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* ADayAtTheBizarro: The joke story in [=DiveX=] where Kou's and Sora's first meeting was a CrashIntoHello in a high school comedy setting. Gregory is the school director, while Anan is a student and Isao's son. The cyberspace settings is replaced with a {{sentai}} parody with robot transformation.
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* CloningBlues
** [[spoiler: Aki was mistakenly thought to be a clone of Kou’s mother, thus straining her and Kou’s love relation. Aki even believes that the best method to get around this problem would be abandoning her body by following the Ark Project.]]
** [[spoiler: Noi has this hatred towards her father Neunzehn who illegally cloned her by planting his genetic information into an ovum and caused her all kinds of suffering.]]
** [[spoiler: Kou in Sora’s route becomes depress when he realized he is a [=NPC=], meaning that the real Kou can never be with Sora. He gets over it when he realizes that his existence is a linked with the every single Kou from different worlds and even has some of their memories.]]
** [[spoiler: Aki was mistakenly thought to be a clone of Kou’s mother, thus straining her and Kou’s love relation. Aki even believes that the best method to get around this problem would be abandoning her body by following the Ark Project.]]
** [[spoiler: Noi has this hatred towards her father Neunzehn who illegally cloned her by planting his genetic information into an ovum and caused her all kinds of suffering.]]
** [[spoiler: Kou in Sora’s route becomes depress when he realized he is a [=NPC=], meaning that the real Kou can never be with Sora. He gets over it when he realizes that his existence is a linked with the every single Kou from different worlds and even has some of their memories.]]
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* OedipusComplex: [[spoiler: Neunzehn was said to have this feeling towards Kou’s mother and Sora.]]
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----
YMMV
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The opening theme of ''[=Dive2=]'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Spj-CWlp6I4 "Jihad"]], is an awesome track setting things up for the conclusion of the story as well as [[spoiler:serving as the FinalBoss theme]]. It is perhaps the VN's most iconic theme.
* DemonicSpiders:
** Eisen Wolf uses many of the same moves as Kou and can combo them into one another almost seamlessly, even if you're on the ground.
** Nearly all of Shadowgigs attacks cause stun and they're almost always in groups. Have fun being stunlocked!
** Advents have passive armor, decently fast attacks, and come in groups, so trying to break through the armor of one means another is already bashing you off to the side.
* GoddamnBats:
** Ironys love to sit on the backline and just blow wind at you that does no damage but keeps you from getting close and screw up your combos.
** Eye Walker Ms are weak but try to suicide bomb you constantly
** Moha Moha will do a long lasting charge and as soon as it ends, desperately evade and drop mines that push you away.
** Narcissus will play keep away by dropping a spread of bombs that do almost no damage but push you away.
** Rapid Weiss will keep its distance, stay in the air, and constantly pelt you with stunlocking bullets that don't stop until you get knocked away or worm your way behind an obstacle.
** Scorpions are everywhere and they love to play the evasive game by dodging everywhere and constantly shooting spread bombs that blocks ranged attacks.
* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome: Fenrir's BigDamnHeroes moment in Makoto's route is something to behold as it evolves into [[BigBadassBattleSequence a giant furball that is sure to make your computer scream from all the stuff going on]] onscreen, all while a rocking soundtrack blares in the background.
* ThatOneAttack:
** Tranquilizer’s WaveMotionGun is an OneHitKill move if you don’t dodge it. This can be annoying in the final route as if your AI-controlled partner doesn’t also dodge it will cause a game over.
** [[spoiler: Neunzehn]] is already difficult as he has quick regenerating health, good short and long range attacks. But the main move that must be avoided is his OneHitKill attack where the screen fades to black as he slowly approaches you. If you were previously trapped from another one of his attack, most likely he will catch up to you and inflict several thousands of damage above your max health.
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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Baldr-Sky_3030.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Clockwise from the top: Makoto Minazuki, Aki Nishino, Nanoha Wakakusa, Rain Kirishima, Chinatsu Nagisa, Sora Minazuki]]
->''"The story moves violently in the interstice of the memory."''
''Baldr Sky'' is a {{cyberpunk}} VisualNovel that takes place in a world where nanotechnology has advanced greatly and that the newer generation people have brain chips, making it easy for them to connect to the virtual space net. ''Baldr Sky'' is part of Team Baldrhead’s long running series (along with ''[[VideoGame/BaldrForce Baldr Force]]'', ''Baldr Bullet'' and ''Baldr Fist''). The visual novel contains elements of [[ActionGame action gameplay]] with Kou piloting his simulacrum to fight. Unlike the majority of visual novels, every single character in the story is fully voiced.
Kou Kadokura wakes up and finds himself in a cyberspace battlefield controlling a [[HumongousMecha giant simulacrum]]. He faintly recalls going to sleep in his bed at the school dormitory, but now swarms of viruses are attacking him. He later realizes that he had just suffered a brain injury and [[EasyAmnesia lost his memories]] of the past few years. His subordinate Rain Kirishima informs him that he is a lieutenant in a mercenary group and that they were chasing after the Drexler Organization, a group believed to be responsible for the tragedy "Gray Christmas" that changed Kou’s life.
The first game is named ''Baldr Sky: "Lost Memory" [=Dive1=]'' and the second one is named ''Baldr Sky "Recordare" [=Dive2=]''. The two games together form the complete story. If both games are installed at the same time, ''[=Dive2=]'' will carry over saved data and also play the routes in ''[=Dive1=]''. There is also a fandisk named ''Baldr Sky [=DiveX=] "[=DreamWorld=]"'', which contains several short side stories including the period that Kou spent training as a mercenary. The fandisk also includes different battle modes where you can use any mecha that appears in the story.
Both ''[=Dive1=]'' and ''[=Dive2=]'' were released as a single game in English through Steam in December 2019.
----
!!''Baldr Sky'' provides examples of:
* AccidentalHero: Amazingly [[spoiler:Gilbert ends up saving Kou's mind in Sora's route thanks to his bottomless hatred for him. The same ends up holding true for his comrades as well]].
%%* AccidentalPervert: Kou was often a victim of this ever since his student days, especially with the likes of Chinatsu trying to seduce him and the childish Kuu who hugs him a lot.
* ActionGirl: Most of the female cast.
** Rain Kirishima as the partner of Kou, and during her days in Hosho.
** Chinatsu Nagisa for being physically fit for Simulacrums, and later being a soldier of GOAT.
** [[spoiler:Makoto Minazuki, who mastered Simulacrums due to her Cyberbrain Syndrome, and later as the priestess of Dominion.]]
** Shizel Steinbrecher as a mercenary working for Fenrir, led by Kou's father, Eiji Kadokura.
** [[spoiler:Sora Minazuki in World 0, in which the roles were reversed: Kou melted after the leak of Assembler, which prompted Sora to train as a mercenary.]]
* AIIsACrapshoot: Eve, the most powerful biological AI ever created by man, is suspected by anti-IA people to be responsible for Gray Christmas. On the other hand, Baldr, the most powerful mechanical AI exisiting, [[spoiler:caused people connecting to it to turn into Father Gregory.]] However, [[spoiler:it's not because of Baldr itself, but Neunzehn connecting to it long before the events of the game. In the end, the trope is subverted.]]
* AmnesiacHero: Kou wakes up in the middle of a battle against some viruses, with no memory of his life prior to it. After getting treatment from the doctor Noi, he starts to remembers bits of his student days, at varying degrees depending of the routes. [[spoiler:In Makoto and Sora's routes however, he retains his memories, accelerating the plot overall.]]
* ApocalypseHow: Regional, Societal Disruption: Assembler has caused an entire region and its surroundings to be destroyed, and changed people's opinions towards AI and nanomachines.
** [[spoiler:In Sora's route it is revealed that a Planetary Species Extinction event has occurred after the Assembler outflow with only plants and insects alive on the Earth's surface as well as various Ai Terminals. All other life has been annihilated]].
* ArmorPiercingResponse: When Kou asks Aki what she though he would do [[spoiler:if he got mad after she told him the truth of her actions with the Baldr System and what happened to Kurihara as a result]], she simply answers that she believed he would "walk away without saying a word and never contact her". Suffice to say, this hit Kou where it hurts.
* ArtificialHuman: Cloning people is stated at one point to be possible in ''Baldr Sky'', but very costly and limited to a few selected people. [[spoiler:Chinatsu has eventually her body cloned in her Good Ending.]]
* ArtificialIntelligence: A major theme in the story with an pro-AI faction and anti-AI faction having a conflict with each other.
* ArtificialLimbs: [[spoiler: Chinatsu lost most of her body during Gray Christmas.]]
* AttemptedRape: Gilbert and his group are guilty of trying to rape the heroine in several routes. It’s up to Kou to stop him before he succeeds.
** When Rain was caught by Gilbert in her route, she was planning to kill herself but Kou persuades her to wait for her rescue.
** Gibert’s group breaks into Noi’s clinic and was going to rape Nanoha, Makoto helps Kou in defeating Gilberto and Noi releases her killer robot on the group.
** Aki was kidnapped by Gilbert so she tries mentally escaping into the virtual net as Gilberto hunts for her. Kou saves Aki in cyberspace and Mohawk saves her in the physical world.
** Rain also experiences this right after Gray Christmas but she kills her assaulters.
* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: [[spoiler: What the Ark Project is said to be by giving up the human body and living as wired ghosts.]]
* AfterTheEnd: [[spoiler:Sora’s route takes place in a world where Neunzehn succeeds in wiping out humanity and the remaining people left are wired ghosts in cyberspace.]]
* BabiesEverAfter: [[spoiler:In Sora’s ending, World 1 to 5 ends with Kou and each heroine of that route at least going to have a child. World 4 specifically shows that Kou and Aki named the baby girl Sora.]]
* BadassNative: Mohawk is a Native American, and working under Fenrir, the badass moniker comes with the job. [[spoiler:Turns out to be a bit more complex. In actuality he is a designer child based on the genetic information of a long extinct tribe brought to life by a nationalist group. His genes were also altered and was raised in order to be the perfect representation of the idealized Native American warrior]].
* BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind: [[spoiler: Kou has one where he fights against a polluted copy of himself.]]
* BarBrawl: Chinatsu and [[NotSoAboveItAll Rain]] ends up kicking up a brawl between them and some GU soldiers. Kou eventually joins in as well. Ends up finally settling the animosity between them.
%%* BeamSpam: The attacks of [[spoiler:Makoto’s]] simulacrum tend to be this.
* BigBad: Albeit there are several varying antagonists depending on the routes, the most prevalent is Father Gregory.[[spoiler:Then, it's revealed in Makoto and Sora's route that he was merely a ghost of Neunzehn.]]
* BigDamnHeroes: In Makoto's route, Kou and Aki are getting overrun by viruses [[spoiler:at the sea of Es when all of a sudden Fenrir shows up turning the whole thing [[BigBadassBattleSequence into a giant furball]]]].
%%* {{BFG}}: Weapons that Kou can use include several of these.
%%* TheBigGuy: Mohawk, the Native American who happens to tower over all of the other characters.
* BittersweetEnding: The majority of the endings are this, even including the character’s "good" endings.
** Rain’s ending has [[spoiler: Kou unknowingly killing Nanoha in stopping Assembler from activating. In the ''Ghost'' ending, Kou spends the rest of his life in self-delusion.]]
** Nanoha’s ending has [[spoiler: Assembler being stopped but Chinatsu dying in an attempted kamikaze attack. In the "Dreamland" ending, Nanoha lost her body and the world war that has erupted has prevented Kou from finding a cloning facility to create a new body for Nanoha.]]
** Chinatsu’s ending has [[spoiler:Masa dying and Ark Project occurring in order to save everyone. In the ''Entwined'' ending, Kou also lost most of his body.]]
** Aki’s ending has [[spoiler: Gungnir stopped but Chinatsu is at least mentally destroyed from being connected to Tranquilizer. Dominion’s plan failed and Makoto also dies from the fight with Kou. In the ''Ark'' ending, Kou and Aki are living as wired ghosts.]]
** [[spoiler: Even Sora’s ending has humanity being revived through nanomachines but only a number of people who became wired ghosts (along with Kou and Sora) from Neunzehn’s destruction of the world can be saved. Over tens of thousands years has also passed since then so the world has changed by a lot.]]
* {{Bizarrchitecture}}: Aki’s personal room in cyberspace is surreal with things such as melting clocks.
* BlackEyesOfCrazy: While calling her crazy is a bit much, Seira for some reason have black sclera and has an air of detachment from everything around her, a result of just how closely she operates with AI's.
* BodyHorror: [[spoiler: Kou and Nanoha in ''Embrace'' ending. They are melted by Assembler, but are kept in a undying state after getting hit by Gungnir, and eventually lose their sense of self.]]
* BrainUploading: [[spoiler:The Project Ark is eventually revealed to be a huge exodus to the virtual world, triggered by Ark if humanity is doomed.]] And later in Makoto's route, it's revealed [[spoiler:Neunzehn also uploaded himself into the Baldr system, which eventually caused the events of the series.]]
* BrainInAJar: [[spoiler:In order to save Nanoha in the ''Dreamland'' ending, only her brain was preserved in a metal box connected to a virtual reality world.]]
* BrokenBird: Chinatsu became bitter after Gray Christmas, believing that Kurihara betrayed her and that the AI faction is hiding the truth from everyone.
* TheCameo: [=DiveX=] has cameo characters for battle including Kageaki Minato from ''VisualNovel/FullMetalDaemonMuramasa'' and Yukie Mayuzumi from ''VisualNovel/MajikoiLoveMeSeriously''.
* CantLiveWithoutYou: Kuu is connected to Sora and when Sora died, Kuu was supposed to disappear also. This confused Kou since Agent possesses the same ID signature as Kuu.
* ChainsawGood:
** Father Gregory can transform his hands into chainsaws in cyberspace and his simulacrum carries this ability.
** The "Iron-file" virus uses it.
** Kou may use chainsaw as an attack if he has the weapon and limit break.
** In [=DiveX=], [[spoiler: Chris]] also uses them.
* ChekhovsGunman: [[spoiler: Kou’s [=NPC=] simulacrum was used to send a help signal against Dominion in Aki’s route.]] This same character is also [[spoiler:the protagonist in Sora’s route.]]
* ChickMagnet: Kou. He already had six girls in love with him during his student days.
* ChildhoodFriends: Kou and Nanoha were friends ever since childhood, because his father was always drowned in work and he always spent time with her family instead.
* ClimacticBattleResurrection: [[spoiler:Occurs in Sora’s route where practically everyone supposedly dies but comes back at the end.]]
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Aki's mind sure doesn't seem to work like everyone else and ends up creating some really bizarre things. [[spoiler:Get's played for drama in her own route where it is revealed that she had to fight against the memories of Kou's mother due to her being Yae's clone. She becomes quite detached from reality as a result]].
* ClothingDamage: Due to an incorrect setting, after Kou beats Rain and Chinatsu in a simulacrum fight in Sora's Route, their clothes are almost completely destroyed. If Kou loses the battle, the same thing happens to him.
* CloningBlues
** [[spoiler: Aki was mistakenly thought to be a clone of Kou’s mother, thus straining her and Kou’s love relation. Aki even believes that the best method to get around this problem would be abandoning her body by following the Ark Project.]]
** [[spoiler: Noi has this hatred towards her father Neunzehn who illegally cloned her by planting his genetic information into an ovum and caused her all kinds of suffering.]]
** [[spoiler: Kou in Sora’s route becomes depress when he realized he is a [=NPC=], meaning that the real Kou can never be with Sora. He gets over it when he realizes that his existence is a linked with the every single Kou from different worlds and even has some of their memories.]]
%%* CollapsingLair: In [=DiveX=], [[spoiler: Chris invokes this when she is defeated.]]
* ControlFreak: Isao is obsessed with controlling things around him and he fears what he can't control. And if he can't control something he will go out of his way to subjugate it. Suffice to say, Rain hates him for this attitude.
* CutenessProximity: Rain can’t stop herself when she sees the kittens in Aki’s cyberspace. When the others find her in this state, she quickly blames that she was under a mental attack from the I.C.E.
* CyberneticsEatYourSoul:
** Averted with Shizel as her becoming a cyborg and being closer to machines actually brought her peace of mind.
** [[spoiler:Chinatsu]] doesn’t consider herself to be human any longer and instead to be a zombie.
** [[spoiler:Neunzehn is revealed to be this in Makoto and Sora's routes when the cast learn he's half-machine, half-human. As such, he doesn't hold humanity in high regard and is more familiar with machines.]]
* {{Cyberpunk}}: ''Baldr Sky'' depicts the events of a highly futuristic society where artificial intelligence and virtual reality became part of people's daily lives, and how they react accordingly.
* {{Cyberspace}}: The Internet in the game is a tangible, visible entity where people can walk in and move, with entire cities and countries built from the ground up.
* ADayAtTheBizarro: The joke story in [=DiveX=] where Kou's and Sora's first meeting was a CrashIntoHello in a high school comedy setting. Gregory is the school director, while Anan is a student and Isao's son. The cyberspace settings is replaced with a {{sentai}} parody with robot transformation.
* DeathByOriginStory: Sora’s death on Gray Christmas was what triggers Kou to become a mercenary.
* DelayedReaction:
** Sora had one when she first met Kuu. It took her a while to realize that Kuu has the same appearance as her.
** [[spoiler: In Aki's route, Kou also fails to recognize his own [=NPC=] simulacrum.]]
* DenOfIniquity: Kou has to infiltrate a rather unpleasant sex club used by the cities elites, filled with all kinds of unsavory people and acts, in order to try and get some dirt on Anan.
* DeusEstMachina: [[spoiler: A.I. Eve and the collective A.I. from multiple worlds, who consider Neunzehn’s actions through the multiverse to be a threat, so it create "Singularity" moments across different worlds to interfere with him. Kou’s [=NPC=] simulacrum in Sora’s route was recreated by the AIs for killing Neunzehn.]]
* DiedInYourArmsTonight:
** [[spoiler: Makoto has a vision this happening in her route when she is killed by Kou.]]
** [[spoiler: Nanoha in Sora’s route. She gets better at the end.]]
* DirtyCoward: Gilberto. Other characters have mentioned that he is best at running away.
* DistantFinale: [[spoiler:Clearing Sora's route with some additional plugins will reveal that untold centuries or even millenniums in the future, everyone managed to use Assembler to reconstruct their bodies and upload their minds to them allowing humanity to walk upon the Earth once again]].
* DitzyGenius: Aki. She's pretty much the smartest of the students, yet is incredibly lazy and unable to do mundane tasks and often Kou or Nanoha to help her.
* DivingSave: [[spoiler: In Sora’s route, Makoto pushes Kou out of Tranquilizer’s WaveMotionGun and gets hit instead.]]
* DoomedHometown: On Gray Christmas, Gungrir destroyed Kou’s hometown and school in order to stop Assembler’s damage from spreading.
* DoppelgangerAttack:
** In the last route, Father Gregory’s simulacrum can make two doppelgangers in battle. Killing a fake will just cause him to resurrect it at full health.
** [[spoiler: Neunzehn also can create one in the final battle. The real one can also quickly turn invisible to heal himself so that the player might not realize that there is a fake.]]
* DownerEnding
** [[spoiler: Nanoha’s "Embrace" ending has Assembler activating and destroying humanity.]]
** [[spoiler: Chinatsu’s "Departure" ending has the world war occurring with Chinatsu reduced to a child mentality and Kou losing his body.]]
** [[spoiler: Aki’s "Nirvana" ending has Kou and Aki never meeting again, while Kou spends the rest of his life fighting against a mentally broken Chinatsu linked to Tranquilizer.]]
** [[spoiler: Makoto’s "Object Loss" ending has Kou dying followed by Assembler activating with people becoming wired ghosts. Makoto loses her memories of Kou’s existence.]]
%%* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler: Isao when GOAT’s invasion of Ark fails.]]
* DwindlingParty: [[spoiler:The end of Sora's route involves one HeroicSacrifice after another as each and everyone of Kou's friends starts dying off to try and get him to reach Baldr. Though as it turns out, it is a good thing that DeathIsCheap for digital beings]].
* ElectronicTelepathy: Since all characters have a brain chip implanted in their body, they can communicate long distances without anyone listening to them.
* EmbarrassingCoverUp: Kou’s excuse to Nanoha about his investigation of an illegal [=NPC=] sex club is that he is a healthy man that has needs.
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: [[spoiler:Sora's route happens after a failed attempt to stop Assembler from spreading and long after the Project Ark was enacted.]]
* EnemyDetectingRadar: There's a map on the upper right corner that shows where all the enemies are.
* EnemyMine: [[spoiler:The crew form an uneasy ceasefire with Gilbert out of all people until they can manage some way to fix their current predicament. Though neither side trusts the other as far as they can throw them]].
* ExternalCombustion: Nanoha’s parents died from a car bomb, courtesy of [[spoiler:Naoki Kurihara, possessed by Neunzehn.]]
* EvilMentor: Kurihara is this to Kou as he was in charge of Assembler when Gray Christmas occurs and somehow was able to escape despite being in center of the incident. [[spoiler: He was good all along but was being controlled by Neunzehn.]]
* EvolvingAttack: Attacking gives the specific weapon some EXP and that makes it better as it use less of the {{Overheating}} Meter. Use some weapons enough times also unlocks even better attacks to use.
* TheFakeCutie: Dr Noi really likes to abuse her youthful appearance to fool others into thinking she is far younger than she actually is, often for some [[BlackComedyRape less than savory purposes]].
* FakingTheDead: Rain fakes Kou’s and her own death since the entire mercenary group they were part of was wiped out.
* {{Flashback}}: A main part of the story is told in flashbacks. Since Kou is recovering his memories, he has random flashbacks of when he was still in school.
* FountainOfYouth: Sort of. [[spoiler:After the events of her route, Chinatsu decides to have her body cloned and brain transplanted. However she refused to stay in the vat until her body had fully matured resulting in her now looking much younger than she originally did. And given that she and Kou are a couple at this point, it is quite the [[MistakenForPedophile source for misunderstandings]]]].
* FragileFlower: Nanoha tends to cry at every emotional moment.
* FutureFoodIsArtificial: Almost all of the food that is available to the characters is artificial in some way due to just how messed up their world has become.
* GambitPileup: Part of the narrative's complexity comes from there just being so many factions interlocking with their own agendas and with numerous members within those factions having additional goals on top of all those already present.
* GamerChick: Seira, who can micromanage hundreds of world civilizations at once.
* GetAHoldOfYourselfMan: Rain delivers this to Kou when he enters a HeroicBSOD from Father Gregory’s MindRape and whenever he gives up on living.
* GenkiGirl: Chinatsu and Sora, the go-getter girls of the group.
* GirlishPigtails: Sora and by extension Kuu.
* GoMadFromTheRevelation: While Gilbert was never especially stable to begin with he really goes off the deep end after learning [[spoiler:the truth that he and everyone else have become Virtual Ghosts and that the real world has been destroyed]].
* GreyGoo: The general fear of Assembler is that it will run out of control and reduce everything down to nothing but sludge. [[spoiler:In Makoto's route it happens on a smaller scale to the entire city with the only survivors being those of GOAT and Ark thanks to their reinforced buildings]].
* HarderThanHard:The game has a difficulty level going from Very Easy to Very Hard. This can simply be adjusted in the configuration menu between each battle.
** In [=DiveX=], there is the "Hell System" mode where the first 79 stages has a RankInflation that goes from F to [=SSS=]. Stage 80 has a difficulty rank of [[BeyondTheImpossible INFINITY]].
* HeroicBSOD: Kou suffered from one when he remembers Gray Christmas and that he saw Sora slowly being dissolved by Assembler.
* HeWhoMustNotBeSeen: Neunzehn[[spoiler: who is actually a being with multiple brains connected together into one and then mechanically enhanced.]]
* HiddenDepths: Underneath her rather stoic and professional façade, Rain hides a lot of emotional pain relating [[spoiler:to her mother having joined Dominion as well as her rather strained relationship with her father. She also apparently ends up hiding her nature as quite the smug troll as evident with her interactions with Chinatsu]].
* HoldTheLine: Several times in the story but especially in the mind hack moments where Kou has to prevent an invasion by a swarm of viruses from destroying several layers of protective gates.
* {{Hologram}}: Appears frequently along with HolographicTerminal.
** Kou used to have a hologram picture of Sora in his room.
** Seira projects herself a few times as a hologram.
* HumongousMecha: The large simulacra and viruses in cyberspace are treated as these.
* HyperspaceArsenal: Justified since all weapons are simply programs.
* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: For all his big talk, Gilbert is really just an insecure little boy on the inside who is severely over-compensating for his own faults to the point that he is blind to them.
* InnocentlyInsensitive: Due to his amnesia, Kou ends up hurting a lot of his former friends without meaning to which leads to a lot of friction between them. [[spoiler:This is made evident in Makoto's route where he maintains most of his memories and manages to salvage things between everyone, even the horribly jaded Chinatsu]].
%%* InsideAComputerSystem
* InterruptedSuicide:
** Isao in Makoto’s route. Makoto just wants some information from him though, but he eventually refrains from killing himself.
** Rain in [[spoiler:Sora’s route]]. [[spoiler: Rain believed that the Kou she was seeing was a trick by Father Gregory, so she planned on killing herself when she was defeated.]]
** [[spoiler: Kou and Sora in the "Eternal" ending. Sora was dying and Kou was going to disappear since the link he has with the other worlds' Kou ends when he kills Neunzehn. They decide to [[TogetherInDeath die together using a grenade.]] Kuu stops them both and they find another solution.]]
* ItsAllMyFault
** [[spoiler: Rain blames herself for Sora’s death since she believes that Sora went to Isao to request for her school transfer. This caused Sora to be near Assembler when Gray Christmas occurs.]]
** [[spoiler: Aki feels responsible for connecting Kurihara to the Baldr system.]]
** [[spoiler: Makoto also blames herself for pulling a prank on Sora that delayed her from taking a train to leave the location of Assembler. She also feels responsible for not stopping Kurihara.]]
* JokeCharacter: Since [=DiveX=] allows the player to use every single mecha that appears in the game, that includes all the weak [[{{Mooks}} viruses]]. The weakest joke mecha is that one Nanoha uses, which is really slow and two of the her three normal "attacks" involves her tripping on the ground.
* KatanasAreJustBetter: Kurihara dual wields it, both in this simulacrum and in real world. Kou also has a move where he uses iaido and in Dive X a force crash version of it.
* KillSat: Gungnir, a satellite programmed to shoot every lethal threat from outer space, witht the most famous exemple being Assembler.
* KillTheOnesYouLove: Rain's route has [[spoiler:Kou unknowingly killing Nanoha, the carrier of Assembler, by complete accident, thinking it was Gilbert.]]
* KnowledgeBroker: Eddie, the acquaintance of Kou at the beginning of the story, albeit he's always killed at the beginning of the story before he can tell Kou what's going on, [[spoiler:except in Makoto's Route where he still has his memories, and get the info early.]]
* LethalChef: Despite having good social skills, Sora is utterly horrible at cooking, and doesn't often listen to her sister's suggestions. Rain is also as bad as her. Makoto's food meanwhile is compared to something designed by Creator/HRGiger but [[SubvertedTrope apparently tastes perfectly fine]].
* LimitBreak: All characters and bosses have multiple limit breaks. In [=Dive1=], they can charge up one limit break bar. In [=Dive2=], there are two bars so the characters can use two limit breaks consecutively. Kou has over a dozen of them.
* LogicBomb: Can prove to be fatal in cyberspace. Kou’s brain chip was damaged from one and that caused to him to suffer amnesia. [[spoiler:Aki also used a Logic Bomb based on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del%27s_incompleteness_theorems Gödel's incompleteness theorems]] to disable Baldr]].
* LotusEaterMachine: Dominion believes that the entire world is a fake and that they have to return back to the real world.
%%* LovePotion: A virtual drug can be designed to have this effect. Kou has to use it to bypass security in the illegal sex [=NPC=] rooms.%%Needs to explain the drugs effects and how it was used to bypass security.
* MadScientist:
%%** Kurihara and the members of Drexler organization are called this.
** Neunzehn is known as the greatest mad scientist of the century, despite being responsible for huge technology advancements such as AI or nanomachines.
%%* MadnessMantra:
%%** [[spoiler: Makoto: If you shoot senpai,]] I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you.
%%** [[spoiler: Sora (Neunzehn)]]: Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. [[spoiler:Love.]] %%We need context regarding the situations the cause the character to break down.
* ManipulativeBastard: [[spoiler:Director Isao is very good a sweettalk and twisting the truth in order to sway others to his side, all to satisfy his paranoia and obsessive nature]].
* MatchmakerCrush: Sora originally tried to get Kou and Rain together, but she and Kou fell in love instead, albeit [[spoiler:it was caused by the feedback of Kuu at first.]]
* MatrixRainingCode: Used in the game’s opening and ending credit.
%%* MayorPain: Anan, who has been doing illegal activities and working with Dominion.
* {{Meido}}: All the heroines (except Aki) wear one a scene in [=DiveX=].
* MementoMacGuffin:
** The pendant Rain has is [[spoiler:from Kou as an apology for breaking Rain’s gift pendant.]] In virtual space, the pendant acts as a self destruct mechanism.
** The pendant Sora got from Kou [[spoiler:was originally suppose to be Rain’s gift to Kou. The pendant appears in the hands of Agent and acts as a quantum dice that detects what world it she is in.]]
* {{Miko}}: Dominion has a priestess that directly acts under Father Gregory.
* MindRape: Father Gregory uses the characters most emotional moments against them.
** For Kou, he uses [=NPCs=] of Sora.
** For Rain, he uses [=NPC=] of her mother.
** Gregory also uses a mental trap program "Enchanter" that shows the person the illusion of their worst nightmares.
* MultinationalTeam: The mercenary group Fenrir is composed by quite the wide range of individuals from all over the world. Of the named ones, apart from the Japanese Eiji, there is the Native American Mohawk and the South American Shizel.
* MultipleEndings: There are different endings depending on choices Kou makes, on time it takes for specific battle and the victory/defeat outcome of major boss fight. The titles of the good endings are the heroine’s name.
** Rain has a good ending and "Ghost" ending that depends on the choice of whether [[spoiler: Kou struggles to survive or gives up trying to escape.]]
** Nanoha has a time specified battle when Kou has to rush to save Nanoha. Taking more than three minutes in the battle will lock out the good ending and lead to the "Dreamland" ending. Taking more than five minutes causes a NonstandardGameOver. Finally, losing the final battle gives the "Embrace" ending.
** Chinatsu has one divergence path choice that leads to "Departure" ending[[spoiler: if Kou doesn’t believe in Agent’s actions]]. Choosing the other path leads to the good ending or "Connected Machine" ending depending of if Kou wins the last battle.
** Aki has a good, "Ark" and "Nirvana" ending. Good ending occurs if Kou fights a time specific battle as fast as possible before [[spoiler: GOAT prevents them from gathering information]] and an important choice of [[spoiler: accepting Aki as she is]]. Otherwise it leads to the "Ark" ending. "Nirvana" ending occurs if [[spoiler: Kou loses to Tranquilizer or Isao]].
** Makoto only has a good ending and "Object Lost" ending that depend on the final battle.
** [[spoiler: Sora only has one ending but she has an extended "Eternal" ending that shows more on the multiple worlds ending on a happier note.]]
* TheMultiverse: [[spoiler: Neunzehn and Sora have been struggling against each other in influencing parallel worlds. Originally, all worlds where Kou survives Gray Christmas end with Assembler activating and killing humanity. So Sora tries to send instructions to a revived Kuu who takes the name of Agent to save Kou. Worlds 1 to 5 (the other heroines’ routes) are results of the battle. In Sora’s route, Kou becomes a being similar to Agent in sending messages to himself in other worlds to make a better ending.]]
%%* MysteriousWaif: Agent.
* {{Nanomachines}}: The technology is advanced enough to that it can accomplish things ranging from human cloning and slow body repairing.
%%* NaughtyTentacles: Gilberto releases this on Rain and Kou has to rush through several battles to save her.
* NeuralImplanting: Having a brain chip in the human body allows characters to transfer documents and programs. There are even virtual drugs that simulate the effects of being drunk and [[LovePotion being in love.]]
* NeverGetsDrunk: Thanks to her cyborg body, [[spoiler:Chinatsu]] can chug down bottles of vodka without any trouble. Or so she says at least.
* NewGamePlus: Beating one route carries over all the weapons levels, force and plug-ins that the player acquired.
* NonPlayerCharacter
** Kuu is a [=NPC=] that took the appearance of Sora. Her data was later used by Ark to mass produce other [=NPCs=].
** [[spoiler: There is a [=NPC=] that took Kou’s appearance. Aki had to freeze him up because he was trying to hit on random girls.]]
* NoSocialSkills: Aki, big time. She cannot talk easily to people and doesn't know how real life works despite being a genius in programming.
* KissingCousins: Kou and Aki are second cousins and can be a potential couple. [[spoiler:It gets weirder when it's revealed she's actually a clone made from the cells of Kou's mother, Seira Tachibana and their father.]]
* NoWarpingZone: In cyberspace, characters can instantly "move" to any location they want unless there is a restriction placed in that area.
* NotSoAboveItAll: [[spoiler:Seira is for the most part almost completely unflappable and has a constant air of artificiality and detachment around her, and yet at the end of Aki's route where she get's herself a new body she is shown to be not that different from Aki. The shear absurdity of her behavior compared to her usual demeanor is enough to send both Kou and Aki into uncontrollable laughter]].
* TheNudifier: Father Gregory drops Aki into a mysterious pool of liquid that dissolves clothing.
* PistolWhipping: Mohawk does a pistol whip with a bazooka out of all things, using it as a bat.
* OedipusComplex: [[spoiler: Neunzehn was said to have this feeling towards Kou’s mother and Sora.]]
%%* OfficialCouple: Kou and Sora, in their student days.
* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: Eiji takes down an entire platoon during the illegal [=NPC=] sex club raid.
* OlderThanTheyLook: None of the characters look any older than they did in the flashback of during the school days but the worst cases are Noi and Makoto.
* OminousPipeOrgan: Used for Father Gregory and Dominion.
* OmnicidalManiac: [[spoiler:Neunzehn was tasked in the past to create world peace and save the planet from destruction, and eventually came to the conclusion that killing mankind is the best and fastest way to do so.]]
* OneManArmy:
** Eiji Kadokura, as seen in Aki's route when he personally destroys numerous simlacrums to rescue his son.
** Kou also qualifies as he personally takes down numerous viruses by himself in several battles.
* OneGameForThePriceOfTwo: [=Dive1=] contains the first three routes of the story, while [=Dive2=] contains the last three. To be fair, [=Dive1=] and [=Dive2=] are very long and each takes more time to complete than a typical visual novel.
* OurSoulsAreDifferent: Humans have wired ghosts that separate them from [=NPC=] in cyberspace.
* {{Overheating}}: Kou’s simulacrum can continue to use different weapons in a combo until his Overheat Meter is filled up. Then he has to wait for the meter to fall back to zero. {{Limit Break}}s can go over the meter and there is one limit break that allows Kou to continue using weapons even pass the meter.
* PaperThinDisguise: It is clearly obvious that Makoto is Dominion’s miko, but Kou doesn’t figure it out until her route when she is unmasked.
* ParentalAbandonment:
** Kou’s father stopped visiting him after his mother died.
** Rain thought that her mother was killed by her father Isao and their relation has been strained ever since. [[spoiler: Isao was willing to let Rain die just to succeed in invading Ark.]]
** Nanoha’s parents died from a car bomb.
* ParentalIncest: [[spoiler: While Aki is not a clone of Kou’s mother, Kou slept with Aki believing that she was one.]]
* PiggybackCute:
** Kou gave one to Rain (whom he thought was Sora) when she injured her leg after Gray Christmas. He couldn’t see so Rain used neurojack for him to look through her eyes.
** In Rain’s good ending, their positions are reversed where Kou injured his legs and Rain used his eyes to see.
** In [=DiveX=], Kou gives one to Rain [[spoiler: in World 7, after Rain was injured from Chris’ collapsing lair.]]
* PlayfulHacker: Rain is a great hacker, but Makoto is even better as she can easily break in any location due to her Electronic Brain Syndrome.
* PointBuildSystem: The "Force" credits that you get from battle lets you buy weapons and plug-ins such as higher health.
* PowerTrio: Kou, Chinatsu and Masa in the flashbacks. They participated as a team in a simulacrum tournament.
* PrettyLittleHeadshots: The US Assembly member will die from this kind of headshot even if Kou saves him from the mind hack.
* PsychicLink:
** [[spoiler: Kou and his [=NPC=] simulacrum have a link that that he used in Aki’s route when Dominion blocked his ElectronicTelepathy. Kou made his [=NPC=] sent the distress signal instead.]]
** In [=DiveX=], it shows that Sora also has this link with Kuu when she can feel where Kuu exactly is.
* TheQuietOne: Makoto rarely talks in full sentences, if at all, and the times she does talk she does it with a very quiet voice. Apparently she has trouble putting her thoughts into words. Online however [[MotorMouth this changes drastically]].
%%* ReligionOfEvil: Dominion
* ReflectiveEyes: [[spoiler: In Sora’s route, it is used in one of Kou’s dream to show that perspective was from Sora and not Kou.]]
%%* RepetitiveName: Gilbert Gilberto
* ReplacementGoldfish:
** After Gray Christmas, Kou suffers a head injury, causing him to be unable to use his eyes and ears. He mistook Rain for Sora when Rain used neurojack to help him.
** [[spoiler: In "Ghost" ending, Kou again believes that Rain is Sora and forgets about Rain’s existence. Rain goes along with this because she loves him so much that she just wants to be with him.]]
* {{Retraux}}: Aki’s personal level in cyberspace resembles old 8-bit games.
* TheReveal: [[spoiler:It is eventually revealed that Father Gregory is actually an alternate digital version of Kurihara]].
* RunningGag: The VN has a recurring joke with people not knowing that the door to the dorm is manual rather than automatic, leading them to walk face first into it.
%%* SayMyName: Soraaa!
* SchrodingersButterfly: Mentioned a few times in the story. Several places in the virtual net resemble real life so much that some characters question if the their world is real. [[spoiler: In Sora's Route, it took Kou a while to realize that he was trapped in cyberspace.]]
* SealedWithAKiss:
** Rain’s "Ghost" ending, doubling up as a[[spoiler: sad reveal that the Sora Kou sees is Rain.]]
** [[spoiler: Kou and Sora in the "Eternal" end.]]
* SecondLove: Since Kou’s first true love is Sora, any other girl he ends up with is this.
* SenseLossSadness: As a result of her cyborg body, [[spoiler:Chinatsu]] have had most of her senses dulled or outright missing. [[spoiler:That is until it is revealed that it is not a fault of her body at all as it should have all the functions of a normal human body, but rather is some kind of mix between a psychological issue and some kind of hidden fault of her original body, i.e. her brain]].
* {{Sexbot}}: The pirate [=NPCs=] that were illegally created from Kuu’s data. Therefore this annoys Kou since they look like Sora.
* ShortRangeLongRangeWeapon: Mohawk at one point decides to use a bazooka against Gilbert at point blank range. The later is quick to point out that using it at such close range will most likely kill both him and the nearby Aki as well. Mohawk simply responds with that he doesn't care. [[spoiler:He then proceeds to [[PistolWhipping smack Gilbert with it like a bat]] before revealing that it was out of ammo]].
%%* ShrinkingViolet: Makoto as a result of her Cybernetics Ego Boundary Disorder. She is more talkative in cyberspace.
* SinisterMinister: Father Gregory, the main villain of the game, is a priest attempting to destroy the world in order to reach the "true world", believing the current one to be fake, and consider the AI as gods.
* SinisterScythe:
** The "Sentence" virus use one.
** One of Kou’s weapon and limit break.
** [[spoiler: Sora's and Kuu's simulacra use a bow-like weapon that also acts as a scythe.]]
* SkippableBoss: All battles can be skipped in the game.
* SleepyHead: Aki, who can fall asleep while even standing.
* SpiderTank: Tranquilizer
* SpinAttack:
** The "Clown" virus uses this attack.
** Kou has a limit break where he swings around a laser sword.
* SpitTake: In Sora's route Noi gives Kou some food and a beer after he wakes up from [[spoiler:retrieving data about Neunzehn]], Siera's hologram suddenly shows up right before him, the surprise of which causes him to spit beer all over.
* SplitPersonality: [[spoiler:Kurihara and Makoto in Sora's route show signs of this but it they were really being controlled by Neunzehn.]]
* StarCrossedLovers: [[spoiler:Sora believes this is the relationship she has with Kou. In the worlds that Kou doesn’t die on Gray Christmas, she dies instead. She tried searching for a world where she and Kou are together, but did not find one. It’s not until World 7 and the Eternal ending that this becomes subverted.]]
* StealthHiBye: Agent, who randomly appears and disappears in front of Kou.
* SubordinateExcuse: Rain is following Kou because she loves him.
* SuperStrength: Thanks to her cyborg body [[spoiler:Chinatsu]] is effortlessly able to do things such as lifting entire cars.
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: After the rather young looking Nanoha learns that the much older looking Rain is just one year older than her, it leads to the following line after the latter asks what's wrong:
-->"N-No! Not at all! Certainly not experiencing crushing despair over [[ACupAngst the difference in out assets]] despite us only being one year apart! No ma'am!"
* SympathyForTheDevil: [[spoiler:In Sora's route when Kou tells Gilbert the truth about their situation, he can't help but feel bad when even such an absolute bastard such as him [[ThisCannotBe is so distraught]] by their current state]].
* TakingTheBullet: In [=DiveX=], Marcus who was mercenary in Kou’s group took the hit for Kou and died instead. This caused Kou to realize he was too soft in battle and he stopped showing mercy.
* TalkingToThemself: [[spoiler: In Sora’s route, almost everyone thought Kou was talking to himself but he was actually talking to Kuu.]]
* TechnoWizard: The appropriately named Wizards, people with extraordinary computer skills that seems to work near literal magic, Aki being one such Wizard.
* TimeStandsStill: Occurs several times on the virtual net where every single AI freezes up.
* TitleDrop: "Baldr Sky" is[[spoiler: the keyword that Kurihara used for the nanomachine capsule that he gave to Kou. When the keyword is stated, it provides data about the restoration program for the Assembler.]]
* TheseHandsHaveKilled: In ''[=DiveX=]'', Kou was depressed since the first person he ever killed was a girl younger than him.
* ThreeQuartersView: The gameplay part of the visual novel is from this perspective.
* TimedMission: Some missions have a hidden timer that might trigger a game over if the limit is passed. Taking too long on specific important battles will result in the normal ending instead of the good ending for Nanoha’s and Aki’s route.
* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler: Kou in Sora’s route is actually the [=NPC=] that Aki created and doesn’t have a wired ghost. The real Kou died on Gray Christmas in that world.]]
* TomatoSurprise: [[spoiler: Sora was the brain unit that controls Neunzehn’s emotions and therefore in a sense, is Neunzehn. It is not possible to separate to her from Neunzehn since they merged completely.]]
* TwoSiblingsInOne: [[spoiler:Sora and Kuu merged into one in "Eternal" end since Sora’s body could not be recovered from being part of Neunzehn.]]
* UndercoverAsLovers: Depending on route, Kou goes undercover with Rain, Chinatsu or Aki during the illegal [=NPC=] sex club to infiltrate without being noticed.
* UngratefulBastard: [[spoiler:It turns out that the reason Gilbert hates Kou so much was due to him saving Gilbert from a couple of thugs during Gray Christmas]].
* TheVirus: [[spoiler:Neunzehn transferred himself into Baldr system and people like Kurihara who link up with his data will become possessed by him and might transform into Father Gregory.]]
* VisionsOfAnotherSelf: "Howlings" are visions of other worlds in the form of dreams.
* WaveMotionGun: Tranquilizer’s signature attack, which can OneHitKill.
* WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove: [[spoiler: Neunzehn was created for controlling the economy and fighting wars. He logically could not comprehend feelings like love so he rejected the brain unit that governs it. He later regrets his action and wants to connect back to that brain.]]
* WhyAmITicking: [[spoiler:Nanoha is the carrier of Assembler in most routes while Anan is in Makoto's.]]
* WithUsOrAgainstUs: Director Isao has a really bad case of "You're either with us or you're a filthy alienist" with a stubborn refusal to see shades of grey. A lot of the problems he ends up causing is due to this mindset.
* YourMindMakesItReal: Dying in cyberspace without a limiter will most likely cause brain death from the feedback.
----
YMMV
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The opening theme of ''[=Dive2=]'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Spj-CWlp6I4 "Jihad"]], is an awesome track setting things up for the conclusion of the story as well as [[spoiler:serving as the FinalBoss theme]]. It is perhaps the VN's most iconic theme.
* DemonicSpiders:
** Eisen Wolf uses many of the same moves as Kou and can combo them into one another almost seamlessly, even if you're on the ground.
** Nearly all of Shadowgigs attacks cause stun and they're almost always in groups. Have fun being stunlocked!
** Advents have passive armor, decently fast attacks, and come in groups, so trying to break through the armor of one means another is already bashing you off to the side.
* GoddamnBats:
** Ironys love to sit on the backline and just blow wind at you that does no damage but keeps you from getting close and screw up your combos.
** Eye Walker Ms are weak but try to suicide bomb you constantly
** Moha Moha will do a long lasting charge and as soon as it ends, desperately evade and drop mines that push you away.
** Narcissus will play keep away by dropping a spread of bombs that do almost no damage but push you away.
** Rapid Weiss will keep its distance, stay in the air, and constantly pelt you with stunlocking bullets that don't stop until you get knocked away or worm your way behind an obstacle.
** Scorpions are everywhere and they love to play the evasive game by dodging everywhere and constantly shooting spread bombs that blocks ranged attacks.
* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome: Fenrir's BigDamnHeroes moment in Makoto's route is something to behold as it evolves into [[BigBadassBattleSequence a giant furball that is sure to make your computer scream from all the stuff going on]] onscreen, all while a rocking soundtrack blares in the background.
* ThatOneAttack:
** Tranquilizer’s WaveMotionGun is an OneHitKill move if you don’t dodge it. This can be annoying in the final route as if your AI-controlled partner doesn’t also dodge it will cause a game over.
** [[spoiler: Neunzehn]] is already difficult as he has quick regenerating health, good short and long range attacks. But the main move that must be avoided is his OneHitKill attack where the screen fades to black as he slowly approaches you. If you were previously trapped from another one of his attack, most likely he will catch up to you and inflict several thousands of damage above your max health.
----
[[caption-width-right:350:Clockwise from the top: Makoto Minazuki, Aki Nishino, Nanoha Wakakusa, Rain Kirishima, Chinatsu Nagisa, Sora Minazuki]]
->''"The story moves violently in the interstice of the memory."''
''Baldr Sky'' is a {{cyberpunk}} VisualNovel that takes place in a world where nanotechnology has advanced greatly and that the newer generation people have brain chips, making it easy for them to connect to the virtual space net. ''Baldr Sky'' is part of Team Baldrhead’s long running series (along with ''[[VideoGame/BaldrForce Baldr Force]]'', ''Baldr Bullet'' and ''Baldr Fist''). The visual novel contains elements of [[ActionGame action gameplay]] with Kou piloting his simulacrum to fight. Unlike the majority of visual novels, every single character in the story is fully voiced.
Kou Kadokura wakes up and finds himself in a cyberspace battlefield controlling a [[HumongousMecha giant simulacrum]]. He faintly recalls going to sleep in his bed at the school dormitory, but now swarms of viruses are attacking him. He later realizes that he had just suffered a brain injury and [[EasyAmnesia lost his memories]] of the past few years. His subordinate Rain Kirishima informs him that he is a lieutenant in a mercenary group and that they were chasing after the Drexler Organization, a group believed to be responsible for the tragedy "Gray Christmas" that changed Kou’s life.
The first game is named ''Baldr Sky: "Lost Memory" [=Dive1=]'' and the second one is named ''Baldr Sky "Recordare" [=Dive2=]''. The two games together form the complete story. If both games are installed at the same time, ''[=Dive2=]'' will carry over saved data and also play the routes in ''[=Dive1=]''. There is also a fandisk named ''Baldr Sky [=DiveX=] "[=DreamWorld=]"'', which contains several short side stories including the period that Kou spent training as a mercenary. The fandisk also includes different battle modes where you can use any mecha that appears in the story.
Both ''[=Dive1=]'' and ''[=Dive2=]'' were released as a single game in English through Steam in December 2019.
----
!!''Baldr Sky'' provides examples of:
* AccidentalHero: Amazingly [[spoiler:Gilbert ends up saving Kou's mind in Sora's route thanks to his bottomless hatred for him. The same ends up holding true for his comrades as well]].
%%* AccidentalPervert: Kou was often a victim of this ever since his student days, especially with the likes of Chinatsu trying to seduce him and the childish Kuu who hugs him a lot.
* ActionGirl: Most of the female cast.
** Rain Kirishima as the partner of Kou, and during her days in Hosho.
** Chinatsu Nagisa for being physically fit for Simulacrums, and later being a soldier of GOAT.
** [[spoiler:Makoto Minazuki, who mastered Simulacrums due to her Cyberbrain Syndrome, and later as the priestess of Dominion.]]
** Shizel Steinbrecher as a mercenary working for Fenrir, led by Kou's father, Eiji Kadokura.
** [[spoiler:Sora Minazuki in World 0, in which the roles were reversed: Kou melted after the leak of Assembler, which prompted Sora to train as a mercenary.]]
* AIIsACrapshoot: Eve, the most powerful biological AI ever created by man, is suspected by anti-IA people to be responsible for Gray Christmas. On the other hand, Baldr, the most powerful mechanical AI exisiting, [[spoiler:caused people connecting to it to turn into Father Gregory.]] However, [[spoiler:it's not because of Baldr itself, but Neunzehn connecting to it long before the events of the game. In the end, the trope is subverted.]]
* AmnesiacHero: Kou wakes up in the middle of a battle against some viruses, with no memory of his life prior to it. After getting treatment from the doctor Noi, he starts to remembers bits of his student days, at varying degrees depending of the routes. [[spoiler:In Makoto and Sora's routes however, he retains his memories, accelerating the plot overall.]]
* ApocalypseHow: Regional, Societal Disruption: Assembler has caused an entire region and its surroundings to be destroyed, and changed people's opinions towards AI and nanomachines.
** [[spoiler:In Sora's route it is revealed that a Planetary Species Extinction event has occurred after the Assembler outflow with only plants and insects alive on the Earth's surface as well as various Ai Terminals. All other life has been annihilated]].
* ArmorPiercingResponse: When Kou asks Aki what she though he would do [[spoiler:if he got mad after she told him the truth of her actions with the Baldr System and what happened to Kurihara as a result]], she simply answers that she believed he would "walk away without saying a word and never contact her". Suffice to say, this hit Kou where it hurts.
* ArtificialHuman: Cloning people is stated at one point to be possible in ''Baldr Sky'', but very costly and limited to a few selected people. [[spoiler:Chinatsu has eventually her body cloned in her Good Ending.]]
* ArtificialIntelligence: A major theme in the story with an pro-AI faction and anti-AI faction having a conflict with each other.
* ArtificialLimbs: [[spoiler: Chinatsu lost most of her body during Gray Christmas.]]
* AttemptedRape: Gilbert and his group are guilty of trying to rape the heroine in several routes. It’s up to Kou to stop him before he succeeds.
** When Rain was caught by Gilbert in her route, she was planning to kill herself but Kou persuades her to wait for her rescue.
** Gibert’s group breaks into Noi’s clinic and was going to rape Nanoha, Makoto helps Kou in defeating Gilberto and Noi releases her killer robot on the group.
** Aki was kidnapped by Gilbert so she tries mentally escaping into the virtual net as Gilberto hunts for her. Kou saves Aki in cyberspace and Mohawk saves her in the physical world.
** Rain also experiences this right after Gray Christmas but she kills her assaulters.
* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: [[spoiler: What the Ark Project is said to be by giving up the human body and living as wired ghosts.]]
* AfterTheEnd: [[spoiler:Sora’s route takes place in a world where Neunzehn succeeds in wiping out humanity and the remaining people left are wired ghosts in cyberspace.]]
* BabiesEverAfter: [[spoiler:In Sora’s ending, World 1 to 5 ends with Kou and each heroine of that route at least going to have a child. World 4 specifically shows that Kou and Aki named the baby girl Sora.]]
* BadassNative: Mohawk is a Native American, and working under Fenrir, the badass moniker comes with the job. [[spoiler:Turns out to be a bit more complex. In actuality he is a designer child based on the genetic information of a long extinct tribe brought to life by a nationalist group. His genes were also altered and was raised in order to be the perfect representation of the idealized Native American warrior]].
* BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind: [[spoiler: Kou has one where he fights against a polluted copy of himself.]]
* BarBrawl: Chinatsu and [[NotSoAboveItAll Rain]] ends up kicking up a brawl between them and some GU soldiers. Kou eventually joins in as well. Ends up finally settling the animosity between them.
%%* BeamSpam: The attacks of [[spoiler:Makoto’s]] simulacrum tend to be this.
* BigBad: Albeit there are several varying antagonists depending on the routes, the most prevalent is Father Gregory.[[spoiler:Then, it's revealed in Makoto and Sora's route that he was merely a ghost of Neunzehn.]]
* BigDamnHeroes: In Makoto's route, Kou and Aki are getting overrun by viruses [[spoiler:at the sea of Es when all of a sudden Fenrir shows up turning the whole thing [[BigBadassBattleSequence into a giant furball]]]].
%%* {{BFG}}: Weapons that Kou can use include several of these.
%%* TheBigGuy: Mohawk, the Native American who happens to tower over all of the other characters.
* BittersweetEnding: The majority of the endings are this, even including the character’s "good" endings.
** Rain’s ending has [[spoiler: Kou unknowingly killing Nanoha in stopping Assembler from activating. In the ''Ghost'' ending, Kou spends the rest of his life in self-delusion.]]
** Nanoha’s ending has [[spoiler: Assembler being stopped but Chinatsu dying in an attempted kamikaze attack. In the "Dreamland" ending, Nanoha lost her body and the world war that has erupted has prevented Kou from finding a cloning facility to create a new body for Nanoha.]]
** Chinatsu’s ending has [[spoiler:Masa dying and Ark Project occurring in order to save everyone. In the ''Entwined'' ending, Kou also lost most of his body.]]
** Aki’s ending has [[spoiler: Gungnir stopped but Chinatsu is at least mentally destroyed from being connected to Tranquilizer. Dominion’s plan failed and Makoto also dies from the fight with Kou. In the ''Ark'' ending, Kou and Aki are living as wired ghosts.]]
** [[spoiler: Even Sora’s ending has humanity being revived through nanomachines but only a number of people who became wired ghosts (along with Kou and Sora) from Neunzehn’s destruction of the world can be saved. Over tens of thousands years has also passed since then so the world has changed by a lot.]]
* {{Bizarrchitecture}}: Aki’s personal room in cyberspace is surreal with things such as melting clocks.
* BlackEyesOfCrazy: While calling her crazy is a bit much, Seira for some reason have black sclera and has an air of detachment from everything around her, a result of just how closely she operates with AI's.
* BodyHorror: [[spoiler: Kou and Nanoha in ''Embrace'' ending. They are melted by Assembler, but are kept in a undying state after getting hit by Gungnir, and eventually lose their sense of self.]]
* BrainUploading: [[spoiler:The Project Ark is eventually revealed to be a huge exodus to the virtual world, triggered by Ark if humanity is doomed.]] And later in Makoto's route, it's revealed [[spoiler:Neunzehn also uploaded himself into the Baldr system, which eventually caused the events of the series.]]
* BrainInAJar: [[spoiler:In order to save Nanoha in the ''Dreamland'' ending, only her brain was preserved in a metal box connected to a virtual reality world.]]
* BrokenBird: Chinatsu became bitter after Gray Christmas, believing that Kurihara betrayed her and that the AI faction is hiding the truth from everyone.
* TheCameo: [=DiveX=] has cameo characters for battle including Kageaki Minato from ''VisualNovel/FullMetalDaemonMuramasa'' and Yukie Mayuzumi from ''VisualNovel/MajikoiLoveMeSeriously''.
* CantLiveWithoutYou: Kuu is connected to Sora and when Sora died, Kuu was supposed to disappear also. This confused Kou since Agent possesses the same ID signature as Kuu.
* ChainsawGood:
** Father Gregory can transform his hands into chainsaws in cyberspace and his simulacrum carries this ability.
** The "Iron-file" virus uses it.
** Kou may use chainsaw as an attack if he has the weapon and limit break.
** In [=DiveX=], [[spoiler: Chris]] also uses them.
* ChekhovsGunman: [[spoiler: Kou’s [=NPC=] simulacrum was used to send a help signal against Dominion in Aki’s route.]] This same character is also [[spoiler:the protagonist in Sora’s route.]]
* ChickMagnet: Kou. He already had six girls in love with him during his student days.
* ChildhoodFriends: Kou and Nanoha were friends ever since childhood, because his father was always drowned in work and he always spent time with her family instead.
* ClimacticBattleResurrection: [[spoiler:Occurs in Sora’s route where practically everyone supposedly dies but comes back at the end.]]
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Aki's mind sure doesn't seem to work like everyone else and ends up creating some really bizarre things. [[spoiler:Get's played for drama in her own route where it is revealed that she had to fight against the memories of Kou's mother due to her being Yae's clone. She becomes quite detached from reality as a result]].
* ClothingDamage: Due to an incorrect setting, after Kou beats Rain and Chinatsu in a simulacrum fight in Sora's Route, their clothes are almost completely destroyed. If Kou loses the battle, the same thing happens to him.
* CloningBlues
** [[spoiler: Aki was mistakenly thought to be a clone of Kou’s mother, thus straining her and Kou’s love relation. Aki even believes that the best method to get around this problem would be abandoning her body by following the Ark Project.]]
** [[spoiler: Noi has this hatred towards her father Neunzehn who illegally cloned her by planting his genetic information into an ovum and caused her all kinds of suffering.]]
** [[spoiler: Kou in Sora’s route becomes depress when he realized he is a [=NPC=], meaning that the real Kou can never be with Sora. He gets over it when he realizes that his existence is a linked with the every single Kou from different worlds and even has some of their memories.]]
%%* CollapsingLair: In [=DiveX=], [[spoiler: Chris invokes this when she is defeated.]]
* ControlFreak: Isao is obsessed with controlling things around him and he fears what he can't control. And if he can't control something he will go out of his way to subjugate it. Suffice to say, Rain hates him for this attitude.
* CutenessProximity: Rain can’t stop herself when she sees the kittens in Aki’s cyberspace. When the others find her in this state, she quickly blames that she was under a mental attack from the I.C.E.
* CyberneticsEatYourSoul:
** Averted with Shizel as her becoming a cyborg and being closer to machines actually brought her peace of mind.
** [[spoiler:Chinatsu]] doesn’t consider herself to be human any longer and instead to be a zombie.
** [[spoiler:Neunzehn is revealed to be this in Makoto and Sora's routes when the cast learn he's half-machine, half-human. As such, he doesn't hold humanity in high regard and is more familiar with machines.]]
* {{Cyberpunk}}: ''Baldr Sky'' depicts the events of a highly futuristic society where artificial intelligence and virtual reality became part of people's daily lives, and how they react accordingly.
* {{Cyberspace}}: The Internet in the game is a tangible, visible entity where people can walk in and move, with entire cities and countries built from the ground up.
* ADayAtTheBizarro: The joke story in [=DiveX=] where Kou's and Sora's first meeting was a CrashIntoHello in a high school comedy setting. Gregory is the school director, while Anan is a student and Isao's son. The cyberspace settings is replaced with a {{sentai}} parody with robot transformation.
* DeathByOriginStory: Sora’s death on Gray Christmas was what triggers Kou to become a mercenary.
* DelayedReaction:
** Sora had one when she first met Kuu. It took her a while to realize that Kuu has the same appearance as her.
** [[spoiler: In Aki's route, Kou also fails to recognize his own [=NPC=] simulacrum.]]
* DenOfIniquity: Kou has to infiltrate a rather unpleasant sex club used by the cities elites, filled with all kinds of unsavory people and acts, in order to try and get some dirt on Anan.
* DeusEstMachina: [[spoiler: A.I. Eve and the collective A.I. from multiple worlds, who consider Neunzehn’s actions through the multiverse to be a threat, so it create "Singularity" moments across different worlds to interfere with him. Kou’s [=NPC=] simulacrum in Sora’s route was recreated by the AIs for killing Neunzehn.]]
* DiedInYourArmsTonight:
** [[spoiler: Makoto has a vision this happening in her route when she is killed by Kou.]]
** [[spoiler: Nanoha in Sora’s route. She gets better at the end.]]
* DirtyCoward: Gilberto. Other characters have mentioned that he is best at running away.
* DistantFinale: [[spoiler:Clearing Sora's route with some additional plugins will reveal that untold centuries or even millenniums in the future, everyone managed to use Assembler to reconstruct their bodies and upload their minds to them allowing humanity to walk upon the Earth once again]].
* DitzyGenius: Aki. She's pretty much the smartest of the students, yet is incredibly lazy and unable to do mundane tasks and often Kou or Nanoha to help her.
* DivingSave: [[spoiler: In Sora’s route, Makoto pushes Kou out of Tranquilizer’s WaveMotionGun and gets hit instead.]]
* DoomedHometown: On Gray Christmas, Gungrir destroyed Kou’s hometown and school in order to stop Assembler’s damage from spreading.
* DoppelgangerAttack:
** In the last route, Father Gregory’s simulacrum can make two doppelgangers in battle. Killing a fake will just cause him to resurrect it at full health.
** [[spoiler: Neunzehn also can create one in the final battle. The real one can also quickly turn invisible to heal himself so that the player might not realize that there is a fake.]]
* DownerEnding
** [[spoiler: Nanoha’s "Embrace" ending has Assembler activating and destroying humanity.]]
** [[spoiler: Chinatsu’s "Departure" ending has the world war occurring with Chinatsu reduced to a child mentality and Kou losing his body.]]
** [[spoiler: Aki’s "Nirvana" ending has Kou and Aki never meeting again, while Kou spends the rest of his life fighting against a mentally broken Chinatsu linked to Tranquilizer.]]
** [[spoiler: Makoto’s "Object Loss" ending has Kou dying followed by Assembler activating with people becoming wired ghosts. Makoto loses her memories of Kou’s existence.]]
%%* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler: Isao when GOAT’s invasion of Ark fails.]]
* DwindlingParty: [[spoiler:The end of Sora's route involves one HeroicSacrifice after another as each and everyone of Kou's friends starts dying off to try and get him to reach Baldr. Though as it turns out, it is a good thing that DeathIsCheap for digital beings]].
* ElectronicTelepathy: Since all characters have a brain chip implanted in their body, they can communicate long distances without anyone listening to them.
* EmbarrassingCoverUp: Kou’s excuse to Nanoha about his investigation of an illegal [=NPC=] sex club is that he is a healthy man that has needs.
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: [[spoiler:Sora's route happens after a failed attempt to stop Assembler from spreading and long after the Project Ark was enacted.]]
* EnemyDetectingRadar: There's a map on the upper right corner that shows where all the enemies are.
* EnemyMine: [[spoiler:The crew form an uneasy ceasefire with Gilbert out of all people until they can manage some way to fix their current predicament. Though neither side trusts the other as far as they can throw them]].
* ExternalCombustion: Nanoha’s parents died from a car bomb, courtesy of [[spoiler:Naoki Kurihara, possessed by Neunzehn.]]
* EvilMentor: Kurihara is this to Kou as he was in charge of Assembler when Gray Christmas occurs and somehow was able to escape despite being in center of the incident. [[spoiler: He was good all along but was being controlled by Neunzehn.]]
* EvolvingAttack: Attacking gives the specific weapon some EXP and that makes it better as it use less of the {{Overheating}} Meter. Use some weapons enough times also unlocks even better attacks to use.
* TheFakeCutie: Dr Noi really likes to abuse her youthful appearance to fool others into thinking she is far younger than she actually is, often for some [[BlackComedyRape less than savory purposes]].
* FakingTheDead: Rain fakes Kou’s and her own death since the entire mercenary group they were part of was wiped out.
* {{Flashback}}: A main part of the story is told in flashbacks. Since Kou is recovering his memories, he has random flashbacks of when he was still in school.
* FountainOfYouth: Sort of. [[spoiler:After the events of her route, Chinatsu decides to have her body cloned and brain transplanted. However she refused to stay in the vat until her body had fully matured resulting in her now looking much younger than she originally did. And given that she and Kou are a couple at this point, it is quite the [[MistakenForPedophile source for misunderstandings]]]].
* FragileFlower: Nanoha tends to cry at every emotional moment.
* FutureFoodIsArtificial: Almost all of the food that is available to the characters is artificial in some way due to just how messed up their world has become.
* GambitPileup: Part of the narrative's complexity comes from there just being so many factions interlocking with their own agendas and with numerous members within those factions having additional goals on top of all those already present.
* GamerChick: Seira, who can micromanage hundreds of world civilizations at once.
* GetAHoldOfYourselfMan: Rain delivers this to Kou when he enters a HeroicBSOD from Father Gregory’s MindRape and whenever he gives up on living.
* GenkiGirl: Chinatsu and Sora, the go-getter girls of the group.
* GirlishPigtails: Sora and by extension Kuu.
* GoMadFromTheRevelation: While Gilbert was never especially stable to begin with he really goes off the deep end after learning [[spoiler:the truth that he and everyone else have become Virtual Ghosts and that the real world has been destroyed]].
* GreyGoo: The general fear of Assembler is that it will run out of control and reduce everything down to nothing but sludge. [[spoiler:In Makoto's route it happens on a smaller scale to the entire city with the only survivors being those of GOAT and Ark thanks to their reinforced buildings]].
* HarderThanHard:The game has a difficulty level going from Very Easy to Very Hard. This can simply be adjusted in the configuration menu between each battle.
** In [=DiveX=], there is the "Hell System" mode where the first 79 stages has a RankInflation that goes from F to [=SSS=]. Stage 80 has a difficulty rank of [[BeyondTheImpossible INFINITY]].
* HeroicBSOD: Kou suffered from one when he remembers Gray Christmas and that he saw Sora slowly being dissolved by Assembler.
* HeWhoMustNotBeSeen: Neunzehn[[spoiler: who is actually a being with multiple brains connected together into one and then mechanically enhanced.]]
* HiddenDepths: Underneath her rather stoic and professional façade, Rain hides a lot of emotional pain relating [[spoiler:to her mother having joined Dominion as well as her rather strained relationship with her father. She also apparently ends up hiding her nature as quite the smug troll as evident with her interactions with Chinatsu]].
* HoldTheLine: Several times in the story but especially in the mind hack moments where Kou has to prevent an invasion by a swarm of viruses from destroying several layers of protective gates.
* {{Hologram}}: Appears frequently along with HolographicTerminal.
** Kou used to have a hologram picture of Sora in his room.
** Seira projects herself a few times as a hologram.
* HumongousMecha: The large simulacra and viruses in cyberspace are treated as these.
* HyperspaceArsenal: Justified since all weapons are simply programs.
* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: For all his big talk, Gilbert is really just an insecure little boy on the inside who is severely over-compensating for his own faults to the point that he is blind to them.
* InnocentlyInsensitive: Due to his amnesia, Kou ends up hurting a lot of his former friends without meaning to which leads to a lot of friction between them. [[spoiler:This is made evident in Makoto's route where he maintains most of his memories and manages to salvage things between everyone, even the horribly jaded Chinatsu]].
%%* InsideAComputerSystem
* InterruptedSuicide:
** Isao in Makoto’s route. Makoto just wants some information from him though, but he eventually refrains from killing himself.
** Rain in [[spoiler:Sora’s route]]. [[spoiler: Rain believed that the Kou she was seeing was a trick by Father Gregory, so she planned on killing herself when she was defeated.]]
** [[spoiler: Kou and Sora in the "Eternal" ending. Sora was dying and Kou was going to disappear since the link he has with the other worlds' Kou ends when he kills Neunzehn. They decide to [[TogetherInDeath die together using a grenade.]] Kuu stops them both and they find another solution.]]
* ItsAllMyFault
** [[spoiler: Rain blames herself for Sora’s death since she believes that Sora went to Isao to request for her school transfer. This caused Sora to be near Assembler when Gray Christmas occurs.]]
** [[spoiler: Aki feels responsible for connecting Kurihara to the Baldr system.]]
** [[spoiler: Makoto also blames herself for pulling a prank on Sora that delayed her from taking a train to leave the location of Assembler. She also feels responsible for not stopping Kurihara.]]
* JokeCharacter: Since [=DiveX=] allows the player to use every single mecha that appears in the game, that includes all the weak [[{{Mooks}} viruses]]. The weakest joke mecha is that one Nanoha uses, which is really slow and two of the her three normal "attacks" involves her tripping on the ground.
* KatanasAreJustBetter: Kurihara dual wields it, both in this simulacrum and in real world. Kou also has a move where he uses iaido and in Dive X a force crash version of it.
* KillSat: Gungnir, a satellite programmed to shoot every lethal threat from outer space, witht the most famous exemple being Assembler.
* KillTheOnesYouLove: Rain's route has [[spoiler:Kou unknowingly killing Nanoha, the carrier of Assembler, by complete accident, thinking it was Gilbert.]]
* KnowledgeBroker: Eddie, the acquaintance of Kou at the beginning of the story, albeit he's always killed at the beginning of the story before he can tell Kou what's going on, [[spoiler:except in Makoto's Route where he still has his memories, and get the info early.]]
* LethalChef: Despite having good social skills, Sora is utterly horrible at cooking, and doesn't often listen to her sister's suggestions. Rain is also as bad as her. Makoto's food meanwhile is compared to something designed by Creator/HRGiger but [[SubvertedTrope apparently tastes perfectly fine]].
* LimitBreak: All characters and bosses have multiple limit breaks. In [=Dive1=], they can charge up one limit break bar. In [=Dive2=], there are two bars so the characters can use two limit breaks consecutively. Kou has over a dozen of them.
* LogicBomb: Can prove to be fatal in cyberspace. Kou’s brain chip was damaged from one and that caused to him to suffer amnesia. [[spoiler:Aki also used a Logic Bomb based on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del%27s_incompleteness_theorems Gödel's incompleteness theorems]] to disable Baldr]].
* LotusEaterMachine: Dominion believes that the entire world is a fake and that they have to return back to the real world.
%%* LovePotion: A virtual drug can be designed to have this effect. Kou has to use it to bypass security in the illegal sex [=NPC=] rooms.%%Needs to explain the drugs effects and how it was used to bypass security.
* MadScientist:
%%** Kurihara and the members of Drexler organization are called this.
** Neunzehn is known as the greatest mad scientist of the century, despite being responsible for huge technology advancements such as AI or nanomachines.
%%* MadnessMantra:
%%** [[spoiler: Makoto: If you shoot senpai,]] I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you.
%%** [[spoiler: Sora (Neunzehn)]]: Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. [[spoiler:Love.]] %%We need context regarding the situations the cause the character to break down.
* ManipulativeBastard: [[spoiler:Director Isao is very good a sweettalk and twisting the truth in order to sway others to his side, all to satisfy his paranoia and obsessive nature]].
* MatchmakerCrush: Sora originally tried to get Kou and Rain together, but she and Kou fell in love instead, albeit [[spoiler:it was caused by the feedback of Kuu at first.]]
* MatrixRainingCode: Used in the game’s opening and ending credit.
%%* MayorPain: Anan, who has been doing illegal activities and working with Dominion.
* {{Meido}}: All the heroines (except Aki) wear one a scene in [=DiveX=].
* MementoMacGuffin:
** The pendant Rain has is [[spoiler:from Kou as an apology for breaking Rain’s gift pendant.]] In virtual space, the pendant acts as a self destruct mechanism.
** The pendant Sora got from Kou [[spoiler:was originally suppose to be Rain’s gift to Kou. The pendant appears in the hands of Agent and acts as a quantum dice that detects what world it she is in.]]
* {{Miko}}: Dominion has a priestess that directly acts under Father Gregory.
* MindRape: Father Gregory uses the characters most emotional moments against them.
** For Kou, he uses [=NPCs=] of Sora.
** For Rain, he uses [=NPC=] of her mother.
** Gregory also uses a mental trap program "Enchanter" that shows the person the illusion of their worst nightmares.
* MultinationalTeam: The mercenary group Fenrir is composed by quite the wide range of individuals from all over the world. Of the named ones, apart from the Japanese Eiji, there is the Native American Mohawk and the South American Shizel.
* MultipleEndings: There are different endings depending on choices Kou makes, on time it takes for specific battle and the victory/defeat outcome of major boss fight. The titles of the good endings are the heroine’s name.
** Rain has a good ending and "Ghost" ending that depends on the choice of whether [[spoiler: Kou struggles to survive or gives up trying to escape.]]
** Nanoha has a time specified battle when Kou has to rush to save Nanoha. Taking more than three minutes in the battle will lock out the good ending and lead to the "Dreamland" ending. Taking more than five minutes causes a NonstandardGameOver. Finally, losing the final battle gives the "Embrace" ending.
** Chinatsu has one divergence path choice that leads to "Departure" ending[[spoiler: if Kou doesn’t believe in Agent’s actions]]. Choosing the other path leads to the good ending or "Connected Machine" ending depending of if Kou wins the last battle.
** Aki has a good, "Ark" and "Nirvana" ending. Good ending occurs if Kou fights a time specific battle as fast as possible before [[spoiler: GOAT prevents them from gathering information]] and an important choice of [[spoiler: accepting Aki as she is]]. Otherwise it leads to the "Ark" ending. "Nirvana" ending occurs if [[spoiler: Kou loses to Tranquilizer or Isao]].
** Makoto only has a good ending and "Object Lost" ending that depend on the final battle.
** [[spoiler: Sora only has one ending but she has an extended "Eternal" ending that shows more on the multiple worlds ending on a happier note.]]
* TheMultiverse: [[spoiler: Neunzehn and Sora have been struggling against each other in influencing parallel worlds. Originally, all worlds where Kou survives Gray Christmas end with Assembler activating and killing humanity. So Sora tries to send instructions to a revived Kuu who takes the name of Agent to save Kou. Worlds 1 to 5 (the other heroines’ routes) are results of the battle. In Sora’s route, Kou becomes a being similar to Agent in sending messages to himself in other worlds to make a better ending.]]
%%* MysteriousWaif: Agent.
* {{Nanomachines}}: The technology is advanced enough to that it can accomplish things ranging from human cloning and slow body repairing.
%%* NaughtyTentacles: Gilberto releases this on Rain and Kou has to rush through several battles to save her.
* NeuralImplanting: Having a brain chip in the human body allows characters to transfer documents and programs. There are even virtual drugs that simulate the effects of being drunk and [[LovePotion being in love.]]
* NeverGetsDrunk: Thanks to her cyborg body, [[spoiler:Chinatsu]] can chug down bottles of vodka without any trouble. Or so she says at least.
* NewGamePlus: Beating one route carries over all the weapons levels, force and plug-ins that the player acquired.
* NonPlayerCharacter
** Kuu is a [=NPC=] that took the appearance of Sora. Her data was later used by Ark to mass produce other [=NPCs=].
** [[spoiler: There is a [=NPC=] that took Kou’s appearance. Aki had to freeze him up because he was trying to hit on random girls.]]
* NoSocialSkills: Aki, big time. She cannot talk easily to people and doesn't know how real life works despite being a genius in programming.
* KissingCousins: Kou and Aki are second cousins and can be a potential couple. [[spoiler:It gets weirder when it's revealed she's actually a clone made from the cells of Kou's mother, Seira Tachibana and their father.]]
* NoWarpingZone: In cyberspace, characters can instantly "move" to any location they want unless there is a restriction placed in that area.
* NotSoAboveItAll: [[spoiler:Seira is for the most part almost completely unflappable and has a constant air of artificiality and detachment around her, and yet at the end of Aki's route where she get's herself a new body she is shown to be not that different from Aki. The shear absurdity of her behavior compared to her usual demeanor is enough to send both Kou and Aki into uncontrollable laughter]].
* TheNudifier: Father Gregory drops Aki into a mysterious pool of liquid that dissolves clothing.
* PistolWhipping: Mohawk does a pistol whip with a bazooka out of all things, using it as a bat.
* OedipusComplex: [[spoiler: Neunzehn was said to have this feeling towards Kou’s mother and Sora.]]
%%* OfficialCouple: Kou and Sora, in their student days.
* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: Eiji takes down an entire platoon during the illegal [=NPC=] sex club raid.
* OlderThanTheyLook: None of the characters look any older than they did in the flashback of during the school days but the worst cases are Noi and Makoto.
* OminousPipeOrgan: Used for Father Gregory and Dominion.
* OmnicidalManiac: [[spoiler:Neunzehn was tasked in the past to create world peace and save the planet from destruction, and eventually came to the conclusion that killing mankind is the best and fastest way to do so.]]
* OneManArmy:
** Eiji Kadokura, as seen in Aki's route when he personally destroys numerous simlacrums to rescue his son.
** Kou also qualifies as he personally takes down numerous viruses by himself in several battles.
* OneGameForThePriceOfTwo: [=Dive1=] contains the first three routes of the story, while [=Dive2=] contains the last three. To be fair, [=Dive1=] and [=Dive2=] are very long and each takes more time to complete than a typical visual novel.
* OurSoulsAreDifferent: Humans have wired ghosts that separate them from [=NPC=] in cyberspace.
* {{Overheating}}: Kou’s simulacrum can continue to use different weapons in a combo until his Overheat Meter is filled up. Then he has to wait for the meter to fall back to zero. {{Limit Break}}s can go over the meter and there is one limit break that allows Kou to continue using weapons even pass the meter.
* PaperThinDisguise: It is clearly obvious that Makoto is Dominion’s miko, but Kou doesn’t figure it out until her route when she is unmasked.
* ParentalAbandonment:
** Kou’s father stopped visiting him after his mother died.
** Rain thought that her mother was killed by her father Isao and their relation has been strained ever since. [[spoiler: Isao was willing to let Rain die just to succeed in invading Ark.]]
** Nanoha’s parents died from a car bomb.
* ParentalIncest: [[spoiler: While Aki is not a clone of Kou’s mother, Kou slept with Aki believing that she was one.]]
* PiggybackCute:
** Kou gave one to Rain (whom he thought was Sora) when she injured her leg after Gray Christmas. He couldn’t see so Rain used neurojack for him to look through her eyes.
** In Rain’s good ending, their positions are reversed where Kou injured his legs and Rain used his eyes to see.
** In [=DiveX=], Kou gives one to Rain [[spoiler: in World 7, after Rain was injured from Chris’ collapsing lair.]]
* PlayfulHacker: Rain is a great hacker, but Makoto is even better as she can easily break in any location due to her Electronic Brain Syndrome.
* PointBuildSystem: The "Force" credits that you get from battle lets you buy weapons and plug-ins such as higher health.
* PowerTrio: Kou, Chinatsu and Masa in the flashbacks. They participated as a team in a simulacrum tournament.
* PrettyLittleHeadshots: The US Assembly member will die from this kind of headshot even if Kou saves him from the mind hack.
* PsychicLink:
** [[spoiler: Kou and his [=NPC=] simulacrum have a link that that he used in Aki’s route when Dominion blocked his ElectronicTelepathy. Kou made his [=NPC=] sent the distress signal instead.]]
** In [=DiveX=], it shows that Sora also has this link with Kuu when she can feel where Kuu exactly is.
* TheQuietOne: Makoto rarely talks in full sentences, if at all, and the times she does talk she does it with a very quiet voice. Apparently she has trouble putting her thoughts into words. Online however [[MotorMouth this changes drastically]].
%%* ReligionOfEvil: Dominion
* ReflectiveEyes: [[spoiler: In Sora’s route, it is used in one of Kou’s dream to show that perspective was from Sora and not Kou.]]
%%* RepetitiveName: Gilbert Gilberto
* ReplacementGoldfish:
** After Gray Christmas, Kou suffers a head injury, causing him to be unable to use his eyes and ears. He mistook Rain for Sora when Rain used neurojack to help him.
** [[spoiler: In "Ghost" ending, Kou again believes that Rain is Sora and forgets about Rain’s existence. Rain goes along with this because she loves him so much that she just wants to be with him.]]
* {{Retraux}}: Aki’s personal level in cyberspace resembles old 8-bit games.
* TheReveal: [[spoiler:It is eventually revealed that Father Gregory is actually an alternate digital version of Kurihara]].
* RunningGag: The VN has a recurring joke with people not knowing that the door to the dorm is manual rather than automatic, leading them to walk face first into it.
%%* SayMyName: Soraaa!
* SchrodingersButterfly: Mentioned a few times in the story. Several places in the virtual net resemble real life so much that some characters question if the their world is real. [[spoiler: In Sora's Route, it took Kou a while to realize that he was trapped in cyberspace.]]
* SealedWithAKiss:
** Rain’s "Ghost" ending, doubling up as a[[spoiler: sad reveal that the Sora Kou sees is Rain.]]
** [[spoiler: Kou and Sora in the "Eternal" end.]]
* SecondLove: Since Kou’s first true love is Sora, any other girl he ends up with is this.
* SenseLossSadness: As a result of her cyborg body, [[spoiler:Chinatsu]] have had most of her senses dulled or outright missing. [[spoiler:That is until it is revealed that it is not a fault of her body at all as it should have all the functions of a normal human body, but rather is some kind of mix between a psychological issue and some kind of hidden fault of her original body, i.e. her brain]].
* {{Sexbot}}: The pirate [=NPCs=] that were illegally created from Kuu’s data. Therefore this annoys Kou since they look like Sora.
* ShortRangeLongRangeWeapon: Mohawk at one point decides to use a bazooka against Gilbert at point blank range. The later is quick to point out that using it at such close range will most likely kill both him and the nearby Aki as well. Mohawk simply responds with that he doesn't care. [[spoiler:He then proceeds to [[PistolWhipping smack Gilbert with it like a bat]] before revealing that it was out of ammo]].
%%* ShrinkingViolet: Makoto as a result of her Cybernetics Ego Boundary Disorder. She is more talkative in cyberspace.
* SinisterMinister: Father Gregory, the main villain of the game, is a priest attempting to destroy the world in order to reach the "true world", believing the current one to be fake, and consider the AI as gods.
* SinisterScythe:
** The "Sentence" virus use one.
** One of Kou’s weapon and limit break.
** [[spoiler: Sora's and Kuu's simulacra use a bow-like weapon that also acts as a scythe.]]
* SkippableBoss: All battles can be skipped in the game.
* SleepyHead: Aki, who can fall asleep while even standing.
* SpiderTank: Tranquilizer
* SpinAttack:
** The "Clown" virus uses this attack.
** Kou has a limit break where he swings around a laser sword.
* SpitTake: In Sora's route Noi gives Kou some food and a beer after he wakes up from [[spoiler:retrieving data about Neunzehn]], Siera's hologram suddenly shows up right before him, the surprise of which causes him to spit beer all over.
* SplitPersonality: [[spoiler:Kurihara and Makoto in Sora's route show signs of this but it they were really being controlled by Neunzehn.]]
* StarCrossedLovers: [[spoiler:Sora believes this is the relationship she has with Kou. In the worlds that Kou doesn’t die on Gray Christmas, she dies instead. She tried searching for a world where she and Kou are together, but did not find one. It’s not until World 7 and the Eternal ending that this becomes subverted.]]
* StealthHiBye: Agent, who randomly appears and disappears in front of Kou.
* SubordinateExcuse: Rain is following Kou because she loves him.
* SuperStrength: Thanks to her cyborg body [[spoiler:Chinatsu]] is effortlessly able to do things such as lifting entire cars.
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: After the rather young looking Nanoha learns that the much older looking Rain is just one year older than her, it leads to the following line after the latter asks what's wrong:
-->"N-No! Not at all! Certainly not experiencing crushing despair over [[ACupAngst the difference in out assets]] despite us only being one year apart! No ma'am!"
* SympathyForTheDevil: [[spoiler:In Sora's route when Kou tells Gilbert the truth about their situation, he can't help but feel bad when even such an absolute bastard such as him [[ThisCannotBe is so distraught]] by their current state]].
* TakingTheBullet: In [=DiveX=], Marcus who was mercenary in Kou’s group took the hit for Kou and died instead. This caused Kou to realize he was too soft in battle and he stopped showing mercy.
* TalkingToThemself: [[spoiler: In Sora’s route, almost everyone thought Kou was talking to himself but he was actually talking to Kuu.]]
* TechnoWizard: The appropriately named Wizards, people with extraordinary computer skills that seems to work near literal magic, Aki being one such Wizard.
* TimeStandsStill: Occurs several times on the virtual net where every single AI freezes up.
* TitleDrop: "Baldr Sky" is[[spoiler: the keyword that Kurihara used for the nanomachine capsule that he gave to Kou. When the keyword is stated, it provides data about the restoration program for the Assembler.]]
* TheseHandsHaveKilled: In ''[=DiveX=]'', Kou was depressed since the first person he ever killed was a girl younger than him.
* ThreeQuartersView: The gameplay part of the visual novel is from this perspective.
* TimedMission: Some missions have a hidden timer that might trigger a game over if the limit is passed. Taking too long on specific important battles will result in the normal ending instead of the good ending for Nanoha’s and Aki’s route.
* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler: Kou in Sora’s route is actually the [=NPC=] that Aki created and doesn’t have a wired ghost. The real Kou died on Gray Christmas in that world.]]
* TomatoSurprise: [[spoiler: Sora was the brain unit that controls Neunzehn’s emotions and therefore in a sense, is Neunzehn. It is not possible to separate to her from Neunzehn since they merged completely.]]
* TwoSiblingsInOne: [[spoiler:Sora and Kuu merged into one in "Eternal" end since Sora’s body could not be recovered from being part of Neunzehn.]]
* UndercoverAsLovers: Depending on route, Kou goes undercover with Rain, Chinatsu or Aki during the illegal [=NPC=] sex club to infiltrate without being noticed.
* UngratefulBastard: [[spoiler:It turns out that the reason Gilbert hates Kou so much was due to him saving Gilbert from a couple of thugs during Gray Christmas]].
* TheVirus: [[spoiler:Neunzehn transferred himself into Baldr system and people like Kurihara who link up with his data will become possessed by him and might transform into Father Gregory.]]
* VisionsOfAnotherSelf: "Howlings" are visions of other worlds in the form of dreams.
* WaveMotionGun: Tranquilizer’s signature attack, which can OneHitKill.
* WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove: [[spoiler: Neunzehn was created for controlling the economy and fighting wars. He logically could not comprehend feelings like love so he rejected the brain unit that governs it. He later regrets his action and wants to connect back to that brain.]]
* WhyAmITicking: [[spoiler:Nanoha is the carrier of Assembler in most routes while Anan is in Makoto's.]]
* WithUsOrAgainstUs: Director Isao has a really bad case of "You're either with us or you're a filthy alienist" with a stubborn refusal to see shades of grey. A lot of the problems he ends up causing is due to this mindset.
* YourMindMakesItReal: Dying in cyberspace without a limiter will most likely cause brain death from the feedback.
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* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The opening theme of ''[=Dive2=]'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Spj-CWlp6I4 "Jihad"]], is an awesome track setting things up for the conclusion of the story as well as [[spoiler:serving as the FinalBoss theme]]. It is perhaps the VN's most iconic theme.
* DemonicSpiders:
** Eisen Wolf uses many of the same moves as Kou and can combo them into one another almost seamlessly, even if you're on the ground.
** Nearly all of Shadowgigs attacks cause stun and they're almost always in groups. Have fun being stunlocked!
** Advents have passive armor, decently fast attacks, and come in groups, so trying to break through the armor of one means another is already bashing you off to the side.
* GoddamnBats:
** Ironys love to sit on the backline and just blow wind at you that does no damage but keeps you from getting close and screw up your combos.
** Eye Walker Ms are weak but try to suicide bomb you constantly
** Moha Moha will do a long lasting charge and as soon as it ends, desperately evade and drop mines that push you away.
** Narcissus will play keep away by dropping a spread of bombs that do almost no damage but push you away.
** Rapid Weiss will keep its distance, stay in the air, and constantly pelt you with stunlocking bullets that don't stop until you get knocked away or worm your way behind an obstacle.
** Scorpions are everywhere and they love to play the evasive game by dodging everywhere and constantly shooting spread bombs that blocks ranged attacks.
* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome: Fenrir's BigDamnHeroes moment in Makoto's route is something to behold as it evolves into [[BigBadassBattleSequence a giant furball that is sure to make your computer scream from all the stuff going on]] onscreen, all while a rocking soundtrack blares in the background.
* ThatOneAttack:
** Tranquilizer’s WaveMotionGun is an OneHitKill move if you don’t dodge it. This can be annoying in the final route as if your AI-controlled partner doesn’t also dodge it will cause a game over.
** [[spoiler: Neunzehn]] is already difficult as he has quick regenerating health, good short and long range attacks. But the main move that must be avoided is his OneHitKill attack where the screen fades to black as he slowly approaches you. If you were previously trapped from another one of his attack, most likely he will catch up to you and inflict several thousands of damage above your max health.
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