History VideoGame / FinalFantasyThe4HeroesOfLight

** Just before facing Chaos' final form, [[spoiler:all the characters that the party helped over the course of the game appear in pairs to heal them and give them a speech encouraging them not to give up]], in a very similar fashion to ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV''.

* TakeYourTime: [[spoiler:When the final dungeon collapses, you can stop in the save room and chat with the other party members, in spite of all the screen shaking and flashing.]]

* WorldTree: The Great Tree, from which all magic originates.

* MythologyGag: The plot of the game initially concerns [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyI saving a princess at the beginning]], and later on breaking a [[spoiler:StableTimeLoop]].
** To add to the [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyI FF1]] References, the Final Boss is named Chaos. In addition, one of his attacks is called [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV Big Bang]].

* [[EveryManHasHisPrice Every Monster Has Its Price]]: The Merchant's Ransom ability allows a character to give up the gil equivalent to the damage s/he would have taken. With a full bank account[[labelnote:*]]Have fun abusing [[GameBreaker that Urbeth minigame]][[/labelnote]], a Merchant with the Ransom ability, and the [[LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe Shield of Light]] equipped, you could theoretically defeat the final boss without taking a single scratch.

* ArtificialStupidity: Targets are selected automatically (physical attacks target the first enemy on the left, magic on the right), instead of being chosen by the player. This can result in, for example, your Black Mage using a Quake spell, ignoring the enemy who's vulnerable to earth-based damage, and instead aiming at the flying enemy that's immune to the attack.

* DangerousForbiddenTechnique: The Crystal prefaces granting you the [[spoiler:Dark Fencer]] crown with the rather ominous "To thee I grant this gift of might, upon thy head a crown of... forbidden might." Shortly afterward, King Horne presents you with the spell [[spoiler:Desolator]] with similar gravitas.

* DegradedBoss: Trollud, the Liberte boss, is a normal monster in the ice caves before Invidia. Later, Behugemoth is added to the same caves, except the trope is inverted and he's ''much'' harder than before.

* FloatingContinent: Spelvia. It's described by the golems alternately as a fortress to protect the world, or a fortress to ''conquer'' it. It's also the site of the ClimaxBoss, which divides the first half of the story from the second.

* MagikarpPower: Remember that King's Shortsword Aire was carrying at the start of the game? ''Don't sell it.'' It's the strongest weapon in the game if you upgrade it, as it grows in effectiveness twice as much as regular equipment - ''including'' the Light set of equipment.*

* NintendoHard: "[[http://www.cheatcc.com/ds/rev/finalfantasythefourheroesoflightreview.html This game is so hardcore it doesn't even include a tutorial.]]"
** That said, once you get a handle of the battle system and how to utilize the different Crowns to their fullest, things get laughably easy until TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, [[spoiler:where you're stripped of all your Crowns and have to [[BossRush fight all seven demons again]] to get them back.]]

* PlotDevice: The key items.

* SoLongAndThanksForAllTheGear: [=NPCs=] come with unique equipment, and when they leave, they take everything with them. Your party also does not have a universal inventory, although the storage and money system is universal -- so make sure to drop off some gear in the storage unit between bosses.
** You can also invert this by taking ''their'' unique gear, letting you get better weapons and armor than you might have had.

* TakenForGranite: Whatever contract King Horne had with Louhi, he broke it, and everyone in Horne is turned to stone as a result.

* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Eventually, once you get the Transform Staff. Oddly, neither Jusqua nor Yunita are at all alarmed to find themselves suddenly turned into animals with no real explanation.

** Horne: [[spoiler:Defeat the fake King Horne and save Queen Horne(Aire and Carino's mother)'s life.]]

* ClothesMakeTheSuperman: By all appearances, wearing [[NiceHat hats]] is the only reason the quartet have any powers beyond their spell tomes.

* ArtisticLiscenceEconomics: Abused heavily in the Urbeth shopkeeping minigame. Jusqua can literally go to a store down the street, buy some items, and sell it down the street for double the price.

** Guera: The residents are trapped by a vicious sand demon and no one has entered or left the city in years. Also, an entire race of people was wiped out save for a SoleSurvivor.\\
Arbor: The fairies dislike and distrust humans so much that any human who approaches Arbor, even if they mean no harm, is transformed into a plant. No, the fairies won't help you. You get to stay like that.]]\\
Urbeth: [[spoiler:A town obsessed with money, where the poor are barely dressed in rags, are barely able to eat, and are treated like second-class citizens.\\
Invidia: It's constantly freezing, everyone is miserable, and it's ruled by a bitter man who is waiting on his son to finally come home to rule the world.\\
Spelvia: Run by a misanthropic man who has been living with nothing but his hatred for hundreds of years. All of his robots are programmed to kill humans. [[spoiler:Also, when the group finally manages to get him to let go of his hate, it turns out to be powerful enough to poison the rest of the world.]]

* IdiotBall: Brandt dumping Yunita in an inn. Aire getting turned into a cat by cursed treasure. Everything Jusqua does between that and dumping Yunita in a ''different'' inn.

* BalefulPolymorph: [[spoiler:Aire]], who is turned into a cat; and [[spoiler:Brandt]], who is turned into ''a plant''.

* ButtMonkey: Yunita can be seen as this a few times. [[spoiler: she gets ditched by Brandt, only to go to Urbeth and join up with Jusqua but she's at this point very sensitive about being abandoned. What does he do? Ditches her immediately...]]
* CastFromHitPoints: The Dark Fencer's ability center around this.

** Guera: [[spoiler:The residents are trapped by a vicious sand demon and no one has entered or left the city in years. Also, an entire race of people was wiped out save for a SoleSurvivor.]]\\
Arbor: [[spoiler:The fairies dislike and distrust humans so much that any human who approaches Arbor, even if they mean no harm, is transformed into a plant. No, the fairies won't help you. You get to stay like that.]]\\
Urbeth: [[spoiler:A town obsessed with money, where the poor are barely dressed in rags, are barely able to eat, and are treated like second-class citizens.]]\\
Invidia: [[spoiler:It's constantly freezing, everyone is miserable, and it's ruled by a bitter man who is waiting on his son to finally come home to rule the world.]]\\
Spelvia: [[spoiler:Run by a misanthropic man who has been living with nothing but his hatred for hundreds of years. All of his robots are programmed to kill humans. Also, when the group finally manages to get him to let go of his hate, it turns out to be powerful enough to poison the rest of the world.]]

* DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist: Possibly. Dying strips you of half of any one category of gems -- which is devastating if the game randomly selects your Diamonds; not so much if it chooses the Rubies, or another lesser gem you have in low number. This trope is in full force if someone has equipped the Freelancer crown, which negates ''any'' penalty beyond being warped back to the last [[SavePoint Adventurer]].

** In the second half of the game, [[PaletteSwap palette-swapped]] Minotaur can be found in the Quicksand Castle.

* FailureKnight: Yunita. Failing to protect Aire and Horne and getting ditched by Brandt reduces her to being a bum on the streets of Urbeth.
* FallenHero: Rolan, initially.

* FloatingContinent: Spelvia.

* HopelessBossFight: [[spoiler:Cat]] Aire vs Ogre Bear. (In fact, the Ogre Bear is in the same place [[spoiler:after the TimeCrash. If you go back in after freeing Lilibelle, it will still be there to kill you.]])

* IdiotHero: Brandt is plenty gung-ho, but the brains of the group he ain't.

* JerkAss: Jusqua, at first.

* MiniatureSeniorCitizens: King Horne is half Aire's size.

* [[NoRespectGuy No Respect Gal]]: [[FailureKnight Yunita]]. Aire makes a comment that Yunita can't handle things when left to herself. Nice job, boys.

* RoyalBrat: Aire. In an aversion, one of the party members tells her off and ''leaves her,'' '''and''' she actually has to suffer for her stupidity -- which includes the devastating punishment of [[spoiler:getting someone killed because of her greed and stubbornness, even if it's prevented later on]]. This leads to a considerable amount of CharacterDevelopment on her part.

* SupportCharacter: Bard, Salve-Maker, Dancer, Party Host, and Scholar are geared around buffs / debuffs and have poor offensive power.

* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Eventually, once you get the Transform Staff. Oddly, [[spoiler:neither Jusqua nor Yunita are at all alarmed to find themselves suddenly turned into animals with no real explanation]].

* {{Retraux}}: Nearly everything. This game could have easily been done in 8 bit or 16 bit, and it would have fit in perfectly.
* RoyalBrat: Aire. In an aversion, one of the party members tells her off and ''leaves her,'' '''and''' she actually has to suffer for her stupidity -- which includes the devastating punishment of [[spoiler:getting someone killed because of her greed and stubbornness, even if it's prevented later on]]. Thank you, Square Enix, thank you!
** It even leads to considerable CharacterDevelopment.
* SavePoint: In the form of the Adventurer, who appears in every town and in front of every boss room.

** The Ninja and Sage crowns are in the BonusDungeon Towers, similar to FinalFantasy3 where they were sealed in Eureka.
** The Storyteller is [[FinalFantasy5 Gogo]] [[FinalFantasy6 the Mime]]. Both are optional, performance artists, wear concealing clothing, and can use every skill and ability mastered.

* ButtMonkey: Yunita can be seen as this a few times. [[spoiler: she gets harshly ditched by Brandt, only to go to Urbeth and join up with Jusqua but she's at this point very sensitive about being abandoned. What does he do? Ditches her immediately...]]

* ButtMonkey: Yunita can be seen as this a few times. [[spoiler: she gets harshly ditched by Brandt, only to go to Urbeth and join up with Jusqua but she's at this point very sensitive about being abandoned. What does he do? Ditches her immediately.

* SocializationBonus: Playing the game in Multiplayer Mode increases the number of Battle Points which can be spent on equipment that can be upgraded to InfinityPlusOneSword.

* DynamicDifficulty: After opening the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, NPCs will inform you that monsters are now leveling up alongside the party, so don't think level-grinding is going to solve any problems.