History PoorCommunicationKills / VideoGames

* ''VideoGame/InStarsAndTime'': Siffrin both DesperatelyCravesAffection and has ''terrible'' self-loathing issues, so he bottles up just how badly he wants the party to stay together after defeating the King out of fear of being hated. And of course, once the [[GroundhogDayLoop time loops]] begin, he takes it entirely upon himself to handle them so as not to burden his friends, even when it ''really'' starts [[SanitySlippage taking a toll]]. [[spoiler:It turns out that this issue is what's causing Siffrin to loop back - he wished to stay with everyone and feels that he can't go on when they finish the quest, causing his Time Craft and Wish Craft to activate subconsciously. It takes Siffrin being driven to the absolute brink and [[FightingYourFriends attacking the party]], with them SCREAMING for him to just tell them his wish, for him to finally admit how he's felt...only for it to turn out that ''everyone else'' felt this way too, but were also keeping it to themselves because they thought they were the only one.]]
** The rest of the party noticed at some point that Siffrin seemingly HatesBeingTouched and is avoiding doing so, while also not bringing it up in case he's embarrassed by it. He's actually fine as long as he's given a heads-up, but because nobody's talked to him about it, he starts to think they're disgusted by him.
** Siffrin's hardly the only one guilty of this. Mirabelle feels guilty for dragging everyone on a quest even she thinks might really be impossible, so even when she starts to think something's wrong, she doesn't ask questions and bottles up her worries rather than rock the boat. Isabeau is outwardly very confident but still has self-esteem issues that lead to him [[spoiler:chickening out whenever his attempts to confess to Siffrin get interrupted]]. [[DeadpanSnarker Odile]] jokes about viewing them as "allies, at best", which makes Siffrin think he was the only one who believed them to be friends; she later admits she just felt weird about being older than the rest of them and wasn't sure how to describe their relationship (a FamilyOfChoice). And Bonnie keeps Siffrin at arm's length because [[spoiler:he lost an eye [[ItsAllMyFault protecting her]] from a Sadness and she doesn't want him to get hurt again.]]

** At the end of the game, Isaac's party defeats Saturos and Menardi, which has them [[DisneyVillainDeath flinging themselves into the pit of the Venus Lighthouse.]] Despite the major threat being gone, Felix insists that he will still continue Saturos and Menardi's quest in lighting the rest of the elemental lighthouses, despite him no longer being a hostage. Rather than telling Isaac his reasoning for lighting the lighthouses (saving the world and freeing his parents who were held hostage in Saturos and Menardi's hometown), he basically tells them "Well, you'll see what happens once I finish my quest!" and takes off. It isn't until the sequel where Felix and Isaac's parties finally reunite and they actually settle down to have a talk on what's happening. Isaac lampshades the whole thing, saying he would have agreed to help Felix on his quest if he had just told him the truth. It's likely the reason for Felix not telling Isaac sooner is due to Isaac being tasked with preventing the lighthouses from being lit and Felix assumed Isaac wouldn't listen to the truth.

* The Mars Clan from ''VideoGame/GoldenSun''. Though you'd have a hard time believing the civilization was acting for the greater good when their first team of warriors accidentally [[DoomedHometown destroy the hero's hometown]] and show no remorse for it. They're also shown doing objectively dickish things like kicking a tree they know is a cursed human into the river or beating a couple of kids to near death for "spying" on them: really, if anything they're {{Sociopathic Hero}}es at best. It also doesn't help that Agatio, their champion in the second game, wanted to take over the world.
** It is mentioned that Saturos and Menardi (and the rest of their ill-fated group in the prologue) tried to explain the truth to the Vale elders, but [[CassandraTruth were disbelieved]], forcing them to take drastic action.
** A second example in ''The Lost Age'': when Sheba tells Karst about the fate of Saturos & Menardi, she simply says that Isaac killed them both. This makes Isaac seem to be a murderer, so Karst's RoaringRampageOfRevenge seems reasonable, as does her later confusion when Felix tries to defend Isaac from her. The truth is that Saturos & Menardi attacked Isaac & friends with intent to kill, and their deaths were a ''double-suicide'' after Isaac & friends successfully fought them off, nonlethally, despite their use of the DangerousForbiddenTechnique. Did anybody ever explain this to Karst? No.

** Litchi's case is a particularly gratuitous instance of this trope. While Rachel and Kokonoe weren't helpful to her for their own reasons, both sides could have contained their tempers just a bit better and gotten their point across - Litchi wanted to inform the others she was succumbing to Boundary corruption in her mission to save Arakune, and Rachel and Kokonoe wanted to tell her why he's too far gone for her to help, but they slammed each others' {{Berserk Button}}s in the process. [[spoiler:In ''Chronophantasma'', Rachel finally explains that Litchi is attempting to observe Arakune, which would require that she observe herself as well, except Litchi's emotional instability makes it hard for her to keep her priorities straight - and the corruption Litchi is facing is a consequence of her ineptitude at observation. Back in ''Continuum Shift'' Hazama (a.k.a. the aforementioned Terumi) [[DealWithTheDevil offered Litchi a cure for Arakune in exchange for her joining the NOL]], which she did [[ForcedIntoEvil due to being out of other options]] -- though she believes he won't hold his end of the bargain.]] Furthermore, Litchi has a mindset of not trying to involve those she called friends from her problems as much as possible, and because of this, she's unable to confide to other more supportive friends (if lacking knowledge about her problems) like Bang or Taokaka about her problems, which could have immensely helped her mental fortitude, and [[spoiler:when her joining NOL requires her to be aggressive against Bang, she instead came off as a completely believing lackey of Relius in terms of helping him accelerate Doomsday, in Bang's words, it's 'falling into evil'.]]

** Sojiro Sakura, the man in charge of looking after the protagonist during his time on probation, initially refuses to tell him about the fact that he has an adoptive daughter, Futaba, and the protagonist only learns about Futaba when [[ItMakesSenseInContext Futaba anonymously contacts him and requests that he change her own heart]]. Even the neighbors don't know about Futaba's existence despite Sojiro always buying food for two. When the Protagonist tries to ask about Futaba, Sojiro becomes defensive and refuses to answer, leading the party to mistakenly wonder if Sojiro is abusing Futaba and even sneaking into his house to find out. At that point, Sojiro finally tells the truth to the protagonist and the rest of the party.
** If the Traitor had just been a ''teeny bit'' more trusting of the other Phantom Thieves, their entire betrayal could have been avoided, because [[spoiler:the Phantom Thieves ended up going after the Traitor's revenge target, Shido, anyway. If Akechi had just admitted what was going on earlier, they would certainly have agreed to help. Sadly, by the time the plot is revealed, Akechi is already too far gone- it had been two years since he'd first started killing people in order to help Shido ascend to power prior to eventually betraying him- and can't admit that his entire plan was AllForNothing.]]
** [[UpdatedRerelease Royal]] has a particularly tragic case: [[spoiler: Kasumi Yoshizawa considered her twin sister, Sumire(the "Kasumi" the player gets to know over the course of the remake), a FriendlyRival to her, but she proved unable to properly convey this, leading to many InnocentlyInsensitive and CondescendingCompassion - like remarks, which only sent Sumire further into her own depression. The tragedy comes from the fallout... Sumire ends up running away from Kasumi, not even realizing that traffic had started up. Kasumi pulls a DivingSave to keep Sumire from being struck by an oncoming vehicle, successfully saving her sister but leaving herself to be killed upon impact.]]

* In ''VideoGame/GodOfWarPS4'', this causes majority of the issues between Kratos and Atreus. Due to Kratos deliberately distancing himself from Atreus as a means to protect the boy from Kratos' DarkAndTroubledPast, Atreus has grown up thinking his father resents him for being weak, alternating between feeling bitter towards Kratos and wanting to prove himself to earn his father's love. Kratos's refusal to tell Atreus that he is a god is actually killing Atreus, as Atreus thinks he is mortal and this contradiction is manifesting itself as a life-threatening illness. This all comes to head when Kratos sadly claims that Atreus is cursed due to the divine blood inherited from Kratos but Atreus ends up only hearing the only part of what was said, leading him to believe that Kratos thinks ''Atreus'' is cursed and that Kratos never wanted him. The idea alone is what finally causes Kratos to reveal the truth to Atreus. And ''that'' leads to Atreus [[AcquiredSituationalNarcissism getting full of himself]] in part because Kratos insists on being vague about his shameful behavior in the previous games.
** This trope continues to linger in the lives of both Kratos and Atreus come the events of ''VideoGame/GodOfWarRagnarok''. In the three years since the start of Fimbulwinter, the perpetual cold that heralds the start of Ragnarok, Kratos has been trying to keep Atreus safe and forestalls any attempts by him to learn what his destiny as "Loki" is. However, Kratos' stoicism and gruff demeanor make Atreus think that his father still doesn't fully see him as a capable warrior, resulting in him secretly going off and looking for the missing Norse god Tyr, inevitably leading to a confrontation with Odin and Thor. Even after this, Atreus continues to keep secrets from Kratos, namely the existence of Angrboda and Ironwood, which goes back around and convinces Kratos that Atreus is being manipulated into going over to Odin's side (which, to be fair, is true, but Odin is doing it by playing on the pre-existing issues between Kratos and Atreus), leading to a blowout where Atreus storms off and ends up going to Asgard and Odin to find his answers about Loki. It's only after [[spoiler:a meeting with the Norns, the local equivalent of the Fates and learning that his own actions are to blame for his suffering, not Fate or prophecy]] that Kratos starts to open up to Atreus and trust him to handle himself, for which Atreus also realizes that trying to do everything by himself results in blind recklessness. The two reconcile and rekindle their relationship in time for the final battle against the Aesir, after which [[spoiler:they part on excellent terms as Atreus leaves Midgard to search for the lost Giants while Kratos remains to help the Nine Realms rebuild in the new era of peace.]]

* In ''VideoGame/AdvanceWars'', the entire conflict in Yellow Comet could have been avoided on two fronts. If Orange Star had bothered to contact them ahead of time and ask permission to march their army through their country Kanbei wouldn't have assumed the worst and attacked them, and if Kanbei had bothered to give the Orange Star army the chance to explain that they were merely passing through his country instead of attacking them on sight. In fact, this entire conflict is the only time the two battling [=COs=] ''don't'' communicate to one another before, during, and after the battle. Naturally, his much more intelligent daughter Sonja, knowing her father isn't the brightest bulb in the box (at least until CharacterDevelopment sets in), [[LampshadeHanging repeatedly calls him out on it]] to no effect and, if you've been performing well enough, decides to take you on herself to gather intel and assess your abilities before letting you move on to Green Earth.

* Most of the problems in ''VideoGame/{{Nier}}'' could have been avoided if more people understood the Shades' speech.

* Poor communication is what causes the epic boss fight between Batman and Mr. Freeze in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity.'' [[spoiler: Batman and Freeze have been forced by the Joker to create a cure for his disease]]. Batman arrives to collect it, and Freeze demands that Batman must find and rescue his wife Nora first. Batman reads this as Freeze refusing to hand it over, becomes hostile, and tries to steal it. Freeze reads ''that'' as Batman refusing to find his wife, and reacts accordingly.
* ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' utterly runs on this trope, with a large number of characters either failing to get their point across or failing to understand the point as intended. While things could clear up in ''Chronophantasma'', many issues in ''Calamity Trigger'' and ''Continuum Shift'' could be easily resolved if everyone was able to express themselves clearly. [[spoiler:Takamagahara was resetting every instance where things did not go according to their plans, and Terumi had no choice but to play along until he could lobotomize them. This does '''not''' excuse the fact he was willing to manipulate the rules of communication for his own ends, however, both before and after said lobotomy.]]
** Despite being the [[BigGood Big Good Duumvirate]], Rachel and Jubei are remarkably poor at explaining themselves clearly: Jubei is [[TricksterMentor too cryptic for his own good]], whereas Rachel is particularly condescending. Both of them left their charges - especially Ragna and Noel, the cruxes of Terumi's plans in ''Calamity Trigger'' and ''Continuum Shift'', respectively - ill prepared for dealing with Terumi when the time came to deal with him. While Ragna is prone to [[HairTriggerTemper going off on his own in anger]] and Noel [[ShrinkingViolet isn't the best at dealing with crazies like Terumi]], the cryptic nature of the advice they got from Rachel and Jubei didn't help at all.
** Litchi's case is a particularly gratuitous instance of this trope. While Rachel and Kokonoe weren't helpful to her for their own reasons, both sides could have contained their tempers just a bit better and gotten their point across - Litchi wanted to inform the others she was succumbing to Boundary corruption in her mission to save Arakune, and Rachel and Kokonoe wanted to tell her why he's too far gone for her to help, but they slammed each others' {{Berserk Button}}s in the process. [[spoiler:In ''Chronophantasma'', Rachel finally explains that Litchi is attempting to observe Arakune, which would require that she observe herself as well, except Litchi's emotional instability makes it hard for her to keep her priorities straight - and the corruption Litchi is facing is a consequence of her ineptitude at observation. Back in ''Continuum Shift'' Hazama (a.k.a. the aforementioned Terumi) [[DealWithTheDevil offered Litchi a cure for Arakune in exchange for her joining the NOL]], which she did [[ForcedIntoEvil due to being out of other options]] - though she believes he won't hold his end of the bargain.]] Furthermore, Litchi has a mindset of not trying to involve those she called friends from her problems as much as possible, and because of this, she's unable to confide to other more supportive friends (if lacking knowledge about her problems) like Bang or Taokaka about her problems, which could have immensely helped her mental fortitude, and [[spoiler:when her joining NOL requires her to be aggressive against Bang, she instead came off as a completely believing lackey of Relius in terms of helping him accelerate Doomsday, in Bang's words, it's 'falling into evil'.]]

* The entire bloody banquet event near the end of the ''A Realm Reborn'' storyline in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' could have been avoided entirely if [[spoiler: Nanamo had simply told about Raubhan her plans to dissolve the Syndicate instead of trying to do it herself. Because Nanamo attempted to make Ul'dah a nation that is governed by the citizens instead of the wealthy, one of the Syndicate members plots to assassinate her and frame the Scions and the Warrior of Light for her murder. Once the events unfold and Raubhan goes on a rampage, he loses an arm from Illberd during their fight and is thrown in jail while the Scions flee from the guards. Later on, it's revealed that another member of the Syndicate member intervened in the assassination attempt by swapping out the poison with a strong sleeping agent.]]

* ''VideoGame/Fallout4'': In the "Automatron" DLC questline, the Mechanist sends robots out into the Commonwealth in order to save its denizens. Unfortunately, what ends up happening is that the Mechanist's robots start killing the people of the Commonwealth. [[spoiler:This is because the Robobrain robots that convey the Mechanist's orders to the other robots came to the conclusion that any aid they render to the people of the Commonwealth would be insufficient to ensure their long-term survival, ergo: the best solution was to simply KillAllHumans to [[MercyKill curtail any future suffering]]. The Mechanist never realized this, as the Robobrains simply reported back that they had carried out their directives.]]

* ''VideoGame/Fallout4'': In the "Automatron" DLC questline, the Mechanist sends robots out into the Commonwealth in order to save its denizens. Unfortunately, what ends up happening is that the Mechanist's robots start killing the people of the Commonwealth. [[spoiler:This is because the Robobrain robots that convey the Mechanist's orders to the other robots came to the conclusion that any aid they render to the people of the Commonwealth would be insufficient to aid in long-term survival, ergo: the best solution was to simply KillAllHumans to [[MercyKill curtail any future suffering]]. The Mechanist never realized this, as the Robobrains simply reported back that they had carried out their directives.]]

* ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'': Most of Kirby's battles with King Dedede are mostly because of a misunderstanding on Kirby's end or because Dedede has been [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwashed]] or [[DemonicPossession possessed]] to attack Kirby. The most notable example is ''VideoGame/KirbySqueakSquad'', where Kirby storms Castle Dedede and beats up the king all because he thought he stole his strawberry shortcake. It's not only until after Dedede is passed out that Kirby finds out that [[BigBad Daroach]] and the Squeaks are the true culprits, but also that Dedede had nothing to do with the cake, but rather [[spoiler:an ancient evil [[SealedEvilInACan locked in a chest]] that somehow wound up in his possession that Kirby accidentally frees after taking down [[WellIntentionedExtremist Meta Knight]]]].

''Franchise/DragonAge'':