Game Cliches?

General Discussions
#1

So, first of all I wanna say that I am new here as a user, even tho I have been here for half a year, silently stalking… Anyways: Hello World!

With that being said, here is what I ask you:

What is / are, in your opinion, the greatest (or the worst) game cliche(s)?

e.g:

  • “All your base are belong to us!” / Zero Wing
  • “Do a barrel roll!” / Star Fox

I also know what google is, but why I asked the question here was so that I could get more of a “alive” opinion. (Even tho this is a forum for programmers…)

– Me –

#2

Empty room suddenly filled with enemies with machine guns and poor AI. Play Uncharted and you´ll see what I mean. :slight_smile:

#3

Badass with no emotion what so ever shooting hordes of people, never once stopping even when shot at.

#4

I agree with wessles, and those cop movies where the cop takes down that entire organization by himself.

#5

Why are those cliches?

I find Achievement Systems overused and annoying.

#6

The anti-hero turned hero is pretty cliche, and it’s still used quite a bit.

#7

Well, I have seen a few examples of turned hero where it worked. Like Gemini Rue!

[sup]SPOILER | Sure, at the end you see that that was a set of memories implanted after a memory wipe…[/sup]
But it was good while the illusion lasted! (oops)

They didn’t reference it too much, but still centered the plot around it. Then they blew your mind. It is hard to explain, you just have to play the game yourself and see.

#8

If it’s a retro/old platformer and there is a wooden bridge, it ALWAYS falls when you try to get through it.

Is this an active cliché? Because most games nowadays have pussies that spend most of the action covering from fire than actual action, not actual badasses.

#9

For me it’s games that force you into a position where you end up being morally/emotionally punished for the actions taken. Especially in games where your character has no identity beyond the actions you’ve taken.

I know this is an old thing, especially in the Final Fantasy series: FF2/4 had Cecil and his destruction of Mist Village (Which in the original english version had the player delivering a ‘Package’ to the village, though in the Japanese version it was ‘bomb’. There were Bowlderization issues there!) and then FF3/6 had the whole thing with Terra invading that city with the Magitech troopers. However, these both had character development outside of that and you knew why the player ended up playing though those sections.

Shadow of the Colossus had something of this in it, not that I minded because it was really a pseudo-story game anyway.

I’ve seen a couple of flash games do that where the story is accomplishing these semi-evil acts just because you were asked, then you’re morally punished at the end (I can’t remember the name of the one I’m thinking about, but it was basically that the PC ends up being asked by a wise man to get some items from the guardians of the world, and at the end you’re basically told “Asshole, you just slaughtered the guardians just because this old man wants you to do something? What’s wrong with you!”)