What JRPG trope do you hate the most and want mitigated or eliminated altogether?

[AnansiThePersona]

Putting loli with child party members is not fair. You rigged the poll that way. Like I wouldn't call ALL those characters "loli bait" characters. Or even most of them. Relm and Gau in FF6 are great. Krile in FF5 is great. Laphicet in Tales of Berseria is great.

 

[Ramsay]

It's definitely fanservice (Xenoblade 2 would be a much better game if Takahashi actually focused on making a good game instead of pandering to otakus - the harem ending is probably the most insulting example of this).

Children party members aren't inherently bad so long as they're not sexualised - which ties back into the first point.

 

[RJeddy]

I find more often then not that they seem to have to work in a J-Pop idol pose to to female characters' conversations. Playing through FF7R it was always so jarring everytime it happened.

 

[Chief Malik]

THIS THREAD HAS ME IN TEARS

 

[tiebreaker]

Children party members are allright they can be bad just as teen/adult party members can be bad.

The only thing I can't stand is if they sexualized their designs. 'kay.

 

[batfax]

Lol. Very fair point, though it probably won't shock you to learn I have a problem with that "trope" in real life too.

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Yeah, same here. I just find it hard to knock it in video games when... yeah. What a messed up world we have.

 

[knightmawk]

This thread just reminds me of why I love Lost Odyssey.

 

[Yukari]

Grinding item to make ultimate weapons.

 

[mjc]

ALL OF THEM

 

[DeadDuck144]

Putting loli with child party members is not fair. You rigged the poll that way. Like I wouldn't call ALL those characters "loli bait" characters. Or even most of them. Relm and Gau in FF6 are great. Krile in FF5 is great. Laphicet in Tales of Berseria is great.

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I'll second this. I'm 100% okay with children in the party provided they aren't hyper-sexualized.

I voted for loli/children party members, but the trope I actually hate is loli/1,000-year-old dragon with the body of an 11-year-old stripper.

My second vote would be for the goofy/cutesy mascot trope. Chu-Chu from Xenogears, Riki the Heropon from Xenoblade, Mog from FFXIII-2, etc... They always have their fans, but it's all cringe to me

 

[inner-G]

Earthbound = non-loli child characters

Loli characters and silent protags are the ones I'd get rid of before any of the others

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Silent protagonists work really well sometimes though, like in the Dragon Quest and Persona series.

 

[OrdinaryUsername]

I mainly have big problems with sexualized characters in JRPGs, and I don't like to have a plethora of loli. I don't have a problem with non-sexual children's characters. I hate fetch quests after a while.

Relevant:

 

[esserius]

Where's the option for teenage angst?

 

[Weiss]

I'd be happy if we never got a hot springs gag in a JRPG ever again.

 

[Rackham]

You didn't have the option but I would have added the stereotypical anime girl personalities. lame af

 

[Jonathan Lanza]

I

Earthbound = non-loli child characters


Silent protagonists work really well sometimes though, like in the Dragon Quest and Persona series.

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I honestly don't think there's anything a silent protagonist in Persona could do that a voiced one couldn't do just as well if not better

 

[Firmament1]

Can't believe you didn't mention mascots. Fuck those stupid, obnoxious animals.

 

[Madao]

lol i almost ended up voting for everything (only options that i didn't pick were silent protag and average guy. i like more when an average guy saves the day instead of the chosen one bullshit that is much more common)

since i had to narrow it down, i picked the 2 options involving children. they're always depicted in questionable ways so i'd rather the game have full adult cast.

 

[Kieli]

Can you let me vote everything except the deaths? I don't care whether characters die or not. Good stories dont need cheap deaths to make me care.

 

[Lazybob]

Waifu bullshit. Looking at you Trails series (except the Sky trilogy which was before it really got ingrained in the series).

 

[mrmojo228]

yes, i should have been more specific. men being sexualized is rare. but i'm sick to death of sexualization of women and girls in my games. i'm not gonna play trials of mana largely because of the character designs.

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Men are sexualized a LOT in Japanese games. Shirtless buff dudes in underwear and pretty boy types. Men show more skin in Japanese games then western ones.

 

[harry the spy]

Isn't harem more an anime thing than rpg? Maybe I haven't played enough - but I can't think of many examples (recently ff7r though....). Persona kind of but it's entirely up to the player so it's a bit different

 

[Lausebub]

The anime grunts.

 

[Strangelove_77]

Damn this was the most difficult poll that's ever been made on here. I wanted to check off almost all of them, but you can only pick 2. I went with no lolis and no silent protagonist.

 

[Korigama]

Isn't harem more an anime thing than rpg? Maybe I haven't played enough - but I can't think of many examples (recently ff7r though....). Persona kind of but it's entirely up to the player so it's a bit different

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Lots of JRPGs tend to be influenced by anime in their sensibilities.

 

[Sanctuary]

"Multiple votes are allowed"...proceeds to check everything but two options.
"You may select up to 2 choices"

Anyway, I wanted to pick everything but silent protagonists (they don't bug me as much as some), and the lack of deaths, but I wouldn't mind if everything was changed.

Damn this was the most difficult poll that's ever been made on here. I wanted to check off almost all of them, but you can only pick 2. I went with no lolis and no silent protagonist.

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Yeah, the loli, and especially the aesthetic of them always irked me the most out of everything I think. That coupled with only a child protagonist can save the day always bugged me.

Where's the option for teenage angst?

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Part and parcel with the child savior.

 

[Laser Ramon]

You wanna know the worst part about all this shit? When fans end up making their own games inspired by these games and feel the need to INCLUDE THEM, BECAUSE THAT'S JUST WHAT YOU DO IN THESE GAMES

 

[100%TrophyMaster]

Child characters are the worst, especially the sexualized ones. More adult characters please!

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Lol yes this was my vote. Child characters are usually sooooo horribly written in RPG's.

 

[Pellegri Testament]

Really tired of seeing lolis in near every jrpgs nowadays. Next to that would be no meaningful deaths, especially in a war setting. Even when there are deaths, most of the time said characters will come back to life in some form. It stops meaning something several resurrections later. I was fine with it when I first started seeing the trope, but now I come to expect it and continue to be disappointed.

 

[Vitamin_B_Complex]

First, OP should allow us to tick everything.

Basically their handling of anything woman. In most JRPG they literally exist for one thing and one thing only creep service. And it gets a billion times worse when it's a little girl. Either the camera has to show their ass and breasts all the time, their design is inherently sexist, they wear scraps while all the men were something that covers their body or they are shown in demeaning situations.

I'm playing Ys VIII right now and it ticks all the fucking boxes like a muther fucker. The first party member you get is a young woman that you get introduced to while she is taking a bath in the river. The scene is so ridiculously sexist and stupid. The story is that they shipwrecked on an dangerous island and somehow she managed to find a towel and decided it would be a good idea to take a bath in the river and OF COURSE the faceless protagonist appears out of nowhere and she drops her towel. The game itself is decent but Japan's media landscape needs a healthy dose of feminism because this shit needs to stop. It's like it hurts them physically when create female characters that aren't sextoys for the otaku playerbase.

 

[Sparkedglory2]

None of those things on their own bother me. Child characters can be fine if written well and not sexualized. I'm tired of the final bosses that end up being some sort of god. It happens all the time

edit: harems can be pretty annoying. So I'll vote for those

 

[AtomicShroom]

Lolis, children, chibi, sexualization, dating power fantasies, any degradation of women in general, ridiculous outfits, etc. can all fuck right off.

Edit: And by children, I mean the creep service ones. Stuff like Earthbound is fine.

 

[Slim]

Loli and harem by far

 

[Ferrio]

Also these mannerisms:

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FF7 Remake is killing me with these.

 

[the magical kitsune]

Anime girl gets hit during battle: oOOoooOOOHH AuuUuGGggGH! That hurt!

Alternatively this shit (linked by another user in the dunkey thread I think):



This isn't a porno, just fucking act like real persons damnit.

In general fanservice / anime bullshit needs to go. I don't want to look at some digitized 2d tit or butt or special 'armor' consisting of a thong and a bra. What's the target group, incels? I'd rather go outside, socialize and have a hot time with real people.

So yeah if there's a vote for objectification and sexism, it's that one.

 

[archreaper93]

The trope of all JRPGs not being SMT Nocturne.

 

[mrmojo228]

Basically their handling of anything woman. In most JRPG they literally exist for one thing and one thing only creep service. And it gets a billion times worse when it's a little girl. Either the camera has to show their ass and breasts all the time, their design is inherently sexist, they wear scraps while all the men were something that covers their body or they are shown in demeaning situations.

I'm playing Ys VIII right now and it ticks all the fucking boxes like a muther fucker. The first party member you get is a young woman that you get introduced to while she is taking a bath in the river. The scene is so ridiculously sexist and stupid. The story is that they shipwrecked on an dangerous island and somehow she managed to find a towel and decided it would be a good idea to take a bath in the river and OF COURSE the faceless protagonist appears out of nowhere and she drops her towel. The game itself is decent but Japan's media landscape needs a healthy dose of feminism because this shit needs to stop. It's like it hurts them physically when create female characters that aren't sextoys for the otaku playerbase.

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Ok obviously women are hugely sexualized in, well any type of media anywhere in the world. And yes it is a very common trope in Japanese games to have the sexualized women characters with big boobs or skimpy clothes or whatever. But this is an exaggeration. There are typically one or two of these stereotypes in a game. Then you have others like the nerdy or intellectual one/tomboy/cute and innocent etc. It is a formula in Japanese media which is why anime tropes are so well known. Then you have the hot smooth guy/shy skinny guy/cold and calculated guy etc. There are a lot of very strong women in Japanese games. Actually more women are probably represented in a strong way (by that I mean physically, intellectually or in character) in Japanese games then western games. And in western culture the big boob blonde bimbo is probably just as well known. I will say western culture does seem to be moving away from this in the past 15 years or so though.

 

[Benzychenz]

Voted for harem and lack of deaths.
Wanted to vote for child party members as well.

Lack of deaths really bothers me in some games. Kingdom Hearts especially, nothing that happens matters because everyone always comes back.

 

[LazyLain]

The trope of all JRPGs not being SMT Nocturne.

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I hate this trope the most.

 

[archreaper93]

I hate this trope the most.

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It really is the worst.

 

[Rabbit]

I despise child characters in general but lolis take the cake. I hate those kinds of characters the most.

 

[Korigama]

By and large, I can't say I care much about lack of deaths in most JRPGs. Death simply for the sake of it doesn't amount to much of anything. It was more glaring in something like Trails of Cold Steel II, which was largely bloodless for a game set during a civil war.

 

[DmckPower]

Saving the world /killing evil gods/empires etc in general.

Some stories manage to get a bit more personal but always eventually fall back on these tropes.

 

[Deleted member 12833]

Basically everything related to how they represent women. That and the generic big eyes art direction.

 

[NCR Ranger]

normal children = ok

sexualized children = not ok

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Pretty much. I also went with the harem one because that shit is so damn annoying. Though if it was an option I would also have gone with everyone always seemingly being in their teens to early 20s as well. Like once you hit 27 it is time for your old ass to retire.

 

[Vitamin_B_Complex]

Ok obviously women are hugely sexualized in, well any type of media anywhere in the world. And yes it is a very common trope in Japanese games to have the sexualized women characters with big boobs or skimpy clothes or whatever. But this is an exaggeration. There are typically one or two of these stereotypes in a game. Then you have others like the nerdy or intellectual one/tomboy/cute and innocent etc. It is a formula in Japanese media which is why anime tropes are so well known. Then you have the hot smooth guy/shy skinny guy/cold and calculated guy etc. There are a lot of very strong women in Japanese games. Actually more women are probably represented in a strong way (by that I mean physically, intellectually or in character) in Japanese games then western games.

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There is a billion years of difference between most anime games and something like Horizon, Control etc. Western games seem to make progress while barely anything has changed in that genre or it has even gotten worse.You are right that these are tropes but these are disgusting tropes that need to die. Like the girl from Ys VIII I talked about. She is strong, intelligent, capable and is well respected among the group, but no no no, can't have a female character without showing her in an embarrassing lewd situation before we introduce her properly. So yeah, there are many strong awesome women in JRPG but the way they are treated by the producers is many times disgusting. Imagine The Last of Us getting a bikini DLC where Ellie is shown in a skimpy outfit getting all hazukashiiiiiii. People would fucking riot yet there are JRPG that try to tell mature stories but also pull this kinda shit.

I don't know why I'm renting so hard. Maybe because I see the potential in these games and stories and in the industry in general but shit gets flooded with problematic content. This makes stuff like Promised Neverland so rare and exciting, it shows that there are people willing to write female/children characters without resorting to creep service.

 

[Jerm]

Definitely the first two. Fetch and underage puts me way off.

 

[Benzychenz]

By and large, I can't say I care much about lack of deaths in most JRPGs. Death simply for the sake of it doesn't amount to much of anything. It was more glaring in something like Trails of Cold Steel II, which was largely bloodless for a game set during a civil war.

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So many games are just poorly written in this regard though and there's no stakes.

Villain who has slain countless people and razed entire villages confronts your party:
"Oh I'll just take you prisoner mwahaha"

 

[Dymaxion]

Bad costume/armor designs for female party members is a trope I really want to end. Also, the sexualization of female characters in video games is almost always pointless in terms of the plot of the game. It's sleazy marketing and it's not the least bit funny. I just cannot bring myself to buy Xenoblade 2 because of these things and I know I'm not alone.

 

[Korigama]

So many games are just poorly written in this regard though and there's no stakes.

Villain who has slain countless people and razed entire villages confronts your party:
"Oh I'll just take you prisoner mwahaha"

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I disagree with the notion that the only way to properly emphasize "STAKES" is through killing off characters. I've observed much less of a willingness of villains to kill as opposed to just not being allowed to succeed, which more often seems to be the point of contention (going back to Trails, there's something where most villains are less interested in actually killing the party as opposed to amusing themselves for a bit until going on their merry way and fighting another day).

While on the subject of developers weighing how they handle death, I recall something interesting regarding plans for the original Final Fantasy VII that were nixed for the final game:

Spoiler: major spoilers for the original FFVII

during the mission involving the return to Midgar toward the end of the game, where the party parachuted back into the city, the dev team toyed with the idea of having it be so that everyone you didn't choose to accompany you would be killed off during the operation, deciding against it after concluding that such an outcome would undermine the impact of Aerith's death before that.