History DeconReconSwitch / VideoGames

* The 1994 ''Creator/{{Squaresoft}}'' RPG (remade for Nintendo Switch) ''VideoGame/LiveALive'' does this with one of its eight stories. [[spoiler:The Middle Ages chapter appears to be the most basic RPG of the bunch, with a ChosenOne story so cliche it borders on parody. But right at the end, [[TruamaCongaLine everything goes horribly wrong]]. The old hero Hasshe dies of the plague, Oersted's best friend Streibough dies, Oersted himself is tricked into killing the king, his mentor Uranus dies in prison, Streibough is revealed to still be alive, [[DrivenByEnvy as well as behind everything that happened to him]], and to top it all off, [[DamselInDistress Princess Alethea]] [[DrivenToSuicide commits suicide]] due to her love for Streibough, not Oersted. The [[HeroicMime nominally-silent]] Oersted, now pushed beyond the DespairEventHorizon, [[ThenLetMeBeEvil declares himself as the Lord of Dark Odio]], [[OmnicidalManiac with the goal of destroying all of humanity]] [[ApocalypesHow/ClassZ throughout time and space]] [[GreaterScopeVillain and is revealed to have incarnated himself as the final bosses of each of the seven previous stories]]. If he isn't chosen for the final chapter, however reconstructs many of the genre's tropes as all the protagonists of the past seven stories are brought together to not only defeat Odio in battle, but to prove his omnicidal misanthropy wrong.]]

** ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'' does this with the idea of the gang as one's family. The first part of the game deconstructs it by having the Grove Street Families be torn apart from the inside because of the drug trade proving too lucrative for [[spoiler:Big Smoke and Ryder]] to not betray the gang to Tenpenny and the Ballas. It then reconstructs it with CJ having to venture out and form actual relationships and bonds forged in common conflict against shared enemies, most of them not sharing the Black lower-income inner city hood background -- most notably, his closest friendships by the end of the game are with Cesar (Hispanic) and Wu Zi (Chinese).

** ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'' does this to CloningBlues. The deconstruction comes in by showing just what knowing you're a replica of someone else would do to someone's psyche and thought process, complete with BreakTheHaughty and massive HeroicSelfDeprecation. It reconstructs the concept by having the replica forge their own identity, and tell off their original who's still looking down on them for it. Exemplified by a speech before [[DuelBoss the boss battle between them]] with this: "I don't even have a past to lose, but I've still decided that I'm me! It doesn't matter what you think! Here I am!" To which the original [[WorthyOpponent concedes the point]].

* The 1994 ''Creator/{{Squaresoft}}'' RPG (remade for Nintendo Switch) ''VideoGame/LiveALive'' does this with one of its eight stories. [[spoiler:The Middle Ages chapter appears to be the most basic RPG of the bunch, with a ChosenOne story so cliche it borders on parody. But right at the end, [[TruamaCongaLine everything goes horribly wrong]]. The old hero Hasshe dies of the plague, Oersted's best friend Streibough dies, Oersted himself is tricked into killing the king, his mentor Uranus dies in prison, Streibough is revealed to still be alive, [[DrivenByEnvy as well as behind everything that happened to him]], and to top it all off, [[DamselInDistress Princess Alethea]] [[DrivenToSuicide commits suicide]] due to her love for Streibough, not Oersted. The [[HeroicMime nominally-silent]] Oersted, now pushed beyond the DespairEventHorizon, [[ThenLetMeBeEvil declares himself as the Lord of Dark Odio]], [[OmnicidalManiac with the goal of destroying all of humanity]] [[ApocalypesHow/ClassZ throughout time and space]] [[GreaterScopeVillain and is revealed to have incarnated himself as the final bosses of each of the seven pervious stories]]. If he isn't chosen for the final chapter, however reconstructs many of the genre's tropes as all the protagonists of the past seven stories are brought together to not only defeat Odio in battle, but to prove his omnicidal misanthropy wrong.]]

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' did this to Zelda similarly to Black and White. The game was designed around overhauling its basic gameplay breaking out of the classic ''Zelda'' structure of Overworld-Dungeon-Overworld-Dungeon into a more ''Metroid''-esque experience, while still honoring and improving series traditions and conventions. The massive amount of references to previous entries and the meta jokes help.

* ''VideoGame/{{Celeste}}'' zigzags on whether or not Madeline's [[{{Determinator}} stubborn determination]] to do something completely absurd is a good thing. In the main game it's set towards climbing Mt. Celeste, which even causes a physical manifestation of her fear and insecurity (called Badeline) to appear and start sabotaging her in an attempt to get her to see reason and stop this nonsense, but ultimately the journey leads to her personal betterment. In Chapter 9, however, Madeline's goal of [[spoiler:somehow bringing the recently deceased Granny back to life by chasing her bird through an astral dreamscape]] is clearly unhealthy and self-destructive, and Badeline is actually the voice of reason this time. Ultimately, it comes down to ''what'' Madeline is stubbornly trying to accomplish, and that quality of hers can be a double-edged sword.

* ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter 3 Ultimate'' deconstructs and reconstructs its premise in ''a single quest''. The quest's client includes a message about how excessive monster hunting has caused wyvern populations to dwindle. The objective, as given by the client, is to deliver Wyvern Eggs, in order to help build the population back up, thus allowing hunting to exist without dramatically disrupting ecosystems.

* The 1994 ''Creator/{{Squaresoft}}'' RPG ''VideoGame/LiveALive'' does this with one of its eight stories. [[spoiler:The Medieval Story appears to be the most basic RPG of the bunch, with a ChosenOne story so cliche it borders on parody. But right at the end, [[TruamaCongaLine everything goes horribly wrong]]. The old hero Hash dies of the plague, Oersted's best friend Straybow dies, Oersted himself is tricked into killing the king, his mentor Uranus dies in prison, Straybow is revealed to still be alive, [[DrivenByEnvy as well as behind everything that happened to him]], and to top it all off, [[DamselInDistress Princess Alicia]] [[DrivenToSuicide commits suicide]] due to her love for Straybow, not Oersted. The [[HeroicMime nominally-silent]] Oersted, now pushed beyond the DespairEventHorizon, [[ThenLetMeBeEvil declares himself as the Demon King Odio]], [[OmnicidalManiac with the goal of destroying all of humanity]] [[ApocalypesHow/ClassZ throughout time and space]] [[GreaterScopeVillain and is revealed to have incarnated himself as the final bosses of each of the seven pervious stories]]. The final story however reconstructs many of the genre's tropes as all the protagonists of the past seven stories are brought together to not only defeat Odio in battle, but to prove his omnicidal misanthropy wrong.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Dawncaster}}'': Depending on whether or not you take the Arch Demon Dantelion at his word, the game is one for TheChosenOne and TheProphecy. TheChosenOne, according to the reigning religious authority and their interpretation of a prophecy, is the Dawnbringer. However, on your way to locate the Dawnbringer, you learn that he's skeptical of his own selection, though he still wishes to go to the source of evil and fight the Arch Demon Dantelion directly. Doing so gets him killed ''[[CurbStompBattle immediately]]'', seemingly making him ThePoorlyChosenOne and leading to TheThreadOfProphecySevered. The Arch Demon then states that the Chantry only thinks of themselves of TheChooserOfTheOne, led by divine guidance, but in reality they're just led by their own wishes and desires, any god that may have been leading them having long ago abandoned them. That said, he also insinuates that it was ''you'' in fact who is the true prophesized hero and should you defeat him, you would have effectively fulfilled the prophecy as TheUnchosenOne.

* ''VideoGame/{{Dawncaster}}'': Depending on whether or not you take the Arch Demon Dantelion at his word, the game is one for TheChosenOne and TheProphecy. TheChosenOne, according to the reigning religious authority and their interpretation of a prophecy, is the Dawnbringer. However, on your way to locate the Dawnbringer, [[spoiler: you learn that he's skeptical of his own selection, though he still wishes to go to the source of evil and fight the Arch Demon Dantelion directly. Doing so gets him killed ''[[CurbStompBattle immediately]]'', seemingly making him ThePoorlyChosenOne and leading to TheThreadOfProphecySevered. The Arch Demon then states that the Chantry only thinks of themselves of TheChooserOfTheOne, led by divine guidance, but in reality they're just led by their own wishes and desires, any god that may have been leading them having long ago abandoned them. That said, he also insinuates that it was ''you'' in fact who is the true prophesized hero and should you defeat him, you would have effectively fulfilled the prophecy as TheUnchosenOne.]]

* VideoGame/{{Dawncaster}}: Depending on whether or not you take the Arch Demon Dantelion at his word, the game is one for TheChosenOne and TheProphecy. TheChosenOne, according to the reigning religious authority and their interpretation of a prophecy, is the Dawnbringer. However, on your way to locate the Dawnbringer, [[spoiler: you learn that he's skeptical of his own selection, though he still wishes to go to the source of evil and fight the Arch Demon Dantelion directly. Doing so gets him killed ''[[CurbStompBattle immediately]]'', seemingly making him ThePoorlyChosenOne and leading to TheThreadOfProphecySevered. The Arch Demon then states that the Chantry only thinks of themselves of TheChooserOfTheOne, led by divine guidance, but in reality they're just led by their own wishes and desires, any god that may have been leading them having long ago abandoned them. That said, he also insinuates that it was ''you'' in fact who is the true prophesized hero and should you defeat him, you would have effectively fulfilled the prophecy as TheUnchosenOne.]]

* The ''VideoGame/{{Mother}}'' trilogy has cases of this.

* ''VideoGame/{{Celeste}}'' zigzags on whether or not Madeline's [[{{Determinator}} stubborn determination]] to do something completely absurd is a good thing. In the main game it's set towards climbing Mt. Celeste, which even causes a physical manifestation of her fear and insecurity (called Badeline) to appear and start sabotaging her in an attempt to get her to see reason and stop this nonsense, but ultimately the journey leads to her personal betterment. In Chapter 9, however, Madeline's goal of [[spoiler:somehow bringing the recently deceased Granny back to life by chasing her bird through an astral dreamscape]] is clearly unhealthy and self-destructive, and Badeline is actually the voice of reason this time. Ultimately, it comes down to ''what'' Madeline is stubbornly trying to accomplish, and that quality of her's can be a double-edged sword.

* The ''VideoGame/TalesSeries'' is quite good about this. They'll massively deconstruct a concept in the first half of their games, then put it back together in the second half.
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' deconstructs the idea of TheChosenOne and FantasticRacism by showing just what both would do to a person's psyche. The former brings about all kinds of HeroicSelfDeprecation and pressure to succeed, with the latter showing that mercilessly blaming a group of people for everything is only going to breed hatred that benefits no one. They're both reconstructed by having TheUnchosenOne save the day instead, doing so by espousing the belief that everyone has the right to live, and showing that racism towards the same group of people who made your life miserable doesn't justify it.
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphoniaDawnOfTheNewWorld'' deconstructs the ManicPixieDreamGirl with Marta. Emil, the object of Marta's affection, finds her constant attention and praise annoying. Not only does the journey she takes Emil on not improve his life, it actively makes it worse, and none of Marta's attempts to gain his attraction work. Emil and Ratatosk eventually both give her a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech on this, with Emil telling her he's not a badass {{knight in shining armor}} like she wants him to be, and Ratatosk telling her that she's nothing more than an annoying brat who keeps making everything harder than it has to be. The reconstruction comes in when Marta goes from having a petty schoolgirl crush on Emil's SuperPoweredEvilSide to legitimately falling in love with the real Emil.
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfLegendia'' does it to BigBrotherInstinct and LikeBrotherAndSister. Toying with someone's feelings, especially if it's because you can't let go of the past, will only make that person hate you and act extremely irrationally, as shown with what happens when Senel rejects Shirley's AnguishedDeclarationOfLove. Reconstructed in that Shirley's SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum is still portrayed as her going way too far, and in the end, Senel proves that he does deeply care about Shirley, even if it isn't romantically.
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'' does this to CloningBlues. The deconstruction comes in by showing just what knowing you're a replica of someone else would do to someone's psyche and thought process, complete with BreakTheHaughty and massive HeroicSelfDeprecation. It reconstructs the concept by having the replica forge their own identity, and tell off their original who's still looking down on them for it. Exemplified by a speech before [[DuelBoss the boss battle between them]] with this: "I don't even have a past to lose, but I've still decided that I'm me! It doesn't matter what you think! Here I am!" To which the original [[WorthyOpponent concedes the point]].
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfGraces'' deconstructs TookALevelInBadass. The game shows that just because a character got stronger, it doesn't make them a better person. After a TimeSkip, the party members all become much stronger physically, but most of them haven't developed emotionally, resulting in a lot of animosity and bitterness over what happened during the time skip, or their {{Dark and Troubled Past}}s. It reconstructs the concept by having the party talk a few things out, with main character Asbel coming to see that it's his actions, not his strength, that make him a badass.
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfBerseria'' deconstructs the ByronicHero. Main character Velvet Crowe is driven by vengeance and presented as a brooding AntiHero, but it also shows that her desire to get revenge doesn't justify a lot of the awful things she does by showing the logical, long-term consequences of her actions. Velvet's emotions frequently get the better of her, resulting in her being driven by her hatred and bitterness, and she comes to be known as "[[RedBaron the Lord]] [[SheIsTheKing of Calamity]]", with the world justifiably thinking she's a monster. It reconstructs the concept by showing that Velvet's emotions are still valid, she ''can'' be changed to see how she's hurting people and made to deal with it in a better way, and that surpressing one's emotions and feelings isn't any better. In the end, Velvet concludes that she doesn't need to justify the way she feels to anyone but herself, but she's also not going to just let the world rot when a real threat shows up.
* The ''VideoGame/{{Mother}}'' trilogy has cases of this.
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' did this to Zelda similarly to Black and White. The game was designed around overhauling its basic gameplay breaking out of the classic ''Zelda'' structure of Overworld-Dungeon-Overworld-Dungeon into a more ''Metroid''-esque experience, while still honoring and improving series traditions and conventions. The massive amount of references to previous entries and the meta jokes help.

* ''VideoGame/Persona4'', which considers the [[{{Deconstruction}} serious psychoses]] various {{archetypal character}}s would have using {{shadow archetype}}s, only for said characters to turn around in order to embrace and try to overcome their issues.
* The 1994 ''Creator/{{Squaresoft}}'' RPG ''VideoGame/LiveALive'' does this with one of its eight stories. [[spoiler:The Medieval Story appears to be the most basic RPG of the bunch, with a ChosenOne story so cliche it borders on parody. But right at the end, [[TruamaCongaLine everything goes horribly wrong]]. The old hero Hash dies of the plague, Oersted's best friend Straybow dies, Oersted himself is tricked into killing the king, his mentor Uranus dies in prison, Straybow is revealed to still be alive, [[DrivenByEnvy as well as behind everything that happened to him]], and to top it all off, [[DamselInDistress Princess Alicia]] [[DrivenToSuicide commits suicide]] due to her love for Straybow, not Oersted. The [[HeroicMime nominally-silent]] Oersted, now pushed beyond the DespairEventHorizon, [[ThenLetMeBeEvil declares himself as the Demon King Odio]], [[OmnicidalManiac with the goal of destroying all of humanity]] [[ApocalypesHow/ClassZ throughout time and space]] [[GreaterScopeVillain and is revealed to have incarnated himself as the final bosses of each of the seven pervious stories]]. The final story however reconstructs many of the genre's tropes as all the protagonists of the past seven stories are brought together to not only defeat Odio in battle, but to prove his omnicidal misanthropy wrong.]]
* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' is a deconstruction of the ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' series as a whole. The main character, Niko Bellic, is a European immigrant who comes to America and sees the dark side of living the dream, thus being forced into criminal life to survive. The graphics and gameplay are more realistic than its predecessors, the people you do jobs for are portrayed as TooDumbToLive {{Smug Snake}}s, and the story ends with Niko not much better off than how he started. The first expansion, ''The Lost and Damned'', is the same, showing the main character Johnny Klebitz's struggle to keep [[AllBikersAreHellsAngels The Lost MC]] together in the face of incompetent leadership and pressure from other gangs. He fails, and the game ends with The Lost breaking up for good. The second expansion, ''The Ballad of Gay Tony'', reconstructs the series by bringing back features from the 3D Era GTA games, reminding us why we played these games in the first place while still keeping the game realistic, and having a far happier ending for the protagonist and his boss.
* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' starts off similarly to its predecessor, albeit in a LighterAndSofter way. It deconstructs various aspects of the typical GTA PlayerCharacter. Michael is a criminal who "won" the game and became rich, but is bored and miserable in his retirement. Franklin and Lamar are {{Gangbangers}} who take whatever illegal work they can get to limited success. And Trevor is effectively the typical [[YouBastard GTA player personified]]; a PsychopathicManChild who revels in violence and chaos. It further hammers in why BeingEvilSucks by making all but a handful of missions actually give you money. However, by the end of the game, it reconstructs most of what people enjoy about the game, with the characters [[EarnYourHappyEnding earning their happy endings]] despite it all [[spoiler:and rewarding them with more money than was ever possible in previous games]]. And ''Grand Theft Auto Online'' takes it even further by playing all of the series' tropes straight.
* The ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' series, despite its heavy themes and satirical nature, is often a franchise that celebrates the best of humanity, video games, and storytelling in general.

* ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' has Shiki, who starts out as a loud, energetic GenkiGirl with a positive outlook and attempts to help Neku open up without much success. However, Shiki was incredibly jealous of her outgoing, talented best friend Eri, copying her appearance and bubbly personality after she lost her real appearance as her entry fee. Thankfully, her CharacterDevelopment allows her to come to terms with her issues and learn to appreciate her true self, and it's this acknowledgement of her real self that gets Neku to open up in turn.
* ''VideoGame/{{Ikaruga}}'' is THIS trope's take on a typical scrolling ShootEmUp, deconstructing the entire gameplay by removing unnecessary elements such as powerups and complex weapons, and [[NintendoHard requiring good skills and tactics to progress the game]]. It also starts off with [[spoiler:[[DarkAndTroubledPast dysfunctional protagonists with hard backgrounds]] taking on the EldritchAbomination to [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu stop the indefinitely destructive loops]] once and for all]]. However, it also reconstructs what a typical shooter should be, like [[{{Minimalism}} simple weapons system that's reminiscent of classic arcade shooters]], and a well-deserved [[BittersweetEnding (but still emotional) happy ending]] in which [[spoiler:even if [[HeroicSacrifice the protagonists sacrificed themselves]] in successfully stopping the destructive fates of the world, they AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence and humanity is spared and flourishes after all]].

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' deconstructs a lot of the tropes of [[EasternRPG JRPGs]] of the time, introducing a DysfunctionJunction of plucky revolutionaries that were considered terrorists in the setting and knew it, and a [[{{BFS}} hilariously over-the-top]] lead character who was [[ThisLoserIsYou roleplaying a hero himself]] and whose quest to roam the world getting stronger was portrayed as an actual mental illness. However, once this plot is revolved, the story goes into a more traditional ''Final Fantasy'' mould for the ending, even contriving a way to have Cloud save a bunch of big crystals despite the Crystals being [[TheArtifact long gone from the series]] by that point.
* The HopeBringer is deconstructed and reconstructed in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX''. For 1000 years, the summoners acted as bringers of hope by going on pilgrimages to obtain the Final Summoning capable of defeating Sin. Each time this happens, there is a period of time with Sin absent that the people of Spira hopes will last forever called a Calm. The Church of Yevon's teachings also provide hope to Spira by claiming that if they atone for the sins of the past, Sin will never return. [[spoiler:Except it's all a huge lie. The teachings of Yevon and the Final Summoning are total hogwash meant to give false hope. The Final Summoning is even more insidious because it is the means of Sin's rebirth, making the sacrifices of the summoners and their guardians (who ''become'' the new incarnations of Sin) [[SenselessSacrifice utterly senseless]]. Each Calm was essentially nothing but a HopeSpot. The whole system has trapped Spira in what Auron describes as a "spiral of death".]] Hope Bringer is then reconstructed when Yuna and her companions learn of the spoilered bit above and refuse to go along with it, preferring to risk everything to find a ''real'' solution without false hope. It's at this point that the story becomes less cynical and more idealistic.
* Ever since ''VideoGame/Fallout1'', the ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' series has slowly deconstructed (on a meta level, at least) the tragedy of the [[AtomicHate Great War]] by showcasing it through BlackComedy and displaying that the [[CrapsackWorld Pre-War United States]] had transitioned into a jingoistic, sociopathic, and Orwellian state that [[AssholeVictim practically]] ''deserved'' [[NukeEm a nuclear war]]. However, starting with ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' and continuing through both ''[[VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas New Vegas]]'' and ''VideoGame/Fallout4'', the games have generally reconstructed the Great War as an actual tragedy. Of course, this isn't meant to imply that all of the games have their Black Comedy moments and the first few Fallout games didn't portray the War with actual tragedy. Still, ''3'', ''New Vegas'', and ''4'' devote noticeable amounts of effort into showing the misery the Great War caused, and how just because the world probably ''did'' need to [[ArcWords begin again]], the deaths of ''billions'' wasn't something good - like the Keller family holotapes in ''3'' and the "Sorry, My Darling" holotape from ''Broken Steel'', the [[YankTheDogsChain failure]] of the Sierra Madre in ''Dead Money'' and the tale of Randall Clark from ''Honest Hearts''. This is further cemented in ''4'' with the [[ForegoneConclusion Pre-War Sanctuary Hills sequence,]] which shows how the main player characters were HappilyMarried and living a idyllic life with their son Shaun before the Great War destroyed everything.
** ''Fallout 3'' and by extension, ''Fallout 4'', does this to GiantMecha. Liberty Prime was costlier and consumes much more energy and resource than merely an army of PoweredArmor soldiers that it misses the Anchorage campaign as Liberty Prime was intended to be deployed. Later however, ''Brotherhood of Steel'' discovers it, and completed it underground for years before Enclave starts amassing its troops. Despite being destroyed near the end of ''Brotherhood'''s Capital Wasteland campaign, it was managed to be rebuilt in ''4'' with an even more effective power source.
* ''VideoGame/WitchsWish'' goes over the drawbacks of using magic quite a bit, including how using it makes people's lives easier to the point where people no longer wish to work, as well as general greed and selfishness seemingly arising from the convenience magic provides and the resulting classism, with several characters trying to get rid of magic entirely. However, thanks to Vicky's helpfulness the characters eventually realize that magic itself is not to blame, can be used for many good things and is instrumental in saving the town, and it's really humanity's selfishness and greed they need to moderate, not magic.
* ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter 3 Ultimate'' deconstructs and reconstructs its premise in ''a single quest''. The quest's client includes a message about how excessive monster hunting has caused wyvern populations to dwindle. The objective, as given by the client, is to deliver Wyvern Eggs, in order to help build the population back up, thus allowing hunting to exist without dramatically disrupting ecosystems.

* ''VideoGame/{{Celeste}}'' zigzags on whether or not Madeline's [[{{Determinator}} stubborn determination]] to do something completely absurd is a good thing. In the main game it's set towards climbing Mt. Celeste, which even causes a physical manifestation of her fear and insecurity (called Badeline) to appear and start sabotaging her in an attempt to get her to see reason and stop this nonsense, but ultimately the journey leads to her personal betterment. In Chapter 9, however, Madeline's goal of [[spoiler: somehow bringing the recently deceased Granny back to life by chasing her bird through an astral dreamscape]] is clearly unhealthy and self-destructive, and Badeline is actually the voice of reason this time. Ultimately, it comes down to ''what'' Madeline is stubbornly trying to accomplish, and that quality of her's can be a double-edged sword.