History VideoGame / ArcTheLad

* DevelopersForesight: In Arc 3, if you manage to recruit the optional party member [[spoiler:Not only will Anrietta appear during in-game story events, but there are actually alternate versions of the end game FMVs which include her in the party!]]

--> '''Shu''': I know someone who's rowdy enough to hold off ten guards. He can be a decoy while I set the bombs."\\

* AngstComa: At the end of the [[spoiler: White House story arc]], Elc [[spoiler: ends up at the ground zero of an explosion which leave him half dead]]. While [[spoiler: {{Ku|ngFuWizard}}kuru]] manages to heal his physical wounds, he remains comatose as a result of [[spoiler: the guilt he feels from being unable to protect/avenge his tribe nor save Mariel from the White House]].

* ApocalypseHow: Scope: planetary. Severity: societal collapse. It happened 3,000 years before the first game. [[spoiler: The reason ''Arc'' 2's ending isn't considered a downer ending is because this time it was only societal disruption]].

* AxCrazy: The Slasher, a monstrous serial killer who happens to be [[spoiler: Ginie, one of Elc's childhood friends]].
* BackFromTheBrink: [[spoiler: ''Arc'' 3, 4, and 5. The Dark One (Lord of the Black Abyss) may have gained the upper hand again, but our heroes still kick his butt to kingdom come.]]

* BittersweetEnding: ''Arc 2'' would be a DownerEnding in the vast majority of games, [[spoiler: being a PyrrhicVictory in which the only success Elc and the survivors of the party can claim is that they survived TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, and saved some portion of humanity as well. But this was better than anyone expected, and probably the best that humanity could hope to win. And in later games, it becomes clear that they really have made a difference, and the Dark One is never able to wreck the world like that again.]]

* BurnTheOrphanage: What eventually happens to [[spoiler:the White House]]. In fact, this "{{orphanage|OfFear}}" was so bad that even [[spoiler:slaughtering the children found in the playground]] does not qualifies as a MoralEventHorizon, considering [[spoiler: [[FateWorseThanDeath what had been done]] to them]].

* ChildhoodFriendRomance: Unlucky Mariel, just... Mariel. [[spoiler: Elc promised to save her from the White House, but when he finally found her, she was turned into a monster and he had to fight her under the playground where they played when they were kids.]] This is a subversion since Elc quite obviously loves her and is more than ready to reciprocate her affection. [[spoiler: The problem is that he is still forced to kill her, while Gallarno watches him.]]

* DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou: Yoshua, Arc's father, disappeared 10 years before the beginning of ''Arc'' 1. By the end of ''Arc'' 2, we learn that [[spoiler: the spirits granted him the power to time travel, in order to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong. He failed]].

** Choko may be [[spoiler: a monster created to KillAllHumans]], this does not stop her from becoming the most powerful defender that humanity has.
** Darc's companions are composed of Deimos and monsters who hate or at least despise ordinary humans, but [[spoiler: they still choose to side with them against the [[BigBad Dark One]].]]
* DevelopersForesight: In Arc 3, if you manage to recruit the optional party member [[spoiler: Not only will Anrietta appear during in-game story events, but there are actually alternate versions of the end game FMVs which include her in the party!]]
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Since the BigBad is an EldritchAbomination, this is unavoidable. Yet, unlike most examples of this trope, [[BigBad The Dark One]] is not ''merely'' challenged by a [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits band of plucky heroes]]: it takes, during the course of four games [[spoiler: no less than ''five'' {{Badass Crew}}s including one which fought against it three millennia before the first episode, the HeroicSacrifice of ''two'' messiahs, overpowered mechs, [[DefectorFromDecadence some of the world's most powerful monsters he created who turned against him]], the elemental spirits that completely exhausted their power, and over 4,000 years of struggle to finally -- and barely -- beat him, while civilization is completely wiped once and nearly destroyed twice]]: this one is not an easily beaten EldritchAbomination.

* DoomedHometown: [[spoiler: Arc's hometown of Touvil is destroyed at the beginning of ''Arc'' 1.]] Elc's whole nation is slaughtered in the first minutes of ''Arc'' 2. Alec's hometown, [[spoiler: Romalia's capital city,]] is destroyed in the first cutscene of ''Arc'' 3. [[spoiler: Ironically, by the heroes of the previous episodes.]]

* DyingAsYourself: [[spoiler: In her last moments, [[ChildhoodFriendRomance Mariel]], whose mind was supposedly wiped by Gallarno's MindControlDevice, manages to regain consciousness because she [[ThePowerOfLove can't bear the thought of hurting Elc]]]].

* EnemyWithout: [[spoiler: The {{Final Boss}}es of the first game are the dark selves of Arc and company, given as a test by the Ark to see if they are worthy of saving the world. The final battle itself takes place in an AmazingTechnicolorBattlefield.]]

* FantasticRacism: People from Holn are distrusted by the [[FantasyCounterpartCulture game's expy of Switzerland]] because of their ability to communicate with monsters. In ''Twilight of the Spirits'', Humans and Deimos are locked into a cold war that is pretty close to heating up. Deimos are intelligent humanoid monsters... and also [[spoiler: technically fully human: they can have children with humans and were created by altering the genetic material of humans gifted with spiritual powers.]]

* FauxActionGirl: In ''Arc'' 2, Kukuru seems to have become this, but she later proves that she still can kick an enormous amount of ass when she [[spoiler: manages to invert her DemonicPossession and takes control of the BigBad's body long enough to allow Arc to seal it again, while she is ''already dead'']].
* FloatingContinent: The flying castle, [[spoiler: the last dungeon of most games in the series]].

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* HeartbrokenBadass: After the events at the White House, [[spoiler: Elc becomes this.]]
* HeroicSacrifice: This is how [[spoiler: Arc's father met his end]], and later [[spoiler: Arc and Kukuru do it as well]].

** ''End of Darkness'' also unlocks a free character, [[spoiler: Lilia]], for having clear data from ''Twilight of the Spirits''.

* OrphanageOfFear: The facility code-named the White House. Unlike most examples of this trope, the kids are not openly mistreated by uncaring or sadistic people in charge (in fact, [[spoiler: one of its former managers, Vilmer, is shown to be a decent, loving grandfather]]); but when the employees are pretty much on [[EldritchAbomination Cthulhu's]] payroll, you know the facility hides very dark, horrific secrets.

* PerfectlyArrangedMarriage: Subverted: Before meeting him, Kukuru is not happy at all with the prospect of marrying Arc, and her rebellion against tradition is what starts the whole mess. By the end of the first game, she has fallen in love with Arc, but [[spoiler: they are now forced to become StarCrossedLovers because she has to stay in Seirya and maintain the weakening seal upon the Dark One while Arc keeps fighting Romalia all over the world]], and, by the end of the second game, [[spoiler: they can only be reunited in death]].

** [[spoiler: The BigBad himself was originally an ordinary human before turning into The Dark One.]]

-->'''Elc''': [[spoiler: [[WasItReallyWorthIt It makes me wonder what we were fighting for. Arc died, and for what? So we could inherit this desolate and hopeless future? We didn't stop the world from ending, we survived it. And, now we are left with nothing.]]]]

* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: Cruelly subverted in ''Arc'' 2. [[spoiler: Arc's dad gave his life to the spirits in order to time travel and do so. He failed.]]

* TakeOverTheWorld: Subverted: The BigBad does not want to control mankind: he already was in charge [[spoiler: before becoming an EldritchAbomination]], and [[spoiler: by controlling Romalia, he was once again the ruler of mankind at the beginning of ''Arc'' 1]]: the only problem is, this was '''not enough''' for him: what he wanted was control over the whole planet, including the whole ecosystem, even if it meant [[AGodAmI remaking it from scratch]].

* VillainDecay: The Dark One is not nearly as threatening when he appears after ''Arc 2''. [[spoiler: Arc and Kukuru's sacrifice]] didn't take him down for good, but it ''was'' clearly the tipping point that allowed later generations to take him down without so much loss and sacrifice.
* WasItReallyWorthIt: [[spoiler: In the ending of ''Arc 2'', Elc wonders why he even fought. After all the death and sacrifice, including the death of his girlfriend, he and the others defeated the BigBad, but they couldn't save the world from him.]]

** Arrival at Saryu Village: For the first time, we are shown the devastating effects of the industrialization of Arc's world, with one of its most ancient human dwellings slowly dying from the pollution caused by the extraction and processing of energy stones. Then, out of the blue, [[spoiler: Romalia's air force razes the village, sends its turned-into-monsters super-soldiers to finish the job and find the key to the water shrine]]: it's the first time Arc's team is facing [[TheEmpire Romalia]] directly, the first time Arc displays some real anger, and the first punch thrown at the player.
** The last trip to Seirya: [[spoiler: Andel fatally wounds Seirya's king, who confess that he is the one who sent Arc's father away in order to inherit the throne, Arc is framed for the King's murder, and Seirya turns into a police state controlled by Andel.]] If this was not enough [[spoiler: just after finding the Ark, Arc & co. have to give it up to Andel who uses the lives of Arc's mother and the other residents of Touvil as [[ManipulativeBastard a bargaining chip]], the seal on the [[BigBad Dark One]] starts breaking down, Kukuru has to remain hidden in the ruins of Touvil to maintain what remains of the seal in place, while the rest of Arc's group become wanted fugitives.]] [[CliffHanger The first episode ends here.]]

** End of the White House story arc: Elc & co. appear successful at first, [[spoiler: rescuing Mariel and finding the other orphans; but at that point, Gallarno turns all the orphans into monsters, forcing Elc & co to kill them. Afterwards, Gallarno entraps Elc and [[ChildhoodFriendRomance Mariel]] and uses his MindControlDevice to force the two to fight, nearly destroying Mariel's mind in the process. When she manages to regain her consciousness because she [[PowerOfLove refuses to hurt Elc]], Gallarno uses a [[CrazyPrepared contingency plan]] and uses the bomb he had [[WhyAmITicking implanted in Mariel's body]], critically injuring Elc and leaving him nearly dead.]]

* XanatosGambit: [[BigBad The Dark One]] pulls this off in Arc 2. If Arc and his companions fail to stop Romalia, he wins. If they succeed, which they do, [[spoiler: it pushes the fully human king to release the seal on the Dark One in a moment of desperation. The Dark One states after this happens that the final condition for his return was that a human needed to ''willingly'' release him, which they pushed the king to do by destroying his war machines and killing his demon generals.]]

* MushroomSamba: One Job in Arc 3 has the group hired to investigate a mysterious box, which happens to be full of airborne drugs that cause the entire team to have a series of bizarre and trippy dreams.

MushroomSamba: One Job in Arc 3 has the group hired to investigate a mysterious box, which happens to be full of airborne drugs that cause the entire team to have a series of bizarre and trippy dreams.

MushroomSamba: One Job in Arc 3 has the group hired to investigate a mysterious box, which happens to be full of an airborne drug that causes the entire team to have a series of bizarre and trippy dreams

* ArtifactTitle: Despite the name, only the first game counts as a ProtagonistTitle. ''Arc 2'' opts for an EnsembleCast featuring newcomers and the returning crew of ''Arc 1''. Arc himself [[spoiler:dies at the end of the second game, but the rest of the series continue to be named after him]].

* ArtifactTitle: Despite the name, only the first game counts as a ProtagonistTitle. ''Arc 2'' opts for an EnsembleCast featuring newcomers and the returning crew of ''Arc 1''. Arc himself [[spoiler:dies at the end of the second game, but the rest of the series continue to be named after name]].

* ArtifactTitle: [[spoiler: Arc dies at the end of ''Arc the Lad II'', though the rest of the series is still named after him.]]

* MagikarpPower: Anrietta in Arc 3; she starts at level 1 with stats to match, and can't be obtained until near the very end of the game, so it takes a lot of grinding to make her viable, but all three of her offensive spells have a 50% chance of inflicting status effects, and her healing magic is just as good as Alec and Cheryl's with the addition of boosting the parties stats as well.

* IrrelevantSidequest: Arc the Lad 3 is basely "Irrelevant Sidequest: The Game", but with an actual story justification, as your main character Alec becomes a Hunter, whose job is to take whatever tasks are assigned to him by the guild. Some further the story and move the party along to the next town, but most are stand alone taks that can range from fighting monsters to doing mundane tasks like catching mice.

* WeaponOfChoice: Played straight except in ''Arc'' 2, when characters have two or three weapons of choice.
** While every other character in ''Arc'' 3 is limited to a single type of weapon, Alec averts this by being able to use any weapon in the game.

* ArtifactTitle: [[spoiler: Arc dies at the of ''Arc the Lad II'', though the rest of the series is still named after him.]]

* Developer'sForesight: In Arc 3, if you manage to recruit the optional party member [[spoiler: Not only will Anrietta appear during in-game story events, but there are actually alternate versions of the end game FMVs which include her in the party!]]

* MoneyForNothing: The game showers you with ridiculous amounts of money from wanted monsters and hunter jobs, but unless you are really dedicated to using the item-weapon smiths and combine shop, there is really nothing to spend money on after the first few hours. You might need to buy healing and revive items every once in a while, but the stores never upgrade their inventories, and pretty much everything you will need is either found or dropped by enemies. Most notably, stores never sell anything but the most basic, weakest armor and weapons, which will all be far surpassed in just a short time.

* TimeyWimeyBall: Near the end of the game, after the Palencia Tower, the seal on the dark one begins to break, and Kukuru sends one of the other characters back in time to gather the powers of the guardians to help reinforce the seal. Said character meets the Kukuru of the past and travels with her all over the world to gather the guardians' powers, before using them to strengthen to create the seal on the dark one in the past. Despite the fact that the game treats this somewhat like a [[StableTimeLoop stable time loop]], showing us how and why Kukuru ended up having to stay in Touvil, doing this somehow reinforces the seal in the present as well.

* Timey-WimeyBall: Near the end of the game, after the Palencia Tower, the seal on the dark one begins to break, and Kukuru sends one of the other characters back in time to gather the powers of the guardians to help reinforce the seal. Said character meets the Kukuru of the past and travels with her all over the world to gather the guardians' powers, before using them to strengthen to create the seal on the dark one in the past. Despite the fact that the game treats this somewhat like a [[StableTimeLoop stable time loop]], showing us how and why Kukuru ended up having to stay in Touvil, doing this somehow reinforces the seal in the present as well.