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Personality Mechanic

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Personality Mechanic (trope)

Normally, in games, a character's in-universe personality has no bearing on the gameplay. However, some games will actually make someone's personality play a role in gameplay. Some common ways this can be used include:

  1. Games in which food items are used as healing and/or status buff items might have characters receive a increased benefits if a character eats food that they enjoy, and decreased ones if they eat food that they hate.
  2. Having the game's A.I. behave differently according to the character's canonical personality.
  3. The game having different "types" of personalities that affect certain gameplay mechanics.
  4. Characters who undergo Character Development might have said development be reflected in gameplay.

Super-Trope to Relationship Values, Character Alignment, Player Personality Quiz, and Karma Meter. See also Personality Powers for examples where a character's personality affects the power set they possess. Usually overlaps with Negative Ability if the personality trait is a flaw.


Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Fighting Games 

    Four-X 
  • Civilization: The AI roleplays the various rulers. Montezuma is always happy to go to war, Gandhi is a major peace promoter, and so on.

    Hack and Slash 

    Real-Time Strategy 
  • Crusader Kings: Each character can gain various personality traits that can affect their base stats, provide some bonuses or maluses, or determine how they get along with people who possess certain personality traits. Some of these traits may also permit or deny access to certain options during events, and also adjust how likely an AI player would choose one of the options.

    Role-Playing Games 
  • Deltarune: Your party members will gain more HP from eating foods they like, and less HP from eating foods they don't.
    • Kris loves chocolate and gets 80-90 HP from eating a Choco Diamond. They get 10-20 HP from eating a Hearts Donut, possibly because its shape reminds them of the heart-shaped SOUL controlling them.
    • Susie is a Big Eater and a Blood Knight. She loves Hearts Donuts and gets 80-90 HP from them because the red jam reminds her of blood. But she doesn't like Choco Diamonds and gets 20-30 HP from them, as they're implied to be rather small (her reaction to being given one is "That's it?").
    • Noelle is a reindeer monster and a herbivore. A Darkburger will heal her for 20 HP, but a Giga Salad will heal her for 90 HP.
  • Disco Elysium:
    • The game has a complex personality-building system for its Amnesiac Hero, allowing the players to shape his identity and cognition with their dialogue and story choices, which, in turn, affect how he is able to react to and to interact with later story events.
    • Each of your skills has their own associated personality traits that are vocalized in your head, which frequently alter what choices you have access to.
  • Dragon Age II: Hawke can exhibit one of three personalities through the tone of their voice, whether during gameplay or in a cutscene, based on the kind of dialogue options that the player favors throughout the game. They can be a Deadpan Snarker if the player chooses humorous or charming dialogue options, a Brutally Honest Jerk with a Heart of Gold if the player prefers aggressive or direct dialogue options, or The Heart if the player favors diplomatic or helpful dialogue options.
  • Dragon Quest III: Starting with the Super Famicom remake of the game, all characters have an assigned personality that applies modifiers to the growth rates of their stats. The main character's personality is decided by a Player Personality Quiz, while the personalities of recruits are picked at random from a list based on how their bonus stat points are distributed on creation. There are also items and equipment that can force a character to take on specific personalities.
  • EarthBound: Ness occasionally gets homesick after winning a battle, which causes him to miss out on turns during battle. It can be cured by calling his mother.
    • Poo, being an easterner who undergoes a special diet, can only recover a few HP or PP from eating Western food. However, he can recover more PP from drinking Bottles of Water and more HP from Eastern food than the other characters do.
  • In The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, nearly every NPC has a Persuasion Minigame where you need to use specific actions at the right time to make the NPC like you. Different NPCs like or dislike different actions, so what works on one NPC may not work on another.
  • In Final Fantasy IX, there is a point in the story where Dagger goes through a traumatic moment and is unable to speak. This is reflected through gameplay by making her commands fail half the time. She also stops performing her Victory Pose after battles during this time, which is also something that other party members stop doing when the events of the plot concern them in some negative way.
  • Heroes Of Oakenhaven: Every hero starts out with 2 Flaws, which are overcome and turn into passive buffs when the right conditions have been achieved. Some flaws are:
    • Nervous Wreck, where "Max MP is decreased by 25%" which can turn Assured, where "Max MP is increased by 25%"
    • Despondent where Max HP is decreased by 25%.
    • Codependent: "If unit's turn doesn't start adjacent to an ally, -25% ATK and MAT for the turn."
  • Miitopia: Personalities are assigned to the Hero and their teammates in character creation. Each Personality comes with some special actions Miis with it can take. Each has actions that comes with both positives and negatives, like an Airheaded Mii falling asleep and regaining HP or like a Kind Mii refusing to kill an enemy, which could potentially cause the enemy to leave. Independently of this, each Mii will also react to Grub (which boosts stats) in one of five different ways, from really liking it (and getting a big boost) to really hating it (and getting a tiny boost). While most food types have three levels of effectiveness, how a Mii reacts to one gives you no hints as to how they will react to any of the others.
  • In Oreshika: Tainted Bloodlines every one of your clan members has a distinct personality that will determine what actions they want to take in battle. You can choose to ignore their requests and give them commands manually, but this will decrease loyalty.
  • Persona 3 Reload: Each party member has a unique Characteristic that increases how much Theurgy they gain if they perform certain actions. Yukari, for example, gains extra Theurgy from healing party members. They can also gain additional Characteristics by spending time with the protagonist in the evening.
  • Persona 5: Joker has five social stats that affect what actions he can take as well as some cutscene outcomes. For example, Guts dictates whether or not he can choose to do something risky, like entering a shady-looking store, Knowledge partially determines how well he does on tests (and therefore whether or not it's possible for him to finish top of his class and get a reward), Kindness determines whether or not people will open up to him about their issues, and Proficiency determines things like how many items he can create at a time when making thief tools and whether or not he can dodge when a teacher throws chalk at him.
  • Pokémon:
    • Starting from Generation 3, all Pokémon have a "Nature," each of which increases one stat while decreasing another, and causes a Pokémon to prefer certain flavors while disliking another.
    • Starting from Generation 4, all Pokémon have a "Characteristic," which indicates their highest IV (Individual Value). The game itself never explains what these mean, so you'll have to look them up.
  • Prayer of the Faithless: Most characters have some personality-based passive Negative Abilities, like Mia's Dread of Blades:
    Holding a sword fills Mia with dread and anxiety, inflicting Panic each turn while in Rush stance.
  • Science Girls!: Each girl has favorite foods, where eating them heals them better than for others.
  • Tales of Vesperia: Raven is a Death Seeker with a bit of an obsession with the fairer sex: this also determines the targetting priority of Love Shot, with female party members being prioritized first, followed by Repede, other male party members and then finally Raven himself.
  • Characters in Wildermyth have personality traits that determine which of the game's many randomized events can happen to them, and which of the game's transformations they're eligible for.
  • The World Ends with You: Food provides permanent status buffs to the character who eats it, however each character has different food preferences which affect how much of a buff that they receive after digesting it; if a character eats something that they absolutely hate, the food will only provide half the normal benefits, while feeding the character foods they love provides doubled benefits.
  • Yo-kai Watch: Each Yo-kai has an attitude that affects their stats and what they do in battle (whether they attack, guard, inspirit, etc.). They also have a secondary attitude that determines how often they loaf.
  • Yakuza: Like a Dragon allows for Ichiban's personality stats (Passion, Confidence, Charisma, Kindness, Intellect, Style) to be increased, primarily through the Ounabara Vocational School, but also through completing activities and Part-Time Hero quests. These stats affect the efficacy of his skills in combat, access to several areas such as the black market and underground casino, and his ability to recruit staff for Ichiban Confections/Holdings. This system makes a return in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth.

    Roguelikes 
  • In Death Road to Canada, party members have four main personality stats: Loyalty, Composure, Attitude, and Wits. Loyalty determines the likelihood of the character betraying the group, shirking their work, or stealing things from strangers. Wits allow characters to make rational judgements. Composure determines if characters will be able to avoid panicking or getting angry in tense situations. Finally, Attitude makes it so the day-to-day misfortunes of the road to Canada are less likely to lower morale.
  • Soulblight: The player character gets stronger by becoming Tainted as they accumulate negative personality traits, at an obvious cost to self.

    Simulation Games 
  • Cult of the Lamb: Followers can have personality traits that can make them either helpful or detrimental to your cult. There are positive ones like Naturally Obedient (gains 10 Faith after recruiting), Strong Constitution (heals 15% faster from illness), and Gullible (gets extra 15% from Loyalty sources). Negative ones also exist like Jerk (torments other Followers), Faithless (generates Devotion 15% slower), and Celibate (lower chances to breed).
  • In Horse Tales Emerald Valley Ranch, horses have various traits that affect how they're ridden. A horse who hates being in the dark will only move very slowly through shadowy forests, and a nosy horse will wander off once the player dismounts. Traits like the former can be removed with training, but the latter can't.
  • In Kitty Powers' Matchmaker, a client and candidate's personality traits: Active vs. Relaxed, Methodical vs. Carefree, Introverted vs. Extroverted, Traditional vs. Experimental, and Romantic vs. Spicy, influence their behavior in Matchmaker and Love Life, affecting how you should approach them when matching them or helping them with their love lives, since a personality clash makes them less compatible with each other.
    • Matchmaker:
      • Active people avoid picking unhealthy dessert from the trolley while Relaxed people will go for them.
      • Methodical people are afraid of spiders and hate it if you don't squish the bugs for them, while Carefree people love spiders and hate it if you do squish the bugs instead.
      • Introverts hate farts, so their client must lie to them if they do so, while Extroverts don't mind it if their client passes gas.
      • Traditional people prefer to let their client pay for their meal because it's "the latter's treat" for them, while Experimental people prefer to pay for the meal themselves.
      • Romantic people hate it when their client's ex shows up, so the client must lie to them that it was someone else, while Spicy people don't mind it if their client's ex appears.
    • Love Life:
      • Active people like exercising while Relaxed people like lounging around.
      • Methodical people like doing chores but get upset when they skip them, while Carefree people hate chores but feel better when skipping them.
      • Introverts are sad whenever they complain about not having enough friends, while Extroverts get extremely upset in the same situation.
      • Romantic people prefer doing sweet activities with their partners, while Spicy people prefer doing hot stuff with them, but both personalities don't mind changing things up once in a while.
  • In Love, Ghostie, each resident has several personality tags that determine their favorite gifts and tasks. Matching them with those boosts their relationship and happiness meters faster.
  • The Oregon Trail (2021): Party members have personality traits which lead them to have unique responses to situations, and perks in certain situations. A charming character can usually get a discount in trades; a paranoid character will avoid picking berries or trusting strangers; a kind character may resolve conflicts in the party; and so on.
  • In Project Hospital, the staff you hire have randomized personality traits that affect their performances, such as moving around faster or being less likely to misdiagnose patients. Some of them have traits that are hidden until later on.
  • In RimWorld pawns have a randomly determined set of traits that can affect their stats or their happiness levels, or what they do when they experience a mental break. Including both physical traits and personality quirks.
  • Roots of Pacha: Once your child attends school, they'll grow up into a school-aged kid. Their personality is randomized depending on their birth parent, their current parent if you broke your Union with your spouse (divorced them) and formed a new one with another Love Interest (remarried), and the job the child chooses when their friendship level is high enough. This affects their dialogue along with the gifts they give you, and your second child will have another randomized pool of dialogue and gifts so your kids won't act exactly the same.
  • In The Sims, particularly the later entries, each sim can have their own set of personality traits, which affect what they will like or dislike, what aspirations they have, and what unique interactions they have.
  • In To the Rescue!: Each dog has several traits listed in their profile, and customers ask for specific types when looking for dogs to adopt. Some traits make dogs aggressive and fight each other when they're placed in the same kennel.
  • In Virtual Villagers, a villager's likes and dislikes aren't just for show; they also affect how often they'll interact with certain objects on the island. In fact, they'll refuse to interact with an object if they dislike it—villagers who dislike swimming will run out of the water if put in it, for instance.
  • WolfQuest assigns a personality to each wolf with a value on each axis: Cautious/Bold, Loner/Social, Lazy/Energetic. This determines how the wolf behaves; for example, if you have a more Bold mate they're more likely to attack enemies and deal more damage but also get injured more often, while a Social one may not hunt or mark territory on its own. Your pups' personalities are influenced by those of your wolf and your mate.

    Stealth-Based Games 
  • Hitman: Absolution: The Brute of your class is usually tasked with locating a target downtown as quickly as possible; the explanation for uptown being more useful is mostly Show, Don't Tell, but characters mention that it's filled with artifacts from Operation Sledgehammer that only make circular connections to assassins known for being either quiet or goody-goody in temperament, like the Missing Person Shrine.
  • Yandere Simulator: Each student in the game has a "Persona" that dictates how they react to certain happenings such as murder. Some examples include Phone Addicts taking a picture of any murder they see, Social Butterflies running into a crowd before calling the police, or Heroic students outright attacking Ayano if they see her commit murder.

    Survival Sandbox 
  • In Card Survival: Tropical Island, your character has personality traits that affect their odds of survival as much as their physical ones, such as an optimistic person being slower to grow lonely the longer they're stranded on the desert island.

    Survival Horror Games 
  • Dead Rising: In an attempt to be more realistic, each survivor is programmed to behave differently based on their personality. This unfortunately has the side effect of making them behave like idiots when trying to escort them.

    Tabletop Games 
  • Ars Magica:
    • Characters can be given scores in various personality traits as if they were abilities. These are primarily descriptive, especially for major characters, but can sometimes be tested and cause Artificial Insolence on a failure, like a Mook fleeing combat on a failed "Brave" test or withstanding Emotion Control with a strong personality.
    • Character creation balances Virtues with major and minor Flaws. Personality Flaws run the gamut from "Hatred" to "Compassionate" — rather than inflict numerical penalties, they're open-ended story hooks to drive the character's actions.
  • Cardinal System games give player characters and major NPCs a Personality gift that their player details with a single word of their choice. Once per session, the player can tap that gift for a bonus d12 in a situation that would fit their personality.
  • Crusader Kings The Board Game, similar to its video game predecessor, has personality traits for its kings and nobles, denoted with round cardboard chips. Traits can be positive or negative, and the reigning monarchs' traits are used for resolving their gameplay actions, wherein their players draw one of their trait chips blindly from a bag. The mechanic is more intricate than that, however: traits are gained from Random Events and going to war (mostly negative ones), determine which characters are affected by random events, and while certain traits are generally positive or negative, they are reversed for specific actions (for example, "Cruel" is generally a negative trait, but drawing it counts as a success for resolving wars and crusades).
  • Chronicles of Darkness: The "Vice" and "Virtue" mechanic represents particular personality traits that can grant Willpower during certain circumstances; Vice represents short-term comforts that are easier to fulfill, but provide a small bonus. Virtues, by contrast, represent ideals that the character holds that are difficult to fulfill but provide a greater boost. In the first edition, Virtues and Vices were represented by the Seven Heavenly Virtues and the Seven Deadly Sins, while second edition allows for personalized Virtues and Vices.
  • The One Ring: Character Traits range from special skills to personality features like "Cautious" or "Merry". When a trait applies to an action, it can be invoked for bonus XP, an automatic basic success, or a chance to do something that wouldn't normally be possible. On the flip side, Shadow corruption inflicts negative traits that the Game Master invokes against the character.

    Visual Novels 
  • Danganronpa: During each character's Free Time Event, how much your Relationship Values increases will be based on what gifts you give to the character, Items that the character likes or loves will progress the relationship, while items that a character is indifferent to, dislikes, or hates won't progress it.

Non-Game Examples

    Comic Books 
  • Beta Ray Bill: Donald Blake chooses to revert to Thor's base during a crucial moment in tying the Rider's chain to his homing system, reasoning that it would be better to practice that kind of skill separately once he gets a glimpse of what hits Rider's business will take. He does this by discussing the Thunderhammer's characteristics while playing ping-pong with Skuttlebutt, noting that it's essentially just a card game to outsiders with two skills — taking care of Hoppy the Bunny (personality being "beastly") and staying awake at all times (personality being "trigger-happy").

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