History VideoGame / Gladius

* ElementalRockPaperScissors: Affinity attacks ''avert'' it, amusingly; there's no real innate strength bonus given to any Affinity element over another.

* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Ludo.]]
* FanservicePack: The main characters have alternative outfits whenever you unlock a new region to visit, and they are required to wear the themes of that place. In the Southern Expanse, they have to wear less clothing and armor due to the heat.

* FakeBalance: At around the level 18 mark, heavy enemies will start to wield the one hit kill Executioner's sword, although past that level they stop appearing and equip more reasonable equipment. To a lesser extent, the Dervish, who are inexplicably immune to Air Affinity attacks.

* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:Eiji, who helped with the theft at Roanor.]]

* HopelessBossFight: One arena in Nordagh has a three-stage battle. The first two stages are fairly tame. The third stage pits you against a high-level giant bear which will kill you in one hit at early levels. The organizer explains that he keeps the bear around to avoid giving the full payout. That said, you can actually beat the bear if you're strong enough, but the first time you definitely won't be.

** If you do all the leagues, you should reach the cap and lose interest for money by the end of the Steppes chapter.

* NonIndicativeDifficulty: Ursula's story starts harder than Valen's (despite being labeled the opposite) as there is a very limited number of good classes that can be recruited in Nordagh while Imperia has a much better variety. On the other hand, the requirements of the battles are very obviously built around the assumption that the player plays through Ursula's story first, because Imperia has stricter requirements than Nordagh.

* OutOfFocus: Galverg. He's seen as a bad guy when your team enters Imperia. He is not fought there (unless provoked in Ursula's story). After you leave Nordagh he is never mentioned again until right after the Caltha Tournament, where he shows up as... [[spoiler: TheDragon? A mind controlled puppet?]] It's not really clear.

* PointOfNoReturn: The Caltha Tournament.

* VoluntaryShapeshifting: A trademark of the Nordagh barbarians and gungnir.

* FriendlySkeleton: It's possible to recruit some skeletons into the school, after meeting certain criteria in Mordare.
** To get an Undead Summoner, simply beat The Dead of Night league, which involves going up against three rounds of Undead Summoners and Legionnaires - this will let you recruit one for free.
** To get an Undead Legionnaire, in addition to having participated in the above series of battles, you will need to first rescue Sigi from Mongrel Shaman (after talking to her shopkeeper boyfriend first), then, after the prior Dead of Night battle, see the shopkeeper again, after which, you have to deal with skeletons at a graveyard. Doing so grants you the Talisman of Unlife, letting you to recruit Undead Legionnaires for free.

* ALoadOfBull: The minotaurs. Heavy classes with ridiculous move-to-attack range, defense and damage. The only down side is that they can only be recruited by a quest, you can only recruit two, and whether or not they even join you is random.

* TheUndead: There are Undead Summoners and Undead Legionnaires, who function similar to their living counterparts, but have a few unique abilities, like the fact that they are free to get, and Legionnaires can always be found at a tombstone at night. They are immune to bleeding and are very useful to have. That being said, they tend to show up as enemies a lot.

* EnemySummoner: Summoners, both Living and Undead, will summon Mooks, and the only real way to kill off said Mooks is to kill the Summoner, because if just the Mook is killed, the Summoner will summon another.

* AnnoyingArrows: Inverted with throwing weapons; javelin and spear throwers are incredibly strong, enough to reliably kill most classes in a single hit with good equipment. Played straight with actual archers. Even moreso with skeletons, who gain an increased defense against projectiles, which makes sense... a bit (no flesh to bleed).

* DeadlyGame: Averted. No one dies in the gladiator matches, due to having the best healers at your service. Despite this, there are always exceptions, and there's [[FinalDeath no safety net]] outside the official matches.

* FinalDeath: Dying outside the arena. Which is a shame, because after you beat all the leagues random encounters are the only battles which give full experience.

* VideoGameCaringPotential: Each unit is individually named, no matter how many playthroughs you do. So don't be surprised if, after years of forgetting about the game, you still remember the names of the units which served you well in battle. The FinalDeath trope in random battles can also cause a TearJerker or two if you're not careful.
** Which can be turned around into heartwarming if you happen to stumble into an old recruit who was NotQuiteDead after all.

* OhMyGods

* ArtificialStupidity: The AI is odd. For one it equips their ranged units with "[[VoluntaryShapeshifting bear form]]" that it uses when they are engaged in melee (A fairly reasonable idea, given that bear form gives melee abilities and ranged units can't attack at melee range, though not reasonable as ranged units do far more damage than bears), but it will ''always'' drop the shift if you move away, taking another turn and even do this in a points battle (all fighters are immortal and have to do as much damage as possible, ranged units are the most damaging units). The AI has some oddities it won't even justify, like passing up a chance to attack your back at a height advantage to attack your side at a disadvantage.

* RaceLift: You can do this to anyone!

* SchrodingersPlayerCharacter: Averted. You meet up with the other main character later on. The one you start with only happens to have Usus with you, which probably explains why their school is successful.
* SequenceBreaking: The last large tournament warns the player that they are not allowed to leave once things get started. If you do attempt this it skips to the ending cutscene for the tournament and the game continues as if you had won the whole thing.

* VideoGameCaringPotential: Each unit is individually named, so don't be surprised if, after years of forgetting about the game, you still remember the names of the units which served you well in battle. The FinalDeath trope in random battles can also cause a TearJerker or two if you're not careful.

* YouFightLikeACow: Lots of characters banter during the battle, which range from encouragements to teammates and taunts.

* HelloInsertNameHere: a rare example where the player can't actually name any characters. The characters talk to each other and address each other by name. A funny instance is when they address a summoned skeleton, which they address as "Undead_Melee", underscore included.

* LeakedExperience

%%* MightyGlacier: All the Heavy classes except maybe the Cyclops.

* MoneyForNothing: If you do all the leagues, you should reach the cap and lose interest for money by the end of the Steppes chapter.

* NonIndicativeDifficulty: Ursula's story starts harder than Valen's (despite being labeled the opposite) as there is a very limited number of good classes that can be recruited in Nordagh while Imperia has a much better variety. On the other hand, the requirements of the battles are very obviously built around the assumption that the player plays through Ursula's story first. Imperia has stricter requirements than Nordagh.

* AncestralWeapon: All of Munio's equipment.

** Another good example is the channeler AI. Although stealing a friend's elemental charge is the best way to prepare your spells, it gets a little ridiculous when multiple channelers are fighting each other over their charges and not bothering to, say, attack you in any way.

* BarbarianHero: Ursula and Urlan. Most of the units you can recruit in Nordagh apply as well, with special mention going to the...well...Barbarians. Portrayed much more sympathetically than most examples of this trope.

* TheBerserker: The berserkers. Just maybe...

* DuelBoss: Quite a few. Justified given the setting.

* FanservicePack: The main characters have alternative outfits whenever they unlock a new region, and they are required to wear the themes of that place. In the Southern Expanse, they have to wear less clothing and armor due to the heat.

* GlassCannon: Channelers, although they, like most other Arcane classes, have no real weakness in the class triangle.

* ShaeshiftingHealsWOunds: Units who shapeshift recover a percentage of their HP each time, whether it be to or from their original form. This can be taken advantage of by having a very wounded shapeshifter repeatedly shapeshift until they're in fighting shape again.

* SlidingScaleOfUndeadRegeneration

* TheUndead: There are Undead Summoners and Undead Legionnaires, who function similar to their living counterparts, but have a few unique abilities, like the fact that they are free to get, and Legionnaires can always be found at a tombstone at night. They are immune to bleeding and arte very useful to have. That being said, they tend to show up as enemies a lot.

* TheEmpire: What? Were you expecting Imperia to be a pacifist theocracy? The world is currently at peace, but they qualify in the backstory.

* TheUndead

The game sold poorly but received excellent critical reviews, often called [[SugarWiki/NeedsMoreLove "one of the best games you've never played."]]

** Which can be turned around into a SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment|s}} if you happen to stumble into an old recruit who was NotQuiteDead after all.

* ShieldBash: The Murmillos are an entire class is dedicated to this trope, and they are easily one of the game's deadliest classes at short to medium range. The Samnites can also do it.

* [[spoiler:ObiWanMoment: Implied in Valens's campaign, where he tried to buy the party time to gain the favor of the affinity Gods. Not very clear in Ursula's where he still buys the party time, but it is implied he is protected by his Imperial connections.]]

* TheBerserker: The berserkers. [[CaptainObvious Just maybe...]]

** Berserkers are even weaker than Channelers, lacking the evasive defenses of the other Light classes while still retaining their low health and being unable to equip any armor. Made up for by their extremely useful shouts and the fact that they can...well... [[CaptainObvious go berserk]], becoming Heavy classes with a bonus to health and damage, and their high turn rates. They also receive a damage boost when in critical condition.

Not to be confused with the [[JapaneseRanguage similarly-spelled]] ''VideoGame/{{Gradius}}''.

A turn-based tactical RPG developed and published by Creator/LucasArts and Activision and released for the Gamecube, Playstation 2 and Xbox in 2003, ''Gladius'' focuses primarily on, appropriately enough, gladiatorial combat.

** Which can be turned around into a HeartwarmingMoment if you happen to stumble into an old recruit who was NotQuiteDead after all.

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: When fighting in Orus, the active volcano, you are frequently told that there are other dangers than your opponents. A GenreSavvy player would assume that there would be steam or lava spouting from the cracks of the arena floor. Sadly this is not the case; the entire floor is safe. (Although they might be referring to the group of unaligned, annoying archers who will shoot you during some matches, which you cannot kill.)