Clacier Berg is an elf. This has been a problem her whole life. As a bullied youth she made a decision: to join the Knights of Viktor and earn a living as a respected member of society. Years later she has done just that. Joining the dangerous Special Forces with the Ragtag Bunch of Misfits that serve as her graduating class. With the help of these True Companions, she will battle deadly foes and crush resistance in the name of the Kingdom of Viktor.
The main story dives into the heart of conflict between multiple factions and the corrupt government of ViktorBerg. Uncovering the whole story of Ideology in Friction takes the player down multiple paths, exploring the backstories of several characters. Clacier must delve into the darkest recesses of the kingdom, learning the true history of a conspiracy spanning generations. It is a journey that will change her, but the nature of those changes is up to you.
Ideology in Friction provides examples of:
- 11th-Hour Superpower: Clacier doesn't get access to her Dark Elf powers until the final battle in the Knights Route.
- Absurdly Low Level Cap: Played With. The level cap is 99 and not easy to reach without grinding during a single playthrough. However, level requirements do not scale, and endgame enemies give out an insane amount of experience. Even at level 90, a player can skip entire levels with the amount of experience received from bosses.
- Bittersweet Ending: The Knights Route ends in this. On one hand, most of the corruption in ViktorBerg is eradicated. On the other hand, Annette intentionally leaves herself behind to seal off Viktor, and Zara Afail is executed for being a spy sent by El Dorado, and Zepp Ende dies overexerting himself against a group of Behemoths, not to mention the turmoil caused by events of the Knights route resulted in ViktorBerg being vulnerable to invasions, and that's not even getting into what happens to Clacier depending on her Lewdness stat.
- Deuteragonist: Only in the Knight route, Annette Stole is Clacier's blue-haired elven senior in the Special Forces. She is playable during specific missions after Chapter 3 and her role in the story is just as important as Clacier's.
- Earn Your Bad Ending: Going down the Drifter route is much harder than it sounds, as it requires Clacier to reach a Corruption stat of LV 3 and a Lewdness in LV B, and to chose to live her own life at Chapter 4, and it ends with most of El Dorado and the ViktorBerg Knights dead, and while Viktor is killed, ViktorBerg is in complete chaos thanks to Clacier.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Getting the best possible outcome in the Resistance route requires Clacier to perform some unconventional actions and refuse any suspicious advances, but doing so will result in not only successfully deposing of Viktor, but also results in Clacier managing to prevent Annette's Redemption Equals Death unlike in the Knights route, and if Clacier finished the game with less than Lv 2 in corruption and less than a level B in Lewdness, she reconciles with the Special Forces without issues.
- Guide Dang It!: The game has three main story paths and unlocking the second is straightforward, albeit requires taking the Schmuck Bait. Simply fail three missions before Chapter 2 begins. However, how to unlock the final route is never alluded to in-game. Clacier must kill 50 humans and be at least a level B in Lewdness by Chapter 4 of the Resistance route. Doing this unlocks the Drifter route, where Clacier allies with no one and eventually becomes the Villain Protagonist.
- It Gets Easier: The corruption stat goes up the more Clacier kills humans. Doing so isn't even an option in the Knight route, but raising it high enough in the Resistance route unlocks the Drifter route, where Clacier undergoes a Face–Heel Turn.
- Meaningful Name: It's quite fitting that one of the major resistance groups is named El Dorado, named after the Spanish name for the City of Gold.
- Men Are the Expendable Gender: On the Drifter path, every male boss fought on the path cannot be spared; This is in contrast to the female bosses who can be spared. Of course, this isn't exactly the best option for them...
- Multiple Endings: Even considering the Story Branching there are numerous endings depending on what actions the player takes.
- New Game Plus: After beating the game once, the game's various galleries are unlocked, as well as the ability to carry over levels and inventory to a new game.
- One-Winged Angel: Behemoths are said be even more destructive versions of Elves, largely due to experimentation. King Viktor reassumes his form as the Silver Behemoth in all routes, and has to be fought in the Resistance and Drifter routes as a boss.
- Psycho Lesbian: A non-antagonistic example with Eliza. She's known as a "mad dog" who's fortunately on Clacier's side, but she makes no attempt to hide that she wants to get into the latter's pants. She succeeds in doing so in one scene, with Clacier consenting to it.
- Self-Censored Release: The game's English version has a censored variant available in Steam.
- Single-Target Sexuality: Eliza has no interest in men, but the only woman she shows any attraction to is Clacier, who also appears to be the only person Eliza is truly loyal to, as she immediately agrees to join El Dorado when the latter comes to recruit her.
- Story Branching: There are three story paths the player can direct the story down. The Knight route, the Resistance route, and the Drifter route.
- The Knight route follows Clacier and her Deuteragonist Annette in their time among the Special Forces. Eventually the corruption within the government is revealed, forcing the Knights to fight the kingdom from within.
- The Resistance route deals with Clacier after she is kicked out of the Special Forces and is recruited by the resistance group El Dorado to take down Viktor.
- The Drifter route follows a Clacier who is fed up with both sides and strikes out on her own. When Viktor drags her into the conflict anyway, she decides to kill everyone and become the Big Bad herself.
- Superpowered Evil Side: Dark Elves are Physical Gods to the point an entire civilization ended out of a desire to create more of them, and they warp an elf's personality to be far more aggressive and sadistic.
- Trailers Always Spoil: One of the trailers for the game spoils the Dark Elf forms of Clacier Berg, Annette Stole and Falke.
