| 1 | [[quoteright:346:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/prince_of_persia_sands_of_time_cover.jpg]] |
| 2 | |
| 3 | ->''"Most people think time is like a river that flows swift and sure in one direction. But I have seen the face of time, and I can tell you: ''they are wrong''. Time is an ocean in a storm. You may wonder who I am and why I say this. Sit down, and I will tell you a tale like none that you have ever heard."'' |
| 4 | -->-- '''The Prince''' |
| 5 | |
| 6 | ''Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time'' is a 2003 video game and the first chapter in the newer ''Franchise/PrinceOfPersia'' trilogy developed by Creator/{{Ubisoft}}. It reproduced the series' popular combination of combat and climbing puzzles, and added LeParkour and what is still the most successful use of time-distortion effects (previously seen in such games as ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'' and ''[[VideoGame/{{Blinx}} Blinx: The Time Sweeper]]''), as well as creating an entirely new story with a more complex hero, an expanded role for the princess, and one doozy of a plot twist. |
| 7 | |
| 8 | The Prince is a young man accompanying his father to an Indian-like kingdom, whose Vizier betrayed them to the Prince's armies. Among the spoils of that kingdom is a large hourglass called [[TitleDrop "The Sands of Time"]] and a dagger that the Prince claims. The Vizier then tricks the Prince into opening the hourglass and unleashing the curse of the sands upon the land of Persia. Confused over what happened, he finds himself in the company of Farah, a princess of the kingdom he just ransacked and who has knowledge of what he has done, and has to go fix what he [[NiceJobBreakingItHero broke]]. |
| 9 | |
| 10 | The game was originally released for the Platform/NintendoGameCube, Platform/{{Xbox}} and Platform/PlayStation2. A Platform/GameBoyAdvance ReformulatedGame came out at the same time, [[CompressedAdaptation loosely following the console storyline]] (plus a few {{Call Back}}s to ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia1'') but with completely different gameplay. It could be [[OldSaveBonus linked with the GameCube version]] for extra bonuses in both games. [[UpdatedRerelease An HD rerelease]] of this game, along with its sequels, came out for Platform/{{PlayStation 3}} in 2010. |
| 11 | |
| 12 | For the sequels, see ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersiaWarriorWithin'' and ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersiaTheTwoThrones'', while the interquels (set between ''Warrior Within'' and ''The Two Thrones'') can be found under ''VideoGame/BattlesOfPrinceOfPersia'' and ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersiaTheForgottenSands''. For the film adaptation, see ''Film/PrinceOfPersiaTheSandsOfTime''. |
| 13 | |
| 14 | A 4K remake was announced on September 10th of 2020 for release on March 18th 2021. However, it has since been delayed. Peep the trailer [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38t8AA-vaDs here]]. |
| 15 | |
| 16 | ---- |
| 17 | !!Tropes appearing in the main game: |
| 18 | * AirborneMook: The Sand Griffins. |
| 19 | * AntiFrustrationFeatures: The Rewind ability serves to help ease the game's difficulty during its trickier segments. |
| 20 | * AnyLastWords: The Vizier asks this question to the Prince revealing his intention to kill Farah and [[FrameUp frame]] the Prince. |
| 21 | -->'''Vizier:''' Do you have any last words you wish me to communicate to the Princess before I kill her? Words of love perhaps? |
| 22 | * ApocalypseHow: The Prince and Farah are trying to prevent a Class 4 one throughout the game. Farah heavily implies that if the Sands of Time are not re-sealed, they will eventually spread and consume the entire world, turning all humans and animals into sand monsters. |
| 23 | -->'''Farah''': Fight as bravely as you may, you cannot defeat this enemy. The Sands will spread. They will consume ''everything''. |
| 24 | * ArbitrarySkepticism: Farah surely had known about the dagger's time-twisting power before the adventure began, but [[spoiler:after the ResetButton is pressed, she believes that the whole story told by the Prince could be nothing but a fairy-tale.]] |
| 25 | * ArcWords: "Honor and glory". It's even the title of the final chapter of the game. |
| 26 | * ArmorIsUseless: The Prince takes the same amount of damage both before and after he removes his armour. |
| 27 | * BenevolentArchitecture: The palace may be slowly falling into ruin and collapsing, but it'll never do so in a way that renders it impossible to move on. Things will always collapse into a parkour obstacle course for the Prince and a series of cracks and holes in the wall for Farah to slip through. |
| 28 | * BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The Prince manages to undo pretty much everything that happened throughout the game - including Farah's love for him. Also, him managing to [[ScrewDestiny survive unleashing the Sands]], an act that is supposed to literally be impossible by the laws of reality, creates a TimeParadox that releases the Dahaka, leading to the events of the sequel.]] |
| 29 | * BlatantLies: During an intimate scene between the Prince and Farah, while they're trapped in a tomb. |
| 30 | -->'''Farah:''' What is it?\ |
| 31 | '''Prince:''' ''(breathing heavily)'' Nothing.\ |
| 32 | '''Farah:''' You're trembling.\ |
| 33 | '''Prince:''' I just don't like closed spaces. |
| 34 | * BlockPuzzle: The Prince's go-to method whenever Farah isn't around to stand on a switch. |
| 35 | * BottomlessPits: Several of them, as part of the palace's DeathCourse style. Conversely, if the pit ''does'' have a bottom, there are probably SpikesOfDoom in it. |
| 36 | * BrickJoke: "Just call me...[[TrustPassword 'Kakolookiyam']]." |
| 37 | * BulletTime: The Slow ability, which allows the player to react quickly. Enemies are still able to defend against attacks. |
| 38 | * ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Lampshaded in the opening. "Trust not a man that has betrayed his own master." |
| 39 | * ClothingDamage: The Prince starts with SleevesAreForWimps (one at a time) and goes all the way up to ShirtlessScene. |
| 40 | * ComingOfAgeStory: The Prince narrates his journey from arrogant ass concerned only with gaining glory, to a heroic, remorseful and loving young man. The literal journey, containing much jumping across a palace, is hardly mentioned. |
| 41 | * ContinuityReboot: The critically-panned 1999 version of ''Prince of Persia'' led Jordan Mechner (the creator of the franchise) to create a new, likeable Prince with an interesting storyline, and an AppliedPhlebotinum that justifies the players' ability to rewind time rather than repeat a segment over and over again. It worked. |
| 42 | * CrucifiedHeroShot: [[spoiler:Farah when she [[CutTheSafetyRope lets herself fall to her death]] so that the Prince may live to reseal the Sands.]] |
| 43 | * CutsceneIncompetence: The cutscene where the Prince falls into the prison. He runs onto a bridge, and the ground collapses under his feet. Apparently he forgot that he could rewind time. |
| 44 | * CutscenePowerToTheMax: The cutscene that precedes the Prince's battle with [[spoiler:the Sand Creature that used to be his father]] feature him completely defying gravity by running ''down'' a wall without falling. In gameplay, the Prince can perform this feat horizontally to cross gaps, but never directly downwards. |
| 45 | * CycleOfHurting: There is no MercyInvincibility when you take a hit and enemies don't necessarily abide by MookChivalry either. Thus, if you get knocked down and multiple enemies are trying to attack, it's very possible to take several hits before you're even allowed to get on your feet. Luckily you are able to block while lying on the ground but this doesn't make every instance of damage unavoidable. |
| 46 | * DamnYouMuscleMemory: At one point you [[spoiler:lose the Dagger of Time, meaning you'll be without your sand powers for the first time since the start of the game. If you've gotten used to taking cavalier risks with your platforming, it'll be a rude awakening when you find you only get one shot at screwing up a jump before you have to reset to the last checkpoint]]. |
| 47 | * DeathCourse: The palace is made of them. |
| 48 | * DeathGlare: The Prince gives an absolutely ''withering'' one [[spoiler:after he wakes up to find that Farah stole his weapons and ran off]], though its target is long gone, so no one but the player gets to see it. |
| 49 | * DefendCommand: Parries incoming attacks, but it doesn't deflect the large low-sweeping attacks made by the heavy sword and hammer enemies. |
| 50 | * DeliberateValuesDissonance: The Prince makes a few comments about Farah and women in general about how they need to know their place, that they need to be taught to be subservient to men, and how a marriage to Farah could "tame her insolence". While his views would be considered misogynistic by today's standards, they were [[FairForItsDay commonly held by both men and women during that time period]]. |
| 51 | * DidNotGetTheGirl: The Prince [[spoiler:saves Farah from death by rewinding time to the max (and also unwittingly unleashing the Dahaka on himself), and he still doesn't get Farah in the end. At least, not until VideoGame/PrinceOfPersiaTheTwoThrones]]. |
| 52 | * DidYouDie: Essentially what the Game Over sequence in this game basically is. The Prince apparently said yes to this particular question should the player get him killed... before catching himself and realizing that saying he met a grisly end to some spikes probably doesn't make much sense given he's meant to be telling this story to someone ''after'' the fact. Naturally he asks to start again. |
| 53 | * DieChairDie: There are various props that the Prince can smash into dust with his sword, though there's no real purpose for doing so other than occasionally the props are blocking your path. |
| 54 | * DifficultButAwesome: Mega Freeze is extremely powerful and great for clearing out almost entire waves of enemies, but it burns through your entire power gauge with one use, and you ''have'' to have the same amount of power gauge units as sand gauge units. If you collect enough sand clouds to increase your sand gauge, you're locked out of using Mega Freeze until you can harvest more sand from sand creatures. |
| 55 | * EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Among the original trilogy, ''Sands of Time'' introduced unique mechanics and gameplay that were otherwise removed or changed in ''Warrior Within'' and ''The Two Thrones'' (partially because the third game also used the engine of the second): |
| 56 | ** The Sands of Time don't automatically gravitate towards the Prince, they have to be stabbed with the Dagger to refill the Prince's Sand reserves. |
| 57 | ** The Prince's Sand reserves are split into Sand Tanks and Power Tanks with the former being used for rewinding and the latter being used for all other powers. ''Warrior Within'' would merge them with different powers using different amounts of Sand Tanks. |
| 58 | ** Hitting enemies with the Dagger freezes them in place, open to a OneHitKill. While this move consumes a Power Tank, it can be abused in areas where there are plenty of enemies. In the third game, the Dagger acts like a typical weapon. |
| 59 | ** Absorbing enough Sand Clouds will increase the Prince's maximum Sand Tanks. Similarly, absorbing enough Sand from enemies will increase maximum Power Tanks. In ''Warrior Within'' and ''The Two Thrones'', the Prince only obtains Sand Tank upgrades in specific locations. |
| 60 | ** There are no sub-weapons in this game unlike the sequels. Instead, the Prince's weapons are obtained through progression, and aren't dropped by enemies. |
| 61 | ** The user interface itself. The health bar extends horizontally on the top-left, with the Sand Tanks displayed vertically. The next two sequels streamlined all of these into one circular UI. |
| 62 | ** Saving is done by walking into beams of light, which gives The Prince visions of his next actions. In Warrior Within and Two Thrones, The Prince drinks from small fountains to save. |
| 63 | * EleventhHourSuperpower: Zig-zagged. [[spoiler: The Prince temporarily loses the Dagger of Time when Farah steals it, meaning no more rewinding, but does get a sword that [[OneHitKill instantly kills all enemies]]. Even when he recovers the dagger, it's empty, and the one-hit-kill makes it harder to recharge the dagger]]. |
| 64 | * EmbeddedPrecursor: [[VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia1 The original game]] (the Mac version) is an unlockable here. The US Xbox version adds [[VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia2 the sequel]] as well. |
| 65 | * EliteMooks: The corrupted soldiers will justifiably put up a better fight than the corrupted prisoners and harem girls. |
| 66 | * EscortMission: Farah comes and goes and when she does stay for a while, she can fend for herself fairly well, but can only stun enemies at best (the Prince still has to kill them) and can get killed if the Prince doesn't come to her aid now and then. This doesn't really come up as annoying for the most part. At least until [[ThatOneLevel the elevator fight sequence]]. |
| 67 | ** She also has an annoying tendency to stand her ground instead of keeping away from enemies (which, for a character using a ranged weapon, doesn't make a whole lot of sense,) leading to a few scenarios where Farah ends up surrounded by enemies and just stands there while the Prince has to keep them off her. |
| 68 | * EvilChancellor: The Vizier. |
| 69 | * ExtremelyShortTimespan: Barring the final segment, the entire game takes place over two consecutive days. The first day dawns with Persia's attack on the Maharajah's city, they spend the rest of the day traveling to Azad, that night the Sands are released, the Sun rises while they travel from the baths to the mess hall, and sets as the Prince climbs the Tower Of Dawn [[spoiler: for the second time]]. You can even see the light changing in each level, from night to morning to midday, finally ending in the evening. |
| 70 | * FlashStep: |
| 71 | ** Sand creatures can teleport right next to the Prince if there's too much distance between him and them. |
| 72 | ** The Prince can also do this himself when he uses his Mega Freeze power. |
| 73 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: |
| 74 | ** A short-term case comes near the end of the game: after Farah [[spoiler:steals the Dagger of Time]], the Prince chases after her [[spoiler:and reminds her not to use up all the sand.]] Sure enough, [[spoiler:when Farah later falls to her death, there is no sand in the Dagger, and the Prince is unable to rewind time to save her.]] |
| 75 | ** In his narration, the Prince says of the Vizier: "The man who had tricked me now had his prize but for some unknown purpose coveted the dagger as well, would stop at nothing to possess it. Well, I would give him what he sought. I would plunge it into his foul and treacherous heart!" [[spoiler:Subverted when you actually get the chance, you just end up using Freeze on him, which doesn't work on him, so all you get is a wasted Power Tank, or nothing at all. Ultimately, it's the Prince's Sword that kills the bastard.]] |
| 76 | ** A case that spans multiple games, and can be easily missed due to the animation quality at the time. When the Prince makes it back into the Tower of Dawn and [[spoiler:[[ShutUpHannibal ignores the Vizier's spiel about becoming all-powerful]], the Vizier thinks the Prince is about to kill him with the dagger. He initially reacts with anticipation, and only turns to fear when the Prince stabs the hourglass instead.]] Two games later, it's revealed that [[spoiler:getting stabbed by the dagger with so much time energy around (i.e. the sands in the hourglass or, failing that, Kaileena) would [[DeityOfHumanOrigin turn the Vizier into Zurvan]].]] |
| 77 | * ForgotAboutHisPowers: It seems whenever there's a cutscene, the Prince always forgets his ability to rewind time. |
| 78 | * FromDressToDressing: The fate of the Prince's left sleeve. |
| 79 | * GuysSmashGirlsShoot: The Prince deals with enemies in close-quarters combat while Farah shoots her arrows from afar. |
| 80 | * HeartContainer: |
| 81 | ** The mysterious magic fountains that increase the Prince's life meter. |
| 82 | ** Sand can count as this for your sand and power gauges. Absorbing eight sand clouds increases the sand gauge by one unit, and finishing off 16 sand creatures with the Dagger and absorbing their sand increases the power gauge by one unit (but only if you have less power gauge units than sand gauge units.) |
| 83 | * HoneyTrap: Subverted - [[spoiler:Farah isn't a spy or a traitor, but it's implied she and the Prince slept together. Afterwards, Farah steals the Prince's weapons not to betray him, but to finish sealing the Sands of Time on her own because he failed to do so on the first try - ironically, because he thought she might want to betray him.]] |
| 84 | * ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Should the Prince fall down any of the ubiquitous pits containing SpikesOfDoom at the bottom. |
| 85 | * InformingTheFourthWall: The Prince will occasionally gripe about Farah and her attitude, or reminisce about his love for her. This gets lampshaded twice, by the Prince himself, no less. "Why am I talking to myself?" In fairness, Narrator!Prince does admit that he might be going mad after everything that's happened. |
| 86 | * IronicEcho: When the Prince first speaks with Farah, she demands him to give her the Dagger so that she can undo what he has done. Unfortunately, this increases his mistrust in her because the Vizier told him the same thing when he demanded the Dagger for himself right after the Sands were unleashed. After fighting [[spoiler:Sharaman]], Farah tries to take the Dagger and is about to use that same line again, only for the Prince to finish it for her. |
| 87 | -->'''The Vizier''': You have unleashed the Sands of Time. I can undo what you have done.\ |
| 88 | ''[…]''\ |
| 89 | '''The Prince''': I saw my father turned to sand!\ |
| 90 | '''Farah''': And we will share his fate, if you do not give me the Dagger, to undo what you have done!\ |
| 91 | '''The Prince''': [[LampshadeHanging Your traitorous Vizier used the same words.]]\ |
| 92 | ''[…]''\ |
| 93 | '''Farah''': You don't understand! I need that Dagger, to undo --\ |
| 94 | '''The Prince''': 'To undo what I have done.' |
| 95 | * LagCancel: Attacks can be cancelled into a guard command - the final boss can even do so in his attack's windup. |
| 96 | * LapPillow: The Prince finds himself later in the game being held like this twice by Farah while he's unconscious from entering the Sand Vortexes. The first time this happens, she's [[PleaseDontLeaveMe begging him not to leave her]] while calling him her love, and the second time, [[BeautifulDreamer she's fondly stroking his head]]. |
| 97 | * LargeHam: The guard in charge of activating the defence mechanism stands in contrast to the rest of the nuanced and subtle voice work. |
| 98 | * LeaningOnTheFourthWall: While trying to solve the LightAndMirrorsPuzzle in the library, Farah starts reading from some random book. The Prince complains that if she's got time to be reading, she could look for a book that tells them how to get out of the room, only for Farah to respond that this isn't that kind of game. |
| 99 | * LeaveTheCameraRunning: During a scene that takes place late in the game, the Prince and Farah are trapped in a dark tomb. The audience sees the two come close to each other, before the camera cuts to dust falling in the darkness, while the couple continue their conversation. |
| 100 | * LedgeBats: |
| 101 | ** Bats only show up during the trickier platforming sequences, usually when the Prince is supposed to balance himself on a beam. |
| 102 | ** Birds will also occasionally harass the Prince when he's on a ledge or balancing on something, though they're not exclusive to those sections. |
| 103 | * LeParkour: Arguably the game that popularized it. |
| 104 | * LightAndMirrorsPuzzle: Several times in the game, featured most prominently in the palace library. |
| 105 | * LoveRevelationEpiphany: The Prince doesn't seriously start considering he might be falling for Farah until he wakes up to find her [[LapPillow holding his head on her lap]] and [[PleaseDontLeaveMe begging her not to leave her]] while calling him her love. |
| 106 | * MacGuffinTitle: The Sands of Time are initially stored in an hourglass, can turn people into Sand monsters, and with tools such as the Dagger, can manipulate time itself for the user. |
| 107 | * MagicalMysteryDoors: The finale features this, in a rather surreal section in which the Prince must cross two rooms each with a set of eight doors. Only one door allows him to move up into the next area; taking any other door will send the Prince back to the entrance, with him commenting on [[LampshadeHanging just what the hell is going on]]. |
| 108 | * MalevolentArchitecture: The palace may have crumbled a little because of the initial blast, but it's still made of {{Death Trap}}s! |
| 109 | * MindScrew: |
| 110 | ** The game is peppered with premonitory visions that show you exactly how to traverse the incoming platforming section and what enemies to expect. However, as the game progresses, the visions become increasingly ominous, cutting away to Farah in a suspicious way and occassionaly showing her death. Even the Prince himself is shown to die in a few visions. This of course plays on the gamer's forged trust on said visions. |
| 111 | ** A sequence that takes place towards the end of the game features the Prince and Farah trapped in a tomb. Farah apparently falls through a trapdoor and the Prince follows her down a very long set of stairs to a hidden bathhouse. After passing through a [[OneOfTheseDoorsIsNotLikeTheOther bizarre puzzle involving a series of doors]], the Prince finds Farah bathing and joins her. It seems as though the pair have sex, only for the Prince to wake up back in the tomb [[spoiler:with Farah, his sword, and the dagger already gone]]. It's left deliberately vague as to whether or not the entire sequence was [[AllJustADream just a dream]] or if it was [[spoiler:a genuine ploy on Farah's part to steal the dagger]]. |
| 112 | ** Any time the Prince visits the magical fountain that increases his maximum health counts as this. They all follow the same pattern: the Prince finds a hidden passageway leading to a massive void filled with rope bridges that all lead to the fountain. Once the Prince drinks from the fountain, he seizes up, eyes glowing brilliant blue, before he comes to back outside the passageway entrance, which has now disappeared. One time, Farah even seems to see him enter one of the passages, but when he reappears outside the passageway, she acts as though he hadn't gone anywhere. |
| 113 | * MookChivalry: While they do gang up four at a time, they follow some limitations. Only one of them will initiate an attack and others seem to wait for said attack to finish. If the player is doing a FinishingMove, they won't start an attack (although already active ones still proceed.) |
| 114 | * MooksButNoBosses: With the exception of [[spoiler:the Prince's own father]] near the beginning, there's not a single boss fight throughout the game. Fighting the Vizier in the end [[AntiClimaxBoss seems more conciliatory than anything else]]. |
| 115 | * MundaneUtility: Throughout the game, the Prince uses the Dagger of Time's [[MentalTimeTravel rewind feature]] to evade death and save the day. At the end of the game, he uses it to... smooch a girl, then rewind when she reacts badly. |
| 116 | * NarrativeBackpedaling: If you die during a segment, or otherwise get a GameOver, the Prince will say something to the effect of, "No, wait, that's not what happened", and you'll restart from your last save point. |
| 117 | * NiceJobBreakingItHero: |
| 118 | ** The Prince + The Hourglass. |
| 119 | ** The Prince helps activate the palace defense system to combat the sand creatures. Too bad it's not only completely useless against them, but now he has to go through the entire game maneuvering through {{Death Trap}}s. |
| 120 | ** Also, by rewinding time to save [[spoiler:Farah, the Prince unleashed the Dahaka in the next game, since he used the sands to change the past]]. |
| 121 | * NoIndoorVoice: The guard in charge of the palace's defence system, as referenced under LargeHam. Possibly {{Justified}} in that he spends his [[OneSceneWonder only scene]] shouting orders at the Prince who's at a farther distance in the room from him than he is, although the Prince responds with his usual volume and is heard perfectly clearly by the guard. |
| 122 | -->'''Prince:''' What manner of machine is this?\ |
| 123 | '''Guard:''' I '''TOLD''' YOU, IT'S THE '''PALACE'S DEFENCE SYSTEM'''! STOP WASTING TIME! |
| 124 | * NoNameGiven: You play The Prince. |
| 125 | * NonSequiturEnvironment: Occasionally, the game takes a turn for the MindScrew whenever the Prince has an opportunity to expand his health bar. Discovering a hidden passageway in the palace of Azad, he enters - only to find that the ruined building has abruptly given way to an unearthly realm of rope bridges lit by an omnipresent blue light, with a magical life-extending fountain at the center. Even the Prince doesn't know what to make of it. |
| 126 | * NostalgiaLevel: You can visit a 3D version of the first level from [[VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia1 the original game]]. |
| 127 | * OneHitKill: What usually happens when you strike an enemy (with your main blade) that was previously [[TakenForGranite turned to sand]] by the Dagger of Time. |
| 128 | * OneOfTheseDoorsIsNotLikeTheOther: A puzzle near the end of the game involves passing through whichever door the sound of water is coming from. |
| 129 | * OohMeAccentsSlipping: Creator/YuriLowenthal as the Prince has a pretty inconsistent [[FakeBrit faux-British accent]] for the game's entirety. |
| 130 | * PermanentlyMissableContent: It can be easy to miss at least some of the collectibles that you'll need to expand the Prince's max health and sand energy, and the fact that the game discourages backtracking with numerous [[PointOfNoReturn points of no return]] (i.e., jumping out of a window you can't climb back into) doesn't help matters. Better keep some backup saves if you want your to keep your quest for OneHundredPercentCompletion short! |
| 131 | * PinkGirlBlueBoy: The top of The Prince's uniform is cobalt blue while Farah's sari is a scarlet red (substituting for pink). This also represents the colors of their respective kingdoms. |
| 132 | * PleaseDontLeaveMe: Farah is revealed to be developing feelings for the Prince after he saves her from sand monsters in the baths and falls unconscious from another set of visions; he wakes up to find her calling him her love and begging him not to leave her. |
| 133 | * PointOfNoReturn: There are more than A HANDFUL of places in the game where once you pass, you cannot return, frustrating many completionists. And the game gives no warning whatsoever that you have passed such a point. |
| 134 | * PreClimaxClimax: The Prince and Farah have their implied love scene immediately before [[spoiler:she steals the Dagger of Time from him and runs away, kicking off]] the final section of the game. |
| 135 | * PublicBathhouseScene: There is one in which the Prince finds Farah bathing in the cave. After a few seconds, he joins her and sexuality ensues. [[spoiler:However, this is fated not to last when he wakes up...]] |
| 136 | * RaisingTheSteaks: Non-humans are not spared from the mutating effect of the Sands, leading to the Prince battling zombified animals like scarabs, bats and vultures. |
| 137 | * ResetButton: |
| 138 | ** The Dagger of Time can rewind time at short bursts. |
| 139 | ** [[spoiler:The hourglass can serve as an even more powerful button, which the Prince takes full advantage of.]] |
| 140 | * RevivingEnemy: Humanoid sand creatures will just keep getting back up over and over until they're either finished off with the Dagger while they're down or dealt a finishing blow after using the Freeze or Mega Freeze powers on them. |
| 141 | * RippleEffectProofMemory: Only the Prince is able to recall the events of the game because [[spoiler:such events were erased by rewinding time all the way back to '''before''' the game begins. The whole game is in fact one big flashback the Prince is narrating to Farah]]. |
| 142 | * RuleOfThree: In the first parts of the game, the Prince is thrice told that what he has done must be undone with the Dagger of Time. The first time happens right after the Sands are unleashed and the Vizier demands the Prince to give the Dagger to him. In the second instance, Farah [[IronicEcho uses the same words as]] the Vizier when she demands the Dagger for herself, which does not help giving the Prince reason to trust her. And finally, after saving Farah from [[spoiler:Sharaman]], the Prince himself finishes the line when Farah tries to take the Dagger and is about to use the line again. |
| 143 | * SecondHourSuperpower: You shortly gain the power to control time after you retrieve the dagger. |
| 144 | * SelfFulfillingProphecy: The visions show the Prince later on that Farah will take the dagger from him, [[spoiler:leading him to distrust her at a crucial moment, which costs them the chance to seal the Sands. Hence, Farah waits for him to fall asleep and takes the dagger and his sword, setting off to seal the Sands on her own. The Prince realises what happened when he sees her medallion left behind.]] |
| 145 | * SetPiecePuzzle: |
| 146 | ** Arming the palace's security defense system. |
| 147 | ** There's also a rotating catwalk in one area and a collection of large mobiles in the observatory that have to be rotated in the correct way for the Prince to parkour his way across them. |
| 148 | * ShoutOut: When the Prince ends up at a place with the Life Extension Fountain for the first time: |
| 149 | -->'''Prince:''' [[Film/TheWizardOfOz I have a feeling I'm not in Azad anymore.]] |
| 150 | * SigilSpam: [[http://princeofpersiagame.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/symbol-sot.jpg A specific symbol]] can be seen all over the place in the game, usually on and around buttons, switches and levers. |
| 151 | * SoleSurvivor: [[AllThereInTheManual The game manual says that]] the Prince, Farah, and the Vizier are the only survivors of the Sand Apocalypse, even though the guard who instructs the Prince to activate the defense system is technically a survivor. [[DroppedABridgeOnHim Even though he dies moments later]]. |
| 152 | * SpikesOfDoom: |
| 153 | ** Plenty of these, whether it's at the bottom of a pit or part of a malicious booby trap. |
| 154 | ** The booby trap spikes aren't instant death, though, and won't be triggered if the Prince carefully walks across them. |
| 155 | * SpiritualSuccessor: Jordan Mechner acknowledged that ''VideoGame/{{Ico}}'' was a major influence on the game. Both games are chiefly puzzle-platforming games (with weak, repetitive combat against supernatural, decidedly insubstantial enemies) based in ancient castles with BenevolentArchitecture, and whose stories centre on the gradually developing relationship between the male player character and a mysterious princess the player character must {{escort|Mission}} through the various environments. They also share significant similarities in visual style and tone. |
| 156 | * SwordOfPlotAdvancement: The Prince upgrades his sword several times throughout the game. The first replacement sword allows him to break through certain walls; the last and most powerful sword kills enemies in a [[EleventhHourSuperpower single hit]]. [[spoiler:Interestingly, the final sword you hold in your hand... ends up being exactly what you started the game with. Due to the circumstances of the game's climax, the true final sword ends up just being your basic blade from the very beginning.]] |
| 157 | * TakenForGranite: Hitting enemies with the Dagger of Time freezes them in place, visually looking like sand statues. |
| 158 | * ThatDidntHappen: |
| 159 | ** The Prince finally kisses Farah, but promptly [[ResetButton rewinds time]] when he gets smacked in the face. So the UnresolvedSexualTension remains. |
| 160 | ** More literally, the Prince often says these exact words when you get a Game Over. |
| 161 | * TimeStandsStill: The Freeze and Mega Freeze abilities aren't ''quite'' this example (enemies affected by it still move extremely slowly,) but for all intents and purposes it's the same. Freeze freezes one enemy so they can be [[OneHitKill two-hit killed]], and Mega Freeze freezes all enemies (including enemies that teleport into the fight afterwards) and lets the Prince FlashStep between them. |
| 162 | * TimeTravelTenseTrouble: [[spoiler:During the Final Battle, the prince runs into the classic had/will problem when explaining the events of the game to Farah.]] |
| 163 | * TrustPassword: Farah tells the Prince her mother used to calm her fears with the made-up word "Kakolookiyam", remarking she's never told this to '''anybody'''. [[spoiler:When the Prince resets the timeline, thereby erasing the events of the game entirely - including meeting and bonding with Farah - he proves his story true by throwing the word "Kakolookiyam" back.]] Ironically, [[spoiler:she tells him this Trust Password shortly before she betrays him.]] |
| 164 | * TwoPersonPoolParty: Implied to take place between the Prince and Farah [[PreClimaxClimax towards the end of the game]], although it's unclear whether the entire sequence was a AllJustADream or not. |
| 165 | * UnresolvedSexualTension: The Prince and Farah bond over the course of the game, growing closer and closer. The Prince even starts considering asking her hand in marriage. [[spoiler:It's implied they may have even had sex. After she dies, he's forced to rewind time, undoing her death but also their bonding, to the point where the game ends without them really knowing each other in the first place. The Prince even tries kissing her before leaving, but he even rewinds that event when it doesn't go along as planned.]] |
| 166 | * UnreliableNarrator: [[spoiler:Since the entire game is narrated via flashback, when you die, the Prince backs up and says "that's not how it happened" or something similar.]] |
| 167 | * UnwittingPawn: The Shah and Prince are convinced by the Vizier of India to invade India for no good reason outside of "honor and glory", while the Vizier helps them in exchange for his choice picks from the Maharajah's treasure chamber. Needless to say, the Shah immediately agrees to this offer from a man who is offering to betray his sovereign and his nation to an invader and who in fact ''solicited'' his betrayal to a random party and who can be assumed to have a powerful ulterior motive, and invades India. As a result, a [[ZombieApocalypse Sand Apocalypse]] happens. |
| 168 | * WallJump: One of the standard parkour methods, whether it's two parallel walls, or combined with a bar spin, and a wall jump to another bar. It requires somewhat precise timing, failure is bounding off the wall and falling. |
| 169 | * WalkingShirtlessScene: Pretty much the rest of the game, from the moment the Prince takes off his shirt in the dungeon. |
| 170 | * WeakButSkilled: Farah is considerably weaker than the Prince and isn't able to perform the same parkour abilities as him, but what she lacks in physical strength, she makes up for in her archery skills, an impressive long jump, and her slender and flexible frame that allows her to squeeze through cracks and small spaces the Prince can't. |
| 171 | * WholeEpisodeFlashback: The Prince narrates throughout the game. [[spoiler:This is because he's in fact narrating to Farah in the present time. The whole game is one big flashback, with the exception of the FinalBoss, which happens right after the Prince finishes his tale.]] |
| 172 | * WhoWantsToLiveForever: The Vizier offers the Prince immortality to try and dissuade him from resealing the Hourglass. The Prince, of course, refuses and does it anyhow, as he literally has nothing left to lose. |
| 173 | -->'''Prince:''' Live forever? When those I loved are dead [[ItsAllMyFault and I to blame]]? (''{{Beat}}'') ''[[ShutUpHannibal I choose death.]]'' |
| 174 | * ZombifyTheLiving: The glittering dust clouds of the Sands of Time do this to any unprotected creatures they come in contact with, creating a localized ZombieApocalypse within the palace when the Hourglass is unlocked. Only the Prince, Farah, and the Vizier are spared, because each of them was carrying a powerful magic item that protected them. |
| 175 | |
| 176 | !!Tropes appearing in the Game Boy Advance game: |
| 177 | * AbilityRequiredToProceed: |
| 178 | ** The end of each world has an exit that requires you to use a move which can only be obtained by fighting [[RecurringBoss the Sand Griffin]]. |
| 179 | ** The mysterious wooden doors you see everywhere [[spoiler:which can only be broken with [[ChargedAttack Fury]]]]. |
| 180 | * AdaptationalBadass: |
| 181 | ** The Sand Griffin, a brand of [[EliteMooks Elite Mook]] in the console game, is now a RecurringBoss. |
| 182 | ** [[spoiler:The Vizier puts up ''way'' more of a fight here than in the console game, taking two whole boss fights to bring down. While he never physically attacks the Prince, he has the most HP of any enemy and boss in the game and has deadly magic attacks; his cloning ability from the console fight is now a genuine MesACrowd distraction, he can shoot fireballs, and is able to [[FlunkyBoss summon Sand Zombies at will]].]] |
| 183 | * AdaptationInducedPlotHole: Farah's romance with the Prince is cut entirely, but the Prince still [[spoiler:pushes the ResetButton when she dies]] like in the main game. Without any chemistry between the two beyond some basic teamwork-based puzzle solving, the whole thing comes off like [[{{Narm}} a huge overreaction]]. |
| 184 | * ChargedAttack: Fury, the attack the Prince learns after [[spoiler:fighting the Vizier the first time]], allows him to charge up his sword swing to increase its damage, with a {{Cap}} of 99. It can even be used in midair. |
| 185 | * ChekhovsGun: Absorption, the move learned at the end of World 2 that lets you [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin absorb]] enemy projectiles, is critical for breaking the FinalBoss' shield in his first phase. |
| 186 | * EliteMooks: |
| 187 | ** The Sand Persians. There are only 75 in the game (and they don't [[RespawningEnemies respawn]]). They're much tougher than the rank-and-file animal and monster enemies, you fight them one at a time ''à la'' human enemies in ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia1'', are separated into many unique types, and must be [[LifeDrain finished off with the Dagger of Time]] or else they'll get right back up and keep fighting. |
| 188 | ** Some types of [[{{Mooks}} Sand Monsters]] are far more powerful than others, like [[PersonalSpaceInvader Sand Huggers]] and [[CatsAreMean Sabre Tooths]]. |
| 189 | * GenreShift: Downplayed. After fighting the penultimate boss [[spoiler:and pushing the ResetButton]], the game suddenly becomes a {{Metroidvania}} if you decide to go exploring. You do, however, have the choice to go straight to the FinalBoss if you want. |
| 190 | * HubLevel: [[spoiler:Post-game, the Final Cave provides one entrance to each world as well as a door that leads straight to the final boss.]] |
| 191 | * LeParkour: Since the game is in 2D, it's not quite as extensive as on the console version, but the Prince eventually learns how to run up walls and WallJump. |
| 192 | * NotHisSled: A large chunk of the game's plot, especially in the second half, is radically different from the console game. [[spoiler:After finishing World 5, the Prince meets up with Farah, but the Vizier appears out of nowhere and kidnaps her, taunting the Prince that if he wants her back, he must fight for her life. The Prince defeats the Vizier, only to discover that he had Farah killed while they were fighting]], which causes the Prince to [[spoiler:rewind time to the start of the game]] like in the console version. From there, you can either [[FinalBoss fight the Vizier]] straightaway like in the main story, or try to get OneHundredPercentCompletion. |
| 193 | * RecurringBoss: The Sand Griffin is fought several times over the course of the game. [[spoiler:He finally goes down for good after your fourth fight.]] |
| 194 | * StatusEffects: Some enemies shoot projectiles that can cause Fire (extra damage), Poison (damage over time unless you use an Antidote) or Ice Paralysis (frozen in place until you mash B to break out). Also, touching a Sand Zombie causes Dizziness (reverses your D-pad controls for a short time). |
| 195 | * TakeYourTime: After [[spoiler:pushing the ResetButton]], you're free to do as much exploring as you like before you go fight the FinalBoss. |
| 196 | * VideoGameCaringPotential: Exclusively in this version, you can save citizens from the influence of the Sands, and they will reward you with experience for leveling up. |
| 197 | ---- |
| 198 | -> ''"[[GameOver No no no, that's not the way it happened. Shall I start again?]]"'' |
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