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Videogame Places You're Not Supposed To Go
Ssquared22 writes "The eight far-off realms in this article exist for different reasons. They could be developer test areas, or forgotten pieces of landscape that somehow made their way into the final code. Whatever their reason for being, they all have one thing in common: they weren't meant to be explored by the likes of you and me. But through persistence, hacks or some combination of the two, you can take in these rare delights for yourself. Pack your bags."
What odd, interesting, or funny game locations have you wandered into?
Hot Coffee
Regarding WoW secret areas (there are several) the obviously omitted the most significant Mont Hyjal as an entire zone area you had to join by trick jumping. The place had nice project site marking and barrier at the end of the long coiling road.
It was only opened to playable content with the Caverns of Time.
Léa Gris
Oblivion has a nice place you can teleport to.
Its a room full of doors.
Behind every door, there is something developers used to test, like items, enemys, even a whole test city :D
When talking to test npcs there can be very funny messages ^^
I know of a huge forgotten area, but it's too difficult to get to for most WoW players.
It's called real life.
You're SO not supposed to go there! But if you do, a secret screen comes up with a bunch of cryptic text that nobody has yet been able to decipher.
There's a very interesting technique you can use to move pretty much anywhere you like in Thief 1 & 2 due to a physics bug or feature. Until it was discovered by Luthien, fans of the games (at www.ttlg.com) stacked enormous amounts of crates on top of each other to explore different places in levels but one player discovered a trivial method to move like that (crate stacking is somewhat difficult). For those interested, here's how to move through flare elevatoring (the same can be done with keys in Thief 1 but note that you must always have one object of the kind you use, in your inventory all the time so you need at least three). It's easier if you have very low mouse senisitivity so adjust it before trying this.
1. look straight up and drop a flare in the air so that it lands on your head (note: do not throw it but drop it, check your key configuration, if necessary)
2. look straight down and jump, the flare you threw will become "stuck inside you"
3. you can jump once or twice more to gain more height
4. again look straight up and drop a flare in the air like in 1.
5. look straight down, you should see the flare you dropped in 1. below you
6. jump and when doing so also pick up the flare below you
7. jump once or twice more to gain more height
8. goto 4.
You can climb as high as you like but if you're close to the edge of a wall, you'd better not face it since the result of jumping might become an attempt to climb (mantle) it instead. It's better if you wait until you're high enough to mantle it easily.
This technique can also be used to move horizontally in the air but it's quite difficult (at least for me).
A first suggestion of a place to visit is of course the roof of Angelwatch. In the demo they have even placed some AI there but it's not there in the full game version (in neither one are you supposed to actually get there). And in case you didn't know it: The Thief 2 demo is quite a nice playing experience otherwise too, it is a version of "Life of The Party" but with quite a lot of modifications. Very much worth playing, if you liked the full game. You can also try climbing the lighthouse in "Kidnapped" from the outside.
Beware that when you visit locations that you're not supposed to, the game might crash because the polygon limit might be exceeded. In the editor, it's possible to have more polygons on screen than in the actual game and thus some places like that have been possible to design and the level designers have only taken into account from what directions you should be able to see them.
More about the technique here.
Another location: In case you didn't know it, there's an easter egg in "Framed" in Thief 2: If you throw a scouting orb over the fence to your left in the beginning of the level, you'll see something funny (a couple of dancing zombies) and you can even visit them (without flare elevatoring). One of the buildings in front of you has a roof object instead of a real roof and that object has no physics properties so you can climb onto it even though it looks too steep and high to allow it. I don't remember exactly which building it is, probably the tavern you can enter. From its roof you can then jump over the fence. I don't remember if the zombies will care about you or not.
And one more: In Thief 1 (and Thief 1 Gold), you can enter the cathedral during your first visit to it too. If you go behind the cathedral to the window (which isn't even there when you visit it again in "Return to The Cathedral"), you can enter the cathedral through it like this: Jump up to it so that you're "in it" but can't squeeze through since you're not meant to. Turn 180 degrees and jump. You'll fly straight into the cathedral. This jumping backwards with higher force feature, is probably meant to stop you from getting stuck somewhere but you can exploit it like this. The haunts inside won't see you since the level has their vision off to reduce CPU load but they will hear you
A secret area in Quake II with a stash of ammo, that you could only get to by rocket-jumping.. acknowledging a unintended trick that started with the original Quake. The message printed on the screen was, "This is for you, you crazy rocket-jumpers."
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I know of a huge forgotten area, but it's too difficult to get to for most WoW players. It's called real life.
It's all real life. But I've heard of this mysterious land AFK, haven't explored that yet...
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
In Stonetalon Peak, slightly south-west of the Inn, my wife and I tricked-jumped on a spot of the mountain side that looked the most accessible, and we eventually reached the top. Right there, you get to a plateau on top of some of the highest mountains in the area, with a nice and beautiful view of the mountain ranges as far as your GPU will render. You can see various map areas all around.
Anyway, that's not the coolest part. The best part is what lies beyond. There is a cliff at the edge which brings you to a "secret" area. If you jump down from the left-most edge of the cliff, you'll fall down and die; but with persistence you can then come back the same way as a spirit, jump down and reclaim your body. Et voilá, you're in!
This area is a wide expanse of unfinished terrain between the various world sections that intersect there. It seems to be completely uninhabited and serene. It is vast and pretty, with a weird mélange of texture maps. you can explore this huge area and marvel at the beautiful collage of colors, textures, and terrain elements.
Eventually, you'll find a rather large, rectangular pit, where various areas coincide. It is like a huge deep pool drained of water. Its floor is composed of texture tiles from the different areas that meet at that point. But be careful! If you decide to jump in, know that there is no way out of it. You'll have to use your hearthstone (or call a game master). There is plenty more beyond that point which I haven't explored yet (as you may imagine, we dropped into the pit and got stuck).
All in all, it is one of the most strangely beautiful areas--hidden or not--of the World of Warcraft. So, be sure to pack plenty of sandwiches, your beverage of choice, and your video camera!
-dZ.
Carol vs. Ghost
I took a look at Second Life once and found all kinds of half-finished buildings and stuff!
Oh, wait...