Phantasy Star: Fringes of Algo

192 RPG cliches

This link appeared in the thread about Lyla's fangame and it gave me a thread idea. The question is, after looking at this list or parts of it, what are you favorite RPG cliches, defiances of cliches, or games that seem to address the existence of the cliches? Or how a game might make fun of a cliche, or do it in such a way to totally bend it out of shape, or take it entirely over the top? Or anything about RPG cliches in general?

Obviously, the game I'm going to talk about is Earthbound. In general, it seems to defy cliches, but it does also do some of them, the real blatant one being the 'Chosen One' deal. But I especially like how it addresses item #5, especially parents not worrying. Earthbound addresses it by Ness's status effect of homesickness, which makes him lose turns in battle. To alleviate it, Ness either has to call his mom who's generally worrying about him, visit home, or visit a sanctuary, which gets rid of all status effects.

I could talk about more, but to keep this post shorter, I'll stick with that for now. Anyone else have one in PS or any RPGs?

Growlanser Heritage of War is a game that doesn't use alot of those cliches. It's also generational like PS 3.

To be honest, I could never make it through that list. I understand that there are a lot of cliches in RPGs, but I can't make myself sit through reading all ~200 entries. Some games do probably hit every single cliche on the list, but I don't want to let that list impact my enjoyment of even one game.

I'm about halfway through the list right now, and some of those are pretty funny. The "Guy in the Street" rule had me laughing, but it is true. How is it that everyone knows about your quest already? It's especially concerning in games like PSII where it's probably better for no one else to know about it. Yet, everyone shows up at Rolf's house, including ordinary citizens like doctors and biologists, and seem to know he's out there questing. However, since it doesn't affect gameplay, I'm not hung up on it (only when writing fic for it does this kind of thing become more prevalent).

A lot of those clichés should be called game devices, because in order for a game to progress, certain aspects of travel, city and town setup, dungeon progression, magic spell acquisition, etc. have to happen or be configured in a certain way.

I've seen that list before, and it was interesting to pick out a LOT of games that used those clichés when I was reading through it. I don't mind 'em at all and think they are fun, in a way (unless they make the game predictable).

Make Room! Make Room!
There are always more people in a town or village than there are houses for them to live in. Most of the village is made up of shops, temples, bars, secret passages, inns, and the mansion that belongs to the richest man in town.

I saw this list years, and this one stuck with me. It probably applies to every game outside of Shenmue.

I never seen that list so thank you about the "ressurection" of this topic : I'll print it and read it in the following days : but I don't think this will impact on the type of game I love for so many years (and will continue to love !!).

Some clichés are somewhat annoying, but a list with 200 cliché loses all the impact a more concise list would have. Some things cited as cliché are present in different games, and lead to completely different. Developments, so they are not in the same league of clichés that define important parts of the plot.