Not Completely Useless: Difference between revisions

Whatever you use seems to get you slaughtered in the end, and the only viable way you can think of is either a long battle of attrition or a near-impossible precision strike. As a last resort before you throw the controller out the window, you try something (whether it be an item, spell, weapon, move or another thing) that you pretty much forgot about as it seemed [[Useless Useful Spell|utterly useless]]. Then you proceed to blast through the "difficult" moment without breaking a sweat, as this "useless" thing has just the right properties to get you through this situation... Then it remains utterly useless for 99.9% of the rest of the game.

 

 

Note that not all examples are as extreme as the one given at the start; this is any time where something is useless for most of a game but has an advantage over your main tools for some section or other, even if it is not a particularly large one.

** Another classic case of this is the Warlock spell Detect Invisibility. Until Mages got a corresponding skill this was completely useless (Rogues use ''Stealth'', which is a different mechanic) with a few select locations that have invisible enemies. Even there it's not necessary to use the spell, but it avoids nasty surprises (especially in Naxxramas where the first player the monster spots usually gets killed in one hit.

** Yet another rarely used skill is "Mind Soothe/Soothe Beast". What does it do? It reduces the radius of the target in which it attacks players. If the spell fails, it attacks the target. Nowadays almost forgotten, there were a few places where players could avoid some fights with it, and in a specific case it's often used as a means to let the priest get close enough to the target safely to mind control it. Speaking of which...

** Yet another overlooked spell is "Dampen/Amplify Magic", a buff that either decreases or increases magic effects (both damaging and healing). Since healing is almost always required and magic damage all too common, it's pretty much restricted to a choice few bosses that predominantly hurt with physical damage as a means to make healing a bit easier. The dampening variant is reasonably useful for mages playing on their own though, since they have no healing spells.

* Undead enemies in ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics Advance]]'' rise again a few turns after being killed, unless a skill like Burial is used on their remains. Needless to say, those skills are completely useless anywhere else in the game. In the sequel the same goes for the Bard skill Requiem, which damages undead.

* In ''[[Persona 4]]'' there are items that deal a fixed amount of damage, low even for the early parts of the first dungeon (and you don't find them till you get near the end of said dungeon!) make short work of [[Metal Slime|Metal Slimes]]. Also good for exploiting elemental weaknesses without burning SP. Later on, however, you get the Magatama items, which deal 150 damage to all enemies; you'll likely find them useful on the bosses for the striptease and [[Retraux|Void Quest]] dungeons.

* ''[[Team Fortress 2 (Video Game)|Team Fortress 2]]'' does this with several weapon choices. For instance, the Flare Gun is a replacement for the Shotgun as a Pyro which fires single-shot flares that do minor damage and ignite targets over long distances. However, at those distances, flares are hard to aim reliably and enemies can see them coming from a mile away and dodge them easily, while at closer rangers you may as well simply use your Flamethrower since the single-shot nature of the weapon renders it useless compared to the Shotgun when you need to pump repeated shots into your enemy. As such, the Flare Gun is normally relegated to a minor support role in distracting enemies from a distance, softening down crowds of enemies before your teammates engage them, or heckling Snipers trying to take potshots at your teammates. However, the Flare Gun's saving grace comes in its ability to land a guaranteed [[Critical Hit]] on enemies that are already on fire, so, if you need to provide heavy support fire for a friendly Pyro who's already torching enemies in the distance, or take down that revved-up Heavy in three shots, or simply hold down a long, narrow chokepoint like the 2Fort sewers alongside another Pyro, the Flare Gun is a man's best friend.

** Oh, it gets better. It's not merely useless if you drink it. It's useless if you throw it at a monster. It's useless if you dip an item in it. It's never an alchemical ingredient. And many, if not most, potions are useful for more than one of those reasons.

* In ''[[Iji (Video Game)|Iji]]'', the Resonance Reflector is normally too slow to recharge to be much use for you; you'd be better off [[Why Don't Ya Just Shoot Him|blasting the enemies with a]] BFG instead of trying to reflect their own projectiles back at them. You'd think it would be good for a [[Pacifist Run]] (They're killing themselves, right?), only for [[Friendly Fireproof|gameplay reasons]] the reflected projectiles count as yours, so no it isn't. Then comes the final boss, who has immensely strong armor... [[Playing Tennis With the Boss|and a weapon that does far more damage than anything you've got, and that can be reflected.]]

[[Category:Video Game Items and Inventory]]

[[Category:Not Completely Useless]]