Line #93 VideoGame/BahamutLagoon


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/coverfrontre0.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350: Bahamut, looking good on the cover.]]
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4	An early StrategyRPG made by Squaresoft (now Creator/SquareEnix) for Platform/SuperFamicom and [[NoExportForYou released only in Japan]] in 1996.
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6	The game is set in the sky world of Orelus, and follows HeroicMime Byuu as he leads the [[LaResistance The Resistance]] against the [[TheEmpire Granvelos Empire]]. Along the way, he rescues his childhood sweetheart, Princess Yoyo. The princess, a descendant of the legendary Dragnar, has the ability to communicate with the Divine Dragons and use their powers in battle. The heroes attempt to collect their power to use against the empire, while Emperor Sauthar attempts to gather them for himself. Their battle against the Empire and the greater threat it unleashes range all across the sky and even into the world of origin for the dragons themselves. And Yoyo's experiences with the Empire weren't all negative...
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8	''Bahamut Lagoon'' is notable for having very pretty graphics, being one of the last Squaresoft games to be released for the Super Nintendo. It's ''also'' notable for having quite explicit sexual content (though primarily in dialogue) and an openly gay (if very stereotyped) old warlock as one of its main characters.
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10	The game includes much of the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' feel and characteristics, including spell names and the names of the dragons: Bahamut, Alexander, Leviathan, and Garuda, to name a few. It directly influenced ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'': the plot structures and several key characters of the two games are very similar.
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12	Two {{fan translation}}s for the game were made over the years. [[http://tomato.fobby.net/bahamut/download.shtml the first one one]] was done by [=DeJap=] in collaboration with Tomato and Neill, and was released on June 16, 2002. [[https://near.sh/bahamut-lagoon The second]] was made by retired emulator developer Near, taking advantage of technological advancements made since the 2002 translation (including tools that Near themselves developed), and released on February 9th, 2021 to commemorate the game's 25th anniversary; it would mark Near's final project before their death the following June.
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14	Compare ''VideoGame/TreasureOfTheRudra'' and ''VideoGame/LiveALive'', two similar Japan-only games released by Creator/SquareSoft near the end of their SNES era.
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16	!!This game contains examples of:
17	%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExamples are not allowed on the wiki. Please expand them with context before uncommenting them. Thank you.
18	* AbductionIsLove: Palpaleos was amongst the Imperials that kidnap Princess Yoyo, [[spoiler: and then they fall in love, since he was nice to her.]]
19	* AerithAndBob: There's Jeanne, Joy, Diana, Anastasia and Frederika, which is rather uncommon but actual names...and then there's Bikkebakke, Nelbo, and Yoyo, which nearly no man would name their child...
20	* AirborneAircraftCarrier: Fahrenheit's main function besides being an HQ, just replace Aircraft with Dragons.
21	* AnotherDimension: [[spoiler: Altair, which can be accessed through an opened rift in the sky.]]
22	%%* AntiVillain: [[spoiler:Both Sauthar and Palpaleos.]]
23	* ArbitraryHeadcountLimit: The number of units allowed on the field is determined by how many dragons are under your control, with four humans being assigned to each dragon.
24	* ArtificialStupidity:
25	** Don't expect your dragons to differentiate between a switch and normal floor. Even if that switch will trigger a trapdoor that instantly kills four of your characters.
26	** The enemy falls victim to this as well--they will always attack the unit that's dealt the most damage to them, even if that unit happens to be invincible or if there's a helpless healing party not too far from it. It also has a compulsion to always attack a single character, never next to a character, so you can easily exploit that to prevent splash damage.
27	** Ranging out mages whose AI dictates they use field attacks is also made trivial for much the same reason as listed above. Enemy mages will never take into account the range bands of their spells, and will only make an attempt to cast a spell on a party if they can get the cursor dead-center on the character. This means you can safely have mages occupy the area just outside of a mage's blast radius and run in on the subsequent turn to get your spells off first.
28	* AssassinOutclassin: When you recruit Sajin and Zeroshin into your army, they also give you a free assassination as a bonus. You can choose the target to be either the RebelliousPrincess, a MightyGlacier or a RedShirt. No prizes for guessing which target is the only one they actually succeed in killing.
29	* BackFromTheBrink: Set to liberate all of the Orelus years after it was completely conquered by TheEmpire.
30	* BittersweetEnding: The game ends with [[spoiler:Palpaleos apparently dead, and Byuu wandering the sky alone]].
31	%%* BlackAndWhiteMagic
32	%%* BrattyHalfPint: Melodia.
33	%%* TheCaligula: Gudolf, oh so much.
34	%%* CampGay: Sendak.
35	%%* CharacterDevelopment: A surprising amount. Mostly for Yoyo.
36	* ChildhoodFriendRomance: Unlucky Childhood Friend variant. Byuu and Yoyo were childhood friends and there is romantic subtext between them. However, by the time the Resistence rescue Yoyo from the Empire, she had already fallen in love with General Palpaleos.
37	%%* TheChosenOne: The Dragnar.
38	* CognizantLimbs: The FinalBoss, [[spoiler:Alexander]], is a four-headed dragon. Sadly, the engine doesn't handle it nearly as well as it could have.
39	* CoolAirship: Fahrenheit, which is an entire floating ''continent''.
40	* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: The dragonites of Altair were suffering under Alexander's rule, but the only reason the Door to a New Age opens and lets monsters into Orelus is because Valitra, Leviathan, Garuda, and Jormungandr try to open it early when Yoyo contains them in her head as a means to oppose the Granvelos Empire. Had Sauthar not brought Yoyo to Campbell - or, more saliently, had he simply been satisfied with ruling the world - the rebel forces would have likely lost and Altair would never have become a problem, as the Divine Dragons could only impotently rage without a Dragnar to act as an extension of their power.
41	* CrutchCharacter: Fittingly enough for a strategy game of its time, Byuu the Cross Knight and the Lancers basically exist to carry the early game party, before the team has all its mages and Light Armors and before Matelite and the Heavy Armors have the SP to use their powerful attacks. Around the mid-way point, Byuu [[spoiler: and by extension, Palpaleos]] and the Lancers quickly fall off in terms of damage potential in regards to the other characters and their dragons.
42	* DamselInDistress: Yoyo. A good part of the game is spent attempting to rescue her from the Empire. [[spoiler: Associated tropes are subverted, though, in that she falls for her kidnapper and is actually the one of most powerful characters in the game, in terms of both story and gameplay.]]
43	* DescentIntoAddiction: As much as a mostly kid-friendly game could get in the 90s - Bikkebakke's odd, drug-induced mannerisms magnify the further into the game the player gets.
44	* DidNotGetTheGirl: [[spoiler:Byuu don't hook up with Princess Yoyo because she is in love with Palpaleos.]] However, the ending [[spoiler:leaves Palpaleos' fate ambiguous, so she might also have ended up alone.]]
45	* TheDragon: Palpaleos to Emperor Sauthar.
46	* DragonRider: Every squad of up to four characters rides a single dragon which gives them powers based on its abilities, and the ability to command that dragon in combat.
47	* DualWielding: Byuu and Palpaleos are seen wielding pairs of blades in their battle sprites, regardless of what sword they have equipped.
48	* ElementNumberFive: Earth, Light and Dark aren't visible in your dragons' stats. Earth is the first extra element, a dragon who knows [[FireIceLightning Fire, Ice and Lightning]] magic can use Earth at the same level as its worst element. Then, a dragon with maxed out Earth, Healing, Poison, Strength and Defense will gain access to the Light and Dark elements. Very few monsters resist these elements, and finishing off enemies with them gives a chance to drop the best items in the game. Unfortunately, they also cost a lot of MP to cast.
49	* ElementalRockPaperScissors
50	* TheEmpire: Granvelos. [[spoiler: Subverted in ending - Kahna itself becomes an empire from LaResistance's work in-game, but is obviously not evil.]]
51	* FatalFlaw: For Sauthar, ambition and an inability to stop while he's ahead. The plot literally only happens because Sauthar isn't satisfied with ruling the world, despite being a popular leader with only two ''incredibly'' small rebel cells opposing him. [[TheBadGuyWins He'd already effectively]] '''[[TheBadGuyWins won his war.]]''' This ends up costing him ''everything'' because it leads him to seek more power from the Divine Dragons, which ends up causing him to blunder Yoyo into the hands of the Kahna resistance, which bolsters their efforts and gives them the force necessary to start taking back Lagoons. It also [[spoiler:directly leads to his death once he makes a pact with monsters to gain the same powers Yoyo has; his powers aren't as potent and he has serious 'weaknesses in his heart' such as doubt and fear as a result of doing so, which the Divine Dragons don't respond well to, causing Sauthar to become wracked with terrible illnesses that leave him a shell of his former self. Thus, he dies when he helps Yoyo contain Hyperion, as the power of even one Divine Dragon swiftly worsens his condition and kills him.]] Really, he would have had everything had he simply been an OrcusOnHisThrone.
52	* FireIceLightning: The three main elemental affinity of your dragons. However, there is other elements, like Earth, Poison and Dark.
53	%%* FishingMinigame: Very briefly, to catch Donfan, of all things.
54	* FloatingContinent: Every single piece of land in the game.
55	* FragileSpeedster: The Light Armor Warriors Lukia, Jeanne and Mist. The Assassins are also rather squishy.
56	* FunctionalAddict: Frederika and Bikkebakke experiment with what should be healing items and mushrooms respectively. While Frederika's addiction and hypochondria sideline her outside of combat, when she needs to do her job as an attendant at the castle or as a warrior and healer during warfare, she takes medications that briefly keep her healthy enough to be useful.
57	* GayOption: You can choose to have Byuu be interested in Sendak instead of Yoyo. [[spoiler:Which is for the best anyway, since ''that scene''...]]
58	* GeoEffects: Different terrains hurt, heal or protect, and all can be altered with the right elemental attack.
59	* GettingHighOnTheirOwnSupply: It is ''heavily'' implied the mushrooms Bikkebakke grows and sells are hallucinogenic, and his idle animation shows him wolfing them down.
60	* GrimyWater: The poison swamp Geo Effect, which could be changed to a normal swamp via healing magic.
61	* GuysSmashGirlsShoot: A majority of male characters are melee-oriented units with maybe some magical capability on the side - Byuu and Palpaleos standing out as being the only characters to effectively mix melee and magic together to become MagicKnight units. If not for the existence of Sendak, ''every'' healer and dedicated mage in the game would be women. The only female characters who specialize in melee at all are the Light Armor warriors, who hit about as hard as the Cross Knights and harder than the Lancers but still pale in comparison to the Heavy Armors.
62	* HardDrinkingPartyGirl: The Light Armor ladies tend to drink a lot.
63	* HeelFaceTurn: A soldier from the Empire, [[spoiler:Palpaleos,]] joins the resistance midway through the story, [[spoiler:in large part due to his love for Princess Yoyo]].
64	* HeroesPreferSwords: Byuu actually uses ''two'' swords, to establish him as cooler than the stock sword-wielding units.
65	* HeroicMime: Byuu don't speak and only interact with other characters through choices made by the player.
66	* HeroicSacrifice: Before the events of the game proper, the rank and file soldiers of Maharl, led by Taicho's wife, Celine, use a suicide charge on Lestat as a means to sneak Taicho and Gunso to safety so that they could return with the forces capable to reclaim Maharl.
67	%%* HeterosexualLifePartners: Sauthar and Palpaleos.
68	%%* HighlyVisibleNinja: Sajin and Zeroshin.
69	%%* HomoeroticSubtext: [[spoiler:Sendak's attraction to Byuu]].
70	* ImprobableWeaponUser: While not having specific characters with improbable weapons, it does have various items that all characters can throw to cause damage or status effects. These items include Sweet Memory, Erotic Book, and [[LethalChef Burnt Cookie]].
71	* JackOfAllStats: Cross Knights Byuu [[spoiler:and Palpaleos]] and to the lesser extent the Knights Rush, Truce and Bikkebakke.
72	* KleptomaniacHeroFoundUnderwear: Byuu finds quite a number of "drawer things" - things from a drawer in the wink and nudge sense. You can also find "Princess' ???", usually in the suspicious location of Yoyo's bed. [[spoiler: In Japan, a certain female body hair is considered a good luck charm.]] However, you can also find "Gunso's ???" by talking to him at pretty much any time...
73	%%* LaResistance: The Resistance[=/=]Orelus Liberation Army.
74	* LadyOfWar: The Light Armors - Lukia, Jeanne, and Mist.
75	%%* MagikarpPower: Minidevils and Dancing, paired with an Uni Uni or Black Dragon.
76	* MagicKnight: Every physical combatant, courtesy of the dragons.
77	* MightyGlacier: Royal Guard Matelite and the Heavy Armor Warriors Taicho, Gunso and Barclay. They are strong and durable, but also slow and miss attacks more than any other class.
78	%%* NeatFreak: Persona.
79	* NeverASelfMadeWoman: A dialog option late into the game, following Yoyo's CharacterDevelopment, can have Byuu admit he feels Yoyo's growth into a strong, able queen is largely a result of her love for Palpaleos and the support he gives her - basically functioning as a source of courage. Yoyo neither confirms nor denies this assertion, and it's left up to the player to decide whether or not Byuu is correct; while Palpaleos does teach Yoyo wartime strategy, Yoyo goes through quite a bit of growth well before Palpaleos joins the party, and Yoyo was heading to Kahna Castle to legitimize her rule and retake her nation just before she ran into and recruited Palpaleos.
80	%%* {{Ninja}}: Assassins Sajin and Zeroshin.
81	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: When you liberate Cambell from TheEmpire 's grip, most of the people (including the queen) are displeased with you doing this. One man says that [[AntiVillain "If we obeyed [The Imperial Soldiers], they were actually nice guys," and another says that Palpaleos told him he'd grow up to be strong.]]
82	* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Effectively the entire plot hinged on Sauthar trying to awaken the Divine Dragons just because he wasn't satisfied with already conquering the world. If not for this choice, the rebel army would have never succeeded - Yoyo would have been killed because she's useless as an asset to Sauthar otherwise, or at least never brought to Campbell to awaken Valitra, and as a result the rebel forces from Kahna would have never recovered their leader. Sauthar also would have been able to put down the rebel forces entirely on his own - the only thing that stopped him from pulling a fait accompli and ending the resistance by his own hand in Campbell was Valitra waking up and knocking him out. The trope is almost exaggerated, because Sauthar pointlessly playing with the main cast and beating them up slowly forced Yoyo to awaken her powers as a Dragnar, which end up allowing her to call upon the powers of the Divine Dragons and unravel the Granvelos Empire.
83	* NoNameGiven: Zora's son. [[spoiler:Eventually revealed to be Orelus, the same name as the world. No plot relevance, though.]]
84	* NonElemental: Uni magic. It's typeless, does double damage, but also has a 50% failure rate.
85	* OneWingedAngel: The final boss starts as a giant [[spoiler: dragon]], and after defeat transforms into a giant, five-headed [[spoiler: dragon]] that takes up the whole map.
86	* ParentalBonus: The game is infamous for being littered with [[VulgarHumor dirty jokes]] and their varying degrees of brazenness. Namely [[spoiler:the 12-pack of condoms in a drawer with one missing, jock itch, possibly the princess's pubes or underwear, old man Sendak's constant passes at Byuu with some lines that had to be cut, Frederika's drug habit, moaning coming from Yoyo's room that isn't due to the Holy Dragons, etc. etc.]]
87	%%* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Both the dragons and the Holy Dragons.
88	%%* PlotCoupon: The Holy Dragons.
89	* RandomEffectSpell: The Mini-Devils' Dances are entirely unpredictable; the pool of effects can be changed based on the dragon associated with them, but there's rarely more than about a 60% chance of getting a positive result. Results can range from various element attacks with varying ranges, healing your party, healing the enemies, healing ''everyone'', putting targets to sleep or poisoning them, etc.
90	%%* RebelliousPrincess: Yoyo.
91	%%* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Yoyo, again.
92	%%* TheSkyIsAnOcean
93	%%* SmallNameBigEgo: Donfan.
94	* SummonMagic: Yoyo and Sendak can summon the obtained Holy Dragons in combat.
95	* {{Superboss}}: The game has special "side quests" - essentially single battles - available throughout the game. One of them, appropriately named Hard Dungeon, is only available in the last seven chapters and is far more difficult than the final boss.
96	* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: [[GainaxEnding Maybe.]] The ending makes it somewhat ambiguous whether the events shown are a dream or not, but [[spoiler: if the event ''did'' happen, Palpaleos gets stabbed in the back by his own people on the balcony of Castle Granvelos. There was no way in a semi-realistic setting [[TheDragon General Susua Palpaleos]] was going to have a happy ending, no matter how much Queen Yoyo may have wished otherwise. Even if, through dialogue options, the player ends up having Byuu be completely fine with Palpaleos ending up with Yoyo, downplaying or eliminating any sexual tension between Byuu and Yoyo to make the relationship work, Byuu is only the start of a '''long''' list of people who would want Palpaleos dead. He'd never get asylum in Kahna given a good half of the party refuses to forgive him for being one of the leading reasons behind the unification war, marrying Palpaleos would have been political suicide for Yoyo given his origins and Palpaleos is clearly aware of how other people feel about him, and returning to Granvelos was a sure way to die given how he effectively betrayed his nation and allowed war to reach the Empire's doorstep. [[ReformedButRejected There was really no other way this could end.]]]]
97	* TalentedPrincessRegularGuy: Byuu might be a pretty good knight, but he takes a back seat, both in power and story role, to Princess Yoyo.
98	* TeethClenchedTeamwork: There's constant in-fighting with some of the rebels, Don Juan's constantly falling for the nearest woman, and not to mention the LoveTriangle that involves an enemy general [[spoiler:working with the rebels...]]
99	* ThisIsTheFinalBattle: Subverted. Hornet tells you the final battle is about to begin in chapter 18, but it doesn't actually happen until chapter 23.
100	* TitleDrop: During the ending. [[spoiler:Bahamut claims Orelus as his lagoon.]]
101	* TokenMiniMoe: Melodia, the youngest of the rebels.
102	* UncertainDoom: During the ending sequence, [[spoiler:Palpaleos is attacked by two of his countrymen who blame him for the war. However, the next scene shows Yoyo waking up from a nightmare, making Palpaleos' fate ambiguous.]]
103	* UnitsNotToScale: Units, forests, castles, houses - they all take up one square. This even has the added bonus of combining this trope with PartyInMyPocket.
104	* UnreliableNarrator: In spades. Due to Byuu being a SupportingProtagonist, generally being silent and his dialogue being up to the player, the LoveTriangle problems, and a short epilogue, we don't get a coherent narrative in general.
105	* UnsoundEffect: The "weird noises" that seem to pop up spontaneously during dialogue seem to indicate arousal (Don Juan's trademark "boing" sound, natch), scheming (Ekatarina's), and spitefulness (Mist).
106	* VideoGameCaringPotential: Between battles, the player is generally given an opportunity to explore around the ship and chat with the party. Byuu can help crewmembers find love, reassure them when they're down, take care to check in on Sendak and Yoyo even when it isn't required, and protect a few crew members from a terrible fate by not involving them in a dangerous reconnaissance mission. Nothing is gained or lost as a result of any of this - these opportunities simply exist to allow the player to bring positivity and light to otherwise grim situations.
107	* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: The game offers ample opportunities to rudely break poor Sendak's heart over and over and over again. ("I don't need any, you old man!")
108	%%* VillainousFriendship: Sauthar and Palpaleos.
109	* VillainWithGoodPublicity: A major issue for the rebel army once they make their move to liberate the various nations of Orelus from Granvelos' control is that many of the nations ''don't want'' to be liberated, which shocks the party when the first nation they liberate, Campbell, effectively offers itself back to the Empire and politely asks the rebels to leave. The prevailing reason behind this is that, though he was unpopular during the actual unification war, Emperor Sauthar benefited from a massive spike in popularity once he won, unified Orelus, and put a stop to any and all warfare. Any nation that wanted to keep their independence was allowed to do so provided a Granvelosian military presence was permitted nearby, and anyone that swore fealty was rewarded with support and aid from Granvelos. The only nations that explicitly welcome the rebels as a result are Maharl - a shadow of its former self, existing only because of a few rebel fighters - and Kahna itself.
110	%%* WeatherOfWar: The Sandstorms.
111	* WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou: If Byuu's party falls, the game is over. Which is egregious, as he's merely a SupportingProtagonist, you'd think the princess' death would demoralise everyone.
112	* WhatTheHellHero: This unfortunately happens with some degree of regularity, largely outside the player's control - or worse, when the player has the illusion of control.
113	** A flashback involves Byuu sneaking Yoyo out of the castle to go on a joyride with a dragon. Matelite is left irate.
114	** Played for humor (sort of) at one point. Byuu gets called out on the torture of an enemy soldier if the player chooses to do so. [[ButThouMust Not that the player has any real choice there.]]
115	** Following the awakening of Garuda, Rush has a childish moment of surliness and locks Matelite out of the ship's entry. He strings Byuu along with shopping and feeding the dragons while Matelite is literally left sobbing at how cruel the party is being to him for no reason. You ''cannot'' open the door or shout Rush down for this, and it nearly results in Rush and Byuu getting killed when monsters invade the flight deck. This briefly precludes Byuu and Rush from any further strategic meetings with Yoyo, which can sting for the player given how they had no control of the situation.
116	%%* WombLevel: The Imperial flying giant nautilus.
117	%%* WorldInTheSky

Context VideoGame / BahamutLagoon