This is a idea for a JRPG. The only thing I have fully planned are several organizations and the ending. The battle system and Cel Shaded graphics are heavily based on those of the Tales Series (I really hope that I will become wealthy enough to become an Promoted Fanboy and make this into an official Tales game)
In the world of Tero, people rely on aether for their everyday lives. The world is split between the Magitek Clock Punk Anorev Kingdom and the Steampunk Rutledge Republic. Day after day, the threat of war between these two powers grows...
Meanwhile in a small town somewhere in the Anorev Kingdom, a mercenary named Cielo Kersey is passing through the town (after intervening in a situation involving a noble) when he notices a young woman named Diana Zangan being hasseled by some corrupt knights who accuse her of being the Classy Cat-Burglar "Rogue Ruby". Cielo steps in and a fight ensues and Diana reveals her Action Girl skills by also joining in. They defeat the knights, Diana thanks him, and she leaves, but Cielo suspects something and follows her. He discovers that Diana is "Rogue Ruby" and they are attacked by a group of hitmen. They defeat the hitmen and Cielo interrogates the leader. Things escalate from there into a epic tale of justice, adventure, and war.
The first part of the story will look like a typical “La Résistance fights to overthrow The Empire” Cliché Storm plot, but will get much more interesting as the game/story goes on.
With all the characters and tropes, I might make this into an manga/anime/tv series instead...
Tropes Utilized
- The Alliance: The Federation of Workers is an alliance of several labor unions. The Quracistan Dominion (defeated and dismantled before the start of the game) was a rare evil version because they were a powerful alliance of the Quracistani city-states that banded together in hopes of overpowering the Rutledge Republic.
- Amazon Chaser: The party (especially Cielo and Rafael) admire Diana for her combat skills.
- Anarchy Is Chaos: The ultimate goal of the Commoner's Revolutionary Union for Social Harmony is to provoke a war between the Rutledge Republic and the Anorev Kingdom in hopes of crippling both countries so that anarchy will ensue and socialist democracies will rise in their place.
- Applied Phlebotinum: Aether, the seventh element. It exsists as small particles in the air that some people can sense and channel through their bodies to cast spells. Aether can also be collected and used to enhance the abilities of objects such as coal (which explains the Steampunk tech) or medicine.
- Aristocrats Are Evil: With the few exceptions, most nobles tend to be Jerkasses at best.
- Badass Crew: The Omega Berets in Cielo's backstory
- Batman Gambit: Pops up way too many times to even mention.
- For King Iago pulls one off with Zachary's help when it is revealed that the Sword of Oblivion was just a plot by them to make Jade Faction waste their resources looking for the pieces of the Lost Superweapon. Even if La Résistance succeeds in gathering all the pieces of the Dismantled MacGuffin, the Lost Superweapon is really a Tracking Device that will allow the Anorev Kingdom to locate Jade Faction's hidden underground headquarters.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: Arcturus Iago, the king of the Anorev Kingdom and Akito Ogawa, the Shogun of Namikawa and the head of the Ogawa Zaibatsu.
- Big Bad Ensemble: Hoo boy, there are five Big Bads in this game; Arcturus Iago, Infernal Echelon, Akito Ogawa, Frick Xion, and Adrain in addition to two Big Bad Wannabes, Donatello DiCosta and Venia Debs. If that weren't enough, almost all of them are Chessmasters as well. I think this might result in The Big Bad Shuffle or a Gambit Pileup.
- Big Bad Friend: Adrian, who is also the ultimate Big Bad.
- Bittersweet Ending: Although the alternate ending avilaible on the New Game Plus is a Earn Your Happy Ending.
- Black Comedy Burst: Overall, I'm aiming for a T-rated anime vibe, but dark humor occasionally pops up here and there. Most of the bursts are provided by Cielo. For example:Diana: (Looking theough some newspapers) Hey guys. this article mentions something called the "Hobo Brigade". Does anyone know more about them?Adrian: During the Galay War the Chancellor at the time tried to kill two birds with one stone by gathering all the homeless people in Neo-Rutledge and drafting them into their own brigade.Diana: So what happened to them?Adrian: They all got slaughtered.Cielo: In other words it was a success.
- Blood Knight: Many of the characters, especially Cielo. In fact, a major theme is that most (if not all) humans secretly desire conflict and violence.
- Blown Across the Room: The effect of the "Give Em Both Barrels" and "Magnum Aim" abilities on enemies. This also makes a useful counter to a Suicide Attack.
- Bomb-Throwing Anarchists: C.R.U.S.H.'s political ideology is a cross between this and Dirty Communists. Infernal Echelon is this in that he only wants to provoke a war between the two superpowers and cause chaos and destruction along the way.
- Minor detail, but there was also the "Liberty Party" political party which was a peaceful subversion of this until they broke up and the bomb-throwing radicals joined C.R.U.S.H.
- Bread and Circuses: The previous Anorev royal family used to have a benevolent version in which free government-funded circuses traveled the Anorev Kingdom and were run by the Gypsy people. When King Iago took over, he suspended these circuses and starting hunting down the gypsies at the request and backing of the Toiracsi Church. The only thing left of this policy is the battle arena in the capital in which the admittence is free and free loaves of bread are thrown out. Xion Enterprises also did this during Senator and Chancellor elections to support a candidate they backed.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Wade Cooper and Otto Faustus's roles.
- The Chessmaster: Quite a few characters, especially the villains.
- Chess Motifs: With a Big Bad Ensemble of Chessmasters, this is inevitable.
- Church Militant: The Paladin Order serves as the armed forces branch of the Toiracsi Church.
- Clockpunk: The Anorev Kingdom's main form of technology.
- Constructed World: It is a JRPG after all.
- Corrupt Church: The Toiracsi Church which holds much sway in the Anorev Kingdom.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Many of them make up the management of Xion Enterprises.
- Decadent Court: The Noble Council of the Anorev Kingdom are so corrupt that the only reason they haven't taken the throne is because the King frequently plays the noble families against each other. They get hit by Laser-Guided Karma when they flee to Namikawa after the party overthrows the Evil Overlord. They are defeated, captured, given a fair trial for treason, corruption, and other crimes and almost all of them are sentenced to death or long prison terms. Interestingly, the board of directors for Xion Enterprises is alot like this trope.
- Death by Origin Story: Diana's parent's (both real and adopted), and Cielo's parents and his The Squad (the original Omega Berets).
- Deconstructor Fleet
- Defector from Decadence: The Commoners Revolutionary Union for Social Harmony's membership is almost entirely made up of radical splinter factions of other groups (the radical wings of Jade Faction and the Collective Party, disillusioned Rutledge Republic veterans, former soldiers of the Quraicstan Dominion, and the remnants of the defunct Liberty Party).
- Dirty Communists: C.R.U.S.H.'s political ideology is a cross between this and Bomb-Throwing Anarchists. They frequently mention "social harmony" and "liberation of the common man" and list religion, business, and governments among their targets. The Collective Party is a subversion for they are a moderate Socialist-style political party and denounce the actions of C.R.U.S.H. (which is partially made up of radical Collective Party members who view the rest of the political party as "too soft").
- Disc-One Final Dungeon: The party has gathered the Dismantled MacGuffins, brought them to the HQ of La Résistance, rebuilt the Lost Superweapon, and are planing to attack the Capital and overthrow the Evil Overlord. But Your Princess Is in Another Castle!. The Lost Superweapon is revealed to be a Tracking Device, the Evil Overlord invades La Résistance, a mysterious new organization shows up, the Rebel Leader is killed, La Résistance is all but destroyed, and the party has to flee to the Rutledge Republic.
- Dismantled MacGuffin: The Sword of Oblivion was dismantled and scattered around the world it's actually a Tracking Device.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: After Venia Debs is exposed as the leader and founder of C.R.U.S.H., the Preparation Party urges the Rutledge Republic to start arresting members of the Collective Party (which he founded and used to lead) out of suspision of collaberation between C.R.U.S.H. and the Collective Party. Hmmmm...
- For the really dense: Preparation Party=Republican Party, Collective Party=Socialists/Communists, C.R.U.S.H.=anarchist terrorists, and the above mentioned event is both Red Scares.
- Dysfunction Junction: It is revealed that the Badass Crew Omega Berets were this, consisting of a Cold Sniper, a Stepford Smiler, a Colonel Kilgore, and other messed-up people. Cielo even describes them as "a collection of the Republic's most elite sociopaths. I had never felt so at home."
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Playing the game on the unlockable New Game Plus difficulty will result in a happy ending in which Cielo lives and hooks up with Diana.
- Elaborate Underground Base: Jade Faction and C.R.U.S.H. both have underground headquarters.
- Elite Mooks: The BFG wielding Royal Guard of the Anorev Kingdom, the Omega Berets of the Rutledge Republic, and the Sughdian Corps who used to fight for the Quracistan Dominion, but now fight for C.R.U.S.H.
- The Empire: The Anorev Kingdom which eventually starts calling itself the Anorev Empire. Eventually turns back into the kingdom.
- Evil Chancellor: Completely averted in that the Chancellor and Vice Chancellor are merely the titles for the leader and vice leader of the Rutledge Republic and even then the Chancellor is a weak-willed Head-in-the-Sand Management and the Vice Chancellor is a Boisterous Bruiser Reasonable Authority Figure. Subverted in the case of the Archpatriarch of the Toiracsi Church who advises the king of the Anorev Kingdom, but is loyal to him. Double Subverted in that the king is evil and is plotting with the Archpatriarch to conquer the Rutledge Republic. A subtle version of this is Adrian who mentions he used to be a shrink and three of his patients were the Chairman of a MegaCorp, the Archpatriarch of the Corrupt Church, and the leader of C.R.U.S.H.
- Evil Plan: Each of the Big Bads (and some of the Big Bad Wannabes) have their own goals, most of which involve causing a world war:
- Arcturus Niccolo: Crush La Résistance and then have the Anorev Kingdom conquer the world and rule it through Machiavellian fear.
- Akito Ogawa: Manipulate Lezareno Xion and Zachary into helping her acquire the ancient machines, usurp control of the Anorev Kingdom from Arcturus, conquer the world, and rule it with strict Legalism.
- Infernal Echelon: Start a world war for some reason but his real plan is to usurp Adrian's Super-Soldier army and destroy the world.
- Frick Xion: Cause a world war in which the Rutledge Republic will win (with the backing of Xion Enterprises) and then create a monopoly of the world economy under his MegaCorp.
- Donatello DiCosta: Playing Both Sides in the Xion Enterprises/Federation of Workers labor dispute and use the party to keep an eye on his Capos.
- Venia Debs: Use terrorism attacks to provoke a world war in order to destroy the existing institutions and somehow replace them with democratic socialist utopias.
- Adrian Pazar: Pull off a massive Genghis Gambit/Zero-Approval Gambit in order to unite the world against himself creating a state of "peace through endless war."
- Evil Versus Evil: When C.R.U.S.H. attacks the DiCosta Syndicate. Earlier, they also attack the Anorev Kingdom and Xion Enterprises.
- False Flag Operation: C.R.U.S.H. has this as one of their tactics. Xion Enterprises also plotted to have the DiCosta Syndicate sabotage a Rutledge Republic battleship so it will explode in Anorev Kingdom waters with the Vice Chancellor, Teodor, aboard. This would get rid of Teodor (a Reasonable Authority Figure who is a threat to them) and provide propaganda for their media division.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Many of the towns and nations are based on real life cultures and sometimes involve Culture Chop Suey. Second tier are the real life cultures while the third tiers are Hollywood Atlas tropes:
- Rutledge Republic: United States with a dash of Imperial Germany
- Eagleland (Mixed Flavor), Kaiserreich, The Federation
- Anorev Kingdom: Medieval Europe, Renaissance Europe
- Panarium: United States Corn Belt
- New Fete: New Orleans, Las Vegas
- Neo-Rutledge: New York City
- Little Namikawa: Chinatown
- Gevanni: Italy (specifically Venice)
- Narnia: Constantinople
- East Quracistan: Middle East
- West Quracistan: Mexico
- Namikawa: Feudal Japan with a dash of China
- Quracistan Dominion: Ottoman Empire, Nazi Germany
- Church of Toiracsi: Roman Catholic Church
- Rutledge Republic: United States with a dash of Imperial Germany
- Fantasy Gun Control: Justified aversion due to the fact that the game takes place in a Steampunk setting. Literal gun control does exist in the Anorev Kingdom.
- The Federation: The Rutledge Republic. In fact the Rutledge Republic acts more like a confederation than a true republic (the Rutledge Republic consists of a union/alliance of several independent city-states overseen by a Senate which is made up of representatives from each city-state). Eventually becomes The Republic.
- The Fellowship Has Ended: At the end of the game the party goes it separate ways as Diana is the ruler of the Anorev Kingdom, Rafael is the Commandant of the Anorev Knights, Hospitaller is the Archpatriarch of the Toiracsi Church, Teodor is the Chancellor of the Rutledge Republic, Wade is the new head of the Collective Party and is running for Chancellor, and Adrian is now a part of the World Tree. As for Cielo...
- Normal Ending: Cielo is still dead, but Her Heart Will Go On as Diana marries Rafael and they have a daughter (named Madeline after the deceased Rebel Leader) together and Cielo is remembered as a legendary hero and saviour. The party goes to Kratos and visits the World Tree and discover a surviving albino Super-Soldier clone who looks like Cielo and is the same age as Madeline after the boy saves Madeline. Diana names the boy Cielo Jr. and he immediately hits it off with Madeline.
- Alternate Ending: Diana hasn't gotten over his Heroic Sacrifice when, one night, she dreams that she and Cielo were still children and he tells her to go to the World Tree. This starts the Playable Epilogue where Diana starts Putting the Band Back Together and goes to the World Tree where it turns out that Cielo has come Back from the Dead.
- Fictional Political Party: Being a republic the Rutledge Republic has 5 major political parties ("major" meaning they have seats in the Republican Senate), each with a color and a animal symbol:
- Preparation Party (Blue Dogs)
- Stability Party (White Sheep)
- Collective Party (Red Oxen)
- Eco Party (Green Deer)
- Pious Party (Purple Fish)
- Floating Continent: Kratos, the former capital of the Cajamarca Empire where the World Tree currently resides.
- Friendly Local Chinatown: The ethnic enclave of "Little Namikawa" in Neo-Rutledge.
- Fun with Acronyms: One of the major villain organizations is named the Commoner's Revolutionary Union for Social Harmony. The republic's intelligence agency is named the Preparation Agency fo Tactical Response, Intelligence, and Other Tactics.
- Gambit Pileup: With a Big Bad Ensemble consisting of Chessmasters, this was inevitable.
- If you really want to know: Duke is plotting with Jade Faction against Arcturus, but Arcturus already knew this and used Duke’s treachery to further his Evil Plan to destroy Jade Faction. Infernal Echelon is working with Zachary, Frick Xion, and Venia Debs, but has his own agenda and is manipulating them and pretty much EVRYONE else. Frick Xion works with Infernal Echelon and takes advantage of the actions of C.R.U.S.H., the Federation of Workers, the DiCosta Syndicate, the Rutledge Republic government, and even his own Directors in order to further his own profit-oriented ends. Akito is a member of the Big Bad Duumvirate with Arcturus and has business deals with Frick Xion, but is manipulating all three for her own ends. Donatello DiCosta is manipulating the party in order to keep an eye on Sindacco and is working with the Federation of Workers and Xion Enterprises, but is actually being manipulated by the latter and Infernal Echelon and is quickly Out-Gambitted (let's not even get started on what his Underboss were up to). Ultimately Adrian turns out to have the Last Plan Standing as he turns out to be Infernal Echelon’s boss and has been manipulating the party towards his own ends and already manipulated Zachary, Frick Xion, and Venia Debs long before the events of the story via implanting an idea for a world war in all three of their heads. As Wade lampshades:
"So he was manipulating him, but him already knew so him used he against her, but she was plotting against both of them so he, she, they, it... My brain!!!" - "Get Out of Jail Free" Card: When Teodor becomes Chancellor, he pardons all the Collective Party members unjustly imprisoned in the event mentioned in Does This Remind You of Anything? above. Also over the course of the game the party is wanted in the Anorev Kingdom from crimes ranging from assault to treason. When Diana becomes the Princess of the Anorev Kingdom, she pardons herself and the party.
- Ghost Town: The "city-state" of Burleson in the Rutledge Republic. It was a small town that had a heavy Xion Enterprises presence. When the town went on strike, Xion Enterprises shut down its businesses there and moved. This caused Burleson to become a Dying Town, then a Wretched Hive, and then a Ghost Town when it was razed in the Galay War. It is revealed to be the headquarters of C.R.U.S.H. who's leader encouraged, organized, and led the strike and blames himself for the town's ruin.
- Good Republic, Evil Empire: More like Burecratic Republic, Corrupted Kingdom.
- Gotta Catch Them All: The goal of Jade Faction and the Anorev Kingdom is to collect the pieces of the Sword of Oblivion before the other. Actually invoked by the Big Bad Duumvirate so that Jade Faction would waste their resources looking for the MacGuffin
- Government Agency of Fiction: The Preparation Agency for Tactical Response, Intelligence, and Other Tactics (P.A.T.R.I.O.T.) which acted as a Third Echelon-style covert ops agency for the Rutledge Republic, but has been reduced to a incompetently bureaucratic organization.
- Great Offscreen War: The Galay War was a major two-year war on the continent of Galay between the Rutledge Republic and the Quracistan Dominion and it is mentioned several times and even has an occasional flashback. Even more offscreen are the Rutledge-Gevanni War (fought between the Rutledge Republic and the oligarchy republic city-state of Gevanni) and the Rodina War (a war of conquest fought by the Anorev Kingdom against Namikawa).
- Guns Are Worthless: Played with. One of their main advantages is infinite reloads and the ability to very temporaily "stun" non-blockers (and the shotgun's ability to knock people down). For gameplay purposes though, guns cause a low amount of damage, need to be reloaded (not to mention you need to stand still while reloading), can be blocked, and could jam (unless the gun is a Sawed-Off Shotgun or a revolver).
- Hate Plague: The "Chaotic Fury" spell gives enemies a boost in attack power, but also causes them to ignore the party and attack each other. When the spell wears off, remaining enemies will go into a brief Villainous BSoD as they realize what they did. The Toiracsi Church banned the use of this spell because too many criminals were claiming that they were under the influence of the spell, but Cielo mentions that this is one of his favorite spells.
- Hollywood Tactics: I'm trying to avert this, but if I do have to resort to this in order to continue the plot it will be lampshaded by Adrian who will point out the flaws in the tactic.
- The Horde: Adrian creates the "Eternal Horde" as an army of Super Soldiers to plunge the world into a state of "peace through endless war"
- Hufflepuff House: While it is mentioned that the Rutledge Republic has five major political parties, only the Preparation Party, Pious Party, and Collective Party matter to the plot thus making the other three parties (Eco and Stability) fit this trope.
- It's Always Mardi Gras in New Orleans: The Port Town city-state of New Fete is regarded as the party capital of the world as they always have a parade and/or festival every week.
- The Joys of Torturing Mooks: Cielo's special ability is to grab mooks and engage in interrogation minigames with them. Being a T-rated game, he mostly used Enhanced Interrogation Techniques that threaten death and then a Gory Discretion Shot when he does go through with killing the mook.
- Just Like Robin Hood: Diana does this as Classy Cat-Burglar, "Rogue Ruby", robbing the Anorev nobility and giving most of the wealth to the peasants (she keeps a small bit for herself). Jade Faction also does this occasionally. C.R.U.S.H. likes to believe that they're this, but they're more "rob and bomb the businessmen and give the money to ourselves".
- Industrial Ghetto: The Industrial District of Neo-Rutledge.
- Kansas City Shuffle: Infernal] Echleon is pretty good at using these. After every boss battle with him, it is almost always revealed that he was merely delaying the party while his true goal is being achived. One example is when the party hears about Xion Enterprises paying the DiCosta Syndicate to blow up a Rutledge Republic battleship as part of a False Flag Operation. The party foils the plot, but the DiCosta Syndicate is attacked all over Galay by C.R.U.S.H. When the party battles with Infernal Echelon (who is working with the chairman of Xion Enterprises and the leader of C.R.U.S.H.), he reveals that while the party was focused on preventing the MegaCorp's plot, C.R.U.S.H. was free to get into position without any real hinderence and the riots resulting from the fighting between C.R.U.S.H. and the DiCosta Syndicate will weaken the Republic making the Anorev Kingdom more likely to invade. Either way Infernal Echelon increased the chances of a world war.
- Law Enforcement, Inc.: The Blackwater Detective Agency, the de facto private military of Xion Enterprises. The "Reconstruction Bureau" is also operated by the MegaCorp
- Limit Break: The "Ultima Strikes"
- Lost Superweapon: The Sword of Oblivion was an ancient superweapon developed by the Vestigial Empire that was broken into several pieces and scattered around the world. Psych! The whole "superweapon" thing was just a rumor/plot started and encouraged by the Evil Overlord. It's actually a recently made Tracking Device.
- Lost Technology: The Sword of Obilivion (see Lost Superweapon above) and the "Ancient Machines" which can provide alot of power. However, there's a reason why this technology is lost: It's Powered by a Forsaken Child.
- Love Triangle: Cielo and Rafael both have feelings for Diana and she's having trouble deciding who she wants.
- Low Fantasy
- The Mafia: The DiCosta Syndicate that runs Gevanni. Given a sympathetic twist when it is revealed that they used to be La Résistance, but after overthrowing the corrupt ruler they couldn't blend back into society and thus became a criminal organization. They are later revealed to be The Syndicate as they have a presense in New Fete and Saladin as well.
- The Magic Versus Technology War: One of the main goals of the party is to prevent a war between the two superpowers, the magic-driven Medieval Stasis Clock Punk Anorev Kingdom and The Gay '90s-inspired Steampunk Rutledge Republic.
- Magitek: The Anorev Kingdom uses magic in a similar way to the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender.
- MegaCorp: Xion Enterprises is a Type 1, a conglomerate that is the main producer of Steampunk technology that holds much influence in the Rutledge Republic and has its own armed security force. There's also the smaller Ogawa Zaibatsu of Namikawa.
- Minovsky Physics: Aether has clearely defined limits and rules and is even studied like a science.
- More Dakka: The "Barrage" ability that is only avilable to firearms users will make any firearm fire five times it's normal ammo count in a automatic stream. However, the gun must be full, only one target can be hit at a time, it increases the chances of a jam after its use, and it is mentioned in a skit that it has a lot of recoil.
- During the battle between the Anorev Empire and the Rutledge Republic the Empire's vast numbers are balanced out by the Republic's firearms. Arcturus planned on this and had a Human Resources-fueled Superweapon Surprise in store.
- Trick-and-Follow Ploy: The party spends the first part of the game looking for the pieces of the Dismantled MacGuffin Lost Superweapon before the Evil Overlord can, but it turns out that the Lost Superweapon is really a Tracking Device Oops.
- No Man of Woman Born: A prophecy states that a virgin with "Sacred Blood" will need to be sacrificed to revive Ashvastha. When Diana is revealed to be both a princess and a virgin, she is about to sacrifice herself when the rest of the party stops her in time. When it is pointed out that someone needs to be sacrificed, Cielo does it instead. He meets the qualifications due to the fact that he is a virgin and he received a blood transfusion from Diana after Taking the Bullet for her in an earlier arc.
- No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Dine: Sort of used. Frick Xion invites the party to a dinner at Shinra. Each of the dishes are their favorite foods (which Xion comments were made from ingredients freshly produced in Shinra) and the dinner ends with Xion trying to buy off the party by offering them each a large amount of money, but each party member rejects the bribe and cites their own reasons for turning it down before leaving, leaving the buisnessman thoroughly baffled (who believes that Every Man Has His Price). Adrian and Wade both lampshade this trope.
- Not-So-Safe Harbor: Saladin is the largest city in Quracistan, but it is a bombed-out Vice City Port Town that is de facto run by Xion Enterprises with the DiCosta Syndicate acquiring a foothold on the underworld.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: The Rutledge Republic is seemingly staffed with these. Of special note is the "Reconstruction Bureau" which is supposed to be a Rutledge Republic agency dedicated to reconstructing Quracistan, but it's really just occupation forces under the control of Xion Enterpises and its head is the Underboss of the DiCosta Syndicate.
- Spaghetti and Gondolas: Gevanni, a city built on an archpelgo in the middle of a major river that is run by The Mafia.
- One-Hit Kill: The "Grapple Kills" that can only be performed on stunned human enemies. Trying to perform these on a boss will result in a unblockable "Grapple Counter".
- One Nation Under Copyright: Xion Enterpises is the de facto ruler of Quracistan after it was defeated and occupied by the Rutledge Republic after the Galay War. The head of the Ogawa Zaibatsu is also the Shogun of Namikawa.
- Orcus on His Throne: When the party goes to the Rutledge Republic, the Anorev Kingdom conveniently doesn't cause any trouble until they get back. Justified because reading the optional newspapers will reveal that C.R.U.S.H. has embarked on a terrorist bombing campaign throughout the Anorev Kingdom and the Kingdom has its hands full dealing with it.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: This is a major theme which many characters (Cielo, Diana, and Draxon to name a few) abide by.
- Peace Conference: The party;s main goal is to set one up so they can prevent the war between the Anorev Kingdom and the Rutledge Republic it is also part of the antagonist's Evil Plan / Genghis Gambit to attack the Peace Conference and get the world to unite against himself.
- The Plague: The Indigo Plague
- The Plan: A look around this page will reveal a lot of people using a lot of different plans.
- Playable Epilogue: Beating the game on the unlockable Harder Than Hard difficulty will unlock a playable epilgoue where Diana goes around the world regathering the members of the party after being told in a dream that Cielo is still alive.
- Point of No Return: Temporary version. After Jade Faction is destroyed the party can't go back to the Anorev Kingdom until later in the game.
- Powered by a Forsaken Child: In the story there are ancient machines that provide a lot of power, but are fueled by Human Resources. Adrian and Otto have found a way to modify the machines so they would be powered from nearby dying humans instead of being fed humans directly.
- Power of Love: Justified. It is mentioned that aether responds strongly to the combination of strong emotion and hormones that comes from love.
- Pretext for War: Xion Enterprises is trying to provide one because of War for Fun and Profit, the Anorev Kingdom wants to go to war so they can Take Over the World, but wants the Toiracsi Church to prepare a heroic sounding excuse first, and C.R.U.S.H. just wants for both superpowers to go to war. It is revealed that the Chairman of Xion Enterprises, the leader of C.R.U.S.H., and the Archpatriarch of the Toiracsi Church had the idea for this war implanted by their mutual shrink, Adrian.
- Punch-Clock Villain: The Blackwater Detective Agency is the private army of Xion Enterprises, but they are sympathetically revealed to be this as well. Many of them are Shell Shocked Veterans who are too used to the military lifestyle and they joined Blackwater for the decent salary and the medical benefits for them and their families.
- La Résistance: Deconstructed. Jade Faction fights against the iron-fisted rule of the Anorev Kingdom, but their methods are shown as morally ambiguous and there is conflict within Jade Faction between members who either truly want to do good or those who just want to cause destruction against the Anorev Kingdom. Eventually Jade Faction is crippled when the infighting leads to the radical followers leaving to join C.R.U.S.H. and the Rebel Leader is killed. The DiCosta Syndicate also used to be a rebel group before having to mutate into a criminal organization.
- The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: The Commoner's Revolutionary Union for Social Harmony (or C.R.U.S.H.) advocate reform and the liberation of the common man and wish to acheive that via terrorist attacks on those they don't like and provoking the two superpowers into going to war so that they will destroy each other, anarchy will ensue, and socialist utopias will rise in there place. The bulk of their roster is made up of former members of the Quracistan Dominion's army and the radical former members of Jade Faction.
- Romani: The gypsy people are in this game in the form of a Fantasy Counterpart Culture. They have a negative reputation as depraved thieving con artists, but they are actually colorful fun-loving tricksters. They used to run the free traveling circuses for the Anorev royal family, but the gypsies are now in hiding because the Toiracsi Church has encouraged and backed persecution of them. Many of them have taken refuge in the Rutledge Republic or joined Jade Faction.
- Samurai: The armored warriors of Namikawa. They are a Deconstruction, however, because they are obesessed with honor (fighting duels over minor issues), loyally obedient to the point of being unable to competently think for themselves, mercilessly ruthless to prisoners, and too willing to throw away their own lives (the Samurai also pioneered the Suicide Attack tactic as an alternative to Seppuku). Cielo even refers to them as "suicide happy honor nuts".
- Sdrawkcab Name: The "Anorev" in Anorev Kingdom is backwards for Neo Verona (without the "Neo"). The "Toiracsi" in the Toiracsi Church is also backwards for "Iscariot".
- Shifting Sand Land: Quracistan is a large desert that makes up the southern part of the Rultedge Republic. East Quracistan is Qurac while West Quracistan is Spexico.
- Shotguns Are Just Better: As noted above in Guns Are Worthless, shotguns tend to inflict more damage than other firearms, can knock people down with a direct unblocked hit, and the Sawed-Off Shotgun never jams, but they have short range, the slowest rate of fire, and the longest reloads.
- Show Within a Show: The party will occasionally be able to go to a movie theater in the town/city they are currently in and watch a trailer-style movie a la Stuntman: Ignition.
- Shur Fine Guns: Averted in that any firearm that isn't a Sawed-Off Shotgun or a revolver could jam, but that just means you won't be able to use your firearm until a certain amount of time passes.
- Signed Up for the Dental: When Cielo interrogates a C.R.U.S.H. mook...Mook: "I only joined C.R.U.S.H. because they have free dental!"Cielo: "So I guess you won't mind if I do this then." (Knocks some of the mook's teeth out)
- On a more serious note, C.R.U.S.H. is able to provide medical benefits to its members because they have a bunch of altruistic doctors working for them. The Blackwater Detective Agency also has medical benefits for its members and their families.
- Smart People Play Chess: Diana, Arcturus, Akito, Frick, Donatello, Infernal Echelon, and especially Adrian (to name a few) can all be seen playing and/or talking about Chess.
- Smart Villain Smart Story: It really says somthing about the story when you have five big bads and all of them are Chessmasters.
- Springtime for Hitler: In one sidequest, the party comes across some producers who are trying to pull a scheme that involves intentionally releasing a flop play so they can profit off it. To ensure that the play is a flop, they choose a Cliché Storm script, cast Rafael as the hero, make Wade the narrator, allow Adrian to make some Viewers Are Geniuses changes to the script, put Cielo in charge of special effects, and cast Diana as the villain just for the hell of it. The play ultimatly turns out a large success since Rafael's Hot-Blooded nature makes him into a enjoyable Large Ham, Wade's Breaking the Fourth Wall makes him an interestingly eccentric narrator, Adrian's revisions turn the Cliché Storm script into a intriguing Deconstructor Fleet, Cielo makes Everything Is Better With Explosions, and Diana turns out to be a great, sexy, and intelligent villain.
- Spy Fiction: When Cielo talks about his time as a "glove" (assassin) for P.A.T.R.I.O.T. it sounds like Stale Beer while he makes several deconstructive Take Thats toward the Martini tropes.
- Steampunk: The Rutledge Republic's main technology, courtisy of Xion Enterprises
- Strawman News Media: Type I in the case of the MegaCorp-owned media in the Rutledge Republic and Type II in the case of The Government-controlled media in The Anorev Kingdom. Whenever you look at a newspaper for tips on where to go next, the headline and front cover story will often be a biased vilication of the party's actions.
- Suicide Attack: Some of the more fanatical/deranged enemies such as the Samurai or C.R.U.S.H. Bomber, respectively, will sometimes try to attack a character with a suicide attack that involves lighting a stick of dynamite in each hand and charging at a character.
- Super-Soldier: The grand plan of the Big Bad is to create an army of these via Designer Babies born from Uterine Replicator to plunge the world into "peace through eternal war". Cielo and Gideon are both prototypes of this.
- Take That!: Several towards The Twilight Saga and Harry Potter.
- There's also a Take That! to the infamous hunt for the Ymir fruit from Tales of Symphonia. The party is going through a forest when a child blocking their way needs to get a special fruit to make the medicine needed to heal her sick mother. When the group goes over to the fruit, Wa he bemoans that they will need to solve an unnessasarily convoluted puzzle, but Cielo simply shoots the fruit off the branch and cathes it.
- There Are No Therapists: Enforced and lampshaded by the fact that "Therapist" is a very rare job in this world.
- There Are Three Types Of People: The analogy for this game is sheep (normal people), wolves (evildoers who prey on the "sheep"), and dogs (guardians who protect the "sheep" from the "wolves"). Cielo identifies himself as a "cannibal wolf" (as vicious and brutal as any "wolf" and doesn't get along with "dogs", but won't harm "sheep").
- Timeskip: After Diana becomes the new ruler of the Anorev Kingdom and confirms her position be defeating Akito and Charles Godwin there is a month long time skip to the Peace Conference. During the timeskip, the building where the Peace Conference is to take place in is constructed and the Anorev Kingdom's last mass execution takes place after the corrupt nobles are given a fair trial and many of them are sentenced to death.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Every character has their favorite food listed.
- Troperiffic: Have you been paying attention?
- Vestigial Empire: The Cajamarca Empire. A great earthquake caused it's capital to rise in the air and during a debate over security versus freedom, whatever was left split in two to form the Anorev Kingdom and the Rutledge Republic. Is also Ancient Grome with a dash of Mayincatec. There is also the Quracistan Dominion which was a powerful federation of the city-states of Quracistan that was conquered and dismantled after it lost the Galay War to the Rutledge Republic.
- Viewers Are Geniuses: I'm trying not to make the game too complicated, but it is more intelligent than most Tales of games as one of the countries is a republic complete with its own political parties, revanchism and labor are major themes, and all the members of the Big Bad Ensemble are Chessmasters.
- War Arc: The overall plot is the prevent a war between the two superpowers, but the party also involves itself in many regional conflicts that often have something to do with the beforementioned overall plot.
- War for Fun and Profit: Xion Enterprises tries to goad the Rutledge Republic into going to war with the Anorev Kingdom for this reason. This is also the goal of C.R.U.S.H. and Infernal Echelon.
- War Is Glorious/War Is Hell: War is a major theme and both tropes are examined, but the game leans towards War Is Hell.
- We Have Reserves: During a battle between the Anorev Empire (the Anorev Kingdom has just renamed itself) and the Rutledge Republic, Arcturus orders waves of his knights to attack the republic's forces and says this when it is pointed out that the knights are being cut down by the Republic's firearm technology. It turns out that he has a SuperweaponSurprise in store that is powered by the dead in case the ZergRush doesn't work.
- World Tree: Ashvastha, named after the sacred Hindu tree. It is also the world's only producer of Aether and it needs a Virgin Sacrifice to sustain it.
- Wutai: Namikawa
- Xanatos Speed Chess: The plot a game of this with everyone playing off against everyone else to further their own goals. Out of the Big Bad Ensemble Adrain comes out on top.
- You Cannot Kill an Idea: The leaders of C.R.U.S.H. and Jade Faction both believe this and mention this line. It is also revealed that Adrian subconciously planted the idea for a world war in Frick Xion, Zachary, and Venia Debs long before the events of the story.
- Zeppelins from Another World: They even have "skyports" which is basically a skyscrapers that also serves as a mall, an airport for airships, and an apartment building.