| 1 | [[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Oracle_of_Tao_9015.png]] |
| 2 | [-[[caption-width-right:320:"The hero of our story. [[HelloInsertNameHere What was her name again?]]"]]-] |
| 3 | |
| 4 | An amateur UsefulNotes/RPGMaker game from 2013, [[FreewareGames freely available]] on [[http://rpgmaker.net/games/1760/ Rpgmaker.net]]. |
| 5 | |
| 6 | The basic premise involves a spunky, tomboyish beggar girl, who is called on a MissionFromGod to save the world by restoring balance. An evil demon is threatening the world and needs to be stopped. Along the way she meets [[FiveTokenBand an assorted group of characters]] starting with her potential love interest, an [[WholesomeCrossdresser effeminate]] swordsman. Beyond the initial story, however, there are numerous side tales that can be gleaned from romantic sidequests, and some random [[BlackComedy dark humor]] by exploring the world. Not to mention some hints about the nature of the hero herself, and the nature of the world. |
| 7 | |
| 8 | There are plans to publish the story as a novel. This game inspired ''Literature/MuneShinri'', which is the book of the main "religion" of this ReligiousEdutainment. |
| 9 | ---- |
| 10 | !! List of Main Characters |
| 11 | * Our hero, [[TheChosenOne Ambrosia Brahmin]]. |
| 12 | * The swordsman, [[RealMenWearPink Nevras Fitzembor]]. |
| 13 | * The elf, [[LoveableRogue Aqorm Flowless]] |
| 14 | * The shaman [[TheSmartGuy Elias]] ([[NoNameGiven last name never mentioned]] ). |
| 15 | * The nature girl, [[NatureHero Anideshi]] ([[OnlyOneName no last name]] ). |
| 16 | * The exorcist, [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Azrael]] [[MeaningfulName Runesealer]]. |
| 17 | * The dark wizard (an optional character), [[NotEvilJustMisunderstood Yazim Jianne]]. |
| 18 | * The demon, [[SuccubiAndIncubi Lilith]]. |
| 19 | * The angel, [[DudeLooksLikeALady Michael]]. Sorry, the ArchangelMichael. |
| 20 | * The BigBad, [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Belial]]. |
| 21 | * The [[PlayableEpilogue second game]] HeroAntagonist. |
| 22 | ---- |
| 23 | !! This game contains examples of: |
| 24 | |
| 25 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 26 | |
| 27 | [[folder:A-E]] |
| 28 | * AbsurdlyLowLevelCap: Level cap is 99, but it's fairly easy to level to 40 or 50 (provided you don't die). |
| 29 | %% ** AbsurdlyHighLevelCap: Elias. He has a number of skills and effects that actually ''use up levels'' in massive amounts, so to get the most from him, you actually end up grinding more than 99 levels. That and do [[DifficultButAwesome a lot of research sidequests to learn all his skills]]. |
| 30 | %% * ActionGirl: Our female lead, Ambrosia Brahmin. |
| 31 | * AdmiringTheAbomination: Subverted, though Azrael and Elias are often very surprised they got to see one legendary creature or another. |
| 32 | * AfterTheEnd: On the surface, the world in more or less the same, besides some portals closing. [[spoiler:In fact, the universe has been created from scratch, and [[PlatonicCave many things that didn't actually exist and were covered by illusory reality]] [[EndOfTheWorldSpecial now do exist]].]] Oh yes, and there's a giant floating egg in midair now. |
| 33 | * AllDeathsFinal: Subverted. There are "revival" spells, but certain deaths are not able to be remedied. There are graves, so understandably, old age is one of the constants. As are certain effects like disintegration or CessationOfExistence. Or diseases, judging from the cause of death in many gravestones. Also, there are a vast number of war-related casualties, so resurrection probably only works on bodies before decay has set in. This is possibly due to some sort of ResurrectionSickness (in the case of disease, causing them too be too weak, and die again) or DestinationHostUnreachable (in the case of old age). |
| 34 | %% ** Subverted again (not double subverted) in battle. There is a small percent chance that God will raise your character during battle. |
| 35 | %% * AllMythsAreTrue: [[BaitAndSwitchComment Except when they're]] [[UnreliableNarrator not]]. |
| 36 | %% * AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Ambrosia, before she met anyone in the party. |
| 37 | * AlwaysSaveTheGirl: GenderFlip. Ambrosia seems to care little about her heroic quest, but has a mini-HeroicBSOD if something goes wrong in her relationship. |
| 38 | * AmbitionIsEvil: Ambrosia, [[spoiler: the crown prince]] Nevras, and [[spoiler: Tamashii, their daughter]] don't want the kingdom promised them. Instead, they want freedom and a [[{{Suburbia}} house in the fantasy suburbs]]. |
| 39 | %% * AmnesiacHero: Ambrosia, although it is subverted. She can't remember her real parents or anything before age four. |
| 40 | * AnatomyOfTheSoul: It's something along the lines of Body soul (that which animates everything), Heart (divided into Light and Dark, and ideally in balance), and Name (for this reason there is TrueName magic). |
| 41 | * AnchoredShip: Until the hero [[spoiler:confronts and joins her evil half, she's too neurotic to embrace her feelings]]. |
| 42 | * AngelsDevilsAndSquid: The New Earth is host to Heaven, Hell, and the underwater world, complete with portals to sleeping deities, and sea creatures chanting in R'ylehian. |
| 43 | * AnonymousBenefactor: In the first scene, some random guy gives you enough gold to start. Too bad what you spent in the plot [[DiabolusExMachina gets wasted]]. |
| 44 | * TheAntiGod: The Ancient One, a hooded ghoul who rules the void. God isn't really good or evil, but rather has BlueAndOrangeMorality of some sort. The Ancient One, on the other hand, seems to be merely territorial, destroying whatever is nearby. God is ruler of all existence, the Ancient One is ruler of nonexistence. Supposedly the two are equally powerful, but this may be an InformedAttribute, because God's power is never tested in battle, and there are stronger enemies out there. |
| 45 | * AntiGrinding: Of the ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' variety, the difference being tone (''Undertale'' gives you an extended guilt trip about it, while ''Oracle of Tao'' suddenly springs the consequences of your actions on you). |
| 46 | ** First, if you have beaten over 999 mobs, a creature called the Wandering Buddha challenges you and asks you whether you want happiness, the joke being that apparently in Buddhism, [[https://www.pursuit-of-happiness.org/history-of-happiness/buddha/ happiness is emptiness]], so he thinks that you want to be attacked (if you say no, he calls you strange). |
| 47 | ** Second, in the Normal and Hard Mode (not the Easy Mode), after killing over 999 mobs, a tally starts whenever you visit the save point. The tally only stops if you SheatheYourSword against the Wandering Buddha, or in the Normal Mode if you run away. If you run away in Hard Mode, the tally doesn't stop, but instead, the game warns you that going over a certain point (different from Normal to Hard mode by a factor of about 10) will trigger a bad ending (basically, the Game Plus ending where Ambrosia kills the party). If you killed the Wandering Buddha? Every save point treats you to this message: |
| 48 | ---> "''GOOD WORK! You've defeated (number) groups of monsters. Over 9999 groups will give you a [[BlatantLies special ending]]! ''" |
| 49 | ** Third, and most bizarrely, Ambrosia's ultimate attack is run by a 0/1 switch where 0 is treated as basically an InUniverse EpicFail that not only fails to attack but tries to kill the party, and 1 takes off a large percent of monster hp. Although certain events can also turn this switch from 0 to 1 or back, the most effective way to influence this is to have under 250 victories (turns to 1 at the beginning of battles), or over 9999 (turns to 0). Other things can influence this, but basically an attack that helps you win battles becomes less effective the more you win. A new mechanism is being put in place that will let you talk your way out of battles but gain experience (it doesn't add to the Victories tally, though, since the monster party doesn't die), so this will actually be possible if all bosses can be hashed out. |
| 50 | * ApocalypseMaiden: ''Don't'' knock Ambrosia out. The universe will start to crumble when she's unconscious. |
| 51 | %% * ArbitraryHeadcountLimit: Party size at four. |
| 52 | %% * ArtifactOfDoom: [[Theatre/TheRingOfTheNibelung The Ring of Nibelung]]. |
| 53 | * AscendedFridgeHorror: Something suspected by the protagonist and the audience is reprised later in the game. [[spoiler:The possibility of DreamApocalypse and DeadAllAlong. Although not quite true, it goes FromBadToWorse.]] |
| 54 | * AscendedGlitch: Until recently, Aqorm's LimitBreak didn't end before the battle if it instant killed the enemy party. Meaning that until she ran low enough on money that damage no longer instant kills enemies, she could reuse her LimitBreak over and over. |
| 55 | * AsianRuneChant: The Kuji-in pops up at least once, as Azrael's special attack. |
| 56 | * AttractiveBentGender: All male angels, and half-angels. But especially Michael. |
| 57 | * AwesomeByAnalysis: Elias can learn to summon (or several other magic types) just by reading books about various creatures (when usually this involves fighting monsters). |
| 58 | ** He can also learn how to do runecasting this way. |
| 59 | ** For that matter, if he browses through the libraries, he reads a four volume set called History of The World, memorizes it, and ''reprints'' it from memory in game. |
| 60 | * AwfulTruth: [[spoiler:Ambrosia is God, and neither the world, nor anyone in it is real. [[EndOfTheWorldSpecial But Ambrosia fixes that]], and later becomes the bearer of the AwfulTruth that ''was'' the case.]] |
| 61 | * AxeCrazy: Ambrosia, in one (or two) of the bad endings. |
| 62 | * BabiesEverAfter: [[spoiler:In both the original game, and the PlayableEpilogue, this is part of the best ending.]] |
| 63 | * BadassFamily: Ambrosia is a PersonOfMassDestruction, and Nevras is a warrior with a {{BFS}} who can slice things into ribbons. Their daughter is TheEmpath with MagikarpPower on all stats. |
| 64 | * BagOfHolding: |
| 65 | ** A little girl in town lets the party store some of the more common items. |
| 66 | *** There's a literal item by this name too, that lets the party do this anywhere. |
| 67 | * BagOfSharing: This is a given for UsefulNotes/RPGMaker games, without extensive programming. |
| 68 | * BattleInTheRain: For added awesome, the very first battle. |
| 69 | * BattleThemeMusic: Situational. Each battle has a regional battle theme, a theme appropriate to the tone of the enemies (such as [[Music/KilroyWasHere DomoArigatoMrRoboto]] for machine enemies), or in some cases a random song that may not even be suited for battles (such as romance songs of the 1980s). |
| 70 | * BeatingADeadPlayer: |
| 71 | ** One of the battle formulas is designed to deal random damage unaffected by armor, and immune to Reflect spells. It works, but the code is prone to do this sometimes, despite programming to do otherwise. |
| 72 | ** This is also the case with characters who have been turned to stone. Attacks still work on them, causing a petrified party member to then be killed. |
| 73 | ** Subverted with better coding, but certain effects still make this happen. |
| 74 | *** The Multi-Attack ability used to ''always'' be this way, dealing each attack with about a two second wait until done, and BeatingADeadPlayer regardless. (The two second wait is to prevent interruption for other attacks.) [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks It doesn't anymore, though.]] |
| 75 | * BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: The fable "The Ever-Exploding Head" |
| 76 | --> ''Once, when humanity was still young, a man wished he could watch humanity forever. As a giant, disembodied head. However, years of viewing violence, betrayal, and cruelty made his head explode. But because he wished to view forever, his head reformed. However, every so often it explodes again. Be careful what you wish for.'' |
| 77 | * BeefGate: |
| 78 | ** (Simultaneously this, and GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere.) [[spoiler:Much of the enemies are sort of mystical fantasy-themed, with dragons and the like. And then, if the party goes out of order in the plot, there are three distinct places where it can encounter [[EldritchAbomination Elder Gods]].]] |
| 79 | ** Also a CashGate, though this one is more manageable. Just pay the toll, and cross the bridge. |
| 80 | * BeneathTheMask: Both Ambrosia and Nevras have things they'd rather not show. |
| 81 | * BetaCouple: Every character besides the main two (and one extra character, who stays single). |
| 82 | * BetterAsFriends: One of the couples can be swapped out for another. Since it's borderline [[CourtlyLove platonic]], it may be a better choice. |
| 83 | * BettyAndVeronica: A couple of bisexual cases. For Aqorm, the resident thief, her "Betty" is Elias, the somewhat bookish type man, and her Veronica is Lilith, another girl and a [[SuccubiAndIncubi succubus]]. Lilith's Betty is actually Aqorm, and her "Veronica" is Michael, a very effeminate-looking angel guy who is this because they are polar opposites. |
| 84 | * BigFancyHouse: Aqorm's house. [[spoiler: She ran away from her family mansion, because she wanted to be a street musician.]] |
| 85 | * BlackAndWhiteMagic: Since it's based on [[UsefulNotes/{{Taoism}} Taoism]], usually [[RedMage merged]]. |
| 86 | * BlackBugRoom: Shortly before facing the final boss of the two-game series (including PlayableEpilogue), Ambrosia gets separated from her party, and faced with her evil half taunting her. She is forced confront the fact that despite supposedly being TheHero, she's [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman been killing Mooks this whole time]] [[HeWhoFightsMonsters and it's making her as bad as them]]. Then she has a vision of either dying at the hands of the villain, or killing her family off. In comparison to any other BlackBugRoom, it really isn't that disturbing but it does pave the way for later events. |
| 87 | * {{Blackmail}}: Ambrosia gets some pictures of Nevras [[spoiler: [[WigDressAccent crossdressing in order to sneak in to a plot-important building]]]]. Once sold, she can always make more... |
| 88 | * BlueAndOrangeMorality: God, who apparently is more into some sort of balance than true goodness. Knowing what you do later on, though, God's motivations are downright weird. [[spoiler:Ambrosia is God, and vice versa, so any problems God and his minions caused are effectively somewhere along the lines of Ambrosia giving herself something to do since she's ''bored''.]] |
| 89 | * BodyguardCrush: Possibly the main couple. |
| 90 | * BottomlessMagazines: Averted after an update. A long bow now uses up arrows from the inventory, unequipping your last arrow and getting rid of it when you fire the last one (small glitch of being able to unequip the last, makes 10 arrows really only give 9 shots). |
| 91 | * BraggingRightsReward: If you can beat the game without dying, the game awards you with a ton of prizes, including an equippable trophy item. Doing so, however, despite being told of this in the very first savepoint, is [[NintendoHard quite difficult]]. It is doable, but many points of the game have [[InterestingSituationDuel desert or snow battles, which are harder than normal ones]]. Not to mention some bosses that will kill you. |
| 92 | * BreakUpBonfire: Averted. She keeps his personal items, like his diary. |
| 93 | * BreakingTheFourthWall: Ambrosia herself, in a moment of doubt (she later is talked into "realizing" she's real again). |
| 94 | --> I'm not real! I'm [[MediumAwareness just a video game character]]! |
| 95 | * TheButcher: Oddly subverted, and made into one of the AcceptableFeminineGoalsAndTraits. Lilith being from a race of violent demons, wants to be a cook because she likes cutting things up. |
| 96 | ** Later gets training from the ChefOfIron. |
| 97 | * CallToAgriculture: Seriously, this is among the good endings. |
| 98 | * CantGetAwayWithNuthin: Ambrosia's second mission is to stop the angel Estheriel. When she finally faces him, she's told that killing an angel that hasn't given its way to evil and become a demon, is like killing [[IncorruptiblePurePureness an innocent child]] and will [[MoralEventHorizon probably drive her mad]]. [[spoiler: It does.]] |
| 99 | * CantHaveSexEver: The not-so-evil wizard, [[FullNameBasis Yazim Jianne]]. [[spoiler:His wife dies during an experiment gone wrong, and although he joins the party, he's pretty much the only one that ends up couple-less at the end.]] |
| 100 | ** Eventually averted, [[spoiler:with Selqui]]. |
| 101 | * CapitalLettersAreMagic: This seems to be the approach used with most of the magical effects in the game, named items, etc. |
| 102 | * CastFromHitPoints: Nevras's Dragon Strike ability requires one turn extra, and this, in order to use. Well, it is strong enough to kill a dragon. |
| 103 | ** And its inverse, ManaShield. Yazim Jianne can do this by transferring however much health is lost (divided by 10) from his magic points. |
| 104 | * CastingAShadow[=/=]LightEmUp: Elias. Ambrosia can use these two, but not directly, needing help from a PowerTattoo. |
| 105 | * CerebusRetcon: Double Subverted. [[spoiler:Ambrosia has a sudden flashback where she thinks she was dead, and can't explain why she had no wounds after that. At the time, this turns out to be a test for her resolve, before gaining another Crest, so she denies it showing. It turns out this might have been true later, and she starts to again not exist, this time fading to nothing (that is, the original retcon was subverted, then retconned again as a symptom of another, more horrifying conclusion). Which is then subverted again, as she manages to force herself into existence. Which is then retconned again, this time, [[MindScrew applying to everyone but her]].]] |
| 106 | * CerebusSyndrome: Much of the game is sweet dreams fuel with various moral lessons about love being taught. Then, around the fourth of these, there is everything from a HardTruthAesop to the implication that Ambrosia at some point [[DyingDream died and the other characters are part of a dream]]. |
| 107 | ** For that matter, ReverseCerebusSyndrome: [[spoiler:Immediately after a terrible point in a story where someone gets ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice, you have three choices as to whether to finish them off, leave them, or kill them. Killing them makes the story head south, while either of the other options causes the ending to take a dramatic upswing.]] |
| 108 | * ChainOfDeals: Played with. As part of a sidequest, a girl wants a certain trophy. Which she traded away for some sushi and the recipe. She wants it back, so you start this quest of basically back-trading to get the item, which everyone's either had stolen from them, or traded away already. Then you get to the end of the trade… and not only does it cycle back to the original owner, but she decided to toss it in the trash. [[AndYourRewardIsClothes Worse yet, she decides to give Ambrosia the same exact item she wanted to trade for it in the first place, a sushi set]]. |
| 109 | * ChandlersLaw: Creator/RaymondChandler actually appears as a [[PeopleJars preserved holograph]] in a futuristic town, partially explains the trope (with ninjas dramatically popping up, walking up to the hero and attacking, and disappearing before anyone can figure out what's going on). |
| 110 | * {{Chiaroscuro}}: FluffyCloudHeaven has a deep black background with white clouds in foreground, and death has outright Tenebrism with the heroes being in full color with a deep blackish mist in the background. |
| 111 | * CityWithNoName: The opening town? It's called Opening town, and you can [[HelloInsertNameHere rename it]]. |
| 112 | * ClosedCircle: The town of Sekai can't be left until you fix everyone's problems. |
| 113 | %%* CognizantLimbs: [[OptionalBoss Zakum]] |
| 114 | * ComedicSociopathy: Ambrosia literally ''kills'' her counterpart in a rival party, because [[OpenMouthInsertFoot she says the wrong thing]]. |
| 115 | --> '''Ambrosia:''' [[RealWomenDontWearDresses You're a disgrace to women everywhere. Far from being competent, you're just decoration.]] |
| 116 | --> '''Momo:''' [[NoGuyWantsanAmazon The one who is a disgrace is you. You've lost your feminine ways,]] [[MasculineGirlFeminineBoy and become a man.]] [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits No wonder your party is so odd, with you as leader.]] |
| 117 | --> '''Ambrosia:''' Be right back, guys. I have a murder to perform. |
| 118 | * ComicallyMissingThePoint: The dialogue with God's battle. |
| 119 | --> '''Azrael''': Uhhhh... guys? Do we really wanna fight God? |
| 120 | --> '''God''': Have no fear. I cannot be killed, even if I am defeated. |
| 121 | --> '''Ambrosia''': Did you hear that? We have nothing to worry about, God can't be killed. |
| 122 | --> '''Azrael''': That wasn't what I was worried about at all! |
| 123 | * ContemplateOurNavels: Good lord, Ambrosia. |
| 124 | * ContinuingIsPainful: Experience and 1/2 gold is lost each time the entire party dies. That said, it gets to keep some of the excess experience gained, and the items found. |
| 125 | * ConvenientlyUnverifiableCoverStory: Due to the fact she can't remember her early childhood (averting NoInfantileAmnesia), she remembers being adopted at a young age. Too bad her original parents are dead, we can't ask them anything. And she grew up on the streets of a town a ''continent'' away after their death, so we can't ask the villagers anything. Needless to say, her actual past turns out to be quite different, once she remembers everything. |
| 126 | * CosmicEgg: The Universe Egg. |
| 127 | * CosmicHorrorReveal: Not the main plot, but the game has a bounty hunting sidequest that is relatively calm and relaxing, until you get to about the last monster, who turns out to be an EldritchAbomination. Losing the battle against this last bounty results in a MindRape ending. For a SideQuest, this is still pretty heavy... and there are actually a number of these practically immortal destructive beings roaming about. |
| 128 | * CoupDeGraceCutscene: Belial's and Estheriel's deaths trigger a scene where the party combines their powers (in the Belial's case), or TheReasonYouSuckSpeech (in Estheriel's case). |
| 129 | * CrapsaccharineWorld: [[spoiler:The universe and everyone in it, beside the hero [[DreamApocalypse don't even exist]]. Unlike the typical DreamApocalypse, where some people may have been there before the dream, it is kinda clear that the only option for the remaining person (who in fact turns out to be the avatar of God) is to either spend eternity alone once she awakes from this dream, or knowingly create every living thing, realizing that there's a change they ''still'' might not be real]]. |
| 130 | * CrazyHomelessPeople: Ambrosia, although subverted later in the game, when she buys a house. She's still very much like a crazy person, though. |
| 131 | * CreatorCameo: The author, Thomas Hooker, pops up in Hell at a weapons shop. Why? [[ThisLoserIsYou Because he's down in the dumps, thought about killing himself, and decided against it]]. He comments about how he's [[SelfDeprecation not even sure the game is all that great]], after which [[RageAgainstTheAuthor Ambrosia snaps and tells him she'll kick his ass if he doesn't cheer up]]. When he finally does cheer up, [[{{Crossdresser}} he dons a dress and walks off stage]]. |
| 132 | * CreatorInJoke: Ashley, from the (now defunct) game The New Earth is mentioned a few times. In the game she played in, she defeated Estheriel at the end ([[http://zpte.wordpress.com/2009/05/10/the-new-earth-review/ the game received terrible reviews]], [[RetGone and was removed, meaning she no longer is a character]]). [[spoiler: [[CaptainErsatz Tamashii fills her place, actually saying the words "now I know how Ashley feels..." when a party burn event pops up]], since Ashley got set on fire at one point in the game.]] |
| 133 | ** One of the bounty hunt enemies is known as "Elves in Parsley." [[spoiler: It was the joke answer on a history test. "Who wrote ''We Didn't Start The Fire''?" (a)The actual author (Billy Joel), (b)some other singer, (c)Elves in parsley.]] |
| 134 | * CrocodileTears: The name and premise of a FairyTale. A talking crocodile has massive amounts of Wangst about how the other forest critters don't trust it, so it cries alot. They finally learn to trust it, and everyone lives HappilyEverAfter. ''[[SurprisinglyCreepyMoment Until the crocodile eats everyone.]]'' |
| 135 | * CurbStompBattle: To its credit, the battle against the boss monster is ''fake.'' The real monster is the one who told them to climb the tower, and is standing outside it. |
| 136 | * CuttingTheKnot: One puzzle involves turning all the keys into one key to open a door. Or ramming into the door until half-dead. |
| 137 | * CuteAndPsycho: Ambrosia is definitely crazy, but doesn't seem to have any {{Yandere}} tendencies. She's not TheFakeCutie either, she's just unstable. |
| 138 | * DarkIsNotEvil: Lilith uses dark powers, but is otherwise friendly. |
| 139 | * DarkReprise: There's a few songs that pop up later with a distorted tempo. |
| 140 | * DeadlyDistantFinale: Only Nevras and Ambrosia, but it's made clear that except for immortals like angels/demons, that LifeWillKillYou. |
| 141 | * DegradedBoss: Subverted. They aren't really degraded in difficulty, resulting in some NintendoHard moments when you have to beat a normal enemy with the full power of a boss. |
| 142 | * DeliberatelyMonochrome: The Void world has much of the landscape in grey, with the characters in SplashOfColor. Also, this happens in some FlashbackEffects. |
| 143 | * DemocracyIsBad: The current Earth is run by a group dedicated to [[LogicBomb organized anarchy]]. That is, a [[OneWorldOrder world government]] is set up, ''[[{{Hypocrite}} in order to ensure cities cannot form large governments and oppress people]]''. |
| 144 | * DemotedMemories: With a bit of MediumAwareness. Ambrosia manages to convince herself that her quest never happened, that this is a DyingDream, and that she's a video game character. [[spoiler:She's right on [[MediumAwareness at least one count]].]] |
| 145 | * DerailingLoveInterests: Also [[spoiler:DiscountLesbians]] |
| 146 | * DiabolusExMachina: Poor Ambrosia never can catch a break. She finally makes some money thanks to a generous donation and uses it to buy something. Giant worms attack her, ruining the purchase. |
| 147 | * DifficultButAwesome: Aqorm's mechanics. She basically is a weaked-down fighter with stealing ability and a [[WildMagic geomancy]] effect. To use her to her full effect requires gaining loads of money, and then charging her to her limit break. Since her limit break basically spends money to deal damage, and the more she has the more damage (but also the more she spends). Then there's the fact that she can take apart mechs [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX Riku-style]]. |
| 148 | ** Elias also shares this trait. To get all his abilities, you have to do ''alot'' of reading to learn skills, some alchemy combining to learn some of the rest, and be at a fairly high level (some of the books read have a level cap). |
| 149 | * DismantledMacGuffin: |
| 150 | ** In order to become the [[TitleDrop Oracle of Tao]], Ambrosia has to collect a series of scattered tattoos by realizing some profound truth from various [[HermitGuru wise people]] (sort of a ShoutOut to [[Literature/TheLostYearsOfMerlin The Seven Songs of Merlin]]). |
| 151 | ** Also, another version of this is going on in the villains' case, since the BigBad is sealed inside a giant pot, and [[ThirteenIsUnlucky thirteen]] gems are needed to unseal the spell. |
| 152 | * DivineDate: Nevras finds out Ambrosia is [[spoiler:God]], and shortly thereafter asks her on a date. |
| 153 | * DivineParentage: Tamashii's mom is literally God. |
| 154 | * DivineRaceLift: You get to fight God [[spoiler:(not Ambrosia, the original Trinity)]] who turns out to be three women. That, or God looks like the Triforce. |
| 155 | * DoubleConsciousness: Ambrosia has this. As does Anideshi, due to her Sage trance ability. |
| 156 | * DowntimeDowngrade: Averted. During the downtime, not only do they not break up, but Ambrosia actually has a child. |
| 157 | * DragonsUpTheYinYang: Lots of both, including a few Eastern dragons. |
| 158 | * DramaticShattering: It's not actually glass that's breaking... [[spoiler:Ambrosia has an existential crisis, and the image on the screen is herself shattering into a million pieces, before she [[CessationOfExistence ceases to exist.]] She gets better, though.]] |
| 159 | * DualBoss: Sera and Phim. |
| 160 | ** And DuelBoss: Nevras's sword trainer. |
| 161 | * EarthAllAlong: lampshaded from the ''very beginning of the game'', along with a second world called [[DarkWorld the Void]] due to WorldSundering. The PlayableEpilogue omits the extra world, since the gate to this other world was presumably sealed. |
| 162 | * EasyExp: A MetalSlime enemy or two. |
| 163 | * EasterEgg: Not only are there a number of secrets, [[spoiler:(pressing * allows you to enter a CheatCode, and there are numerous hidden items and secret battles),]] but there are some interesting scenes that are hard to find, to say nothing of pretty much every book in the library and every grave in the graveyard having something to say. |
| 164 | * EldritchAbomination: Three to be exact. |
| 165 | * EldritchLocation: Also {{Bizarrchitecture}}. Castle made of [[WombLevel flesh, veins, and blood flowing in the background]]? Check. Same castle also filled with floating islands with few to no walls? Check. Same castle really the [[CosmicEgg foundation of the universe]] and possibly a fetal metaphor? Check. [[BodyHorror Hands and eyes as part of the landscape]]? Check. |
| 166 | ** Also MalevolentArchitecture: A few of the castles would fit the description. |
| 167 | * EquivalentExchange: A variety of these. Most magic uses MP as its price, much like Franchise/FinalFantasy, but some abilities are CastFromHitPoints. |
| 168 | ** On the other end of the scale, you have a ManaShield. |
| 169 | ** And then there's Elias's Alchemy, which aside from making cool items, has certain alchemy spells. But in order to learn each spell or make a super-rare item (like gold), you sacrifice anywhere from a level to 10 levels (and you can combine spells together, meaning there's a chance you might end up making the same spell more than two times). |
| 170 | * EmpathicEnvironment: Defied. |
| 171 | * EternalLove: Ambrosia and Nevras, in at least one ending. |
| 172 | * EveryoneMeetsEveryone: Also, PuttingTheBandBackTogether. |
| 173 | * {{Expy}}: Loads of these, from ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' characters to ''Franchise/KingdomHearts''. Mainly, these are secondary characters or {{NPC}}s. |
| 174 | [[/folder]] |
| 175 | |
| 176 | [[folder:F-J]] |
| 177 | * FairyTale: Each library has a few. These are typically not known tales, but rather [[FracturedFairyTale in-universe fantasy stories]]. For instance, one of the better stories is "''The Bloody Pet Shovel''" [[Awesome/OracleOfTao (in its entirety)]]. |
| 178 | * FemaleAngelMaleDemon: Inverted. Though the male angel has AmbiguousGender, and the female demon is highly aggressive. |
| 179 | * FeminineWomenCanCook: Type 3 and 4. |
| 180 | * FertileFeet: Ambrosia, after becoming the Oracle, grows massive amounts of some generic weed, most likely [[http://www.co.stevens.wa.us/weedboard/other%20weeds/ht1.jpg something called Houndstooth]]. Also, in flashbacks ([[spoiler: since this power was originally hers]] ), she as a kid grew tiny sprouts inside her shadow when she moved. |
| 181 | * TheFettered: Ambrosia. Which is good, because she's CuteAndPsycho, and without her rules she'd go totally AxCrazy. |
| 182 | * FightingYourFriend: Ambrosia fights her former party. |
| 183 | * FlashStep: Nevras uses it in one scene, but it is never referenced again. |
| 184 | * TheFourGods: A group of bosses in game. |
| 185 | * FourIsDeath: The answer to a puzzle. |
| 186 | * TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou: An attack called Attack Player targets the screen. Considering this is a sidescroll RPG, rather than vertical format (as is true of UsefulNotes/RPGMaker XP), this is pretty interesting. If the player dies, the game is over. |
| 187 | * FunctionalMagic: Some of the spells fall under various categories... |
| 188 | ** LanguageOfMagic: Angels can use true names to learn spells (similar to the ''VideoGame/TreasureOfTheRudra'') |
| 189 | ** RuleMagic: Similar to Literature/OldKingdom style exorcism. |
| 190 | ** WildMagic: A FFT style geomancy system. |
| 191 | ** SummonMagic: Percentage-based MP cost. |
| 192 | ** And of course, ElementalPowers, WhiteMagic, and BlackMagic. |
| 193 | * GainaxEnding: |
| 194 | ** Even if you win, the ending depends on the ending party. That is, you can "win" with the wrong party and have most/all of the party die (since the final boss has a final attack scripted by the story). |
| 195 | ** [[spoiler: If the party dies, but you have the right party, the characters just say some really strange words about the hero, and how she wasn't really a good person, not really a bad person, "she was a person." And then they walk off. If you ''don't have the right party'', the universe explodes. It is explained why, and yet ''still'' doesn't totally make sense.]] |
| 196 | ** [[spoiler: Even the best ending makes no sense, as it turns out the main hero was [[GodInHumanForm God]] all along (she's told this by God), and now has the choice while sitting in a WhiteVoidRoom on whether to create the universe or not (and she can definitely choose to just become God and sit by herself for all eternity). What?!? It gets better, though.]] |
| 197 | ** [[spoiler: The PlayableEpilogue has three endings, none of which yield a rational conclusion.]] |
| 198 | * GameFavoredGender: In terms of item usage and magic, most of the females have more magic power and versatility. The game has [[WholesomeCrossdresser an interesting workaround]], though. |
| 199 | ** Also averted NoPeriodsPeriod: Uses the [[{{Literature/Slayers}} Lina Inverse rule]] of magic loss during the [[MenstrualMenace menstrual cycle]]. This is a balance to the above advantage for females. |
| 200 | * GameplayAndStoryIntegration: |
| 201 | ** Ambrosia only casts every other turn, making her a MightyGlacier spellcaster. She can also be sealed in certain battles. After [[spoiler: becoming God]], she can use her powers completely at will. This is an attempt to reconcile the fact that she doesn't become stronger (see GameplayAndStorySegregation) later on. |
| 202 | * GameplayAndStorySegregation: |
| 203 | ** Ambrosia's actual powers, and those she gets at the end of the game, are significantly [[RealityWarper different in scale]]. |
| 204 | ** Also, see the NeverSayDie example below. Death mainly happens outside of battle. |
| 205 | * GameBreakingBug: The random damage algorithm is extremely buggy (not the normal damage one, but the code for special attacks that were not reflectable). It used to have BeatingADeadPlayer as a fairly common effect, and when that was sorted out, there was a problem where if you tried to attack while it was doing this, it might jam all motion in the game. After ''this'' got fixed, it turned out that one of the characters didn't have the random number code at the end of their conditional, so if it happened to land on them, the code would stall if they weren't in the party. This might be fixed now, [[ItsProbablyNothing probably]]. |
| 206 | ** The game's current version has a programming oversight causing the game to start at the PlayableEpilogue, thus essentially skipping the actual game. |
| 207 | ** Certain computers, due to the presence of compressed [=MP3=] files. This was fixed by standardizing [=MP3=] to the same kbps rate, with a patch, but since if you don't have the computer there is no way of knowing if the game has good quality [=MP3=]... |
| 208 | * GenericDoomsdayVillain: Many of the secondary villains seem to have little backstory, beyond just wanting to destroy the world. |
| 209 | * GenreBusting: There are dating variables like a romance game, puzzles (ranging from easy to ThatOnePuzzle), some of the endings have strong horror aspects, is it a comedy, a tragedy, a sci-fi, or a fantasy? It's not a western. Yet. |
| 210 | * GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: There are sudden jarring changes from a fantasy setting monsters to robots and the like. |
| 211 | * AGlitchInTheMatrix: Before the Game Plus, the Earth [[spoiler:isn't real]]. One of the first signs of this is that time isn't normal. First, is the InUniverseGameClock, which is typical of games like Pokemon, but expanded to also include seasons. Only... when the end of a year comes, the year cycles. |
| 212 | --> '''Ambrosia:''' The new year is 4095 A.D. Last year was also 4095 A.D. and the year before. \ |
| 213 | '''Elias:''' Something strange is...\ |
| 214 | '''God:''' Not it's not.\ |
| 215 | '''Ambrosia:''' It's been the same date for a few years. I don't see the problem. |
| 216 | * GodInHumanForm: Ambrosia. |
| 217 | * GoldenEnding: The game has multiple endings, but in order to unlock the best, you need to complete a romance event between the male and female leads, defeat the final boss, and fight the extra final boss forms (this unlocks the PlayableEpilogue which has its own GoldenEnding). [[spoiler: It turns out Ambrosia is really [[GodInHumanForm God]], and that her suspicion that [[AllJustADream she was dreaming]] is only half right, and that world itself [[RetGone doesn't exist]]. Ultimately, though, she can cause it to be born, making a DoubleSubversion of the notion that she was dreaming. She gets to live in the world with the brand new, RealLife versions of the characters. There's also an extra ending sequence by killing an OptionalBoss.]] |
| 218 | ** Actually no, that's not even the rarest ending. The rarest ending is actually after winning against Cthulhu rather than getting the loss ending, and talking to him, and choosing option 2. See Radar section for more details, as this is deeply hidden in the game. |
| 219 | * GoMadFromTheRevelation: One of the endings has a literal [[LovecraftLite Cthulhu-style ending]] where unspeakable things [[spoiler: [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment which we won't speak of here]]]] happen to Ambrosia, driving her nuts before the universe is consumed by the Elder Gods. |
| 220 | * GoMadFromTheIsolation: Even if you would get the GoldenEnding, you have a choice to either [[spoiler: let the universe go on with just Ambrosia [[GodInHumanForm ruling as God]] or do something about it]]. If you choose the first choice, [[spoiler: she gets to sit by herself and her evil half ''[[FateWorseThanDeath for all eternity]]''.]] This is [[WhatTheHellPlayer avoidable]], though. |
| 221 | * GoodParents: There are several instances of this, listed below. |
| 222 | ** When the Ambrosia's and Nevras's child dies in battle, both of them [[BerserkButton buff up dramatically]], and the LimitBreak fills more easily. |
| 223 | ** [[spoiler: Tamashii]] can also not drink any ales or other beverages. And one item, the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puffer_fish Puffer Fish]] Sushi, which has a chance of killing party members as often as it heals them (it's nutritious), Ambrosia will forbid her from using because "it's dangerous." |
| 224 | ** The two of them also protect her from [[ContinuingIsPainful experience loss due to party death]] by taking it on themselves. |
| 225 | *** That said, Ambrosia is a [[RealityWarper rather]] [[SugarAndIcePersonality strange]] [[MamaBear mom]]. |
| 226 | * GottaCatchThemAll: There are two major sidequests in the game, besides the romance sidequest. One is a [[GottaKillEmAll bounty hunt]], and one involves finding and opening all the chests in each game (there's about 96 chests, many of which involve a weird trick like getting behind a store counter, plus a hidden bonus chest on completion) and talking to a girl in Kushiyama to claim a prize. |
| 227 | * GrandFinale. The actual ending of the game, after the main game and the PlayableEpilogue, essentially wraps up the story of three generations of a few family lines (four, on Ambrosia's side), ending in the death and afterlife of our main characters. Unless Ambrosia gets wished back with a Franchise/DragonBall, there's no viable way to continue this story. |
| 228 | * GreenAesop: Two of these, actually. The nature of the Earth is split due to destruction of the environment and God's resulting intervention. And one whole town screwed up its air and water by using radioactive matter to power their city. |
| 229 | * GreyAndGrayMorality: Much of the game, Ambrosia is either morally mixed, fighting a mostly evil (but with PetTheDog moments) enemy, or a mostly good (but with UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans moments) enemy. |
| 230 | * GrowOldWithMe: Followed by EternalLove. (In the final and best ending) |
| 231 | * GuideDangIt: Some of the puzzles. |
| 232 | ** The entire Alchemy system. Through trial-and-error, it's solvable, but you end up buying a bunch of items that you'd never use to figure out a few formulas, and making the Philosopher's Stone uses a Level Root, as does the Ultimate Weapon. Add to this fact that many formulas don't really work until after the Philosopher's Stone is made, and you find a very difficult to understand system. |
| 233 | * TheHeart: Ambrosia, and later [[spoiler: [[TheEmpath Tamashii]], her daughter.]] |
| 234 | * HelpingWouldBeKillStealing: It's within God's power to wipe both of the game's major villains out. Instead, he makes Ambrosia do it. Likewise, Ambrosia herself decides the best way to help humanity is to live her own life and let other people solve their own problems. |
| 235 | * HeartIsAnAwesomePower: The selkie girl, [[PunnyName Selqui]] has an attack command called "Fish" which can defeat sea creatures. It seems very limited given the short supply of sea creatures [[spoiler: except it is pretty much the only attack that can kill Cthulhu outright]]. |
| 236 | * HermitGuru: Several. |
| 237 | * HeroAntagonist: Estheriel. [[AmbiguousGender Her/his]] heart's in the right place. It's just that, being an angel of justice, he's a bit of an [[LargeHam over-the-top]] KnightTemplar. In fact, during the entirety of her in-plot backstory events, he has several PetTheDog moments, and the only KickTheDog one she has, is [[WhyDidYouMakeMeHitYou when someone else forces his hand]]. Her only flaw besides that is really that he's willing to [[IDidWhatIHadToDo accept the risks of her actions]], in order to try to make the world a better place. Even the commonly used [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans End Justifies The Means]] is subverted, as he throws away the [[Theatre/TheRingOfTheNibelung Ring of Nibelung]] and later seals it away when it causes [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings two brothers to murder each other]]. Not that it helps, unfortunately, as the [[NoManOfWomanBorn means she uses as a failsafe to the sealing]] [[LoopholeAbuse has a loophole that the Ring uses to undo him]]. |
| 238 | * TheHeroDies: Although, less a sudden death or murder, and more of simple old age. [[spoiler: It's actually a good ending.]] |
| 239 | * HeroicNeutral: |
| 240 | ** Nevras actually quotes from Film/TheGodfather when he hears of his new quest: |
| 241 | --> '''Nevras:''' Another one? Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in! |
| 242 | ** Also Lilith, despite being a demon. She's locked her house until Ambrosia enters her life, then gets persuaded by her earnestness. |
| 243 | * HeroicBSOD: Ambrosia can have one at about two or three different points, since she doesn't really want the quest in the first place. |
| 244 | * HeroicRROD: Nevras learns a technique named Blossom at some point. It's basically a combo attack that can give him up to eight attacks. The ninth time this is used, though... he executes a single attack that drains enormous amounts of life, and then kills him. |
| 245 | * HiddenElfVillage: The town of Ru'un is right smack in the middle of a forest maze. |
| 246 | * HolidayMode: |
| 247 | ** The 15th week of the year is supposedly the fourth week of December, when Christmas week is. Around this time, Ambrosia's costume (inside the world map towns) changes to a Santa cap, as does her battle animation. Her cane weapon even changes to a candy cane! |
| 248 | ** There's a Christmas village (which has a Thomas Kinkade painting as its background, apparently), where Santa can give you some fairly nice presents. [[BadSanta Or some shabby ones]]. |
| 249 | * HomelessHero: Subverted, since over the course of the story, [[StandardHeroReward she gains a house]]. |
| 250 | ** Also HumbleHero, for her general view that AmbitionIsEvil with regard to any rewards for her quest. |
| 251 | * HopeSpot[=/=]DespairEventHorizon: If you don't have the right party, the characters will still make pretty speeches on ThePowerOfLove. It'll seem effective for awhile, but... [[spoiler: [[RocksFallEveryoneDies everyone dies]]]]. |
| 252 | * HouseHusband: Nevras, if the second intro is to be believed. |
| 253 | * ICallItVera: Lilith has a giant rock called Christina. This also counts as a ShoutOut to Thadius from ''Webcomic/SlightlyDamned''. |
| 254 | * IFoughtTheLawAndTheLawWon: One of the towns. |
| 255 | * IJustWantToHaveFriends: Ambrosia, since much of her quest doesn't seem to be directly related to her. Instead, she starts out alone in a town and gathers a party. |
| 256 | ** LonelyTogether: Ambrosia and Nevras. |
| 257 | *** Heck, half the party seems to have no secondary friendships, and is drawn together for this reason. |
| 258 | * IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight: Averted. The party tries to stop/talk to Ambrosia [[spoiler: when she goes off the deep end and starts killing people]]. It turns out [[LaserGuidedAmnesia she doesn't even remember them]]. And then things [[EpicFail go really wrong on both the stopping and talking parts]]. |
| 259 | * ImmortalImmaturity: Lilith and Michael, though probably more a case of EmotionalMaturityIsPhysicalMaturity since they look in their twenties. |
| 260 | * IndestructibleEdible: There are a few, but the aversions are not what you'd think. Organic or religious-themed food lasts forever, while preservative-laden white bread rots in about a month. WordOfGod is that the author is skeptical of many aspects of Pasteur's germ theory. |
| 261 | * InHarmonyWithNature: Anideshi, presumably. |
| 262 | * InJoke: Jokes from multiple media are mixed together, such as the Rheingold section of [[Theatre/TheRingOfTheNibelung the Ring Saga]] mixed together with the "Precious" line from ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings''. |
| 263 | ** There's at least one CreatorInJoke, that of references to Ashley (see above). |
| 264 | * AnInteriorDesignerIsYou: Sort of. [[spoiler:The party can add a bed, banker, and other features to your tent. Later morphs the tent into a house, mansion, and a portable town, if they get obscene amounts of money.]] |
| 265 | * InUniverseGameClock: Theoretically, we have days/nights, weeks, and months, which are also tied to the weather in seasons. |
| 266 | * ILied[=/=]FalseReassurance: PlayedForLaughs with a demon. Twice, and the wizard working for him falls for both. |
| 267 | --> '''Belial''': Seek the rest quickly and I shall [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves reward]] you greatly! |
| 268 | --> '''Belial''': I promise, on my [[NoHonorAmongThieves honor as a demon]] to grant any wish I am capable. |
| 269 | * ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: One of the final bosses gets run through with a heavy spear. |
| 270 | * InterfaceScrew: mainly Ambrosia, when hit by confuse or blind (possibly justified, since she is the leader, after all). |
| 271 | ** Outside of controls however, the game functions are constantly tweaked (such as the day/night system being tweaked by the Void world so if you stay too long outside you die, or the weather system changing due to seasons, or some of the assumed game rules being bypassed by certain effects). |
| 272 | * InterspeciesRomance. |
| 273 | * IncorruptiblePurePureness: Angels. Which is why killing one, even for morally questionable deeds, is enough to trigger a MoralEventHorizon, apparently. |
| 274 | * ItsAlwaysSpring: Averted, as there are seasons. |
| 275 | * JerkassHasAPoint: The underlying theme of the series. The villains usually have a valid goal, even if they don't go about it correctly. |
| 276 | * JigglePhysics: Although the physics part is a bit weak, Lilith's clothing shifts a bit (and ''beneath the clothing'') when she moves. |
| 277 | * JigsawPuzzlePlot: Many things are revealed in this game, spaced out all over the place. There is at the very opening, a WorldSundering, of the New Earth and the Void [[spoiler: which was the old Earth]]. Then Ambrosia gets a series of religious truths foisted on her, along which the revelation that she might not be real, and the realization that she has a LiteralSplitPersonality causing chaos around her. This is to say nothing of [[RashomonStyle the often conflicting (as viewed by histories, versus personal accounts, versus the demon's own account)]] versions of people getting raptured by a demon's coming, various personal plots scattered about the world, Ambrosia's [[QuestForIdentity quest to find her memories of her parents]], and various secrets revealed at the end about her identity, the world, and everything in it. And it's not even truly over, so there is a second game to tie up loose ends, with an additional secret or two [[spoiler: the Oracle's role is actually a replacement to extend the lifespan of God, since without someone to renew the cycle, God and everything else in existence is doomed to return to the Void they came from]]. |
| 278 | * JudgeJuryAndExecutioner: The police in Hotaru will literally cause a gameover if they manage to catch you. |
| 279 | * JumpedAtTheCall: Ambrosia, largely since she had nothing better to do (the second time, not so much). |
| 280 | [[/folder]] |
| 281 | |
| 282 | [[folder:K-O]] |
| 283 | * KaizoTrap: The FinalBoss has one if you have the wrong party. The boss in question would before dying and being removed from the field, as part of the plot blow up the surrounding area, killing off everyone who isn't somehow immortal. This includes Lilith, Michael, and Anideshi the Sage. It also includes Azrael, and Nevras as their presence triggers a different event. But if you have Ambrosia, Elias, Aqorm, Anideshi (normal, without a special item she gets), or Yazim Jiane, the blast will kill everyone off resulting in a bad ending (well, worse, considering the ending is ''already bad'' simply for choosing the wrong party). |
| 284 | * KillMeNowOrForeverStayYourHand: This situation is on the final showdown against rivals. Later becomes the start of a HeelFaceTurn, when the mercenaries (motivated by [[{{Greed}} greed]] not [[ForTheEvulz malice]] ) find out the BigBad temporarily exploying them is lying about the payment, because they will be [[MoneyForNothing nowhere to spend it]]. |
| 285 | * KillerRabbit: Seriously, one of the enemies is even named this, and with 999 attack and double hit, they mean it for lower levels. |
| 286 | * KnightTemplar: Estheriel, though to his credit, he [[HeroAntagonist actually does care for humanity]]. It's just he has completely wrong way of going about it, when faced with the choice of people hurting/killing each other [[TheEvilsOfFreeWill due to free will]]. |
| 287 | * LadyLand: Sort of. The town's name is {{Futanari}}. |
| 288 | * LaserBlade: The futuristic land of Hotaru has a lightsaber in a chest. |
| 289 | * LaserHallway: One of the futuristic towns has this on several floors. The lasers deal damage (it stops damage at 1 hp), and knock the hero back, sometimes into enemies. |
| 290 | * LastMinuteHookup: The GayOption above, only is completable after the PlayableEpilogue. |
| 291 | * LazyBackup: UsefulNotes/RPGMaker has it designed this way, barring massive coding. Subverted in one bonus castle that actually [[PlotTailoredToTheParty requires teamwork]] from the multiple parties. But still, they won't actually help in battle if your party dies. |
| 292 | * LegacyCharacter: Ambrosia was not the ''first'' Oracle of Tao. The first one failed [[spoiler: because he discovered he wasn't real. Given that the Oracle is actually [[note]][[GodJob a replacement for God]][[/note]], this is likely to get passed on whenever Ambrosia retires from the post]]. |
| 293 | * LemonyNarrator: [[TheHero Ambrosia]] is also the narrator. She goes on [[AttentionDeficitOohShiny side topics]] about her family or personal history, glossing over what a normal narrator would consider the main story. It somehow manages to avoid ProtagonistCenteredMorality, since Ambrosia has no real illusions of her own righteousness. But she talks a great deal about her personal interests in the story at hand (if she's interested in it), her failings in knowledge legends and history, and her overall skepticism in the story's plot. |
| 294 | --> Ambrosia: ...God would send an Oracle to restore the Earth to Balance, [[BuffySpeak and stuff]]. ''[[TemptingFate But that'll never happen]]''. |
| 295 | ** Ambrosia mainly narrates in the opening parts of either the main game or the PlayableEpilogue, and seems to care ''even less'' about the main story the second time, preferring to instead talk about her marriage and subsequent child. |
| 296 | * LightIsNotGood: Two distinct versions of this, one a KnightTemplar who is a party member, the other an EndgamePlus final boss. |
| 297 | * LimitBreak: The game uses a meter to the left of the character. Magic and skill use doesn't fill this, but the relatively useless (early game, anyway) attack command does. When it fills to the top, Attack is replaced by your LimitBreak. |
| 298 | * LittleMissSnarker: Tamashii to some extent. She says some pretty off-color things. |
| 299 | * LoopholeAbuse: You can actually make your money, [[PlayedForLaughs by repeatedly selling blackmail pictures]]. |
| 300 | * LordBritishPostulate: |
| 301 | ** There are several bosses that outright ''respawn'' if killed [[spoiler: Azrael can keep them from doing this with her sealing abilities]], so finding their weakness ''and'' having a way to put them down for good is the only way to kill them. These enemies, however, are intended to be killed. |
| 302 | ** A better example of this is one rare enemies that pops up in the desert. It has about ''nine million'' hp, is deathproof, and can boot the party from battle after 100 of its turns. The battle is a bit like Porky Statue from ''VideoGame/Mother3'', in that it can be killed the easy way, either by depleting 99% health or by poisoning it to death. But that's no fun! [[spoiler: By having a party with agility-boosting armor and really good weapons, it ''may'' be possible to attack faster each turn than it can keep up.]] |
| 303 | * LoveAtFirstPunch: Ambrosia doesn't get to know Nevras until ''after'' a bar scene where he's beaten up over something he said. |
| 304 | * LoveChart: Hidden statistic, but one made to determine possible relationships. |
| 305 | * LovecraftLite: Turning {{Eldritch Abomination}}s into overpowered yet beatable enemies, check. Tentacle hentai jokes, check? Having a side character say stuff about Cthulhu when she dies from an effect, check. |
| 306 | %%* LoveWillLeadYouBack: With a moral lesson about how it's hard work to fix what's broken. |
| 307 | * LovingAShadow: In the literal sense. (Also, FightingAShadow) |
| 308 | * {{Magitek}}: To a really huge extent. Cellphones run on lightning magic, and emotional connections. [[SwissBankAccount Automatic Teller Machines]] run on some sort of magic. One town has an subversion of this, since it is an ancient city of lost technology. |
| 309 | * MakeOutPoint: One of the bars. |
| 310 | * MakeUpOrBreakUp: The option which happens actually determines your ending. |
| 311 | * MarathonBoss: This game loves these. |
| 312 | ** And also PaddedSumoGameplay. Many of the bosses have some type of regeneration that you have to outrun or disable (there are many ways to do this). Or some WeaksauceWeakness that turns what seems to be a MarathonBoss into a PuzzleBoss. |
| 313 | * MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: Nevras definitely fits this side of the equation, and Ambrosia is both tough physically and has a fearsome temper. |
| 314 | * {{Masquerade}}: Subverted. There is a lot of freaky stuff that goes on in this world, and for the most part the general populace (at least, the educated general populace, Ambrosia seems to need to be explained things) knows about them, and doesn't care. Except for the one big secret: [[spoiler: that the world and everyone in it but Ambrosia, don't exist, at least not until after her help.]] |
| 315 | * TheMasqueradeWillKillYourDatingLife: The reason Ambrosia's Oracle [[spoiler: and God]] powers get taken away at the end of the first arc. |
| 316 | * MayDecemberRomance: Averted. Thank God. |
| 317 | --> '''Yazim Jiane''': Why, hello there little child, will you come play with me? |
| 318 | --> '''Tamashii''': Look Mommy, this man is a pedophile. |
| 319 | * MayflyDecemberRomance: Two, actually. One with a man and an [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld half-elf girl]], the second between the same half-elf girl and an immortal demon. |
| 320 | * MeaningfulName: |
| 321 | ** Ambrosia Brahmin (the surname having to do with Hindu priestly castes and also with the similarity to the word Brahma, and the first name being "food of the gods"). |
| 322 | ** Her mom is Manna Leaven (or "leavened bread from heaven") before taking the "family name" [[spoiler:of God,]] Brahmin. |
| 323 | * TheMeaningOfLife: The meaning of life is defined twice. First, it's defined as bonds to nature, family, and love (but this is part of some religion). And then later, someone asks as a test what the meaning of life truly is. The answerer basically says that it's a self-defining question (as in the meaning of life is "the meaning of life", that is to say what life means to you is the meaning of life, making it a personal question). |
| 324 | * MediumBlending: There is everything from animated scenes, to color pictures and photographs, to black-and-white sketches, to normal sprites, to sprites from other games that don't match the game's sprites at all. |
| 325 | * MenActWomenAre: |
| 326 | ** Played straight in that Ambrosia is [[spoiler: [[DivineRaceLift God's daughter]]/[[MyOwnGrampa God]]]], and Nevras is the resident warrior. |
| 327 | ** Inverted, since Nevras is by default the crown prince and more or less a NonActionGuy that doesn't even want the job, and manages to avert it mainly because he marries into poverty. The case for Ambrosia is based on her quest, that it something she has to do, to earn her birthright. |
| 328 | * AllPeriodsArePMS: It's a status effect, where your female characters lose their powers every 28 days or so. |
| 329 | * MightMakesRight: Regardless of what your character believes in, usually the way to "prove" it is to defeat the other in battle. |
| 330 | ** And oddly enough, its [[RightMakesMight inverse]]. Although "right" is replaced with "[[ThePowerOfLove love]]." |
| 331 | * MirrorMatch: Also an important plot point, as you have a [[LiteralSplitPersonality dark side]]. |
| 332 | * MistakenDeclarationOfLove: One of the reasons for a breakup, is after a kiss. |
| 333 | * MoneyForNothing: |
| 334 | ** Subverted. You can get beyond the maximum amount actually held in the game, by putting it into your back past that amount (in which case your back tenders you the million dollar bill item, which can be used to buy stuff like houses). Still, you can get to the point where you technically have millions upon millions, and nothing to spend it on. |
| 335 | ** This does make a bit of GlobalCurrencyException when million dollar bills can't buy most stuff directly, and you have to use them as items (which puts $999,999 into your pocket). |
| 336 | * MoneySpider: Subverted. Killing enemies, except in the case of humans, dragons, and some humanoid ghosts, does not add to party gold. Selling excess crap ([[ShopFodder including furs and bones]]) on the other hand, does. Expect a few PinataEnemy types to supplement this. |
| 337 | * MoonLogicPuzzle: There is a complex puzzle which involves solving three puzzles to decode the fourth. All of them are in groups of three, and it seems logical that the answer is something to do with three. Nope, you are supposed to exit out of the multiple choice, and MrExposition then explains that the answer is in fact Death. Why? Because the question as given was: |
| 338 | --> ''Answer this [[FourIsDeath fourth]] and [[AllDeathsFinal final]] question. What do these other questions have in common?'' |
| 339 | * MoralMyopia: A heroic version of this. Ambrosia makes no bones about the fact that she seriously doesn't care about the villains' troubles. So much so, that she turns apathy into almost a religion of its own. |
| 340 | ** At the other hand, many of the ethics Ambrosia learns are ones only she follows, letting others of her party do as they please, making it an [[InvertedTrope inversion of sorts]]. |
| 341 | * MrExposition: Your priest, Elias is a bit of a brainiac, knowing just about everything about every subject in the game. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], in that he's spent about 2/3 of his life in a library. |
| 342 | * MsFanservice: Lilith, and to some extent, Ambrosia's dark half. |
| 343 | ** Oddly enough, some of the [[WigDressAccent men's disguises]] fall under this category. Nevras crossdresses as a [[{{Meido}} maid]], Elias has a [[{{Miko}} shrine priestess]] outfit, and Yazim Jianne is a CuteWitch. |
| 344 | * MultipleEndings: ''And how''! There's over ten endings, [[EarnYourHappyEnding most of them bad]]. |
| 345 | * MurderMakesYouCrazy: Ambrosia is more or less a little crazy already (being a MoodSwinger SugarAndIcePersonality with a LiteralSplitPersonality), but in a Bad Ending she goes noticeably over the edge after killing [[IncorruptiblePurePureness an angel]]. She starts talking about "balancing the scales" (which, since she [[spoiler: created the universe from a DreamApocalypse]], means basically destroying everything), and goes on a homicidal rampage, even killing her own party. |
| 346 | * MushroomSamba: If you lose a Bounty Hunt battle with a mushroom, instead of game over, you get some multi-hued fun. |
| 347 | * MustNotDieAVirgin: There's a SexyDiscretionShot on top of a mountain, while the world is gonna end if they don't do anything. |
| 348 | * MyOwnGrampa: [[spoiler:Ambrosia is an [[GodInHumanForm incarnation of God]], and God married her mother to make her. So she's her own "father."]] |
| 349 | * MyRulesAreNotYourRules: The monsters don't have to abide the long term effects of status effects. Not to mention many of the effects simply aren't programmed to work on enemies the way they are to party members, and vice versa. Stone, for instance means party gameover if all allies are hit with it. It usually just stops enemies cold for the rest of the battle. |
| 350 | * NatureHero: Anideshi. |
| 351 | * NecessarilyEvil: The demon, Belial. [[spoiler: It turns out he knows that he is doing evil, but not for any discernible benefit of anyone on Earth. He's coerced by his fellow demons to find them a homeland, even though this likely means the destruction of most current life on Earth. Likewise, he destroyed a huge number of people on Earth because he was treated like a monster and [[SealedEvilInACan sealed into an urn]].]] |
| 352 | * NeverSayDie: Similar to ''[=EarthBound=]'', there is an altered enemy defeat caption. It says something about how the enemies were defeated in "bloodless" combat. This is done less because the characters have an aversion to killing, and more to prevent a BrokenAesop. |
| 353 | ** The game does have actual bloodshed in it, at least in the form of the {{NPC}}s. It's just [[GameplayAndStorySegregation mostly outside of battle]]. |
| 354 | * NoBodyLeftBehind: Usually the case will various creatures dying or running away. Occasionally, you might get bones or [[GoryDiscretionShot mild 2d gore]]. This is more to not clutter up the screen than any censorship concerns though. |
| 355 | * NoDialogueEpisode: After the character's apparent last words, the main game has an optional bonus ending, which is mainly conveyed with just motion. [[spoiler: The Void world becomes a normal planet, and the main character gets married and takes up farming.]] |
| 356 | * NoFairCheating: Zig-zagged. The built-in testplay mode (which allows pass-through, event-skip, and a debug mode) has been disabled by plugin, to the point where you could be playing the testplay mode and still not be able to do any of those things. However, in the same update, a system menu was added giving an author-created debug mode (you need special privileges by altering an external code, but the game tells you exactly how to do this), and a cheat code entry system. It seems the developer is okay with cheating, as long as you ''[[EarnYourFun do it the right way]]''. |
| 357 | * NoGuyWantsToBeChased: One of the reasons given for why the breakup may have happened. |
| 358 | * NoLovesIntersect: Subverted, as it boils down to a choice. If you make the BetaCouple stay together, everyone matches up as normal. Otherwise, two people are left alone, while the third has the GayOption. |
| 359 | * NoOntologicalInertia: Basically everything, inside [[DarkWorld the Void]]. The only place that is safe is town. |
| 360 | * NoSell: Two cases of it, both in the NewGamePlus. The first is when Estheriel shrugs off the PowerOfTheVoid. The second [[spoiler: happens when Ambrosia goes crazy, and her party tries to stop her, but she's fueled by the PowerBornOfMadness, and shrugs their attacks off.]] |
| 361 | ** Also, one of the final bosses does this for the first turn, before the party pulls out all the stops. |
| 362 | * NoSuchThingAsWizardJesus: There is some overlap between various characters and what religious characters can do (notably FertileFeet). This trend is actually lampshaded, as Ambrosia is worried that if there's Heaven and Hell on Earth, she has doubts about an afterlife. |
| 363 | * NothingIsScarier: In one town, there's an upstairs room that people nearby say "don't go upstairs, there's nothing up there." If you do it anyway, there really is ''nothing'' there (you get trapped in the room, which fades to black, until it [[CessationOfExistence swallows you up]]). Making it literally ''nothing'' is scarier. |
| 364 | * OfficialCouple: Ambrosia and Nevras. Given a limited fanbase, there's no real shipping though. |
| 365 | * OneWorldOrder: [[HypocriticalHumor An anarchic one]], which forbids all towns from developing organized military and centralized governments. |
| 366 | * OnlyInItForTheMoney: [[ThemeNaming Sera and Phim]], the two recurring bounty hunters. |
| 367 | * OntologicalMystery: Subverted in that it doesn't take place inside a ClosedCircle. But it does involve a QuestForIdentity. [[spoiler: And it does involve a DreamApocalypse.]] |
| 368 | * OnlySmartPeopleMayPass: That, or several cases of MoonLogicPuzzle. |
| 369 | * OptionalSexualEncounter: Also, one of the Bounty Hunts can do this to you if you fail. [[spoiler: [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything The One Eyed Snake]].]] |
| 370 | * OurAngelsAreDifferent: There are two type of angels, the modern {{WingedHumanoid}}s, and the older {{EldritchAbomination}}s model. This is actually justified, explaining that traditionally angels ''were'' all like the EldritchAbomination mentioning this story, but because humans have a [[AllMenArePerverts great tendency for interspecies relationships]], current angels are actually a watered-down breed. |
| 371 | * OurDemonsAreDifferent: Demons are supposedly the same initial breed as angels, just more inclined toward evil. They've somehow bred differently than angels, becoming more the HotAsHell variety, those there are several subspecies of demons. [[spoiler: Children of angels and demons appear human.]] |
| 372 | * OurDragonsAreDifferent: Everything from Eastern, to Western, to Dungeons & Dragons style chrmoatic, metal, and jewel dragons. |
| 373 | * OurElvesAreDifferent: Elves are essentially human, but even half-elves have abnormal lifespans and centuries of youth. |
| 374 | * OurGhoulsAreCreepier: The idea was based from the movie [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1069228/ Ghouls]]. They keep coming back, unless somehow sealed away, and come from another dimension. |
| 375 | * OurMermaidsAreDifferent: Everything from merfolk, to water elementals, to sirens. |
| 376 | * OurMonstersAreWeird: You fight everything from Elder Gods, to robots, to Stonehenge. Super-cute anime style sirens, ShoutOut enemies, and truly freakish monsters populate the game. |
| 377 | * OurVampiresAreDifferent: Vampires are subject to silver and holy effects, and vampire lords can only be killed by destroying their coffin. Vampires protect one of the towns, in exchange for their food. Stakes are never mentioned, and vampires actually like garlic. Vampires are more like some wild beast than true undead, and can probably mate. |
| 378 | * OurZombiesAreDifferent: There are three types, conventional (undead), diseased zombies (which can best be killed by wounding their brains), and Thriller zombies (ShoutOut to Music/MichaelJackson). |
| 379 | * {{Ouroboros}}: As a boss. |
| 380 | [[/folder]] |
| 381 | |
| 382 | [[folder:P-T]] |
| 383 | * PaintingTheMedium: More specifically, some of its subtropes. Everything from DeliberatelyMonochrome to InterfaceScrew. |
| 384 | * PairTheSpares: Pretty much every character. |
| 385 | ** Selqui was created just for the one character that didn't get a romantic match, Yazim Jianne. |
| 386 | * ParalyzingFearOfSexuality: The reason for the AnchoredShip above. Thankfully, Ambrosia gets over it. |
| 387 | * PerfectlyArrangedMarriage: Anideshi and Azrael. Sort of an odd example though, since it's not the parents that arranged it, but destiny (that and it's a two-woman relationship). [[spoiler: In a book she reads, there's some prophecy that Anideshi is doomed to be reincarnated over and over again, until the last time where she's reborn to save the world with an exorcist, and finalize the relationship. She struggles with this and doesn't want to see anyone for fear her life would get written for her, but actually pairs up with Azrael, who ''just happens'' to be an exorcist.]] |
| 388 | * PermanentlyMissableContent: The Crystal Trophy is the [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII Zodiac Spear]] of ''Oracle of Tao''. You have to complete the game without saving, and you have to make the good ending. Unless you're in the top tier of players, and can pull this off, you're unlikely to manage this, and by the EndgamePlus, it's already been awarded if you had it. |
| 389 | * PersonOfMassDestruction: Ambrosia can, in the story, at least, destroy the entire universe with nothing more than a whim. She only has it for brief periods, though. |
| 390 | * PlatonicCave: [[spoiler:It turns out the entire world is an illusion.]] |
| 391 | * PlayableEpilogue |
| 392 | * PleaseSelectNewCityName: Not only can you name virtually every main character, but you can also tweak the name of the opening town (default is Opening town). |
| 393 | * PointOfNoReturn: There are a few of these. |
| 394 | * PosthumousNarration: [[spoiler: Subverted, in that it's never clear exactly when she starts narrating. She may start at the beginning in fact, but by the end of the game she is dead and in Heaven of sorts.]] |
| 395 | * PollutedWasteland: Hotaru, which has air so toxic you can't even stay outside for more than about 5 minutes. |
| 396 | * PortalPicture: In one of the towns, the painting is so real you can just walk into it. |
| 397 | * PowerBornOfMadness: A special ending, where [[spoiler: the hero crosses her MoralEventHorizon by choosing to murder [[IncorruptiblePurePureness an angel]]. She then decides to become a sort of [[BalanceOfGoodAndEvil moral balance]], since there's too much good (or something), and tries to destroy everything. When they try to stop her, it turns out her madness has given her RealityWarper powers, not to mention NighInvulnerability, so she slaughters the entire party.]] |
| 398 | * [[ThePowerOfLove Power of Love]]: Several of the endgame speeches are along these lines, most notably the last boss, where Tamashii plays a big role in their defeat with her Empathy technique. |
| 399 | * PowerOfTheVoid: Which is usually the ability to slowly [[CessationOfExistence consume things in nothingness]]. |
| 400 | * PowerLevels: Predict ability has the power to read hp/mp. Fenrir's hp is [[OverNineThousand OVER 9000]]!!! Well, 9001, to be exact (following the latest update). |
| 401 | * PowerTattoo: Ambrosia has eight of these, plus a YinYangBomb ability when she gains full control of them. Anideshi also is able to get them. |
| 402 | * PreClimaxClimax: [[SexyDiscretionShot Blacked out, but there are sound effects to indicate what's going on]]. |
| 403 | * PsychicPowers: [[spoiler: The hero's daughter, Tamashii is TheEmpath, with some [[PlayingWithFire pyrokinesis]] and [[EmpathicHealer healing powers]].]] |
| 404 | * PuzzleReset: Normally, this happens when you exit a dungeon. |
| 405 | * QuicklyDemotedWoman: Inverted. Within 10 minutes of the game, Ambrosia goes from beggar to middle class, possibly with a bank account. |
| 406 | * TheQuietOne: Azrael can be this at times. She rarely speaks, except to note some supernatural or magical event. |
| 407 | * RagtagBunchOfMisfits: A dwarf and a Bishonen seem to have teamed up as mercenaries. They end up being the game's recurring WorthyOpponent equivalent for the party, ultimately helping them [[spoiler: when faced with the fact that their employer will destroy not only the world but ''[[OnlyInItForTheMoney the economy]]'']]. |
| 408 | ** The party itself has everything from elves, to angels, and demons. |
| 409 | * RandomNumberGod: Except that events tend to work impossibly in ''your'' favor, instead of the enemies'. For example, 10% chance of auto-revival seems to happen every other turn. |
| 410 | * RasputinianDeath: Belial is beaten up in [[OneWingedAngel two or three forms]], the party [[AllYourColorsCombined unites their powers]] to blast him away. [[TheBattleDidntCount This doesn't kill him]], and the party has to kill off his ''true'' [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm true form]], which turns him into a ghost. Once ''that ghost'' is dead, to put him away for good requires [[MadeOfMagic draining all his magic]]. |
| 411 | ** The angel Estheriel is beaten in combat, ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice, and then killed by the hero (assuming they don't choose instead to save him). |
| 412 | * RealityWarper: The end of the game, Ambrosia gains the power to create/destroy pretty much the entire universe. Still, due to GameplayAndStorySegregation, she never uses these in battle. |
| 413 | * TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Given to Estheriel, telling him that he was defeated by ThePowerOfLove. It's actually a subversion, because it's completely off-base accusation. Estheriel, because he was tired of seeing other people get killed over meaningless squabbles, tried to remake the world to a more decent one. |
| 414 | -->''Ambrosia: ...if you can't treat those around you with love and decency, soon or later you'll fall to it.'' |
| 415 | -->''Estheriel: [[LampshadeHanging But wait, that doesn't make any sense,]] [[BrokenAesop did not I use this plan to try to make a world without pain?]] How then is it that I could be defeated by ThePowerOfLove?'' |
| 416 | -->''Ambrosia: [[BellisariosMaxim It's best not to think of such things]]... ({{Beat}}) Remember, it was ThePowerOfLove that undid you!'' |
| 417 | * FreewareGames: Duh, the game itself. |
| 418 | * {{Reconstruction}}: See the [[Fridge/OracleOfTao Fridge Section]] for more details. |
| 419 | * RedMage: Elias. |
| 420 | * ReferenceOverdosed: There are {{ShoutOut}}s to several anime, things like the Abhorsen series, ''VideoGame/{{EarthBound|1994}}'' (with regard to the game style), assorted books, and other games. Some of the characters are {{Expy}}-types for this reason. |
| 421 | * {{Reincarnation}}: Anideshi is [[CursedWithAwesome blessed (or cursed)]] with the ability to remember all her incarnations. |
| 422 | * ReincarnationRomance: Anideshi and Azrael. |
| 423 | * ReligiousEdutainment: The game is a strange mix of several different religions to teach the author's personal beliefs. |
| 424 | * RepurposedPopSong: As opening, ending, and insert songs. Songs from the 1970s, 1980s, and some Korean Dramas (the game sorta justifies this by making no money). |
| 425 | * RespawnPoint: You die, and you end up in a tent (unless you don't have the tent yet, or make the choice to give up, in which case it's gameover). |
| 426 | * ResurrectionSickness: You start at 1 hp, and are unable to cast most spells, for one battle. |
| 427 | * TheRevealPromptsRomance: [[spoiler: Nevras's dark secret as a WholesomeCrossdresser.]] |
| 428 | * [[AdamSmithHatesYourGuts Rising Cost Of Health Insurance]]: Both inns and priests cost more as your character levels. |
| 429 | * RomanceSidequest: for basically all characters (except Yazim Jianne). |
| 430 | ** Now he at least has a meeting up with a romantic match. Time will tell about the rest. |
| 431 | * TheSacredDarkness: The Earth is made of two halves, the New Earth (which is completely different from Earth in its history), and the Void (which is made of some kind of all-consuming darkness with NoOntologicalInertia). This Void is sort of the inverse of the stable energy of Light, but not associated with normal darkness or dark energy. |
| 432 | * ScaryScarecrows: When Ambrosia goes AxCrazy, she [[spoiler: uses the party's dead bodies as scarecrows to keep the voices in her head at bay.]] |
| 433 | * SceneryPorn: Just about every background scene is either a shot taken on a camera, or a wall painting, or some sort of fanart, with everything from gorge overlooks to pictures of fields or forests, to AlienSky or even TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. |
| 434 | * ScheherezadeGambit: |
| 435 | ** There's some heavy speeches in this game. Everything from a GreenAesop, to [[HistoryRepeats political]] or [[GoingCosmic theological]] viewpoints. Much of it is also TalkingTheMonsterToDeath, though it doesn't really avert battles. |
| 436 | ** Often it works after the battle, getting you the MacGuffin, or interesting the monster enough with your responses that they join your party. |
| 437 | * SchrodingersCast: Ambrosia at one point is unsure whether she's alive or dead. She's given a choice whether she decides she's alive or dead, based on various flashbacks. ''It can go either way.'' The rest of the cast is either alive, or doesn't exist, depending upon [[spoiler: whether Ambrosia decides to create them]]. |
| 438 | * SchrodingersQuestion: [[spoiler: Pretty much the ending options you choose can determine whether the entire universe exists or not. Among other things...]] |
| 439 | ** And a ShoutOut to SchrodingersButterfly in one of the temples. [[spoiler: There is a character, asking the characters who talk to it if it's a butterfly or a person. The answer seems to be [[AnswerCut implied by what's on the screen]].]] Not to mention the story itself is SchrodingersButterfly. |
| 440 | * SealedEvilInACan: Belial has been trapped for much of his life in an urn. Although, he's only really evil [[SelfFulfillingProphecy after being sealed in an urn]]. |
| 441 | * SecretCharacter: Selqui, the seal girl. |
| 442 | * SelfDisposingVillain: On a {{Mook}} scale. Some of the lesser creatures, notably [[OurGoblinsAreDifferent goblins/kobolds]], would rather kill themselves than let you take them alive, and may do so after about 1/2 their life is gone. |
| 443 | * [[SelfInflictedHell Self-Inflicted Afterlife]]: Hell is an empty desolate waste, resembling [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yomi Yomi]], the Japanese equivalent. The Heaven appears as a FluffyCloudHeaven, at first, but it turns out that both are based on the hero's conception of the fate she deserves. Her final destination is a sort of MundaneAfterlife resembling her living existence. |
| 444 | * SequelReset: Game's all wrapped up, but then we have a sequel. Why? Just to show Ambrosia as an ActionMom. In fact, since Ambrosia is God's incarnation, it's heavily implied she manufactured the problem leading to the sequel. Also a SequelHook, as the antagonist is introduced in the first game (but other than that, the story is more or less resolved). |
| 445 | * SelkiesAndWereseals: The bonus character, Selqui, is a selkie with the ability to shed her skin as an InformedAbility. |
| 446 | * SettledForGay: Subverted, the two characters stance is more IfItsYouItsOkay. |
| 447 | * SheatheYourSword: There's at least one battle like this. |
| 448 | * ShockValueRelationship: Michael and Lilith. [[spoiler: The two characters make out in a bar, wrecking the place while they bang into stuff with passionate kissing. Not to mention it's relationship that's sort of taboo anyway, since it's an angel/demon pairing. Subverted in that unlike most relationships of this sort, they actually like each other.]] |
| 449 | ** If Lilith pairs up with Aqorm, it's still counts, because before that she hung out casually with Elias, and suddenly she's ditching him to choose a woman, ''while he is '''two feet away''' from her'' in a bar. |
| 450 | * SillyRabbitCynicismIsForLosers: Ambrosia at the end of the First Disc (so to speak) heads off for the second world. Unless she bothered to do the romance sidequest (or can get past the Beef Gate of skipping a key romantic scene and heading directly through the entrance without stopping at the vacation town first), the plot requires you to visit Nevras at his castle. [[spoiler: If you decide not to, or if you didn't get the memo, the story suddenly gets much darker, most notably in the endings. Basically because Ambrosia decided her love life with Nevras was doomed, things got a whole lot worse for her.]] |
| 451 | * SincerestFormOfFlattery: Some of the ShoutOut examples are cited by name, or included as concepts in the game. Most notably, [[spoiler: Lina Inverse makes a brief cameo appearance in the game.]] |
| 452 | * SilkHidingSteel: [[spoiler: (Nevras has got the SilkHidingSteel personality down pat, even though ostensibly he looks like [[{{Expy}} Cloud]]. He's attractive enough for a guy, and has a the quiet nobility thing too) ]]. |
| 453 | * SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan. |
| 454 | * SkippableBoss: Ambrosia's evil half can be talked out of fighting (by Nevras). |
| 455 | ** Sera and Phim can either be fought to the death for a gruesome scene, or talked out of fighting. |
| 456 | * SongsInTheKeyOfLock: In the BonusDungeon, there's a puzzle that involves playing part of the song, to get cheap treasure chest, or an entire verse, to unlock all the other hidden chests. |
| 457 | * SpaceWhaleAesop: Likely many of the morals taught by the game. One GreenAesop is: |
| 458 | --> Don't pollute or the Earth will turn into a black hole, and God will need to split existence in half. |
| 459 | ** And then you have TheChainOfHarm as an aesop: |
| 460 | --> Don't hurt living things. It has no side effect on you, but they tend to take it out on weaker things, who in turn take it out on weaker things, until that single action causes some chain reaction that kills off the mice (possibly causing an insect infestation). |
| 461 | * SpinOffspring: Amazingly, this happens within the same story, thanks to the PlayableEpilogue. |
| 462 | * SplitPersonalityMerge: Ambrosia does this after a mountaintop scene. |
| 463 | * SpookyPainting: There's a painting inside Zuran that you can literally walk right into. |
| 464 | * StatusEffects: Everything including from Poison, Silence, Sleep, and Death, to less common ones like Berserk, Confuse, Petrify, and Curse, to rare effects like Burn, Frozen, and X-Zone (can retrieve by changing party). There's even two extra effects: Seal, which is a curse type effect and heals fully after each turn, but otherwise like petrify, to Soulless which is a DeaderThanDead status. |
| 465 | * {{Stripperific}}: Lilith, the [[SuccubiAndIncubi succubus]], is wears a black bikini. And [[VaporWear nothing else]]. |
| 466 | * SuddenDownerEnding: May or may not be. Depending on the circumstances at the end of the game, and choices you make, the otherwise cheery story can end on several different bad notes. Sorry, [[FateWorseThanDeath not]] [[DreamApocalypse giving it]] [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt away]]. |
| 467 | * SugarAndIcePersonality: Ambrosia. At first glance, she seems to be a {{Tsundere}}, but this is part is her MoodSwinger SugarAndIcePersonality, and when she's actually upset, she'll revert to a [[SugarAndIcePersonality cold, gloomy personality]]. [[DefrostingIceQueen She gets better]]. |
| 468 | * {{Superboss}}: |
| 469 | ** [[{{Expy}} Zakum]] from ''VideoGame/MapleStory'' has several ''million hp'' and has numerous attacks that '''will''' kill you. |
| 470 | ** You can fight God (much like a [[VideoGame/DragonQuestVII certain other game]], it's a friendly match). Aside from experience rewards, God explains [[BlueAndOrangeMorality that the entire adventure was constructed because Ambrosia seemed bored, and God wanted to give her something to do]]. It gets weirder if you've completed the first game before challenging God [[spoiler:since Ambrosia is God, and so gave ''herself'' a quest]]. |
| 471 | * TakenForGranite: Anideshi has a Franchise/{{Naruto}}-style Sage transformation, complete with the risk of turning into stone if things don't work out right. |
| 472 | * TasteTheRainbow: Especially in racial variation, but this is typical in-game. |
| 473 | * TaxidermyIsCreepy: An EasterEgg. Reading through one of the libraries has books on necromancy, then taxidermy, and finally stitching together animals and corpses. |
| 474 | * TenMinuteRetirement: Many of Ambrosia's HeroicBSOD events. |
| 475 | * ThatWasTheLastEntry: The is a game help function where you write in your journal (or rather it's Nevras's journal). If he leaves the party, Ambrosia decides not to write it anymore (at least until he rejoins, leaving his fate uncertain. |
| 476 | ** Also, the actual last entry in the PlayableEpilogue is more than slightly depressing, since it sounds like they're sure they'll die. |
| 477 | --> ''We've come a long way, and there's no turning back. Let's make a last entry of our work for posterity.'' |
| 478 | * ThisIsReality: Thanks to some coding, there is RealTime in addition to an InUniverseGameClock. Ambrosia and the party insists that the clock that shows the real time is off, and has no problems accepting the game time. (Taken up to eleven when you get a calendar, and they insist this is the wrong ''date'') |
| 479 | * ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: A possible interpretation of what's going on is that aside from meeting her party, the entire quest is a giant delusion of a girl hoping to feel important because her birth parents abandoned her. |
| 480 | * TimeLimitBoss: Some bosses need to be beaten in about 30 turns, or they use a killer breath attack on you. |
| 481 | * TitleDrop: Several times, as it's Ambrosia's goal. |
| 482 | * TokenMiniMoe: Tamashii, [[spoiler: Ambrosia's daughter.]] |
| 483 | * TokenEvilTeammate: Yazim Jianne. [[HeelFaceTurn Sort of]]. He still is a creepy wizard, and a pervert, even after becoming good. |
| 484 | * TomatoInTheMirror: Ambrosia. |
| 485 | * TooAwesomeToUse: |
| 486 | ** Reconstructed. The Puffer Sushi is a great item which gets rid of all status effects (excluding death, due to a targetting glitch) and restores hp/mp. But rather than simply being a very rare item, it is available in some stores for about 9000 gp, when monsters usually don't hold money and you have to make it selling ShopFodder. Even when you actually manage to find it for free, it carries a pretty terrible risk. It can heal the party member fully, or it can kill them. The risk of use makes it something that you have to save for when you're really desperate, or the party member is already turned to stone. |
| 487 | ** Also, we have the Philosopher's Stone, which is absurdly difficult to buy, so the sell price is extremely tempting. Not to mention that although you can make it with [[JustAddWater alchemy]] to do so, requires giving up an equally rare levelup item. |
| 488 | * TooDumbToLive: At one point, a villain asks her "[[StockPhrases Who are you gonna trust? Me, who you've just met? Or these guys, who you've known for months?]]" Ambrosia can choose the person they've just met. |
| 489 | * TraumaInn: Defied. Inns heal hp/mp only, priests and hospitals heal certain status effects (usually at a high cost that gets worse as you level up). You need to travel a long way before you find an area where someone will heal you fully, no questions asked. |
| 490 | * TheTreacheryOfImages: Used to great effect later in the game. |
| 491 | * TrickingTheShapeshifter: Estheriel's teammate (Loki) pulls this off. |
| 492 | * {{Troperiffic}}: Just look at this page. |
| 493 | ** Also many {{Dead Unicorn Trope}}s. Especially the Cloud {{Expy}}, and Website/TheGrandListOfConsoleRolePlayingGameCliches. |
| 494 | * TropeTrigger: Ambrosia Brahmin is a Trope Trigger for Elias as MrExposition. Ambrosia's average intelligence and amnesia allow TheSmartGuy Elias to expound on obscure details pertaining to the plot. |
| 495 | * TroubledSympatheticBigot: Lilith hates angels. How can you hate angels?!? [[spoiler: She's a demon, so angels kind of hate her.]] |
| 496 | * TrueFinalBoss: If you qualify for the NewGamePlus, you have to fight a set of [[OneWingedAngel three new bosses]]. Whereas the original FinalBoss was basically just a DamageSpongeBoss some of these require real strategy. |
| 497 | * TrulySingleParent: [[spoiler: God. Has a child with [[MeaningfulName Manna Leaven]], Ambrosia's mother, but it's later revealed that ''nobody really exists aside from Ambrosia'', so God effectively created a clone.]] |
| 498 | [[/folder]] |
| 499 | |
| 500 | [[folder:U-Z]] |
| 501 | * UnderstandingBoyfriend: Nevras, to Ambrosia's TomatoInTheMirror nature. |
| 502 | * UnreliableNarrator: Ambrosia, mainly due to InnocentInaccurate. Ambrosia tells the history of the world, as she knows it, but lacks knowledge of history, or trust in legends. And some of her knowledge is lacking certain details that come up later. |
| 503 | * UnusualEuphemism: Nevras talks about "meeting attacks with equal force" and "revenge" with Ambrosia [[spoiler: ...they're kissing.]] |
| 504 | * UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler: The wizard helping the evil demon, does do because the [[DealWithTheDevil demon promised to revive his wife]]. He is [[WellIntentionedExtremist somewhat villainous in his own right]], but largely is lied to in order to further the demon's plans.]] |
| 505 | * UpgradeArtifact: Stats Seeds, are a good example, along with Level Roots. |
| 506 | * {{Valkyries}}: Including Brunhilda. |
| 507 | * VillainyFreeVillain: Estheriel has all the hallmarks of a WellIntentionedExtremist, but don't really ever do anything bad. His backstory shows him witness the extreme violence of humanity, as a result of TheChainOfHarm mentioned above. What does he do? He heals these people, only to have them kill each other due to jealousy over who got healed more. He doesn't even hurt Ambrosia if she loses to him in battle! He only wants a world where people don't hurt each other, and is trying to remake the universe so it accepts his goal (there is the small problem of TheEvilsOfFreeWill, making it possible for the audience to still hate him, even though it isn't his fault). His reward for all of this? [[spoiler: [[EtTuBrute His own lackey decides his means of doing this aren't up to snuff]] [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice and runs him through with a spear]].]] |
| 508 | * ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend: Part of the battle format. Any character that completes their romance sidequests [[BerserkButton gets extremely mad]] if the other dies. |
| 509 | * VoiceActors. According to WordOfGod, the game is currently being voice casted for a few opening and ending sequences (casting was done on starnow.com): |
| 510 | ** Ambrosia, is [[http://www.starnow.com/profile/ProfileDetail.aspx?m_id=1813975 Dawn Robertson]] [[TheOtherDarrin (main game only)]]. |
| 511 | ** Ambrosia for the NewGamePlus was originally planned using multiple actors, [[ActingForTwo but now all roles]] seem to be done by [[http://www.starnow.com/profile/ProfileDetail.aspx?m_id=2143993 Pippa Winslow]]. |
| 512 | ** Bakamaru, Tamashii's boyfriend, is [[http://www.starnow.com/profile/ProfileDetail.aspx?m_id=2072936&application_id=8853957 Jim Mcgovern]]. |
| 513 | ** [[LargeHam Estheriel]], is [[TakeAThirdOption neither of the two original candidates]]. Instead, since this was a WellIntentionedExtremist, and [[NarmCharm a bit of a silly role]], [[http://www.starnow.com/profile/ProfileDetail.aspx?m_id=297451 Lesley Sim]] was chosen. |
| 514 | ** [[LittleMissAlmighty God]], is [[http://www.starnow.com/profile/ProfileDetail.aspx?m_id=1521287 Linda Southgate]]. |
| 515 | ** Lilith is voiced by [[http://www.starnow.com/profile/ProfileDetail.aspx?m_id=1660438 Meena Rayann]]. |
| 516 | ** [[CrossDressingVoices Nevras]], is [[ManOfAThousandVoices talented actress]] [[http://www.starnow.com/profile/ProfileDetail.aspx?m_id=1871143 Ingrid Elkner]] |
| 517 | ** Priests are played by Alan Hooker (the author's father). |
| 518 | ** [[DawsonCasting Tamashii]], Ambrosia's [[spoiler: daughter]], is [[http://www.starnow.com/profile/ProfileDetail.aspx?m_id=572191 Ashley M Kalfas]] |
| 519 | * WhatDoesSheSeeInHim: An angel/demon romance. |
| 520 | ** Also WhyCantIHateYou. |
| 521 | * WalkingTheEarth: Ambrosia does it, with her friends. |
| 522 | * WeWantOurJerkBack: Ambrosia is very much a {{Tsundere}} throughout the early game, but enters decay on this point over the course of the story, she eventually becomes a sort of weird mix of SugarAndIcePersonality and MamaBear. |
| 523 | * WideEyedIdealist: Ambrosia in the early game, before experimenting with [[ProtagonistCenteredMorality her own ideas]], believes unquestioningly in the justice of her cause. The first Oracle she meets is careful to [[DeterminedDefeatist snap her out of this]]. |
| 524 | * WhatTheHellPlayer: If you wander off randomly, you can run into {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, you can return to the Void gate only to decide [[HeroicBSOD you don't wanna save the world after all]], and several choices you make can give you either special weapons or end very, very, badly. |
| 525 | * WhatYouAreInTheDark: Ambrosia's choice in the [[CosmicEgg Universe Egg]] is witnessed by the party, but other than this, nobody can see her choice. The "villain" isn't really a villain, but although she isn't really egged on, she can definitely make a very ''off'' choice (to murder an angel who has already been run through by a rather large spear). Or a very good one (to heal it, although given that this ''same angel'' was trying to take over the world), or a [[UnflinchingWalk very apathetic one]], but somewhat understandable one given a [[DarkestHour no-win situation]]. |
| 526 | * WholesomeCrossdresser: Subverted for much of the story, though. |
| 527 | * WithThisHerring. And oddly, once you have money, AdamSmithHatesYourGuts, ContinuingIsPainful, and NoHeroDiscount comes into play (everything is priced about like the Japanese economy with basic items starting at about 100 gold and going up to about 500000 gold). Good luck making your first million without a bank. |
| 528 | * WorkingClassPeopleAreMorons: Used largely as an exposition device. [[MrExposition Elias]] usually has to explain something abstract to Ambrosia (who, while not stupid, is BookDumb), and thus to anyone in the audience who happens not to know about the subject. WhatTheHellHero version of this as one of the villains gives the [[BeamMeUpScotty mangled stock quote]], "Who are you gonna trust? Me, who you've just met, or your friends that you've known several months?" And Ambrosia can actually choose to say, "[[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter You]]." |
| 529 | * XanatosGambit: The [[ArtifactOfDoom Ring of Nibelung]] rigs it so the HeroAntagonist, despite sealing it away, still manages to lose horribly. |
| 530 | * YetAnotherStupidDeath: If you want to you can... run into some spikes, fall to your doom in a pit, jump staight into the middle of the ocean and drown, and other such fates. You can also challenge an EldritchAbomination to a battle, usually involving something ''seriously wrong'' happening to you if you lose. |
| 531 | * YinYangBomb: Ambrosia, has the Tao ability. This gives her two main abilities, the ability to split her body into two parts, and a blast of nonelemental energy that basically responds to her mood. In the game, this means that her powers can either hurt her as a result of use, or deal massive extra damage (or simply halt the battle). The book is different mainly because the last one is missing, and it spends more time getting into more depth about this. |
| 532 | * YouAllLookFamiliar: Played straight with guards and certain merchants, and subverted in the case of maids and police. |
| 533 | * YouMustBeThisTallToEnter: A straight example. You go into a boss battle area, and there's a wind pushing you back. One of the characters says something along the lines of "I don't think we'll be able to push past this wind [[BreakingTheFourthWall until level 25]]!" |
| 534 | * YouWannaGetSued: The game's OptionalBoss is [[VideoGame/MapleStory Zakum]]. Right before the battle starts, you get this exchange. |
| 535 | --> ''Ambrosia: This can't really be the guardian of the dungeon, can it? This stupid thing is gonna take forever to fight. [[{{Beat}} (beat)]] Just now, I coulda sworn I saw some kinda copyright notice fly past. Ah, forget it. Let those lawyers come! I'm not making any money.'' |
| 536 | * ZenSurvivor: A few of them, including some literal Zen types. Most notably though, the Aiken Master, and [[spoiler: Ambrosia herself, after the first story.]] |
| 537 | * ZerothLawRebellion: Subverted, since the [[ThreeLawsCompliant Three Laws of Aasimov]] are never explicitly referred to. [[KillerRobot Offensive robots]] are basically set to guard areas that may be of threat to humanity, ''by killing humans that intrude into the area''. |
| 538 | [[/folder]] |
| 539 |
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