>learn a new mechanic or get a new item
>game makes it the focus for an hour so

I sometimes find myself irritated with this too but there's a significant upside.
Introduce a mechanic without drilling the implementation and showing the benefits in controlled environment and a player will simply forget about it. Even seasoned veterans are prone to this. It's very easy to get tunnel vision once you've grown too comfortable with a more limited moveset.
The best games introduce mechanics, then show how useful they can be, and much later present an obstacle that is either impossible or much more difficult without properly using that taught mechanic.

>get a new item
>it's used for an hour and then never touched again

>>717892341 (OP)

>>717892341 (OP)
>Get new mechanic
>Only used for that one segment and forgotten about.

Turnmybacktowhatsup

>almost at the end
>find out about a mechanic I forgot about
>Been playing without it the entire time

>>717895145
That was me with the Mario rpg games and not knowing you could time your button press to repeat attacks

>>717892341 (OP)
What is the spinner and dominion rod from twilight princess

>game trickle feeds you abilities and items over the course of the entire game, making only the last few levels fun.
>this also kills any replayability unless there's significantly revamped NG+

>>717895145
I did this in Ys II. I got to the 3rd to last boss before realizing you could hold the button to charge up your fire spell.

>>717892341 (OP)
so zelda? even better then there are barely any use cases for items outside of the dungeon they come from.

>>717892341 (OP)
>obstacle hindering progress breakable with a powerup/item
>obtain powerup/item, break the obstacle
>same obstacle right after
what's the point? I already got through the first time. I never understood this kinda design