A Long Time Ago, in a Galaxy Far, Far Away... a large suit of battle armor crash-lands on a distant inhabited planet called Vay, its guidance and vital systems severely damaged from fighting in a large-scale war. Although its pilot was killed during the conflict, the machine rampages across the battlefield, destroying everything in its path. It took the world's five most powerful wizards to subdue the machine and seal its power away in five magical orbs, which were promptly scattered and buried across the world.
Many years later, the young Lorathian prince, Sandor, is prepared to marry Lady Elin, with representatives from the four major kingdoms in attendance. Unfortunately for Sandor, his nuptials are cut short by a fierce attack by a swarm of robots from the rival Danek Empire, who kidnap Elin in the chaos. These mass-produced robots bear a striking resemblance to the battle suit that razed the planet long ago. Sandor, determined to rescue his betrothed from the Empire, soon learns that the suit is the only weapon powerful enough to strike back against Danek and its ruler, Emperor Jeal, and finds himself in a race against time to find the suit and the magical orbs needed to unlock its true potential.
NOTE: Many of the characters' names are translated differently for Working Designs' Sega CD version and SoMoGa's iPhone version. The names listed below are for the Sega CD version.
Tropes used in Vay:
- Action Girl: Rachel.
- Annoying Arrows: For most of the game it's played straight, but it's subverted when Jeal snipes and kills Pottle with a single shot.
- Auto-Revive: The Life Stone is a consumable item that will fully restore your party's HP and MP in the event of a Game Over. Since such a powerful item is Too Awesome to Use, there is only one of its kind in the entire game.
- Black Mage: P.J.
- Dreadful Musician: Lynx the bard. His singing is so horrible that when one monster is exposed to it, it gets enraged enough to attack the party.
- The Evil Prince: Sadoul.
- Fartillery: A Mundane Utility version, no less. The Wind Fairy Sirufa was cursed with seismic flatulence, which you use for rocket propulsion across the continent at one point. Try it without everybody wearing gas masks, though, and you'll succumb to the poisonous fumes, playing the trope quixotically straight. Note that this only applies to the Working Designs release; the Japanese game simply had Sirufa controlling the wind, without the curse, flatulence, or game-ending element.
- Forced Level-Grinding: The difficulty curve scales so quickly that it's necessary to grind before every dungeon in the game, or you'll get massacred long before you reach the dungeon boss. The game's high encounter rate doesn't speed this along, as the enemies give very little EXP compared to the amount needed to gain a level when you fight them.
- Gasshole: The Wind Fairy Sirufa, who is cursed with eternal seismic flatulence in the Working Designs version of the game.
- Instant Awesome: Just Add Mecha!: Vay takes place in a typical medieval fantasy world, with the main use of high technology being Danek's militarized robots and the Vay armor.
- Offscreen Start Bonus: Checking behind the curtains in Lorath Castle at the beginning gives Sandor a few items that make the early parts of the game a whole lot easier.
- Pirate: Kinsey, leader of the pirates of Exeter.
- Plot Coupon: The five orbs, which are required to reactivate the Vay Armor. You're looking for them, and so is the Emperor.
- Plotline Death: Pottle is killed by Danek Emperor Jeal, who in turn is killed by Sadoul.
- Punny Name: There's a desert oasis town called Vaygess, where you can lose all of your money if you're not careful (see Schmuck Bait).
- Quad Damage: The "Thyxaal" spell, which is hugely expensive, but gives its target a massive attack power boost for the next turn.
- The Reveal: Two of them near the end of the game.
- The reason Elin was sought after so badly by Danek? She's Elynthia, one of the five sages.
- And Ardor, the Sage of Fire? Igneus tells you that he's not dead. His true identity is Sadoul, the usurper king of the Danek empire.
- Save the Princess: Sandor's wedding to Princess Elin before the start of the game is thwarted when the Empire steals her away. The reason behind this sudden abduction isn't revealed until very late into the game.
- Science Fantasy: A suit of highly-advanced Powered Armor crashlands in a Standard Fantasy Setting. The Empire reverse-engineers the alien suit for use on their Mooks.
- Schizo Tech: Standard fantasy weapons and magic coexist with space-age battle armor and flying fortresses.
- Schmuck Bait: One of the NPCs in the town of Vaygess is guarding a chest that supposedly steals money from greedy adventurers. If you ignore his warning and open it anyway, it does just that - all of the GP you've earned up to that point is lost for good. Again, however, this only applies to the Working Designs version. In the Japanese version, it's a joke chest that the game initially claims is empty but (after some waffling) reveals there's just 1GP in the back.
- Sidekick: Pottle the elf, for the first half of Sandor's journey.
- The Starscream: Sadoul, to Jeal.
- Super Prototype: The Vay Armor. Danek's mass-produced battle suits are based directly off its technology.
- The Unfought: You never actually get to fight Emperor Jeal, because he gets killed by Sadoul, who takes his place as the Big Bad.
- Uriah Gambit: After Sadoul's betrayal, he reveals that he led the Emperor to Marwick Castle with the false promise of finding one of the orbs. The real reason he told Jeal to come to Marwick was so that he could kill him far enough away from Danek's borders to avoid a rebellion while he continued his own Evil Plan.
- Wake-Up Call Boss: The Wind Elemental, the boss of Mt. Bole. Not only can it use a double physical attack, it also frequently casts high-level thunder-elemental spells. On the rare occasions that it busts out Megablast, you'll likely wind up with one or more dead party members.
- Wham Episode: Sadoul suddenly appearing out of nowhere and killing the Emperor is the point where he shows that he's playing for keeps and will do anything in the name of his Evil Plan, including murdering his own country's leader.
