History Main / YouHaveResearchedBreathing

* Similar to the above, the ''Franchise/DarkSouls'' games feature gestures you can make to communicate to fellow players (or just taunt your dead enemies for fun). You're limited to just a few at the start, and have to learn new ones from various characters.

* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
** In most games, Link is more of an InstantExpert, but ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]'' gives him several secret sword techniques that can only be learned from the Hero's Shade. Some of them, like the Helm Splitter or Mortal Draw, are complex enough that it makes sense that he'd have to learn them from somewhere. On the other hand, there are techniques like "Stab an enemy when he's on the ground" or "smack the enemy with your shield", which you'd think he'd be capable of figuring out on his own. ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword Skyward Sword]]'' goes ahead and gives Link access to those attacks from the start.
** In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheMinishCap The Minish Cap]]'' you need to be taught by Swiftblade how to break pots and rocks with your sword. There's not even any special move or anything, it's just "Swing your sword at pots or rocks." [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Swiftblade himself: normally, he explains each move he teaches you as a series of three steps, but, for this "technique," he describes Step 1 as "swing your sword at pots or rocks" and then says that that's "pretty much it."

** In ''Rayman 1'', being magically granted running makes Rayman forget the near-useless ability to grimace. Cue an important boss battle in ''Rayman 3'' years later, he relearns the grimace... through a god-powered artifact, the nature of which gives it a new plot-vital power this time.

** In ''[[VideoGame/SonicStorybookSeries Sonic and the Secret Rings]]'', Sonic has to learn several basic action moves, including the ability to walk backwards.

* Several of the traits in the ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar II'' campaigns feature severe GameplayAndStorySegregation both from the 40K lore (commonplace for games) and from its own storyline. Tarkus (Tactical Marine) and Thaddeus (Assault Marine) need a trait to be able to equip Chainswords and Bolters respectively (in canon and preceding games, every Space Marine knows that). They also cannot use heavy weapons at all, even though all space marines start their service as heavy weapon specialists. It is even more bizarre for their captain, who can freely equip jump packs, but needs a trait for heavy weapons. Not only that, Cyrus is supposedly a master scout and infiltration specialist, but he starts at level 1 and has to be taught how to drop smoke bombs, using a shotgun, etc.

* ''VideoGame/DefenseOfTheAncients'' Heroes can buy the "Aghanim's Scepter" a legendary staff apparently made by a wizard with demigod-like powers. This increases the power of their [[LimitBreak Ultimate Ability]] Allowing things like forcing debuffs not to count down while the enemy is near you or making an ability global. Tiny, The Stone Giant however, ''picks up a tree'' to club people as an upgrade.

* In ''VideoGame/BunnyMustDie'', the main character Bunny starts the game facing left and ''can't turn around'' without a special item enabling her. Note the ExactWords there -- she can walk right just fine, if she gets forced to face that direction, but then she loses the ability to turn around and face left, and due to typical platform JumpPhysics she can still move right in the air without turning around. The existence of a distinction between turning and moving forward is odd enough in a platformer, and the finer points of controlling Bunny so dependent on it, that the "Gears of the Past" exist mostly to force people to notice it. That it enables players to [[SelfIMposedChallenge try beating the game without the item]], and also foreshadows a plot point, [[spoiler:Bunny has been moving through time as much as space to get to this cave because she's being positioned to free the BigBad, and so isn't facing in a purely "spatial" direction until the gears rectify this]], are bonuses.

* In most ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' games, Link is more of an InstantExpert, but ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]'' gives him several secret sword techniques that can only be learned from the Hero's Shade. Some of them, like the Helm Splitter or Mortal Draw, are complex enough that it makes sense that he'd have to learn them from somewhere. On the other hand, there are techniques like "Stab an enemy when he's on the ground" or "smack the enemy with your shield", which you'd think he'd be capable of figuring out on his own. ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword Skyward Sword]]'' goes ahead and gives Link access to those attacks from the start.

** Some fans give this whole concept the justification that the Pokeacute;mon are able to perform the actions behind the moves at all times, but aren't proficient in utilizing them for combat unless they learn the corresponding move (which merely represents this proficiency). This is supported by some of the moves' description giving them a specific flair, e.g. Growl is not just any growl, but specifically a growl that ''intimidates''. So it's quite likely that Growlithe can produce a growl, it's just not all that impressive.

*** Cities can be built right away but Agriculture must be researched, despite the fact that in the real world, agriculture is what led to the development of permanent settlements. In Civ V, every civilization starts with Agriculture already researched.

* One upgrade in ''VideoGame/AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAAARecklessDisregardForGravity'' is a glove you can use to make obscene gestures or give a thumbs-up.

An ability that in-universe should be immediate and effortless is treated as a complex feat that needs to be explicitly mastered.

* In ''VideoGame/SwordOfTheStars'' there are several techs that can be researched that open up new interface options and information screens. In several of these cases, the information is shown, but it is up to the player to organise and remember it.
** You must also research the ability for your military forces to remember and report to you what technologies they have seen other races use in battle, and the ship types. However, as soon as you research the tech, it turns out to be already full of the stuff you've seen by that point, which means they ''have'' been recording the data but just didn't feel the need to let their commanding officer's know.
** Probably the two most egregious examples are two techs in the command and control section of the tech tree. One just gives you the ability to look at sensor data and give orders at the same time. Its prerequisite is a tech that makes your ships send their sensor data to command vessels. Essentially, you have researched captains actually telling the ship in command what they see, and can now research the ability to multitask (or put buttons on the sensor display.)

* ''VideoGame/PhantomDoctrine'' requires an agent to be proficient with a weapon before being allowed to add attachments to it. Attachments include things like suppressors, extended magazines, and special ammunition.

* In most ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' games, Link is more of an InstantExpert, but ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]'' gives him several secret sword techniques that can only be learned from the Hero's Shade. Some of them, like the Helm Splitter or Mortal Draw, are complex enough that it makes sense that he'd have to learn then from somewhere. On the other hand, there are techniques like "Stab an enemy when he's on the ground" or "smack the enemy with your shield", which you'd think he'd be capable of figuring out on his own. ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword Skyward Sword]]'' goes ahead and gives Link access to those attacks from the start.

** It's more blatant the ability to retrieve arrows from corpses after you shoot them. You can't before you unlock the required skill, not even from deers.

Suppose you're playing some RealTimeStrategy game such as ''[[Videogame/AgeOfEmpires Age]] [[BrandX of]] [[Literature/{{Dune}} Dune]][[Videogame/WorldOfWarcraft craft]].'' Your [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Deadly Deathknights of Death]] can shoot fast-moving vehicles with their missiles, but [[TacticalRockPaperScissors attacking buildings or infantry with the things simply doesn't occur to them yet]]. ''Sigh.'' You totally thought you taught that ability.

Also prone to happen in any other type of game with character customization or unlockables, such as RolePlayingGames. Yes, [[ArbitraryEquipmentRestriction you can't wear boots or drink potions]] [[LevelLockedLoot until you grind enough XP to]] [[CharacterLevel level up]].

* What's the most expensive cosmetic items you can buy in ''VideoGame/{{Loadout}}''? The ability to take off your underpants and have your [[FanDisservice censored man parts]] [[BrainBleach jiggle around in the battlefield]].

* ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'': One of the abilities Travis Touchdown can learn via [[TrainingFromHell being beaten up by a Russian drunkard]] [[GottaCatchThemAll in exchange for some plastic balls scattered throughout the city]] is how to ''run''.

* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfLegendia'', you need to successfully make toast five times before learning to put jam and butter on it. Similarly, [[VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia Raine]] [[LethalChef Sage]] needs at least one star to learn that a sandwich consists of more than a slice of bread.

* Lampshaded and mocked in ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines''. Ash's Charmeleon is in the middle of fighting a horde of Poison-types [[GrievousHarmWithABody using an Ekans]] [[WhipItGood as a whip]] and when a Nidorino charges at him, he decides to "[[ThrowTheMookAtThem use Fling]]" with it. Snivy asks him if he can really use that move, to which Charmeleon just chuckles, since he doesn't need to research how to throw his enemies.

Also prone to happen in any other type of game with character customization or unlockables, such as RolePlayingGames. Yes, [[ArbitraryEquipmentRestriction you can't wear boots or drink potions until you grind enough XP to]] [[CharacterLevel level up]].

Also prone to happen in any other type of game with character customization or unlockables, such as RolePlayingGames. Yes, you can't wear boots or drink potions until you grind enough XP to [[CharacterLevel level up]].

** In ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow]]'', you need a relic to backdash and another to do a downward kick after a double jump. Sounds fine, but in pretty much every other {{Metroidvania}} ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' the backdash is had from the very beginning, and you can automatically kick after a double jump once you get the double jump. At least Soma isn't supposed to be a highly-trained vampire hunter, so it [[FridgeBrilliance makes more sense]] than the ''Circle of the Moon'' example, but it's still quite aggravating. He retains the backdash and drop kick in the sequel, so he at least didn't suffer ''completely'' from the [[BagOfSpilling loss of his souls]] in the intermission.

* In ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'', you begin with the ability to summon a giant hand to push things around. Later, you equip various items that let you: summon a giant hand to grab things from far away, summon a giant hand to dig up a handful of dirt, summon a giant hand to form into a fist and hammer things into the ground, summon a giant hand to form into a fist and hammer things from the side, and [[OverlyLongGag summon two giant hands to lift things up in the air]]. There's an entire *school* of giant-hand-based magic, and no explanation as to why one simple "Summon Giant Hand" spell couldn't cover all of these purposes.

[[quoteright:347:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vg_cats_breathing.png]]

** While those who remember their ancient history will recall 2nd edition ''D&D'' where the separation of rules governing various class abilities lead to some significant logical flaws (not to mention the lack of flexibility and additional complexity). For example climbing was a thief skill. Therefore the implication was that the only way your character could have any chance at all of climbing anything harder than a ladder was to be a thief. Of course being a tabletop game your DM could work around that but it was still fortunate that they fixed it in 3rd edition with the introduction of a universal skill system that all classes have access to.

* In most ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' games, any unit will attack twice if its attack speed exceeds the opponent's by four points. In ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar Genealogy of the Holy War]]'', only characters with the "Pursuit" skill or an item that grants it can do this, often making other units [[TierInducedScrappy worthless]]. If the wrong character picks up that item, you have to sell it to the pawn shop at half-price and buy it back at full price, because units cannot transfer items.

[[caption-width-right:347:[[SkewedPriorities Guess which]] [[TooDumbToLive one he]] [[http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=240 chooses...]]]]