To be fair, while DA:O has a corrupted "dragon" as the big bad, the other natural dragons in the series are just apex predators.Silentpony said:
Tropes you are tired of.
- Thread starter Mister K
- Start date
to my mind skyrim has always seemed more like a society where gender is largely insignificant, howeve germanic societies had a history of letting women inherrit and legally and openly being members of the military and the clergy. in viking society a woman was the leader of the household when the man was gone. in societies as harsh as skyrim gender tends to mean less because work is hard, life is short and instability and danger are a part of everyday life. in pre-christian viking societies men were also religiously obliged to die in battle if they wanted to go to valhalla, meaning that many died relatively young in raids and battle.Smilomaniac said:
there was an alien brood in mass effect that were just frightened and forcibly moved to a place they had no desire to be in in Mass Effect. it was by taking away the brood from the mother that saren turned them feral and once you meet the mother she merely asks you to let her and the remaining brood leave in peacemechman123 said:
Your justifications make sense, and in a fantasy game where the gender roles are identical, a lot of those same strong women would have also marched off to die in the same wars. I was also given the notion that the character's sex was irrelevant in the game where roles were concerned, since the character creation stats are not differentiated in any way (and indeed there are quests like the Mist Keep that play off of gender roles we sometimes take for granted today).CyanCat47 said:
another assumption made by many is that because women were not allowed to fight there can't have been any female combatants besides jean of arc between the beginning of civilisation and 1942. in truth many women have fought throughout history wether they were allowed to do so or not. at the battlegrounds of the battle of zenbon matsubaru (i probably misspelled that. sorry) about 30/100 of the bodies of combatants that were studied were women.the December King said:
Oh yeah- tons of women have fought throughout history, either letting blood or raising shield. Not being allowed to fight doesn't matter much when injustice, desperation or war is forced upon you, for example.CyanCat47 said:
As for the subject at hand (Tropes I'm tired of), I'd say the 'Chosen One'- rather, I'm bloody tired of that role for the hero/protagonist being used as a crutch for a hobbled story- and depending on the context of the action, 'waif-fu' -obviously, in high magic or superhero settings it's not really a problem for me, as everyone can be over the top- but am tired of it in other contexts.
Nobody has mentioned "it was all a dream" yet? I'm surprised but I guess its so crappy that everybody already knows its bad.
What I am getting REALLY, really tired of is when movies will make a bigass trailer for something(Transformers Age of Extinction) and tons of promo material for something that shows up for all of five minutes at the end of the movie. Another horrendous example I can think of is "Bridge to Terabithia" which is my most hated movie of all time. I've stopped watching movies entirely because of this.
Prophecies and fate in general, especially prophecies being entirely good things. Just once I want to see somebody being told they were fated to fight the evil blah blah blah and they go and fight it but are completely surprised when they die, because it never said they were fated to win.
Basically I'd like to see a story where the chosen one fails utterly and people lose faith in chosen ones and do something for themselves. Pre-destined endings are boring.
What I am getting REALLY, really tired of is when movies will make a bigass trailer for something(Transformers Age of Extinction) and tons of promo material for something that shows up for all of five minutes at the end of the movie. Another horrendous example I can think of is "Bridge to Terabithia" which is my most hated movie of all time. I've stopped watching movies entirely because of this.
Prophecies and fate in general, especially prophecies being entirely good things. Just once I want to see somebody being told they were fated to fight the evil blah blah blah and they go and fight it but are completely surprised when they die, because it never said they were fated to win.
Basically I'd like to see a story where the chosen one fails utterly and people lose faith in chosen ones and do something for themselves. Pre-destined endings are boring.
The problem with that one is that it's attempting to apply subtlety by switching the paradigm in the opposite direction. It's solving a problem with another. I'm more a fan of universes that explore the idea of demons, angels, humans and others being morally and ideologically similar, with "salvation" or "damnation" being job descriptors more than outward indicators of general intent.GestaltEsper said:
Personally, though, I'm annoyed by the idea that visual titillation equals power. Call me SJW if you care that much, but I have tons more respect for Brienne of Tarth than Bayonetta.
"But Protagonist X is so badass he or she doesn't even *need* armor!" is what some people might say. That's fine and is up to personal preference, but all I know is it strikes me as being adolescent.
Didn't know that actually. But to be fair I have less a problem with dragons as a thing to fight as I do with dragons as the singular embodiment of a thing, and its the final boss.Syzygy23 said:
Like a blue dragon rampaging across the land and we have to kill it is something I can get behind.
But a Guardian Angel descends from on high on the personal order of the Almighty Creator to watch over His most precious creation and said Angel chooses the almighty form of...a Red Dragon...That's kinda lame. There's so much more you can do.
Like...Alexander from the FF series. I want my Almighty Angel of Judgement to look like that!
That's why I love Bayonetta and Guardian Heroes. In the former, both Heaven and Hell are assholes, and you end up fighting both in the sequel. Guardian Heroes has it either as Heaven as good, bad, or neutral, and Hell as the same thing depending on the choices the player(s) make. You can actually go through out the whole game without fighting either faction, if you know the story paths or get lucky.GestaltEsper said:
I'll throw my hat in to Humans Are Bastards too. If done right it can work, but for the most part it's ham-fisted, pretentious, and hypocritical. Especially if the story, characters, and plot overall is just badly written.
Anything after Romero's Land of the Dead (or most zombie stories in general), Black Lagoon, that minor part with the spirits where they refused to help Korra in in Season 4 of LoK (doubles as Can't Argue With Elves The spirits refused help Korra because that makes her "like" Kuvira. Fuck that shit, if Korra and her friends died, there would have been nothing to stop the main villain from harvesting more spirit vines. Were the spirits just going to sit on their asses and be cowardly bitches on the sidelines? Fuck you, you're all pricks. I despise this trope when it comes to the Navi.), A Wind Named Amnesia, and Shaman King (manga version).
Also Nietzsche Wannabes as villains. They all start to sound alike, and are not fun to listen to nor entertaining. Usually it just sounds like a mouthpiece for the writers to throw their misanthropic views on the reader/viewers. Hey butt-fucks, I ain't paying for your product if you're just gonna go out of your way to insult the audience; especially if we're suppose to sympathize with your villain even though you wrote him/her as an unintentionally unsympathetic prick that never gets any punishment and supposed to be in the "right", because they lost their loved one. Well it doesn't work like that if they've been slaughtering innocent people with huge smiles on their faces.
Also tsunderes! 99% of them can go straight to hell; male or female. A majority of them are copies, of a copy, of a copy, of another copy. Helga Pataki, Lucy (Peanuts), Naru, Asuka Langely, Kagome, and Louise (Familiar of Zero); either be honest with them or don't bother with your "love interests" at all. Stop playing hard to get and straight up fucking tell them! And don't be assholes about it. To be fair, Helga is the nicest compared to all of them, and I still don't like her.
I hate the trope First Girl Wins [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FirstGirlWins]. It's the whole reason why I don't watch Avatar. Because I knew it from the first instant that Aang and Katara were going to end up together. It seems lazy to me. I understand why. Because they have spent the most time together, they obviously are going to end up together. But what if they have no chemistry? Nope, sorry, they are going to end up together anyways.
Another one that I despise is Belligerent Sexual Tension [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BelligerentSexualTension]. I hate stories that have two characters fight and fight and fight only to have them end up together. If they have nothing in common and do nothing but fight, then why the HELL are they together now?! It makes no sense!
There are so many others that I have gotten sick of, but I can't think of them right now. Just know that these two are the ones that I hate the most.
Another one that I despise is Belligerent Sexual Tension [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BelligerentSexualTension]. I hate stories that have two characters fight and fight and fight only to have them end up together. If they have nothing in common and do nothing but fight, then why the HELL are they together now?! It makes no sense!
There are so many others that I have gotten sick of, but I can't think of them right now. Just know that these two are the ones that I hate the most.
I agree. The first few times I saw this, I'm thinking around the time of Final Fantasy Tactics and Xenogears, it was provocative: "Whoa...they actually WENT there." Now it just seems childish and petulant, like "Yeah, yeah, we get it. You don't like Christianity--specifically the medieval, imperialistic, Roman Catholic kind--what else you got?"GestaltEsper said:
One of few things I really liked about Dragon Age II was the subversion of this trope.Rebel_Raven said:
Aveline spends the whole game in full plate mail and is the default tank. And the healer-mage is a guy.
Romance. As a theme, as an ending, a motivator, an ultimate goal to aspire to. I think a bit of new media is starting to wake up to the fact that most people are sick to death of it being the all encompassing golden emotion that everyone should experience or your life is meaningless shit.
Because frankly, having it stuffed down your throat as such since the late 80's would make you tired of anything as a concept.
Romance is nice, it's a good ...thing, but I think people need to see more of that. And that boils back to character dynamics as broader field of view. Interesting characters, interacting with other interesting characters, will always be 1000x more interesting than two blank 'hot people' twirling about in a fit of blind manufactured attraction and soaring music. And this ruins some truly great concepts and movies, by ticking a checklist of things that have to be in a movie/tvshow/game/book/etc.
Thank god we're moving off it...
Because frankly, having it stuffed down your throat as such since the late 80's would make you tired of anything as a concept.
Romance is nice, it's a good ...thing, but I think people need to see more of that. And that boils back to character dynamics as broader field of view. Interesting characters, interacting with other interesting characters, will always be 1000x more interesting than two blank 'hot people' twirling about in a fit of blind manufactured attraction and soaring music. And this ruins some truly great concepts and movies, by ticking a checklist of things that have to be in a movie/tvshow/game/book/etc.
Thank god we're moving off it...
Mysteries in which a very obvious suspect is apparent, but then the criminal turns out to be someone who comes out of nowhere and makes no sense. This intersects with another cliche I hate: The policeman being the criminal.
Blue and orange in movies, brown and grey in games, purple and white in comics. We need large color pallets!
Lack of imagination: Stop making police procedurals, generic shooters, found footage movie and other uncreative shit. I like the DC comics shows and Marvel comics movies these days because they appreciate the weirdness of the comics, and the 1960s Batman movie and show because they were exactly like insane 60s comics.
All forms of censorship. Fuck censorship.
Everyone on the Internet talking racist shit about the Japanese and ignoring the classic games they made over the last 35 years.
Shakycam and out of focus camerawork: I like to see what is happening in my movies. It seems be becoming a lot less common though, so hopefully it is just a fad.
Quick Time Events and button mashing: Those are parlor tricks, not skills. Beating a tough game through my skills is satisfying and fun; mashing buttons until it ends is horrible. Fortunately, these also seem to be going out of style.
A lack of variety: See lack of imagination. I hope No Man's Sky and Star Citizen will resurrect the space simulator genre, and The Flash, Gotham, Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl will make imaginative superhero shows popular.
Stereotyping: Generalizations based on race, religion, tastes--almost as bad and dangerous as censorship.
Microtransactions and D.L.C: I already paid for the fucking game, let me do what I want! Is this even legal?
Blue and orange in movies, brown and grey in games, purple and white in comics. We need large color pallets!
Lack of imagination: Stop making police procedurals, generic shooters, found footage movie and other uncreative shit. I like the DC comics shows and Marvel comics movies these days because they appreciate the weirdness of the comics, and the 1960s Batman movie and show because they were exactly like insane 60s comics.
All forms of censorship. Fuck censorship.
Everyone on the Internet talking racist shit about the Japanese and ignoring the classic games they made over the last 35 years.
Shakycam and out of focus camerawork: I like to see what is happening in my movies. It seems be becoming a lot less common though, so hopefully it is just a fad.
Quick Time Events and button mashing: Those are parlor tricks, not skills. Beating a tough game through my skills is satisfying and fun; mashing buttons until it ends is horrible. Fortunately, these also seem to be going out of style.
A lack of variety: See lack of imagination. I hope No Man's Sky and Star Citizen will resurrect the space simulator genre, and The Flash, Gotham, Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl will make imaginative superhero shows popular.
Stereotyping: Generalizations based on race, religion, tastes--almost as bad and dangerous as censorship.
Microtransactions and D.L.C: I already paid for the fucking game, let me do what I want! Is this even legal?
It's a fairly safe bet that your sickness of general tropes is in direct correlation with the amount of media and literature entertainment you've consumed. As I've tapped deep into all kinds of genres from anime to movies to books to games to western comics, I can pretty much tick boxes for most stuff that has already been mentioned here. In case of anime, I could just say all the tropes.
If I had to say something about western media, then predictability/plot armor. I know that there are productional reasons why you can't kill any or at least not many of the main characters, but when I am so bloody sure from get go that protagonist faction will have 0.1% mortality rate, at least among faces with names to them, I really struggle to keep my eyes open with action films. And on subject protagonists, having being told they are the relatable people and the good guys, because the movie tells me so.
If I had to say something about western media, then predictability/plot armor. I know that there are productional reasons why you can't kill any or at least not many of the main characters, but when I am so bloody sure from get go that protagonist faction will have 0.1% mortality rate, at least among faces with names to them, I really struggle to keep my eyes open with action films. And on subject protagonists, having being told they are the relatable people and the good guys, because the movie tells me so.
For some of them, Asuka and Helga from the ones you listed, have a legitimate reason/root cause, though not excuse, for their behavior. In Helga's case, from what I remember, she grew up dealing with emotionally distant and disconnected parents that clearly and vocally preferred their older daughter (Olga) not to mention her father was incredibly competitive constantly pushing her to be like Olga and her mother was an alcoholic (not stated explicitly,but clearly shown). All of that adds up to an insecure kid who would lash out at anyone that made her feel any kind of vulnerability.CoCage said:
As for Asuka, she was mentally traumatized at an early age
she found her mother, having gone insane due to the EVA project, had hung herself and the doll she had believed was the real Asuka when she was five or six (I believe) and was subsequently trained as a child soldier
However, most of the time I see the tsundere trope the character in question lacks an sort of root cause/reason for their aggressive behavior and just come across as violent or unstable people.