Line #106 DarthWiki/DreamlessDrifter


1	placeholder when I decide to actually type this up
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4	!This series will never provide examples of:
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6	* ActionGirl: Ellen is remarkably great at escaping a number of assailants and captors!
7	* ActionSurvivor: Finn. Not MadeOfIron, [[spoiler: not a RidiculouslyHumanRobot, and not a VampireRefugee]] out of the four playable characters and has very little health to start with as a result (288, only slightly higher than Jack's 272 hit points), and isn't handy with any sort of weaponry to start with.
8	* AlternateUniverse: Of [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/DarthWiki/PMC PMC]].
9	* ApocalypseHow: The worst endings. [[spoiler: In Finn's scenario, killing Erin triggers the Crystal to recreate the planet...well knowing that it doesn't have enough power to actually pull off the recreation part, leaving Earth a ball of dust and water. In Alvin's scenario, Kyle reveals that it is too late, he's already activated the planet's ancient defense mechanisms, and Alvin goes back to the surface to witness everyone dying by fire courtesy of the doomsday devices.]]
10	* AntiHero: Pretty much every protagonist with the exception of Finn and the unplayable Ellen and Wolf.
11	* ArcWords: The title words pop in Jack's head before he figures out what it actually means. [[spoiler: It's Erin's real name.]]
12	** [[{{Narm}} "Here comes the pretzels."]]
13	** "Nothing beats ''the real thing''!" [[spoiler: This actually refers to child prostitution.]]
14	** "''i'm hungry...''"
15	* BlackAndGreyMorality
16	* BossInMookClothing: Wraiths. Kill you in one hit unless you're [[MadeOfIron Alvin]], and are extremely hard to hit.
17	** DemonicSpiders: And their weaker cousins, feral Wraiths.
18	* BulletHell: A variant; the ridiculous amount of fire is due to the extremely high fire rate of the enemy, not the result of any intricate patterns.
19	* CharacterLevel: Takes the form of skills, stat points, and perks instead of a discrete level. Regardless, completing a mission will raise maximum health and grant a new perk.
20	* ChildrenAreInnocent: [[spoiler: The reasoning why they can become programmable Wraiths.]]
21	* [[spoiler: ChildSoldiers]]: Where do military Wraiths come from? [[spoiler: Scarlet-infected children being forced into sex slavery.]]
22	* CrapsackWorld
23	* CriticalHit: A perk allows Finn, Terry, and Jack to land these based on the amount of time they've been exposed to combat, and after a certain amount of time in combat (without extended periods of time out of it) they start dealing ridiculous amounts of damage. This gives the player incentive to play offensively. A perk for Alvin is the inverse of this, taking even less damage the longer he stays in combat.
24	* CuckoosNest / DarkWorld: Jack starts out in one. [[spoiler: All the demons who are attacking him in there are actually people not actually doing anything to him, and while killing them will get you out of it, you'll wake up in the real world with corpses around you.]]
25	* DeadPersonImpersonation: Jack C. Denton is [[spoiler: the third victim of the car crash that claimed Terry and her boyfriend and is actually dead. "Jack" is just taking up his name after stealing his wallet and set of pictures from the morgue because his real name, Kyle, drives him insane each time he remembers it. This poses problems later, when a group of the real Jack's friends meets him and has to claim to not remember who they are. This gets even more problematic when [[TheMafia the]] [[TheMafiya mobs]] track him down.]]
26	** This takes an even weirder turn when [[spoiler: Erin becomes sealed into his crystal by the BigBad, and as a result the real Jack manifests into reality. Though that isn't exactly the [[DrivenToMadness strangest]] [[ChaosArchitecture thing]] to [[ZombieApocalypse happen]] at that point.]]
27	* DefectorFromDecadence: Wolf [[spoiler: as well as Alvin and his F Company unit, should you choose to go for the better endings in his scenario.]]
28	* DrugsAreBad: Sometimes averted, sometimes played straight. Marijuana raises Jack's stability and increases Finn's health regeneration rate, but hamstrings their accuracy and agility for the next couple of hours. Alcohol, heroin, and ecstacy don't do anything good. [[FantasticDrug Bluelit and Redac]] will heal, but at a heavy sanity cost for Jack (and if playing on Harder or higher as Finn, they don't work). Cocaine makes you move like a maniac, but good luck hitting anything. PCP has you take less damage against everything but high caliber magnum bullets and shotgun shells, but you hallucinate like crazy. It is also possible to OD on any of the "conventional" drugs except marijuana and die. The other two characters just refuse to take drugs.
29	* DynamicDifficulty: Your Mission Score is directly proportional to how aggressively [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain racists]][=/=][[OurZombiesAreDifferent feral wraiths]][=/=][[CorruptCorporateExecutive corporate goons]][=/=][[CuckoosNest your own mind]] tries to kill you. If you're playing Ranked or Special, it is also directly proportional to how much damage you take as well. Jack taking more damage the longer he stays out of the CuckoosNest is also a mild example.
30	* EarnYourHappyEnding: In ''spades''. The game being NintendoHard when aiming for the GoldenEnding also serves as a meta-example.
31	* EldritchAbomination: The Dreaming Drifter. [[spoiler: It's Ellen's crystal and real name, created out of esper magic. Its purpose? Complete and utter annihilation of all organic life where it's activated. She and her twin brother actually ESCAPED from the EvilEmpire long before the events of the story to prevent themselves from being used as weapons for planetary colonization ''again'', and have been living a FateWorseThanDeath on Earth, being recreated over and over again each time they die.]]
32	* EngineeredPublicConfession: [[spoiler: You can come across one of Senator Murdoch's snuff tapes. It is possible to hijack the airwaves and broadcast it for all areas within signal to see. The next day? News crew comes in, and as they do he [[KarmicDeath performs a Hemingway]].]]
33	* EverybodysDeadDave: Want the better endings as Alvin? [[spoiler: You'll have to condemn the rest of your entire unit to be shot down mercilessly by the [[ScaryDogmaticAliens "alien"]] EvilEmpire.]]
34	* FantasticDrug: Redac and Bluelit. The former is an incredibly potent stimulant, the latter leaves the user [[AndIMustScream unable to act]] while being forced into enjoying everything that happens to them. Redac isn't used much for other things than recreational purposes, but Bluelit was used for extremely pleasant things such as [[spoiler: date rape, torture, child prostitution, and creating obedient Wraiths out of children (some of whom were aforementioned child prostitutes.)]]
35	** And the beneficial effects? Those are a result of them working completely differently to certain individuals. [[spoiler: Those who have become Wraiths.]]
36	* GhostInTheMachine
37	* GoldenEnding: Your reward for HundredPercentCompletion.
38	* HalfIdenticalTwins: Erin and Ellen
39	* HarderThanHard: FUCK, indeed.
40	* HarmfulToMinors: Oh dear. [[spoiler: Erin sells his body because he's been used to it for years as a child prostitute and being one in every past iteration of the world. That's not counting the sudden spike in (both involuntary and voluntary) child prostitution.]]
41	* HatePlague: Scarlet - the symptoms only appear after a subject's dopamine levels completely fail, though. Those infected are completely normal otherwise.
42	* HeelRealization: [[spoiler: Alvin finds out that the military has adopted the use of their own wraiths. When he finds out [[HeroicBSOD how they're made]]...]]
43	* HitboxDissonance
44	* HollywoodCyborg: Subverted. [[spoiler: Terry is actually a RidiculouslyHumanRobot controlled by her brain from miles away, and Wolf's cybernetic enhancements cause his muscles to undergo severe stress.]]
45	* HollywoodHealing: Averted. All four characters need to rest [[spoiler: or be maintained in Terry's case]] to restore any health, and it's only a small amount (fifteen percent, tops.) Jack doesn't even have this, which means what little health you have to start with has to last the whole game, and using certain drugs to heal yourself will reduce your SanityMeter, and there's limited opportunities to raise it back up. This seems like it might make things {{Unwinnable}} if you sink below a critical amount of health, but every attack is designed to be avoidable and failing that you're given the option to refill your health at the cost of [[ContinuingIsPainful losing all your extra inventory]] when you restart a mission after failing.
46	* HundredPercentCompletion: The criteria of which has a different definition; obtaining this is actually judged by your Mission Score, which also has a KarmaMeter component. Doing (or not doing) specific things will lower the KarmaMeter and thus will lower your Mission Score.
47	* {{Hypocrite}}: Erotic media with fictional children are banned, but the very same legislators that passed such bills [[spoiler: employ the services of child prostitutes.]]
48	* ICannotSelfTerminate: Played with. [[spoiler: In one of the worst endings, despite the Crystal telepathically telling Finn to kill Erin, the human Erin himself does not want to be killed because he knows it will kill off humanity, but the Crystal wanted it to happen because being part of the EvilEmpire's army is a worse fate for humanity than extinction.]]
49	* IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels:
50	** Normal: Default game rules, difficulty is preset for each stage of the game.
51	** Ranked: Default game rules, except that a DynamicDifficulty system is present based on Mission Rank and the minimum is clamped to Normal difficulty presets.
52	** Harder: You no longer obtain any stat points, all optional mission objectives become required to progress, and a specific unique [[PlotCouponThatDoesSomething plot based handicap]] is placed on the character of the scenario you're playing.
53	*** Jack: The Stability penalty for taking the [[FantasticDrug two widespread designer drugs]] to heal yourself doubles each use, and you cannot get any of your usual psychiatric medication, which means you have to rely on the heavily-controlled and rare marijuana to raise your SanityMeter by items.
54	*** Terry: Collateral damage will cost you.
55	*** Finn: You are also immune to the beneficial effects of both [[FantasticDrug designer drugs]] on top of your immunity to their detrimental effects.
56	*** Alvin: [[HostageSpiritLink You lose maximum hit points permanently when squad mates or innocent civilians die.]]
57	** Harder++: On top of the Harder rule set, the DynamicDifficulty system in Ranked also applies, where the minimum is clamped to the Harder difficulty presets.
58	** Realistic: On top of the Harder rule set, the damage scale to the player and their allies is raised to the damage scale the Mooks take.
59	** Special: SillinessSwitch. Also has the Harder++ rule set.
60	** [[HarderThanHard FUCK]]: On top of the Special ruleset and game changes, every enemy is MadeOfExplodium and will explode upon death, causing damage to anyone in the vicinity, including you.
61	* ImAHumanitarian: Jack gets hungry, sometimes. [[spoiler: Because he sees real food as a blur and toxic. If you don't figure out how to fix this [[GuideDangIt (and on your first playthrough you certainly won't)]], you'll be treated to a lovely sequence for the next person he kills: he munches on their corpse.]]
62	* InfinityPlusOneSword: Found for each character on the way to the GoldenEnding, except for Jack, who gets a BagOfSpilling for his troubles instead.
63	* InterfaceScrew: A low Stability level for Jack will do this.
64	* KobayashiMario: Arcade Mode. A selection of action-based missions from all four scenarios, and endlessly loops until the player dies. Ellen and Wolf are playable in this mode.
65	* LastOfTheirKind: [[spoiler: Erin and Ellen]]
66	* LightningBruiser: Terry.
67	* LivingWeapon: Those damned crystals.
68	* MadeOfIron: Unlike the other characters, Alvin does not take any permament damage ''until'' he is knocked down. Unfortunately, he cannot be helped back up by allies, but that's mitigated by being able to get back up by himself.
69	* TheMafiya: [[CrapsackWorld You know things are pretty bad]] [[BlackAndGreyMorality when they're the good guys.]]
70	* MagikarpPower: Being able to take Redac and Bluelit. The former gives you a resistance to pain and a flat 10% health bonus, the latter clears all poisons, wounds, and injuries, but both drive you further into the CuckoosNest. Later in the game, this doesn't turn out to be as bad a thing [[spoiler: because Jack later is able to see people that should be killed mercilessly [[DetectEvil as glowing white]] while in the CuckoosNest. Just don't make a habit out of it]].
71	* MeaningfulName: F Company, Alvin's unit. [[ThisIsGonnaSuck It doesn't stand for Foxtrot.]]
72	* MercyKill: [[spoiler: Wolf asks this of Jack, after a failed mission that left him and Terry mutilated. Not doing so just causes him to blow himself up with a grenade.]]
73	** [[spoiler: In the version of the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon leading to the GoldenEnding (which requires you to perform said MercyKill), though, he gets better much to the bewilderment of Alvin and Jack. He also pulls off a BigDamnHeroes moment when Jack and Erin attempt to escape.]]
74	* MightyGlacier: Wolf.
75	* MoreDakka: Terry's approach to combat. [[GunsAkimbo Dual pistols]] -> dual [=SMGs=] -> dual ''assault rifles'' -> dual ''machine guns''
76	** And her partner, Wolf, one-ups her permanently with a [[GatlingGood minigun]].
77	* MultipleEndings (Four for each character. Finn and Alvin's endings run [[ShootTheShaggyDog the]] [[BittersweetEnding whole]] [[EverybodyLives gamut]], but there's a limit to how bad things can get for [[ShootTheShaggyDog Terry]] and [[BittersweetEnding Jack]].)
78	* MustMakeAmends: [[spoiler: Erin tries this over the entirety of the time period after stabbing Jack out of fear and creating [[SuperpoweredEvilSide something else entirely]]. It doesn't work.]]
79	* NecessarilyEvil: Jack. [[spoiler: The real one, that is. He was keeping the various criminal organizations in check with regards to distribution of the virulently popular [[FantasticDrug designer drugs]] as well as making their distribution more efficient. When [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Terry kills him in a car crash]], after a very short while their greed goes unchecked and flares up wars between the crime syndicates.]]
80	* NewGamePlus: Completing a scenario with the GoldenEnding will allow other characters to be played, inheriting 2/3 of the previous character's stat and skill points (if playing on Harder or Realistic, you will instead be given 3 more stat points to spend to start with), with certain global mission objectives completed and people already saved...but depending on which characters are played, this can be used against the player. Advice: Don't save Jack's scenario for last. (This option isn't available if you're playing on Ranked, Special, and FUCK modes, because of the difficulty mechanic.)
81	* [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]: Half of the game's plot would not have happened if it weren't for this trope.
82	** Nice job getting into an argument with your boyfriend and [[spoiler: killing yourself, your boyfriend, and the only guy keeping the crime syndicates from acting up for control over Bluelit production and distribution]], Terry.
83	** Nice job spreading Bluelit all across the country, [[spoiler: Jack. No, not the guy posing as him, but you, Jack.]]
84	** Nice job stabbing Jack, [[spoiler: Erin. He was only trying to protect you [[PsyhoSupporter the only way he thinks he could]], and now [[SuperpoweredEvilSide half of him feels nothing but misery and hate]]. Maybe it's for the better, though, as that's the thing keeping him from becoming a full-blown Wraith, but it was the stabbing that drove Jack to become one in the first place. Hoo boy.]]
85	** I don't know where I'm going to start with you, Alvin. [[spoiler: All those children in the desert? You couldn't figure out exactly what happened to them until Wolf had to point it out to you, in which you went completely bonkers until [[GetAholdOfYourselfMan he slapped some sense into you]].]]
86	*** I don't think your brother wanted to come back to his family in the first place, else [[spoiler: he wouldn't have shot himself in the mouth and driven a bullet-sized fissure through his brain.]]
87	** Nice job saving the planet from [[spoiler: the ScaryDogmaticAliens, guys. They're so sore from getting their asses kicked that they called in so many of their friends that your planet can't handle them!]]
88	* NintendoHard: Yes, an action [=RPG=] that is NintendoHard instead of laughably easy like the norm.
89	* NoGearLevel: Finn and Jack are forced into this against their [[TrueFinalBoss true final boss fights]] thanks to the BagOfSpilling. Not so bad for Finn, since his [[InfinityPlusOneSword brand new machete]] kills everything (even EliteMooks) in one swing, but Jack's shiv...not so much.
90	* NonstandardGameOver: Have a mission score below 80 as Terry or have a mission score below 90 as Jack before the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon. Also attainable by dying in the CuckoosNest or taking too much Bluelit or Redac.
91	** As Finn, let [[spoiler: Ellen be sealed into her crystal. There's a good reason why you shouldn't let anyone wake the Dreaming Drifter...]]
92	* OccidentalOtaku: Partially responsible for the amount of WrongGenreSavvy Ellen exhibits.
93	* OneBulletClips: Hilariously averted. Reloading will cause you to lose whatever ammo remains in the magazine.
94	* OurZombiesAreDifferent
95	* OverratedAndUnderleveled: ''Epic'' aversion in the case of [[spoiler: the [[TheAce real Jack]]. He starts with a large amount of skill points (almost enough to level every weapon and misc. skill up to 4 out of 5) and near-perfect stats. To sweeten the deal, you can actually switch to him on the fly in "Jack"'s scenario, unlike other [=NPCs=]. You'll need to, given how NintendoHard it is.]]
96	* PainfullySlowProjectile: Deliberately enforced on the enemies to avoid FakeDifficulty.
97	* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Multiple examples.
98	** [[RightWingMilitiaFanatic The Shining Revolution.]] The only people raising one finger against them? [[BlackAndGreyMorality Street gangs.]]
99	** Senator Murdoch's hard anti-gay stance ([[spoiler: and eventually, anti-interracial marriage stance]]) is only chump change for the rest of his horrible actions, such as [[spoiler: filming personal snuff films with teenage girls as the stars.]] One of the (optional) objectives has you lead him to his well-deserved KarmicDeath.
100	** [[spoiler: It looks as if the agents of the]] [[spoiler: EvilEmpire]] [[spoiler: are about to be an aversion of this, but then the BigBad of the story blurts out a crack at Erin being useless to his dead race by virtue of being homosexual in front of Jack.]] [[spoiler: [[BerserkButton Guess what happens...]]]]
101	* PreserveYourGays: In the [[BittersweetEnding good-but-not-perfect]] ending, all significant heterosexual characters in a relationship have died or driven mad by the end of the story, and all of the homosexual characters are more or less intact in both body and mind (except for Jack or Erin, depending on how you handle things in the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon.)
102	* PsychoSerum: The plant which Redac is made from. Which has a very [[ShoutOut familiar]] [[VideoGame/CaveStory appearance]]...
103	* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: [[spoiler: Erin and Ellen. Their crystal forms, that is.]]
104	* ResetButton: [[spoiler: And it's out of charge.]]
105	* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized: Combine with PowderKegCrowd for massive carnage]]!
106	* RevolversAreJustBetter: Averted, for game balance. They are more accurate and more powerful per shot than regular pistols, but they can only be loaded one bullet at a time slowly (slower than even a shotgun.)
107	* RippleEffectProofMemory: Partially averted. [[spoiler: Erin and Ellen as crystals do remember everything, but when their human forms are rebuilt, they remember everything but not how they felt.]]
108	* SanityMeter: Jack has this. Keep it high, or else you're taking a trip to the CuckoosNest.
109	* ScaryDogmaticAliens: Taken to {{Anvilicious}} extremes in that [[spoiler: the aliens are actually religious fanatic humans exiled from Earth hundreds of thousands of years ago and have created an intergalactic empire out of their terror in the time passing.]]
110	* ShoutOut: Erin and Ellen are [[{{Expy}} expies]] of the Vocaloid twins Len and Rin, respectively. Even have their voices in [[VideoGame/FlowerSunAndRain garblespeak]]!
111	** [[VideoGame/DeusEx Jack C. Denton]]
112	** [[VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes Terry Touchdown]]
113	** [[DemonicSpiders Feral Wraiths]] are, in gameplay and aesthetics, identical to the Witch in [[VideoGame/Left4Dead Left 4 Dead]].
114	* SiblingYinYang: Erin and Ellen [[spoiler: and Alvin and Jack/Kyle]]
115	* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: Ticker firmly rooted on the side of cynicism.
116	* StandardFPSGuns: Not an FPS, though.
117	* StoneWall: Alvin. He may not be anywhere near as ruthless or fast as the other three characters, but he is nearly impossible to kill.
118	* TakeYourTime: Subverted. It looks like you can just loaf around in the WideOpenSandbox in between missions, but you will fail them should the events said missions were supposed to prevent take place.
119	* TimedMission: You have two weeks before something terrible happens, and what it is exactly depends on your Mission Rank by the end of the game. [[spoiler: (below 80, [[ApocalypseHow the world is doomed no matter what you do]], at 80, [[ShootTheShaggyDog the first condition is averted, but the humans in Earth are enslaved and/or recruited]] in the ScaryDogmaticAliens' army, at 90, the "aliens" don't think the effort is worth it, but 100 [[NiceJobBreakingItHero opens a whole new can of worms in that the aliens commence an invasion because you've completely thwarted their plans to enslave humanity.]])]]
120	* TrueCompanions: One that falls apart. Spectacularly.
121	* TrueFinalBoss: Two of them, one fought by getting a mission score of 90+, and the other fought by getting a [[HundredPercentCompletion perfect mission score]], but in Terry's case she gets a completely different level.
122	* UnexpectedShmupLevel: ''rocketman...''
123	* VampireRefugee: [[spoiler: Jack. He's been infected with the [[HatePlague Scarlet virus]] and has gone beyond the DespairEventHorizon necessary by way of emotional abuse from peers and family members to succumb to the symptoms and has the strength and perception of a Wraith, but his separate personalities keep him from turning feral like the others.]]
124	* WhamEpisode: When [[spoiler: Erin]] is sealed inside the crystal, he tries to use its powers in a vain attempt to escape. This involves (but is not limited to) sudden and destructive [[ChaosArchitecture structure deformation of the planet]], [[DrivenToMadness derangement of the populace]] (most of whom [[ZombieApocalypse degenerate into feral Wraiths]]), and [[spoiler: [[BackFromTheDead the real Jack materializing]]]].
125	* WhatTheHellHero: [[spoiler: Kyle calls this out on the real Jack due to his culpability for the widespread use of Bluelit. While Jack argues that it was NecessarilyEvil to prevent a mob war from conflagrating, Kyle points out that what it ended up being used for wasn't [[HarmfulToMinors much]] [[ChildSoldiers better.]] ]]
126	* WellIntentionedExtremist: Examples in the worst endings. [[spoiler: The Crystal decides to use up its last remaining charge after Erin is captured to prevent the "aliens" from gathering more soldiers,]] and in the other ending, [[spoiler: Kyle, after finding the [[LostTechnology forgotten defensive systems meant to eliminate all sentient life it wasn't coded to specifically protect]] (read: not espers), activates them for the same purpose (well, partially. The other reason is that the planet is a CrapsackWorld he's sick of seeing continuing to exist.)]]
127	* YaoiFangirl: Ellen and Terry, much to Finn's displeasure.

Context DarthWiki / DreamlessDrifter