Aggrogate

Tuesday’s Trope: But Thou Must

[Tuesday's Trope is a weekly department highlighting an amusing video game trope from TVTropes. Aggrogate is not affiliated with TVTropes.org in any way. All trope examples come from TVTropes and are shared via the Creative Commons license.]

Sometimes we don't get any choices in video games. And sometimes we get choices, but unless we make the "right" one the game stops us in our tracks. If you're asked whether you want to save the world and you say "No," odds are the game will respond, "But thou must!"

This is particularly popular in old-school console RPGs, when you're given an obvious objective and any choice is just a formality. Still, it can appear in nearly any game with a storyline.

Examples of But Thou Must include:

• The aforementioned usage in Dragon Warrior — the princess asks you to let her accompany you on your travels, which inevitably leads to her marrying you, and if you answer no, she simply says "But thou must!" and gives you the choices again. You can keep hitting "No" until the cows come home, but she just won't take it for an answer. (Telling the Dragon Lord "Yes" when he asks you to join him, however, is a Nonstandard Game Over.)
• Brave Fencer Musashi did this at least twice. When Steward asks you to rescue the princess, if you choose "No", he literally says, "But Thou Must".
• In Psychonauts, Ford Cruller asks you if you want to be an agent for him. If you select the No option, he just smacks you and says "How 'bout now?".
• The NES Rambo game begins with Colonel Trautman asking if you accept the mission. If you refuse, he explicitly tells you, "The game doesn't start until you say YES."
• Parodied in Monkey Island 2, where, upon being told he is not allowed to pick up a certain bucket, the player gets to ask about 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.
• In Paper Mario it actually asks you if you want to take partners. You can choose the option to not take the partner, but, of course, you'll be But Thou Must'd into choosing the option to take them anyway. Which is a good thing, because, y'know, if they let you go without, you could end up making it Unwinnable.
• Shortly before Earthbound's first real boss fight (against a local gang leader), the protagonist is asked if he wants to join the gang. Answering "Yes" results in being told to come back after finishing the game.
• In Chrono Trigger, Marle will keep asking you to reconsider not accompanying her after running into her at the beginning of the game; furthermore, after witnessing Lavos destroy the world, your other two party members are all gung-ho about stopping it (or, in Lucca's case, about Crono looking cool in front of the other girl), and won't take no for an answer.
• In Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire, when you're asked to return the orb (red or blue depending on the version), the old lady will not stop asking you until you finally agree to hand it back over.