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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hero_capsule.jpg]]
2->''Do you remember what you began? You came to this world uninvited... you breathed in the sound of our screams... and out the flames of war. You watched us burn and buried the ashes... but I am the final ember! The world you "saved" will soon be purified! Just as you wished... Magister... and all that will remain... are monsters.''
3-->-- '''Merga'''
4
5The sequel to the surprise indie hit ''VideoGame/FreedomPlanet'', the game was an unexpected announcement on December 25, 2015. After the Kingdom Stone was destroyed at the end of the first game, a water dragon named Merga broke out of her prison. [[TimeSkip Three years later]], Lilac and Carol's treehouse has been destroyed by a rampaging robot, so they and Milla need to do missions for the Magister of Shang Tu alongside Neera Li in exchange for a place to stay. Soon, however, it will turn out that [[MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot these seemingly-minor incidents all have something more going on behind them]]. Who is Merga? What is she planning? Has an old enemy returned, as some fear? And when certain truths are uncovered, will they tear the trio apart?
6
7The core gameplay carries over from the original, albeit streamlined. The main trio's got redesigned, now sporting an older look, have all undergone training in the years since the last game to improve upon their skills. They now all have the ability to block attacks, something only Milla in the original game was capable of while the other two had to abuse abilities with invincibility frames to do, and they now have the ability to spend an amount of excess extra lives to revive on the spot instead of having to do things over from the last checkpoint. Considering [[EasyLevelsHardBosses how sadistic bosses in the last game could get]], these were very welcomed additions. Along with a larger development team and moving over to the Unity engine[[note]]the first game was developed in Clickteam Fusion mainly because it was the engine for ''Sonic Worlds'', the Franchise/{{Sonic|TheHedgehog}}-style fangame framework the first game used (and the first such framework of its kind, having accurate "classic-style" character physics, hence why it was widely used in the Sonic fangaming community for a long time and still in use today by some fangame creators), but due to the engine being antiquated, it made porting to consoles impossible without outside help (which also made patches more troublesome) and developing post-release content a headache, which was why Torque and Spade never became playable outside of pre-release builds, so Creator/GalaxyTrail felt like they needed to move to a more modern engine that better fit their needs[[/note]], the main physics framework was coded by [[Creator/ChristianWhitehead Christian "The Taxman" Whitehead]], and the team worked with Creator/ChristopherSabat and his crew at the [=OkraTron 5000=] audio production company for audio and voice recording work.
8
9The game was released on [[Platform/MicrosoftWindows PC]] on September 13, 2022; while the [[Platform/NintendoSwitch Switch]], Platform/PlayStation4, Platform/PlayStation5 and Platform/XboxOne and [[Platform/XboxSeriesXAndS Series S]] versions were released on April 4, 2024. The first official trailer for the game can be found [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHAYtSUfW0c here]], and the 2019 Adventure Mode Trailer is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiOnfWPR2Yk here]]. Gameplay trailers exist for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7zeJ2AA180 Lilac]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ke4d7zDs2vE Carol]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fh66_J9YJzQ Milla]], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWQ5yHGyoMA Neera Li]]. Check out the website [[http://www.freedomplanet2.com/ here]]. A PC demo was available for a limited time.
10----
11!! This game contains the following Tropes:
12* AbusivePrecursors: [[spoiler:The Earth Dragons, initially presented as BenevolentPrecursors in the previous game, are ultimately revealed to have enslaved the planet Avalice's indigenous species, the Water Dragons, and forced them to work on Bakunawa, a device that gained its power from destroying moons to consume their energy. And when the Water Dragons tried to rebel, the Earth Dragons responded by genociding them and then [[WrittenByTheWinners painting them as unjust aggressors who tried to disrupt the peaceful and healthy community they built]].]]
13* ActionBomb: The Toy Decoys in Zao Land will walk around, minding their own business. However, if you attack them and take their Zao mask off, they'll make a bee-line for the player character, blowing up after some time passes.
14* AirborneMook: The Drake Flies are green robot dragonflies that are larger than any of the player characters, and will also breathe fire.
15* AirDashing: Lilac can dash in the air.
16* AllTheWorldsAreAStage: [[spoiler:Towards of the end of [[DiscOneFinalDungeon Globe Opera 2]], you have to enter 4 areas that re-use previous level gimmicks and enemies from throughout Shang Mu's stages in order to unlock a large door leading to that stage's boss. The levels set in [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon Bakunawa]] also recycle gimmicks from prior levels, mixing them with one another.]]
17* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: Halfway through the game, [[spoiler:Mayor Zao is kidnapped and moved to the Globe Opera with Cory, Aaa and Captain Kalaw watching over him; this is meant to lure the heroes away so Merga can raid Shang Tu Palace, and even when they return, she and her army prove too much to handle and they're forced to flee. This locks out access to the training ground and Milla's workbench (though it's moved to Parusa), as well as all of Shuigang. Merga does eventually remove her forces from the palace, but by then she's on the verge of reactivating Bakunawa]].
18* AllYourPowersCombined: [[spoiler: The Beasts fought throughout the Globe Opera levels fuse in the Auditorium to create the BFF-2000. The BFF-2000's attacks derive from its components, with it having Beast One's [[DashAttack Charge Dash]], Beast 2's [[PlayingWithFire fire blasts]] and [[MacrossMissileMassacre missiles]], and Beast 3's [[EnergyWeapon Spark Shot]]. When playing as the BFF-2000 in Nalao Lake and the Battlesphere challenge "Mecha Madness", you gain access to those abilities yourself, minus the fire blasts.]]
19* AlreadyDoneForYou: Gnawsa Lock, the killer whale that makes trouble for you at Ancestral Forge, somehow finds himself teleported into an aquarium at the museum after the fact. He is both the only living museum exhibit and the only one you don't need to bother repairing, what with his not being a robot and all.
20* AlwaysNight: Shang Mu's levels take place at night time.
21* AmusementParkOfDoom: Zao Land in the Battlesphere arc is Shang Mu's theme park, [[ItsAllAboutMe based around the mayor of the city state itself]]. While the rides, questionable as they would be in real life, are harmless, the robots infesting the theme park aren't.
22* AndTheAdventureContinues: [[spoiler:Lilac, believing Merga is still alive, leaves Shang Tu to try and find her and try to convince her to let go of her anger so she can learn more about the Water Dragons.]]
23* {{Animesque}}: Even moreso than the original due to the new character designer.
24* AntiFrustrationFeatures:
25** [=NPCs=] with dialogue you haven't seen yet have a light bulb over their heads, making it easy to tell at a glance when talking to one is worth your time.
26** If there is an attack or otherwise dangerous hazard just offscreen, it will be represented by a box with an exclamation point that flashes red, reducing the chance of unknowingly running into something that deals damage to you.
27** If you lose all your lives in a stage but don't have enough crystals to respawn at your last checkpoint, the continue screen has a punching bag you can hit for crystals.
28** It's possible to earn an [[RankInflation S rank]] with two Brave Stones, items that make the game more difficult, and any potion setup - a form of CharacterCustomization that does the opposite, letting you tune the game's difficulty in a way that's comfortable for your play style without harming your rank.
29** If you're going for Rainbow S Ranks, the highest rank you can get in a stage, shields don't count as taking damage. This helps alleviate some of the difficulty from these (optional) missions.
30** During [[spoiler: the Parusa arc, the Shang Tu Courtyard and Shuigang are blocked off due to Merga's raid on Shang Tu. However, Milla's workbench, previously in Shang Tu, gets moved with you to Parusa if you still need it. Additionally, Chloe, the only shopkeeper in Shuigang who sells items, gets moved over to Parusa's Adventure Square]].
31** During the game's [[spoiler:TrueFinalBoss fight]], continues don't cost crystals at all. In fact, you skip the game over screen entirely and are spawned back at your last checkpoint.
32*** Furthermore, [[spoiler:the boss normally heals herself twice before transitioning into her second phase. However, if you die past phase 2, she will only heal once on further tries]].
33* ArtShift: Much of the character design was handled by professional freelance artist Tyson Tan this time around, with new [=NPCs=] in particular standing out with very different designs from the characters that appeared in the original game.
34* AscendedGlitch: In early versions of the demo, players could press the attack and guard buttons on the same frame to spawn multiple stacks of Milla's Phantom Cubes, and fire them off with impunity for speed, movement, and damage. While this interaction was patched out, the final game features a power up that serves a similar purpose, and replicating that input instead [[DevelopersForesight grants you a unique version of her Phantom Cube that somewhat resembles the stacks one could make from the pre-patch version of the trick.]] you can fire a projectile and a Super Shield Burst at the same time using one, but the change is otherwise just a nod to the glitch.
35* AsteroidsMonster: The boss of Zao Land, Herald, seems like your standard run-of-the-mill sports-themed boss. However, once depleting his health, the boss explodes... and reveals 3 Mini-Heralds that you have to deal with before the boss is considered over.
36* AttackDrone: The game, starting from the first level, has the Spy Turretus, which fly due to a single propeller and shoot short-ranged projectiles at the player.
37* AwfulTruth: [[spoiler:As it turns out, the Water Dragons were once a SlaveRace to the Earth Dragons before rising up in rebellion. The Earth Dragons proceeded to wipe out nearly their entire race and covered up the slaughter as a tragic accident involving mining lasers.]]
38* BadBadActing: On [[spoiler:Milla]]'s path, [[spoiler:Milla pretends to accept Serpentine's offer to join Brevon's forces so that Serpentine will agree to take the heroes to Bakunawa. But Serpentine will only do so if Milla promises to betray her friends later. So, Milla puts on a show of turning evil and agreeing to the betrayal, but Milla being [[NiceGirl Milla]], her delivery is awkward and stilted, with lines like "because we're evil!" and a weak EvilLaugh. Fortunately, since Serpentine is being told what he wants to hear, he still buys it]].
39* TheBigBoard: [[spoiler:The boss fight for the penultimate level, "Lunar Cannon", shifts to Merga's perspective as she watches from a giant screen, with the life and score display also changed to match.]]
40* BirdsOfAFeather: [[spoiler:If you're playing as Milla, this is how she's able to convince Aaa to stand down after the Refinery Room boss fight against Aaa and Askal, as both of them share a passion for science, and Milla promises to be Aaa's friend, since previously Aaa only had his robots for friends. And in the ending, Aaa and Milla become "science buddies", as Aaa needs Milla's help to read up on dinosaurs so he can fulfill his community service task to help clean up the museum. If you're not playing as Milla, she befriends Aaa off-screen after your player character has a conversation with Askal.]]
41* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Merga (along with Syntax if certain conditions are met) is defeated and Bakunawa is destroyed, saving Avalice, the girls are hailed as heroes, and the surviving villains are given a fairly lenient sentence of six months of community service due to the various extraneous circumstances behind them helping Merga. However, [[AbdicateTheThrone the Magister steps down]] as Shang Tu's regent in penance for what his ancestors did to the Water Dragons, and Lilac, believing Merga is still alive somewhere, leaves Shang Tu to go find her and try to get answers regarding her people.]]
42* BlackOutBasement: Globe Opera 2 starts this way, though the gimmick is largely discarded once you restore power early in the level via weighing down a set of giant power cords.
43** [[spoiler: Lunar Cannon also becomes this early on in the level. Though the darkness is more to indicate that the glowing floors that electrify everything have been reversed in their positions]].
44* BlockingStopsAllDamage: It is possible to parry most of the attacks and hazards in the game. Getting used to this is key to making the latter bosses more manageable.
45* BoomerangBigot: As we learn from the Time Capsules that can be won from the Battlesphere, [[spoiler:Princess Cordelia had a maid named Perlas who, while being a water dragon herself, actually agreed with Cordelia's (initial) view that the water dragons were engaging in back-talk because they had it too good for too long. But even Perlas had her limits; she left Cordelia's service after the "Bakunawa mining laser incident"]].
46* BossOnlyLevel: Multiple:
47** The Snowfields, where you fight Serpentine [[spoiler: and his Wolf Armor]].
48** The Auditorium, where you fight [[spoiler: Beast 3 and the BFF-2000]].
49** Diamond Point, where you fight [[spoiler: Askal]].
50** [[spoiler: The Refinery Room]], where you fight [[spoiler: Aaa and Askal, piloting the Astral Golmech.]]
51** [[spoiler: Merga... [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin where you fight Merga]].]]
52* BossRush: Added to the game's console release update, the Battlesphere contains a boss rush challenge where you have to fight each boss in a row, being split into "divisions" for the bosses fought in the first and second halves of the game, respectively.
53* BossWarningSiren: Sirens are heard with warning screen before the boss arrives.
54* CallBack:
55** At the beginning of Milla's story in the first game, she planned to make a "Super Feather Potion" to aid her in finding her parents. Come the sequel, and Super Feather Potions are among those that she sells, which grant your playable character the ability to jump higher.
56** In Adventure Square, Neera says that the reason Shuigang can't be contacted is probably because they're busy reinforcing “both their walls AND floors”, after [[MyopicArchitecture the palace's floor being penetrated]] at the beginning of the [[VideoGame/FreedomPlanet previous game]].
57** A very dark one takes place very late at the game, [[spoiler:in the secret level, Weapon's Core. Syntax followed the player with her eye in Thermal Base from the first game, making threats and trying to hinder their progress, but in a way that was more amusing than anything else. Here, she hisses for you to get out in an increasingly deranged, impatient voice, and will kill you instantly if you fail to avoid her gaze for too long.]]
58** As the TrueFinalBoss, [[spoiler:Syntax performs the vertical and diagonal flying dashes used by Brevon in the original game. In the final phase of the fight, she'll create solid holograms of him that will slash at the heroines with a knife]].
59** In Lilac and Carol's endings, [[spoiler:They exchange one of their first interactions from the previous game as they prepare to part ways for now, though in a more light-hearted manner this time.]]
60* CallingYourAttacks: [[spoiler:In the final battle with Merga, she shouts the name of each "phase" before using it against you: Blue Moon, Blood Moon, Supermoon, Eclipse, and finally Lilith. The only exception is her 6th and final phase, which Merga doesn't shout the name of because this phase is Merga fighting as her regular self, without any additional "modes".]]
61* CharacterCustomization: You get two Brave Stone slots and five Potion slots. Only a few Brave Stones are powerups, with most of them being harsh penalties that raise your money payout at the end of a stage and make it more likely to earn a high rank. For the Potions, each of them gives a minor powerup such as +4% attack power or extra health on revival that can be stacked on their own or mixed with other effects up to five times at the cost of some end-of-stage money.
62* ChekhovsGun:
63** Becoming the Champion of the Battlesphere grants the heroines six coupons for dinner at Mayor Zao's palace in downtown Shang Mu. Carol calls it a lame prize. [[spoiler:When Merga and her forces occupy Shang Tu's palace and the Magister flees with them, Lilac redeems the coupons so they can formulate countermeasures. And there are exactly six of them: the four playable characters, Gong, and the Magister.]]
64** Milla panics over Neera investigating an explosion because she wanted to try out a chemical compound to change the color of her clothes. [[spoiler:When Merga's forces plan to activate a volcano in Parusa, the heroines (sans Carol) plot to blow a hole in the volcano so the magma doesn't burn the forest or the town; Neera explicitly asks Milla to recreate the exact compound from before as the explosive of choice.]]
65** The display for the Bakunawa at the museum in Adventure Square makes a point of describing its laser beam designed to shatter stellar bodies and use the released energy to fuel long-term space flight. [[spoiler:Naturally, once Merga has reactivated Bakunawa and sent it into the upper atmosphere, said laser's then used multiple times over - albeit unsuccessfully - on the moon.]]
66** At the library in Shang Mu, one of the shelves gives the description that it contains miscellaneous books like one about gardening that don't seem useful. [[spoiler:That book happens to be the only one left that is written by a Water Dragon, and it gives the Magister a fresh perspective on the truth behind the war between them and his ancestors.]]
67* {{Chuunibyou}}: In the Battlesphere, an NPC named Jeffrey will tell you all sorts of improbable stories about himself, like being the son of a demon king, his grandmother coming from a clan of assassins so secret nobody knows they exist, etc. [[spoiler:If you talk to him after you beat the game, he even asks your player character to give him a kiss, because a commoner girl becoming romantically involved with the son of a demon king and tortured hero is just meant to be. However, when your player character refuses to kiss him or even give him a handshake, he at least accepts the rejection gracefully.]]
68* CombiningMecha: [[spoiler:The ClimaxBoss of the Globe Opera is the BFF-2000: a giant rabbit mecha comprised of three different animal mecha.]]
69* ConservationOfNinjutsu: [[spoiler:The four heroines and General Gong all attack Merga in Shang Tu's palace during a boss fight, in a flashy bit of GameplayAndStoryIntegration, but the other four you're not playing as will be soundly defeated far more quickly than they would have been had any of them taken her on alone. Indeed, the only way to "[[HeadsIWinTailsYouLose win]]" is to outlast them and duel her solo. Ironically, much later on during the secret final boss, this gets completely averted when Merga herself helps the heroines take the boss in question down, with the damage she deals when jumping in to assit being markedly higher than the other 3 girls.]]
70* ContinuingIsPainful: If you run out of health, you're given an option to either start your next life from the previous checkpoint, or get up on the spot. The latter option, however, will only give you half of a life point (and it will only be available if your body is still intact: being crushed or having your body otherwise destroyed will force you to start over from a checkpoint). If you run out of lives, you can also choose to continue from the previous checkpoint, but it will cost you up to 500 crystals [[note]]The amount scales down to half of your current crystals if you have fewer than 1000[[/note]] and affect your stage ranking.
71* ConvectionSchmonvection: Averted: aside from the obvious rule that touching lava hurts you, even being near lava sets off a meter that, when it reaches the maximum, causes a rapid DamageOverTime effect. Even being near lava doesn't ''have'' to trigger it, as [[LethalLavaLand Magma Starscape]]'s interior area has the same damage effect. The only ways to negate the effect is to either hide behind a wall, move away from the lava (unless you're in the aforementioned Magma Starscape's interior area), or carry a Fire Orb.
72* CreatorCameo: Creator/SeanChiplock, as his [[UsefulNotes/FurryFandom fursona]] Pommy, appears in the Battlesphere lobby and [[BreakingTheFourthWall mentions the development studio Galaxy Trails]] by name to boot.
73* CrosshairAware: Some danger spots in the level are market with square with exclamation mark.
74* DarkerAndEdgier: Zig-zagged. While there are no scenes that are akin to the torture scene from the first game, the plot itself explores darker themes such as [[spoiler:colonialism and genocide]].
75* DefeatEqualsExplosion:
76** The Proto Pincer in Dragon Valley first has a series of small explosions running along its body as it leaps around madly, and then it's outright annihilated in a tall pillar of flame. More bosses follow suit.
77** Like in the original game, there are enemy attacks that will blow up the player character. Naturally, this has the effect of preventing players from reviving if there's extra lives available.
78* DegradedBoss: Several of the bosses first fought in the game return later as regular enemies in the second half and in certain Battlesphere challenges.
79* DetonationMoon: [[spoiler:{{Defied|Trope}}. The Bakunawa has a mining laser designed to shatter stellar bodies, absorbing energy from the debris to power the ship for lengthy space travel. Both Merga and Brevon's forces take turns declaring their intention to use this on the moon, bringing ruin to Avalice below as they flee to the stars. Merga even fires it several times, but never close enough to work. Stopping Bakunawa from blowing the moon up is thus the focus of the final act, and ultimately the moon survives the plot in one piece.]]
80* DevelopersForesight:
81** If you're on your last stock and take lethal damage after defeating a boss or finishing a stage, the Defeated text pops up... only for the line "OR NOT" to slide in underneath it, and your heroine will revive on the spot and celebrate anyway. The same thing happens if your death animation is interrupted via a stage gimmick like the teleporting mirrors in Globe Opera 2, though it only [[LastChanceHitPoint restores your HP to the lowest it can be]].
82** [[spoiler: Equipping both the Crystals to Petals and Petals to Crystals items together turns all crystals and life petals found in a stage into blood red crystals that count as both - recovering your health and adding to your crystal stock. You even get the hidden achievement "Chain Reaction" for it.]]
83** If the current playable character is Carol, she is able to backtrack after triggering the access point of Zao Land, and returning to the Royal Palace before reaching the Battlesphere [[spoiler:triggers a special conversation between Lilac and Carol.]] This will be inaccessible after reaching the Battlesphere itself, and it can be easy to miss, though you can still watch it in the cutscene viewer after the fact.
84** A bit of a zigzagged example. [[spoiler:If you check on the Titan Armor - the GiantMecha Serpentine uses in Naolo Lake, and to eventually fly to Bakunawa - at its exhibit in the museum after Serpentine agrees to help you reach Bakunawa but before you fight it on foot there, the door won't open. A note is left on the plaque nearby indicating he stole the recreation to use himself, and that his weapons aren't meant to be displayed for the public. This note is left whether you restored the Titan Armor or not, however, and vanishes after destroying it a second time, with your progress towards restoring it intact.]]
85** Normally, when Carol picks up a card to end a stage, her "victory pose" is jumping up and down and pumping her fists in victory. There is one exception: [[spoiler:when she picks up the end-of-stage card after beating her sister Corazon, she doesn't do the pose; she just turns her back towards the camera and looks away, because she never wanted to fight her sister to begin with, as she was hoping she'd be able to convince her to stand down.]]
86* DevelopersRoom: One that [[spoiler:shows off otherwise-unused beta content, narrated by Sabrina [=DiDuro=],]] is unlocked by [[spoiler:fully repairing all of the museum exhibits.]]
87* DiscOneFinalDungeon: [[spoiler:"Globe Opera" and "Palace Courtyard" respectively. While both stages appear climatic enough with you heading to confronting Merga and stop her mad ambitions complete with you fighting all of her CoDragons in the former stage, the heroes ultimately fail to best Merga in the latter stage when they finally confront her and are forced to escape.]]
88* DistressedDude: During the Globe Opera arc, Mayor Zao of Shang Mu gets kidnapped by Merga's forces as part of a scheme to lure the main heroines into a trap and enact their leader's plan of taking over their home base in Shang Tu. He was eventually rescued by his fellow protege Libbie, as her dialogue in the City Hall hub states otherwise.
89* DodgeTheBullet: The new Guard mechanic lets you harmlessly pass through the vast majority of enemy attacks if used with good timing.
90* DoomedHometown: More like just "doomed home", but Lilac and Carol's house is destroyed outright after a brief sojourn through Dragon Valley. Out of concern that her own home may be next, Milla takes up the offer to have her supplies moved to Shang Tu Palace.
91* DramaticIrony: [[spoiler:Captain Kalaw]] is revealed to be working for Merga right after the heroines have recruited him, so players are aware from the beginning that the later plan to corner Merga at Globe Opera will turn wrong for a number of reasons.
92* DroppedABridgeOnHim: A thankfully non-fatal variant. [[spoiler:In the ending, Lilac is inexplicably rendered comatose during the girls' escape from Bakunawa and remains so for most of the ending sequence. The GoldenEnding version, at least, explains it as her being struck in the head by a piece of [[TrueFinalBoss Syntax's]] destroyed body.]]
93* DualBoss:
94** The Battlesphere challenge "Birds of Prey" tasks you with fighting both Trigger Joy and Lancer.
95** [[spoiler:Askal and Aaa team up to fight in Bakunawa's Refinery Room, riding the Astral Golmech.]]
96* DuelingPlayerCharacters: In optional and mandatory flavors. In General Gong's dojo you can opt to fight Gong himself, Askal (after defeating 4 other opponents) and the other 3 playable heroines. [[spoiler:Once Pangu is brought to the palace, you can also fight a hologram of the character you're playing as.]] Later, at the Battlesphere, you're forced to defeat the other 3 player characters in a battle royal to proceed. [[spoiler: And an amped up version of the Askal fight is fought in the story.]]
97* EasilyForgiven: [[spoiler: Invoked by the Magister regarding Merga and her collaborators. Despite the severity of their crimes and their conspiracy to destroy the world, he acknowledges her rage was justified, given the Earth Dragons' enslavement and genocide of her people. Rather then life imprisonment or even execution, her underlings are instead sentenced to six months of community service to undo the damage they caused, as a gesture of good will.]]
98* EasyModeMockery: Items can be equipped to make the game easier, at the cost of reducing the number of gems earned after every level. This does not apply to the Assist modifiers, however.
99* EnemyMine:
100** [[spoiler:Nalao Lake features Serpentine, via Syntax's [[ComputerVirus Code Black]], taking control of Aaa's sizable robot army to supplement his own. The tarsier teams up with the heroes to survive, tasking you with tracking down the deactivated components of his CombiningMecha to have a weapon strong enough to fend off Serpentine.]]
101--> '''Carol:''' (''if playing as her'') So, hey, this is like the most awkward time possible, but um: truce?\
102'''Neera:''' (''if not playing as Carol'') In light of our mutually assured destruction, I believe a truce is in order.
103** [[spoiler:Later in the game, Serpentine escorts Carol back to Parusa's shore, and both come across the rest of Team Lilac. Before she heads off, Lilac expects both sides to find Spade together, unless they want to bicker over who let him get away with Syntax the worst. Neera and Serpentine aren't too up for that.]]
104--> '''Neera:''' You want us to work with the reprobate who attempted to destroy our world?\
105'''Serpentine:''' (at the exact same time as Neera) You want me to work with you reprobates who stopped me from destroying this world?
106* EternalEngine:
107** The Shade Armory in Shuigang is Serpentine's current base of operations after Brevon left Avalice, and it stations several types of Shade Troopers, who have their armors built in the armory. To go through the level, you need to deal with several threats, like spinning sawblades and green liquid that you can drown in if you're not careful.
108** The Lightning Tower in Parusa is a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin lightning-powered tower]] that the heroines traverse through to chase the Sigwada down. The electricity in this stage, while opening up some paths, also triggers hazards like cannons and electrified floors.
109** Later on, [[spoiler: the Bakunawa itself. Starting off by raiding the inside of the ship, you later ride through an elevator next to gear-filled rooms in Clockwork Arboretum, going through the engines of the ship while avoiding Serpentine's troops in the Inversion Dynamo, and then finally going near the ship's cannon to disarm it in Lunar Cannon]]. [[spoiler: And Weapon's Core is the core of the Bakunawa]].
110* ExactWords: Just before the Auditorium boss fight, Lilac asks Corazon if she's really willing to fight Carol, her own sister. Corazon says of course not, she could never fight her beloved sibling. So, she asks [[spoiler:Captain Kalaw]] to fight her beloved sibling instead.
111--> '''Lilac''': How is this any different?!
112* FaceDeathWithDignity: A more lighthearted [[note]]And likely nonlethal, given all machines are powered by seemingly immortal spirits that flee when the machine proper is destroyed[[/note]] example than most, but Lancer, the green robot bird fought aboard the Airship Sigwada, salutes as he explodes.
113* FakeDefector: This is how [[spoiler:Milla]] is able to [[spoiler:persuade Serpentine to take our heroes to Bakunawa: she pretends to accept his offer to join Brevon's forces, and Serpentine has her promise that she'll betray and kill her friends later. Of course, Milla has no intention of doing any such thing, and even after Serpentine betrays everyone upon being reunited with his mech, Milla betrays ''him'' in turn and helps her friends fight against him]].
114* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Shang Mu, Shang Tu, and Shuigang are all different parts of mainland China, while Parusa is one for [[{{UsefulNotes/Philippines}} the Philipinnes]]. Several [=NPCs=] greet you with ''kamusta'' when you speak to them there, among other references to Filipino cuisine and culture.
115* FantasyConflictCounterpart: [[spoiler:The Earth Dragon's conquest and exploitation of the Water Dragons is highly reminiscent of Western colonialism. The Earth Dragons were significantly more advanced than native Avalicians, mushed the diverse and varied indigenous population together as a single group - Water Dragons - And used their technology to take over said indigenous population. Despite claiming to be bringing civilization to the Water Dragons, the Earth Dragons used them as slave labor to build the Bakunawa. When the Water Dragons staged a rebellion, the Earth Dragons responded with outright genocide, and covered it up as just a mining accident. History was then WrittenByTheWinners, meaning future generations would view the Earth Dragons as BenevolentPrecursors, while the Water Dragons were framed as uncivilized barbarians who wouldn't accept the Earth Dragon's "gifts."]]
116* FantasticRacism: A recurring theme throughout the game on a myriad of scales. [[spoiler:One of the major revelations is the enslavement of the Water Dragons in particular by Earth Dragons.]]
117* FeatheredFiend: Multiple avian bosses show up throughout the game:
118** The most notable is [[spoiler: Captain Kalaw, who's working for Merga. While initially faced in a race to gain his trust (prior to the reveal he's working with Merga), he's fought proper in Sky Bridge]].
119** Trigger Joy, the second boss of the game, is fought in Shenlin Park, and it's a giant robot bird with a backpack that shoots [[MoreDakka all sorts of projectiles]].
120** Lancer is a green robotic bird fought in Airship Sigwada. Notably, it and Trigger Joy are fought together in the Battlesphere Challenge "Birds of Prey".
121** Beast 2 in Globe Opera 2 is another robotic bird, though this one is a BackgroundBoss that will either zoom through the screen, fire at you from the background, or drop explosive orbs.
122** Storm Slider is a bird with electric powers that [[GrindBoots grinds on rails]] and is fought in the Lightning Tower. It will also show up in the later half of said level, attempting to hinder your progress via setting off certain obstacles.
123** [[spoiler: Bakunawa Fusion, the TrueFinalBoss, is avian-like in appearance, and is Syntax's last stand to get you off Bakunawa and let it destroy the moon]].
124* FinalBossPreview: [[spoiler:You face Merga for the first time at the end of the "Palace Courtyard" stage and have the other playable characters backing you up for the fight. Even with that in mind, [[WakeUpCallBoss she's by no means a pushover]].]]
125* FlashOfPain: Enemies flash white when hit.
126* FlatWhat: Carol delivers this line in her version of after dealing with Aaa in Avian Museum and him falling asleep after delivering a long rant about the destruction of his robot buddy.
127* FloatingContinent: Parusa's Paradise Prime is a floating island that has a small city as its main hub, [[WaterfallIntoTheAbyss waterfalls]] and ancient architecture, and the Lightning Tower.
128* FlyingSeafoodSpecial: Some of this is seen after [[spoiler: Merga takes over the Shang Tu Palace halfway through the game]]. Shell Growth the (robotic jetski) clam, Hundred Drillion, which appears to be some sort of small crustacean, Gnawsa Lock the orca whale... Merga really likes her aquatic-themed minions. This comes to a head in [[spoiler: Bakunawa Chase]], where all of the enemies are themed after this. Fish, shrimp, and dolphin mooks... and the boss is a GiantEnemyCrab.
129* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou: [[spoiler:Pausing the game during the TrueFinalBoss gives you a rather threatening message from Syntax.]]
130--> '''Syntax''': [[spoiler:You can't hide here.]]
131* FreeFallFight: [[spoiler:In her second phase of the Clockwork Arboretum's boss fight, Corazon uses her flying jump pad to destroy the elevator and send the character and herself plummeting down, the fight continuing while they both are falling down the elevator shaft.]]
132* FurryReminder: Common with Milla in particular and especially the game's various [=NPCs=]. Like Milla, other dogs sometimes also [[RunningOnAllFours run on all four legs]], bats hang upside down from ceilings, and so on.
133* GameplayAndStoryIntegration:
134** Carol skips fighting Corazon aboard the Airship Sigwada, the latter letting her off the hook since they're sisters. [[spoiler:The two don't have a proper fight until near the end of the game, after they have several scenes together and it's clear they have no real choice in the matter.]]
135** The arena where you [[spoiler:fight Serpentine's Titan Armor on foot]] has two respawning special powerups in the corners. [[spoiler:In Milla's case, it's the Multi Cube, which gives three phantom cubes at once. It's safe to say she picked those up behind Serpentine's back, as she had six cubes ready to blast him with after the fight.]]
136* GameWithinAGame: "Fists of Frog", an arcade game at the Battlesphere done up in a mid-1980's style, is fully playable.
137* TheGhost:
138** In the end-of-game credits, the last character to be listed with a voice actor is [[spoiler:Princess Cordelia]], but if you play through the main story as quickly as possible, this character apparently never appears. So, where can you see this character? [[spoiler:Princess Cordelia appears in the Time Capsules that you can win if you go back to the Battlesphere and play the new challenges.]]
139** This is played straight for [[spoiler:Brevon, who truly does seem to be gone from Avalice. The only exception is a hologram Syntax uses as [[TrueFinalBoss Bakunawa]] [[FusionDance Fusion]] in her last phase.]]
140** [[spoiler: Torque, despite the major presence he had last game, is nowhere to be mentioned, aside from (possibly) an off-hand comment by one of the duck [=NPCs=] early on]].
141* GiantEnemyCrab: The Proto Pincer is the first boss all the characters face, and it's a purple crab. With weak points on its pincers.
142** In [[spoiler: the shoot-'em-up level Bakunawa Chase]], the boss of the level is a robotic yellow crab named Crabulon. [[spoiler: Going by the fact that you're commandeering a giant airship and Crabulon dwarfs it, Crabulon is easily the biggest boss in the game by far]].
143* GoldenEnding: [[spoiler:Should you beat all of the Battlesphere stages and collect all of the Time Capsules before defeating Merga, Pangu plays one final recording of Cordelia in the middle of Merga's mad rant, revealing her relationship with Merga, leading to the latter briefly yelling for Pangu to "bring her back" when the recording cuts off and willingly backing down after being consoled by the playable character. Syntax then reveals herself to have survived thanks to her 'Code Black Version 2' and has merged with Bakunawa itself to continue the moon harvesting as scheduled, forcing the heroes [[HeelFaceTurn and Merga]] to put her down one last time. After this, the ending plays out the same as the normal ending, but after the credits, a new scene is added revealing that Cordelia is still alive.]]
144* GoryDiscretionShot: [[spoiler:Syntax, in her Bakunawa Fusion form, can impale the heroines and kill them instantly. [[DramaticRedSamuraiBackground The screen turns a pale blue and both victim and robot are cast in silhouette during the attack.]]]]
145* TheGreatestStoryNeverTold: The girls' role in saving the world from Brevon in the first game is revealed to be this. Despite the Magister and Gong's best efforts, the general public of Avalice refused to believe that two teenagers and a 10 year old managed to defeat an entire army of alien robots and drive their leader off the planet, and all the credit for stopping Brevon instead went to Gong himself.
146* GreenHillZone:
147** Dragon Valley from the first game makes a comeback as the very first stage, and shows much more signs of lush green environments and nature-themed areas compared to the previous version.
148** Tiger Falls follows a similar theme with its lush green platforms and rapid waterfalls. There are even sections where the heroine blends through the waterfalls in the background and back again.
149* GrindBoots: New to this game from the first is the ability for all four characters to grind atop rails, even going so far as to fight one boss entirely while grinding on them. Lilac and Carol sport wide-armed, bent-back/-legged stances typical of the trope, while Neera stands tall, crosses her arms, and carries herself over ice summoned atop the rail beneath her boots. Milla grinds too, despite how she PrefersGoingBarefoot, instead sliding down the rail in a crouching pose with a goofy wide-eyed expression implying [[AgonyOfTheFeet the feeling is, at the very least, odd]].
150* GuideDangIt: In order to convince Captain Kalaw to join the heroes' side, the character you're playing as has to beat him in a race. However, he's faster than you and has a dashing move that lets him gain ground quickly. So, how do you beat him? The trick is [[spoiler:at the beginning of each lap, there's a green platform; if you jump to this platform, you'll be able to access a series of higher platforms. If you can make the jumps, you'll complete the laps faster than Kalaw (and it's easier if you're playing as Milla, who can fly across the platforms). Alternatively, if you're playing as Lilac, you can periodically use Dragon Boosts, which are faster and cover more distance than Kalaw's dash and will allow you to stay ahead of him.]]
151* HardModePerks: Equipping Brave Stones make aspects of the game harder, rather than easier, but reward extra gems after every stage.
152* HateSink: Erin is an NPC in the Royal Palace, and is ''incredibly'' [[FantasticRacism racist towards water dragons]]. [[spoiler:Talking to him after beating the game reveals that he hasn't learned a single thing.]]
153* HeadsIWinTailsYouLose: [[spoiler:If you manage to beat Merga in the Palace Courtyard (which is ''far'' easier said then done, though there is an achievement in it for you), she simply calls in her soldiers as backup to surround the heroes anyway.]]
154* HeartBeatSoundtrack: [[spoiler:Weapon's Core's soundtrack is a bleak, steady drone most of the time, but a heartbeat gets thrown into the mix whenever Syntax spots you. Lunar Cannon also uses one during its boss fight.]]
155* HijackedByGanon: [[spoiler:Merga is the primary villain for the majority of the game's story, but ultimately steps down from using Bakunawa to harvest Avalice's moon once Pangu plays a distorted recording of Cordelia; her long lost love. Just then, Syntax (an affiliate of Lord Brevon from the previous game) shows up on-screen and uses Code Black 2.0 to resume Merga's original plan, forcing the heroines to put a stop to her; later being aided by Merga herself during the fight against Bakunawa Fusion.]]
156* HistoryRepeats: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] if you're playing as [[spoiler:Milla]] at the end of Inversion Dynamo: [[spoiler:Serpentine attempts to use a "Resonance Link" to brainwash Milla just like Brevon brainwashed her in the first game. But ''this'' time, Milla is able to resist through ThePowerOfFriendship, blasting herself out of Syntax's clutches using her cube bursts and allowing you to still play as Milla during the subsequent boss fight against Serpentine's mech]]. If you're not playing as [[spoiler:Milla, she still manages to break free of the Resonance Link, but it takes a bit longer, as your player character has to beat Serpentine first]].
157* HopelessBossFight: [[spoiler:The confrontation with Merga at the end of the Palace Courtyard is designed to be this; losing to her counts as clearing the stage. That being said, it's still possible to defeat Merga, although it doesn't change the outcome - her mechanical soldiers return to reinforce her, forcing the defenders to flee. You get a badge ("Impressive") for defeating Merga in this stage, though.]]
158* HubUnderAttack: [[spoiler:After the events of the Globe Opera, the heroines learn that those events were a decoy to lure them all away and leave the Magister exposed to Merga's assault. The second half of the "Palace Courtyard" stage, which takes place during the invasion, has the Royal Palace hub under siege by Merga and her troops, and the first boss fight against her is set inside the palace's Command Center. Unlike most instances, the noncombatant [=NPCs=] are not harmed during the attack, having barricaded themselves in buildings that the invaders ignore in favor of their target.]]
159* IHaveManyNames: On Lilac's path, at the end of Gravity Bubble, [[spoiler:Merga reveals that the "water dragons" weren't originally known by that name -- they were originally multiple species with different names who lived under the sea. But when the earth dragons colonized Avalice, they gave the species the collective name "water dragons" as a show of apparent solidarity, to make them apparent "brothers and sisters of the sea" to the earth dragons.]]
160* IJustWantToHaveFriends: [[spoiler:It turns out this is why Aaa is working for Merga; Aaa only has his "robot buddies" (that he made himself) for friends, so Merga promised him that if he helped her, she would take him into outer space with her so he could make lots of new friends off-world. If you're playing as Milla, she convinces Aaa to stand down by promising that ''she'll'' be his new friend. If you're not playing as Milla, she befriends Aaa off-screen after your player character has a conversation with Askal.]]
161* IllKillYou: [[spoiler:Carol is enraged at Merga in her story when Corazon gets fatally injured by her, outright stating that she'd kill Merga before futilely trying to do so.]]
162* ImmediateSelfContradiction: In Lilac's path, at the end of the Avian Museum stage, Lilac comes face-to-face with the robot that trashed her and Carol's treehouse. Carol wants to join the fight, but Lilac says to leave it to her, as it's personal, and requires a "delicate touch". Lilac then shouts at the robot, "THIS IS FOR TRASHING OUR HOUSE YOU JERK!"
163* InexplicableTreasureChests: The demo has plain wooden chests standing out in the open on top of elevated grassy platforms. These are more than a little incongruent given all the high-tech robots around them. The full game fixes this by changing the chests in this stage slightly; they are now black in color and more high-tech looking.
164* InsertGrenadeHere: Aaa's Tunnel Driver is a fast target that doesn't leave itself open to attack that much. While perfectly beatable without, a fast and very viable strategy is to corral one of Aaa's homing bombs over to the mech, exposing Aaa and causing him to FreakOut, taking away a chunk of health, stopping him, and exposing him for a bit.
165* InterfaceScrew:
166** [[spoiler:Lunar Cannon's boss is fought [[CrosshairAware entirely from Merga's perspective]], and [[DiegeticInterface all aspects of the UI are reframed as if your player character was the enemy, and Merga playing a video game of her own.]] ]]
167** [[spoiler:Most UI elements are removed entirely during the first portion of Weapon's Core, the game's secret level. Even when they return, pausing the game always has the Pause screen altered to display the phrase [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou "You can't hide here"]] throughout the level.]]
168* InterfaceSpoiler: Both played with and actively defied. The Battlesphere keeps the boss count for rematches capped at the number of bosses you've defeated, [[spoiler:and the museum adds an entirely new wing for Parusa, the second half of the game, to hide how not-so-close to finishing the game you actually are at that point]].
169** Played straight [[spoiler: in regards to the aforementioned Parusa wing. Beating Merga unlocks her wings in the museum... but noticably, there's an empty exhibit after hers, hinting at something more past her. Sure enough, if you go for the GoldenEnding, there's a new boss after Merga: Bakunawa Fusion]].
170* IronicEcho: [[spoiler:In the Time Capsule logs, Cordelia callously calls her water dragon maid, who agrees with the earth dragons' racist rhetoric regarding her people, "one of the good ones." Much later, after she's captured by water dragons and comes to sympathize with them and their plight, she tries to convince Merga, the water dragons' champion and authority figure in the best position to stop their peoples' war, to move towards peace, citing their relationship and Cordelia's own ability to sympathize as proof that earth dragons can be reasoned with. Merga rebuffs the idea that her people could get on with the rest of her race, with the assurance that Cordelia was simply one of the good ones. The irony isn't lost on her.]]
171* ItsAllUpstairsFromHere: The entirety of Lightning Tower is this; with the main level goal of scaling it vertically to get to the level's boss.
172* JungleJapes: Zulon Jungle is a level in Parusa that's set within a wild and lush jungle. [[spoiler:An all-out war between Serpentine and Aaa occurs throughout the level, while the player character has to avoid their attacks as they make their progress through the jungle.]]
173* JustifiedCriminal: On Lilac's path, we finally find out the answer to the lingering question from the first game as to why Lilac was in the Red Scarves, and as it turns out, [[spoiler:she didn't have a choice: Spade stole her from her parents when she was still a water dragon egg, because the Red Scarves wanted to use the egg as a pool room decoration. When the egg hatched into Lilac, the Red Scarves decided to raise her as a criminal like themselves. This is also why Lilac is furious at Spade in the present day, as Spade's egg theft robbed Lilac of a normal family and indirectly caused her to be raised as a criminal]].
174* LaserGuidedKarma: At the beginning of the game, Aaa, piloting his Kakugan mech, destroys Lilac's treehouse while she and Carol are out sorting out the attacks around Dragon Valley. Come Avian Museum, and Lilac gets to stick it to him by destroying the mech, making him see how she felt when something precious to her got wrecked.
175-> '''Aaa:''' Yoooooooou BROKE my buddy! MY FRIEND! How could you?! We were just having fun!\
176'''Lilac:''' That's what we felt like when you broke our house! Doesn't feel so good, does it?
177* LastChanceHitPoint: If your health bar is depleted, you can still fight, but the next clean hit ''will'' take you down. You can expend extra lives to resuscitate on the spot with only this last HP (though the "Strong Revivals" potion increases how much you come back with), provided [[NoBodyLeftBehind there's a body to resuscitate]].
178* LethalLavaLand: Magma Starscape is set within the interior of Parusa's volcano. As such, the heroine has to avoid being burnt alive by hiding behind purple crystal walls.
179* LevelInBossClothing: [[spoiler:Weapon's Core uses the same red icon that BossOnlyLevel[=s=] normally do, but is otherwise a regular stage where the TrueFinalBoss serves as a hazard throughout before being fought properly.]]
180* LevelsTakeFlight: Airship Sigwada is set on multiple battleships courtesy of Corazon Tea, battleship extraordinaire. Since it is set high above the sky, BottomlessPits are a necessity.
181* LifeDrain: One of Milla's potions adds this as a passive effect to your physical attacks.
182* LonelyAtTheTop: This motivates [[spoiler:Captain Kalaw]] to work for Merga: [[spoiler:he's the reigning Battlesphere champion, but that just means he has to fight for the entertainment of fans "stuffing their faces at home", which doesn't provide him with any opportunity for actual heroism. So, he agrees to work for Merga because he thinks it will give him the opportunity to be an actual hero]].
183* LostSuperweapon: [[spoiler: In essence, the Bakunawa is this: while it's supposed to be a space-faring vessel, its main form of energy is via harvesting it from planets it destroys with its cannon. Hidden due to its power absolutely decimating a majority of the water dragons, Merga reawakens it to drain Avalice's moon of power and leave Avalice, only taking allies she has while the world subsequently rots away]].
184* MarathonBoss: [[spoiler:The final battle with Merga has ''six'' different phases: Blue Moon (water attacks), Blood Moon (fire attacks), Super Moon (floating swords and lasers), Eclipse (teleportation, purple energy slashes, and shadow clones), Lilith (plant and flower attacks), and finally Merga in her regular form without any "modes" (Dragon Boosts, purple energy slashes, and floating black kunai).]]
185* MarathonLevel: Two in particular stand out:
186** Globe Opera 2 is an AllTheWorldsAreAStage level, and it can easily take about 15 minutes the first time around, due to the many sections it requires you to do.
187** Ancestral Forge is a level focusing primarily on puzzles, and it can take a while; the par time is 15 minutes, noticeably longer than most levels.
188* MeleeATrois: During the Battlesphere arc, the Battlesphere can only allow one person to face Captain Kalaw prior to the end of the arc. Team Lilac, who'd been working together in the Battlesphere, now have to face off, with the winning character (you) facing off against Captain Kalaw afterwards. While you have to face off against 3 opponents, they'll also be attacking each other, making the match easier.
189** [[spoiler:Zulon Jungle is a three way fight between the heroines, Aaa's robots, and Serpentine's. Neera suggests teaming up with Serpentine and aiding him, but you don't gain any sort of benefit for it - his robots fight you and Aaa's equally hard regardless.]]
190* MilesGloriosus: Captain Kalaw is ''very'' proud of his status as the Battlesphere champion and is not afraid to boast about it. [[spoiler:In fact, the reason he ends up turning against the girls is because ''he'' wants to be the one who saves the world by helping Merga avenge the water dragons by bringing the Magister and his allies to "justice".]]
191* MindScrewdriver: On Lilac's path, it's finally revealed in this game why Lilac used to be in the Red Scarves, why she left, and why there's a rift between her and Spade: [[spoiler:when Spade was a kid who, according to him, "needed to get in good with the Red Scarves", he stole a water dragon egg from its parents, because the Red Scarves wanted to use the egg as a pool room decoration. The egg hatched into Lilac, so the Red Scarves decided to raise Lilac as a criminal like themselves. When Lilac found all this out, she was furious, as by stealing her egg from her parents, Spade took her away from the possibility of a normal family and indirectly caused her to be raised a criminal; this is why Lilac left and why she and Spade are barely on speaking terms]].
192* MissingSecret: Various pieces of text, such as the description of the "Rainbow Potion" achievement, seem to hint at the ability to upgrade your potion capacity beyond five slots. No method for doing so exists, however.
193* ModelMuseum: [[MuseumLevel A literal one]] becomes available after the Avian Museum stage, letting you look at the individual sprites that each boss is comprised of. The exhibits need to be repaired using the three currencies in the game due to them having been destroyed in the aforementioned level, with the owner blaming your chosen player character and Aaa for the ruination.
194* ModularEpilogue: [[spoiler:While the main ending of the game is roughly the same, with the Magister sentencing the surviving villains to community service and Lilac leaving the city to track down Merga, certain scenes are added depending on who you're playing as. For example, if you play as Carol, you'll get a scene of her teasing Corazon while she's helping to repair the palace.]]
195* MonsterWhale: In the Ancestral Forge stage, a killer whale named Gnawsa Lock periodically makes trouble for you by taking away one of the "blue lights" you need to open doors, forcing you to take a longer route to find another blue light. You later fight Gnawsa Lock as the boss of this stage.
196* MoodWhiplash: The ending of Clockwork Arboretum in Carol's story. [[spoiler:Corazon taking Merga's blow for Carol, and Carol's horrified reaction? Heartbreaking. Corazon deliriously complaining about Milla's medicine tasting like raisins almost immediately after? Hilarious.]]
197* MusicalSpoiler: [[spoiler: Robot Graveyard's background music heavily features Brevon's leitmotif from the first game, foreshadowing Serpentine and Syntax being involved with Shuigang's problems. Syntax, in particular, is the herald of the stage's boss.]]
198* MythologyGag:
199** Libbie the Cyber Oryx, a character designed by Tyson Tan who also appeared as a secret character in Friend & Fairy and Galaxy Trail's ''VideoGame/PetalCrash'', makes a cameo in Mayor Zao's library. If spoken to as Milla, she claims the latter, who was also playable as a secret character in the same game, is familiar somehow. She also references her origins as a potential [=LibreOffice=]-Community mascot. In addition, she will mention that she was sweeping up flower petals and heard a crash [[spoiler:when Mayor Zao was kidnapped]], referencing the game's title.
200*** Talking to Libbie after beating the game's story has her mention wanting to go meet Grey and Venice. Both of these characters are from Havoc Fox by Havoc Studios, who helped work on this game.
201** [[spoiler:The giant rabbit mecha fought in the auditorium of the Globe Opera strongly resembles one of Tan's rabbit android designs, albeit with a different color scheme.]]
202* NoDamageRun: Avoiding taking damage during a stage or challenge upgrades your letter grade for that level by one, to an A or an S, depending on your item modifiers.
203* NoLongerWithUs: [[spoiler:Princess Cordelia is spoken of exclusively in the past tense and Merga's own reaction to seeing her recording in the GoldenEnding heavily imply she died of unknown causes... only for TheStinger to reveal she's alive and well in hiding.]]
204* NorthIsColdSouthIsHot: Played straight in regards to the world map: The northern kingdom of Shuigang is covered up in snow; being set in a mountainous region, whereas the southern islands of Parusa is a tropical getaway with sunny beaches, lush jungles and a volcano.
205* OhMyGods: "My stones" - in reference to the now destroyed Kingdom Stone from the previous game, most likely - and variants of it are used the same way people in the real world would use "My God," "Oh my God", and so on.
206* OneHitKill: Aside from getting crushed, [[spoiler: the secret stage, Weapon's Core, features a meter that fills up if you get spotted by Syntax (via a spotlight). Let the meter fill up, and your player character gets impaled, killing them instantly. The boss fight of the level, Bakunawa Fusion, has this as one of the attacks it can pull, with the only ways to dodge being a skillful Guard and/or moving out of the way. Thankfully, once Bakunawa Fusion's horn is broken by Merga, the boss is unable to use that attack anymore]].
207* OneHitPointWonder: A Brave Stone effect makes you this. Another causes your health to constantly flip between being full and empty every 30 seconds.
208* OutGambitted: Two examples:
209** [[spoiler: Merga kidnaps Mayor Zao and holds him hostage in the Globe Opera in an attempt to get Pangu from the heroines to awaken Bakunawa, knowing they wouldn't let him die. The heroines try to outsmart her via painting the Syntax drone they did have blue (as Syntax wouldn't awaken Bakunawa), but Merga had an [[TheMole inside spy]] in Captain Kalaw who was aware of the plan, and went ahead of the heroes to leak said plans to her. Not that it would've helped the heroines anyway; Merga, in order to keep herself from being duped, sent out a hologram in her stead towards where Mayor Zao was held. The real Merga was ordering troops to raid Shang Tu's palace, in order to take back Pangu in case the drone was there, as well as to assassinate the Magister. While the heroines get there and luckily save the Magister, they were unable to get Pangu back due to the aforementioned Globe Opera incident, and their attempt to do so from Merga gets them nearly annihilated. The only reason the heroines and the Magister were able to escape with their lives intact is due to Gong quickly digging them out of the palace, and even then, Merga still has Pangu in her clutches]].
210** A heroic example [[spoiler:after Nalao Lake. The heroines, after making a temporary truce with Aaa, take down Serpentine and his Code Black-enhanced minions, freeing Syntax. Aaa then attempts to try and take Syntax back to strengthen ''his'' army. However, the heroines were well aware of Aaa's schemes, after being duped by him once earlier in the Avian Museum, and with him flat-out stating his desires for Syntax to the heroines prior to Serpentine's intervention at the start of the level. As such, they take Syntax from under Aaa's nose before he even notices.]]
211* PalmtreePanic: Tidal Gate takes place on a tropical beach, filled with water and aquatic-themed enemies. It's a [[BreatherEpisode break]] after [[spoiler: the heavy revelations earlier, and the tough Globe Opera levels prior to that]].
212* PanUpToTheSkyEnding: [[spoiler:The game ends with a shot of a clear blue sky after Lilac sets off to find Merga or Carol, Milla and Neera Li looking up to the sky wondering on when she'll be back. In the latter case, it gets interrupted with Milla jokingly discussing her plan to conquer the world due to her being revealed as an alien.]]
213* PlotTunnel: After completing Shade Armory, you are locked out of returning to Shuigang Palace, and by extension the rest of the map (aside from Robot Graveyard), until you defeat Serpentine.
214* PostDefeatExplosionChain: Bosses, when defeated, tend to produce numerous small explosions.
215* PostEndgameContent: [[spoiler:Once you beat the final boss and reload your save file, you can play any of the stages or visit the various hubs to collect any collectibles you may have missed, and even collect the time capsules to fight the TrueFinalBoss if that wasn't done the first time around. In addition, the Battlesphere will have new events based on the final BossRush. As a nice detail, Bakunawa's map now shows its sunken ruins in the ocean rather than up in space.]]
216* PrecisionFStrike: While swears are usually absent in this game, and multiple friendlier variants are included instead, Carol notably mutters this in Zulon Jungle when Serpentine shows up.
217-> '''Carol:''' Crap! Not him again...
218* ProactiveBoss: Most stages usually have a boss or major character that will try and impede you throughout the stage. Chances are, if one of those bosses shows up, they'll be fought at the end of the stage.
219* PromotedToPlayable: After being initally fought as a boss in the first game, Commanding Officer and [[AnIcePerson ice staff wielding]] Neera Li becomes a playable character in this game, aiding the three heroes in their journey to stop Merga.
220* RankInflation: Your Standard C, B, and A ranks are here for various degrees of performance in a level or challenge, alongside the ever popular S for exceptional play and a rainbow tinted S for finishing a challenge or level without dying while the [[OneHitPointWonder item that always empties your life gauge]] and one other Brave Stone are equipped.
221* ARareSentence: [[spoiler:In the ending, when the Magister appoints Neera as Shang Tu's new Regent, he says that while there are many within Shang Tu just as loyal as she is, few of them can claim to have bested an ancient Water Dragon centurion and destroyed an ancient superweapon (an ancient superweapon that he notes ''became sentient'' in the GoldenEnding).]]
222* TheRemnant: It is revealed that [[spoiler:when Brevon, the BigBad of the first game, was defeated, some of his forces were left stranded on Avalice. These forces are lead by General Serpentine, Brevon's right-hand man, who still swears loyalty to his master]].
223* TheReveal: A multitude:
224** [[spoiler: Milla's from another planet: specifically, ''Lord Brevon's''.]]
225** [[spoiler: Askal is an ally of Merga's.]]
226** [[spoiler: The Earth Dragons were utilizing the Water Dragons as a slave race. The only reasons that this wasn't revealed was due to the lack of evidence on the Water Dragons' side, the Earth Dragons essentially utilizing their victory over the Water Dragons to write their history in their perspective, and the simple fact that outside of Lilac (who's both half-blood and wasn't around during said events), no Water Dragons could recount said experiences prior to Merga being freed from her crystal prison.]]
227* RiseToTheChallenge: During the "Magma Starscape" stage, your character must ascend the rising lava to reach the level's boss; Hundred Drillion. After the boss fight against it, you have to make your way up again out of the crater to complete the stage.
228* TheRival: Each playable character has a member of Merga's team that they share more of a rivalry with compared to the others (except for Captain Kalaw), having extra and more in-depth scenes that explore their dynamic with each other. Carol has Corazon, Milla has Aaa, Neera has [[spoiler:Askal]], and Lilac has Merga herself.
229* RivalsTeamUp: Should you be playing as Carol, [[spoiler:Spade goes from simply MissionControl to being Carol's direct partner on the field to the point of helping her battle Serpentine's GiantMecha during Nalao Lake inside the BFF 2000.]]
230* SadBattleMusic:
231** Askal's boss theme. It also plays during the first fight with Merga.
232** Corazon's boss theme also counts [[CainAndAbel in Carol's scenario]], specifically in their duel aboard Bakunawa.
233** The first two music pieces of the final boss fight against Merga have an accompanying score of melancholic violins and grand piano, [[spoiler:{{Foreshadowing}} her true colors as someone who lost her one true love.]]
234* SentryGun: Enemy roster includes automatically firing guns that shoot energy balls.
235* SequelEscalation:
236** The game adds Neera to the playable roster. The first game only had an unfinished version of its fourth playable character, Torque, that was available in a beta build.
237** The story goes over the three regions featured in the first game with stages themetically similar to previous ones (Dragon Valley at night, an airship raid, a theme park in place of a shopping mall...) but with a much greater sense of scale. Then a new region is introduced with several levels to go (about as many as the first half) before the finale. Counting the Battlesphere challenges that are required for the true ending, the game has over 40 stages.
238** In the first game, Brevon as the final boss had three phases and due to requests his last form was weakened in an update. Merga goes much further than him with [[spoiler:''six'' relentless phases in total]]. And there's a TrueFinalBoss after all that for good measure!
239* ShockwaveStomp: Proto Pincer can cause shockwaves to ripple along the ground by either slamming his claws downwards, or briefly rolling up into a ball and striking the ground hard.
240** [[spoiler:Astral Golmech, a boss encountered in the late-game level Refinery Room, can cause shockwaves on the ground in its second phase as Askal charges up his purple crystal attack.]]
241* ShoutOut: Listed on [[ShoutOut/FreedomPlanet a separate page covering both this game and the previous]].
242* SignificantWardrobeShift: In the Time Capsules that can be won from the Battlesphere, in capsules 2 through 7, [[spoiler:Princess Cordelia is wearing fancy robes befitting an earth dragon princess]], but in capsules 8 through 14, [[spoiler:she's wearing more humble water dragon robes, as while she was taken hostage by the water dragons at first, she's grown to sympathize with their cause]].
243* SinisterSurveillance: [[spoiler:In Weapon's Core, the game's secret level, Syntax's eye follows the player character with a spotlight. Lingering in it for too long proves fatal, via the robot skewering your heroine.]]
244* SirNotAppearingInThisTrailer:
245** [[RecurringBoss Serpentine]] is conspicuously absent from all of the current trailers leading up to the game's launch with him only being acknowledged in his own bio on the game's official website. He's a recurring antagonist throughout the story.
246** [[spoiler:Despite serving as a supporting villain for the Shuigang arc, Syntax doesn't appear in any trailer at all, or even on the website.]]
247* SlippySlideyIceWorld: Robot Graveyard is set in the snowy outskirts of the kingdom of Shuigang; eventually shifting to a massive junkyard with discarded robot parts; hence the level name. The level's main gimmick are snowballs which are used to roll down slopes and completely dissolve upon being launched from the end of the slope.
248* TheSpiny: The Keons are spider bots that emerge from the ground and have a bunch of spikes on top of their head to prevent the player jumping on top of them. A stage later in Shenlin Park, you have the Jaw Drops, which fall down and surround their floor they just fell on with defensive, making hitting them difficult.
249* SpringsSpringsEverywhere: The game features springboards that can launch the player upwards or sideways, sometimes at very high speeds.
250* TheStinger: [[spoiler:An extra scene that plays after the credits of the GoldenEnding reveals a new entry from Cordelia meant for Merga if she ever escaped her prison has her apologizing for what happened to the Water Dragons and hoping Merga finds her own happiness. The camera pans [[FakingTheDead to reveal Cordelia alive and well]] before she mentions she can't return to Merga's side [[SequelHook as her work isn't over quite yet]].]]
251* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Carol runs afoul of this a couple of times.
252** When she thinks she will attain materialistic rewards for her support, her ideas are both too extravagant and unrealistic on their own; the amount of energy required to operate a solid gold motorbike would melt it down in short order, as Milla points out.
253** Neera rightly points out that anyone who [[OnlyInItForTheMoney can only be motivated by large sums of money]] is inherently untrustworthy, destroying Carol's motives for recruiting Cory. The Magister agrees with her without a beat. [[spoiler:However, Cory is legitimately motivated by Carol's safety.]]
254** [[spoiler: Merga invites Lilac to try and join her in leaving Avalice. However, she's no fool: regardless of whether or not Lilac refused, she still had Pangu installed in advance of Lilac's meeting]].
255* ThisIsADrill: The Burro enemies are drills which [[MeaningfulName burrow]] through the ground, trying to get your character caught in their drill. Later on, you fight Hundred Drillion in Magma Starscape, which has a gigantic drill... and a tiny head and body.
256* TimeSkip: The game takes place three years after the events of the first game; after Merga frees herself from her prison upon the destruction of the Kingdom Stone and the heroines having matured and [[TookALevelInBadass took levels in badassness]] since.
257* TournamentArc: The visit to the Battlesphere has the cast fighting their way through a tournament for the chance to face Captain Kalaw; Neera only consents to the team even participating out of the possibility of recruiting Kalaw to their cause.
258* TropicalIslandAdventure: The second half of the game focuses on the heroines traveling to the southern islands of Parusa, consisting of sunny beachsides, lush green jungles, a volcano on the brink of eruption, and even a neighboring FloatingContinent.
259* TrueFinalBoss: [[spoiler:Syntax. She can only be fought by fulfilling all of the requirements necessary to access the GoldenEnding before facing Merga.]]
260* UnderTheSea: Gravity Bubble is a late-game stage that takes place entirely underwater. While you do have air pockets that refill your air meter when inside, the majority of the level will require you to speed through to avoid drowning.
261* UndergroundLevel: Ancestral Forge is set within a hidden tunnel under the isle of Parusa. The player character must find her way out by activating all of the orbs and finally coming face-to-face with Gnawsa Lock; who fled before the level began proper.
262* UnexpectedGameplayChange: [[spoiler:After teaming up with Aaa and finding his largest robot's components, you have to pilot the BFF-2000, the rabbit mecha fought at the Global Opera to tear through Serpentine's forces and eventually fight the snake himself in his own GiantMecha.]]
263* UnexpectedShmupLevel: [[spoiler:Like the previous game, Bakunawa Chase is a [[LevelsTakeFlight level in the sky]] where the player has to guide Zao's airship against Merga's flying robot army, eventually facing off against a [[GiantEnemyCrab giant crab-shaped robot]] near the end.]]
264* TheUnfought: [[spoiler:Spade. Although the heroes prepare to head after him following him stealing away Syntax, Dail ends up catching up to Spade [[CurbStompBattle and "busted him up good"]] before Lilac and company get the chance to confront him.]]
265* VictoryFakeOut: Some variations:
266** Lancer is fought in Airship Sigwada a fair while into the level, but chickens out halfway through its fight. You fight it proper at the end of the level... though that leads to yet another Victory Fake Out, as you subsequently have to deal with the captain of the Airship, Corazon. Slightly averted if you're playing as Carol: you still have to deal with Lancer, but Corazon lets you go without a fight.
267** Herald, the boss of Zao Land, is fairly simple compared to the bosses beforehand, and only has 3 blocks of HP. Once you destroy him, though, three smaller Heralds with 2 blocks of HP each pop out and you have to deal with them as well. Thankfully, once those are destroyed, the level is over.
268** Serpentine is fought in the Snowfields, and has a fight that's a slightly tougher version of his on-foot fight in the first game. Deplete his HP, and he'll surrender. [[spoiler: Except he doesn't; he does a surprise attack, causing the floor to collapse, and forcing you to fight him again, this time in his Wolf Armor. That in itself also has a minor variation, where once his HP is depleted, he'll attempt to slash you to pieces before his armor finally blows up]].
269** [[spoiler: The Auditorium has a fairly tough boss in Beast 3, but boss-only levels are nothing new to the game. However, beating Beast 3 reveals that it's just one component in a multi-component robot: and guess what? Now you have to face the BFF-2000, said multi-component robot]].
270** Gnawsa Lock in the Ancestral Forge is fought at the beginning of the level. However, depleting a single block of his health makes him break the floor under you. Welcome to the level proper. Gnawsa Lock is fought again in the end of the level, but unlike Lancer, he's restored back to 4 blocks of HP.
271** [[spoiler: Captain Kalaw faces you in a one-on-one match in Sky Bridge, and fights fairly similarly to the other one-on-one fights in the game. Depleting his HP gives the standard slowdown effect and grunt from Kalaw... before he gets a second wind, breaks the platform you've been fighting him on in half, and starts fighting you mostly in the air. Deplete his HP again, and this time the Captain goes down]].
272* VideoGameLives: A unique take compared to the usual. [[DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist Death is still a pretty inconsequential deterrent to progress]], simply sending you back to the last checkpoint to try again, but now lives can be used to immediately revive with a very small amount of health, letting you continue a difficult segment of a stage or challenge, at the cost of a worse rank and smaller crystal payout for every life used.
273* VilerNewVillain: Inverted. Merga's henchmen are LaughablyEvil {{Noble Demon}}s at worst, and while she's pretty intimidating, [[spoiler:she's a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds with genuine reason to hate anything connected with Earth Dragons, and in the True Ending makes a HeelFaceTurn when [[TheLostLenore Cordelia's]] hologram cuts through her rationalizations.]]
274* WhamLine: In Milla's scenario: once you reach the Snowfields and reach Serpentine, he reveals something that completely opens up a new layer of Milla's character.
275--> '''Serpentine''': TCHYAAAAA HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! My, what an absolutely defective temper! [[spoiler: Our master will have to fix that!]]\
276'''Milla''': [[spoiler: "Our master?"]]\
277'''Serpentine''': [[spoiler: Yes! The one whom we both serve with unquestioning loyalty! Lord Brevon!]]\
278'''Milla''': You're an icky, bad snake, [[ThatLiarLies AND a liar too]]!\
279'''Serpentine''': Oh? Then tell me: [[spoiler: Where do you think your powers come from? Whose purpose would they serve? [[LaserGuidedTykeBomb You... were bred for battle! And you would have grown into a fine war dog too!]]]]
280** And once you reach Inversion Dynamo, this gets revealed to the rest of the playable characters (and the player too, if they're not on Milla's route):
281--> '''Serpentine''': [[spoiler: This dog is a traitor to you by birthright! It doesn't matter if she "refuses" to fight for me! After all... we hail from the same planet! The homeland of the magnificent Lord Brevon!]]
282** In every scenario, after [[spoiler: the raid on the Palace Courtyard and Merga revealing that the Earth Dragons had essentially used the Water Dragons as a slave race]], Lilac asks the Magister about it.
283--> '''Lilac''': Your Excellency... About [[spoiler:what Merga was telling us]]... Was any of that true?\
284'''The Magister''': [[BluntYes ...Yes.]]
285* WhamShot: [[spoiler: Once getting into the Shang Tu Palace during Merga's raid, Askal uppercuts the Magister, finally revealing his true face: one of an earth dragon.]]
286** [[spoiler: If you collected the capsules after beating Merga and fight her again, Pangu beginning to play back a (corrupted) message from Cordelia shows that something's going to be different. More subtly, the fact that the ground doesn't collapse under Merga during her VillanousBreakdown.]]
287** [[spoiler: And even if you did collect the time capsules beforehand, there's still the scene immediately after ''that'', where the windows of Bakunawa get filled with static, Pangu is teleported away, and the central window shows an eye. ''Syntax's'' eye.]]
288* WrittenByTheWinners: Late in the game, [[spoiler:the Magister]] realizes that [[spoiler:every account of the water dragon genocide he had been researching had been from earth dragons. He has to go out of his way to find even one instance of a water dragon writing about the events.]]
289* YouAreACreditToYourRace: [[spoiler:Princess Cordelia]], as we learn from the Time Capsules, was on the giving and the receiving end of this: [[spoiler:at first, she was sheltered enough to believe that the water dragons didn't know how good they had it. Her maid Perlas, who was apparently a water dragon herself, agreed with her, so Cordelia called Perlas "one of the good ones". After Cordelia was imprisoned with the water dragons and came to sympathize with them, she asked Merga if there's any chance that the earth and water dragons can make peace, but Merga said it's impossible, as the other earth dragons would never agree to it; Cordelia's just "one of the good ones". Having her own earlier words repeated to her makes Cordelia realize how condescending that phrase actually is.]]
290* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: [[spoiler:On Milla's path, Serpentine reveals to her that she actually comes from the same planet that he and Brevon do, causing Milla to develop a fear that she's nothing but a weapon. At the end of the Inversion Dynamo stage, Serpentine finally reveals Milla's alien origins to all her friends, and Milla pleads that she's not a monster -- to which her friends respond that they know she's not a monster, she's their ''friend''. Serpentine then tries to brainwash Milla against her friends by having Syntax use a "Resonance Link" -- but through ThePowerOfFriendship, Milla is able to blast her way out of the Resonance Link, so you can still play as her against the subsequent Serpentine boss fight.]]

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