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Video Game / Chaos Legion

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Savage by nature!note 

'Tis the darkest Glyph thou bearest. It sacrifices stray souls to summon unearthly force. Unearthly force shall obey and serve thee. 'Tis named "Chaos Legion."

Chaos Legion is a gothic opera and Hack and Slash game developed by Capcom, released in 2003 for the PlayStation 2 and PC (a version which suffered from a bad case of Porting Disaster). The game was later adapted into seven light novel volumes of the name same by Tow Ubukata, known for his work on Mardock Scramble, Fafner in the Azure: Dead Aggressor, Le Chevalier d'Eon, Heroic Age, and Ghost in the Shell: Arise.

Sieg Wahrheit and Victor Delacroix used to be the best of friends. Unfortunately, Delacroix has fallen to The Dark Side — Sieg, Delacroix and their lovely lady friend, Siela, were trying to seal away the Dark Spirit Azrail as it tried to escape. For some unknown reason, Sieg murdered Siela right before Delacroix's eyes. Or did he really...?

Now, in the present day, Sieg is in hot pursuit of Delacroix, who plans to gather the seals that hold back Azrail in order to release it, which he thinks will reunite him with Siela. Sieg will not have it easy — Delacroix has summoned many hordes of demons who want nothing more than to kill Sieg. However, Sieg is a "Knight of the Dark Glyphs" and a "Legionator." A Legionator is one who has the ability to summon "legions," powerful and massive creatures (legionnaires) that will fight alongside their caller, defending and attacking when commanded to do so. Armed with a sword and his legions, Sieg is more than ready to discover the truth.

The seven legions are loosely based on the Seven Deadly Sins, and Sieg can bring two at a time for each mission.

Compare and contrast to Astral Chain, which features similar legion-based gameplay elements to Chaos Legion.

This game provides examples of:

  • Bishōnen Line:
    • The final boss shows this. Considering who you're facing, perhaps Bishojo Line would be a more accurate descriptor.
    • Thanatos also exhibits this, going from egg (Baby), to mist-spewing dragon youngling (Juvenile), to adult dragon (Adult), to angelic, armored dragon-human hybrid capable of bringing the pain before you can even blink (Perfect).
  • Bittersweet Ending: Sealed Evil in a Can re-sealed? Check. Dead buddies? Check. That girl who's been helping you out for most of your journey is now accompanying you, possibly as something more than a friend? Hey, two out of three ain't bad.
  • Blade Below the Shoulder: Zeodagdas and Guidodagdas, the monsters with katars as hands.
  • Blinded by the Light: Sieg and Arcia are hit by this in the midst of Azrail's destruction.
  • Bloodless Carnage: Even organic enemies don't bleed.
  • Boss Banter: When facing off against Delacroix and Azrail!Siela. They even share a line: "You're in the way."
  • Boss-Only Level: The final stage, The Hall of Chaos.
  • Boss Remix:
  • Bottomless Magazines: Arcia's pistols never run out of ammo, although her Energy Bullets have a limit. There are pickups which restock her supply of rounds as well as increase the maximum number you can hold.
  • Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: Sieg and Arcia's dynamic, although it's (arguably) only in the platonic sense.
  • Bullet Time: Thanatos' Assist skill, The Ignorant Masses, slows down everything except Sieg, while Thanatos himself rains homing Beam Spam on the enemies.
  • But Now I Must Go: Siela tells Sieg she has to go at the end as she finally sets forth for the afterlife with Delacroix in tow.
  • Camera Lock-On: By using Sieg's Lock-On Shot, the enemy will be tagged with a bolt of electricity and pressing the Parallel Movement button will focus the camera on the locked enemy. Pressing the Lock-On Shot button again will release the enemy from the lock-on. By default, the Lock-On Shot has a fairly short range, but Malice's Long Distance Enchant doubles its range.
  • Casting a Shadow: Two of Delacroix's most devastating attacks are of this element: an expanding, circular shockwave of explosive dark energy and his conjuring up several portals that spew out red-and-black streams of power.
  • Charged Attack: Sieg's Ground Zero ability from the Guilt Legion allows him to perform the final strike of the Dark Ripper combo attack by charging the Attack button.
  • Church Militant: Sieg Wahrheit, a Knight of the Dark Glyphs working for the Order of St. Overia, and Arcia Rinslet, one of the Maidens of the Silver. Delacroix was part of the Order and was Bash Brothers with Sieg, but...
  • Conservation of Ninjutsu: It's you and your Legions against loads of enemies at a time.
  • Continuing is Painful: If you get a Game Over you'll have to start from the beginning of a level, and checkpoints are far and few between sections, but at least you get to keep some of the experience points you had collected... unless you're playing in Hard Mode.
  • Cool Crown: Azrail!Siela wears a crown of thorns on her head.
  • Corrupt Church: The Order of St. Overia isn't quite as holistic as they'd have you believe: they only sealed Azrail because the spirit was too powerful for them to control, presumably for less than pure intentions. See Powered by a Forsaken Child below for more fuel to the fire.
  • Counter-Attack: Arrogance's Avenger Enchant and Rampage Assist and Hatred's Bad Karma Assist, although the former two require Sieg to take damage first before retaliating. Additionally, if the player times their attack at the right frame of the enemy's attack, they'll perform a counter-attack that deals more damage and rewards more EXP if it finishes the enemy off.
  • Creepy Cathedral: St. Claire's Cathedral, the thirteenth and penultimate stage of the game. The imposing, hauntingly beautiful stage music lets you know you'll be cutting your way through a long, sprawling gauntlet of enemy hordes.
  • Crippling Overspecialization: Malice can quickly shred large swarms of metal enemies but is useless against organic ones. This is justified because Malice would otherwise let you cruise effortlessly through the game by mashing the Legion attack button.
  • Crosshair Aware:
    • Some bosses will give you red markings on the ground to indicate where they will strike next. Which will give you an Oh, Crap! moment when the final boss fills the entire battlefield with these markings.
    • Arcia's Sniper Mode allows players to direct her shots using a crosshair for extra accuracy.
  • Crystal Dragon Jesus: The Order of St. Overia has many of the trappings and aesthetics of a Medieval Christian order, with a few elements from other Abrahamic faiths and even some aspects of Hinduism and Buddhism thrown into the mythology for good measure. As the game divulges no information about the setting beyond exposition directly related to Sieg's journey, it's unclear if the Order is actually supposed to be Christian in some manner or merely analogous to it, especially since Chaos Legion's calendar system is an alternative spelling of Anno Satanas — the "Age of Satan."
  • Curtains Match the Windows: Arcia, a brunette with brown eyes.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: Sieg commands numerous forces of hellish, supernatural fiends yet uses their powers for a just and righteous cause. Compare this to Delacroix.
  • Dark Messiah: Delacroix fancies himself as this. In addition to making Sieg suffer as retribution for Siela's death, he believes that by opening the Gateway of Chaos and releasing Azrail, his "Purification of the World" will reunite the three realms (the Celestial, Middle, and Nether Worlds) as one and cleanse them of all sin, allowing all souls to find their true place.
    Stage 12 Narration: "Delacroix questions. Isn't complete destruction complete peace? Isn't the death of all lives the only means to give life to all souls?"
  • Death from Above: The Flawed Legion attacks in one of two ways — a quick dash followed by a swipe before backflipping to safety, or by leaping up and coming down on the enemy claws first, spinning like a drill.
  • Death of a Thousand Cuts: The Guilt Legion, whom attack enemies with fast slashes and blade stabs.
  • Deliberately Monochrome: Almost, anyway. The color palette is very, VERY desaturated; the city is various shades of white-gray and brown-gray and only magic and your own summoned demons have any kind of bright colors (and are usually just one color in varying degrees of brightness).
  • Demonic Possession: During its original sealing, Azrail attempted this on Siela. Delacroix put himself in harm's way, so Azrail got him instead and subsequently tried to murder Sieg, prompting Siela to shield Sieg's body with her own, which is how this whole mess started. In the present day, Azrail jumps ship to Siela's body after Sieg defeats it.
  • Depth of Field: The PC port doesn't render the graphics very well, which leads to poor quality of the depth-of-field effects.
  • Difficulty by Region: The original Japanese version of the game was criticized for being too easy, so changes were made in the international releases of the game, which included making enemies deal more damage to Sieg, nerfing his own damage output, and making enemies more aggressive. Upgrading your legions also cost much more EXP in the international versions than the Japanese version.
  • Difficulty Levels: When players start on a fresh New Game, they're given the option to play on Easy or Normal. Hard Mode can be unlocked by completing the game on Normal, and completing Hard Mode then unlocks Super Mode.
  • Dismantled MacGuffin: The nine pieces of the Ultimate Crest.
  • "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: "FLY," the song that's played during the epilogue and staff roll, was performed by the Japanese band LIV. Manabu Oshio, the band's vocalist, voices Sieg in the Japanese version.
  • Double Jump: Flawed's Double Raid ability. Arcia has this by default, known as Gazelle Step.
  • Early Game Hell: The first few stages of the game, Stage 4 in particular, puts the player through a relentless challenge of fighting enemies that can deal high amounts of damage with Sieg's limited starting pool of vitality, underpowered Legions for the job, and next-to-no checkpoints between areas. Players also do not have the luxury of leveling up their Legions at a comfortable pace by revisiting previously cleared stages until Stage 9 (of 14) is beaten to unlock the Map Selector.
  • Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: Monsters are either organic or metallic. Each of Sieg's legions may be effective against one (but useless against the other), or works well against both. There is also an enemy type which can only be damaged by legions, but can also kill legions easily in one hit.
  • Emergency Energy Tank: The Life Recovery (L) and Soul Recovery (L), which fully heal the Life and Soul Gauges respectively, but the player can only carry limited number of these depending on the difficulty level.
  • Emotion Suppression: Delacroix snidely points out that, in their vows, the Maidens of the Silver pledged to not let their emotions turn violent. Arcia, having her own vendetta against Delacroix, tells him to shut up and opens fire. By comparison, Sieg and Delacroix spend most of their time perched firmly on the stoicism side of the fence.
  • Essence Drop: Slashing enemies with Sieg's sword and killing them will cause Phantom Souls to drop, which replenish the Soul Gauge. Some enemy types may drop Phantom Life after being slain, which replenish the Life Gauge instead. Arcia, however, does not get essence drops like Sieg does.
  • Energy Weapon: Malice and Arrogance's modes of attack, as well as the various enemy gunners (Barmos, Egans, Sadariars, and Zomdagdas) and Azrail.
  • Evil Former Friend: Delacroix to Sieg. Interestingly, Delacroix's words and tone toward Sieg suggest he sees Sieg as this to him, both for killing Siela and being a Legionator.
  • Evil Laugh: Delacroix gives a sly little chuckle to signify his attacks.
  • Experience Booster: EXP Gems, sometimes scattered throughout stages or dropped by slain enemies, give experience points to a Legion by varying amounts based on the size. Small gives 10,000 EXP, Medium gives 50,000 EXP, Large gives 500,000 EXP, and X-Large gives 5,000,000 EXP.
  • Expy: Long white hair, black outfit, big sword, fondness of Mind Rape, pyromania, being possessed by another evil entity, responsible for skewering a girl... Are we talking about Victor Delacroix or Sephiroth?
  • Fallen Hero: Delacroix, a former ally of Sieg's.
  • Flunky Boss: There is no boss that is fully fought alone, either because they can summon more mooks themselves, or they start the fight with mooks.
  • Foe-Tossing Charge: There are bulldozing techniques aplenty, from flaming shoulder tackles (Hatred's Breakdown Enchant) to Siela skating across the floor surrounded by a psionic orb to run you over. Thanatos in its Perfect Form takes the cake, as its regular attack is an unrelenting whirling dervish of Teleport Spam.
  • Form-Fitting Wardrobe: Sieg, underneath the longcoat. That undershirt doesn't leave much to the imagination.
  • Four Is Death: The fourth unlockable difficulty level, Super, has enemies that die in one hit, and in the international versions, so do you.
  • Gameplay Grading: At the Stage Results screen after clearing a stage, players are graded based on their performance in following criteria: Stage Clear, how quickly the stage was completed; Boss Clear, how quickly the stage's boss was defeated; Smash Count, how many monsters were slain; Monster Mark, how many special/target monsters were slain; Life, how much Life Gauge is remaining; and Soul, how much Soul Gauge is remaining. Meeting or exceeding the stage border requirements will earn you a higher rank in each criteria, while failing those requirements, conversely, lowers them, and the averages between them affects your overall Rank, which will grant a higher EXP Bonus multiplier.
  • Ghost Town:
  • Giant Flyer:
    • Galarges resemble carrion birds who fly in open areas as part of a flock.
    • Perfect Thanatos as well, though he prefers teleporting to get close to enemies.
  • Girly Run: Arcia, who runs with her guns at her sides in a bouncy girly fashion.
  • Golem: The metallic Goliaths are robot versions, which are very resistant to damage.
  • Gotta Catch Them All: The pieces of the Ultimate Crest scattered through various stages.
  • Gotta Get Your Head Together: Delacroix does this twice, first while his suppressed memories of Siela's death come surging back to him and then briefly during a flashback after Azrail possesses him in order to enact said death.
  • Greater-Scope Villain: Azrail, the evil Spirit of Purification that Sieg and Delacroix imprisoned three years prior to the beginning of the game. Is unsealed at the very end of the game and proceeds to serve as the Final Boss.
  • Ground Punch: How Sieg summons his legions, which releases a large surge of electrical energy in the process.
  • Guardian Entity: The various Legions are this to Sieg. Powered by lost souls, they can be summoned at his beck and call as long as he as the Soul Power to use them.
  • Gun Kata: Arcia's initiates Sniper Mode by twisting her body sideways to immensely increase her accuracy.
  • The Gunslinger: Arcia dual wields two silver pistols, one in each hand.
  • Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Subverted in that while Arcia's preferred weapons are dual pistols, she is more than capable of getting down to business with those legs of hers if push comes to shove.
  • Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Siela, a Nice Girl with Proper Lady and Silk Hiding Steel undertones.
  • Hammerspace: Delacroix can summon his weapon at will, the sword manifesting from a red-and-black storm cloud.
  • Harder Than Hard: Super Mode is unlocked after completing the game on Hard, which has enemies and — in international versions — the player die in a single hit.
  • The Heavy: While Azrail is the Final Boss, it's Delacroix who does the most stuff in the story. Justified, as Azrail is still a Sealed Evil in a Can up until the last stage, though it's implied Azrail is able to influence Delacroix and/or mess with his recollection of past events to otherwise manipulate him.
  • Hellhound: The Ogmas, most especially the red Ogma Rogul which can breathe a swath of damaging flame.
  • Heart Container: The Life Max Up items extend Sieg's Life Gauge based on their size, 10 for Small and 50 for Large. Soul Max Up does the same for his Soul Gauge.
  • Heroes Prefer Swords: Then again, so does Delacroix.
  • Idle Animation: Even your Legions have one!
  • I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Sieg considers the death of Siela three years ago to be his greatest failure.
    Sieg: (as a Lonely Piano Piece plays) "I don't understand it myself. If I could only atone for the sin I have committed..."
    Arcia: "—Your sin?"
    Sieg: "I wasn't able to save even a single woman."
    Arcia: "A single woman..."
    Sieg: "But all I can do is keep fighting."
  • Important Haircut: When Sieg crosses paths with Arcia after pulling a Big Damn Heroes, she cuts her hair to honor the memory of her fallen comrades (whom she refers to as her family).
  • Impossibly-Low Neckline: For reasons unknown, the Azrail-possessed Siela flaunts this. She'd otherwise be naked if not for the fleshy bodysuit made of Azrail's remains.
  • Improbable Aiming Skills: Arcia only misses if you deliberately aim at nothing; the Malice Legion only misses (for a couple of seconds) if you're aiming for them, although they do have a range limit for their rapid-fire attack.
  • Improbable Weapon User: One of Delacroix's attacks has him summoning Spinning Clock Hands to lethal effect.
  • Inconsistent Spelling: For some odd reason, the game's back cover spells Sieg's name as "Seig Warheit." While this is the only time such as a misspelling is seen, it is not uncommon for fans to follow suit.
  • Infinity +1 Sword: Thanatos when maxed out. Any of the Legions are powerful at max stats, but Thanatos is so far above them all that it gets a little ridiculous when you fight Azrail (3-hit kill). In fact, Thanatos is so ridiculously powerful that the main strategy for beating anything in the game when you max out all of its stats is: lock-on to monster(s), use The Ignorant Masses, run up to the enemy as it is bullet timed and carpet bombed, then just Attack! Attack! Attack! And the last part is optional, because sometimes all targets are destroyed before you're given even a chance to close in.
  • In the Hood: Arcia briefly during her debut.
  • Invisible Monsters: The Danus, which are common (upgraded) enemies in later stages, are essentially Bosses in Mook Clothing; Sieg's sword is useless against them and they can only be damaged by Legion attacks or assists. And if a Danu ever lands a blow on a Legion, it will hit HARD.
  • "Just Frame" Bonus: If the player times their attack at the right window of an enemy's attack, they can perform a Counter-Attack that deals more damage and rewards more EXP, especially if the counter-attack is from a Legion. Sieg can also get the Avenger ability from the Arrogance Legion, which allows him to perform a special counter-attack at the frame window from getting hit by an enemy.
  • Keystone Army: Each enemy group has a leader labeled TARGET. Destroy said leader, and the entire group vanishes.
  • Kick Chick: Arcia. She uses her guns strictly to pump lead into enemies; if she has to go melee, she lets her Combat Stilettos do the beating.
  • Kill It with Fire: Most of Sieg's best Enchant abilities from Legions involve setting multiple enemies alight with area of effect or blast radius attacks. Using fully upgraded Guilt's Ground Zero, Airblaze and Crimson Carnage from Blasphemy and Hatred's Breakdown will surely clear a horde of enemies into smoldering heaps within seconds. Sieg's sword is also cloaked in flames and burns enemies as he slashes them.
  • Large and in Charge: The leader of the enemy group is aptly labeled TARGET for each area. Defeating this enemy will neutralize all monsters in the area as well.
  • Last-Name Basis: Delacroix is never referred to as Victor in-game. Not even by Siela.
  • Launcher Move: Both characters have access to one in their moveset, Rising Phoenix for Sieg (obtainable from the Guilt Legion) and Razor Kick for Arcia.
  • The Legions of Hell: Sieg's Legions, and the demons that Victor summoned to stop him.
  • Life Meter: Sieg's and Arcia's Life Gauge.
  • Locked Out of the Loop: Sieg never tells Arcia why he's pursuing Delacroix or why Delacroix wants to unbind Azrail, only cryptically alluding to their shared history and calling his mission a personal matter. This lack of trust causes Arcia to temporarily lose her faith in Sieg and run off into the forest in a huff as Sieg rests. He consoles her afterward (but still discloses squat), and the two set off once more.
  • Long-Range Fighter: Malice Legion, owning to their use of crossbows. While they can be employed in close quarters combat, their kit is geared towards sniping foes from afar (up to a certain distance), whereas other projectile-favoring individuals either have melee options that complement their long-range tools (Arcia) or possess attacks that are pretty much effective regardless of range (Arrogance, Blasphemy).
  • Love Makes You Evil: Delacroix resigns from the Order after Siela is murdered. He promptly turns his attention to unsealing Azrail (thus causing The End of the World as We Know It) so that he can be reunited with Siela. Then it turns out that it was Delacroix himself who killed Siela (albeit unwittingly). He still goes through with unbinding Azrail, using himself as the sacrifice in Sieg's place.
  • Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me:
  • MacGuffin:
    • As mentioned above, the nine fragments of the The Ultimate Crest.
    • Delacroix must acquire the Three Sacred Glyphs (Ascension, Destruction, Primal Sin) to remove the seal from Azrail.
  • Macross Missile Massacre:
    • Thanatos' The Ignorant Masses is this combined with Bullet Time.
    • The Volvor bosses are also capable of unleashing multiple beams from their exposed eyes, as well as Azrail.
  • Made of Explodium: Blasphemy Legion, which are demonic bombs, can be kicked and explode upon enemy contact.
  • Made of Incendium: Organic enemies burn away upon defeat.
  • Magic Knight: Sieg and Delacroix. Sieg mainly relies on Summon Magic but can serve as a more typical example when in Assault Mode, whereas Delacroix is effectively a Black Knight variant of the trope.
  • Malevolent Masked Man: Delacroix's appearance at the end of the prologue stage.
  • Mana Meter: Sieg's Soul Gauge, which doubles as a Life Gauge for summoned Legions.
  • Mangst: Sieg's words throughout the story make it clear he's tormented by past ordeals, but his incredible display of stoicism means he openly shows (and voices) little emotion, even at his lowest point.
  • Market-Based Title: The Japanese release of the PC port was given the name "カオス レギオン インターナショナル for PC" (CHAOS LEGION International for PC) to signify it was based on the revised version released in Western territories rather than the original Japanese PlayStation 2 release.
  • Maybe Ever After: A possible interpretation of the epilogue. Whatever the case, it seems that Sieg and Arcia are now traveling together, and whatever it is that Sieg told Arcia definitely had her giddier than a schoolgirl.
  • Meaningful Echo:
    • Early on, Delacroix tells Sieg he'll liberate him from the dark spirit. Sieg says he'll do the same for Delacroix right before he faces Azrail, who had been resurrected by Delacroix's willing sacrifice of his own soul.
    • In a flashback, Siela tells Sieg he can save many more innocent lives. Arcia tells him the same thing when they arrive at Rotarl near the end of the game.
  • Meaningful Name:
  • Mind over Matter: Upon running into Delacroix in the ruins of Murdoa, Arcia, after saving an incapacitated Sieg and declaring vengeance for her murdered brother, finds that her bullets are ineffective. Not only does Delacroix halt her rounds when they're mere centimeters away from entering his skull, but he then proceeds to painlessly remove the two bullets Arcia previously lodged in his chest when making her entrance. In defeat and consternation, Arcia can only muster a "What?!" as she drops to her knees.
  • Mind Screw: Sieg hallucinates after getting a look at a wall painting within Kuzca, the Grand Cave depicting the "Purification of the Apocalypse," leading to him seeing Arcia as Siela, who promptly asks Sieg why he killed her. Cue flashbacks to Siela's death, complete with blood trickling down Sieg's hand and face as white feathers flutter down behind him. The vision brings Sieg, now coughing up blood, to his knees and he passes out soon after, but not before Delacroix offers up some exposition about what's written in the Apocrypha of Yzarc.
  • Minimalist Cast: Aside of Sieg, Delacroix, Siela, Arcia, and arguably Azrail, we only see two nameless members of the Order of St. Overia (referred to in the credits as "The Old Man" and "Intelligence", respectively) throughout the story, thus giving prominence to the conflict between Sieg and Delacroix. Note that Siela is already dead by the time the game starts and Azrail doesn't personally appear until the final mission, with such little depth to it that it's more of a living plot device than anything else. All other characters mentioned, including the other Maidens of the Silver and Arcia's family, share the unfortunate distinction of having been killed off-screen at various points in time.
  • Mook Maker: The aptly named Monster Generators aka Jenons and the (floating) Jenonholars.
  • Multi-Mook Melee: Nearly every level is bound to feature this in spades, with the second half of the game positively crawling with monsters. Some encounters are bypassable, many more are not, several include the aforementioned Monster Generators, and one instance (a six-wave horde of zombies at The Forbidden City of Yzarc "Core") replaces the original boss fight (Delacroix) once the "Another World" version of the stages are unlocked following Stage 12. It's required if you want obtain one of the final two Thanatos Chips, making it a worthy investment (and a necessary evil). There's also an optional horde of 2,000 Zeodagdas in Stage 12B, which killing all of them rewards a lot of EXP Gems (S), an EXP Gem (L), two Soul Recovery (L), and if it was cleared for the first time, a Soul Max Up (S), along with 12-15M EXP to take home.
  • Multiple Life Bars: Bosses in the game have multiple lifebars of varying colors until its lifebar is emptied.
  • Mystical White Hair: Delacroix is a Magic Knight like Sieg, but in possession of abilities that put most of his old buddy's stable of legions to shame.
  • Named After Somebody Famous: Victor Delacroix takes his name from French painter Eugène Delacroix (Full name: Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix)
  • Nintendo Hard: The international versions of the game require you learn the layout of each level and how to use the right Legion for each job, or else you'll have a very bad time. The Japanese release, however, is comparatively easier due to not having the changes the international versions had.
  • No-Sell: For about 5/6 of the story, Cutscene!Delacroix, with all that it entails.
  • The Not-Love Interest: Siela for Sieg. Whatever's going on between Sieg and Arcia aside, Sieg constantly reflects on the void in his life left by Siela's departure and seems to be almost as torn up over her death as Delacroix is. In fact, Siela's spirit even appears before Sieg in the finale to ensure that he's able to continue on without her or Delacroix. However, there are no signs that there was ever a Love Triangle between the trio, making Sieg and Siela's bond a very strong showing of platonic, even sibling-like love.
  • Ominous Latin Chanting:
    • This trope is the lifeblood of the soundtrack; most of the regular stage music has a choir tucked away in the chords, doubly so when you bring a legion out. And if, somehow, you manage to clear the stage without ever calling on them, the boss fight song will make up for it.
    • The Stage 8 music adds Ominous Arabian Chanting instead.
  • Ominous Pipe Organ: Aside of the choir and symphonic rock, there's a fair amount of this, too.
  • Once More, with Clarity: The flashback of Siela's death, with Sieg standing emotionlessly over her while Delacroix desperately cradles her corpse and asks Sieg if he's lost his mind, is later revisited with the positions of Sieg and Delacroix reversed.
  • One-Hit-Point Wonder: The international version's Super Mode applies this to everyone, Sieg and bosses included; in Japan it's just your enemies.
  • One-Man Army: Sieg can be one in theory at the player's behest, but in practice, it's Thanatos. Arcia also counts, as she lacks Sieg's supernatural powers and therefore is completely alone during a mission.
  • One-Winged Angel: Azrail turns into a demonic version of Siela in the final battle, presumably just to screw with Sieg.
  • Our Centaurs Are Different: The Lognagaiser bosses are centaurs whose torso originate from the center of the body rather than front.
  • Our Zombies Are Different: In the second half of Side-A missions, there are zombie enemies (in appearance) which behave like normal human soldiers. While these are organic (flesh and blood), Side-B levels will have metallic zombies, making them even harder to kill.
  • People Puppets: Just before the final battle with Delacroix, he takes control of Arcia's body and forces her to put her gun to her head. She is forced to pull the trigger, but misfires and clips her shoulder. She tells Sieg that she felt Delacroix's doubt and uneasiness, thus his control wavered enough for her to not blow her brains out.
  • Perpetual Frowner: Sieg only smiles once throughout the game and the one time that he does so*  isn't even a moment appropriate for it in the first place.
  • Playing with Fire: Sieg's element of choice, it would seem (see Kill It with Fire above), though he dabbles a bit in Shock and Awe as well.
  • Point of No Return:
    • Clearing Stage 12 unlocks B Side, after which you can no longer access A Side and thus have to contend with stronger enemies in all stages. This is mostly an issue for those who want to clock those AAA+ ranks in all levels, as important items such as stat upgrade items you can find in A Side can still be found in B Side, and in fact there are some items that you can't obtain in A Side.
    • Even before clearing Stage 12, there are several one time dungeons: the Prologue (which simply just cannot be accessed anymore once cleared), Stage 9A (Once you clear the stage as Arcia and unlock the ability to backtrack, going back into Stage 9 automatically throws you into its B Side even before you reach Stage 12), 12A and 13A (this is due to unlocking B Side by clearing Stage 12).
  • Post-Defeat Explosion Chain: Most bosses are covered with dozens of fiery explosions and then simply die.
  • Posthumous Character: Siela Riviere, whose death kicks off the story and causes Delacroix's turn to villainy.
  • Powered by a Forsaken Child: Legions are created by sacrificing wandering human souls. This is one of the many reasons why Delacroix hates Sieg's guts, as well as the Order of St. Overia, which covered up the truth by forbidding anyone from reading the Apocrypha.
  • Power Floats: Delacroix, in spades. If you manage to damage him enough to briefly render him unconscious, his body will still hover inches off of the ground. The final boss also demonstrates this, although Siela can and will stick to the ground if need be.
  • Power-Up: Attack and Defense Up items can be found that increase these stats for Sieg based on their size, 5 points for Small and 20 for Large.
  • Power-Up Letdown: Can happen when you finally reassemble Thanatos... and discover that you've still got to earn several million XP to make it as strong as it was in the opening and then some. Once you get Thanatos back up to speed, it becomes a force to be reckoned with.
  • The Promise:
    • During The Reveal. It turns out that Sieg won't bring himself to kill Delacroix because he promised a dying Siela to take care of him.
    • Delacroix misguidedly believes that Siela's dying wish was for him to go about his "purification" scheme so that the souls of all living creatures may be allowed to live forever. Sieg promptly calls him out on this, stating it to be a delusion caused by the darkness possessing Delacroix.
  • Pure Is Not Good: Azrail is the Spirit of Purification. The Dark Spirit of Purification.
  • Purposely Overpowered: Thanatos. As noted in Infinity +1 Sword above, there is a good reason you have to jump through so many hoops when it comes to restoring Thanatos (i.e. finding all of the Thanatos Chips and then pouring an exorbitant amount of EXP into raising it): helping Thanatos reach its Adult Form again eases the game's difficulty a bit. Going one step further and evolving Thanatos to its Perfect Form has your foes, mooks and bosses alike, going from 0 to dead in about three seconds flat.
  • Rain of Arrows: The Malice Legion's attacks are like this.
  • Rank Inflation: The Stage Results criteria ranges from D to AA+, which also determines the overall Rank of clearing the stage, but the overall Rank ranges from D to AAA+. A D Rank will only earns a x1.0 EXP Bonus, however, if a player can attain a AAA+ Rank, they'll earn a x4 EXP Bonus.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning:
    • Delacroix sports these at times, such as when he's under Azrail's influence or in Arcia's nightmare/flashback of her family's murder.
    • The monsters display this during the cutscene prior to the Lakeside stage, presumably to add to the creepy factor of the scene and its backdrop. Bonus points for being their only discernible feature, as the monsters are seen lying in ambush in a wooded area by the lake.
  • Red Herring: Sieg did not kill Siela, despite Victor's accusations and several cutscenes implying otherwise.
  • Regenerating Health: Thanatos' Healing Factor Enchant, although its usefulness is limited by the slow regeneration speed and Sieg needing to remain stationary for the effect to activate.
  • Reincarnation: As Delacroix explains to Sieg after their first duel, humans reside in a plane of existence known as the Middle World. Upon death, their souls are guided to either the Celestial World or the Nether World in accordance with their actions in life, only to be later reborn after a long rest. The powers of a Legionator infringe upon this natural cycle of rebirth, offering up wandering souls as tribute to call forth and enslave monsters called Chaos Legion, a fact that the Order of St. Overia didn't want getting out.
  • Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Monsters and bosses like Badbhs, Balors, Danus, Maponos, Zagan aren't just named because they sound ridiculous or menacing... They ARE actual names from Irish and Celtic mythology.
  • Replay Mode: Clearing each stage in Normal Mode unlocks their FMV cutscenes in the Movies viewer within the Extras menu, while completing the game unlocks the ability to play all of the cutscenes in sequential order. The PlayStation 2 version also offers the ability to view the cutscenes with the Japanese voices in the North American version and vice versa for the Japanese version, while the PC version only has the English voices for all of its regional versions.
  • The Right Hand of Doom: Sieg's gauntlet seems to be the main conduit for summoning his legions. Capcom sure has a thing for magic arms (Onimusha, God Hand, Devil May Cry 4, etc).
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: When Arcia appears to have been forced by Delacroix to commit suicide, Sieg, after standing in Stunned Silence for a few seconds, just loses it and proceeds to make a beeline straight for Delacroix, furiously yelling all the while.
  • Scarf of Asskicking: Arcia wears a blue scarf while kicking some ass.
  • The Scream: Delacroix lets out one as he painfully remembers the real version of the events of three years past.
  • Sdrawkcab Name: The Forbidden City of Yzarc. For those who don't see it... 
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: Azrail, the Dark Spirit of Purification.
  • Secret Character: If players complete the game on Normal, they can unlock Arcia as a playable character.
  • Sequential Boss:
    • In the fourth stage, you have to face a total of six Zagans as the boss. The first round is against one, the second has two, and the final round releases the remaining three. There are no rest periods in between rounds after defeating the Zagans.
    • The final battle is also a continuous one: the first against Delacroix, the second is against the freed Azrail, and the Final Boss is Siela possessed by Azrail. Fortunately, a Perfect Thanatos will make mincemeat of the first two battles and only the third one will be the real challenge.
  • Shielded Core Boss: The Maponos, Volvor and Gil Balor bosses all protect their weak points with various forms of barriers. Except for Volvor, these barriers will be put back up after you whale on them a bit.
  • Shock and Awe:
    • Sieg's claymore emits glowing lightning around the blade, giving it considerable power against organic and metallic monsters.
    • Malice's Spartan Enchant, Flawed's Laughing Stock Assist, and Flawed's Despise Enchant will also zap the enemy with electricity on a successful hit.
  • Shout-Out:
  • Slouch of Villainy: Delacroix, before your first battle with him.
  • Sole Survivor: Of the Maidens dispatched by the Order's Intelligence unit to track Delacroix, Arcia is the only one who survives a run-in with monsters. If Sieg was even a second slower, she might not have made it either.
  • Spectacular Spinning: Flawed in a nutshell. Also, Thanatos in its Perfect form.
  • Sphere of Destruction: Several bosses employ some variation of this sort of attack, including Delacroix.
  • Spike Balls of Doom: The Grannue monsters, which look like floating/walking naval mines with menacing spikes.
  • Spin Attack: Arcia's Orbit Fire (drawing on the supply of Energy Bullets located in her "Fire" Meter) is the Death Blossom variant, topped off with a final shot fired directly ahead that pushes her to the ground (though in her Horizontal Fire state, allowing Arcia to shoot while grounded or roll away from her position).
  • Stance System: Both playable heroes make use of this.
    • Sieg begins in Assault Mode, where he fights alone and has access to his active Legion's Assist Ability. Force Mode summons his Legions to battle alongside him, sacrificing Sieg's ability to run and decreasing his attack power in exchange.
    • Arcia begins in Strike Mode, using a combination of marksmanship and martial arts, as well as Orbit Fire, to batter foes. Sniper Mode grants Arcia better visibility and accuracy when lining up her shots, though at the cost of attack power and the ability to run or use Orbit Fire.
  • Stationary Boss: Both Maponos bosses, which are Shielded Core Bosses, and Azrail, which bobs up and down and thus is sometimes unreachable even if it doesn't move to different parts of the boss arena.
  • The Stoic: Sieg, bordering on Dull Surprise at times. The amount of times he loses his cool can be counted on one hand, and all of them happen during the last few cutscenes. Every other time, he simply either doesn't emote or does so in the most deadpan way possible. Flashbacks show he was quite anguished when Siela died, suggesting Sieg's emotional detachment might've been a way for him to cope with the trauma.
  • Summon Magic: The Legions.
  • Super Title 64 Advance: The Japanese release of the PC version was titled "CHAOS LEGION International for PC" due to being based off the revised overseas version.
  • Sword Plant: Blasphemy grants Sieg Airblaze, a jumping Death from Above stab on the ground. Higher levels will cause a fiery area of effect around Sieg as he pulls the sword out of the ground.
  • Taking the Bullet: Performed by Siela to save Sieg from an Azrail-possessed Delacroix, earning her a blade to the heart/chest. Arcia throwing herself in front of Sieg in an effort to protect him from Delacroix in the exact same manner as Siela after their second battle ends up jogging Delacroix's memory, causing him to drop his sword mid-stab.
  • A Taste of Power: Thanatos, the strongest legion, is available in the tutorial stage, and is broken into pieces once the stage is completed. Collecting the pieces is something of a plot point, and well worth it.
  • Teleport Spam: Thanatos, most pronounced in its final two stages. The final boss's second form also enjoys the benefits of such an ability.
  • 'Tis Only a Bullet in the Brain: Invoked but ultimately avoided entirely. When Arcia is revealed to have survived Delacroix's Psychic-Assisted Suicide, one would expect this to come into play as the reason behind her inexplicable recovery, but Arcia quickly explains that the uncertainty she sensed in Delacroix's thoughts gave her enough wiggle room to narrowly avoid shooting herself in the head.
  • Title Drop: See the opening quote, which is the first line in the game's cinematics. This title drop also serves as Foreshadowing; see Powered by a Forsaken Child above.
  • Together in Death: Delacroix and Siela.
  • Tome of Eldritch Lore: The Apocrypha of Yzarc.
  • Too Many Belts: Sieg sports four on each pant leg. For those not keeping count, that's a grand total of eight belts, for no other reason than Rule of Cool.
  • Two Guys and a Girl: Sieg, Delacroix, and Siela.
  • Unlockable Difficulty Levels: Hard Mode is unlocked by completing Normal Mode, and clearing Hard then unlocks Super Mode.
  • Undeathly Pallor: When possessed by Azrail for the final battle, Siela's skin is a sickly bluish-green.
  • Variable Mix: Every stage has a secondary song that plays when Sieg's Legion is summoned on the field or Arcia is in Shoot Mode.
  • Waistcoat of Style: Delacroix is a pretty snazzy dresser, we'll give him that.
  • Watching Troy Burn: Delacroix razes Rotarl, the Sacred Capital, which served as the prologue stage. Sieg and Arcia return here to find the city up in flames. A brief rainstorm blows in over the now smoldering town, which then becomes the twelfth stage of the game, entitled "The Fall of the Sacred Capital."
  • Weapon Across the Shoulder: Sieg briefly hangs his sword over his shoulder as part of his animation at the start of a stage.
  • Weapon Tombstone: At the end of the game, Sieg sets up one outside of St. Claire's Cathedral with Delacroix's black sword. For bonus points, Siela's necklace dangles from the hilt, symbolizing the couple's Together in Death status.
  • Weird Moon: The legendary RED MOON.
  • When Trees Attack: The Maponos and Gil Maponos bosses.
  • White Hair, Black Heart: Delacroix. He's got the "long, flowing locks" thing going on, too.
  • Winged Humanoid: Perfect Thanatos. Azrail!Siela isn't one, but will frequently adopt a Battle Aura with a winged silhouette.
  • Wrestler in All of Us: The Hatred Legion. It also has the ability to catch an enemy's attack before putting a size-appropriate hurt on them: smaller foes tend to be knocked over and mashed into the ground, while some of the few enemies larger than them usually get a single (but painful) slam. They also like giving a "Come get some" style taunt after being ordered to attack.
  • You Are Not Alone: Arcia tells Sieg this in the epilogue as he angsts over the deaths of Delacroix and Siela. Possibly overlaps with Lonely Together — the two don't bond all that much in their shared screen time, at least not openly, and both have lost all of their known loved ones by the game's close.
  • You Killed My Brother and Family: Arcia's grudge against Delacroix, although she eventually forsakes it to a take a crack at playing negotiator between Sieg and Delacroix. It doesn't work.
  • You Will Not Evade Me: Malice's Prisoner Enchant allows Sieg to draw in enemies toward him after tagging them with a Lock-On Shot.
  • Zerg Rush:
    • Generators will send monsters toward you wave by wave.
    • Sieg's legions (i.e. Guilt, Flawed and Hatred) also work this way, especially in Active Hearts Mode.

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