History VideoGame / WildARMs2

* BonusBoss: Lots of them, entrapped within the sealed pyramids you see floating around certain towns and dungeons.

* RecurringBoss: You fight almost every major villain three times, including each member of Cocytus, Kanon, Liz and Ard, and Vinsfeld [[spoiler:(the third time is his ghost, as a BonusBoss)]].

** Lilka and Antenora, as something of TheChick for their teams. Both are apparently the only living members of their families, and are part of different love triangles - Lilka [[spoiler:loses hers]], while Antenora [[spoiler:has already won hers]]. Lilka struggles to find direction for her life, overshadowed by her missing sister. Antenora, meanwhile, has an abundance of direction, all toward [[spoiler:the grave, as she intends on getting herself killed after winning Vinsfeld's heart, to then rip it out with her death in a long-delayed vengeance for the deaths of her family in the Slayheim revolution]].

** Some of the puzzle solutions, especially on the second disc, are quite obscure and would have required references on Wiki/TheOtherWiki if The Other Wiki had ''existed'' back then. Also, if you don't receive recommendations on which Personal Skills to pour your points into ([[PointOfNoReturn which you can't take back, by the way, unlike the games that followed]]), it's very easy to have an underpowered party and struggle through the game.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Way to go, [[spoiler:Irving]]. You genuinely saved the universe, and all it took was a boatload of NecessaryEvil that [[DespairEventHorizon tore the heroes an emotional new one]]. Oh, and did I mention that the demon inside of Ashley feeds off of negative feelings? [[spoiler:The demon that ''you put there!?'']]

* BossSubtitles

* CognizantLimbs: A lot of bosses, which grant bonus experience at the end of the battle if you destroy the parts before the core.

* BabiesEverAfter: In the epilogue, [[spoiler:Ashley and Marina have two kids]].

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

** Brads HoYay subtext actually comes from this, due to the games overuse of PurpleProse in its writing.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: If you've played ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'', many things about ''Wild Arms 2'' will seem oddly familiar.
** The navigation has extremely similar camera rotation and platform mechanics, but unlike in ''Xenogears'' you aren't able to jump up. The sprites on 3D background were in an extremely similar visual style as well.
** Both games' worlds have extremely violent histories that at least once or twice involved the a planet-wide near-genocide. But the theme of Filgaia being a scorched world is common to the ''Wild Arms'' series in general.
** The Sword Magess was a fairly ordinary girl who became a Hero of extraordinary means and elevated to legendary icon SacrificialLion, reminiscent of Sophia's tragic canonization in ''Xenogears''.
** Though a trend already started in the first ''{{VideoGame/Wild ARMs|1}}'' game, Filgaia is a scorched world, having seen the trauma of cataclysms in the past. Similarly, the world of ''Xenogears'' has been battered just as badly, with one continent shattered and another continent all but desertified -- the latter being similar to Slayheim's utter desertification in ''Wild Arms 2''. There seems to be at least mild cross-pollination of concepts.
** Ashley holds two conflicting personalities within him, one of which is a veritable EldritchAbomination, which is very reminiscent of Fei's cataclysmic Id in ''Xenogears''. In both cases, the protagonist gains effective partial control over their dark size and summon it to battle when necessary. But neither have total control over it.
** Valeria Chateau feels very much like the Yggdrasil in ''Xenogears'', being simultaneously a base of operations, a small town of inhabitants, a fairly complex explorable structure, and later actually gains the ability to [[GlobalAirship fly]].
** [[spoiler:Marivel]] is the last of [[spoiler:her]] kind after they were wiped out suddenly by Lord Blazer. In ''Xenogears'', Dominia Yizkor believes herself to be the last of her exotic [[OurElvesAreDifferent elf-like]] race, which was all but wiped out overnight by Id, who as mentioned above also has interesting parallels with Lord Blazer.
** Just as ''Xenogears'' introduced a dizzying complexity of world background and plot turns that rarely seemed so numerous in a game of its time, the ''Wild Arms 2'' story and game script seems endlessly detailed. But this trend was increasingly arising in most console {{RPG}}s of the day.
** Not having anything to do with Xenogears, Tim's friends are apparently [[http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080424183604/wildarms/images/a/a0/Tony_Stark.png Iron Man]] and [[http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080424194233/wildarms/images/d/d2/Scott.png Cyclops]]

** GoneHorriblyRight: [[spoiler: copied so well they include his ExplosiveLeash. Oops.]]

* EvolvingCredits: The opening animation changes depending on how far into the game you are.

* SolemnEndingTheme: "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr08LGkX4gM Atomic Arms]]" and "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1d4y9Qge3E Zephyr's]]", the ending themes of Disc 1 and 2 respectively.

* HomoeroticSubtext: Caina and Vinsfield (Caina was [[ShesAManInJapan male in the Japanese version]]); definitely also Billy Pilder and Brad Evans, who even manage to avoid being HeterosexualLifePartners by failing to be heterosexual in any way.

** Apparently, in Japan, Brad and Billy were slanted as an actual couple, and North America tried to [[HideYourGays tone it down]] when they brought it over. Obviously, it didn't work.

* SuddenlySpeaking: [[spoiler: Ashley, because Lord Blazer talks through him]].

* HeroicMime: Ashley [[spoiler: though only his non-Lord Blazer self]].

* GuideDangIt: Some of the puzzle solutions, especially on the second disc, are quite obscure and would have required references on Wiki/TheOtherWiki if The Other Wiki had ''existed'' back then. Also, if you don't receive recommendations on which Personal Skills to pour your points into ([[PointOfNoReturn which you can't take back, by the way, unlike the games that followed]]), it's very easy to have an underpowered party and struggle through the game.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Wild_Arms_2.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:The sunset got more room than the characters]]

Most of the playable characters have (noncanonical) cameos in ''VideoGame/WildArms5'', just like all the other heroes in the series. Marivel also stars in a story that the characters read in ''VideoGame/WildArms3''.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: See GRatedSex below. Also, [[spoiler:Irving and Altacia are very strongly implied as [[BrotherSisterIncest being in a relationship]]]].

* GRatedSex: [[spoiler: Ashley and Marina]]. The scene does a FadeToBlack, but the subtitles that stay are pretty much GettingCrapPastTheRadar.

* [[ArcWords Arc Word]]: Hero. The entire game is an analysis of what it means to be a hero.

* [[DoNotAdjustYourSet Do Not Adjust Your Mirrors, Windows, and Pools of Water]]: Odessa makes itself known to the world by transmitting Vinsfeld's message across ''every reflective surface in the world.''

* [[NoNameGiven No Name Given]]/OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Lilka's sister, "The Eleniak Witch-Girl". Quite odd, considering she's FamedInStory to the point of Lilka having a bit of an inferiority complex.

* StrangledByTheRedString: During a sequence where characters are being formally paired up with love interests or friends, Marivel and Tony share a scene which starts as her playing along with his childish crush, but ends with her expressing some genuine interest in him. The two characters interact rarely, if ever, for the entire rest of the game and their entire relationship can be summed up as [[spoiler: "Vampires are awesome!" on Tony's end.]]

* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: [[spoiler: The Kuiper Belt]] is not even hinted at for the entire first disc, and is the focus of the second.

Like the other ''[[Franchise/WildArms Wild ARMs]]'' games, the story takes place on the planet Filgaia, which, long ago, was attacked by a powerful demon. A magical sword chose a young woman, known as the Sword Magess, to wield it against the monster, banishing it to another dimension. Centuries later, when a young man is possessed by the demon, he is also granted the sword's powers, which not only returns him to normal but grants him great powers. Because of that, he is chosen to become part of the A.R.M.S., a new international anti-terrorist organization, to combat Odessa, a group that seeks to rule the world. Joining him are various heroes from around the planet.

Most of the playable characters have (noncanonical) cameos in ''[[VideoGame/WildArms5 Wild ARMs 5]]'', just like all the other heroes in the series. Marivel also stars in a story that the characters read in ''[[VideoGame/WildArms3 Wild ARMs 3]]''.

** Though a trend already started in the first ''WildArms'' game, Filgaia is a scorched world, having seen the trauma of cataclysms in the past. Similarly, the world of ''Xenogears'' has been battered just as badly, with one continent shattered and another continent all but desertified -- the latter being similar to Slayheim's utter desertification in ''Wild Arms 2''. There seems to be at least mild cross-pollination of concepts.

* GuideDangIt: Some of the puzzle solutions, especially on the second disc, are quite obscure and would have required references on TheOtherWiki if TheOtherWiki had ''existed'' back then. Also, if you don't receive recommendations on which Personal Skills to pour your points into ([[PointOfNoReturn which you can't take back, by the way, unlike the games that followed]]), it's very easy to have an underpowered party and struggle through the game.

* ShoutOut: The land of Urartu was once the home of the [[spoiler:Crimson Nobles]], but was genocidally depopulated during the past rampage of Lord Blazer. Urartu is an archaic name for UsefulNotes/{{Armenia}}, where a RealLife genocide in WorldWarOne killed 1.5 million Armenians, including nearly the entire Armenian population in most of the former West Armenia.

** Brad and Rico are both tall half-WalkingShirtlessScene MightyGlacier badasses wearing an ExplosiveLeash while sitting in prison for years, slated to become mighty heroes with a potent LGBTFanbase factor. And considering that Rico's chronic roommate is a smaller AmbiguouslyGay guy [[spoiler:whom Rico later mourns and frequently reminisces about]], it begins to seem like Brad is all but a RaceLift CaptainErsatz of Rico.

* TheAlcatraz - Ilsveil Prison.
* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs - At least once.
* [[ArcWords Arc Word]] - Hero. The entire game is an analysis of what it means to be a hero.
* AscendedExtra - You'll be surprised to see how much Tony took Marina's screen time in the Drama CD.

* BFG - Brad's weapons of choice are generally this, especially his Railgun.
* BlindIdiotTranslation - The game script has signs of this throughout and it's jarring when one comes upon them, but overall the translation is actually fairly decent for a Playstation-era Japanese RPG. Not to say it's great, but it's definitely better than both versions of ''VideoGame/WildArms1''.

* BonusBoss - Lots of them, entrapped within the sealed pyramids you see floating around certain towns and dungeons.
* BoxedCrook - Prisoner No. 666 Brad Evans.

* TheCameo - Axel and Ruka (translated as 'Luka' in the English version) from ''Gunner's Heaven'' appear in a bar named after their game of origin.
* ChildMage - Tim and Lilka.
* CognizantLimbs - A lot of bosses, which grant bonus experience at the end of the battle if you destroy the parts before the core.
* CombinedEnergyAttack - [[spoiler:How the BigBad is destroyed.]]
* CurbStompBattle - The second battle with Trask after Ashley [[spoiler: gains his superpower]]. What was about half an hour ago a reasonably tough boss battle for Ashley, Lilka and Brad is now a powerless wimp for Ashley by himself. Trask can barely hurt Ashley with the big damage attack, and does single digits (or 0 depending on your level and gear) damage with its regular attacks, and seems to always miss with the poison breath. All it can do is flail around helplessly while you murder it.

* DiscOneFinalDungeon - Heimdall Gazzo, which leads up to [[spoiler: Ashley temporarily being stranded in outer space]].
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything - If you've played ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'', many things about ''Wild Arms 2'' will seem oddly familiar.

* [[DoNotAdjustYourSet Do Not Adjust Your Mirrors, Windows, and Pools of Water]] - Odessa makes itself known to the world by transmitting Vinsfeld's message across ''every reflective surface in the world.''
* {{Doppelganger}} - [[spoiler:Several fashioned in Brad's image.]]
** GoneHorriblyRight - [[spoiler: copied so well they include his ExplosiveLeash. Oops.]]
* DreamingOfThingsToCome - The Dreamseers of the Baskar have this ability, granted by the Guardians.
* DuelBoss - Trask (the second time), Caina (the last time), [[spoiler:Brad's doppelganger]], Judecca, Vinsfield, the [[spoiler:Kuiper Belt roots]] and [[spoiler:Lord Blazer]]. Possibly even more. There are a lot of 'em.

* EldritchAbomination - Lord Blazer, along with the SealedEvilInACan like Ragu O'Ragula. And then there's [[spoiler:the Kuiper Belt]], which is somewhere between this and...
* EldritchLocation - [[spoiler:[[BossSubtitles Encroaching Parallel Universe: Kuiper Belt]]]]
* EveryoneCanSeeIt - ''Everyone'' in Meria assumes Ashley and Marina are going to get together sooner rather than later, no matter [[SheIsNotMyGirlfriend how much Ashley protests]]. It doesn't help his case that Ashley spends his first leave from [=ARMs=] visiting her, or that he instantly decides to give her a gem he finds. Not to mention he goes into a genuine panic when someone brings it up.
* EvilCounterpart - Odessa to ARMS in general, and Cocytus to the main team in specific. The Cocytus members often parallel or invert something important about their counterpart in ARMS. To wit:

* EvolvingCredits - The opening animation changes depending on how far into the game you are.
* EvolvingWeapon - You can buy upgrades for Ashley's and Brad's guns.
* ExplosiveLeash - On Brad.
* FakeDifficulty - You can't buy healing items (though as with later games, this is justified as Filgaia is mostly a barren wasteland). You also can't take back Personal Skill points once you've used them to buy skills. Did you buy a useless skill? Sorry! [[spoiler:Put everything into Up HP first and don't ever get the status resistances, with the ''possible'' exception of Ability Block.]] However, see the GameBreaker entry on healing items.

* FantasticNuke - One mission has you intercepting a "nuclear weapon". It gets unleashed and it's a nuclear breathing ''dragon''.

* FantasyCounterpartCulture - The American Old West combined with the Modern World

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar - See GRatedSex below. Also, [[spoiler:Irving and Altacia are very strongly implied as [[BrotherSisterIncest being in a relationship]]]].
* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere - [[spoiler: The Kuiper Belt]] is not even hinted at for the entire first disc, and is the focus of the second.

* GRatedSex - [[spoiler: Ashley and Marina]]. The scene does a FadeToBlack, but the subtitles that stay are pretty much GettingCrapPastTheRadar.

* GuideDangIt - Some of the puzzle solutions, especially on the second disc, are quite obscure and would have required references on TheOtherWiki if TheOtherWiki had ''existed'' back then. Also, if you don't receive recommendations on which Personal Skills to pour your points into ([[PointOfNoReturn which you can't take back, by the way, unlike the games that followed]]), it's very easy to have an underpowered party and struggle through the game.
* HelloInsertNameHere - To a rather ridiculous extent; you can name not only the party members and Lilka's spells, but almost every single plot-important NPC ally in the game.
* HeroicSacrifice - [[DeconstructedTrope This is a major theme throughout the game. Apparently, it's the job of heroes to sacrifice their happiness and their lives so the common people don't have to fight.]] The game makes a heavy point of pointing out all the myriad flaws of this idea. [[spoiler:In the end a planet-wide CombinedEnergyAttack is much more effective.]]

* TheHero - The concept is put through the wringer, along with HeroicSacrifice, above. Ashley's early fixation on becoming a hero comes off as fairly naive, Brad is hostile to the very idea (and blames it for his arrest at the beginning of the game), and Kanon is utterly driven by the need to live up to her legendary ancestor, the Sword Magess. Just to drive it in further, after you fight Kanon for the third time, Judecca comes along to mock her and Ashley and the simplistic black-and-white morality inherent in the idea:

* HonorBeforeReason - Kanon is obsessed with her family honor, as is Irving. [[spoiler:Not particularly surprising as they are in the same family, after all.]]
* HomoeroticSubtext - Caina and Vinsfield (Caina was [[ShesAManInJapan male in the Japanese version]]); definitely also Billy Pilder and Brad Evans, who even manage to avoid being HeterosexualLifePartners by failing to be heterosexual in any way.

* HumongousMecha - Marivel uses these as her summons. Some of the Bosses are Mecha as well.

* ImprobableWeaponUser - Lilka (umbrellas) and Marivel (robot-things)

* InterchangeableAntimatterKeys - Duplicators.
* JustifiedTutorial - All three characters' introductory chapters, since they can be done in any order.
* LetsSplitUpGang - For the final three sub-boss fights.
* TheLifestream - Glaive Le Gable.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero - Way to go, [[spoiler:Irving]]. You genuinely saved the universe, and all it took was a boatload of NecessaryEvil that [[DespairEventHorizon tore the heroes an emotional new one]]. Oh, and did I mention that the demon inside of Ashley feeds off of negative feelings? [[spoiler:The demon that ''you put there!?'']]

* OurVampiresAreDifferent - [[spoiler:Marivel]] and the other Crimson Nobles. They're still pretty traditional Vampires as far as this trope is concerned (Exposure to sunlight is life-threatening, they drink blood, they even have the fancy collars and [[Franchise/{{Castlevania}} annoyingly-designed castle]]).

* PensieveFlashback - The Memory Maze
* PercussiveMaintenance - Using Brad's kick ability on a malfunctioning computer terminal in the prison level makes it work again, giving you access to a room with a few bonus stat boosters.
* PlotTailoredToTheParty - Some of the dungeons are tailored to the party's skills to a ''ridiculous'' extreme. Others are slightly justified by having the tool necessary to get through given right there - either left behind by the makers (such as Tim's Air Ballet) or given expressly because it could be used to get through (Ashley's throwing knife).
* ThePowerOfFriendship - A mild theme throughout the game, [[spoiler:exemplified in Ashley's Impulse ability in the final battle]].
* RecurringBoss - You fight almost every major villain three times, including each member of Cocytus, Kanon, Liz and Ard, and Vinsfeld [[spoiler:(the third time is his ghost, as a BonusBoss)]].

* TheScapegoat - Brad is in jail for a crime he didn't commit; later, Ashley and company almost get executed [[spoiler: but SuperPoweredEvilSide [[DeusExMachina Ex Machina]] happens]].

* SpritePolygonMix - Overworld sprites, polygon battle screens.
* StableTimeLoop - Ashley meets [[spoiler:the Sword Magess, Lucied, and Marivel]] during a time travel sequence.

* StupidSacrifice - Luckily averted in [[spoiler:Tim's]] case, and is a major theme throughout the story.

* TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon - The final dungeon in this game sees the party heading into [[spoiler: the living, mud core of the planet called Glaive Le Gable,]] where [[spoiler: an encroaching parallel universe has been manifested into a physical form.]] Before this dungeon was a huge, inverted Spiral Tower located conveniently on the center of the world map, and on the highest point to boot.

* WhatTheHellHero - To say Ashley is outraged over [[spoiler:Baskar Village's [[StupidSacrifice plans]] for Tim]] would be a ''huge'' understatement. He's also outraged that [[spoiler:Irving arranged for him to be sent to Ilsveil Prison, risking both his and Lilka's lives, just to recruit Brad.]]

** Brad and Rico are both tall half-WalkingShirtlessScene MightyGlacier {{Badass}}es wearing an ExplosiveLeash while sitting in prison for years, slated to become mighty heroes with a potent LGBTFanbase factor. And considering that Rico's chronic roommate is a smaller AmbiguouslyGay guy [[spoiler:whom Rico later mourns and frequently reminisces about]], it begins to seem like Brad is all but a RaceLift CaptainErsatz of Rico.