History VideoGame / LegendOfMana

* SpeakingSimlish: The Dudbears. Their vocabulary is composed of very few syllables and only "Duba", their word for Dudbear, is part of a real language, being an African word for "bear".

''Legend of Mana'' (1999) is the fourth game in the ''VideoGame/WorldOfMana'' series, and the only one released for the [[UsefulNotes/TheFifthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames fifth console generation]]. It was originally developed for [[Platform/PlayStation PS1]]. It was then re-released on the North American [=PlayStation=] store as a [=PSOn=]e Classic on March, 22, 2011 and a full remaster for the Platform/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, and PC via Steam was released on June 24, 2021 with HD 2D backgrounds and an arranged soundtrack as well as some quality of life upgrades like saving (almost) anywhere and turning off enemy encounters as well as including the ''"Ring Ring Land"'' mini game that was previously Japan exclusive. The remaster was then brought to UsefulNotes/{{iOS|Games}} and UsefulNotes/{{Android|Games}} on December 7, 2021.

* ChoiceOfTwoWeapons: At the beginning of the game, you have to choose a starter weapon -- and you have a lot of weapons to choose from. You can choose between [[HeroesPreferSwords 1H swords]], [[{{BFS}} 2H swords]], Daggers, 1H Axes and 2H axes, [[PowerFist Gloves]], Spears, [[DropTheHammer Hammers]], [[TheStraightAndArrowPath Bows]], Flails, and staves. Though starting with any particular weapon does not lock you into only using that weapon. There's even an Achievement in the remake for getting every entry in your encyclopedia, which will require at least some time using every weapon.

''Legend of Mana'' (1999) is the fourth game in the ''VideoGame/WorldOfMana'' series, and the only one released for the [[UsefulNotes/TheFifthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames fifth console generation]]. It was originally developed for [[UsefulNotes/PlayStation PS1]]. It was then re-released on the North American [=PlayStation=] store as a [=PSOn=]e Classic on March, 22, 2011 and a full remaster for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, and PC via Steam was released on June 24, 2021 with HD 2D backgrounds and an arranged soundtrack as well as some quality of life upgrades like saving (almost) anywhere and turning off enemy encounters as well as including the ''"Ring Ring Land"'' mini game that was previously Japan exclusive. The remaster was then brought to UsefulNotes/{{iOS|Games}} and UsefulNotes/{{Android|Games}} on December 7, 2021.

* EscortMission: All over the place, thankfully most of the time the person being escorted actually ''can'' fight and defend themselves quite well (save for a bit of ArtificialStupidity), the one exception is Pearl however even she is far more resilient than most videogame [=NPCs=] and will actively try to stay out of harms way. Niccolo's quests in particular basically boil down to this.

** Near the beginning of the game, two small children named Bud and Lisa team up to try and take over Domina with pumpkins. After the Hero knocks some sense into them and they have a HeelFaceTurn, they become the Hero's apprentices. They are brother and sister, and the missions involving them often involve their relationships with each other, and their father.
** Larc wanted to be a brother sister team with his sister Sierra, but she was so much stronger than he was that he held her back. He ended up making a DealWithTheDevil to become stronger, but since the devil he made the deal with was [[spoiler:the Crimson Dragon Emperor Drakonis and she was a servant of the White Dragon Vadise]], his deal just set them against each other. However, [[spoiler:after the Hero defeats Drakonis,]] the game says that they were eventually reunited with each other.

* TheChosenOne: According to Selva, Elazul, Pearl, Daena, Escad, Matilda, Irwin, Larc, Sierra, and The Hero are ''all'' chosen ones - the Hero is just the most chosen of the chosen.

* HeroicMime: The main character does not even seem to possess any real personality (save for any dialogue tree options), other than helping people and being absurdly stupid in the Underworld.

** Vadise for Dragon Emperor. Larc is willing to kill whomever gets in his way [[spoiler:in his attempts to reunite with his sister Sierra]], and Sierra tries to kill the Hero to stop Larc. Vadise on the other hand trusts the Hero to be heroic once [=s/he's=] not bound to Larc and his master anymore. So she calls off Sierra and gives her mana stone to Larc without fighting (and dying) over it, freeing the Hero and enabling them to act against Larc's plan.

* PlanetHeck: The Underworld is a pretty standard depiction of the underground cavernous take on Hell - ambient red glow, grimacing demonic faces with glowing eyes in the walls. You can leave and enter whenever you wish, although that's fairly unique for the Hero due to an understanding with Olbohn, the Underworld's ruler.

* PlayerHeadquarters: The Hero's home is a comfy house built into a tree. Their homestead also has an orchard, a pasture for raising monsters, and a workshop for making various kinds of equipment.

** Zigzagged. It's subverted in that the problems underlying every major arc (and many minor arcs) are initiated because LoveMakesYouEvil. It's played straight in that [[spoiler: the Hero/ine's compassion and love for the Jumi is what saves the entire race when s/he sheds a healing teardrop crystal, and arguably in Daena's and Sierra's motivations to help you in the final dungeon and fight of their respective arcs.]] Interestingly, per The Cage of Dreams and The Legend of Mana events, the moral of the whole game seems to be, if the Mana Tree and the Mana Goddess are love, that ThePowerOfLove is worth the risk of LoveMakesYouEvil.

** The Fairy arc sits pretty firmly on the cynical side. While, like in the Jumi arc, everyone ultimately acts out of love, there are a lot more toxic dynamics to that love throughout the story. The arc revolves around [[StarcrossedLovers Matilda and Irwin]]. They cannot be together due to Matilda being raised to be and eventually becoming a high priestess, so Irwin as a demon decides to both steal Matilda's power (and simultaneously, her youth) and ultimately destroy the world to free Matilda from her duty. Matilda doesn't try to stop Irwin as she loves him so much she doesn't want to interfere with his free will. And then you have Escad, who also loves Matilda but hates all magical creatures, including Irwin (and it's hard to say how much of this stems from jealousy of Irwin having Matilda's eye). Finally there is Daena, who also loves Matilda, but her affection is much healthier and more circumspect. [[spoiler:Ultimately Daena and Escad have a fight to the death over how to handle the Irwin situation, you and potentially the survivor go and kill Irwin, and Matilda dies of old age. In an aversion of TogetherInDeath, upon meeting Matilda in the underworld, Irwin decides to wash his hands of everything and reincarnate with no memories of his previous life. About the only positive thing to be said is you save the world from destruction.]]

** After finishing Rachel's story there are no further quests or interactions with her and her family. You can find a student in the Geo Academy that will refuse to speak [[spoiler: just like she did while she worked in the Domina tavern]] but we're never shown what comes of their relationship or her plans to build a rocket.

* AmbiguouslyAbsentParent: We know that Bud and Lisa's father washed out of the magic academy in Geo, and that his advice about battles was to run away if the fight was too hard. It's ''very'' faintly implied he's dead, but we get nothing about how he might have passed.

** Gate of Heaven Arc: [[spoiler: Irwin and Matilda]] are definitely dead, and depending on your choices [[spoiler:one or both of Escad and Danea]] may be as well. [[spoiler: Irwin]] also wants nothing to do with [[spoiler: Matilda]] even in the afterlife. However the world has been saved.

* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Lil' Cactus' diary entries often don't focus on the main point of the quest but on pointing out the progressively bizarre situations the Hero/Heroine find themselves in, eventually beginning to wonder if they're just lying their pants off.

* DevelopersForesight: The dialogue in the game accounts for some atypical situations. For instance, normally you complete The Lost Princess with Elazul as a partner. The developers prepared for the possibility of the player ditching Elazul and trying to save Pearl alone and created dialogue for such a scenario. The Flame of Hope also has other changes depending on the player's gender and if certain characters are with you (like Elazul). Having Bud or Lisa has a partner triggers alternate dialogue at Geo Academy. And so on and so forth.

** after the first Monique/Gilbert mission, Monique laments the fact that Gilbert wants a "much bigger lamp" and then complains that "size is meaningless, it's how it works".
** When Kathinja threatens to petrify Gilbert, he claims that he's "getting hard".

* DuelingPlayerCharacters: Escad and Daena come to blows over disagreeing about what to do with Irwin. You're forced to take a side (refusing to take a side will have them choose ''for'' you), and the battle is to the death. No matter what, one party member isn't coming out of that fight alive. [[PoorCommunicationKills And then it's all made moot when]] [[spoiler: Daena's third option is outright rejected by Matilda and you're driven to kill Irwin anyway]].

** Elazul relentlessly follows after [[spoiler:Blackpearl]] because he can't let go of Pearl out of fear of becoming this. He made protecting her his everything.

* FamilyOfChoice: You start out the game living alone with just your cactus and a random sproutling at your doorstep. Depending on your choices you can end up with 2 orphan magicians, a mother penguin and her child, multiple crabs, several pets, a giant talking tree, and 3 sproutlings as permanent residents. And while the Jumi quest is still ongoing, Elazul and Pearl will, at separate points, stay in your home for a time.

* GainaxEnding: The party defeats a corrupted(?) avatar of the Mana Tree, which causes the Sproutlings to grow magical dandelion puffs and fly to the portal leading to the Mana Tree (the first one claiming they came to heal it). The Sproutlings give a monologue on the spiritual, soulless nature of their existence as Niccolo comments on the disappearance of the Sproutlings[[note]]and moves into the Player Character's house[[/note]]. The Player Character is never seen again.

* GreenEyedMonster: While Escad may indeed be [[spoiler:(and it eventually turns out he was)]] right about Irwin, one gets the strongest sensation that he's jealous that Matilda preferred Irwin to him.

* HiddenElfVillage: There's a village of Lilipeas in the White Forest that you won't be able to find without being lead there by a Lilipea.
* HideYourLesbians: Alexandra gets hit with this hard. The manga made the male Alex to be Alexandra's true form, with with "Sandra" being [[CreepyCrossdresser a disguise]], to make her BodyguardCrush on Florina more "acceptable." The Ultimania guide on the other hand lists the identities and genders of all the Jumi within the game (and a few that were removed). Alexandra is the only one listed Male/Female, as in BOTH. One is not a disguise for the other, as Alexandra actually changes forms; Alex is male and Sandra is female, possibly alluding to how alexandrite (the stone) changes color depending on the kind of light it's in. The ''Teardrop Crystal'' anime adaptation leans more heavily towards the male half by depicting this form as the default/original look throughout the Jumi's flashback sequences (named "Alexandre") but also acknowledges that the female form is also true and not just a mere disguise.

* HiveMind: The Sproutlings and Flowerlings. As the manual says, 'there are many of them but they are all one.'

* HungryJungle: The Jungle is a borderline case. It's one of the strongholds of the faeries, and the faeries hate humanity and have enchanted the jungle to be an un-navigable maze. On the other hand, the Wisdom Rosiotti, the Warrior lives here. Rosiotti is mildly benevolent, will share his wisdom with those badass enough to find him, and will aid heroes against the faeries.

* InterfaceSpoiler: Alex appears right after Sandra in the Character encyclopedia, with their artwork positioned so that the characters' heads are in the same spot on the page. It's just one of many ways the game manages to make the reveal that [[spoiler:Alex is Sandra's alterego]] not much of a surprise.

* ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne: After Cap'n Tusk has decided to release Gilbert he insults them by saying that the pirates are all cranky because they don't have girlfriends. Tusk immediately orders the Penguins to make Gilbert WalkThePlank.

* ItsAllUpstairsFromHere: The Tower of Leires. You have to climb it a few times during the Jumi arc. What exactly it is, isn't particularly well explained by the game lore.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Elazul emerges as a far more likable character than his earliest appearances might lead one to believe.
* KneelBeforeZod: Sandra, right before killing Jumi, will order them to cry and beg for their lives. Of course, they ''can't''. This interaction has a layer of added depth, since Sandra [[spoiler:hates the entire Jumi race for slowly killing their Clarius, who can still cry healing tears but is giving up bits of her life when doing so and will eventually die.]]

** Lady Blackpearl is determined to save the Jumi from extinction. The only way to heal a Jumi is with tears, but Jumi tears are life essence and crying too much will eventually kill a Jumi. The only Jumi who can still cry is the Clarius, Florina and [[spoiler:Blackpearl is determined to save the Jumi as a race at the expense of Florina's life.]]
** Alexandra, on the other hand, loves Florina, and wants to protect her at all cost. [[spoiler:If that means committing genocide against the Jumi, well, Alexandra reasons that a race that needs a means so evil to survive shouldn't be allowed to survive.]]
* LaserGuidedKarma: Gilbert's incessant pursuing of beautiful women comes to a head when he harasses the wrong lady [[spoiler: and she turns him to stone]]. You can make it even worse for him if you [[LiterallyShatteredLives give Monique the wrong spell]].
* LastOfHisKind: At the end of the Jumi arc, [[spoiler:Florina and Pearl/Elazul (whichever you took with you to the Bejeweled City) are the last Jumi left. However, thanks to the Hero/Heroine's actions the entire Jumi race is revived in the end]].
* TheLegendOfX: Lampshaded in Catchin' Lillipeas, when [[spoiler: Hamson/Skippie]] each have fake quest starts named Legend of [[spoiler:Hamson/Skippie]] as they run of to decide their own fates.

* LighterAndSofter: The manga adaptation is a lot lighter than the game, partially due to the protagonist being portrayed as an comedic IdiotHero. But in particular, the Fairy arc is rewritten to create a much more upbeat. In the game, the story ends with [[spoiler:all the principle characters besides Escad OR Danea dead (and possibly even not that depending on your choices), and in the afterlife Irwin rejects Matilda and chooses to reincarnate with no memories of her.]] In the manga, [[spoiler:Escad and Danea do NOT have a duel to the death, Escad is less of an asshole, and both Irwin and Matilda reincarnate as babies together after their deaths, with Escad and Danea choosing to raise them which is altogether a much happier ending.]]

* TheLostWoods: The White Forest is an unusual variation of this trope. It's a very large, very ancient forest, and is the demesne of the dragon Vadise and her mana stone. Vadise is good through and through however, and so the White Forest is only malevolent towards those who bring malice in with them. It's also not murky or very shadowy, and is actually rather pretty.
* LovableSexManiac: Gilbert, though the ladies that he hits on do express annoyance of his advances.
* LoveDodecahedron: Irwin struggles between his AlwaysChaoticEvil half-demon nature[[note]]this can be interpreted as a genetically-inherited pathological disorder[[/note]] and his feelings for Matilda[[note]]Eventually he decides he can't see a way to resolve his twin desires for true love and monstrous sadism and commits suicide by ''willing his soul out of existence''.[[/note]]. Escad (rightly) treats Irwin's relationship with Matilda as parasitic and damaging, yet feels [[EntitledToHaveYou entitled to the love of Matilda]], which she doesn't reciprocate. Daena seems to have some form of feelings for both Matilda and Escad, and constantly fights with Escad to protect Matilda's right to love freely. Matilda is in love with Irwin, but believes in Free Will to the point that she allows all of the above to fight for both her and the fate of the world rather than suppress any of their natures and prevent the ensuing tragedy.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: Larc (sold his soul to be as strong as his sister), Alexandra (pushing the Jumi, who she believes are unfairly taking advantage of Florina, into extinction to save the latter from dying), Irwin (plotting world destruction to free Matilda from her duties), and Escad (''says'' he wants to kill Irwin because the latter is a demon, but comes off as wanting to MurderTheHypotenuse) all do what they do because of love. This may have to do with the goddess of love getting corrupted in the last world war.

* MadScientist: Miss Thenesis, despite being a witch, is one of these. Her spare time is spent conducting strange experiments in the library - it's implied that Nunuzac puts a stop to them when he's around to do so. She appears to have been involved or at least aware of the [[spoiler:body swap between Rachel and one of the magic school students]] since it happens right in front of her.

* TheManBehindTheMan: The Lord of Jewels behind Sandra. Probably. The Lord of Jewels was conspicuously absent from the character profiles, and no one knows exactly what he wanted out of the whole deal. The Ultimania guide states that he [[spoiler:is a Star]], and that he is using the Jumi cores to evolve into his [[OneWingedAngel final form]]. Supposedly he will also [[spoiler:gain the power to create a crystal teardrop in the process]]. It is also stated that he is a man who loves beautiful things, and as he finds the Jumi beautiful he wants to help them, in his weird little way.

* TheMaze: The Junkyard area. At first it appears to be a MobileMaze, and it's even lampshaded by the jack-in-the-box in the starting area when you return there; he claims that the piles of toys may have toppled over with all your running around making some areas inaccessible. The reality is a bit more complicated. The whole area is actually made up of 2 similar but not identical maps meant to confuse you, as some paths are inaccessible in one map but open in the other making it seem like paths have mysteriously vanished or new areas have appeared. There are actually multiple teleport points in between rooms that bring you back and forth between both maps and most rooms have 3 or more exits (with one being a teleport usually). This is the reason why the jack-in-the-box at the first entrance room gives you very specific instructions on which path to take: if you deviate from his path, even though you may think you've arrived to the same location, you will have probably crossed a teleport point and will end up in the other map, unable to reach the boss room. To make things easier for the player in any follow up visits you'll find a flowerling at the entrance who'll transport you to Professor Bomb's lab (which is in map 2), if you get lost there is a sad jack-in-the-box in the center area of both maps that'll teleport you to the main entrance area, and there is a mirrored exit area in map 2 as well just in case you want to leave while you're on map 2.

** All of the Jumi are named after their gems, so if you pay attention you'll very quickly realize the connection between [[spoiler: Alex the Gem Merchant, Sandra the Jewel Thief, and Alexandra the Jumi Knight]].

* MementoMacGuffin: Lisa's broom belonged to her magician father; when the Cactus accidentally throws it away, mistaking it for trash, this kicks off a subquest where you have to go retrieve it.
* MirrorMatch: During one of the missions you undertake you are having to chase your {{Doppelganger}} across town as they cause mischief. This culminates with a fight against them at the edge of town.
* MissingMom: Bud and Lisa's father may be missing, but at least he's a plot point and an influence on their characters. There's absolutely no mention of their mother in the game.

* MultipleLifeBars: Both you and the enemies you fight can have layered health bars. The colors in order are blue, green, yellow, then red, though characters with sufficiently high HP would have the colors alternate between blue and green numerous times before progressing to the others.

* NoArcInArchery: Most of the Bows attacks are in a straight line, though some of the special attacks there is some attempt to show the effects of gravity (and in others the arrows are apparently heat-seeking).
* NoobCave: Luon Highways and Mekiv Caverns. They're the two lands you can obtain during your first visit to Domina, and Duelle the Onion Warrior appears at their entrance for some last-second tutorials. Though, if the player wishes, they can hold off on placing one or the other on the map - and a lot of optimized map placement strategies call for doing so with Mekiv.

* OminousPipeOrgan: A fair few songs have bits of it, but Lord of Jewels 1000's battle theme is all pipe organ.

** At the end of the Dragons Arc, Drakonis causes his palace to rise from The Underworld, turning it into The Flames. Once Drakonis is beaten, his palace sinks and the place reverts to The Underworld.
** At the end of the Fairie Arc, Irwin begins trying to [[spoiler:resurrect the dragon Lucemia]], which he begins by levitating its corpse into the air. When Irwin is defeated, [[spoiler:Lucemia's]] body crashes back to earth and can't be reentered.

** Vadise for Dragon Emperor. Larc is willing to kill whomever gets in his way in his attempts to reunite with his sister Sierra, and Sierra tries to kill the Hero to stop Larc. Vadise on the other hand trusts the Hero to be heroic once [=s/he's=] not bound to Larc anymore, so she calls off Sierra and gives her mana stone to Larc without fighting (and dying) over it, freeing the Hero.
* OurHumansAreDifferent: The human race encompasses a wide variety of sapient beings: from the LittleBitBeastly to full on {{Civilized Animal}}s, mythological creatures such mermaids and centaurs, and various others in addition to "ordinary" humans like the player character. Basically any sapient creature that isn't said to not be human -- such as Sproutlings, Faeries, or Jumi -- is human.

* PalmtreePanic: The above ground part of Madora Beach is a tropical beach with palmtrees.

** There's an early game quest called The Wisdom of [=Gaeus/Gaia=] - you have to talk to Daena in the inn in Domina. You can miss it by starting the Love Triangle arc, or by giving the wrong answers to Daena when talking to her.

** In one of your sidequests, your Cactus (who is responsible for Cactus Diary entries) runs off and you have to find him. If you finish any of your other sidequests in the meantime, they will not be recorded as complete in said Diary and you'll have to wait for a NewGamePlus to try again.
** Additionally, any of the Cactus Diary entries are lost if you fail to talk to Lil' Cactus before finishing another event. This can be [[GuideDangIt very irritating]] for first-time players due to abruptly-ending events ("Mana Orchards" springs to mind) causing the previous event's entry to be lost, or even worse, the event "Lil' Cactus". Whatever you do, NEVER talk to Bud if you have a Diary entry waiting to be recorded. (Luckily, "Daddy's Broom" does not cause this same thing: while the cactus leaves, he also comes back before the event ends. Once again, however, failing to talk to Bud LAST will screw you over: if you don't, you'll lose Bud when you go back into the house to talk to Lil' Cactus, and he won't come back until after the event.)

** The Heaven's Gate Arc is the hardest one of the three primary arcs to begin. A big part of this is that you can potentially miss out on it for the entire cycle if you go to the wrong level at the wrong time.

* PetTheDog: After the end of the Jumi story arc, [[spoiler:Alexandra throws a note to the player just like the ones she'd been leaving during her cat and mouse jewel stealing, Jumi killing game. The note reads "Please take care of Florina for me."]]

** Zigzagged. It's subverted in that the problems underlying every arc are initiated because LoveMakesYouEvil. It's played straight in that [[spoiler: the protagonist's compassion and love for the Jumi saves the entire race when they shed a healing teardrop crystal, and seemingly in Daena's and Sierra's motivations to help you in your final fight of their respective arcs.]] Interestingly, per The Cage of Dreams and The Legend of Mana events, the moral of the whole game seems to be, if the Mana Tree and the Mana Goddess are love, that ThePowerOfLove is worth the risk of LoveMakesYouEvil.
** Played straight, though, in the Siren subquest--Gilbert's fickle womanizing gets him turned to stone, but [[spoiler:is redeemed when his original girlfriend Monique decides to rescue him. He mends his ways, and they get a HappilyEverAfter]]. Unless you screw up the cure so terribly that he blows up. Yeah.
* ThePowerOfRock: The right tune will charm the mana elementals into approaching you and drop a silver or gold elemental coin.
* PurelyAestheticGender: All that differs whether you play a male or female character is whether your male character's nice hat or female character's ImprobableHairstyle is mentioned in dialogue.

* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: Lil' Cactus. As described on the Analysis page of that trope, he hits all four points: oversize head, large eys, large feet and stubby limbs, and huggable looking. In one of his journal entries he even complains about how he can't cuddle or be cuddled because he's so spiky.
* RobotBuddy: after completing a quest with Dr. Bomb in the Junkyard, he builds a Golem lab in you workshop so you can make your own robot buddies. Given that the creation uses equipment you can make in the other workshops, the robot buddy can become a Game Breaker if you use an InfinityPlusOneSword in its genesis or "logic block" creation.
* RuinsForRuinsSake: The Mindas Ruins are a set of jungle ruins with only a couple remaining large structures.
* SadisticChoice: Near the end of the Heaven's Gate arc, Escad and Daena come to blows. You get to decide who to side with, causing the other person to initiate a battle to the death. You can't even TakeAThirdOption: saying that [[spoiler: they're both wrong]] causes [[spoiler:the one you'd been nicer to through the story arc]] to flip out and try to kill you.

** The "Lil' Cactus" quest. When Bud falls ill, Lil' Cactus uproots himself and goes to find a solution. You spend the entirety of the quest going all over the map just to be told [[YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle that Lil' Cactus just left]], by the end of the quest Lil' Cactus is waiting for you back home (shoved into your mailbox) and he has the cure for Bud. All that running around all over the map was pointless since he found the cure for Bud and managed to get home by himself. This is even foreshadowed by the Fortune Teller who flat out states "The cactus will save the boy", i.e. not you.
** InUniverse: Pokiehl promises to tell you the legendary story of Watts the blacksmith when Watts returns. As it happens [[spoiler: there's not much to tell since he hasn't done much of anything. Pokiehl yammers on for a few minutes trying to find a story worth telling before Watts eventually tells him to just shut up.]]
* ShiftingSandLand: The Duma Desert is... pretty much your standard videogame desert. It has sand, windswept rocks, giant cactii (in the background, you can't bump into them and hurt yourself), animal bones, and several of the enemies there are undead or demonic. Weirdly, it also has torrents of sand falling from heights unseen to block your way, and said torrents are dispelled in a dream which somehow extends to real life.

* SimpleScoreOfSadness: Etansel/City of Flickering Destruction, the score that plays in the Bejeweled City.
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: The game's pretty far towards idealism, taking the point of view that if you're true to yourself things WILL work out right somehow. However, each of the three arcs land on a different place on the scale.
** The Jumi arc is ultimately rather idealistic. Everything that everyone does in the storyline comes from a place of love, and even the FinalBoss of the arc is something of a WellIntentionedExtremist. [[spoiler:And ultimately, (aside from the Lord of Jewels apparently), EverybodyLives at the end. The Protagonist cries for all the dead Jumi, which brings them all back at the cost of the Protagonist turning to stone, then the Jumi all manage to cry for the first time in ages, reviving the Protagonist as well. The only bitter part is that Sandra chooses to exile herself from the Jumi homeland for what she did.]]
** The Dragon arc is somewhere in the middle. Motivations become a bit greyer (even the Protagonist chooses to work with a shifty character because it's either do that or eventually die), the main antagonist is straight up an evil conqueror, and [[spoiler:you end up unwittingly helping him rise to power (being said shify character). The BigBad's second in command Larc is your ally through most of the story, but he just wants to be reuntied with his sister. And his sister ultimately helps you right everything and defeat the BigBad. You are forced to kill Larc in the process, but an unknown amount of time after the story, he is reunited with his sister. So largely a happy ending.]]
** The Fairy arc sits pretty firmly on the cynical side. Though like the Jumi arc, everyone ultimately acts out of love, there are a lot more toxic aspects to those loves throughout the story. The story revolves around the StarcrossedLovers Matilda and Irwin. They cannot be together due to Matilda being a high priestess, so Irwin as a demon decides to both steal Matilda's youth and ultimately destroy the world to free Matilda from her duty. Matilda doesn't try to stop Irwin as she loves him so much she doesn't want to stop him from doing what makes him happy. And then you have Escad who also loves Matilda but hates all magical creatures (and it's hard to say how much of this stems from jealousy of Irwin having Matilda's eye). Finally there is Danae who also loves Matilda but is much healthier about it. [[spoiler:Ultimately Danae and Escad have a fight to the death over a disagreement on how to handle the Irwin situation, you and the surivor go and kill Irwin (if you go without Escad, he'll go on his own and die right as you reach Irwin), and Matilda dies of old age. An as an aversion of TogetherInDeath, upon meeting Matilda in the underworld, Irwin decides to wash his hands of everything and reincarnate with no memories of his previous life. About the only positive thing to be said is you save the world from destruction.]]

* SpaceWhale: Lord of Jewels 1000 looks somewhat like a whale, and you fight him on an AmazingTechnicolorBattlefield [[RecycledINSPACE IN SPACE]]! Funnily enough the Lord of Jewels himself was some sort of fishman, and Lord of Jewels 999 was a faintly fish-like monster.

* SpecialPersonNormalName: Mark, Jennifer and Rachel have surprisingly mundane names for a family of insect people who own a living a talking human sized teapot and are friends with an onion warrior.
* SternTeacher: Miss Kathinja is half basilisk, her glare can turn people to stone, and she has a rather short temper. However, the studens also think she's [[HotTeacher hot]], and she's the most popular teacher at the school.

** [[spoiler: The Mana Goddess]] has one.
** In a rare inversion [[spoiler:Pearl]] is the Underpowered Good Side of [[spoiler: Lady Blackpearl]]. While the latter [[DarkIsNotEvil is not exactly evil per se]] she's definitely a KnightTemplar, while the former is a ShrinkingViolet.

** The students at Geo are named after spices. You find out that [[OddNameOut Bud]] (and possibly Lisa) attended there for a while, too, but have since dropped out.

** The Jumi arc has [[spoiler:Lady Blackpearl]] who, while not evil exactly, is perfectly willing to let one of her kind die if it means reviving the rest who had died over the years.
** The Dragon arc has Larc, who has sympathetic motives, but works for an evil man who wants to rule the world.
** The Fairy Arc has Escad. He has a MAJOR hatred of demons and Irwin in particular for taking Matilda's mana. He is a pretty big jerk to anyone who gets in his way and it is ambiguous how much of his hatred of Irwin is just jealousy that Matilda chose him over Escad.
** Outside the 3 arcs, we have Niccolo. He is an unrepentant conman who drags you into his increasingly immoral schemes. And with your help, he scams another (admittingly unsympathetic) character out of millions and never recieves any comeuppance. Oh, and he's racist towards sproutlings.

* UndergroundLevel: Mekiv Caverns and Ulkan Mines are both entirely underground. Also, Madora Beach and Gato have underground sections that look identical to Mekiv and Ulkan respectively.
* UnwittingPawn: Everybody not [[spoiler: Alexandra]] in the Jumi Arc, but [[spoiler: even she seems to be manipulated by the Lord of Jewels to some extent]]; both you and Larc are played by the Dragon Lord in that particular arc.

* WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou: Averted, as it's only game over if all members of your party are dead, and even then, you can restart any battle at the beginning with a full super bar.

** After finishing Rachel's story there are no further quests or interactions with her and her family. You can find a student in the Geo Academy that will refuse to speak [[spoiler: just like she did while she worked in the Domina tavern]] but we're never shown what came of their relationship or her plans to build a rocket.

* WorldOfWeirdness: From talking teapots to lamp-selling sirens to a vain chocobo pretending to be a canary. The fact that Niccolo of all people calls Watts a lunatic when his new wallet doesn't automatically have the money from his old wallet is the only time someone acknowledges how bizarre people in this world really are.

** Elazul [[NoodleIncident lost his previous Guardian long ago]]; for that matter, we never even learn her name. When Pearl appears, he makes protecting her his everything.

* FamilyOfChoice: You start out the game living alone with just your cactus and a random sproutling at your doorstep. Depending on your choices you'll end up living with 2 orphan magicians, a mother penguin and her child, multiple crabs, several pets, a giant talking tree, 3 sproutlings, and Elazul and Pearl might temporarily move in as well.

* InfinityMinusOneSword: When coming to the apex of the Jumi questline, Elazul gives the player a 1H sword of legend for free if you don't pick him as a party member. It's got 40 atk and it's made of IshePlatinum, which is pretty good! Unless, of course, you've been messing with the forging system, in which case you almost certainly already have a...

* InformedAttribute: The Six Wisdoms are described as almost omniscient entities with powers beyond normal creatures and second only to the Goddess of Mana herself. They are even featured prominently in the remake opening cinematic. In spite of this, only Selva and Pokiehl are shown to do anything remotely superhuman or even "wise" for that matter. Gaeus and Tote only dedicate themselves to give [[IceCreamKoan enigmatic one liners]], Rosiotti just sits on his throne doing nothing (even falling asleep in the middle of an important discussion), and Olbohn who's supposed to be Archdemon of the underworld has been usurped by Drakonis. The fact that [[spoiler:Matilda]], of all people, who makes stupid decisions one after another and has allowed the world to be brought to the brink of collapse because of ineptitude and poor logic, is somehow chosen as the seventh wisdom goes to show how "good" these folks are at their role.

* ChoiceOfTwoWeapons: At the beginning of the game, you have to choose a starter weapon -- and you have a lot of weapons to choose from. You can choose between [[HeroesPreferSwords 1H swords]], [[{{BFS}} 2H swords]], Daggers, 1H Axes and 2H axes, [[PowerFist Gloves]], [[BladeOnAStick Spears]], [[DropTheHammer Hammers]], [[TheStraightAndArrowPath Bows]], Flails, and staves. Though starting with any particular weapon does not lock you into only using that weapon. There's even an Achievement in the remake for getting every entry in your encyclopedia, which will require at least some time using every weapon.

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: The game's pretty far towards idealism, taking the point of view that if you're true to yourself things WILL work out right somehow.
** Generally averted with the Heaven's Gate arc. Two of your allies WILL fight to the death, forcing you to pick a side (and attempting to stay neutral will have the ally with higher affinity with you turning on you). Then after you kill the AntiVillain of the arc, he is reunited with his love in death. However, even though she wants to stay with him, he decides hes tired of all the crap he went through and chooses to reincarnate with no memories of his past love. The whole affair is rather depressing.
*** The manga has a much more upbeat ending. Daena and Escad do not fight to the death, and Irwin and Matilda become reborn as babies at the same time, with Daena and Escad choosing to raise them properly.

* LastOfHisKind: At the end of the Jumi arc, [[spoiler:Florina and Pearl/Elazul (whichever you took with you to the Bejeweled City) are the last Jumi left. However, thanks to the Hero/Heroine's actions the Jumi race is restored.]]

* LegFocus: In one mission you run across a non-hostile Mad Mallard who gushes over Sandra's legs.