Video Game / Triangle Strategy

Triangle Strategy is a Strategy RPG from Square Enix for the Nintendo Switch, released on March 4th, 2022. It is the second game in the company's "HD-2D" series after 2018's Octopath Traveler, and takes after classic Square Enix strategy RPGs such as Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre.

The continent of Norzelia is ruled over by three nations: Glenbrook, which controls the continent's river and primary trade route; Aesfrost, which controls the continent's supply of iron; and Hyzante, which controls the continent's supply of salt. Thirty years ago, these limited resources led to the three nations becoming embroiled in a gruesome conflict known as the Saltiron War, which eventually ended in an uneasy truce.

However, after decades of fragile peace, war threatens to engulf Norzelia once again when the newly-crowned Archduke of Aesfrost - Gustadolph Aesfrost - suddenly invades Glenbrook under seemingly false pretenses, executing its king and seeking to capture the rest of the royal family.

Serenoa Wolffort - the young heir to Glenbrook's powerful House Wolffort - sets out with his allies to save Norzelia from another era of bloodshed, and becomes entangled in a dark web of political intrigue and deceit.

The game's key mechanic is "conviction", a three-sided Karma Meter (hence the title) based around three factors: Utility, Morality, and Liberty. Responses to other characters via a Dialogue Tree can influence Serenoa's disposition towards a specific factor, which can alter the story's progress and what kinds of characters will join the party. In addition, at critical turning points the party will vote on major decisions using the Scales of Conviction, during which Serenoa can gather information and use it to attempt to influence his allies' decisions, potentially causing a drastic turn in how events unfold.

A preliminary "Debut Demo" was released on the Switch's eShop the same day of the game's reveal, allowing players to play early versions of Chapters 6 and 7. Feedback from this demo was used to shape the game during the rest of its development, with a proper demo released on February 8th, 2022. This demo allows players to play through the game's first three chapters and transfer their saves to the full version.

A PC version released on October 13th, 2022 via Steam.

The game's reveal trailer can be found here.

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This game and its demo provide examples of:

• Abdicate the Throne:
  • Early on, Lord Symon abdicates his position as Lord of House Wolffort in favor of his son Serenoa.
  • Subverted in the Golden Ending. Roland, upon learning that he and Serenoa and half-brothers, immediately offers him the throne of Glenbrook, but Serenoa refuses.
• Actor Allusion: This isn’t the first time David Lodge has voiced the father of the main character in a turn-based strategy. Also, both characters die after a climactic battle, and both hand the main character an important ring.
• Actually Four Mooks: Somehow inverted for both the heroes and the villains. Chapter VII clearly states that House Wolffort and Aesfrost both sport substantial and powerful armies; however, in actual gameplay, the player's "army" consists solely of the playable cast, and the Aesfrosti forces are just Avlora and a manageable number of mooks. Even more bizarre is that Wolffort is stated to have suffered heavy losses as a result of the battle regardless of how many units you actually lose.
• Aerith and Bob: The characters can have uncommon names like Sereona, Hossabara, Ezana, Avlora, Gustadolph, Exharme, Geela or Erador, for example, but they also can have common names such as Roland, Benedict, Frederica, Anna, Corentin, Maxwell, Erika, Lyla or Rufus.
• All-Loving Hero: The trailer introduces Frederica with the line "Those who respect the liberty of all." Also, she tends to respond to Sadistic Choices by wanting to find another way instead of making sacrifices. She's notably one of two people who by default refuses to hand over Roland in Chapter VII, the other being Hughette.
• And Now for Someone Completely Different: To an extent. Chapter XVIII of the Golden Ending route has the player take control of Benedict, Roland, and Frederica during the exploration phase of their respective regiments.
• Anti-Frustration Features:
  • You retain any EXP you've earned if you fail a map, or if you restart the battle. This allows you to eventually power your way through tough situations without having to rely on Save Scumming.
  • While the Karma Meter is invisible during the first playthrough to dissuade from "gaming" the system, making any decision that has an effect plays a unique "scales" animation to alert you that your actions have resulted in a change.
  • New Game Plus makes the behind-the-scenes mechanics of the Karma Meter fully visible, including informing the player what Conviction values are necessary to recruit characters that haven't been recruited yet, making it much easier to explore all the routes.
  • Very unusually for a tactical RPG, there is no friendly fire from spells, allowing you to freely cast AOE spells into the fray without hitting your own troops or healing the enemies.
  • Taking a very underlevelled unit into a battle that's far above them will result in any action, even using items, getting instant level-ups until they've sufficiently caught up. This comes in extremely handy on the Golden Route when you need to level up all those second-stringers you haven't been using.
  • The Golden Ending forces you to split your party up into three separate teams, which is far more demanding of your use of, and proficiency with, the roster than any other point in the game. Given that the odds are low that you've trained enough characters to handle all three fronts if you stumble into it on a first (or even possibly second) playthrough, the game mitigates this by having Avlora join you, and she has an ability that makes her stronger the fewer allies you deploy, making low-manning one of these groups more viable at least.
  • On the subject of the Golden Route, the general consensus is that the hardest battle is Benedict's, then Roland's, then Frederica's. You will therefore fight the battles in that order, so as to not risk getting through the first two battles and then having to reload and do them again if you made a bad party for the third.
• Anti-Grinding: Characters above the recommended level for a battle will gain less experience points per action, making it grindy and painful to have characters more than two levels above the battle's level. Conversely, those characters that are underleveled will gain more experience the lower their level is.
• Arc Words:
  • The word "conviction" recurs often in the game, with Serenoa and the others frequently referring to the strength of their convictions as the reasons they've chosen their path.
  • The phrase "chosen path" comes up often as well, reflecting the Story Branching aspect of the game.
• Arranged Marriage: Serenoa and Frederica were betrothed some time before the game begins, and some dialogue indicates that the invasion happens on the day their wedding was supposed to be held.
• Awesome, but Impractical:
  • Medina is a support unit with rather powerful healing skills, the ability to heal twice in one turn, and the ability to give other allies TP. The big downside is that her healing comes from empowered healing items. This can be an issue as most of your money will likely be going towards upgrading your weapons, which can be quite expensive at higher tiers. And healing items can be rather pricey. So unless you go out of your way to grind the training missions for cash, you may not have enough healing items to make her more practical to use than other healers who use magic instead. This is mitigated on NG+ and any future runs after that when you begin to wind down on needing money to upgrade your gear, so more money is available for consumable items instead.
  • Decimal has total immunity to status effects, and most of its skills have very high range. However, these skills are limited in what they can actually hit, and require you to pay attention to both your enemies' HP and your allies' TP. Additionally, Decimal is further constrained by being the only character to not gain TP upon starting a turn, instead gaining 3 TP at the end of a turn if it did not move or attack, thus forcing you to either wait a while before using its skills again or have another character that can grant it TP (like the aforementioned Medina) to speed the process along.
• Back Stab: Attacking a unit from behind always deals a Critical Hit and awards a Kudos bonus for doing so.
• Background Music Override: Used in a couple of occasions:
  • If you choose to fight Aesfrost in Chapter VII, you'll come face to face with their top general, Avlora. At the start of the fight, she'll simply stand in the back and let the mooks have their way with you. However, if a unit gets close enough to rile her, she'll start going on the offensive and the music will change from the usual triumphant battle theme to a very tense and urgent theme. Quite fitting, considering it's basically impossible for any of your units to best her in single-man combat as she'll rip your units to shreds if given the chance.
  • During chapter XIII, should you go for the Morality or Utility route, once you engage Thalas or Erika, the music will switch to "Combat -Destiny-". Made especially more powerful during the Morality route, in which Frederica shows her newfound resolve and triumphantly fights back her abusers.
  • In chapter XV, in the pragmatic route, the very somber music "Unwavering Spear -Roland’s Battle" is replaced with a more standard and hopeful battle theme once you engage Patriate.
• Badass Boast: In chapter VII, if the vote decides to fight back against Aesfrost, Serenoa declares that "We surrender Prince Roland to no one! The Aesfrosti shall get our blades between their ribs, and thank us for the honor!"
• Bait-and-Switch: First impressions and trailers imply Roland, Frederica and Benedict are aligned with Morality, Liberty and Utility respectively. While this is true for most of the game, for the final route split (besides the Golden Ending) Roland's route represents Utility, Frederica's is Morality, and Benedict's is Liberty.
• The Battle Didn't Count: Defeat Avlora in combat during the second battle of Chapter VII's Morality route, and she still manages to retreat. Thankfully, this trope also works in your favor, as the game averts Hero Must Survive regarding Roland.
• Beauty Equals Goodness: Generally, you can tell a character's ultimate alignment based on how they look in their portrait. The majority of the villainous characters in the game either look ugly or sinister in their portraits, while anyone who looks beautiful or noble tends to be either a potential ally or someone who may pull a Heel–Face Turn. For an example of the former, see Patriatte, who serves Glenbrook yet immediately turns around to support Aesfrost when they take over, then turns around again when Roland reclaims Glenbrook and attempts to turn him into his faction's puppet while also stealing from Glenbrook's citizens. For an example of the latter, see General Avlora, who despite working for Aesfrost has a sense of honor and nobility and despises Aesfrost's double-dealings. And in the Golden Route, she will even defect to your side.
• Big Bad Ensemble: Archduke Gustadolph Aesfrost and Minister Idore Delmira are the architects of the two-way conflict that has the very soul of Norzelia itself on the line.
• Bittersweet Ending:
  • Moral Freedoms: Serenoa sacrifices himself to destroy Hyzante's corrupt leaders and liberate the Rosellan people. The Roselle leave Norzelia and return overseas to their mythical promised land, where they live happily ever after. Meanwhile, the chaos that House Wolffort sowed in Norzelia to enable this slave liberation plunges the continent into a generation of total war within and between the three nations. Benedict sides with Aesfrost and becomes the ruthless right-hand man to Gustadolph, in exchange for ruling over the conquered former Wolffort demesne.
  • Freed Utility: Serenoa ascends the throne, crushes Hyzante, liberates the Roselle, and creates a lasting peace between Aesfrost and Glenbrook. Norzelia's newfound salt supplies and Hyzante's alkali research are made freely available to the public, creating a new age of industry and entrepreneurism. Unfortunately, Serenoa's deference to Benedict's dispassionate rule of law results in him failing to protect the poor and marginalised (including the Roselle), and the lower classes are devastated by poverty as the gap between the rich and poor only widens. In response, Roland allies with Idore to build a resistance movement of the downtrodden.
  • Utilized Morality: Serenoa and Roland manage to unite the entire continent under Hyzante, and are appointed to the Saintly Seven as their reward. A lasting peace comes to Norzelia as the wealth and technology of Hyzante spreads to every corner of the continent, and the followers of the Goddess - no matter their status - want for nothing. However, anyone who rebels or rejects the teachings of the Goddess is punished by death or enslavement, and the Roselle remain as the slave caste enabling the lifestyles of the faithful. Frederica becomes an outcast preacher and cult leader who tirelessly attempts to spread the truth of Hyzante's deceptions to the public.
• Black-and-Grey Morality: Serenoa and his comrades are very well-meaning people, but being a mere vassal house torn between two opposing nations often forces him to make less than ideal choices to ensure his people's survival. The leaders of said two opposing nations tend to be scheming bastards with very few members who are particularly sympathetic, and those who are sympathetic know that the leaders they work for aren't very good people.
• Bragging Rights Reward: Beating the game without any ally deaths rewards you with the Plumage of Immortality, an accessory that has a 50% chance of reviving a unit. While it can be used in New Game Plus, its unreliability makes it generally inferior to the guaranteed, once-per-battle revive from the Resurrection Earring that can be obtained about halfway through a playthrough.
• Breaking the Fellowship: Once you reach the endgame, Serenoa's top three advisors will be so idealistically opposed to each other that you will lose one depending on which of the three basic ending routes you choose (Frederica in Roland's route, Benedict in Frederica's Route, and Roland in Benedict's route). The only way to prevent any of them leaving is by going for the Golden Ending.
• Bring Help Back: At the end of Chapter VII, if the player chose to protect Roland, Benedict has Anna go to Hyzante to request aid.
• But Thou Must!: If the conditions for the true ending have been met, Serenoa will ask himself a series of questions, and the player must choose the correct answers to proceed. However, choosing one of the "wrong" options will cause him to contemplate and reject it, and the player is redirected back to the previous dialogue choices.
• The Cavalry Arrives Late: Before the second fight in Chapter VII, House Falkes gets a Rousing Speech and declare that they're marching off to fight at House Wolffort. They don't show up to help if you fight the Aesfrosti. In fact, they only do appear if you decide to fight them.
• Can't Drop the Hero: Serenoa must be deployed for all storyline battles.
• Cast of Snowflakes: The game has a massive number of story-relevant characters, including a grand total of thirty party members, each with unique abilities and Character Stories.
• Central Theme:
  • True Democracy requires tolerance, understanding, and acceptance. In the Golden Ending, Serenoa realizes the three plans his advisors are giving him, however noble, are moral extremes that will sacrifice innocents to save others. By convincing them to ease up and work together, they form a plan that combines all three viewpoints into a viable way to save Norzelia without throwing anyone under the bus.
  • While it can be tempting to get ahead in life by sacrificing others, there are always consequences to making other people pay the price for your success. Many of Serenoa's choices offer him a quicker or safer path to power by sacrificing individuals or groups of people, but he ultimately ends up in the same place as if he'd taken a more ethical path. All three normal endings prove bittersweet due to Serenoa making such large sacrifices to get what he wants that the consequences spiral out of control.
  • Though seeking the counsel of others is noble and wise, sometimes you need to come to terms with, understand, and stand for your own convictions to achieve the best result possible. The Golden Ending is only achievable on the part of Serenoa if he finally comes to terms with his own agency and reasons out what it is he wants, instead of placing his faith in the will of those around him at his exclusion. Though the wisdom of his peers does help inform his decision to free the Roselle and strike down Hyzante and Aesfrost, it's ultimately on Serenoa's shoulders to reject the Scales of Conviction and stand up for what he believes is right. It's implied this is part of a Secret Test of Character on the part of the Scales of Conviction to test the heads of House Wolffort, as the Scales respond by lighting all three flames to signify a totally positive outcome when Serenoa figures out how to incorporate everyone's plan so he gets what he wants; what everyone wants.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience:
  • The game has grid squares colored differently if an enemy unit can attack that unit while it's on that square. Blue squares mean that the unit is safe from harm, while purple squares mean that it can be damaged.
  • On the world map, territory controlled by Glenbrook is highlighted green, territory controlled by Aesfrost is highlighted red, and territory controlled by Hyzante is colored purple.
  • The Karma Meter and Path Traveled have colors for Morality (green), Liberty (red), and Utility (yellow).
• Commie Land: Hyzante is a theocratic version. Citizens who profess the faith are fed, housed, and given universal healthcare for free via the state-owned monopoly on the vital-for-life salt produced by an army of Roselle slaves. At the same time, "heretics" are hunted down and executed, and the state also determines how research is applied and generally forbids anyone it deems vital from leaving (with a particular mountain fortress as a sort of Berlin Wall). Naturally, it's filled with corrupt obstructive bureaucrats who scheme against each other's departments.
• Contractual Boss Immunity: Bosses can ignore your attempts to inflict certain status ailments. For example, in Chapter VII, Avlora is totally immune to all status effects (but can still be insta-killed by the booby traps in Wolffort), while Landroi is immune to blindness and provocation (but can still be put to sleep and paralyzed). The Quietus skill Missed Opportunity bypasses this, and can inflict Stop on enemies that are otherwise immune to it.
• Corrupt Church: Early on, it becomes clear that the Holy State of Hyzante's religion is not all it's cracked up to be, what with how "heathens" who dare share their research with the outside world are dealt with, how the Rosellans are persecuted with impunity, and the exorbitant taxation and sale of the salt they control. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Hyzante ultimately ends up being the worst of the antagonistic forces once its dark secrets and the truth of the Rosellans come to light, making even the sociopathic Gustadolph seem like a saint by comparison. In fact, three out of four routes has a leader of Hyzante as the final boss—two of which is the very person driving all the conflict and one of which is merely a tool of that same person—while the one non-Hyzante final boss is an emotionally distraught and normally well-meaning man who has lost it from tragedy after tragedy. This is taken to a new level once it is revealed the person spearheading it outright changed the original scriptures to suit his own twisted end, likely resulting in even the first Saltiron war to begin with.
• Culture Clash: The three nations in Norzelia all operate under much difference circumstances, which is something discussed at length by the characters who note that not each nation is entirely perfect. One of the primary conflicts in the story involves Aesfrost and Hyzante attempting to enact their way of living on the rest of Norzelia. To elaborate:
  • The Grand Duchy of Aesfrost is a meritocracy where people are given the freedom and opportunity to become prosperous regardless of their background and status. However, not everyone is successful, the gap between the rich and poverty-stricken is more pronounced than the other nations, and those with family connections use them to get ahead in much the same fashion as Glenbrook's nobility.
  • The Holy State of Hyzante is a strict theocracy in which everyone is treated equally but they lack freedom. As a result, there isn't any poverty but everyone must work on the occupation and tasks assigned to them by the Saintly Seven and they must abide by strict beliefs in accordance with the Goddess of Salt.
  • Glenbrook is an aristocracy led by a king and queen. The rigid system where one's station is primarily based on their bloodline allows for its citizens to live in relative peace despite the obvious inequality. However, the royalty and nobles are prone to corruption and power abuse, and regularly manipulate Glenbrooks' citizens for their own gain.
• Cutscene Power to the Max: After the battle with Booker, when he attempts to flee, Anna leaps across the entire map to cut him down. In actual gameplay, she has no such ability, the closest being a skill that lets her move up or down any height.
• Darker and Edgier: The game is more grim and serious than any previous game made by the team. The Debut Demo alone has several important characters die, and the main character is forced to make a Sadistic Choice almost right away.
• Decapitated Army: Unusually for a tactical RPG, this is averted; on almost all the boss stages, you will still have to defeat all the minions after the boss falls.
• Decided by One Vote:
  • In the Debut Demo, based on Chapter VII of the full game, if you only change one person's mind from "surrender Roland" to "protect Roland", and then vote to protect Roland yourself, this will cause the Scales of Conviction vote to become a 4-to-4 tie. However, since you're playing as Serenoa, the lord of House Wolffort, you'll be chosen to cast the "tiebreaker vote", which you can then use to make the votes 5 to 4 in favor of whichever you choose. In the actual full game, the situation is somewhat changed, so that Frederica, Hughette, and Erador are for staving off the Aesfrosti, Benedict, Roland, and Geela are for surrender, and Anna is the undecided swing vote (with Serenoa no longer able to place his own vote).
  • In the Prologue Demo / Chapter III, the vote over which nation to visit on a diplomatic mission is initially set up this way. Roland, Hughette, and Erador are in favor of Aesfrost; Benedict, Frederica, and Geela are in favor of Hyzante; and Anna is the undecided swing vote.
  • If the Chapter VII vote swung to Utility, Roland will leave the party for a time; the subsequent Chapter VIII thus has six rather than seven votes with two (Benedict and Geela) being undecided. It’s also the first opportunity in the full game for two options to tie, at which point Serenoa does cast the tiebreaker vote like he could in the Debut Demo.
  • Chapter XIII is the first three-way vote of the game, and it is similarly initially split in this fashion; Benedict and Anna advocate breaking a dam to flood Aesfrosti troops (but also damaging the Crown City); Roland and Hughette want to destroy a warship to cut off the Aesfrosti's escape route; Frederica and Geela suggest destroying a bridge in order to trap the Aesfrosti in Glenbrook Castle, and Erador is the undecided swing vote. Zigzagged with the later three-way votes — Chapters XV and XVII both have a minimum of two undecided voters, but it’s nonetheless possible to fail at swaying them in the desired direction and potentially need a tie-breaker.
• Defeat Means Friendship: The bandit leader Trish joins your team as a playable character after you defeat her in battle.
• Deus Angst Machina: For how short the Debut Demo is, the story really shits on Roland. Aesfrosti forces invade his home and murder his entire family except his sister, his loyal friend Ser Maxwell falls in battle and is left for dead, and he's forced to flee with Aesfrosti forces coming to kill him. It gets worse if the heroes decide to surrender him to Aesfrost in Chapter VII, as he is forced by the Archduke to send his own friends to kill their allies, and ends up in gaol with the Archduke intending to order his execution. While things settle down for a time after he fakes his death, this is only the start of the world’s efforts to break him.
• Developer's Foresight:
  • In the Debut Demo, where Serenoa gets a vote, if you successfully convinced a character to change their opinion, only to then pick the option they would have chosen originally, the characters you spoke to will react to your decision both in text and in flavor audio lines, in most cases being confused or annoyed by your seemingly inconsistent choices. For example, on what to do about Roland, Benedict will outright express his disappointment if you convinced him to reconsider only to then decide to hand Roland over anyway. In particular, Erador is rightfully upset at you for doing so, being the only member to start off undecided, and he accuses you of setting him up for failure. In the full game Serenoa no longer gets a vote himself.
  • New Game Plus playthroughs will not allow you to deploy characters that are already present on the field, such as Cordelia in the Glenbrook tournament (as she is watching the battle with Frani and Regna) and Maxwell in Chapter VI, as he is busy holding off the Wolffort party's pursuers to give them time to escape with Roland. However, you can deploy Cordelia in at least one fight where the story has you attempting to rescue Cordelia, though she is at least offscreen at that point.
  • In the Debut Demo / Chapter VII's Liberty route, if you decide to not use the traps laid out in the Wolffort city after bringing it up as a way to even the odds, the cutscene after will have the characters acknowledge their victory without having to sacrifice any of the city to do so, with Serenoa expressing relief he was not forced to use a Godzilla Threshold. This is also a requirement to unlock the Golden Ending.
  • If you somehow end up in a situation where the votes are evenly split, the game will account for this by invoking Decided by One Vote, since as the ruler of House Wolffort, Serenoa has the authority to decide.
  • When fighting the True Final Boss at the end of the Golden Ending route, every single playable character has a line of voiced dialogue that plays when they first interact with the boss. This includes lines for the three characters who join in versions of Chapter XV that don't lead to the Golden Ending, but can be deployed if playing on a New Game Plus run. As a secondary layer of foresight, characters like Geela who would almost never attack the boss directly will instead play their line simply by taking any action in the boss's general vicinity.
  • The profiles actually update themselves to account for a change in a character's position or morality. Such changes happen well past the point a person would typically decide to check a given character's profile, but they happen nonetheless. This reaches its logical conclusion in the epilogue - despite there being no gameplay whatsoever, all profiles are updated to reflect the end of the war besides Hughette, Anna, and Benedict's. Going even further, the game even updates the character art in the epilogue when Serenoa and Frederica change into their wedding outfits.
• Dialogue Tree: Characters with "!" icons over their heads can be given one of three responses; depending on what kind of answer Serenoa gives, it will influence the Karma Meter and potentially alter the game's story. During the Persuasion Phase before using the Scales of Conviction, you can persuade characters toward a specific decision in much the same way; two generic responses are available by default, but sleuthing around to gather intel can unlock an additional 3rd option that can potentially — but not always — have a much greater influence on your allies. For example, in Chapter VII, Frederica's unlocked option will fail to make her consider surrendering Roland whatsoever; only insisting The Needs of the Many will do so.
• Dirty Coward: The narrative notes House Telliore to be quick to bend to higher authority if it means saving the skin on their backs, a stark contrast to House Falkes who is loyal to Glenbrook to the bitter end. If the party chooses to surrender Roland in Chapter VII, Telliore surrenders itself to Aesfrost as well, and the narrator notes that Telliore has their heads buried so deep in the sand that they politely ignore that the Falkes countryside was razed by their own men in the wake of battle with House Wolffort.
• Domino Mask: Ser Maxwell is seen wearing one. In Chapter VII, the bloodstained mask is later found by Wolffort scouts and handed over to Serenoa and Roland as proof that even the Dawnspear has fallen in battle. Roland then uses it as a disguise to avoid Aesfrost's forces.
• Downer Beginning: The Debut Demo begins with Glenbrook's capital already having fallen to Aesfrost's surprise invasion.
• Dramatic Irony: The party will console themselves when picking some distasteful choices, like surrendering Roland or the Roselle by saying that it was the only way. The player, of course, knows that the other choice was just as valid and would have seen them through each time.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: The Golden Ending route requires you to choose specific routes to achieve it. Not using the Wolffort wildfire will give the party an edge against Exharme's assault, being party to the illegal salt trade will influence Clarus to aid Serenoa in sneaking into the Source, revealing Roland's identity will make Svarog an ally, defending the Roselle will encourage them to revolt against Hyzante, and being at Symon's side when assassins strike allows him to encourage Serenoa to follow his own convictions. It's a tedious task but it'll ensure that Roland, Benedict, and Frederica all remain in your party.
• Easily Forgiven: Serenoa and Frederica are remarkably willing to forgive the bandit leaders Travis and Trish for all their past sins, which include attempting to kill them twice. While the bandits may not have killed anyone in those two instances, it's pretty safe to assume they killed at least some people during their bandit careers.
• Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: Various units are weak to different types of damage, including Fire, Ice, Thunder, and physical damage. Exploiting a weakness deals more damage than usual and earns free Kudos.
• Enemy Civil War: The Moral Freedoms ending plunges all of Norzelia into a giant one dubbed "The Era of Salt and Blood":
  • In Hyzante, the Roselle's liberation and the death of Idore result in Exharme and Tenebris being locked in a bitter civil war for control of the nation.
  • In Aesfrost, Gustadolph pays the price for the murder of Dragan when Svarog turns the Deathsknell against him, locking the nation into yet another civil war. It's implied Gustadolph will come out on top anyway due to Benedict siding with him to protect the Wolffort demesne.
• Everyone Has a Special Move: The game has 30 units to potentially recruit and while they can be split into basic role groups like front-line damage dealers, mages, healers, etc. virtually every character has a unique niche not filled by other characters or certain upsides that make them worth using over other characters in the same general role.
• Eviler than Thou: Initially, Aesfrost emerges as the primary antagonistic force of the story and fighting them comprises the bulk of the narrative, but as early as Chapter III (regardless of, and in comparison between the two scenarios) Hyzante’s given an air of insidious secrecy and unease, coming off as a controlling Police State to the more impoverished, Grim Up North archduchy. This slowly builds in the middle half of the narrative, coming to a head with Chapter XV’s revelation of how deeply the Holy State’s corruption is rooted; in all but one of the three endings it’s determined that they are the greater evil, the Golden Ending very quickly killing off Gustadolph and then siding with Aesfrost to finally end Idore’s tyrannical control over Norzelia’s salt.
• Faction Calculus: Lore wise, Aesfrost is powerhouse, Glenbrook is balanced, and Hyzante is subversive.
  • Aesfrost has the fewest numbers, but is the most technologically advanced of the three, utilizing its Elite Army known as the Blackirons and its aerial superiority with its hawk riders to overwhelm and outmaneuver any opposition it's directed at. Due to its very mountainous geography and frigid terrain, Aesfrost is also very difficult to invade as Twinsgate lies on a narrow chokepoint of a valley that significantly slows down and funnels a numerically superior army, rendering any Zerg Rush moot.
  • Glenbrook has a diverse army between houses Falkes and Wolffort, especially for the latter's army as it's known for having its cast of units filling unique niches that neither Aesfrost nor Hyzante can achieve. Glenbrook also controls the Great Norzelia river which its swift navy uses to great effect to send its army to where they are needed most.
  • Hyzante has the largest army of the three, known for its vast array of cavalry, rogues, and the use of support spells that would further take advantage of its numbers. Furthermore, it's the richest of the three and uses that to create a stranglehold on the opposing economy and its salt, something that the rest of Norzelia have despised heavily.
• Falling Damage: Using skills that have a knock-back attack while on a high enough spot will cause the person to fall off and take extra damage.
• False Flag Operation:
  • Gustadolph invades Glenbrook under the pretext that Glenbrook is responsible for the murder of his cousin Dragan, thus breaking the truce. The heroes claim they saw Gustadolph arrange the death of Dragan instead, but decide not to reveal this publicly because it would be useless with the war already started.
  • If the party agrees to surrender Prince Roland, they will attempt to parlay with House Falkes in an attempt to avoid a battle. Unfortunately, right before Serenoa can meet with the House, Aesfrost's army shows up at Falkes's doorstep. The Lord interprets this as a dirty trick by Wolffort and attacks the party before deliberations can even take place.
• False Utopia:
  • The continent is united as one in the Utilized Morality ending, where Serenoa and Roland join the Saintly Seven, crush Aesfrost, and end the warring for good. Peace has come to the land, food and resources are plentiful, and everyone's equal under the Goddess. It seems like the most optimistic ending at first... Until you remember that Aesfrost citizens are forced into the new order, Hyzante keeps its iron grip on information, and, worst of all, the Roselle are condemned to lifetimes of slavery to support the new order, with only Frederica and her band of impoverished, ridiculed outcasts in their corner.
  • Hyzante is one even early on in the game. At first glance, it looks like a wealthy nation where everyone is provided for. Everyone has housing and a job, and the Ministry of Medicine is well-known for its excellent health care, implying that sickness and injuries are rare, and easily-treated when they do happen. Outsiders occasionally mention how everything is well-organized, and everyone looks happy. Then it's revealed that Hyzante's wealth is mainly provided by slave labor, the Hyzante route of Chapter 3 shows that some Hyzantians are sick of all the beauracracy but risk getting executed if they speak up, and even some of the Saintly Seven acknowledge all the issues plaguing the country (and similarly have their hands tied).
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture: The setting is a hodge-podge of various Eurasian cultures, set in a landlocked region that exists in isolation from other civilizations (and given the Norzelia Falls, may be well above sea level). As such:
  • Hyzante is a version of the Abbasid Caliphate at its height set in Ancient Egypt, highly advanced in science and medicine but a fanatical theocracy unwilling to share anything with "heathens". (As if to prove the point, people stop and turn in the direction of the shrine to pray in the streets.) They also talk about equality yet build everything off the backs of an oppressed labor caste and dictate each person's job, making them Chummy Commies at best. There is even a difference in design regarding the main Hyzantian mages and the researchers who rebelled along with Plinius Naveste, the former resembling the Islamic peoples while the latter instead vaguely resemble Ancient Egyptians by contrast.
  • The oppressed Roselle, meanwhile, are Jewish stand-ins, with aesthetics that pull on both traditional Japanese and Native American imagery. They labour at the Source just as the Hebrew slaves in Egypt (supposedly) tirelessly worked on infrastructure. They also migrated from Centralia, an ancestral home to which one ending has them return after escaping their enslavement, furthering the parallels.
  • On the other hand, Nordic, industrialized Aesfrost came out the worst in the most recent war and seek revenge, making them equivalent to post-WWI Germany (down to their etymology). Being the least-densely populated nation who live in the frosty northern tundra has parallels to Russia, while in geographic relation to Glenbrook they resemble Switzerland.
  • Finally, Glenbrook itself is mercantile and arable, having a massive river system that periodically floods due to the glaciers of Aesfrosti territory, giving similarities to France; the Royalists are a faction of aristocrats with heavy court influence, while the large demesnes of the Three High Houses jointly give their ruling lords attributes of both dukes (being second to the king in power) and marquesses (border lords who were the homeland’s first lines of defence).
• Fight Fire with Fire: Hughette has a passive debuff called Hawk's Bane that increases the damage she takes from Bows despite being a Bow user herself. Roland has a similar passive called Knight's Bane that makes him take more damage with spears despite his weapon being a spear as well.
• Fire, Ice, Lightning: The game has the elements of fire, ice and lightning form a Geo Effects combo. You either use fire magic to set the land ablaze and then ice magic to cool the fire into puddles of water, or use ice magic to freeze the land and then fire magic to melt the ice into water. You then use lightning magic to fry anyone standing in the water. The game also has wind, which mainly serves to turn enemies around, but can also spread fire along flammable squares.
• Fire/Water Juxtaposition: The final two maps of Roland's ending carry this thematic. In A Dream in Winter, you fight Gustadolph, who coats Aesfrost's capital city in ice, creating frozen tiles over most of the map. He can then damage any unit who steps on frozen tiles from a great distance away. In The Bell Tolls for No One, you fight Svarog, who floods the city in molten iron that damages units who walk through it. Additionally, he can set tiles on fire in a wide area around himself, regardless of whether or not they are flammable.
• Foil: One way the story draws on the difference between Aesfrost and Hyzante is in loose parallels between its authority figures, how they interact with the protagonists and their roles in the narrative. To elaborate:
  • Aesfrost’s leader, Gustadolph is a charismatic and personable man who promotes personal achievements and freedom as the highest virtue, creating a meritocratic system where anyone can rise above their station of birth (or fall from it) to influence the system; Hyzante’s ruler, the Hierophant is a mysterious and shadowy figure that enforces loyalty to the Holy State above any individual desires in the name of social harmony, which ensures everyone has a defined role they cannot break from but everyone has access to health and comfort. Both these surface-level fronts belie the darker aspects of their worlds, as Aesfrost’s Darwinist ideology leaves those unable to fend for themselves to suffer, while Hyzante’s theocracy punishes anyone wanting to buck the system severely as well as ensuring its “equity” comes at the price of the Roselle as an enslaved labour force. It doesn’t stop there: Gustadolph’s affability hides that he’s conniving and self-centred, a sociopath who sees everyone purely on how they can serve his interests, loathing any opposition and willing to steal anyone’s achievements for his own advancement, his ideals an excuse to fulfil his own wants; the Hierophant on the other hand is a non-sentient figurehead created by Idore, himself really a self-righteous megalomaniac beneath his kindly visage, who sees the majority of humanity as deluded and self-destructive imbeciles who need to be corralled and controlled for their own good. Depending on the ending chosen, both men survive to serve their interests in a limited way (Liberty), one will die while the other thrives in their control over Norzelia (Utility/Morality), or both are defeated with a bright future balancing all the countries’ values (Golden).
  • The top military leaders, Avlora and Exharme, contrast starting with the early tournament: the former being a cool-headed and aloof No-Nonsense Nemesis who yields to Maxwell in the first round, yet is indicated to be holding back out of pragmatism; the latter is a gregarious Worthy Opponent with personal ambitions that loses to the Wolffort contingent without holding back. The former becomes an Arch-Enemy who can be faced multiple times in the meat of the story, yet is upfront and brutally honest, scorning dishonourable tactics and deceit; the latter is an amiable Aloof Ally, freely giving advice and input but being an underhanded, vainglorious opportunist whose aid is tempered by his machinations and conditional power plays. Depending on the ending, Avlora either goes into hiding after being washed away, or in the Golden Ending (and subsequent New Game Plus) allies with House Wolffort to bring a better world. On the flip side, Exharme either: gives up his personal ambitions when Wolffort sides with Hyzante, fighting alongside them while plotting to suppress knowledge for The Needs of the Many (Utility); ends up in a civil war against Tenebris over Hyzante, after Wolffort leaves them in a fractured state when freeing the Roselle (Morality); or fights to his death against Wolffort as his Pride won’t let him become secondary to them in influence, choosing self-interest over any true ethical ideals (Liberty/Golden).
• Friendly Fireproof:
  • Zigzagged. Your basic magic attacks will not strike allies; using lightning magic on water, however, will.
  • Piccoletta's Ball Toss is the one attack in the game that you can intentionally hit your allies with, but its weak power gives it a hidden benefit of being able to remove Sleep and Temptation from them if there isn't anyone around to cure them.
• From Bad to Worse: Chapter VII gives you the option of choosing whether or not to surrender Roland to Aesfrost. Doing so has severe consequences; Aesfrost captures both the Prince and two of the three High Houses, then the Archduke forces Roland to send Wolffort to attack House Falkes. Falkes destroys the entire countryside in the ensuing battle, and promptly after the party discovers that the Archduke intends to have Roland executed for his "crimes".
• Gameplay and Story Integration:
  • In the Utilized Morality Ending, Frederica leaves the party due to conflicting motives. Should the player check the encampment, they'll see that the mock battle where Frederica is required to deploy is no longer available.
  • On New Game Plus, while you carry over units and can mostly have them deployed even if narratively it’s non-compatible, you cannot deploy duplicate of units featuring on certain maps. This includes Cordelia on Chapter II (as she’s a spectator of the tournament); Maxwell on Chapter VI (as he’s a Guest-Star Party Member); Travis and/or Trish on Chapters IX and Chapter XV Liberty; and Avlora on Chapter VII Morality, Chapter VIII’s two Utility route maps, and Chapter XIV’s Liberty and Morality maps.
  • Additionally, the game gives Mutually Exclusive Party Members some narrative leeway, such that you can argue that Rudolph/Corentin joins the army later, even if their home country wasn’t visited in Chapter III, or that the Chapter XV units can all be said to have joined the Wolffort army under variations of their respective routes (as they all happen concurrently regardless).
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: The New Game Plus allows the player to use units they've recruited in a previous playthrough. As early as Chapter 2, they can use characters like Maxwell, Avlora, and Travis to name a few despite being away from the party in the main story.
• Gender-Equal Ensemble: The main party is comprised of four men (Serenoa, Roland, Benedict, and Erador) and four women (Frederica, Geela, Anna, and Hughette). The entire roster also becomes this if the player considers Decimal as female due to being a prototype for the feminine Hierophant.
  • For men, we have Serenoa, Roland, Benedict, Erador, Corentin, Rudolph, Julio, Narve, Lionel, Jens, Archibald, Flanagan, Quahaug, Travis, and Maxwell.
  • For women, we have Frederica, Geela, Anna, Hughette, Hossabara, Ezana, Medina, Picoletta, Groma, Decimal, Giovanna, Cordelia, Milo, Trish, and Avlora.
• Geo Effects:
  • The game gives you a lot of tools to manipulate the environment to your advantage, such as igniting dry grass with fire magic, using wind magic to spread fires, casting ice magic to have the fire melt the ice into water, then casting lightning magic to electrify the water and deal Area of Effect damage to all enemies standing in the resulting puddle.
  • There is also a heavy emphasis on height as an advantageous property. There is a general damage boost when attacking from height, and units with bows can gain additional range while attacking from a tile higher than other targets. Serenoa's Hawk Dive ability gains a scaling damage boost depending on the height of the tile he's standing on relative to that of the target's, and Anna's Surmount allows her to expend an action to move to an adjacent tile up to 15 height units from her current tile. And by contrast, Groma's super attack does more damage the lower she is compared to her opponent.
  • Corentin's passive ability "TP+ on Ice" gives him an additional TP every turn if he's standing on a Frozen tile.
  • Ice magic is also useful for freezing the ground to slow down enemy movement and slightly reduce accuracy for phycial attackers.
  • Giovanna, as a geologist, depends on the tile she's standing on to use her skills. Puddles allow her to heal allies, wheat and grasslands allow her to conjure vines to attack the enemy, etc.
• Giant Flyer: One of the continent’s most unique fauna is the greathawk, a horse-sized avian with wings strong enough to carry an adult rider without straining itself. Lore notes mention that they were once numerous in the south Glenbrook forests but due to habitat loss they’re most populous in the Aesfrosti mountains nowadays, and being more suited to the climate than horses they’re a favoured mount of the military. Though they aren’t all-around ideal for every situation; in Chapter VI, if Serenoa suggest that Hughette fly Roland to safety with Flugie, she notes that he would strain under multiple passengers and fly much slower, which would make them an obvious target for archers and other scouts.
• Godzilla Threshold: In Chapter VII, during the chapter's Persuasion Phase you can learn from a guard about House Wolffort's "secret weapon", a special attribute of the mountain that has the power to repel any attacker. If you want to avoid surrendering Roland to Aesfrost, you can use this knowledge to greatly sway most party members over to your side. If the party chooses to fight back, Benedict reveals that the "secret weapon" involves flooding the mountain's channels with oil and setting it alight, causing mass destruction and harming both friend and foe alike. Frederica and Roland are understandably horrified that their backup option is destroying the land of innocent people and putting their lives at risk, but Benedict and Serenoa remind them that this is the choice they've made. Can be subverted, as you don't have to make use of this in order to beat the scenario, and the characters will show relief that they didn't need to resort to this if you manage to do so. Fighting back but not using the "secret weapon" is also a necessary part of getting the Golden Ending.
• Great Offscreen War: Thirty years before the events of the game, the three nations of Norzelia engaged in a conflict called the Saltiron War, which ended with an uneasy truce.
• Guest-Star Party Member:
  • You will occasionally be accompanied by AI-controlled allies in battle, such as Sycras in Chapter III on the Aesfrost route, Exharme in Chapter III on the Hyzante route, or Ser Maxwell in Chapter VI.
  • An exception to that general rule is Milo — she will join your party during Chapters XIII and XIV as a temporary party member, but you get full control over her during those battles.
• Hero Antagonist: If you choose to capitulate to Aesfrost in Chapter VII, Lord Landroi Falkes takes this role. He is just a loyal subject of the king who is opposing you because you buckled the knee to save your own hide and are now serving invading marauders.
• Heroic Sacrifice:
  • At the end of Chapter VI, Maxwell decides to stay back to hold off Aesfrost's troops while Serenoa and his party escape down the river on a boat. He is seemingly struck down by Avlora, though the game invokes Never Found the Body shortly after.
  • Later on in Chapter VII, Roland wants to give himself up to Aesfrost to protect House Wolffort and his friends from further bloodshed. While a majority of the party is in agreement, if Serenoa gathers the right intel, he can make Roland buckle and choose to fight back.
  • In the Moral Freedoms ending, Serenoa himself does this, holding back Idore from rushing after the Roselle as a desperation attack while empowered with Alferic. Erador even pleads with Serenoa to let him take the hit, but Serenoa notices that there is no time and begs everyone to leave, and live on.
• Hollywood Tactics: Present in some battles, notably "Avlora's Assault" in which the alleged military genius initially sends most of her men to get bottlenecked on a single staircase instead of circling around to the other one with more than one or two men even if you leave it undefended. This seems to be intentional, making it not an example of Artificial Stupidity.
• Home Field Advantage: Depending on what you decide to do with Roland in Chapter VII:
  • The House Wolffort field gives a slight upper hand to the player; they start on higher ground and have access to House Wolffort's secret weapon. However, enemy archers start on rooftops that are otherwise difficult to access for grounded units.
  • The House Falkes field is substantially tougher; the enemies have the height advantage this time, and the bulk of their forces consists of archers and battlemages who can wittle away at your units with very little in the way of counterplay. Not to mention the boss is also an archer who will not hesitate to tear holes through your team once he gets going.
• A House Divided: Downplayed. In the Debut Demo / Chapter VII of the full game, the cast are divided on what to do about Roland, causing tension between more or less everyone present. However, the presence of the Scales of Conviction allows them to mostly settle their differences.
• An Ice Person: In the demos, Corentin, Aesfrosti, and Hyzante mage units.
• In Medias Res: The Debut Demo starts at Chapter VI, with Aesfrost launching a surprise attack on Glenbrook and forcing the protagonists to flee with the last remaining heir to the throne, Prince Roland.
• Info Dump: Due to the whole In Medias Res bit in the Debut Demo, the introductory cutscene comprises a relatively lengthy explanation about the game's setting, the backstory, and the events immediately leading up to Chapter VI, where the demo picks up.
• In Spite of a Nail: Although your "conviction" throughout the game will determine which characters are recruited and which battles are fought, a glance at the War Chronicle reveals that there are multiple points of convergence; for example, regardless of which side is taken in Chapter III, the routes reconverge for Chapter IV. The story plays out the same overall narrative beats up until the endgame where the finale breaks off to Multiple Endings. However, your actions will still have long-term consequences, namely when most characters are recruited and whether or not Serenoa can avoid using the Scales in Chapter XVII.
  • The decision in Chapter XIII as to how to take back Glenbrook castle stands out in particular, as no matter what path you pick, your party takes back the country, but the castle town ends up destroyed. It is notably one of three decisions in the game that has no impact on your ability to get the Golden Ending.
  • Chapter III and Chapter VIII also have no impact on the Golden Ending regardless of which way you vote. Especially notable as Chapter VIII has four possible outcomes, but they all reconverge in time for Chapter IX.
• Isometric Projection: The default view is isometric, but players have free camera control and can even swap to a top-down view.
• I Want Them Alive!: In Chapter VII, Gustadolph wants Roland surrendered to him alive, and Serenoa can use this as an argument to convince his companions to capitulate.
• Kaizo Trap: The Defend Roland version of Chapter VII has one. If an archer or mage has multiple targets in range, the cursor defaults to the hawk traps, making it very easy to set them off by accident. In other words, players aiming for the Golden Ending need to watch out.
• Karma Meter: The game uses an unconventional variant; instead of a traditional "good/evil" or "law/chaos" meter, Triangle Strategy features a meter with three ends: morality, liberty, and utility, none of which are inherently good or bad choices. Decisions made at various points in the game contribute points to an invisible meter that can influence progress later on.
• Kill the Parent, Raise the Child: Anna discovers at the end of her Character Story that her adoptive father, Benedict, had killed her biological family, the Jackes Clan — opponents in the Saltiron War — and while burying everyone single-handedly, he discovered her as an infant hidden away with a letter revealing her name. He then raised Anna as his own best he could. When Erador asks if Anna would want revenge on him or Benedict, she affirms that there’s no reason to, as knowledge of the truth was all she was after, and Benedict is her father in every way that matters.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: In Chapter VII, the proponents of surrendering Roland point out Aesfrost's significant military advantage and claim that to try to fight back would only get them and the civilians they have a duty to protect killed.
• Let's Split Up, Gang!: Should the Chapter VII vote end with turning over Roland, he will (of course) be separated from the main party for some time. Chapter XV also has Roland, Benedict, and Frederica heading in separate directions for a task, with the Scales of Conviction deciding which one Serenoa accompanies. The Golden Ending route starts with Serenoa making the decision to split the party into three regiments, each consisting of up to nine units (including Serenoa himself) plus a commander, meaning that all 30 playable characters can potentially see action. Benedict's group will lure the Hyzantian army into the Wolffort fire traps, Roland's group will rendezvous with Svarog to deal with Gustadolph, and Frederica's group will instigate the Rosellans in Hyzante into rebelling. The party reunites after all three battles are fought.
• Logical Weakness: The Aesfrosti units, who come from a land of ice and snow, are weak to fire damage.
• Lost Common Knowledge: In the present day, the only supply of salt anywhere in the continent of Norzelia is the Source, a body of saltwater in the desert. The game's inciting incident is the discovery of salt crystals underground in a mine. The fact that salt crystals exist at all is a closely guarded secret known only to the most important people in Hyzante, the kingdom where the Source is located, who has spent centuries espousing that the Source is the only place salt exists anywhere on the continent. The Roselle originally come from a far away land located next to something called an "ocean," a huge body of salt water, but this knowledge has been mostly lost to time.
• Low Fantasy: While magic certainly exists in the setting, the story is thoroughly grounded in political intrigue, and the primary conflict not just of the game's plot but of its backstory is a fight over vital, natural resources (ie. salt). The only truly fantastical element of the plot is the Hyzantian automatons and the Aelfric that powers them, and unlike the game's predecessor, the party never end up fighting any evil gods.
• Mana Meter: At the start of every turn, a unit gains 1 TP; for a unit to use most of its abilities beyond its normal attack, it must have TP to burn as a cost. Some units have the ability to gain back additional TP conditionally, such as Frederica, who gains a TP after defeating an enemy, or Corentin, who gains an additional TP at the start of his turn if he's standing on a Frozen tile.
• Meaningful Name: Norzelia, with Aesfrost being an icy northern tundra, with rumours of eastern and western lands that are unexplored by the locals. Centralia being to the south, too.
• Meanwhile Scene: Character Stories are small cutscenes that occur in other locations that the party currently are not at. They provide world building to show how the rest of the world is being affected.
• Multiple Endings: Although Story Branching offers the player multiple different options throughout the game, it's ultimately the decision made in Chapter XVII (17) that determines which of four endings will be reached.
  • Golden Ending: Out of the various outcomes, the one in which Serenoa convinces his allies to compromise instead of using the Scales is the hardest to access, benefits the most characters, and is the only path in which Avlora joins the party.
• Mutually Exclusive Party Members:
  • You can only recruit certain units by making specific story choices; either Rudolph or Corentin depending on which version of Chapter III you choose, and either Milo, Cordelia, Travis, or Trish will join in Chapter XV (and which of the two bandits has the potential to join is dependent on a decision back in Chapter XI). Upon starting a New Game Plus, however, you keep all recruited party members and can now pick a choice that recruits one of their counterparts, meaning that it will take a minimum of four playthroughs to have every party member at once.
  • There's a case of this in the endgame as well, due to Breaking the Fellowship: either Frederica, Roland, or Benedict will leave the party depending on your decision in Chapter XVII, and will not return until New Game Plus...unless you're on the Golden Ending route, in which not only do they all stay for the story's climax, but they are also joined by Avlora.
• Mythology Gag: The theocratic Hyzante creates a special flame-based energy called Aelfric. Octopath Traveler had Aelfric as the god worshipped by the largest church in Orsterra and is typically represented by a flame.
• Never Found the Body:
  • Maxwell is seemingly struck down by Avlora in Chapter VI. However, his spear and body are not found later by one of the Wolffort scouts. Depending on your Karma Meter, it can be revealed that he survived, and he rejoins the party.
  • Similarly, regardless of whether Serenoa chose Utility, Liberty, or Morality for Chapter XIII, the resulting versions of Chapter XIV all involve Avlora ending up in the river and her body becoming "lost". If you're on the Golden Ending route, she not only survives, but also joins the party.
• New Game Plus: Loading a completed save file transfers over your party, along with their levels, items and equipment upgrades while scaling up the enemies in battles to retain difficulty. The conviction system is also made a lot more transparent, pointing out how to raise each aspect, along with how many points in each have been accumulated and how many more are needed to unlock additional battlers.
• No Blood for Phlebotinum: Each of the three nations controls a resource that the others would like to have; Aesfrost control most of the iron stores and are able to craft strong weapons and innovate, Hyzante has a monopoly on salt that is vital for human life, and Glenbrook has control of the rivers which allow trade to flourish. 30 years prior to the start of the story, all of the nations were engaged in a conflict called The Saltiron War, vying for control over these resources.
• Nominal Importance: Played with. While the four shopkeeps at the player's encampment are recruitable characters, they are only given names, character portraits and profiles from the cutscenes in which they're recruited onward, and are otherwise only referred to by adjectives like most other minor NPCs. Similarly, three of the five Optional Party Members that show up at the fighting tournament at the beginning of the game go unnamed and without portraits and profiles. This sequence in particular stand out, as it is otherwise used primarily as a means of introducing the game's sizable supporting cast.
• Nonstandard Game Over: During "In The Still of Night," one of the possible twelfth chapters, if Serenoa fails to find the key to prove the Hyzantian faith fraudulent, House Wolffort will end up crushed by the Hyzantian Army in a narration scene.
• No One Sees the Boss: The Hierophant of Hyzante is allegedly a figure seated on a throne behind curtains, as looking upon their face is forbidden (their portrait is obscured). They speak, but only to a chosen mouthpiece. They're finally seen in the Freed Utility (Liberty) Ending and Golden Ending.
• Not Quite the Right Thing:
  • Zig-Zagged. Most of the time, there is one option that obviously seems like the wrong choice, and most of the time, it is. But in order to get the Golden Ending, you need to compromise on your morals once: agreeing to illegally transport the salt for Ende, as the intended recipient turns out to be Svarog, and his trust is needed to put an end to Gustadolph's machinations. The other option seems more morally correct, but leads to the more bittersweet endings. The game does give you a little nudge by having some characters claim that transporting the salt means they can use the sale as proof of Sorsley's corruption, though this is never brought up after the choice is made and the following chapter makes the situation out to be dour and the work of desperation, with many characters feeling morally repugnant for the action they are taking.
  • The "correct" path to take in Chapter XV for the Golden Ending is also not intuitive at first glance. Compared to investigating corruption in the Glenbrook nobility and dealing with a bandit attack in the Wolffort demesne, going home to see Dad does not seem like a particularly compelling priority. Of course, Serenoa being there for Lord Symon's final words is the final piece to the Golden Ending, as it gives him the conviction to forge his own path. Also, as Serenoa and the others may argue when making the decision, it is very important that Serenoa place his trust in Frederica and (particularly!) Roland to handle their own affairs themselves without needing Serenoa's assistance, a particularly important consideration that comes up later in the Golden Ending because Serenoa's ultimate plan will not work without the party splitting up to handle three massive challenges on their own all at the same time.
  • To a lesser extent, taking the morally-dubious route in a few Chapters won’t negate the chance to reach the Golden Ending. In Chapter VII, it’s technically easier to end up on the Conviction Route if you fight House Falkes, as you can't use up any of the fire traps, but this involves handing Roland over to Aesfrost and personally killing Landroi. In the subsequent chapter, siding with either Avlora or Sorsley’s forces has no long-reaching consequences. Similarly, you can take the most destructive option to freeing Glenbrook and flood the city, without lasting consequences beyond feeling bad and subsequently having an easier time in the ensuing fights; do things a certain way and you can completely bypass fighting Avlora, yet still get her as an ally in the Golden Ending.
• Obviously Evil: Played with. A sizable number of the game's supporting cast sport evil grins or smug smirks in their character portraits despite being introduced on relatively friendly terms with the protagonists, and while the majority of them are indeed revealed to be scheming opportunists only looking out for themselves, the game's unique morality system that focuses on personal convictions rather than binary metrics like good and evil means that they may end up becoming the player's allies rather than enemies depending on how the story progresses.
• Off with His Head!: King Regna is executed by beheading, with a classic "cut away just before the sword hits" scene.
• Ominous Save Prompt: Before going into the voting session for Chapter XVII, the game warns you that this will have a huge impact on the rest of the game and suggests that you go ahead and save. There's a good reason for this, since this determines which ending you get.
• Optional Party Member: You can recruit some optional units by viewing Character Stories unlocked by reaching required values of the Karma Meter. Some units require a high value of a single ideology (ex. Decimal requires 1600 points of Morality), while others require minimum values in two different ideologies (ex. Julio requires 275 points in Morality and 110 in Utility). However, all of your values (and party members) carry over to a New Game Plus, so it's not required to spend each run near-exclusively devoting yourself to one belief to obtain everyone.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Downplayed with Crown Prince Frani, who predeceases his father King Regna by a few days.
• Out of Focus: Any of the optional characters, and Corentin in the Debut Demo, have no involvement in the main story and simply are there after you recruit them. They can be spoken to in the Encampment, but have no story relevance aside from a couple instances of world-building ties to characters with story relevance. (Namely, in a few small examples, Quahaug being Lyla's son, Decimal being the prototype to Lyla's creation of The Hierophant, and Giovanna's eventual conclusions that foreshadow salt being available underground all across Norzelia. And Archibald and Groma's heavily implicitly related backstories whose events led to their respective Heel Face Turns)
• People of Hair Color: The Rosellans are a persecuted ethnic minority tending to have pink hair.
• Pinball Protagonist: House Wolffort can spend the first third of the game as this depending on your choices, particularly if they choose to hand Roland over to Aesfrost. They find themselves completely at the mercy of Aesfrost without any real agency of their own as Aesfrost and Hyzante begin to clash with each other. Finding a way to gain some power and agency serves as the initial goal of House Wolffort, though it continues to remain a struggle for the entire game as in the end they are but a small house in conflict with two full fledged nations with all the military might and bargaining power that brings.
• Pragmatic Hero: The trailer introduces Benedict as a representative of "those who pursue pragmatic utility". In the Debut Demo, he is perfectly willing to advocate ruthless actions that he believes will serve the greater good such as throwing Roland under the bus to protect the Wolffort demesne or lighting the castle town on fire to slow the enemy advance.
• Prestige Class: Units can promote to stronger classes once they reach an appropriate level and pay an appropriate amount of resources.
• Pretext for War: Gustadolph claims that King Regna attempted to steal the riches of the Grand Norzelian Mines and murdered his cousin Dragan as a pretext for his invasion.
• Puppet King: Gustadolph's stated intention for allowing Cordelia to live is so he can have her officially crowned queen while he acts as regent.
• Purposely Overpowered: Ser Maxwell in Chapter VI isn't invincible, but he's far stronger than the rest of the party, serving as the rearguard while the others retreat toward the bridge, and he's usually able to handle the enemies chasing you. In New Game+, though, while he's still strong, the level scaling means he's about on par with your party, and will usually go down if you don't hang back to support him.
• The Quisling:
  • The Royal Advisor Patriatte is extremely quick to suck up to the Aesfrosti, acting more as their personal servant than an actual advisor.
  • Lord Telliore wavers on this once he hears of the Aesfrosti invasion. He willingly joins the Aesfrosti if House Wolffort capitulates but remains on the fence if House Wolffort resists the Aesfrosti army. Though the demo ends before his plan at the end is revealed, the full game shows he intends to capture Roland himself and use Roland as leverage against Aesfrost, and that he's more than willing to be the one to sabotage House Wolffort to do so.
  • Serenoa himself can choose to be this by handing over Prince Roland to Aesfrost without a fight in Chapter VII, even if he does so reluctantly, justifying it to himself that he's doing it to prevent more harm from coming to Glenbrook. However, the Aesfrosti are more than happy to force House Wolffort to do their dirty work like ordering them to put down their own countrymen in the rebellious House Falkes.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Recruit most or all of the optional characters and Serenoa's party will be quite an eclectic bunch, with people from all over Norzelia having diverse backgrounds, including defectors, retired military commanders, ex-criminals, orphan children, and a robot.
• Red Baron:
  • Ser Maxwell is known as the Dawnspear for his prowess in battle.
  • There is mention of an Aesfrosti general from the Saltiron War known as "Ironfist," whose real name is Groma, and she can be recruited, now that she's an old lady.
  • Ser Flanagan is also known as The Bloody Shield.
• Required Party Member: In Chapter VI of the Debut Demo, Roland must be deployed. Indeed, not only is Serenoa required for nearly every story battle, but many battles also force the deployment of certain other characters, with Roland being the most frequent recurring one (and the one who can often cause the battle to be lost should he fall in it).
• The Reveal:
  • You know how in Real Life, finding salt is easy and the only place it would be an issue is the desert? The reason it's so rare in this setting is because Hyzante keeps everyone ignorant. They know where salt comes from, and they've spread propaganda to prevent anyone from realizing Salt Mines (or looking for the ocean) could work. In fact, the reason Hyzante persecutes the Rosellans is because their ancestors almost revealed the secrets of mining salt from the earth, which would have ruined the Hyzantians.
  • Serenoa is Roland's older half-brother. Technically (somehow, for a common-born, thanks to King Regna having a Royal Signet ring crafted for him and entrusting it to Lord Symon), he holds legitimacy for the throne, and can conquer Norzelia in one ending.
  • The Hierophant of Hyzante's religion is nothing more than a mechanical puppet which Idore uses to maintain control over Hyzante. Additionally, it runs on Aelfric, which is manufactured from their hospital's deceased, most of whom are frequently going to be the enslaved Roselle.
• Rightful King Returns:
  • Regardless of any previous choices, by Chapter XV Serenoa and his allies will have driven out Aesfrost and Roland will ascend the King of Glenbook. However, it doesn't feel as triumphant as it should be considering the people's lukewarm reception to their new king, Roland's own struggle under the weight of the crown, and the extant political situation with Aesfrost being deeply tense.
  • The Freed Utility ending is a rather dark variation. Roland abdicates after learning that Serenoa is King Regna's bastard son, allowing him to take his place. Serenoa ascends the throne of Glenbrook with little resistance and ushers in a new era of industry, though it's accompanied by mass poverty. The epilogue shows that years later, Roland lives as a monk working to help those suffering under Serenoa's rule, along with the Hyzante remnants.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something:
  • Frederica is the daughter of the royal family of Aesfrost and happens to double as a well-trained mage who specializes in fire magic.
  • Likewise, Roland is the second prince of the royal family of Glenbrook and the nation's last surviving heir. He's very skilled on a horse and packs a wallop with a lance.
  • Cordelia is a mild example, as she's a White Mage rather than a "true" combatant, but she still qualifies. She's the princess of Glenbrook who makes her own attempts at retaking the country after being installed as Gustadolph's Puppet Queen, and she's capable of taking to the battlefield if recruited in Chapter XV.
• Sadistic Choice:
  • Chapter VII has the party facing a particularly cruel dilemma: hand Roland, Serenoa's Childhood Friend and last heir to the throne, over to Aesfrost to protect House Wolffort and in the process submit to the enemy's rule, or protect Roland against nigh-insurmountable odds and put both their own lives and the lives of everyone in House Wolffort at risk for the sake of honor and vengeance.
  • In Chapter XI, the party has to choose between handing the Rosellan refugees in Wolffort territory back to Hyzante in order to save their own lives, or defend the Roselle at the risk of incurring Hyzante's wrath.
  • The final decision will alienate one of your main supporters, since every outcome will involve getting a lot of people killed. Roland's Utility choice involves throwing the Rosellans under the bus for The Needs of the Many, which alienates Frederica for burying the truth and leaving her people to certain death. Frederica's Morality choice involves a massive Screw This, I'm Outta Here to save the Rosellans and restore their kingdom, which Benedict calls out for abandoning their own citizens to the nonexistent mercy of endless conflict. Benedict's Liberty choice involves seizing the throne and crushing Hyzante with Aesfrost's support once and for all, which angers Roland for trying to become like the very dictators who started the war in the first place. The only way to avoid disastrous consequences is to Take a Third Option and avoid the decision altogether.
• Salt the Earth: If you choose to capitulate to Aesfrost, Landroi orders the Falkes demesne burned to the ground rather than see Aesfrost take it over.
• Scam Religion: The entirety of Hyzante's religion was made up from the start when in ancient times those who monopolized the salt of the Source attacked the visiting Roselle who wished to share the truth of salt in the new continent of Norzelia; the Holy State of Hyzante feared losing its control of the world and persecuted the Roselle for daring to speak the truth of salt, fabricating the Goddess and Her teachings to justify Hyzante's monopoly over salt and framing the Roselle as thieves to have a designated enemy who deserved punishment.
• Scenery Porn: Just like Octopath, the game's "HD-2D" art style does an amazing job creating lush visuals that emulate SNES and PS1 era RPGs.
• Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale: Even given slave labor, it is highly unlikely that all the salt in all three kingdoms for every person could be supplied and transported from a single, albeit large saltwater lake as presented, and even more unlikely that given how much mining Aesfrost does, they would never have found salt in mines before the events of the game.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Frederica's ending, where the liberated Roselle and the remains of House Wolffort flee the continent while Hyzante and Aesfrost descend into all-out war.
• Shout-Out:
  • One of the lines Serenoa says in the cutscene after locking into the Golden Ending is "let us cling together."
  • Anna's highest promoted class is Master Assassin, and the promotion colors her clothing white.
  • The new colors of Groma's final class, Divine Fist, match Chun-Li's uniform.
  • Travis's classes are Boss and Big Boss. He even has an eye patch like the latter.
• Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: In later chapters, it quickly becomes evident that Hyzante relies upon Rosellan slaves to provide cheap labor to harvest salt. It really says something that Hyzante is the nation that gets screwed over the most in the endgame, with three out of the four possible endings either laying the nation low or ruining it with a bitter civil war.
• Small, Secluded World: Norzelia. It's small enough to march across half a kingdom in one day, and near the beginning it's noted that nobody knows what lies beyond the southern waterfall over the mountains or beyond the Hyzantian desert because there simply isn't enough salt to equip such a voyage properly.
• Soul-Powered Engine: Hyzante manufactures Aelfric with the remains of deceased hospital patients, most of whom — unsurprisingly, given their deplorable treatment as an enslaved labor class and the law prohibiting the priority of their health — are made up of Hyzantian Roselle.
• Spare to the Throne: Roland is introduced as the second son to Glenbrook's royal family. This gives him relatively high leeway as a prince since he is not succeeding the throne, but this later comes back to haunt him after Aesfrost kills off most of the royal family and puts a lot of pressure on him as the last surviving heir.
  • Much is made of the fact that Roland spent most of his young life proving his worthiness of the throne but getting disparaged and being disabused of his self-worth by nobles and most of his own family alike, not to mention the average common folk. Ser Maxwell, especially after you recruit him and go through his character stories is shown to be aware of this more so than most, but even Benedict and Serenoa know Roland's true worth more so than Roland himself does. Yet the events of the game conspire to throw Roland over the Despair Event Horizon when the weight of everything gone wrong couples with his crippling insecurities and self-doubt, leading him to make the decision he does in Chapter XVII. In essence, much of what transpires as the story goes on could have at least been mitigated if Roland hadn't been treated as simple a Spare to the Throne, deconstructing the concept of the Trope.
• Sprite/Polygon Mix: The "HD-2D" aesthetic of Octopath returns, with 16-bit sprites backed by 3D-modeled settings and modern visual effects.
• Squishy Wizard: Enemy Military Mage units in the demos are weak to physical attacks and have low HP. The playable casters are also rather low on HP, though they lack the physical vulnerability.
• Story Branching: Player choice is a vital influence over the game's plot. There are Dialogue Tree choices influencing the invisible Karma Meter to determine what optional characters can join you, major votes in story chapters throughout, and drastically different consequences of the results. The player is allowed to see the path they've taken via the War Chronicle, which also indicates points where the branches reconverge regardless of prior decisions.
• Strong Family Resemblance:
  • Travis and Trish have the same blue eyes and messy red hair. Serenoa can bring attention to their resemblance in Chapter 1.
  • Regna, Frani, Roland, and Cordelia are all blue-eyed blonds, and Roland in particular has a very similar facial structure to his father. This does a good job of hiding that Serenoa is related to them at first glance, since he has dark hair... but sharp-eyed players may notice that he has a very similar facial design to Roland.
• Suspiciously Small Army: Apparently the reserve divisions with which Avlora is making a three-pronged attack in Chapter VII consist of about three men each.
• Take a Third Option: When the Scales of Conviction are used in Chapter XVII (17), it determines whether the endgame focuses on Benedict (Liberty/Utility, causing Roland to leave), Roland (Utility/Morality, causing Frederica to leave), or Frederica (Morality/Liberty, causing Benedict to leave). However, if certain paths were taken throughout the game (Not using Wolffort's fire traps so you can use them later, transporting illegal salt for Sorsely to gain an edge on the Consortium, revealing Roland's identity to Svarog so he becomes an ally, keeping Jerrom and the Rosellans your allies to learn the truth behind the Rosellans' history, and visiting Wolffort alongside Milo so Symon can encourage Serenoa with his parting words), you can refuse to use the Scales and allow Serenoa to convince the various factions to compromise for the greater good.
• Talking to the Dead: At various points in the game, Serenoa visits the grave of his mother Lady Destra. Benedict also visits the grave regularly, and is responsible for leaving snowbell blossoms at the gravesite periodically. In the Freed Utility (Liberty) endgame, Serenoa and Frederica visit Symon's grave on the eve of a meeting with Aesfrost. They then hide nearby when Benedict unexpectedly arrives to tell the grave how much he regretted letting Symon and Regna use Serenoa's mother as a political pawn, and how he's planned to make up for it by turning Serenoa into a more powerful leader than either of them were. And at the end of that route Benedict returns once more to wish Lady Destra a final farewell, with the heavy implication that he was going to commit suicide as a final atonement for the dark deeds he committed to get Serenoa to that point, before Serenoa intervenes and talks him down.
• Theme Music Power-Up: Inverted; the music will turn more grim and opressive if you lose a lot of units.
• Third-Person Person: Lionel.
• Title Theme Tune: The game's main theme song is titled "Song of TRIANGLE STRATEGY" and, despite having Japanese lyrics, states the English title of the game at numerous points.
• The Unfought: Even with the New Game Plus there are some bosses that certain characters never fight:
  • Frederica will never fight Svarog or Gustadolph Aesfrost, the former being faced only on the Utility ending, the latter because that and the Golden Ending have her absent in both battles. She also never fights Patriatte Konsar, the Route Boss of the two different Chapter XV battles she’s not a part of.
  • Roland will never fight Landroi Falkes or Clarus Brokker, each having a single battle that only happens if he’s not in the party; the former if he’s surrendered to Aesfrost in Chapter VII, the latter on the Liberty ending.
  • Benedict will never fight Kamsell Pharent, as one of the two battles with them is on the Morality ending and the other is during his absence in the Golden Ending.
• Video Game Caring Potential:
  • Though it increases the difficulty of the battles at hand, you can take the high road such as not burning down homes at Wolffort or in a later chapter, refraining from flooding the Crown City of Whiteholm in the process of retaking the castle. This also crops up in the divergences such as refusing to surrender Roland or in a later chapter, defying Hyzante’s demands to hand over the Roselle and fighting back.
  • Some story elements that carry over can put a new spin on earlier ones; most notably on the Morality ending where if you did surrender the Wolffort demesne Roselle, you also rescue them from the Source with the rest and their noting you kept your earlier word about not abandoning them for your own protection as they feared you would do.
  • During the Golden Ending, you can opt to not use the fire traps against Exharme just like in Chapter VII, although unlike Chapter VII this will make the fight much harder since Exharme has a significantly greater numbers advantage. Successfully defending the village without using the fire traps will change Serenoa and Frederica's wedding scene to House Wolffort instead of a chapel at the Glenbrook capital.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential:
  • The Scales of Conviction in Chapter VII allows the player to hand over Roland, and you can Kick the Dog by convincing him or other people to not do so. If you say the right things, you can even make said vote a unanimous decision (which would actually include Roland himself).
  • It's entirely possible to force the Rosellan refugees to return to the Source and then leave them there to rot by picking the Utility ending. Which also implicitly applies to picking said ending after you already protected them before, as even if Serenoa refused to surrender them earlier, their freedom can no longer be guaranteed under Hyzante's rule.
  • While it’s not easy to do so technically, you can convince anyone (at least until the last couple of votes) to vote even against their personal beliefs or desires: Hughette can be convinced to surrender Roland, or Frederica can be swayed to surrender the Roselle, etc.; if you’re high enough on Conviction (easiest to do on New Game Plus), you can mess with them by having everyone else vote for the opposite in any combination, providing you picked the correct choices to persuade each voter where you want them to go.
• We Cannot Go On Without You: In Chapter VI, if Roland bites it, it's an immediate Game Over. Many other Chapters employ this as well, often with Roland.
• Wham Episode: Regardless of the path chosen, the end of Chapter XV is a severe blow to Serenoa and his major allies. Frederica learns the truth behind Rosellan enslavement and vows to liberate them at any cost; Roland's morality falls to pieces as he deals with the Royalist faction; and either Benedict or Symon reveals to Serenoa that he's actually Regna's son and the true heir of Glenbrook.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • This comes strangely from Avlora if you defeat her by using the secret traps against her forces. She will call you and your allies bastards for going so far to win the fight. Same if you choose to defect to Hyzante when Aesfrost directs you to attack them in the path where you give Roland over to Aesfrost, she feels genuinely betrayed that you would side with the supposed enemy.
  • During the endgame, unless you are able to follow the Golden Ending route, you will receive this from either Roland, Frederica, or Benedict depending on which path you choose. They will be infuriated enough by the group's decision to ignore the Scales of Conviction and attempt to make Serenoa change his mind by physical force, forcing Serenoa to fight them in combat while they call him out for his decision (though in Frederica's case, he really just endures her fire magic, never actually striking her). Upon their defeat, Roland and Frederica leave the party and House Wolffort forever; Benedict also leaves the party, though largely upon Serenoa's command for him to take care of the people of the Wolffort demesne in case he, Serenoa, is unable to return due to reprisals from Hyzante or Aesfrost, which Benedict agrees to.
• What the Hell, Player?: If you persuade your allies to vote one way during the Scales of Conviction vote only to vote against them, they will castigate you; either appalled that you toyed with them or questioning the strength of your own convictions.
• The Window or the Stairs: In Chapter VII, when faced with the Sadistic Choice of whether or not to surrender Roland, most of the characters think it'll be easier to capitulate to the Aesfrosti. It also seems like the chance to avoid fighting Avlora. Doing so means you lose Serenoa's childhood friend, you have to fight the army of a former ally, and the country is devastated. Fighting to defend Roland gives a much more hopeful outcome.
• The Worf Effect: Ser Maxwell is known in Glenbrook as one of the most powerful warriors in Norzelia, worthy of the nickname "The Dawnspear". At the end of Chapter VI, he launches a mighty attack against Avlora's elite squadron, wiping out most of them in a single blow. Unfortunately, Avlora herself still stands, and smites Maxwell with an even stronger attack that gravely wounds him, though it's ambiguous if he is killed.
• World Half Full: The two factors most holding Norzelia from positive sociological progress are limited resources and the inherent selfishness of people; it’s eventually revealed that a lot of the conflict came about because Hyzante built its whole identity on their abundance of salt, to the point that they enslaved the Roselle to prevent the truth about it being mineable from coming out so they could remain wealthy based on their monopoly, even fabricating their caste-based religion to enforce it. Idore Delmira admits that he lost his faith in the inherent goodness of both people and an inherent ideal of morality when his prayers were unanswered, and concluded that people needed to be controlled for their own good; however, the Golden Ending proves him wrong as a unified goal in the leadership in Norzelia’s nations enables the land to finally prosper in the creation of a just and fair society where people always strive to improve the world rather than tear it apart for short-sighted gains.
• You Have Failed Me: Gustadolph's siblings threaten Avlora with this, but the Archduke averts it if she loses - he just tells her to calm down and try again. Then again, it is implied that he adopted her or in some other way handpicked her.

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