Well, this is my 1st article (please don't kill me... much). We all know that the great Japanese RPGs set a standard of playability and immersion that many of us try to achieve and fail, so we use clichés to hide our lack of creativity.
I've seen some games with so many clichés that I put them on a TGF site saying what you shouldn't do with Games Factory. Many of the clichés you need to avoid are here, displayed in one of the funniest lists I've ever seen : http://project-apollo.net/text/rpg.html
Even if some of them aren't here, I will not describe them here, but I will explain how you should avoid them.

FIRST RULE : Think about the game's story. Write it down in NotePad, then review it and remove all parts that seem clichéd or ripped. This may restore the game's originality, but if you can't take them out, then use the...

SECOND RULE : Turn the old, copied into new, copied things. If you can't remove completely the copied things, you may just renew it, add a new feel, etc. If this didn't work then...

THIRD RULE : Kill your game and remake it, but applying the first rule. If you came back to this part, then do the...

ULTIMATE RULE : Format. No, not your machine, your brain. And STOP PLAYING FINAL FANTASY!!!

Hope this helped