10 hackneyed cliches and gaming conventions that were often found in old games (12 photos)

I think that each of you has played many computer games in your life, and you have probably encountered many cliches, stereotypes and conventions that are present in many games.





Swimming underwater

In old games, players often faced the problem of the impossibility of swimming underwater. It would seem that there is a pond. Why not swim? But no, the main character, having fallen into the water, almost immediately dies.

The games "GTA 3", "GTA Vice City", "Mafia: The city of Lost Heaven" and others have been especially successful in this regard. Of course, you can understand the developers. After all, in order to create the ability to swim, additional resources are needed.



Nevertheless, in the game "GTA: San Andreas" released in 2004, the ability to swim both above and under water appeared, which gamers who were not used to it appreciated quite highly.

Female forms

In old computer games, developers put special emphasis on lush, open female forms and their figures, which sometimes looks quite strange in combat conditions. It feels like female characters in games do not want to defeat enemies, but to seduce them. Although, perhaps one does not interfere with the other.





It is enough to remember such games as "Bloodrayne", "Street fighter", "Tomb Raider" and others. But most of all I was struck by the female characters in the reboot of the "Mortal Kombat" series (Mortal Kombat 9), where all the female charms literally bulged out. Well, it's not surprising, because the main audience of such games are teenagers and students who crave a female body at least in the virtual world.



A little later, they began to abandon such cliches. Take at least the reboot of the "Tomb Raider" series. Pay attention to the new Lara Croft. Her forms are not as curvy as in the previous parts. And in the latest parts of the game "Mortal Kombat" the female characters are not as sexualized as before.

Oblique or weak partners

Of course, not all games have partners and companions who help us fight enemies, but if they do, they will not always be useful to us. Moreover, they can also screw up our gameplay.

Take the game "Mafia: The city of Lost heaven" for example. In some missions, we are given Sam and Polly as partners. And unlike the enemy gangsters, our friends are more slanted characters. In addition, they are constantly getting under fire, and if they die during the fight, the game will be lost. Therefore, we have to focus not only on personal safety, but also make sure that our companions are not killed.



In the game "Diablo 2" companions also do not have great power, especially if you take the original. Fortunately, in the "Lord of Destruction" add-on, it became possible to supply your companions with weapons and armor so that they could hold out in battle a little longer. Although, in the case of "Daiblo 2", companions still carry some really useful elements. For example, the spearmen from the second act have paladin auras at their disposal, which extend both to our hero and to the creatures we summon.

Although, of course, you shouldn't lump everyone together. In the first two parts of the game "Fallout", companions are very useful characters, and really help out in battle. And in the game series "Dragon Age" and "Mass Effect", companions really help us out quite well.

A huge inventory, but only two rings

One of the main elements of RPG games (and not only) is their huge inventory, in which you can put a whole bunch of different items, be it heavy armor or weapons.

It is enough to remember such games as "Fallout", "Diablo", "Sacred", "STALKER" and even "Alone in the dark". By the way, I just remembered that in the first part of the game "Alone in the dark" we had to take a heavy gramophone with us.



And despite the fact that in such games we could take a lot of things with us, our character could put on no more than two rings on his fingers. Although, what prevents us from putting rings on each of the ten fingers?

In shooters, as a rule, there was no inventory, but we could carry about 8-10 different types of weapons. Imagine how all this would look in real life.



And before you say that I'm being stifling, I'd like to point out that I'm not picking on all this. Don't forget that this article is for entertainment purposes, and I'm just describing game conventions here. Personally, they don't bother me, and I'm fine with everything. It's just sometimes funny to look at such moments from the perspective of real life.

The Chosen One

This cliche is not only a game cliche, but also a movie cliche, and in principle, a literary one. Quite often, we have to take on the role of an inconspicuous character who turns out to be a kind of chosen one, and who can almost single-handedly defeat all enemies.



Sometimes it's just funny to watch how some character single-handedly shoots and kills everything that moves, no matter what crowd attacks him. It looks especially funny when the hero is inexperienced in combat, and in the end he crushes everyone left and right.

Prison Break

Many games begin with the main character ending up in prison. Take at least such projects as "Prince of Persia", "The little big adventure" and the entire series of games "The elders scrolls". The main characters end up in prison, but quite dashingly get out of this situation and escape from prison.



Breaking into a house

In many games (particularly in RPGs), the doors to houses are not locked. You can safely wander around other people's houses even when the owners are not there. And even if the owners are home, they will not say a word to you. You can wander around their house, throw things around, and nothing will happen to you for it.



Sometimes, you can even take things that are on shelves and in closets, though not always. In the same series "Fallout" you can freely wander around other people's houses until you touch other people's things.

Insurmountable obstacles

Sometimes our heroes can jump very high, but sometimes this ability will not help them. For example, if you do not want to go around a mountain, but go through it, then you will not always be able to do this, and sometimes even a rise at an angle of 45 degrees will become an insurmountable obstacle for you. And even if you try to jump on it, you will simply slide down sharply. Well, the game does not provide for such a passage. What can you do?

Everyone needs money

This cliche is most often found in RPG games. When we beat monsters, we get experience for them. This is an absolutely normal situation. It is also absolutely normal when enemies with weapons drop some kind of weapon. In principle, everything is logical so far.



But what I really don’t understand is when money (gold) drops from each type of monster. Sometimes, even the lowest-level mobs (even rats or lizards) drop piles of gold. Where do they get it from? Or take at least some demons, who also leave a pile of gold after their death. Do they also pay with coins in their underworld?

Stealth

Naturally, we cannot fail to mention stealth in games that feature stealth elements. For example, you can notice that enemies have no peripheral vision at all. That is, they have a certain (and very small) field of view. We can approach enemies closely from behind and breathe down their necks, and they will calmly walk along, not suspecting anything.



But again, this is just a convention of the game, and I have nothing against it. After all, if everything was like in life, then it is unlikely that we would have managed to get through the game quietly.

Naturally, these are far from all the cliches and conventions that we could encounter in games of the past (and in modern ones too). I suggest you write in the comments what stereotypes and cliches you encountered.