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| 2 | %% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16629475050.93217000 |
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| 5 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/phantasy_star_iv_na_cover.png]] |
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| 7 | ->''The long, long struggle of ancient times finally ended…\ |
| 8 | The victor sacrificed the vanquished to the heavens.\ |
| 9 | Four bells tolled.\ |
| 10 | Four torches were lit.\ |
| 11 | And the world continued for thousands of years…'' |
| 12 | |
| 13 | ''Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium'' is a direct sequel to the second ''VideoGame/PhantasyStar'' game, returning to the Algol System a thousand years after the events of ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarII''. The game stars Chaz Ashley, an apprentice Bounty Hunter who lives and trains on Motavia with his partner and mentor Alys Brangwyn. Chaz and Alys are summoned to the Motavia Academy, where they're hired to deal with an unfortunate monster infestation of the school's basement, then to investigate the cult that is causing suffering and destruction all over the planet. This eventually leads Chaz on a mission across the entire system, where he finally discovers the truth behind Dark Force. |
| 14 | |
| 15 | Generally considered to be the apex of the original tetralogy for a number of reasons (not the least of which was the more advanced technology behind the game allowing for a ''much'' more expansive and better-produced experience than its predecessors), and more arguably the best game of the entire franchise. Certainly it's one of the highest-reviewed entries and holds a special place in the hearts of longtime fans. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | The tech for the game did require a very expensive cart. The game was first sold at ''double'' the average for games at the time. Fortunately, the game has since been released on several compilations, and is available on the Platform/VirtualConsole, the ''SEGA Mega Drive and Genesis Classics'' collection on Platform/{{Steam}}, and the Sega Genesis Mini, each at a fraction of that price. |
| 18 | |
| 19 | ---- |
| 20 | !!Provides examples of: |
| 21 | |
| 22 | * ActionGirl: Alys, Rika, Demi, and Kyra all qualify. |
| 23 | * ActuallyIAmHim: Once Chaz and company arrive at the Esper Mansion, they want to look for Lutz in order to know how to deal with the carnivorous trees surrounding Garuberk Tower. [[spoiler:Rune, who is part of the party, then reveals that he is actually Lutz, the fifth-generation inheritor of his name, will, and memory.]] |
| 24 | * AdventurerArchaeologist: |
| 25 | ** Seth, who has some pretty potent skills for some dude who just wants to poke around an abandoned ruin. [[spoiler:This is because he's actually Dark Force.]] |
| 26 | ** Hahn eventually matures into one, though his natural habitat is still a classroom. Much of his character development comes from his disgust with the Academy for not being more actively involved. |
| 27 | * AfterTheEnd: A millennium after the destruction of Parma, the downfall of Mother Brain, and the collapse of Algo's civilization. |
| 28 | * AIIsACrapshoot: Averted. [=SeeD=], Demi and Wren avert this trope by being dependable caretakers capable of sound ethical judgement, while Daughter [[spoiler: was abandoned mid-project, and is only hostile because its last orders were faulty and incomplete and it has no knowledge of how the situation has changed since its creation]]. |
| 29 | * AlasPoorVillain: The party treats Daughter very gently, despite its repeated attempts on Wren's life, [[spoiler: because its facility is an incomplete prototype of what would eventually become Zelan, and the AI itself was designed to take the role of caretaker that would eventually become Wren's.]] Daughter was only awakened from dormancy by the shutdown of Nurvus, a functional death sentence for Motavia's already crumbling environment; it was doing its best to save the world, it just had no way to understand that it was never really part of the world to begin with. |
| 30 | * AllergicToEvil: The sentient races of Algo, it turns out. [[DeconstructedTrope The Black Energy Wave is this trope weaponized]]. [[spoiler: The Black Wave is the power of the Profound Darkness, the antithesis of the being that created Algo and its people. Its existence unmakes theirs.]] |
| 31 | * AllThereInTheManual: The Phantasy Star Compendium has notes from the creators about some of the things that the game doesn't address, like Zio's [[BodyHorror monsterized hand]], [[TheArtfulDodger Chaz's life before meeting Alys]], [[DeathByOriginStory how Alys became a hunter]], and [[ChildhoodFriends how she and]] [[AloofBigBrother Rune]] know each other. There was also a cancelled proto-version of Chaz/Rudy and a Nei clone from a comic by Yoshibon that remains compatible enough with the canon lore of the series to imply [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld Chaz's otherwise unknown origins.]] |
| 32 | * AmazingTechnicolorBattlefield: The entire final dungeon appears to be some sort of flashing lava lamp dimension. |
| 33 | * AngerIsHealthyAesop: Megid, the Forbidden Technique that harnesses the user's anger and hatred, sounds like an evil technique. However after the SecretTestOfCharacter in the Anger Tower, [[spoiler:Re-Faze does a pretty nasty thing by separating Chaz from his party, then forcing Chaz to fight a copy of Alys, his dead mentor. When Re-Faze offers to teach Chaz Megid after all that happens, the correct option is for Chaz to refuse. If Chaz refuses, he'll point out to Chaz that anger and hatred are natural human emotions, so as long as he remains true to himself, he won't be corrupted by Megid's power. In contrast, Chaz refusing to acknowledge his anger and accepting Re-Faze's offer causes him to fail the test, with Re-Faze killing him in response.]] This is also dealt with subtly over the course of the game, as Chaz's temper nearly rushes the party into danger a number of times, requiring the cooler heads in the team to overrule him in order to stay on task, but no one gives him any grief over it beyond telling him to get it together. |
| 34 | * ApocalypseCult: Zio and his (sometimes brainwashed) followers are bringing on the end of the world by disrupting Motavia's environmental management systems. That's plenty apocalyptic. [[spoiler:Trying to physically manifest Dark Force on the planet is even worse.]] |
| 35 | * ArbitraryHeadcountLimit: Justified; if a character isn't on the battlefield, they're not in your party, because the plot makes sure that whenever someone leaves, there's someone new to take up the fifth slot, right up until the end: [[spoiler: there's only five Rings of the Stars, so you'll have to choose your fifth member. It's arbitrary because ''no one'' can equip the Rykros Ring, so whoever you pick at the end doesn't get one anyway.]] |
| 36 | * ArtificialHuman: Rika, the Numan successor to Nei from ''Phantasy Star II''. The Drama CD also gives us [[spoiler: the numbered Nei clones, the short-lived prototypes of Rika.]] |
| 37 | ** Wren and Demi count to a extent since they are {{Ridiculously Human Robot}}s. There are also a few Wren series android enemies to which this trope could apply, but as {{mooks}} they receive no development. |
| 38 | * AwesomeButImpractical: While most of the game's combination techniques are quite practical, [[spoiler: DESTRUCT, the final and ultimate combo spell, isn't really any use at all. It bumps into the game's (fairly low) damage limit and does less damage than your late-game characters can do individually or other combinations.]] |
| 39 | * BackFromTheDead: Lassic/Lashiec, one of the {{Big Bad}}s of the original ''{{VideoGame/Phantasy Star|I}}'', returns as a major boss. |
| 40 | * BadassNormal: Hahn. Of all the heroes, he's the only true civilian; everyone else is trained in combat and/or magic as a matter of course. [[TheLoad He dies a lot at first]], [[CharacterDevelopment but he learns]] to compensate for his physical weakness with precision and intellect. |
| 41 | * BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: Averted. When first arriving at the Air Castle, which is floating amidst the asteroid field of debris that is the remains of the planet Parma, the party is genuinely surprised to find a breathable atmosphere waiting for them. |
| 42 | * BatmanGambit: A client in one of the guild missions tries to pull one off by [[spoiler: siccing some hired hunters onto the head honcho of a flock of birds he himself bred. He assumed the hunters would be defeated and his fellow villagers would be encouraged to leave the flock alone]]. It backfires on him, since the hunters he hired just got back from fighting an EldritchAbomination. |
| 43 | ** Incidentally, his choice of words ("head honcho bird") was mercilessly lampooned in the LetsPlay run of PSIV. |
| 44 | * BerserkButton: Don't mention Alys' measurements while she's around. Unless you like being {{Megaton Punch}}ed in the mouth. |
| 45 | ** Kyra's is more broad, as the thing that pisses her off is watching other people suffer, but her first reaction to seeing [[spoiler: Meese slowly becoming a zombie hotbed]] is to haul off alone and try to kill the source. [[DamselInDistress It doesn't go well.]] |
| 46 | * BeyondTheImpossible: Wren and Demi are androids, hundreds of years old, and have no biological components but if you get their levels high enough, they will eventually gain points in the Mental stat (they normally have 0, because they're machines), and although they never learn anything to spend them on, ''they will gain Technique Points''. |
| 47 | * BishonenLine: [[spoiler: Dark Force]] fight one is against an organic blob monstrosity [[BodyHorror (with a face)]] integrated into a wall of machinery, fight two is against a chitin-armored juggernaut scorpion thing covered with fang-filled maws [[BodyHorror that also has (the same) face]], and fight three is against a giant nightmare humanoid with a sword for an arm. |
| 48 | ** [[spoiler: The Profound Darkness]] would be a more traditional example, as its first and second forms are gigantic and even more nightmarish versions of the first two fights mentioned above, and its final form is a still-colossal, apparently female, and rather nubile humanoid with [[FlamingHair long, glowing tresses]]. |
| 49 | * BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The Profound Darkness is defeated once and for all, but it can't undo death toll and damage already done on Motavia, and now that Mother Brain that governed the ecosystem of Motavia and Dezolis is really gone for good, the civilization will continue to struggle finding out how to survive in this harsh environments. The heroes all return to where they come from, and since Wren and Demi take the Landale to Zelan with them, those residing in the two planets have no chance of seeing each other any soon. Likewise, Rune leaves to parts unknown, with the implication that Chaz will never meet him again. Still, the closing scenes show the heroes happy and content, with the people of Algo finally able to live free from the threat of the Profound Darkness.]] |
| 50 | * BlackAndWhiteMorality: A DeconstructedTrope. [[spoiler: The conflict between the Great Light and the Profound Darkness has overtones of LovecraftLite, as neither power cares about humans except that the Light needs them to keep the Darkness chained, and the Darkness just wants Algol destroyed so it will be freed. There's nothing good about the Great Light except that it provides Chaz and company with the weapons needed to fight the Darkness; the ''actual'' morality of the two powers is [[BlueAndOrangeMorality Blue and Orange]]]]. |
| 51 | * BluntMetaphorsTrauma: Alys is referred to as "Alys the Eight Stroke Sword", and takes great offense to it, leading to some players wondering why she would be so bothered by such a cool nickname; the phrase in Japanese is a little closer to "Rip-Their-Guts-Out Lyla", which is a bit more understandable. This still makes sense in either translation when you realize she's a consummate professional who makes it obvious she doesn't like to brag. |
| 52 | * BodyHorror: Used a few times; one of Dark Force's abilities is the corruption (and literally Corrosion, both the process and the in-game magic ability) of mortal bodies. [[WombLevel Garuberk Tower]] is an entirely biological mass with random veins and eyes in it, [[spoiler: Seth and Zio]] both undergo some very painful-looking reshapings, even [[spoiler: Alys]] is said to consciously reject all healing due to the Black Wave. It's [[AllThereInTheManual never shown in game]], but Zio also has a gnarled, monstrously deformed hand due to Dark Force's... "blessing". |
| 53 | * BodyMotifs: Shape-shifting is Dark Force's particular bag, particularly where hands are concerned. [[spoiler: Seth's and Zio's left hands are transformed (the rest of the body follows suit, in Seth's case.]] There's also Dark Force's face (which appears several times over the course of the game outside of combat) and distinctly huge, protruding collarbone, which can be seen on [[spoiler: all of its forms.]] |
| 54 | * BossInMookClothing: At least two to speak of: |
| 55 | ** Early in the game, Infantworms would burrow under the ground and either call mommy or grow up really, really fast, as you'd find yourself facing a SandWorm that you were most likely ill-equipped to fight at that point. This occurs after an optional mission involving a sand worm fight, but unlike the wild ones, ''that'' sand worm is [[{{Nerf}} domesticated]], so the player may expect the battle to go at least similarly or, more likely, with greater ease. [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown Turns out it]] [[TotalPartyKill doesn't quite]] [[EarthquakesCauseFissures happen that way.]] |
| 56 | ** (Much) later on, you'd encounter the Prophallus, and boy, was he a hard one. Who knew that a monster with only one attack could mop the floor with your RagtagBunchOfMisfits so effortlessly? Then again, with a name like his, he must have had the living [[SmallReferencePools falz]] teased out of him on the demon playground as a kid. All that resentment's gotta go somewhere. That monster's name in the Japanese version is [[EldritchAbomination Dark]] [[VideoGame/PhantasyStar Falz]], and [[CallBack looks]] ''[[CallBack exactly]]'' [[CallBack like the original one]]. |
| 57 | * {{Bowdlerise}}: The [[https://tcrf.net/Phantasy_Star_IV:_The_End_of_the_Millennium#Unused_Monsters Acacia and ShadMirage]], being nude women, were both cut of the English version. |
| 58 | ** Averted with the Prophallus monster, which keeps its name in English, though all instances of "Dark Phallus" were changed to "Dark Force" as usual. |
| 59 | * BrokenBridge: Quite a few, though generally not solved with "fixing the bridge." The more common solution is [[spoiler: "now we've got a super-high-tech vehicle that obviates the obstruction."]] |
| 60 | ** The one absolutely straight example is the bridge that connects the two landmasses between Zema and Nalya. You can't cross until after Rika joins your party. |
| 61 | * BrokenPedestal: A minor one. Kyra practically worships Lutz, thinking of him as a revered legendary person and describing him in florid, romantic terms. Her image of him is shattered not long afterward. |
| 62 | * BruiserWithASoftCenter: When Alys isn't busy maintaining her status as the guild's top hunter, pressuring information out of suspicious clients, slugging dirty old men in the face and being all-around badass, she cooks tasty food for her elderly neighbour... which genuinely surprises the other party members when it's revealed. Much to Alys' embarrassment. Said neighbour later reveals Alys is also into poetry. You do the math. |
| 63 | * BuryMeNotOnTheLonePrairie: One easily missable conversation with the gravekeeper in Aiedo's cemetery has him chide Alys about finally buying a plot for herself, presumably because she's top earner in the most dangerous profession in the city. Alys scoffs at this, and tells him she'd rather be buried somewhere peaceful. [[spoiler:It turns out that this "somewhere peaceful" thing is the town of Krup, where Alys later dies via Zio's Dark Force magic and is buried beneath a field of flowers.]] |
| 64 | * ButNowIMustGo: Everyone leaves to return to their lives at the game's end. [[spoiler: But this applies to Rune more than the others, as he as to pass on Lutz' essence to future generations.]] |
| 65 | %%* ButtMonkey: Hahn, TheSmartGuy, is this for the first part of the game. |
| 66 | * [[CallingTheOldManOut Calling the Old God Out]]: Chaz gets this during Le Roof's ExpositionBreak. [[spoiler: When informed of the whole cosmological conflict between the Great Light and the Profound Darkness, Chaz [[{{Deconstruction}} points out]] the less-than-optimal consequences of the Great Light's [[SealedEvilInACan imprisoning the Profound Darkness]] and then [[HaveYouSeenMyGod vanishing from the known universe]].]] |
| 67 | * CallARabbitASmeerp / CallAHitPointASmeerp: Each character has two pools of abilities, called "Techniques" and "Skills." Using Techniques draw from a character's pool of [[{{Mana}} Technique Points]] and generally look and act like magic spells. Skills generally involve some kind of physical act or special talent and follow a [[VancianMagic Fire-And-Forget]] model that allows each individual learned Skill to be used a certain number of times. Both Technique Points and Skill uses are restored during rests. This distinction wouldn't merit a mention were magic not an in-universe phenomenon declared to be separate from Techniques; the magic abilities certain party members learn are Skills, not Techniques. |
| 68 | * {{Cap}}: Damage caps to 999. [[spoiler: The 4-way combo spell, DESTRUCT, which combines DEBAN + LEGEON + POSIBOLT + MEGID, always does 999 damage]]. |
| 69 | * CaptainObvious: Rika gets a real winner when she finds out that "no creature is unable to see or even sense" a certain thing. Her immediate reaction is to be surprised that she never knew that such a thing existed. ItMakesSenseInContext, since Rika is both educated about the technology of Algo's past and sensitive to energy the same way Rune is, so it ''would'' be especially surprising to her that [[spoiler: Algo has a fourth planet]], but she was ''just told'' that it's impossible to perceive without the PlotCoupon. |
| 70 | * CassandraTruth: Raja probably knows more about what's happening on Dezolis than anyone on the planet, outside of [[spoiler: the high priest of Gumbious Temple and Lutz himself]], but he's a crusty old man who makes bad jokes and generally irritates people, so no one wants to listen to him. This may have something to do with why he was [[ReassignedToAntarctica sent to manage a backwater temple in the middle of nowhere.]] |
| 71 | * CombatMedic: Rika learns a wide range of healing techinques ''and'' deals pretty good damage in fights. |
| 72 | * CombinationAttack: Certain combinations of techniques and/or skills will result in these as long as nobody else acts in between the involved characters' turns. Results in a |
| 73 | ** DiscOneNuke: By the time the first dungeon is finished you should have access to Triblaster [[spoiler: Foi + Wat + Tsu]]. It can one-shot anything you encounter in random battles and is potent enough to be of use in boss fights for nearly the entirety of the time you spend on Motavia. |
| 74 | ** The game also has a few enemies that can either combine to become a bigger, meaner monster or team up to unleash a very painful attack on your entire party. You want to let the former happen since the bigger monster gives more experience, but the latter is to be avoided at all costs. One trio of bosses also uses a painful combination attack as a counter against multitarget attacks. |
| 75 | * ComicallyMissingThePoint: "Whee! A crash landing! Cool!!!" |
| 76 | * ContinuityNod: Being the last game in a series about defeating a recurring evil, they're all over the place. |
| 77 | ** One of the towns contains a statue of Alis Landale, heroine of the first game. A store in that same town even sells expensive souvenirs, including "Alis' Sword", a pathetic (toy) weapon with really low attack power. |
| 78 | ** Noah [[DubNameChange better known as Lutz]] left his Frade Mantle in a chest in Ladea Tower. It's not ultimate end-game equipment anymore, but it's been moldering in a box for a few millenia. |
| 79 | ** The town of Uzo has references to some items from the first game. |
| 80 | ** The second half of the Air Castle is a top-down rendering of the first game's version. |
| 81 | ** Chaz's response to a Ryuon local's praise of Raja is that he's heard Dezolisians are all liars, a nod to the magic/mogic cap dilemma of ''II''. Raja says it's old nonsense. |
| 82 | ** An NPC in Gumbious Temple mentions Corona Tower. |
| 83 | * CoolBigSis: Kyra views herself as this towards Chaz. |
| 84 | * CoolOldGuy: Raja, who is also a DeadpanSnarker. |
| 85 | * TheCorruption: The Black Energy Wave. It causes a degenerative disease that not only incapacitates its victims, leaving them bedridden and in pain for days, but forces them to actually ''reject'' all healing techniques and treatment until they finally die. If their corpses continue being exposed to it, then it revives them as rotting, poison-spewing zombies. The only way the Espers manage to keep any of the people in Meese's hospital alive is by directly conferring their own life energy to the afflicted people's bodies, and even that much is just a stopgap, not a solution. |
| 86 | * CrutchCharacter: Alys is much more powerful than the other early game characters at first, but even leaving aside [[spoiler:the fact that you lose her after her PlotlineDeath]], her growth curve is such that other characters quickly catch up if you {{level grind|ing}}. |
| 87 | ** Not to mention Rune, when he first joints the party; he's capable of wiping out screenfuls of enemies with a single attack and comes with a weapon that can be used as an unlimited supply of healing spells. Taking a moment to level grind with a macro that starts with someone using the Wood-Cane and Rune casting Hewn or Gra is a very easy exploit. |
| 88 | %%* CurbStompBattle: Chaz vs Re-Faze, and it's a beatdown for the ages. |
| 89 | * CuteMonsterGirl: Rika is a genetically engineered human/biomonster hybrid, but apart from PointyEars she's indistinguishable from a regular human. She also has CuteLittleFangs, but they're not visible unless her mouth is open. |
| 90 | * CutscenePowerToTheMax: Rune's Flaeli skill is only a bit stronger than his weakest fire spell, but in a cutscene he can blast a wall of rocks to dust with it. |
| 91 | * DamselInDistress: Demi and Kyra both need to be rescued prior to joining your party. [[spoiler:Demi is being held captive in Zio's tower, and Kyra needs to be saved from [[LeeroyJenkins her own foolhardy assault]] on Garuberk Tower.]] They're both rather unusual downplayed versions of the trope, in that Demi's capture is a necessary strategic move [[spoiler: because she's a vital component of the environmental control system]] and Kyra isn't kidnapped, she's just too hot-blooded and pissed off to run [[spoiler: which is the only way to escape the carnivorous trees alive.]] |
| 92 | * DarkerAndEdgier: ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarII'' depicted Motavia as a CrapsaccharineWorld: the once barren desert world was now a lush green world and people lead easy lives (albeit with restricted freedoms thanks to Mother Brain). Now, Motavia is a desert world once more, with monsters as far as the eye can see and all the technological progress from the previous millennium lost. |
| 93 | * DeadpanSnarker: Raja first and foremost, but Alys and Rune also have their moments. |
| 94 | * DecapitatedArmy: [[spoiler: Once Zio is defeated, his religion disbands.]] |
| 95 | * DeconstructedTrope: [[spoiler: The nature of the Great Light and the Profound Darkness deconstructs the Good vs. Evil conflict at the heart of traditional fantasy literature and games. Abstract "Light" and "Good" aren't important except as they relate to people, and fighting the Darkness is only important because it protects human lives.]] |
| 96 | * DecoyProtagonist: [[spoiler: Alys. Considering how similar her name is to the protagonist of the first game, you'd think she was the main character, wouldn't you? Besides, she's usually swapped into the first character slot when she joins and acts like a leader.]] |
| 97 | * DevelopersForesight: |
| 98 | ** Guards don't let you leave first city until you've done with the story. You can try spending several hours grinding monsters in the very first dungeon in a horribly painful attempt to gain access to level 7 and a spell that would teleport you to the world map, but even then guards would appear on the world map after you and drag you back. |
| 99 | ** Visiting the astronomers' room has one of the professors talk about traveling to Dezolis by spaceship. Chaz responds that it sounds like a dream. If you go and talk to him again any time after Raja joins up, he'll say the same thing, but Chaz will keep his spacefaring mouth shut. |
| 100 | ** If you go to Molcum to get Rune before the party finds Professor Holt, the town will still be intact. You can't actually go inside, but there'll be an NPC milling around who later turns up as a refugee in Tonoe. |
| 101 | ** The Principal of Motavia Academy has unique dialogue if you go back and report to him about Holt's (second) disappearance into Birth Valley, which requires otherwise-pointless backtracking. |
| 102 | *** Likewise, if you go there with Seth in the party later on, Hahn will mention that he doesn't know who Seth is. [[spoiler: Motavia Academy is the only place on the planet, if not the solar system, where anybody could earn the credentials to become an archaeologist. If Seth really were one, Hahn would know him well.]] |
| 103 | ** If you don't meet Saya before [[spoiler: Alys is stricken with the Black Wave]], Hahn will introduce her to the party when the party goes to Krup. |
| 104 | ** After [[spoiler: Alys dies]], there's a basket of flowers on the countertop in her room at the inn. If you examine the countertop before that point, Chaz will note that nothing seems out of the ordinary. This is the only time Chaz will comment on not seeing anything regardless of whoever's in the first slot, rather than whoever's in the lead slot complaining (or scolding him) that there's nothing there. |
| 105 | ** If you don't clear the Wreckage dungeon until Demi joins the party (which requires you to skip a lucrative dungeon run and backtrack to it after you have access to better stuff), she'll comment on how impressive the surviving technology is. If you wait until Rune joins the party, he'll be the one to say so. If you wait until Wren joins up, it'll be him. |
| 106 | ** A town NPC on Dezolis will upset Rika by [[InsistentTerminology calling her ears "horns"]], and Raja will tell her that, to normal people, they ''do'' look like horns. If you talk to him after Kyra joins the party (which requires backtracking ''and'' going out of your way), she'll reassure Rika that they're cute. |
| 107 | *** In the same town, an NPC mentions how unusual it is to see Parmanians and asks if the party has come from Tyler, but if you have Gryz in the party (which isn't even possible until ''long'' after Ryuon is of any use to the player), she'll mention that you also have "unfamiliar types" with you, having no idea what a Motavian looks like. |
| 108 | ** The "Silver Soldier" Guild mission will be unavailable if you don't pick it up before returning from [[spoiler: Rykros.]] |
| 109 | ** If you don't pick up "The Ranch Owner" before the final dungeon opens up (or if you just never visit Mile before that point), the quest won't be available, and Rika won't have anything to say about him, having never met him before [[spoiler: finding his corpse.]] |
| 110 | * DevilButNoGod: Dark Force's existence in the series can be summed up as this; it's a horrible, apparently-immortal evil god that threatens Algo whenever it re-appears, with nothing but humanity to stand against it. This game properly makes it an evil god, with a cult and a high priest in the form of Zio. [[spoiler: It also ends in a deconstruction of the trope: Dark Force is only an emanation of the Profound Darkness, which actually ''does'' have a counterpart god to its devil, it's just that the Great Light abandoned Algo thousands of years ago.]] |
| 111 | * DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: It's a CosmicHorrorStory with a positive (if not entirely happy) ending; this is par for the course. |
| 112 | * DirtyOldMan: Grandfather Dorin seems to enjoy sharing details about Alys' physical proportions with strangers. It gets a lot less fun for him (but entertaining for the player) when Alys learns about it. |
| 113 | * DiscOneFinalDungeon: Nurvus, [[spoiler: especially since all of the plot development up to that point indicates the problems will be solved once through. Veterans of the series would understand that the lack of space travel would indicate the game isn't over, leading to the second DiscOneFinalDungeon at the Kuran satellite. After vanquishing Dark Force and restoring order to Algol's rogue climate-control systems, it might almost seem like the game was over. Nope.]] |
| 114 | ** [[spoiler: ....and then they do it ''again'' with Garuberk Tower.]] |
| 115 | * DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: |
| 116 | ** [[RobotGirl De]][[RidiculouslyHumanRobot mi]] asks for everyone else to turn their back to her and close their eyes while she installs a new weapons system. Chaz lampshades this with his confusion at the request, but Rika makes him anyway, recognizing that the weapon is installed in her ''chest'', of all places. |
| 117 | ** The Guilgenova and Igglanova enemies are explicitly a problem because they'll [[MookMaker generate infinite numbers of spawn]] if unchecked. They have a very distinctly yonic design, resembling something akin to a monstrous goat's head combined with a uterus and ovaries, releasing "eggs" from a very fallopian-looking pair of orifices that become smaller, weaker monsters that may or may not be capable of maturing into its parent's type. In other words, it menstruates monsters. Given that they're from ''Birth Valley'', that's probably the point. |
| 118 | * DubInducedPlothole: The spell guide in the English manual claims that the Arows spell revives an ally, when it just wakes up a sleeping ally. Rever is the resurrection spell. The Japanese spell guide doesn't contain this mistake. |
| 119 | * EarthquakesCauseFissures: Averted, though they do call it a fissure anyway: the Hunter's Guild mission, ''Fissure of Fear'', centers on one of these; one of the earthquakes the malfunctioning Plate System caused has created a fissure in the earth, and a town boy, Tallas, has gone into it and not returned. The quake did open the earth, but not because it cracked the ground: turns out Monsen is built on top of an underground valley, and it triggered a cave-in. |
| 120 | * EldritchAbomination: Dark Force qualifies. [[spoiler: The Profound Darkness even moreso.]] |
| 121 | ** Probably [[spoiler:The Great Light as well, but we never see... When Le Roof gives his history lesson, at one point all we see are cosmic images like galaxies supposedly representing them.]] |
| 122 | * ElementalRockPaperScissors: PSIV has some fairly standard ones like fire, ice, lightning and light elements, but it also has more obscure categories like "force" (most physicals and wind), energy, holy (different from light), EMP and "destruct". |
| 123 | %%* EnemySummoner: Some enemies can do this. |
| 124 | * EnemyToAllLivingThings: [[spoiler:The Profound Darkness]], given that even limited exposure to its power is enough to cause everything in the vicinity to die. |
| 125 | * EnoughToGoAround: There are exactly five of the ring thingies that protect one from the radiation of the big bad. Thus conveniently explaining why only one of your previous party members can rejoin the main group for the final battle. |
| 126 | * {{Expy}}: Rune (Lutz of ''Phantasy Star''), Rika (Nei of ''Phantasy Star II''), and Wren (Wren of ''Phantasy Star III'') are all ''very'' similar to major characters from previous games in the franchise. |
| 127 | ** Rika was initially meant to be Nei herself by one of the designers, but his colleagues made him change her into a new character. |
| 128 | ** [[spoiler: {{Justified|Trope}} in Rune's case because Lutz has been passing on his essence to successors since his body's physical death in anticipation of future generation's need to fight against Dark Force.]] |
| 129 | ** And justified in Wren's case because they're both robots of similar models. The "Wren" model series can be found as random encounters in most of the technological facilities; the Wren who joins your party just happens to be the top bot in the AI hierarchy. |
| 130 | ** AND justified in Rika's case. Nei [[spoiler: (well, Neifirst, anyway)]] was initially an experiment by the Motavian biosystems in genetic engineering, and Rika was created by SEED (who happens to be the Motavian bio system) based on roughly a thousand years' worth of research into genetic engineering. If Nei[[spoiler:first]] was the FlawedPrototype, Rika would be the SuperPrototype made at a much later time. SEED doesn't get around to making a production model. |
| 131 | * FantasticRacism: Zio attacks Molcum for strategic reasons, but his open satisfaction with wiping out the Motavians strongly implies that he didn't really need the excuse. He even drops a casual post-mortem DehumanzingInsult on them just to taunt Gryz. |
| 132 | -->'''Zio:''' What's wrong with eliminating worms? |
| 133 | * {{Fictionary}}: Techniques have a consistent prefix-word format indicating the effect and its strength, and the actual effects, like the animations and damage, are consistent with them too. [[spoiler: The alien words share a similarity to the names of the inhabitants of Rykros, suggesting a connection between them and the Great Light.]] This is good, because without a guide that's the best you're going to get as far as the game telling you what any of them do. |
| 134 | * ForcedLevelGrinding: Largely ''averted'' for the first time in the series. So long as you do the sidequests when they become available and don't run from battles, any needed extra grinding is fairly minimal. |
| 135 | ** Too much level grinding is actively punished due to a GameBreakingBug if you reach level 99. |
| 136 | * FourIsDeath:: The fourth game in the series marks the end of the original games, and this is the one where we find out [[spoiler: Algo has a fourth planet]], which exists entirely to herald the coming of Dark Force, but was forgotten long ago. |
| 137 | * FriendToAllChildren: Hahn's fiancee, Saya. She's a teacher, and all of her young students completely adore her. |
| 138 | * FriendToAllLivingThings: Musk cats react favorably to the party. You'll want to keep that in mind. |
| 139 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: |
| 140 | ** [[spoiler: The first time the player has control of a character, it's Chaz... after being separated from Alys. She's a DecoyProtagonist, and Chaz becomes the party leader proper after she dies.]] |
| 141 | ** [[spoiler: When Alys dies, Rune asks Chaz if he really thinks Alys was only fighting monsters for the money. Yes, she did make it her career, but being a hunter also meant she was saving lives. This sets up Chaz's later realization that even if being a Protector means doing the bidding of an absent, neglectful god, it's worth doing for the sake of the lives it would save.]] |
| 142 | ** The Bio-Plant has a corridor that's blocked off by collapsed wreckage, implying that that there was a cave-in, but it's very precise and limited just to the doorway, the rest of the room outside is intact. [[spoiler: Seed later triggers a cave-in that destroys him and the Bio-Plant entirely with such precise control, Zema is unaffected and Birth Valley itself is sealed forever.]] |
| 143 | ** The monster that stows away on the emergency shuttle. [[spoiler: It's the first time one of the Darkness creatures actively attempts to kill the party on their own turf, and he only confronts them directly after being discovered: he was trying to sabotage the engines to deny them access to space travel... which would give them access to Rykros.]] This is even foreshadowed as the party leaves for Kuran: in order to get there, Wren will require you collect the Stealth Canceller, as the satellite is protected by a powerful cloaking device and can't be targeted for space travel while it's active. [[spoiler: Just like how the party needs the Aero Prism to pierce Rykros' invisibility.]] |
| 144 | ** The FortuneTeller in Aiedo [[spoiler:offers to tell Alys her fortune for free. But she becomes noticeably distressed by what she discovers and doesn't reveal what it is, instead claiming that she's not feeling well.]] |
| 145 | ** You can visit the cemetery in Aiedo and talk to the gravekeeper, who will chide Alys about finally buying a plot for herself, presumably because she's top earner in the most dangerous profession in the city. Alys scoffs at this, and tells him she'd rather be buried somewhere peaceful. [[spoiler: She dies and is buried in Krup, the ''only'' town on Motavia that doesn't suffer some kind of tragedy or hardship just by existing. It's never attacked by anything, it's not plagued or forced into isolation by monsters, there's no earthquakes, no meteorites, no corruption, no genocide, no quicksand, no giant birds; just a peaceful little village with a cute little schoolhouse and a nice view of the Soldier's Temple on the lake.]] |
| 146 | ** Dezolis has a thriving religious community centered around the worship of fire. Of course they do, Dezolis is the ice planet, it's only natural that they'd revere their primary heat-source as a god. [[spoiler: Fire is also a source of ''light''. It's an early clue that Light and Darkness are equally godlike.]] |
| 147 | * GameBreakingBug: The game would screw up a character's stats if they reached level 99. |
| 148 | * GenreDeconstruction: Of early 16-bit [=JRPGs=] of the era, although the distinction didn't mean as much at the time of release. The most typical genre-defining tropes, such as the conflict between light and darkness, the idea of chosen heroes, technology and magic coexisting, and even sidequests, are all built into the world and story in a way that justifies them in the text, and some of those tropes [[PlayerPunch leave stinging wounds]] in players' hearts even now. [[GuideDangIt You gotta do some research for some of it]], though. |
| 149 | * GhostTown: The fate of [[spoiler:the village of Mile]], due to the Black Energy Wave and the Profound Darkness wiping out its entire population. |
| 150 | * GoodIsNotNice: [[spoiler: The Great Light and its followers aren't ''evil'', but they're not ''nice'' either. While they're supportive to Chaz and company, and aid them with the necessary equipment to stand against the Profound Darkness, they also require that Chaz's group go through tests of physical and magical combat to prove themselves.]] Le Roof, at least, seems to be genuinely affectionate. |
| 151 | ** Re-Faze, [[spoiler: of all the guardians of Rykros]], is the most literal example of a JerkWithAHeartOfGold. [[spoiler: Just as long as you say no to his offer.]] |
| 152 | * GoodShepherd: Raja is a bishop of the Dezolis church and he is very popular with the locals. Raja's colleagues claim jealous superiors assigned him to his backwater temple so he wouldn't steal their thunder. |
| 153 | * GrandFinale: [[spoiler: With the The Profound Darknesss finally destroyed by Chaz and Co., Algol is saved from Darkness (through its malicious incarnations of Dark Force) forever!]] |
| 154 | %%* GuestStarPartyMember: Seth; Rune during his first stint with the party arguably also qualifies. |
| 155 | * GuideDangIt: Several. Part of the reason the worldbuilding of the series is so strong is the fact that there are no tutorials or in-game glossaries, and exposition avoids having characters [[AsYouKnow explain what everyone in this world should already know]]... which leaves out a bunch of stuff that the player doesn't. |
| 156 | ** Without the instruction booklet or the strategy guide, the [[ConLang weirdly consistent but mostly nonsense]] magic words for many spells and techniques, Esper spells especially, don't really tell you anything about what they actually ''do''. |
| 157 | ** Figuring out the fourteen Combination Attacks is a matter of trial and error, one of which (Lethal Image) can be used for only a ''very'' short time. Many players will likely never realize that they've missed it. Also, the combinations of Blizzard, Conduct Thunder, Fire Storm and Shooting Star get much stronger if you use higher-level spells ([=NaWat=] instead of Wat, etc...) as opposed to lower ones. It doesn't help that the original instruction booklet claimed there were ''fifteen'' combinations. |
| 158 | *** And the Official Strategy Guide didn't help matters; besides only listing one combination per attack, even though combos like Blizzard and Fire Storm had multiple combinations that worked, at least one of the combinations listed was flat out '''wrong'''. |
| 159 | ** Several weapons can be used as items to create a magic effect, especially staffs. |
| 160 | *** Rune's initial weapon, the wood-cane, can be used to produce a Res effect that will pull its weight for the whole first quarter of the game. |
| 161 | *** The magic weapons sold in Zosa and Meese can either have a random chance of effect-on-impact, or create an effect without the physical damage, depending on whether you equip them or use them as items. |
| 162 | *** Hahn's final weapon, the Mahlay Dagger, can cast Nafoi, and the accompanying Mahlay Shield casts a single-target version of Deban. |
| 163 | *** The Psycho-Wand's Neutralizing ability; to damage Zio for more than 1 HP, you must use the Psycho Wand on him. The literal text of the game implies that just obtaining it is enough, and since Rune removes a similar barrier before entering Nurvus automatically and the player is never informed that a weapon can be used as an item, it's easy to mistake getting the Psycho-Wand for an item-based EventFlag. |
| 164 | *** Using the Swift Helm, [[PermanentlyMissableContent found in an easily-missed treasure chest]], as an item is the only way to boost a single party member's Agility. It's also the only ''armor piece'' to work this way. |
| 165 | ** Most of the magic elements are typical in terms of strength and weakness against each other, but since the game never actually tells you what elemental damage type each attack does (or that elemental damage is even a thing in the first place), you're pretty much left to figure the more esoteric ones out by keeping track of how much damage you're doing with which spells against which monsters... and the monsters can often fit different elemental weakness profiles even in the same enemy type. |
| 166 | ** The battle with [[spoiler: the carnivorous trees to rescue Kyra]]. Many a player has fought tooth-and-nail against these bastards, only to deplete their stock of magic and technique points and healing items in the process. [[spoiler: You can't actually win; you have to end the battle by ''running''. And since the encounter looks and feels like a boss battle, which are impossible to escape, many first-time players got piles and piles of game-overs before realizing the trick.]] |
| 167 | ** The Tinkerbell's Dog guild mission requires the player to walk ''outside'' the walls of Aiedo to get to a bakery. There are other instances where walking outside the marked border of a town will get you some extra clues or items, but the game doesn't tell you that's even possible. The original instruction booklet mentions that it can be done, sometimes, but doesn't give any other indication on how you actually do it; for some of them, the passable area outside the town borders is only one tile wide, making it extremely easy to miss or screw up if you don't already know what you're doing. |
| 168 | * HardTruthAesop: The message of Re-Faze: Anger and hatred are not evil. They're natural human emotions and can be channeled toward good ends. |
| 169 | * HaveYouSeenMyGod: [[spoiler: The Great Light went away after creating the Algol system to imprison the Profound Darkness, leaving Algol's defenses more or less on autopilot.]] |
| 170 | * HeroicBSOD: Chaz has several over the course of the game, with the first coming right after [[spoiler:the death of Alys]]. |
| 171 | * HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Alys]] saves Chaz' life by leaping in front of an attack intended for him. |
| 172 | * HiddenElfVillage: The Esper Mansion, which serves as something of a monastery for reclusive magic-users, and won't allow outsiders into the building without one of their own as an escort. |
| 173 | * HideYourChildren: You won't find any dead kids anywhere, but you can find child-survivors of several in-game disasters, notably Nalya's meteorite impact and Reshel's zombie plague. Also played literally in the case of Zema: the only people not affected by Zio's petrification curse are two children stashed in the basement by their parents. |
| 174 | * HijackedByGanon: Subverted. At first the new character Zio is set up as the villain, but then it turns out he's a servant of Dark Force, the perennial Phantasy Star FinalBoss. Then [[spoiler:you beat Dark Force midway through the game, and the actual final boss is the creature that keeps bringing Dark Force back, The Profound Darkness.]] |
| 175 | * HistoryRepeats: The opening sequence involving the investigation of Motavia Academy is actually [[OlderThanTheyThink older than you might suspect]]; a very similar event happened in ''Phantasy Star II Text Adventures,'' with Hugh Thompson as a student of Motavia University investigating a biomonster infestation at the behest of the principal. |
| 176 | ** In fact, the monster Hugh had to take care of WAS an Igglanova (the boss critter in [=PS4=]'s basement) during the earlier stages of its evolutionary development. |
| 177 | * HolyBurnsEvil: There are three "Holy"-type weapons in the game: [[SwordOfPlotAdvancement Elsydeon]], the Silver Tusk, and the Psychowand. All do extra damage to "Dark"-type monsters, which include the FinalBoss, its chief minions, and almost every late-game enemy. |
| 178 | ** Conversely, there are two "Dark"-type weapons: the Shadow Blade and Genocyde Claw. Using these against (non-boss) "Dark"-type monsters will ''kill'' them instantly... only for them to ''immediately revive at full health''. |
| 179 | * AHomeownerIsYou: You can stay at your house in Aiedo for free. Contains traces of AnInteriorDesignerIsYou since you can display souvenir items from a local tourist trap inside. |
| 180 | * HonorBeforeReason: [[spoiler: If Chaz is unworthy of Megid, Re-Faze will kill him, even if that means that there's no champion left who can wield Elsydeon and fight the Profound Darkness. His duty to prevent an out-of-control UnholyNuke apparently trumps his duty to not see Algol destroyed by another force that already ''has'' it.]] |
| 181 | * HopelessBossFight: The first fight against Zio. It ends when [[spoiler: Zio fires a Dark Wave in Chaz's direction and [[HeroicSacrifice Alys pushes him out of the way]], leading to her PlotlineDeath]]. |
| 182 | ** The [[spoiler: carnivorous trees]] are a far-less dramatic example. |
| 183 | ** [[spoiler:Re-Faze. Though in this case it is ''not'' part of the storyline, but a result of choosing poorly to its [[SchmuckBait offer]]. You are still ''taught'' Megid in a sense... by having it used on you to your death. Without cheating, it is impossible to win because Re-Faze has more HP than any other enemy in the game, is faster than Chaz, and does nothing but spam Megid endlessly.]] |
| 184 | * HumanoidAbomination: Many basic enemies are (sometimes very visibly) organic nightmare humanoids, with the "[[VideoGame/PhantasyStarOnline Dark]]"-esque ones being almost entirely so. Dark Force [[spoiler: number three]] also qualifies. |
| 185 | * HypocriticalHumor: When Kyra joins the party, Chaz scolds her for letting her temper drive her to do something reckless. This is the same kid who tried to rush Zio twice (but hey, at least he brought friends!). |
| 186 | %%* IChooseToStay: [[spoiler: Rika in the ending.]] |
| 187 | * IneffectualLoner: Inverted with Kyra; she tries to take on the carnivorous trees guarding Garuberk Tower by herself, which doesn't go well, but not because she doesn't understand ThePowerOfFriendship; it's because she was so pissed at how her friends were suffering that she couldn't stop herself. Luckily, [[TakeYourTime no matter how long it takes you to show up]] [[BigDamnHeroes the party comes to her rescue]]. |
| 188 | * InsistentTerminology: They are ''ears'', not ''horns''. |
| 189 | * InterfaceScrew: Whenever a party member leaves, it makes room for a new friend. [[spoiler: Nice to meet you, Seth!]] |
| 190 | * InterfaceSpoiler: |
| 191 | ** Multiple for the fact that [[spoiler:Chaz is the real protagonist]] |
| 192 | *** [[spoiler: Chaz's level is what is shown on the save spot]] |
| 193 | *** [[spoiler: Chaz is the one who reads the signs and talks with the characters, with whoever is in the lead slot of the party marching order chastising him if nothing is there]] |
| 194 | *** [[spoiler: Chaz is the only character who ever goes anywhere alone, including at the start of the game; the first Talk action is his inner monologue about getting separated from Alys.]] |
| 195 | ** One look at [[spoiler: Seth's]] skill list will tell you exactly what he is. |
| 196 | * {{Interquel}}: Canonically, the events of this game take place 1,000 years after the events of ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarII'' [[spoiler:and 1,000 years before the events of ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarIII''. This means that the Orakian-Layan War on the ''Alisa III'' takes place at the same time when Chaz and company take on the various instances of Dark Force and eventually the Profound Darkness.]] |
| 197 | * KleptomaniacHero: Averted / {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d; if you attempt to steal from peoples' houses, Chaz will remark that "it's not very nice to look through other peoples' cabinets without their permission" - the only exception is the cabinet in his own room, which [[KleptomaniacHeroFoundUnderwear contains only underwear]]. |
| 198 | ** This doesn't stop him from ''looking'' at other people's stuff, though, and he'll happily share his opinions about the housekeeping habits and weird knick-knacks of strangers. |
| 199 | * LaserGuidedKarma: In Monsen, the owners of the Tool shop are price-gouging their neighbors on replacements for things that were broken in the frequent earthquakes because, since Monsen is isolated from the rest of the map by quicksand, the locals have no choice but to buy from them. Once the party shuts the Plate System down and stops the earthquakes, the locals swear off buying from them ever again. |
| 200 | * LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Rune's farewell address in Tonoe. Rune tells Chaz not to get any silly ideas in his head, such as taking on Zio. "At this stage of the game, you're no match for him!" |
| 201 | * LegacyCharacter: The main four party members: |
| 202 | ** Alys Brangwin, apparent heir to Alis Landale from the first game. [[spoiler: She's actually a DecoyProtagonist. ''Chaz'' is Alis' true successor, as a young sword-wielding hero struggling on behalf of Algo. Alys, a surrogate parent and mentor who dies early in the story, is actually the successor to ''Nero''.]] |
| 203 | ** Rika, for Nei, obviously; Seed even refers to her as the product of a thousand years' worth of improvement on her design, although she's never mentioned by name. |
| 204 | ** Rune, the blue-haired, white-robed party wizard. [[spoiler: And fifth generation Lutz, making him a legacy character in-universe as well.]] |
| 205 | ** Wren, for... er, Wren. |
| 206 | * LevelGrinding: ''Defied''. If you reach the level cap, you actually start losing points in your stats and skill-uses -- WordOfGod is that this was intentional, to prevent gamers from simply powergaming their way to victory. Of course, this doesn't start happening until the characters are around level 90 and most normal runs will bring the party to the final stage somewhere around levels 30 to 40, so there's a fair margin for how much grinding you want to do before that point. |
| 207 | * LightIsNotGood: [[spoiler:The Great Light is an EldritchAbomination adhering to BlueAndOrangeMorality. As far as it's concerned, humans are just part of the padlock on the Profound Darkness' prison, and to the extent that it's helping the party, it's because its interests and theirs are aligned. Chaz eventually returns the favor; he's not fighting for the Light, he's fighting for humanity and the other Protectors.]] |
| 208 | * LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards: Subverted; when he first joins your party, Rune is of a [[ATasteOfPower much higher level]] than the other party members and can pretty much tear through any {{mooks}} you encounter on his lonesome. When he later re-joins the party, they've caught up, and while he remains powerful until the end of the game, he's not noticeably moreso than the other characters. |
| 209 | * LoadBearingBoss: Any structure formed from the powers of Dark Force collapses when the boss there is defeated - Zio's Fort, Garuberk Tower, [[spoiler:Air Castle and the Edge]] are all examples. |
| 210 | * LongSongShortScene: "Take Off! LANDEEL" is a peppy synth-poppy tune that takes about fifty seconds to play all the way through and perhaps thirty seconds to hear everything the song has to offer. It only plays during space-travel cutscenes that, at their longest, last twenty seconds. The times when the cutscenes are longer, the song switches to some different cutscene BGM. |
| 211 | * LovecraftLite: This game reveals that [[spoiler: the Algo System is the padlock on a dimensional cage sealing the Profound Darkness. Palmans, Motavians, and Dezorians were created by the Great Light to prevent the Profound Darkness from breaking free--and that the reign of Lassic and the destruction of Palma by the Earthlings were just a part of its attempts to escape. Chaz is not happy with this, though he ultimately stands against the Darkness anyway. And then he goes ahead and takes down the Profound Darkness for good]]. |
| 212 | * MagicAIsMagicA: Magic and [[PsychicPowers Techniques]] exist alongside one another, and they're completely separate powers that use different systems (Magic is a Skill with a semi-VancianMagic system, Techniques use a {{Mana}} system). Magic is more-or-less unknown on Motavia and limited to Espers, Dezolians and the minions of Darkness, but almost everyone uses Techniques, including magic users. |
| 213 | %%* MagicKnight: Chaz eventually evolves into one; Kyra can be one too. |
| 214 | * TheManBehindTheMan: |
| 215 | ** Dark Force, as usual, is behind Zio. ''Unusually'', however, Zio is not the BigBad this time, just the guy in charge of operations on Motavia. The situation is such that there are multiple Dark Forces, and after Zio's defeat, they act directly instead of messing around with agents. |
| 216 | ** Dark Force, the series-spanning final boss, [[spoiler:is just a fragment of the Profound Darkness.]] |
| 217 | * MarathonLevel: Air Castle is by far the longest and most complex dungeon, with a large enough difficulty spike that just getting to its '''two''' major boss fights is an endurance run in and of itself. Those two boss fights are some of the hardest in the game, the first of which having a counterattack ability that can one-shot an underleveled party and the second of which coming after a very long, energy-depleting dungeon crawl. |
| 218 | * MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: Alys and Chaz, from the very start of the game. You have Alys, the famous, ruthlessly professional hunter who can, will, and does solve personal problems with violence (and extortion), and Chaz, her sensitive, curious student. |
| 219 | * TheMedic: In terms of gameplay function, Raja is a typical SquishyWizard WhiteMage. His characterization, on the other hand, is anything but typical. |
| 220 | %%* MegaNeko: [[spoiler: Myau.]] |
| 221 | * MirroringFactions: [[spoiler: The Great Light and the Profound Darkness]]. It's one of the central themes of the game that abstract concepts of "good" and "evil" are only meaningful in opposition to each other. Conflict between abstract things needs concrete hands to do the fighting on both sides, which means there's no moral victory to be had... but what's the point of seeking a ''moral'' victory when there are real people in the here and now who need your help? |
| 222 | * MiserAdvisor: It doesn't matter to Alys how noble Hahn's motives are when he hires her; she is a professional and she intends to get paid. And the longer the mission goes on, the greater her expected compensation, Hahn's obvious financial limitations be damned. |
| 223 | * TheMole: [[spoiler: Seth.]] The character travels with you through one plot-important dungeon, and once your party finds the MacGuffin at the end, [[spoiler:Seth]]'s true nature as [[spoiler:Dark Force in disguise]] is revealed. |
| 224 | ** [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation According to some fans]], [[spoiler: Seth may not have known about his Dark Force lineage, and went about life as an ordinary man before his true nature was revealed--or he may even have been the victim of DemonicPossession.]] |
| 225 | * MookMaker: Igglanova and Guilgenova. Nurvus and Kuran also contain some droids that can summon reinforcements and then use them to blow your party away with a CombinationAttack. |
| 226 | * NeglectfulPrecursors: The advanced, space-faring civilisation of the first two games was reduced to Precursor status by the cataclysmic ending of ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarII''. By the time of ''Phantasy Star IV,'' all the bio plants and climate-control facilities they left behind have gone haywire and started producing hordes upon hordes of monsters and causing earthquakes and environmental degradation. This was the best they could do, however; [[spoiler: the facilities were originally created by invaders from Earth to subvert, weaken, and ultimately destroy Algol's civilization, who are the true AbusivePrecursors]]. |
| 227 | * NoEndorHolocaust: The setting is premised on an aversion. The destruction of the planet Parma, as well as the sudden terminal shutdown of the central control systems of Algol's environment-controlling machinery, lead directly to the fall of their space-faring civilization and the deaths of 90% of the system's inhabitants. This game picks up a thousand years later. |
| 228 | * NoOntologicalInertia: Anything created or empowered by Dark Force seems to operate on this principle. It's also an unusually well-justified use of the trope, since it's strongly implied that Dark Force's structures are manifested and maintained by the magic and will of its minions. The previously-existing structures will remain after their bosses are defeated, and with rare exceptions, will remain accessible for the rest of the game. |
| 229 | ** Zio's fortress crumbles once he's defeated, and [[BodyHorror so does Zio himself.]] His dialogue suggests that Dark Force was channeling power into them directly to keep them standing, and it rescinded once it became clear that Zio was [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness not an efficient use of his resources.]] One NPC notes that the fortress appeared in a single night, giving the impression that it wasn't constructed so much as conjured by magic. |
| 230 | ** Garuberk Tower crumbles once [[spoiler: the second Dark Force]] is defeated. |
| 231 | ** The Air Castle starts to fall apart once [[spoiler: Lashiec]] is defeated. |
| 232 | ** [[spoiler: The VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon collapses when you defeat the final boss. {{Justified|Trope}}, as the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon is a hole in reality caused by an EldritchAbomination forcing its way out of its dimensional prison.]] |
| 233 | * NoPeekingRequest: After acquiring [[RobotGirl Demi]], a later dungeon has a piece of equipment for her that unlocks a new skill. When she goes to install it, she immediately asks the party to look away, and Chaz doesn't quite grasp it at first. |
| 234 | * ObstructiveBureaucrat: The head priest at Gumbious Temple won't let the heroes borrow the Eclipse Torch for no other reason than because it's the Eclipse Torch, and it belongs in the temple. He maintains this, even though they've been literally sent by ''Lutz himself'', to get it and the task at hand is the eradication of the most famous evil adversary in Algo's history and mythology, which is, at that very moment, causing about three different types of apocalypses ''at once''. |
| 235 | * ObviouslyEvil: |
| 236 | ** [[spoiler: Seth]]. One look at his skill set will tell you what he really is, and if you're savvy about it, you'll notice that he's the only party member who doesn't have a profile in the instruction manual. Kyra's profile obscures her info and tells the player to find out who she is by themselves, he doesn't show up at all. |
| 237 | ** The various Darkness monsters, compared to the Light ones: Sa-Lews, De-Vars, and Re-Faze are creatures of living fire, armed with what appear to be precious metals and gems that form their bodies, while the Darkness ones are gross, insectoid or deformed-humanlike in nature. [[spoiler: And subverted by the final form of the Profound Darkness, which appears as a towering, shapely woman with wing-like protrusions and glowing hair. It's not mentioned in the English version, but it's a nod to the fact that the Great Light and the Profound Darkness are more or less the same species.]] |
| 238 | * OhCrap: There are two closeups of Chaz in the game where his face says exactly this. The first one is when Zio launches a DeathRay (literally) right at him. The second one is played for laughs as the group's shuttle is about to crash, but for some reason only Chaz is thoroughly freaking out over it. |
| 239 | ** [[FridgeBrilliance He's the only one in the party who has no experience with spacefaring technology.]] |
| 240 | %%* OminousFloatingCastle: The [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin aptly-named]] Air Castle. |
| 241 | * OnlyInItForTheMoney: Early in the game, Alys only continues along with the mission objectives as long as Hahn keeps paying. |
| 242 | * PermanentlyMissableContent: |
| 243 | ** Make sure you do the last Hunter's Guild mission before making your second visit to Esper Mansion and [[spoiler:getting Elsydeon]]. If you don't, you'll be barred from [[spoiler:Vahal Fortress]], preventing the acquisition of Wren's most powerful gun and skill. |
| 244 | *** There's a ScriptBreakingBug you can trip over if you ''accept'' Silver Soldier, but don't talk to the old man in Zema who properly gives you the quest, before that point. Since part of the quest involves Wren receiving a transmission from Demi, the game skips all the dialogue in Zema over as if you'd already completed the mission if [[spoiler: Demi is no longer at Nurvus to be aware of Daughter's coordinated attacks.]] The mission location becomes permanently inaccessible, and the lady at the Guild will insist you talk to the Old Man, who will insist there's no problem. You can't turn the quest in, so you can't get paid, and you better hope you've already finished all the other missions, because you'll never get another. |
| 245 | ** The Swift-Helm can only be found in [[spoiler:the Air Castle]], which gets destroyed after you finish it. It's one of few armor pieces that increases agility and very handy, especially if you manage to hang onto it for [[spoiler:Gryz]] at the end. |
| 246 | ** The Climatrol center on Dezolis is home to a couple of lucrative boss fights [[spoiler:if you face them before you finish the Garuberk arc.]] After that, all the loot will still be there, but the bosses and their accompanying scenes won't be. |
| 247 | ** Most of the major dungeons that suffer from LoadBearingBoss have unique items that are lost with them; the Garuberk Tower has a Moon Slasher in one of its treasure chests that is likely to be the only one you ever find, unless you grind the random-encounter enemies that have a low chance of dropping another, who are ''also'' lost when the Tower is no longer available. |
| 248 | * PersonalityPowers: Part of the [[SlidingScaleOfGameplayAndStoryIntegration ludonarrative's effectiveness]] comes from how heavily the game invests in this trope in order to communicate character development and backstory and setting player expectation. |
| 249 | * PlotlineDeath: [[spoiler: Alys]]; lampshaded as Rika will remark that [[SlidingScaleOfGameplayAndStoryIntegration even the party's most powerful healing magic can't help, since the Black Wave makes her refuse it]]. |
| 250 | * ThePowerOfFriendship: Done subtly with Chaz. When it comes to technology and technical things, he has a hard time understanding... but he's very apt when it comes to understanding people, emotions, and relationships. The bonds he forms with the rest of the party are very clearly his source of strength, and witnessing the struggle of Algo's people becomes his motivation for fighting [[spoiler: when he rejects fighting for the sake of destiny and the plan of the Great Light.]] At the end of the game, when [[spoiler: Rune, the last party member to leave, is about to go on his separate way, Chaz is ''devastated'' at the idea of living alone.]] |
| 251 | * ThePowerOfHate: Megid, the Forbidden Technique. It harnesses the user's anger and hatred and turns it into the most powerful destructive technique in the game. However, it's also ultimately deconstructed: [[spoiler: It's not villainous or evil to use it, and if Chaz passes the SecretTestOfCharacter (see below), he'll gently remind Chaz that anger and hatred are natural human emotions, so as long as he remains true to himself, he won't be corrupted by Megid's power. This is even clearer when The Profound Darkness uses it herself.]] |
| 252 | * PrecisionFStrike: Had some profanity, but at appropriate moments, and done rather tastefully. One of the villains even lampshades it. |
| 253 | * PrecisionGuidedBoomerang: Alys and Kyra are wicked accurate with boomerangs and slicers. They do miss from time to time (Kyra more often than Alys) but it's seldom and the weapon type has the benefit of targeting all present enemies with every attack. You're almost guaranteed to hit at least one of your targets and in those cases where there's a single target and every hit counts (e.g. boss battles), they're going to be using other tactics anyway. |
| 254 | * PsychicPowers: It's subtle, but fairly common. Several party members (particularly Rune, Rika, and Raja) have some degree of sensitivity where the Black Wave is concerned. It may actually extend to the Parmanian race as a whole, as several {{Non Player Character}}s will mention having a bad feeling or a premonition that later turns out to be referring to a legitimate threat, particularly when a loved one is endangered. |
| 255 | * PuzzleBoss: The [[WhenTreesAttack carnivorous trees]] on Dezoris cannot be fought normally. Instead, one has to take the Eclipse Torch from one of the temples and [[KillItWithFire set them on fire]]. |
| 256 | * PyrrhicVictory: Discussed and ultimately averted; when Chaz [[RefusalOfTheCall rejects his role as a hero]], it's because mindless obedience to a higher power is the bad guys' bag and there's no moral high ground to be found in the conflict [[spoiler: because it's being fought between two teams of puppets being ordered around by absent gods who don't care about them, or anyone, in the solar system.]] |
| 257 | ** And, in the ending: [[spoiler: The heroes are contented, but will never reunite once they return home. Although the androids are prepared to help the environmental control system support Algo for as long as they can, the village of Mile is still wiped out, God only knows what happened to that giant hole leading to the Edge, and once the system does finally shut down, the natural environments of Motavia and Dezolis are going to reassert themselves to the way they were before being made suitable for Parmanian life by Mother Brain. And last but not least, Rykros will continue spinning in its orbit, its inhabitants left utterly without purpose, never to welcome Protectors again.]] |
| 258 | * QuicksandSucks: It's all over the place on Motavia, acting as a BrokenBridge preventing you from reaching certain areas until you reach the appropriate point in the plot. |
| 259 | * RebelPrince: Rune, though it's not traditional royalty. He has nothing against being the heir to [[spoiler: Lutz's will and memories]], but he's not interested in living up to the wise, graceful image of his title and admits he's always been [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold kind of a dick.]] One of the images in his character settei shows him sitting on a throne and wearing fancy ceremonial robes, complaining that he's bored. |
| 260 | %%* RecurringBoss: [[spoiler: Dark Force and Lassic/[=LaShiec=].]] |
| 261 | * RedBaron: Alys the Eight Stroke Sword, or for an alternate translation, Rip-Their-Guts-Out Lyla. |
| 262 | * RedOniBlueOni: After Rune sheds his {{Jerkass}} facade and rejoins the group, he and Chaz become this, with Chaz as red and Rune as blue. (even reflected by the color of their clothes) This principle also holds true for the main group as a whole, with Chaz and Rika forming the heart of the group and Rune and Wren being the brains and experience. |
| 263 | * RefusalOfTheCall[=/=]TenMinuteRetirement: Chaz. Faced with [[spoiler:the Great Light abandoning Algo and dumping the responsibility of maintaining the integrity of the Seal on its inhabitants, because that's solely what they were created to do]], Chaz gets ''pissed'' and refuses to be treated like a puppet. He even goes as far as comparing it to the mindless devotion that Zio had in following Dark Force. [[spoiler:He puts that aside when he meets Alis and the Elsydeon, and decides that even if it happens to align with the Light's plan, ''he'' intends to fight for the people of Algo who have struggled against the darkness for thousands of years.]] |
| 264 | * ReligiousAndMythologicalThemeNaming: Gets obscured by the [[DubNameChange localization choices]] a bit, but the androids have a Norse mythology reference with their names: Forren, Frena, and Vahal Fort = Frey, Freya, Valhalla. It's a bit strange, since the first ''Phantasy Star'' had plenty of myth references, but Odin as a character name was [[DubNameChange only in the English version]]. |
| 265 | * [[RewatchBonus Replay Bonus:]] The closest thing you'll get to a backstory on Zio is that he's a "fake magician" of enough notoriety for Alys to be aware, but dismissive, of him. But on a second playthrough... [[spoiler: Hewn and Flaeli are Esper spells in particular, but he can't cast anything but Magic Barrier without first summoning Nightmare, a projection of Dark Force. We don't get the necessary context until the Garuberk Arc that to know that Zio was either fashioning himself or compelled to become an evil counterpart to ''Lutz'', right down to the big fancy houseful of followers. This is a remnant of his original concept; see the Trivia tab for What Could Have Been.]] |
| 266 | * RequiredPartyMember: Generally averted, up until the end. Everyone who joins your party has a specific reason to be there, and they leave either when their goal is met, their attention is needed elsewhere, [[spoiler: or they've died. At the end of the game, however, all your party members regroup to fight the final boss, but you have to choose your fifth teammate because Chaz, Rika, Rune, and Wren are non-optional.]] |
| 267 | * RidiculouslyHumanRobot: Wren and Demi; [=NPC=] robots tend to be less so. |
| 268 | ** Wren, being an older droid created for maintaining the system from an otherwise abandoned space station, is ridiculously human insofar as he has a human face, has hair, and is humanoid; he's also ridiculously tall and most of his body is geometric and metallic so he ''looks'' like he's made out of parts. Demi, on the other hand, is so human-like she refuses to install hardware into herself while others are watching and squees like a fangirl over big vehicles. |
| 269 | %%* RobotGirl: Demi, though her behavior is quite human-like. |
| 270 | %%* SaintlyChurch: The Dezorian churches, as a contrast to Zio's cult. |
| 271 | * SandWorm: The [[BossInMookClothing most powerful enemy]] you're likely to encounter during the early-to-middle stages of the game; they have [=A LOT=] of hit points and an attack which can quite easily result in a TotalPartyWipe if you're not at full strength. |
| 272 | %%* SealedEvilInACan: [[spoiler: The Profound Darkness ... and the Algo System is the seal.]] |
| 273 | * SealedGoodInACan: The guardians on [[spoiler: Rykros]], and arguably [[spoiler: Elsydeon]], given that it contains [[spoiler:the spirits of previous heroes that saved Algo]]. |
| 274 | * SecretTestOfCharacter: [[spoiler: Re-Faze and the Anger Tower in Rkyros. Re-Faze does a pretty nasty thing by separating Chaz from his party, then forcing Chaz to fight a copy of Alys, his dead mentor. Then Re-Faze offers to teach Chaz [[LastDiscMagic Megid]]. If Chaz doesn't refuse, Re-Faze [[HopelessBossFight will kill him]].]] |
| 275 | * ShieldsAreUseless: Similar to VideoGame/PhantasyStarII, Shields take up a weapon slot as opposed to an armor slot, yet for most of your party (barring Rika, Hahn, Alys, and Kyra) the best weapons are two-handed, strongly encouraging a player not to use them at all. |
| 276 | ** This is subverted, however, by some equipment strategies for [[SquishyWizard Rune]] and [[WhiteMage Raja]] that advocate them using two shields as opposed to their (only) other option, staves. While this does prevent them from having a basic attack, their basic attack is all but useless, anyway, and in exchange they become the toughest party members despite their low HP. Incidentally, this strategy is why it's so frustrating that [[GuideDangIt the player is never told]] that magic weapons can be used as items to make an attack; this means a character equipped with two shields can still do damage without expending skill charges or technique points. |
| 277 | %%* ShouldersOfDoom: Zio. Also Juza [[spoiler: and Lashiec]]. |
| 278 | %%* SideQuest: The Bounty missions. |
| 279 | * SingleBiomePlanet: Motavia is almost entirely desert, [[FridgeLogic despite having plenty of water in the form of large oceans]]. Dezoris is permanently covered in snow and ice. And [[spoiler: Rykros is some sort of weird crystal world.]] |
| 280 | ** [[JustifiedTrope This gets an explanation toward the end.]] Each of Algo's three planets is the original home of each of the sentient races, with modifications by Mother Brain to make them inhabitable for Parmanians. [[spoiler: They were created specifically to function as a seal over the dimension the Darkness is trapped in, with a race tailor-made for each one to provide Protectors of the Seal.]] Now that Mother Brain is gone and the environmental control system is failing, the planets are gradually going back to their normal states. |
| 281 | * SkilledButNaive: Rika is a [[ActionGirl tremendous physical fighter]] and [[CombatMedic healing magic expert]], but she's about as unworldly as you'd expect of someone who's spent the only year she's been alive in an underground laboratory. This doesn't make her ''stupid'', though; she ''knows'' plenty of things and has common sense, but actually experiencing things she's studied is very intense for her. |
| 282 | * SlidingScaleOfGameplayAndStoryIntegration: Deliberate Integration. The party's advancement in gaining levels and abilities does almost as much to develop them as characters as the writing does, especially in the first act. A few (and not nearly all) notable examples: |
| 283 | ** At the end of the first boss fight, Alys says Chaz's swing is too slow. Two of his Skills show that he's been working on it the whole time: Crosscut (two strikes in one attack), followed by Airslash (a swing so fast it leaves a vacuum in its wake). |
| 284 | ** When Rune first joins up, he's the most powerful party member by a very wide margin, and the player can breeze through every combat encounter by having Rune wipe the screen clean of enemies in every fight...in other words, being an arrogant showboat who flaunts his power. When he joins up permanently, that margin is much narrower and they start to actually become friends. |
| 285 | ** Rika joins the party with zero experience and gains levels extremely quickly, since she's experiencing ''everything'' for the first time. |
| 286 | ** Gryz, being a soldier who has only one thing on his mind, has a very limited set of abilities, and two of them are instant-kill attacks. |
| 287 | *** Gryz and Chaz don't get very much dialogue together, but Chaz is the only other character to learn Brose (Gryz's only technique, which he has when he joins up) and Gryz learns Sweeping, a skill identical to Chaz's Airslash except that it uses an axe instead of a sword. They learned from each other. |
| 288 | *** Likewise with Hahn. Rika learns the ''Eliminate'' skill relatively soon after she joins. When he [[spoiler: comes back for the final showdown]] Hahn has mastered it, having taught himself a dagger-based version. |
| 289 | ** Kyra has the Medice skill, the healing spell that the Espers use to confer life energy to the plague-stricken inhabitants of Meese. [[spoiler: She also sees herself as a big-sister figure to Chaz, and uses the same weapons as Alys.]] |
| 290 | ** [[spoiler:The party actually tries to use their healing spells and items on Alys when she's hit by the Black Wave. Unfortunately, the Black Wave warps her body such that it rejects any and all forms of healing.]] |
| 291 | * SoLongAndThanksForAllTheGear: Happens pretty much any time a character leaves or is removed from the party. If you've already played the game or consult a guide, you can easily strip Alys, Hahn, Rune (the first time), Raja, and Seth of their equipment before they go. However, Gryz, Demi, and Kyra leave in the cutscenes immediately after some fairly difficult boss battles, so you're likely going to have to let them walk away with at least some gear. |
| 292 | * TheSpock: Wren. He attempts to calm down a panicking Chaz by reminding him not to let his blood pressure get too high...while they're in the middle of CRASHING THEIR SPACESHIP. |
| 293 | * SpockSpeak: Wren, being a fairly old maintenance droid who hardly ever interacts with humanoids, speaks like this. Demi, on the other hand, speaks much more casually. |
| 294 | * SquishyWizard: Rune and Raja, specializing in {{Black Mag|e}}ic and {{White Mag|e}}ic respectively. |
| 295 | * StatusBuff: Several characters have skills to increase physical resistance, magic resistance, or agility of your party, as well as attack and critical hit rate. In later boss battles, the former skills are pretty much the difference between a balanced fight and a CurbStompBattle. |
| 296 | ** One of the villains has his own special buff spell that makes him indestructible in battle. Finding a way to dispel it is part of the plot. Certain Mooks also use buffs, but since random encounters generally don't last long, those moves are often a wasted turn. |
| 297 | * StatusBuffDispel: The Psychowand has the power to nullify all status buffs an enemy can cast on itself and is at one point the only way a certain boss battle can be won. The final boss also uses a skill that can tear down your defenses and it likes to do so before smacking you with its most powerful spell in the next turn. |
| 298 | ** This skill actually ''removes'' elemental resistances granted from equipment. Good thing that attack won't be doing even more damage than it would without, and nothing before this has it. |
| 299 | ** [[GuideDangIt Though the game never tells you]], the Psychowand can be used against pretty much every extremely-important plot boss to incredible effect. Doing this is a big help in any playthrough and is pretty much necessary in [[SelfImposedChallenge low-level runs of the game]]. |
| 300 | * StrongFleshWeakSteel: Inverted. Demi and Wren, being mechanical, are the most durable characters in terms of base stats. |
| 301 | %%* SwordOfPlotAdvancement: [[spoiler: Elsydeon]], which doubles as the game's InfinityPlusOneSword. |
| 302 | * TakenForGranite: An important part of the early portion of the game is figuring out why this happened to a scientific expedition sent out by the Motavia Academy. |
| 303 | %%* TalkingAnimal: The Musk Cats. |
| 304 | * TinMan: Wren. He starts out as TheSpock who has severe difficulty comprehending the logic behind the behavior of his humanoid travelling companions. (particularly the arguments between Chaz and Rune) In the end though, when he [[spoiler: takes Rika back to Motavia to be with Chaz]], he shows signs that he has gained some understanding of human emotion, despite not engaging in it himself. Even before that, he has an insightful discussion with another AI about the role of AI's in the humans' lives. |
| 305 | * UselessUsefulSpell: Debuff and stun spells are still a bit of a liability, but unlike a lot of examples, instant death skills are effective enough to be used on a regular basis as long as you don't try to shortcircuit an organic enemy or shut down the nervous system of a robot. Instant death combination spells are a guaranteed kill for anything not immune. And, since many instant-death attacks have their own independent number of uses, they essentially cost nothing (in terms of what a party can bring to a boss fight) to use. |
| 306 | %%* VerbalTic: The Musk Cats, meow. |
| 307 | * ViciousCycle: The millennial rebirth of Dark Force is part one of one. [[spoiler: Turns out the cycle was properly broken a thousand years ago and the life of the solar system itself is tied to it, which means the next turn of the wheel ''is'' going to shatter it altogether, it's just a matter of whether or not the planets stay intact by the end.]] |
| 308 | * WarmUpBoss: The Igglanova found underneath Motavia Academy is the first boss you face, and as long as there is an open space next to it, it will [[MookMaker spawn a weak Xanafalgue]] instead of attacking you. Even when it does have an opportunity to attack, it won't cause much damage to any of your party members. A second Igglanova can be found at the entrance to Birth Valley, and it isn't any stronger. |
| 309 | * WhatHappenedToTheMouse: In-universe; in the game's only tie-in to ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarIII'', an optional dungeon on Motavia happens to be [[spoiler: a crashed section of one of the worldships that escaped Parma's destruction a thousand years ago, much like the one that PSIII takes place on.]] Upon realizing what the dungeon is, the party wonders if there were other such ships that escaped and what might have become of them. It's a question they never get an answer to. |
| 310 | * WhenThePlanetsAlign: [[DeconstructedTrope Another deconstruction.]] There's a reason Dark Force returns every thousand years. [[spoiler: The seal containing the Profound Darkness is weakest when Rykros' orbit brings it into alignment with the other three planets, but since Parma was obliterated, the next one will be the last one.]] |
| 311 | * WhenTreesAttack: Chaz and his group save Kyra from a forest full of carnivorous trees on Dezoris. |
| 312 | %%* WombLevel: The Garuberk Tower. |
| 313 | * YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm: Goes hand-in-hand with the LovecraftLite elements. [[spoiler: The Great Light and the Profound Darkness are presented in vague and allegorical ways, the manner in which they interact with the universe defies logic insofar as things we'd call their "emotions" and "thoughts" appear to have ''physical presence'' in our world, and they work on such a scale that the Great Light's lock on The Profound Darkness' dimensional prison is Algol solar system, which is literally constructed of the planets of the system, and with one planet destroyed, the lock is missing a key component...somehow. No one even tries to explain what's going on in the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, and in the fight with The Profound Darkness, the thing (which first appears as a sinuous black blotch amidst the [[AmazingTechnicolorBattlefield psychedelic chaos]]) visibly disintegrates and reconstitutes itself several times over the course of the battle.]] |
| 314 | * YouDontLookLikeYou: As usual, the Western box art redesigns the characters borderline unrecognizable. This is largely because Sega commissioned ''extremely'' popular fantasy artist Boris Vallejo for an original painting, and his very Western, very idealized-heroic style doesn't translate the game's anime look very well. |
| 315 | * ZombieApocalypse: This has happened to a village on Dezoris as a result of a mysterious plague; luckily you can find the cure (well, more kill the cause) and the people of the village who weren't dead yet recover while the zombified deceased find peace. |
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