No Sidepaths, No Exploration, No Freedom: Difference between revisions

 

 

{{quote|''"What's that? You still have the illusion of freedom? Nope! Go take a long walk down a straight hallway for forty hours!"''|[[VG Cats]] #[http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=293 281]: ''Subtlety'', as a reference to ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]''}}

 

 

Technically, '''No Sidepaths, No Exploration, No Freedom''' is the polar opposite of the [[Quicksand Box]]; it describes level architecture which forces the player down a singular path. This trope is most common in [[First-Person Shooter|First-]] or [[Third-Person Shooter|Third Person Shooters]] (except, usually, tactical shooters) and platform games, wherein the challenge is generally supposed to be the enemies and/or [[Malevolent Architecture|obstacles]], not in figuring out which way to go. It can also crop up in RPGs as a very visual form of [[Railroading]]. The trope is forgivable in 2D [[Platform Game]]s such as ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'', which allow only forward progression due entirely to the limitations of the geometry; not everything is a [[Metroidvania]]. It only applies in situations where, intuitively, you'd ''think'' there might be other areas of a place to explore, but these are [[The Law of Conservation of Detail|not implemented because they are not plot-important]].

Not to be confused with scripted games such as [[Adventure Game]]s or [[Action Adventure]] which use more subtle techniques to keep the player from going [[Off the Rails]] of the game's plot. Some of them do have levels that resemble this—Compare [[Maze]]—or a [[Closed Circle]] series of rooms; but it's generally frowned upon in [[Interactive Fiction]] unless it's essentially a [[Cutscene]].

 

 

{{examples}}

* In ''[[Final Fantasy]]'', beginning with the first game it's traditional to start with a nearly linear path, and either ease up over the course of the game or just dump you into a 'sandbox with a story' after a few hours. Once you get the ship or airship, the world opens up and [[Sequence Breaking]] is sometimes possible.

** ''[[Final Fantasy II]]'' is the only one that gives you total freedom of exploration at the start, and even then, [[Beef Gate|accomplishing that is a feat in itself.]]

* Most games made by Treasure, to name one entire company, follow the trope.

* The demo game that used to come with the [[Game Maker|RPG Toolkit]] [[Lampshaded]] this; doors were noted to be locked, and then commented that it was probably because the programmer was too lazy to make another room.

* ''[[Dungeon Siege]]'' is one of the worst offenders, mainly because the required path is very, ''very'' long. The game also has only one [[Door to Before]], meaning that backtracking from the end of the game back to the very beginning could easily take over half an hour ''real time''.

* The weird, little known FPS ''You Are Empty'' is the epitome of this trope. Whenever it seems like you might have more than one choice (two paths, two corridors, two doors...) expect one of them to be blocked by collapsed walls and ceilings, fences, gates, locked doors and... [[Insurmountable Waist High Fence|furniture]].

* A variant is present in ''[[Silent Hill]]'', which the protagonists themselves will usually attempt to justify with "I don't need to go that way" or something similar; however, since the town itself is (at least in ''2'') a proven [[Genius Loci]], it's possible that the protagonists are being purposely railroaded into going where the town wants them to go, whether they're aware of it or not. You ''can'' backtrack to areas you've visited before (minus any plot-important ones, for obvious reasons), but there's usually no point in doing so.

* [[Tales of Legendia]] has, for the most part, very linear dungeons. Almost any time there is a fork in the path, one way will lead to a dead end, so there is really only one path to the end of the dungeon. Even the world map tends to have constricted, corridor-like paths instead of allowing more open exploration. The first half of the game especially gives the impression of being ushered through a very pretty tunnel.

* Several levels in ''[[Dawn of War]] 2: Retribution''. You notice this very quickly if you add Jump Infantry or teleport infantry to your squads, as they will magically—and for no reason whatsoever—be unable to use their abilities outside the one true path through the level. This gets especially bad during the {{spoiler|Exterminatus}} level, which teases you with multiple alternate paths that all get blown up immediately when you get close to them.

** ''Space Marine'' follows through with linearity on par with the original Super Mario Bros (i.e. you can only go forward).

 

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[[Category:Video Game Settings]]