History VideoGame / PuzzleQuest

** Not quite game breaking, but the original PlaystationPortable release was misprogrammed so that allies' abilities never activated.

** That said, Blood Drain is pretty much ''all'' they've got. The Vampire Lords, on the other hand... they have Charm (destroys all Skulls and gains life equal to the number of Skulls destroyed) and Bat Swarm (halves your defense and causes you to take 5 damage per turn for 3 turns) in addition to the aforementioned Blood Drain and Vampire Fangs. Good luck, ''you'll need it.''

* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: As a nod to everyone who made this complaint about previous games, the devs named one of the achievements "Cheating AI!" - earned by being defeated by an enemy on its first turn.

* GuestStarPartyMember: The soldier Drayle joins you, briefly, once you rescue him in the dungeon. As soon as you get someplace remotely safe, however, he takes off.

** On the other hand, clearing red gems (whether that's done by you or the Yeti) will actually hurt it. But it will be healed anytime blue gems are cleared. To make matters worse, it has a spell called "Ice Breath" which changes 14 random gems to Blue Gems -- frequently causing it to get several extra turns and fully heal itself. The battle can ''easily'' end up wearing on until the Crushing Kill.
** The Arch-Lich is also stupidly annoying, thanks to its absurdly high Morale stat making it near-impossible to cast spells. Putting ''every single skill point into your Intelligence stat'' is the ''only'' way you'll have a reasonable chance of using your spells, so if your play style relies on them, '''''you're screwed eight ways to Sunday, no questions asked'''''.

* OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler:The Gorgon]]

* SpoilerOpening: When beginning a new game of ''[=PQ2=]'', you are told the story of a Paladin, a blonde elf woman rendered in stained glass, who disappeared a long time ago while trying to find the source of the evil inside a tower near her hometown. [[spoiler:Get all the way to the end, and you have to fight that self-same woman - who is the MissingMom of your companion Laurella.]]

* BraggingRightsReward: Beating the {{Bonus Boss}}es in the handheld and retail PC versions gives you a rather insignificant amount of gold and XP, considering the lengths you'll need to go to in order to defeat them. You don't even get the achievements of the XboxLiveArcade, [=iOS=], or {{Steam}} versions.

** LampshadeHanging: An April Fool's website by the creator explained how to turn off AI cheating. Also, one of the achievements in the Xbox 360 version of Puzzle Quest 2 is "Cheating AI: be defeated by an opponent on their first turn in any single player game mode".

* HalfHumanHybrid[=/=]HumanMomNonhumanDad: Syrus Darkhunter has a human mother and an elven father, and is not entirely welcomed by either race. It's part of the reason for his DeadpanSnarker personality.

* BoringButPractical: A shining example in Warlords is to simply drain your enemy's Red Mana through items (like the Orcish Mang) or spells. These are not particularly flashy, but Red Mana is tied to about 90% of the damaging spells in the game, denying your opponent this resource prevents them from doing too much (in the case of Dugog, the first Boss, this stops him from using ANY of his spells). Upgrades to AwesomeYetPractical if your build uses a lot of blue mana and you use a Wightblade (which drains an enemy's Red Mana and gives it to you as Blue).

* BoringButPractical: A shining example in Warlords is to simply drain your enemy's Red Mana through items (like the Orcish Mang) or spells. These are not particularly flashy, but Red Mana is tied to about 90% of the damaging spells in the game, denying your opponent this resource prevents them from doing too much (in the case of Dugog, the first BossMonster, this stops him from using ANY of his spells). Upgrades to AwesomeAndPractical if your build uses a lot of blue mana and you use a Wightblade (which drains an enemy's Red Mana and gives it to you as Blue).

* LevelMapDisplay: While dungeon crawling, a mini-map is found in the lower right corner. Clicking on it will bring up a map of the entire dungeon level. Darkened rooms have yet to be entered; rooms with tiny images of a tower inside a blue circle indicates where to find a WarpZone; and floating question marks and exclamation points indicate the locations of quest objectives and other significant encounters.

* OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame

* HolyHandGrenade: The Templar's "Heaven's Wrath" spell," not learned until the level cap is reached.

* TheBlacksmith: Chappi the dwarf, who has a store in Verloren. Advance far enough into the dungeon, and he sets up a satellite shop down there among the relics of his lost ancestors.

* DoomedHometown: Verloren, although it's not specified to actually ''be'' the player character's hometown. The PC is just the one who ends up having to save the people of Verloren from the assorted dangers which are dooming it.

* MilesGloriosus: Drayle.

* OneHitKO: If [[spoiler:True Form Gorgon]] gets to 60 red mana, she'll cast "Subjugation", a spell that causes you to instantly surrender and lose the battle, no matter how many HP either of you have left.

** Also, defeating a regular enemy (either in Quest mode or in Endurance mode) on your first turn earns you the "PWNED!" achievement.

* PVPBalanced: Supposedly. But say goodbye to weapons and armors with loads of different effects. Now it's mostly about which one gives more attack. (The secondary effects do return, but only after you've upgraded your item to at least Masterwork level, and even then, the effects are mostly passive stat buffs).

* SpoilerOpening: Although it takes a while before you realize the spoiler. The opening screen of ''[=PQ2=]'' depicts a blonde elven woman wearing a suit of armor; she almost looks like a stained glass window. [[spoiler:Eventually you find that this is the Paladin Raltheia, Laurella's mother.]]

* BarrierWarrior: The Assassin class is a mix of this and GlassCannon. His/her primary ability is to use purple mana to go into "stealth" mode, which is really just using your purple mana as a shield against damage. While in stealth, all of your "-Strike" abilities do double damage. (Strike abilities turn gems into purple gems on the screen as well as damage the opponent, so there's a lot of synergy between covering yourself and hurting the opponent).

* BraggingRightsReward: Beating the {{Bonus Boss}}es in the handheld and retail PC versions gives you a rather insignificant amount of gold and XP, considering the lengths you'll need to go to in order to defeat them. You don't even get the achievements of the XboxLiveArcade or {{Steam}} versions.

** Conversely, the achievement for beating an enemy when ''your'' health is down to one point? EpicWin!

* [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard The AI Is a Cheating Bastard]]: As a ShoutOut to everyone who complained about this aspect of the previous games, the developers gave this name to one of the unlockable achievements in ''[=PQ2=]''. You earn it by being defeated by a boss whose health has been whittled down to just one point.

* WordOfGod: Swears [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard The Computer Isn't A Cheating Bastard]].

* GoodAllAlong: [[spoiler:Brek the orc shaman]] is simply trying to make the SealedEvilInACan stay that way.

* MissingMom[=/=]DisappearedDad: Laurella's main interest in joining your party is to find her parents, who have disappeared. Her father can be found in the dungeon and will also join you, but it's a long, long time before they learn what became of her mother.

* SpoilerOpening: Although it takes a while before you realize the spoiler. The opening screen of ''[=PQ2=]'' depicts a blonde elven woman wearing a suit of armor. [[spoiler:This is the Paladin Raltheia, who has been possessed by the daemon Gorgon. You find her in the Gorgon's Cathedral and must fight her.]]

* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: Is the victory fanfare a riff from the old ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|1978}}'' theme? Not quite.

* DemonicSpider: The Berserker and its Enrage/Berserk Rage combo. Neither spell has a recharge time, and Berserk Rage can be spammed as long as red mana levels are high enough. And unlike its [=PQ1=] equivalent, Berserk Rage works on any color gem, not just red. A Berserker with a fortunate board setup can literally wipe you out before you have a chance to retaliate.

* OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler:The Gorgon]].

* SequelDifficultyDrop: There's a big drop between this game and PQ.

* {{Cap}}: Level 50 in ''PQ'' and ''Galactrix'', 20 in ''Kingdoms'' - though you have up to 12 Heroes to level up there.
** Puzzle Quest allows you to increase your stats for gold, though, and ''those'' aren't capped.

** In the original PQ, you can invade and take over entire cities as tyrannical overlord, and nobody bats an eye in the main plotline (or cares that you're the tyrant of their city when they send you on quests.)

* GlassCannon: The Wizard class in ''Warlords'', Ram, Catapult, and Trebuchet units in ''Kingdoms'', [=PQ2=]'s Sorcerer class. ''Especially'' the PQ2 Sorcerer.
* ItemCrafting: Via a mini-game. One of the series' biggest hooks.

* MegaManning: You can learn multiple enemy spells (or enemy equipment in ''Galactrix'') via a mini-game.

* PurelyAestheticGender: The only real change in any game is in how Princess Serephine interacts with your character in ''Warlords''. Otherwise, gender choice only affects whether characters refer to you as male or female. [=PQ2=] adds in voice-overs in male or female voice.

* ArtifactOfDoom: The various Vice Boxes.

** The Arch-Lich is also stupid-annoying, thanks to its absurdly high Morale stat making it near-impossible to cast spells. Putting ''every single skill point into your Intelligence stat'' is the ''only'' way you'll have a reasonable chance of using your spells, so if your play style relies on them, '''''you're screwed eight ways to Sunday, no questions asked'''''.

** Later in the game, an elderly NPC says, [[VideoGame/{{Diablo}} "Hello, my friend! Stay a while, and listen!"]]

[[folder: ''Puzzle Kingdoms contains examples of:'']]

* GoodAllAlong: [[spoiler:Brek the orc shaman]] is simply trying to keep the SealedEvilInACan that way.

** An (old) NPC says, [[VideoGame/{{Diablo}} "Hello, my friend! Stay a while, and listen!"]] later on in the game.

* '''Puzzle Quest 2''': a true sequel to the original; styled more on {{MMORPG}}s, including a town hub and [=NPCs=] with exclamation points over their heads who give you quests, was released on June 22, 2010 for DS, Windows, [[{{iOSGames}} iPhone]], and the XBox Live Arcade. This is a considerably simplified and easier version, though possibly with more balanced pvp.

[[folder: ''Tropes present throughout the series:'']]

[[folder: ''Challenge Of The Warlords contains examples of:'']]

* [[EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses Everything's Better With Princesses]]: You only get two female {{Optional Party Member}}s, and one's a princess.

* FollowTheLeader: ''Gyromancer'' on X-Box Live was clearly intended to capitalize on ''Puzzle Quest's'' success. It's basically ''Bejeweled Twist'' Puzzle Quest. "Puzzle RPG" has since become a full-genre of it's own, with ''VideoGame/PuzzleAndDragons'' being the biggest example.

* HonorBeforeReason: The elder dragon Kelthurax is not only extremely old and powerful, but also a loner who doesn't like to be awakened or bothered. In one of Elistara's quests, she feels honor-bound not only to wake him and tell him of her mount's death, but ''ask him to be her new mount''. Amazingly, he lets her live.
* HorseOfADifferentColor: Many monsters can be captured and used as mounts. Including [[GiantSpider giant spiders]], [[RodentOfUnusualSize giant rats]], wyverns, [[OurGryphonsAreDifferent griffons]]... Also, we meet a Dragonknight -- a member of the order of dragon riders.

* LostForever: If you follow a certain sub-mission just before you enter Lord Bane's keep, you will lose one of your good-aligned companions[[note]]Darkhunter, Khalkus, Serephine, Flicker, Winter, and Elistara[[/note]] at every step forward.

* SchrodingersGun: The mission "The Missive", right at the beginning of the game. Whether your missive is a feint or not depends on whether or not you defeat the Thief. Defeat him, your missive's the genuine article. He defeats you, it's a decoy.
* SealedGoodInACan: [[spoiler:Lord Sartek… at least compared to Lord Bane. A variation, though, as he was broken into 101 pieces rather than actually sealed somewhere.]]

** Another for the ''LordOfTheRings'': In the film of ''The Two Towers'', Aragorn tells Éowyn that it's hard to tell male dwarves from female dwarves because of their beards, and she laughs. In the game, the player character meets a female dwarf named Khrona… who has a beard.

* TastesLikeChicken: Once you get to the Realms of War, Drong will start getting curious as to how ''stone'' tastes. Granite, porphyry, sandstone… you get the idea. He invariably describes the stuff as tasting like chicken. Although hard chicken, or gritty chicken. Then again, one of these quests triggers a rumor in Gluk, which reveals that ogres are notorious for [[CordonBleughChef nasty-tasting, haphazardly-designed]] meals. Some sages' explanation? That ogres ''don't have taste buds''.

* VideoGameCrueltyPunishment: Choose the less moral choice in most side missions, and you'll get stuck with a puny reward or miss out on a far superior one.

[[folder: ''Galactrix contains examples of:'']]

[[folder: ''Puzzle Chronicles contains examples of:'']]

[[folder: ''Puzzle Quest 2:'']]

* ArtificialStupidity: The AI will do whatever the help arrow shows, even if it doesn't help them. It will also collect mana it CAN'T USE. And if your hp is low enough to be finished off by a weapon attack, sometimes it will use a spell.

* DefeatMeansFriendship: [[spoiler:Brek the orc shaman]], which makes sense really.
* DemonicSpider: The Berzerker and its Enrage/Berserk Rage combo. Neither spell has a recharge time, and Berserk Rage can be spammed as long as red mana levels are high enough. And unlike its [=PQ1=] equivalent, Berserk Rage works on any color gem, not just red. A Berserker with a fortunate board setup can literally wipe you out before you have a chance to retaliate.
* EvilAllAlong: [[spoiler:Your in-game guides, The Mother, The Maiden, and The Crone,]] were all a part of the BigBad.

** On the other hand, clearing red gems (whether that's done by you or the Yeti) will actually hurt it. But it will be healed anytime blue gems are cleared. To make matters worse, it has a spell called "Ice Breath" that changes 14 random gems to Blue Gems -- frequently causing it to get several extra turns and fully heal itself. The battle can EASILY end up wearing on until the Crushing Kill.

* ObviousRulePatch: Gold pieces and purple experience stars in the first game became less and less worth your time as the game progressed, so here, they're gone entirely, replaced with Purple Mana (shadow-element) and Fists, which are used to fuel your weapon/item attacks.

* OurDwarvesAreDifferent: The Dark Dwarves were apparently a very intelligent race, based off what you're told when you enter an entire laboratory and library full of research and test-tube experiments that they created. They're still short and talk in the stereotypical fashion for dwarves though.

* ShoutOut: One of the quests is named IT'S A TRAP!

* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: Is the victory fanfare a riff from the old ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|Classic}}'' theme? Not quite.

* There is also a spinoff called ''Marvel Puzzle Quest: Dark Reign'' that combines slightly altered mechanics with a storyline and characters based on the ''VideoGame/MarvelAvengersAlliance'' universe.[[note]]Though it appears Dark Reign is a PQ game InNameOnly - the game play and leveling system are direct lifts from VideoGame/PuzzleAndDragons. Infinite Interactive was a consultant on Dark Reign's design, though, and it was published by the same publisher that handles the other PQ games.[[/note]]

* FollowTheLeader: ''Gyromancer'' on X-Box Live was clearly intended to capitalize on ''Puzzle Quest's'' success. It's basically ''Bejeweled Twist'' Puzzle Quest.

** Challenge of the Warlords: ''Warlords'' meets ''{{Bejeweled}}''.

** Kingdoms: PQ meets ''FireEmblem''.
** [=PQ2=]: PQ meets ''WorldOfWarcraft''.
** [[FullContactMagic Full contact]] {{Bejeweled}}.