Line #4 VideoGame/ScienceGirls


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sciencegirls_front_0.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:From Left to Right: Jennifer, Heather, Andrea, Missy and Nicole]]
3
4	A MediaNotes/RenPy-based indie bishoujo RPG (with a few VisualNovel elements) by Spiky Caterpillar and Creator/HanakoGames.
5
6	The six members of the science club have gathered to repel the alien invaders attacking their school. HilarityEnsues.
7
8	Available at this finely crafted [[http://www.hanakogames.com/science.shtml link]].
9
10	----
11	!!This game provides examples of:
12	* AbsurdlyHighLevelCap: Level 19 is reachable at a minimum, and even that is only due to using the RespawningEnemies.
13	* AcademicAthlete: Nicole, a member of the Science Club, but also on the track team, as narrated when she joins the party on entering the fourth floor.
14	* ActionGirl: The six members of the high school Science Club.
15	* ActuallyFourMooks: The PreexistingEncounters in the alien world are represented by sprites of only their most numerous member, but hold up to four enemies.
16	* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: Multiple:
17	** Coffee, with its FlavorText of:
18	---> A can of cool caffeinated goodness!
19	** Missy, and her Profile, with its almost AlliterativeList of her likes:
20	---> [[AC:Milkshakes, Anime, Millipedes]]
21	* AdultsAreUseless: You see some teachers at the beginning, but they disappear without doing anything helpful. The girls briefly encounter another teacher hiding in the school, but he panics and shoos them out to face the monsters, due to his belief that they'll call the aliens to his hiding place. He thinks MarsNeedsWomen, which is why they're attacking an all-girls school, and why they've ignored him so far. [[spoiler: Actually, they're after ''hair'', so he's not been attacked because he's bald.]]
22	* AlgorithmicStoryBranching: The RelationshipValues with each of the five girls at the end of the game determine which one of them gets [[spoiler: taken over by the [[PunnyName Chive Mind]] and becomes the FinalBoss.]]
23	* AlienSky: When the player character enters the alien world, they remark on the "shifting discharges in the sky", and the sky is black.
24	* AlliterativeList: Subverted with ''Mi''ssy and near AddedAlliterativeAppeal profile having her likes list of: ''Mi''lkshakes, Anime, ''Mi''llipedes, especially how in the AllThereInTheManual [[http://hanakoforum.nfshost.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=476 cast list]], the order is: ''Milkshake, Millipede, Anime''.
25	* AlwaysAccurateAttack: Heather's Better Slingshot deals [[DamageReduction un-reducable]], unavoidable low levels of damage, to all enemies.
26	* AntiWastageFeatures: Mixed between Straight and Averted:
27	** Individual healing items can be used even if the target is totally fine.
28	** Healing items that affect the whole party, when used when outside battle, do prevent use, with a "No party members need healing." message.
29	* AshFace: Nicole's Big Bang has her plug two cables together, creating a huge explosion, and then her face is covered in ashes until the animation ends.
30	* AutoSave: There is a section of the save slots called "auto" that are sometimes filled by the game at specific points, though it seems semi-random and the game never tells the player that it's saving.
31	* AwesomeButImpractical: Heather's Exponential Explosion power can deliver obscene amounts of damage, but it takes so many uses for it to start doing serious damage that it's completely useless in anything but a long boss fight... and if Nicole or Missy have sufficient investment in their damaging skills, it's ''still'' not going to help much.
32	* BadassBookworm: All of the girls, given they fight the alien invasion using nothing but science.
33	* BagOfSharing: For all items, they go into a single item slot for the whole party.
34	* BizarreBeverageUse: Diet soda is used as thrown weapons due to its lack of nutrition making it useless for restoration.
35	* BlobMonster: There are slimes that are fought in the Alien world. They come in {{Palette Swap}}s of Red, Yellow, and Purple, and can split off or merge together to gain new abilities.
36	* BreakingTheFourthWall
37	-->'''Player''': What do we need to do before we explore another world?\
38	'''Missy''': To save the game?
39	* CatchingSomeZs: Stunned characters are given a ForcedSleep, given that they have blue [=Zs=] above their sprite and the un-stunning is described as "wake up", with more than 3 [=Zs=] meaning that they're asleep for longer,
40	* {{Cap}}: Multiple:
41	** Skills start at Level 1, and can only be upgraded 4 times, to a max of level 5.
42	** In the inventory, Doughnuts are cappped at a max of 13, a.k.a, a baker's dozen.
43	* CapRaiser: Skills cost more as they go up in level, so skill levels are initially capped to certain levels determined by characters' SP, a.k.a {{Mana}} caps, but skills can only be upgraded so much before they hit true programmed limits on their growth.
44	* ChekhovsGunman: Early on, when crossing a bridge of interwoven grass, the party will talk of how the plants are interlinked together; Missy makes a pun on "Chive Mind" that leaves everyone groaning, and they leave it at that. [[spoiler: It turns out that the Chive Mind is the FinalBoss, and the true leader behind the alien's attack.]]
45	* ChromosomeCasting: The titular science girls are the protagonists and are the only people who matter to the plot. Every male shown is a teacher and just used to establish the setting; only one even has any dialogue, and it's just for one short scene. It's a {{Justified\|Trope}} because it's a girls' school.
46	* CombatMedic: Jennifer is the primary healer, but has a ''nasty'' combat move in Nerve Pinch, and has a FinishingMove like all the girls do.
47	* CommonHTTPStatusCode: For both 403 and 404:
48	** Classroom 403, the Forbidden's code number, has a blackboard that says: [[AC:Entrance Forbidden - This means you"]].
49	** If classroom 404 is entered while Missy is in the party, as the Science Club member who's focus is Computers, she says:
50	--> 404 monster not found!
51	* CoolGate: The gate to an alien world.
52	* CounterAttack: Spiked Ball type Stealth Balls have a Retaliate attack that hits their attacker, immediately after being attacked by them. They use it a number of times based on how often they were attacked, so Missy can get murdered by them fairly easily if she hits them with her [[DeathOfAThousandCuts Spam ability]], which hits multiple times (and thus triggers multiple Retaliates).
53	* CurtainsMatchTheWindow: Played straight in the case of:
54	** [[{{Tomboy}} Nicole]]: Black hair, black eyes.
55	** [[WrenchWench Heather]]: Reddish-brown
56	** [[PlayfulHacker Missy]]: Light brown / beige.
57	* CuteLittleFangs: Andrea.
58	* DeathOfAThousandCuts: Missy's Spam attack, which hits with several weak, unable-to-miss blows. They can possibly do 0 damage, but can ''also'' do progressively more damage as the ability is upgraded, along with more hits, meaning it can be a very reliable power attack late game.
59	* DefendCommand: The defend command reduces damage, and also increases SP regeneration for the turn.
60	* DidNotThinkThisThrough: The party destroys the power source of the gate home... while on the alien world. Heather even lampshades that she could easily have built a time bomb that would go off ''after'' they had escaped back home.
61	* EasierThanEasy: After complaints that the initial release was NintendoHard, [[http://hanakoforum.nfshost.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=486 an update]] made the original difficulty, "Graduate", and added two, progressively easier difficulty levels: "Standard", which adjusted the amounts of damage done to make things a bit easier, and "Elementary", which was "Standard", but it refills your health at the end of every combat as well as adding a GradualRegeneration-style of RegeneratingHealth, ''during'' combat.
62	* EconomyCast: Outside of the party, the only other character you interact with is one teacher who [[AdultsAreUseless shoos you off after]], because he's scared of the party attracting monsters.
63	* EnemyScan: Missy can pull one of these, and scanning makes it easier to dodge and hit enemies. It gets more useful as you level it up, by having the HitPoints measurement stay above the monster's head, instead of having to be memorized for that battle. It also has the unusual function of acting as a debuff, lowering enemy accuracy and dodge percentages when used on them, which isn't a normal function of EnemyScan abilities.
64	* EnemyRollCall: When the game is won, at the credits end with a Defeated Monsters section listing all the enemies the party defeated by name, and how many of them were defeated.
65	* ExperiencePoints: Awarded after defeating enemies.
66	* TheFaceless: The [[HelloInsertNameHere nameless main character]] also wears a mask throughout the game. Apparently it's part of her ongoing science experiment.
67	* FeministFantasy: It's about an all-girl party kicking butt, so it's got this element to it. This is further enhanced by the fact that the party are all interested in STEM topics, traditionally male-dominated.
68	* FightWoosh: The background of the scene right before a fight, pixelates to form the background of the battle screen.
69	* FinalBoss: With a twist! Whichever girl the main character has the highest relationship value with will be kidnapped and used as the Chive Mind's puppet, using their abilities against you. Pray it isn't [[OneHitKill Nicole]].
70	* FinishingMove: At Level 6, the girls each get a Finisher, which gives [[ExperienceBooster extra experience]] when used to defeat a monster, with the bonus amount being larger with stronger monsters. Most of the finishers target one monster only, but some don't. The three most prominent:
71	** Heather's Ballista, which unusually is the only one of the Finishers actually discussed in-game during the story; she finds parts for it in a storeroom and constructs it herself.
72	** Nicole's Big Bang, which hits all enemies, while consuming all her SP and getting stronger if more is consumed over the minimum. Add on the XP bonus, and Nicole can rapidly outstrip the rest of the party in levels.
73	** The Player Character's Psycho-Analysis, a single target attack. Alone of the Finishers, this is the only move that has a different animation if it kills the target; if it won't kill, the animation is very fast, but if it ''will'', it gets the single most complicated animation in the game.
74	* FixedDamageAttack: Multiple, all from Heather.
75	** Her Better Slingshot deals a small, fixed amount of damage that can't be block and isn't affected by DamageReduction.
76	** Her Exponential Explosion deals damage based on the UsefulNotes/{{Powers Of Two\|MinusOne}}, going up by a power with each successive use, but can have its {{Damage Reduc\|tion}}ed, but that DR only does up to blocking around 3 points of damage even for bosses.
77	* FlavorText: For items and some skills, depending on if it's inside or outside battle:
78	** Items:
79	*** Mandarin:
80	----> A small, tart orange.
81	*** Doughnut:
82	----> Sugary, deep-fried yumminess.
83	*** Banana:
84	----> A curving, yellow fruit.
85	*** Kumquats:
86	----> A handful of tiny citrus fruits.
87	*** Cake:
88	----> Let us eat cake!
89	*** Jelly Doughnut:
90	----> This unholy doughnut is filled with raspberry jam.
91	*** Coffee Milkshake:
92	----> Combining the best of coffee and milkshakes, this will fill you with energy.
93	*** Blood Orange:
94	----> A large, reddish orange.
95	*** Incomplete Slingshot:
96	----> Heavy, stretchy bands and plans for a slingshot. Heather wants them.
97	** Skills:
98	*** The DefendCommand, in battle:
99	----> Hide behind your hands. Monsters will do less damage to you, and you will regenerate 2 extra SP.
100	*** Lightning, outside of battle:
101	----> A powerful electrostatic discharge fries one enemy.
102	*** Nerve Pinch, in battle:
103	----> Pinch a sensitive place to damage one enemy and possibly paralyze it for a round.
104	*** Affirmation, in battle:
105	----> Increase self-esteem to boost attack power and defense.
106	*** Ballista, out of battle:
107	----> Torsional springs hurl massive bolts at enemies.
108	* ForcedSleep: What Stunning is, given that it's visually indicated by CatchingSomeZs, and enables an attack called "Nightmare" from Dreamworms. The main character can do this with Hypnosis, and unlike in most video games, pretty much everything is vulnerable to it- though any damage wakes the character up.
109	* GradualRegeneration: In multiple ways:
110	** In Elementary Difficulty, RegeneratingHealth happens at 1 HitPoint per round of battle.
111	** SP is recovered by 1 at the start of every turn.
112	** Walking around on the maps, restores SP at around 10 steps per SP point.
113	* GratuitousJapanese: A few of the battle voice clips are in Japanese, despite no evidence the game takes place in Japan (beyond all the anime).
114	* HealerSignsOnEarly: Jennifer gets a First Aid skill to restore HitPoints, on her second CharacterLevel, which can be reached after two battles in the starting location.
115	* HeightAngst: Andrea, when she's introduced, is said:
116	--> she hates being teased about her height.
117	* HelloInsertNameHere: The club leader is the only one whose name you can choose, and if no name is chosen, "Player" is used.
118	* HollywoodHacking: Averted. Jennifer tries to get Missy to hack the alien transport device, but Missy makes it clear she can't hack a device that may not be a computer in the conventional sense, much less one she knows diddly-squat about. Even her EnemyScan doesn't work on these principles; while it's hard to figure out how she's using spam or deleting enemies from existence, her EnemyScan ability clearly shows her using a computer to analyze and record info about her targets, making it the most realistic of her abilities.
119	* HyperactiveMetabolism: You can restore Health and [[{{Mana}} SP]] with the food items available. In an interesting twist, characters have different tastes; certain items are much more effective in replenishing stats than others on some characters, simply because they like that kind of food. This is most useful for [[SquishyMage Andrea]], since the food she favors is Doughnuts, and they're the most common items in the game; getting all of them ''does'' require the party to go into the adjoining school and fight a miniboss, but it basically sets up Andrea to use her skills willy-nilly for the rest of the game.
120	* HypnoPendulum: The player's Hypnotise skill, which stuns enemies for a time; its animation has the main character taking out a gold pocket watch and swinging it a bit.
121	* IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels: In order of difficulty:
122	** Elementary:
123	---> A relaxed setting, where losing is unlikely.
124	** Standard:
125	---> A normal adventure.
126	** Graduate
127	---> For RPG fans seeking a challenge.
128	* IdleAnimation: Spratlings jump up and down even when the player's activated window isn't the game window.
129	* ItsQuietTooQuiet: Invoked and discussed by Missy after the SuspiciousVideoGameGenerosity.
130	* KickChick: Jennifer, whose basic attack is called "Kick". Missy also has the ability to "Sweep", which seems to be her making a sweep kick.
131	* KillEnemiesToOpen: The floors of the school, lower floors are unavailable until all the rooms are explored, meaning, all the enemies inside them have been killed.
132	* KillItWithFire: Nicole's Fireball skill.
133	* GrievousHarmWithABody: Nicole's Inertia skill, uses a giant magnet to pull an enemy toward her, then another enemy is used as the target. Shooting them together, and dealing damage to both.
134	* LamePunReaction: When encountering an alien grass bridge, a pun on HiveMind is made:
135	--> '''Nicole:''' Are you saying that the grass is a single giant creature?\
136	'''Missy:''' A sort of chive mind!\
137	Nicole winces at the pun.
138	* LazyBackup: Averted; only your front row of girls can take actions during combat, but you can swap characters in and out of the front row at any time, and if a front-row girl is knocked out, a back-row girl will automatically step up to take her place. Only if the whole party goes down will you get a game over.
139	* LevelMapDisplay: In areas where the party walks around and is larger than a single screen, a.k.a the Alien World and [[spoiler:the Wormhole]], there's a MAP button at the top of the screen that opens up a map of the whole area, except for areas like inside the mountain tunnel, where the area is so big, just a little bit is cut off.
140	* LevelUpFillUp: For both HP and SP.
141	* MagicPoweredPseudoscience: All the techniques of science, none of the bulky equipment. The one exception is using Vinegar to kill Base Squishes; the party actually ''is'' carrying the bottles of Vinegar with them, and use one up every time they kill a Base Squish with it, meaning it works like it would in the real world (no free Vinegar for SP here).
142	* MagikarpPower: Inverted with Heather's Exponential Explosion. Leveling it up turns it from AwesomeButImpractical into completely useless, before the update that allowed access of every level of a skill up to the highest level, and it's still more efficient to keep using the lowest level, as using the skill locks the cost of repeats at that same level. Such as LV 5, costing 25 SP. Want to use it twice? Get at least 50 SP over the course of the battle.
143	* ManEatingPlant: Some of the enemies you fight qualify as this, using the move Engulf to steal a party member and began chowing down on them; any damage releases them, thankfully.
144	* MindControl: Mindworms, implied by a few lines of dialogue to be the alien's leaders; there's a particularly weird and nightmarish variant after defeating the Treeman boss where the main character narrates the experience of being taken over by a ''giant'' one on the Alien Planet, which prompts her to order the party underground to avoid its further attention.
145	* MindControlEyes: When Andrea's stunned by the Mindworms' hypnotism, her eyes lose their pupils and become a foggy brown.
146	* MoneySpider: Averted. There's no currency at all, which means the player doesn't have to wonder why invading alien plants would bother to carry Earth cash.
147	* MotorMouth: Andrea:
148	** Remarked with Andrea as OOCIsSeriousBusiness, when she's encountered and isn't saying anything:
149	---> She's not saying anything. That's strange. Usually Andrea talks a mile a minute.
150	** Andrea's first converation has her speak for 6 text boxes straight, each of which at least start their second line.
151	* NerdsAreSexy: Well, cute, anyway.
152	* NeverTheSelvesShallMeet: [[spoiler:Averted when the two Missys meet up in the wormhole. We never find out if the second, two-levels-higher Missy is from a different part of time or another universe or whatnot, though.]]
153	* NintendoHard: The original difficulty version of the game. Averted in the newer versions, as the difficulty is now adjustable between three different levels.
154	* NonDamagingStatusInflictionAttack: The "Hypnosis" attack, which just puts enemies into a ForcedSleep, taking away their turn.
155	* OhNoNotAgain: [[spoiler:The last line of the game.]]
156	* PartyInMyPocket: The player's character is the sprite that represents the whole party when moving places on a map.
157	* PointBuildSystem: As you level up, you're given points to allocate to different skills and stats. It is possible to put yourself in a bad situation by leveling up your skills too high without leveling up the SP needed to fuel them.
158	* PreexistingEncounters: In the alien world, you'll be able to see enemies on the world map, but [[spoiler:it changes right back to random when you return to the school.]]
159	* PlantAliens: The invading aliens are plant-based.
160	* PostClimaxConfrontation: After [[spoiler:escaping the alien world, you still have to fight the alien boss after you return to the school.]]
161	* PunnyName: Some of the enemies' names are puns:
162	** Power Plant, a power-generating plant
163	** The Worm series of enemies:
164	*** Mindworm: A worm that attacks the mind.
165	*** Dreamworm: A worm that attacks through dreams.
166	* RandomlyDrops: Played with, it gives the appearance of such, like a Doughnut or a Pizza Slice, at least on Elementary Difficulty, being given right after the fourth floor Greater Slirrup battle, but that's a one time event, more due to entering the fourth floor than defeating a Greater Slirrup.
167	* RegeneratingHealth: By GradualRegeneration, in Elementary Difficulty, at happens at 1 HitPoint per round of battle.
168	* RegeneratingMana: By GradualRegeneration. SP is recovered by 1 at the start of every turn.
169	* RelationshipValues: They exist, but they've a minor impact on the game. [[spoiler:Specifically, who gets kidnapped by the aliens before the final boss.]]
170	* SaveGameLimits: The number of save slots appears to be effectively infinite, being listed in groups of 6, with more than 100 possible groups. Saves can be made almost anywhere, other than mid-battle or in some cutscenes directly following a battle. It is possible to effectively make a save in a battle, by making one during the FightWoosh, or around then, where loading will be loading into an unescapable battle start.
171	* SchoolSettingSimulation: Aliens are invading school, and the titular group has to fight them off.
172	* ScienceHero: Each of the members has her own specialty. The unnamed head of the science club specializes in psychology, [[CombatMedic Jennifer in biology]], [[KungFuWizard Nicole in physics]], [[WrenchWench Heather in engineering]], [[PlayfulHacker Missy in computer science]] [[TokenMiniMoe and Andrea]] [[PoisonousPerson in]] [[HollywoodAcid chemistry]].
173	* ScienceMarchesOn: InUniverse, when the party finds a "textbook on geology old enough that it doesn't mention continental drift", in [[spoiler:a stash of hairballs in the alien world]].
174	* ShockAndAwe: Nicole's Lightning skill:
175	--> A powerful electrostatic discharge fries one enemy.
176	* ShoutOut: Multiple:
177	** To ''VideoGame/NetHack'' of all things. When you find Missy, she's playing it.
178	** Missy also compares the spacetime gradient difference in the wormhole to an [[Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy improbability engine.]]
179	** To ''VideoGame/YouHaveToBurnTheRope'', when during the optional volcano section, the girls try using a safety rope and it burns up. Andrea grumbles:
180	---> '''Andrea:''' This is STUPID! Why did we have to burn the rope?
181	* ShowsDamage: The Power Plant's orbs darken as it takes more and more damage. All of them are dark when it's close to death.
182	* SolidGoldPoop: The invading aliens are after [[spoiler:our hair.]]
183	* StarterEquipment: The party's inventory starts out with 3 Mandarins.
184	* StatusInflictionAttack: All about making the enemy not take their turn:
185	** Nerve Pinch:
186	---> Pinch a sensitive place to damage one enemy and possibly paralyze it for a round.
187	** A party member being devoured deals DamageOverTime and removes their turn.
188	* SuspiciousVideoGameGenerosity: The game is generally sparse on items, but you get a crapload of them from a nearby pit just before the boss fight with the tree creature. [[spoiler:it's actually a HopelessBossFight setting up the next part of the plot, so the items aren't actually useful.]]
189	* TechPoints: You get one each level. They're used for upgrading abilities and stats.
190	* ThrowTheBookAtThem: When the teachers are being attacked, one of them uses a textbook as a weapon against the PlantAliens:
191	--> Ms. Bullfinch swings her full-size Teacher's Edition textbook at the carrot - and it moves to dodge her blow!
192	* TileFlippingPuzzle: When [[spoiler:falling into a pit]], 5 [[spoiler:Slirrup tongues]] must be pulled or left unpulled to bring down the wall blocking the exit.
193	* TimeyWimeyBall: Things get weird during [[spoiler:the wormhole ride back home,]] but nobody decides to worry about it in the end, figuring the universe can handle a little paradox or two.
194	* TitleDrop: Just after the girls return to Earth.
195	* TokenMiniMoe: Andrea, who's the shortest of the Science Club and has HeightAngst.
196	* UndergroundMonkey: Multiple monsters have different variants:
197	** Slirrups: Slirrup, Greater Slirrup (is bigger), Spitting Slirrup, unfought Giant Slirrups.
198	** Worms: Mindworm, Dreamworm, some unfought Giant Mindworm.
199	** Balls: Stealth Balls, Spiked Balls (Look like Stealth Balls, until they Uncloak)
200	* UselessUsefulSpell: Averted. Bosses are just as susceptible to status effects and stat decreases as any other foe.
201	* WhenTreesAttack: One of the boss enemies is called a "Treeman".
202	* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: Missy makes a joke about this if you rescue her from [[spoiler:being brainwashed by the Chive Mind.]]
203	* YouWatchTooMuchX: The main character accuses Nicole of reading too many science fiction novels early on when she's still denying the plants are invading aliens.

Context VideoGame / ScienceGirls