History Main / AlwaysClose

* ''{{VideoGame/Persona3}}'' does this with the first storyline boss. No matter how much time you have to spare when you beat the boss, the [[spoiler: Shadows speed up the monorail's collision course]] to create a NoTimeToThink situation.

* In ''{{VideoGame/Persona2}}'', no matter how much time you have left after escaping the music hall, you'll get a cutscene of it exploding right after you leave.

Not related at all to Alec Baldwin telling you that you should [[Theatre/GlengarryGlenRoss Always Be Closing!]] For the more general concept of the heroes winning by the slimmest of any margin, see NearVillainVictory

Not related at all to Alec Baldwin telling you that you should [[Theatre/GlengarryGlenRoss Always Be Closing!]]

* Conker's Bad Fur Day, and its mostly-remake Conker: Live and Reloaded, have you escaping from the [[strike:Nazi]] Tediz base at the end of It's War. It doesn't take long, assuming you can get past the lasers, but the end cutscene has Conker running for his life.
* A particularly silly variation on this happens in [[SonicTheHedgehog Sonic Adventure 2]]. In one stage Sonic has to race up a walkway to grab a rocket before it fires. Not only is there a visible countdown timer on the screen, but a voice is actually counting down until launch. If you get to the handle early enough, you end up with the countdown going something like, "10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4- ''Sonic grabs handle'' Fire!"

* Comic aversion in Douglas Adams's ''StarshipTitanic''. Should you activate the Mega Scuttler bomb (voiced by John Cleese), it will start to count down from one thousand. If you interfere with it during the countdown, it will complain, lose its place, and start again at one thousand. Should you let it complete its countdown it will slow down, prevaricate, complain that it doesn't really want to explode, then restart the countdown at one thousand. Should you complete the game without deactivating it, it gives you an [[MultipleEndings alternate ending sequence]] where it finally decides to blow up the ship shortly after you get back to earth.

* ''WorldInConflict'' pulls this one several times. Sometimes is just the officier you had to help being grumpy, but there is a by-the-book example later on: [[spoiler: Clearing Liberty Island from Sovjets before an airstrike hits them and the statue of liberty. There is even an alternate cutscene if you fail]]

* The NeverwinterNights mod A Harper's Tale has a sequence in which you plant a bomb in some mines to cause a cave-in and cut off drow access to the nearby mining town. The fuse is short enough that you have just enough time to run for the exit, and if you dally at all you are blown up in a horrible fashion.

* Regardless of how long you take to escape the tower in Neo Bowser Castle in VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam, the bit you end up on will always collapse just after Mario, Luigi and the other characters get there. Regardless of how TakeYourTime is in full effect inside the actual tower and there's not even a count down timer.

[[folder:Stealth]]
* In the finale of ''[[SplinterCell Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow]]'', Fisher has to disarm a smallpox bomb in an airport before the time runs out. Afterwards he asks how much time was left on the bomb. The response? ''"You don't wanna know."''

** Averted in ''Resident Evil: Outbreak''. When Nikolai sets the bombs in the University to explode, the players can easily escape with minutes to spare. Then they have to sit around in the next area waiting for the timer to run out so they can reach the next area. The same is true of the lift in Birkin's lab.

* Narrowly averted in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4''. The tower full of C4 that you just escaped from blows up as soon as you open the gate to the next area, no matter how much time is left - but the timer is set so short (three minutes) that whenever the player triggers the CutScene, it's only about five seconds ahead of time anyway. You hear the explosion from the next area.

->-- ''{{VideoGame/Halo 2}}''

* In the game ''{{Descent}}'', clearing each level required you to shoot the mine reactor and trigger an explosive meltdown. Once the reactor was shot, you'd have only a minute to reach the exit before it went critical. No matter how much time remained on the clock, once you hit the exit you were immediately treated to an OutrunTheFireball cinematic as if you escaped at the last possible second.
** ''{{Descent}}'' also has it in reverse: a quirk of the game mechanics let you escape up to two seconds ''after'' the timer has run out, as the screen is [[FadeToWhite Fading To White]]. You're already inside the fireball, but the movie still shows you as getting out ahead of it.

* A strong reason why this is enforced is shown in [[http://nonadventures.com/2013/04/13/nick-of-timing/ this]] TheNonAdventuresOfWonderella strip.

Not related at all to Alec Baldwin telling you that you should [[Theatre/GlengarryGlenRoss Always Be Closing!!]]

* Played oddly in SilentHill2. When Pyramid Head chases James and Maria down a hallway, James has to run into an elevator to escape. Because Pyramid Head moves rather slowly, James himself is not in any real danger, but Maria moves much slower, and if Pyramid Head kills her, it's game over. In order to avoid this, you have to bolt down the hallway, [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic completely leaving Maria in the dust]]. When you get to the elevator, a cutscene is triggered that shows Maria running at full speed towards the elevator, with the doors closing just as she approaches, looking like she'll just barely make it through. [[spoiler: She actually doesn't, and is killed by Pyramid Head.]]

** Slightly subverted, in that, the number of surviving characters depends upon how fast you close the gate (but also on the amount of allies you bring). AnyoneCanDie. Except critical main quest characters. You probably don't want to hold off hordes of enemies with just the "invincible" characters, though, and they can be knocked temporarily unconscious, to boot.

* In ''GhostTrick'', you can rewind time to four minutes before a person's death, and then try to avert their fate. If you solve the situation well before the event that killed them occurs, the game will just fast-forward to that event so you can see how they didn't die from it this time.

* A particularly silly variation on this happens in [[SonicTheHedgehog Sonic Adventure 2]]. In one stage Sonic has to race up a walkway to grab a rocket before it fires. Not only is there a visible countdown timer on the screen, but a voice is actually counting down until launch. If you get to the handle early enough, you end up with the countdown going something like, "10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4- * Sonic grabs handle* Fire!"

** In the same game, when [[strike:Eggman]] Doctor Robotnik sets a timer to blow up Prison Island, your characters will always escape at the last second.

->'''Cortana''': [[YouDoNOTWantToKnow "You don't wanna know."]]

* The "Mike Lips (sic) Last Lunch" mission in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto 3''.
** The escape from a burning building in the final mission of ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto: San Andreas'' - however much time was left, it always ends with an OutrunTheFireball cutscene.

Not related at all with Alec Baldwin telling you that you should [[Theatre/GlengarryGlenRoss Always Be Closing!!]]

** Also, on the highest difficulty of ''Zero Mission'', it's nigh impossible to get out with more than fifteen seconds left.
** Possibly justified in ''Metroid Fusion'', where you could say that your ship's computer refuses to re-dock until it sees the final boss out of the way.

* There's a sequence in ''{{Okami}}'' where you're being dragged down a flooded river on a log and have to connect it to vines using the flowers on the shore. (ItMakesSenseInContext) It's timed, but no matter how much time you have left, you hit the InevitableWaterfall ''just'' after you connect the last vine.

* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry 4'' has a mission where Dante has to escape from a building that is about to self destruct, and no matter how much time is left on the countdown, the cutscene that follows always shows it crumbling within a few seconds of Dante walking out of it.

* Kyle Katarn has to get off of the big ship in Jedi Knight before it blows, but the gravity is on the fritz. Every time he reaches a certain checkpoint, Jan's voice in his communicator encourages him to hurry his little heiney up, but it doesn't matter how long it takes you to get him there.

Not related at all with Creator/AlecBaldwin telling you that you should [[GlengarryGlenRoss Always Be Closing!!]]

* The final escape from every ''VideoGame/{{Metroid}}'' game. In the later games, this goes for the opening sequence as well.
** Averted in Metroid Prime's ending sequence, as it skips to the end of Samus' escape, not allowing you control of her after you beat the final boss.
** Also, on the highest difficulty of Zero Mission, it's nigh impossible to get out with more than fifteen seconds left. Or so my experiences tell me.
** Possibly justified in MetroidFusion, where you could say that your ship's computer refuses to re-dock until it sees the final boss out of the way.

Obviously, this is done because the developers want to show the building explode for dramatic effect, yet there isn't really any reason for your guys to stick around as the timer counts down. Hence, StoryOverwrite.[[hottip:*:Plus this is because the cutscene after the playable segment was going to play out one way regardless of what you as a player did, so GameplayAndStorySegregation has a role in this as well.]]

*** FridgeBrilliance: Why doesn't your ship just shoot the boss, then? [[spoiler: It's being piloted by cute and cuddly yet highly intelligent creatures who may have just enough knowledge to pilot the ship.]] [[hottip:Ultra-spoiler:There is the matter of your ship's sentient computer, though.]]

Not related at all with Actor/AlecBaldwin telling you that you should [[GlengarryGlenRoss Always Be Closing!!]]

Not related at all with AlecBaldwin telling you that you should [[GlengarryGlenRoss Always Be Closing!!]]