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Video Game Tropes: Difference between revisions
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*[[How Video Game Specs Work]]
* [[Japanese Games]]
*[[Not the Way It Is Meant
*[[Older Than the NES]]
*[[Role Playing Game]] Tropes
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* [[Two and
* [[Three Quarters View]] <br />A method of portraying three dimensional space in a two-dimensional plane. Basically, it's a tilted bird's eye view perspective in which both the top and front of an object is seen at the same time, and the vertical axis indicates both height and depth.
* [[Ambidextrous Sprite]] <br />An asymmetric sprite will be perfectly mirrored--meaning it will "switch sides" depending on what side is visible.
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* [[Cut and Paste Environments]] <br />Repetition of levels/environments, either in part or whole.
* [[Dialogue Tree]] <br />Dialogue which proceeds by selecting options from a list.
** [[Shall I Repeat That?]] <br />When, at the end of a long set of text or dialogue tree, the person with whom you are speaking asks to start the entire conversation over.
* [[Digital Avatar]] <br />Your custom persona inside the game (and elsewhere in [[Cyberspace]]).
* [[Digitized Sprites]] <br />Converting an existing or pre-made image into a sprite.
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* [[Post Processing Video Effects]] <br />Common visual effects that are applied after the scene is rendered by the game engine.
* [[Ratchet Scrolling]] <br />Scrolling controlled by the player but only operating one-way.
* [[Real Time
* [[Repeatable Quest]] <br />Quests that can be repeated.
* [[Respawn Point]] <br />When you die, there's a designated place your new body pops out.
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* [[Beat Them At Their Own Game]] <br />The most effective tactic against the enemy is the enemy's own tactics.
* [[Big Damn Fire Exit]] <br />Is the building being destroyed around you? There'll always be a fireproof/destructionproof pathway you can escape through!
* [[Call a Hit Point
* [[Camera Lock On]] <br />Focusing the camera on a target.
* [[Capture the Flag]] <br />Common video game mode where two teams try to capture each other's flag. And kill lots of them while they're at it, usually.
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* [[Check Point]] <br />A point to which the player can return after play has been interrupted, especially by player character death.
* [[Check Point Starvation]] <br />A severe lack of [[Check Point|Check Points]].
* [[Color
* [[Color
* [[Comeback Mechanic]] <br />A feature that provides assistance to losing players or players near elimination.
* [[Controllable Helplessness]] <br />Video games that allow you to control your character (somewhat) even while helpless.
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* [[Direct Continuous Levels]] <br />It's a linear game, but not broken up by jumps between levels.
* [[Do Not Drop Your Weapon]] <br />Heroes and enemies will never drop their gun--until they die.
* [[Do Not Run
* [[Drop in Drop Out Multiplayer]]<br />Other players can join and leave any time they want.
* [[Dual World Gameplay]] <br />Gameplay techniques introduced by the idea of the player travelling between two worlds.
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* [[Non Combatant Immunity]] <br />No enemies will try to attack you, or be capable of killing you, until you have the means to fight back.
* [[No Points for Neutrality]]<br />Lets face it, being neutral sucks in video games. Those goody-two-shoes and bastard villains get all the development.
* [[One
* [[Only Smart People May Pass]] <br />Any barrier that requires the heroes to solve some kind of puzzle or [[Riddle Me This|riddle]] in order to pass.
* [[Outside the Box Tactic]] <br />Certain enemies are vulnerable to tactics that are bizarre or otherwise not intuitive at first glance.
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* [[Point of No Return]] <br />A place in the story where it becomes impossible to revisit earlier points.
* [[Pop Quiz]] <br />A sudden general knowledge quiz regarding obscure facts about the events, characters and monsters in the game universe.
* [[Power
* [[Pressure Plate]] <br />A door that's powered by a floor plate that trips when stood upon.
* [[Press X to Not Die]] <br />During a cinematic event, you are instructed to press a button to trigger events or dodge attacks etc.
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* [[RPG Elements]] <br />Where a non-[[RPG]] is given some aspects of one (menu battles, equipment, levels).
* [[RP Gs Equal Combat]] <br />The only way to get equipment, skills and levels is to fight things.
* [[Run, Don't Walk]] <br />Modern games have characters run by default; walking is more difficult to do.
* [[Rules of the Game]] <br />An area of the game with special rules or restrictions.
* [[Save Point]] <br />A specific spot where the player is allowed to save.
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** [[Pinball Scoring]] <br />Games that award points in extremely ridonkulous amounts.
* [[Scratch Damage]] <br />You are never invincible - even enemies much weaker than you will still do 1 [[Hit Point]] of damage with their attacks.
* [[Set a Mook
* [[Sidequest Sidestory]] <br />A sequence of optional sidequests reference/join up to each other to create a seperate story.
* [[Silliness Switch]] <br />A game option that raises the game to significantly elevated stupidity levels.
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* [[Swiss Army Hero]] <br />Sometimes you get many heroes in one.
* [[Tank Controls]] <br />When a game forces you to move forward and backward separately from left and right.
* [[Teased
** [[A Taste of Power]] <br />Where you are given a strong character or ability early on, but lose it quickly.
* [[Ten-Second Flashlight]] <br />Your flashlight only lasts a few seconds. Stupid cheap Taiwanese knockoffs.
* [[Time Trial]] <br />A game mode where the game keeps track of how long you've been playing a level.
* [[Tube Travel]] <br />In which you get somewhere by going through a tube.
* [[Unexpected Shmup Level]] <br />Whoa, my trusty steed! Forsooth, we must pause to do a [[Shoot
* [[Veteran Unit]] <br />An equivalent of a [[Character Level]] in [[Real Time Strategy]] games
* [[Videogame Set Piece]] <br />An occurrence that is not part of the game's typical gameplay/engine mechanics (e.g. monsters suddenly smashing down doors).
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=== Common non-gameplay-related tropes: ===
* [[
* [[Addressing the Player]] <br />Once you enter your name, the game brings it back later as part of the plot or gameplay.
* [[Alchemic Elementals]] <br />Four specific monsters (variations are rare) are often used to represent an element.
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* [[Canon Name]] <br />A character which is named by the player is given a "real" name in subsequent adaptations.
* [[Catastrophic Countdown]] <br />One a [[Time Bomb]] is set, the whole area starts joining in. Even before the boom.
* [[Chain
* [[Character Portrait]] <br />Important characters in some [[RPG|RPGs]] may have pictures of them display during dialogue.
* [[Character Roster Global Warming]] <br />50 light guys, 2 heavy guys.
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* [[Coup De Grace Cutscene]] <br />After you defeat a boss, a cutscene shows you delivering the final blow.
* [[Crate Expectations]] <br />Crates are ''everywhere'' in video games and serve all kinds of different purposes.
* [[Cruelty Is the Only Option]] <br />Hey, you! Yeah, ''you!!!'' [[Kick the Dog|Kick this puppy!]] What's that, you say? [[Video Game Cruelty Potential|You say that'd be mean?]] That you're not [[Karma Meter|evil]]? Well, ''that's too [[Precision F
* [[Cutscene]] <br />Non-interactive sequences inserted into the action of a game.
* [[Death Cry Echo]] <br />When a character is killed, they give off a dying scream, which is repeated (getting fainter) like an echo.
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* [[Gameplay-Guided Amnesia]] <br />Because the character knows things the player doesn't, sometimes the character gets amnesia to excuse the explanation to the player.
* [[Gay Option]] <br />A game that allows the character to pursue romantic ties with a same-sex character.
* [[Golden Ending]] <br />The only "real" ending; [[Multiple Endings|the rest]] [[Nonstandard Game Over|just tell you]] [[
* [[Golden Path]] <br />The exact combination of choices that will make the best (usually with the most content) playing experience.
* [[Heroes Prefer Swords]] <br />In an RPG, the main character always uses a sword.
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* [[I Can't Use These Things Together]] <br />Main characters will talk to themselves about the items they have if the player tries to examine one, or use them in an invalid manner.
* [[I Can't Reach It]] <br />Characters refuse to do or "can't" do something that is clearly within their means.
* [[I Fought the Law
* [[Impassable Desert]] <br />You can't enter the desert without some item.
* [[Infallible Babble]] <br />Whenever you are given information, it is always correct.
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* [[Involuntary Group Split]] <br />The characters are forced by a suddenly falling pile of rock, to continue their journey alone.
* [[Irrelevant Importance]] <br />An important object that's already been used and hence irrelevant is still prevented from being destroyed or lost by the game.
* [[
* [[Journey to Find Oneself]] <br />After the end of a game, one character goes off on his own to wander the world.
* [[Late Character Syndrome]] <br />A character who comes to the party too late in the game for the player to want to go through the effort of using him.
* [[Late to
* [[Ludicrous Gibs]] <br />Ridiculously overemphasized blood and gore.
* [[Mad Libs Dialogue]] <br />The practice of recording lines with blanks in it, which can be filled in later.
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* [[Mythology Upgrade]] <br />Mythological monsters get beefed up over their original descriptions.
* [[New World Tease]] <br />You are given a glimpse of a new world, but can't do anything there yet.
* [[No Campaign for
* [[No Canon for
* [[No-Gear Level]] <br />A level or piece of the plot where you've been stripped of your weapons and/or equipment.
* [[No Item Use for You]] <br />You can't use certain or any items in certain situations.
* [[No Plot, No Problem]]<br />Forsaking any plot or character development so that the game is purely about the gameplay itself.
* [[Now Where Was I Going Again?]] <br />OK, I saved my place three months ago and I'm picking the game up again... so where was I supposed to go?
* [[Omnicidal Neutral]] <br />Games that let you be not good nor evil but to take on ''everybody''.
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* [[Player and Protagonist Integration]] <br />Are you talking to your character, or ''are'' you your character?
* [[Player Punch]] <br />Where the game kills or hurts someone or something that the player has come to feel emotion for.
* [[Play the Game Skip
* [[Playing the Player]] <br />Where the standard relationship between the game and the player is [[Playing
* [[Previous Player Character Cameo]] <br />In a sequel, the [[Player Character]] from a previous game in the series shows up.
* [[Puzzle Pan]] <br />Where the game's camera pans across the correct route in a puzzle before you begin.
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* [[Save the Princess]] <br />Typical early video game plot.
* [[Saving the World]] <br />Typical ''modern'' video game plot.
* [[Scenery
* [[
* [[
* [[Shoplift and Die]] <br />Stealing from a shop can be hazardous to your health.
* [[Sidetrack Bonus]] <br />It can be a good idea to go the wrong way.
* [[Songs in
* [[Space
* [[A Space Marine Is You]] <br />In [[Science Fiction|sci-fi]] [[First Person Shooter|First Person Shooters]], starring a [[One
* [[Speaking Simlish]] <br />A language, generally for [[NPC|NPCs]], made up of nonsense sounds strung together like actual words.
* [[Stalactite Spite]] <br />Inanimate cones of limestone can see players coming and fall appropriately.
* [[Story to Gameplay Ratio]] <br />On one side, ''[[Hotel Dusk: Room 215]]''. On the other, ''[[
* [[Stronger Sibling]] <br />In most games, if the [[Big Bad]] has a sibling, it will be even stronger than the Big Bad itself.
* [[Stupidity Is the Only Option]] <br />Sometimes the plot makes the main character do stupid things, even if the player knows not to do them.
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* [[Wasted Song]] <br />This is the [[Video Games/Awesome Music|best music ev]]--HEY! Where'd it go?
* [[What Are You Looking At]] <br />[[NPC|NPCs]] just stand and stare blankly into the distance when you're not talking to them.
* [[What the Hell, Player?]] <br />When the player does something weird or cruel, another character will call him out on it.
* [[A Winner Is You]] <br />An ending sequence that's little more than a single line and a pixelly picture.
* [[You Must Be This Tall to Enter]] <br />Once you receive a particular item that lets you enter a previously inaccessible area, you will need it all over the place to simply continue on your journey.
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