RPGs were once a very niche genre that only the hardcore of the hardcore played. The same is true about both video games and tabletop things like Dungeons & Dragons. That logic couldn’t be any further from the truth now, thanks in part to streaming culture and podcasts, for games likes Dungeons & Dragons and Pokémon.
All that being said, these memes should hit home with more players. These traits are things that have plagued the genre for ages, so even if the concept is new to some, most of these jokes should hit home. From broad examples to more in-depth nods to specific titles, let’s get the chuckle wagon rolling.
10 House Guest
As this meme points out, it’s kind of rude how players can just bust into to someone’s home unannounced. On top of that taking their goods locked away in chests is crazy. Every main character in an RPG, no matter how they are portrayed, are monsters because of this. Some games rightfully punish or reward players depending on if things are left alone like in Final Fantasy IX in regard to the cards left in Alexandria’s church.
9 Healing
Healing has never really made sense in any video game. That said games would be too hard and in turn not fun without it. No one wants to buy a game, die, and then go out and buy a new copy because the game hard saves. That would be ridiculous.
In RPGs it is even weirder since players can heal whenever they want, generally, but enemies and or bosses rarely do.
8 Where Does It Go?
On the subject of the healing meme, let’s talk about potions which then leads into the inventory. How exactly are some characters, like Cloud from Final Fantasy VII, carrying around 99 potions? On top of that how can he carry multiple items with that number? He doesn’t have a backpack or a wagon around. Just once it would be fun to see an RPG showcase an inter-dimensional backpack for storing goods.
7 The Turns
Going back to enemies and bosses not healing, it is also nice of them to wait their turn. Not every RPG is turn based, but the ones that are don’t make sense in the long run. Games like Final Fantasy Tactics do make sense in that it is like a fantastical game of chess. That said it only makes sense to players and shouldn’t make logical sense in the world itself as this meme points out.
6 No Time For Side Quests
This might be the very bane of RPGs: side quests. Many of them feature seemingly time sensitive plot lines revolving around stopping end of the world events. In Final Fantasy VII there is a literal meteor hurtling toward the planet but players can ignore that and raise chocobos for hours upon hours. In Final Fantasy X players can warp around to play Blitzball at almost any time. Side quests are great but they don’t make sense.
5 Say Something New
One day video games will get so complex that NPCs will be able to generate their own dialogue. That is potentially PlayStation 9 stuff, so don’t go hoping for that anytime soon.
Prepare to instead hear NPCs spout the same lines on repeat as if they were parrots. Branching dialogue is getting better, but it still has a long way to go.
4 The Chosen One
As this meme points out, too many plot lines revolve around a chosen one. It’s a lazy plot detail to fall back on. That’s not to say a company can’t make a compelling story in this nature. However, since it gets played a lot in RPGs, any narrative not dealing with it can feel like a breath of fresh air.
3 Shop Logic
This is another meme about items that don’t make sense are the shops that sell them. In some RPGs a salesman trying to sell their goods to an ordinary adventurer makes sense. However, if a shopkeeper acknowledges that they realize the party at hand is going to save the world and still charges money, well, that is a bad salesman. Just give them the goods for humanity’s sake. O’aka from Final Fantasy X is one of the best/worst examples.
2 Monsters Are Loaded
One last meme in regard to items revolves around monsters. How can they carry items and money? Taking stuff from humanoid enemies makes sense but how exactly is like a Slime from Dragon Quest carrying around pockets full of gold? It’s just one of those things players have to ignore in order to make the game better.
1 Random Battles
Also on the subject of monsters there is the fun aspect of random battles. Thankfully those are almost all gone from RPGs. That said, in older games getting attacked by something on a road where there are other people and no monsters are in sight is unbelievable. Let’s look at Final Fantasy X again. There are multiple paths with heavy travel and monsters just all over the place. These roads should be littered with corpses.