Poll: A question about JRPG cliche

[Veldt Falsetto]

Where did it all come from?

Spoiler: is it this guy?

(dunno if the picture is working...bleh, it's Cloud)

I have to ask because it's something I hear a lot from a lot of gamers but something I don't think is entirely true, especially nowadays.

1. let's go for the "teenagers/kids" rule.

Where DID this come from? I'm not entirely sure, it can't be from Final Fantasy because I don't recall a single game (in the numbered series aside from III and XII) where someone under the age of 18 is the main character and it certainly isn't the deal now.

Nier is 39
Kaim is...well...at least over 1000 years old
Vashyron is 26
Yuri is 21
Lightning is 21
Welkin is 22
Edge is 20

(That's sorta all the JRPGs I can think of this gen but) not one is under the age of 20 and most of the other characters in each game follow the same example with exceptions for 2 or 3 characters in Tales and Final Fantasy...(and probably the entire cast of Star Ocean but that's just one game).

Even in the past when you look at Final Fantasy VII or even games before it, most of the characters were above the age of 20.


2. All heroes must wield swords bigger than themselves

Again...is this just Cloud that we're basing this off?

Nier can use various weapons
Kaim uses a normal sized sword
Vashyron uses guns
Yuri uses a normal sized sword or axe
Lightning uses a small gun-blade (sh)
Welkin uses a rifle or commands a tank
Edge uses a normal sized sword

Again, looking back at the old school JRPGs, characters would wield normal sized weapons and even in the Ps2 generation, weapons weren't usually oversized.


3. Killing God

(this section MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS SO ALERT ALERT ALERT)

Spoiler

Nier...sorta kills humans
Kaim is an immortal who kills another immortal
Vashyron is a bounty hunter of sorts who has nothing to do with killing god
Yuri kills humans
Lightning...ok I'll give you god there
Welkin kills the king
Edge I have no idea cause I never finished SO4.

(ALL SPOILERS NOW PASSED)


This section has some merit I must say because looking back at old school JRPGs most villains tend to be of God-like status towards the end of the game but I don't think it is really all that much of a big deal anymore.


4. Turn based battle

This hasn't been common since the PS1 and most of the JRPGs now are action based anyway.

5. Crazy, gravity defying hair

Another segment where a 13 year old game is the model?

Most characters I know in at least todays JRPGs have quite normal hair, even if it is usually long, but I don't think long hair on men is such an unusual occurence now, is it?

SHORT SUMMARY

This may be a long and pointless topic but I just really want to know. What JRPG cliches do you know about, where did they come from and are they even relevant in today's games?

Is this all Cloud's fault or am I wrong, is it usually the case that kids with huge swords kill god many times over and over?

 

[Christian Hodgdon]

I've always wanted to play a JRPG with swords bigger then the character, sounds fun.

 

[AlternatePFG]

People who don't know anything about JRPG's assume the entire genre is Final Fantasy (VII specifically) and criticize the whole genre based off one franchise.

That's where these cliches come from.

 

[LiberalSquirrel]

This may be a long and pointless topic but I just really want to know. What JRPG cliches do you know about, where did they come from and are they even relevant in today's games?

Is this all Cloud's fault or am I wrong, is it usually the case that kids with huge swords kill god many times over and over?

First of all, I love your avatar.

Secondly... a lot of people's ideas of JRPG cliches do come from Cloud/Final Fantasy VII. 'Cause that was the big JRPG. No ifs, ands, or buts. Oftentimes, the Final Fantasy series will be the only thing many people know about JRPGs, and the only thing that people will know about the Final Fantasy series is FFVII. It's a bad system, but it seems to be rather common, unfortunately.

As a JRPG fan, I can name far more games where I've been playing characters that defy the supposedly "ever-present cliches" than games that actually contain them. But the cliches still exist. It's sad, really... I'm fine with people not liking JRPGs, because it certainly isn't a genre for everyone, but I am rather depressed when their reasons for not liking them are the "list of cliches" you mentioned.

And the only "JRPG cliche" that you didn't mention is the "emo hero." At least that's all I can think of. And... once again, I can think of many, many more exceptions to that than characters who play that straight.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

People who don't know anything about JRPG's assume the entire genre is Final Fantasy (VII specifically) and criticize the whole genre based off one franchise.

This. It amazes me how many people will generalize an entire sub genre off of one series. The archetypes and stereotypes are often blown out of proportion. It'd be like generalizing all fighting games based off of the Street Fighter series. It isn't true. JRPGs where the protagonist is a young teen or boy are hard to come by these days. It is just people parroting stereotypes when they don't actually know anything about JRPGs.

Edit: That is one stereotype that is hilariously true.

 

[Mirror Cage]

Well, the only JRPGs I've really played are the Tales series, but I'll give it a go:

-Someone must be a terrible cook
-Someone is secretly royalty (usually a princess) or of some special bloodline
-The final boss must be some sort of all-consuming god-monster, or at very least be hell-bent on world destruction
-The hero is either a young person from a small village thrust into the world of hitting folks with sticks or a brooding hero with a shady past that gets revealed over the course of the story.

Thats all i got.
Next?

 

[AlternatePFG]

-The final boss must be some sort of all-consuming god-monster, or at very least be hell-bent on world destruction

You got that right about the bent on world destruction thing (Though, what RPG doesn't have that?), but I don't remember a Tales game with an all-consuming god monster as the final boss...

 

[Mirror Cage]

You got that right about the bent on world destruction thing (Though, what RPG doesn't have that?), but I don't remember a Tales game with an all-consuming god monster as the final boss...

Well, maybe not in Tales...To be honest I was remembering some walkthroughs I read of FF games.

 

[AlternatePFG]

You got that right about the bent on world destruction thing (Though, what RPG doesn't have that?), but I don't remember a Tales game with an all-consuming god monster as the final boss...

Well, maybe not in Tales...To be honest I was remembering some walkthroughs I read of FF games.

Fair enough. I can't really think of a FF game that doesn't have a final boss that is some huge god-monster thing.

 

[Weaver]

My only beef is the "girl with the pendant".
There is always a pendant....

 

[Cheery Lunatic]

From the top of my head:
Persona, SMT, Tales of, Xenosaga, Dragon Quest, Shadow Hearts, and The World Ends with You.
SMT, Persona, Xenosaga, Dragon Quest, and Shadow Hearts are all turn based.
Tales of and The World Ends with You both have characters with weird colored, gravity-defying hair.
Majority of the games I listed have teenagers as their main characters (who usually end up saving the world).

It's not just Final Fantasy that falls into the JRPG stereotype, it just popularized it.
Don't get me wrong, I've liked a few JRPGs, but I'm not gonna kid myself and pretend like the genre didn't earn its stereotype.

I dunno about the huge sword business though, never really thought of JRPGs with characters who have humongous swords, just Cloud.

edit: I also don't really like your poll, as while the cliche doesn't plague all JRPGs, it definitely isn't just a "few" either.