History Main / AlreadyDoneForYou

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!!Examples:

* Early in ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'', Crono gets arrested, and since he's scheduled for execution in three days even if you were found not guilty, most players have him escape from prison, causing the trope to be inverted when Lucca shows up to rescue him. No need, Lucca, it's AlreadyDoneForYou. On the other hand, if you don't escape in the ([[InUniverseGameClock relatively short]]) three days, she ''does'' rescue you, and the guards you have to fight on the way out are [[AlreadyDoneForYou Already Beaten For You]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Crysis}}'' takes obvious measures to avoid {{Escort Mission}}s as you will either have allies rescue them after you get to them or the hostage will die anyway in such a way that it is not your fault.
* In ''VideoGame/DarkSavior'', depending on how you play the intro chapter, the rest of the game plays out in one of three different ways. In the first one, you go through a set of ancient ruins, solving puzzles to go through each room. However, in the second one, two other characters have passed through right before you, thus all the puzzles are already solved and you can just waltz through. However, this means you don't get to learn the history from the murals, as those are the barriers that move out of the way when you finish the puzzles.
* ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea 2|Cursed Memories}}'' takes this to ridiculous extremes by having [[SociopathicHero Etna]] casually swing by to let you know she's already ''killed the final boss''. [[spoiler:Relax, it turns out that he's NotQuiteDead, as Adell points out when he notices that Zenon's curse still isn't broken]].

* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'': It ''seems'' like this is going to happen in the first hour or two. You're told that the Ferelden army has already won two major battles against the darkspawn and are going to finish them off when they come again tonight. Then, when the battle actually STARTS, after you and Alistair complete your mission, [[spoiler: Teryn Loghain abandons the king to death]], which is how the real game starts off.
* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVI'' has a kind task you to slay a dragon deep within a dungeon. When you get there, though, you find that IneffectualLoner Terry subverts the "Ineffectual" part of his trope and defeats the dragon single-handedly. He then proceeds back to the king to obtain the awesome sword that was promised as a reward, making the whole thing a complete waste of time for you, if only it weren't necessary to advance the plot. Later on, this has a reversal: [[spoiler:After searching for a Legendary Sword, you finally find its resting place... and Terry promptly appears, rudely shoving past you to claim it. However, before the player has time to get ''pissed'', Terry realizes that the sword is rusted, laughs, and gives the blade to you, actually ''apologizing'' for wasting everyone's time. (Apparently, he's never heard of a blacksmith...)]]
* In the second ''VideoGame/{{Drakensang}}'' installment, you need to solve some ancient puzzles. Going around, you find, that one has already been solved - by a party of Amazons, whom you now have to fight for your MacGuffin.

* ''VideoGame/{{Gradius}} V'' requires the firepower of another Vic Viper to defeat the final boss. He finishes it off after you destroy your assigned part and leave. You also see him fighting alongside you in his own isolated section of stage 2. [[spoiler:However, you time travel to make this happen. You fight alongside your past self. The way you fly your ship in stage 2 will be copied exactly when you return to those spots in the final stage.]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}'', you have to take out three shield generators on the level ''The Covenant''. After deactivating the first one, the second is brought down by the Arbiter. [[spoiler:You still, however, need to take down the third one, because Johnson's team was overrun by Brutes.]]
* In ''VideoGame/HitmanContracts'', the first level starts with you strolling through a room of Agent 48s that have already been killed. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that you killed them in the original Hitman, and ''Contracts'' takes place directly afterwards.

* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'' does this in the final dungeon: As Link approaches the tower where the Master Key is being held, he gets attacked by some {{mooks}}, but several secondary characters arrive and deal with them from the grounds.
** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'', Impa presses a switch in Eldin Volcano that activates a bridge so Link can pass over a lava pit.
* Fate's story path in ''VideoGame/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAsPortable: The Battle of Aces'' has Material-S, Nanoha's EvilTwin, telling Fate that there are more Materials like her with her dying breath. As Fate gets ready to [[GottaKillThemAll hunt down the remaining Materials]], Reinforce Eins contacts her with the news that the troubling activities of this incident had finally ceased with her victory. Fate gets confused for a moment about how that's possible, until Nanoha contacts her too and informs her that she had already defeated the other Materials.
** Then again, Fate's work isn't quite finished yet, as she has yet to defeat the rest of the Dark Pieces and a copy of herself before the incident can be resolved. This trope comes into play in the other characters' routes, as any Dark Pieces or Materials you do not encounter have already been destroyed by one of the other characters you aren't playing as.
* The first room of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' has Solid Snake hiding from guards while waiting for an elevator. The "Plant" chapter of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'' opens with another room where you must wait for an elevator, but in a [[PostModernism post-modern]] twist, [[spoiler:Solid Snake]] has already knocked out the guards.
** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'', Venom Snake can potentially do this to ''himself'' if he destroys a certain communications post in Free Roam mode. When he is assigned the mission to destroy it, your team realizes it's already been dealt with and you immediately receive a Mission Complete.
* Somewhat ''annoyingly'' averted in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure''. With the RashomonStyle story structure, everyone puts themselves in the spotlight, which means that every time a character is present during a boss' intro cutscene, that character HAS to fight that boss, even if you've already defeated that boss in another character's story. One of the biggest examples is Chaos 4. Since Sonic, Tails ''and'' Knuckles witness its transformation, you have to fight him once for each of their stories.
** One popular fan theory suggests a very subtle example of this trope: During Sonic's Sky Deck level, the Egg Carrier's deck is be reoriented while Sonic goes through to the end of the level. However, during Knuckles' run through the level, he flips multiple switches and reorients the Sky Deck ''himself'', and the theory is that it's Knuckles who causes the changes during Sonic's Sky Deck level, meaning that the level shifts required for Sonic to get through the level are already done for him.
** The closest the game gets to this trope is in the crossover of Tails' and Big's stories. Froggy wanders into the depths of the desert, and Big would've no doubt found him and be forced to trek through the entire Sand Hill to catch him. However, Tails notices him first and catches the frog, saving Big the trouble. [[spoiler:[[FailureIsTheOnlyOption He still doesn't catch Froggy]], however.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Metroid}}'':
** In ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime2Echoes'', the Sky Temple in the dark world requires 10 keys to unlock. The first key was already found and put in place by a dead Luminoth warrior laying at the bottom of the key pillar, leaving only 9 for you to find.
** In ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption'', on the first planet, you are charged with the task of getting 3 generators back online. After you take care of the first one, Rundas, a friendly bounty hunter, sends you a transmission informing you that he took care of the second one and that you should go for the third. He did state he was going after that one before you even started, but, given that side characters in these games, whatever they may say, are generally woefully incompetent at solving any problems big enough for the player to handle, it was a bit unexpected that he actually succeeded.
** In ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'', as you make your way into Tourian you come across several enemies the have already [[spoiler:been drained by a Metroid]], including what appears to be the final miniboss, a third Torizo statue.
* In ''VideoGame/MonsterParty'', one of the first bosses informs you that he's already dead before you can fight him. Strangely, the one boss in the game that's definitely dead (fried shrimp stuck on a skewer) has no trouble attacking you!

* ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'': As you prepare to fight [[spoiler:ranked #5: Letz Shake, [[FanNickname Mr. Sir Henry Motherfucker]] kills him]]. Fortunately, you get to make up for it in the end, [[spoiler:in an optional final battle with Henry.]]
* ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes2DesperateStruggle'': Here [[spoiler:you actually get to fight Letz Shake, who kills ranks 11 through 22 off-screen), along with the fights for ranks 5 and 6 (to repay Travis for getting him out of a coma, Henry kills them, gives Travis the ranks, and sends him pictures of the aftermath just to rub it in) He also mocks the player for complaining about it by saying something about there being no way you could have done these fights anyway, because the game is already packed full]].
* In ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'', Waka restores the Guardian Tree in [[spoiler:North Ryoshima Coast]] for you. Between the fact you get Praise for the ones you restore and how obnoxious Waka is anyway, it's easy to forget it's a scripted event and get ticked off at him for it. You can still get Praise from the tree, however, but it requires an alternate method.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Rayman 2}}'', after flying a pirate ship and saving Globox's babies, one of the babies reveals that he's stolen the fourth and final Mask. The other three were hidden at the bottom of difficult dungeons. This is different in the remake ''Rayman Revolution'' where you have to get the last mask the hard way. The Globox Baby gives you the Rain Mask instead.
* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilOutbreak'' is an instance when this trope is actually a welcome in-game element. The final level of the first game is huge, and requires you to find and combine two key items located in two different areas of the level. You can choose which area you wish to visit first, and nine times out of ten, you'll return to the main building to find that one of your AI partners has already visited the other area and retrieved the second item for you.
* Happens in ''VideoGame/SamuraiShodown IV'' if you don't reach the boss in the time given.
* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'', it turns out that Kratos has already done much of the legwork required to obtain the materials for [[spoiler:the Eternal Ring]], leaving only the aionis by the time [[spoiler:the party invades the Tower of Salvation]].

* In ''VideoGame/StarFox64'' in Sector X, your mission is to invade the enemy base and destroy their secret weapon, only for you to discover the base in pieces when you finally do get there, [[spoiler:thanks to the secret weapon malfunctioning]].
--> '''Falco''': Somebody beat us here. It's all gone!
* In one level of the ''Series/{{Stargate|SG1}}'' game (for the Genesis), O'Neill had to run around Ra's pyramid destroying all the computer consoles, because one of them was supposed to be special for some reason. When you reach the end of the level, you find Daniel Jackson, who tells you he's already taken care of the right one. He then sends you to kill Anubis (no, not [[Series/{{Stargate SG1}} that one]]) and Ra.
* Downplayed in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'', with ''Luigi'' searching for stars on his own, but you still need to help him get back to the Observatory, and he gives up after 3 stars.
* The original ''VideoGame/TombRaider'' does it deliciously with Pierre - you follow him through, what, four levels, solving every kind of obscure puzzle to open doors, frequently involving destroying permanent fixtures, and then it turns out that he's already there to claim the MacGuffin even though you did all the stuff. How did he get there!? Who knows! Of course, he's the same guy who can ninja-teleport around at will. The remake turns this around: Pierre, rather sensibly, decides to let Lara risk life and limb pulling every damn lever and switch that's in the way of them and their prize, before waltzing in at the very end to claim it.
* Inverted in ''Ten Desires'', the thirteenth ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' game. Mamizou was called by her friend Nue to help defeat the BigBad Miko. However, turns out the heroines had already defeated Miko when Mamizou arrived. The Mamizou fight the heroines as the BonusBoss, just because.

* ''VideoGame/WorldInConflict'' does this quite often. In one mission, you actually have to ''help'' an ally getting some objectives because you have no ground forces to do it yourself.
* An implied, villainous example in ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'', at one point, you come to a locked tower and must fight a boss at the end of the next corridor in order to get the key. Solving the puzzles within the tower reveals the in the corridor leading to said boss dropping down, revealing the path to the FinalBoss. [[spoiler: Grodus knew this was coming and sent the shapeshifter, Doopliss, disguised as Frankly, to tell you that Grodus was already inside the dungeon, while in reality, Grodus hung somewhere behind Mario and waited for him to finish the puzzles and open the path to the last room, where he releases the FinalBoss from her imprisonment.]]
** In the original ''VideoGame/PaperMario64'', the captured Star Spirit, Skolar, escapes from his imprisonment in Tubba Blubba's castle. Unfortunately he was recaptured by Bow the Boo, who won't give him back to you unless you beat Tubba Blubba, so the escape means nothing (especially since you explore the entire castle in the process, so you don't even get saved the journey to where he was captured originally).
* Happens twice in ''Blood Omen: VideoGame/LegacyOfKain'', where you must defeat the members of the Circle of Nine to restore the Pillars of Nosgoth: [[spoiler:The first time is in Dark Eden, where the Circle members there summon fellow Circle member and [[KnightTemplar Sarafan]] leader Malek (who Kain [[HopelessBossFight had to retreat from]] in their last fight) to protect them. Kain responds by summoning Vorador to keep Malek busy while he goes after the other Circle members. After dispatching his original targets, he finds Vordador has defeated Malek for him. The second one is Anacrothe, who escaped from Kain at Dark Eden, only to be dispatched later by Mortanius.]]
* In both ''VideoGame/SpaceRangers'' and ''VideoGame/{{Vangers}}'' you can accept an assassination mission only for your mark to be killed by someone else in an random fight. You can still collect the bounty on them, though.
* Lampshaded in the beginning of ''VideoGame/HuntedTheDemonsForge''. "Looks like someone helped us out by knocking this tree down."

* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'':
** The second game starts with you escaping the previous final dungeon (with the RandomEncounters turned off, [[AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent since you're level 1 at that point]]). You can only access some of the areas, including a chest that previously contained a very high-level cursed helmet. Even if you didn't take it in the first via OldSaveBonus, the chest is empty... except for the lowest-level healing item (how the first game's party missed it, or why they don't have the helmet when they meet them again, is not mentioned).
** You can find an island with a bunch of easily accessible treasure chests... their contents already taken by the inhabitants of the nearby town. However, there are a lot more that aren't accessible without Psynergy.

** The second game starts with you escaping the previous final dungeon (with the RandomEncounters turned off, [[AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent since you're level 1 at that point]]). You can only access some of the areas, including a chest that previously contained a very high-level cursed helmet. Even if you didn't take it in the first via SavedGameBonus, the chest is empty... except for the lowest-level healing item (how the first game's party missed it, or why they don't have the helmet when they meet them again, is not mentioned).

** In ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'', you come across several places where the enemies have already [[spoiler:been drained by a Metroid]], including what appears to be the final miniboss, a golden Torizo statue.

* In ''{{VideoGame/Blade Runner}}'', many witnesses complain that they were already interviewed by another cop.

* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVI'' has a kind task you to slay a dragon deep within a dungeon. When you get there, though, you find that IneffectualLoner Terry subverts the "Ineffectual" part of his trope and defeats the dragon single-handedly. He then proceeds back to the king to obtain the awesome sword that was promised as a reward, making the whole thing a complete waste of time for you, if only it weren't necessary to advance the plot.
** Later on, this has a nice reversal: [[spoiler:After searching for a Legendary Sword, you finally find its resting place... and Terry promptly appears, rudely shoving past you to claim it. However, before the player has time to get ''pissed'', Terry realizes that the sword is rusted, laughs, and gives the blade to you, actually ''apologizing'' for wasting everyone's time. (Apparently, he's never heard of a blacksmith...)]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Rayman 2}}'', after flying a pirate ship and saving Globox's babies, one of the babies reveals that he's stolen the fourth and final Mask. The other three were hidden at the bottom of difficult dungeons.
** This is different in the remake ''Rayman Revolution'' where you have to get the last mask the hard way. The Globox Baby gives you the Rain Mask instead.

* In ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'', the fourth Gigas you have to fight for a MacGuffin has already been defeated [[spoiler:due to injuries from much earlier in the game]] by the time you finish that dungeon.
** Ironically, Plergoth [[spoiler:AKA Rhaknam]] was a ChekhovsGun that the player expected to fight at some point while the others were more or less just [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere Giant Space Fleas From Nowhere]] who popped up just to fight you.

* The original ''VideoGame/TombRaider'' does it deliciously with Pierre - you follow him through, what, four levels, solving every kind of obscure puzzle to open doors, frequently involving destroying permanent fixtures, and then it turns out that he's already there to claim the MacGuffin even though you did all the stuff. How did he get there!? Who knows! Of course, he's the same guy who can ninja-teleport around at will, so, ehehe...
** The remake turns this around: Pierre, rather sensibly, decides to let Lara risk life and limb pulling every damn lever and switch that's in the way of them and their prize, before waltzing in at the very end to claim it.

** In ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime 2'', the Sky Temple in the dark world requires 10 keys to unlock. The first key was already found and put in place by a dead Luminoth warrior laying at the bottom of the key pillar, leaving only 9 for you to find.
** In ''Metroid Prime 3'', on the first planet, you are charged with the task of getting 3 generators back online. After you take care of the first one, Rundas, a friendly bounty hunter, sends you a transmission informing you that he took care of the second one and that you should go for the third. He did state he was going after that one before you even started, but, given that side characters in these games, whatever they may say, are generally woefully incompetent at solving any problems big enough for the player to handle, it was a bit unexpected that he actually succeeded.

* There was one part in ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'' where you team up with Lance to fight Team Rocket and take down their radio broadcast. He takes the left side and you take the right.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Rayman}} 2'', after flying a pirate ship and saving Globox's babies, one of the babies reveals that he's stolen the fourth and final Mask. The other three were hidden at the bottom of difficult dungeons.

* In both ''VideoGame/SpaceRangers'' and ''{{Vangers}}'' you can accept an assassination mission only for your mark to be killed by someone else in an random fight. You can still collect the bounty on them, though.

* In ''{{VideoGame/Hitman}} Contracts'', the first level starts with you strolling through a room of Agent 48s that have already been killed. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that you killed them in the original Hitman, and ''Contracts'' takes place directly afterwards.

* In {{VideoGame/Blade Runner}}, many witnesses complain that they were already interviewed by another cop.

* ''VideoGame/{{Crysis}}'' takes obvious measure to avoid {{Escort Mission}}s as you will either have allies rescue them after you get to them or the hostage will die anyway in such a way that it is not your fault.

* One quest in ''GuardiansCrusade'' requires you to destroy the Winged Lion monster in order to get the Kuldo Emerald. After battling your way through the dungeon, you find the lion has already been defeated and the emerald harvested.
** But then if you examine the lion, he gets up to fight again, and you have to defeat him anyway.

* In ''NeverwinterNights2'' the player must collect five blessings/abilities from five Illefarn statues, and successfully collects 4, only to find that someone else (who later turns out to be a character who has, up until that point, been a villain) has collected the fifth.

* Happens in ''SamuraiShodown IV'' if you don't reach the boss in the time given.

* In ''StarFox64'' in Sector X, your mission is to invade the enemy base and destroy their secret weapon, only for you to discover the base in pieces when you finally do get there, [[spoiler:thanks to the secret weapon malfunctioning]].

* Played straight in ''TreasureOfTheRudras'' be careful of certain actions that may nerf you out of the best equipment [[spoiler:Foxy's Love Whip for example; involves you having to play as Surlent before playing as Sion since the Whip is in the same ruins where a story event occurs in Surlent's Scenario.]]

* ''WorldInConflict'' does this quite often. In one mission, you actually have to ''help'' an ally getting some objectives because you have no ground forces to do it yourself.
* An implied, villainous example in ''PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'', at one point, you come to a locked tower and must fight a boss at the end of the next corridor in order to get the key. Solving the puzzles within the tower reveals the in the corridor leading to said boss dropping down, revealing the path to the FinalBoss. [[spoiler: Grodus knew this was coming and sent the shapeshifter, Doopliss, disguised as Frankly, to tell you that Grodus was already inside the dungeon, while in reality, Grodus hung somewhere behind Mario and waited for him to finish the puzzles and open the path to the last room, where he releases the FinalBoss from her imprisonment.]]

* Somewhat ''annoyingly'' averted in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure''. With the RashomonStyle story structure, everyone puts themselves in the spotlight, which means that every time a character is present during a boss' intro cutscene, that has character HAS to fight that boss, even if you've already defeated that boss in another character's story. One of the biggest examples is Chaos 4. Since Sonic, Tails ''and'' Knuckles witness its transformation, you have to fight him once for each of their stories.

* In both ''SpaceRangers'' and ''{{Vangers}}'' you can accept an assassination mission only for your mark to be killed by someone else in an random fight. You can still collect the bounty on them, though.

A PlotTwist where another character in the story has accomplished one of your mission objectives for you. Unfortunately for you (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), getting to the point to receive the MacGuffin or benefit is just as hard as accomplishing the mission yourself.

You may have to do an entire dungeon to get to one of your objectives, only to find out that someone else's done it.

* A suspicious number of characters in the first two ''VideoGame/{{Banjo-Kazooie}}'' games offer you "this shiny thing I found earlier" (or some variation thereof), and that "shiny thing" always happens to be one of the jigsaw pieces you are after. They will sometimes specify where they found it, and in these cases it will ''always'' be somewhere the player can very easily reach, meaning had the heroes arrived a little earlier, there would have been an easy jigsaw to grab. Even some of the good guys who want Banjo and Kazooie to succeed in killing the witch will have these Jiggies, and will extort the player for them by forcing them to perform some mundane challenge, most often collecting [number] [object], before they will cough up the puzzle piece, even though according to their positions in the story they ''want'' you to get as many Jiggies as possible. (These challenges are sometimes fun, however.) Essentially, they've done the job of finding the jigsaws for you, but want you to do even more than they had to in order to get it from ''them''.

** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' you are told you need to collect six medallions, which is to say five since the quest giver gives you one to start off.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'' does this in the final dungeon: As Link approaches the tower where the Master Key is being held, he gets attacked by some {{mooks}}, but several secondary characters arrive and deal with them from the grounds. Admittedly, they were just a few small mooks Link could have easily taken care of anyways (if not for CutsceneIncompetence), but, still, it was nice to see some Hylians finally doing something to protect their country instead of just leaving everything in the hands of a green-garbed teenager, like they usually do.

* ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes''.
** In the first game, as you prepare to fight [[spoiler:ranked #5: Letz Shake, [[FanNickname Mr. Sir Henry Motherfucker]] kills him]]. Fortunately, you get to make up for it in the end, [[spoiler:in an optional final battle with Henry.]]
** In addition, Travis starts the game at rank 11 because he already killed Helter Skelter in the opening scene.
** ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes2DesperateStruggle'':
*** Here [[spoiler:you actually get to fight Letz Shake]].
*** There's the rank [[spoiler:10 battle (Letz Shake kills ranks 11 through 22 off-screen), along with the fights for ranks 5 and 6 (to repay Travis for getting him out of a coma, Henry kills them, gives Travis the ranks, and sends him pictures of the aftermath just to rub it in) He also mocks the player for complaining about it by saying something about there being no way you could have done these fights anyway, because the game is already packed full.]]

* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' has ''Luigi'' searching for stars on his own. Unfortunately, you still need to help him get back to the Observatory, and he gives up after 3 stars, but still.

*** Except that he still taunts you from areas that are impossible to access without solving various puzzles, and [[OffscreenTeleportation somehow manages to get ahead of you when there's only one way further]].

* ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' is ''supposed'' to have quite a few Players also solving the puzzles with you (most of them just seem to be morons who can't even kill the standard Noise). If any Player succeeds at the missions each day, however, any and all survivors will still go on to the next round (this may or may not apply to missions with no time limit). This is surprisingly used twice in the game for plot-related effect, first when [[spoiler:Beat and Rhyme taking out a boss you almost killed right before time runs out]], and later when Neku loses in Tin Pin Slammer (the objective was to claim the Tin Pin Golem via tourney), but two other Players win it instead [[spoiler:when Joshua rigs ''their'' game by switching the non-Player's pins for fakes]], and once just to Handwave something (a wall is up when approached one way, but down going the other way).
** Also in the endgame area, you find [[spoiler:someone has already killed Taboo Sho for you, and buried him under a pile of his own "artwork". Even though he had no problems kicking your ass and was alive five minutes earlier.]]
** [[JustifiedTrope Justified,]] in that the person who did it was [[spoiler:Joshua, who is secretly God-like in power, and manipulating everyone to boot.]]

* In StarFox64 in Sector X, your mission is to invade the enemy base and destroy their secret weapon, only for you to discover the base in pieces when you finally do get there, [[spoiler: thanks to the secret weapon malfunctioning]].

* In both SpaceRangers and {{Vangers}} you can accept an assassination mission only for your mark to be killed by someone else in an random fight. You can still collect the bounty on them, though.

** Also in the endgame area, you find [[spoiler:someone has already killed Taboo Sho for you, and has been buried under a pile of garbage. Even though he had no problems kicking your ass and was alive five minutes earlier.]]

** [[JustifiedTrope Justified,]] in that the person who did it was[[spoiler: Joshua, who is secretly God-like in power, and manipulating everyone to boot.]]

* ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' is ''supposed'' to have quite a few Players also solving the puzzles with you (most of them just seem to be morons who can't even kill the standard Noise). If any Player succeeds at the missions each day, however, any and all survivors will still go on to the next round (this may or may not apply to missions with no time limit). This is surprisingly used twice in the game for plot-related effect, first when [[spoiler:Beat and Rhyme taking out a boss you almost killed right before time runs out]], and later when Neku loses in Tin Pin Slammer (the objective was to claim the Tin Pin Golem via tourney), but two other Players win it instead [[spoiler:when Joshua rigs ''their'' game by stealing the non-Player's pins for fakes]], and once just to Handwave something (a wall is up when approached one way, but down going the other way).

* ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' is ''supposed'' to have quite a few Players also solving the puzzles with you (most of them just seem to be morons who can't even kill the standard Noise). If any Player succeeds at the missions each day, however, any and all survivors will still go on to the next round (this may or may not apply to missions with no time limit). This is surprisingly used twice in the game for plot-related effect, first when [[spoiler:Beat and Rhyme taking out a boss you almost killed right before time expired]], and later when Neku loses in Tin Pin Slammer (the objective was to claim the Tin Pin Golem via tourney), but two other Players win it instead [[spoiler:when Joshua rigs ''their'' game by stealing the non-Player's pins for fakes]], and once just to Handwave something (a wall is up when approached one way, but down going the other way).

* In VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia, it turns out that Kratos has already done much of the legwork required to obtain the materials for [[spoiler:the Eternal Ring]], leaving only the aionis by the time [[spoiler:the party invades the Tower of Salvation]].

* Somewhat ''annoyingly'' averted in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure''. With the RashomonStyle story structure, everyone puts themselves in the spotlight, which means that every time a character is present during a boss' intro cutscene, that has character HAS to fight that boss, even if you've already defeated that boss in another character's story. One of the biggest examples is Chaos 4. Since Sonic, Tails ''and'' Knuckles witness its creation, you have to fight him once for each of their stories.

A Plot Twist where another character in the story has accomplished one of your mission objectives for you. Unfortunately for you (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), getting to the point to receive the MacGuffin or benefit is just as hard as accomplishing the mission yourself.

* During the main quest of ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'', the Greybeards task you with retrieving the artifact "The Horn of Jurgen Windcaller." You go through the ruin where it's located and arrive at the room where the Horn is located...only to discover that someone else has already taken it and left a note addressed to you (the Dragonborn) in its place. (For extra measure, all of the traps are AlreadyUndoneForYou.) The rest of the quest involves tracking down the person who took the Horn.
** Even more jarring, [[FridgeLogic just how the heck did the thief get past the trap that requires using the Whirlwind Sprint shout]] anyway?