Common RPG clichés

[Agent Proto]

Don't you just love RPGs? Well, after playing several for awhile, I have noticed several common clichés in most RPGs. Everyone is free to add to the list I'm about to add.

• In the "Overworld," the main characters are always larger than towns and cities.
• Battle sceneries never change, except when you enter battles from different land terrains.
• The main villain looks like they have issues, either sexually or mentally.
• The first playable or main character is either silent, or troublesome.

There's probably a whole lot more, and I can't really think of them at the moment. Maybe later, but you guys can feel free to add more. :D

[Erdrick Holmes]

Dimensions are messy. Houses and Buildingr appear to be smaller outside but bigger inside.

The main hero and main villain always uses a sword.

[Meat Puppet]

The entire universe revolves around you (and your party).

[Agent Proto]

• There is at least one member of your party that is at least twice as old as the main character.

[Erdrick Holmes]

The main heroine always has some kind of jewel or gemstone that can either save the universe or destroy it.

[Meat Puppet]

Thousands of monsters are robbed of their lives just so you can pack on some meat. (commonly)

[Sepho]

The Chosen One™ and his team of misfits versus the Evil Empire™
Need a Potion? Feel free to walk right in and rummage through my cupboards
What's this cleverly placed treasure chest doing here, who put it here, and how come no one else has opened it yet?
Uhm, why are you talking to me? Can't you see I'm brooding? Oh, maybe you hadn't noticed I was the main character


And I'm spent. I have a whole bunch of these written down somewhere.

[Flamethrower]

Male characters only have a mother. The father is either not mentioned, or was killed before the game starts.

Female characters only have a father. The mother is either not mentioned, or was killed before the game starts.

It works for Disney movies, too.

[FallenSilence]

You normally get the stereotypical female healer character.

[Erdrick Holmes]

You can just walk up to somebody, press the action button and they spout of some random thing.

"My son likes to run around in the grass"

[SadisticStreetSoldie]

The main male character is always in love with the main female character
The main hero/herorine is always connected to the villain somehow

[Levian]

- There's always at least one party member that you really can't tell what gender it is, or that it's just genderless. Quina, Cait Sith, Gogo, Faris, Paine, Wakka, Zell.

- It's common knowledge that people are way out of danger until they start blinking red or at least orange. Which is why I was surprised when my grandmother died.

- Someone has to die. And it needs to be sad, and someone needs to freak out about it and leave your party temporarily, until the dead person returns because he survived somehow anyway.

- Crystals is the key to world balance, which is why they shatter.

[Old Manus]

Character: "Hmm this sword looks good."

Weapon Seller:"Yes it was made in the Grand Castle of this fine metropolis which is far more technologically advanced than any other town on earth."

Character: "Nah. I'll go to the run down farm town nearby and get one which has double the power after because that is where we are going next."

Weapon Seller: "Why are you going there?"

Character: "I don't know. It just happens to be in our path."

Weapon Seller: "That's handy."

Character: "Sure is. Just like when I walk around my team don't bother me by following me around so I can look at the top shelf in peace. They just speak inside my head or morph out of me when they have something to say."

Weapon Seller: "Cool."

Character: "Yeah. An - Wait. Why am I talking to you about this. You just sell weapons and say the same thing over and over, saying your weapons are the best even though I can find a better one in that handily placed chest nearby."

Weapon Seller: "But-"

Character: "Shut up."

Weapon Seller: "Shutting up."

[KoShiatar]

You can roam around in people's houses and stores and noone will get mad at you because you sneaked in without permission.
You are the good guy, but you can STEAL everythin that comes into your hands while you do that and you'll never get caught!
You can talk again to someone who just told you to go away and they won't slap you in the face but just keep repeating the last sentence again and again.
If you are after someone who just escaped and you want to beat the crap out of them, you can spend all the time you need to level up along the way and they'll always be waiting for you when you arrive instead of taking the first rocket to Mars.

[edczxcvbnm]

You are always on a quest to SAVE THE WORLD or WORLDS(exception = BoF 3)

[Samuraid]

Phoenix Downs (or other revive items) work great until a main character dies and then for some reason they don't work? :rolleyes2

[Blackmageboi]

no-body else is ever worried about the destruction of the planet

[Old Manus]

Phoenix Downs (or other revive items) work great until a main character dies and then for some reason they don't work? :rolleyes2

Dude, they only work on knocked out people. Call yourself a fan? Even I know that. :p

[Psychotic]

http://project-apollo.net/text/rpg.html

Thank you come again. :D

[Erdrick Holmes]

The main hero can't remember his past.

The female is the last person of her race

[Mo-Nercy]

Whenever someone, it doesn't matter who, anywhere says anything about a certain location, you know that your party must go there to continue the story.

On the other hand, if someone, it doesn't matter who, anywhere says anything about NOT going to a certain location, you know that your party must still go there to continue the story.

[Samuraid]

Phoenix Downs (or other revive items) work great until a main character dies and then for some reason they don't work? :rolleyes2

Dude, they only work on knocked out people. Call yourself a fan? Even I know that. :p

Since when are they only knocked out? :rolleyes2 There are certainly some characters who are knock-outs themselves...but I hardly see how that relates. :p

[StarlightAngel]

Inn prices are nice and cheap way back home, but of course these guys farther in the game need more money.

Why can't I just climb over these rocks?

Hey, heroine girl! Where are you? Oh, you're part of me now? What? Just because I'm on the world map? Oh, ok. It makes perfect sense! :)

Is it just me or is this a little weird? Its just me? Ok!

Shopkeeper: Thank you for going to save the world! You get a 0% discount because, well, you're trying to save all our asses!
Hero: Ok! Thank- hey, wait....

Red is for heroes! Blue is for loser rivals that look oh so much cooler than the hero and should kick arse but can't merely because they are the rival!

[omnitarian]

Have you ever noticed the only way you can die in an RPG is by bravely sacrificing yourself to save the heroes? I wish they made a game where somebody just keels over while eating a sandwich*.

* Poisoned sandwiches don't count.

[black orb]

>>> *Game starts, and you try to leave the town to the see world map*

Random gatekeeper: "Wait boy! its dangerous out there, you cant pass. Go and talk to the village chief first, he is waiting for you..."

[Sepho]

Since when are they only knocked out? :rolleyes2 There are certainly some characters who are knock-outs themselves...but I hardly see how that relates. :p

Using a Phoenix Down reverses KO (Knocked Out) status, so your characters aren't dead when another party member uses a Phoenix down, just unconscious. There's the implication that if all party members are KO'ed or hit with certain status effects at one time, the yucky monsters are free to use your bones as toothpicks to clean your viscera out of their chompers following their devastation of your flesh.

Uh huh.

[Samuraid]

Then why do you remain "dead" in most games, even after the battle?
I prefered the games in which you had 1 HP left after a battle in which you "died." ;)

[TheAbominatrix]

Because if all your characters are unconcious, whats to stop the monsters from killing them?

Try looking at the status screen next time you're in a battle and a character is downed. It always says something like "KO" "Swoon" "Faint". They never die in battle. If all your characters are knocked out, then the monsters have free reign to kill you, which is why the game ends. Its not like the monsters would be like "Oh, they're good and unconcious, lets leave."

[Agent Proto]

Let's not turn this into a "KO means death" debate, please.

[Mercen-X]

There are always only three or four members in your party while everyone else straggles along elsewhere.

Phoenix Downs are for waking the unconscious, however, there is a spell called, "Life." ?

Here are some exceptions to some mentioned cliches:
Final Fantasy X (party cliche broken) included the switch-out in battle. Also, (character/town comparison) there was no overworld, so the main C was never bigger than a town.

Lunar: Silver Star Story (Hero/Villain connection cliche broken) where the main character was in no way connected to the main villain. Unless it qualifies that he is friends with the reincarnation of a goddess whom the main villain wants to enslave.

Was Sora troublesome? If he wasn't then Kingdom Hearts breaks the main character cliche. Also, I'm pretty sure the building's innards matched for size its outward appearance. Also, though Sora's Keyblade can qualify as a sword, Ansem used a two-sided spear or something. Also, I don't know if Kairi qualifies as a heroine, but she didn't have a jewel. Her heart, however, was needed for Ansem's plans. Also, the Heartless didn't exist solely to give you experience. They proved at times to be a real obstacle and a real pain. Also, no one's cupboards had anything. Also, if you get knocked out, it's game over, even when with Donald and Goofy (useless good-for-nothings).

Indestructible Weapon Rule (cliche broken by Ehrgeiz).

[Samuraid]

Because if all your characters are unconcious, whats to stop the monsters from killing them?

Try looking at the status screen next time you're in a battle and a character is downed. It always says something like "KO" "Swoon" "Faint". They never die in battle. If all your characters are knocked out, then the monsters have free reign to kill you, which is why the game ends. Its not like the monsters would be like "Oh, they're good and unconcious, lets leave."

True. That's exactly what Sepho said, and I agree (that's how I've always tried to look at it). However, the question still remains, why are some characters still "dead" after the battle completes? If they were only knocked out, why wouldn't they come to after the battle and have just very low health? (only a few games did it this way)

[Old Manus]

Let's not turn this into a "KO means death" debate, please.

[Shlup]

The Grand List Of Console Role Playing Game Clichés (http://project-apollo.net/text/rpg.html)

A few good ones... Good guys will only have first names, and bad guys will only have last names. Any bad guy who only has a first name will become a good guy at some point in the game. Good guys' last names may be mentioned in the manual but they will never be referred to in the story.
Every problem in the universe can be solved by finding the right long-haired prettyboy and beating the crap out of him.
Any bad guys, no matter how far they run, will always end up in one of two ways by the end of the game: obviously dead, or on your side. There is no in-between.
If there is any chance whatsoever that major villain X could be the male lead's father, then it will turn out that major villain X is the male lead's father.

[Gnostic Yevon]

* No one over the age of 18 can be the hero of the story.

* If there is someone over the age of 18 in the party, he has a past that explains the entire story. Unfortunately he (has amnesia/doesn't want to tell you about it) so you have to figure it out on your own.

* There is always an ancient race with outstanding (magical/technological) powers that you need to destroy the boss and save the world. Unfortuately they're all dead or in hiding, with the possible exception of the healer in your party.

* The hero will fall in love with a member of the party, usually the healer.

* Anyone introduced in the opening move is the "key to everything".

* There is always at least one nonhuman character in your party.

* (works for scif-fi too) Any party member who betrays you was either 1.) Evil from the start, or 2.) Will eventually come to his senses once you break the bad guy's hold on him.

* The bad guy wants to be god, which is why he dresses like a goth and/or a woman.

* all national leaders are evil. Or at least under the spell of the really evil guy.

* There is always a loud-mouthed smart-ass in your party.

[Jack]

If the characters have voices they will only use them at specific points, otherwise they will speak only in text.

[Psychotic]

The Grand List Of Console Role Playing Game Clichés (http://project-apollo.net/text/rpg.html)I already gave that link you no good double link poster!

[Swordicanus]

Paine, Wakka, Zell.
How are these peoples gender hard to tell?

[Erdrick Holmes]

There's always some loudmouth who swears at least twice in every text box.

[Chris]

 All of the listed reasons is why I love Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles more and more everyday.

 Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles is not your normal: “I'm on a quest to save the world. Why don't you come join me?”

 Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles is the prettiest RPG to date; sizzling with animated eye candy.

 That is why Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles is the greatest Final Fantasy game of all times.

[Chzn8r]

http://project-apollo.net/text/rpg.html

Thank you come again. :D

First thing I thought of opening this thread. Amazing list.

[-N-]

You are always on a quest to SAVE THE WORLD or WORLDS(exception = BoF 3)Planescape: Torment is the other exception I've seen.

[Shlup]

The Grand List Of Console Role Playing Game Clichés (http://project-apollo.net/text/rpg.html)I already gave that link you no good double link poster!
I figured someone had but to confirm it would require me to read.

[KuRt]

>>> *Game starts, and you try to leave the town to the see world map*

Random gatekeeper: "Wait boy! its dangerous out there, you cant pass. Go and talk to the village chief first, he is waiting for you..."
Then the village chief gives you a sword that will later on morph into the greatest sword of all times and you will save the world with it.

[Imperia]

* No one over the age of 18 can be the hero of the story.

* If there is someone over the age of 18 in the party, he has a past that explains the entire story. Unfortunately he (has amnesia/doesn't want to tell you about it) so you have to figure it out on your own.

* There is always an ancient race with outstanding (magical/technological) powers that you need to destroy the boss and save the world. Unfortuately they're all dead or in hiding, with the possible exception of the healer in your party.

* The hero will fall in love with a member of the party, usually the healer.

* Anyone introduced in the opening move is the "key to everything".

* There is always at least one nonhuman character in your party.

* (works for scif-fi too) Any party member who betrays you was either 1.) Evil from the start, or 2.) Will eventually come to his senses once you break the bad guy's hold on him.

* The bad guy wants to be god, which is why he dresses like a goth and/or a woman.

* all national leaders are evil. Or at least under the spell of the really evil guy.

* There is always a loud-mouthed smart-ass in your party.


Gnost main hero and main villain always uses a sword.

The main heroine always has some kind of jewel or gemstone that can either save the universe or destroy it.

Yeah. You always seem to find these. I've always loved the jewel one though. ;)

[Tanwen Strife]

It doesn't matter how much you get hurt, how many limbs you lose or how many times you die, you can always be healed by a potion or phonix down... unless its a cutscene. Then you're screwed

The more girly looking the man the more evil he will be, and no good guy EVER has silver/white hair, even the oldies.

People will start following you around and risking their lives for you for no real apparent reason.

Your party will know everything that has been said despite the fact they werent there when it was said

Three inch high rock are the bane of your existance. 'Damn you! How can I posibbly pass these rocks when I could stubb my toe!'

You will fight the evil pretty boy who's hard as nails despite being half naked in some random dungeon/cave/place in the sky no one has ever seen before.

There is some magic force that prevents you from throwing away your first weapon (not all the time, but more than several)

The Elastic Pants Rule (from RPGWorld) - No matter how much stuff you have, it will fit in your bag(which you don't actually have, and so must instead store everything in your magic elastic pants) and not slow you down. You can have a million items and they will fit, but try getting in that extra 1 of any item to make it a nice round 100 and GOD DAMNIT! Bag's full

[KentaRawr!]

The Main Male Hero absolutely MUST have hair that does not reach the bottom of his neck.

The Main Heroin absolutely MUST have long hair.

The most awesome characters must be Side Characters. (Wakka, anyone?)

[KoShiatar]

The hero (or, sometimes, one of his male party companions, or both) is so handsome women would
gladly throw themselves on him, despite his coming from another planet/being a half-human half-whoknowswhat/
being a genetically modified freak who turns into a monster or whatever, and despite his usually awful character
and his "don't care about anything" attitude which makes the average female player fall hopelessly for him and
the average male player eagerly wanting to kick him in the shins.

Despite this, he only falls for ONE woman during the entire course of his life (sometimes at the tender age of three),
to whom he desperately remains attached, even in the case that she is lost somewhere in the galaxy
(probably with someone else), reveals to be evil,
is impregnated with the son of another man, or is clearly dead.
If for any of the aforementioned reasons the love of his life is unavailable, the male hero will, for the rest of his
grim, miserable life, become a loner who seeks some rest from the atrocities of his ever-tortured soul and atonement
for his sins (usually consisting in not being able to save the girl, be it from death or from another man) without ever
finding it, and should he find the hottest female character ever (who has always been under his nose anyway and is
now sure waiting for him to notice her),he only will develop a very tender friendship that never
brings to anything effective (with great scorn of the poor girl, who in turn keeps on sticking to this moron despite
the fact any othe man would gladly throw himself off a cliff for her).

I'd call this one the Cloud Strife + Vincent Valentine rule, what do you think?

And this is Aeris Gainsborough's corollary:

The female main character, in case she should lose the love of her life, will instead gladly fall for all those
who remind her of him even in the slightest way (or for the male hero, who may be one and the same with the previous
one.)

[Lich3636]

- There's always at least one party member that you really can't tell what gender it is, or that it's just genderless. Quina, Cait Sith, Gogo, Faris, Paine, Wakka, Zell..

*sigh* Quina is a quu genderless, Caitsith is male, Gogo is male,Faris (the pirate from ffV right) is a girl, Paine I didnt play the game but I guess shes gay, Wakka married Lulu so male, Zell is all man

[Azure Chrysanthemum]

"I don't know why some random animals are carrying 372 gil and a magic fire ring. It will forever remain a mystery"

[Destai]

Originally Posted by TheAbominatrix:
Its not like the monsters would be like "Oh, they're good and unconcious, lets leave."xD

[RedCydranth]

My favorite clichés are:

The obligatory prison escape. Either you get caught by the enemy and some one rescues you, or the heroine gets caught and you must rescue her. A prison escape is mandatory for an RPG.

If you are born without a name, you are destined to walk in a set path/area, say the same thing to anyone who was born with a name.

Goos. There are ALWAYS a gooey enemy. Blobs, Slimes, Goos, Gels etc. Usually found outside the heroes home too.

(Nix Saga Frontier, FF2 and a few others) Character's muscles and brain power sponaneuosly grow ONLY after you fight some enemies, it never just happens at the dinner table. (Leveling up for those who are lost) And out of the blue a new technique or spell just dawns on them. "Oh... i think i can just now start shooting fire from my fingertips!"

For some reason only the hero can assemble a party and level up. the nemisis can only fight alone in the final battle, he must throw all his generals at the hero and his party 1 by 1.

I know when i go to take over the world and have my HUGE lair/castle I'm going to create a series of mindboggling puzzles to get from room to room, So when i go to the kitchen, i have to solve them and reset them everytime i enter/leave the room. Also, I'm going to let wild feral beasts roam my castle on the condition they become invisible and randomly attack any heroes who wish to thwart my plans. On top of this paranoia I'll create save points where they can rest up and continue their journey even if my invisible monsters and 1 by 1 generals beat them. Thats the only way to rule the world!

If you notice when someone talks to you a word is highlighted, its wise to remember it, This was my biggest problem in school, none of the teacher's words were highlighted red or blue, so i forgot them immediately.

[Bahumat]

The Ultimate Rule
Anything called "Ultima (whatever)" or "Ultimate (whatever)" isn't. There's always at least one thing somewhere in the world which is even more. (Stolen from The Grand List of Console Role Playing Game Clichés, No. 191)

Namely the Omega (Whatever).
(My Addition)

[Shin Gouken]

The monsters of the world will align themselves in order of how powerful they are so that as you begin your quest you are fighting the weakest of them and nearer the end when you have grown from little village boy to mighty warrior you will fight the strongest.

[Cruise Control]

It seems cliche to complain about RPG cliches

[Shin Gouken]

i wasnt complaining :P i love the cliches

[Destai]

Should you save a shopkeepers life and the response is "oh however can I repay you!?" The thought of free supplies never crosses there mind. -Tales of Symphonia.

[KoShiatar]

Who left all of those still-working weapons around in that old dusty box in the middle of a cave? Someone could hurt themselves....

[Cruise Control]

There is an obligatory 15 minutes of monologueing before and after every battle-a la tales of symphonia!

[Mercen-X]

*sigh* Quina is a quu genderless, Caitsith is male, Gogo is male,Faris (the pirate from ffV right) is a girl, Paine I didnt play the game but I guess shes gay, Wakka married Lulu so male, Zell is all manThe point was that sometimes RPGs intentionally put in character's whose pronoun isn't as simple as "he" or "she" so you end up saying "he/she" or "s/he". As I recall, the "quu" was "Hungry" in FF7, "Qu" in FF8, and "Quina" (and others) in FF9. In fact, I think Quan an the others refer to their species as "Qu."
What that had to with gender: nothing.
Cait Sith is a toy. So though gender male is implied, there's no way to prove it. Faris acted like a dude.
Paine was Cloud (but before you say she's gay, you've got play the game). If you say that Paine was gay, how does Wakka marrying Lulu make him anymore male. Wakka could just be a lesbian.
Zell is a dork. However, he's a guy's dork.
Your arguments stunk. Though I think that Zell and the FFX/-2 characters' genders should not have lead to any confusion.

For some reason, only party members were mentioned. What about Kuja? He's the biggest girl of them all.

Character's muscles and brain power sponaneuosly grow ONLY after you fight some enemies, it never just happens at the dinner table.Why would it happen at the dinner table?


On top of this paranoia I'll create save points where they can rest up and continue their journey even if my invisible monsters and 1 by 1 generals beat them. Thats the only way to rule the world!Commonly, RPG save points aren't man made. They're simple phenomina which even the main character is most often unaware of. Exceptions are the games with tutorials on saving which mention these save points of great convenience.

[Flamethrower]

There's always some loudmouth who swears at least twice in every text box.

What RPGs have a loudmouth that swears all the time besides FFVII and maybe a few others? It's very non-cliché, if you ask me.

[Azure Chrysanthemum]

There shall forever be an arbitrary limit on the amount of people who can actively fight in your party, and rarely shall this ever be explained. Even plausible explanations never serve to justify not attacking the final boss with every person in the party.

[Spammerman]

I think the biggest cliches for rpg's is having cliches in them.

[Serria]

Emphasis on something that was already said...

NO ONE ELSE CARES THAT THE WORLD IS ABOUT TO BE DESTROYED. Except for a very select few that randomly join your party (after a minute or so of conversation) nobody else does a bloody thing. The least they could do is donate a few Pheonix Downs.

But then again, nobody seems to care if you waltz into their house and steal their items (which are just lying around the house), even if you just had a conversation with them.

Wild beasts as far as we know only attack the good guys.

Everybody has theme songs. God. I'd cut off my left arm to have a theme song play for me every time I entered the room.

[Bahumat]

Everybody has theme songs. God. I'd cut off my left arm to have a theme song play for me every time I entered the room.

:( So true......... I want theme music...... :cry: