History PlayingWith / RatStomp

* '''Deconstructed''': Despite being an incredibly easy to dispatch foe, the rats end up being a genuine danger to Alice's health because of the infections and parasites they have acquired after roaming around heavily polluted areas. Even a little scratch would be enough to contaminate a person with a potentially lethal illness.

* '''Reconstructed''': The rats are easy to dispatch, but the infections and parasites they carry are very likely to infect a young adventurer with a nasty illness. This is why the rat stomp is used as a (rather mean) initiation rite; the Adventurer's Guild can handle the illnesses, and it teaches adventurers to never underestimate a "weak foe" or an "easy job".

* '''Reconstructed''': Alice is CrazyPrepared and has medicine on hand for just this eventually.

* '''Exaggerated''': Quite a number of the first quests don't have any other enemies besides rats.

* '''Parodied''': Rats are level 0, and completely harmless. If Alice kills one, the game taunts the player for being such a wuss.
* '''Zig Zagged''':

** Alice is looking for her first quest and finds a merchant who reluctantly mentions some rats in their cellar. She dashes off to kill the things only to have a horrified merchant shriek at her for slaying the pet rats she was supposed to herd back into their cages. Alice must find them three new Hershonian Blues somehow... But now she's got a bad reputation and she needs to work her way up to be even trusted with ratslaying jobs...

** "Sheesh, I'm way too wimpy and inexperienced to be any kind of a hero. If only there was a weak enemy I could practice my sword-fighting on... something small and not too dangerous, like rats."
** Alice was a struggling pest killer... then she started playing the role of an aspiring hero, and work's never been easier to find.
* '''Exploited''': Alice makes some extra money [[SideQuest by offering her services as a vermin exterminator]]. [[LevelGrinding She has fought so many of the darned things]], than she has learned some extremely effective ([[VideoGameCrueltyPotential if sadistic]]) ways to eliminate them.

* '''Plotted A Good Waste''': The rats Alice runs into the first thing were bullied by the other creatures to stay behind and buy them time to flee.

%% Optional items, added after Conversed, at your discretion:
%%
%%* '''Implied''': ???
%%* '''Reconstructed''': ???
%%* '''Played For Laughs''': ???
%%* '''Played For Drama''': ???

* '''Straight''': Alice enters an {{AdventureTown|s}} hoping to become a mighty warrior and a hero, but before anyone hires her for any quest, she must prove her worth by killing some rats.

** Alice's My First Adventure consists of her ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVOblivion protecting]]'' some rats.

** Alice's My First Adventure consists of her ''protecting'' some rats.

* '''Subverted''': The rats Alice encounters during her first quest are actually formidable enemies, and she's supposed to avoid them.

* '''Inverted''': Rats aren't seen in the game until near the end, where they are [[DemonicSpiders very dangerous]] or even the FinalBoss.

** Or, Alice's My First Adventure consists of her ''protecting'' some rats.

* '''Zig Zagged''': One of the first available quests for a low-level character is indeed about killing rats in a basement, but the rats are very high level enemies and the quest cannot be completed (or even survived) until a lot later. However, the townsfolk treat Alice like a child and refuse to sell her any weapons or other equipment until the rat quest is finished, forcing her to make do with what she can obtain by herself.
** Or: Alice is looking for her first quest and finds a merchant who reluctantly mentions some rats in their cellar. She dashes off to kill the things only to have a horrified merchant shriek at her for slaying the pet rats she was supposed to herd back into their cages. Alice must find them three new Hershonian Blues somehow... But now she's got a bad reputation and she needs to work her way up to be even trusted with ratslaying jobs...

* '''Invoked''': "Sheesh, I'm way too wimpy and inexperienced to be any kind of a hero. If only there was a weak enemy I could practice my sword-fighting on... something small and not too dangerous, like rats."
* '''Exploited''': Alice was a struggling pest killer... then she started playing the role of an aspiring hero, and work's never been easier to find.

* '''Downplayed''': ???

* '''Exploited''': ???

* '''Lampshaded''': ???

'''Basic Trope:''' RPG uses rats as the first encountered, lowest level enemy.

* '''Straight:''' Alice enters a TownOfAdventure hoping to become a mighty warrior and a hero, but before anyone hires her for any quest, she must prove her worth by killing some rats.
* '''Exaggerated:''' Quite a number of the first quests don't have any other enemies besides rats.
* '''Justified:''' The townsfolk are used to would-be-heroes who in fact aren't even capable of killing a rat. To avoid sending completely inept people to their deaths on real missions, they use a basic rat-killing quest as a litmus test.
** Or, Alice enters a DungeonOfAdventure via sewers, but being such a wimp, even the rats that live in the uppermost levels pose a real threat to her.
* '''Inverted:''' Rats aren't seen in the game until near the end, where they are [[DemonicSpiders very dangerous]] or even the FinalBoss.
* '''Subverted:''' The rats Alice encounters during her first quest are actually formidable enemies, and she's supposed to avoid them.
* '''Double Subverted:''' The rats Alice encounters during her first quest look an awful lot like quick and painful death, but it turns out they actually ''are'' low-level and easy to kill.
* '''Zig Zagged:''' One of the first available quests for a low-level character is indeed about killing rats in a basement, but the rats are very high level enemies and the quest cannot be completed (or even survived) until a lot later. However, the townsfolk treat Alice like a child and refuse to sell her any weapons or other equipment until the rat quest is finished, forcing her to make do with what she can obtain by herself.
* '''Parodied:''' Rats are level 0, and completely harmless. If Alice kills one, the game taunts the player for being such a wuss.
* '''Deconstructed:''' The rats Alice runs into the first thing were bullied by the other creatures to stay behind and buy them time to flee.
* '''Reconstructed:''' ???
* '''Averted:''' Rats are not used as enemies at all. Optionally, all or most of the enemies in the game are rats.
* '''Enforced:''' "Guys, the boss man called and said we have to do rats for the first dungeon."
* '''Lampshaded:''' ???
* '''Invoked:''' "Sheesh, I'm way too wimpy and inexperienced to be any kind of a hero. If only there was a weak enemy I could practice my sword-fighting on... something small and not too dangerous, like rats."
* '''Defied:''' Even if rats exist in the universe, there is no way Alice can kill them.
* '''Discussed:''' "Kill the rats in your basement? Well if that's what it takes to make you trust me with the real jobs."
* '''Conversed:''' "You'd think even the devs would get tired of rats as the first battle encounter, but no."
* '''Played For Laughs:''' ???
* '''Played For Drama:''' ???

Back to RatStomp.
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* '''Exaggerated:'''

* '''Subverted:''' The nonaggressive rats Alice encounters during her first quest are actually formidable enemies, and she's supposed to ignore them.
* '''Double Subverted:''' The nonaggressive rats Alice encounters during her first quest look an awful lot like quick and painful death, but it turns out they actually ''are'' low-level and easy to kill.

* '''Invoked:''' ???

* '''Subverted:''' The rats Alice encounters during her first quest are actually formidable enemies, and she's supposed to ignore them.
* '''Double Subverted:''' ???