History VideoGame / ShadowOfDestiny

* DeadToBeginWith: Eike is murdered before gameplay even begins.
** WhodunnitToMe: ...And he spends most of the game trying to figure out who's trying to kill him.

** About the evilest things he does [[spoiler:involve killing the doctor or Hugo in two different endings, though Wagner betrayed him and Hugo was trying to kill him. And of course there's the little detail that '''''he owns Eike's soul'''''. The doctor sold his soul to Homunculus for eternal youth and became Eike. It's why he can continually be brought back.]]
** To add on to the politeness, in one of the endings Homunculus only needs to collect the digipad from Eike to wrap up his plan, instead of just taking it he even reminds Eike beforehand that he's forgotten to return someone to their own time and lets him do so if he wants.

* ShootTheShaggyDog: [[spoiler:Ending C. Oh, God, ''Ending C''. Eike appreciates life and the simple things as he lies down in the middle of the street. He gets run over by a drunk driver and dies.]]

* SplashOfColor: The colors change depending on the time period that Eike travels to; the 1980s have the colors muted, the 1900s is in black and white, and the 1500s is in sepia tone. Eike himself doesn't change colors, making him stand out a lot. [[spoiler: Hugo and Margarette are in sepia tone colors, but they gain normal colors when they time travel to the present.]]

** TimeyWimeyBall: Averted on occasion, but there are times where the game doesn't seem to follow its own rules.

** This is however explained by the fact that the Digipads & Homunculu's power to go back in time has limitations it can only go back to certain points.

** Other hare brained schemes include telling a man in the 1900's to build a library so that Eike can research the cure to Sea Hare poison ''in the present'', and find some even ''further'' back in the past (as opposed to not eating the poison). Giving an aspiring film-maker a pep-talk so his film poster gathers a crowd to scare away an assassin (instead of not walking out at night). And a long chain of deals involving a faberge egg expy to get a street sign/frying pan to use as makeshift body armor to avoid getting stabbed.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Early on in the game Homunculus says he needs Eike's help because he's physically so weak he couldn't even lift a small baby. By the end of the game you'll know he's saying that from a very specific experience.

* SwitchedAtBirth: Dana and Margarete by Homunculus. The real Margarete Wagner was born in the late 1500s and was dropped off in 1981. By 2001 she is working as a waitress at the Cafe Somme. The real Dana was stolen from her dying mother's arms in 1981 and sent to live with the Wagners and grew up as Margarete.

** It is heavily implied in the game (if not outright explained) that, once Eike dies in a certain way, he will ALWAYS die like that unless he changes the outside circumstances of his death. In simple terms, HE can't do anything differently the second time around (or the third, or the fourth...), only preemptively alter the circumstances so that THEY will prevent the killing. For example, once he was stabbed by someone hiding behind a tree, he will always be by that tree in time to be stabbed in the back, and his only hope is to do away with the tree so the killer won't be there. Same for all the other deaths in the game.

* GenreSavvy: Eike in the EX endings. [[spoiler:Subverted, as he ends up erasing himself from existence because of his own Genre Savviness]].

An AdventureGame released for the [=PS2=] by Konami in 2001, and titled ''Shadow of Memories'' originally and outside of the US. It was later ported to the PC, Xbox, and eventually the PSP.

** It is heavily implied in the game (if not outright explained) that, once Eike dies in a certain way, he will ALWAYS die like that unless he changes the outside circumstances of his death. In simple terms, HE can't do anything differently the second time around (or the third, or the fourth...), only preemptively alter the circumstances so that THEY will prevent the killing. For example, once he was stabbed by someone standing behind a tree, he will always be by that tree in time to be stabbed in the back, and his only hope is to do away with the tree so the killer won't be there. Same for all the other deaths in the game.

An AdventureGame released for the [=PS2=] by Konami in 2001, and titled ''Shadow of Memories'' originally and outside of the US. It was later ported to the PC, XBox, and eventually the PSP.

** Towards the end of the game in a few endings, Hugo threatens to wipe Eike from existence by leaving Margarette in the current time since she's ancestress of Eike and Eike can't exist without her being in her own time. [[spoiler: Hugo's plan failed due to Homunculus switching Margarette and Dana at birth. The Margarette from the 1500s is actually Dana from the modern era while the Dana that Eike thinks he knows is Margarette from the 1500s. Ergo, the real Margarette is Eike's ancestress. By keeping the real Dana in the past, Eike would continue to exist regardless of what happened to "Margarette".]]

* InsurmountableWaistHighFence: "I guess this is as far as I go."

* RidiculouslyAverageGuy: Eike down to a tee. Despite being the main character Eike has no depth or any characteristics that make him stand out. Eckhart Brum in fact has much more depth and complexity and he appears only a few times on screen. Eike may also fall into the category of Socially-AwkwardHero as he bumbles around most conversations.

* JustifiedExtraLives

** Towards the end of the game, Hugo threatens to wipe Eike from existence by leaving Margarette in the current time since she's ancestress of Eike and Eike can't exist without her being in her own time. [[spoiler: Except Hugo's plan failed due to Homunculus switching Margarette and Dana at birth. By putting Dana in the 1500s, Eike's existence would be guaranteed no matter what Hugo did.]]
** Two endings causes a character to be wiped from existance if they come into contact with their past selves. [[spoiler: In one ending, Hugo dies after touching his future self and in an extra ending, Eike knows that the Homunculus came from the Philosopher's Stone, thus he chucks said stone at him to erase him.]]

* ShootTheShaggyDog: [[spoiler:Ending C. Oh, God, ''Ending C''.]]

*** EX 1: Eike gives Wagner the Stone, so that he could save his wife. The story never happened.
*** EX 2: Eike gives Homunculus the stone. [[spoiler:[[NeverTheSelvesShallMeet Poof]]]].

** D: Eike creates a paradox by burning Wagner's notes, preventing the story from happening in the first place. A flashback reveals that [[spoiler:Eike is Wagner, cursed with eternal youth and regularly scheduled amnesia by Homunculus]].
** E: Eike brings Margarete in his time; she then convinces Hugo to drop his plans and return home. Dana stays in the present. [[spoiler:Eike doesn't know that Homunculus switched the two girls]].

[[quoteright:276:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ShadowMemories.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:276:Eike, meet MineralMacGuffin. Now say goodbye for five chapters!]]

** A: Eike discovers the truth about Homunculus [[spoiler:it was NOT [[SealedEvilInACan "created"]] by Wagner, and it switched Dana and Margarete]] and the fortune-teller [[spoiler:she's the lingering spirit of Helena, Wagner's wife and Hugo's mother]]. "Wagner", brought back by Homunculus, dissuades Hugo from trying to use the Stone, and everyone returns to their time.

* ParentalIncest: Ending E, where Eike ends up with [[spoiler:Dana, who is his own biological daughter from the medieval period.]] While neither of them are aware of this though, there is a vestigial remnant of familial feeling as [[spoiler:Dana]] gets a "cool dad" vibe from Eike as he seems (in her own words), [[StraightMan "with it all".]] However, Dana makes it clear she doesn't seem Eike as anything other than a father figure.

An AdventureGame released for the PS2 by Konami in 2001, and titled ''Shadow of Memories'' originally and outside of the US. It was later ported to the PC, XBox, and eventually the PSP.

* TooDumbToLive: [[spoiler:Eike probably would have survived Ending C if he wasn't laying on the road. Homunculus even ''warned'' him beforehand that his life was in danger, and he ignored him.

** About the evilest things he does [[spoiler:involve killing the doctor or Hugo in two different endings, though Wagner betrayed him and Hugo was trying to kill him]]. And of course there's the little detail that '''''he owns Eike's soul'''''. The doctor sold his soul to Homunculus for eternal youth and became Eike. It's why he can continually be brought back.]]

** A: Eike discovers the truth about Homunculus [[spoiler:it was [[SealedEvilInACan "created"]] by Wagner and it switched Dana and Margarete]] and the fortune-teller [[spoiler:she's the lingering spirit of Helena, Wagner's wife and Hugo's mother]]. "Wagner", brought back by Homunculus, dissuades Hugo from trying to use the Stone, and everyone returns to their time.

* ParentalIncest: Ending E, where Eike ends up with [[spoiler:Dana, who is his own biological daughter from the medieval period.]] While neither of them are aware of this though, there is a vestigial remnant of familial feeling as [[spoiler:Dana]] gets a "cool dad" vibe from Eike as he seems (in her own words), [[StraightMan "with it all".]] However, this doesn't stop them at all from acting on their mutual attraction.

* SwitchedAtBirth: Dana and Margarete by Homunculus. The real Margarete Wagner was born in the late 1500s and was dropped off with foster parents in 1980. By 2001 she is working as a waitress at the Cafe Somme. The real Dana was stolen from her dying mother's arms in 1980 and sent to live with the Wagners and grew up as Margarete.

* TooDumbToLive: [[spoiler:Eike probably would have survived Ending C if he wasn't laying on the road. Homunculus even ''warned'' him beforehand that his life was in danger, and he ignored it.]]
* UnreliableNarrator: Implied in Ending E. Homonculus tells Dana and Eike how he [[spoiler:supposedly just killed Wagner when Wagner made his wish]], but the account comes off as highly embellished, with Homonculus making a snarky remark that he ''didn't'' in Ending D, as well as the Pentagram from said ending never cropping up.

** About the evilest things he does [[spoiler:involve killing the doctor or Hugo in two different endings (the former of which he lied about). And of course there's the little detail that '''''he owns Eike's soul'''''. The doctor sold his soul to Homunculus for immortality and became Eike. It's why he can continually be brought back.]]