Sometimes a game scenario requires the player to protect something [[EscortMission or someone]] from destruction so that it can be used by the player within the scenario itself. In some of these cases, should the object be destroyed ''after'' it has served this purpose this will still trigger a mission failure because the game doesn't recognize that its further preservation is now irrelevant to the mission.

Sometimes this is done intentionally because the character or object is supposed to appear later in the plot (or in cutscenes) and allowing it to be destroyed would cause story problems even if there's no logical reason why it's essential at the moment.

Compare UselessItem, when an item apparently has a use for something; too bad the developers forgot to add that "something". Contrast {{Zonk}}, a prize or reward that isn't worth anything.
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!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Video Games -- Action ]]

* ''VideoGame/HiddenAndDangerous'':
** An early mission features an attack on an oil refinery in order to free some prisoners believed to be held there. They are not present, but a worker reveals under threat that they were taken to a certain location. At this point the player has learned all there is to know, and killing the informant shouldn't make any discernible difference (it can be justified as, say, covering one's traces). Yet if one does so, the mission will inexplicably fail. Well, it would probably give the Germans a propaganda victory (in the cold-blooded murder of a noncombatant) and make relations with the Italian resistance difficult.
** In another mission, the player had to destroy a water lock with the cannon of a parked tank. When this had been accomplished this one would think that one might as well blow up said tank, to deny its use to the enemy. Yet if this is done, the mission will fail, even if the lock is already destroyed.
* ''VideoGame/SyphonFilter'': The second installment features a level where the protagonist must escape from a heavily guarded hospital. The primary objective is to make it to an escape chopper whilst the secondary objective is to procure a silenced weapon to improve your odds of doing this. It is entirely possible to sneak around the guards to reach the chopper without killing anyone, at which point the game shows the protagonist being flown off to safety before displaying a 'Mission Failed' message due to the player not completing the secondary objective.
* ''VideoGame/TIEFighter'':
** In one of the missions found in the Collector's Edition, the objectives include shooting down a {{pirate}} cruiser and all the fighters it carries. The cruiser itself is prevented from escaping by means of an Imperial interdictor cruiser. Occasionally, one will find one of the fighters will enter the pirate cruiser's hangar bay and thus be removed from the game map. The game interprets this as the fighter getting away, and the mission will immediately fail, even though the fighter would logically be destroyed whenever the pirate cruiser is.
** In one mission, your objective involves the take over or destruction of a star cruiser, protecting various craft, and additionally eliminating an enemy squadron of fighters for some reason. It's very possible for AI Assault Gunboats to disable an enemy fighter's weapons and shields (with Ion Cannons) but not finish the job and disable the engines. The end result is that by the time you realize there is a single star-fighter left, which is completely unable to do anything or be of any threat, the ship is hundreds of kilometers away, resulting in you having to make a ridiculously long chase for over a half hour just to catch up with it and destroy it. This is beyond annoying.
* ''VideoGame/XWingAlliance'':
** There is a mission to recapture the space station that belonged to the Azzameens from the mercenaries occupying it. When its defences fail, a transport will launch and quickly jump into hyperspace. Afterwards, {{NPC}}s will state that it looked like your uncle's ship. The targeting system marks it as hostile, its survival is irrelevant to the main objective and the last family mission involves the uncle betraying your family. Yet if he is shot down, the mission will fail, with comments that indicate the station was somehow lost.
** Another mission requires the player to destroy a ship belonging to his family, and marked as such by the color-coded IFF system. Despite the fact that the mission cannot succeed unless this ship is destroyed, the player's helpful robot buddy will repeatedly insist that the player stop shooting.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games -- Adventure ]]

%%* ''VideoGame/OmikronTheNomadSoul''
* ''VideoGame/{{Poptropica}}'': While some consumable items disappear when it makes sense (like when you trade something away, or use a food or drink), a majority of items won't. This usually applies to {{Lock and Key Puzzle}}s, where keys will remain in your inventory even you've permanently unlocked the door. A noticeable example is the French-English dictionary on Counterfeit Island; you can use it early in the island to help out a boy who wants a green balloon, but it stays in your inventory although there's nothing left to translate.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games -- [=RP Gs= ]]
]
* ''VideoGame/BrainLord'': {{Subverted}} in that a lot of exclusive/rare items that have gone obsolete CAN be sold off, but since you'll never see them again.
* ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireI'': You can't really dispose of any "key" item, even if those are totally useless afterwards. You can deposit some of them in the bank, however, if you need to free some inventory space.
* ''VideoGame/{{Darkstone}}'': Nothing is ever used up or destroyed except for potions or food, meaning that even once a plot-relevant item has completed its purpose, it's still there occupying your (extremely limited) inventory. The best thing to do is just to drop it on the ground rather than carry it around; it'll still be there later.
* ''VideoGame/DivinityIITheDragonKnightSaga'': The game lets you choose your crew of four men among eight people. All eight of them can potentially give you two quests each, consisting of bringing them back an item. You will still find the items of the crew members you didn't choose [[spoiler:(and who are actually dead by now)]], and you cannot discard them or put them in your treasure chest, leaving you with a couple of items you have to hoard around for the rest of the game.
* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'':
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIDaggerfall Daggerfall]]'' has an exploit during its "Cast the Sleep Spell" quest for the Mages Guild. You only have to prep the spell in the presence of the client NPC and can cancel it immediately afterwards, conserving your magicka and still accomplish the quest objective. Furthermore, after accomplishing the quest objective, you can ''kill'' the former client NPC without penalty.
** In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'', [=NPCs=] essential to completing the main quest are marked with an "Essential" tag, meaning that if you kill them, you will get a message that you've made the game unwinnable by the standard means. This tag remains present permanently, however, so if you kill someone important to the main quest after they've already played their part, you'll still get the message. There is also one NPC that takes the irrelevance to another level by ''never'' being relevant to the main quest, or indeed any quest at all (as he is always hostile, it is likely the essential tag was added to him by mistake).
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'' have a variation in that a bug sometimes causes quest-related items to retain that status after the quest is completed. This is both good and bad: On the one hand, quest items are weightless. On the other hand, you can't get rid of them.
* ''VideoGame/EarthBoundBeginnings'': That some items can't be discarded is alleviated by the fact you can leave stuff at home, freeing up the 8 slots per party member. But you'd need to go all the way there, until you get teleport.
* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'': You can receive a machete at one point that cannot be sold, dropped, or disposed of, even in situations where all of your other weapons would be confiscated. Thankfully, items flagged as such don't have weight even though the game still shows it. ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' also presents this problem.
* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun1'': One of the items you can get in Vault is a bone that you give to a dog, who'll then move to a secret passageway and jump over it to mark its location then move out of the way. You can get an endless amount of bones despite it only being needed for this one instance (and adding insult to injury, you don't even need the dog to show you in the first place as the entrance is surrounded by six rocks [[NoticeThis in the same pattern as all the Reveal circles you've encountered so far]]).
* ''VideoGame/IllusionOfGaia'': A few items can't be thrown away even after they become useless. This is irritating due to your limited inventory space, especially if you've been hoarding the Herbs you get throughout the game.
* ''VideoGame/{{Lagoon}}'': Many of the items have only one use, but stay in your inventory once you are done with them.
* ''VideoGame/MeteoChronicles'': All key items, even if all possible uses of them have been used up, can never be lost or destroyed.
%%* ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2''
* ''VideoGame/TheWitcher'': During Act I, bad luck with the random encounters code can cause the subject of an EscortMission, a barmaid named Vesna Hood, to be killed by barghests between her front yard and her door, ''after'' Geralt has finished escorting her, and also ''after'' she's thanked him in a cutscene for walking her home and possibly arranged a discreet rendezvous later on. If this happens, she never appears for said rendezvous, and you can't collect her sex card.
* ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'': Plot-related pins can never be sold, with the game insisting they're "worth more than all the money in the world". In particular, the Red Skull pin, which is a PoisonMushroom [[spoiler:and vital to Kitaniji's AssimilationPlot]], despite being completely worthless outside the one time the plot requires it, will be stuck in your inventory forever. Multiple copies of it, in fact, if you get it again in ReplayMode (and you probably will).
* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1'': You can't drop nor sell Gadolt's rifle, even though it doesn't take long before you get far more powerful weapons for Sharla. The same holds true for Melia's Imperial and Empress Staffs.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games -- Shooters ]]

* ''VideoGame/GoldenEye1997'':
** In the Statue Park level, you can feel free to gun down Valentin after he's arranged your meeting with Janus, but he'll still be there, two levels later, if you're playing at the right difficulty level.
** That's not the only example, either. In fact, it is possible with proper timing to gun down BigBad [[spoiler:Alec Trevelyan]] virtually ''every time'' he appears, only for him to be there to taunt you next level.
** The Control level is an exception to the above rule. Your main objective is to [[HoldTheLine defend Natalya]] as she hacks the Goldeneye satellite in what is probably the most infamously difficult scene in the game. After a long and difficult fight, you still can't relax even after you've receive the message stating the satellite has been reprogrammed: In the few seconds between finishing her work and escaping to safety, Natalya can still be targeted by enemy guards, and her death will result in mission failure, despite the fact that--though it's pretty cold logic--she's outlived her usefulness. Then again, what's James Bond without his woman?
* ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'': The buggy is required to clear a certain jump (unless you glitch past that point.) If you continue with the buggy and it gets hit by the train, you get a NonStandardGameOver for failing to protect vital assets. However, you can abandon the buggy there, and proceed to the lighthouse on foot (and not worry about barriers that only stop the vehicle).
* ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'':
** Max grabs a junkie and forces him to tell his criminal friends to open the freaking [[LockedDoor locked, wooden door]]. If he dies before that, the mission is failed. The moment the door opens, the junkie grabs a convenient gun and starts shooting at Max, leading to his untimely demise. But if he gets shot (by Max or his friends) after the door is opened but before he grabs the gun... you've guessed it.
** It's actually even smaller a margin than that: the goon says the password to open the door, and the door unlocks. You can't shoot the guy then, as it's game over. As soon as the door opens, he screams "It's a trap!" and runs into the room: gun him down. Better yet, stand right behind him and the goons in the room will gun him down ''for'' you. He never actually gets to a gun.
* ''VideoGame/PerfectDark'': {{Inverted}}. One level requires you to carry a crate of bullet-sensitive explosives for a while to blow a hole in a wall. If they blew up while still relevant, you got the "Mission Failed" message, but it turns out they were never really relevant to begin with; there were other ways to blow the hole in the wall, and doing so would give you a "Mission Incomplete" message as the game realized you still had a chance.
* ''VideoGame/RainbowSixRogueSpear'': There is a mission in which you must reach a computer and download some files from it. If one triggers the alarm too early a guard will press a button that sets off a charge that destroys the computer, resulting in mission failure. Said button can also be pressed by the player. If one finishes downloading the files and decides to use this button to destroy the now unimportant computer (to, again, deny the enemy further use of it), the mission will fail, even though the primary objective was accomplished and protecting the computer is no longer relevant.

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