The TVTropes Trope Finder is where you can come to ask questions like "Do we have this one?" and "What's the trope about...?" Trying to rediscover a long lost show or other medium but need a little help? Head to Media Finder and try your luck there. Want to propose a new trope? You should be over at You Know, That Thing Where.
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openVideo game characters that cannot attack Videogame
Is there a trope for playable characters in a video game that are completely incapable of attacking or otherwise fighting back against their enemies, and have no other choice but to avoid them?
openYou Can Choose To Do Nothing Videogame
Doing nothing when the game prompts you to do something gives you a different outcome instead of a game over, in games with story branches and/or multiple endings, this outcome might even make a big difference.
A lot of times players miss this because the game doesn’t really present it as a choice at all.
openYou Have To Go Deeper Videogame
In video games, the deeper you go Beneath the Earth the better resources you find, with progressively more difficult challenges (not necessarily monsters, could be environmental hazards) to match the rewards. Some resources are available only from a certain depth below, to encourage risky ventures there.
openAuto Level Videogame
I recently added a paragraph about these to Rube Goldberg Machine, but given how prevalent these are in Level Editor games I figured it might be worth checking if there is actually a more obscurely-named page for these, and if not, whether it would warrant posting on TLP:
An "auto level" or "Don't Move level" is a custom level created with a game's Level Editor which is functionally a level that completes itself automatically, generally in Rube Goldberg Machine fashion.
I mentioned three notable examples of games in which this is commonly seen (i.e. Line Rider, Happy Wheels, Geometry Dash), but there's obviously a lot more (Game Plays Itself lists examples from Mario Maker) and so a page may be warranted.
So do we have a dedicated page on these? If not, is one needed, or would they fit better in Rube Goldberg Machine and/or Game Plays Itself?
Apologies if this isn't what the Trope Finder is intended for; I'd just rather make sure of everything first.
Edited by victim-573openCounterintuitive strategy Videogame
A game design trope where the playing strategy it seems to promote isn't necessarily the best one, but you'll only know if you're kinda tweaking how the game works.
For instance, the Batman: Arkham Series features combat challenges where thugs can grab guns from locked boxes. Given that guns rip through you like tissue paper and that the boxes come with helpful and very loud sirens when thugs open them, you'd assume that the strategy should be "stop them from getting the guns at all costs". Wrong - each box can only spawn one gun and Batman has a move that lets him break it, so in reality, the player should let the thug grab the gun because then Batman can destroy it and render the box useless. The game, meanwhile, just encourages you to stop them from getting the gun at all.
Any idea if this kind of thing exists? I know about Cheese Strategy, but it didn't feel quite right.
openEasy mode is too hard/frustrating, so someone plays Hard mode to remove the frustrating stuff Videogame
A mostly videogame/meta-specific trope where someone would try the easy version of events, but find it too frustrating so they switch to Hard mode and have an easier time because the frustrating stuff is gone. This would also be Truth in Television for quite a few gamers out there.
openEnding trope confusion Videogame
I'm unsure if this entry fits better under Late-Arrival Spoiler or It Was His Sled, or a different trope entirely.
- Saints Row ends with Playa being blown up on Alderman Hughes' boat, which Saints Row 2 reveals was planned by the Saints' leader, Julius. While discovering Julius' betrayal is part of a secret storyline in 2, later games in the series do away with the secrecy.
openJunior Leader, Senior Subordinate Videogame
Do we have a trope for when a more senior member of an organization refuses to take charge of it after a leadership shake up, so a less senior member ends up as their superior? The closest thing I found was Declining Promotion, but that is much less specific... Examples I come up with mostly come from video games and involve the Player Character as the less senior leader figure and an NPC as the senior subordinate, like Kei Nagase in Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War, Johnny Gat in Saints Row 2, and Alistair in Dragon Age: Origins.
Edited by KoverasopenMore general Schrödinger's Question? Videogame
Is there a more general supertrope of Schrödinger's Question? The description and laconic indicate that it's for situations where the player is asked a question, and their answer determines the truth in the narrative. But what about more general scenarios, where it's not a question being asked, but the world around the player character altering according to their actions where the effect shouldn't logically result from the cause. For example, the player has to search several locations for an object, and the player always has to search every location because the game forces the object to always be in the location the player saved for last. Or if the player is given the opportunity to commit a crime, and if they choose to do so another character appears to witness it, but if they decide against it that character is nowhere to be found, effectively deciding the whereabouts of this character through a choice that has nothing to do with them, otherwise.
openAbilities shown off to a game player before they can use them. Videogame
Is there a trope for when a video game will demonstrate an ability or power at a point before the player is able to use it? I'm not thinking of a scenario where a scenario is set up to foreshadow an ability, but one where that ability is shown off, likely by a character besides the player, prior to the player unlocking it. It could be a character that's unlockable showing off the things they'll be able to do for the player when unlocked, or another character with a skill the player can later obtain. It could potentially be an opponent showing off a dangerous skill you'll be able to take advantage of at a later point as well, flipping it from threat to advantage once that happens. The case I'm thinking of is kind of a spoiler for Pokémon Legends: Arceus: If you enter a Pokémon battle during the Arceus boss fight, it'll demonstrate its new Legend Plate, which lets it switch to a type its target is weak against upon using the move Judgment. The ability is new for the game and showcased in this way as a direct threat to you, which you're later able to wield upon getting the Pokémon.
openBuilding a Village Videogame
As you progress through the game, or an element of the game, more villagers are added to a town or village and the place starts to grow. As in, more buildings are there, there's bigger bustle and interesting interaction with NP Cs.
Examples include: - Deltarune: as you recruit more monsters, Castle Town becomes more lively - Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: you recruit people to join Tarrey Town, and it gains more shops and interesting people as you do so. The quest culminates in a happy marriage, with the promise of a thriving community - The Logical Journey of the Zoombinis: as you bring the Zoombinis to Zoombiniville, you get more monuments to your achievement and a bigger town - Kirby and the Forgotten Land: Saving Waddle-Dees builds up the town, and you get more shops and stuff
I love this video game trope a lot. It fills me with joy when I see my little guys thriving out there.
open"No room to stop moving" boss Videogame
Is there a trope that would cover a real-time video game boss fight that's so busy with attacks, both widespread and homing, that the player has little room to do anything but dodge for most of the battle? I'm not just thinking of fights that force you to wait out an attack sequence to get an opening, since those can be tedious but easy, but rather, fights that really place a lot of challenge on actually surviving until you can attack back. I'm thinking of things like the Snatcher and his insanely harder upgrades in A Hat in Time and Lord Electrode in Pokémon Legends: Arceus as two examples.
openBrigo the BOTW bridge npc Videogame
so you know how in breath of the wild if you stand on Proxim Bridge an npc named Brigo will come and talk to you because he thinks your committing suicide. Is there a specific troupe for that kind of interaction or does it fall under another trope? Specifically a character mistakenly thinking your committing suicide
Edited by FORTY7OUTopenBonus level from Heaven Videogame
So you have the Bonus level from Hell, an ultra hard level that is hard simply for the sake of being hard, "that one level" the possible true final boss etc, but I don't see the inverse. Maybe because it's rare but I came across one in FF 14, the duel after the final boss of the current expansion is basically a bonus level from Heaven. As while it is "hard" you are given unlimited lives and as far as I can tell it exists solely for the sake of being fun after the complete bullet Hell from the last boss fight. If the trope doesn't exist yet I think it should and there must be other examples in other games of a sort of pressure release boss simply meant for shooting the shit.
openDiscotheque Fight Videogame
Not to be confused with Dance-Off, we're talking actual violence that just so happens to take place on a spiffy stage with energetic music. Best descriptor would be Thouzer's boss battle in Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise .
openDeleted Content Videogame
A game has something in it, but it's cut out in a later update. What trope is this?
openextra abilites that are limited by time and don't seem to have a purpose Videogame
In Paper Mario: The Origami King, there's a coffee stand which sells Rabbit Espresso and Turtle tea, which make you walk faster and slower respectively. The thing is they only do it for a very limited amount of time, and you don't have enough time to do anything outside the area which has only brief combat encounters very early in the game, and the stand is only unlocked once you have killed the enemy guarding it, so you can't even use the drinks for that. They seem to be a joke of some sort, but is this a trope at all?
openGame gives you multiple disadvantages and forces you to choose one or more from them Videogame
Pretty self-explanatory. Kind of like But Thou Must! but with some form of control over the outcome (i.e. In Superhot: Mind Control Delete on a certain level you can choose whether to give up shooting, moving, or punching)
Edited by GalaxitheaopenThe pre-game company credits Videogame
The short intros for video games that have the logos of the companies that worked on the game before the title screen.
An example would be for stuff like Call of Duty, there’s a “cutscene” of the activision and infinity ward logos
Mooks that literally can't kill you, may be due to Artificial Stupidity. Sometimes this occurs because the only form of attack they have is something you're completely immune to.
Edited by Devan2002