History VideoGame / DarkLaw

* AlchemyIsMagic: The gameworld never establishes a hard distinction between science and magic (or [[ReligionIsMagic religion]] for that matter) so for example a doctor should also be expected to be an alchemist, and a wizard taking an interest in their research is totally normal (as is said wizard having a temple dedicated to [[AGodIAm himself]]).

* BalefulPolymorph: Any person turned into a Writhen (or Death-Creature), and there are a lot of examples of this, for starters it happened to ''the whole population of the kingdom of Amugnon'' in the backstory (that's not a spoiler, it's in the intro). There are also several quests involving this. Trying stop it from happening ("Guide of Death"), trying to save someone to whom it happened ("The Search"), etc.. [[spoiler:Most of these plots are King Daruk's servants tying to create a suitable body for him.]]

* UselessUsefulNonCombatAbilities: Classes learn a lot of skills, some non combat ones too. These range from essential (especially for the dungeon) like "Restore Lute" (restores HP), or "Unlock" (shows the combination of closed doors, without it... well you can ''try'' to brute force up to 5 digits in a reflex challenge), to occasionally useful like "Jumping" (outright needed for the TreasureMap side-side quest), and apparently '''useless'''... as in so far nobody figured out what you could gain from knowing "Swimming"... Outside of it apprently being a prerequisite for the "Crusader" job.

The story is set in the kingdom of Layfal that was ravaged by a terrible war 300 years ago, only saved by the prayer and sacrifice of the [[IncorruptiblePurePureness pure maiden]] Princess Sofia. You play as a bunch of adventurers doing quests and trying to explore the ancient dungeon (in search for ancient treasures) also set there... because recently the seal on it was broken.

On the mechanics side, the game can be divided into ''quests'' and the ''dungeon''/''fights'' unsurprisingly. The quests are when the game is more interested in telling you a story with adventure game elements, the dungeon/fights are the StrategyRPG part. It would be remarkably flexible, given it's from the '90s, but the quests ''have'' a fairly strict level requirement with only minimal overlap, making the end result fairly linear with the possibility to ''flat out miss'' large chunks of the story.

* BalefulPolymorph: Any person turned into a Writhen (or Death-Creature), and there are a lot of examples of this, for starters it happened to ''the whole population of the kingdom of Anugmon'' in the backstory (that's not a spoiler, it's in the intro). There are also several quests involving this. Trying stop it from happening ("Guide of Death"), trying to save someone to whom it happened ("The Search"), etc.. [[spoiler:Most of these plots are King Daruk's servants tying to create a suitable body for him.]]

* BigBadWannabe: [[spoiler:Nealertos]]. In a different game he could have been outright big bad, but not here. He's planing to replace humanity with a shape-shifting species of his own making. Unfortunately on his own could only make the process one way. The party (mostly) gets involved with this plot when he engages in some industrial espionage to get over that setback. [[spoiler:Also one of Daruk's men [[TheMole infiltrated]] his supporters to steal this research and using it to create the perfect body for his true master.]]

* DarkFantasy: Well yes. Gods range from absentee to outright evil and people die easily ([[NintendoHard including your party]]).

* DontFearTheReaper: Called Hybalt. He's just doing his job, and would really like if other forces would just stop interfering with it already.

* HeroOfAnotherStory: [=McStarr=] and his sister Meryl are fellow adventurers your party will cross paths occasionally. The funniest of these is probably during [[spoiler:"The Search"]], when [=McStarr=], while doing something completely different, destroyed the elevator one of the sub-bosses intended to use to escape... he even threw a big rock down the shaft that lands on the head of the boss. (Your party still has to fight them though.)
* InvisibleToNormals: Hybalt should be only be perceivable by the people he's there to collect, he's sort of bemused why ''the party'' can see him too.

* SealedEvilInACan: This world is positively littered with cans, most DemonicPossession examples are also this. The most prominent is the BigBad being imprisoned in [[spoiler:the depths of the dungeon]] on which the seal is broken at the start of the game by his servants. [[spoiler:Thankfully he happens to be a ghost then... so he really needs new body.]]

* TreasureMap: You can find one of these in the background of one of the quests [[spoiler:("King of the Pit")]] but it's probably nothing. [[spoiler:Actually it ''can'' lead to a totally optional and somewhat ''soup can''y treasure hunt in which you can find a fairly good sword.]]
* UselessUsefulNonCombatAbilities: Classes learn a lot of skills, some non combat ones too. These range from essential (especially for the dungeon) like "Restore Lute" (restores HP), or "Unlock" (shows the combination of closed doors, without it... well you can ''try'' to brute force up to 5 digits in a reflex challenge), to occasionally useful like "Jumping" (outright needed for the TreasureMap side-side quest), and apparently '''useless'''... as in so far nobody figured out what you could gain from knowing "Swimming".

* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: The fan translation renders old documents (most dating back to the war 300 years ago) in this style to emphasise, well, how ''old'' they are.

''Dark Law: The Meaning of Death'' is a 1997 [[NoExportForYou Japan Only]] (a fantranslation patch does exist somewhere on the net) [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SNES]] game published by the ASCII corporation, it's... well... a {{point and click|Game}} {{adventure game}}/[[StrategyRPG tactical JRPG]]/tabletop RPG simulation hybrid that actively hates you but you ''will'' love it anyway.

Story is set in the Kingdom of Layfal that was ravaged by a terrible war 300 years ago only saved by the prayer and sacrifice of the [[IncorruptiblePurePureness pure maiden]] Princess Sofia. You play as a bunch of adventurers doing quests and trying to explore the ancient dungeon (in search for ancient treasures) also set there... because recently the seal on it was broken.

On the mechanics side it can be divided into ''quests'' and the ''dungeon''/''fights'' unsurprisingly. The quests when the game is more interested in telling you a story with adventure game elements, the dungeon/fights are the StrategyRPG part. It would be remarkably flexible, given it's from the 90's, but the quests ''have'' a fairly strict level requirement with only minimal overlap making the end result fairly linear with the possibility to ''flat out miss'' large chunks of the story.

* ArtificialHuman: The doctor in the scenario the [[spoiler:''Sorcerer's Daughter'']] is obsessed with creating them. Most don't survive long.
* BalefulPolymorph: Any person turned into a ''Writhen'' (or Death-Creature), and there are a lot of examples of this, for starters it happened to ''the whole population of the Kingdom of Anugmon'' in the backstory (that's not a spoiler, it's in the intro). There are also several quests involving this. Trying stop it from happening (''Guide of Death''), trying to save someone to whom it happened (''The Search'') etc.. [[spoiler:Most of these plots are King Daruk's servants tying to create a suitable body for him.]]

* CameBackWrong: Any creature resurrected by the Gate in [[spoiler:''Ed and Charon'']]

* DemonicPossession: At least 4 different and unrelated case of it. In [[spoiler:''Ed and Charon'', ''Return of a Saint'', ''Temple of the Wizard'', and finally ''All Things...'']]
* [[DeusExMachina Deus Ex Mouseina]]: One of the quests [[spoiler:(''Guide of Death'')]] ends with you accidentally falling into the lair of the villain, almost getting killed... then a rat appearing (it previously stole your cheese) disrupting his ritual and [[spoiler:Death intervenes to add more BlackComedy, ie. he is here to collect a soul, might as well take the villain's]]. Yes, this MakesSenseInContext.

* {{Golem}}: The BigBad has [[spoiler:a spirit backup in one of these, it gives him some freedom of movement until his true resurrection is complete, and also he won't be truly defeated if you don't destroy this golem too.]] Guess what's the difference between the regular and the golden good ending is! Yep. And nobody knows how exactly trigger that fight. Knowing this game it might even be at least partially random.

* HeroOfAnotherStory: [=McStarr=] and his sister Meryl are fellow adventurers your party will cross paths occasionally. The funniest of these is probably when [=McStarr=], while doing something completely different, destroyed the elevator one of the sub-bosses intended to use to escape... he even threw a big rock down the shaft that lands on the head of the boss. (Your party still has to fight them though.) [[spoiler:''The Search'']]

* MultipleEndings: Has 6 different ones depending on how much of the scenarios and the dungeon you completed and if you won the last battle or not. Outside of two, all of them are {{bad ending}}s
* NonHumanUndead: The scenario ''Ed and Charon'' features or mentions several, including a Charon [[spoiler:turning into a zombie dog]].
* OrphansPlotTrinket: Lefia's pendant the [[spoiler:Golden Heart]], which she has since she was found left before the Temple of Princess Sofia as a baby 13 years ago.

* RandomNumberGod: Character progression is ''incredibly'' luck reliant (and this is a game where character states can go ''down'' if you're unlucky), as are loot drops and most treasure chests. Start praying.

* ScoobyDooHoax: A somewhat unintentional one in [[spoiler:''Death-Creature'']]. A girl gets scared to death by a Wolfman like creature and asks the party to investigate, then it's revealed that the hunter in these woods dresses up in costume like that while hunting. Which he finds incredibly funny. However... [[spoiler:your party will deduce by the end that the timeline doesn't match, and then [[RealAfterAll there is]] TheStinger.]] The party might come back here later in [[spoiler:''The Search'']] in which you'll uncover that [[spoiler:the monster is real, but mostly just serves as a cover (and experiment) for one of Daruk's men's "body creating" project. Is this a DoubleSubversion?]]

** Death-Creature -> Guide of Death
** Death-Creature (if you also found a specific item) -> The Search
** King of the Pit -> Sorcerer's Daughter -> Temple of the Wizard
* SolveTheSoupCans: Several puzzles are really obtuse mostly because objects you can interact with aren't properly highlighted. At least one you can solve in a way that literally makes the scenario un-winnable. Also at one point in a scenario you need to interact with the scenery (ie. make the characters gaze upon the vast sea)... who would think of that?
* TreasureMap: You can find one of these in the background of one of the quests [[spoiler:(''King of the Pit'')]] but it's probably nothing. [[spoiler:Actually it ''can'' lead to a totally optional and somewhat ''soup can''y treasure hunt in which you can find a fairly good sword.]]
* UselessUsefulNonCombatAbilities: Classes learn a lot of skills, some non combat ones too. These range from essential (especially for the dungeon) like ''Restore Lute'' (restores HP), or ''Unlock'' (shows the combination of closed doors, without it... well you can ''try'' to brute force up to 5 digits in a reflex challenge), to occasionally useful like ''Jumping'' (outright needed for the TreasureMap side-side quest), and apparently '''useless'''... as in so far nobody figured out what you could gain from knowing ''Swimming''.
* WeaksauceWeakness: The party will eventually deduce that [[spoiler:the Gate's]] weakness in [[spoiler:''Ed and Charon'']] is '''water'''. Not even holy or anything, just regular water.
* WholePlotReference: [[spoiler:''Ed and Charon'']] is simplified, shortened (kid never reaches the point where he tries to resurrect people), and slightly more hopeful ''Literature/PetSematary''.

* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: The fantranslation renders old documents (most dating back to the war 300 years ago) in this style to emphasise, well, how ''old'' they are.

* UselessUsefulNonCombatAbilities: Classes learn a lot of skills, some non combat ones too. These range from essential (especially for the dungeon) like ''Restore Lute'' (restores HP), or ''Lock Picking'' (shows the combination of closed doors, without it... well you can ''try'' to brute force up to 5 digits in a reflex challenge), to occasionally useful like ''Jumping'' (outright needed for the TreasureMap side-side quest), and apparently '''useless'''... as in so far nobody figured out what you could gain from knowing ''Swimming''.

''Dark Law: The Meaning of Death'' is a 1997 [[NoExportForYou Japan Only]] [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SNES]] game published by the ASCII corporation, it's... well... a {{point and click|Game}} {{adventure game}}/[[StrategyRPG tactical JRPG]]/tabletop RPG simulation hybrid that actively hates you but you ''will'' love it anyway.