RPG Cliches

Just reading the recent Bioware news item got me thinking about some of the most overused devices in RPGs. To be fair, some of them are overused in games and literature period. Also, in some of the examples I use the element was fairly minor. None the less, just about every RPG made uses at least one of these as a major part of the game. Feel free to add your own or lambast my selections. I might add them to the larger list.

1. Misunderstood Ugly/Uglies. You know, the hideous or monstrous looking character or race who is in fact noble and pure in spirit. [Talking Death Claws]

2. Legendary Sword. Not Axe, not longbow, but sword. It was either a gift from the gods or forged by the demon's of hell. It is also the only way to kill enemy-x [Bangelian Scourge].

3. Murdered family. If some one killed my family, I'd spend the next 60 hours seeking vengeance. Or I would offer it as a quest to some adventurer. You'd think families would learn to stick together, but NOoooooo! [Carth Onasi]

4. Ancient, ultimate evil. It was dormant for decades, or centuries, or even millenia. But now its coming back and is breaking the bonds that bind it. It will break those binds and then the PC will have to kill it in all its glory. Or kill it in its own realm. [Kerghan the Terrible]

5. Chosen One. Occassionally people rise to the occasion because they are in the right place at the right time and are brave- like that guy who pulled two drowning children out of a river. Other people succeed because some prophecy was made that they just so happen to fulfill. Entire infrastructures were created waiting for somebody chosen to fulfill these prophecies. [Neveraine]

6. Amnesia. I forgot what I was going to say about this one, that happens way to often. [Revan]

7. Ancient, super-advanced, dead civilization. If they were so powerful, why did they vanish? Of course, it often has a lot to do with number 4. Either way, they left items floating around of immense use to defeat enemies and advance the plot. [Dwemer]

8. Betrayed Commrades. You were playing on the same team, until somebody made a better offer, or somebody is working through daddy issues. Either way, they are now on the otherside and out to make your job harder. [Kreia]

9. Mankind faces Extinction. Maybe #4 just wants to kill a bunch of people, more likely the very fabric of existence is going to unravel if he or she (OK, he) succeeds. If nothing else, the status quo will be upset in a big way. [Maugrim]

10. Touch, but don't take Monster. You finally find the Uberwazzitshoo. You actually pick it up. Then... ROAR!!! The monster shows up. You'd think he'd attack you before you took it, but no

11. Mortal Enemies, Bridge Partners. He or it has power unimaginable, he's out to accomplish number 9, and he already did number 3. Yet, you keep running into each other. You can't kill him until you get your hands on number 2, but for some reason he just doesn't kill you when he has to chance. [Jack of Blades]

Edit: Added 8 through 11. Special Thanks to Drakon, Section8, and Truekaiser.

 

You can join up with Kerghan though, but it's still kinda cliche.

Don't forget the Necromancer Code: All evil names must start with either X's or Z's!

 

Blast from the past! 4 pages of RPG cliches circa 2002.
http://www.rpgcodex.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=432

 

what about monsters that guard items who only show up after the player takes the item?

 

I think the "* One" is the most popular cliche of them all.

 

Elves and dwarves.

A game can at least come up with its own mythos a LITTLE bit, or at least borrow from something not as well known.

I don't see how amnesia can be such a cliche since torment is the only rpg game that uses it which I can think of, and it uses it in a very original way which is central to the whole plot of the game, not as some cheap plot device from a soap opera.

There is also a fine line between tradition and cliche; not everything can or should be original in every way. Are dragons cliche? Maybe, but I still like seeing them sometimes, and they are hardly original....

One stupid thing I get sick of is an idiotic romance thrown in that has nothing to do with the plot...just imagine sticking in an obligatory falling in love page and a half in every shakespeare play. It has its place, but is not something to be tacked into every fucking game for no reason.

 

See KOTOR for a far more cheesy amnesia plot.

 

Torment's amnesia plot was pretty cheesy, too. Acquiring memories piece by piece and then surprise.

 

many of the final fantasys used it too.

 

Well, they (to me) hardly count. i never bothered with kotor, but I have played a bit of many final fantasy games and I can barely even stand them for ten minutes.

 

Well, it is central to the whole game. It is not a plot device at all in the traditional sense.

Your complaint is like saying the movie insomnia sucks because insomnia is a weak plot device....

 

Agreed, sometimes having some conventions as a starting place is a good thing. We all know trying to reinvent a good thing is a little tiresome. However, there is a difference between using a convention as a stepping stone as oppose to a crutch. Dwarves and Elves are instantly recognizable archetypes that allow a game maker to add a race without having to explain why dwarves lives in caves. But, if unless you get into a discussion about dwarven philosophy... you might as well have created the Ulloogas and then have to explain why they live Amleks. Much more interesting that way.

And to say Torment is the only game with amnesia isn't even close to being true. Arx Fatalis is another one. When you throw in console "RPGs", there are a ton more. That doesn't even include all the movies and books who made the plot device tired before computer games existed.

 

Well, the fact I don't remember them in the first place is, I suppose, a telling point.

 

That wasn't a complaint! Sucks? And of course, I agree that's central, story like that made the whole Torment fun and unique.

 

You are the chosen one, you can't remember your past, but you must save the world from an ancient evil by collecting X number of Y's to accomplish Z. After you have thwarted the puzzle dungeons, beefed your stats, and acquired the phat loot of legend, kill the foozle!

 

Oh, I must have misread you.



The ASSEMBLE THE ANCIENT WHATSIT. Ooh, that is the BIGGEST cliche of rpg history, and it is largely unique to rpgs as well.

Of course, if troika went back in business, got 10 milly in funding, and made a gord the rogue game where you eventually find and assemble the theoparts, I would jizz my pants 6 times a day til it was released.

 

GearHead features six of the eight cliches listed. Wow.

 

If I made a RPG then I would make that players actions would dictate the final conflict.

My idea is making the player affect the game world, everyone have a agenda and the players actions (or lack of then) would dictate how the gameworld would evolve, it would not be that obvious.

And I would avoid the silly "end of the world" mega plot (you want a overused cliché? thats one that is used over and over again), there would not be a end of the world if the player fails (and yes I would give that option).

 

I don't know if these count as cliche, but they're shit in any case.

* Meeting t3h 3nd b0ss right near the start of the game, and several times throughout, without the logical conclusion of you dying horribly

* Scottish Dwarves. Even worse than the usual bearded fuckers.

* Greenskins speaking in broken english. It doesn't matter if they're orcs, goblins, or some generic replacement, there is always some kind of green humanoid (that is either quite small or quite large)

 

I think you are on to something with "meeting end boss periodically". I'm going to add it. I also don't know how I forget to see monsters showing up after you take the item. As for Scottish dwarves... I don't see it.

 

The cliches that bug me are always part of the character system.

Bow damage all coming from agility stats, which usually allows you to use big and powerful bows.

Agility contributing to weapon swing speed, even when you're using a giant fucking sword.

Elves with high agility and smarts stats so they can be all speed classes and all mages and then races like Ogres only being able to be fighters since they are always "big, stupid and clumsy".

Intelligence being the prime factor for EVERY DOMAIN OF SPELL. Wisdom being for clerical spells isnt much of a difference, either. Intelligence should mean how smart you are to that domain or type of magic, not HOW MUCH BRAINS YUO GOTZ -- i.e. an ogre would be intelligent with primal shaman spells while an elf wouldnt know jack shit about casting them, unless they were taught.

Edit: Some more stuff about character systems -

Elves are almost always good rangers and trackers, because omg they are from the woods. The retarded part is when their skills can be applied to caverns, mountains and such. Why would an Elf who's lived in and learned their trade in the forest their whole lives know anything about doing that stuff in those regions? Abilities that involve the evironment should be locational instead of 'YOU'RE IN A DEEP DUNGEON, YOUR 3245 TRACKING SKILL (+500 RACIAL BONUS) ALLOWS YOU TO SEE EVERY SLIGHT FOOTPRINT FOR SOME REASON'.

Also the fact that Rangers are all jaunty elven woodsmen is pretty dumb too. An Ogre could easily be a ranger, more like a savage hunter who can track odd beasts over rocky terrian and can fire a powerful bow and hit things hard, but arnt very stealthy.

A Ranger would be a ranger who focuses more on stealth and speed over using physical force through bow and sword. And they'd use small bows and daggers if need be, not longbows and duel wielding longswords. Elven Rangers would be more like Scouts.

People are just dumb and use D&D's lame 'lets rip off Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit alot' design as a crutch.

Some general retarded stuff would be bosses that always leave their weakness open no matter how smart they are or anything. Apparently all big evils just stand in one spot all day and dont ever think or do anything.

Also dumb is retarded creature design. Going with 'omg check out how TOTALLY WICKED THIZ CREATUER LOOKS' instead of thinking about special and unique things for the creature that would actually serve it some purpose. One thing in mind would be the bad guy from Dungeon siege 2. WOAH TEETH FLAPS! why does he even need them?

 

Colour-palette swapped creatures in some RPGs representing somehow different phylogeny.

Racial tension and stereotyping among the denizens of the 'realm'. Iit is like a cliche on a cliched crutch or something.

 

But very very logical, just see our world.

 

I think the RPGs that fill the least of those cliches are probably Ultima 4 and Ultima 6. Not a coincidence.

 

Not really a plot cliche, but more of an environmental cliche: There are always flaming barrels everywhere after an apocalypse.