Basic Trope: A Video Game punishes the player for neglecting their Relationship Values with other characters.
- Straight: Hiro has to work to befriend his teammates Mana, Pike, Ichigo, Kowalski, Cherry, Ayanami and Mark. If he neglects their relationship, he can't team up with them for Combination Attacks.
- Exaggerated:
- If he neglects to befriend any of his teammates, they may leave or turn on him.
- On top of having to manage his relationships with all of his True Companions, Hiro also has to consider his relationship with important NPCs like Princess Velvet, her sister Satine, their maids Minako and Kaya, the head of the knights Isaac, his best man Kelvin... the list goes on and on. Neglecting any of them could trigger a Non-Standard Game Over.
- If Bob goes the entire game without engaging with any of his in-game relationships, he'll eventually snap and become the Main Character Final Boss that his teammates will be forced to fight against.
- Downplayed: If you are intentionally rude to characters, you can lose items and dialogue options that give more flavor to the world, but you never miss any story or gameplay items from it.
- Justified:
- Hiro starts as a total stranger and must earn their trust; otherwise, he can't function effectively as their leader.
- Hiro runs on The Power of Friendship.
- The game makes it a point to give the player incentives to engage with its Relationship Values. It also punishes the player via not allowing them to use combination attacks or restricting access to each party members stronger attacks, will also hit them with a Non-Standard Game Over at various points, allow them to Earn Your Bad Ending and if on route to the bad ending, Hiro becomes a Main Character Final Boss.
- Inverted:
- Hiro has to push his Locked Out of the Loop friends away, or they wind up Killed to Uphold the Masquerade, causing him to suffer a Heroic BSoD and ending his story.
- Hiro's relationships with the other characters are directly connected to his fighting ability, so failing to get all the best equipment will make everyone hate him.
- The entire game has Hiro trapped in a Lotus-Eater Machine. The goal of the game is to escape by ruining every single relationship in the game by picking every antagonistic option in the game and engaging in Video Game Cruelty Potential at every turn, effectively derailing the narrative of the fake world, and allowing you to fight the True Final Boss who exists in the real world.
- Subverted: Hiro and his party are all on a mission to save the world, and all recognise that they need each other, even if they cannot stand each other at all.
- Double Subverted: Hiro and his party are all on a mission to save the world, and all recognise that they need each other, even if they cannot stand each other at all, right up until a pivotal moment in the plot where it turns out only the power of friendship can save mankind.
- Parodied: The party will stop fighting mid-battle, and insist that Hiro give them gifts or spend time with them before they will fight.
- Zig Zagged: In the beginning, relationship meters are purely cosmetic, not even affecting dialogue. However, later in the game, the party starts gaining stronger abilities which are permanently missable if Hiro has a low relationship with them. Eventually though, the same party members gain stronger abilities exclusively if your relationship with them is low.
- Averted: Relationship meters are purely cosmetic, or aren't included.
- Enforced: The various relationships Hiro can forge in the game unlock various choices and decisions that lead to the game's various endings; failing to work on them properly means the player will wind up stuck with a Bad Ending or even a mere Non-Standard Game Over.
- Lampshaded: "It's petty of me to leave you when you're trying to save the world, Hiro, but I can't take you anymore."
- Invoked: Emperor Evulz sends his agents to sow distrust among the True Companions that Hiro must work to overcome.
- Exploited: Emperor Evulz' spies inform him of the strained relationships, and he tries to tempt those allies into joining The Empire.
- Defied: ???
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed:
- Hiro magically becomes stronger or weaker depending on whether he is liked or disliked by society at large. Because hardly anyone knows who he is, he starts off very weak...
- Hiro's party members start to turn against him if he acts callously towards them. This may cause them to pull a Face–Heel Turn against you, their dialogue becomes more insulting and personal, and they will outright abuse Friendly Fire any chance they can get. Unfortunately for Hiro, his quest becomes far more difficult because everyone hates his guts.
- Reconstructed:
- ...however, as he travels, meeting people and defeating monsters, he starts gaining a reputation among the populace. So, the farther in the game he gets the more he must refrain from taking actions which will hurt his reputation, as every infraction will drastically decrease his strength.
- However, if Hiro is willing to put in the effort, his quest gets gradually easier, being able to induce a Heel–Face Turn in several key antagonists, and he gains the Power of Friendship right before the Climax Boss. Your allies will speak glowingly of you, and will even take the bullet for you if you're at critical HP. With each successful case of Relationship Values, Hiro gains new powers and abilities, allowing him to pull a Curbstomp Battle against Emperor Evulz if he went out of his way to do everything before storming The Very Definitely Final Dungeon.
- Played For Drama: As their trust in him fades, Hiro's companions grow increasingly distant and grow less likely to listen to him. If Hiro doesn't find some way to repair the relationship, he risks losing them for good — one way or another.
Back to You Lose at Zero Trust
