History TooAwesomeToUse / RolePlayingGames

** The Aura of Valor maxes your Spirit pool, allowing you to unleash your biggest attacks instantly. You only ever get ''three'' of them, tops. While the storyline bosses can be beaten without using an Aura, they're indispensable for some of the [[BonusBoss Wanted Battles]], especially in the Gamecube remake whne you start facing more than one enemy at a time.
** There's also the Tropica, a fruit that gives any character a 200 HP boost. There are only two in the entire game, and one of them is very, VERY easy to miss.

* ''VideoGame/ArcanumOfSteamworksAndMagickObscura'' features Fate Points. Put simply, they provide a guaranteed critical success to the next use of whatever specific skill you chose (pickpocket, spell, attack, etc.) or instantly refill a meter of some sort (like health). They are extremely rare (about 25 technically), only rewarded for completing specific tasks, and are sometimes rewarded for different results in the same task (in other words, impossible to collect all of them). Good luck choosing those few very special occasions to spend them on. Most players would probably default to using them to gank powerful items that could otherwise never be stolen without being caught, but even then there are more such items than you have points to spend.

*** Incenses and Sacrifices. The first permanently raise one of your stats and fully heal your HP and MP, the second automatically revive and fully heal your main character when he takes an Expel or Curse instant kill attack, which would otherwise mean a [[WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou Game Over]]. You only get a limited number of them, most of the times from completing determinate sidequests in a specific way, or finding very rare chests in areas swarming with high-level enemies. And you keep the Incenses between [[NewGamePlus runs]], while your stats reset, meaning a savvy player will stock up dozens of them to face the BonusBosses or BossRush.

*** In ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'', MP restoration items can fall under this. The reason being that, unlike in {{Persona 3}}, you can't buy anything that restores MP, only farm them from chests in dungeons. Considering that the general consensus is that you can only have a single, really long dungeon run each month (for the most part) if you want maximum efficiency in Persona 4, you kind of get the idea.

* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', the M-920 Cain is essentially a railgun with the power of a nuclear warhead (to the point of causing mushroom clouds and bearing the radiation hazard symbol) that does enough damage to instantly cheese some tough events. Unfortunately, it requires all of your heavy weapon ammo to fire once (unless you have the heavy ammo upgrades, then you might be able to fire it twice), has a four second charge time, is impractical in the many close-quarters firefights which populate the game because of its blast radius, and fires a relatively slow projectile. The last boss is one of the fights you'd want to use it on, but he flails around like he's having a seizure, making hitting him an exercise in frustration, so you might save it until the end... and then completely blow it.
* The game ''VideoGame/{{Fullmetal Alchemist and the Broken Angel}}'' has a system where you can turn things into weapons using alchemy; you can make the basic weapon and a more advanced one, and can add on elemental bonuses to them. You can, for example, create a broadsword and attach fire to that, which is pretty powerful, or you can make the more advanced weapon, a katana, but it comes at a cost; you can't attach an element to it, and, while it is powerful enough to take out an enemy in a single hit, it is used up after about six hits, leaving you running around wildly looking for something else you can turn into a weapon.

** The Aura Of Valor maxes your Spirit pool allowing you to unleash your biggest attacks but you only ever get 2 or 3. The bright side is that the storyline bosses are easy to beat using the GameBreaker Justice/Delta Shield combo; you generally won't need to use the Aura unless you take on some of the sidequests. The downside is that trying to beat some of the Wanted battles (especially Daikokuya, the Ixa'Ness, and the Impostors) without using one tends to wander towards the hard side of impossible, and even when you do use it there's a non-zero chance they can recover from it (especially if you were fool enough to use Blue Rogues rather than Prophecy or Pirate's Wrath) and even in the best-case you'll blow a hell of a lot of Riselem Crystals to win the fight.

** Finally, Mana Crystals can only be used at save points but will fully restore the party's HP and MP, and aside from the three you get for free at the beginning of the game, they are hard to find and relatively expensive to buy. Players might want to save them for late in the game when the restoration will be of a greater magnitude (since, naturally, the player characters will be at higher levels and have greater maximum HP and MP values).

* In the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' CRPG ''Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession'', the heroes can find a handful of Arrows of Slaying Undead very early in the game. There are only a handful available in the game. Good luck deciding when to use them.

** There's also the Refreshing Beverage, which gives you a massive 500 HP recovery and removes ''all'' rads and addictions. Unfortunately, unless you scavenge constantly for the rare ingredients needed to cook it, you're unlikely to ever have more than 3 or 4 of them, so even in the most dire of circumstances, you'll probably never use them.

** The best example of an "easily-acquired substitute" is [[GameBreaker Kero-Kero Cola]], a [[Franchise/FinalFantasy Megalixir]]-equivalent that can be bought en masse for an expensive but comparatively worthwhile 150/200 coins, depending on where you get them. By comparison, Max Mushrooms (which heal a party member to full HP) can only be bought at the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon and Royal Syrup (which restores FP to full) can't be bought at all. Kero-Kero Cola does the same thing as both items combined, and on the whole party, too. Unless money is an issue (and given the genre, [[MoneyForNothing it probably isn't]]) you'll never be in a position where using the rare item is better than using a Cola.

*** Shurikens, and most other throwing weapons in the original version, are powerful weapons capable of great damage, but are only available from an obscure shop just before the final dungeon. The ones you find before the shop opens will most likely still be in your inventory when you can finally buy them.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'' has the Dark Matter item. Unstoppable, unreduceable 9,999 damage for zero MP cost, and there are only three in the game. Smart players, on the other hand, will keep it around just long enough so their summoners can learn Odin off it, and then use it on a boss.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' has a special item called the Master Sphere. You obtain 10 of them after capturing 10 of each monster, and defeating all the Monster Arena bosses. They are capable of activating any node on the sphere grid, but you can only ever get 10 of them and no more.

*** Shrouds, which are field items that pre-buff your characters with every conceivable positive status or let you dodge enemies entirely. While they can be bought in shops, they're not available until almost the end of the game, and even then they're ridiculously expensive. On top of that, they almost never drop from enemies unless you either rank extremely low on a RandomEncounter or have a certain accessory equipped. Needless to say, you'll want to save the 20 or so you get through the course of normal play for the endgame {{Bonus Boss}}es or the later Eidolon fights.

*** During the Dark Brotherhood quest line in ''Skyrim'', you are tasked to assassinate the Emperor. You are given an extremely potent poisonous ingredient called the Jarrin Root to mix into his food, but it is quite easy to assassinate him [[spoiler:(except it's not actually him)]] with other methods (like a bow) and keep the ingredient for yourself. If the Dragonborn is specialized in alchemy, it can then be used to create a ridiculously powerful poison [[http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/elderscrolls/images/0/0c/Jarrinpoison.png/revision/latest?cb=20121127122121 that deals thousands of damage upon hit]], but since only one Jarrin Root exists in the entire game, you can only use it once (possibly twice if you have the Sinderion's Serendipity effect, which has a chance to duplicate a created potion). No enemy in the game can survive an optimally-prepared Jarrin Root poison, not even Legendary Dragons, [[FinalBoss Alduin]], or [[BonusBoss superbosses]] like Kaarstag or the Ebony Warrior.

** In the sequel, it's called EP Charge II. It's noticeably easier to come by there (partly because you can buy them earlier), but it also introduces a ''third'' tier. EP Charge III items restore 500 EP and cannot be bought at all. There are also the Zeram Powder and Zeram Capsule, which revive, restore HP to full, and restore either 100 or 200 CP (i.e. LimitBreak points) respectively. They can be bought only in the casino, and you need to win medals to buy casino prizes. You'll probably find about a dozen EP Charge [=IIIs=], 8 Zeram Powders, and 4 Zeram Capsules through the course of the game.

** Powerful food items also fall under this; while you can make them yourself once you learn their recipes, they tend to require a lot of rare ingredients, and you usually only get one freebie (a notable exception being the Nirvana Tea). The 100 Victories Steak is noteworthy for being an item found in Chapter 2 that restores 10000 HP ''and'' buffs your STR, when most characters are unlikely to have that much HP until the ''final'' chapter. (Tip: Don't treat the [[AbnormalAmmo attack items]] this way, because their damage does ''not'' scale with your characters' stats, and they're all basically useless once you reach the FinalBoss.)

*** Elixirs take yet another step in usefulness and rarity: using one restores all of Lightning's HP and EP, fills all her ATB gauges and casts all otherwise rare buffs on her, all of above being even more significant than usual considering you start off being only able to carry 6 healing items in total and can increase it up a grand total of 10 on your first playthrough. The only ways to get one are to find and sell a total of 100 [[CollectionSidequest Soul Seeds]] (80 in NewGamePlus) to the merchants that buy them or to find an [[SocializationBonus Outerworld]] NPC that's selling one for the [[BlatantLies low, low price of 360,000 Gil]], and doing either of above nets you an achievement or trophy.

* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' seems to be deliberately invoking this. Early in the game, you receive a slice of butterscotch-cinnamon pie that restores ''all'' HP. If you take the normal path and actually save it all the way to the FinalBoss, [[spoiler:because the pie is his ex-wife's special recipe, the smell will weaken his resolve, reducing his Attack and Defense]]. You can also use it during the TrueFinalBoss fight, to instantly win the IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight against both the aforementioned neutral-path FinalBoss and the character who gave you the pie.

* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' seems to be deliberately invoking this. Early in the game, you receive a slice of butterscotch-cinnamon pie that restores ''all'' HP. If you take the normal path and actually save it all the way to the FinalBoss, [[spoiler:because the pie is his ex-wife's special recipe, the smell will weaken his resolve, reducing his Attack and Defense]].

** Speaking of ''VideoGame/LufiaTheLegendReturns'', there's Croquettes. Croquettes act like Miracles, except for ''your entire party'' (up to ''nine'' characters). As one might expect, they're incredibly rare and almost all of them can be LostForever to boot, but can easily bring you back from certain doom...if you can bring yourself to part with one.

** A great example is found in one of the expansions to ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind''. In a stump are five Ebony Arrows Of Slaying that do 5,000 damage apiece. This is enough damage to drop The Imperfect (TheDragon in one of the expansions, and also a giant magic robot that the offical guide refers to as a monster to take down) twice over in one shot. But the odds of getting these arrows back is low, so you will almost always save them for a rainy day.

*** You could also classify the Firelance under the same banner as the Alien Blaster. Only obtainable in a randomly found event (of which you may not even notice and end up walking away from). It's a unique variant of the Alien Blaster that sets things on fire as well as having a pretty punch. Because of the fire effect, it gets an extra 50% damage from the Pyromaniac perk. Add the Xenotech perk from the Mothership Zeta DownloadableContent to add a further 20% damage to it, and you can easily drop the toughest enemies with a decent Energy Weapons skill. Sounds good and all, but the event only spawns it with 12 rounds, randomly thrown about the nearby area, so you're not likely to find even half of them. The total available ammo for it in the game is around 280: 120 from the crashed Alien ship, 12 from the Firelance event itself, and ~100-150 from Fort Independence assuming you have the Scavenger perk.

** In an in-universe example, the Brotherhood of Steel have spent the last two games/centuries collecting this sort of stuff and locking it away in their vaults, only taking it out now and then to repair, polish, etc. The original plan was to hold onto this stuff until "the time was right" to start handing it out and/or rebuilding the wasteland. But as years gave way to decades, then centuries, the Brotherhood has become increasingly resistant to the idea of actually ''using'', let alone ''letting other people have'', any of their carefully hoarded and preserved treasures.

* ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga'' has Golden Mushrooms; there are only about 4 you can ever get in hidden courses, and they fully restore the bros' HP and BP.

** The best example is [[GameBreaker Kero-Kero Cola]], a [[Franchise/FinalFantasy Megalixir]]-equivalent that can be bought en masse for an expensive but comparatively worthwhile 150/200 coins, depending on where you get them. By comparison, Max Mushrooms (which heal a party member to full HP) can only be bought at the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon and Royal Syrup (which restores FP to full) can't be bought at all. Kero-Kero Cola does the same thing as both items combined, and on the whole party, too. Unless money is an issue (and given the genre, [[MoneyForNothing it probably isn't]]) you'll never be in a position where using the rare item is better than using a Cola.

** RareCandy, a free level-up, is another example. However, since the higher a Pokémon's level is, the more experience it needs to level, saving them for later leveling lets you get the most bang for your buck.

* ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey'' has Formaldehydes in all games and Coupons in ''The Drowned City''. To put the former's importance in perspective, the franchise places immense importance on enemy drops; they are the primary source of money and the store's wares fluctuate depending on their stock of said drops - consume enough medicine, you'll need to hunt the monsters whose organs form the basis of the same. Using Formaldehyde on an enemy and killing it ''in the same turn'' will guarantee it will drop ''all'' of its spoils, even its conditional drops (something normally impossible). It's possible to create more Formaldehydes in ''IV''... but they require extremely rare drops from the Sixth Stratum. Coupons, on the other hand, will halve the cost of ''any'' one given item - whether you choose to use it on the InfinityPlusOneSword or a cheap-ass Medica is your business. However, there are only eight in the game. Ever. NewGamePlus doesn't restock them.

* ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky]]'' has the EP Charge EX, which is this for at least most of the game. It restores 300 [[{{Mana}} EP]] to one character (for comparison, a character's maximum EP will likely vary from about 200 to 600 depending on who it is and what [[PowersAsPrograms quartz]] they have equipped). You will find only 7 of them in the game (and 5 of those are in TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon), and they cannot be bought until almost the end of the game.