History VideoGame / MARDEK

** Taken UpToEleven with the in-game Encyclopaedia, which is extremely large and contains extensive information on pretty much every NPC of importance that you meet, as well as tons of other backstory information, such as the seven elemental crystals. You have to actually find the person/hear about the item in order for the full article to be added to the Encyclopaedia, though.

* 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. [[UpToEleven 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.]]

* NiceHat: Mardek's helmet, complete with "M!" emblazoned on the front, is almost humorously cheesy. He uses it to hide [[MindControlEyes the glow in his eyes that appears whenever Rohoph takes over]]. Elwyen's Dreamstone suggests there may be another, not entirely unrelated reason; she thinks he became self-conscious after she pointed out [[spoiler:the weird sores on his face and bags under his eyes]].

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: There are a total of sixteen playable characters across the three chapters (Chapter 1 has two, Chapter 2 adds three more plus one GuestStarPartyMember, and Chapter 3 drops two of them but adds eight permanent members and two temporary ones), as well as a large cast of villains and supporting characters.

* SerialEscalation: The first chapter had three small dungeons and a couple very short boss fights. The second had several mandatory dungeons, multiple bonus dungeons, and much longer and more difficult bosses. The third was much, ''much'' longer than either of them ''and'' had several sidequests, ItemCrafting, and LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters.

* StandardStatusEffects: Poison, Silence, Sleep, Paralyze (Stun), Berserk, Confuse, and Instant Death are all present in their normal roles. There's also Bleed (basically the more potent poison), two varieties of Blindness (Blind lowers physical attack accuracy, while Numbness disables them altogether), a mix of Charm and Petrification in Zombify (your characters are basically in a Confuse state that cannot wear off without being cured, and causes a Game Over if all characters are zombified), and Curse (disables all spells, but not basic attacks).
* StatusBuff: Naturally. However, some of these are not as common as the Status Effects above. There are the typical Heal, Cure/Clear (one boss even has spells that named this, though they heal instead), Haste, Regen, stat boosters, and damage reducers (Shield, M Shield). Then there are the more unusual status buffs, such as Barkskin (basically a DEF raiser), Aero and Pyro Shell (which are Reflect, but only for one specific element), the Nulls (completely blocks one attack of its element), and Astral Form, which increases and decreases resistances to various elements. With all of the unusual status buffs, only one character has access to them. It should be noted that Berserk counts as a "Status Buff", even though enemies can inflict it themselves.

** Mardek's father was named Enki. Because of Belfan's naming system, Mardek's full name is Mardek Innanu El-[[Literature/TheEpicOfGilgamesh Enkidu]].

* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop: In-universe example: [[spoiler:Rohoph]] tells Mardek that he shouldn't get emotionally attached to people, because they could die at any moment, or use his trust to betray him.

** The World's Saviours play this straight. In their mandatory boss battle, they're extremely hard to beat. Late in the game you can control both Bartholio and Aalia for a while and both have been massively nerfed-- Bartholio is noticeably weaker and Aalia doesn't have her strongest healing and protection spells.

* RequiredPartyMember: Solaar immediately forces ximself into the party when you meet xim. In the second version of this trope, certain party members are required for interaction with some important events, such as requiring Legion for [[spoiler:entering the Lost Monastary]] and Elwyen for recruiting Gloria.

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 eight chapters long, development did not continue past the third chapter, and the series in its original form is officially cancelled, though 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.

* BlackAndGreyMorality: On one side of the series' conflict is the Governance de Magi, leaders of the Annunaki who have been driven mad by the Violet Crystal and will stop at nothing to hunt down a traitor, with world conquest being one of their goals (at least for Moric). On the other side is Rohoph, who was conscious enough to escape the Violet Crystal and plans to destroy it to prevent it from causing any more danger... but he's also willing to kill his former allies for the cause, and it becomes increasingly more blatant that [[spoiler:the Violent Crystal has influenced him enough that he doesn't give a damn about how his actions affect Belfan, Anshar, or Mardek himself so long as he succeeds (with the implication that he's always had this streak)]]. There's also Mardek himself, who strives to be a hero but doesn't have much personal drive and does some questionable things due to the influence of Rohoph.

* BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil: Or rather, between Light and Dark/ the elements in general. This is an overarching theme of Chapter 3, and Clavis[[spoiler:/Qualna]] is a major advocate of it. [[spoiler:Sure is much more reasonable than what [[KnightTemplar Rohoph]] [[GottaKillEmAll is ranting about]] by the end of that chapter.]]

* DirtyBusiness: The entire series is about [[spoiler:Rohoph]] destroying his former friends. Chapter 3 shows that [[spoiler: Moric's death has caused a lot of social unrest on their homeworld due to the Governance de Magi's loss of their zombie army]] and sees [[spoiler: Rohoph blatantly lie to Qualna about letting his soul go free once defeated. Upon complaining about this, Mardek promptly gets cut off from the control of his own body to silence him. It's pretty evident by then that Rohoph wasn't quite as unaffected by the violet crystal as he himself believes. By the end of chapter 3, Rohoph actively sabotages Mardek's friendship with Elwyen to prevent him from growing attached to anybody which could distract him from "their" goal]].
* DwindlingParty: A ''villainous'' version, strangely enough. There are only seven members of the Governance de Magi, and with every death, their homeworld suffers more and more, as does their group. It's explicitly stated that they're all friends (although they don't always agree with each others methods), too, which makes their deaths even harder on the rest of them.

* EasterEgg: [[spoiler:If you cast auralung 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"]]]].

* ElementalRockPaperScissors: Fire consumes Air, Air erodes Earth, Earth absorbs Water, and Water douses Fire. Light banishes Darkness, but at the same time, Darkness consumes and extinguishes Light. Fig and Ether form a similar duality, though purely for game balance as the Spirtual elements are neutral in the lore. There are also "pseudo-elements", namely Physical and Thauma (pure magic), and Divine, with the latter two being very rare.

* GenreSavvy: Rohoph, who advises Mardek not to form emotional attachments to people, because then his enemies can use them against him in a SadisticChoice, or ''they'' could simply [[EtTuBrute betray him themselves. [[spoiler:Granted, this is probably influenced by Rohoph's extreme paranoia caused by his own corruption from the violet crystal.]]

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

** Magmazard, [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} fire-elemental lizards with a flame lit tail].]

** [[Literature/PeterPan Pixie Dust doesn't let you fly]]

** When you first enter the zombie-infested Gonzor, the priest will give you the key into the catacombs under the town. Deugan, in his role as designated [[LampshadeHanging lampshade-hanger]], asks how the zombies got out to terrorize the town [[AlreadyUndoneForYou if the door is still locked]], and is promptly told to shut up. [[spoiler:Halfway through the catacombs, you fight a ''zombie locksmith''.]]

* DiscOneFinalBoss: Moric is fought three-fourths of the way through the chapter and gets killed by the heroes without much trouble. It's only after Mardek retires for the night that Rohoph brings up that [[spoiler:Moric likely transferred himself into a corpse with his Annanuki powers; sure enough, he comes back with a new body and a battleship to set up the final section of the game]].

* 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 Gonzor Sewers/Catacombs; they can be freely explored during Chapter 2, but aren't available in Chapter 3.
* OneWingedAngel: Inverted with [[spoiler:Moric]], who you fight in his Annanuki form first, then later in his second form, [[spoiler:the possessed corpse of Social Fox]].

** The Gem Mine and Gonzor 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.

* BackFromTheDead: [[ExaggeratedTrope For the third time, the Skeletal Dracelon.

* BonusBoss: Lots of them, but three come to mind as endgame ones.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Hooray! Mardek saved his world and became a hero! But, in the process of doing so, he lost his closest friend, his love interest left for vague reasons, the other two allies he may have made ditched him for weak reasons, and he was forced to fight the reanimated corpse of your childhood hero. Ouch.]]

* HopelessBossFight: Not one you face, mind you. Bartholio assumes that your party is one of these to his, thinking that, should you fight again, his World's Saviours will surely win. [[spoiler:And, if you're successful in the hidden arena, you prove him wrong on that as well.]]

** The Gem Mine and Gonzor Sewers/Catacombs are only open in this chapter, so their unique enemies and equips can be lost if not obtained before the ending.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Hooray! You saved your world and became a hero! But, in the process of doing so, you lost your closest friend, your love interest left for vague reasons, the other two allies you may have made ditched you for weak reasons, and you were forced to fight the reanimated corpse of your childhood hero. Ouch.]]

** [[spoiler:The zombie dragon]].
** If you beat the tournament mentioned below, [[spoiler:the Worlds' Saviours make a return, significantly stronger than last time.]]

* BrickJoke: Early on, one of your party members ask Vehrn, headstrong paladin, just how he expects [[CrystalDragonJesus YALORT]] to assist him in battle. She jokingly asks if he expects YALORT to send down [[BoltOfDivineRetribution "green lightning"]]. The paladin is offended, considering the statement blasphemy, and says that he'll simply send him support. [[spoiler:After driving out the zombies from Goznor, the priest rewards you with an amulet that teaches Vehrn the ability to do just that. It's even titled "Green Lightning".]]
** When you first enter the zombie-infested town, the priest will give you the key into the catacombs under the town. Deugan, in his role as designated [[LampshadeHanging lampshade-hanger]], asks how the zombies got out to terrorize the town [[AlreadyUndoneForYou if the door is still locked]], and is promptly told to shut up. [[spoiler:Halfway through the catacombs, you fight a ''zombie locksmith''.]]

%%* FakeUltimateHero: The World's Saviours.
%%* FlunkyBoss: Moric.

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: If you hurry, you can get to the escape pods from Moric's control room in about 2 minutes, leaving 8 to fight the dracelon again, which is plenty. [[spoiler:Duegan still sacrifices himself to distract it, insisting that there isn't time to fight it again.]]

* HopelessBossFight: Not one you face, mind you. Bartholio assumes that your party is one of these to his, thinking that, should you fight again, they will surely win. [[spoiler:And, if you're successful in the hidden arena, you prove him wrong on that, as well.]]

%%* MercyRewarded: Gope.
* OneWingedAngel: Subverted or possibly inverted with [[spoiler:Moric]], who you fight in his giant-monster-type form first, then later in his second form, [[spoiler:the possessed corpse of Social Fox]].
* PermanentlyMissableContent: The Trilobite Key IV, although it's very hard to miss, and if you do, [[VideogameCrueltyPunishment you deserve it]]. Luckily, in Chapter 3, there's an obscure shop in Acropolis that sells all the Trilobite keys if you missed any of them.

* SayMyName: "Moric!" "Rohoph!" "Moric..." "Rohoph..."
* TalkingIsAFreeAction: {{Lampshaded}} by Vehrn when he wonders why when the heroes argue over what to do about a certain monster, it just sits idly waiting for them to finish their conversation.
* TitleDrop: Kinda. Mardek and Deugan try to become this, to replace Social Fox. [[spoiler:Both succeed, especially Deugan, who actually becomes the next Grand Adventurer.]]

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 eight chapters long, development did not continue past the third chapter, and the series in its original form is officially cancelled, though Cornwall plans to release the existing chapters in a compiled form for preservation due to the discontinuation of Flash.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: There are a total of sixteen playable characters across the three chapters (Chapter 1 has two, Chapter 2 adds three more plus one GuestStarPartyMember, and Chapter 3 drops two of them but adds ten permanent members and two temporary ones), as well as a large cast of villains and supporting characters.

* GottaCatchEmAll: ''Deconstructed'', surprisingly. The elemental crystals are not just meaningless {{MacGuffin}}s of vague power like in most [=RPGs=] that use them. The planet is established to be [[GeniusLoci alive]], and the crystals are, in a sense, its organs. They control extremely important parts of life and nature, so if they are tampered with, bad things happen to the planet. "Tampering" includes removing them from their temples, which the party has to do anyway to prevent actually evil people from getting their hands on them.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: There are a total of fourteen playable characters across the three chapters (Chapter 1 has two, Chapter 2 adds three more plus one GuestStarPartyMember, and Chapter 3 drops two of them but adds ten more), as well as a large cast of villains and supporting characters.

* AntiHero: A hilarious example of parody within the game would be [[JerkAss Steele.]] [[spoiler:Until he seemingly dies, that is.]]
* AuthorFilibuster / SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: The WhatMeasureIsAMook discussion is one of these.

* BonusBoss: [[spoiler:The zombie dragon]].

* 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.

* BrickJoke: Early on, one of your party members ask Vehrn, headstrong paladin, just how he expects [[CrystalDragonJesus YALORT]] to assist him in battle. She jokingly asks if he expects YALORT to send down [[BoltOfDivineRetribution "green lightning".]] The paladin is offended, considering the statement blasphemy, and says that he'll simply send him support. [[spoiler:After driving out the zombies from Goznor, the priest rewards you with an amulet that teaches Vehrn the ability to do just that. [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments It's even titled 'Green Lightning'.]] ]]

* {{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?]]]]
* GameplayAndStorySegregation [[spoiler:or possibly StupidSacrifice]]: If you hurry, you can get to the escape pods from Moric's control room in about 2 minutes, leaving 8 to fight the dracelon again, which is plenty. [[spoiler: Duegan still sacrifices himself to distract it, insisting that there isn't time to fight it again.]]

* LoadBearingBoss: [[spoiler:Moric]] Justified in that he didn't technically power or support the battleship, he just commanded it to shut down as he died.

* OneWingedAngel: Subverted or possibly inverted with [[spoiler:Moric]], who you fight in his giant-monster-type form first, then later in his second form, [[spoiler:the possessed corpse of Social Fox.]]

* VideogameCrueltyPunishment: If you don't kill a bandit named Gope at the beginning, he'll later give you the Trilobite Key IV, which is essential for completing a sidequest. But if you killed him, too bad, it's [[PermanentlyMissableContent lost]]... [[SubvertedTrope until Chapter 3]].

* ArtifactOfDoom: That purple plot item you handed to the Yalortian monk in Aeropolis? It quite fits the description of [[spoiler:The Violet Crystal, which kicked off the plot by making Rohoph's companions evil.]] Speaking to Rohoph within the Lost Monastery [[spoiler:confirms that it is exactly that. He recognizes the corrupting energy as being the same as the one that the Violet Crystal gave off.]]

* BackFromTheDead: [[ExaggeratedTrope For The Third Time]]: The Skeletal Dracelon.
* BackgroundMusicOverride: [[spoiler: The Astral Tunnel's theme plays even in battles until you fight Qualna.]]
* 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 so far (including the security demon, which is hard for completely different reasons).
* 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.]]\\\

Downer status further solidified by a lot of things that seem minor in Chapter 3 but will surely come back to bite the good guys in the ass in subsequent 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. Add in the fact that WordOfGod has said that there will be an important event separating chapters 1-4 and 5-8, and [[OhCrap let the dread sink in]]. 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.]]

* BossInMookClothing: Mythril Golems. Made easier if Legion has Spirit Nova. It removes more than half of their HP, and so lowers them to mere DemonicSpider level. Still is guaranteed to KO at least one person, though. Same with Solaar, in a way; one of his skills instantly turns him into a sort of IntangibleMan, immunizing him from all Physical damage, and since the Mythril Golem is, at its base, a SmashMook....
* ChestMonster: Two of which are {{Bonus Boss}}es! This is even lampshaded in the Red Dragon's description:

** 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.

** Averted. People who played Chaper 2 might hope that defeating the Water Guardian would make her part of your party [[spoiler: again]]. Well, they were wrong, because apparently there's some rule that the guardians have to guard the temple once the crystal is gone.

* 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. [[UpToEleven 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.]]
* TheDogWasTheMastermind: Subverted, as [[spoiler:the mastermind ''is'' a major villain, but disguised as a "dog". Remember Clavis, that enigmatic but inconspicuous guy who just seemed to like talking about balance? He's Qualna in disguise]].
** It's even lampshaded so much that you probably go into WrongGenreSavvy and think it's actually not the case.
* DoomyDoomsOfDoom: Mentioned within a novel in Xantusia is one Baron von Doomkill, a 'crystal tyrant' who had, in the past, seized control of an elemental crystal and attempted to conquer the world. [[spoiler:He's one of the four souls summoned into Legion.]]

* DreamLand: You get to travel within one. Unfortunately, it's populated by [[DemonicSpiders Goddamned Pixies and other Ether- and Fig-elemental enemies.]]

* DuelBoss: [[spoiler:Qualna]].

* EvilChancellor: There's one in the [[LizardFolk Lizard Village]] whose actual name is [[LampshadeHanging Blatantly Evil Chancellor.]]
** Sslen'ck has an unfortunate blind spot concerning him. He even [[IdiotHero fails to notice a poisoning attempt]] as he leaves.
** The encyclopedia entry gives him a glowing review, but it was all BlatantLies.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: One shop you will find has a rather powerful weapon available that [[NotQuiteDead only one person]] can use. It's either foreshadowing this character joining you in a future chapter or a RedHerring.
* ForTheEvulz: Bernard makes a zombie which disrupts the play at the end of the story. When people call him out for this, he responds that no one was hurt and he enjoyed doing it.
** He knows that the members Bartholio's party aren't the true heroes of the game. He just follows them around for kicks. Or, in other words, to watch them fail time and time again.

* 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''.[[note]]The other character who can get in, Solaar, [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial absolutely did not already know about the Annunaki's presence]][[/note]]

** Tell me you found out how to do that Trade Quest to get [[spoiler:a BonusBoss and Sslen'ck's best axe]] without a walkthrough. You didn't either, did you? (Well, the [=NPCs=] did tell you about this stuff, but how many of you remembered?)

** The Water Temple, but not because its puzzle is all that difficult (it just requires a lot of walking) -- [[http://www.kongregate.com/games/Pseudolonewolf/mardek-rpg-walkthrough the official guide made by Psuedolonewolf]] is wrong. There are a few steps that he completely left out of the guide.
** The fact that there IS an official guide to begin with shows how much GuideDangIt this game has.
* HiddenInPlainSight: [[spoiler:Qualna. Twice. First was the really obvious king, complete with MindControlEyes. Then there was Clavis. He seems to know as much as Rohoph, yet seems to be a human mage. He can get anywhere he wants to, even the bottom of a lake. Often he seems to be directly in your path. He is Aether, and is against fighting and "removing Keystones" whenever possible. He is a powerful "Equilibriumancer" (Aether magic specialist). And he has the same robes and eye color as Qualna's ... eye-dot-sphere thing. Yet, most people who have not yet completed the game do not realize that he IS Qualna in a human disguise. Neither did Rohoph.]]
* HopelessBossFight: Go ahead. [[SchmuckBait Tell the Warport Security that you're a terrorist.]] [[spoiler:Have fun fighting the nigh-invulnerable Security Demon!]]
** This is actually subverted, as it ''is'' possible to win, surprisingly. (And it's pretty easy, too! No reward except for a Gold Warport Pass though, so it's actually ''not worth it'' to fight it at all.)
*** It's not easy at all if you're not actively trying to defeat him. Accidentally pick a wrong answer and you'll probably RageQuit. And he's actually worth fighting for the massive amount of experience he gives.

* ItemCrafting: Alchemy and smithing are available in certain areas. Presumably, this will return in Chapter 4.

** At one point, a character asks if the rest of the party can hear something. Mardek mentions that, yes, the music changed... Unless you have the sound off, in which case Mardek comments that he can't hear anything because the sound is off.

--> '''Bostolm:''' [=EEEEHeeheeheee=]! I am difficult to WRITE DIALOGUE FOR!!!
* 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 YALORT help you if you used up your last Candiathrope before fighting Animus -- since 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, [[ReviveKillsZombie which will drain its health at record speed]].
* MayDecemberRomance: If Elwyen is seriously right about Gloria and Mereador getting together. Consider that the Meraeador was an adult while Mardek was a kid, and Mardek grew up for a few years in between chapters 1 and 2 when he met Gloria, who was a child then. Sure, Gloria's a shaman, so age means nothing to her, but still...
** Mereador actually comments on this on one of his backstory party talks. Unfortunately, Mardek also says that it's okay for a 10-year-old kid to love an old woman, so...
*** Though Mardek is a bit... Well, [[CloudCuckooLander off when it comes to reality.]]
* MegaManning: How Legion learns new battle skills.

* MoodWhiplash: The final scenes are very serious and border on WhamEpisode. Then, we get to see an ending cutscene with the Governance de Magi, where Gaspar and Melchior manage to make you [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments laugh hysterically]] again.

-->'''Vehrn:''' Let's just wait for a while and they'll sort themselves out. Who's up for a game of Twister!?
-->'''Elwyen:''' Ooh! Me! Me!
-->'''Donovan:''' [[spoiler:My father]] is lying dead on the floor here.
-->'''Vehrn:''' Well I guess he'll have to sit this one out, then.
* MostDefinitelyNotAVillain: The [[spoiler:Qualna-possessed King]] makes several remarks to this effect. [[spoiler:This is actually invoked, however; Qualna purposefully put up a terrible act in a ReversePsychology gambit]].

* NarrativeProfanityFilter: The [[PaperThinDisguise Mysterious]] Man has his copious swearing replaced by [PROFANITY] in the textual equivalent of a SoundEffectBleep. Though, hilariously enough, one bit of dialogue suggests that this may not be the case- he's actually ''saying the word'' "PROFANITY" in the middle of his sentences. (That, or Mardek is [[NoFourthWall reading the dialogue boxes]]. It can be hard to tell with this game.)
* NiceHat: Mardek's helmet, complete with "M!" emblazoned on the front, is almost humorously cheesy. Then you realize, as mentioned above, that [[FridgeBrilliance he uses it to hide]] [[MindControlEyes the glow in his eyes that appears whenever Rohoph takes over.]] Elwyen's Dreamstone suggests there may be another, not entirely unrelated reason. She thinks he became self-conscious after she pointed out [[spoiler:the weird sores on his face and bags under his eyes.]]

** The first one, which makes up the two optional boss battles, involves a [[StarfishAliens starfish alien]] EldritchAbomination that lands on Belfan and starts annihilating [[MeaningfulName (thus its name)]] and begins wiping out the first civilization before humans came to power. In a desperate attempt to save themselves, [[spoiler:they use their magic to seperate its spirit from its body, hoping it would just stop moving or something to that effect; all that did was made the monster even ''more'' destructive and prone to rampaging than before. Not only that, but you find out by reading the encyclopedia by defeating its soul next that had its trapped soul been left alone long enough, it could have eventually formed a new body anyways, repeating the process. Nice job breaking it, guys!]]
** The other example is after defeating the final boss of the chapter [[spoiler:turns out that Qualna was actually the least affected by the Violet Crystal, merely ''acting'' like it affected him like the others in order to not be run off just like Rohoph. Not only is he aware that the Violet Crystal has, slightly, affected him somewhat AND he wants to destroy it just like Rohoph wanted to, helping him no less, but he's aware that the Violet Crystal has greatly affected Rohoph just as much as the other Governance de Magi. While he wanted to help Moric in the last chapter, Rohoph is in his KnightTemplar mode and simply wants to kill off Qualna because he's supposedly evil too. And, even after giving his word that he would let Qualna go to the afterlife afer his death, Rohoph ''still'' seals his soul in a crystal. You find out from the dreamstone he drops that he was genuine in his desire to help Rohoph and destroy the Violet Crystal, which means Rohoph just sealed a harmless, innocent person and the only member of his race that wanted to ''help'' him. Nice job sealing him, {{Jerkass}}.]]

** This is amazingly ''subverted'' with [[spoiler:Deugan]], who [[spoiler:decides not to return to the group for various reasons shown throughout his dreamstones. In his final one, he says that [[ThatManIsDead he is dead, but is reborn anew]]...as "Lone Wolf", the next Grand Adventurer.]] Which, seeing how he all but abandons [[spoiler:Emela]], makes him sort of a {{Jerkass}}. And it's parodied as well: after the boss fight against Sslen'ck, speaking to his fallen lizard guards reveals that they're still [[NonLethalKO very much alive]] and somewhat irked to left lying there.

-->''As my most trusted advisssor, Blatantly Evil Chancellor, I leave the care of our village in your capable handsss.''

* OverlyLongGag: The Warport security. [[LampShading Even the employees refer to it as such.]]
* PaperThinDisguise: The water temple guardian, whose identity should be obvious to anyone who played the last game, wears only a see-through veil to cover her face. [[IdiotHero Mardek doesn't recognize her.]]
** Also, the Mysterious Man [[spoiler:AKA Steele.]] Mardek comments that he never knew anyone with an eyepatch, despite his facial features and personality completely giving his identity away. Heck, if you have Donovan in your party, he'll ask "why did he have to come back?"
** Oddly enough, we see its inverse at the end of the game. When Lone Wolf starts talking with Mardek, Mardek appears to recognize who he actually is despite the fact that he's much more disguised than the other two.
*** Presumably, the fact that [[spoiler:they grew up together would make it easier for Mardek to see through Deugan's new identity.]]
* PercentDamageAttack: 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.

** [[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 it's opponents to take Aether damage equal to 50%, 90%, and [[OneHitKill 120%]] of their max health respectively.]]

** [[spoiler:As it turns out, Zach, pre-mercenary career, was once one of these. Actually, they were Mardek's exact words. Capitalised and everything.]]
* QuoteMine: Elwyen is happy when she can quote Mardek telling her she's hot. Note that Mardek was telling her this [[ConvectionSchmonvection in a]] [[LavaAddsAwesome volcano]].

** The World's Saviours play this straight. They're ThatOneBoss in the game and are extremely hard to beat. Late in the game you can control both Bartholio and Aalia for a while and both have been massively nerfed - Bartholio is noticeably weaker and Aalia doesn't have her strongest healing and protection spells.

* RequiredPartyMember: Solaar immediately forces ximself unto the party when you meet xim. In the second version of this trope, certain party members are required for interaction with some important events, such as requiring Legion for [[spoiler:entering the Lost Monastary]] and Elwyen for recruiting Gloria.

* SecretTestOfCharacter: [[spoiler:Qualna, via the King attempts to do this to Mardek & Co. by obtaining the Elemental Crystals. Despite how poorly he portrays the King and that his disguise, Clavis explains about the balance of the world and lectures them when they obtain the Water Crystal, it fails.]]

* SoLastSeason: An NPC in Aeropolis says ''this phrase exactly'' in response to an amateur necromancer who's trying to raise an undead army.
* StealthPun: There's a famous playwright known as "Wobble-Scimitaire". Hm...[[Creator/WilliamShakespeare sound familiar]]?
* StepfordSmiler: Most of the workers in the Warport. Considering they're demons, though, this is not really surprising.

** While the consequences haven't occurred yet, it nonetheless seems ''extremely'' likely that giving an extremely powerful crystal (which drove a monastery insane, and is specifically noted to seem disconcertingly similar to the Violet Crystal that kicked off the plot) to the Dark-aligned High Priest of YALORT will have negative consequences. Vehrn's take on it?
--> "Then we'll see that I was right and nothing bad will happen."
** In chapter 3 your gang collects some of the elemental crystals and Gloria comments how removing them from the temples will have a disastrous effects on the planet. Cue everyone talking about how they'll be careful and return it right away...
* TheSacredDarkness: Played with. As noted above, DarkIsEvil most of the time, but it's still ''necessary.''
* ThirdPersonPerson: Saul takes this [[PurpleProse further]] [[SmallNameBigEgo than]] [[LargeHam most.]]
--> '''Saul:''' That would be I, answered Saul affirmatively. What of this?, he went on further to ask, the ivory protuberances of his gaunt visage lit eerily by the dim torchlight; the furry dark caterpillars of his brow dancing in antipode to suggest particular suspicion; wanting for an answer that does not test his patience and his undead...

* ViolationOfCommonSense: Fighting the Annihilator, an alien monstrosity that wiped out an ''entire civilization'', in single combat. [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu You can win]].

* WhatYouAreInTheDark: Subverted with [[spoiler:Rohoph]], who reveals himself to be a KnightTemplar JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope.
* WifeHusbandry: InvertedTrope. Elwyen tries to do this with Mardek.
* AWizardDidIt: Referred to [[LampshadeHanging by name]] in the in-game encyclopedia entry as the explanation for how the sand behaves in the Sandflow Caves.
** Gloria says the same thing if you talk to her when inside the Tainted Grotto.
** [[spoiler:Deena, one of the souls within Legion, used to be married to the wizard responsible. She refers to him as The Wizard Who Did It, capitalized just like that, if you speak to Legion while inside the Grotto.]]

* ActionCommands: Prior to the release of Chapter 3 and it's updates, 3 different keys could be pressed in battle to activate up to 3 seperate additional effects to an action, but only one effect could be applied per action. Currently, a single key is pressed to activate as many additional effects as equipable at the same time - leading to an unfortunate bug of being able to inflict negative status effects on allies with healing spells when you're only trying to increase its potency.
* AffectionateParody: Of {{Eastern RPG}}s.

* AllThereInTheManual: Taken UpToEleven with the in-game Encyclopaedia, which is extremely large and contains extensive information on pretty much every NPC of importance that you meet, as well as tons of other backstory information, such as the seven elemental crystals. You have to actually find the person/hear about the item in order for the full article to be added to the Encyclopaedia, though.
** Lots of background information that is not automatically written into the in-game Encyclopaedia can be found in bookcases in-game (Which obviously includes the libraries), and on Pseudolonewolf's [[http://www.fighunter.com/ website]].

** [[spoiler:The fate of the Governance de Magi. Due to the way Rohoph's sealing spell works, they don't get to go on to the afterlife, oh no. Their souls get turned into pretty jewelry that sits in Mardek's HyperspaceArsenal for all eternity. Kind of makes you [[CryForTheDevil feel sorry for them]].]]
** In Chapter 3, one of the items required to recruit [[spoiler:Legion]] is a Wretched Soul, which you can get by [[spoiler:freeing an evil spellcaster from a Soul Cage that the Old Hermit had trapped him in. The Old Hermit, formerly the Shaman of the volcano, had actually gone mad with guilt over trapping the evil spellcaster in this state.]]

* AntiVillain: Most of the chapter 3 is [[spoiler:Qualna giving Rohoph an extended lecture that balance is important, and in the end reveals that he doesn't want to kill Rohoph, and instead wants to bring him back to the Governance de Magi so that everything can return to normal. The only overtly evil thing he does is forcing you to kill King Gonoroth. Really, compared to Moric, Qualna's downright nice.]]
** [[spoiler:Gonoroth's death wasn't even part of his plan. He was hoping Rohoph would get the message before it came to a fight, but that turned out not to be the case.]]
** [[spoiler: Made even worse by the fact that his Dreamstone reveals that his true goal was to bring Rohoph back so they might destroy the Violet Crystal together. The reason he couldn't tell him outright was because the rest of the Governance was monitoring him. Had Rohoph tried harder to understand his subtle hints, things might have gone differently, but [[ObliviouslyEvil then]] [[KnightTemplar again]]...]]

* ArbitraryGunPower: Muriance's gun.
* ArbitraryHeadcountLimit / LazyBackup: Only up to three of Mardek's allies can participate in any given battle.
* ArmorPiercingAttack: Ripping Slash.
* ArtifactOfDoom: The Violet Crystal. A variation is that it starts out in the villains' possession, meaning that they [[OhCrap begin the story with heightened power]].
** Possibly the dark crystal too, although that one just contains power and doesn't try to corrupt/kill the holder. Not directly.

* AuthorAvatar: Both Deugan and Emela, to a certain extent. Pseudolonewolf says that they're based off of his personality, but he made sure to give them unique personality traits to avoid making them blatant self-inserts.

* BattleCouple: Donovan and Sharla.
* BattleThemeMusic: Lots.
* 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.
* BossRemix: Too many to list.

* CantDropTheHero: In the first two chapters, Mardek, Deugan, and Emela can't be dropped. In the third chapter, Mardek can't be dropped; this is less of a problem than it could be because Mardek is a support hero and would get less exp than other characters if the same party was used throughout the game.
** Starts becoming a problem in Chapter 3 however; it's very possible to have Mardek at lv40 (Higher level than several bosses!) and the rest of your allies at around level 25 by the end of the game if you frequently switch them to divide exp between them. Cue the [[SelfImposedChallenge solo Bonus Boss fights]].
*** Actually, some of the easiest strategies against the first half of the super-bonus boss in chapter 3 is soloing him with Mardek and a few special items. You can still manage to revive everyone at the end, and even let someone else make the killing blow for massive amounts of exp more than the shared kill-XP.
* CapitalLettersAreMagic
* CharacterTitle
* ChekhovsGag: In the second chapter, you can read a book[[strike:case]] in Gloria's house mentioning Sirens (and how hot they are, with Emela and [[AllMenArePerverts Mardek's]] reactions.) In the third game, [[spoiler: you can recruit Elwyen, whose character class is Siren, and who constantly tries to hit on Mardek with her charms]].
* ClingyJealousGirl: Elwyen.
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: The elemental crystals, the Governance de Magi, and many of the monsters.

* CrossOver: In Chapter 3, the author crosses over several of the elements from his [[DevelopmentHell canceled project]], Deliverance. Makes sense when you realize that most, if not all, of Pseudolonewolf's older games happen in a shared universe. So we might just be able to meet [[LizardFolk Arkus]] [[SpacePirate Zei]] one day.

* DarkIsEvil: Played straight. Darkness is the elemental epitome of evil. But...
* DarkIsNotEvil: The game states that darkness is the element associated most with progress and drive. A book in Goznor even mentions that dark-elemental heroes have existed in the past.
** Bernard fits this. He's not evil, and is part of a group that competes with your own to save the world. Although he actually admits he's only joined them because it amuses him.
** Furthermore, that same book sites an example in a renowned hero named [[LukeNounverber Bernard Stormkiller]] who is heavily implied to be the same Bernard that hangs out with the [[FakeUltimateHero World's Saviors]].
* DeathIsCheap: Happens in both gameplay and story. In battle, phoenix downs revive fallen characters. In the story, [[spoiler:two mysterious characters appear at the front and back of Chapter 3. The first is dark-elemental and uses martial arts. The other is apparently a knock-off of Social Fox who wields a greatblade. If you played chapter 2, it's kind of obvious. See also NotQuiteDead.]]

* DirtyBusiness: The entire series is about [[spoiler:Rohoph]] destroying his former friends. Chapter 3 shows that [[spoiler: Moric's death has caused a lot of social unrest on their homeworld due to the Governance de Magi's loss of their zombie army]] and sees [[spoiler: Rohoph blatantly lie to Qualna about letting his soul go free once defeated. Upon complaining about this, Mardek promptly gets cut off from the control of his own body to silence him. It's pretty evident by then that Rohoph wasn't quite as unaffected by the violet crystal as he himself believes]].
** [[spoiler:By the end of chapter 3, Rohoph actively sabotages Mardek's friendship with Elwyen to prevent him from growing attached to anybody which could distract him from "their" goal]].

* EasterEgg: [[spoiler:If you cast auralung 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"]]]].

* ElementalRockPaperScissors: Fire consumes Air, Air erodes Earth, Earth absorbs Water, and Water douses Fire. Light banishes Darkness, but at the same time, Darkness consumes and extinguishes Light. (Fig and Ether form a similar duality, though why souls are weak to PsychicPowers and figments of imagination are weak to SoulPower is not explained)
** [[GameplayAndStorySegregation They aren't. The Spiritual elements are given strengths and weaknesses purely for game balance reasons, and are neutral in-story.]]
** There are also "pseudo-elements", namely physical and thauma (pure magic), and divine. The latter 2 are extremely rare though.

** 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. It sprouted fan speculations about the character returning in a future installment.

* EverythingTryingToKillYou: Said almost word-for-word in one of the encyclopedia entries.

* FiveManBand: The Governance de Magi.
** BigBad: Anu
** TheDragon: Balthazar
** TheEvilGenius: Moric
** TheBrute: Gaspar
** TheDarkChick: Melchior/Qualna
*** TheChick: Rohoph before the [=GdM=] was corrupted.

* {{Foil}}: Introverted, serious, and analytical Rohoph to extroverted, silly, and dim-witted Mardek. Deugan could also be considered a foil to Mardek.
** Also, the mad, sociopathic Saul to the good-natured, pacifistic Meraeador.
* GeniusLoci: The planet is established to be alive, just not in the same way as us. The shamans can commune with it, however.
* GenreSavvy: Rohoph, who advises Mardek not to form emotional attachments to people, because then his enemies can use them against him in a SadisticChoice, or ''they'' could simply [[EtTuBrute betray him themselves]]. [[spoiler:Granted, this is probably influenced by Rohoph's extreme paranoia caused by his own corruption from the violet crystal.]]

* GottaCatchEmAll: ''Deconstructed'', surprisingly. The elemental crystals are not just meaningless {{MacGuffin}}s of vague power like in most [=RPGs=] that use them. The planet is established to be [[GeniusLoci alive]], and the crystals are, in a sense, its organs. They control extremely important parts of life and nature, so if they are tampered with, bad things happen to the planet. "Tampering" includes removing them from their temples.
** [[spoiler: Which you gotta do anyway to prevent actually evil people from getting their hands on them]].
*** [[spoiler: Or so we're told...]]
* GottaKillThemAll: The Governance de Magi. Also deconstructed; see DwindlingParty, above.

** In the beginning of Chapter 3, Mardek even lists this as [[spoiler:one of the things he'll miss about Deugan.]]

* HumanoidAliens: Both averted and played straight. Some of the species described in the encyclopedia are [[StarfishAliens truly bizarre]]. The ones we've seen so far are all humanoids, however.
* 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.]]

* InformedEquipment: Averted with weapons, played straight with everything else. This issue has sparked a surprising amount of criticism from some of the fans, despite the developer repeatedly stating that it's a stylistic choice and he won't change it.

* 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]]?

* LightIsNotGood: [[spoiler:[[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope Rohoph.]]]]

* LizardFolk:
** A whole tribe of 'em.
** A whole race of 'em. Living on other planets.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Only in MARDEK 3. WordOfGod states it was hell to write the side dialogue for all of them and less are coming in the next parts.
* MacGuffinGuardian: MARDEK 3 has these in each of the elemental temples you visit. Fire had a wise, flaming dragonlike guardian named Girru who tests you by combat and finds you worthy, Water had a giant lobster-seahorse thing with a human rider, and Earth had the Rock Mole. Darkness was guarded by a wolflike alien mage called Solaar, but xe had already been taken out by a villain when you get there and in fact joins your party in hopes of catching the thief.

* MadScientist: Mereador is pretty close to this at times.
** In fact, he pretty much goes mad with ideas for inventions if you speak to him within the volcano.
** It turns out that this is what the Goznor villagers ''actually'' saw him as, which is what got him shunned.

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

* MineralMacguffin: Deconstructed with the elemental crystals; see GottaCatchEmAll, above.
* MonsterCompendium: The included Bestiary in the [[AllThereInTheManual Encyclopedia]] section.
* MoodMotif: [[http://www.fighunter.com/?page=music2&m=230 Sorrow,]] which plays [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin during sad scenes in the game]], and [[http://www.fighunter.com/?page=music2&m=53 Memory,]] which plays during the {{Time Skip}}s at the beginning of chapters.

* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: There are knights, lizard people, mad scientists, zombies, aliens, robots, dragons, dragon-zombies, alien dragons, zombie-alien-dragon-robots [[OverlyLongGag re-reanimated zombie-alien-dragon-robots who are barely anything more than bone]]... The list goes on and on. Sadly, ninjas and pirates have yet to be introduced, though there are bandits, and Mardek's father is said to wield a katana...
* NoEndorHolocaust: Parodied. The zombie attack on Goznor and Canonia in Ch. 2 din't have any casualty or any property damage. One NPC in Canonia in Ch. 3 explain that after [[BigBad Moric's]] battleship fall to the Lake Qur, the zombie just ''shuffle off return to their grave'' and life just returns to normal in few days.
* 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 have been revealed thus far, 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.

* 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."
* OnlySaneMan: Rohoph [[spoiler:and, according to Qualna, ALL members of the Governance de Magi,]] thinks of himself as this compared to the rest of the Governance de Magi. [[spoiler:Subverted in that, in fact, Rohoph is just as insane in his own way as the rest of the [=GdM=]. Played straight with Qualna, thus far.]]

* QuirkyMinibossSquad: The World's Saviours. Actually more of a GoldfishPoopGang. Or not, since many players have problems with them. They're particularly troublesome after defeating the fire guardian. Most people wouldn't expect another boss fight, so are still low on hp/mp, and still fully equipped to deal specifically with a fire element boss. They bring quite the pain if you don't immediately heal up and change your skill set-up.

** OrganDrops: As of the Chapter 3 update, almost every enemy will drop a vendor trash/item crafting item. Most if not all of these seem to be harvested from the enemy (Fish scales, Goblin earwax, Zombie hand, etc.)
* 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.
** Known to have been nerfed since the Chapter 3 update; previously, 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 meagre damage.
* ScienceFantasy: Okay, so it's got knights, dragons, magic, elemental crystals...''spaceships, aliens, and other planets''.

* ShoutOut: There's a weapon that has a chance of being [[RandomlyDrops randomly dropped]] by a boss. It's called the "[[Franchise/KingdomHearts Keyblade]]". It's a key. Originally wielded by a zombie locksmith.

** Also the [[Franchise/FinalFantasy Phoenix Down]] item.
** [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI Zach, who NPCs will tell you would slit various peoples' throats for various sums of money.]]
*** Including, but not limited to, his mother's and his own.
** [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX 'I want to be a warport when I grow up!']]
** Mardek's father was named Enki. Because of Belfan's naming system, Mardek's full name is Mardek Innanu El-[[Literature/TheEpicOfGilgamesh Enkidu]]

** When [[spoiler:King Gonoroth gets possessed by Qualna in chapter 3]], a random NPC comments how he hopes it's not [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV the Archfiend Cagnazzo.]]

** Don't forget [[Franchise/FinalFantasy Smalls and Chunk]], the two guards that pick you up from the Air Temple.
** Magmazard, [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} fire-elemental lizards with a flame lit tail.]]

** One of the souls inhabiting Legion is clinically depressed. Everyone in his town [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep called him Miserable Ol' Martin]], which further depressed him, as his name was actually Eric. Hm. A depressed, whiny RobotBuddy... [[Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy Where have we seen this before?]]
** Muriance, a thief (well, bandit, actually), claims to be a [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI 'Treasure Hunter']] when you meet up with him in chapter 3.

---> "I bet it's worse than ever, since it's surely descended into a [[StarWars hive of miserable scum and villainy]], where nothing works right and the evil people rule and all that. It makes me depressed just thinking about it."

** If you're playing on Kongregate.com, two of the achievements are [[Film/TheWizardofOz Off to see the Lizard]] and [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII One-Kinged Angel]].

* StealthPun: Melchior, the air-elemental Governance de Magi member, is sort of, well, [[CloudCuckooLander an airhead.]]
* SongsInTheKeyOfPanic: [[http://www.fighunter.com/?page=music2&m=66 "Flee!"]], which plays during {{Timed Mission}}s.

* StrengthEqualsWorthiness
* StandardStatusEffects: It's a Final Fantasy parody, of course it's going to have these. Poison, Silence, Sleep, Paralyze (Stun), Berserk, Confuse, and Instant Death are all present in their normal roles. There's also Bleed (basically the more potent poison), two varieties of Blindness (Blind lowers physical attack accuracy, while Numbness disables them altogether), a mix of Charm and Petrification in Zombify (your characters are basically in a Confuse state that cannot wear off without being cured, and causes a Game Over if all characters are zombified), and Curse (disables all spells, but not basic attacks).
* StatusBuff: Naturally. However, some of these are not as common as the Status Effects above. There are the typical Heal, Cure/Clear (one boss even has spells that named this, though they heal instead), Haste, Regen, stat boosters, and damage reducers (Shield, M Shield). Then there are the more unusual status buffs, such as Barkskin (basically a DEF raiser), Aero and Pyro Shell (which are Reflect, but only for one specific element), the Nulls (completely blocks one attack of its element), and Astral Form, which increases and decreases resistances to various elements. With all of the unusual status buffs, only one character has access to them. It should be noted that Berserk counts as a "Status Buff", even though [[ThatOneAttack enemies can inflict it themselves]].

* 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 in-battle description.

* ThemeNaming: Three members of the Governance de Magi are named Melchior, Gaspar, and Balthazar, after the [[WordOfDante (legendary, non-Biblical)]] [[Literature/TheBible names of the three magi that gave gifts to the Baby Jesus in the Bible]]. The apparent leader is also named Anu, the Mesopotamian god of the sky.
** It's also possible that these characters may be a ShoutOut to VideoGame/ChronoTrigger.
* TimeSkip: Between every chapter thus far.

** He's more like the [[JerkAss Token Jerk Ass Teammate]].
* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler:[[OhCrap Rohoph was]]]] not immune to [[spoiler:[[OhCrap the Violet Crystal's effects.]]]]

* UnusableEnemyEquipment: Rather JustForFun/{{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, however, as a lot of the enemy equipment is actual equipment that you can buy or find in treasure chests.
* VisualInitiativeQueue: One of the features added by the reboot as a bar just below the enemy status bar that shows who will move next for the next several turns.

* WhiteAndGreyMorality: A surprisingly [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism cynical]] version; though the main characters are unambiguously good, the fact that the villains are of gray morality is stressed many times, and emphasizes the fact that fighting the villains is not necessarily a good thing.
** Slides toward GreyAndGrayMorality in Chapter 3, as [[spoiler:Rohoph's KnightTemplar tendencies start to become more pronounced. By the end of the chapter, he's JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope so much.]] Additionally, the story dwells a good bit on the fact that even actions taken fighting an indisputably evil villain (namely, [[spoiler:Steele]]) can have wider negative repercussions.

** It's hinted that Mardek and his friends are Wrong Genre Savvy as many of their actions are making things worse.
* VoiceOfTheLegion: Annunaki, Aruan, and Crystal Guardian chat is written in a different font from the normal one, with Annunaki and Guardian chat written in the same color as their element, and Aruan chat (or Solaar's, anyhow) [[FridgeBrilliance with a second, lighter copy of the original behind the original, to mimic the echoing voice stated in Solaar's Encyclopaedia entry.]] [[spoiler:The spirit of the Annihilator has its own font as well, just to emphasize how powerful it is.]]

** Solaar is somewhere between this and StrangeSyntaxSpeaker. This is lampshaded if you talk to him/her in Goznor.

--->'''Solaar''': [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments Even I don't know what I meaned by that one]].

Since its cancellation, two {{Continuity Reboot}}s by have been started by Cornwall, which aim to adapt the characters and plotline into a new world with more depth. The first is ''VideoGame/TamingDreams'', an EpisodicGame released in 2015 that was discontinued early on. The second is ''Divine Dreams'', a 3D re-imagining that is in development as of 2020.

The [[http://www.fighunter.com/?page=games MARDEK]] series is a series of online Flash {{RPG}}s designed and created by Pseudolonewolf of Website/FigHunter [[http://www.fighunter.com/ 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.

The game is planned to be eight chapters long, although Pseudolonewolf has stated that he might reduce the amount of chapters to 5 or 6. The third chapter was released in the summer of 2010, along with some graphical and gameplay updates to the first two chapters. Savegames from earlier chapters can be imported into the following chapter.

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]]. After years in DevelopmentHell, Pseudolonewolf decided on a major ContinuityReboot called VideoGame/TamingDreams, a trailer of which can be seen [[http://www.alorafane.com/blog/132 here]].

** If, as implied by one bit of dialogue, the Mysterious Man is actually ''saying'' "[PROFANITY]ing", not actually swearing, it's either a ShoutOut to Literature/{{Discworld}}'s [[Discworld/TheTruth Mr. Tulip]] or a case of great minds thinking alike.

* WhiteAndGrayMorality: A surprisingly [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism cynical]] version; though the main characters are unambiguously good, the fact that the villains are of gray morality is stressed many times, and emphasizes the fact that fighting the villains is not necessarily a good thing.

** The guardians of the Water, Earth, and Fire temples each have a spell called Inversion: Water, Earth, and Fire, respectively. It causes the target to take percent max health damage based on their resistance to the named element (EX: The Water Guardian using Inversion: Water on someone with 80% water resistance will cause them to take 80% of their max health as damage).

* GameplayAndStorySegregation [[spoiler:or possibly StupidSacrifice]]: If you hurry, you can get to the escape pods from Moric's control room in about 2 minutes, leaving 8 to fight the dracelon again, which is plenty. [[spoiler: Duegan still sacrifices himeself to distract it, insisting that there isn't time to fight it again.]]

* ShoutOut: There's a weapon that has a chance of being [[RandomlyDrops randomly dropped]] by a boss. It's called the "[[Franchise/KingdomHearts Keyblade]]". [[CaptainObvious It's a key.]] Originally wielded by a zombie locksmith.

* HealthMeter: Enemies have lifebars which can be clicked on to see enemy stats.

* FiveBadBand: The Governance de Magi.

* BrickJoke: Early on, one of your party members ask Vehrn, headstrong paladin, just how he expects [[CrystalDragonJesus YALORT]] to assist him in battle. She jokingly asks if he expects YALORT to send down [[BoltOfDivineRetribution "green lightning".]] The paladin is offended, considering the statement blasphemy, and says that he'll simply send him support. [[spoiler:After driving out the zombies from Goznor, the priest rewards you with an amulet that teaches Vehrn the ability to do just that. [[CrowningMomentOfFunny It's even titled 'Green Lightning'.]] ]]

* MoodWhiplash: The final scenes are very serious and border on WhamEpisode. Then, we get to see an ending cutscene with the Governance de Magi, where Gaspar and Melchior manage to make you [[CrowningMomentOfFunny laugh hysterically]] again.