I've been thinking lately, is originality really all that it's cracked up to be? I mean, sometimes I just feel the urge to play or create a totally cliche, traditional fantasy rpg that takes itself seriously (like the Tales games that are so popular these days).

If a cliche, unoriginal rpg is good, do people ignore the fact that it's unoriginal? If not, then why is Tales of Symphonia so highly praised?

Is it really still unoriginal if it's the first rpg someone has played? If a game bores someone because of it's cliches, could it be their fault for playing too many rpgs? I'm not accusing someone, I'm just trying to make a point.

I downloaded the highly praised RPGM1 game Hero's Quest the other day and was impressed, but something felt missing. It felt too confined, and there were far too few battles, and too few variety of monsters early on (come on, swarm of bees for the first 3 hours?).

Are original storylines really that important? In my humble opinion, I could care less about the storyline; if the technical stuff like battle system, monster balance and variety of items are crap, then to me, it's not worth playing. I care about the fun factor. To me, training, dungeon crawls, power leveling, and challenging secret dungeons and bosses are fun. I've always cringed when I was forced to stay in a town for hours, talking to people to find out where to go next.

Is my taste bad, or do I just have a unique taste in rpgs? Am I the ONLY one?

I usually play RPGs for the story. With the exception of Dragon Quest. I play those because they're...well...Dragon Quest. Or any other old-school RPG, really. Nostalgia galore. Or...maybe?

I don't know what I play RPGs for, now that I think of it. This would take some thought.

As for originality, yes, it is definately overrated. Granted, you don't want to go completely by-the-books. Don't go saving that princess from the dragon and leave it at that. It's still gotta have something interesting to go along with it. Such as, gosh-darn-it, that flying dragon I just killed fell and broke the bridge I'm supposed to be crossing.

Haha yea saving the princess from a dragon by itself, sucks. I wouldn't even use that cliche, unless I was trying to make a parody haha. I just think that everything else shouldn't take the back seat to originality.

I think it all depends on what you want. You, after all, are the creator. You can try to please others with your games, but in the end, it's what you think of it. I think it's better if you like your game and everyone else hates it rather than if everyone likes it and you hate it.

I know, it sounds confusing, but as long as you enjoy your game, you'll be happy.

Originality is overrated these days. The only real way to get so many people interested in your game is the story, the battle system and the graphics/style. Graphics don't have to make the game good but its a nice thing to have. If you have a killer story then you got a crowd that will follow you.

although if you have the post-apoctoliptic world and the quiet swordsman for the hero you can still make a decent game out of that

I usually play RPGs for the story, in fact, I play almost all games for their story. There are only a few games out there that I can stand to skip the cutscenes or whatever the first time around. It does appear that originality is overrated these days, though. The story that the game has doesn't matter to anyone anymore. As long as it has good graphics, all-star voice overs, hot girls, a ridiculous combo system, lots of blood and gore, and/or dual wielding, a game will do well. All the games that put an honest effort into story and character development at the cost of graphics or innovation do poorly.
Why does Resident Evil always do better than Silent Hill? Because in Resident Evil, you get grenades, and explosives, and zombie parts flyin' all over the place. If a zombie comes at you (as if anything else does in that game) you have like five ways to turn it into lots of little zombie chunks, in any case it doesn't stand a chance. In Silent Hill, when one of the indescribable abominations comes after you, you press the attack button and hopes it works this time. Is Resident Evil more fun to play than Silent Hill? Of course. But Silent Hill does more to challenge your mind. In Silent Hill, you have a perplexing story, which can be very difficult to comprehend, and takes several passes through the game to understand. In Resident Evil, all you need to figure out is what "the master of all lockpicking" means.
The ultimate example of plot at the cost of gameplay would be Killer 7. In Killer 7 fighting off smiles is clumsy and annoying, and it takes a long while to get used to the rail system. Playing through the game is like taking a hot fire poker, sticking it in your eye, and then pouring salt in the wound. Not fun. But the real fun/insanity/hopelessness comes in the story. No one man, short of the games creator, Suda 51, could ever hope to fully comprehend the events of theat game within his own lifetime. You would have to clone Stephen Hawking seven times and put the clones in a thinktank for thirty years in order to come up with a WAY to examine the plot to comprehend the game. Did Killer 7 sell well? Well, I bought it.
...
But no one else did...

Some companies have taken the idea that good plots don't sell anymore and used it.
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SQUARE!!!
*cough*
"Hey, guys! Instead of making a new game with a good plot and everything, let's put Rikku in a thong, and make an opening cinematic where you can see Yuna's panties seven times!"
"Yeah! And a Scooby Doo reference! Everybody loves Scooby Doo references!"
...
I hate those guys.

But, I digress. Good stories are what set RPGs apart from other genres. When I want a great story, my best bet is to get an RPG. If I want action, innovation, and/or hot girls, I'll go out and buy Devil May Cry, Katamari Damacy, or a Najica: Blitz Tactics DVD (respectively).

I agree. However, having an RPG with a good story AND action, innovation, and/or hot girls and vice-versa is always nice as well.

That goes without saying...
But try finding a game that can actually hit the mark on all of those qualities.