- "The robust multi-classing system and skill progression bring to mind Final Fantasy Tactics and makes the single-plane combat quite varied and compelling."— Steam Curator review of Voidspire Tactics.
Voidspire Tactics is the first of a series of Tactical RPG games set in three worlds, known as Eral, Graven, and Limroft, released in November of 2015 by Rad Codex. You play as four people whose race, names, and professions you decide, who wake up on a boat that has just arrived in the town of Solport. After trying to go through customs and failing because the line is taking forever, the entire port is teleported away to a strange location whereupon everyone there is attacked by brigands. After your team defeats them, they set off on finding a way to escape from wherever they've ended up.
The game bills itself as "An indie turn-based Tactics RPG with a heavy emphasis on exploration, character progression, and highly tactical combat," and to that end, there are a LOT of things one can do with the environment. Grass can be cut, fires can be extinguished, or made to spread, and water can be frozen. Compounding this is the huge amount of class customization options- with each character having racial perks and being able to pick two of the 18 classes to use in combat. In addition, this creativity is not exclusive to the player- the enemies will make use of these same effects if it can find a use for them.
The game later received two sequels- Alvora Tactics and Horizon's Gate.
This game provides examples of:
- Aerith and Bob: You have characters with normal names like Celia, but also ones with names like Ekrast or Aeshra.
- The Alliance: Jin presents the Seartial Alliance as this. The actions of its soldiers suggest it's not as black and white as that.
- Anti-Grinding: The only way to grind for XP is by entering and exiting areas with respawning enemies over and over- but there's a chance they won't spawn at all.
- Beast Man: Scurio are a kind of generic version of this- said to have an odd combination of cat-like, fox-like, and weasel-like features. Additionally, there are the Aphest, which resemble goats- though you only see Ekrast representing them here. Falpa are an odd example of this too- having heads that resemble manta rays.
- The Blank: Rasmen are completely faceless. They wear masks to fit into society better.
- Cool Bike: The repaired autocycle, once you get it, zips around rather fast, and can save you a bit of time travelling the Machine Graveyard.
- 11th-Hour Superpower: Ekrast drops his staff and cloak before the final boss fight. The staff is classified as an incredibly powerful spear weapon, and the cloak makes you resistant to every status ailment.
- The Empire: Jin presents Jasce as this. Vise's actions at the Displaced Street suggest Seartial could fulfill the trope too.
- The Faceless: Downplayed. Vise is never seen without a face obscuring helmet, but you can still see one of his eyes, and his mouth.
- For Science!: Ekrast's motivation. All he wants to do is study gate magic in peace, but Seartial's laws make that difficult.
- Hard Light: You can find weapons that make use of this to attack. They do fire damage. Melting them down gets you a chunk of it- which the game lampshades as inexplicable.
- Hopeless Boss Fight: Ekrast can be fought the first time you encounter him. While it is possible to defeat him, he will more likely than not have more than twice the HP of all your characters combined, if playing on the default difficulty, and will use incredibly powerful spells against you.
- Hope Springs Eternal: A rare villainous example. Ekrast, bleeding out and having locked himself and the Ruluorn Heart behind a barrier, decides to fuse with it in a last ditch attempt to salvage the situation under this reasoning, saying that he can always rebuild as long as he survives. This prompts the final boss fight against him.
- Imported Alien Phlebotinum: The presence of Aeshra, a magic worm creature from Graven, known as a Ruluorn, implies this is what runs the Voidspire. Indeed, it is. The device that serves as the core of the Voidspire runs on the reanimated heart of a Ruluorn Queen.
- Magic Knight: Entirely possible, but not exactly an efficient use of your stars. You'd have to level up both your magic and melee stats, which would take more stars than if you'd focus on one or the other.
- Maximum HP Reduction: Get K.O.ed in combat, and your max HP will take a hit. You can restore it to its natural level by resting at a campfire.
- Mordor: From what we've seen of Graven, it counts as an odd, alien, purple-tinted version of this. Interestingly, its natives, the Diecast, are not entirely evil- as you can negotiate with them for a chance for them to let you pass without fighting. After beating the game, you can even play as one!
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Vise usually presents himself as a confident, arrogant swordsman. When Ekrast and Aeshra ambush you near the top of the Voidspire, he stammers, highlighting how the situation has just turned pear-shaped.
- Regenerating Health: Characters will regenerate HP and MP as they take steps outside of combat.
- Save the Villain: You can attempt this through a dialog choice right before the final boss fight, telling Ekrast you will spare him if he comes quietly. It doesn't work.
- Scary Black Woman: Celia fits the bill pretty well. Notably, however, she's not like that to her soldiers.
- Secret A.I. Moves: There are a number of moves that only monsters can use. Ekrast also wields a number of spells you cannot obtain by any means- as they are tied his unique "Gatemaster" class.
- Teleportation: Gate magic's main use, and the thing that got you into this mess in the first place.
- Unsportsmanlike Gloating: You have the option to rub it in Celia's face through a dialog option during one of her boss fights that she lost despite managing to ambush you. This reduces her dialog to inarticulate growling.
- Wave-Motion Gun: Ruluorn Ekrast will use one liberally against you. It has a large charge time, and costs more mana than you could reasonably obtain in game, but it does so much damage, it'll down you in one shot, even if you have Ward up.
- The World Is Not Ready: Jin states that Ekrast believed that none of the nations of the current era would ever be able to wield the power he's obtained responsibly.
