"The Phoenix Effect"

[just1question]

EDITED: Main antagonists added!
Since one of my primary objectives here is creating an engaging storyline with good characters (since I love to write stories), I'm asking whether or not this story and my characters sound cliche.
The game is called "The Phoenix Effect," named for something later in the game that I don't want to give away right now.  Just FYI, in case any of you are ever interested in trying my game, this post has one FAIRLY MAJOR SPOILER .  Note that this is my first game I've ever made, and it might not be as good as some others.

The story begins by telling the story of how the gates of Hell opened and attacked the forces of heaven in an effort to make it to the earth, but were struck down easily.  A thousand years later, they attack again, now with the aid of a fallen who has changed sides and has become the leader of the demon forces.  This time, a small group of demon forces slips through the gate to earth and the story begins to unfold.  I know this sounds fairly cheesy and cliche here, but what I'm most concerned with is my characters, because the story will unfold pretty well with some twists as far as I'm planning.
Here are my main characters:

Alex (yes the basic RTP, since that's how I made it from the start)-- The main hero, a guardian of Sasher Keep, a garrison in the north.  Decides to defy orders to guard the castle after convincing by Kato and pillages the castle dungeon for the supposed "key to victory over the demons."  Somewhat early in the story, he finds out that he is a fugitive on the lam for defying the orders of the king and is being hunted by kingdom soldiers and bounty hunters.   SPOILER HERE  The twist is that he finds out from Athene about midway through the story he is himself a fallen and is determined to redeem himself and defeat the demons.  Phew.  Don't worry the rest of the guys don't have as much about them yet.

Kato--A thief who (rather unsuccessfully) snuck into the castle and was caught by Alex.  Convinces Alex to pillage the castle.  He and Alex have some major ties throughout the story and later on a disturbing event from his past emerges and haunts him and provides his drive throughout the second half.

Athene--Probably the other major character.  She is a heavenly warrior who during the demon assault is put in stasis by the fallen leader, yet gets caught in the portal during the attack, and accidentally slips through to earth.  As a warrior, her motive more than anyone else's is driven by honorable duty to defeat the demons and find a way to return to heaven.

Seth--A member of a clandestine priesthood who apparently knows exactly how to defeat the demons.  However, the exact motive of this priesthood is a mystery, and thus Seth is a rather enigmatic character, as is his past and his exact motive for joining the group, other than orders from his leaders.  He comes off initially as a dark, cocky, insensitive character, but as the story progresses and secrets are revealed he becomes less so.

Brutus--The captain of a band of pirates that he advertises throughout port towns as being one of the most prestigious and successful bands of pirates in the world, but later it is found out from other bands of pirates the heroes meet on the seas that his band is actually the laughingstock of the seas.  His primary motive is to use the general goal of defeating the demons to gain prestige for himself and his crew.  Not sure whether he'll be a constant playable character or just one to use while on the ship.

Kaiser--An inhabitant of an island (the name of which I haven't decided on yet) to where an entire town was exiled after becoming cursed a few hundred years before, which turned all the town citizens into wolves and making them more aggressive, and many people have a fear of these people.  Kaiser is actually a character who was forced to live as a recluse after he was tricked by a group of soldiers who offered him freedom from his island prison if he would assassinate the island's leader.  Since he has lived in seclusion for years, he is a quiet yet honorable character who has great confidence in his abilities.  I'm hoping to make him have a personality close to that of a ninja warrior maybe.

Now for the antagonists...

Cyphen--The main antagonist, the fallen leader of the demons who was critical in the defeat of the demons a thousand years before, but changed sides after his fellow warriors carelessly abandoned him in battle at the end of the war.  Merely seeks revenge on those who doomed him and sealed his fate.

The General who doesn't have a name yet...--Yeah, he's nameless so far, because you don't see him too much early on.  He becomes a vital "pawn" later on.  A general in the king's army who is found to be missing after the demon assault on Sasher, a town to the south of Sasher Keep.  Very adept in battle and is willing to sacrifice his life for the king's will.  Of course, he's very short-tempered, and he vents this temper early on when Alex becomes angered that he cannot be in the heat of battle and must instead just guard the castle.

OK I lied, one last spoiler character here.  If you don't want to know it, just skip this paragraph.[/U]
The High Priest (I need a name for this guy too)--The leader of the clandestine priesthood who is actually a general in the fallen army and is using gullible priests such as Seth to further his plans.  He in fact convinces his priests and the heroes that the key to defeating the demons is to open the gates of heaven to earth from this side to allow the heavenly forces to move through and rid earth of the demons, whereas in fact opening the gate will also allow through the demonic forces, and thus the earth will become the battlefield of the bulk of the heavenly and demonic forces, thus bringing about armageddon.



There will be other characters to follow, maybe, since the story and setting drastically changes in the second half of the game, but these are the characters from the first half.

Oh, now that my fingers are tired, any input?  And thanks for taking the time to read all that.
And BTW, suggestions are very welcome!  Always open to ideas from the experienced people here

[Nandez]

It does sound a bit cliche but people said my game did to.Yur story though reminds me of Dogma.(Edit:Wish i could spell right in my first post.)

[just1question]

Originally posted by Nandez
It does sound a bitch cliche but people said my game did to.Yur story tohugh reminds me of Dogma.

Of Dogma, huh?  Never actually seen it, so I wouldn't know.  In what sense, perchance?

[Nandez]

Opening the gates of hell,Fallen angels on the demons side.Trying to make it to earth.

[just1question]

Originally posted by Nandez
Opening the gates of hell,Fallen angels on the demons side.Trying to make it to earth.

Yep, my biggest fear.  I pretty much knew that whole beginning part would be cliche, I even admitted it!
Oh well, at least that's only the big picture.  Let's face it, it's almost impossible to avoid having at least ONE cliche thing in a game you make

[Eternal Newb]

Amen...

Anyway...I like it.

(this coming from someone who wanted to make a game with a character called tink and selda)

[just1question]

Originally posted by Eternal Newb
Amen...

Anyway...I like it.

(this coming from someone who wanted to make a game with a character called tink and selda)

Hehe.
Anyways, it's not about the character names, now is it?  It's all about how the story works and the game plays, right?  Heck, I wouldn't care if everyone in your game was named Link, Zelda, Chrono and Terra.  Well, maybe that would be a little too far...

[Eternal Newb]

Thank You...someone agrees with me!!!

[DragonBlaze]

Sounds pretty good. There are two things that I think you should change. First off, don't have the alex guy have the defule "alex" sprite. A lot of people will think poorly of your game just for that.

Second off, the war 1000 years ago is the only cliche part about it that I'd change. Why not have this the first time it happened? Or Hell continuasly tries to do this, and this is the first time they succeed?

Anyway, good luck with the game!

[just1question]

Originally posted by DragonBlaze
Sounds pretty good. There are two things that I think you should change. First off, don't have the alex guy have the defule "alex" sprite. A lot of people will think poorly of your game just for that.

Second off, the war 1000 years ago is the only cliche part about it that I'd change. Why not have this the first time it happened? Or Hell continuasly tries to do this, and this is the first time they succeed?

Anyway, good luck with the game!

Thanks for the GL.  Anyways, I was thinking of changing the Alex sprite.  I just had him like that because that was one of the FIRST things I ever did with the program, and I never bothered to change it.
Also, I can't make it be the first time they attack.  Otherwise it wouldn't make any sense about how Cyphen changed sides.  I could, however, make it a repeated attack.  That could work.