History VideoGame / ThreeTheHardWay

* DreadfulMusician: Zigzagged with Sardinia. She's one of the most famous singers in the kingdom, but Vance thinks her voice is dreadful, and several people agree with him when he pointed this out during her performance. However, his mother, North, and the Baron loves her singing, even though her songs could scare away a dragon due to how terrible it is.

In the midst of this political turmoil, the player is introduced to Vance, a bartender from the secluded town of Somerset. Bored of his life, Vance left his hometown to seek new excitement and fortune, and soon found himself getting mixed up in the conflict. It soon becomes up to him to stop the wicked [[BigBad Duke Greene]] from using the Kaibutsu, who now serve him, to [[KnightTemplar eradicate all those he deems evil]].

In the midst of this political turmoil, the player is introduced to Vance, a bartender from the secluded town of Somerset. Bored of his life, Vance left his hometown to seek new excitement and fortune, and soon found himself getting mixed up in the conflict.

* HeelFaceTurn: If Roper is present when the party confronts Orrum, she will convince Dunn to defect (or at least stay neutral while they fight). Although he'd never leave the army, he'd promise to use his promotion to free Dillon from Duke Greene's evil influence.

* NotSoSimilar: When he got to know them for the first time, Vance considers both Kanna and Anderson as "those two weirdos who may or may not be human". Indeed, they both are mysterious characters who are very knowledgeable about the state of the game's verse and wields tremendous powers -- that, at first glance, they might as well be DistaffCounterpart to each other. However, as time goes by, Kanna becomes more open to the rest of the party, as it was revealed that she's more naive than actually secretive and Vance could easily read her thoughts by the end of the story. Anderson, on the other hand, is revealed to have been hiding more and more secrets which he never discloses, and the more of his past is revealed, the less people seem to know about who or what he actually is.

From there, the plot becomes increasingly more complex. While the storyline itself, for the most part, is quite linear, the player's choices and actions would unlock varying plot information about the universe ands different dialogue branches, giving plenty of [[RewatchBonus replay bonuses]].

* BadassInDistress: Occurs during the Kaibutsu Lords Hunt arc if the party decides to proceed in Erhardt. [[spoiler:Anderson]] gets arrested for the murder of a local fortune-teller, tasking the other party members to investigate the case further to prove his innocence. Justified because he's only allowing himself to get arrested because the fortune-teller in question [[spoiler:revealed the presence of a Kaibutsu Lord in the city]], and if the player decides not to continue with the investigation, he'll break out on his own.

* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: The main party is mostly made up of untrained (or, at least, non-professional) fighters with ''vastly'' different backgrounds and motives. Vance is a selfish and greedy Bounty Hunter who used to work as a bartender before leaving his hometown to find excitement; his best friend, North, is a martial artist in training who follows Vance around to find out more about the ongoing political conflict in their kingdom. They are later joined by Fayette -- the Duchess of Burlington set out to protect her duchy, Anderson -- a wandering monk who claims to seek for new challenges, Kanna -- a Really700YearsOld alchemist who claims to have been sent by an ancient organization she belonged to to aid the party, Clifton -- another bounty hunter who frequently headbutts with Vance and is mostly seeking revenge over the destruction of Branchville, and Holly -- Clifton's niece who happens to be a self-proclaimed thief and tags along the team just because. The {{Optional Party Member}}s include Tatum -- a bandit queen who wants to deliver retribution to the people who killed her men, and Roper -- a former captain of the [[BigBad Duke Greene]]'s army who defected to the team after the duke killed her sister. [[BigGood Duke Salem and Duke Winston]] seem to trust them more than they trust their own soldiers.

* AllMythsAreTrue: The origin story of the Govan Order -- which is said to have been founded by an alchemist named Candor, who uses the powers of knowledge and alchemy to build a giant PowerCrystal to control the balance to the world -- is treated as a myth by almost every character in the game, including the Govan members themselves. But in the epilogue, some of the heroes found the PowerCrystal in question, proving that the story of Candor was true after all.

* ForceAndFinesse: The Kita and Minami martial art schools have shades of this. The Kita arts, which North practices, focuses on "technique" (finesse), and requires a clear mind and control over emotions to master -- shown by how North's master required him to complete puzzle challenges before he's even allowed to take the "final exam". Meanwhile, the Minami arts, which Anderson practices, focuses more on raw strength (force), and requires the use of one's on HP to manifest their "skills". Gameplay-wise, Anderson deals better damage and is much more durable than North, but most of his techniques are so useless in combat that many players won't bother using them. North is not as strong, but his skills has much better application during fights.

* AccidentalTruth: Zigzagged when the party encounter Raleigh and his pirate henchmen in Teachy's lair. Vance tells Raleigh that his plans to use hostages to plunder Teachy's treasure is doomed to fail because Teachy is already among the group, and Raleigh dismisses it as a bluff. Thing is, Vance ''wasn't'' intending to bluff, since he genuinely believes that [[spoiler:Anderson is Teachy]], but even though Vance's theory [[spoiler:about Anderson being Teachy]] is untrue, the real Teachy ''is'' present in the group, pretending to be a hostage. [[spoiler:He is Alex, the wanna-be hero NPC that appears early in the game]].

* ForceAndFinesse: The Kita and Minami martial art schools have shades of this. The Kita arts, which North practices, focuses on "technique" (finesse), and requires a clear mind and control over emotions to master -- shown by how North's master required him to complete puzzle challenges before he's even allowed to take the "final exam". Meanwhile, the Minami arts, Anderson practices, focuses more on raw strength (force), and requires the use of one's on HP to manifest their "skills". Gameplay-wise, Anderson deals better damage and is much more durable than North, but most of his techniques are so useless in combat that many players won't bother using them. North is not as strong, but his skills has much better application during fights.

* AccidentalTruth: Zigzagged when the party encounter Raleigh and his pirate henchmen in Teachy's lair. Vance told Raleigh that his plans to use hostages to plunder Teachy's treasure is doomed to fail because Teachy is already among the group, and Raleigh dismisses it as a bluff. Thing is, Vance ''wasn't'' intending to bluff, since he genuinely believes that [[spoiler:Anderson is Teachy]], but even though Vance's theory [[spoiler:about Anderson being Teachy]] is untrue, the real Teachy ''is'' present in the group, pretending to be a hostage. [[spoiler:He is Alex, the wanna-be hero NPC that appears early in the game]].

From there, the plot becomes increasingly more complex. While the storyline itself, for the most part, is quite linear, the player's choices and actions would unlock varying plot information about the universe and dialogue branches, giving plenty of [[RewatchBonus replay bonuses]].

* AnatomicallyImpossibleSex: Not in the game itself of course, but if Vance chose to give a romance novel for Fayette's 21st birthday present, Duke Winston will mention that it is an erotica novel. When Vance finally examines it, he pretty much exclaimed, "Is that even physically possible?!"

* BadassInDistress: Occurs during the Kaibutsu Lords Hunt arc if the party decides to proceed in Erhardt. [[spoiler:Anderson]] was arrested for the murder of a local fortune-teller, tasking the other party members to investigate the case further to prove his innocence. Justified because he's only allowing himself to get arrested because the fortune-teller in question [[spoiler:revealed the presence of a Kaibutsu Lord in the city]], and if the player decides not to continue with the investigation, he'll break out on his own.

** Kanna is a justified example. During her first appearance, she was able to conjure an explosion that could annihilate an entire battlefield, but when she becomes playable, she is practically useless in battle (she has low HP/MP, poor attack points that actually uses up MP and real worthwhile skills). When Vance lampshades this, she explains that her "powers" are derived from Alchemy, and the one she demonstrated in the cutscene was her most powerful spell, which would be very difficult to recreate because of the rare ingredients it requires.

* ForceAndFinesse: The Kita and Minami martial art schools have shades of this. The Kita arts, which North practices, focuses on "technique" (finesse), and requires a clear mind and control over emotions to master -- shown by how North's master required him to complete puzzle challenges before he's even allowed to take the "final exam". Meanwhile, the Minami arts, Anderson practices, focuses more on raw strength (force), and requires the use of one's on HP to manifest their "skills". Gameplay-wise, Anderson deals better damage and is much more durable than North, but most of his techniques are so useless in combat. North is not as strong, but his skills has much better application during fights.

* HeelFaceTurn: If Roper is present when the party confronts Orrum, she will convince Dunn to defect (or at least stay neutral while they fight). Although he never left the army, he was determined to use his promotion to free Dillon from Duke Greene's evil influence.

* ForceAndFinesse: The Kita and Minami martial art schools have shades of this. The Kita arts (which North practices) is seem to be very technical-based (representing finesse), and it apparently requires a clear mind and control over emotions to master -- shown by how North's master required him to complete puzzle challenges before he's even allowed to take the "final exam". The Minami arts (which Anderson practices) focuses more on channelling raw strength (representing force), and requires the use of one's on HP to manifest their "skills". Gameplaywise, Anderson deals better damage and is much more durable than North most of his techniques are useless in combat. North is not as strong, but his skills has much better application during fights.

* {{Cult}}: The Cult of Zebulun

* RedOniBlueOni: Vance (Red) is rude, crass and easily ticked-off, while his best friend North (Blue) is more polite and level-headed. However, Vance's pragmatism means that he's less deeply impacted by the turmoils that afflict the party, while North's compassion cause him to become more susceptible to the grievances caused by their enemies. When the push comes to shove, it's Vance who has to talk some sense into North, who was on the brink of despair due to everything he's been through.

* HeterosexualLifePartners: Not really obvious since they got separated halfway through the game, but Vance and North qualifies.

* RedOniBlueOni: Vance (Red) is rude, crass and easily ticked-off, while North (Blue) is more polite and level-headed. However, Vance's pragmatism means that he's less personally impacted by the turmoils that afflict the party, while North's compassion cause him to become more susceptible to the grievances caused by their enemies. When the push comes to shove, it's Vance who has to talk some sense into North, who was on the brink of despair due to the tribulations they all went through.

* MeaningfulName: Carolus is the Latin form of Charlemagne.

** Kanna is a justified example. During her first appearance, she was able to conjure an explosion that could annihilate an entire battlefield, but when she becomes playable, she is practically useless in battle - having low HP/MP, very weak attack that uses up MP and doesn't have any worthwhile skills. When Vance lampshades this, she explains that her "powers" are derived from Alchemy, and the one she demonstrated in the cutscene was her most powerful spell, which would be very difficult to recreate because of the rare ingredients it requires.

* DreadfulMusician: Zigzagged with Sardinia. She's one of the most famous singers in the kingdom, but Vance thinks her voice is dreadful, and several people did agree with him when he pointed this out during her performance. However, his mother, North, and the Baron loves her singing, even though her songs could scare away a dragon due to its terrible-ness.