So Long and Thanks For All the Gear: Difference between revisions

== Action Adventure ==

 

 

== Adventure Game ==

== First Person Shooter ==

 

*** ...then be ready to hear about your failure to save him repeatedly over half of the remaining game. It doesn't matter if you devote your every action to protecting him; it doesn't even matter if you clear out the area while he safely hides in this little alcove so that there's no one left to kill him; [[Gameplay and Story Segregation|if a gun is not physically in his hand]], you're a heartless bastard.

* 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.

== Role Playing Game ==

 

** Luckily this is avoided completely by the important stuff: the Materia. Whenever a party member leaves, they hand over their Materia beforehand. Except for Yuffie's sidequest, where they're ''all taken away''.

*** And if you find hidden materia during said sidequest, Yuffie literally appears just to STEAL THAT TOO. And when it's done she randomly puts all the materia back in random slots on your characters instead of replacing it as you had it before. There's a reason more than a few people consider her a [[The Scrappy|Scrappy.]]

** The sequel, ''<nowiki>~Final Fantasy IV: The After Years~</nowiki>'' continues the tradition.

** On the other hand, when Kain comes back, he brings a brand-new set of very good equipment with him. Oh, and it's all free.

*** ''Final Fantasy IV'' loved this trope so much, it even used a variation of it with ''the main character''. When Cecil goes through his [[Class Change]], any Dark Knight gear equipped on him is lost. So much for selling it off to buy his expensive new Paladin equipment. Fortunately, the game doesn't go into autoplay until after you step off the boss-fight square, giving a player who knows what's coming the time to strip.

** The English version actually added several points to the game where you would be given the opportunity to switch your junctions around, so this wasn't usually a problem because you could anticipate that if the game wanted you to change your Junctions, you were going to have a split party coming up and could spread them out accordingly.

** It's also possible to set up ''six'' sets of abilities/GFs that still had all five major Junctions. The one caveat is that you can't do this before you visit Esthar, as it's the only place in the game where you can get Amnesia Greens.

** Oh, and don't forget to take back all the magic you gave to [[Guest Star Party Member|Edea]] unless you never want to see it again after Esthar.

** And even then, he comes with another set when he rejoins anyway for some reason.

** Better not give Shadow any rare equipment or Magicite until he joins for real in the World of Ruin.

* In ''[[Final Fantasy II (Video Game)|Final Fantasy II]]'' a whole stream of [[Guest Star Party Member|Guest Star Party Members]] are featured. In the GBA adaption, some of them are used in a bonus section after the main game, together with whatever equipment and magic they had when they left, making [[Wutai Theft]] actually ''useful'' for once.

** Though it made the last boss battle in the main storyline kind of a hassle, it was worth it to send the Blood Sword to the bonus section and kill off the Ultima Weapon to gain its [[Disc One Nuke|reward spell at a ridiculously low-level]].

** The [[Guest Star Party Member|Guest Star Party Members]] are an exception, however. You can remove Beatrix's armor when she fights alongside Steiner in Disk 3 (although there's no real reason, considering that you'll be able to buy it soon enough anyway), but when Marcus leaves the party after you escape from the Alexandria dungeon in Disk 2, his equipment is gone for good. This is particularly bad if he's got a Mythril Sword equipped, since you need that blade to be able to synthesize some of the very best armor in the game.

*** The Mythril Sword loss is only a problem if the player doesn't think to visit Esto Gaza before going to the Desert Palace.

** It's also possible to invert this with the 'invite' skill. You can recruit nearly '''anyone''' into your group, steal their gear, and dump them.

* ''[[Earthbound]]'' provides at least some acknowledgment of this. If one of your party members is kidnapped / goes on a [[Vision Quest]] / discovers True Love / returns to their home planet while holding a key item (such as the Pencil Eraser) then said item will be delivered to Ness's sister's item storage, so you aren't left locked out of certain areas. In some places, if you know a party member is about to leave, this can be useful to help save inventory space.

** {{spoiler|[[Badass Longcoat|King Mickey]] [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge|seemed to think]] they'd be crazy enough to do so.}}

* ''[[Star Wars]]: [[Knights of the Old Republic]]'' is rife with this.

** Party members who are [[Killed Off for Real]] either drop their gear to the ground, or to another members inventory to prevent this.

** If you try to avoid this in the final scene, [[The Dragon]] will notice (triggered when a defecting character is wearing less than 10000 GP's worth of gear), and he will call it clever but futile. [[The Dev Team Thinks of Everything|He also wonders if you knew they were going to betray you]].

** Amusingly, even if you see it coming and do so, the character is still equipped with a set of the best equipment legally accessible at that point regardless of whether or not you had actually bought and equipped those items beforehand.

** Ironically, the game ''tries'' to avert this a few times, when a character temporarily leaves the party and their equipment is added to your inventory. But the only times this happens, the character is away for such a short time it's mostly annoying having to put the equipment back on them afterwards.

*** Actually, there is one instance where this happens and is genuinely useful: {{spoiler|if you choose the storyline path where Zelos dies, you still get to keep his equipment. And that happens near the end of the game, so the stuff he was wearing is pretty nice.}}

* Averted in scenario 1 of ''[[Shining Force III]]''. Julian leaves the party part way through the game (in order to join the party going through scenario 2) and his equipment is actually ''cloned''. He takes one set with him, and the other set reappears in the item storage. However, when he leaves the scn 2 party to lead the one going through scn 3, he plays this trope pretty straight.

** When the party washes up on Tanetane, all of their items are washed away with the tide. If you defeat the Barrier Trio before getting your lost items back from Ocho, they are lost ''permanently''.

* When {{spoiler|Kalas}} leave the party in ''[[Baten Kaitos]]: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean'' he takes his entire deck with him. Annoying enough already, but given the game's [[In Universe Game Clock|aging]] system, all his perishable items will likely be gone by the time he comes back. In addition, if he has an aging item that evolves twice while he's gone, that's a hole in your magnus list that can't be filled.

** There is a true problem with this later in the game. Party members that leave temporarily keep all their gear ''and the items they are holding''. This is usually not a problem because you will gain the character and those items back, however the game has a [[Gotta Catch Em All]] [[MacGuffin]] system to advance the game and in the rare chance {{spoiler|Maribel}} holds onto a [[MacGuffin|shard]], well this is one of the few Game-Breaking Bugs that becomes an [[Unwinnable By Mistake]].

** At least it's explained in-game: Maya gambled it all away, Alena hired some mercenaries, Ragnar spent it wandering the world, and Torneko paid for the construction of a ship.

** Also any temporary NPCs who join your party have their own personal equipment that cannot be removed and will refuse to accept any item you put into their inventory.

* Averted in ''[[Persona 3]]'' with the full-moon incident on October 4th. After all is said and done, {{spoiler|all of Shinjiro's equipment can be found packed up in a box in his room... most likely because he knew he was going off to be [[Killed Off for Real]] that night}}.

* The ''[[Valkyrie Profile]]'' series is an odd turn in that it actually puts this under your control. You choose (with a couple exceptions in the second game) when to get rid of your guest party members, and thus have full control over what equipment they have at the time. The twist here is you get items in exchange for the characters, and you get better items for a well-equipped and high-level character than one you've stripped bare.

** On the other hand, since the party {{spoiler|permanently splits into two at one point, you can end up with your good items on the party that doesn't need them.}}

* Some ''Ultima'' games avert this by having the character spontaneously drop everything, including clothes. Humorously, in ''Serpent Isle'' you pick up Selena, who is very transparently working for the bad guys and tries to lead you into a very ineffective and badly planned deathtrap. When the mercs she hired show up, she makes a remark about going back to the inn (she's not going to be there, though) and then literally teleports out of her clothes. One wonders what she thought she'd accomplish.

* ''[[Arcanum]]'': When Virgil runs off to deal with his subplot, he takes his inventory with him. According to this [http://lparchive.org/LetsPlay/Arcanum/chapter54.html Let's Play], this can create plot difficulties when his equipment is too good!

** In addition, if you fail to reveal the villains' true plan to {{spoiler|Gideon when you meet him in Tsen'Ang, Vollinger, if he's with you}} will challenge you to a duel and leave the party. When you show up at his place, your opponent will have standard equipment rather than what you gave him before the betrayal; that stuff is, of course, [[Lost Forever]].

* Averted in the obscure Super Nintendo game ''Arcana''. Every time someone joins or rejoins the party, they have no equipment at all, and you have to buy new gear for them. On the other hand, every time they leave their equipment is automatically removed and left in your inventory, which you can then keep or sell as needed.

* In ''[[Lufia]] 2'', when {{spoiler|Tia, Dekar and Lexis}} leave your party, never to return, whatever they had on them is lost. Particularly annoying since, if you've never played the game before, the point at which they leave and never come back can be difficult to anticipate.

*** Which is morbid when you think about it, as {{spoiler|Tia and Lexis}} leave of their own accord, but {{spoiler|Dekar}} is ''killed''. {{spoiler|[[Unexplained Recovery|It doesn't stick, though]].}}

* In ''[[Fallout 3]]'', there are numerous temporary companions you can have on your journey. On occasion, they can be equipped with weapons, and a few can be treated outright like party members and equipped with both weapons and armor. For example, Red from Big Town, who you have to rescue from Super Mutants. The second these people have reach their destination, THE DIALOG OPTION TO TRADE ITEMS VANISHES. Then they'll just be walking around with the gear you gave them, totally unwilling to give it back. You can't even steal it without giving them better gear. The only solution is murder, which tarnishes your karma. Fortunately, it also works in reverse on occasion: Fawkes carries one of the most powerful melee weapons in the game in his inventory when you first meet him, and most players will take it (he'll equip a replacement).

** If you keep [[Emo Teen|Aerie]] and [[Jerkass|Korgan]] in the party together for too long Aerie will eventually get fed up with the dwarf, storm off and vanish from the game with all your stuff.

** It's also possible to drive off Jaheira, though you have to mock her husband's death so you really have only yourself to blame.

* Both played straight and averted in ''[[Mass Effect]]''. {{spoiler|Killing Wrex}} will give you all his equipment as if it just dropped. However, any items equipped on {{spoiler|Ashley or Kaidan}} are [[Lost Forever]]. Which is kinda [[Justified Trope]], what with {{spoiler|the nuclear bomb}} and all. The weird thing is, though, that the cutscene which depicts {{spoiler|their deaths}} puts them in their starting armor, but you still lose the one you had actually equipped them with, even though they apparently weren't wearing it.

** You do get {{spoiler|Ashley/Kaidan's}} weapons and armor back on a [[New Game+]].

* In ''[[Suikoden III]]'' when you return to Karaya, {{spoiler|Lulu is accidentally killed by Lady Chris}}, and you lose every piece of equipment that he had on him.

** {{spoiler|Losing some low-powered items was worth it to get rid of Lulu.}}

* Rather realistically inverted in the ''[[Siege of Avalon]]'' anthology, where most party members have at least some equipment that cannot be unequipped, but can be taken from them if they die. (Naturally, you don't want the new kid taking the armor that's served you well for months of siege, even if he is the war hero's younger brother.) Unfortunately, it's mostly just standard mid-level armor with a distinct coloration (rare, but not unique) or even non-unique, non-enchanted, basic clothing, and it also means that you can't upgrade their armor at any point. And you'll want to. However, all but one of them will only die (permanently; every death [[Killed Off for Real|is real]]) if you're badly outnumbered and you don't or can't heal them in time to save them, or get a magician in your party and set him to do it for you.

* Played obnoxiously straight in the ''[[Gold Box]]'' series of ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]] CRPGs''. [[NPC|NPCs]] who left the party would lose any equipment, weapons, armour, gold and even experience that they'd gained while with the party. Particularly notable in ''Dark Queen of Krynn'' where several [[NPC|NPCs]] would leave and rejoin the party at several stages, each time resetting to the same default stats and gear they started with.

* When someone dies in Interplay's ''Lord of the Rings'', you are instantly given the task of transferring inventory to another party member. If your inventory is already full, that stuff is gone. If the One Ring is gone, you're screwed, and the game ends.

* Averted in ''[[Eien no Filena]]''; when a character leaves your party, their equipment is dumped into your inventory. Curiously, this happens even when they leave involuntarily, such as when a party member ''falls off a bridge''.

** A very noticeable one happens in the second game, where Piers temporarily leaves your party to go to the cemetery. While he's gone, you don't fight any enemies, but there's one point where you need a special item to make a tightrope up to the top of a building. If Piers has the item, the man in the building lowers the rope, which is the ''only'' time in the game where the sprite for lowering a rope is used.

*** Not that there's any reason to give her much. She comes equipped with the best vendors have to offer at that point, and she can't use anyone else's weapons. Her stats are good enough that it might actually be in your best interest to take ''her'' stuff and give it to weaker party members before she leaves.

* 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.

* ''[[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]]'' 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.

** Unless you use a tavern card. This item can be used at any point of the game and lets you rehire any mercenary. And the chick you bought equipment for will be with it and join you for free (when all other mercenaries cost the exact same amount of money they did the first time).

* ''[[Albion]]'' is nice enough to give you a chance to take equipment from the one character who leaves for plotline reasons. However, this is played straight if you neglect to take equipment off character who you fire to make more room in your party.

** However, when {{spoiler|your [[Battle Butler]]}} dies, the death is conveniently in such a way, that ALL THE EQUIPMENT IS THERE! Right up there with [[Hyperspace Arsenal|"throwing equipment through a portal"]] on convenience. Still a [[Player Punch]], though.

* Toyed with in ''[[Arc Rise Fantasia]]''.

* Krobelus in ''[[Summoner]] 2''. Luckily he's not allowed any armour in the first place, but he has other equipment. Make sure you have a wooden staff in the inventory that you can replace his rod with, because you aren't allowed to just take his weapon.

* Can be done in ''[[Pokémon]]'' games, although it generally has to be on purpose; by releasing a Pokémon holding an item. However, accidents are possible if, say, you actually raised that Shuckle in GSC and gave it a held item before returning it. Or traded that Spearow you were raising in FRLG for Farfetch'd on an impulse trade. Still not very likely, as useful items like the Master Ball or one-of-a-kind TMs have no reason to be given to your Pokémon in the first place, unless you're abusing the Pokémon/item duplication [[Good Bad Bugs|glitch]], in which case this is a moot point. Alternately, though, people do sometimes trade items like Master Balls to friends by giving them to mons to hold during trade, and you can be screwed if you forget to remove said item before trading the mon yourself or trade it by mistake.

* ''[[Grandia]]'':

* Subverted and averted in [[Arcana]]. When they first join you, your party members have ''no equipment at all'' and you'll need to buy their weapons and armor. This can be a hassle if the character joins in the middle of a dungeon, which means you'll need to go back to town. On the other hand, when your party members leave, all their equipment is automatically removed and left in your inventory, so you can sell or use it as desired.

* This looks like it will be used as a gameplay mechanic in [[Mass Effect 3]]. Max out a character in multiplayer and Shepard will recruit them to fight against the Reapers. They'll be added as war assets and will somehow help in achieving the best ending.

* At the end of [[Beyond Divinity]], the Death Knight who has been your unwilling companion through the whole game turns out to be Damien himself and fights you. If he's got all of your good stuff, he can be nearly impossible to beat. If you remove all of his stuff just before the final boss fight right before the big reveal and manage to keep him alive, he's incredibly easy to beat.

== Survival Horror ==

 

** [[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|Guest Star Party Members]] 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.

* ''[[Resident Evil Outbreak]]'' would give you AI partners if you were playing alone, who were notorious for occasionally taking extremely valuable items or ammo and running off to die. You could take the items off the bodies, but generally the same monsters which killed them would kill you.

* The [[Warhammer 40000]] turn-based game ''Chaos Gate'' has this on one level. Enemies will teleport in, grab a random team member and then whisk him away, [[Lost Forever|never to be seen again]]. Hope you didn't have any rare/unique wargear on him

* The ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' series tends to do this, especially with storyline deaths. A very early one occurs in ''[[Super Robot Wars 3]]'' where [[Zeta Gundam|Reccoa]] disappears to go spy on the bad guys and takes the Mobile Suit you put her in with you. Here's hoping you shoved her into a mook unit before hand and not one of your special Gundams.

 

== MMORPG ==

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

 

{{reflist}}