History Videogame / TalesOfTheDrunkenPaladin

%%* DropTheHammer: Webber.

* BrutalBonusLevel: Brunswick Valley is a confusing labyrinth full of enemies that can challenge a max level party. This is deconstructed because the town of Topsham is located directly south of the dungeon, which means a well-organized monster invasion could wipe them out. However, clearing the Topsham defense mission successfully will result in all random encounters being eliminated. [[spoiler:Though there are still plenty of BonusBoss enemies in there.]]

** [[spoiler: The Box Demon, a late-game BonusBoss, goes off on a maniacal tangent and outright [[InterfaceScrew glitches up the message box]] before you fight him. [[NightmareFuel It's... quite unnerving.]]]]

* MarathonBoss: Some of the post-Hobotropolis [[BonusBoss Bonus Bosses]] have over 100000 HP, which can take a while to deplete even for a properly leveled party. The Frost Dragon and the Moon Bear also have defensive/healing phases to drag out an already long fight.

* Dissimile: Anebriate's answer to people who ask him what it's like being the "greatest warrior in the universe".

* ViolinScam: Can be performed by the player at one point, if you know what is going to happen (i.e. have played the game before or read the walkthrough). A man offers to sell you [[MysteryBox mystery items]] at ever-increasing outrageous prices, the last one is an apparently worthless trinket, which he then mocks you for. However it's actually an important [[DismantledMacGuffin item]] for a sidequest, when it and the other pieces are collected you can exchange them for more money than you paid the con artist, as well as a very good weapon.

* DifficultySpike: Starting from the [[ThatOneBoss Deep Crow fight,]] the game starts to step up in difficulty little by little. It reaches it's apex once the third story arc kicks off, with hard bosses and [[DemonicSpiders tough enemies]] coming out of the wood-work.

* BlackComedy: '''Boy,''' howdy. The fact that [[Hobos hobos]], of all things, are a central plot point alone very succinctly describes the sense of humor that this game runs on. That's not getting into all the [[DeathAsComedy deaths]] that are portrayed in a comedic manner, and all the instances of BloodyHilarious.

%%* ActionGirl: Emma and Karla.
%%* TheAlcoholic: Anebriate.
* AffectionateParody: Of old-school 90's Japanese RPGs in general; many tropes are turned on their head, lampooned into oblivion, and twisted to hilarious extremes. There's also arguably some elements of DeconstructiveParody, come the latter two thirds of the story.

%%* BearsAreBadNews: Interfecio Ursus and Moon Bear.

%%* BlowYouAway: A few of Dave's secret moves are like this.

** [[spoiler: The Box Demon, a late-game BonusBoss, goes off on a maniacal tangent and outright [[InterfaceScrew glitches up the message box]] before you fight him. [[DarthWiki/NightmareFuel It's... quite unnerving.]]

* GenreSavvy: Despite having amnesia, Anebriate is pretty on the ball on what to expect in an upcoming dungeon. He usually approaches the situation with a lot of snark.
* GlassCannon: Greg. His normal attack deals fairly high ''unblockable'' (mostly) damage. His Critical Pitch move can increase anyone's critical rate by a large margin, including his. In Hobotropolis, he will fall in one hit of nearly every single-target attack, having about half the HP and vitality of everyone else. Fortunately he can also greatly buff his own evasion, reducing the glassiness a little.

* GreatEscape: Happens soon after [[IdiotHero getting locked up by Groobs]]. It succeeds for two reasons: LesCollaborateurs and because [[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy the guards didn't realise that they had to take away everyone's weapons]] (they hadn't done prison work before, you understand). It's so ineffective that [[spoiler: Robert manages to engineer his own ''accidental'' escape.]]

* IdiotHero: Anebriate is really, ''really'' slow sometimes.

* JackOfAllStats: Anebriate. He has good HP, MP, attack damage and has both healing and offensive spells. He's only good for healing/resurrecting, since other characters surpass him in the rest of attributes (for example, Deemer's spells do more damage, Emma has higher attack power, etc)
* {{Jerkass}}: Palmer and the Save Hobo who acts like this to Anebriate for most of Book III. Anebriate is one to the Hobo in return. He eventually back-talks so much to the hobo that he quits his job and is replaced by another hobo who threatens something unspeakable to Anebriate if he doesn't shut up and just cooperate.
** JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Anebriate becomes somewhat more altruistic and Palmer cares about his nuns despite his misogyny. [[spoiler:Even the Save Hobo, Theodore, wrote in his journal that he believed in Anebriate's potential all along.]]

* MadScientist: [[WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce Dr. Weird]] asks Anebriate to hunt down a potato, a chicken, and a cow in a side quest. Yes, there are monsters you must actually defeat for this.

* MasterOfNone: Thanks to the way the AP system works, it is better to concentrate AP into one stat than to spread AP among multiple stats.

* NiceGuy: Dave is willing enough to give Anebriate and the others a ride on his boat for free.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Numerous examples.

** As well as Barnaby Jones, Dr. Weird, and Mechanicor for the most part.
* NonStandardGameOver: If you manage to beat George Washington instead of convincing him to go away, the universe will collapse and force a game over screen.

* PeninsulaOfPowerLeveling: Once you get to the Save Realm, you can beat a dojo and can rechallenge the dojo master until a certain point in the Hobotropolis arc. After each rematch, you get a good amount of EXP and get healed fully to boot.

* PlayingWithFire: Deemer has a few secret moves on this.

* ThePsychoRangers:[[spoiler: Corpse versions of Anebriate, Palmer, Steve, and others.]]

* CerebusSyndrome: The Bowdoin portion of the game's first arc is the first hint that the game isn't just all laughs, due to Anebriate and his group ending up briefly caught in the middle of a mob war; there's a good bit of tension and some rather serious scenes.
* ChainsawGood: Well, it's effective against bears and can be equipped by everybody but anything else receives little damages from it.
* CombatMedic: Anebriate, whose secret moves involves mostly healing and curing status as well as a few offense attacks.

* DamageOverTime: There are several different statuses that do this, but Giant Slayer tends to bypass ContractualBossImmunity more than the others because it only deals 2%.

* DeadpanSnarker: Damn near everyone at one point or another.

* DownloadableContent: Big Trouble in Little China, Maine, and Hobotropolis.
* TheDreaded: A good portion of the Super Castle dialogue is about how George Washington will [[CurbStompBattle brutally murder]] the party, to the point where he is [[AlmightyJanitor exponentially more threatening]] than King Steve.

* DugTooDeep: The reason why Lewiston [[spoiler: has a problem with the [[CreepyCrows Deep Crow]]]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Combined with TemptingFate.
-->'''Anebriate''': "Why is it that everything we encounter turns into a shit-hole? What's next? Giant whales and hippie tribes!?"

** Emma becomes this if she uses Professor Meowmers (raises attack, speed, and spirit but defense drops).
* GodModeSue: In-Universe. Anebriate, at the beginning of the game, starts out nigh invincible with an attack the deals thousands of points in damage and a ridiculously powerful healing spell ...Then he loses his memory, and with it all of his power disappears, and he is reduced to extremely weak spells and attacks until he levels up sufficiently.

* CantDropTheHero: Anebriate can't be removed from the party at all and only certain events will allow the player to control a party that doesn't include him. To compensate, the paladin has higher EXP requirements than other party members, which means the party will still level evenly if the player rotates them.
* CerebusSyndrome: The Lewiston section in the first arc shows just how much damage They did to the town and how the already impoverished citizens live in fear of the Deep Crow. Although Anebriate defeats the crow [[spoiler:and optionally, it's children]], Lewiston is still like a third world country.

* AbsurdlySharpBlade: Emma's choice of weapons.

* ActionGirl: Emma and Karla.
* TheAlcoholic: Anebriate.

* BearsAreBadNews: Interfecio Ursus and Moon Bear.
* BladeOnAStick: Anebriate's choice of weapons.

* BlowYouAway: A few of Dave's secret moves are like this.

* WhipItGood: Dave's choice of weapons.