Top 10 JRPG Cliches
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Whether it's a convoluted plot-line or endless Grinding, we can't help but love your typical JRPG cliche. Expect to see quite a few of these on your next JRPG adventure. Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we'll be counting down our picks for the Top 10 JRPG Cliches.
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Top 10 JRPG Cliches
Whether you love ‘em or hate ‘em, we all know that there are certain things a Japanese role-playing game just can’t do without. Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we’ll be counting down our picks for the Top 10 JRPG Cliches.
For this list, we’re looking at the most tried-and-true tropes of the JRPG genre: the ones that we’ve come to love over the years and that help keep this unique genre of games distinct. These include narrative tropes, game mechanics, and other oddities and quirks that – for some reason – are shared by a large number of Japanese role-playing games.
Say you’ve got your typical JRPG world: ancient kingdoms, magical beasts, mystical ruins, all that jazz – and then suddenly, out of nowhere, a train passes by. Or a car. Or an army of robots. The answer to all of this? Magitechnology. Magitechnology is when the game designers want to have their cake and eat it too – they want to present a traditional medieval fantasy world, but they can’t resist giving the heroes smartphones or something. These anachronisms will always be explained away as drawing from some magical source that powers everything from streetlamps to giant war mechs.
It wouldn’t be a Japanese RPG without something nauseatingly cute running around. No matter how out of place they may seem, a JRPG cast isn’t complete without something tiny, furry, and motor-mouthed. Whether it joins your party or just annoyingly tags along, you can be sure that this RPG character will be one of the more memorable ones. Expect squeaky voices, repetitive catch-phrases, and oddball attacks that drive everyone up the wall; but you can also count on this little guy worming his way into your heart before the end of the game.
Let’s face it: JRPG Heroes must be an absolute nightmare for real estate agents, because 9 out of 10 times, their sheer presence will mark their hometown as doomed. As a storytelling device, it makes sense: what’s a more effective call-to-action than losing your home and your family all in one fell swoop, likely due to the plot of some evil mastermind? So beware whenever you fire up an RPG: don’t get too emotionally attached to mom and dad and little Timmy in the village square – their days are severely numbered.
Spoiler alert! … If you can manage to figure out what the heck is even going on. For a genre that has so many tropes and standards, you’d expect plotlines to be elegantly simple – after all, you’re a simple hero from a small village out to take on the big bad and his nasty world-domination plans. Simple, right? But no – what starts as a day out picking mushrooms in the nearby forest will end in a cosmic war against God spanning time and space and tapping into the deep mystical secrets of the universe. And no, we don’t know how we got there either.
Protip: if you’re about to take on the most horrific evil incarnate capable of destroying the world, always bring this with you: not the most powerful weapon, not an army of level 99 characters, but the power of love & friendship. It’s the one thing that always pulls through in a JRPG plotline. Even if you’re outmatched and outnumbered, a rousing speech – and maybe a montage for good measure – about the bonds between your warriors will always prevail. Because of course the evil mastermind is doomed to fail, being the friendless loner that he is! You’ve just got to rub it in his face.
Want to be able to spot an RPG protagonist from a mile away? It wouldn’t be hard, because the hairstyles they sport could probably be seen from orbit. Likely inspired by anime, Japanese RPGs love to give their characters spiky, gravity-defying, improbable hairstyles. The logic behind it? Well, it looks cool. What other reasoning could you possibly want? It’s not just hair, either; this logic extends to some of the ridiculous things RPG characters wear that, again, are just there to service the rule of cool. Who needs proper protective gear when you look as rad as these guys?
Somewhere along the way, random encounters went from being totally expected, to totally reviled, to somehow endearingly ‘classic’ when it comes to RPG mechanics. We all know the feeling – the hero is walking around on the world map or in a dungeon, rushing excitedly to the next plot point, and then bam, out of nowhere a horde of monsters has descended on you, usually after a trippy transitional animation. This way the game can throw a limitless number of enemies at you, making every step you take a gamble. Better keep those Repels and Moogle Charms close!
You’ve finally made it through the villain’s twisted final dungeon, sat through his preachy monologue about life and death and the nature of existence, listened to your own characters preach back about love and friendship, and struck that devastating final blow. Right? Oh wait, no, here comes Form #2. And then #3. And sometimes more. JRPGs love to draw out the game’s final challenge, with some battles lasting up to an hour or more! You can be sure that each form is going to look more ridiculous than the last, two, because again, JRPGs love to show off all the cool, over-the-top imagery that they can.
Grinding goes hand-in-hand with random encounters: the game figures that if it can throw an infinite amount of enemies at the player, the player should in turn spend hours upon hours beating them up in order to gain those sweet Level Ups. Every so often you run into that one boss who you just can’t kill, leaving you no other option than to turn around and start slaughtering everything you lay your eyes on in the hopes of becoming stronger. Then there’s grinding for rare drops –you know, the ones that drop 0.1% of the time just to drive you crazy? Either way, you’re looking at a lot of monotonous, senseless killing. Better put a movie on in the background.
Either it’s made out of some fantasy metal, or the wielder has super-human strength, or, heck, the game can’t be bothered to explain since it’s just so commonplace, but the #1 cliché on our list is the affinity JRPGs have with gigantic, awe-inspiring, utterly impractical swords. Don’t ever expect a JRPG character to complain about hand cramps or sore muscles, because lifting these babies and jumping around is literally nothing to them. Because – like with their hair and their clothes - gravity, basic physics, and even common sense be damned – it’s all about looking as ridiculously cool as possible.
Whether you love ‘em or hate ‘em, we all know that there are certain things a Japanese role-playing game just can’t do without. Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we’ll be counting down our picks for the Top 10 JRPG Cliches.
For this list, we’re looking at the most tried-and-true tropes of the JRPG genre: the ones that we’ve come to love over the years and that help keep this unique genre of games distinct. These include narrative tropes, game mechanics, and other oddities and quirks that – for some reason – are shared by a large number of Japanese role-playing games.
#10: Magitechnology
Say you’ve got your typical JRPG world: ancient kingdoms, magical beasts, mystical ruins, all that jazz – and then suddenly, out of nowhere, a train passes by. Or a car. Or an army of robots. The answer to all of this? Magitechnology. Magitechnology is when the game designers want to have their cake and eat it too – they want to present a traditional medieval fantasy world, but they can’t resist giving the heroes smartphones or something. These anachronisms will always be explained away as drawing from some magical source that powers everything from streetlamps to giant war mechs.
#9: Talking Animal Mascot
It wouldn’t be a Japanese RPG without something nauseatingly cute running around. No matter how out of place they may seem, a JRPG cast isn’t complete without something tiny, furry, and motor-mouthed. Whether it joins your party or just annoyingly tags along, you can be sure that this RPG character will be one of the more memorable ones. Expect squeaky voices, repetitive catch-phrases, and oddball attacks that drive everyone up the wall; but you can also count on this little guy worming his way into your heart before the end of the game.
#8: The Doomed Hometown
Let’s face it: JRPG Heroes must be an absolute nightmare for real estate agents, because 9 out of 10 times, their sheer presence will mark their hometown as doomed. As a storytelling device, it makes sense: what’s a more effective call-to-action than losing your home and your family all in one fell swoop, likely due to the plot of some evil mastermind? So beware whenever you fire up an RPG: don’t get too emotionally attached to mom and dad and little Timmy in the village square – their days are severely numbered.
#7: Convoluted Plotline
Spoiler alert! … If you can manage to figure out what the heck is even going on. For a genre that has so many tropes and standards, you’d expect plotlines to be elegantly simple – after all, you’re a simple hero from a small village out to take on the big bad and his nasty world-domination plans. Simple, right? But no – what starts as a day out picking mushrooms in the nearby forest will end in a cosmic war against God spanning time and space and tapping into the deep mystical secrets of the universe. And no, we don’t know how we got there either.
#6: Theme of Love & Friendship
Protip: if you’re about to take on the most horrific evil incarnate capable of destroying the world, always bring this with you: not the most powerful weapon, not an army of level 99 characters, but the power of love & friendship. It’s the one thing that always pulls through in a JRPG plotline. Even if you’re outmatched and outnumbered, a rousing speech – and maybe a montage for good measure – about the bonds between your warriors will always prevail. Because of course the evil mastermind is doomed to fail, being the friendless loner that he is! You’ve just got to rub it in his face.
#5: Spiky-Haired Characters
Want to be able to spot an RPG protagonist from a mile away? It wouldn’t be hard, because the hairstyles they sport could probably be seen from orbit. Likely inspired by anime, Japanese RPGs love to give their characters spiky, gravity-defying, improbable hairstyles. The logic behind it? Well, it looks cool. What other reasoning could you possibly want? It’s not just hair, either; this logic extends to some of the ridiculous things RPG characters wear that, again, are just there to service the rule of cool. Who needs proper protective gear when you look as rad as these guys?
#4: Random Encounters
Somewhere along the way, random encounters went from being totally expected, to totally reviled, to somehow endearingly ‘classic’ when it comes to RPG mechanics. We all know the feeling – the hero is walking around on the world map or in a dungeon, rushing excitedly to the next plot point, and then bam, out of nowhere a horde of monsters has descended on you, usually after a trippy transitional animation. This way the game can throw a limitless number of enemies at you, making every step you take a gamble. Better keep those Repels and Moogle Charms close!
#3: Final Boss with Multiple Forms
You’ve finally made it through the villain’s twisted final dungeon, sat through his preachy monologue about life and death and the nature of existence, listened to your own characters preach back about love and friendship, and struck that devastating final blow. Right? Oh wait, no, here comes Form #2. And then #3. And sometimes more. JRPGs love to draw out the game’s final challenge, with some battles lasting up to an hour or more! You can be sure that each form is going to look more ridiculous than the last, two, because again, JRPGs love to show off all the cool, over-the-top imagery that they can.
#2: Grinding
Grinding goes hand-in-hand with random encounters: the game figures that if it can throw an infinite amount of enemies at the player, the player should in turn spend hours upon hours beating them up in order to gain those sweet Level Ups. Every so often you run into that one boss who you just can’t kill, leaving you no other option than to turn around and start slaughtering everything you lay your eyes on in the hopes of becoming stronger. Then there’s grinding for rare drops –you know, the ones that drop 0.1% of the time just to drive you crazy? Either way, you’re looking at a lot of monotonous, senseless killing. Better put a movie on in the background.
#1: Impractically Big Swords
Either it’s made out of some fantasy metal, or the wielder has super-human strength, or, heck, the game can’t be bothered to explain since it’s just so commonplace, but the #1 cliché on our list is the affinity JRPGs have with gigantic, awe-inspiring, utterly impractical swords. Don’t ever expect a JRPG character to complain about hand cramps or sore muscles, because lifting these babies and jumping around is literally nothing to them. Because – like with their hair and their clothes - gravity, basic physics, and even common sense be damned – it’s all about looking as ridiculously cool as possible.
