companions are found outside, where they're at the mercy of whatever may wander in. A particulary bad spot is Jacobstown, where you meet Lily, which happens to have a [[Demonic Spider|Cazadore]] spawn point near the front gate.

* In ''[[Sword of Mana]]'', several Lost Forevers include an item only acquired with certain skill sets, characters who when killed while holding your gear, or just leaving you to return later loseing your items (bad if the above skill item) and not going back after most sections of the game, remedied after Dark Lord's castle, but then getting a lost forever on all quests and new items after entering Dime Tower.

* In ''[[Dragon Age]]'' pretty much all of your party members except Alistair and Morrigan can be lost to the ravages of this trope if you are not prepared to do the new character quests at the earliest opportunity.

** ''[[Silent Hill 3]]'': if you missed the stungun in Heather's apartment or the submachine gun in the hospital basement, ya missed 'em for good.

** ''[[Silent Hill 4]]'' completely [[Averted Trope|averts]] this by supplying halfway into the game the 'Ever Downward' spiral staircase, which vertically connects all levels in the game, allowing for all the backtracking it takes to retrieve missing items such as the Swords of Obedience and all two Silver Bullets.

** Near the end of ''Code Veronica'', Claire becomes playable until you encounter Steve for the last time. Whatever items or weapons she's carrying will be lost forever when you switch back to Chris near the end of the game.

** ''[[Resident Evil 4]]'' features missable treasures in various parts of the game. While any treasure becomes lost forever if you move on to the next section of the game, the combine-able treasures (beer stein, crown, and golden lynx) in particular are likely to be missed as well as their smaller parts. While this doesn't make the game [[Unwinnable]] it does prevent you from making lots of money and thus delaying your weapons progression.

** Shin Getter Robo's probably the best example of this. In ''Alpha'' and ''Alpha Gaiden'', fans had to choose between keeping Getter Robo G or Shin Getter Robo once Shin Getter appeared (it was the same for Mazinger-Z and Mazinkaiser, but only in ''Alpha''), ''Impact'' forced you to choose between Shin Getter Robo and normal Weissritter or Getter Robo G and Rein Weissritter and choosing a certain path in ''Compact 3'' would either net you an unupgraded Shin Getter Robo or an upgraded Getter Robo G.

* The Linear plotline of all [[Fire Emblem]] games tends to make this fairly common. The enemy killed off the only person capable of recruiting some powerful enemy to your side? TOO BAD! You missed out on the [[Guide Dang It|secret shop]]? No going back to it! Sometimes an enemy will drop a unique item. You know where this is going.

 

 

* In ''[[The Godfather (video game)|The Godfather]]: The Game'' there are [[Thief Bag]]s with cash in every mission that will disappear after the mission is over. Fortunately, it's just cash, which you can easily earn elsewhere.

 

* Any website that doesn't allow the Internet Archive to search its old pages.

** Every single video that [[Unperson|Daniel "That Aussie Guy" Rizzo]] made for the site.

** [[The Nostalgia Chick]]'s controversial review of the ''[[Dune]]'' movie.

* Fanfiction.net never lets any [[Fan Fiction]] remain on the site forever. Which is sad, since the Wayback Machine can't archive anything there...

* Public user photo site Fotopic went into administration in 2011, taking with it 8 years worth of images, websites, galleries... the lot. And with the Wayback Machine unable to save anything from it, it's all gone for good.

 

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Fake Difficulty]]

[[Category:Video Game Items and Inventory]]

[[Category:Depressing Tropes]]