Plot Coupon That Does Something: Difference between revisions

 

Contrast the [[MacGuffin]], which serves no purpose besides driving the plot.

* ''[[Final Fantasy III (Video Game)|Final Fantasy III]]'' and ''[[Final Fantasy V (Video Game)|Final Fantasy V]]'', the shattered fragments of the [[Cosmic Keystone]] crystals are the justification for the Job system.

** ''[[Final Fantasy VI (Video Game)|Final Fantasy VI]]'', likewise, with Magicite.

* The [[Dismantled MacGuffin]] in ''Nox'' actually converges into a fearsomely deadly weapon as you collect more pieces.

** More accurately it becomes a fearsomely deadly weapon for the warrior, and a kind-of-nice upgrade for the [[Magic Knight|conjurer]]. If your playing the [[Squishy Wizard|wizard]] your never going to be doing melee attacks, which makes a melee weapon, no matter how nice, nearly worthless. Which [[Fridge Logic|begs the question]] why your wizard spent at least 3 out of 10 acts in the story collecting the pieces necessary to construct a weapon he will never use, rather then spending that time actually fighting the [[Big Bad]].

* The first ''[[Breath of Fire]]'' game features an item called the EKey, which you get early and is one of seven [[Cosmic Keystone|CosmicKeystones]] keeping the power of Tyr at bay. The EKey is also fairly unique in that you can use it repeatedly during battle to create an earthquake that [[Area of Effect|harms all enemies for 30 damage]], useful since your [[White Magician Girl]] has little offensive capabilities at that early point in the game.

* Some [[Plot Coupons]] in [[Legend of Legaia (Video Game)|Legend of Legaia]] are actually accessories you can equip. One such item gives you infinite AP.

* The path to [[ADOM]]'s ending involves collecting all the [[Artifact of Doom|Orbs Of Chaos]] and inserting them into a keyhole on the final boss's front door. You can actually ''equip'' these orbs for stat boosts. Although [[Evil Is Not a Toy|it's not a good idea]] to use their special powers.

* Played with in [[Planescape Torment]]. The player is forced to seek out a small, bronze sphere to get information from a stubborn old man who collects cadavers. The item seems completely useless, and yet the servants of the opposition are seen immediately killing the old man. The player doesn't need to get the [[MacGuffin]] at all, not even to get the [[Golden Ending]], but if he goes back for it, it lets him talk the Big Bad to death and makes achieving the [[Golden Ending]] even easier. {{spoiler|The protagonist is immortal but forgets himself; he gave the [[MacGuffin]] to the old man in one of his past incarnations, claiming it granted immortality, so that the old man would keep it safe when the protagonist's corpse turned up. Sure enough, the current incarnation of the protagonist doesn't know that, and the sphere contains the protagonist's memories of his name. And 2M experience points.}} So it seems to be a [[Plot Coupon]] which anchors a [[Batman Gambit]], only to turn out to bestow [[Eleventh Hour Superpower]].

* In ''[[Prince of Persia]]: The Forgotten Sands'', the experience points system is explained as the Prince drawing the souls of defeated sand monsters into his amulet. This becomes a plot point when it is revealed that the Prince's brother also has the same ability, and is being driven mad by the amount of levelling he has done.