History VideoGame / ChaosLegion

''Chaos Legion'' is a gothic opera and {{hack and slash}} game developed by Creator/{{Capcom}}, released in 2003 for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 and [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer PC]] (a version which suffered from a bad case of PortingDisaster). The game was later adapted into seven {{light novel|s}} volumes of the name same by Tow Ubukata, known for his work on ''Literature/MardockScramble'', ''Anime/FafnerInTheAzureDeadAggressor'', ''[[Anime/LeChevalierDEon Le Chevalier d'Eon]]'', ''Anime/HeroicAge'', and ''Anime/GhostInTheShellArise''.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:SealedEvilInACan re-sealed? Check. Dead buddies? Check. That girl who's been helping you out for most of your journey is now accompanying you, possibly as something more than a friend? Hey, two out of three ain't bad.]]

** Victor Delacroix translates to "champion of the cross" (French). Delacroix is a promising cleric-swordsman who was seen as the future head of the Order of St. Overia until his eventual fall to darkness.
** Siela Riviere translates to "spirit" (Lithuanian) and "river" (French). The plot ''flows'' to uncover the event of her death, while her soul was captured by the demon Azrail.

* CripplingOverspecialization: Malice can quickly shred large swarms of metal enemies but is useless against organic ones. This is [[JustifiedTrope justified]] because [[ZergRush Malice]] would otherwise let you cruise effortlessly through the game by [[AttackAttackAttack mashing the Legion attack button]].

''Chaos Legion'' is a gothic opera and {{hack and slash}} game developed by Creator/{{Capcom}}, released in 2003 for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 and [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer PC]] (a version which suffered from a bad case of PortingDisaster). The game was later adapted into 7 {{light novel|s}} volumes of the name same by Tow Ubukata, known for his work on ''Literature/MardockScramble'', ''Anime/FafnerInTheAzureDeadAggressor'', ''[[Anime/LeChevalierDEon Le Chevalier d'Eon]]'', ''Anime/HeroicAge'', and ''Anime/GhostInTheShellArise''.

Sieg Wahrheit and Victor Delacroix used to be the best of friends. Unfortunately, Delacroix has fallen to TheDarkSide--Sieg, Delacroix and their lovely lady friend, Siela, were trying to [[SealedEvilInACan seal away]] the Dark Spirit Azrail as it tried to escape. For some unknown reason, Sieg ''murdered'' Siela right before Delacroix's eyes. Or did he really...?

Now, in the present day, Sieg is in hot pursuit of Delacroix, who plans to gather the seals that hold back Azrail in order to release it, which he thinks will reunite him with Siela. Sieg will not have it easy--Delacroix has summoned many hordes of demons who want nothing more than to kill Sieg. However, Sieg is a "Knight of the Dark Glyphs" and a "Legionator." A Legionator is one who has the ability to summon "legions," powerful and massive creatures (legionnaires) that will fight alongside their caller, defending and attacking when commanded to do so. Armed with a sword and his legions, Sieg is more than ready to discover the truth.

* CripplingOverspecialization: Malice can quickly shred large swarms of metal enemies but is useless against organic ones. This is [[JustifiedTrope justified]] because Malice would otherwise let you cruise effortlessly through the game by mashing the Legion attack button.

* CrystalDragonJesus: The Order of St. Overia has many of the trappings and aesthetics of a Medieval Christian order, with a few elements from other Abrahamic faiths and even [[{{Reincarnation}} some aspects of]] UsefulNotes/{{Hinduism}}[=/=]UsefulNotes/{{Buddhism}} thrown into the mythology for good measure. As the game divulges no information about the setting beyond exposition directly related to Sieg's journey, it's unclear if the Order is [[NotUsingTheZWord actually supposed to be Christian in some manner]] or merely analogous to it, especially since ''Chaos Legion''[='s=] [[AlternativeCalendar calendar system]] is an alternative spelling of ''Anno Satanas''--the "Age of {{Satan}}."

* DeathFromAbove: The Flawed Legion attacks in one of two ways--a quick dash followed by a swipe before backflipping to safety, or by leaping up and coming down on the enemy claws first, spinning like a drill.

* EarlyGameHell: The first few stages of the game, Stage 4 in particular, puts the player through a relentless challenge of fighting enemies that can deal high amounts of damage with Sieg's limited starting pool of vitality, underpowered Legions for the job, and next-to-no checkpoints between areas. Players also do not have the luxury of leveling up their Legions at a comfortable pace by revisiting previously cleared stages until Stage 9 is beaten to unlock the Map Selector.

* EnergyWeapon: Malice and Arrogance's modes of attack, as well as the various enemy gunners (Barmos, Egans, Sadariars and Zomdagdas) and [[spoiler:Azrail]].

* GreaterScopeVillain: [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Azrail]], the evil Spirit of Purification that Sieg and Delacroix imprisoned three years prior to the beginning of the game. [[spoiler:Is unsealed at the very end of the game and proceeds to serve as the final boss.]]

* HarderThanHard: Super Mode is unlocked after completing the game on Hard, which has enemies and--[[DifficultyByRegion in international versions]]--[[OneHitPointWonder the player]] die in a single hit.

* ImpossiblyLowNeckline: For reasons unknown, [[spoiler:the Azrail-possessed Siela flaunts this. She'd otherwise be naked if not for the fleshy bodysuit made of Azrail's remains.]]

* LauncherMove: Both characters have access to one in their moveset, ''Rising Phoenix'' for Sieg from the Guilt Legion and ''Razor Kick'' for Arcia.

** Azrail--[[SpellMyNameWithAnS more commonly spelled as Azrael]]--is the ([[CelestialParagonsAndArchangels arch]])[[OurAngelsAreDifferent angel]] of death in Islamic tradition, responsible for separating the body from the soul while watching over the dead. His namesake here adheres to this portrayal, while playing on the more negative belief in Jewish mysticism that Azrael/Azriel is [[SatanicArchetype the very embodiment of evil itself]].

* MinimalistCast: Aside of Sieg, Delacroix, Siela, Arcia, and arguably [[spoiler:Azrail]], we only see two nameless members of the Order of St. Overia ([[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep referred to in the credits as "The Old Man" and "Intelligence," respectively]]) throughout the story, [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools thus giving prominence to the conflict between Sieg and Delacroix]]. Note that Siela [[PosthumousCharacter is already dead by the time the game starts]] and [[spoiler:Azrail doesn't personally appear until the final mission, with such little depth to it that it's more of a living plot device than anything else]]. All other characters mentioned, including the other Maidens of the Silver and Arcia's family, share the unfortunate distinction of having been killed off-screen at various points in time.

* NintendoHard: The international versions of the game requires you learn the level designs and how to use the right Legion for each job, or else you'll have a very bad time. Japanese release, however, is comparatively easier due to not having the changes the international versions had.

* PlayingWithFire: Sieg's element of choice, it would seem. (See KillItWithFire above.) He dabbles a bit in ShockAndAwe as well.

* PowerupLetdown: Can happen when you finally reassemble Thanatos... and discover that [[MagikarpPower you've still got to earn several million XP]] to make him as strong as he was in the opening and then some. Once you get Thanatos back up to speed, [[PurposelyOverpowered it becomes a force to be reckoned with]].

* RedEyesTakeWarning: Delacroix sports these at times, such as when [[spoiler:he's under Azrail's influence]] or in Arcia's nightmare/flashback of her family's murder. The monsters display this during the cutscene prior to the Lakeside stage.

* ReligiousAndMythologicalThemeNaming: Monsters and bosses like Badbhs, Balors, Danus, Maponos, Zagan aren't just named because they sound ridiculous or menacing... They ''ARE'' actual names from Irish and Celtic mythology.
* ReplayMode: Clearing each stage in Normal Mode unlocks their FMV cutscenes in the Movies viewer within the Extras menu, while completing the game unlocks the ability to play all of the cutscenes in sequential order. The [=PlayStation=] 2 version also offers the ability to view the cutscenes with the Japanese voices in the North American version and vice-versa for the Japanese version, while the PC version only has the English voices for all of its regional versions.
* TheRightHandOfDoom: [[PowerFist Sieg's gauntlet]] seems to be the main conduit for summoning his legions. Capcom sure has a thing for magic arms (''VideoGame/GodHand'', ''VideoGame/{{Onimusha}}'', ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'', etc).
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: When [[spoiler:Arcia appears to have been forced by Delacroix to commit suicide]], Sieg just ''loses it''.

** The final battle is also a continuous one: the first against Delacroix, the second is against [[spoiler:the freed Azrail]], and the FinalBoss is [[spoiler:Siela possessed by Azrail]]. Fortunately, a Perfect Thanatos will make mincemeat of the first two battles and the third one will be the real challenge.

** Malice's ''Spartan'' Enchant, Flawed's ''Laughing Stock'' Assist and ''Despise'' Enchant will also zap the enemy with electricity on a successful hit.

** The plot and its characters take cues from ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', with one of Delacroix's scenes playing homage to Sephiroth and the infamous [[KillItWithFire Nibelheim Incident]] from the latter. Considering that the game calls itself a "savage gothic opera," one would suppose the allusions to the former were intentional.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: For some odd reason, the game's back cover spells Sieg's name as "Seig Warheit."

* WatchingTroyBurn: Delacroix razes Rotarl, the Sacred Capital, which served as the prologue stage. Sieg and Arcia return here to find the city up in flames. A brief rainstorm blows in over the now-smoldering town, which then becomes the twelfth stage of the game, entitled "The Fall of the Sacred Capital."

* YouAreNotAlone: Arcia tells Sieg this in the epilogue [[spoiler:as he angsts over the deaths of Delacroix and Siela]]. Possibly overlaps with LonelyTogether--the two don't bond all that much in their shared screen time, at least not openly, and both [[spoiler:have lost all of their known loved ones by the game's close]].

* CripplingOverspecialization: Malice can quickly shred large swarms of metal enemies but is useless against organic ones.

[[caption-width-right:350:''[[{{Tagline}} Savage by nature!]]''[[labelnote:*]]Counter-clockwise from the left: Arcia, Sieg, Siela and Delacroix.[[/labelnote]]]]

* KillItWithFire: Most of Sieg's best Enchant abilities from Legions involve setting multiple enemies alight with area of effect or blast radius attacks. Using fully upgraded Guilt's ''Ground Zero'', ''Airblaze'' and ''Crimson Carnage'' from Blasphemy and Hatred's ''Breakdown'' will surely clear a horde of enemies into smoldering heaps within seconds.

* SwordPlant: Blasphemy grants Sieg ''Airblaze'', a jumping DeathFromAbove stab on the ground. Higher levels will cause [[HavingABlast a fiery area of effect around Sieg]].

* HurtingHero: [[spoiler:Sieg by the game's close. [[ILetGwenStacyDie His two good friends are dead]] and [[IShouldHaveBeenBetter he blames himself for all of it]]. Sure, he has Arcia with him to help ease some of the pain, but yeesh.]]

* {{Expy}}: Long white hair, black outfit, big sword, occasional MindRape, set towns on fire, [[spoiler:being possessed by another evil entity, stabbed a girl to death]]... Are we talking about Victor Delacroix or [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Sephiroth]]?

* DoItYourselfThemeTune: "FLY," the song that's played during the epilogue and staff roll, was performed by the [[SurprisinglyGoodEnglish Japanese]] band LIV. Manabu Oshio, the band's vocalist, voices Sieg in the Japanese version.

''Chaos Legion'' is a gothic opera and {{hack and slash}} game developed by Creator/{{Capcom}}, released in 2003 for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 and [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer PC]] (a version which suffered from a bad case of PortingDisaster). The game is a loose adaptation of a seven-part {{light novel|s}} series of the name same by Tow Ubukata, known for his work on ''Literature/MardockScramble'', ''Anime/FafnerInTheAzureDeadAggressor'', ''[[Anime/LeChevalierDEon Le Chevalier d'Eon]]'', ''Anime/HeroicAge'', and ''Anime/GhostInTheShellArise''.

* AnAxeToGrind: The axe-wielding zombies called Luke.

''Chaos Legion'' is a gothic opera and {{hack and slash}} game developed by Creator/{{Capcom}}, released in 2003 for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 and [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer PC]] (a version which suffered from a bad case of PortingDisaster). The game is a loose adaptation of a seven-part light novel series of the name same by Tow Ubukata, known for his work on ''Literature/MardockScramble'', ''Anime/FafnerInTheAzureDeadAggressor'', ''[[Anime/LeChevalierDEon Le Chevalier d'Eon]]'', ''Anime/HeroicAge'', and ''Anime/GhostInTheShellArise''.

* ActionGirl: Arcia, who's a gun-toting maiden that can hold her own against the demonic forces.

* StationaryBoss: Both Maponos bosses, which are {{Shielded Core Boss}}es, and [[spoiler:Azrail]], which bobs up and down and thus sometimes unreachable even if it doesn't move to different parts of the boss arena.

** A very low-key example with the Maidens of the Silver, who appear to be named for their battle nuns' [[WeaponOfChoice favored weapons]]: twin '''[[BlingBlingBang silver]]''' handguns. Curiously, despite the fantasy setting, the Maidens' DepletedPhlebotinumShells, while magic-imbued, do not appear to be {{Silver Bullet}}s, making this a bit of a NonindicativeName too.