Empty Room Psych: Difference between revisions
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[[File:00000 2384.jpg|frame|{{color|white|Move along, nothing to see here. No, really, we mean it. Move along!}}]]
{{quote|'''''Never''''' provide a dungeon without treasure. The longer they search and find nothing, the more your players will be ''convinced'' that the treasure is bountiful and exceptionally well-hidden. If left unchecked, they will eventually dismantle and excavate the entire site in their search for loot.
|'''[[DM of the Rings]] XIX''', "[http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p{{=}}713 A Pinata of Stone]", [[The Rant]].}}
Over decades of play, gamers have been conditioned with the notion that there is no such thing as an "empty" room -- [[The Law of Conservation of Detail]] demands that if a room is placed in a game, it must do ''something'' of value, be it a scripted plot event or NPC, [[Dungeon Shop]], [[Level Grinding|monsters to slay]], [[Inexplicable Treasure Chests]] containing [[Healing Potion|healing items]] or weapons/ammo, [[Plot Coupon]]s to pick up, etc etc. After all, programmers and writers have limited time and money to do this, so they won't needlessly create a majestic cathedral and fill it with ... empty white space to distract the player from [[Notice This|more important stuff]]. Plus, why torture those players out for a [[100% Completion]] by adding loads of [[Copy and Paste Environments|copy-pasted rooms]] with [[Missing Secret|nothing in them]]?
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** There is wildlife to be found. Hawks will buzz you as you ride your horse. If they fly close enough you can grab them for a short glide. The same goes for the [[Disturbed Doves|doves]] hanging out back at Mono's place. If you happen to see any fish they can also be grabbed for a ride. Normal lizards everywhere can be killed and eaten to regain health but your health regenerates anyway so why bother? Here and there an invincible turtle.
** In the 5C section of the map you will find the only genuine [[Easter Egg]] in the entire game. Near the shine there is a path down the cliff. Follow it and you will find the beach where Yorda and the horned boy washed up at the end of ''[[Ico]]''.
* The ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' game for the SNES was filled with enormous, sprawling, gigantic... repeating screens. Literally ninety percent of every dungeon is absolutely worthless and serves no purpose other than [[Guide Dang It|confusing the hell out of you and getting you lost.]] And because of lazy graphics design, ''every room looks the same.'' Half the time, you think you're going in a circle, but you're not. It's just another goddamn empty room that looks just like the empty room you passed through a few minutes ago.
* ''[[Ys]] Book I and II'' has a meaningless alcove at the entrance to the Shrine, and an empty room behind the boss room in the Abandoned Mine. The Cavern of Rasteenie and Solomon Shrine in Book II also have many useless dead-end rooms.
* ''[[Enter the Matrix]]'' had an Empty Level Psych. One level in the vampire mansion consisted of walking from one door to another in the same room, then loading the next level. Considering how dodgy the game was, chances are it was just oversight on someone's part.
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* ''7 Days A Skeptic'' from the ''[[Chzo Mythos]]''. has a recreation room in the ship, with arcade games, books and an air hockey table and is pretty much the only room that has no relevence to the story besides decoration. [[Ben Croshaw|Yahtzee's]] commentary on the special edition mockingly points this out.
* In ''[[Myst]]'', the temple in Channelwood is completely irrelevant to solving the game. It's just for decoration, and horror, what with the scary masks, the sacrificial altar, and the hologram of Achenar trying to speak the tree-dweller's language.
** Sirrus and Achenar's rooms in the various worlds ''appear'' to e this at first, occasionally containing a hidden Plot Coupon but otherwise seeming to be there purely for flavour, and to give you some insights into their personalities... Insights that end up being crucial to solving the game's final puzzle, and answering the driving question of the whole plot: Which son of Atrus should you help to escape?
* ''Inherit the Earth''. Dear god, ''Inherit the Earth''. You spend the better part of the game wandering through a town and finding out in which two houses there is actually something relevant.
* Played to the hilt in ''[[Yume Nikki]]''. This being a game loaded with [[Nightmare Sequence]]s, you can guess [[Nothing Is Scarier|what they're intended to do to the player]].
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** ''[[Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire]]'': There's a similar, tiny cave right next to Fortree City in Ruby and Sapphire called the "Scorched Slab" that only exists to house a single TM. Hatching Pokémon in it will list it as a separate birth location, à la the above cathedral. While even the tiniest bodies of water elsewhere will contain Pokémon who attack when surfing or fishing, you cannot catch ANYTHING in the relatively large body of water you enter this cave in. It was widely believed that this cave would gain significance in ''Pokémon Emerald'', but it remained as useless as ever.
*** Rumour has it that the Scorched Slab is a homage to the tale of Amaterasu, and that cave represents the one the goddess hid herself in the myth. And that would be the reason for having TM11 (Sunny Day) there.
*** The remake ''[[Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire]]'' makes the Scorched Slab a larger dungeon, adds a few [[Com Mons]], and gives it a bigger purpose: There is a rock blocking the way down to the lowest level that you need Strength to move. Do so early in the game and go down and you'll find...nothing. Just a big, empty ominous cavern, suggesting it's just another example of this Trope. {{spoiler|However, if you go to the Scorched Slab after dealing with Kyogre/Groundon, you'll find Flannery down there looking for Heatran, and if you go to the bottom level then, you'll find a portal that leads to Heatran itself.}}
** A rom hack of the Generation 3 games had a similar truck, which would reference the original rumor if examined. There was also a patch of grass in ''Gold and Silver'', similar to the one near Pallet, only accessible by wallhacking; there ''were'' actually Celebi in there.
** There were many [[Urban Legend of Zelda|weird theories]] about Dark Caves and what happens if you walk through them without using Flash. As with many similar [[Image Board]] [[creepypasta]]s, they were made up from start to finish.
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