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* [[Commonplace Rare]] <br />When a seemingly common item takes an excessive amount of effort to acquire.
* [[Cutscene Incompetence]] <br />The character can destroy giant monsters in battle, but in cutscenes, they're just normal.
* [[Cutscene Power to Thethe Max]] <br />The character is incredibly powerful - but only in cutscenes; in gameplay, their stats are about average.
* [[Day Old Legend]] <br />Even though you just made that item using the crafting system, its flavor text gives it several hundred years' worth of backstory.
* [[Dude, Where's My Respect?]] <br />You may have saved the world or completed impossible quests, but that won't stop you from being given extremely meager quests and generally treated like crap.
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** [[No Cutscene Inventory Inertia]] <br />No matter what weapon or armor you have equipped, you will be shown with specific (often default) equipment in [[Cutscene|cutscenes]].
** [[The Battle Didn't Count]] <br />After beating a boss, instead of dying, he pulls a [[Villain Exit Stage Left]]. Or worse....
*** [[Heads I Win, Tails You Lose]] <br />A boss battle where you get a [[Game Over]] if you lose, but if you win, the boss activates ''his'' [[Cutscene Power to Thethe Max]] and overrides it.
* [[Take Your Time]] <br />You can take as long as you want to finish your sidequests, and that [[Final Fantasy VII (Video Game)|world-destroying meteor]] will just hang in the sky till you're done.
** [[Continue Your Mission, Dammit!]] <br />Even given the above, [[Stop Helping Me!|Helpful]] NPCs will constantly remind you that you "need" to keep going.
* [[Took a Shortcut]] <br />You spent all that time going through the dungeon and beating all the puzzles, so how the heck did those NPCs get here first?
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See also [[RPG Anime]] and [[New Rules Asas the Plot Demands]].
 
There are three types listed here; straight examples, aversions (that you could term gameplay and story integration), and back-and-forth examples, where a game includes major straight examples and major aversions at the same time.
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== [[Action Adventure]] ==
* In ''[[Castlevania III]]'', you start off with one character and can get one of three partners to join you, or finish the game solo. If you have a partner and sign up a new one, the old one leaves. It is also impossible to encounter all three characters during a single playthrough (without a cheat code, anyway). Yet, according to canon, all four people were involved.
* In ''[[Castlevania]]: [[Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin|Portrait of Ruin]]'', for pretty much for the entire first half of the game, you get warned about how having Jonathan or any other non-Belmont use the true power of the Vampire Killer will drain their life force and eventually kill them if they overuse it. But when you do actually unlock its power in game, you can whip it all day long with absolutely no consequences whatsoever.
** Justified, it takes longer than the events of the game for the user's life force to be drained.
 
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== [[Fighting Game]] ==
* The special moves "Hadouken" (Surging Fist), "Shoryuken" (Rising Dragon Punch) and "Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyaku" (Hurricane Kick) in ''[[Street Fighter II (Video Game)|Street Fighter II]]'' are moves with the potential to severely injure opponents (Ryu's Shoryuken left Sagat heavily scarred, for example, although that particular incident was exceptional...) Those moves are toned-down versions of the original [[Charles Atlas Superpower|"murderous techniques"]] (which Gouki/Akuma uses and Gouken knows) that can actually kill an opponent (the "Gou Hadoken", "Gou Shoryuken", and the "Tatsumaki Zanku Kyaku"). Since it would obviously be unfair to make any move lethal, all of this is heavily toned down in the game itself. The canonical power of the moves limits their frequency in anime versions, promoting the Hadouken (for example) from "something Ryu routinely throws out fifty times in two minutes" to "final, fight-ending strike of destiny".
** Lampshaded by the "Shin (True) Shoryuken". It's a massive, destructive super, a good indication of the kind of damage the technique does when the gloves come off.
** The infamous scarring Shoryuken deserves special mention, as it not only struck one of the least vulnerable parts of the human body (especially for a massive bruiser like Sagat), judging by the length of the scar, ''it didn't even connect solidly''. Sagat would be considerable pain but shouldn't have been defeated at that moment. (In ''Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie'', where Ryu's fight with Sagat is seen in the opening, Sagat in fact ''isn't'' defeated by that Shoryuken; he charges at Ryu in a rage, prompting Ryu to charge up a Hadoken to finish him.)
** It's worth noting that while they're fairly weak from ''SFII'' onwards, in the first game, the special moves were ''very'' powerful, with a successful hit knocking a third of an opponent's health off. Each hit was also rated from one to three stars, and this acted as a damage multiplier; it was entirely possible to one-shot someone with ridiculous lucky.
** Akuma's Shun Goku Satsu attack only seems to kill opponents in the story.
* Modern [[WWE]] games with career modes fall victim to this. Your status as a [[Face|face]] or [[Heel|heel]] is solely dependent on the choices you make during storyline [[Cutscene|cutscenes]], meaning your actual behavior in the ring is entirely irrelevant. For example, you may play your matches dirty, doing things such as using weapons, removing turnbuckle pads, delivering low bows, and taking advantage of the [[Easily-Distracted Referee]], but as long as you make the corresponding decisions during [[Cutscene|cutscenes]], the game will act as if you're a straight-up [[Face|face]]. Some games will penalize you by taking away momentum (the stuff that lets you perform special moves) for using tactics that don't match your alignment. However, you can still ''do'' them at any time, and the storyline will never acknowledge it.
** This may actually reflect a lot of developments from the Attitude Era and subsequent years, and the popularity of superstars such as Eddie Guerrero, who would "Lie, Cheat, and Steal" but still be a fan-favorite because he was amazing in the ring and could convince the crowd to eat out of the palm of his hand.
** Another, more pernicious thing WWE career modes like to do is every now and then have you beat an opponent, and then have them get back up and pin your wrestler in the following cutscene, or some such thing. It should be a normal part of kayfabe, except that you're then stuck with a ''real'' loss that goes on your wrestler's statistics record, even though you put in the effort of winning the friggin' match. Grr.
* In ''[[Blaz Blue Calamity Trigger (Video Game)|Blaz Blue Calamity Trigger]]'', no matter how many times you activate Ragna's [[Deadly Upgrade|Blood]] [[Super Mode|Kain]] in gameplay, it doesn't count in the story until a certain cutscene in the True Ending.
** Also, no matter how hard you lay the [[Curb Stomp Battle|curbstomping]] on Hazama/Terumi in Arcade Mode, he is still just warming up.
* In ''[[Mortal Kombat]] vs [[DC Universe]]'' after a game of [[Let's You and Him Fight]] Superman and Raiden finally put aside their differences, realize there's a greater enemy to face, and turn, together, to fight Dark Khan in unison. You then proceed to fight him alone, your ally having mysteriously vanished without a word of explanation.
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*** Chief, and pretty much all the SPARTAN-IIs are a lot faster, stronger, and more durable in the books than ingame, where the Chief (regenerating shields notwithstanding), is only marginally superior to the basic soldiers surrounding him.
*** Although they are shown as being very powerful in the books, the SPARTAN-IIs are more tactical; the energy shields they have are only capable of take a handful of plasma fire, and it overall can only protect you for a short time (although that time could mean the difference between life and death). It's even more apparent with SPARTAN-IIIs, who have no shielding at all and rely on active camouflage for most of their protection. The SPARTAN-IIs demonstrate how incredibly powerful they are with the IIIs however; {{spoiler|Kelly}} managed to take out nearly two teams of them and punched one in the chest hard enough to dent the armour.
** This was averted in one section in ''[[Halo 3: ODST]]''; during a cutscene Romeo fires three shots at an enemy, and when gameplay starts he's missing three rounds. Of course, at the end of that segment, the cutscene has him wielding a sniper rifle, regardless of what he was using instants earlier during gameplay. This is necessary for the Rookie to be able to find the rifle later. Throughout the game, cutscenes tend to show the squad with their signature suppressed SMG rather than whatever they had during gameplay.
* In ''[[Bio ShockBioshock]]'', ADAM is described by NPCs as a substance you need to have injected into you to make plasmids and gene tonics work, and after that regular injections are required to prevent physical and psychological damage. In the game itself, it is simply treated like a currency you use to buy said plasmids and tonics, which cost no actual money besides. The game also features the corresponding EVE, which acts as fuel for the plasmids, and is never touched on in the narrative.
** One of the [[Public Service Announcement|Public Service Announcements]] might even be lampshading this: "A Rapture reminder: We all have bills to pay, and the temptation to break curfew to make a little extra ADAM is forgivable..." So, wait, you can pay your bills in ADAM instead of dollars?
** However, ''Bioshock'' also makes {{spoiler|the game's inherent linearity and lack of open-endedness}} a plot point: as it turns out, {{spoiler|you were under mind control the whole time, triggered by Atlas saying "would you kindly"}}.
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== [[MMORPG|MMORPGs]] ==
* This trope is pretty much universal and constantly active in [[MMORPG|MMORPGs]] - typically in the "infinite-lives bosses", the "what do you mean, resurrect spell?", ''and'' the "we desperately need level 1 fighters even though we have level 70 shopkeepers" varieties.
* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' is rife with this trope, but one of the more nonsensical examples is in the Caverns of Time dungeons, where PCs are sent back in time by the Bronze Dragonflight to various famous incidents in past ''[[War CraftWarcraft]]'' titles. In many cases, most of the current playable races could not have been present for various reasons (Horde characters in particular, but also Night Elves and Draenei). So in those dungeons, those characters get hit with a illusion buff that disguises them as a Human for the duration of the dungeon. You would think this would make it an inversion of the trope, except that it also applies to Blood Elves--who all would have been Alliance High Elves in those days, and so could have been present for all these events. Turning them Human is just odd, when a simple eye color change would suffice. It's especially nonsensical in the Culling of Stratholme instance, where you see a variety of Warcraft 3 units represented at the front gate of the city, one of which is a ''High Elf Priest''. It turns specially weird when you take into account that classes aren't disguised in any way, so you can have Warlocks and Death Knights helping Thrall escape from Durnholde, shapeshifted Druids running about, and Humans casting Shaman spells. But no High Elves.
** The game is full of big examples of [[Gameplay and Story Segregation]], but one of the biggest is illness death. In the game, four playable classes can remove curses and/or cure poisons and cast resurrection spells that will restore to life any player character they are cast on. But in the storyline of both tie-ins in other media and in the stories of the game's own quests, curing each type of disease or poison requires multiple unique components, death is feared like in [[Real Life]], and resurrection (not counting [[Came Back Wrong]]) is almost unheard of. For example, there's one quest in Northrend where you find a poor poisoned goblin and have to run around killing giant spiders until one of them barfs up a poison sac. Never mind that at least three classes can easily cure poisons, as well as anyone with high enough first aid has the ability to make antivenom out of those self-same spiders, or (by the game mechanics) if he died, four classes could easily resurrect him, and any engineer would have the ability to at least try.
* ''[[City of Heroes (Video Game)|City of Heroes]]'' has a rather glaring example of this in the Freedom Phalanx. The premier superheroes of the setting, akin to Superman, Batman, Captain America, and other A-listers....sit around waiting to give you quests, and generally do absolutely nothing else, with poor excuses for why they never fight at your side. In the few times you DO team up with them, they're generally as bad as any of the other NPC allies, and die in short order, while their villainous counterparts will kick your butt all over the surrounding environs, generally being some of the most dangerous bosses in the game. Even more confusingly, when you face the same heroes in ''City of Villains'', you can face the same heroes in single combat, and they're now, like their counterparts, the hardest bosses in the game. Apparently the only time the game can give these people the powers they're storyline-wise credited with is when they're beating on you instead of random [[Mooks]].
** This was mocked/played with on the games forums, when a player asked the developer that plays Positron why he never helps players during Rikti Invasions and they gather at that characters feet in Steel Canyon. He responded that the Rikti 'con grey, so I wouldn't get XP.'
** For those who don't play, when your character is 5 or more levels higher than an enemy, its name turns grey and you don't get any experience for kiling it.
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== [[Party Game]] ==
* Some games, such as the ''[[Wario Ware (Video Game)|Wario Ware]]'' series, take this to such a blatant extreme that it starts making sense again by having the gameplay and the story literally have nothing to do with each other.
 
== [[Platform Game]] ==
* The ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' series has an odd case of this. From the very beginning, Princess Peach has been the [[Distressed Damsel]]... but on almost every occasion she's been playable, she's been quite capable, whether as a fighter, athlete, or go-kart driver, and largely a match for Mario... which raises the question of how she continues to be kidnapped and require Mario to save her when she's as good as him and more than capable of defeating swarms of angry Koopas or even Samus Aran when she needs to. At this point, Nintendo seems to simply have fun with its artifacts.
* In ''[[Super Mario Sunshine (Video Game)|Super Mario Sunshine]]'', the entire goal of the game is to retrieve magical Shine Sprites which have scattered all over a tropical island. The Sprites are the source of the good weather that gives the island prosperity, and therefore vitally important to everyone on the island. However, most of the Sprites you'll find are being held by random inhabitants of the island who give them to you as rewards for trivial tasks like winning a squid race. One merchant in town happens to possess a full 20% of them. Not a single inhabitant seems to realize that it might be a good idea to return the sprites themselves.
* According to the instructions manual for the original ''[[Super Mario Bros. (Videovideo Gamegame)|Super Mario Bros]]'' game, Buzzy Beetles are enemies that act exactly like Koopa Troopas except that they can't be killed with fireballs (though you can stomp them and kick their shells, however). But despite this fact, only ''one'' Buzzy Beetle can be killed with fireballs: {{spoiler|[[Chekhov's Gunman|the Fake Bowser at the end of World 3.]]}}
 
== [[Puzzle Game]] ==
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== [[Real Time Strategy]] ==
* One of the cutscenes in ''[[War CraftWarcraft]] II'' depicts a human footman commandeering an orcish catapult and using it to destroy a goblin zeppelin. In gameplay, catapults can't even attack zeppelins, let alone strike them down in one hit.
** Another example occurs in the Human ending to the "Tides of Darkness" campaign: No matter how you destroy the Dark Portal to end the war against the Orcs, the cutscene will always show the Arch Mage Khadgar using his magic ritual to destroy the portal. This can be quite noticeable, if you decided to use a force of [[Death From Above|Gryphon Riders]] to get the job done for the mission, and no Land troops were present on the land mass where the portal resides.
* ''[[Lost Magic]]'' has a field day with this; Bosses use special Runes they aren't supposed to have ''at all' as they're their respective Sage's secret power, [[Useless Useful Spell|Useless Useful Spells]] [[The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard|work better for the bosses then for you]], and then comes the [[Cutscene Power to Thethe Max]]. Or not.
* In ''[[Dawn of War (Video Game)|Dawn of War]] 2'' one of the areas (an industrial district) is protected by huge and seemingly impenetrable gates that ward off relentless hordes of both Orks and Tyranids. Yet, in the expansion ''Chaos Rising'' there is the option to destroy them and can be done with a single satchel charge. Huh.
** The entire mission is one huge example of this. [[Take Your Time|There is no time limit despite the apparent urgency]], it can be failed (all squads incapacitated) multiple times with no consequences, and while the wall is pretty huge not only are there two highly visible ''holes'' in it near the edges of the map, but Tyranid Carnifexes (of which there are plenty) are specifically designed to easily ram down such fortifications.
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCifhDGY1K8 Kerrigan is NOT the Queen of Blades.] Late in ''[[Starcraft (Video Game)|Starcraft]]'''s Terran campaign, one of the levels ends with {{spoiler|your base getting overrun by Zerg, who capture Kerrigan and turn her into the eventual [[Big Bad]]}}. You can easily have the firepower to make this completely nonsensical.
* According to the backstory of ''[[Defense of the Ancients]]'', some of the heroes should be nearly invincible, and most of them should all already have tons (in some cases, literally eons) of battle experience. Yet they all start at level 1 with almost no spells available.
 
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* In ''[[Phantasy Star IV]]''; one of the first characters is hit by an ability which poisons, and eventually kills her. You have to fight the user of this ability later, who... uses the same ability, over and over, on your characters, with no lethal consequences.
** Semi-averted in this case. You have to use a [[MacGuffin]] to be able to crack the boss in question's barrier, and if you don't do that, his attack remains just as lethal as it was the first time you fought him - One shot, one kill. Of course, anyone killed in this manner in ''this'' fight can be just as easily brought back, hence only semi-averted.
* Many RPGs have summons or other spells with extensive animations that never affect reality in the RPG world. The earthquake spell never takes out any buildings, Bahamut Zero can fly out of space and zap your enemies even when you're underground, and the most infamous offender, ''[[Final Fantasy VII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy VII]]'''s Supernova, destroys Earth's whole solar system, doing some damage to the characters but leaving them and the planet (which is not even Earth) intact. Moreover, the villain can cast it multiple times. On the other hand, Little Girl Rydia summons Titan in a battle-cutscene and creates an entire mountain range (long before she learns ''how'' to summon Titan, at that). Likewise, in ''[[Final Fantasy IX (Video Game)|Final Fantasy IX]]'' summons are pivotal to the plot as the beasts enact massive actions in cutscenes; apparently, their attacks are much more surgically precise during gameplay.
** In a bizarre exception that vindicates the rule, ''[[Final Fantasy VI (Video Game)|Final Fantasy VI]]'' has a cutscene where character uses a smoke bomb to escape from a fire.
*** A minor bit of [[Cutscene Power to Thethe Max]] here, as in-game a smoke bomb only escapes battle (leaving you in the same location), a Warp Stone is what you use if you want to escape a location.
** With regard to Super Nova, it's implied/theorised that the spell is actually an illusion, and the damage is caused by [[Your Mind Makes It Real]]. This explains why it can be cast multiple times during the fight, and why it only does percentage-based damage (as presumably, an illusion wouldn't be able to actually kill anyone).
* In ''[[Crisis Core (Video Game)|Crisis Core]]: [[Final Fantasy VII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy VII]]'', much of the [[Level Grinding]] takes place through a menu-based 'SOLDIER Mission' system, where you undertake various missions for Shinra Inc at any save point. However, you're still able to use this system during the latter leg of the game, where Zack is on the run with Shinra Company hunting him down and gunning for his blood. In fact, it is completely impossible to avoid this segregation by finish all the side missions early. There are missions released only ''after'' the Nibelheim incident.
* In ''[[Final Fantasy VIII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy VIII]]'', the player's character gets a regular paycheck from his organization, Seed (based in Balamb Garden), based on his Seed rank. This works fine, until about halfway through disc 2, the player is made the commander of Balamb Garden. You would think that this would give you a pay raise. But no, your rank doesn't so much as rise a single level when you are promoted, and in fact, it is still possible to be demoted and receive a pay cut. Never mind the fact that, story-wise, you're the highest ranking person in the Garden. Even more confusing, after time starts compressing at the end of the game and you are thrown out of time into the future and can no longer interact with towns and most NPCs, you still are paid at regular intervals. That's a pretty impressive banking system.
** You can even be demoted in the few areas where you only control Rinoa, the only member of the party who isn't working with SeeD, near the end of Disc 1.
** Anyone remember when {{spoiler|Rinoa was fused with Adel for [[That One Boss]] so you tried Junctioning Rinoa to absorb an element of your choice, then tried summoning the GF of that corresponding element? Yeah, it didn't work when I tried it either.}}
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** The games insist on judging your power by number of badges, regardless of the level of your Pokémon. Mt. Silver should be no problem for a trainer with six Pokémon of levels 80-100, but you can't get to it unless you have 16 badges.
*** Of course, the same argument could be made at that point that getting those badges should be rather easy.
** Supposedly, Charizard's fire breath is hot enough to melt boulders. [[Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors|Still doesn't have much effect on Rock types.]] It's also stated that the surface of Magcargo's skin [[Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale|is hotter than the surface of the sun.]] Somehow, [[Convection, Schmonvection|the Earth and everything else around it aren't becoming instant slag.]] Spiritomb is [[Sealed Evil in Aa Can|108 souls sealed in a stone]], but it can breed and create more Spiritomb. Arcanine is renowned for its impossible speed, but there are a lot of mons that have higher Speed stats, including its counterpart, Ninetales. Yeah, this game has [[Fridge Logic]] bouncing off the walls.
*** Then again, it has been speculated that at least a few of the Pokedex entries are either exaggerated or made up.
** Metapod are supposed to be immobile and only know Harden. And ones you fight in the wild do only know Harden. Where this trope comes into play is that a Caterpie you evolve yourself will still know the moves it did before. Pupitar, on the other hand, are flat out stated to be fully mobile Pokémon and Kakuna are mentioned to be near-immobile; their Yellow Pokédex entry hints that they knows Poison Sting.
** Regice is stated to be so cold that dipping it in magma would not harm it at all and instead freeze the magma solid. Just being near it exposes you to the intense aura of near-absolute zero air surrounding it. Yet its opponents suffer no ill effects from biting it, punching it, kicking it, wrapping their bodies around it, etc. And fire is still super-effective against it.
** Several Pokemon, such as Venomoth and Beedrill, can clearly fly but are not classified as flying types.
* The ''[[Tales Series(series)]]'' is generally pretty bad about plot-based injuries and the fact that you're usually carrying around a ton of medicine or food items that you can cook with. It's often [[Hand Wave|Hand Waved]] by the healers, trying First Aid for a couple seconds and going "there's nothing I can do" or "they're too far gone." And then all the games have their own little quirks...
** The ''entire plot'' of ''[[Tales of Symphonia (Video Game)|Tales of Symphonia]]'' occurs because {{spoiler|Mithos wants to revive his dead sister Martel in a very complex way that takes about 4,000 years to get right (and is actually criticized by Martel for doing horrible things to revive her) when they could've easily just bought a Life Bottle for a couple hundred gald. Every merchant in the world sells them anyway.}}
*** Actually, {{spoiler|Life Bottles only cure what the manual refers to as being "knocked out" in battle. True, the name implies they can bring people back to life, but there's no evidence of that being the case.}}
** In ''[[Tales of the Abyss]]'', Guy, one of the protagonists, has a crippling fear of women (to the point that being glomped by one early in the game is sufficient to give him a momentary [[Heroic BSOD]].) This doesn't seem to pop up when in battle, even against female enemies.
*** It's indicated that he can overcome it given sufficient motivation, like when he grabs Anise's arm to pull her up when she almost falls off a cliff, so it's possible battle is one such case (or else, that he never physically comes into contact with them during it).
*** And then there's Tear, [[Cutscene Power to Thethe Max|who put an entire mansion of people to sleep and almost assassinated one of the most powerful members of the Oracle Knights]] in an early cutscene. In actual gameplay, she's the [[White Mage]] (though she can be played offensively, she's got the better set of healing spells).
*** Cooking: Despite the fact that Natalia and Luke are supposed to be [[Lethal Chef|terrible cooks]], they seem to do just fine when asked to cook recipes.
** In ''[[Tales of Legendia (Video Game)|Tales of Legendia]]'', once Grune gets her memory back {{spoiler|and is revealed to be an all-powerful [[Physical God]]}}, you'd think she'd get stronger now that she actually knows who she is, what her powers are, and how to properly use them. Nope.
*** Although there is some Integration here, as her battle quotes (and even the pitch of her voice!) all change to reflect her sudden change in personality.
* ''[[The World Ends With You (Video Game)|The World Ends With You]]'': In Another Day, {{spoiler|the game takes place in an alternate timeline where Neku, Shiki, and Beat are not part of the Reapers' Game, and do not know each other, yet you can battle like it's any other day. Also, when you unlock the [[New Game+|chapter select feature]], you can use ANY character on ANY day, even if, in the chapter you select, the character has not met Neku yet or has vanished.}}
* ''[[Vampire Bloodlines]]'' is based on the tabletop RPG ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade (Tabletop Game)|Vampire: The Masquerade]]''. Of course, for gameplay reasons, disciplines work differently in the game than in the RPG... ''except in cutscenes.'' For example, in one scene, Beckett uses his Protean discipline to change into a wolf, which is a perfectly valid usage in the tabletop RPG but something you can't do even with maxed Protean in-game. Later on, a vampire uses Presence to seduce a mortal: Again, perfectly valid in the RPG, but in the game Presence is entirely useless to you outside of combat.
** Likewise, an empty dumpster or wooden crate shouldn't be able to stymie your progress toward the end of the game, by which time you have Strength and Potence 5; in the actual tabletop game, you could deadlift a truck at that point.
* Big one in ''[[Valkyria Chronicles]]'' after having taken Marberry Shore {{spoiler|During this and all other missions your troops can take an anti-tank round to the face at point blank range and be rescued by a medic, but in the cutscene Isara takes a shot in the back and neither the medic nor ragnaid is a benefit. It's all very FF 7}}
** It suffers from this in a lot of ways. There's the above example, of course, but there's also the mission where Alicia sprains her ankle and must hobble around the map to find a plant that Welkin can use to gradually heal it. The player can still use Ragnite to heal the wounds she gets during the mission, but it does nothing for the sprain. The teamwork themes occasionally suffer, since the game can't predict whether or not any of Squad 7 may die, so it's likely that many of the player's favorite squad members have no impact on the plot and don't appear in cutscenes. And then there's {{spoiler|Alicia after she becomes a Valkyria}}, when she has an existential crisis over her new ability to kill enemy soldiers and tanks... except she's a powerhouse on the field, and can easy rack up a higher body count than most of your shocktroopers because of her extremely high accuracy and headshot rate, which means she's apparently okay with taking Mooks down execution style, but not with a laser.
* ''[[Dragon Quest IV (Video Game)|Dragon Quest IV]]'': During the fourth chapter, you have to search for some gunpowder in order to make a loud noise and scare the Chancellor of Palais de Leon. Never mind that Maya already knows a spell called "Bang" that creates a big explosion...
* ''[[Dragon Quest VIII (Video Game)|Dragon Quest VIII]]'': At one point you cannot get past a northern checkpoint because the game involves going around with a king who has been transformed into a monster, and they won't let a monster in. However, at this point the hero has learned a spell to teleport him and his party to any city he has been to. If the story treated this spell as existing, he could go through the checkpoint alone, reach the next city, return, then teleport back to the city with the king and party.
** For that matter, half the stores in the game sell an item that has the same effect (Chimaera wings,) so it wouldn't necessarily have to be the hero who could go alone. Heck, they could find a random guy who's been to the city and pay him to transport them there. If the game's plot considered this, though, then keeping borders secure would be nearly impossible.
* The opening scene of ''[[Phantom Dust]]'' has a team of espers scorch scores of monsters with single attacks when two of said monsters would be challenging to the player. This may be justified by the fact that some of the monsters look a little more sickly they do in the game proper. Another example is characters performing feats like telekinetically hurling what appears to be half a sky scraper at you when the player, who is easily the most powerful esper in the game, has no such abilities.
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** Likewise, in nearly every game in which he appears, you can make Juggernaut stop charging and fall over by hitting him enough. Nothing stops the Juggernaut... except a punch or two.
* At one point in the RPG ''Gorky [[17/Odium|Odium]]'', {{spoiler|your [[The Medic|team medic]] gets attacked and poisoned by an invisible monster, cannot be cured, and dies at the end of the battle (and states that the grotesquely deformed bodies you found earlier are, too, victims of this poison).}} Near the end of the game, you battle a group of these monsters, but their poison can be cured away and only does minor damage like any other monster's poison.
* The Buster Sword is a particularly [[Egregious]] example of this in ''[[Final Fantasy VII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy VII]]''. Its attack power and materia slots are some of the lowest in the game, but Cloud is always depicted wielding it in cutscenes, no matter what he's actually equipped with. This also applies to the rest of the characters-no matter what weapon they're equipped with, official art and cutscenes always shows them with the crappy, low-rent equipment they started with.
** Similar things happen in ''[[Final Fantasy XIII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy XIII]]'', with characters seemingly picking their cutscene weapons at random.
** The same happens with ''[[Tales of Symphonia (Video Game)|Tales of Symphonia]]''. Lloyd is a partial exception, as he starts out with a pair of wooden swords, soon switches to a pair of metal ones, and around the time he gets the Material Blade from Kratos and Dirk, he starts using that. The player will most likely have the Material Blade on Lloyd for much of the endgame, and there is a [[Justified Trope|justification]] for him using it in cutscenes ({{spoiler|The Eternal Sword's power flows into the Material Blade}}), but he' always wielding the Material Blade regardless of what weapon you have.
* In the [[BaldursBaldur's Gate]] series and other Infinity Engine games, there are a number of resurrection spells and items that can bring your group members back from the dead. However, when the plot calls for a character to die, they die... and the option of resurrection is never even brought up.
** Irritating example: The background fluff in [[BaldursBaldur's Gate]] claims that lots of people prefer carrying handy little gems instead of weighty gold coins. For the player, the utility is reversed: Gold is weightless and its value is precise, while gems' values are unknown and they clutter up your limited inventory space.
** Occasionally Justified in-game when the writers can be bothered. If the PC offers to resurrect {{spoiler|Khalid}} at the start of [[BG 2]], {{spoiler|Jaheira}} refuses, and will leave the party if the PC tries to insist.
* In ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]] II: The Sith Lords'', Nar Shaddaa is home to the Jekk'Jekk Tarr, a bar that caters to aliens and sports a piped-in atmosphere toxic to humans. When the [[Player Character]] goes there as part of the game's overarching story, he/she is informed that a breathmask will be insufficient protection and a full-body containment suit is called for, as the poison can be absorbed through the skin. This will come as a surprise to any player who already completed an earlier sidequest by, yes, putting on a breathmask and just walking around as normal.
** In addition, the various Jedi Masters you're searching for will act as though your character is still cut off from the Force when you talk to them, totally ignoring something like the possibility that you were [[Jedi Mind Trick|mind-controlling mercenaries]] or [[Shock and Awe|blasting entire rooms of people with lightning from your hand]] right in front of them not five minutes prior. [[Fridge Brilliance|There's a very good reason for that, however.]]
* In [[Inazuma Eleven]]. every soccer player can jump almost as high as [[DragonballDragon Ball|Saiyans]] in a soccer match to create super natural moves, but non of a member in your team thinks of jumping across a small river to get to pieces of wood to create a bridge so that their van can cross, and you have to go around the whole maze-like forest.
* In the final chapter of Scenario 013 in ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy|Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy]]'', the boss cutscenes show the Chaos's warriors being challenged and after a battle being defeated by their Cosmos counterparts. Despite this, you can challenge them with any character and you'll still see the cutscenes.
** [[Tropes Are Not Bad]]: In the first game this was averted, you had to have the character relating to the boss to get both cutscenes, which means you'd have to memorize who's in what chapter and do it multiple times with each character.
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** Shepard walks around toting an Avenger assault rifle throughout the game - this will occur even if you've been using another primary weapon, [[No Cutscene Inventory Inertia|never equipped the Avenger for a mission]] or didn't specialize in assault rifles in the first place.
** The Krogan treat fighting a Thresher Maw on foot like it's a big thing. In the first game, a sufficiently well-grinded character can defeat like a dozen of them on foot over the course of the game.
* In ''[[Mass Effect 3 (Video Game)|Mass Effect 3]]'':
** During the final confrontation with {{spoiler|Kai Leng at the Cerberus Base, it's possible to blow him into nice, meaty chunks using an incredibly powerful rifle (the Black Widow is good for this). Even though he's supposedly been blown apart, he magically appears alive and well in the following cutscene when he struggles to stand up.}}
** Shepard will always end up holding a pistol with unlimited ammo in his/her hand after {{spoiler|Harbinger destroys the team running towards the Conduit, even if you never bothered to equip him with one. It's pretty clear that the pistol is picked from the ground, among numerous corpses, so it's by no means necessarily Shepard's. The unlimited heatsink is a different matter, though. Some have argued that the unlimited ammo makes it more likely to be just a dream.}}
** Shepard listen to people's problems and from them, do assorted sidequests, for which they will reward you with resources and increased combat readiness values. The problem is that the effects are immediate, so the dialog can get a bit weird when you recover a fossil of a Krogan war mount that has been extinct for 2000 years, talk to the guy who wants it that you've got one in your cargo bay, and then three seconds after he's thanked you for your trouble, you overhear him saying they've cloned the things and the Krogan are currently riding them into battle.
* In ''[[Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Video Game)|Deus Ex Human Revolution]]'', when fighting the second boss, you can tazer her untill she collapses and...then bleeds to death in a cutscene. The third boss you can non-lethally knock out, whereupon he immediately dies for no reason in a cutscene.
 
== [[Simulation Game]] ==
* In ''[[Ace Combat]] 6'', it's possible to spend most of the mission running for your life, calling in Allied Attacks or Allied Cover against all the other planes, and yet reinforcement pilots can still claim that the protagonist was responsible for shooting down everyone.
* In ''[[Syndicate (Video Game)|Syndicate]] Wars'' you control your agents from an airship. The last levels are in a space station and on the Moon, but don't mention how you see them.
* In ''[[Air ForceAirforce Delta]] Strike'' You pull several missions that supposedly deal heavy blows to the enemy's logistics network, but their ability to field aircraft, tanks, ships, and wildly powerful contraptions of all manner is unaffected.
 
== [[Sports Game]] ==
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== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* In the ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' pencil-and-paper RPG, the character class known as the "Paladin" is granted divine powers by his patron god and will lose them if he commits acts contrary to his god's nature (this is new as of 4th Edition - previously all paladins had to be [[Lawful Good]] regardless of their deity). Some mechanism to represent this rule is usually present in computer games based on ''D&D''. Even so, one isn't necessarily allowed to bring it up in circumstances in which it would be useful to do so. To whit: In the computer [[RPG]] ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]'' (in which paladins can only be lawful good), there is a sequence in which the player stands falsely accused of slaughtering an entire village and must prove his innocence at a trial. Illogically enough, if the class of the player character is a paladin, one is not allowed to point out that if that if the player character had actually committed this heinous act, he would have lost his divine powers, but since he retains them, he must be innocent.
** Played with by ''[[The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|Order of the Stick]]'' in a trial: the prosecution argues that the arresting officer didn't lose her powers, so the defendants must be guilty (though in this particular case, this is specious reasoning, as it would only mean the paladin acted in good faith).
** Capcom's ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' arcade game ''Shadow Over Mystara'' introduces two new characters to the playable party, and the plot acts as if they've always been adventuring with them from the start. One of them even pulls out a [[Plot Coupon]] from the first game that they "stole" to allow the party to access the final leg of stages.
** The rules book ''Elder Evils'' states that the elder evils are so powerful that even the gods would think twice before standing against them, but a comparison of the statistics of some of the elder evils in that book to the gods' statistics in ''Dieties and Demigods'' shows that the gods could [[Curb Stomp Battle|easily crush]] the elder evils. Likewise, the ''[[Epic Level Handbook]]'''s claim that even the gods can't stand up to a certain monster described in that book seems questionable when the statistics are compared.
** Character example from DnD: Elminster. In the novels, this guy is one of the most powerful wizards in the world, had an affair with the ''goddess of magic'' (and is one of her Chosen), and is functionally immortal. However, his character stats as presented in the [[Forgotten Realms]] campaign setting... well, let's just say anyone who has a passing familiarity with Dungeons and Dragons can make a better epic-level wizard.
* [[Super Soldier|The Space Marines]] of ''[[Warhammer 40000 (Tabletop Game)|Warhammer 40000]]'' are always depicted as being near unstoppable and above and beyond every other factions foot soldiers (and sometimes their larger forces) in every single way. In-game, they die rather easily and there are many other basic troops that surpass them in power. Lampshaded by Games Workshop themselves with the "Movie Marines" list, where every marine is effectively a monstrous creature, and every Bolter (their standard firearm) is turned into a tank-shredding assault cannon.
** Not just the Space Marines, every faction has something like this. Daemons have Greater Daemons, which can often be overwhelmed by a few basic troop Hormagaunts, a basic Guard troop squad can kill a Carnifex with a little luck, and the Necron C'Tan (a [[Physical God]]) can fall to a couple shots from a Dark Eldar on a jetbike.
* The Saga Edition of the ''[[Star Wars]]'' RPG has far fewer guns on ships than has been previously established. However, this was made as a concession to the fact that if they did, rolling for each individual ship gun/battery would translate into hundreds of rolls, especially with bigger ships like the Super Star Destroyers. Besides, game mechanics are already of dubious canon.
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== [[Third-Person Shooter]] ==
* In ''[[Oddworld]]: Stranger's Wrath'' you play a bounty hunter saving up for a life saving operation. The surgery bid given to you by Doc in the first town says the price is roughly 20,000 moolah (the games currency). You collect this money by exchanging outlaws at the bounty store. However, gameplay wise Moolah is only used to purchase ammo and upgrades. You can collect hundreds of thousands of moolah, or use cheatcodes for infinte moolah, yet Stranger won't be able to afford his operation until he finishes the New Yolk City missions and take the ferry to Doc's Retreat. {{spoiler|Of course, you find out the [[Big Bad]]'s mooks have killed Doc, and you are overtaken by previously easily defeated outlaws. Your equipment is stolen, all of your moolah is taken away, you're hit with a [[Tomato Surprise]], and then Moolah isn't used or mentioned for the rest of the game.}}
* In the [[Dead Space: Downfall (Film)|animated prequel]] to ''[[Dead Space (Videovideo Gamegame)|Dead Space]]'', the zombies cannot go near the [[Artifact of Doom]] that was dug up. But when it comes to be your turn to escort the thing, all manner of baddies can come right up to the thing with no issue. And by extension, you.
** The Valour. Sure, Pulse Rifles are weak against Necromorphs, and maybe the soldiers needed a while to grab their guns, but seriously. [[Conservation of Ninjitsu|One slasher]] - the weakest type of Necromorph - manages to kill and infect an entire ship stocked to the brim with trained soldiers wielding Pulse Rifles and wearing advanced body armour that is as good or better than Isaac's Level 5 suit. Let me repeat that. One Slasher. An entire freaking SHIP. (In fairness, some of the marine corpses clearly were killed by the crashing of the ship and not a necromorph, plus, according to one of the logs you can find on the ship, most of the marines actually survived until after the valour crashed into the Ishimura and were killed in a running battle against a horde of necromorphs that were attracted to the ship by the crash.)
* One of the most bizarre examples ever has to be the [[PSPlay Station 3]] game ''[[Mind Jack]]''. Basically, the premise is that you're a secret operative going around [[Insistent Terminology|hacking]] into people's minds and controlling them. After a few hours of this, in a cutscene, the female lead presents to the protagonist the concept of mindhacking... ''and he has no idea what that is''. Y'know, the thing you've been going around doing for the past four hours. {{spoiler|Actually an example of [[Fridge Brilliance]], as it's not that character that's doing the mindhacking.}}
 
== [[Turn -Based Strategy]] ==
* Ridiculously silly in the [[Nippon Ichi]] game ''[[Phantom Brave]]'' is how the sweet, kind and innocent Marona who is [[The Messiah]], gains powers for herself and her equipment. She does this by "fusing" her party members (admittedly they're phantoms, so already dead, but still) into herself and her equipment. This results in them having [[Final Death]] as far as the game is concerned. The plot completely ignores this.
* While ''[[Advance Wars]]'' in general can be bothersome about it, Dual Strike has one case that takes the cake. SEVEN Aircraft Carriers, each loaded with a Stealth, and near a somehow important Black Hole fortress no less. Bear in mind that Aircraft Carriers and Stealths are among the most expensive units in the game AND the Aircraft Carriers are support units, not to mention that (because the units were top secret before) ''Black Hole does not recognize the ordinance in the first place'', so it's a wonder how they got trapped. Then again, because of this suggestion that the Allied Nations is absurdly rich to the point that these units could even be around, let alone top secret, when they have been lucky to have had only ONE Megatank (a unit that isn't as expensive as any of the Aircraft Carriers) in the next mission, never mind that they have been having troubles with having reasonable forces, it's a wonder how {{spoiler|the Bolt Guard trashes most of the Allied Nations' facilities in a massive ambush before they could even respond}}. Most likely they had to contend with the fact that Black Hole [[Cutscene Power to Thethe Max|was drunk on ridiculous story power]]. Oh, and guess what? ''The mission in question is ridiculously easy for the point it is at.''
** Dual Strike has another issue related to the above: when Allied Nations reinforcements arrive (mostly to help introduce new characters, such as when Jess brings Javier to the fight with her), they usually want to see the skills of Jake et al. Ergo, they demand some kind of "practice" match, and while it's [[Hand Wave|vaguely implied]] that no soldiers are actually hurt, in-game battle scenes clearly show people getting blown away and tanks exploding. This is all ignoring the obvious: the Bolt Guard is destroying the very land underneath them, and there's really no time to clown around. Without these "practice" matches, you'd be stuck fighting against the same few COs for the entire campaign, but later matches have you fighting {{spoiler|clones of}} Drake, Olaf, and Andy anyway.
* In ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics (Video Game)|Final Fantasy Tactics]]'', dying enemies either turn into crystals or drop an equipment box if they've been dead long enough. In cutscenes, bodies will hang around long after they should have changed into the aforementioned items.
** Some battles will end when you defeat the boss. If you do this, Ramza will usually tell the other enemies to lay down their swords and surrender. He still says this even if you have already killed every other enemy and had their corpses turn into crystals.
* In ''[[Sid MeiersMeier's Alpha Centauri]]'', it is possible in gameplay to completely wipe out the native flora and fauna. But when the story calls for it, suddenly the fungus stands poised to wipe out your massively powerful post-singularity civilization and only a dose of [[Applied Phlebotinum]] can save it.
** The flora and fauna is said to also live deep underground. It is effectively unkillable, except for the [[Applied Phlebotinum]] version and {{spoiler|the fact that it is so massive it cannot energitically sustain itself, just like it already happened several times before. And yeah, it also is a [[Hive Mind]]}}.
* ''[[Super Robot Wars (Video Game)|Super Robot Wars]]'' uses [[Story Overwrite|story overwrites]] near constantly. Major enemies will never die unless it's part of the mission, your units will display both startling incompetance and skill when you're not in control of them, and characters just suddenly glide to certain spots at the map when necessary.
* In ''[[Fire Emblem Tellius (Video Game)|Fire Emblem Tellius]]: Radiant Dawn'', it turns out that two characters acted the way they did because they were bound by magical contracts that would kill everyone in their respective countries if they disobeyed. The only way to render such a contract null and void is for the physical contract to be destroyed and one of the signers to be killed by a third party. In the endgame, the player gets to kill the man who forced the other characters to sign the contracts; however, it is entirely possible to have him killed by one of the signees which should render the contracts unvoidable, but if this happens, it plays out the same as if he was killed by anyone else.
** Two characters out of a massive cast of seventy three, mind you.
* In ''[[Fire Emblem the Sacred Stones (Video Game)|Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones]]'', a support conversation between Garcia and Dozla has the two talking about their failed attempt to practice archery, including Dozla trying to swing his bow like an axe, and Garcia putting the arrow in backwards. The two decide archery isn't for them. This is ignoring that it's very possible that Garcia promoted to a Warrior by this point, and can use a bow quite competently.
 
== [[Wide Open Sandbox]] ==
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* In ''[[Grand Theft Auto]] [[Grand Theft Auto IV|4]]'', Niko is portrayed as [[The Atoner|a jaded individual who is haunted by bad things he has done in the past]], and is trying to make a new life for himself in Liberty City. Like in San Andreas, you can wantonly murder all the people you want, and in a way its even more disturbing listening to Niko say things like "Stay down, my friend! I don't want to hurt you!" as he continues to stab an old lady as she writhes around on the ground screaming. Also "I don't want to use this! BAMBAMBAMBAMBAM Don't make me kill you friend! BAM"
** ''[[Saints Row]] 2'' has the same segregation with the [[Killed Off for Real]] as [[NPC]] allies can be revived by the player and non-allies can be revived by paramedics. The way that you and other characters act is a lot less segregated as shown by Johnny Gat's trial for over 300 counts of murder though that's probably a little low too.
** ''[[Saints Row: theThe Third (Video Game)|Saints Row the Third]]'' also has a bit of this, most notably in the final act, where {{spoiler|zombies continue to inhabit one of the Luchadore-controlled islands even after you do the mission wherein you remove the source of the virus}}, and {{spoiler|the ability to call in Shaundi, Viola, and Burt Reynolds as homies even if you [[Multiple Endings|skip rescuing them from the bomb at the statue to chase after Killbane]] in the final mission}}.
* In ''[[The Godfather (Videovideo Gamegame)|The Godfather]]: The Game'', after {{spoiler|Sonny's death}} Don Vito calls a truce with the other four families, saying that unless pushed he will not be the one to break it. This doesn't stop you as Aldo Trapani from continuing your quest to take over businesses for the Corleones and kill enemy mobsters.
* ''[[Prototype (Videovideo Gamegame)|Prototype]]'' is similar. Alex Mercer is depicted as heroic and actually willing to risk his life to protect people during the cutscenes and comic book tie-in and willing to let people live and just tell him what he wants to know, In gameplay, he can [[I'm a Humanitarian|do much more than kill people for little to no reason]] and will just take the information for himself instead of listening to them. Thought you don't ''have'' to do this, and you actually get an Achievment for acting humanely.
** Averted in the sequel, however, where Alex has done a [[Face Heel Turn]] and the new main character is aparently not too good either.
 
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== [[Action Game]] ==
* Surprising [[Aversion]] in ''[[Batman: Arkham Asylum (Video Game)|Batman Arkham Asylum]]''. The tools gained in the game allow Batman to perform every awesome move he performs in the cutscenes easily in-game {{spoiler|except for Batman's explosive gel-powered punch.}}
** Of course, {{spoiler|Batman's explosive gel-powered punch does break his arm, so it's not an ability you'd expect to be able to use multiple times..}}
* ''[[BrutalBrütal Legend (Video Game)|Brutal Legend]]''. Everything gets an in-universe explanation, from why Eddie is an expert with a battle axe despite never touching one before, why he is able to fly around the battlefield issuing orders, why he is able to build a functioning car from parts dug up out of the ground, to why said car has a radio in it.
* ''[[Iji (Video Game)|Iji]]'' almost entirely averts this. Nearly ''everything'' the player does, from how many enemies they kill to which logbooks are read, has at least some influence on how the story unfolds, how dialogues proceed, and even how characters react to Iji's presence. Indeed, the ending of one subplot (which can only be followed by reading a series of seemingly unrelated logbooks) relies entirely on how the player treats a single specific enemy they have no way of knowing is at all significant at that point in the game.
 
== [[First-Person Shooter]] ==
* The ''[[Half-Life (Video Gameseries)|Half-Life]]'' series and its long love affair with [[No Sidepaths No Exploration No Freedom]] is a major element of the plot, representing Gordon's complete lack of control, whether it's because of the GMan, the Vortigaunts, or the player.
** ''[[Half-Life 2 (Video Game)|Half-Life 2]]'' and its Episodes begin with Gordon not at full health, due to him being injured from a scene in the previous game.
* In ''[[Team Fortress 2 (Video Game)|Team Fortress 2]]'', the respawn system is canon (according to ''[[Poker Night At the Inventory (Video Game)|Poker Night At the Inventory]]'', Heavy recalls it as a series of nightmares). Also, each character's personality, weapons, tactics, and movement style are all closely related, and the relationships between characters in canon are related to how they interact in-game: gameplay nemeses [[Friendly Sniper|Sniper]] and [[French Jerk|Spy]] are bitter rivals (and [[Foe Yay]] targets) out-of-play, and popular in-game team-up Heavy and Medic are confirmed [[Heterosexual Life Partners]] and a [[Ship Tease|hinted]] [[Ho Yay|couple.]]
 
== [[MMORPG|MMORPGs]] ==
* ''[[Eve Online|EVE Online]]'''s completely player driven nature averts and/or outright deconstructs many of the things mentioned in the MMORPG examples above.
** Almost every MMO mechanic is superbly addressed and explained via some very elaborate and convincing-sounding tech lore. How can you constantly die? [http://www.eveonline.com/background/cloning/ Clones.] How are you singularly operating a ship with effectively no crew? [http://www.eveonline.com/background/eggers/ Capsules.] The backstory has become so in depth that it has sparked what you could describe as 'lore within the lore;' cloning has caused discussions about transferals of consciousness, and the fact that capsuleers can indefinitely clone has in-game, as well as outside consideration about the fact that since they have clones, can do anything, and cause large amounts of destruction, that capsuleers are effectively [[Mind Screw|immortal, sociopathic, all-powerful demigods.]]
*** To put it shortly, it's pretty much the most effective, in depth, and descriptive [[Hand Wave]] ever.
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== [[Platform Game]] ==
* [[Hand Wave|Sort-of aversion]]: In the original ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'', fireballs and thrown shells wouldn't affect enemies that had just walked offscreen, due to technical limits. The manual suggested this was because they were doing something sneaky where you couldn't see.
** Another [[Hand Wave]] aversion: In the manual for ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]] 3'', a gameplay hint suggested that Robotnik had outfitted the environments themselves with inescapable traps that would require you to reset your MegaDrive/Genesis. It then suggested that, to avoid these <s>flaws in the collision engine</s> traps, to not run too fast when under the effect of [[Mercy Invincibility]].
* In ''[[Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Video Game)|Super Mario Galaxy 2]]'', during the [[Playable Epilogue|playable credits]], {{spoiler|you can't use the Spin because the Baby Luma, who originally gave you that power, has gone home.}}
* ''[[Heart of Darkness (Videovideo Gamegame)|Heart of Darkness]]''; what seems like a simple powerup/magic attack skill for a good part of the game becomes an important plot point later on. The skill stays your most important weapon in gameplay combat, but during cutscenes, the hero and his friends find numerous ways to use it creatively as well.
* ''[[Prince of Persia]]: The Sands of Time'' has it's story being told by the eponymous prince. Whenever you die he basically says "No, that's not how it happened". Dude must be a terrible storyteller, his narrative is full of "And then I fell to my death for the thousandth time. Wait, no, I'm still here..."
** If Farah dies, he says that she didn't die. {{spoiler|She eventually does, but he reverses time. Oddly, he doesn't acknowledge that he's telling this story to Farah herself.}}
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* The first three endings in ''[[Demons Crest]]'' avert this with generous amounts of [[Lampshade Hanging]]. After finishing the first level, you can either fly to the second... or head right for the [[Big Bad|Phalanx's]] castle. In fact, you get there so quickly the final boss hasn't even finished setting up the final [[Death Course]], hasn't figured out how to use his crest, and dies after one round. If you go to the last level after the fourth, the level will actually be ready, and Phalanx is stronger, but he still can't use the crest fully. If you go there after finishing all the levels, he'll finally have figured out how to REALLY use it, going [[One-Winged Angel]] at long last.
* In the opening of the [[Video Game Remake|GBA version]] of ''[[Donkey Kong Country]]'', Diddy Kong is able to defend the Banana Hoard from Kremlings until a Krusha shows up. In-game, Krushas can only be defeated by Donkey Kong.
* In ''[[Psychonauts (Video Game)|Psychonauts]]'', Raz's [[Super Drowning Skills]] are the result of a curse on his family which is an important part of the game's backstory.
** Also, in Psychonauts, if you enter the Mental World of someone with a mental disorder, the gameplay will symbolize that disorder in some way.
*** Boyd has Paranoid Schizophrenia, which causes almost everything in the level to look at you or sneak up on you in some way, which will make some players think that the level is trying to attack them.
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== [[Role Playing Game]] ==
* The amateur game ''Sensible Erection RPG'' features quite a bit of [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshading]] and parody of the cliches of Japanese [[RPG|RPGs]]. Before the final confrontation, a party member that had been killed in a cutscene returns as if nothing had happened, and his companion declares, "I used a 1up on him. What's the big deal?" To which the boss responds, "See? I told you, [we live in a] videogame."
* Crushingly averted in ''[[Final Fantasy V (Video Game)|Final Fantasy V]]'', where the party members attempt to use the strongest healing items and spells at their disposal on a character who has been [[Killed Off for Real]] to no avail. Fighting at 0 HP rendered him [[Deader Than Dead]].
** On the other hand, it's possible for characters in that cutscene to try to use Curaga and Raise on {{spoiler|Galuf}} even if they haven't gained a single level in any White Magic-related jobs. Or to use Pheonix Downs even if you don't currently have any in your inventory. As for how they got that far out without white magic...[[Unwinnable Byby Insanity|who'd actually try that?]]
*** [[Fridge Brilliance|They can]] [[Job System|change jobs at will]], remember?
** Also done in ''[[Phantasy Star IV]]'', where party members try various healing items on {{spoiler|Alys when Zio poisons her}}
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* Amusingly averted in the intro of ''[[Shadow Hearts]]''. Yuri, the main character, fights his way through a dozen or so Imps, shrugging off their scythe-attacks like the minor annoyance they are (they only do something like 10 HP damage). Then he enters a cutscene where the [[Big Bad]] sics an imp on him. Who cuts off his right arm. At which point Yuri regrows his arm in a split second, and crushes the imp with his left hand like the annoyance it is, at the same time.
** This is also partially playing it straight, as that regeneration power of Yuri's never shows up in gameplay.
* In ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'', your Wisdom, Intelligence and Charisma scores are useful for far more things than just getting cool spells. A high intelligence directly affects your ability to solve problems and outsmart other characters, for example.
** Charisma and Wisdom technically don't apply to the trope. The Nameless One is restricted to being a Fighter, Mage, or Thief, classes where those stats really don't matter. However, Strength, Constitution, and Dexterity (normally stats that really only impact combat) do occasionally benefit the player outside combat, just like Intelligence, Charisma, and Wisdom.
* Similar to ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'', ''[[Fallout]] 3'' gives you a few occasions where a sufficiently high Strength stat allows you to intimidate certain NPCs into submitting to your will.
** There is also the Terrifying Presence perk, which gives you the option to frighten NPCs in dialog by reminding them how tough you are.
* In ''[[Tales of the World]]: Narikiri Dungeon 3'', the villains pull off many of their plans only because they have the main characters' transforming powers. The game being a [[Massive Multiplayer Crossover]], being able to transform into various ''Tales'' characters and bosses and play as them is pretty much the only reason the game exists, and is simply also worked into the [[Excuse Plot]].
** ''[[Tales of Vesperia (Video Game)|Tales of Vesperia]]'' gives a good explanation for the world's [[Ghibli Hills]] and all their [[Random Encounters]]; all the towns in the world are shielded underneath giant energy shields that keep monsters out, and only highly trained professionals (like the party members) are allowed outside.
*** Character AI also prioritizes healing based on personality and character relationships. Flynn will spam healing on Yuri. And the [[Death Seeker]] [[Lovable Sex Maniac]] Raven prefers to heal women over a dog over men over himself.
** ''[[Tales of Innocence (Video Game)|Tales of Innocence]]'' implements the [[Reincarnation]] storyline by letting the characters transform into their "original" forms for [[Limit Break|Limit Breaks]]. This gets a tad amusing when you consider that Angi's previous life was {{spoiler|a man}}. The characters of course mention this in a skit.
** In ''[[Tales of the Abyss (Video Game)|Tales of the Abyss]]'', when you use [[Waif Prophet|Ion's]] extension of Luke's first mystic arte, he'll waver and collapse instead of just disappearing. If Anise is in the party, [[Guilt Based Gaming|she calls for him, and he stutters "I-I'm... fine..."]].
*** Additionally, if you don't have Luke and Jade in your party, when Anise uses Final Fury, she yells "I'll kill you bastards!" Instead of the usual "O ravaging tragedy!"
** A minor but rather powerful aversion in ''[[Tales of Symphonia (Video Game)|Tales of Symphonia]]'': When Colette loses her voice for plot reasons, she stops [[Calling Your Attacks|Calling Her Attacks]] in battle as well, and the victory quotes for her aren't shown.
*** Another subtle one is in the AI - Tropers have actually noticed that Kratos actually loves to spam healing and support spells on Lloyd the most - and this isn't an issue of him being the tank; even if Colette is in melee range, he'll use it on Lloyd first. {{spoiler|Because it's actually an act of a father-looking out for his son}}.
* The influence system in ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]] II'' is the gameplay manifestation of an ability that the main character is revealed to have. That is, the main character has the ability to subtly manipulate people that they're close to. As a consequence, the more influence you have with a party member, the more their alignment mirrors your own. And vice-versa.
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** Similarly, the XP system, where you grow more powerful by killing enemies, is revealed to be the result of {{spoiler|the main character's "rift in the force" growing more powerful by feeding on the destruction she causes. Pretty rough revelation, for a light-sider.}}
** Furthermore, some of your party member's characterization traits turn up as actual abilities in battle. [[The Determinator|Atton]] has improved saving throws the closer he gets to knocked out from half health and below, and he can get back up in battle from being knocked out, provided somebody else is still standing, [[Old Master|Kreia]] provides EXP bonuses to the party, [[Shell-Shocked Veteran|Mandalore]] is immune to mind-affecting powers ([[Useless Useful Spell|the only enemies that use such things are bosses the player character fights solo]]), and that's just the start.
* ''[[Final Fantasy IX (Video Game)|Final Fantasy IX]]'' opens with a play: the fight scenes are done using the battle system, and the characters have the battle command "SFX" with the help menu description of "uses powerful, deadly magic", a damage output of zero and no mana point cost. Of course the party leader gets to cause the biggest blast.
** Further averted with all of the character's classes being highly integrated into the plot. Vivi's ability to shoot stuff with fireballs with black magic becomes very important, the hidden Summons inside Garnet are a [[MacGuffin]] unto themselves, and Freya, a dragoon, is able to leap to the tops of roofs effortlessly in cutscenes as easily as she can leap into the sky to use her "Jump" ability. Sometimes even their ''personality traits'' become gameplay mechanics; Zidane, the [[Chivalrous Pervert]], has a "Protect Girls" skill that lets him jump in front of a female party member to protect her.
** Averted further still with at least two battles (one of which is mentioned below) in which the boss is coded to only target specific party members: Your three aside from Dagger in the fight with Black Waltz Number 2 (to the point were he'll cast AOE spells that in every other circumstance would hit all your party members ''only'' on those three), and Dagger specifically in a battle with the bounty hunter Lani. The former is tasked with returning Dagger to her mother, and if he succeeds in killing all of your party members aside from her, he'll cast a spell to put her to sleep and the [[Nonstandard Game Over|game will end]].
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** And likewise, at the start of ''[[The Elder Scrolls]] V: [[Skyrim]]'', you can't understand dragons...but later on, they start speaking to you in English. This is actually because as the Dovahkiin, you start learning words of the Draconic language.
* A rather funny, though subtle aversion occurs in ''[[Persona 4]]''. [[The Woobie|Yosuke]] is incredibly unlucky, with him getting kicked in [[Groin Attack|the nads]] within minutes of the game starting for breaking his friend's CD. He ends up falling off of, and crashing whilst on, his bike BEFORE he's even named, and to top it all off, {{spoiler|his crush gets killed very early on}}. If you check his stat profile, you'll notice that he has [[Lampshade Hanging|the lowest Luck stat of any of your party members]].
** The same goes for the Hero of [[Dragon Quest V (Video Game)|Dragon Quest V]].
* Setting aside the scene where it cleaves a cliff face in two, never to display that kind of power again, there are two battles in ''[[Chrono Trigger (Video Game)|Chrono Trigger]]'' where the Masamune displays power that it was said to have in cutscenes and dialogue. In the battle against Magus, the sword, which was said to be one of the few weapons that would allow them to defeat Magus, bypasses Magus's [[Barrier Shift Boss|Barrier Shift]] trick ''and'' drops his magic defense stat. Later on, the team uses a red knife to drain Lavos' power out of the Mammon Machine. The red knife then turns into the Masamune. If you use the Masamune on the Mammon Machine when you fight it later, the sword bypasses its defense boost trick ''and'' heals Frog, by way of draining the energy from it, just like it did before.
* ''[[No More Heroes]]'' as a whole is an interesting example: even though Travis imagines his life as an assassin to be awesome and glamorous, nearly every portion of gameplay outside of the ranked battles shows just how much of a loser he is. Some examples: Santa Destroy is a frustratingly boring place with nearly nothing to do; Travis has to drive everywhere himself; he barely bothers people he runs over on his motorcycle and goes flying if it even so much as touches any solid object; he has to do repetitive, boring and irrelevant jobs in order to earn money; he saves the game on the ''toilet''; he rummages through dumpsters for collectables (including clothes!); and at the end of the day he ends up right back at the same stinking motel he's always lived at.
** In the second game, during one of the boss fights you find out {{spoiler|he still owns the mansion the first boss from the first game lived in. He keeps his ''giant robot'' in it. No explanation is given as to why he still lives in ''the same crappy motel''.}}
* ''[[Wild Arms 3 (Video Game)|Wild Arms 3]]'', oddly for a JRPG, inverts this. The primary motivation behind the first battle with Melody is because Clive gave her a speech on true beauty. In the battle, she will ''always'' attack Clive, if he's still alive. Combine this with some liberal use of the Revive spell, and the battle becomes trivial.
** Similarly, Lani in ''[[Final Fantasy IX (Video Game)|Final Fantasy IX]]'' will exclusively attack Garnet, whom she's targeting in order to get her pendant on a mission for Queen Brahne.
* In ''[[.hack GU]]'', it is told in-universe that the class that Haseo takes, the Adept Rogue (or Multi-Weapon in original Japanese) levels the slowest and is generally all-around master of none, despite being potentially flexible like hax. If you play normally, without crazy grinding, by the beginning of the third game, there's a very good chance that all of your party members have gained access to the final skills of their job, and you haven't. Not only that gaining proficiency for each weapon is slower than ordinary classes, Haseo has three (later four) weapons, so this definitely increases the time required gaining skills.
* In ''[[Dragon Quest VIII (Video Game)|Dragon Quest VIII]]'', the Hero is under a curse so powerful, other curses<ref>like the [[Baleful Polymorph]] placed on his hometown</ref> don't affect him. He is, in gameplay, immune to the "curse" status effect.
** To even further emphasize this, a [[Bonus Boss]] that you can defeat to unlock the second ending has a sort of a "Seal" attack that he starts with. It will not affect anyone ''except the Hero'' {{spoiler|because he is the one that placed the original curse that the Hero lives with}}.
* In ''[[Final Fantasy VII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy VII]]'', Rude of the Turks confesses to his partner (and the player, and the party hiding nearby) that he has a crush on Tifa, one of the heroes. In fights against the Turks, Rude will never attack Tifa, and if she is the only one standing, he'll give up and walk away.
* ''[[Pokémon Black and White]]'' make it mandatory to catch your version mascot to move the plot along. The pre-battle dialog says it's testing you, but ''wants'' to be caught; accordingly, it's ''fifteen times'' easier to capture than a normal legendary. <ref>Most legendaries have historically had capture numbers of 3, Reshiram and Zekrom have capture numbers of 45.</ref> However, the developers didn't account for a certain [[Sequence Breaking|sequence-break]] where the mascot can be skipped; even if you do encounter it later than usual, the catch rate of 45 is still there.
* The ''[[Star Ocean]]'' series has a tendency to break the fourth wall once in a while. Edge even speaks the words "Item creation" out loud at one point during ''[[Star Ocean the Last Hope]]''. Of course {{spoiler|''[[Star Ocean Till the End of Time]]'' reveals that the entire series' continuity takes place in a giant MMORPG called the Eternal Sphere}} and while the characters are mostly oblivious to this, having access to status menus and being able to make a cake by purchasing a single egg at the shop and invoking a Cooking ability learned by beating up some monsters probably seems perfectly normal to them.
** The "low luck" stat quirk mentioned also applies to Ashton in the [[Star Ocean the Second Story (Video Game)|second game]], who has abyssmal luck and somehow manages to get the 2-headed dragon he was trying to kill fused on his back: his natural luck stat is a mere 17 regardless of how high his level is, and this is in a game where most endgame stats easily break quadruple digits.
* ''[[Parasite Eve]] 2'' does this for a lengthy cut scene that occurs before the final battle. Aya gets shot during the scene and after the scene ends, her gunshot wound has her current HP lowered to reflect this.
* ''[[Final Fantasy XII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy XII]]'' has one scene where Fran gets induced with extra strength and near insanity, causing her to break free from her restraints. The fight after this scene reflects this by inducing the Berserk status on Fran.
* In ''[[Shin Megami Tensei (Franchise)|Shin Megami Tensei]]: [[Strange Journey]]'', in some cutscenes, enemies will strike at you in mid-cutscene. To drive home the point that you're dealing with an entity you don't want to screw with, not only does the game narrate you being hit, ''your entire party takes damage.''
* In the ''[[Touhou]]'' fangame ''[[Touhou Mother]]'', Yuuka is described as hating high speeds. During a cutscene, you have to fly very fast to reach a certain location, and during the trip, Yuuka is described to have taken "mortal damage." Sure enough, if you check your stats after the cutscene ends, Yuuka will have just 1 HP remaining.
* ''[[Black Sigil]]'' actually lets you use white magic to heal all the fallen soldiers during a siege. It costs you MP, of course, but saving them all gets you a reward.
 
== [[Shoot'Em Up]] ==
* ''[[Touhou (Video Game)|Touhou]]'''s use of [[Bullet Hell]] is not only the reason everyone in Gensoukyou can be so belligerent without plunging the region into all out war, but also why some of the [[Superpower Lottery|more ludicrously powerful characters]] don't simply press the "I win" button all the time, as it is literally not allowed, the Spell Card rules (which manifest as clouds of colourful bullets and lasers and such) turning fighting into a game and responsible for all of the [[Non-Lethal KO|Non Lethal KOs]].
* ''[[Seihou]]'' has an interesting example: In the Comiket 67 version of ''Banshiryuu'' bosses would occasionally pull of a special attack which they were invincible for the duration of. These are SE attacks, and they're also the player's bombs, which work the same way. In the C74 remake, boss SE attacks are closer to ''[[Touhou]]'' style spellcards, generally not conferring invincibility... but the player versions don't make them invincible either. Though neither game explains why player SE attacks clear enemy bullets.
 
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== [[Survival Horror]] ==
* This trope is averted during Ada's scenario in ''[[Resident Evil: theThe Umbrella Chronicles]]'', as it deals with her escape after the events of ''[[Resident Evil 2 (Video Game)]]''. The heavily wounded Ada begins the level in critical condition.
 
== [[Turn -Based Strategy]] ==
* Micaiah in ''[[Fire Emblem]] 10'' (Radiant Dawn) has "Sacrifice", which is a miraculous healing ability in the storyline, and can also be used in-game, though in-game it doesn't have any abilities beyond a simple heal staff, and as the name implies it hurts to use it. It's seen as a miracle because she can heal without being a member of the clergy.
** In essence, it ''does'' have power potentially superior to that of a staff, since {{spoiler|she manages to save [[Optional Party Member|Leh]][[The Chessmaster|ran]] [[Guide Dang It|(If you managed to get him)]], who was literally an instant away from dying.}}; Whereas staves appear to function primarily on healing flesh wounds, [[Healing Hands|Sacrifice]] uses [[Cast From Hit Points|''Micaiah's own life force,'']] whih implicitly, has stronger effects on living beings.
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* In a few support conversations, L'Arachel of Fire Emblem 8 is shown to be [[Born Lucky]]; ingame, she will often naturally max out her luck stat. On the converse, Knoll (who, when rescued from the Grado dungeons in Ephraim's route, assumes that his execution date was moved up) starts out with '''zero''' luck.
* In ''[[Disgaea]]'', Laharl is allergic to large breasts and optimistic sayings. After a cutscene featuring an excess of both, his stats are cut in half for the next battle.
** In ''[[Disgaea 2 Cursed Memories]]'', Adell and Rozalin start out having a 0% combo rate on their attacks (which is more or less impossible to get with any other combination of characters), being at this point enemies and utterly unwilling to directly help each other. Their combo rate starts rising as the game goes on and the two grow closer, eventually capping at 99% near the end.
*** In an odd meta example Etna claims she [[Medium Awareness|hacked her title]] so it says "Beauty Queen" instead of "Demon Lord". Titles are programed in such a way that you can indeed make custom titles (rather than give a character another existing title) with a [[Game Shark|Cheating Device]].
*** The game has a feature called "Reincarnate to Atone for Sins", which will remove your felony records. {{spoiler|Turns out Overlord Zenon did this, setting the plot in motion}}.
** From [[Disgaea 2 Cursed Memories]] onwards, particular character traits often manifest as stat alterations. For example, [[Determinator|Adell]] gets a damage bonus against higher-level opponents and [[Cheese Eating Surrender Monkies|Tink]] gets +2 to movement (for running away, of course).
* The Potentials in [[Valkyria Chronicles]] tie in directly with the characters' stories, and more are opened as you learn more about the character. For example, Freesia starts out with one Potential called 'Desert Bred', marked by how she was raised and has lived in the desert areas for some time. After you learn a little more about her - that she's not used to living for anybody else and doesn't work well when people are counting on her - she gains the 'Under Pressure' Potential, cutting her defence and accuracy is she uses the last CP of your Phase.
 
== [[Visual Novel]] ==
* Many examples in [[Galaxy Angel (Videovideo Gamegame)|Galaxy Angel]]. Forgetting the [[Cutscene Power to Thethe Max]] in the first game, Eternal Lovers gives you missions where you need to destroy the enemy flagship before reinforcements arrive, thus reducing your time limit to 10 minutes instead of the usual 15. Another is after the Elsior was hit by {{spoiler|the Chrono Break Cannon from the stolen Unit #7}}, and thrown into an ambush position immediately afterwards. In this battle, the Elsior starts with 60% HP unlike other battles. Then there's the conditions of your Angels; if the plot demands them to be depressed, expect them to fight poorly and vice versa.
 
== Other games ==
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== [[Platform Game]] ==
* Bug in ''[[Bug! (Video Game)|Bug]]!'' has a pair of [[Justified Trope|tiny, vestigial wings]], so he is [[Wings Do Nothing|unable to fly in-game]]. Until you land on the [[Level Goal|Bug Stop]]- in which he says a cheesy annoying quote, then ''flies away'' offscreen. Then again, the game is part of a movie he's acting out, so it makes some sort of sense.
 
== [[Role Playing Game]] ==
* ''[[Kingdom Hearts II (Video Game)|Kingdom Hearts II]]'' gets bonus points for having the aversion and the straight example occur simultaneously. When Sora enters a Drive Form in battle and then a cut scene comes up after the fight, Sora will still be in the Drive Form.(Assuming the Form Gauge didn't run out while he was fighting.) That's the aversion. However, it's also played straight because the characters that you supposedly merged with in order to enter the Drive Form are still visible during the cut scene.
** It's actually played straight in gameplay when you have to fuse with Donald/Goofy to use Drive, which didn't happen the first time Sora tried it (in a cutscene).
** The [[Kingdom Hearts]] series is full of minor or major aversions. For instance, [[Light Is Good|Light]] and and [[Dark Is Evil|Darkness]] are major themes and alignments in the games; in [[Birth By Sleep]], certain bosses will have a defensive moveset, requiring an aggressive beatdown strategy. These bosses are respectively a strongly Light-aligned character, and a villain trying to bring out the Darkness within the PC, which would make sense given that aggression (the necessary beatdown strategies) is generally a negative or Dark attribute--good to counter Light opponents and engendered by villains. Some of the very very Dark-aligned final bosses should be carefully tanked and patiently blocked while searching for an opening--patience and precision being positive or a Light attribute and a good counter to Darkness.
** Another aversion is the techniques the various playable characters use. Sora, the main character and the first introduced, possesses a large moveset somewhat limited to combos and combo-finishers (and takes [[When All You Have Is a Hammer]]). Come the prequel, where Terra, Ven, and Aqua have an extremely diverse set of moves based on it's new combat system utilizing separate special attacks and combos, and extremely customizable. At first, it looks like their techniques are improvements on Sora's in every manner, even though Sora should be similarly skilled. However, [[Fridge Brilliance|closer inspection]] shows that Sora's been using streamlined and enhanced versions of his predecessor's skills the whole time! So even if Sora wasn't customizable to the extent they were, his practical experience and the obstacles he faced (obstacles which are just as or more dangerous than the prequel trio's, which he took on at a younger age) prove that he is just about on their level.
** [[Kingdom Hearts II (Video Game)|Kingdom Hearts II]] also brought with it the "[[Press X to Not Die|Press Triangle to Massacre]]'' button, where Sora will inevitably do something over the top. Roughly half of the of the things he'll do are pretty much cutscenes initiated by the Triangle button that do automatic damage. Some of said cutscenes portray his actions up to and including [[Absurdly Sharp Blade|slicing skyscrapers in half]] and/or using said [[Cutscene Power to Thethe Max|skyscrapers as barrier breaking attacks]] (in a low gravity environment, granted) . The other half are neat little auxiliary actions preformed without interrupting gameplay, like a super jump that'll take you up to a Chandelier, a dodge roll, or taking a swing with a stolen enemy sword. The Kicker is, everything the triangle button initiates is something Sora can (currently) canonically accomplish. In fact, some of his regular combo's do in fact rival the things he does with the Action Commands, and [[Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance3D]] is going to top [[Kingdom Hearts II (Video Game)|Kingdom Hearts II]]'s ridiculous factor with a similar mechanic, but make it more seamless with gameplay.
** In general, [[Kingdom Hearts]] makes just about every aspect of gameplay justified by the universe's philosophy or pseudoscience. That might not seem like much, but the players are actually given the exact rules of that pseudoscience. For instance, as a way of punishing you for abusing the [[Super Mode|Drive Forms]], you'll occasionally be forced into a somewhat weak Shadow Form. Canonical explanation? Sora's frustration and insecurity building up and occasionally giving rise to dark, corrupted powers, which is an established danger of the KHverse responsible for many an enemy. Frustration and anger is probably what would be happening to Sora (and by extension, the player), if he was continually using Drive Forms just to get by.
* This trope is THE argument on ''[[Mitadake High]]''. If you play normally, you will be called a terrible rper and shunned. If you play well and properly in the character of an [[Ordinary High School Student]] then you WILL be killed off fast and laughed at as a noob. The two sides of this argument are [[Broken Base|rabid.]]
* ''[[Final Fantasy VII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy VII]]'' has the infamous scene in which {{spoiler|nobody thinks to try using a Phoenix Down to revive Aeris despite the presence of "Death" spells that can be reversed with the very same item.}} However, you later discover that when Zangan rescued Tifa during the Nibelheim incident, he kept casting Cure spells on her to stop her from bleeding to death. Even later on in the game, however, Cloud's seething hatred of Sephiroth causes his Limit gauge (something that normally represents the character being annoyed at taking gameplay damage) to gradually fill at the beginning of a short battle just quickly enough that the player doesn't have enough time to select anything but his Limit Break command, and if he hadn't learned Omnislash yet... well he has now.
* ''[[Final Fantasy X 2 (Video Game)|Final Fantasy X-2]]'' contains a bizarre straight example in which the party chases down villain-wannabe LeBlanc, who has stolen Yuna's garment grid and impersonates her appearance ''exactly''... despite the fact that every other example of using the grid system, ''including'' the exact dressphere she's using, copies the outfit, not the user's appearance. On the flipside, the Dressphere skill/class system is frequently mentioned in cutscenes. And not just in "here's how the game works" exposition either, one of them is actually a [[McGuffin]] in the main storyline.
* ''[[Tales of Phantasia (Video Game)|Tales of Phantasia]]'' averts it multiple times and plays it straight twice: Averted near the start of the game, where Cless is betrayed and captured by a group of soldiers; you are quite weak and have low-powered equipment at the time, so it's very reasonable that you can't fight back as you probably would get slaughtered. Played straight when Cless is poisoned (and knocked unconscious) by an attack from a creature that you killed tons of as fodder just five minutes ago, and they were incapable of poisoning you then. Later, you get captured again, except this time you are much more powerful, as well as having a party, and could probably take them just fine (although they are actually the good guys, so you could assume that the characters just didn't want to cause a fuss). Averted by your encounters with the [[Big Bad]]; when you first meet him he is shown literally vaporising people in cutscenes with some sort of [[Death Ray|laser beam]] attack and a [[Sphere of Destruction|shockwave explosion]], and you are sent away to become more powerful so you can beat him. When you finally do get around to fighting him and are much MUCH more powerful than you were before, he casually throws these attacks around in battle and you can shrug them off just fine (and the storyline gives them no further prominence), although they are still his most powerful attacks and kill you in a few hits. Also averted in various small instances where characters use things like healing spells outside of battle.
* ''[[Geneforge]]'' is perfectly integrated in some respects, but not at all in others. On the one hand, you're warned that [[Upgrade Artifact|Upgrade Artifacts]] can affect the mind, and if you use too many you'll start to go into rages and attack people you could have negotiated with. Very high usage can even get you a bad ending. On the other hand, it's no longer legal to use [[Our Dragons Are Different|drakons]] as [[Mons]], but nobody says anything about it if you have one in your party.
* In ''[[Lost Odyssey]]'', the main character and several other party members are immortal, and revive within a few turns of being KOed. However, cutscenes and background material depict them as completely indestructible, which is ''not'' the case in gameplay, and the active party being KOed still results in a Game Over regardless of circumstances.
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== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* In ''[[Magic: theThe Gathering]]'', it's possible to summon storyline characters as Legendary creatures or Planeswalkers. Certain characters actually have multiple cards, depicting themselves at different times of their life, and they can be played at the same time. Early ''Magic'' stories explained that the character itself isn't being summoned - it's actually the caster's mental image of that character, made real with magic. ([[Plato|Platonic]] ideals are heavily referenced). However, this doesn't explain why there can't be two Legendary creatures with the same name in play.
** Gerrard Capashen manages to defeat Tsabo Tavoc in the storyline, despite three problems: one, Gerrard's card isn't powerful to harm Tsabo's; two, Tsabo can kill Gerrard with ease, both in and out of combat; and three, Tsabo's card is ''totally invulnerable'' to legendary creatures, like, say, Gerrard.
 
== [[Turn -Based Strategy]] ==
* ''[[Fire Emblem (Video Game)|Fire Emblem]]: [[Fire Emblem Tellius (Video Game)|Path of Radiance]]'' introduces a skill called "Daunt", which lowers the hit and critical hit chances for any opposed units within three spaces of a unit that has it, and appears to work based on making the opponents fear you. In ''Path of Radiance'', it's exclusive to two enemies, both of whom are indeed quite fearsome. {{spoiler|And one of them happens to be a Branded, which means that laguz would be uneasy around her even if they didn't know ''why'' they're uneasy around her.}} In ''Radiant Dawn'', however, the player gets a scroll for giving this skill to a unit, and although the conversation that leads to your acquisition of this scroll again suggests that it works through being intimidating, the skill itself can be equipped on any unit, even [[White Magician Girl|Rhys,]] who is considered frail in-story as well as being a priest, or Leanne or Rafiel, who are [[Actual Pacifist|Actual Pacifists]] and are generally calm-tempered. <ref>Reyson is also an [[Actual Pacifist]], as all herons are, but it's noted many times in-game that having spent so much time living with the hawks, he's become far more [[Hot-Blooded]] than most herons.</ref>
* ''[[Fire Emblem Elibe]]: Binding Blade'' has this. In Chapter 11A, Klein will shoot at his sister and seconds later say "Thank goodness you're okay!" But then in Chapter 16, General Douglass will not attack his adopted daughter Lalum, which makes her very useful for blocking him into a closed room with only one entrance/exit so that he can't get himself killed by your automatic counterattacks.
 
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