# Ever played most of a computer game without knowing about a feature? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [September 15, 2010, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-played-most-of-a-computer-game-without-knowing-about-a-feature/553885 "2010-09-15T20:39:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-played-most-of-a-computer-game-without-knowing-about-a-feature/553885/41 "2010-09-17T02:31:45Z")
So, um, what _does_ shift-control-escape do in Windows? I haven’t used Windows in years, but I’m curious now. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-played-most-of-a-computer-game-without-knowing-about-a-feature/553885/42 "2010-09-17T02:45:41Z")
Straight to Task Manager. Like Alt-Command-Escape on Macs. And I just learned that tonight. And I’ve used everything from Windows 3.1 to XP. ---
**Author:** ![KennerTheGreat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a8b319/32.png) [@KennerTheGreat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KennerTheGreat)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-played-most-of-a-computer-game-without-knowing-about-a-feature/553885/43 "2010-09-17T02:51:25Z")
I played a good chunk of Final Fantasy VII before realizing you could switch all materia between party members in one shot. I used to exchange one by one. ---
**Author:** ![Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrogance_ex_machina/32/192_2.png) [@Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrogance_Ex_Machina)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-played-most-of-a-computer-game-without-knowing-about-a-feature/553885/44 "2010-09-17T02:58:19Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > > [@Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](#): > > > > Slightly off-topic, but used Windows Vista for over 2 years before I learned what Shift-Ctrl-ESC does. > > Ever used any versions of Windows before Vista? Because that’s been a command since…? WinNT? Sure, I started with 3.1, but IIRC the three-finger-salute used to take you to the Task Manager in older versions. With Vista it takes you to that blue menu thing where you can click Task Manager. So, when my good ol’ Ctrl-Alt-Del got me there, even if a bit slower than I’d like, there was no need for me to go looking for a better way. For all I knew there wasn’t one. Based on other replies here (and on the forum I finally learned Shift-Ctrl-ESC from) I’m not alone. ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-played-most-of-a-computer-game-without-knowing-about-a-feature/553885/45 "2010-09-17T04:48:10Z")
I played through the first Half Life without realizing that most of the weapons had a secondary attack. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2010, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-played-most-of-a-computer-game-without-knowing-about-a-feature/553885/46 "2010-09-18T04:52:46Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > I’m terrible about this, actually - I love Bioware’s RPGs for the story development, combat, and chance to role-play by actually making meaningful in-game plot choices - but I couldn’t really care less about fiddling with character stats. I auto-level every time, rarely upgrade weapons, and so on. I don’t auto level my own character but with few exceptions I generally autolevel my companions. Who am I to tell them what to train in? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2010, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-played-most-of-a-computer-game-without-knowing-about-a-feature/553885/47 "2010-09-18T04:56:24Z")
> [@Illuminatiprimus](#): > > Similarly playing my first Sierra game, Kings Quest 3, I didn’t know you could save and load games. I had to restart from scratch a lot of times before I worked that one out. Ack! If it really worked like that, I would probably still be playing the first Space Quest. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2010, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-played-most-of-a-computer-game-without-knowing-about-a-feature/553885/48 "2010-09-18T05:15:02Z")
In Mount & Blade (at least in Warband) you can hold the ctrl key to promote whole stack of troops at once. I could have saved a few thousands clicks had I noticed that earlier. ---
**Author:** ![Cugel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cugel/32/1199_2.png) [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2010, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-played-most-of-a-computer-game-without-knowing-about-a-feature/553885/49 "2010-09-18T05:42:20Z")
I played Dungeon Siege and its expansion, then DS2+exp (twice each) without realising one could issue commands and what not during a battle - whilst paused. Which I didn’t mind really, as it would’ve the game so much easier. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2010, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-played-most-of-a-computer-game-without-knowing-about-a-feature/553885/50 "2010-09-18T08:25:51Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > > [@Illuminatiprimus](#): > > > > Similarly playing my first Sierra game, Kings Quest 3, I didn’t know you could save and load games. I had to restart from scratch a lot of times before I worked that one out. > > Ack! If it really worked like that, I would probably still be playing the first Space Quest. Or indeed the second one. I don’t know whether “kill the player at every possible point in the game” was part of Sierra’s mission statement then or not, but it certainly felt that way. The most egregious example of this I can remember from SQ3 was: Pick up piece of metal The piece of metal you picked up is sharp, so sharp that in fact you cut yourself deeply and start bleeding out. After less than a minute you are dead, your blue corpse a testimony to not picking up everything you see Mildly amusing I guess, particularly when accompanied with the little picture of your deoxygenated corpse, but not exactly in line with the instructions in the manual to pick up everything not nailed down. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![JoeH2O](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@JoeH2O](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeH2O)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2010, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-played-most-of-a-computer-game-without-knowing-about-a-feature/553885/51 "2010-09-18T14:16:54Z")
> [@A\_Spoonful\_of\_Awesome](#): > > Not really a computer game, but I’ve had my MacBook Pro for over a year now and I just learned that you can take a screenshot with shift+command+3. You can also can select a portion of your screen to take a picture of with shift+command+4. Turned out to be surprisingly helpful on more than one occasion. You can also press Command+Shift+4 and then press the space bar and the cursor turns into a camera that allows you to screengrab a specific window (it will highlight it so you can see exactly what it will capture). ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-played-most-of-a-computer-game-without-knowing-about-a-feature/553885/52 "2010-09-22T18:45:45Z")
A friend played through the fire level of Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time without getting the fire suit that keeps you from being slowly killed every time you’re in the fire rooms. Apparently you have to memorize the layout so that you can just dead-run through all the rooms with fire, and then never get hit by anything, since you’ll only have about half a heart left by the time you beat the final boss. Unfortunately, you want the fire suit again at the end of the game, and there’s no way to get it once you’ve beaten the fire level. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-played-most-of-a-computer-game-without-knowing-about-a-feature/553885/53 "2010-09-22T19:00:23Z")
> [@cckerberos](#): > > I played through the first Half Life without realizing that most of the weapons had a secondary attack. I played so many games without realizing this that once I did, I went back and re-enjoyed lots of older games with this new knowledge. That, and I had played three or four different LucasArts games before I realized you could hold down the fire button to get more power to build up for a single shot. Also, going waaay back, I can’t tell you how many times I’d played Bump N’ Jump before noticing that if you don’t kill a single other car, you get 50,000 bonus points for the level. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-played-most-of-a-computer-game-without-knowing-about-a-feature/553885/54 "2010-09-22T19:08:47Z")
One of the Metroid Primes…the recharge blobs and items that enemies drop can apparently be sucked over to you be holding the proper button. I spent a whole playthrough hopping all over like an idiot trying to collect all the individual recharge items. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-played-most-of-a-computer-game-without-knowing-about-a-feature/553885/55 "2010-09-23T17:56:20Z")
> [@ramel](#): > > > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > > > Someone on this board once posted that they didn’t know about the flags in Minesweeper… > > I did that in reverse, I started playing with flags, then realised I didn’t really need them to win and was twice as fast without them. Doesn’t your version of Minesweeper have the middle-button (or two-button) click on a numbered-cell that clears all unmarked adjacent spaces if there is a full count of adjacent flags? This is how I play high speed, but it only works when you flag the bomb locations. My story is funny. I play Free Cell. I don’t bother to figure out if I can move a large clump – you just try it and see if it lets you. But as I played, I _knew_ whether the move would work or not! I even thought I might be subconsciously doing the calculation! Eventually I figured out that the mouse cursor presents differently for legal moves vs. illegal moves. I’d been unaware of that consciously, but obviously had learned it subconsciously. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-played-most-of-a-computer-game-without-knowing-about-a-feature/553885/56 "2010-09-23T22:01:30Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > Unfortunately, you want the fire suit again at the end of the game, and there’s no way to get it once you’ve beaten the fire level. Actually, you can buy it from the Gorons after you beat the Fire Temple. ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-played-most-of-a-computer-game-without-knowing-about-a-feature/553885/57 "2010-09-24T03:48:38Z")
I leveled my first WoW character to level 52 before I switched from clicking to keybinding/mouse move. _cue angelic epiphany music_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-played-most-of-a-computer-game-without-knowing-about-a-feature/553885.md?page=2)