History Main / ChokepointGeography

** [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/Panama The Panama Canal]].

** The Panama Canal, which explains [[TheEmpire constant U.S. intervention]] in what is an otherwise a small country.

** For ''Cataclysm'', Azeroth has been redesigned for full freedom, too.

* The Fulda Gap gained strategic relavence during the ColdWar. Thanks to geography, NATO planners saw three plausible avenues of attack for a potential Warsaw Pact invasion - the North Germany Plain along the coast, the Fulda Gap cutting through the middle of West Germany, and up the Danube River through Austria. An attack through the Fulda Gap would have been more difficult for tanks compared to the North German Plain, but the heart of both the US military's operations (Rhein-Main Air Base) and West Germany's financial center (Frankfurt) would be right in this path. Consequently, both sides allocated considerable resources to this area until TheGreatPoliticsMessUp.

Not to be confused with a mapmaker who makes a YourMom joke at [[StarWars Darth Vader]].

* TruthInTelevision, especially before the invention of air travel and still relevant in the maritime business.
* The Straits of Hormuz, which separate the Indian Ocean from the Persian Gulf (with major oil fields) are a case in point- sink a couple of vessels in there and you seriously damage the global economy.
* The Suez Canal was blocked for several years following the Six Day War of 1967.
* For a more recent example that hits nerds closer to home, [[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4070755.stm an accident in the Suez Canal in 2004 blocked a shipment of Playstation 2's heading for the UK holiday season.]]
* The Khyber Pass, since time immemorial a chokepoint connecting Central Asia to South Asia.
* The Panama Canal, which explains [[TheEmpire constant U.S. intervention]] in what is an otherwise a small country.
* Singapore, a major sea transit hub in South-East asia. It's basically filthy rich just from harbor tax alone. Also Malacca Strait in general (pirates are ever-present threat), which is why China is funding the development of the new Kra Canal in Thailand.

->''The only way to travel by land between different areas of a continent will always be through a single narrow pass in a range of otherwise impenetrable mountains. Usually a palace or monastery will have been constructed in the pass, entirely filling it, so that all intracontinental traffic is apparently required to abandon their vehicles and go on foot up stairs and through the barracks, library and throne room to get to the other side. This may explain why most people just stay home. (In some cases a cave or underground tunnel may be substituted for the palace or monastery, but it will still be just as inconvenient with the added bonuses of cave-ins and nonsensical elevator puzzles.)''
-->--'''TheGrandListOfConsoleRPGCliches #67'''

* The Khyber Pass, since time immemorial a chokepoint connecting Central Asia to South Asia

* Thermopylae, anyone?

** This trope occasionally pops up in TurnBasedStrategy games, most notoriously the AdvanceWars series, where a one-tile pass can be completely choked off by placing a ''fighter jet'' on the open tile. If the enemy force has no units which can attack a fighter, you've effectively created an unassailable buttplug that breaks the map in your favor.
* In order to not break the game's sequence, in ''BaldursGate II'' you start in Waukeen's Promenade and ''have'' to go to the Slums next, where you meet a representative of the Shadow Thieves who offers to help you and gives you a goal to shoot for this chapter. From the Slums, no matter which way you exit, you can suddenly go anywhere in the city.

* In [[{{Diablo}} Diablo II]], the only way out of Khanduras (Act I) to the Desert of Aranoch (Act II) is through the Rogue's Pass, a narrow monastery pass through the mountains defended previously by the Sisters of the Sightless Eye and presently by the hordes of hell.

* ''FinalFantasyIX'': Conde Petie, the dwarf home situated on two roots of the Iifa tree spanning a chasm between a large plateau and the mountains, blocks passage to the Iifa Tree and Madain Sari, the village of the summoners. Note that the various Gates (South Gate, etc.) are not examples of this since, while they regulate passage through the mountains, they do not involve stairs or narrow areas that would prevent vehicular transportation.

** In ''FinalFantasyVIII'', your trip to Galbadia Garden takes you through a forest in a narrow mountain pass. As soon as you set foot in that forest, the second Laguna sequence in the game begins, forcing [[BagOfSharing what is effectively your party]] into a weird crystalline dungeon.

* ''StarTropics.'' Several times. This game perfected the implementation of the FetchQuest, ButThouMust, and BrokenBridge tropes.

* Especially annoying in ''PhantasyStar III'', even if you're a Layan. Throughout the earlier generations, the only way to get to other worlds is by traveling through caves.
* This is justified in ''{{Morrowind}}: TheElderScrolls''. The only way into the Blight is through an inn/barracks/base filled with soldiers. It makes sense, because it's stopping the blight getting out.

* ''{{World of Warcraft}}'' has this in Azeroth, where different areas are usually connected only at specific points, with the rest of the border blocked by impassable mountains. Averted in Outland and Northrend when you get a flying mount, when you can fly anywhere you like.

* ''TheLegendOfDragoon'' is made of this, especially on Serdio. To get to Hellena Prison from Seles, you have to go through the Forest. From Hellena to Bale, you have to pass through the Prairie and Limestone Cave. From the Kingdom of Basil to the Sandoran Empire, you have to go through the Volcano Villude and the Dragon's Nest. Disc 2 is just as bad in Tiberoa.

* Utterly averted in FinalFantasyII. Other than various islands, there's nowhere you can't go as soon as you leave the first town of the game (theoretically, at least, assuming you don't [[BeefGate get horribly murdered by enemies several levels above you the second you stray too far off the beaten path.]])

** This trope occasionally pops up in TurnBasedStrategy games, most notoriously the AdvanceWars series, where a one-tile pass can be completely choked off by placing a ''fighter jet'' on the open tile. If the enemy force has no units which can attack a fighter, you've effectively created an inassailable buttplug that breaks the map in your favor.

* Brutally subverted in [[PerfectWorld Perfect World]]. Usually, the only thing leading you to your next destinatination is a small path and a yellow arrow. This has led to certain new players ending up in places inhabited by level 50 or higher enemies.

* Utterly averted in FinalFantasyII. Other than various islands, there's nowhere you can't go as soon as you leave the first town of the game (theoretically, at least, assuming you don't get horribly murdered by enemies several levels above you as soon as you stray too far off the beaten path.)

* In ''LegendOfLegaia'', several such blockades exist: Drake Castle (blocking Drake Kingdom from Mt. Rikuroa and [[spoiler: Noa's]] cave; bypass-able [[spoiler:once Zeto's Dungeon is beaten]]), Mt. Rikuroa (blocking Drake Kingdom from [[spoiler: Noa's]] cave; bypass-able [[spoiler: once Zeto's Dungeon is beaten]]), the Biron Monastery (blocking Drake Kingdom from the East and West Voz Forests [[spoiler: and Genesis Trees]] and the Ancient Wind Cave), the Ancient Wind Cave (blocking Drake Kingdom from the Sebucus Islands; [[spoiler:the Witch who runs the inn here]] explains that there haven't been travelers since the mist came, so travel between Drake and the Sebecus Islands before then presumably had to travel through the narrow caverns and consisted only of people on foot or [[spoiler:traveling with Seru]]), and [[spoiler:Zeto's Dungeon (the mist from which blocks a passage to Noa's cave)]]. The Sebucus Islands go on to prove this game is filled with the cliche. Almost all of these literally follow the Mountain Passage premise, and those that do not operate in a similar fashion. Biron Monastery is a near-perfect example in that you must enter through narrow doors (multiple sets), proceed through the training/entrance hall, through a shrine room (close enough to a throne room), up stairs, past the sleeping quarters (barracks), and through another hall and up the stairs in the hall (multiple sets) and then out two more sets of narrow doors.

* ''DragonQuestI'' utilized this with the swamp cave leading to the town of Rimuldar, the first of only a few places in Alefgard where you can purchase [[InterchangeableAntimatterKeys Magic Keys]].
* ''DragonQuestIV'': The FinalBoss is in the Overworld behind the FinalDungeon, since you can only take your active party into a dungeon. This way, you can use a magical horn to summon the wagon with your inactive party members, who can then swap in and out during the big showdown. You remembered to give the horn to one of your active party members, right?

* Ossa Trail and Gaoracchia Forest in ''TalesOfSymphonia''.
* In ''TalesOfVesperia'', you have to go through a cave called the Weasand of Cados to get to the desert from Nordopolica.

* The first ''[[StarOcean1 Star Ocean]]'' featured the city of Coule sitting right smack in the middle of a mountain blocking travel between Kraat and Portmith.

* ''GoldenSun'' has this; in fact, one the few occasions were it doesn't have it, it's common for players to miss the town/dungeon that they were meant to go to first (for example, [[SequenceBreaking people attempting to go to Kolima and instead going north and fighting Saturos - who is a very hard early-game boss with 2000HP - and then fighting the first real boss, Tret - who has 500HP)]].

* Hakenosia Peak from ''Tales of Symphonia''

** For ''Cataclysm'', Azeroth is being redesigned for full freedom, too.

* This is justified in Morrowind: The Elder Scrolls. The only way into the Blight is through an inn/barracks/base filled with soldiers. It makes sense, because it's stopping the blight getting out.

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