Door to Before: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

{{quote|"Oh my god, this is ''where I just came from!'' Am I going in circles?"|'''Gordon Freeman,''' ''[[Freeman's Mind]]''}}

 

These are a favorite of [[Speed Run|Speedrunners]], as it's quite common for games to have glitches that make it possible to open the one-way doors from the wrong way, skipping minutes to hours of gameplay.

{{examples}}

== [[Video Games]] ==

* ''[[Ico]]'' is an entire Door to Before moment. It starts out deep within a castle's catacombs, then works its way into an [[Escort Mission]] that takes [[Kid Hero|Ico]] and [[Fallen Princess|Yorda]] through a game-long flight across a full-scale island fortress. They navigate [[Broken Bridge|inconveniently gaping chasms]], [[Death Trap|death-rigged rooms]], [[Block Puzzle|tedious puzzle-based chambers]] and basically tour the whole building - ramparts, gardens, cemeteries - to [[Locked Door|unlock the one escape door]]. When you finally open the doors, '' {{spoiler|[[Save the Princess|she gets kidnapped]]}}'', so you have to climb your way ''back'' to where you started out at the catacombs for [[Final Boss|one last fight]].

** The exit from Ludo Kressh's tomb in the sequel, although it isn't visible from the other side.

* A good number of ''Zelda'' games have made use of this, which happens when Link grabs the Triforce piece, instrument, or whatever other quest item he beat the dungeon's boss to get.

*** it's implied that link walks out of the lightworld dungeons, as the door opens when you grab the pendant. he instead uses the mirror in the dark world because the doors stay closed when he grabs the crystals.

** ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time|The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time]]'' and later games have Link entering a portal of light that opens up in the ground after beating a boss.

* All 4 campaigns in [[Guild Wars]] end with the character winning the final mission, going to a "victory celebration area", than leaving that area to an earlier outpost. The most fitting example is probably the Nightfall campaign, where the last few missions involve the character getting taken to a realm in another dimension, fighting through several missions to finally kill the [[Big Bad]], than leaving through a portal to the big city on the starter island.

 

* In an example that either inspired or was inspired by this trope, [[Conan the Barbarian]] and [[Five-Man Band|his party]] end up right where they started in ''Conan The Destroyer'' by smashing through a wall.

* Used well in ''[[National Treasure]]'' - {{spoiler|when the [[Big Bad]] leaves the heroes stranded in an underground mine shaft while he tracks down the next clue. Ben notes that the first thing the builders would have done after completing the first shaft would have been to cut a secondary shaft to promote air flow and decrease the danger of cave-ins. They quickly located the second and unguarded exit... which happens to be in the hidden Treasure Room}}.

** In ''The Book of Secrets'' - {{spoiler|After barely surviving the booby-trapped and decaying corridors leading to the treasure, complete with three complicated counterweight devices, the group leaves by a corridor that's only a few yards from the surface. The explanation here is that the corridor allows the temple to be flooded and drained at will}}.

 

* There's an example of this in the WIP [[Gender Swapped]] novella in Chapter 3. Jess notices Tess leaning against a door which was noted didn't have a doorknob. Later, after a couple hours, an elevator ride, a Monty Python skit, and several other random events that take place [[Behind The Scenes]] of the hotel. The two eventually end up on the other side of the door.

 

* ''[[Lost]]'' had something similar in season one. The Losties spent about half a season trying to get into the hatch, then when they finally get it open, they have to abseil down as the ladder is broken. Once inside, it turns out there's a door leading outside.

** The creators confirmed that this was actually a mistake, as they ''should'' have been able to get in through that door.

** How is that a mistake? No one on the outside knew about front door. Also, they couldn't have gotten in, it also was locked. (Although Desmond would have been more likely to open the door if someone was pounding on it.)

 

* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]''. At the end of EX2 ''Dungeonland'', a door in the Mad Feast Hall (the last encounter) takes the [[PC]]s back to the Magic Mirror house where they first entered the adventure.

 

* ''[[The Simpsons]]'' plays this for laughs when Mr. Burns decides to shut off power to Springfield. With Mr. Smithers, they enter a passage behind a bookcase through Burns' office, slide down firepoles, gain access to a vault via retinal scanner, and reach the main power room...where they then shoo off a dog who got in through the room's broken screen door.

 

* Most movie theaters are designed like this, with a long, convoluted pathway that leads past the box office, a concession stand or two, and the ticket taker before reaching your theater. The way out, on the other hand, is often a one-way door that takes you directly out to the main lobby or even the parking lot.

** The same for emergency exit doors, at least to a lesser extent.