Line #6 VideoGame/ParaWorld


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/242935_paraworld_gold_edition_windows_front_cover.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350: '''The German golden edition cover''']]
3
4	->''"Introite, nam et hic dii sunt".''
5	-->-- '''Heraclitus of Ephesus'''
6
7	'''''[=ParaWorld=]''''' is a 2006 PC RealTimeStrategy game by the German company SEK.
8	The plot revolves around a trio of scientists, who each had discovered evidence that led them to conclude that a parallel universe exists. Before they could announce their findings to the world, however, they found themselves stranded into said parallel world by a mysterious organization SEAS, and must find or make way back home.
9
10	This parallel world is inhabited by dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals, which the native tribes have managed to train as beasts of war. The NinjaPirateZombieRobot approach defines these and the other units in the game, resulting in a setting of SchizoTech mixture of SteamPunk and MedievalPrehistory with ancient flavor.
11
12	In a meta sense, the game is a mass homage to Creator/JulesVerne novels, Franchise/JurassicPark, Film/TheMummy1999, {{Literature/Dinotopia}}, Franchise/IndianaJones and many other lost world/adventure works; quite uniquely for an RTS setting.
13
14	The game's most notable feature is the Army Controller, a panel on the left of the screen displaying every unit you control and what they are doing. While offering an incredibly convenient method of controlling units, the obscurity of the game means that it failed to be as revolutionary as the creators hoped.
15
16	----
17	!!This game provides examples of:
18	[[foldercontrol]]
19	[[folder:The Setting]]
20	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/147.JPG]]
21	[[caption-width-right:350: Picturesque graphics, since 2006]]
22	* AllAnimalsAreDomesticated: Woolly rhino, ''Tyrannosaurus rex'', Kronosaurus as mounts? [[FluffyTamer Why not?]]
23	* AnotherDimension: Specifically they're in a parallel dimension where low magic exists, but electricity doesn't work and it's speculated that this world is where our dinosaurs originated from.
24	* {{Arcadia}}: Warden’s Refuge, Dust Rider lands to Stina
25	* ArtisticLicensePaleontology: This game has dilophosauruses with frills that spit venom, and many raptors and other theropods ''without'' feathers, despite this game made way after such traits were known to exist.
26	* BambooTechnology: Done quite literally in the case of the Dragon Clan.
27	* FantasyKitchenSink: the only thing missing from Paraworld are aliens.
28	* FountainOfYouth:
29	** The entire dimension is this. A side-effect of living in Paraworld, people do not age. This is one of the reasons why Babbit is going back.
30	** Also Hvergelmir [[spoiler: in Walhalla]]
31	* FantasyCounterpartCulture: The Norsemen are European, the Dustriders are African/Middle Eastern, and the Dragon Clan are Asian.
32	* FantasyGunControl: Played with. The Norsemen have some steam technology including a tank, but neither they nor the Dustriders have gunpowder weapons. The Dragon Clan have guns on their dinosaur units and if they are led by a Level 5 Bela, they can have infantry carrying machine guns that don't do much damage per shot but are still dangerous from a high rate of fire. Completely averted with the SEAS as they are bringing over modified technology from our world. Also the physics in the Paraworld dimension is different, so there is no electricity. All machinery is completely mechanical including calculation machines and an engine for opening dimensional portals.
33	* HorseOfADifferentColor: Dinosaurs and other “prehistoric” creatures.
34	* SpiderTank: Comes in both a regular and final boss version.
35	* SteamPunk Supervillains, Tesla, steam robots, zeppelins...
36	* LethalLavaLand: the Ashvalley setting.
37	* LostWorld: The flavor of the game.
38	* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: where to begin? Note that ninjas, pirates, zombies, and robots do all appear within the game. There are even ninja pirates and zombie Vikings.
39	* RockBeatsLaser: Discussed. Unfortunately, you are the guy with the rocks, but with the main hero being a literal geologist...
40	* SceneryPorn: The levels are just beautiful.
41	* ShoutOut: Multiple, mainly to ''Film/JurassicPark.''
42	** Bordering on TheGenieKnowsJackNicholson, the characters shout-out to the usage of credit cards, modern sculpture, ''Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1968'' and Hong Kong kung-fu movies. Weirdly enough, the game's action is set in 1957, so also AnachronismStew.
43	** The flying Archeopteryx in the opening cutscene is a shout-out to one of the film adaptations of ''Literature/TheLostWorld1912''.
44	** In a boosterpack mission, one can find a statue of [[WesternAnimation/IceAge a mammoth, a sabre tooth cat, and a sloth.]]
45	** [[VideoGame/DonkeyKong There is a Gigantopithecus in mission 6 that throws barrels]]. It lives on an island, so counts as a shout-out to Film/KingKong too.
46	* UnitsNotToScale: Done most obviously with the dinosaurs, as some are not to scale with the people. This is particularly evident with the titan units, which are much bigger than the standard versions of their species.
47	* {{Stripperiffic}}: Most of the costumes of the female characters are designed to show off their breasts the most that the game dares to get away with. The Dust Rider women live this trope, which might be somewhat justified, however, considering that they are a mix-up of various sub-saharan tribes.
48	* RuleOfThree: Three native tribes, three main types of infantry units, three heroes.
49	[[/folder]]
50	[[folder: Tropes By Faction]]
51	Norsemen
52	* AwesomePersonnelCarrier: The [[TankGoodness Steam Tank]].
53	* GarrisonableStructures: They can field bunkers and walls that offer cover to archers placed on them.
54	* HornyVikings: {{Invoked\|Trope}}. They're heavily inspired by their horned helmets.
55	* WarElephants: The Norsemen have three units with domesticated woolly mammoths: the battle mammoth, mammoth harvester and log cannon.
56	Dustriders
57	* InterspeciesFriendship: with their dinosaurs, as Stina accounts
58	* TheBeastmaster: the Dust Rider raptor trainer
59	* NobleSavage – Stina describes how efficient, cooperative, creative and crafty are the nomads
60	* NubileSavage: Dust Rider Women, especially the Amazons
61	* CoolBoat: The Catamarans, frequently used by the heroes
62	Dragon Clan
63	* AsianAndNerdy: An [[PlanetOfHats entire tribe]] of them, apparently.
64	* HitAndRunTactics: concealment, traps and MoreDakka
65	* BambooTechnology: Bamboo miniguns and rocket launchers, no less!
66	* CripplingOverspecialisation: Most of their units
67	SEAS
68	* EliteMooks: SEAS does a lot of field upgrading, making the player constantly fight leveled up soldiers.
69	* OffstageVillainy : we never get to ‘’see’’ what is so horrible with [[spoiler: SEAS]] besides them trying to eliminate precisely [[spoiler: 5 dangerous people]] and some declared motivations until ‘’after’’ they are attacked ‘by the heroes.
70	* {{Mordor}}: Where they live.
71	[[/folder]]
72	[[folder: Tropes by Campaign Mission (spoiler alert!)]]
73	Mission 1
74	* WakingUpElsewhere: Cole, at the beginning.
75	* WarmupBoss: [[spoiler: The Triceratops Titan at the end, very symbolically to the game's logo being an eye of this unit]].
76	Mission 2
77	*
78	Mission 3
79	*
80	Mission 4
81	*
82	Mission 5
83	*
84	Mission 6
85	* StationaryBoss: [[spoiler: [[CoolShip The Pirate Ship]]]].
86	** also [[spoiler: The Scorpion]] in [[spoiler: Mission 16]]
87	Mission 7
88	* ThirstyDesert: Averted: Cole as a geologist immediately recognizes the temporary nature of the desert.
89	* MadScientistLaboratory: So thinks Cole about the interior of a mysterious hut that is revealed to belong to [[spoiler: Taslow]]
90	Mission 8
91	* SealedEvilInACan:[[spoiler: The Undead Warriors]]
92	* HolyIsNotSafe: in Walhalla, drinking the red… juice… gives awesome powers, but also makes one's skin green.
93	* HardLevelsEasyBosses:
94	** Mission 8: After the [[spoiler: barbarian strongholds]], the enemies in [[spoiler: Walhalla]] are no match for the easy to micro heroes.
95	** Mission 15: After around two hours of fighting, the player gets to face…[[spoiler: the [[MakesSenseInContext 4000 HP 100 damage]] Leighton]]?
96	Mission 9
97	* At the end features a task to [[spoiler: climb a mountain peak and build a rather symbolic tower there]]. It promptly ends in a [[spoiler: literal Tower Defense]] from [[spoiler: [[MultiMookMelee endless hordes ]]]] of the barbarians.
98	* The title of the mission, the final plan of the heroes and some parts of the final cutscene are a reference to [[spoiler: Film/TheFlightOfThePhoenix2004]]
99	** Bela, much [[ConspiracyTheorist like]] the engineer in the movie, is [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane blonde]].
100	Mission 10
101	* HiddenElfVillage: the player is forced to build this as a result of an encounter with [[spoiler: [[KnightOfCerebus SEAS]]]].
102	Mission 11
103	* BreatherLevel: After Mission 10
104	* CutSceneBoss: [[spoiler: The Governor]]
105	Mission 12
106	* BigDamnHeroes: The Dust Riders.
107	Mission 13
108	* MissionBriefing: At the beginning.
109	* HoldTheLine: The main goal.
110	* GreatOffscreenWar: The cutscene after the mission makes the player wish they could actually control all the tribes presented.
111	Mission 14
112	* Walk into Mordor: [[spoiler: the final three missions]]
113	* FinalExamBoss: The final levels, where the player can even choose the tribe he/she sees the most fit for the job.
114	* The Alcatraz: [[spoiler: DeadlyEnvironmentPrison]].
115	Mission 15
116	* TimeBomb : The assault on the [[spoiler: power stations]].
117	* EleventhHourSuperpower: The character of [[spoiler: Ada Loven]] counts as this. The ability to [[spoiler: shoot a single target for a Brachiosaurus worth of hitpoints and then fire ranged [[ArmorPiercingAttack armor piercing attacks]]]] is like having second Taslow in the team.
118	** Also, the [[TheEnemyWeaponsAreBetter SEAS turrets]] in the final mission.
119	Mission 16
120	* CollapsingLair: [[spoiler: The volcano has been destabilised.]]
121	[[/folder]]
122	[[folder:Gameplay Mechanics]]
123	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/unit_controller.jpg]]
124	[[caption-width-right:350: Game Interface, with The Army Controller on the left.]]
125	* EvolvingTitleScreen – featuring a camera showing footage from lately visited climate zones as a background and weapons of according cultures in the foreground
126	* Technology Levels – the 5 epochs
127	* ArbitraryHeadcountLimit – 52: 25 on the first level, 15 on the second one, 8 on the third, 3 on the fourth and one on the fifth.
128	* HeroUnit: Powerful named characters that gain bonuses with levels
129	** at the first level, just a special characteristic
130	** at the second, a bonus to nearby units
131	** at the third, a special active ability
132	** at the fourth, unlocks a special unit or building for every tribe
133	** at the fifth, a big bonus to the entire tribe
134	* PaddedSumoGameplay: Omnipresent trope. Many units have thousands of hitpoints while even the most powerful weapon in the campaign [[spoiler: Railway Gun]] hits only for 500.
135	* ArmorPiercingAttack: Norsemen have their various rhino units and crossbowmen, Dragon Clan have scorpions and ninjas, and the Dustriders get screwed over with only the Mobile Camp. Armor piercing attacks are extremely important in this game since armor reduces damage by a percentage (all the way up to 50%) and many units have armor to varying degrees (especially for the SEAS and Norsemen).
136	* SplashDamage is even more important in this game, so any unit that has it has it's worth basically tripled in a melee.
137	* ColourCodedArmies: Enemies are red, your army is blue; the allies will always wear green clothing, too. This still holds in the boosterpack missions, even though you play as the normally red guys.
138	* CoupDeGraceCutscene:every major death is cinematic
139	* EliteArmy: The SEAS faction. They are basically the Dragon Clan on steroids but without the traps. So they're number one when it comes to ranged combat and to top that off, almost everything they have is heavily armored including a giant robot that is normally only available for the Norsemen with a Level 5 Babbit and later they get a more advanced version of the robot. So every fight you have with them has the odds stacked against you.
140	* FanService: Ada, in spades...and most of the female characters, visually.
141	* FinishingMove: Most units have one, displayed if they kill an enemy. For example, an Allosaurus will tear apart a human warrior. Anthony Cole has got some pretty anime-ish ones for finishing big animals.
142	* VideogameCaringPotential: The Army Controller makes you rescue your wounded units by spending the hard to come by skull resource on leveling them up, which restores their health back and improves them. There are limited places on each level, however, so planning for the future of your units is necessary. In general the Army Controller works like this, enabling the player to observe all their units in the game along with health bars.
143	** Most units are peaceful people with backstories, jokes to tell and other personal quirks, if you click them enough times. Workers have especially sympathetic personalities. The only non-innocent controllable units are a few GenreSavvy PlayedForLaughs AxCrazy warrior units.
144	** In mission 10: [[spoiler: Warden’s Pet, the Allosaurus, who peacefully walks around the little valley and tries to defend it from any invader but obviously needs help]].
145	VideogameCrueltyPotential: The player can totally leave the AI allies to a ceratin death:
146	** In mission 13 [[spoiler: The Holy City Guards]]
147	** In mission 14 [[spoiler: the freed prisoners]]
148	* GameplayAndStorySegregation: Generally averted. In the cutscenes the heroes follow the same spirit of actions that they would in the gameplay, just with better animations. Played Straight for the usage of vehicles and mounts.
149	* HeroMustSurvive: An objective in some missions.
150	* JackOfAllStats: The Norsemen tribe. Also, warriors.
151	* Master of All: The titan units.
152	* TacticalRockPaperScissors: There are four types: human, animal, machine, and building. Some units are more effective against others.
153	* WorkerUnit: You will need around twenty of those every game.

Context VideoGame / ParaWorld