History Main / PlotLineDeath

-->-- '''[[ChipCheezum General Ironicus]]''', LetsPlay ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots''

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-->--'''[[ChipCheezum General Ironicus]]''', LetsPlay ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots''

* In ''RiseOfLegends'' Carlini dies in a cutscene near the beginning of third campaign by the god of Death himself, meaning he can't come back at all. Normally it just takes some resources and time to revive a fallen hero. Moreover in this mission you get to control a hero that has ability to resurrect friendly units.

* [[NotASubversion Lampshaded]] in the RPG ''VideoGame/DungeonSiege'': You are given a mission to find an elder. When you arrive there, a cutscene plays where he is killed. When you return to town to report the elder's death, they ask you why didn't you just use one of your potions of revival to bring the elder back to life.

* Subverted in ''AncientDomainsOfMystery'', giving the AlmostDeadGuy an amulet of life saving instead of talking to him actually revives him. This is required for the GoldenEnding.

* ''ValkyrieProfile'': Damn near everybody. But in a sort of inversion, since you're playing as a Valkyrie, that's how everyone ''joins'' your party.

* In the ''Franchise/{{Ultima}}'' series, the player's party members die and get resurrected all the time... with two notable exceptions. In ''VideoGame/UltimaV'', a character slain by evil king Blackthorne's pendulum is permanently dead. And in ''VideoGame/UltimaVIIPartII'', a sacrifice is required for the Balance Serpent, for which one of your party members volunteers who will then be gone forever. Until the much-maligned ''VideoGame/UltimaIX''. *sigh*

* So when the king is killed in the very ''beginning'' of ''ShiningForce'', ''why exactly can the local priest not revive him?'' Even worse, since he didn't die right away, why can't you just HEAL HIM?

* In an interesting example, ''PhantasyStarII'' uses ''cloning'' as the preferred "revival" method of fallen characters - why a plot-killed character can't be cloned is vaguely explained in the US version by stating she can't be cloned because she's not human, even though cloning prior to this point works on her; a line in the original JP version states that the data required to revive her has gone missing; after the destruction of Climatrol and the death of [[MonsterLord Neifirst]], the technology used to create [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke biomonsters]] [[NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup is no longer available on Motavia]]. The Japan-only [=PS2=] remake adds an optional side-quest to fix this.

** Also in ''PhantasyStarIV'', Alys is struck by an attack that's used repeatedly in the battle proper, but when it hits her in the plot, the effects are lethal. This is certainly an example of GameplayAndStorySegregation, however the 'lethal' result is interesting in that Alys doesn't die immediately - she becomes sick, and dies slowly over the next few (in-story) days/weeks - an attack that in most [=RPGs=] would either kill you or not, actually killed because of side-effects such as infections that most games would just ignore. This attack also seems to suppress healing abilities; the party healer attempts to heal her in the cutscene that follows, only to fail. This actually ends up being a bit of foreshadowing for the second act: [[spoiler: The Black Wave's primary effect on Algo's people ''is' that disease. It can't be cured with magic and will raise corpses as zombies if they're continually exposed after death, with only the most powerful spiritualists actually making a full recovery on their own. The citizens of Mile don't even live long enough to make it ''indoors''. Having taken a Black Wave attack directly in the chest with no protection against it, Alys was only its first victim.]]

* The FPS ''Requiem: Avenging Angel'' features a Plotline Death that must be reversed to continue the game. (One of the player's powers is "revive")

* [[NotASubversion Lampshaded]] in the RPG ''DungeonSiege'': You are given a mission to find an elder. When you arrive there, a cutscene plays where he is killed. When you return to town to report the elder's death, they ask you why didn't you just use one of your potions of revival to bring the elder back to life.

** In addition, at the beginning, you find Khalid, Jaheira's husband, dead. Jaheira claims that it's no possibility of getting him back, since your captor had dissected and desecrated his body. Which was partially true in D&D at the time: Only a Resurrection spell -- a 7th level priest spell -- would work on saving someone whose body is dissected (which would be a fine limiting factor if not for the unfortunate fact that every temple in the game sold them and at least two Rods of Resurrection are on sale in the local adventure mart). The fact that Khalid's body stayed in Chateau Irenicus when it colapsed seals the deal, though.

* There's a bloody cutscene in ''{{VideoGame/Blackguards}}'' when Niam gets killed by the Louse Queen in the gladiator arena.

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* Pokémon battles only ever lead to Pokémon [[NonLethalKO fainting]], and they can easily be revived at a Pokémon Center. Cubone's mother in ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' was just the first Pokémon character to explicitly die - various Pokémon graveyards exist, for one thing.

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* In ''LuminousArc2'', you may have battled and beaten him plenty of times, but Master Mattias only died in a cutscene, complete with a special CG.

* In ''SaintsRow2'', Carlos could have EASILY been saved. How? Shock Paddles, some food, walking it off, or calling 911 for an ambulance. Though he does come back as a zombie, and since Zombie Lin from Saints 1 is canon (some goths mention her, and the Boss says he tried to sell the story to Channel 6 in one of the [=DLCs=]) then so is he.

** Johnny Gat suffers one early into ''SaintsRowTheThird'', being gunned down by the Morningstar gang offscreen and returning a a zombie Homie at the end of the game, which in the series denotes a character that's DeaderThanDead. Taking note of the word "[[NeverFoundTheBody offscreen]]," the dev team made a [[AuthorsSavingThrow saving throw]] in the next sequel by revealing that Gat actually survived after all.
* A version of this occurs in ''LittleBigAdventure II''. Normally, non-villain characters in the game can't be killed, and most of them won't die even if they accidentally get whacked by a villain aiming at the hero. However, at one point a dissident escaping prison with you gets shot before he can get out of the building, and dies. An interesting thing about this is that your character possesses some sort of a healing ability, and the dissident doesn't really die ''instantly'' after being shot -- but since the event happens during the cutscene, there's no way you can save him.

* An interesting aversion occurs in the SurvivalHorror game ''ObsCure''. The only way a character can be killed off is through [[TooDumbToLive your own]] [[YetAnotherStupidDeath incompetence]]; the game continues until all four (later five) available player characters have been killed. You can theoretically finish the game with [[EverybodyLives all five characters still alive]], or with [[FinalGirl only one]]; in fact, [[MultipleEndings which ending you get]] is determined by whether or not everyone made it to the end. The sequel, however, plays this very straight, with most of the characters getting [[CruelAndUnusualDeath brutally butchered]] as the game progresses, ending with only Shannon and Stan still alive.

** The spell's description explicitly says that a person can only be brought back if they want to come back. Since the afterlife is usually a great reward for most people, they usually only come back if they have something important to finish. The GM usually doesn't have to pull any tricks - it's not difficult to argue "no, he's happy where he is and doesn't want to come back."
*** Using this excuse too often on beloved [=NPCs=] is likely to result in the players walking out in disgust though.
*** There are games besides ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', which all of the above comments reference. In most other games death is ''not'' reversible or pretty much guaranteed to hit CameBackWrong. For instance, in TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu, if the GM decides a cultist with a hunting rifle picked off the important NPC while he on his morning jog, well, he's dead. Of course, used poorly, that's a sign of a ''bad'' GM. Used well, it can force the players to seek out new ways to get the job done while helping enforce fear. TropesAreNotBad, and TropesAreNotGood, after all. A good GM generally lets player input change whether or not ThePlotReaper can harvest someone while the players are around and is ready for both contingencies. Sticking with TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu, a GM could easily set it up so if the important NPC lives, he can tell the players important info, but if he dies, it's found in his journal which he wills to one of the characters.

* This is what happens to Bill in ''VideoGame/Left4Dead2'' in The Passing campaign. Despite the fact that survivors respawn in closets when killed and the sequel introducing the MagicalDefibrillator to revive on the spot, Bill is truly dead [[spoiler: It was revealed in The Sacrifice comic that he was attacked by 3 Tanks while he tried to get the bridge with his friends up.]] Naturally, an UrbanLegendOfZelda spawned from this, saying Bill can be brought back to life with the defib. Obviously, it doesn't work.

* This is what happens to Bill in ''VideoGame/Left4Dead2'' in The Passing campaign. Despite the fact that survivors respawn in closets when killed and the sequel introducing the MagicalDefibrillator to revive on the spot, Bill is truly dead [[spoiler: Was revealed in The Sacrifice comic that he was attacked by 3 Tanks while he tried to get the bridge with his friends up.]]. Naturally, an UrbanLegendOfZelda spawned from this, saying Bill can be brought back to life with the defib. Obviously, it doesn't work.

* In an interesting example, ''PhantasyStarII'' uses ''cloning'' as the preferred "revival" method of fallen characters - why a plot-killed character can't be cloned is vaguely explained in the US version by stating she can't be cloned because she's not human, even though cloning prior to this point works on her; a line in the original JP version states that the data required to revive her has gone missing; after the destruction of Climatrol and the death of [[MonsterLord Neifirst]], the technology used to create [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke biomonsters]] [[NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup is no longer available on Motavia]]. The Japan-only PS2 remake adds an optional side-quest to fix this.

*** Attempting to do so during the battle with said dead little sister (at least the original PS1 version) gives you the bizarre message that you "missed."

* There are several of these in ''Franchise/MassEffect'': Corporal [[LeeroyJenkins Jenkins]] gets gunned down by MechaMooks right at the beginning of the game's first battle. Nihlus gets shot in the back of the head by Saren. And on Virmire, Shepard must [[SadisticChoice choose]] whether to save Kaidan or Ashley; the one not chosen dies in a nuclear explosion. Wrex can also be killed in a cutscene on Virmire, but it's probably more of a FinalDeath than a PlotlineDeath, since whether or not he died depends on the player's choices.
** In the finale of the sequel, choosing poor teammates for specific tasks will get them (or another character) killed in a cutscene. Also, ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' has to enter the history of video games as a game where you can actually put your handcrafted {{AFGNCAAP}} character through a PlotlineDeath (disregarding the fact that he/she dies in the beginning of the game).

* ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'', especially ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration'' series love this trope. We have Captain Daitetsu Minase and Ouka Nagisa dying on the course of the game and there's no way to resurrect them. Likewise, some AntiVillain like Folka's AloofBigBrother Altis Tarl will fall into this.
** But they have also toyed with us with this trope. Axel Almer and Alfimi were supposed to be KilledOffForReal after ''Original Generation 2'', yet they came BackFromTheDead when ''OG Gaiden'' rolls in. Likewise, put one of your character a Defensive Support skill, and get him/her near Kyosuke during the last mission of the bonus section of [=OGs=]. Lamia Loveless would still get killed... until OG Gaiden rolls in and it's revealed that she's only NotQuiteDead. Considering all these examples span in the period of two games, it could count as before OG Gaiden gets released, people thought these characters are goners.

** And before that [[spoiler: Blaze and Omega]]

* In ''RatchetAndClankFutureACrackInTime'', [[spoiler:Ratchet dies in a cutscene after taking a relatively weak looking energy blast to the chest from General Azimuth's wrench.]] Clank goes back in time later on to save him and succeeds, but one does wonder why [[spoiler:Ratchet]]'s nanotech didn't just heal him in the first place...

* Averted in ''PlanescapeTorment''. When characters are killed during cutscenes, fights still take place true to game mechanics, with damage listings and all. When [[spoiler: your companions are all killed]] at the Fortress of Regrets, you are conveniently not there to Raise Dead.
* In ''SDGundamGGeneration DS'', the Rival Route is accessed by imitating the novelization of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam''; in other words, someone other than Char has to deal the last blow to Amuro, which kills him rather than simply damaging the Gundam as per the anime.

** Given the circumstances of the death (killed by Ares ''seconds'' after claiming Pandora's Box, the one weapon that can kill him), and knowing Kratos, it's possible that when he dies in the plot, he's finally pissed off enough to kill his way out of there. That, and it's only on that visit that someone drops a rope for him.
** Circumstances of his death is probably the key, especially since it's implied he needs supernatural help to be able to escape from the Underworld. If he dies before claiming Pandora's Box, then he's just like anyone else who tried to get it and failed. If he dies after climbing out of Hades and challenging Ares, then even the power of the Box wasn't enough to kill the God of War.