History VideoGame / MARDEK

-->'''Lord Sir Bong-Bong McFtong the Moderately Bonkers:''' STOP!!!! You cannot pass here, into the arena, for six of our mighty warriors are currently on a journey!\\

'''Lord Sir Bong-Bong McFtong the Moderately Bonkers:''' Unless you can find all six missing trilobite warriors, you will be unable to pass into the arena!!! That is all that you need to know! Any kind of logical backstory for this challenging barrier is unnecessary! All that matters is that this will mean that you cannot beat the arena before most of the plot!! Whatever that means!

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: The most powerful SuperBoss is [[spoiler:a super-powerful alien monstrosity that wiped out an ''entire civilization''. And not only can you defeat its body, but its ''soul'' as well.]] Just to put this in perspective, a book you can read within the Lizard Tribe village [[spoiler:states that said alien monstrosity had its body and soul seperated by an ancient race to stop its path of destruction. Sadly, both the body and soul merely went on destruction sprees of their own, giving the race two deadly enemies to face. They managed to [[SealedEvilInACan seal both parts of the monster away]], but didn't quite make it through afterwards.]]

** The Miasmal Citadel is connected to the Dark Temple via an isolated section of the Sandflow Caves, which requires the Eldritch Key (sold in the Aeropolis slums) to access. The four Miasmal Chalices, collected from the four Temples visited during the chapter (two of which are meant to be the final two mandatory dungeons visited during the chapter), must then be put on the four empty pedestals in the vestibule (which does not have monsters or anything of interest besides a portal leading back to the Sun Temple) before the portal to the main part of the dungeon opens.

''MARDEK'' is a series of online Flash [[RolePlayingGame Role-Playing Games]] developed by Tobias Cornwall of [[https://alorafane.com/ Alora Fane]] (then-known as Pseudolonewolf of Website/FigHunter Games). They revolve around a lad named [[TheHero Mardek]], his childhood friend [[TheLancer Deugan]], their female colleague [[TheHeart Emela]], and the magical space ghost [[SharingABody living inside Mardek's body]] called [[TheSmartGuy Rohoph]]. The games take place on the planet Belfan, where magic and all that nonsense are pretty commonplace. Part of what makes up ''MARDEK'''s charm is the game's sense of humour, as almost everyone on the planet seems totally aware that it's an RPG world, [[LampshadeHanging and are quick to point out that most of what happens make little to no sense whatsoever]]. Make no mistake, though; at the center of it all is a well-written story and well-constructed world that, as the quote above demonstrates, can be rather dark at times.

The series consists of three chapters, released between 2007 and 2010, with [[OldSaveBonus save carry-over]] for each game. Chapter 1 is [[http://www.kongregate.com/games/Pseudolonewolf/mardek-rpg-chapter-1 here]], Chapter 2 is [[http://www.kongregate.com/games/Pseudolonewolf/mardek-rpg-chapter-2 here]], and Chapter 3 is [[http://www.kongregate.com/games/Pseudolonewolf/mardek-rpg-chapter-3 here]]. While ''MARDEK'' was initially planned to be eight chapters long, development did not [[DevelopmentHell continue past the third chapter]], and the series in its original form is officially cancelled. However, Cornwall has released the existing chapters in a compiled form on [[https://store.steampowered.com/app/1302990/MARDEK/ Steam]] for preservation due to the discontinuation of Flash. A fan continuation can be downloaded [[https://discord.com/channels/1007079709105983629/1011852163238068295 here]].

* EasterEgg: [[spoiler:If you cast Aqualung on someone before fighting Moric the first time in Chapter 2, defeat Moric, go to Lake Qur (without saving after the fight), and attempt to jump in, you will get a message from Tobias telling you how clever you are to have reserved Aqualung for that particular time, [[RunningGag "but there is nothing down there... really"]]]].

* TwentyBearAsses: You have to collect five lead pipes in a sidequest, which you get from fighting strange rats which seem to have these as their tails.

** In Chapter 2, certain enemies drop staves and greataxes, which none of the characters can use. If you carry them over to the next chapter, you'll find out they're actually starting weapons for Sslen'ck and Gloria.

* LeftHanging: After the ContinuityReboot, many of the questions in the game are left unanswered: who is Mardek's father, will Mardek ever meet [[spoiler:Emela and Duegan]], what will happen to Elwyen, what about Sslen'ck and the blatantly evil councilor, what is the hinted-at [[spoiler:planet destruction]]? A old notes document was included in the Steam re-release to answer some of these questions.

* BraggingRightsReward: The Wolfblade is Social Fox's sword, and the strongest greatsword in the game. In the web version of Chapter 2, it's completely unobtainable, and exists in the code so it can be wielded by [[spoiler:Moric when he possesses Social Fox's corpse]], but in the Steam version, it was added as a guarenteed drop from that enemy. However, this is the final boss of the chapter, and it's not very long before Deugan, the only character who can use Greatswords, leaves the party, so carrying it into Chapter 3 won't affect anything.

* SuspiciousVideoGameGenerosity: Chapter 2 encourages you to put Vehrn into your party halfway through (though he can be swapped out with Zach), and he comes with strong Light-element attack and the ability to learn an anti-undead attack. The main villain of the chapter is the Governance's necromancer, meaning most of the enemies and bosses past that point are Dark-elemental or undead.

* BackgroundMusicOverride: [[spoiler:The Astral Tunnel's theme plays even in battles until you fight Qualna.]]

** The Miasmal Citadel is connected to the Dark Temple via an isolated section of the Sandflow Caves, which requires the Eldritch Key (sold in the Aeropolis slums) to access. The four Miasmal Chalices, collected from the four Temples visited during the chapter, must then be put on the four empty pedestals in the vestibule (which does not have monsters or anything of interest besides a portal leading back to the Sun Temple) before the portal to the main part of the dungeon opens.

* ChestMonster: Starting from Chapter 3, some chests are guarded by enemies that will start a fight when opened and must be defeated to obtain the item inside. Most of them contain local enemies, and there's no indication whether a chest is guarded or not, with the exception of two (one in the Earth Temple, the other in the Desert Cave), which are clearly painted red-and-gold and home to bosses, whose in-game descriptions lampshade this:

* CompanionCube: Parodied.

* GlamourFailure: When Gloria shows Mardek how to access the dream world, she and Elwyen accidentally find out about Rohoph: because he can get in and Mardek can't, he shows up ''in his original form''. The other character who can get in, Solaar, [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial absolutely did not already know about the Annunaki's presence]].

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Rohoph, a light-elemental, loses [[spoiler:Moric, an earth-elemental]], whom [[AlasPoorVillain he had once considered a friend]]. Guess which character close to Mardek [[spoiler:[[HeroicSacrifice sacrifices himself so that the rest of the party can escape the ship a mere few minutes later?]]]]

The series consists of three chapters, released between 2007 and 2010, with [[OldSaveBonus save carry-over]] for each game. Chapter 1 is [[http://www.kongregate.com/games/Pseudolonewolf/mardek-rpg-chapter-1 here]], Chapter 2 is [[http://www.kongregate.com/games/Pseudolonewolf/mardek-rpg-chapter-2 here]], and Chapter 3 is [[http://www.kongregate.com/games/Pseudolonewolf/mardek-rpg-chapter-3 here]]. While ''MARDEK'' was initially planned to be eight chapters long, development did not [[DevelopmentHell continue past the third chapter]], and the series in its original form is officially cancelled. However, Cornwall has released the existing chapters in a compiled form on [[https://store.steampowered.com/app/1302990/MARDEK/ Steam]] for preservation due to the discontinuation of Flash.

* BossInMookClothing: Mythril Golems. Made easier if Legion has Spirit Nova, which removes more than half of their HP, and so lowers them to just tough enemies, though they're still guaranteed to KO at least one person.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mardeklogo.png]]
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->''"What if those bandits had families? Wives and little children that they'd never be able to return home because they died by OUR hands? [...] Justice? Is it justice? What's justice? Just an opinion, really... I mean, those bandits... They could've been doing what they thought was right, what was 'just' in their eyes... It's just that their opinions conflicted with ours, so there's bloodshed... Is it ever necessary?"''
-->--'''Emela''', [[DiscussedTrope discussing]] WhatMeasureIsAMook

!! Tropes:

!!''MARDEK'' is the TropeNamer for:

* ActuallyFourMooks

* BraggingRightsReward: The Wolfblade is Social Fox's sword, and the strongest greatsword in the game. In the web version of Chapter 2, it's completely unobtainable, and exists in the code so it can be wielded by [[spoiler:Moric when he possesses Social Fox's corpse]], but in the Steam version, it was added as a guarenteed drop from that enemy. However, this is the final boss of the chapter, and it's not very long before [[spoiler:Deugan, the only character who can use Greatswords, sacrifices himself]], so carrying it into Chapter 3 won't affect anything.

* PointOfNoReturn: You can't leave once you enter Moric's battleship.

* NonElemental: Subverted; physical attacks ''do'' have their own element that ''can'' be resisted, [[NonIndicativeName despite it being referred to as "non-elemental"]]. Played straight with the Divine element, although no attacks or creatures with that element exist, only items and/providing passive skills. Prior to the Chapter 3 updates, attacks that would be physical ''were'' NonElemental, and the element of a physical attack would depend on the element of the equipped weapon. Because the Physical element didn't exist yet, NonElemental attacks would do neutral damage to everything.

* ReviveKillsZombie: Though Phoenix Downs don't "kill" Undead, per se, they do deal significant amounts of damage. Healing spells and the Regen status effect also inflict damage, and using Solaar's Resurrection skill halves life. Before the Chapter 3 update, Phoenix Downs inflicted massive damage (it was possible to ''easily'' defeat the [[SuperBoss Zombie Dragon]] in Chapter 2 by solely lobbing Phoenix Downs, which inflicted at least 5000 damage), but now Phoenix Downs inflict relatively meager damage.

* MarathonBoss: Both of the Annihilator's forms can spam a spell that nullifies all damage once, and when it comes to Animus, Gemsplosion: Candiathrope is the ''only attack in the entire game'' that it isn't resistant to. Karnos also has a whopping 65,000 hit points, though you ''can'' inflict Bleed on it, which will drain its health at record speed.

%%* CharacterTitle

* EasterEgg: [[spoiler:If you cast Aqualung on someone before fighting Moric the first time in Chapter 2, defeat Moric, go to Lake Qur (without saving after the fight), and attempt to jump in, you will get a message from Pesudolonewolf telling you how clever you are to have reserved auralung for that particular time, [[RunningGag "but there is nothing down there... really"]]]].

** In Chapter 2, you can drop axes and staves from certain enemies, which none of the characters can use. If you carry them over to the next chapter, you'll find out they're actually starting weapons for Sslen'ck and Gloria.
** In Chapter 3, you can buy a weapon usable only by a character that's considered missing-in-action as of second chapter's ending. This suggested that this character would have returned to the party if the series continued.

* MercyRewarded: Killing Gope in Chapter 2 means that [[spoiler:you can't access the Trilobite Tournaments, and prevents you from accessing a useful traveling shopkeeper in Chapter 3.]]

* OneGenderRace: Of a sort. Solaar and all Aruan are genderless and use the gender-neutral pronoun "xe". Also, Reptoids and Annunaki are hermaphroditic and don't have single sexes or gender, but are usually referred to as "he".

%%* StrengthEqualsWorthiness

* UnusableEnemyEquipment: Rather egregious, since you can click on an enemy's lifebar at any time to see a detailed description of their stats, equipment, etc., and only a few enemies will actually drop said equipment as a [[RandomlyDrops random drop]]. It's also subverted, as a lot of the enemy equipment is actual equipment that you can buy or find in treasure chests.

* MercyRewarded: The only way to get the fourth Trilobyte Key is to spare the bandit Gope in the Gem Mine; otherwise, it has to be bought in Chapter 3. Gope also shows up as a merchant in Chapter 3, but only if a transferred save where he survived is used.
* OneTimeDungeon: The chapter's final dungeon gets destroyed after the final boss is defeated, preventing it from being accessed in Chapter 3. Downplayed with the Gem Mine and Goznor Sewer/Catacombs; they can be freely explored during Chapter 2, but aren't available in Chapter 3.

** The Trilobite Key IV, and everything in the Cambria by extension, gets lost for the rest of the Chapter if you kill Gope early on. Luckily, in Chapter 3, there's an obscure shop in Acropolis that sells all the Trilobite keys if you missed any of them.

** The Gem Mine and Goznor Sewers/Catacombs are only open in this chapter, so their unique enemies and equips can be lost if not obtained before the ending. [[spoiler:Moric's battleship]] is also just a one-time visit, but only contains standard chests and some unique enemies.

* KingMook: King Cuthbert.

** There are two optional boss-level versions of the Molestor enemy. One is the the Bone Demon, hidden in a trapped chest in a cave in the Desert Path, guarding Zach's ultimate weapon. The other is the Security Demon, which is a BeefGate monster intended to kill players who answer Warport questions incorrectly; if defeated, it provides no rewards besides experience and an early Gold Warport Pass (it can't be fought if the pass was received the normal way), and it isn't listed in the bestiary.

** [[spoiler:[[EldritchAbomination Annihilator:Karnos]] has a move called Bisect that causes one target to take Aether damage equal to half of their health;. it can also use the move as a reaction. While it is in Aether form, it has access to a move called Plasma Breath that causes all of its opponents to take Aether damage equal to 90% of their max health.]]
** [[spoiler:[[EldritchAbomination Annihilator:Animus]] has the moves Soulstorm Alpha, Gamma, and Omega. They cause all of its opponents to take Aether damage equal to 50%, 90%, and [[OneHitKill 120%]] of their max health respectively.]]

* StealthPun: There's a famous playwright known as "Wobble-Scimitaire". [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Sound familiar]]?

* StealthPun: Melchior, the air-elemental Governance de Magi member, is sort of[[CloudCuckooLander an airhead]].

%%* BonusBoss: At least one in every chapter. And that's not even counting things like the Cambria tournaments...
%%* BonusDungeon: Again, at least one per chapter.

%%* ClingyJealousGirl: Elwyen.

* ImprobablePowerDiscrepancy: An amateur human necromancer can create undead more powerful and high-levelled than an super-powerful alien that has devoted most of his life to perfecting his magic. Said super-powerful alien necromancer is also weaker than some ''regular enemies'' in {{Bonus Dungeon}}s. GameplayAndStorySegregation at its finest, considering how the {{Bonus Boss}}es of Chapter 3 have [[spoiler:destroyed entire civilizations]].

* ReviveKillsZombie: Though Phoenix Downs don't "kill" Undead, per se, they do deal significant amounts of damage. Healing spells and the Regen status effect also inflict damage, and using Solaar's Resurrection skill halves life. Before the Chapter 3 update, Phoenix Downs inflicted massive damage (it was possible to ''easily'' defeat the [[BonusBoss Zombie Dragon]] in Chapter 2 by solely lobbing Phoenix Downs, which inflicted at least 5000 damage), but now Phoenix Downs inflict relatively meager damage.

* SpoonyBard: Completely averted with Elwyen, who is one of the most useful characters.

%%* {{Kid Hero}}es

* BonusBoss:
** [[spoiler:The zombie dragon]], found by returning to the Catacombs after defeating Moric.
** If you beat the Cambria tournament, [[spoiler:the Worlds' Saviours make a return, significantly stronger than last time.]]
* BonusDungeon: Social Fox's Tomb in Chapter 2, which also houses a BonusBoss. The Trilobite Cave leads to an entire bonus ''village'', with a tournament and a bit of minor story information.

** The Zombie Locksmith mini-boss can drop a Keyblade, a unique sword that's strong for that point of the game (though it doesn't have any skills attached). The Locksmith only drops the Keyblade at a 50% chance, so there's only one chance to get it. The Steam release edits the drop rate to 100% so that it can't be missed.

* BadassBoast: [[BonusBoss The Annihilator]] scoffs at you when you try to fight it, saying that it has wiped out an entire civilization, and that you have no hope of defeating it in single combat. [[ViolationOfCommonSense Mardek does so]] [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu anyway]]. Granted, it is by far the hardest battle in the entire series (including the security demon, which is hard for completely different reasons).

* BonusBoss: There are a total of five superbosses, some available earlier than others.
** There are two optional boss-level versions of the Molestor enemy. One is the the Bone Demon, hidden in a trapped chest in a cave in the Desert Path, guarding Zach's ultimate weapon. The other is the Security Demon, which is a BeefGate monster intended to kill players who answer Warport questions incorrectly; if defeated, it provides no rewards besides experience and an early Gold Warport Pass (it can't be fought if the pass was received the normal way), and it isn't listed in the bestiary.
** The Red Dragon shows up twice. One of them is in a trapped chest in the Earth Temple, the game's final main dungeon, and guards the Red Dragon Scales, which can be traded for Sslen'ck's best weapon. The other is the final enemy in Cambria's main arena tournament, which only opens up after defeating the six Trilobite Warriors spread throughout the game.
** The Annihilator has two different forms fought in two extra dungeons. The Karnos form is found in the Miasmal Citadel, which gets unlocked in the endgame through a complex process, and drops Solaar's best weapon and an accessory that grants auto-Berserk and auto-Haste, as well as the sixteenth Dreamstone. The Animus form, by far the strongest enemy in the game, appears in the Dreamshrine that opens once you have sixteen Dreamstones (which is all of them except for the one dropped by Qualna), and its rewards are the best defensive accessory in the game and an accessory that teaches Loquacity.

* BraggingRightsReward: Annihilator:Animus drops two accessories when defeated, and while both are pretty good, there's nearly nothing to use them on except for solo arena challenges and some much easier bonus bosses, since Animus is the strongest superboss in the trilogy. The Sorceror's Soul is also the only item that teaches the skill Loquacity, which grants immunity to Silence, a status effect that isn't common to begin with and is probably no threat to a team that defeated Animus.
* ChestMonster:
** Two of which are {{Bonus Boss}}es! This is even lampshaded in the Red Dragon's description:

** Also addressed in the Bone Demon's description, the other BonusBoss, which says that it was literally [[SealedEvilInACan sealed in the chest to prevent it from causing mayhem]] by an ancient wizard because it could not be destroyed. However, its bones became brittle and vulnerable in the many years it's been sealed, so it is quite killable by the time you show up.
** The two above are marked by a red-and-gold chest, so if you die to these (particularly the Bone Demon, who has a save point right before it) without saving, it is your fault. However, one chest early on with a mini-bonus boss (a Griffon) is unmarked, except for the save crystal nearby and its obvious placement in the middle of the path. All others contain the local enemies. Most are worth looting, however.

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Subverted in that it isn't actually a god, but the most powerful BonusBoss is [[spoiler:a super-powerful alien monstrosity that wiped out an ''entire civilization''. And not only can you defeat its body, but its ''soul'' as well.]] Just to put this in perspective, a book you can read within the Lizard Tribe village [[spoiler:states that said alien monstrosity had its body and soul seperated by an ancient race to stop its path of destruction. Sadly, both the body and soul merely went on destruction sprees of their own, giving the race two deadly enemies to face. They managed to [[SealedEvilInACan seal both parts of the monster away]], but didn't quite make it through afterwards.]]

* EarlyBirdBoss: The Security Demon is not so powerful compared to the other {{Bonus Boss}}es. The reason why he is so difficult is that he becomes inaccessible after your fourth Warport trip.

** The trade quest to get [[spoiler:a BonusBoss and Sslen'ck's best axe]] nearly requires a walkthrough unless you pay close attention to minor dialogue.

%%* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: [[spoiler:Rohoph.]]
%%* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Rohoph.]]

* MarathonBoss: All of the {{Bonus Boss}}es other than the [[GlassCannon Bone Demon]], particularly the Annihilator. Both of its forms can spam a spell that nullifies all damage once, and when it comes to Animus, Gemsplosion: Candiathrope is the ''only attack in the entire game'' that it isn't resistant to. Karnos also has a whopping 65,000 hit points, though you ''can'' inflict Bleed on it, which will drain its health at record speed.

** Spirit Nova, which halves the maximum HP of the target (provided their level isn't too high). Legion can learn it, which is incredibly useful against Mithril Golems.

* RushBoss: The Bone Demon, which has the lowest HP of all the {{Bonus Boss}}es, but has very powerful attacks.
* SealedEvilInACan: [[spoiler:Both halves of the most powerful BonusBoss. And another bonus boss, the Bone Demon.]]

''MARDEK'' is a series of online Flash [[RolePlayingGame Role-Playing Games]] developed by Tobias Cornwall of [[https://alorafane.com/ Alora Fane]] (then-known as Pseudolonewolf of Website/FigHunter Games). They revolve around a lad named [[TheHero Mardek]], his childhood friend [[TheLancer Deugan]], their female colleague [[TheChick Emela]], and the magical space ghost [[SharingABody living inside Mardek's body]] called [[TheSmartGuy Rohoph]]. The games take place on the planet Belfan, where magic and all that nonsense are pretty commonplace. Part of what makes up ''MARDEK'''s charm is the game's sense of humour, as almost everyone on the planet seems totally aware that it's an RPG world, [[LampshadeHanging and are quick to point out that most of what happens make little to no sense whatsoever]]. Make no mistake, though; at the center of it all is a well-written story and well-constructed world that, as the quote above demonstrates, can be rather dark at times.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Where to begin? Well, first you have to fight your own king. Who afterwards promptly dies. [[AccidentalMurder Oops.]] And did we mention that he's actually the father of one of your party members? Then it turns out Qualna wasn't even trying to get you to kill the king, and this is exactly the example he was trying to create to show [[KnightTemplar Rohoph]] that he's gone off the deep end, and to get him to rejoin the Governance de Magi peacefully. (Although most of the Magi have gone off that end too.) Rohoph promptly kills Qualna too and seals his soul so he can no longer escape after telling her that he wouldn't. Mardek and Elwyen go to a play afterwards to lighten the mood, until Rohoph forces her away, to Mardek's disdain and anger. So now King Gonoroth and probably the most friendly of the Governance de Magi are dead, and Rohoph wants Mardek to have no more friends to become attached to. Yeah. At least Lone Wolf (Deugan) finally talks to Mardek's face, although he doesn't reveal who he is.]]\\\
Approaches DownerEnding when you realize that [[spoiler:Qualna was lying about wanting to use the Violet Crystal for good, but only because the other Governors were watching - he was trying to sneak Rohoph back to their planet in order to help him ''destroy'' the Crystal. And it turns out that Rohoph had been corrupted by the Crystal from the start into becoming a paranoid KnightTemplar, and he no longer has qualms about ''forcibly'' taking over Mardek's body at times. Oh, and the world is slowly dying thanks to the crystals being removed from their temples, and Rohoph's presence might be slowly killing Mardek. Absolutely nothing you did in this chapter has accomplished anything good.]]\\\
Downer status further solidified by a lot of things that seem minor in Chapter 3 but would have come back to bite the good guys in the ass in later chapters: [[spoiler:Steele/"The Mysterious Man" still has the dark crystal; Blatantly Evil Chancellor had control of Xantusia while Ss'lenck was away; you gave a fragment or relative of the Violet Crystal to Vudu, the probably already evil high priest of YALORT; and oh yeah, there's this [[ChekhovsGun volcano which could wipe out most of the life on Belfan]] if it erupted, and the next Magus coming after you is the ''pyromancer'' of the group. Really, the only good things that you did in this game were making your party members feel good about themselves by listening to them talk about their problems, and driving away Saul and Muriance (probably temporarily). Well, and destroying the [[BonusBoss Annihilator]], if you did that.]]

* TechnicalPacifist: Meraeador, though he has no problem with killing monsters, as they are simply [[MadeOfEvil 'Miasma']]. Lampshaded by Mardek, who asks Meraeador something like "Doesn't pacifist mean opposition to all violence?", whereupon Meraedor retorts that the meaning of pacifism is [[YouKeepUsingThatWord pretty pedantic]]. Also lampshaded in the Flamethrower's in-battle description.