In addition to improved gameplay, SOU uses humor to counter the story line's cliched fantasy nature. Yes, it's still about stopping an evil foozle, but sly jokes and asides break up the monotony of the RPG quest. You need to kill golems, but who expects them to spew out tag lines advertising the Golem Emporium? Or to find a talking rat presenting a dissertation on maximum floating city altitude? SOU is perhaps the funniest fantasy-RPG I've played.