Gaming tropes you really like?

[NobodyHere]

I’m kind of obsessed with what I call the ‘flesh room’, so many games have one, just a room made of flesh

It’s just so absurd, yet there’s so many, old, new, 2d, 3D, just a room made of human flesh.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

I’m kind of obsessed with what I call the ‘flesh room’, so many games have one, just a room made of flesh
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It’s just so absurd, yet there’s so many, old, new, 2d, 3D, just a room made of human flesh.

Aka womb level according to TV Tropes?

I'm wondering why these were overly popular in the 90's.

 

[Bakuma1997]

May be groan inducing for some, but anytime a RPG hypes me with a "Power of Friendship" peptalk before the final boss my innerchild shares his goosebumps with me, especially since they often use the best music they created for that one single scene

Spoiler: From The Thousand Year Door

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

May be groan inducing for some, but anytime a RPG hypes me with a "Power of Friendship" peptalk before the final boss my innerchild shares his goosebumps with me, especially since they often use the best music they created for that one single scene.

I find it interesting that people started to mock "the power of friendship" in anime and JRPGs yet when I see some more recent games trying their best to "subvert expectations" I feel like these won't age as well in the long term.

Sure, maybe it's a trope that is being overly done and not always in the right way but avoiding tropes altogether won't make something automatically better.

 

[The Prince of Misery]

Melancholic Final Boss Theme
Rival/Villain and protagonist, respect each other.
Haunted house stage
Protagonist with an androgynous look
Villain who cares about his Subordinates Human and non-humans coexist in Peace
The dark side of the hero when controlled by him, gives him new strength.
Female character in the role of leader
Forest levels
Character with a serious personality who cares about his friends

 

[Need4Power]

Maybe in fighting games where two characters decide to fight over something really trivial/silly. I always thought it was pretty funny.

 

[What's His Face]

Beautiful women with big bouncy boobs and well-shaped jiggly butts. I'm sick of """modern""" (aka "Western-designed) women in video games.

++++++++++Beautiful in every way++++++++++----------------Disgusting in every way---------------

Boingy! Boingy! Boingy!​

Hell, Clair Obscur: Expedition33 has reminded the world that Western artists CAN design beautiful women with wiggle and jiggle, both blatant and subdued...

...they just typically choose not to.

​

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

Not very common, but I love the "ambush" mechanic seen in games like Earthbound in which you get the first turn attacking if you manage to approach an enemy from the back (but it works both ways).

 

[Bakuma1997]

Not very common, but I love the "ambush" mechanic seen in games like Earthbound in which you get the first turn attacking if you manage to approach an enemy from the back (but it works both ways).

Or when you can attack in the overworld allowing you to inmediantly defeat weak enemies

 

[ThatOneLum ThatOneLum]

I love "tiny thing in a normal-sized world" levels. Stuff like Toy Story 2, Stuart Little, and Chibi-Robo would be good examples. Sort of the same with that one Mario 64 level too.

I think I just get a kick out of seeing everyday stuff from a different perspective, but I'm not 100% sure it's technically a trope tho

 

[snes9x]

Boss fights become normal enemies later on

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Boss fights become normal enemies later on

I love that trope but it fits arcade games the best.

 

[Necrodyte95]

Any kind of hideout, settlement or village building/upgrading/management like in Dark Cloud, Pillars of Eternity or Fallout 4. I'm not sure this counts as a trope though.

 

[carb0n0x]

Not really a trope since it's not exactly common, but I absolutely love it when the title screen changes when you clear the game. Even better if it gradually changes as you progress the game.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Not really a trope since it's not exactly common, but I absolutely love it when the title screen changes when you clear the game. Even better if it gradually changes as you progress the game.
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Same here! I cannot show many examples because of spoilers but HL² has that depending of your current chapter.

 

[Bakuma1997]

Not really a trope since it's not exactly common, but I absolutely love it when the title screen changes when you clear the game. Even better if it gradually changes as you progress the game.
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It is

 

[Cardboardtubeknight Cardboardtubeknight]

The amount you actually kill in some games is actually bonkers, and that goes for cute characters too

 

[Graves Ruinwalker]

Trope 1:
Hidden areas/Dungeons that are optional and need an alternative way , item , ability to reach .

Pokemon had these in the first 3 gens but later gens dont have them anymore and took out the mystery of the Pokemon-world away. Metal Max Returns had them too and you never know where you come out at the end or what you found there . Its never needed to be hinted where secret locations could be found but subtle hints alone or just having these there are enough to be curious about.

Trope 2:
Multiple paths in Beat'em ups .

Beat'em ups are on their own awesome to play and provide replay-value by being better at the game . But different routes and pathways with different bosses , enemies and levels provides more than enough replay-value .
Final Fight 3 , Fighting Force and the D&D-arcade games did this very well and im very dissapointed that no game-dev took this approach and put it on steroids .
Most beat'em ups are way too linear and replaying them for 1 credit-runs are great motivation alone to replay it but having multiple ways , secret levels , different approaches to the end of a level and having many endings to back it up , the replay-value would be through the roof .

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Trope 1:
Hidden areas/Dungeons that are optional and need an alternative way , item , ability to reach .

Pokemon had these in the first 3 gens but later gens dont have them anymore and took out the mystery of the Pokemon-world away. Metal Max Returns had them too and you never know where you come out at the end or what you found there . Its never needed to be hinted where secret locations could be found but subtle hints alone or just having these there are enough to be curious about.

I mean in Dragon Quest you cannot reach the final dungeon without every major items so does that count?

Personally I love when a RPG allows you to go to an area you're supposed to go much later in story so you could even cheese by avoiding enemies to get the advanced items/equipment or even trying to fight one hard enemy at the time like a miniboss so you could grind some bit of levels.

Trope 2:
Multiple paths in Beat'em ups .

Beat'em ups are on their own awesome to play and provide replay-value by being better at the game . But different routes and pathways with different bosses , enemies and levels provides more than enough replay-value .
Final Fight 3 , Fighting Force and the D&D-arcade games did this very well and im very dissapointed that no game-dev took this approach and put it on steroids .
Most beat'em ups are way too linear and replaying them for 1 credit-runs are great motivation alone to replay it but having multiple ways , secret levels , different approaches to the end of a level and having many endings to back it up , the replay-value would be through the roof .

Great for replay value but frustrating from an arcade/scoring standpoint.

Like, I feel I missed a big chunk of points for the hi-score.

Most Arcade games are linear as a design choice because they're often short and meant to be done in one sitting.

 

[Graves Ruinwalker]

Great for replay value but frustrating from an arcade/scoring standpoint.

Like, I feel I missed a big chunk of points for the hi-score.

Most Arcade games are linear as a design choice because they're often short and meant to be done in one sitting.

True and i fully agree about the length of Arcade-games .

But i still think more level-routes with different endings and approaches from the beginning to the last stage is much more interesting and gives the raw points to replay a game , a much more appreciated approach than having the same 5-7 levels replayed over and over again .

Even making extra-modes that are build for more consistent scores and more focused playthrough approaches is the extra-content that can be added or be mainly designed for .

Better a game i can replay thousand playthroughs than a game i can play thousand hours in one playthrough .

But i could be wrong somewhere . Maybe im missing the depth and understanding of Arcade-game-design overall which makes my statement faulty .

At some point a game must be grander or more ambitous in its concept and genre to give more instead of less .

But thats my two cents about it.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

True and i fully agree about the length of Arcade-games .

But i still think more level-routes with different endings and approaches from the beginning to the last stage is much more interesting and gives the raw points to replay a game , a much more appreciated approach than having the same 5-7 levels replayed over and over again .

Even making extra-modes that are build for more consistent scores and more focused playthrough approaches is the extra-content that can be added or be mainly designed for .

Better a game i can replay thousand playthroughs than a game i can play thousand hours in one playthrough .

But i could be wrong somewhere . Maybe im missing the depth and understanding of Arcade-game-design overall which makes my statement faulty .

At some point a game must be grander or more ambitous in its concept and genre to give more instead of less .

But thats my two cents about it.

I think the split paths for Metal Slug 3 would've been perfect if the final level didn't last half the length of the game...

Radiant Silvergun is already a lengthy shmup so I understand why in Arcade Mode you could choose between Chapter 2 and Chapter 4 instead of doing both in Saturn/Story mode.

Replaying over and over again is also the game design choice of arcade...

Sometimes I'd still argue that less is more.

 

[Graves Ruinwalker]

I think the split paths for Metal Slug 3 would've been perfect if the final level didn't last half the length of the game...

Radiant Silvergun is already a lengthy shmup so I understand why in Arcade Mode you could choose between Chapter 2 and Chapter 4 instead of doing both in Saturn/Story mode.

Replaying over and over again is also the game design choice of arcade...

Sometimes I'd still argue that less is more.

You got a great point that i cant deny it.

 

[Mini_Man.XW]

When the shotgun in a first person shooter turns enemies into a fine mist

 

[deceptionfalls]

I always find it fun in games when characters break the 4th wall to tutorialize, like saying "Press the Circle button to climb that ledge!". I know that irks some folks but it always makes me smile.

I like it when a game shows you an important weapon or an item just out of reach, and then makes you go through hell to get it. Very rewarding.

Only game that does the 4th wall tutorial thing well in my opinion are the Metal Gear Solid games, they make it sound believable in the context of the games and I think it's charming, like calling triangle or whatever the Action Button, I love that

 

[Kamako]

Only game that does the 4th wall tutorial thing well in my opinion are the Metal Gear Solid games, they make it sound believable in the context of the games and I think it's charming, like calling triangle or whatever the Action Button, I love that

Same! Tbh I was thinking of Metal Gear examples when I wrote this
"Press the circle button repeatedly to regain your strength! And don't even THINK about using a turbo controller, or I'll know".