Video Game / Cute Knight Kingdom

Cute Knight Kingdom is a life sim/RPG from Hanako Games, and a direct sequel to Cute Knight, which shares the name with the Cute Knight series as a whole.

THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE GAME

As in the previous game, you take on the role of a young woman and shape her life over the course of several years by doing off jobs, talking to NPCs, and fighting monsters. Instead of confining the action to a single town, Cute Knight Kingdom features an overworld that allows the protagonist to see different areas of the world. The game features Multiple Endings, most of them triggering once the protagonist celebrates her 21st birthday and reaches full adulthood.

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This game provides examples of:

• An Adventurer Is You: If you so choose. Becoming one is actually the only way to romance John the innkeeper, who is enthralled by the tales of your exploits.
• Anachronism Stew: The Star ending's image has the protagonist singing with what appears to be a ribbon microphone, but the game's setting looks medieval.
• Ancestral Name:
  • The innkeeper John, whose father and grandfather were also named John. If the PC marries him, they end up having a daughter whom they name Johanna.
  • Mixing with a Continuity Nod, the "Prime Minister" ending mentions that Prince Alaric will marry a Princess Michiko, whom Word of God has revealed is the daughter of the previous game's protagonist who shares her mother's name.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Magic swords. If you have enough magical ability to make proper use of one, then you're probably better off using a wand instead, unless you're using Heart's Strength for its Resistance boost, a stat that cannot be trained and is only gotten from equipment and in small amounts from certain foods.
• Best Her to Bed Her: Gender Inverted. In order to pursue a romance with Cole the blacksmith, the PC must beat him at arm wrestling.
• Big Brother Worship: Lottie, the town guard, idolizes her older sister Sophia.
• Bittersweet Ending: Several of the endings, usually the ones that are from running out of Dream, contain at least some measure of a despairing feeling that things could have turned out better, such as:
  • Star Princess, which ends on:
    It was a noble calling... but still, sometimes [the protagonist] dreamed of the home and the family she'd left behind, haunted by the sense of something left undone...
  • Running out of Dream endings:
    • Toy Seller:
      She really enjoyed her work and was especially happy to demonstrate the features of new toys
      [...]
      Still, [the protagonist] was left waiting for the day when her dreams would come true...
  • Candlemaker, acquired from running out of Dream with no better ending unlocked, or waiting around in the overworld doing nothing for 3 years:
    Her past was still a mystery. Her future lay ahead of her, equally unknown. But it wasn't a bad life.
• Blob Monster: The Lava Blobs in the western volcano, which is one of the dungeons.
• But Thou Must!: Prior to the fight against the spider, you are given the choice of running away. If you try to do this, you fail, resulting in the fight proceeding as though you had chosen 'fight'.
• Cap: Items are stored in stacks of at most 9, then they go to another stack.
• Child Marriage Veto: Donald the farmer may make remarks to you about wanting you to marry his son Gordy. But apparently neither you nor Gordy are on board with the idea, since Gordy is not a romance option.
  • They do end up getting together in the Housewife ending, though.
• The Chooser of the One: To some extent. If you elect to become involved with either the prince or the princess, your actions determine which of them inherits the throne; marrying Alaric means it's him, but becoming Alana's adviser means it's her.
• Confirmed Bachelor: In the "Matchmaker" ending, achieved by fulfilling the requirements for receiving, and then rejecting, every possible marriage proposal in the game. The PC becomes a famous socialite, who enjoys her share of short lived romances, but actively decides against settling down with one person.
• Consummate Professional: Sophia, the guard captain, is pleasant but very serious about her duties.
• Continuity Nod: The "Prime Minister" ending mentions that Prince Alaric will marry a Princess Michiko, whom Word of God has revealed is the daughter of the previous game's protagonist who shares her mother's name. The prologue also mentioned a missing princess from a neighboring kingdom, referring to Princess Alexandra from that story.
• Cool Sword: Any of the magic swords you can craft.
• Damage Over Time: The "Infected" condition, which is only removed when the protagonist wins the battle. It's inflicted mainly by enemies in the desert dungeon.
• Damage Reduction: For the player and enemies. Noted as "You absorb [Number] damage and take [Number]." or "The [Enemy] absorbs [Number] damage and takes [number].":
  • The player's "Resistance" stat subtracts the value from the physical damage taken from attacks. It does nothing against magical attacks, like from the goblin mage boss of the sewers. And through the use of Heart's Strength, be equal to Magic / 20, a stat that can grow quickly enough that players can take no damage from most enemies in anywhere, in combination with an Armored Corset that gives 10 Resistance.
  • Most enemies have some, like the goblin mage boss of the sewers, who resists 3 damage.
• Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: If you lose a battle, you get teleported back to your home town, with a slight reduction in stats. Except if you lose to the Demon Spider, then you get the Minion ending. Somewhat lampshaded in that the character starts to wonder why this happens and what it means, when following the path to the Star Princess ending about her origins, and talking with people about herself.
• Does Not Like Men: After Helena talks to the protagonist about the latter's Entertaining job at the beach, and if the Innkeeper's gift of recipe cards has been revealed, along with Al talking about painting her has been discussed and rejected, if Helena's talked to while in the eastern town, this conversation happens, where the protagonist talks to her about this trope:
  Protagonist (Embarrassed): I was wondering... I get the impression that you don't really like men.
  Helena: I don't either like or not-like men, not really.
  Helena: I don't like some men. I don't like the way men show off to get my attention.
  Helena: I don't like them giving me presents or trying to prove how strong they are.
  Protagonist: Have you never been tempted?
  Helena: No. No one's ever offered me anything I really wanted.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Look at the artwork in the Conqueror ending and try not to see Xena: Warrior Princess in the breastplate, shield, and burning what are possibly houses in the background.
• Downer Ending: Multiple:
  • The Minion ending, where the protagonist dies from the demon spider in the desert.
  • The "Snake Oil" ending where the protagonist becomes a Snake Oil Salesman, and is deluding herself and trying to be happy as she can, when she starts to doubt the effectiveness of the treatments that Jenny provides due the eventually contradictory advice, such as tomatoes swapping between bad and good:
    But [the protagonist] couldn't start doubting now. If this medicine was a hoax, she'd wasted her money, wasted her life... could even be hurting people. And she didn't want to believe that.
• Elemental Powers: Spells, wands and magic swords rely on the various magical elements, in various combinations, to do things. The elements available are Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Nature, Light, Darkness, Holy, and Emotion.

• Heart Beat-Down: The Emotion element in its purest form, which is represented with a Heart Symbol when such attacks are used, though other emotions (such as fear and sorrow) are included in other symbols.

• Face–Heel Turn: The evil / Sinful endings.
• Flavor Text: For nearly every item:
  • Party Dress: For dressing up and looking nice; not for fighting.
  • Apron Dress: A dress worn by someone doing domestic work.
  • Dancer's Dress: The bright ruffles encourage twirling.
  • Sapphire: A valuable blue jewel.
  • Cake: Sweet, sugary cake.
• Gay Option: One directly and a few hinted at:
  • The player character is female, and one of the characters with whom she can pursue a romance is the huntress Helena.
  • The "Prime Minister" ending hints at a romance between the PC and Princess Alana, a.k.a Al:
    As for the Crown Princess, she supposed she would have to marry and produce an heir someday, but neither she nor [the protagonist[ were in any hurry.
  • The "Pirates" ending hints at one between the PC and the Ambiguous Gender thief Robin.
• Generation Xerox: If the PC ends up with Helena, the epilogue states that there comes a night when they find an abandoned baby and raise her as their own - just like the PC's adoptive parents did.
• Giant Spider: The final boss for the Adventurer and Minion endings. To reach it, You Have to Burn the Web.
• Golden Ending: The "Wanderer" ending, which is by far the most difficult ending to get, with a large number of very specific requirements. As with the "Star Princess" ending, the protagonist discovers her true origins - but instead of returning to the stars, she chooses to stay on Earth, and travels the world learning as much about humanity as possible.
• The Good Chancellor: The PC can become this to Princess Alana, in the "Prime Minister" ending.
• The Good King: Multiple:
  • The PC's home country is ruled by one.
  • The "Queen" ending has her marry one (Taran, King of the Isles).
• Gotta Catch 'Em All: Multiple quests:
  • There are 25 magic symbols concealed throughout the land. (You have to learn them all if you want to unlock the "Mystic" ending.)
  • Also, there's a potential side quest which has the PC tracking down the baker's stolen recipe cards, but not all of them can be recovered, as the rest have been swept into the sea.
• Half-Identical Twins: The male Prince Alaric and female Princess Alana. They're so identical that for a long time, they get away with pretending to be a single individual called Al. The observant player, however, will note that their hairstyles are slightly different, and their eyes are different colours.
• Happily Adopted: The protagonist, by a kindly old couple whom she loves very much.
• Happily Married: Multiple:
  • The player character's adoptive parents.
  • The baker Michanda and the tailor Sekh.
  • Implied for the PC in most of the romance endings.
• Hello, [Insert Name Here]: Just like the first game, the protagonist can be given any name the player wishes. Unlike the first game, the protagonist of this game does not have any "official" name, but "Sorami" is what's used if no name is given.
• High Priest: Bishop Duncan, in the capital city. Unlike many examples of the trope, he's a very good person.
• Human Aliens: The protagonist, as revealed in the true ending. The aliens who created her deliberately invoked this, so she could learn as much as possible about humanity.
• Impossibly Cool Clothes: One of the armor pieces is an armoured corset.
• Idle Animation: Some characters, like Helena and Sophia, will move without being interacted with
  • Helena shifts in place.
  • Sophia turns left and right.
• Interspecies Romance: One of the potential love interests is Mossam, a merman prince. Subverted, because the only way for the romance to conclude successfully is for the PC to be turned into a mermaid by the being that delivered her to her parents.
• Item Crafting: You want the best gear? Get ready to grind for the skills you need to make it. You can learn various kinds of item crafting by apprenticing with the baker, the tailor, or the blacksmith.
• It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time: If you work for Liling the merchant long enough to get her to talk about how she got into sales, she invokes this trope word for word.
• Jerkass: Gordy, at first. But if you become an adventurer, he finds you more interesting and doesn't hassle you all the time. (This is actually a required step toward the "Wanderer" ending.)
• The Lady's Favor: Gender-flipped with Cole the blacksmith, who gives the PC a necklace as a token of his affection. He wants her to work out its meaning, then come back to him; once she understands its intentions, he proposes marriage.
• Life Meter: Red, shown for both enemies and the protagonist, decreases from right to left, with black for the missing bits. And has Current / Max Hit Points in the right of the bar.
• Loads and Loads of Sidequests: Must be completed in order to achieve the "Wanderer" ending, which has more requirements than any other ending in the game.
• Mad Scientist: The inventor in the volcano.
• Magic A Is Magic A: The spell system relies on hunting for spell symbols gotten through events and being in certain places.
• Match Maker Quest: For the Star-Crossed Lovers; see below.
• May–December Romance: One of the romance options is John the innkeeper, who appears to be at least ten years older than the PC (who is 20 at the time he can propose).
• Not Good with Rejection: Cole. If the player rejects his marriage proposal, he will force her to give back the armored collar he gave her as a gift, and will pay her much less if she works for him after this.
• Of Corsets Sexy: Used in multiple ways:
  • The Corset Dress boosts Charm by 30. The highest of any dress in the game.
  • If the protagonist is wearing a corset, it's the only thing that will be said when chatting to Sekh the weaver in the protagonist's hometown, after talking about Of Corset Hurts:
  I see you've taken to wearing corsets. Be careful not to overdo it.
  If you push your body too far from its natural form, you could become ill.
  They do make a fabulous shape, though, don't they?
• Of Corset Hurts: Multiple:
  • Equipment: The Corset Dress and Armored Corset both decrease Stamina by 20. In addition:
    • The Corset Dress decreases Luck, which also serves as Dexterity, by 20.
    • The Armored Corset decreases Attack by 20, but is also the armor that resists the most damage in the game. Resisting 10 Hit Points of it.
  • If the protagonist is wearing a corset, it's the only thing that will be said when chatting to Sekh the weaver in the protagonist's hometown, following up with talk about Of Corsets Sexy:
  I see you've taken to wearing corsets. Be careful not to overdo it.
  If you push your body too far from its natural form, you could become ill.
  They do make a fabulous shape, though, don't they?
• Our Angels Are Different: The world has the concept, but none are seen, although there's a sidequest that deals with the possibility, as retold by the protagonist:
  A falling star turned into a silver knight with fiery wings.
• Our Dragons Are Different: If the player is a high level adventurer, and they talk to Gordy, he asks if they've "found any dragons". Which aren't an enemy in this game, but were the final boss of the prequel.
• Overhead Interaction Indicator: A speech bubble of a four-pointed yellow star-shape from a character means they have something special to say, or as the opening tutorial says:
  People with something new to Chat about display a star over their heads.
• Palette Swap: For the various jewels. Ruby: Red, Sapphire: Blue, Emerald: Green, Diamond: White with blue lines.
• Pointy Ears: The being that gave the protagonist to her adoptive parents has pointy ears that stick up from his head.
• Protection Racket: Part of the Conquerer ending:
  the gang would work as mercenaries, providing 'protection' to traders and travelers against the dangers of the road (and sometimes making those roads dangerous on purpose)
• Punny Name: Multiple:
  • Cole the blacksmith
  • Donald (as in "ol' Mac") the farmer.
• Rags to Royalty: Three of the game's possible romantic pairings have the player character ending up as a princess or a queen via marriage.
• Random Event: Some happen when a job is done well, or just because the job was done. For example:
  • After hunting with Helena in the eastern town, the protagonist may remark on some Sweetie Graffiti she spotted with some Cardiovascular Love:
    Oh, look, someone carved a heart and some names into a tree...
    That's sweet.
  • After mining in the eastern town, with Dimitri, he may give the protagonist some of the food his wife gave him, possibly if the protagonist is low on Hit Points and/or Mana. The last line of that event has him remark about Through His Stomach:
    Food is the way to a man's heart!
    Or a woman's heart, yes?
• Rescue Romance: A gender inverted example - the PC's romance with the mer prince starts off with her rescuing him after he was captured and imprisoned by goblins in the damp dungeon.
• Save-Game Limits: As many as your computer can hold, so long as their names are 15 characters or less, but wordier save names are possible if edited outside of the game, but they don't display right.
• Science Fantasy: The PC is actually an alien princess.
• Side Quest: There are a handful of these, such as the one to recover the baker's stolen recipe cards.
• Snake Oil Salesman: Jenny. Naturally, the "Snake Oil" ending has the PC becoming one of these, too.
• Spiritual Successor: To Princess Maker, but the Cute Knight games are by an entirely different creative team.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: One of the optional side quests involves reuniting the director of the capital city's cultural center and his estranged ex-boyfriend, the fisherman of the south town.
• The Stoic: Morris, the estranged ex-boyfriend of the the director of the capital city's cultural center, rarely speaks.
• Sweet on Polly Oliver: If the PC gets into thieving with Robin in the capital city, she'll admit (privately) to thinking he's cute when he smiles. A little farther into the partnership, Robin will reveal that he was thrown out by his family... who don't approve of their little girl not wanting to wear dresses.
  PC: You're a girl?
  Robin: Not if I can help it.
• Sweet Tooth: If the PC studies with Michanda the baker, she may reveal that both she and her husband, Sikh, love chocolate. After that, the PC can purchase chocolate from Liling the merchant and resell it to Michanda.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: Killing is the main way to ding the Karma Meter, though the game does make a distinction between killing enemies and murder (such as killing Goblets, which are goblin children).
• Unlucky Childhood Friend: The player character, for her longtime crush Cal. The "Homewrecker" ending, only available in version 1.1, has the PC kiss a drunken Cal and cause his engagement to break up.
• Unscaled Merfolk: Mossam, the Prince of Eels.
• Utopia Justifies the Means: The explanation for the Conquerer's Take Over the World ending:
  This world is such a mess. If I were in charge, things would work better.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Cole the blacksmith - best seen in the background of the epilogue image for the "Blacksmith" ending.
• Wonder Child: The PC.
• You Have to Burn the Web: The way to get past the super-strong webs blocking the way to the final boss, is by getting the Flame symbol of magic, and using it.

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