This is infamously present in MMORPG's or any other game with online connectivity, due to one-time events, irreplaceable quest reward items (such as consumables that become Too Awesome to Use) distributed from an online source. This is often true when getting the Lost Forever is based on luck, such as when a boss Randomly Drops a unique piece of equipment. If a player knows such an item is coming, a common tactic is to save immediately beforehand, and restore repeatedly from that save until they manage to get it. However, reaching it with this second-chance method is usually much more time-consuming or difficult than if you had just gotten it the first time around.
Surprise! Guide Dang It.įorgiving developers will sometimes provide an alternative means to reach what would otherwise be Lost Forever. For example, perhaps once you finish disc two and acquire the airship, the random shopkeeper you needed to talk to in order to acquire the Infinity+1 Sword suddenly closes up shop and disappears without explanation. More rarely, things are completely random and arbitrary. The early town that is destroyed, the mountainous area that caves in once you leave it, the village that you're banished from, the Load-Bearing Boss's hideout that goes boom after you beat it, the one-shot place that you're never given the option to return to, and so forth. Lost Forevers frequently appear in areas that can only be accessed once, or are rendered unavailable after a certain plot event occurs. The bane of gamers everywhere, especially those shooting for 100% Completion, as it often forces them to start the entire game anew if they're not willing to accept a less-than-perfect run. A close relative and often an example of Guide Dang It.
Also frequently referred to as being "missable," the dreaded Lost Forever is a game play component (such as an item, weapon, Sidequest, character, or plot event) that can become permanently inaccessible after a certain point in the game, therefore being "lost forever" if you miss them during the period in which they are available.