Line #32 VideoGame/EmeraldCityConfidential


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/emeraldcityconfidential_621.png]]''Emerald City Confidential'' is a [[PointAndClickGame point-and-click]] {{adventure game}} created by Creator/WadjetEyeGames and released in 2009.
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3	Petra is a PrivateDetective in a DarkerAndEdgier [[Literature/LandOfOz Emerald City]]. After a disastrous night involving destroyed evidence and a nasty confrontation with Lion, Petra is approached by a woman named Dee, who hires her to find her missing fiancé. However, as Petra delves deeper into the case, she becomes engrossed in a hunt for a magical MacGuffin and the struggle for power between the Ozians and the [[BeastFolk Phanfasms]]. As she travels throughout the different lands in Oz, Petra encounters some famous Oz residents, although [[NoDoubtTheYearsHaveChangedMe they're not the same lovable characters you remember]]. At the same time, Petra is also driven by her need to find her little brother, who has been missing and presumed dead since the Phanfasm War.
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5	You can view the game's listing on the Wadjete Eye Games site [[http://www.wadjeteyegames.com/games/emerald-city-confidential/ here]], and on Steam [[http://store.steampowered.com/app/37260/ here]].
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7	!!This work provides examples of:
8	* BanOnMagic: Type A2. Magic is banned for everyone except those who are licensed users typically working for Queen Ozma.
9	* BeAsUnhelpfulAsPossible: Happens on a number of occasions.
10	** Betsy Bobbins refuses to speak with Petra in regards to Anzel.
11	** Captain Bill is so drunk that he can't give a reliable account of the ship's explosion.
12	** Although Petra offers to collaborate with Jinjur to investigate the explosion, Jinjur refuses to share any knowledge of the incident with Petra because she claims she doesn't need Petra's help.
13	* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: All of the original Oz characters count. Lion's courage turns him into a corrupt political fixer, Scarecrow's knowledge turns him into a jaded advisor, and the Tin Man's heart turns him into an ineffective and bitter governor.
14	* BeastFolk: The Phanfasms, who have animal heads, but human bodies.
15	* BecauseImGoodAtIt: One of the justifications that Petra can give the Scarecrow as to why she is a private investigator.
16	* {{Blackmail}}: Jack blackmailed Bill into smuggling magical items into Oz.
17	* CarCushion: Petra luckily falls into a passing Gump taxi when she slips Lion's ropes and falls from the bridge.
18	* CityNoir
19	* ClearTheirName: Because Jinjur is convinced that Bill is responsible for the ship explosion at the docks, Trot hires Petra to investigate who the real perpetrator is.
20	* ColourCodedCharacters: The residents of the different parts of Oz wear colors that are representative of their home city or country. This makes it easy to see who is a foreigner—for instance, the completely-dressed-in-green Petra in the middle of all yellow Winkie Country.
21	* CrapsackWorld: Oz is run-down and riddled with crime and corruption, magic has been outlawed, and Oz is at threat from attack by the Phanfasms, since Oz's magical protection is out-of-balance due to the death of the four witches.
22	* CrazyPrepared: The only way you can beat Mombi on the first try is by obtaining these miscellaneous and completely unrelated items: the Heavy Cake, the Magic Rope, and (installing) the Copper Rod.
23	* DarkerAndEdgier: The setting in Oz. See CrapsackWorld above.
24	* DartboardOfHate: Petra's dartboard is a portrait of Ozma that the Ozians are required to hang in their homes.
25	* DeadpanSnarker: Petra mostly, but everyone else has their moments, too.
26	* DefeatingTheUndefeatable: Petra defeating Mombi in the ring. Mombi calls her out after the match for using parlor tricks rather than just magic to win.
27	* DystopianOz: Oz is a CrapsackWorld riddled with crime and corruption. Magic has been also outlawed and Oz is at threat from attack by the Phanfasms, since Oz's magical protection is out-of-balance due to the death of the four witches.
28	* EurekaMoment: When Dee mentions tornadoes, Petra makes the connection that Dee is in fact Dorothy Gale.
29	* EvilGloating:
30	** Lion gloats about successfully getting rid of evidence when he has Petra hanging off a bridge.
31	** First and Foremost gives Petra a particularly long winded one when he throws her in prison.
32	* FilmNoir: Emerald City Confidential was described by the producer as follows: "Harsh city streets, [[GrayRainOfDepression grey rainy skies]], {{femme fatale}}s, [[HardboiledDetective tough guys]], [[TrenchcoatBrigade trenchcoats, fedoras]] and {{plot twist}}s. It's Oz, seen through the eyes of Creator/RaymondChandler."
33	* FountainOfYouth: Petra deliberately does this to [[spoiler:William]] to save him from life imprisonment and [[spoiler:his memories of having been a Phanfasm spy]].
34	* FriendlyAddressPrivileges: Dorothy asks Petra to call her Dee.
35	* FunctionalMagic: Namely Rule Magic and Device Magic.
36	* GenreShift: A relatively subtle one, beginning after Chapter 2. As more magic gets used, the story becomes less and less noir-ish. [[spoiler: It even has a genuinely happy ending, which isn't noir-ish at all]].
37	* GreyAndGrayMorality: Although Petra is the protagonist, [[GuileHero she isn't always morally upstanding]]. And although Ozma is first seen as the antagonist, she turns out to be a WellIntentionedExtremist who's trying to save Oz from an even worse threat.
38	* TheGuardsMustBeCrazy: Tik Tok leaves Petra unsupervised when he turns around to clean up the rotting food, allowing her to sneak out of her cell.
39	* HeelFaceTurn: Eventually happens when [[spoiler:Cutter accesses the magical powers of the Spirit Rod and realizes he is William. This leads to him helping Petra to defeat the First and Foremost]].
40	* HellholePrison: The dungeon in the Emerald City palace, which has no windows, an uncomfortable bed, and tasteless mush for food.
41	* InstantSedation: By way of poppy dust.
42	* [[IveGotAnXAndImNotAfraidToUseIt I've Got a Notebook and I'm Not Afraid to Use It!]]
43	* IWillFindYou: Petra's main motivation is to find her lost brother, which takes precedence over her need to protect Oz.
44	* KillItWithFire: [[spoiler:How Petra defeats the First and Foremost.]]
45	* LeaningOnTheFourthWall[=/=]RecursiveReality: Upon seeing L. Frank Baum's bust Petra remarks, "I don't know who he is, but I feel like I owe him a lot."
46	* TheLadysFavour: Nimee Amee gives her locket to Nick Chopper. Deconstructed when he refuses it because it reminds him of their breakup, and he tells Petra to tell Nimee to stick the locket [[AssShove "where the sun don't shine."]]
47	* MacGuffin: The Spirit Rod and the Keystones.
48	* MageTower: Glinda's tower.
49	* MagicMirror: Ozma's all-seeing mirror in the throne room. Petra tries to use it to find her brother William, but oddly, it shows her nothing.
50	* NoYay: In universe example. In considering the {{UST}} between the Wizard and the now dead and ghostly Glinda, Petra exhibits this reaction.
51	* OddlySmallOrganization: The Ozian Royal Guard seems to consist entirely of Tik Tok and Jinjur. The Phanfasm nation only seems to have a few people too. It's assumed that there are more characters off-screen.
52	* OffToSeeTheWizard: ''Emerald City Confidential'' plays with the canon from both the Oz films and books, casting Oz through a FilmNoir lens.
53	* OhMyGods: Characters swear by Lurline, a fairy queen whom {{fanon}} has apparently upgraded to goddess status.
54	** Well, a fairy queen responsible for the canon creation of Oz as a fairyland, but still...
55	* OnlyInItForTheMoney: Petra's first case, finding Dee's RunawayFiance, is this to her. [[ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules Subverted though]], once Dee offers more money for Petra to get involved in blatantly shady dealings.
56	* PortalPicture: [[spoiler:Frogman's painting, where he keeps all of his files on his illegal activities.]]
57	* {{Pun}}: Anzel, who's been transformed into a crystal decanter, remarks that, "I'd like to help you but I ''decant''."
58	* PrivateEyeMonologue: As expected from Petra.
59	* ScrewLearningIHavePhlebotinum: The knowledge pills at the university allow students to acquire knowledge on virtually any topic automatically, from elocution lessons to public records.
60	* ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules: Petra proves that she has limits when she refuses to get any more involved in obtaining illegal magical items, even though Dee offers to pay her more.
61	* ShoutOut: The busts of Creator/LFrankBaum and Dave Gilbert (the game creator) at the university.
62	** Petra's office is on Plumly Street, referencing Ruth Plumly Thompson, who continued the book series after Baum's death.
63	* SurveillanceStationSlacker: Jinjur falls asleep next to the prison entrance, assuming that no one can be quiet enough to get past her. She doesn't count on Petra escaping when her footsteps are magically muted.
64	* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: Jack Pumpkinhead denies that he saw or heard anything before Petra even asks him a question about her investigation.
65	* TakenForGranite: In true Oz fashion, there's a spell that turns people into inanimate objects. The LivingMacGuffin turns out to be in the bar, hiding out in plain sight as a decanter. Unfortunately he's not partial to being human again while everyone is hunting him, so in order to talk to him Petra has to let the bartender turn her into a coat rack. [[FinaglesLaw Naturally this goes south,]] as Ruggedo gets arrested immediately afterwards and he's the only one who knew how to reverse it...
66	* UnwillingSuspension:
67	** When Petra is first captured by Lion, she is tied up and suspended on a bridge with only one arm overhead.
68	** Also happens to Anzel, who is suspended by chains around his wrists in the Phanfasm prison.
69	* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: To end the Phanfasm War, Ozma [[spoiler:gave up Petra's little brother in a peace treaty between the Ozians and the Phanfasms]]. Deconstructed when Petra points out that instead of restoring balance to Oz, this has created a corrupt CrapsackWorld.
70	* WeHelpTheHelpless: One of the reasons that Petra can give the Scarecrow for having become a detective is that she wants to help those who no one else is willing to help.
71	* WeMeetAgain[=/=]WeWillMeetAgain: Petra keeps running into Lion, and she eventually needs to ask for his help in order to become ambassador and travel to Phanfasm Island.
72	* WeUsedToBeFriends: Petra and Jinjur seem to have this dynamic, with Jinjur being bitter because Petra abandoned her post and duties to find her missing brother, and Petra acting bitter because the guard never helped her search for him.
73	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: So what becomes of Dee, Anzel, Bill and Trot at the end of the story?

Context VideoGame / EmeraldCityConfidential