Stuff you didn't notice... until now.

[Togath]

So while I was playing Skyrim last night, after playing it for several years now...
...I noticed the herbs "elves ear" and "frost mirriam", while appearing sold by many merchants and in most kitchens, cannot be found in their live form ANYWHERE.
Anyone else ever have a similar "been playing a game for a long time and are familiar with it, and then 'BOOM!' you realize you somehow hadn't noticed something all this time" moment?

[Nilehus]

Playing Ocarina of Time again when I was a teenager for the first time since I was 9 years old. Didn't realize when I was 9 that when Saria, Darunia, etc became sages, they had to die.

Made it a lot more sad.

[Mando Knight]

...I noticed the herbs "elves ear" and "frost mirriam", while appearing sold by many merchants and in most kitchens, cannot be found in their live form ANYWHERE.

Bay leaves and cinnamon can be found in many a modern kitchen, but I dare you to find some after a hike in a nature preserve near the tundra.

[DuctTapeKatar]

Ahri from League of Legends is a nine-tailed fox. However, when looking closely at where the tails connect on the model, they actually come from her back, not her tailbone. Looks like someone needs to practice their shape-shifting...

[Spore]

Playing Ocarina of Time again when I was a teenager for the first time since I was 9 years old. Didn't realize when I was 9 that when Saria, Darunia, etc became sages, they had to die.

Made it a lot more sad.

Huh? I don't think dying is the right word. "Being locked away in a demiplane for all eternity to protect the Triforce" is more accurate but lousier.

Along with that: Rauru is Kaepora Gaebora and guides you through your journey. (Maybe that is why he wasnt present to defend the Temple of Time vs. Ganondorf?). Along with the dire situation on the Lon Lon Farm, neglient father and scheming farm-hands, the adult timeline is very dark, probably a tad darker than Majoras Mask.

Also, which father leaves his teenage daughter with a guy that used the tyrant's influence to take over his farm? Unless Ganondorf ruled that Malon could be Ingo's wife?

So while I was playing Skyrim last night, after playing it for several years now...
...I noticed the herbs "elves ear" and "frost mirriam", while appearing sold by many merchants and in most kitchens, cannot be found in their live form ANYWHERE.
Anyone else ever have a similar "been playing a game for a long time and are familiar with it, and then 'BOOM!' you realize you somehow hadn't noticed something all this time" moment?

Because of that I am starting to think that 'elven ears' refers to ACTUAL elven ears. They're found on Falmer (the only elven race where the Dragonborn dares to mutilate the corpses) and they restore magic and fortify archery, two very elven qualities. The ingame image ruins my theory however.

I don't have a particularly good one but here goes nothing: Flowey, the friendly flower from the beginning of the game Undertale stalks you the whole game. If you backtrack, you can see his model for a few frames before vanishing. Maybe this character isn't as trustworthy as you thought he is...

[Nilehus]

Huh? I don't think dying is the right word. "Being locked away in a demiplane for all eternity to protect the Triforce" is more accurate but lousier.

Darunia went into a locked room with the fire dragon to buy some time... By the time you get there, he's nowhere to be seen, and awakens as a Sage after you defeat the Goron-eating dragon. To me at least, that implies he died, and needed the Temple reclaimed before his spirit could awaken as a Sage.

Either way, still a cruddy way to spend eternity, as you said. Don't know if I'd go so far as to say it's darker than MM, but a looot darker than I caught as a kid.

Another one I thought of was FF8. To young me, a 16 year old was a grownup, so I completely missed all the child soldier stuff and all the psychological problems they had from it. I just thought Squall was a jerk.

[Keltest]

Darunia went into a locked room with the fire dragon to buy some time... By the time you get there, he's nowhere to be seen, and awakens as a Sage after you defeat the Goron-eating dragon. To me at least, that implies he died, and needed the Temple reclaimed before his spirit could awaken as a Sage.

Either way, still a cruddy way to spend eternity, as you said. Don't know if I'd go so far as to say it's darker than MM, but a looot darker than I caught as a kid.

Another one I thought of was FF8. To young me, a 16 year old was a grownup, so I completely missed all the child soldier stuff and all the psychological problems they had from it. I just thought Squall was a jerk.

Rauru was able to go around being an owl and stuff though, so it isn't like the sages are just sitting around playing cards in between games (Plus, they aren't in Wind Waker and Ganondorf is freed, so something must have happened to them, whether they died or got replaced).

[Brother Oni]

Another one I thought of was FF8. To young me, a 16 year old was a grownup, so I completely missed all the child soldier stuff and all the psychological problems they had from it. I just thought Squall was a jerk.

It's more complicated than that.

The Guardian Forces all the GARDEN recruits use eat memories. All the main cast (Squall, Zell, Quistis, Irvine, Selphie and Seifer) grew up in the same orphanage, but because of their reliance on GFs, they've lost the exact memories but retained the emotional content. It's why Irvine is so cranky when he turns up - he was recruited into GARDEN at a later age, so he remembers everybody together at the orphanage (Selphie especially), but nobody seems to remember him.

Squall has kept his abandonment issues (he was never adopted, plus his 'big sister' Ellone was taken from him, although he's forgotten that as well), plus joining GARDEN at the tender age of 6, has resulted in his cold, apathetic personality - you can't be betrayed or abandoned again if you never trust anybody ever again.

It's why Rinoa is such an intense character - that's what's needed to get through to him.

Throughout the events of the game, Squall opens up to Rinoa and finally in the ending, Squall finds himself alone - he wanders along for a while and eventually comes to the realisation that he's been abandoned again (plus the time compression starts eating his memories of everyone) and he essentially falls into a catatonic state.

Dammit, I have to go watch the ending again.

[Kitten Champion]

Speaking of Final Fantasy VIII, when I first played it when I was 7 I didn't really grasp the junction system mechanics so much - I thought you only could junction one GF at a time or something - and simply spammed the GF option for every battle.

This was tedious of course, seeing the same summoning animation a bijillion times was probably not a great use of my life span particularly because I never got the Boost ability for it to mean anything. I did however get all the way to Ultimecia before I even considered I may have been playing the game wrong.

[Alent]

It wasn't until a month or so ago that I realized... Metroid is a super small game.

Seriously. I've been on a research binge where I'm playing Metroidvanias, started with a Metroid ROM hack called mOTHER that combines several other big metroid rom hacks, including an in game map. Off and on attempts for years to beat that game as a kid that failed, always felt dwarfed by it. Went back with the map and went "... why is this game so much smaller than I remember it?"

Watching ProJared play Link to the Past Randomizer also made me realize that the Legend of Zelda games are designed in such a way that they want to run together in your memory the same way dreams do. Link's Awakening, LttP, and the vanilla game all fail to fully stand apart in my memory, and from ProJared and his comment section, a headcount of many of my friends, I realized I wasn't alone in that. It seems like if you aren't actively playing them, it's really easy for your subconscious to blur some of the mechanics/features/dungeons of one into the one after it. (Switch statues and blocks work differently in LttP and Link's Awakening, for example, but many people remember being able to walk on raised switchblocks in LttP even though that feature wasn't added until Link's Awakening.)

[Togath]

More a mechanical thing than any thing else... I discovered in Dragon Quest 8(the ps2 version, at least) that immediately after the second boss, you can skip MANY towns, and head straight for one(Pickham, for those who have played) intended for several hours and dungeons later, and then stock up on gear you aren't expected to get before getting your final party member, let alone right after boss #2.
I originally played it back in 2008, and it took me until december 2016 to notice that.

[Triaxx]

Something a lot of people just missed about FF8, the reason Irvine remembered, is because Galbadia where he was trained, didn't use GF's and so he didn't have his memories munched on.

[Beleriphon]

Because of that I am starting to think that 'elven ears' refers to ACTUAL elven ears. They're found on Falmer (the only elven race where the Dragonborn dares to mutilate the corpses) and they restore magic and fortify archery, two very elven qualities. The ingame image ruins my theory however.

I don't have a particularly good one but here goes nothing: Flowey, the friendly flower from the beginning of the game Undertale stalks you the whole game. If you backtrack, you can see his model for a few frames before vanishing. Maybe this character isn't as trustworthy as you thought he is...

And daemora heart, or the human hearts you can occasionally loot from human corpses.

Also, Deacon in Fallout 4 is always there, near by in settlements whenever you do something and you can spot him if you try. So when you finally show up at the Railroad he's telling the truth in that he's watching you. Its even more fun if you can get there without him spotting you in any of the major settlements.

[GloatingSwine]

Something a lot of people just missed about FF8, the reason Irvine remembered, is because Galbadia where he was trained, didn't use GF's and so he didn't have his memories munched on.

Irvine literally explicitly says that, so the only people who missed it were the ones who were skipping the dialogue...

[Triaxx]

When did he say that?

Deacon's best hiding spot is when you arrive in Diamond City.

[Spore]

And daemora heart, or the human hearts you can occasionally loot from human corpses.

Just because I am paranoid doesn't mean there aren't cultists out there trying to sacrifice me to Mephala.

There are remnants of a larger Daedra cult in Rorikstead, a village in western Whiterun hold. There are soul gems in every house and fitting books on Daedra worship.

[druid91]

And daemora heart, or the human hearts you can occasionally loot from human corpses.

Also, Deacon in Fallout 4 is always there, near by in settlements whenever you do something and you can spot him if you try. So when you finally show up at the Railroad he's telling the truth in that he's watching you. Its even more fun if you can get there without him spotting you in any of the major settlements.

I noticed him sitting in one of the memory loungers during your trip through Kellogs memories. Made me wonder how many OTHER times Deacon was around.

[Blackhawk748]

the adult timeline is very dark, probably a tad darker than Majoras Mask.

Lets not go crazy here.

Also, Deacon in Fallout 4 is always there, near by in settlements whenever you do something and you can spot him if you try. So when you finally show up at the Railroad he's telling the truth in that he's watching you. Its even more fun if you can get there without him spotting you in any of the major settlements.

Wow, thats actually really impressive, especially cuz i played a stealth character getting into the Railroad so i was basically invisible most of the time.

For me, it was the sheer number of Daedra worshippers in Skyrim. I never intereacted with all of the Shrines in one playthrough so i never really put it all together, but holy crap. What is with Skyrim and Daedra worship.

[OracleofWuffing]

Not so much something I understood "right now" but took me much longer than it should have, in Final Fantasy 6, when Cyan is explaining what the Phantom Train is and how it takes its passengers to "The other side." Then Sabin makes a big deal about how he has stuff to do here and wants off the train. I kind of took the "other side" bit at face value, because you're trying to the other side of a forest, and thought that that dialogue meant I was supposed to do something prior to entering the Phantom Train.

I know that "The other side" is supposed to be a common euphemism for dying or the afterlife, but young me did not make the connection.

[Spore]

Lets not go crazy here.

Crazy is my comfort zone. But I think the Zelda creators realized how popular "creepy Hyrule" was and made it into another game. I mean you can't just forget the drastic thematical shift from "happy populated marketplace" to "redead infested dead and dirty place of horror".

Wow, thats actually really impressive, especially cuz i played a stealth character getting into the Railroad so i was basically invisible most of the time.

Never noticed that but I will keep an eye open for him next playthrough.

For me, it was the sheer number of Daedra worshippers in Skyrim. I never intereacted with all of the Shrines in one playthrough so i never really put it all together, but holy crap. What is with Skyrim and Daedra worship.

It's as if the main religion was forbidden and thus people turned to (semi-legal) 'gods' if they couldn't stick to their Talos belief. People in turmoil will pray to the Allmighty Moose if they think it will help...

[Blackhawk748]

It's as if the main religion was forbidden and thus people turned to (semi-legal) 'gods' if they couldn't stick to their Talos belief. People in turmoil will pray to the Allmighty Moose if they think it will help...

Just more reasons to want to stab Thalmor.

[Triaxx]

It's actually funny if you make it to the Railroad without running into Deacon, or saving Garvey, because then Deacon's never heard of you.