Follow TV Tropes

Following

Playing With / Give Me Your Inventory Item

Go To

Basic Trope: NPC demands that the player give them a useful item from their inventory, such as a Healing Potion.

  • Straight: The Hero Hawke meets Norman, an NPC who asks him if he can spare a few Healing Potions or a decent Steel Sword.
  • Exaggerated: Norman asks Hawke for all of his Potions, plus some expensive weapons and armor — things Hawke can easily buy, so long as he has the money...
  • Downplayed: Norman asks for "anything". In truth, he'll reject really useless Shop Fodder, but accept a really common item like an apple.
  • Justified:
    • Norman is robbing Hawke.
    • Norman has some information Hawke might find useful, and is trading it for some items he needs.
    • The particular type of item(s) Norman needs are very common and can be found in most stores... in another country, which the wandering hero Hawke has recently visited/will be traveling through shortly.
    • He's a Karma Meter event; buy him a sword and a hauberk and he joins you, tell him to bug off and he spends the rest of the game shouting "Oi! Over here, dipshit!" at monsters who aren't aware of you.
    • The character can't follow you into a hostile area unless you provide them with Protective Gear.
    • Norman could be an angel or minor deity, hacking him off would be a really bad idea. Hawke was raised on such stories; thus he dares not refuse a beggar; and especially not At the Crossroads.
    • Hawke and Norman are part of La RĂ©sistance, and Norman needs some Protective Gear because he's about to embark on a potentially dangerous mission to sabotage The Empire.
  • Inverted:
    • Hawke asks Norman to give him some supplies before he sets out to save the NPC's hometown.
    • "I'm heading to the shop. Need anything?" [Healing Potion / Antidote / Sandvich / Thank you, but no.]
  • Subverted: When Hawke talks to the NPC, he mentions that he needs some potions... then walks past him and heads for the local shop.
  • Double Subverted: ...Only to learn that they've just sold out of potions. Then he turns to Hawke and asks if he has any he can spare.
  • Parodied: Norman hands Hawke his shopping list of adventurer's staples... and bread, milk, eggs...
  • Zig Zagged: ???
  • Averted: Nobody asks Hawke to bring them common, store-bought items; if any requests are made at all, they're strictly for Plot Coupons.
  • Enforced: ???
  • Lampshaded:
    Hawke: "So, Norman, why do I have to give you the item? There's a store right over there."
    Norman: "Because you just have to, that's why."
  • Invoked: Norman is actually working for the Big Bad, who demands a useful item from the Hero to hinder his progress.
  • Exploited: A town guard asks Hawke for a Healing Potion in order to restore his strength for the night watch. But if you give him a Sleep Potion (which looks almost the same as the real deal) instead, you can gain access to the building he was supposed to watch in order to get some nice items.
  • Defied: "I'm not a shop, buddy. You're a big boy, trundle over to one, and get it yourself."
  • Discussed:
    Hawke: "Store's right down that street, you know."
    Norman: "Well, not everyone can tear through Money Spiders, you know. I'm arachnophobic, myself..."
  • Conversed: ???
  • Deconstructed: Norman dies if you don't give him an Commonplace Rare, you suffer a debilitating setback later if you do give it to him, proving that resources are not unlimited in the real world.
  • Played For Drama: While exploring the sprawling city he's just arrived in, Hawke meets a beggar who asks if he can spare some change or a paltry potion. Whether or not he actually hands one over, the beggar turns out to be part of a gang of NPC thieves who accost him, trying to steal everything he's got.

You're going to have to hand that potion over to me if you want to go back to Give Me Your Inventory Item, buddy.

Top