Quit It, Gaming Edition

[ZippyDSMlee]

Meh I do not mind any of it as long as the game mechanics are good if not every cliche and thematic crutch becomes that much more annoying.

 

[Innocent Bystander]

hmmm...some interesting stuff there bob.
I definitely agree with the whole "divine prophecy" bit. It's overused in game stories, and just serves to justify whatever ridiculous quests the player has to do.

However one of the best games which has subverted (sort of) this issue is in Morrowind. The entire game is based upon a prophecy, but instead of being called the chosen one, and having everybody recognise you as such, and then map out the rest of your needed actions, being the prophesied Nerevarine is something which has to be attempted, tried, and overcome. Half the important NPCs only say "you MIGHT be the chosen one" i.e. you can be the one if you WANT to. In addition, you meet various people who failed to attain the prophesied one status, but it is made clear that they could have become the Nerevarine if they had worked harder, not that they weren't the chosen.

I just think that it was a really novel approach to the whole prophesy idea, and one which works really well with both the "you can do whatever you want" design philosophy of the TES games as well as the very postmodern world which you inhabit in the game (you rarely find out the absolute truth about what goes on, and NPCs often say incorrect things as truth because they believe them!)

either way, this approach would only really work in an open world RPG, and in a more linear story the standard "you are the chosen one" crap is more prevalent, and it really shouldn't be.

Totally agree with you on that one. Another game that handles the divine prophecy storyline really well was "The Bard's Tale". In the beginning it's revealed that you're 'The Chosen One', destined to free the angelic queen of the land. Throughout the game however, you run into numerous other 'Chosen One's', mostly adolescent boys, who spend most of their time getting killed by goblins, falling into traps and generally dying in droves.