History VideoGame / DarkChronicle

* ContinuityNod [[spoiler: Dark Genie]], the previous game's BigBad, is the boss of the BonusDungeon. In addition, the music from the first game's intro plays in the battle.

* RobotClown: The RepulsiveRingmaster Flotsam rides around on a huge, clown-faced SpiderTank called Halloween. Later on, [[spoiler:Flotsam himself is [[WeCanRebuildHim given a cyborg body after his near-death]], but still retains his clownish facepaint and colorful suit.]]

* [[SwordAndGun Wrench And Gun]]: Max wields either a wrench or a [[DropTheHammer hammer]] in his right hand, and a gun in his left.

** Monica carries the Moon Atlamillia, colored blue. Max carries the Earth Atlamillia, colored red. Time Gates, Sealed Floors, and even the attack patterns of the FinalBoss and the BonusBoss use these motifs.

* ParentalAbandonment: Monica is made fatherless (assumedly an orphan, as her mother is [[MissingMom never mentioned).]] Max has a MissingMom, and his father is important to restoring Gundarada.

* PrettyPrincessPowerhouse: Monica Raybrandt is introduced to the player slicing up enemies in her princess clothes. She's an expert of the sword and magic, and doesn't hesitate to travel and fight through time to avenge her father and save the future.

* CampGay: King Mardan is a giant purple fish with enlarged lips and a ''faaaaabulous'' voice who really likes taking care of his looks. Monica can't believe he's a guy!

* FlamboyantGay: Possibly the only thing ever in which the flamboyant gay is a ''fish''. A huge, purple, ''lipstick-wearing'' fish.

* PermanentlyMissableContent: Several dozen photographs [[GuideDangIt can be missed]] (often because they involve stopping for a photo op during boss battles, or are only available in the future), and several Fruits of Eden can be rendered inaccessible by a glitch[[note]]In Chapter 3, a specific Chest in the Starlight Temple, namely one on the far-end of the Weapons shop platform, overwrites the locations of quite a few chests that pop up three chapters later if it's collected early.[[note]]. Also, due to the existence of the BonusDungeon, any Medals, treasures, and prizes from the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon will go away when it becomes inaccessible, along with any uncollected treasures from the future areas.

* AndYourRewardIsClothes: You can go to Mayor Need to trade your very hard-earned Medals for outfits not sold in stores, such as a clown suit, Monica's princess gown, or a CatGirl FurBikini. Try not to think too hard about why [[DirtyOldMan Need would have these]].

* ApatheticCitizens: Double-subverted. At the start of the game, the citizens aren't even the slightest bit concerned about the fact that [[CityInABottle there hasn't been any contact from the outside world in over ten years, as well as the fact that the mayor hasn't allowed anyone to leave the city]]. But when the truth about the world's end is finally brought out into the open... [[AngstWhatAngst they take it quite well, actually]].

* LastLousyPoint: Want to get every Scoop in the game? Hope you have a guide or remember when to take the Chapter-specific photos! If you don't take every possible photo you can before the FinalBoss of Chapter 7, you'll never be able to get anything from that chapter's locations again.
* LethalJokeItem:
** The Island King, the sword with the highest attack rating, looks like... a surfboard-sized tiki mask with a pinwheel attached to the end. And banana leaves for a handguard.

* MissableContent: Subverted. The majority of Donny's Scoops are

* AwesomeButImpractical: Steve's [[MacrossMissileMassacre Missile Pod Arms]]. Sure, it looks awesome... but good luck hitting anything. They work a lot better if you're in a wide-open area, with a lock on your target. However, it also suffers from chewing through WHP ridiculously fast, like the Machine Gun Arm.

* BackTracking: In Chapter 6, you have to return to four of the dungeons you previously visited, and take a path you previously couldn't.

* KatanasAreJustBetter: Several of Monica's swords are katanas. The most powerful melee weapon for the Ridepod is the Samurai Arm IV which [[DualWielding dual wields]] katanas.

** The guardians of the Chapter 6 shrines are bigger, palette-swapped versions of regular enemies.
** Several midbosses - namely Linda, Memo-Eater, and the guardians at the dead ends in the Zelmite Mine - are also palette/model swapped versions of regular enemies. However, in the case of Linda and Memo-Eater, they are palette-swapped versions of regular enemies [[DegradedBoss you haven't encountered yet.]]
* LethalJokeItem: The Island King, the sword with the highest attack rating, looks like... a surfboard-sized tiki mask with a pinwheel attached to the end. And banana leaves for a handguard.

* PermanentlyMissableContent: Several dozen photographs [[GuideDangIt can be missed]] (often because they involve stopping for a photo op during boss battles, or are only available in the future), and several Fruits of Eden can be rendered inaccessible by a glitch. Also, due to the existence of the BonusDungeon, any Medals, treasures, and prizes from the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon will go away when it becomes inaccessible, along with any uncollected treasures from the future areas.

* VillainOverride: [[spoiler:Gaspard is controlled by Emperor Griffon after Gaspard has his HeelFaceTurn.]]

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: [[spoiler: Ixion]]'s ability to "Move" to both Present and Future locations only applies when you're jumping forward; "Move" remains disabled in the future, thus you still have to hike over to the Time Gates to get back despite not having [[spoiler: the Blue and Red Atlamillia at that point]].

* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Monica carries the Moon Atlamillia, colored blue. Max carries the Earth Atlamillia, colored red. Time Gates, Sealed Floors, and even the attack patterns of the FinalBoss and the BonusBoss use these motifs.

* SetWrongWhatOnceWentRight: Griffon's effect on the timestream amounts to invoking this. By [[spoiler: erasing their origin points, major locations in TheVerse never come to be]]; weakening the rebellion established to counter him as a result. Hence, Max and Monica's plan to do exactly the opposite.

* IdiotBall: Max and Monica letting Griffon [[spoiler:steal their atlamillia. You'd think that at least by the time he grabbed the first one, the owner of the second one would react in time to stop him]].

* StrongFamilyResemblance: Multiple characters in the future bear a very strong resemblance to their implied grandparents (characters that are required to reside in georama for the future characters to appear).

* {{Expy}}: [[StockNessMonster The Shiguras]], big blue sea creatures bear an uncanny resemblance to [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Lapras]].

* GatlingGood: Steve's gatling gun attachments and Max's Last Resort, a handheld minigun and terminal stage of the [[EvolvingWeapon machinegun path]].

* MadeOfEvil: [[spoiler:The Dark Element, a literal ElementalEmbodiment of evil that formed in Sirus as he gradually became Griffon. When Griffon comes to his senses, the Element physically manifests and tries to destroy the world himself.]]

* GameGourmet: Along with ''Dark Cloud's'' four HP-recovery items[[note]]Bread, bananas, cheese, and chicken[[/note]] and Tasty Water, this game adds roasted chestnuts, ''crunchy'' bread, plum onigiri, and flan pudding to its main menu, and you can also cook fish that you catch. Many food items can be "invented" with pictures Max takes of the right things, with different ingredients with which to assemble them, themselves being a subset of many different raw materials you come across. Heart-throb cherries, while primarily serving to stop enemies since ''Dark Cloud'', can also be consumed to ''cure'' your own stoppage. Witch Parfaits, Ruby's favorite food from before, also return as Monica's, with Potato Pie as Max's equivalent item and Fruits of Eden also reprising their role.

* DiscOneNuke: Through the mayor, you can get tickets that let you rename any piece of gear. Normally it just lets you add a cosmetic flair to your weapons, but due to a bug if you rename a weapon to the name of another weapon, it'll turn into that weapon. This can give you rather powerful weapons much earlier than you are supposed to get them. But on the downside, they will only have the base stats that the weapon can have, so they will be lacking in any substats that you may have given a weapon while grinding it up the proper way. So ultimately, weapons attained the proper way will be more powerful than ones attained through the glitch, but early on that won't particularly matter with the raw base stats they'll have.

* NeverSayDie: Averted. One of the first things Flotsam tells Max is "Give me that stone or die!"

!This game provides examples of:

* BittersweetEnding:
** [[spoiler: Yay! The day is saved! But Monica and Max's mom, whom he's been pining for the entire game, won't come stay in his time period, and time travel becomes illegal in their future. ]]