The Law of Conservation of Detail: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

''Every detail given is important.''

** When the series is still [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|pretending to be]] a standard harem series -- every once in a while we see some of the more supernatural girls (mostly [[Ninja|Kaede]], [[Our Vampires Are Different|Eva]], [[Robot Girl|Chachamaru]], [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|Chao]], and [[Hunter of Her Own Kind|Setsuna]]) just sitting off to on the sidelines, since they don't have any interest in such silly activities.

* In ''20thCenturyBoys'', perhaps the ''only'' thing that doesn't gain major significance later in the plot is the seven year old son of one of the protagonists.

** In the manga, when he notices that someone (the people who installed the cameras) entered his room from the state of his no less elaborate door safety mechanism, he infers that they didn't find the notebook because the fire trap didn't go off. His solution to the problem of the cameras is considerably less elaborate. "Hey Ryuk. Go find the cameras and I'll give you some apples."

 

 

{{quote| '''Harry:''' ''"I'm so sorry. That was a terrible scene. It's like, why was that in the movie? You think it'll come back later? Hmmm..."''}}

* Used very well in ''[[Back to The Future]]'', which disguised its plot points as jokes.

* ''[[Timecrimes]]''. From the moment Clara appears on-screen, pay attention. Any detail that seems out-of-place will get explained or otherwise become an important plot point.

* ''[[The Big Lebowski]]'' takes this trope and throws a coffee mug at it.

== Live Action TV ==

* Parodied on the DVD commentary for the final episode of ''[[The Office]]'' (UK). Gervais and Merchant lampshade the "Secret Santa" game, commenting on its apparent insignificance to the plot, and how it ''definitely'' won't become relevant later.

** In the episode Time's Orphan it's done a bit heavy handed when Keiko gives little Molly a shiny silver bracelet and the music swells for a moment before going back to normal. Guess what feral Molly is wearing when they pull her back from the past?

* In one episode of ''[[Goosebumps]]'' we see the parents of a kid protagonist working on something. It turns out {{spoiler|it was a device to expose invisible people and the plot had an invisible friend}}.

{{quote| '''Mickey:''' I ''knew'' we should have [[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S4 E11 Turn Left|turned left]]!!}}

* The ''[[Leverage]]'' team needs to create elaborate schemes in order to manipulate their mark. This means that side comments to the mark often end up being important later, and their importance becomes apparent during the "how it was done" flashback scenes. This is a trait shared with it's spiritual predecessor ''[[Hustle]]''.

* [[Lampshaded]] ''constantly'' on ''[[Jonathan Creek]]'' in which the titular detective notes apparently pointless bits of general knowledge which become crucial in solving the mystery. At one stage, after ascertaining that an elderly client buys fish-food at a market and getting a baffled look in reply, [[The Watson]] wryly comments: "Don't worry, it'll have some deep significance that is invisible to us mere mortals."

* In [[Eureka]], any and all interesting new technologies presented or talked about early in the episode is inevitably going to turn out to be either A) part of the cause of that week's crisis, or B) part of the solution to said crisis.

** In ''Suikoden'' you can tell in the games who is one of the [[108|108 Stars]]: If they have a portrait and a name, they're a Star (or a villian, but [[Defeat Means Friendship|those are often the same thing]]).

** Subverted in ''[[Suikoden II]]'', however. There's a character with a portrait and a name (Ellie) that is neither a Star nor important to the story at all. She exists for one reason: In the quest that's unlocked if you load ''[[Suikoden I]]'' data at the start of the game, {{spoiler|1=Tir McDohl joins your party while Gremio occupies a Convoy space. However, if you failed to resurrect Gremio in the S1 file you loaded, he'll be dead in this game, and Eilie will take his place in the plot, occupying the convoy and speaking his lines instead}}.

* Avoided in ''[[Metal Gear]]'', ''[[Snatcher]]'', ''[[Policenauts]]'' and anything [[Hideo Kojima]] does, because of his ''obsessive-compulsive insanity''. He cannot stand to ''not'' worldbuild. The only people who care about the incredibly elaborate [[Deus Angst Machina|tragic backstories]], sex lives and namedropping pertaining to characters who show up once and then die - and the endless infodumps about guns and items and nuclear weapons and the future and useless metagame trivia - are going to be fanfiction writers. For the most part, backstory events will be mentioned inconsequentially to add a little flavour to a character.<br /><br />For example, Hideo Kojima designed every desk in the first Metal Gear Solid separately. Every sigle desk! You have to respect a man who puts in that much work. And at least in ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' Kojima-san was nice enough to let players skip all that and go right to the neck-snapping if they want.

* The entire ''[[Ace Attorney]]'' scene is all over this, up to the point of being [[Anvilicious]]. Every piece of evidence - besides the lawyer's badge, etc. - is always used at least once. The problem is using the right one, because you need to use them [[Guide Dang It|as a sort of sentence fragment to answer questions.]] Players soon hit on the idea of [[Save Scumming|saving before a particular point]] they don't know how to get through, and just trying out ''[[Try Everything|every single item]]''.<br /><br />Similarly: profiles in ''Justice for All'' and ''Trials & Tribulations.'' The lawyer's badge gets used once or twice outside of the courtroom. You even had to present the screwdriver, which had importance exactly because it has ''no importance at all'', which throws suspicion on the suspect's reasoning for having Edgeworth personally pick it up in the first place.

* Averted in the Elder Scrolls series, most notably the more recent offerings. The sheer amount of useless items dropped into the environment (paintbrushes, mugs, flatware, etc.) threatens to boggle the mind.

** Being on the same engine, the 3d Fallout games do the same. However, a shrewd player will be able to tell important items from the rest of the [[Vendor Trash]] and [[Cow Tools]] that litter the level. The older ones had TV dinners, popcorns, nuka-colas, ''pocket lint'', and others that do nothing but take up space in your inventory. You can also examine rocks. Do it enough times and your character will ''cry out in frustration''.

* Subverted in ''[[Mega Man ZX|Mega Man ZX Advent]]'' due to its attempts to avert [[You All Look Familiar]], where everyone you meet has different designs and personalities, except for the guys in uniform, who still act different. In other words, trying to rely on this trope to see who is important is completely pointless for this game. Though, as in all Mega Man games, the only ultimately really important ones are the robot animals/things actively shooting you.<br /><br />The ''Battle Network'' series is a strong example. Since there seem to be [[Only Six Faces]] used for all the generic NPCs ever, anyone with a unique sprite is bound to have a NetNavi that you will eventually fight [[Defeat Equals Friendship|and/or]] befriend. It is particularly noticeable in Battle Network 5, since you are in the process of building an anti-terrorism task force; if you're told to be on the lookout for a new member, expect the very next place you enter to have an NPC with a unique sprite, and expect that exact same member to be the operator of the next Navi to join your team.

* ''[[Ace Combat]]''

** ''X: Skies of Deception'' is also in love with this. It's particularly obvious after you play both halves - or, in one case, all three thirdths - of a [[Remixed Level]]. Most of them.

* In ''[[Fire Emblem]]'', almost all enemy or NPC with unique sprites and more then a few lines of dialogue is either a boss or recruitable. Which is understandable, considering how many enemies you end up facing.

* In ''[[Grand Theft Auto|Grand Theft Auto IV]]'', the dirt bike seemed to be an incredibly useless bike: not as fast as the speed bikes, not as cool-looking as the choppers, not as cool-sounding as any of the bikes. But, provided you choose the right storyline, Niko uses a dirt bike to chase {{spoiler|Pegorino}} in a helicopter. (Needless to say, the dirt bike also enables a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]]).

* Used in a different way in the first two ''[[Fallout]]'' games. The point-and-click aspect leads to a prevalence of "examining" objects similar to Wasteland. Therefore, even if the character sprites are the same, a player can tell the difference this way. Upon examining two men in leather jackets, you might see this:

* Many an [[Urban Legend of Zelda]] was started thanks to this trope. Back in the day, when more rudimentary technology meant a much stricter enforcement of this, people took it for granted that only the important stuff would get detailed. So as technology got better and developers started averting this trope for the sake of providing a richer gaming world, gamers payed attention to neat but nonessential details (e.g. the Mario character portraits seen through a window in ''[[Ocarina of Time]]'') and thought that they had some greater significance.

* Modern [[Interactive Fiction]] loves this. One-room games where the player must use everything in the room are common--if there's a wad of gum in the trash can, sooner or later that will be an important wad of gum. From playing these games, audiences come to expect this, too, making it a self-fulfilling cycle: If your game mentions the walls, players will get mad if the walls aren't fully implemented.

{{quote| '''Alice:''' Hey, Villager A, come over here.<br />

'''Villager A:''' Why would you call me that when I have such a glorious name? I'm ''Cervantes!''<br />

* Averted in ''[[Shenmue]]''. The town is full of buildings you can enter and characters you can talk to, but only a handful of them are important in any way.

* Averted in [[Dreamweb]] - there's plenty of items you can take, but the most of them are useless, and would just clutter your inventory. (things like plates, cups, lighters, and so on)

 

 

== Webcomics ==

* Invoked by Gabe in a ''[[Penny Arcade (Webcomic)|Penny Arcade]]'' strip where, while playing Skyrim, he insists on carrying 270 pounds worth of BROOMS because he didn't "[http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/11/14 want to get to the fucking Broom Dungeon and be, like, "why didn't I pick up all those brooms?]"!"

 

 

* In ''[[Winx Club]]'' season 3, viewers expected that Chimera being a fairy studying at Beta Academy would become important, and complained about [[They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot|plot waste]] when it proved otherwise.

* Subverted by [[Pixar]] with the Pixarpedia - even sub-minor characters, such as nameless, faceless, do-nothing bystanders get an entry in the encyclopedia.

 

{{reflist}}