Insurmountable Waist-Height Fence: Difference between revisions

{{quote|'''Soldier:''' It's a chest-high wall, Mr. Smarty Pants. Got any more dumb ideas? Maybe we can ''crowbar'' it away? Or ''kick'' under it? Or ''gravity gun'' through it?

'''Frohman:''' Or climb over it?

 

The phenomenon, found in countless video games, in which a seemingly trivial obstacle—such as a [[Locked Door]]—cannot be circumvented or removed with brute force, [[Statistically Speaking|no matter how powerful the player character(s) is/are]]. This is more jarring when the obstacle in question does not mark the edge of the gameworld, but rather serves to force the player into [[Follow the Plotted Line|taking a particular path]].

 

Compare [[Solve the Soup Cans]], [[Border Patrol]]. Contrast [[Cutting the Knot]], [[Absurdly Ineffective Barricade]]. See also [[Broken Bridge]], [[Dronejam]]. Not to be confused with the [[Naruto the Abridged Series|one-foot-tall brick wall]].

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== Straight Examples ==

 

=== Video Games ===

* ''[[Star Trek Online]]'' has one prominent example. On the Starfleet Academy map you are not able to access the waterfront which is only seperated by literal waist-height fence. Under normal circumstances your character would even be able to jump over it. However, when the area was first released there was a bug that transported you on the other side of the fence and let you explore the area beyond it - including the Golden Gate Bridge and the normally inaccessible shuttlebay atop one of the Academy's buildings.

* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] by Guybrush in ''[[Escape from Monkey Island]]''. On Lucre Island, there's a nice little field which is closed off by nothing more than a very low, wooden fence. Guybrush refuses to cross it, saying, "I could go over there, but... I... really don't WANT to. Yeah..."

* Countless examples of [[Locked Door|locked doors]] seemingly made of flimsy wood being impervious to explosives of all kinds. In ''[[Half Life]]'', Gordon Freeman couldn't knock down locked doors with any of the explosives he was carrying, which included grenades and demolition charges. In its expansion pack "Opposing Force" the character of Adrian Sheppard, despite being a trained marine, cannot breach doors unless he enlists the help of an NPC with a blowtorch. Even worse, the NPC must be kept alive during an [[Escort Mission]], if he's killed, the game ends. Sheppard apparently can't just take the blowtorch from the fallen man and use it himself.

* [[Patapon]] has a strange (and often outrageous) variation of this.Toripons fly very high when in Fever mode; high enough to don't be hit some spear and megapon attacks,and to completely ignore some of the bosses's attacks.But for some reason,they cannot fly over any obstacles;be it stone walls or the low wooden fences or even enemies,so you have to destroy said obstacle in order for them to advance.

* The ''[[Brothers in Arms]]'' games feature highly physically fit paratroopers who are unable to surmount fences and earthen walls that seemingly only reach them to the waist. Curiously enough, during scripted attacks some enemies are capable of jumping over said fences.

** In the second game Sergeant Matt Baker, an NPC who was the player character in the first game, can be seen climbing over one of those low fences that he could not traverse when he was controlled by the player.

** In ''[[Resident Evil]] 5'', there's a [[Light and Mirrors Puzzle]] wherein the light ''kills'' you, and you have to figure out a way to point it where you want without blocking yourself in, ignoring the fact that you could easily get on the ground and crawl under the light.

** There's the scene where you have to wander around on a moving conveyor belt leading to an incinerator and littered with half-dead zombies, in order to get round a metal crate ''that barely comes up to shoulder height'' on the protagonist, who is strong enough to {{spoiler|move a boulder several times his size by punching it}}, but apparently can't lift his own body weight a few feet. To make it worse, the only thing preventing the heroes from going around the box is a ''handrail.''

* The literal insurmountable waist-high fence in ''[[Paper Mario (franchise)|Paper Mario]]''. Early in the game, when you first get to Toad Town, you'll see a Star Piece on the other side of a fence. You have absolutely no way of getting past it until you get Sushie 5 chapters later, even though you can jump HIGHER than the fence to begin with.

** Or how about even earlier, in Goomba Village? Kammy taunts Mario, and drops a Yellow Block on the gate out. Even though Mario can easily jump higher than the nose-high fencing, he can't actually jump over. Same with the fence at the bottom of the cliff the Goomba house is built on: it, too, is blocked with a Yellow Block, and you can't jump the fence. But in both cases, this is a good thing, as if the game didn't force you to get the Hammer, you'd be stopped by later obstacles and unable to harm some of even the earliest enemies, but still, it's a good thing the Hammer didn't fall on the ''other'' side of the fence, or Mario would be stuck...forever.

** ''Eternal Wings'' makes a flimsy justification, then ''Origins'' explains it better; the wings used to be powerful enough to fly around all the time, but they have atrophied greatly over the years. Trying to use them for anything more than a few seconds results in the wings giving out. There's a reason these people use flying boats to get around. Granted, this still doesn't excuse Kalas turning around in Moonguile Forest because a log is blocking his path.

* Partially justified in the game ''[[Oddworld]]: Munch's Oddysee''. Munch is a Gabbit, a one-legged amphibian, and though he can jump more than six feet out of the water, any attempt to jump on land just makes him fall flat on his face. Abe, on the other hand, is a ground-dwelling Mudokon, and can jump really high on the ground (though he has [[Super Drowning Skills]], and can only touch water for a few seconds before dying). However, other Mudokons are too stupid and lazy to jump over a waist high fence, they have to be picked up one by one (by the ''ass'') and thrown over fences. Munch can also clear small fences by jumping over them in his wheelchair, or getting a boost from Abe.

** Which will be a relief, as the original ''[[Fable]]'' was absolutely full of insurmountable fences, rivers, edges, invisible walls, weeds, etc.

** The fence problem may be largely gone but I've run into quite a few Gentle Slopes of Impassability.

** ''[[Crysis Warhead]]'' doesn't. While you can drive down trees with your Armoured Personnel Carrier and blow up whole buildings with nothing but a grenade, you will still get stuck (sometimes permanently) in the same flimsy wood fences that you could kick down even if you ''weren't'' a nano-suit augmented super soldier.

* Parodied in ''[[Leisure Suit Larry]]: Magna Cum Laude''. When Larry examines a road construction site, he says it's a cheap way to block off the player from wandering off the level.

** And the uncrossable water appears as well. The several rivers that appear in the game are all uncrossable despite being a few feet wide and inches deep. And the PC is shown many times in the game to be capable of swimming, including in a couple of fairly large areas that are ''underwater'', yet cannot cross these very small rivers. On the other side, the PC claims that every accident including falling into water causes him/her to drown, even with the Diving Apparatus on. And, luckily, monsters also can't cross such obstacles, but some can be shot over. Coupled with the mobs' lack of any sophisticated pathing mechanics, you can get them stuck on the other side of a rock that is perfectly possible to walk around and shoot them to death.

*** One of the most awkward examples is on the border between a "[[F 2 P]]" area and a "P2P" area. Theres a large hill keeping you in the wilderness, and out of the eastern member area. Just a large hill. A small bug in one part of it even lets you walk up to the top, then you just stop. Invisible insurmountable fence?

** Also, in the dessert planet Rosa, you have to get to some ancient ruins that are visible from the city's gates. And you are forced by [[Invisible Wall|invisible walls]] and unclimbable mounds of sand to take a complicated coiling road plagued with monsters instead of just ''freakin' running in a straight line towards the ruins.''

* ''[[Syphon Filter]]'': Grate blocking subway ramp? You can't use grenades on it, only C4 will take it down, from the other side. Hedge maze in Washington Park? No, you can't climb over the hedges. Cars blocking the road? Forget about climbing over them. And outside of cutscenes, falling more than about 10 feet kills you instantly (no falling damage in between).

* In the first ''The Lord of the Rings'' jump-and-run for the [[PlayStation 2]]-era consoles, insurmountable waist height fences would team up with invisible walls and insurmountable shrubbery and fallen trees to form a path as linear as the early Crash Bandicoot games.

* ''[[Jagged Alliance]] 2'' lets you vault over fences and climb any house that has a flat roof. But you can't climb over crates, tables and pretty much everything else that isn't either a fence or a flat topped building.

* The ''[[Marathon Trilogy|Marathon]]'' series uses the Impassable Head-high Hole and Invisible Wall in a number of places.

* The western half of Peasantry in [[Homestar Runner|''Peasant's Quest'']].

 

=== [[Real Life]] ===

 

=== Video Games ===

* Lampshaded in the [[Everything's Deader with Zombies|Vietnam With Zombies]] ''[[Half Life]]'' mod Heart of Evil: our hero [[Running Gag|"sadly lacks the intelligence to operate" any vehicle he comes across,]] and Barney needs to be escorted to the vehicle to operate it. At one point, our hero tries to unlock a door, but it refuses to budge. Our hero "lacks the strength to open the door." Barney pounds it once with his fist, and it swings open.

* ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' has a commentary node (on tc_hydro) about how its conspicuous waist-high fences are a major theme of the game.

* Parodied in ''[[Stinkoman 20 X 6]]'', where the titular hero spends an entire level jumping over a small wall.

 

 

=== Webcomics ===

* Episode [http://www.hlcomic.com/index.php?date=2006-07-17 #172] of the webcomic ''[[Concerned]]'' made fun of this trope as it applies to the game ''[[Half Life]] 2''.

* Parodied in [[Gold Coin Comics]], when [http://www.goldcoincomics.com/?id=56 Lance encounters a log in the road].

** The Japanese words at the start say say "Door won't open! Smash it down!!!" At the end, it says "if it doesn't work when you push it, try pulling it". Wise words, indeed.

* ''[[Penny Arcade (Webcomic)|Penny Arcade]]'': the one thing the [[Physical God]] Cole McGrath from ''Infamous'' can never defeat? ''[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/5/27/ A chainlink fence]''.

* Referenced in [[The Best Page in The Universe|Maddox's]] [http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=signs review of] ''[[Signs]]'':

{{quote|''"I have hind legs powerful enough to jump up 10 feet onto roof tops, the technology to conquer the non-trivial challenge of intergalactic space travel, but I'll be DAMNED if I can kick down this wooden door."''}}

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Video Game Difficulty Tropes]]

[[Category:This Index Is in The Way]]