History VideoGame / Terranigma

* AbsurdlyHighLevelCap: Level 99.

* VideogameGeography

* ImpassableDesert: The Taklama desert cannot be crossed without first getting directions from the nomads. Even if you know the way from previous playthroughs,you'll still get kicked out if you haven't cleared the desert town.

* AGodAmI: [[spoiler:Spirit journey Elle, arguably Beruga as well. Ark himself is a heroic example.]]
* [[spoiler:AGodIsYou]]: [[spoiler:According to Yomi, Ark is what humans would call a god.]]
* AllJustADream: [[spoiler:The spirit journey]], OrWasItADream It's possible that it shows how a past lifecycle ended.

** It's explained late in the game that [[spoiler:Beruga created a vaccine to cure people of a deadly virus. However, vaccines are useless once you're infected. All they can do is train your immune system to kill the virus faster in case you're infected. A scenario that would have made more sense would be for most people to have already been infected by the time the vaccine was completed, making it nigh-useless.]]
** In the ending, it's revealed that [[spoiler:Yomi is LUCA, the last universal common ancestor for all lifeforms. Except that he's multicellular, so that can't possibly be true. Even if we assume he's supposed to be the LUCA for Kingdom Animalia, he has bilateral symmetry, which only appeared midway through animal evolution.]]

* BatmanGambit: [[spoiler:The Elder manipulated Ark into resurrecting life and leading mankind's evolution for one purpose - to release one of the antagonists.]]

* BecauseDestinySaysSo: Or rather, [[spoiler:Because Destiny Says You Can ScrewDestiny. Err... ThatCameOutWrong, but Ark is basically Destiny's special friend. Half of Ark (presumably, the dark half) technically exists beyond the scope of fate.]]

* [[spoiler:BittersweetEnding]] / [[spoiler:DownerEnding]]: Take your pick, it's harsh either way.

* ButThouMust: Among the most {{Tearjerker}} use ever, when [[spoiler: Ark tries to search in himself whether he love the darkside or lightside Elle more... right after darkside Elle sacrifices herself for him. [[TakeAThirdOption He decides he can't decide]].]]

* ComicBookTime: The time in Terranigma is much more confusing than Comic Book Time. People and animals are not born but come into existence (when Ark resurrects them or when a town expands). Assuming the game spans hundreds of years, all of the characters are immortal (and not aging [[spoiler:Except Leim]]). Assuming the game spans only a few years, every event (towns developing, [[spoiler:King Henri's invasion of Storkholm]]) takes place incredibly fast and the overworld characters do not have a history prior to their "resurrection".

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler:Beruga gets carved up by a propeller.]]
* CuteMute: [[spoiler:Lightside Elle, before she regains her memory.]]

* EngagementChallenge: There is one in Loire, although [[spoiler:it's {{subverted}}; King Henry doesn't care about his "daughter", he just wanted her to regain her memory so that she could tell him where Storkolm's treasure is.]]

* EternalRecurrence: An important plot device. [[spoiler:Not everything would be exactly the same each time, though. It's heavily implied that this is the first instance that Dark Ark got as far as he did (by merging with Light Ark later on, and not just simply being killed once his purpose to restore the world was done), and ''destroyed'' his own creator for a time. Despite being a part of Dark Gaia himself, Dark Ark is not able to be fully controlled by him.]]

** [[spoiler:...Who [[SubvertedTrope tries to kill Ark]] the moment [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness his duty is complete]].]]
* FissionMailed: [[spoiler: When Dark Ark meets the spirit of his lightside counterpart, he falls over dead. A cutscene later, it's shown that they were both reincarnated together as the same child.]] This also happens when [[spoiler:Beruga kills Ark after being released]].
* FlashbackNightmare: [[spoiler:Fyda]] has one in Yunkou.

** In Yunkou, a sidequest requires you to cross all the way back through the Taklama desert and give a flower to the mute girl in the nomads' camp. In fairness, the game ''does'' tell you that flowers will cheer up a mute girl. Unfortunately, there are also red herrings clouding the issue. The mute girl in the nomads' camp? Not the only mute girl in the game. [[spoiler:Earlier in the plot, there is a mute princess in the castle that you were told to fix. The flower doesn't work on ''her''.]]

* HappyEndingOverride: Ark wonders what he was fighting for [[spoiler:after he gets "killed" by the man he was told to resurrect]], and in the ending [[spoiler:upon realizing that he has been fighting for a world he was never a part of]].
* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:Royd, following Meilin's temporary FaceHeelTurn, in Dragoon Castle]].

* HideYourChildren: Averted with the [[spoiler:zombie children in Louran]].
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:Beruga gets sucked into a propeller of his ship, in his KarmicDeath.]]

* HumanPopsicle: [[spoiler:Beruga, and the humans who he has granted immortality.]]

* IJustWantToBeNormal: [[spoiler:"''What happened to my carefree days in Crysta? Someone give me those days back!''"]]

* LostForever: A bunch of the civilization growth bonuses should you elect [[spoiler:Louis]] as mayor of Loire or lie to Bell about [[spoiler:his girlfriend dumping him]]. Or even if you screw up the construction of the [[ShoutOut Big Mick]].

* LoveMakesYouEvil: [[spoiler:The reason Meilin helped Wong was because she had a crush on Ark, who liked Elle instead of her.]]

* TheManBehindTheMan: ''So many of them''. [[spoiler:Dark Gaia behind Beruga behind Wong behind King Henry]].

* NeverGotToSayGoodbye: [[spoiler:Meilin, Meihou and Perel. Even though Ark never even thinks about them after leaving them in the switch rooms]].
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The plot practically revolves around this trope. Hell, the game starts off with you opening Pandora's Box. [[spoiler:But near the end it turns out to be [[SubvertedTrope a subversion]]. In fact, not only have you not broken it, you actually... well, look at the next entry.]]
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[spoiler:Apparently, by opening Pandora's Box, you killed Beruga, stopped his evil plan and saved the world, but you learn this right after being tricked into '''[[NiceJobBreakingItHero resurrecting Beruga.]]''']]

** [[spoiler:In a letter, lightside Elle admits to having killed King Henri while he was sleeping upon seeing what he did to her parents and their home. He deserved it.]]

** [[spoiler:Also the Elder, who transforms into Dark Gaia. Although, in a way, this is actually a ''devolution'' for Dark Gaia, whose normal form is [[EnergyBeing pure lifeforce]].]]

* SealedGoodInACan: [[spoiler:Ark.]]
* ShootTheShaggyDog: [[spoiler:It turns out that Ark is one of two chosen ones and his quest has merely been to perform his role in turning the cycle of the dual world, by resurrecting one and destroying the other... the exact same role role he fulfilled in his past life, and the one before that, and for an unknown number of cycles. And he'll keep on doing it until the end of time, or until the day the cycle is broken by the defeat of one of the two chosen. And ''every single time'' he will die once his duty is done, because the last step of it is to destroy his own world, himself included.]]
** Subverted; [[spoiler:it may be a ShaggyDogStory to Ark, but it literally means the world to everyone else]].
** In some ways, the [[spoiler:ending itself is one. Sure, it's more of a BittersweetEnding when you take TheStinger into account, but even then, despite everything that he's been fighting for, the world that Ark saved is one he'll never be allowed to be a part of and his precious hometown is nothing more than a gentle illusion that's fated to disappear after one more day allowed to him by the gods as a "reward" for his sacrifice. That's harsh, no matter how you cut it.]]
* SocialDarwinist: [[spoiler:Dr. Beruga, who only wants those who he deems necessary to exist, as hideous undead.]]

* SpeaksFluentAnimal, and plant too[[spoiler:, until humans are revived. Well, there are a few you can still talk to, but that's presumed to be a glitch]].

* StarCrossedLovers: [[spoiler:Ark and Elle.]]
* TheStinger: [[spoiler:Following Ark's dream of becoming a bird and presumably dying, lightside Elle appears in Storkholm when someone ('''[[OtherStockPhrases or something]]''') knocks on the door; it is widely assumed to be Ark.]] Throughout the years some theories have evolved concerning how this is possible (not counting "it just happened"). They include:

* StrawmanPolitical: The DirtyCommunist candidate in the Loire election is ''literally dirty'' - a notorious deadbeat drunkard. Not so much in the moral sense, though. However, [[spoiler:if you vote for him, the town does not evolve.]]

** The second form of [[spoiler:Dark Gaia]] could be considered either this or just plain IdiotBall, as well. It's flying, so you can't hit it unless it comes close to you, which it presumably does to attack you better or...something. You'd think it would wise up to this after the second time you whip around and smack it, though.

* ThrivingGhostTown: Louran, a prosperous and thriving town ''in the middle of the desert''...[[spoiler:that turns out to be a mirage over a destroyed village filled with shambling zombies that are the remains of the people that you were talking to yesterday.]]

* TheTokyoFireball: [[spoiler:Dr. Beruga destroys Neotokio once he's released.]]
* [[spoiler:TomatoInTheMirror]]
* TreacherousAdvisor: [[spoiler:The Elder and darkside Yomi.]]

* WasItReallyWorthIt: Ark wonders this [[spoiler:after he gets "killed" by the man he was told to resurrect]], and in the ending [[spoiler: upon realizing that he has been fighting for a world he was never a part of]].
* WhereItAllBegan: [[spoiler:Ark returns to Crysta to defeat Dark Gaia in the last chapter.]]
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler:Ark, who the Elder and Yomi try to kill at the beginning of chapter 4.]]

** [[spoiler:In a letter, lightside Elle admits to having killed King Henri while he was sleeping upon seeing what he did to her parents and their home. [[CompleteMonster He deserved it]].]]

** A[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_HjqiotvpE&feature=relmfu#t=04m40s here]]: four evil dolls circle Ark singing a Japanese children's nursery rhyme, the last line of which is a clue to which doll is the "real" one that Ark should attack. The dolls' circling is timed so that they stop as soon as the nursery rhyme is finished. Now, to be fair, this is a very tricky thing to translate. There are a few ways one could go about this:

* BlindIdiotTranslation: The aforementioned IllusionOfGaia 2 reference should've said [[MarketBasedTitle Illusion of Time]] 2, because the English version of Terranigma only came out in Europe, and not America.
** Oh, so many examples in this game. This troper's favorite occurs [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_HjqiotvpE&feature=relmfu#t=04m40s here]]: four evil dolls circle Ark singing a Japanese children's nursery rhyme, the last line of which is a clue to which doll is the "real" one that Ark should attack. The dolls' circling is timed so that they stop as soon as the nursery rhyme is finished. Now, to be fair, this is a very tricky thing to translate. There are a few ways one could go about this:

* SpeaksFluentAnimal: Ark begins his journey with the ability to talk to animals. Animals and ''plants'', actually. He loses this power when he resurrects humanity.

* NoExportForYou: The game was only released outside of Japan to Pal territories, likely due to it's heavy religious themes, violent deaths and family unfriendly scenes, and various events that are a little too similar to touchy real world issues, which would never had gotten through the US-Nintendo's strict censorship policies at the time. It also didn't help that Enix, who published the previous two games, was at the time bankrupt so it didn't have a publisher.

* ComicBookTime: The time in Terranigma is much more confusing than Comic Book Time. People and animals are not born but come into existence (when Ark resurrects them or when a town expands). Assuming the game spans hundreds of years, all of the characters are immortal (and most are not aging). Assuming the game spans only a few years, every event (towns developing, [[spoiler:King Henri's invasion of Storkholm, Leim growing into an adult lion]]) takes place incredibly fast and the overworld characters do not have a history prior to their "resurrection".

* ComicBookTime: The time in Terranigma is much more confusing than Comic Book Time. People and animals are not born but come into existence (when Ark resurrects them or when a town expands). Assuming the game spans hundreds of years, all of the characters are immortal (and most are not aging). Assuming the game spans only about one year, every event (towns developing, [[spoiler:King Henri's invasion of Storkholm, Leim growing into an adult lion]]) takes place incredibly fast and the overworld characters do not have a history prior to their "resurrection".

*** The order of revival is patterned after the order of creation in [[TheBible the Genesis narrative.]] First Land, then plants, then birds (and sea creatures), then the rest of the animals, then man.

* DevelopersRoom / EasterEgg: You can visit Quintet's offices in Neotokio. One of the developers refers to the game as ''IllusionOfGaia'' 2.

** Even by today's standards this game is pretty easy. The "few frames of invulnerability" are pretty much the whole attack that you're using almost exclusively because it does the most damage in almost every case. The game just gets difficult if you miss one or two levels and so cause minimal damage. When you come back after 15 minutes of [[ForcedLevelGrinding Forced Level Grinding]] most fights are trivial.
* NoExportForYou: The game was only released outside of Japan to Pal territories, likely due to it's heavy religious themes, violent deaths and family unfriendly scenes, and various events that are a little too similar to touchy real world issues, which would never had gotten through the US-Nintendo's strict censorship policies at the time. It also didn't help that Enix, who published the previous two games, was at the time bankrupt so it didn't have a publisher.

* SocialDarwinist: [[spoiler:Dr. Beruga, who only wants those who he deems necessary to exist, as hideous undead.]]

* TheStinger: [[spoiler:Following Ark's dream of becoming a bird and presumably dying, lightside Elle appears in Storkholm when someone ('''[[OtherStockPhrases or something]]''') knocks on the door; it is widely assumed to be Ark.]] Throughout the years some theories have evolved concerning how this is possible (not counting "it just happened"). They include:

** [[spoiler: The dream was real and the bird from it knocked on the door, supported by the fact that right before the stinger, the bird is seen stopping above a forest, and Storkholm is inside a forest. Also, during the stinger you can hear birds squeaking, but that might be because of the early hour. Basically, this means that God reincarnated darkside Ark as a bird so he can live with his loved one...''[[InterspeciesRomance as a bird]]''...]]

** It's more like a Positivist view on science, meaning that science is more like a neutral...thing, and that depending on the use people give to it, it can be good (most of those who invented something) or bad (Beruga, hands down).

* ShootTheShaggyDog: [[spoiler:It turns out that Ark is one of two chosen ones and his quest has merely been to perform his role in turning the cycle of the dual world, by resurrecting one and destroying the other...the exact same role role he fulfilled in his past life, and the one before that, and for an unknown number of cycles. And he'll keep on doing it until the end of time, or until the day the cycle is broken by the defeat of one of the two chosen. And ''every single time'' he will die once his duty is done, because the last step of it is to destroy his own world, himself included.]]

* ButThouMust: Among the most {{Tearjerker}} use ever, when [[spoiler: Ark tries to search in himself whether he love the darkside or lightside Elle more...right after darkside Elle sacrifices herself for him. [[TakeAThirdOption He decides he can't decide]].]]

* SpeaksFluentAnimal, and plant too[[spoiler:, until humans are revived]].

* ThreeLawsCompliant: Beruga directly references all three laws, except his interpretation of the Zeroth Law rewrote "Humanity" as "Dr. Beruga", meaning that any threat to his being was to be immediately terminated.

* GoryDiscretionShot: Every time someone dies, the screen just turns black and, at most, flashes red. Which is surprising, considering [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel how often]] this trope was averted in ''IllusionOfGaia''.

** Also qualifies as HighOctaneNightmareFuel.

*** Try to make an English nursery rhyme that uses the same number of characters as the original Japanese, so that the nursery rhyme would still end in the right place. This would be almost impossible due to the extreme verbosity of the English language as compared to Japanese.
*** Write an English nursery rhyme that's as short as you can get it, and collaborate with the coders to lengthen the dolls' spin time to match the length of the new nursery rhyme.
*** Write an English nursery rhyme that's as short as you can get it, and collaborate with the coders to speed up the rate at which the text appears so that it matches the length of time that the dolls spin.
*** Be unfathomably lazy and just do a literal word-for-word translation of the nursery rhyme, leave the dolls' spin length alone so they stop spinning right in the middle of the song, before the last line that gives the hint to the identity of the "real" doll has shown, and call it a day.

** Oh, so many examples in this game. This troper's favorite occurs [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_HjqiotvpE&feature=relmfu#t=04m40s here]]: four evil dolls circle Ark singing a Japanese children's song, the last line of which is a clue to which doll is the "real" one that Ark should attack. The dolls' circling is timed so that they stop as soon as the song is finished. Now, to be fair, this is a very tricky thing to translate. There are a few ways one could go about this:
*** Try to make an English song that uses the same number of characters as the original Japanese, so that the song would still end in the right place. This would be almost impossible due to the extreme verbosity of the English language as compared to Japanese.
*** Write an English song that's as short as you can get it, and collaborate with the coders to lengthen the dolls' spin time to match the length of the new song.
*** Write an English song that's as short as you can get it, and collaborate with the coders to speed up the rate at which the text appears so that it matches the length of time that the dolls spin.
*** Be unfathomably lazy and just do a literal word-for-word translation of the song, leave the dolls' spin length alone so they stop spinning right in the middle of the song, before the last line that gives the hint to the identity of the "real" doll has shown, and call it a day.

* TalkToTheAnimals: Ark begins his journey with the ability to talk to animals. Animals and ''plants'', actually. He loses this power when he resurrects humanity.