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29th Mar '13 1:12:35 PM MacronNotes

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''Rise of Legends'' is a SpiritualSuccessor to ''VideoGame/RiseOfNations'' created in 2006 by Big Huge Games, creators of the previous game. Instead of being set on Earth, it is set on the world of Aio, a world of technology and magic.

The campaign follows the adventures of a Vinci inventor named Giacomo. His primary opponent is the Doge of Venucci, a typical EvilOverlord type who embarks on a campaign of conquest over Vinci lands, and then unlocks a SealedEvilInACan over in Alin territory in the form of "Dark Glass" creatures. However, he's revealed to be merely a pawn in the schemes of the Evil False Gods of the Cuotl. Giacomo leads the campaign against all three forces.

Gameplay-wise, the situation is actually not very similar to ''VideoGame/RiseOfNations'' despite being by the same developers: ''Nations'' imported a lot of ideas from the FourX genre, which ''Legends'' discarded in an effort to be more like ''Franchise/StarCraft''. Gone are the non-military win conditions, the emphasis on research, the proliferation of resources and the large roster of playable nations. What's left is an unambitious but very polished RTS that's lots of fun to play, and is still more strategic than most games in the genre. For instance, ships plying the enemy's trade routes can be shot down, slowing down their economy; cities are not founded but captured, either from other players or from neutral creeps; there are non-city "outpost" locations which you can gain control of and give you gameplay bonuses (in the form of resources or access to new units); and said neutral locations can be ''purchased'' as well as conquered, at which point its neutral creeps join your army.

The game won several awards in the "[[NeedsMoreLove Cool But Overlooked]]" category. And for a while, all was silent in Big Huge land...at least until the release of ''VideoGame/KingdomsOfAmalurReckoning''.

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!!Tropes found in the game include:

* ActionBomb: Demolition Clockwork Men, the dude in the opening cutscene.
** Who looks suspiciously like [[spoiler: Giacomo.]]
* AFatherToHisMen: Commander from opening. He stayed on the field only to allow rest of soldiers withdraw. Not that it [[HeroicSacrifice ended well for him]].
* AllTheoriesAreTrue: Helicopters follow Leonardo Da Vinci's "aerial screw" drawings, long since proven aerodynamically impossible.
* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: Well, except that [[spoiler: the Doge has no intention of actually HOLDING Miana. Once you defeat him and his Doom Cannon, he uses a second one to burn your city to the ground as he runs away.]]
* ArbitraryHeadcountLimit: Unlike ''RiseOfNations'', where the unit cap was based on your level of Military research, this one bases it on the number of Cities and Military Districts you have.
* AreTheseWiresImportant: [[spoiler:Giacomo, during the climax of Act 2, rips out the wires in the Doge's laser, causing it to blow up in the latter's face the next time he tries to fire.]]
* BadassBoast: Quote Carlini:
--> ''"I've been a soldier for 43 years, got my leg blown off, served in two wars, killed more men than I can count, and I've never backed down from anything in my life. I'm sure as hell not gonna start now."''
* BadassBookworm: Giacomo.
* BadassNormal: Both Carlini and the mecha operator from opening.
* BaldOfAwesome: Carlini.
* BettyAndVeronica: Arri, the Alin princess and Giacomo's childhood friend (Betty), and Lenora, the rebellious leader of the Pirata (Veronica). While the game does not really follow through with a RomanceSidequest, there is definitely an amount of jealousy between the two women. In fact, during the final campaign, Giacomo is allowed to only take one of them with him to the Cuotl lands. After Giacomo's [[spoiler:HeroicSacrifice]], Arri and Lenora appear to have become friends as well.
* BigBad: First the Doge, then [[spoiler: Czin, the Cuotl god of death]].
* BoomStick: The Cuotl foot soldiers, as [[{{Expy}} Expies]] of ''{{Stargate}}'' Jaffa's in ''Rise of Legends'' have staves that shoot lasers.
* BribingYourWayToVictory: {{invoked}}. If you can get your economy put together right, you can totally out-expand and out-army your opponents by means of commerce alone.
* CaptainErsatz: As noted in the entry for FollowTheLeader, the three races are similar to the ''StarCraft'' races, down to the Cuotl units building with shields.
* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler: Well, Giacomo's watch has to be important, right?]]
* CivilWarcraft: More than usual for a real-time strategy. In all three campaigns the primary enemy faction uses technology from the same race as the player, with the other two appearing in only a few levels each.
* ClarkesThirdLaw: The Cuotl's False Gods, along with MagicFromTechnology.
* CoolOldGuy: Carlini.
* TheCorruption: Dark Glass.
* DeathFromAbove: The "Star Bolt" power. KillSat GOOD...
* EasyLogistics: As in ''RiseOfNations'', somewhat averted, unless the player brings Cargo Dirigibles/Puzzle Boxes/Holy Arks along.
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Unit names can tend to work like this, especially for the Vinci, but the best example is probably the Doge's Doom Cannon.
* FactionCalculus: Vinci (powerhouse), Alin (subversive), and Cuotl (balanced). That being said, the units themselves are [[CosmeticallyDifferentSides largely the same]] in their basest forms, each faction's traits only manifesting after research and through their heroes and unique abilities.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: The Vinci are obviously [[TheLateMiddleAges late medieval]] / early [[TheRenaissance Renaissance]] Italian city states with a heavy {{steampunk}} and {{clockpunk}} flavour (based on Leonardo da Vinci's sketches), the Alin are based on the Literature/ArabianNights mythology, and the Cuotl are basically "{{Mayincatec}} [[XMeetsY meets]] AncientAstronauts".
* FlyingSeafoodSpecial: Manta rays that live in the desert.
* FollowTheLeader: the three races in ''Rise Of Legends'' correspond fairly well to [[StarCraft Terran, Zerg and Protoss]], gameplay wise.
** They also match up thematically: Terran/Vinci use technology, Zerg/Alin use bio/magic, and Protoss/Cuotl use a mixture of the two. Plus the Protoss/Cuotl apparently being more technologically advanced than the others.
* GasMaskMooks: Doge's Guard units.
* GenericDoomsdayVillain: The Doge, who gets NO other characterization than being a [[KickTheDog bastard]]. Even Czin is more developed. 
* {{Golem}}: Glass Golems. Possibly also Sun Idols, though they could also qualify as an Automaton or HumongousMecha depending on whether or not they need a pilot.
* GlassCannon: There is a magic cannon made of glass, [[SubvertedTrope but it's not much use against anything but buildings and it's rather sturdy for an artillery piece.]]
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Giacomo destroys an alien ship with him left inside]].
** [[spoiler:Carlini's fight against Czin may or may not count]].
** The opening video ends with a lone soldier on the bridge overloading the damaged arm of his mech, blowing the bridge he was standing on, and everyone on it, sky high.
* HumongousMecha: Giacomo and the Doge ride these, too.
* KillItWithFire: The Alin love this trope, since around 1/3 of their units are fire-spewing creature.
* LandOfOneCity : The various Vinci city states. 
* TheMagicVersusTechnologyWar: Vinci Steampunk versus Alin magic versus the Cuotl's bizarre ''[[CloudCuckooLander Chariots of the Gods]]''-inspired MagicFromTechnology.
* MaximumHPReduction: Dark Glass Corruption.
* {{Mayincatec}}: The Cuotl.
* {{Mighty Whitey}}: Giacomo, to a certain extent.
* NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup: Averted, to devestating effect, by the Doge in Campaign Mode. While you took out his capital and Cannon of Doom, turns out he took a second one and leveled your home before running away to the desert.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: The Alin ones come in Sand, Fire, and Glass varieties.
* PhlebotinumRebel: At the start of the Cuotl campaign [[spoiler: Giacomo is hit by the blast from a Cuotl cannon, and thus develops superpowers. He then takes parts from Ix, the dead Moon God, and uses those to upgrade his walker.]]
* RebelliousPrincess: Arri accompanies Giacomo despite her lord forbdding it, citing the need for her to remain and help protect the city.
* ReinventingTheWheel: Surprisingly averted in single-player, as upgrades for units are done on the campaign map, and are kept through the campaign.
* ReligionOfEvil: The Cuotl.
* RiskStyleMap
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Perhaps the Doge shouldn't have killed Giacomo's brother, Petruzzo...
* '''RuleOfCool''': Around 80% of the units are incredibly cool one way or another. Let's see :
** The Vinci are, as their name indicate, SteamPunk Italian City States with ROBOTS and Da Vinci-inspired flying machines ! Their SuperUnit is a giant SpiderTank with guns and '''missiles''' and giant drills which can be used to move all around the map by burrowing.
** The Alin are ArabianNights plus other arab mythology crammed into a faction . ''Three'' different dragons, including a very large one who visibly breathes glass, plenty of fire units, golems, FlyingSeafoodSpecial, ScaryScorpions, and the Rukh, which is (unlike in the myths) some sort of dragon made of lava, which is already pretty cool, but it ''explodes'' on other units as it's only attack, and then after reappears out of thin air !
** The Cuotl are Mayaincatec with ReligionIsMagic and MagiTek. Their air units are basically magic levitating planes made out of rock which shoot lasers, the Sun Jaguar which is a golem in the shape of a jaguar which shoots lasers out of his eyes the Sun Idol which is a HumongousMecha with an equally humongous laser beam, the Deathsphere which is basically a giant lightning-shooting black hole. Think that isn't cool enough ? Their super unit, the City of Vengeance, puts the latter Deathsphere to shame.
* ScaryScorpions: The Alin have a [[BigCreepyCrawlies big]] version used as a mount.
* SiliconBasedLife: The Alin field several units made of living glass, though it's not certain how many of them are ''alive'' rather than magically animated.
** They all seem like golems though, 
* SkunkStripe: Lenora has a bright red streak.
* SkyPirate: The Pirata, [[MeaningfulName obviously]].
* SpiderTank: Clockwork Spiders, and Land Leviathans are a larger version.
* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''RiseOfNations'', as stated earlier.
* {{Steampunk}}: The Vinci are this, along with ClockPunk.
* SupportPower: each nation has one. The Vinci get an Area-Of-Attack big honking drill; the Alin can spawn a short-lived army; and the Cuotl get a burning area of effect which, oddly, you can see in and move around.
** The Cuotl's power probably represents control of some kind of orbital KillSat, though it's never made explicit.
** There are also four "dominances" that each player can vie for control of by fulfilling certain conditions, and which only one player may use at a given time. One steals enemy units, one spawns temporary mercenary allies, one heals friendly troops in a small area, and one forces a temoporary Cease-Fire among all factions.
** The Vinci Nullifier, which casts a map-wide AntiMagic shockwave that persits for 15 seconds.
* TankGoodness: The Vinci Juggernaut is a steampunk tank.
* TechnologyLevels: Four, down from eight in ''RiseOfNations''.
* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill
* ThisIsADrill: The Industrial Devastation power.
** also the ultimate unit from the Vinci.
* TwoFaced: [[spoiler: Giacomo]] after being hit with mysterious energy.
* WaveMotionGun: The Cuotl have this in spades. The Eye of the Gods, the Sun Cannon...
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The game was released practically half made. There were designs not for one, but three different "fourth races", one of which was to be included in the game. That means that an entire quarter of the storyline, and entire quarter of the units and heroes and strategies and game mechanics, never saw the light of day. Each of the three "theoretical races" seems to have been at least as original and well thought out as the three that made it into the game... The Kahan were based upon Mongolian culture and mythology, and might have had mobile cities on the back of enormous beasts of burden (and in fact, the map editor still has some icons for their heroes and units). The Skald were based on Finnish mythology with touches of Slavic and Norse, and built cities of ice. Least detailed and most mysterious are the Kragar, which appear to have been some kind of race of bestial giants. 
* YouHaveResearchedBreathing: You need to get Imperial Musketeers to level 3 for them to melee.
** This case is somewhat Justified, since before the invention of the bayonet, armies required Pikemen to protect their muskets, which in melee combat are basically clubs.
** Alin Desert Walkers need research before they can [[ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks throw their swords at enemies]] for a ranged attack. Though judging by the research's icon (a crossbow) and name ("Glass Bolts") it's probable they were originally intended to pull out a crossbow for this purpose instead.
* YouKilledMyFather: Giacomo's motivation, early on, is the death of his brother, Petruzzo.
* YouRequireMoreVespeneGas: "Timonium" as Gold, and two different Lumber resources depending on who you're playing as: the Vinci and Alin have "Wealth", whereas the Cuotl have "Energy". The game also maintains ''Rise of Legends''' "Power" resource by imposing {{Cap}}s on how fast you can harvest. (And [[ArbitraryHeadcountLimit Population]], of course.)

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27th Mar '13 10:03:08 AM Morgenthaler

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No Circular Links.

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Gameplay-wise, the situation is actually not very similar to ''RiseOfNations'' despite being by the same developers: ''Nations'' imported a lot of ideas from the FourX genre, which ''Legends'' discarded in an effort to be more like ''StarCraft''. Gone are the non-military win conditions, the emphasis on research, the proliferation of resources and the large roster of playable nations. What's left is an unambitious but very polished RTS that's lots of fun to play, and is still more strategic than most games in the genre. For instance, ships plying the enemy's trade routes can be shot down, slowing down their economy; cities are not founded but captured, either from other players or from neutral creeps; there are non-city "outpost" locations which you can gain control of and give you gameplay bonuses (in the form of resources or access to new units); and said neutral locations can be ''purchased'' as well as conquered, at which point its neutral creeps join your army.

The game won several awards in the "[[NeedsMoreLove Cool But Overlooked]]" category. And for a while, all was silent in Big Huge land...at least until the release of ''KingdomsOfAmalurReckoning''.

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8th Mar '13 5:37:24 AM Akriloth2160

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Examples Are Not Recent

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8th Mar '13 5:34:35 AM Akriloth2160

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Why would it be a complaint in the first place?