RPG characters: Does being rich and famous in the beginning matter?

Too much outside work as well as the urge to play numerous game mods and other RPGs have been clogging up quite a bit of time, but whatever the case may be, I'm not gonna retire this blog any time soon. Nor will I stop analyzing the cliches of console role-playing games. Continuing now with Poor Little Rich Hero, which states that "If the hero comes from a rich and powerful family, it will have fallen on hard times and be broke and destitute by the time the game actually starts."

This cliche is also known as the Meis rule, named after the protagonist from Thousand Arms, born into the wealthy and meaningfully named Triumph family, but having his hometown ransacked and him being practically broke. Oddly enough, just because he's the actual poster child for this cliche, doesn't really entail him as the prime example of this, and Meis is certainly an oddity among RPG protagonists on the account that his family was actually rich. There's actually very few who are like Meis, the other major example I can think of would be Tir McDohl from Suikoden I, who has the largest home in Gregminster and a powerful general for a father. Tir's probably the best example of this, especially considering where he ends up going when the plot really gets going. I guess Rhys from Phantasy Star 3 counts too? If you're the child of a powerful king and you're defiant, I guess that's an example of hard times, and that's literal in Rhys' case. Some of the SaGa Frontier protagonists might be good enough for this cliche too. Emelia had a house AND a boyfriend, but lost both and her clean criminal record. Asellus' family was probably rich but she ended up dying never basking in wealth, while Red's intro shows him and his dad in a car until the freak accident kills the father and ultimately separates Red from his family. Star Ocean 2's Claude might as well count too, considering who his father is.

Other protagonists, whether they be Crono, Serge, Vahn, Cornet, Ark, these are examples of more humble protagonists, since they follow the example of a simple villager who ends up going on an adventure without a whole lot of finances to even start with. So this cliche ends up being fairly uncommon and somehow more tied in with what kind of person the protagonist actually grew up from. If the protagonist came from a mighty and/or prominent kind of person, they'd naturally be that kind of person as they grow up until fate dictates them to rags at that point in time when the RPG wishes for them to be adventurers.