Nut back to topic, of course there are certain rules or laws that most games follow.
I tell you: A floating city or continent WILL eventually crash onto the ground! It�s just a matter of time, and little does matter which game it is!
However, in today�s rpgs I think programmers are trying more and more to break the rules and come up with brand new ideas.
And I also know some examples when I did not expect anything great and new… but was surprised: If you know Chrono Trigger, you might know how I felt halfway through the game… in the beginning I was so sure that this was yet another "Slay the evil wizard in order to save mankind!"-games… I was mistaken.
Hmm….this reminds me of Breath of Fire 2, I had over 750 battles in less then ten hours….thats alot considering I beat breath of Fire 4 with under 600 battles.
Let’s hear it for good old-fashioned unbearably high encounter rates!
The clich�d plot you brought up, ultimate veggie is an RPG staple. You won’t now, and probably never will find many games in the genre that don’t follow this plotline slightly, or precisely.
If you’re really itching for a one-man ass-kicking fest in an RPG, you could just settle for Zelda. 😉 For something more "revolutionary", try Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (psx), or the god-like "dungeon crawler", Vagrant Story (psx). You either love or hate the latter.
It’s a bother sometimes and sometimes it isn’t.
But on the other hand in some games it’s kind of a letdown. While RPG gameplay was getting better in FF3j gameplay was at a standstill in Dragon Quest 4. Very sad. It’d be okay if it wasn’t an annoying and hard to play system but yeah. (don’t get me wrong, I love Dragon Quest/Dragon Warrior games and will defend them to the death)
So I think it just depends on the RPG in question, really.