It's Up to You: Difference between revisions

* 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]]''. 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.

 

== Puzzle Game ==

* ''[[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.

 

== Role Playing Game ==

*** 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.}}

* 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.

* [[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.

 

== Wide Open Sandbox ==

** 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.

[[Category:Video Game Tropes]]

[[Category:Its Up To You]]