History VideoGame / Okage

[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/OKAGETSK_2934.jpg]]

->''These villagers here, they conspire to infuriate me!''
-->-- '''Stan'''

Ari was an ordinary boy, so ordinary that he blended in with the background. He and his family live in a small village called Tenel back in the middle of nowhere. However, the family's "normal" life is suddenly turned around on its head when his sister gets cursed by a ghost that causes her to speak completely in Pig-Latin. Not wanting their daughter to live the life of a comic relief girl (seriously, they actually say that), they turn to the spirit of a strange and mysterious bottle that Ari's father found one day. The spirit in the bottle agrees to help for a price: one of the other family members will have to play host to the entity in the bottle and do as he says. The entity in question is the Evil King Stanley Hihat Trinidad XIV... [[SomeCallMeTim or Stan.]] After a quick competition to determine who has the best shadow, Ari is chosen to play host for Stan (and practically handed off by his family, poor sod) and Stan makes good on his word, turning Annie's (Ari's sister) shadow pink, just because [[JackAssGenie he never said he wouldn't]].

...It gets [[WidgetSeries weirder from there]].

''Okage'' is an Eastern RPG that was made by Zener Works in the early 2000's. It has gotten mixed reviews from those that have played it, having being somewhere between a good game to a mediocre one at best, with the eastern world generally having a very high opinion of it while the western world barely know it exists. Much of the game's design is reminiscent of Tim Burton's works (particularly WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas), and it's implied that his works actually inspired most of the game's setup. It was re-released in 2016 as a [=PS2=] classic on the [=PS4=], as a result of its popularity in the east and cult classic status in the west.

There is also currently a fan-made radioplay in development. Progress can be tracked both on the [[http://okage-radioplay.tumblr.com/ Tumblr page]] and the [[http://okage-radioplay.weebly.com/ website]].
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!Tropes associated with this work:
* ActionGirl: Ari's mom is hinted at being this in her childhood
* AGodAmI: [[spoiler: Beiloune's classification powers make him virtually a god in the setting]]
* AllInARow: Ari's allies follow him around outside of towns, although they can get stuck behind walls or trap Ari in a corner.
* BecauseDestinySaysSo: In-universe. This is what [[spoiler: Classification]] is. [[spoiler: The entire town of Triste is people who either went against their Classifications and went rogue or people who were completely forgotten by the Classification system]].
* BigBad: [[spoiler: Beiloune.]]
* BigDamnHeroes: Rosalyn when you first meet her, also counts as DynamicEntry.
* BlessedWithSuck: [[spoiler:Ari not being in the Classification system has the major advantage of not being subject to the false roles everyone's playing at Beiloune's whim, and everyone around him for an extended period of time breaks with their pre-ordained roles as well. It also makes it relatively easy for Beiloune to nearly wipe him from memory and existence just by laying the right hints.]]
* BlindIdiotTranslation: While the translation is completely serviceable, the script is given a very literal translation without regard for loss of humor or cultural differences. This results in oddly dry dialog paired alongside the game's comical tone and characters, [[TranslationTrainWreck with the rare butchered metaphor thrown in for flavor]]. It definitely gives the game a ''unique'' feel.
--> '''Rosalyn:''' ...Hmmm. Silence, eh? [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext ...And what was the strange thing the dog did in the night?]]
* BlockPuzzle: Amusingly enough, the only one in the game is so astoundingly easy that Ari finishes it by himself in a cutscene without the player's help.
* ButThouMust: Ari is so overshadowed that he rarely has a choice in the matter. [[spoiler: An entire chapter is devoted to him speaking up to avert this standing created by BigBad Beiloune.]]
* CastFromHitPoints: Magic skills use a group "LP", but physical skills take off 5 or 10% of a character's HP per use, with Overdrive taking off 15% of Ari's HP.
* CatUpATree: One of Stan's first displays of his awesome power.
* ChainsawGood: Implied to be the true purpose of the so-called "[[spoiler:Gear Sword]]", Ari's InfinityPlusOneSword. It's appearance in the setting is justified as an experiment gone horribly wrong; its creator is now deaf and/or insane, and you have to find the tiny, tiny broken parts strewn across the world.
* ChekhovsBoomerang:
** The music box. Ari's mother gives it to him before he leaves on his adventure. Ari gives it to Marlene in Chapter 3 on the advice of his mother. [[spoiler:The actual Marlene is trapped inside it, as revealed when leaving Triste.]]
** The doll Ari's parents buy. They buy the doll before Ari leaves, though you can't see it, instead of giving him money for his adventure. [[spoiler:Stan notices that Marlene doesn't have a soul after an attempt to possess her in the Aquatic Ruins.]] [[spoiler:The Marlene you've been travelling with for 4 dungeons is actually a doll, which Ari's father comments on it being similar to the one they had earlier.]]
** The Ringmaster. He drunkenly comments on how Ari's overshadowed just before Annie gets attacked by a ghost. He's left behind by his troupe in Tenel and sulks in the bar, where he gives Ari and Stan the "Map o' Evil Kings" that sets off the whole adventure. [[spoiler:He was supposed to be an Evil King, but transferred his power to the Sewer Evil King and remained ordinary. He became forgotten under Classification and went to Triste, where he's Ari's only hope of returning to the normal world.]]
* CollectorOfTheStrange: Kisling and Ari's Dad. You can overhear their conversations at several points in the game, and they always get stranger.
* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Stan tells Ari's parents that because Ari's his slave, they're going off to defeat the Evil Kings and conquer the world, bringing darkness and fear. Ari's parents are ''thrilled'' that their son is going off adventuring and hope it's a learning experience for him.
* CoolBigSis: Rosalyn to Ari and Annie.
* {{Deconstruction}}: Of role-playing games and classic fantasy tales. [[spoiler:Beiloune set the world apart for Marlene as a way to have fun adventures in it. These adventures were determined by a person's Classification, and people who fell into certain Classifications had certain roles, and they would not deviate from these roles. Ari's status as a deviant throws the whole thing into question by showing just how dangerous the world is when someone throws the whole thing into predetermined roles without concern for others, particularly how destructive the ultimate fights between a hero and an Evil King would be.]] [[spoiler: This status as a deviant also extends to everyone who comes into contact with him, as they begin going against their pre-assigned roles; for example Rosalyn and Stan were placed into Classification roles that would make them fight against each other in an "Ultimate Duel" but teaming up with Ari makes them more focused on finding and taking down Beiloune, and they don't really care about fighting each other once the Classification system is done away with.]]
* DefeatMeansFriendship: According to [[spoiler:Linda, Big Bull, and Epros]], anyway. Not that any of them were evil to begin with.
* DefrostingIceQueen: Rosalyn is a hero with a chip on her shoulder ever since Stan turned her shadow pink, and often has a fiery temper. Part of her character development is her warming up to the others, particularly Ari in her (self-imposed) quest to free him from Stan's influence.
* DialogueTree: A staple of the series. Most will have an option for agreeing, sarcasm, or negative, and quite often what choice you pick changes your relationship status with whoever's involved at the time; select more for Stan, for example, and the fortune tellers will indicate he's your strongest relationship. They even have a big role in one of the later chapters, believe it or else.
** Whatever you do, don't click the VisibleSilence options for that part. Don't do it.
* DifficultySpike: Two.
** You can get by the Sewer Evil King without much problem just through random encounters on the way to Madril. Once Rosalyn and Kisling join the party and you enter the Rumile Plains to Rashelo, enemy encounters take a jump in difficulty and you'll be spending a bit of time grinding just to prep for encounters in the Aquatic Ruins, not to mention just to keep Ari alive.
** The second jump comes at the Addashi Desert. The previous bosses might be a piece of cake, but the Desert leads up to the back-to-back boss battles with Epros and the Vampire Evil King, as well as being one of the largest overworld areas.
* EvilDiva: Linda, [[TheDitz but by accident.]]
* EvilerThanThou: Another part of the game's premise, with Stan trying to be the most evil of them all. He throws frequent hissy fits throughout the game relating to people not recognizing him as the True Evil King.
* ExtremeDoormat: Poor Ari. It's what makes him the perfect host for Stan. A whole chapter is devoted to him breaking out of this [[spoiler: otherwise he'll vanish from reality]].
* FauxAffablyEvil: Stan.
* FiveManBand:
** TheLeader: Ari/Stan (Ari also could double as the TeamPet)
** TheLancer: Rosalyn, who's also TheHero.
** TheSmartGuy: Kisling
** TheBigGuy: Big Bull
** TheChick: Linda
** SixthRanger: Epros, who's only in the party for the final two chapters.
* FlunkyBoss: Every boss [[spoiler: save the for the ''FinalBoss'']] has minions that fight with it.
* FreudianExcuse: [[spoiler:Beiloune seems to claim this as for why he introduced Classification and blocked off their world from the rest of the universe.]]
* GameplayAndStoryIntegration:
** Ari is the only character throughout the entire game that is "Neutral" elemental typing, meaning he's neither strong nor weak against a particular element. [[spoiler:His existence outside the Classification system makes this possible, as he's not placed into an assigned role.]]
** Rosalyn starts out with much more HP than Ari even at the same level. By the time you get to Triste and the Addashi Desert, her HP increases are low enough that Ari comes out ahead. [[spoiler:In her affection side-quest ending, Rosalyn notes she was trying to be a hero and played the part well-enough, but Ari's constant growth and determination have made her re-examine whether or not that made her truly better than anyone. It's a sign of her character development into someone who's more humble and fighting for the right reasons instead of her original IceQueen status at the beginning.]]
* GeniusDitz:
** Ari's grandmother will only say "Uh huh, uh huh, that's right honey" except at two points in the game. First, she gives him the starting item for the trading quest; giving it to the baker to complete the first part causes the baker to note she's this. Second, [[spoiler: she's also the only one to remember Ari even existed when he fades from the rest of the world and will actively question where he's gone.]]
** Kisling. An eccentric scientist who primarily speaks in TechnoBabble and has an interest in ''toenail clipping'', yet is surprisingly more perceptive than most characters give him credit for.
* HeelFaceTurn: Three of the seven fake evil kings join you after knocking their power out of them.
* HelloInsertNameHere: Unlike most games of this nature, the player character has a default name (Ari in English, Ruka in the original Japanese), but you're still welcome to change it.
* HeroicMime: Ari. Unlike most examples, it's a canon part of his personality, and causes him no small degree of grief; he doesn't talk much, and when he does, people often ignore him anyway. [[spoiler: This is because the setting runs off of Classification, which is a sort of magical index that contains everybody's purpose, personality, and destiny. Ari is the sole exception, existing completely out of Classification, meaning he's a walking hole in the magic that powers the everything in the land, which [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm makes it difficult for people under its effects to even perceive him]].]]
* HiddenDepths: Nearly every major character, and even a few minor ones, are all hiding something.
* ImprobableWeaponUser: From books, to microphones to playing cards.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold:
** Rosalyn has a fiery temper, and frequently yells at Ari if he displays any incompetence or weak-mindedness. She does care about him, though, and otherwise is one of the nicest (not to mention most normal) of the party members you acquire.
** The Bubble Evil King has this. Before his battle, he's a jerk. Defeat him and he's actually a pretty nice guy who, while still a bit of a blowhard, is much more jovial. Most Evil Kings could fall under this, really, considering three of them join your party after they're defeated.
* JumpedAtTheCall: You can make Ari do this via the DialogueTree at multiple points. You can also make him snark or indicate he'd rather not do whatever he's asked.
* KidWithTheLeash: Inverted; Ari is owned by Stan.
* KnightOfCerebus: [[spoiler: After the Phantom Evil King shows up in Triste, threatening the Ringmaster and Ari, there are ''very'' few moments of comedy. A major sequence soon after is the discussion of what the rules of the setting itself mean, and many characters become very introspective and start revealing HiddenDepths.]]
* LivingMacGuffin:
** Half the quest revolves around Marlene, who takes up the position of leader for two chapters. [[spoiler:Beiloune is trying to find the real Marlene after she disappeared.]]
** [[spoiler:Ari lives outside the Classification system to the point where he isn't even suppose to exist, and anyone associated with him tends to break with their roles. This is the key to stopping Beiloune, as Ari's failure to comply allows Ari and his allies to go after him instead of simply playing their roles.]]
* LivingShadow: Stan. Played completely straight until the end, which even then proves to still be accurate.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading: One of the game's only drawbacks. It's not so much the length of the load times (anywhere from 3 to 15 seconds) as the frequency. Loading times even crop up between rooms within the same building - and not very big rooms, either.
* LoadBearingBoss: The FinalBoss' defeat causes the entire final dungeon to collapse.
* [[spoiler: LoveMakesYouCrazy: Beiloune separates the setting of the game from the rest of the world, all for his daughter. It's not helped when his daughter goes missing and the entire thing falls into chaos because he can't find her.]]
* MagicKnight: Ari gains a fair amount of support magic to go with his elemental-based physical attacks. As a hero, Rosalyn fights with a rapier, is the strongest party member [[spoiler: after Big Bull]], and has a large supply of status and ice-based magic at her disposal.
* {{Manchild}}: Stan's a 300+ year old Shadow Evil King, but throws more temper tantrums than any other character in the game. This only [[LargeHam increases]] if you choose a DialogueTree answer where you snark at him or go against him.
* NintendoHard: It is entirely possible to die in the first encounter of the game, which should set the tone of how difficult battles can be.
* OneDialogueTwoConversations: Ari's and Stan's encounter with the ghost in the Tenel church. Stan thinks the ghost is complying with serving him; the ghost is amused before attacking because it's "hungry".
* ParasolOfPain: Most of Rosalyn's magic revolves around using her parasol as a sort of conductor.
* RelationshipValues: Your Compatibility determines what special gift/cutscene you earn near the end of Chapter 5. You can determine your compatibility anytime you want by talking to one of the fortune tellers who all react accordingly ([[BigNo Especially if it ends up being Stan.]])
* RewatchBonus: [[spoiler: It's only on a second playthrough after finding out about the major twists that characters seemingly noticing and forgetting Ari makes sense; he's outside the Classification system that runs the entire game world and makes him an anomaly they can barely comprehend. It also makes Marlene the only one that seems to consistently interact with him, since she's the one the world was created for.]]
* RhymesOnADime: Epros, to the frustration of Stan.
** And almost everyone else.
---> '''Rosalyn:''' ''Cute, but uses cheesy metaphors.''
** He only slips up twice throughout the whole game, after his boss fight at the end.
---> ''Epros:'' Damn Rhyming...
** [[spoiler: Implied to be enslaved by rhyming by classification until defeat, but plays along for most of his time in the party. After the final boss, Linda declares that she'll follow him anywhere, and he yells for her to go away.]]
* RuleOfFunny: Someone was obviously following this rule throughout the game's development.
* RunningGag: Characters introducing themselves to another. With one exception, everyone either completely ignores or reacts strangely to Kisling and then proceeds to act like he isn't there for the rest of the scene.
** Ari's grandmother: "Uh-huh, uh-huh, that's right honey." She will say that every time you talk to her except for two specific points.
* SealedEvilInACan: Stan. Only in this case, it's a pretty pink bottle. With jewels and generally not-evil accents.
* SurpriseCreepy: Take a look at the description. The game's initial premise is an extremely wacky widjet series, with one of the strangest cast of playable and non-playable characters you can find. Come chapter 5, however, it starts getting into surprisingly deep philosophical arguments about predestination and identity, and a huge deconstruction of typical RPG plots as to why they can get really, really, ''really'' screwed up.
* TalkToEveryone: While most of it is just for kicks, it becomes mandatory [[spoiler:in order to come back into existence.]]
* [[spoiler: TheButlerDidIt: Subverted. Beiloune is the BigBad, and introduced as Marlene's butler, but he's actually her father.]]
* TheHero: Rosalyn. It's an extremely rare instance where the Hero is ''not'' the main character.
* TheStinger: [[spoiler: At the end of the game, after the credits roll, you get a scene of Stan in his Shadow form in front of Ari's house and makes some comments that seem to set up a sequel.]]
* TechnoBabble: Kisling speaks in this normally. His first conversation boils down to "I study why ghosts exists" but it takes 5 whole pages of text to convey; Ari can comment "See the results of dictionary abuse?" as a response to it. Notably averted after the WhamEpisode, when Kisling talks through things rather logically and much more straightforward.
* {{Tsundere}}: Rosalyn, who shows her tsuntsun side to Stan and her deredere side to everyone else.
* UncannyAtmosphere: Highland Village, [[spoiler: which turns out to be a feeding ground for the Vampire Evil King.]]
* UnusuallyUninterestingSight:
** Ari's father is ''completely'' oblivious as to Stan's malicious nature. His response to Stan taking Ari as his subject in a quest to conquer the world is "Well, I think that's great!" Ari's mother has shades of this, too, as Ari leaving on this conquest is treated as him leaving for an adventure as they did in their youth.
** Ari can have this himself if you choose to snark at things. One of the dialogue options during one of Rosalyn's and Stan's squabbles is him deciding to complain how he's hungry.
* VisibleSilence: All. over. the place. Even in Ari's {{Dialogue Tree}}s, the third option is always an ellipsis.
* WeCannotGoOnWithOutYou: One of the game's drawbacks is that you get a game over if Ari dies.
** Could make sense, considering that Ari's inanimate body is of no use to Stan, since he can't move and continue the quest to get his power back. There's also a good chance that, if anyone else would volunteer to carry said body, they'd forget him somewhere, since Ari's ridiculously unmemorable.
** It turns out that [[spoiler:Ari, not Stan, is the one driving the party and keeping them from killing each other, because he's one of the rare Classifier-Immunes. If Ari dies, the BigBad could instantly take over the other party members (and even Stan, as seen right before the final boss battle) and have them kill each other or something.]]
* WellExcuseMePrincess: Marlene, at first.
* WhamEpisode: Chapter 5 of the game. And ''how''. The first half is such a punch in the face that the middle sequence is the characters having to sit down to digest the turn of events.
* WorldOfHam: Stan's practically a manchild, Rosalyn's got a fiery temper, Kisling is a complete eccentric, Stan's butler James is half-impulsive half-romantic, Epros speaks almost solely in rhymes... The only two who really don't fall into this are Ari and Beiloune [[spoiler: and even Beiloune turns into one by Chapter 5]].
* YouAllLookFamiliar: This happens in one of the chapters. [[spoiler:When Ari disappears from the world, everyone forgets about him and what they were doing, and the result ends up as some strange twist of future-happenings and if-we-never-met-you.]] It's a bit of a [[PlayerPunch gut-puncher for the player]].
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<<|EasternRPG|>>

* BreatherLevel: Actually taking on the Sewer when you're prepping for the Aquatic Ruins can sometimes level up Ari and co. every ''encounter''. Going in when you're actually supposed to, three dungeons later? 1 EXP per enemy. Given what happens afterwards, though...

* GameplayAndStoryIntegration: Ari is the only character throughout the entire game that is "Neutral" elemental typing, meaning he's neither strong nor weak against a particular element. [[spoiler:His existence outside the Classification system makes this possible, as he's not placed into an assigned role.]]

* {{Deconstruction}}: Of RPGs and classic fantasy tales. [[spoiler:Beiloune set the world apart for Marlene as a way to have fun adventures in it. These adventures were determined by a person's Classification, and people who fell into certain Classifications had certain roles, and they would not deviate from these roles. Ari's status as a deviant throws the whole thing into question by showing just how dangerous the world is when someone throws the whole thing into predetermined roles without concern for others, particularly how destructive the ultimate fights between a hero and an Evil King would be.]] [[spoiler: This status as a deviant also extends to everyone who comes into contact with him, as they begin going against their pre-assigned roles; for example Rosalyn and Stan were placed into Classification roles that would make them fight against each other in an "Ultimate Duel" but teaming up with Ari makes them more focused on finding and taking down Beiloune, and they don't really care about fighting each other once the Classification system is done away with.]]

* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Ari's father is *completely* oblivious as to Stan's malicious nature. His response to Stan taking Ari as his subject in a quest to conquer the world is "Well, I think that's great!" Ari's mother has shades of this, too, as Ari leaving on this conquest is treated as him leaving for an adventure as they did in their youth.

* TechnoBabble: Kisling speaks in this normally. His first conversation boils down to "I study why ghosts exists"; Ari can comment "See the results of dictionary abuse?" as a response to it. Notably averted after the WhamEpisode, when Kisling talks through things rather logically and much more straightforward.