History Main / SchrodingersPlayerCharacter

*** Jowan [[spoiler: escapes in the Magi origin and subsequently becomes partially responsible for the problems in Redcliffe. He could only do that if his amulet was destroyed. So Mage PC passed the Harrowing, then conspired with Jowan, and, having no Duncan to conscript him out of his mess, got sent to Aeonar.]]

*** Jowan [[spoiler: escapes in the Magi origin and subsequently becomes partially responsible for the problems in Redcliffe.]]

* The QuestForGlory series from Sierra effectively works this way, though it's never implied that the other characters exist.

So you decide to pick Bob. And as you play the game, you begin wondering... What happened to Alice and Charles? You keep playing the game, reaching HundredPercentCompletion, and you never see either. Looks like Alice, Bob and Charles are Schrodinger's Player Characters. In more generalized explanation: You are given a choice of characters, and once chosen, the game seems to go based on the assumption the selected character is the only one who exists. This trope is VERY common in games that give you a choice of pre-generated Player Characters, so much that it may come as a surprise when it is averted and the [=PCs=] you did not choose turn out as {{NPC}}s.

** The Human Noble PC [[spoiler: died at Ostagar. It's heavily implied that the dog the other PCs recruit there is actually the Human Noble's. Alternatively, he/she was murdered during Howe's betrayal in Highever.]]

*** Not entirely true. Dying in the final fortress as Zero kills him off. However, defeating a specific enemy in the final fortress also kills him off but has the side effect of giving X one of the two GameBreakers (and the only one that is saved to password), Zero's sabre. Dying anywhere else as Zero only results in him saying "X, you take this one, I need a rest."

** In fact, the Skyllian Blitz is a heroic battle in which War Hero Shepard fought. In response to the Battle of Torfan, where Ruthless Shepard made his/her name by continuing the fight until 3/4s of his/her unit was killed, and butchered the surrendering slavers. The background events all happened from the attack on Midnoir to the Thresher Maw on Akuze.

* Averted in most post-gen 2 ''{{Pokemon}}'' games, when you can chose a PlayerCharacter of either sex. The sprite of the opposite-gender player character becomes a NonPlayerCharacter. Played straight in Crystal, Fire-Red, Leaf-Green, Black, and White, though.

* Averted in most post-gen 2 ''{{Pokemon}}'' games, when you can chose a PlayerCharacter of either sex. The sprite of the opposite-gender player character becomes a NonPlayerCharacter. Played straight in Fire-Red, and Leaf-Green, though.

* ''StreetsOfRage 3'' offers a choice of five characters, and in [[GameplayAndStorySegregation the story and]] {{cutscene}}s all five of you are working together, while the game itself has two players at most.

* Averted in ''SeikenDensetsu3'', where you choose three out of six possible characters for your party and will run into the other three at various points during your adventure.

* The title screen of ''{{Gauntlet}}'' shows four heroes - the Warrior, Valkyrie, Elf and Wizard - charging monsters. You select one. This is the only hero that enters the dungeon. The only way to have all the heroes in play is if four players join up. ''Legends'', ''Dark Legacy'' and ''Seven Sorrows'' have even more heroes and fewer possible players.

* Averted in most post-gen 2''{{Pokemon}}'' games, when you can chose a PlayerCharacter of either sex. The sprite of the opposite-gender player character becomes a NonPlayerCharacter. Played straight in Fire Red, and Leaf Green, though.

* Averted in most ''{{Pokemon}}'' games, when you can chose a PlayerCharacter of either sex. The sprite of the opposite-gender player character becomes a NonPlayerCharacter. Played straight in Crystal, Fire Red, and Leaf Green, though.

** In ''Mega Man 9'', if you play as Mega Man, the only time you see Proto Man is during the cutscene you get after defeating four Robot Masters. When controlling Proto Man, Mega Man appears during said cutscene, then after defeating all eight Robot Masters, Wily announces to the world that Mega Man is sick with Roboenza. But after clearing the first Wily stage, we see a perfectly healthy Mega Man running alongside Proto Man, and even stops to help the latter out when he himself falls sick. Mega Man stops appearing after that. If playing as [[DownloadableContent Bass]], neither Mega Man or Proto Man appear, and the only mention of Mega Man is during Wily's announcement to the world (again saying he fell sick).

** Actually, it is not entirely played straight in Crystal. If you choose the male character, then this happens, but if you choose the female character, the male character becomes the one who gives you a lesson on catching pokemon.

* Averted ''hard'' in SeikenDensestu3: Not only do the characters you don't choose have their own storylines going in the background; one of them can even ''break you out of jail'' near the beginning of the game depending on the composition of your party.

** This is [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructed]] in the ''Cafe of Broken Dreams'' special encounter in Fallout 2, where you can meet all the other player characters who were pre-generated for Fallout 1, but not "chosen" by the player or even included into the final game.

** Strangely, Diablo 2 hints that all three of the classes in Diablo 1 went into Tristram's dungeons together, with [[spoiler: the Warrior being the canonical slayer/imprisoner of Diablo]].

* Played straight in both ''BaldursGate Dark Alliance'' games.

** In fact, the Skyllian Blitz is a heroic battle in which War Hero Shepard fought. In response to the Battle of Torfan, where Ruthless Shepard made his name by continuing the fight until 3/4s of his unit was killed, and butchered the surrendering slavers. The background events all happened from the attack on Midnoir to the Thresher Maw on Akuze.

So you decide to pick Bob. And as you play the game, you begin wondering... What happened to Alice and Charles? You keep playing the game, reaching HundredPercentCompletion, and you never see either. Looks like Alice, Bob and Charles are [=~Schrodinger's Player Character~=]s. In more generalized explanation: You are given a choice of characters, and once chosen, the game seems to go based on the assumption the selected character is the only one who exists. This trope is VERY common in games that give you a choice of pre-generated Player Characters, so much that it may come as a surprise when it is averted and the [=PCs=] you did not choose turn out as {{NPC}}s.

So you decide to pick Bob. And as you play the game, you begin wondering... What happened to Alice and Charles? You keep playing the game, reaching HundredPercentCompletion, and you never see either. Looks like Alice, Bob and Charles are [[Schrodinger's Player Character]]s. In more generalized explanation: You are given a choice of characters, and once chosen, the game seems to go based on the assumption the selected character is the only one who exists. This trope is VERY common in games that give you a choice of pre-generated Player Characters, so much that it may come as a surprise when it is averted and the [=PCs=] you did not choose turn out as {{NPC}}s.

So you decide to pick Bob. And as you play the game, you begin wondering... What happened to Alice and Charles? You keep playing the game, reaching HundredPercentCompletion, and you never see either. Looks like Alice, Bob and Charles are [[=~Schrodinger's Player Character~=]]s. In more generalized explanation: You are given a choice of characters, and once chosen, the game seems to go based on the assumption the selected character is the only one who exists. This trope is VERY common in games that give you a choice of pre-generated Player Characters, so much that it may come as a surprise when it is averted and the [=PCs=] you did not choose turn out as {{NPC}}s.

So you decide to pick Bob. And as you play the game, you begin wondering... What happened to Alice and Charles? You keep playing the game, reaching HundredPercentCompletion, and you never see either. Looks like Alice, Bob and Charles are [=~Schrodinger's Player Character~=]s. In more generalized explanation: You are given a choice of characters, and once chosen, the game seems to go based on the assumption the selected character is the only one who exists. This trope is VERY common in games that give you a choice of pre-generated Player Characters, so much that it may come as a surprise when it is averted and the [=PCs=] you did not choose turn out as {{NPC}}s.