History Main / StuckItems

* The first ''{{Civilization}}'' game doesn't allow you to empty the construction order in a city, which is annoying if you don't have anything useful to build right now, so you're reduced to churning out useless units only to disband them immediately. The second game fixes this with "Capitalization"; when set, the city, instead of building anything, instead pumps out money. Later games also allowed you to set towns to produce extra science, though as of ''V'', both options need to be unlocked with certain technologies. You can have an empty production though, and you can change the production before the unit is complete. Finally, spare units produced can be disbanded for some extra money, or given to a city state for some influence.
** Another version is found in ''V'' with capital cities, which cannot be razed. Even if the original owner is defeated entirely, the city is there to stay for the entire game. This includes city state cities, and serves some purpose in that this allows players to liberate both major civs and city states, which is especially useful for a diplomatic victory. On the other hand, its impossible to get rid of such cities if you wanted to build another one in a better location nearby.
*** It also has the unintended side effect of allowing city states to have more than one city. Normally, they will immediately raze towns they manage to capture, but if they capture another city state or even a main civ capital, they can't do that.

* In ''JaggedAlliance'' the biker mercenary Nails refuses to take off his leather vest.

** The same goes for ''{{Birth By Sleep}}'', in which Terra, Ventus and Aqua can switch out Keyblades, but cannot unequip them leaving them with nothing.

* ''StarOcean1'' had accessories that couldn't be removed from Phia and Ioshua.

* ''GoldenSun'' has cursed weapons that are very powerful, but have the annoying side effect of causing paralysis when fighting. Once equipped, you can't take them off unless you visit a priest to remove the curse from the character. The weapon will still be cursed though, and as far as this troper knows, there's no way to remove it.

** The same goes for ''{{Birth By Sleep}}'', in which Terra, Ventus and Aqua can switch out Keyblades, but cannot unequip them so they have nothing.

* Mytics in ''SagaFrontier'' all have some form of armor permanently equipped, usually "Mystic Mail", although Mesarthiim and Dr. Nusakan have a "Mellow Ring" and "Mystic Shirt" respectively.

* The first ''{{Civilization}}'' game doesn't allow you to empty the construction order in a city, which is annoying if you don't have anything useful to build right now, so you're reduced to churning out useless units only to disband them immediately. The second game fixes this with "Capitalization"; when set, the city, instead of building anything, instead pumps out money.

** Dr. Nusaken in ''SagaFrontier'' is one of the characters with stuck items.

* Used for flavor in ''[=~Baldur's Gate~=]'': Minsc won't allow Boo to be removed from one of his potion slots.
** Imoen also starts [=BG2=] with a belt which cannot be removed and has flavor text saying she's been stuck with it as long as she's been in the dungeon. It provides a few [[OneHitKill hidden immunities]] to ensure she [[StoryDrivenInvulnerability survives to reach the exit and trigger the plot]], and it's gone when you get her back later.

* Occurs in a few FinalFantasy games

* Occurs in several games in the {{SaGa}} / Final Fantasy Legend series:
** In FinalFantasyLegendIII, [[GuestStarPartyMember guest party members]] equipment is stuck, including [[SoLongAndThanksForAllTheGear any gear they equip in empty slots]].

** RomancingSaGa 3 also has a fair number of characters with unremoveable items: the assassin-type character can't remove his secondary weapon (although he gains an upgrade for it late in the game), the snowman can't remove the crystal that keeps him from melting outside of his homeworld, the vampire can't remove his cloak (although it's not like you'd want to because it's one of the best armors in the game and any other armors that share its name that you can normally obtain are vastly weaker), the bard can't remove his lute, the crippled swordsman can't remove his prostehtic arm and so forth.

* ''[[PlanescapeTorment Planescape: Torment]]'': The Nameless One can equip and unequip armor normally, and the body armour of everyone other than the Nameless One, Annah and Grace is stuck. Some characters have items that can't be replaced, like Dak'kon's Zerth Blade, Vhailor's helm, and Fall From Grace's journal. Other characters have eqipment slots that can't be emptied, but can have other items swapped into them, like Annah's daggers, Nordom's crossbows, The Nameless One's Eye and Morte's teeth and Annah and Grace's body armour. Most even have voiced lines if you attempt to try.
* ''{{Star Ocean 1}}'' had accessories that couldn't be removed from Phia and Ioshua.

* Justified in ''{{WarCraft}} 3'' which has several (plot-important) items that can't be dropped; if you could drop them it'd be a LostForever situation.

* ''[[DemonsSouls Demon's Souls]]'' gives you a bunch of items that remain bound to you during the whole game: the Augite of Souls (a glowy rock that frequently serves as your only source of light), Nexial Binding (a bangle you can use at any time to escape a level at the cost of all your souls/money), Blue Eye Stone (used to enter another player's world as an allied Blue Phantom), Black Eye Stone (used to invade another player's world and hunt them down as a Black Phantom), and after you fulfill the right conditions, the Red Eye Stone (used to enter a duel with another player).

* The {{Lufia}} series has cursed items, which after being equipped cannot be removed until you pay a priest to remove the item for you.

* Golden Sun has cursed weapons that are very powerful, but have the annoying side effect of causing paralysis when fighting. Once equipped, you can't take them off unless you visit a priest to remove the curse from the character. The weapon will still be cursed though, and as far as this troper knows, there's no way to remove it.

** Imoen also starts [=BG2=] with a belt which cannot be removed and has flavor text saying she's been stuck with it as long as you can remember. (No, [[RetCon it wasn't there in the first game.]]) It provides a few [[OneHitKill hidden immunities]] to ensure she [[StoryDrivenInvulnerability survives to reach the exit and trigger the plot]], and it's gone when you get her back later.

!!Examples:

** In ''FinalFantasyIX'' you cannot have your weapon slot be empty, though you may change weapons around and run around "naked" except for your dagger/staff/racket/spear whatever. In ''FinalFantasyVII'' and ''FinalFantasyX'' you can't have either your Weapon or armor slot be empty.

* Occurs in several games in the SaGa / Final Fantasy Legend series:

** Though you can equip a special ring to remove the paralysis effect, making it a powerful weapon you probably won't want to remove anyway.

* ''[[RedFaction Red Faction: Guerilla]]'': Mason's sledgehammer is a default that can't be exchanged for a more useful weapon.

* Golden Sun has cursed weapons that are very powerful, but have the annoying side effect of causing paralysis when fighting. Once equipped, you can't take them off unless you visit a priest to remove the curse from the character. The weapon will still be cursed though, and as far as this troper knows, there's no way to remove it.

* ''{{Nethack}}'': Cursed armour, rings, or amulets can't be removed, and cursed weapons can't be unwielded. There are several ways of dealing with these problems, many [[TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything not at all obvious]].[[hottip:%:Turning them into meat and chewing them off, anyone?]]

** ''Curse Of The Sinistrals'' brings the "swap only" plate to the table, with everybody coming with default equipment.

* In ''FinalFantasyIX'' you cannot have your weapon slot be empty, though you may change weapons around and run around "naked" except for your dagger/staff/racket/spear whatever. In ''FinalFantasyVII'' and ''FinalFantasyX'' you can't have either your Weapon or armor slot be empty.

* Dr. Nusaken in ''SagaFrontier'' is one of the characters with stuck items.

* ''[[PlanescapeTorment Planescape: Torment]]'': You cannot remove the armor from any character except The Nameless One, who, ironically, doesn't wear armor except for a cosmetic/disguise robe. Some characters have items that can't be replaced, like Dak'kon's Zerth Blade, Vhailor's helm, and Fall From Grace's journal. Other characters have weapon slots that can't be emptied, like Annah's daggers, Nordom's crossbows, The Nameless One's Eye and Morte's teeth. Most even have voiced lines if you attempt to try.

* ''RomancingSaGa: Minstrel Song'' features this: certain recruitable characters have equipment that can't be removed. These include The Minstrel, Diana, Prince Niedhart and the various EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep "generic" mercenaries. This prevents the player from pulling a reverse SoLongAndThanksForAllTheGear on them, and can also hinder attempts to outfit them with the best equipment.
* In ''UnlimitedSaga'', Kurt and Michelle have cursed gauntlets that can't be removed, only upgraded through the game's [[ScrappyMechanic distinctive]] CharacterCustomization.
* RomancingSaGa 3 also has a fair number of characters with unremoveable items: the assassin-type character can't remove his secondary weapon (although he gains an upgrade for it late in the game), the snowman can't remove the crystal that keeps him from melting outside of his homeworld, the vampire can't remove his cloak (although it's not like you'd want to because it's one of the best armors in the game and any other armors that share its name that you can normally obtain are vastly weaker), the bard can't remove his lute, the crippled swordsman can't remove his prostehtic arm and so forth.

* The {{Lufia}} series has cursed items, which after being equiped cannot be removed until you pay a priest to remove the item for you.

# Un-Unequipables. You can equip the item but only once. Often an effect of [[StandardStatusEffects Cursed Equipment]].