Discussion Main / InterfaceSpoiler

Does it count as this if it's a piece of merchandise released before the work itself? Like the set of character phone charms that led many fans to guess (correctly) that Rolo would be in Code Geass: Akito the Exiled...

I made this Idolized Julius Kingsley icon back when Akito first came out, and now that the crossover is actually happening, I don't care. Hide / Show Replies

I just had a really bizarre interface spoiler. So I'm taking this college course online, right? And most of the assignments are provided via downloadable Microsoft Word documents. Now, it's only natural that a multiple choice question paper would show up with about a million green squiggles for "bad grammar"... but here's one question where the program used to read the assignment made the correct answer stand out like a sore thumb.

9. One factor affecting digital camera quality is the number of pixels, measured in ____, used to store the data for each image.

a. kilopixels

b. megapixels

c. gigapixels

d. terapixels

Naturally, all three wrong answers were underlined in red as "words not recognized by the Microsoft Word dictionary", while the correct answer was not. Absolutely hilarious.

Edited by spiritsunami Q: What Pokémon is good at treating colds? A: Cyn-Day-Quil® Hide / Show Replies

Possible entry - not sure what category of game to put it under. Also not sure if I'm being too cryptic and should switch to spoiler tags.

• Spooky's Jump Scare Mansion: A subversion: the basic info box giving you the controls at the beginning lists one command which is unusable for over half of the game. The catch is that the trope is being exploited - many of the threats in this game are noted in-universe as tailored to the potential psychological weaknesses of visitors. A player who notes and cares about the Interface Spoiler will likely feel an ever-growing anticipation of finally filling the missing element - they'll increasingly miss its absence during their progress. This is priming such players to commit a very - but not instantly - stupid action as soon as it's an option, to such an extent as to tempt even those who have found, read, and correctly interpreted a file which should make it clear exactly how bad an idea it is. (The command in question is valuable, but not for the immediately obvious purpose.)

I don't get the Hyrule Warriors example. The second Gold Skulltula challenges don't appear until the player has beaten Legend Mode at least once, and thus already knows what's going to happen. Wouldn't this fit more under Guide Dang It! or Fake Difficulty, as the obfuscation only serves to make the challenge harder to figure out?

I put the achievements example at the top of the list, since I think broad/multi examples should go near the top to get them out of the way.

I also deleted the following example, since (from our own page on the matter) Starcraft 2 has separate tech trees for single- and multiplayer, and it's still not a spoiler in the trope sense- there are no plot details to be gleaned from the lack of access to these items:

• Not precisely a "spoiler" (at least, not if you play melee before entering the campaign), but Starcraft 2's Protoss missions never end up giving you several pieces of tech (the Sentry and the Warp Prism, in particular) that the faction can use in the melee game, as evidenced by the slots where they should be on the command card.

Edited by CleverPun "The only way to truly waste an idea is to shove it where it doesn't belong."

I deleted the following examples since they were more than 50 percent natter (and in the future please follow the editing tips and delete them yourselves rather than adding word cruft):

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• Free Space has a gauge labeled "Shield Status Indicator" despite shields not actually being reverse-engineered until a third of the way through the game.
  • Not actually true. The shield status indicator is a visual gauge of when your hull gets hit, so it is still relevant prior to shields. In addition, not only is the shield power bar not shown prior to shields being added, it doesn't have a space. The weapon and engine power indicators are centered in their slot as though they are the only indicators that will ever exist.

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• On the subject of Final Fantasy XIII, how about Vanille's ATB bar - three sections long at the beginning, before it's revealed she was already a l'Cie?
  • That's actually foreshadowing, with a little Fridge Brilliance thrown in for good measure. It's one of those things that are obvious in retrospect, but isn't really attention grabbing unless it's pointed out to you otherwise.
  • There is no possible way to know that l'Cie have three ATB slots at that point in the game without spoilers. So in and of itself, that isn't a spoiler.

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• Additionally, the game made it clear early on that magic was incredibly rare in the setting, implying that only Terra and Celes could hope to use it. But every character has a missing space for it in the command list.
  • The ability to learn spells naturally is rare, not magic in and of itself. Celes and Terra are the only characters in the game capable of learning spells purely by leveling up. However, even basic mooks can use magic through Magitek armor. In addition, Umaro has both of those, but he can't equip espers or use magic.

Edited by CleverPun "The only way to truly waste an idea is to shove it where it doesn't belong."

I'm... really not understanding the Tales of Symphonia example with Presea. I get the buying axes in Meltokio thing before she joins, but not so much the message that appears that she joined your party. I'm not exactly sure how that showing up with Presea makes it spoilerish, since that message shows up whenever any new party member arrives.