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Stupidity Is the Only Option: Difference between revisions

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Stupidity Is the Only Option (view source)

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{{quote|''"If it's a trap then it's a plot point and we '''have''' to [[Railroading|follow the plot]]."''|'''Karn''', ''[[Adventurers!]]'' [http://www.adventurers-comic.com/d/0114.html comic #114]}}
 
Sometimes a story requires the heroes to fail. They need to be captured by the guards, inadvertently [[MacGuffin Delivery Service|allow the villain to get the MacGuffin]], be betrayed, walk into an obvious trap, or free the [[Sealed Evil in a Can]]. In good stories, the characters have ample justification for these actions, so it makes sense for it to happen. In video games, however, the protagonist is being controlled by the player. And any Troper with the least degree of [[Genre Savvy]] is probably anticipating some sort of disaster if they do... the blindingly obvious.
 
Thus, the game's only recourse is to [[Railroading|force]] the player to act like a moron. The game simply cannot progress until the player completes the necessary stupidity. Whether it's due to a [[Cutscene]] or [[But Thou Must!]], the player is not going to be able to prevent his character from making that obvious mistake.
 
If you're lucky, then this will simply move the plot forward and the game will continue. In some cases, however, the stupidity will have in-game consequences -- you'll lose equipment or powerups, be forced to fight enemies that are very powerful and/or in large numbers, or otherwise be put into an unpleasant situation, as if the ''player'' [[What the Hell, Player?|is being punished]] for the ''character's'' stupidity.
 
Compare [[Press X to Die]], where the stupid action is entirely optional. Contrast [[Violation of Common Sense]], where the stupid action is optional, but results in ''rewards'' for the player instead of punishment. Also compare [[Trap Is the Only Option]], where the characters themselves are aware of an [[Obvious Trap]] but still feel it's the only way to progress.
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== [[Action Game]] ==
* ''[[Harry Potter (video game)|Harry Potter]]'' games require some stupid player actions in order to follow the plot of the games. E.g., in some versions of [[Harry Potter/Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone|the first game]], you can't put your invisibility cloak back on after sending Norbert away, since getting caught is essential to the plot of the source material.
* At the beginning of ''[[God of War (series)|God of War]] 2'', Kratos is faced against the Colossus come to life. Zeus, who had just shrank him down and took some of his godly power, gives him a sword. However, in order to effectively use the sword, you must put all your godly energy into it. Gee, what could possibly go wrong? What you mean it's a trap? And yes, the only way to beat the boss is to put all of your god energy into it, even though it didn't really serve a purpose.
** The crowning glory is that the only reason you lose the sword is due to Kratos's [[Cutscene Incompetence]] - if Kratos had ''moved slightly to the left'' instead of gloating while the Colossus was falling, the entire game may have been avoided...
** In fairness to Kratos, the reason he trusted Zeus is because he thought it was ''Athena'' that took his god powers.
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* It could be argued that, initially at least, ''[[Fahrenheit (2005 video game)|Fahrenheit]]/Indigo Prophecy'' is a variation on this: the player alternates between playing as Lucas Kane, a murderer, and Carla Valenti, the detective investigating his case. The two are obviously acting at cross-purposes to each other, so whatever is beneficial for one character will be detrimental to the other, and you are always required to do a bare minimum of beneficial actions for one character in order to advance the plot: at which point you switch to the other character, and so on and so on ad infinitum.
* You have to microwave a block of ice containing a cowbell in ''Scooby Doo Mystery'' for Genesis. What's next? Nuking aerosol spray cans?
* In the adventure game ''[[Loom (video game)|Loom]]'', at one point Bobbin gets captured by Bishop Mandible who imprisons you in a cage and then pretty much tells you to try and escape. Of course, you can easily escape using the open draft, but you know that the bishop is waiting for you to do just that and it can't be good when you do. Except for there isn't anything else that you can do. So you do the only thing you can, and you step right into the [[Xanatos Gambit]]: Stay in the cage or help Mandible.
 
 
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* A few times in the ''[[Metroid]]'' series:
** In ''Metroid: Fusion'', there is a sequence in which Samus's escape route is blocked by rubble, forcing the player to find another escape route. The sole route available passes through a high security area for which you have no clearance. Several plot revelations later, you finally make it back to the main area to be informed that you will most likely be arrested for breaching a secure area.
** In ''[[Metroid Prime]] 3: Corruption'', while hunting down Gandrayda (a [[Rival Turned Evil|rival bounty hunter]] who has recently defected, and whom the introductory sequence has ''explicitly established'' as being a shapeshifter), Samus encounters a lone Federation Marine in the middle of the Space Pirates' home planet. He neither explains why he's there nor bothers to explain why, exactly, Samus should come with him, only that they "have to take the elevator to get out." His first transmission to the player, before one even sees him, has the player thinking "it's Gandrayda", {{spoiler|and they're absolutely right}}.
** Also in ''Corruption'' is a stage that requires you to call in your spacecraft to airstrike a shield generator. Said generator is surrounded by several blatantly obvious anti-aircraft cannons... but the doors leading out of the area are locked, and the game won't allow you to proceed until you actually call in your ship and get the crap shot out of it. At another point, you waltz into {{spoiler|a secret Pirate lab}} with {{spoiler|Metroids trapped in forcefield cages}}. When you find the local weapon upgrade, it's in a forcefield container. To get it, you have to disable all the forcefields, [[Hilarity Ensues|with predictable results]].
* Subverted in ''[[Psychonauts]]'': In order to get the PSI blast power, Sasha Nein claims Raz has to defeat 1000 censors in his mind then walks off. The adjustable [[Mook Maker]] only goes up to about 40 before shutting down... and the only way to progress is to set it to the maximum level ominously marked with a skull, which causes all hell to break loose. Some platforming and a boss battle later, Sasha gives you the PSI blast power and tells Raz to never mention the incident again... however, if you go back to Sasha's mind afterwards, he will say he [[Briar Patching|actually wanted Raz to overload the machine]].
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== [[Real Time Strategy]] ==
* ''[[Command and& Conquer]] [[Red Alert]] 3: Uprising'' is so chock-full of this that it makes the Allies a [[Game Breaker]]. The VERY FIRST MISSION of the game involves using a tiny Soviet force to infiltrate a massive Allied base and rescue three scientists, then try to get them out of the base, presumably using some kind of stealth or strategy, and escape via boats. The ONLY option is to have the scientists run as fast as they can RIGHT THROUGH THE ALLIED BASE while under HEAVY ENEMY FIRE from artillery that, although sluggish in targeting, can kill ANYTHING YOU HAVE with one hit. The final moments of the mission are less Real-Time Strategy and more "Frantically double click the exit and scream at the scientists to run faster". It's possible to do this mission without succumbing to this trope, though it takes some micromanaging. The artillery tanks have a slow refire rate, take a moment to fire and for their missiles to land, and you can see what they're shooting at. Crucially, they also hate switching targets. Run a Conscript around near its maximum range - It's not going to hit the little guy, he's too fast at that distance - while a Tesla trooper waddles up next to it. Activate his EMP field and shut the tank down, then blow it up. With this strategy, it's possible to clear every gun on the field, as they're only rarely positioned to cover each other and when they do there's only two of them.
* In ''[[Command and& Conquer]] 3'' during the GDI Sarajevo mission, you are ordered to fire your Ion Cannon on Kane's fortress. The fortress that's standing right next to a chunk of [[Made of Explodium|tiberium]] the size of an iceberg. Even if you have the fortress itself surrounded by your forces and could just sit it out. The result: [[Earthshattering Kaboom|BOOM]]. The purpose of forcing the player to do so was to set up the climatic choice at the end of the game, {{spoiler|when you have to choose whether to use the Liquid Tiberium Bomb, thereby killing millions of people, or do things the hard way and save those lives.}}
* In ''Haegemonia: Legions Of Iron'' you at one point receive an order from your supreme command to withdraw your forces to your home system. Upon arrival you learn that the order was falsified by the enemy who used the distraction to seize the system you were fighting them for. A neat trick, but how to ensure that a well-informed player doesn't ignore the false order? Simple. If you do that, then after some time [[Nonstandard Game Over|the game ends]] as you are deposed and court-marshalled for disobeying an order... a sort of [[Schrodinger's Gun|Schrodinger's Order]].
* The same but worse happens in ''[[Perimeter]]''. You start a mission with an objective to destroy the enemy base and half-way through you are suddenly ordered to withdraw from the area. Worse part is that you actually can ignore the false order and carry on with trashing the enemy...which will count as defeat.
 
 
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** The game has a point where Ark meets a Mudman across a chasm who, once defeated, causes a causeway to appear and asks Ark to cross it in the creepiest voice possible in a text box, so he can give him something that clearly does not exist on the Mudman's abandoned side of the cliff. You have to cross the causeway, which the Mudman naturally causes to disappear again with you on it. And, in the beginning of the game, you are warned not to open a certain door. If you open it, what comes out will destroy your entire village. But if you don't, [[But Thou Must!|nothing will ever happen]].
** Also, at a certain point in the game, you have to sneak through a castle {{spoiler|in which Meilin creates an illusion of your childhood friend trapped in a dungeon (who had NO way of getting there). Shortly after being rescued, Ark falls into exactly the same trap AGAIN.}}
** At another point, you have to wake the evil [[Mad Scientist]] Beruga from his cryogenic sleep. If you don't, the plot stops advancing. If you do, Ark gets killed by Beruga's drones a minute later (but he [[Unexplained Recovery|gets better]] again afterward).
* The entire sequence of events leading up to and after the boss battle at Jupiter Lighthouse in ''[[Golden Sun]]: The Lost Age''. There are about a hundred things the hero could have done that would have been more intelligent than simply walking up to the bad guys with only half his party and bearing the [[MacGuffin]] they're after.
* A lampshaded moment from ''[[Ultima VII]]'' here ([http://fromearth.net/LetsPlay/SerpentIsle/Update%2022/index.html linky].)
* Few examples are more [[Egregious]] than one particularly bad scene in ''[[Wild Arms 1|Wild ARMs]]'': Princess Cecilia has a [[MacGuffin|pendant the bad guys very clearly want]] called the Tear Drop. At one point, an evil army raids and burns her hometown ''just'' to try and get the Tear Drop. The King is fully aware of what they're after, and orders Cecilia (and the rest of your party) escorted to the most secure inner sanctum of the castle and watched by a team of armed guards so as to protect them and the Tear Drop from the invading hordes. Then, Cecilia has the brilliant idea that if all they want is the Tear Drop, then she can stop the slaughter and destruction of her people by giving it to them. Not only is this a blindingly obvious bad idea to absolutely anyone except, apparently, your party, and not only does the game force you to actually walk up to them and hand over the Tear Drop instead of seeing it in a cutscene, but the game goes as far as making you play a [[Unexpected Gameplay Change|stealth minigame]] to sneak past the guards and escape the well-defended inner sanctum so that you can walk up to the enemy lines! ''Amazingly enough,'' it turns out later that letting them have the Tear Drop was actually a bad idea, and the way the King scolds you for this is incredibly annoying.
** While handing them the Tear Drop was indeed a very bad idea, this isn't as bad as the usual [[MacGuffin]] trade. The demons were doing a darn good job of slaughtering townsfolk, and the fight you have with the demon boss makes it likely that they would have eventually destroyed the whole town, and the castle and gotten the Tear Drop anyway, Cecilia may have just prevented unnecessary loss of life. Of course, you spend half the game trying to get it back before it is used to restore the [[Big Bad]] to life.
* Probably every ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' has at least one stupid trap the player must fall into.
** ''[[Final Fantasy I]]'' has an elf king living in a decrepit castle in the middle of nowhere, who supposedly dropped his crown in a dungeon. Despite the party having - presumably - heard about how a random dark elf, Astos, stole Matoya's crystal ball, they go through the dungeon and give the elf the crown. Guess who the elf was.
** ''[[Final Fantasy III]]'' has the heroes chasing a quixotic thief who has stolen one of the two legendary Horns of Ice. When the thief mysteriously vanishes, and the heroes return the horn to its partner, neither they nor the [[NPC|NPCs]] apparently notice the conspicuous shadow following them around...
** ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]'' had a point where the villains demanded the last of the four crystals in exchange for the life of the protagonist's love interest. Instead of refusing or at the very least switching the real crystal out for a fake one like any other smart person would, our brainless heroes decide that the only option is to trade the world away for the life of one person.
** Also in ''Final Fantasy IV'', twice in the face of decisive battles, the party decides, "Let's make the women [[Stay in the Kitchen]]!" Yes, they're the game's best spellcasters and the only reason they have made it this far. The men decide [[What an Idiot!|big boss battles are exactly where not to bring the heal spells and earth-shattering summons]]. Even worse, the first time they do this they get their asses handed to them and still get one of the girls abducted, but learn absolutely nothing from it.
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** ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'', for example, sports a scene where the perverted mob boss you just ruthlessly interrogated actually points out that the only reason he would give everything away so easily is because he was sure he would win. And then you get trapped. For added stupidity, the party was on their way to Sector 7 anyway, and it would be much easier to take the land route (and possible open the gate between Sectors 6 and 7, which is how Tifa got into Sector 6 in the first place) than to fall for that trap. All it took to get there was to just keep on walking and leave the lech to his own fate. Stupid, stupid Cloud.
** ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'' exhibited this in the section near the end of the first disc where your party plans the assassination of the Sorceress. After being told to wait in a gate control tower so that they can lower the gate that the Sorceress's entourage is soon due to pass through, they decide that instead they should run off back to Rinoa's father's house to apologize for what one of the characters said earlier. The player is forced to get them to run across the city to get there, only for everything to go wrong, for that party to become trapped and eventually escape through an [[Absurdly Spacious Sewer]] to get back to their vantage point, just in time. {{spoiler|Not that it works anyway.}}
** In ''[[Final Fantasy X -2]]'', you watch a sphere in which the two people doing terrible, horrible, very bad, no good things are instantly recognisable by their distinctive voices, but the characters [[Failed a Spot Check|Fail A Spot Check]] and decide to trust these people.
** In ''[[Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time|Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Echoes of Time]]'', you have to help Larkeicus in return for his providing you with medicine... despite the main character having a recurring dream featuring him as an obviously evil figure since well before they met him. {{spoiler|Unsurprisingly, this results in him doing evil things and everything going wrong.}} Somewhat justified since {{spoiler|the plot centers around a [[Stable Time Loop]]; you are predestined to help Larkeicus, because every part of the main character's life up until this point is a direct consequence of Larkeicus's plot. Failure to help him would beget a [[Grandfather Paradox]]}}. As the hero, you receive a small crystal for your 16th birthday. You pull it out frequently. What happens when you do? {{spoiler|An innocent little female friend of yours is cursed by a mysterious illness with no apparent cure, the evil mastermind you defeated mere seconds ago is resurrected and vows to annihilate you, and an ancient peaceful immortal is transformed into a gigantic insane electric flying bird monster that tries to kill you.}} Thanks for the gift, mom!
* As a tactical game, ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]'' is made of this trope. Players who have beaten the game already will notice the traps a mile in advance, and they're everywhere. To name just one, the most obvious in this troper's opinon, every single villain in the fourth act claims to have {{spoiler|Ramza's little sister}}, and of course, none of them do, but you have to fall into all the traps to advance the plot.
* ''[[Pokémon Ranger]]'':
** The game features the four challenges of the Jungle Relic. The player goes in to test their skills but is repeatedly told not to complete the fourth challenge as doing so would cause some disaster to befall the region. After completing the three available challenges, which all involve capturing a tough Pokémon, your companion suggests that you look at - but not do - the last one. Once there, the villains ''announce their presence and tell you to capture a Charizard they found there''. The one up-side is that you try to leave, your companion will tell you to go back and help the Charizard so you can at least blame them when things go to hell.
** Also, in the sequel, any smart person would realize quickly {{spoiler|that Kincaid is one of the bad guys. Yet you still have to respect him and everything until 'officially' finding out}}.
* In ''[[Fallout 3]]'', you venture into a Vault in search of your missing father. The vault's run by some friendly enough robots who assume you're simply a late arrival, and has a sophisticated set of [[Lotus Eater Machine|sleeper pods]] at its centre, whose occupants are clearly in there for the duration. The only way to advance the main plot is to climb into a vacant pod and settle in for a [[Nightmare Fuel|snooze]].
* In ''[[Grandia (video game)|Grandia]]'': in the first area of the second disk, when you reach the second screen, directly in front of you is a badly concealed pit trap.
* In ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines]]'' the player is given the choice to side with one of a number of factions in the city. This is all well and good, except when you are forced to rat out Nines to the Prince for being at the home of a murdered Primogen {{spoiler|as part of the Prince's plan to frame him}}. Never mind that there was a convenient vampire hunter there to pin it on and Nines was clearly [[Not Himself]]. Possibly justified in that the Prince may or may not have minor mind-reading powers along with his Dominate ability, but still pretty shaky. This is especially notable in that if you refuse to accept plot-critical missions from the Prince, he will eventually Dominate you into accepting. The developers could have easily avoided this piece of stupidity by adding the possibility to cover up for Nines, and then have the Prince go "I sense there is something else. ''Tell me the truth''". Other examples include walking into the trap set by the Hengeyokai even though it's very obvious it's a trap, and being forced into the Mandarin's experiment.
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* In ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'', when you rescue Jack you are forced to hit a button that releases every prisoner on the station, one of whom confessed to murdering about 20 people and blowing up a habitat, which he says is minor compared to most of the guys around.
* ''[[Dragon Age]]'':
** In the Silverite Mine in ''Awakening'', a large and conspicuous cement disk just inside the entrance would strike any seasoned adventurer as highly suspicious. There is plenty of space to navigate around it, but the game combines this trope with [[Gameplay and Story Segregation]] so that when halfway past it with clear intent ''not'' to step on it, a [[Cutscene]] is triggered in which [[Railroading|your character and party do exactly that]].
** In a lot of the sidequests in ''[[Dragon Age]]'' you have roadside encounters with bandits or smugglers you know you have to eliminate, while they don't necessarily know why you're there. But even if you place your party tactically around the battlefield beforehand, once you trigger the cutscene by talking to the leader, your whole party is teleported back together, right in the middle of the enemies' crossfire.
* In the Knight chapter of ''[[Live a Live]]'', {{spoiler|Straybow}} casts a spell on you, so that you see the good king as the demon king, the villain of the chapter ({{spoiler|Or at least that's what everyone believes}}). They could have just made the protagonist walk up to the "demon king" in a cutscene, but no, you have to actively walk into him and engage him in battle because you can't progress otherwise.
* This is a strategy in the ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' games. If your opponent has a face-down monster on the field, you may be forced to attack it, despite this usually being a very obvious trap. If you don't destroy it, your opponent will simply flip it on the next turn, activating its effect, and then sacrifice it to summon an even stronger monster. Also seen with trap cards, where they're very obvious, but often time, if you don't set them off, you can't go any further.
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** The obvious example from the second game is the infamous scene where James reaches into the hole in the wall, a move that a more [[Genre Savvy]] character would do well to avoid.
** And then there's the series of seemingly bottomless pits that you have to jump into in order to progress through a later area of the game. And this is ''after'' James has found a note addressed specifically to him, warning him that very bad things will happen if he keeps up his search.
* ''[[Call of Cthulhu]]: [[Dark Corners of the Earth]]'' has a house with a growling, unruly thing locked behind a door in an upstairs room. Everyone tells you not to free it. The game is extremely [[Rail Roaded]], so guess what you have to do.
** There's also the hotel in which you stay on your first night in Innsmouth. The developers must have been worried that some players wouldn't pick up the atmosphere of "subtle" menace that suffuses the place, its proprietor, and every line of dialogue he speaks, so they helpfully included an easily accessible (almost impossible to miss, really) ''room full of hacked-up human bodyparts'', complete with a bloodstained journal recounting the hotel owner's murders. So naturally you go to your room and curl up for a good night's rest, [[I Can't Use These Things Together|unconcernedly talking to yourself]] about how you're not likely to find a better place to sleep. Guess who tries to do what to you later that night. (Although staying on the streets of Innsmouth at night is hardly a better option than the hotel.)
* In ''[[The Suffering]]: Ties That Bind'', in order to get to the Big Bad, you must {{spoiler|leap into a pit that just manifested not one, but two horrific demonic adversaries. Not to mention it being similar to other pits which have spewed deadly horrors. Belly-flopping into a three-foot deep pool of toxic sewage is just a goofy bonus}}.
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