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[[quoteright:256:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Evolution_-_The_World_of_Sacred_Device_Coverart_1671.png]]
''Evolution'' (known as ''Shinkisekai Evolution'' in Japan) is a bipartite EasternRPG originally released for the UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast. It was developed by Creator/StingEntertainment and published by {{Creator/Ubisoft}} in North America and Europe. In Japan it was published by ESP (Entertainment Software Publishers).
''Evolution'' is a [[DungeonCrawling dungeon crawler]] which follows the adventures of Mag Launcher and his companions. Set in a fictitious [[BoldExplorer age of exploration]], most of the characters wield "Cyframes", i.e. {{lost technology}} discovered in the ancient ruins. These Cyframes are sought by adventurers who explore caverns to find and sell them. Mag comes from a family of gentry fallen on hard times: The running gag is that Mag can never pay off his family's debts [[PerpetualPoverty no matter what he does.]] He is most-often accompanied by a bean-counting BattleButler (Gre) and a MysteriousWaif who is highly-sought by the villains of both games (Linear).
Battles make use of TurnBasedCombat and PreexistingEncounters. The main gimmick is the Cyframes themselves: each has interchangeable parts (which cannot be unequipped) that offer different special attacks and stats. Not every character can utilize Cyframes, and the ones who can't have to level-up and learn set skills the old-fashioned way.
The first game, ''Quest for Sacred Device'', revolved around Mag's [[HubCity hub town]], which linked to various dungeons via his family's biplane, and a seedy military leader with an interest in Linear. It also had a downscaled port for the UsefulNotes/NeoGeoPocket titled ''Evolution: Eternal Dungeons''.
The game had one sequel, ''Evolution 2: Far Off Promise'', and a CompilationRerelease for the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube Gamecube]], ''Evolution Worlds'': This adventure saw Mag and company going on the road. It was set in a far-off town connected to dungeons via a new railroad network. Once again, Linear found herself a target, this time of a [[WhiteHairDarkHeart white-haired villain]] with a shared lineage and a hatred of humanity. The ending wasn't exactly open-ended, but a few plot threads were left hanging (mainly to do with Linear's origin), and a follow-up seems unlikely.
A novelization of of the first game was also released... [[NoExportForYou in Japan.]] A series of [[GagSeries gag strips]] also ran in the Japanese Official Dreamcast Magazine, the first 36 of which were also released with the ''Evolution 2'' strategy guide (once again, in Japan).
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!!This game contains examples of:
* ActionInitiative: Run into an enemy from behind, the music sounds happy and you get free turns to happily punch your enemies. Have an enemy run into YOU from behind, the music gets daunting and you stand still while the enemy beats your head off your shoulders.
* AdaptationExplanationExtrication: ''Worlds'' is bad at this, especially towards the end.
** Eugene's introduction is greatly trimmed down, including the scene where he initially believes Linear to be an offering to him, enraging Mag.
** Inspecting the instruments in Eugene's command room will reveal that the reason the ship is exploding is because Mag kicked a grenade into the engine room, which was explicitly shown in the original game.
** Crossing into {{Adaptation Induced Plot Hole}}, the escape sequence was also severely trimmed. [[spoiler:The port removes the sequence where Mag and Linear are separated from the rest of the party, explaining how the others got back to the seaplane and why Mag and Linear needed to find a different escape route.]]
* AllInARow: In the first game, Mag always heads the line. In ''Far Off Promise'', the party's leading member can be rotated with the three characters moving around, doing so gives some kind of bonus for exploration (Mag can destroy boxes and stone pillars, Chain can make the party run faster, etc).
* AllThereInTheManual: Supplementary material gives off a few more details for the game, such as the characters' ages and zodiac signs.
* ArbitraryGunPower: [[spoiler:Every enemy in TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon. There are even TANKS you have to fight, yet they seem to do as much damage as a normal enemy.]]
* ActionInitiative: Run into an enemy from behind, the music sounds happy and you get free turns to happily punch your enemies. Have an enemy run into YOU from behind, the music gets daunting and you stand still while the enemy beats your head off your shoulders.
* AmericanKirbyIsHardcore: The above is the US box art. [[http://www.gamefaqs.com/dreamcast/197249-evolution/images/box-13766 This is the Japanese box art]], [[http://www.gamefaqs.com/dreamcast/197249-evolution/images/box-103617 this is the EU box art]].
* ArbitraryHeadcountLimit: 3 people max on your team, 4 max on enemy teams, however most bosses come with only one enemy: the boss itself.
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Carcano's men will follow his every word.
* AwesomeButImpractical: Two of Pepper's skills, Trigger Happy and Pepper Flash, can easily do 9,999 damage at high levels, but they both cost all of her FP to use, and their power is linked to her remaining FP.
* BadassBeard: Carcano sports one.
* BadassGrandpa[=/=]BadassNormal[=/=]BattleButler: Gre is entirely capable of serving Mag at home and on the battlefield despite his age. He also fights without the use of a Cyframe and, unlike Linear, has no hidden powers.
* BarbarianTribe: There are enemies based on this.
* BareYourMidriff: Pepper wears an outfit that does this
%%BagOfSharing
* BattleThemeMusic: In addition to a boss and final boss theme, the battle music changes depending on the situation of the battle (normal battle, Mag's party has the advantage or the enemy has the advantage)
* BattleshipRaid: The end of the first half of the games sees the party storm [[spoiler:The 8th Imperial Army's battleship to rescue Linear after Eugene kidnaps her.]]
* BigBad: For the first portion, Eugene. For the second portion, [[spoiler:Yurka fulfills this role]]
* BigCreepyCrawlies: Some of the enemies are Spiders are as big as the party. [[spoiler:And then there are huge robot spiders in the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon that take up all the enemy side. Killing these hard-hitters net you lots of EXP.]]
* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:Pepper pulls this out when saving Mag and Linear from the boss of Blaze Ruins.]] After that, she can be recruited for dungeon missions at the bar.
* BlackMarket: [[spoiler:Mag can eventually buy goods from Carcano's cronies once he gains their boss's respect (even though Carcano himself seemed to show respect to Mag before their fight).]]
* BlowYouAway: One of [[spoiler:Carcano's]] attacks is called like this word for word. It blows enemies away.
* BonusDungeon: The Tower of Despair, accessible once you reach Museville. It's unique in that enemies give little EXP but more TP than usual, making it ideal for grinding skills. The limit of how many floors one can go through changes each in-game day and there is a unique prize at the end each time. [[spoiler: It also has an underside.]]* * ButThouMust: There's no way to take Linear off the party to ask another member to join during ruins exploration [[spoiler:unless she's kidnapped]]. {{Justified|Trope}} in that Mag promised his father to not leave Linear alone.
* CantDropTheHero:
** Mag is the title character, therefore he must always be in the party and controllable, so you cannot get rid of him whatsoever... Not like you would want to.
** Linear is like this during the main campaign, and must always be in your party no matter what until the postgame. Before the postgame during the TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, you are required to have at least two other characters in your party at all times, and Mag must be one of them while Linear cannot be for story reasons
%%* CharacterLevel
* ChasteHero: Mag can't really understand the theme of love, not even when Nina seems infatuated about Gre.
* TheChessmaster: [[spoiler:Yurka is this, his only purpose for helping Whitehead being to open the path to the ancient civilization by controlling Mag and his party to search the keys hidden in the ruins.]]
* ChickMagnet: A rumor in the Society explicitly says that Carcano is popular among girls.
* TheClan: Chain's family is a clan.
* ClimaxBoss: [[spoiler:Eugene, as a result of the games being combined, is demoted to this. His mech is even nerfed as a result.]]
* CombiningMecha: [[spoiler: The Ulticannon is an angel-like machine which needs both Yurka and Linear to work properly. However before you get the chance to fight it, Linear breaks out from the machine. Yurka, driven insane with jealousy, descends into madness, and the robot's loosely angelic-look turns into a gruesome devil-look, complete with a beating heart-like organ hanging to the right side.]]
* CoolHelmet: Mag is always wearing his headgear wherever he goes...and whenever he goes to sleep. It doesn't really bother him at all.
* CoolLoser: The Launcher Family is popular among other hunters in that they have an horrendous debt to pay to the Society, so Mag has to WorkOffTheDebt to keep his BigFancyHouse. Luckily, the Gun Family averted going through this by doing the opposite, but it's still kind of pathetic they now live in a bus.
* CoolShades: Pepper owns a good one.
* CrazyJealousGuy:
** [[spoiler:After Linear is persuaded back into returning to Mag's side, Yurka, while still in the Ulticannon, starts to wonder why he's feeling jealous all of a sudden.]]
** A very young kid behind Chain's bus home has the hots for Linear, but he doesn't like the idea that Mag escorts her everywhere she goes.
* CriticalHit: Shown by the enemies having a different hurt animation.
* CriticalHit: Shown by the enemies having a different hurt animation.
* CurbStompBattle: Upon fighting Carcano the first time, he'll go down without much trouble. [[spoiler:However, he was letting his guard down to make time while his men were stealing appraisal items on the train.]] The next time Mag meets him face-to-face, he's tougher to beat.
* CuteMute: Linear starts out as this, somehow inverting the HeroicMime status for Mag. By the second game or the second half of Evolution Worlds, she becomes the ShrinkingViolet.
* DamselInDistress: This was obviously bound to happen to Linear judging Mag's father told him to keep her safe from everyone at all times. [[spoiler:The second time this happens is subverted since she's convinced to leave Mag to keep him safe instead.]]
* DarkSkinnedBlond: Yurka, with white hair thrown in for good measure.
* DefeatMeansFriendship: [[spoiler:Yurka gets this treatment, but he dies. It's speculated that he will return one day to be friends with Linear and everyone.]]
* DefendCommand: On top of reducing damage, it increases the amount of SP restored.
* DenserAndWackier: The ''Dreamcast Magazine'' comic in spades. Outside of the occasional BlackComedyBurst or MoodWhiplash [[spoiler:and the comic depicting Linear arriving at the Launcher residence]], the comic in general is much weirder and humor-based than the actual games.
* DisappearedDad: Mag's father, Asroc Launcher.
* DiscOneNuke: Mag's hand parts, which you have at the start. By gaining TP you can learn two really strong attacks pretty early: Dive Punch, which hits every enemy doing lots of damage) and Magna Rave, which hits one enemy but is the strongest attack in the game.
* DiscOneFinalDungeon: [[spoiler: [[MeaningfulName The Kronprinz]], due to it no longer being the final dungeon. Outside of a few enemy waves, there is nothing but a BossRush with three bosses one after another (with breaks in-between all of them).]] It's entirely jarring if you didn't store many healing items and didn't do some LevelGrinding beforehand. And yes, to add insult to the injury, it's a temporary PointOfNoReturn till you [[spoiler:save Linear]].
* DiscOneFinalBoss: [[spoiler:Eugune's Mech during the rescue attempt halfway through the game.]]
* DishingOutDirt: Linear's Ocarina offensive spells practically has boulders fall on the enemies.
* [[spoiler:DistressedDamsel: Poor Linear will never have a chance to fight the final boss on both parts.]]
* DropTheHammer: One of Mag's weapons for his Cyframe. No matter how big the enemy is, his trusty hammer squashes them with no problem.
* DrunkOnMilk: On a little note, Pepper comments how she and [[spoiler:Nina of all people]] went to drink milk one night and the latter got so drunk that [[spoiler:she]] started dancing the Macarena.
* DudeWheresMyRespect: The Launcher family (Mag included) is respected among other adventurers...[[WorkOffTheDebt but for the wrong reasons.]] The only people who respect them are Nina, who starts respecting Mag after he completes story missions without problems; Gre by default, and Prof. Whitehead. [[spoiler:Carcano really warms up to Mag, giving him some well-deserved respect even before he's fought.]] Prof. Whitehead thinks very highly of Mag and appreciates the work he's done so far till the point they meet [[spoiler:except he's really using him for his own selfish goals]].
* EasilyForgiven: [[spoiler:Mag (somehow) convinces Whitehead from arresting Carcano despite all the trouble he's been causing to the Society for a long time ago with the idea that he'll repent for his actions soon.]]
* AnEconomyIsYou:
** Where are people supposed to buy food in Pannam Town?
** This is averted for Museville, but then you'd say everyone eats three kinds of fruit and gets DrunkOnMilk at the local bar.
* EndgamePlus: You get one bonus dungeon (which is one of the five you didn't pick during the game), able to freely choose dungeons and the ability to take Linear out of your party.
* EnemySummoner: The Lynx monster type can howl to call more of its friends to battle.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: [[spoiler:Carcano's lot]] refuses to kill people while on the job, but [[spoiler:they only steal appraisal items]].
* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs: The final dungeon suddenly has a liking to having big dinosaurs roam the halls.
* FaceOfAThug: For some weird reason, both the item and equipment vendors in Museville are rocker dudes.
* FeudingFamilies: The Launchers have been long rivals with the Gun Clan.
* FingerlessGloves: Mag, Chain and Pepper wear these. Curiously, Mag's pinky and ring finger ''are'' covered.
* FlavorText: As in the original games. It varies depending on the part; During part 1, Mag comments on whatever he's looking at. During part 2, the flavor text and conversations with the townsfolk are instead for whoever is in front of the party.
* ForScience: [[spoiler:Whitehead's whole motivation to uncover the ancient civilization behind everyone's backs.]]
* FrickinLaserBeams: Pepper's weapon of choice.
* GlobalAirship: Mag's Sea Otter Seaplane can get him to anywhere in the first portion. It gets replaced by the Museville train station after the second portion comes in.
* GogglesDoSomethingUnusual: Mag does put his goggles on when using his hand-based attacks.
* GoodScarsEvilScars: During [[spoiler:his boss fight]], you can see Yurka has one over his right eye.
* GrapplingHookPistol: This is one of Carcano's skills that he can use with his Cyframe. [[spoiler:Outside of battles, he uses this to sneak into the Society Museum to steal artifacts.]] [[spoiler:Moreover, he uses this to enter the building after Linear is persuaded to leave Mag behind. Since Carcano revealed his secret, he won't be able to use it to plan surprise thefts anymore. But then again, he ''did'' say he was going to turn into a better person.]]
* [[spoiler:HumansAreFlawed]]: [[spoiler:Yurka]] doesn't really like humans because of this reasoning [[spoiler:since he and Linear are Evolutia]]. He comments on this [[spoiler:when getting rid of Whitehead for his fascination with the ancient civilization]].
* IHaveNoSon: A kid selling fruits in Museville will go through this if Mag and the party don't buy anything from him.
* ImprobableWeaponUser: Mag's Cyframe is essentially a PowerFist that can be upgraded to wield hammers, bowling balls, and bug spray. Chain's Cyframe is a jet pack with a giant blade sticking out at the back. Linear uses a FryingPanOfDoom. Unequip Gre's and Linear's weapons, and they punch their enemies with their bare hands.
* InexplicableTreasureChests: There's a large number of chests containing healing items, the same artifacts over and over, and an inexplicably large number of Cyframe parts that your friends can easily use.
* KidHero: Mag. Chain somewhat is one.
* KillerYoyo: Yet another weapon for Mag's Cyframe.
* LadyLooksLikeADude: How is anyone going to tell at first glance Chain is a girl? It helps that she's got a voice and female pronouns used on her.
* LethalChef: Gre uses food to damage enemies and lower their stats or cause status effects.
* LethalLavaLand: The Sheol ruins is located inside of a volcano, complete wit lava in the upper floors.
* LevelScaling: This can be the games biggest helping point or massive flaw depending on how you look at it. The bosses scale much faster than the player, and the final boss, Eugene's battle mech, is the biggest threat, the higher level you are the more impossible he is to beat, and he will always be above your level. This is no longer an issue in the remake.
* LightningBruiser: Mag is easily the swiss army knife of your party. He dishes out great damage, gets very good skills and cyframe parts (more than any other character), can even gain healing parts, and easily makes up the best part of your team no matter what. It's ironic considering he's required to be in the team at all times.
* MagicalFlutist: Linear uses an ocarina to use [[MagicMusic magic on the party or the enemies]].
* MagicalGirl: Linear by default, being the only party member who can use healing spells. [[spoiler:Though this becomes even more apparent once she grows wings to save Mag from exploding with Eugene's ship]].
* MarshmallowHell: This is what Pepper ''seemingly'' does to Mag to heal his HP. He seems happy about it, though.
* {{Meganekko}}: Nina of the Society fits this.
* MissingMom: Mag's mother is never shown. Same with Chain.
* MsFanservice: Pepper. Half ripped jeans, curled blond hair, jacket ripped open showing a black bra, and her theme music which is saxophone music.
** Another girl in town is implied to be naked. Though no skin is seen every dialogue with her speaks directly about the fact that she's wearing nothing but a leopard print fur coat until her luggage arrives. Makes you wonder why she was only wearing the coat by itself in the first place.
* MurderTheHypotenuse: [[spoiler:After Linear reunites with Mag at the end of the Society Dungeon, Yurka [[AxeCrazy turns insane with jealousy and attempts to murder the party.]]]]
* MysteriousWaif: Linear. You never get a full explanation as to what exactly happened to her or why she's mute in the game, but she certainly has a lot of mysterious air about her.Mysteriously shows up one day, is timid and quiet, [[spoiler:turns out to be Evolutia...]]
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler:Mag's SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome gets screwed over by a tank bullet exploding on him and Linear that he accidentally caused.]]
* NothingUpMySleeve: Yurka's sleeves are so long they are a few inches away from touching the ground. He can, however, use magic with them.
* ObviouslyEvil: You're this when you're asking the pretty shy Linear to become one of Eugene's maids while disregarding everything about Mag's exploits.
* OffModel: A rather weird thing happens to Mag's white jacket suddenly disappearing during animated cutscenes. By the next normal cutscene, it's back there on him. [[CoversAlwaysLie Why, the boxart on this page also suffers from this.]][[note]] That's because in ''World of Sacred Device'', the game from which the cut scenes came from, he never wore the adventurer jacket. The jacket was added in ''Far Off Promise'', from which most of the character models came from.[[/note]]
* OlderThanTheyLook: Mag, Linear, and Chain are 16, 17, and 15 respectively. None of them look even close to their age. Lampshaded somewhat with Chain who is annoyed at her height (or lack of)
* OneManParty: Mag is easily the strongest character. The other characters levels will appropriate to what level you are, but Mag always seems to have the edge in strength.
* OnlyInItForTheMoney: If you do a mission with just Mag and Linear, your entire win bonus goes straight into your pocket. If Gre is in your party, he'll make you use 30% of your bonus to pay towards your debt (which you should do anyway so you're not losing anything) and after it's paid off, he'll never make you do anything with your money again. Chain, on the other hand, takes 30% of your bonus for herself, and Pepper takes 60%. The worst part, you never get this money back, so it's basically losing massive chunks of change for having people in your party. If you were to net an incredible 100,000 in the game and had Pepper in your party, you lose 60,000. The worst part: bonuses are a one time thing, going back and beating the dungeon again means nothing, the money is gone. You'd think they'd have it at least available for item purchase but nope, Mag's gotta spend his cash on Naolin's and Red Viper. It pretty much makes it not worth taking them at all for any stage, or swapping them out just at the boss fight for either Gre, or just Mag and Linear. It doesn't matter anyways, they scale to your level and gain TP for fights despite being back home.
* OutlawTown: Pine Village, Carcano's hideout, is just a big town over the water fully inhabited by thieves.
* OverlyLongFightingAnimation: Magna Rave and Sledge Hammer have very long animations.
* PointBuildSystem: You can gain TP in the game, which can be used to learn new skills.
* [[spoiler:PowerGivesYouWings: Linear suddenly creates a phoenix-like form to fly away with Mag to save him from being killed. Sure enough, as the destructive counterpart to Linear, Yurka pulls his long blue wings out when he's fought. And true to the trope, he ''really'' is a deadly boss.]]
* PunnyName[=/=]ThemeNaming: Mag Launcher, Linear Cannon, Gre Nade, Chain Gun and Pepper Box. Makes Eugene stand out.
* RecurringTraveller: The game practically calls Chain and Pepper from the shadows once the Launcher trio travels to Museville so the party doesn't have to keep Gre for the third slot.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: Yurka has read eyes [[spoiler:and is a very hard boss.]]
* RequiredPartyMember: Linear. She cannot be dropped from the party until the final dungeon, when she's forced out. After the final boss, she's no longer required.
* TheReveal: [[spoiler:Linear? Yeah, she's the Evolutia. Nobody could find the legendary Cyframe since everyone thought it was a relic or a machine, but not a sentient human(?) being. Eugene manages to find this out by using a hi-tech radar.]]
** [[spoiler: And then there's the fact Yurka is also an Evolutia.]]
* TheRival: Chain during the first five minutes of the game. After that, it doesn't really sound like she's being a rival at all if she demands Mag to take her to dungeons all the time.
* {{Roguelike}}: Elements of this are in dungeons, though the battles are turn-based.
* RunDontWalk: Though they had a button to walk, it isn't needed and doesn't do anything.
* SavePoint: located in certain spots in town and on the final floor of a dungeon.
* ShipperOnDeck: Chain's dad literally admits Linear is better off with Mag ''than her own daughter''. It helps (or not) that he really doesn't like Chain.
* SlasherSmile: Eugene does this whenever speaking to Linear or whenever he slowly descends into insanity.
* SlippySlideyIceWorld: The Crypt Maze is an UndergroundLevel that introduces slippery floor. Thankfully, the ice floor is not made of FrictionlessIce.
* SmugSnake: Prince Eugene ''oozes'' smugness in his introduction.
* SpaceZone: The Descent Ruins, on the latter floors, have a cosmic theme, with stars in a void.
* SuccessionCrisis: [[HeirClubForMen The Gun Clan has been known for having male heirs as the ones turned into adventurers.]] But then they came to a full stop with Chain. To remedy this issue, the clan had no choice but to give Chain special education so that she could continue their legacy... Which is extremely weird considering how her father treats her as TheUnfavourite behind her back.
* SurferDude: The Cyframe mechanist in Museville looks like this.
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: No, Carcano isn't [[spoiler:going to help Mag and the others get into the Society Museum to rescue Linear]]. It just happened.
* TankGoodness: [[spoiler:Mag and Linear run away from an army made entirely of this. Later Mag and his rescue party face one as a boss while trying to get to Linear. Weirdly enough, both Forest Depths and Crypt Maze have tank-like bosses that are not related to the dungeon element-wise. The latter does employ an ice attack though, but that's it.]]
* TechPoints: The characters all have a wide movepool to which they can unlock by gathering TP in battles. Since Linear and Gre don't have the same benefits to upgrade/change their weapons like the other Cyframe users of the party, they instead have more areas they can choose from the beginning. In the second part, there's a dungeon specifically made so that the party gains more TP than EXP from the enemies in there.
* ThisIsADrill: Carcano's Cyframe other skill.
* ThrivingGhostTown: There's only about 10 NPC's and the majority are useless. Except for the shop owner, upgrade shop, missions, and appraisal, everyone else does nothing whatsoever except talk about totally irrelevant things or mention stuff you already know.
* TimeSkip: The second half takes place six months after the events of the first.
* TinyGuyHugeGirl: Mag and Linear are this trope, with Linear being OneHeadTaller than Mag.
* TooAwesomeToUse: Cosmo Fruit.
* TopDownView: One of the two available camera angles.
* {{Tsundere}}: Chain. This is even mocked at the beginning of the game when she begins making fun of Mag until Mag embarrasses her with the word cute, at which point she tries to defend herself but just takes off flustered.
* UndergroundLevel: Crypt Maze and [[spoiler:Carcano's Thieves' Trap]].
* UndergroundMonkey: Most enemies in later dungeons go through this, but they do have different abilities to compensate.
* TheUnfavourite: Chain's dad ''really'' doesn't like her. He even implores Mag to take her to his missions just so that she's not around the house.
* UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler:Prof. Whitehead]] tends to be really nice towards Mag and the rest of the characters, but he's secretly trying to obtain ultimate wisdom all for himself.[[spoiler:Whitehead ends up feeling guilty for using Mag and for trying to finish his plan. He feels so guilty for helping Yurka achieve his goals that he offers to help Mag and co. as much as he can.]]
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Carcano just so happens to have a legion of fans.
* TheWarSequence: [[spoiler:A really over-the-top cutscene happens when Mag and Linear run away from Eugene's tank army. What's really shocking is that Mag's PowerFist actually manages to fend them off with an earthquake...[[NiceJobBreakingItHero except a tank falls back in a hole while firing a bullet up to the air that screws his moment by falling on both of them]].]]
* WhiteMage: Linear is this, having a large amount of spells and even a special move that may allow her to convince an enemy to flee the battle. {{Downplayed}} with Gre who is more combat-oriented and has support skills.
* WikiRule: [[http://evolutionworlds.wikia.com/wiki/Evolution_Worlds_Wiki Here it is]].
* WorkOffTheDebt: Both Mag and Chain were left with a huge debt after their parents disappeared. Chain paid it off by selling her house, while Mag is playing this trope. [[spoiler:By the end of the second half, it turns out the Society didn't actually pay for the lodging in the Museville Hotel, so the hotel owners added 30,000 to the Society's bill, adding it all up.]]
* WorldOfPun: Most of the main cast are named after weapons[[note]]Mag Launcher and Linear Cannon are terms used in the anime ''Anime/FangOfTheSunDougram'' for various types of MagneticWeapons[[/note]]. And Prof. Whitehead for his white head.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler:With no need to find the keys with the unconditional help of Mag's actions, Yurka disposes of Whitehead.]]
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''Evolution'' (known as ''Shinkisekai Evolution'' in Japan) is a bipartite EasternRPG originally released for the UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast. It was developed by Creator/StingEntertainment and published by {{Creator/Ubisoft}} in North America and Europe. In Japan it was published by ESP (Entertainment Software Publishers).
''Evolution'' is a [[DungeonCrawling dungeon crawler]] which follows the adventures of Mag Launcher and his companions. Set in a fictitious [[BoldExplorer age of exploration]], most of the characters wield "Cyframes", i.e. {{lost technology}} discovered in the ancient ruins. These Cyframes are sought by adventurers who explore caverns to find and sell them. Mag comes from a family of gentry fallen on hard times: The running gag is that Mag can never pay off his family's debts [[PerpetualPoverty no matter what he does.]] He is most-often accompanied by a bean-counting BattleButler (Gre) and a MysteriousWaif who is highly-sought by the villains of both games (Linear).
Battles make use of TurnBasedCombat and PreexistingEncounters. The main gimmick is the Cyframes themselves: each has interchangeable parts (which cannot be unequipped) that offer different special attacks and stats. Not every character can utilize Cyframes, and the ones who can't have to level-up and learn set skills the old-fashioned way.
The first game, ''Quest for Sacred Device'', revolved around Mag's [[HubCity hub town]], which linked to various dungeons via his family's biplane, and a seedy military leader with an interest in Linear. It also had a downscaled port for the UsefulNotes/NeoGeoPocket titled ''Evolution: Eternal Dungeons''.
The game had one sequel, ''Evolution 2: Far Off Promise'', and a CompilationRerelease for the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube Gamecube]], ''Evolution Worlds'': This adventure saw Mag and company going on the road. It was set in a far-off town connected to dungeons via a new railroad network. Once again, Linear found herself a target, this time of a [[WhiteHairDarkHeart white-haired villain]] with a shared lineage and a hatred of humanity. The ending wasn't exactly open-ended, but a few plot threads were left hanging (mainly to do with Linear's origin), and a follow-up seems unlikely.
A novelization of of the first game was also released... [[NoExportForYou in Japan.]] A series of [[GagSeries gag strips]] also ran in the Japanese Official Dreamcast Magazine, the first 36 of which were also released with the ''Evolution 2'' strategy guide (once again, in Japan).
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!!This game contains examples of:
* ActionInitiative: Run into an enemy from behind, the music sounds happy and you get free turns to happily punch your enemies. Have an enemy run into YOU from behind, the music gets daunting and you stand still while the enemy beats your head off your shoulders.
* AdaptationExplanationExtrication: ''Worlds'' is bad at this, especially towards the end.
** Eugene's introduction is greatly trimmed down, including the scene where he initially believes Linear to be an offering to him, enraging Mag.
** Inspecting the instruments in Eugene's command room will reveal that the reason the ship is exploding is because Mag kicked a grenade into the engine room, which was explicitly shown in the original game.
** Crossing into {{Adaptation Induced Plot Hole}}, the escape sequence was also severely trimmed. [[spoiler:The port removes the sequence where Mag and Linear are separated from the rest of the party, explaining how the others got back to the seaplane and why Mag and Linear needed to find a different escape route.]]
* AllInARow: In the first game, Mag always heads the line. In ''Far Off Promise'', the party's leading member can be rotated with the three characters moving around, doing so gives some kind of bonus for exploration (Mag can destroy boxes and stone pillars, Chain can make the party run faster, etc).
* AllThereInTheManual: Supplementary material gives off a few more details for the game, such as the characters' ages and zodiac signs.
* ArbitraryGunPower: [[spoiler:Every enemy in TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon. There are even TANKS you have to fight, yet they seem to do as much damage as a normal enemy.]]
* ActionInitiative: Run into an enemy from behind, the music sounds happy and you get free turns to happily punch your enemies. Have an enemy run into YOU from behind, the music gets daunting and you stand still while the enemy beats your head off your shoulders.
* AmericanKirbyIsHardcore: The above is the US box art. [[http://www.gamefaqs.com/dreamcast/197249-evolution/images/box-13766 This is the Japanese box art]], [[http://www.gamefaqs.com/dreamcast/197249-evolution/images/box-103617 this is the EU box art]].
* ArbitraryHeadcountLimit: 3 people max on your team, 4 max on enemy teams, however most bosses come with only one enemy: the boss itself.
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Carcano's men will follow his every word.
* AwesomeButImpractical: Two of Pepper's skills, Trigger Happy and Pepper Flash, can easily do 9,999 damage at high levels, but they both cost all of her FP to use, and their power is linked to her remaining FP.
* BadassBeard: Carcano sports one.
* BadassGrandpa[=/=]BadassNormal[=/=]BattleButler: Gre is entirely capable of serving Mag at home and on the battlefield despite his age. He also fights without the use of a Cyframe and, unlike Linear, has no hidden powers.
* BarbarianTribe: There are enemies based on this.
* BareYourMidriff: Pepper wears an outfit that does this
%%BagOfSharing
* BattleThemeMusic: In addition to a boss and final boss theme, the battle music changes depending on the situation of the battle (normal battle, Mag's party has the advantage or the enemy has the advantage)
* BattleshipRaid: The end of the first half of the games sees the party storm [[spoiler:The 8th Imperial Army's battleship to rescue Linear after Eugene kidnaps her.]]
* BigBad: For the first portion, Eugene. For the second portion, [[spoiler:Yurka fulfills this role]]
* BigCreepyCrawlies: Some of the enemies are Spiders are as big as the party. [[spoiler:And then there are huge robot spiders in the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon that take up all the enemy side. Killing these hard-hitters net you lots of EXP.]]
* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:Pepper pulls this out when saving Mag and Linear from the boss of Blaze Ruins.]] After that, she can be recruited for dungeon missions at the bar.
* BlackMarket: [[spoiler:Mag can eventually buy goods from Carcano's cronies once he gains their boss's respect (even though Carcano himself seemed to show respect to Mag before their fight).]]
* BlowYouAway: One of [[spoiler:Carcano's]] attacks is called like this word for word. It blows enemies away.
* BonusDungeon: The Tower of Despair, accessible once you reach Museville. It's unique in that enemies give little EXP but more TP than usual, making it ideal for grinding skills. The limit of how many floors one can go through changes each in-game day and there is a unique prize at the end each time. [[spoiler: It also has an underside.]]* * ButThouMust: There's no way to take Linear off the party to ask another member to join during ruins exploration [[spoiler:unless she's kidnapped]]. {{Justified|Trope}} in that Mag promised his father to not leave Linear alone.
* CantDropTheHero:
** Mag is the title character, therefore he must always be in the party and controllable, so you cannot get rid of him whatsoever... Not like you would want to.
** Linear is like this during the main campaign, and must always be in your party no matter what until the postgame. Before the postgame during the TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, you are required to have at least two other characters in your party at all times, and Mag must be one of them while Linear cannot be for story reasons
%%* CharacterLevel
* ChasteHero: Mag can't really understand the theme of love, not even when Nina seems infatuated about Gre.
* TheChessmaster: [[spoiler:Yurka is this, his only purpose for helping Whitehead being to open the path to the ancient civilization by controlling Mag and his party to search the keys hidden in the ruins.]]
* ChickMagnet: A rumor in the Society explicitly says that Carcano is popular among girls.
* TheClan: Chain's family is a clan.
* ClimaxBoss: [[spoiler:Eugene, as a result of the games being combined, is demoted to this. His mech is even nerfed as a result.]]
* CombiningMecha: [[spoiler: The Ulticannon is an angel-like machine which needs both Yurka and Linear to work properly. However before you get the chance to fight it, Linear breaks out from the machine. Yurka, driven insane with jealousy, descends into madness, and the robot's loosely angelic-look turns into a gruesome devil-look, complete with a beating heart-like organ hanging to the right side.]]
* CoolHelmet: Mag is always wearing his headgear wherever he goes...and whenever he goes to sleep. It doesn't really bother him at all.
* CoolLoser: The Launcher Family is popular among other hunters in that they have an horrendous debt to pay to the Society, so Mag has to WorkOffTheDebt to keep his BigFancyHouse. Luckily, the Gun Family averted going through this by doing the opposite, but it's still kind of pathetic they now live in a bus.
* CoolShades: Pepper owns a good one.
* CrazyJealousGuy:
** [[spoiler:After Linear is persuaded back into returning to Mag's side, Yurka, while still in the Ulticannon, starts to wonder why he's feeling jealous all of a sudden.]]
** A very young kid behind Chain's bus home has the hots for Linear, but he doesn't like the idea that Mag escorts her everywhere she goes.
* CriticalHit: Shown by the enemies having a different hurt animation.
* CriticalHit: Shown by the enemies having a different hurt animation.
* CurbStompBattle: Upon fighting Carcano the first time, he'll go down without much trouble. [[spoiler:However, he was letting his guard down to make time while his men were stealing appraisal items on the train.]] The next time Mag meets him face-to-face, he's tougher to beat.
* CuteMute: Linear starts out as this, somehow inverting the HeroicMime status for Mag. By the second game or the second half of Evolution Worlds, she becomes the ShrinkingViolet.
* DamselInDistress: This was obviously bound to happen to Linear judging Mag's father told him to keep her safe from everyone at all times. [[spoiler:The second time this happens is subverted since she's convinced to leave Mag to keep him safe instead.]]
* DarkSkinnedBlond: Yurka, with white hair thrown in for good measure.
* DefeatMeansFriendship: [[spoiler:Yurka gets this treatment, but he dies. It's speculated that he will return one day to be friends with Linear and everyone.]]
* DefendCommand: On top of reducing damage, it increases the amount of SP restored.
* DenserAndWackier: The ''Dreamcast Magazine'' comic in spades. Outside of the occasional BlackComedyBurst or MoodWhiplash [[spoiler:and the comic depicting Linear arriving at the Launcher residence]], the comic in general is much weirder and humor-based than the actual games.
* DisappearedDad: Mag's father, Asroc Launcher.
* DiscOneNuke: Mag's hand parts, which you have at the start. By gaining TP you can learn two really strong attacks pretty early: Dive Punch, which hits every enemy doing lots of damage) and Magna Rave, which hits one enemy but is the strongest attack in the game.
* DiscOneFinalDungeon: [[spoiler: [[MeaningfulName The Kronprinz]], due to it no longer being the final dungeon. Outside of a few enemy waves, there is nothing but a BossRush with three bosses one after another (with breaks in-between all of them).]] It's entirely jarring if you didn't store many healing items and didn't do some LevelGrinding beforehand. And yes, to add insult to the injury, it's a temporary PointOfNoReturn till you [[spoiler:save Linear]].
* DiscOneFinalBoss: [[spoiler:Eugune's Mech during the rescue attempt halfway through the game.]]
* DishingOutDirt: Linear's Ocarina offensive spells practically has boulders fall on the enemies.
* [[spoiler:DistressedDamsel: Poor Linear will never have a chance to fight the final boss on both parts.]]
* DropTheHammer: One of Mag's weapons for his Cyframe. No matter how big the enemy is, his trusty hammer squashes them with no problem.
* DrunkOnMilk: On a little note, Pepper comments how she and [[spoiler:Nina of all people]] went to drink milk one night and the latter got so drunk that [[spoiler:she]] started dancing the Macarena.
* DudeWheresMyRespect: The Launcher family (Mag included) is respected among other adventurers...[[WorkOffTheDebt but for the wrong reasons.]] The only people who respect them are Nina, who starts respecting Mag after he completes story missions without problems; Gre by default, and Prof. Whitehead. [[spoiler:Carcano really warms up to Mag, giving him some well-deserved respect even before he's fought.]] Prof. Whitehead thinks very highly of Mag and appreciates the work he's done so far till the point they meet [[spoiler:except he's really using him for his own selfish goals]].
* EasilyForgiven: [[spoiler:Mag (somehow) convinces Whitehead from arresting Carcano despite all the trouble he's been causing to the Society for a long time ago with the idea that he'll repent for his actions soon.]]
* AnEconomyIsYou:
** Where are people supposed to buy food in Pannam Town?
** This is averted for Museville, but then you'd say everyone eats three kinds of fruit and gets DrunkOnMilk at the local bar.
* EndgamePlus: You get one bonus dungeon (which is one of the five you didn't pick during the game), able to freely choose dungeons and the ability to take Linear out of your party.
* EnemySummoner: The Lynx monster type can howl to call more of its friends to battle.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: [[spoiler:Carcano's lot]] refuses to kill people while on the job, but [[spoiler:they only steal appraisal items]].
* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs: The final dungeon suddenly has a liking to having big dinosaurs roam the halls.
* FaceOfAThug: For some weird reason, both the item and equipment vendors in Museville are rocker dudes.
* FeudingFamilies: The Launchers have been long rivals with the Gun Clan.
* FingerlessGloves: Mag, Chain and Pepper wear these. Curiously, Mag's pinky and ring finger ''are'' covered.
* FlavorText: As in the original games. It varies depending on the part; During part 1, Mag comments on whatever he's looking at. During part 2, the flavor text and conversations with the townsfolk are instead for whoever is in front of the party.
* ForScience: [[spoiler:Whitehead's whole motivation to uncover the ancient civilization behind everyone's backs.]]
* FrickinLaserBeams: Pepper's weapon of choice.
* GlobalAirship: Mag's Sea Otter Seaplane can get him to anywhere in the first portion. It gets replaced by the Museville train station after the second portion comes in.
* GogglesDoSomethingUnusual: Mag does put his goggles on when using his hand-based attacks.
* GoodScarsEvilScars: During [[spoiler:his boss fight]], you can see Yurka has one over his right eye.
* GrapplingHookPistol: This is one of Carcano's skills that he can use with his Cyframe. [[spoiler:Outside of battles, he uses this to sneak into the Society Museum to steal artifacts.]] [[spoiler:Moreover, he uses this to enter the building after Linear is persuaded to leave Mag behind. Since Carcano revealed his secret, he won't be able to use it to plan surprise thefts anymore. But then again, he ''did'' say he was going to turn into a better person.]]
* [[spoiler:HumansAreFlawed]]: [[spoiler:Yurka]] doesn't really like humans because of this reasoning [[spoiler:since he and Linear are Evolutia]]. He comments on this [[spoiler:when getting rid of Whitehead for his fascination with the ancient civilization]].
* IHaveNoSon: A kid selling fruits in Museville will go through this if Mag and the party don't buy anything from him.
* ImprobableWeaponUser: Mag's Cyframe is essentially a PowerFist that can be upgraded to wield hammers, bowling balls, and bug spray. Chain's Cyframe is a jet pack with a giant blade sticking out at the back. Linear uses a FryingPanOfDoom. Unequip Gre's and Linear's weapons, and they punch their enemies with their bare hands.
* InexplicableTreasureChests: There's a large number of chests containing healing items, the same artifacts over and over, and an inexplicably large number of Cyframe parts that your friends can easily use.
* KidHero: Mag. Chain somewhat is one.
* KillerYoyo: Yet another weapon for Mag's Cyframe.
* LadyLooksLikeADude: How is anyone going to tell at first glance Chain is a girl? It helps that she's got a voice and female pronouns used on her.
* LethalChef: Gre uses food to damage enemies and lower their stats or cause status effects.
* LethalLavaLand: The Sheol ruins is located inside of a volcano, complete wit lava in the upper floors.
* LevelScaling: This can be the games biggest helping point or massive flaw depending on how you look at it. The bosses scale much faster than the player, and the final boss, Eugene's battle mech, is the biggest threat, the higher level you are the more impossible he is to beat, and he will always be above your level. This is no longer an issue in the remake.
* LightningBruiser: Mag is easily the swiss army knife of your party. He dishes out great damage, gets very good skills and cyframe parts (more than any other character), can even gain healing parts, and easily makes up the best part of your team no matter what. It's ironic considering he's required to be in the team at all times.
* MagicalFlutist: Linear uses an ocarina to use [[MagicMusic magic on the party or the enemies]].
* MagicalGirl: Linear by default, being the only party member who can use healing spells. [[spoiler:Though this becomes even more apparent once she grows wings to save Mag from exploding with Eugene's ship]].
* MarshmallowHell: This is what Pepper ''seemingly'' does to Mag to heal his HP. He seems happy about it, though.
* {{Meganekko}}: Nina of the Society fits this.
* MissingMom: Mag's mother is never shown. Same with Chain.
* MsFanservice: Pepper. Half ripped jeans, curled blond hair, jacket ripped open showing a black bra, and her theme music which is saxophone music.
** Another girl in town is implied to be naked. Though no skin is seen every dialogue with her speaks directly about the fact that she's wearing nothing but a leopard print fur coat until her luggage arrives. Makes you wonder why she was only wearing the coat by itself in the first place.
* MurderTheHypotenuse: [[spoiler:After Linear reunites with Mag at the end of the Society Dungeon, Yurka [[AxeCrazy turns insane with jealousy and attempts to murder the party.]]]]
* MysteriousWaif: Linear. You never get a full explanation as to what exactly happened to her or why she's mute in the game, but she certainly has a lot of mysterious air about her.Mysteriously shows up one day, is timid and quiet, [[spoiler:turns out to be Evolutia...]]
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler:Mag's SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome gets screwed over by a tank bullet exploding on him and Linear that he accidentally caused.]]
* NothingUpMySleeve: Yurka's sleeves are so long they are a few inches away from touching the ground. He can, however, use magic with them.
* ObviouslyEvil: You're this when you're asking the pretty shy Linear to become one of Eugene's maids while disregarding everything about Mag's exploits.
* OffModel: A rather weird thing happens to Mag's white jacket suddenly disappearing during animated cutscenes. By the next normal cutscene, it's back there on him. [[CoversAlwaysLie Why, the boxart on this page also suffers from this.]][[note]] That's because in ''World of Sacred Device'', the game from which the cut scenes came from, he never wore the adventurer jacket. The jacket was added in ''Far Off Promise'', from which most of the character models came from.[[/note]]
* OlderThanTheyLook: Mag, Linear, and Chain are 16, 17, and 15 respectively. None of them look even close to their age. Lampshaded somewhat with Chain who is annoyed at her height (or lack of)
* OneManParty: Mag is easily the strongest character. The other characters levels will appropriate to what level you are, but Mag always seems to have the edge in strength.
* OnlyInItForTheMoney: If you do a mission with just Mag and Linear, your entire win bonus goes straight into your pocket. If Gre is in your party, he'll make you use 30% of your bonus to pay towards your debt (which you should do anyway so you're not losing anything) and after it's paid off, he'll never make you do anything with your money again. Chain, on the other hand, takes 30% of your bonus for herself, and Pepper takes 60%. The worst part, you never get this money back, so it's basically losing massive chunks of change for having people in your party. If you were to net an incredible 100,000 in the game and had Pepper in your party, you lose 60,000. The worst part: bonuses are a one time thing, going back and beating the dungeon again means nothing, the money is gone. You'd think they'd have it at least available for item purchase but nope, Mag's gotta spend his cash on Naolin's and Red Viper. It pretty much makes it not worth taking them at all for any stage, or swapping them out just at the boss fight for either Gre, or just Mag and Linear. It doesn't matter anyways, they scale to your level and gain TP for fights despite being back home.
* OutlawTown: Pine Village, Carcano's hideout, is just a big town over the water fully inhabited by thieves.
* OverlyLongFightingAnimation: Magna Rave and Sledge Hammer have very long animations.
* PointBuildSystem: You can gain TP in the game, which can be used to learn new skills.
* [[spoiler:PowerGivesYouWings: Linear suddenly creates a phoenix-like form to fly away with Mag to save him from being killed. Sure enough, as the destructive counterpart to Linear, Yurka pulls his long blue wings out when he's fought. And true to the trope, he ''really'' is a deadly boss.]]
* PunnyName[=/=]ThemeNaming: Mag Launcher, Linear Cannon, Gre Nade, Chain Gun and Pepper Box. Makes Eugene stand out.
* RecurringTraveller: The game practically calls Chain and Pepper from the shadows once the Launcher trio travels to Museville so the party doesn't have to keep Gre for the third slot.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: Yurka has read eyes [[spoiler:and is a very hard boss.]]
* RequiredPartyMember: Linear. She cannot be dropped from the party until the final dungeon, when she's forced out. After the final boss, she's no longer required.
* TheReveal: [[spoiler:Linear? Yeah, she's the Evolutia. Nobody could find the legendary Cyframe since everyone thought it was a relic or a machine, but not a sentient human(?) being. Eugene manages to find this out by using a hi-tech radar.]]
** [[spoiler: And then there's the fact Yurka is also an Evolutia.]]
* TheRival: Chain during the first five minutes of the game. After that, it doesn't really sound like she's being a rival at all if she demands Mag to take her to dungeons all the time.
* {{Roguelike}}: Elements of this are in dungeons, though the battles are turn-based.
* RunDontWalk: Though they had a button to walk, it isn't needed and doesn't do anything.
* SavePoint: located in certain spots in town and on the final floor of a dungeon.
* ShipperOnDeck: Chain's dad literally admits Linear is better off with Mag ''than her own daughter''. It helps (or not) that he really doesn't like Chain.
* SlasherSmile: Eugene does this whenever speaking to Linear or whenever he slowly descends into insanity.
* SlippySlideyIceWorld: The Crypt Maze is an UndergroundLevel that introduces slippery floor. Thankfully, the ice floor is not made of FrictionlessIce.
* SmugSnake: Prince Eugene ''oozes'' smugness in his introduction.
* SpaceZone: The Descent Ruins, on the latter floors, have a cosmic theme, with stars in a void.
* SuccessionCrisis: [[HeirClubForMen The Gun Clan has been known for having male heirs as the ones turned into adventurers.]] But then they came to a full stop with Chain. To remedy this issue, the clan had no choice but to give Chain special education so that she could continue their legacy... Which is extremely weird considering how her father treats her as TheUnfavourite behind her back.
* SurferDude: The Cyframe mechanist in Museville looks like this.
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: No, Carcano isn't [[spoiler:going to help Mag and the others get into the Society Museum to rescue Linear]]. It just happened.
* TankGoodness: [[spoiler:Mag and Linear run away from an army made entirely of this. Later Mag and his rescue party face one as a boss while trying to get to Linear. Weirdly enough, both Forest Depths and Crypt Maze have tank-like bosses that are not related to the dungeon element-wise. The latter does employ an ice attack though, but that's it.]]
* TechPoints: The characters all have a wide movepool to which they can unlock by gathering TP in battles. Since Linear and Gre don't have the same benefits to upgrade/change their weapons like the other Cyframe users of the party, they instead have more areas they can choose from the beginning. In the second part, there's a dungeon specifically made so that the party gains more TP than EXP from the enemies in there.
* ThisIsADrill: Carcano's Cyframe other skill.
* ThrivingGhostTown: There's only about 10 NPC's and the majority are useless. Except for the shop owner, upgrade shop, missions, and appraisal, everyone else does nothing whatsoever except talk about totally irrelevant things or mention stuff you already know.
* TimeSkip: The second half takes place six months after the events of the first.
* TinyGuyHugeGirl: Mag and Linear are this trope, with Linear being OneHeadTaller than Mag.
* TooAwesomeToUse: Cosmo Fruit.
* TopDownView: One of the two available camera angles.
* {{Tsundere}}: Chain. This is even mocked at the beginning of the game when she begins making fun of Mag until Mag embarrasses her with the word cute, at which point she tries to defend herself but just takes off flustered.
* UndergroundLevel: Crypt Maze and [[spoiler:Carcano's Thieves' Trap]].
* UndergroundMonkey: Most enemies in later dungeons go through this, but they do have different abilities to compensate.
* TheUnfavourite: Chain's dad ''really'' doesn't like her. He even implores Mag to take her to his missions just so that she's not around the house.
* UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler:Prof. Whitehead]] tends to be really nice towards Mag and the rest of the characters, but he's secretly trying to obtain ultimate wisdom all for himself.[[spoiler:Whitehead ends up feeling guilty for using Mag and for trying to finish his plan. He feels so guilty for helping Yurka achieve his goals that he offers to help Mag and co. as much as he can.]]
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Carcano just so happens to have a legion of fans.
* TheWarSequence: [[spoiler:A really over-the-top cutscene happens when Mag and Linear run away from Eugene's tank army. What's really shocking is that Mag's PowerFist actually manages to fend them off with an earthquake...[[NiceJobBreakingItHero except a tank falls back in a hole while firing a bullet up to the air that screws his moment by falling on both of them]].]]
* WhiteMage: Linear is this, having a large amount of spells and even a special move that may allow her to convince an enemy to flee the battle. {{Downplayed}} with Gre who is more combat-oriented and has support skills.
* WikiRule: [[http://evolutionworlds.wikia.com/wiki/Evolution_Worlds_Wiki Here it is]].
* WorkOffTheDebt: Both Mag and Chain were left with a huge debt after their parents disappeared. Chain paid it off by selling her house, while Mag is playing this trope. [[spoiler:By the end of the second half, it turns out the Society didn't actually pay for the lodging in the Museville Hotel, so the hotel owners added 30,000 to the Society's bill, adding it all up.]]
* WorldOfPun: Most of the main cast are named after weapons[[note]]Mag Launcher and Linear Cannon are terms used in the anime ''Anime/FangOfTheSunDougram'' for various types of MagneticWeapons[[/note]]. And Prof. Whitehead for his white head.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler:With no need to find the keys with the unconditional help of Mag's actions, Yurka disposes of Whitehead.]]
----
to:
''Evolution'' (known as ''Shinkisekai Evolution'' in Japan) is a bipartite EasternRPG originally released for the UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast. It was developed by Creator/StingEntertainment and published by {{Creator/Ubisoft}} in North America and Europe. In Japan it was published by ESP (Entertainment Software Publishers).
''Evolution'' is a [[DungeonCrawling dungeon crawler]] which follows the adventures of Mag Launcher and his companions. Set in a fictitious [[BoldExplorer age of exploration]], most of the characters wield "Cyframes", i.e. {{lost technology}} discovered in the ancient ruins. These Cyframes are sought by adventurers who explore caverns to find and sell them. Mag comes from a family of gentry fallen on hard times: The running gag is that Mag can never pay off his family's debts [[PerpetualPoverty no matter what he does.]] He is most-often accompanied by a bean-counting BattleButler (Gre) and a MysteriousWaif who is highly-sought by the villains of both games (Linear).
Battles make use of TurnBasedCombat and PreexistingEncounters. The main gimmick is the Cyframes themselves: each has interchangeable parts (which cannot be unequipped) that offer different special attacks and stats. Not every character can utilize Cyframes, and the ones who can't have to level-up and learn set skills the old-fashioned way.
The first game, ''Quest for Sacred Device'', revolved around Mag's [[HubCity hub town]], which linked to various dungeons via his family's biplane, and a seedy military leader with an interest in Linear. It also had a downscaled port for the UsefulNotes/NeoGeoPocket titled ''Evolution: Eternal Dungeons''.
The game had one sequel, ''Evolution 2: Far Off Promise'', and a CompilationRerelease for the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube Gamecube]], ''Evolution Worlds'': This adventure saw Mag and company going on the road. It was set in a far-off town connected to dungeons via a new railroad network. Once again, Linear found herself a target, this time of a [[WhiteHairDarkHeart white-haired villain]] with a shared lineage and a hatred of humanity. The ending wasn't exactly open-ended, but a few plot threads were left hanging (mainly to do with Linear's origin), and a follow-up seems unlikely.
A novelization of of the first game was also released... [[NoExportForYou in Japan.]] A series of [[GagSeries gag strips]] also ran in the Japanese Official Dreamcast Magazine, the first 36 of which were also released with the ''Evolution 2'' strategy guide (once again, in Japan).
----
!!This game contains examples of:
* ActionInitiative: Run into an enemy from behind, the music sounds happy and you get free turns to happily punch your enemies. Have an enemy run into YOU from behind, the music gets daunting and you stand still while the enemy beats your head off your shoulders.
* AdaptationExplanationExtrication: ''Worlds'' is bad at this, especially towards the end.
** Eugene's introduction is greatly trimmed down, including the scene where he initially believes Linear to be an offering to him, enraging Mag.
** Inspecting the instruments in Eugene's command room will reveal that the reason the ship is exploding is because Mag kicked a grenade into the engine room, which was explicitly shown in the original game.
** Crossing into {{Adaptation Induced Plot Hole}}, the escape sequence was also severely trimmed. [[spoiler:The port removes the sequence where Mag and Linear are separated from the rest of the party, explaining how the others got back to the seaplane and why Mag and Linear needed to find a different escape route.]]
* AllInARow: In the first game, Mag always heads the line. In ''Far Off Promise'', the party's leading member can be rotated with the three characters moving around, doing so gives some kind of bonus for exploration (Mag can destroy boxes and stone pillars, Chain can make the party run faster, etc).
* AllThereInTheManual: Supplementary material gives off a few more details for the game, such as the characters' ages and zodiac signs.
* ArbitraryGunPower: [[spoiler:Every enemy in TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon. There are even TANKS you have to fight, yet they seem to do as much damage as a normal enemy.]]
* ActionInitiative: Run into an enemy from behind, the music sounds happy and you get free turns to happily punch your enemies. Have an enemy run into YOU from behind, the music gets daunting and you stand still while the enemy beats your head off your shoulders.
* AmericanKirbyIsHardcore: The above is the US box art. [[http://www.gamefaqs.com/dreamcast/197249-evolution/images/box-13766 This is the Japanese box art]], [[http://www.gamefaqs.com/dreamcast/197249-evolution/images/box-103617 this is the EU box art]].
* ArbitraryHeadcountLimit: 3 people max on your team, 4 max on enemy teams, however most bosses come with only one enemy: the boss itself.
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Carcano's men will follow his every word.
* AwesomeButImpractical: Two of Pepper's skills, Trigger Happy and Pepper Flash, can easily do 9,999 damage at high levels, but they both cost all of her FP to use, and their power is linked to her remaining FP.
* BadassBeard: Carcano sports one.
* BadassGrandpa[=/=]BadassNormal[=/=]BattleButler: Gre is entirely capable of serving Mag at home and on the battlefield despite his age. He also fights without the use of a Cyframe and, unlike Linear, has no hidden powers.
* BarbarianTribe: There are enemies based on this.
* BareYourMidriff: Pepper wears an outfit that does this
%%BagOfSharing
* BattleThemeMusic: In addition to a boss and final boss theme, the battle music changes depending on the situation of the battle (normal battle, Mag's party has the advantage or the enemy has the advantage)
* BattleshipRaid: The end of the first half of the games sees the party storm [[spoiler:The 8th Imperial Army's battleship to rescue Linear after Eugene kidnaps her.]]
* BigBad: For the first portion, Eugene. For the second portion, [[spoiler:Yurka fulfills this role]]
* BigCreepyCrawlies: Some of the enemies are Spiders are as big as the party. [[spoiler:And then there are huge robot spiders in the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon that take up all the enemy side. Killing these hard-hitters net you lots of EXP.]]
* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:Pepper pulls this out when saving Mag and Linear from the boss of Blaze Ruins.]] After that, she can be recruited for dungeon missions at the bar.
* BlackMarket: [[spoiler:Mag can eventually buy goods from Carcano's cronies once he gains their boss's respect (even though Carcano himself seemed to show respect to Mag before their fight).]]
* BlowYouAway: One of [[spoiler:Carcano's]] attacks is called like this word for word. It blows enemies away.
* BonusDungeon: The Tower of Despair, accessible once you reach Museville. It's unique in that enemies give little EXP but more TP than usual, making it ideal for grinding skills. The limit of how many floors one can go through changes each in-game day and there is a unique prize at the end each time. [[spoiler: It also has an underside.]]* * ButThouMust: There's no way to take Linear off the party to ask another member to join during ruins exploration [[spoiler:unless she's kidnapped]]. {{Justified|Trope}} in that Mag promised his father to not leave Linear alone.
* CantDropTheHero:
** Mag is the title character, therefore he must always be in the party and controllable, so you cannot get rid of him whatsoever... Not like you would want to.
** Linear is like this during the main campaign, and must always be in your party no matter what until the postgame. Before the postgame during the TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, you are required to have at least two other characters in your party at all times, and Mag must be one of them while Linear cannot be for story reasons
%%* CharacterLevel
* ChasteHero: Mag can't really understand the theme of love, not even when Nina seems infatuated about Gre.
* TheChessmaster: [[spoiler:Yurka is this, his only purpose for helping Whitehead being to open the path to the ancient civilization by controlling Mag and his party to search the keys hidden in the ruins.]]
* ChickMagnet: A rumor in the Society explicitly says that Carcano is popular among girls.
* TheClan: Chain's family is a clan.
* ClimaxBoss: [[spoiler:Eugene, as a result of the games being combined, is demoted to this. His mech is even nerfed as a result.]]
* CombiningMecha: [[spoiler: The Ulticannon is an angel-like machine which needs both Yurka and Linear to work properly. However before you get the chance to fight it, Linear breaks out from the machine. Yurka, driven insane with jealousy, descends into madness, and the robot's loosely angelic-look turns into a gruesome devil-look, complete with a beating heart-like organ hanging to the right side.]]
* CoolHelmet: Mag is always wearing his headgear wherever he goes...and whenever he goes to sleep. It doesn't really bother him at all.
* CoolLoser: The Launcher Family is popular among other hunters in that they have an horrendous debt to pay to the Society, so Mag has to WorkOffTheDebt to keep his BigFancyHouse. Luckily, the Gun Family averted going through this by doing the opposite, but it's still kind of pathetic they now live in a bus.
* CoolShades: Pepper owns a good one.
* CrazyJealousGuy:
** [[spoiler:After Linear is persuaded back into returning to Mag's side, Yurka, while still in the Ulticannon, starts to wonder why he's feeling jealous all of a sudden.]]
** A very young kid behind Chain's bus home has the hots for Linear, but he doesn't like the idea that Mag escorts her everywhere she goes.
* CriticalHit: Shown by the enemies having a different hurt animation.
* CriticalHit: Shown by the enemies having a different hurt animation.
* CurbStompBattle: Upon fighting Carcano the first time, he'll go down without much trouble. [[spoiler:However, he was letting his guard down to make time while his men were stealing appraisal items on the train.]] The next time Mag meets him face-to-face, he's tougher to beat.
* CuteMute: Linear starts out as this, somehow inverting the HeroicMime status for Mag. By the second game or the second half of Evolution Worlds, she becomes the ShrinkingViolet.
* DamselInDistress: This was obviously bound to happen to Linear judging Mag's father told him to keep her safe from everyone at all times. [[spoiler:The second time this happens is subverted since she's convinced to leave Mag to keep him safe instead.]]
* DarkSkinnedBlond: Yurka, with white hair thrown in for good measure.
* DefeatMeansFriendship: [[spoiler:Yurka gets this treatment, but he dies. It's speculated that he will return one day to be friends with Linear and everyone.]]
* DefendCommand: On top of reducing damage, it increases the amount of SP restored.
* DenserAndWackier: The ''Dreamcast Magazine'' comic in spades. Outside of the occasional BlackComedyBurst or MoodWhiplash [[spoiler:and the comic depicting Linear arriving at the Launcher residence]], the comic in general is much weirder and humor-based than the actual games.
* DisappearedDad: Mag's father, Asroc Launcher.
* DiscOneNuke: Mag's hand parts, which you have at the start. By gaining TP you can learn two really strong attacks pretty early: Dive Punch, which hits every enemy doing lots of damage) and Magna Rave, which hits one enemy but is the strongest attack in the game.
* DiscOneFinalDungeon: [[spoiler: [[MeaningfulName The Kronprinz]], due to it no longer being the final dungeon. Outside of a few enemy waves, there is nothing but a BossRush with three bosses one after another (with breaks in-between all of them).]] It's entirely jarring if you didn't store many healing items and didn't do some LevelGrinding beforehand. And yes, to add insult to the injury, it's a temporary PointOfNoReturn till you [[spoiler:save Linear]].
* DiscOneFinalBoss: [[spoiler:Eugune's Mech during the rescue attempt halfway through the game.]]
* DishingOutDirt: Linear's Ocarina offensive spells practically has boulders fall on the enemies.
* [[spoiler:DistressedDamsel: Poor Linear will never have a chance to fight the final boss on both parts.]]
* DropTheHammer: One of Mag's weapons for his Cyframe. No matter how big the enemy is, his trusty hammer squashes them with no problem.
* DrunkOnMilk: On a little note, Pepper comments how she and [[spoiler:Nina of all people]] went to drink milk one night and the latter got so drunk that [[spoiler:she]] started dancing the Macarena.
* DudeWheresMyRespect: The Launcher family (Mag included) is respected among other adventurers...[[WorkOffTheDebt but for the wrong reasons.]] The only people who respect them are Nina, who starts respecting Mag after he completes story missions without problems; Gre by default, and Prof. Whitehead. [[spoiler:Carcano really warms up to Mag, giving him some well-deserved respect even before he's fought.]] Prof. Whitehead thinks very highly of Mag and appreciates the work he's done so far till the point they meet [[spoiler:except he's really using him for his own selfish goals]].
* EasilyForgiven: [[spoiler:Mag (somehow) convinces Whitehead from arresting Carcano despite all the trouble he's been causing to the Society for a long time ago with the idea that he'll repent for his actions soon.]]
* AnEconomyIsYou:
** Where are people supposed to buy food in Pannam Town?
** This is averted for Museville, but then you'd say everyone eats three kinds of fruit and gets DrunkOnMilk at the local bar.
* EndgamePlus: You get one bonus dungeon (which is one of the five you didn't pick during the game), able to freely choose dungeons and the ability to take Linear out of your party.
* EnemySummoner: The Lynx monster type can howl to call more of its friends to battle.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: [[spoiler:Carcano's lot]] refuses to kill people while on the job, but [[spoiler:they only steal appraisal items]].
* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs: The final dungeon suddenly has a liking to having big dinosaurs roam the halls.
* FaceOfAThug: For some weird reason, both the item and equipment vendors in Museville are rocker dudes.
* FeudingFamilies: The Launchers have been long rivals with the Gun Clan.
* FingerlessGloves: Mag, Chain and Pepper wear these. Curiously, Mag's pinky and ring finger ''are'' covered.
* FlavorText: As in the original games. It varies depending on the part; During part 1, Mag comments on whatever he's looking at. During part 2, the flavor text and conversations with the townsfolk are instead for whoever is in front of the party.
* ForScience: [[spoiler:Whitehead's whole motivation to uncover the ancient civilization behind everyone's backs.]]
* FrickinLaserBeams: Pepper's weapon of choice.
* GlobalAirship: Mag's Sea Otter Seaplane can get him to anywhere in the first portion. It gets replaced by the Museville train station after the second portion comes in.
* GogglesDoSomethingUnusual: Mag does put his goggles on when using his hand-based attacks.
* GoodScarsEvilScars: During [[spoiler:his boss fight]], you can see Yurka has one over his right eye.
* GrapplingHookPistol: This is one of Carcano's skills that he can use with his Cyframe. [[spoiler:Outside of battles, he uses this to sneak into the Society Museum to steal artifacts.]] [[spoiler:Moreover, he uses this to enter the building after Linear is persuaded to leave Mag behind. Since Carcano revealed his secret, he won't be able to use it to plan surprise thefts anymore. But then again, he ''did'' say he was going to turn into a better person.]]
* [[spoiler:HumansAreFlawed]]: [[spoiler:Yurka]] doesn't really like humans because of this reasoning [[spoiler:since he and Linear are Evolutia]]. He comments on this [[spoiler:when getting rid of Whitehead for his fascination with the ancient civilization]].
* IHaveNoSon: A kid selling fruits in Museville will go through this if Mag and the party don't buy anything from him.
* ImprobableWeaponUser: Mag's Cyframe is essentially a PowerFist that can be upgraded to wield hammers, bowling balls, and bug spray. Chain's Cyframe is a jet pack with a giant blade sticking out at the back. Linear uses a FryingPanOfDoom. Unequip Gre's and Linear's weapons, and they punch their enemies with their bare hands.
* InexplicableTreasureChests: There's a large number of chests containing healing items, the same artifacts over and over, and an inexplicably large number of Cyframe parts that your friends can easily use.
* KidHero: Mag. Chain somewhat is one.
* KillerYoyo: Yet another weapon for Mag's Cyframe.
* LadyLooksLikeADude: How is anyone going to tell at first glance Chain is a girl? It helps that she's got a voice and female pronouns used on her.
* LethalChef: Gre uses food to damage enemies and lower their stats or cause status effects.
* LethalLavaLand: The Sheol ruins is located inside of a volcano, complete wit lava in the upper floors.
* LevelScaling: This can be the games biggest helping point or massive flaw depending on how you look at it. The bosses scale much faster than the player, and the final boss, Eugene's battle mech, is the biggest threat, the higher level you are the more impossible he is to beat, and he will always be above your level. This is no longer an issue in the remake.
* LightningBruiser: Mag is easily the swiss army knife of your party. He dishes out great damage, gets very good skills and cyframe parts (more than any other character), can even gain healing parts, and easily makes up the best part of your team no matter what. It's ironic considering he's required to be in the team at all times.
* MagicalFlutist: Linear uses an ocarina to use [[MagicMusic magic on the party or the enemies]].
* MagicalGirl: Linear by default, being the only party member who can use healing spells. [[spoiler:Though this becomes even more apparent once she grows wings to save Mag from exploding with Eugene's ship]].
* MarshmallowHell: This is what Pepper ''seemingly'' does to Mag to heal his HP. He seems happy about it, though.
* {{Meganekko}}: Nina of the Society fits this.
* MissingMom: Mag's mother is never shown. Same with Chain.
* MsFanservice: Pepper. Half ripped jeans, curled blond hair, jacket ripped open showing a black bra, and her theme music which is saxophone music.
** Another girl in town is implied to be naked. Though no skin is seen every dialogue with her speaks directly about the fact that she's wearing nothing but a leopard print fur coat until her luggage arrives. Makes you wonder why she was only wearing the coat by itself in the first place.
* MurderTheHypotenuse: [[spoiler:After Linear reunites with Mag at the end of the Society Dungeon, Yurka [[AxeCrazy turns insane with jealousy and attempts to murder the party.]]]]
* MysteriousWaif: Linear. You never get a full explanation as to what exactly happened to her or why she's mute in the game, but she certainly has a lot of mysterious air about her.Mysteriously shows up one day, is timid and quiet, [[spoiler:turns out to be Evolutia...]]
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler:Mag's SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome gets screwed over by a tank bullet exploding on him and Linear that he accidentally caused.]]
* NothingUpMySleeve: Yurka's sleeves are so long they are a few inches away from touching the ground. He can, however, use magic with them.
* ObviouslyEvil: You're this when you're asking the pretty shy Linear to become one of Eugene's maids while disregarding everything about Mag's exploits.
* OffModel: A rather weird thing happens to Mag's white jacket suddenly disappearing during animated cutscenes. By the next normal cutscene, it's back there on him. [[CoversAlwaysLie Why, the boxart on this page also suffers from this.]][[note]] That's because in ''World of Sacred Device'', the game from which the cut scenes came from, he never wore the adventurer jacket. The jacket was added in ''Far Off Promise'', from which most of the character models came from.[[/note]]
* OlderThanTheyLook: Mag, Linear, and Chain are 16, 17, and 15 respectively. None of them look even close to their age. Lampshaded somewhat with Chain who is annoyed at her height (or lack of)
* OneManParty: Mag is easily the strongest character. The other characters levels will appropriate to what level you are, but Mag always seems to have the edge in strength.
* OnlyInItForTheMoney: If you do a mission with just Mag and Linear, your entire win bonus goes straight into your pocket. If Gre is in your party, he'll make you use 30% of your bonus to pay towards your debt (which you should do anyway so you're not losing anything) and after it's paid off, he'll never make you do anything with your money again. Chain, on the other hand, takes 30% of your bonus for herself, and Pepper takes 60%. The worst part, you never get this money back, so it's basically losing massive chunks of change for having people in your party. If you were to net an incredible 100,000 in the game and had Pepper in your party, you lose 60,000. The worst part: bonuses are a one time thing, going back and beating the dungeon again means nothing, the money is gone. You'd think they'd have it at least available for item purchase but nope, Mag's gotta spend his cash on Naolin's and Red Viper. It pretty much makes it not worth taking them at all for any stage, or swapping them out just at the boss fight for either Gre, or just Mag and Linear. It doesn't matter anyways, they scale to your level and gain TP for fights despite being back home.
* OutlawTown: Pine Village, Carcano's hideout, is just a big town over the water fully inhabited by thieves.
* OverlyLongFightingAnimation: Magna Rave and Sledge Hammer have very long animations.
* PointBuildSystem: You can gain TP in the game, which can be used to learn new skills.
* [[spoiler:PowerGivesYouWings: Linear suddenly creates a phoenix-like form to fly away with Mag to save him from being killed. Sure enough, as the destructive counterpart to Linear, Yurka pulls his long blue wings out when he's fought. And true to the trope, he ''really'' is a deadly boss.]]
* PunnyName[=/=]ThemeNaming: Mag Launcher, Linear Cannon, Gre Nade, Chain Gun and Pepper Box. Makes Eugene stand out.
* RecurringTraveller: The game practically calls Chain and Pepper from the shadows once the Launcher trio travels to Museville so the party doesn't have to keep Gre for the third slot.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: Yurka has read eyes [[spoiler:and is a very hard boss.]]
* RequiredPartyMember: Linear. She cannot be dropped from the party until the final dungeon, when she's forced out. After the final boss, she's no longer required.
* TheReveal: [[spoiler:Linear? Yeah, she's the Evolutia. Nobody could find the legendary Cyframe since everyone thought it was a relic or a machine, but not a sentient human(?) being. Eugene manages to find this out by using a hi-tech radar.]]
** [[spoiler: And then there's the fact Yurka is also an Evolutia.]]
* TheRival: Chain during the first five minutes of the game. After that, it doesn't really sound like she's being a rival at all if she demands Mag to take her to dungeons all the time.
* {{Roguelike}}: Elements of this are in dungeons, though the battles are turn-based.
* RunDontWalk: Though they had a button to walk, it isn't needed and doesn't do anything.
* SavePoint: located in certain spots in town and on the final floor of a dungeon.
* ShipperOnDeck: Chain's dad literally admits Linear is better off with Mag ''than her own daughter''. It helps (or not) that he really doesn't like Chain.
* SlasherSmile: Eugene does this whenever speaking to Linear or whenever he slowly descends into insanity.
* SlippySlideyIceWorld: The Crypt Maze is an UndergroundLevel that introduces slippery floor. Thankfully, the ice floor is not made of FrictionlessIce.
* SmugSnake: Prince Eugene ''oozes'' smugness in his introduction.
* SpaceZone: The Descent Ruins, on the latter floors, have a cosmic theme, with stars in a void.
* SuccessionCrisis: [[HeirClubForMen The Gun Clan has been known for having male heirs as the ones turned into adventurers.]] But then they came to a full stop with Chain. To remedy this issue, the clan had no choice but to give Chain special education so that she could continue their legacy... Which is extremely weird considering how her father treats her as TheUnfavourite behind her back.
* SurferDude: The Cyframe mechanist in Museville looks like this.
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: No, Carcano isn't [[spoiler:going to help Mag and the others get into the Society Museum to rescue Linear]]. It just happened.
* TankGoodness: [[spoiler:Mag and Linear run away from an army made entirely of this. Later Mag and his rescue party face one as a boss while trying to get to Linear. Weirdly enough, both Forest Depths and Crypt Maze have tank-like bosses that are not related to the dungeon element-wise. The latter does employ an ice attack though, but that's it.]]
* TechPoints: The characters all have a wide movepool to which they can unlock by gathering TP in battles. Since Linear and Gre don't have the same benefits to upgrade/change their weapons like the other Cyframe users of the party, they instead have more areas they can choose from the beginning. In the second part, there's a dungeon specifically made so that the party gains more TP than EXP from the enemies in there.
* ThisIsADrill: Carcano's Cyframe other skill.
* ThrivingGhostTown: There's only about 10 NPC's and the majority are useless. Except for the shop owner, upgrade shop, missions, and appraisal, everyone else does nothing whatsoever except talk about totally irrelevant things or mention stuff you already know.
* TimeSkip: The second half takes place six months after the events of the first.
* TinyGuyHugeGirl: Mag and Linear are this trope, with Linear being OneHeadTaller than Mag.
* TooAwesomeToUse: Cosmo Fruit.
* TopDownView: One of the two available camera angles.
* {{Tsundere}}: Chain. This is even mocked at the beginning of the game when she begins making fun of Mag until Mag embarrasses her with the word cute, at which point she tries to defend herself but just takes off flustered.
* UndergroundLevel: Crypt Maze and [[spoiler:Carcano's Thieves' Trap]].
* UndergroundMonkey: Most enemies in later dungeons go through this, but they do have different abilities to compensate.
* TheUnfavourite: Chain's dad ''really'' doesn't like her. He even implores Mag to take her to his missions just so that she's not around the house.
* UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler:Prof. Whitehead]] tends to be really nice towards Mag and the rest of the characters, but he's secretly trying to obtain ultimate wisdom all for himself.[[spoiler:Whitehead ends up feeling guilty for using Mag and for trying to finish his plan. He feels so guilty for helping Yurka achieve his goals that he offers to help Mag and co. as much as he can.]]
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Carcano just so happens to have a legion of fans.
* TheWarSequence: [[spoiler:A really over-the-top cutscene happens when Mag and Linear run away from Eugene's tank army. What's really shocking is that Mag's PowerFist actually manages to fend them off with an earthquake...[[NiceJobBreakingItHero except a tank falls back in a hole while firing a bullet up to the air that screws his moment by falling on both of them]].]]
* WhiteMage: Linear is this, having a large amount of spells and even a special move that may allow her to convince an enemy to flee the battle. {{Downplayed}} with Gre who is more combat-oriented and has support skills.
* WikiRule: [[http://evolutionworlds.wikia.com/wiki/Evolution_Worlds_Wiki Here it is]].
* WorkOffTheDebt: Both Mag and Chain were left with a huge debt after their parents disappeared. Chain paid it off by selling her house, while Mag is playing this trope. [[spoiler:By the end of the second half, it turns out the Society didn't actually pay for the lodging in the Museville Hotel, so the hotel owners added 30,000 to the Society's bill, adding it all up.]]
* WorldOfPun: Most of the main cast are named after weapons[[note]]Mag Launcher and Linear Cannon are terms used in the anime ''Anime/FangOfTheSunDougram'' for various types of MagneticWeapons[[/note]]. And Prof. Whitehead for his white head.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler:With no need to find the keys with the unconditional help of Mag's actions, Yurka disposes of Whitehead.]]
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Changed line(s) 8,9 (click to see context) from:
The first game, ''Quest for Sacred Device'',revolved around Mag's [[HubCity hub town]], which linked to various dungeons via his family's biplane, and a seedy military leader with an interest in Linear. It also had a downscaled port for the UsefulNotes/NeoGeoPocket titled ''Evolution: Eternal Dungeons''.
to:
The first game, ''Quest for Sacred Device'',revolved Device'', revolved around Mag's [[HubCity hub town]], which linked to various dungeons via his family's biplane, and a seedy military leader with an interest in Linear. It also had a downscaled port for the UsefulNotes/NeoGeoPocket titled ''Evolution: Eternal Dungeons''.
Deleted line(s) 15,17 (click to see context) :
* AllInARow: Unlike future installments, Mag always heads the line.
* AllThereInTheManual: Supplementary material gives off a few more details for the game, such as the characters' ages and zodiac signs.
* ArbitraryGunPower: [[spoiler:Every enemy in TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon. There are even TANKS you have to fight, yet they seem to do as much damage as a normal enemy.]]
* AllThereInTheManual: Supplementary material gives off a few more details for the game, such as the characters' ages and zodiac signs.
* ArbitraryGunPower: [[spoiler:Every enemy in TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon. There are even TANKS you have to fight, yet they seem to do as much damage as a normal enemy.]]
* AdaptationExplanationExtrication: ''Worlds'' is bad at this, especially towards the end.
** Eugene's introduction is greatly trimmed down, including the scene where he initially believes Linear to be an offering to him, enraging Mag.
** Inspecting the instruments in Eugene's command room will reveal that the reason the ship is exploding is because Mag kicked a grenade into the engine room, which was explicitly shown in the original game.
** Crossing into {{Adaptation Induced Plot Hole}}, the escape sequence was also severely trimmed. [[spoiler:The port removes the sequence where Mag and Linear are separated from the rest of the party, explaining how the others got back to the seaplane and why Mag and Linear needed to find a different escape route.]]
* AllInARow: In the first game, Mag always heads the line. In ''Far Off Promise'', the party's leading member can be rotated with the three characters moving around, doing so gives some kind of bonus for exploration (Mag can destroy boxes and stone pillars, Chain can make the party run faster, etc).
* AllThereInTheManual: Supplementary material gives off a few more details for the game, such as the characters' ages and zodiac signs.
* ArbitraryGunPower: [[spoiler:Every enemy in TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon. There are even TANKS you have to fight, yet they seem to do as much damage as a normal enemy.]]
* ActionInitiative: Run into an enemy from behind, the music sounds happy and you get free turns to happily punch your enemies. Have an enemy run into YOU from behind, the music gets daunting and you stand still while the enemy beats your head off your shoulders.
** Eugene's introduction is greatly trimmed down, including the scene where he initially believes Linear to be an offering to him, enraging Mag.
** Inspecting the instruments in Eugene's command room will reveal that the reason the ship is exploding is because Mag kicked a grenade into the engine room, which was explicitly shown in the original game.
** Crossing into {{Adaptation Induced Plot Hole}}, the escape sequence was also severely trimmed. [[spoiler:The port removes the sequence where Mag and Linear are separated from the rest of the party, explaining how the others got back to the seaplane and why Mag and Linear needed to find a different escape route.]]
* AllInARow: In the first game, Mag always heads the line. In ''Far Off Promise'', the party's leading member can be rotated with the three characters moving around, doing so gives some kind of bonus for exploration (Mag can destroy boxes and stone pillars, Chain can make the party run faster, etc).
* AllThereInTheManual: Supplementary material gives off a few more details for the game, such as the characters' ages and zodiac signs.
* ArbitraryGunPower: [[spoiler:Every enemy in TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon. There are even TANKS you have to fight, yet they seem to do as much damage as a normal enemy.]]
* ActionInitiative: Run into an enemy from behind, the music sounds happy and you get free turns to happily punch your enemies. Have an enemy run into YOU from behind, the music gets daunting and you stand still while the enemy beats your head off your shoulders.
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Carcano's men will follow his every word.
Changed line(s) 22 (click to see context) from:
* BareYourMidriff: Pepper
to:
* BadassBeard: Carcano sports one.
* BadassGrandpa[=/=]BadassNormal[=/=]BattleButler: Gre is entirely capable of serving Mag at home and on the battlefield despite his age. He also fights without the use of a Cyframe and, unlike Linear, has no hidden powers.
* BarbarianTribe: There are enemies based on this.
* BareYourMidriff:PepperPepper wears an outfit that does this
* BadassGrandpa[=/=]BadassNormal[=/=]BattleButler: Gre is entirely capable of serving Mag at home and on the battlefield despite his age. He also fights without the use of a Cyframe and, unlike Linear, has no hidden powers.
* BarbarianTribe: There are enemies based on this.
* BareYourMidriff:
Changed line(s) 25 (click to see context) from:
* CantDropTheHero: Mag is the title character, therefore he must always be in the party and controllable, so you cannot get rid of him whatsoever... Not like you would want to.
to:
* CantDropTheHero: BattleshipRaid: The end of the first half of the games sees the party storm [[spoiler:The 8th Imperial Army's battleship to rescue Linear after Eugene kidnaps her.]]
* BigBad: For the first portion, Eugene. For the second portion, [[spoiler:Yurka fulfills this role]]
* BigCreepyCrawlies: Some of the enemies are Spiders are as big as the party. [[spoiler:And then there are huge robot spiders in the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon that take up all the enemy side. Killing these hard-hitters net you lots of EXP.]]
* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:Pepper pulls this out when saving Mag and Linear from the boss of Blaze Ruins.]] After that, she can be recruited for dungeon missions at the bar.
* BlackMarket: [[spoiler:Mag can eventually buy goods from Carcano's cronies once he gains their boss's respect (even though Carcano himself seemed to show respect to Mag before their fight).]]
* BlowYouAway: One of [[spoiler:Carcano's]] attacks is called like this word for word. It blows enemies away.
* BonusDungeon: The Tower of Despair, accessible once you reach Museville. It's unique in that enemies give little EXP but more TP than usual, making it ideal for grinding skills. The limit of how many floors one can go through changes each in-game day and there is a unique prize at the end each time. [[spoiler: It also has an underside.]]* * ButThouMust: There's no way to take Linear off the party to ask another member to join during ruins exploration [[spoiler:unless she's kidnapped]]. {{Justified|Trope}} in that Mag promised his father to not leave Linear alone.
* CantDropTheHero:
** Mag is the title character, therefore he must always be in the party and controllable, so you cannot get rid of him whatsoever... Not like you would want to.
* BigBad: For the first portion, Eugene. For the second portion, [[spoiler:Yurka fulfills this role]]
* BigCreepyCrawlies: Some of the enemies are Spiders are as big as the party. [[spoiler:And then there are huge robot spiders in the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon that take up all the enemy side. Killing these hard-hitters net you lots of EXP.]]
* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:Pepper pulls this out when saving Mag and Linear from the boss of Blaze Ruins.]] After that, she can be recruited for dungeon missions at the bar.
* BlackMarket: [[spoiler:Mag can eventually buy goods from Carcano's cronies once he gains their boss's respect (even though Carcano himself seemed to show respect to Mag before their fight).]]
* BlowYouAway: One of [[spoiler:Carcano's]] attacks is called like this word for word. It blows enemies away.
* BonusDungeon: The Tower of Despair, accessible once you reach Museville. It's unique in that enemies give little EXP but more TP than usual, making it ideal for grinding skills. The limit of how many floors one can go through changes each in-game day and there is a unique prize at the end each time. [[spoiler: It also has an underside.]]* * ButThouMust: There's no way to take Linear off the party to ask another member to join during ruins exploration [[spoiler:unless she's kidnapped]]. {{Justified|Trope}} in that Mag promised his father to not leave Linear alone.
* CantDropTheHero:
** Mag is the title character, therefore he must always be in the party and controllable, so you cannot get rid of him whatsoever... Not like you would want to.
* ChasteHero: Mag can't really understand the theme of love, not even when Nina seems infatuated about Gre.
* TheChessmaster: [[spoiler:Yurka is this, his only purpose for helping Whitehead being to open the path to the ancient civilization by controlling Mag and his party to search the keys hidden in the ruins.]]
* ChickMagnet: A rumor in the Society explicitly says that Carcano is popular among girls.
* TheClan: Chain's family is a clan.
* ClimaxBoss: [[spoiler:Eugene, as a result of the games being combined, is demoted to this. His mech is even nerfed as a result.]]
* CombiningMecha: [[spoiler: The Ulticannon is an angel-like machine which needs both Yurka and Linear to work properly. However before you get the chance to fight it, Linear breaks out from the machine. Yurka, driven insane with jealousy, descends into madness, and the robot's loosely angelic-look turns into a gruesome devil-look, complete with a beating heart-like organ hanging to the right side.]]
* CoolHelmet: Mag is always wearing his headgear wherever he goes...and whenever he goes to sleep. It doesn't really bother him at all.
* CoolLoser: The Launcher Family is popular among other hunters in that they have an horrendous debt to pay to the Society, so Mag has to WorkOffTheDebt to keep his BigFancyHouse. Luckily, the Gun Family averted going through this by doing the opposite, but it's still kind of pathetic they now live in a bus.
* CoolShades: Pepper owns a good one.
* CrazyJealousGuy:
** [[spoiler:After Linear is persuaded back into returning to Mag's side, Yurka, while still in the Ulticannon, starts to wonder why he's feeling jealous all of a sudden.]]
** A very young kid behind Chain's bus home has the hots for Linear, but he doesn't like the idea that Mag escorts her everywhere she goes.
* TheChessmaster: [[spoiler:Yurka is this, his only purpose for helping Whitehead being to open the path to the ancient civilization by controlling Mag and his party to search the keys hidden in the ruins.]]
* ChickMagnet: A rumor in the Society explicitly says that Carcano is popular among girls.
* TheClan: Chain's family is a clan.
* ClimaxBoss: [[spoiler:Eugene, as a result of the games being combined, is demoted to this. His mech is even nerfed as a result.]]
* CombiningMecha: [[spoiler: The Ulticannon is an angel-like machine which needs both Yurka and Linear to work properly. However before you get the chance to fight it, Linear breaks out from the machine. Yurka, driven insane with jealousy, descends into madness, and the robot's loosely angelic-look turns into a gruesome devil-look, complete with a beating heart-like organ hanging to the right side.]]
* CoolHelmet: Mag is always wearing his headgear wherever he goes...and whenever he goes to sleep. It doesn't really bother him at all.
* CoolLoser: The Launcher Family is popular among other hunters in that they have an horrendous debt to pay to the Society, so Mag has to WorkOffTheDebt to keep his BigFancyHouse. Luckily, the Gun Family averted going through this by doing the opposite, but it's still kind of pathetic they now live in a bus.
* CoolShades: Pepper owns a good one.
* CrazyJealousGuy:
** [[spoiler:After Linear is persuaded back into returning to Mag's side, Yurka, while still in the Ulticannon, starts to wonder why he's feeling jealous all of a sudden.]]
** A very young kid behind Chain's bus home has the hots for Linear, but he doesn't like the idea that Mag escorts her everywhere she goes.
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* CuteMute: Linear, except at the end, although she still doesn't talk much.
to:
* CriticalHit: Shown by the enemies having a different hurt animation.
* CurbStompBattle: Upon fighting Carcano the first time, he'll go down without much trouble. [[spoiler:However, he was letting his guard down to make time while his men were stealing appraisal items on the train.]] The next time Mag meets him face-to-face, he's tougher to beat.
* CuteMute:Linear, except at Linear starts out as this, somehow inverting the end, although HeroicMime status for Mag. By the second game or the second half of Evolution Worlds, she still doesn't talk much.becomes the ShrinkingViolet.
* DamselInDistress: This was obviously bound to happen to Linear judging Mag's father told him to keep her safe from everyone at all times. [[spoiler:The second time this happens is subverted since she's convinced to leave Mag to keep him safe instead.]]
* DarkSkinnedBlond: Yurka, with white hair thrown in for good measure.
* DefeatMeansFriendship: [[spoiler:Yurka gets this treatment, but he dies. It's speculated that he will return one day to be friends with Linear and everyone.]]
* CurbStompBattle: Upon fighting Carcano the first time, he'll go down without much trouble. [[spoiler:However, he was letting his guard down to make time while his men were stealing appraisal items on the train.]] The next time Mag meets him face-to-face, he's tougher to beat.
* CuteMute:
* DamselInDistress: This was obviously bound to happen to Linear judging Mag's father told him to keep her safe from everyone at all times. [[spoiler:The second time this happens is subverted since she's convinced to leave Mag to keep him safe instead.]]
* DarkSkinnedBlond: Yurka, with white hair thrown in for good measure.
* DefeatMeansFriendship: [[spoiler:Yurka gets this treatment, but he dies. It's speculated that he will return one day to be friends with Linear and everyone.]]
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* DenserAndWackier: The Dreamcast Magazine comic in spades. Outside of the occasional BlackComedyBurst or MoodWhiplash [[spoiler:and the comic depicting Linear arriving at the Launcher residence]], the comic in general is much weirder and humor-based than the actual games.
to:
* DenserAndWackier: The Dreamcast Magazine ''Dreamcast Magazine'' comic in spades. Outside of the occasional BlackComedyBurst or MoodWhiplash [[spoiler:and the comic depicting Linear arriving at the Launcher residence]], the comic in general is much weirder and humor-based than the actual games.
Changed line(s) 33,34 (click to see context) from:
* DiscOneNuke: Mag's hand parts, which you have at the start. By gaining TP you can learn two really strong attacks pretty early: Dive Punch, which hits every enemy doing lots of damage) and Magna Rave, which hits one enemy but is the strongest attack in the game.
* AnEconomyIsYou: Where are people supposed to buy food in this town?
* AnEconomyIsYou: Where are people supposed to buy food in this town?
to:
* DiscOneNuke: DiscOneNuke: Mag's hand parts, which you have at the start. By gaining TP you can learn two really strong attacks pretty early: Dive Punch, which hits every enemy doing lots of damage) and Magna Rave, which hits one enemy but is the strongest attack in the game.
*AnEconomyIsYou: DiscOneFinalDungeon: [[spoiler: [[MeaningfulName The Kronprinz]], due to it no longer being the final dungeon. Outside of a few enemy waves, there is nothing but a BossRush with three bosses one after another (with breaks in-between all of them).]] It's entirely jarring if you didn't store many healing items and didn't do some LevelGrinding beforehand. And yes, to add insult to the injury, it's a temporary PointOfNoReturn till you [[spoiler:save Linear]].
* DiscOneFinalBoss: [[spoiler:Eugune's Mech during the rescue attempt halfway through the game.]]
* DishingOutDirt: Linear's Ocarina offensive spells practically has boulders fall on the enemies.
* [[spoiler:DistressedDamsel: Poor Linear will never have a chance to fight the final boss on both parts.]]
* DropTheHammer: One of Mag's weapons for his Cyframe. No matter how big the enemy is, his trusty hammer squashes them with no problem.
* DrunkOnMilk: On a little note, Pepper comments how she and [[spoiler:Nina of all people]] went to drink milk one night and the latter got so drunk that [[spoiler:she]] started dancing the Macarena.
* DudeWheresMyRespect: The Launcher family (Mag included) is respected among other adventurers...[[WorkOffTheDebt but for the wrong reasons.]] The only people who respect them are Nina, who starts respecting Mag after he completes story missions without problems; Gre by default, and Prof. Whitehead. [[spoiler:Carcano really warms up to Mag, giving him some well-deserved respect even before he's fought.]] Prof. Whitehead thinks very highly of Mag and appreciates the work he's done so far till the point they meet [[spoiler:except he's really using him for his own selfish goals]].
* EasilyForgiven: [[spoiler:Mag (somehow) convinces Whitehead from arresting Carcano despite all the trouble he's been causing to the Society for a long time ago with the idea that he'll repent for his actions soon.]]
* AnEconomyIsYou:
** Where are people supposed to buy food inthis town?Pannam Town?
** This is averted for Museville, but then you'd say everyone eats three kinds of fruit and gets DrunkOnMilk at the local bar.
*
* DiscOneFinalBoss: [[spoiler:Eugune's Mech during the rescue attempt halfway through the game.]]
* DishingOutDirt: Linear's Ocarina offensive spells practically has boulders fall on the enemies.
* [[spoiler:DistressedDamsel: Poor Linear will never have a chance to fight the final boss on both parts.]]
* DropTheHammer: One of Mag's weapons for his Cyframe. No matter how big the enemy is, his trusty hammer squashes them with no problem.
* DrunkOnMilk: On a little note, Pepper comments how she and [[spoiler:Nina of all people]] went to drink milk one night and the latter got so drunk that [[spoiler:she]] started dancing the Macarena.
* DudeWheresMyRespect: The Launcher family (Mag included) is respected among other adventurers...[[WorkOffTheDebt but for the wrong reasons.]] The only people who respect them are Nina, who starts respecting Mag after he completes story missions without problems; Gre by default, and Prof. Whitehead. [[spoiler:Carcano really warms up to Mag, giving him some well-deserved respect even before he's fought.]] Prof. Whitehead thinks very highly of Mag and appreciates the work he's done so far till the point they meet [[spoiler:except he's really using him for his own selfish goals]].
* EasilyForgiven: [[spoiler:Mag (somehow) convinces Whitehead from arresting Carcano despite all the trouble he's been causing to the Society for a long time ago with the idea that he'll repent for his actions soon.]]
* AnEconomyIsYou:
** Where are people supposed to buy food in
** This is averted for Museville, but then you'd say everyone eats three kinds of fruit and gets DrunkOnMilk at the local bar.
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%%* ExperiencePoints
to:
* EvenEvilHasStandards: [[spoiler:Carcano's lot]] refuses to kill people while on the job, but [[spoiler:they only steal appraisal items]].
* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs: The final dungeon suddenly has a liking to having big dinosaurs roam the halls.
* FaceOfAThug: For some weird reason, both the item and equipment vendors in Museville are rocker dudes.
* FeudingFamilies: The Launchers have been long rivals with the Gun Clan.
Changed line(s) 38,39 (click to see context) from:
* GlobalAirship: Mag's Sea Otter Seaplane can get him to anywhere.
* ImprobableWeaponUser: Linear's FryingPanOfDoom. Even made worse if you unequip Gre or Linear's weapons, making them run up and punch the enemy with their bare hands.
* ImprobableWeaponUser: Linear's FryingPanOfDoom. Even made worse if you unequip Gre or Linear's weapons, making them run up and punch the enemy with their bare hands.
to:
* FlavorText: As in the original games. It varies depending on the part; During part 1, Mag comments on whatever he's looking at. During part 2, the flavor text and conversations with the townsfolk are instead for whoever is in front of the party.
* ForScience: [[spoiler:Whitehead's whole motivation to uncover the ancient civilization behind everyone's backs.]]
* FrickinLaserBeams: Pepper's weapon of choice.
* GlobalAirship: Mag's Sea Otter Seaplane can get him toanywhere.
anywhere in the first portion. It gets replaced by the Museville train station after the second portion comes in.
* GogglesDoSomethingUnusual: Mag does put his goggles on when using his hand-based attacks.
* GoodScarsEvilScars: During [[spoiler:his boss fight]], you can see Yurka has one over his right eye.
* GrapplingHookPistol: This is one of Carcano's skills that he can use with his Cyframe. [[spoiler:Outside of battles, he uses this to sneak into the Society Museum to steal artifacts.]] [[spoiler:Moreover, he uses this to enter the building after Linear is persuaded to leave Mag behind. Since Carcano revealed his secret, he won't be able to use it to plan surprise thefts anymore. But then again, he ''did'' say he was going to turn into a better person.]]
* [[spoiler:HumansAreFlawed]]: [[spoiler:Yurka]] doesn't really like humans because of this reasoning [[spoiler:since he and Linear are Evolutia]]. He comments on this [[spoiler:when getting rid of Whitehead for his fascination with the ancient civilization]].
* IHaveNoSon: A kid selling fruits in Museville will go through this if Mag and the party don't buy anything from him.
* ImprobableWeaponUser:Linear's Mag's Cyframe is essentially a PowerFist that can be upgraded to wield hammers, bowling balls, and bug spray. Chain's Cyframe is a jet pack with a giant blade sticking out at the back. Linear uses a FryingPanOfDoom. Even made worse if you unequip Gre or Unequip Gre's and Linear's weapons, making them run up and they punch the enemy their enemies with their bare hands.
* ForScience: [[spoiler:Whitehead's whole motivation to uncover the ancient civilization behind everyone's backs.]]
* FrickinLaserBeams: Pepper's weapon of choice.
* GlobalAirship: Mag's Sea Otter Seaplane can get him to
* GogglesDoSomethingUnusual: Mag does put his goggles on when using his hand-based attacks.
* GoodScarsEvilScars: During [[spoiler:his boss fight]], you can see Yurka has one over his right eye.
* GrapplingHookPistol: This is one of Carcano's skills that he can use with his Cyframe. [[spoiler:Outside of battles, he uses this to sneak into the Society Museum to steal artifacts.]] [[spoiler:Moreover, he uses this to enter the building after Linear is persuaded to leave Mag behind. Since Carcano revealed his secret, he won't be able to use it to plan surprise thefts anymore. But then again, he ''did'' say he was going to turn into a better person.]]
* [[spoiler:HumansAreFlawed]]: [[spoiler:Yurka]] doesn't really like humans because of this reasoning [[spoiler:since he and Linear are Evolutia]]. He comments on this [[spoiler:when getting rid of Whitehead for his fascination with the ancient civilization]].
* IHaveNoSon: A kid selling fruits in Museville will go through this if Mag and the party don't buy anything from him.
* ImprobableWeaponUser:
Changed line(s) 41 (click to see context) from:
%%InformedEquipment
to:
* KillerYoyo: Yet another weapon for Mag's Cyframe.
* LadyLooksLikeADude: How is anyone going to tell at first glance Chain is a girl? It helps that she's got a voice and female pronouns used on her.
Changed line(s) 44 (click to see context) from:
* LevelScaling: This can be the games biggest helping point or massive flaw depending on how you look at it. The bosses scale much faster than the player, and the final boss, Eugene's battle mech, is the biggest threat, the higher level you are the more impossible he is to beat, and he will always be above your level.
to:
* LevelScaling: This can be the games biggest helping point or massive flaw depending on how you look at it. The bosses scale much faster than the player, and the final boss, Eugene's battle mech, is the biggest threat, the higher level you are the more impossible he is to beat, and he will always be above your level. This is no longer an issue in the remake.
* MagicalFlutist: Linear uses an ocarina to use [[MagicMusic magic on the party or the enemies]].
* MagicalGirl: Linear by default, being the only party member who can use healing spells. [[spoiler:Though this becomes even more apparent once she grows wings to save Mag from exploding with Eugene's ship]].
* MarshmallowHell: This is what Pepper ''seemingly'' does to Mag to heal his HP. He seems happy about it, though.
* {{Meganekko}}: Nina of the Society fits this.
* MissingMom: Mag's mother is never shown. Same with Chain.
* MagicalGirl: Linear by default, being the only party member who can use healing spells. [[spoiler:Though this becomes even more apparent once she grows wings to save Mag from exploding with Eugene's ship]].
* MarshmallowHell: This is what Pepper ''seemingly'' does to Mag to heal his HP. He seems happy about it, though.
* {{Meganekko}}: Nina of the Society fits this.
* MissingMom: Mag's mother is never shown. Same with Chain.
Changed line(s) 48 (click to see context) from:
* MysteriousWaif: Linear. You never get a full explanation as to what exactly happened to her or why she's mute in the game, but she certainly has a lot of mysterious air about her.
to:
* MurderTheHypotenuse: [[spoiler:After Linear reunites with Mag at the end of the Society Dungeon, Yurka [[AxeCrazy turns insane with jealousy and attempts to murder the party.]]]]
* MysteriousWaif: Linear. You never get a full explanation as to what exactly happened to her or why she's mute in the game, but she certainly has a lot of mysterious air about her.Mysteriously shows up one day, is timid and quiet, [[spoiler:turns out to be Evolutia...]]
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler:Mag's SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome gets screwed over by a tank bullet exploding on him and Linear that he accidentally caused.]]
* NothingUpMySleeve: Yurka's sleeves are so long they are a few inches away from touching the ground. He can, however, use magic with them.
* ObviouslyEvil: You're this when you're asking the pretty shy Linear to become one of Eugene's maids while disregarding everything about Mag's exploits.
* OffModel: A rather weird thing happens to Mag's white jacket suddenly disappearing during animated cutscenes. By the next normal cutscene, it's back there on him. [[CoversAlwaysLie Why, the boxart on this page also suffers from this.]][[note]] That's because in ''World of Sacred Device'', the game from which the cut scenes came from, he never wore the adventurer jacket. The jacket was added in ''Far Off Promise'', from which most of the character models came from.[[/note]]
* OlderThanTheyLook: Mag, Linear, and Chain are 16, 17, and 15 respectively. None of them look even close to their age. Lampshaded somewhat with Chain who is annoyed at her height (or lack of)
* MysteriousWaif: Linear. You never get a full explanation as to what exactly happened to her or why she's mute in the game, but she certainly has a lot of mysterious air about her.Mysteriously shows up one day, is timid and quiet, [[spoiler:turns out to be Evolutia...]]
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler:Mag's SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome gets screwed over by a tank bullet exploding on him and Linear that he accidentally caused.]]
* NothingUpMySleeve: Yurka's sleeves are so long they are a few inches away from touching the ground. He can, however, use magic with them.
* ObviouslyEvil: You're this when you're asking the pretty shy Linear to become one of Eugene's maids while disregarding everything about Mag's exploits.
* OffModel: A rather weird thing happens to Mag's white jacket suddenly disappearing during animated cutscenes. By the next normal cutscene, it's back there on him. [[CoversAlwaysLie Why, the boxart on this page also suffers from this.]][[note]] That's because in ''World of Sacred Device'', the game from which the cut scenes came from, he never wore the adventurer jacket. The jacket was added in ''Far Off Promise'', from which most of the character models came from.[[/note]]
* OlderThanTheyLook: Mag, Linear, and Chain are 16, 17, and 15 respectively. None of them look even close to their age. Lampshaded somewhat with Chain who is annoyed at her height (or lack of)
Changed line(s) 51 (click to see context) from:
* OverlyLongFightingAnimation: Magna Rave and Sledge Hammer.
to:
* OutlawTown: Pine Village, Carcano's hideout, is just a big town over the water fully inhabited by thieves.
* OverlyLongFightingAnimation: Magna Rave and SledgeHammer.Hammer have very long animations.
* OverlyLongFightingAnimation: Magna Rave and Sledge
* [[spoiler:PowerGivesYouWings: Linear suddenly creates a phoenix-like form to fly away with Mag to save him from being killed. Sure enough, as the destructive counterpart to Linear, Yurka pulls his long blue wings out when he's fought. And true to the trope, he ''really'' is a deadly boss.]]
* RecurringTraveller: The game practically calls Chain and Pepper from the shadows once the Launcher trio travels to Museville so the party doesn't have to keep Gre for the third slot.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: Yurka has read eyes [[spoiler:and is a very hard boss.]]
* RedEyesTakeWarning: Yurka has read eyes [[spoiler:and is a very hard boss.]]
* TheReveal: [[spoiler:Linear? Yeah, she's the Evolutia. Nobody could find the legendary Cyframe since everyone thought it was a relic or a machine, but not a sentient human(?) being. Eugene manages to find this out by using a hi-tech radar.]]
** [[spoiler: And then there's the fact Yurka is also an Evolutia.]]
* TheRival: Chain during the first five minutes of the game. After that, it doesn't really sound like she's being a rival at all if she demands Mag to take her to dungeons all the time.
* {{Roguelike}}: Elements of this are in dungeons, though the battles are turn-based.
** [[spoiler: And then there's the fact Yurka is also an Evolutia.]]
* TheRival: Chain during the first five minutes of the game. After that, it doesn't really sound like she's being a rival at all if she demands Mag to take her to dungeons all the time.
* {{Roguelike}}: Elements of this are in dungeons, though the battles are turn-based.
* ShipperOnDeck: Chain's dad literally admits Linear is better off with Mag ''than her own daughter''. It helps (or not) that he really doesn't like Chain.
* SlasherSmile: Eugene does this whenever speaking to Linear or whenever he slowly descends into insanity.
* SlippySlideyIceWorld: The Crypt Maze is an UndergroundLevel that introduces slippery floor. Thankfully, the ice floor is not made of FrictionlessIce.
* SlasherSmile: Eugene does this whenever speaking to Linear or whenever he slowly descends into insanity.
* SlippySlideyIceWorld: The Crypt Maze is an UndergroundLevel that introduces slippery floor. Thankfully, the ice floor is not made of FrictionlessIce.
* SuccessionCrisis: [[HeirClubForMen The Gun Clan has been known for having male heirs as the ones turned into adventurers.]] But then they came to a full stop with Chain. To remedy this issue, the clan had no choice but to give Chain special education so that she could continue their legacy... Which is extremely weird considering how her father treats her as TheUnfavourite behind her back.
* SurferDude: The Cyframe mechanist in Museville looks like this.
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: No, Carcano isn't [[spoiler:going to help Mag and the others get into the Society Museum to rescue Linear]]. It just happened.
* TankGoodness: [[spoiler:Mag and Linear run away from an army made entirely of this. Later Mag and his rescue party face one as a boss while trying to get to Linear. Weirdly enough, both Forest Depths and Crypt Maze have tank-like bosses that are not related to the dungeon element-wise. The latter does employ an ice attack though, but that's it.]]
* TechPoints: The characters all have a wide movepool to which they can unlock by gathering TP in battles. Since Linear and Gre don't have the same benefits to upgrade/change their weapons like the other Cyframe users of the party, they instead have more areas they can choose from the beginning. In the second part, there's a dungeon specifically made so that the party gains more TP than EXP from the enemies in there.
* ThisIsADrill: Carcano's Cyframe other skill.
* SurferDude: The Cyframe mechanist in Museville looks like this.
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: No, Carcano isn't [[spoiler:going to help Mag and the others get into the Society Museum to rescue Linear]]. It just happened.
* TankGoodness: [[spoiler:Mag and Linear run away from an army made entirely of this. Later Mag and his rescue party face one as a boss while trying to get to Linear. Weirdly enough, both Forest Depths and Crypt Maze have tank-like bosses that are not related to the dungeon element-wise. The latter does employ an ice attack though, but that's it.]]
* TechPoints: The characters all have a wide movepool to which they can unlock by gathering TP in battles. Since Linear and Gre don't have the same benefits to upgrade/change their weapons like the other Cyframe users of the party, they instead have more areas they can choose from the beginning. In the second part, there's a dungeon specifically made so that the party gains more TP than EXP from the enemies in there.
* ThisIsADrill: Carcano's Cyframe other skill.
* TimeSkip: The second half takes place six months after the events of the first.
* TinyGuyHugeGirl: Mag and Linear are this trope, with Linear being OneHeadTaller than Mag.
* TinyGuyHugeGirl: Mag and Linear are this trope, with Linear being OneHeadTaller than Mag.
Changed line(s) 61 (click to see context) from:
* TopDownView:
to:
* TopDownView:TopDownView: One of the two available camera angles.
Changed line(s) 63 (click to see context) from:
* WhiteMage: Linear, she has tons of magic attacks and only two are attack-based.
to:
* UndergroundLevel: Crypt Maze and [[spoiler:Carcano's Thieves' Trap]].
* UndergroundMonkey: Most enemies in later dungeons go through this, but they do have different abilities to compensate.
* TheUnfavourite: Chain's dad ''really'' doesn't like her. He even implores Mag to take her to his missions just so that she's not around the house.
* UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler:Prof. Whitehead]] tends to be really nice towards Mag and the rest of the characters, but he's secretly trying to obtain ultimate wisdom all for himself.[[spoiler:Whitehead ends up feeling guilty for using Mag and for trying to finish his plan. He feels so guilty for helping Yurka achieve his goals that he offers to help Mag and co. as much as he can.]]
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Carcano just so happens to have a legion of fans.
* TheWarSequence: [[spoiler:A really over-the-top cutscene happens when Mag and Linear run away from Eugene's tank army. What's really shocking is that Mag's PowerFist actually manages to fend them off with an earthquake...[[NiceJobBreakingItHero except a tank falls back in a hole while firing a bullet up to the air that screws his moment by falling on both of them]].]]
* WhiteMage:Linear, she Linear is this, having a large amount of spells and even a special move that may allow her to convince an enemy to flee the battle. {{Downplayed}} with Gre who is more combat-oriented and has tons of magic attacks and only two are attack-based.support skills.
* UndergroundMonkey: Most enemies in later dungeons go through this, but they do have different abilities to compensate.
* TheUnfavourite: Chain's dad ''really'' doesn't like her. He even implores Mag to take her to his missions just so that she's not around the house.
* UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler:Prof. Whitehead]] tends to be really nice towards Mag and the rest of the characters, but he's secretly trying to obtain ultimate wisdom all for himself.[[spoiler:Whitehead ends up feeling guilty for using Mag and for trying to finish his plan. He feels so guilty for helping Yurka achieve his goals that he offers to help Mag and co. as much as he can.]]
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Carcano just so happens to have a legion of fans.
* TheWarSequence: [[spoiler:A really over-the-top cutscene happens when Mag and Linear run away from Eugene's tank army. What's really shocking is that Mag's PowerFist actually manages to fend them off with an earthquake...[[NiceJobBreakingItHero except a tank falls back in a hole while firing a bullet up to the air that screws his moment by falling on both of them]].]]
* WhiteMage:
Changed line(s) 65 (click to see context) from:
* WorkOffTheDebt: Both Mag and Chain were left with a huge debt after their parents disappeared. Chain paid it off by selling her house, while Mag is playing this trope.
to:
* WorkOffTheDebt: Both Mag and Chain were left with a huge debt after their parents disappeared. Chain paid it off by selling her house, while Mag is playing this trope. [[spoiler:By the end of the second half, it turns out the Society didn't actually pay for the lodging in the Museville Hotel, so the hotel owners added 30,000 to the Society's bill, adding it all up.]]
* WorldOfPun: Most of the main cast are named after weapons[[note]]Mag Launcher and Linear Cannon are terms used in the anime ''Anime/FangOfTheSunDougram'' for various types of MagneticWeapons[[/note]]. And Prof. Whitehead for his white head.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler:With no need to find the keys with the unconditional help of Mag's actions, Yurka disposes of Whitehead.]]
* WorldOfPun: Most of the main cast are named after weapons[[note]]Mag Launcher and Linear Cannon are terms used in the anime ''Anime/FangOfTheSunDougram'' for various types of MagneticWeapons[[/note]]. And Prof. Whitehead for his white head.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler:With no need to find the keys with the unconditional help of Mag's actions, Yurka disposes of Whitehead.]]
