Basic Trope: Despite the player knowing how to perform a certain move, the character can't do it.
- Straight: In the fighting game Tales of Troperia, Bob's super move, the Demon Uppercut, requires a series of button presses - but even if the player knows the sequence, Bob can't pull it off until he's leveled up enough.
- Exaggerated:
- The above is true for everything, even a basic punch or kick, until Bob walks into the tutorial room.
- You Have Researched Breathing
- Attempting to use a password before Bob learns it will result in a Non-Standard Game Over where the rest of the party has him burnt as a witch.
- Downplayed:
- Bob can still pull off the Demon Uppercut before he reaches the appropriate level, but it won't be as powerful.
- If Bob hasn't learned Demon Uppercut it can still be performed but requires pressing the button sequence in sync with the animation and prevents the player from interrupting with dodges or block. Once learned by Bob it works with just the sequence, and not only allows dodges and blocks but even a Lag Cancel to chain Demon Uppercuts without penalty if the player can pull it off.
- Justified: Bob either doesn't know the move yet in-game, or he does but mental blocks keep him from mastering it.
- Inverted:
- Bob forgets certain moves once he's given amnesia in a cut scene.
- The player having Bob use Demon Uppercut causes him to learn everything else about the timeline where he originally learned it and he automatically takes the story on a different path by refusing to repeat his mistakes.
- The player eventually gets the ability to use the demon uppercut to the right trigger if they never used the button combination before the final boss.
- Subverted: Bob can use the Demon Uppercut from the first fight...
- Double Subverted: ...but the game penalizes you if you use it too early.
- Parodied: Bob can't do anything until he's been trained - punch, jump, go to the bathroom...
- Zig Zagged: Certain moves are available from the outset, but the plot-important ones aren't available until you learn them in the storyline.
- Averted:
- Sequence Breaking
- The player assigns moves to single button or button plus direction combos - you cannot assign demon uppercut until after you get it.
- Enforced:
- "The beta testers are saying the game is too easy if Bob can just use his Demon Uppercut in every fight. Make it to where he can't use it until later."
- The controls didn't change from the first game, but some situation in the plot caused Bob to not have his abilities. You have to play through the right scene to get them back.
- Lampshaded: Clay picks up on how Bob is mysteriously using a move that he probably shouldn't know; Clay has only heard of the Dragon Uppercut because he's been to the monastery where it's trained, and as far as Clay's concerned, Bob hasn't.
- Invoked: Evulz specifically hit him with targeted amnesia on any moderately damaging or worse move. Bob needs to break it by getting a refresher from a trainer.
- Exploited: Bob uses a Demon Uppercut, because he's just following the inputs the player did.
- Defied: Tales of Troperia outright adds any newly discovered moves to your known move list.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: "Dammit, I'd be kicking your ass if I could just use Demon Uppercut!" "Ha, try leveling Bob up a bit more and then come back."
- Deconstructed: Bob attempting to use the Demon Uppercut before other proper training results in him breaking his own neck with the force of his blow. There was a reason it was restricted to masters of the art only.
- Reconstructed: Wearing the heavy armor from defeating Empty Knights protects him enough that he can use it early to one-shot bosses at the cost of a third of his max HP.
- Plotted A Good Waste: Tales of Troperia is a time traveling game only disguised as a fighting game. Upon finishing an opponent off with Demon Uppercut, Bob will be questioned on how he was able to pull it off so easily, even though logically it's a technique only used by masters. He can either admit to being a time traveler, or just lie and say he saw some master do it, or say that he only just did it because it only made logical sense for him to perform a move in the heat of the moment, and pretend he didn't even know that he could do that.
Back to You Shouldn't Know This Already. It feels like I should be able to help guide you back, but I can't.
