Leo & Leah: A Love Story



Leo & Leah: A Love Story is a freeware RPG made by Strangeluv in RPG Maker 2003. It tells the tale of the titular couple, two lion cubs. One day, however, while venturing out into the wilderness, Leah is captured by a psychopathic hunteress who intends to sell her to the highest bidder -- or worse. Leo takes it upon himself to rescue his Love Interest, though the journey takes longer than expected and soon grows in proportion beyond his wildest dreams.

The story starts off very lighthearted, hardly taking anything serious at all, with humour reminiscent of Earthbound and Super Mario RPG. Eventually, however, a deeper narrative emerges that arguably deconstructs the genre -- Leo must confront his doubts and ask himself how far he is really willing to go for Leah's sake.

Download the game here for a bizarre and thought-provoking tale.

An article by Strangeluv on a very important section of the game detailing his thoughts and inspirations for making it can be found here. Spoilers abound, of course.

General tropes used in Leo And Leah:

 * Absurdly High Level Cap: The level cap is 99. Most players will end the game around level 20.
 * Action Girl: Brandy.
 * Battle Theme Music: Justified in the case of the Final Boss, as.
 * BGM Override: In chapter 4.
 * Boss Banter:, Brandy, and
 * Done in a rather disturbing fashion for the first,.
 * Breaking the Fourth Wall:
 * Breather Episode:
 * But Now I Must Go:
 * Charged Attack: War Cry, kind of.
 * Chekhov's Gun: Minor example, but
 * Climax Boss: Brandy and Whiskey.
 * Arguably as well.
 * Crystal Dragon Jesus: Charlie Darwin, apparently.
 * Continuity Nod: Lots, to A Home Far Away.
 * Deconstruction: Of the typical Distressed Damsel and Rescue Romance plot.
 * Distressed Damsel: Leah.
 * Dual Boss: Brandy and Whiskey.
 * Duel Boss:
 * Everything's Better With Monkeys
 * Fantastic Racism: Plants, bugs, frogs, and mammals all hate each other.
 * Gang Plank Galleon / Big Boo's Haunt: Chapter 4.
 * Hyperactive Metabolism: HP/SP healing points are even food! Adorable, live food called "Yummyhops" who beg you not to eat them before you mercilessly devour them, Played for Laughs.
 * Interspecies Romance: Zara and Zinn, which causes problems due to the Fantastic Racism mentioned above.
 * Leitmotif: Brandy.
 * Lost Forever: Everything, potentially, since you can't return to previous areas after the end of a chapter. However, most of it's just common items and seashells -- the only really important things are balloons and skill bells, which are rather hard to miss.
 * Love Interest: Leah, natch.
 * One-Hit Kill: The Final Boss' "Spotlight of Death" spell.
 * Party in My Pocket: Daisy doesn't even appear during cutscenes, most of the time.
 * Rare Candy: Red and green balloons, which increase HP and SP, respectively.
 * Save Point: Black cats! They're part of an international corporation that wants to remove the stereotype of black cats bringing bad luck, so they became save points so that people would be happy when a black cat crossed their path.
 * Sheathe Your Sword: Strangely enough, inverted with.
 * Shotguns Are Just Better: Brandy.
 * Silent Bob / Heroic Mime: Leo. This would be justified due to the fact that he's a lion, but every other animal in the game can also speak, and he can understand human speech... (Also subverted, since he often speaks through his actions and one can learn a lot about his character that way.)
 * Status Buff: Enguarde.
 * Theme Naming: Brandy and Whiskey.
 * The Unfettered:
 * The Unfettered:

Spoiler tropes; read at your own risk:
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 * :, possibly.
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 * :, possibly.