Tropes you are tired of.

[Mister K]

Trope, according to this dictionary [http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trope], is a "common or overused theme or device". These devices are often willingly or unwillingly used by people who create art . They can be used in a good way, in the bad way, but the point of this thread is not to point out which ones do you find to be good or bad.

What I would like to discuss is which tropes, in your opinion, are used too much and which you'd like to, I don't know, take a break for a few years. What tropes are you tired of?

My personal pet peeve is Heroes Prefer Swords [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HeroesPreferSwords].

Look, I get it, swords are cool, but aren't people tired of main characters/protagonists, wielding this weapon? There are countless melee weapons of choice a Hero can use: mace, hammer, flail, staff, pole, axe, saws and chainsaws, brass knuckles, claws, spear, the list can go on and on. Heck, even shield can be used as a weapon (Thank you, Cap).

But no. It's always swords. To be more specific, either western straight sword or a katana.

I understand, that swords look noble and heroic, but isn't it boring to always keep hammers and maces for bad guys?

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Dragons as final bosses/embodiments of evil, especially if demons are established to exist.

Dragon Age, Dragon's Dogma, Skyrim. Its such a waste and a cop-out. To me dragons are like apex-predators, but completely natural ones. And neutral at that. They'll attack if provoked or hungry, but they should just be giant lizards.

And if we have giant soul-stealing skinless, eyeless, all powerful fuck-me-raw rape demons that can and will torture you for all eternity, having the big bad just being a Blue Dragon is so...lame.

Have both! have Cthulhu-esque outer world super demons AND elder dragons, but if its a game about fighting evil, have the giant rape demon be the final boss. Leave the poor dragon in his keep to horde gold.

 

[The Philistine]

Sir Bland-alot. [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/VanillaProtagonist?from=Main.DesignatedProtagonistSyndrome] The vanilla protagonist that serves as an everyman for the audience. Double point loss for being an orphan, having amnesia, and being the Chosen One. Few settings are interesting enough to carry along a milquetoast protagonist until they unlock their true potential of wrapping up the plot.

 

[Saelune]

Love interests. Sure it fits sometimes, but it doesn't need to be in everything.

 

[MysticSlayer]

Dragons as final bosses/embodiments of evil, especially if demons are established to exist.

Dragon Age, Dragon's Dogma, Skyrim. Its such a waste and a cop-out.

I can't really complain when the game's story was clearly centered around the dragon in some way. I can't speak for Dragon's Dogma, but Dragon Age: Origins established that the archdemons were corrupted old dragon gods early on, and Skyrim is all about the return of the dragons heralding the end of the world. So at least for those games' stories, a dragon (or dragons) was (were) the most immediate threat, even if demons (or daedra) would be the most long-standing threat to the world.

That said, I do agree that the dragon fight gets a little tiring when the game goes out of its way to set it up against all other focus of the story. The Witcher 2 was particularly annoying, since so much of the game is based around chasing down Letho, an actually interesting villain, only to make the major climactic battle against a dragon that was only an enemy because the game didn't allow you to call out the sorceresses on their obvious bullshit. Yeah, technically Letho can be the final boss, but he was clearly an afterthought to the mandatory dragon fight.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

SNIP

I guess I should have said I have nothing against Dragons as a monster to fight, or even games where the plot is to kill the giant Dragon.
I just hate games that say the plot is to kill the ultimate-monstrous-bazillion-year-old-ancient-ultimate-again-super-duper-mega-death-evil-God-of-stepping-on-Legos-and-spilling-coffee-on-your-new-shirt...and its just a Red Dragon. I find it so lazy.

Like imagine in Dante's Inferno if Lucifer in the flesh, the Lord of the Inferno himself, was just a Big Dragon.
Or Doom. If the CyberDemon was just a Big Dragon.
Or Silent Hill, if the ultimate incarnation of your deepest, darkest, worst fears and sins combined was just...a Big Dragon.
Or Amnesia, where the portal to the Outer Void finally opens. Imagine the soul-crushing let down if a Big Dragon just shows up.

It just doesn't work with me, ya' know?

Dragon's Age gets a LITTLE pass, because they are supposed to be demon-dragons, I just would have preferred Dragons be their own thing, and a super Greater Demon also be a thing. I always imagined that a Dragon has just as much to lose if Evil takes over the world as humans do, because sooner or later those spiked mega-death demons are gonna be coming for him.

 

[inmunitas]

Dragons as final bosses/embodiments of evil, especially if demons are established to exist.

Yes kinda agree with this one, Borderlands 2's "The Warrior", Fable:The Lost Chapters' "Jack of Blades as a dragon" and any Super Mario game with "Bowser"-kin as the final boss immediately come to mind.

 

[GestaltEsper]

Demons are good, Angels/God are evil. The Corrupt Church. Humans are the Real Monsters.

I'm sure it was fine at first, and there are still series that manage those tropes well, but at this point I can't help but feel like it's gotten old.

 

[MysticSlayer]

Dragon's Age gets a LITTLE pass, because they are supposed to be demon-dragons, I just would have preferred Dragons be their own thing, and a super Greater Demon also be a thing. I always imagined that a Dragon has just as much to lose if Evil takes over the world as humans do, because sooner or later those spiked mega-death demons are gonna be coming for him.

I think it is sort of hard to avoid considering the lore of Dragon Age. The Blights are led by Archdemons, which are the Old Gods corrupted by the Darkspawn. When you consider that all the Old Gods were dragons, it's hard to avoid the inevitable dragon demon end boss in a game that centers around one of the Blights. At the very least, they aren't going overboard with the idea and centering each game in the series around a new Blight, and they at least put some thought into the backstory for why the Archdemon happens to be a dragon.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

SNIP

I'm not ignoring it. I fully understand that in its lore, Dragon's are the incarnation of super evil. But just as a monster design choice, I find it lazy. Like when I hear the name "Blight" and know its warriors are zombies, skeletons, pride/lust/anger/sloth demons and can possess witches and turn them into abominations, and come from an underground land of bitter darkness and cramp caverns, I don't think "Oh boy, I bet a dragon leads them!"

I think their leader is a mix between an earthworm, a skeleton, a horned demon, one or more manifest diseases and living, whispering shadows that can just blight out the sun.

Just not a dragon.

 

[Chanticoblues]

THE GOOD GUY DIED




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Oh wait no he's totally fine and just made a joke.

 

[Scarim Coral]

The whole people claping for no real good reason like when they see a couple reunited or someone return. This also apply to when a rocket has lift off like The Martian. Seriouly don't count your egg before they hatch.

 

[Mangod]

The Power of Friendship [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThePowerOfFriendship], especially when it gets used to excess (hello, Fairy Tail!).

Protagonist-Centered Morality [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ProtagonistCenteredMorality] is Another one I have issues with, though that should be for obvious reasons; nobody likes a hypocrit.

 

[freaper]

Demons are good, Angels/God are evil. The Corrupt Church. Humans are the Real Monsters.

I'm sure it was fine at first, and there are still series that manage those tropes well, but at this point I can't help but feel like it's gotten old.

This one. For some reason it's mostly Asian games that do this, with some form of a corrupt catholic church (of the top of my head: Black Desert & Devil May Cry). I get it, you need a morally ambiguous super-institution, but you don't want to go for capitalists of fascists, but there's gotta be more of "the man" you can tackle, right?

 

[Rebel_Raven]

Women as archers, mages, rogues, glass cannons in general, support, and medics almost always.
It's fucking annoying.
Magical, technological, and good old fashioned metal plate armors protect women just as well as men. Especially when magic, and technology make encumbrance a thing of the past via energy shields. Equipment doesn't just get flimsier when worn by someone regardless of gender.
It's really annoying in futuristic scenarios where people pilot mechs that easily override any gap in physical prowess yet no woman seems willing to take advantage of it! Ask Ripley! She used a mech just fine!
It's even MORE annoying when there's guys out there doing the same roles women are crammed into just as well, PLUS they have access to other roles! The annoyance increases when the guys are also generally better at the roles! Even more annoying when a woman manages to do the job better, but gets nerfed somehow so she's no longer super at her role or worse.

 

[Madmatty]

Trope, according to this dictionary [http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trope], is a "common or overused theme or device". These devices are often willingly or unwillingly used by people who create art . They can be used in a good way, in the bad way, but the point of this thread is not to point out which ones do you find to be good or bad.

What I would like to discuss is which tropes, in your opinion, are used too much and which you'd like to, I don't know, take a break for a few years. What tropes are you tired of?

My personal pet peeve is Heroes Prefer Swords [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HeroesPreferSwords].

Look, I get it, swords are cool, but aren't people tired of main characters/protagonists, wielding this weapon? There are countless melee weapons of choice a Hero can use: mace, hammer, flail, staff, pole, axe, saws and chainsaws, brass knuckles, claws, spear, the list can go on and on. Heck, even shield can be used as a weapon (Thank you, Cap).

But no. It's always swords. To be more specific, either western straight sword or a katana.

I understand, that swords look noble and heroic, but isn't it boring to always keep hammers and maces for bad guys?

I agree I've always preferred guns over swords also one pet peeve of mine is misaimed fandom where fans miss the point of an artists work. I'm afraid of that if I write a story or make a game. There should be an organization that fights misaimed fandom and gets the artists point across

 

[The Bucket]

Demons are good, Angels/God are evil. The Corrupt Church. Humans are the Real Monsters.

I'm sure it was fine at first, and there are still series that manage those tropes well, but at this point I can't help but feel like it's gotten old.

This one. For some reason it's mostly Asian games that do this, with some form of a corrupt catholic church (of the top of my head: Black Desert & Devil May Cry). I get it, you need a morally ambiguous super-institution, but you don't want to go for capitalists of fascists, but there's gotta be more of "the man" you can tackle, right?

I think a big part of it is they like throwing in random Christian imagery and iconography because they find it cool and exotic. Like all the angel and cross stuff in Evangelion
"There are a lot of giant robot shows in Japan, and we did want our story to have a religious theme to help distinguish us. Because Christianity is an uncommon religion in Japan we thought it would be mysterious. None of the staff who worked on Eva are Christians. There is no actual Christian meaning to the show, we just thought the visual symbols of Christianity look cool. If we had known the show would get distributed in the US and Europe we might have rethought that choice."

 

[FirstNameLastName]

I'm going to go for the bland option (that I'm surprised hasn't be given so much attention yet), but my least favorite trope is The Chosen Onetm. I'm just so sick of this lazy device. Fuck giving the protagonist an actual motivation, just pull out some bullshit prophecy that declares them awesome and leave it at that. I'm fine with subversions of that trope, such as when it's more ambiguous as to whether the prophecy is even true, or they blatantly aren't the chosen one but willingly take that role anyway, or some creative twist on it, but if it's just played straight it couldn't be any less engaging.

The Power of Love/Love at First Sight/Any Other Excessively Mawkish/Mystical Romance: Yeah, I get it, I'm a joyless arsehole for getting annoyed at this, but I'm also sick of so much of our culture holding to this notion that love is literally magical/mystical, rather than just being a complex set of emotions and human relationships. Hate to be the cynic here (no I don't), but love is no more mystical than hatred, and both can be equally intense, confusing, and complicated.
I'm also rather sick of love at first sight. I'd be fine with it if more creators acknowledged it for what it is, but so many seem to treat it as if it's this deep, meaningful, profound love that's based on ... appearances and body language, basically. It's even more cringeworthy when it's implied to be twwwooooo wuv even thought neither of them have said a word to the other, have no idea about their personality, and don't even know their name.

...
My personal pet peeve is Heroes Prefer Swords [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HeroesPreferSwords].

Look, I get it, swords are cool, but aren't people tired of main characters/protagonists, wielding this weapon? There are countless melee weapons of choice a Hero can use: mace, hammer, flail, staff, pole, axe, saws and chainsaws, brass knuckles, claws, spear, the list can go on and on. Heck, even shield can be used as a weapon (Thank you, Cap).

But no. It's always swords. To be more specific, either western straight sword or a katana.

I understand, that swords look noble and heroic, but isn't it boring to always keep hammers and maces for bad guys?

Put me down for this too. I've grown to resent the characters, especially in many sci-fi stories, who use swords for no other reason than; no, really, they're just so badass you guys. I'm fine with this in Star Wars due to the nature of the sword (it allows them to deflect blaster shots, plus logic doesn't need to apply when the Jedi are basically a religion), so many other setting don't really justify it beyond "it's cool." Bonus points if it's a Katana, the most overrated of all swords.