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So Long and Thanks For All the Gear: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|'''Tycho''': So , at the end of [[Dragon Age]], I pissed off {{spoiler|Alistair}} somehow and he left. In my '''Warden Commander''' armor from the DLC.
'''Gabe''': Wasn't that like, seven dollars?
'''Tycho''': I know! He fucking robbed me! As I watched him walk away, all I could think was "Please, {{spoiler|Alistair}}. Leave the armor."
|[[Penny Arcade (Webcomic)|Penny Arcade]], [http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/12/02 December 2, 2009]}}
In [[Video Games]], this is the annoying effect of having potentially great equipment stolen from you because the character wearing them is rendered inaccessible for some part of the game. If and when they come back, their equipment may already have fallen victim to the [[Sorting Algorithm of Weapon Effectiveness]]. Or they may have found new, better equipment and ditched what they had before, in which case you better hope they didn't have anything unique on them that you might need later. Kinder games will dump this swag back into your inventory.
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Especially a risk with [[Guest Star Party Member]]s who then [[Lost Forever|leave for good]]. A common tactic on a second playthrough, [[New Game+]], or just after you've looked through a [[Strategy Guide]], is to remove all the neat swag of a [[Guest Star Party Member]] just before they leave the party/are [[Killed Off for Real]]. However, many games have an annoying habit of having the theft occur after a difficult [[Boss Battle]] but prior to being allowed to save, so stripping the [[Required Party Member]] puts you at a disadvantage in the fight. May induce [[Narm]] if they leave in a climactic cutscene and end up fighting in their underwear and with bare hands.
Some Meta-Humor is often used here; if you the player know the character is leaving, you'll unequip everything from them. Since "you" the character couldn't
{{Unmarked Spoilers}}
{{examples}}
==
* A rare
=== Action Adventure ===▼
* This can happen in most role playing games. Whether you're buying the NPC decker some new gear to help you in [[Shadowrun]], giving a magical sword to a companion in [[Dungeons & Dragons]], or working your money and black market ties to get your trusty ghoul bodyguard an SMG and some shooting classes in [[Vampire: The Masquerade]], there's a chance that character will leave the game. They may die with the gear beyond salvage, be bought out or turned by your enemies, become a [[Damsel in Distress]], have been [[The Mole]] all along, or just decide they've had it with you being a [[Jerkass]] (as so many players are.) When that NPC was entrusted with essential equipment, this can become a great complication for a fun night of gaming (either saving the NPC, winning them back, or at least getting back the goods) or a reason to grumble at the player who angered the party's allies until they just stormed off.▼
== [[Video Games]] ==
▲=== Action Adventure ===
* ''[[Beyond Good & Evil (video game)|Beyond Good and Evil]]'' has PA-1's, [[Heart Container|heart containers]] you can swap between yourself and your partners. {{spoiler|When Pey'j is kidnapped}}, he takes all of his PA-1's with him, though he has a chance of dropping one... and only one. The rest vanish into the ether, leaving you vulnerable and short in the [[Life Meter]] department. You'll get it back only near the end of the game, and might as well hoard them for yourself since they won't be around for too long.
=== Adventure Game ===
* This happens a lot in ''[[Maniac Mansion]]''. If a character dies with something important in their pocket, you may not be able to get the item again (this happened in the NES version). If they die with something super important, like the old rusty key, and nobody else can access it, someone is going to sit in the dungeon forever.
** On the other hand, some versions place a package on the kid's grave that contains all the items they were hauling around. Considering the lengths you have to go to in order to get the kids killed, it's not nearly as much a problem as it sounds even in versions without packages.
=== First
* ''[[Deus Ex]]'' gently pulls this stunt a couple times; twice, JC will be asked in dialogue to hand the best sidearm he's holding to an [[Non-Player Character|NPC]] in order to trigger marginally improved plot outcomes. These [[Non-Player Character|NPCs]] will have no interest in returning said weapons when they're done with them; this is made worse by the fact that most players will have used rare upgrades on these guns. Fortunately, this can be averted while achieving these plotlines' "good" endings by dropping the "good" weapons on the ground and grabbing an unmodified gun for the [[Non-Player Character|NPCs]] from the level.
** In ''[[Deus Ex: Human Revolution|Deus Ex Human Revolution]]'', you have the option to hand {{spoiler|van Bruggen}} one of your weapons to allow him to escape a Belltower ambush unscathed (he'll die if you don't). It doesn't have to be your ''best'' weapon, just any in your inventory, but if the only weapons you have are customised and upgraded...
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* Both ''[[Left 4 Dead]]'' games have this if a player in an online game leaves. Survivor AI cannot use defibrillators or any bomb type items, but if a player who has the said items leaves the game, their bot will carry the items but cannot use them. Since the game does not allow dropping items or giving items to other players outside of pills/shots, you won't be able to take a bot's stuck items unless they get killed, where the items will then fall loose for anyone to pick up.
=== Hack
* In ''[[Dynasty Warriors]] 6: Empires'', you can spend a big chunk of in-game money and resources upgrading one of your officer's weapons, only to have them defect during a battle. Lu Bu is particularly prone to this (although the real Lu Bu did have [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder]], so it has to be expected).
===
* Can happen in ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' or any other MMORPG which uses guild vaults. Griefers will get themselves invited to a guild, convince their new guildmates to allow them to grab some gear out of the vault, and then leave the guild with their newfound stuff. Fortunately this activity is usually against the game's EULA and [[GMs]] can often help you recover your goods.▼
* The above kind of behavior is NOT against the rules in [[EVE Online]], and is a particularly infamous and widespread profession, making vetting new members and restricting access a lot more of a big deal. If your corporation gets swindled out of your items, tough luck, you should have been more careful about placing your trust in people. Your only option is to swear revenge.▼
=== Real-Time Strategy ===
* Averted in ''[[Warcraft III]]'', where the various hero characters could carry and use items, and would keep them between missions. If, at any point, a hero left, all their items would be on the ground at the start of the next mission. The only exceptions were at the end of each campaign (obviously): if the items weren't there, that character was coming back.
** The only exception is if the Hero you can't use anymore was on a separate journey than the main hero of the campaign. For example, Grom Hellscream during his two missions in the Orc Campaign, Illidan during his own single mission in the Night Elf Campaign and any of Sylvanas' missions during the Frozen Throne Undead campaign. Anything they or any other heroes they met had is [[Lost Forever]]. There is a minor exception though, since {{spoiler|Illidan}} is a usable hero for both the Night Elf and Alliance campaigns in Frozen Throne, he retains any gear he had between campaigns.
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** Potentially inverted in ''Chaos Rising'', when {{spoiler|the traitor in your ranks (assuming he wasn't Martellus) politely drops all the armor, weapons, and gear of yours that he was carrying.}} Unfortunately, though you may get all the items back, instead you lose {{spoiler|the only character who could have used the items with any kind of proficiency (e.g. Avitus' heavy weapons, Cyrus' bombs)}}.
=== Role
* In ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' (the former [[Trope Namer]]) Aerith's [[It Was His Sled|sudden death]] makes you lose all her equipment. Thank God the creators weren't cruel enough to take away all her materia, too... The fact that her equipment is not returned is especially irritating because there is a unique piece of armour (the Edincoat) in the dungeon just before you lose her that you will quite likely equip on her, since she is a [[White Magician Girl]] who is, for that dungeon, a [[Required Party Member]]. Luckily the weapon situation is no problem at all because Aerith is the only one that can equip Staffs in the first place.
** At various points in the game, Cloud, Tifa, and Yuffie are all temporarily [[Put on a Bus]] and you lose their equipment as well, but you get their stuff back when they rejoin the group.
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* Happens ''constantly'' in ''[[Phantasy Star IV]]'', because only the four main characters stay in the party the whole game; all the others join temporarily, and then return for the final battle when you have to pick one, except Alys {{spoiler|who dies}}. Hahn, Alys, Rune, and Raja can be un-equipped before they leave the party, and you can sell their stuff to help pay for better armor and weapons later on, but if you want to do that with Gryz, Demi, or Kyra, you have to be gutsy enough to go through a boss battle with them naked because they leave in the cutscenes following the victory.
* ''[[SaGa Frontier 2]]'' averts this by allowing you to access the inventories of characters not in your current party, and you can even equip techniques that they've learned. (This is, in fact, how you can pick up a technique that would otherwise be [[Lost Forever]].)
* ''[[Dragon Age]]'' is pretty obvious with which party members will stay with you and which won't (hint: look for an approval bar), so it's easy to tell when you should strip your [[Guest Star Party Member|buddies]] in the pre-initiation mission. It's just [[Vendor Trash]], but hey. As a bonus, the usually dramatic initiation cutscene gets an [[Naked People Are Funny|added dose of hilarity]]. However, even the "permanent" party members will leave if you cross their personal [[Moral Event Horizon]]—though if they decide to attack you first, you can then kill them and take your stuff back. Thanks to the game having equippable [[Game Breaker]] rewards from purchased [[Downloadable Content]], it's entirely possible for them to walk off with equipment you paid ''real life money'' for. Granted, you could get the armor in a new game, as the DLC quests stay once you've bought them, but it still feels like the game literally robbing you blind. ''[[Penny Arcade (Webcomic)|Penny Arcade]]'' makes note of it [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/12/2/ in this strip].
** It's averted with the guys in the pre-initiation mission. Their stuff automatically goes into your inventory after the inevitable occurs. It is played annoyingly straight with the random guys you get in the Tower of Ishal.
*** [https://web.archive.org/web/20140124080209/http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/comics/stolen-pixels/6831-Stolen-Pixels-147-Naked-Greed This "Stolen Pixels" strip] illustrates the reaction of [[Genre Savvy]] players.
*** On the bright side, regarding the Tower of Ishal guys, if you just leave them in default gear you don't actually ''lose'' anything, and if you strip them you can get some bonus vendor trash as well as one of the only robes that'll be available for a while- normally trash too, but potentially useful if you're playing as a mage ''and'' plan to use Morrigan in your party early.
* ''[[Paladin's Quest]]'' can have this happen, but the worst example is the mercenary who will only join you when you buy her her full equipment set. Of course, if she leaves, you don't get the items back.
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* Toyed with and reversed somewhat in ''X2: The Threat''. During one early mission you are loaned a personnel transport ship armed with some decent equipment—including some expensive shields. After the mission is finished you are given an old cargo transport, but its hull integrity will be greatly reduced if you decided to sell off the shields in the other ship for personnel gain.
=== Stealth
* Happens about two
▲* Happens about two thirds of the way through ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 3'', wherein Snake recovers all of his equipment after a [[No-Gear Level]] sequence, except for all of his previously captured animals and collected food (including the pricelessly valuable Tsuchinoko, if you were lucky enough to find it - fortunately you can catch it again just after getting your gear back). Humorously, you can call EVA about this, and she will confess that she rifled through your pack for instant noodles, but the rest of Snake's pack was emptied by Ocelot because "[[Ho Yay|he wanted to eat the same things Snake did]]".
=== Survival Horror ===
* ''[[The Thing (video game)|The Thing]]'' does this practically every level. This game isn't an RPG but is filled with [[Guest Star Party Member]]s. It's a [[Survival Horror]] game, so ammunition and weaponry are limited. Your party members seem to desert you after each load screen for a new level and take the weapons with them. They apparently think that they have a better chance without the guy who gave them their guns.
** [[Fridge Brilliance]] here: ''Anyone'' could be The Thing, and if it turns out to be 'the guy who gave them their guns', the giving of the guns could be some sort of elaborate setup. ''The Player'' knows this isn't true, but the [[Guest Star Party Member]]s don't and would therefore feel that they'd be safer away from him... and by extension away from each other as well. Paranoia does weird things to people.
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*** Players may be severely hampered later on if they equipped Claire with the more powerful weapons like the grenade launcher for the battle with Nosferatu. Which you're [[Sniping Mission|supposed to use the sniper rifle for]].
=== Turn
* ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]'' subverts this; [[Guest Star Party Member]]s leave their equipment. Due to a [[Good Bad Bug]], you can even take advantage of this fact when {{spoiler|Gafgarion}} pulls a [[Face Heel Turn]]; steal {{spoiler|his}} equipment, and you'll get the stolen copy PLUS the copy he leaves behind for leaving your team! Too bad if a character meets [[Final Death]], though...
* Subverted in ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics A2]]''. {{spoiler|When Adelle leaves the clan, she doesn't take with her any of the items you had equipped to her. Eventually she re-joins the clan, so it doesn't matter anyway.}}
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** A stupid one happens in ''[[Super Robot Wars Alpha]] 3'' - if you chose to start with Touya's route, you get to play out the beginning of the second half of ''[[GaoGaiGar]]''. Sadly, because of this, when [[GaoGaiGar]] gets wrecked, it (and Guy) go through a [[Ten-Minute Retirement]] and all of [[GaoGaiGar]]'s upgrades are rendered moot.
▲* Can happen in ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' or any other MMORPG which uses guild vaults. Griefers will get themselves invited to a guild, convince their new guildmates to allow them to grab some gear out of the vault, and then leave the guild with their newfound stuff. Fortunately this activity is usually against the game's EULA and [[GMs]] can often help you recover your goods.
▲* The above kind of behavior is NOT against the rules in [[EVE Online]], and is a particularly infamous and widespread profession, making vetting new members and restricting access a lot more of a big deal. If your corporation gets swindled out of your items, tough luck, you should have been more careful about placing your trust in people. Your only option is to swear revenge.
▲* A rare '''non''' video game example, this is [[Lampshaded]] in a side omake by Natsuki Takaya in a ''[[Fruits Basket]]'' volume.
▲=== [[Tabletop Games]] ===
▲* This can happen in most role playing games. Whether you're buying the NPC decker some new gear to help you in [[Shadowrun]], giving a magical sword to a companion in [[Dungeons & Dragons]], or working your money and black market ties to get your trusty ghoul bodyguard an SMG and some shooting classes in [[Vampire: The Masquerade]], there's a chance that character will leave the game. They may die with the gear beyond salvage, be bought out or turned by your enemies, become a [[Damsel in Distress]], have been [[The Mole]] all along, or just decide they've had it with you being a [[Jerkass]] (as so many players are.) When that NPC was entrusted with essential equipment, this can become a great complication for a fun night of gaming (either saving the NPC, winning them back, or at least getting back the goods) or a reason to grumble at the player who angered the party's allies until they just stormed off.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Player Party]]
[[Category:Video Game Items and Inventory]]
[[Category:CRPG Tropes]]
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