Cutscene Incompetence/Playing With

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Basic Trope: Characters make mistakes in Cutscenes that they don't make during gameplay.

  • Straight: Pike is a great fighter, but during cutscenes he keeps making mistakes the player wouldn't make, like surrendering to the Mook ambush squad rather than chopping his way through.
  • Exaggerated: Pike is a Physical God with absolute control over the universe who routinely turns all enemies into a fine mist. Except during cutscenes, where he is incapable of harming an ant and can be killed by poking him.
  • Downplayed: Pike is a competent fighter, and the cutscenes generally reflect that, but during one cutscene reacts just a little too slowly to a Goddamned Bat that sneaks up on him, and gets pwned by it.
  • Justified: Pike is an Idiot Hero.
  • Inverted: Cutscene Power to the Max
  • Subverted: A cutscene appears. In that cutscene Pike appears to surrender to the Mook army, who are usually weaker than him, but gameplay begins when Pike is being taken by the Mooks.
  • Double Subverted: Pike is only allowed to destroy a fraction of the Mooks before another cutscene in which he actually surrenders.
  • Parodied: Pike slaughters his way across an entire battlefield with nary a scratch, but upon exiting the area via cutscene, he trips on a small rock, which sends him bungling off a nearby crevasse, comically hitting both sides repeatedly before hitting the bottom. And for good measure, he dropped his weapon AND his armor along the way.
  • Deconstructed: Pike's periodic laspes of judgement haunt him; he may be a great fighter, but what good is that when he keeps choking at the exact worst moments possible? The stress causes him to crack, making worse mistakes and getting caught in a vicious cycle of self-deprecation and regret.
  • Reconstructed: Pike is inspired by his failures to buckle down, work harder and eventually overcome his issues, becoming a truly great hero in the process.
  • Zig Zagged: Pike erratically alternates between Cutscene Incompetence and Cutscene Power to the Max.
  • Averted: Pike's behavior in cutscenes is on par with his capabilities during normal gameplay.
  • Enforced: The game would be over too quickly if it let Pike brute-force his way through everything.
  • Lampshaded: "You'd think this guy would be more powerful than us Mooks." "Maybe he is."
  • Invoked: Pike lets himself be captured during a cutscene as part of his greater plan.
  • Exploited: The Mooks wait for a cutscene to happen to attack Pike.
  • Defied: Pike forces the player to skip the cutscene so he won't get captured.
  • Discussed: "Pike, you KNOW you could have easily fought those guys, right? I mean, you get stabbed by their swords all day anyway, why take exception now?"
  • Conversed: "I wish I could actually play these cutscenes because this guy surrenders way too often in them"
  • Played For Laughs: ???
  • Played For Drama: ???

Back to Cutscene Incompetence.