Khuutra said:
The Lurker said:
MDMAniac said:
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The Lurker said:
Any game that covers back story with amnesia. Any game that concludes with the main character(s) waking up (SMB2). Any game featuring the same clichés you see in all sorts of writing.
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Um, Planescape Torment says Hi! And this one is among the best breed of WRPGs.
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That's a great example! I could only think of a few lousy MegaZeux titles. Yeah, great RPG, but the amnesia thing is so trite and reeks of bad sci-fi.
It's bad writing because it's a really cheap way to fill in back story. It requires no thought on the writer's part. They can skip describing the guy's childhood, family life or events before the story because, well, he has *amnesia*. It's also an instant plot twist later in the story (if the writer chooses) when the protagonist finds out he's actually a bad guy, or a major player in an ancient prophecy. Cheap and nasty.
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Knights of the Old Republic handled this particular trope excellently, I thought, by setting up the red herring of letting you make your own backstory.
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Lost Odyssey handled this pretty well as well with the immortals have lost their memories due to a spell casted on them by Gongora only to slowly get them back as the game progesses. It also helps that these same immortals have real pasts revealed through cutscenes and the Thousand Years sequences. I never played The Witcher but I also heard that it handles the "protagonist with amnesia thing" very well since it was done to immerse players.
