Shoplift and Die: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"I wasn't kidding when I said pay! [[Prepare to Die|Now, you'll pay the ultimate price]]!!"''|'''The shopkeeper of Mabe Village''' in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening]]'', if you steal from him [[Too Dumb to Live|and then come back]].}}

 

 

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* ''[[Nethack]]'''s shopkeepers. The trope was [[Trope Namer|formerly called]] Izchak's Wrath for a reason.<ref>Izchak is the only shopkeeper guaranteed to be in [[Randomly Generated Levels|any playthrough.]]</ref> They get indignant if the player tries to steal, trying to kill the player themselves or sending the police - which happen to be the [[wikipedia:Keystone Cops|Keystone Kops]] - after the player. The shopkeepers will also charge you for damaged or eaten merchandise. They tend to be well armed (with the occasional Wand of Death); the Keystone Kops would be predictably ineffective but for their overwhelming numbers. [[The Dev Team Thinks of Everything|There's a delightful variety of complications:]] they're killable but that counts as murder for the non-chaotic, they can grab the character's backpack if they try to tunnel through the floor while standing too close, characters with uncontrolled teleportitis should be very careful indeed... On the other hand, a trained housepet ''can'' steal items and somehow avoid attracting any attention.

** ''[[Shiren the Wanderer]]'' has a rather elaborate system to prevent shoplifting. First, upon picking up any item, the shopkeeper blocks the only exit until the player pays. If the player tries to attack the shopkeeper, he moves at double speed to eviscerate the player with powers rivaling the final boss. Finally, if the player manages to paralyse or otherwise subdue the shopkeeper, upon leaving the store the game will declare "Thief!" and then sic double-speed Guard Dogs and incredibly powerful Sheriffs on you until you somehow manage to leave the town or dungeon floor. To add insult to injury, if you actually are able to kill any of these creatures, you gain neither experience nor items. Small wonder the stats screen has entries for both times you stole items and times you ''successfully'' stole items.

** In ''Torneko'', if you get something and leave the room without paying, or attack the gargoyle shopkeeper, many other gargoyles will come after you. And they're quick and kill you with a single blow.

** And when you kill them, they drop a ''lot'' of money. An interesting way to pay off your debt.

* ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]: [[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess|Twilight Princess]]'' has a parrot who attacks Link if he doesn't pay for his wares in a tiny box. However, since it doesn't do much damage (and you can down a red potion before leaving the stall), the bird isn't very persuasive. And it certainly doesn't help that Link can underpay (to the tune of a single Rupee) and the bird will only respond to this by calling him a cheapskate, sans divebombing. Of course, if you want, [[Video Game Caring Potential|you can pay a little extra in the box, prompting the parrot to call Link a "generous young man".]]

** ''Saints Row 2'' allows you to rob stores by holding a gun to the cashier and leading him or her to the safe with their money. After they do this, or if you take your gun off them for too long, the alarm sounds and you're immediately given 3 stars of police notoriety.

** ''[[Saints Row the Third]]'' also let you rob stores; it subverted this trope, however, due to the fact that you could rob stores you own (giving you notoriety), only to walk outside and reenter the store (which removes all notoriety because you own it.) But really, you're given so much money you'd never have to do this (other than just to be a dick).

{{quote|"You won this confrontation. But the good side of you must ache with regret. Ha ha ha."}}

* Shoplifting gets you shot in ''[[Leisure Suit Larry]]'', ''[[Space Quest]] IV'', (in a humorous way) and ''[[Police Quest]]: Open Season'' (in a more serious way).

** This is an improvement over Spiderweb's earlier ''[[Exile]]''/''[[Avernum]]'' and ''[[Nethergate]]'' series, in which certain items were marked “belongs to another.” You could safely pick them up if there was nobody around, but if something like, say, an invisible guardian-type monster was in the same room and watched you do that, the entire town would instantly acquire a death wish for you (including [[The Guards Must Be Crazy|the guards who will suddenly be three times stronger than when fighting anyone else]].)

* In ''[[Deja Vu]]'', you may take ''one'' cab trip without paying the driver afterwards - try it again and he'll call the cops on you. Coupled with the murder rap you're trying to beat, it's ten to life for you. Taking a [[Ballistic Discount]] doesn't work either - it turns out that there's bulletproof glass between you and the cabbie, and he's even quicker about calling the cops on you if you test it. Perhaps you should try [[Schmuck Bait|shoplifting from the]] [[Ballistic Discount|gun shop owner]] instead...

* The old Apple II game ''[[Legacy of the Ancients]]'' allowed you to steal from shopkeepers. If you did, though, you would get a few waves of city guards sent after you, and for a good portion of the game you were too weak to actually stand up to them. Of course, when you became powerful enough...

* In ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]'', the player can loot virtually every room in an apartment block, but one contains a bounty hunter who tells your player in no certain terms to leave. If you take her stuff, she attacks and won't surrender until either she or everyone in your party die. She's a wanted criminal though, and you get money for killing her.

* In the ''[[Streets of Rage]]'' fan remake, Blaze, of all people, pulls this trope if you dare to try to steal an unlockable without paying. If your computer clock is set between 6 AM and 7 AM, Blaze will be sleeping and you can attempt to steal one item. If you fail, you get banned from the store for a day. If you managed to successfully steal the item, you get banned from the shop and every time you complete the game, Blaze will take all the money you collected to pay off the item you stole until it is fully paid.

* In ''[[Divine Divinity]]'', stealing from shopkeepers will lower their attitude towards you, possibly making them refuse to trade with you in the future. (You can fix it by giving them free stuff.) If they get angry enough, they will call the guards. You can get away with stealing, however, if you've already killed all the guards in the area or if you just steal outside of the shopkeepers' line of sight.

* Non-video game (but still relevant) example: In the webcomic ''[[Kid Radd]]'', taking place in a world of video game characters, easily angered invincible shopkeepers are used as human shields/weapons.

* Another non-video game example is Ray Charles in the first ''[[Blues Brothers]] movie''. Despite being blind, he just barely missed a shoplifter with his gun from across the room. The kid promptly left without trying that again.

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[[Category:Video Game Tropes]]