Life has no value in the world of RPGs unless ascribed by the price of a revival item. You can revive someone and it's all good!...Unless you're Aeris. Or you do some funky stuff with time. However, this is assumed that the characters ARE dead after fighting and HP is 0, not mentally incapacitated.
There's a balance between cutscene, dialogue and gameplay. I love Metal Gear Solid, but many shy away from it because they feel that "the sh*t's too complicated", or that it's an "interactive movie".
It seems that in the world of video games, mostly everyone is physically fit. Acne, sclerosis or maladies such as that don't exist. Nor do people who are attracted by more than one gender. :I
Oh, and when operating on a patient, antibiotic gel+bandages make it all better, too. (Trauma Center)

Of course, I speak in generalities.

-Zombies are most vulnerable in their head, and will always return to being dead if you shoot them enough with your Beretta. (Resident Evil)

-If you drive a Formula One race car with a two-gear shift on the Fuji Speedway, you can expect to blow up if you touch any billboards on the side of the track, the starting gate, or another driver... only to have your car magically regenerate like nothing ever happened! (Pole Position)

-Enemy patrols will get a ! over their head when they spot you, but will act like nothing happened if you avoid them for enough time. (Metal Gear)

-Hell hath no fury like a thousand monsters on Mars! (DOOM)

Wearing glasses not only make you look good but gives you the ability to see through the fog.
Inside the big talking Teddie is a boy that sparkles more than Edward.
Not everyone can wield an awesome being called a Persona. Just select Japanese high school students.
Spread a rumor to make it the truth.


Those are from the Persona series. The MegaTen games are a good way to learn about different mythical beings from around the world.

Having played WoW for almost 5 years (quit) and now playing Aion among other games, I have learned how to set short term goals and actually achieve them. I have also developed patience, time management and organizational skills.

In school, they try to teach you how to set goals and take steps to actually get there and that never really worked for me. I saw school as school. Do your home work, study and get good grades. I never really did anything else 'til I was out of school. In most games you have quests or level achievements, goals or objectives you must perform in order to move on. I guess that after having played video games for so long, it's been hammered in to my brain that setting and achieving goals really isn't all that hard.

Patience is needed in all games: Getting to the next level, defeating the next boss, defeating the final level of the game (Anyone ever play psychonauts? Did you want to snap your controller in half at the Meat Circus?) I also keep my desk, video game spaces and my in game inventory pretty neat and clean now.

One thing I was always interested in is that in a lot of games, heroes can't go in the water. I think vid-game makers are saying that bathing is bad for you...

Everything in the world has cheat codes for it, even life, we just don't know what they are.

It's always someone else's fault when you die.

No matter how fast you are, you can never beat the countdown timer when there are rooms filled with loot.(Borderlands: Secret Armory of General Knoxx DLC. I have no clue what awsome stuff I had to leave behind because of the damn countdown...2min, to open and look through 300+ weapon crates makes me sad. :cry::cry::cry::cry::cry:)

I think my BF missed out on that one, too. Is that the place that is only open 'every one hundred years?"

Nope, the one thats only open every X-number of years is part of the main story thats not even download content. This one, you need to pay 800 Microsoft Points to download a 1.66GB file. Which ends up being its own story. I havent even done half of it...and Im regretting not having a few friends with me to get as many of the boxes as possible...since you blow the damn thing up after just over 2min.

Giving someone the death penalty sucks, as they will most likely never die if they're evil (Twisted Meta: Black, Hunter: The Reckoning). If you're in an MMO, though, this has a bad drawback. XD
Granted, I know you technically have infinite lives, but let's take a look at how this works.
Anyone played Sonic the Hedgehog from the old days? Second game to the more current ones in which Tails is "independent", he has infinite lives. But for every time he died taking the death penalty into this, he devolves. First life gone, he loses a tail. Maybe around the 10th life, he becomes a three-toed sloth. And by the time Sonic (the player) dies, Tails is still waiting for you as a paramecium or some barrier between zombie and Star Child.
.....D: Sorry about that. /end accidental rant?
On that note, it's really NOT a good idea to celebrate the death of a killer. (Hunter: The Reckoning)

And you only get to do it once? Seems like a rip off...

Well, there are multiple play-throughs you can do, and you can only do it once per playthrough...unless you join another game that is doing that, then you technically can do it unlimited times. And the more characters you have, the more times you can do it. Just you need a friend to be able to transfer any good weapons over to the character you want them on.

That apparently there are second chances to go into a blown-up building, to loot it again.(Borederlands Secret Armory of General Knoxx)

Enemies will die instantly when you throw them off of a building no matter how short (lots of games)

MOST RPGS (These are only true in games, by the way.)

- There is no problem that cannot be solved by beating the snot out of a Silver-Haired pretty boy.

- If it suddenly sprouts fluffy bird wings and a halo of righteousness, or in any way becomes like unto a traditional depiction of an angel in appearance, there is a good chance it is evil and must be destroyed.

- Religion is evil. It is there to control the populace, and possibly to feed Ancient Evil. However, it will sometimes record your adventure so that you can load a previously saved game later.

- Strong things attack strong people...always. The stronger you are, the stronger the local things will be.

- Rats are suicidal. So are birds.

- Everything you do to save the world will only put it in more peril. The seven ancient artifacts the Dark Lord is searching for were much safer in their temples than with you.

- More expensive equals more useful. No matter what it is, the highest costing version is always more effectuate than cheaper versions.

- There is never any reason to bargain hunt. Cash is so plentiful that if you just go out and start killing things you will end up with an excess no matter how much you try to spend.

- There are drugs that can make you stronger...or indeed better at anything at all, and not only are the effects permanent, but they are completely beneficial, with no drawbacks at all.

- Animals are people too. In fact, they commonly stand on two feet, wear clothes, use tools, and speak our language with no more than small cute affectations.

- Clock-towers are always...always of vital importance.

I would have to disagree with the expensive one. Ive been playing Borderlands, and one of my guns is worth almost nothing, but its better than 90% of the guns I find that are worth over 50,000(I think the cost of mine is MAYBE 10,000). And it deals 102x7. xD

I agree with most of what you said. I don't know how I feel about the expensive is better thing but I do think that not all religion in video games is bad. Just the people heading the religion. Corporate entities or worse.

Out of curiosity: You play a lot of FF games?

Because when I read everything that you posted, I kept seeing the FF games that I have played. :D

I have to agree. Final Fantasy set the standard for RPG games for a long time, and with it a lot of the cliches I was poking fun at. The thing is, you can see a lot of those themes repeated over and over in other series too.


And, just to add to the list....


- There are no choices, only dialogue loops.

- There are no other paths, anything else you could be doing is a sidequest, and you'll have to get back to what you were doing eventually.

- Even the dumbest traps will work on heroes.

- Villains seem never to fall for anything.

- No one is ever as good as they were before you became their boss.

- 99999 is the highest number ever.

- There is no such thing as a weapon without range.
- Swords work best when thrown.

- A ninja can use anything as a projectile.

- A hero can use anything as a weapon.

- Stores carry improved versions of anything you can imagine...and by improved I mean it kills better.

- Battles take place in an alternate reality. This is why a dozen of those guards that three of you have been slaughtering by the hundreds without needing a break can easily subdue your entire party...even the people who are waiting in the wings and fully rested.

I feel that the second point in this should be considered a universal truth.