But, I LIKE this Cliché!

[A random person]

I love it when JRPG's throw all sorts of crazy twists and conspiracies at you (I think it qualifies as a cliche, or at least something they do a lot). I also love airships and floating continents; they're in so many JRPG's for a reason, and that's that they're awesome.

 

[TheDoctor455]

BioWare/Obsidian games often times have a court/trial scene in them where you have to talk to individual voters and attempt to convince them to vote one way or another. To varying degrees, I think most of BioWare's games have had such a scene. This is definitely a cliche I've enjoyed.

Yeah... I like this one too...
That trial scene in NWN2 was one of the most effective scenes in the game... and for a while I thought it was one of the best scenes in any game that I had played. Then I hit the trial scene in Dragon Age... and it was better!

 

[deleted_scifidownbeat]

DELETED

 

[saejox]

BioWare/Obsidian games often times have a court/trial scene in them where you have to talk to individual voters and attempt to convince them to vote one way or another. To varying degrees, I think most of BioWare's games have had such a scene. This is definitely a cliche I've enjoyed.

Yeah... I like this one too...
That trial scene in NWN2 was one of the most effective scenes in the game... and for a while I thought it was one of the best scenes in any game that I had played. Then I hit the trial scene in Dragon Age... and it was better!

i like the trial scene in Chrono Trigger. "he ate my lunch, guilty","found my cat, not guilty". that was funny.

 

[Lunar Templar]

the 'love interest' sub plots, Final Fantasy has gotten really bad about it lately (EI since 7) , while yea, can see it happening, but dose it need to be in every 'epic world saving quest'

.... and why do i always need to 'save' it all the time .... i've only played ONE rpg where i actualy ended the world ( SMT Nocturne fyi) >.> might reflect poorly on me, but i'd atleast like the option to end the world

 

[VitusPrime]

Main char is ALWAYS asleep at the start

 

[erbkaiser]

I don't mind the amnesia cliche (as seen in almost every single CRPG).

If done well, it introduces the setting wonderfully, and explains why the PC is so ignorant of things he ought to know about. The alternative is either forcing the player to read the manual (which is so last millennium), having non-interactive intro movies explaining it, or to have a (boring) tutorial section as in Fallout 3 which everyone will want to skip.

 

[chris11246]

Also, you forgot the "chainmail bikinis on a "hot chicks" offers as much protection as the 100 lbs chainmail the male character wears. but you sortof commented on that in the latest stolen pixels, so you're forgiven, the ninja-army has been called back, and you may live...for now.

I wouldn't use a ninja army because if you get more than 3 ninja together then their skill is inversely proportional to the amount of ninja or Power = 1/ninja(the inverse ninja formula).

OT:There's also the fact that if a structure is big enough when it is abandoned it is always a hideout for something and still has treasure in it no matter how long it was abandoned.

 

[DeathQuaker]

It's the difference between a cliche and a trope. Trope are reused story devices for a reason: because they work, because they provide entertainment. Cliches are the same when they're done wrong/shallowly/repeated without good intention.

I would say, "No, you can't ever win this fight, you will automatically fail your save (even if you're tough as god) and be forced into a cutscene where the bad guy wins and gets away because this is bad plot railroading," is a bad RPG cliche.

On the other hand, "Now it's time to wander through the cool, well-designed ruins of a forgotten race with neat theme music" a good RPG trope.

Me, I always like the part of the game where you have to choose a faction to work for--provided it's well written. Frex, I liked in Baldur's Gate II when you had to choose between the thieves or the vampires--it was a matter of the lesser or greater of two evils, so it was kind of a dingy choice, but you had to save Imoen...

Speaking of which, if they ever used the distressed damsel schtick, at least they usually don't make said damsel helpless and useless--they were just in a bad place at a bad time (or made a bad decision) and you have a lot more reason to rescue them more than, "Because she's there and thou must."

 

[Irridium]

The "Break into random people's houses and take their shit. While they watch, and even greet you kindly after you steal all their possesions and sell them for armor/items/money/crack." cliche is still going strong today.

However I know a bad cliché! that needs to die soon:

You are The Lord of Good and basically the embodiment of Christ and your on your way to confront the Dark Lord Babykiller who's so evil he loved hiding T.V. remotes from people, is the embodiment of Satan, at his castle covered in acid and surrounded by lava.

But before you can get to it you have to either find a key hidden on another mountain covered in spikes and guarded by a vicious dragon that makes Babykiller seem like a walk in the park.

Or you have to find something for some old man which is also on the spike covered, dragon defended mountain.

Seriously, that cliché needs to get shot in the head.

(okay, maybe I exaggerated a bit, but not by much)

 

[thiosk]

You already wrote one up-- the inane key quest.

 

[Joshroom]

Wolves, wild dogs, coyotes, mutant blue tentacle wolf things (FF7) etc
Everywhere you go in any RPG you always run into wolf type monsters. FF12 was the worst for this and Oblivion not far behind.
From a geek like perspective this really irks me because in reality wolves barely ever attack any human ever. Or so David Attenborough said.

 

[Doug]

The Ancient, Well-Lit Tomb With Traps That Still Work

Yes, it's stupid. If I left my car sitting exposed to the elements for just ten years I don't expect it would start up on the first try afterward. Yes, traps with wooden moving parts that remain functional for hundreds of years at the bottom of a damp cave are ludicrous, as are the monsters that live there without setting them off. The fact that traps of stone and wood so often seem to have optical or light-based mechanisms is more than a little goofy. And the ever-burning torches on the walls and the glowing crystals that light the place are kind of messed up too.

But screw you. Tombs and ruins are fun.

I'll have you know those traps are the work of professionals

http://escapepod.org/2005/06/23/ep007-the-trouble-with-death-traps/
http://escapepod.org/2009/11/12/ep224-the-ghost-in-the-death-trap/

 

[Lawbringer]

Also how the bosses at the end of dungeons/castles/impregnable fortresses are always so cocky. I've fought my way to the lair, killed the gate guards, kicked down the door, annihilated every single one of the 200 men you had guarding the place. Along the way I probably emerged victorious in a duel with their trusted lieutenant who's never lost so much as a game of noughts and crosses in his/her life.

After all this, I rummaged through their corpses, equipped the best loot and have now burst into their chamber, likely killing three or four more of the elite bodyguards in front of his/her eyes. how are they still always so confident of their ability to defeat me? Why do they still mock my 'puny' skills when I am having to tread water just to keep from drowning in the blood of their minions?

The final sting is when you inevitably beat them, to the tune of "It seems I underestimated you, adventurer...". You think? You don't reckon the swathe of destruction I left just to get to you was the first clue?

Nevertheless, I still get a swell of pride when I take that bastard down a peg or two...!

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

A cartoon I saw in my youth subverted the trap cliche`. Rather than guess where to stand and for how long to avoid the firey balls of impaling spear doom, they were able to locate the service passages the engineers used to perform routine maintenance of the death machine and simply walked around.

 

[lluewhyn]

BioWare/Obsidian games often times have a court/trial scene in them where you have to talk to individual voters and attempt to convince them to vote one way or another. To varying degrees, I think most of BioWare's games have had such a scene. This is definitely a cliche I've enjoyed.

Yeah... I like this one too...
That trial scene in NWN2 was one of the most effective scenes in the game... and for a while I thought it was one of the best scenes in any game that I had played. Then I hit the trial scene in Dragon Age... and it was better!

I'd disagree. The trial scene only seems cool until the end(whether you're winning or losing) where the designers laugh at you and say "all of this legal stuff doesn't matter, it's time for your gladiatorial fight!"

Oh, and some of you should read others' posts before posting duplicate comments.

 

[PlasticTree]

There is the 'endgame-choice', of course. It doesn't matter how good or bad you played the game, at the end you'll have to make a single choice that will change the world. And, dear reader, you will do this by selecting your outcome of choice in a little textwindow. I could be mayorly improved, but I still like the idea. It's always fun to be the single reason why a world will survive or perish, even if it's done so poorly.

Anyway, a few examples:

- Fallout 3. Sacrifice, sacrifice the girl, or screw the world?
- KoTOR. Save the world or beat the bad-guy and become the bad-guy yourself? Not to mention Bastila.
- Dragon Age. Sacrifice, or survive at the cost of not destroying the bad guy's soul?

 

[teisjm]

Also, you forgot the "chainmail bikinis on a "hot chicks" offers as much protection as the 100 lbs chainmail the male character wears. but you sortof commented on that in the latest stolen pixels, so you're forgiven, the ninja-army has been called back, and you may live...for now.

I wouldn't use a ninja army because if you get more than 3 ninja together then their skill is inversely proportional to the amount of ninja or Power = 1/ninja(the inverse ninja formula).

OT:There's also the fact that if a structure is big enough when it is abandoned it is always a hideout for something and still has treasure in it no matter how long it was abandoned.

But ninja's are one man armys, so one will do, 2 will be more than enough.

 

[The Great JT]

Bearded, scottish-sounding, heavy-drinking dwarves. Best. Cliche. Ever.

 

[Swaki]

there was an arena in dragon age? did i miss out on something? a little reminder would be appreciated.
edit: did you mean the short arena fights at the beginning of the commoner dwarf origin?, does any of the other origins even do that? (only played as commoner dwarf and 6 hours in on a magi elf)

i love the cliche where when confronted whit the mass murder bad guy who killed your entire family in front of you,he/she/it tells you a sad story or try to justify everything so you will let him go, if done well i will actually feel compelled to say "oh well, shit happens mate".