History Main / OverworldNotToScale

* ''Franchise/DragonQuest'' is the TropeMaker, using some variation of it in almost every game to the series. Averted with ''Dragon Quest VIII'', whose world map is drawn to roughly the same scale as the areas inside it. You can still explore pretty much anything you can access on foot, and you do have a WarpWhistle (the "Zoom" spell) at your disposal from early in the game.

* ''DragonQuest'' is the TropeMaker, using some variation of it in almost every game to the series.
** Averted with ''Dragon Quest VIII'', whose world map is drawn to roughly the same scale as the areas inside it. You can still explore pretty much anything you can access on foot, and you do have a WarpWhistle (the "Zoom" spell) at your disposal from early in the game.
* The ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series has used one in most of its games, the first nine in particular. The aversions come from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' (and its sequel) which don't have one - your GlobalAirship travels by PointAndClickMap. ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'' and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' don't have any either.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' is actually an extremely direct aversion of the trope. The game does have distinct world map areas, almost completely bereft of friendly [=NPCs=] and littered with monsters to keep you entertained. However, these are entirely to scale. One quickly comes to appreciate the numerous fast-travel options provided when the sidequesting begins in earnest.
* Games like ''{{Breath of Fire}}'' and ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' have the world map loop at the edges, giving the impression that what you see is the ''entire world'' (and [[WorldShapes shaped like a donut]].)

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' is actually an extremely direct [[InvertedTrope inversion]] of the trope. The game does have distinct world map areas, almost completely bereft of friendly [=NPCs=] and littered with monsters to keep you entertained. However, these are entirely to scale. One quickly comes to appreciate the numerous fast-travel options provided when the sidequesting begins in earnest.

* Averted with ''Dragon Quest VIII'', whose world map is drawn to roughly the same scale as the areas inside it. You can still explore pretty much anything you can access on foot, and you do have a WarpWhistle (the "Zoom" spell) at your disposal from early in the game.

* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' and ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', you control a planet-sized Normandy SR-2 as you go around the galaxy doing stuff.

Largely an {{RPG}} trope, [[TropeCodifier made famous by]] Eastern-style RPG's like ''DragonQuest'' and ''FinalFantasy'' where (especially in the days of tile-and-sprite based 2D graphics) the party character(s) were always rendered the same onscreen size, regardless of the overworld map's actual scale.

* ''VideoGame/{{Quest 64}}'' has what could be considered a world map, but it's built to the same scale as the rest of the game instead of being shrunken down (as in, say, ''FinalFantasyVII''). Played straight in the Game Boy port ''Quest RPG'', though.

* The ''Franchise/TalesSeries'', excepting ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphoniaDawnOfTheNewWorld'' which uses a PointAndClickMap instead.

Tangentially related to UnitsNotToScale, which is more of a StrategyGame trope than RPG.

* In adventurer mode of ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'' you ''can'' walk from one town to the next by walking in fully zoomed-in mode[[hottip:note:and if you want to cross a mountain range, you ''must'' do it this way]], and it will take the same amount of in-game time as walking across the fully zoomed-out map, so in this case it really is nothing more than a convenience for the player (not just in saving in real-world time, but also in navigating across long distances). When near or in a town/city the "overworld" map has a zoom-factor between the two extremes, letting you see the overall layout of the town and letting you quickly move down long streets (though you still have to shift down to the to-PC-scale map to do anything but move).

* ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'' was a fairly straight example, in keeping with its RPGElements: About the only purpose it served is to connect existing locations, with occasional wandering monsters to harass you.

* Averted in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'': The ocean ''was'' depicted at the same scale as the islands occupying it, leading to long sequences of sailing across blue waves from point A to B with nothing but the occasional monster harassing you (or ocean storm) to break up the voyage with. This quickly became a love-it-or-hate-it aspect of the game.

A traversible representation of a VideoGame's region at large, or 'overworld', slightly abstracted and depicted at a much smaller scale than the other areas of the game, so that the player can travel between distant areas faster than they could if it were all depicted "to scale". That distant town that's said to be 100 miles up yonder mountain range? You'll get there in just a few minutes of walking by map.

Compare and contrast PointAndClickMap, which is abstracted more, and you basically just click on the destination you wish to enter (and is a popular method in Western style RPG's), rather than being at liberty to wander around it freely. For even one more step in the abstract direction (popular with non-RPG games) to the point that the map is essentially cosmetic trimming, see RiskStyleMap.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' is actually an extremely direct [[InvertedTrope inversion]] of the trope. The game does have distinct world map areas, almost completely bereft of friendly NPCs and littered with monsters to keep you entertained. However, these are entirely to scale. One quickly comes to appreciate the numerous fast-travel options provided when the sidequesting begins in earnest.

* Averted in ''TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'': The ocean ''was'' depicted at the same scale as the islands occupying it, leading to long sequences of sailing across blue waves from point A to B with nothing but the occasional monster harassing you (or ocean storm) to break up the voyage with. This quickly became a love-it-or-hate-it aspect of the game.

Largely an {{RPG}} trope, [[TropeCodifier made famous by]] Eastern-style RPGs like ''DragonQuest'' and ''FinalFantasy'' where (especially in the days of tile-and-sprite based 2D graphics) the party character(s) were always rendered the same onscreen size, regardless of the overworld map's actual scale.

Compare and contrast PointAndClickMap, which is a step even more abstracted and you more or less just click on the destination you wish to enter, rather than being at liberty to wander around it freely. For even one more step in the abstract direction (popular with non-RPG games) to the point that the map is largely cosmetic trimming, see RiskStyleMap.

[[AC:ActionAdventure Game]]
* ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'' was a fairly straight example, in keeping with its RPGElements.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaPhantomHourglass'' and ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks'' ended up making the sailing/train driving like this. There are a few interesting things out there, but they mostly serve purpose of getting you to the places where things actually happen while fighting off RandomEncounters.

[[AC:{{Role Playing Game}}]]
* ''DragonQuest'' is the TropeMaker for the eastern style, and has yet to diverge from it.
** Subverted when ''Dragon Quest VIII'' did, by featuring a full-scale world map across which you could travel and explore every hill and forest. The only places you couldn't explore were those you logically wouldn't be able to reach by foot, and even those could be traversed once you gained the ability to fly.
* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' used the standard eastern style for the first nine games. ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' has an abstract one that's only used for selecting locations for your GlobalAirship, and ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI XI]] and [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII XII]]'' don't have any at all.
** The [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics Tactics]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance sub]]-[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsA2 series]] uses a more abstract map, with somewhat more avoidable RandomEncounters.
** VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy. [[http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20101214212924/finalfantasy/images/7/75/Map_dissidia_012.jpg The sequel will have one.]]

* ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'' features a strange world map—it's really tiny and has no enemies on it, at all. Then again, there were no enemies on ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger''[='s=] world map, but it was larger.
** ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'' takes place on only a single archipelago. So it's an “island map” rather than a world map.
** It is comparatively small; however the map is quite rich and densely packed with visitable locations.
* ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'' had you literally fly around the overworld in whatever airship you had at the time. It was the only time you could save freely, almost everything was comically scaled down, and it was actually notoriously bad about the high random encounter rate, which the Gamecube port fixed a bit.
* The ''Franchise/TalesSeries''.
** Though ''[[VideoGame/TalesOfSymphoniaDawnOfTheNewWorld Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World]]'' uses a point-and-click map due to budget constraints.

* Appears in ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei''. However, you are not shown like a giant version of yourself, but by an arrow pointing your position.
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' has a map in all games. However, in Generations II-IV, it's not a seperate map, but a part of your current {{Schizo Tech}}nical gadget.
** Although this is actually an aversion - instead of a world map, you have a thing called Routes. Instead of wandering through the world map from Pallet Town to Viridian City, you walk along Route 1.

!!Eastern Examples

[[AC:{{Platformer}}]]
* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2'' used a combination of the HubLevel system in the last game with this; Mario could traverse his fairly small FaceShip in order to collect extra lives, talk with other characters, and switch with Luigi, but once he steps in front of the steering wheel, he accesses the levels themselves from a map.
** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' was probably the first in the series to use this, and ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' and ''VideoGame/YoshisIsland'' took it further.
** And both ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros'' and ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosWii''.
** This trope somehow made it even outside the main {{canon}} thanks to Bill Mudron's FanArt, whose ArcWelding blended ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros'', ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'', ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'', ''VideoGame/SuperMarioKart'', ''VideoGame/YoshisIsland'' and ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'' into [[http://www.tekogen.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/mushroom-kingdom.jpg a single World Map for all of them.]] For those curious, he did the same for [[http://ghostynet.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/5486661974_ce44690f2d_o.jpg Hyrule,]] the setting of ''The Legend Of Zelda''.

!!Western Examples

[[AC:ActionAdventure Game]]
* ''MetroidPrime 3'' has a navigation map that allows Samus to choose in which planet ''and'' available landing area to reach when she's inside her gunship. This is necessary because, unlike the other games in the series, ''Corruption'' takes place on an entire galaxy, and thus various planets and ships instead of just one.

[[AC:{{MMORPG}}s]]
* ''ToontownOnline'' has a world map, but it's mostly covered in clouds until you reach that place. You also won't be able to have access to teleport there until you finish a (hard/long/tedious) task.

[[AC:{{Platformer}}]]
* The Map Screen of ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry 3'' became a WorldMap, as the player could roam around it freely, while in previous games in the series the player could only move from level to level on a linear path.

[[AC:{{Role Playing Game}}]]
* In the ''BaldursGate'' and ''IcewindDale'' games, as well as ''NeverwinterNights2'', when on the world map, the party's location is shown as a dot, and the player is unable to travel towards anything other than certain known destinations.
* Prior to ''{{Ultima VI}}'', the series used a world map that you walked around on looking for [[UnitsNotToScale Clown Car Cities]] and dungeons to plunder.
* Ditto the similar ''VideoGame/{{Exile}}'' series, which eventually got to the point of having an entire continent and several enormous cave networks riddled with points of interest mapped out in excruciating detail.
** Later titles in the ''VideoGame/{{Avernum}}'' remake series dropped the world map, resulting in a bit of SpaceCompression.
* The first two games in the ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' series have the world map covering about half of California and southern Oregon, cut up into nominal tiles which the player could move freely around. The positions of the player's party, locations of interest, random encounters and such are indicated by the same retro-oscilloscope graphics the [=PIPBoy=] uses. The third game in the series has a "map" that's a scale representation of the actual in-game play area. The difference in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' is that every point on the map corresponds to some piece of actual terrain; in the previous games, the "wasteland" in between important locations was dynamically generated. To compensate, the third game is limited to the Greater Washington DC Metropolitan area, rather than the hundreds of miles of the previous two.
* ''{{Arcanum}}'' uses a map that covers a continent that works much like the older ''Fallout'' maps.
** Notably, you could walk from area to area without using the WorldMap, though that could get tedious since the game world is very big and the non-important areas are generic land with nothing of interest other than the occasional monster.
* In keeping with its JRPG roots, ''{{Summoner}}'' has a very eastern-style map you walk around and drop into {{Random Encounter}}s from.

!!Non-Video Game Examples

[[AC:{{Western Animation}}]]
* There is a talking, sentient world map in ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'' the protagonists seek as the first step on finding the little boy's home. The maps like it are rare, but weak on the scale of talking, sentient items.
* Another non-video game example... although, because of meta reasons, ''[[MindScrew it isn't]]'' - CaptainNTheGameMaster.