History VideoGame / DragonQuestVII

* TriangRelations: [[spoiler:Lala and Florin are in a relationship, but there are complications even ''before'' Kiefer enters the equation...]]

* ArbitraryHeadcountLimit: Like usual, you can only have four heroes in your party. The game handles this by having party members leave for various reasons at certain points: [[spoiler:Kiefer permanently leaves shortly before you gain access to Alltrades Abbey and character classes; Maribel leaves after the events in Hubble's past, opening a place for Aishe to join almost immediately afterward; Sir Mervyn gets isolated from your team during the start of the third act, allowing Maribel to rejoin you...]] You do ''eventually'' get the chance to ''choose'' your team, but really, given that you've only got ''five'' heroes total... a fifth slot in battle would've saved a ''lot'' of headaches.

*** There is also a feature that'll tell you which areas the tablets are, as well as a (rather useful, but not direct) hint on where in said area it is. (e.g, "It is in this volcano dungeon in the present, on the floor", "It is in L'arca, check in the buildings")

* AwesomeYetImpractical: Blade of Ultimate Power ([=UltraHit=] in the original release). The final ability of the Champion class, an ability that deals close to 400-500 damage and costs 20 MP to use. In the 3DS version, the ability is strictly tied to the Champion class, which has rather low MP so using it will cause your MP to get drained ''fast''. What's more, it's not even affected by Oomph, Muster Strength, or Sap -- a champion can deal more damage to a single target by delivering a knuckle sandwich.

* BadassBookworm: Quite a few NPC allies and helpers qualify, but none as much as Saide. He filled a house with books on other cities and traveling, and is one damn good brawler.

** [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg And]] later [[FourIsDeath his four allies, the Four Great Spirits]], who can be almost as hard or harder, depending on your skills.

** The Monster Park {{Sidequest}}, meanwhile, has you recruiting monsters. Not for battle partners like in [[VideoGame/DragonQuestV other]] [[VideoGame/DragonQuestVI installments]], mind you, but for a special Monster Meadows preserve where they can live in peace. You also need to find Blueprints to build the various habitats for the monsters to inhabit.

** Preator in past Aeolus Vale. He disowned his own daughter for being born without wings by telling her that she was a human orphan that he was kind enough to take in, and is so fearful of having his cover on this lie broken that he doesn't even want to tell her when the heroes need her to open a door that ONLY a member of the Cirrus tribe can open. His own mother constantly calls him out on how big of a cowardly asshole he is, though.

* LampshadeHanging: Done quite a bit with party chat. Special mention goes to when you finally are going up to the actual church in Alltrades Abbey... when even the ''other NPCs'' are getting frustrated at how long it's taking and comment just how impossibly fast it was for the monsters to set up an arena.
* LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards: Inverted -- Both fighters and mages get a lot of fancy abilities. Unfortunately, the problem with mages is that they don't have anything to multiply the power of their abilities like warriors do. Warriors have several abilities that are boosted in power by Sap (lowers enemy Defence), Focus/Muster Strength (allows the next attack to deal more damage), and Oomph (Doubles attack power). This enables mages to deal only just above triple digit damage, whereas an Oomphed and Focus Strengthed warrior will hit for over a thousand damage with Knuckle Sandwich (And this will only take a couple rounds to set up, too). Even for clearing out groups of enemies, mages fall behind since most [[PrestigeClass prestige warrior classes]] get access to useful abilities like Thin Air, which hits harder than any of the Boom spells do ''and'' costs nothing. Later on, mages are useful primarily for healing, buffing, and debuffing.

*** In the 3DS version, Intermediate and Advanced human vocations have powerful spells and skills that are locked, e.g. only the Monster Masher can use breath attacks they learn, and etc. This means that if you master a vocation and switch to another one, you lose the ability to use those powerful skills. Monster vocations have the benefit of learning some of those skills permanently, but again, the game never explains this outright. This is somewhat mitigated with the Advanced classes in that they let you relearn most, if not all the magic/skills from the
Intermediate classes you would've had to master to access the class to begin with, in addition to the Advanced class' own abilities.

See, during the final showdown between Good and Evil, most of the world got sealed away by the [[BigBad Demon Lord/King Orgodemir]]... and [[TheGodsMustBeLazy God/the Almighty never got around to fixing things]]. Whoops. Of course, that's where our hero comes into play, as he and his friends stumble across a great secret hidden in their island's Ancient Ruins and have to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong via TimeTravel. [[TimeyWimeyBall Or something like that, anyway.]]

* AcceptableBreaksFromReality: In Disc 2, when [[spoiler: the continents that are home to the great spirits are sealed off]], curiously Dharma/Alltrades Abbey, one of the most crucial locations in the game, is also inaccessible at this time, despite not fitting the apparent criteria. See the Fridge section for a possible explanation.

** Sieble/Buddy and his {{pet|BabyWildAnimal}}s from Loomin/Nottagen get shunned because the townsfolk are fearful of monsters due to two previous massive attacks.
** Firia/Fidelia from Gorges/Aeolus Vale deserves special mention here, because [[spoiler:it turns out ''she's not an outsider at all''. She was just [[WingedHumanoid born without wings]], and her worthless father decided to 'raise her as an orphan' and let her little sister treat her like a ''slave'' rather than admit she's his daughter by blood. She takes the news surprisingly well; your party, on the other hand, gets righteously upset.]]
%%** Lief/Lev in Labres/Vogograd.
* ApologeticAttacker: The first world-sector boss is [[spoiler:Matilda/Maeve]], who refuses to fight.
* AppeaseTheVolcanoGod: The Festival of Engow/Emberdale, which involves throwing torches into the volcano,[[spoiler: something the local BigBad plans to turn to his advantage by stoking the [=EvilFlame=]/Black Flame and setting off an eruption.]]
* ArbitraryHeadcountLimit: Like usual, you can only have four heroes in your party. The game handles this by having party members leave for various reasons at certain points: [[spoiler:Kiefer permanently leaves shortly before you gain access to the Shrine of Dharma and character classes; Maribel leaves after the events in Past!Mardra, opening a place for Aira to join almost immediately afterward; Melvin gets isolated from your team during the start of Disc 2, allowing Maribel to rejoin you...]] You do ''eventually'' get the chance to ''choose'' your team, but really, given that you've only got ''five'' heroes total... a fifth slot in battle would've saved a ''lot'' of headaches.

** With the exception of the hero/Auster, who is always manually controlled, the playable characters can optionally be assigned one of five AI patterns: Show No Mercy (always do the maximum possible damage), Fight Wisely (switch between support and high damage), Watch My Back (no attacking, only support and defending), Don't Use Magic (attack and support that don't require MP) and Focus On Healing (heal any damaged characters, if everyone is at full HP then attack or support). While these are relatively good and have the advantage of deciding their move right before acting as opposed to at the start of the turn, it also means they're limited to what the AI allows them, e.g., no MP means no MP usage at all. Conversely, all but Don't Use Magic prioritize reviving a fallen ally over any other action, so they can be stuck casting Zing (which has a 50% chance of failing a.k.a. wasting a turn) instead of delivering the finishing blow. They can use a few non-consumable items, but ignore most of the DLC rewards which are often MP-free copies of powerful spells and abilities. Fortunately, you can reassign them a different AI or switch back to manual controls at the start of every turn.

*** There is also a feature that'll tell you which areas the tablets are, as well as a (rather useful, but not direct) hint on where in said area it is. (e.g, "It is in this volcano dungeon in the present, on the floor", "It is in Orph/L'arca, check in the buildings")

*** In a moment of GuideDangIt, you can get around the vocation area cap woes by using any Tablet in Haven and battle the monsters there, even lowly slimes. Yes that's right, you can turn all your characters into uber powerhouses with their jobs shortly after the Dharma/Alltrades Abbey Arc!
* AntiGrinding: Until you reach certain late-game areas or Disc 2, each area you visit has a [[{{Cap}} Level Cap]] on how far you can take your class/skill grinding. [[GuideDangIt You aren't really informed of this; battles simply stop counting towards your class mastery]]. Thankfully, it takes longer to level up in this game compared to nearly all other Dragon Quest games. There is no restriction for your character's battle level though.
* AwesomeYetImpractical: Blade of Ultimate Power / Ultra Hit. The final ability of the Champion / Godhand class, an ability that deals close to 400-500 damage and costs 20 MP to use. In the 3DS version, the ability is tied to the Champion class, which has rather low MP so using it will cause your MP to get drained ''fast''. What's more, it's not even affected by Oomph, Muster Strength, or Sap -- a champion can deal more damage to a single target by delivering a knuckle sandwich.
** Curiously enough, Ultra Hit was BoringButPractical in the Playstation version, due to the fact that abilities were kept upon mastery. Because the characters would get hundreds of MP by endgame, spamming Ultra Hit was a great way to beat the FinalBoss.

** [[spoiler:Sharkeye, or at least his crew, qualify. You later realize Borkano was this all along.]]
* BigBeautifulWoman: Mollie/Pearl, the hero's mother. In addition to being a SupremeChef, she's noted to have aged quite gracefully by some [=NPCs=].

** Rexwood/Ballymolloy: [[spoiler:The monsters are defeated and the town's women are rescued, but the tragic story of Matilda/Maev leaves the party shaken and hammers it into them that their adventures are NotAGame.]]
** Falrod/Faraday: [[spoiler:The Automatons are defeated, but ELLIE, who was instrumental in the victory, is ostracized and abused by the very people she helped saved simply because she herself is an Automaton. To make matters worse, Autonymus learns ''[[IgnoredEpiphany absolutely nothing]]'' from the whole ordeal and spends the rest of his days in bitter, misanthropic seclusion.]]
** Labres/Vogogard seems almost like it has NoEnding with the priest just walking off with a goddess statue... except wait a minute, [[TimeyWimeyBall wasn't there a wandering priest a while ago who wound up sacrificing himself to save everyone in a plot around a goddess statue?]]
* BlessedWithSuck: In the Deja tribe/Roamers, two ''special'' bloodlines are maintained as according to prophecy, descendants of both bloodlines will eventually be called upon to perform a special ceremony. ...A ceremony that will only work ''once''. And nobody's sure just ''when'' that duty will need to be performed.
** Then there's Coastal, where [[spoiler:any babies born there are cursed to turn into hideous monsters and run away from their parents on the first full moon after their birth.]]

* BonusBoss: God. Literally.
** [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg And]] [[FourIsDeath his four sidekicks]], who can be almost as hard or harder, depending on your skills.
* BookEnds: The game begins in Fishbel/Pilchard Bay during the Amitt Harvest when your mother gives you a Fishsub to deliver to your father, but he sails off before you have a chance to give it to him. You also discover [[FieryRedhead Maribel]] stowing away on his ship, and she promptly gets kicked off. Later, [[spoiler:at the start of Disc 2, after the [[DiscOneFinalBoss first fight with Orgodemir]] and [[NiceJobBreakingItHero resurrecting "God"]]]], you are given another Fishsub by your mother to deliver to your father, but this time, it actually gets delivered. Then, [[spoiler:after the rematch with [[BigBad Orgodemir]]]], the annual Amitt Harvest begins again, and once again you are given another Fishsub to deliver to your father, but this time she makes one for you to bring with you on your first [[TurnOutLikeHisFather fishing voyage with your father.]] Once again, you find Maribel stowing away on the ship, but before she gets kicked off, Borkano allows her to stay on just this once.

** Vacuum / Thin Air. Paladins and Pirates learn this skill and does at least 90-100 damage to every enemy for free, crowd-clearing enemies up to the end game. The Godhand / Champion and Hero classes learn this, too. Even the enemies who resist it will take enough damage to be taken out the following round. Even fewer enemies are immune to it, and there is often something else that can be used that will knock them out (such as Boulder toss or the breath attacks) or it will just be easy to [[AttackAttackAttack have everyone smack them]].
** Knuckle Sandwich from the Martial Artist vocation. You will probably find yourself using it on every boss all the way to endgame, where it becomes even ''more'' powerful. For only 2 MP, you deliver a very powerful attack. Combine this with Focus strength or Muster Strength (Two other abilities you can learn early on) and you'll deal almost 500 damage. Combine it with Oomph, you'll deal close to 1100 damage as a fighter class.
* BraggingRightsReward: Your reward for beating the bonus bosses? God moves to your immigrant town.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: [[spoiler:The well water in Krage/Gröndal is poisoned by monsters]], causing everyone who drinks it to think they're the Demon King.

* ButThouMust: Mostly played straight, but interestingly averted in Loomin/Nottagen when given the choice what to do about Chibi.
* CallingTheOldManOut: An interesting variation in Gorges: [[spoiler:Grandma Pendragon calls out her pathetic son over his treatment of his daughter, [[LoveMartyr Firia]]. The asshole ''definitely'' deserves it.]]

** Aira/Aishe as well, for entirely different reasons. The problem with her is that she comes ''very'' late in the game, starts out underleveled and most importantly, only begins with points in the Warrior and Dancer vocation when most of your party is working on a second second-tier vocation at this point. Even with Maribel's [[spoiler: disappearing act]], she still ends up being much closer to a third-tier job and will have a much wider range of skills than Aishe when she [[spoiler: returns]]. Any final party that doesn't ditch Maribel will ditch Aishe.

* ChangelingFantasy: Implied, although it never comes to the hero's attention. Early in the game it is noted that the hero had an unusually short gestation -- only five months -- before being born as healthy as a full term baby. During the Coastal/Buccanham chapter, the player meets Anais, the pregnant wife of the {{pirate}} Sharkeye, in poor condition due to worrying about both the curse of the island [[spoiler:that turns all babies into monsters the first full moon after their birth]] and her husband [[spoiler:sealed off in [[HumanPopsicle demonic ice]] somewhere far away after having fought the Demon King.]] After clearing the curse and restoring the island, Anais disappears. [[spoiler:Her prayer reached the Undersea King, who abducted her and turned her into a mermaid in order to live long enough to be reunited with Sharkeye when he was to be defrosted.]] Meanwhile, her unborn baby is said to have been transported to another land, possibly another time by the Water Spirit. This baby is strongly implied to be the hero. [[spoiler:Later it is all but confirmed as both he and Sharkeye bear halves of the mark of the Water Spirit, Sharkeye passing his half to who would've been his son.]]
* ChestMonster: As in every ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' game. ''VII'' is notable for not only having standard Canniboxs and Mimics, but Evil Books, Evil Pots, and Evil Well monsters. Be careful when exploring castles.
* ChildhoodFriendRomance: Maribel has feelings for the hero and is jealous of Princess Michaela who does as well, though it's unknown if the hero returns either girls' feelings. In the manga, Maribel also had feelings for Prince Kiefer, though in the game they just have a platonic friendship.

* CollectionSidequest: One {{Sidequest}} sees you founding and expanding your own town. To do so, you travel around [[PresentDay Present Time]] searching for Immigrants, who [[RandomEncounters randomly appear]] in various 'hot spots' in different villages. Oh, and collect enough of different types of Immigrants, and your town will turn out ''extra-special''...
** The Monster Park {{Sidequest}}, meanwhile, has you recruiting monsters. Not for battle partners like in [[VideoGame/DragonQuestV other]] [[VideoGame/DragonQuestVI installments]], mind; just for the park. Oh, and you need to find Blueprints for the various parts of the park, first. And if you manage to recruit every monster available? [[spoiler:You get a Momento of [[PetBabyWildAnimal Chibi]].]]

* CoolBoat: The Marle de Dragonne, which is more of a floating castle than anything else. It is, more or less ''two'' boats, glued together by the castle in the middle. It even has its own SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCKu19IXzXY#t=0m57s Now that's one Nice Boat.]]
* CrazyPrepared: '''SAIDE'''. The guy is implied to have never been outside of the desert, but is strong as heck for an NPC, has some mad skills, and hasn't even started on his first ''real'' adventure until the end of the game. Sure, he's Hadeed's descendant, but Hadeed was never as strong as Saide despite having ''more'' fighting experience than Saide!
* CrutchCharacter: The Healslime class, due to mastering it giving Multiheal, the best healing spell up until Omniheal, which requires being either a Hero or the Platinum Slime class, and by being a monster class, which doesn't restrict skills like Advanced or Mastry classes do. The downsides are twofold with this: the first is that monster classes don't count towards human class mastries, meaning whomever masters it will be behind in terms of unlocking the best classes, and second, all of the users but the hero have their own individual problems with it. Namely, Maribelle, despite seeming like the ideal choice, is a bad pick because she [[spoiler:leaves your party for a significant period of the game]], Ruff and Aishe are horrible because they have low MP pools, and Mervyn, while better than the other three, is both slow and arrives well after you get the Healslime Heart needed to enter the class.

* CuteClumsyGirl: Aimy/Antonia of Litorud/El Ciclo looks like this at first, falling down the stairs every morning... [[spoiler:[[GroundhogDayLoop But that's not entirely her fault]].]]

* DidIJustSayThatOutLoud: [[spoiler:After the Time Sage is defeated, as he dies he boasts that even with him gone, Litorud/El Ciclo will remain trapped in his time loop... unless his giant hourglass is destroyed. Bonus points for how he actually [[OhCrap realizes his blunder]] just before he dies.]]

* DiscOneFinalBoss: [[spoiler:The first fight with Orgodemir]] is an utterly perfect example. You fight him at the end of a long, treacherous dungeon (which is conspicuously devoid of treasure). The plot revolves around fighting him. He goes OneWingedAngel midway through the battle with him, and afterward, you don't get any experience or gold from the battle (which is typical for final bosses). Except, you're still on disc one of two. There's more game to come, but for now, change to disc two to continue the story.

** An almost literal example in the form of Bang. When Maribel learns it (Which is within Engow's scenario usually), it is basically an "I Win" button for almost all random encounters. By the time you reach Dharma Temple / Alltrades Abbey, you'll have access to boomerangs that attack everything and whips which attack enemy groups. You will find yourself using them a lot.
** The Muscle Dance and Lightning cost nothing to use and hit enemy groups and all enemies (respectively) for some good damage. They taper off mid-late game when the player gains access to abilities like Thin Air.

* DoomMagnet: Loomin/Nottagen's an entire ''town'' suffering from this. And no, it's not a DoomedHometown, either. [[spoiler:[[NiceJobBreakingItHero Unless you screw up.]]]]
* DownerEnding: Dialac/Regenstein. You arrive too late to save the townspeople from their TakenForGranite state, as the statues are degrading. The bright spot is that there are two survivors and the island gets restored anyway.
** Loomin/Nottagen if [[spoiler:you make the wrong choice regarding Chibi/Wiggles (i.e. kill him)]].
** Verdham/Greenthumb Gardens. The LoveDodecahedron ends in a non-solution and eventually leads to the decline and abandonment of the town.
* DubNameChange: The 3DS remake in English changes pretty much changes '''everything's''' name from the PSX version. Check the Character's page to see the original/remake.

* FamilyThemeNaming: Everyone in the hero's family has a name related to fish or the ocean: Pollock (a fish), Pearl, and Pike (also [[PikePeril a fish]], but also British slang for [[ConArtist swindling]]). The 3DS gives the hero one, too, Auster ("oyster"). [[spoiler:This also goes for his true parents, Sharkeye and Anais (the name comes from a Persian water goddess).]]

* FluffyFashionFeathers: The Angel leotard has a bunch of feathers arranged like a ShowgirlSkirt. But this is just in the artwork, not the game itself.
* ForcedTransformation: The town of Orph/L'Arca, where the people have been turned into animals by a terrible curse and the exact opposite happens to the actual animals themselves. Fortunately, they are changed back except for Ruff who is out of luck since the hackrobat made his spell permanent. Later on, another town has been hit with a similar curse where the children of the town are transformed into monsters on their first full moon.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: When you return to Engow/Emberdale during the Greenthumb Gardens arc, speaking to the man who married the dancer will cause Kiefer to muse about how being married is incompatible with being an adventurer. [[spoiler:This ends up foreshadowing his decision to remain in the past with the Roamers.]]
** Sometimes, if you talk to Mayor Mayde after completing an island, he'll remark that sometimes he worries so much about Maribel that it makes him sick. At the time, you probably consider it a figure of speech, [[spoiler:but he in fact ''does'' become critically ill after the events in Mardra/Hubble (or Probina/Providence or Loomin/Nottagen if you finished Mardra/Hubble before them).]]

* FortuneTeller: Pamala/Palmela of Engow/Emberdale. She's stuck playing TheCassandra when you first meet, warning of [[ChekhovsVolcano disaster]] that you have to avert. [[spoiler:Later, she [[ChekhovsBoomerang comes back into play]] a couple more times.]]

* GambitRoulette: Played by [[spoiler:GOD/the ALMIGHTY]] of all people. Blocked entirely for plot contents. [[spoiler:God/The Almighty has set up his battle with [[BigBad Orgodemir]] so that his four Spirits can be revived if they fell. He sealed his warrior Melvin/Sir Mervyn away for the Hero/Auster to gain and add strength to his party. The Hero was about to be born in a DoomedHometown, but God saved him and moved him to the continent of Estard in the future when the Ruins could be used. The Hero was originally a child marked with the Aqua Spirit's brand -- but only half, his father Sharkeye was not killed, only Sealed in ice until needed so that the Hero can gain the entire seal. Estard, on the other hand, was the ONLY island that was spared from Orgodemir's destruction. On that island was the Ruins that allow the Hero to go into the past and save all the worlds. The shards to get to each world are arranged in difficulty to allow the Hero to grow. Then, right after the Hero has killed Orgodemir, the revival ceremony to revive God is allowed to finally work. Sadly, right after that is the Body Snatcher incident, but... God's Gambit works perfectly.]]

** One party member is Gabo / Ruff, who joins you at level one. It seems a little weird... except that Gabo is a [[RaisedByWolves feral child]] and technically an adolescent -- ergo it makes ''perfect'' sense that he doesn't have a lot of combat prowess ''or'' experience. Melvin/Mervyn and Aira/Aishe, meanwhile, are at a much higher level when they join.
** Additionally, Melvin/Mervyn, a paladin who was a warrior of God, joins your party, yet he is only slightly stronger than you are or even ''weaker''. Except that [[SealedGoodInACan he had been sealed away for God knows how long]] -- not staying in shape. A DLC dungeon in the 3DS version further addresses this: [[spoiler:the Almighty intended to give Mervyn his strength back upon awakening, but instead gave that power to Priestess Jacquelyn so she could cleanse Alltrades Abbey of the evil that had tainted it during the main story. Mervyn has no problems with this, and is pleased that it was used for such a good cause.]]

** When Aira/Aishe joins, she already has the dancer class mastered, as well as several levels into Warrior. This is indeed befitting of her status as the village dancer as well as someone who is at the very least knowledgeable about weaponry. Additionally, the reason why it's only at level three makes sense as well -- she mentions her parents usually don't like her fighting, so she isn't able to do a lot of training.
* GodIsEvil: Subverted. The Almighty, after being resurrected, orders everyone to worship Him and only Him, threatening divine wrath upon anyone who disagrees, and seals off four continents. [[spoiler:Then it's revealed He's actually the Demonlord in disguise]]. Also, [[spoiler:the real God is a BonusBoss, and when you fight him, [[GodIsGood it's just a friendly test of strength in combat. He even looks pretty friendly]].]]
* TheGodsMustBeLazy: It ends up he survived his fight with Orgodemir, but decided that humanity didn't need him anymore and could take care of themselves. While he's right, given how many people suffered at Orgodemir's hands it can come off as avoiding responsibility.

** Collection sidequests include recording every monster in the [[MonsterCompendium Big Book of Beasts]], sending all recruitable monsters to the Monster Park/Meadows, and finding enough mini medals to cash in all the prizes from King Maximo.

** Hybrid skills are mentioned PSX version's manual, but it never explains exactly ''how'' to get them. After reaching a certain rank in a class, the character will be mentioned as having "matured"; the character must then immediate switch to the other class and mature in order to learn the skill. The 3DS version gets rid of hybrid skills, simply relocating them to the classes' main skillsets. However, in doing so, they ended up introducing a different problem...
*** In the 3DS version, intermediate and advanced human vocations have powerful spells and skills that are locked, e.g. only the Monster Masher can use breath attacks they learn, and etc. This means that if you master a vocation and switch to another one, you lose the ability to use those powerful skills. Monster vocations have the benefit of learning some of those skills permanently, but again, the game never explains this outright. This is somewhat mitigated with the Advanced classes in that they let you relearn most, if not all the magic/skills from the intermediate classes you would've had to master to access the class to begin with, in addition to the advanced class' own abilities.

** [[spoiler: Matilda/Maeve -- however, it's a case of ICannotSelfTerminate]].
** [[spoiler: The warrior in Pink manages to do it, earning himself a RedemptionEqualsDeath]].
** The Priest of Probina/Providence. [[spoiler: As it turns out, he was more than willing to do this in the past...]]
** Twice in Loomin/Nottagen:
*** Buddy's first monster pet, a rock monster, detonates to save Buddy from the vine monster.

* HonorBeforeReason: Averted by Hadeed. When a monster you just defeated produces his Queen's amulet and tries to get out of the beating by claiming Hadeed's people must obey whoever carries the amulet, his only reaction is to ask "Are you quite finished?" before dealing the final blow.

** You get a couple, both in [[spoiler:the Dharma/Alltrades area when your spells/abilities are stolen]]. What's more, the other boss fights in the area that you're actually intended to win [[ThatOneBoss aren't any picnic either,]] even after [[spoiler:you've gotten your spells/abilities back]].
** The first round against [[spoiler:the corrupted King Zeppel/Hybris]] is also one of these.

** In Orph/L'Arca as a result of the [[ForcedTransformation curse of Deathpal/Hackrobat]], which turned all the humans into animals and all the animals, including party member Gabo/Ruff into humans. The curse is done, but not before the monster makes it permanent for the young White Wolf.
** When returning to Orph/L'Arca, it turns out that [[spoiler:Deathpal/Hackrobat himself has become (a rather scruffy) human due to his powers being sealed]]. His attempt to undo Gabo/Ruff's curse results in Gabo/Ruff learning to talk just like a human.

* {{Hunk}}: The hero's dad Borkano/Pollock, who's ridiculously muscular, tanned, and has a mighty beard upon his square jaw. Being the best fisherman on the island will keep you in shape.
* JackOfAllStats: Your hero, naturally. Dharma/Alltrades Abbey lets him become TheAce more easily than other characters.
* {{Jerkass}}: Hondara/Pike, for being a lazy, good-for-nothing drunkard who stoops to bullying kids.
** That warrior in the pink armor. After having his abilities stripped of him, he takes the demons up on their offer to use the Soulshatter Sword to shatter five souls, with his justification being that he deserves better than everyone else in Penal Town/Pilgrims' Perdition. The last soul shattered ends up being Neris/Nava's kid brother Zaji/Zev. You meet up with him again later, and not only is he not the least bit repentant for what he's done, he actually mocks Neris/Nava for wanting revenge.
** The present day Mayor of Labres is this, CrazyPrepared, and AxCrazy. He feared someone was going to find the tablet eventually, and had a giant axe ready to smash it to bits when they did.
** Pendragon/Preator in past Gorges/Aeolus Vale. He disowned his own daughter for being born without wings by telling her that she was a human orphan that he was kind enough to take in, and is so fearful of having his cover on this lie broken that he doesn't even want to tell her when the heroes need her to open a door that ONLY a member of the Lefa/Cirrus tribe can open. His own mother constantly calls him out on how big of a cowardly asshole he is, though.
* JerkassHasAPoint: The people of Loomin/Nottagen are distrustful of Buddy's second monster pet. They're clearly not meant to be sympathised with, even though they ''do'' have a point that a monster may not be the ideal choice for a pet, especially since they were just saved from monsters who attacked and took over the village ''twice'' in the past couple months. Of course, [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential you could always decide to castigate them for their behaviour...]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: [[spoiler:"The Pink Soldier" dies protecting another man from a monster attack, which is the only time he ever thinks for anyone other than himself.]]

* KarmicTransformation: Deathpal/Hackrobat. [[spoiler:After transforming all of the humans in Orph/L'Arca to animals (and vice verse), he himself [[HumanityEnsues becomes human]] due to being drained of his power. He's reduced to using his scary voice to intimidate other monsters, because if they saw him they would attack him. He decides to make it up to Ruff for cursing him earlier by changing him back into a wolf, but only succeeds in letting him talk just like a human...but as it turned out, he prefers his new human form.]]
* KavorkaMan: According to the Wind Spirit, ''[[RaisedByWolves Gabo]].''
* KillerRobot: The Mechsoldiers/automata assaulting Falrish/Frobisher. [[spoiler:Comes complete with TurnedAgainstTheirMasters / HoistByHisOwnPetard when the strongest Mechsoldier/Slaughtomaton ''crushes'' the monster commanding them.]]

* LampshadeHanging: Done quite a bit with party chat. Special mention goes to when you finally are going up to the actual church in Dharma/Alltrades Abbey... when even the ''other npcs'' are getting frustrated at how long it's taking and comment just how impossibly fast it was for the monsters to set up an arena.
* LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards: Inverted -- Both fighters and mages get a lot of fancy abilities. Unfortunately, the problem with mages is that they don't have anything to multiply the power of their abilities like warriors do. Warriors have several abilities that are boosted in power by Sap (lowers enemy defence), Focus or Muster Strength (allows the next attack to deal more damage) and Oomph (Doubles attack power). This enables mages to deal only just above triple digit damage, whereas an oomphed Focus Strengthed warrior will hit for over a thousand damage with Knuckle Sandwich (And this will only take a couple rounds to set up, too). Even for clearing out groups of enemies, mages fall behind since most [[PrestigeClass prestige warrior classes]] get access to useful abilities like Thin Air, which hits harder than any of the Boom spells do ''and'' costs nothing. Later on, mages are useful primarily for healing, buffing, and debuffing.
* LoveDodecahedron: ''Hoo boy''. [[spoiler:In Verdham: [[UpperClassTwit Iwan]] has an ArrangedMarriage with Linda, but Linda loves his gardener, [[NiceGuy Pepe]]. Iwan's {{m|eido}}aid Kaya loves him, and [[{{Yandere}} jokes about]] ''[[PerfectPoison poisoning everyone]]'' to get what she wants. Linda and Kaya both pressure Pepe to fight for her, but he [[ExtremeDoormat cracks under the pressure]] of trying to please everyone and [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy leaves town so she can marry and live well]]. Nobody's happy, and even Maribel and Kiefer get ''pissed'' at the non-solution.]]
** And it goes FromBadToWorse, folks. [[spoiler:We get to revisit Verdham down the road, and we get to see the results of the fact that everyone went stupid the last time you were here -- Iwan loses the house and is worthless, Kaya has married the new owner of the house, we find out that her poisoning jokes weren't exactly jokes, Linda abandoned her family to become a nun at a convent overlooking Pepe's estate at Mentare and recently passed away pining for Pepe, and Pepe has become a confirmed bachelor. Perhaps it's for the best that Verdham in the present is a ruin, with only the decaying herb garden left to mark that it even existed.]]
* LoveAtFirstSight: Michaela has elements of this with the hero. What really hits it off for her is his age similarity to herself (a breath of fresh air when your castle is full of older people) and kind nature. Though it's never really explored much, the Hero is noted by allies to get a bit shy around her when Party Chatting, and is said to be rather happy to be kissed by her in the epilogue. This is all to Maribel's chagrin, of course.
* MagicKnight: Melvin/Mervyn, who is more magic-centric. Aira/Aishe is a more combat-centric example. The armamentalist class focuses on this.

** Dharma Temple/Alltrades Abbey.

* MeaningfulName: Loomin and Nottagen. Loomin because the threat of evil is always [[IncrediblyLamePun looming]] over the town... and Nottagen because when the player goes back for the ''third time'' to restore the town, they are probably thinking [[IncrediblyLamePun Not Again!]] (See MarathonLevel)
* {{Metamorphosis}}: [[spoiler:Little Gabo/Ruff]] got hit by this.
* MistakenForOwnMurderer: Exploited by the head of the monsters in one area. It strikes a deal with the local priest, claiming that as long as the priest lives in a cursed, monstrous form, it will leave his hometown and everyone living there alone. However, the transformed man is forced to return home and try to live among the residents, who naturally tend to assume that he killed the real priest and is mocking them. In other words, the monster expects them to invalidate the deal by killing the transformed priest themselves, at which point it can swoop in and finish them off...
* MoralEventHorizon: InUniverse. While Orgodemir is called the Demon Lord for good reason, the party outright states in Party Chat that turning newborn children into monsters and making them attack their parents in Buccanham has ''unequivocally'' crossed the line!
* MoreThanMindControl: [=SoulSwords=] / Soulstealers are formed from the darkest aspects of the bearer's soul, drawing out, amplifying and twisting their worst thoughts and impulses to spur them into acting upon them. So while the bearers act BrainwashedAndCrazy, their actions don't come ''entirely'' out of nowhere.
* MoneySpider: [=GoldSlime=] / Gem Slimes found at the bottom of the volcano near the end of the game drop three thousand gold apiece while other enemies drop a couple hundred gold apiece, and are quite common. Since late game equipment starts to cost tens of thousands of gold they really are a treasure.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: In present-Falrod/Faraday, [[spoiler:upon witnessing his guards critically damage ELLIE under the false belief she was about to attack Ambrose, the King finally realizes that ELLIE is more than just a machine and how his blind obsession with advancing Falrod/Faraday's technology was preventing him from seeing the big picture. He immediately agrees to return ELLIE to Zebbot/Autonymous's house and resolves to be more mindful and ethical in his technological pursuits.]]
** The villagers of Past Vogogard when they realise [[spoiler: that the monster was actually the priest.]] The elder ''especially''
** Linda, [[spoiler:after Pepe takes her ReasonYouSuckSpeech (really an attempt into provoking him into fighting for her) to heart, causing him to leave town in hopes of making everyone happy. And she ends up carrying this for the ''rest of her life'', as even though she leaves her husband and son behind, she was too ashamed of what she had done to ever approach Pepe again and spends the rest of her life secretly watching him from the Regrette-Rien Convent]].
* MythologyGag: The female Sage costume in the 3DS version is a pure white variation on Fosse's (Jacqueline's) robes from ''Caravan Heart''.

** Nottagen's scenario forces you to do this -- by clearing the darkness, you cause a huge man-eating plant monster to return. Oops. You can make this even ''worse'' by deciding to [[spoiler: kill Chibi / Wiggles, resulting in the entire town save one getting killed]].
* NobleWolf: The White Wolves of Orph. [[spoiler:Also, Gabo.]]
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Pomposo is a clear analogue to Antoni Gaudi, with the buildings he designs evoking Gaudi's SignatureStyle. Made even clearer in the remake, where the local town of El Ciclo gains a Spanish accent.
* NonCombatantImmunity: The first three or four hours are infamous for the fact that they contain ''no combat'', just walking back and forth between two towns and solving a puzzle. You only start seeing enemies once, y'know, your character can fight.
* NonstandardGameOver: Refusing to aid Pamela during the Emberdale festival will result in Burnmont erupting and killing everyone. The next second, the party wakes up at the inn, because it was All Just a Dream...that can repeat if they choose not to help Pamela.
* NowWhereWasIGoingAgain: "Party Talk" will often be this -- especially in the 3DS version, wherein the characters will mention what you were doing last. Very useful in a game of this length and if one sets the game down for awhile.
* OneManParty: Amazingly, it's not the hero. [[spoiler:Protip: Despite it being [[GuideDangIt completely against common sense]], teach Gabo healing spells. He's the only character that never leaves your party, including the main character, and running out of healers ''sucks.'']]
* OnlySaneMan: In Krage, [[spoiler:only the elderly mayor manages to resist the poisoned water long enough for you to retrieve the cure, and only he drinks the Holy Dew willingly.]]

** Borkano / Pollock. The remaining sea-monsters in the world are why he's so against you and Maribel traveling with him.

* PeninsulaOfPowerLeveling: The Treasure Hunt [=DLC=] Tablet contains Metal/Diamond Mannequins. They give absurd amounts of experience by the truck loads, and they can be easily dispatched by landing a good Hatchet Man blow. Some players like making Liquid Metal Slime Tablets to create their own penninsulas.
* PermanentlyMissableContent: An entire town. [[spoiler:If you make the wrong choice in past-Loomin and kill Chibi, the town is destroyed and there's nothing you can do about it.]]
* PetBabyWildAnimal: Sieble/Buddy does this ''twice'', with Rocky the Bombcrag and Chibi the larval Hellworm. Um... yeah. Guy has exotic tastes.
* PowerFist: Gabo/Ruff uses claw versions, they do look like powerfists in the game but the icon and artwork shows them as claws. His high strength still lets him give a good haymaker though!
* PowerOfTheGodHand: One of three [[PrestigeClass Advanced classes]] is called the Godhand.
* PrestigeClass: The advanced classes are this -- as they require you to master multiple basic classes and intermediate classes to be able to promote to and give powerful abilities. Godhand/Champion and Summoner/Druid are these for fighters and mages, respectively.
* PrecisionFStrike: Averted. A lot of other "bad words" are used though. Even by Gabo/Ruff. Pretty jarring considering the NES and GBC entries...

* TheQuisling: In Dune, Hadeed insists that Queen Ferid has become this. [[spoiler:Ultimately, she's a sympathetic example, struggling to protect her people while undermining the monsters wherever possible.]]
* RaisedByNatives: Firia, a [[HeartwarmingOrphan sweet little girl]] adopted by Pendragon, the leader of the winged Lefa tribe. She faces constant [[KidsAreCruel bullying by her peers and step-sister]], and copes as best she can... [[spoiler:And then the whole thing gets [[{{Subverted}} turned on its head]] by [[TheReveal her father admitting that she's]] ''[[TomatoInTheMirror not adopted]]''. He IS her father -- she was just born without wings, and he thought it was better to let her grow up [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer treated like an outsider]] than admit she was really his own.]]
* RaisedByWolves: Gabo/Ruff, with good reason: [[spoiler:he ''IS'' a wolf.]]

** The monster hearts are a particularly annoying example of this. You can find some in chests (in limited supply), win some from the Lucky Panel minigame (infinite supply, if you have the patience and luck), but some (such as Boltrat, Dumbira, and [=LizardMan=], all three of which must be mastered to work up to some of the best advanced monster classes) can only be obtained by battling the monsters and hoping you get lucky. Expect to spend many hours of farming before you see your first Dumbira heart, if you don't give up before that point.

* RealMenWearPink: Played with; the party meets a warrior in pink armor who's headed to the Shrine of Dharma/Alltrades Abbey to change classes. [[spoiler:He's stripped of his powers by the monsters' trap and shunted to the shanty town like everyone else. He then goes mad and takes the demons up on their soul-stealing deal, and is ultimately killed during an uprising... But dies while defending another man, who is inspired by his sacrifice and calls him a hero.]]
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: The elder of Past Vogogard at first seems to be just with everyone else... but he hesitates and is the first of the villagers to realise [[TheCassandra Luka was telling the truth all along]].

** Later on, there's Aira/Aishe of the Deja tribe/Roamers, who's just as rebellious. [[LikeFatherLikeSon There's a reason for that.]]

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: In Dharma Temple/Alltrades Abbey, [[spoiler:the pink armored warrior ends up sacrificing himself to save a child from monsters.]]

* ReplacementGoldfish: [[spoiler:Eri/E.L.L.I.E.]], for Zebbot/Autonymus's dead fiancée.

* RewatchBonus: [[spoiler: When the Almighty is revived he doesn't initially recognize Sir Mervyn. On first viewing this just looks like a side effect of being asleep for so long, but in hindsight it's obvious because he's really Orogodemir, because why would the Almighty not remember his closest ally?]]

%%* RobotMaid: Eri. ''Not'' a {{Ridiculously Human Robot|s}}.

** Combined with PokeThePoodle: The brainwashed citizens of Krage/Grondal attempt to chop down the roots of Ygg... by wielding a club and a cypress stick against the tree, which causes little to no damage at all!

* SealedGoodInACan: The hero Melvin/Mervyn was sealed away in case the Demon Lord happened to rise again.
** The crew of the Marle de Dragonne were sealed away by a curse of the Demon Lord, frozen in a block of ice for hundreds of years. It's possible to run into the frozen ship long before there's any hint in the game whatsoever what happened to it. When [[spoiler:the Demon Lord is revived and casts the world into darkness, this has the side-effect of dispelling the ice that froze the Marle de Dragoone, and they arrive at Fishbel just in time to provide some help.]]
* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: The majority of the journey in Disc 1 is restoring the world to its original state. In the present day, all the other lands have long fallen into despair and destruction from Orgodemir's minions and ultimately sealed away as a result of their schemes. The party uses the Fane to go back to the past of each land when the crisis can still be averted and set things right to restore the land in the present.
* ShootTheDog: In Loomin/Nottagen, the townsfolk ask you do this [[spoiler:to Chibi, Sieble's beloved [[PetBabyWildAnimal baby Hellworm]]. It's ''clearly'' [[NotQuiteTheRightThing the wrong choice]], however, and results in [[ShootTheShaggyDog a BAD END for all involved]].]]

** In Verdham/Greenthumb Gardens, there's a pair of sisters who are references to [[VideoGame/DragonQuestIV Meena and Maya]]. One of them is a dancer and mentions that her sister hasn't been the same since they took revenge for their father.

** The [=BoltRat=] / Serial Quiller enemy is an [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} electric yellow rodent]].
* TheSlacker: Hondara/Pike, the hero's worthless wannabe ConMan uncle. Your mother frequently worries that her son might turn out the same way. [[spoiler:The Holy Water he offers to sell you, though? The real deal. Surprises the hell out of his neighbors. The Hot Stone he's trying to pawn off also turns out to be very significant to the plot.]]

** Played straight in the original with [[spoiler:Maribel, with no warning. Hope she wasn't carrying anything useful, like the Bless Staff or Tiny Medals... [[{{Unwinnable}} or that empty bottle]]. No idea what would happen if she was holding the [=DarkRuby=], which would normally be taken from you later beyond your control.]] In the 3DS version, [[spoiler:she sheds all the items she's not equipped with into the bag]].
* SouthernGothic: The 3DS translation turns Verdham/Greenthumb Gardens, with its love triangles and poisonings, into this by giving everyone DeepSouth accents.

* StableTimeLoop: During the game, you hear from various people or in books about the climatic battle between God and the Demon Lord, with the implication that God was defeated in the battle. So why doesn't the Demon Lord exist in the present? [[spoiler: Turns out the Demon Lord was left heavily wounded by God and the party is the one who goes back in time using the final Pedastal to finish him off. Until he's inadvertently revived by the Deja/Roamer tribe at least.]]

* SwordOfPlotAdvancement: The Aquagon sword. It's initially provided by the King of Coastal as a reward for saving the kingdom, and is by far the best weapon for the hero available at the time (and for a long time after). Later on, it's the key to convincing [[spoiler:Sharkeye that you're telling the truth, and it helps to revive the Aqua Spirit.]]

* TalkingIsAFreeAction: You can talk to your other party members at any time, even during battle! ...However, if you choose to talk [[RuleOfThree three times]] in a single turn instead of selecting your actions for that round, the enemy gets a free round of attacks.
* ThereIsNoGod: The Glowering Inferno believes that the deity that the citizens of Engow/Emberdale are worshipping doesn't exist at all. [[spoiler:It turns out he does.]]
* TimeSkip: Aside from the obvious, you get to revisit a few 'past time' towns while working on ''other'' villages in the region. One case gives you an update on the LoveDodecahedron mentioned above: [[spoiler:Iwan married Linda, but lost his family fortune and now works for the new rich guy in town; Linda's become a MissingMom and left her resentful son with Iwan; Kaya married the new guy and is slowly {{p|erfectPoison}}oisoning him as revenge in Iwan's name...]]

* TorchesAndPitchforks: Shows up in [[spoiler:Labres, when the citizens try lynching a monster that's holed up in the church. Turns out, however, that the 'monster' is the kindly priest, who ''voluntarily'' changed into a monster to protect them for as long as he lived as a mute, hideous demon.]]
* TownWithADarkSecret: A minor version, but still irritating: [[spoiler:Present day Labres turned the tale of how they nearly killed the priest who sacrificed so much to ''protect'' them into a yarn about them protecting the priest from 'evil travelers', and treat the family that's been passing down the ''truth'' like freaks. While you can expose the truth, the adults just keep covering it up -- but hey, at least the kids find out what really happened and decide to work to overturn those lies. Visiting those kids later and it will turn out that their parents have been punishing them for telling the truth, but won't stop doing so. Ensuring that the lie will die with their parents generation.]]
* TragicMonster: [[spoiler:Matilda/Maeve. Her fate leaves your little group a bit shaken and forces them to recognize that their quest is NotAGame.]]
* TranslationTrainWreck: There are numerous typos in the English version, but given the sheer amount of text they had to translate... Fortunately, this is fixed in the 3DS version.
* TrapIsTheOnlyOption: It's incredibly obvious that something is up at [[spoiler:Dharma Temple/Alltrades Abbey, what with people entering but not returning, and how they ''insist'' you change your vocation.]] You can refuse, but of course, the plot doesn't continue until you accept.
* TraumaCongaLine: Buddy -- first he is kicked out of his house by monsters. When he goes back, one stays with him but then [[HeroicSacrifice blows itself up so Buddy won't be taken by the vines]]. Then he gets a pet monster who the townsfolk want to kill and who [[spoiler:sacrifices himself too when the town gets attacked by monsters once again]].
* TriangRelations: [[spoiler:Layla/Lala and Jann/Florin are in a relationship, but there are complications even ''before'' Kiefer enters the equation...]]

* TwoGuysAndAGirl: Your hero, Kiefer, and Maribel, once they leave to go discover new islands. After [[spoiler:Kiefer leaves forever and until you get Mervyn, which is quite a while]], Hero, Maribel, and Gabo/Ruff.

* ValleyGirl: The people in Loomin/Nottagen ("Worst. Town. Ever."), like, totally talk like this. Even the elderly say things like "ASAP".

* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: You can cause Loomin/Nottagen to be destroyed in the present by [[spoiler:deciding to just go ShootTheDog]].

* WarIsHell: The central theme of Falrod/Faraday and Probina/Providence is the brutality and tragedy of war.
* WaterSourceTampering: Krage's sole source of water is a single well in the middle of town. Then it gets spiked with a poison that makes [[BrainwashedAndCrazy everyone believe that they're]] [[BigBad the Demon Lord]]. Considerable amounts of StupidEvil antics ensue until your merry band is able to do anything about it.

** Depending on how dilligent you are with talking with [=NPCs=], some plotlines appear to have a few open threads left hanging, like some [=NPC's=] fate being left unknown.
** It seems as if one happened with Vogogard, the penultimate scenario. Except, wait a minute, [[TimeyWimeyBall we met a priest with a goddess statue earlier, didn't we?]]
* WildChild: Gabo/Ruff, due to originally being a wolf.
%%* WingedHumanoid: The Lefa Tribe of Gorges in the past.

** You ''finally'' made it back to Dharma/Alltrades Abbey... oh wait, now they built an arena. [[LampshadeHanging In an impossibly short amount of time -- the characters are just as surprised as the player is.]]
** Great job, you resurrected the Almighty! [[spoiler:Wait a minute... he is not the real Almighty. He is the Demon King in disguise]].

** Linda, [[spoiler:after Pepe takes her ReasonYouSuckSpeech (really an attempt into provoking him into fighting for her) to heart, causing him into leaving town in hopes of making everyone happy. And she ends up carrying this for the ''rest of her life'', as even though she leaves her husband and son behind, she was too ashamed of what she had done to ever approach Pepe again and spends the rest of her life secretly watching him from the Regrette-Rien Convent]].

* BalefulPolymorph: The town of Orph/L'Arca, where the people have been turned into animals by a terrible curse and the exact opposite happens to the actual animals themselves. Fortunately, they are changed back except for Ruff who is out of luck since the hackrobat made his spell permanent. Later on, another town has been hit with a similar curse where the children of the town are transformed into monsters on their first full moon.

** In Orph/L'Arca as a result of the [[BalefulPolymorph curse of Deathpal/Hackrobat]], which turned all the humans into animals and all the animals, including party member Gabo/Ruff into humans. The curse is done, but not before the monster makes it permanent for the young White Wolf.

* TorchesAndPitchforks: Shows up in [[spoiler:Labres, when the citizens try lynching a monster that's holed up in the church. Turns out, however, that the 'monster' is the kindly priest, who ''voluntarily'' [[BalefulPolymorph changed into a monster]] to protect them for as long as he lived as a mute, hideous demon.]]

* RobotMaid: Eri. ''Not'' a {{Ridiculously Human Robot|s}}.
* RuleOfFunny: WHEE!! I'm selling my old weapons to a CHICKEN!! Wait, he used to be a human? Oh well. How much for this [[VendorTrash Copper Sword?]] Cock-a-doodle-do!

* {{Satan}}: [[spoiler:Orgodemir is clearly meant to be a parallel to him.]]
** He's certainly cruel enough. Not to mention, extremely prideful.

* WingedHumanoid: The Lefa Tribe of Gorges in the past.

* RuleOfFunny: WHEE!! I'm selling my old weapons to a CHICKEN!! Wait, he [[FunnyAneurysmMoment used to be a human]]? Oh well. How much for this [[VendorTrash Copper Sword?]] Cock-a-doodle-do!

See, during the final showdown between Good and Evil, most of the world got sealed away by the Demon Lord/Demon King... and [[TheGodsMustBeLazy God/the Almighty never got around to fixing things]]. Whoops. Of course, that's where our hero comes into play, as he and his friends stumble across a great secret hidden in their island's Ancient Ruins and have to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong via TimeTravel. [[TimeyWimeyBall Or something like that, anyway.]]

* DiscOneNuke: As is standard for the series, once the casino becomes available, it's remarkably easy to use SaveScumming to reload your way into an incredible gambling winning streak, with the tokens then traded in for gear that will outclass anything that will be found for several dungeons. [[spoiler:Given that the casino first appears right before all of your skills and spells get locked away, this might just count as DevelopersForesight.]]

* TownWithADarkSecret: A minor version, but still irritating: [[spoiler:Present day Labres turned the tale of how they nearly killed the priest who sacrificed so much to ''protect'' them into a yarn about them protecting the priest from 'evil travelers', and treat the family that's been passing down the ''truth'' like freaks. While you can expose the truth, the adults just keep covering it up -- but hey, at least the kids find out what really happened and decide to work to overturn those lies.]]

* ReplacementGoldfish: [[spoiler:Eri/E.L.L.I.E., for {{Jerkass}} Zebbot/Autonymus's dead fiancée.]]

** [[CassandraTruth Pamala/Palmela]] from Engow/Emberdale warns the villagers that it'll be dangerous to climb the volcano to worship their god and gets shunned for it.
** [[MadScientist Zebbot/Autonymus]] and [[RobotMaid Eri/ELLIE]] from Falrish/Frobisher; one is a misanthropic scientist who chooses to live away from people, the other is a robot, robots being widely feared in the island.
** [[{{Jerkass}} Baloch/Pomposa]] in Litorud/El Ciclo is admired by the townsfolk, but is also a mad genius and lives far away from them.

* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: You ''finally'' made it back to Dharma/Alltrades Abbey... oh wait, now they built an arena. [[LampshadeHanging In an impossibly short amount of time -- the characters are just as surprised as the player is.]]
** Great job, you resurrected God/the Almighty! [[spoiler:Wait a minute... he's starting to enslave everyone... and seal off the world again.]]

** You have just killed the monster causing darkness around Loomin/Nottagen. Wait a moment, why is it still ruined? Back to fix it! Well, now you saved them from a man-eating plant. Now let's see what-wait why are they ''still'' ruined?

* ChildhoodFriendRomance: Maribel has feelings for the hero and is jealous of Princess Michaela who does as well, though it's unknown if the hero returns either girls' feelings. In the manga, Maribel also had feelings for Prince Keifer, though in the game they just have a platonic friendship.

** Keifer learns Flame Slash as one of his first abilities. The 3DS remake of course shows him attempting it on a monster in a cutscene.

* GodIsEvil:
** The Almighty, after being resurrected, orders everyone to worship Him and only Him, threatening divine wrath upon anyone who disagrees, and seals off four continents. [[spoiler:Subverted when it's revealed He's actually the Demonlord in disguise]].
** [[spoiler:Also, the real God is a BonusBoss, and when you fight him, [[GodIsGood it's just a friendly test of strength in combat. He even looks pretty friendly]].]]
* TheGodsMustBeLazy: [[spoiler:Turns out God won the war against the Demon Lord, but after sealing him away and recovering, he decided to let humanity and the four elemental spirits clean up the fallout themselves in spite of being both stronger than the Demon Lord and free to fix the problems created by the sealing of the world.]]
** [[spoiler:You actually get the opportunity to call God out on this when you meet him as the BonusBoss. He responds by telling you that you do not realize what true suffering is as he prepares to visit upon you the full wrath of God!]]

* GuestStarPartyMember: Numerous guests "join" you and some even contribute in combat. You cannot control them.

* RandomDrop: The monster hearts are a particularly annoying example of this. You can find some in chests (in limited supply), win some from the Lucky Panel minigame (infinite supply, if you have the patience and luck), but some (such as Boltrat, Dumbira, and [=LizardMan=], all three of which must be mastered to work up to some of the best advanced monster classes) can only be obtained by battling the monsters and hoping you get lucky. Expect to spend many hours of farming before you see your first Dumbira heart, if you don't give up before that point.
** The thief and pirate class actually work like this, you don't get the item until the battle is over.

*** In the 3DS version, intermediate and advanced human vocations have powerful spells and skills that are locked, e.g. only the Monster Masher can use breath attacks they learn, and etc. This means that if you master a vocation and switch to another one, you lose the ability to use those powerful skills. Monster vocations have the benefit of learning some of those skills permanently, but again, the game never explains this outright.

** Falrod/Faraday: [[spoiler:The Automatons are defeated, but ELLIE, who was instrumental in the victory, is ostracized and abused by the very people she helped saved simply because she herself is an Automaton. To make matters worse, Automynous learns ''[[IgnoredEpiphany absolutely nothing]]'' from the whole ordeal and spends the rest of his days in bitter, misanthropic seclusion.]]

* BadassGrandpa: Melvin/Mervyn.

* ConspicuousCG: With the sprites rendered in classic Toriyama-style 2D looking very much like upgraded ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVI'' sprites as well as 3D backgrounds and attacks... it can look a bit... style-breaking.
** [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in the remake.

* TheCasino: One located near Alltrades Abbey... oddly in the well. Another is in a palace. In the 3DS version, the Haven eventually builds one, too.

* FluffyFashionFeathers: The Angel leotard has a bunch of feathers arranged like a ShowgirlSkirt. But this is just in the artwork, not the game itself.

* RejectingTheInheritance: Prince Kiefer is the crown prince of the kingdom of Estard, but he hates it and is always running off to have adventures with the hero. His father, however, doesn't like his risky behavior and keeps locking him up in the palace, only for Kiefer to escape later and go adventuring with the hero anyway. His father's greatest fears eventually come true when [[spoiler:Kiefer chooses to stay in the past with the woman he loves, and is never seen or heard from again]]. This is even worse when we find out that [[spoiler:the "past" that Kiefer stayed in took place centuries ago, so he is most likely dead]].