History Main / StoryDrivenInvulnerability

** The first ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' on the [[UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis Genesis/Mega Drive]] had you chase Robotnik up a DeathCourse with rising water (and the [[ClassicVideoGameScrewYous fireballs go through the water!]]) It's hard to get hits on him, and he acts like he's getting hurt, but he just leaves after you finish the death course.

* In third game of the ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' series, you can encounter the flagship monster of the game, the Lagiacrus, during a mission in the first tier of the game in which most missions consist of gathering materials. Naturally, at this point in the game, even if you have all the best armour and weapons you can have at your level, the Lagiacrus is [[HopelessBossFight more than capable of taking you out in one or two hits]], plus it can't actually die no matter how much you attack it, making retreat the only option. You eventually face it in a HeroicRematch in the fifth tier of offline missions, but even when you replay this mission with the best armour and weapons in the game it's impossible to actually kill the Lagiacrus in the time alotted to complete the mission; you can get it to limp, but that's close as you'll get.

* The Tellius duology has a cross-game example. Sephiran shows up as an NPC prisoner in one chapter of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance''. He turns out to be very important in the sequel ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'', namely [[spoiler: he's the BigBad]], so he has a skill that makes him immune to all damage. [[spoiler:By the time you fight him in the sequel, you have the power to negate that skill.]] The BlackKnight is also an example in ''Path of Radiance'': he appears as an enemy unit in two chapters, and on both occasions you don't yet have the weapon that can damage him, so he's invulnerable and [[HeroKiller you'd better keep your units VERY much away.]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Strife}}'', most [=NPCs=] could be killed on a whim, even if it'd make the game {{Unwinnable}}. The exception to this is Macil, who outright shrugs off anything you throw at him. Provoking him will still render the game Unwinnable since you can no longer talk to him. [[spoiler:He's the only bearer of a [[ArtifactOfDoom Sigil piece]] that shares his [[DemonicPossession Spectre's]] immunity to normal weapons.]]

** In the Triangulum Arc included in ''Devil Survivor 2'''s UpdatedRerelease, there's [[spoiler:Arcturus]], who's battle is best summarized as [[ThatOneBoss "Beldr 2.0."]]. It features many of the same things that made Beldr's battle difficult ''[[UpToEleven and more]]'', culminating in having you go and recruit ''a whole character'' for the purpose of finally having a way to kill the damn thing. Unlike Beldr, whose immunity was stated in the story and reflected in gameplay-immunity but not shown anywhere in his stat screen other than by blocking all elements, [[spoiler:Arcturus]]'s ability explicitly states it is ''immune to normal attacks''; "normal" referring to ''everything'' but [[spoiler:the Dragon Stream]] or a being of similar nature to [[spoiler:Arcturus.]]

* In ''VideoGame/DiabloII'', when you go to defeat Baal, he just sits there and summons a few rounds of minions at you, while being completely invincible until the "real" battle with him begins in the next room.
** Similarly, in the first ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'', when you finally meet the [[TheDragon Archbishop]], he stands there and speechifies at you for a good while. Neither side can attack while he's talking, but you ''can'' run out of the room, which is recommended as he's accompanied by a number of minions and it's easier to kill him if you've lured them out piecemeal first.
* Batlin in ''VideoGame/UltimaVII: The Black Gate'' is invulnerable since he's a badly concealed [[TheDragon Dragon]] to the BigBad, and they presumably wanted to avoid the option to end the game half an hour in. Lord British is of course always invulnerable to everything except [[LordBritishPostulate certain glitches and loopholes]].
** This is actually in-universe invulnerability rather than normal plot armor. If you acquire and cast the spell Armageddon, it will kill everyone in Brittania. Except for you, Lord British... and Batlin, who will congratulate you on your monumental dick move if you go back and talk to him.
* In ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'', when you meet Taggart at the convention centre, no matter how much you may want to kill him, he can't die, even if you unload a full heavy rifle clip into him. He later loses this in [[spoiler:Panchaea]], when you can kill him if you want.
* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', Dr. Eva during the Priority: Mars mission. At the end of the mission while you chase after her you can shoot at her but never inflict enough damage to kill her before she gets too far ahead and you lose. Irritatingly, this will not be removed by Vanguard Charge[[note]]An attack that propels you forward and slams you straight into a target.[[/note]], meaning there can be a chase scene with an average distance of 1 meter between the two of you but the story will pretend she was far ahead. One cutscene later, however, you get to "kill" her in slow-mo.
** Kai Leng has this in every scene you meet him [[spoiler:save for the final fight]]. He also induces CutsceneIncompetence on everyone in the vicinity, so not only can you not hurt him when you ''do'' have control of Shepard and his/her squadmates, everyone also forgets how to use their powers and weapons whenever you ''don't''.

* Same deal with Gothic's spiritual successor ''VideoGame/{{Risen}}'', in which several characters not only can't die, but can't even have their health bars dropped to zero to make them unconscious. This can be a bit of a problem, as the simplest and easiest way to get experience, money, and items is to knock out everybody you encounter at least once only to sometimes find that you've picked a fight with the wrong guy [[HopelessBossFight and are now up against a foe you can't actually harm.]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Miitopia}}'', no matter how many times your party encounter the Dark Lord, you won't get to properly inflict any damage to him until the obligatory BossBattle [[spoiler:in his castle at Karkaton]].
* Done to the point of reducing Sagi to a borderline FailureHero in ''VideoGame/BatenKaitosOrigins'', where you will fight a ''lot'' of Machina Armas and lose to every single one of them. It's not until much later, when an event in the story grants you a power that actually lets you damage the indomitable metal buggers, that you get to come back and reduce them to scrap.

* ''[[VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon FEAR]]'' does this with its dragon. Although it's usually justified by the presence of bullet proof glass or similar, the first time you meet him you can still shoot him and find that it does nothing.

* In the first ''VideoGame/SpiderMan'' game for the Playstation 1, Venom pulls this on Spider-Man, sneaking up behind the hero and leading him into a chase level. During this level, you have to move insanely fast to keep up with Venom, and it is very hard, for even though there is nothing that tries to kill you in the level, you lose if you fall too far behind. However, you can memorize or predict Venom's path beforehand ([[CrazyPrepared if you're crazy enough]]) and land right next to him on a few occasions, which case if you try to punch him or whatever, you have no effect on him.

* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' has far fewer characters marked as "essential", with the only exceptions being companions (who lose their immortality on Hardcore Mode) and [[InfantImmortality children.]] The only character to be gifted with true immortality is Yes-Man, who has an in-story justification; he's a robot, and can therefore just download himself into a new body whenever one gets destroyed. [[ExtremeDoormat He won't even begrudge you for blowing him up]], meaning that a Yes-Man ending is at least ''possible'' regardless of how many people you've killed or pissed off.

* The Tellius duology has a cross-game example. Sephiran shows up as an NPC prisoner in one chapter of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance''. He turns out to be very important in the sequel ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'', namely [[spoiler: he's the BigBad]], so he has a skill that makes him immune to all damage. [[spoiler:By the time you fight him in the sequel, you have the power to negate that skill.]] The BlackKnight is also an example in ''Path of Radiance'': he appears as an enemy unit in two chapters, and on both occasions you don't yet have the weapon that can damage him, so he's invulnerable and [[HeroKiller you'd better keep your units well away.]]

* In ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' and ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', "essential" characters can only be killed when the quest allows or requires it.

* The ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius'' duology has a cross-game example. Sephiran shows up as an NPC prisoner in one chapter of ''Path of Radiance''. He turns out to be very important in the sequel ''Radiant Dawn'', namely [[spoiler: he's the BigBad]], so he has a skill that makes him immune to all damage. [[spoiler: By the time you fight him in the sequel, you have the power to negate that skill.]] The BlackKnight is also an example in ''Path of Radiance'': he appears as an enemy unit in two chapters, and on both occasions you don't yet have the weapon that can damage him, so he's invulnerable and [[HeroKiller you'd better keep your units well away.]]
* In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' and ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', "essential" characters can only be killed when the quest allows or requires it.

* In the first ''SpiderMan'' game for the Playstation 1, Venom pulls this on Spider-Man, sneaking up behind the hero and leading him into a chase level. During this level, you have to move insanely fast to keep up with Venom, and it is very hard, for even though there is nothing that tries to kill you in the level, you lose if you fall too far behind. However, you can memorize or predict Venom's path beforehand ([[CrazyPrepared if you're crazy enough]]) and land right next to him on a few occasions, which case if you try to punch him or whatever, you have no effect on him.

** In ''VideoGame/AceCombatJointAssault'' [[spoiler: Varcolac Squadron]] have the same deal; you won't actually kill any of them until the final mission.

* In ''[[SonicTheHedgehog Sonic & Knuckles]]'', during the CutScene in which Robotnik steals the Master Emerald, the player has full control of Sonic and can attack. Robotnik's craft even reacts to hits as if it was taking damage, and there's enough time to hit him eight times, but it cannot be destroyed--even though you'll encounter this particular craft again near the end of the game, as the last segment of the [[MultipleEndings sometimes-final]] boss battle, at which point eight hits will destroy it.

** Averted early in the series through ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]''. The games follow an AnyoneCanDie philosophy which, while fitting for an open world game, can easily lead to broken quests (including the ''main'' quest).

* In ''Franchise/{{Fable}}'', the "hero" and KarmaHoudini Reaver cannot be killed, much to the chagrin of many players who felt his actions were at least as bad as the actual villain half the time. The fact that his character was voiced by Stephen Fry gives you some indication that the writers wanted him to stick around despite his obvious evilness. Being forced into being his ally (Fable II) and having him as your advisor (Fable III) just makes things worse. Granted, he's a funny character from the player's point of view, but in a roleplaying sense there is little justification for your character not wanting to kill him, especially given all the times he's tried to kill your character.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Strife}}'', most [[{{NPC}} NPCs]] could be killed on a whim, even if it'd make the game {{Unwinnable}}. The exception to this is Macil, who outright shrugs off anything you throw at him. Provoking him will still render the game Unwinnable since you can no longer talk to him. [[spoiler:He's the only bearer of a [[ArtifactOfDoom Sigil piece]] that shares his [[DemonicPossession Spectre's]] immunity to normal weapons.]]

* Several quests in ''VideoGame/DungeonsAndDragonsOnline'' have enemies that are flagged as NPCs - and thus you cannot harm them - while they go through some dialog or reach a certain point, after which their indicators change and you can attack

* In ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonor: Frontline'', Sturmgeist is invincible until the final level. In the Golden Lion level from the same game, a Panzerschreck soldier is scripted to kill your truck driver near the end of the level. He's within sniping range, but shots on him won't register before he fires.

* The ''TheIncredibleHulkUltimateDestruction'' does this with the Abomination near the end of the game. You chase and attack him, while the military attacks both of you, but the Abomination is completely invulnerable until you reach a certain destination where he will then turn to fight you and gain a health meter. After depleting the his health meter, the cycle repeats a few more times.

* Used in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]''. Many characters that are important to a quest cannot die. If their health reaches zero, they simply fall unconscious and stand up after a short while.
** This can be [[GameBreaker hilariously abused]] by the inventive player, since if a "follower" will engage enemies that attack the player, a plot-relevant follower can be dragged through all the planes of Oblivion (we've nearly reached your farm, honest!) and be used to clear out entire areas on their own.
** During the first quest (Unbound), your follower cannot die. This can be [[GameBreaker exploited]] to train your weapons skills right in the beginning of the game.
** The system includes functionality for ''removing'' the invulnerability, but it is not always used, and some quest-important characters are important to background functionality or pragmatic design, meaning they never ''cease'' to be important to a quest even when the apparent quest has been completed.

* In the {{Atari}} ''StarWars'' arcade game, Darth Vader's fighter is indestructible, though it can be shot for points.

* In ''VideoGame/JusticeLeagueHeroesTheFlash'', TheFlash can't even attack his ArchEnemy Zoom while chasing him through obstacles. This doesn't last very long, thankfully, and he can be damaged normally as soon as the path clears out. Additionally, summoning heroes from the Franchise/{{Justice League|of America}} during a boss fight won't do any damage unless the boss was in the vulnerable state anyway.