History Main / ArbitraryMissionRestriction

** Both games have "Hunting" and "Assassination" {{Side Quest}}s that require the player to track down specific animal or human enemies and kill them, but the deed must be done with a specific weapon. This is in stark contrast to most of the game, which encourages the player to use whatever tactics and equipment they see fit. Stealth-centric players aren't likely to ever ''touch'' a shotgun during the campaign, but some of these side missions require it. The Assassinations, at least, were handled slightly better in ''Far Cry 4'' where they were HandWaved into "Eye for an Eye Missions": the target killed the QuestGiver's loved one with <specific weapon>, [[LaserGuidedKarma so that's what you're required to kill the target with.]]

* Every dungeon in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyRecordKeeper'' has a number of conditions that must be met in order to obtain "Mastery", with silver and bronze medals for those who fail to score high enough. Aside from the bragging rights, gaining Mastery nets the player better rewards. Specifically, every dungeon is ranked on damage taken, party members knocked out, and number of actions taken (i.e., if a battle drags on, the score will drop). Additionally, all boss stages are ranked on whether ''any'' party members are knocked out, and most bosses have additional requirements. Common ones include "Exploit the boss's weakness to [[ElementalRockPaperScissors a specific element]]," "Afflict the boss with a particular StatusEffect," "Defeat the boss before it uses its SignatureMove," and so on. It's not necessary to get a perfect score in every requirement to get Mastery, but it's always necessary to do well in most of them.

* The console ''VideoGame/PunchOut'' games don't give an in-universe reason why Little Mac's starting stamina varies per opponent. Apparently, he has no problems being all fired up against Great Tiger (77 hearts) but he tires himself out quickly against King Hippo (10 hearts).

** Certain levels force additional restrictions: How many plants you can use, how many plants you can lose, how much sun you need to produce, how long you must last for without planting (pre-1.7), how many zombies killed within a period of time, where you can or cannot plant (mould colonies, before the objective description change), and how far the zombies can walk, which is marked by a row of flowers. If you fail any of these restrictions, the player will lose the level and force to restart just like if the zombies ate your brains (after the 1.7 update) or not get a star (1.6 and below).

* In ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}'', when the eponymous thief enters the Cave of Wonders to fetch the magic lamp, he is allowed in, but told to "Touch nothing but the lamp." Upon entering, he finds a ''massive'' trove of treasure, but he abides by the condition. Fully justified in that when his pet monkey Abu does touch some of the treasure, [[OhCrap shit massively hits the fan]], they almost die, and then they are [[BuriedAlive trapped in the cave]] and must find a way to escape.

** The game gives the player a sort of scorecard at the end of every mission, which includes whether the player completed the mission without (A) killing anybody, even indirectly (such as by standing by and letting a murder take place), and/or (B) triggering any alerts or alarms. Each condition awards an achievement if it is fulfilled over the course of the entire game (as well as some lesser included achievements, such as one for completing any single mission with no alerts, or any single mission with no alerts and fewer than 5 murders, or completing every mission up to a certain point with fewer than 10 murders). The straightforward "Don't kill anyone" and "Don't alert anyone" achievements are also duplicated in each of the Daud-centric DLC campaigns.
** One achievement requires the player to finish the game without gaining any supernatural skills aside from one that's required by a tutorial--not only magical powers, but also more mundane enhancements like the ability to jump higher, since they all stem from the Outsider's power.

** ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' is the first major release of the series to introduce optional secondary objectives on missions, usually as little more than bragging rights for the Rockstar Games Social Club, though of course required for 100% completion.
** ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIVTheBalladOfGayTony'' was ''V'''s immediate predecessor and the "true" first title of the series to feature optional secondary objectives.

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'''s [[MurderInc Dark Brotherhood]] questline uses the "optional objectives" variant. Players are free to kill the targets any way they please, but with every target after Rufio and Captain Gaston Tussaud--[[spoiler:until the player becomes Lucien Lachance's Silencer]]--there's a bonus added to the payment (usually a magic item) if the kill is carried out in the specified manner (e.g. to MakeItLookLikeAnAccident in "Accidents Happen").
** Brought back in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'''s Dark Brotherhood quests; for example, a {{Frameup}} quest requires you to kill the victim in a major city so that the incriminating letter you plant on his corpse will be found in due time.

* This trope is fairly common in RTS games in general. The campaign modes of many games often severely restrict the types of units the player has access to early on, slowly introducing new unit types in successive missions [[TropesAreNotBad so the player isn't overwhelmed by having to learn so many units' strengths and weaknesses at once.]] Frequently little, if any, in-universe justification is given for doing so.

* A few quests in ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' require the player to have some sort of handicap, like not bring any items with them or not wear any armor. The usual justification is the quest giver wants to challenge the player.

Compare and contrast with a GimmickLevel, which is when overall gameplay is not changed, but something about the visuals, layout, or abilities necessary to win the level are radically different from usual. Related to FakeDifficulty; many optional objectives can ''drastically'' increase the difficulty of a mission for players who want an extra challenge. Tends to overlap with GameplayAndStorySegregation when the restrictions don't have any InUniverse justification, and also frequently overlaps with OneHundredPercentCompletion, since a lot of "optional" objectives are not quite as optional if you want 100%. Likewise, the optional objective variant is often part of an AchievementSystem.

* Since ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreed2'', every ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' game has had optional objectives for every mission. Some are actual restrictions (like "[[StealthBasedMission Don't get into open combat]]"), while others are merely extra tasks that must be completed during the mission (like "Get five [[BoomHeadshot Head Shots]] on enemies"). Other such conditions include "Assassinate your target with the hidden blade" (as opposed to any other weapon), "Don't touch the water" on missions that take place on or near bodies of water, "Perform three double assassinations," and so on. Completing them results in extra "synchronization" on the mission. Since the FramingDevice for the game is that the player is reliving a historical figure's memories, these are loosely [[JustifiedTrope justified]] as being "the way the assassin actually did it". And of course, completing all of the optional objectives is a requirement for OneHundredPercentCompletion.
** While ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedOrigins'' does away with the optional objectives, it compensates with the gladiator arena tournaments preventing you from using your own weapons, instead forcing you to use crappy basic gear provided by the arena owner who gives only the flimsiest of excuses as to why he imposes this restriction on you. It makes an already annoyingly repetitive chain of side quests even more annoying, but at least these battles are entirely optional (unless you're going for OneHundredPercentCompletion or want the associated achievements).

[[folder:Web Original]]
* Yahtzee of ''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation'' sardonically refers to this trope as the "sandbox paradox", referring to WideOpenSandbox games in which the player is given complete freedom to do what they like outside of missions, but within missions must precisely follow a linear series of instructions.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Action Adventure ]]

[[folder: Card Battle Games ]]

[[folder: Fighting Games ]]

[[folder: First Person Shooters ]]

[[folder: Real Time Strategy ]]

[[folder: Role Playing Games ]]

[[folder: Simulation Games ]]

[[folder: Stealth Based Games ]]

[[folder: Tower Defense Games ]]

[[folder: Web Original ]]

[[folder: Wide Open Sandbox ]]

[[folder: Films--Live-Action ]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* ''[[Franchise/RedFaction Red Faction: Guerrilla]]'' has missions that require the player to destroy a building within a time limit, using explosives and other tools that are provided. These range from simply using the tools quickly, to spotting a building's crucial structural weak points, to solving puzzles.

* The entire ''Franchise/GrandTheftAuto'' series since at least ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity'' has featured these restrictions on story missions, such as mandatory stealth or no-killing restrictions that are sometimes only vaguely justified if justified at all.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

* In ''TabletopGame/DeadOfWinter'', if the main objective is completed successfully before a loss condition is triggered, all players collectively win the game. However, each player also has a hidden individual objective. A player can only achieve individual victory if the group mission is successful ''and'' the player fulfills their own objective. Many of these individual goals can go counter to the group goal, since they can require the player to hoard vital supplies or play in a sub-optimal fashion, while still trying to achieve the group goal. This is {{Inverted|Trope}} if a player gets a Betrayer objective, which means that they can only win if they fulfill their individual objective and the group ''fails''.
* [[TabletopGame/{{Chess}} Odds Chess]] is a variant of chess in which more experienced players will give ''themselves'' an arbitrary restriction, to give amateurs a better chance. For example, two of the stiffest traditional handicaps are known as the "capped knight" and "capped pawn". These challenges specify that the odds-giving player (the more experienced one) must checkmate his opponent with his queen's knight or king's bishop's pawn; otherwise, he loses, even if he checkmates his opponent with a different piece.
* Published ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' adventures sometimes have Mr. Johnson put these type of restrictions on the shadowrunners. For example, if the run involves sending a decker into the target's computer system to retrieve a file, Mr. Johnson may order that the decker is not to look at or copy any of the other files in the system, or keep a copy of the file for himself.

[[/folder]]

[[IThoughtItMeant Not to be confused]] with WithThisHerring, though that trope's TropeNamer ''is'' technically an example.

* Several of the ''Franchise/TalesSeries'' games, including ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' and ''VideoGame/TalesOfXillia'', include titles and/or achievements for not using any [[HealingPotion Gels]] until a certain point in the game, and ''Symphonia'' includes a title for not changing out the main character's [[StarterEquipment starting weapon]]--a pair of wooden swords--until a certain point in the game.

** Certain levels force additional restrictions: How many plants you can use, how many plants you can lose, how much sun you need to produce, how long you must last for without planting (pre-1.7), how many zombies killed within a period of time, where you can or cannot plant (mould colonies, before the objective description change), and how far the zombies can walk, which is marked by a row of flowers. If you fail any of these restrictions, the player will lose the level and force to restart just like if the zombies ate your brains (after the 1.7 update) or not get a star (1.6 below).

** Certain levels force additional restrictions: How many plants you can use, how many plants you can lose, how much sun you need to produce, how long you must last for without planting (pre-1.7), how many zombies killed within a period of time, where you can or cannot plant (mould colonies, before the objective description change), and how far the zombies can walk, which is marked by a row of flowers. If you fail any of these restrictions, the player will lose the level and force to try it again just like if the zombies ate your brains (after the 1.7 update) or not get a star (1.6 below).

** Certain levels force additional restrictions: How many plants you can use, how many plants you can lose, how much sun you need to produce, how long you must last for without planting (pre-1.7), how many zombies killed within a period of time, where you can or cannot plant (mould colonies, before the objective description change), and how far the zombies can walk, which is marked by a row of flowers. If you fail any of these restrictions, the game is over and the player will start that same level again like if the zombies ate your brains (after version 1.7) or not get a star (1.6 below).