Basic Trope: A game's interface spoils parts of the game.
- Straight:
- The game contains a bestiary or an item list, which nears completion once the player reaches Final Boss.
- There is convenient empty space in the roster for characters that are yet to be recruited.
- One of the first shops sell a powerful weapon that can only be equipped by someone from the Alician House. Since all known Alicians are antagonists, this would imply a Heel–Face Turn, an Enemy Mine scenario, or incomplete information.
- Exaggerated:
- The bestiary and/or roster has grayed out silhouettes for unfought enemies, one of which is a dead ringer for the Player Character.
- One of the first shops sells a weapon that can only be wielded by Bob of Alicia, implying he specifically joins your party.
- Downplayed:
- The game's bestiary doesn't show how large it is, but it does number its entries. Therefore, the existence of enemy #049 implies the existence of #001-048.
- The last row of the roster is shorter than the rest, being the remainder. While nothing is wrong with this, it is strange when making rows one character more or less wide would cap it off nicely while still fitting the screen.
- One of the first shops sells a weapon that no one in your party can wield. This implies at least one new party member.
- The game features a greyed out "spells" menu from the beginning, which activates after the first dungeon is completed.
- The interface contains Foreshadowing that is Hidden in Plain Sight. Even if a new player notices the early clue, it can't answer anything on its own without further context.
- Justified: The protagonist is explicitly a precognitive.
- It's a Diegetic Interface, which has certain functions disabled or damaged when the game starts, due to a Hopeless Boss Fight from earlier. The protagonist (and the player) can see these functions, but until they are switched back on or repaired, they are unusable.
- Inverted:
- The interface doesn't change to keep up with reveals and leaves new options unlisted. Such as after the protagonist finds out he is half demon he can start strengthening spell and attack damage at the cost of his HP by holding down a button. This is in stark contrast to listing every other interface option elsewhere.
- RedHerrings are put in the interface to stave off any actual spoilers.
- Subverted:
- It looks like the game is nearing completion by the bestiary being almost fully completed, but in reality player is only in the middle of the game, which then reveals the second, hidden half of bestiary.
- The bestiary is never filled up, because of rushed development, or some items were Dummied Out.
- Double Subverted:
- However, as you approach the supposedly real final boss, even after a thorough examination of all earlier areas, the bestiary still has more slots remaining than the most elaborate final boss could feasibly take up..
- A patch restores a bunch of the Dummied Out monsters, making the bestiary's empty spaces spoiler-relevant once again.
- Parodied:
- In-universe, the characters look at the menus to see how close they are to the end of the game.
- The bestiary explicitly, in bold typeface, spells out that an early enemy is the final boss.
- Zig Zagged: The bestiary clearly describes a weapon that "only a villain could equip," but instead of a Heel–Face Turn from the villains it is revealed that the party member who ended up using that weapon is the real villain all along, but he still does a Heel Face Turn.
- Averted:
- There is no bestiary, item list, or anything of kind that reveals how far into the game the player is.
- The bestiary only shows entries for defeated enemies, with no indication of completion percentage.
- Enforced:
- Interface Spoilers are included to entice people renting the game or playing the demo to buy a copy and play the full game.
- The empty spaces in the bestiary are there to warn the player of an upcoming Point of No Return while still making a point to conceal the details.
- Lampshaded: ???
- Invoked: A gameplay challenge is built on requiring the player to identify something unusual in the interface in order to solve a problem with otherwise no obvious answer.
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: "No, I refuse to accept that fiend on our team! I don't care about empty slots!!"
- Discussed: "Ever notice that whenever we meet someone, they magically fit on the Menu?"
- Conversed: "So it seems we're nearing the game's ending, as we have just started to fill the last page of bestiary."
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