Line #31 VideoGame/SigmaHarmonics


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/image_1_31.png]]
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3	Released in 2008, ''Sigma Harmonics'' is a Creator/SquareEnix RPG for the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS, developed by the team that had previously worked on ''VideoGame/DirgeOfCerberus''. It is set in an alternate Tokyo, and focuses on the story of Sigma Kurogami, the future head of the Kurogami clan, a line of 'sound-users' who can create miracles and guard the Great Clock that seals the demonic Ouma. The story begins when someone changes the past, destroying the present day and releasing the Ouma.
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5	To put things right, Sigma and his friend, the card-user Neon Tsukiyumi, travel back into the past in order to solve a series of murders in the Kurogami household. By visiting different points in time, finding clues (in the form of 'moments of sound'), and working out the sequence of events and the culprit, the past can be changed, leading to a different murder scenario. In battles with the Ouma, Neon does most of the fighting, using her cards to perform actions whilst Sigma provides the BGM. By playing different tracks, the individual recharge rate for Neon's cards is changed. Neon can also change forms via a form of possession.
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7	This game has an [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic excellent soundtrack]], composed by Music/MasashiHamauzu, and beautiful anime-style artwork. Sadly however, it has not yet been released outside of Japan.
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11	!!Tropes associated with this game include:
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13	* BlackEyesOfCrazy: [[spoiler:Rin during the final battle, coupled with RedEyesTakeWarning.]]
14	* BossRush: Death Chapter, though each boss fight is also preceded by a simple deduction.
15	* TheButlerDidIt: PlayedWith. [[spoiler: The butler]] is the culprit in Chapter Three and a victim in Chapters Four and Five, and [[spoiler: the maid]], who is a victim in every other chapter, is the culprit in Chapter Four.
16	* CanonWelding: Neon appears in ''VideoGame/WorldOfFinalFantasy'' as The Girl Who Forgot Her Name.
17	* CoolMask: Worn by the butler.
18	* {{Determinator}}: The human race as a whole, given that they're willing to give fate the middle finger rather than lay down and die, and Sigma in particular.
19	* DeadAlternateCounterpart:
20	** In the [[spoiler: original]] timeline, [[spoiler:Yuu]] was killed in a car accident. [[spoiler:Sigma]] comes from a timeline where that accident didn't occur.
21	** Sigma also encounters a timeline where [[spoiler:Neon]] was the one who perished instead.
22	* DoItYourselfThemeTune: Creator/AyaHirano sings the theme song, "Harmonia vita".
23	* EvidenceScavengerHunt: After going back to a certain time and a certain place, Sigma can use his sound-related powers to uncover 'moments of sound' - clues as to what happened in that place during that time.
24	* EverybodyDidIt: Also PlayedWith. Every adult introduced in the various chapters ends up being a culprit in one of the murders.
25	* FightLikeACardPlayer: The game's battle mechanics, explained in-game as Sigma playing music in order to control Neon's movements (since she has no conscious control over her body when being possessed by the guardian deities she summons for battle), along with a RhythmGame like recharge mechanic.
26	%%* FlamingHair: Dickson and Christie.
27	* GratuitousLatin: The theme song is named "Harmonia vita" and has some Latin sprinkled throughout the lyrics.
28	* HeroicSacrifice:
29	** [[spoiler:Neon]] sacrifices herself so that Sigma can travel in time.
30	** In another timeline, [[spoiler:Neon]] died to save [[spoiler: Yuu]] from an otherwise fatal car accident.
31	* HumongousMecha: [[spoiler:Used in the final battle.]]
32	* IdenticalGrandson: [[spoiler:Mimiko]] looks exactly like her grandmother [[spoiler: Neon]].
33	* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: [[spoiler:Neon]], at the end of the trailer.
34	* LivingLieDetector: Fuyou and Rin have this ability.
35	* TheNotLoveInterest: Neon is set up as Sigma's apparent ChildhoodSweetheart, they have some very flirty dialogue throughout the chapters, and after she [[spoiler:sacrifices herself as part of the price one has to pay for time travel]], Sigma decides to ScrewDestiny so they can be together again... but it's heavily implied that [[spoiler:they're blood siblings]]; Neon's difference in last name is due to her being adopted by the Tsukiyumi clan.
36	* OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler:Rin]] in the final boss battle; this is a Creator/SquareEnix game so it shouldn't really come as a surprise.
37	* PowersViaPossession: Neon uses this to change classes. It also comes with a slight personality shift.
38	* RippleEffectProofMemory
39	* SayMyName: At the end of the trailer when Neon gets skewered.
40	* ScrewDestiny: Humanity was originally doomed to be destroyed by Ouma. The Kurogami and Tsukiyomi households have been repeatedly going back in time to find a way to avoid this.
41	* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: SubvertedTrope, as [[spoiler: the BadFuture Sigma and Neon are trying to avert is what actually happened]].
42	* StockFootage: Whenever someone ends up being murdered, the freeze frame of their dead body being discovered is always the same no matter which timeline. This actually ends up being a clue to solve a mystery in Chapter 5, as the body Rin stumbles upon and calls "mother" uses the same freeze frame as [[spoiler: Yuriko's]] murder in Chapter 3.
43	* StrongFamilyResemblance: [[spoiler:Yuu]] grows up to look identical to his father, except for hair color and the scar on his father's face.
44	* {{Synchronisation}}: [[spoiler:Obaba]] turns out to be a pair of twins named [[spoiler:Plum and Take]] who are so in tune with each other's sensations that only one of them can be awake at any given time. [[spoiler:Fuyou]] uses this psychic connection to murder both of them in a way that gives [[spoiler:her]] a convenient alibi.
45	* TheSummation: After gathering evidence, Sigma can do this via Hyper-Inference (a board with the 'moments' placed on it in the form of medals, which can be placed in different ways, producing different inferences). Whether he infers rightly or wrongly affects the boss battle afterwards.
46	* TimePolice: PlayedWith. Sigma is indeed one, but [[spoiler:the timeline he thinks he is restoring is the artificial future brought about by time travel]]. [[spoiler:Rin]] is the Time Cop charged with returning things to the way they ''actually'' were.
47	* TimeTravel: The plot of the game hinges on [[spoiler:the conflict between at least two time travelers]] and their efforts to change the past.
48	* TimeyWimeyBall: Time travel was originally presented as having a single timeline, with changes in the past affecting changes in the present. Then, TheReveal shows that [[spoiler:multiple timelines are in play]] and the finale throws out pretty much every rule presented so far so that [[spoiler:Sigma]] can essentially become a RealityWarper so that his timeline can exist instead of being erased.
49	* ThemeMusicPowerUp: What piece of music Sigma is playing affects the recharging rate for Neon's cards. [[spoiler: Rin produces the opposite effect in the final battle by changing the track.]]
50	* TrustPassword: Sigma uses one to get past the butler after the latter has "forgotten" him ([[spoiler: from the butler's point of view, this particular version of Sigma never existed]]) due to the changes in the timeline.
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Context VideoGame / SigmaHarmonics