The TVTropes Trope Finder is where you can come to ask questions like "Do we have this one?" and "What's the trope about...?" Trying to rediscover a long lost show or other medium but need a little help? Head to Media Finder and try your luck there. Want to propose a new trope? You should be over at the Trope Launch Pad.
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openReplaced to remove association? Videogame
I haven't dug deep into the dirt of it, but one of the custom hour bosses in Playtime with Percy was replaced with a different, formerly scrapped design due to the creator of the character who got replaced doing some unsavory stuff. The context I got so far comes from here
and here
.
I know Renamed to Avoid Association exists, but what if it's for a whole character? Mind that the mechanic is the same, but the design and name are different. (Viola
vs. Polly Possum
)
openWritten as Dialogues Videogame
Written messages are often thought out compare to the real-time, impromptu nature of a verbal conversation, but sometimes writers forget that.
This trope is for when an Apocalyptic Log wouldn't make sense as a written log because the writer is writing it like dialogues.
"Throughout the game you keep finding his journals that record his descent into madness as he slowly turn into a horse, and the final journal it just says: 'Neigh'."
"Chuckles He wrote 'Neigh'."
Laughs
"I love this note: 'Wait, what's that? I heard a noise. Oh, no no no no no no, wai'. Like, he heard the killer coming, but instead of running away, he just stood there and keep writing what he was thinking."
"The note might as well says: 'Oh no, the murderer is coming, oh no, he's got a knife, oh no, he's stabbing me - Ow ow ow ow ow'."
Edited by AndermannopenMercy Kill Assist / Computer Player Suicide Videogame
An RTS mechanic: when a player is no longer able to build any more units or so severely crippled that they can only wait for death, there's a way to defeat them then and there and/or speed up progress for other players.
- In some Command And Conquer games, the AI will simultaneously sell off all its buildings (triggering their defeat condition) when no longer able to fight back.
- In Warcraft III, a player that loses all their Town Hall buildings (meaning they can no longer receive resources) is revealed through the Fog of War until the hall is rebuilt.
- Not the case in Dawn Of War, where you need to hunt down every last structure on the map to defeat a player even if all other buildings and units were destroyed (one of the reasons the Eldar are so hated is that they often hide invisible buildings in out-of-the-way places.
- Starcraft II's AI will offer to surrender when severely outnumbered and its base overrun.
openPlot-Relevant ShoutOut? Videogame
Maybe the title of this query implies a larger scope than my question, but is there a trope when a work pays a Shout-Out to another media which mirrors what's happening in the work?
Five Nights at Freddy's: Into the Pit has Oswald travel back in time, and some kids he meets in The '80s talk about the then-recent "Future of the Flashback" film. Oswald sees a calendar saying "June 1985" and remarks (albeit interrupted) how similar his situation is to that movie.
openCharacter Enforced Killing Blow Videogame
Video game trope in which the game only allows the player to use one specific character to deal the killing blow to another character. Attempting to use any other character is (for one reason or another) impossible:
Example: Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn: The game's Final Boss, Ashera, can only be killed by the game's protagonist, Ike, when equipped with his sword Ragnell. Should the player use any other character to drop the boss' health to 0, Ashera will heal back to full health and the fight will continue.
openWeather Events Videogame
A thing in video games where weather conditions affect gameplay such as by causing status effects, strengthening or weakening certain abilities, affecting enemy spawns, and the like.
For example:
- Pokémon: Weather conditions, visible in the overworld, have a variety on battle effects such as strengthening certain types of moves, activating abilities, or causing damage. For instance, rain strengthens Water-type moves and weakens Fire-type ones, sandstorms damage Pokémon that aren't Rock-, Ground-, or Steel-types, and fog lowers all moves' accuracy.
- Terraria: Weather conditions typically cause the spawning of unique enemies. Rain comes with flying fish, raincoat-wearing zombies, umbrella-wearing slimes, and Cumulonemesis; heavy winds carry baloon-borne slimes; and sandstorms populate deserts with agitated antlions and, in Hardmode, sand elements, Land Sharks, and Sandworms.
openExcessive entry chopping without discussion Videogame
Flaming Laevatein has been going on an entry-deleting spree for the Xenoblade Chronicles 3 YMMV page, as can be seen here
, as well as an edit here
on the Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed page removing reference to a certain point of debate about Rex being seen as anti-revolutionary. Their claim is that these entries are bashy against Xenoblade Chronicles 2, or that they're biased strawmans and insults of Rex and his fanbase.
I added some but not all of the entries based on discourse I observed in places like Reddit and Twitter as a third party, and can vouch that while some of those sentiments are a little overly detailed, most of the observations are accurate descriptions of fandom sentiments. I have personally sat in on fans arguing about whether Rex is an anti-revolutionary fencesitter or not, and can vouch for those debates about his character existing.
I can also confirm that Rex's dynamic is specifically seen as a heterosexual three-woman harem by many of his own fans; hell, it's where the whole Gigachad Rex meme came from, and why it's become controversial within the community as well, with many posts and tweets complaining about the often openly homophobic sentiments the people propagating the meme express.
I tried to sum up the nature of the discourse in a non-biased way, but I would have been fine rewriting the entries rather than deleting them altogether because these arguments do exist.
At least one of the entries has been re-added in abbreviated form by another editor who can back me up regarding certain criticisms of Xenoblade 2 pushing a centrist ideology as a legit source of debate aout the story's quality.
Edited by AlleyOopopenStationary/Mutually exclusive invinicibility Videogame
What's the trope for a (typically video game but it also famously happened the first time Human Torch fought namor) situation/ability where you freeze someone in place so they can't attack, but they also become invulnerable to damage by doing so
some examples:
Stasis power that Advent Priests use in XCOM 2
Stasis power that biotics can have in the Mass Effect
Armor Lock from Halo: Reach
Kirby's "turn to stone" power in Smash Bros
At the end of their first fight Namor trapped the first Human Torch (the android one, not Johnny Storm) in an unbreakable container that disabled his powers and made him unable to move, but Namor also couldn't then fly off for fear Torch would find a way to escape and fight him again (essentially becoming mobile and therefore dangerous again)
openExcentric speaking Videogame
A character speaks in a Large Ham way most of the time, yet they also speak in a primitive way (and if there's text of their dialogue, it's written in caps with a lot of typos or odd grammar errors).
Example: Temmie from Undertale who "SpEEKS liIIKE ZIS!!!!"
Edited by CecilBeharopenProcedurally Generated Personality Traits Videogame
Are there any tropes that deal with a vast number of NPCs having randomly generated personalities that inform how they interact, a la Dwarf Fortress?
Edited by twosixennbeeopenOne big damage at slow intervals Videogame
Basically, inverted Death of a Thousand Cuts: a single instance of big damage, but with slow intervals, aka "Damage Per Screenshot."
Its Playing With page does not name the Inverted trope.
They tend to benefit from damage amplifying effects with limited quota such as Genshin Impact's Vaporize and Melt.
openCollective title for playable characters Videogame
I’m sure we have this one, but my search skills are failing me. I’m looking for the trope where a roster of playable characters is given a collective title, e.g. “Heroes” for Overwatch or “Champions” for League of Legends (why they’re not Legends I will never know).
Edited by StrontiumsunopenPush the buttons in order puzzle Videogame
Is there a trope for when you have to push buttons (or flip levers, or whatever) in a certain order? Sometimes they will give you a clue as to the order, but if not there's usually few enough buttons you can just brute-force it (i.e if there are 3 buttons and you can only push each one once there's only 6 combinations.)
openSecond Player Character Videogame
You know back in the day when single player games usually had opportunity for a second player to join the game, and the second character mirrors, if not just a blatant recolor of the first player character. Think Mario/Luigi, Bill/Lance from Contra, Ryu and Ken, Double Dragons, Final Fight, Cuphead etc.
This one is more about there being a second "twin" character who almost mirrors the first one (due to technicalities of video games). I know Luigi was becoming more different from Mario as technology progressed and his mechanics were becoming more separate but in beginning he was just green Mario recolor.
Could apply to similar duos in other mediums.
openWalking Into Traps for Fun and Profit Videogame
You know the scene. Some dodgy character is offering your player a Schmuck Bait deal that seems too good to be true. Your character's spider senses are tingling, and only a naive idiot would walk into this sort of trap, right? Your character clearly isn't an idiot, so what do you do?
You walk into the trap, of course. Yes, something "bad" might happen at first. You end up locked in a room without your equipment, for example. But you fight your way out, and in the end, you're better off. Overall, you get more loot, more XP, and a more interesting story than if you had been sensible.
This isn't about Schmuck Bait itself, or Trap Is the Only Option. It's about how we intentionally walk into traps because we know we'll actually come out better off. Occasionally it's subverted and leads to horrible consequences, which makes us look stupid. But very often it's played perfectly straight.
openvideo game trope in platformers and other genres Videogame
So the evil big bad character's castle or whatever is the only thing between you and your princess and shit right.
But why are the castles obstacles just conveniently game designed in a way that doesn't outright kill the main character.
Like if the big bad villain of the game really wanted to make sure you didn't get your princess back. Then why didn't he just make it genuinely impossible to get your princess.
Of course in a fourth wall perspective its just the game designer desgining the level but like within the story that just makes the villain seem stupid and shortsighted
openShapeshifting bread Videogame
A particular game has a single product called "bread", which looks like a loaf. This product, however, can be used to make hamburgers (the bread becomes a hamburger bun),various sandwiches (including a veggie bagel, an egg sandwich where the bread looks like a roll, and a hummus wrap where the bread is suddenly a flatbread), etc.
Edited by Someone1981openItem Duplication Videogame
Is there a trope for video game mechanics that specifically allow you to duplicate an item? The main point is that an item may be so valuable or hard to find, so duplicating it will become beneficial later on. I am not talking about exploits such as Save Scumming and Twinking, but features that are deliberately implemented by the developers. For example:
- Dragon's Dogma: You can request an NPC to make a "forgery" of items, including quest items that you can give to a quest-giver NPC. Unique benefits and interactions may happen if you choose to keep the original for yourself and give the forgery to the quest-giver.
- Persona 3 Reload: Upon making enough progress in the Episode Aigis: The Answer DLC, an object in the Desert of Doors allows you to duplicate any Skill Card currently in your possession at the cost of spending some rare currency.
openWeapon or Item that cannot be sold or traded away Videogame
In video games (mostly RPGs where you constantly have to swap and replace equipment, or manage inventories), there are these very specific items that you cannot sell or dispose of. When this applies to weapons, you can still unequip them, but they will forever remain in your inventory. For example:
- Granblue Fantasy: Some specific end-game or high-level weapons obtained through a lengthy grind cannot be sold or discarded permanently. The game offers secondary stashes that let you off-load them from your main inventory, but they still cannot be sold.
- Honkai Impact 3rd: There's a feature that lets you convert unwanted or excess items into a rare currency, but not all items can be converted or "sold" via this method. Eventually, you can end up having a lot of special items and currencies being tracked in your inventory.
- Persona 3 Reload: The remake introduces a series of trademark "S.E.E.S." weapons that are automatically given to you as you progress through the story. They easily become outclassed by later weapons that have higher stats, but even if you unequip them, these S.E.E.S. weapons can't be sold and will always appear in your characters' inventory. In fact, they do not appear on the menu interface where you sell weapons to a shopkeeper.

A situation where the same in-game effect is obtained by different mechanics.
Specifically, in Pokemon many high-power moves require the user to spend a turn charging up. Slaking is a mon with very high stats but only attacks every other turn, basically making its every move a Charged Attack.