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| 8 | * ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'': |
| 9 | ** 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]]. |
| 10 | ** The "[[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII Kenway]] [[Literature/AssassinsCreedForsaken Family]] [[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIVBlackFlag Saga]]" is essentially one continuous Trauma Conga Line for ''three'' consecutive generations of the Kenway patrilineal line, and the ''Literature/AssassinsCreedIVBlackFlag'' novelization extends this even further back to the prior generation, too! |
| 11 | * 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 FairyCompanion throws her into a cosmic landscape and she has to watch entire planets explode because of an unkillable EldritchAbomination. |
| 12 | * Fou-lu in ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIV'' is marched down a Type B/Type D TraumaCongaLine ''by the very empire he was the KingInTheMountain for''; the increasingly extreme efforts TheEmpire takes in killing what is their ''literal'' founding GodEmperor eventually go to the point of the use of a FantasticNuke [[PoweredByAForsakenChild powered by Fou-lu's]] ''[[HumanResources GIRLFRIEND]]'' (said FantasticNuke explicitly works on the principle of LoveHurts, the closer the bond, the higher the mega-tonnage), and -- when THAT didn't work -- having TheEmperor run Fou-lu through with a [[EvilWeapon soul-eating sword]] made from ''[[BodyHorror the botched summon of another god]]'' (which only resulted in [[OffWithHisHead Emperor Soniel literally losing his head]]). This TraumaCongaLine eventually results in Fou-lu deciding that HumansAreBastards and the use of Mami as a tactical thermonuclear CountryMouse is arguably the event (in the MIDDLE of the TraumaCongaLine, no less!) that causes him to become a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds. |
| 13 | ** Oh, and the VestigialEmpire that summoned Fou-lu in the first place buggered up the summoning, resulting in the god being split in twain and each half of the LiteralSplitPersonality ending up on opposite sides of the world and temporally displaced 600 years. It's also outright stated that the Fou Empire and its VestigialEmpire predecessor the Muuru Empire still have not managed how to learn to summon a god in one piece and are involuntarily yanking the entities the world knows as "gods" from their own lives. (Yes, Fou-lu's TraumaCongaLine veritably began from the moment of his existence on that world.) |
| 14 | ** Even though Fou-lu definitely had it worst, most of the other gods introduced probably had similar experiences, seeing that most of them [[spoiler: turned into dragons that often attack whatever they see]], despite being friendly in general, going so far as apologizing for it. Also [[spoiler: Deis]] counts, seeing that she was so unlucky to have her summoning botchered so much that [[spoiler: she ended up without a body, forcing her to possess a armor which was driving her nuts]]. Being a god in this game just makes you an instant-{{Woobie}}, with the only exception being [[spoiler: Ryu]]. And he only made it through ok because [[spoiler: he was found and befriended by friendly people]], though it is possible in the game to break him [[spoiler: when Fou-lu gives him a BreakThemByTalking speech that Ryu can agree on or not]]. |
| 15 | * [[PlayerCharacter V]] from ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'' is absolutely put through the wringer throughout the game. Starting out with a MultipleChoicePast where each choice has its fair share of trauma even ''before'' the game officially starts, they find themselves working the streets of WretchedHive of a city where getting caught by a cop or corporate security can be just as bad as being caught by one of the many gangs that inhabit the megalopolis. Despite this, they somehow manage to make a close friend, who helps clue them into a heist that will supposedly help get them out of their small-town jobs into some ''real'' gigs to make them famous...only for the heist to go ass-end-up, killing their best friend, and ending with them getting ''killed.'' But oh no, it doesn't stop there. They get brought back to life by the datashard they were trying to steal, which is now permanently lodged in their skull and contains the the personality construct of a long-dead egotistical rockstar with a hard-on against megacorps...and the datashard is slowly erasing V's psyche and replacing it with the rockstar's, against their or the rockstar's wishes. In the process of trying to get the datashard out of their head, they have to contend with the ''worst'' that the city has to offer, the entire time the datashard randomly malfunctioning and making them erupt into seizures and bouts of [[BloodFromTheMouth coughing up blood]]. By the endgame, they're barely standing, and have either entrusted control of their body over to the rockstar or enlisted the help of some close friends in order to get where they need to go to...only to find out that they're too late: The datashard's overwriting has made ''their own brain'' incompatible with their psyche, meaning that even if they ''did'' separate themselves from the rockstar psyche, they'll only have about sixth months to live anyways. At the end, V can end up so broken that they can simply ''let'' the rockstar have their body, because they simply have no fight left in them to continue this meaningless struggle. |
| 16 | * Pretty much everything that happens to the Princess, the protagonist of ''VideoGame/ADanceWithRogues''. Even the very beginning of the game has her whole family and everyone she's ever known killed by an invading army, her rescuer rapies her and leaves her no choice but to hide with a criminal guild. Then the criminal guild teaches her how to be a rogue, but will force her out of her hometown if she doesn't want to join them, or kill her if she betrays them. Then there's all the other things that regularly happen throughout the whole game -- just when the Princess thinks she's found a new home with the Family criminal guild, most of them are killed or taken away; she's regularly lusted after by men and some even try to [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty molest or outright rape her]]; some of her companions may [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere turn on her]] or [[KilledOffForReal get killed]]; she's [[MadeASlave made a slave and has to escape]], and so on, and so forth. Really, pretty much the entire game cements her as a {{Woobie}} due to all the trauma and humiliation she lives through and has to struggle with to repair her broken life. Fortunately, at least ''some'' of the endings make things work out for her...but it requires [[GoldenEnding some hard work and good decision making]]. |
| 17 | * ''VideoGame/DragonQuestV'' has an extreme Result A case of a protagonist with a very tragic life who [[TheDeterminator restlessly pushes on]] until [[EarnYourHappyEnding he finally earns his happy ending]]. When he was a child, he witnesses his father's death by the bad guys and is made a slave for many years. After being freed, he WalkTheEarth with a sole purpose in life: to find his long lost mother. Soon he gets married to a beautiful woman, but then his wife gets kidnapped. The bad guys petrify both him and his woman into statues, which then are sold and separated in an auction. TheHero is stuck as a statue for years until his children free him. After rescuing his wife and continue traveling, he finally reunions with his mother he has been looking for his whole life, but then the mother is killed off right in front of him. Despite everything, the angst is kept at an absolute minimum. It helps that TheHero is a HeroicMime who won't complain with anything that happens and his comrades won't say anything either if they aren't asked. |
| 18 | * ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' |
| 19 | ** The [[OurElvesAreDifferent Dunmer (Dark Elf)]] people have been put through a nasty series of traumas starting with the end of ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]''. Due in no small part due to the actions of the [[PlayerCharacter Nerevarine]], the Dunmer lose their protective trio of {{Physical God}}s, the [[DeityOfHumanOrigin Tribunal]]. (By the end of the ''Tribunal'' expansion, [[spoiler:two are dead]] and the third disappears a few years later.) As mentioned in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'', even the Nerevarine disappears, rumored to be on a trip to [[{{Wutai}} Akavir]]. Morrowind itself is extremely hard hit during the Oblivion Crisis, with [[DestroyerDeity Mehrunes Dagon]]'s LegionsOfHell completely destroying the city of Ald-Ruhn, the capital of [[TheClan Great House]] [[ProudWarriorRace Redoran]]. A few years later, in what is know as the "Red Year", after stop-gap measures fail, the Ministry of Truth (a moonlet hurled at [[{{Egopolis}} Vivec City]] in the past by [[MadGod Sheogorath]] that was stopped in place by the Tribunal deity Vivec) [[ColonyDrop resumes its descent with its original momentum]]. The resulting impact causes [[ChekhovsVolcano Red Mountain]] to erupt, destroying most of Vvardenfell island and rendering large portions of mainland Morrowind uninhabitable due to choking ash. After that, the [[LizardFolk Argonians]], in revenge for centuries of being a SlaveRace to the Dunmer, invade and easily conquer what is left of habitable southern Morrowind, along with its rich [[FantasyMetals Ebony]] deposits. Most of the Dunmer population has been forced to flee north to the island of Solstheim, a [[GrimUpNorth barren and frozen over rock]], or into Skyrim, where they are treated as second class citizens (at best) by the local [[HornyVikings Nords]], ancient enemies of the Dunmer. Several Dunmer characters spoken to in ''Skyrim'' and its ''Dragonborn'' DLC indicate that the Dunmer people have at least [[BreakTheHaughty seemed to learn a little humility from the experience]]. |
| 20 | ** In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'''s backstory, Ulfric Stormcloak -- RebelLeader and BigBad[=/=]BigGood of the Civil War questline (depending on which side you join) -- endures a pretty vicious conga line. Trained by the [[OldMaster Greybeards]], he gave up their pacifist philosophy to join the Imperial army when his conscience refused to let him sit out the [[GreatOffscreenWar Great War]] with the [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Thalmor]]-led [[AntiHumanAlliance Aldmeri Dominion]]. He was subsequently traumatized by the deaths of untold numbers of friends and countrymen, captured by the enemy, [[ColdBloodedTorture tortured until he broke]], manipulated into believing that the information he divulged was directly responsible for the fall of the Imperial City (it wasn't), and then sent home believing that all of it was for nothing after the Empire signed a treaty that capitulated to the Dominion's demands (which included banning the worship of his people’s most revered god, Talos). A spectacularly ill-thought-out attempt to regain freedom of worship then landed him in prison, and while he was still locked up his father died and he was forced to deliver the eulogy via a letter smuggled out of jail. All of this seems to have happened by the time he was roughly 25. [[MindRape It's no wonder]] [[DeceasedParentsAreTheBest the man]] [[SurvivorGuilt is kind]] [[ItsAllMyFault of bitter]]. |
| 21 | * The SoleSurvivor of ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'' gets a front-row seat to the nuclear holocaust that destroys the United States, then they get cryogenically frozen in a Vault [[spoiler:and also get to watch as their spouse is murdered and their infant son is kidnapped by a strange man]]. They emerge two centuries later to find their home lies in ruins, everyone except the family's quirky robot butler Codsworth is gone, and the surrounding area is a wild post-apocalyptic wasteland straight out of a nightmare. [[spoiler:They set out into the wasteland to find their son, and eventually find out that their son is a sixty-year old man who is slowly dying of cancer, coldly refers to his parent's murder as "collateral damage", and runs a shady organisation which terrorises the people above ground. The Sole Survivor is left with the choice of either helping his son take over the wasteland and placing the people above in very questionable hands, or opposing his son, blowing the Institute to hell and destroying his life's work.]] |
| 22 | ** The Minutemen go through this before the events of the game. First their headquarters at the Castle gets wiped out by [[spoiler:a Mirelurk Queen]], their general is killed, a power struggle broke out between the survivors, most of them fled to be Raiders and Gunners, and the few remaining Minutemen were slaughtered by ghouls and almost finished off by a Raider gang were it not for the Sole Survivor's intervention. It really has been a rough couple of years for them. [[spoiler:If the Sole Survivor helps them retake the Castle, recruit more settlements and people to the Minutemen's cause, gain access to artillery, and eventually leads them to fight the Institute; the Minutemen become the dominant power in the Commonwealth region, making it an example of EarnYourHappyEnding.]] |
| 23 | * [[VideoGame/FatalFrameIII Fatal Frame III: The Tormented]] |
| 24 | ** Many characters suffer from this, being the SoleSurvivor of some traumatic event(s) that killed their loved ones and left them with SurvivorGuilt -- a central building block of the game -- which makes them vulnerable to the Tattoo Curse, resulting in them wandering into a [[SnowMeansDeath snowy]] manor in their nightmares, following the specters of their deceased loved ones as they walk deeper and deeper into said manor, while the cursed tattoos spread through their bodies. Some die from this curse. |
| 25 | ** Reika Kuze, the BigBad of this game, also has had it rough: She lost her family and village to an avalanche, adopted by another family, where she was then chosen as HumanSacrifice and forced to endure ColdBloodedTorture until she died, during which she finally found love, [[StarCrossedLovers only to have that love brutally murdered in front of her as she laid dying]], being ForcedToWatch. |
| 26 | -->'''Reika''': I don't want to see anymore... |
| 27 | * ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'': |
| 28 | ** In VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV: Cecil has a crisis of conscience after being ordered to commit an immoral act for the King of Baron. Then he gets demoted for questioning the king and manipulated into carrying out another immoral act, which results in the destruction of an innocent village and the apparent death of his best friend Kain. |
| 29 | ** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'': Before the game even '''''starts''''', Cloud Strife has already: (1) endured a lonely, alienated childhood; (2) been wrongfully held responsible for putting his childhood crush, the mayor's daughter, in a coma by the mayor and everyone in the town; (3) been told he's not good enough to become a SOLDIER and gets stuck as a humble grunt trooper; (4) watched his hero Sephiroth destroy his hometown, kill his mother and nearly murder both his childhood crush Tifa and his good friend Zack; (5) suffered over four years of sadistic experimentation by a MadScientist which reduces him to a catatonic vegetable; and finally (6) helplessly watched Zack die in a gut-wrenching [[BolivianArmyEnding heroic last stand]] to protect him. All this results in Cloud suffering his first HeroicBSOD, a very understandable case of TraumaInducedAmnesia, and identity confusion. |
| 30 | *** '''THEN''', during the game itself, Cloud ends up being [[MindRape mind raped]] by the BigBad Sephiroth into: (1) nearly killing his teammate Aerith not just once, but twice; (2) handing over the ArtifactOfDoom to Sephiroth (again, twice); and (3) questioning [[TomatoInTheMirror not only his memories but his very identity as a real person]]. He's also forced to stand by and watch Sephiroth murder Aerith while being unable to do anything about it. Cue a second massive HeroicBSOD that requires a JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind to fix. |
| 31 | *** ''Advent Children'' throws him back into massive depression and despair by making him and the orphan he's adopted suffer the painful and deadly disease Geostigma. The disease also allows Sephiroth to constantly {{Troll}} Cloud's subconscious, thereby making Cloud obsess about the promises he'd failed to keep and the lives he failed to save. |
| 32 | *** Fortunately, Cloud manages to avoid further major physical or emotional trauma in the sequel ''Dirge of Cerberus''. Vincent, however, is not so lucky. |
| 33 | *** All that said, Sephiroth himself suffers from this. At the start of Crisis Core, one of his best friends, Genesis, deserts Shinra. After failing to bring him back, Sephiroth's other best friend, Angeal, also deserts. He is tasked by Shinra to hunt them down and kill them, if necessary. During this, Genesis keeps trolling Sephiroth. Eventually, he learns that he is the result of a science experiment. Afterwards, he plans to leave Shinra because, well...it's Shinra, but before he can, on his last mission, he finds out that he is part Ancient. The Ancients died in a catastrophic event while the humans survived by hiding. And so begins his life of evil...hard to blame him, really. |
| 34 | *** Aerith also endures a lot of horrible things in her life, though she handles them much better. Her father was murdered when she was just a baby, then she and her mother were taken hostage so that Hojo could experiment on them. Her mother dies, and she spends the majority of her youth fleeing from the Turks. Then she is captured again, where the resident MadScientist tries to mate her with Red XIII. Shortly after this, she discovers she's the last remaining Cetra, and then Sephiroth kills her. Despite this, she remains an eternally hopeful IronWoobie. |
| 35 | *** 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 an evil corporation 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. |
| 36 | ** Practically ''everyone'' in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' has some sort of traumatic past or goes through hell during the game itself. Some of the standout examples: |
| 37 | *** Penelo's entire family was killed in a war two years ago, and early on in the game she gets kidnapped by a bunch of sadistic goons. |
| 38 | *** Vaan's parents died of the plague when he was twelve, forcing him to move in with Penelo's family. Then, in the same war where they're all killed, Vaan's brother goes off to fight and ends up stabbed during the king's assassination. He survives long enough to serve as a witness to the deed, but succumbs after. Then, once Penelo's family is killed, Vaan ends up stealing to survive. |
| 39 | *** ''All'' of Ashe's ''eight'' older brothers have died of either disease or in war. Her [[PerfectlyArrangedMarriage beloved husband]] was killed in battle shortly after their wedding, leaving her a widow at ''seventeen'', and her father the king was assassinated rather than sign a peace treaty. Then, the BigBad persuaded her beloved uncle to [[DeathFakedForYou publicly announce]] that she was DrivenToSuicide in order to drive a wedge between them, leaving her a fugitive member of LaResistance with no way to prove her identity as the [[FallenPrincess princess]]. Then, during the game itself, she ends up [[spoiler: imprisoned by the Empire, forced to travel with and learn to trust the man she believed to have killed her father, betrayed by her trusted RebelLeader ally, and nearly manipulated by the local JerkassGods into using a FantasticNuke and making herself their puppet tyrant.]] She handles it all... less well, becoming a RevengeBeforeReason type [[spoiler: until her CharacterDevelopment]]. |
| 40 | *** Many years before the game's beginning, Basch fled his homeland when it was invaded by TheEmpire, leaving behind his mother (who died) and his twin brother, who came to hate him as a DirtyCoward despite [[LesCollaborateurs turning traitor]] and becoming a high-ranking member of TheEmpire's military [[{{Hypocrite}} himself]]. (The exact circumstances of his flight are never explained, but it's implied he was pretty young at the time.) Then, the country to which he immigrated was ''also'' invaded by TheEmpire and the prince Basch was tasked with protecting was killed in front of his eyes. ''Then'', the BigBad and Basch's own brother framed him for the murder of the king (and a bunch of other people, including Vaan's brother) so that they could make his country a province of TheEmpire, leaving him HatedByAll as TheKingslayer who was also responsible for their country's occupation. They persuaded Ashe's uncle to publicly announce his execution as well as her suicide, but secretly kept him [[GoMadFromTheIsolation in solitary confinement]] being subjected to ColdBloodedTorture for two years so they could interrogate him about LaResistance. During the game itself, [[spoiler: he's rescued from prison and has to fight his way out while still in pretty bad condition, but everyone he meets hates and distrusts him, including his old comrades. Then, his old comrade and close friend betrays the princess he is sworn to protect, forcing Basch to fight him and leave him to die in a sinking airship. Basch's own brother Gabranth ends up fighting him twice, and in the end the mortally wounded Gabranth turns on BigBad Vayne only to die later. Basch ends up giving up his own identity to pull a MySiblingWillLiveThroughMe, taking on the identity of the brother who ruined his life and serving the empire that invaded both his homelands in order to keep the peace.]] The poor guy [[ItsAllMyFault blames himself]] [[MyGreatestFailure for the prince and king's deaths and the ensuing occupation]], but manages to stay an honorable and remarkably nice person. Damn. |
| 41 | *** Larsa's beloved older brother Vayne killed their two oldest brothers for treason against TheEmpire (the circumstances aren't explained). Then, during the game, [[spoiler: Larsa ends up with a bad case of BrokenPedestal when he learns about the atrocities his family and countrymen have committed and when Vayne also kills their father. In the end, Larsa ends up betraying his brother for the greater good when he refuses to accept LaResistance's surrender, and takes part in his own brother's death]] at [[HarmfulToMinors the age]] [[ChildrenForcedToKill of twelve]]. Despite this, Larsa never loses his kindness and idealism. |
| 42 | ** ''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 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''. |
| 43 | ** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', not counting the many separately distinct examples before [[spoiler: (such as the Garlean massacre of the scions)]] there are a pretty long, continuous series of events from the end of A Realm Reborn through to Stormblood where the Warrior of Light fails a lot and loses a lot of people. While they have many victories [[spoiler: (stopping Thordan, ending the Dragonsong War, saving Estinien, killing two Ascians and watching a third die, etc.)]], it comes at great cost, as they watch [[spoiler: Wildred, Moenbryda, Haurchefant, Ysayle, Minfilia, and Papalymo]] die or be lost in front of them, as well as [[spoiler: spend quite some time believing they failed to save Sultana Nanamo, and seeing Y'shtola lose her eyesight and Thancred lose his access to magic because of it.]] While the Warrior of Light's personality is up to interpretation and choice, they are continuously and strongly implied (particularly in the 60-70 Dark Knight quests) to be very much traumatized due to all of this. There's a reason that they can choose to adopt a simple mantra: |
| 44 | --> "For those we have lost. For those we can yet save." |
| 45 | * ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'': |
| 46 | ** Xion in ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2''. It turns out Xion [[spoiler:is an [[ArtificialHuman artificial]] clone of Sora made to eventually [[FightingYourFriend kill Roxas]] and absorb his power, and if she's not up to the task then the Organization plans for Roxas to kill and absorb her instead. Furthermore, because she's a clone constructed out of stray fragments of Sora's memory, her existence is even more tenuous than that of a normal Nobody. As a result, when she dies everyone she ever knew forgets she ever existed]]. There's also the problem you go into the game knowing she's DoomedByCanon. Certainly the pinnacle of this comes [[spoiler:at the end of the game where she battles Roxas, one of her two closest friends, and dies in his arms while he's struggling to remember her name, his memories of her fading already]]. |
| 47 | ** Roxas too, for a lot of the same reasons as above actually, and more. The poor guy has no memories, all he knows is that he can use a Keyblade and it's important he kill Heartless. When he asks questions of his allies to try and figure out the things he ought to know but doesn't, they treat him like an idiot for that reason. At least Xion eventually figured out that the Organization was using both of them, Roxas doesn't clue in until practically the end of the game and thus spends most of his single year of life working for people who exploit his abilities and plan to kill him once they're done with him. The only ''really'' happy time in his life is the last week, when he's implanted with fake memories and is imprisoned in a virtual reality simulation -- and once that week is up, [[spoiler:he merges back with Sora.]] |
| 48 | *** But first the poor kid had to find out it was all a big lie in the worst way possible. I say again, poor kid. |
| 49 | *** In ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'', Sora meets with Roxas in a dream and Roxas transfers his memories into him, meaning Sora experiences the ''entire TraumaCongaLine at once.'' |
| 50 | ** The protagonists of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'' don't fare much better. Special mention goes to Terra, who is tricked by villains (going so far as being possessed and stealing somebody's heart in his ''very first world'') and the game's big bad at every turn, manipulated into believing his friends have left him, manipulated into letting the darkness in, tricked by the villains some more, has a nice brief stop-off at Destiny Islands with a nice little Heartwarming Moment, then inadvertently causes the death of someone he loves, is smacked around a lot in the first part of the final battle and finally [[spoiler: has his body stolen by the big bad at the end of the game]], with it being implied he's been fighting for control since the end of Birth by Sleep. Ventus doesn't fare much better, having [[spoiler: his Heart ripped in two to create Vanitas]] before the game even begins and ends the game [[spoiler: with his heart being separated from his body after a HeroicSacrifice to destroy the in-story InfinityPlusOneSword, and would have died if not for Sora's intervention, his body little more than an empty shell.]] Aqua fares a bit better than the other two, but is still forced to fight [[spoiler: both of her friends when they're possessed by the game's two villains and eventually falls into the Realm of Darkness after sacrificing herself to save Terra.]] One thing is certain about ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'': Sora has a '''lot''' of work to do. |
| 51 | ** Add to the two above that [[spoiler: Roxas]] is pretty heavily implied by WordOfGod to be kind of an incarnation of [[spoiler:Ventus]] and you get the most screwed up existence in the history of existences. Jesus, Nomura, give the poor kid a break! |
| 52 | ** Repliku's entire life is one. He's a clone of Riku, who is used as the Organization's tool and lives only about two or three days. In those few days, he is defeated in every single fight he gets into, has his memories erased and rewritten against his will (Larxene beats him up and knocks him out when he tries to resist, taunting him the entire time) so he believes he is the real Riku, has his heart shattered by Namine to stop him from killing Sora, then finds out he is a clone and everything he believed was a lie. [[CloneAngst He does not take it well]], and spends what is left of his life trying to find something that makes him ''not'' just a copy of Riku, and is manipulated by Axel into killing Zexion to do so. In the end, he confronts Riku and tries to kill him ("As long as you're around... I'll never be anything more than a shadow!"), and ends up killed himself, in his last moments fearing what will happen when he -- a fake -- dies. |
| 53 | ** By the time ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' rolls around, it’s safe to say that [[TheHero Sora]] has gone through one ''hell'' of ride of ''what couldn’t be more than a few days at most,'' which has to be some kind of record. He goes to fight only to watch half his friends get curb-stomped and is nearly swallowed by darkness himself. He decides to use his power to bring his friends hearts back and he goes on to fight the Organization XIII, but halfway through his ImpliedLoveInterest gets kidnapped and he has to fight knowing she could be in serious danger. ''Then'' he watches her die. Then he goes to fight the BigBad and manages to defeat him, but it doesn’t bring Kairi back. So he sets out on a quest to use his power and bring her back from the dead essentially, and he has to go through everything mentioned above '''all over again.''' Except this time, he sees everything from the eyes of his friends and feels the pain in their hearts, and can’t do anything different this time. He fights his way through a bunch of enemies, manages to piece Kairi’s heart back together, and at least manages to [[EarnYourHappyEnding earn his happy ending...]] except [[spoiler:he has to face the consequences of abusing the power of waking and ''fades away from existence.'' And judging by his reaction when he sees that his hand is fading away, he spends a few days with Kairi '''''knowing that he will die very soon.''''' And if the BadEnding happens to be canon, it also means that he’s been essentially TakenForGranite and turned into a crystal statue.]] That’s not even getting into all the crap he went through during the previous games. It’s a wonder he manages to stay so positive, or even ''sane''. |
| 54 | * ''VideoGame/KirbyPlanetRobobot'': Poor President Haltmann just can't catch a break. [[spoiler:First, he loses his daughter during an experiment with Star Dream. Then he dedicated nearly his whole life to trying everything he can to bring her back at the cost of his memories]]. Then, he gets his butt kicked by Kirby. After ''that,'' he tries to activate Star Dream to destroy Kirby but gets the control helmet stolen by Susie, causing it to possess him [[spoiler:[[AndIMustScream and is forced to watch his own mother computer try to destroy everything while regretting everything]]. '''''Finally,''''' Star Dream Soul OS assimilates his soul, leading to Kirby being forced to free him by destroying the core of the mother computer.]] |
| 55 | * ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'' BEGINS with the protagonist, the Exile, finally starting to uncurl from their previous position as the figurative curled-up ball mentioned in Type C. After a decade or so. The game proper consists of several factions being out for the Exile's blood, some other factions trying to exploit the Exile for their own convenience and other assorted, otherwise mostly unrelated misfortunes. All of this comes up to a head with a TomatoInTheMirror revelation of potentially universe ending implications. The alignment system really is all about the player choosing which fabulous new effect all of this will have on the Exile: Light Side would be either A or E, Dark Side would be B or D. |
| 56 | * [[TheHero Rean Schwarzer]] gets so many traumas by the final chapters of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel III''. In short order, [[spoiler:he finds out that his student Ash shoots the emperor, who was willing to get shot in order to cure Ash's curse (though Rean didn't know that), the EvilChancellor who turned out to be his father declares war to go against an enemy nation because the gun that was used to shoot the emperor was made in that country, the capital is suddenly overrun by monsters, some of his former friends end up becoming enemies, he sees the state-of-the-art ship belonging to the royal family blown up in the skies possibly killing the best swordsman in the country, the bastard prince, and one of the top bracers of the continent in the most anti-climactic fashion, his sword which is made by the most powerful metal in the continent destroyed easily by a corrupted being who is tasked to guard one of the goddess' most powerful treasures, he nearly sees his other student Altina die, and he ''sees'' his other friend Millium who is only a fifteen year old girl die to protect him from a fatal blow. He ends up losing it and using Millium's body in order to create the SwordOfPlotAdvancement, he gives in to his SuperpoweredEvilSide and demolishes the beast. Said demolishing ends up dooming all of Erebonia into darkness which was the plan of his father and Rean ends up getting a NeckLift from his father who tells Rean that it is time to engulf the world in despair.]] And this is ''on top'' of the other traumas he already got in the first two games. And as revealed by the teaser image of ''Cold Steel IV'', it's gonna get ''much worse'' for Rean. |
| 57 | * Max from ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange'' goes through one in the span of ''five days''. She watches Nathan kill her childhood friend, possibly sees her other best friend [[spoiler:commit suicide]]. Later, she sees an alternate reality where Chloe's dad is alive...but [[spoiler:Chloe herself was paralyzed in an accident, and is very sickly]]. In that reality, she is faced with the decision of [[spoiler:putting Alt!Chloe out of her misery, or watching her spend the rest of her days in pain and stressing out her family]]. She sees Chloe [[spoiler:shot to death by Mr. Jefferson, and is kidnapped, drugged, tied up, and nearly killed by him]]. She possibly comes across multiple dead bodies and dying people when driving through a storm-ravaged Arcadia Bay. When she finally gets to Chloe, she passes out and has nightmares that [[spoiler:all the people she is or was close to hate her, everybody assumes that she'll kill them, and her own alternate self tells her she'd done nothing good for those around her]]. At the finale, she either has to [[spoiler:go back in time and let Chloe die to save Arcadia bay, or allow the oncoming storm to destroy Arcadia Bay and everyone she knew and loved to spare Chloe's life]]. |
| 58 | ** Chloe goes through one herself, counting the events of the prequel series ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrangeBeforeTheStorm'' and the events of the original game. She loses her father in a car accident when she’s 13, Max moves away shortly afterward, and the prequel picks up three years later when her mother’s dating a man Chloe despises. It’s also revealed that Chloe experiences odd visions of her deceased father, usually ending with her reliving the moment of his death. She gets roped into helping her new friend Rachel Amber find her biological mother, then watches Rachel get [[spoiler:stabbed and nearly killed by the drug dealer Rachel’s father hired to get rid of her mother.]] Then after speaking to Rachel’s mother, Chloe is faced with the difficult choice of [[spoiler:telling the truth and destroying Rachel’s relationship with her father]] or [[spoiler:lying to her and preserving the illusion that her father is a good man.]] Before the original game starts, Rachel (now Chloe’s girlfriend) mysteriously disappears and Chloe is extremely worried about her, later recruiting her best friend Max to help her find Rachel. The two later discover Rachel’s [[spoiler:dead body buried in the junkyard]], and Chloe is furious and distraught. She immediately assumes Nathan is responsible for what happened to Rachel and resolves to get her revenge. [[spoiler:This ends up getting her killed and Max kidnapped by Max’s photography teacher, Mr. Jefferson.]] After Max passes out and is trapped in her nightmare, it’s left to Chloe to carry her best friend to the lighthouse. At the final choice of the game, Chloe realizes that the only way to stop the storm is for Max to [[spoiler:travel back in time and let Chloe die.]] If Max goes through with it, it erases the week Chloe and Max had to rebuild their friendship [[spoiler:and possibly become more than friends]] from existence, and Chloe would never realize her best friend returned to Arcadia Bay. [[spoiler: The past Chloe would die believing everyone in her life hated her or abandoned her.]] Alternatively, if Max [[spoiler:allows the storm to destroy Arcadia Bay]], Chloe is left to deal with the knowledge and guilt that [[spoiler:an entire town’s destruction, and the deaths of a lot of innocent people, were indirectly because of her.]] |
| 59 | * ''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 suddenly succumbs to illness after fighting the 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 Lord of Dark 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 out 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 [[FreakOut goes completely batshit crazy]], [[FaceHeelTurn proclaims himself to be the next Lord of Dark]], and [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds declares war on all of humanity]]]]. |
| 60 | * Chapters 5-7 of the ''VideoGame/LonelyWolfTreat'' series are not kind to Mochi. First, someone wrecks her garden simply because [[FantasticRacism her roommate Treat happens to be a wolf]]. Second, she reluctantly joins forces with her {{Jerkass}} cousin Juju in order to find the culprit, only to find out that [[JerkWithAHeartOfJerk Juju only used the investigation as an excuse to hang out with her crush]]. Third, when she leaves her home to meet Treat's wolf pack, she finds out that her long lost uncle Mango has been living peacefully with the wolves for the past 20 years, and that her family had lied to her about Mango's death her entire life. Despite starting out as an AllLovingHeroine, Mochi ends up developing some serious resentment towards her family and rabbits in general as a result. |
| 61 | * ''Franchise/MassEffect'': |
| 62 | ** Depending on how s/he's played, Shepard will have gone through this starting years before the games even take place, and that's only the backstory. In-game s/he suffers a continuous Conga Line from all sides, and it's particularly amazing that Shepard getting killed in [[VideoGame/MassEffect2 the second game]] is ''not'' his/her lowest point. Then ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' puts Shepard through the wringer, forced to flee Earth as it gets [[CurbStompBattle annihilated by the Reapers]], suffers from extreme SurvivorGuilt for those who have died in the series thus far aided by nightmares of a little boy s/he failed to save on Earth, [[TheWoobie and that's the most positive point in the game for him/her.]] |
| 63 | ** Tali has this happen in full force during her loyalty mission in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2''. After all that happens, it's a wonder that Tali is even still functioning, much less sane. |
| 64 | * The titular main character from ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'' can be perfectly described of having pretty much his entire life amount to this one trope, despite the many hollow victories he achieves at the conclusion of each story only adding further depression to his already-mountainous aura of [[UnluckilyLucky rotten luck]] he's garnered over the years since his wife and infant child died. |
| 65 | * ''VideoGame/MetalGear'': |
| 66 | ** A few of the more memorable events that happen to Solid Snake -- getting PTSD from the get-go; having to bloodily murder his best friend, twice; having to murder Big Boss, his father figure and commanding officer, twice; finding out that Big Boss was his father; having the worst family in the history of ever; and then the ever-increasing spiral of horrible that starts with him suddenly being a sickly old man and gets progressively worse. And that's skimping out all the layers of detail which really add color to the events of his life. It's dreadful enough that he goes through Type A, Type B, Type C and Type D, depending on [[CreatorBreakdown how optimistic Kojima was feeling about life at the time]] (First C, then B, then A, then an attempted D, and then, finally, A again). |
| 67 | ** And Big Boss before him. Betrayed by his mentor; captured and loses an eye during a torture session; forced to kill his not-really-rogue mentor for political reasons; betrayed by his lover EVA; betrayed by the CIA. Forms a powerful conspiracy with his best friend to ensure this will never happen again, but its members play god and clone him to make disposable idols for people to worship. Leaves the conspiracy in disgust, fully commits to option B and takes up arms against the United States [[spoiler:and its true masters: the Patriots that he helped found]]. |
| 68 | *** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' continues it by seeing all of the men and women he trained to fight in his army slaughtered by [[spoiler:XOF and Cipher, aka the Patriots]], watching a little girl literally explode and spending nine years in a coma. By this point, [[FallenHero he finally snaps]] and begins plans to build an international anti-UN, building tyke-bombs from torturing child-soldiers and stockpiling an unregulated nuclear arsenal, all in a final desperate attempt to prevent The Conspiracy from taking over the world. |
| 69 | ** 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 the Patriots capture him and [[UnwillingRoboticisation forcibly turn him into a cyborg]], twice. Save for the upper part of his face and spine, his entire body is mechanical. |
| 70 | ** 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 have much time left. 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/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'', Snake only has a few months left to live. It's a miracle Sunny survived. |
| 71 | ** Major Zero, despite being more of an [[spoiler: AntiVillain]] than a hero. He had a companion of his die in combat, then was betrayed by another 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.]] |
| 72 | ** To put it simply, 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]], cloning, the constant threat of [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt nuclear annihilation]], [[ShellShockedVeteran post-war trauma]], [[AncientConspiracy ancient conspiracies]], and many other horrors. |
| 73 | * ''VideoGame/NBABallers: Phenom'' really puts the boots to your player character for a good chunk of the story. Before the story even begins in full, Hot Sauce, his former streetball friend and partner, disses him and steals his basketball contract and girlfriend, leaving him destitute and broke. Then, when he finally gets to face him in a game, Sauce and Kimberly manage to frame him up for intentional fouling, which gets him ejected from the tournament. And to top it off, the car he was living in gets towed, and thrown into a junkyard not long after said ejection. Then Hot Sauce pulls strings to prevent him from competing in the Beverly Hills tournaments, though Ludacris later puts an end to Sauce's stunt. And then, Kimberly disses him again for Hot Sauce, despite freely mooching off your character when he was hanging with Ludacris and Chauncey Billups in their private planes and mansions. Thankfully, your character's fortunes begin turning around for good from that point on. |
| 74 | * Aribeth gets this thrown at her in ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'' and the expansions, leading to a HeelFaceRevolvingDoor and at various points reactions according to Types A, B, and D. |
| 75 | * This is the big reveal for Troy in ''VideoGame/NoOneHasToDie''. [[spoiler:He's gone through the events of the game ''five times'', being sent to an alternate timeline each time, only to watch it happen ''all over again''. Each time, he's tried to warn the others about what's happening, only to watch them all die in front of him while he's spared. Again and again. By the time the game proper starts, he's had his will to live utterly destroyed, to the point he effectively ''begs'' the player to kill him and end his torment.]] |
| 76 | * The ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' games doesn't really play fair with their characters, do they? |
| 77 | ** ''VideoGame/Persona3'': |
| 78 | *** Think of Shinjiro, about what happened to him. [[spoiler:He accidentally killed Ken's mom, wants to atone for it by dying, and it caused him to leave S.E.E.S. before the start of the game. His Persona, Castor goes Berserk and he has to take pills to suppress his power. Said pills deteriorate his body to the point that it can no longer regulate his temperature. And every single thing that he's gone through is actually very serious and manages to totally avoid going overboard, which is what makes it so incredibly awful.]] |
| 79 | *** SEES in general gets hit with this very hard. Especially later in the game, starting in October and ending in the Answer. [[spoiler: Their mission to destroy all 12 Shadows brought about the Fall, in other words -- they unknowingly brought upon TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. The protagonist has been harboring Death inside him for a long time, they have to decide whether or not to kill a friend of theirs. Then the protagonist finds a way to solve the problem, and prevent the Fall from coming -- that is to cast the Great Seal sacrificing his life in the process. He dies at Graduation Day and the rest of the team fights whether to travel back in time to see him again or keep history as it is.]] |
| 80 | ** ''VideoGame/PersonaQ2NewCinemaLabyrinth'' has Hikari, whom at the start of the game you can literally see something is wrong with her, much unlike Rei from the previous ''Q''. In fact, things ''actually'' don't go well with her; [[spoiler:She was being [[TheScapegoat scapegoated]] by her primary school teacher for poisoning a class rabbit that she didn't care for in the first place, lynched by her secondary school friends simply because she was being bullied for befriending another bullied girl ([[EtTuBrute Who also jumped ship]]), then having her film production interrputed by relatives that detested her wish of becoming a film director and only wanted her to get good grades. While she was already being driven into becoming a borderline suicidal, self-hating shut-in, the only person that she could trust, her father made things ''worse'' by asking her "Why do you have to like that?." Even though that was just an attempt to make her break out from her shell, since every one of the people who humiliated and rejected her asked her that question, it triggered a series of [[FlashbackEcho flashbacks]] that outright destroyed her and made her believe that her life isn't worthy of living anymore. Finally, she ended up in one of Nagi/Enlil's LotusEaterMachine Cinemas and was forced to watch documentaries of people suffering]], which obviously turns her into the NervousWreck we saw at the start of the game. |
| 81 | ** ''VideoGame/Persona5'': Poor [[PlayerCharacter Joker]]. Where do we begin with this kid? Let's see.... Framed for assault after stopping a drunkard from sexually harassing a woman who backstabs him not three seconds after the police arrive, expelled from his high school and sent to live with a man who (initially) sees him as nothing but a pain in the ass, the entire school ridiculing him due to him having a criminal record, nearly expelled from his new high school after standing up to the resident SadistTeacher, [[spoiler:framed for the murder of one of his friend's father]] then backstabbed and arrested AGAIN. [[ButWaitTheresMore We're not done there]]! beaten in captivity, drugged by [[PoliceBrutality men in suits]], and [[spoiler:nearly murdered]] and is forced to go into hiding for the better part of a month. Finally, he is nearly [[spoiler:wiped from existence only to have the man who had been guiding him the whole way backstab him and revealed that he was the mastermind!]] When all is said and done, [[spoiler:he has to turn himself in to make sure Shido (the same guy who framed him) goes to jail, and gets a month and a half in the slammer for a Christmas present]]. Goddamn, [[TeamPet Morgana]] really [[LampshadeHanging had a point]] when he said [[CosmicPlaything the world was being way too hard on him]]. |
| 82 | * You can't help but feel bad for [=GLaDOS=] at the end of ''Videogame/Portal2''. In the [[Videogame/Portal1 first game]], [[PlayerCharacter Chell]] kills her by ripping pieces off her and incinerating them. At the start of the sequel, she reveals that she has a black-box save feature, which essentially forced her to [[FateWorseThanDeath relive her death]], [[AndIMustScream over and over]], for hundreds, possibly even thousands of years. Then, after switching her out with [[RobotBuddy Wheat]][[IdiotBall ley]] (which, by the way, was extremely painful for both of them), she's [[spoiler: stuffed in a potato, thrown down a pit with her worst enemy, and gets partially eaten by a bird]]. And that is ''before'' discovering that she [[spoiler: used to be a human woman named Caroline, who was [[BrainUploading forced into [=GLaDOS=]]] ''[[MindRape against her will]]'']]. Not only that, the Personality Cores you have to destroy in the first game were attached to her with the express purpose of babbling in her head so she'd be too distracted to kill anyone. Which, in laymans terms, means they gave her an artificial case of schizophrenia, which she actually ''loses'' while [[spoiler: in the potato]]. |
| 83 | -->'''[=GLaDOS=]:''' [[AC: The scientists were always hanging cores on me to regulate my behavior. I've heard voices all my life. But now, I hear the voice of a conscience. And it's ''terrifying'', because for the first time... It's ''MY'' voice!]] ''({{Beat}})'' [[AC: I'm being serious! I think there's something really wrong with me!]] |
| 84 | * The life of the members of Dutch van der Linde's gang in ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'' and ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2'' is anything but cheery, and is a decades-long tale of things going FromBadToWorse without cease. |
| 85 | ** The leading men of both games, John Marston and Arthur Morgan, are both orphans who were adopted into Dutch's gang as adolescents. Dutch taught them everything he knew, and everything he knew had to do with banditry: stealing, robbing, murdering. Dutch was also a very charismatic leader who could talk anyone into doing almost anything, and rallied his gang -- made up of the dregs of modern society -- to steal for him under the promise of finding a place in the American frontier, far from the reach of the government, where they could live truly free. Sadly, this idea would never come to fruition. |
| 86 | ** Arthur had two true loves: Mary Gillis, and another woman named Eliza. His relationship with Mary fell through because his UndyingLoyalty to Dutch kept him from putting his outlaw ways behind him, although the two would remain on friendly terms after. As for Eliza: she had a son with him after a night of passion between them. When he went to reconnect with Eliza and meet his son, however, he learns that they had both been murdered by bandits. |
| 87 | ** John, conversely, only ever had one woman in his life: Abigail Roberts. They had two children together: a son, John Marston, Jr. (or simply "Jack"), and a daughter who, tragically, died young. |
| 88 | ** When ''[=RDR2=]'' begins, Dutch's gang is on the run after a heist gone horrifically awry. Their travels take them into the snowy mountains of Colter. The frigid snow storms end up claiming the lives of some in the gang, and they are joined by Sadie Adler, a woman who was widowed by members of a gang led by Dutch's archnemesis, Colm O'Driscoll. The experience transforms her into a vindictive, revenge-driven outlaw. |
| 89 | ** Eventually, the gang catches a break when they find a prime camping location just near the town of Valentine. Unfortunately, their continued stealing from a powerful business magnate with connections to federal law enforcement, followed by a cattle-rustling scheme the goes sideways and a subsequent shootout in Valentine, forces the gang to relocate to the south. |
| 90 | ** Later, while pitting two feuding families against each other, young Jack gets kidnapped by one of the families, a notorious and disreputable clan of moonshiners. Thankfully, the gang is able to rescue Jack from his captors and make the family pay dearly. |
| 91 | ** The gang soon relocates to Saint Denis, where they are planning a major heist that will finally secure the money needed to make their dreams come true. This is where the gang gets hit by a double-whammy: Arthur is diagnosed with tuberculosis, which he contracted while putting the screws to a sick debtor to the gang's loan shark; and the heist goes horrifyingly wrong, with Dutch sustaining a head injury that exasperates his growing mental instability. |
| 92 | ** While the rest of the gang is forced to go into hiding, Arthur, Dutch, and some companions end up shipwrecked in Guarma, a coastal island just off the coast of Cuba that is home to a sugar plantation run by a cruel overlord. What money they were able to take from the failed heist is lost at sea, and Arthur and company are forced to aid guerrilla forces on the island as a means to make their way back to America. It is this experience, however, that gives Dutch an idea for a scheme that ultimately leads to the gang's downfall... |
| 93 | ** Things ultimately come to a head when Dutch attempts to rally Native Americans to war against the US government. The gang becomes irrevocably fractured, with Arthur sacrificing himself so John can break off from the gang and finally go straight. |
| 94 | ** Sadly, John's attempts to lead a lawful and peaceful life with his wife and son are thwarted when the US government forces him to hunt down the few remaining members of Dutch's gang, including Dutch himself. Even after doing the government's dirty work, they come back to kill him and his family in order to keep their dirty dealings secret. John sacrifices himself to ensure Jack and Abigail escape. Abigail succumbs to illness not long after, and Jack becomes a disillusioned, vengeance-seeking drifter. |
| 95 | * The opening video for ''VideoGame/RolyPolysNoNanakorobiyaoki'' shows Cho suffering one: first, he's launched into the air by a see-saw, lands onto Banaten's hot air balloon, which is then destroyed by Las Vegas Akiko. Pon lands in a trash can, whose contents are burnt by Jumping Jack Bu, forcing him to jump into a river. While floating downstream, George throws him a life ring, but Cho takes it away with a fishing rod. After swimming to the shore, Pon falls down, exhausted, and the Del Montas trio jump on his belly. |
| 96 | * ''VideoGame/RondoOfSwords'' has a type E in one of the playthroughs. After all Serdic goes through, he finally breaks after a FriendOrIdolDecision that ends up in favor of the idol. Now while Serdic does lose a lot of his of warmth and idealism, [[KnightInSourArmor his ethics and morals don't really change]]. At the end of the game he does rediscover love again and has a peaceful, prosperous reign as king. |
| 97 | * In ''Franchise/SilentHill'', the Trauma Train has pulled out of the station [[LateToTheTragedy well before]] any of the player characters got there, so when it [[PlayerPunch steamrolls through]] everybody it touches (including the bad guys!) gets affected to varying degrees, and how well the protagonists fare from the Conga Line depends on which of the MultipleEndings you get. (Here's a hint: [[spoiler:save from the wacky, out of left field joke endings, the best Silent Hill has to offer are {{Bittersweet Ending}}s.]]) |
| 98 | * 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: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]]. |
| 99 | * [[spoiler: Faize Sheifa Beleth]] from ''VideoGame/StarOceanTheLastHope'' ends up a Type B after [[spoiler:the ruthless destruction of his planet and the annihilation of his people (the latter which happens right in front of his eyes) cause him to snap and attempt to destroy the universe so that no one has to feel pain any longer. In his defense, he ''was'' being controlled at least somewhat by the Grigori. Though, it's never revealed just how much his actions then stem from it, and he showed plenty of signs of instability beforehand...]] |
| 100 | * ''Franchise/StarCraft'': This happens to Stukov. In his own words: "Let's recap -- I was betrayed and killed, shot into space, captured by the Zerg, resurrected and infested, cured, given to Moebius to research the Protoss cure, and was instead experimented on as the cure slowly failed. Everyone up to speed? Good." |
| 101 | * ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'' has several classes that this can happen to, depending on choices the player makes. Perhaps most notable is the Imperial Agent. Throughout the game, they can [[spoiler: be forced to press the button that kills over ten thousand people and ''have to listen to their dying screams'' in order to capture a dangerous Sith]], subsequently learn that [[spoiler: their reward for doing is is the Dark Council ordering them ''brainwashed'', leading to a Republic SIS group learning the codes for said brainwashing and controlling their actions throughout Act II]], and then [[spoiler: have a galaxy-wide AncientConspiracy dissolve Imperial Intelligence, robbing the Agent of everything they had]]. They are constantly used and abused by everyone from the Republic to their own Empire to forces beyond their comprehension throughout the storyline. The result depends on the player's dialogue choices, with Result E being common (and usually leading to the player choosing to [[spoiler: erase any evidence of their own existence and strike out on their own]]). |
| 102 | * The story mode of ''[[VideoGame/FireProWrestling Super Fire Pro Wrestling Special]]'' puts its protagonist through the wringer. First, his mentor dies. Next, he accidentally kills his best friend and rival in the ring. Just before the championship title match, his girlfriend breaks up with him, shortly before his tag partner is murdered in the ring by the champion, who also claims responsibility for his mentor's death. In the end, the protagonist avenges his partner and mentor in the ring, defeating the murderer and become world champ; but with his friends dead and the love of his life gone, [[PyrrhicVictory his final victory is hollow]]. Three days later, [[DrivenToSuicide he commits suicide.]] |
| 103 | * Setsuko Ohara of ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars Z'' is constantly subjected to this. To wit, she has: [[spoiler:watched her leader and one of her closest teammates die, undergone physical and psychological torture to power her [[BlessedWithSuck Sphere of the "Sorrowful Maiden"]], and watched as AlternateUniverse versions of her two dead teammates were manipulated (by their murderer, no less) into thinking ''she'' is their real enemy]]. Depending on the player's choices, she either becomes a type A and [[IronWoobie overcomes her trauma]], or falls into type C where she crosses the DespairEventHorizon [[spoiler:where she ends up losing her sense of taste and slowly dying thanks to her powers]]. |
| 104 | * In ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'', Estelle during Part Two. She finds out, the hard way, that her healing artes causes Entelexia to go insane, then later learns [[ApocalypseMaiden that using her powers could to destroy the world]]. ''Then'' she gets kidnapped by Schwann/Raven and [[MindRape tortured]] into doing the bidding of Alexei, and [[DespairEventHorizon sent over the edge]] by his hand that she begs Yuri to ''[[ICannotSelfTerminate kill her]]''. (Fortunately, he hauls her back). And after all that, She ''somehow'' manages to come out Result A! That girl deserves to be a saint! |
| 105 | ** Also Leon Magnus from ''VideoGame/TalesOfDestiny'' (the remake at least). After a healthy dose of CharacterDevelopment in part 1, Leon is finally happy and respected... then Part 2 starts and his mother-figure is kidnapped forcing him to destroy his career, help the BigBad with his plot by the stealing the [[DoomsdayDevice Eye of Atamoni]], and his previous character development is more or less rejected as he reverts back to his childish IneffectualLoner state and rejects ThePowerOfFriendship to save her alone. Then she attempts suicide hoping to save him, and he [[HeroicBSOD loses his will to live]] until he is told that she is alive (He's not allowed to see her though). But he is still effectively a pawn and now has to fight his friends. The result of all of this is either A or C (or a mix of both) depending on how one views his [[spoiler: HeroicSacrifice]]. |
| 106 | *** The sequel suggests a Result A, but that may be a bit iffy since it is based on the original [=PS1=] game where Leon was a legit Jerkass in a sad situation rather than a JerkassWoobie whose thoughts and status as TheChewToy are revealed over the course of the game. |
| 107 | ** Asbel Lhant from ''VideoGame/TalesOfGraces''. Begins as a spoiled and reckless child, loses his brother, his friends, grows up as a depressed and burdened young adult and is later [[spoiler: expelled from his hometown by his own brother]]. He's a Type A as he takes those lessons, figures out new ones, and ultimately perseveres. |
| 108 | ** ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'' is basically ''just this'' to [[ShelteredAristocrat Luke fon Fabre]]. He hates killing, but [[ReluctantWarrior has to kill people]]. Due to being sheltered and having amnesia he has no clue how to handle the outside world. And then his ParentalSubstitute turns out to be the BigBad and makes him ''[[WhamEpisode blow up an entire town]]'' which he's promptly handed the whole blame for by the rest of the party[[note]]Though Luke's {{Jerkass}} antics didn't help things, no one gave him a good reason to not listen to the BigBad, resulting in a massive BrokenAesop about thinking for yourself.[[/note]] who soon after abandon him for another character; who's the ''real Luke'' as Luke is actually [[TomatoInTheMirror a replica]] of the original. This puts him as ''seven years old'' and he soon develops a massive GuiltComplex as TheAtoner. He's a weird mix of a Type C/Type G and a Type A. He spends some time post WhamEpisode catatonic (Type C) before playing the part of Type A. But underneath his facade, he's a Type G who ''just'' manages to truly become a Type A by the end [[spoiler: and promptly dies. [[GainaxEnding Maybe]].]] |
| 109 | * ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'': |
| 110 | ** Clementine 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. |
| 111 | ** Lee for much of Season 1 Episode 1, especially once they reach Macon. Both his parents are heavily implied if not outright stated to be dead, and he delivers a MercyKill to his zombified brother, which is made even worse since he has to hit his brother numerous times to kill him. In Episode 3, it's also heavily implied that his killing a senator, what landed him in that police car in the first place, may not have been his fault. And then in Episode 4, he gets bitten, and goes to hell and back next episode to save Clem while staying alive long enough, before he dies at the end of the episode. |
| 112 | * ''VideoGame/WildARMs1'' puts all three of its playable protagonists through the wringer. |
| 113 | ** Rudy Roughnight: [[spoiler: Forced to remove his left arm to escape from the villain, the resulting wound reveals he's made out of the same metal as the demons he's fighting and, when he thinks of his loving grandfather to comfort himself, he ends up trapped in his own dreams/nightmares by a dream demon masquerading as him. And this doesn't take into account the fact he's been treated as an outcast for most of his life due to his unusual abilities, a prejudice that even seems to extend to the Guardians, of all beings.]] |
| 114 | ** Jack van Burace: [[spoiler: Witnessed the fall of his hometown prior to the game and was forced to watch as his best friend and the king he's tasked with protecting are killed right in front of him. Then his commanding officer and father figure orders him to retreat and dies offscreen. Then the woman he loves locks him out of the castle to protect him from the demons and he's forced to leave her behind knowing she's unlikely to escape. That last part gets even worse as he learns she's been turned into a demon and the only way to undo the damage is to kill her.]] It's no wonder he's so cynical. |
| 115 | ** Cecilia Adlehyde: [[spoiler: In the span of a single day her kingdom is attacked with a horrific number of casualties and many more expected if she doesn't surrender the Tear Drop. Unable to think of any other options, she chooses to surrender but ends up beaten half to death thanks to Jack challenging the demon behind the attack. And, once all this is over, her father dies right before her and she's forced to lead a funeral procession shortly afterward.]] |
| 116 | * After half a game of staying cheerful and upbeat [[AngstWhatAngst despite the numerous atrocities he witnesses]], main character Jude of ''VideoGame/WildArms4'' gets hit with this HARD. [[spoiler:First, a traveler he made friends with turns out to be the strongest member of the QuirkyMinibossSquad. Then, almost immediately after finally finding his captured mother, she dies a horrible death right in front of him. Then Kresnik, a reformed member of the quirky member squad, falls to his death (or does he?). And THEN, he's forced to kill his long lost father after he snaps and becomes an OmnicidalManiac.]] Whew... |
| 117 | ** Hell, [[spoiler:him becoming a forest ranger in the Epilogue]] was probably his way of ''getting away from it all''. |
| 118 | * The tie-in-comic BackStory of Darion Mograine, from ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''. His brother murders his father, his father gets [[BrainwashedAndCrazy converted]] into a Death Knight, Darion tries to save him without knowing what's happened and is too locked up in horror and disbelief to [[IKnowYouAreInThereSomewhereFight fight effectively]] while ''everyone'' that came with him is killed by the [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Four Horsemen]]. After a moment of Type C, the spirit of his father guides him out of there...to the other son, for revenge, but not before the brother tries to beat Darion to death. Eventually, Darion manages to do A, B, and D ''all at the same time''. Those who paid attention to his dialogue in the Death Knight starting chain know what I mean... |
| 119 | ** Darion starts out in life with a mini-trauma conga line as well: he appeared stillborn, but was revived by his father, only to have his mother die from complications during the birth, quickly turning the joy his father felt into grief... |
| 120 | * [[Memes/XenobladeChronicles1 Poor Melia]]. Before the story of ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1'' even starts she lived her life suffering from racism regarding being half homs, she lost her mother simply because she has an etended lifespan, she (mistakenly) believes her father doesn't love her, and her step mother secretly hates her and wants her dead so Melia's brother Kalian will rule the High Entia. And ''then'' the story starts with all her bodyguards dying to protect her, is named heir to the throne and making Kalians mother more desperate to kill her despite Kalian giving his enthusiastic approval. When she final feels like she can move forward, making friends with the party and developing feelings for Shulk, the Mechon attack and kill her father, leaving her the ruler of the High Entia, [[spoiler: and Shulks crush Fiora, whose death jump started the plot, is revealed to be alive, snuffing her hopes of being with Shulk before she can even tell him. And ''then'' her people suffer a genocide as all pure blooded High Entia are transformed into Telethia, including Kalian, making her people an endagered species and forcing her to MercyKill her brother.]] While ''Future Connected'' gives her something of a break, allowing her to reunite her scattered people and bury the hatchet with Kalians assassin sister, this is only a temporary respite as show in ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3'', where [[spoiler: her universe and that of ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'' are set to colid and cancel each other out, leading her to working with Nia to create an ark to recreate the universes and everyone in them only for the collective fears of everyone stored in the ark to manifest into Z and create the Moebius, who then freezes time as the universes collide, imprisons Melia for untold millenia, and forces her people to fight a ForeverWar against the residents of Agnus for their entertainment.]] Yet somehow, she keeps her kind and gentle disposition even after so much suffering, ensuring that the generations to come have a future of their own. |
| 121 | * A small part of the plot of ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'' goes something like this: Several hundred years ago a very honorable man is scarred by tragedy and becomes result (B). Another man scarred by the same event becomes result (D). In the present tense the protagonist is secretly some sort of Jungian catatonic ball with two personalities, one of whom tries to live out his life in peace (C) and the other who decides to wreak havoc (D again). However, the protagonist eventually overcomes his split personalities, becoming result (A). Pretty much every hero or villain in this game is a crowning example of this trope. |
| 122 | ** Special mention to Billy Lee Black who, in addition to his already tragic backstory, goes through an unbelievable amount of crap in less than ''24 in-game hours'' as summarized [[http://lparchive.org/Xenogears-(by-The-Dark-Id)/Update%2074/ here]]. |
| 123 | * Goro Majima's side of the story in ''VideoGame/Yakuza0'' is a long, ''long'' list of tragic events. Before the game's even started, Majima is the victim of a power play within the Tojo Clan that ends with his sworn brother Saejima going to prison and Majima himself getting an eye cut out and spending a year chained up in an underground cell, and is then made to earn his way back into the Tojo Clan by running a caberet club in Sotenbori (a job he absolutely hates,) while being constantly monitored to prevent him from leaving the city. From there he [[spoiler: gets roped into killing someone who turns out to be a blind girl named Makoto, which he can't bring himself to do, instead protecting her and eventually falling in love with her. Cue many of Majima's allies getting killed, finding out that his former boss ''knew'' he wouldn't be able to go through with the hit, and that Majima was once again being used and manipulated all along, and Makoto nearly getting killed by the Dojima Family under his protection. By the end of the game, his AxCrazy Mad Dog of Shimano persona starts to leak through as he goes on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against the Dojima Family, and then he finally decides to abandon Makoto once somebody else is able to protect her so that [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy she can live a better life.]]]] |
| 124 | ** 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 takes a grenade blast for him, but not before making some revelations that completely shatter the pedestal Kiryu had put him on. His childhood friend committed suicide, and their mutual childhood sweetheart is shot dead by her CorruptPolitician ex right before that. 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. |
| 125 | ** ''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 [[AintToProudTooBeg 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. Throughout all of this, Nishiki is constantly berated by everyone around him for his failings and compared to Kiryu, whose reputation as a kin-killer actually earns him more respect, feeding into Nishiki's inferiority complex. 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!"]]]] |
| 126 | * Kokona Haruka from ''VideoGame/YandereSimulator'' has a dead mother, an alcoholic father in severe debt to a loan shark, has been roped into CompensatedDating more than once to pay off said debt, and has [[VillainProtagonist Yandere-Chan]] coming after her simply because of her crush on Senpai. Depending on the player's actions, she can be stabbed, pushed off the roof and made to look like a suicide, splashed with water and electrocuted, splashed with someone else's blood, drowned in a toilet or fountain, bullied to the point of [[DrivenToSuicide hanging herself]], killed by the mentally-shattered shell of her best friend, or framed for a crime she didn't commit. |
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