It's Up to You: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|''"Once upon a time in a generic fantasy land, only up to four wizards had the power to make a difference".''|'''[[Magicka]] trailer'''}}

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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]].

Of course, this is generally forgivable if your character is a [[Superhero]] or otherwise possesses extraordinary abilities that would warrant his increased involvement, but it can be particularly jarring to one's [[Suspension of Disbelief]] when [[Gameplay and Story Segregation|the plot acts]] as if you and your AI comrades are of equal skill (such as in most warfare [[First Person Shooter~~|First Person Shooters~~]]). One lazy but occasionally effective way to justify this is to have all your allies out doing other missions, conveniently far away from you, but sometimes the game doesn't even ''try''.

Of course, this is generally forgivable if your character is a [[Superhero]] or otherwise possesses extraordinary abilities that would warrant his increased involvement, but it can be particularly jarring to one's [[Suspension of Disbelief]] when [[Gameplay and Story Segregation|the plot acts]] as if you and your AI comrades are of equal skill (such as in most warfare [[First-Person Shooter]]s). One lazy but occasionally effective way to justify this is to have all your allies out doing other missions, conveniently far away from you, but sometimes the game doesn't even ''try''.

Note the relationship with [[Rule of Fun]]; the player gets to do these things so there'll be more in the game, but the story suffers by focusing all the action on one character.

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This always involves [[But Thou Must]]: no matter the situation, the player is powerless to turn down these assignments, even if their character should have the choice.

Essentially, this is the video game equivalent of [[Only One]] and [[The Main Characters Do Everything]]. Also see [[One Man Army]], [[Apathetic Citizens]] and [[Evil Only Has to Win Once]]. Players who [[We Do the Impossible|Do The Impossible]] and beat the odds may lament "[[Dude Where's My Respect]]" due to no recognition.

Essentially, this is the video game equivalent of [[Only One]] and [[The Main Characters Do Everything]]. Also see [[One-Man Army]], [[Apathetic Citizens]] and [[Evil Only Has to Win Once]]. Players who [[We Do the Impossible|Do The Impossible]] and beat the odds may lament "[[Dude, Where's My Respect?]]" due to no recognition.