History BagOfSpilling / VideoGames

** ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'' continues this trend. It comes after ''2'' chronologically, and it features a new main character altogether (Nero) who obviously has none of the weapons Dante had. However, Dante becomes the lead halfway through the game, which becomes a partial subversion: for all of the red orbs and proud souls you acquired as Nero, Dante gets an equivalent cache for himself to upgrade his abilities right away. Dante is also able to use all of the "[[StanceSystem styles]]" from ''Devil May Cry 3'', though missing those that he acquires partway through that game ([[TimeStandsStill Quicksilver]] and {{Doppelganger|Style}}) and the ones he kept are back at Level 1, in return for being able to switch between them on the fly rather than being stuck with one for an entire stage.

** ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry2'' starts Dante with none of the weapons or powers from the [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry1 first game]] except for the "Air Hike" double jump; it doesn't explain why, either. The [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry3DantesAwakening third game]] is a prequel to the first two, and thus it is only natural he has none of the gear from the second one, except for a weaker version of his "Rebellion" sword... but then it leaves the gaping question of where all the weapons he picked up in ''that'' game went before the first ''Devil May Cry''. There must be a closet somewhere in his office stuffed with demonic weaponry. Then there's the Force Edge sword, which loses all the special abilities it had in the transition from ''3'' to ''1'' (and the loss is permanent - Dante can't buy them back); there, however, it's forgivable, since writers aren't psychic and the people writing ''[=DMC1=]'' had no idea what would happen in the third game.
** ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'' continues this trend. It comes after ''2'' chronologically, and it features a new main character altogether (Nero) who obviously has none of the weapons Dante had. However, Dante becomes the lead halfway through the game, which becomes a partial subversion: you can use the points you earned as Nero to purchase abilities as Dante. Also in ''Devil May Cry 4'', Dante is able to use all of the "style" moves from ''Devil May Cry 3'', although at Level 1. You can upgrade them at the beginning of missions and at Divinity Statues, and doing so unlocks many new moves.

* The same thing happens in ''VideoGame/GodOfWarII'', and the rest of the game is dedicated to going back in time to kill the person who took them. Fortunately, the player still retains most of his divine strength at the start of the game, as well as a leveled-up version of one of the most useful spells from the original game, to give players ATasteOfPower.

** In ''VideoGame/GodOfWarPS4'', Kratos lost most of his power after [[spoiler: giving up the power of hope at the end of the third game]], and got rid of his weapons and artifacts from the previous games in order to try and put his past behind him. Instead of the Blades of Chaos he fights with his late wife's Leviathan Axe. Since he's not familiar with the weapon, it only makes sense that he'd need to spend time learning how to use it. [[spoiler:He eventually gets the Blades of Chaos back, though he needs to re-learn some of his old techniques due to being out of practice with them.]].

* Averted in the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' series. Phoenix Wright manages to avoid losing the Magatama between the second and third games, and then over the seven years between the third and fourth.
** With a [[LampshadeHanging lampshade hung]] in the first case of the second game, wherein Phoenix loses all his phone contacts after suffering amnesia for most of the case.

* ''VideoGame/GodOfWarRagnarok'' takes a similar approach. The TimeSkip between games stretched for three years, specifically during Fimbulwinter, the storm that signals the coming of Ragnarok itself. Said winter is said multiple times in-game to have worn down, if not remove entirely, magic spells, curses, and enchantments. Kratos and Atreus used those fantastical weapons, armors, and enchantments to survive, but now they're all spent. Lampshaded early on when the Huldra brothers ask Kratos what became of the wonders they crafted in the previous game and he simply responds, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome "We used them."]] Explains why the BlingOfWar applied to the Leviathan Axe and Blades of Chaos have vanished, leaving the weapons in their base forms.

** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'': Averting this was part of the justification for the infamous [[spoiler:player character swap of the legendary soldier Solid Snake in favor of the ''de facto'' rookie Raiden who could be plausibly lectured on the game world]]. This is also justified in the very introduction sequence of the Tanker chapter, where Snake infiltrates the tanker with the help of Otacon's stealth camouflage, but he breaks it when he makes his entrance. The lack of weapons (he only carries an M9 modified to shoot tranquilizer darts) is explained by Snake not wanting to accumulate a body count of Marines who are just doing their jobs, as he's supposed to be sneaking in to gather information.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfSpyro'': The end of ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfSpyroANewBeginning A New Beginning]]'' sets up an explanation to justify its use in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfSpyroTheEternalNight The Eternal Night]]''. During the final cutscene, Spyro mentions that the battle with Dark Cynder and subsequent escape drained his strength, and he lost most of his powers as a result. Perfectly reasonable when one remembers that Spyro is still a child (12-14 years old). Played straight for '[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfSpyroDawnOfTheDragon Dawn of the Dragon]]'', where Spyro again loses access to the powers he developed over ''The Eternal Night'' without an explanation being provided.

** In ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'', you once again start with a wide variety of gadgets (presumably the standard ones). The REC device and Electrocutioner's gloves are shown as having been turned into the police as evidence. The former can be reclaimed almost immediately (and is ultimately required), the latter cannot be taken back (presumably because it was a game-breaker). The freeze grenades are in your base, and can also be retrieved when you desire. Other gadgets are shown in various storage locations, keeping with the above explanation that Batman doesn't take ''every'' gadget out with him, as [[CrazyPrepared he has way too many for that]] - he takes out the standard ones and grabs more specialized stuff as needed.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'' starts off with Link at the peak of his strength from ''Breath of the Wild'', with thirty hearts, maximum stamina, wielding the Master Sword, and wearing the Champion's Tunic.[[note]]Max hearts and max stamina simultaneously is actually impossible in BOTW, as there aren't enough Spirit Orbs; max stamina means being three short of max hearts, and vice versa.[[/note]] He also no longer has the four Champion abilities, due to the Champions' spirits having passed on, or the Sheikah Slate (although Zelda does have an improved model created by Purah). However, the first encounter with Ganondorf in the opening ends with Link grievously injured by a blast of the Demon King's dark magic, losing all but three hearts and five stamina vessels, and destroying both the sword and the tunic. Fortunately, all the relationships he established with the secondary characters in the first game remain intact, most of the populace know who he is by now, and he doesn't have amnesia this time; furthermore, [[OldSaveBonus if you have save data from the Switch version of BotW on the same console]], any registered horses will be carried over. If you go to Link and Zelda's house in Hateno Village, there's also a justification provided for not having any of the collectible/purchasable armor that was available in the first game: it turns out that Link's still been adventuring during the TimeSkip between games, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome and it's been very hard on his clothes]].

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'' starts off with Link at the peak of his strength from ''Breath of the Wild'', with thirty hearts, maximum stamina, wielding the Master Sword, and wearing the Champion's Tunic.[[note]]Max hearts and max stamina simultaneously is actually impossible in BOTW, as there aren't enough Spirit Orbs; max stamina means being three short of max hearts, and vice versa.[[/note]] He also no longer has the four Champion abilities, due to the Champions' spirits having passed on, or the Sheikah Slate (although Zelda does have an improved model created by Purah). However, the first encounter with Ganondorf in the opening ends with Link grievously injured by a blast of the Demon King's dark magic, losing all but three hearts and five stamina vessels, and destroying both the sword and the tunic. Fortunately, all the relationships he established with the secondary characters in the first game remain intact, most of the populace know who he is by now, and he doesn't have amnesia this time; furthermore, [[OldSaveBonus if you have save data from the Switch version of BotW on the same console]], any registered horses will be carried over.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'' starts off with Link at the peak of his strength from ''Breath of the Wild'', with thirty hearts, maximum stamina, wielding the Master Sword, and wearing the Champion's Tunic.[[note]]Max hearts and max stamina simultaneously is actually impossible in BOTW, as there are only enough spirit orbs to allow one of each.[[/note]] He also no longer has the four Champion abilities, due to the Champions' spirits having passed on, or the Sheikah Slate (although Zelda does have an improved model created by Purah). However, the first encounter with Ganondorf in the opening ends with Link grievously injured by a blast of the Demon King's dark magic, losing all but three hearts and five stamina vessels, and destroying both the sword and the tunic. However, all the relationships he established with the secondary characters in the first game remain intact, most of the populace know who he is by now, and he doesn't have amnesia this time, so he's still marginally better off than he was at the beginning of the last game.

* In ''Videogame/Destiny2'', all of your weapons, armor, and other equipment from ''Videogame/{{Destiny}}'' are lost, due to Ghaul destroying the Tower and its armory, and your Guardian being forced to flee the City in a badly wounded state with none of their powers after Ghaul cuts off the Traveler's Light. As Cayde-6 explains it:

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'' starts off with Link at the peak of his strength from ''Breath of the Wild'', with thirty hearts, maximum stamina, wielding the Master Sword, and wearing the Champion's Tunic. He also no longer has the four Champion abilities, due to the Champions' spirits having passed on, or the Sheikah Slate (although Zelda does have an improved model created by Purah). However, the first encounter with Ganondorf in the opening ends with Link grievously injured by a blast of the Demon King's dark magic, losing all but three hearts and five stamina vessels, and destroying both the sword and the tunic. However, all the relationships he established with the secondary characters in the first game remain intact, most of the populace know who he is by now, and he doesn't have amnesia this time, so he's still marginally better off than he was at the beginning of the last game.

* ''VideoGame/UltimaVII'' was literally cut in half, creating ''Ultima VII: The Black Gate'' and ''VideoGame/UltimaVIIPartII: Serpent Isle''. However, each one is a full game, and by the end of ''The Black Gate'', you're all powered up. This would be a problem for ''Serpent Isle''. The solution? Immediately after getting off the boat there, you're struck by [[LightningCanDoAnything magical transposing lightning]] that trades your InfinityPlusOneSword for a piece of cheese, your ArmorOfInvincibility for a bucket, etc. It even trades your ''party members'' for random scrap items. Oh, and welcome to level 1 for no reason. Attempting to keep your stuff by dumping it out onto the beach before you walk to the event flag for the teleport storm doesn't work, either. There are actually two versions of that beach in the game's map. The one you start on, and the one you are sent to when the teleport storm happens. You can't get back to that first version of the beach without glitches or hacking, so you'd better get to questing!

* ''VideoGame/HorizonForbiddenWest'' takes place six months after ''VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn.'' It's explained that Aloy has been very busy between, searching for a backup of GAIA to correct the climate imbalance and blight spreading across the world, making this a SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome All those fancy weapons from the endgame? Worn out and discarded. The end game armor with the regenerating shield? It's the starting armor in ''Forbidden West,'' except the power cells have worn out and it's now just a regular suit of armor. That said, Aloy retains the ''skills'' she learned in the first game, like getting free slow mo when jumping, overriding and mounting basic machines, and the ability to repair overidden machines.
* ''VideoGame/GodOfWarRagnarok'' takes a similar approach. The TimeSkip between games stretched for three years, three years of nothing but winter. Kratos and Atreus used those fantastical weapons, armors, and enchantments to survive, but now they're all spent. Lampshaded early on when the Huldra brothers ask Kratos what became of the wonders they crafted in the previous game and he simply responds, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome "We used them."]] However, there is no explanation given why the BlingOfWar applied to the Leviathan Axe and Blades of Chaos have vanished, leaving the weapons in their base forms (especially they Leviathan Axe, since it was both made and upgraded by the same dwarves).

** ''VideoGame/Doom3'' does something vaguely similar when you enter or leave Hell (though not if you're just using the teleporters to get from one part of Mars to another).

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'' starts off with Link at the peak of his strength from ''Breath of the Wild'', with thirty hearts, maximum stamina, wielding the Master Sword, and wearing the Champion's Tunic. He also no longer has the four Champion abilities, due to the Champions' spirits having passed on, or the Sheikah Slate (although Zelda does have an improved model created by Purah). However, the first encounter with Ganondorf in the opening ends with Link grievously injured by a blast of the Demon King's dark magic, losing all but three hearts and five stamina vessels, and destroying both the sword and the tunic. However, all the relationships he established with the secondary characters in the first game remain intact, most of the populace know who he is by now, and he doesn't have amnesia this time, so he's still marginally better off than he was prior.

** Played mostly straight in ''VideoGame/DoomEternal.'' The only weapon carried over between ''2016'' and ''Eternal'' is the regular shotgun. The Slayer ''does'' retain the double-jump boots and chainsaw, though.
*** The expansion packs of ''Doom Eternal'' avert this trope. The Slayer is deprived of only one weapon, [[spoiler: the Crucible]] because he left it stuck in the final boss of the main game.

* ''VideoGame/HorizonForbiddenWest'' takes place six months after ''VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn.'' It's explained that Aloy has been very busy between, searching for a backup of GAIA to correct the climate imbalance and blight spreading across the world, making this a SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome All those fancy weapons from the endgame? Worn out and discarded. The end game armor with the regenerating shield? It's the starting armor in ''Forbidden West,'' except the power cells have worn out and it's now just a regular suit of armor with some unusual features.
* ''VideoGame/GodOfWarRagnarok'' takes a similar approach. The TimeSkip between games stretched for three years, three years of nothing but winter. Kratos and Atreus used those fanatastical weapons, armors, and enchantments to survive, but now they're all spent. Lampshaded early on when the Huldra brothers asked Kratos what became of the wonders they crafted in the previous game and he simply responds, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome "We used them."]] However, there is no explanation given why the BlingOfWar applied to the Leviathan Axe and Blades of Chaos have vanished, leaving the weapons in their base forms (especially they Leviathan Axe, since it was both made and upgraded by the same dwarves).

* The ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' series zig-zags this, where, depending on the game and how its story is structured, your character can frequently go from having a reasonable explanation for this (days between missions, where he would have every reason to be resupplied with what his side actually uses) to somehow, during the loading screen, completely misplace the enemy gun he came in with while somehow reacquiring the useless pistol he dropped for that enemy gun less than two minutes after starting. The original and ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDuty2 2]]'' generally avoided this for sequential missions, for the most part (particularly in ''2'') keeping whatever guns you had at the end of one level to start the next one with, but as the series slid closer to pure GunPorn it started playing this as ridiculously-straight as possible simply so you'd have a new gun to play with each mission. The Chernobyl missions in the first ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'' are probably the oddest instance, however: the sniper rifle you start with in the first one survives the transition to the second, minus its suppressor and ghillie camouflage, but the silenced USP you also start with and anything else you can pick up in the level will turn into an AK-47 during the transition -- ''except'', ironically, for an actual AK-47, which will instead turn into a USP for some reason.