500 traits of an original RPG.

[Ace Mercury]

I feel like being pretentious

^^ Dragon Quest.
^ Chrono Cross.

224. No numbers. Anywhere.

[I am nobody]

225. None of the heroes are under 35.


Or over 80.

[Rainbow Dash]

223. In polar opposite to 222, your party consists of more than 8 people, like upwards of 25.

Suikoden I-V, Tierkesis

[Metal Man]

226. The villain is mortal.

[PK FIRE!]

227 The hero's quest does stop the villian, but leaves a power vacume that plunges the world into war.

- You stupid dog!

[Metal Man]

228. Villains exist within the party of the good guys and reveal themselves after the game is over.

[I am nobody]

229. There are multiple villains who have varying relationships with each other. (ally, enemy, neutral, etc.)

[Metal Man]

230. There are neutral factions which hate bad and good equally.

[Crazyswordsman]

^Chrono Cross again.

231. When you walk into someone's house, they call the police for trespassing. -CSM

[X-3]

232. Everyone in the party hates each other, and this never changes. After the final boss is killed, they turn on each other.

233. Major split happens in villain's group due to varying goal-view...things. Not like a, "SUDDEN BETRAYAL BRO", but more like, "I disagree with your goals, shadow guy. I, fire guy, want to stop war, not destroy the human race. I'm out. Maybe we'll see each other again. If we do, it'll probably be for blah blah artifact."

[I am nobody]

230. There are neutral factions which hate bad and good equally.

233. Major split happens in villain's group due to varying goal-view...things. Not like a, "SUDDEN BETRAYAL BRO", but more like, "I disagree with your goals, shadow guy. I, fire guy, want to stop war, not destroy the human race. I'm out. Maybe we'll see each other again. If we do, it'll probably be for blah blah artifact."

Not really that uncommon.

[Ace Mercury]

234. Your level goes down as you kill enemies.

[PK FIRE!]

235 Treasure chests are not left in seemingly random locations for decades on end.

236 The contents of any chest found are worthless 9/10ths of the time.

- You stupid dog!

[1-up Salesman]

237. The Hero doesn't instantly start the game out with fighting skills.

[I am nobody]

238. Human bosses cannot survive 10+ times as much damage as any other character in the game without a good reason.

239. There are language barriers, especially when you go somewhere previously undiscovered.

240. "Empires" do not consist of one city and/or a few tiny forts.

[Rainbow Dash]

239. There are language barriers, especially when you go somewhere previously undiscovered.

240. "Empires" do not consist of one city and/or a few tiny forts.

I'm gonna try to provide as many examples as I can, it's kinda fun.

239. FFX does this, with the Al Bhed.

240. Suikoden does this pretty well, too. Tales of the Abyss does it, I think.

[Metal Man]

241. The bad guys turn out to have wanted the correct thing in the end, and the good guys are revealed as selfish treasure-hunters.

[Ace Mercury]

242. When the king asks if you if you'll undertake the quest to save the world, you can say no. You can then go into town, order some coffee at a cafe, and read the newspaper. Every now and then you'll hear about the king's #2 hero choice slaying whatnot, all while unsuccessfully hitting on the barista. Game over.

[Metal Man]

243. Extending the previous idea, games mirror real life. Uh-oh! Got to go to sleep before you pass out from being up for 3 days straight!

[Speed]

244. Have an original plot twist.

Not the "I am ur father" or "I am your brother" or "I am your father's cousin's uncle's former roommate"

I mean something really original, my example would probobly be from Tales of the Abyss.

When I first saw Asch I assumed they were going to pull the whole "I am jur brutha" deal.

But then when it was actually LUKE who was a clone of Asch, jesus christ, that's fricken unexpected.

Unfortunately doing it now would be unoriginal, but it was cool the first time.