"This looks sufficiently dangerous to be the right way."
— SirRosser, Faria Insufferable Walkthrough 20
Basically, the game shows you two doors. It promises to only tell the truth. You ask it about one door, and it tells you that behind that door is an exit, but to reach that exit, you must crawl through a pit of serpents. The serpents are covered in spikes, are on fire, and have guns. Behind the other door, it tells you, there is simply an exit. No strings attached.
Do you believe it when it says it’s telling the truth? More importantly, which door do you go through?
—Spacemarine9, Fallen London player, offering a metaphor for a particularly insidious exploitation of this trope. For the example he was talking about, yes. There really were no strings attached to the "just an exit" option.
Freedom is the cliff that overlooks the abyss, the valley of the shadow of death. The grave awaits even the victor at the end of the road. Show me your heart... Fool who bears the name Freedom! Because of your name, you will carry the burden of plague, pain, and ridicule. Do you fear the suffering and humiliation? Fool who bears the name Freedom! Because of your name, you will live a life of betrayal, rejection, and defeat. Do you fear the deceit, the torment?
—Aradia, Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne
