Need help understanding something in a game

[grommet]

I was playing my game, Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2. I have more than 600 hours. Today something happened that never did before. I had finished the two challenges in the map and was going to make the long trip across the map to the exit portal but I looked to my left and a gate was open. I thought that was strange, I never noticed it before. I thought I was just stupid, not paying attention all those times. I went up the stairs and saw things I never did before. It was wonderful. I also saw that they had had put an exit portal right there, so I did not have to make that very long and boring trip to find the nearest one I always go to. I thought this was great and I was going to use it from now on. I also thought it was a great place to shoot from and wanted to try doing that next time.

I had to go through completing the challenges again but I am pretty fast now so it was fun but still took a while. But I was so disappointed when I got to the gate and it was closed. More than 600 hours and it was only open that once. I can not figure it out. I did everything the same, the same way I always do except I did one weird thing and I do not know if it was a coincidence because it is such an odd and silly thing. What I did was - there are two challenge in that part of the map, The Citadel. To kill the computer hacker bad guy, get his access card and to go to the server room, install a virus and get the access card from the officer in charge there. That card lets the elevator work again. Everything locks down when you install the virus, it triggers a security alert. I did all that and took the elevator to the top to leave but because I have played so many hours I try to do something different each time now, even if it is small. I have found some neat stuff doing that. Today, I know this is weird, but I picked up the body of the officer who had the card that unlocks things after the lockdown and I carried her all the way up the elevator ride to the top.

There is a zip line you can use to ride fast down from the top of the Citadel to the ground so you can leave. I thought it would be really neat if I could ride it while holding her. Just something different. That was the time that gate was open. I thought what I did was so weird the devs could not plan for it and make it an easter egg that would trigger something like the gate opening but the second time I went through I did not bring her, I just went to the top but the gate was closed.

Anyone have ideas on what might have happened? It was not a bug. They had graphics already made to show the gate open. It is always locked and a little rusted shut. I want to make it happen again. What could be going on?

It is a great game, with so many hidden little things that are so fun to find when you already think you have seen or found everything. I really want to figure this out.

 

[Misery]

There's a few ideas that occur to me:

1. It is certainly possible that it's an easter egg, many games have those. If that's what it is, it could be absolutely anything that caused it to open. A lot of easter eggs in games can have incredibly convoluted things that trigger them. Like "how in the world is anyone supposed to figure that out ever" levels of convoluted. I seem to recall one game where it's this big open world, and you have to run all the way to these many out of the way places to find like, these tiny little crabs wedged in different spots, and you have to shoot all of them (and it doesnt work if you use a melee weapon instead), and then you had to go put some funky code into a wall, and then go find your way to just the right spot, and THEN the thing triggers. Easter eggs are like that: they arent considered proper "content" or even secrets, they're things the devs do not expect players to find in most cases, and in many cases it's not just a single action that triggers the activation of one, it could be a long series of many convoluted actions like that just to open one. There are some easter eggs that are so absolutely confusing that even after DECADES, nobody actually knows what triggers them. They've been FOUND before, and there might be video footage of them, but nobody has figured out the "how" yet.

2. Many gates and doors and things in games will be locked until certain conditions are met. Sometimes those locks of course involve you doing things like using keys or punching in a security code, but other times they are triggered by certain acts of skill. Like, reach this spot within a certain amount of time and the door will open, take too long and it remains locked. Or maybe it's like, you did this section of the game without getting damaged too many times, and so now this door is open and there's useful stuff in there.

3. There are, in games, areas that are genuinely not meant to be reached at all. Often, these are sort of "leftovers" from the development process. Areas or objects that were going to be part of the game, but for whatever reason were scrapped, yet the data for them is still in there. You arent meant to get to them at all, but a glitch or exploit can break them open to get you in anyway. In many cases, this sort of thing tends to be a bit broken. Like you'll find the scrapped bit, but nothing about it will work correctly, and maybe it crashes the game if you poke at it. Stuff like that. This sort of thing is really common, even going back to some of the oldest games out there.

4. The door is meant to be unlocked in a fairly normal way, but somewhere along the line you did something that bypassed a trigger in a way that the devs did not intend. So it opens the thing WITHOUT the events or sequences that are supposed to accompany it. This can be exactly as confusing as it sounds. But hey, that's how development goes... mistakes are made at times.

5. There's a trigger that actually is really normal, but you simply hadnt spotted it and this time just happened to accidentally hit it (while still not spotting it) making it appear that the door had opened for a totally unknown reason.

 

[grommet]

There's a few ideas that occur to me:

....

Wow, that is a lot. I do not know which it could be. My brain made the connection to carrying the officer because I never did it before and it is so strange a thing to do. They let you pick up enemies you kill so you can hide them and not trigger an alarm if another soldier sees them. But it did not apply here. I had already killed everyone, no one to discover anything.

I hope I can get in there again. I only replayed the map so I could. I was already so tired. When I can, I will try it one more time carrying her with me. What an odd weird thing if that really is it. The the thing is, the gate was not glitching and I could get past it. It was completely swung open. The graphics were perfect, it was designed to look that way. Maybe it was a location they meant to use and changed their minds. It would have been a nice thing for them to have left in the game though because after you complete the challenges in the Citadel it is such a long boring way to get to the exit portal. I dread it every time.

The layers to this game are amazing to me. I do not know how they could put so much thought into it. No matter how much I play I can still find something new. I do have a complaint that they cheat a lot on the challenges. One bothered me a lot. I kept trying. So many times it was not fun. I could not get it right. If I think I will quit that is when I ask the internet. I found out that the bulletcam had to be left on. It shows the bullet traveling all the way. I turn it off because it slows down the game but in this case they said because it makes the target pause in slow-motion, you can make the shot. I did that and it worked but I think that is cheating, it is not a skill based accomplishment. I worked so hard on that one shot I feel mad about that condition.

Another challenge made me mad because they were not giving me credit for it. I did it right. I was to kill ten enemy with poison gas. You can check your progress and see the number as you go. I killed two enemy with poison gas, saw them die and make the sound they only make when you kill them that way and the counter did not change. I ended up having to kill fifteen to get the ten counted. Not fair.

Another challenge is to kill the leader with explosives. I thought I was really clever. I put C4 in her office at her desk. I was looking at her seated there when I set it off and she died but they only gave me credit for the kill not explosive killing her. I later shot at a hand grenade near her and they credited that. That does not make sense to me but it is a game, not real life so it is not perfect.