History VideoGame / RyseSonOfRome

* JigglePhysics: Most of time, The goddess appears floating on the air or standing still, but in Chapter 7, we see her walking by foot, and her breasts get bouncy. Really bouncy.

* JigglePhysics: Most of time, The goddess appears floating on the air or standing still, but in Chapter 7, we see her walking by foot, and her breasts get really bouncy. Really.

* AncientGrome: While the game has a Roman setting, there are Greek mythological figures instead of Roman ones. Damocles was a hypothetical character from a Greek moral tale, and Nemesis is a Greek goddess (although she ''does'' appear on Imperial coinage, such as her variant "Pax-Nemesis" [placated vengeance] shortly after Claudius become emperor.) And when observing the wickerman in Scotland, Vitallion makes reference to a "gateway to Hades" when he should really be saying Pluto.
** Vitallion using a Greek term is not unlikely: most private teachers for the noble families were Greek AND Romans worshipped her as Nemesis themselves. Also, while Pluto is the Roman god of the underworld, "Hades" specifically is the name of the underworld itself (it was originally also the Greek deity, with the alternate name Pluto''n'').
* AncientRome: The setting.

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Boudica, the Horned King, and even Commodus all put up boss-level fights against Marius. Marius himself is shown to be AsskickingEqualsAuthority, as his rapid promotion comes as he kills hundreds of dudes singlehandedly over the course of the game. Commander Vitallion is another good example.

* Jerkass: Both Commodus and Basilius are absolutely despicable. Smug, cruel, cowardly, decadent, treacherous - they've got it all.

* BarbarianTribe: The Britons fit this to a tee, complete with their weapons being [[AnAxeToGrind axes]] and being covered in copious amounts of tattoos and piercings. They also have [[BeardOfBarbarism unkempt beards]], BarbarianLonghair, and BraidsOfBarbarism.

* BarbarianTribe: The Britons fit this to a tee, complete with their WeaponOfChoice being [[AnAxeToGrind axes]] and being covered in copious amounts of tattoos and piercings. They also have [[BeardOfBarbarism unkempt beards]], BarbarianLonghair, and BraidsOfBarbarism.

* BarbarianTribe: The Britannians fit this to a tee, complete with their WeaponOfChoice being [[AnAxeToGrind axes]] and being covered in copious amounts of tattoos and piercings. They also have [[BeardOfBarbarism unkempt beards]], BarbarianLonghair, and BraidsOfBarbarism.

** Debatable with [[spoiler:Basilius]], since he orders Vitallion and his legion to rescue [[spoiler:Commodus]], when leaving [[spoiler:Commodus, who was Basilus' brother,]] to die would have been advantageous to [[spoiler:Basilius]].

* FauxAffablyEvil: When we first meet Basilius, he seems pretty chipper when greeting Vitallion, saying that if he'd arrived later, he'd had "[[WarIsGlorious missed all the fun]]". Then he gets on to discussing [[spoiler:his brother's]] whereabouts with King Oswald, threatening to cut Boudica's face, and we see the monster he really is.

* GrimUpNorth: Britannia is at the very northern reaches of the Roman empire, and it is definitely grim up there. Taken UpToEleven with the northern lands that are beyond Hadrian's Wall, which is a DeathWorld where savage beastmen abduct travelers in order to sacrifice them by [[KillItWithFire burning them alive.]] [[spoiler: Plus the villain of the game turns out to be the god of the '''north''' wind.]]

* BaldOfAwesome: King Oswald has receding hair, but he's a lot more moral than the Roman Emperor.

* StuffedIntoTheFridge: Marius's mother and sister appear for less than ''30 seconds'' before being promptly murdered by barbarians. Actually, scratch that; only his mother appears and says something. The only time we see his sister is as a corpse on top of her mother's body. His father lasts a little longer before he bites it too, though his death is more important to the plot.

** Commodus is easily one of the most despicable characters in the game. He is an EvilOverlord and a DirtyCoward whose corrupt and tyrannical leadership in Britannia leads to Oswald revolting against the Romans. After finding him when Glott has been killed and Vitallion has been saved, Commodus spews insults at the soldiers, angrily demands his release and doesn't even tell them thanks. This happens again when he [[spoiler: murders Oswald right after he pledges fealty to Rome, even though Oswald was ready to accept peace.]] This leads to York being attacked by the Britons and the fall of the city while Commodus runs for his life and leaves everyone behind to save himself. In the Colosseum, Commodus claims the deeds of the XIV Legion as his own, glorifying himself as the greatest general in Roman history. While Marius ,[[spoiler: disguised as Damocles]], fights in the arena, Commodus talks down to the other gladiators and insults them for trying to emulate him for deeds he did not accomplish. During his duel with [[spoiler: Damocles]], Commodus constantly boasts about his superiority, yet resorts to dirty and underhanded tricks to gain the upper hand. [[spoiler: His death at Marius's hands was definitely satisfying to say the least.]]

*** Vitallion using a Greek term is not unlikely: most private teachers for the noble families were Greek AND Romans worshipped her as Nemesis themselves. Also, while Pluto is the Roman god of the underworld, "Hades" specifically is the name of the underworld itself (it was originally also the Greek deity, with the alternate name Pluto''n'').

-->'''Commodus''' (stuck in a cage): Soldiers. ''Soldiers!'' ({{beat}}) Well, don't just stand there, you useless sows!?! Get me out of here! Get me out of here now!
-->'''Marius: ''' (turning his back on Commodus with Vitallion) I suppose that would be our '''glorious''' leader, General Commodus?
-->'''Vitallion: ''' Yes. The ''Emperor's'' son.
-->'''Commodus''' (from the back): ''Get me out of here, you stupid fools!'' (Is being ignored) I command you!
-->'''Vitallion: ''' (smirks) Your victory, your honour, ''Centurion''.
-->'''Marius: ''' (chuckles) At once, sir.

-->'''Marius:''' The Gods may watch us from afar, but they are forbidden from interfering in the affairs of mortals.\\

-->'''Marius:''' '''''BASTARDS!!! YOU MURDERING BARBARIAN BASTARDS!!!'''''

-->'''Marius''': [[spoiler: I became driven by one thought, one solitary desire: The desire for vengeance. Vengeance, against the Emperor Nero, who had my family butchered. Vengeance against his ''despicable sons, who betrayed. MY. '''LEGION!''''']]

-->'''Leontius:''' ''[[LittleNo No]]''. '''[[BigNo NO]]!''' ''I'll kill. Every. Last. One of you!''

-->'''Marius:''' ''I! AM! DAMOCLES!'' ''I! AM! VENGEANCE!'' '''YOU! ARE! NEXT!'''

-->'''Marius''': Attention lads! A brave man tastes death ''once.'' [[DirtyCoward Cowards, a thousand times over!]] Now we have already spilled barbarian blood, and we know they bleed as we do. ''(turns away from them.)'' Ready! ''(Legionaries start pounding their shields with their swords, yelling HA! with each strike)'' On me! ''Move!''

*** The Romans did establish the city of York (and Ivar the Boneless refounded it as Jorvik, which in turn was simplified to York following the Norman conquest of England), but they would not have referred to it by that name; the Roman name for York was ''Eburacum''.

* NotSoDifferent: Marius invokes this with Boudica, seeing as [[spoiler: both of their fathers were killed by Nero & and his corruption.]]

* TheHeroDies: [[spoiler:The Oracle predicted that [[spoiler:Damocles and Marius would slay each other]]. Her prediction comes to pass when [[spoiler:Marius sustains mortals wounds while pursuing Nero before flinging himself and Nero over a railing. Nero is impaled on the sword of his own statue while Marius crashes on the ground far below. The goddess appears one last time and stays by Marius' side as he breathes his last.]]

* HowWeGotHere[=/=]InMediasRes[=/=]OnceMoreWithClarity[=/=]ThisIsMyStory: Chapter I, ''The Beginning'', starts with General Marius racing over the bridge to Nero's palace, [[spoiler: seemingly]] trying to protect the terrified emperor, who is less worried about the Barbarians laying siege to his city but "him", eventually bringing Nero to his safe room, a vault under his throne. On the way down there, it turns out Nero is worried about a mythical spirit called "Damocles" who seeks to kill him, to which Marius scoffs that "only men kill men". Then, in the Vault, when Nero asks about his name and background, Marius begins to retell his story how he became leader of the XIV. Legion and the general in charge of the defence of Rome. [[spoiler: As his tale reveals the treachery of Nero and his sons to Marius' family, the Titae, his legion, the XIV., and ultimately, the entire Roman Empire with their selfish greed, it becomes clear that "Damocles" whom Nero fears is in fact Marius himself.]]

* ShownTheirWork: Some players have wondered why Marius can't retrieve his thrown spears from enemy corpses. The answer is that, originally, the barbarians had the exact same question, and figured out quickly that the answer was, "[[HoistByHisOwnPetard no reason at all]]," much to [[RealityEnsues Roman dismay]]. Thus the development of the ''pilum'', a spear made deliberately to bend and deform on impact, so that it can only be thrown once. AndNowYouKnow.

!!The tropes are:

* LazyBackup: one of the places in which the game's seams show through is in the behavior of friendly AI. Your OneManArmy status becomes an EnforcedTrope because, whenever the barbarians see Marius, they'll disengage from whoever they used to be fighting and dogpile him in a MultiMookMelee. Meanwhile, the abandoned legionnaire will just stand there banging his gladius on his scutum and trying to look useful, instead of (say) applying a FinishingMove to the enemy's exposed posterium. This behavior looks particularly egregious in light of your own combat tactics, which ''revolve'' around applying Finishing Moves to exposed posteriae.

* RealMenHateAffection: Nero is openly scornful of his son Commodus when he's facing off against Damocles in the Colisseum, calling him a "little shit". He only shows concern [[spoiler:when Damocles kills him and displays his head to the Emperor, desperately calling for his guards to kill Damocles.]]

* InkSuitActor: Marius bears a distinctive resemblance to his voice actor, John Hopkins.

* TakingYouWithMe: [[spoiler:Marius, at the end, body-slams both himself and Nero off a cliff. This is probably in service of RuleOfDrama, as Marius was already bleeding out at the time and would have died regardless.]]

-->'''Basilius''': (''[[DissonantSerenity Calmly]]'') How dare you. I am son of the emperor. And [[PunctuatedForEmphasis I DO. WHATEVER. I. CHOOSE.]]