| 1 | ->''"Well, thanks for the entertainment... pretty good warm-up there."'' |
| 2 | -->-- '''Yuuki Terumi''', ''VideoGame/BlazBlueContinuumShift'' |
| 3 | |
| 4 | When you drain a boss's health bar and knock their HP down to 0, they're ''supposed'' to be ''dead'', right? After all, [[CriticalExistenceFailure that's what happens to you]]! [[NonLethalKO Unless...]] |
| 5 | |
| 6 | Well, unfortunately, [[FinalBossPreview some]] [[HopelessBossFight bosses]] don't play by [[MyRulesAreNotYourRules these rules]]. Murder them in battle, and they'll just stand up again in a cutscene and say "Wow, that was a fun fight! I haven't had this much fun in years!" (And even worse, you're staggering or already collapsed regardless.) Other times, they will be visibly weakened, but will still be alive enough to say "I Have Underestimated You, You Are a WorthyOpponent, This Is Not the End, WeWillMeetAgain, VillainExitStageLeft" Yet other times, they ''will'' be mortally wounded... but they'll [[AlmostDeadGuy somehow have enough strength left]] to [[FinalSpeech give a 40-minute monologue as they die]]. Any of these situations can look really ridiculous if the enemy [[EverythingFades flashed away]] or [[DefeatEqualsExplosion exploded]] at the end of the in-game battle. |
| 7 | |
| 8 | And still other times, they'll stand back up [[HeadsIWinTailsYouLose and proceed to slaughter you]]; often this is used as a variant on a HopelessBossFight. Occasionally this happens when the devs miscalculate the difficulty of the FinalBossPreview and have only created content for the defeat you were supposed to suffer. |
| 9 | |
| 10 | Either way, it's clear that '''The Battle Didn't Count''', because somehow, the boss is [[StayingAlive still alive]] and kicking. The QuirkyMinibossSquad is especially prone to this behavior. |
| 11 | |
| 12 | A type of StoryOverwrite, which is a type of GameplayAndStorySegregation. This is often a result of the fact that YouCantThwartStageOne. See also ActuallyADoombot. |
| 13 | ---- |
| 14 | !!Examples: |
| 15 | |
| 16 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 17 | |
| 18 | [[folder:Action-Adventure]] |
| 19 | * In ''VideoGame/BlasterMasterZeroIII'', Jason gets put into a HopelessBossFight against Kane's Metal Attacker in the first area. While you can beat him with your underequipped tank, the game treats it as if you lost to Kane. The game pulls this again with [[spoiler:the very final fight in the game. Jason had wanted Kane to come to him and the entire charade had been stalling for time since the start; he just needs to drag the final fight out long enough to show Kane something he knows [[CassandraTruth Kane will never believe if just told first]]. If the player controls Jason for a PostFinalBoss, he quietly admits to Eve he doesn't think he can win, but has enough of a home-field advantage to drag things out. If the player sides with Kane for a {{Superboss}}, he succeeds in disabling the SOPHIA J-1, but Jason isn't bothered by the loss of a prototype model — he bought the time he needed.]] |
| 20 | * In ''VideoGame/BloodstainedRitualOfTheNight'', Miriam mentions after the battle with Zangetsu that she could tell he was holding back. Once you reach the train at the Bridge of Evil, you see why: he's capable of one-shotting everything. Zangetsu is also the only way to really damage the level's boss, as Miriam can only do ScratchDamage. [[spoiler:In the second fight against Zangetsu, he holds back considerably less, but still does so, which Miriam notices and says that he could kill her in an instant if he wanted to.]] |
| 21 | * ''VideoGame/CaveStory'': |
| 22 | ** You will fight beloved toaster-shaped mini-boss Balrog many times, and he will usually fly away afterwards, looking suitably upset but otherwise no worse for the wear. At one point, he will easily ''toss a gigantic boulder across the room'' immediately after being thoroughly trounced by you. The game evokes this trope at several other points as well. |
| 23 | ** A justified example is the island's core -- once you've beaten it, Misery and the Doctor show up and rant at you about how abysmally stupid you are to have destroyed the one thing keeping the floating island... well, afloat. Then they haul it off to the Doctor's lab, where he works out a way to keep it nominally alive so the island won't crash out of the skies. |
| 24 | * ''VideoGame/{{Iji}}'': |
| 25 | ** The Komato Assassins have the ability to teleport around. If you damage them to the point where they drop loot and disappear, you didn't really kill them, you just made them teleport away to recover. This is mainly so you don't have to feel bad on a pacifist run. |
| 26 | ** Defied in the [[HonorBeforeReason second battle with]] [[ArchEnemy Asha]]. |
| 27 | * ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'': |
| 28 | ** ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'': If you're skilled, you can actually beat Ridley on Ceres Station. He'll drop the baby Metroid… and then immediately pick it back up again. The game continues as normal from there. |
| 29 | ** The fight with Meta Ridley down the shaft in ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption''. Right before the after battle cutscene kicks in, you can see Ridley's life bar has a sliver left. Of course, when you fight him again his name has changed to Omega Ridley and his appearance is different, implying you did kill him and the pirates just revived him with Phazon. |
| 30 | ** Dark Samus in ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime2Echoes'' games does this a few times. No matter how much you kick her ass in the 2nd game, she's always able to get away and recover. First, she explodes. Then, she falls out of a several-mile-high window. Then, she gets trapped ''inside a collapsing dimension with Samus taking the only visible way out at the last second''. Justified, since one of the Pirate logs you can find mention that "the Dark Hunter" reformed out of stray particles in their Phazon storage, where the thing then proceeded to [[PhlebotinumMuncher absorb the entire load]] and wreak havoc upon the crew. The only thing that is able to finally kill Dark Samus is [[spoiler:the entire sentient planet Phaaze exploding, thus killing all Phazon everywhere, including what was keeping Metroid Prime/Dark Samus alive]]. |
| 31 | ** The other hunters in ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeHunters'' always fade away every time you reduce their health to zero. They always come back no matter how much you beat them. |
| 32 | * Done almost frustratingly in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}: The Broken Bond'' with the Sound Four. After you fight each one, you immediately go into a refight with a special condition. Some of them are to survive for a certain amount of time, even if you've been kicking their ass up to that point and could easily end the battle in 30 seconds instead of 90. |
| 33 | * ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia2008''. You have to face four of the bosses FIVE TIMES each, before finally defeating them in their lairs, at which point they become [[LoadBearingBoss Load Bearing Bosses]]. |
| 34 | * ''Franchise/StarWars'' video games are prone to this sometimes, particularly with recreations of the duel between Luke and Vader from ''The Empire Strikes Back''. No matter how much damage the player does to Vader, he's still going to chop Luke's hand off. Nicely adverted in the PSP version of VideoGame/TheForceUnleashed, which simply swapped around who was the PlayerCharacter and who was the boss. |
| 35 | ** Also in ''Empire'', there are many games that have a portion that takes place during the Battle of Hoth and have you playing as a Rebel (most famously ''VideoGame/ShadowsOfTheEmpire''). Over the course of the battle, you'll invariably blow up a good dozen or so Imperial walkers, then transition to a cutscene of the shield generator exploding from a blast by an AT-AT separate from the ones that are now scrap metal, and the Rebels being totally overwhelmed by an Imperial ground force separate from the one that's now on fire. |
| 36 | ** In one level of ''[[VideoGame/DarkForcesSaga Jedi Outcast]]'', Luke and Desann get into a fight. Since the fight is randomly generated with both characters having X number of hitpoints, on occasion Luke loses and dies if Desann gets a few lucky shots in. Unsurprisingly, this has no actual effect on the game. |
| 37 | *** Also notable is the boss battle against Tavion. Within the game's mechanics, it is entirely possible to end a fight by slicing your opponent limb from limb. [[spoiler: This doesn't stop her from getting away afterwards, though.]] |
| 38 | * ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'': |
| 39 | ** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'', you fight Ghirahim three times-- not until you kill him, but until he gets tired of fighting you. |
| 40 | ** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' subverts this with Master Kohga. You deplete his health and he subsequently has a ThisCannotBe moment. He then summons a massive spiky ball to kill Link, only for said ball to roll back and get Kohga to accidentally walk back into the deep pit in center of the arena, with the ball following him right after. |
| 41 | * Winning the HopelessBossFight at the beginning of ''VideoGame/SekiroShadowsDieTwice'' will play a different cutscene where Wolf is about to kill Genichiro, only for a Nightjar to throw a shuriken at him from offscreen, distracting him long enough for Genichiro to cut off his arm anyway. Genichiro then mocks him for not knowing "[[CombatPragmatist the difference between honor and victory]]". |
| 42 | * ''You'' get to pull this stunt in ''VideoGame/ThreadsOfFate'' when you need Rod's hovercraft and he makes you a deal: beat him in a duel and he'll take you wherever you need to go. If you win, you win, and he takes you there, but if you lose, he gloats and says too bad… and then the local innkeeper shows up and chastises him for his gloating. Then she threatens to never make his favorite meal for him again if he doesn't give you a ride, and he backs down and takes you where you need to go. |
| 43 | [[/folder]] |
| 44 | |
| 45 | [[folder:Action]] |
| 46 | * ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'': |
| 47 | ** You may have ended a boss fight with hidden blades through the eyes or a sword right through the chest, yet the cutscene has them alive and well for the story to play out. |
| 48 | ** ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedI'': Although the deaths of the [[spoiler:[[AristocratsAreEvil Templar]]]] are ultimately fatal, the fact that they were stabbed through the throat (despite their [[GameplayAndStorySegregation actual manner of death]]) does not seem to prevent a rather lengthy [[FinalSpeech Final Speech]] detailing their motivations first. Not to mention that the entire dialogue takes place seemingly out-of-time. |
| 49 | ** Somewhat justified in that gameplay represents using the Animus to access the memories of Desmond's ancestors, and thus, the CutsceneDrop could signify a transition into the memory of what "actually happened". |
| 50 | * Many, many, many times in ''VideoGame/ElShaddaiAscensionOfTheMetatron''. It is, in fact, possible to beat the fallen Grigori every time; at least get the fight to where you [[ShowsDamage knock their armor off]]. Their comments after the fight change depending on how you do. |
| 51 | * This is actually necessary for a couple of boss fights in ''VideoGame/EnterTheMatrix'', such as a sparring fight against Trinity and a non-hostile SecretTest fight against Seraph. The amusing part is that the fighting system, while appropriate for the rest of the game, ends up looking ridiculously brutal for a friendly sparring match. It gets all the more absurd when you have the unlockable katana, which has quite a few brutal slashing and impalement animations. |
| 52 | * In ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKainDefiance'', Raziel has to battle [[spoiler:Janos Adron possessed by the Hylden Lord]]. After defeating him, [[spoiler:the Hylden Lord's control over Janos temporarily fails. Janos begs Raziel to kill him, but he can't bring himself to do it. Then the Hylden Lord takes control over Janos again and has enough strength to destroy Raziel's physical form]]. |
| 53 | [[/folder]] |
| 54 | |
| 55 | [[folder:Action RPG]] |
| 56 | * In the ''VideoGame/DotHackGUGames'', during some of the Arena battles, the game will always follow a particular script, regardless of your performance in the fight. You can overwhelm some of the enemies, but the cutscenes will always show Haseo barely holding on while his adversary effortlessly wipes the floor with him. You can chop your adversary's HP down in less than a minute, and the game will still show your adversary gloating over your poor performance. |
| 57 | * Happens very frequently in ''VideoGame/OdinSphere''. |
| 58 | ** Many of the bosses in the game are fought by most of the five playable characters. Naturally, this means that these bosses have to survive being "killed" by the player several times. [[spoiler:In most cases, the character who fights the boss the last time chronologically does end up killing him or her.]] ([[spoiler:One notable exception is Odin. Mercedes is the last character to fight him, but instead of killing him, she destroys his weapon.]]) |
| 59 | ** Several times, you fight other playable characters as bosses. Since all of them are alive for the climax, they obviously survive getting defeated by you. |
| 60 | ** At the end of the game, you must choose which of your characters will fight which of the five final bosses. Choosing the wrong boss for a character will result in a HeadsIWinTailsYouLose scenario after you deplete the boss' health bar. It's especially bad in [[spoiler:Onyx's]] case, as all the other bosses can be killed [[MutualKill even if the character dies as well]] [[spoiler:and Gallon explicitly states that only someone with Odette's power and his blood can break the undead curse that keeps him immortal]], but [[spoiler:Onyx is completely fine against all but Mercedes]]. |
| 61 | * In ''VideoGame/{{Solatorobo}}'', the first battle versus [[spoiler:Nero and Blanck]] outside their robots. After getting them to half health, they just say they're tired of playing around and just shoot a huge, undodgeable fireball at you. |
| 62 | * In ''Videogame/SaltAndSanctuary'', the tutorial boss fight against The Unspeakable Deep will likely end in your swift defeat, since its attacks can kill all of the starting characters in one or two hits. You then wash up on the island's shore, where the game begins in earnest. Defeating the Unspeakable Deep is actually rather simple, if time-consuming, since all of its attacks are rather predictable and can be rolled through by a character with <25% equip load. Even if you beat it, the ship still sinks -- which makes sense, since a huge demon is stomping around on it during a violent storm -- and you still wash up on the island's shore. Winning rewards you with 8000 salt (8800 if you picked the ring that grants bonus salt as a starting bonus), a top-tier upgrade material that you normally only get one of per playthrough, and an achievement, so it's not a total waste of time. |
| 63 | [[/folder]] |
| 64 | |
| 65 | [[folder:Adventure]] |
| 66 | * In ''VideoGame/EpiphanyCity'', the battles with Kaiser have you successfully completing puzzles that would damage him, only for him to shrug it off and blast you anyway. |
| 67 | * In ''VideoGame/StarTrekJudgmentRites'', the Enterprise goes looking for three other missing Federation ships when it suddenly runs into a triplane in space. It is flown by none other than Trelane, an omnipotent brat, who decides to do battle with them. It is definitely possible to defeat Trelane's aircraft, but this ''is'' an omnipotent being we're talking about here; If you manage to win, Trelane simply throws a tantrum and knocks out the Enterprise crew, which is [[ButThouMust the same exact outcome you get]] if you lose the battle. |
| 68 | [[/folder]] |
| 69 | |
| 70 | [[folder:Beat 'em Up]] |
| 71 | * In ''VideoGame/TheBouncer,'' [[BigBad Dauragon]] gets beaten down by the heroes at the end of the game. But after enough NewGamePlus runs, he gets up for a final battle, [[LaughingMad laughing with delight]], [[TheCoatsAreOff sheds his coat]], and is ready to fight again, [[TookALevelInBadass this time even harder to beat]]. |
| 72 | * In ''VideoGame/DeadRising'', you have several fights that don't count with [[spoiler:Carlito]] before that character is finally KilledOffForReal by another boss psycho. |
| 73 | ** The trio of convicts that commandeered an army jeep also seem to adhere to this for ''every battle you have with them''. They're in the center of a massive courtyard of zombies, and even if you blast them multiple times with a shotgun point blank, then wreck their jeep (and steal the [[{{BFG}} mounted fifty calibre machinegun]]), they'll respawn later. And the jeep will be fine. And the gun will be back. |
| 74 | * The SNES game ''The Death and Return of Superman'' does this with the battle against Doomsday, who killed Superman in the "Death of Superman" arc of the Franchise/DCUniverse continuity. Even if you defeat him, he'll simply get up again and proceed to kill him. Likewise, due to it following the comic story, even though you have to defeat the Cyborg-Superman as both the Eradicator and later Superboy, after you deplete his health he automatically gets back up and defeats you. |
| 75 | * In ''VideoGame/DoubleDragonNeon'', the villain Skullmaggedon flees battle two times, one by jumping off the window of his spaceship in space, and second time by escaping into another dimension. |
| 76 | * Endemic in ''VideoGame/SenranKagura'', where opponents will frequently insist they weren't really trying or that the opponent's attacks were doing nothing, despite heavy evidence to the contrary (this being a setting where, fanservice aside, ClothingDamage is blatantly symbolic of actual wounds). There's a reason for it, though; even [[GreyAndGreyMorality "good" shinobi]] are bound by a code of conduct that put the mission above one's own life. Retreating from a fight they were committed to is grounds for execution. This is finally averted in ''Estival Versus'', which has a single storyline with the player always in control of the eventual victor. |
| 77 | * In ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesShreddersRevenge'', this happens a few times. |
| 78 | ** When Rocksteady is defeated and knocked out at the end of Episode 2, the cutscene that immediately follows shows him and Bebop driving out of a garage in the Turtle Tenderizer. Note that Bebop was [=KOed=] in the previous Episode and didn't come back until this point, so that's ''two'' cases in one! |
| 79 | ** Episode 15 ends with Shredder fallen down upon his defeat, but one fade-in later, he's barely standing up with [[ClothingDamage shredded clothing]], and does his usual [[SmokeOut smoke bomb escape]] that's seen throughout the game. |
| 80 | * There are '''several''' bosses in ''VideoGame/ZenoClash'' who will get back up and one hit kill you, after you reduce their HP to 0. At least the same thing happens if you lose, avoiding the even more annoying HeadsIWinTailsYouLose trope. |
| 81 | [[/folder]] |
| 82 | |
| 83 | [[folder:Card Battle]] |
| 84 | * In ''Monster Monpiece'', the FinalBossPreview is a regular match that's heavily stacked against the player. However, it is easily possible to win this match via a simple battle of attrition — simply decking the boss out. The game will proceed as if you lost, of course. |
| 85 | [[/folder]] |
| 86 | |
| 87 | [[folder:Driving Game]] |
| 88 | * Zigzagged in ''VideoGame/CrashTeamRacing'' with [[BigBad Nitrous Oxide's]] "Survival of the Fastest" challenge, where he challenges the best driver of the planet to a race for the fate of the whole world. When you beat him the first time, he at the very least agrees to not destroy the world, but he refuses to actually admit defeat and leave until you gather all of the Time Relics and race him again. When you do that, he ''finally'' admits you beat him and leaves, earning you the GoldenEnding. |
| 89 | [[/folder]] |
| 90 | |
| 91 | [[folder:Eastern RPG]] |
| 92 | * ''VideoGame/BatenKaitos'', Kalas fights Giacomo, Folon and Alyn at one point, and Giacomo uses a device to cut off the guardian spirit's influence (somehow this doesn't affect the battle at all) and the party beat the three down. As in, lying on the floor not moving. In the battle scene at least. The cutscene then followed up has them standing up, and the device breaks, and the party fight them again. Full health, full power for them. Party? ......Not so much. |
| 93 | * At the beginning of Chapter 2 of ''VideoGame/BravelyDefaultII'', you are thrust into a HopelessBossFight against Galahad. If you manage to overpower and defeat him anyway, ArcVillain [[spoiler:Folie]] throws a shit fit and somehow rewinds time to before the fight, and will not allow you to progress until you take a dive. |
| 94 | * Unlike the first BossBattle against Balio and Sunder (which is a HopelessBossFight) in ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIII'', Ryu ''can'' win the second battle; it just requires extreme LevelGrinding. Win or lose, the game will just continue as normal; all that changes between the two outcomes is the script. Balio and Sunder's hostage Princess Nina makes her escape, and the two villains just take off for a later encounter. |
| 95 | * Averted in ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger''. When fighting Lavos in the Ocean Palace, his first attack is meant to wipe out the entire party instantly. But if you are on such an immensely high level that you can actually beat him (you'll likely have to do a NewGamePlus multiple times to get that strong), it results in you winning the game and getting a special ending. |
| 96 | ** Although rather than showing the effects this would have on the timeline, it just gives you a DevelopersRoom to explore. Rather disappointing, really. |
| 97 | ** Also played straight a few times. For example, when you barge into Queen Zeal's room, Dalton summons the Golem to finish you off. If you are defeated, you get captured and the prophet sends you back through the portal. If you defeat the Golem, Dalton comes back and imprisons you anyway, then the prophet sends you back through the portal. |
| 98 | ** Every time you defeat Spekkio, he gives you a reward, heals you, and sends you on your way, but is ready for another battle the next time you come around. Also inverted in that, if you lose, there is no Game Over; you're simply restored on the spot, and can challenge him again. |
| 99 | ** When you defeat Magus in his castle, he does not die. Rather, he gets sucked into a time portal with you and your party, only to reappear later in the game, ready for another battle. |
| 100 | ** Although not a conventional battle, Crono's trial is a good example of this. Regardless of whether Crono is declared innocent or guilty of kidnapping Marle at his trial (which is dependent on what he says, and what he did at the Millenial Fair), he is thrown into prison, and the Chancellor attempts to have him executed. Though this is a semi aversion, being pronounced guilty gets you a death sentence, but getting declared innocent gives you a much lighter three days of imprisonment instead... it's just that the Chancellor has it out for you and tells the guards that it's an execution, so the end result is the same. |
| 101 | ** In ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'', after Lynx [[spoiler:pulls a GrandTheftMe on Serge to further his schemes]], you're matched up against your old allies in three-to-one odds. In the first playthrough, due to AntiGrinding, this battle is [[HopelessBossFight hopeless]]. But in a NewGamePlus, you can be strong enough to win the fight, at which point Kid will manage to get up and stab you anyways. |
| 102 | * In ''VideoGame/DigimonWorld3'', Bulbmon is a boss character which is extremely hard to hit. Yet when one finally whittles down his health and is about to deal the killing blow, he flees, netting you no experience or other rewards. Of course, you must fight him again later, when he's even harder. |
| 103 | * Averted with a {{Superboss}} fight in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVI'': If you're overleveled enough to take out [[spoiler:Nokturnus]] in less than twenty turns, he grants you a wish, which is to defeat the game's BigBad for you. What follows is a highly cathartic beatdown as [[spoiler:Nokturnus]] gleefully {{No Sell}}s each and every one of the BigBad's attacks, curbstomping him effortlessly and clearly enjoying his terrified screams. |
| 104 | * In ''VideoGame/ExitFate'', even if Deus and/or Yan Angwa win their battles against the [[spoiler:Demon Commandos]], they'll be down for the count and their opponents won't appear to be harmed. |
| 105 | * ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' has a long tradition of bosses who refuse to admit defeat: |
| 106 | ** Scarcely less galling is Golbez in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'', who does this at least twice. The first is a CutscenePowerToTheMax battle, but the second is a fair-and-square, player-controlled battle. Though the heroes don't exactly help their cause afterwards, [[spoiler: as they simply stand by and watch as Golbez morphs into a severed hand and sloooowly crawls over to the at-stake Crystal.]] |
| 107 | ** Kefka in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' does this at least twice, as well as having a OneWingedAngel version in his final battle. |
| 108 | ** The Turks in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' will always have the power to run away no matter how soundly you supposedly beat them. |
| 109 | *** Rufus pulls the same stunt when Cloud fights him, though he is only fought once. |
| 110 | ** ''VideoGame/CrisisCore''. Zack's not good at killing important people. Of course, this is because it's a ForegoneConclusion that anyone important survives. |
| 111 | ** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII''[='s=] QuirkyMinibossSquad(s) Biggs and Wedge and Fujin and Raijin don't mind being beaten either. Seifer, on the other hand, is left face down on the floor on several occasions but never quite dies; the player may conclude that this is mostly Squall not quite having the heart to finish him off. |
| 112 | ** Defeating Edea at the end of [[DiscOneFinalDungeon Disc One]] in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' leads to a cutscene of Edea stabbing Squall -- [[LazyBackup JUST Squall]] -- through the shoulder with an icicle before the entire party is captured offscreen and thrown in prison, which also happens if you lose the fight. This makes the fight meaningless, as far as the story's concerned. In a rewarding bit of FridgeBrilliance, when you later control Edea you will find the ice attack is her DesperationAttack. Which implies that your team successfully did enough damage to Edea to nearly kill her before they were defeated. |
| 113 | ** Seymour X from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'', who actually "died" thrice and still managed to carry on. Seymour, at least, justifies the first occasion: In Spira, just because someone is dead doesn't mean they aren't still walking around in some form. Most of the random encounters in the game are the "unsent" souls of the dead in physical form [[spoiler:and one of the party members is DeadAllAlong too.]] |
| 114 | ** In one mission in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'', you get to fight with [[BreakoutCharacter Professor Shantotto]]. Win, and "Shantotto" will turn into a doll, only for the ''real'' Shantotto to reveal that you'd been fighting with a doll she magic'd into life. |
| 115 | *** She pulls the same trick in ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy''; when she loses, she turns into a doll, rather than just collapsing like the other characters. Her death quotes range from giving the opponent a B-, to the doll talking in a CreepyMonotone before turning back. However as it is her loss animation, the battle does count... the ONE time she's fought in story mode. All other fights with her are Muliplayer or Arcade matches which are equally meaningless to the story line. |
| 116 | *** This comes around again in her cameo in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV''. The event-specific FATE "Tower of Power" has you fighting a titanic Shantotto. When you finally defeat her, and bring word back to the Order of the Twin Adder, the gigantic Shantotto returns, and reveals that the goliath you fought was yet another magical doll under her command. You then get (a shrunken version of) that doll as a minion. |
| 117 | ** Averted in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'': if a boss needs to run away, they'll do so with a good margin of HP left. |
| 118 | ** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII:'' The first battle against Barthandelus has a target time of eleven minutes, and requires finding a way around his TotalPartyKill attack. When it's all over, he reverts to his cover identity, tells the party what he wants them to do, and sends them on their way. |
| 119 | ** Caius in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2''. Multiple times. For once this is explained in terms of both story and game mechanics: the Heart of Chaos gives him immortality, represented in battle by a constant 'auto-raise' effect. Interestingly, the player can repeat these battles using the Paradox Scope to break reality and avert the trope for some [[MultipleEndings alternate endings]]. |
| 120 | ** Played straight with the final boss of ''Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII'', [[spoiler:Bhunivelze]]. The epic final battle with the player controlling Lightning doesn't really seem to bother him at all, as it later takes the combined might of Hope's full ATB skill, a knife to the head, a blast of magic from the Eidolons and the combined might of every human soul to finally put him down for good. |
| 121 | ** Ditto with some bosses in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsA2'', except they will run away after their HP hits zero. |
| 122 | ** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' inverts this trope with Guest characters. Guest characters cannot be killed like normal units in battle. If their HP hits zero they simply lie unconscious for the remainder of battle until they are revived or until the battle ends. Once they join your team, however, they can be KilledOffForReal. Played straight in a number of 'kill the leader' battles where even if you manage to kill the boss, they will immediately get back up and teleport away to safety. |
| 123 | * In ''VideoGame/Grandia1'', this trope is used so often with so many characters that you will spend most of the final cutscene waiting for the Big Bad to get back on its feet again after trouncing it only twice. Particularly JustForFun/{{egregious}} examples are [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Nani, Saki, and Mio]], as well as [[spoiler:Baal]]. |
| 124 | * ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'': |
| 125 | ** Justified in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI'' in the fight against Leon. Sora [[PostVictoryCollapse passes out when he wins]] as it's his first real battle against a skilled opponent, completely exhausting him. |
| 126 | ** ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'': Sephiroth. After losing to Sora in a one-on-one battle, he compliments Sora on his skill in wielding the Keyblade, but says that [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou Cloud is the only one that could "eliminate him"]] and tells Sora to find Cloud so they could settle their feud. After Sora does this, a cutscene ensues that ends in Cloud and Sephiroth disappearing to parts unknown, still locked in battle. |
| 127 | ** ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'': The last boss is a fight against Riku that the game expects you to win, but the story dictates that he brings Roxas to Naminé so ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' can happen. Due to this, the cutscene after shows him getting up and using the power of darkness to overcome Roxas after losing the initial fight. |
| 128 | ** ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'': So Terra managed to beat up Master Xehanort and everything's fine and dandy, right? [[spoiler:The following cutscene has him committing GrandTheftMe on Terra and leading on to the ''true'' final fight of Terra's story. It's actually an aversion, though - Xehanort ''really does lose'', but that's part of a ThanatosGambit to make Terra's heart dark enough for the possession to work. There's a reason his death quote in the fight is "Only now have I truly won".]] |
| 129 | ** ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'': Invoked a number of times during the battles in the latter portion of the game. Notable examples include [[spoiler:Aqua being nearly killed by Vanitas after soundly defeating him in a fight, and Sora suddenly being overpowered by Terra-Xehanort out of nowhere after fighting and defeating him one-on-one]]. |
| 130 | * ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'': |
| 131 | ** Both games involve this as a FinalBossPreview, with Darths Malak and Sion respectively. The fight against Sion is awesome; the one against Malak isn't — even if you manage to beat him without him scratching you even once (not at all difficult on easy or with a dedicated fighter), at some point Bastila will jump in and sacrifice herself to save you — which of course means that now you'll be fighting ''two'' enemies. [[AnnoyingVideoGameHelper Stop Helping Me]]! In Sion's case, it's justified; he's using the Force to hold his body together in spite all of the damage he takes. Earlier in the game, being on an exploding starship failed to kill him, so naturally you can't either. |
| 132 | ** And when you kill [[spoiler:Kreia]] the first time, she just gets back up and gets a bunch of flying lightsabers to kill you with. |
| 133 | * Parodied in ''VideoGame/LastWord''. Winning the HopelessBossFight against Professor Chatters (entirely possible with enough LevelGrinding) will lead to some EasterEgg dialogue where everyone is flabbergasted. Chatters will then request that Whitty pretend she lost the battle [[BreakingTheFourthWall so that the plot can continue as planned]]. |
| 134 | * ''VideoGame/LieOfCaelum'': |
| 135 | ** Downplayed with Keisar and Vanu, who are still able to stand after their boss battle, but realize that they're outmatched and need to retreat. |
| 136 | ** The trio of government traitors working with the bandits, [[spoiler:Gigarths, Auburn, and Haze]], form a WolfpackBoss and are no worse for wear in the following cutscene. The party is considered outmatched enough that Syou has to teleport them away. |
| 137 | * ''VideoGame/LufiaIIRiseOfTheSinistrals'', in the first battle against Gades. You win, but he blasts you anyway. Then again, [[HopelessBossFight you're really not supposed to win]], unless you've grinded an unholy amount. In fact, he's actually stronger than in the rematch where you're supposed to beat him. He drops a nifty weapon, though, so it's in your best interest to try. |
| 138 | ** If you're powerful enough to not realize immediately that you're supposed to lose, you get to enjoy the experience of burning through your entire inventory of consumable items to drag the fight on as long as possible, resetting the game when you realize it was this trope so that you didn't just lose your entire inventory for nothing, and then trudging from the last save point to offer yourself up to be killed again. |
| 139 | ** ''VideoGame/LufiaTheLegendReturns'' has several similar fights (once again, this includes Gades, but also multiple fights with Daos), in which you're expected to lose, but if you do win, you get a powerful piece of equipment and then get blasted in a cutscene. |
| 140 | ** When Gades attacks Parcelyte in ''VideoGame/LufiaCurseOfTheSinistrals'', you kick his ass… at which point he gets up, proceeds to wreck the city, and gets back into the battle. Once you beat him again, he warps off, with Maxim realizing that Gades was JustToyingWithThem. |
| 141 | * This happens to ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork's'' [=MegaMan.EXE=] all the time. Bosses visibly explode when he defeats them, but only on the battle screen; they'll still be in the cutscene afterwards. Sometimes they'll be exploding again at this point, lasting just long enough to deliver a final line. Other times, they'll be damaged but not out of action -- because YouCantThwartStageOne, or because the boss will be an ally later, or because [=ProtoMan=] is going to show up and save [=MegaMan=] from a last-ditch attack. |
| 142 | ** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PMP3OnW7kw&t=5m55s Shown here]], versus [[VideoGame/MegaManStarForce Mega Man Geo-Omega]], as he falls to one knee instead of exploding like normal. |
| 143 | * ''VideoGame/MonsterHunterWorld'' has a mission chain that starts with a quest to slay a Teostra. The very next mission has that very same Teostra you ''just'' killed(and likely carved choice pieces from) show up, alive but injured, in the Special Arena. |
| 144 | * In ''VideoGame/Mother3'', [[spoiler: the Masked Man]] and [[spoiler: Fassad]] will both fly away after the first time you beat them in a fight. |
| 145 | * ''VideoGame/NeoTheWorldEndsWithYou'' does this after fighting Susukichi at the end of Week 1. In addition to the Wicked Twisters only being able to keep up with Susukichi thanks to Minamimoto [[AloofAlly actually bothering to help]], he looks no worse for wear at the end of the fight. Even worse, the battle doesn't count from the perspective of the Reaper's Game, either -- thanks to [[spoiler:Beat's intervention]], the battle is declared null and void and Susukichi's team remains on top. |
| 146 | * ''VideoGame/OctopathTravelerII'': Hikari [[HopelessBossFight is not meant to win]] the DuelBoss fight against Bandelam, but even if he does, the game carries on as if he didn't -- no matter what, you then fight Bandelam again but this time with the entire party. |
| 147 | * Used in ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor''; when you beat Cortez, he immediately comes back, pointing out that he's a ghost and you can't kill him. He then hands over the star ''anyway'' and lets you use his ship. |
| 148 | * ''VideoGame/ParasiteEve'' has you fight [[BigBad Eve]] a total of ''five'' times with each battle ending in Eve trying to convince Aya to [[WeCanRuleTogether join her side]]. It's not until your last fight with her in her final form that she actually dies and stays dead for good. Unfortunately, [[FinalBoss you still have to deal with her offspring]]. |
| 149 | * ''VideoGame/ParasiteEve2'' has the AxCrazy humanoid golem called No. 9 whom you fight twice. In the first fight, he simply runs away after taking a beating. In the second encounter, Aya's powers go out of control and she winds up frying him alive, but he comes back later on fully recovered. No. 9 is finally killed off in a cutscene by the creature he was trying to release. |
| 150 | * ''VideoGame/RaveHeart'': In the Granian Research Facility, the party fights [[spoiler:Eryn and Heron. After the boss fight, Heron uses telekinesis to knock out Klein and steal the Psi-Drive incriminating Eryn]]. |
| 151 | * ''VideoGame/RiseOfTheThirdPower'': The Bell Ringer boss defeats the party in the post-boss cutscene. However, he spares them out of respect for their strength, despite how capturing them and foiling their kidnapping plot would result in him becoming a hero to Cirinthia. |
| 152 | * ''VideoGame/SacredEarthAlternative'': If the player wins the FinalBoss battle against [[spoiler:True Konoe, she kills the replica in the following cutscene and absorbs the latter's soul and power]]. |
| 153 | * The final boss of ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'' does this ''twice''. |
| 154 | * From the ''VideoGame/{{Suikoden}}'' series: |
| 155 | ** In ''VideoGame/SuikodenII'', when you fight Captain Rowd. It's ''really'' unlikely that you beat him (it would take a ''lot'' of LevelGrinding and it's so early in the game there's very limited opportunity to do it); but if you do, you get a very short cutscene where he steps back in disbelief, and then calls on about 50 soldiers to all dogpile you to get the plot back on the rails. |
| 156 | ** In ''VideoGame/SuikodenV'', if you win the not-quite HopelessBossFight at the start against [[spoiler:Childerich and Dolph]] (actually not that difficult to do with just a little grinding), they just get up completely unharmed, while your character is still worn out, injured, and overwhelmed. |
| 157 | * Very common in the ''VideoGame/{{Tales|Series}}'' series. In fact, it's easier to count the times when TheDragon, the BigBad or the members of the QuirkyMinibossSquad ''don't'' do this. |
| 158 | ** ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'': |
| 159 | *** In the middle of the 1st boss fight there's a scene where the team looks like they got their asses handed to them when Kratos shows up to help. This happens even if you didn't get hit prior to this. |
| 160 | *** Particularly JustForFun/{{egregious}} examples include [[spoiler:Rodyle]], who has enough energy to lumber across the room over to a self-destruct mechanism and activate it, unopposed by the party, and [[spoiler:Kratos' second fight]] (also ''Symphonia''), who post-battle summons about three {{mooks}} and promptly takes the party captive without so much of a sword lifted to oppose him. |
| 161 | ** Hasta from ''VideoGame/TalesOfInnocence'' does it twice. The first time, he seems to be down... then he surprise-stabs Ruca and jumps into a volcano. [[NeverFoundTheBody Think he's dead?]] He later shows up in a battlezone, where you beat him down again... after which he gets up and ''leaps over a fortress wall'' to escape, not even bothering with the trickery. The third time, at the ''end of the game'', he finally goes down for good. |
| 162 | ** Subverted in ''VideoGame/TalesOfHearts''. Shing challenges TheRival Chalcedny for a MacGuffin early in the game. You aren't supposed to win this one, and the party normally collects the MacGuffin while attending to business in the next town. However, if you do manage to beat him, he hands it over immediately, and the next town goes as normal except you don't have to collect it. |
| 163 | ** Also subverted in the original PSX version of ''VideoGame/TalesOfDestiny''. If you win the first boss fight against Leon (he's supposed to arrest you for the plot to continue), you get a NonStandardGameOver where Rutee becomes proud enough of her abilities to go on some zany adventures unrelated to the main plot. |
| 164 | ** in ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'', Yuri's DuelBoss fight against Don Whitehorse. It's meant to be a HopelessBossFight, as the Don's stats are ludicrously high for the point in the game the fight takes place. However, it actually is ''possible'' to win, especially on NewGamePlus. If you do, however, the outcome is still presented as the same, with Yuri barely able to stand and the Don having apparently not even broken a sweat. |
| 165 | * In ''VideoGame/VampiresDawn'' you're supposed to lose your first fight against Abraxas. Since the game has a NewGamePlus feature, it's possible to win the fight, but the game proceeds just as if you had lost. |
| 166 | * The ''VideoGame/WildArms'' games have so many {{Quirky Miniboss Squad}}s and {{Goldfish Poop Gang}}s that when you fight a human enemy, you can almost guarantee they'll get back up when they're done. Interestingly, you will generally get experience from all of these fights, but you'll only get gold and (sometimes) items from the one in which you finally do the bad guy in. The only exception is the fourth game, where instead of fighting the same group over and over again, you simply fight each member of a ''much larger'' group exactly once. |
| 167 | * An interesting inversion occurs in the bonus chapter of ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'': Any time the player loses a match of Tin Pin Slammer, his opponent will usually allow the player to try again with no penalty. If this happens during the tournament at Molco, even Neku is surprised when the tournament's sponsor signs him up for another attempt. |
| 168 | ** The story battles with [[spoiler:Reaper Beat]] and [[spoiler:Taboo Minamimoto]] are on invisible time limits, but with a good pin deck and equipment, the player ''can'' beat them before the timer runs out, which will cause the boss to drop their rewards. Regardless of the outcome, though, the cutscenes after the battles will act as though Neku never stood a chance. |
| 169 | * The ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'' franchise has plenty. Granted, often they're done by divine characters, or ones that have [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence Ascended to a higher plane of existence]]. Still pretty funny seeing them reel in pain one instant then stand up and give you a speech about how it was all futile the next. |
| 170 | * The ''VideoGame/TrailsSeries'' loves this trope, especially for the [[LegionOfDoom Enforcers of Ouroboros]], who'll usually get up no worse for wear after a long, difficult boss fight, reveal [[IAmNotLeftHanded they were holding back]] and either waste the party or just run. Justified in-story as the games treat their young protagonists realistically: they're nowhere near a match for opponents that powerful and usually need [[BigDamnHeroes help from more seasoned fighters]] to even force them into retreating. |
| 171 | * ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1'' has a number of fights which you are meant to lose. In such fights, you are unable to reduce the enemy's health below a certain point, and they will eventually unleash a special attack that leads into the cutscene. Thus, even if you're overleveled from LevelGrinding or a NewGamePlus and "beat" them [[CurbStompBattle without taking a scratch]], the [[CutsceneIncompetence cutscene will show your party getting annihilated]]. |
| 172 | * Happens from time to time in ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'', although if it's the party's direct opponent that will be issuing a curb-stomp following the battle, it usually kicks in after reducing their health to a certain level instead of defeating them completely. Having access to a full [[CombinationAttack Driver Combo]] early in the game can still finish these opening skirmishes jarringly quick. |
| 173 | ** More hilariously, [[spoiler:Zeke was trying to make this an InvokedTrope during his [[RecurringBoss first two battles]], but an invisible wind-up for his attack keeps getting interrupted by outside factors. When he opens with this move next time and instantly floors the entire party, they're shocked his boasts actually had something behind them]]. |
| 174 | * Played with in ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3'' after the first fight with Moebius. After getting PunchedAcrossTheRoom by Noah and Mio's [[ATasteOfPower first Interlink]], he dusts himself off and suddenly admits "We'll say I lost this one, yeah?" The party notice he's not quite talking to them and he actually bows out for a different reason ([[spoiler:his own Interlink is visibly overheating]]), but he still leaves with a surprising amount of grace. |
| 175 | [[/folder]] |
| 176 | |
| 177 | [[folder:Fan-Made Modules]] |
| 178 | * One community-created ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'' module, entitled Dastard's Morrow: Maiden Voyage, contains a boss who can't be killed so long as she has a charged magic urn (all of which get recharged every few moments by the artifact you are trying to recover). You either need to get the artifact (which requires a will save) or smash all the urns (which are rather tough) to finish her [[spoiler:and then you have to find the secret door and destroy her at the final urn behind the wall to actually kill her]] |
| 179 | * You can't actually kill Vico if you choose to fight him in the dwarven inn in the ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'' module ''VideoGame/ADanceWithRogues''. He becomes invincible as soon as he has 1hp left and you have to fight him in the Drow arena anyway. Though at the end of that one you get to decide if you kill him there (and get lots of evil alignment points) or let him live, in which case you have to fight him later in the tunnels anyway. |
| 180 | [[/folder]] |
| 181 | |
| 182 | [[folder:Fighting]] |
| 183 | * ''Franchise/BlazBlue'': |
| 184 | ** In multiple characters' story mode endings, defeating v-13 is followed immediately by dying (or worse) to CutscenePowerToTheMax v-13. When you defeat Terumi in Arcade mode, he writes it off as just a warmup. ''VideoGame/BlazBlueChronophantasma'' also abuses this to a '''disgusting''' degree, especially when Azrael is involved. |
| 185 | ** In ''VideoGame/BlazBlueContinuumShift'' you fight Hazama many times throughout all of the characters' story and arcade modes. Even if you beat him without getting hit, even if you finished him off with an Astral Heat, the following cutscene will show him being just fine while your character is struggling to catch their breath. |
| 186 | ** True to form, in ''VideoGame/BlazBlueCrossTagBattle'' this also comes up in battles against really strong characters like Jubei and Azrael, due to the PowerCreepPowerSeep from a multi-franchise crossover. For example in the UNIEL Story, Hyde bumps into [[spoiler:Weiss]] being attacked by Azrael and Carmine and he jumps in to save her; even though the player wins the ensuing fight, the result is Hyde and [[spoiler:Weiss]] taking the chance to book it after they realise they're not hurting either of them. |
| 187 | * In both ''VideoGame/Persona4Arena'' and ''VideoGame/Persona4ArenaUltimax'', fighting Elizabeth or Margaret is a reminder that either Velvet Room sister is far beyond what the other playable characters are capable of. Margaret can at least pretend she's taking damage, while Elizabeth spares no such courtesy to her opponent, preferring to adopt exaggerated dramatic poses whenever they strike her. If you manage to knock them down, they'll prop their heads with one hand and lie on the floor while smirking coyly at their opponent. In story mode, this translates to a "win" against them being your character remaining conscious long enough to satisfy whatever curiosity they had. |
| 188 | * This happens quite often in ''Franchise/DragonBall'' video games. |
| 189 | ** Seen in ''VideoGame/DragonBallZBudokaiTenkaichi 1'' and ''2'''s Story Modes. The only way to advance the plot is to win every fight, even if the ensuing cutscene shows that you lost the fight miserably. Partially averted when you manage to beat unbeatable opponents; sadly, this simply unlocks the next stage instead of showing you what repercussions this would have on the story (i.e. you never go to Namek, Frieza becomes immortal and takes over the universe). It's fully averted in ''Budokai Tenkaichi 3'', where you are simply assigned to use whoever is supposed to win. |
| 190 | ** Actually, ''Budokai Tenkaichi 3'' is pretty generous when averting this. Granted, when playing in a fight you're expected to lose, the odds will be stacked against you in gameplay to reflect that (you deal less damage when fighting some characters who are "too powerful" in the story, even sometimes zero damage if they want to ensure you won't win [on occasion, not win ''yet'']), but play carefully and you can end up winning with a character who is canonically "too weak" to ever match up. This can result in something like Tenshinhan defeating Nappa before Chiaotzu can sacrifice himself, Roshi defeating Broly, or even having ''Hercule defeat Kid Buu!'' They even give you a cutscene with that victory, to boot! |
| 191 | ** In ''VideoGame/DragonBallAdvancedAdventure'', when Goku fights Tao Pai Pai and King Piccolo for the first time, he's severely weakened and supposed to lose. If you win, you lose control, the enemy stands up and knocks out a massively [[CutsceneIncompetence cutscene incompetent]] Goku. At least you won't get a "You Lose" message. Against Jackie Chun, however, you're required to ''win''. |
| 192 | ** In ''Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi'', the first fight against Omega Shenron is ''supposed'' to be a HopelessBossFight. He's got a ton of health and hits like a ton of bricks. However, for whatever reason they decided to make it possible to beat him (possibly due to gameplay limitations, or maybe just laziness). The following scene still plays out the same way regardless of if he curbstomped you or vice-versa. |
| 193 | ** Ditto ''Dragon Ball Z: Hyper Dimension'', where fights are meant to be [[HopelessBossFight hopeless]], but in reality taking down the likes of Freeza with Piccolo isn't even particularly hard. The game will acknowledge the win with a single changed line of dialogue where the defeated enemy says he's going to win anyway, then move on as if you lost. |
| 194 | ** During the Villains arc of ''VideoGame/DragonBallFighterZ'', Cell goes [[DuelBoss one-on-one]] against BigBad Android 21. Regardless of how well Cell does in the battle, the story acts as if 21 utterly throttled Cell, and he's forced to retreat. |
| 195 | ** ''Supersonic Warriors'''s story mode also avoids this primarily by just skipping over fights in which the bad guys effortlessly pummel the good guys. On rare occasions, though, you do actually get to play as the bad guy for those fights. |
| 196 | * This gets pulled a lot during the final route of ''VideoGame/DuelSaviorDestiny''. For example, you're clearing supposed to fail against Shezar in a DuelBoss fight against him. You're even using a character you have ''never'' had access to in any route before this and who rarely even appeared. Even if you win, he just reveals you beat a double, beats you up anyway and forces you to beat him with the 'right' character after that. |
| 197 | * In a similar vein to the above example, [[SpiritualSuccessor fittingly enough]], ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'' has a few examples of this whenever a "relatively normal" ([[RagtagBunchOfMisfits note the quotation marks]]) character takes on the likes of, say, [[HumanoidAbomination Sol Badguy]], [[RealityWarper Bedman]] or [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Slayer]]. Many characters who manage to "defeat" Sol in a fight, for instance, will note afterwards that he was holding back his full power tremendously, partly because [[PersonOfMassDestruction he'd destroy the entire area if he went all-out]], and partly because [[BrilliantButLazy he's a bit of a lazy ass, even when it comes to fighting]]. In Slayer's case, his defeat pose doesn't even consist of him being knocked out like everyone, he just lays on the ground in pose that indicates less that he lost and more that he's done fighting. |
| 198 | * There's a variant in ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcomInfinite'' that concludes chapter 1 of the story mode. BigBad Ultron-Sigma arrives to personally grind the heroes into dust, and [[HopelessBossFight they will most likely succeed]] due to their immense offensive and defensive strength. In the event you manage to hold out long enough to knock Ultron-Sigma down to 30% health, the fight immediately stops to play the same cutscene as if you lost, in which the villain is totally unharmed and starts thrashing the rest of the heroes. |
| 199 | * The fight against Sindel in ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9'' could be a textbook example, to the point one may wonder why the game even ''bothered'' giving you the opportunity to fight her. Even if you completely and utterly wreck her without taking a single hit, as soon as the next cutscene happens, she'll be back to mopping the floor with our heroes, thus cementing her newfound status as TheScrappy among fans of the series. |
| 200 | * Galleom in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'' does this ''twice in a row''. The first time, Ike, Marth, and Meta Knight deplete its health, but even its losing animation shows that its not done for. It opts to leave the area and ends up facing Lucas and the Pokemon Trainer immediately afterwards, and is at full health when that second fight begins. Galleom only falls when it activates the Subspace Bomb in its body, like it was meant to do so in the first place. |
| 201 | * ''VideoGame/Tekken8'': |
| 202 | ** Happens repeatedly to Jin in story mode, starting with the very beginning of the game when he fights Kazuya. No matter how well you do in the fight, once it's over Kazuya just gets back up and proceeds to utterly curbstomp Devil Jin with no effort. |
| 203 | ** Played for laughs in Kuma's Character Episode, where he beats Xiaoyu, takes over the Mishima Zibatsu, proposes to Panda... and then wakes up to realize that it was OnlyADream and he'd actually gotten knocked out by Xiaoyu. |
| 204 | * In the original ''WWE Day of Reckoning'' video game for the Platform/NintendoGameCube, your character is put in a match with either Ric Flair or the Big Show at the end of his stint on Sunday Night Heat, to prepare you to move to Raw (Flair) or Smackdown (Big Show). This match is incredibly difficult to win -- the AI will counter nearly every move you make, and has far more impactful moves than you do -- but it can be done. The ensuing cutscene, however, will play out exactly the same as if you'd gotten your ass handed to you (which was clearly the developers' intent for the match). |
| 205 | [[/folder]] |
| 206 | |
| 207 | [[folder:First-Person Shooter]] |
| 208 | * In the original ''VideoGame/CallOfJuarez'', even if you "kill" the final boss with a shot to the head, he will always be back for a rematch, explaining that [[spoiler:his chestplate saved him]]. |
| 209 | * ''VideoGame/SystemShock'': [[TheDragon Edward Diego]] only bites it after the third encounter. |
| 210 | [[/folder]] |
| 211 | |
| 212 | [[folder:Hack and Slash]] |
| 213 | * Happens in basically every fight with Aesir in ''VideoGame/Bayonetta2''. Yes, even the final one. However, there's at least a reason you had to beat him up each time. |
| 214 | ** First time, as The Prophet, beating him just gives Bayonetta and Loki a chance to escape through a portal to Hell. |
| 215 | ** Second time, as his child form Loptr, beating him just means he stops playing, but overdoes it and knocks you out of the sky, inadvertently letting you escape. |
| 216 | ** Even in the final fight: |
| 217 | *** Beating Phase 1 just gives your ally [[spoiler:Balder]] enough time to recover. |
| 218 | *** Beating Phase 2+3 gives your other allies enough time [[spoiler:to activate the Void card]]. |
| 219 | *** After this, you ''finally'' get to deliver a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown. |
| 220 | * ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'': |
| 221 | ** Every single boss in the [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry1 first game]]. All of them. [[spoiler:And some of them even come back after they're DeadForReal.]] |
| 222 | ** A fair few of them refuse to go away in ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry3DantesAwakening'' too. Depending on the battle, the opponent actually [[HeadsIWinTailsYouLose triumphs over you]] but flees (Vergil), or would seemingly escape their demise at first (Beowulf). |
| 223 | ** In ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'', three of the bosses survive to be killed by Dante when you play the game as him, but travel through Nero's steps in reverse. Two of them survive Nero to be pummeled by Nero again later on. Hell, one of those two comes back a third time, ''to be killed by Dante again''. These guys just don't ''die''. |
| 224 | ** In ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry5'', it doesn't matter how much you are styling on the final boss in Mission 19, [[spoiler:Vergil]] knocks away Dante after losing all their health, and the following cutscene shows them being about evenly matched. |
| 225 | * In the ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors'' series (and the related ''VideoGame/SamuraiWarriors'' and ''VideoGame/WarriorsOrochi''), after you defeat opposing playable characters in battle, they are usually shown retreating, only dying if the story requires it or it's the last stage. This is most noticeable in stages where your objective is to chase down the enemy commander before they get a chance to retreat and live to fight another day. After catching and defeating them, you then get a cutscene — where they retreat and live to fight another day. |
| 226 | * Many, many times in the ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara'' series. It's all well and good that some of the characters don't want to kill their {{Worthy Opponent}}s, which allows them to pop up later in the story, but most of the major battles end with the loser not even showing signs of being hurt. |
| 227 | * ''VideoGame/KnightsOfValour 2'' is a weird example. Very early on in the game, you fight Duan at night, but then he tells you to wait until the next day. Then they start running until the next day, and then you fight him again. He doesn't regain any health between night and day, so this seems kind of pointless. |
| 228 | [[/folder]] |
| 229 | |
| 230 | [[folder:MOBA]] |
| 231 | * In ''VideoGame/DefenseOfTheAncients'', one of the heroes has a spell that makes the enemy have to kill him twice. |
| 232 | [[/folder]] |
| 233 | |
| 234 | [[folder:MMORPG]] |
| 235 | * Happens with certain important characters in ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'' and ''VideoGame/CityOfVillains''. Sometimes you'll see the character collapse and be informed through dialog afterward that they actually retreated or teleported or whathaveyou, other times they'll actually play a teleport-away animation. Some of these characters don't even HAVE a defeated animation, and will play their teleport-away animation when defeated even if in-context you really did defeat them for real. |
| 236 | ** Mary [=MacComber=] is the most extreme example. You fight her, she is defeated, she comes back stronger to fight again ''nine times''. |
| 237 | * ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'' has the appropriately-named Ed the Undying, who keeps getting back up after you beat him (looking increasingly beat up and with fewer HitPoints each time) until finally after seven fights you sweep what's left of him (which is ''still'' trying to kill you) into a corner and leave him there. |
| 238 | ** The final boss in this game also has three forms - A Naughty Sorceress, some kind of tentacle monster, and finally a sausage, who can only be killed with a certain weapon. |
| 239 | * ''Franchise/{{Warcraft|ExpandedUniverse}}'': |
| 240 | ** In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', the final boss of the Ring of Blood, Mogor, will resurrect and fight you a second time. Justified by the fact that the Shaman character class has precisely this ability, though player characters have a less powerful version of the spell than Mogor. |
| 241 | ** Whitemane (a priest) in Scarlet Monastery: Once you kill her superior, Highlord Mograine, she appears, puts the whole party to sleep and revives him. For an extra bonus, any other enemy left alive will be able to beat on the sleeping players for the entire duration. |
| 242 | ** Kael'Thas is well known for this, having reappeared in the level 70 instance Magister's Terrace following his supposed death in Tempest Keep. Thus leading to his well known (and mocked) quote: 'Tempest Keep was merely a setback...' |
| 243 | ** [[spoiler:The Lich King does this. After you get him to 10% of his health, he one-shots everyone in the party and prevents you from resurrecting. A cutscene brings you back to life and imprisons the Lich King, making him unable to do anything, so your entire party can just wail on him until he dies. Technically his HP doesn't drop to zero, but it's the same thing.]] |
| 244 | ** And that's the ''best'' case. If you fight him in the Halls of Reflection, you can deal enough damage to kill him, but he'll remain at 1 health without so much as an "Immune" or "Absorb". |
| 245 | [[/folder]] |
| 246 | |
| 247 | [[folder:Non-Game]] |
| 248 | * The abuse of this trope is how Film/{{Doctor Strange|2016}} defeats Dormammu. Using the Eye of Agamotto, he creates a loop of time that resets time to the moment he entered the Dark Dimension when he stops maintaining the loop. So he flies up to confront Dormammu, who promptly blows him up... and time resets. He flies up again, Dormammu impales him... and time resets. He flies up again, Dormammu squashes him... and time resets. Repeat again and again and again until Dormammu is willing to swear to abandon his conquest and leave Earth in peace if Strange will only ''let him go''. |
| 249 | [[/folder]] |
| 250 | |
| 251 | [[folder:Platformer]] |
| 252 | * The BigBad of ''[[VideoGame/GhostsNGoblins Ghouls 'n Ghosts]]''. If you actually manage to beat that hellish game once, you discover you must beat it AGAIN while somehow managing to keep the weapon you receive by beating the final boss the first time through. |
| 253 | * In ''VideoGame/JakIIRenegade'' [[GeneralRipper Baron Praxis]] manages to do this ''twice'', though both cases are [[JustifiedTrope justified]] as he fights you in a mech suit that gets destroyed and only escape module he pilots stays relatively unharmed: |
| 254 | ** First time you fight him in a frustrating BossBattle at the Roof of the Palace. You defeat him and he escapes, though that's kinda expected since you're into the third of the game and he's shaped as BigBad up until this point. |
| 255 | ** The second frustrating battle takes place in Mar's Tomb to stop him from getting the [[MacGuffin Precursor Stone]]. What makes it worse is that even winning doesn't stop him from getting away with it! Come on! |
| 256 | * Bass in ''VideoGame/MegaMan7'' and ''VideoGame/MegaMan8'' will always have his health reduced to a single point when you defeat him, even if your attack is more than powerful enough to knock out his health in a single shot. Bass makes his speech and then teleports away. Every other boss explodes when their health is depleted, but Bass always manages to survive through LastChanceHitPoint. |
| 257 | ** To a lesser extent, Ballade in ''VideoGame/MegaManIV'' and Buster Rod G in ''Mega Man: The Wily Wars''. Both were left with 1 HP after their initial battles (and both are put down in a second battle). |
| 258 | ** Zig-zagged with the battles against Vile, Bit, & Byte in ''VideoGame/MegaManX3''; even if you blow out all their HP, they will leave the field in the first fight... unless the fatal blow was with a weakness weapon, in which case they die instead. The bosses you fight in the first two Doppler stages depend on which of the trio you fragged; the first alternate boss requires both Bit and Byte to be scrapped, while the second merely requires you kill Vile. |
| 259 | * ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'': |
| 260 | ** Justified in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'', ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'', and ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'' whenever two playable characters come to blows, due to the games' usage of AnotherSideAnotherStory and RashomonStyle. One character's story will have them winning the fight, the other character's story will have ''them'' winning the fight, but both stories continue as if the fight ended in a stalemate. The fight between Sonic/Tails and Gamma in ''Adventure'' throws in an extra justification in the form of Amy Rose intervening to stop the fight before the winner can finish off the loser. |
| 261 | ** In one level of ''VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog'', the Dark mission is to destroy the President's escape pod, which the game tells you will kill him. If you succeed in destroying the pod, however, the following cutscene has him walking away, saddened but perfectly unharmed. |
| 262 | ** [[SmugSuper Infinite]] in ''VideoGame/SonicForces'' defeats Sonic in a 5-on-1 cutscene fight in the prologue, but loses to him in their first proper boss fight, expressing shock at how powerful Sonic is. Despite this, the following cutscene has him overpower Sonic and suddenly decide that he's NotWorthKilling. He'll even proceed to brag to Eggman that he's ''never'' lost to Sonic, unlike him. The [[CharacterCustomization Avatar]] later fights Infinite (who had previously traumatized them by killing all their comrades), and comes out on top in the boss fight. Yet again, the following cutscene has Infinite acting like he's still invincible and sparing the Avatar on a whim, not even dwelling for too long on why [[spoiler:his powers briefly stopped working]]. |
| 263 | * ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankGoingCommando'' has the battle with the Thief, who gets trashed enough to fall on the ground unconscious, but gets up the moment nobody looks seconds later and escapes on hoverboeard that didn't get damaged during the heated fight either. Then there is Thug-4-Less leader, who is seen crashing in his helicopter and exploding with his mecha after respective boss fights with him, yet somehow survives all of that and keeps comng for more. Only the third time he stays down for good. |
| 264 | [[/folder]] |
| 265 | |
| 266 | [[folder:Real Time Strategy]] |
| 267 | * In ''VideoGame/MagicAndMayhem'', bosses frequently teleport away rather than dying when their health reaches 0. Amusingly, the second time you meet Ariadne, the developers forgot to do this, and it's possible to kill her. She still shows up a few levels later to do her HeelFaceTurn, though. |
| 268 | * ''VideoGame/{{Starcraft}}'': |
| 269 | ** There's a mission where you have to defend a base for 30 minutes. If you're talented enough, it's possible to fend off your attackers, go on the offensive, kill the Zerg standing army, burn the Zerg base to the ground, and then begin mining operations where the Zerg base once stood. However, you're still "rescued" and subsequently declared outlaw for allying yourself with a traitorous faction when the timer rolls to zero. |
| 270 | ** In the 9th Terran mission, you could put Kerrigan onto a DropShip and fly that to a far-off corner of the map, well away from your base, but the Zerg that come in at the end still find a way to capture her. Also, you could make your base's defense strong enough to actually hold off the attack. |
| 271 | ** On the final mission of the original game's campaigns, you could kill every single Zerg on the map except for the Overmind, then completely close in on it with 400 troops for a final victory...only to have Tassadar say that your side has taken heavy damage and that he needs to [[HeroicSacrifice end it once and for all]]. The final cutscene will still be full of Zerg, either way... |
| 272 | ** There actually was an intended option (restored in ''VideoGame/StarcraftMassRecall'') that destroying enough Zerg is considered breaching their blockade and leads to an earlier victory. |
| 273 | ** The final Protoss mission in the expansion has you defending a temple. The outlying computer bases are on islands that are ridiculously heavily fortified to prevent players from carrying out this trope. However, skilled players can easily gather the resources necessary for 4 or 5 keys of guardians and 2 keys of corsairs. These units, when properly managed, can tear through the static defenses, leaving only the pathetic standing army to stop you. As your reward for killing the unkillable bases, the game forces you to sit for 30 minutes while you can do nothing but look at the screen before cutting to a video of you almost dying anyway. |
| 274 | * ''Franchise/{{Warcraft|ExpandedUniverse}}'': |
| 275 | ** ''Warcraft III'' has a mission similar to the one in ''Starcraft'', but there are no magically-spawning enemies, and if you destroy the enemy bases, the mission ends regardless of time; the cutscene always shows Uther and a bunch of Knights coming to the rescue, though, even if there wasn't a single Undead left on the map just a second ago. |
| 276 | ** Mal'Ganis did this both in ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'' and the recreation in the MMO in the "Culling of Stratholme". Quite intentionally so as he wanted to lure Arthas to Northrend. |
| 277 | [[/folder]] |
| 278 | |
| 279 | [[folder:Roguelike]] |
| 280 | * The ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeon'' games do this with pretty much every boss. |
| 281 | ** Except for Groudon in [[VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeonRescueTeam Red/Blue Rescue Team]]. |
| 282 | [[/folder]] |
| 283 | |
| 284 | [[folder:Shoot 'em Up]] |
| 285 | * In ''VideoGame/SinAndPunishmentStarSuccessor'', you fight every member of the [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Nebulox]], bringing their HP to zero, yet they live to fight another day. |
| 286 | * ''VideoGame/StarFox'': |
| 287 | ** In ''VideoGame/StarFox64'', after you whittle down Andross's "Weapon X" health bar to 0, the robot just gets back up with half of his health refilled. And then Slippy gets in the way and is knocked to another planet if you take too long; but then you only have to get the health bar down halfway before it suddenly drops to nothing (and stays onscreen instead of disappearing for the cutscene). And the boss doesn't explode [[MadeOfExplodium like every other one does]]. It's fairly clear something is up even before it suddenly revives. |
| 288 | ** ''VideoGame/StarFoxAssault'': You very clearly defeat Star Wolf by shooting down their ships, causing them to explode, but they are perfectly fine in the immediately following cutscene. |
| 289 | * In ''VideoGame/SunsetRiders'', when you finally defeat Chief Scalpen, he doesn't die like the other bosses, he is simply wounded, and his sister enters the screen and pleads for mercy... "Please, don't shoot my brother, he was only following orders!", "Alright, Ma'am, we won't shoot him!" [[MoreDakka Despite the fact we've already shot him about 50 times!]] |
| 290 | * Every boss in ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' explodes spectacularly after being defeated, even if you don't hit them once. In the post-battle cutscene, however, they rarely have more than a few scratches. Completely justified, as the spellcard rules were created for the express purpose of ensuring fights would be non-lethal. |
| 291 | [[/folder]] |
| 292 | |
| 293 | [[folder:Simulator]] |
| 294 | * ''VideoGame/AceCombat'' series is often guilty of this. |
| 295 | ** Enforced in ''VideoGame/AceCombat04ShatteredSkies'': the Yellow Squadron is almost impossible to hit when they first show up in the fourth mission. If you ''do'' manage to hit them, they're actually immune to damage. Your only choice is to run away. |
| 296 | ** In the penultimate level of ''VideoGame/AceCombat5TheUnsungWar'', you can kill [[spoiler:Hamilton]] before going into the tunnel, but he will still chase after you inside. The game goes out of its way to point out that his plane is damaged but not shot down, and when he returns later, you can't exactly turn around to shoot at him again. |
| 297 | * In the final Loki series mission of ''VideoGame/WingCommander III'', you're given the option to engage [[BigBad Prince Thrakhath]] at the end of the mission, but [[TimedMission your carrier is about to jump out of the system]], so if you stop to engage Thrakhath you won't make it home, and wind up stranded in the system (game over). However, if you conserve your missiles in the earlier parts, you can [[MacrossMissileMassacre salvo-fire all of them]] and run for the carrier while the missiles track him down. If they make the kill before you land you get the death message, but at the end of the final mission in the game he shows up again as if nothing had happened to him in the Loki system.[[note]]This only works in the original version. The ''Kilrathi Saga'' compilation changed the coding so that the second he dies, the carrier jumps out, even if there's time left on the countdown.[[/note]] |
| 298 | [[/folder]] |
| 299 | |
| 300 | [[folder:Stealth]] |
| 301 | * ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'': |
| 302 | ** You can shoot someone with a few dozen bullets, and drain off his life points. But often enough he either gets away anyway or at least tells you his life story before dying. Psycho Mantis is quite talkative before his end, while Sniper Wolf gets away after the first battle. Revolver Ocelot escapes whatever you throw at him, though he sometimes at least shows he got hurt. Liquid, however, is the game's master of this little maneuver: his first battle with Snake ends when the helicopter he's piloting gets shot down in flames, and when he reappears uninjured a matter of hours later, it is probably the least absurd comeback he pulls off (the others involve an explosion right next to him so strong it knocked Solid out ''from across the room'', and being beaten to death followed by a twenty-story fall). |
| 303 | ** The sequels are better with this. In ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty 2]]'', you only tranquilize Olga, so no problems with her survival, Vamp... is immortal, so don't ask me how his life bar works anyway, Fatman does seem to meet his end when you beat him, so does Solidus. In ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater Three]]'', Ocelot does survive no matter what you hit him with, but the Cobras all have the decency to blow up after you beat them. And in ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots Four]]'', all battles are final. |
| 304 | ** Interestingly justified in ''[=MGS3=]: Snake Eater''. All of your fights with Ocelot end with him either narrowly surviving or knocked out. When he is knocked out, you can pull out a weapon and kill him...but because the game takes in the past, and we have already seen him in the present, [[NonStandardGameOver the game ends]] with a screen that says "Time Paradox". You can even hear [[TheCameo Col. Campbell]] say "You can't go changing history like that!" And there's only one time you can get to him when he's knocked out, and it's in the ProlongedPrologue, so once you progress past this point, Ocelot is SavedByCanon. |
| 305 | ** ''3'' does have one fairly blatant example, however — near the end of the game, you rig a warehouse holding an experimental supertank to explode and have a duel with the BigBad. He falls, the place goes boom, and as our heroes escape, the BigBad drives out ''in'' the tank, meaning that neither planting the bombs nor the battle mattered; not helped by the presence of ''two more battles'' against the duo later. |
| 306 | * ''Every single boss'' in ''Tenchu Stealth Assassin''; whenever you kill a boss, the following cutscene shows them falling to their knees at the very spot they were standing on before the battle began, HighPressureBlood blurting out of their chest as they utter their LastWords. Even if the killing blow you delivered already sent them lying on the floor (by throwing them a grenade to the face or a very powerful upwards slash). Or even if you lured them away from the area where you were supposed to fight them and sent them [[SuperDrowningSkills drowning to death]] in a river at the other side of the game map. |
| 307 | ** If you enter a cheat code allowing you to [[GameBreaker deal 100 points of damage to an enemy]] and use it to kill a boss that was supposed to [[VillainExitStageLeft survive the fight]], the game will still consider they were alive for the following cutscene. Prime examples of this are the first fight with [[RoundhouseKick Onikage]] (in the first game) and Lady Kagami (in the sequel). |
| 308 | [[/folder]] |
| 309 | |
| 310 | [[folder:Strategy RPG]] |
| 311 | * In ''VideoGame/BleachThe3rdPhantom'', no matter how badly Mad Eater is defeated or by whom, he always gets back up to gloat that the Kudo twins are too weak to hurt him. That is, until the twins gain their Shikai, after which Mad Eater is promptly KilledOffForReal. |
| 312 | * In ''Franchise/FireEmblem'', a character who is defeated in battle is KilledOffForReal. However, many games have a HopelessBossFight in which you're supposed to avoid the boss instead of fighting them. However, if you do manage to beat them, either through the use of a glitch or just really strong units, they retreat but remain alive. |
| 313 | ** ''Fire Emblem: The Blazing Sword'' has a noteworthy exception: you aren't supposed to be able to kill [[HopelessBossFight Vaida]] in Chapter 24/26 but rather keep your distance, and she'll become recruitable a few chapters later; if you ''do'' kill her, however, she is KilledOffForReal and never appears again. In fairness, she's not a particularly major character, so unlike most bosses, her death doesn't impact the gameplay very much. |
| 314 | ** A similar thing happens for the player's party in some recent ''Fire Emblem'' games. For characters vital to the plot, except the main character, a dialogue will take place in which they say "I'm retreating". Then, though the units remain unplayable, they still appear in cutscenes to make it so the game wouldn't require a million cutscenes to replace the events of what happens when important characters die. [[FridgeLogic However, not much explanation goes into the reasoning of why the retreated characters can't be healed by a team of high-leveled healers...]] |
| 315 | ** In ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn Radiant Dawn]]'', if you manage to defeat Ike in Chapter 3-13, he merely says that you've held out longer than he expected before being informed by one of his soldiers that his forces have breached your defenses at another location. The wounds that would have resulted in a Game Over were he under your control don't seem to bother him much. |
| 316 | ** In ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar Genealogy of the Holy War]]'', after King Chagall is defeated and flashes away in chapter 2, it's revealed that actually he didn't die because a mysterious person saved him at the last minute and allowed him to escape. This is a little hard to visualise given he was just a moment ago engaged in direct combat, but at least the identity of this mysterious person is revealed pretty much immediately and it does make total sense for them to do that. Unusually, the narrative explanation actually makes more in-story sense, though, as Sigurd didn't really have any reason to try to kill Chagall at that time, and spends many months afterwards trying to arrange for him to return to the throne. |
| 317 | ** This happens often in Part 2 of ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses Three Houses]]'', where you will regularly battle the leader and/or retainer of at least one other house, though they cannot be properly defeated until the end of the game. Hubert in particular is infamous among the fandom for being fought many times but always managing to teleport away before being killed (despite this teleportation magic never showing up in any other situation, and certainly not when he's actually playable). |
| 318 | * This happens constantly throughout the PSP game ''VideoGame/JeanneDArc''. The most egregious example happens to be English general John Talbot who you fight at least a dozen times, and he's always frustratingly hard. What the game doesn't tell you is that Talbot is actually immortal, and will never die for real, no matter how times Jeanne cuts him down. Eventually you're saved from Talbot by him just getting bored with fighting you. |
| 319 | * In ''VideoGame/MarioPlusRabbidsKingdomBattle'', you fight a duo of unique Rabbids named "Bwario" and "Bwaluigi" at the end of Chapter 4-7. Despite the fact that they share the same death animation as all the other Rabbids ([[NonLethalKO evaporating in a technological aura resembling the Megabug, which releases them from their corruption]]), the cutscene that follows the battle shows the two alive and well, and they [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere run off]] and join a third unique Rabbid before battling you again in Chapter 4-8. |
| 320 | * In ''VideoGame/SoulNomadAndTheWorldEaters'', Feinne clocks in at a thousand levels and is supposed to be unbeatable without Gig's help, but thanks to grinding and planning, you can actually defeat her in those battles where you're really expected to lose. While the very first one leads to an Asagi encounter (and a very sudden end due to the plot — and the world — being broken), later ones (such as after Feinne destroys Raide) simply have the cutscene act out as though you were beaten. (May be justified since merely defeating Feinne is not enough to actually kill her.) |
| 321 | * The Belial is pretty easy to beat in ''Third VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsZ: Tengoku-hen''. In fact, Leonard's Twofold Action basically ends up just giving anyone he targets extra chances to hit the Belial since Leonard's stats are kind of garbage. Which makes sense, given that he's not actually utilizing any of the Belial's potential. However, the Belial isn't actually beaten. Z-BLUE decides to focus fire upon the Belial, and Sousuke tells Leonard that even he can't fight the entirety of Z-BLUE single-handedly. Leonard agrees, but intends to destroy the Arbalest all the same. The Belial begins tearing the Arbalest apart, with Leonard stating that it's a fine unit, yet as a toy it's still lacking. The Arbalest is completely destroyed, and a dying AL tells Sousuke to bail out. "You did well AL... I hereby relieve you of duty." |
| 322 | * In ''VideoGame/TearsToTiara2'', before your final encounter with them, battles with Izebel and/or Laelius always have a timed survival or some form of escape as the winning condition, with defeating them being a bonus option. But no matter whether or not you defeat them, the story always pretends you took the escape option. |
| 323 | * In ''VideoGame/TelepathTactics'', some maps will feature plot-important enemies who you aren't intended to fight, and who reappear later in the story. If you ''do'' manage to reduce their health to 0, they'll just run away, without even dropping their inventory. You might get a special line of dialogue for your trouble, though. |
| 324 | [[/folder]] |
| 325 | |
| 326 | [[folder:Third-Person Shooter]] |
| 327 | * Pretty much every battle in ''VideoGame/EarthDefenseForce'' has this. The narrative describes the EDF forces dwindling and being driven back, with repeated need for decisive victories — yet in every battle the player has participated in, including ones that were supposed to be the decisive ones, the EDF trounced the Ravagers. |
| 328 | * The first battle with Albert Wesker in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'' will always end with Wesker mocking you, even if [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill several rockets blew his face open a few moments ago.]] |
| 329 | * ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2'' ''loves'' this trope. You kill them in the boss battle? They're still alive afterwards. It gets to the point where it's just silly if you used explosives. Especially with [[RasputinianDeath Mr. Sunshine]]. |
| 330 | [[/folder]] |
| 331 | |
| 332 | [[folder:Tower Defense]] |
| 333 | * The second boss of ''VideoGame/ImmortalDefense'' is unstoppable as a plot point: [[spoiler:in order to set up the rest of the game, in which you essentially go insane as a result of failing to defend your planet, the boss has to actually penetrate your defenses and destroy your planet]]. |
| 334 | [[/folder]] |
| 335 | |
| 336 | [[folder:Turn-Based Strategy]] |
| 337 | * Units in ''VideoGame/BattleForWesnoth'' are usually considered dead after their hitpoints drop to 0, including enemy leaders. Some story-important enemies, however, don't follow the convention. |
| 338 | ** Li'sar from ''Heir to the Throne'' merely surrenders when she is first defeated and flees in the second one, so that she can follow the heroes around until the scenario where she pulls a HeelFaceTurn. |
| 339 | ** Glildur is ''Sceptre of Fire'''s recurring antagonist and the closest thing it has to a BigBad, so he always flees in the off-chance that the player manages to defeat him and comes back no worse for wear later, until the final scenario. |
| 340 | * In ''VideoGame/DisgaeaHourOfDarkness'', Kurtis and Vulcanus are all just fine after their respective battles. Mid-Boss generally appears bandaged up after his fights and missing some teeth (most notably the second time, where his sprite looks like a friggin' mummy). |
| 341 | ** This continues well into ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea 2|CursedMemories}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea 3|AbsenceOfJustice}}'', where Axel, the Prism Rangers, Mao's Teachers, The Vatos Bros, and the FinalBoss of ''Disgaea 3'' are all more or less perfectly fine after their final battles. |
| 342 | ** Overlord Zenon, BigBad of the second game, actually justifies this. His curse doesn't so much turn all of Veldime's humans into demons, it ''drains their humanity and feeds into his life-force''. Even if he's killed, he can just suck away more of Veldime's altered humans' memories and conscience to revive himself. |
| 343 | ** ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea 3|AbsenceOfJustice}}'' spoofs it with [[spoiler:Super Hero Aurum]], who, after apparently being killed, pops right back in good as new and reminds you that, as the FinalBoss, he gets to fight you again in his [[OneWingedAngel true form]]. |
| 344 | --->'''Mao:''' Damn you for using such a convenient game mechanic! |
| 345 | ** Justified in that the netherworlds are sort of the afterlife anyway, and they seem to have excellent healthcare. |
| 346 | ** ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea 4|A Promise Unforgotten}}'' does this quite literally when the chief of the Information Bureau decides that, since she controls all the information in the Netherworld, she can erase her defeat by Valvatorez simply by refusing to acknowledge it as a fact. After the team tries and fails to counter her InsaneTrollLogic, Valvatorez shrugs his shoulders and decides she's right — so he'll just have to beat the crap out of her again. [[AndIMustScream Over and over. Forever.]] Upon hearing this, the chief decides that The Battle Did In Fact Count. |
| 347 | ** In ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea 6|Defiance of Destiny}}'', every stage where you fight the God of Destruction up until the last one ends with Zed not quite being able to defeat him, getting hit for 999,999,999 damage (sometimes multiple times), then dying and Super Reincarnating to the next chapter. |
| 348 | * In ''VideoGame/{{Langrisser}}'', you're supposed to run from the first battle, while King Alfador remains behind to [[HeroicSacrifice die with dignity.]] You can, however, win it if you're awesome enough with the tactics… at which point the King sends you to go get reinforcements. Needless to say, while you're away, the story corrects the little matter of His Majesty's survival... |
| 349 | * Averting the hell out of this trope is pretty much the entire point of the ''[[VideoGame/GihrensGreed Mobile Suit Gundam: Gihren's Greed]]'' games. Killing named characters before or after the point they were supposed to die in the original series can change the way the entire story progresses, creating any number of [[AlternateHistory Alternate Histories]] of the Universal Century timeline. |
| 350 | ** Up to and including the survival of ''Gihren Zabi himself''. |
| 351 | * The bosses you fight in ''VideoGame/NamcoXCapcom'' and ''VideoGame/ProjectXZone'' tend to retreat when defeated, until the final chapters where you defeat them for good. |
| 352 | * The ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' series uses two variants, usually dictated by the plots of the anime series they're drawing from. Named enemies (usually bosses) often retreat instead of dying, especially early in the game. This may extend to denying the player a "dynamic kill" animation usually displayed when taking out enemies with powerful attacks. Very occasionally, an enemy will instead regain full health and go into a cutscene attack on someone from its home series, leaving that character at critical health (or shot down outright) before leaving the field. |
| 353 | ** In ''Super Robot Wars: Original Generation 2'', if you somehow beat the End Bosses when they're chasing you during a FinalBossPreview where you are SUPPOSED to run like hell; they'll chuckle, BreakTheFourthWall and compliment you the player and give you ridiculous loot and exp; but then go back to the plot. |
| 354 | * This happens ''a lot'' in ''VideoGame/YggdraUnion''. |
| 355 | [[/folder]] |
| 356 | |
| 357 | [[folder:Western RPG]] |
| 358 | * In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'', it's entirely possible to defeat [[spoiler:Mehrunes Dagon during the finale of the Main Quest]], provided you have enough luck zapping the BigBad with the [[http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Wabbajack Wabbajack]]. (There are other methods to defeat [[spoiler:Mehrunes Dagon]], but the Wabbajack is the easiest method available to non-PC gamers; as the link above notes, the Wabbajack causes his stats to change despite his appearance remaining unchanged. As you may have guessed, a "kill" command from the PC Console works as well.) However, regardless of how you defeat him, it wouldn't be much of a finale if [[spoiler:Mehrunes Dagon didn't rip the roof off the Temple of the One, prompting Martin Septim's HeroicSacrifice]], necessitating his resurrection for the sake of the cutscene. |
| 359 | * In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'', defeating BigBad Alduin for the first time causes him to simply taunt you and fly off, Dragonrend or no. Subverted in that another dragon called Odahviing later reveals that a fair number of dragons, himself included, are starting to question Alduin's lordship. Running from your battle (which you won, fair and square) painted him as a DirtyCoward. Double subverted in that this reveal never translates into the gameplay at all. |
| 360 | * Practically the norm in ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'', to the point it's a surprise when you actually kill a Servant on the first encounter. Usually they'll just jump out of the battle because they were holding back, or only testing you, or powering up for a rematch, or whatever. Some Servants, especially towards the end of a Singularity, will make you fight several battles in a row and still have enough strength for an epic farewell speech before finally disappearing. |
| 361 | * Saren, TheDragon in ''VideoGame/MassEffect1''. The first time you encounter him at Virmire, it doesn't matter how well you do against him, when his hp reaches 0 the cutscene will show him stepping down off his flying saucer towards you and grabbing you in the air like if he has just beaten the shit out of you. |
| 362 | ** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', during the fight with Kai Leng on Thessia, you take his shields down no less than three times, with him running off each time while his shields recharge and letting the accompanying Cerberus gunship rail on you. After the third time, a cutscene kicks in where, in a superb display of CutsceneIncompetence from Shepard and his/her squad mates, Kai Leng — seemingly unwinded — tosses them all aside and orders the helicoper to blow up the temple they're in. The fight is incredibly easy by comparison of a lot of encounters you've had by this point, making Kai Leng's 'victory' seem incredibly forced. It's only made worse by the fact that Leng in-character is a SmugSnake who goes out of his way to [[IShallTauntYou mock you]] [[EvilIsPetty in an email]] [[KickTheDog for failing to save Thessia]]. This makes it fairly cathartic in the last battle with him when Shepard spends the whole time mocking him for it. |
| 363 | * ''VideoGame/AlphaProtocol'' has this for most of its boss fights, where immediately after depleting a boss's health bar, the boss seems to have just been winded rather than loaded with dozens of bullets. |
| 364 | * Played with in ''VideoGame/SouthParkTheStickOfTruth'': four guys ambush you, and will tell you to come quietly because there's no way you can beat them at this point in the game. However, if you've been levelling up from doing sidequests, you can beat them quite easily. The following cutscene has them get up and [[TapOnTheHead smack you in the head with a hammer]] (something actually dangerous as opposed to the makeshift tools the rest of the kids are using for the game) and drag you off anyway. |
| 365 | * ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'': |
| 366 | ** If you fight Napstablook, they'll eventually admit that ghosts can't actually be killed and they were only lowering their HP bar to be polite. They then decide that this actually made things ''more'' awkward, so they run away and tell you to pretend you beat them. |
| 367 | ** The battle with Toriel seems set up to invoke this trope; she outright tells you she's testing your strength, and in most [=RPGs=], a friendly character fighting you for this reason won't actually ''die''. [[spoiler:But Toriel will. Even if you realize that wiping out her last HP will kill her, and try just weakening her to get her to give up (which does work on some earlier enemies, if you couldn't figure out how to placate them correctly), you'll deal a surprise CriticalHit, just to make sure you kill her.]] |
| 368 | ** Played [[GuideDangIt confusingly]] straight by [[spoiler:Asgore. At this point, you've spent the entire game knowing that defeating monsters in battle will kill them for real, but Asgore arbitrarily manages to survive with 1 HP]]. |
| 369 | * In the ''Beast of Winter'' DLC for ''VideoGame/PillarsOfEternityIIDeadfire'', this happens in the battle against [[spoiler:the eponymous Beast of Winter, an avatar of Rymrgand, God of Entropy and Cold]]. The fight ends with them regenerating all their wounds after the player's "victory", [[spoiler:[[WorthyOpponent sincerely congratulating the player]], and permitting them to leave soul intact]]. This is still the only time in the game where [[spoiler:the Watcher can fight a god, or at least their avatar, without getting an instant NonStandardGameOver]]. |
| 370 | * ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSinII'': Bishop Alexandar is only left comatose from being killed as the DiscOneFinalBoss, even if you blow up his body and [[SoulEating Purge the remains]], and similarly gets an UnexplainedRecovery if you attempt a SickbedSlaying. The general public thinks him dead in Act II, so you might be forced to admit to colleagues that you didn't actually finish the job. |
| 371 | * ''VideoGame/{{OMORI}}'': It doesn't matter if you win or lose the Faraway Town battles. The story will progress regardless. |
| 372 | [[/folder]] |
| 373 | |
| 374 | [[folder: Wide Open Sandbox]] |
| 375 | * ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'' outright abuses this trope: of the game’s bosses only Elizabeth Greene and Taggart have the decency to actually die. Captain Cross is probably the worst example since he’s a normal human in a game where normal humans get turned into LudicrousGibs from the mere shockwave of Mercer slapping his hands together, yet he walks away from his beating completely unscathed with the game pretending the battle never took place. The game even manages to zig-zag this with the Supreme Hunter, whose survival is justified by having him regenerate FromASingleCell — until his final fight where he apparently forgets this power, and dies for good with no explanation for why that battle ''did'' count. |
| 376 | |
| 377 | [[/folder]] |
| 378 | |
| 379 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 380 | * ''TabletopGame/MutantsAndMasterminds'': A form of this is a central game mechanic. A villain who is defeated will have had their plot foiled, but will escape in one form or another to fight another day, giving the heroes a bonus "Hero Point" for the GM Fiat. This is in part due to the Four Color Comic basis of the system where villains always make miraculous escapes or suffer accidents where NoOneCouldSurviveThat. |
| 381 | * ''TabletopGame/TruthAndJustice'': The villains have their own "Villain Points" that the GM can spend to give them a sudden escape — a secret passage, dropping a smoke bomb and disappearing, actually having been a robot double, whatever. It serves as a pacing element to the plot, always giving a villain an out until the climactic final confrontation, while limiting the capacity for GM Fiat to protect a CreatorsPet villain from ultimate comeuppance. Once a villain is empty, they're caught and this trope can no longer apply (until they escape again for another story). |
| 382 | * ''Franchise/{{Warhammer}}'': The ''Storm of Chaos'' event took this to ''an entire campaign'' level. The idea behind the event was that [[TheLegionsOfHell Chaos]] is invading the world, wrecking havoc and ruin all over the place, in battles that players can play out and send the results of to Games Workshop, and that these results would influence the narrative. What actually happened was that the Chaos factions horribly lost almost every single battle, being stopped at the first village in the mortal nations for several real-life weeks. As such, the writers of the events decided that Chaos had won anyway and would continue their invasion, and this kept happening until it reached its originally-intended conclusion (Chaos almost destroying everything and being barely defeated). |
| 383 | [[/folder]] |
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