History MotiveDecay / VideoGames

* ''{{Franchise/Danganronpa}}''

* {{Franchise/Danganronpa}}
** [[spoiler:Junko Enoshima]] in VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc is motivated purely by the fact that [[spoiler:only despair, her own or others, can sate her extreme boredom caused by her being the second smartest person on Earth (first until Hope's Peak's mad science created Izuru Kamukura).]] The [[spoiler:AI copy she created of herself]] that appears in VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair wants to [[spoiler:steal the cast's bodies and then the bodies of every single human being on Earth.]] There's no logical reason for this change in motivation, as the other [[spoiler:AI copy of a person we've seen had their personality entirely, and continued down the path of character development that the original had been going down.]]

** Its revealed that this is exactly why the gang ended up collapsing in the first place. [[spoiler:Julius Little]], the gang's leader in the first game, realizes the Saints are NotSoDifferent from the other three gangs, particularly the Vice Kings. When asked by TheMole of the organization to end the Saints, he does so by [[spoiler:trying to kill the Playa before running away.]] Unfortunately for Julius, [[spoiler:the Playa was merely put into a coma and realizes the truth, before deciding to kill Julius.]] In the end, [[spoiler:the Playa, now Boss, executes Julius for his betrayal,]] fully cementing the fact that they don't care about any of the goals he established, only using the Saints as their method of gaining power.

* ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank'': Dr. Nefarious's original motive was FantasticRacism; as a robotic MadScientist, he desired to destroy organic and [[RobotWar conquer the galaxy in the name of robotkind]]. As the series progressed and he was [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain continuously beaten]] by Ratchet and Clank, his goal to lead his fellow robots to a bright future increasingly fell to the wayside in favor of [[{{Archenemy}} trying to destroy them specifically]] (admittedly so he can conquer the universe ''without'' them in his way). This is lampshaded in ''[[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankRiftApart Rift Apart]]'', when Nefarious meets his alternate universe counterpart [[AlternateUniverseReedRichardsIsAwesome Emperor Nefarious]], who was never beaten by Ratchet and Clank and resultantly never lost sight of his real goal. This, combined with just being more competent in general, as led to him [[TheBadGuyWins actually succeeding in conquering his own reality]], and he is [[OtherMeAnnoysMe simultaneously bemused and mortified to meet his mainline counterpart]].

** There remains hope. The FMV game ''Super Adventure Rockman'' goes to great lengths to remind us that the ''Mega Man 1'' Robot Masters were perfectly good without Wily's influence, and ''Mega Man 9'' shows heartwarming images of its Robot Masters integrating into everyday life during the credits.

* While technically neutral, there's been major debate among fans on whether or not Scorpion from ''VideoGame/MortalKombat'' has fallen to this trope, all hinging on whether or not his ending in ''MK II'' came to pass; up until then, he had come back to slay Sub-Zero to avenge the death of himself and his family and clan, but according to the ending, he notices Subby spare an opponent, and deduces that it's not the same man (in fact, the guy's the original Subby's younger brother). If true, from then until ''MK 4'', Scorpion swears to protect the new Subby as atonement, giving him a modicum of depth that proves he's not the revenge-crazed one-track-mind spectre he would be if the ending never happened. This is all rendered moot when ''Deception'' gave him a higher calling than simple vengeance, but even ''that'' was screwed up, and now he's on another revenge kick.

** Maiev suffered from this. Her original goal was just to be a jailor and deal out justice. After 10,000 years locked in a jail guarding prisoners, her motive warped to one of simple vengeance. By the end she has become vengeance incarnate itself and only cares about dealing with Illidan. [[spoiler: When she helps you kill him, she mocks him the entire time. It's clear that she is having ''fun'' fighting him. When Illidan is killed, all she is left left with is emptiness.]] She finally realized that her goal was the only thing that kept her going for the majority of her 10,000 year life (which, by the way, is going to end soon due to the World Tree dying). She leaves the battle completely broken.
** Kael'thas in ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} 3'' was a sympathetic character who allied with Illidan because he had no other choice and wanted to save his people. In World of Warcraft, he has become a power crazed evil overlord and demon worshipper who would gladly kill off his people to ensure the victory of the demons. One of whom is ''the very demon that arranged for his people's decimation in the first place''.
** Arthas has largely the same storyline -- he starts out making difficult and heartbreaking decisions [[spoiler: (the big one being killing off the entirely innocent population of Stratholme to prevent them from becoming undead minions of a big bad)]] and devolves into becoming a simple insane BigBad himself. He only averts this trope because his fall into insanity was planned from the beginning, rather than something that was tacked on.

** Sylvanas Windrunner equally fell from grace. Her initial goal in forming the Forsaken was to seek {{Revenge}} against the Lich King for destroying her home and raising her from the dead as an undead slave. Once Arthas was killed, Sylvanas [[NothingLeftToDoButDie committed suicide]] with her mission complete. But upon dying, she found that her [[TokenEvilTeammate extreme methods with the Forsaken against the Scourge]] damned her soul to [[{{Hell}} the Maw for eternal torment]]. After making a deal with the Val'kyr to come back, Sylvanas' new goal became to ensure she never died again, focusing on ways to preserve the Forsaken as a race to avoid that fate. By ''Battle for Azeroth'' and as the new Warchief, Sylvanas has become a HopeCrusher who has "made life [her] enemy," and seeks to wipe out anything that would oppose her iron will.

* [[spoiler: Wheatley]] from ''Videogame/Portal2'' spends the first act with [[HeroicMime Chell]], and helps her slip under [[BigBad [=GLaDOS=]]]'s radar in order to escape Aperture Labs. At the end of Chapter 5, Chell helps him take over the facility from [=GLaDOS=]. [[spoiler: At first it seems like he's letting her go, but then he suddenly and dramatically [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity goes off the deep end]], becoming obsessed with testing to a sadistic degree and reveals he intends to keep Chell there until she outlives her usefulness, effectively becoming the new BigBad. There's some justification for this hinted at in the game; it's implied being hooked up to the Aperture Science mainframe was what ultimately turned [=GLaDOS=] into a sadistic nutcase in the first place.]]

** In ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3'', [[spoiler:we learn where Xehanort's desire for power began. His best friend Eraqus was pretty much guaranteed to become a great defender of the World, and Xehanort, in one of his VERY rare moments of sincerely admitting his limits, nonetheless promised to remain beside him. But to become strong enough to keep up with Eraqus, he resorted to attempting to master the power of darkness. In the decades to follow, "remain beside the World's defender" was twisted into "BECOME the World's defender", and it only got worse from there. Layer upon layer of ambition and delusion obscured Xehanort's original motivation. It was only at the very end of his life, when all his power and planning was reduced to nothing, that Eraqus was able to help Xehanort realize this.]]

* [[spoiler: Wheatley]] from ''Videogame/Portal2'' spends the first act with [[HeroicMime Chell]], and helps her slip under [[BigBad [=GLaDOS=]]]'s radar in order to escape Aperture Labs. At the end of Chapter 5, Chell helps him take over the facility from [=GLaDOS=]. [[spoiler: At first it seems like he's letting her go, but then he [[OhCrap suddenly]] [[DrunkWithPower and]] [[FaceHeelTurn dramatically]] [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity goes off the deep end]], becoming obsessed with testing to a sadistic degree and reveals he intends to keep Chell there until she outlives her usefulness, effectively becoming the new BigBad. There's some justification for this hinted at in the game; it's implied being hooked up to the Aperture Science mainframe was what ultimately turned [=GLaDOS=] into a sadistic nutcase in the first place.]]

* Illidan from ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'', though always a mentally unstable guy, attacked Shattrah City for no apparent reason even though they shared a common enemy in the Burning Legion. However, previously he had been portrayed as wanting to keep a low profile in Outland. This unmotivated attack fails, resulting in his best troops deserting him and Illidan being killed in a raid.
** In Illidan's initial appearance in ''Warcraft III'', he is freed from ten thousand years of imprisonment to help his people. You might think that had driven him mad, but he does succeed in saving his people [[spoiler: (at the cost of becoming part demon). For this heroic act, he is exiled by his own brother, Malfurion]]. Then he is hired by the demon lord Kil'jaeden to destroy the Lich King before he regains his power [[spoiler: and an expansion for World of Warcraft]]. Illidan is stopped by Malfurion, [[spoiler: who was misled about the former's intentions. When Malfurion finds out that Maiev, Illidan's jailor, had betrayed him and lied about the death of his lover, Illidan and his brother work together to save said lover.]] Afterward, Illidan tries one last time to stop the Lich King, [[spoiler: but is defeated at the end of Warcraft III's expansion]]. Thus Illidan had been, at worst, a WellIntentionedExtremist who rarely did anything not in his people's interest (even the original reason for his imprisonment was for keeping part of the Well of Eternity, which he felt was too useful to completely destroy, even if it is what brought the demons). Even in ''Literature/TheWarOfTheAncients'' Trilogy Illidan, while portrayed as significantly more power-hungry, still wishes to save his people. Come World of Warcraft, however, Illidan is brooding on Outland as a DesignatedVillain with Informed Insanity. He is treated as if he was always a villain, carries the title "the Betrayer" (which he, in fact, mocked in the intro to the Frozen Throne, but it seems the writer's forgot that he was right), and most of the expansion revolves around fighting him and his minions, despite the fact that it is supposed to be about defeating the Burning Legion's Burning Crusade, whom he betrayed and is now using their weapons against them. To put salt in the wound, [[spoiler: Maiev helps you defeat him, who was not only said to have died in multiple sources, but was the true traitor in Illidan's story, having left the night elven leader's lover for dead and allowing the Lich King to survive just for a chance to imprison somebody who was saving the world.]]
*** The Betrayer title was given to him back during the war of the ancients, not after WC3. Due to him first betraying the good guys to join the legion, then double crossing them when he realized they were too evil, then (in his people's eyes) Betraying them again by recreating the very thing that had started the war to begin with simply to feed his own addiction. Illidan really does have a hard time staying on one side for any length of time.
** Maiev herself suffered from this. Her original goal was just to be a jailor and deal out justice. After 10,000 years locked in a jail guarding prisoners, her motive warped to one of simple vengeance. By the end she has become vengeance incarnate itself and only cares about dealing with Illidan. [[spoiler: When she helps you kill him, she mocks him the entire time. It's clear that she is having ''fun'' fighting him. When Illidan is killed, all she is left left with is emptiness.]] She finally realized that her goal was the only thing that kept her going for the majority of her 10,000 year life (which, by the way, is going to end soon due to the World Tree dying). She leaves the battle completely broken.

*** This trend has become somewhat of a joke in the ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' fan community. An increasing number of villains appearing in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' were [[FallenHero once heroes]] or otherwise [[WellIntentionedExtremist well-intentioned characters]] who have suffered from MotiveDecay, most often {{Hand Wave}}d with the "insanity" excuse. How else are you going to find new storyline bosses?

* Zouken Matou's original motivation for obtaining the Holy Grail in ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' was [[spoiler: to honor Justizia von Einzbern, who sacrified herself in order to create the Grail and was a woman he deeply admired. Furthermore, he had always dreamed of creating an utopia and to better human conditioning, even if his life and efforts weren't rewarded at all.. But over time, the deterioration of his body, senility and his frustration made him forget all of this, leaving only his obsession with [[ImmortalitySeeker immortality.]]]]

* ''VideoGame/FarCry2'' has an example where it happens with TheProtagonist. You are initially tasked to take out the Jackal, but get caught up in the Civil War while trying to obtain information from both factions. By the time the player catches up with the Jackal, they decide to join forces in order to take out the leadership of the UFLL, the APR and the Private Military Contractors working for both of them and help civilians flee the country.

** [[spoiler:Junko Enoshima]] in VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc is motivated purely by the fact that [[spoiler:only despair, her own or others, can sate her extreme boredom caused by her being the second smartest person on Earth (first until Hope's Peak's mad science created Izuru Kamukura).]] The [[spoiler:AI copy she created of herself]] that appears in VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair wants to [[spoiler:steal the cast's bodies and then the bodies of every single human being on Earth. There's no logical reason for this change in motivation, as the other [[spoiler:AI copy of a person we've seen had their personality entirely, and continued down the path of character development that the original had been going down.]]

* The [[GangBangers Third Street Saints]] from the ''VideoGame/SaintsRow'' series. They start off as [[VideoGame/SaintsRow1 a vigilante gang formed to end the gang violence polluting Stilwater]], only to end up engaging in the same criminal empires those gangs controlled once they've been wiped out. They end up collapsing when [[spoiler:the Playa is blown up on a boat]]. By the events of ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2'', its revealed that [[spoiler:the Playa survived]] and the gang is revived to take out the three new gangs who took their place... [[spoiler:so the Playa-turned-Boss can TakeOverTheCity again.]] And that's not to mention that the gang ends up going from powerful criminals to [[VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird nation-wide celebrities who milk their former gangster image]] to [[VideoGame/SaintsRowIV becoming the leaders of the USA]].
** Its revealed that this is exactly why the gang ended up collapsing in the first place. [[spoiler:Julius Little]], the gang's leader in the first game, realizes the Saints are NotSoDifferent from the other three gangs, particularly the Vice Kings. When asked by TheMole of the organization to end the Saints, he does so by [[spoiler:trying to kill the Playa before running away.]] Unfortunately for Julius, [[spoiler:the Playa was merely put into a coma and realizes the truth, before deciding to kill Julius.]]

* Franchise/Danganronpa

*** ''Videogame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'' has a subtle LampshadeHanging of this--when Sephiroth senses Cloud approaching, he tells Warrior of Light he must "fulfill his obligation" and goes off to see Cloud. When they meet Sephiroth squares off to fight, but Cloud refuses because he doesn't see the point of fighting him anymore. No, really, he says "Fighting you would be meaningless. I'm tired of taking part in pointless battles." By the end of the game, his fixation on Cloud has grown obsessive.

** Wiegraf/Wiglaf from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' started off as a HeroAntagonist rebel fighting to get his men their back pay and recognition from a bankrupt kingdom. Then Ramza kills his sister in combat, and he turns his attention to getting revenge against him, and after his Death Corps is wiped out, joins up with the Shrine Knights. Then, after another battle with Ramza leaves him mortally wounded, he makes a DealWithTheDevil and becomes the Zodiac Brave Velius. The next time you meet him, he doesn't give a damn about Miliuda; he just wants to burn the world and hear humans scream.

* While technically neutral, there's been major debate among fans on whether or not Scorpion from ''MortalKombat'' has fallen to this trope, all hinging on whether or not his ending in ''MK II'' came to pass; up until then, he had come back to slay Sub-Zero to avenge the death of himself and his family and clan, but according to the ending, he notices Subby spare an opponent, and deduces that it's not the same man (in fact, the guy's the original Subby's younger brother). If true, from then until ''MK 4'', Scorpion swears to protect the new Subby as atonement, giving him a modicum of depth that proves he's not the revenge-crazed one-track-mind spectre he would be if the ending never happened. This is all rendered moot when ''Deception'' gave him a higher calling than simple vengeance, but even ''that'' was screwed up, and now he's on another revenge kick.

* From the beginning of the ''Franchise/CrashBandicoot'' series, [[BigBad Doctor Neo Cortex]] was motivated to TakeOverTheWorld by a combination of TheyCalledMeMad and [[TheNapoleon abuse related to his short stature]]. From ''Videogame/CrashBandicoot3Warped'' onward, his schemes are mostly carried out [[DemotedToDragon as a service to his boss Uka Uka]]. At other times, he either specifically attempts to get rid of Crash ([[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in ''Crash Nitro Kart'' when Cortex ponders how he can defeat the Bandicoots before recalling his original world domination goal) or does what he does ForTheEvulz.

* The [[GangBangers Third Street Saints]] from the ''VideoGame/SaintsRow'' series. They start off as ''[[VideoGame/SaintsRow1 a vigilante gang formed to end the gang violence polluting Stilwater]], only to end up engaging in the same criminal empires those gangs controlled once they've been wiped out. They end up collapsing when [[spoiler:the Playa is blown up on a boat]]. By the evens of ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2'', its revealed that [[spoiler:the Playa survived]] and the gang is revived to take out the three new gangs who took their place... [[spoiler:so the Playa-turned-Boss can TakeOverTheCity again.]] And that's not to mention that the gang ends up going from powerful criminals to [[VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird nation-wide celebrities who milk the gangster image]] to [[VideoGame/SaintsRowIV becoming the leaders of the USA]].