There must be a TVTropes term/entry...

[seawasp]

... for the phenomenon in videogames in which the characters are in trouble, a new character (or one they've occasionally encountered before in mysterious circumstances) intervenes and blows away the monstrous opposition with an incredibly cool power/attack, and then this cool guy joins the party...

... and is now probably weaker than your main characters. If you encountered NOW the thing that he beat ten minutes ago, it'd hand ALL of your asses to you on a silver platter on a bed of parsley, with Mr. Cool Attack being the first one to go.

I can't seem to figure out what they would call it, though. Any help?

Comments

[xyzzysqrl]

This sounds like it.

[sub-musashi.livejournal.com]

Good god, that's exactly it! How does TV Tropes do it?!?!?

[meril.livejournal.com]

And this trope, which is even more to the point.

I was going to say "around here, I call it bad game design."

[seawasp]

No, actually, the other entry was exactly what I was thinking of -- one of your new PERMANENT party members whose cutscene FMV entrance kicked ass beyond belief, but as soon as he joins, he can't kick your pet dog's ass, let alone anything worth fighting.

[seawasp]

That's it. No wonder I didn't see it myself; I would not have called it that, because their term doesn't carry with it the implication of it (A) being a PC that will/does join your party, and (B) that he's subsequently depowered. Their phrase just sounds like "in a cutscene, your power is maximized", which is only a small part of the concept and might only mean that things LOOK more powerful and spectacular when the FMV starts rolling.

[sub-musashi.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a DMPC?

[seawasp]

No, a DMPC REMAINS that powerful when he's in your party. In fact, he's so Wonderful that he can do ANYTHING in the bad versions of DMPC. A good version is like a good Mary-Sue: very good at what they do, but has both problems and weaknesses so that everyone else still gets their spotlight time.

(assuming that DMPC means to you what it does to me: DM's Player Character)

[ninjarat.livejournal.com]

Bad. :)

I miss RPG World.

[seawasp]

What happened to RPGworld? I did used to follow it.