Times we got trolled by video games

you know the art of trolling is deeply engraved in video game culture whether we like it or not, and all it takes is one look at a place like System Wars to understand we gamer's are accustomed to trolling and being trolled.

Let's be honest: we've been trolled even by video games.

An epic troll we all fell for happened in Batman: Arkham Asylum when we encountered Scarecrow for the third time and the game fake crashed on us. I'm pretty sure experiencing that moment for the first time - most of us were about to reset the system thinking the game was actually crashing.

Another great time I've been trolled is when "Mr. Sir Henry motherfucker" completely blue-balled Travis Touchdown from No More Heroes to comedic effect, by canceling out what was appearing to be an epic would-be boss battle to Travis' dismay.

So tell me SW, we all love a good troll every now and then. What are the times you got epically trolled from a video game?

Raiden in MGS2.

That was my first thought. Epic-ass ship infiltration as Snake, and the ol' switcheroo. Fortunately, it worked quite well.

I recently played The Witness and it felt like the whole game is a troll by the developer. I usually like puzzle games, but that game wants you to figure out weird puzzle solutions and you often aren't given the tools to do so right away. You go around wasting time running into constant roadblocks trying to learn what the fuk the developer wants. It was just annoying and I wasn't having fun. I just stopped playing and uninstalled it. I ended up rating it a 1/10 (which I have never done before) just to troll the developer back. hehe :)

I sure af didn't collect all the Korok seeds, but Nintendo rewarding such players with shiny golden poop was pretty legit.

Capcom dunking on Mega Man fans was pretty wild. Wouldn't let them have their guy in MVC3, but instead put bad boxart Mega Man in SFxT.

Itagaki begrudgingly adding an easier difficulty to Ninja Gaiden Black, but shaming players who chose it by making them wear a pink ribbon.

Personally felt trolled by the armadillo boss fight in Ninja Gaiden 2. Already a pain in the ass as is, but shortly after you win the fight he explodes. No way to know it the first time, so I just ate shit. Second time I tried to get as far away as I could, still died. Finally realized you just stand and block in his direction.

@lundy86_4: @SOedipus: Great choice. A well-calculated can come out with great effect, such as MGS2.

Also, probably one of the oldest or at least most iconic trolls in the book: "the princess is in another castle. "

TLoU2 and Death Stranding.

GTA V epsilon missions alot of insane busy work to win a old rusty tractor.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake not being a remake was the biggest one recently.

MGS2 is the obvious one, especially if you played the demo before the game came out.

Eternal Darkness is hilarious with its trolling.

FFVII Remake.

Picked up Rainbow 6: Vegas not realizing it was Gears Of War.

@jaydan: When Psycho Mantis from MGS made my controller move with the power of his mind.

Psycho Mantis reading my save files. And also the easiest way to defeat him lol.

@jasonofa36: @appariti0n: Oh hell yes, that's actually a great choice, and then I love how they reverse-trolled the same gag in MGS4 by having Psycho Mantis try the same trick but fail because modern consoles don't have memory cards. I'm pretty sure we all thought he was gonna do it again. That was a great inside-joke.

@ConanTheStoner said:

I sure af didn't collect all the Korok seeds, but Nintendo rewarding such players with shiny golden poop was pretty legit.

Nah that's a pretty dick move that skate by on getting criticism for.

@jg4xchamp said:

@ConanTheStoner said:

I sure af didn't collect all the Korok seeds, but Nintendo rewarding such players with shiny golden poop was pretty legit.

Nah that's a pretty dick move that skate by on getting criticism for.

At the same time though that can definitely be considered a trollish move. I dunno though, I figure the FEW people that will ever go out of their way to collect all the Korok seeds, you've pretty much experienced the game in all its glory at that point. It can be kinda a dick move, but at the same time people were kinda laughing while scratching their heads when it was first discovered that'd be the reward.

I'm seeing in this thread people interpret being trolled in video games different ways. The way I was looking at getting trolled in video games was more like a game pulling a practical joke on the player in good fun. That is definitively the fake game-crash in Batman: Arkham Asylum, it is definitely Psycho Mantis tricking you into mind control, among other great troll moments, it is to humor effect of Travis getting blue-balled from a boss battle in No More Heroes. These troll moments are all just in good fun.

But i'm also seeing some people take a game as a whole as a sick troll. I guess some people are just so bitter towards certain games simply playing them feels like getting trolled.

Well yeah. Being a dick move and trolling players aren't mutually exclusive ideas. I'd say everything I listed falls into dick move territory, even if to varying degrees.

I'm sure it's been discussed to death, by all means, correct me if I'm wrong here.

But that absurd amount of Korok seeds, obviously the main idea is to be a safety net. Massive game, most players aren't going to see it all, make sure they get what they need. Nintendo didn't place that many just to be dicks.

Of course Nintendo knowing that some players will go the length to get them all, gives a final recognition for it even if in a trollish way.

I suppose they could have given the player something more meaningful, maybe some game breaking gear. At that point you've seen it all, who cares if you can go god mode in various ways. Or maybe reward the player with some sick cosmetics or a cool weapon. All kinds of actual cool shit they could give you.

But then that's also a bit of a dick move as you're locking some cool shit behind inane busy work. Not something skill based. Not something like previous Zelda titles where obtaining all collectables is actually reasonable. It would be a chore that takes longer than the game itself. I'd argue that would be an even bigger dick move to gate cool content in such a way.

I see Hestu's Gift being like other in game ranks or out of game chievos/trophies, just something that recognizes what you did. I've definitely done much more challenging optional shit in games only to be handed a rank, or in some cases nothing at all. Zelda handing me poop, or MGS telling me I'm a Foxhound, no big difference. The reward was me doing it.

Nintendo could have squashed the issue altogether. Once you reach the max amount of Korok seeds for inventory expansion, just turn the rest into rupees or some other item drop. Would slice the Korok completionist bar in half and your final reward would be the final inventory expansion.

But honestly, I feel they handled it well enough. Leaving all the seeds for those who want to go full completionist while also recognizing that it's an absurd amount of busy work to serve as a gate for a reward that people would feel compelled to unlock.

It being poop at least adds some humor. I'm sure there are countless ways Nintendo could have addressed/bypassed this "issue" on the design side, just don't think a better reward is the answer.

when every1 jumped around

@ConanTheStoner: Yeah I don't think scoring a poo after getting all the Korok seeds is really a bad reward or worth criticism. That is for the very few people that manage to get all the seeds, and at that point you've enjoyed all the game and had your satisfaction. It's like a badge of honor, except a badge of poo. The game never expects the player to get all of them but it's achievable for those that are up for the challenge.

If you have the DLC expansion you can get a Korok mask that makes the search a lot easier.

I highly recommend the DLC expansion to anyone who hasn't done it yet. After playing BotW in Master Mode and experiencing all the new additions layered into the experience, I don't think I could play the base experience again because the DLC is really a major extension well-integrated. There's entirely new quest lines and among my favorite ones; there's new challenge arenas, one of the best bosses in the game, plus the nifty bike, there's lots of other new things added to the game. Definitely worth getting if you're a fan of BotW and it's a game you definitely see yourself jumping in and out of over the years because it's just one of those games.

@jaydan:

Yeah I scooped the DLC right as it came out, messed around with it a bit. Had already exhausted myself on the game at the time, so never really dug in.

I'm sure I'll get around to it some time this year though, been itching to go back.

@ConanTheStoner: that's pretty much my story when I initially bought the expansion too.

Mind you, I initially bought BotW on Wii U during a time I wasn't sure how soon it would be for me to get a Switch, but I wanted to play the game then. Put over 100 hours into the Wii U.

When I eventually got the Switch I had to double-dip on the game because my original excitement was to have it on the Switch, but I was also excited to play other Switch games and since I already played and enjoyed BotW, it wasn't a nearly as played game for me on the Switch.

It's been about 1.5 year since I last played it until recently, and I went through the game in Master Mode and all the new expansion stuff, it's really well-integrated DLC.

When you get to revisiting the game and experiencing the new stuff, you're gonna enjoy it.