History Main / DisadvantageousDisintegration

* One of the 'power-ups' in the online game ''Alphabounce'' (also downloadable on UsefulNotes/DSiWare) causes your drill balls to freeze any blocks they come into contact with, the next hit completely shattering them. Aside from certain circumstances, however, this is an example of PowerupLetdown, in that any blocks destroyed in this way won't yield any power-ups, and [[MoneySpider minerals]] hit won't be added to your fund count.

*** Another related area of concern is that you need to be careful when directing offensive [[LanguageOfMagic Thu'um]] [[SuperScream shouts]]. Anything within their area of effect can be sent flying away, which make searching for smaller loot like potions, gold coins, all manner of gems, and keys much harder if you've shouted it under furniture, into small unreachable crevices, or off the side of a cliff hundreds of feet below. These shouts will also set off traps (although you can use that to hilarious effect against opponents), and of course carry the same subtlety as a magical airhorn that actually causes echoing sonic booms, which makes it much less useful when you are forced to or need to hit one person and you're trying not to get the attention of many heavily armed others several rooms over.

*** Another related area of concern is that you need to be careful when directing offensive [[LanguageOfMagic Thu'um]] [[MakeMeWannaShout shouts]]. Anything within their area of effect can be sent flying away, which make searching for smaller loot like potions, gold coins, all manner of gems, and keys much harder if you've shouted it under furniture, into small unreachable crevices, or off the side of a cliff hundreds of feet below. These shouts will also set off traps (although you can use that to hilarious effect against opponents), and of course carry the same subtlety as a magical airhorn that actually causes echoing sonic booms, which makes it much less useful when you are forced to or need to hit one person and you're trying not to get the attention of many heavily armed others several rooms over.

* In the ''VideoGame/{{Atelier|IrisEternalMana}} [[VideoGame/AtelierIris2TheAzothOfDestiny Iris]]'' [[VideoGame/AtelierIris3GrandPhantasm trilogy]] of the ''VideoGame/{{Atelier}}'' series, there are turn-to-sweet skills (toys in the second game and you need to use an item instead of a skill) that [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin turns the enemies into sweets]], instantly killing it but at the expense of ExperiencePoint, money, and normally dropped items. However, this is also the only way to obtain sweets-type items, so it's still useful.

->''"Commander! You may want to instruct your men to exercise restraint when using explosives... while certainly effective at killing aliens, they also destroy the artifacts we're hoping to recover from ze bodies. Just something to consider."''
-->-- '''Dr. Moira Vahlen''', ''VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown''

* ''Literature/ChrysalisRinoZ'': Anthony's fearsome "gravity bomb" spell crushes the target into a tiny ball. Unfortunately, it's extremely difficult to eat the super-compressed results, and moreover, they probably include parts of the environment -- rocks, sticks, mud, etc. Even Tiny the BigEater and Crinis the shadow monster decide it's not worth the effort to get any biomass out of it.

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames'', shooting a Gale Seed at an enemy with the Slingshot or Seed Shooter creates a whirlwind that blows the enemy away instantly, but enemies killed in this way don't drop hearts, rupees or ammo. They ''are'', however, very useful against a specific type of enemy you normally can only kill by pushing into a pit (which would prevent it from dropping anything anyway).

** In Zelda II, as in the ''second'' Zelda game for the NES, you eventually get a spell that's just called "Spell." It can turn every enemy onscreen into a Bot (lowest-level mook, TheGoomba) but that means you get no more than the small amount of XP that killing a Bot normally gets you. If you want the rewards that come of defeating a monster the hard way, you'll have to, well, do it the hard way!

* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' has certain environmental features like cacti and lava that immediately damage any player or mob that comes into contact with them. They'll also destroy any dropped items they touch. As a result, they can be used to make crude traps, although if you want to collect loot, you'd be better off with a trap that's somewhat harder to pull off, killing your target with arrows, drowning them in water, or dropping them a really long distance.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'', one of, if not ''the most'', effective means of defending a village from an Illager raid is lava traps. Lava pits for them to fall into or be pushed into, and even redstone traps that drop them into lava or pour lava on top of them, can take even their Ravagers out in a single shot. The trade-off is the lava ''destroys'' the items they are carrying, and Illagers drop ''really'' good stuff: Iron gear, enchanted books, emeralds, crossbows, potions, and the much-desired Totem of Undying.

*** Averted in that, while disintegration is available via a certain perk, ''Skyrim'' shares the same "sift through the ashes" mechanic of the Creator/{{Bethesda}} ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' games (see blow), so you can still loot a disintegrated enemy's items.

* In ''VideoGame/DeusEx'', [[{{BFG}} heavy weapons]] such as a GEP gun will gib your opposition... along with everything they are carrying. Others such as the [[EnergyWeapons Plasma Rifle]] or the [[KillItWithFire flamer]] can also cause fires. Which can be very inconvenient if you're [[CrateExpectations near anything flammable]].

* Sometimes occurs as a bug in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}''; if you kill an enemy with a pulse rifle, he disintegrates into a pile of dust and his equipment is dropped, but the equipment sprites are hidden behind the pile of dust sprite, and thus you cannot click them to pick the equipment up.

** Used in one mission in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'': you are hired as a bounty hunter to hunt down three criminals and bring their heads as proof that they're dead. You're explicitly warned not to kill them with [[BoomHeadshot headshots]] (or for that matter, any attack that can disintegrate or gib them); doing so results in an unrecognisable, mangled head, which earns you a smaller bounty.
*** This can be annoying if you have already given yourself the Bloody Mess perk which pretty much guarantees that any kill will result in a damaged head.

*** ''VideoGame/Fallout4'' plays this trope straight if you detonate a [[ActionBomb Super Mutant Suicider]]'s mini-nuke by shooting their right arm; not only will it make the nuke unavailable to you, but it will cancel out any experience otherwise earned by directly killing it or other enemies taken out by the explosion.

* ''[[VideoGame/{{Diablo}} Diablo II]]'' Freezing your enemies and then shattering them is nice unless you are a necromancer, who needs intact corpses to fuel some of his spells.

** We still have ''Mordenkainen's disjunction'', which destroys the magic on a character's equipment. ''Permanently.'' Players [[AwesomeButImpractical don't use it]], mostly because they then have to recalculate all the relevant stats, but even if they're willing to do all that work, it still robs them of valuable loot after the battle finishes -- and if any of that loot happens to be an artifact of the gods, they've just stumbled into some serious divine trouble, possibly up to losing all spellcasting ability, ''forever''. [=DMs=] don't use it because it gets them branded a KillerGameMaster. It probably wouldn't be used at all if it weren't for Wizards of the Coast insistently putting it on certain villains, including a DifficultySpike encounter that has the spell ''eight levels early''. ''TableTopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' fixes most of this by making it suppress the powers instead.

** Subverted in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII''. The "Card" ability lets you transform the enemy to a Triple Triad playing card, gaining you no EXP. However, the game features DynamicDifficulty and scales the enemy levels to your party's, so staying at the base level is beneficial... especially since Carding an enemy still gives you ''AP'', which levels up your Guardian Forces, the true keys to your party's strength.

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'' with the [[PunnyName He-Boulder's]] yellow ray, which disintegrates the enemy and causes it to drop all the normal items that it can. Played straight with the Fairy Worn Boots which squish the enemy into paste, preventing all item drops and experience gains. The paste is quite useful at least.

* In the ''VideoGame/{{Atelier|IrisEternalMana}} [[VideoGame/AtelierIris2TheAzothOfDestiny Iris]]'' [[VideoGame/AtelierIris3GrandPhantasm trilogy]] of the ''VideoGame/{{Atelier}}'' series, there are turn-to-sweet skills (toys in the second game and you need to use an item instead of a skill) that [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin turns the enemies into sweets]], instantly killing it but at the expense of ExperiencePoint, money, and normally dropped items. However, this is also the only way to obtain sweets-type items, so it's a bit of a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]].

* Subverted with the Disruptor Rifle in ''VideoGame/JediKnightIIJediOutcast'' and ''VideoGame/JediKnightJediAcademy''. Its fully charged shots disintegrate most non-Force User enemies, but you won't be able to take their weapons if you do so. However, any Supply or Security Keys - the latter usually required for progress in missions - they were carrying will remain intact and drop where they once stood, avoiding cases of UnintentionallyUnwinnable.
* Downplayed in ''VideoGame/FarCry5''. The Magnopulser is the only weapon in the game that can actually destroy an organic target completely. This naturally makes it impossible to loot the corpse for cash, ammo and crafting components, but the gun's very short range and the small amount of loot the average mook carries makes the loss little more than a minor inconvenience.

* ''LightNovel/KumoDesuGaNaniKa'': When Kumo finally manages to cast Abyss magic, she quickly decides that it's AwesomeButImpractical because she doesn't get any experience from all the monsters it kills. [[spoiler:This is because their souls are removed from the System.]] She also tends to avoid Decay magic and skills, because they don't leave a body for her to eat, instead turning the target directly into compost.

** Disintegrate Burning the enemy to a husk with multiple fireballs and acidic blasts happily leaves everything intact.

** We still have ''Mordenkainen's disjunction'', which destroys the magic on a character's equipment. ''Permanently.'' Players [[AwesomeButImpractical don't use it]], mostly because they then have to recalculate all the relevant stats, but even they're willing to do all that work, it still robs them of valuable loot after the battle finishes -- and if any of that loot happens to be an artifact of the gods, they've just stumbled into some serious divine trouble, possibly up to losing all spellcasting ability, ''forever''. [=DMs=] don't use it because it gets them branded a KillerGameMaster. It probably wouldn't be used at all if it weren't for Wizards of the Coast insistently putting it on certain villains, including a DifficultySpike encounter that has the spell ''eight levels early''. ''TableTopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' fixes most of this by making it suppress the powers instead.

->''"[[MemeticMutation Commander! You may want to instruct your men to exercise restraint when using explosives...]] while certainly effective at killing aliens, they also destroy the artifacts we're hoping to recover from ze bodies. Just something to consider."''
-->--'''Dr. Moira Vahlen''', ''VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown''

*** ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'' plays this trope straight if you detonate a [[ActionBomb Super Mutant Suicider]]'s mini-nuke by shooting their right arm; not only will it make the nuke unavailable to you, but it will cancel out any experience otherwise earned by directly killing it or other enemies taken out by the explosion.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Rage}}'', gibbing enemies with explosive weapons will prevent the player from taking whatever stuff they may have had on them.

* Among ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'' players, destroying gear is generally regarded as the only possible disadvantage to killing invaders ([[ElvesVersusDwarves or elves]]) with magma - any non-metallic objects they're carrying get destroyed. This is sometimes seen as an ''advantage'' later in the game, to destroy VendorTrash while leaving valuable metal weapons and armour (which can then be reclaimed at a smelter by melting them down). Draw-bridge brought down on enemies (AKA the Dwarven Atom Smasher), however, does erase ''all'' equipment, even the stuff you might actually want to keep. The same occurred when dropping them in a chasm back when they were BottomlessPits.

* Averted in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' with [[KickChick Chie's]] "Galactic Punt Follow-Up Attack" special, which [[ATwinkleInTheSky instantly kills]] any miniboss or lower-grade enemy in a single shot, but still gives the player full rewards for beating them.