History VideoGame / Monark

* EarnYourHappyEnding: And ''holy shit'' do you have to work for it. [[spoiler:The entire second act of the game involves the Vice-President dying in each of the TSC members' routes, and in two of them, almost the entire student body and faculty are killed in the wake of Sora's rampage. It's only thanks to Kakeru rewinding time after each route that the Vice-President can cultivate his Animakinesis and restoring everyone's memories of their respective routes that the TSC is reformed and search for a way for the Vice-President to continue existing without Yoru.]]
* ElaborateUniversityHigh: Shin Mikado is a ''very'' rich, prestigious academic institution, with no less than 3 multi-floor buildings for the 3 years of Japanese high school, a massive club building and sports facilities for extra-curricular activities, a library with the largest collection of books in the country, a massive memorial garden with a now-defunct dormitory that used to be used for students outside of the city, and middle school facilities, though the last one is never explored in the game. Documents about the academy says that the school relies on generous support and donations from its alumni, among which are countless powerful businessmen and politicians.
* ElevatorSchool: Shin Mikado takes both middle school and high school students, though high school is the main focus.
* EveryoneIsASuper: Downplayed. [[spoiler:According to Sora, everyone in Shin Mikado possesses a powerful Ego and therefore has the potential of making a pact with a Monark. This is also why the Jingu family is in charge of the academy, so they can eliminate anyone who does make a pact.]] It's also noted by Cromwell that most adolescents and youths have strong Egos, meaning seven times out of ten, a teen will become a Pactbearer. Sure enough, with the exception of [[spoiler:Kakeru]] and Hayate, every other Pactbearer in the academy is a teenager.

* BittersweetEnding: Nozomi and Shinya's Act 3 routes end this way. [[spoiler:Shinya and Nozomi's routes end with most of the students making it out alive and no worse for wear, but Shinya and Nozomi are left traumatized by the Vice-President's death. It's worse for Shinya since his Act 3 route starts with Yoru killing Sora and Yugo, leaving him an orphan.]]

* DownerEnding: The [[spoiler:TSC Pactbearer]] routes do not end happily. [[spoiler:While Sora is defeated, her breakdown causes her to either absorb or kill the students in Shin Mikado, leaving hardly ''anyone'' left in her wake. Kokoro's Act 3 is easily the most gut-wrenching, the Vice-President ends up TakingTheBullet for her after they've defeated Sora, and he disappears before Kokoro can finish giving him an AnguishedDeclarationOfLove. Worse still, [[KarmaHoudini Yoru]] is still out there and is free to do what she wishes now that the Barrier is gone.]]

* InterfaceScrew: When you accumulate Madness, your UI will start to glitch out.

* TimeyWimeyBall: [[spoiler:Shin Mikado turns out to be in a repeating time loop, starting just after the barrier went up and usually ending once the Pactbearers have either destroyed themselves or wreaked too much havoc, thanks to the Pactbearer of Greed and their TimeMaster powers. Yoru alludes to them having been repeating these same few days for a ''long'' series of loops. The Vice-President can take advantage of this, by repeating the events of Act 1's Intermission to try and find a way to get out of Shin Mikado, hopefully with no one getting hurt. Unintentionally, it also reverses much of the chaos and murder of the first four Pactbearers did and leaves them and their victims in much better states.]]

* WhamEpisode: "Recurring Twilight" i.e. the Pactbearer of Greed arc, and following it, the Intermission leading up to Act 2. [[spoiler:Not only is Kakeru, the school doctor, revealed to be a Pactbearer himself, but he reveals the existence of a ninth Pactbearer; Sora Jingu, whose Essokinesis is keeping the Barrier up. The Intermission ramps it up further with the TSC being formally disbanded by Sora, the members going their separate ways, and Chiyo dying after being dragged into the Otherworld as a result of the intensified distortions in the academy.]]

** Kokoro is off-handedly mentioned to be [[spoiler:no longer a problem]] during Act 2: Flagbearer of Faith. [[spoiler:You learn in other routes that Sora convinced her to seal herself off in the Otherworld, thus removing her influence and Mist from the academy at the cost of forever being isolated.]]
** In Shinya and Ryotaro's routes, Nozomi is never mentioned and is implied to have sequestered herself inside the Student Council room, no doubt because of her feelings of worthlessness and [[spoiler:the WhamEpisode that was the Pactbearer of Greed arc and Chiyo's death in Intermission: Dusk]].

** For those who might find it incredibly tedious to replay the game after getting one of the endings, there's some good news for you. Once you've beaten one of the story routes, you can go straight back to the Intermission of Act 1, where you can go straight into Act 2 with another character. [[spoiler:This will also prevent you from being locked out of getting the True Ending.]]

** After Chapter 1's Intermission, you need to [[spoiler:convince one of the four former members of the TSC to ally with you.]] You have to speak to them and choosing a wrong answer that disappoints or angers them will reset the dialog. However, the game puts check marks on what options ''have'' worked in the past and there's only a 50-50 chance you'll get it wrong, just blindly picking.

* ArcWords: "Irrationality" is mentioned numerous times within the game, often used to describe the world by the Pactbearers to justify their actions.
* BittersweetEnding:
** [[spoiler:Nozomi's]] Ending leans more towards bitter than sweet. [[spoiler:Yoru's Ideals are destroyed, the Mist is dispelled, and the Barrier goes down, allowing the students to finally leave the academy. However, the Vice-President also disappears because he's a creation of Yoru and therefore cannot exist without her. Yoru twists the knife further when she explains that, even if he ''could'' survive without her, Sora would just lock him up in the Otherworld--a fact he kept hidden from Nozomi. In short, everyone ''but'' Nozomi gets a happy ending because she just lost yet another friend.]]
** [[spoiler:Shinya's]] Ending is also more depressing than it is relieving. [[spoiler:Sora and Yugo are dead. Shinya and the Vice-President have managed to avenge their dead family by killing Yoru, who slaughtered the Jingus and was the one who had tortured and killed Chiyo during the Act 1 Intermission. However, the Vice-President suffers CessationOfExistence as Yoru's life was the only thing keeping him in the world. In the face of being unable to protect a single person he cared about and who loved him back, Shinya breaks down in tears and grief, all the confidence and self-love he'd been learning from the Jingus and the Vice-President all being for nothing as he backslides into the self-loathing and self-blame from his time with his abusive birth parents. The academy is saved, but Shinya is back to being an orphan and by the empty gates, is implied to have stayed in the Otherworld with no other place to go, and an unshakeable belief that there's nothing worth loving about him.]]

* BrainwashedAndCrazy: As a result of Kurama's [[spoiler:Authority, he has brainwashed the students into becoming a happy, mindless cult praising him, his guidance, and removing their pesky "free will".]] He tries to pull this on [[spoiler:the Vice-President]] but thankfully, fails.

* DevelopersForesight: Since Act 1's Pactbearers can be tackled in any order, the difficulty will scale in accordance to whatever order you face them. The first Pactbearer you fight after Kurama will be the weakest while the last one you need to deal with will be significantly higher than if you went after them first.
* DownerEnding:
** [[spoiler:Kokoro's]] Ending is one big YankTheDogsChain. [[spoiler:Tristia is defeated, but her attempt to kill Kokoro has the Vice-President TakingTheBullet and dies, leaving Kokoro heartbroken while giving him an unfinished AnguishedDeclarationOfLove. Worse still, Tristia absorbed almost everyone in Shin Mikado, including her own Pactbearer and adopted son, leaving few survivors. The ending cutscene implies Kokoro remains in the Otherworld out of grief.]]
** [[spoiler:Ryotaro's]] Ending is similarly depressing. [[spoiler:Yoru is dead before she can wreak havoc in the world, at the cost of killing Yugo before she goes. Driven insane by grief, Sora kills 104 people out of a desire to destroy anyone who ''can'' become a Pactbearer, leaving only the shocked and horrified survivors. Ryotaro and the Vice-President chase her down and kill Sora, destroying the barrier... and the Vice-President along with her, as her existence was sustaining his. Ryotaro swears he'll find a way to end the distortions and avenge Chiyo, but after the Vice-President suffers from CessationOfExistence, Ryotaro can only helplessly scream in grief and face the fact that despite having achieved and stolen all this power, he still isn't strong enough to protect the ones he cares about and watches as all he loves and holds dear is stolen from him yet again.]]

* EarnYourHappyEnding: Disappointed by the character-specific endings, [[spoiler:like Kokoro's or Ryotaro's {{Downer Ending}}s]]? Want everyone to [[spoiler:get out of Shin Mikado without compromising their ideals or having to fight each other]]? [[spoiler:Want to revive Dr. Kakeru or the real Sora, so one more person walks out of Shin Mikado happy? Be prepared to go through a gauntlet of max level refights of the old bosses and the TrueFinalBoss, an achievement that will take both hours of grinding and knowledge of how to use every single tool in the game's arsenal. And that's IF [[GuideDangIt you know how to get the phone numbers to challenge said bosses]].]]

* EveryoneIsASuper: Downplayed. [[spoiler:According to Sora, everyone in Shin Mikado possesses a powerful Ego and therefore has the potential of making a pact with a Monark. This is also why the Jingu family is in charge of the academy, so they can eliminate anyone who does make a pact.]] It's also noted by Cromwell that mostly adolescents and youths have strong Egos, meaning seven times out of ten, a teen will become a Pactbearer. Sure enough, with the exception of [[spoiler:Kakeru]] and Hayate, every other Pactbearer in the academy is a teenager.

** Clearing the BrutalBonusLevel during the '''Addendum''' chapter is a chore in of itself, as there's no point in time or even so much as a hint telling you how to get it. [[spoiler:First you have to beat the game once and must be at a certain point in the game in Act 1 on your second playthrough. Second, you have to challenge the Monarks in optional boss bottles by dialing certain numbers, which you have to find by scouring through pretty much all of Shin Mikado and even your own tutorial screens. Once you defeat all nine Monarks, you will have the phone number necessary to challenge the TrueFinalBoss. Oh, and just in case you think the bosses will be easy, they're all at Max Level. [[SarcasmMode Have fun]].]][[note]]Oh, and just in case you think you can [[spoiler:just skip to the BrutalBonusLevel by looking at somebody's walkthrough, each number is unique to your playthrough]] so you can't brute force it.[[/note]]

* MultipleEndings: There are four endings, each revolving around the chosen party member during the route split in the last interlude for Act 1. [[spoiler:There's a fifth ending and is otherwise the GoldenEnding, but you are ''seriously'' going to have to [[GuideDangeIt work for it]].]]
** '''Dark Abundance''' (Nozomi Ending): [[spoiler:Nozomi and the Vice-President successfully shatter the Ideal that Yoru was using to sustain herself and Yoru begins to suffer CessationOfExistence... as does the Vice-President, because he was an ArtificialHuman created by Yoru, and [[NoOntologicalInertia her death means he dies, too.]] As Nozomi cries in grief at losing ''another'' best friend who she failed to protect, Yoru twists the knife by revealing that if the Vice-President ''could'' survive without Yoru, Sora would have sealed him in the Otherworld anyway--a fact that the Vice-President kept secret for Nozomi's sake. Nozomi tearfully explains she's angry at him he didn't trust her enough to help bear the pain she was willing to shoulder, he apologizes, and after he is gone, Nozomi can only say, "You're such a liar...". Though the students mostly remain alive and well, no one walks out of Shin Mikado, leaving Nozomi's fate ambiguous.]]
** '''Unhinged Darkness''' (Shinya Ending): [[spoiler:Yoru murders Sora and Yugo, Shinya swears revenge and the Vice-President helps, both to satisfy his grudge and to protect the academy from such a dangerous threat. The Vice-President joins the revenge plot after Yoru gleefully confesses to having been the one to torture and kill Chiyo and after a long, brutal fight, he personally stabs Yoru through the stomach to finish her off. As Yoru lays dying, she laments what a farce this all was... as the Vice-President suffers CessationFromExistence, now that his [[NoOntologicalInertia "mother"]] is dead and the force keeping him alive is disappearing. Shinya breaks down in anger, grief, and tears at not being able to protect a single person he cares about, begging for the Vice-President not to leave him alone, and the Vice-President only being able to apologize before he disappears completely. What confidence and self-love Shinya has been learning turns out to be all for nothing as he has lost all the family who's ever loved him and he has ever loved, it's implied that he feels so worthless he stays in the Otherworld--not that he'd have anywhere else to go...]]
** '''Woeful Execution''' (Ryotaro Ending): [[spoiler:Yoru is killed by Sora after the former kills Yugo, then proceeds to kill Shinya after realizing she needs to kill anyone that isn't content and/or has a powerful Ego to prevent future Pactbearers from emerging. By the time Ryotaro and the Vice-President stop her, she's wracked up a body count of ''104'' people in Shin Mikado, including from when the Barrier was first erected. They succeed in defeating her and shattering the last of her Ideals, but the Vice-President disappears as there's nothing keeping him sustained anymore. Realizing that he's lost yet another important person in his life despite all the power he's obtained, Ryotaro can only punch the ground and scream in grief. The closing shot sees no one leaving the academy grounds, including Ryotaro, who is implied to have stayed in the Otherworld out of grief.]]
** '''Birth of a New World''' (Kokoro Ending): [[spoiler:Almost all of the school is effectively dead, absorbed by the Monark of Woe. The fake Sora Jingu is dead, the barrier is about to go down, but the Vice-President ends up TakingTheBullet for Kokoro, not that he could have existed outside the barrier anyway. In tears and heartbroken, Kokoro makes an AnguishedDeclarationOfLove before the Vice-President apologizes and disappears. In the ending cutscene, no one walks out of the academy's gates, not that there's much of anyone left who ''can'', and Kokoro is implied to have stayed in the Otherworld in her grief. Meanwhile, Yoru is free to cause chaos in the real world, probably causing TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.]]
** '''Vain, Empty Ego''' [[spoiler:(True Ending): Now knowledgeable of the past 4 timelines and all the mysteries of Shin Mikado, the TSC sets their sights on a mysterious "gate" that is rumored to hold a god that can grant wishes, defy reality and the limits of all the previous Monarks, and put an end to their problems. They end up refighting the now-Pactless Monarks plus Yugo and Sora, who reveal themselves as H. Crowwell and Tristia, the Monark of Woe. They end up going through the gate at the Otherworld and meet its God: Vanitas, or rather, Yog-Sototh. He explains that merely getting to his prison is not enough for him to grant his wish; through the strength of their Egos, made manifest through their Imagigear, they must beat him in a test of strength, together with the Fiends. They succeed, they wish for the Vice-President to become fully human, and Yog-Sototh, true to his word, grants their wish, defying reality in respect for the strength of their Egos. The TSC returns to school, and while Shinya rightfully worries about Yugo/Cromwell still being unconscious and Sora being dead, leaving Shin Mikado and its supernatural-fighting underbelly decapitated, thanks to all the time-looping shenanigans no students were ever harmed or killed by the distortions, and everyone gets to leave happy. The final cutscene shows the Vice-President finally walking out of the gates for the first time, picking up a stray leaf off the ground before Chiyo tells him to hurry up--they've got cafes to hit! ... And then a mysterious phone starts to ring, hinting the Otherworld isn't quite done with Shin Mikado just yet.]]
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: At the rooftop of the High School Building, you're unable to reach the 3rd and the last Ideal needed to dispel the Mist because a student is insistent on keeping the access door shut from the outside, while you're surrounded by Unsettled professors and students both that are desperate to "graduate". The solution for this puzzle is to call the student holding the door shut about his envy at not being able to graduate. He relents and lets the group proceed. You then witness his classmates and professor ''jumping off the roof'' as part of the "ceremony".

* ShooOutTheClowns: Act 2 is kicked off by [[spoiler:Chiyo's death in the Old Dormitories and Sora disbanding the True Student Council]]. After that, what little humor is in the story is as good as gone.
* StoryBranching: The last interlude of Act 1 is the point in which the game's story will diverge heavily as by Act 2 you must side with one of the four party members. [[spoiler:Once all branches are fully explored, the True Ending Route begins.]]

* WhamShot: In Act 2, the Vice-President and his chosen partner search the basements of Shin Mikado, looking for [[spoiler:Sora/Yoru's Mist and Ideals]], only to discover a familiar face lying on the ground. [[spoiler:It's the Vice-President himself.]] The four endings later expand on this shocking factor: [[spoiler:the Vice-President is a "Vanity project" by Yoru, i.e. an ArtificialHuman.]]

** Kokoro is off-handedly mentioned to be [[spoiler:no longer a problem]] during Shinya's Act 2 route. [[spoiler:You learn in other routes that Sora convinced her to seal herself off in the Otherworld, thus removing her influence and Mist from the academy at the cost of forever being isolated.]]
** In Shinya and Ryotaro's routes, Nozomi is never mentioned and is implied to have sequestered herself inside the Student Council room, no doubt because of her feelings of worthlessness and [[spoiler:the WhamEpisode that was the Pactbearer of Greed arc and Chiyo's death in the Intermission]].

* FogOfDoom: The Mist, which appeared at the same time the barrier entrapped Shin Mikado Academy and separated it from the rest of the world. No one knows where it came from or what's causing it, but just being in the mist causes people to go crazy and become Unsettled. Areas where the Mist is especially thick are also connected to the Otherworld, where Daemons freely roam about.

* WhamEpisode: "Recurring Twilight" i.e. the Pactbearer of Greed arc, and following it, the Intermission leading up to Act 2. [[spoiler:Not only is Kakeru, the school doctor, revealed to be a Pactbearer himself, but he reveals the existence of a ninth Pactbearer; Sora Jingu, whose Essokinesis is keeping the Barrier up. The Intermission ramps it up further with the TSC disbanding, the members going their separate ways, and Chiyo being unceremoniously killed off.]]
* WhamShot: In Act 3, the Vice-President and his chosen partner search the basements of Shin Mikado, looking for [[spoiler:Sora/Yoru's Mist and Ideals]], only to discover a familiar face lying on the ground. [[spoiler:It's the Vice-President himself.]]

* AcademyOfAdventure: Albeit not by choice, as the school was cut off from the outside world and is surrounded by the Mist that drives the students mad.

** '''Woeful Execution''' (Ryotaro Ending): [[spoiler:Yoru is killed by Sora after the former kills Yugo, then proceeds to kill Shinya after realizing she needs to kill anyone that isn't content and/or has a powerful Ego to prevent future Pactbearers from emerging. By the time Ryotaro and the Vice-President stop her, she's wracked up a body count of ''201'' people in Shin Mikado. They succeed in defeating her and shattering the last of her Ideals, but the Vice-President disappears as there's nothing keeping him sustained anymore. Realizing that he's lost yet another important person in his life despite all the power he's obtained, Ryotaro can only punch the ground and scream in grief. The closing shot sees no one leaving the academy grounds, including Ryotaro, who is implied to have stayed in the Otherworld out of grief.]]

** '''Woeful Execution''' (Ryotaro Ending): [[spoiler:Yugo is dead, as is Shinya. Sora goes insane at the loss of her husband and reveals herself as the Monark of Woe. Convinced that humanity's Egos are the sole root of the problem, and intent to continue living the lie of Sora Jingu, she proceeds to do her duty of protecting humanity against Pactbearers and distortions the only way she knows now: by killing everyone that isn't completely content or has even the slightest chance of becoming a Pactbearer, with a body count of ''104''. Ryotaro and the Vice-President chase her down and shatter the Ideals Sora depends on, but without the power of the Monark of Woe sustaining him, the Vice-President suffers from CessationOfExistence. Realizing that ''despite'' all the power he's stolen and made deals with the devil for, Ryotaro finds everything and everyone he loved stolen from him yet again, he can only scream and pound the ground in anger. Without anyone to call a friend or family anymore, it's implied he stayed in the Otherworld in his grief, despite his claiming to continue on to find a way to end the distortions and prevent the tragedy from repeating itself.]]

* WhamEpisode: "Recurring Twilight" i.e. the Pactbearer of Greed arc, and following it, the Intermission leading up to Act 2. [[spoiler:Not only is Kakeru, the school doctor, revealed to be a Pactbearer himself, but he reveals the true nature of Yoru: an aberrant Monark born from the ensuing chaos within Shin Mikado, and states that there is a ''ninth'' Pactbearer and they are responsible for the Barrier. The Intermission is kicked off in grand fashion by killing off Chiyo and setting up the Vice-President's conflict with either Yoru or Sora, who Kakeru implies to be the ninth Pactbearer.]]

* EarnYourHappyEnding: Disappointed by the character-specific endings, [[spoiler:like Kokoro's or Ryotaro's {{Downer Ending}}s]]? Want everyone to [[spoiler:get out of Shin Mikado without compromising their ideals or having to fight each other]]? [[spoiler:Be prepared to go through a gauntlet of max level refights of the old bosses and the TrueFinalBoss, an achievement that will take both hours of grinding and knowledge of how to use every single tool in the game's arsenal. And that's IF [[GuideDangIt you know how to get the phone numbers to challenge said bosses]].]]

** Getting the GoldenEnding is a chore in of itself, as there's no point in time or even so much as a hint telling you how to get it. [[spoiler:First you have to beat the game once and must be at a certain point in the game in Act 1 on your second playthrough. Second, you have to challenge the Monarks in optional boss bottles by dialing certain numbers, which you have to find by scouring through pretty much all of Shin Mikado and even your own tutorial screens. Once you defeat all nine Monarks, you will have the phone number necessary to challenge the TrueFinalBoss. Oh, and just in case you think the bosses will be easy, they're all at Max Level. [[SarcasmMode Have fun]].]][[note]]Oh, and just in case you think you can [[spoiler:just skip to the TrueFinalBoss by looking at somebody's walkthrough, each number is unique to your playthrough]] so you can't brute force it.[[/note]]

* ArcWords: "Irrationality" ("Madness" in the localized version) is mentioned numerous times in promotional materials and in the Announcement Trailer.

* TheUnreveal: Certain characters' profiles are partially censored until you get their Alter Ego, which reveals the censored bits. The sole exception to this is Reiko Inze from the first-year building, who's profile is filled with nonsensical gibberish that only seems to expand when you find her Alter Ego.

* WhamEpisode: The Pactbearer of Greed arc, and following it, the Intermission leading up to Act 2. [[spoiler:Not only is Kakeru, the school doctor, revealed to be a Pactbearer himself, but he reveals the true nature of Yoru: an aberrant Monark born from the ensuing chaos within Shin Mikado, and states that there is a ''ninth'' Pactbearer and they are responsible for the Barrier. The Intermission is kicked off in grand fashion by killing off Chiyo and setting up the Vice-President's conflict with either Yoru or Sora, who Kakeru implies to be the ninth Pactbearer.]]

** [[spoiler:True Ending: ]]

** Kokoro is off-handedly mentioned to be [[spoiler:no longer a problem]] during Shinya's Act 2 route. [[spoiler:You learn in other routes that Sora had convinced her to seal herself off in the Otherworld, thus removing her influence and Mist from the academy at the cost of forever being isolated.]]
** The entirety of both Shinya and Ryotaro's Act 2 routes, poor Nozomi is also given no mention at all, it's implied that she's simply locked herself away in the Student Council room.

** [[spoiler:Nozomi's]] Ending leans more towards bitter than sweet. [[spoiler:Yoru's Ideals are destroyed, the Mist is dispelled, and the Barrier goes down, allowing the students to finally leave the academy. However, the protagonist also disappears because he's a creation of Yoru and therefore cannot exist without her. Yoru twists the knife further when she explains that, even if he ''could'' survive without her, Sora would just lock him up in the Otherworld--a fact he kept hidden from Nozomi. In short, everyone ''but'' Nozomi gets a happy ending because she just lost yet another friend.]]

* BrainwashedAndCrazy: As a result of Kurama's [[spoiler:Authority, he has brainwashed the students into becoming a happy, mindless cult praising him, his guidance, and removing their pesky "free will".]] He tries to pull this on [[spoiler:the Protagonist]] but thankfully, fails.

* CastFromHitPoints: Physical attacks and some Authorities (magic spells) are cast from your HP.

* ChessMotifs: Especially prominent in combat, the player characters and friendly minions are all White while all enemies and hostile forces are Black. Their combat armor also resembles chess pieces, with the Protagonist being based off the King and Nozomi being based off the Knight, for example.
* DarkIsEvil: The Daemons the TSC come across appear as menacing dark-colored skeletons wielding an assortment of wicked-looking weaponry. The Pactbearers themselves are adorned in jet-black Imagigear, contrasting with the protagonist and the TSC's white-colored Imagigear.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Kokoro's]] Ending is one big YankTheDogsChain. [[spoiler:Tristia is defeated, but her attempt to kill Kokoro has the protagonist TakingTheBullet and dies, leaving Kokoro heartbroken while giving him an unfinished AnguishedDeclarationOfLove. Worse still, Tristia absorbed almost everyone in Shin Mikado, including her own Pactbearer and adopted son, leaving few survivors. The ending cutscene implies Kokoro remains in the Otherworld out of grief.]]

** You only have access to the Protagonist and Nozomi, and though the latter will eventually become an impressive tank, she's extremely fragile starting out.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: Disappointed by the character-specific endings, [[spoiler:like Kokoro's DownerEnding]]? Want everyone to [[spoiler:get out of Shin Mikado without compromising their ideals or having to fight each other]]? [[spoiler:Be prepared to go through a gauntlet of max level refights of the old bosses and the TrueFinalBoss, an achievement that will take both hours of grinding and knowledge of how to use every single tool in the game's arsenal. And that's IF [[GuideDangIt you know how to get the phone numbers to challenge said bosses]].]]

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: Thanks to the protagonist having no CanonName, players can name him however they want, which confuses Nozomi since he and Chiyo have different family names. She still says this even if players have the player's family name be the same as Chiyo's.
* GameplayGrading: Combat encounters are graded, with S being the highest. Aside from the bragging rewards and achievements, having a higher grade will award you with more Spirit, currency for upgrading your characters and buying consumable items. Players can increase their score by clearing an encounter at or below a par number of turns, causing critical hits and follow-up attacks, Resonating with allies, and avoiding getting your characters KO'd. Additionally, the protagonist's Ego stats are increased by defeating Daemons with the corresponding sins.

** '''Shield of Hope''' (Nozomi Ending): [[spoiler:Nozomi and the Protagonist successfully shatter the Ideal that Yoru was using to sustain herself and Yoru begins to suffer CessationOfExistence... as does the Protagonist, because he was an ArtificialHuman created by Yoru, and [[NoOntologicalInertia her death means he dies, too.]] As Nozomi cries in grief at losing ''another'' best friend who she failed to protect, Yoru twists the knife by revealing that if the Protagonist ''could'' survive without Yoru, Sora would have sealed him in the Otherworld anyway--a fact that the Protagonist kept secret for Nozomi's sake. Nozomi tearfully explains she's angry at him he didn't trust her enough to help bear the pain she was willing to shoulder, he apologizes, and after he is gone, Nozomi can only say, "You're such a liar...". Though the students mostly remain alive and well, no one walks out of Shin Mikado, leaving Nozomi's fate ambiguous.]]
** '''Flagbearer of Faith''' (Shinya Ending): [[spoiler:Yoru murders Sora and Yugo, Shinya swears revenge and the Vice-President helps, both to satisfy his grudge and to protect the academy from such a dangerous threat. The Vice-President joins the revenge plot after Yoru gleefully confesses to having been the one to torture and kill Chiyo and after a long, brutal fight, he personally stabs Yoru through the stomach to finish her off. As Yoru lays dying, she laments what a farce this all was... as the Vice-President suffers CessationFromExistence, now that his [[NoOntologicalInertia "mother"]] is dead and the force keeping him alive is disappearing. Shinya breaks down in anger, grief, and tears at not being able to protect a single person he cares about, begging for the Vice-President not to leave him alone, and the Vice-President only being able to apologize before he disappears completely. What confidence and self-love Shinya has been learning turns out to be all for nothing as he has lost all the family who's ever loved him and he has ever loved, it's implied that he feels so worthless he stays in the Otherworld--not that he'd have anywhere else to go...]]
** Tower of Gluttony (Ryotaro Ending):
** '''Slothful Philosophy''' (Kokoro Ending): [[spoiler:Almost all of the school is effectively dead, absorbed by the Monark of Woe. The fake Sora Jingu is dead, the barrier is about to go down, but the Protagonist ends up TakingTheBullet for Kokoro, not that he could have existed outside the barrier anyway. In tears and heartbroken, Kokoro makes an AnguishedDeclarationOfLove before the Protagonist apologizes and disappears. In the ending cutscene, no one walks out of the academy's gates, not that there's much of anyone left who can, and Kokoro is implied to have stayed in the Otherworld in her grief.]]

* SevenDeadlySins: The main antagonists of the game are the seven Daemons known as the Monarks, each of whom are in a pact with someone in Shin Mikado and bestow upon them an Authority correlating to one of the seven sins. The protagonist's sin, Vanity, is noted by Sora to be an aberrant, although it is associated with the deadly sin of {{Pride}}.

* StoryBranching: The last interlude of Act 1 is the point in which the game's story will diverge heavily as by Act 2 you must side with one of the four party members.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Kokoro is off-handedly mentioned to be [[spoiler:no longer a problem]] during Shinya's Act 2 route. [[spoiler:You learn in other routes that Sora had convinced her to seal herself off in the Otherworld, thus removing her influence and Mist from the academy at the cost of forever being isolated.]] Poor Nozomi is also given no mention at all, it's implied that she's simply locked herself away in the Student Council room.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Kokoro is off-handedly mentioned to be [[spoiler:no longer a problem]] during Shinya's Act 2 route. [[spoiler:You learn in other routes that Sora had convinced her to seal herself off in the Otherworld, thus removing her influence and Mist from the academy at the cost of forever being isolated.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Nozomi's]] Ending leans more towards bitter than sweet. [[spoiler:Yoru's Ideals are destroyed, the Mist is dispelled, and the Barrier goes down, allowing the students to finally leave the academy. However, the protagonist also disappears because he's a creation of Yoru and therefore cannot exist without her. Yoru twists the knife further when she explains that, even if he ''could'' survive without her, Sora would just lock him up in the Otherworld--a fact he kept hidden from Nozomi. In short, everyone ''but'' Nozomi gets a happy ending because she just lost yet another friend.]]

** Flagbearer of Faith (Shinya Ending):

* TruthInTelevision: The Pactbearer of Wrath arc involves the titular Pactbearer being the victim of a vicious bullying campaign who made a pact with a Monark to get revenge. As you learn more about Subaru and his circumstances, the party discovers someone tried to report the bullying to a teacher, but Subaru denied he was ever being bullied in the first place and got angry when he found out who reported it to the teacher. This is actually something that occurs in real life as well and is especially prominent in a hostile work environment.

* AntiFrustrationFeatures: For those who might find it incredibly tedious to replay the game after getting one of the endings, there's some good news for you. Once you've beaten one of the story routes, you can go straight back to the Intermission of Act 1, where you can go straight into Act 2 with another character. [[spoiler:This will also prevent you from being locked out of getting the True Ending.]]

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Kokoro's Route and Nozomi's, too.]] See the MultipleEndings section for details.

** Getting the GoldenEnding is a chore in of itself, as there's no point in time or even so much as a hint telling you how to get it. [[spoiler:First you have to beat the game once and must be at a certain point in the game in Act 1 on your second playthrough. Second, you have to challenge the Monarks in optional boss bottles by dialing certain numbers, which you have to find by scouring through pretty much all of Shin Mikado and even your own tutorial screens. Once you defeat all nine Monarks, you will have the phone number necessary to challenge the TrueFinalBoss. Oh, and just in case you think the bosses will be easy, they're all at Max Level. [[SarcasmMode Have fun]].]]

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Kokoro's Route ends with the protagonist dying after TakingTheBullet and Kokoro giving him an AnguishedDeclarationOfLove as he undergoes CessationOfExistence. Worse still, almost everyone in the academy was absorbed into Tristia, and the ending cutscene shows no one walking out of the academy, leaving Kokoro's fate ultimately ambiguous.]]

** Shield of Hope (Nozomi Ending):

** '''Slothful Philosophy''' (Kokoro Ending): [[spoiler:Almost all of the school is effectively dead, absorbed by the Monark of Woe. The fake Sora Jingu is dead, the barrier is about to go down, but the Protagonist ends up TakingTheBullet for Kokoro, not that he could have existed outside the barrier anyway. In tears and heartbroken, Kokoro makes an AnguishedDeclarationOfLove before the Protagonist apologizes and disappears. In the ending cutscene, no one walks out of the academy's gates, not that there's much of anyone left who can.]]

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Kokoro's Route ends with the protagonist dying after TakingTheBullet and Kokoro giving him an AnguishedDeclarationOfLove as she undergoes CessationOfExistence. Shin Mikado is also destroyed, killing off what few, if any students are left in the school at that point.]]

* EarnYourHappyEnding: Disappointed by the character specific endings, [[spoiler:like Kokoro's DownerEnding]]? Want everyone to [[spoiler:get out of Shin Mikado without compromising their ideals or having to fight each other]]? [[spoiler:Be prepared to go through a gauntlet of max level refights of the old bosses and the TrueFinalBoss, an achievement that will take both hours of grinding and knowledge of how to use every single tool in the game's arsenal. And that's IF [[GuideDangIt you know how to get the phone numbers to challenge said bosses]].]]

* EarnYourHappyEnding: Disappointed by the character specific endings, like Kokoro's DownerEnding? Want everyone to get out of Shin Mikado without compromising their ideals or having to fight each other? [[spoiler:Be prepared to go through a gauntlet of max level refights of the old bosses and the TrueFinalBoss, an achievement that will take both hours of grinding and knowledge of how to use every single tool in the game's arsenal.]]