Lost Forever: Difference between revisions

 

Not to be confused with [[Ruined FOREVER]]!!!, although it can generate degrees of it.

 

* 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.

** To elaborate on getting the best ending: You'd naturally assume that you would want to {{spoiler|save Professor Booster when he falls to the bottom of a pit in the Labyrinth}}. However, if you do that, two items necessary to get the best ending (and one necessary to {{spoiler|save Curly's life}}) are lost. Also, a little bit after that, there's a rest point that can easily be missed, as you are flying past it in a high-pressure stream of water. Even if you followed all of the other steps, if you don't {{spoiler|go into that room, sleep in the bed, read the computer monitor, read the bookshelf, read the computer monitor again, talk to Curly, then talk to her again ''and'' choose to take her with you, she will die and}} you'll miss out on the best ending.

* Prior to version 1.3 of ''[[Project Starfighter|Project: Starfighter]]'', selling your secondary weapon caused you to have no secondary weapon at all. Since the plain rocket weapon cannot be bought, this meant you couldn't get it back once you got a new secondary weapon to replace it.

 

* Should you find yourself at the very beginning of the old [[Infocom]] ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (video game)|The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy]]'' game, you will want to get the toothbrush. It's not the only thing you'll need from that first stage, either. Once Earth's destroyed, of course, you're sunk.

** ">get all" is your friend.

* [[Myst]] and [[Riven]] are very hard to make [[Unwinnable]]. But ''Myst 3: Exile" has a snag quite late in the game: if you get the sequence of actions wrong when you confront Saavedro, he'll toss the [[MacGuffin|Releeshan book]] off a cliff... and you'll never get it back.

 

* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!|Nightmare Troubadour]]'' for the DS features an accidental example due to a glitch in some versions of the game: after beating Marik, the chance to duel Pegasus is lost forever, along with the chance to trade with him for the one-of-a-kind Imperial Order card. At one point there was a giveaway that would put the card on your game, but that is most likely over now.

* 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]]...

 

 

* Anything related to Norahike in ''[[Choro Q|Choro Q HG4]]'' after {{spoiler|you beat Otto's grand prix.}} This includes loads of synthesis parts obtained from him which require you to spam on entering his house until you get everything.

 

 

* In the bizarre spinoff to ''[[Oregon Trail]]'' called ''[[The Amazon Trail]]'', you can catch a pirarucu, a fish that's as long as a bus in the [[Fishing Minigame]]. It only swims by once, but it takes up half the screen and if you don't catch it, that's your problem.

 

 

* ''[[Mortal Kombat Deception]]'' has a chest with one of its unlockable fighters, Kenshi, in the small village where your character begins the game as a child. Leaving the village causes your character to grow older, so the game prevents temporal anomalies by locking you out once you've left. If you leave before finding the chest containing the Kenshi unlock, it will be Lost Forever - the only way to get it is to start a new save file.

 

 

* ''[[Borderlands]]'' has the Rider, a fairly standard scopeless sniper rifle. The gun itself is a reference to ''[[A Christmas Story]]'', both in its similarity in appearance to the BB gun Ralphie wanted for Christmas, and to the spoiler text -- "Careful... you might put someone's eye out" -- [[Shout-Out|which is a quote from the movie]]. It can be found in a hidden basement in New Haven, the entrance to which is only unlocked while a single mission -- {{spoiler|Another Piece of the Puzzle}}—is active. Once the Vault Key piece is picked up, the door to the hidden basement locks again, and the Rider is lost {{spoiler|until you get back to New Haven in Playthrough 2}}.

** An interesting point of note is that the flavor text of the gun is a subtle hint regarding the giant Rakk Hive you have to kill in order to pick up the Vault Key piece. {{spoiler|Shoot it in the eyes for a critical hit.}}

 

 

* In games featuring a magic system that involves getting enemies' skills (such as ''[[Final Fantasy]]'''s Blue Magic), there will often be spells that can only be learned from bosses. Kill them without learning the spell, and it's Lost Forever.

* Arguably, games that use achievements that are tied to online play can fall under this. Game servers are not kept up forever and if you didn't get any achievements based on an online action when the severs are shut down for good, the achievement will never be unlocked. This gets worse if the achievement requires an action from another player and they keep doing things to prevent you from getting the achievement. For example, ''[[Left 4 Dead]] 2'' has Strength in Numbers, which is unlocked by starting a Team VS/Scavenge game and winning. Since the game is known for having people [[Rage Quit]] all the time, many people will probably never get this achievement.

 

 

* The developers of ''[[Diablo]] III'' are considering introducing a setpiece revolving around a collapsing dungeon full of treasure that players have to make a decision on whether to run and save themselves or collect the loot and potentially die. Given the random nature of the game, whatever items are in the dungeon will probably be lost if not picked up then. Please, somebody stop them.

** Considering that all loot in the Diablo series is randomly generated, any items that get lost when the tomb collapses could probably be found anywhere else. Based on experience with the actual dungeon at Blizzcon, the true value was that the tomb was extremely abundant in Resplendant Chests (like, 2 in every room), which are guaranteed to drop a rare item and 2-5 magic items. Plus everything resets when you quit and come back, so you have a chance to go again if the entrance randomly appears.

 

 

* Many [[Free to Play]] [[MMORPG]]s give exclusive items to participants in each of the game's beta stages [[Perpetual Beta|(pre-release beta stages, that is, usually Closed, Open and/or Invitation Only stages)]] to honor their participation and as a partial compensation for the necessity of wiping their hard-built characters before opening day. Those joining after the official release naturally can't ever obtain them unless the service provider distributes them for new channel or expansion betas.

* 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.

 

 

* ''[[Metroid: Other M]]'' keeps this trope running in the [[Metroid]] franchise. At one point in Sector 2, there is an area with a Missile Tank, which is behind a pillar. Unless you [[Guide Dang It|have a guide]], chances are you'll miss it. Wouldn't be so bad except that the area suddenly succumbs to an avalanche after you solve the puzzle. This avalanche covers the entire area and you can never go back and get the items you missed, even after you beat the game.

* ''[[Metroid Fusion]]'' has a couple of upgrades that become inaccessible after you get the Screw Attack. Most of them are in the section where you get the Morph Ball, which is sealed off during the fight with {{spoiler|the SA-X}}. There's a total of four power ups here that you can't get to.

 

 

* In ''[[Puzzle Quest]]: Challenge Of The Warlords'', every enemy (and learnable spell) can be attained at leisure... except for the Imp spells (Burn, Taunt, and Zap). The Imps only appear on one spot of the map, which only unlocks after you've completed "The Marriage" subquest in Enmouth, and will disappear the moment you return to report to the Queen. You have to stay there and defeat three Imps in a row before capturing one, and the aforementioned spells turn them into [[Demonic Spiders]] if you're playing as a Fighter or Wizard.

* ''[[World of Goo]]'' has this in a much smaller degree in the form of a [[Bragging Rights Reward]] known as an "OCD". There's a glitch in the game preventing the gamer from getting the OCD Achievement in the level "MOM's Computer" after completing that level once.

 

 

* In ''[[Total War|Medieval 2]]'', generals can sometimes gain Ancillaries, technically characters following them around but essentially a stat boost. Most of them are gained through specific but generic actions like winning battles or being in a town/castle when a given building is completed. However, some of the most powerful ancillaries are historical ones like William Wallace or Machiavelli, and those can only be gained in very specific circumstances, not known to the player unless he has peered through the game files. Joan of Arc, for example, can only be gained during a 20ish year span (1 turn being 6 months in the game), only for French players, only if France and England are at war late in the game (which is unlikely, since both countries are in each other's way, and one usually destroys the other in the early game) and only if the given general wins a battle against the English ''in which the odds were against him, but not too much''.

* [[Enemy Exchange Program|Salvaging]] in ''[[Homeworld]]'' is [[Game Breaker|tremendously powerful]] because it allows you to exceed the arbitrary build limits for your fleet. For example, you can build only four heavy cruisers, so any that you fail to capture in the missions they appear are Lost Forever. Due to [[Cosmetically Different Sides]], heavy cruisers are arguably not a true example because you only miss out on ''extras''. A purer example occurs with the Gardens of Kadesh missions, where the enemy units are unique. [[Beam Spam|Multi-Beam Frigates]] pack a meaner punch and a [[Everything's Better with Spinning|much cooler attack]] than your ion beam frigates. You can nab at least 18 of them, which in a wall formation will make short work of any ship.

 

 

* ''[[DJMAX]] Technika'''s Weekly courses. [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Each one is available for one week]], then is gone permanently, replaced by the next Weekly course.

** And for that matter, ''Technika'''s Platinum Crew Service. In mid-July 2010, the Korean servers for Platinum Crew went offline, forcing arcades to upgrade to ''DJMAX Techinka 2'' if their customers wish to continue playing online content.

 

 

* In [[Roguelikes]] (''[[Angband]]'', for example), items are usually unidentified when you first find them, and they can always be generated again later. This includes unique "artifact" items, but only if you ''don't identify them'', since artifacts are only generated once ''per game''. If you ID an item and it turns out to be an artifact, it is Lost Forever when you leave the level and you're not carrying it.

** ''[[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 ''[[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.

 

 

* In ''[[Freelancer]]'', there is a very good ship called the Anubis that you have exactly four opportunities to obtain: if you don't get it (which is frankly rather silly, as it's dirt cheap) within those four chances, or sell it afterwards, it's Lost Forever.

* Many of the older ''[[Harvest Moon]]'' games have items and characters that will become unavailable after a certain amount of time. Most famously is HM64, where Cliff and Karen will leave town if you do not get their relationship levels high enough - depriving you of two potential rival marriages and 100% completion on your recipe list. The death of {{spoiler|Ellen}} is avoidable, if you know what to watch out for (If she's sitting on the side of her house, instead of the front, DO NOT APPROACH). But if she dies, she'll take her recipe with her and knock a good chunk of points off Elli's affection levels.

 

 

* The [[Metal Gear]] series often averts this. For instance, if the player misses the SOCOM pistol at the start of ''MGS1'', he will have one sitting in front of him during the first major firefight. In ''MGS3'', if the player fails to locate the [[Night Vision Goggles]] in the cavern, EVA will simply hand him a set in a later cutscene, etc.

** There ''are'' still some items that can be Lost Forever, particularly optional items, if they are not picked up as soon as they are available. Examples include the torch from ''MGS3'' (find in the cave before The Pain boss battle or never again) and AKS-74u silencer in MGS2. Neither are overly necessary and both actually require more effort than just leaving them, but for 100% completion...

 

 

* the ''[[Fatal Frame]]'' games contain quite a few ghosts that only appear once, for a very short period of time, and are often very difficult to capture on film unless you know exactly where and when they will appear and have a lightning-fast shutter finger.

* In ''[[Silent Hill]]'', there are many [[Point of No Return|points of no return]] that can render items and weapons missable, for example, during the fight with the Twinfeeler (caterpillar, which later becomes a moth) boss, there is a rifle (may be required for the [[Final Boss]]) in one of the corners of the fighting arena. If you didn't happen to notice it and pick it up, it will never be available again. Similarly, there is a sledgehammer in the Nightmare Hospital boiler room, which will be Lost Forever once you go back to the "normal" world. And God help you if you passed a [[Point of No Return]] without enough ammo or health to fight the upcoming boss.

 

 

* In ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics Advance]]'' the morpher class requires captured monsters to learn skills from. The goblin and thunder drake monsters become Lost Forever if not captured early on as they only appear in non-random storyline missions and so become "extinct" after those missions are completed.

** Doesn't help that they're two Lost Forevers in one - not only do they need to be captured so that Morphers can become them, but they also teach Blue Mage abilities - and they can't be learned from Morphers.

 

 

* In ''[[X-COM]]: Terror from the Deep'', the Sonic Pistol is phased out by the aliens after a few months. This can screw you over if a) none actually ever spawned during that time, or b) you sold all the ones that did because you didn't know about it. Researching the Sonic Pistol is tremendously important, because it's both the best assault weapon in the game, and a required prerequisite for the Sonic Oscillator, the best craft weapon. It is possible to win without these, so it isn't [[Unwinnable]], but it's a lot harder.

** This game has a couple of research tree bugs:

 

 

* In ''[[Fate/hollow ataraxia]]'' if you don't see some of the filler scenes before moving to the plot scenes, they're no longer available. And if you don't get 100% completion you can't unlock a bonus scene.

 

 

* Entire ''missions'' in ''[[Grand Theft Auto]]'' (and its ''GTA: London'' expansion packs) are Lost Forever if you fail them. When the jobs you're offered start getting... [[Nintendo Hard|challenging]] (think assassination attempts on politicians protected by machinegun-wielding bodyguards), let's just say it's a good thing that level completion is tied to your bank account, not storyline missions.

* In ''[[Grand Theft Auto III]],'' it's incredibly difficult to complete the police vehicle missions once you leave Portland {{spoiler|because all the members of the Mafia that recently betrayed the protagonist shoot at your vehicle, usually destroying it in a matter of seconds.}} Since those missions are required for [[100% Completion]], this screwed many gamers who decided to procrastinate on doing them.

 

 

 

* Not exactly Lost Forever, but if you didn't get the [[Magic: The Gathering|Power Nine]] when ''Beta'' came out, you'd better be a professional gamer, or you'll never see the point. Same with dual lands.

 

 

* ''[[Y: The Last Man|Y the Last Man]]'': Done via [[Continuity Nod]]. During the ''One Small Step'' arc, [[Escape Artist]] main character Yorick is stuck in unpickable handcuffs designed by Mossad of Israel's Secret Service. A couple of arcs later, we see a flashback of a magic store owner offering him the only skeleton key that works on those cuffs. Yorick must have been kicking himself.

 

* The Honjo Masamune, probably the most famous sword made by the swordsmith Gorō Nyūdō Masamune, was by and large considered the single finest katana ever made and was a personal treasure of the Tokugawa Shogunate, as well as a Japanese National Treasure. In 1945, Prince Tokugawa Iemasa entrusted the Honjo Masamune and 14 other swords to a Police station in Mejiro, only for them to be given to a sergeant of the 7th Air Cavalry of the United States Military one month later. Since then, however, the whereabouts of the sword are completely unknown.

* There are 106 [[Missing Episode|missing episodes]] of [[Doctor Who]], destroyed to make room in the BBC archives.

** And countless other lost TV series and episodes, as seen on [[Keep Circulating the Tapes]].

 

 

* ''[[The Bible]]'' teaches that most ''human beings'' are this. People are "lost" when they sin, in which case they must be "found" (saved) before they die. If they are not, they are [[Hell|permanently lost]], with no hope of ever being retrieved.

 

 

* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' adventure WG6 ''Isle of the Ape''. Near the end of the module six jewels worth a total of 300,000 gold pieces float to the ground. If the party doesn't pick them up within one round (1 minute) they vanish forever.

 

 

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

* From [[That Guy With The Glasses]]:

** A video by [[That Dude in the Suede]] that ranted against Youtube's takedowns of [[The Nostalgia Critic]] episodes which caught the interest of [[Doug Walker]] and in turn was responsible for That Guy With The Glasses/Channel Awesome becoming a showcase for more contributors other than Walker is lost and gone forever. The reason? Suede said he'd delete the video when the dispute between Walker and [[YouTube]] had run its course and Suede had saved the video on a now long-gone college computer.

 

 

* Absolutely endemic.

* ''[[Fighting Fantasy]]'' could be particularly bad about this. In "Black Vein Prophecy" and "Creature of Havoc", you could miss useful items or powers ''on a dice roll''. ("Black Vein Prophecy" was particularly grim, since the dice roll in question was failing a [[Luck Stat]] roll.)