lukewarmwater

Having the wrong key has to be my number one choice.

tylatz

I remember there being a long list for RPG's alone. It had everything from the hero being some kid that is suddenly destined to save the world to busting into looting peoples houses without punishment. Not to mention collecting items. *groans*

I'll look around some and see if I can find the list again. It's been a few years since I've seen it so I'd really like to read it again for myself.

EDIT: Ok, so it was a lot easier to find than I thought. This isn't the exact same list, but it has many of the same things on it.

The Grand List of Console Role Playing Games Cliches

kgrogers1979

I always found it strange in stealth games that if a guard sees or hears you, he will search for you for a couple minutes, then give up and go back to his regular patrol like nothing happened. In Metal Gear Solid, you could even shoot a guard once, then go hide, and the guard will eventually give up searching. If I was that guard, I would not give up searching until I found the jerk who shot me. It is not like the bullet just fell out of the sky.


For a lot of action games, you have to find colored keycards to open certain doors (like the red, blue, yellow keycards in Doom). I never even understood why you needed keys to unlock doors when you have rocket launchers and BFGs. Just blow the fricking door down. Duke Nukem said it best, "These colored keycards suck."

Spiderbite

Exploding barrels.
Random health packs scattered everywhere.

I think EGM or Gamepro did an article on this recently. It was actually pretty good & funny.

Decker

The old standard : Kill a rat and it drops 15 gold pieces that it just happened to be carrying. In real life, killing a rat doesn't make you rich, make you stronger or improve your skills. Unless you're an exterminator.

maingon

big breasted women

jeffdsmith

Groucho

Crates. Lots and lots of crates. Doesn't matter what genre or time-period, there's gonna be crates.

lukewarmwater

Or in gold coins in pots. Or trees. Or crates. Or bricks.


The health packs are one for me as well. It's not that I don't think they have a purpose, but theres got to be a more creative way to do it.

And the same type of weapons in every shooting game. Sniper Rifle, Pistol, Flamethrower, Knifle, 2 kinds of gernades, and a Shotgun.

OldBoy

Mario is gay.

fumanstan

lukewarmwater

yeah what the hell? Did you read the title? It isn't, Is mario straight or gay?, its video game cliches.

boredsilly

I think mine is the pretty ass boy syndrome in RPG's. I really think that genre is the only one that tries to target girls a bit by featuring these boys that look like female supermodels. Though I guess turn about is fair play when every other genre is full of DOA caliber women.

RyoHazuki

-The first level is always some crappy get-to-know-the-game level.

Brooklyn

The architect for the enemy base always puts an airvent large enough to hold
an adult male next to the security doors.

Outlaw

ARRRGH!!! I'm the angst filled hero of the game, I'm totally badass and Xtreme!! In the sequel to my game (see prince of persia) i'm going to be even more filled with angst and badassness in an attempt to appeal to young preteens who find my cool exterior Xtreme and my attitude hardcore, I like to kill and use tons of violence, blood, and gore. And there are hot chicks in my game who have big boobs and practically nude!

kgrogers1979

And here is the new Dark Prince for Prince of Persia 3: The Two Thrones. He is even more hardcore badass:

OldBoy

cli·che /klE-'shA, 'klE-", kli-'/
Function: noun
Etymology: French, literally, printer's stereotype, from past participle of clicher to stereotype, of imitative origin
1 : a trite phrase or expression; also : the idea expressed by it
2 : a hackneyed theme, characterization, or situation
3 : something (as a menu item) that has become overly familiar or commonplace

thus, "Mario is gay".
you can't make this stuff up!

Xander

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Mr. Cinema

Um...almost every game has a drawn out opening movie clip. And then they are spaced out throughout the game.

Groucho

And then screencaps from those movies are put on the back of the box as if it's an in-game screen.

pinata242

Inconceivable!

pinata242

For those of you who have played Baten Kaitos you might know why I bring this up since I just got to disc 2.

Another cliche is only having a portion of your party in a battle. Here I am traveling around with 5 other bad asses but I can only fight with 2 of them. They each have unique weapons and styles yet they can't all be used in a fight or even hot-swapped out. Why do the good guys have to fight fair?

Calico

There's always a freaking button you have to press to open up an area. But to get to that button, you have to crawl through vents, fight of the mecha mecha oooka master and his team, stealth crawl through three corridors, then backtrack to the door. When you realize how far into the level you went to find the door switch, you realize you had pretty much crossed the entire level, so why backtrack to the switch?

Jumping to avoid being shot's another one, obviously big in FPS's . Seriously, in real combat, you jump - you're still taking it in the leg.

kgrogers1979

I play a lot of FPS games because it is my favorite genre. I don't remember any where you jump to avoid being shot. You are supposed to strafe left or right.