Gaming Cliches That Must Die
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Not to be nit-picking, but you could also join the rogues...Tazzlefrass said:
OT: Amnesia. I get that it's a great way to start with a blank slate, but surely you can think of something else?
You could also run with the Thieves' Guild. Though you would still have to go through the same bullshit quests. Yeah... if only they hadn't made you go on that stupid "Kill the Orc Leader" quest, players would never meet Grobnar... heh, imagine how much that would improve NWN2.Tazzlefrass said:
On Topic: Why is there a mentor-esque character in every game with a young-ish hero? And why do all mentors wear a t-shirt that says "I will die or turn evil"? Thank you Joseph Campbell.
Crossborder said:
Thanks for pointing that out, I was just using the guards as an example since they're the most blatant. As Doc over there pointed out, yes, you still basically have to travel to Mt. Doom and back just to get inside of the sectioned off city no matter what route you choose. Either way, people were able to get there before you. It's kind of cool from an action standpoint, but just from a realism (hurr hurr realism in D&D) standpoint, it makes no sense.TheDoctor455 said:
Furthermore...why can't we just kill the guards? Whenever I'm involved in a tabletop game, most of the player's first response is to lay the beatdown on the guards.
Elemental level design. The water level, the fire level, the earth level, the wind level. I get it, it's easy to make it seem like the game has variety if you're using different traps and obstacles and such; but when the traps and obstacles have been the same for 25 years of gaming, it's not innovative anymore.
Also, one slash across the face with a big ass sword is fucking fatal. Not in video games, I hate it that to kill a Rat in Oblivion, I had to stab it no less than seven times. It's also annoying in games like Devil May Cry, when I am in possession of "The Demon Killer 2000" that I have to stab the demon 2000 times to kill it.
There are thousands of others, but these are the biggest two that I hadn't seen mentioned.
Also, one slash across the face with a big ass sword is fucking fatal. Not in video games, I hate it that to kill a Rat in Oblivion, I had to stab it no less than seven times. It's also annoying in games like Devil May Cry, when I am in possession of "The Demon Killer 2000" that I have to stab the demon 2000 times to kill it.
There are thousands of others, but these are the biggest two that I hadn't seen mentioned.
maybe the ninja chop...
hit -> standing -> standing -> standing -> still quite standing -> fall down.
you know after 1 hit...
hit -> standing -> standing -> standing -> still quite standing -> fall down.
you know after 1 hit...
Okay, I came up with a few more, here we go...
You Shall Not Pass!! ...yet!
Yes, it's been brought up before, it will be brought up again, the constant use of arbitrary ways to block your progress in a game. Maybe guards wont let you pass? Maybe a rickety wooden door is stopping the chosen hero of awesomness who vields the power of the universe itself from passing until he finds the rusty key that unlocks the door? God forbid the game designers would have to think up some new way to keep us from blasting right trhough the paper thin excuse of a plot.
Do My Laundry, Hero of Legend
Okay, seriously? He's only the ONE person who's doing anythign to save your miserable peasant lives from the coming apocalypse, and you want him to do your chores for you before you give him necessary information?! I'm very sorry little Timmy got his stupid ass lost in the mine, but if we dont get going soon, everything is going to be on fire. EVERYTHING!!
You Shall Not Pass!! ...yet!
Yes, it's been brought up before, it will be brought up again, the constant use of arbitrary ways to block your progress in a game. Maybe guards wont let you pass? Maybe a rickety wooden door is stopping the chosen hero of awesomness who vields the power of the universe itself from passing until he finds the rusty key that unlocks the door? God forbid the game designers would have to think up some new way to keep us from blasting right trhough the paper thin excuse of a plot.
Do My Laundry, Hero of Legend
Okay, seriously? He's only the ONE person who's doing anythign to save your miserable peasant lives from the coming apocalypse, and you want him to do your chores for you before you give him necessary information?! I'm very sorry little Timmy got his stupid ass lost in the mine, but if we dont get going soon, everything is going to be on fire. EVERYTHING!!
Realism = Amazing game by default, developers need to realise that some of us play games FOR the bizarreness of the game world. Would Cloud's sword by practical in real life? Fuck no. Is it still an awesome weapon to use in game? Fuck yes. Same arguement for DMC, GoW etc.
I did no such thing. All I said was that I hate him, because Reaver's a prick. I doubt he's insulted.Cmwissy said:
Seriously though, why don't I get to kill Reaver? He tricked me into giving up my youth, killed Barnum, and tried to turn me over to Lucien.
Anything you can mention here is already on TVtropes. If you have a few hours you want to brutally murder, feel free to have a look.
I'm annoyed by soldiers/warriors/etc. who are fearless and just march to their deaths. I'd love to see games where people act like they have some kind of self-preservation instinct, and human emotions. I'm talking about characters that can become enraged and reckless, or cower in fear, or surrender or do SOMETHING other than fight to the death in the same way every single damn time. Don't tell me that it would be terribly hard to do, because Close Combat did it 12 years ago. Soldiers could cower in fear, they could become tired, they could refuse to follow suicidal orders, they could surrender, they could flee from combat of their own accord. TWELVE YEARS ago.
I'm annoyed by soldiers/warriors/etc. who are fearless and just march to their deaths. I'd love to see games where people act like they have some kind of self-preservation instinct, and human emotions. I'm talking about characters that can become enraged and reckless, or cower in fear, or surrender or do SOMETHING other than fight to the death in the same way every single damn time. Don't tell me that it would be terribly hard to do, because Close Combat did it 12 years ago. Soldiers could cower in fear, they could become tired, they could refuse to follow suicidal orders, they could surrender, they could flee from combat of their own accord. TWELVE YEARS ago.
somewhere, somehow, this man is hiding over six hundred rounds of 5.56 NATO rounds on his person. Not really a cliche, but it bothers me.
I had a list of these somewhere...
Let's see:
-Infinitely respawning baddies has to stop. It takes the satisfaction out of killing tihngs (perhaps there's a lesson in this). It ruined Condemned for me. On that note, baddies who don't stay dead.
-Starting at the beginning of levels when you die is a wallbanger. Why the hell can't I get checkpoints?
-I'm really sick of weapon degredation. So at first I had to worry about ammo consumption (unless it's melee weapons, but even then it's a bad idea), now I have to carry extra guns?
-Having to backtrack through a level to proceed...I mean, what the hell?
-Repetetive level design (I'm looking at you Bethesda)
-Objects that don't remain stationary when you brush past them (I'm looking at you Bethesda...again)
-Enemies that have stunning attacks...it's just annoying, especially if that's the only thing they do
-Baddies who can see you way before you'd ever notice them (dammit, Far Cry). I like being the one who does the ambushes. In fact, poorly programmed AI in general.
-Video games that are adapted from movies or something
-Characters than can die pretty much by accident (Bethesda, do you have a checklist or something?). Characters dying by carelessness is also an issue, Fire Emblem.
-Rail-shooter sections in FPSs
-Characters who are sexualized just for the sake of game sales. Developers, stop being lazy
-Sewer levels, forced stealth sections, etc
-Fantasy RPGs with boring spells or weapons (I'm really being too hard on Oblivion...it's like the only positive things I can say is that the Dark Brotherhood quests were pretty cool; I like roaming the roads, killing any highwaymen that I encounter; and raiding abndit camps was kind of fun)
-Games that just try too hard to be awesome, like Devil May Cry
-Playing a horror game as a soldier or cop or something. I just want to be a normal dude or dudette
I might be forgetting something but I might have just be gone a little off topic a few times
I didn't include plot-related cliches because that's far too general to cover
Let's see:
-Infinitely respawning baddies has to stop. It takes the satisfaction out of killing tihngs (perhaps there's a lesson in this). It ruined Condemned for me. On that note, baddies who don't stay dead.
-Starting at the beginning of levels when you die is a wallbanger. Why the hell can't I get checkpoints?
-I'm really sick of weapon degredation. So at first I had to worry about ammo consumption (unless it's melee weapons, but even then it's a bad idea), now I have to carry extra guns?
-Having to backtrack through a level to proceed...I mean, what the hell?
-Repetetive level design (I'm looking at you Bethesda)
-Objects that don't remain stationary when you brush past them (I'm looking at you Bethesda...again)
-Enemies that have stunning attacks...it's just annoying, especially if that's the only thing they do
-Baddies who can see you way before you'd ever notice them (dammit, Far Cry). I like being the one who does the ambushes. In fact, poorly programmed AI in general.
-Video games that are adapted from movies or something
-Characters than can die pretty much by accident (Bethesda, do you have a checklist or something?). Characters dying by carelessness is also an issue, Fire Emblem.
-Rail-shooter sections in FPSs
-Characters who are sexualized just for the sake of game sales. Developers, stop being lazy
-Sewer levels, forced stealth sections, etc
-Fantasy RPGs with boring spells or weapons (I'm really being too hard on Oblivion...it's like the only positive things I can say is that the Dark Brotherhood quests were pretty cool; I like roaming the roads, killing any highwaymen that I encounter; and raiding abndit camps was kind of fun)
-Games that just try too hard to be awesome, like Devil May Cry
-Playing a horror game as a soldier or cop or something. I just want to be a normal dude or dudette
I might be forgetting something but I might have just be gone a little off topic a few times
I didn't include plot-related cliches because that's far too general to cover
Greatly out of proportion game/story ratios.
When playing an RPG, we're generally fine sitting through hours upon hours of exposition. In fact, some of us welcome it, and there is a very healthy demographic for those who enjoy story-heavy RPGs.
But you take an action game, skew the story:gameplay ratio in favor of story, and THEN put the story sequences BEFORE long boss fights, AFTER long bossfights where you then have to escape from the battle place, or after a long and difficult action sequence, but before a save point, and what you have is an exercise in frustration and ballistics.
Or a Metal Gear game *zing*
When playing an RPG, we're generally fine sitting through hours upon hours of exposition. In fact, some of us welcome it, and there is a very healthy demographic for those who enjoy story-heavy RPGs.
But you take an action game, skew the story:gameplay ratio in favor of story, and THEN put the story sequences BEFORE long boss fights, AFTER long bossfights where you then have to escape from the battle place, or after a long and difficult action sequence, but before a save point, and what you have is an exercise in frustration and ballistics.
Or a Metal Gear game *zing*
Why do no games ever have a vacuum/space suit that is not some sort of power armor? I just want an armored spacesuit for zero-g environments, there are few advantages to having super strength when you already have a bazooka or laser gun. Whenever there ARE standard marines, they have NO HELMETS, so a single punch in the hull of a starship will kill all personal in the area because they have no vacuum capabilities!
When a team mate dies in a squad based game it has been done 1000 times before its not new it is just annoying when it happens and they have good gear or stats.