Two words:
Ghost Ship.
I admit to not being the most well-versed video
gamer in the world (I couldn't land a guest spot on
Beat the Geeks or anything), but I've played my fair share of
RPGs and have noticed that one crucial element to developing an RPG is to be sure to include a ghost ship. It's right up there with say, the princess who hides her identity, or the amulet that seems like a regular
family heirloom but somehow holds great
power. I mean, come on, what's an RPG without a ghost ship? You and your party of brave adventurers come to some distressed
fishing town whose ships have
mysteriously gone missing... GHOST SHIP TIME! Or, you finally get your own ship and set sail for some other continent, but suddenly while you're travelling, the air gets
misty... GHOST SHIP TIME!
I haven't played a lot of RPGs lately, what with
having a life and all, so if anyone has any additions to my limited list then let me know. Also, I know that the ghost ship
cliche bleeds far into other game
genres that I neglect, so again, be sure to let me know. This is just from my
memory and the input of a few fellow ship-watcher friends of mine.
Video games with a ghost ship:
Lots of other games have almost-ghost-ships, like
Final Fantasy VI's phantom train, but I guess those don't count. I think it's funny how the response from the characters is always the same... complete surprise. Well, I know that if I ever go on a quest to save the world, the ghost ship sure as hell isn't going to catch me off guard.