Line #87 VideoGame/DhuxsScar


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dhux_scar.png]]
2	->''"I am Alpha, the beginning... AND THERE SHALL BE NO END!"''
3
4	''La Cicatriz de Dhux / Dhux's Scar'' is a [[FreewareGames freeware]] [[RolePlayingGame RPG]] for [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer PC]], which was made by the Spanish developer Erilex in 2009 through UsefulNotes/RPGMaker 2000 and translated into English later the same year. It contains unorthodox battles and a deep and interesting story rife with religious overtones. Nothing is as it seems in Dhux's Scar; the plot will take so many twists and turns that sometimes it can be hard to keep up.
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6	Once, an angel tried to overthrow God. But he was defeated, and his followers expelled from Heaven. His name was [[TitleDrop Dhux]]. God forgave him, but engraved a scar on his forehead and forced him to wander the earth, powerless and forever bearing the wounds he received. However, Dhux betrayed God's trust. Even without his powers, he used his guile and poisonous tongue to turn men against each other, causing wars that claimed the lives of thousands. Enraged by this, God cursed Dhux to be punished for all eternity. However, because Dhux is a divine being, he cannot be truly killed. Every 500 years, he is reborn, and the people are tasked with seeking him out and killing him.
7
8	So the story goes, but as one will soon find out, there's more to the story than it appears. The plot follows a weakling merchant called Elijah, a young girl called Celliann, and Faye, an androgynous bodyguard and old acquaintance of Elijah's. Faye is the only one of these characters that's really cut out for combat; Celiann is about as useful as you'd expect a little girl to be, and Elijah can only dish out real damage by using magical amulets that are in limited supply. (Even then, a single regular attack from Faye usually deals comparable damage)
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10	It can be downloaded [[http://rpgmaker.net/games/1492/downloads/ here]].
11
12	!!Provides Examples Of:
13	%%* ActionBomb: Incubi.
14	* AGodAmI: Celliann. [[spoiler:With good reason, too.]]
15	* AIRoulette: Many bosses have at least one attack that can [[ThatOneAttack completely annihilate you]], and whether or not you beat them often relies heavily on how often they use it.
16	* AntiGrinding: returning to areas previously cleared costs one PE, and using too many PE is not a good idea if you wish to get the good ending. Since one needs to leave the area to visit a TraumaInn or restock supplies this makes grinding harder, though not impossible. The key to grinding is efficient use of money to stock up on healing items before visiting a new area, allowing one to fight more battles before they need to leave the area.
17	** Since healing is always a percentage of the characters maximum healing items, particularly MP based ones, become far cheaper relative to income in later levels, making grinding at later levels much easier, just a few extra MP-restoring items, used for healing, can result in dozens of extra battles
18	** There is one location that has a store inside of the forest, which can be visited without spending PE. This makes grinding much easier. This area is a decent way into the game, which means grinding here can prove useful throughout much of the rest of the game. Even more then the levels the money gained allows spamming of healing items and Amulets during a difficult bosses long after the extra XP gain has become less relevant.
19	* AsTheGoodBookSays: Subverted. "[[AGodAmI I am Alpha, the beginning...]] [[VisionaryVillain AND THERE SHALL BE NO END!]]" [[spoiler:Bonus points for the quoter actually being called Alpha.]]
20	* AwesomeButImpractical: Unholy Prayer. It reduces the HP of all opponents to 1 without fail, ''even on bosses'', but costs 2 PE to use and can therefore backfire horribly later.
21	** Arguably amulets as well. While they allow Elijah to do far more damage, each cost 100 gold. However, the amulets' damage is still not much more than Faye's regular attack, and putting amulet money towards a cheap MP restoring potion to fuel Faye's healing magic so he can [[BoringButPractical kill everything with regular attacks]] will get you far more bang for your buck. The later in the game the more cost-inefficient the amulets get as healing items provide increasingly more mana while amulets actually do slightly less damage relative to level.
22	*** Then again, the game, to a lesser extent than some games, has MoneyForNothing, so why not use some of it to speed up a boss battle?
23	*** Due to the AntiGrinding mentioned above if one wishes to grind they can only do so by using healing items. Efficient use of money is the only way to be able to grind at low levels.
24	* BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind: [[spoiler:The battle with Elijah.]]
25	* BerserkButton: Do NOT mess with Celliann unless you want to bring down [[spoiler:[[MamaBear Sybil]]'s]] wrath.
26	** Elijah flips out when he sees a woman being attacked due to his DarkAndTroubledPast.
27	* {{BFS}}: Faye's weapon of choice.
28	%%* BetterThanABareBulb
29	* BodySnatcher: [[spoiler:The mysterious "Shadowy Figure", a.k.a. ''Elijah''. Yes, it's a MindScrew. Turns out that Elijah the protagonist is actually Sybil, who s/he thinks is dead. But actually, ''Elijah'' was the one who died that day and has been trying to hijack Sybil's body and effectively resurrect himself. In the bad ending, it ''actually happens''.]]
30	* BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu: Only indirectly, however. [[spoiler:In Ending A, killing Celliann is the last straw that kicks Sybil's soul out of her body and allows [[BodySnatcher Elijah]] in. Thus, we get a DownerEnding.]]
31	* ButtMonkey: Elijah. [[spoiler:This carries over to Sybil as well.]]
32	* CharacterPortrait: The main characters have ''tons'', for almost every expression imaginable. Even a few characters that [[RedShirt only exist for one scene before being]] [[CruelAndUnusualDeath graphically murdered]] tend to have at least one, usually two.
33	* ClimaxBoss: The [[ThatOneBoss Impure Chrysalis]] and [[spoiler:Archangel Gabriel]].
34	* CoolOldGuy: Jazz...[[CloudCuckoolander sort of]].
35	%%* CoolSword: Elijah.
36	* CryForTheDevil: [[spoiler:Elijah's death, where all his previous dignity evaporates and he's reduced to a gibbering wreck, crying "S...Sybil! Help me! I don't want to die!!" as he melts away into light.]]
37	%%* CrypticConversation: Often.
38	* CurbStompBattle: [[spoiler: You deliver one of these to ''GOD.'']]
39	** Also [[spoiler:Archangel Remiel.]] He doesn't even manage to get a single hit in.
40	* CycleOfHurting: Sabidnatzat enemies can cause this, since they have an all-hitting stun attack.
41	%%* DeconstructorFleet
42	%%* DecoyProtagonist: Dario.
43	* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: A completely normal human and a [[spoiler:distant descendant of an angel]] are able to [[spoiler:''kill the being that was meant to destroy their world''.]]
44	** Admittedly, it had only a fraction of its full power. Still a pretty amazing feat, however.
45	* DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu: Amidst their mutual plotting against each other, Elijah and Celiann take some time to enjoy a festival together.
46	%%* DirtyCoward: Elijah.
47	%%* DirtyOldMan: Jazz.
48	* DiscOneNuke: Unholy Prayer. See AwesomeButImpractical, above.
49	** Also the Mysterious Merchant's wares if you use Merchant's Soul. Many of them are {{Infinity Minus One Sword}}s or at the very least comparable to endgame equipment. They're expensive, sure, but if you buy some you won't need to buy any more equipment for that character.
50	*** It helps that his presence effectively makes the forest a PeninsulaOfPowerLeveling, the one place where it's possible to grind money for the gear indefinitely without worrying about eventually being forced to move the plot forward to reach a TraumaInn to heal.
51	%%* DivineParentage: [[spoiler:Jazz and Faye.]]
52	%%* TheDragon: [[spoiler:Maikas/Michael]].
53	* EldritchAbomination: The Impure Chrysalis, which verges on BodyHorror.
54	* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: The Crisis of Faith, which happened thousands of years before the game begins. [[spoiler: At the end of the game, your party causes another one.]]
55	* EnfanteTerrible: Celliann, adorable fourteen-year-old girl and AxCrazy OmnicidalManiac.
56	* ExpositionBreak: Multiple times, though the most prominent is when the party meets up with [[spoiler:Samael]], who finally explains what's going on in a very long-winded cutscene.
57	* FacialHorror: The reason for [[spoiler:Samael's strange bangs]].
58	* FakeDifficulty: Every. Single. Boss battle. There's rarely much strategy you can use, so defeating them is almost always a LuckBasedMission.
59	* FallenAngel: [[spoiler:Samael]], who even says that she's also called "Lucifer" and "Satan". [[spoiler:She actually is on the side of good, though, since GodIsEvil]].
60	* FanDisservice: Nudity is frequent and most often combined with gruesome dismemberment.
61	%%* FlunkyBoss: Hisque.
62	* ForegoneVictory: The battle with [[spoiler:Archangel Remiel]] and [[spoiler:Alpha]] on the good ending.
63	* {{Foreshadowing}}: All the {{Cryptic Conversation}}s, Celliann's {{Internal Monologue}}s, and this line:
64	-->Elijah: [[spoiler:[[BlatantLies [Celliann] is not my illegitimate daughter.]]]]
65	%%* FragileSpeedster: [[spoiler:Samael.]]
66	* FrothyMugsOfWater: Lampshaded.
67	-->'''Man''': Here I am, drinking my sorrow away...\
68	'''Elijah:''' You might want to try booze. No one was ever very successful in drowning their sorrows in water.\
69	'''Man:''' Leave me alone!
70	%%* FullFrontalAssault: Hisque.
71	* FunWithAcronyms: '''S'''[[spoiler:erenity]] '''A'''[[spoiler:bsolution]] '''F'''[[spoiler:reedom]] '''E'''[[spoiler:ternity]] and '''E'''motional '''D'''ata '''E'''volution '''N'''etwork.
72	** They actually made more sense in Spanish: '''S'''[[spoiler:istema (System)]] '''A'''[[spoiler:bsoluto (Absolute)]] '''F'''[[spoiler:elicidad (Happiness)]] '''E'''[[spoiler:terna (eternal)]], which translates to Absolute System of Eternal Happiness. '''E'''sfera '''D'''e '''E'''mociones '''N'''egativas, or, in english, Negative Emotions Sphere, which itself is a funny acronym if you think about it.
73	* GambitPileup: To start with, Elijah and Celliann are both trying to fool each other into not suspecting anything simultaneously. But there's also [[spoiler:Alpha, who has a multi-million year-spanning gambit to destroy Omega. Jazz and Samael, on the other hand, ultimately use their knowledge of Alpha's plot to execute their own plan to fulfill the prophecy.]]
74	* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: Although there's a boss at the end of almost every dungeon, the game does a good job of avoiding this. The only exceptions are the Great Blue Beast and Adult Itargo. Balbersky may or may not count as well.
75	* [[spoiler:GodIsEvil]]
76	%%* GoldenEnding: Ending B.
77	* GoThroughMe: A variation; it's the good ([[BlackAndGrayMorality ish]]) guy getting stopped. [[spoiler:Nimue]] does this when [[spoiler:Halbarad]] is about to kill [[spoiler:Valedar]]. However, this is subverted when [[spoiler:Nimue]] says she's willing to die for [[spoiler:Valedar]], [[spoiler:Halbarad]] simply says, "Then die," and kills her. (Does not end well; it causes a major FreakOut on [[spoiler:Valedar]]'s part and makes him [[ActionBomb explode.]])
78	* GenderBender: [[DudeLooksLikeALady Faye]] is only the beginning...
79	* {{Gorn}} / CruelAndUnusualDeath: ''Oh so much of it''. Many, many people die in this game, often graphically and in extremely gory and bloody ways. A few examples: ''heads exploding into blood'', someone getting ''ripped in half while screaming for mercy'', and someone getting ''impaled and skewered from inside''.
80	%%* {{Heaven}}: [[spoiler:SAFE.]]
81	%%* HeelFaceDoorSlam: [[spoiler:Gabrielle.]]
82	* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Sybil. Of course, everyone else dies anyway, so it's not a big difference, and she gets to be happy in [[{{Heaven}} SAFE]].]]
83	* HeroicWannabe: Dario, a young boy who challenges Celliann in the opening scene of the game. This ends badly.
84	* HopelessBossFight: The fight with "Samba", PlayedForLaughs. There are [[NonIndicativeName also]] "hopeless battles" labelled as such that ''are'' winnable and required to continue the game, [[NintendoHard even if they may not seem like they are]]. There are even ForegoneVictory battles labeled like this...
85	* HPToOne: Unholy Prayer, Crucifixion, and Divine Providence's "Justice" outcome.
86	%%* ImplausibleFencingPowers: Faye.
87	* ImprobableWeaponUser: [[spoiler:Jazz]]. The staff is just for show.
88	* InfinityPlusOneSword: Eden's Guardian, which has very high attack power and hits twice per attack.
89	* InterfaceSpoiler: [[spoiler:The battle layout has space for four characters.]]
90	* JesusWasWayCool: [[spoiler:Jazz. He even joins your party!]] Played with in that he's the son of an angel rather than God himself.
91	%%* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: [[spoiler:Halbarad.]]
92	* KarlMarxHatesYourGuts: Lampshaded when you sell things to shopkeepers; they think "Sucker! I'll sell this for twice as much!"
93	** You can also use the Merchant's Lens to screw the merchants over. Normally, they'd attempt to scam you if you barter. They can't with the lens.
94	* KillAllHumans: [[spoiler:Celliann]]'s goal. See LoveMakesYouEvil, below.
95	* KnightTemplar: Maikas and Halbarad. [[spoiler:The former has a hidden agenda]].
96	* LargeHam: The few bits of voice acting that exist in the game, especially those in the very final confrontation.
97	--> "'''''By the power of GOD!!'''''"
98	* LastDiscMagic: Pulsating Light, Heavenly Assault, and Catastrophe.
99	* LighterAndSofter: The [[spoiler:post-Impure Chrysalis]] part of the game. The gore turns down, [[spoiler:the party entirely consists of sympathetic people]] and you're not in a constant threat of getting butchered by random monsters anymore.
100	%%* LightningBruiser: Faye.
101	* LookBehindYou: When Celliann uses Unholy Prayer. "Ah! Behind you!"
102	* LovecraftianSuperpower: Celliann and other various demons.
103	** [[spoiler: Even Sybil gains them when she becomes the Wing Of Omega]]
104	* LoveMakesYouCrazy: [[spoiler:Halbarad]]. He eventually [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope escalates]] into LoveMakesYouEvil as well.
105	* LoveMakesYouEvil: [[spoiler:Celliann]] loves God, but ever since he made the humans he became more and more distracted with them. She believes that if she [[KillAllHumans kills all of them]], God will love her again. [[spoiler:Cruelly subverted; he doesn't actually love her and all of his actions are an attempt to kill her.]]
106	** [[spoiler:Inverted with her relationship with Sybil, however.]]
107	* MadnessMantra: "I DON'T WANT TO DIE"
108	* MamaBear: [[spoiler:Sybil]] takes this trope and cranks it up to eleven. [[spoiler: She survives three attacks from GOD to protect her little girl.]]
109	* ManipulativeBastard: [[spoiler:Celliann.]]
110	** [[spoiler:Elijah. Oh dear god Elijah]]
111	* MauveShirt: [[spoiler:Nimue and Valedar.]]
112	%%* TheMedic: [[spoiler:Jazz]].
113	* ThemeMusicPowerup: Halbarad seems to have one.
114	* MediumAwareness: Jazz. He liked video games and one of his friends is obsessed with The Observer, Erilex's previous game.
115	%%* MetaGuy: Jazz.
116	* MindScrew WhamEpisode: The cutscene after the battle with the Impure Chrysalis on the "ending B" path.
117	%%* MinorMajorCharacter: Pope Ardheras.
118	%%* MoralityKitchenSink
119	%%* MultipleEndings
120	* NonLethalKO: "Elijah is knocked unconscious." Though this is definitely not done to keep the game family-friendly, given how gory and edgy it already is.
121	* NonStandardGameover: PlayedForLaughs in the Domain of the Heart.
122	%%* NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler: Sybil.]]
123	* NotSoHarmlessVillain: Elijah and Faye are mostly ignorant of Celliann and her godlike powers of being able to massacre things. [[spoiler:That is, until the party reaches Jehridan, where she gets fed up, goes OneWingedAngel, and [[ClimaxBoss tries to kill them.]]]]
124	%%* ObfuscatingStupidity and ObfuscatingInsanity: [[spoiler:Jazz.]]
125	* OminousSavePrompt: Certain save points will recommend you save in a different slot, often in LemonyNarrator fashion or by LampshadeHanging.
126	-->"[[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments Not a good time to overwrite your last save file. Seriously.]]"
127	* TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness: Diviel's demon council. [[spoiler:The game sets them up to be major villains, but this is subverted. All you get to fight is three members, then Halbarad shows up and massacres them. Turns out they weren't major characters at all; they were just {{Sacrificial Lamb}}s.]]
128	* OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler:Celliann when she turns into the Impure Chrysalis. Also, Gabrielle.]]
129	* PeninsulaOfPowerLeveling: due to the AntiGrinding mentioned above grinding is limited in earlier levels by the need to leave the dungeon to heal. However, one location has a store located within the forest, allowing restocking of items and healing between fights without using up PE, making it an easy place to grind to your heart's desire.
130	%%* PointOfNoReturn: Multiple.
131	* PreemptiveDeclaration: "Are you sure you should be paying so much attention to me? A distraction could prove fatal."
132	%%* PuzzleBoss: [[spoiler:Elijah]].
133	* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Celliann. [[spoiler:Jazz and Samael]], too, what with being a demigod and an angel, respectively. [[spoiler:Jazz]] does look really old, though he does not look [[spoiler: 5753]] at all.
134	* ReducedManaCost: The Fallen Angel Feather. Fittingly, [[spoiler:Samael]] starts with one equipped.
135	* RRatedOpening: You wanted an old-school RPG? Here's your old-school RPG. With gore. Whoa.
136	** Also, although you can't see much, the person doing the slaughtering is female... and naked.
137	* SacrificialLion: [[spoiler:Halbarad and Gabrielle.]]
138	* SatanIsGood: [[OmnicidalManiac Kind of.]]
139	* SaveTheWorld: [[spoiler:Inverted and played straight ''at the same time''; in order to save the universe and afterlife, you need to destroy the planet the game takes place in, which is dangerously past its expiration date.]]
140	* SchizoTech: Justified; the world before the Crisis of Faith was one of high technology, but after the Crisis happened, most of it was lost, and of that, only some of it is approved for use by the Church.
141	* ShopFodder: To avoid the MoneySpider trope. Lampshaded in their descriptions; "Just sell it. This game has no crafting quests."
142	* ShoutOut:
143	** [[VideoGame/ChronoTrigger "Male, female, what's the difference? Power is beautiful, and I've got th-"]] [[LampshadeHanging "Yeah, yeah, I get it. Let's stop right there before we delve too far into reference hell."]]
144	** "[[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail Those are just flesh wounds!]]"
145	** "[[Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheFellowshipOfTheRing One does not simply walk into Mord...]] Protea."
146	%%* SinisterScythe: Samael.
147	* SubText: There's often a contrast between Celiann's (and occasionally Elijah's) spoken text and thoughts.
148	%%* SufferTheSlings: Celiann.
149	* SuperMovePortraitAttack: Celestial Assault, Pulsating Light, [[spoiler:Jazz]] Smash and all of [[spoiler:Samael]]'s skills.
150	* SquishyWizard: Arguably Elijah, whose amulets cover most of the traditional "elemental spells" in most [=RPG=]s. Also, as stated above, he's a weakling; all of his stats except intelligence are pathetic.
151	** Celliann's actually much more fitting for this trope, since her powers are far greater than the amulets'... but she's still physically a little girl.
152	%%* StupidSexyFlanders: If you have to ask, you aren't far enough in the game.
153	* SuperSoldier: The Cherubs. [[spoiler:They're actually all clones of Faye.]]
154	* SwordBeam: Underground Missile.
155	* TookALevelInBadass: [[spoiler:Sybil]], unlike their previous equivalent, is a formidable fighter.
156	* UnderratedAndOverleveled: Averted. The main characters are a [[PrivateMilitaryContractors mercenary]], a traveling merchant, and a, [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld supposedly]], teenage girl. These characters are exactly as strong as they should be according to their backgrounds. The mercenary with his high stats, and special abilities (including the only healing spell in the game) pretty much wins every battle single-handedly. The merchant has 1/3 the mercenaries maximum health, does 1/4 the damage with regular attacks and doesn't have any special attacks to spend his MP on. Though he has some great abilities to help get cheaper or special items from merchants and can do comparable damage to the mercenary by throwing amulets only he can use, but the cost of purchasing all those amulets add up so rapidly that [[AwesomeButImpractical it's cheaper to let the mercenary deal with everything and put the savings towards healing items]]. Meanwhile the girl is every bit as worthless as one would expect from an inexperienced girl ([[SuperpoweredEvilSide usually]]), Her damage is so pathetic that if not overleveled many enemies will NoSell her attacks, she has the lowest health and defense and spends every single encounter [[DefendCommand defending]] and nothing else; to the point that having her in the party starts to feels like a game long EscortMission.
157	* WelcomeToCorneria: Lampshaded.
158	-->'''Old Man''': Serena is a small fishing village located to the south of Jehridan.\
159	'''Elijah''': To think the day would come when I would find information like this to be of any use...\
160	'''Faye''': We usually arrive in most towns through more conventional means.
161	* WhenTreesAttack: The "Sabidnatzat" enemies.
162	* [[DualBoss Triple Boss]]: [[spoiler:Omega's Wing]].
163	%%* TheUnfought: [[spoiler:Michael.]]
164	* ThemeNaming: All the forests are named "Fors[negative emotion]".
165	* UnreadablyFastText: There's a fisherman NPC at the beginning of the game who has this while he's trying to explain a fishing minigame (that does not actually exist) to you.
166	* UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler: ''[[{{God}} Alpha]]'', amazingly.]]
167	%%* VisionaryVillain: [[spoiler:[[BigBad Alpha.]]]]
168	* VitriolicBestBuds: Jazz and [[spoiler:Samael]].
169	* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:Alpha]] is revealed to be this right at the very end, where it's revealed that [[spoiler:he has a ''very'' good motive to destroy the entire SAFE/EDEN system; when Administrators die, they just end up with complete oblivion; no SAFE or reincarnation.]] Their [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans methods]] are still [[OmnicidalManiac quite objectionable]], however, and it comes too late to stop the climatic [[spoiler:CurbStompBattle]].
170	** However, if some lines of dialog hold truth to them, then [[spoiler:the administrators would still exist if someone found happiness with them, which is why Celliann exists in SAFE with Sybil.]]
171	* WhamLine:
172	-->Shadowy Figure: [[spoiler:[[MindScrew I am Elijah.]]]]
173	* WhatTheHellHero: Faye occasionally calls Elijah out on his jackassery.
174	%%* WholesomeCrossdresser: Faye.
175	* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: No points for guessing this one. [[spoiler:(Celliann)]]
176	* WorldHalfEmpty: The world is filled with corrupt, unpleasant people and ruled by an autocratic, militaristic Church [[spoiler: and a psychotic God]]. The alternative to living under the Church's protection is to suffer nightmarish attacks by demons.
177	* WrongGenreSavvy: [[spoiler:[[BigBad Alpha]].]] "I am the hero of this story, you see. I am the rebel, the one who stands against the system! Isn't that the kind of character you humans idolize the most?!"

Context VideoGame / DhuxsScar