History Main / CharacterSelectForcing

* Whether or not you lose team members during the ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'''s [[SuicideMission invasion of the Collector's base]] is determined by which characters' loyalty you have earned, what upgrades you purchase for your CoolShip, and by whom you pick to fill what role. Assuming people are loyal, pick the wrong person to escort the hostages back to the ship, or to crawl through the conduit, or to shield you from the bugs, and you'll lose people. Make the right choices, and you'll almost certainly get everyone through alive. Alleviated by the fact that the selections make sense, and even the character description blurbs given on the screen do hint reasonably well at what choices should make more sense, such as [[spoiler:Tali the tech genius for the conduit crawl and Garrus leading a commando team]].

** ''Stupidly'' bad back in Vanilla, where you ''had'' to have a Warrior Tank, Druids and Priests healed, Paladins were brought along to keep up their 5-minute {{Status Buff}}s on 40-man parties, a Druid to hide invisible off somewhere then revive anyone that went down, Mages to provide healers with mana-recharging food, exactly three Warlocks to keep up their debuffing curses, and a variety of "Burst" and "Sustained" Damage dealers.

* In ''Videogame/DeepRockGalactic'', the On-Site Refining missions are tremendously easier with a Driller on the team. The Driller's most important ability is that he can [[DungeonBypass drill through pretty much any terrain in seconds]]. The On-Site Refining mission involves laying pipes from a refinery to Liquid Morkite spouts scattered throughout the map, and it is vastly easier to lay down these pipes with the Driller cutting through the intervening terrain. The mission can still be done without a Driller, but it is so much quicker and easier with one on the team. Other mission types do occasionally favor one class over the others (like Point Extraction favoring the Scout's quick movement or Salvage Operations being easier with the Gunner and Engineer's entrenchment capabilities), but On-Site Refining is the most prominent example.

** ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' and [[VideoGameRemake the remakes]] have Brock and Misty as the first two Gym Leaders. Both are resistant to Fire-types, making defeating them potentially quite difficult if you picked Charmander as your starter (Brock is also completely immune to Pikachu in ''Yellow Version''), though Brock is at least tolerable because both his Pokemon have low Special (Defense), meaning Ember will hurt them a lot either way. In contrast, Squirtle and Bulbasaur are both double-effective against Brock's Rock/Ground Pokemon and resistant to Misty's Water-types. {{Downplayed|Trope}} in that Brock's Pokemon thankfully [[AntiFrustrationFeatures lack any actual Rock- or Ground-type moves in the originals]] [[note]]the remakes give his Onix Rock Tomb or Rock Throw instead of Bide[[/note]], and you may have other options besides simply level-grinding and brute-forcing it: ''Yellow'' and the remakes make Mankey available on Route 22, fix a typo in Nidoran's moveset that kept them from learning the Fighting-Type move Double Kick until Level 43 (supposed to have been Level 12), and made Butterfree learn Confusion at Level 10 (right when it evolved from Metapod). You can catch a Pikachu to deal with Misty in Viridian Forest. While Brock's Pokémon are still immune to Pikachu and resistant to Eevee in ''VideoGame/PokemonLetsGoPikachuAndLetsGoEevee'', you can now catch Oddish or Weepinbell on Route 1, which will cut through his team like butter--and you'll need to, since the gym guide won't let you in without showing him one.

* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfZestiria'', even after (and almost all the time) you chose your favorite Seraphims (e.g. Lailah and Edna), to ensure the game's cutscenes will flow smoothly, the game will change the Seraphims to Mikleo or Dezel/Zaveid to the point that it can be frustrating or annoying or both. [[spoiler: At one point Dezel even gets annoyed at Sorey for not having him on the battlefield during one important moment, usually forcing the player to comply]].

** ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'': Happens on a regular basis in Adventure Mode. You will always be forced to play as a select group of characters and only when you reached the Great Maze can you choose anyone that you want to play as, and even then you're only limited to [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Luigi, Bowser]], [[VideoGame/{{Kirby}} Kirby, King Dedede]], and [[VideoGame/EarthBound1994 Ness]] if you haven't bothered to collect the others' trophies, Franchise/{{Sonic|TheHedgehog}} [[EleventhHourRanger won't show up until the final boss]], and [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Jigglypuff]], [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker Toon Link]], and [[VideoGame/StarFox Wolf]] aren't available until the game is cleared.

* In ''[[VideoGame/TalesOfZestiria]]'', even after (and almost all the time) you chose your favorite Seraphims (e.g. Lailah and Edna), to ensure the game's cutscenes will flow smoothly, the game will change the Seraphims to Mikleo or Dezel/Zaveid to the point that it can be frustrating or annoying or both. [[spoiler: At one point Dezel even gets annoyed at Sorey for not having him on the battlefield during one important moment, usually forcing the player to comply]].

** ''VideoGame/{{Sonic Rush|Series}} Adventure'':

** ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'': Happens on a regular basis in Adventure Mode. You will always be forced to play as a select group of characters and only when you reached the Great Maze can you choose anyone that you want to play as, and even then you're only limited to [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Luigi, Bowser]], [[VideoGame/{{Kirby}} Kirby, King Dedede]], and [[VideoGame/EarthBound1994 Ness]] if you haven't bothered to collect the others' trophies, VideoGame/{{Sonic|TheHedgehog}} [[EleventhHourRanger won't show up until the final boss]], and [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Jigglypuff]], [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker Toon Link]], and [[VideoGame/StarFox Wolf]] aren't available until the game is cleared.

** ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' and [[VideoGameRemake the remakes]] have Brock and Misty as the first two Gym Leaders. Both are resistant to Fire-types, making defeating them potentially quite difficult if you picked Charmander as your starter (Brock is also completely immune to Pikachu in ''Yellow Version''), though Brock is at least tolerable because both his Pokemon have low Special (Defense), meaning Ember will hurt them a lot either way. In contrast, Squirtle and Bulbasaur are both double-effective against Brock's Rock/Ground Pokemon and resistant to Misty's Water-types. {{Downplayed|Trope}} in that Brock's Pokemon thankfully [[AntiFrustrationFeatures lack any actual Rock- or Ground-type moves in the originals]] [[note]]the remakes give his Onix Rock Tomb or Rock Throw instead of Bide[[/note]], and you may have other options besides simply level-grinding and brute-forcing it: ''Yellow'' and the remakes make Mankey available on Route 22, fix a typo in Nidoran's moveset that kept them from learning the Fighting-Type move Double Kick until Level 43 (supposed to have been Level 12), and made Butterfree learn Confusion at Level 10 (right when it evolved from Metapod). You can catch a Pikachu to deal with Misty in Viridian Forest.

* ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'': ''Octo Expansion'': "Girl Power Station" gives you the choice of using any of the game's primary weapons to defend an orb from several waves of Octolings. However, the mission becomes ''massively'' more difficult if you choose anything but the roller (which is capable of one-shotting the Octolings) or the Inkbrush (which allows for faster movement speed).

* Happens on a regular basis in Adventure Mode for ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl''. You will always be forced to play as a select group of characters and only when you reached the Great Maze can you choose anyone that you want to play as, and even then you're only limited to [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Luigi, Bowser]], [[VideoGame/{{Kirby}} Kirby, King Dedede]], and [[VideoGame/EarthBound1994 Ness]] if you haven't bothered to collect the others' trophies, VideoGame/{{Sonic|TheHedgehog}} [[EleventhHourRanger won't show up until the final boss]], and [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Jigglypuff]], [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker Toon Link]], and [[VideoGame/StarFox Wolf]] aren't available until the game is cleared.
* Want to play through the ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' series with your favorite partner? Too bad, you're going to need to switch out every 60 seconds to solve puzzles, sometimes even on the ''overworld'' (and warping via Warp Pipe doesn't bypass them). There's also plenty of Spiked and Flaming enemies that are protected from aerial attacks like Goombario and Goombella's Headbonk, as well as Flying enemies that Kooper and Koops can't reach.

** With ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'' there may be 4 heroes, but Mario will likely be the one you'll use the vast majority of the time, given that his flip ability to go from 2D to 3D is required to solve the vast majority of the puzzles and find the most secrets in the game, with the other 3 having a handful they are specifically required for. This also true of the Pixls; aside from Tippi, Thoreau will probably be your most used Pixi for puzzles and general exposition, as his ability to allow the player to pick up and throw things is much more useful for solving puzzles and fighting enemies than the rest of the Pixls, which you'll only use on rare occasions with a few only once or twice in the entire game, typically right after you find them.

* Happens on a regular basis in Adventure Mode for ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl''. You will always be forced to play as a select group of characters and only when you reached the Great Maze can you choose anyone that you want to play as, and even then you're only limited to [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Luigi, Bowser]], [[VideoGame/{{Kirby}} Kirby, King Dedede]], and [[VideoGame/EarthBound Ness]] if you haven't bothered to collect the others' trophies, VideoGame/{{Sonic|TheHedgehog}} [[EleventhHourRanger won't show up until the final boss]], and [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Jigglypuff]], [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker Toon Link]], and [[VideoGame/StarFox Wolf]] aren't available until the game is cleared.

** In the first battle against Drake in ''Advance Wars 1'', if you selected Max or Sami as your commander and lose, Nell will outright ask you, "how about using Andy next time?". Drake's Super CO power damages all enemy units, while Andy's heals all allied units; it only makes sense. Of course, you need to complete the next few missions with only Sami in order to unlock a BonusBoss.

* ''VideoGame/ShadowHeartsCovenant'' and ''From The New World'' basically force you to take Anastasia and Johnny, respectively, because they're the only ones with the EnemyScan move. It's not vital in ''Covenant'', but you lose an entire game-wide subquest if you neglect to take Johnny anywhere in the latter game.

%%* The SNES game based on ''WesternAnimation/KingArthurAndTheKnightsOfJustice'' was infamous for this.

** That said, even your choice of character at the beginning of ''VideoGame/MegaManX5'' matters a lot. Choosing X means you lose Zero's arm cannon, which is annoying but of little consequence, while choosing Zero means ''you lose X's Fourth/Force Armor''. [[GuideDangIt Obviously nobody tells you about this little consequence]]. Since the game was effectively built with the armor in mind, as stages practically require air dashes and enemies do ludicrous damage and knock-back without it, choosing Zero in the beginning permanently cripples X and renders him effectively worthless until you manage to scrounge together the Falcon Armor or if you know about the hidden Ultimate Armor (both of which you can't get until later in the game). By then of course you've probably built up Zero to the point that you wouldn't want to go back and use X anyways, as discussed prior. To make matters worse, it's possible to lose Zero for good and whether or not you do ''[[LuckBasedMission is largely determined by luck]]''. There's a reason the [[https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/3711/ game mod]] that lets you keep both character's abilities (along with sharing bonuses and disabling all of Alia's hints) has been downloaded over three thousand times.

** The first had this in ''spades''; the usefulness of your allies varied ''widely'', with different ranges and 'wait times'. To make matters worse, certain dungeon floors would switch you to one of your allies ''without warning'' and force you to use them. Woe befall any player who couldn't adapt to the MightyGlacier's awkward attacks after breezing through with the ranged characters...
** In the second game, Red and Blue Seal floors would force you to use either Max or Monica exclusively, unless you used a special, consumable, ''expensive'' "unlock" item to let you use both like usual. The thing is, Max was generally overpowered because of his guns and his Ridepod MiniMecha, so Blue Seal floors were just like any other to him; Monica was typically handicapped by Red Seal floors because these were almost always populated by Ridepod-class enemies against which swords and magic were almost useless.

* In ''VideoGame/LegendOfMana'', going up against a certain dog-like boss on high difficulty with a glove class weapon was tantamount to suicide. Unfortunately, you won't know this until you're already in the fight and get hurt every time you punch him.

* An even older [=MMORPG=], ''VideoGame/EverQuest'', suffered an even greater version of this during its first several years. The game had a total of three classes capable of acting as healer in a group: druids, clerics, and shamans. Clerics, however, got considerably stronger spells, and were the only class that had the Complete Healing spell, a heal that had a long (10 seconds) casting time, but restored anyone it hit to full health. Because of this, raid encounters were essentially ''impossible'' without having a cleric, as the game's developers actually designed encounters specifically around guilds having access to multiple clerics that could set up a rotation for Complete Healing using overlapping cast times (which came to be known as a "CH Rotation"). Likewise, for the longest time, the only way to tank raid bosses was to have a Warrior use their "Defensive" discipline, which reduces incoming melee damage by 33%. Again, due to developers specifically engineering raid encounters around this ability, warriors were required to tank raid bosses for much of the game. As a result, any serious raid basically ''required'' at least one warrior, and at least two or more clerics. Period.

* In various mech piloting simulators, even if you had a large variety of units to choose from, you often end up piloting the game's MightyGlacier or LightningBruiser by the end just to hold off the sheer number of enemies that are thrown at you. ''VideoGame/MechWarrior'' is notorious for this, in that most of those games start you in a FragileSpeedster light 'Mech, and by the end you're practically expected to take a full blown Assault 'Mech into battle, even if you style is more dogfighting than brawling. Sure, you ''could'' take your ''Commando'' to try and rescue the capital from a dozen heavy 'Mechs, but expect to reload your saved games a lot.

* The first ''TabletopGame/HeavyGear'' averted this by allowing the player to change up what [[MiniMecha Gear]] they piloted from mission to mission as requirements demanded. Some Gears would do better or worse than others in certain missions--good luck doing that scouting mission in a Mammoth--but all were viable as the player was allowed to choose at the start of each mission. The sequel was not nearly so forgiving--it gave players a choice of several 'Dark' Gears at the beginning, but locked them into that choice for the rest of the campaign. Choosing anything other than one of the three JackOfAllStats was a recipe for trouble. The Dark Cheetah was fast and sneaky but couldn't carry much in the way of weaponry or armor and therefore ended up getting killed by tanks a lot, while the Dark Kodiak and Dark Cobra had ammo and armor for days and at least five different weapons each, but had only a snowball's chance in hell of completing the pursuit or space missions. This meant that you ultimately had to pick the Dark Warrior, Dark Jaguar, or Dark Mamba to stand a chance of completing the campaign mode without pulling your hair out at some point.

* One of the most divisive rule changes to ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'' was the set of rules that accompanied the introduction of Link Monsters. Anything coming from the Extra Deck now entered the Extra Monster Zone, of which there is only one per player. This put a ''heavy'' damper on most Decks of the time as the metagame was focused on summoning many Extra Deck monsters. However, if a player controlled Link monsters that point to their own Main Monster Zones, those Zones can then accommodate other monsters coming from the Extra Deck. Essentially, you ''had'' to dedicate parts of your Extra Deck to Link Monsters if you wanted to continue to play your old deck, and many players were not happy with the change. The rules were revised in April 2020 to reduce the need to run Links, and the change was [[WinBackTheCrowd met with much praise]].

* ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong64'' only has five characters, but you need to switch them out constantly. The game has thousands (that's not an exaggeration--there are ''3,500'' bananas across the levels) of collectibles to find, and 700 of them can only be claimed by a particular Kong; furthermore, you can only switch in certain locations, as opposed to whenever you want. The game gets downright nasty about it in the later worlds, deliberately leaving a few Kong-specific bananas or coins in areas designed for other characters (for example, in Creepy Castle, the player must hit a switch as Diddy, run back to a Tag Barrel, change to Tiny Kong, run inside a now-opened door, and use Tiny's teleportation move to reach an otherwise inaccessible area).

* ''VideoGame/Persona5Strikers'' gives you nearly every character at the start, so it encourages switching your team around frequently both because of this trope and because inactive party members don't level up as fast as active ones. Usually, the most useful characters in each Jail are the ones with CharacterFocus during that particular arc (meaning Ann in Shibuya, Yusuke in Sendai, and Haru in Sapporo for example). It's taken to extremes by [[spoiler:Akira Konoe]], who is weak to Electricity and Nuclear but whose first phase resists or nulls every other element except Almighty, essentially forcing you to take [[ShockAndAwe Ryuji]], [[ILoveNuclearPower Makoto]], and [[NonElemental Zenkichi]] into the fight to have the best chance of winning.

* ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' usually averts this, as a player with some skill can avoid timing out or getting pasted with any given weapon, but there are some fights that are much easier or much harder with some weapons. For example, [[StockNessMonster Plesioth]] is typically a bow hunt because its [[HitboxDissonance questionable hitbox]] makes melee very frustrating. Fast monsters like Barioth or Blangonga are often easier with the sword and shield because it's easier to keep pace with them. The Dual Blade's constant aggression is hard to use effectively against the Tigrex (which is just as aggressive and also [[TheJuggernaut much bigger than you]]), while the Great Sword is better at taking advantage of the few large openings it leaves. [[VideoGame/MonsterHunterWorld Monster Hunter World: Iceborne]] however plays this almost completely straight with Alatreon, who can cause Escaton Judgment, an instant kill nuke that can only be weakened by using elemental weapons, and some elements will be better choices in certain phases compared to others. Granted, it is possible to just use either a Raw weapon anyway and just carting to just the Judgements, but it’s not recommended outside of single player.

* In ''VideoGame/WingCommander III'', if you continue to choose to fly with Hobbes over the other pilots, past the first mission, you get called to the carpet on it by Captain Eisen, and morale suffers from the show of favoritism.