yes another cliches topic.
I didn't played much RPGs in my life so if anyone knows an cliche fill out but only one cliche per person. let's begin:
the main villain plan is to take over the world
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8u7px_GzWQ

While death for a party member means mearly the incovenience of going to your local temple and paying 100G, when anyone else dies its a tragic, final event
"Oh poor Hogarth - buried in the snow after so many adventures!"
"Er shouldn't we dig him out and take him to the temple?"
"What? no, its a tragic end"
"but if we just pay the 100G on his behalf..."
"look shaddup already"
maybe that's just an infinity engine thing...

The main hero does not speak a single word, yet everyone knows exactly what he thinks and apparantly 'says'.

this thread reminds me of a fairly old image...

http://rampantgames.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/bwcliches.png

Fetch this.
Kill that.
Grind.
The belief that stats make a roleplaying game rather than, you know, roleplaying. Yeah, that's Bioware for you. Oh look, the training area's just gone up in bloody flames. Well who didn't see that coming?

The world is full of great, powerful, legendary heroes, some of whom you may even meet on your quest. But there's no escaping the fact that, somehow, only your character is capable of performing some of the simplest tasks. Including, but not limited to, taking an item from one NPC and delivering it to another. Who is standing at the opposite end of the street...

...yet somehow it's equally full of monsters, murderers and other threats to humanity. Somehow, despite this, peasants manage to carry on with their lives with very little difficulty.

I still think that Jade Empire is their best post-BG game, though, despite the fact that it fits ALL of the Bioware cliches on that chart, and more that aren't listed. But it does them so well, I simply don't care. Just because something is a cliche doesn't necessarily mean it's bad. The original Star Wars movie, for instance, is one giant cliche monster from start to finish, but it's still awesome.

Actual cliches:

- "You can't loot that fallen enemy's equipment! You'll have to find some in a chest somewhere!"
- "Your only dialog options are to agree to my obviously evil and transparently deceptive scheme! HAHAHA!"
- Elves who are obscenely arrogant and snooty, even if they haven't actually accomplished anything in this particular setting.
- A morality meter. With numbers on it and both minimum and maximum settings.
- Your childhood mentor is inevitably doomed. Every time.

Well that's probably because it's a reskin of KOTOR with better combat. I really liked the game, but the deja vu was so damn intense the whole time.

No versions of the RSPCA or PETA exist anywhere in the world. In fact, there is a roaring trade in animal hides and meat. You are also encouraged to slaughter any and every animal you may come across, however rare or even endangered that species may be. The only exception to this is the horse.

this definitely, I always thought I was the only one that noticed. I find it pretty annoying too.

There aren't any, unless you're only talking about JRPGs, then I guess you have broody dudes with impossibly stupid hair wielding weapons that are both way too big and probably useless (seriously if I could swing that shit around I'd just hit someone with a fucking car instead).

You are the only survivor, from your family / village / monastery, of whatever cataclysmic event shattered the world around you. Well, the only one except for the sister / mother / unrequited love interest whom you will eventually rescue from the clutches of the ultimate evil bad guy, who somehow knows about the hidden awesomeness that flows within your bloodline, even though a normal life would hide said awesomeness behind a life of drudgery at the family farm / village blacksmith (but, oddly enough, never a butcher, given that you're going to spend the next 40-100 hours butchering creatures across the map) / monastery.