History VideoGame / CassetteBeasts

* LastMomentTogether: The game ends with the party members saying their last goodbyes to the player before they return to their homeworlds... Except Barkley, who decides to follow the player.

* {{Mons}}: Despite looking like such, the player and their companions are not "catching" the mons; they copy the data in their cassettes and [[CollectorOfForms gain their form and abilities]].

** WordOfGod confirms that "Same Old Story" is one for the Archangels, telling you just how screwed you are.

** The heritage center shows that New Wirral numbers the years since the first settlers were washed up in Year 1.

* ArbitraryHeadcountLimit: Despite making multiple allies in New Wirral, your party can only consist of one partner plus [[CantDropTheHero your main protagonist]], with a third slot on the player's side of the battlefield reserved for back-up like monsters summoned by the "Call for Help" skill.

* ButThouMust: Occasionally, the player character will have a dialogue choice where both options have identical outcomes, such as their possible reactions to [[spoiler:Ianthe's]] RelationshipReveal being "You're married?" and "Your [[spoiler:wife]]?"

* ConfusionFu: The move "bE rAnDoM!!", which throws out a random move that you currently have enough AP for. All moves are eligible to be rolled except non-sticker moves (and by extension Archangel exclusive moves), Booby Trap, Haunt, Gambit and bE rAnDoM!! itself.

* CosmicHorrorReveal: The game starts out as a fantasy adventure at a magical island populated by both humans and monsters and located in a different dimension from Earth. Then the opening quest concludes with your encounter with Morgante, revealing the existence of the powerful and incomprehensible eldritch entities known by the local human residents as [[AngelicAbomination Archangels]]. This starts the game's main quest of finding more Archangels across the island to gather more clues for you to find a way to return home. Eventually, it is revealed that [[spoiler:Archangels are embodiment of various concepts birthed from humanity, with the final boss being an incarnation of conquest whom you need to stop from causing destruction across reality]]. A post-game quest also reveals that [[spoiler:the island's entire railway system, which you most likely have used to travel across the island, is not only an Archangel themself, but also responsible for the island's very existence, as well as you and everyone else being stranded on it]].
* CreepyChangingPainting: In the ''Pier of the Unknown'' DLC, there's a hallway full of paintings in the Witch House. When you get far enough in, the lights flicker and the faces in the paintings suddenly change into much more sinister forms. If you get into a battle while in the hallway, two of the paintings appear in the background; if the battle goes on for long enough, the lights will flicker and the paintings will change again.

** During the main story, every time you defeat an Archangel to gather more clues from Morgante's song to leave New Wirral, [[spoiler:Archangel Aleph]] will show up and absorb the Archangel you just fought. Eventually, [[spoiler:Aleph transforms into Aleph Null by fusing with all Archangels he has recruited throughout the game. Since Aleph only absorbs Archangels you have defeated, Aleph Null will not have any body elements from Archangels you have not fought]].

* DivergingEvolutionaryPhases: Several monsters have alternate evolution paths. Some involve having specific stickers equipped to the monster when you remaster it, others involve environmental effects like time of day, and yet others change depending on the answer to an abstract question answered by the player. For example, when you remaster the two [[StarterMon starter monsters]], Candevil and Bansheep, you are asked a mysterious question -- whether you wish to pursue alchemy or metallurgy for Candevil, and whether a restless spirit should be buried or ascended for Bansheep -- which determines its path.

* {{Doppelganger}}: The Black Shuck, a copy of the player character [[PaintItBlack painted black]]. Usually when you walk up to them they disappear, but there is a slim 1% chance they attack [[MirrorMatch with copies of your top two tapes]]. Their tapes have a permanent Ghostly status effect, so one either needs to inflict damage-over-time status effects such as Poisoned or Burned, become Ghostly themselves with the Haunt ability (and beat them within 3 turns before the effect runs out and breaks your tape), or use the rare Phase Shift sticker to ignore the status. If you beat them, you get the Black Shuck's Tape, which changes any monster recorded into an Astral-type bootleg.

*** If you ask Gwen about Archangels, she'll mention she doesn't know what those are. [[spoiler:Morgante mentions that 'Archangel' was the name given to them by the humans of New Wirral, with previous groups of people calling them different things, so Gwen likely didn't know the name applied to her as well.]]

** When humans fight using tapes, any damage left over from breaking a tape applies to the human, making it possible to defeat human opponents outright (or be defeated yourself) by dealing enough overkill damage. ''Unless,'' that is, you're up against one of several human teams (including rematches with the aforementioned Ranger Captains) that are scripted to fuse when they're down to their last two tapes. It's still possible to prevent them from fusing by knocking out their third-last and second-last tapes in the same turn (and they'll comment on it if you do), but there's no way to end the fight early like in other human battles. (It can be especially jarring if you or your partner ends up getting knocked out by overkill damage during the same fight.) Rematches with Frankie and Vin (two [=NPCs=] that you encounter singly in the post-game several times each before they choose to team up) take this a step further. Not only are they immune to being knocked out in human form, but they use a combined total of seven tapes in their battles (when the most your team can carry is six).

* NoFullNameGiven: Nearly all human characters, including those with the names of historical figures, in the game are only given one name or a nickname. Even the few ones who are given two names, such as Meredith Chen and Levi Lodestein, only reveal their full name in dialogue, while their dialogue box never refers to them by their full name.

* SchizoTech: As New Wirral gets things that slip through the cracks from TheMultiverse; a lot of what's available is not compatible. For example, once you join the Rangers you can buy "Optical Laser Cassette Tapes."

* SprintMeter: Your character has a stamina meter that recharges while not in use (though running completely out of stamina disables any abilities that use it and makes it take longer to recharge). You start with only a rather anemic dash, but the unlockable abilities [[AbilityRequiredToProceed used for getting around or through obstacles]] (such as gliding or swimming) will also use stamina. As you defeat Archangels, you'll gradually upgrade your stamina, going from being able to briefly jog for about a second or so to being able to cross significant amounts of the map without having to stop to rest.
* SuddenSoundtrackStop: This occasionally happens to punctuate some of the more significant moments, such as when the player is informed that New Wirral [[SuperSargassoSea is in another dimension]].

** Notably, the main goal of [[spoiler:repairing Archangel Morgante and completing her song]] in order to find a way home only requires defeating eight of the nine Archangels; the ninth one is so that [[spoiler: Kayleigh can locate the mirror to the way home for you]], and defeating four Archangels [[spoiler: along with meeting with Aleph face-to-face]] is sufficient to be able to access the final area in the first place.

** "Same Old Story" is one for the Archangels, telling you just how screwed you are. Of course, given that the lyrics only kick in once you fuse, it could be interpreted as one for the player character, too, especially after you've taken down several Archangels before.
--> ''Headstrong''\\

** Archangels

* HeartbeatSoundtrack: [[https://youtu.be/pNSsy2XrUMc?si=NJbHL5m9Tf8g98Mf Archangel Encounter]] is a discordant piece with a heavy bass heartbeat rhythm -- fitting for an encounter with one of the local {{Eldritch Abomination}}s.

* TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody: Implied to be something that happens occasionally, though it's not something you or your companions ever deal with. A few human opponents exhibit some monster-like behaviors. (Barking like a Pombomb, being attracted to a lamppost like the Dominoth line, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick wanting to remove peoples' bones like a Jellyton]]...)

* SchizoTech: As New Wirral gets things that slip through the cracks from TheMultiverse; a lot of what's available is not compatible. For example, once you join the Rangers you can buy "Optical Laser Casette Tapes."