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Posted by: Allen Hunter Mar 27 2009, 11:47 AM

Hey fellas, list some cliches you have spotted while playing video games. Just because they're cliches, it doesn't mean they're bad, just repetitive.

Here are some of mine:
- Key character to plot is usually male.
- Collect all of the crystals/objects and become almighty or something...
- Most playable characters are teenagers.
- Evil bad guy wanting to rule/destroy the world for no apparent motive.
- Female main characters falling in love with the male main characters (or vice-versa).
- Plots that describe some sort of war or conflict ranging from 100 to 1,000+ years ago.
- Male main characters use swords.
- Female main characters DON'T use swords.
- Evil empires that love greed.
- Everyone starts off at Level 1 in the beginning.
- Females are weaker in attack/defense compared to males, but they can instead have stronger magic than anyone else.
- Female characters with provocative or obscene clothing.
- If someone requests [Key Item], head to a nearby cavern and FIGHT the guardian of the [Key Item] because they own it.

Posted by: ShaydeZehetbauer Mar 27 2009, 12:08 PM

Sorry, but your princess is in another castle.

Posted by: PhantomH Mar 27 2009, 02:00 PM

- Sleeping on a bed somehow cures you of everything, even poison!
- Lone characters are often given a badass look and attitude.
- Characters with giant swords (I'm looking at you guys, Cloud and Arngrim! ).
- Spiky-haired main male characters.
- Male main character being oblivious to a female character's love affection.
- A group of kids (The party) who somehow defeats a giant monster when the King's Knights of Order are no match against it.
- Teenagers being able to slay an evil villain bent on destroying the world when adults can barely touch them.

Posted by: Rory Mar 27 2009, 06:14 PM

I liked that one. Its so true.

Don't forget these.

-Main character searches for an old teacher/master to train him for his mission.
-Male main characters has a clean shave.
-Male main character saves a girl in a castle.
-She was kidnapped by a big turtle.

Posted by: Bandito Mar 27 2009, 06:14 PM

-Main characters with a tragic past
-Lovey dovey main character that are childhood friends

Posted by: xX_Raian the Fallen_Xx Mar 27 2009, 09:30 PM

Can't believe you guys never touched this one:

-A character will get to try something for the very first time, and as it turns out, he's the best in the world at it.

Posted by: ShaydeZehetbauer Mar 27 2009, 10:15 PM

This one's been itching my mind for the past hour or so now:

- The female supporting lead character always has her "pimp hand" strong over the male lead. (ala: Tales of Eternity.)

Posted by: Obsession Mar 28 2009, 02:19 AM

About time this thread was made.

Character Cliches:
Protragonist:
-Usually male, but if female usually a masculine female.
-Average age of 17-20 sometimes a little higher, and sometimes a little lower. But you don't normally see a senior playing the main role in a mainstream RPG.
-One of their family member is dead. Its usually either the father or mother, or both.

Second char:
-Usually close to protragonist
-Usually uses staffs and magicy stuff. (Aerith theory)
-Female.


Other characters:
-The cute a$$ kicker. Usually an animal or pet.
-The tough guy.
-The shady, mysterious, uber-awesome guy. (Ends up cooler than protragonist)
-The comic relief (We all need it right?)



General cliches:
-You can somehow raid peoples houses and they don't give a damn. (I encountered this one yesterday while playing an RPG. You start the game in a little group of thieves everybody hates and your made work off your debt. All the townspeople forgive you and then you can go in their houses and take stuff from the cupboards and tables in front of their faces without an ounce of care.)
-You know when someones going to join you because an NPC mentioned their name in CAPITALS or big obvious red
-No matter how long you take grinding on the world map or in a dungeon, the main villan will ALWAYS just fufil his plans/get his plans trashed by the hero. E.g Villan plans to blow up castle and only does it when main guy arrives.
-The party gain almost super saiyan like powers.

Posted by: TedR Mar 29 2009, 04:50 PM

- If the main character is a teenager and uses a sword, they are more skilled with that sword than a middle aged general or soldier, and can easily defeat them.
- Heroes can survive a swarm of bullets, live through lightning storms, and survive just about anything else, but a little knife poke in a cut scene can instantly kill.
- Stores only sell items the party needs. Nothing useless like a pair of socks (unless they make you fly).
- The main enemy, once he learns of the rag-tag group of heroes coming to topple him, sends his weakest and most inept henchmen to dispatch the heroes. Upon the failure of those henchmen, he sends the next weakest, then the next weakest, and so on.
- One main female character will have ridiculously large boobs.
- Swords and spears are stronger than bullets and lasers.
- Enemy female henchmen will develop a crush on the main character.
- Females only usually have crushes on the main character.
- Transporters, time travel, advanced metallurgy, radio communication may exist, but people still use medieval weaponry.
- No one gets colds or sun stroke from traveling in the tundra or desert. (exception: Earthbound).
- People are traditionally limited to using one type of weapon or wearing one type of armor.

Posted by: wtfisyellow Mar 29 2009, 10:20 PM

how bout...
-no matter how much you try the coolest character you get in your party will Betray you and be 1000x more powerful on the bad guy side (rikku: 'KH'/ Sephiroth: FF7 Kratos: ToS )

-Wings= Amazing

-No one calls the hero out on his dialogue choice

-A male characters death will always be more dramatic to the Lead characters than a females for fan girl reasons....

Posted by: Obsession Mar 30 2009, 02:12 PM

-Your party appears to all have amazingly huge bladders and rarely use the bog, if at all. Maybe thats why your the chosen one...

Posted by: Kurysu Mar 30 2009, 02:38 PM

Ted. You've inspired me to put completely useless items like socks in every single store in my game.
Thanks. You rock!
XD

Posted by: Bandito Mar 30 2009, 03:32 PM

- when a female character dies the hero unexplicably falls in love with her.

Posted by: Jamieson May 28 2009, 07:47 AM

- The dungeon/area/whatever always contains the EXACT item you need to get through. Lucky someone left it there I suppose, otherwise you'd be stuck and Mr. Bigbad would be having his way.

Posted by: Kyle_Katarn May 28 2009, 01:05 PM

HEY! ... LISTEN!

Not a Cliché, but it still haunts me to this day. *twitch*

Posted by: Lyric Induced May 28 2009, 01:07 PM

I always loved HEY... LISTEN! It was charming and it's classic.

Much more fun to hear than the stupid DING sound on Majora's Mask.

Posted by: Ryan15000 Jun 14 2009, 12:26 PM

Here some I ran across not to long ago...

-Main character is faced with facing his own father (Castlevania Symphony of the Night, Alucard)
-Main character is major badass that can kill in a single blow (Ryo, Ninja Giaden Black)
-Main character is naturally or unaturally gifted with powers beyond anyone else.
-Female character has some relationship with main character before the story.
-Main character is driven by his past in order to help the future.

Ryan15000

Posted by: YoYo-JoE Jun 19 2009, 08:37 PM

Ha! Seems like most of these are from Laxius Power. It's true, I mean Laxius Power has lots of cliches, but hey! It's still fun to play with.

Posted by: Rosseau Jul 27 2009, 01:18 AM

The site that everyone and their grandmas have probably read: http://project-apollo.net/text/rpg.html (still worth a chuckle)

Here's a couple that I noticed lately:
- Having Johnny Yong Bosch as any main character's voice.
OR
- Having Yuri Lowenthal as any main character's voice.

Posted by: Lyric Induced Jul 27 2009, 02:24 AM

-The villian will wait in his lair doing absolutely nothing even though he is expecting his opposers to arrive at any time and cause trouble.

Posted by: Dyhalto Jul 27 2009, 03:27 PM

-The hero always begins his journey in the exact geographical location where the weakest monsters live.
-Stronger monsters are on the other side of the bridge.
-Hardened military soldiers with years of training are weaker than the local wildlife.
-The best town with the best shops selling the best equipment is located in the worst accessible area.
-Big Bad Bosses always turn angelic after you kick their ass once.
-Showdown with old friend!
-The two guards on either side of the gate they're watching say the exact same thing.
-Rabbits attack.

Posted by: solusandra Aug 8 2009, 04:51 AM

Here's a list I've thumbed through from time to time over at TVTropes. It comes with examples, too:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/VideogameTropes

I'm playing Star Ocean at the moment, and am guilty of this one in creating my own game:

- Let me get back to that later: There's an obvious cave / chest that is just out of reach. Naturally you'll acquire the ability to get there later in the game.

Can also be mixed with the ominous obelisk of doom, an object that you examine and are told "you have a really bad feeling about". Naturally, it's a secret boss later on when you have the right items to fight it.


- The Arena: Somewhere in that big wide world, there's a fighting arena with various combat leagues, staggered at just the right difficulty so you can use it to power up after passing the appropriate point in the game. There's usually also a special round against a super-boss, and an endurance league pitting either one character against 10-15 battles or your entire party against 50+ battles. Naturally, it mainly takes place outside of the framework of the story and is up to the player if they want to go there or not.


- Monsters: The party is always fighting horrible creatures and demons, if only because fighting wild animals and evil humans all the time would be boring. This is especially evident in games such as Arc the Lad II and Breath of Fire (series) where you never fight "normal" humans, but every single one turns into a monster to fight you. Arc the Lad II is especially irritating for this, because some of the humans have really cool designs but they all mutate into (usually mundane and pallet swapped) beasts.

Posted by: blue_fox Sep 10 2009, 03:08 PM

-No matter how long you wait in one location the time of day will never change
-(for any turn based rpg) Every character has to wait his/her turn to attack, for whatever reason.
-There will be magical talking animals that are somehow essential to the story line.
-The main character has to overcome some physical or mental adversity before they feel ready to confront the main mad guy.

That's all I could think of...

Posted by: Midnight Assassin Sep 11 2009, 12:03 AM

• Walking into walls doesn't stop you from stepping,
• You can somehow survive three slashes with a weapon to the head,
• Hermits are always magical.

Posted by: phoenixmagelord Sep 15 2009, 03:30 PM

These are based on Fire Emblem, but can apply to other games as well.

• Talking to enemies almost always converts them to allies, often against their will, often causing them to betray the ideals they have followed for years.
• Enemies with a portrait are almost always potential allies if they are not bosses.
• The main hero almost always loses a parent (or two) to a major antagonist.

Posted by: Skully Oct 23 2009, 08:01 AM

-every town/shop/beggar/ect
use the EXACT same currency

-currency can be found under bushes
-inside blocks that fly
-inside monsters

-if it follows you when out of a town
-it WILL try to kill you

-needing points to use magic

-characters don't get visible wounds

-eating can heal a sword wound

Posted by: yuna21 Oct 26 2009, 03:04 AM

Thank goodness I steer away from most of these cliches in my game. 'big sigh of relief'. Most of them... Somehow you just can't seem to avoid them though...I actually came across a site that listed virtually every single RPG cliche...and there are nearly 200 of them.

And teenage main chars...hate these guys. Just hate them. Pet peeve of mine... RPG cliches.

EDIT: Aaah...here we go.

http://project-apollo.net/text/rpg.html

These might save your life when trying to make your own game one of these days.
Enjoy!! I don't know if anybody posted this yet...but if they did, then my bad.

Posted by: Kul.Kuthura Nov 11 2009, 08:55 AM

Many, many last bosses have exactly 3 forms: a weak form, a strong form, and a ridiculously over-powered angelic form.

Posted by: Skully Nov 11 2009, 09:05 AM

^and occasionally a cutscene form that you cannot lose too.
(final fantasy x for example)

Posted by: Kanosint Nov 16 2009, 09:44 AM

-Despite the fact that the big bad bosses know of the heroes' presence, they refuse to beat 'em up while they're weak. If they do, the heroes just barely survive and get better. Instead, the bosses usually just twiddle their thumbs to watch the heroes grow stronger.

-Every problem can be solved by applying enough violence. Need to collect something? Kill stuff until you find it. Need to convert someone? Beat him up.

-Exception to the above: Sneaking into castles apparantly requires you not only to not kill anything in sight, but also to stay out of sight. Failure to do so results in death/capture.

Posted by: blue_emerald777 Nov 21 2009, 05:31 PM

All hidden passages/items would be horribly obvious from the hero's perspective, but from yours, everything is hidden.

You can't just break open a locked chest or break down a locked door. That would just be rude. Let's find the key that was somehow hidden inside a large dungeon guarded by a boss with special battle features. ( Think battles against creatures like Demon Wall, Atomos, Ghost Train, etc. )

Somehow when you fight in space, you can just breath and breath and breath, and you're perfectly fine.

Traveling through inter dimensional rifts seems to have no negative effects on the party.

Posted by: Maoumaou Jan 6 2010, 04:02 PM

-The Female protagonist is a Princess.
-You for some reason have to find something to cure the Female main character of some sort of ailment.
-The said cure is found on a mountain with an evil beast that only you and your band of misfit kids are able to defeat.
-The Male protagonist has blond hair and blue eyes.
-Deserts @.@
[edit]
-You fight a dragon in some point of the game..

Posted by: megaman8x Jan 6 2010, 09:57 PM

BOSS FIGHTS

Posted by: NES Player Jan 7 2010, 08:35 AM

^This

Boss fights in almost every game!

Posted by: RPG Hacker Jan 7 2010, 08:57 AM

Graphics! Totally cliche! Why do all the games use graphics? God, can't they think of something themselfs?

Posted by: Lyric Induced Jan 7 2010, 01:37 PM

And music, my goodness, like every game has music while you play.

Posted by: NES Player Jan 7 2010, 02:02 PM

Power-ups
Lives
Puzzles
Score
Points
Enemies
Levels
Characters
Jump
Platforms
Weapons
Mission Objectives
Checkpoints
ABS
Magic
Monsters (friend or foe)
Quests
Currency
Shops
Inns
Cut scenes
Title Screens
Save/Load
Pause Menu
Loading Times/Screens
End Credits

Pretty much the basics of any video game are cliches!

Posted by: Lyric Induced Jan 7 2010, 05:22 PM

- If the party is in need of money, their first idea is to compete in an Arena

Posted by: megaman8x Jan 8 2010, 09:06 AM

INTERACTIVITY

shit makes me sick.

Posted by: Dyhalto Jan 8 2010, 10:29 AM

Blue.
Been used since Dragon Quest 1. Waaaaay overused.

In fact, so is this running gag of obvious shit

Posted by: RPG Hacker Jan 8 2010, 02:04 PM

In fact, why is this thread pinned? Seems to be very important, so let's continue talking nonsense!

Posted by: Obsession Jan 8 2010, 02:59 PM

This is a videogame cliche =====> Videogames.

There i said it. You'all know I'm right.

Posted by: Maoumaou Jan 8 2010, 09:14 PM

Dirt, dirt is in every game!

Posted by: Starburst_Girl Jan 12 2010, 02:04 PM

Hmmm... Most of the good ones have been said already (dirt, blue)! D= Anyway, here's my two cents:

You meet a mysterious figure who warns you about trying to do whatever; they turn out to be (1) a really egotistical villain, (2) a villain who feels sympathy for you (usually a female character or a male one who has a past with similar struggles to the main character's), or (3) a poor, misguided fool who joins you after you rip them a new one, instantly losing all of their awesome powers and dropping from "Practically Invincible Bringer of Pain," to "Level 10 cripple with awkward dialogue."

A kind, unassuming, unimportant character that is unappreciated early in the plot comes back to haunt you as an indignant, unstable villain with a grudge.

You will almost always be collecting 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, or ten "important things," unless it's a Mario title (then it will be 7 or 120).

Important moments take ridiculous turns in which some pointless chunk of trivia/some stupid item becomes invaluable.

Near the game's beginning you are forced to battle a really strong monster or a future boss (either as a plot device or a tutorial), and for this ten minutes of the story said opponent is as weak as a puppy.

Extra, poorly designed party members seem to be thrown in just to provide variety and new abilities throughout the game (a good example here is Paper Mario). Sushie and Lakilester, anyone? >_
Female characters have smaller blades, or just do magic (usually healing), or they carry a bow.

Oh mai gawd!!! Yew gawt thuh speshial, magickal, surprisingly lame doohickey that had been "hidden" here, almost in plain sight, barely protected for some number of years bigger than 99!

Hello. I'm the/an important boss, and I'm ten times easier to handle than a room full of my weak minions would be.

"Hm... I think I'll design this temple so that, in several hundred years, the following walls will have cracked/fallen, making keys and out-of-place items necessary to collect other keys that lead to all my riches become available (in a perfect, logical, ascending order) to some kid who can barely even get through the entrance without dying."

"Also, I think I'll put the one thing that can defeat my guard beast here, just a few doors/feet away from it, in case I ever need to come back or anything. We've all heard the saying 'No one better protects a flamethrower than ice golems,' right?"

Posted by: Rosseau Jan 12 2010, 02:17 PM

Ha ha, how rightfully so. I see a signature quote up for grabs.

Posted by: blue_emerald777 Jan 14 2010, 02:05 PM

If a series has more than two games, the second one is always the least popular. ( Final Fantasy, Disgaea, Roller Coaster Tycoon, Zelda, Mario, etc. )

There are often no lights, yet you can see perfectly fine in the Dark Cave of Death. Always.

Posted by: Obsession Jan 15 2010, 04:25 AM

Take final fantasy off that list right nao. (...Says the obsessed Firion fangirl) And RCT 2 (I played that soooo much when I was little compared to the first one). I think you meant 3, because that was complete and utter BS.

Anyways, I have yet more cliches!

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uQU1n55gHc

Disappearing Act #1. Any overpowering character that joins your party soon leaves your party for any number of reasons (killed, is actually a bad guy, etc.)

Evil laugh. Most games have a bad guy with a weird laugh ("Mwah ha ha!", "Gyaa haa haa!" [Heidegger], "Khhk khhk khhk!" [Alhazad], etc.). Of course, none of them can beat Kefka

Law of Unnecessary Stealth. Your characters often have to sneak into some bad guy headquarters, even though they are powerful enough to just walk in the front gate and slaughter anybody in their way.

Locked Door Rule. To open any locked door, you must have the key. You can never just break the door down, despite having spells that could take out a small village.

Monster Progression Rule. All monsters gradually get tougher as you go through the game, no matter what circumstances would normally lead them to be otherwise. (i.e, if you go into a flashback, the monsters will be stronger there, which makes no sense)

Party Compulsion Rule. After a character joins the party, they never permanently leave (unless they are killed) even if their storyline would cause them to part ways at some point. Through some silly plot device, the character decides to come with the party anyway (for example, in FF7, Red XIII is about to leave the party when you get to Cosmo Canyon, but Bugenhagen tells him to go with Cloud).

Pyrotechnics Rule. All bosses have extra-spiffy death effects that normal monsters are not worthy enough to have.

Slime. The easiest enemy in most RPGs is some type of slime.

Wild Goose Chase. Annoying part in RPGs where you have to chase some character (sometimes a villain, sometimes an ally) around the globe, being informed you "just missed" the person at every stop. FF7 is the biggest offender here.

Posted by: Ultyma Jan 15 2010, 11:55 AM

LMAO
Totally agreed on that point.
8)

Posted by: blue_emerald777 Jan 15 2010, 12:19 PM

That spot might actually go to goblins/imps.

Posted by: RPG Hacker Jan 15 2010, 01:04 PM

Slimes are only in RPG Maker games from what I've experienced. Goblins... Maybe. For Zelda games that defenitly true.

Posted by: Ultyma Jan 15 2010, 06:01 PM

This isn't so much a cliche´ as it's just part of every game's mechanics.
Sorta like saying the use of Health of some type is cliche´.
It's not really fair to say that, because like I said...It's just game mechanics...
Imagine an RPG where the monsters don't get stronger as the character does...It would be a flawed game, altogether.

Posted by: Obsession Jan 16 2010, 09:34 AM

Yeah you could say the same with this too:

Posted by: Mad Klown Apr 14 2010, 04:22 PM

---Good always wins
---Evil always loses