IT WAS ALL A DREAM!

[SupahEwok]

I don't think the trope is doomed to triteness. The key thing is for the dream to effect a change. Just because things aren't real doesn't mean they don't matter. All ideas aren't real. Ideology isn't real. They still affect people. I've certainly had a few dreams that for one reason or another have really stuck with me.

For a game, I think the thing to do is to show how your actions in the dream have influenced the character upon awakening. Different choices change how the dream affects the character. If the dreamer is a dreary salaryman, perhaps being heroic in their dream is the catalyst they need to quit their job and make a go at their preferred career. Or, if you wanted to do a twist, being heroic makes them feel self-righteous, and they stay complacent at their dead-end life. Maybe it's being a renegade in the dream that moves them to overthrow the status quo.

Or becoming an ax murderer.

I feel like there's a lot of potential in using dreams to examine the psychology of a character, so the trope isn't irredeemable. It certainly is used very cheaply just about all the time, but it doesn't have to be.

 

[Omey]

I used to read word up magazine?

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Asks about leaving us hanging in regards to an avatar with a pony that's hanging.

Low blow man.

I hadn't noticed the rope till now. It looked like a joyous sort of creature having some kind of fun. It's still having fun though, right?

Always

 

[Satinavian]

I really hate this trope and can not remember a single instance where i think it contributed. Only less annoying and more annoying examples.

 

[Arqus_Zed]

I dislike the "it was all a dream!" trope about as much as I dislike the "he/she has/had a twin brother/sister!"

As for games... Does Final Fantasy X count?

 

[SupahEwok]

Oh, Link's Awakening did the trope alright. Foreshadowed plenty. Even in the title! You got what you paid for.

A big fish or bird or something summoned Link into its dream to drive away the nightmare entity that was keeping it asleep.

Worked decent.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

The weird thing for this trope to me is that I don't think it's actually so bad in games as it is in other media (eg. films, books). Well, at least not if there is something resembling continuity (eg. a sequel, a canon lore).

The reason I don't think it's so bad in a game as it is in cinema, isn't because of storytelling. It's shit storytelling frankly, no doubt about it and that doesn't matter what medium it's in. All a dream is almost always a silly twist, perhaps because they couldn't think of anything clever, anything better or...well anything else. The reason it works in a game is because it doesn't undermine the gameplay we enjoyed prior.

In story terms, it does put something of a dampener on an ending to what might've otherwise been most compelling. But the gameplay (assuming you enjoyed it) until that point didn't change, nor would it change on a new playthru in which you already know the ending. Whereas a film's story is undermined by the ending that negates everything that came before, a game can still be enjoyed for the gameplay. It's the reason why people will replay the Mass Effect games or other story-driven games; the journey itself is still fun.

With all that said, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I present Exhibit err....M...Monkey Island 2. I actually kinda liked it 😀 By liked, I mean loved, and by kinda, I mean really. I think it's actually a fun ending in keeping with the game, despite making no sense in "continuity".

 

[squid5580]

Was one of them Super Mario Bros. 2?

That still pisses me off and I played it when it was new

 

[Drathnoxis]

Oh, Link's Awakening did the trope alright. Foreshadowed plenty. Even in the title! You got what you paid for.

A big fish or bird or something summoned Link into its dream to drive away the nightmare entity that was keeping it asleep.

Worked decent.

Link's Awakening is an interesting example.

Spoiler

Yes, it was all a dream... but it wasn't Link's dream. I think that makes all the difference. It wasn't just a simple dream that will only ever exist as a meaningless series of half remembered images in Link's head. There was a tangible effect in the real world. Because Link entered the dream the Wind Fish woke up. Also if you don't die Marin is reincarnated as a seagull, so that throws a huge question on just how real the dream and it's inhabitants actually were.

That still pisses me off and I played it when it was new

That ending theme though.


It's actually one of my favorite 8-bit songs ever.

 

[Dalisclock]

I dislike the "it was all a dream!" trope about as much as I dislike the "he/she has/had a twin brother/sister!"

As for games... Does Final Fantasy X count?

As many issues as I have with FFX, that really isn't a relevant trope here.

Spoiler

Tidus may be a dream person from a dream city based on a real city that ceased to exist 1000 years prior....but Tidus was also Tangible being that could affect the world. And his Dad, also a dream, was Tangible enough to help defeat and then become Sin, which is currently causing the problems.

Sure, they may both be "Dream People" but in this context it means about as much as the original belief that both were from a long time in the past.

If the game had ended with him waking up in Zakarand at the end and none of what he experienced was real, then that would fit this trope.

 

[Arqus_Zed]

I dislike the "it was all a dream!" trope about as much as I dislike the "he/she has/had a twin brother/sister!"

As for games... Does Final Fantasy X count?

As many issues as I have with FFX, that really isn't a relevant trope here.

Spoiler

Tidus may be a dream person from a dream city based on a real city that ceased to exist 1000 years prior....but Tidus was also Tangible being that could affect the world. And his Dad, also a dream, was Tangible enough to help defeat and then become Sin, which is currently causing the problems.

Sure, they may both be "Dream People" but in this context it means about as much as the original belief that both were from a long time in the past.

If the game had ended with him waking up in Zakarand at the end and none of what he experienced was real, then that would fit this trope.

It... It was actually meant as a joke. You know, because you could also exclaim "it was all a dream!", but like, the context would be completely different (because the lore and rules of FF X are just so damn insane and silly).

You did provide a solid answer when taking the question seriously, though

 

[Dalisclock]

It... It was actually meant as a joke. You know, because you could also exclaim "it was all a dream!", but like, the context would be completely different (because the lore and rules of FF X are just so damn insane and silly).

You did provide a solid answer when taking the question seriously, though

Sorry, I was kind of out of it when I posted that so didn't quite pick up on the subtext there though you're right that it's hard to explain the plot of FFX to someone whose never played it and not sound like a crazy person. Especially since I tried doing with this a friend recently and had to follow up with "I think I just made it more confusing trying to make sense of it"

Then there's this.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

It... It was actually meant as a joke. You know, because you could also exclaim "it was all a dream!", but like, the context would be completely different (because the lore and rules of FF X are just so damn insane and silly).

You did provide a solid answer when taking the question seriously, though

Sorry, I was kind of out of it when I posted that so didn't quite pick up on the subtext there though you're right that it's hard to explain the plot of FFX to someone whose never played it and not sound like a crazy person. Especially since I tried doing with this a friend recently and had to follow up with "I think I just made it more confusing trying to make sense of it"

Then there's this.

I really like the Bioware one.