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So, most of the time people talk about tropes or cliches found in video games in a negative way. This thread is to talk about those common themes you actually enjoy whether it be in the story or in the actual gameplay.

For me, one of the coolest would be light vs dark. Sure it's simple and done infinite times, but I still love it. Either when it's alternate worlds like in Metroid Prime 2, Link to the Past, or Twilight Princess or just alternate characters like pretty much every game series ever has had like Liquid Snake, Star Wolf, Dark Link, Dark Samus, Dark Pit, and all those other dark characters. I think this theme usually makes for a very interestkng story and usually has cool gameplay and aestetics involved.

Another recurring theme I really love has to be enemies that don't really die. This is less common, but it can still be seen everywhere. I think it makes things far more epic when you meet an enemy mulitple times and they never seem to just die. Sometimes this can be negative when a boss battle is pretty shitty and repetitive (like the Imprisoned from Skyward Sword), but at other times it can be fantastic, like Ghirahim (also in Skyward Sword). A few other great examples of this include Ridley, Dark Samus, King Bulblin, that one mini-boss from Metroid Other M that kept coming back and only died after like 15 times and it had horns or something (can't remember it's name), Ganondorf (sort of), and many more that I can't remember at the moment.

Sort of related to that trope, I adore the trope of being an underdog who builds their strength up to unbelievable amounts and fights something of unbelievable power. This happens in nearly every Zelda game to date. Zant in Twilight Princess and Ghirahim in Skyward Sword are good examples. They're top-tier evil villains with power you can barely imagine that were built up for the whole game, and then after going through loads of shit, Link comes and tears them to pieces by barely trying. Being more specific, usually JRPGs come to mind when I think of this trope. Like when you beat the shit out of gods in FF games and Xenoblade. I just find it thrilling.

Ooooh, this is my kind of thread! (Seriously, I spend too much time on TV Tropes, so much so that my sister kept getting confused when I tried using trope names to describe ideas.)

I love "Dark is not evil." I know, who's surprised? I just like the idea of a race of people being misunderstood, but generally being likeable, even if they're scary on the surface.

Regarding your nigh-indestructible enemy thing, that needs to be done very carefully, or it can break the willing suspension of disbelief that keeps the player engrossed. Case in point, Resident Evil 6 and the Ustanak. A few dozen rounds pumped into it. Stops for a bit, later, gets impaled on a gigantic mining drill. Its entire torso, save for a small bit around the edges, is chunked; you can see clearly through the thing. He proceeds to curb stomp Sherry and Jake with the giant sucking would apparently not slowing it at all. Later on, Sherry, Jake, Leon, and Helena all pump tons of ammo and explosives into it, then drop a gas tower on it, which explodes. STILL. NOT. DEAD. Drop it into molten steel, Terminator style. STILL NOT FUCKING DEAD! It only stops chasing you at the very end after it falls into an exploding facility, and even then I wouldn't be surprised if it showed up in the next game. It just left me saying "C'mon, seriously?!"

Anyway, back on topic. I like places in otherwise action-packed games where things slow down, there's no combat, and you can take in the scenery, maybe talk to a few NPCs. Not even really towns, per se. Going back to Resi 6, I liked being able to wander around the cathedral in Leon's campaign, watching what the survivors were doing, hearing their conversations and concerns. It set the mood very nicely.

Speaking of conversation, I love being able to eavesdrop on conversations of enemies. Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Jedi Outcast both did this a lot, and I loved listening to the whole dialogs before moving on. And slaughtering them afterwards, of course. Sure, hearing those Nazi guards bitching about having to guard a wine cellar might not be the most exciting thing, but I love immersion, and those scripted dialogues really help.

Im always searching for the Large Ham in any videogame, it just hilarius when I actually found one. I hope Knucles in Sonic Boom willbe like this.

I enjoy damsels in distress, sexy female characters, and heroines and villainesses with really cliche motivations.

The underdog who becomes a legendary badass (one of the reasons i like ace combat so much)

I love when a game has a huge bad ass weapon that's hard to find or get, but once you do everything in your path just dies instantly. My personal favorites are the BFG from Doom and the RYNO series of guns from Ratchet & Clank.

I love gigantic boss fights that signify the true end of the game, i.e. Mother Brain in Super Metroid or the Icon of Sin from Doom 2. It's just awesome for me when the game ends on such a strong note.

When the best level in an extreme sports game is the last one, like Carnival from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4.

The red barrels, especially when they are used as a joke.

My personal favorite is cool plane.

The only (seriously only) trope that I actually quite like is the "adventurer with a clouded past" trope in RPGs. It really helps you get into the actual role play instead of telling you what you are and where you came from (I'm looking at you Fallout: New Vegas). The entire point of an RPG is to let you play who you want to be, and telling you literally nothing about your past is the best way to do it.

I enjoy the Light/Dark duality in games

Other than that I also like mechanics dealing with a boardgames aesthetic (The License board form Final Fantasy XII are an example), Metal Slimes, Randomized Dungeons (Granted I don;t play rouges despite that) over-the-top or overkill actions, and some form of customization (whether it be in characters, locations or weapons)

I'm neutral on difficult bosses. I also like motifs based on stars, symbols or mythology.

Cloudcuckoolander, Crazy Awesome, Cuckoolander Was Right, usual stuff.
Also I had to go to TVTropes to look up this stuff and I got trapped there for an unusually small amount of time before being sent to Wikipedia for a slightly longer amount of time.
My eyes hurt.

So many, but my favorites would be Dark Is Not Evil, Light is Not Good, and What The Hell Player. I like it when games break the generic "Darkness is bad, Light is good" bit since it allows for more humanization in the end. What The Hell Play is a favorite 'cause shows players being a total douche to NPC's that aren't enemies (and in some cases even defeated enemies) has consequences.

About your first two themes, that's basically the way most Metal Gear games work story-wise. You can see why the villains are evil, but you can also see the good guys can be evil and the bad guys have good motives oftentimes and the lines between good and evil get heavily blurred. It's great.

My favorite trope is the charismatic "villain", with Kane from Command and Conquer as my favorite example.

Procedurally-generated dungeons are more of a gameplay feature than a narrative trope, but gods damn do I love them! I don't know why, even though they tend to be very bland, I just adore them for some reason.

Green-skinned space babes. Or blue. Or red. Any color, really.

I tend to really enjoy tropes related to the afterlife and realms beyond death. I've been fascinated by the idea for years, and it's rarely touched upon, likely because it's taboo to speak about death? Or maybe everyone's become so tight-lipped about it because touchiness is at an all-time high.

Rule of Cool/Cute/Sexy. It doesn't always have to make sense as long as it's enjoyable.

Papa Wolf/Mama Bear. The type of person that's often demure or caring, perhaps even soft, but if you so much as look at their loved ones funny, your remaining lifespan can be measured in minutes or less.

The "Stranded in Spaaaaace" is one of my favorite tropes, because it leaves you to wonder how you got there, and what the hell you're supposed to be doing. Also because space. I'm a big Sci-Fi nerd when it comes to games. (Not so much TV)

"Power Copying" has always been a personal favorite of mine, because your enemies will ALWAYS be cooler than you… at least until you murder them and absorb one/all of their power(s) [coughmegamanseriescough]

The "Puzzle Piece Plot" is great because again, it leaves your mind to wonder why everything is happening, and why it's all happening to you.

COLLECTIVE TROPES
+Freaking Laser Swords. Who the hell doesn't love goddamn LAZER SWORDS?!
+Dual Wielding, so you can be as OP as you want.
+Implausible Fencing Powers > Bullet Hoses

My favorite trope is most always the "Dog Chasing Cars" Villain. Just this chaotic evil dick to everyone around them, usually with more power than not, and overall psychotic. Even when I know that there's no motive to be found, I still try to grasp at what little straws of sane reasoning the villain has, but alas, all for naught. Chaotic evil villains are some of the best, and anything less than that is herecy.

My favorite examples are most definetly the Joker from Batman, and the Lich from Adventure Time.

"Book ends" has always been one of my favorite tropes in every form of media. It always just gives a finality to the game. It also makes me feel accomplished on how far I've come and how some things never change.

EDIT:
Wow, that sounded really pretentious. Nonetheless, still love the trope.

- Elaborate Equals Effective – You know something is going to wreck your shit when you're wishing you had one too.

- Idle Animations – Hey, your avatar looks bored. Do something. NOW.

- Violations Of Common Sense – Rocket Jumping? Bunny Hopping? Quick Scoping? All possible here.