Summary
RPGs usually follow a standard formula wherein you play the hero and save the world. That trope persists up to date and can get tiring, but there are also tropes you couldn’t get enough of seeing either because they’re amusing and interesting or highly novel in the game genre you’re playing.
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These tropes have more to do with the game’s setting and mechanics and less with character archetypes, but there are also some character tropes you love to see more of squeezed in here. Regardless, no matter how old these get, you’ll probably wish your RPG still had these around.
10What The Hell, Player?
“What The Hell, Player” is a trope that makes you feel fallible. It’s when another character in the game (or the game itself) apprehends, punishes, or reprimands you for committing immoral actions. This trope enables actions of self-defense from your attacks, so don’t blame Domnhall for killing you when you wanted to steal his wares.
Having GTA 5-like freedom is great and all, but having another character keep your bad actions in check keeps you grounded in the game’s reality.Not every game is a sandbox, and this is a good reminder. It’s nice to have consequences that aren’t just a slap on the wrist, even if it’s tempting to turn poultry that isn’t yours into dinner.
9Crutch Character
“Crutch Characters” are characters that you love in the early game because they are overpowered and get you through most of the content without the need to build other characters. Even if they eventually get powercrept throughout your journey, and you get newer characters, you get sentimental over your first crutch character.
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You’ll always be thankful for how they carried you through the game and made exploring and clearing dungeons easier. If you’re lucky, your crutch character could be a powerful support even in the late game.
8Defeat Means Playable
“Defeat Means Playable” is a satisfying trope to have in any RPG. This is when you may unlock or recruit a character by defeating them first. They might be a character you like a lot, or maybe they are brokenly strong and would change your gameplay. Not all RPGs require you to swap out of your character, and Defeat Means Playable is great for turn-based RPGs where stronger units are necessary and always welcome.
It’s usually not a walk in the park to defeat the character you’re up against, but that’s what makes you wish they were part of your team. Even if they weren’t powerful, maybe you just want teammates and followers to be around you while you fight and explore the map so that the gameplay feels less lonely. Defeat Means Playable is a good little incentive that keeps you playing because it eventually means you’ll have the character without having to resort to loot boxes.
7Background Music Override
Don’t all games have the “Background Music Override” trope? you’re able to count on open-world games to have this, but RPGs aren’t complete without it. The trope makes memorable music play over during poignant moments and locations in the game, overriding the usual combat or environmental music. This is probably why you feel so much more emotional when you hear it again because you’re reminded of a tragic character death or a hard-earned victory.
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But this trope doesn’t mean that the music will always have to be a grave reminder of a point in the game since this override could play at specific parts of a game’s map. Background music is crucial in an open-world RPG’s ambiance since it shifts the mood of your exploration. It’s better to have music rather than to just hear the crunching of dead leaves or the stomp of feet on unpaved dirt roads.
6Get On The Boat
“Get On The Boat” usually occurs when the map of the RPG you’re playing has gotten bigger, and a boat ride is either used as a traveling mechanic or a plot device to take you to the new country or continent you’ve unlocked. What makes this trope unique is that it provides an alternative to the typical fast-travel mechanic and allows you to explore the map faster.
There are lots of things that happen on boats, whether they’re normal ships on the sea or airships from another universe. It usually means that your character and their friends are going far away for an adventure like no other that would deepen their knowledge or change their fates. But admit it, even if you’re not the type to sail them yourself, you just like riding ships for the shanties and the fishing.
5Hidden Supplies
The “Hidden Supplies” trope often entails finding a chest in an area you’ve visited for the hundredth time. They’re well-hidden to the point that you’ve missed them before, and when you do find them, you often find yourself very pleased because they come in the form of large and rare chests or extraordinary gear.
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Resources are scarce, but chests in the wild get even rarer once you progress farther into the game. Hidden chests are just friendly packages you have scattered around your world that you get for exploring, defeating enemies, and unlocking mechanisms and puzzles. There are times that hidden supplies also have health items that you desperately need but can’t craft, so seeing them in the wild when you’re near the end of your HP bar is a heaven-sent blessing from the devs.
4Kleptomaniac Hero
The “Kleptomaniac Hero” is such a convenient trope to have, highlighting when the heroic player character is given the ability and option to steal items throughout the world. Even if you don’t always have the irrational urge to keep stealing, this trope is usually executed hilariously. In some cases, you can pickpocket armor and gear from another person without them noticing a thing.If you love free items, it’s no surprise that you’ll do nearly everything for them, even if it’s morally dubious. But that’s alright since this is just a game, after all, and being a kleptomaniac hero isn’t so bad if you really need the item they have deep within their pockets.
But even if you don’t need it, keeping stock is just as important, and having the option to grab the item out of the pocket of another person is a neat little feature. Just make sure you don’t get caught since it’s usually not responded to with friendly smiles.
3Comic Relief
Comic reliefs are always welcome, especially when they’re in the form of bards. They’re whimsical, they’re goofy, and they lighten up the more often than not bleak main storyline. The only time the trope makes you feel pain is when you see the comic relief disappear forever in the worst ways possible.
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All RPGs need at least one effective comic relief character that pops up to give you a good laugh, even if it’s during the most serious battles.Some main characters are walking memesand comic reliefs, but they’re rare gems.
2Unconventional Alignment
The black-and-white morality gets stale in games easily, especially when you play by the same formulas over and over again. In classic RPGs, you’ll normally play the hero with an outstanding moral background and go up against an irredeemable and simple villain who’s just absolutely evil. Having protagonists and antagonists with “unconventional alignment"spices things up so much moresince they’re judged beyond good and evil.
Unconventional alignment subverts the expectations people may have of a character. Instead of boxing the character into good and evil traits, they’re classified based on other traits such as factions, power, or even personality type. It doesn’t matter whether they’re good or evil; their universe has other groupings that could raise eyebrows. Since a lot of characters are more complex than what the scales of morality dictate, having this trope around gives depth to who they are.
1Trapped In Another World
Almost all RPGs known to man are set in another worldfar removed from Earth, but for the main character to be transported to that foreign world themselves without prior knowledge of it is a trope that never gets old. There’s still a lot of mystery for the character to uncover, and you feel like you’re learning alongside them since you’re just as lost.
But it also incentivizes you to explore the world and learn of its lore, especially when there are a lot of foreign mechanics involved and a lot of land to cover.
