World Map: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

A map drawn to much smaller scale than the main areas of the game, used to allow the player to travel between areas slower than instant cuts but faster than "real time", as well as (sometimes) explore.

 

 

For the sake of convenience, most world maps 'wrap around' in all four directions; that is, no matter how far you go in a given direction, you'll always end up right back where you started (which means that, [[Final Fantasy VI|the inscription in Daryl's Tomb]] notwithstanding, [[Video Game Geography|the world is not square]]). This removes the need for the programmers to set up an [[Invisible Wall]], and also prevents the players from getting lost in an unfamiliar area.

Generally, despite its apparent emptiness, you can't walk ten steps across a typical world map without hitting several [[Random Encounters]] on the way.

 

 

* ''[[Zelda II: The Adventure of Link|Zelda II the Adventure of Link]]'' was a fairly straight example, in keeping with its [[RPG Elements]].

** ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass|The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass]]'' and ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks|The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks]]'' ended up making the sailing/train driving like this. There are a few interesting things out there, but they mostly serve purpose of getting you to the places where things actually happen while fighting off [[Random Encounters]].

 

* ''[[Super Mario Galaxy 2]]'' used a combination of the [[Hub Level]] system in the last game with this; Mario could traverse his fairly small [[Face Ship]] in order to collect extra lives, talk with other characters, and switch with Luigi, but once he steps in front of the steering wheel, he accesses the levels themselves from a map.

** ''[[Super Mario Bros 3]]'' was probably the first in the series to use this, and ''[[Super Mario World (video game)|Super Mario World]]'' and ''[[Yoshi's Island]]'' took it further.

 

* ''[[Dragon Quest]]'' is the [[Trope Maker]] for the eastern style, and has yet to diverge from it.

** Subverted when ''Dragon Quest VIII'' did, by featuring a full-scale world map across which you could travel and explore every hill and forest. The only places you couldn't explore were those you logically wouldn't be able to reach by foot, and even those could be traversed once you gained the ability to fly.

** Although this is actually an aversion - instead of a world map, you have a thing called Routes. Instead of wandering through the world map from Pallet Town to Viridian City, you walk along Route 1.

 

* ''[[Metroid Prime]] 3'' has a navigation map that allows Samus to choose in which planet ''and'' available landing area to reach when she's inside her gunship. This is necessary because, unlike the other games in the series, ''Corruption'' takes place on an entire galaxy, and thus various planets and ships instead of just one.

 

* ''[[Toontown Online]]'' has a world map, but it's mostly covered in clouds until you reach that place. You also won't be able to have access to teleport there until you finish a (hard/long/tedious) task.

 

 

* In the ''[[Baldur's Gate]]'' and ''[[Icewind Dale]]'' games, as well as ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]'', when on the world map, the party's location is shown as a dot, and the player is unable to travel towards anything other than certain known destinations.

* Prior to ''[[Ultima VI]]'', the series used a world map that you walked around on looking for [[Units Not to Scale|Clown Car Cities]] and dungeons to plunder.

* The first two games in the ''[[Fallout]]'' series have the world map covering about half of California and southern Oregon, cut up into nominal tiles which the player could move freely around. The positions of the player's party, locations of interest, random encounters and such are indicated by the same retro-oscilloscope graphics the PIPBoy uses. The third game in the series has a "map" that's a scale representation of the actual in-game play area. The difference in ''Fallout 3'' is that every point on the map corresponds to some piece of actual terrain; in the previous games, the "wasteland" in between important locations was dynamically generated. To compensate, the third game is limited to the Greater Washington DC Metropolitan area, rather than the hundreds of miles of the previous two.

* ''[[Arcanum]]'' uses a map that covers a continent that works much like the older ''Fallout'' maps.

 

 

* There is a talking, sentient world map in ''[[Wakfu]]'' the protagonists seek as the first step on finding the little boy's home. The maps like it are rare, but weak on the scale of talking, sentient items.

* Another non-video game example... although, because of meta reasons, ''[[Mind Screw|it isn't]]'' - [[Captain N: The Game Master]].

[[Category:Video Game Interface Elements]]

[[Category:Video Game Settings]]