And Now for Someone Completely Different

You've beaten the first couple of major bosses, you've leveled up, gotten some new powers, and your character has gone from pathetic to useful. Then the scene changes and you have to start with a brand new character in a somewhat related storyline. Prepare to do this several times for The Rashomon-style storyline to be completed.

Examples

Heavy Rain switches between the four main characters frequently (pictured above), sometimes in the middle of a chapter. Additionally, in two chapters you also get to control a young version of the Origami Killer in Flashback.

In Onimusha 3: Demon Siege the player primarily controls swordsman Samanosuke and policeman Jacques. Roughly in the middle of the game they also briefly control Jacques' fiancee Michelle.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma, the PS3 Updated Re-release of the Xbox remake, has you switching between Ryu and Rachel at certain points in the game.

In Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku 2 and Buu's Fury, you change between characters constantly. There are doors that only certain characters above level X can open. And you have to level ALL of them separately.

Starcraft's campaigns follow a logical story and difficulty order, but the first few Zerg and Protoss levels spoon-feed the new base and unit concepts.

The Ratchet & Clank series is another trope where this is commonplace. In nearly every game the player mainly controls Ratchet, but at times must directly take control of Clank for various reasons (for example, in the first game at one point there's a planet with a hazardous atmosphere so only Clank can head out on his own while Ratchet must stay behind). The spin off Secret Agent Clank inverts this: Clank is the one played as for the majority of the game while Ratchet is the one the player briefly controls at various points.

Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness has players controlling Kurtis Trent for two levels as well as a boss fight in place of Lara Croft.

This is what happens to Yasha from Asura's Wrath. At least for 3 episodes, 1 DLC episode, part of episode 17 and episode 20 in the Part IV Nirvana DLC.

Batman: Arkham Series offers one playable villain per game: The Joker (Asylum), Catwoman (City) and Deathstroke and the pre-Joker Red Hood (Origins).

L.A. Noire has the switching from Cole Phelps to Jack Kelso in the last three Arson cases. Although in the last case, only 1/3 of the part where Cole is played.

In Deadly Premonition, after playing through most of the story as York, some sections near the end have you taking control of Emily, Zach, and the Original Raincoat Killer.