Game cliches you hate
- Thread starter Hides His Eyes
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I'd point you to the film Battle Royale. It has two evil characters. One is revealed to be profoundly disturbed because of childhood traumas and social ostracism, and the other is simply pure, unexplained evil. Both work extremely well as characters, and the latter is absolutely terrifying *because* his motives remain unexplained. I think the pure evil character can be highly effective, but it's much harder to get right than people think. You are right that usually, especially in games, these villains are rubbish.KingsGambit said:
Well, here's a list:
The obligatory forest, jungle, beach, cave, volcano, temple and plains areas in every JRPG known to man
When ex-party members in RPGs come back as enemies with 3x the power and 5x the health
The 'PRAYERS OF THE LAND WILL SAVE OUR HEROES' trick that is pulled in the final battle of any game
That one character which might as well have Mr or Mrs Fanservice tattooed on their back, who adds nothing remotely interesting to the story apart from BOOOBIES
Horde modes that are just tacked on to add length to single player games
Palette swaps
When games just use the '7 Magical Macguffin' story over and over again
Credits with no skip function and cutscenes which last longer than the standard fight
Forced stealth sections
The obligatory forest, jungle, beach, cave, volcano, temple and plains areas in every JRPG known to man
When ex-party members in RPGs come back as enemies with 3x the power and 5x the health
The 'PRAYERS OF THE LAND WILL SAVE OUR HEROES' trick that is pulled in the final battle of any game
That one character which might as well have Mr or Mrs Fanservice tattooed on their back, who adds nothing remotely interesting to the story apart from BOOOBIES
Horde modes that are just tacked on to add length to single player games
Palette swaps
When games just use the '7 Magical Macguffin' story over and over again
Credits with no skip function and cutscenes which last longer than the standard fight
Forced stealth sections
The "bad guy who is being controlled by a bigger bad guy" scenario. This was one of the clichés that nearly killed Twilight Princess for me and made me want to stuff Star Fox Adventures in a blender. If it's revealed, or at least hinted, relatively early in the story, I wouldn't mind, but not when they're "Hey, I'm the new bad guy now, herpa derp derp!".
Stories that try to ram the "power of friendship" down our throats a la Pokémon or go all angsty a la Evangelion.
Unskippable cutscenes.
Stories that try to ram the "power of friendship" down our throats a la Pokémon or go all angsty a la Evangelion.
Unskippable cutscenes.
Here one that I find annoying. Forced turret sections. I had to cheat in Jak 2 to get through that turret section in Hero Mode. That really pissed me off!
Though I haven't seen the film, and from your post it sounds like an interesting one worth checking out, it sounds like in that case the unexplained mystery behind the second character was in itself a relevant part of the story and an important factor for the character.Hides His Eyes said:
But in the real world there is never evil without explanation. Sadam, Hitler, Stalin, Polpot, the Norweigan madman in current news...all have motives. Unless the lack of such is a driving force or important plot point itself as the movie you mentioned, the Evil Overlord thing I maintain is dull, done to death and uninspired. Why would they just kill their own henchman, wear all black armour and oppress the village-folk?
At least with Sith Dark Lords for example, you know they're taught that weakness is punishable and survival of the fittest is the path to power. Reason. Interesting. I can disagree with them on a moral and intellectual level, not just be told I have to defeat them because...errr...they're the black-armour wearing villain and I have to defeat them.
Cliche? Oh lord, I have an astonishing list of these.
Horror games in general that attempt to unsettle you with the "rawrrrrrr blarrggghh" scenario. This must only frighten the development team themselves because they all have major cases of attention deficit disorder.
Horror games in general that attempt to unsettle you with the "rawrrrrrr blarrggghh" scenario. This must only frighten the development team themselves because they all have major cases of attention deficit disorder.
Boobs that are either the size of two watermelons or two cherries on an ironing board. When there are games with no midpoint for its female characters, that's weird.
And games where "The door is locked" but you have enough fire power on you to bring down the whole building.
And games where "The door is locked" but you have enough fire power on you to bring down the whole building.
I know it's not technically a cliche, but there are a good few answers here which take liberties with the definition of that word.
I hate the brutal shattering blow immersiveness gets when everything of note that happens in the world happens because you say so. I know it's something of a necessity sometimes but I really don't like the following:
NPC: "Shit's going down hard style! We need to get on the case right away or everyone will be getting fed their own genitals by this time tomorrow! Are you with me?"
PC: "Give me a second, I'm not quite ready."
NPC: "Okay, but hurry. We have literally no time! Things are so urgent it redefines urgency!"
*** SEVERAL GAME DAYS OF DOING FRIVOLOUS SIDEQUESTS LATER ***
PC: "Greetings."
NPC: "Are you ready yet? Everyone's on the brink of being splattered like a melon under a sledgehammer!"
PC: "Give me a second, I'm not quite ready."
NPC: "Okay, but hurry. We have literally no time! Things are so urgent it redefines urgency!"
I hate the brutal shattering blow immersiveness gets when everything of note that happens in the world happens because you say so. I know it's something of a necessity sometimes but I really don't like the following:
NPC: "Shit's going down hard style! We need to get on the case right away or everyone will be getting fed their own genitals by this time tomorrow! Are you with me?"
PC: "Give me a second, I'm not quite ready."
NPC: "Okay, but hurry. We have literally no time! Things are so urgent it redefines urgency!"
*** SEVERAL GAME DAYS OF DOING FRIVOLOUS SIDEQUESTS LATER ***
PC: "Greetings."
NPC: "Are you ready yet? Everyone's on the brink of being splattered like a melon under a sledgehammer!"
PC: "Give me a second, I'm not quite ready."
NPC: "Okay, but hurry. We have literally no time! Things are so urgent it redefines urgency!"
When you don't get to use your weapons and you have to navigate through a level!
That one gets me ALL THE TIME. I'm playing a FPS, dammit, why can't I use the weapons???
That one gets me ALL THE TIME. I'm playing a FPS, dammit, why can't I use the weapons???
"Your Princess is in another castle" - Let's be honest, this still goes on to this day. You really think you were going to kill the guy you've been hunting or rescue the damsel in distress only 4-5 hours in? Think again. I still see missions/levels that go "*insert antagonist who is the target or damsel in distress here* is in *insert random, exotic country here*. Let's go get him/her! There's no way he/she will get away." only to have him escape at the end and lead you on some wild goose chase for about another 5-10 hours, there may be another mission similar to this later on. The problem is they're almost always really predictable, to the point that it makes the entire level feel pointless.
The person who employed you, or your best friend betrays you - So overused, and again, really predictable. They try to be subtle and clever with this one, but as soon as the character you're playing as or the protagonist's confidante says something along the lines of: "Something doesn't feel right about this" you pretty much know what's coming.
One of the final missions being a vehicle section - I assume they do this to get an epic feel or have it as the climax. While what they're going for may be great, it almost always leads it to failure. This is probably due to the game having a section whose gameplay differs completely from the rest of the game, making it prone to being clunky, or sometimes flat-out broken.
That's all I got right now.
The person who employed you, or your best friend betrays you - So overused, and again, really predictable. They try to be subtle and clever with this one, but as soon as the character you're playing as or the protagonist's confidante says something along the lines of: "Something doesn't feel right about this" you pretty much know what's coming.
One of the final missions being a vehicle section - I assume they do this to get an epic feel or have it as the climax. While what they're going for may be great, it almost always leads it to failure. This is probably due to the game having a section whose gameplay differs completely from the rest of the game, making it prone to being clunky, or sometimes flat-out broken.
That's all I got right now.
Things that grind my gears after a while...
- Having no visible conversation options for the character even though NPCs are clearly getting some response besides pointing, nods, or shakes of the head. Even more annoying when the only sounds the character makes are various grunts, gasps, and the occasional scream.
- Escort quests that go as thus: Target moves slower than you do, forcing you to wait and drain your attention span. Target follows their path blindly into any dangerous situation, at which point they freeze up or try to fight and only end up running into the blades/bullets. Target follows the path, but veers off to attack anything in sight or anything in sight suddenly rushes to get a piece. You clear the entire area of distractions, but attackers materialize out of thin air anyways.
- Having to explore an entire wing of a dungeon to find the one-time-use time that opens the path to another section of the dungeon for another similar item to get to yet another area... And at the end is an item you may or may not need later.
- BBEGs who show up time and again, but run away throughout the game just before you can deliver the death blow. Usually by some cheesy unavoidable trick that disables your character just long enough to be taunted and the BBEG to get away. Why not use that trick at the start and tear into the hero at the start?
- That one character who is so blindly naive and/or cheerful that they come across as being mentally retarded, even when other characters are talking about things that would depress anyone. That stupid smile... Those vacant eyes... Who could go right back to giggling thirty seconds after hearing their friend say how someone they cared for died?
- Having no visible conversation options for the character even though NPCs are clearly getting some response besides pointing, nods, or shakes of the head. Even more annoying when the only sounds the character makes are various grunts, gasps, and the occasional scream.
- Escort quests that go as thus: Target moves slower than you do, forcing you to wait and drain your attention span. Target follows their path blindly into any dangerous situation, at which point they freeze up or try to fight and only end up running into the blades/bullets. Target follows the path, but veers off to attack anything in sight or anything in sight suddenly rushes to get a piece. You clear the entire area of distractions, but attackers materialize out of thin air anyways.
- Having to explore an entire wing of a dungeon to find the one-time-use time that opens the path to another section of the dungeon for another similar item to get to yet another area... And at the end is an item you may or may not need later.
- BBEGs who show up time and again, but run away throughout the game just before you can deliver the death blow. Usually by some cheesy unavoidable trick that disables your character just long enough to be taunted and the BBEG to get away. Why not use that trick at the start and tear into the hero at the start?
- That one character who is so blindly naive and/or cheerful that they come across as being mentally retarded, even when other characters are talking about things that would depress anyone. That stupid smile... Those vacant eyes... Who could go right back to giggling thirty seconds after hearing their friend say how someone they cared for died?