abstract
| - One way to control the plot of an RPG is to place barriers in the hero's path. A destination may be unreachable without access to water transport because the main character has Super Drowning Skills. You may need to become immune to fire before moving on because the next level is set in a Fire and Brimstone Hell environment. Perhaps you need to enlist the help of a specific NPC, or acquire a specific item, in order to get past the annoying guard. Sometimes, the item or ability or whatever isn't needed again. But in other cases, it becomes a key part of the main character's inventory, and gets used all the time. When this happens, the rest of the game effectively has a You Must Be This Tall to Enter sign attached to it. In real life, these signs are used on amusement park rides and suchlike, because it's easier to design safety restraints for a ride if you know everyone on the ride is big enough to wear them safely. Almost everything else about the riders is irrelevant, as long as they are tall enough. In many games, something similar happens. You can't get to the other island without a ship, so any plot event that happens on the other island can assume you have a ship. Thus, the game developers suddenly start throwing quests at you that require you to hop back and forth between islands like a bored tourist, and continue to do so for the rest of the game. In extreme cases, the entire game dynamic may change after you obtain this one critical item or ability, because you are now well-equipped/powerful enough to handle challenges that would have been insurmountable before. See also: Broken Bridge, But Thou Must!. For something that requires you to be at a certain level to proceed before it kills you, see Beef Gate. When used carelessly, this can result in Cardboard Obstacles. Examples of You Must Be This Tall to Enter include:
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