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Quite simply, the player is always the "[[The Chosen One|point man]]," and [[The Player Is the Most Important Resource|has the sole responsibility of accomplishing every task of significance.]] It's your responsibility to defuse that bomb, kill that monster, retrieve those documents, or take out that sniper: It's Up To You.
 
In shooters, this tends to occur with [[Sniping Mission|Sniping Missions]]s, in which your character is tasked with using a sniper rifle to kill or [[Escort Mission|protect]] someone, despite the fact that your character has never been acknowledged as a sniper or marksman until now. NPC allies tend to be struck with [[Artificial Stupidity]] such that they are incapable of defeating anything but the most basic [[Mook]] even when armed with the same weapons as the player.
 
Similarly, in many RPGs, the main character will be designated to lead the party for no other reason than that he or she is the player's avatar; no matter how much stronger, more important, more intelligent or more experienced the other party members are. Even if this doesn't occur to the character, the group the character is part of frequently falls victim to this trope instead. Anyone trying to beat the [[Big Bad]] who ''isn't'' part of the main party will fail, and at best have to be rescued. Equally likely is the character [[Senseless Sacrifice|will simply die]] and give the player greater reason to kill the [[Big Bad]]. It may be shown later that the side character "weakened" the boss if the programmers are trying to deliver [[An Aesop]] about [[The Power of Friendship]].
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== Action Adventure ==
 
* In the ''[[Harry Potter (Videovideo Gamegame)|Harry Potter]]'' video games, Ron and Hermione are basically reduced to doing nothing except constantly saying "You handle this, Harry. I'll just stand here and be of no use whatsoever." Averted in the third and fourth games, as in the former you can play as all of them and switch between the three, and in the later you pick which one you want to play as in each mission.
* Justified in ''[[Darksiders]]''. The Charred Council sends War on a mission to hunt down the Destroyer with only the Watcher as his companion/jailor because they believe he started Armageddon before all Seven Seals were broken. War himself offered to take up this mission to atone for his supposed crime. It's personal for him too -- hetoo—he wants payback on whoever is responsible for his disgrace. {{spoiler|Of course, the Council knew all along that War was innocent. They sent War out early on purpose to foil Abaddon's attempt to bend their laws and framed War for triggering Armageddon so he that he would offer to hunt down Abaddon himself. The Council couldn't just order the Horsemen to do it since they have a hard enough time controlling the Horsemen already, and the Horsemen would never agree to serve as common assassins. They chose War for the deed because, according to the backstory, he was the most difficult Horseman to control and had already rebelled against the Council once.}}
 
== Action Game ==
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* In ''[[Lego Adaptation Game|Lego Star Wars]]'', the character controlled by the player is the only one capable of damaging enemies or using their special abilities (outside of certain specific events in the Story Mode). You could have a party of 6 characters, and all 5 of the ones that aren't controlled by the player could gang up on a single Stormtrooper and pound him for upwards of 20 minutes, but he won't go down until the player-controlled character decides to attack.
** In ''[[Lego Indiana Jones]]'' the allies' attacks can stun enemies, but not kill them. Still useful.
* Justified in a particularly cruel manner in ''[[Ghostbusters]]: The Video Game.'' You're ''always'' the one who has to go in first whenever there's obvious danger, handle all the grunt work and also get all the neat toys first (and sometimes exclusively). This is because you're the new guy, and thus less valuable than the old hands -- ifhands—if ''you'' get killed by whatever obvious danger you're leading the way into, or the dangerous, experimental technology based on nuclear power and theoretical particle physics ends up melting you into a puddle, they can just hire someone else and it's no huge loss, and why waste the experienced people on turning cranks or the like when you can have the newbie do it? Also averted, to a degree -- thedegree—the other Ghostbusters ''will'' fight and defeat enemies with little or no help from you, if it comes to that. One boss in particular is probably most easily defeated by letting the others do the actual fighting, while you act as medic/bait.
** Later in the game {{spoiler|the rest of the team is captured and the player must find and free them, literally making it up to you until you find the first Ghostbuster}}.
 
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* Averted in ''[[Star Wars]]: [[Republic Commando]]''. While the game lets you hack the consoles and plant the explosives yourself while your squad covers you, you can order one of your teammates to do the job himself while you and the rest of the team cover him. Only a small part of the game forces you to go solo and do everything yourself.
* ''[[Aliens Versus Predator]] 2'' for PC has the Marine character separated from his comrades for most of the game, with the most [[Egregious]] part where one part of your team is dragged to the local hive and only your character goes to rescue them. The rest... sit in the APC and do nothing but occasionally comment on what you're seeing via your camera.
* When playing with bots in the single-player mode of ''[[Counter-Strike (Video Game)|Counter-Strike]]: Condition Zero'', it is the player's responsibility to defuse any planted bombs. Often results in an absurd situation where the player is at the other end of the map unable to reach the bomb in time, and the AI comrades allow it to blow up in their faces rather than simply defuse it themselves (and it's not like the player is the only one who is capable of doing it, the bots have no problem doing it themselves if the player is dead).
** You can avoid this searching the option on the match configuration before the game starts on custom matches, the predefined campaigns by other side... you can change the option with the console and the correct command! (if you get access of course)
* All ''[[Halo]]'' games use this trope in full force, but it does make sense, seeing that Master Chief is a raised-from-childhood [[Super Soldier|super soldier]] and all. But there is a curious example: In ''Combat Evolved'', the player must always be the driver of the warthog, and can never man the gun in the rear, which was much to the annoyance of many players. This was rectified in [[Halo 2|the sequel]], a highly-touted feature promised that your comrades would be capable of driving vehicles while you use the machine guns in the back.
** [[Artificial Stupidity|Doesn't help when the guy driving for you has a terrible sense of direction.]]
** Lampshaded in ''Halo 3''. [[Worf Effect|After Johnson fails at life again]] and you have to do his job for him, the mission is called "If You Want It Done Right..."
** It's more prevalent in ''[[Halo: Reach]]'', where the player is the one saving the trapped Army troopers, hunting the Elite Zealots, destroying the anti-air guns and Spire, flying into space, etc, when your allies this time are Spartans who should be equally capable of those feats. Some, like the space mission, are justified, revealing the main character having a background in piloting, as well as other black ops missions.
* The ''[[Marathon (Video Game)Trilogy|Marathon]]'' games aren't quite up to having falls damage the player, and lampshades it by making you the only member of your team capable of surviving the fall into the setting of one mission.
{{quote| "Up the stairs from your current location is a ventilation shaft that leads to the underground geothermal station. Because only you would survive the fall, you're going on this mission solo."}}
* ''[[First Encounter Assault Recon|F.E.A.R.]]'' is a major offender. Apparently you're part of a team of operatives, none of whom ''ever'' assist you, and the game contrives reasons to keep you on your own.
** In ''Perseus Mandate'', your allies at least help you fight through the first introductory level, before they end up separated from you for most of the rest of the game.
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* ''[[Resistance]]: Fall of Man'' is another case where it's justified by your character being superhuman. His unique reaction to [[The Virus]] causes him to start developing some of the abilities of the Chimera without actually turning into one.
** Averted in ''Resistance 2'', where you often fight alongside more superhumans like yourself... and sometimes end up doing some significant but decidedly non-primary side task like recovering viral inhibitors or rescuing squad mates, while your main squad does the primary work.
* Partially subverted in ''[[Tron Two Point Oh (Video Game)|Tron 2.0]]''. 3/4ths of the way through the game, you finally manage to fight your way to the throne room of the [[Big Bad]], Master User Thorne, only to discover the leader of the [[Redshirt Army]] has already beaten you to it and even managed to kill the [[Big Bad]] guy for you. Of course, because he's a [[Knight Templar]], he proceeds to challenge ''you'' to a duel to the death also.
* Seriously, ''[[Half Life]]''. Random young ginger tech with a crowbar and bad eyesight turns out to be a more effective warrior and scientist than any number of spec-ops forces, particle physicists or cammo-suited assassins. Taken to extremes in ''[[Half Life]] 2'' when most of the remaining human race has heard of your badassery and refuse to do anything without your explicit approval, particularly in the last quarter or so of the game. However, HL2 does attempt to retcon your importance in the first game by suggesting you were an equal and respected member of the science team, which definitely isn't how you were originally treated.
** Don't forget to reload, Dr. Freeman!
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*** Not to mention the fact that there's ''heavy'' implication that Freeman is, in fact, superhuman in some way. He's not just good, he's ''[[Born Winner|born to be good]]''.
** Partially justified by Gordon having possibly the only functioning suit of [[Power Armour]] in the world, although the game never makes it clear why nobody else can wear it, given that it doesn't actually belong to him as such.
* Semi-averted in ''[[Crysis (Video Gameseries)|Crysis]]'' and ''[[Crysis (Video Gameseries)|Crysis]]: Warhead'', as your team is an elite force equipped with state-of-the-art nanosuits. At one point your team is split in two; ''[[Crysis (Video Gameseries)|Crysis]]'' follows the adventures of one group and ''Warhead'' the other, and you get snatches of what the other group is up to whilst carrying on with your own objectives. The two groups' activities are shown to supporting one another's objectives.
* Justified in ''[[Call of Duty]] 4: [[Modern Warfare]]'', where the characters you control ''are'' responsible, via the plot, for various actions. Soap is the squad's dedicated marksman, and so gets the sniper rifle; Jackson is the squad Sergeant, and therefore leads the charge on flanking actions while the Lieutenant sets up the base of fire (he also takes over the Javelin missile launcher only because the soldier who was supposed to use it gets killed); {{spoiler|1=Lieutenant Price takes the sniper shot on the big bad because Captain MacMillan already gave up control of the sniper rifle (snipers switch off after a certain period of time to prevent eye strain).}} The fact you personally have to lead the advance, since the enemies will respawn infinitely otherwise is just there, [[Bellisario's Maxim|don't think about it]].
** Then again... The first part of a particular mission involves rescuing [[S Sgt]]. Griggs, both out of a "no man left behind" mentality and also due to the fact that Griggs has the C4 required to blow up an electricity pylon. Who has to plant the C4 on the pylon? Hint: Not Griggs.
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** ''[[Modern Warfare]] 2'' uses the trope, but doesn't manage to justify it as well. [[Memetic Mutation|RAMIREZ! DO EVERYTHING!]] Fortunately, the removal of infinitely-respawning enemies at least allow you to not require moving forward until the enemies are dead, and there are even cases where your allies alone might be able to kill most of the enemies.
* Played completely straight in ''Call of Duty: World at War'': Not only does it fall to you to take point and destroy the important targets and so on, when you have to defend against the counter-attack after taking the airfield, none of the NPCs make use of the fixed machine guns and AA cannons available to yourself. And in the flying boat level, the gunner on the other side will even give up his spot in order to let you shoot on the side with the most targets. Possibly lampshaded for the Russians, as at the end of the game, Sergeant Reznov will tell your character "As long as you live, the heart of this army can never be broken."
* ''[[Call of Duty: Black Ops (Video Game)|Call of Duty Black Ops]]'', meanwhile, was discovered to have actual competent friendly AI; at least one person on [[YouTube]] recorded himself playing through the entire first level without firing a shot that wasn't explicitly designated for them.
* Lampshaded in ''[[Star Trek Elite Force]] II'' when a character points out that your character, the team leader, shouldn't be going off on solo scouting missions. The response: "Don't ask".
* Played straight in ''[[Battlefield (Video Gameseries)|Battlefield 1942]]'', to the point that it was pretty much the only complaint reviewers had. But it was ''so much worse'' in ''Battlefield Vietnam'', it seemed like a parody. While the player was supposedly as good as anyone else, in single-player mode, it was possible to single-handedly capture the enemy's main base, but your own bases would fall like dominoes as your bot teammates failed to hold the line.
* Embarrassingly obvious in [[Red Faction]], you allies have about a ten second life span when confronted with enemies. Out of the entire resistance only one person seen on screen survives to the end.
* Played straight and averted at the same time in the campaign mode of [[Star Wars Battlefront]] 2. Only you can capture the command posts and do other mission objectives. However, your allies can prove useful in killing surrounding enemies and you will also capture the command posts much faster when you have your allies with you. Simply played straight in other modes with bots, however, wherein [[Artificial Stupidity|you are the sole competent soldier on your side]].
* Somewhat averted in the somewhat obscure, early [[Unreal II: theThe Awakening (Video Game)|Unreal]] [[Unreal Tournament 2004 (Video Game)|Engine 2]] game ''Devastation''. Your teammates could be surprisingly effective in the early missions, able to make their way from the beginning to the end of the level without any assistance from the player. They could even be ordered to charge ahead instead of lulling around behind the player. The only limiter on their A.I. was the fact they'd stop moving if they got too far ahead of you, to stop them from outright completing the entire level without you. This does break down in the later missions, which turn into "capture the flag" style team vs team battle where you're somehow the only person on your team able to shut down the enemy respawner.
 
== Hack And Slash ==
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* Untwisted in ''[[Guild Wars]]: Factions'', when regular civilians will take the initiative and attack enemies in the area, often before you do. However, this almost always ends with the low-leveled civilian getting destroyed by the much stronger enemy.
* The MMORPG ''[[Wizard 101]]'' has the Dumbledore [[Captain Ersatz]] telling you that [[Big Bad|Malistaire]] is up to stuff that (gasp) might destroy the entire Spiral (the galaxy (I guess) wherein the various worlds exist) - but far be it from the high-powered head of the school to shut down the school for a few weeks and run off to stop the [[Big Bad]] himself: [[It's Up to You]]. Why he thinks it's a good idea to put this grand task in the hands of a first-year student is anyone's guess. But the way in which [[It's Up to You]] is stressed makes it ''very'' hard for an adult player to keep their [[Willing Suspension of Disbelief]].
 
== Platform Game ==
 
* In ''[[Psychonauts (Video Game)|Psychonauts]]'', for a while it seems reasonable that Raz is the only one around who can stop the evil plot. The other campers, who were too wrapped up in their own personal dramas to notice all the weird stuff going on, have all been kidnapped and de-brained. The camp counselors aren't there, and the one adult who could possibly help {{spoiler|isn't able to leave a certain area of the camp.}} By process of elimination, you're left. However, even when the other campers get their brains back, they're still unwilling to help you, for reasons such as ''getting pedicures or making out''.
* The player character in ''[[Drawn to Life]]'' is designed to save the village from the [[Big Bad]]. Fair enough, he has to be the one to traverse the dangerous levels to free the Raposa, as Jowee shows how inept the Raposa themselves are at it in one level. But why does he also have to do absolutely ''everything'' else as well, including gathering up characters, and playing messenger delivery service to the NPC's when they could just as easily do that at least for themselves?
* Averted in ''[[Super Mario 64 (Video Game)|Super Mario 64]]''. The Toads that are trapped in the castle are very helpful, as they gladly give Mario a Power Star if one of them has one.
* Justified in ''[[Spyro the Dragon (1998 (Video Game)|Spyro the Dragon 1998]]'', since you're the only Dragon that hasn't been turned to crystal.
 
== Puzzle Game ==
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* A fair portion of [[Real Time Strategy]] falls into this also. If there are other forces besides the ones you command, they tend to fail so you can bail them out in the next mission.
** It was actually averted in a few levels of ''[[Ogre Battle]] 64''. In fact, if you don't move fast enough, a unit not directly under your command can win the battle for you. At the very least, they can hold their own and kill more enemies than any of your units (although there's never more than one extra unit).
*** Kinda averted in ''[[Command and& Conquer]] Red Alert 3''. In my experience, your AI teammate rarely needs bailing out (playing on Normal). Obviously, if you're playing with a human co-commander, you're both more or less equally important in completing missions.
*** Emphasis on "Playing on Normal". In the later levels, the enemy AI can get pretty brutal while the allied CO remains basically the same, resulting in levels where if you fail to complete your objectives quickly enough your allied CO will be eviscerated. By enemies you've been holding off just fine, while also attacking, thank you very much. The computer is literally ''fighting itself and losing''.
* In ''[[Ogre Battle: (VideoThe Game)March of the Black Queen|Ogre Battle]]'', [[Canon Name|Destin]] is the leader of the Rebellion, and solely his actions / stats determine the endings. This is despite the fact that he will recruit characters with far bigger stakes in the Rebellion than him, and far bigger beefs against the Empire, but it's Destin who chooses who becomes the next King in the end, and killing Destin is all that is needed to end the rebellion.
* ''[[Grim Grimoire]]'' is an amusing example, where the main character Lillet Blan finds herself trapped in a persistent [[Groundhog Day Loop]], repeating the five days leading up to a powerful mage killing everyone at her school of magic. Due to being a complete novice she spends the first few times around informing her teachers of what’s going on…¦ inevitably leading them to screwing things up even worse than before. She gets the hint eventually.
* ''[[World in Conflict]]''. You start out as a mere Lieutenant, but Saywer puts a lot of trust into you right away. Granted, the other officer, Captain Bannon, isn't good for much most of the game, but Sawyer doesn't even really give him a chance until the 4th mission (where he fails, but his target was defended better than yours, and further away). And even after Sawyer gets his old friend Webb as a replacement for Bannon, you're still the one that does all the important stuff.
* While the campaign of ''[[Dawn of War]] 2'' is not a complete example, as proper use of allies is essential to victory, it still remains that a dozen [[Space Marine|Space Marines]]s are required to defend three planets from an [[Our Orcs Are Different|Ork]] WAAAGH!, [[Our Elves Are Better|Eldar]] incursions and a ''friggin' [[Horde of Alien Locusts|Tyranid Hive Fleet]]''. Partially justified by a) the Chapter suffering a horrific defeat that depleted their numbers, so it really ''is'' All Up To You, and b) anything in ''[[Warhammer 4000040,000]]'' being notorious for its [[Unreliable Narrator|Unreliable Narrators]]s and the whole thing playing like one big propaganda film, leaving one with the impression the numbers weren't quite so one-sided as the game depicts.
 
== Role Playing Game ==
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** In their defense, you're the only human Spectre in the galaxy, and most of those missions they send you on take place in a hostile part of the galaxy where no Citadel race can officially send their military without possibly starting a war with all those rebellious races in the area. So by sending you, they can deny having given you any official orders, since Shepard can really do anything (s)he wants.
** One such mission takes place on the Moon. Yes. Earth's moon. There's a good reason, though.
** Subverted in ''[[Mass Effect 2]]''. Thanks to significantly reduced [[Hit Points]], addition of an ammo limit that applies only to you and the enemy's tendency to [[Gang Up Onon the Human]], it becomes your job to be the decoy who draws enemy fire while your squadmates do most of the shooting.
* In ''[[Jade Empire]]'', this trope makes perfect sense most of the time. You are the only Spirit Monk left, so you are the only one capable of defeating a lot of the challenges placed before you. And, as of three complete runs through the game, this troper has never had a henchman kill an enemy, so there is a good game mechanics reason as well.
* The other members of the Wigglytuff's guild in ''[[Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Explorers (Video Game)|Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Explorers]] of Darkness/Time'' only exist to talk and get some hints, and they do nothing to advance the plot, even when they go to missions like the player.
** Semi-Averted in the Deluxe version, Explorers of Sky, which adds a playable backstory, missions, and possibly epilogues for all of the guild members. It's all still up to the player, but at least you get to control the NPCs.
** Just about EVERY main series Pokémon game features this-- whythis—why is it that it's always a kid with level 20 Pokémon that saves an area from trouble while there are plenty of adults with Level 25 Pokémon just a few steps down the road and, of course, Gym Leaders and the Elite Four?
*** Speaking of the Elite Four, this was averted once in Pokémon Gold and Silver, as Lance of the group in question shows up at the same time as you to clear a power plant of Team Rocket members. A good "you take that one, I'll take this one" combined effort commences.
* Handwaved in ''[[Persona 3]]'' -- the—the player is chosen to lead the party in the Journey, much to the irritation of one of his companions, because he has the wild card. His friend gets even more frustrated when he begins leading the party over much, much more experienced SEES members. Aigis in The Answer is dubbed party leader for the same reason - again, much to the chagrin of [[The Lancer]] from the previous game.
** ''[[Persona 4]]'' plays it the same way, except that, with the wild card being the only one who could enter the world inside the TV to begin with the others are completely comfortable with you taking point.
* ''[[Gothic]]'' doesn't try to hide the fact that your nameless character was chosen randomly to move the planned events of the different camps to their conclusion, then save the world. Being given a message for the Magicians of the Circle of Fire at the beginning of the game does not motivate the plot much at all.
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** Somewhat averted in ''[[Morrowind]]'', though, where {{spoiler|at one point during the main storyline you find a cave filled with the spirits of the other "chosen ones" who obviously weren't the ''real'' chosen one on account of being dead. It is quite possible that the Daedra Azura made up this whole chosen one thing to get some mortal to do her dirty work for her.}}
** Not like Azura has a choice, Daedra Lords cannot physically manifest on the mortal plane without outside assistance (Being summoned or the Dragonfires not being lit). And since people don't tend to react too well to lesser Daedras, mortal agents are all that's left.
* Double Subverted at the end of ''[[Final Fantasy IV (Video Game)|Final Fantasy IV]]''. After fighting your way through [[The Very Definitely Final Dungeon]], you reach the [[Big Bad]] only to find that [[The Obi-Wan]] and [[The Dragon]] have already beaten you to him. The two of them team up to fight the [[Big Bad]], and actually manage to kill the guy without any participation whatsoever from your party. Of course, the deceased [[Big Bad]] then transforms into a [[Giant Space Flea From Nowhere]] and pwns them, leading to the game's ''real'' final battle between him and your party.
* Averted in ''[[Final Fantasy VI (Video Game)|Final Fantasy VI]]'' as the Party is completely self composed, no one really sets themselves out as a leader type, and you can even finish the game without re-recruiting the Main Character Terra.
** Though if you do so, [[Double Subverted|she rejoins your party just before the last battle, anyway.]]
* Half Lampshaded half [[Played for Drama]] in ''[[Final Fantasy VIII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy VIII]]'' as Squall is made leader of Balamb Garden, and as a matter of course the party. While Cid does this because he knows how competent Squall is, Squall himself feels insecure and agonizes over it, as he is generally uncomfortable in a leading position.
* In ''[[Final Fantasy X (Video Game)|Final Fantasy X]]'' you do meet other summoners who are also going through the Pilgrimage with the eventual goal of defeating Sin. True to this trope's form, however, they all give up before the end, requiring your party to do the deed. {{spoiler|It's for the best, however, as the other summoners would have just continued the cycle of Sin.}}
* ''[[Final Fantasy XII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy XII]]'' averts this the hardest in the series yet, the effective main character Vaan is completely overshadowed by the later acquired characters Ashe and Basch, even the self-proclaimed leading man Balthier plays more of a supporting role. This combined with the [[Wide Open Sandbox]] approach widely contrast its rather linear predecessor FFX, and the sudden movement away from traditional turn-based battling to real time command based gameplay with AI controlled party caused the fanbase to be rather [[Broken Base|divided]] in their opinion on whether or not the series had taken a step in the right direction.
* Used in ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines|Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines]]''. The player character is a newborn vampire, and yet is apparently the only agent Prince LaCroix has available. This is, however, thoroughly justified; LaCroix has only just taken over the city and his control of the older, stronger vampires is precarious at best, the player character is still young and weak enough to be easily [[Mind Control|Dominated]] into doing any tasks he doesn't want to do, and {{spoiler|1=LaCroix is actively trying to get the player killed.}}
* Completely averted in ''Depths of Peril'' - Any and all quests are handed out to the PC and any NPC adventurers. They will happily go off, kill the bad guys, rescue the damsel in distress and collect the reward if you're not fast enough.
* [[Deconstructed]] in ''[[Planescape Torment|Planescape: Torment]]'': The story is that of The Nameless One's quest for his identity, something that you're obviously not going to get many other people working on, and the reason you lead is because The Nameless One bears the Mark of Torment, binding his compatriots' destinies to his own and unconsciously compelling them to follow him whether they like it or not.
** And in several cases, ''consciously'' set up by the [[Magnificent Bastard|Practical Incarnation]].
* Averted in ''[[Fallout]] Tactics''; the main character doesn't have to do anything except accept missions and collect promotions. Anyone on the team can snipe that mook, pick that lock, disarm that bomb, or pilot that vehicle.
** In the first two ''[[Fallout|Fallouts]]s'', if a party member had a higher skill in something than you, they would attempt to do the task in your stead. Unfortunately, they were rarely better than you (if you specialized in something), let alone good enough to perform any of the tasks requested. Typically, that meant you had to do anything important.
** This trope is frustratingly blatant towards the end of Fallout 1, when it's clear that a full invasion of the Cathedral by the then-numerous and heavily armed Brotherhood of Steel would have led to a quick victory over the [[Big Bad|Master]]'s defenses. The Elders of the Brotherhood seem more than happy to just sit back and make you do all the work, not even allowing you access to their vast weapons stockpiles as they send you on your way to face the Super Mutant army.
* In ''[[Tales of Hearts (Video Game)|Tales of Hearts]]'', the main characters and the [[Crystal Dragon Jesus|Church of Valeia]] are the only ones who have a magical Soma weapon. Now, a Soma is effectively required to be an important character. The exceptions to this rule are the Empress, her staff, and the magically powerful [[Mysterious Waif]], herself a [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien]]. [[The Lancer]] is incapable of participating in combat until he receives his Soma, even though one of his skills when he does get it is a straight kick. Late in the game, another character gives up his Soma and immediately feels useless; in one of the sidequests, the party has to bail him out when he goes looking for a new one and is jumped by a relatively easy boss.
* ''[[Valkyria Chronicles (Video Game)|Valkyria Chronicles]]''. Player-controlled squad 7 are drafted militia. If you think the trained army or any of the other militia squads from all over the country are the ones who are going to be winning the important battles, defeating the enemy armies, stopping the invasion, or indeed do ''anything'' useful without your help, you've got another thing coming.
** A specific mission comes to mind where you and your lowly militia prevent a kidnapping attempt on the "well-protected" princess by ''yourself'', after a gathering of military captains, in the capital city and not a single squad or soldier from the actual army even lifts a finger to your aid.
*** Squad 7 also lifted seiges, defeated each and every one of the enemy's main generals, recaptured key cities and hunted for war criminals ''in their spare time''. They also take out the enemy superweapons by their lonesome {{spoiler|with the help of their own Valkyria.}} The war could not have been possibly won without the efforts of Squad 7.
** [[Valkyria Chronicles III|Squad 422 begs to differ]]. They are the only ones to stop Calamity Raven from breaking into Randgriz (''twice!''), they attempted assassination of Maximilian, and they narrowly prevented the shattering of the fragile peace after the accord is signed. {{spoiler|Having their own Valkyria, imperfect she might be, helps greatly.}}
* In the old [[Dungeons and& Dragons]] [[Gold Box]] game ''Pool of Radiance'' there was a fighter at the Training Hall named Rolf. He was ''always'' equal or higher level than your characters. One wonders what he was doing while you did all the dirty work to liberate Phlan.
* This is lampshaded on two occasions in ''[[Dragon Age Origins]]'' when both Morrigan and Shale separately ask Alistair why he follows the [[Player Character]]'s lead even though he is the senior Grey Warden by about six months. Alistair explains that he does not want to be responsible for the lives of others and, thus, is more comfortable as a follower than as a leader. If you offer to put him in charge, he somewhat jokingly states that he would probably get everyone killed. And it seems he is entirely right about that. The ''Darkspawn Chronicles'' DLC shows [[What If|what would happen if]] the [[Player Character]] had died during the Joining and Alistair was forced to deal with the Blight himself... it ends with everyone dying and the country being destroyed by the darkspawn.
* Justified in ''[[Wild Arms 3 (Video Game)|Wild ArmsARMs 3]]''. Virgina Maxwell has the leader role of her rag tag group of Drifters, despite the presence of Clive, a seasoned Drifter. This is because all three fellow party members recognize that Virginia may not be the best ''fighter'', but she would make the best ''leader''.
* [[Handwaved]] in the beginning of ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'', where the powerful paladin Aribeth has to stand still in a room while your rookie adventurer clears out the bad guys, because they're tracking her location with some kind of magic. After that, it somehow continues to always work out like that, with the [[Big Good]] tier characters standing around in a base doing vital background work/nothing and sending you to do everything.
* Partially justified in ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]'', though sometimes it seems like Nasher should have given you a crapload more support than he did. Completely justified in Mask of the Betrayer, in which you are on a personal quest with no backup organization.
* Mostly justified in ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]'', in which the Jedi Council doesn't want to attract Malak's attention by sending a full team of Jedi Knights out on your mission, and you and Bastila are the only ones who have the information to locate the [[Plot Coupon|plot coupons]], but it makes a bit less sense why they put you in charge of Bastila (the senior Jedi) instead of the other way around.
** In the second game, you are on the run from the Republic for some of it, so you don't have any backup in most sections of the game. When Mandalore brings in several commando squads at the Battle of Telos, though, it still falls to the party to plant the warheads that will destroy the Sith warship.
* Partially averted and then justified in ''[[Tales of Symphonia (Video Game)|Tales of Symphonia]]'': For the first section of the game, main character Lloyd is just a tag-along to the [[Chosen One]] and her guardians. After the [[Disc One Final Dungeon]] twists the plot so far around that everyone's paradigm is shattered, Lloyd winds up leading the party because he's the one with the ideals driving the rest of the plot, and even then he relies heavily on advice from other party members for a good long while.
** And they're the only ones who can defeat the [[Big Bad]] because no one else even knows where the source of the problem lies...except [[La Résistance|The Renegades]], whose plan to defeat said Big Bad involves using Lloyd as bait for [[The Dragon]], and who don't really feel like explaining said plan ''to'' their bait, especially at first...because after all, he was just a tagalong nobody.
*** Then you get to the end of the game, and it turns out that {{spoiler|Lloyd really WAS the only one who could save the world, since he had the special exsphere produced by the Angelus project.}}
* In [[Legend of Mana]], nothing gets done without the player character...this even includes building the map.
* In ''[[Dragon Quest V (Video Game)|Dragon Quest V]]'' you find a mysterious stranger in a cave who claims to have been stuck in a minecart going in a loop for ''twenty years''. Less than one screen away from him (in the same area) is a little cave where someone has set up house after being hired to investigate the place. Couldn't he have given the dude a hand?
 
== Shoot Em Up ==
 
* In the original ''[[Star Fox (Video Gameseries)|Star FoxFOX]]'' (and slightly less so in the N64 remake), your wingmates existed for two purposes: to soak up a pitifully low number of enemies that got past you and then to be chased by the bad guys, forcing you to rescue them.
** And to land the last blow on the missiles in Sector Z, thereby robbing you of the needed points to get a medal.
** Also, in the grand scale of things, General Pepper's army doesn't seem to do anything in the war. This is a real quote from General Pepper in Star Fox 64 in response to Fox's cunning strategy: "You're going to attack the enemy base? Great idea Starfox!"
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* Averted in ''[[Rainbow Six]] Vegas'' and the like. Not only can you tell your CPU-controlled team-mates to go first, in some cases they're more accurate than you are! You'll hear this exchange dozens of times: "Prepare for entry." "Stacking up." "Frag and clear." "Cleared!" "Regroup on me." Careful planning will have you taking out a room of six tangos in something like 3 seconds.
** Definitely not averted in ''[[Rainbow Six]] Vegas''. Your three-man team is routinely sent to engage hundreds of heavily-armed enemies with virtually no backup, despite the assumption that a significant amount of other friendly troops would be in the Vegas area (after all, it is the site of several major attacks). The worst offender is when you end up fighting your way through an entire building just to find several dozen police/FBI waiting happily outside.
** In the ''[[Ghost Recon]]: Advanced Warfighter'' games, the player controls only Captain Mitchell. Although there are several infiltration/recon missions where he must go solo, the majority of the game provides him with up to three specialized "Ghost" units --rangingunits—ranging from heavy artillery, medic, sniper, and infantry. These units can turn the most difficult missions into [[Curb Stomp Battle|cakewalks]], but only if the player utilizes the Ghosts effectively, instead of leaving them behind. For example, this editor completed the final mission of the first GRAW game solely by providing cover fire, while the heavy weapons specialist and his shoulder-mounted rocket launcher took on the [[Big Bad]] one-on-one.
 
== Survival Horror ==
 
* In ''[[HPH.P. Lovecraft|Call Of Cthulhu]]: [[Dark Corners of the Earth]]'', you're alone for the first half of the game, so naturally it's up to you. However, this becomes rather [[Egregious]] in the 2nd half when you accompany, in Turn, the FBI, the USMC and the US Coast Guard into the town, and they all prove to be almost completely useless, leaving you to do all the legwork.
* Averted in ''[[Eternal Darkness]]'', despite having a [[Chosen One]]. Most of the game consists of playing as the various [[Red Shirt|Red Shirts]]s who contribute to the fight to save humanity, and almost every chapter ends with its player character dead or insane. At the end, {{spoiler|everybody comes back in ghost form, one at a time, to attack [[The Dragon]], and the guy who died at the beginning of the game gets to seal away the [[Big Bad]].}}
* In Vampire Quest, produced by www.vampyou.com, this is used, almost to the point of parody. You have three other party members, who are unseen throughout most of the adventure, except getting captured and rescued. At no point do they actually do anything, ever.
 
 
== Third Person Shooter ==
* It's implied, in ''[[Crusader: (VideoNo Game)Remorse|Crusader]]'', that your character of the Silencer is just one of many operatives--otheroperatives—other Rebels are mentioned as taking on missions. However, for a barely-trusted recent defector, you sure end up handed a lot of critical missions. Even {{spoiler|when the mole takes over the base}}, you are given a mission that {{spoiler|could expose the traitor, assuming you survive}}.
** Half-subverted in the game's final mission; you're supposed to command a squad of Rebel soldiers, but all methods other than the one you took to get there are locked out or inaccessible.
* Averted in the 3rd-person tactical shooter ''[[Winback]] 2''. Two characters from your three-man squad are assigned to each mission, and you play the first one... During which time, several opportunities are given for you to accomplish things outside the scope of your mission. ''Then'' you play as the ''second'' character, and receive bonuses when the "first character" helps you out (for instance by helping open a locked door, or by picking off some [[Mook|Mooks]]s).
* ''Kind of'' averted in the latest ''[[Rogue Trooper (Comic Book)|Rogue Trooper]]'' video game. The player takes the role of Rogue, the only survivor of an ambush that slaughtered the rest of his genetically-engineered [[Super Soldier]] pals. Having said that, part of the soldiers' cybernetic augmentation is "biochips," which [[Brain Downloading|preserves their consciousness]] for download in a newly-grown body; in the meanwhile, Rogue installs his three friends onto his [[Swiss Army Weapon]], [[Bag of Holding|Backpack Of Holding]] and helmet. All three items are now capable of independent action (the rifle can be set up as a sentry gun, for instance, and the helmet can project a holographic decoy), and frequently [[Voice Withwith an Internet Connection|chat amongst themselves]]. While [[It's Up to You]] still, at least your [[One-Man Army]] is allowed to multitask.
* Also semi-averted in ''[[Max Payne 2]]'' with missions which are played from Max's perspective and then switch to Mona's, showing what she was doing at the same time to help Max perform his jobs. The original ''Max Payne'' lampshades his uniqueness though by pointing out that only he in the game world has the ability to slow down time, but offers no explanation at all for it.
** ''Max Payne 2'' notably fails to address why, given what happened last time Max went on the run from the police but was proven right, people are still unwilling to trust him. A non-game example of this is on ''[[Twenty Four|24]]'', where after seven seasons of Bauer's crazy theories and maverick tactics generally being proven to be a 100% reliable course of action, you'd think his superiors would actually listen to him and not keep screwing him over.
*** Well, in this case, {{spoiler|Max ''did'' kill Winterson.}} And even before that, his behavior was increasingly erratic. And in the first game, he wasn't so much "proven right" as "{{spoiler|had the charges taken care of by mysterious and powerful connections}}".
* Strangely done in ''[[Kane and Lynch]]'', where you are the only one who can revive teammates... even when your living teammates end up standing in front of the slumped over ones like they're cover.
* Slightly inverted in ''[[Red Faction]]: Guerrilla'', since Mason's expertise doesn't extend much farther then "explode this thing over here", most Faction Missions involve other, unseen operatives doing the leg work while you support them.... usually by exploding things.
** Also in one mission you have to drive across a artillery firing field and shut down the artillery. However it's less it's up to you and more you're the only one who manage to not be completely utterly shelled to dust. That mission was a [[Player Punch]] as you watched the truck in front of you explode then you hear the rest of rebellion screaming for help over the radio or how they're stuck and the shells are getting closer.
* ''[[Dead Space (Videovideo Gamegame)|Dead Space]]'': Isaac fix the gravity drive! Isaac reroute the power! Isaac get me a ham sandwich! The other two characters do contribute but mostly their role is opening doors and giving you bad news. However, Isaac is, in fact, an engineer, and {{spoiler|it turns out Kendra has been manipulating him to get the Marker.}}
 
 
== Turn Based Strategy ==
* ''[[Fire Emblem]] 10'' (''[[Fire Emblem Tellius (Video Game)|Radiant Dawn]]'') really drives the point home at the end of Part 3 by {{spoiler|turning everyone but the heroes and antagonists into statues}}.
** Generally played semi-straight in the rest of the ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' series. While the main character(s) are usually quite powerful in their own right, your other units may be stronger or more useful. However, that tiny band of 10-30 people is the only effective resistance to the [[Big Bad]] and his army.
 
 
== Wide Open Sandbox ==
* In ''[[Grand Theft Auto]]: [[Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas|San Andreas]]'', the player's territory can be invaded by other gangs. However, it's solely the player's responsibility to defend it. No one else in the gang of presumably hundreds ever takes the initiative to help out or, better yet, handle the attack themselves. However, your gang in [[Grand Theft Auto]]: Vice City will cheerfully blow away anyone who tries to attack the player character.
** Also in the ''[[Grand Theft Auto]]'' series, the player must always be the driver, and apparently no one else who ever rides with the protagonist knows how to drive. Even when someone arrives to pick you up during a [[Cutscene]], they invariably scoot over to the passenger seat once the gameplay begins. This is lampshaded in one of the missions in ''San Andreas'', where Ryder instructs; "You drive - seein' as you "Mister Driver" and all."
** Averted, probably intentionally, in one of the later missions of San Andreas. At the end of the mission, the main character offers to drive his cohorts to the hospital, but they assure him that he's done enough.
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** Especially glaring in the bank robbery mission in ''Vice City'', for which you need to recruit a gunman, a safe cracker, and a driver. None of whom perform their roles and require the player to do them.
* For a drug lord rebuilding his empire, Tony Montana has to do too much of the dirty work himself, as shown in the ''[[Scarface]]: The World Is Yours'' title. Even the goons who deliver cars to him proceed to take the passenger seat and leave their boss to drive. While players can switch to playing as the hired muscle, that is an unexplained, wholly optional, plot-irrelevant element.
* In the video game adaptation of ''[[The Godfather (Videovideo Gamegame)|The Godfather]]'', we see that apparently '''all''' Mafia operations outside of the inter-family intrigue handled by the movie characters are performed by one man, the player. He essentially takes over the entire underworld single-handedly, and it goes to even further extremes in the final mission, where the simultaneous hits on the heads of the other families during Michael's daughter's baptism are all carried out by the same guy driving frantically all over New York.
** Apparently realizing how difficult and unrealistic the single-handed approach to underworld domination was in the first game, the developers of the sequel have created the "Family" or "Crew" system. This will allow the player to send members of their families to do their dirty work for them, so the player isn't saddled with all the work. At the same time, fellow mob members can be brought along on missions to help take over rackets and storm rival family compounds. It would appear the game makers have realized why the Mafia considers itself a "Family Business."
* Averted in the first level of ''[[STALKER]]: Clear Sky''. If you ignore the mission objectives, your teammates will eventually accomplish them for you. This allows you to progress to the next level, but you also miss out on the mission rewards you're given if you participate in the missions.
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*** One of the love it or hate it features in the first game was the fact that due to the living world, sometimes your quests would sort out on their own. Say if you were tasked to kill a certain NPC, he isn't suddenly gifted with a "character shield" and he might fall victim to the many, many dangers of The Zone if you leave him wandering long enough. Often all you have to do is go to the right place, then go back to the quest-giver to claim your reward; skipping all the fighting as the mutants you were supposed to eradicate were killed by your allied Stalkers who then used the place as their hangout.
**** [[What Could Have Been|On a side note, there was one scrapped feature]] that would involve allied NPCs ''beating the game by themselves''.
* In ''[[Spore (Video Game)|Spore]]'', whenever a colony planet owned by the player is under attack, the player must travel there with his ship or else the colony will be lost as the automated defense turrets won't work unless the player is there. You are also in command of the only ship your creature species will ever possess so you have to do all other kinds of busy work along with defending.
** This becomes incredibly frustrating as your empire grows to several (and sometimes dozens) of systems, and you can only defend it ''with one ship'', often from attacks that come from different directions.
* Played straight, averted and lampshaded in Rockstar's ''[[Red Dead Redemption]]'', where the whole main plot is your personal mission to kill your old companions, but on those missions where you have allies (like the assault on Fort Mercer or Escalera) they are useful but not so much that you aren't essential to victory, and lampshaded when John bitches to the goverment agents about how stupid it is to send two men into a gang hide-out by themselves, even though you've pretty much been doing exactly that since the start.
* In ''[[Space Rangers]]'', due to the nature of the living world, it is quite possible for the alliance to win the war without you. You could be milling around, running side-quests and trading for cash or what-have-you, while the other rangers and military forces actually drive the Klissans or up to two Dominator factions to extinction. This is especially true on lower difficulty levels, though on higher ones all you need is to give the war an initial "push", and the AI will usually take care of the rest.
 
== Other ==
 
* In ''[[Kantai Collection]]'', it seems like the player Admiral is the only one doing anything to fight the abyssals. There's no good reason why you who are based out of Japan should need to deploy forces all the way to Europe or the Middle East. The Friend Fleet mechanic suggests that other shipgirl forces do exist, but they only ever serve to support yours.
 
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Solitary Tropes]]
[[Category:Video Game Tropes]]
[[Category:Its Up To You{{PAGENAME}}]]
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