What are the common tropes/cliches you see in CoG games (and other games) that you like (and don't like)

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God there are so many:

  1. The 3 Ss, Sass Sarcasm Snark. Bonus points for banter and flirting mixed in with all of that.
  2. Defrosting ice queens/broken birds (probably why I like Gisela from Keeper so much), but in general the tough on the outside mushy on the inside characters. @yb_minhee and that hurt/comfort thing definitely falls in here. So does the only for the MC thing they mentioned. Seraphina <3
  3. Belligerent sexual tension. I blame the extended Star Wars universe and Mara Jade for that.
  4. What better example of BST than enemies to lovers?
  5. Acts of true love (not necessarily romantic, like a friend sacrificing his life for another)
  6. This one is super specific but romantic gestures that are kind of grand but not really? Something like writing and publishing a book with characters based on the LI and just generally pouring your heartfelt feelings in it - to everyone else it’s just a book, to the writer and the LI it’s a… overly long love letter? I’m terrible at explaining this.
  7. The Lost Lenore.
  8. Star crossed lovers, one true love, put them together and you just have suffering and angst and ahhhhhhhhh it hurts so good. Although it’s still just as great if they actually get together.
  9. Second chances, even if that’s sometimes in the form of timey wimey shenanigans.
  10. That Mindlink Mates @EvilChani mentioned - Blame Mara Jade for that one too
    I’m too afraid of falling down the tvtropes rabbit hole so this will do for now.
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I’m not sure if this trope has a name, but when there’s one character in the company/department/group etc. that is a good person and doesn’t realize the massive extent of corruption surrounding them. Especially if they’re the By-the-Book Cop trope (which doesn’t necessarily need to be a cop, but could be) and then forget about the rules as soon as they realize they’re the only one playing by them.

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Few that come to mind:

  1. Love triangles Sue me but I LOVE IT. Love the angst and the longing and the jealousy. I especially like if the love triangle is between two characters I also have an option to romance individually (TWC is an example of that).
  2. Enemies to lovers/ Villan x Hero. This is my favorite, I always go for the villain if possible. The bigger the struggle, the better.
  3. Happy endings (always my favorite. Lots of angst before, but give me a happy ending!)
  4. Star-crossed lovers I just want someone to chose the MC over everything and everybody. No matter what they choose you. Angst for days.
  5. Everybody Loves MC I love when multiple characters compete for the MC attention.
  6. Royal AU nothing to say, love it!
  7. Ice princes not necessary a prince, but I really like cold, arrogant characters that fall in love with the MC.
  8. Anything inspired by a book/movie I love things like MC in wonderland, MC in Neverland, Jane Austen inspired I would love one set in Hogwarts, the Witcher, lord of the rings… I do like to immerse myself in words I already know. Bonus if I can romance characters that I already know (MR. Darcy, Peter Pan, etc…).
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I really like the NSGO trope especially one where you have to make some incredibly obviously dumb choices to get like trying to romance Morinth in ME2 (who is basically black widow that kills partners in the process of their alien form of intercourse)

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the trickster hero trope is one of my favorites. i like it when the mc can win against much stronger bad guys by trolling them, sometimes in humorously random ways. big fan of characters like joseph joestar or jack sparrow.

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I like the Cute and Psycho trope personally. I just find the contrast really entertaining. Creepy Cute too.

Yeah, I watch a lot of anime.

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I’ve seen a lot of the rival character. I don’t hate the trope, but I hate it when the author doesn’t give a reason for the character to hate the PC. Just seems like some of them were created for hatefucking

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MC is often an orphan. And they have some tragic past, and trauma that causes nightmares. Boring.

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Things I like:

  • Backstories that are strongly felt in flavoring text
  • Meta overtones and wordplay
  • Academic settings
  • Focus on creative/artistic pursuits
  • Animal sidekicks

Things I dislike:

  • Excessively self-conscious gender role subversion. I want to see all kinds of people have all kinds of strengths and weaknesses.
  • All the prospective ROs being drawn to my character, whether it makes sense for them or not
  • Always having to make the first move to initiate a romance
  • Diversity that feels like the author was working from a checklist rather than creating vibrant and dynamic characters who reflect the variety and complexity of human beings
  • Asexual always means aromantic
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Mmm… I’ll try to be constructive here, so I’ll focus on a single trope:

I don’t exactly dislike the “MC is an orphan” trope, being an orphan myself. I just… Think it’s very very underdeveloped most of the time, which makes it often very boring and unrealistic… Sometimes, at the complete lack of any real impact that being an orphan has in the plot/character psyche at all just annoys me, especially in subtle ways that the main character themselves weren’t expecting to be affected in. It’s like, being and orphan is either this BIG THING but then at other times it’s like it never happened.

In my experience, it feels more like an itch. A bone that hasn’t quite set right, or a phantom pain from an old wound. It is very rare for you to not be aware of it, even when you are happy, but you learn to live with it. At times something sets it off, often unexpectedly. I remember that in my first year, I was brought to tears by a random butter commercial showing a happy family during Christmas. I was just walking in the city too, and I’m not really a person prone to crying, but it just drove a nail right in the wound and I had to stop walking for a minute or two. It didn’t stop me from working that day, it didn’t make my day worse imo. I was just in pain for awhile and I decided to drink a coffee nearby: A small moment of self-care and reflection. And then I walked on. These small moments of weakness are nearly nowhere in the works I have seen so far, but I’m really appreciative of authors that do take them in consideration.

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I like the fantasy academy games! Not all of them work but the ones like Crème de le crème are just plain fun!

I also adore games with two customizable MCS such as Odessa Dating Games and These Reluctant Years! I like to use my OTPS from other media and stick them in lol. They’re sadly quite rare :cry:

As for what I don’t like, too many made up words. Especially without a glossary I don’t have the best memory so I’ll get lost and not know what’s going on

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I love very dark stories that aren’t stupidly edgy. A crapsack world where you have only bad choices if you don’t feel like dying. Amoral protagonist in a terrible world. For example Tyranny ,The Age of Decadence ,Colony Ship, Beholder 3,Hard West, This War of Mine, Pathologic, maybe Infinity Sea. That’s not to say that I don’t like happy endings just some times I’m in the mood for something else. Friendly rivals (Or at the very least ones who aren’t trying to kill the other. I’m fine with beating the crap out of each other as long as it’s not one way) to lovers. Arrogant ro’s for example, Ortega(Fallen Hero, Daeran(Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous), Seraphina(Keeper of Sun and Moon). I’m still sad that Cassius from the Infinity Sea isn’t a full romance option. I love getting and taking care of a pet in a game. Seeing happy calm moments with ro’s or friends in a dark story. As for a gameplay tropes that I like is faction systems instead of morality ones.

As for tropes that I hate fanservice, especially the stupid joke kind of like walking into someone in the bathroom or someone who is undressing or falling into someone’s crotch or into a women’s chest. I have a BIT more tolerance for it in a comedy show but I have no patience for it in a game or show that’s trying to be serious it’s like hearing the same shit joke for the 800th time. Rape being used as cheap shock horror is a big no for me even worse if it’s being used for comedy. Very abusive ro’s Jun/Junko, most but not all tsundere in anime(I mean the ones who beat the crap of the people they defiantly do not like and it’s one-sided). The main character is forced to be an idiot for the story to continue unless it’s very funny like in Neuro or The Mystery of the Druids. Burying your gays. As for examples of stuff that I find too edgy ATOM, Stygian, Hatred(At the very least I found some parts of Postal 2 funny and well you could just not kill anyone), Danganronpa(A bunch of parts in 2 and 3 I found to be very yuck).

I will probably think of some more latter and edit them in(Sorry for the long rambling)

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I dislike when the gender ratio between ROs is really unbalanced. One WIP I enjoy has seven male ROs and only 3 female ROs, it’s not going to detract me from playing it but it still sucks.

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I like my ROs old - the older (visibly so!) the better, I like them antagonistic and I like the symphony of similar traits playing the major role in attraction to MC. I like them being someone you would not call a good person, I like the rivalry and villain romances, I like forbidden love trope of many kinds - generally, I like it very spicy, yet equal between the MC and RO.

Oh, Nichol, why art thou the only silver fox I’ve found in the books?

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The tropes that I find and love that comes to mind are:

Friendly Rivalry

I love myself some good ole’ friendly rivalry from time to time. Like sometimes I just want a break from a rivalry that’s all “I’m going to literally kill my rival if given the opportunity” type.

I love the childish/friendly rivalry between the RO and MC that’s meant to serve as a healthy motivation for both parties!

Something like “Bet I can reach a higher score than you! So you better up your game then!”, or “I know you can do better than that, you’re my rival afterall and I know how you usually act very well.” being said in a friendly/encouraging manner with no malice just makes my happy chemical go up.:sparkling_heart::two_hearts:

Hard exterior but soft inside

I love it when an RO has a hard exterior but very sweet inside! I’m a sucker for this trope because who doesn’t love the contrast of an intimidating, and stoic person who has alot of scars — ones that speaks to their harsh past that rendered them cold and aloof …but at the same time they’re cuddling and baby-talking to a small little kitten with a small yet genuine smile on their face — like istg It’s literally high quality healing material🥰

Animal companion

I. Love. Animals. So any idea of an animal companion following the MC is always an automatic yes in my book🥰

also bonus points if said animal companion possesses the ability to talk because being able to communicate with animals? :clap:Sign. Me. Up.:clap:

Angst. Angst in general.

I love all forms of angst varying from the classic star-crossed lovers to the bittersweet ending where one or both parties die off.

One in particular that I love is the angst of things being changed by time!

Whether it’d simply be from nostalgia like revisiting a memory from the past that’s long gone — a past that’s never gonna return no matter how much you’d love for it to come back — or maybe witnessing the transition itself from the more simpler and happy times turning to the more complicated and harder times right before your very eyes… ig I just love being hurt🥰

Soulmates

This concept is so cliché but so good🥰 I love the concept of having that one special person that you’re bound to from the very moment you’re born and I consume all media related to it <3

I also love it when reincarnation is thrown into the mix! Maybe in the past the MC and RO led an depressing and sad life and couldn’t be together but then again they’re soulmates and bound together so they get reincarnated and meet eachother again in a more happier setting — anfkwmxmamd the angst and fluff potential of reincarnated soulmates is so good :sparkling_heart::two_hearts:

I have a ton of other tropes that I also love but it would take me too long, so time for the ones that I dislike!

…which aren’t that many truth be told as I genuinely do believe that any story — as long as it’s well written by an competent author — can be pulled off!

But the tropes I dislike in general are:

Harem

I don’t have much of a problem with the idea of like 5 people competing for the attention of one person as that can introduce some good tension for the story, it’s just that most of the time the way that this is excecuted is… poorly, to say the least.

Most of the time the MC would have the personality of a white bread. Like if you were to search up examples of the word “boring”, they would be the example used.

And in some harem VNs the MC is generic-looking and can easily be mistaken for a background NPC, so to think that alot of people would be remotely interested in a boring MC — who doesn’t stand out in the slightest — is baffling to me.

Then again the harem genre mostly works as a self-fullfillment fantasy so if you like harem then there’s nothing wrong with it! I just personally don’t like harem.

Asshole ROs

Before anything I’d say that asshole ROs are a guilty pleasure of mine as I do enjoy the tension of hatred between the RO and MC that is as long as they’re written nicely.

My main problem is when said asshole RO that treats others like literal trash are written to be seen as something good.

They’d get no repercussion — not even a slight negative mention for the way they treat others at all and it’s written in a way that romanticizes it.

Like they would be a literal piece of dogpoop, commit several warcrimes, maybe even commit arson to the MC’s house and literally frame MC of murder but then it would all be justified because they’re hot and attractive.

I’m not asking for the asshole RO to be the picture-perfect definition of a good citizen, nor am I asking for them to be as realistic as possible, because fiction doesn’t have to imitate reality — I mean fiction IS fiction and seperate from reality for a reason, but this way of presenting the asshole RO just… irks me.

Anyways those are some tropes I love and hate in CoG and other similar games that comes to mind :two_hearts:

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I like the trope of an intimidating old dude who takes care of a child or a cute pet.

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Daily reminder: It’s only warcrimes if your side loses.

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Enemies to lovers. Give me the nastiest, meanest RO and I will probably romance them without (or at least inappropriately little!) shame. whispers I even went more than once for Jury. :smiling_face_with_tear:

Rivalries are wonderful as well. One route I recently enjoyed: Vanja in Social Services of the Doomed. All-time faves: Ash Wakefield in Choice of the Deathless and JJ in Slammed (even though I actually prefer E Ecstasy, but JJ’s route is still very well-done, IMHO).

There’s nothing quite as satisfying as having a RO hate my MC’s guts on sight and me being able to slowly plot their downfall and chip away at their armor via careful, elaborate seduction. :pinched_fingers:

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Yes, I dislike that too. Especially when several of the RO paths are also only available to MCs of a certain gender in a way that further unbalances the number of selectable ROs MCs get depending on their gender and sexual/romantic orientation and/ or decreases the number of ROs those MCs into the gender which had the fewest number of ROs even further. One of the reasons that I don’t intend to buy the second book of The Golden Rose when it comes out, is in fact that it looks like it’s set up to become excactly like that.

As for tropes I like, I do like it when the story starts with the MC not remembering who they are and/or how they ended up in the particular situation they’re in and all of that being slowly uncovered in the course of the story. There’s something about the sense of slowly uncovering a mystery and ( for the MCs not remembering who they are) sense of kind of starting with a fresh slate that really appeals to me.

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When the villain is actually evil instead of just good because the backstory they tell is them going through stuff. I mean my god like the villains can either be romanced or just befriended at any time they want so long as you know their back story is a dumb idea to me also sympathetic DOES NOT mean good just because they’re parents abused them DOES NOT mean they have the right to destroy other peoples lives.

Another trope I love is if the hero literally dispels the villains argument, “the world is a cespool of corruption, where the privelleged rule over the lower class, by resetting it all and putting myself on top I will create a trully equal system where everyone can be trully happy” says the villain, “but wouldn’t putting yourself on top of everyone mean no one else is equal to you therefore you’re just resetting the argument.” Kinda sad this doesn’t happen a lot especially now a days.

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