1: Always make your main character brooding, tortured and thoroughly unlikeable:
2: Everybody in the main party has a sword, even if everyone else has guns:
3: Your main party of heroes must include at least three (preferably all) of the following:
4: Always include a gambling minigame:
5: Partway through the game, split your party up into forced teams that includes characters the player clearly hasn't leveled up enough:
6: Your main villain must be one of the following, and ONLY one of the following:
7: NPCs are complete idiots:
8: NPCs never lock their doors and let you wander around their homes:
9: Never ever question why the world's global economy isn't in tatters when a man can't step foot outside his home town without being attacked by monsters:
10: The last dungeon requires so much level grinding that the player's fingers wear down to thimbles:
clipped from: www.destructoid.com