Favorite Tropes in Video Games?

[Courtney]

I have been given an unanticipated long weekend at work due to budget limitations so - to make lemonade out of the situation - I'm going to outline with a vengeance these next couple days.

For research purposes, I'd love if people would share some of their favorite video game tropes (stuff you never tire of or find entertaining) so I can try to incorporate some of that vibe into The Last Damsel.

Specifically, Horror, Fantasy and RPG-style games would fit the tone of the book but if you can think of others you enjoy I won't turn my nose up to charm :D

[Christina]

Hi Courtney,
I know you specifically noted you are using this for research, but I've moved this topic into the Fun folder due the topic.

Personally, I can think of a bunch of tropes that drive me nuts (like, oops, you just lost all of your armor and weapons!) but I'll have to ponder on what I enjoy.

[Courtney]

Oh, sorry about that confusion :D

[Igzy]

From VTM:B my favorites were probably the haunted hotel with phantom footsteps, and random, shadowed ghosts reliving their terrified last moments running across your path. Flashing lights revealing bloody words written on the walls.

Fallout NV, the strange Radio stations, changing from mad rants about battle cattle, to incoherent screaming.

Children's toys scattered in inappropriate places, usually with blood involved.

How real monsters can appear friendly and professional all the way through their horrifying deeds, narrating the 'noble aspects' of their work to the people they are harming.

Quest givers being surprised you survived, illuminating that they were complicit in the thing they sent you out to stop in the first place.

And over the top characters like Fat Larry and Pirate Vampire Jack. I will never, ever get tired of the writing or voice acting for that character. "Self preservation is a vital part of humanity after all, my favorite part in fact!"

Also always liked transformative, morally challenging character development. Becoming a vampire or werewolf and the social troubles that brings up, or the fable dynamic, where good or evil choices literally transform your character into an angelic figure, or a horned, covered in flies monster.

[Courtney]

Ooo! Good stuff, Igzy! Totally the tone I'm striving for. I'm always looking for little details to make the setting feel like it's teeming with eeriness :D

[Micah]

I haven't been into playing video games for a while now because I've switched to watching other people play video games on youtube...it's cheaper and less stressful!

So there's this Canadian guy called Sips who's affiliated with the Yogscast group. He's mentioned this one trope several times, he calls it "Ho, ho, ho, traveler!"

That's when you're given a quest, usually to retrieve a powerful magic item, and the quest goes swimmingly, too easily in fact. You're likely to exclaim "Oh, that was easy!"

...And then as you turn to leave, a mysterious shrouded figure steps out from the shadows and says: "Ho, ho, ho, traveler! I thank you for retrieving that item for me. But I'm afraid it is too powerful for the likes of you. I'll just be taking that from you now..."

And you have to fight to keep it.

Those moments are hilarious. Especially if you're able to call it beforehand. Skyrim had one of those. So did the original Diablo. I'm sure there were tons of other games with that.

[C.B., Beach Body Moderator]

Oh! My book is set in a video game and good golly Miss Courtney could I help with tropes!

Here are some:
Fetch quests: almost every game has them, and no players like them. such as collect 5 Whampasnort Pelts, or Deliver this Envelope, or Kill the thing and bring me it's pelvis.

ridiculous female Armor: how does a chainmail bikini protect you better than full plate? I dunno, but it does.

Non player characters that repeat themselves if talked to again. " welcome to Cornelia!"

mini games: I know you are trying to stop the Dragon king from destroying the world, but can you fish me up 5 magic fish first?

palette swaps. you just killed 30 Gray wolves in the forest... but in this new area is all new monsters, like these black wolves.

I'll think more! :D

[C.B., Beach Body Moderator]

like right now.
omnipotent NPCs. how does everyone know what you've already done? it's like someone is broadcasting your every move on a secret radio station.

discarding equipment: you find a better sword, the old one is instantly trash!

[Dwayne, Head of Lettuce]

Courtney wrote: "I'd love if people would share some of their favorite video game tropes..."

When you first posted this, I had no idea what you meant by trope. I think I'm getting it, now. I don't play a lot of games these days, but I still play one that's kind of sort of fantasy RPG (though not in the strict sense). I play Avengers Assemble on Facebook.

Stuff that annoys and amuses me about that game...

Even though I have this huge team of Avengers, only two members at a time can go into a battle. If one gets conked out... oh, well. Can't bring in another.

The idea that Hulk, Captain America, Mr. Fantastic... and even Dr. Doom follow the lead of some nobody SHIELD agent.

While beating up bad guys, coins, medical kits, weapons and all kinds of stuff comes flying out at you. I know this kind of thing is common in games, but it has never failed to amuse me.

I bought a gem for She-Hulk that gives her the power to shout "objection!" at the bad guys and they will stop attacking her. RIGHT!

[A.E.]

I really like things in games where you revisit areas and it has totally changed, new zones open up which you never realised the first time. Like the statue missing a weapon which you find and replace and the secret door opens.

Or seeing something a painting or finding a clue and you realise there's a sub-quest that will take you off the beaten track, but you know there's a great reward at the end.

Then there's the friendly npc who you know will turn out evil and of course there's the quintessential terribly hard npc to defeat, but when you do they join your party to make you even stronger

The memories ...

[Courtney]

Wow - I got some nostalgia giggles from a few of these.

Must not reactivate my WoW account...lol

Okay - hypothetically - if I had characters with costumes getting mystically swapped to match the theme of new places they visited would that be fun?

Everything in this place is staged and held together with magic so it's like climbing a ladder and suddenly finding yourself on a beach, in a western, a hedgemaze, etc. Would that be kinda of amusing?

[C.B., Beach Body Moderator]

My character is in a grassland, crosses a bridge over a river, and is in a desert and confused about it. I still laugh every time.

I do like the idea of a garment that changes depending on where you are. that is a neat idea.

[Courtney]

Yes! How trippy would it be that you barely leave one place and it can be entirely different? One of my favorite things about books is exploring and escaping into worlds; it's all wonder and wanderlust :D

Probably why I love fantasy so much. With the right premise, you can basically do whatever you want so why not make it curious and weird?

[Micah]

Courtney wrote: " if I had characters with costumes getting mystically swapped to match the theme of new places they visited would that be fun?..."

Sounds like a Peter Greenaway movie.

[Micah]

Courtney wrote: "How trippy would it be that you barely leave one place and it can be entirely different? One of my favorite things about books is exploring and escaping into worlds..."

Shadow walking in Roger Zelazny's Amber series.

[Gary]

Courtney wrote: "Yes! How trippy would it be that you barely leave one place and it can be entirely different? One of my favorite things about books is exploring and escaping into worlds; it's all wonder and wand..."

Marvelous! I too read mostly to explore new everything. Worlds, characters, situations.
They can be fantastical, hard core SciFi, whimsical, whatever.
I've had my disappointments, sure, but by and large each books is a new experience. That's why I love GRs, etc, I can find new authors and explore their imaginations!

[Nick]

If you find a waterfall, there's always a secret cave behind it filled with loot.

There's always loot hidden under staircases too.

Boss battles where you win, only for the boss to cackle maniacally and mutate into a much larger, tougher form.

Red oil drums that explode when shot for no readily apparent reason. Why do people fill their houses with these things?

In RPG's, nobody caring that you've just walked into their house and stolen all their stuff.

Getting gold from killing animals - are we to believe that Direwolves all carry wallets?

[Iffix]

Courtney wrote: "Okay - hypothetically - if I had characters with costumes getting mystically swapped to match theme of new places..."
That reminds me of Kingdom Hearts.
Of course, the random stuff is always cool. The character is driving his car and all of a suddenly he slips over a banana peel or gets struck with lightning and winds up shrunk for a while. This sort of thing. Then, of course, don't forget the random "don't blink or you'll miss it" easter eggs video games are so well known for.

[Courtney]

I'm such a fiend for the "throw a pot, get an emerald" kinda system in videos games but I may secretly just want to get paid for vandalism lol