Plot Lock: Difference between revisions
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But picture this. You're playing a thief [[Player Character|character]], and you encounter a locked door. Your thief can [[An Adventurer Is You|pick the locks on palace vaults]] with ease, so why is this wooden door impervious to your attempts?
You've been stopped by the
Note that it's only a Plot Lock if you're ''supposed'' to eventually get the key to the door. If it's just locked because there's nothing behind it, it might have been [[Dummied Out]], but it's not a Plot Lock. It's also not a Plot Lock if there's no reason your character should be able to get around it - then it's just an ordinary [[Broken Bridge]].
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* ''[[Okami]]'' does this a couple of times:
** You can't fix the [[Broken Bridge]] between Agata Forest and Taka Pass, even though Ammy can paint them good as new everywhere else.
** When you enter Orochi's castle, there's a broken staircase. Rejuvenation won't fix it. You're forced to jump down into the chasm and work your way through the level. {{spoiler|This becomes obvious when you go back in time to when the staircase was still whole, and you can just go up it and confront Orochi directly.}}
* ''[[The Elder Scrolls|Oblivion]]'' has locks that can't be picked. ''Morrowind'' averted it: An Open spell with a strength of 100 (which is the maximum lock strength) could open any door, as could a master lockpick.
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* The ''[[Grand Theft Auto]]'' series does this. If you start from the beginning, but you've played it before, you'll notice all the places that are impossible to get into that are possible later on. There's no lock to pick or anything, it's just that the character refuses to turn the knob to the door and walk inside. After you complete a task, there will be a glowing area in front of that building and you can then enter it.
* ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]'' gives us an In-Universe example by having locked doors that can be opened by the PC if s/he has the skills or items needed, and then there are the ''sealed'' doors, which can only be opened by finding the right computer.
** Bonus points because the character is often carrying a lightsaber.
* In ''[[Tales of Symphonia]]'', your characters have all demonstrated the ability to make flying leaps and large jumps, and one or two of them ''can literally fly,'' and does so in-game. However, when there's no context-sensitive action to do so, you can't go over the [[Insurmountable Waist High Fence]] that you will undoubtedly have to go through a complex series of events to make a little bridge to get there.
* In ''[[Baldur's Gate]]'' doors often do not have an ordinary locking mechanism and may be warded against simple spells. You'd think that by the time you're a 40th level unstoppable killing machine with spells to stop time, summon powerful angels and demons, and wreck incredible destruction with a flick of your wrist, you would have learned a ''complicated'' spell to open doors, given how many are protected this way.
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* In ''[[Mass Effect]]'', three of your characters (and possibly you, depending on your job) are able to defeat electronic locks, and ''everybody'' can simply force them open with enough [[Applied Phlebotinum|Omnigels]]. However, some doors are simply unopenable until you get to the mission where it's supposed to open.
** ''[[Mass Effect]] 2'' highlights all player-usable doors with holographic symbols. Unlocked doors have green symbols and hackable doors have orange ones. Plot Locks have red. Every time you see that red symbol, you know you'll be back later, because cosmetic doors that cannot open at all don't have any symbols on them.
* The ''[[Half-Life]]'' series has innumerable [[Locked Door
** ''[[Concerned]]'' gleefully lampshades this.
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** [[Nightmare House]], among other Source mods, egregiously abuses this trope. It's not uncommon in Nightmare House 2 to find that a door is locked, be given the requisite plot exposition or orders to go through the door, and then find it magically unlocked. This is a common sight that can be seen in many of the [[
* ''[[Fallout 3]]'' has numerous doors that are marked as "INACCESSIBLE" or "REQUIRES KEY" rather than "Easy", "Medium", "Hard", or "Very Hard". Some don't count, as the player is never expected to go there. Others do, as they are opened by plot events.
* This (along with ''[[Troperrific|many]]'' other RPG tropes) is made fun of in ''[[Touhou|Labyrinth of Touhou]]''. On the second floor, you have to find a way to bridge across a gap to a treasure chest, in spite of Marisa's arguing that ''everyone in the party can fly'', so why don't we just do that. ([[Cassandra Truth|They ignore her.]])
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* In the later games of the ''[[Geneforge]]'' series, some locked doors are simply "too complicated to be picked" irregardless of your Mechanics skill or how many lockpicks you have and can only be passed after finding the key.
* [[Metroid: Other M]] may be the ultimate example. Every [[Broken Bridge]] that isn't a locked door is passable by using one of Samus's abilities. Which (except for two) she already has. But she has chosen to only activate her abilities when specifically told to, which happens at arbitrary locations in the game.
* ''[[Shantae]]'' is a franchise that ''lives'' on this Trope. Each level of every game is certain to have areas that the heroine cannot access without an item or skill that is gained from completing part of the storyline, requiring a great deal of backtracking to gain [[100% Completion]].
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