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Empty Room Psych: Difference between revisions
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{{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|Plot Coupons]] 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 [[Hundred
The purpose of this trope is often to keep players on their toes, either by filling the room with enemies (essentially a trap room) or to get the above confused reaction. Players who run into enough consecutive Empty Room Psych's may overlook or ignore a new one, thinking there's {{color|white|[[Self-Demonstrating Article|nothing]]}} in it, which is of course the one that ''does'' have a goodie. Other times it is entirely unintentional, when the developers [[Dummied Out|forgot to remove a room]] that was part of greater expansion. Then again, it could be the designers really ''do'' just want to give us a [[Scenery Porn|pretty room]] for the sake of it.
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** A seemingly empty room in the fourth dungeon of the Dark World turns out to be important later. After bombing the cracked floor in the room above it, making light shine down into it, and bringing a girl you rescued into it, and having her stand in the light, she {{spoiler|freaks out and reveals herself to be the boss}}.
** ''[[The Legend of Zelda Oracle Games (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda Oracle Games]]'' ''Oracle of Seasons'' and ''Oracle of Ages'' both have a few empty rooms conspicuously placed along your path which can drive a gamer insane until you realize they are only used in the [[One Game for The Price of Two|linked game]].
** ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time]]'' had, not a room, but a hallway. Relating to a TON of fan theories, the "hallway" is in Zora's Domain. It can be seen as both child Link and Adult Link, but it is too far to reach with diving as a child, and as an adult, Zora's Domain is frozen. A certain glitch can get you under the ice and down through the hallway, only to find that it's empty. Before the glitch was common knowledge, many said you could [[Urban Legend of Zelda|obtain the Triforce through this hallway, or access the Unicorn Fountain,]] or achieve some other sort of goal.
*** There's also the hallway at the top of the Kakariko windmill that you need the Longshot to get into. When you get up there and climb to the top you'll find....a chicken. And nothing else. This is presumably to make sure that Kakariko Village doesn't lose its signature sound of clucking, but it's still a strange place to put it.
** The giant egg in ''[[The Legend of Zelda Links Awakening (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda Links Awakening]]'' contains an endless series of identical empty rooms. And, strangely, no matter how far you walk in any direction, the exit is always a short distance below you. {{spoiler|By going through the doors in a specific sequence, you can reach a room with a hole in the floor, which leads to the final boss.}}
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** ''Dawn of Sorrow'' has the piano. It plays notes, has two oddly-labeled keys, and has absolutely no significance beyond that it makes sounds. No items, no secrets, nothing.
** ''Symphony of the Night'' has a few, including the one with the confessional.
*** The confessional room is needed to get a specific item for [[Hundred
*** You can get grape juice which provides a few hit points. Late in the game, when your constitution is higher, it doesn't amount to much, but when you're first there in the chapel, you can just repeatedly collect grape juice (you can always tell when an attacking ghost shows up instead by the color of their outfits) to build up food items for mondo health increase. Though it does take a while, it's not useless: it's an ever respawning source of hit points, whereas meal tickets are limited.
** ''Portrait of Ruin's'' empty rooms actually serve a purpose: to distract the player. Completing at least one quest requires the player to find a dead-end, seemingly empty room...and wait. Nothing else needs to be done, just...wait.
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* ''[[Shadow of the Colossus]]'' averts this [[Trope]] to legendary degree by filling one of the largest open space virtual worlds ever with almost nothing but [[Scenery Porn]]. There are only 16 enemies in the entire game and unless you get horribly lost, you will only visit half the map getting to them. The remaining half is miles of gorgeous open fields, dark valleys, caves, ruins, cliffs, lakes, deserts, and mountains, all fully explorable and stuffed to the brim with absolutely nothing. However, there are several minor and mostly pointless features scattered around the map.
** Eating white lizard tails increases your strength and eating fruit increases your maximum health. They are in fixed locations but will continually respawn so it doesn't qualify as a [[Treasure Hunt]] sidequest. Lizards are usually (but not exclusively) located at the shrines where you can save your game. [[Captain Obvious|The fruit grows on trees.]]
*** They only respawn if a [[New Game
** If you increase your stamina enough you can make it to the secret garden on top of the temple. There you will find an extra special fruit that will affect your maximum health much more dramatically than regular fruit. Unfortunately, in the negative direction.
*** While making your way to the Garden you will pass the very, very long bridge Wander first used to access the temple. If you muster the <s>boredom</s> patience it takes to traverse it you will come to the one and only entrance/exit to the sealed land. A tremendous wind prevents you from walking through. As time wasters go it's a pretty respectable one.
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== Platformer ==
* There is exactly one intentionally empty dead-end in ''[[I Wanna Be the Guy]]''. It's called the Game Over Room, from the decoration that matches the message you get upon [[Everything Trying to Kill You|everything succeeding at killing you]]. It's the safest room in the game-- in the Game Over Room, the only thing that can kill you is the suicide button. It even says so right there. {{spoiler|Except it's not actually empty in the full game. It has one of the secret items needed for [[Hundred
** The {{spoiler|Ryu Hayabusa room}} has a fake error message box that falls and kills you.
* Similarly, one of the World 3 fortresses in ''[[Super Mario Brothers]] 3'' consists of a few very large, empty rooms (though there is a boss at the end). There is, however, a time limit--and no obvious way out.
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* ''[[Divine Divinity]]'' does the same thing ''[[Baldurs Gate]] II'', but with a twist: Many of the highlighted "removables" are useless, nearly useless or have obscure and unessential purposes- basically inventory fillers. Having rooms ''loaded'' with these gives the game extra depth.
* ''[[Planescape Torment]]'' and the Mosaic Crypt in the Weeping Stone Catacombs. The mysterious rusted vents, the worn-to-illegibility scribblings on the tomb walls, the suspiciously lethal traps and even one of the recently deceased Collectors (Gris: ''"...it smells different."'') all suggest there's something special hidden in there. Aside from the massive, conspicuous sarcophagus with an enchanted hammer and some old bones inside, there really isn't. It's been one of the more maddening red herrings in recent CRPGs, most likely caused by the [[Dummied Out|budget/manpower/time/sanity constraints]] so obvious in the Black Isle games of the time.
** The chamber also contains an acid trap, possibly as a [[Shout
* ''[[Might and Magic|Might And Magic IX]]'' was loaded with these, albeit [[Obvious Beta|somewhat unintentionally]].
* ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]'' games have a lot of these; since one of the main points of the games (well, at least, of ''Morrowind'') was exploration, it's inevitable that a lot of the ancestral tombs you explore end up having nothing interesting in them at all.
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* ''Pokémon'' Players have been searching the answer to the following question, ever since ''[[Pokémon Red and Blue (Video Game)|Pokémon Red and Blue]]'' versions came out: "What-the-hell IS in the inaccessible grass next to Pallet Town?!" The wildest theories have found their way to the internet, from wild Celebies (a Pokemon that didn't even exist in that game) over rare items to near invincible Pokemon on level 100...however, if you use a hacking device to cross the barrier in front of the grass, you'll find that inside there is just one thing: An Instant-Game-Over. Once you set foot in the grass your game crashes.
** It is possible to get into the grass if you go all the way north to Viridian City, where the patches end, then use the walk-through-walls code to enter the patch of grass from the north, onto a panel of grass one tile beyond the east or west edge of the grass. Walking in it will encounter Route 1 Pokémon on Route 1, and (I think) nothing in Pallet. Walking far enough from Pallet will find...[[Wrap Around|a glitchy version of Pallet Town]]. Kick in the face or what?
** And the whole truck issue. There's a singular truck in the game by the S.S. Anne, that's only reachable if you learn Surf before having the SS go away. Since decoration in the game was rare, there were loads of rumours about it holding a Mew. The remakes FireRed and LeafGreen gave a [[Shout
** In ''Pokemon Silver and Gold'', you had Ruins of Alpha Cave. There was [[Urban Legend of Zelda|quite a story about those caves]], a whole special type of pokemon & pokedex associated to it (Unowns & UnownDex) and even an odd radio-station playing. Yet, the players who spent their time exploring it and capturing all Unowns would eventually discover they had been wasting their time, since there is nothing special about it. This was changed in ''[[Pokémon Gold and Silver (Video Game)|Pokémon Crystal]]'', and even further in Pokémon SoulSilver and HeartGold.
** The cathedral (officially called "Foreign Building") in ''[[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl (Video Game)|Pokémon Diamond and Pearl]]'' has a special design and all, but there's nothing interesting in there, not even music. Some players go there so they can play music with the chiming sound on their badges or get Pokémon cries recorded. Silly, yes, but it has been done.
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* In ''[[Seiken Densetsu]] III'', in the town of Astoria, there is a house in the top-right corner of the map. Inside the house is... nothing. Just a single room. No treasure, no NPCs, no character monologues, nothing. It serves absolutely no purpose whatsoever and is the only house in the entire game not to feature at least a token NPC. This is somewhat vindicated by {{spoiler|a minor battle occurring in the house during an eerie revisit of Astoria, in one of the game's three final gauntlets.}}
* Most of ''[[Crisis Core]]'''s mission dungeons are made of this. Most would only contain 2 or 3 treasure boxes. Some of the missions on the large plains even contain none.
* ''[[Sailor Moon Another Story]]'' does this massively, and often in no-encounter settings. The hospital, elementary school and university in Tokyo have many repeated identical rooms with nothing but background objects. Later in the game you come across towns and ruins with whole buildings that contain nothing. Even worse, there are many barrels and similarly-inviting background objects, and only three of these in the whole game have items (necessary for [[Hundred
== Action RPG ==
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[[Category:Self Demonstrating Article]]
[[Category:Empty Room Psych]]
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