Oftentimes our Top 7 lists tread ground that no one else has covered. After all, how many other articles can you find about inanimate objects and sexy horses? But every so often we come down from our esoteric high and write about something universal, like say long-ass videogame endings.
We wouldn’t expect any of you to have noticed, but there are recurring elements in many role-playing games. They're cleverly disguised from game to game; often, similar characters may wear different outfits or you'll use a gunblade instead of a sword, but once you learn to identify similarities, you can usually predict what’s going to happen in about any RPG you want.
You know the type: spiky hair, sad eyes, too many belt buckles in his ensemble to count. You might meet one or two of these guys in fighting games, or starring in a Prince of Persia sequel; more often than not, you’ll see them wangsting their hearts out in a sprawling Japanese RPG epic.