History SlidingScaleOfGameplayAndStoryIntegration / RolePlayingGames

** ''VideoGame/PokemonColosseum'': The protagonist is already an experienced Pokémon trainer who has had his long period, so your two starter Pokémon are both Level 20 at the beginning (most Pokémon games start at Level 5).

** Several [=NPC=]s can be summoned as allies for boss fights when their quests take them to the boss arena; for example, Sorceress Sellen will become available for the Red Wolf of Radagon once she's been freed and returned to the academy (notable because in order to summon her you'll have to go out of your way to fight Radahn first), Iron Fist Alexander will aid you in the Fire Giant fight because he too wants to access the Forge of the Giants, and Dung Eater will help with Morgott and Mohg's projection after you free him from his cell below Leyndell, but before you beat his invasion.

''SlidingScaleOfGameplayAndStoryIntegration/{{Persona}}'' has its own page.

''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' has its own page.

* ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'':
** ''VideoGame/Persona1'':
*** Chewing Souls heal a significant amount of SP out of combat, but a minuscule amount in combat. This is because Chewing Souls are gum, which the characters have the luxury of savoring out of combat, but aren't able to when they're busy fighting.
*** Mark gets captured by demons at one point because his Persona ran out of SP, which is explained to drain the user's energy.
*** Characters who lack a Persona only have 1 Magical Defense. As a result, when Takeda attacks Maki, Elly, and Brown with magic, the latter two, who have Persona, are barely scratched, while Brown, who doesn't, is severely injured.
*** Persona awakening battles always have the party members level up after the battle, and this game uses a LevelUpFillUp mechanic. As a result, when Brown awakens his Persona after getting injured by Takeda, he's completely healed.
*** It's shown in the game that characters without Persona are unable to be affected by healing magic. Because of this, when the party tries to heal Yosuke, it ends up having no effect.
** ''VideoGame/Persona2''
*** During the boss fight against Sugimoto in ''Innocent Sin'', Eikichi is unable to attack him at all outside of [[CombinationAttack Fusion Spells]] due to the curse placed on him.
*** Right before the boss fight against [[spoiler:Shadow Maya]] in ''Innocent Sin'', all but one of the party members get hit with an attack several times. The result is that at the beginning of the fight, all but one of the party members have low HP.
*** In ''Innocent Sin'', Yukino [[spoiler:gives up her ability to use her Persona in order to reawaken Jun's ability to use his. As a result, Jun has access to Durga, Yukino's Ultimate Persona]].
*** ''Eternal Punishment'' features flashbacks to ''Innocent Sin'' where Tatsuya talks while Maya is silent. That's because in this game, Maya is the SilentProtagonist, while Tatsuya is capable of speech.
*** Kei's Arcanum choices in ''Eternal Punishment'' are reflective of his CharacterDevelopment since the first game. In the first game, he was incapable of using Emperor Personas, while in this game, Emperor Personas are one of his most compatible Persona types.
*** In ''Eternal Punishment'', after Ulala [[spoiler:gets possessed by JOKER, she punches Maya. As a result, the fight against her has Maya start with some HP taken off]].
*** ''Innocent Sin'' ends with [[spoiler:the characters' pasts being rewritten to make the events of the game never happen]]. As a result, the characters in ''Eternal Punishment'' [[BagOfSpilling are stripped of the power they attained over the course of the previous game]], [[spoiler:with the exception of Tatsuya, who still remembers the events of the game and so retains his power, causing him to join the party at level 50 and have access to his Ultimate Persona]].
** ''VideoGame/Persona3'':
*** While [[HealingHands Dia]] spells are effective no matter what, the game's early healing abilities are nowhere near as effective as the late-game healing spells. This is reflected in the story, where Mitsuru never asks Yukari to heal Akihiko's injuries, since Yukari still only has access to the starting healing spells, which aren't effective enough to properly treat Akihiko.
*** The protagonist will end up in Great condition if the player chooses to sleep early at night. When Akihiko first joins the party, he's in Great condition, as he just spent to last few days resting in the hospital.
*** ''[[UpdatedRerelease Portable]]'''s Female Protagonist route will alter certain dialogues based on who [[PlayerCharacter Kotone]] is in a relationship with ([[GameplayAndStorySegregation unlike the Male Protagonist route and other games, where references to relationships are exclusive to special events]]). This includes altered lines in dorm conversations, Social Links, and even [[spoiler:the final stage of the game's FinalBoss]].
*** One of the first things the player learns about Akihiko is that he suffers from a severe case of being ObliviousToLove. For that reason, ''Portable'''s Female Protagonist route has him as the hardest of game's romance options to succeed at, to the point that a [[GuideDangIt guide]] is needed.
*** Over the first few months of the game, Junpei gets increasingly jealous of the protagonist. In ''Portable'''s Female Protagonist route, this is reflected by locking the player out of progressing his [[RelationshipValues Social Link]] from the July Full Moon (where his jealously reaches its peak) to the end of the summer exams (where he apologizes for his attitude).
*** Because Aigis is a RobotGirl, she's incapable of being effected by the Poison StatusEffect. ''[[UpdatedRerelease FES]]'''s [[PlayableEpilogue The Answer]] and the ''Q'' duology due away with this, with the latter having her note that her parts are corroding when she's poisoned.
*** The first game showed that healing spells are less effective on people who don't have a Persona. In this game, [[spoiler:it's clear this also applies to people who repress their Persona, as shown in the case of Shinjiro]].
*** Chidori has a HealingFactor, allowing her to heal from her ([[DeathSeeker mostly self-inflicted]]) injuries faster than other characters would be able to. This translates into gameplay through her having the Spring of Life passive ability, which heals 8% of her health per turn.
*** How you defeat the final boss: [[spoiler:The protagonist [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifices themself]] to seal it away, represented in the battle system by the Great Seal ability. Look at the HP cost for Great Seal; sure enough, it costs all of your [[CastFromHitPoints HP]]]].
** ''VideoGame/Persona4'':
*** [[ButtMonkey Yosuke]] is incredibly unlucky, with him getting kicked in [[GroinAttack the nads]] within minutes of the game starting for breaking his friend's CD. He ends up falling off of, and crashing whilst on, his bike ''before'' he's even named, and to top it all off, [[spoiler:his crush gets killed very early on]]. If you check his stat profile, you'll notice that he has the lowest Luck stat of any of your party members.
*** Yosuke's character arc is centered around his lack of direction in life outside of the Investigation Team. The result is that in combat, [[JackOfAllTrades he's capable of covering any role]], but [[MasterOfNone lacks specialization in any role compared to other party members]].
** In the story mode for ''VideoGame/Persona4Arena'', Labrys spends her fights in permanent Persona Break, as she doesn't have access to a Persona [[spoiler:until near the end of the game]].
** ''VideoGame/Persona5'':
*** As [[PlayerCharacter Joker]]'s Proficiency stat is ranked up in gameplay, is {{Idle Animation}}s during story events changes. When studying, a low Proficiency Joker will just tap his pen on the table, while at high Proficiency, he starts spinning it around. Similarly, a Joker with high Proficiency will spin his phone during meetings at the hideout. On a similar note, Joker's animation at the hideout will change based on whether this is before or after the interrogation. If it's before, he will do the phone spin animation. If it's after, he'll rub his head on the spot where the investigator stepped on him.
*** Ryuji was the star of the track team of Shujin until [[SadistTeacher Kamoshida]] crippled him by breaking his leg. In the present, Ryuji runs with a noticeable limp and cannot jump high. Gameplay-wise, he retains the vitality and strength from those days (since he keeps himself in shape), but is also the slowest playable character due to the lingering pain and complications from the injury.
*** During the boss fight against Shadow Kamoshida, the player is told to choose which of the Phantom Thieves should be sent to steal Kamoshida's crown. While Ann is one of the options, using her will result in failure, as Kamoshida is so [[LustObject fixated on her]] that he'll immediately notice if she's gone. ''[[UpdatedRerelease Royal]]'' adds another example from this fight. When Kamoshida begins his second Gold Medal Spike, he summons a Cognitive Shiho to help perform the attack, who Morgana advises to kill in order to stop the attack. This Cognitive Shiho is weak to literally everything, a representation of just how much Kamoshida abuses her.
*** Ann's [[AllThereInTheManual profile in the art book]] notes that she's good at talking with other people. This is reflected in one of her Confidant abilities, which grants the player another chance if they pick the wrong answer during a Hold-Up. While other party members also have this ability, hers is particularly notable, because whereas other party members' versions of the ability just grants the player another chance, hers will make it so that the Shadows response will always count as a positive result.
*** Rank 5 of Ann's Confidant involves [[BitchInSheepsClothing Mika]] screwing Ann out of a photo shoot via fake crying. After that rank is completed, Ann gains the CrocodileTears ability, which is used to assist in negotiations during Hold-Ups.
*** Mishima sees himself as the unofficial PR guy for the Phantom Thieves, being the admin of the Phan-site. Because of that, his Confidant bonuses come in the form of increased EXP in order to help party members grow and get stronger.
*** The amount of money Mementos Targets throw away when inflicted with the Confused status effect is dependent on how rich or poor the target is in reality. For example, the targets in Kawakami's Confidant (who are extorting her for money) will throw out extremely large amounts of money, while by contrast, the targets in Futaba's Confidant (who force their daughter to "sell" herself for money) will throw out literally only a single yen.
*** Makoto is tasked by Principal Kobayakawa with finding the Phantom Thieves. After that point, Makoto will start [[IncrediblyObviousTail conspicuously following]] Joker whenever the player is roaming the school or Shibuya. ''Royal'' adds to this by having having her be explicitly seen following Joker and Ryuji when they go to Kichijoji.
*** Madarame is a serial plagiarist who raises up artistic prodigies only to steal their work and claim it as his own, ruining their lives if they try to bust him or strike out on their own. When you fight his Shadow as the boss Azazel, he has "Madare" spells which are variations on the normal elemental attacks his own "artistic flair" to them... and like the talentless hack he actually is, the damage on them is utterly pitiful. This is especially notable with his "Madare-Megido" spell -- Megido family spells are usually the InfinityPlusOneElement in any given game, so any veteran ''Megami Tensei'' player would be extremely nervous to see the second boss of the game use even the first ranked Megido spell, only for it to do ''even less'' damage than his already pitiful rip-off elemental spells. His plagiarism is made even more apparent in ''Royal''. His second phase now involves summoning copies of himself -- literally called '''[[CaptainErsatz Ersatz]]''' Anger/Joy/Sorrow/Mirth -- who cast the same renamed elemental attacks, but somehow do even less damage. The only real threat from them is that they'll reflect attacks of the same type, which makes crowd control difficult. He'll create new ones whenever these are destroyed, but if the fight drags on for long enough, [[CloneDegeneration the copies spawn at low HP and with negative status ailments, making them easy to kill in one hit]]. A man who built a career on stealing and profiting off the work of others can't even replicate his own correctly.
*** [[PhonyPsychic Fukurai]], the second target of Chihaya's Confidant, specializes in inflicting his targets with the Brainwashed status effect and then attacking with [[PsychicPowers Psy]] spells, representing how Fukurai convinces people that his Holy Stones are genuinely supernatural and then [[ConMan exploits them for profit]]. To drive the point home, the Persona his Shadow transforms into for his fight is Baphomet, who is weak to [[LightEmUp Bless]] spells.
*** Hifumi's Confidant bonuses tie into how the story of her Confidant progresses. She initially agrees to play Shogi with Joker so that she can study obscure moves. For that reason, ranking up her Confidant causes Joker's Knowledge stat to increase. Similarly, Rank 9 of her Confidant has her forfeit a match for the first time, upon which the player gains the ability to instantly escape battles.
*** Joker's guardian, Sojiro Sakura, is pretty cold and hostile towards him at first, mostly limiting interaction with telling the protagonist to not cause any trouble for him or his business. This is reflected by his Confidant link being extremely slow to rank up compared to the others and outright locks at a certain point in the story. After you [[spoiler:save his daughter Futaba from committing suicide and help her with her social anxiety]], Sojiro's Confidant link starts leveling up much faster and normally, reflecting his DefrostingIceKing shift towards the Protagonist.
*** A major plot point around the game's midway point centers around Morgana feeling that the Phantom Thieves don't need or want him anymore. This is reflected in gameplay, as Morgana is a SquishyWizard whose access to strong healing abilities make him almost mandatory to the early game, while also serving as the team's battle analyst and navigator. However, by this point in the game, Ann will have developed into a sturdier and stronger spellcaster with access to similarly powerful healing magic, and [[JackOfAllStats Makoto]] joins the Thieves with access to similarly strong offensive and support magic, taking over Morgana's role in combat, while Makoto and Futaba take over his role as battle analyst and navigator, respectively. Similarly, once Morgana overcomes these issues and rejoins the Thieves, this gets reflected by the fact that, at this point in the game, Morgana will begin to gain access to third-tier level abilities (much sooner than any of the other characters can), and his magic stat will skyrocket, letting him do more magic damage than any other party member besides Haru (who lacks Morgana's accuracy).
*** During the period of time in which Haru is absent due to [[spoiler:grieving her father's death]], it is impossible to perform Mementos Requests, since in the story, the whole party must make a unanimous decision to go after a target.
*** Akechi's abilities are reflected by the story in several ways. When he joins the Phantom Thieves, he has access to both [[CastingAShadow Curse]] and Bless spells, but by this point in the game, Joker will have access to to far more powerful ways to use these elements, causing him to end up as a party member who lacks any clear niche in gameplay. [[spoiler:This serves as subtle {{foreshadowing}} that the Phantom Thieves had already OutGambitted Akechi and are steps ahead of him in their plan]]. On a similar note, party members have [[ElementalRockPaperScissors resistance to whatever element their Persona specializes in]]. That is, with the exception of Akechi, whose Persona, Robin Hood, uses both of the previously mentioned abilities, but not only is he not resistant to either of these abilities, he's ''weak'' to Curse. [[spoiler:This serves as foreshadowing that Robin Hood is not Akechi's primary Persona]]. ''Royal'' adds a few additional layers to this. In his Confidant, Akechi's lack of niche due to Joker's greater strengths gets reflected by the reveal of his frustration over [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter being constantly outdone by Joker]]. And [[spoiler:during the Third Semester, he ends up ditching Bless abilities entirely and becomes solely focused on Curse abilities, which symbolizes how he is now free of living his double identity]].
*** In the story, Akechi is TheFriendNobodyLikes in regards to the Phantom Thieves as a whole. Because of this, should the player have Joker invite him to darts in ''Royal'', no other Phantom Thief will show up.
*** Once Akechi joins the Phantom Thieves in ''Royal'', he'll be available to play [[MiniGame Tycoon]] against in the [[ModelMuseum Thieves Den]]. However, when choosing opponents, the random selection will make it so that it is impossible for a scenario in which Akechi plays against [[spoiler:Futaba or Haru, due to the fact that the latter two likely aren't willing to play a casual game of cards against their parents' killer]].
*** In ''Royal'', the final rank of Maruki's Confidant will have him treat Joker to lunch, only for the steam from their food to fog up their glasses. This gets shown in their {{Character Portrait}}s.
*** Confidants generally give you a boost to Personas of the same Arcana when you fuse them and a whole bunch of other character-specific bonuses. Prosecutor Sae Niijima, the woman interrogating Joker in the FramingDevice, is added to your Confidant list in early July. However, since Joker doesn't properly meet her until November, the player doesn't receive any of the Confidant's benefits until the story catches up to the interrogation.
*** When the player starts a new Confidant, the game will fast-forward to the interrogation, where Sae will question Joker about an expertise related to the Confidant. Should the player instigate the Confidant after the story has caught up to the interrogation, this scene won't play out. Similarly, this scene won't play out whatsoever when the player starts and Fool or Strength Confidants, as Sae has no knowledge of the Velvet Room and therefore has no reason to question Joker about it. Moreover, when the game transitions back to the interrogation, this will be shown by the calendar fast-forwarding a month and a half. However should the player instigate this transition when the story is less than a month and a half away from the events of the interrogation (which takes place on 11/19), the date will stop when it reaches that point.
*** During [[spoiler:Akechi's boss fight, he has a tendency to target Joker more than any other party member. Fitting, considering how much of a GreenEyedMonster Akechi is towards him]].
*** In vanilla ''Persona 5'', Akechi [[spoiler:does not receive the [[TakingTheBullet Protect]] skill upon reaching Rank 9 in his Confidant like other party members. While gameplay-wise, this is just due to him no longer being a party member at this point, from a plot perspective, this skill instead takes the form of him [[HeroicSacrifice sacrificing himself to save the Phantom Thieves from an army of Shadows]]. ''Royal'' plays it a bit straighter by having him actually get the Protect skill upon reaching Rank 9, though he only gains access to it starting from the Third Semester]].
*** The ''Royal'' exclusive Mementos Target Hikaru Arihara is a man who uses his looks to manipulate women into fighting over him. For that reason, he is resistant to [[PlayingWithFire Fire]], [[AtomicSuperpower Nuclear]], and Psy spells, the spells used by the three female party members the player will have access to when they first receive this request.
*** Persona fusion is performed in gameplay through use of a guillotine in the Velvet Room. At the end of the game, [[spoiler:after Caroline and Justine discover their true nature, they have Joker use the guillotine to fuse them back into Lavenza]].
*** The Game Over screen changes once the player reaches the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, now having [[spoiler:Igor and Lavenza lament that there's no one left to stop Yaldabaoth or Maruki]].
*** Akechi [[spoiler:is the most experienced of any character in traversing the Metaverse, having been doing so for years prior to the Phantom Thieves forming. As a result, when Futaba is out of commission at the beginning of ''Royal'''s Third Semester, Akechi is the one to take up the role as navigator]].
*** In ''Royal'', [[spoiler:when Sumire chooses to fight Joker when he refuses to accept Maruki's world, her DullEyesOfUnhappiness combined with her [[SanitySlippage obviously declining sanity]] makes it pretty clear that she's in no condition to fight, with Akechi choosing not to involve himself in the fight due to recognizing that he could end up accidentally killing her. Sure enough, she can be defeated in 3 or 4 turns. On top of that, she has no way of countering Personas that null Bless and Physical abilities, and should they outright [[AttackReflector reflect]] those elements, she can end up knocking herself out with her own attacks]].
*** The Security Meter icon for ''Royal'''s Third Semester Palace, prior to the discovery of the ruler's identity, is the most threatening in the game. Once the ruler is revealed to be [[spoiler:Maruki, and it's made clear that [[WellIntentionedExtremist he isn't anywhere near as vile as the game's previous Palace rulers]], the portrait changes into the least threatening in the game]].
*** Throughout Kasumi's Confidant in ''Royal'', she displays [[CuteClumsyGirl obvious and extreme klutziness]], such as when she plays at the batting cage and misses six balls in a row while obviously concentrating. During the Third Semester, [[spoiler:after she regains her identity as Sumire and joins the Phantom Thieves, she can be invited to play darts... where her AI is programmed to be ''awful'' at the game[[note]]Specifically, she's programmed to try and imitate whatever dart throws the player makes, but will always be worse at it[[/note]]]].
*** Throughout the series, new Personas are obtained by fusing two other Personas into a single one. In ''Royal'''s Third Semester, the Phantom Thieves' third-tier Personas are obtained through fusing their first and second-tier Personas.
*** During ''Royal'''s Third Semester, [[spoiler:a recording shows how Maruki discovered his powers when he accidentally altered his catatonic girlfriend Rumi's cognition to change her memories in order to heal her, which included erasing the one's of him. At the end of the recording, Maruki tells Rumi that [[MetaphoricallyTrue his girlfriend had "passed away"]]. To symbolize this, Rumi's character portrait disappears after Maruki says that]]. A similar situation happens in [[spoiler:the [[MultipleEndings "Stay" ending]]. In Maruki's reality, none of the characters recognize him, having essentially turned himself into a background character in everyone else's story. The result is that he loses his character portrait and his name disappears, with him simply being referred to as "Man Wearing Hat"]].
*** The most powerful attacks of ''Royal'''s FinalBoss, [[spoiler:Maruki, are Nuclear and Bless abilities. These make Sumire the party member he is the least effective against, as her third-tier Persona, Ella, resists Nuclear and outright nullifies Bless, representing how Sumire has been able to steadily outgrow and reject Maruki and his philosophy]]. By contrast, [[spoiler:Akechi is weak to Bless and therefore the party member Maruki is most effective against, representing how Akechi is most actively hostile and philosophically opposed to Maruki of any of the Phantom Thieves]].
*** The final stage of ''Royal'''s final boss has a case of this. [[spoiler:Joker and Maruki will have one last DuelBoss as the [[MentalWorld Metaverse]] is breaking down, leaving them unable to use their Personas anymore. As a result, the standard attack button is the only command the player is able to use during the fight. Similarly, Joker's battle portrait will be changed to no longer have his mask]].
** ''VideoGame/Persona5Strikers'':
*** In the climax of ''Persona 5 Royal'', [[spoiler:the star that Jose gave the Phantom Thieves that allowed them to perform [[CombinationAttack Showtimes]] uses up all its power to transform Morgana into a helicopter so the Phantom Thieves can escape the Metaverse]]. As a result, Showtimes in this game are no longer performed by two characters, but by a character and their Persona, and are much weaker than the Showtimes in ''Royal''.
*** Yusuke's Persona specializes in [[AnIcePerson Ice spells]], which is likely the reason why, upon arriving in the Sapporo Jail, he's the only Phantom Thief unaffected by the Jail's blizzard.
*** The Jail Monarches of this game each serve as a ShadowArchetype to a character from ''Persona 5''. Because of that, each of them is weak to a specific element associated with that character. Alice serves as a counterpart to Ann, and so is weak to Fire. Ango is a counterpart to Yusuke, and so is weak to Ice. Mariko is a counterpart to Okumura, and so is weak to both Psi, the element Okumura's daughter Haru specializes in, and Curse, both of which are also the weakness combination of Okumura's MDL-GM robots. [[spoiler:Akira is a counterpart to Ryuji and Makoto, and so is weak to [[ShockAndAwe Electricity]] and Nuclear, their respective elements. EMMA is a counterpart to Maruki and Sophia, and so is weak to Bless and Curse, the latter of whom specializing in the former element and the former having been opposed the most by Joker, Akechi, and Sumire, who each specializes in one of the two elements]].
*** When [[spoiler:Ichinose brainwashes Sophia to fight the Phantom Thieves]], everyone except Zenkichi (who argues they have to ShootTheDog to prevent EMMA's AssimilationPlot) is extremely reluctant to fight. In the subsequent fight, Zenkichi is the only AI character who will actually attack; the others will just dodge.

*** Akechi's abilities are reflected by the story in several ways. When he joins the Phantom Thieves, he has access to both [[CastingAShadow Curse]] and Bless spells, but by this point in the game, Joker will have access to to far more powerful ways to use these elements, causing him to end up as a party member who lacks any clear niche in gameplay. [[spoiler:This serves as subtle {{foreshadowing}} that the Phantom Thieves had already OutGambitted Akechi and are steps ahead of him in their plan]]. On a similar note, party members have [[ElementalRockPaperScissors resistance to whatever element their Persona specializes in]]. That is, with the exception of Akechi, whose Persona, Robin Hood, uses both of the previously mentioned abilities, but not only is he not resistant to either of these abilities, he's ''weak'' to Curse. [[spoiler:This serves as foreshadowing that Robin Hood is not Akechi's primary Persona]]. ''Royal'' adds a few additional layers to this. In his Confidant, Akechi's lack of niche due to Joker's greater strengths gets reflected by the reveal of his frustration over [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter being constantly outdone by Joker]]. And [[spoiler:during the Third Semester, he ends up ditching Bless abilities entirely and becomes solely focussed on Curse abilities, which symbolizes how he is now free of living his double identity]].

*** Throughout Kasumi's Confidant in ''Royal'', she's displays [[CuteClumsyGirl obvious and extreme klutziness]], such as when she plays at the batting cage and misses six balls in a row while obviously concentrating. During the Third Semester, [[spoiler:after she regains her identity as Sumire and joins the Phantom Thieves, she can be invited to play darts... where her AI is programmed to be ''awful'' at the game[[note]]Specifically, she's programmed to try and imitate whatever dart throws the player makes, but will always be worse at it[[/note]]]].

* You lose the ability to read enemy stats or find hidden items after beating ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'' because the character responsible for granting you that power leaves permanently for plot reasons. You'll have to find a robotic replacement in order to regain that power.

* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3'':
** About halfway through Chapter 1, the party unlocks the Flame Clock mechanic, which reflects the LifeDrinker nature of the cast by ''very'' slowly filling up as the party accumulates kills, and draining over time, providing buffs when it's full or penalties when it's low. Not only is it exceedingly unlikely that the player will actually fill the Clock up even if they kill everything in sight, but the mechanic strongly discourages exploration since there's a constant ticking clock any time you aren't engaged in battle. This is, of course, exactly the sort of mindset that the Flame Clocks encourage in the party, making them laser-focused on killing with no time to consider anything else, and the actual SecondHourSuperpower at the end of Chapter 1 permanently takes the Flame Clock mechanic away once it's done demonstrating this influence.

*** Malenia's Great Rune works by attacking after being hurt to heal oneself, as a symbol of Malenia's will fighting the power of the Scarlet Rot. Only when she unleashes Scarlet Rot attacks does the healing not take affect because she isn't fighting it.

** All the different endings have quests tied to them that flow into their respective Runes. Goldmask contemplates the Golden Order and its secrets, you must uncover the true nature of the gods and follow him every time he moves, notably he has no enemies to fight. Dung Eater considers you a fitting vessel for his mantra that all are equal when all are cursed, you find the seed bed curse items after entering both the most vile and virtuous areas in the game and feed them to him after beating him in a fight. Fia wants those who live in Death to be accepted into the Golden Order and to do that must find the still living gods who died in the backstory, as well as kill those who most want Death removed from the Golden Order. You become Ranni's consort after proving your undying loyalty to her, which happens after braving a lake of Scarlet Rot and facing a space monster in between the two of you. Showing how despised the Frenzied Flame is, it is defended by a projection of Mohg and a barrier empowered by Morgott, the only thing they are ever known to collaborate on considering how different the two of them are in the present day.

** Kingseeker Frampt will give you souls for whatever items you feed him. The amount you get often changes with his literal and personal tastes. Give him something that is unique and easy to eat and you get more, like rings and coins. Give him something hard to eat that he doesn't like and you can get a single soul, like Crystal equipment that will remind him of Seath the Scaleless. Smough's soul in particular only gets a single soul despite unique souls can simply be consumed for thousands of souls.

** Seath is blind, so most of his attacks are magic aoe's and desperate leg flailing to reflect how he only knows an approximate area of where you are. You can take advantage by using Hush and the Slumbering ring to make him lose track of you.

** This game is much more about the player characters identity and the fact one can lose it to the Undead Curse than the more mythologically focused ''I''. There is actually some gameplay before character creation to let you know that the player character had a life before the game and respeccing is possible for the first time in a Souls game. A certain coffin can spontaneously change their physical gender.
** The main plot of the game is for the player character to become a vessel for souls and take the Throne of Want and link the fire. The main way the game gives you is to acquire the four Great Souls of the bosses in the first half. However it is also possible to simply farm enough souls, one million, to qualify anyway and move on with the plot.

** The main four Great Souls are implied to be four of the bosses from the original game reincarnated but virtually all of them are fought completely different from their original selves as a show of how one can lose their identity. The Lost Sinner is a physical swordswoman when the Bed of Chaos was a PuzzleBoss with pyromancy, The Rotten is a solo poison spewing berserker while Nito was a FlunkyBoss who often mixed powerful spells with his strikes that buildup curse, The Duke's Dear Freyja is a twin headed spider who spews concentrated energy blasts while Seath was blind and used aoe magic to compensate, and The Old Iron King is a physical tank that punches hard and breathes fire while Gwyn was a master swordsman who burnt you up close with a facepalm grab.
** Lucatiel and Benhardt's quests require you summon them for bosses and keep them alive. Considering that is how you stave off hollowing it holds true for them and they keep their humanity in subsequent encounters. Benhardt is implied not actually to be a hollow so keeping him alive is doubly important.
* ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'': The state of the First Flame has an undercurrent to the stats of the characters and enemies. II had higher stats than I, to show that while the peak strength of the flame was gone it was far from nearing its end. III has even lower stats than I, to help illustrate that the First Flame is almost completely dead.

** All the different endings have quests tied to them that flow into their respective Runes. Goldmask contemplates the Golden Order and its secrets, you must uncover the true nature of the gods and follow him every time he moves, notably he has no enemies to fight. Dung Eater considers you a fitting vessel for his mantra that all are equal when all are cursed, you find the seed bed curse items after entering both the most vile and virtuous areas in the game and feed them to him after beating him in a fight. Fia wants those who live in Death to be accepted into the Golden Order and to do that must find the still living gods who died in the backstory, as well as kill those who most want Death removed from the Golden Order. You become Ranni's consort after proving your undying loyalty to her, which happens after braving a lake of Scarlet Rot and facing a space monster in between the two of you.

** Titan, Leviathan and Bahamut use elements not among the usual spell levels. Therefore they do not have corresponding equipment to boost their power.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'' justifies the "Nobody uses healing items to save people in cutscenes" problem in {{RPG}}s by having [[spoiler:Galuf]] get killed so hard (via [[spoiler:fighting and defeating the BigBad at ''0 HP'' and running on sheer willpower]]) [[DeaderThanDead that not even Cure or Life spells will save him.]]

** The BonusBoss Yharnam, Pthumerian Queen (yes, she shares her name with the game's setting) was the mother of [[spoiler: the stillborn Great One]] Mergo. In her boss fight, Mergo [[AssistCharacter will assist her]] by binding you in place if you do too much damage.

** In ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVIII'', the Hero is under a curse so powerful, other curses (like the ForcedTransformation placed on his hometown) don't affect him. He is, in gameplay, immune to the "curse" status effect. To even further emphasize this, a BonusBoss that you can defeat to unlock the second ending has a sort of a "Seal" attack that he starts with. It will not affect anyone ''except the Hero'' [[spoiler: because he is the one that placed the original curse that the Hero lives with]].

** Rinoa [[spoiler: becoming a sorceress]] results in her getting a second Limit Break that raises her magic stats to the highest they can go, and makes her able to cast infinite spells.

** The attack Seifer uses on Squall while they're training in the opening FMV you can later use as his Limit Break 'Fire Cross'.

*** The amount of money Mementos Targets throw away when inflicted with the Confused status effect is dependent on how rich or poor the target is in reality. For example, the targets in Kawakami's Confidant (who are extorting her for money) will throw out extremely large amount of money, while by contrast, the targets in Futaba's Confidant (who force their daughter to "sell" herself for money) will throw out literally only a single yen.

*** During the boss fight against Shadow Kamoshida, when the player is told to choose which of the Phantom Thieves should be sent to steal Kamoshida's crown. While Ann is one of the options, using her will result in failure, as Kamoshida is so [[LustObject fixated on her]] that he'll immediately notice if she's gone. ''[[UpdatedRerelease Royal]]'' adds another example from this fight. When Kamoshida begins his second Gold Medal Spike, he summons a Cognitive Shiho to help perform the attack, who Morgana advises to kill in order to stop the attack. This Cognitive Shiho is weak to literally everything, a representation of just how much Kamoshida abuses her.

*** Akechi [[spoiler:is the most experienced of any character in traversing the Metaverse, having been doing so for years prior to the Phantom Thieves forming. As a result, when Futaba is out of commission at the beginning of the Third Semester, Akechi is the one to take up the role as navigator]].

*** In ''Royal'', [[spoiler:when Sumire chooses to fight Joker when he refuses to accept Maruki's world, her DullEyeOfUnhappiness combined with her [[SanitySlippage obviously declining sanity]] makes it pretty clear that she's in no condition to fight, with Akechi choosing not to involve himself in the fight due to recognizing that he could end up accidentally killing her. Sure enough, she can be defeated in 3 or 4 turns. On top of that, she has no way of countering Personas that null Bless and Physical abilities, and should they outright [[AttackReflector reflect]] those elements, she can end up knocking herself out with her own attacks]].

*** Throughout Kasumi Confidant in ''Royal'', she's displays [[CuteClumsyGirl obvious and extreme klutziness]], such as when she plays at the batting cage and misses six balls in a row while obviously concentrating. During the Third Semester, [[spoiler:after she regains her identity as Sumire and joins the Phantom Thieves, she can be invited to play darts... where her AI is programmed to be ''awful'' at the game[[note]]Specifically, she's programmed to try and imitate whatever dart throws the player makes, but will always be worse at it[[/note]]]].

*** In vanilla ''Persona 5'', Akechi [[spoiler:does not receive the [[TakingTheBullet Protect]] skill upon reaching Rank 9 in his Confidant like other party members. While gameplay-wise, this is just due to him no longer being a party member at this point, from a plot perspective, this skill instead takes the form of him [[HeroicSacrifice sacrificing himself to save the Phantom Thieves from and army of Shadows]]. ''Royal'' plays it a bit straighter by having him actually get the Protect skill upon reaching Rank 9, though he only gains access to it starting from the Third Semester]].

*** Yosuke's character arc is centered around his lack of direction in life outside of the Investigation Team. The result is that in combat, [[JackOfAllTrades he's capable of covering any role]], but [[MasterOfNone lack specialization in any role compared to other party members]].

*** Yosuke's character arc is centered his lack of direction in life outside of the Investigation Team. The result is that in combat, [[JackOfAllTrades he's capable of covering any role]], but [[MasterOfNone lack specialization in any role compared to other party members]].

* ''VideoGame/Persona2'' has a weapon for Eikichi that can only be obtained by spreading rumors. The NPC who has it will only sell it to you if Eikichi tries her new dish, [[{{Squick}} yogurt ramen]]. Eikichi puts on a brave face and tries it, promptly passing out as he complains that he can feel his organs shutting down. While the whole scene is played for laughs, the food was really that terrible since Eikichi then suffers from the Poison status effect afterwards.
** This is PlayedForDrama at the end of ''Innocent Sin'': [[spoiler: when Maya is fatally wounded by the Lance of Longinus, Eikichi shouts at Lisa to use Dia, a healing spell, on her, but due to the properties of the Lance the wounds won't heal, leading to her death.]]
* ''VideoGame/Persona3'':
** How you defeat the FinalBoss: [[spoiler:You [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifice yourself]] to seal it away, represented in the battle system by the Great Seal skill. Look at the HP cost for Great Seal; sure enough, it costs all of your [[CastFromHitPoints HP]].]]
** When Junpei's Persona evolves, it does so by [[spoiler:merging with Chidori's, after Chidori uses the last of her life force to heal Junpei's gunshot wound. After that, he regenerates hit points every turn, to reflect the influence of her healing powers.]]
** A rather subtle example: [[TagalongKid Ken]] has one of the highest luck stats in the game… [[spoiler: …and manages to survive both the accident that killed his mother two years prior, and another direct attempt on his life later in the game, with [[TheAtoner Shinjiro]] taking a bullet for him. Shinji, for his part, has a very low luck stat…]]
* A similar effect occurs in ''VideoGame/Persona4'', but PlayedForLaughs this time. [[TheWoobie Yosuke]] is incredibly unlucky, with him getting kicked in [[GroinAttack the nads]] within minutes of the game starting for breaking his friend's CD. He ends up falling off of, and crashing whilst on, his bike BEFORE he's even named, and to top it all off, [[spoiler: his crush gets killed very early on]]. If you check his stat profile, you'll notice that he has [[LampshadeHanging the lowest Luck stat of any of your party members]].
* ''VideoGame/Persona5'':
** Confidants generally give you a boost to Personas of the same arcana when you fuse them and a whole bunch of other character-specific bonuses. Prosecutor Sae Niijima, the woman interrogating you in the frame story, is added to your Confidants list in early July; however, since you didn't properly meet her until November, she provides diddly-squat for you until you catch up to the interrogation.
** The protagonist's guardian, Sojiro Sakura, is pretty cold and hostile towards him at first, mostly limiting interaction with telling the protagonist to not cause any trouble for him or his business. This is reflected by his Confidant link being extremely slow to rank up compared to the others and outright locks at a certain point in the story. After you [[spoiler: save his daughter Futaba from committing suicide and help her with her social anxiety]], Sojiro's Confidant link stars leveling up much faster and normally, reflecting his DefrostingIceKing shift towards the Protagonist.
** Ann has a body fit for a model, but it's because she won the genetic lottery and doesn't need to do anything to stay in shape, so she subsists on soda, junk food, and fast food. In gameplay, this results in her having high luck, but even if it's not immediately apparent, she's still unhealthy because of her poor diet and lack of exercise, so she's the party's SquishyWizard with low HP and laughably bad strength. She also can't handle the recoil on her chosen gun (an SMG) like the rest of the party thanks to her poor arm strength, which makes it hit randomly and miss frequently. The fact that she fires a fully automatic weapon one-handed doesn't help.
** Similarly, Ryuji was the star of the track team of the school until [[SadisticTeacher Kamoshida]] crippled him by breaking his leg. In the present, Ryuji runs with a noticeable limp and cannot jump high. Gameplay wise, he retains the vitality and strength from those days (since he keeps himself in shape) but is also the slowest playable character due to the lingering pain and complications from the injury.
** Madarame is a serial plagiarist who raises up artistic prodigies only to steal their work and claim it as his own, ruining their lives if they try to bust him or strike out on their own. When you fight his Shadow as the boss Azazel, he has "Madare" spells which are variations on the normal elemental attacks his own 'artistic flair' to them... and like the talentless hack he actually is, the damage on them is utterly pitiful. This is especially notable with his "Madare-Megido" spell - Megido family spells are usually the InfinityPlusOneElement in any given game, so any veteran Megami Tensei player would be extremely nervous to see the second boss of the game use even the first ranked Megido spell, only for it to do ''even less'' damage than his already pitiful rip-off elemental spells.
** Madarame's plagiarism is made even more apparent in ''Royal.'' His second phase now involves summoning copies of himself- literally called '''[[CaptainErsatz Ersatz]]''' Anger/Joy/Sorrow/Mirth- who cast the same renamed elemental attacks, but somehow do even less damage. The only real threat from them is that they'll reflect attacks of the same type, which makes crowd control difficult. He'll create new ones whenever these are destroyed, but if the fight drags on for long enough, [[CloneDegeneration the copies spawn at low HP and with negative status ailments, making them easy to kill in one hit]]. A man who built a career on stealing and profiting off the work of others can't even replicate his own correctly.