RPG cliches your tired of.

[Tai_MT]

The Wild West romantisized guns.

I wouldn't say that did. "Gunfighting", even in our Hollywood dramatized or Spaghetti Westerns is rarely even discussed or even considered. The romanticism around "The Wild West" is usually Fierce Independence, living on the edge of the law and lawlessness, as well as rough and tumble living.

There are the occasional films or books about what is essentially "trick firing" in the Old West (fastest gun in the west, yee-haw!), but that's not typically what is the romanticized part.

A lot of it is "defending your property" or "fighting the corrupt" or "surviving on the range". Not a lot of it is "Guns". And, what does exist that "romanticizes" guns in terms of The Wild West is really what boils down to "trick shooting", which is basically just duels and "who had the fastest gun".

Then again, I wasn't really talking about "guns" in particular. Just a time period in which fighting with guns was romanticized.

Off hand I can only think of the Japanese that romantisized fighting with guns, and only during the time when Nobunaga was around.

Beyond that, current romantisization of fighting with guns has come largely from modern action films and video games. But, even a series like John Wick has a LOT of melee fighting in it. And swords. And knives.

Even Star Wars romanticizes fighting with laser swords instead of plasma shotguns.

 

[trouble time]

I wouldn't say that did. "Gunfighting", even in our Hollywood dramatized or Spaghetti Westerns is rarely even discussed or even considered. The romanticism around "The Wild West" is usually Fierce Independence, living on the edge of the law and lawlessness, as well as rough and tumble living.

There are the occasional films or books about what is essentially "trick firing" in the Old West (fastest gun in the west, yee-haw!), but that's not typically what is the romanticized part.

A lot of it is "defending your property" or "fighting the corrupt" or "surviving on the range". Not a lot of it is "Guns". And, what does exist that "romanticizes" guns in terms of The Wild West is really what boils down to "trick shooting", which is basically just duels and "who had the fastest gun".

Then again, I wasn't really talking about "guns" in particular. Just a time period in which fighting with guns was romanticized.

Off hand I can only think of the Japanese that romantisized fighting with guns, and only during the time when Nobunaga was around.

Beyond that, current romantisization of fighting with guns has come largely from modern action films and video games. But, even a series like John Wick has a LOT of melee fighting in it. And swords. And knives.

Even Star Wars romanticizes fighting with laser swords instead of plasma shotguns.

Trick shooting and quick draws are different things, and I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this.

 

[Tai_MT]

@trouble time Fair enough, I can't find the quote I remember reading about a few old "gunslingers" who used to classify it as "the lowest form of trick shots".

Fast draw - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

But, I'll leave this for anyone curious about it.

 

[Mystic_Enigma]

I got my own list of clichés that irk me:

-The Chosen One
-Prophecies
-The Hero's hometown/world being destroyed,
-Generic fantasy races
-Save the world plots
-Completely irredeemable people who get away without any punishment/don't get punished enough.
-On that same note, Villains who are heavily idolized over how "Cool" or "Relatable" they are. News Flash: They are STILL EVIL! YOU WANNA BE EVIL LIKE THEM, MATE?! BECAUSE IT LOOKS THAT WAY!
-Time Travel...
-Hopeless Boss fights
-Bosses being immune to every single status
-This is more of a system thing, but after you beat the main game (Defeat the Final Boss and get the end credits), the game pretends that you didn't and you remain stuck in Final Chapter Limbo...

There's plenty more, but those are the ones at the top of my head.

 

[miragewolf]

Some cliche that I don't like.
- You fought a boss, but after you beat him in the next cut scene your party loses anyway
- Similar to the prior, you try to get to the important Macguffin from the quest, but after you finish 1st quest, the quest giver tells you to go to the 2nd quest giver, and the quest chain keeps going. After 3rd and 4th quests finished, it's no longer there
-The party or hero starts as established well known powerful, seasoned veterans in the universe, yet they're level 1

Medieval fantasy is actually very rare, other than Darklands I cannot really think of many rpg that remind of medieval. I think most of time when label says medieval, it is sword and sorcery or D&D inspired like how old Final Fantasy had D&D creatures and classes.

 

[Timeline_man]

Some cliche that I don't like.
- You fought a boss, but after you beat him in the next cut scene your party loses anyway

the scripted loss is almost always annoying, especially if it's a fight you actually have to beat the enemy to progress through.

 

[FireAngelDev]

What are some RPG cliches you are really tired of?

For me personally, I would say the whole "Teenagers being the chosen ones" type cliche; and I mean a full party of teens, few here and there is fine.

But them all being teens often gets rid of some dynamics that I would really love to see attempt to be executed.

Like a dynamic between some retired war general battling alongside some 20 year old dude that was originally working as a shopkeep, but the world's god decided he has to help save the world now.

Obviously dynamic between teen characters is a thing that can be done. But I want to see more dynamics between characters from entirely different generations, it would be fun to see that more.

 

[kirbwarrior]

Just please do not put the cursed word "Legend" in the title of your game.

I remember an old game title of mine was "Legends of Myths" XD

For me, im tired of seeing games where the church was the bad guy all along. Ive seen a few good videos explaining why its so common in jrpgs but still i find it tiring.

I think it's pretty hard to portray a church as good in anything but the most light-hearted of games and stories, and even Dragon Quest doesn't always treat the church as good. [ISPOILER]I can't really anything more due to forum rules[/ISPOILER]

-Bosses being immune to every single status

This is more of a mechanical thing than story thing, but it speaks to a bigger design issue; Why are there skills that aren't useful in the game? Just, what?Poisoning enemies in random encounters usually does nothing (you'll likely kill a given enemy in one or two hits) and poison's 1/16th tick is too strong on bosses. I've seen a few games that do it well (Octopath's poison IS useful on bosses, Death in FFX actually has use and it seems intentionally well done).

 

[trouble time]

I think it's pretty hard to portray a church as good in anything but the most light-hearted of games and stories, and even Dragon Quest doesn't always treat the church as good. [ISPOILER]I can't really anything more due to forum rules[/ISPOILER]

Gonna have to disagree on that one. Its actually quite easy.

 

[TRIDIUM]

I was going to say something about that, but decided not to get into it. Thanks for breaking the ice, @trouble time.
Regardless of your opinions are of religion in the real world is, it's super easy to portray it as good in a game. In fact, it's easy to portray just about anything as good, if you're good enough at it.
I don't want to start any debates that go against forum rules, as mentioned, but in this case, your comment was pretty bold.

 

[JohnDoeNews]

Spoiler: I thought it said "Glitches".

I was so confused about all those replies. I kept thinking: "That is not a glitch. That is just a category or a story flaw." And I really wondered why everyone would just say random things that have nothing to do with glitches.

One cliche I don't really like, is the whole "Oh, it was all just a dream" ending.

 

[kirbwarrior]

In fact, it's easy to portray just about anything as good, if you're good enough at it.

It's easy to do anything hard if you're good enough at it

Regardless of your opinions are of religion in the real world is

My point isn't about any religion IRL but what makes any religion a religion at its very core (and again, only saying this to clarify my point, not to continue discussion)

One cliche I don't really like, is the whole "Oh, it was all just a dream" ending.

I don't even know how that one got out of the gate. It wasn't ever really used well even when it was first used in stories.

 

[JohnDoeNews]

I don't even know how that one got out of the gate. It wasn't ever really used well even when it was first used in stostories

It was used well once, and only once: Alice in Wonderland.

 

[Tai_MT]

It was used well in The Wizard of Oz as well. There are a bunch of stories where "it was all just a dream" was a pretty good.

But, a lot of writers use it as "a cop out" when they've painted themselves into a corner and ruined their own works.

There are no bad cliches, only bad writers.

 

[TRIDIUM]

My point isn't about any religion IRL but what makes any religion a religion at its very core (and again, only saying this to clarify my point, not to continue discussion)

I don't see how that's different

There are no bad cliches, only bad writers.

Too true. Because those clichés weren't' clichés when they first written. Other people tried to ride off of their success

 

[Ms Littlefish]

Yeah, while some things probably need a bit more heavy duty air freshener, we tend to see various elements often because they work. With the appropriate amount of depth and development…it will work. It’s when things lack reason, explanation, or any inspiration whatsoever…booooooo.

 

[OpheliaEnigma]

Maybe I'm the only one, but sometimes I really like cliches .

Sometimes I love complex deep and original stories, but other times I love to just sit back after a long day, turn my brain off, and just relax with a cliche 90's style JRPG that touches all the cliched tropes !

Some cliches are just too much though, the "is all a dream" I must admit, is really hard to pull off right!

 

[trouble time]

My point isn't about any religion IRL but what makes any religion a religion at its very core (and again, only saying this to clarify my point, not to continue discussion)

A distinction without a difference.

 

[ChamomileHasGames]

"It was all just a dream" worked in Alice in Wonderland because it was a story about wandering through a bunch of interesting vignettes that didn't amount to anything. You could scramble the order of half the chapters and it wouldn't make a difference, because the point of the story is about a sensible English girl wandering through a world where nothing makes sense. It's not a big deal that the Queen of Hearts turns out to be a figment of Alice's subconscious because the story never really tried to engross you in the stakes of confronting her.

Every rule has its one weird exception, but the "it was all just a dream" cliche isn't going to work for any story where we're supposed to care whether or not the villain is defeated, which is most of them.

 

[kirbwarrior]

It was used well once, and only once: Alice in Wonderland.

It was used well in The Wizard of Oz as well. There are a bunch of stories where "it was all just a dream" was a pretty good.

There are no bad cliches, only bad writers.

All good points.

I don't see how that's different

A distinction without a difference.

Okay, now you're just being hilarious. You really think there's no difference between individual specific things and the concept as a whole? Is the government of Canada and the concept of government now the same thing? Is chicken and the concept of meat the same thing?