Plot Devices in Video Games. Which do you like or dislike?

[Moonlight Butterfly]

It struck me recently, after 20 odd years of gaming, that a plot device that I personally can't stand in RPG's is the double cross or being led into a trap.

Now I don't want to sound like an arrogant douche but at one point in a game (I won't say which becuase I don't want to spoil it for those who don't realise) I was following the suspicious character, swinging my sword at the back of his annoyingly immune head, with narrowed eyes.

Baldur's Gate 2 is one of the biggest offenders for use of this device. I don't mind being tricked a couple of times. However, the fact that my mage/cleric's wisdom and intellect scores are high enough to allow her to defeat the trickster god Loki, drunk and with a bucket on her head, would surely mean that if I spotted a trap coming she would too.

Also I would like to add I am not taken in by villains using thier name backwards... please stop doing it... I'm looking at you JRPG's.

Perhaps I'm just naturally paranoid and selectively dyslexic, I don't know, but in a game where you are supposed to be roleplaying the character you should surely be given a chance, however vague and well hidden, to get out of the completely obvious predicament you are barelling towards.

tl;dr: So I ask you Escapist which plot devices and tropes do you find annoying or pleasing in games? Do tell.

 

[Smallfry]

I like ones that work. I don't like ones that don't.

/Thread

 

[thenamelessloser]

I like amnesia in rpgs even though the type of amnesia in those games is very very very rare in reality. (Amnesia is typically more like how it is in the movie Memento in real life.) Even though it is gimmicky it works very well for roleplaying purposes and for an excuse for characters to say obvious things about the world to you.

Can't think of any plot devices I would hate how out of hand. I would hate more of how they are used...

 

[DJDarque]

I hate when the person you're led to believe is the main villain the entire game ends up not being so.

I do like when a big bad guy ends up becoming a powerful ally, though.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

I like amnesia in rpgs even though the type of amnesia in those games is very very very rare in reality.

Yeah I think it works well in Fallout Vegas you can basically decide what your character is about and they can work in a mysterious element surrounding thier background.

 

[Zhukov]

I dislike anything involving time travel and resurrection.

Time travel invariably opens up gaping plot holes. And it almost always ends with a Terminator-style paradox. The only games with good time travel were Braid and Prince of Persia. But that's because they involved rewinding time rather then travelling through it.

As for resurrection, I don't like it because it removes the finality of death. Also, the writers always turn around and ignore it when they actually want a character to die. The classic example of this being Final-why-can't-I-just-hit-her-with-a-phoenix-down-Fantasy VII.

 

[thenamelessloser]

I dislike anything involving time travel and resurrection.

Time travel invariably opens up gaping plot holes. And it almost always ends with a Terminator-style paradox. The only games with good time travel were Braid and Prince of Persia. But that's because they involved rewinding time rather then travelling through it.

As for resurrection, I don't like it because it removes the finality of death. Also, the writers always turn around and ignore it when they actually want a character to die. The classic example of this being Final-why-can't-I-just-hit-her-with-a-phoenix-down-Fantasy VII.

The PC RPG Arcanum averts part of your problem with resurrection.

Spoiler

In the game a party member dies in a story related event. But you can use the normal resurrect spell on him to bring him back to life! This even has a slight effect on the conversation with the boss of the game at the end.

 

[ItsAPaul]

Baldur's Gate 2's backstab was brilliant, dunno what you're talkin about. It is supposedly a staple in fps games which would get annoying, but I don't play those so I wouldn't know.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

Baldur's Gate 2's backstab was brilliant, dunno what you're talkin about. It is supposedly a staple in fps games which would get annoying, but I don't play those so I wouldn't know.

Your post kind of infers that I'm an fps fan which I assure you I'm not although I don't mind those games. As far as I recall it was one double cross after another in BG and 2 and it just got tiresome after a while especially that you could see it coming and not be able to do anything. Don't get me wrong Baldur's Gate is one of my fave games but I guess at heart I'm just a control freak.

 

[darth.pixie]

I sort of like them. Most aren't really supposed to be tricks for the character but for the player. Keeps us on our toes.

During my first playthrough of Baldur's Gate 2, I suspected nothing because I did so many quests before that the main quest details slipped out of my mind. And when the betrayal happened I was pretty shocked. The one in ToB was pretty obvious but there is actually nothing you can do otherwise,not necessarily game-wise but in general.

I like the amnesia when it's more than just a remark at the beginning "Oh heeeey, you lost your memory so you can ask everyone questions" and it's actually played out throughout the game. I like artefacts of doom or the fact that you might be a magnet for trouble. Then again, I also have nothing against destruction of villages or being the son/daughter/third cousin of a god/demon/warrior king.

 

[Midnight Crossroads]

I hate when a character gets poisoned and you're forced to stop the entire plot until you get some mysterious, no-way-how-did-you-find-that-it's-extinct herb in the middle of nowhere. Most games it's annoying, and there's no sense of urgency as you have all the time in the world. There is no real danger. The only time I actually felt any pressure to completing this was in Chrono Chross with Kid, but Kid was awesome and she could actually die if you left her.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

I hate when a character gets poisoned and you're forced to stop the entire plot until you get some mysterious, no-way-how-did-you-find-that-it's-extinct herb in the middle of nowhere. Most games it's annoying, and there's no sense of urgency as you have all the time in the world. There is no real danger. The only time I actually felt any pressure to completing this was in Chrono Chross with Kid, but Kid was awesome and she could actually die if you left her.

Yeah I tend to hate any plot device that imposes a time limit on me. I hate to be rushed.