Video Game / Dragon Force (Sega)

A Real-Time Strategy game by Sega for the Sega Saturn involving war among eight nations of the continent of Legendra. It was localized into English by Working Designs.

Gameplay is split between administrative mode and campaign mode. Each nation starts with five generals, including the monarch. During campaign mode, generals and their troops are organized among castles and sent to capture enemy castles.

Combat plays out on a side-scrolling map with free-roaming camera, one army against one army until all generals are defeated on a side. Troops can be given preset attack patterns and generals can use magic skills to affect either army.

Administration mode allows equipping of items, strengthening of castles, searching for new items, honoring generals with combat awards (which grant more troops) and persuading captive generals to switch sides.

Defeating enemy monarchs causes them to either join as subservient generals or escape to fight another day. Once all nations are defeated, the eight monarchs learn they are the Dragon Force destined to fight the Dark God Madruk. Variations occur through each nation's path, adding replay value.

A sequel, Dragon Force 2, was made and released for the Saturn as well, but was never localized outside Japan. A Sega Ages remake of the first game was released in 2005 for the PlayStation 2.

Not to be confused with the band, though this game was the inspiration for their name.

On a side note, Masahiro Akishino, founder of developer J-Force and initial project lead, abruptly disappeared during the game's development, and has never emerged since. No one knows his whereabouts, or even if he is still alive. The game went through a period of Development Hell after Akishino vanished, after which Sega acquired and finished it.

---

This game contains examples of:

• Airborne Mook: Harpies and Dragons. The latter count as airborne even though they look like their feet are on the ground in their idle animation. This distinction means that spells like Stone Pedestal & Quagmire do not root them in place (preventing them from moving or attacking), while other, grounded troops will become sitting ducks for them to rip apart.
• All Deserts Have Cacti: Averted: there is not a single cactus in sight during desert battles, and the adventure map is too zoomed-out to make out such details anyway.
• All Monks Know Kung-Fu: Topaz is all over this trope.
• All Swords Are the Same: See Informed Equipment below. Other than stats, the main difference is between the "oriental" and "western" swords. Samurai & Ninja generals are the only ones who can equip oriental swords, and in turn, they cannot equip western swords.
• All There in the Manual: Working Designs put a lot of work into this one. Information ranges from the hilarious fact that Bozack's chief export is bananas to the useful Soldier Chart.
  • A more direct example is that the CD itself. When put into a PC, it has additional story info in a plain text file going into more detail into Madruk's motivation and the ancient era mentioned in the introduction.
• Always Save the Girl: If the player stops by at the Fiend Tower to recruit Vlad, a side story will open up, wherein Ryskim, Vlad's mortal enemy, takes over a random castle and taunts Vlad with his Brainwashed and Crazy girlfriend, Sierra. After you beat him, he comes back yet again, provided you stopped by Lightan and disturbed Zanon at least once before, and captures a female general in order to lure out your monarch. For the other monarchs, the female in question is from their starting Five-Man Band, but for Wein? It's Teiris.
• Amazon Brigade: To a certain extent. 3 out of Tristan's 5 starting generals (including the monarch) have harpies (the only clearly-female troop type) as their default troop type.
• Ambiguous Gender: Due to graphic constraints, Archer and Mage troops could belong to either gender, though Mages' death cries are unambiguously female.
  • Magician, Priest, and Thief generals use the same sprites regardless of gender. This is made worse by the Mook Lieutenant Magician generals, whose portraits are also ambiguous. Somewhat improved with their new portraits in the PS2 version.
• Anachronism Stew: Some snippets of dialogue obviously draws from modern history and pop culture. This is very common in English translated Japanese games to give variation to the dialogue. In the case of quasi-medieval fantasy, this trope is Older than You Think.
  • A Monty Python reference when you unsuccessfully attempt to recruit a character: "Go away or I shall taunt you again."
  • One very agressive female character clearly refers to herself as a Dominatrix.
  • There's a character named Vlad. We usually associate certain things with this name. He lives up to most of them.
  • Grudar's references to Christie Love and his attack line "I'm gonna git you suckas!". Somewhat appropriate being that he's also the Token Black Guy.
  • The chief export of Gongos' kingdom is bananas.
  • Gongos punctuates some of his sentences with a drawn out "Yesssss!" Much like Megatron in Beast Wars.
  • If you take away an award or artifact, one character says: "Where I come from, we call that Indian Giver."
  • When Tieris tries to persuade Leon to join in their common cause, referring to Astea, he responds: "Astea? THE Astea? Never heard of her."
  • Gayrus's taunt is "You speak with the air of a true idiot. By perchance are you a member of the Lollard League?"
• Ancient Artifact/ MacGuffin: You have to acquire a couple of these in the second arc. Three, to be precise:
  • Magic Wand: The Moon Cane, useable by the casters (Teiris & Reinhart).
  • Power Fist: The Sun Bracelet, useable by the "brawlers" (Leon & Gongos).
  • Heroes Prefer Swords: The Stargem sword, useable by all the others (Wein, Goldark, Mikhal, and Junon).
• Ancient Shrine: A watered down version in the Snow, Cape, and Forest Shrines, each of which contains an Ancient Artifact (see above). Accessible only in the second arc (i.e. after uniting the continent): Wein and Goldark are sent to the Snow Shrine and fight Gyzzdark; Leon, Mikhal, and Junon to the Cape Shrine and fight Gaul; Teiris, Reinhart and Gongos to the Forest Shrine and fight Scythe.
  • In Goldark's campaign, the shrine encounters are changed: Gaul and Scythe are at the Forest Shrine, while Santana, Zado, and Kyoem are at the Cape Shrine. Thankfully, Zado and Kyoem are using their nerfed, Quirky Miniboss Squad forms, not their super-powered boss forms.
• Annoying Arrows: Archers are the weakest troop type (except when they battle Harpies).
• Another Dimension: Lord Frest can do little more than talk during his early appearances, as he is apparently trapped in a Negative Space Wedgie somewhere.
• The Apocalypse Brings Out the Best in People: Madruk's impending revival unites the entire continent.
• Apocalypse How: Class 1, in the backstory. Madruk's attack on Legendra (and subsequent duel with Harsgalt) caused a lot of damage, but the people were eventually able to pick up the pieces. In-game, it's implied that Madruk may even pull off a class 5 if he awakens fully and succeeds.
• Arbitrary Weapon Range: Averted. Archer and Mage troops will continue pelting their foes even in melee range. Should this happen, prepare to see the melee troops tear their formation up like wet tissue paper.
• Art Evolution: The PS2 remake boasts beautifully re-rendered artwork and higher resolution character portraits. Subverted by the actual game map and sprites, which keep their charmingly dated super deformed proportions and pixellated resolutions. Not all FMVs, sadly, were redone for the PS2.
• Artifact Domination/ Mind-Control Device: The dark orb that Ryskim uses to enslave Sierra. Vlad later uses it again to free her if you include him in the party for the fight.
• Ass Kicks You: The female Beast generals' version of the Sky Driver and Cross Rush will slam the opponent with her butt, several times in the case of the latter.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: No matter who you play as, the other monarchs (and their armies) become subservient to you after you beat them. Yes, even Gongos. Eventually.
• Attack! Attack! Attack!: Issuing the "melee" command in battle causes all your surviving troops to blindly seek and destroy any remaining enemy troops, before making a beeline to the enemy general. Problem is, they cluster around the centre rows of the battlefield en route, and there is NO WAY to withdraw the order or change orders. Now, if the enemy general has a spell that hits the centre rows...
• Authority Equals Asskicking:
  • The monarchs. Leon, Gongos, Junon, and Goldark are known to hold their own relatively well in battle.
  • Applies to all generals as well. Even a low level Spirit User/Magician/Priest general, the physically weakest general type, is much stronger any type of troop, as mooks are all one-hit point wonders. Those that stand out are the heavy, combat-oriented ones like Knights and Dragonmen.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Some Summon Magic spells have the potential to wipe out vast swathes of enemy troops around the region where they're cast, but the player has no control over the location. Instead, the summons appear where the greatest concentration of enemy troops are. As troops will continue to move while spell animations are playing out (but before the actual damage occurs), a mistake in timing may result in said spell hitting very few (or even no) enemy troops at all.
• Badass Boast: some of the generals' Pre-Asskicking One-Liners may count.
• Badass Family: According to the manual, all of Gongos' starting generals are siblings, so they may fit the bill to some degree.
• Barbarian Tribe/ Noble Savage: in-universe, the Beast-Men are seen as this. Their monarch, Gongos, doesn't always help their reputation...
• Bare-Fisted Monk: Plenty. Leon being the monarchical example.
• Battle Couple: the most obvious being Wein and Teiris, and Leon and Junon. Unfortunately, gameplay restrictions mean that only one may be deployed in combat at any time, though players can always place them in the same division on the world map.
• Beast Man: Umm...the Beast Men.
• BGM: Each Monarch has their own, most of which fit in very nicely with their kingdom's profile. All of them get a nice remaster in the PS2 remake.
  • Wein's is a rather catchy, brass-and-wind affair, which really brings out the heroic, Knight In Shining Armour spirit that Highland embodies.
  • Teiris and Reinhart use slow-paced, mystical sounding themes. Teiris' is more orchestral, with strings and gentle percussion, while Reinhart's has a strong xylophone and synthetic organ feel.
  • Leon's theme is strange in the sense that it doesn't quite match the "zen" feeling of monks...it's predominantly done with harpsichord, and is quite fast-paced.
  • Mikhal uses a beautiful melody of oriental strings and percussion that conveys Izumo's Wutai theme very well.
  • Gongos has a very tribal, shamanistic theme with a heavy emphasis on drums, perfect for the beast men.
  • Junon's theme might sound out of place at first, with Tristan being a militaristic empire and all, but when you think about how Junon subverts so many evil tropes, the gentle, orchestral theme kind of makes sense.
• Bittersweet Ending: Ultimately subverted. the last FMV shows Ruinlege, Madruk's prison mountain, erupt in a devastating volcano. The monarchs' generals are all seen mourning their deaths, but Astea reveals that she saved them in time, and delivers them safely back from their epic final fight.
• Black-and-White Morality: Classic story of Good vs. Evil. Note the lack of an Alternate Character Interpretation entry under the YMMV tab.
• Black Mage: Spirit User and Magician generals come with repertoires of army-decimating spells.
• Bleak Level: not strictly a "level", but whenever you attack one of Fandaria's castles, the background looks decidedly gloomy and ominous (the other kingdoms' castles have theme-appropriate backgrounds when you attack them). Fitting, as Fandaria is usually the last kingdom many players will attempt to conquer, unless they indulge in some sequence breaking.
• Blocking Stops All Damage: While played absolutely straight in combat, generals have no block animation (just a short "weapon clashing" sound), making them appear unflinching whenever they block an attack.
  • This is also how Tactical Rock–Paper–Scissors is displayed in combat: the troop type with the advantage will tend to attack unflinchingly through the disadvantaged troop type's attack animation (with that same sound effect), taking them out while remaining unscathed.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Of a sort. Dragons (and their masters, the male gods), were created as agents of entropy and destruction, opposite from the goddesses of creation, but Madruk was the one to take a personal interest in destroying Legendra.
• Bodyguarding a Badass: Played with. While the monarchs tend to end up as the most powerful generals of all since they are the eponymous Dragon Force, and any player with common sense would load them full of power-ups, they aren't that much stronger than their starting generals at the very beginning.
• Brother–Sister Team: Same gender variant in the PS2 remake: Ayame and Matsuri, the Secret Character Creepy Twins.
• Calling Your Attacks: Often used to hilarious effect, thanks to Working Designs. See the character page for notable examples.
• Cat Girl: Female Beast generals.
• Color-Coded Armies: has the effect of making the early-game map look like a rainbow!
  • Highland: White
  • Fandaria: Gold
  • Palemoon: Blue
  • Topaz: Yellow
  • Izumo: Purple
  • Bozack: Green
  • Tradnor: Red
  • Tristan: Black
  • Neutral (i.e. everyone else): Grey
  • Curiously, Dragon troops do not always follow the above code. For example, Highland's dragons are red, Tradnor's are white, and Tristan's are green.
• The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: Duels tend to end in the CPU's favour if both generals are fairly evenly-matched. Made worse when there's absolutely nothing the player can do to control their general during the duel itself. Some players avoid dueling with their monarch at all to avoid this, since the defeat of your monarch means an automatic Game Over.
• Cooldown: An interesting variation. Generals have a power bar that fills at a set rate throughout combat, and spells can only be cast at "full power". All spells have a "power rating", that determines how much of the power bar is consumed when cast (and, to a lesser extent, the damage dealt to the enemy general, if any). The higher the power, the greater the consumption, and the longer the effective "cooldown" before another spell can be cast. Interestingly, not all power ratings are uniform across the board; some generals have unique, inherently higher or lower ratings.
• Crippling Over Specialization: Archer troops. They're really only good against Harpies, and are terrible against almost everything else. Zombies in particular eat them for breakfast. This is made especially Egregious by the presence of Mages, who are as good as or better than archers in every way (in particular, they absolutely slaughter Zombies).
• Crystal Spires and Togas: A mild example in Tradnor's castle backdrops. Par the course for a Magical Society.
• Cue the Sun: An epic one when Astea and Harsgalt enter the fray against Madruk in the introduction. Also, in the last FMV, this happens when Astea reveals that she saved the Dragon Force from Ruinlege's eruption following Madruk's defeat.
• Curb-Stomp Battle/ Redshirt Army: Whenever a particular troop type goes up against one they're weak against. Of note are dragons against samurai (VERY useful near the endgame), harpies against mages/archers, and archers against zombies.
• Dangerous Deserter: Generals who desert can potentially be recruited by enemy kingdoms and used against the player in future battles.
• Dark Is Evil/ Light Is Not Good: Fandaria combines the two, to striking effect. Their official colour is gold, but their castles' backdrops are the gloomiest and most ominous, and they're presented as the main antagonists for the first arc. Ultimately subverted at the end when Goldark reveals his true intentions.
• Darkest Hour: In the introduction, when Madruk ravages Legendra with his forces. Thankfully, Astea and Harsgalt put a stop to that.
• Death by a Thousand Cuts: Troops do very little damage to generals, and are often killed in one hit by them. However, if you have over fifty troops attacking the enemy general, chances are their individual attacks will eventually defeat the general, unless they run away first. Zanon and Zado, who only take 1hp of damage per attack from mooks, and take drastically reduced damage from spells. The only way to defeat them soundly is with this trope. At the final battle, Gaul and Scythe get in on this as well.
• Death from Above: The spell Sky Driver is essentially this. Also, Holy Blast and Solar Flare, which look like a Kill Sat has fired on the battlefield.
• Decapitated Army: Madruk's dragonmen are presumably all routed after his defeat. Averted nicely when you attempt to conquer the other monarchs, however; as long as they still have castles under their control, they will always flee successfully to the nearest one. The only way to wipe their armies off the map is to corner them in their last castle and beat them there.
• Defeat Means Friendship: All over the place, though some captured Mook Lieutenant generals may refuse to join you despite repeated offers.
  • It varies depending on who you play too. Some leaders will join you willingly, and in some cases will join even without your interaction. Others must be defeated in combat before they're willing to join. However, Gongos and Goldark are unable to utilize the faction leaders until the end when Madruk and his forces begins to cause mayhem.
    • In Gongos' case, this is because none of the other leaders can bring themselves to work under him (or believe that they've been beaten by a Beast Man). They end up either escaping from battle, or from imprisonment. It seems the Guardian of the Forest really can't catch a break.
    • In Goldark's case, he actually captures the other monarchs, but imprisons them after they refuse to join him. Later, he stages their public execution to draw out Wein, the only one who escaped.
• Dem Bones: Zombie troops are more this than typical decaying, shambling corpses.
• Despair Event Horizon: See Tear Jerker under the YMMV tab.
• Dirty Coward: Bastion, Bastion, Bastion. An opportunist who will defect even if you give him tons of Faith Coins or medals (on the plus side, if he's on an enemy army, he might desert them to join yours). If he's in your army, then the best solution is to either let him rot in jail or send him to a castle far far away from any enemy troops.
  • Interestingly, Bastion will tend to side with whichever army has more female generals (including Uryll and Sierra). That's also a good way to keep him loyal to you. Make of that what you will.
• Divine Parentage: Harsrud/Harsserudo, one of the PS2 remake's new hidden characters, is revealed to be Harsgalt's son.
• Doomed Hometown: Izumo used to be an island off the west coast of Legendra. Madruk sank the entire place like Atlantis in the game's backstory. The survivors fled to the mainland and rebuilt, but the incident remains a very sore spot in Izumo's history. This probably explains why Samurai have become so good at dealing with Dragons.
  • Alternatively, Madruk might have crushed Izumo so thoroughly precisely because the Samurai were such a great threat to his Dragon armies.
• Draconic Humanoid: Dragonmen troops and generals look more like this than actual, bestial dragons, with impressive physiques to boot.
• Dramatic Pause: Some of the PS2 voice acting gets in on this.
• Dual Boss: Not in the usual sense, since all fights are one-on-one. One of the new hidden characters in the PS2 remake is a pair of Mysterious Waif Creepy Twins, who count as "one" enemy general when you fight them.
• Dub Name Change: Some characters had their original names changed by Working Designs. Of note:
  • Lowe -> Rudger
  • Sommalion -> Galam
  • Kalhazard -> Kharhaz
  • Gideon -> Gaul
  • Grace -> Scythe
  • Mikazuki -> Mikhal
  • Hourai -> Mistal
  • Ra Deli -> Presto
  • Ulysses -> Yuri
  • Katmandu -> Katmando
• Duel Boss: A few:
  • Goldark vs Wein in Wein's campaign, and vs Mikhal in Mikhal's campaign (though it's actually a Hopeless Boss Fight both times).
  • The spirit of Leviathan, Gongos' ancestor (through possession of Gunner), vs Gongos in Gongos' campaign.
• Dumb Muscle: The Beast Men tend to get this treatment from the other races, especially Gongos in relation to the rest of the Dragon Force.
  • Madruk's Dragonmen generals are also this. Though they are mighty combatants (NEVER attempt to duel them unless you can win in 1 hit!), they're no more intelligent than the generic Fighter generals, and their Command Ratings (which determines how effective a general's troops are in combat: rather redundant, seeing as how they're commanding Dragons) are usually lower than most.
• Elemental Powers: Nearly all non-physical spells have some elemental flavours, if only for purely aesthetic effect.
  • Blow You Away: Hyper Storm and Mega Tornado. Also, the Spirit User's summon, Wind Dancer. Interestingly, mooks hit by the first 2 spells are only taken out of combat, and are returned to the general afterward if they win the battle.
  • Casting a Shadow: Dark Vortex and Ensnare. Zombie generals like Santana and Ryskim also give off a shadowy aura whenever they cast spells (regardless of element).
  • Dishing Out Dirt: Stone Pedestal, which temporarily encases the enemy's troops in stone.
  • Holy Hand Grenade: The aptly-named Holy Blast. A similar version, Solar Flare, hits both enemy and friendly troops.
  • Making a Splash: The Spirit User's summon, Trident's Daughter.
  • Playing with Fire: Several spells, from small fireballs that target only the enemy general, to screen-clearing ones like Meteor Storm and Dante's Inferno.
  • Shock and Awe: Thunder Fall.
• The End of the World as We Know It: What the titular Dragon Force is meant to prevent, and Madruk's ultimate goal for Legendra.
• Empathy Doll Shot: One is shown in the intro video for the game when Madruk makes his appearance to destroy life on Legendra.
• The Empire: Fandaria and Tristan, although the former more than the latter.
• Enemy Mine: What most of the monarchs try to invoke (against Fandaria) as they go about uniting the continent. In-universe, none of them know who the other members of the Dragon Force are (only that Harsgalt's crest will mark them), so they use Fandaria's war as a front to go looking for them. Goldark sets out to do this as well. He's also against Madruk from the outset, but hides his intentions, and isn't quite so diplomatic about it as the others.
• Evil Laugh: The PS2 remake takes this up to eleven.
• Evil Weapon: Eclisis.
• Fanservice: Par the course for a fantasy game. See the character page for specific examples.
• Fantastic Nuke: For all intents and purposes, Holy Blast and Solar Flare. Timed just right, they can wipe out about 80 out of a full army of 100.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Izumo is obviously Japan, Topaz's architecture looks Chinese, and Bozack appears to be May Inca Tec.
• Fat Bastard: Borgon. His final words even reference his gluttony!
• Fire-Forged Friends: The Dragon Force.
• Flash Step: the aptly-named spell "Cross Flash" seems made to invoke this.
• Friendly Fireproof: in full effect, considering some of the generals' devastating, screen-clearing spells.
  • Four notable aversions exist: Dark Vortex (only Teiris has the Friendly Fireproof version), Solar Flare (an indiscriminate version of Holy Blast), Mega Tornado (an indiscriminate version of Hyper Storm), and Quagmire (an indiscriminate version of Stone Pedestal).
  • A milder aversion exists with the spells Summon Wyvern and Summon Golem, which clear a small zone around their summoned location when cast, before wreaking havoc on the enemy.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: In Junon's campaign, Leon takes an attack from Faust meant for her, when Faust tries to goad her into a fight. Leon gets wounded, and actually ends up hospitalized (like any other general whose hp was reduced to 0 in combat). Thankfully, a quick Astea's Herb fixes him up just as well.
  • The roles are reversed in Leon's campaign, only that Junon saves Leon from Goldark.
  • Again, in Junon's campaign, Wein and his inner circle decide not to join her at first, but sneak into Fandaria to find out what Goldark is up to. They fail, and when they make it back to Junon, all five of them are hospitalized for their injuries.
• Geo Effects: Terrain bonuses and penalties, which vary according to troop type. Defenders in a castle also get a "home ground" bonus that scales with castle level.
• Glass Cannon: Spirit User and Magician generals.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: The Dragonmen generals' portraits have subdued versions. The Zombie generals' combat sprites have something glowing within their hoods that might be their eyes...
• Gondor Calls for Aid: Your job is to unite the continent to fight a greater evil. Sounds about right.
• The Good Chancellor: Technically, all of the monarchs' chancellors are these, as they provide very valuable Mission Control during the game. Nolun of Highland gets special mention, including in the manual, for practically teaching Wein everything he needs to know about running a kingdom.
• Ground Punch: Dragon generals do this with both fists when they cast Stone Pedestal.
• Guide Dang It!:
  • Worried about generals leaving your army due to lack of recognition? When selecting through them, there is a small box that tells you if a general is worthy of an award or not, so you can use that as a guide. If you don't want to give them a medal, you can also give them an item to keep their loyalty. Additionally, the starting generals for each lord will never leave, so once they join your forces, you can neglect them if you'd like, although it's still a good idea to reward them as medals increase how many troops they command during battle.
  • Additionally, make sure you use the enemy monarchs as much as possible once you acquire them. The reason is that these 8 characters are the ones you use at the end, and if they're not fully geared/leveled, they'll have a tough time against the final bosses.
  • The Skull Children/ Paine & Agonni, who randomly show up on the map, are annoying, especially if they pop up at a remote location that's weakly guarded. However, they're the best source of leveling up for your generals as conquer more lands, and have fewer enemies to fight. Dragon generals/troops take over once you hit end-game, so make sure you have plenty of samurai, mage, or harpy soldiers scattered throughout your lands to combat them.
  • New players' first encounters with Zanon will usually go like this: "Hey, there's a wierd neutral kingdom in Lightan castle. Let's go conquer it!"; "Wow, that was a tough fight...huh? They all escaped?"; "Damn, they just keep coming back to take Lightan castle!"; "OMG WHY WON'T THEY STOP!" The only way to permanently clear Lightan castle and defeat Zanon is to do Vlad's side-quest. There are no hints whatsoever that the player needs to do this first.
• Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Somewhat averted. Many Magician generals are male (though Spirit Users are all female, and there are few male Priests), and there are several female Beast generals.
• Ham-to-Ham Combat: Can happen, depending on the generals' pre-asskicking one-liners.
• Happily Married: In the epilogue, Wein marries Teiris, Leon marries Junon, Mikhal marries Shione, and Talon (Goldark's nephew) marries Aisha.
• Haunted Castle: Magicka castle, on the borders of Topaz and Palemoon, starts off as a heap of ruins. It can be rebuilt by sending any general there, but an event soon occurs where the castle's previous occupants turn up to haunt the place. Sending your monarch there puts an end to it (non-violently), and you receive a Spirit Crest (an item that allows any general to command Zombie troops) for your troubles.
• Healing Herb: Astea's Herb, an item that instantly allows a hospitalized general to recover and return to service.
• Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: Bonus points for Galam, Rudger, and Kharhaz, whose lack of headgear is reflected in their sprites (which have standard Mook bodies), while most other generals' isn't.
• Herd-Hitting Attack: If a general's spell is stated to hit "enemy-army" or "enemy-all", prepare to see Mooks dying en masse.
• Hero Unit: Any of the generals, technically, but more so the Dragon Force.
• Hit-and-Run Tactics: The AI will sometimes attempt this when you threaten their territory. Since the probability of a general successfully retreating is influenced by several factors (number of troops remaining on either side, level differences between generals, etc), failing to properly fortify a frontier castle may result in the player eventually losing it to attrition.
  • To elaborate, every castle can hold 10 generals, while an attacking division can only hold 5. While defenders will always have the upper hand through numbers of generals, every battle in a castle comes with the chance of decreasing the castle's level. What does this do? It reduces "home ground" terrain bonuses for the defenders, as well as the troop stores used to restock the generals' armies out of combat. Enough attrition will eventually wear down the defenders unless they receive external backup.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Indiscriminate spells (see Friendly Fireproof above) can spell (pun intended) doom for the caster's own side if fired off carelessly.
• Honor Before Reason: In at least Wein's, Mikhal's, and Junon's scenarios, Goldark will initially evade capture, and return at a later time to challenge them again. Fortunately, in Junon's case, Goldark doesn't force a duel, and you can own him flat with your harpies. For Wein and Mikhal? Well...see Hopeless Boss Fight below. What do your amassed forces do during this time? Bow out of his way like pansies. Made worse by the fact that Goldark doesn't get any special powerups for this second encounter: he's still the same Dual Wielding badass.
• Hopeless Boss Fight: In Wein's and Mikhal's campaigns, Goldark evades capture, but returns a short time later to have it out with you. During this scripted event, there is nothing (and I mean NOTHING) you can do to stop him from marching right up to wherever Wein/Mikhal are and challenging them to a duel. Like any other duel, there's nothing the player can do but to watch as Goldark beats the hell out of Wein/Mikhal (but this doesn't result in a Game Over due to the event script: rather, Wein/Mikhal survive with 1HP) and leaves them with a "Reason You Suck" Speech, before vanishing again.
  • In Junon's campaign, Goldark is the one to challenge Katmando instead of Ramda (and you get to play as him for that brief moment), as Ramda gets killed by Gaul and Scythe after his Mr. Exposition scene. Goldark gets better in time to meet Wein at the Snow Shrine to look for the Stargem Sword. He has to, since he's a member of the Dragon Force.
• The Horde: Madruk's army...of Dragons, no less, both mook- and general-types. Once freed from Ruinledge, they will continue to ravage the continent until the Dragon Force marches up the mountain for the final battle. Better put all those Samurai troops to use quickly...
• Hot-Blooded: Some of the Fighter, Monk, and Beast generals. Knight generals tend to be more reserved, but they have their moments.
• Hybrid Monster: Harpies.
• I Don't Like the Sound of That Place: Ahem, RUINlege, Madruk's prison mountain.
• In the End, You Are on Your Own: During the Final Battle, your monarch faces off with Madruk alone. Justified, as the other 7 members of the Dragon Force have their hands full with the Apostles of Darkness. See Leave Him to Me! below.
• In the Hood: The Zombie generals.
• Infinity Plus One Weapon: One of the three [[Ancient Artifact ancient artifacts gets empowered near the end of each monarch's campaign (according to their class), and becomes stronger than the best weapon they can equip.
• Informed Equipment: Generals' sprites do not change, regardless of what equipment they're given.
• Interspecies Romance: Wein and Teiris, most obviously, though Gongos attempts to build a love triangle (but Teiris doesn't reciprocate).
• Ki Manipulation: A few spells could be considered this, notably Aura Assault.
• Kill It with Fire: Mage troops shoot small fireballs from their staves. Also, the fire-type spells cast by generals.
• Killed Off for Real: See Heroic Sacrifice above. Also, some generic Fighter and Knight generals may end up slain in combat instead of merely injured and captured. In fact, some noticeable supporting characters like Monoa and Vangal can also be permanently killed off.
• Lampshade Hanging: of all people, the narrator gets in on this. "However, as with all such tales bordering on morality plays, one lied in wait to cast a dark shadow over the prosperity and tranquility of Legendra."
• Large and in Charge: Generals tend to have bigger sprites than their troops.
• Leave Him to Me!: Used during the Final Battle against the Apostles of Darkness, so that your monarch can hurry on to face Madruk. The basic pattern is: Junon & Leon vs Scythe, Mikhal (thank Astea for Samurai) & Reinhart vs Gaul, and Wein, Teiris, & Gongos vs Katmando. If you're playing as any of these 7, Goldark will substitute them when they go on to fight Madruk.
• The Legions of Hell: Madruk's horde of Dragonmen seem designed to invoke this.
• A Lighter Shade of Grey: The manual invokes this with Tristan (compared to Fandaria), but once you actually play Junon's campaign, it's revealed that she really isn't that bad after all, and is actually trying to build diplomatic relations with Wein of Highland to combat Fandaria.
• Lightning Bruiser: Any general who can use the skills Cross Flash and Cross Rush (which take a solid chunk out of the enemy general's HP) may qualify. While it's quite logical for monks wearing simple martial arts clothes & beast men wearing loincloths to be able to pull these off, it's quite another thing to see warriors in full plate armour doing it.
  • Goldark even does it while Dual Wielding BFS's!
• Loophole Abuse: While on the world map, travelling armies (referred to as "divisions") are indicated by walking sprites. Said sprites have some sort of collision box that determines how close they have to be to other divisions to enter combat. When a division attacks a castle, its sprite will essentially walk right up to the castle's sprite so that the two overlap. If the attacker is defeated, the division will retreat to the nearest friendly castle. If the player instantly deploys their own division right after successfully defending their castle, their division's sprite will immediately "encounter" the retreating army, thus giving players a second shot at capturing AI generals. Savvy players can effectively bleed the AI dry by repeating this ad nausem.
• Love at First Sight: Played for laughs, in part due to the males' awkwardness: Leon to Junon (when he sees her unmasked), and Gongos to Teiris.
• Love Triangle: One between Wein, Teiris and Gongos. it's one-sided on Gongos' part, though Another is revealed in Mikhal's campaign. See Berserk Button above.
• Luck-Based Mission: The battle with Madruk can sometimes be this, since he has nearly 100 MP, and may sometimes spam spells (that cost only 1 MP apiece!) at your monarch. Each spell takes off a good chunk of HP, so even at max HP (127), your monarch won't be able to take more than a few hits before you see the dreaded Game Over screen...
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Fighter generals can equip shields for added defence. They don't show up on their sprites, however.
• Mage Killer: Ninjas, and to a much lesser extent thieves, are excellent for dealing with magic users, as their spells damage the power bar (which determines how often a general may cast spells) instead of Hp.
• Magical Society: Tradnor.
• Mana: MP, used by generals to cast spells.
• May Inca Tec: Bozack, in terms of architecture.
• Meaningful Name: Faust, Junon's mentor from the previous Dragon Force, plays on Junon's angst and thirst for Revenge against Goldark to tempt Junon with Eclisis. The catch? Junon will likely end up as an Ax-Crazy Blood Knight like the weapon's previous wielder, Zanon.
• Mission Control: Each monarch comes with their own advisor, who essentially fills this role, both on the world map and in Domestic Affairs.
• Mook: the troops your generals command.
  • Elite Mook: High-performance troops like Dragons, Harpies, and Zombies may qualify.
  • Mook Lieutenant: The "generic" generals, who have identical portraits and palette-swapped sprites.
• Mr. Exposition: Lord Frest.
• My God, What Have I Done?: See Tear Jerker under the YMMV tab.
• New Game Plus: Of a sort. Players can only select Fandaria and Tradnor after completing the game beforehand, as Goldark's and Reinhart's campaigns contain massive spoilers.
• No "Arc" in "Archery": The Archers' arrows go hilariously straight.
• No Honor Among Thieves: Thief generals are notoriously disloyal, often deserting at the drop of a hat if they're mistreated. Either keep them meticulously rewarded for each battle they fight, or keep them FAR behind the front lines.
• Noble Demon: Vlad in particular.
• North Is Cold, South Is Hot: Tristan, the northernmost kingdom, is situated on a frigid plateau. Bozack, in the southwest, is a jungle populated by Beast-Men.
• Not Quite Dead: Generals reduced to 0hp aren't actually killed (unless directly stated), but merely knocked out, and will appear as "hospitalized" if you manage an overall victory in that particular battle (if you lose, they get captured by the enemy instead).
• Official Couple: From Goldark's epilogue, we have his nephew, Talon, and Aisha. Both are members of his Warm-Up Boss squad.
• One-Hit-Point Wonder: All mooks are essentially this. Tactical Rock–Paper–Scissors is thus displayed by having the stronger troop type No-Sell the weaker's attacks (see Blocking Stops All Damage above).
• One-Steve Limit: In full effect. Loads of characters, all with unique names.
• Only the Chosen May Wield: Only the Dragon Force may equip the Ancient Artifacts.
• Our Dragons Are Different: The roles of dragons vary in-game, ranging from expendable troops, good or evil generals, and all the way to powerful gods.
• Our Elves Are Different: Most Spirit User and Magician generals are Elves. Their Archer troops are the worst troop type overall.
• Our Liches Are Different: Santana and Ryskim, undead sorcerers who wear dark cloaks and hoods that obscure their faces. They're referred as "Phantoms" in cutscenes, but their in-game job is literally "?????".
• Our Zombies Are Different: They attack with their ribcages.
• Out-Gambitted/ Spanner in the Works/ Unwitting Pawn/ Using You All Along: In Goldark's campaign, it's revealed that Gaul is using Madruk's power to seduce Goldark over to the dark side (and thus potentially ruin the Dragon Force), and Goldark shows signs of giving in, what with his merciless continent-wide war and all. However, when Gaul asks Goldark to execute the captured monarchs, the latter laughs in his face, and reveals his Well-Intentioned Extremist plan to unite Legendra into a single, massive army AGAINST Madruk, and that he was merely using Gaul, Scythe, and all their power to help him achieve that goal. The magnificent combination of You Have Outlived Your Usefulness and Unwitting Pawn really does a good job of driving the two of them into a seething rage.
  • When Gaul attempts to strike Wein down afterward, Goldark takes the hit for him, but doesn't suffer any lasting damage. The selfless act causes Goldark's crest to reveal itself; all the other monarchs' crests glow in reaction, and their combined light forces Gaul and Scythe to retreat. Nice Job Fixing It, Villain.
• Palette Swap/ You All Look Familiar: The result of having to differentiate the generic generals.
• Patchwork Map: Nicely averted, with logical geographical tropes in play. North Is Cold, South Is Hot aside, Palemoon is a forest in a valley near the coast, while the centre of the continent around Topaz and Tradnor are more arid. Fandaria seems to be in a rain-shadow zone north of Izumo's mountains, and has a similar lack of lush vegetation, while Bozack, south of Izumo, is the Beast-Men's rainforest home.
• Pelts of the Barbarian: Some of the Beast-Men's wardrobes, including Gongos.
• Pimped-Out Cape: Practically every general has one.
• Plot Coupon That Does Something: The three Ancient Artifacts found in the three shrines are also powerful weapons.
• Power Echoes: The Dragonmen generals in the PS2 remake.
• Power Fist: Claw weapons, equippable by Beast generals (of both genders) and Monk generals.
• Power Floats: Some generals, like Vlad, Presto, or the generic Spirit Users float.
• Power Glows: The monarchs glow a brilliant gold whenever they use their holy-dragon-fuelled ultimate spells after their power-ups.
• The Power of Friendship: The game's Stock Aesop.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: Every general has one before the battle starts, another one to prepare his/her troops, another one for casting a spell, and ANOTHER one before a duel starts.
• Prestige Class: Classes will be upgraded every five levels, up to level 20. The first and second upgrades usually grant an additional ability.
  • General—>Lord—>High Lord—>Star Lord—>Emperor
  • Fighter—>Swordsman—>Warrior—>Blademaster—>Highlander
  • Knight—>Paladin—>Baron—>Earl—>Duke
  • Samurai—>High Samurai—>Blood Samurai—>Samurai Lord—>Shogun
  • Ninja—>Assassin—>High Ninja—>Archninja—>Shadow Lord
  • Magician—>Illusionist—>Sorcerer—>Necromancer—>Magic Master
  • Priest—>High Priest—>Bishop—>Archbishop—>Saint
  • Spirit User—>Shaman—>Summoner—>Spirit Master—>Summon Master
  • Thief—>Rogue—>Highwayman—>Marauder—>Racketeer
  • Monk—>Archmonk—>Kung Fucius—>Kung Fu Master—>Sensei
  • Beast—>Savage—>Barbarian—>Beast Lord—>Beast Master
  • Dragon—>Razor Dragon—>Blood Dragon—>Great Dragon—>Astral Dragon
• Proud Warrior Race Guy: The Beast Men have shades of this.
• Purely Aesthetic Gender: Generals' effectiveness in combat is not affected by their gender whatsoever. Subverted in the Beasts' case, since female Beasts can't equip axes for some reason. They're also the only class with generic generals of both genders.
• Purposely Overpowered: Your starting team in both Goldark's and Reinhart's scenarios, but for different reasons.
  • In Goldark's case, he and his inner circle (sans Lyria) all start above level 5, meaning they begin with 2 out of 3 spells in their roster. They also have more troops than most other kingdoms' generals (again, sans Lyria). Later on, Gaul & Scythe show up with some seriously overpowered allies in tow (Zado with 100 Dragons comes to mind), granting a huge boost to Fandaria's might. This is because none of the other monarchs or their inner circles will join Fandaria until the end, and the player will need all that muscle to conquer the continent. Predictably, you don't get to keep Gaul, Scythe, or any of your overpowered allies; you'll even be forced to fight them once their true allegiance is revealed.
  • In Reinhart's case, he starts with a second army (Ardor, Uryll, Gigg, and Santana) in addition to his inner circle. This is because he's actually a Man Behind the Man to Wein, and has surreptitiously commissioned him to unite the continent on his behalf. Wein ends up handing everything over to Reinhart on a silver platter (sans Goldark, of course) at the end of the first arc. This means that Reinhart's campaign calls for very tight defenses as the player holds out until Wein succeeds. Those overpowered generals (Uryll can Resurrect Dragon troops) really make life easier.
• Quirky Miniboss Squad: The Apostles of Darkness: Scythe, Gaul, and Katmando.
  • Goldark himself gets one in his campaign, courtesy of Gaul, who's trying to use the offer to bribe Goldark over to Madruk's side. Predictably, all of them desert together with Gaul & Scythe in the second part of the game, only to reappear later to challenge the Dragon Force as they try to obtain the ancient artifacts.
• Random Drops: Of a sort. The only way to get new items is to search your currently occupied castles (only generals with >70 Intelligence may do this) during Domestic Affairs mode. All castles have a small chance to yield loot when searched, though some specific castles seem to have specific "loot tables". These tend to yield better items like powerful weapons or crests that allow generals to command the more powerful troop types.
• Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: Whenever Monk generals use the spell "Cross Rush". Yanna of Topaz even ends hers with a spectacular Shoryuken.
  • Beast generals do the same, but with rapid-fire weapon-strikes.
• Razor Wind/ Sword Beam: Sonic Boom/Wave/Blast.
• Regenerating Mana: An interesting variation, in that generals will instantly regenerate to full MP once they're in castles, but only in castles. This means that if a general retreats after a lost battle with their army in tatters and MP drained, they will not regenerate a single point of MP until they're indoors. A savvy player can exploit this to capture the AI's generals while they're retreating from their own battles elsewhere.
• Rescue Arc: See Always Save the Girl above. Notable in that it is purely optional, and does not affect the main plot in any way.
• The Reveal: A few:
  • Goldark is actually Good All Along, even though he plays the Big Bad for much of the game, even when you play as him.
  • For non-Junon players, Junon's portrait is the black helmet until they join your ranks. Junon players find out right away that it's actually a woman inside the suit.
  • Gaul and Scythe were merely using Goldark to help resurrect Madruk. Unfortunately for them, he was also using them as well, to help unite Legendra against Madruk's inevitable revival.
• Revive Kills Zombie: Averted. The spell Resurrect revives zombies.
• "Risk"-Style Map: The focus of much of the game. Alternates with an administrative mode called "Domestic Affairs".
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge/ You Killed My Father: Junon wants to kill Goldark at the start because of this. When it's revealed (also at the beginning) that the diplomatic envoys Tristan sent to Highland were all killed thanks to Fandaria's machinations, Junon teeters on the edge of another RROR against Wein, before being talked out of it by The Good Chancellor.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: All 8 members of the Dragon Force are either royalty, or the appointed rulers of their respective kingdoms.
• Rule of Three: Three ancient artifacts hidden in three shrines across the continent? Yup. Three [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Apostles of Darkness? Yup. Three hidden side-plots yielding secret characters (Vlad + Sierra, Hayate + Shirox, and Vangal)? Yup.
  • Also, every general gets only three spells each (one starter, one at level 5, and one at level 10).
• Secret Character: A few, each complete with their own storyline.
  • Vlad, vampire lord of the Fiend Tower, seeks your help to rescue his girlfriend, Sierra, from the clutches of Ryskim.
  • Hayate, a master Ninja who agrees to fight for Legendra against Madruk. His own storyline is only expanded upon if you play as Mikhal, and pit him against Kyoem.
  • Vangal, an old and disillusioned dragon-man, who just wants to live out his days in peace. Unfortunately for him, Zado sees him as a traitor to their species.
  • The PS2 remake contains two new secret encounters, Ayame & Matsuri, a pair of somewhat Creepy Twins in a village south of Palemoon, and Haaserudo/Hasrud, a Winged Humanoid in a village north of Fandaria. Unlike the others, they cannot be recruited, and the jury's out on what their encounter encompasses until their dialogue is translated.
• Sequence Breaking: The player can indulge in this. Fandaria is built up as the Disc-One Final Boss very early on, but kingdoms like Topaz and Bozack, which start with very Monk and Beast-heavy armies respectively, can curb-stomp Fandaria's predominantly-cavalry army early on, and remove a significant threat from the map before completing the first story arc.
• Serial Escalation- The average fighter-type general gets somewhere in the order of 10 MP or less by end-game, with casters seldom reaching 20. Even Reinhart, Child Mage and son of the god of war, will probably have somewhere between 20 and 30 MP by end-game, and that's if the player pumps him full of MP-boosting consumables. During the final battle, the Quirky Miniboss Squad and the Big Bad have somewhere close to 100 MP. Thankfully, they aren't prone to spamming spells at every last opportunity they get.
• Shmuck Bait: So you've just thrashed an enemy Priest's army, and your troops are in his/her face, negating the usefulness of Resurrection (most Priests command Mages, which get ripped apart in melee combat, and the spell raises new troops just behind the caster). Victory, right? Hello, Holy Shield!
  • To elaborate: Holy Shield is a cheap (2MP to cast), mid-tier spell available to most Priests. It surrounds the Priest with blue streaks of light that spiral outwards, clearing out nearly every enemy troop in the vicinity.
  • And just when you thought you could catch the Priest in a duel and snatch victory, he/she retreats! Have fun!
• Shoulders of Doom: Goldark combines this with a Pimped-Out Cape, while Junon's go with Spikes of Villainy (except she's not exactly evil).
• Sinister Scythe: Katt's Summon Reaper spell. See HP to One above.
  • Also, um...Scythe.
• Slap-on-the-Wrist Nuke: Meteor Storm.
  • Subverted painfully by Gaul after he reveals his allegiance to Madruk. To put it simply, spell damage (on generals, since every Mook is a One-Hit-Point Wonder) depends on the caster's intelligence. After revealing his true colours, Gaul (and Scythe) gets a huge boost, making this spell of his truly deadly. Coupled with his huge MP reserves, this makes Gaul the deadlier of the two when compared to Scythe.
• Smurfette Principle: Teiris is the only female among the 8 monarchs (and thus the Dragon Force), until it's revealed that Junon is a woman as well.
• The Something Force
• Sorting Algorithm of Evil: The monarchs start off with their Warm-Up Boss, then go on to unite the continent against Fandaria (or finish taking over it, in Goldark's case), tangle with the Apostles of Darkness, and top it off with an epic Final Battle with Madruk in Ruinlege.
• Sorting Algorithm of Threatening Geography: Of a sort. As Fandaria is the last kingdom most players would attack (except in cases of Sequence Breaking), its Bleak Level castle backdrops would be a significant change from the other kingdoms' castle backdrops. This is followed by the eerie, ominous caves in Ruinlege where the Apostles of Darkness are fought, and then Madruk's own prison, which turns into an Evil Is Visceral Meat Moss level when he goes One-Winged Angel.
• Spoony Bard: Thieves. They're basically ninjas with worse overall stats, a smaller movepool, and that uses the awfully common soldier troop instead of the exotic and much better samurai.
• Squishy Wizard: Mage-type generals (which include Magicians, Priests and Spirit Users) aren't good in duels.
• Storming the Castle: once all 8 members of the Dragon Force have gotten their Ancient Artifact, all that's left is to saddle up and confront the Big Bad (and Quirky Miniboss Squad) in the Ruinledge mountains.
  • Played straight when your forces invade a enemy castle, or vice versa.
• Summon Magic: Most Spirit User spells, like Summon Wyvern.
• Supernormal Bindings: Ramda is locked in the Shadow Tower by some sort of rune, while Frest is trapped within some kind of Negative Space Wedgie. Considering their potential power (even Gaul and Scythe have no option but to flee from them, at least before their true natures are revealed., this comes as no surprise.
• Tactical Rock–Paper–Scissors: Troop strengths/weaknesses, nicely detailed in the Working Designs manual. Of note, each high-ability troop has a hard counter in a lower ability troop (Samurai counter Dragons, Monks/Mages counter Zombies, Archers/Mages counter Harpies, and Monks/Beasts counter Cavalry), while average-ability troops sit firmly in the middle of the spectrum (i.e. they counter low-ability troops, but get curb-stomped by high-ability troops).
  • Interestingly, shooters like Archers and Mages, while listed as "low-ability", are really only weak in melee combat. Their strength lies in how they continue firing even when generals are casting their spells, while melee troops can only continue to move (but not attack). By casting a long, time-wasting spell (like Meteor Storm), a general with Archers/Mages can easily decimate an opposing army of melee troops (unless outnumbered).
• Take Over Legendra: Goldark's apparent goal.
• Take Your Time: What's that? Madruk is waking up and his Dragonmen are decimating the countryside, you say? No hurry, you can sit around fighting Elite Mooks all day to level-grind your generals as much as you want!
• Technical Pacifist: CPU-controlled Teiris automatically allies herself with Wein and Junon when you approach Palemoon territory in their respective campaigns without a fight, but she is fully capable of thrashing an enemy army when deployed in battle (see Badass Adorable above).
  • This is also a good thing, gameplay-wise, for Junon, as the player would be VERY Harpy-heavy so early in the game. What troops does Palemoon have an abundance of? Archers.
• Terse Talker: Santana.
• Theme Song: See BGM above. Major players like Astea and Madruk also get their own.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Famously, Goldark to Wein. Mikhal gets a more subdued one. See Hopeless Boss Fight above.
• The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: The creepy Meat Moss cavern in Ruinledge where your chosen monarch faces off against Madruk's One-Winged Angel form. Combined with a remix of the title theme for extra epicness.
• Token Minority: Grudar, the only black guy in the game.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Junon and Teiris.
• Tribal Face Paint: The Beast-Men.
• The Undead: The Zombie generals (see Our Liches Are Different), and Zombie troops, naturally.
• Undead Barefooter: Zombie troops go barefoot.
• Unhand Them, Villain!: Wein to Goldark, after the latter has imprisoned the other six monarchs.
• Units Not to Scale: Par the course, for a game with super deformed sprites. Not that it's a bad thing.
• Unwitting Pawn: Gaul & Scythe both get played like fiddles by Goldark, who was using their power to (forcefully) assemble the Dragon Force to combat Madruk. Bonus points for letting them think that he was their pawn until the very end!
• Victory Quote: Surprisingly averted. Both generals get a Pre-Asskicking One-Liner before combat, and the loser gets a defeat quote at the end.
• Video Game Caring Potential: Pamper your generals with awards (directly increasing the maximum number of troops they can command) and items, and you'll not only assure their loyalty, but you'll have a bigger army to fight with.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: With consequences. Mistreat your generals enough (pass them over for awards when they earn victories in battle, take away their items, etc), and they'll desert. No so much in the second arc though, because once you've united the continent, they'll have nowhere to desert to.
• Video Game Cruelty Punishment: As above, mistreat your generals and they'll potentially defect.
• Vile Villain, Laughable Lackey: Madruk's Goldfish Poop Gang, the Skull Children, essentially exist to be walking bags of exp for you. Unless, of course, they spawn behind your front lines and assault a poorly-defended castle...
• Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Gaul & Scythe will basically evade any and all attempts at capture throughout the majority of the game, using their magic to slip out of everybody's clutches. Of course, this is necessary because they're actually two of the Apostles of Darkness, and eventually go One-Winged Angel during the final battle before they're ultimately slain.
• Villains Act, Heroes React: Goldark vs the rest of the continent. Subverted when you play as him, of course, as you take on the role of Villain Protagonist instead. At least until his true motives are revealed.
  • In the bigger picture, the machinations of Madruk's minions basically set off the game's entire plot.
• Voice of the Legion: Nicely done in the PS2 remake with Madruk, his dragonmen, and the two voiced Apostles of Darkness: Gaul & Scythe (although only in her One-Winged Angel form).
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Not any of the named characters, but the mooks get this. Monk and Beast troops are bare-chested.
• Warhawk: As the instigator of the war in the first place, Goldark. Only he's actually doing it because his brother Gyzzdark set too many events in motion that there was no turning back, even after Goldark usurped him. Goldark actually wants to conquer Legendra as quickly as possible in order to minimalize casualties/damage.
• Warm-Up Boss: Of a sort. Each monarch (save Reinhart, he gets a Wake-Up Call Boss a while after the game starts) starts out having to deal with a minor antagonist and their cronies, most of whom will end up joining their forces. The nice thing is, they will remain "extra" loyal throughout the game (i.e. more loyal than the average Mook Lieutenant, but not as much as the members of the starting Five-Man Band).
  • Wein has, by far, the largest story development in this area. First, he has to deal with Rock and Hilga, two vigilante thieves who attack him because they mistook him for a commander of Travan. Once Wein sorts out the mistaken identity, he goes on to face the Flash Knights of Travan, Ogredd and Lone, before offing its tyrannical ruler, Borgon.
  • Teiris has to contend with Laine, a jealous Elf who has her eyes on Palemoon's crown.
  • Goldark faces off with Talon, the son of his brother, Gyzzdark, who wants revenge for his father's murder.
  • Leon has to deal with Dayne, a renegade monk who's thrown in his lot with mercenaries.
  • Gongos is challenged by Gunner, an ambitious beast man (he even starts with an item called an "Ambition Ring") who wishes to usurp his position.
  • Junon is confronted by Gustav and his mercenaries, who have been hired by Fandaria (probably Gaul) to assassinate the monarch.
• Warrior Therapist: Wein and Mikhal are the most prominent examples among the monarchs. Wein even takes the time to have a friendly discourse on war with Mikhal in the latter's campaign before they fight.
• Weakened by the Light: The eight Dragon Force crests emit Astea's & Harsgalt's holy light, said to be able to weaken Madruk and his minions (which likely explains why the members are able to go toe-to-toe with a literal God of Evil). Gaul & Scythe are indeed put off by the crests, outing them as two of the three Apostles of Darkness.
• We Cannot Go On Without You: Even if you've gathered all the members of the Dragon Force, the defeat of your monarch will instantly result in a game over.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: See Warhawk above. Goldark is only making war on the rest of Legendra because it's too late to undo his brother's machinations, and he actually wants as short a war as possible.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: Arguably, Wein, king of Highland at age 17. While he does have a very capable advisor in Nolun, he seems to have gotten the hang of ruling his kingdom very well, to the extent that he is genuinely loved by the populace. Reinhart has the excuse that he's the son of the god of war.
• Wolverine Claws: the Power Fist items that can be equipped by Monk and Beast generals look like this in Domestic Affairs mode. They don't show up on their combat sprites, however.
  • Beast generals' sprites show that they at least naturally wear these into battle.
• You Don't Look Like You: Junon's hair is blonde in cutscenes, but a rather striking orange in her portrait (sans helmet). The PS2 remake fixes this.
• You Have No Chance to Survive: Done, fittingly, by Madruk before the final battle. Your chosen monarch fires back with a Shut Up, Hannibal!.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Done by Goldark to Gaul & Scythe in his own campaign, after they help him capture all of the other monarchs. The pair actually want Goldark to execute them in order to foil the Dragon Force, but Goldark reveals that he was actually out to (forcefully) assemble said Dragon Force from the beginning.
  • It's also implied that Gaul & Scythe were planning to dispose of Goldark as well, after dealing with the other seven monarchs.
• You Killed My Father: Goldark killed Junon's father in the Backstory, causing Junon to have a huge vendetta against him.
• You No Take Candle: A mild example with Gongos and Yuni. Subverted, however, with all of the other Beast Men, who speak quite normally.
• You Shall Not Pass!: Ramda to Katmando (in all but Junon's campaign). It doesn't end well for Ramda.
• Zerg Rush: A viable tactic in most cases. However, keep in mind that Tactical Rock–Paper–Scissors is also at play here, and sending out your large army of troops, perhaps a hundred dragons, that are weak to the enemy general's troops, such as samurai, will quickly turn them into a Red Shirt Army.

---