Go forth brave heroes of light and save the decaying world from the power of the dark lord! This could be the basic plot to hundreds, if not thousands of RPGs out there. Typical cliches in the g🥀enre include things like saving the world, dark villains with complex motives to rule/destroy the world, silent protagonists, tropey characters, and so on.
Cliches aren't always bad, ✨but they do begin to feel stale after saving the world for the nth time. Luckily, some RPGs ditch every cliche that brought the genre into the limelight and into the hearts of gamers altogether. These bold genre-defiant games are remembered🐎 for their brilliant story-telling and ambition.
10 ♏Suikoden: It's Complicated
Sꦬuikoden is a cult classic franchise that goes far beyond tropes and cliches. Instead of saving the world, the plots are rooted in history, politics, war, personal relationships, and, well, it is complicated (think Game of T🐭hrones in RPG form).
The entire series takes place in the same world, and there are some constaꦕnts like runes, fate, and certain characters returning. Beyond that, each game is filled with a unique tale ꦇthat is only peripherally related to the other entries. Series motifs run the gamut from betrayals and relationships, the consequences of war, and maneuvering politics, etc.
9 Nier: Aut🤡omata: Seeing Through The Veneer
168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Nier: Automata is a game that refuses to accept any labels or cliches. Is it an action RPG? Are the robots actually evil? Is 2B the best protagonist ever (168澳洲幸运5开奖网:a lot of fans seem to think so)? This is a game that really needs to be e🅰xperienced to be understood.
Under the many veneers that the Nier: Automata plo🍸t throws at the player, there are themes like the cost of war, understanding sentience, and ideological conflict.
The story of 2B, 9S, A2, and the war between android and machine is filled with mystery, intrigue, and tears. Nier: Automata has one of the m꧋ost compelling — and strangest — stories ever told.
8 Earthbound: Speaking Directly To The Player ꦐ
One look at 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Earthbound is enough to let players know that this isn't a typical RPG. Players can use real-life items like credit cards, and it takes place in the modern world. Battle backgrounds look like a hippie's dream and fꦺoes like abstract art, urban zombies, and smelly ghosts roam the land.
Abstract is a good adjective to ✤describe the Earthbound experience. The weirdness factor just keeps going up as you progress. What starts as a fun sci-fi story blossoms into a Kubrick-esque experience. What really makes Earthbound special is how often it breaks the fourth wall and leaves you feeling like you are truly a part of the experience, as if your cooperation is truly required.
7 Chrono Triggꦅer: Together Until The End Of Time
Okay, Lavos destroying the world in itself is a little cliche, but the overarching plot in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Chrono Trigger is anything but. In 1996, time travel was still a relatively new idea in video games (168澳洲幸运5开奖网:and it still hasn't been bested). Chrono 𒁏Trigger defied expectations, slam-dunked the time travel idea, and knocked it out of the epoch with the breadth of its storytelling.
Chrono Trigger's plot involves traveꦬling to many time periods and fixing/changing things to make sure the world does not end. On top of that, there is a running idea of cultural relativism and tolerance. Almost every member of the main cast comes from a radically different time period and faces some sort of identity crisis.
6 𒉰 ꧂ Mass Effect: Too Epic For One Planet
168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Mass Effect has a sℱprawling story that spans multiple games. Shep🐷ard (who can be male or female) is trying to save humanity. Cliche! But wait! In this universe, humanity is new to being a member of the galactic community. It puts them in a rather vulnerable yet unique situation where other alien races don't yet fully understand them.
The incredible world-building in Mass Effect brings the other alien species and characters to life. Like many of the best RPGs out there, the player's choices matter, and the Mass effect grants the player a decent level of auto𒆙nomy over how the story unfolds.
5 ෴ Disco Elysium
168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Disco Elysium is one of the most audacious RPGs ever made, revolving around decision-making rather than traditional combat. Players love it because of how bold and complex the s✱tory and world are. The plot is just as much a joꦜurney through the protagonist's mind as it is a detective story set in the fictional world of Elysium.
The in-game world is crumbling. It's full of di♊fferent political ideologies and the blurring of reality and dreams. Players have full control over the type of person their main character turns out to be as their decisions impact how the world shapes around them.
4 🍌 Planescape: Torment
Dungeons and Dragons campaigns can scream "cliche," but Planescape: Torment is anything but. Players won't see high fantasy settings or save the world from a mighty dragon in this adventur🐼e. The darker setting was a change of pace for a well-established fran💮chise.
Planescape: Torment flips stats on their head. Stats like wisdom and intelligence can add dialogue to the game and allow the main character to conjure more memories, enriching the plot. Planescape cements its place in the greatest RPG of all time realm because of hཧow fleshed out its world and character are. The player can interact with the world and affect the plot, which remains great no mat♋ter what they choose.
3 Shadow Hearts: A Dark Reality ༺🌊
The Shadow Hearts series stood out for being edgier and gorier than most ൩other RPGs. It's also set in the early 20th century, which is a surprisingly unique set♉ting.
The story in Shadow Hearts is bizar🗹re, but it fuses real-world events and places with mystical realms and more fantastical elements. It is a💞mazing to travel around real-life locales in Europe and Asia while exploring otherworldly realms.
It is this fusion of East and West, realism and fantasy, and willingness to break conventions that set Shadow Hearts apart from m🍰ost other RPGs.
2 Undertale: There Is No Need to Fight 🀅
The player is stuck in an underworld and needs to escape. While the overall plot might seem childishly simple, Undertale has more dialogue than RPGs that are five times longer (since Undertale is only 5-10 hours). Undertale's story shines in the discourse between enemies and NPCs. Their d෴ialogue contains different font sizes, styles, and dialects. It really brings them to life.
Players can also choose not to fight enemies. Instead of just overpowering foes, players can be pacifists and try to spare foes, which can end up with crazy results, like monster relationships and other strange scenarios. Undertale might look a lot like a classic 16-bit RPG, but the gameplay an🌟d story won't seem familiar to even seasoned RPG fanatics.
1 Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow: Don't Kill Em' All🎉, Catch Em' All Instead
While Pokemon games are well established now, the original idea was something truly special. Monster catching was around before Pokemon in games like Dragon Quest V and Shin Megami Tensei, bu𓄧t Game Freak's franchise took it further and centered an entire game around catching and training these little pocket monsters.
Instead of killing every monster around to save the world, players catch and train Pokemon so they can become Pokemon Masters. The ꦐidea was so fascinating that tons of games have been made since the original, but the basic gameplay elements have꧃ basically stayed the same.
Pokemon were so captivating in themselves that the overall st💮ory played second fiddle to exploring and finding new ones. The license stands alone in how successfully it has been at charmi✤ng fans with lore, forms, and basically anything related to Pokemon.