History Main / AntidoteEffect

The Antidote is a staple item in just about every {{RPG}} that has ever existed. It has a simple use: it will cure a character from a {{Status Effect|s}}. However, shortly into the game, the character will usually acquire some kind of spell that serves the same purpose, rendering any antidotes in your inventory redundant. Some games also have status effects go away if you win the battle or wait a certain number of turns, meaning that you can tough it out if you want to.

* You find a dungeon or cave where [[YourMagicsNoGoodHere magic isn't allowed or doesn't work]], or an enemy who can [[AntiMagic negate it]]. Alternately, one of the status effects prevents magic, so having a spell that heals that doesn't help if [[TheKeyIsBehindTheLock it afflicts the caster who knows that spell]].

* The magic or abilities used to cure status is difficult to find, far more expensive to buy than items, or costs too much to cast, thus making it not worth your time.
* The game has strict LimitedMoveArsenal limits and optionally much more generous inventory limits, meaning that it’s easier to carry around an item to cure status effects than to carry a technique which takes up space that could be used to hold more generally useful techniques.

* [[ElementalCrafting They allow you to make bulks of much more efficient healing items.]]

* In ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'', there are plenty of times a specific card combo would be extremely useful... if you were to get the combo cards within the same few turns. And as the effects of the cards individually are minimal or dangerous, it's a toss-up: powerful individual cards, or combos that may never happen?
** Same with when to include Circles of Protection, which only protect against certain random encounters, and various single-color-targeting effects, such as Tsunami (bury all islands). Of course, you can combo with a card that'll rewrite "islands" to whatever land you like (or change the color of the Circle of Protection), but again, that's a rare combo, unless in the game you manage to stumble across multiple color/land-changing cards.
* The ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'' card game is a bizarre example of this; there are several cards made specifically to counter a single solitary card, most of which are either banned (which would make said counters useless items) or limited to 1, limiting their usefulness to near-0 in light of the myriad of other, better options for countering them. On the other hand, many {{Munchkin}} decks are hardly ever found without 3 copies of the card "Gravekeeper's Spy" or "Toon Table of Contents", two searcher cards that, in their own archetype deck, would work well. Why they fit into this category, however, is that most of the time, they're splashed into decks not of their archetype ''solely to search for their own copies and thin the deck''. So, on the one hand, we've got a bunch of highly situational cards that no one uses because of this trope, and on the other, we've got another bunch of cards that, while immensely useful in their own decks, are used in a highly situational way because of this trope. ''Yu-Gi-Oh'' players are weird. (This isn’t even getting into the numerous examples of cards that are literally useless without specific other cards.)
** It's basically the cyclical way ''Yu-Gi-Oh''... and most card games work, especially in correlation to the Meta. Two decks exemplify this trope well. Dark Worlds and Burn variants (usually Chain Burn). Both decks get erratic amounts of top placement in major tournaments, while in others they're nowhere to be seen. Why? Well, in normal circumstances, both decks are very hard and annoying to defeat. Dark Worlds are quick, mess with your hand, can abuse Skill Drain, have a recurring 2700 (3000 under their Field Spell) beater and are just generally all around annoying. Chain Burn stops you from ever getting any attacks off with a copious amount of battle stoppers, and then just sit behind them while they lay waste to your Life Points with a barrage of burn card chains, while also refilling their hand with Accumulated Fortune, and Jar of Greed/Legacy of Yata-Garasu. The problem with both of these decks is that they're HIGHLY susceptible to the side deck to the point that when properly sided against, they're dead on arrival. So when either deck scores a top placement, everyone will side against them. When that happens, they don't top again until people stop siding due to not seeing the decks again. Tl;dr, the AntidoteEffect allows Dark Worlds and Chain Burn to sneak top placement at majors at least once a format.

* ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon'' plays this straight: the antivenom and bandage take up spaces in the [[InventoryManagementPuzzle extremely limited inventory]] and cost gold, so it is normally better to bring cure abilities, which only take a [[LimitedMoveArsenal skill slot]]. But there are occasions where the healer is unaviable or the damage is too high, that it is worth to bring items.

* Averted (mostly) in the ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' series, in particular ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne''. Very few demons tend to learn even one status-healing spell and sometimes a limit on the number of skills a demon/persona can have, eating slots that could be saved for more important things, so such items can be quite valuable. Especially since having even a generally mild status effect like poison can mean death if caught without a status healing item.

*** A set of rare items is supposed to be used for weapon/armor customization, but the abilities they give are kind of lame. However, [[NotTheIntendedUse you can use them for Rikku's best overdrives: Trio of 9999 and Hyper Mighty G.]] The former makes all blows and healing do a minimum of 9999 HP damage/healing, while the latter grants the entire party Protect, Shell, Haste, Regen and Auto Life. You WILL need Hyper Mighty G when fighting some of the [[BonusBoss Monster Arena creations.]]

** Inverted in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI''. For the price of learning the PURE spell, you can buy 53 Pure potions, which is more than you're likely to ever need. The situation is similar for Soft potions and the SOFT spell, plus the spell charges are better spent on EXIT or [=INV2=].
*** The GBA and PSP remakes change the magic charge system to a magic point system, and the Poisona and Stona spells are comically cheap in terms of MP cost... but learning the spells still cost you the equivalent of numerous Antidotes and Gold Needles.

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'', it is possible to use GF abilities to refine various antidotes into either magic of a similar effect, or of the affliction they would normally cure.
*** It is also possible for the GF Siren to learn an in-combat Action Ability called "Treatment," which completely cures all status effects on a party member. Although the "Treatment" Ability falls even more neatly into this trope than regular antidotes. [[LimitedMoveArsenal You can only equip three Action Abilities]] (not counting "Fight", which is permanent) and equipping "Treatment" means you've spent a slot that could be used for something else.
** Inverted in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII''. There is an accessory you can get a little into the game which allows curative items to inflict the status they cure, with 100% accuracy (unless the enemy is immune to that effect). [[note]]Try equipping this item and using a Remedy on your enemies after you've acquired all three Remedy Lore licenses...[[/note]] Predictably, this makes the spells which actually ''cause'' these effects (often with less accuracy) as their primary purpose much less useful.
*** The main benefit of using healing items over spells in FFXII is that their action bar charges ''waaaaay'' faster.
** Potions in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' heal 150 HP, or 5% of your Max HP(thus only increasing in power at 3000+HP, which you won't get until the very end of the game). There's an accessory that slightly increases that but ultimately potions lose their usefulness shortly into the game when the Medic paradigm becomes available.

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'', you can use items to customize your armor. 99 Echo Screens, for example, will let you customize one piece of armor to protect against Silence or one weapon to inflict silence on enemies. However, rarer items produce better effects; 99 Echo Screens gives you Silence Touch, which silences enemies sometimes, while a sufficient number of Silence Grenades gives you Silence Strike, which almost always causes silence. So they're useful for something besides the single use, which may either be Square admitting to this trope or just weaseling out of it.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' has various types of potions, ethers, and status curing potions which are incredibly handy for new players/players using a new class, but the items get outclassed very quickly; healers will have spells that not only restores HP in amounts far beyond what potions can heal, but they also get a spell that removes nasty status effects from a player. Granted, potions are instant use (with no class restrictions), but they have lengthy cool downs to prevent them from being spammed, which limits their overall usefulness. For example, an Elixir, which restores a few hundred HP and MP at once, requires the user to wait several minutes before they can use another or any other similar item. Spell casting is only limited by cast time and the user's remaining MP. Even physical classes on their own have limited self-healing abilities (such as Second Wind) that they can use instead. Gold Needles are an exception since Petrification can only be cured with the use of a Gold Needle (Esuna/Leeches doesn't cure it, despite the spells being able to cure everything else).

->'''Player:''' Um, I'm out of MP!\\
'''Archibald:''' Then use an ether!\\
'''Player:''' But- but you can't buy ether.\\
'''Archibald:''' It's the ''final battle!''\\
'''Player:''' But I only have 85 of them.
-->-- '''Creator/ProZD''', "[[https://youtu.be/rgU4Oum8SLg when you have to conserve every single healing item in your inventory JUST IN CASE]]"

-->-- '''Creator/ProZD''', "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgU4Oum8SLg when you have to conserve every single healing item in your inventory JUST IN CASE]]"

* Several examples from ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'':
** Healing items are less necessary than in traditional [=RPGs=], thanks to Pokémon Centers fully healing and curing everything ''for free''. You'll be able to save virtually every item in the game for the [[BossRush Elite Four]].
** Throughout the series, Full Heals become available around halfway through the game. While more expensive individually than single-purpose healing items (Antidotes, Awakenings, Burn Heals, etc.), they can cover any status effect you need to treat. This is especially important in the first two generations which have strict item type limits.[[note]]In ''Red'', ''Blue'', and ''Yellow'' for example, you only have 20 item ''slots''. Whether you're carrying one Potion or 99, it only takes up one "slot". However, carrying one of each type of status treating item takes up a slot, while a Full Heal will only take up one slot.[[/note]]
** ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' gives the player the Poké Flute item about 1/3 of the way into the game. It is an infinite-use cure for sleep that renders the one-use-only Awakening item completely useless.
** Similarly, in ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'', a set of volcanic glass flutes are available to cure certain status effects at will; Blue for sleep, Red for infatuation, and Yellow for confusion. The latter two are especially useful, as the only other means to cure those ailments (short of switching out or waiting) are single-use hold items that must be set up before the fight.
** All generations of games eventually make Full Heals available, which will cure ''any'' major status effect, plus confusion. Even later, you'll get access to Full Restores, which do the same thing while also healing your Pokémon back up to full health. The only reason these don't make everything else redundant is because they can't be used as held items.
** The ''Call'' command in ''VideoGame/PokemonColosseum'' and ''[[VideoGame/PokemonXDGaleOfDarkness XD]]'' causes a Pokémon not in Hyper or Reverse Modes to wake up from sleep or (in ''XD'') increase their Accuracy, essentially rendering the Awakening and X Accuracy items completely useless.
** For certain Pokémon, their own moveset can negate the need for healing items or vice versa. For instance, the move Heal Bell can remove most status effects from the entire team (making status-healing items nearly pointless) or the X Defense item can increase the Defense stat (negating the need for the move Harden).
** ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'' added another nail in the coffin of status-healing items with Pokémon-Amie; if you interact with your Pokémon enough, it'll get a chance to randomly shake off a status condition at the end of the turn. When ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'' upgraded the feature into Pokémon Refresh, they kept with the trend, adding the ability to cure status effects outside of battle for free.

* Potions, scrolls and otherwise useless weapons with a certain ability (like shock damage) that could come in later against an otherwise invulnerable boss in the ''VideoGame/{{Neverwinter Nights}}'' franchise, especially if your character is a non-magic build.
* The ''Franchise/BaldursGate'' series of games made antidotes useful, especially in the first game. Even in the later games, the VancianMagic and (in ''[[VideoGame/BaldursGateIIThroneOfBhaal Throne of Bhaal]]'') the existence of potion bags meant that every spell slot counted, so being able to carry around twenty or so antidotes in a single inventory slot was not something to sneeze at.
* ''VideoGame/BatenKaitosOrigins'', an {{RPG}} with a card-based battle system, contains literally hundreds of cards with various esoteric effects, from completely restoring one character's HP (but at the cost of putting that character to [[StatusEffects sleep]]) to reducing the frequency with which the enemy party's turn comes up to restoring a character's HP equal to the amount of overkill damage they do. However, the normal, no-frills healing items are perfectly effective, and including a lot of extraneous situational cards is a good way to get your hand bogged down with useless junk in a critical situation. The most efficient deck setup for nearly the entire game is twenty to twenty-five basic attack cards, ten to twelve super moves, three to four healing items, and one revival item. Thankfully the developers realized this and allowed you to create multiple decks and switch not only anytime from the inventory screen but also before continuing after a GameOver; you can create extra decks that utilize these esoteric cards and only switch to them when in the rare occasions they'll be useful. Multiple decks can even use the same copy of any one card.
* ''VideoGame/{{Culdcept}}'', drawing from its ''Tabletopgame/MagicTheGathering'' roots, has quite a number of very useful if situational spells/creatures/items to draw from or creatures that have useful powers (or combos) given time to develop. However, due to the way the game works (money is mana, functionally, and only earned by rent or passing Go), the strict deck building rules, and the random nature of moving around the board (you roll dice), it's usually a better idea to stick with more simple and straightforward combos.

* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', when a character gets knocked out, they wake up with an injury that penalizes a random stat until cured with a rare Injury Kit... or for free with Cleansing Aura at will. The Aura user can't heal her own injuries, however.
** [[VideoGame/DragonAgeII The sequel]] has injury kits drop much more frequently (you'll rarely have less than 10 before the last sections of the game, especially since any injuries are healed just by going to Hawke's house, unless playing on the hardest difficulty with a poorly organized party), but considering the fact that you could theoretically have a party with no mages, the lyrium potions become so much free, [[MoneyForNothing overabundant]] cash. The same could be said for the stamina potions in a party with three mages and a single tank. A Mage Hawke with the Spirit Healer specialisation has access to the Second Chance passive ability, which makes party members immune to injuries. Given that Hawke must always be in the party, this applies the Antidote Effect to injury kits.
* In ''VideoGame/DokaponKingdom'' Trap Dodgers are this. The purpose of a Trap Dodger is to automatically negate a trap when one lands on one. Traps can only be placed by players and their effects are random, ranging from a small amount of damage to a easily cured random status effect. Players can only carry 6-10 items at a time depending on class, a Trap Dodger would take up a slot and can only be used once. Thus Trap Dodgers are almost never used because they take up valuable inventory space, trap effects are easily dealt with, and traps are rarely used.
* In ''VideoGame/ExitFate'', you don't have a BagOfSharing for items in combat, so you can only equip each party member with two items they can use -- there are several status effects, many of which are rather devastating, so you probably won't cover everything. On the other hand, your supply of available magics is shared, so as long as you've purchased a few and you have the MP, you can save yourself fairly easily.
* The ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' series features "Fairy Dust", a cheap item that removes status effects. It's rendered almost entirely useless once you get a character with access to the "Espoir" spell which does the same thing, and like all spells can be cast at a long range over a wide area with advancement. ''Technically'' it could be useful if you are on a map with lots of Silence GeoEffects, but that's probably not common enough to require carrying one (and Geo Effects never happen on your base panel, so there's always at least one safe place to cast from).

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls''
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'':
*** Curing diseases can be done via spells, scrolls, potions, or at shrines. After a certain point in the main quest, you become [[IdealIllnessImmunity immune to diseases]], rendering these potions and scrolls only good for selling.
*** Similarly, the [[WarpWhistle teleportation]] spells (Almsivi Intervention, Divine Intervention, Mark/Recall) can be used via item enchantments or scrolls. However, in the long run, it is simply cheaper and more convenient to just buy the spells and sell any such items you pick up.
** The same cure disease spell is available in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'' as an alternative to potions.
** Continued in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'', where an easy enchantment renders all those Cure Disease potions useless. You can also become either a werewolf or a vampire, both of which grant extra awesome powers and full disease immunity.

* In ''VideoGame/CitizensOfEarth'', most status-healing items only remove a single stack of their corresponding status ailment, but most ailments only get bad when you have several stacks of them at once. Even then, it is usually a better use of your time to just attack and ignore the status effects, or use a status-healing skill, which generates energy for the user in addition to healing a party member.
* Medpacs and adrenals in ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' are generally speaking much less useful once you acquire a Jedi party member, since the corresponding Force powers are much better at healing and buffing. But using a Force power takes up a character's turn, while using an item doesn't. (It ''should'', but doesn't -- ''if'' the item is used from the inventory screen and not the in-combat menu.) The main circumstance where medpacs are actually useful is in {{Boss Battle}}s where every turn counts, particularly the FinalBoss, Malak.

* In ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarOnline'', antidotes are more or less useless, since poison deals little damage, is generally easy to avoid, and all characters either gain access to a tech that heals it at Tech Level 1 almost immediately, or are just flat-out immune to poison. However, Antiparalysis and Sol Atomizers can be a bit more useful, as they can heal Paralysis and, in the case of the latter, Shock - two status effects which can be crippling and which cannot otherwise be self-healed. However, high level characters often get access to Cure/Status armour slots, which render that character immune to certain status effects.
** This also tends to be true of healing items. Aside from Androids (which cannot cast Techs), all characters quickly gain access to Resta, which can be used far more readily than healing items and costs almost no money to recharge. However, at high levels, Trimates and Star Atomizers remain useful for the fact that they heal instantly and cannot be cancelled by an enemy attack; although the casting time for Resta is very short, it does exist and if the player is surrounded, healing items can prove to be the difference between life and death.
* Used and twisted in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'' Early on from the first shop you can grab Trueform and Wake Up Pins for cheap [[spoiler: The Wake Up pin is for free if you know where to grab it]], accessories that negate a certain type of status effect, conveniently both status ailments that will be used in the next area. [[spoiler:And then there's the Safety Ring in the sunken ship which while also making the wearer immune to status ailments also completely {{Antimagic}}'s certain enemy spells. (But not all of them)]] From roughly the halfway point onward, Toadstool joins the party, while already having access to both a single-target and an entire-party spanning spell that cure every status effect on top of restoring health, making Able Juices and Freshen Ups virtually useless.
* ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon'' plays this straight: the antivenom and bandage take up spaces in the [[InventoryManagementPuzzle extremely limited inventory]] and cost gold, so it is normally better to bring cure abilities, which only take a [[LimitedMoveArsenal skill slot]]. But there are occasions where the healer is unaviable or the damage is too high, that it is worth to bring items.

* In ''VideoGame/ParasiteEve'' you have one ability that removes poison and another that can remove everything, but costs a bit of parasite energy to use (using too much parasite energy in battle greatly reduces its recharge rate). Items that cure status ailments are plentiful to find and they also have a secondary use; using a curative item while you are healthy will grant you immunity to that status effect once. The sequel uses the same system for items as well.
* In ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'' somewhere around the first dungeon (or earlier if you get lucky with random drops) you will gain access to a skill that protects your entire party from magic for a turn that is inexpensive enough to be used ''every'' turn. It also blocks your own magic, but items work just fine. Furthermore, the game's battle system uses a party-wide resource bar for special attacks and spells, but items do not consume this bar, so you're indirectly increasing your damage by using items instead of spells. Finally, [[MoneyForNothing the game throws money at you]], especially during the later half, and healing items are always inexpensive.

* Avoided in ''VideoGame/ResonanceOfFate'', where the ONLY way to cure poison is to use an item or wait it out, and poison in this game is incredibly dangerous. In fact, most of the time the antidote is useless because by the time you're able to cure yourself with it, it's already done a tremendous amount of non-regenerating health. The best option is really to never let yourself get hit by poison attacks.
* Avoided in the first four {{VideoGame/DotHackR1Games}}. There are exactly ''two'' healing items, each healing approximately 6 out of 12 status ailments that can be inflicted to you. Also, higher level dungeons start having enemies that do cast those ailments to you so not bringing any is actually foolish (and suicidal). This game also notably averts UselessUsefulSpell with regards to status ailments, but that's for another trope entry.
* In ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarIII'' the "Anti" spell isn't 100% effective, leaving a choice between a renewable (but not guaranteed) cure or a limited-availability, 100% effective cure.

* In ''[[VideoGame/WildArms1 Wild ARMs: Alter Code F]]'' you can't use spells outside of battle, so if combat ends before you heal people, you're stuck using healing items.
* Averted (mostly) in the ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' series, in particular ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne''. Very few demons tend to learn even one status-healing spell and sometimes a limit on the number of skills a demon/persona can have, eating slots that could be saved for more important things, so such items can be quite valuable. Especially since having even a generally mild status effect like poison can mean death if caught without a status healing item.
* Since combat in the ''VideoGame/TalesSeries'' takes place in real time, magic takes several seconds to use, while items take effect instantly. Generally speaking, when you want your party members cured, you want them cured ''now''. The best strategy is therefore to use items in battle, and spells outside it when casting time doesn't matter, so that you can keep those items for when you really need them.
** Grade complicates this, though. Using items to heal yourself in battle can reduce the amount of grade you get, but letting the battle finish while someone is poisoned is bad for your grade too.

* ''VideoGame/SaltAndSanctuary'' solves the issue by making it so that the healing and Cleanse prayers require significant investment in the prayer skill tree to even equip, and also require you to use Focus, depleting your maximum stamina. Therefore, your healing potions and antidotes never become obsolete. Those prayers also take longer to use than a healing item, making them more impractical for the middle of a fight.

** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' has this bad on NewGamePlus modes, especially with unlockable weapons. The [[BottomlessMagazines Infinite Rocket Launcher]] all but eliminates the need for Hand Grenades, while the PRL does the same for Photon Grenades. The [[MoreDakka Chicago Typewriter]] renders automatic weapons (and by association their ammo) comparatively pointless, and the [[InstantDeathBullet Hand Cannon]] can punch through virtually anything, often killing it in a single shot. The yellow herbs, which increase your health cap upon use, turn your Green+Red herb mixes into incredibly shiny VendorTrash once you max your (and Ashley's) health cap. And of course, maxing your money capacity (which admittedly takes ''several'' playthroughs) makes even VendorTrash worthless.

* ''VideoGame/RadiantHistoria'' has this pretty badly with its status-curing items. Who's going to spend even a paltry 50 G on an Antidote (which may or may not be useful in any given battle) when the money could instead be put toward items that restore characters' MP (which is pretty much guaranteed to be useful in any given battle and can more often than not be used to cure the status effect anyway)? For the status effects that outright prevent characters from acting (Sleep, Paralysis, etc.), it might be useful to have a few items to get rid of them in case the character with the curative spell gets hit by the status effect, but since MP-restoring items in this game are relatively easy to come by and most of the status-curing spells are very cheap to cast, Antidotes and the like end up either simply staying in your inventory just because (there are virtually no limitations on inventory size) or used as VendorTrash.

*** Curing diseases can be done via spells, scrolls, potions, or at shrines. After a certain point in the main quest, you become [[IdealIllnessImmunity immune to diseases]], rendering these potions and scrolls as VendorTrash.

-->-- '''Creator/ProZD''', :[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgU4Oum8SLg when you have to conserve every single healing item in your inventory JUST IN CASE]]"

-->-- '''Creator/ProZD''', ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgU4Oum8SLg when you have to conserve every single healing item in your inventory JUST IN CASE]]''