Adventurer: Wait... could you be another...? Hmm... does anything about that gate over there seem off to you?
Adventurer: So you do see it! I was asking around Leere, but nobody seemed to think there was a gate here!
The result of fitting a Soulslike RPG-shaped peg in a Minecraft-shaped hole.
Megido: Abyss
is an open-world Genre-Busting RPG that faithfully recreates the stamina-based combat system that defines the Soulslike genre. In terms of the level design, the server is heavily influenced by Metroidvanias. Of course, this also includes the grueling difficulty of both genres.
You wake up in a clearing with no memories. Armed with nothing at first, you make your way through the Derelict Bastille, using whatever equipment you find lying around. After escaping a narrow encounter with the Garrison Magistrate, you find your way to Leere, where you encounter the Adventurer. Now armed with his advice, you can begin your journey properly.
This game includes examples of:
- And I Must Scream: The Bloodrot Knight sealed the Bloodrot Curse within himself to protect his town. He is still there when you reach Ironvale Quarry. On a more general note, this is the fate of everyone involved in the summoning of the Origin.
- Annoying Arrows: While arrows still do damage and can inflict all sorts of ailments, shields of any kind will No-Sell them (including the shattered Mirror Shield).
- Artificial Brilliance: When an enemy isn't bum-rushing you, it'll likely account for and counter several otherwise sound strategies. For example, some enemies will forgo their usual melee attacks if they see you parry and instead prepare a spell or ability while you're immobilized. Additionally, many enemies are smart enough to react to spells differently from melee attacks.
- Artificial Stupidity: Certain enemies rely extensively on reacting to player actions, making them susceptible to certain choreographed sequences. Some won't attack at all otherwise. Every enemy that can enter a parry stance will react to any melee attack within range, regardless of whether it would actually hit.
- Attack! Attack! Attack!: The preferred strategy of a few mindless enemies, like animals or the undead.
- Bait-and-Switch Boss: When you reach the end of the Temple of Idols, you're put face-to-face with the Cursed Idol, who looks identical to The False Idol. After you damage it enough, however, it heals itself completely and continues to do so until you find his puppeteer.
- Blade Spam: Several special abilities could be considered this, but particular distinction goes to the Shadow Swordsman. The True Final Boss of the Expansion Pack has no standard melee attacks, using only special abilities.
- Book Ends: The False Idol's arena is only a short distance from Leere. The Formless Entity's is topologically at the same location.
- Bootstrapped Leitmotif: The Great Hollow and Ironvale Quarry both use songs from Megido: Apocalypse. Additionally, Dysmere uses music from Vahalla Saga, another Minecraft server. Finally, in the Expansion Pack, the Battle Theme Music of the four series-wide final bosses fought as Pre-Final Bosses contains motifs from the series as a whole.
- Boring, but Practical: Meeting the minimum requirements for a weapon that is just good enough and levelling Endurance and Vitality exclusively can last you the entire game. For a while.
- Boss-Arena Idiocy: This exists in several flavors. Against Ancient Queen Shiva and Templar Knight Valasca, the ice physics will help you avoid attacks by making the boss overshoot (although the same goes for the boss.) You can invert a "Get Back Here!" Boss against the Demon of Ash by running around the center of his arena. Against several bosses, such as the Lord of Illusion and Cornelius, pillars in the arena can block their projectiles. Of course, the poster child of this trope is the Garisson Magistrate, who defeats himself by launching himself through the unstable floor of the arena.
- Boss Arena Urgency: The Garrison Magistrate is actually an Antepiece for his encounter as the Abyssal Magistrate. His tendency to punch holes into the floor works against you when he creates damaging pools of magma in his rematch, shrinking the arena size.
- Boss Remix: Every boss song in the main game utilizes the motif in Theme of Megido: Abyss. The Shattered Realm is more loose with this; although the normal boss song plays this straight with the leitmotif of The Shattered Realm, Battle of Legends uses leitmotifs from every Megido server and Infernal Messiah uses no leitmotifs at all.
- Bragging Rights Reward: The Orb of Life, the Fleetfoot Charm,note and the
Peasant's Charm. None of them are particularly useful as anything more than trophies of your Self-Imposed Challenges. - Combination Attack: The Sculptor of Idols has several, such as plunging from his Cursed Idols.
- Confusion Fu: The purpose of the Madman's Bauble. Furthermore, while uncommon, some enemies use A.I. Roulette in their attack sequences and timings.
- Continuity Nod: The former kingdom of Alendale and existing town of Dysmere are both named after towns within the original Megido server. Besides that, the Shattered Realm in the eponymous Expansion Pack consists of several notable locations from the previous Megido servers in addition to their final or penultimate boss.
- Contractual Boss Immunity: Downplayed. While certain bosses are immune to certain statuses, the number of bosses immune to all of them can be counted on one hand and doesn't include plausible candidates such as either of the Final Bosses.
- Cross Counter: Invoked by the Ring of Vengeance, which causes you to do extra damage with an attack if you take damage during its execution.
- Dark Reprise: The Abyss's theme is a darker, more energetic remix of Theme of Megido: Abyss. Downplayed with the Illusory Forest, which uses a more melancholic take on it.
- Desperation Attack: Several bosses will drop all pretenses of strategy and spam their signature attack when near defeat.
- Door of Doom: An impressive one is the subject of the Adventurer's curiosity. The Abyss lies beyond it.
- Dual Boss: Ancient Queen Shiva and Templar Knight Valasca of the Darkwater Sanctum fight in sync. When one is defeated, the other becomes enraged, restoring their health beyond maximum and granting them some completely unique attacks.
- Dungeon Bypass: Several items invoke this, allowing you to skip large portions of dungeons with them equipped. This includes the Ice Hammer, which lets you shatter the ice walls in the Darkwater Sanctum, and the Cat Ring, which allows you to survive Leaps of Faith that would otherwise kill you. On the flip side, anything that requires the latter can be survived with enough Vitality.
- Eldritch Location: Both The Abyss in the main game and The Shattered Realm in the expansion. The former combines Dark Is Evil and Womb Level with islands amidst an endless void connected by fleshy tunnels while the latter is a Nostalgia Level consisting of several areas from both the game and previous Megido servers.
- Flunky Boss: Several. Ancient Queen Shiva can summon Mecha-Mooks to assist them. Additionally, after the apparent boss fight against the Cursed Idol is revealed to be just a distraction, the Sculptor of Idols will rely on them throughout the fight and spawn several Sculptor Idols if you manage to kill one. The Shattered Realm also has some examples. For instance, the Demogorgon is one, although it downplays this trope; its Hellspawn will only appear if you haven't cleared the Breeding Grounds of spider eggs. Finally, Xande can create autonomous clones of himself.
- Foreshadowing: Several hints point towards something sinister behind the scenes. For one, both Leere and Dysmere have Laser-Guided Amnesia regarding each other's existence. The end of the game reveals that Leere was just a purgatory created to trap souls for their Anima. Its true identity is the ruins of Alendale under the influence of The Abyss.
- Friendly Neighborhood Spider: The Spider Eggs from the Breeding Grounds let you summon friendly spiders, but they are not renewable.
- Gameplay and Story Integration: Defeating the Howling Phantasm will permanently disable Abyssal Constructs.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: If you complete Queen Leere's secret task, she'll remember the fate of Alendale. Devoted to protecting the illusion of Leere, she'll face you off right before the Formless Entity.
- Grievous Harm with a Body: The Right Claw and Left Claw weapons.
- Health/Damage Asymmetry: Averted. The damage output of bosses and enemies usually matches that of the player. While they have more health, they generally can't heal themselves, unlike you. As a consequence, Player Versus Player gameplay is very well-balanced.
- Heal Thyself: Although most enemies can not heal themselves, some humanoid ones can, such as Gladiators, the Barbarous Champion, (The) Black Hood, and... Kobolds? Additionally, both the Fetid Horror and the Formless Entity heal from Acid Rain.
- Heroic BSoD: At the end of The Abyss, you discover that Leere was a prison of souls. This pushes the Adventurer over the Despair Event Horizon. If you help him across his travels, he considers you a True Companion, averting his breakdown.
- I Have Many Names: The Lord of Illusion, also known as Illusion, also known as Luveno.
- Infinity +1 Sword: After figuring out to give a fully upgraded Broken Sword to the Warrior and then defeating a boss (or cursing your luck if you've already defeated them all), you'll obtain the Excalibur. It has excellent damage and scaling as well as the ability to fire shockwaves.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: Every single ranged enemy is a crack shot, being guaranteed to hit you so long are you are stationary within their projectiles' effective ranges.
- Improbable Weapon User: Several weapons point this out in their descriptions. There's the entire pickaxe line of weapons, the Fishing Rod, the Flare, and many others.
- Informed Attribute: The Blackguard's Twinspears are described as ornately adorned with a high level of craftsmanship. They still appear as stone shovels.
- Kaizo Trap: Fishermen can pull you in with their unique projectile attack. If you knock them into the Howling Gulch's deadly rapids, they'll attempt a Taking You with Me and reward you with much of the same. In Xande mode, the Origin of Sin will begin displaying its usual "ORIGIN SLAIN" message before suddenly flashing to "ESSENCE REVIVED". Cue the hardest fight in the game.
- Last Chance Hit Point: Can be invoked with the Royal Ring, which royalty used to survive assassination attempts. Any attack that would instantly kill the player while they are above half health will be survived. The Orb of Life also triggers this effect, with the added benefit of working at any health beforehand. However, It Only Works Once.
- Legacy Character: Mostly from Megido: Apocalypse and Megido: The New World. Captains Arem and Doran hail from Apocalypse, as does Arkan Prime. On the other hand, Megido: TNW has Xande and you can encounter Mercurius, the Grim Reaper, and the Golden Avenger in a New Game Plus run.
- Leitmotif: Both Megido: Abyss and The Shattered Realm have their own leitmotifs, which are used quite extensively in their respective soundtracks.
- Level-Locked Loot: Weapons and spells are largely ineffective when wielded without the requisite stats.
- Multiple Life Bars: While normal bosses have one life bar, the four elemental bosses have two. In The Shattered Realm, the four bosses of the identically named Shattered Realm and the Howling Phantasm have two life bars. Finally, the final bosses of both have three life bars.
- No Fair Cheating: Several bosses become enraged if you try to trivialize their fight. For example, the Demon of Ash will spam Flame Plunge if you stand on top of the crystal and poke at him from there.
- Prongs of Poseidon: The aptly-named Trident of the Deep, a reward for defeating the Creature of the Depths. Curiously, it can summon lightning bolts.
- Ring-Out Boss: The Garrison Magistrate can be killed this way, but he won't drop anything if you do so. After a while, he does himself in by punching a hole into the floor.
- Secret A.I. Moves: For the most part, this is averted. Nearly every enemy skill can be used with a weapon unlocked from the essence of the boss that most utilizes it. However, certain exceptions exist.
- Shattering the Illusion: After defeating the Formless Entity, the illusion of "Leere" fades away, leaving nothing but the deserted ruins of Alendale.
- Shock and Awe: Some Air spells can be better described as electric spells. These include a standard thunderstorm, a moving bar of electricity, and the ability to electrify your dashes.
- Shout-Out:
- There's a boss named Xande.
- The server's title is an homage to Shin Megami Tensei.
- The Lord of Illusion's attack pattern and Haunted Castle are clear references to the Castlevania franchise. There's even a whip called the Vampire Killer that's especially effective against him.
- Sinister Minister: The False Prophet of Darkwater, who was actually Luveno's political agent.
- Stalactite Spite: The Spirit of the Wizard uses them, as does the Raging Minotaur.
- Status Effects: Five of them in total. Bleed is a Percent Damage Attack when inflicted, Poison is a Damage Over Time effect that does both flat and percent damage (though very little of the latter), and Slow makes enemies attack slower. Petrify guarantees a One-Hit Kill when inflicted but is very rare and hard to inflict. Confusion causes enemies to aggro onto other enemies. However, on players, it instead triggers random actions, such as switching to different items and queueing random inputs.
- Sword of Plot Advancement: The Hero's Blade, which is obtained after defeating Arkan Prime in The Shattered Realm, boasts very well-rounded physical and elemental damage as well as excellent scaling. However, its stat requirements are extremely high, leaving the user with little leeway for their defense.
- The Battle Didn't Count: If you manage to actually kill the Garrison Magistrate without utilizing Boss Arena Idiocy, you will still encounter him as the Abyssal Magistrate no worse for wear in the Verdant Bastille.
- The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: Some enemies can react at humanly impossible speeds to your actions. However, this behavior can occasionally be exploited.
- The Farmer and the Viper: Blackguard will ask the player for equipment after the player rescues them from their cell. Their reward is being attacked by him later. Multiple times. Then again, he doesn't exactly try to hide his intentions.
- Title Drop: The Abyss.
- Transformation Trinket: Luveno's Nocturne Ring allows the player to transform into a swarm of bats, increasing the amount of invincibility frames while dashing.
- Unblockable Attack: The Soulbrandt of the Darkwater civilization completely bypasses shields (but not parries.) However, its damage is rather mediocre to compensate. Notably, the sword is virtually required to destroy the Maleficent Scourge's barrier crystals to do anything more than Scratch Damage to him.
- Upgraded Boss: Several, some playing it more straight than others. The Abyssal Magistrate is a dead ringer for the Garrison Magistrate. Unusually, in The Shattered Realm, because
Megido: Abyss itself is included in the All the Worlds Are a Stage Nostalgia Level, you fight a rematch against a significantly more powerful version of the Final Boss as a Pre-Final Boss. On the other hand, the Cursed Idol seems much less powerful than The False Idol because it's actually a Bait-And-Switch Boss. - Video Game Caring Potential: Outside of town, you can occasionally encounter the Adventurer, who is unable to progress due to some characteristic of the dungeon. If you manage to discover how to avoid the obstacle, he will thank you for your assistance. In The Abyss, if you've talked to him after helping him at every opportunity, you can avoid his Heroic BSoD, and he rewards you with his armor and staff.
- Wolverine Claws: Presumably how the Right Claw and Left Claw work for you as weapons.
- Wreathed in Flames: The Immolation spell accomplishes just that. Not that it hurts you.
Had I only left it alone... I could have lived in blissful ignorance... Why...
