Reminder that Fridge pages are for post-viewing discussion. Spoilers will be unmarked.
Fridge Brilliance
- Primrose's dancer class learns the Eye for an Eye passive ability. It isn't a great ability on her, as it's a standard counter attack, not suited for her more magic-based playstyle. However it does make sense since her character arc is all about vengeance.
- The third and fourth bosses of Cyrus's story are humans who use blood crystals to transform themselves into humanoid abominations, and completely disintegrate upon death. The same disintegration occurs in another story to Redeye, giving an early hint as to its true nature before The Reveal.
- In Cyrus's chapter 4, Lucia's mutated form bears a striking resemblance to Redeye.
- Therion's fourth boss comes off as a Breather Boss in comparison to the other chapter 4 bosses, but It Makes Sense in Context. Darius spent so much time building himself up and surrounding himself with mooks that when it finally came down to confront him on his own, he didn't stand much of a chance.
- Aelfric's elemental power is not Lightning, or even Fire. It's Light. Mattias' crusade against the god who he thinks destroyed his home, or could have saved it, is truly misguided.
- The Omniscient Eye, Galdera's first phase, has a move that deals heavy Lightning damage to the entire party, and a single-target Fire move. In Ophilia's Chapter 4, Mattias tells Ophilia that Galdera's powers have been greatly weakened by his sealing, but he is still extremely powerful. This, as well as the above two moves the Omniscient Eye can use, implies that Galdera was responsible for the destruction of Mattias' home, knowing full well that the former priest would Rage Against the Heavens and come to serve himnote , much like how Mattias manipulated Lianna into helping him corrupt the Sacred Flame by falsely promising to resurrect Archbishop Josef, when he himself was responsible for Josef's death.
- Tressa being a decent fighter especially for her age makes a lot of sense when you realize that her father was nicknamed Muscle Merchant. Logically, her pa is the one who trained her how to protect herself.
- More than that, her father specialized in spears, while her mother is a bow-woman, explaining why Tressa uses those two weapons specifically!
- It might seem strange that seemingly-random townsfolk can be deadly fighters, or at least are willing to fight when challenged, and that four of the party members start off as classes that traditionally aren't terribly known for their combat ability. But consider that this is your typical JRPG setting, with random encounters with monsters just outside of every town. In a world where you can be attacked by random monsters just for traveling down the road, let alone going about your daily business, of course a lot of people will be experienced - or at least trained - in combat. This would also explain why "hedge knights" seem to be so common, and why Olberic can make a steady living off of just training the patrolmen and youths of a small town, and why combat magic is so commonplace.
- The four non-combat classes make sense too. In regards to Ophilia and Cyrus, it can be inferred that the 12 gods were involved in teaching mortals magic. Each class in the game representing one of them. Light from Aelfric to protect the congregation (some clerics like Ophilia obviously more talented than others). Primrose was most likely taught basic self defense by her father. Primrose knowing dark element probably comes from the element of choice of the goddess associated with Dancer.
- Mikk and Makk's overuse of pirate accents and terminology seems silly at first glance. But remember that they idolized Leon Bastralle and pretty much built their entire personas around emulating pirates. Of course they would exaggerate the typical pirate stereotypes. They're colossal pirate fanboys!
- The game doesn't directly tell you about Olberic's unique ability to defend the rest of the party when he Boosts and Defends. But then, of course it doesn't. Olberic himself doesn't realize that the whole reason why he fights is to protect others until the end of his third chapter.
- The Sunlands seems to be an odd biome, stuck between the tall Highlands and the lush Riverlands. The Woodlands are also surprisingly hospitable despite being at the same latitude as the frigid Frostlands. However, if you study up on how rainfall patterns affect climates, and look at the lush Coastlands north and east of the Highlands, it makes perfect sense. A southward wind (blowing down from the colder Frostlands and over the ocean) would carry rain that falls north of the Highlands and leaves areas west and south of the Highlands as an arid desert. The waters of the Riverlands (coming down from the Cliftlands) would render that region lush and habitable. A warm southerly wind would in turn blow past the Cliftlands and allow rain to fall on the Woodlands, while keeping the region much more temperate.
- Some of the reasons why each class has an elemental attack:
- Thief has a fire elemental attack. One strategy a thief may have is to sabotage something so a guard can be distracted. Lighting something up on fire is the quickest way to do that.
- Apothecary has ice. One of the things medics may do is to put ice on a wound or bruise to dull the pain and slow down the bacterial spreading. Of course, too much ice can be a detriment as well and someone who focuses on healing would know what would be too much.
- Hunter has Lightning. In many groups from ancient civilization to more indigenous cultures, lightning is something that is sacred because of it being from the sky. Being that it is implied that people have basic knowledge of magic, it would make sense that using the most primeval element would be used for a class that is wild focus.
- Dancer has Dark. As mentioned up-page, Sealticge possibly taught Dark elemental magic to humans, and it became associated with Dancers because of the goddess herself as acting in a similar fashion - note that "sealticge" is Old English for "dancer".
- Scholar has Fire, Ice, and Lightning. Given the amount of studying that is presumably required for one to be qualified as such, of course they would have picked up some knowledge about each of the three elements along the way.
- Merchant has Wind. Its single- and multi-target elemental skills are named "Tradewinds" and "Trade Tempest" respectively, referring to the winds used by sailors to cross oceans and engage in trade.
- Warrior doesn't have any elemental skills, instead having Abide and Incite in their place. This reflects their overall skillset and role in the party, being a physical juggernaut both offensively and defensively and focusing exclusively on that.
- Cleric has Light, and the job's skillset revolves around general (if sometimes indirect) protection of either a group or a single person, exactly the tools for the situation a traveling cleric (which is most of them) would find themselves in.
- Why is Primrose the only one whose Path Action isn't used in not just one, but two chapters? Consider when she does use it: the first is only because Helgenish forces her to do some extra work and the second is when she tries to allure a coachman and fails, having to allure the tavern keeper over to convince him instead. In contrast, her being the daughter of Geoffrey Azelhart brings far more mileage in actually locating the Crow Men. Seeing as she could have comfortably stayed in Noblecourt with loyal servants (as Revello points out) and likely receive the same amount of assistance, it comes across as Primrose subtly doubting her path and whether she needed to become a dancer in Sunshade at all even before the Break Them by Talking speech in her Chapter 4.
- Similarly, Tressa doesn't need to use Purchase for any plot-relevant scenes in her fourth chapter, though she did need it in all three of her previous chapters. This time, it's because she's the one trying to sell something... and she's the one merchant who's successful at the fair on top of that!
- Z'aanta mentions in the beginning of H'aanit's first chapter that while he is skilled at hunting and knowing beasts, he has a much harder time measuring men, which is why he loses all his wagers in Victors Hollow. At first this just seems to highlight his gambling problem, but in retrospect it's a brilliant bit of subtle foreshadowing that Redeye was once a human, and thus how it managed to get the better of such an experienced hunter.
- During H'aanit's flashback of her master Z'aanta's departure, we get a hilarious exchange where the former reminds the latter of his gambling habits. Z'aanta's response is to remind her of "the old hunter's saying", “If the first arrow faileth, knock a second and try again”... only for H'aanit to counter with a sigh that “Thou just madest that one up”. However, Z'aanta's claim that it is an "old hunter's saying" is a half-truth; it is a paraphrase of the famous Real Life proverb “If at first you don't succeed, try, try again”, popularized by William Edward Hickson (1803–1870). Hickson was an educational writer, not a hunter, but Z'aanta would have been right if he hadn't tried to paraphrase the proverb with hunting terminology, though his exchange with H'aanit wouldn't have been nearly as funny if he had.
- H'aanit, a dignified but fierce hunter who has fought and tamed many wild creatures over the years, has 666 total HP at Level 13, excluding HP-increasing items and equipment. Doubles as funny. It's especially fitting as the Arc Villain of her story, Redeye, is a demonic abomination that was once Graham Crossford, a good man who was turned into a monster by Lyblac's dark magic.
- Ophilia's Chapter 1 boss, the Guardian of the First Flame, is a giant golem made of ice and stone, is fought in an icy cave in the Frostlands... and has a weakness to Ice. This is pretty baffling, as common sense dictates that it should have a weakness to Fire; but consider how it guards Aelfric's Lanthorn, used to light the holy fire that keeps Galdera's dark power in check, and it at least makes sense that the Guardian doesn't have a weakness to Fire.
- The main gimmick to the second battle against Simeon in Primrose's Chapter 4 is that several of his attacks inflict the Silencenote status. Rufus, the Left Hand of the Crow said that Primrose's father was murdered because he had found out classified information that the Obsidians would not allow to become public, which in the post-game is revealed to be knowledge about the Gate of Finis and the Obsidians' goal to help Lyblac resurrect the local God of Evil. In other words, Simeon and co. "silenced" Primrose's father.
- It's also possible that he's "silencing" Primrose because there's currently an audience in the theater watching the play who could overhear the fight.
- Therion surviving the fall from the cliff was not explained in-game, but based on the concept art, he has a grappling hook. Thus, he might have used that to catch himself.
- Miguel is infamous for how difficult his boss fight is compared to the rest of Chapter 3. That's because Miguel is the Big Bad of Alfyn's tale. He's disproportionately difficult because he should be a Final Boss, but the conflict happened early.
- On the subject of Miguel, he is the only boss in Alfyn's tale who is weak to Light, and he is also the only one who is killed by Alfyn because of his willingness to take advantage of others' compassion and commit murder. In contrast, the Blotted Viper, Vanessa Hysel and the Ogre Eagle are all weak to Dark, and they all survive. Miguel is weak to Light because he's pure evil, while Vanessa was affected by the slumberthorn enough to attempt a Heel–Face Turn, and the Blotted Viper and Ogre Eagle are Non-Malicious Monsters acting on instinct.
- Tying into this, here's something about Simeon that was Lost in Translation: in the Japanese version, Simeon has a last-minute Heel Realization and begs Primrose to kill him for both their sakes. He's the only one of the bosses on Primrose's route to show regret. He also is the only one to be weak to darkness. This is supported by how the true fight against Simeon goes on: Simeon's Achilles' Heel (weakness that doesn't change) is Dark, but before he's broken the third time, he locks it. The moment that his weakness to darkness is unlocked is when Simeon realizes how unhealthy his relationship with Primrose was.
- Not every boss weak to light is purely evil. Redeye, being Graham, is a good man underneath his monstrosity. However, it loops back to Fridge Brilliance since Graham was cursed by Lyblac.
- Similarly, the absolutely evil Galdera and Lyblac are both weak to light. And with Lyblac, I'm talking about when she's fought in "Bestower of Fame", not the one when she's one of Galdera's appendages, where she changes it when some of Galdera's parts fall.
- On the subject of Miguel, he is the only boss in Alfyn's tale who is weak to Light, and he is also the only one who is killed by Alfyn because of his willingness to take advantage of others' compassion and commit murder. In contrast, the Blotted Viper, Vanessa Hysel and the Ogre Eagle are all weak to Dark, and they all survive. Miguel is weak to Light because he's pure evil, while Vanessa was affected by the slumberthorn enough to attempt a Heel–Face Turn, and the Blotted Viper and Ogre Eagle are Non-Malicious Monsters acting on instinct.
- Both Yvon and Lucia's boss fights have them focus on physical skills, with Lucia only having a curse effect that can remotely be called magical in nature. By contrast, Russell and Gideon have magical attacks they can use in battle. Yvon and Lucia were never really scholars or researchers, only wanting power and having knowledge, so it tracks that they would resort to raw strength when pushed to fight, in contrast to Russell and Gideon, who both were scholars and researchers.
Fridge Horror
- Tressa's talent "Eye for Money" lets her find money on the road when she changes routes. Nothing scary about that... until you read that said money is "left behind by an unfortunate soul". Tressa is finding money that travelers before her had either dropped without realizing it, or were killed by the monsters infesting routes. You rarely see corpses on the road, but the side story "A Corpse with No Name" all but confirms that at least some of that money Tressa picks up comes from the dead bodies of fallen travelers.
- The fact that, according to the official guide's timeline, the game takes place in 1618 supports this theory. In real life 1618, travels were much more dangerous than in 2018, the year the game was released.
- Why does Alfyn, a character who focuses on healing/using toxins in battle, use an axe as a weapon that you'd more expect from a melee-focused character? Well before modern medicine, salves and potions can only go so far when dealing with dangerously life-threatening diseases. One such example is gangrene, causing hands and feet to turn black and rot. In such times, the only possible cure a doctor could offer to save the patient? Chopping the entire limb off. And amputation is one skill Alfyn learns with enough job points.
- It is implied that Primrose did not anticipate Helgenish's willingness to go so far as to murder her Only Friend for helping her escape his tavern, but the sheer ease in which Helgenish does so makes you wonder if he murdered potential escapees before Primrose began working for him.
- Yusufa herself states that Helgenish beats his dancers and leaves them to die if they displease him. While the phrasing implies that some of them could live, it also indicates that he sure doesn't care whether or not they do.
- In the third chapter of Alfyn's story, Ogen says that, the day his wife died to the hands of the thief he healed, he found her in an unrecognizable state. What did the thief do to her?
- And in the fourth chapter, we learn that the thief met with the same fate at Ogen's hands.
