Get on the Boat: Difference between revisions

 

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** ...[[But Thou Must!|Except where the King of Red Lions says you can't]].

 

* The ''[[Monkey Island]]'' series uses this trope often, unsurprisingly as it is a pirate series set in the Caribbean. In each game the player has to look for a ship at some point in order to leave the first island.

* ''[[The Longest Journey]]'' has a boat that the player character has to take over the sea. Naturally, it sinks before you reach your destination, but this time it's all because of you (and it turns out to be a good thing eventually, for you anyway).

* Subverted in ''[[King's Quest VI]]'': Due to the [[Evil Chancellor]]'s machinations, the ferry has ceased to operate. The reason for Alexander to board it anyway is to hear the unemployed ferryman tell him of a [[Warp Whistle|magic map]] that can take him between the islands.

 

* Every major mission in ''[[Deus Ex]]'' required to you take a boat or a helicopter to get to the next one. There is a point where if you don't do an event, {{spoiler|your helicopter blows up}}. However, it's a moot point by that time, as you're already at the final area. It really just depends on how much you like {{spoiler|the pilot, and how much you wanna hear some hilariously poorly acted dialog. Saying "A bomb." in a monotone voice was one of the ''Deus Ex'' fan favourites}}.

** The way the boat/helicopter worked required to have a player finish saying a line of dialog before the trigger happened. However, pirate copies released had unimportant audio (and sometimes, all audio) removed from the game due to connection speeds at the time, causing pirates to be in an [[Unwinnable]] situation. Obviously, dialog that never started can never finish. With cheating, the game could be finishable, but not very enjoyable, as this affected all the Infolink conversations, making it very hard to know what you're supposed to be doing.

* Despite being an FPS and not an RPG, the elevators in ''[[F.E.A.R.]]'' bear a striking resemblance to this trope. When any elevator is both powered up and not chock full of hostiles, it will inevitably be the only way to progress. In at least one instance the player must advance past and then backtrack to the elevators after accomplishing a poor excuse for a [[Fetch Quest]]. The elevators never take you where you need to go, how you need to get there. Most of them shut down partway through, much like a ship that sinks with the player on it. Another stops at each floor to let Replicants shoot at you, reminiscent of the [[Golden Sun]] example. The only elevator ride with no complications drops you off about 0.2 seconds too late to stop a very important civilian NPC from driving away without you.

 

* A lone boat can be found on a riverbank in the text-based ''[[The Hobbit]]'' game. As soon as Bilbo gets into it, it'll start moving, even if Thorin or Gandalf has used that turn to climb back out.

 

* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' has many boats for cross continental travel—woe the traveller with low RAM or a shaky internet connection, though, because the loading screens that result often leave the player stuck on the boat, unable to get off at their destination.

** Another amusing bug would cause the character to spawn into the zone after the boat had moved on, either dumping into the ocean thousands of yards offshore or, with the Horde airships, dropping you from a perilous height.

* The main way to get around the [[Vice City|Rogue Isles]] in ''[[City of Villains]]'' is by ferry. A few zones in ''[[City of Heroes]]'' are accessed mainly by boat as well.

 

* ''[[Spyro the Dragon]]'' games had transports that took you between worlds (and involved [[Loads and Loads of Loading]]) but you often couldn't get on them unless you'd done something (rescued a certain amount of Dragons/Dragon Eggs, had a certain amount of Gems, defeated a boss, etc.)

 

* The demo campaign in ''[[Warcraft]] III'' involves Thrall taking some orcs and getting on a boat, promptly crashing it on an island and recruiting a tribe of trolls there before being chased off the [[Load-Bearing Boss|sinking island]].

** Of course, Thrall fixes his boats, and sails to the continent of Kalimdor, which he... crashes into. Orcs don't seem to be big on sailing.

 

* Arguably overused in ''[[Star Wars]]: [[Knights of the Old Republic]] II'', where ''four'' space ships with the player onboard end up being gunned down and crashing. One of them is the [[Global Airship]], which actually crashes twice throughout the game.

* Some ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' games give you control of the boat, and some don't. They all have one at one point or another, though.

** ''[[Tales of Vesperia]]'' has the party cross the ocean in a villain's ship the first time. It sinks half way across and you have to get rescued by Flynn. For the next trip they get their own boat, which is eventually upgraded to [[Global Airship]] by strapping it to a giant flying whale.

* In ''[[Grandia II]]'', the party is required to get on the good ship ''50/50''. As the world is split by huge crevasses, the sea has a massive waterfall in the middle of it (don't ask how this didn't get filled in the 10,000 years since its creation) and the boat must ''fly'' over it. When stating that ''50/50'' is an odd name for a ship, the owner replies that "that's the odds, sink or swim".

** It eventually gets destroyed by a [[Bonus Boss]] and is ironically fixed for your use by the Captain's rival.

* In the original ''[[Baten Kaitos]]'', Kalas and Xehla used commercial ferries to cross between continents until they saved Diadem, after which the King lent them the use of his personal cruiser as thanks. In the [[Prequel]], Verus gives you the high-tech ''Sfida'' ship after you begin working for him.

* The main characters of ''[[Fire Emblem]]: Blazing Sword'' enlist the help of good-hearted [[pirate]]s to carry them to the Dread Isle of Valor.

* ''[[Baldur's Gate|Baldur's Gate 2]]'' has the player take a ship to the magical asylum of Spellhold. On the way back, the player {{spoiler|has a choice between taking a portal to the Underdark or taking a ship back to the mainland; the ship, however, will be captured by Githyanki and sunk.}}

* In ''[[Chrono Trigger]]'', there's a ferry service between the first two continents...except you can travel between them by foot anyway. There are no [[Random Encounters]], either, so travel by foot is not nearly as time-consuming as it is in many other games of its time.

* In the ''[[Sonic Chronicles]]'' RPG, you're frequently hustled onto the (space) ship and on to the next zone upon beating a boss, with the ship usually disabled immediately when you arrive.

* The first three islands in ''[[Albion]]'' are left this way. Before you can do that you must solve a Murder Mystery, Fetch Quest and Racial Conflict fueled by a [[Government Conspiracy]]. The fourth island has a teleporter and a [[Barrier Maiden]] who can use it.

** In ''[[Phantasy Star]] III'', your [[Transforming Mecha|cyborg party member Wren]] becomes this when you find the right parts. He can also turn into a submarine, which is only needed to access one undersea dungeon.

* ''[[Shining Force]] 2'' uses a boat fairly early as a point of no return, but the whole town goes with you and resettles on the new continent. After that, you'll have to acquire a raft, a "caravan", and a fancy precursor airship to access the more advanced areas.

 

== Web Comics ==

* ''[[RPG World]]'' parodied this, as with every other RPG trope.

* Played straight in ''[[Our Little Adventure]]''. The first Magicant piece is not on the island Julie and her friends were on, so they went back to Huckleton and jumped on a ship to one of the main continents.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:CRPG Tropes]]