Line #53 VideoGame/HeavenlySword


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Heavenly_Sword_52.jpg]]
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3	A HackAndSlash game set in an [[FantasyCounterpartCulture ambiguously Asian]] empire where [[NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent everyone speaks with British or Australian accents]]. It was developed by Creator/NinjaTheory and released exclusively on the Platform/PlayStation3 in September 2007.
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5	The plot concerns Nariko, the unwanted daughter of a clan whose duty is to protect the titular sword, which the ambitious King Bohan believes will grant him [[GodhoodSeeker godlike power]]. Nariko and her clan sister, Kai, flee with the sword and spend the remainder of the game attempting to rescue Nariko's father and end Bohan's reign of terror. Though the plot is hardly new, it's solidly executed, with excellent voice acting and motion capture (due to the involvement of Creator/AndySerkis and Weta Workshop) and a surprising amount of humor.
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7	Nariko is also a playable fighter in ''VideoGame/PlayStationAllStarsBattleRoyale''. [[CharacterTiers Tier]]-wise, she's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5c9qYYl7EI not so bad]]. The game was adapted into a [[AllCGICartoon CG-animated]] movie, released in 2014.
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9	----
10	!!Provides Examples Of:
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12	* ActionGirl: Nariko. Notably, she's a skilled fighter even without the Heavenly Sword.
13	* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent: The game has players controlling Kai for a few brief portions rather than Nariko.
14	* AnimeHair: Nariko's ponytail moves like it has a mind of its own.
15	* AntiVillain: Roach. It's made clear that he's only doing what he does [[WellDoneSonGuy to try and please his father]], and is a great deal more sympathetic than the other villains.
16	* ArrowsOnFire, a specialty of Kai's.
17	--> '''Kai:''' I ''love'' fireworks!
18	* AutomaticCrossbows: Kai uses one, for starters.
19	* AxCrazy: Flying Fox. He's got no problem killing ''children''.
20	* BadassNormal: Despite lacking any magical powers, Kai proves capable of fighting her way past a minor army of guards. For that matter, Nariko is plenty dangerous even without the Heavenly Sword.
21	* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Nariko has just carved a bloody swathe through hundreds of soldiers, personally defeated Bohan, and finally [[spoiler:collapsed in the dust to die]]...and through all this she looks like a model for skin cream. This is especially noticeable in the penultimate cutscene, where a long shot of Nariko's face shows off how clean it is.
22	* BerserkButton:
23	** When Nariko starts taunting Whiptail back whilst blatantly saying that her master doesn't care about her and that he was the one who made her so insane, she repeats the taunt Whiptail had previously used to great effect: "Ohhhhh, it's ''so much better'' when you're ''angry!''" Whiptail then proceeds to go even more insane.
24	** Just being reminded that Roach is his son seems to instantly turn Bohan from relatively calm to the point of blowing like a volcano.
25	* BewareTheNiceOnes:
26	-->'''Kai:''' [[IronicEcho Peek-a-boo!]] [[PrecisionFStrike Asshole!]]
27	* {{BFG}}: In several levels, Nariko wields cannons like overgrown shotguns.
28	* BigBad: [[spoiler:The Raven Lord, the spirit of a warlord who corrupted Bohan into villainy to get ahold of the Sword.]]
29	* BigNo: [[spoiler:Nariko lets out a grief-stricken "NOOOOOOOOO!" after Kai's apparent death (and, shortly after, a variation which just has her screaming Kai's name).]]
30	* BittersweetEnding: Nariko gets ample opportunity for revenge in the end [[spoiler:but succumbs to the titular Sword as it takes her life.]]
31	* BlackComedy: Whiptail's death.
32	-->'''Whiptail''': I can't feel my legs...!
33	-->'''[[DirtyOldMan Bohan]]''': That's alright. I'll feel them for you.
34	* BreakTheCutie: Kai is already broken. Then Flying Fox breaks her more.
35	* BladeOnARope: The range stance involves launching the sword at the end of two chains for ranged combat. This is most useful for dealing with weaker enemies and defending from projectile attacks.
36	* TheCaligula: King Bohan is an insane tyrant who screams at his men, abuses his son, and will kill an underling for failing him [[spoiler:(which Whiptail found out the hard way)]].
37	* ChainmailBikini: Whiptail's outfit is basically this.
38	* TheChosenOne: The ending leaves it ambiguous is Nariko is this, or TheUnchosenOne. [[spoiler: Shen tells her as she lies dying that she was the hero of prophesy all along, but Nariko claims that the prophesy was a lie, and that her actions were all her own.]]
39	* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:King Bohan's raven.]]
40	* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Kai. She eats worms and speaks like a child.
41	* DeadlyUpgrade: Nariko trades in her longsword for the Heavenly Sword after being cornered by Bohan and his army. It ends the way you'd expect given the trope and the Sword's well-documented history of eventually causing its wielder to die in excruciating pain.
42	* DealWithTheDevil:
43	** Nariko makes such a bargain with the Heavenly Sword.
44	** Bohan [[spoiler: sells his soul to gain the power needed to face Nariko, and it isn't enough to defeat her]].
45	* TheDogWasTheMastermind: It turns out that [[spoiler: Bohan's bird is in fact The Raven Lord, the ancient warlord that started this whole mess in the first place. A pity he wasn't mentioned in the game proper before that point]].
46	* EmpathicWeapon: The Heavenly Sword.
47	* TheEmpire: Bohan leads one, and it's soliders they make up the {{Mooks}} Nariko cuts her way through during the game.
48	* EvilIsHammy: Bohan and his generals breathe this trope, but Bohan is the one who manages to be scary because he is so hammy.
49	* EyeballPluckingBirds: [[spoiler:King Bohan]] suffers this towards the end of the game when [[spoiler:the Raven pecks out his eyes for failing him]].
50	* FatIdiot: Roach is massively obese and more than a little dim.
51	* FauxAffablyEvil: Bohan is easly the most entertaining character to watch, even as he tortures and kills to get what he wants.
52	* FieryRedhead: Nariko has long red hair in a ponytail, and kicks a whole lot of ass.
53	* ForegoneConclusion: Nariko's death by the sword's curse is shown at the beginning of the game. [[spoiler:Still, she manages to wipe out Bohan and his army one last time before she's gone for good.]]
54	* FriendlySniper: Kai. Goofy, has the mind of a child, and weilds an automatic crossbow that never needs reloading.
55	* GroinAttack: This game is particularly fond of them, both implied and executed. [[ShareTheMalePain It affects all other surrounding mooks as well.]]
56	-->'''Kai:''' Maybe I should [[AttackItsWeakPoint attack your weak point]], for [[MemeticMutation MASSIVE DAMAGE]].
57	* TheHeroDies: [[spoiler:The Sword takes most of Nariko's life-force, and she gives up the last of it to heal Kai.]]
58	* HowTheMightyHaveFallen: By the end of the game, [[spoiler:Bohan has had his army and lieutenants all destroyed, lost his mystic powers and for good measure, his master pecks his eyes out for failing him; given he was already old and crippled, he's even more of an invalid than before, and it's implied he'll now be utterly dependent on his mentally-challenged son Roach to take care of him]].
59	* HowWeGotHere: The very first level is Nariko cutting her way through Bohan's army before seemly dying from the curse. The rest of the game is a flashback describing how she got to that point.
60	* IHaveYouNowMyPretty: Bohan's behavior around Nariko [[spoiler:shortly after he captures her]].
61	* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: [[spoiler:Whiptail.]] She wanted the Heavenly Sword, and she got it -- right in the abdomen.
62	* ImplausibleHairColor: Nariko. Red hair is very uncommon in Asian cultures, and she has a good amount of it.
63	* ImprobableAimingSkills: Due to the implementations of the sixaxis controller, Kai is a damn good shot, depending on the player.
64	* ImprobableWeaponUser: Nariko, though the Heavenly Sword ''is'' alive, so its improbability may be justified. Far stranger is her ability to ''steer corpses and other improvised weapons in midair'' after throwing them or shooting them. Kai can do much the same thing with her arrows.
65	* IneffectualSympatheticVillain:
66	** Subverted with Bohan, who ''seems'' incompetent and acts like a complete goofball more often than not, but routinely performs monstrous acts in order to further his own ambitions.
67	** Played a bit straighter with his son Roach.
68	* InkSuitActor: Bohan looks exactly like an older, more scarred-up Creator/AndySerkis. All of the other main characters resemble their voice/motion actors in some way, too.
69	* IronicName: Nariko is a Japanese name that means "Gentle Child". She's anything but.
70	* KickTheDog: Bohan does most of the kicking, and the dog is usually named Roach.
71	* KillTheCutie: Averted. [[spoiler:Kai]] turns out to still be alive after her presumed death.
72	* KlingonPromotion: In one of the animated shorts which describes Bohan's StartOfDarkness, he ascended his throne through poisoning the former king.
73	* LargeHam: Bohan and Flying Fox practically ''define'' this trope. Whiptail also definitely counts.
74	* LaughablyEvil: Bohan and Flying Fox manage to be funny even when being complete bastards.
75	* MamaBear: Harm Kai while Nariko's around and you '''will''' be sorry.
76	* MinionShipping: Whiptail is Bohan's mistress, as well as one of his generals. [[spoiler:While she seems to genuinely care about him, his feelings aren't exactly mutual, as is evident in her death scene.]]
77	* MsFanservice: Nariko has a very toned and athletic body, and doesn't cover it with very much.
78	* [[SeanConneryIsAboutToShootYou Nariko Is About to Stab You]]: The cover.
79	* NeckSnap: Bohan does this to [[spoiler:Whiptail]].
80	* NoIndoorVoice: Most of Flying Fox's lines are yelled at the top of his voice. [[spoiler:In fact, one of the few times he ''doesn't'' yell is when he's dying.]]
81	* NoOneCouldSurviveThat:
82	** [[spoiler:Kai is hung by her neck after being dropped from a great height]], and presumably dies instantly. [[spoiler:As it turns out, she's still very much alive, though weakened]]. Overlaps with NoOneShouldSurviveThat, since that type of injury [[spoiler:should cause instant death, or at least asphyxiation, and no explanation is given as to why it doesn't.]]
83	** [[spoiler: In the film, Kai was able to get one hand inside the noose, preventing asphyxiation.]]
84	* NoFlowInCGI: Averted. Nariko's hair flows like it's alive.
85	* OffscreenTeleportation: Lampshaded with Flying Fox during a cutscene.
86	-->'''King Bohan:''' How does he do that?
87	* [[OneManArmy One Woman Army]]: Nariko. She was a strong fighter before she got the sword. With it, she's practically invincible.
88	* OnlyTheChosenMayWield: Deconstructed, as the belief that only a single mortal man could be born to wield the Heavenly Sword is all but confirmed to be a superstition, that lead to Nariko being ostracized when her birth contradicted the prophecy.
89	* TheOphelia: Kai isn't all there...
90	* OverlordJr: Roach, the son of Bohan, who the evil king seems to despise with a passion.
91	* ParentalIssues: Nariko and Shen, Roach and Bohan.
92	* LeParkour: The player can make Kai vault over several types of obstacles, which comes in handy when she has to evade enemies in a maze of random junk.
93	* PetTheDog: [[spoiler:As Bohan is lying on the battlefield - defeated, broken, weakened and blinded - Roach, still ever-loyal, comes to his aid. Up until this point, Bohan's interactions with Roach have consisted of little but verbal, physical and psychological abuse towards him, but, this time, it seems that, deep down, he does care for Roach in his own way: "Roach... is that you? My son..."]]
94	* PlayingTennisWithTheBoss: This is one of the keys to defeating [[spoiler:the Raven-possessed Bohan]].
95	* PsychopathicManchild: Roach, Bohan's mentally-challenged illegitimate son. Who appears to be playing with the corpses of [[spoiler:Flying Fox and Whiptail]] like a dolly at the start of chapter 5.
96	* PsychoForHire: Flying Fox, a deranged killer under Bohan's command.
97	* QuirkyMinibossSquad: While the heroes are usually deadly serious, the villains are often prone to silliness - even King Bohan.
98	* RecurringBoss: Flying Fox is fought several times before you finally get to kill him for good.
99	* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: [[spoiler: If she weren't already dead]], Nariko could probably stop wars just by showing up and glaring a little bit. She's that scary given that she literally tore through an army to get at the last person who pissed her off.
100	* SayMyName: "KAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIII!"
101	* ShooOutTheClowns: Most of the game alternates between drama and comedy. Kai [[spoiler: being wounded to the point of incapacitation]] marks the point where everything becomes completely serious.
102	* SnakeTalk: Whiptail. It's even in the subtitles.
103	* TheSociopath: Flying Fox, a gleeful sadist who spends his entire screen time brutally murdering people for his own amusement and uses a woman's corpse to lure out her child. In the animated film, he even plots to kill Bohan and overthrow him.
104	* StartOfDarkness: One of the animated shorts details how Bohan got to be King (unsurprisingly, it involved poisoning the guy before him).
105	* StayInTheKitchen: Nariko's clan despises her for being born female, as their prophecy specifies that only a male child is destined to protect the Heavenly Sword. Her father even went so far as to [[spoiler:attempt to kill her while she slept]] for this unpardonable offense, but was unable to bring himself to do it. Her clan [[UngratefulBastard continues to treat her like crap]] even after she's ''saved their lives numerous times at great personal risk''.
106	* StealthHiBye: Flying Fox tends not to stay in one place during any conversation, but we never see him move.
107	* {{Stripperiffic}}: Whiptail's outfit, though Nariko isn't much better, wearing the right half of a skirt and a top that leaves her midriff and right shoulder/arm uncovered.
108	* TraumaInducedAmnesia: [[spoiler:Kai]] doesn't remember the death of her mother, until [[spoiler:Flying Fox forces her to remember.]]
109	* UnexplainedRecovery: [[spoiler:Kai]]. See NoOneCouldSurviveThat above.
110	* VolleyingInsults: Whiptail and Flying Fox seem to be particularly fond of hurling [[FloweryInsults rather inventive insults]] at each other, much to Bohan's immense annoyance.
111	* TheWarSequence: Nariko at the start and near the end.
112	* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Bohan rather cruelly does this to [[spoiler:Whiptail after she's been defeated by Nariko - she lies on the floor, impaled by the Heavenly Sword, whimpering to him that she's scared, he leans in to kiss her... and then casually snaps her neck, before brutally yanking the sword out of her body and tossing her body aside]].
113	** [[spoiler: The Raven Lord gives Bohan the same treatment after he loses to Nariko in the FinalBattle. The Raven ''pecks out Bohan's eyes'' while he's pleading for mercy and another chance before flying away.]]
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115	----
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117	!!Tropes regarding the Movie are:
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119	* AdaptationalVillainy: In the film, Shen is turned into a neglectful father and serial rapist due to his desire for a son and disappointment in not procuring one.
120	* BastardBastard: In the movie, after Nariko was born, Shen [[spoiler:produced bastard offspring in an attempt to remedy the prophecy. Kai and Loki are his bastard children]].
121	* TheChosenOne: After Nariko finds out that Loki is [[spoiler:Shen's son and her half-brother]], she believes that he is the warrior the prophecy spoke of. After freeing him and giving Loki the sword, [[spoiler: he is beheaded seconds afterwards by Flying Fox.]]
122	* DisneyDeath: [[spoiler: Kai]].
123	* FaceDeathWithDignity: Whiptail's death scene differs from the game. In the game, after being impaled by the sword, she whimpers to Bohan that she is scared of dying and begs him to help her (before he snaps her neck). Here, she instead accepts her fate with a smile and taunts Nariko before her body sinks to the watery depths.
124	* KarmaHoudini: Zigzagged with Shen. Despite being a terrible father and serial rapist Nariko brings him back to life when he is dying despite the fact he was going to {{Hell}} for his crimes. By the end, he still hasn't learned to respect his daughters, but lost his son and proven that he should have treated them better. And the fact he is already old and was going to Hell implies that if he doesn't straighten up soon he will be going there eventually.
125	* LargeHam: Alfred Molina's Bohan is still pretty hammy, but is more tamed than Andy Serkis'.
126	* LongLostRelative: In the film, Kai and Nariko are half-sisters born from their father's attempts to produce a son.
127	* {{Mordor}}: Bohan's fortress in the game had a normal, garden-like design. But in the movie, his fortress is surrounded by Lava.
128	* OffWithHisHead: [[spoiler: Loki, courtesy of Flying Fox.]]
129	* ParentalNeglect: Shen ignores both his daughters (and possibly others as well) for not being born sons and makes it clear he wants nothing to do with them. He ignored his one son by not knowing he was born. He never truly connects with any of his daughters by the end of the film and acts like he is ashamed of them.
130	* RapeAsDrama: In the film, Shen is turned into a rapist who forced himself on women in an attempt to produce a son. Both his daughters and one of his victims are disgusted by it. Though it is implied he will go to Hell for his crimes after he dies.
131	* TheStarscream: After Flying Fox takes the sword from Loki's [[spoiler:cold dead hands]], he states that he intends to betray Bohan by taking the swords power for himself. This is compared to his game counter-part, who, whilst expressed by Bohan to be somewhat untrustworthy, never showed any signs of treachery.
132	* WeHardlyKnewYe: [[spoiler: Loki is set up to be a major character, but is only given a few minutes of screen time, and is then anti-climatically decapitated by Flying Fox.]]

Context VideoGame / HeavenlySword