Line #32 VideoGame/DoctorLautrecAndTheForgottenKnights


1	[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/DoctorLautrec_7903.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:250:They Tame Ghosts!]]
3	''Doctor Lautrec and the Forgotten Knights'' is an ActionAdventure game by {{Creator/Konami}} for the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS, released in 2011.
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5	[[AdventurerArchaeologist Doctor Lautrec]] is a [[GeniusBruiser French professor]] at a museum who studies ancient treasures, solves mysteries, and [[GottaCatchThemAll tames ghosts]] that he cannot even sense. and all the while [[BadassInANiceSuit he's got a suit]], top hat with a monkey in it, a peppy female assistant (who '''can''' see these ghosts) named Sophie, and a few more colorful characters to go with it.
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8	!! Contains examples of:
9	* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: The Catacombs of Paris are sometimes improbably shaped and located (especially when the entrance glyphs are sometimes placed on ROOFS of buildings, yet the tileset for the catacomb in question will still be an underground one).
10	* ArchEnemy: Professor Gustav to Doctor Lautrec.
11	** DrivenByEnvy: Milady reveals that the reason for their rivalry is [[spoiler: her telling Gustav that Lautrec's silk hat looks better]].
12	* ADayInTheLimelight: One questline has you controlling (and therefore watching walk around the maps) Sophie instead of Lautrec, and deals with her frustration at playing second fiddle to him (and her mother's displeasure with her adventuring ways).
13	* AdventurerArchaeologist: Lautrec, although he always takes offense at being called "a mere adventurer".
14	* AndTheAdventureContinues: Chapter 7 is a PostScriptSeason of sorts, tying up the personal plot lines of each character and wrapping up the story of the titular knights in the aftermath of what happened in the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon.
15	** In a greater sense, the multiple {{Sequel Hook}}s strewn about the latter third of the game, as [[spoiler: Lautrec and Sophie depart for Italy once you complete Chapter 7]].
16	* ArtisticLicenseGeography: The in-game Paris is significantly condensed from the real one, but all the major streets and squares are represented, complete with landmarks and little historical tidbits like their prior (and future) names and historical significance.
17	* AsYouKnow: Used in order to fill the player in on information about French history they wouldn't otherwise be aware of, sometimes at the cost of making various characters seem ill-informed.
18	* BadassLongcoat: Lautrec, Claude and Vidocq all sport these.
19	* BarrierChangeBoss: Sang Maudit. The FinalBoss does this also.
20	* BetaCouple: Milady and Claude to Sophie and Lautrec.
21	* BoisterousBruiser: Professor Gustav. He prefers to [[ThereWasADoor break down walls of the labyrinths]] instead of solving the puzzles on the door locks.
22	* BossCorridor: Before virtually every final Treasure Animatus in a given labyrinth.
23	* BunnyEarsLawyer: Several.
24	** Lautrec himself. He does surprisingly little... well, doctor-of-natural-history-ing, and on many occasions goes into lengthy rants about why he's superior and different from all those run-of-the-mill 'adventurers'... yet most of the time the only thing he does is adventurer-ing. And unlike Indiana Jones, he doesn't have anything to show for it for the museum's benefit afterward, since the Treasure Animatus he recovers is deadly. It's a miracle he keeps his job.
25	** Gustav is actually a shrewd businessman, it's just that he spends too little time in the office and too much time traipsing about adventuring. Lautrec tricks him into going back to his office at one point to prove it.
26	* CharacterNameAndTheNounPhrase
27	* ClarkKenting: Milady and her mask. Once Sophie sees her 'real' persona, she almost immediately spots the resemblance, but keeps it to herself.
28	* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: The different Knight orders. The different spirit types also have their own colours.
29	* ComplexityAddiction: Why Lautrec got into hunting for Treasure Animatus to begin with, as he has no actual use or interest in the Treasures themselves, only in the puzzles protecting them. See also NiceJobBreakingItHero.
30	* {{Curse}}: The Treasure Animatus. At least one person who touched it unprotected died on the spot, and multiple quests mention that even if they don't kill you outright, you can still get hurt from touching them before they're tamed.
31	* DominoMask: Milady wears a variant.
32	* DuelingGames: With the ''VideoGame/ProfessorLayton'' series in general and ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheLastSpecter'' in specific.
33	* DungeonCrawling: Under Paris, finding ancient treasures and the like haunted by ghosts.
34	* EiffelTowerEffect: Played with. It's IN the game logo, but since the game takes place as it is being built... well, so is the tower in the logo.
35	* EscapeRope: The Aller Simple item.
36	* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Milady, the owner of Le Repaire. Also, the Phantom (yes, of [[ShoutOut The Opera]]).
37	* FacelessGoons: The titular Knights all wear iron masks and long flowing robes that entirely mask their shape, giving them an inhuman appearance. This goes into ridiculous territory when you learn that there's more than one order of the Knights...
38	* FleurDeLis: Used in several variations as the insignia for all the orders of the Knights you run into, as well as to denote the entrances to labyrinths and as the sigil on the Treasure Animatus containers, puzzle doors, treasure chests... SigilSpam at its finest.
39	* GatlingGood: Paul spends a good portion of his screentime carrying an impressively portable steam-powered Gatling gun. [[AwesomeButImpractical It jams or leaks steam or explodes most of the times he tries to actually use it]].
40	* GameplayAndStorySegregation: The game mostly averts the mechanics associated with this trope and its subtropes, but does fall into it a couple of times nonetheless.
41	** ArbitraryHeadcountLimit: Justified. You can only carry (and therefore use in battle) up to three Treasure Animatus at once into a labyrinth, but that's practicality, since the items vary in size between hairpins and suits of armour (with the interim items being of varying degrees of bulkness, from planks and brooches to vases and helms).
42	** SeparateButIdentical: Justified. The Knights used to be one order before splitting into factions. They may dress different and act different in cutscenes, but in gameplay they are identical, since they all share their outlook on treasure hunters.
43	** TakeYourTime: Even though the plot implies that you move between the plot dungeons of Chapters 4, 5 and 6 with no dawdling in-story, you're free to do as many side-quests before moving to the actual story portion as you please.
44	** TookAShortcut: Justified most of the time. The Knights and those aligned with them can open the puzzle doors since they put them there to begin with, and [[ThereWasADoor Gustav never actually uses doors]].
45	* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: Jean and Paul]].
46	* ImpactSilhouette: Gustav does this at one point, complete with the outline of his hat and all. Lautrec and company use the hole as an emergency exit.
47	* InfinityPlusOneSword: There are four, one for each of the "main" spirit types, available in the jewel shop from around the middle of the game. You will only be able to afford to buy ONE of them in a single playthrough in time for it to be useful, and only if you managed to complete ALL of the optional dungeons with perfect or near-perfect results in battles and found all of the treasure chests - there simply is just barely enough gems in the game to afford them. With luck, you'll get one of them before you do the final, hardest, optional quest. Without luck, you'll get it before the TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon. Without any luck whatsoever, you'll only save up enough gems to afford them in the post-ending play (you don't actually need them that badly to defeat the final boss, or at all, as most post-ending quests provide you with better ones just for completing them).
48	* InsistentTerminology: Milady always calls Sophie "Madame" and pokes fun at her becoming [[OldMaid "an old maid"]]. Sophie, being in her early twenties, finds this highly offensive.
49	** Lautrec is most definitely not an "adventurer", how dare you suggest that.
50	* LikeRealityUnlessNoted: All the historical events happened (and keep happening) as they actually did. Treasure Animatus generally don't do anything supernatural other than kill people that touch the cursed objects, and while some of them are ''rumoured'' to possess supernatural powers or grant them to their wielders, absolutely none of them come to pass once Lautrec and Sophie obtain them, usually to Sophie's chagrin. The only illogical objects in the game are the guns the villains use... which don't reliably work, just as one would expect from a steam-powered [[GatlingGood Gatling gun]].
51	* LowerDeckEpisode: Although you're always playing the game as Lautrec and Sophie, several sidequests focus on (and consequently contain dialogue mostly from) Claude, Milady, various people from Sophie's past...
52	* LoyalAnimalCompanion: Nico, Lautrec's pet monkey, is fiercely protective of him. Also absurdly cute.
53	* MalevolentMaskedMen: The leaders of each Knight order. For some reason, they both opt for left-side-of-the-face-covering masks. Partly [[EnforcedTrope enforced]], of course, since one of them IS [[ShoutOut The Phantom of the Opera]]...
54	* ModestRoyalty: See RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething.
55	* {{Mons}}: The whole set of mechanics surrounding Treasure Animatus and the spirits within is a lite version of the typical Mons game.
56	* MysteriousWaif: Marie, the girl Lautrec and Sophie are helping, serves as the lynchpin of the plot.
57	* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Sang Maudit.
58	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: At one point, Lautrec and his friends catch up to the BigBad [[spoiler: as he's stumped by the fact that the hints that drove the plot thus far have come full circle and point back to where the first one was discovered]]. Lautrec then proceeds to [[spoiler: deduce the error they've made and figures out the next step, announcing the solution out loud...]] while still standing next to the BigBad. Who promptly thanks Lautrec for doing his job for him. Sophie's reaction borders on WhatTheHellHero.
59	* OldMaid: Milady constantly jokes at Sophie's expense that her running around adventuring with Lautrec has already put her past prime marriageable age. [[spoiler: Lautrec promises Sophie's mother he will marry her himself should this truly come to pass]].
60	* OneSteveLimit: Averted for historical accuracy. Jean was a very common name for French men of the time, and some historical figures have similar sounding names as well. Most of the game characters go by their last names or titles (or both) to avoid confusion; historical figures go by full names plus their titles in dialogue for the same reason.
61	* OnlySmartPeopleMayPass: The entire purpose behind the riddles in the treasure maps and the puzzle locks on Treasure Animatus chambers.
62	* [[OurGhostsAreDifferent Our Treasure Animatus Is Different]] Well, they're pieces of treasure cursed and haunted by ghosts who you must fight to tame using other pieces of treasure. To make things more interesting, most of the effective ones are being haunted by ones of their own, so.... likely.
63	* PeriodPiece: Welcome to the Paris before the Eiffel Tower was built... or rather, as it was WHILE it was being built.
64	* RecycledInSpace: [[NeverTrustATrailer Before its release]] it was accused of being "VideoGame/ProfessorLayton IN PARIS!" , but your mileage may vary if that is true or not.
65	* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: [[spoiler:Marie, who turns out to be a descendant of the Bourbon royal family]].
66	* SavvyGuyEnergeticGirl: Lautrec and Sophie.
67	* SchizophrenicDifficulty: The difficulty curve rises very gently until you visit the Bastille. Therein, it jumps through the roof on the whole shebang - the puzzles, the stealth levels AND the spirit-taming. Once you clear it, it returns to where it was before, making this a whole-chapter-shaped WakeUpCallBoss moment, with the Treasure Animatus at the end serving as an actual WakeUpCallBoss.
68	* SequelHook: Throughout the plot, multiple characters mention that Treasure Animatus are not restricted to Paris, or even France. In the final final cutscene, [[spoiler: Marie shows up on the Doctor's doorstep with a map to several of them located in Italy]].
69	* ShipTease: Lautrec and Sophie have moments of this (always one-sided on Sophie's half) and Milady and Claude have a number of instances of this, too. [[WillTheyOrWontThey Even Sophie isn't sure if they're really interested in each other.]] One of the post-main-story quests ends in Lautrec [[spoiler: promising Sophie's mother to marry Sophie himself should she remain single because of him]].
70	* ShoutOut: The game is basically a tourist guide to the late-19th Century Paris, so all the related references, quotes and so on are to be expected of it.
71	** Sophie is shown reading ''Literature/TheThreeMusketeers'' in the opening chapter, and later discusses ''The Man in the Iron Mask'' with Lautrec.
72	** Literature/ThePhantomOfTheOpera is a character. He's also a descendant of the very same Man in the Iron Mask.
73	** Creator/VictorHugo is quoted A LOT. One sidequest delves into ''Literature/LesMiserables'' deeply.
74	* ShownTheirWork: You have a virtual Paris of the 1880s at your fingertips. You can visit EVERY street, view a panorama of it, and are regularly fed large bits of the city's history through casual dialogue, plot dialogue, sidequests and the journal. About the only thing that breaks the mood is the use of modern-day colour photographs of the city in some of the puzzles and all the landmark journal entries. It should be noted that if particular modern-day buildings weren't there in 1889, they aren't there in the game, and vice versa (complete with an appropriate note in the Journal's info section if the building is/was of importance). Yes, this game teaches you how a city's appearance changes through the years.
75	* SigilSpam: The FleurDeLis and variations thereof.
76	* StealthBasedMission: You've got no weapons, (and killing the police wouldn't look good anyway, since they're looking for a reason to arrest you) and the cops run faster than you while chasing you, which they don't stop until you leave. It's better to just sneak past rather to trying to rush things.
77	* SteamPunk: There are shades of it, particularly in some of the machinery used.
78	* TacticalRockPaperScissors: The spirit types. Arboreal has no weaknesses and no strengths. Gems are strong against Humanoid but have poor stats that make them near useless against the other types. Aquatic, Terrestrial and Avian form a circular rock-paper-scissors with Humanoid jammed in the middle to spice things up. The game happily reminds you which trumps which whenever you look at a spirit's scorecard.
79	* TheatrePhantom: The Phantom as the leader of a faction of iron-masked knights.
80	* ThereWasADoor: See ImpactSilhouette.
81	* TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: [[spoiler:The Lost City of Ys]], hidden beneath [[spoiler:Notre Dame de Paris]]. Lautrec is as surprised by the revelation as the player will probably be.
82	* [[TheQueensLatin The Queen's French]]: In the English dub, all characters speak with various English accents, so you'll be forgiven if you manage to forget most of them are French. To counter this, Gustav occasionally lapses into a (rather fake) German accent and Vidocq [[PoirotSpeak occasionally uses French words in his speech]].
83	* ThoseTwoGuys: Jean and Paul.
84	* TwoLinesNoWaiting: Some quests become available only after their preceding quests in the corresponding plot line have been completed and may be tied into the main story progression (such as [[spoiler:Jean and Paul's]] HeelFaceTurn, Marie's secret being revealed, Sophie's ongoing argument with her mother, Claude's affections for Milady, etc) which sometimes leads to a feeling of disconnect as you hop from one subplot to another, particularly in Chapter 7 when each of them start getting final episodes, and the quest which has the most final-ending-like ending isn't actually the last one on the game's queue.
85	* WakeUpCallBoss: The spirits guarding the {{Plot Coupon}}s are tougher than normal spirits in general, serving as bosses of sorts, but the one under the Bastille takes the cake. Clearing him without losing any spirits of your own is going to be a challenge.
86	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Nico only makes appearances in a handful of dialogue scenes and anime cutscenes, all of them pertaining to the core plot. Once it's over, you're not seeing him ever again with little reason as to why.

Context VideoGame / DoctorLautrecAndTheForgottenKnights