History Main / TheWanderingYou

Naturally this becomes less of a hassle with the GlobalAirship. See also FakeLongevity.

* Done on a localized level in ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'''s BrutalBonusLevel in the ''Crown of the Ivory King'' DLC, Frozen Wasteland. The area is a ''massive'' and mostly empty snow-covered plains where there's a constantly blowing blizzard that blocks your view, only clearing up for a few seconds at a time. You'll be ambushed by lightning horses constantly, even if you think you're moving straight towards the objective. Once you make it to the fog wall, you have to fight a DualBoss. Oh, and there's no bonfires in this entire area. If you die, you have to do this ''all over again every time''. The only good thing people have to say about the area is that it's entirely optional.

* While linear the maps in ''VideoGame/EnchantedArms'' are rather long. This serves to slowly drain your endurance with the frequent ecounters unless you are strong enough or skilled enough to finish every battle in a single round.

Some games have huge expanses of land seemingly built for this reason, although the overworld is noticeably shrunken. This essentially pointless space helps make the world realistically big, but seems to coincide with the point where the player sets the character on 'run'. Luckily, the advance of technology has made such trekking prettier, graphically speaking.

!!Examples

* Appears in all of the games of the ''{{VideoGame/Fallout}}'' franchise. Aside from the many enemies you will find wandering the wasteland you will also find many quests and other small events.

* A lot of time in ''VideoGame/SunlessSea'' is spent just zailing around doing nothing else encountering various things in the sea.

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' all of the maps that are not dungeons, and even some of the dungeons are rather large open areas. That a large number of the areas seem rather pointless is one of the complaints against the game.

* While there ''is'' a fast travel feature in ''[[Videogmae/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]],'' as well as the option to take carriages to all hold capitals, the game still largely requires the player to walk to most destinations. This is also the best way to trigger random events, which often come in the form of battles (such as a dragon attack, or a vampire ambush).

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}''. You're traveling across the entire region, battling all Pokémon and trainers in your path (if you so choose).
** In ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'' (and their remakes, ''[=HeartGold=]'' and ''[=SoulSilver=]'') you're traveling across not only one entire region, but two. Luckily, you already have all the [=HMs=] and over-leveled Pokémon you need, so you don't have to trek all the way across the region after you've explored it once like you do before you get Fly.
* Some of the areas in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI'' seemed to be placed as far out of the way as possible, just to make travel take as long as possible and give plenty of time for random monsters to do their thing. It wasn't uncommon to arrive at a new area and find that one needed to grind a bit before one would be able to survive the trip to the dungeon of the region, to say nothing of actually making it to the bottom of that dungeon.

* Both ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' and ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVIII'' have enormous expanses of fairly flat world to explore; in fact, one of the complaints against the former is the sheer number of areas that seem rather pointless
* The Mi'ihen Highroad and the Calm Lands in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' probably fit this trope. Then again, you can also rent chocobos.
* ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarII'' has sprawling dungeons with no scenery and few rewards, often little more than the FetchQuest object/person you're there to find. The sprawl generally doesn't even involve branches or side rooms - it's all one crooked line you have to walk through, just fighting as you go. One rapidly gets the impression that the only reason these places are so large is to give the random encounters time to wear down the player.
* ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireII'' has this in general, but the worst case happens when you reach Capitan and save the townspeople there. Ray wants to reward you with a blessing, so you have to go back to the hideout... at the other end of the continent. Once you have the blessing, you have to walk back to Capitan, where Sana the Fire Shaman drags the main character off for some [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything private business involving "uniting"]]. When you've finished setting the house on fire you get back to town and a man says your friends got bored and walked back to the hideout on their own. You're then (thankfully!) warped back home and told to get a carpenter... from Capitan. Once you get there for the ''third'' time and hire a carpenter, you're finally allowed to move on with the plot. Fortunately not too long after you'll start to gather transport methods that save a ''lot'' of frustration.

* The bonus dungeon in the DS version of ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' requires you to go back and forth through a single section, fighting the exact same enemies every time, because every time you bring back the fruit the questgiver asked about it's not the right one.

* Acquiring mounts in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' requires the player to reach a specific level, get enough money, do a quest, kill a boss or all of the above. However, requirements have gradually been eased.

[[folder:Adventure]]
* In the game ''{{VideoGame/Journey}}'' all you're required to do is walk. And walk. And walk.
[[/folder]]

* Most {{MMORPG}}s attempt to simulate a wide open world and as such have key locations separated by a whole lot of space- which players usually have to walk through. Even the best mounts or personal transports in games which have them take some time to get anywhere. On the flipside, games which allow players to ''teleport'' often functionally split into a bunch of disconnected hubs and locales as players stop walking, leaving the great outdoors to AI controlled mobs and world bosses.

[[folder:Survival Horror]]
* Key in SurvivalHorror games, so as to force the player into spending more precious [[HealingPotion medicine]], ammo, and (in some games) [[TimedMission time]].
[[/folder]]

* Acquiring mounts in ''WorldOfWarcraft'' requires the player to reach a specific level, get enough money, do a quest, kill a boss or all of the above. However, requirements have gradually been eased.

* ''{{Pokemon}}''. You're traveling across the entire region, battling all Pokémon and trainers in your path (if you so choose).

* ''EveOnline'' has several thousands of star systems containing [[CopyAndPasteEnvironments similar planets, space stations and asteroid belts]]. While each ship is equipped with an autopilot, it will do nothing to protect the player from [=NPC=] or player pirates.

* While there ''is'' a fast travel feature in [[Videogmae/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]], as well as the option to take carriages to all hold capitals, the game still largely requires the player to walk to most destinations. This is also the best way to trigger random events, which often come in the form of battles (such as a dragon attack, or a vampire ambush).

* While there ''is'' a fast travel feature in ''Skyrim'', as well as the option to take carriages to all hold capitals, the game still largely requires the player to walk to most destinations. This is also the best way to trigger random events, which often come in the form of battles (such as a dragon attack, or a vampire ambush).

[[AC: Handheld Consoles]]

[[AC: NintendoEntertainmentSystem]]

[[AC: Other]]
* Key in SurvivalHorror games, so as to force the player into spending more precious [[HealingPotion medicine]], ammo, and (in some games) [[TimedMission time]].

[[AC: PC Games]]
* Most {{MMORPG}}s attempt to simulate a wide open world and as such have key locations separated by a whole lot of space- which players usually have to walk through. Even the best mounts or personal transports in games which have them take some time to get anywhere. On the flipside, games which allow players to ''teleport'' often functionally split into a bunch of disconnected hubs and locales as players stop walking, leaving the great outdoors to AI controlled mobs and world bosses.
** Acquiring mounts in ''WorldOfWarcraft'' requires the player to reach a specific level, get enough money, do a quest, kill a boss or all of the above. However, requirements have gradually been eased.
** ''EveOnline'' has several thousands of star systems containing [[CopyAndPasteEnvironments similar planets, space stations and asteroid belts]]. While each ship is equipped with an autopilot, it will do nothing to protect the player from [=NPC=] or player pirates.

* In the game ''{{VideoGame/Journey}}'' all you're required to do is walk. And walk. And walk.

[[AC: PlayStation2]]

[[AC: SegaGenesis]]

[[AC: SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem]]