History VideoGame / SmallSaga

* BeginWithAFinisher: The second fight against [[spoiler:Leo has him use Fleche Fatale on his first turn, the same OneHitKill move he used on Verm in his first duel. However, Verm can either attack and fatally wound him before he gets the chance, or use Nimblefoot to dodge the attack entirely]].

* LegendaryInTheSequel: Sir Leo, the protagonist of the ''Needle Knight'' comic, is a legendary swordsman and Blademaster to the king himself by the time ''Small Saga'' begins.

* PromptlessBranchingPoint: In the endgame, [[spoiler:whether or not Leo survives is dependent on the duel against him. If Verm defeats him, Leo dies; if Verm stalls long enough for all of Leo's spare needles to break, Leo surrenders and lives]].

* RogueProtagonist: Sir Leo, of ''Needle Knight'', is now the direct underling of the king that forbids conflict with the Gods, which is Verm's primary motivation. [[spoiler:Near the end of the game, Leo duels Verm to the death out of concern that Verm's crusade of vengeance will lead to a war with the Gods that will doom everyone.]]

* SaltTheEarth: [[spoiler:Clan Grey did this to the original Sky Garden in order to take control, burning its tree into an ashen pillar, killing the Cailleach, and slaying all of Clan Red save for Bruce.]]

* ToBeLawfulOrGood: [[spoiler:Upon realizing that King James is willing to sacrifice his own subjects to keep himself in power, Needle Knight Leo has a brief monologue about what it really means to be honorable before turning traitor and stabbing the King in the back.]]

* WreckedWeapon: The DuelBoss fights against Leo will have Leo parry Verm's attacks, but his sewing needles can only take so many hits before breaking. The first time, [[spoiler:he's still capable of attacking and one-shotting Verm with a broken needle. In the second fight against him, Leo has several spare needles around the arena as replacements if his weapon gets broken. However, once all of them run out, the fight ends with Verm victorious and Leo being spared]].

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: The FinalBoss [[spoiler:against the Yellow God has you start out by fighting its feet. Both of them have ??? HP, are immune to bleeding, and despite how much damage you do to them with your God Weapons, they don't get a dent in their health. Considering that you're small animals with a switchblade, lighter, scalpel or pencil attacking a pair of sturdy protective boots, those would be easily no-sold. Fortunately, Verm decides to take the fight to a higher elevation, where the Yellow God's GiantHandsOfDoom are less protected and much more vulnerable]].

* AmbiguousTimePeriod: Though the game takes place over a year, from Spring to Winter, no specific dates are ever given. The human world is rather generically contemporary, putting the year at "Sometime in the 21st century." [[spoiler: With Aquila saying the first book they ever read was "The Anthropocene," a book released in 2021, and that they are elderly for a rat, this firmly places the game around 2022-2023.]]

* {{BFS}}: The Titan Cleaver is nothing more than a pocket-knife, but when wielded by a little mouse such as [[TheHero Verm]], it becomes a god-weapon so massive it's wondered aloud by others how he can even swing it at all.
* BookEnds: The first encounter with the Yellow God takes place in an area introduced with the text "Heaven: Tread Softly." [[spoiler: The FinalBoss takes place in an area introduced with "Hell: Tread Softly."]]

* BrickJoke: [[spoiler: The undetonated "Excalibur" housed atop Big Ben is never defused by the party after defeating Plaguemaster Aquila - Siobhan specifically mentions that the bomb itself is still active, but the ballista intended to launch it is no longer operational, thereby rendering it incapable of harming the city far below. Once the party have defeated the Yellow God of Death, their victory is cut short by the sound of a massive explosion. The game then cuts to a shot of the Houses of Parliament, with the top of the famous clock tower having been blown to bits.]]

* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler: Plaguemaster Aquila]] crossed this long before the game's events, when [[spoiler: they read a book that detailed the irreparable destruction wreaked on the environment by humankind. It was this that convinced them that the both the human and rodent worlds were beyond salvation.]]

* InterfaceSpoiler: Several of Verm's TechTree skills have their names redacted during the prologue, which might be a clue he will change his fighting style before too long. In a wider scale, averted in that [[spoiler:his brother Lance has an entire tree of skills you will ''never get to use''.]]

* LifeOrLimbDecision: [[spoiler: With Lance killed by the Yellow God]], Verm decides to cut his own tail to get out of the mouse trap and escape.

** If certain sidequests are done before the end of the game, [[spoiler:Rosalie, George the rabbit, and Siobhan's sibling, all of whom were previously battles, assist Verm's party in revolting against the King]].

* HeelFaceTurn: If certain sidequests are done before the end of the game, [[spoiler:Rosalie, George the rabbit, and Siobhan's sibling, all of whom were previously battles, assist Verm's party in revolting against the King]].

* PointOfNoReturn: Once Verm talks with some mice in a tavern about [[spoiler:organizing a revolution as a distraction so Verm's party can sneak into the palace to deal with King James, Plaguemaster Aquila, and the Yellow God of Death]], they warn his party that there's no going back once it starts, with Verm's allies suggesting some final sidequests to undertake first. Talking to the tavern mice again initiates the final sequence of the game.

* TimeLimitBoss: [[spoiler:The battle against Plaguemaster Aquila has a three-minute time limit before they launch Excalibur, killing a huge portion of Rodentia.]]

** Plenty to Franchise/FinalFantasy, given the game functions as a throwback to many classic [=JRPGs=]:

*** The [[spoiler:Octopus]] boss singing is a reference to [[spoiler:Ultros]] from VideoGame/{{FinalFantasyVI}}.

*** Verm's Cleave attack bears a great resemblance to Cloud's iconic Climhazzard Limit Break, also from FFVII.
*** Gwen's a white rat with a cape, nicknamed "Dragon," who wields a spear, all pointing to Freyja from VideoGame/{{FinalFantasyIX}}.
*** Blademaster Leo bears a great resemblance to General Beatrix, also from FFIX - both are high-ranking soldiers loyal to a monarch, who are famed in-story as peerless warriors, and are fought as a HopelessBossFight. And just like Beatrix, Leo [[spoiler: eventually turns on his monarch when he learns the truth behind his cruel and selfish nature.]]

* BossBanter: Similarly to a particularly spoilery boss from [[{{VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac}} The Binding of Isaac]], [[spoiler:Plaguemaster Aquila's boss theme has a vocal accompaniment, consisting of a text-to-speech program commentating on humanity's effects on the environment and the apathy humans have towards them.]]

* RelocatingTheExplosion: Inverted. [[spoiler: Excalibur is "disarmed" by making sure the ballista it's hooked up to doesn't launch it. After the final boss fight, it explodes anyway, destroying the clock tower it's in.]]

** The mythical character of Ratlas in Murida is a reference to Literature/{{MrsFrisbyAndTheRatsOfNIMH}}.

* One location is a toy store that includes a doll of the witchy rabbit persona of Lilith Walther, the developer of [[VideoGame/BloodborneKart Bloodborn PSX and Kart]].
** Plenty to Franchise/FinalFantasy, given the game functions as a throwback to many classic [[JRPGs]]:

*** Gwen's a white rat with a cape, nicknamed "Dragon," who wields a spear, all pointing to Freyja from VideoGame/{{FinalFantasyIX}}

* AmbiguousTimePeriod: Though the game takes place over a year, from Spring to Winter, no specific dates are ever given. The human world is rather generically contemporary, putting the year at "Sometime in the 21st century." [[spoiler: With Aquila saying the first book he ever read was "The Anthropocene," a book released in 2021, and that he is elderly for a rat, this firmly places the game around 2022-2023.]]

* ShoutOut: One location is a toy store that includes a doll of the witchy rabbit persona of Lilith Walther, the developer of [[VideoGame/BloodborneKart Bloodborn PSX and Kart]].
** The [[spoiler:Octopus]] boss singing is a reference to [[spoiler:Ultros]] from VideoGame/{{FinalFantasyVI}}
** Bruce gets called a [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV spoony bard]] in a rare case of the word being used correctly.

** Gwen's a white rat with a cape, nicknamed "Dragon," who wields a spear, all pointing to Freyja from VideoGame/{{FinalFantasyIX}}
** Verm says "[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII let's mosey]]" under White Hall

* TimeLimitBoss: [[spoiler:The battle against Plaguemaster Aquila has a three-minute time limit before he launches Excalibur, killing a huge portion of Rodentia.]]

* BossBanter: Similarly to a particularly spoilery boss from {{VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac The Binding of Isaac}}, [[spoiler:Plaguemaster Aquila's boss theme has a vocal accompaniment, consisting of a text-to-speech program commentating on humanity's effects on the environment and the apathy humans have towards them.]]

* WreckedWeapon: The DuelBoss fights against Leo will have Leo parry Verm's attacks, [[spoiler:but his sewing needles can only take so many hits before breaking. In the second fight against him, Leo has several spare needles around the arena as replacements if his weapon gets broken. However, once all of them run out, the fight ends with Verm victorious and Leo being spared]].

* WreckedWeapon: The DuelBoss fights against Leo will have Leo parry Verm's attacks, [[spoiler:but his sewing needles can only take so many hits before breaking. In the second fight against him, Leo will get fatally wounded if he's hit while his weapon's broken, but he has several spare needles around the arena as replacements if it gets broken. However, once all of them run out, the fight ends with Verm victorious and Leo being spared]].

* HopelessBossFight: The first DuelBoss against Blademaster Leo has him parry everything Verm throws at him. Even after Verm manages to break Leo's weapon, he still follows up with an attack with his broken weapon that deals several times Verm's health.

** Verm himself bears more than a passing resemblance to Guts from [[Manga/Berserk]].

* ArmoredButFrail: The [[spoiler:PreFinalBoss Apocalypse Engine (a fumigation machine)]] has a ''very'' measly 20 HP... but has such high defense that most attacks deal a measly 1-2 damage to it ''when its defense is broken''. To make matters worse, its Noxious Gas makes your team tipsy, greatly lowering their accuracy.

* ArmoredButFrail: The [[spoiler:PreFinalBoss Apocalypse Engine (a fumigation machine)]] only has a very measly 20 HP... but has such high defense that most attacks deal a measly 1-2 damage to it, and making matters worse is its Noxious Gas that makes your team tipsy, greatly lowering their accuracy.

* AxCrazy: Blademaster Lamia is a stoat that threatens to eat her own allies, but is tolerated by Clan Grey because she's a peerless warrior and permitted to dine on their enemies and prisoners. [[spoiler:In the boss fight against her, she outright cannibalizes her subordinate to heal herself, and abandons her skewer weapon in favor of biting and clawing at the party.]]

* GoldfishPoopGang: Sir Alex and his subordinates Rosalie and Maisie, who work for King James, encounter Verm's party a few times throughout the story, and get defeated every time. [[spoiler:A late-game sidequest to save Maisie from snake venom after Sir Alex used her as a human shield against a Titan snake convinces Rosalie to join your side in the rebellion.]]

* KarmicDeath:
** [[spoiler:Duke Josh leaps from Sky Garden to flee after being defeated by the party, but wounds his ankle on the landing. The only subordinate that comes to his call is Blademaster Lamia, who he's fed his prisoners to, and who now devours Josh as tribute.]]
** In the game's PlayableEpilogue, according to Steve, [[spoiler:Sir Alex the Sterling Knight managed to survive the revolution by fleeing the kingdom, only to try to swim for safety and sink like a lump of silver]].

* NeckLift: Blademaster Lamia does this to a janitor who chooses not to squeal on the party after [[spoiler:they pull a jailbreak to save Bruce and Gwen]]. She also nearly eats him, but is stopped by a subordinate.

* AbdicateTheThrone: At the end of the game, [[spoiler:with King James dead and no direct successors stepping up out of fear of the revolutionaries, it seems that Verm could claim the throne for himself. Instead, he sticks the Titan Cleaver into the throne, declares that it's time for a change of governance, and leaves]].

* ChestMonster: One treasure chest has a creature called an Avarice Spider living in it, which will attack the party when they try to loot the chest.

* VengeanceFeelsEmpty: [[spoiler:At the end of the game, Verm ends up showing mercy to the Yellow God he fights, and lets him flee. As he tells Siobhan later, he's fully aware that any human could wear the Yellow robes and it was impossible to truly avenge his brother, but was still using that quest for vengeance as a way to give himself purpose until he saw his reflection in the God's eyes and realized he'd become a ghost of his former self.]]