large missable content in video games

[Multievolution]

Usually it's nothing too major, a weapon here or there for example, but sometimes it's very significant and can completely change the game, in my case because the handmaiden isn't a possibile companion if you play as a female in knights of the old republic 2 I never knew she was playable for years, sad too because she's easily the more interesting of the gender specific companions and imo the most interesting of them all (also odd considering female Jedi is the "canon" protagonist as far as lore is concerned.)

Luckily mods on pc can get past that little issue, but some are not so easily fixed.

 

[Soulflarz]

Half of persona 1 is basically a seperate route you can select in the intro that was completely cut from the original NA release. Kinda wild.

 

[CaptainNuevo]

Castlevania Symphony of the Night, the second half of the game.

 

[el_galvon]

Painted World of Ariamis, a whole secret area in the first Dark Souls, that it's kinda hard to even know it exists without some sort of guide

 

[Noctis Winters]

Metal Gear Solid 1 , 2 and 3 Codec calls.
And the entire plot of MGSV , via caDEVELOPMENTPROJECTCOMPLETE

 

[Ryuelli]

Persona 5 Royal was my first exposure to Persona and I missed the entire final semester because I didn't understand that I had to hang out with a new character that I didn't know was new (since I never played P5...) to do so.

I also save over save slots to keep things organized, so I wasn't exactly happy when I realized I spent 80 hours on a game and missed the final (optional) bit. I hope it comes to PC someday so that I can play through it, although I've heard it really isn't that great.

 

[ElephantShell]

Castle Cainhurst from Bloodborne is pretty convoluted to get to but is a sick area. I missed it completely on my first playthrough.

 

[Grips]

FF7 has lots of missables, from hidden characters that have a full story to cinematics like the ones in Shinra Mansion

 

[Fat4all]

the big side-area with the first dragon you can run into in God of War 2018

my friend didn't know he could open the gate to it

 

[Mindfreak191]

I though I was going crazy lol:

What’s the biggest thing you’ve accidentally missed when playing a game?

This might be more so for choice based games, though even single player experiences allow you to miss the odd weapon or even a cutscene, curious to see if anyone has any. I’ve missed out on weapons many times, and in dragon age inquisition I even missed a companion at one point, without realising.

www.resetera.com

 

[Capra]

OMORI has an interesting version of this. You can go into a B route with extra bosses and areas, but doing so funnels you into a bad ending and prevents you from seeing the real world segments.

 

[Rosebud]

Undertale can be 2 different games depending on your route.

 

[KOfLegend]

Persona 5 Royal was my first exposure to Persona and I missed the entire final semester because I didn't understand that I had to hang out with a new character that I didn't know was new (since I never played P5...) to do so.

I also save over save slots to keep things organized, so I wasn't exactly happy when I realized I spent 80 hours on a game and missed the final (optional) bit. I hope it comes to PC someday so that I can play through it, although I've heard it really isn't that great.

Click to shrink...

Huh? I thought the stuff in the extra arc was widely regarded as some of the best content in the game. It was to me!

 

[zMiiChy-]

Persona 5 Royal was my first exposure to Persona and I missed the entire final semester because I didn't understand that I had to hang out with a new character that I didn't know was new (since I never played P5...) to do so.

I also save over save slots to keep things organized, so I wasn't exactly happy when I realized I spent 80 hours on a game and missed the final (optional) bit. I hope it comes to PC someday so that I can play through it, although I've heard it really isn't that great.

Click to shrink...

First game to come to my mind too
Although I made sure to fulfill all the requirements for the final semester, I ended up dropping the game during the seventh dungeon because I just didn't care about it anymore


I did hear that extra stuff was actually better than most of the main game though

 

[N.47H.4N]

I missed Cainhurst Castle and Upper Cathedral the first time I finished Bloodborne, which made the new game even better.

 

[DaciaJC]

Painted World of Ariamis, a whole secret area in the first Dark Souls, that it's kinda hard to even know it exists without some sort of guide

Click to shrink...

Hell, trying to figure out how to access even the DLC was pretty ridiculous.

 

[Deleted member 16908]

The entire Artorias of the Abyss expansion in Dark Souls 1.

 

[Dr. Alu]

The Witcher 2.
In chapter 2 you decide for a faction which has consequences throughout the game.

 

[Max|Payne]

Doesn't The Witcher 2 basically split into two different games halfway through based on a big decision?

 

[chandoog]

It's probably not what the OP is asking for, but tales of vesperia is notorious for having basically all of his side content missable and not marked in any way on the map, so unless you're following a very specific guide which tells you exactly when and who to talk to, there's a good chance you're going to miss a lot of side and world building content.

 

[Jimnymebob]

Dragon's Dogma has strict cutoff points for sidequests, and some are kind of out of the way as well.
You can easily go through and skip a whole bunch, either accidentally or on purpose.

 

[CubeApple76]

Witcher 2 has you miss half the game by design based on one of your choices. Kinda crazy they basically developed two whole branches in the game knowing most people wouldn't ever see half of it

 

[Fat4all]

I missed Cainhurst Castle and Upper Cathedral the first time I finished Bloodborne, which made the new game even better.

Click to shrink...

when i was kidnapped and thrown in a bag i lost my shit

bloodborne is so fucking cool

 

[The Dark Soul]

Persona 5 Royal was my first exposure to Persona and I missed the entire final semester because I didn't understand that I had to hang out with a new character that I didn't know was new (since I never played P5...) to do so.

I also save over save slots to keep things organized, so I wasn't exactly happy when I realized I spent 80 hours on a game and missed the final (optional) bit. I hope it comes to PC someday so that I can play through it, although I've heard it really isn't that great.

Click to shrink...

That last semester is in my opinion the best part of the game. The best music, writing, and boss battles are all there.

Also, the game keeps telling you to hang with those characters by a certain date several times, it really isn't that missable LOL.

 

[JazzmanZ]

Dark souls 3 has two whole areas (well one is just a darker version of the starting area) that are easily missable if you don't know about the Dragon Stance or invisible wall.

 

[zaxil456]

The early COD zombie maps had a story but I think only like 5% of players were aware of that before BO2. You had to either listen to radio calls or do the elaborate easter eggs. Even then it was super hard to put together.

BO2 and on, they went full on cinematic and started adding in cutscenes, and people still don't really know what the story is about.

 

[FarSight XR-20]

Obviously games with choices and different roads (like Eternal Darkness, Starfox 64, Heavy Rain, Detroit, Starfox Command, The Outer Worlds, Fallout: New Vegas, Quantum Break, etc...).

I basically missed the whole last level and real ending in Heavy Rain because

Spoiler

my last character died in Shelby's appartment because, when trying to escape the fire, I thought she would survive by jumping from the window. And of course she died...

and didn't even realized it until months later.

 

[GTOAkira]

Final Fantasy 6 has that one character that you can completely miss on if you dont get eat by a certain enemy on a certain island.

 

[Dukie85]

nvm

 

[Ryuelli]

Also, the game keeps telling you to hang with those characters by a certain date several times, it really isn't that missable LOL.

Click to shrink...

I disagree, I don't think it makes it obvious enough that you lose out on hours of the game if you don't. I just assumed I'd miss an item or something.

 

[Conditional-Pancakes]

That room in the music store you may or may not visit in The last of Us Part 2...

 

[The pizza guy]

well, something that really annoyed me are all the subquests locked behing the gacha RNG in xenoblade 2. they should have give the player a way to obtain all the characters in the ng+ or something

 

[Dreamwriter]

Persona 4: The Golden. Just like someone was saying about P5R, P4G had a character you had to get a high rating for to get access to the end of the game. I never did, never knew that was a thing. And when I found out, I didn't want to play through the entire game again just to see that content.

 

[UraMallas]

I put 100+ hours into Like A Dragon but never touched the business stuff. Turns out there is a whole party member and storyline locked behind it I only found out about months later when someone was talking about a party member I had never heard of.

 

[Dangerman1337]

New Super Mario DS because there's several worlds that I missed out very easily and never figured out how to get into them.

 

[Raysoul]

Xenoblade 2's gacha characters and their side quests.

 

[ericsp17]

Witcher 2 is the big one. A split second decision and the rest of the game plays out very differently. It got another 40 hour playthrough out of me and its probably a major reason 2 is my favorite.

 

[Chopchop]

Bloodborne is like at least half missable content. The mandatory path is surprisingly light.

Immersive sims have a lot of missable content by design, so that you can find out as much or as little as you want.

 

[Quinton]

Tales of Vesperia has a nuts amount of easily missable stuff.

 

[Clive]

The Shenmue games have a ton of different solutions for how to progress and it's very easy to miss optional scenes. Wouldn't say most of the missable content is essential for the overarching plot but you can have completely different scenarios for getting to those story scenes.

 

[chandoog]

Tales of Vesperia has a nuts amount of easily missable stuff.

Click to shrink...

Yes, seriously. There is SO MUCH world building and character stories you miss if you don't follow a guide.

Hell, you meet a central antagonist very early in the game in a chain of side stories which basically establishes his entire backstory.

 

[BentMyWookiee]

Front Mission 3 has an entirely different story line based off of a very early game choice you make. It's practically two games in one.

 

[Paroni]

Divinity 2 (Dragon Knight Saga, not Original Sin 2) has a mind reading mechanic which gives you both exposition and character's secrets that costs XP, which may discourage players from using it. The game is designed so that mind reading (mostly) makes up for the costs through treasure and skill points you get from it, so it doesn't really fuck players over in leveling but the first time players worried of wasting their XP can't really know that and may miss out.

 

[flashman92]

Yakuza 7 locks a field skill behind a class. All you need to do is switch to that class once to unlock it forever, but the game doesn't really tell you this, and you can go the whole game without this ability without even knowing it. The ability is required to get gold keys to unlock golden chests locked all around the city, along with a bunch of other unique items.

 

[julia crawford]

The other half of the map in Pokémon gold or silver

 

[Mentalist]

Witcher 2 is the obvious elephant in the room. Most of the best-written quests in Witcher 3 are also optional, but usually there's some gentle prods at you to get them done. Though there are several quests featuring returning characters from TW2 that you could lock yourself out of, if said characters died in TW2, and you confirm that they died early on in TW3 when you're recapping your story.

Another favourite of mine is Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. if you just follow the main story path from one boss to the next, you'll miss about half the game areas that exist largely to give you extra glyphs (combat skills). Since the game is a 3D metroidvania with no map, good luck figuring out how to even get to some of those without a guide.

 

[Deleted member 3208]

Not a large missable, but if you skip the life upgrades in Prince of Persia Warrior Within, you don't get another boss and the true ending. And even if you get all the life upgrades, don't pick the Water Sword and you are still locked from the true ending.

Etrian Odyssey 3 also has three routes. The first two routes are straightforward and you only miss the boss of the other route. The third one, meanwhile, is quite hidden and you must likely need a guide to unlock it. There is also an area in the fourth stratum that is locked behind this route.

 

[The Argus]

RDR2 is just so jam packed with stuff, it's amazing that things are still being found. So many NPCs and events that are completely random. Really need to play again.

 

[BabyShams]

Missables are why I don't go in completely blind anymore.

I'm not playing 50 hours in FF12 to find out I ruined my chance at the best spear in the game.

I'm not playing 120 hours of Persona 5 for the second time in Royal to miss an entire semester.

 

[misho8723]

It's gotta be Witcher 2 - based on your decision in Act 1, the whole Act 2 is different and I mean DIFFERENT = different area, different quests, different characters, dialogs, choices, monsters, etc.. and based on that, Act 3 can look different (the same area, but the environment/map can have some differences) based on your decisions in Act 2.. and from the whole story you only get like 2/3 and if you want to knew all about the story and characters, you must play the game atleast 2 times and play through the two different Acts 2

You can be either in this military (Kaedweni) camp in Act 2...

... or you can end up being in this town - Vergen

And based on your choices in that act, the environment in Act 3 can have some interesting changes