| 1 | %% To keep things consistent between sections, use the new English names instead of the original Japanese (which can be found in the Characters section). |
| 2 | |
| 3 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TheLastStory350_6894.jpg]] |
| 4 | [[caption-width-right:350: [[SleeperHit Looks like someone still hasn't learned their lessons in naming...]]]] |
| 5 | |
| 6 | A UsefulNotes/{{Wii}}-exclusive [[EasternRPG JRPG]] developed by Creator/{{Mistwalker}} and published and owned by Creator/{{Nintendo}}. It is directed by Hironobu Sakaguchi, who regards it as a SpiritualSuccessor to ''Franchise/FinalFantasy''. |
| 7 | |
| 8 | The game follows the exploits of a [[TrueCompanions gang of sellswords]] who have set up shop on Lazulis Island, governed by the powerful Count Arganan. Soon they get tangled up in a plot involving a Count's niece, [[RedRightHand mysterious arm-based powers]] and the hostile [[OurOrcsAreDifferent Gurak Tribe]]. |
| 9 | |
| 10 | It was released in Japan on 27th January, 2011 and overseas in February 2012. |
| 11 | |
| 12 | ---- |
| 13 | !!This game includes examples of: |
| 14 | |
| 15 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 16 | |
| 17 | [[folder:A-D]] |
| 18 | * EleventhHourSuperpower: |
| 19 | ** While fighting Sentinel Beast Atar, Calista can use the "Ancient Summon" precisely once to call the other Sentinel Beast, Mitra, which proceeds to clip Atar's wings, making the battle a bit easier. |
| 20 | ** During the FinalBoss battle, Yurick gets his Meteor upgraded to "Big Bang", which shatters the boss's impervious barrier. Unlike Calista's Ancient Summon, this one he ''can'' use repeatedly... but only during that battle, [[PlayableEpilogue not after]]. |
| 21 | * HundredPercentHeroismRating: After thirty chapters, the party (who was originally disliked by the populace for being mercenaries) finally becomes the talk of the town because of Zael. At the beginning of the game, if you bumped into people on the street, they would berate you. At this point of the game, the people you bump into start apologizing profusely as Zael is now a Knight hero and they start to suck up to him. Even the random conversations between [=NPCs=] are about Zael and his friends. |
| 22 | * AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: The sewers under Lazulis Island are apparently large enough to house the city's entire [[spoiler:surviving]] population plus leave plenty of dank monster-infested corridors for our heroes to explore. |
| 23 | * AccidentalPervert: Zael can choose to either go to the bathroom where Syrenne and Calista are bathing, or not go in and listen to some very suggestive conversation instead. Going in ends up with a black screen, angry screaming and Zael being hit in the face with a towel. Not going in leads to a more interesting conversation. |
| 24 | * ActionGirl: The playable female characters definitely count. Once you start playing around with their armor/clothing, it gets better. |
| 25 | * AerithAndBob: Names are split between wacky and normal. We've got Zael, Dagran, Syrenne, Yurick and Mirania on the wacky side. Normal names are Ariela (Ariel), Calista (like the actress Calista Flockhart), Lowell, and Asthar (a variation of the name Astor). There are also characters in the Japanese dub named Jill and Tasha. Except both of them are men (Jill is Jirall's Japanese name while Tasha is Therius's Japanese name). |
| 26 | * AfterActionVillainAnalysis: Zael contemplates [[spoiler:Dagran's motivations]] during the epilogue. This also happens towards [[spoiler:Count Arganan and Jirall]] if you visit their rooms at the castle, but not to the same extent. |
| 27 | * AfterCombatRecovery: Everyone is restored to absolutely full health after battle. This does not, however, mean you're always at full health when going ''into'' a battle -- there are one or two events that can drain your HP on the field. |
| 28 | * AlwaysChaoticEvil: Subverted with the [[OurOrcsAreDifferent Gurak,]] but played straight with the [[OurGoblinsAreDifferent Reptids.]] |
| 29 | * AncestralWeapon: Yurick finds the Memento Dagger, which belonged to his father. |
| 30 | * AndIMustScream: The Outsider. [[spoiler: It is a completely sentient entity that has been trapped beneath Lazulis castle for hundreds of years, with no interaction of any kind until Zael showed up. Also note the fact that its very purpose for existing is creating new life, and for all this time it's been doing the exact ''opposite'' against its will.]] |
| 31 | * AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent: |
| 32 | ** You start the game playing as Dagran, and later on when [[spoiler: Zael runs away with Calista]], you control Lowell for a while. |
| 33 | ** Then during one of the last chapters, you even control Syrenne and Yurick for a bit. Each character has a slightly different playstyle, and the game helpfully provides tutorials when you take control. |
| 34 | ** You also control Calista during a StealthBasedMission. Poor Mirania gets left out of the loop it seems. |
| 35 | * AndYourRewardIsClothes: |
| 36 | ** In the case of the armor you receive. Each armor and leg armor set you have serve as different sets of clothes for your characters. If you upgrade each piece to +9 the clothing gets more and more ridiculous with the addition of chains, armor pieces over shoulders/legs, capes and other fancy bits. Furthermore, you can fully customise the armour as you see fit, colouring or removing pieces of armour as you like, or even making the character go in underwear. You also get three other sets of clothes later on that serve as "costume" armor. They have abysmal stats and cannot be customised, but when fully-upgraded grant some incredible effects. |
| 37 | ** There's even a bit of GameplayAndStorySegregation if you try to equip your characters with the clothes they're wearing in their official artwork: |
| 38 | *** Zael is wearing ''Cloth'' armour in his artwork. While not necessarily bad, the armour is far more suited to a mage than a warrior, granting bonuses to casting speed and HP. |
| 39 | *** Calista can find the dress she wears in her artwork. However, it's black and there is nothing you can do to change it to white. |
| 40 | *** Dagran's "official" armour in-game is Hunter armour. In his artwork he is wearing what appears to be a version of the Heavy Armour that is impossible to obtain or customise in the game. |
| 41 | * AnimeHair: The characters in ''The Last Story'' don't have particularly outlandish hairstyles, but they are pretty non-standard, with various spikes, braids and whatnot. Zael and Dagran have bird feathers braided into their hair. At least in the concept art Zael's mother can clearly be seen with a feather woven into the end of her long braided hair. Mirania has feathers in her hair as well. |
| 42 | * AnnouncerChatter: Lazulis City has a combat arena with a pair of announcers, who have special sets of lines for one particular set of battles in addition to the more generic chatter. After the main character is known to be the favorite of the city's leader, your enemies throw their fights, leading the announcers to gripe and complain about it. |
| 43 | * AnnoyingLaugh: One of the [=NPCs=] that joins in the later chapters is a knight named Baron Huge. He has a ''really'' annoying 'Nyahahaha'/'Gyahahaha' laugh. Syrenne points this out and devises ways to cave his skull in later. |
| 44 | * AristocratsAreEvil: The game is '''not''' kind in its depiction of nobility. |
| 45 | * ArrangedMarriage: Initially before the game starts, Calista was engaged to Jirall. She meets Zael and things change. |
| 46 | * ArtificialAtmosphericActions: The gameallows you to knock over baskets of onions, which then [[SlipperySkid knock over the other [=NPCs=] when they step on them]]. Two of them border a plot-important cutscene of Zael discovering Lisa hiding in a wagon. As Zael and Lisa gaze fondly into each other's eyes, oblivious to the rest of the world, [[FunnyBackgroundEvent the randomly-generated passersby hurtle over with comedy 'thunk' sounds]]. |
| 47 | * ArtificialLimbs: When you first meet Count Arganan, you notice that on the left side of his body, his arm and leg are in armor. Looks like he lost them or got them replaced in some unfortunate accident. |
| 48 | * AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: When you go to the Market, you hear a lot of talking in the background. However for some damned reason it's not in English or Japanese but some completely foreign language. Even the term 'Marche' is foreign as it is French for Market. |
| 49 | * AutomaticCrossbows: Zael's crossbow has an infinite magazine and can keep on shooting one-handed until he runs out of ammo. |
| 50 | * {{Autosave}}: The game's autosave is referred to as a "Checkpoint Save", and it's made any time you're about to go into a battle. The game notes that it only keeps ''one'' Checkpoint Save at a time, though you can have as many save files (using the traditional SavePoint) as you want. |
| 51 | * AwardBaitSong: ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wm4MrwujFU The Flying One]]'', the vocal version of its main theme, which plays over the end credits. It shares a number of stylistic similarities with the end credits songs favored by Creator/StudioGhibli, but it's still distinctly Award Bait-y. |
| 52 | * BackToBackBadasses: Near end-game, Zael and Therius do this as they fight off the invading Gurak troops. |
| 53 | * BaitAndSwitchBoss: After fighting your way to the captain's cabin on the Gurak ship, he has just enough time to start a pre-battle speech before he's one-shotted by a giant armoured seal-bear-turtle thing that bursts through the wall, which you then have to fight. |
| 54 | * BananaPeel: You can buy Prank Bananas (which, somehow, can be fired via crossbow) and shoot them at [=NPCs=] and your party members. HilarityEnsues. You can also use them on enemies too. |
| 55 | %%* BandOfBrothers: The mercenaries. |
| 56 | * BattleCouple: Zael and Calista. Some Chapters just have the two of them by themselves until things get messy and the reinforcements show up. The epilogue seals it completely when [[spoiler:they get married right after defeating one last boss]]. |
| 57 | * BattleThemeMusic: Many standard bosses, usually non-sapient monsters, share the same theme (namely "Evil Beasts"); however, plot-critical opponents get a unique theme each: "Battle General Asthar" (self-explanatory, though it's also hear when [[spoiler:Zael and Callista flee from the knighting protocol planned by Count Arganan]]), "Dance of Death" (Zepha and Zesha, though they later use a SadBattleMusic triggered following [[spoiler:Lowell's temporary death]]), "Invitation to Madness" (Jirall), "Patina of the King" (Zangurak), and "The One Ruling Everything" ([[spoiler:Dagran, in all his phases]]). Many of these themes invoke AutobotsRockOut, and are intentionally reminiscent of "Those Who Fight Further" of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' fame, due to Creator/NobuoUematsu composing for both games. As for regular enemy battles, "Order and Chaos" is usually played. |
| 58 | * BavarianFireDrill: At the ball introducing Calista as Jirall's bride-to-be, she leaves the room and goes outside. Zael tries to follow but it stopped by a knight who demands he returns to his post. Dagran then smoothly comes in to cover for Zael by informing the guard that there was a change to the roster and that they should talk it over, leaving Zael free to go outside. |
| 59 | * BelligerentSexualTension: Lowell and Syrenne. Lowell manages to cop a feel and he gets his ass beat for his trouble. Lowell also comments that Syrenne 'isn't a woman' and nearly gets beaten to death with a bar stool. |
| 60 | * BerserkButton: [[spoiler:[[VideoGameCrueltyPotential Zael can say "no way" to Calista when exchanging his wedding vows with her.]] Cue "What." and a slap in the face. Do it three times and it's a NonStandardGameOver.]] |
| 61 | * {{BFS}}: |
| 62 | ** Some of the later upgrades are pretty huge. Made even huger with weapon size codes. |
| 63 | ** The Zanlance is a massive, massive spear. |
| 64 | * BigBad: [[WellIntentionedExtremist Zangurak]], the leader of the Gurak race who unites the Gurak against humanity.[[spoiler:However, it's revealed that [[BigBadFriend Dagran]] is the real villain, having masterminded the Gurak and Lazulis war and has been scheming to gain the power of the Outsider so he may reshape the world how he sees fit.]] |
| 65 | * BigBadEnsemble: There are two major antagonistic forces in the story: Count Arganan, who wants to start a war on the Gurak and marry Callista off to Jirall to become more powerful in the empire; and Zangurak, the Gurak king that seeks to take back their land since the land they have now is not producing enough resources for them. [[spoiler:Secretly, there's also BigBadFriend Dagran, who is the game's FinalBoss and the one that was playing both sides behind the scenes.]] |
| 66 | * BigBoosHaunt: One chapter takes place in a haunted house. Or rather a haunted manor belonging to some long-dead noble. There's also the ancient tomb with a necromancer a few chapters prior to that. |
| 67 | * BigBrotherMentor: Dagran and Lowell. Dagran teaches Zael the swordplay type things, Lowell tries to teach Zael the art of flirting with women. |
| 68 | * BiggerIsBetter: During the mission where Syrenne asks you to go get some beer, if you go around the back of the tavern and stop at a certain spot, you can hear Dagran and Lowell comparing their sizes. They also mention Yurick. |
| 69 | * BigFancyCastle: Lazulis Castle, the biggest building on Lazulis Island. It even has its own {{Magitek}} cannon. |
| 70 | * BishieSparkle: Later in the game (once you can access Multiplay mode) one of the prizes you earn is an 'effect' dye which you can apply on your character's customizable color pallet and it can make them sparkle silver (or gold if you win that one). |
| 71 | * BittersweetEnding: The game ends with the war between humans and Gurak terminated, ending with both races living together in peace. Also, the Outsider is reassembled and it flies to space where it belongs. [[spoiler:Calista marries Zael, and eventually gives him the title of Knight he has been dreaming of]]. However, the characters lament that [[spoiler:Dagran had to be killed when he revealed himself to be a comrade of Zangurak, though he manages to redeem right before his death. It's also revealed that, despite his questionable ambitions, Count Arganan was not purely evil like he thought, and even the otherwise jerk-acting Jirall had earned an undeserved death after he slipped into insanity as a result of Dagran having falsely accused him for the death of General Asthar, which was actually Dagran's crime]]. |
| 72 | * BlackAndGrayMorality: Most of the cast falls into this category, being either A) actually evil, or B) willing to work for ObviouslyEvil people for purely personal gain. Hell, the ''frickin' hero'' of the story comes within seconds of willingly [[JumpedOffTheSlipperySlope Jumping off the Slippery Slope]], again for his own personal gain. |
| 73 | * BladeLock: Zael gets to banter with both General Asthar and Sir Therius in this way. |
| 74 | * BloodlessCarnage: You're beating monsters/humans/animals to death with huge swords and not a drop of blood spills. |
| 75 | * BlowYouAway: Zael's Gale attack. The magical wind it casts allows it to dispel magic circles, both his party members' to extend their effects and those of the enemies to nullify them. |
| 76 | * BlueBlood: The Arganan family and other attached/unnamed nobility, including Lord Jirall. |
| 77 | * BodyguardCrush: Zael has a thing for Calista, even though she's already engaged. This changes, however. |
| 78 | * BoobyTrap: Exploring the underground ruins and choosing to 'check' the doors for hidden switches yourself instead of having Horace help you leads to the door blowing up Zael or causing him some pain in some other manner. Horace falls victim to one near a certain treasure chest, too. |
| 79 | * BoomHeadshot: The game explicitly informs you when your crossbows (or magic) land a headshot. Crossbows in particular tend to deal additional effects with a headshot (the standard crossbow can paralyze, and the Sniper Crossbow lands up to triple damage). Combine this with some enemy-specific ammunition and you can take out a lot of enemies in one shot. |
| 80 | * BossAlteringConsequence: The penultimate boss fight with Zangurak, the BigBad of the game, is fought in two phases: one as a DuelBoss with Zael, and the second with the entire party. The second round in particular will give him a shield that can only be broken by his own personal weapon, the Zan Lance, [[TacticalSuicideBoss which he will always throw at the player]]. If the player manages to pick it up before Zangurak can, it can be used to destroy his shield and make it possible for him to be damaged conventionally. However, if the player has [[LethalJokeItem Prank Bananas]] in their inventory, they can fire these banana peels from their crossbow, where Zangurak will comedically slip on them and drop the lance without fail. There are only a few bosses and enemies that are affected by the item, where it can create opportunities to attack. The Prank Banana tactic is viable in both phases of Zangurak's boss fight, where he will be either slipping on the peels to leave him open or won't have a chance to pick up his lance. The Zan Lance in particular can only be obtained if the player deals the final blow to Zangurak in the second phase using his own weapon. |
| 81 | * BossBanter: Inverted, as it's the main characters who continuously discuss about the possible weaknesses of the bosses they fight. There are a few exceptions, such as human (or humanoid) bosses who can speak. |
| 82 | * BossBattle: There's usually one at the end of every chapter that has lots of combat. Sometimes multiple bosses in one chapter. |
| 83 | * BossRush: Chapter 40 has rematches against Berith (first fought in Chapter 33), Zepha and Zesha (fought together in Chapter 35, fought separately this time), Zangurak (first fought in chapter 10) and [[spoiler:Dagran]] as the FinalBoss. Five bosses in total. |
| 84 | * BottomlessMagazines: Your standard crossbow bolts are magical and never run out ("An archer's best friend" indeed.), but extremely weak and useful primarily for disrupting enemy mages. Other types of arrows are more powerful, but have limited ammunition. |
| 85 | * BowAndSwordInAccord: Zael uses a sword and a one-handed crossbow. This crossbow can also shoot explosive arrows, fireworks and (yes) banana peels. |
| 86 | * BoyMeetsGirl: In some very odd circumstances, as boy finds girl hiding in a horse-drawn cart of all places. |
| 87 | * BunnyEarsLawyer: Lowell. He channels the characters that his voice actor Creator/KeijiFujiwara has voiced. |
| 88 | * ButForMeItWasTuesday: A rare heroic example: The Gurak Captain from the ship swears revenge on Zael in the PlayableEpilogue, whose response is "Who are you?" |
| 89 | * ButtMonkey: |
| 90 | ** Lowell. His attempt to flirt with Ariela is completely rejected when she replies with 'What would like to order?' and 'Call me when you've decided what you want to have'. He then says something to Syrenne and gets pushed over the balcony and when the screen goes black, it sounds like he lands on a table. Hard. He gets beat up by Syrenne constantly. Even in cut-scenes he gets the short end of the stick. While examining a mirror he gets abducted by an evil spirit. He is the victim of a groin attack. All sorts of horrible things happen to Lowell, but he doesn't seem to complain. Much. |
| 91 | ** The Gurak Captain also gets the short end of the stick. Each MonsterOfTheWeek he tries to sic on the party ends up squishing him or slapping him into a wall before turning to the party. His presence is denied by Zael, when Lowell and Syrenne ask if he ''knows' the Captain. Zael kind of thinks about it, shrugs and says no. He then remembers once he sees the Captain getting squished by a monster. |
| 92 | --->''' Zael ''': Ooh, that guy. |
| 93 | * ButThouMust: |
| 94 | ** When the party is accused, imprisoned, and interrogated for "abducting" Calista, Zael won't let you tell the truth, assuming [[CassandraTruth nobody will believe him]] if he says it was Calista's idea to not head straight back to Lazulis. |
| 95 | ** When the Count initially makes his offer of knighthood to Zael, your two options are "Yes" and "I need more time to think it over". |
| 96 | ** During Zael's actual knighting ceremony, [[spoiler:Zael won't let you swear fealty to the Count, hesitating and wondering why did he want to become a knight in the first place. You have to refuse the Count's offer.]] |
| 97 | ** Sometimes it's played for laughs; if in the epilogue, you choose to [[spoiler:say "no" to marrying Calista instead of "I do," she slugs Zael, knocking him out. When he wakes up, everyone pretends it never happened. Even if you do it again. But beware: At a third refusal, the wedding will be cancelled for real and you'll get a NonStandardGameOver]]. |
| 98 | * CantActPervertedTowardALoveInterest: Averted, as Zael goofs and walks in on the girls bathing. |
| 99 | * CartwrightCurse: [[CasanovaWannabe Lowell]] is revealed to suffer from this in an [[GuideDangIt easily-missed]] optional scene. Every woman he's ever gotten serious with has died some way or another, be it from an unprecedented bandit raid, or [[InstantIllness suddenly contracting a fatal illness]], or something else. This "living hell", as he describes it, has haunted him for most of his life, [[HeroicBSOD breaking him more than once]], and he lives in constant fear of falling in love with someone (or someone else falling in love with him) and them subsequently dying horribly. Rather than isolate himself and spend his life alone, he's resolved himself to be a playboy who flirts around but never lets anything "deep or serious" come of it. [[spoiler:[[LadykillerInLove It doesn't last.]] Although, [[ZigZaggingTrope nothing bad happens to his new love interest.]]]] |
| 100 | * ChainOfDeals: To get a rare katana weapon, Zael has to: |
| 101 | -->First: Talk to Ariela in the bar to get a lunchbox\ |
| 102 | Second: Give the lunchbox to a hungry kid near the river for a towel.\ |
| 103 | Third: Give the towel to a guy in the craftsman's alley for a book on magic.\ |
| 104 | Fourth: Give the book to a young mage in the castle library for a book on Basic Aristocracy.\ |
| 105 | Fifth: Give the book to a young lady outside the castle for a jewel.\ |
| 106 | Sixth: Give the jewel to a noblewoman inside the castle for a Ship's Journal.\ |
| 107 | Finally: Go to the jail to find Zoran and give him back his journal for his sword. |
| 108 | :: Thankfully, most of the characters readily drop hints about the item they're looking for. |
| 109 | * CherryBlossoms: The Katanas make cherry blossoms fall when you swing them. From their blades. |
| 110 | * CherryTapping: There are bosses that must be taken down in a way more similar to an action game by putting it in a weakened state or expose its weakpoint in some way. Or, you can just attack it head on, dealing minimal damage but relying on chains to deal more damage anyway, and diffusing healing circles as they come to keep your party alive. |
| 111 | * TheChessmaster: [[spoiler: Dagran hatches a plan to get revenge on Asthar and get away scot-free. First, he builds up a trusted relationship with the royal family to get close to Asthar and remove suspicion from himself. To speed this along, he encourages Zael to become a knight and befriends Calista. Then he uses the Gurak invasion of Lazulis Island as a massive smokescreen to stab Asthar in the back with no witnesses and an army of potential suspects. It would have been a perfect plan, had Zael not been in the wrong place at the wrong time and gotten himself arrested for Asthar's murder, forcing Dagran to frame Jirall and creating enough inconsistencies that Therius is encouraged to PullTheThread]]. |
| 112 | * ChickMagnet: Zael does pretty well for himself, considering he only has eyes for Calista. When you bump into some of the female [=NPCs=] in the city, some of them will comment that Zael has a "nice ass". |
| 113 | * ChivalrousPervert: Lowell. He hits on the ladies. He usually fails however. |
| 114 | * ClicheStorm: Lampshaded repeatedly in-universe, in a weird, [[SelfDeprecation self-deprecating]] sort of way. At its heart, there is nothing new about ''The Last Story'''s plot. The bad guys want to either TakeOverTheWorld or KillAllHumans and the central couple are a pair of {{Satellite Love Interest}}s. All of the OlderAndWiser mercenaries ''completely'' understand this. As a result, they either snark about how the evenings unfold around them or, more often, {{Troll}} the living hell out of the GenreBlind characters. The scene in which Zael first meets Calista is a great example of this. The other mercenaries might not know her exact secret but it's clear from their reactions to her posh accent that they know she's not just some random girl he picked up. So, they make like ''that's exactly what he's been doing''. It rears its head a fair bit in the sidequests as well, meaning that much of the game plays out like a grown-up version of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV''. |
| 115 | * {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: From her RaisedByWolves childhood, Mirania just doesn't seem to "get" normal human interaction. |
| 116 | * ConvenientlyAnOrphan: The entire party save for Lowell and Syrenne are noted to have been orphaned. |
| 117 | * ColorWash: Many of the environments in the game are faded out in the daytime, making the world appear to be various grey tones. Sunrise/sunset typically provides an orange wash, and nighttime is very heavily colored blue. |
| 118 | * CoolSword: Some the sword designs are a little extravagant, to put it simply. Some of them get pretty ridiculous and have their own flaming aura in various colors. |
| 119 | * CounterAttack: Zael, Syrenne, and Dagran learn abilities to block and counter physical attacks with the right timing on their Guard command. It can even reflect magical projectiles back upon their casters. A few bosses even have abilities to block and counter your basic attacks if you're not careful about when you strike them. |
| 120 | * CovertPervert: Zael to an extent. When you run into Syrenne and Lowell at the Arena, Syrenne starts to come onto him and makes him feel really, really awkward. He misunderstands her 'description' of the arena for something akin to a brothel which leads to [[SomethingElseAlsoRises a sound effect for a minor change in his physiology]]. |
| 121 | * CowardlyBoss: Immortal vampire Nebirous is completely invulnerable until you nail him with a Silver Arrow. At which point he turns around and flees until he can get his invulnerability up again. |
| 122 | * CowardlyLion: Horace. You really can't blame the guy though, he's normally running an Upgrade store, not dungeon crawling or saving the world. |
| 123 | * CoyGirlishFlirtPose: |
| 124 | ** When Lowell hits on a maid, it's already clear it's working, as she stands in this pose. |
| 125 | ** Calista does this to Zael while ''[[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything she's sitting on a bed.]]'' |
| 126 | * CriticalHit: Normally occuring randomly, but a few bosses have weak points that can be exploited to always land a critical on them. |
| 127 | * CuteClumsyGirl: {{NPC}} character Mina, when first introduced drops lemons from a cart onto Zael. Zael promptly slips and falls on the loose fruit. |
| 128 | * {{Cutscene}}: Cutscenes are typically letterboxed, but most are in-engine rendering instead of pre-rendered. However one mechanic in them requires you to 'look' (in First-Person view) for certain points in the area in order to advance it. This mechanic is also used just before some fights, as you can use it to avoid being ambushed or squished by traps. |
| 129 | * CutsceneIncompetence: The party have big huge swords and lots of ass kicking moves... yet for some reason when a cutscene comes up they manage to screw up something royal. Really Zael, you beat the crap out of twenty dudes by yourself no problem earlier, but when three knights show up to take you away, you don't put up a fight? |
| 130 | * CycleOfHurting: This is mostly averted since all party members, including the protagonist, can die up to 4 times in any battle with no repercussions... then you meet the Forest Spider, which can hit you with a web you have to button-mash your way out of, and if you're not fast enough, not lined up right to retaliate, or are hit by the boss's flunkies, it gives the boss the time to remove one of your party member from the remainder of the battle. It can do this until you're left with your protagonist alone, by which time you can be permanently locked in the Paralysis status for the rest of your five lives. |
| 131 | * DamselInDistress: Calista gets kidnapped by the Gurak, twice. She does fare better afterwards, being one of the key party members. |
| 132 | * DeathEqualsRedemption: [[spoiler:Dagran, who manages to return to the good side right after his terminal defeat in the final battle]]. Even after his death, he manages to [[spoiler:use the power of the Outsider to revive Lowell]]. |
| 133 | * DecadentCourt: The game takes places on an island run by a court which has fallen into this. Nearly anyone who isn't [[AristocratsAreEvil outright evil]] is an UpperClassTwit. If not both. |
| 134 | * DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: A lot of character archetypes that are very prevalent in [=JRPGs=], including ''Final Fantasy'', are re-examined and put through its paces by exploring aspects that are typically focused on in an adventure like this. Some of these are also a DeconReconSwitch, however. |
| 135 | ** Zael is one of romantic RPG protagonists in general. He falls LoveAtFirstSight with a RebelliousPrincess, and then tries to spend the rest of the game trying to woo her over. He however doesn't realise that everything he's doing is just serving to push her away... and then there's the fact that, even though Calista loves him, she ''doesn't'' want to be with him because she's afraid that Zael will get trapped in her world of corrupt nobles and backstabbing politicians. This unfortunately convinces Zael to try harder, which only causes more problems in the long run. It almost feels like Sakaguchi was using Zael to take pot-shots at his earlier, idealistically-romantic, games. [[spoiler:Up until the ending, that is, where he and Calista get married, live HappilyEverAfter, reconstructing the trope to a degree]]. |
| 136 | ** Calista is one to Sakaguchi's past RPG heroines, in a similar vein as Zael to the male protagonists. |
| 137 | ** Jirall is a very deliberate one for characters who are a DracoInLeatherPants. He ''wants'' to be one but everyone who's plot-relevant sees this and don't treat him as such. At first, this causes him to descend into the game's ButtMonkey. Later, the fact that [[ItsAllAboutMe nobody will treat him exactly how he wants]] causes him to undergo SanitySlippage [[spoiler:until he finally snaps completely and becomes so dangerously insane that he has to be put down]].[[invoked]] |
| 138 | * DialogDuringGameplay: The game does this almost constantly throughout the game. There are even many sections where a player might hold back in finishing off a boss in order to hear the full conversation. |
| 139 | * DialogueTree: You ''do'' get dialogue options but are generally prevented from picking whatever one you feel like. For example, early on you can either talk to Calista or put your arm around her while stargazing. Those hoping to be romantic about the whole thing will be disappointed to learn that, should you pick the latter, Zael just chickens out and staggers back a bit. If trying a second time, Zael will (hilariously) fall into the ocean. |
| 140 | * DisneyDeath: [[spoiler:Near the end of Chapter 40, the main story's final chapter, Lowell will take a hit meant for Syrenne, which kills him. He's removed from the party and is the only one to not fight the FinalBoss. However, after the final boss is defeated, the power of the Outsider brings him back to life, with a somewhat short amount of time between the shock of his death and revival.]] |
| 141 | * DisposableFiance: [[spoiler:Jirall. After a turn of events, Count Arganan tells Zael that he may be able to marry Calista; effectively removing Jirall from the equation. This causes Jirall to get ''really'' pissed.]] |
| 142 | * DissonantLaughter: Asthar loves to have a good laugh. Sometimes for no reason at all. |
| 143 | * DoppelgangerAttack: Aside from a boss ''called'' Doppelganger (who transforms into copies of your party members), the monster Berith can create two fake copies of itself, which have all the same attacks but explode after taking a certain amount of damage. |
| 144 | * DrawAggro: Zael has the ability Gathering, which causes enemies to focus on him. This can be turned on and off at will. |
| 145 | * DualWielding: Syrenne uses two swords/daggers/whatever she gets her hands on. Also [[spoiler: Zepha and Zesha, you get their swords the North, East, West and South Wings when you defeat them.]] |
| 146 | * DuelBoss: Four, in total. [[spoiler:One against Asthar, then against the LaughingMad Jirall, later one against the first form of Zangurak and, in the Epilogue, a duel against Therius]]. Notably, three of them all use quick-time events at specific intervals throughout the fight. |
| 147 | * TheDulcineaEffect: Zael meets Calista, and the five minutes later he beats up a knight and proceeds in running through town helping her escape them. |
| 148 | * DubNameChange: Sieren to Syrenne, Yuris to Yurick, Elza to Zael, Quark to Dagran, Jackal to Lowell, Manamia to Mirania, and Kanan to Calista. Averted with Ruli and Lazulis, as "Ruli" is simply Japanese for 'Lapis Lazuli', hence Lazulis. |
| 149 | * DullSurprise: The slack-jawed look on Lowell 's face as a ghost pops up in front of him, and proceeds in abducting him. |
| 150 | * DyingDealUpgrade: The Guraks give Jirall a cursed sword to help him consumate his revenge against Zael, but at the cost of destroying his sanity in the process. |
| 151 | [[/folder]] |
| 152 | |
| 153 | [[folder:E-K]] |
| 154 | * EasyExp: The Summon Circles allow you to repeatedly summon enemies so you can defeat them and your party members can get experience points. It helps that most of them are close to the whereabouts of the bosses. |
| 155 | * AnEconomyIsYou: As far as weapons, armor and upgrading them go, the party is the main source of business. The 'rest' of the economy however is based on the party buying produce and selling it back to earn money, kind of like a stock market. |
| 156 | -->'''Street Merchant''': Eggs are cheap today, quickly buy some today! |
| 157 | * EdgeGravity: You can't actually fall down BottomlessPits, but you do get an animation for trying. |
| 158 | * ElementalCrafting: Subverted . You can find copper, silver, gold, and even platinum swords... which are explicitly stated to be purely decorative items which, not shockingly, are terrible as actual equipment. They're intended to be used as ShopFodder. |
| 159 | * ElementalRockPaperScissors: There are three pairs of elements: Fire/Ice, Light/Dark, and Nature/Star, and between your four mages you have access to everything except Dark and Star (though you can find weapons with those elements). Some enemies can absorb an element as HP (any element except Star). |
| 160 | * EliteMooks: |
| 161 | ** The undead in Chapter 1 count since they resurrect and the idea is you're supposed to run the hell away from them instead of fighting them. Undead soldiers found later either ressurect randomly or not at all. |
| 162 | ** Cave Cougars can be found in a few areas (and particularly when replaying dungeons). At level 40, and in groups of 3 or more, they will [[TotalPartyKill make rugs out of YOU]] if you're not properly prepared (even if you're up to or above their experience level) to take them down. The kicker is you don't even get experience points for killing them, since they show up mainly in replayable areas of dungeons. |
| 163 | ** In NewGamePlus, some of the summon circle monsters become this. |
| 164 | ** Some Mooks have the word 'Elite' after their name. |
| 165 | * EncounterBait: Red Summon Circles allow you to summon optional enemies to get bonus experience points and more item drops. |
| 166 | * EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: [[spoiler:Jirall spends much of his DuelBoss fight with Zael crying out to his absent mother like a child about how mean everyone has been to him. It's as creepy as you'd expect it to be]]. |
| 167 | -->'''Jirall''': Mummy! Zael has been teasing me! He needs to die! Everyone has been mean to me! Die, die, die, die, die! |
| 168 | * EvilEmpire: Averted; while there are a few references to the Empire as a whole and some Emperor at its center, all you actually see of the Empire up close is Lazulis Island, which (despite a scheming Count and some corrupt Knights) is a peaceful, free city and your current base of operations. |
| 169 | * EvilWeapon: Zangurak gives [[spoiler: Jirall the Emperor sword. It warps him so that half of his body is scaly and black. Jirall, who already hates Zael tries to use it to kill him. You get the Emperor sword after you defeat Jirall.]] And even after you remove the curse, the weapon turns whoever wields it into a GlassCannon, with reasonably high attack power but only one life instead of five. |
| 170 | * ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: "The Outsider" is a "[[spoiler:[[EldritchAbomination not from this world]] thing]]". |
| 171 | * {{Expy}}: |
| 172 | ** The FiveManBand is very similar to the one in ''VideoGame/BlueDragon'', another Mistwalker RPG. Add Mirania and Dagran, and they're similar to ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'''s playables. |
| 173 | ** Zangurak looks and behaves a lot like [[Franchise/TheLegendofZelda Ganondorf]]. |
| 174 | ** Sentinel Beasts Mitra and Atar are similar to Bahamut and Tiamat from ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', and the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series. Both are pairs of draconic 'siblings'. Mitra, like Bahamut, is light aligned, more benevolent, and [[spoiler:summonable]], while Atar is darker, and more aggressive, like Tiamat. |
| 175 | ** Yurick looks just like a male [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII Fujin]]. |
| 176 | * EyepatchOfPower: Yurick is missing an eye, and in its place is [[spoiler:a magical stone]] that is the source of his magical power. |
| 177 | * FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Dagran, who turns out to be the last boss of the game]]. |
| 178 | * FanGirl: |
| 179 | ** One side quest involves Zael going to see the fortuneteller to get his love fortune told. He then goes to the Balcony of the plaza and gets to flirt with a random girl. You repeat this process successfully eight times, and then when Zael goes to the bar where the girl(s) tell him to meet them, they all start squeeing madly. |
| 180 | ** Later in the story, some of the [[{{Meido}} maids]] in the castle start talking about which of the male mercenaries they like the best. They mention Zael, Lowell and Yurick. |
| 181 | ** There's a girl in the Library who [[{{PrecociousCrush}} wants to marry Yurick]]. Her brother is less than impressed. |
| 182 | * FantasticRacism: Humans seem to hate the Gurak, a lot. And likewise the Gurak hate humans. |
| 183 | * FeedItABomb: In the boss battle against the Queen of the Abyss in Chapter 24, Dagran notices that the boss keeps its mouth open as it prepares to swallow its victims, and tells Zael to throw a bomb in it whenever it happens. He even invokes it by having Lowell serve as bait. |
| 184 | * FeelNoPain: One cut scene has Zael giving an armored knight a left cross, with his bare hand if you haven't upgraded your armor much. This knight is also wearing a helmet. |
| 185 | * FemaleGaze: Zael and his butt, as noted by the women of Lazulis Island. |
| 186 | * FetchQuest: |
| 187 | ** The ChainOfDeals to obtain the katana. |
| 188 | ** Other fetch quests include: buying/finding ingredients for [=NPCs=] so that they give you materials for upgrading your gear in exchange. |
| 189 | * FieryRedhead: Syrenne, who can get pretty riled up when people talk down about mercenaries. |
| 190 | * {{Flashback}}: The game has some cutscenes which go back to Zael 's past when he's a child. One is where he first meets Dagran. The others are a bit darker. |
| 191 | %%* FlashStep: Some bosses have this ability. It gets really annoying. |
| 192 | * FlechetteStorm: The Muruk bosses can cover the entire arena in a shower of paralyzing spines. The Final Boss also has a flechette attack that inflicts Death (a countdown timer) on anyone it hits. Both can be blocked with the Barrier status buff or by standing inside an active Heal Circle. |
| 193 | * FlunkyBoss: Several bosses in the game summon enemies to disturb the player's strategies. Terracor (first fight), Marbas and Necromancer are only some examples. |
| 194 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: |
| 195 | ** [[spoiler:The fully upgraded Phantom Blade]] has a 80 percent chance of increased damage to humans. The weapon is gained long after the games early bandits. |
| 196 | ** There are quite a few hints of [[spoiler:Dagran being EvilAllAlong]]. Some of which includes Ashtar cryptically hinting at an untrustworthy man, [[spoiler:him being willing to frame Jirall for the murder, he is essentially the only character with no alibi, when he follows Zangurak on the attack on the fortress, he is left alive by the king, and he is missing for the entire final segment of the game.]] |
| 197 | %%* FreezeSneeze: Calista when you first meet her, and Mirania in the Underground Ruins. |
| 198 | %%* FrothyMugsOfWater: Averted in the UK Dub. |
| 199 | * FryingPanOfDoom: This is one of the joke weapons, as well as the most convenient blunt object Mirania had on hand to beat Zoran over the head with. |
| 200 | * FunnyBackgroundEvent: |
| 201 | ** While Calista is busy arguing with two knights who were harassing a merchant, Zael is in the background pacing back and forth, wondering if he should either interrupt, run away or help. The horrified look on his face is priceless. |
| 202 | ** While we don't see this, during Season 3 of the Arena matches, the Commentator (a human) gets attacked by his new co-commentator (a monster). Whatever's going on there, it sounds hilarious. |
| 203 | %%* GambitPileup |
| 204 | * GameOver: If Zael loses all lives during a battle. If this occurs during a replayable dungeon trek, you at least get the option to return to town (keeping whatever you acquired before getting wiped out) instead of having to reload your save. |
| 205 | * GenderBlenderName: In the Japanese version, we have Tasha and Jill. Both are men. The English dub [[{{Woolseyism}} Woolseyed]] this to "Therius" and "Jirall". |
| 206 | * GhostShip: A haunted shipwreck located in the Vono Islands is visited. One of the crew members who perished when the ship wrecked was [[spoiler:Yurick's father]]. |
| 207 | * GiantMook |
| 208 | ** The first Reptid Gladiator you encounter will probably kick your tail if you try to face it conventionally; on the other hand, he's also a tutorial for your Slash skill, which easily lands a OneHitKill on him. |
| 209 | ** Others include Ogres, Giant Spiders and other varieties of Giant Lizardmen which are harder to kill. |
| 210 | * GladiatorGames: There is a large battle arena in Lazulis City where the party can go grind Exp, Gold and win rare items. This is useful considering the ability to revisit previous maps only lets you grind items and gold, but not Experience Points. |
| 211 | * GoodColoursEvilColours: Blue and white for the good guys, and black and red for the bad guys. |
| 212 | * GoodScarsEvilScars: A few characters have very noticeable scars: |
| 213 | ** Lowell has a very large four pointed star shaped scar on the right side of his neck, which you don't see very often due to scenes where he talks you usually see the left side of his body, as well as his initial equipment has him wearing a scarf/kerchief that covers his neck. |
| 214 | ** General Asthar has a number of scars across his face. They only increase his badassery. |
| 215 | ** Count Arganan has a particularly nasty scar/burn wound behind his eyepatch. |
| 216 | * GreatEscape: Subverted. The party is put in jail after being accused of kidnapping royalty by Jirall. They plan to escape via the underground ruins in the jail. They end up failing miserably after they fight their way through the undead hordes to find that they've reached a dead-end (snowy mountains, which are at least open to the sky), so they give up and head back to the cell. In the meantime, Lowell's been keeping the prison guards busy enough chatting to "forget" how five people are missing from their cell. |
| 217 | * GreatOffscreenWar: A war occurred hundreds of years ago and was ended by House Arganan. Later on, another large war engulfed the Empire that killed the families of Zael and Dagran, which led to them becoming mercenaries. In addition to ''that'', it is also stated that the Empire has fought many campaigns against the Gurak people in the past. The game's plot is well and truly kicked off when the Gurak invade Lazulis Island, sparking off another war. |
| 218 | * TheGrimReaper: The 'vampire' boss Nebirous, which looks more like your classic grim reaper than a vampire. It is actually a coffin with a grim reaper motif. |
| 219 | * GroinAttack: A wall retaliates at Lowell for kicking it by slamming itself into his groin. Syrenne laughs at him and she gets smacked upside the head by the wall as well. |
| 220 | * GuestStarPartyMember: [[spoiler:Count Arganan]]. At one critical moment of the game, he forces his way into your party until [[spoiler:the source of the power of the Outsider disintegrates him]]. The game also gives you General Asthar, Sir Therius, and Horace as guest star party members at different points in the game. Asthar is often much stronger than the player party, while Therius is generally on par with them, and Horace is a virtual [[NonActionGuy non-combatant]], being a shopkeeper who gets roped into the group's zany adventures from time to time. |
| 221 | * GuideDangIt: |
| 222 | ** Some of the missable rare items and subquests are really hard to find since you have to find that one NPC among the other faceless [=NPCs=] in town. |
| 223 | ** Some entire optional chapters can be missed as well if players fail to find the correct NPC that initiates it. |
| 224 | * HappilyMarried: Horace and Meredith, and later [[spoiler:Zael and Calista]]. |
| 225 | * HardDrinkingPartyGirl: Syrenne, one of female characters, ''really'' likes her drink. One of the joke weapons in the game is a wine bottle. Give it to Syrenne and it's hilarious. |
| 226 | * HauntedHouse: There's a chapter centered around one of these. The master of the place is an elder vampire with a fondness for [[AndIMustScream sealing his victims inside coffins]] and toying with them. He's also invulnerable until weakened by [[SilverHasMysticPowers special means]]. |
| 227 | * HealingHands: One of the powers [[TheHero Zael]] is granted by his [[BirthmarkOfDestiny outsider's mark]] is cure, which allows him to revive an incapacitated party member by touching them while in [[SuperMode gathering mode.]] He demonstrates this for the first time by using it to revive [[HardDrinkingPartyGirl Syrenne]] after a [[LizardFolk Reptid]] [[ImpromptuTracheotomy shoots her in the throat with a crossbow.]] |
| 228 | * HeelFaceTurn: Zoran, when [[spoiler: Lazulis Island is being completely wrecked by the Gurak (and for the third time), will decide to give up his banditry and sell you items and upgrade the party's gear instead. It doesn't really help how he initially did a FaceHeelTurn on the party before the game started though.]] |
| 229 | * TheHero: Zael finds himself becoming the Savior of Lazulis island after a strange turn of events early on. |
| 230 | * HeroicBSOD: Very early on when Syrenne catches an arrow in the chest. Zael freaks out and has a FlashBack to his past, when his village was slaughtered. |
| 231 | * HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Lowell jumps in the way of a sword of light that was meant for Syrenne, the music that plays during the rest of the fight is a TearJerker.]] |
| 232 | * HoistByHisOwnPetard: In the final battle against Zangurak, the only thing that can break his barrier is his own sword, which you have an opportunity to grab any time he drops/throws it at you. And if you can finish him off without losing it, it's yours to keep. |
| 233 | * HopelessBossFight: When you first meet Zangurak, he simply [[NoSell Perfect Guards]] all your attacks and then slaps you across the battlefield. It isn't until a story event kicks in that you can fight him for real. |
| 234 | * HumansAreTheRealMonsters: The knights, once they've [[spoiler:successfully invaded the Gurak nation, start going around killing, looting and pillaging. This shakes Zael's dream of wanting to be a knight. They even take the Gurak civilians as slaves.]] |
| 235 | * HyperAwareness: [[TheHero Zael]] from ''VideoGame/TheLastStory'' is noted to have exceptional eyesight, being able to spot things the other characters don't notice at first. This becomes FridgeBrilliance when you realize that this is because ''the player'' can control the camera, giving you (and by extension, Zael) a higher awareness of the surrounding area than the NPC party members. |
| 236 | * IaijutsuPractitioner: Performed by General Asthar, a Knight of all people. His sword draw is used to take out an incoming griffin. |
| 237 | * AnIcePerson: Lowell's attacks are tied to the ice element, reaching its logical conclusion with his LimitBreak (Glacier). |
| 238 | * ImaginedInnuendo: When you first go to the Arena, Syrenne uses some very interesting words to describe the 'activities' that occur there. Zael misinterprets the place for a brothel or love hotel (it doesn't help how he spots a nearby NPC couple making out). |
| 239 | %%* ImDyingPleaseTakeMyMacGuffin: The 'key/medal' that [[spoiler:Asthar]] gives to Zael. |
| 240 | * ImprobableWeaponUser: |
| 241 | ** Some of the weapons you receive as quest rewards are pretty... screwy. The list includes: a leek (yes, a vegetable), a footstool/chair, a hoe (with a 1% chance of landing a OneHitKill) a ladle, a pitchfork - although you'd think this would actually hurt someone, a frying pan, flowers, a hunk of coral, and a wine bottle. |
| 242 | ** Apparently anything that isn't an actual sword or something similar makes for a poor weapon in ''Last Story'', as the following: a lance, a sledgehammer, an axe and a kitchen knife have incredibly low stats. |
| 243 | * TheInfiltration: Some chapters involve Zael sneaking into buildings, killing the guards and letting his friends in. |
| 244 | * InfinityPlusOneSword: |
| 245 | ** Once you've cleared the game the first time around, you can upgrade you weapons to +99. You however need to cash to do so first. And gold caps at 999999. Upgrades start costing the 10000s once you've gone past +5. +90 Upgrades start costing around 100000. |
| 246 | ** The Traive. One of the most powerful weapons in the game when upgraded, ''and'' has an 80% chance of recovering 15% health |
| 247 | ** The Zanlance, the personal weapon of [[spoiler:Zangurak.]] Not only is it extremely powerful, but changes your limitless normal arrows into normally limited Burst Arrows! A bit of a GuideDangIt though; in order to keep it permanently you must still have it equipped when you finish him off, which is easier said than done. |
| 248 | * InformedEquipment: Averted; every armor (upper-body Armor and lower-body Greaves) is properly reflected in their appearance. |
| 249 | * InterspeciesRomance: Once the Epilogue hits, [[spoiler: the Gurak end up living on Lazulis island, as Gurak island gets destroyed. As Zael wanders through Lazulis City, he finds there's a Gurak man asking a human male to introduce him to some human girls; in another location a human girl is flirting with a Gurak male.]] |
| 250 | * IronButtmonkey: Considering all the abuse Lowell has put up with (and the fact he ''still'' hasn't died yet) is astounding. The abuse ranges from hilarious to horrifying. |
| 251 | * ItemCrafting: Weapons and armor can be enhanced this way, requiring commonplace materials like iron, gold and others. But for much higher levels, they will require rare and unique items known as "Particles of the Outsider", which are more frequent in the NewGamePlus (five of them are even earned for every boss defeated). |
| 252 | * ItemFarming: If you want that InfinityPlusOneSword, you're going to need a lot of rare items. |
| 253 | * ItOnlyWorksOnce: During the battle against Sentinel Beast Atar, Calista can perform the "Ancient Summons" rite, but only once. (Fortunately, once is all you need.) Then there is the battle against the Last Cocoon, where a large sword hanging in the arena can be dropped on the boss for extra damage, but you only get one attempt at knocking it down. |
| 254 | * KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:The knights who participated in the slaughter and pillaging of the civilian Gurak island never really get punished for it]]. While it's hard to say who's guilty and who's not since they all wear the same armor, one guy who definitely gets off scot-free [[spoiler:is Baron Huge, a.k.a. he of the AnnoyingLaugh. He can be found in the post-game wandering around the lower levels of Lazulis castle, having survived the final Gurak attack.]] |
| 255 | * KatanasAreJustBetter: |
| 256 | ** The "Rising Sun" katana can break through an enemy's guard if used during an attack chain ... but it only upgrades to +5, when other weapons can be upgraded higher to do more raw damage. |
| 257 | ** You receive Zoran's katana as a side-quest reward. It upgrades to one of the better katanas in the game, but compared to some of the other swords, it's still fairly low on the list. |
| 258 | * KillItWithFire: Once Yurick manages to get his Spell countdown to 0 without being interrupted. Monsters and obstructions go boom. |
| 259 | * KickTheSonOfABitch: [[spoiler: Dagran pinning his murder of General Ashtar on Jirall. Sure, Jirall didn't do it, but seeing how he's a total creep who ''twice'' now has had Zael wrongfully incarcerated...]] |
| 260 | * KirkSummation: Zael has a fierce debate with Zangurak during their final confrontation, mostly regarding the ethics surrounding the Outsider's power and how Zangurak [[NotSoDifferentRemark isn't so different]] from humans in regards to his abuse of it. |
| 261 | * KissDiss: Lowell tries to get some from Syrenne after catching her (and then groping her). She proceeds in punching him in the gut. |
| 262 | %%* KnightInShiningArmor: |
| 263 | %%** Therius who is somewhat of a JerkAss. |
| 264 | %%** Zael wants to become this. |
| 265 | * {{Knighting}}: Averted. [[spoiler: The first time anyway. Zael becomes disillusioned by the knights' behavior during an invasion and leaves mid-way during the ceremony. The second time around he goes through with it.]] |
| 266 | [[/folder]] |
| 267 | |
| 268 | [[folder:L-R]] |
| 269 | * LampshadeHanging: The banana peel is one of the crossbow ammo options. The store description text acknowledges that it's odd that a crossbow can fire that. |
| 270 | * LargeHam: [[spoiler: Jirall,]] who spends his DuelBoss repeatedly ChewingTheScenery. |
| 271 | -->'''[[spoiler: Jirall]]''': Zael's been teasing me, [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas mummy]]! So's Calista and the Count and... '''''EVERYONE!''''' |
| 272 | * LastGirlWins: Calista is technically the last girl to join the party as Syrenne and Mirania were already there in the mercenary group to begin with. |
| 273 | * TheLastTitle: The name of the game. |
| 274 | * LaughingMad: |
| 275 | ** Count Arganan [[spoiler: right after you defeat the Guardian Mitra which protects the Outsider half in Lazulis island, he starts cackling insanely and pulls out the sword he stuck in the Particle. It then disintegrates him, all the while he's still laughing like a maniac.]] |
| 276 | ** Yurick when he performs his [[LimitBreak Spirit Arte: Meteor]] cackles insanely as monsters blow up. |
| 277 | ** Jirall's insane laughter is also quite impressive [[spoiler: especially if you visit him in prison, at which point he's gone off the deep end.]] |
| 278 | * LeakedExperience: Don't fret about party members sitting on the sidelines while the rest of your party is off fighting monsters and progressing the plot; they'll earn proportionately higher experience during their first few battles back on the team and catch up in no time. Inversely, though you ''can'' summon infinite waves of enemies from Summon Circles, the experience they yield abruptly drops after a certain point. |
| 279 | * LethalJokeItem: |
| 280 | ** The joke items, when in NewGamePlus, can be upgraded to ridiculous levels. So who wants a piece of the Leek+99? |
| 281 | ** Some of the online prizes include: A rose, a sunflower, a piko-piko hammer, a hunk of coral. These weapons happen to be a lot better than the freebie joke weapons you find in sub-quests. |
| 282 | ** Finally, a use for the Prank banana. [[spoiler:Using them on Zangurak makes the fight a lot easier as he will trip, fall and drop his sword. Which you use on him.]] |
| 283 | * LethalLavaLand: The Gurak kingdom is made up of igneous rock and a lot of it. One fight has Zael on a bridge (with [[NoOSHACompliance no railings]]) and he can kick mooks off the bridge and into the lava pit below to save time. |
| 284 | * LimitBreak: The Spirit Attacks, learned upon enough leveling up. Each character can learn his or her own ability of this type after leveling up sufficiently, and when they do so they can perform it when the Spirit Meter fills after hitting enemies ''and'' being hit. The Spirit Attacks are, namely, Accelerate (Zael, attacks much more quickly), Death Sentence (Dagran, [[OneHitKill kills enemies after 30 seconds]]), Ancient Barrier (Calista, repulses the attacks landed on Zael and can also be dispelled to share the effect with the other party members), Shadow Stitch (Syrenne, paralyzes enemies), Meteor (Yurick, delivers a big, almighty ball of fire that weakens the defense of the enemy), Revive (Mirania, restores fully the HP of the party members and gives an extra life to each of them), and Glacier (Lowell, casts a big, almighty iceberg that inflicts a slip status ailment to the targeted enemy). |
| 285 | * LizardFolk: The first monsters you encounter are referred to as the Reptids. |
| 286 | * LivingMacGuffin: [[spoiler:Zael, once he acquires the power of the Outsider. And Calista, whose Arganan bloodline can awaken the Outsider's full potential]]. |
| 287 | * LostTechnology: The Gathering ability that Zael gets in Chapter 1 turns out to be from the remnants of [[spoiler: an alien rock that split in two and crashed into the planet]]. |
| 288 | * TheLostWoods: The Mysterious Forest, explored in Chapter 15, is an lush woodland with ancient ruins that has been overrun by several monsters like undead skeletons and Reptids, as well as the boss Mystic Spider. Despite the apparent good health of its ecology, it is noted by Mirania that it too is dying due to the degradation of the land of Lazulis (later revealed to occur due to the suffering of the [[BigGood Outsider]]). |
| 289 | * LovableCoward: Horace really wants to run away during one of the late game chapters, but is still willing to help the party out by upgrading their gear inbetween waves of monsters. Of course forcefully summoning him to you will shake the poor guy up. |
| 290 | * LovableSexManiac: Lowell, obviously. He suggests that Syrenne should strip if it's too hot. He then tells her [[BelligerentSexualTension nobody would be interested in her naked body however.]] |
| 291 | * MadeOfIron: The party. You get mauled by a big tiger? No problem. You lay there unconscious for a bit and then your HP refills back to Max and you're back on your feet ready to kick ass. Sword wounds? No big deal. Blasted by a giant death ray? No problem. Eaten by a giant spider/lizard? Fight your way out. Even in cutscenes getting stabbed by random pointy things isn't really a big issue for the characters. |
| 292 | * MadnessMantra: [[spoiler:Jirall]], while fighting Zael in Chapter 38. He always envied Zael for Calista always fixating in him, and expresses his frustration with strong anger (further fueled by the corruption caused onto him due to the cursed sword the Gurak gave to him): |
| 293 | -->'''[[spoiler: Jirall]]''': She's always treated me with such scorn! Always... Always... Always... Always... Always! Always! Always! Always! [=AlwaysalwaysalwaysalwaysalwaysalwaysALWAYSALWAYSALWAYSALUUUGH=]! |
| 294 | * MagicalEye: [[spoiler:It turns out that Yurick has replaced one of his eyes with a magical stone that greatly amplifies his fire magic. He does not regret exchanging his depth perception for raw magical power]]. |
| 295 | * MagicPoints: Averted; mages can cast spells as often as you need them to, as long as they aren't interrupted (typically by enemy archers) while they're charging it up. |
| 296 | %%* MagicSkirt: All female [=NPCs=]. |
| 297 | * {{Magitek}}: Despite not having airships or any fancy machines, Castle Arganan is equipped with a magitek cannon, used to blast invaders into dust. Turns out [[spoiler: so does Gurak island]]. This magitek in the castle is used to power the lifts and other contraptions inside as well. |
| 298 | * MakeMyMonsterGrow: Two bosses (the Last Cocoon, and the actual FinalBoss) will grow to a monstrous size during the battle, with a matching increase in their overall attack power. |
| 299 | * MaleGaze: This can be done when the cut-scene camera option is turned on. You can choose to ignore the main details of the cut-scene and look elsewhere (to an extent) to places like Syrenne's chest or ass. |
| 300 | * MaybeEverAfter: [[spoiler:[[BelligerentSexualTension Lowell and Syrenne]]]]. |
| 301 | * {{Meido}}: Castle Arganan has its share of maids. They all look the same though. |
| 302 | * MemorialForTheAntagonist: In the final chapter (which corresponds to the game's epilogue), [[spoiler:Zael and his friends make a memorial tribute to Dagran, who was revealed to be a WellIntentionedExtremist who wanted to seize the power of the Outsider to consummate his revenge against the conflicting factions. Said character redeemed himself before his death, and though his friends won't be able to ask him questions about whether or not he could have achieved his goals differently, they never forgot how important he was for them despite his evil actions, so they do the memorial and bid him an amicable farewell]]. |
| 303 | * MiniDungeon: The two areas of Vono Islands explored, namely the Mysterious Forest and the Shipwreck. They're explored before the Gurak Island, a main dungeon. |
| 304 | * MirroringFactions: The humans and the Gurak tribe hate each other rather equally, taking civilians prisoner and the like. This is made even more so obvious as in the first half of the game, where the Gurak have human slaves. When the tables have turned, humans raid the Gurak Castle and start killing civilians and taking them prisoner without second thought. |
| 305 | * MonsterArena: There's a Colosseum where the party can challenge numerous enemies, accessible from Lazulis City. As the game progresses, up to three tournaments can be unlocked, and the third one includes a difficult {{Superboss}} (hence why it can only be accessed during the PlayableEpilogue). |
| 306 | * {{Mooks}}: The Reptid enemies you meet early game will get beaten senseless by your party. Their upgrades don't fare much better. |
| 307 | * MotherlySidePlait: Zael's mother wears a braided one. |
| 308 | * MsFanservice: |
| 309 | ** Syrenne, who wears significantly less clothing than the other mercenaries (mainly in flashback cutscenes). |
| 310 | ** Any character can be fanservice-y due to fully customizable clothing. Two Key Items that you earn later make this possible: Shocking Bleach and Stimulating Bleach. They make armor completely invisible. |
| 311 | * MultiMookMelee: The Arena battles are based on this trope: In each of the three season matches, Zael and the party members accompanying him have to venture into 3-4 encased battle zones, one after another, and in each of them there are large groups of enemies wanting to defeat them. The third and final match includes one of the game's post-ending {{Superboss}}es, and it's very difficult to beat without a good strategy. |
| 312 | * MurderTheHypotenuse: Jirall is officially engaged to Calista, and doesn't take too kindly about Zael's crush on her. It's made clear that this is not just because Zael is a mercenary, but because he and Calista like each other. Dagran even points out how "he's got it in for [Zael]" |
| 313 | * MyOwnPrivateIDo: Played with. [[spoiler:Post-Epilogue, Zael and Calista go visit her parents' tomb. But they have to go through an army of monsters first. They're about to have their own little private moment, until Zael's friends reveal that they have been following them the whole time. Syrenne and Mirania even brought Calista's wedding dress for her.]] |
| 314 | * MysteriousWaif: Calista when Zael first meets her. She's hiding in a wagon. |
| 315 | * NerdsAreVirgins: Subverted for comedy. Zael is initially surprised to find out that the bookish Horace has a wife. Horace replies with a miffed "You don't have to look SO shocked." |
| 316 | * NewGamePlus: After the credits roll, the game lets you save your data to a (preferably new) save file. You get to keep all your items and experience, making early enemy encounters a walk in the park. Bosses, however, have their levels boosted to match yours, if not boosted even higher.[[note]]Fortunately, the level increase only happens once, so a third playthrough will be the same as the second in that regard. The first boss will have a level of 78 and both the FinalBoss and the {{Superboss}}es will have 132[[/note]] Some rare items, like the Particle of the Outsider, are more plentiful so you can upgrade your members' weaponry and armor more easily. |
| 317 | * NobilityMarriesMoney: Well, nobility marries lesser but wealthier nobility, but it was still the plan with Jirall and Calista. Although both were nobility, Jirall's family had fallen on hard times, but they were close relatives of the emperor. Count Arganan was quite wealthy, so he set up his niece, Calista, to marry Jirall and tie his family to the throne. |
| 318 | * NoCutsceneInventoryInertia: Largely averted due to most of the cutscenes being live rendered, so your party retains whatever armor and weaponry they had equipped (and what color/configuration you had for them). There are only two instances where this is not the case: at the beginning and end of the game. |
| 319 | * NonStandardGameOver: This is what happens if, during one of the Epilogue chapters, [[spoiler:you refuse to marry Calista three times]]. |
| 320 | * NoobCave: Reptid Cave, located in the catacombs beneath Lazulis City. [[spoiler:It's explored again near the end of the game, in Chapter 39]]. |
| 321 | * NotSoStoic: Yurick after some events. Lowell will tease him about his somewhat childish fears. |
| 322 | * ObfuscatingStupidity: Lowell who's cheerful, happy and hitting on anything that has more than one X chromosome. However he's one of the most reliable members of the mercenary troop and steps up to plate when the situation calls for it. |
| 323 | * OfficialCouple: After many hardships and struggles, including a temporary breach of trust between the two, [[spoiler:Zael and Calista become a couple during the epilogue, with the latter knighting the former and (via an optional chapter) marrying him]]. |
| 324 | * OhCrap: Lowell was just minding his own business until a skeleton popped out of a mirror and dragged him into it. |
| 325 | %%* OldMaster: Although not that old, Asthar falls under this category of Mentor. |
| 326 | * OminousLatinChanting: The final battle theme, "The One Who Rules All", is a Japanese variant. Potential spoilers. |
| 327 | -->[[spoiler:Crest of the Outsider, crest of red,]]\ |
| 328 | [[spoiler:Bearer of wrath, [[TitleDrop one who rules all]].]]\ |
| 329 | [[spoiler:Crest of the Outsider, crest of blue,]]\ |
| 330 | [[spoiler:Lost in solitude, one seeking an end to the fight.]] |
| 331 | * OneHitKill: |
| 332 | ** If the Mystic Spider fought in Chapter 15 swallows Zael after trapping him with its spider web, it's all over. Swallowing another member of the party won't mean the end of the battle. And in any other battle, even the deadliest enemy attack will only knock characters down at most (the game has a life system that allows the fallen character to get up up to four times). |
| 333 | ** Dagran's LimitBreak ability, Death Sentence, kills a mook after a brief amount of time. Other mooks also have this spell, so if they use it against you or your party members, the heal circles will be the only way to abort the incoming doom. |
| 334 | * OnlyAFleshWound: Whenever one of the characters gets a foreign pointy object lodged in them. Not so much when a non-player character gets something pointy lodged in them. However, [[spoiler: Therius brushes off with a "This is but a flesh wound!" a sword to the leg he takes to save Zael during the Gurak's large-scale attack on Lazulis Island. And lo and behold, he's fine by the end of it and can even fight Zael in the epilogue.]] |
| 335 | * OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Mirania is normally a calm, polite and soft-spoken healer whose main personality quirk is her large appetite. So when you confront a late game boss and she snarls, "Let's kick its arse!" the camera pans to the rest of the party, who are staring at her in shock. |
| 336 | * OptionalBoss: Among the things you can do during the epilogue is take Sir Therius up on his offer for a one-on-one duel, a CallBack to the DuelBoss that took place between Asthar and Zael. |
| 337 | * OptionalStealth: There are many battles where you are encouraged to keep out of sight, attract enemy scouts from a distance and pick them off one at a time when they're alone. Attracting attention just means you have to face their entire group at once. |
| 338 | * OrnamentalWeapon: No matter what he has equipped, Dagran always carries a small sword at his belt. [[JustifiedTrope This is later explained]] as being the first sword Dagran ever bought, and it is, in fact, meant to be an ornamental weapon--Dagran just wears it for sentimental reasons. |
| 339 | * OrphansPlotTrinket: Zael's Lens, which serves as a telescope. He received it from his parents. It's otherwise not significant to saving the world. |
| 340 | * OurOrcsAreDifferent: The Gurak are Tolkein versions [[spoiler:[[FantasticRacism according to the the stereotype]]. They're actually Blizzard versions that have been pushed into acting like the Tolkien version.]] |
| 341 | ** The Gurak also resemble Dark Elves a bit, with their dark grey skin, and (usually)white hair. They also are magically talented, which is uncommon for the average orc-like species in fiction. The common, {{mook}} variety looks quite a lot like the dark elf enemies from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI'' [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV and IV]], when without masks, while the more handsome and important ones, like the brothers Zepha and Zesha, could be easily mistaken for [[TabletopGame/DungeonsandDragons Drow.]] |
| 342 | ** The Reptids, meanwhile, play the Orc archetype pretty straight, being an AlwaysChaoticEvil group that both the humans and the Gurak regard as a lesser species, and yet are shown to be sentient enough to otherwise be on the level with humans and Gurak. |
| 343 | * OurVampiresAreDifferent: The vampire boss Nebirous resembles the Grim Reaper-shaped coffin more so than a vampire. He is however weak to Silver arrows, which are conveniently given to you during the battle by a ghost. Nebirous also happens to drop the weapon 'Death', which resembles a scythe. |
| 344 | * OutOfCharacterMoment: When fighting Sentinel Beast Atar, [[spoiler:Mirania]] steals one of Syrenne's lines by declaring "now let's kick some arse!", much to Syrenne's surprise. |
| 345 | * PaperThinDisguise: Calista only wore a traveler's robe over her vivid blue dress, yet when she lectures two knights for stealing food from a merchant they were bullying, they don't seem to recognize her. She only gets away with it because Lord Arganan has kept her locked away for so long that hardly anyone outside of the castle knows what she even looks like. Meanwhile, Zael has ''no'' excuse when a mysterious cloaked figure (in the same cloak!) appearing to help fight off some of Jirall's assassins or spring him from jail. |
| 346 | * PermanentlyMissableContent: |
| 347 | ** While you can replay ''most'' dungeons at any time to pick up missed items, there are certain rare items (in non-repeatable dungeons) you can miss out on if you don't find some way of acquiring them the first trip through. |
| 348 | ** At one point, you can explore Lazulis City at night time. There is a sidequest about a drunk man near the Flame and Lizard that is only available during those hours. |
| 349 | ** The only way to get the Fast Bow is by defeating Lesser Shade in less than four minutes. If you defeat it within a longer time, you'll just receive a regular Bowgun. |
| 350 | ** There are even ''optional chapters'' that are missable at key points, namely 20, 21, 25 (these three after 31), 24 (if 20 isn't done), 42 and 43 (if the player skips directly to 44, which will trigger the game's finale and take the player to NewGamePlus). |
| 351 | ** The Zan Lance, the personal weapon of Zangurak, can only be obtained by defeating him with his own weapon after he drops it. Zael specifically needs to be the one to land the last hit while equipped with the Zan Lance. |
| 352 | * PimpedOutDress: |
| 353 | ** Calista has a number of fancy dresses. Two of them you get as armor items for the other female characters. |
| 354 | ** Also, the NPC models in the palace wear fancy dresses. Even the maids' dresses are loaded with lace and frills. |
| 355 | * PinballProjectile: One boss, Terracor, when hit with Zael's Slash skill will ricochet off the walls like crazy and then get itself stuck in a wall so you can beat it to death. |
| 356 | * {{Pirate}}: |
| 357 | ** You find a shipwreck, inside you find [[spoiler: Yurick ' father's body, who was a sailor, who died with his crew trying to protect his village from pirates, for you trouble though, you receive his father's knife which is a Yurick exclusive weapon and outclasses any other knives that you will find for a while.]] |
| 358 | ** Zoran, as you find out through a side-quest had his share of sailing around like a pirate during some point. |
| 359 | * PlayableEpilogue: The first 40 chapters of the game are the main campaign, while chapters 41 to 44 are the epilogue. And outside the chapters' stages, there's the possibility to play (most) previously completed dungeons, as well as some unique events like [[spoiler:a souped-up duel with Therius]] and the third and last battle royale in the Arena (which ends with a {{Superboss}}). It's also one of the few games to combine this with a NewGamePlus, because talking to a specific character proceeds straight to [[spoiler:a memorial for Dagran]] and Zael's knighting ceremony (after which the credits roll), eventually prompting you to restart the game wth your latest level and stats. |
| 360 | * PlotlineDeath: There are a few. [[spoiler: Asthar when he gets skewered by a sword of light, Count Arganan when he goes insane after being 'attached' to the Outsider and Dagran when you kill him.]] |
| 361 | * PointOfNoReturn: Zael's knighting ceremony; [[spoiler:namely, his ''refusal'' to be swear loyalty to the scheming Count upsets everything; then the Gurak arrive to besiege the city]]. You can no longer use the Map to travel between areas (or replay dungeons) until the epilogue. |
| 362 | * PowerFloats: Anyone casting a spell will float for a few seconds. |
| 363 | * PowerGlows: Any weapon that has been upgraded to a higher level will start to have a colored aura. |
| 364 | * PressXToNotDie: A few fights require some extra 'actions' like freeing yourself from spider webbing, jumping onto monsters and stabbing them, sword clashing and other fun stuff so that the players don't get all complacent. The FinalBoss has one attack that deals out [[OneHitKill 99,999 damage]], and this is the only way to avoid getting knocked out by it. |
| 365 | * PrettyInMink: |
| 366 | ** Some of the NPC ladies in the palace wear a huge fur collar with their grand dresses. |
| 367 | ** The Hunter Greaves include a large fur pelt worn as a showgirl skirt. |
| 368 | %%* PrimAndProperBun: Some of the NPC ladies in the palace have this style. |
| 369 | * PrincessesPreferPink: Not Calista (who would be a countess and instead wears colors like black, green, and blue), but that one of the clothing color options is "Princess Pink". |
| 370 | %%* PrinceCharmless: Jirall. |
| 371 | %%* PrivateMilitaryContractors: The party. |
| 372 | * ProtagonistJourneyToVillain: One of the main themes of the game, according to WordOfGod. [[spoiler:The character in question is Dagran, whose single-minded pursuit of revenge and determination to protect himself from reprisal drives him further and further down the slippery slope. By extension, Zael also counts due to Dagran pushing him down the slippery slope against his will in order to further his aforementioned revenge plot. To Dagran's credit, he gets Zael to within microseconds of crossing the MoralEventHorizon before Zael redeems himself]].[[invoked]] |
| 373 | * PunchAWall: A kicking variant: Zael has a tendency to kick walls. And this opens them. Syrenne and Lowell comment on how often he kicks walls open. He doesn't do this out of anger however, just convenience. Lowell tries this later and it ends badly for him. |
| 374 | * PuzzleBoss: While most bosses ''can'' be overcome with brute force, almost every boss has some kind of trick to making the battle easier. For example, the Queen of the Abyss in Chapter 24 can be weakened by making her swallow a bomb. |
| 375 | * RankScalesWithAsskicking: General Asthar is the leader of the Lazulis Knights. He kicks ridiculous amounts of ass. Averted with Count Arganan, who is the leader of the Island but is useless in battle. |
| 376 | * RareCandy: Scattered throughout Lazulis city are small items that randomly boost the party's HP, attack, or defense. You can also find items in the Windy Alley to upgrade your basic crossbow arrows. Catching frogs also grants agility bonuses. |
| 377 | * RecurringBoss: Terracor, Muruk and Nebirous are fought more than once. Other bosses, such as Berith and the swordman brothers who serve Zangurak, are fought a second time in Chapter 40 as part of the game's BossRush finale. |
| 378 | * RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: The [[TheUsualAdversaries Gurak]] have a black-and-red theme going on, as opposed to the Human's white-and-blue color scheme. |
| 379 | * RedEyesTakeWarning: [[spoiler:Jirall's]] eyes turn red after he is possessed by the power of Zangurak's sword. He promptly tries to kill you with it. |
| 380 | * RedOniBlueOni: Portrayed somewhat weirdly. Yurick wears blue and acts like the blue, however he uses fire magic. Lowell is the red one and uses ice magic. |
| 381 | * RelationshipUpgrade: Takes almost the entire game before this happens, but it does between [[spoiler:Zael and Calista. Lowell and Syrenne get their own little one... kind of]]. |
| 382 | * RichInDollarsPoorInSense: Calista. She's been held in Castle Arganan her entire life, so when she runs away from home to wander the city, there are a few things she doesn't 'get'. Like how to eat food from the street vendor. And that one has to PAY for food from street vendors. Zael's wallet becomes a bit lighter the night he meets her. |
| 383 | * RingOut: |
| 384 | ** Depending on the lay of terrain, sometimes you can knock an enemy off a cliff to kill them. This is important while climbing the Tower of Trials, where you come against a few enemies completely immune to physical attacks. |
| 385 | ** Subverted in one dungeon where you fight aquatic enemies -- your party members point out that kicking ''aquatic'' monsters into the ''water'' isn't going to do much, and sure enough, they climb back out. |
| 386 | * RollingAttack: Terracor does this whenever it's being stunned. Muruk ([[spoiler:as well as its {{Superboss}} variant, Gigamuruk]]) rotates its encased body while standing in one spot to paralyze its opponents with electricity. |
| 387 | * RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Both Calista and her uncle can join the party and fight monsters. Calista more permanently than her uncle (who is more or less useless). [[spoiler:Even [[DirtyCoward Jirall]] steps up to the plate eventually. Sure, he's trying to kill you, but at least he puts some effort into it]]. |
| 388 | * RunningGag: |
| 389 | ** Both Lowell and Syrenne comment on Zael's less than tactful method of 'opening' rock doors by kicking them. Calista joins in later. |
| 390 | --->''' Syrenne ''': "Uwa! You're not supposed to kick it!" and "Wha - you kicked it!"\ |
| 391 | ''' Lowell ''': "Here it comes! Yep, a kick!"\ |
| 392 | ''' Calista ''': "Wait, you're kicking it!?" |
| 393 | ** Lowell pulls a Zael by kicking a wall. The wall retaliates with a GroinAttack. |
| 394 | [[/folder]] |
| 395 | |
| 396 | [[folder:S-Z]] |
| 397 | * SadBattleMusic: The game has a sad theme heard right after one of the final bosses [[spoiler:kills Lowell, during Chapter 40]]. The quiet, yet melancholic tone of the theme contrasts by all means all other battle themes in the game. |
| 398 | * SavePoint: In this game, save points are portrayed as luminescent, white-colored spots. They can be found in Lazulis City as well as the dungeons and locations visited (and often prior to a major boss battle). |
| 399 | * SchizoTech: For a place with knights, swords and old-fashioned monster slaying, Lazulis Island certainly has some crazy {{Magitek}} that lets them turn the entire land mass into a ship, fire magical lasers from their ships, and have a mechanically transforming arena whenever new challengers arrive. The civilians seem to have no problem not relying very much on this technology. |
| 400 | * SchmuckBanquet: One in chapter 14. Our heroes refuse to touch it because it may be poisoned. |
| 401 | * ScratchDamage: Guarding reduces damage by about 75%, but (except in cases of Guard Counter and a few plot-related enemies with "Perfect Guard") the target still receives some damage from each strike. |
| 402 | * SeaMonster: Some of the bosses are sea monsters. Very annoying ones at that. |
| 403 | ** The Muruk, a giant sea turtle that can [[ShockAndAwe shoot electricity]] and [[FlechetteStorm paralyzing spines.]] It also has later incarnations such as a Frost Muruk, Dark Muruk, & Giga Muruk. |
| 404 | ** Kraken, a giant squid (you never actually see its entire body though...) with massive tentacles that grab you and throw you. It can also has a WaveMotionGun attack that makes chunks of the cave fall on you. |
| 405 | ** Coconut Crabs, regular enemies that have high defense from frontal attacks and can poison party members. |
| 406 | * SecondHourSuperpower: During the first chapter, at the moment Zael thinks Syrenne was killed, the spirit of the Outsider gives him the Gathering power, which not only allows him to bring Syrenne back to life, but also attracts enemies to him to protect his friends. As the game progresses, this power becomes more influential for the success of the quest. |
| 407 | * SendInTheSearchTeam: One chapter has the mercenaries contracted to find a team of knights who have gone missing while investigating a newly-opened underground cave. |
| 408 | * SequentialBoss: [[spoiler:Dagran, whose evil side is revealed after you defeat Zangurak]], has three phases in the FinalBoss battle, and in each his size and threat level increase considerably. |
| 409 | * SexyDiscretionShot: [[spoiler:After Zael and Calista's wedding in the epilogue, the game cuts to a scene with Calista sitting [[CoyGirlishFlirtPose coyly]] on their bed with [[SexDressed a significant portion of her wedding dress' skirt missing]]. If the fact that they just got married didn't tip you off, her pose leaves no doubt about what they've been up to.]] |
| 410 | * ShapedLikeItself: An early line crossing over with BuffySpeak: |
| 411 | -->'''[[LadyDrunk Syrenne]]:''' What, you think I'm drunk? Look, I'm as sober as... [[NotHelpingYourCase whatever's normally sober]]. |
| 412 | * ShieldedCoreBoss: The late-game boss Berith is protected by an energy shield with its own LifeMeter; you can't inflict actual damage on the boss until you break through it. |
| 413 | * ShirtlessScene: One of the early flashback cutscenes with Zael shows him wearing a jacket. Without a shirt underneath it. Of course any cut-scene can become a shirtless scene thanks to a quest related Key Item. |
| 414 | * ShockAndAwe: The Raijin Axe drops lightning bolts on enemies when you attack with it. |
| 415 | * ShockwaveStomp: Zael (and Dagran in NewGamePlus) can do the Vertical Slash, which involves running up a wall and then slamming down his sword, creating a shockwave, which does area damage and has the same effect as the Wind ability. |
| 416 | * ShootTheMedicFirst: Heal Circles restore HP faster than you (or enemies) can dish out damage, so you had ''better'' take out enemy healers first if you want to stand a chance (or at least dispel their Heal Circles). |
| 417 | * ShopFodder: There are a variety of "Blunt" ornamental swords, which the game outright tells you are worth quite a bit of money and totally useless on the battlefield. The Blunt Silver Sword [[StoryAndGameplaySegregation can't even be used against the vampire who is vulnerable to silver]]. |
| 418 | * ShoutOut: Some of the events in game are reminiscent of other games: |
| 419 | ** One of the weapons you can win online, the Prophet, can't be called anything but a [[Franchise/KingdomHearts Keyblade]]. |
| 420 | ** Have Zael sneak by some guards and then calling the rest of the party is akin to an event a la ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' in the Shinra Building. |
| 421 | ** One of the Muruk incarnations (a giant turtle) comes flying into the Arena, spinning like Film/{{Gamera}}. The citizenry is completely horrified, while the party is baffled as to how a turtle that big could fly by spinning. |
| 422 | ** The very title of the game is one to ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' itself - both titles mean "the last one in a series of fictional happenings". (with some GallowsHumor as like ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI'', Mistwalker would probably have gone down under if the game tanked. In both cases, that wasn't the outcome). |
| 423 | ** The special boss theme for Zesha sounds a lot like the boss theme for ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''. |
| 424 | * {{Sidequest}}: Some of them are dead easy, like [[FetchQuest fetching ingredients]] for [=NPCs=] to plain weird. |
| 425 | ** In order to learn how to dive into the water (you know how to swim however...) you have to catch three frogs. And in order to find said frogs, you must talk to a fortune teller who tells you where the frog is. |
| 426 | ** An old man who lives at the far east end of the river in the city will reward you with various goods depending on the following: 1. How many times you've bumped into [=NPCs=] in the city. 2. How many times you've made Zael run face first into a low hanging sign. 3. How many times you've made Zael fall on his ass by slipping on a banana peel/spilled fruit. |
| 427 | ** One optional sidequest leads to something akin to a {{superboss}}: Swim to the east end of the river in Lazulis City to find three Cave Cougars. Can you defeat them all by yourself? Probably not without a NewGamePlus. Fortunately for you, getting a Game Over here at least lets you exit the dungeon and return to town without penalty. |
| 428 | * SkinshipGrope: Syrenne starts to check out Calista while they're in the bath. Leads to some HomoeroticSubtext. [[spoiler:Or so it sounds. She's ''actually'' fawning over her money]]. Later Syrenne says that she wants to take a bath with Mirania and her wonderfully smooth skin. |
| 429 | * SlasherSmile: Yurick, [[spoiler:gives a particularly nasty one to Zepha as he prepares a spell to kill him. Instead he throws his father's knife at Zefa, and it kills him]]. Zael has one [[spoiler:during an 'episode' he has when he encounters the Last Cocoon, which feeds off of his memories. He ends up during the time when his village was attacked as a child and starts cutting down the bandits (who turn out to be his friends). The smile on his face as he cuts down Mirania without realizing it is horrifying]]. |
| 430 | * SoundtrackDissonance: There's a standout example when fighting one tricky DuelBoss - a fun surf-rock theme plays instead of the game's usual fantasy fare (though is a remix of his battle-rock version of his leitmotif). It becomes notably less so should you take advantage of the music to repeatedly shoot Prank Bananas at the boss. |
| 431 | * SpaceWhaleAesop: If you start draining power from [[spoiler:an alien god-rock, it's gonna mess your world's ecosystem right the hell up]]. |
| 432 | * SpannerInTheWorks: [[spoiler:Dagran]]'s plan to [[spoiler:kill General Asthar]] would have succeeded without a hitch had it not been for Zael being in the wrong place at the wrong time. [[spoiler:The second half of the game deals with Dagran attempting to keep his plan from falling apart. He frames Jirall to save Zael, but ''that'' plan has enough holes in it that it encourages Therius to PullTheThread. Eventually Dagran has no choice but to kill everyone who gets too close to the truth. Dagran's overall plan to use the Outsider for revenge]] was hindered, once again, by Zael. [[spoiler:It is implied he went to Lazulis Island to obtain the power himself back at the first mission/chapter. When Zael obtained the Mark of the Outsider, he altered his plans to make him a knight and move up in the world. Between playing both sides of the war and edging Zael to go for his dreams, Dagran's the only mercenary [[WhatTheHellHero who calls him out]] for throwing away knighthood, and isn't seen again until the last chapter.]] |
| 433 | -->[[spoiler:'''Dagran:''' Oh Zael. It would have been so much simpler if I had been granted the Outsider's power in your place.]] |
| 434 | * SplashDamage: After a magical projectile impacts, it leaves behind a "magic circle" that inflicts continuous damage to survivors and can be used to temporarily imbue your weapons with magical energy. |
| 435 | * SquishyWizard: You actually ''can'' equip mages with heavy armor, but the fact remains that if they take any damage while preparing to cast a spell, it interrupts them and they have to start over. This at least works both ways: You can interrupt enemy mages to prevent them from casting spells, too, and even from the early game you pick up "Wizard Slayer" arrows that nail them. |
| 436 | * StargazingScene: There's a part within Lazulis City, the Stargazers' Tower, which Calista often goes to during nights to witness the starry sky, as it makes her think of her parents. Meteor showers can be sighted here as well, and it's first accessed near the end of Chapter 7 with Zael's company. It is revisited during the game's final chapter (41), when Zael and Calista give themselves some time together after having done stuff during the PlayableEpilogue (including marrying each other). |
| 437 | * StatusEffects: There are a variety of negative status ailments. You can cure all of them (and/or prevent them entirely) by standing inside a Heal Circle. |
| 438 | ** "Poison" drains your HP, but won't finish you off. |
| 439 | ** "Silence" prevents you from casting magic (or in Zael's case, Gale). |
| 440 | ** "Paralysis" disables a character, but you can shake it off with some ButtonMashing. |
| 441 | ** "Sticky" slows a character's movements down. |
| 442 | ** "Petrify" slows down and ultimately paralyzes a character, but isn't considered fatal; you can shake it off similar to Paralysis. |
| 443 | ** "Death" sets a timer and kills a character after 30 seconds. |
| 444 | * StatusBuff: "Accelerate" (Zael's LimitBreak) doubles your movement speed; "Barrier" increases defense and blocks projectile attacks entirely. |
| 445 | * StealthBasedMission: A few of them require you to sneak around, get from Point A to B or elude guards. Some are easier than others when you have tranquilizer arrows on hand, and others require that you don't bash a guard's skull in with the blunt end of your sword. Getting caught triggers a GameOver. |
| 446 | * TheStoic: Yurick in the early game. Later on he starts to loosen up. |
| 447 | * StraightMan: Zael can be really blunt at times. |
| 448 | -->'''Horace''': I was caught sneaking around a noble's mansion...\ |
| 449 | ''' Zael ''': Huh... so you're a thief? |
| 450 | * {{Stripperiffic}}: Any customization of the female characters' outfits leading to them being much less than modest. |
| 451 | * StoryAndGameplaySegregation: You can read books that offer insight into Zangurak's motivation and reveal the powers of the Outsider before they become the central plot elements but the game will always assume that you didn't. With Zael, [[IdiotHero it's... sort of understandable]]. For everybody else, though, it's ''very'' egregious. |
| 452 | * {{Superboss}}: [[spoiler:Gigamuruk]], where it can only be fought at the conclusion of the game's running TournamentArc. This boss can only be fought during the game's PlayableEpilogue. |
| 453 | * SuperSpit: Usually sticky gunk that slows you down. |
| 454 | * SwallowedWhole: This can happen to your party members via three bosses, the Mystic Spider, the Gold Spider and the Queen of Abyss (a giant lizard/dinosaur/flaming t-rex thing). You can prevent this by using Zael's Wind Spell when your team-mates are trapped in webbing. Not getting swallowed is ideal...except in the case of the Gold Spider -- while you're in its belly, waving the analog stick makes Zael attack from within, doing hugely ''increased'' damage compared to attacking from outside. |
| 455 | * SwordFight: One chapter has quick time event where Zael is dueling [[spoiler:General Asthar]], Zael however has a bad habit of shouting out which way he's attacking. It's likely [[BreakingTheFourthWall he's shouting to the player to push the button]] so that she he can dodge each attack. [[spoiler:Later in game, the playable epilogue has Zael duel against Therius instead, as Asthar is now dead, complete with the same sword duel events]]. |
| 456 | * SwordPlant: Some bosses require Zael to run up walls or perform a Quick Time Event action to kill them by jumping and planting his sword into their head/chest. This is taken to a ridiculous level against the Last Cocoon boss if Zael can successfully drop a ginormous sword on it, skewering it to the ground, so that Zael can the climb up the boss and [[AttackItsWeakPoint stab it in the face for 99999 damage]], which he repeats until it is dead. |
| 457 | * TakeCover: Unusually for a JRPG, this is a prominent mechanic, where it isn't particularly smart to run headfirst into danger. |
| 458 | * TakeUpMySword: [[spoiler:The sword that Dagran wears on his belt is symbolic of his childhood oath with Zael for them to become knights and protect people. Later, Dagran pulls a FaceHeelTurn and tries to kill the party. After his defeat, he passes on this sword to Zael, acknowledging that he lost faith in their dream and that Zael never did.]] |
| 459 | * TalkingIsAFreeAction: |
| 460 | ** The party tends to chat a lot during boss fights. This is usually vital in [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall telling the player how to win]] against some of the tricky {{Puzzle Boss}}es. |
| 461 | ** Enforced in a cutscene in Chapter 40 by Lowell during the Zesha fight. |
| 462 | * TeleportSpam: Some bosses like to teleport around the arena, forcing you to pursue them. A few can outright evade basic attacks entirely via teleporting, requiring you to find some way to stun them before you can proceed to pulverize them. The Doppelganger boss likes to take it up a notch, by switching places with your actual party members. |
| 463 | * ThemeMusicPowerup: In battle, under certain conditions, if you whittle opposition down to a few enemies, the battle music changes to a snippet of the game's main theme. |
| 464 | * ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: With a lance, rather than a sword, but it's still used as a sword by whoever has it equipped. [[spoiler:Zangurak]] tries throwing his personal weapon at the party during the final battle with him, but all it accomplishes for the most part is allowing Zael to [[HoistByHisOwnPetard use it to break his barrier]]. |
| 465 | * TooMuchInformation: Horace seems to say whatever's on his mind at the time, which usually leads to him [[LastSecondWordSwap almost divulging]] what he and his wife get up to. "HORACE!" |
| 466 | * TravelingLandmass: [[spoiler:Lazulis Island, once powered by the Outsider, starts to move and Zael can control the whole damn thing when he's in Arganan Castle. The Gurak also have their own moving island which they use to invade Lazulis Island.]] |
| 467 | * TrickArrow: Zael gets all sorts of neat arrows he can fire at people/monsters/etc. |
| 468 | %%* TrueCompanions: The party. |
| 469 | %%* {{Tsundere}}: Syrenne is a Type A towards Lowell. |
| 470 | * UglyGuyHotWife: Horace and Meredith. Not that Horace is [[HollywoodHomely ugly or anything]]. It's just that Meredith is so attractive it leaves Zael wondering just what he did to marry her. |
| 471 | * UmpteenthCustomer: Following a fortune teller's advice to visit a certain shop on your first day in the city will reveal you to be the owner's 1000th customer, netting you your first equipment upgrade on the house. |
| 472 | * UndergroundLevel: The Reptids' Cave serves as the first main location in the game, and is overrun by the titular Reptids (thus doubling as a MookThemedLevel). It is here where Zael receives the power of the Outsider, and [[spoiler:is revisited during the game's climax to access TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon]]. |
| 473 | * UnidentifiedItems: Enemies may occasionally drop rare items with labels like "? SWORD". The player can't equip these as-is, but may take them to specific [=NPCs=] for appraisal. The items may turn out to be actual weapons (often strong ones at the time, though sometimes cursed) or [[ShopFodder useless ornamental ones]]. |
| 474 | * UnintentionallyUnwinnable: If you initiate a sidequest like the Kraken quest and you're not powerful enough to beat it, you're screwed. There's no way to reset a quest either, so you have to start the game over from the beginning. |
| 475 | * UnknownItemIdentification: Enemies may occasionally drop rare items with labels like "? SWORD". The player can't equip these as-is, but may take them to specific [=NPCs=] for appraisal. The items may turn out to be actual weapons (often strong ones at the time, though sometimes cursed) or useless ornamental ones. |
| 476 | * VideoGameCrueltyPotential: |
| 477 | ** You aren't exactly beating people up, but this is still somewhat cruel and unusual. Once you've returned to the main town, you can buy 'Prank Bananas' and shoot them at the townsfolk to make them slip and fall. You can shoot these at ''anyone'', including small children and the elderly. Your party members are a bit more vocal about how much it hurts when you toss bananas at them however. |
| 478 | ** Also making Zael bash his face against signs is hilarious. Making him slip and fall is equally hilarious. |
| 479 | ** NPC's will react (and sometimes vocally complain) if you bump into them while running. |
| 480 | ** During one boss battle, three doppelgangers of your party members appear. If you hit the wrong person (your own friends) they will whine and complain to you. |
| 481 | --->'''Dagran:''' "Hey! You know it's me, right?" |
| 482 | ** Towards the end of the game, in a case of GameplayAndStoryintegration, [[spoiler:the Knights invade the Gurak continent and gleefully raid it. Instead of finding items and equipment in chests, the player can find a cooking pot, a comb, and a doll and choose to take them anyway]]. However, this also results in PermanentlyMissableContent. |
| 483 | * VideoGameLives: Unusually for an RPG, all party members (typically) have five "lives" - they can get knocked out up to four times in the same battle and you can quickly revive them. It's not until the fifth KO that they are actually "KO" and out of the battle. |
| 484 | * ViolentGlaswegian: An interesting aversion with Lowell who, despite being the only character in the game with a Scottish Accent, is actually portrayed as a charming lech. However, he IS the only mage type character who can use swords well, veering him more into BraveScot territory. |
| 485 | * VirtualPaperDoll: Not only is armor visible on the characters, you can also acquire dyes to change its color (every party member has their own default color scheme), even remove parts of the armor you don't like (thanks to some "invisibility dye"). Yes, you can make your burly fighters wear [[RealMenWearPink neon pink armor]], or go into battle wearing nothing visible but their underwear if you're so inclined. |
| 486 | * WakeUpCallBoss: |
| 487 | ** The white tiger from chapter 2, which is partly a tutorial about using your Gathering and Guard abilities to keep its attention off your comrades, can and will kick your ass if you're not guarding/dodging properly. |
| 488 | ** At the end of the battle on the ship (Chapter 12), you run into a giant terrapin-thing summoned by the ship's captain. While the earlier bosses are either Events or a Bullfight Boss, this one really forces you to think on your feet and learn its tells, because of a spinning-shell attack that will easily wipe out your part all at once, quickly depleting your supply of lives. There's also the Mystic Spider in Chapter 15: Its web attack can make it swallow party members, and if that happens to Zael as well, it's Game Over. |
| 489 | * WalkingShirtlessScene: The Incredible Invisibility Dye is [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a special magical dye that renders your clothing invisible]]. Its sole purpose is to make your characters appear as if they aren't wearing any armor when, in fact, they are. And naturally, you get the dye that makes your shirt invisible long before the one that makes your pants invisible. |
| 490 | * WallJump: One of the skills Zael learns is the ability to run up a wall, jump from it and slam his sword down, creating a shockwave. This can also be used to improve spell effects on magic circles. |
| 491 | * WeaponOfXSlaying: Various weapons get attack bonuses against specific enemy classes, like the Reptid Edge (Reptids), the Gurak Edge (Gurak), the Wizard Slayer arrows, and so on. |
| 492 | * WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:Dagran, his means to get revenge on his parents' killers involves helping them up to the point where he can conveniently find the right time to stab them in the back.]] |
| 493 | * WhereItAllBegan: The Reptid's Cave in Chapter 1. You return to this location again in Chapter 39, but named as The Reptid's Cave Revisited. Chapter 40 is the final chapter in the main game. |
| 494 | * WhiteMage: Mirania and Calista. Both girls can heal party members and, in addition, the former even has the Limit Break ability to bring back lost lives), while the latter can summon arcane circles that repel enemy attacks. |
| 495 | * WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Yurick is deathly afraid of ghosts, despite having no problem (in earlier chapters) blasting undead skeletons. He happens to be one of the party members on your excursion to a BigBoosHaunt and he is scared stiff. Getting shoved into a coffin doesn't help his fear either. Most of chapter is spent listening to Yurick freak out. |
| 496 | * YouCantThwartStageOne: Despite the game tricking the player into believing that the trope will be played straight, it turns out to be averted. [[spoiler:SmugSnake bad guy has a plan to unleash a horde of monsters on the town, and steal in the chaos... you thwart it before he can release the monsters]]. |
| 497 | * YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler:Dagran to Zangurak, after Zangurak loses to the party and releases his arm, which has the power of the Outsider and the Arganan Bloodline. Dagran kills the arm and takes the power for himself.]] |
| 498 | [[/folder]] |
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