History Main / WarpWhistle

** FinalFantasyXI has a ''lot'' of these, ranging from the original telecrystals (which once a shard key item from each was taken, could let any White Mage or certain rings teleport you back to, the homepoint crystals, which you were sent back to if you die or receive a warp spell, and expansion specific versions, such as Abyssea transit and Voidwatch transit (both by [=NPCs=], and to areas where those events take place. But the newest addon takes this UpToEleven, with the introduction of the waypoint systems, one of these teleports you (one way) to any of these you have activated, and the other takes you to the new city, Adoulin, and it's surrounding areas. The UpToEleven part? The waypoints in Adoulin are almost literally all over the place, to the point where you can't move in any direction more than thirty seconds without stumbling upon one.

* ''DivineDivinity'' has a unique take on the concept, with a set of two portal pyramids. When you're given one of them, you can acquire the other by teleporting to it [[spoiler:(which is in a locked room of a nearby catacomb, surrounded by skeletons)]]. Either pyramid can be set down on the floor anywhere, or thrown anywhere a normal item can be thrown. Afterwards, the player can either set down the other pyramid and use it as a two-way portal, or activate it in his hand and teleport without leaving a way back. This has several immediately useful applications, not least of which is the ability to get over narrow impassable terrain features. And, with a bit of luck, certain open windows.

* Completing George's sidequest in ''DeadlyPremonition'' nets you a Police Radio that lets you warp to important landmarks and buildings around Greenvale.

** In ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry 3'', getting all the DK Coins in the game allows you to obtain the Gyrocopter, which allowed you to travel to any location on the world map and access secret areas.

** In the original ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda'', use of the "magic whistle" item would transport Link via friendly tornado to the entrance of a random dungeon. Blowing it repeatedly would allow you to get to your destination, or at least closer. Also there was a power bracelet available earlier which allowed Link to go between 4 different hidden doors around the overworld.

* The subway and the L-train in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIII'', the train and the airports in ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas San Andreas]]'' and the taxicabs in ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity Vice City]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV GTA IV]]''. The later games also allowed you to "trip skip" to mission locations.

* ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'' allows you to quick-travel to previously-visited destinations at campsites or stagecoaches.

In most cases, destinations become unlocked when the player visits them the old-fashioned way first. Why this happens sometimes is justified; when you get there, you do something like opening a portal or activating a teleport machine, allowing you to get back there easily. Sometimes, however, it's a pointless rule and it's never explained why the traveling method only works if you have been there already. It's often [[RuleofPlot necessary to gameplay]], as if you could teleport to anywhere in the world from the beginning of the game, you could simply teleport to the villain's lair and there would be no need for all this quest.

* The latter two titles in the ''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}'' trilogy have these. In ''Clear Sky'', they take the form of guides that you can pay to take you to various places. Unfortunately, not every guide knows how to get to every place, so while jumping back to the starting area is usually simple, getting back to the area you jumped from can be very similar to figuring out a bus system, and the fees add up quickly. In ''Call of Pripyat'', you can tag along with other Stalkers to get to various places around each map zone for a relatively low cost, but moving between the maps requires paying a (initially significant, but a relatively simple early mission can lower it) fee to a guide to take you to the other map.

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' has flying mounts, which function like waypoints to major cities throughout a single continent, except that the flights cost money and are not instantaneous, as well as ships, zeppelins and a tram which provide free transport. Certain classes can create portals to certain major cities for other players or 'summon' other players. A [[HubCity high-level city]] contains free portals to old-world destinations. There's also the hearthstones, Astrall Recall (the Shaman spell that is essentially a Hearthstone that doesn't take up inventory space and has a much shorter cooldown period), Teleport Moonglade, all the Mage capital city teleportation spells, and meeting stones. Yet another portal ability, the Death Gate, was created for Death Knights to get back to Ebon Hold for training and Runeforging. Even dungeons aren't immune. The latest raid dungeon Ulduar has teleporters inside it that unlock as you defeat the bosses next to them, although they reset every week.

* ''VideoGame/LaMulana'' has the Grail item, which can be obtained in the first dungeon level. Its function is to instantly transport Lemeza back to the overworld, or any level whose tablet has been read, though backside areas require a certain pair of [=ROMs=] to be equipped. Besides saving time wandering around the ruins (and, in the remake, working as SavePoints), it's a useful method for escaping from spike traps and such, but it doesn't work at all in the Dimensional Corridor.

* ''VideoGame/{{La-Mulana}}'' has the Grail item, which can be obtained in the first dungeon level. Its function is to instantly transport Lemeza back to the overworld, or any level whose tablet has been read, though backside areas require a certain pair of [=ROMs=] to be equipped. Besides saving time wandering around the ruins, it's a useful method for escaping from spike traps and such, but it doesn't work at all in the Dimensional Corridor.

A quick shortcut to enable rapid travel in an open-world setting. Most often, it allows travel between a set of fixed points, or to those points from anywhere in the game world. In a lot of games, these points are co-located with {{Save Point}}s. In some cases, using the Warp Whistle is the only way tod reach certain areas.

A quick shortcut to enable rapid travel in an open-world setting. Most often, it allows travel between a set of fixed points, or to those points from anywhere in the game world. In a lot of games, these points are co-located with {{Save Point}}s. In some cases, using the Warp Whistle is the only way to reach certain areas.

* ''Dark Sun'' had various obelisks scattered around its world. Each one could be activated by putting its corresponding gem in it. Once this is done the party can teleport back to this obelisk at any time.

** The bird statues from ''Majora's Mask'' return in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'', letting you warp to any that have been activated.

* The various teleport runes in ''VideoGame/{{Gothic}}'' and its sequel. You'll be thankful for these, as the game world is huge and it takes forever to run between places.

In most cases, destinations become unlocked when the player visits them the old-fashioned way first. Why this happens sometimes is justified; when you get there, you do something like opening a portal or activating a teleport machine, allowing you to get back there easily. Sometimes, however, it's a pointless rule and it's never explained why the traveling method only works if you have been there already. It's often [[Rule of Plot necessary to gameplay]], as if you could teleport to anywhere in the world from the beginning of the game, you could simply teleport to the villain's lair and there would be no need for all this quest.

In most cases, destinations become unlocked when the player visits them the old-fashioned way first, why this happens sometimes is justified, when you get there first, you do something like opening a portal or activating a teleport machine, allowing you to get back there easily, but sometimes it's a pointless rule and it's never explained why the traveling method only works if you have been there already, it's often necessary, as if you could teleport to anywhere in the world, you could simply teleport to the villain's lair and there would be no need for all this quest.

** FinalFantasyXI has a ''lot'' of these, ranging from the original telecrystals (which once a shard key item from each was taken, could let any White Mage or certain rings teleport you back to, the homepoint crystals, which you were sent back to if you die or receive a warp spell, and expansion specific versions, such as Abyssea transit and Voidwatch transit (both by NPCs, and to areas where those events take place. But the newest addon takes this UpToEleven, with the introduction of the waypoint systems, one of these teleports you (one way) to any of these you have activated, and the other takes you to the new city, Adoulin, and it's surrounding areas. The UpToEleven part? The waypoints in Adoulin are almost literally all over the place, to the point where you can't move in any direction more than thirty seconds without stumbling upon one.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'' games also made use of Town Portal, though as the name implied, the scrolls primarily sent you back to town (which you would need to do often in order to sell off your old or excess gear, repair the gear you were using, and resupply on essentials such as potions, ammunition and Scrolls of Identify or Town Portal.

* The first game in the DarkParables series has a very restricted one of these. A "mysterious arcane symbol" is drawn on the ground in one section of the castle courtyard; later, activating an identical symbol in the alchemist's tower of the castle proper enables the player character to warp at will between those two spots. Its usefulness is arguably limited, but it's still a nice surprise.