The One Thing Wrong With Nearly Every Videogame

One of the strangest design choices in gaming is how the best weapons, armour, and abilities are often locked behind the hardest challenges—by the time you get them, there’s nothing left to use them on. It’s like training for a big boxing match, only to be handed the best pair of gloves after you’ve already won.

Take Final Fantasy IX, for example. If you wanted Steiner’s best weapon, Excalibur II, you had to speedrun through the entire game to reach Memoria within 12 hours. That means skipping cutscenes, avoiding grinding, and ignoring everything that makes FFIX a classic RPG. Sure, once you get there, you can go back and do all the side quests, explore the world, and figure out what you missed… but let’s be real. By that point, you’ve skipped every major story moment, have no idea who anyone is, and are now standing in a multiversal clocktower, wondering why you just sprinted through a masterpiece just to pick up a sword from the floor.

This kind of design is everywhere. RPGs, action games, survival horror, and even open-world sandboxes all have this habit of giving you the best gear when there’s nothing left to fight. Some developers do it as a reward for completionists, while others use it to encourage New Game+ or post-game content. But more often than not, these ultimate rewards end up feeling pointless—because you’ve already beaten the hardest parts of the game to get them in the first place.

Let’s take a look at some of the worst offenders and ask: why do we have to work so hard for things we no longer need?

Final Fantasy X – The Ultimate Weapons You Already Had to Be a God to Get

Final Fantasy X is an amazing game—until you start trying to get the Celestial Weapons. These are the ultimate weapons for each character, and to unlock them fully, you have to complete some of the hardest and most annoying minigames in RPG history.

• Tidus' Caladbolg? You need to win a chocobo race with a final time of 0:00. That means dodging birds, grabbing balloons, and praying to the RNG gods.

  
  

• Lulu’s Onion Knight? You have to dodge 200 lightning bolts in a row without messing up once. Miss one? Start over.

  
  

• Kimahri’s Spirit Lance? Hope you like playing “Follow the Cactuar”.

  
  

Now, here’s where it gets even worse. If you didn’t plan ahead, Dark Aeons will be blocking some of these weapons. If you’re playing the Final Fantasy X International or HD Remaster versions, this means you might need maxed-out stats and the best armour just to get the weapons in the first place.

I still remember doing the Chocobo race for Tidus' Caladbolg, and as my final nerve snapped, the birds spawned in front of me at a corner like a flock of tiny icebergs, and I was controlling the Titanic. After days, weeks, maybe even months of trying this race, I eventually bested the trainer—not through skill, but through pure survival instinct. I effectively used her as a human shield, letting her take the bird hits while I snuck ahead and stole victory from her grasp. I’m not proud of this, but let’s be real—we all do what we have to for top-tier weaponry.

Celestial weapons? By the time you get them? You’ve already beaten the toughest enemies the game has to offer. So what are you supposed to do with them? Look cool? Thanks, Square Enix.

Resident Evil – Unlimited Ammo, But You Already Survived Without It

Survival horror is all about managing resources, carefully conserving bullets, and deciding when it’s worth using a shotgun shell versus running for your life.

Then Resident Evil does something hilarious—it gives you unlimited ammo for a second playthrough.

• In Resident Evil 4, after spending the whole game begging the Merchant for a discount, you can unlock unlimited ammo for the Chicago Typewriter and Infinite Rocket Launcher—after already surviving the nightmare once.

  
  

• Resident Evil Village does the same thing, allowing you to unlock infinite ammo for any weapon after completing the game. The first time through, you’re desperately counting every bullet, but by the time you get infinite ammo, the only thing left to do is laugh as you obliterate Lycans in a New Game+ run.

  
  

I remember playing Resident Evil Village, and after the first lycan attack, I was completely out of ammo, having fired randomly at the blurry furballs dashing across my screen. All I had left was a herb and my trusty knife, which, against a ferocious beast with fangs sharper than my blade, was not the best situation to be in.

My experience quickly turned into a desperate game of barrel-smashing, grabbing a few precious handgun bullets at a time, with just enough to barely survive. Unlimited ammo sure would've been useful, if only for 20 minutes or so...

I guess having a steady hand and good coordination helps in survival horrors… not that I’d know.

Skyrim – The Best Armor… When You’re Already an Unstoppable God

Skyrim lets you craft some of the best armor and weapons in the game, but only after you’ve maxed out Smithing, Enchanting, and Alchemy. The Daedric armor set looks incredible, and weapons like Dragonbone or Daedric weapons can destroy almost anything in a single hit.

But here’s the problem:

• If you’ve already maxed your skills, you’re probably strong enough to one-shot everything anyway.

  
  

• By the time you can craft or find the best gear, you’ve already killed Alduin, defeated Harkon, wiped out the Thieves Guild, and become the Archmage of Winterhold.

  
  

• What’s the point of wearing a Daedric Helmet when you can kill a Dragon Priest with a single arrow?

By the time I got the best weapons and armour in Skyrim, I was already a legend in the snowy lands—a shadow, a myth, a Dragonborn with a bow and enough damage to take down an army of giants and their pet mammoths without them even knowing I was there.

I had spent months cultivating a playstyle that would benefit my low-health, low-defence Argonian peasant. I was… shooting from a distance, never required to beef up, and therefore had no need for all the fancy armour or the finest weaponry the Daedra themselves could bestow upon me.

Being a wimpy fighter has its advantages, and for those that call me a coward, well… I’m already so far away, your shouts have fallen on deaf ears.

So acquiring the best weapons and armour in Skyrim is a case of style over substance—you get it because it looks cool, not because you actually need it.

Why Do Games Do This?

If these rewards are too late to be useful, why do developers keep designing games this way? There are a few reasons:

1. It’s a Trophy, Not a Tool

Many developers treat ultimate weapons or armour as an achievement, not something you actually need. They assume that once you’ve beaten the game, you’ll appreciate a trophy that proves you mastered it—even if there’s nothing left to fight.

2. It’s Meant for New Game+

Games like Resident Evil, Dark Souls, and Nier: Automata give you endgame weapons as a way to make a second playthrough more fun. This works better in games that scale difficulty in New Game+, but in others where there isn't a new game + (looking at you, Skyrim), the enemies stay weak, so it’s just overkill.

3. Developers Don’t Want to Break the Game Too Early

Giving players the best gear too soon could ruin the challenge of the game. Imagine getting the Ultima Weapon in Kingdom Hearts 2 right after Roxas’ prologue—it would trivialize the game’s combat.

When Endgame Rewards Actually Work

Not every game screws this up. Some actually give you a reason to use the best stuff before it’s too late.

• Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix: The Ultima Weapon is amazing for fighting Data Organization XIII and The Lingering Will, some of the hardest bosses in the series.

  
  

• Final Fantasy XV: The best weapons are useful for the secret dungeons and Omega fights.

  
  

• Bloodborne: Getting The Burial Blade from Gehrman is actually useful for DLC bosses if you haven’t finished The Old Hunters yet.

  
  

When the Best Gear Matters, and When It’s Pointless

Late-Game Rewards Are Bad When:

❌ They require beating the hardest bosses to get (Final Fantasy X Celestial Weapons).

❌ There’s nothing big and bad left to use them on (Skyrim’s Daedric Armor).

❌ They come too late to matter for the main story (Resident Evil Unlimited Ammo).

Late-Game Rewards Are Good When:

✅ They help with insanely difficult post-game bosses (Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix’s lingering will).

✅ They carry over to New Game+ where enemies are tougher (Bloodborne’s Burial Blade).

✅ They’re useful for late-game dungeons and secret areas (Final Fantasy XV’s strongest weapons).

Just Give Us the Good Stuff Earlier!

Developers, listen: if you’re going to make us work for the best items in the game, at least let us use them when they matter!

What’s the most frustrating late-game reward you’ve ever unlocked? Or do you know a game that actually gets it right? Let’s talk about it in the comments! 🎮🔥