But Thou Must / Adventure Games

But Thou Must! in adventure games.

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Examples where giving the "wrong" answer makes it impossible to proceed until you give the "right" answer (including giving Non-Standard Game Overs):

• The Sierra game The Adventures of Willy Beamish frequently used the Nonstandard Game Over variant. An incorrect answer could get you sent to military school, hospitalised, or denied an essential item.
• Atlantis: The Lost Tales: You can try to refuse the main quest, but it'll just start you over.
• Back to the Future: The Game. Marty seemingly has the option to lie to Doc about Edna's future, but Emmett will simply see through Marty's lies, and force Marty to give the option to tell the truth.
  • Earlier, Marty gets teenage Emmett to finish his rocket-drill by claiming to be from the Patent Office. After it's completed, Emmett asks when he can expect a response from the government; no matter what you choose, Marty feels too guilty to lie to his friend and confesses the truth.
• Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, Albus asks Shanoa to absorb some very dangerous glyphs at different points in the game. You have control over the action here, but there's only one option. You can try to get out of the room with the glyph, but Shanoa will comment something like "But... I have to get that glyph...". You can try to attack Albus, but no matter how hard you try, he'll always dodge by teleporting. Or you can turn off the game as a way to say "screw you!" to Albus. (If you don't rescue all the villagers, the game makes you trigger the Bad Ending yourself in similar fashion. On the other hand, you are permitted to screw up the Good Ending...)
• In Endless Ocean 2, the player character and Oceana find an amazing creature whose existence would shake the very roots of scientific thought. (It's a plesiosaur, for the record.) No matter how much you want to spread the word, Oceana will just say "Really?" until you agree to keep it under wraps.
• Fahrenheit / Indigo Prophecy does this:
  • The most annoying one happens while you're controlling Tyler who is on his couch with his girlfriend celebrating their anniversary. Then the phone rings and you must get up, answer it, grab your coat and walk out the door without much more than a quick "sorry" to your girlfriend. If you do not do this the telephone just keeps ringing for five minutes (and your partner does not consider this odd when you finally answer).
  • Later you have to bust into hotel room 366, but the first room they try is actually room 369 (it is a pretty crappy hotel with the final number dangling upside down). If you spot this (you have to walk past rooms 371 and 370 to get to room "366") and try to walk over to the actual room 366 the game won't let you.
  • As open-ended as the game claims to be, there are lots of scenarios where the game will still actively railroad the player through certain situations. For example, early on in the game there's a scene where the player character has a precognition of a police officer examining his apartment. Being able to see this precognition to the end (and learning what he has to do to avoid capture) depends on the player passing a short quick-time event sequence, but even if the player fails he is still expected to do these things, and should the player fail to do so the game ends immediately.
• Grim Fandango plays this for laughs with a conversation between a drunk Manny and Carla (who has a crush on him), where, no matter what, you'll end up causing Carla to get mad by mentioning her metal detector (which is what Manny really wants, contrary to what she thinks). Your dialogue choices change as Carla keeps talking, but always include an option to ask about her metal detector. If you keep avoiding that option by either talking about something irrelevant or just not doing anything, Carla eventually becomes hysterical, and you get stuck with three dialogue choices — two of which don't do anything, and one that reads "Here, let me hold that metal detector for you while you cry...".
• Heavy Rain can be very similar in this regard. Many of the dialogue options affect just that, with no real impact on how the scene ultimately plays out at all. Other times you're given multiple options with only one "correct" answer that you'll eventually be forced to choose if you don't select it right off the bat.
• Heroine's Quest has one, too. When the Jarl gives you your quest, you can say no. At which point he'll break the fourth wall and tells you that this is an adventure game, and if you're going to say no, you might as well play Tetris. Tell him no again and the game will load up Tetris.
• Leisure Suit Larry 3: Passionate Patti in Pursuit of the Pulsating Pectorals: When Larry is returning home to Kalalau at the beginning, the game forces you to go the way that will get Larry there, otherwise he'll turn back and you'll once again get the pointer where to go.
• Minecraft: Story Mode:
  • When you're trying to save Petra and Gabriel from the Wither Storm, you're given a prompt to aim your mouse and avoid getting hit, but the window of time is so small that it is literally impossible to avoid the attack and not get thrown into the Nether Portal. You must also choose between them, as if you don't do anything, the Wither Storm will take you as well, leading to a game over.
  • Ivor fails to destroy his Wither because the potion that allows him to do so was stolen by either you or Axel and replaced with a dud. No matter what you say at the time of actually finding it, either you or Axel will steal it. You also can't simply choose to ignore the potion scenario, because the dud Axel replaces it with is blocking the switch needed to progress.
• Parodied in Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge, where, upon being told he is not allowed to pick up a certain bucket, the player gets to ask repetitive questions while the NPC keeps responding "no". The player eventually comes across the correct answer, though it takes about a hundred tries. But if you pick the second initial option, the guy admits it's not his bucket, and lets you take it.
  • Telltale Games got in on the act in episode 2 of Tales of Monkey Island. At one point, Guybrush's wife Elaine tries to persuade him to go on an unpleasant errand for her; you're presented with a whole thesaurus-worth of synonyms for "no", but each time you use one she makes puppy-dog eyes at him and asks again. And the word you chose has disappeared from the list, until you've got no option but to say "Fine".
    • Another fine gem in that same episode that Elaine tells Guybrush that he was suppose to tell Human LeChuck that he's should be the one to save the Merfolk leader while Guybrush creates a distraction to. Once you save him and going to tell him that, a list of options pops up similar to what Elaine says. Despite choosing any of those choices, Guybrush instead says HE's the one to save the Merfolk leader while LeChuck creates a distraction.
    • Hell, majority of Tales, half of the Telltale Monkey Island dialogue responses are of the sort where Guybrush just said the same thing for any option. Luckily, they responded to player complaints.
  • Also, in the earlier Monkey Island games, you'd often encounter an obvious trap in dialogue - such as being asked by a group of obvious cheats if you'd like to play Poker with them. Your options? A dozen varieties of no, many quite savvy and pointing out how stupid it would be to do so. No matter what you pick, Guybrush blithely says 'Sure!' This is done sparingly, and only in points where it's both necessary to advance the plot, and really funny.
• At the end of chapter two of Puzzle Adventure Prince Kaelan is using the Crown of Resurrection to bring a dead dragon to life. Pigsley suggests using his last dynamite to start a lava flow which would destroy the Crown, while Keili urges the player character to retrieve the Crown and use it to resurrect their Uncle Mort, who was killed during chapter one. If you try to follow Keili's suggestion, Uncle Mort's ghost blocks your way and says to destroy it instead and that Keili will get over it in time.
• Quest for Glory II throws one at the player: A pushy used Saurus salesman (played by Groucho Marx) tries to get you to buy a riding saurus. The player can say no to drive the price down. If you keep saying no, you eventually get a Nonstandard Game Over, because you really need to buy that Saurus to complete the game (even though it's only actually relevant in two cutscenes and not at all in gameplay).
• Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse plays this straight - near the end of They Stole Max's Brain!, after fighting Skunkape, you'll get an option to FINISH HIM. Five times. And the player will gladly comply, believe it.
• In Spycraft: The Great Game, at one point you're called into a darkened van and asked through a slot to join forces with the villain. If you accept, you continue the game, being given a mission to kill the President; however, after the mission, the villain's second-in-command enters the room and shoots you.
• Star Trek: Borg
  • Done fairly well and "realistically" in this interactive movie. The premise is that Q is offering to take you back in time to Wolf 359 where your father was killed and alter history to save him (and his ship). The very first puzzle he presents to you after presenting the offer is a phaser in one hand to go kill Borg, and a Trekian duffel bag in the other for not wanting to kill Borg. If you pick the phaser, the game goes on. If you pick the Duffel bag, Q leaves in a huff and it's Game Over.
  • It's also possible to get a rare (for Star Trek) Fourth Wall Break Game Over. If you click on neither of them (or repeatedly fail later sections by not clicking), Q breaks in and explains what a mouse cursor is and how to click on something, prompting the player to click on his nose. If you still don't do it, he also leaves in a huff after insulting the player. As it turned out, finding the fun and funny ways to cause things like this to happen ended up being a lot more interesting than playing the game properly.
• Several missions in Star Trek: Bridge Commander include communications with ships sending, say, distress calls. Many of them include the option to tell them you will not respond to them. Naturally this doesn't often go well for the player.
  • Some of these are more like "side quests" than part of the main plot, but it's still not very Starfleet Captainly to refuse.
• All over the place in Telltale Games The Walking Dead, with your decisions usually affecting less what actually happens and more how other characters treat you. On more than one occasion, you'll be given the option to save one person over another (such as Duck vs. Shawn or Omid vs. Christa), only to find that the outcome is predetermined and that all that's changed is how other characters perceive what you did. Probably the worst is the end of Episode 4, where Clementine asks you if you'll have time to look for her parents and every single response is some variation of 'No.'
• Companions of Xanth has a case of this near the beginning. You are presented with four Xanth inhabitants and have to choose one to be your guide — once you do, you end up in a room with four doors. Unfortunately, unless you choose Nada Naga, your "wrong" companion will open the wrong door and get you both killed. Even if you try to open the safe door yourself, the game won't let you unless you picked Nada Naga.
• Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories: There are several moments where you're given a choice on what action to take in a confrontation, but the game requires you to pick the specific option you're told to progress the story. Not choosing it will result in a character prodding you to pick the required choice until you do it. Averted with the initial choice during the first chapter to sneak out and enjoy the festival, as you can just give up when Simon catches you and skip the first act of the game.

Examples where giving the "wrong" answer has little or no effect:

• Ace Attorney:
  • In the final case of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice For All, after presenting the evidence that drives de Killer into terminating his contract with Matt (and subsequently making Matt into his next target), you are once again asked to choose to either plead guilty or not guilty, only this time, the choice doesn't really matter anymore: If you plead guilty, Phoenix gives up his client, who promptly has a Villainous Breakdown. If you plead not guilty, Matt himself will plead guilty (because if he's let go, de Killer will be after his ass once he's out of custody) and will go into his breakdown. A satisfying ending to the final case!
  • Lampshaded in the introductory mission of the same game. When Phoenix is suffering from complete amnesia, the judge will ask him if the defense is ready. If the player chooses no, Phoenix asks if it's okay if he says no. The judge responds that of course it's not, prompting Phoenix to wonder why he asked in the first place.
  • In the final case of Ace Attorney Investigations, there is a moment where you have to choose whether to present illegally obtained evidence to help catch a nearly invulnerable criminal, or whether to follow the letter of the law and risk letting him go free. If you choose not to present the evidence, the other characters just argue with Edgeworth until he gives in and presents it anyway.
• Played with in The Curse of Monkey Island a couple of times: Guybrush gets prompted to give a false name to a smuggler, but no matter which alias the player chooses, the smuggler will refer to Guybrush with his real name, explaining that he has his sources.
  • Played with elsewhere in the Monkey Island series as well, generally speaking as a short gag (but considering the linear path of these games, which don't even let you die no matter how bad you screw up, you might say the whole game is nothing but a series of "But thou must!" moments). For example, the first game has a moment where your ship's crew has decided to ignore your quest to save Elaine and sunbathe on the deck of your ship. If you threaten them, one of them responds, "Guybrush, does the word 'keelhaul' mean anything to you?" You have two possible responses, "I see your point, thanks." and "keelhaul: to drag under the keel of a ship as punishment or torture." No matter where you click (even outside of both choices), you always give the first one.
  • In Curse of Monkey Island, Guybrush is asked if he has a girlfriend. Selecting the three "yes" answers results in a normal voiceover read: selecting "no" results in a cheerful "You bet!"
  • Also in Curse, Guybrush is asked if he would like to see pictures of someone's grandchildren. The responses all express in Guybrush's thoughts how much he does not want to see them, but no matter what you pick, Guybrush gracefully replies: "Perhaps...later."
  • In Escape from Monkey Island, you reach a point on an island where a stern man with a large cannon is drilling Guybrush, asking for his name and what he's doing. Although multiple smart-mouthed options are available, Guybrush always replies truthfully, with a nervous stammer.
• At the beginning of the graphical adventure Starship Titanic, the robot Fentible asks whether you will help repair the crashed starship. Answer anything besides "yes", and Fentible replies "An odd way to spell it, but that will do. You won't regret it."
• Time Hollow is unusual in that every question you face in it has a definite, factual answer, but there's no penalty for getting anything wrong. The worst that happens is that the questioner chides your stupidity or you have to try again. The only time you have to be right on the money is when you're going for the special New Game Plus playthrough and ending (which is trivially easy).
• In Chapter 4 of Until Dawn, Ashley and Josh are placed in a Jigsaw-esque trap on opposite forks of a rail with an advancing buzzsaw ready to cut one of them in half. Chris is forced to push a lever, which has pictures of their faces on each side, to one side to direct the saw. It's not specifically stated whether pushing the lever in one person's direction will save or kill them, so regardless of your choice Ashley will be spared.

Examples where there is no "wrong" answer available to choose:

• In Beyond Good & Evil when Hahn asks Jade to join the IRIS Network, he tells her: "You are free to choose your side". Naturally, there's no other way to progress in the game.
• In Close Your Eyes: Redux, the very first choice the player can make is when The Host asks you if you feel that you are a murderer. You can only respond with an affirmation.
• In The Curse of Monkey Island, the smuggler asks Guybrush if he trusts him, and all the choices offered are a variation of "absolutely not". No matter which alternative is selected, Guybrush, apparently hesitant to speak his mind, will reply "Of course I trust you!"
  • Similarly, when the Voodoo Priestess asks if you want to see pictures of the kids, all of the options are variants of "Dear God, no", but Guybrush will politely say "perhaps another time."
• In Hell Cab, when you get back from the Empire State Building for the first time, and he says he's never been to the top of it, your only choices to continue the conversation are "huh" and "now what?" - both of which simply take you to your next stop on the itinerary.
• In Hotel Dusk: Room 215, during Chapter 6, Iris (resident stuck-up rich girl) asks if you want to drink with her. You receive two options, both of which involve turning her down (since Kyle and Iris don't exactly see eye-to-eye).
• Played for horror in Life Is Strange's fifth episode, where in one part of the Nightmare Sequence, Max is talking with the game's villain and the only things she can say are things he'd want to hear.
• The Maid of Fairewell Heights: You must steal the money from the Alice Shop.
  Steal that money!
  Casually put it in your pocket.
  Five-finger discount that loot!
• In one Newgrounds game in which the player plays the role of a thug, the player is given the opportunity to sleep with a prostitute, and is told that the "no" option is disabled.
• Parodied in Space Quest III: The Pirates of Pestulon: Would you like fries with that?◊. Where every answer is "Yes".
• In the Wife ending of The Stanley Parable, the Narrator attempts to use Reverse Psychology on Stanley, telling him not to press a button when the prompt pops up. No matter how long you wait, you have to press the button to continue.
• In addition, like the game Trace Memory by the same maker before it, the main character does a mini-review at the end of each chapter. Getting the wrong answer doesn't have any impact, but lets you pick again. This makes some sense as it's purely a way for the player to freshen up on the facts in case it's been awhile since they've played.
  • In a complete aversion of the trope, nearly all the conversations that can be had with various people can have the wrong answers chosen resulting in at least changing how they interact with you in the future, or at worst a Game Over. And in many cases, it isn't at all obvious which the "correct" answers are and it actually takes thinking like the main character.

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