History Determinator / VideoGames

* Takeshi in ''VisualNovel/{{Ever17}}'' comes down with Tief Blau, hasn't eaten in over a day, has been running around constantly when not passed out, is coughing up blood and suffers some really nasty decompression sickness right after being slammed into a wall. Then he swims through frigid, lightless water to rescue his love interest, swims back still without having rested and finally escapes. Then he's jettisoned out of a submarine to save his love interest again and sits on the ocean floor for a while, having drowned. [[spoiler:And then a disembodied time traveler wakes him up, at which point he swims through the bottom of the ocean back into IBF, saves Coco and still lives to the story's True End. Oh, and he was dead/frozen on the ocean floor for at least long enough for a small robotic dog to swim down and recover the disc he was carrying. Three hundred feet down.]]

* Emiya Shiro from ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' simply ''refuses'' to die (or stop) when someone he cares about is in danger, or someone is about to create danger for others, even when his opponent's power is several levels of magnitude higher than his. Slashed from shoulder to waist, overloaded nerves in half the body, broken arms and legs, cuts and slashes, loss of sight, flung into the air from wind pressure, thrown out third-floor windows, et cetera... he'll still keep trying.
** All the above was just from the first route. The game has three, and the the third is far worse for Shirou. [[spoiler: By the Normal End, he's a walking corpse powered only by his determination to destroy the [[ArtifactOfDoom Holy Grail]].]]
** So he doesn't [[MemeticMutation die when he is killed?]]
** Another example of this would be his (according to Merlin) quite-literally-endless [[StarCrossedLovers pursuit of the golden-haired girl,]] [[IWillWaitForYou eternally waiting for him on the fields of gold.]] Shirou likely followed the [[BreakTheCutie same path as Archer]]; however, unlike Archer, he did not regret his life, nor did he make a [[DealWithTheDevil deal with the World]] to become a [[FateWorseThanDeath Counter Guardian]], as he had to keep moving towards Saber. After an eternity of searching, and an eternity of waiting, [[DiedHappilyEverAfter Shirou dies]] and [[LoveTranscendsSpaceTime reunites]] with Saber [[TogetherInDeath on the endless fields of Avalon]]. Putting up with an eternity of solitude (in Saber's case) and an eternity of endless searching (for Shirou) without ever once losing hope (which would break the prophecy and stop their reunion) that they'll meet again qualifies them both.
** Lancer actually has this as one of his skills; his ability ''Marshall'' increases his strength when he is in greater danger and makes it that so long as he has a body he will be able to fight. More to the point you can't [[CherryTapping Cherry Tap]] him to death because of his level with this skill. It would take a Noble Phantasm level attack to do him in. [[spoiler:A shining example of this would be his death in the Unlimited Blade Works route.]]
** Shirou isn't alone in this regard in the franchise. ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'' gives us three especially noteworthy cases of Determinators in Rama, Bedivere, and Gilgamesh.
*** During the E Pluribus Unum Singularity, Rama has his heart pierced by Cu Chulainn Alter's Gae Bolg, and the lance's curse prevents any healing from affecting it. Despite this, Rama absolutely ''refuses'' to die [[StarCrossedLovers until he can see his wife, Sita, one last time]].
*** Then, in the Camelot singularity, Bedivere takes the trope and cranks it up. [[spoiler:At the very end, the player learns from Dr. Roman that Bedivere was ''still a living human.'' In the world of ''Fate/Grand Order,'' Bedivere had failed to return Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake, as per [[Myth/KingArthur Artoria's]] final order. To remedy his mistake, Bedivere spent ''[[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld fifteen hundred years]]'' trying to find Artoria to return the holy sword to her. This quest took a severe toll on his soul, to the point that it would eventually [[CessationOfExistence cease to exist altogether]] if he pressed onward. He still did so, and at the end of the Singularity, after having Excalibur molded into a silver arm that [[CastFromHitPoints drained his soul with each use]] and having to fight his [[TrueCompanions fellow Knights of the Round Table]], he succeeded. His degree of determination in doing this and the heroic acts he performed in the process ultimately earned him a place within the Throne of Heroes, thus averting cessation of existence by allowing him to live on as a Heroic Spirit. Not only that, he was given the Star Attribute, only given to heroes who changed the course of human history. By sheer determination Bedivere was only heroic spirit recognized for helping stop the end of human history.]]
*** Lastly, we have Gilgamesh in the Babylonia Singularity. Make no mistake, he ''will'' defend Uruk and its people from any threat, no matter what. [[spoiler:Not even Tiamat, the Mesopotamian goddess of creation and one of the Beasts of Humanity, an immortal and unstoppable foe, could keep Gilgamesh from protecting the last bastion of humanity; when she mortally wounded him, he responded by using his own body to summon his Archer self to fight Tiamat. The ensuing battle is one of the few instances where Gilgamesh brought the full brunt of his power to bear against his foe.]]

* Apparently, in ''VisualNovel/PrincessWaltz'', badass and {{Determinator}} go hand in hand. This is even {{lampshaded}}.

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona}}'' series:

*** Then, in the Camelot singularity, Bedivere takes the trope and cranks it up. [[spoiler:At the very end, the player learns from Dr. Roman that Bedivere was ''still a living human.'' In the world of ''Fate/Grand Order,'' Bedivere had failed to return Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake, as per [[Myth/KingArthur Artoria's]] final order. To remedy his mistake, Bedivere spent ''[[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld fifteen hundred years]]'' trying to find Artoria to return the holy sword to her. This quest took a severe toll on his soul, to the point that it would eventually [[CessationOfExistence cease to exist altogether]] if he pressed onward. He still did so, and at the end of the Singularity, after having Excalibur molded into a silver arm that [[CastFromHitPoints drained his soul with each use]] and having to fight his [[TrueCompanions fellow Knights of the Round Table]], he succeeded. His degree of determination in doing this and the heroic acts he performed in the process ultimately earned him a place within the Throne of Heroes, thus averting cessation of existence by allowing him to live on as a Heroic Spirit.]]

* [[PlayerCharacter Alcatraz]] in ''VideoGame/{{Crysis}} 2''. He essentially became a corpse at the start of the game (and you'll get a more comprehensive explanation why a bit into the game), only kept alive by the Nanosuit Prophet puts on him. And even after that, he goes through a lot more punishment that should have put him down even if that suit was on Maximum Armor. One of the more significant injuries he sustains is, after escaping the Nexus, he gets knocked out when a car falls on his head, and then he drifts down river until he wakes up to Gould and [[spoiler:Tara Strickland]] and just gets into an IFV and soldiers on.

* The main character from ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'', during the real [[spoiler: FinalBattle]]. He's receiving an attack that performs instant 9999 damage (in a game with a 999 [=HP=] cap) and still ''stands up''. [[spoiler:At first he's Weak to them and gets knocked off his feet, but ThePowerOfFriendship and ThePowerOfLove keep pulling him to his feet, until they coalesce into the mother of all [[CombinedEnergyAttack Combined Energy Attacks]] that he uses to seal off the enemy... albeit [[HeroicSacrifice at the cost of his own life]]]].
** Not only that, but the protagonist also [[spoiler:hangs onto life for two months after that, continuing on nothing but willpower in order to keep the promise the main characters made to meet on the roof of the school on graduation day as proof of everything they went through together. [[SubvertedTrope He dies]] [[CruelTwistEnding seconds before they arrive]]]].
* ''VideoGame/Persona4'' provides a spoileriffic example, namely [[spoiler:Nanako Dojima; her will to live after being near-fatally injured in the TV World gets her to make a miraculous full recovery, even after a DisneyDeath (in the good ending path, at least)]].

** And then there's [[VideoGame/{{Prototype 2}} James Heller]], who survives the ZombieApocalypse ''[[BadassNormal without]]'' superpowers!

* VideoGame/{{Guenevere}}: Lance, especially when it comes to Guen's safety.

** The {{sequel}}, ''VideoGame/LittleNightmaresII'' stars Mono who has been described to be quite stubborn, single-minded, and rarely gives up when he sets out to do something. [[spoiler: He will literally '''''move buildings''''' to rescue Six when she is kidnapped.]]

** The {{sequel}}, ''VideoGame/LittleNightmaresII'' stars Mono who has been described to be quite stubborn and rarely gives up when he sets out to do something.

* Kali from the MOBA ''VideoGame/Smite'' has an ultimate skill that allows her to keep fighting for several seconds, even when all her health is gone. She simply refuses to die. Enemies can hit her with their most powerful skills only to see her walk through it all and kill them, then walk away. This is usually the encouraged style of play with Kali, since killing a specified member of the enemy team will grant her a near-full health restore, giving you plenty of incentive to go for the kill with reckless abandon.

* [[Franchise/BlazBlue Blazblue's]] Protagonist [[CosmicPlaything Ragna the Bloodedge]]. If there is one thing he's good at, [[ICanStillFight it's getting back up and continuing to fight after nearly every time he's knocked down]]. This has happened multiple times across the entire franchise. That's not even getting into the emotional strain put on him...

* From ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty: VideoGame/ModernWarfare 2'',

** [[spoiler:Queen Sectonia]] in ''VideoGame/KirbyTripleDeluxe''. She fights Kirby three times and despite all the times she fails, she gets right back up to continue the battle. And if the True Arena is to be believed, [[spoiler:she managed to survive being blasted in the face by Kirby's laser at the end of the game for long enough to absorb four Miracle Fruits and become Soul of Sectonia. And if that wasn't enough, she even [[VillainousBreakdown loses it]] and '''[[WhoNeedsTheirWholeBody rips her own head off of the Dreamstalk]]''' just for one final bout with Kirby.

* ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'': Pretty much the whole game is an example of this trope. You will get crushed, hacked, beaten, roasted, poisoned, dropped down bottomless pits, eaten by hungry treasure chests and wanted dead by every single living thing in the game. It's strongly implied that even your friends will eventually turn insane and try to kill you. (Most of them do.) Despite this, your character will keep pushing on and eventually ''[[spoiler: kill every single badass in the game; some of which are essential gods, all in an attempt to try and remove the curse that has everybody going feral in the first place]]''. By the end of it all, it's not only the character that's a determinator, it's the player as well. In fact, the lore states [[spoiler: your character starts Hollowing once they stop being this, possibly at the point when the player {{Rage Quit}}s the game from the NintendoHard gameplay]].

** Another example from ''The Ringed City'': [[spoiler:Slave Knight Gael. By the time you meet him, the undead knight has already been through countless trials and tribulations, with his gear item descriptions noting that his kind were used as CannonFodder in the world's deadliest wars, and were never relieved of their service. He uses the Way of White Corona miracle, described to be from "when the imprints left by the gods were still deep," which, at this point in the series' timeline, would have been countless millennia ago. And he's been living this whole time without going Hollow at all. By the time you find him, he's still fully devoted to his purpose: [[RestartTheWorld gather the flame and the blood of the Dark Soul for his niece, in order to create a new Painted World for the forlorn of the dying worlds.]] Like Patches, he survives to the end of time at the Ringed City, still not hollowed; but unlike Patches, he braves every single danger of the city alone and makes his way to the throne of the Pygmies to consume their blood. This makes him a vessel for the Dark Soul itself. You find him alone in the world, AfterTheEnd, eons after everyone he ever knew he has died... and he's ''still'' not hollow. ''That'' happens halfway through the mad knight's subsequent boss fight; when he confirms that consuming the Pygmies' blood transferred the Dark Soul to him, and with the knowledge that [[ThanatosGambit you will bring the Dark Soul back to his Lady in his stead]], his purpose is finally fulfilled. His soul's description states that he knew that even if he found it, the Dark Soul would likely ruin him and that his chances of a safe return were slim, but Gael marched on regardless and achieved his aim, ensuring that life would survive in the new world, [[WhatYouAreInTheDark despite him not being around to see it and no one knowing that he was to thank for it]].]]

* ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'': Pretty much the whole game is an example of this trope, you will get crushed, hacked, beaten, roasted, poisoned, dropped down bottomless pits, eaten by hungry treasure chests and wanted dead by every single living thing in the game, it's strongly implied that even your friends will eventually turn insane and try to kill you. (Most of them do). Despite this, your character will keep pushing on and eventually ''[[spoiler: kill every single badass in the game; some of which are essential gods, all in an attempt to try and remove the curse that has everybody going feral in the first place]]:''. By the end of it all, it's not only the character that's a determinator, it's the player as well. In fact, the lore states [[spoiler: your character starts Hollowing once they stop being this, possibly at the point when the player {{Rage Quit}}s the game from the NintendoHard gameplay.]]

** ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'''s expansion ''The Ringed City'' has an NPC example in [[spoiler:Patches. That's right, the greasy trickster who kicks people into pits to loot their corpses for things to sell, manages to survive from the first game all the way to ''the end of time'' without ever going completely Hollow. To go completely Hollow an Undead must lose all sense of purpose in life and cross the DespairEventHorizon. Well, Patches found his purpose (screwing people over) and he stuck to it, and it definitely paid off for him. It's highly likely that the only reason he even ''started'' going Hollow ''at all'' by the time of ''The Ringed City'' is because he simply ''ran out of people to screw over'', since they all died or went Hollow before he did.]]
** Another example from ''The Ringed City'': [[spoiler:Slave Knight Gael. By the time you meet him, the undead knight has already been through countless trials and tribulations, with his gear item descriptions noting that his kind were used as CannonFodder in the world's deadliest wars, and never relieved of their service. He uses the Way of White Corona miracle, described to be from "when the imprints left by the gods were still deep," which, at this point in the series' timeline, would have been countless millennia ago. And he's been living this whole time without going Hollow at all. By the time you find him, he's still fully devoted to his purpose: [[RestartTheWorld gather the flame and the blood of the Dark Soul for his niece, in order to create a new Painted World for the forlorn of the dying worlds.]] Like Patches, he survives to the end of time at the Ringed City, still not hollowed; but unlike Patches, he braves every single danger of the city alone and makes his way to the throne of the Pygmies to consume their blood. This makes him a vessel for the Dark Soul itself. You find him alone in the world, AfterTheEnd, eons after everyone he ever knew he has died... and he's ''still'' not hollow. ''That'' happens halfway through the mad knight's subsequent boss fight; when he confirms that consuming the Pygmies' blood transferred the Dark Soul to him, and with the knowledge that [[ThanatosGambit you will bring the Dark Soul back to his Lady in his stead]], his purpose is finally fulfilled. His soul's description states that he knew that even if he found it, the Dark Soul would likely ruin him and that his chances of a safe return were slim, but Gael marched on regardless and achieved his aim, ensuring that life would survive in the new world, [[WhatYouAreInTheDark despite him not being around to see it and no one knowing that he was to thank for it]].]]

** Terra from ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep''. [[spoiler: Master Xehanort sets innumerable [[TheHeartless Unversed]] on him, has him attacked by Braig, manipulates him into distrusting and ultimately killing his mentor and father figure Eraqus, and attempts to kill his best friends, all so he can awaken Terra's inner darkness enough to possess him and [[GrandTheftMe make off with his body]]. Does this stop Terra? No. His mind inhabits [[AnimatedArmour his armour]] , which stands up again and proceeds to beat the everliving daylights out of his own possessed body.]] There's a reason why [[spoiler:the armor animated with his spirit is called the "Lingering Will". This is shown in Kingdom Hearts 2, where the Lingering Will is the strongest BonusBoss in the game. At the end of the fight, it's implied he's not even winded]].

* The animatronics of ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'' will never, ever stop coming after you. Even in ''2,'' when they've been half-dismantled and, by all rights, shouldn't be able to function at all, they keep coming. [[spoiler:As it turns out, ''dying twice'' didn't even stop [[GreaterScopeVillain the]] [[PurpleIsPowerful Purple]] [[SerialKiller Man's]] victims from [[KarmicDeath killing]] [[DeathByIrony him.]]]]
** Talking about the Purple Man, [[spoiler: he has been killing children since (maybe) 1973 until finally dying in 1993. But even that didn't stop him, as he's the ''main antagonist'' and only real threat in the third game. ''Which likely takes place in '''2023'''.'']]

*** When Raiden defeats Sundowner, the latter jumps into a helicopter that shoots missiles at Raiden and knocks him off the roof of World Marshall HQ. Does Raiden give up and fall to his death? Hell no! He commandeers a [[AirborneMook Slider]] while he's [[IndyPloy still falling]], flies ''into'' and ''up'' the crumbling building, slashes his way back to the roof and steers the Slider into Sundowner's helicopter, before reducing him to confetti after the helicopter explodes.