The main character of this RPG is a young male amnesiac monster hunter, on a quest to avenge his foster father's death at the hands of the evil empire. On his quest, he soon finds that the evil empire has plans to do something shady that could destroy the world, somehow, and assembles a band of quirky adventurers to help save the day. In order to defeat the emporer the player will need to go to all (4/3/7/9/12) locations in order to (aquire magic items for each member of the party/foil the emporer's shady schemes/collect the four elemental thingies/speak to certain people). There is a complication during the last one in which we learn something we didn't know about one of the other characters. We take this time also to reflect on the fact that our character is amnesiac. Along the way, something happens to jog the amnesiac's memory, and he realizes he is (the son of the emporer/the son of a hero or prince) despite this trauma, he continues and eventually overthrows the evil emporer against all odds. (get magic key...elves... dwarven mines... mythril...) "Hey! What was that last bit?" (nothing.) Anyway, if anyone ever makes another game like the above, I will personally laugh at you. Thank you. This post was brought to you by the letter "Land", and the number "Fish"! Edited by - Landfish on 6/5/00 5:43:43 PM

See, I think that it depends on how smart the designer is. There is nothing wrong with using cliche and then adding a twist. The player will figure that you''re going one way with the story, which will throw them off track. The resulting suprise then has much more impact. I can''t think of any examples off the top of my head, but I''ve seen it done quite well before.

By the way, A Letter From the Dungeon is a must read. I had tears in my eyes the first time reading it from laughing so hard.

And you call this cliche?
It takes an originality award compared to THE ONE AND ONLY:

The year is two-thousand-some-hundreds-of-years AD.The *evil* aliens from the galaxy of Andromeda attack
//guess what...

THE Earth.

//Well done you''ve found it!

You are the only capable man (and none else!!) that can destroy the alien fleet and save...
//Guess again...

THE Earth.

//Yes!You guessed right again!

So take your spaceship and save us from the alien hordes.
The planet depends on...
//On whom?...

ON YOU!

//Wow!Correct again!
The End

Now if this story was a dollar we would be millionairs!
This scenario holds from the early 80''s until now.
When will this cease?
//Maybe when aliens really come
Voodoo4

::Grin::

Xenogears suprised me in a few ways. It WAS just another freakin Square RPG about a freaking amnesiac, but it screwed with some giant robot conventions. A trade off, I suppose. Play it if you like Square''s games or giant robots. Stay the hell away otherwise.

Here here, Landfish! Strike the evil cliches at the source ... indie game developers!! God, what is it that makes everyone think that amnesia is such a great plot element?

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Changing the face of adventure gaming...
Atypical Interactive

amnesia is a contrived plot element. it is the easiest way to force the player to uncover the main character''s background. unfortunately, most players dont care (which is why developers probably feel the need to contrive a reason to discover it).

i also just love how 90% of games are the same man-alone-in-hostile-alien-place cliche. actually i think it is more than 90%, but who cares. why are all characters such loners? no body likes them. we should playing as the ''bad guys'' and put these losers out of their misery. just look at what a screw up gordan freeman was? can you blame the marines for being pissed? personally i enjoy walking into sentry guns.

<(o)>