History Main / GameplayGuidedAmnesia

** Probably due to this trope's ubiquity, and since this was the case in the first game, some reviewers assumed that starting with amnesia would also be the case for the sequel. This prompted lead designer Chris Avellone to explicitly debunk the claim on the official forums, along with an admission that he "doesn't get how this keeps popping up."

* ''VidoeGame/MassEffect2'' tries to kind of avoid the trope, so instead of having lost all memories, Shepard gets killed within the first three minutes and then spends the next two years in a secret lab in which the body and brain are restored to their original status. While all memories are restored, you're still back at Level 1. [[JustifiedTrope Which makes sense, because you essentially got a whole new body and have been dead/in a coma for two years.]]

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' frames the tutorials mostly as Quistis, as a [=SeeD=] instructor, explaining the game mechanics to Squall, her student. Of course, since the game opens on the day of Squall's final exam, he should really know all of this stuff already. It becomes particularly {{egregious}} when she tells him, at the beginning of the first battle, how to use his weapon. And then shortly thereafter asks if he remembers how. In a disturbing [[JustifiedTrope justification]], it's revealed that the mechanics of magic in the game often result in massive memory loss. One could assume that "You do know that, right?" type questions are a common means of detection for when this happens. Of course, Quistis is just as surprised to learn about the memory problem as everyone else...

* Geralt begins ''TheWitcher'' with amnesia after an attack, and the implication that he's BackFromTheDead. This justifies exposition and eliminates the need for Geralt to know as much about himself as fans of the novels do.

* Justified in the original ''{{Driver}}'', in which the main character must pull off a series of driving moves in a parking garage before the criminals will hire him.

* ''VideoGame/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' for the XBox. By season three, when the game happened, she's already an accomplished Slayer. The training level happens as part of yet another training test done by the Watcher's Council. Which makes sense in context, as the Council is canonically known for not being in touch with reality.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' manages to reverse the trope; the tutorials feature Cloud explaining the game mechanics to {{NPC}}s, rather than vice-versa.
* ''Final Fantasy VII'' spin-off game ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'' walks headlong into it, however, with 2nd Class SOLDIER Zack needing his friend Kunsel to teach him how to perform basic functions such as taking on missions. In a hidden cutscene Kunsel finally comments on how strange it is that a person who knows absolutely nothing about his job could hold the second-highest rank in the organization.

* Probably due to this trope's ubiquity, and since this was the case in the first ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' game, some reviewers assumed that starting with amnesia would also be the case for the sequel. This prompted lead designer Chris Avellone to explicitly debunk the claim on the official forums, along with an admission that he "doesn't get how this keeps popping up."
** In the first game, too, we're not talking the protagonist not remembering anything like in ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'', and there's actually little exposition that would require anything more than the situation that you see. At the very beginning, you ''can'' ask what the name of the ship you're on refers to, but even the exposition NPC will [[LampshadeHanging think that very odd]].
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' frames the tutorials mostly as Quistis, as a [=SeeD=] instructor, explaining the game mechanics to Squall, her student. Of course, since the game opens on the day of Squall's final exam, he should really know all of this stuff already. It becomes particularly {{egregious}} when she tells him, at the beginning of the first battle, how to use his weapon. And then shortly thereafter asks if he remembers how.
** In a disturbing [[JustifiedTrope justification]], it's revealed that the mechanics of magic in the game often result in massive memory loss. One could assume that "You do know that, right?" type questions are a common means of detection for when this happens. Of course, Quistis is just as surprised to learn about the memory problem as everyone else...
*** She probably just [[FridgeBrilliance forgot]].

* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' justifies it with the PC getting a bullet to the head in the opening. On beginning play, the reviving doctor tests the PC on various cognitive and motor functions.
** However, {{WordOfGod}} holds that the PC does not actually have amnesia. It can be assumed that the Courier is oblivious to many things because s/he is new to the region.

** In the first game, too, we're not talking the protagonist not remembering anything like in ''PlanescapeTorment'', and there's actually little exposition that would require anything more than the situation that you see. At the very beginning, you ''can'' ask what the name of the ship you're on refers to, but even the exposition NPC will [[LampshadeHanging think that very odd]].

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* Averted in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}''. Depending on their stats, the PC may have to ask about things that are glaringly obvious to the player, like what a ''farmer'' is doing. However, a player with high intelligence and the right skills can not only tell right off the bat what the farmer is doing, but also suggest him ways to get a higher crop yield from his fields.

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* The first few chapters of ''VideoGame/AdvanceWars 2'' and ''Dual Strike'' serves the function of the JustifiedTutorial found in ''Advance Wars 1''. To provide variety, the character 'teaching' and the character being 'taught' varies from level to level.

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* In ''PsiOpsTheMindgateConspiracy'', protagonist Nick Scryer takes an amnesia-inducing drug in order to infiltrate a terrorist organization, and gradually remembers how to use his many powers as the game progresses.

* In ''AgarestSenki2,'' after Weiss gets flung out of the gods territory, he gets a LaserGuidedAmnesia and thus forgets his skills. He then gets a tutorial from Aina and from the others. [[spoiler: There's a good reason for that.]]

* ''SecondSight'' has the whole plot revolving around John Vattic's amnesia and slowly remembering past events and relearning his PsychicPowers. Subverted with the twist that [[spoiler:he's not remembering the past; the past is the present, and what we assume is the present for him is actually a vision of the future]].

* An odd variation occurs in ''RomancingSaGa: Minstrel Song'': the character Darque has IdentityAmnesia; if recruited, he has a subplot where he slowly regains his memories. However, which memories he regains are based on which stats he develops -- and with each memory regained, he also gains a free level in one of two different classes. [[spoiler: This is because there's [[OurSoulsAreDifferent somebody else]] in there, meaning the player can engineer or prevent a SplitPersonalityTakeover.]]

* Strangely played in RivieraThePromisedLand, Ein, [[TheHero the hero Grim Angel]] is needed to be told how to fight. This can be quite justified since it's his first battle, but even though he get knocked out and lose his memory later on, he doesn't need any tutorial to help him reminding how to fight or use a LimitBreak.

* The first few chapters of ''AdvanceWars 2'' and ''Dual Strike'' serves the function of the JustifiedTutorial found in ''Advance Wars 1''. To provide variety, the character 'teaching' and the character being 'taught' varies from level to level.

* ''[[VideoGame/{{STALKER}} S.T.A.L.K.E.R.]]'' uses this one to its full extent. It looks like the amnesia is merely gameplay guided. When the character finds out [[spoiler: stuff that needs to be spoilered]], the justification is more like TheReveal.

* Part of the reason for the main character switch in ''MetalGearSolid2''. There's only so many ways you can write "I shouldn't have to tell ''you'' this, of course."

* In AgarestSenki2, after Weiss gets flung out of the gods territory, he gets a LaserGuidedAmnesia and thus forgets his skills. He then gets a tutorial from Aina and from the others. [[spoiler: There's a good reason for that.]]

* ''FinalFantasyVIII'' frames the tutorials mostly as Quistis, as a [=SeeD=] instructor, explaining the game mechanics to Squall, her student. Of course, since the game opens on the day of Squall's final exam, he should really know all of this stuff already. It becomes particularly {{egregious}} when she tells him, at the beginning of the first battle, how to use his weapon. And then shortly thereafter asks if he remembers how.

Video games work much the same way. However, video games developers are faced with a problem. Giving the player a [[HeKnowsAboutTimedHits tutorial]] or providing them with exposition often entails providing the ''PlayerCharacter'' with information he already knows. To get around this, developers will sometimes strike the player character with amnesia or memory loss. However, more often that not there will be no reasonable explanation for it. Expect lines such as "I shouldn't have to tell you this, but..." or "And just as a reminder..."

* ''MegaManZero'' has Zero wake up with almost no memory of his [[MegaManX past]]. Since he's been asleep for 100 years, this doesn't make much difference to the plot -- the real point is to explain why the "legendary hero" has skill level 1 with his own sword. (It also conveniently allows the X games to continue without affecting what Zero should remember later on.) ''Zero 2'' and ''3'' get better mileage out of the amnesia by "revealing" things that Zero was actually around for in the past.
** Justified in that Zero in the Mega Man Zero series is not the same Zero from the X series. Its revealed that Zero is actually a copy that inherited the spirit of the non-psychopathic original.

* The the protagonist of the first ''{{Disgaea}}'' game is out of shape after sleeping for 2 years, has [[OverratedAndUnderLeveled lost all his power,]] and requires a recap on the basics of combat.

* The tutorial in ''PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' consists ''entirely'' of an {{NPC}} giving the player (controlling the titular, fully qualified attorney) a walkthrough of the legal system of the gameworld. In the first sequel, ''PhoenixWrightAceAttorney: Justice For All'', though, the same procedure was justified with Phoenix suffering from [[EasyAmnesia amnesia due to injury]].

** And in the third game, ''Trials and Tribulations'', your first case has the aforemented NPC being told the legal system by ''her'' actual mentor. Even though it's her second trial. Even though everyone was perfectly content to let her go tutorial-less in her ''first'' trial, which you get to play later.

** Even though the fourth game opens with another rookie, it finally averts the trope by assuming Apollo knows how the system works but at the same time simply asks if he wants to go over a refresher of the basics before getting into the first cross-examination.
** Similar to the ''Trials and Tribulations'' example, ''Miles Edgeworth: Ace Attorney Investigations'' has the 4th case being Edgeworth's first time doing an investigation, but it's the first case in the game that acts as a tutorial. Just like in Apollo Justice, you can have the basics explained to you if you want and if you choose to do so, it is Edgeworth himself who explains the basics. It is justified since he tells Gumshoe how he does his investigations.

* ''Videogame/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' for the XBox. By season three, when the game happened, she's already an accomplished Slayer. The training level happens as part of yet another training test done by the Watcher's Council. Which makes sense in context, as the Council is canonically known for not being in touch with reality.

* Every ''RuneFactory'' protagonist so far has begun with a case of amnesia (though [[RuneFactoryOceans the next]] supposedly won't). WordOfGod has it that there is no deep meaning to this other than gameplay convenience.

*** Actually he is the original AI, it's just that [[BodySurf he's not in his original body]].