History TraumaCongaLine / VideoGames

** Don't forget Raiden, previously the laughing stock of the series. Man, his life ''sucks''. He was raised by the man who killed his parents; was a [[ChildSoldier child soldier]] in a civil war; found out he was manipulated to go on a mission that was just a giant experiment; his girlfriend was to spy on him but then fell in love with him, she then became his fiance, before leaving him for another man; believed his child was miscarried, only to find out it was a cover up. Then he becomes a cyborg against his own, twice. Save for the upper part of his face and spine, his entire body is mechanical.

** Don't forget Raiden, previously the laughing stock of the series. Man, his life ''sucks''. He was raised by the man who killed his parents; was a child soldier in a civil war; found out he was manipulated to go on a mission that was just a giant experiment; his girlfriend was to spy on him but then fell in love with him, she then became his fiance, before leaving him for another man; believed his child was miscarried, only to find out it was a cover up. Then he becomes a cyborg against his own, twice. Save for the upper part of his face and spine, his entire body is mechanical.

** ''Yakuza Kiwami'' shows that Kiryu's best friend, Nishiki, went through the wringer, himself. [[spoiler:It starts with Nishiki, himself, killing his patriarch, Dojima, to protect his and Kiryu's childhood friend, Yumi. Kiryu takes the fall so Nishiki can be there to look after his sickly sister, whose medical costs are rising. Then Yumi goes missing afterwards. [[HopeSpot It seems he catches a break when his senior gives him the green light to found his own branch family]], only for his underlings to be insubordinate and constantly berating him. Then he learns his sister needs a heart transplant, and the only way to get one in a timely manner is on the black market, which doesn't come cheap, so he [[AintToProudToBeg begs one of his underlings to help him raise the money by whatever means necessary]]. Unfortunately, the means his underling chooses entails not only stealing from Nishiki's senior, earning his wrath, but also shaking down the surgeon who suggested the black market organ donation to begin with, chasing the doctor off and dooming Nishiki's sister to die. After all this, it's little wonder Nishiki snapped, [[StartOfDarkness stabbed his underling, and decided "Fuck it, I'm gonna take over the Tojo Clan and kill anyone who gets in my way!"]]]]

* In ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedI'', everything that happens to Subject Sixteen/[[spoiler:Clay Kaczmarek]] is part of a TraumaCongaLine. ''Everything''. Emotionally abusive father, neglectful mother, captured by an evil corporation, betrayed by [[spoiler:his only ally]], abandoned by [[spoiler:the Assassins]], tortured and driven insane, committed suicide, [[spoiler:uploaded his brain]] to help his successor, [[spoiler:trapped in the program]], [[spoiler:mind deleted after performing a HeroicSacrifice]]...the poor guy [[TheWoobie can't catch a break]].

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' pretty much puts each of its protagonists through one. But the prize goes to Hope Estheim. He was merely on vacation in Bodhum when the active Fal'Cie was discovered and everyone was sent to be [[KillEmAll purged]]. Before knowing that it meant killing them, it was thought that this meant sending them to Pulse, which people in Cocoon had been told was practically hell. After the train he's on is derailed, the civilians are riled up by Snow's group to fight back and Hope is left alone by his mother, who leaves to fight and protect him. Hope watches in horror as his mother falls to her death and he begins to blame Snow, whom he follows into the Vestige with Vanille. In the Vestige, Hope has to fight his way through, only to be branded a Pulse l'Cie. Now, he is the enemy of the entire planet and will be killed on sight, if the government gets their hands on him. And, unless he fulfills his Focus and turns into a crystal statue, he'll turn into an abomination. No wonder the kid's big scene included a FreakOut! It gets worse for him in [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII the]] [[VideoGame/LightningReturnsFinalFantasyXIII sequels]]: [[spoiler:by the end of ''XIII-2'', he's separated from everyone he cares for, and is at ground zero of a TimeCrash, leaving him to deal with the fallout of having to lead humanity by himself. All of this lead to his sanity becoming susceptible to being whittled down, which is exactly what [[BigBad Bhunivelze]] did (by using phantoms of Lightning, [[ShipTease whom Hope cares for a great deal]]), before kidnapping him. Poor Hope is then tortured for ''169 years'', wrecking him to the point of his body regressing back AND damaging his emotional psyche, all so that Bhunivelze can shape him up to be the perfect vessel and keep tabs on Lightning when she wakes up.]] Just... ''damn''.

* The entirety of ''Videogame/SpecOpsTheLine'' is a trauma conga line on the protagonist, Captain [[PlayerCharacter Martin Walker]], as he's subject to atrocity after atrocity committed by the 33rd while [[spoiler: [[KillEmAll committing a few]] [[KillItWithFire of]] [[BodyHorror his]] [[ColdBloodedTorture own]]]]. By the end of the game, [[spoiler:he is a horrifyingly [[SanitySlippage broken]] [[ShellShockedVeteran man in body and spirit]]]]. The rest of his squad doesn't fare so well either. Throughout the game, Sergeant Lugo and Lieutenant Adams descend into becoming jaded and brutally cynical men from [[spoiler: the horrors they took part in or saw. This was made worse with TheReveal that they were struggling and failing to keep Walker's hero complex and insanity from going out of control]].

* The whole game can be considered this to Edea Lee in ''VideoGame/BravelyDefault''. The Duchy of Eternia and its military doctrine was more important to her than the air she breathed, until she began her first tour of duty and discovered how demented and murderous her superiors are: they slaughter without remorse ([[BadBoss sometimes targeting their own soldiers]] [[OffingTheAnnoyance for annoying them]]), they scam people from their money, they make false accusations towards the vestal, and they're generally douchebags. The second she defects from her madhouse of a country, they concentrate their hatred on her and arrange deathmatches between her and her former friends and family. And then her EvilAllAlong Fairy companion throws her into a cosmic landscape and she has to watch entire planets explode because of an unkillable EldritchAbomination.

* The whole game can be considered this to Edea Lee in ''VideoGame/BravelyDefault''. The Duchy of Eternia and its military doctrine was more important to her than the air she breathed, until she began her first tour of duty and discovered how demented and murderous her superiors are: they slaughter without remorse ([[BadBoss sometimes targeting their own soldiers for annoying them]]), they scam people from their money, they make false accusations towards the vestal, and they're generally douchebags. The second she defects from her madhouse of a country, they concentrate their hatred on her and arrange deathmatches between her and her former friends and family. And then her EvilAllAlong Fairy companion throws her into a cosmic landscape and she has to watch entire planets explode because of an unkillable EldritchAbomination.

** To put it simply, [[UpToEleven almost every named character]] in the series has gone through some kind of trauma, [[TragicVillain even ones that are outright bastards]], and it would be easier to list the characters that haven't undergone some sort of traumatic event. Justified, considering [[CrapsackWorld the world]] of ''Metal Gear'' involves [[ChildSoldier child soldiers]], CloningBlues, the constant threat of [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt nuclear annihilation]], [[ShellShockedVeteran post-war trauma]], [[AncientConspiracy ancient conspiracies]], and many other horrors.

* ''VideoGame/LiveALive'' has this happen to [[spoiler:Oersted, a KnightInShiningArmor who is sent out to SaveThePrincess with his intrepid party. First one of his teammates gets killed by a monster, then his best friend gets flattened by falling rocks, then when he comes home (without the princess), a vision tricks him into committing regicide and gets him labeled the Demon King and thrown into a dungeon, then his last friend sacrifices himself so he can escape, then he drags himself back to the mountain in a last-ditch effort to save the princess (and himself), then he finds out his best friend faked his own death and set the whole thing up to ruin his life because of [[GreenEyedMonster jealousy]], then when he kills him, the princess shows up, declares her love for the best friend who just betrayed him, and promptly [[DrivenToSuicide commits suicide]]. Oersted reacts in the same way any normal guy who just lost everything from sheer human cruelty would - he [[SanitySlippage goes completely batshit crazy]], [[FaceHeelTurn proclaims himself to be the next Demon King]], and [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds declares war on all of humanity]]]].

** There's Otacon as well. His mother wanted him to become the next Boss, his father used him as a ''test-pilot'' for a Metal Gear. Aside from unwittingly designing a nuclear weapon, he ended being seduced by his stepmother and when his father found out, he committed suicide by drowning - nearly taking his step-sister as well. That resulted in a falling out between the two, and when he meets her again, she's dying from blood loss. Aside from that, the only person he really trusts, Solid Snake, is aging rapidly and doesn't much time with him. Not to mention that almost everyone Otacon loves ends up dying in front of him. Sniper wolf gets shot dead by Snake, Emma bleeds to death in his arms, Naomi commits suicide, and by the end of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'', Snake only has a few months left to live. It's a miracle Sunny survived.

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"For those we have lost. For those we can yet save."

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' pretty much puts each of its protagonists through one. But the prize goes to Hope Estheim. He was merely on vacation in Bodhum when the active Fal'Cie was discovered and everyone was sent to be [[KillEmAll purged]]. Before knowing that it meant killing them, it was thought that this meant sending them to Pulse, which people in Cocoon had been told was practically hell. After the train he's on is derailed, the civilians are riled up by Snow's group to fight back and Hope is left alone by his mother, who leaves to fight and protect him. Hope watches in horror as his mother falls to her death and he begins to blame Snow, whom he follows into the Vestige with Vanille. In the Vestige, Hope has to fight his way through, only to be branded a Pulse l'Cie. Now, he is the enemy of the entire planet and will be killed on sight, if the government gets their hands on him. And, unless he fulfills his Focus and turns into a crystal statue, he'll turn into an abomination. No wonder the kid's big scene included a FreakOut!

* Clementine from ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'' goes through one that is nearly constant for the entire series. In Season 1 Episode 5, her parents are dead, and the one person she's grown dependent on, Lee, has to be abandoned or [[MercyKill mercy killed]]. Every episode of Season 2 has at least one traumatic event, from everything Carver did to having to choose who will live between Kenny and Jane. Losing AJ next season and going through hell to get him back adds to the trauma, and the final season's final episode is one long trauma line.

** Major Zero, despite being more of an [[spoiler: AntiVillain]] than a hero. He had one of his closest companions die in combat, then was betrayed by his other closest companion in which he was forced to send his agent, Big Boss, out to kill her and clear the United State’s name or else be threaten with death by firing squad. Was briefly accused of being a traitor by the government and thrown in prison. Was forced into hiding in the middle of New York City where he couldn’t even go out to see the stars, which doesn’t even last long as he eventually gets ratted out by one of his spies. [[spoiler: This causes a disgruntled former agent of his to track him down and infect him with parasites, which slowly and painfully deteriorated his body. While in this state, he witnessed a comatose Big Boss and had to accept the fact that he probably won’t be alive by the time the latter wakes up, and would never be able to rekindle his friendship with him, and ends up spending the last decades of his life in a coma as well. Being the founder of the Patriots, he was forced to sit and watch all the destruction his creation caused, unable to do anything about it despite how much he tried to fix things. This is ultimately topped off with him ending up as a helpless, wheelchair-ridden vegetative old man who gets his life support cut off by Big Boss himself, who was still unaware of how Zero really felt about him.]]

* The whole game can be considered this to Edea Lee in ''VideoGame/BravelyDefault.'' The Duchy of Eternia was a doctrine she was benevolent towards to, until she stepped out of her home at the beginning of the game and sees how demented his superiors are to the rest of the world: they kill without remorse (even to their own soldiers), they scam people from their money, they make false accusations towards the vestal, and they all are general douchebags.

*** Zack Fair himself is one as well. He starts as a GenkiGuy who wants to be a hero, and ends up deserted by his BigBrotherMentor, who later ensures Zack has no choice but to MercyKill him, since he CannotSelfTerminate otherwise. Then he finds out that he actually works for a CorporationOfEvil that has conducted human experimentation. Then his other friend Sephiroth [[BrokenPedestal goes insane and burns an entire town]] and attacks him. Then he spends 4 years being experimented on. Ah and his friend Cloud has gone catatonic thanks to all the mako poisoning. Now, both of them are on the run from literally everyone, including former friends like the Turks. 4 years of experiments did not go well for him either, and his mind is slowly eroding as he takes his LastStand to protect comatose Cloud from an entire army. Despite ALL of that, Zack emerges as an IronWoobie, and keeps his positive attitude until the very end.

** Kiryu goes through another one in the first game. After the events, [[spoiler: everyone and everything he has ever cared about]] is dead and gone. [[spoiler: His father-figure has taken a bullet for him, but not before making some revelations that completely shatter the pedestal Kiryu had put him on. His childhood friend committed suicide, after shooting their mutual childhood sweetheart. His protégé died at the hands of one of said friend's lieutenants. His position as a lieutenant advisor to the Dojima family and the chance to found his own family is blown to hell. His one-time benefactor, Masaru Sera, is dead.]] The only thing that keeps him from hurtling head-first across the DespairEventHorizon is a well-placed GetAHoldOfYourselfMan from Date, and a reminder that he is the only family [[spoiler: Haruka]] still has.