Selective Memory: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

That map of the world the the [[Player Character]] got from his uncle before heading out to save the planet? Features the [[Doomed Hometown]] and a whole lot of blank indicating everywhere you haven't been to yet. The soldier who joins the party and suggests you go to the [[Capital City]] to ask the king for help? Forget about asking him for directions. You come to the [[Hidden Elf Village]] and the [[White Magician Girl]] wants you to talk to her sister? [[Talk to Everyone]] until you find her yourself.

 

 

See also [[Now Where Was I Going Again?]], for information that was given ''once'' and then can't be recalled. Compare [[Unreliable Narrator]] or [[Dramatic Irony]] when it's more about the plot itself.

[[I Thought It Meant|For people remembering only certain details pleasant to them]], see [[Self-Serving Memory]].

{{examples}}

** In the same game, there is a quest in which you must ask an elf for the location of elven capital Quintarra, a literal [[Hidden Elf Village]]. If the player character is an elf, he will find it odd that you do not already know the location. One has to justify it by claiming to be from a different continent.

* In one level in ''[[Super Mario Sunshine]]'', Mario is tasked with locating a Yoshi egg, hatching it, and using the Yoshi to power up a merry-go-round. One expository [[NPC]] informs Mario that he has just seen an egg on the island, which is used to suggest to the player what to do next, but he leaves it at that. One wonders why Mario simply couldn't directly ask him where he found it.

* ''[[Final Fantasy IX]]'' featured a card game with vague rules which are not particularly explained to the player. Justified in that nobody you talk to know the rules either, and you can only pick up the rules from people's suppositions about them. These people are otherwise avid players, but they only know half of one rule each... Fortunately, none of the rules matter much. The outcome of each game is more or less random, and the few rewards with an actual use you can get out of it are easily gotten elsewhere...including one of the very few cards you can get outside of the treasure hunt sidequest that actually has an use beyond using it in the card game itself.

** A full explanation of the rules was eventually provided...in the manual for ''[[Final Fantasy XI]]''.

** That and the {{spoiler|[[Mind Control]]}} anyway.

* The [[Final Fantasy]] series is rife with cases where you must take object A to location B. One or more of the characters should know exactly where the destination is, but the player doesn't have a clue and is left wandering around like an idiot trying to find the place.

*** Example: In ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]'', {{spoiler|Rydia}} shows up during a Boss Battle. After the battle, {{spoiler|she}} tells you what happened when {{spoiler|she was eaten by Leviathan--it actually took her to the land of Summoned Monsters}}. While this is good and all, not once will {{spoiler|Rydia}} tell you how {{spoiler|she}} got to where you are, leading one to wonder HOW {{spoiler|she}} got out, since as the player begins wandering around, they will find the passage leading there on a small island {{spoiler|in the underworld, surrounded by lava}}. It isn't until you've ventured into said cave that {{spoiler|Rydia}} mentions that this is where {{spoiler|she}} was.

**** Possibly explained by the opening sequence of The After Years, as {{spoiler|Rydia was teleported to a different area by Leviathan, likely explaining this situation too.}}

** And, near the end, the player finds out that the PC does. Much of what happens in [[The Very Definitely Final Dungeon]] is your and [[The Smart Guy]]'s plan. Made offscreen. Or something. It's mildly incomprehensible.

*** Of course, since the game was never actually finished properly, this may just be one of the things that didn't make it in.

* Lampshaded, subverted, abused to no end, and inverted in the DS game ''[[Time Hollow]]'', in which Ethan (you) and a few other key characters are expected to have a "perfectly normal memory" immediately after any given alteration of the past, regardless of who changed the past, when it was, and how it was changed. (The inversion? [[New Game+|load your clear data]] and {{spoiler|follow the new options in the prologue. This leads to a [[Multiple Endings|Secret Ending]]}})

** Or, to be more specific, it averts/inverts the Selective Memory {{spoiler|caused by a second playthrough - Ethan will already know the plot of the game, since he's the player character, and as such ''he's played through it before.''}}

* In ''[[Infinite Undiscovery]]'', you start out with zero information about the area you're in. That's OK, maybe the protagonist isn't from around there... But he's never alone, there are always others in the party, locals from all the featured areas and well-traveled people. The game even gives you the ability to talk with your party members at any time, so why can't you just ask them for directions when you're lost? Didn't anyone ever think of drawing a map before the [[Player Character]] came along?

** At least this is consistent with the title.

[[Category:Fake Difficulty]]

[[Category:Memory Tropes]]