[[quoteright:260:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Unchained_Blades_resized_3707.jpg]]

Legend tells of the Titans, colossal creature-shaped dungeons through which brave men and women must go through to be deemed worthy of approaching the goddess Clunea, with the promise of fulfillment of a single, heartfelt wish.

Three individuals test the legend: Fang, the arrogant Dragon Emperor who yearns for the greatest fight of his life; Tiana, a Phoenix Princess who simply yearns to be free of her royal burden; and Lucius, an enigmatic swordsman riddled with a terminal illness who yearns to see Clunea at all cost.

Unchained Blades ("''[=UnchainBlades REXX=]''" in the original Japanese version) is a dungeon crawling RPG released on the Platform/PlayStationPortable and Platform/Nintendo3DS in Japan on 14 July 2011. The game was also localized by XSEED in North American with a digital only release on June 26, 2012 for the PSP, and on January 3, 2013 for [=3DS=].

A unique feature of the game is recruiting enemies sufficiently weak enough to be "unchained" -- that is, being freed from their feral nature. This turns them into MonsterAllies ("followers") that can be equipped to the main characters ("masters"). When equipped, these monsters enable certain skills to be used depending on the monster's characteristic "anima" (for example, to use Flame Strike you need to equip a monster that has Fire Anima) and at the same time function as meat shields for the masters, taking enemy attacks and sometimes completely deflecting them.

A sequel ("''[=UnchainBlades EXXIV=]''") was released in both formats on November 15, 2012. This time it focuses on the fallout of the usurpation of Clunea's position by a rogue god named Zodias, and focuses on a new trio of protagonists -- Ryuga, the last of the Ouroboros dragons; Sofia, an amnesiac avatar of Clunea created immediately after her downfall; and Hilda, a tomboyish demon swordswoman who only wants to be "manly".
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!!The game series provides examples of:

* TheAce: Fang calls himself the most powerful being in the world, barges in on Clunea with the intent to force her to tell him who is the strongest person in the world just so he can beat him and take the title officially. Being depowered doesn't change him much.
* ActionCommand: For a dungeon crawler, this game has quite a few instances of action commands.
** Unchaining: This is the most frequently seen application of this trope, where the player can capture monsters. In ''Rexx'', this is achieved by pressing "X" when a shrinking ring is within an acceptable range. High-tier monsters require multiple tries. In ''Exxiv'', monsters are captured by pressing "X" when a rotating line is safe from a series of blocks. High-tier monsters require strategically placing a series of moving blocks such that they don't block the intended unchaining spot.
** Judgment Battles: A minigame where your party pits their entire Follower army against a large group of monsters in a ZergRush battle. In ''Rexx'' there is a box in the middle of the screen, and arrows move from the left of the screen. Pressing the directional buttons corresponding to these arrows will improve your army's odds in the battle. In ''Exxiv'' players must hold Circle to charge Followers' attacks. In some occasions a monster from each side engages in Single Combat, where the player must [[ButtonMash mash X]] to win, resulting in a few enemy losses. At other times a Master will personally intervene; pressing the right button results in a successful attack.
* ActionGirl: Tiana in ''Rexx'' and Diane in ''Exxiv''. [[spoiler:The two turn out to be related.]]
* ActorAllusion: If she had a different hair color and outfit, Silvie would be a dead ringer for Heather Hogan's probably best known role of [[VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia Colette.]]
* AdamSmithHatesYourGuts: The shopkeepers do seem to open up to you, but they always have a reason not to give you a discount. No matter if you [[spoiler:restore Huadli and Ilio's village]] or [[spoiler:save the goddess from total madness]], they will never reduce their prices.
* AerithAndBob: Some of the follower's names when compared to the party members.
* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent: You start Chapters 1 through 3 with a new lead. It's only at Chapters 4 and 5 that everyone starts getting together.
* BeastMan: It's seen that all of the people that inhabit the world are part of prestigious clans. At the start, all of them are humans with their clans' respective features on their bodies such as Fang's dragon-looking clothes and Tiana's feathery looks. Once they reach a certain point, they all "fledge", turning into the trope.
** Those monsters in the Titans, for that matter, are said people who suffered through SanitySlippage.
* BigBallOfViolence: Follower battles looks a lot like this.
* BossInMookClothing: In Titan Tortuga there is a rarely encountered fairy type, Ariel, that is absurdly powerful. While most of your attacks would do anywhere from 60 to 100 damage to enemies in the area they'll do at best 1, 40 if magic, and while most enemies will hit for around 50 to 60 damage, this is swinging for 200 to 300, able to outright kill you at the point in the game you may first meet it. And it heals all of your enemies. Completely. Enjoy that 100 point hit to your charisma for needing to run away.
** God bless you if you encounter a Qilin unprepared.
* BroughtDownToBadass:
** In ''Rexx'', this is what happens to Fang early on as punishment by Clunea for his insolence. Still that doesn't keep him from kicking much ass, though he still yearns for the days when he was curmbstomping foes with a swipe of his claws.
** In ''Exxiv'', Clunea herself is sealed by Zodias, emerging at the last minute into the realm of the living as an amnesiac girl named Sofia. That doesn't stop her from being a fairly competent mage and healer.
* CallingYourAttacks: Burst attacks.
* ContrastingSequelMainCharacter: Fang and Ryuga could barely be more different.
* CommonCharacterClasses: Each character has his/her own Skill Map corresponding to their roles in the party: LightningBruiser Fang only has Sword, Spear and Claw proficiency nodes and a couple of offensive magic skills, SquishyWizard Silvie has skills that restore her MP whenever she kills monsters or gets hit, WhiteMagicianGirl Lapis has Heal as the first node in her Skill Map, and so on.
* ContractualBossImmunity: Bosses are immune to most status effects, but not to debuffs.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Despite being of the Reaper Clan, Sylvie is the nicest and most motherly of the Tiana/Sylvie/Niko trio.
* DeathTrap: The Titans have rooms filled with lava and poison, [[SpikesOfDoom spikes]] traps, flooded levels etc.
* DependingOnTheArtist: The game uses different artists for each character:
-->Fang: pako (VideoGame/ShiningForce EXA)
-->Tiana: Haruyuki Morisawa (VideoGame/DreamCClub)
-->Lucius: Tomohiro Shimoguchi (Manga/LinebarrelsOfIron)
-->Niko: Toshiyuki Kubooka (VideoGame/TheIdolmaster)
-->Lapis: Suu Minazuki (Manga/HeavensLostProperty)
-->Sylvie: Kumichi Yoshizuki (Manga/SomedaysDreamersIISora)
-->Hector: Shinichiro Otsuka (VideoGame/SummonNight X)
-->Mari: Sunaho Tobe (VideoGame/RivieraThePromisedLand)
-->Clunea: Kazushi Hagiwara (Manga/Bastard1988)
-->Ryuga: Suzuhito Yasuda (Literature/{{Durarara}})
-->Sofia: Haruyuki Morisawa
-->Hilda: Yusuke Kozaki (VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening)
-->Diane: Kaito Shibano (VideoGame/LuminousArc series)
-->Mint: KEI (Music/{{Vocaloid}})
-->Sieg: Kumihiko Tanaka (VideoGame/{{Xenogears}})
-->Emil: Minako Iwasaki (VideoGame/RuneFactory)
-->Reisled: Katsumi Enami (VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsFromZero)
-->The Dark Knight: Yoshitaka Amano (Franchise/FinalFantasy series)
* DiskOneNuke:
** Inverted. If the term refers to an instant-victory attack on one disk and then loses its usefulness on the next, then the first dungeon must consist of several (metaphorical) disks. At the end of the tutorial dungeon, you get the Kaiser Knuckles which can be used by Fang or Hector. In the tutorial dungeon, this weapon practically wipes out everything it touches. On the first floor of the next dungeon, Titan Darius, one attack from the Kaiser Knuckles reduces a monster's HP by about 1/3.
** A similar weapon is a powerful sword that Fang can use, which you can synthesize about halfway through Titan Darius. The fact that Fang can kill most monsters on the fourth floor with one strike makes it sad to see how he can't even reduce a monster on 6F to half health using the same sword. Still, this is the only weapon available to you at the time that can put a dent on the dungeon boss.
* DoorToBefore: There are a number of doors barred from the other side that can be opened for easier backtracking.
* DoomedHometown: Huadli and Ilio's hometown was destroyed by a tornado, and they were the only survivors. They take the Holy Ordeals in order to wish Clunea to restore the village. [[spoiler:Tiana feels bad for them that she allows the two to take the wish instead of her.]]
* EarlyGameHell: The first three chapters of the game are the hardest, since you have few party members (in chapter 3, Lucius is the only leader), lack better resources (like revival items) and unchaining enemies is also tougher due to your low charisma level.
* EldritchAbomination: [[spoiler:Clunea the Destroyer.]]
* ElementalPunch: Fang has Flame Strike and its stronger variants, which is practically a fire-imbued sword slash. Later on, he gets other elemental attacks too, such as the electric-imbued body slam Plasma Dive. The latter is incredibly useful in the first dungeon, considering how most of the monsters there are fire-resistant.
* {{Expy}}: Owing to the collaborative nature of the games' character designs, some artistic similarities with characters from other anime, manga and video games are inevitable.
-->Fang almost looks like a LongHairedPrettyBoy version of Toma from ''[[VideoGame/ShiningForce Shining Force EXA]]''.
-->Tiana is an ActionGirl version of Amane from ''VideoGame/DreamCClub''.
-->Lucius almost looks like Reiji Moritsugu of ''Manga/LinebarrelsOfIron''.
-->Lapis looks like a cross between Astraea and Nymph of ''Manga/HeavensLostProperty''.
-->Ryuga is a silver-haired version of the protagonist from ''VideoGame/DevilSurvivor''.
-->Sofia is drawn by the same artist who did Tiana. In her case, she looks like a sweeter version of Mian from ''VideoGame/DreamCClub''.
-->Mint is a blatant mix of ''Music/{{Vocaloid}}'s'' Kagamine Len's blond hair and Hatsune Miku's {{twintails}}.
-->Sieg nearly looks like a genderbent KOS-MOS from the ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'' series.
* FieryRedhead: Tiana has the hair and the element for it.
* FighterMageThief: Little thinner than most as all are [[MagicKnight proficient both in physical and magical combat]]. In Tiana's trio, Tiana's the fighter, Sylvie's the mage and Niko is the thief.
* FreudianTrio: Tiana is the Ego, Sylvie the Superego, Niko the Id.
* GameplayAndStoryIntegration: Unchaining is used throughout chapter 1 as a solely gameplay-related mechanism to recruit monsters. Come chapter 2, you have to [[spoiler:save Huadli the druid from [[SanitySlippage descending into madness]] by Unchaining him]].
* GenkiGirl: Niko in ''Rexx'', Mint in ''Exxiv''.
* GorgeousGorgon: Lapis. People willingly turn themselves into stone just to take a peek at her face.
* GodsNeedPrayerBadly: Clunea doesn't like that people that come to her don't wish for anything and demand her to do what they want instead. This is the reason why Fang gets depowered in the first place. [[spoiler:Then he does it again in their second meeting, further infuriating Clunea.]]
* HotGoddess: Clunea.
* HotSpringsEpisode: There's a hot spring in Titan Tortuga, mostly for the girls to enjoy and play [[SkinshipGrope "touch the boobie"]]. You can return there in Chapter 4 for a second scene.
* IncestSubtext: Tiana's initial thoughts about Syvlie's wish, due to a poor choice of words.
* ItemCrafting: Done at the synthesis shop, where you combine havrested materials to make various kind of items, including weapons and armor that aren't sold at the shop.
* LimitBreak: They're called Bursts here, though most of them do more than just dealing huge amounts of damage. Some have restorative effects on the party, while some others inflict status ailments on the enemy party.
* MagicKnight: Pretty much all the characters. This game's pretty tough, so you can't rely on physical attacks to carry you through its monster-laden dungeons.
* MonsterAllies: So useful that they even feature in the game's title. Oftentimes all you can do is pray that they like you enough to take (or better, deflect) a hit for you.
* NintendoHard: Being a DungeonCrawler, the game is quite hard and enforces ItemFarming and LevelGrinding.
* NoobCave: The first game has the Temple of the Trials, where Fang faces the weakest monsters and learn the basics of unchaining.
* OverratedAndUnderleveled: Lucius really should be higher than Lv. 1 for a guy known as a master swordsman and called "Hell's Messenger". Maybe being sick all that time caused him to fall out of shape.
* PointBuildSystem: The game employs the Skill Map which [[ShoutOut suspiciously resembles]] the Sphere Grid in FFX. Leveling up grants you 2SP, which can be used on the Skill Map to acquire a node for every SP (which in turn allows the adjacent nodes to be acquired). The nodes either involve an increase to a single stat (+1 STR, +1 INT, +1 VIT or +1 SPD), a boost to weapon proficiency, acquisition of a new skill, or unlocking a higher-level [[LimitBreak Burst]].
* PowerEchoes: Clunea's voice.
* RageAgainstTheHeavens: Clunea refuses his wish and then turns him into a puny human? Fang goes berserk for her blood!
* RandomNumberGod: To Unchain a monster, you'll have to put it in Unchainable status first, which occurs (with a relatively small chance) when the enemy is hit to half health or below. Why Goddess? We can only think that Clunea is the one screwing with your chances when you're trying to smack on the Heat Lion until the Unchain circle comes out.
* RareCandy: The standard permanent-stat-boosting fruits are present here. There are also fruits that boost followers' stats permanently, though considering how followers have a level limit and eventually have to be released, these follower-boosting fruits don't come in handy until late game. There's also the Mazuba Candy, which instantly boosts a follower's mood.
* SanitySlippage: Anyone who wanders around the Titans for too long will become heavily affected by their strong wish, eventually losing their sanity and becoming mindless monsters until somebody unchains them. Not even [[spoiler:goddess Clunea]] is immune to it.
* SequentialBoss: Every boss battle has three phases.
* ShipTease: Fang and Tiana have quite a bit of BelligerentSexualTension. Between his AntiHero tendencies and she is a {{Tsundere}} [[spoiler:and then he turns out to be the reason she wants to be a dragon. Diane in the sequel is their descendant.]]
* SignificantDoubleCasting: Creator/NanaMizuki voicing both Clunea and Sofia, signifying the latter being an avatar of the goddess created just before she was sealed away by Zodias at the beginning of ''Exxiv''.
* SkinshipGrope: Happens in the hot springs in Titan Tortuga, with Tiana groping Sylvie and Niko joining in.
* SNKBoss: The golem Darius is a three-phase multi-part boss, and every part of his body can attack twice per turn.
* StatusEffects: Some spells that inflict negative status ailments like Poison, Bind, Confuse, Sleep and Charm.
* ATasteOfPower: You start as Fang when he's a Lv. 99 dragon and can OneHitKill everything before being bumped down to a Lv. 1 humanoid fledgling.
* {{Tsundere}}: Tiana alternates between haughty and nice.
* UnintentionallyUnwinnable: Since you can save the game anywhere, a very unfortunate thing can happen to you in Titan Tortuga if you so casually decide to save your game in a flooded room with not enough steps to make it back to the stairs if you don't have a Sigil or Escape ready. '''This means you'll have to restart your game from the very beginning.'''
* UselessUsefulSpell:
** [[InvertedTrope Inverted]]. Status effect spells are very useful for traversing through dungeons, especially the ones that hit all enemies. Sometimes there are battles where you face ''multiple screens'' of enemies (10 to 15 monsters, each of which get one attack every turn. Chances are your healer will drop after about 4 attacks.) and the only way to get out of the battle alive is to have your support mage use a mass sleep spell and cutting down the enemies one by one before they can wake up.
** PlayedStraight with bosses though -- they're still immune to most status effects.
* TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: In ''Rexx'', [[spoiler:Titan Loewe]].