[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lord_of_arcana.png]]
-->''"Slaughter is the route to all power."''

Creator/SquareEnix's answer to the ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' franchise, with a lot less realism and a lot more gratuitous violence. Developed by Creator/AccessGames, ''Lord of Arcana'' is a {{Spinoff}} of ''VideoGame/LordOfVermilion'', a CollectibleCardGame that was incredibly popular in the arcades of Japan. It was released in 2010 in Japan in 2011 globally.

''Lord of Arcana'' features you as a powerful warrior who makes a deal with the gods to travel to the world of Horodyn, [[BagOfSpilling giving up your memories and former strength as payment]]. Horodyn is the home of the Arcana, a mysterious dark force that its first king used to conquer the world in a mere nine days. Now you've come to claim that forbidden power for yourself.

The story is [[ExcusePlot mostly inconsequential]] and can be ignored entirely if you please. Gameplay consists of taking missions from the "Slayers' Guild" then heading out to kill certain monsters or collect TwentyBearAsses. When you've completed enough missions, you can take on an Arcana Release quest, fighting one of the eight legendary beasts trapped within the Arcana to claim its power for your own. Like ''Monster Hunter'', enemies drop parts that can be crafted into new equipment or items. ''Lord of Arcana'' also features Harvesting, where you can attempt to use your Arcana power to transform a defeated monster into a Monster Core, a valuable resource for ItemCrafting.

While ''Monster Hunter'' took a realistic edge in its combat, ''Lord of Arcana'' opts for HackAndSlash. Encountering enemies whisks you away to a separate battle field, and your moves are often more flashy than powerful. Defeating an enemy while locked-on allows you to use a Coup De Grace, a FinishingMove that is less of a MercyKill and more of a ridiculously violent cutscene death. You even have to finish off boss monsters with a Melee Duel, a combination of CutscenePowerToTheMax and PressXToNotDie.

A sequel called ''Lord of Apocalypse'' was released in 2011, featuring two new weapon types, NPC mercenaries that you can hire to go on quests with you, and a more substantial plot (with named characters and everything!)

!!''Lord of Arcana'' provides examples of:
%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExamples are not allowed on the wiki. Please expand them with context before uncommenting them. Thank you.
%%* ActuallyFourMooks
* AdventureGuild: The Slayers' Guild.
* AllThereInTheManual: To the point where most of the important information is buried and some isn't even explained at all. Good luck figuring out what Light Magic does. ([[spoiler:It increases your chance to daze an enemy]]).
* ArbitraryHeadcountLimit: If you're playing ad-hoc, you can have a party of up to four players.
* AwesomeButImpractical: Most of the advanced Battle Arts and flashier moves- especially the ones where you leap into the air- leave you vulnerable to counter-attacks for a deadly amount of time.
%%* BagOfSpilling
* {{BFG}}: Firelances. (But its size actually works against you.)
* {{BFS}}: Two-Handed Swords. Maces to an extent.
* BoringButPractical:
** The Firelance. You can't jump or roll or block or move fast or deal much damage or anything. But you ''can'' attack from a distance, which gives you an incredible advantage over every other weapon class.
** Basic drops like Impish Horns, Clean Water and Beast Lard may seem boring compared to some of the rare drops you can get from bosses. But it's the more common drops you'll use to synthesize the basic healing items you'll come to rely on more than your equipment.
* BrokenBridge: Your Guild Rank. If it's too low then you can't do certain Arcana Release quests, even if they're available.
* ChainmailBikini: Armor is ''usually'' quite sensible (if you ignore the insane agility with which you move during cutscenes) but occasionally you get armor that exposes some large part of your bare skin. And it's not just girls, the guys have to deal with this too!
* CharacterSelectForcing:
** Some enemies are a ''lot'' easier to defeat with certain weapons. Then there's the Green Slimes... you didn't happen to equip any kind of magic ''other'' than Fire or Light Magic, right? Whoops, it's now hideously tedious and painful to defeat them.
** Though the Green Slimes are still not as painful as Drake Shade, who has ''[[BossInMooksClothing TEN]] [[DamageSpongeBoss THOUSAND]]'' HP. It also takes tons of damage if you hit the rider... but the only reliable way to do that is by using the Artillery or Sniper battle arts of the Firelance.
* DidntNeedThoseAnyway: Most bosses have parts that you can target and destroy, taking out a large chunk of their power and gaining some unique loot in the process.
* DutchAngle: The camera tilts this way when an enemy is low on health.
* AnEconomyIsYou: The blacksmith, since his entire recipe book is based on Monster Cores and you're the only person in the village who can acquire them. He even {{lampshades}} it constantly, referring to you as "my only customer" and himself as "your personal blacksmith".
* EldritchAbomination: [[spoiler:Vermilion]].
* EvolvingAttack: How your magic and weapon skills increase.
* ExcusePlot: Unless you talk to the {{NPC}}s, you might not even realize there's a plot at all.
* FakeUltimateMook: Some of the Arcana monsters can fall under this. Grendel, for example, spends most of his time in the air not attacking you, and telegraphs his attacks so blatantly that you have plenty of time to react.
* GameBreakingBug: If you import a demo character into the EU version of the game, it will crash every time you try to open the item menu. This is due to a bug caused by certain items in the demo being absent in the full game.
* GottaCatchEmAll: The main plot. [[spoiler:Except not really! It turns out that you only have to collect half of the Arcana in order to break the seal leading to Vermilion, and the other half are optional post-game content.]]
* InexplicableTreasureChests: Some even pop out of the corpses of monsters! And are ''bigger'' than the corpses themselves!
%%* ItemCrafting
* LagCancel: The second and third swings of the [[{{BFS}} 2H Sword]]'s combo can be cancelled into a block. This makes the huge, sluggish greatsword actually safer than the small, quick 1H Sword.
* LuckBasedMission: Harvesting. The only way to improve your odds is by collecting more Arcana and equipping a certain orb.
* LudicrousGibs: Monsters ''literally'' explode into large chunks of flesh when you defeat them.
* MookChivalry: HAHAHAHAHAHA nope. The complete absence of this is one of the main sources of difficulty.
* PressXToNotDie: Melee Duels (Cinematic Scenes in the Japanese version).
* TheQuisling: The Vendels take a condescending tone with you at first, but when it looks like you might ''actually'' pull off your quest to collect the Arcana, it's "All hail our new Lord Ruler!" time.
%%* RandomlyDrops
* SealedEvilInACan: ''All'' the Arcana.
* ShoutOut: A couple here and there.
** [[Franchise/FinalFantasy Bahamut]] shows up as one of the Arcana bosses.
** When using the Two-Handed Sword's final Battle Art, [[SuperMode Nirrti]], the character's left arm droops, they hold their sword one-handed over their shoulder and their eyes glow red, along with attacking and walking much more animalistically. Sound similar to [[Manga/{{Berserk}} anybody?]]
%%* SocketedEquipment
* SprintMeter: "Pulse", a meter that measures your heart rate and goes up if you do anything other than basic attacks and walking.
* ATasteOfPower: You do the tutorial area at Lv.45 with some pretty good equipment, maxed out magic and weapon skills, the Bahamut Ultimate Card and an inventory chock-full of items.
* TimeSkip: There's a one year gap between [[spoiler:your victory over Vermilion]] and the post-story content. Nothing much has changed in the village.
* TurnsRed: ''All'' of the Arcana bosses can do this.
* TwentyFourHourArmor: ''Some'' armor could at least be functional (the Assassin's Coat line or the Fencing Gear line) but when you have your character decked out in full plate with massive shoulder pauldrons...
* UnnecessaryCombatRoll: Of the "invincible while rolling" type.
* WakeUpCallBoss: Bahamut. At least the previous Arcana bosses were ''your size''.
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