Line #281 VideoGame/LastScenario


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/LS.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:From left to right: [[MysticalWaif Lorenza]], Thorve, [[StoicWoobie Ethan]], [[IdiotHero Hilbert]], [[CoolOldGuy Randolph]], and [[SergeantRock Matilda]].]]
3	->''"This -- is a hero's work?"''
4
5	Hilbert is an [[WideEyedIdealist idealistic]] [[FarmBoy village boy]], the self-declared (and much ridiculed) protector of his hometown, and an aspiring hero. One day, he is approached by a [[MysteriousInformant mysterious robed woman]] named Zawu, who tells him that he is a [[HeroicLineage descendant of the hero Alexander]] and destined to become a hero himself. [[ClicheStorm So begins a legendary quest to defeat an ancient, evil power and bring peace to the world.]]
6
7	[[PlayingWithATrope From there the story goes pear-shaped]].
8
9	The basic premise of ''Last Scenario'' is to start out with the most cliched CRPG plot imaginable, and then twist it into something else. Before long, the cliches start to fall apart at an alarming rate, and what emerges is a long, compelling plot involving (among other things) international politics, betrayal, and the occasional bit of geology.
10
11	A freeware RPG by SCF, ''Last Scenario'' can be downloaded at [[http://scfworks.com SCF's website]]. While you're at it, check out ''VideoGame/ExitFate'' by the same guy.
12
13	----
14	!!Provides Examples Of:
15
16	* AbandonedLaboratory: The Third Seal when you re-enter it.
17	* AbilityRequiredToProceed: Crystallized energy, which requires the Bergheim Ray to be destroyed.
18	%%* TheAce: Melchior.
19	* ActionBomb: Cubes, and their stronger variant Vorpal Cubes.
20	%%* ActionInitiative
21	* AirVentPassageway: How [[spoiler:Phantom and Ethan]] left the biorite facility. [[spoiler:The party later uses it to sneak back in]].
22	%%* AnEconomyIsYou
23	* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler:Ethan spent ''3 years'' trapped in biorite, semi-conscious but unable to move or act. That's bad enough, but then the party meets Tiamat, who spent the past '''300''' or so years sealed away under the Ether Well. [[SanitySlippage No wonder she's so deranged.]]]]
24	* AntidoteEffect: Mostly inverted due to the sparseness and importance of spellcard slots and low cost of status cure items, which make it likely for you to have 99 of each one third into the game.
25	* AppliedPhlebotinum: Any of a number of things that run on biorite.
26	* ArmorAndMagicDontMix: Armor is split into light and heavy variants; casters such as Thorve can only wear light armor. Interestingly, however, fighters such as Matilda can ''only'' wear heavy armor and thus have the opposite problem (cripplingly low magic defense).
27	* ArmorIsUseless: Due to an oversight in the way defensive stats are handled. Defensive stats on their own do nothing; they merely influence a ''second'' defense value that involves percentile reduction. However, due to the way this is scaled, defensive stats do virtually nothing until late in the game, and since armor only augments defensive stats it's nothing but a money sink for most of the game (this may be a reason for the game's [[NintendoHard intense difficulty]]).
28	* ArmorPiercingAttack: The spells Laser, Rage, and Gamma.
29	* ArtEvolution: SCF's drawing blog occasionally contains ''Last Scenario'' character art. It advanced quite a bit from the {{Character Portrait}}s found in the game.
30	%%* AssimilationPlot: The BigBad's goal.
31	* TheAtoner: All of the [[OptionalBoss Elysium bosses]], as they're [[spoiler:the four "heroes" who committed atrocities in the war 300 years ago. They regret all they've done, and want nothing more than to right their wrongs and pass on peacefully.]]
32	* AwesomeButImpractical:
33	** The Gamma spellcard deals huge damage, but is rather unreliable and has a huge MP cost and an unpleasant stat malus.
34	** The Fury spellcard heals your entire party, and pretty well, too. The problem? It makes them berserk. The crisis spell heals even more but causes ''confusion''. Again, though, it can become Awesome Yet Practical if you equip the right status protection...
35	** The Ruin equipment that you can steal from smilie type enemies are all phenomenally powerful, but are all cursed in some way or another. The Ruin Mask is poisoned, for example. Under certain circumstances it can become Awesome Yet Practical:
36	*** Ruin Mask increases stats, but has the permanent Poison status. However, if you equip Sacral Gown, which is obtained by trading Lorenza's Hex Tile, Auto-Regen will cancel out Poison damage and keep the Regen status. You also get a nice AcquiredPoisonImmunity.
37	*** Ruin Gear absorbs all elemental damage, but confuses the wearer. If you equip Party Hat, it will cause enemies to attack the wearer. Confused allies do the same. Therefore, if you equip a weapon with elemental damage, you get a [[HealingShiv "Regen"]]. Which you can combine with actual Regen. Moreover, if you give it to someone like Randolph, you get a very, very annoying for enemies StoneWall.
38	** The Unholy Mitre greatly boosts your stats but makes you [[ReviveKillsZombie take damage from healing]].
39	* BackTracking: Returning to the [[spoiler:Biorite Facility]] ruins nets you a Hex tile.
40	%%* BagOfSharing
41	* BeefGate: While you can technically ''enter'' the four Towers early on, don't even ''think'' about going in there until much later, as the enemies are usually at least ten levels higher than you. A good rule of thumb is to leave each tower alone until you can access the ''next'' one.
42	* BigDamnHeroes:
43	** Antagonist example: When Matilda is about to [[spoiler:kill Tazar]], [[spoiler:Felgorn]] arrives in a flash of light and strikes her down.
44	** On the good guy side, at one point Ethan shows up out of nowhere to stop [[spoiler:Castor killing Lorenza]].
45	* BishonenLine: The penultimate form of the final boss is a deformed slug-like block thing, and the ultimate one, while still a OneWingedAngel, is much more humanoid again.
46	* BlatantLies: "[[spoiler:Grandmaster Ortas]] was killed by the enemy." As Keltena's LetsPlay put it, "And by 'the enemy,' I mean me, personally."
47	* BlockPuzzle: On Grey Peak, complete with FrictionlessIce. [[BonusDungeon The four Towers]] are fond of these as well, only with pillars.
48	* BloodFromTheMouth: The sign that [[spoiler:Selene and Ortas]] are screwed.
49	* BonusDungeon: Oh so many. There's almost one for every SideQuest. The most notable ones are Gate to Elysium, where you can fight the 4 Heroes or the Black Mausoleum (housing several powerful bosses).
50	* BonusLevelOfHeaven: The Gate to Elysium is themed like this.
51	* BossBanter: [[spoiler:Hyperion]]'s "DIE! DIE! DIE!" and "I'll stop you!"
52	* BossInMookClothing: Some of the smileys are significantly stronger than the other enemies you encounter in the area they're in. Also, the Black Dragon from the [[BonusDungeon Black Mausoleum]], and one enemy type for each tower.
53	* BrickJoke: One of the books lying around at the Biorite Facility [[spoiler:is a report specifically on Ethan]], and it mentions that, "Physical change in subject is largely superficial." A dungeon or two later, you learn what they meant: [[spoiler:he used to be blond]].
54	* BrokenBridge: The "energy crystals" are used to prevent you from going to the second and third [[spoiler:Entalar seals]] (and the Tower of Punishment) before going to the first. They're not very hard to get rid of once you do, though.
55	* {{Cap}}: Interestingly, while levels cap at 99, HP caps at 9999 and MP caps at 999, there does not seem to be a damage cap, though there are only few attacks in the game that can ever get into five-digit damage.
56	* CharacterPortrait: Many characters have alternate portraits as well.
57	* ChessMotifs: Most enemies and all bosses in the [[BonusDungeon Black Mausoleum]] are themed after chess pieces.
58	* ChestMonster: [[spoiler:Those infamous killer crystals!]]
59	* ChromaticArrangement: Blue for the Imperial solders, green for the Royal soldiers and yellow for the troops of the Republic.
60	* CirclingBirdies: The symbol of the Chaos effect.
61	%%* ClicheStorm: Then proceeds to subvert everything. [[invoked]]
62	* ClimaxBoss: Almost everything that isn't a GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere.
63	* CognizantLimbs: The Wall Sentinel's faces, Thanatos' arms and the Fire Dragon's wings.
64	* ConspiracyTheorist: A minor NPC, PlayedForLaughs.
65	-->'''Hans:''' Don't believe everything they tell you. There's a vast conspiracy manipulating all of this. That's right. Aliens from another planet are the real power behind this world.
66	* ContrivedCoincidence: [[spoiler:Ethan]] just happened to be [[spoiler:the one that killed Thorve's friend.]]
67	* CosmeticAward: The Sign of Eternity, a useless item awarded for defeating the hardest boss in the game.
68	* CoolShip: The Brunhild, [[spoiler:which is then succeeded by the even more ridiculously cool Brunhild II.]]
69	* CreepyChild: The Hex-playing and ''grey-haired'' little girl in Herzog.
70	* CutscenePowerToTheMax: Lorenza instantly vaporizes a soldier [[StandardFemaleGrabArea trying to grab her arm]] with a single lightning spell in [[EstablishingCharacterMoment the scene she's introduced in]], but in the following fight, you need quite a few of them to defeat one.
71	* DamageSpongeBoss: A lot of the [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere Giant Space Fleas From Nowhere]].
72	* DamageIncreasingDebuff: The crisis cast of Aquabeam lowers the victim's magic defense. It's the only debuff the player characters can inflict, actually.
73	* DeconReconSwitch: The game explains how Hilbert's [[WideEyedIdealist excessive idealism]] makes him a gullible idiot and the people everyone see as {{Ideal Hero}}es aren't, then turns around and hits Hilbert with the CharacterDevelopment stick until he develops enough common sense to actually accomplish his dreams and help people.
74	* DefeatMeansFriendship: People will play Hex with you in areas you just conquered.
75	* DefendCommand: Appears to be a stock RPG Maker implementation, reducing incoming damage to the character using it.
76	* DegradedBoss: The Prototypes, who are presumably subjects of the Artificial Key project.
77	%%* DesperationAttack: [[LimitBreak Limit]] [[ShoutOut Break]].
78	* DiscOneFinalDungeon: [[spoiler:The Temple of Gaia.]]
79	* DiscOneNuke: A relatively minor one: if you play a ton of Hex, it's possible to get 10 Brigand tiles and trade them in for a Steal spellcard before you even leave for Farin Island. As a reward for being ''way'' too dedicated, you can steal a unique weapon for Matilda from the boss that's stronger than anything you can get until about fifteen levels later.
80	* DoomedHometown: Lorenza is forced to leave the village she lives in by its mayor to avoid this.
81	* DoorToBefore: The Black Mausoleum, Temple of Gaia, and [[spoiler:Entalar Prison]], though the latter's doesn't bring you back to the entrance.
82	* DownTheDrain: The Underground Waterway.
83	* DualBoss: [[spoiler:Helio and Earp together]]. Also Prototypes 4 and 5 and [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere the necromancer with the Swamp Beast]]. The entire [[spoiler:Omega Team]] is a ''Triple'' Boss.
84	%%* DualWielding: Flynn.
85	* DuelBoss: At one point, you have four of these in a row, with different characters. The only one that's really a boss is [[spoiler:Drakovic]], though; the rest are EliteMooks.
86	* DungeonTown: [[spoiler:What's left of Cromwell only contains some treasure and an undead monstrosity.]] There's also a segment on Pargon Island, where you [[spoiler:clear out your old home village from bandits occupying it and oppressing the population]], and [[spoiler:the Entalar quest]].
87	* EasyLevelsHardBosses: This says a lot considering most encounters require your full attention and careful maintenance of your resources.
88	* EmergencyEnergyTank: Orbs. And ''you will need them''.
89	* EncounterBait: The Siren and Lure accessories.
90	* EncounterRepellant: The Camo Cape and Invisibility Ring accessories.
91	* EnemySummoner: Guard Pillars, Watch Discs and Defensive Drones. Guard Pillars call others of their type, while Watch Discs and Defensive Drones alert guards or watch dogs.
92	* EquipmentSpoiler: You will sometimes find weapons of a type that isn't used by any of your characters yet at a hex trading post. {{Lampshaded}} in Keltena's LetsPlay:
93	-->[[http://screencappery.livejournal.com/193382.html I am happy beyond belief to finally have access to a Hex trading post. Although I'm not sure why they think we'd be interested in throwing knives.]]
94	* ExperienceBooster: The Mental Booster.
95	* EverythingTryingToKillYou: There are many strange random enemies, including mushrooms, dolls, wood walls[[note]]:which actually ''don't'' try to kill you, being the random encounter equivalent of a JokeCharacter. They have no attack and HP on par with a boss, so they just stand there while the heroes smash them[[/note]], pots of gold[[note]]which ''do'' counter-attack, but naturally drop lots of gold upon defeat[[/note]], moles, two very different types of idols, ''emoticons'', and in a BonusDungeon [[spoiler:biting "[[ChestMonster Killer Crystals]]" [[AmbushingEnemy disguised]] as save crystals with a slightly different color]]. The bosses are even stranger: you will e.g. come to fight a wall with an engraved face, not to mention the [[GratuitousGerman Zeitgeist]], which is basically a big clock. Don't forget the Tomes and Keys either (which are ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin) .
96	* ExpositionBreak: A considerable amount, considering this is a very story-heavy game. There is even one that lasts around 45 minutes... which is followed by a save point, and then another cutscene.
97	* FacePalm: Matilda does this in a couple of cutscenes.
98	* FateWorseThanDeath: Tiamat considers [[spoiler:being sealed for centuries]] this and hates [[spoiler:Barasur]] for doing so instead of killing her. Also [[spoiler:Tazar's punishment]].
99	* FantasticRacism: [[spoiler:Turned around from its usual form; while humans tend to distrust the Havali, it's the Havali who really ''hate'' humanity. And with rather good reason.]]
100	%%* FightWoosh
101	* FireIceLightning: The main - and first - three elements of attack spells.
102	* FinalBossPreview: Sort of a boss preview (leave out the "final"), when [[spoiler:Felgorn]] is [[SuicidalOverconfidence attacked by Hilbert the first time]].
103	* FixedDamageAttack: A mushroom PaletteSwap in the Entalar Caves has an attack called "[[ShoutOut One-Hundred]] [[Franchise/FinalFantasy Spores]]".
104	* FlunkyBoss: The final boss and the hardest optional boss, though the latter revives its helpers only once.
105	* FlyingSeafoodSpecial: Flying Fish. ''In a forest''.
106	* FourPhilosophyEnsemble: Hilbert is the Optimist, Matilda is the Cynic, Thorve is the Realist, Lorenza is the Conflicted, and the other three are all, each for a different reason, Apathetic.
107	* GambitPileup: There's lots and lots of people manipulating things from behind the scenes for their own gain, though this trope lessens as the series goes on and most of them start dropping dead.
108	* GameBreakingBug: If you just try to play the game on Vista or Windows 7, no text is displayed (some issue with the font). There are two workarounds though, one of which seems to be always successful.
109	** After [[spoiler: you beat the magic beasts that Castor summons]] on the Rosehart bridge, you're told to go back to Southbridge, but you can actually keep going and end up in Northbridge after [[spoiler: the GlobalAirship is captured.]] The glitch also prevents the next dungeon from showing up on the map, rendering the game [[UnintentionallyUnwinnable unwinnable.]]
110	* GameplayAndStorySegregation:
111	** The boss battle against [[spoiler:Ortas]]. By the time you fight him, he has a gigantic stab wound, BloodFromTheMouth, is very mentally unstable, and is quite clearly on the verge of death. And yet he has over 10,000 hit points and can toss out devastating attacks every few rounds. Hate to think what he'd have been like at full power... Though you can probably thank CriticalExistenceFailure for that. What's most odd about this is if you scan [[spoiler:Helio]] during your first fight with him, his max HP is 3000, but his HP is only 1000 at the start of the battle, since before the fight [[spoiler:he got smacked by a rockslide]]. It was odd that SCF didn't do the same thing with [[spoiler:Ortas]].
112	** A small thing near the beginning: it is mentioned that dying people turning into spectres is an extremely rare case requires the person to be died under extreme regret. But a bit later, spectres are [[RandomEncounters randomly-encountered enemies]] in [[spoiler:Alexander's tomb]].
113	* GeniusLoci: [[spoiler:The Cluster and by extension Biorite itself. And let's not forget the "Planetary Consciousness"...]]
114	* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere:
115	** The Marid King, the Viviones, the Earth Golem, Pestilence... the list goes on. There are many, many plot-unrelated boss monsters in this game.
116	** The Marid King is actually (just barely) a subversion, as you find out soon afterwards that it's the reason nobody was there to meet you at the start of the dungeon like there was supposed to (nobody wanted to take the risk and try to fight their way past it to get to you.)
117	** The boss fight against [[spoiler:Saraswati (or rather, the sorceror possessing her)]] comes out of nowhere and is started by just talking to an NPC [[spoiler:who normally just asks to play Hex with you.]]
118	** [[spoiler: Planetary Conciousness]] is the mega mac daddy of [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere Giant Space Fleas From Nowhere]], just suddenly appearing out of nowhere on the World Map (with no explanation as to why you're apparently fighting [[spoiler: the planet itself]]) if you beat the game with all 100 hex tiles.
119	* GoodRepublicEvilEmpire: It starts out looking this way, but it's quickly subverted. [[spoiler:Turns out it's GrayAndGreyMorality of the more [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism idealistic kind]] (i.e., being manipulated by a third party).]]
120	* GoryDiscretionShot: It's partially this (or at least a "massacre discretion shot", since ''Last Scenario'''s sprite style isn't prone to being gory anyway) and partially a "spoiler discretion shot" when [[spoiler: the Northern Outpost is singlehandedly taken over by Felgorn]].
121	* GratuitousGerman: The imperial capital is called Herzog (duke), and a mining town is called Kohlen ("coals"; the word "Kohle" doesn't actually have a plural, though), among many others.
122	* GratuitousGreek: Castor's second and third phases: "Alpha" and "Omega" Castor.
123	%%* GreenRocks: Biorite.
124	* GuideDangIt: There's a larger version of the world map, with locations marked. It's possible to play the game through multiple times and not realize this. (Press the A key on the overworld, if you're wondering.)
125	* HatOfPower: Helio wears a speed-increasing hair ribbon, and Flynn has a beret protecting against some detrimental effects. Also, there are items like the Arch-Angel's Halo, which immunizes against all negative status effects and gives huge defence boosts, the Spring Hat, massively increasing HP, and the Crystalline Crown (automatically P-Shielding).
126	* HealingShiv: Elemental weapons or strikes can be used to "attack" an ally absorbing this element.
127	* HeroesPreferSwords: Rather spectacularly averted. Hilbert uses a bow, and the rest of your party uses, in order, spears, magic crystals, staves, axes, and throwing knives. It's not until the very last PlayerCharacter joins you that the party gets a sword-user.
128	* HeroicLineage: The story starts out with Hilbert finding out that he's the descendant of the great hero Alexander. Later, [[spoiler:this is subverted]]. By PlayingWithATrope, [[spoiler:Alexander later declares the entire party his descendants, not in blood but in spirit. Heroic Adoption?]]
129	* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Alison]] throwing [[spoiler:herself and Tiamat]] out of the [[spoiler:Lemuria]] to save the party from the explosion. Doubles as a DyingMomentOfAwesome.
130	* HiddenElfVillage: Subverted. At first it seems that the Havali are living in one of these somewhere, and Lorenza was taken out for unknown reasons. But eventually we learn that [[spoiler:the Havali are actually the "demons" from the legend, and the ones who've woken up are really, really pissed about being attacked three hundred years ago for no good reason. A few are some of the primary antagonists as a result.]]
131	* HopelessBossFight: Melchior is level 99, either immune to or absorbs every element, does thousands of HP worth of damage with his normal attacks, and his Regen spell restores HP in the tens of thousands per round. It ''is'' possible to beat him (though very, very, ''very'' unlikely), but you're supposed to [[spoiler: flee the battle, after which he gives the party a special, unique spellcard.]]
132	* HPToOne:
133	** Thanatos has one that hits your ''entire party''. So do the [[OptionalBoss Black King]] and the third Elysium boss. The King's one even ignores all shielding spells.
134	** The Rage crisis cast Erosion and the Chi crisis cast Transfer do this to the user, as a prize for great damage or mana restoration.
135	* IdealHero: As you can see from the page quote, this is one of the most prominent tropes the game [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructs]].
136	* InAWorld: The introductory text is very much like this. [[spoiler: Though it contains hardly anything but BlatantLies.]]
137	* InfinityPlusOneSword: Interestingly, there's everything ''but'' an Infinity Plus One Weapon. The thing coming closest to them are the "ultimate" weapons of each kind, which just are unique and deal most damage.
138	** Infinity Plus One Accessory: The Hero's Soul, which increases all stats by 50 and grants immunity to all elements. Can only be equipped on Hilbert, though. Arguably, the Gold Sceptre for everyone else, which just grants elemental immunity.
139	*** Infinity Minus One Accessory: Warding Charms, which make the wearer immune to all status ailments. ''You will need them'' if you want to take on the {{Optional Boss}}es.
140	** Infinity Plus One Helm: The Arch-Angel's Halo, only obtained by defeating the second-hardest optional boss. Grants huge physical and magical defense boosts, and grants immunity to all status ailments.
141	*** Infinity Minus One Helm: The Crystalline Crown, auto-P-Shielding, and the Spring Hat, increasing the wearer's max HP.
142	** Infinity Plus One Armour: The Lord-Sorcerer's Gown, which grants a significant intellect boost and ''halves MP cost''.
143	*** Infinity Minus One Armour: The Sacral Gown, which grants auto-regeneration of HP, and Mashimizu's Robe, which gives an extreme speed boost.
144	%%* InsurmountableWaistHeightFence
145	* InterfaceSpoiler: Two companions who never are in your playable party? [[SacrificialLamb Conspicuous]].
146	* InvoluntaryGroupSplit: In [[spoiler:Entalar]], an earthquake hits that splits the party into 4 disparate groups, and you wind up going through most of the arc without [[spoiler:Ethan or Lorenza]].
147	* ItsAllUpstairsFromHere: The four Towers, although they're {{Bonus Dungeon}}s.
148	* LaResistance: The [[spoiler:"Republic Freedom Army"]].
149	--> '''[[spoiler:Drakovic]]:''' If [[spoiler:the Kingdom]] thinks they can take control of our country, I'll make their lives as miserable as possible.
150	* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Biorite can do this to humans.
151	* LastDiscMagic: Gamma and, to a lesser extent, Vortex.
152	* TheLastTitle: The name of the game.
153	%%* LawOfCartographicalElegance
154	%%* LazyBackup
155	* LeakedExperience: Characters not currently in the active party still gain experience from boss fights.
156	* {{Leitmotif}}: Thorve, Lorenza, Zawu, Ortas, and [[spoiler:Alexander]]. And Bergheim gets one that [[SoundtrackDissonance doesn't fit his personality in the slightest.]]
157	* LethalJokeItem: The Trick spellcard, pretending to be detrimental with its uses: The normal cast inflicts confusion on the user, and the [[LimitBreak Crisis]] cast ''kills'' them. Why use it then? Because wearing it boosts almost all of your stats by a huge amount.
158	* LetsSplitUpGang: Happens at many points, but especially prominent in the Entalar storyline, which starts out by splitting your seven people into four groups and slowly reunites them.
159	* LevelGrinding: Averted, thankfully. Though the bosses are usually [[NintendoHard really hard]], it's more a matter of "you didn't equip the right equipment/spellcards, use a different setup and try again" than "go back and grind levels for an hour".
160	* TheLifestream: [[spoiler:Biorite.]] Castor states that [[spoiler:it's where all life originated.]]
161	* LifeDrain: A low-level spellcard. The crisis cast is a ManaDrain.
162	* LimitBreak: Interestingly, the spells, not the characters, have these. Whenever a character's "Crisis" bar fills up from being whacked around enough, they can use a spell's special "Crisis" ability, though it usually costs a lot of MP. [[note]]Party members ''can'' attack each other, but to prevent abuse, this won't count into the crisis score.[[/note]] As a Franchise/FinalFantasy ShoutOut, one of these spells (Crisis cast of Bolster, a DesperationAttack) is ''called'' Limit Break.
163	* LookBehindYou: During the first arc, where Thorve and Lorenza are trying to infiltrate the [[spoiler:Herzog art gallery]]. The guards say "No one is allowed to pass!", and Thorve says "Can't pass? Then who's that person over there?"
164	%% TYPE LABELS ARE NOT EXAMPLES * LuckStat: Type 6.
165	* ManaBurn: Mindblow.
166	* ManaDrain: The crisis casts of Life Drain and Mindblow, and the signature ability of the Brain Leech enemy line.
167	* MarathonBoss: Almost all of the bosses have incredibly high health that can take quite a while to whittle down. The fact that they're constantly tossing attacks that can put one or more characters in critical health doesn't help things. Two bosses take the cake, though: the most difficult {{Superboss}} in the main game, who has a whopping 200,000 hit points, and the NewGamePlus boss, which has ''one million''.
168	* MeaningfulName: Lots -- quite a few pages ago, there is a gigantic comment about name etymology [[http://site.scfworks.com/?page_id=9 here]]. Of note is "Entalar", which means [[spoiler:"adapted", "appropriate", or "adequate"]], "Castor", which comes from a Greek word that means "shine" or "excel", and Saraswati, who is named after the Hinduist goddess of arts and learning (and think about her way of mastering Hex and ensuing CharacterDevelopment!).
169	* MetalSlime: The "smiley" enemies. They give hefty amounts of experience, and can drop very powerful, albeit cursed, equipment.
170	* MiniGame: Hex, a collectible board game that has taken the game world by storm. Hex tiles, once won from [=NPCs=] or random encounters, can be traded in for items.
171	%%* MinorMajorCharacter: The Chancellor of the Republic.
172	* MoneyGrinding: Money is sucked by the costs of new equipment ''very fast'', so it's almost certain that you'll need to do this at one point or another. The experience gotten along with it [[NintendoHard doesn't hurt either]].
173	* MoneySpider: Played straight. Additionally, some item drops are rather weird... why the hell can you steal ''rubber boots'' from some sort of magical thunder deer?
174	* MookMaker: The guard devices Watch Disc and Defensive Drone are a justified version of this, ''alerting'' pillars or guards.
175	* MutuallyExclusivePowerups: The last two pages of Hex tiles are unique "face" tiles of which only one copy exists anywhere (barring NewGamePlus). They're the game's most powerful tiles, but can also be traded in for powerful items, ranging from huge heaps of [[RareCandy stat increasers]] or high-end expendables to accessories that grant immunity to status effects or all elements, to armor that grants 500 hit points or auto-regeneration, to the most powerful weapon in the game for one of your characters. Many can be gotten nowhere else, but once you make the trade it's permanent, probably to prevent you from "borrowing" equipment.
176	* NewGamePlus: However, in order to access it [[spoiler:you need to beat the game after finding at least 90 different Hex tiles.]]
177	* NewsTravelsFast: At some points, the protagonists receive news while on a boat without encountering any other ship or messenger.
178	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: No one among the heroes ever mentions directly that they [[spoiler:caused [[AxCrazy Tia]][[SealedEvilInACan mat]] to be freed. Granted, it was involuntary, but since Lorenza already felt something wrong and decided to stay outside the chamber for this reason at first, maybe bringing her closer [[IdiotBall wasn't that great of an idea]]...]]
179	* NintendoHard: Many of the boss battles, although some dungeons are pretty dang hard even without that.
180	* NominalImportance: Averted - ''all'' the characters have names, but everyone of any importance has a CharacterPortrait.
181	* NonDamagingStatusInflictionAttack: Enemies use them, such as the spectre using Blind Rage on a character.
182	* NonElemental: The Grenade line of items, and the spells Laser, Rage and Gamma.
183	* NonLethalBottomlessPits: As a puzzle element in the Kohlen Mine, the First Seal and the Hall of Judgement, they in some cases transport you to other areas.
184	* NoobCave: The Abandoned Copper Mine. Your objective is to ''find a lost cat'', and your enemies are various kinds of weak animals. This is quite a contrast to the opening scroll, which prepared you for world-shaking happenings...
185	* NPCRoadblock: An accidental example is found in the Condor Library, and a few places contain entrances blocked off by guards.
186	* OneDegreeOfSeparation: [[spoiler:Thorve, Felgorn, and Randolph's son Wolfram grew up and joined the army together. Wolfram was killed by a little boy, who turns out to have been Ethan trying to protect his older brother Castor. The random soldier who chased Thorve and Felgorn away from the boy was Zawu.]]
187	* OneHitKill: Various enemy attacks, most notably [[spoiler:Hyperion]]'s "[[BossBanter Die! Die! Die!]]", will inflict instant death like a status effect unless their equipment prevents it, no questions asked.
188	* OneTimeDungeon:
189	** The [[spoiler:Biorite Facility]]. Unusual for a game in which hardly anything is {{Permanently Missable\|Content}}.
190	** The forest where [[spoiler:Helio's VillainousBreakdown[=/=]PsychoSerum freakout]] happens cannot be revisited after the boss fight there.
191	* OpeningScroll: Provides an {{infodump}} about the backstory and mythology. [[spoiler:The whole thing is [[WrittenByTheWinners wrong]].]]
192	* OpeningTheSandbox: The majority of the game's sidequests are only accessible right before the final dungeon, due to the fact that that's also when you get the GlobalAirship.
193	* OrphanageOfLove: [[spoiler:Zawu]] founded one about 14 years ago. [[spoiler:Ethan, Castor and Flynn]] all grew up there.
194	%%* OurElvesAreDIfferent: A lesser example with the Havali since they're missing a lot of the standard elf traits, but the ears make the comparison inevitable.
195	* OurMonstersAreWeird: And how. The random enemies [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic Yin and Yang]], [[StatusEffects Belgugon]], [[NighInvulnerable Ectoplasm]], [[ChargedAttack Starshine]]/Sirius Lux, [[GlassCannon Ripper]], Belgugon, Tiahaunacu, Gerethog, and many others will make you say "What the heck was ''that''?". Not to forget the '''Land Sharks''', though ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' had this kind of creature first. Many bosses are even weirder, like the Riftgate, Erdgeist, the Viviones, Yad-al-Jauza and the Strangelets.
196	* PaperTalisman: Spellcards probably are this.
197	* PartyInMyPocket: Especially awkward in various cutscenes when Matilda is seemingly talking from Hilbert's pocket, including one in which he ''has his'' ''[[UnitsNotToScale worldmap size]]'' on top of it!
198	* PermanentlyMissableContent: Several items that you can only get by stealing from bosses, as well as anything in [[spoiler:the Biorite Facility]], since you blow it up on your way out.
199	* PoisonMushroom:
200	** Subverted by the Trick and Gamma spellcards, which are, in a way, two sides of the same coin. Trick's abilities are purely detrimental, with the base confusing the character and the Crisis cast ''killing'' them. However, it grants a huge boost to almost all of your stats. Gamma's abilities, on the other hand, are the strongest offensive spells in the game (see AwesomeButImpractical, above), but decrease most of a character's stats.
201	** Played completely straight with the Ruin equipment, which inflicts a status ailment on whoever wears it -- this cannot be prevented or cured in any way. Some of the status ailments make a character completely unusable, negating any potential advantage they might give.
202	%%* PostEndGameContent: The [[OptionalBoss Planetary Consciousness]].
203	* {{Precursors}}: [[spoiler: Humans are descended from Havali that left the Imperial continent.]]
204	* PrepareToDie: Said by [[spoiler:Felgorn]] after you are creamed by him in a HopelessBossFight. [[spoiler:You are saved by [[TheCavalry Thorve and Lorenza]] entering, and Thorve turns out to be an old acquaintance of Felgorn.]]
205	* PsychoSerum: [[spoiler:Biorite, when used improperly]], has this effect.
206	* PuzzleBoss
207	** The Riftgate is [[NighInvulnerable completely immune to elemental damage and extremely resistant to physical attacks]], making it nearly unbeatable unless you realize it takes full damage from Laser and non elemental single-use attack items(which can be stolen from certain enemies in the vincinity).
208	** The Viviones, a group of [[WolfpackBoss five monsters]] that heal and revive each other in between blasting your party with spells, get much less [[GoddamnedBoss annoying]] once you notice that each one only heals the one directly clockwise of it- if you kill one and Mindblow the one before it, it breaks the chain.
209	** The second-hardest {{Superboss}}, [[spoiler:Alexander]]. You need to stack various means of damage protection on your sturdiest character and redirect all his attacks to them, or he will absolutely wreck you with ThatOneAttack.
210	* RagnarokProofing
211	* RainbowPimpGear: Lots of probably silly-looking equipment: rubber boots, a party hat, unisex dresses... Though you [[InformedEquipment sadly can't see it]].
212	* RandomEncounters: In dungeons. However, it's possible to get [[EncounterRepellant items that prevent them]].
213	* RareCandy: The Capsules, one for each stat. All except speed capsules can be stolen from late-game enemies.
214	* RareRandomDrop: Several. For example, you can get a then-expensive polearm from the orcs in Braunwald Forest, but the chance is very low.
215	* [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld Really Three Hundred Years Old]]: [[spoiler:The Havali, though they normally live as long as humans]].
216	* RedemptionDemotion: [[spoiler:Zawu can't use any of the skills she used against you as a boss once she joins your party. Justified in that her increased power came from the last energy of Entalar's barrier.]]
217	* ReducedMPCost: The Lord-Sorcerer's Gown. Also inverted with the Spellcard Mod, which doubles MP cost but multiplies damage by 1.5.
218	* ReviveKillsZombie:
219	** There are several undead monsters that are weak to recovery magic.
220	** Although it won't cause a OneHitKill, there's often a specific spellcard that makes taking down a boss enormously easier. Perhaps most JustForFun/{{egregious}}ly, [[spoiler:the Riftgate]] is [[ThatOneBoss about three steps away from unbeatable]] unless you [[spoiler:move Ethan's Laser spellcard to one of the mages and BeamSpam away]]. See the [[YMMV/LastScenario Your Mileage May Vary]] page for the ThatOneBoss entry.
221	* SadBattleMusic: In the boss fight against [[spoiler:Ortas]] and all of the Gate to Elysium bosses.
222	* SaveScumming: This is the way many players treat Hex: If they lose a tile, they just [[SoftReset press F12 and return to the main menu]].
223	* SaveTheVillain: Justified; [[spoiler:two members of the party are his brother and his mentor/surrogate mother, and when Grauss suggests [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim collapsing the island on top of Castor]] they state outright that they'll start killing people if anyone tries.]] Doubly so when [[spoiler:Hilbert refuses to leave the biorite cluster without Castor]] thanks to a sudden attack of ChronicHeroSyndrome.
224	* SequentialBoss: The final one.
225	* SeriousBusiness: Hex. No, really - it's all part of a crazy GambitRoulette by [[spoiler:an ancient sorcerer to obtain immortality]].
226	* ShipTease:
227	** [[BroodingBoyGentleGirl Lorenza/Ethan]]; they seem to be close, but the age difference makes a relationship unlikely.
228	** Alison/Ethan.
229	** Drakovic/Matilda, even though Matilda's already married.
230	** Lorenza/Hilbert; {{Lampshaded}}.
231	---> '''Matilda''': Are we interrupting something?
232	* ShoutOut:
233	** The rare Smiley enemies are from Website/SomethingAwful.
234	** [[Literature/LegendOfTheGalacticHeroes Mittermeyer and Reuental]] stand around discussing fallen heroes, ambition and seizing power in the castle of Germany-inspired Herzog.
235	** Drakovic's lecture on the importance of protecting democracy in the face of a benevolent autocracy is straight from the notes of [[Literature/LegendOfTheGalacticHeroes Yang Wen-Li]], as are his strategies and tactics.
236	** In a town, there is [[Franchise/TouhouProject a witch named Marisa and a maid named Sakuya.]]
237	** The title of the game is a play on "Franchise/FinalFantasy".
238	* ShroudedInMyth: [[spoiler:Turns out most of the world's history is either incredibly slanted or flat-out lies.]] Especially regarding Alexander.
239	* SideQuest: Oh so many, though most of them are only accessible or doable right at the end.
240	* SmashMook: Most of the stock RPG Maker enemies and their PaletteSwap versions, [[CannonFodder low-rank]] {{Mooks}} and also some more memorable enemies like [[spoiler: Killer Crystals]] or Black Pawns.
241	* SlippySlideyIceWorld: Grey Peak.
242	* SolemnEndingTheme: ''"[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6iu5xGttrU Moji no dengon]]"'' by Music/SoundHorizon.
243	* SoLongAndThanksForAllTheGear: There are points in the game where one or more party members are unavailable. Usually they're not long, the exception being an entire arc without [[spoiler:Lorenza]] and most of it without [[spoiler:Ethan]] either once you reach [[spoiler:Entalar]], but it pays to unequip people who aren't in the active party, and to be careful who holds spellcards you can't do without, also, when beginning a NewGamePlus.
244	* SpamAttack: The Dual Strike spellcard (the Quad Strike crisis spell even more). Magical versions are Rage and Vortex, as well as some attacks possessed by boss enemies.
245	* StatusBuffDispel: Disenchant.
246	* StockVideoGamePuzzle: A Water Level Puzzle in the Waterway, an Invisible Floor Puzzle in the [[BonusDungeon Hall of Judgement]], and a Timed Switch Puzzle two other {{Bonus Dungeon}}s, lots and lots of {{Block Puzzle}}s of various types in the Towers, and a FrictionlessIce puzzle on Grey Peak.
247	* StockWeaponNames: The ultimate weapons of most characters, and some others; for example, Ethan's ultimate weapon is the Ragnarok, [[spoiler:Ortas]] wields the Lightbringer, and Castor's glaive is known as Lifetaker.
248	* {{Superboss}}: The game has several. [[spoiler: Saraswati is fought at the end of a side-quest involving Hex. The Black Mausoleum has several (Black Rook, Black Queen and Black King). There are the 4 Heroes (Xolon, Lucien, Durile and Alexander), the last of whom is the hardest one on a normal playthrough; though he's surpassed by the Planetary Consciousness on NewGamePlus.]] And those are just the notable ones!
249	* SwampsAreEvil: The Dark Marshes.
250	* SwirlyEnergyThingy: The Riftgate. And it attacks you.
251	* TakeYourTime:
252	** The BigBad is quite content to sit in the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon while you run around clearing out {{Bonus Dungeon}}s and playing Hex. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], though; he's literally waiting for the heroes.
253	** Inverted in the Serinal Woods. No matter how much time it takes you to get through there, the [[spoiler:Omega Team]] will always be on the run at the exact same spot.
254	* TemptingFate:
255	-->'''Gunther:''' What are you worried about, with no enemies in sight? You think they're just going to drop down from the sky?\
256	''(ladder drops and Matilda's team climbs down)''
257	* ThereAreNoTherapists: Most of the plot could have been prevented had [[spoiler:Ortas]] seen a grief counselor and [[spoiler:Castor gotten some help with his dependency issues]].
258	* TheyPlottedAPerfectlyGoodWaste: About the first quarter of the game is a ClicheStorm purposely... only to subvert everything afterwards.
259	%%* ThrivingGhostTown
260	* TimedMission: Sections of both [[spoiler:the Biorite Facility]] and [[spoiler:the Third Seal if you revisit it]], though for differing reasons.
261	* TitleThemeDrop: Used as the BGM for [[spoiler:[[DiscOneFinalDungeon the Temple of Gaia]]]] and the Geo Science Station's projector room.
262	* TooAwesomeToUse:
263	** Averted. In most boss battles, you ''will'' find yourself using those hard-found Soul Elixirs, Healing Orbs, and Meteor Shells you found during your trek through the dungeon if you want to live.
264	** The "Throw" spellcard has a high damage potential, but most players won't actually exploit it since that requires permanently destroying valuable high-tier weapons.
265	* TrainingBoss: Melchior.
266	* TraumaInducedAmnesia: Varying this trope, [[spoiler:during his biorite imprisonment, Ethan clinged to what he wanted to remember most and forgot his most traumatic memories.]]
267	%%* TraumaInn
268	* TrippyFinaleSyndrome: The entire final dungeon seems to be designed from the ground up to confuse you as much as possible, although it's really deceptively simple to figure out. Then there's the background during the final boss battle and [[spoiler:the interior of the biorite cluster]]...
269	* TwoScenesOneDialogue: Three scenes, actually, of the InfoDump variety. It occurs in [[spoiler:Entalar]], where [[spoiler:Alexander, Barasur, and Ortas]] tell your party members about [[spoiler:what really happened in the Havali war]].
270	%%* TheUnchosenOne
271	%%* UndergroundCity: Entalar.
272	* UnreliableNarrator: [[spoiler:The ''opening scroll'' lies to you!]]
273	* UselessUsefulSpell: Gamma. It can deal epic amounts of damage, but the random factor is extreme, the MP cost is horrible, and it decreases HP and strength of the caster.
274	* TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: [[spoiler:The Biorite Cluster.]]
275	* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler:Castor]] loses it ''bad'' after you beat him a second time. [[spoiler:It reminds him of how powerless he was as a child that Ethan had to save him, and he's distraught that Ethan doesn't remember that he's Castor's older brother. It gets ''even worse'' after Helio sacrifices himself, which is something Castor blames his own weakness on.]]
276	* VillainousValor: The Omega Team, when they're [[spoiler:defending the unconscious Castor from the heroes]]. Bonus points go to [[spoiler:Helio, who defies his alleged characterization in a YouShallNotPass moment]].
277	* WakeUpCallBoss: The Marid King is basically a little note to players. It reads, "You thought those were boss fights? ''This is a boss fight''. PrepareToDie." And making it worse, there's no way to backtrack; if you didn't come in with enough supplies you've got no choice but to reset to an earlier save file.
278	* WarIsHell: One of the game's major themes.
279	* WeaponSpecialization: Subverted. Aside from Lorenza and possibly CoolSword user [[spoiler:Zawu]], no one in the party has a personality that fits the weapon they use.
280	** The Archer is a WideEyedIdealist IdiotHero who tends to charge straight into everything.
281	** The ImprobableWeaponUser is a laid-back and down-to-earth guy who is happy to support his superiors.
282	** The spear user is a HotBlooded SergeantRock. [[spoiler:The other one is the BigBad.]]
283	** The guy with an axe is a [[TheQuietOne quiet]] {{stoic}}.
284	** The knife-wielder is a CoolOldGuy scientist who occasionally gets distracted from the main objective by ruins and artifacts.
285	*** They do tend to have the corresponding battle role, however. The exceptions are Randolph, who's mainly defensive, and Ethan, whose focus stat is ''evasion'' of all things. And Thorve, though his gem-claw-thing isn't common enough to have an expected role.
286	* WhamEpisode: The second trip to the Ether Well and conversation on the ship afterward pretty much mark the point where the plot makes a sharp turn into "Subvert ALL the tropes!" territory.
287	%% ** [[spoiler:The Entalar arc.]]
288	* WhamLine:
289	** [[spoiler:"Call for Zawu." Wait, the MysteriousInformant is working for the creepy guy who Augustus is reporting to? OhCrap.]]
290	** Ethan [[TheQuietOne barely talks]] for the first quarter of the game. Then all of a sudden he drops ''this'' on us: [[spoiler:"[[UnwittingPawn You aren't even related to Alexander]]."]]
291	** After defeating Castor for the second time, he has a VillainousBSOD and says [[spoiler:"Where... Where are you, brother? Wait! Don't leave me, brother!! Wait!! Ethan!! No... Don't tell me... You don't recognize me anymore? You... You saved my life!"]]
292	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Seemingly played straight with [[spoiler:Tazar]], but [[spoiler:take a good look at the mutant you fight at the end of the Biorite Facility.]]
293	* WhiteAndGreyMorality: Most of the villains are eventually revealed to have fairly sympathetic backstories/traits.
294	* WhyDontYaJustShootHim: Subverted and justified; [[spoiler:the Lemuria]] has enough firepower to destroy [[spoiler:Heart Island]], which will bring the caverns down on top of the BigBad. Of course, the party wants to SaveTheVillain instead.
295	* WolfpackBoss:
296	** The Viviones are a ''quintuple'' boss. They also [[GoddamnedBoss brought many players to the edge of madness]], even though they're only [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere Giant Space Fleas From Nowhere]].
297	** Same thing with the [[OptionalBoss Strangelets]], which are also five identical creatures.
298	** And the ''six'' Sentry Pillars in the Ether Well.
299	* WrittenByTheWinners: [[spoiler:All of the commonly accepted history of Alexander's time is actually propaganda.]]
300	-->[[spoiler:'''Alexander''']]: It is easy to rewrite history when the few who know the truth are unable to make themselves heard.
301	* WrongGenreSavvy: In addition to the whole premise of the game ("Set up the biggest ClicheStorm in RPG history, then turn it upside down"), it plays around a lot with [[spoiler:the trustworthiness of the information you're given. Not only are [[AllMythsAreTrue all myths]] ''[[SubvertedTrope not]]'' [[AllMythsAreTrue true]], but generally speaking, you do NOT expect the opening text scroll to flat-out lie to you. The MysteriousInformant is a ManipulativeBastard playing on the hero's [[IdiotHero gullibility]], and the guy who claims [[LaserGuidedAmnesia he can't remember any of his past]] actually remembers a lot more than he lets on, and is keeping quiet for his own reasons.]]
302	* YouAllLookFamiliar: Particularly obvious in Entalar; there are only three generic Havali sprites, so the town seems to be populated by an army of clones.
303	* YouCanBarelyStand: The party tries to point this out to [[spoiler:Ortas]] before their battle, but he has none of it.
304	-->'''Hilbert''': [[spoiler:Ortas]]...just give it up. You can barely move.
305	-->'''[[spoiler:Ortas]]''': "NEVER! I, I'll never give up!!"
306	* VillainExitStageLeft: This happens in the game a lot:
307	** Inverted and then played straight with Felgorn (jusified, he spared them before, so they did the same).
308	** Tiamat does this once.
309	** The omega team abuse this. They always run away after you fight them, and usually Hilbert & Co just let them go for some reason, despite the fact that they would harass them again in the future.

Context VideoGame / LastScenario