History Videogame / UnchainedBlades

A unique feature of the game is recruiting enemies sufficiently weak enough to be "unchained" -- that is, being freed \from their feral nature. This turns them into MonsterAllies ("followers") that can be equipped to the main characters ("masters"). When equipped, these monsters enable certain skills to be used depending on the monster's characteristic "anima" (for example, to use Flame Strike you need to equip a monster that has Fire Anima) and at the same time function as meat shields for the masters, taking enemy attacks and sometimes completely deflecting them.

Unchained Blades ("[=UnchainBlades REXX=]" in the original Japanese version) is a dungeon crawling RPG released on the PSP in Japan on 14 July 2011, with a digital release for both the [=3DS=] and the PlayStationPortable by XSEED. The game was also localized by XSEED in North American on June 26, 2012 for the PSP, and the [=3DS=]'s digital version on January 3, 2013.

* ActionGirl: Tiana in ''Rexx'' and Diane in ''Exxiv''.

Unchained Blades ("[=UnchainBlades REXX=]" in the original Japanese version) is a dungeon crawling RPG released on the PSP in Japan on 14 July 2011, with a digital release for both the [=3DS=] and the PlayStationPortable by XSEED. The game was also localized by XSEED has a North American release on June 26, 2012.

* AndIMustScream: People that wander around the Titans for too long become heavily affected by their strong wish. According to Sylvie, if anybody wanders a Titan for too long, their wish turns into desire, and then the desire turns into lust at which point the victim starts descending into madness that turns them into mindless monsters until somebody unchains them. To make a point, Niko is from the Spirit Fox clan. ''There's an enemy monster called Spirit Fox in Titan Slon.''

* SanitySlippage: [[spoiler: Huadli and Hector.]]

** Judgment Battles: A minigame where your party plots your entire Follower army against a large group of monsters in a ZergRush battle. In ''Rexx'' there is a box in the middle of the screen, and arrows move from the left of the screen. Pressing the directional buttons corresponding to these arrows will improve your army's odds in the battle. In ''Exxiv'' players must hold Circle to charge Followers' attacks. In some occasions a monster from each side engages in Single Combat, where the player must [[ButtonMash mash X]] to win, resulting in a few enemy losses. At other times a Master will personally intervene; pressing the right button results in a successful attack.

* DarkIsNotEvil: Despite being of the Reaper Clan, Sylvie is the nicest and most motherly of the three girls.

-->Sylvie: Kumichi Yoshizuki (Manga/MahouTsukaiNiTaisetsuNaKotoNatsuNoSora)

-->Mint: KEI (Music/{{Vocaloid}})

-->''Fang'' (pako) almost looks like a LongHairedPrettyBoy version of Toma from ''[[VideoGame/ShiningForce Shining Force EXA]]''.
-->''Tiana'' (Haruyuki Morisawa) is an ActionGirl version of Amane from ''VideoGame/DreamCClub''.
-->''Ryuga'' (Suzuhito Yasuda) is a silver-haired version of the protagonist from ''VideoGame/DevilSurvivor''.
-->''Mint'' (KEI) is a blatant mix of ''Music/{{Vocaloid}}'s'' Len Kagamine's blond hair and Miku Hatsune's {{twintails}}.

A sequel (with the name "EXXIV") is released for both formats once again on November 15, 2012. This time it focuses on the fallout of the usurpation of Clunea's position by another god named Zodias, and focuses on a new trio of protagonists -- Ryuga, the last of the Ouroboros dragons; Sofia, an amnesiac avatar of Clunea created immediately after her downfall; and Hilda, a tomboyish demon swordswoman who only wants to be "manly".

* DiskOneNuke: Inverted. If the term refers to an attack that is borderline GameBreaker on one disk and then loses its usefulness on the next, then the first dungeon must consist of several (metaphorical) disks. At the end of the tutorial dungeon, you get the Kaiser Knuckles which can be used by Fang or your tank Hector. In the tutorial dungeon, this weapon practically OHKO's everything it touches. On the first floor of the next dungeon Titan Darius, one attack from the Kaiser Knuckles reduces a monster's HP by about 1/3.

* {{Expy}}: Owing to the series' multi-artist nature.

* FighterMageThief: Little thinner than most as all are [[MagicKnight Magic Knights]]. In Tiana's trio, Tiana's the fighter, Sylvie's the mage and Niko is the thief.
* GameplayAndStoryIntegration: The Unchaining mechanism is used throughout chapter 1 as a solely gameplay-related mechanism to recruit monsters. Come chapter 2, where [[spoiler: you save Huadli the druid from [[SanitySlippage descending into madness]] by Unchaining him]].
* GenkiGirl: Niko all the way.

A unique feature of the game is recruiting enemies sufficiently weak enough to be "unchained" -- that is, being freed from their feral nature. This turns them into MonsterAllies ("followers") that can be equipped to the main characters ("masters"). When equipped, these monsters enable certain skills to be used depending on the monster's characteristic "anima" (for example, to use Flame Strike you need to equip a monster that has Fire Anima) and at the same time function as meat shields for the masters, taking enemy attacks and sometimes completely deflecting them.

A sequel (with the name "EXXIV") is to be released for both formats once again on 15 November 2012.

!!This game provides examples of:

* TheAce: Fang calls himself the most powerful being in the world, barges in on Clunea with the intent she tell him who is the strongest person in the world just so he can beat him and take the title officially. Being depowered doesn't change him much.

** Unchaining: This is the most frequently-faced application of Action Commands. A gradually shrinking circle appears on the screen when the Unchain command is used on an Unchainable monster. There is a maximum and minimum limit for the size of this circle, and pressing X when the circle is of an acceptable size results in a successful Unchain.
** Judgment Battles: A minigame whereby your party plots your entire Follower army against a large group of monsters in a ZergRush battle. There is a box in the middle of the screen, and arrows move from the left of the screen. Pressing the directional buttons corresponding to these arrows will improve your army's odds in the battle.
** There are also events in Judgment Battles that occur randomly. One is Single Combat, where one of your followers challenges an enemy monster in a one-on-one duel where you [[ButtonMash mash X]] to win - the side that wins the battle also knocks off a couple other monsters from the enemy's army. The other is a Master's attack, whereby a random face button appears on the screen that, if pressed within one second of it appearing, will allow a party member to use an attack to knock a couple of enemies from the monster army.
* ActionGirl: Tiana.
* BroughtDownToBadass: What happens to Fang early on as punishment by Clunea for his insolence. Still that doesn't keep him from kicking much ass, though he still yearns for the days when he was curmbstomping foes with a swipe of his claws.

-->Reisled: Katsumi Enami (VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroes: Zero no Kiseki)
-->The Dark Knight: Yoshitaka Amano (FinalFantasy series)

--->MamoruMiyano as Ryuga
--->NanaMizuki as Sofia
--->Shiori Mikami (Akari Akaza of Manga/{{Yuru-Yuri}}) as Hilda
--->RyokoShiraishi as Diane
--->KazuyaNakai as Sieg
--->AiNonaka as Mint
--->Minami Tsuda (Yui Funami of Manga/{{Yuru-Yuri}}) as Emil
--->YuuichiNakamura as Reiseld
--->ToshioFurukawa as the Dark Knight
--->KenjiNojima as Zodias

* SanitySlippage: [[spoiler: Huadli.]]

* StandardRPGCombatRoles: Each character has his/her own Skill Map corresponding to their roles in the party: LightningBruiser Fang only has Sword, Spear and Claw proficiency nodes and a couple of offensive magic skills, SquishyWizard Silvie has skills that restore her MP whenever she kills monsters or gets hit, WhiteMagicianGirl Lapis has Heal as the first node in her Skill Map, and so on.

* PointBuildSystem: The game employs the Skill Map which [[ShoutOut suspiciously resembles]] the Sphere Grid in FFX. Leveling up grants you 2SP, which can be used on the Skill Map to acquire a node for every SP (which in turn allows the adjacent nodes to be acquired). The nodes either involve an increase to a single stat (+1 STR, +1 INT, +1 VIT or +1 SPD), a boost to weapon proficiency, acquisition of a new skill, or unlocking a higher-level [[LimitBreak Burst]]. Each character has his/her own Skill Map corresponding to their roles in the party: LightningBruiser Fang has an offense-oriented Skill Map, MightyGlacier Hector has a defense-oriented Skill Map, WhiteMagicianGirl Lapis has a healing-oriented Skill Map, and so on.

* MagicCandy: The standard permanent-stat-boosting fruits are present here. There are also fruits that boost followers' stats permanently, though considering how followers have a level limit and eventually have to be released, these follower-boosting fruits don't come in handy until late game. There's also the [=Mazuba=] Candy, which instantly boosts a follower's mood.

* NintendoHard: An interesting case where the difficulty of the game actually decreases as you play through it. The consensus is that the first chapter of the game, with an [[SNKBoss SNK ''first boss'']], is in fact the toughest.

* SNKBoss: The first boss of the game is commonly considered to be the most difficult, even taking into account optional bosses. There are three main reasons for this:

* MagicKnight: Pretty much all the characters.

Unchained Blades ("[=UnchainBlades REXX=]" in the original Japanese version) is a dungeon crawling RPG released on the Nintendo3DS in Japan on 14 July 2011, with a digital release for both the [=3DS=] and the PlayStationPortable by XSEED. A unique feature of the game is recruiting enemies sufficiently weak enough to be "unchained" -- that is, being freed from their feral nature.

Unchained Blades (with "REXX" added in the original Japanese version) is a dungeon crawling RPG released on the Nintendo3DS in Japan on 14 July 2011, with a digital release for both the [=3DS=] and the PlayStationPortable by XSEED. A unique feature of the game is recruiting enemies sufficiently weak enough to be "unchained" -- that is, being freed from their feral nature.

* FighterMageThief: Little thinner than most as all are [[MagicKnight Magic Knights]],in Tianas trio, Tianas the fighter, Sylvies the mage and Niko is the thief.