Mr Exposition / Video Games

• Bayonetta subverts this; on the way back from a job, Enzo decides to speak out loud about Bayonetta's nature of having to kill angels every day or she'll be dragged down to hell while she figures out her lost past. A mildly annoyed Bayonetta snaps at him for telling her her own life's story. He talks about her backstory again at the beginning of the the second installment, but she ignores him.
• In BoxxyQuest: The Gathering Storm, a decent-sized chunk of the worldbuilding comes from the descriptions Eddie gives when you use his Enemy Scan skill.
• In The Coma: Cutting Class, this is Yaesol's initial function in the plot. She calmly explains to Youngho that he is not dreaming, there really is a killer on the loose, and how to escape the nightmare world.
• Diablo: Deckard Cain is the only character besides Diablo himself who will appear in all three. His role is always the same: talk in a monotone voice about the backstory nobody's interested in.
• Dragon Age:
  • As is standard for BioWare games, very nearly any speaking character, and especially companions, can be persuaded into launching into huge conversations about themselves, their people, and the current situation at the drop of a hat.
  • Dragon Age II: Varric is a bigger example than normal, because not only is he the only party member native to Kirkwall (meaning he has a lot of relevant exposition), he's a bard, a writer, and is telling the story of the game to Seeker Cassandra.
  • Dragon Age: Inquisition:
    • Solas loves learning and teaching people new things, so he greatly respects a curious mind. He's the only party member to earn minor approval bonuses just from asking normal questions. He's also the party member who knows the most about what's going on... though he's not afraid to lie by omission about stuff that he doesn't want you to know.
    • In the Trespasser DLC, Solas appears at the end to explain the plot of the DLC — and much of the plot of the entire franchise, really. While the player already knows some of these answers, the character knows almost none of them. "You must have many questions." You do, however, have the option to skip it all by choosing the option "No, not really." Solas, annoyed, summarizes a fifteen minute conversation in thirty seconds, solves your malfunctioning mark in the most painful way possible, and leaves. You don't even get a chance to ask any more questions.
      Inquisitor: Solas, have I ever wanted to hear one of your endless explanations?
      [Solas scowls]
      Inquisitor: Ever?
      Solas: Well, then, briefly: I am the Dread Wolf. I fought the false elven gods, created the Veil, and destroyed my people. I intend to restore them. Doing so will likely destroy your world. Also, your mark is getting worse.
• Verdelet the hierarch from Drakengard, though he is also the most useless party member and tends to repeat himself a dozen times per mission. He has only one spell — a "hold" spell, which is only ever used in cutscenes and allows him to turn Caim's pact partner Angelus into the Goddess of the Seal. When Caim tries to make him release Angelus later on, because the seal causes both of them immense pain, Verdelet refuses (along with the entire Union) because doing so would cause The End of the World as We Know It. Caim's reply is to cut him down in between games.
• The Elder Scrolls:
  • Arena plays it straight with the spirit of Ria Silmane, who appears in your dreams and guides you toward finding the pieces of the Staff of Chaos.
  • Daggerfall distributes the exposition over a large number of NPCs.
  • Morrowind subverts it in the main quest, as the game gives you several Mr. Exposition type characters (Caius, Azura, Vivec, Dagoth Ur, the Temple giving a different account than Vivec...plus you can do your own research with some in-game texts) all of whom offer contradictory accounts of When It All Began. There are strong hints that Azura, Vivec, and Dagoth Ur have their own motives for lying (or at least not being entirely truthful) and you're never told outright which one was right. A lot is left to personal interpretation.
  • Skyrim, much like Daggerfall, distributes exposition over a number of characters, including the guardsman at the Western Watchtower (who tells you about the legend of the Dragonborn after you kill your first dragon), Farengar (who tells you about the Dragon War), Jarl Balgruuf (who tells you about the Greybeards of High Hrothgar), the Greybeards themselves (who tell you about the Voice), and the Blades (who fill in details about the Great War and the Thalmor).
• Final Fantasy:
  • Unusually for an FF game, Cloud, the player character, is this in Final Fantasy VII. This was done intentionally — one of the main conceits for the game was that Cloud should appear as an experienced character and an active driving force in the plot (to contrast with the usual Pinball Protagonist Idiot Hero characters of the genre), meaning he had to know what was going on before anyone else did. This extends to him explaining the game mechanics to NPCs instead of having them teach him, narrating playable flashback sequences and occasionally summarising the story so far to party members struggling to follow what's going on. This even continues after it's revealed that he's not experienced and was doing everything he did out of Mind Control, when he explains the magic mechanics of his personality crisis.
  • Bugenhagen shows up early in the game to teach the characters how Lifestream works, which is apparently a mindblowing experience, and then to explain Red XIII's father's history to him. He later turns up to explain to Cloud what Holy is and the risks of unleashing it, which Cloud counters by explaining to him what Aeris must have been up to.
  • Final Fantasy X:
    • Maechen from . The difference being the fact he doesn't explain the plot. Instead, he goes in long-winded description of the areas you visit for the first time. Nicknamed "Exposition Man" on VG Recaps.
    • Auron and Lulu from the same game are guilty of this at certain points, but Auron's a badass so of course you'll listen to whatever he says, right? Right?
    • Tidus is the game's Watson, and Lulu knows a lot about the world, having gone on two (failed) pilgrimages before accompanying Yuna, and Auron is actually the only character (maybe, aside from Seymour) that actually has any clue what's really going on.
• The Game of the Ages makes little sense until you meet The Sage who explains the nature of the world.
• In Gamer 2, Kora's main job is to appear in cutscenes and inform Hailey of her goal throughout the upcoming level.
• Nameless scientist (possibly Dr. Kleiner) in the beginning of Half-Life, immediately lampshaded by another nameless scientist (retconned to be Dr. Vance). Gordon doesn't need to hear all this, as he's a highly trained professional, so it's all for the benefit of the audience.
• Homeworld:
  • Fleet Intelligence in the original game has this role largely to himself in cutscenes, but in subsequent games the player-character provides some of their own.
  • The 10 minute Info Dump in the beginning is apparently narrated by the Bentusi, as is the Final cutscene.
• Laura Sorkin often acts as this in Jurassic Park: The Game. It becomes a plot point later when she reveals information about an otherwise mysterious toxin, hinting that she knows something about the dinosaurs that Gerry couldn't identify.
• This is the sole purpose for the existence of Travis in Killer7. As you go through each mission, he informs you why you're there and what's happened thus far. Since the Killer7 are only called in once things have degraded to where someone has to die, this is essentially Late to the Tragedy embodied in a character. And you can never be sure if Travis (who openly despises you) is telling the truth, either...
• Namine gets this role in Kingdom Hearts II, explaining to Roxas (and the players who haven't played Chain of Memories) just what the heck is going on in the Prologue. Once Roxas is out of the picture, Master Yen Sid from Fantasia serves this role to Sora. Finally, at the end of the game, Ansem the Wise picks up the role.
• King's Quest: Mask of Eternity: The half-petrified wizard in Daventry.
• Knights of the Old Republic:
  • Trask, Carth, Bastila, the Jedi, Atris, Atton, Kreia, HK-47, T3-M4, the player character, that guy you run into on Nar Shaddaa...
  • Kreia gets points for being the main provider of exposition and a Consummate Liar at its worst. The second game in general tended to give the role to people you should never, ever trust.
• Legacy of Kain. Almost every character gets a turn in LOK but none more so than Janos Audron. Every scene with him is part history lesson, part Shakespearean monologue, and part Grandpa's Neverending War Stories.
• The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past:
  • Every time one of the Seven Maidens is rescued, they tell a little more about the backstory of the game and what Agahnim's plans are.
  • Sahasrahla, as the descendant of the old sages, would give Link a bit of backstory regarding to the Imprisoning War and the nature of the Dark World.
• Parodied in LISA with Nern Guan, who seems like he's going to give exposition about the backstory of Olathe and the Great White Flash when you talk to him, but he quickly gets sidetracked and goes into a long tangent about his own incredibly boring life prior to the Flash.
• Pick any character with a speaking role in Mass Effect. Any character. However, most of the time you can just not ask them stuff. ME2 makes this process even more clear-cut; much of the game's extra exposition is on the crew's personal backstories, and they provide those details if you ask. As far as the main plot goes, exposition tends to come from the Illusive Man and the various Cerberus crew members, and occasionally Mordin on questions of science. There's also Vigil from the first Mass Effect. Explains everything in the game up to that point; what the Conduit is, what Saren wants with it, the fate of the Protheans, and how to stop Sovereign before it's too late.
• Any character who can be communicated with via CODEC in the Metal Gear series.
  • Dr. Naomi in the first Metal Gear Solid goes into in-depth detail explaining the back-stories of all the FOXHOUND members Solid Snake faces, whereas Drebin does the same with the B&B Corps in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. Ironically, Solid Snake himself serves this role to Raiden in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.
  • The Colonel, Otacon, and Mei Ling. and once Slippy all serve this role in Snake's codec conversations in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, explaining information on Nintendo characters that Snake doesn't know about.
  • Nastasha Romanenko from the first Metal Gear Solid is notable for being a CODEC contact who serves no story or gameplay function whatsoever (the player can go through the entire game without contacting her once,) existing soley as an exposition dispenser about various weapons and equipment and giving random factoids about nuclear warfare.
• Monkey Island: This is the main purpose of the Voodoo Lady in the games. Occasionally she'll do some actual voodoo, but usually she's there to tell you what you're supposed to be doing right now.
• In the final chapter of Mother 3, it's revealed this was the entire reason Leder did not have his old memories erased, in case anything corrupts their lives again. His monologue is so big, a stinkbug helpfully memorizes most of what he's revealed if you happen to forget.
• The Neverhood: Willie Trombone's tapes are there to help the audience understand the game's basic story. Just make sure you collect them all, or else you won't be able to complete the game.
• Ni no Kuni Plays this straight with Drippy. Because Oliver knows nothing about the world and characters Drippy spends most of his time infodumping Oliver regarding almost any possible subject.
• Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi: As you explore the Castle, you find notes by someone named Grimvald Vorius, which conveniently explain the plot.
• Paper Mario:
  • Professor Frankly serves this role in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, and Merlon fills this role in Super Paper Mario. The first game of the series, having a simpler plot, seemingly doesn't need one.
  • In the field, Goombario from Paper Mario and Goombella have actual powers related to exposition, able to tell you about your surroundings, people and enemies. Kersti from Paper Mario: Sticker Star, Huey from Paper Mario: Color Splash, and Olivia from Paper Mario: The Origami King'' retain the field ability and general exposition, but don't have it as a combat ability.
• Most of Serena's dialogue in The Persistence is spent explaining stuff. You get a new item, she explains it. You're on a new deck of the ship, she explains it. You die, she explains why you aren't staring at the Pearly Gates.
• Upon joining the party, Naoto Shirogane in Persona 4 serves this role primarily.
• Pilgrim (RPG Maker): The Giant Cat, once Akemi starts threatening him, spills the beans on the situation — what the castle and Other World are, who Master Alice is, and where Inago is.
• Rhinehart in the FMV game Privateer 2: The Darkening. Played by a perfectly cast David Warner, Rhinehart's sole purpose (and only scene) near the end of the game is to explain everything to the main character Lev Arris (played by Clive Owen).
• Marvin in Resident Evil 2 tells the player character a brief synopsis on what went on in Resident Evil and how it led into the mess that is currently happening. He then turns into a zombie the next time you see him. The remake drops the exposition part and has Marvin telling the player character to escape city.
• Morris O'Dell from Splinter Cell gives exposition in cutscenes at the beginning of missions. Justified, as he is a news anchor.
• In Spud's Adventure, Waterman, the first vegetable to go to the Far Tower and live to tell about it, offers advice periodically to help save Princess Mato, whom he loves.
• Guy from Tales of the Abyss is often forced into this role by Jade. So much that it was a Running Gag.
• Raine and Kratos (being the experienced adults of the party) filled this role early on in Tales of Symphonia. Raine — being a teacher — would even occasionally force her students (Lloyd, Genis and Colette) into this role, making them rattle off info about a location they just arrived at as a pop quiz. Once Te'thealla is introduced (which was beyond the knowledge of anyone in the party at that point besides Kratos,) Sheena would step in to fill this role, with Zelos occasionally helping out. Remiel's sole purpose in the narrative is to give Colette her Cruxis Crystal at the start of her Journey of Regeneration and then pop in at each seal to grant Colette another angel power and point her to the next seal. Also to tell her that he's her father. Except that he's not; he's actually an arrogant Manipulative Bastard who's slowly suppressing Colette's humanity with each angel power, and the party ends up killing him at the Tower of Salvation.
• Early in Tokyo Beatdown (a Beat 'em Up from Atlus), a character shows up literally named "Plot-Progressing Officer".
• Patchouli does most of the explaining in Touhou Labyrinth. She seems to enjoy it too as she acts rather displeased when Eirin takes over the role for one scene.
• In Uncle Albert's Adventures, almost every time the player discovers a new page, the radio-suitcase plays a message from Uncle Albert giving information related to the page.
• Undertale:
  • Parodied at first, it seems like Undyne will start explaining the backstory of the Underground... until she realizes that it doesn't really matter if she does, as she will have to kill you anyway. Though if you befriend her on a pacifist run and call her in that room, she admits the "screw it" was because she forgot the speech she was actually supposed to give.
    Undyne: I shall tell you the tragic tale of our people. It all started, long ago...
    Undyne: ...No, you know what?
    ''[NGAHHH starts playing]
    Undyne: SCREW IT! WHY SHOULD I TELL YOU THAT STORY WHEN YOU'RE ABOUT TO DIE!?!
    Undyne: NGAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
  • Played straight later. In the final walk up to the final boss, the monsters of the Underground will tell you the greatest tragedy of the underground, the death of the first human to fall and the monster prince's death at the hands of humans when he left to fulfill his sibling's last wish. On the No Mercy run, this is replaced with Flowey giving a chilling account of how his lack of empathy and compassion turned him into the sociopathic monster he currently is.
• Until Dawn: Flamethrower Guy, who reveals himself towards the end of the game to explain what the Wendigo are, and how they can be defeated. Once he has served his purpose he is almost immediately killed off to establish just how dangerous the creatures are.
• In A Witch's Tale, the Wonderland characters often provide exposition. Lampshaded by the Dormouse, who asks if it's Exposition Day.
• Yu-Gi-Oh! Reshef of Destruction:
  • Ishizu dumps the plot on you in the first 2 minutes.
  • If you examine a painting of Shadi in Pegasus's castle, Shadi himself appears and explains what happened in the backstory.
• ZanZarah: The Hidden Portal:
  • Rafi the goblin is the first being that Amy meets in Zanzarah. He is the one who hid a teleportation rune in her home, so he provides some information regarding why he summoned her to this world.
  • The talking owls were sent all across Zanzarah for the sole purpose of providing advice to Amy.

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