longbough

We've seen them dozens of times and almost come to expect them in a game. Off the top of my head I can think of mainly FPS games. If you think of others (even non FPS) please feel free to add.

1.) You're a badass killer with no memory of your past.
either
>a). You get flashbacks to military experiments on you - with lots of screaming.
or
>b). You have flashbacks of a woman in the underground resistance you loved - just before they zapped your memory to infiltrate the empre/syndicate/etc.
or
>c.) You are "the One" from prophesy with natural abilities - of course many people in the resistance doubt you until you save some people or kill a lot of badguys - then you're a hero. (Sometimes you just discover that you were a "mole" sent to gain their confidence - but you are later faced with a moral choice - as in Total Recall.)

2.) The evil genius who spends all day sending voice messages taunting you ... "Give it up Mr. X, you and the whole world wil die ... ha ha ha."

3.) The heroic comrade who holds off the enemy while you escape. Usually there's pounding on the door and you need to leave through the window or something .... "I'll hold them back ... run!" I recall this one as early as Deus Ex (and probably earlier) and as recent as HL 2. In Deus Ex, instead of running, I hid in the secret closet until the gunfire died down then came out to see who was still alive.

4.) If you have to infiltrate a lab -- there's a secret weapon in one of the rooms ... usually hovering and rotating suspended on a pedestal.

5.) Big flashing red buttons are related to your objectives.

6.) Run from inside a firey collapsing building

7.) If you're captured, it doesn't matter if you've been held for days or months, your equipment is in a chest in a nearby room.

8.) Helicoptors are never friendly.

9.) Many bosses don't like to take cover - they stand in the middle of cleared rubble and fire missiles at you.

10.) Some bosses do take cover and snipe at you from a distance - and almost never miss. If you do enough damage to them they just run off to another room/area where you have to snipe at each other again. You can tell you're in the right region because they usually keep taunting you and won't shut up.

I'll add more as they come to me.
Please add your own gaming cliches.

Gabbyness

The blue card works with the blue door. The yellow card works with the yellow door. Under no circumstance does the blue card ever work with the yellow door.

Edit: Ha, sorry, not really a plot item but I thought it was funny nonetheless

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One, two, three, four, fiiiiiiiifth.

Siege

Or how simply stepping on a white box with a red cross on it regenerates all wounds known to man. You don't even have to hold it!

Or, the fact that somehow, there are always said boxes lying around and enemies don't seem to know how to use them.

Where can I get some of that stuff?

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"Your name's Geek? Do you know the origin of the term? A geek is someone who bites the heads off chickens at a circus. I would never let you suck my dick with a name like Geek"

--Kevin Smith

This part just makes my posts easier to find

Toaster126

Fetch "item\person" from "location a". Go to "location", fighting through hordes of bad guys. "Item\person" not there, moved to "location b". Rinse, repeat.

Examples: Every RPG game ever, Mario, etc.

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"The question isn't who is going to let me, it's who is going to stop me." (Ayn Rand)
"The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers." (M. Scott Peck)

BAMF

Spoilers




Sigma escapes at the end of any Megaman X game

Confederate

Even though you are in an area where no man has ever been before, there always happens to be human weapon ammo laying around everywhere. I.E Quake 4

Redjake

"can't remember my past but have flashbacks until finally remembering everything at the end" is my personal favorite

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Off the record, on the q.t., and very hush-hush.

AquaFox

i like being the one man army, taking on hitler and the whole nazi army


spear of destiny

wolfenstein 3d

Return to Castle Wolfenstein

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...AquaFox...

irateplatypus

- you must recover the 7 lost {magical items}, each of which have been hidden in a separate fortress/castle/cave/palace.

- ammo comes in random crates laying around... that's just how it is.

- some things that should not explode do so readily - other things that should explode don't.

- collecting a hundred of whatevers laying around will make something good happen.

- if the ground shakes due to a boss jumping up-and-down, you're bound to lose mobility for a few seconds.

- merely touching ground/wall/ceiling spikes is much worse than being repeatedly shot by murderous robots (megaman, i'm looking at you).

- the final guy can't help but morph into facsimiles of every boss you've fought before.

- even though you're the world's last hope for victory... they send you off to war with a generic pistol and a couple clips of ammo.

- somehow, the hero must lose all equipment/abilities gained in the first episode before embarking on the sequel's journey.

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If you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance for survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.

~ Winston Churchill

rlbond86

Rather than send an entire army... they send one man.

longbough

Once upon a time you can count on all barrels to explode if you shoot them.

Now, only barrels that have flammable or biohazard symbols explode.

djflish

-After amassing a mighty arsenal on one level, you start the next with just your pistol again
-At some point of your quest you will have to crawl through some vents/ducts
-It can't be a worthy enough quest if there isn't a lava level to get through
-Even though every FPS is exactly the same control-wise, you still have to go through a tedious 'Training' level before you can start the game

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Europes two great narcotics, Alcohol and Christianity.
I know which one I prefer.

Toaster126

Oooo, why didn't I think of these? Classics.

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"The question isn't who is going to let me, it's who is going to stop me." (Ayn Rand)
"The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers." (M. Scott Peck)

Coppertop

When the only weapon that can kill the Bid Bad Dragon, the Dragon Hacker +12, is in the Big Bad Dragon's lair.

longbough

If you fall from 20 feet you take a little damage.
...but if you fall from 25 feet you die instantly.

How come you can kill a bear (or wolf, or giant lizard) and find gold? Do bears carry gold?

When there's an underwater area ... doesn't it seem as if you (the person) can hold your breath longer than you (the FPS character)? You'd think an elite warrior would be in better physical shape than some nerd in front of a computer.

rlbond86

Except, try holding your breath while doing physical activity, IRL. It's much more difficult because you need more air.

Zeraph

Put on a robe/helmet/whathaveyou and they'll let you walk through their base unimpeded. But when the alarm sounds, they all suddenly know it's you...

Clear visors for my minions...

feelgood

You're walking through the dark and hear a noise and you know its gonna come right at ya

Doom 3, every fucking room is the same

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Looking out the window, that's an act of war. Staring at my shoes, that's an act of war. Committing an act of war? Oh you better believe that's an act of war

Gatorade Frost

I'd say Doom 3 in the fact that you can't carry a pistol and a flashlight at the same time.

It's almost as though soldiers get a whole lot stupider as the years progress.

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I got in a fight one time with a really big guy, and he said, "I'm going to mop the floor with your face." I said, "You'll be sorry." He said, "Oh, yeah? Why?" I said, "Well, you won't be able to get into the corners very well."
Emo Philips

Catdaddy33

Being able to run around at full speed carrying 2 handguns, shotgun, crossbow, grenades, landmines, 2 machine guns, and a couple of super futuristic uber-weapons with really cool graphic effects AND 999 rounds of ammo for each one...

You can be close to death and 2 seconds with a medkit and your all ready to go again!

Assuming you run across someone that is friendly they still insist that you "go ahead without me, I'll guard this small area" and save the world all by yourself.

Briz9

This is a continuation of Catdaddy's last one...

Whenever you find friendlies who are willing to help you, they always get cut off from you by falling debris.

Whenever you find friendlies somehow they always think you'd be better off splitting-up. "You search the haunted mansion by yourself... I'm gonna check this room and I won't see you again until the next cinematic" (Resident Evil series)

stevie667

Your some kind of skilled tradesman who spends his clothing budget on LSD.

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MexicanOnABike

aliens attack, you're the only one to save the planet. ...

stevie667

They've been spending too long playing video games

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Zyr

Bosses are often invulnerable, except for one, highlighted, weak spot.

And also, for some reason, there are bosses. Bad guy organisations have very odd heirachy.

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"Oh, irony! Oh, no, no, we don't get that here. See, uh, people ski topless here while smoking dope, so irony's not really a high priority. We haven't had any irony here since about, uh, '83 when I was the only practitioner of it, and I stopped because I was tired of being stared at."

Omnia mutantu, nos et mutamur in illis.
All things change, and we change with them.
- Neil Gaiman, Marvel 1602

longbough

When other NPC soldiers actually arive to help you but...



a). they clear one area then tell you, "We'll stay here and keep the area secure ... you move on ahead." ... geez. at least gimme some ammo and armor!

or

b). they are so weak they die in less than 30 seconds of fighting

or

c). if you don't really need their help they just get in the way and block your shots

or

d). you realize they're only there to show you that a horrible boss is coming because you see them die horrifically

longbough

The pretty sidekick who assists you in an FPS ... will die at some point in the game.

That's when you're supposed to feel like shouting, "Nooooooo! She didn't deserve to die!"

... but you actually think, "Noooooooo! Now what am I going to use as bait?"

Derwood

No one in your RPG party dies, they just become "unconcious" from wounds and can be revived with a potion or spell during/after the battle

You always know exactly how healthy you are via a life bar or a xxx/XXX hit point system

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"You can't shoot a country until it becomes a democracy." - Willravel