History VideoGame / KartiaTheWordOfFate

''Kartia: The Word Of Fate'' (alternatively titled ''Legend of Kartia'') was an [[RolePlayingGame RPG]] for the UsefulNotes/{{PlayStation}}, released in 1998.

* ArtificialHuman: [[spoiler: Lacryma, sort of. Her life was saved by an Original Kartia as a child, turning her into a sort of homunculus. She never gets sick, and has immense potential ability with Kartia.]]
* BigBadDuumvirate: The bad guys are a coalition of several powerful individuals who are meddling with seriously dangerous Kartia in search of Eden. [[spoiler: The leaders are Cardinal Beltschumeltz, San Saradiart, Raguruzet, and Vandor. They work together for most of the game, but both Saradiart and Vandor are running their own games on the side.]]

* BroughtDownToNormal: [[spoiler: Mona destroys almost all of Saradiart's clones and prevents him from using [[GameBreaker his natural Elf magic]], which allows you to fight him as if he were "merely" a high-level Kartia user. Of course, Mona doesn't just whack him down because then there would be no boss battle.]]

--> '''Karis''': [[spoiler: "I don't think you can create God with a "Human" Kartia."]]

* GambitPileup: The BigBadEnsemble are not working towards the same goal. [[spoiler: Cardinal Beltschumeltz, Vandor and Raguruzet want to use the Original Kartia to create a new world; Beltschumeltz in particular initially states, in Toxa's route, he wants to see what God is like, but is later revealed to want to [[GodhoodSeeker create God]]. Saradiart, meanwhile, is more of a KillAllHumans kind of guy. They're manipulating the bandits involved in the initial phases of the game into doing a lot of their dirty work.]]

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* HalfHumanHybrid: [[spoiler: Druids in general, Mona and San Saradiart in particular, are half elves]]

* HeroicSacrifice: To wield the power of the Original Kartia, the user must give up their life. In the backstory, Lacryma's mother used one to save her life; in game, [[spoiler: Bachstail uses the Death Kartia in a failed attempt to destroy Saradiart, Lacryma uses the Nothingness Kartia to erase the "earth" of Eden that threatened to crush everyone, and Vandor uses the Human Kartia to bring Lacryma back after the aforementioned use of the Nothingness Kartia.]] [[spoiler: That said, unlike what is believed, the Original Kartia doesn't actually kill its user. Instead, it transports them to Eden, which is a physical place.]]

* HumanResources: [[spoiler: Original Kartia are made from the blood and bones of half-elves]]

* OurElvesAreDifferent: To the point of being so powerful that they can't ''speak'' without risking TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. [[HalfHumanHybrids Half-Elves]] are "merely" stronger than any human Kartia user and able to use magic without Kartia...[[spoiler: which includes being able to ColonyDrop a continent onto the surface of Rebus.]]

* ReligiousBruiser: Lacryma is a very devout shrine warrior who never learned how to summon Phantoms because it goes against her religion. [[spoiler: After her crisis of faith and promotion to Inquirer, she learns how to summon Phantoms.]]

* SecretPolice: The Inquirers of the Shrines are above the laws that they enforce. In a subversion of the expected tropes, every one of them we meet is some type of heroic individuals. In fact, the CowboyCop [[spoiler: Bachstail]] specifically chooses [[spoiler: Lacryma]] as an Inquirer ''because'' she is [[ByTheBookCop unflinchingly law-abiding]] and disapproves of the Inquirers and their methods.

* SupportingProtagonist: Toxa. Even in his own quest, he's not the commander; that role goes to Duran, and later to [[spoiler: Posha]]. And the quest itself is Mona's quest to stop [[spoiler: Saradiart]].

* TookALevelInBadass: Everyone - halfway through the game, your weapon and armor levels increase, so each character is able to equip better stuff. Character-specific levelings include Posha (goes from wimpy Shrine Maiden to confident Shrine Warrior), Kun (becomes a Knight later on in Lacryma's tale) and [[spoiler: Lacryma (becomes an Inquirer and is therefore able to create Phantoms, as well as use five-card spells)]].

** She starts off with very long, beautiful blond hair. Unfortunately, she also starts off with ''crippling'' self-esteem issues, viewing herself as useless, worthless and helpless...and given what her stats look like, [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration she has every reason to be]]. Earlygame!Posha is, by far, the weakest member of Lacryma's team, sporting terrible equipment options(E-rank in weapons and armor!) and absolutely catastrophic magical defenses, which combine to make her a liability in fights (if any human character dies, you get a GameOver), not helped by the fact that she can only use two Kartia at a time. Pretty terrible all around, and she doesn't start out any better when she moves to Toxa's route, either. However...

*** ...after venting a bit and getting a pep talk from Alana, Posha decides enough is enough, and, wanting to be able to hold her own like her idol(and, by her own admission, rival) Lacryma does, she asks Alana to cut the aforementioned long, beautiful blond hair and works her butt off to suck less as a fighter and as a person. The results speak for themselves, along with the Shrine Warrior promotion she gets at the end of Toxa's chapter 14: our girl now has access to much better equipment options (upgrading to D-rank weapons and C-rank armor), a boost in magic defense from 'garage' to 'admirable'(higher than most other characters, but lower than the best ones such as Lacryma and Kun after their own class-changes), and making her able to use four Kartia at a time. Not bad at all!

** She starts off with very long, beautiful blond hair. Unfortunately, she also starts off with ''crippling'' self-esteem issues, viewing herself as useless, worthless and helpless...and given what her stats look like, [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration she has every reason to be]]. Earlygame!Posha is, by far, the weakest member of Lacryma's team, sporting terrible equipment options(E-rank in weapons and armor!) and absolutely catastrophic magical defenses, which combine to make her a liability in fights (if any human character dies, you get a GameOver), not helped by the fact that she can only use two Kartia at a time. Pretty terrible all around, with only pre-promotion Kun being worse. And she doesn't start out any better when she moves to Toxa's route, either. However...

** She starts off with very long, beautiful blond hair. Unfortunately, she also starts off with ''crippling'' self-esteem issues, viewing herself as useless, worthless and helpless...anf given what her stats look like, [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration she has every reason to be]]. Earlygame!Posha is, by far, the weakest member of Lacryma's team, sporting terrible equipment options(E-rank in weapons and armor!) and absolutely catastrophic magical defenses, which combine to make her a liability in fights (if any human character dies, you get a GameOver), not helped by the fact that she can only use two Kartia at a time. Pretty terrible all around, with only pre-promotion Kun being worse. And she doesn't start out any better when she moves to Toxa's route, either. However...

** She starts off with very long, beautiful blond hair. Unfortunately, she also starts off with ''crippling'' self-esteem issues, viewing herself as useless, worthless and helpless...anf given what [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration her stats look like]], she has every reason to be: Earlygame!Posha is, by far, the weakest member of Lacryma's team, sporting terrible equipment options and absolutely catastrophic magical defenses, which combine to make her a liability in fights (if any human character dies, you get a GameOver), not helped by the fact that she can only use two Kartia at a time. Pretty terrible all around, with only pre-promotion Kun being worse. And she doesn't start out any better when she moves to Toxa's route, either. However...
*** ...after venting a bit and getting a pep talk from Alana, Posha decides enough is enough, and, wanting to be able to hold her own like her idol(and, by her own admission, rival) Lacryma does, she asks Alana to cut the aforementioned long, beautiful blond hair and works her butt off to suck less as a fighter and as a person. The results speak for themselves, along with the Shrine Warrior promotion she gets at the end of Toxa's chapter 14: our girl now has access to much better equipment options (from the bottom of the barrel E-rank stuff for both weapons and armor to the much more usable D-rank weapons and C-rank armor), a boost in magic defense from 'garage' to 'admirable'(higher than most other characters, but lower than the best ones such as Lacryma and Kun after their own class-changes), and making her able to use four Kartia at a time. Not bad at all!

* GambitPileup: The BigBadEnsemble are not working towards the same goal. [[spoiler: Cardinal Beltschumeltz, Vandor and Raguruzet want to use the Original Kartia to create a new world; Beltschumeltz in particular initially states, in Toxa's route, he wants to see what God is like, but is later revealed to want to [[GodhoodSeeker create God]]. Saradiart, meanwhile, is more a KillAllHumans kind of guy. They're manipulating the bandits involved in the initial phases of the game into doing a lot of their dirty work.]]

* ImportantHaircut: Posha, at the beginning of the game, sports very long, beautiful blond hair. She is, however, ''crippled'' with self-esteem issues, viewing herself as useless, worthless and helpless, which is reflected by her [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration in-game abilities]], as she is by far the weakest member of Lacryma's team, with terrible equipment options, absolutely catastrophic magical defenses, both of these factors making her a liability in fights, where she can be very easily killed (any human character's death leads to a GameOver, emphasizing the issue), and being only able to combine two Kartia cards, which is quite bad, with only pre-promotion Kun being worse at this. After venting a bit and getting a pep talk from Alana, however, Posha decides she can't go on like this, and, wanting to be able to hold her own like Lacryma does, whom she looks up to a lot (and, by her own admission, envy her too), she asks Alana to cut her hair (which actually was a not entirely serious suggestion from Alana that Posha took at face value) and works her butt off to become a better fighter and a better person. This results in her eventually getting a class-change at the end of Toxa's chapter 14, promoting to a Shrine Warrior, which allows her to gain access to much better equipment options (from the bottom of the barrel E equipment for both weapons and armors to the much more usable D and C ranking weapons and armors respectively), boosting her magic defense from non-existent to quite good (higher than most other characters, but lower than the best ones such as Lacryma and Kun after their own class-changes), and making her able to combine 4 kartia cards. Not bad at all!

* MagikarpPower: In the early chapters, Toxa's team is stronger due to Toxa's physical power and Alana's ability as a MagicKnight, while Posha, on Lacryma's team, is a complete waste of space. Later on, though, Posha joins Toxa's side, and while she eventually becomes a moderately-useful character, Lacryma is a powerhouse late-game, Kun becomes a Knight on par with Toxa (though lacking Toxa's Kartia abilities), and you can't get all of the Text in Toxa's quest (in fact, even the basic Iron text can be {{Permanently Missable|Content}} in Toxa's if you aren't careful).

* BossInMookClothing: The Fynus phantoms that show up at the final stages of the game. Where before your characters were immune to the enemies and could wipe out even the toughest enemies in 3 or 4 hits, the Fynus have defense ratings so high that if you don't the Pair rune equipment, top tier arena or Level 20 phantom equipment, they're immune to attacks from all but your strongest physical characters (Toxa, Kun, Lacryma and Alana) using the best non-Pair rune crafted weapons. Additionally, the Fynus are strong enough to harm all but your most heavily, mundanely armoured characters. The final bosses in comparison are easy to take out.

* TheChurch: The Shrines are an organization that [[CrystalDragonJesus imitates the role of the medieval Catholic Church]], except that the main objects of their faith are the World Trees. They are generally [[SaintlyChurch a force for good]], but they tend to be bogged down in obstructive regulations, their InternalAffairs are mavericks who don't answer to anyone, and one of the main villains is a SinisterMinister. There's also [[{{Druid}} Druids]], who tend the World Trees and are generally respected by the Shrines, but not a part of their organization.

* GambitPileup: The BigBadEnsemble are not working towards the same goal. [[spoiler: Cardinal Beltschumeltz, Vandor and Raguruzet want to use the Original Kartia to create a new world; Beltschumeltz in particular wants to [[GodhoodSeeker create God]]. Saradiart, meanwhile, wants to KillAllHumans. They're manipulating the bandits involved in the initial phases of the game into doing a lot of their dirty work.]]

* HeroicSacrifice: To use the Original Kartia, the user must die. In the backstory, Lacryma's mother did this to save her life; in game, [[spoiler: Bachstail uses the Death Kartia in a failed attempt to destroy Saradiart, Lacryma uses the Nothingness Kartia to erase the "earth" of Eden that threatened to crush everyone, and Vandor uses the Human Kartia to bring Lacryma back after the aforementioned use of the Nothingness Kartia. Also, the Original Kartia doesn't kill its user, it transports them to Eden, which is a physical place.]]

* ImportantHaircut: Posha, at the beginning of the game, sports very long, beautiful blond hair. She is, however, ''crippled'' with self-esteem issues, viewing herself as useless, worthless and helpless, which is reflected by her [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration in-game abilities]], as she is by far the weakest member of Lacryma's team, with terrible equipment options, absolutely catastrophic magical defenses, both of these factors making her a liability in fights, where she can be very easily killed (any human character's death leads to a GameOver, emphasizing the issue), and being only able to combine two Kartia cards, which is quite bad, with only Kun being worse than her at this before his promotion. After venting a bit and getting a pep talk from Alana, however, Posha decides to change, wanting to be able to be useful like Lacryma, whom she looks up to a lot (and, by her own admission, envy her too), and to discard her old self. As a sign of her newfound resolved, she asks Alana to cut her hair (which actually was a not entirely serious suggestion from Alana that Posha took at face value), and strives to become a better fighter. This results in her eventually getting a class-change at the end of Toxa's chapter 14, in which she becomes a Shrine Warrior, allowing her to gain access to much better equipment options (from the bottom of the barrel E equipment for both weapons and armors to the much more usable D and C ranking weapons and armors respectively), boosting her magic defense from non-existent to quite good (higher than most other characters, but lower than the best ones such as Lacryma and Kun after their own class-changes), and making her able to combine 4 kartia cards, drastically increasing her usefulness as a spellcaster.
* InfinityPlusOneSword: The best weapon in the game is the Excalibur, it gives you amazing attack power (enough to squish those pesky Fynus) and will completely recover your health. Too bad you can only get it by finishing the arena, which means you'll have likely already finished the game once before that happens. The other top end weapon is the Boink Hammer, you get those by raising a Kyau, the weakest Phantoms in the game, to Level 20 and converting them, considering that the Kyau does scratch damage even at high level and have almost zero defense, good luck keeping one alive. But if you do the Boink Hammer has the highest damage output in the game.

* RealityWarper: All elves and half-elves.
* RebelliousPrincess: Ele starts out like this, much to the others' dismay.
* ReligiousBruiser: Lacryma is a very devout shrine warrior and the reason she cannot summon Phantoms is that it's against her religion. [[spoiler: After her crisis of faith and becoming an Inquirer, she becomes able to summon.]]

* SecretPolice: The Inquirers of the Shrines are above the law that they enforce. In a subversion of the expected tropes, all of the Inquirers we meet are heroic individuals. In fact, the CowboyCop [[spoiler: Bachstail]] specifically chooses [[spoiler: Lacryma]] as an Inquirer ''because'' she is [[ByTheBookCop unflinchingly law-abiding]] and disapproves of the Inquirers and their methods.
* SinisterMinister: Cardinal Beltschumeltz is a high-ranking priest with an immense ego, and is one of the main villains of the game.

** Alana is always putting on a cheerful face, but deep down she feels hurt by being in Lacryma's shadow. After she drunkenly reveals this to Kun, she makes him promise not to reveal this, for despite her resentment - she really does love Lacryma as if she were Alana's little sister and so much of Lacryma's life is already unhappy. Overall, in her inner thoughts, Alana is shown to be a very down and even outright depressed person. Duran sees right through her, but he doesn't mind since, as he puts it, "even if [her] cheery attitude is fake, the others are really encouraged by [her]".
** In her attempt to become a better person and to ressemble Lacryma, that she idiolizes, Posha cuts her hair and forces herself to become more cheerful and self-assured, something that Alana thinks is just an illusion (it has been established that Posha has serious issues that she confided in her). It eventually culminates in Posha genuinely becoming stronger and cheerier.

''Kartia: The Word Of Fate'' was an [[RolePlayingGame RPG]] for the UsefulNotes/{{PlayStation}}, released in 1998.

* TheLoad: Troy accuses Posha of being this, and Posha agrees. Other characters tell her it's not quite as bad as that. In any case, she does take enough [[TookALevelInBadass levels in badass]] that even Troy stops picking on her.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Troy complains about ''everything'', picks fights with ''everyone'', and generally acts obnoxious. He says he's only a member of the non-profit organization Vigilance because it's the easiest way to get an unlimited Kartia license. Yet he sticks with the group through thick and thin and, despite stating repeatedly that he's not too keen on dying, is prepared to put his life on the line for the people he cares about.