*UPDATE* I guess it does relate to kingdom hearts too much. I just like some of the themes/mechanics. I mean having different worlds was a good way having multiple settings in. And I thought having the man character be darkness and his best friend being light was a good yin-yang type thing, and I thought them two being the key to opening the ultimate power would give the main villain a good reason to trying to kill them(I never like the "the hero is the hero because he`s good thing and the villain wants to kill him just because he is the hero), I thought it would be kinda different if the villain needed to kill the hero for a very specific reason. And I must admit, Im a sucker for the old "secretly harbors romantic feelings" cliche. Oh well, back to the drawing board. Maybe I could find a way to work in the ideas I have listed above without it seeming like kingdom hearts clone. Okay this ha been frustrating me. I have written the base story (no specific dialogue). Now, this is where I made my first mistake, I sent it to my friend(who knows nothing about game design/writing) to ask his opinion. His response was that the the story was not good. I asked why. He said "because it has to many Cliché`s). I know I shouldn't let hi opinion get to me but for some reason its just been on my mind. So are certain Cliché`s good? Here are the Cliché`s he listed(these is what he said, not me): Having all the main characters be ages 15-19 The main character living on a tropical island Getting swallowed by darkness (the same thing happens to your best friend), getting transported from that island to another world, meet two people who agree to help you look for your friend if you help them look for their older brother Having the main character being the chosen wielder of a special sword type weapon Having the settings be different worlds(not planets, worlds that are completely separate) The main stabbing his heart, with a special blade. fragmenting his heart(metaphorical heart not the actual organ), causing himself to turn into a mindless creature, all to awaken his best friend,whose heart has become part of the main characters (again metaphorical) who is a girl, who he secretly has romantic feelings for(This would make ALOT more sense if you read the story, PM me of you want of cop of the story document) The main character being brought back to his human form by the friend:who is a girl(she hugs a random creature who she thinks is the main character, a flash of light and he`s back to his human form) Having the two main characters be the key to opening a door to the world were all of the remnants of other worlds are that houses a tremendous source of power at the end of it Having a villain who wants to get said source of power. I mean sure some of those are Clichés(villain, characters ages, self sacrifice of the main hero) but in unique ways, right? [Edited by - tofudude on January 4, 2009 1:00:03 AM]

Cliches are not necessarily bad.. I can think of many, many stories which employed cliches, but were still excellent stories. I think the word "cliche" should be more of a warning sign to you. It's saying, be careful, because this topic might be overdone and your audience might be sick of it. But if you are able to add a unique twist, or otherwise do something really cool, then it will all be OK and your audience will forgive you.

I looked over your topics and they don't sound so bad.

The only one that is really bad is:

Quote:

Having the main character being the chosen wielder of a special sword type weapon

Personally I am so bored of plots where some dude is the "chosen one" for no reason. There are way too many stories out there that do this. If you can give a good reason *why* that dude is the chosen one, then it might work. But if it's just a bunch of hocus-pocus "because the fates say so" nonsense, then it makes my brain turn off.

The other ideas seem OK to me. But it's all about the execution.

The scary thing is, the more I read about what he picked up on, the more your story sounds like Kingdom Hearts.

"The main character living on a tropical island" Check.

"Getting swallowed by darkness (the same thing happens to your best friend), getting transported from that island to another world, meet two people who agree to help you look for your friend if you help them look for their older brother" Sora and Riku were transported to another world where Sora meets Donald and Goofy who are looking for Mickey. The relationships kind of work out too. So, check again.

"Having the main character being the chosen wielder of a special sword type weapon " Sora is the wielder of the Keyblade. So, check again.

"Having the settings be different worlds(not planets, worlds that are completely separate)" They travel to different worlds based around the many Disney movies/stories. Check.

"The main stabbing his heart, with a special blade. fragmenting his heart(metaphorical heart not the actual organ), causing himself to turn into a mindless creature, all to awaken his best friend,whose heart has become part of the main characters (again metaphorical) who is a girl, who he secretly has romantic feelings for(This would make ALOT more sense if you read the story, PM me of you want of cop of the story document)" There is a portion of the story where Sora becomes a Heartless, which matches your description pretty well as well.

"The main character being brought back to his human form by the friend:who is a girl(she hugs a random creature who she thinks is the main character, a flash of light and he`s back to his human form)" Forgot how Sora got brought back, so iffy if this matches.

"Having the two main characters be the key to opening a door to the world were all of the remnants of other worlds are that houses a tremendous source of power at the end of it" The door way to Kingdom Hearts is kind of similar to what you're talking about. Not going to really say it is a match there.

"Having a villain who wants to get said source of power." This is a given for all games though, especially one that involves some sort of ultimate power.

There are cliches and clones, and from the stuff you've listed, your idea seems closer to a clone.

Cliches are perfectly fine... hell, you can even write pretty much the same plot. but you seem to want to do is rip off kingdom hearts and call it your own.

I agree with WeirdoFu, this is too much like kingdom hearts... and just to clear something up:

Quote:

"The main character being brought back to his human form by the friend:who is a girl(she hugs a random creature who she thinks is the main character, a flash of light and he`s back to his human form)" Forgot how Sora got brought back, so iffy if this matches.

Kairi? Check!

At this day and age, I believe it's impossible to make a decent story that isn't cliched in some way or another... it's just a matter of not over doing it and using the right cliches for the right moments.

But, as for the age cliche, I wouldn't nessasarily call it a cliche. If there was such thing as a "non-cliche age", it would be with below the age of 5 of 70+ which would kinda suck in most contexts.

Here are some story-centering clichés I would avoid:

1. Good versus evil.
2. Antagonists doing bad things without proper incentives or motivation.
3. Magic sword. A soul-eater, wielder-corrupter, or something that has a negative side to it might be okay, though.
4. Rescue the lady.
5. Save the town/city/state/world/solar system/galaxy/universe/cardboard box.

This doesn't mean there are none worse, it just means I can't think of them.

Id avoid the age thing if its obvious what the character's age actually is. 30-40 is way better a choice than 15-20. Having the older and more experienced fighter being 23 is pretty bothersome.

Swords are cool. We all know it, but it is over done. Can you find a way to give the player some choice about their ultimate weapon is and some control over what they are? Does the character really have to be the ultimate swordsman with the uber-sword +10?

Good versus evil with no obvious history to bring the characters to those sides or motives for what they do is also not so good. Good vs Evil isn't bad in it self, just try for some depth with it. Find motives. Give back stories that make sense. Let the player relate to the evil guy and accept his position given his history.

The setting though I think would be fine. Tropical isn't bad at all, multi-verse setting, not too bad, though id try to keep to multiple nations and climates on one planet if possible. Darkness thing isn't terrible either, there are only so many ways to get magically transported.

In short, if Final Fantasy did it over and over, you shouldn't.

I guess it does relate to kingdom hearts too much.

I just like some of the themes/mechanics. I mean having different worlds was a good way having multiple settings in. And I thought having the man character be darkness and his best friend being light was a good yin-yang type thing, and I thought them two being the key to opening the ultimate power would give the main villain a good reason to trying to kill them(I never like the "the hero is the hero because he`s good thing and the villain wants to kill him just because he is the hero), I thought it would be kinda different if the villain needed to kill the hero for a very specific reason. And I must admit, Im a sucker for the old "secretly harbors romantic feelings" cliche.

Oh well, back to the drawing board.
Maybe I could find a way to work in the ideas I have listed above without it seeming like kingdom hearts clone.

It's more important to focus on the quality of writing than the number of cliches, but try to avoid the deus ex machina.

Cloning a setting or a plot is not fine. I haven't played Kingdom Hearts, so obviously much of what you listed means nothing to me, however people familiar with it are likely to react negatively to your game if the similarities are so brutally apparent.

Cliches, on the other hand, are fine. They are certainly safer than venturing into some exotic and original settings players would need time and effort to adapt to. Remember you are not writing a novel (and even if you were, the way modern fantasy fiction works today would still require you to make some considerations on the subject). You're fleshing out a theme for an interactive product. IMO, one way or the other, it takes considerable talent to "nail" something truly original in a way that it will appeal to players. The blunt truth is that most people believing they possess such a talent actually do not.

As for some individual points on your list:

- Does characters' age need to be literally spelled out? Unless the actual age is strongly tied to game or plot mechanics (prophecies or what-have-you) or both, it's usually easiest to keep it obscure. Most fantasy characters I've played could be anything from 18 to 28 (or more). However, note that the differences between ages of 15 and 18/19 are more apparent and profound than the differences between 18 and 28. Just decide if you want your character to be a child or a young adult and go from there. I'd personally avoid children.

- I assume the thing about tropical island, swallowed by darkness and the like would be more or less cloning the Kingdom Hearts plot (again I haven't played it), so in that case I'd drop that part entirely.

- Having the main character being the chosen wielder of a special sword type weapon. Why not? It's pretty much a safe bet in fantasy games. Of course, the details (such as why is that particular character chosen, by whom, to do what, and what are the properties of the said weapon) will make a huge difference. Therein will be the difference between the "oh, not this again" reaction and the "that sounds fun, if slightly familiar" one.

- Having the settings be different worlds(not planets, worlds that are completely separate) Nothing wrong with that, but it would certainly help if the explanations of how the entire cosmology works and how does one access different worlds would be rational, consistent and somewhat original. Avoid just walking through portals, at least the first time characters are meant to travel around.

- Having a villain who wants to get said source of power. This works fine too.