To spruce up some exposition, what are cliche Backstory Tropes that you enjoy? Dislike?

Also tips on weaving them into the plot/story without seeming so obvious?

Any examples of the worst offenders?

It depends on the game and the backstory, clichés are only stupid and annoying (or pleasant and unnoticeable) in context. Please explain what you are doing.

Taking a small step back, why do you think your game needs a lot of backstory exposition? It's a liability, not a feature.

The whole point of storytelling in games is to frame what the player is expected to do. That's why Super Mario Bros is so rarely derided for its bare-bones “plot.”
As long as the exposition delivery doesn't impede on player control, a player generally would let the developer use ALL the cliches. It doesn't “become a problem” when the player is watching instead of playing, it simply adds to the problem that the player isn't playing.

@Lendrigan Games I think you are over generalizing. Mario I think is more of the exception than the rule. Its world and characters are strange in a unique way, where not explaining what is going on is actually necessary to maintain the game's loveable quirkiness. I.e. no amount of exposition could explain why a plumber is rescuing a princess from a dragon, or why turtles want to kill you, beyond “because that's how it is.” And yes plenty of other games are exceptions like Mario, but if the OP is asking about it, he's probably not making one of these.

The best example of exposition (and maybe the best places to look for examples of what to do and what not to) are opening cutscenes. “Here's the world, here's our hero, here's the conflict.” Some great ones are concise 15s-5m intros because yes, the player just wants to play. Others (Final Fantasy, some of the Metal Gear games) feel like they're 30 minutes long. So imo the issue isn't “how long is too long” but instead, is the exposition proper for the kind of story being told?

To be clear though, exposition isn't only the stuff at the very beginning. In fact, an effective way to deliver exposition is to let the player crack a few skulls first, THEN have that 15m dialogue that fills the player in on why everything is happening and how we got here, because now they are more likely to care.

Anyway, I could go on and on about this, but I think the OP needs to be a little more specific about what he's asking.

@KevlarGolem Super Mario Bros is merely an example of the point I made in the previous sentence. It has adequate exposition for its gameplay. My central point is more about the delivery of the exposition: people play games for the interaction, and if the exposition impedes interaction, that's a problem.

Lendrigan Games said:

@KevlarGolem Super Mario Bros is merely an example of the point I made in the previous sentence. It has adequate exposition for its gameplay.

Previous sentence: “The whole point of storytelling in games is to frame what the player is expected to do.”

The previous sentence is what I disagree with though. Telling the player where the door to the next level is (or whatever the objective), is almost never enough exposition or storytelling in general.

KevlarGolem said:

The previous sentence is what I disagree with though. Telling the player where the door to the next level is (or whatever the objective), is almost never enough exposition or storytelling in general.

If the player is there to play a game, it's enough. If there's more exposition that the developer thinks the player needs to get, the method of delivering that exposition is more important to the player experience than the exposition itself.

Well, agree to strongly disagree. Not much else to say.

I dislike predictability, leaving those reading engaged. I like adding bad, and self destructive personal choices by the character to change the story arch, resulting in conflict. Hero number 1, that makes all correct decisions, with no faults… It's mind numbingly boring. I love narcissistic, shallow, selfish, greedy, sadistic, moraly bankrupt character's and other negative traits. Having petty infighting, swearing matches, the plotting, with the readers just waiting for the characters unfortunate end. The average reader has no interest in the writing process, it's entertainment. Find an interesting way to convey the information, problem solved. Like when adding new words, have the old people shrugging and asking their kids what it means. The kid starts laughing at them, and explains what the new word means, which in effect fills the audience in on the joke.