Follow TV Tropes

Following

Video Game / Threads of Fate

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/threadsoffate.png

An 1999 Action RPG by Square (now Square Enix) for the PlayStation, which was released as Dewprism in Japan. The player can choose to follow the adventures of Rue or Mint as they quest for a powerful artifact, known as the Dewprism, that can reshape reality.

Rue has been living with Claire, a friend he loves as a sister, since she rescued him years ago. When she is killed shielding him from the "Arm of Death," he vows to find the Dewprism in order to bring her back. He wields a large axe in combat and can turn into monsters he slays, gaining their abilities.

Mint is a princess horrified to learn she's been passed over in the line of succession for her younger sister. Enraged, she vows to find the Dewprism and take back what is rightfully hers, and then some. In fact, nothing less will do than rulership over the whole world. She wields a pair of golden hoops that allow her to use magic.

A manga was planned, but later scrapped, though various fan works do exist including a fangame, Duo Princess, by EasyGameStation, starring Mint and Maya.


This game provides examples of:

  • Absurd Phobia: Mint is afraid of pumpkins.
  • Action Mom: Mira, who not only fights her way through a forest full of ghouls during the invasion of Carona, but also faces down Trap Master with nothing but her blade and a badass boast.
    "You need to learn some manners. I guess I'll have to teach you."
  • Alas, Poor Villain: The three Masters in both stories. Doll Master in Rue's story.
    "... Brother... Thanks, Rue... Best thing I've heard in a hundred years..."
  • Amplifier Artifact: The relics, objects created by the Aeons to amplify their already powerful magical powers.
  • And the Adventure Continues: The extended ending after completing both stories. After being invited by Klaus, Rue and Mint go on an adventure together in search of another relic.
  • Apocalyptic Log: Mint finds a journal of a man who hid an item in a monster and, apparently, died as a result. Her response? "What an idiot."
  • Artificial Human: Rue, Prima Doll, and Ruecian AKA Doll Master. Also Ruenis, and there are implied to be many more...
  • Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: The fate of some of the Magicians.
  • Badass Bookworm: Played straight and averted with Duke — he gains his fighting techniques by reading epics... though his reading romantic novels doesn't help with his social clumsiness.
  • Bad Powers, Good People: Rue. Originally intended to be an agent of the Big Bad Valen, he wakes up with no memories and is then taken care of by Claire. Rue started his search for the Dewprism to bring Claire back to life after she was mercilessly murdered by Ruecian the Doll Master, and he is kind and helpful to the people he meet in his adventure, namely Klaus and his family.
  • Bait-and-Switch Boss: The Ghost Temple contains four guardian Chimeras. Rue fights three of them, and the last one gets disposed of easily by Duke, who will challenge Rue again.
  • Berserk Button: Don't call Belle old, or you will get it.
  • Big Bad: Valen. The most powerful of the Aeons, he created the Dewprism in order to gain control of every aspect of the universe. This made the other Aeons uneasy, and so they put a stop to him. He also created the dolls, including Rue and Ruecian, as his agents for his resurrection.
  • The Blacksmith: Rod, the red-haired chiseled traveler with the short vest and nice hat. Serves as an optional opponent who gets harder every time he fights you, upgrades both your weapon AND his own, has a dog named Johnny Wolf who also fights alongside him and has built his own Cool Boat.
  • Booby Trap: Trap Master's preferred combat method.
  • Chekhov's Gun: Rue's ability to take in the soul/spirit of slain lifeforms. It's what enables him to bring Claire back in his ending, and what lets Valen possess him in Mint's penultimate battle.
  • City of Adventure: Carona. The town comes equipped with mandatory RPG places (an inn, weapon and item shops, and a pub), and its surrounding areas are littered with ruins and ateliers (homes of powerful magicians).
  • Convection, Schmonvection: Raging Mountain. Not only do you travel a few feet above a sea of lava, the stepping stones plunge toward it whenever you jump on them.
  • Cool Ship: Rod's Pulsar-inferno Typhoon Omega (it's not a Pinto).
  • Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: The reason Rod became a traveling blacksmith/warrior. While he's good at both, neither is what he desires.
  • Developer's Foresight: A woman in Carona can ask Mint to find Elena, and that causes Mint to guess Elena's name, when they meet, but if that woman isn't interacted with, Elena gives her name, instead.
  • Ditto Fighter: Rue can take the form of most normal monsters encountered in the game.
  • The Ditz: Elena. Oh so much. Constantly calls Rue "Polly" after his transforming into a pollywog to save her.
  • Does Not Like Spam: Mint and pumpkins.
  • Dynamic Entry: Mint is fond of making these, befitting her spunky personality.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: Rue and his story, oh so very much. Mint's is bittersweet by comparison almost entirely because of the major difference. spoiler 
  • 11th-Hour Superpower: Both characters get one for the final battle. Rue gains the ability to guard attacks and Mint is given the Cosmos spell type. When combined with Gold Magic (only Gold and Cosmos combine) she can cast the Valiant spell.
  • Eyes Always Shut: Psycho Master. When not using his full power.
  • Forced Transformation: Maya can turn Mint into a pumpkin during their fight, and does so on one of the credits' segments.
  • Genki Girl: Mint.
  • Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: There is a scene in both character's storylines where the Prima Doll has a temporary breakdown about soon fulfilling his purpose and afterward being considered worthless. Rue calmly talks him out of his slump. Mint slaps him and goes off on a rage about how pathetic he sounds.
  • Girlish Pigtails: Mint, who is very childish.
  • The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: Mint and Maya.
  • A God Am I: Valen. With the Dewprism he created, he basically wanted to play God and control the universe.
  • Grand Theft Me: Valen does this to Claire and Rue. He hijacks Claire's body in Rue's storyline and temporarily successfully hijacks Rue's body in Mint's storyline and only attempted in failure in Rue's storyline.
  • Happily Adopted: Prima Doll is adopted by Klaus' family at the end of either story.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Doll Master in Rue's path.
  • Hopeless Boss Fight: Rue's first fight against Doll Master is this. Even if the player plays in New Game Plus and achieves maxed out stats it's impossible to beat him due to infinite HP.
  • Hot-Blooded: Duke, due to his obsession with romantic novels and epics.
  • Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Mint, in Rue's story.
  • It's All Upstairs From Here: The Tower of Maya. It's filled with Eastern-style architecture and pumpkins. Lots of pumpkins.
  • It's Personal with the Dragon: Arm of Death turns out to be the big bad's dragon. Since Arm of Death kills Claire in the prologue of Rue's story, it's pretty clear why the trope applies. And that's without taking the whole brothers thing into account. Doesn't apply as much for Mint, although she's still perfectly happy to kick Doll Master's ass for his role in her removal from the throne.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Mint. Small, but it's there.
  • Level Grinding: To get past 3 blocks of ice you may have to grind. Other than that there's virtually none.
    • In fact, there aren't levels at all — your max HP will go up gradually as you get hit by monsters, and your max MP is raised by using MP up. You can also buy stat boosts from a shop in Carona, if you've got the cash for it.
  • Life Meter: In the upper left of the screen, with a fractional display of Hit Points, when combat is possible.
  • Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards: Rue starts out marginally stronger than Mint, but has a limited number of transformations that aren't particularly powerful and his only character wise enhancements are increase in stats. Mint, on the other hand, gains access to wide ranges of spell types such as healing, barriers, and magic waves. And the way MP works in the game, most of it can be recovered within ten seconds. By the end of their respective storylines, Mint grossly overpowers Rue gameplay wise.
  • Load-Bearing Boss: Valen. Defeat him, and his fortress goes ka-blooey.
  • MacGuffin Title: In Japanese, anyway, Dewprism (デュープリズム).
  • Magic Knight: Mint, who prides herself on her melee skills with special mention of her dropkick.
  • The Man Behind the Man: In Mint's story, Maya is initially seen as the antagonist, having kicked Mint out of the East Heaven Kingdom. It turns out that Ruecian the Doll Master is the mastermind behind this plot, seeing Maya was easier to manipulate. Being the East Heaven Kingdom's court magician also gave Ruecian access to info about relics, especially the Dewprism, while keeping Maya in the dark about it.
  • Mega Manning: Mint absorbs the power of the Book of Cosmos, gaining its energy attack.
  • Mega Neko: Gorotan, one of Fancy Mel's servants who looks like a tiny cat with bat wings, grows into a huge cat that shoots out lightning. His powers are required to jolt the lifeless Prima Doll.
  • Multiple Endings: A given, since it has two playable characters. There's also a secret third ending that unlocks once both Rue's and Mint's stories are completed.
  • Necromantic: Rue, a heroic version of it. In his story, he succeeds without any negative consequences.
  • Ojou Ringlets: Fancy Mel, befitting her Elegant Gothic Lolita getup.
  • Ominous Floating Castle: Valen's Fortress.
  • One-Word Title: In Japanese, which is also a MacGuffin Title. Dewprism (デュープリズム).
  • Our Dragons Are Different: Wylaf, the cool old dragon who's nice to humans, and even helps out Rue and Mint a little throughout the game.
  • Psychic Powers: Psycho Master. Mainly uses telekinesis in battle.
  • Reality Warper: Most of the Magicians, as evident in Fancy Mel's atelier and Valen's tower.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Mint is brash and smart-mouthed; Rue is more level-headed and serious.
  • Red Right Hand: Claire's killer, the Arm of Death a.k.a. Ruecian the Doll Master. It's black, actually... and HUGE.
  • Redundant Researcher: Subverted. Although Mint and Rue aid Klaus, he's the one who cracks the mysteries.
  • Rings of Death: Mint's weapon of choice. She uses them to bash enemies and channel her magic.
  • The Rival: Duke and Belle to Rue and Mint, respectively. Most of the time.
  • Running Gag: Mint stomps whenever she's annoyed by somebody.
  • Saintly Church: The church in the town gladly gives you aid if you give a donation, and lets you heal your wounds, no questions asked.
  • Spiky Hair: Trap Master. Also befits his punk-ish personality.
  • Sequel Hook: The extension to Rue's ending unlocked after completing both stories.
  • Small Name, Big Ego: Most of the villains, especially Duke. Mint and some of the friendly NPCs are like this too.
  • Sticks to the Back: Both character's weapons, although Rue's giant axe is more noticeable.
  • Stronger Sibling: Mint's sister, Maya, especially after obtaining the Relic. She took advantage of the power gap to kick Mint out of the kingdom.
  • Sugar Bowl: Fancy Mel's atelier. Even the three platforming segments are decked out with cute and colorful architecture.
  • Symbol Swearing: The game has a fair amount of swearing covered by symbols. Most of the swearing comes from Mint, the spunky girl.
  • Tactical Suicide Boss: The Final Boss, actually. Valen shifts between four forms and the attacks of said forms at random. In only one form is he vulnerable, even to the 11th-Hour Superpower your character has for this fight. If he never shifts to the one form...
  • Take Over the World: Mint's primary motivation, played for laughs, as the narrative never gives the players reason to actually believe she's capable of doing so.
  • Theme Naming: Most dolls have their specialty preceding "master" as their names. Rue and Mint are both named after herbs.
  • Those Two Guys: The bandits, Blood and Smokey. They both escape the long arm of the law, until the game's ending.
  • Tick Tock Tune: Slow track example: Mint's Scheme 2.
  • Tomato in the Mirror: Rue is one of the Dolls of Valen, another of which is the primary antagonist of the game (though Rue was already aware that he was not human).
  • Tsundere: Belle, especially towards Duke.
  • Unexpected Gameplay Change: Fancy Mel's platforming games.
  • Video Game Cruelty Potential: Minor example, if you pick a fight with Rod you can attack his dog, Johnny Wolf. Major example, at the top of Raging Mountain you fight Wylaf in a test that he surrenders, but there are a couple seconds after he surrenders and before the plot kicks in that you can keep attacking him. Neither of these are advised because...
  • Video Game Cruelty Punishment: Minor example, hitting Johnny Wolf enough will get him mauling you not unlike Cuccos from Zelda. Major example, hit Wylaf enough after he surrenders and you won't live long enough to regret it.
  • Villain Protagonist: Mint, in her story, plans to overthrow the East Heaven Kingdom for being removed from the succession.
  • Visible Silence: Rue's response to Fancy Mel is 76 periods followed by "am I dreaming?"
  • Voluntary Shapeshifting: Mode Master's method of attack is mainly this. Rue can morph into monsters after gaining the slain enemy's coin.
  • The Walls Are Closing In: After Rue defeats Duke in a room within the Ghost Temple, the wall starts to close in, threatening to crush them and Elena. Rue has to hack and slash his way through a closed door for the three to escape this trap.
  • White Hair, Black Heart: Valen and Doll Master.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Once Maya realizes that she's been manipulated by Doll Master in order for him to break the seal that leads to the Dewprism, he ditches her, imprisons her, and has Mode Master impersonate her.

Top