History JustForFun / ConsoleRPGClichesTheTVTropesVersion

# '''[[WithThisHerring Herring!]] My Only Weakness!:''' If the hero starts out his journey as an ordinary man working an ordinary job, then the tools of his trade, no matter how unsuited they might seem to adventuring, will turn out to be essential for completing quests, defeating monsters and/or thwarting the villain.

# '''A Hidden Boss Is A Stronger Boss ([[{{Franchise/Disgaea}} Baal's Rule]])''': Any endgame BonusBoss is invariably stronger than the BigBad or [[TheManBehindTheMan Man Behind the Man]] you fight at the end who's very obviously trying to TakeOverTheWorld and failing at it, reasons be damned. May be a PhysicalGod, EldritchAbomination, ForgottenSuperweapon, PersonOfMassDestruction, or something similarly superpowered that will most likely make you [[FlippingTheTable flip a table]] for being ThatOneBoss, unless you were savvy enough to read a StrategyGuide. Rarely, can also be a MarathonBoss. Degree of evil optional.

# '''The Three Pieces of Dental Floss Equality:''' Likewise, the amount of material in the clothing worn by a character equally (but inversely) affects combat prowess, especially if said character is young, female, attractive, or animalistic. The inverse of this rule is ignored -- bulky outfits are seldom encumbering. This particular effect is most seen with agility, evasion, and magic -- an easy way to handwave the results. The fact that these are also the typical domain of [[MostWritersAreMale female characters]] is also a consideration. It has been suggested that a 18-year-old nudist white haired CatGirl ninja-mage wearing 3 band-aids and a ribbon could break the speed of light, but obviously [[IncrediblyLamePun none have been observed]].

# '''The Bumbler ([[TheMillstone Gilligan Rule]])''': Whether a member of the party or a NPC frequently encountered by the party, there will always be at least one person who, either due to arrogance, incompetence, or [[WhatAnIdiot sheer stupidity]] screws up, [[DesignatedVictim gets captured and the heroes have to save them,]] and/or frees [[SealedEvilInACan ancient powerful evils]] constantly throughout the game, which as a result makes the heroes' adventure much longer and much more difficult than it would have been if the heroes had just [[JustEatGilligan left them to die the first chance they got.]]

** StupidGood/[[StupidEvil Stupid Evil]] Rule: Aforementioned saintly or devilish choices will often make no logical sense whatsoever, often providing little to no direct benefit to the player character, but the player will do them anyway for the pursuit of the benefits of being purely good/evil.

# '''[[VideoGame/{{Tales of Symphonia}} Yuan's Surprise:]]''' If it is a JRPG, At least one major character (usually a protagonist, if not the main character, but sometimes applies to villains as well) will have [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair blue hair]].

# '''{{When All You Have is a Hammer}} Principle:''' Fighting an opponent in the underground wastes of Mytheria and fighting an opponent in the air kingdom of Kingdomia and fighting an opponent in the mechanized paradise of Mechanolai are interchangeable. There are no tactics besides "[[AttackItsWeakPoint hit him with what hurts him]]," and [[GeoEffects environments]] are strangely useless during combat.

** '''The Law of Prescient Architectural Decay''': In the rare cases when a certain area cannot be accessed by conventional means, a wall adjacent to said area or the floor of the room above will have fallen apart to the point where the hero can either travel through the resultant hole, or create said hole with explosives so it can be travelled through.

# '''That Which We Don't Kill Doesn't Make Us Stronger:''' No one ever gets ExperiencePoints for avoiding enemies or having them run away. Might as well just [[KillEmAll kill everything]].

** '''[[VideoGame/BreathOfFire3 Peco's Addendum]]:''' There's always [[LethalJokeCharacter one character]] who ''really'' seems like they'd be useless, but train them up and they'll solo the game for you.

# '''Hero Of Another Story [[EnsembleDarkhorse If They're Cool Enough]] ([[VideoGame/CrisisCoreFinalFantasyVII Zack's]] Rule)''': Every character has their own story arc, most of which are completed as part of the main story. [[BreakoutCharacter If a character is cooler than the hero]], expect him to have more time in the spotlight in the next adventure, [[ADayInTheLimelight if not be the focus of the next adventure altogether]] (even if it's in the past).

#'''Screw the Money, I Have Destiny:''' Opposite of the above, but rare and applies mostly to the hero. Should the hero be rich, the player will never have access to their income, supplies, or other items they have, for being as rich as they are. Addendum: At least one cutscene will involve this character's parents/family/butlers sacrificing themselves to protect the character.

#'''You Can't Get There From Here, At Least Not Yet''': If there is more than one way to go from point A to point B in a dungeon, you can take it for granted that the shortcut won't be available to you until you've taken the long way around at least once.

** '''The Law of Prescient Architectural Decay''': In the rare cases when a certain area cannot be accessed by conventional means, a wall adjacent to said area or the floor of the room above will have fallen apart to the point where the hero can either travel through the resultant hole, or create said hole with explosives so it can be travelled through.

# '''[[BadPowersGoodPeople Evil Power is Good For the Good Guys]] ([[Franchise/KingdomHearts Riku Rule]])''': No matter how much ancient lore says it will, how many Wise Men warn against using it, [[DarkIsNotEvil a Dark and/or Evil]] power will not corrupt the heroes if they use it, especially if they're [[TheProtagonist the main character]]. At most a brief FaceHeelTurn and a dip into Angst will occur.

#'''[[Videogame/HyperdimensionNeptunia Neptunia’s Rule]]:''' Whenever the main character has amnesia, chances are they’ll turn out to have been someone extremely important, whether it be an AmnesiacGod, someone destined to save the world, [[AmnesiacVillainJoinsTheHeroes a former villain]], A LivingMacGuffin, etc...Of course, this doesn’t just apply if it’s the main character who has amnesia. If it’s the hero’s best friend or love interest who has memory problems or who at least can’t remember parts of his/her past instead of the main character, then the chances of this rule applying to them skyrockets.
#'''[[Franchise/{{Persona}} Morgana, Teddie and Koromaru's Rule]]:''' The game will often have a marketable cute mascot character, especially if it’s a JRPG. Sometimes, it may be a MascotMook, but other times, it may actually be a party member. If so, they’re usually male and almost never female (which is ironic, since cute characters are often made with the younger female demographic in mind). They usually come in two flavors. One, they will usually turn out to useful in some way (both in-battle and to the plot), yet also often quite annoying due to having an immature or pervy personality or whatever other character flaw. Two, the exact opposite: They won’t be annoying at all (and may in fact be beloved by the other characters and the player), but they won’t be as useful or powerful as the other party members for whatever reason. Regardless of which flavor the mascot character is, they’re often paired together with the main character as pretty close friends. Otherwise, they’re usually [[ThoseTwoGuys paired with another party member]] as they may get up to weird antics and have weird adventures together.

#'''No Need To Call The Locksmith:''' No villain has ever accidentally locked himself out of his own base or had protocols where the incoming shift of guards has to be let in by the outgoing shift. If your objective is behind locked door X, you can be certain that a copy of key X or some other means of unlocking door X is behind locked door X-1, and the means to open that door is behind locked door X-2, and so on until the key for opening locked door 1 is found in an unlocked room that anybody could walk into.

#'''[[VideoGame/Grandia2 The Granasaber Postulate]]:''' Any theoretically unstoppable foe can be rendered beatable by the simple expedient of [[SwordOfPlotAdvancement finding a cooler sword]].

# '''[[BadPowersGoodPeople Evil Power is Good For the Good Guys]] ([[Franchise/KingdomHearts Riku Rule]])''': No matter how much ancient lore says it will, how many Wise Men warn against using it, [[DarkIsNotEvil a Dark and/or Evil]] power will not corrupt the heroes if they use it, especially if they're the MainCharacter. At most a brief FaceHeelTurn and a dip into Angst will occur.

# '''[[BlackAndWhiteMorality Good Or Evil Incarnate]] ([[Videogame/JadeEmpire Open Palm Closed Fist Rule]])''': If the game has a morality system, there will not be any nuances or grey areas involved in any choice the player makes, [[NoPointsForNeutrality nor any benefits for trying to do so,]] despite claims to the contrary. One's choices must either be one only someone more pure than a dozen angels would make or so evil than TheDevil [[EvenEvilHasStandards himself would consider it wrong.]]

# '''[[Franchise/DevilMayCry Dante's]] Axiom''': Nothing is impossible if it's fueled by [[RuleOfCool Rule Of Cool]]. Most often applies in [[CutscenePowerToTheMax cutscenes.]]

#'''The Goof Behind The Man:''' There are only 2 kinds of comedic characters, those who are TheLoad and spend the entire game doing silly stuff that greatly inconvenience the party, or those who are TheLoad and spend the entire game doing silly stuff that greatly inconvenience the party... and is one of the villains if not the BigBad themself. Either way, if it is possible to leave these people to die or kill them yourself, you'll get a Game Over anyway despite how this would solve quite a bit if not the whole plot.