Basic Trope: Taking a shortcut in a video game (intentionally or otherwise) that was not consciously programmed by the developers.
- Straight: In Tales of Troperia XV, you are supposed to go from The Lost Woods to the Hailfire Peaks to the Shifting Sand Land. However, part of a Sidequest Sidestory intended to be completed later has your party board an experimental airship which crashes down in the Shifting Sand Land, skipping the Hailfire Peaks entirely.
- Exaggerated: It crashes down right outside of the Very Definitely Final Dungeon, skipping the entire game.
- Downplayed: It crashes down near the midway point of the Hailfire Peaks, allowing you to skip some of the level.
- Justified: The inventor of the airship is specifically trying to find a faster way over the Hailfire Peaks and, knowing your party plans to cross them, asks if you'd like to test it out as a shortcut.
- Inverted: It crashes way back in the Green Hill Zone outside of the First Town, forcing you to go through all of the levels in between once again.
- Subverted:
- It crashes down in the Shifting Sand Land, but there is a Macguffin you need to acquire from the Hailfire Peaks, so you still have to go back and complete that level before continuing.
- It crashes in the easternmost part of Shifting Sand Land, which is so far off course from Pharao Evulz' Pyramid of Darkness (which is at the westernmost part of Shifting Sand Land) that you'd never survive trekking through the sand. It's better to get back to The Lost Woods and take the proper route.
- Double Subverted: ...the airship inventor catches up to you after the crash, having gone through the Hailfire Peaks and acquiring the Macguffin for you as a reward.
- Parodied:
- Zig-Zagged: Boarding an experimental airship as part of a sidequest allows you to skip the Hailfire Peaks, but there is a Macguffin there that your party needs to advance. However, there is no backtracking in the game until just before the final dungeon, meaning you'll need to continue on and then backtrack to complete the Hailfire Peaks level then, costing you far more time than simply completing them the first time would take.
- Averted: Each level is done in planned succession and there is no way to skip any of them.
- Enforced: The game is based on a book in which the party uses the airship to skip the Hailfire Peaks, so it is programmed that way into the game to stay true to the source material. It is made optional, however, for players who wish to experience each level.
- Lampshaded: After crashing down in the Shifting Sand Land, party member Quirby comments "guys, I think we just skipped the mountain level..."
- Invoked: Claidheamh stows away on the airship, sabotages the engines, and challenges the party to a fight. Even if they lose, they'd still end up skipping a good portion of the normal route.
- Exploited:
- Defied: The party crashes down in the Shifting Sand Land...but they are injured. Rescuers arrive and take them back to the inventor's town outside of The Lost Woods for them to recover at which point they still have to proceed through the Hailfire Peaks.
- Discussed:
- Conversed:
- Deconstructed:
- Reconstructed:
- Played for Laughs:
- Played for Drama:
