Radiant Historia

"If you could rewrite history ... ... What would you do differently?"

In the world of Vainqueur, a land of men and beastmen, the theocratic nation Alistel is in a state of war with the fascist monarchy of Granorg. Vainqueur's land is slowly dying alongside its people, as an unusual disease known as the "Sand Plague" turns its citizens into sand. The ruler of Alistel directly blames this disease on the queen of Granorg, Protea, meaning they are justified in a holy war.

Enter our hero, Stocke, an Alistel spy. He is sent into Granorg territory alongside new teammates Raynie and Marco to rescue another spy who was captured. Unfortunately, the lot of them find themselves surrounded; the spy, Raynie, and Marco bite the dust; and Stocke is heavily wounded. He finds himself in Historia, a world between time and space. It is there that a pair of children give him the ability to travel through time, space, and the timelines, telling him that the world needs his new power. Going back and rescuing his team from their fate, Stocke must now cross between two timelines - one where he remains a spy, one where he joins his friend Rosch in the army - to guide history down the "razor-thin path" that leads to salvation.

A DS RPG by a dream team made up of members of the Persona 3, Strange Journey, Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne, Radiata Stories, and Etrian Odyssey development teams, with music by Yoko Shimomura. Released in North America on Feb 22nd, 2011. Not to be confused with Radiata Stories, of course.

"Selvan: Mm. If you'll excuse me, I must go . Dias: ...I am sorry."
 * 0% Approval Rating: Averted.
 * Three Quarters View
 * 24-Hour Armor - Rosch in particular.
 * Abandoned Laboratory - Par for the course in a game like this.
 * Absurdly Spacious Sewer - Also par for the course.
 * Acceptable Breaks From Reality - Stocke keeping his levels and items between timelines is justified by his personal timeline remaining unchanged. The same cannot be said of his party members, but they keep their levels and skills regardless. As Nintendo Power put it: "Just think about how much it would suck if they didn't."
 * Action Initiative
 * Actually Four Mooks - Up to 7, actually.
 * Aerith and Bob
 * All Swords Are the Same: Both Stocke and Marco can wield swords, and despite the fact they are clearly two completely different types of swords (a longsword and a short one-handed blade), they both can equip any and all types of swords. This also applies to armor, since Stocke, Raynie, Marco, and Rosch can all equip the same types of armor. The first three are somewhat understandable, but Rosch fitting into the same pieces of armor is tad ridiculous.
 * Alternate History - Stocke's decision at the beginning of the game to either stay in Specint or leave to join a brigade led by Rosch leads to two alternate histories.
 * Always Check Behind the Chair - Especially since some treasure chests are invisible.
 * Ambidextrous Sprite - Mostly played straight (especially with portraits) except for one aversion: Rosch's left-facing and right-facing map sprites both have his Gauntlet as his left arm.
 * Anime Theme Song: Haruka Shimotsuki on -HISTORIA- during the end credits.
 * Anticlimax Boss - The fight against is very easy. Later subverted with
 * Apathetic Citizens - The people of Alistel are remarkably chill considering what's going on around them due to their blind faith in the Prophet Noah.
 * Arbitrary Headcount Limit - Three characters can fight at a time.
 * Assassin Outclassin': In an unlockable ending scene, some unidentified assassin tries to kill . However, the target uses they learned from  to take out the assassin.
 * Authority Equals Asskicking - King Garland, who united his country by beating up the other factions.
 * Awesome Moment of Crowning - Averted:.
 * Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other -
 * Antidote Effect - Lots of it.
 * Back Tracking - Loads and loads and loads of it. The whole point of the game, really.
 * Babies Ever After -
 * Battle Couple -
 * Because Destiny Says So - Stocke is only capable of changing certain decisions he makes. So, his inability to prevent is understandably infuriating to both him and the player.
 * Beware the Nice Ones -
 * Big Bad Ensemble - Queen Protea for the Standard History, in the Alternate History, and  for the overall plot.
 * Bittersweet Ending - Some of the premature endings should also qualify.
 * Block Puzzle - A particularly time consuming one in the final dungeon, mostly because of lots of forced battles (both the blocks themselves and on the paths they need to be pushed through, latter of which respawn every time you fight a block but can thankfully be run away from) and the fact that it resets if you backtrack to save (instead of just pushing on to the next savepoint, which is also a node), unlike most other puzzles.
 * Bonus Boss - The Master and the Mist Spider.
 * Bookcase Passage
 * Boss Rush - Near the end, to unseal a door, you have to fight four bosses in a row. At least you can do whatever between fights, and the ones you defeat don't have to be refought.
 * Bottomless Magazines - Eruca's guns somehow work without bullets. Justified in that they're "magic" guns.
 * Bishonen - Dias and Stocke. Selvan also qualifies. It's implied Dias and Selvan got their jobs because of their looks.
 * Butterfly of Doom
 * But Thou Must! - Countless times you will need to choose between two options. Invariably, one of them leads to a Nonstandard Game Over and the other choice allows the story to proceed. If you guess wrong, time is reset and you have an opportunity to make the choice again.
 * Can't Drop the Hero
 * Capital City - Alistel, Granorg, and Cygnus all have capitals sharing the name of the country.
 * Cardiovascular Love - A handful of characters make a Heart Symbol appear when they're around someone they like.
 * Character Portrait - Present but static.
 * Chainmail Bikini: Raynie wears a strangely-cut dress with a low neckline and some small piece of armour to protect her neck, with some unprotected skin in between.
 * The Chessmaster
 * Chess Motifs - Chess pieces can be worn as stat boosting accessories. Pawn is the first and King is the best.
 * Also, the Black and White Chronicles can be seen as opposing chess masters, trying to outmaneover the other.
 * A Child Shall Lead Them - Eruca to the Resistance, and Aht, who, as a shaman, acts as the spiritual leader of Celestia.
 * Child Mage - Aht at 9 years old. Marco to an extent, since he looks small and childlike but is actually 17 years old.
 * Child Soldiers - Raynie and Marco.
 * Chokepoint Geography - For some reason, you can't get anywhere in the game without passing through Lazvil Hills and/or Gran Plain.
 * Chromatic Arrangement - Stocke wears red, Raynie wears blue, and Marco wears green.
 * City Guards - All over the place.
 * Co-Dragons - Selvan and Dias to Protea.
 * Combat Medic - Marco and Aht's skillsets. Then again, Aht can dish out so much damage that using her as a medic is usually a waste... Except if you're fighting something too large to knock into her traps.
 * Combos - A major part of the battle system.
 * Competence Zone - Despite their looks, the playable characters are actually very young. Rosch is only 21 (which is old by RPG standards).
 * Contractual Boss Immunity - Averted: many bosses are vulnerable to things like Poison and Sleep.
 * Copy Protection - You'll be allowed to save, and your file won't get deleted, but a new game will start when you hit "Continue" at the title screen, so you won't be able to actually access your save file.
 * Crapsack World - You either have the organized, religiously-motivated, puppet-government in Alistel, the vapid and corrupt government of Granorg, or the democratic and free, but dangerous and outlaw nation of Cygnus. There are other small towns, but they're rather unfriendly towards humans (check the Fantastic Racism trope below).
 * Critical Existence Assistance - The first major event of the game.
 * Custom Uniform: Kiel wears something other than standard armour for some reason.
 * Cutscene Boss -
 * Dangerous Deserter -
 * Darkest Hour: The beginning of chapter 3 in the alternate timeline, fittingly called "Despair".
 * Dark Is Not Evil - The Black Chronicle has the same powers  as the White Chronicle.
 * Dead All Along - A variation of this applies to.
 * Dead Older Brother - Eruca and Sonja.
 * Defeat Means Friendship - insists on testing your strength when you first meet him.
 * Defend Command
 * Diabolus Ex Machina - While most of the bad end triggers are rather obvious (attacking a diplomat during an undercover mission, ), quite a few of them will blindside you due to being triggered by decisions that actually make the most sense in their situation, or seem trivial., is one such example.
 * Dirty Coward - Dias.
 * Draco in Leather Pants - An in-universe example, the Dias fangirls in Granorg refuse to believe he might be a villain because he is just that pretty.
 * Dressing as the Enemy -
 * Doomsday Device - A particularly horrible one.
 * Dual-Wielding - Aht, Pierre, and Otto (daggers); Will and Viola (swords).
 * Dual World Gameplay - Averted: There are two "worlds", but gameplay is the same in each.
 * Dual Boss - The Desert Crows, Palomides the Executioner.
 * Duel Boss -
 * Dysfunction Junction - Stocke, as the bearer of the Chronicle, is subjected to all the horrors of both timelines, both naturally and in the various "bad ends", Rosch, and his loyalty to his country dangerously borders on fanaticism . Eruca is forced to fight against her own mother as her ever increasing madness sends her kingdom ever further down the drain. Raynie , and Marco
 * Earn Your Happy Ending
 * Easily Forgiven - King Garland.
 * Eldritch Location - Historia and Granorg's Royal Hall.
 * Endgame Plus - Defeating the Final Boss returns you to your last save with the chance to do quests you forgot to do/complete. The best part? Any items you used during that fight are returned to you!
 * The End of the World as We Know It - Desertification.
 * Enemy Summoner - Several of them, ranging from soldiers to mushrooms.
 * Equipment Spoiler
 * Esoteric Motifs - The disciples of the world's greatest martial artist are Chalice, Wand, Pentacle and Sword.
 * Ermine Cape Effect - Protea brings up this trope when Eruca argues that the court should cut back for the benefit of the citizenry.
 * Everything's Better with Princesses
 * Even Evil Has Standards - Dias and Selvan, despite their deceitfulness and ruthlessness, are completely disgusted by some of Queen Protea's worse excesses.
 * Even Evil Has Standards - Dias and Selvan, despite their deceitfulness and ruthlessness, are completely disgusted by some of Queen Protea's worse excesses.

"Ah, data! The beatiful crystals of promise and potential..."
 * Evil Chancellor - More than one.
 * Evil Mentor - Heiss. The game barely bothers to hide it.
 * Eviler Than Thou -
 * Evil Versus Evil -
 * Exponential Potential - Scrolling through all your skills to pick one every turn (or set of turns) gets annoying.
 * Eyes Always Shut - Liese.
 * Face Heel Turn - Stocke & Marco go this route in the Bad Endings. in the unaltered Standard History.
 * Failure Is the Only Option - No matter which choice you make,.
 * Fantastic Racism - Humans and the Beastkind, in both directions. You help some during the main story, and can do more through your sidequests.
 * Fate Worse Than Death - One of the bad endings (namely, ).
 * A Father to His Men: Rosch, and also Lt. General Raul.
 * Fetch Quest - Some of the sidequests.
 * Fighting For a Homeland - One of Raynie and Marco's main motivations.
 * Fighting Your Friend - Happens a few times.
 * Fight Woosh
 * Fire-Forged Friends - Stocke and Rosch. Raynie and Marco. Later, Stocke, Raynie and Marco.
 * Fire, Ice, Lightning
 * First Town - Alistel, also the Capital City.
 * Fisher King - Alistel propaganda holds that the desertification is due to Queen Protea's tyranny, and that the land will die anytime a corrupt ruler reigns.
 * Flunky Boss - Several.
 * Fog of War - A variation. Unexplored areas of the map are completely shrouded in fog so you can't see what might be there.
 * For Science!: Fennel -- for thaumatech research! He prioritizes gathering test data on his thaumatech mechs very highly.

"Garland: Shackles can't break the soul... or something."
 * For Want of a Nail - The Big Bad is running around stealing as many nails as he can; the resulting timeline damage sets off the events of the game. In one timeline, Stocke is a special ops soldier (read: spy). In another, he's a low-ranking (but rapidly-rising) grunt in the military. Due to Historia, he retains the skills of both. He can also use his time jumping to figure out which nails are missing from each timeline (one example given is the realization that a courier who delivered explosives is dead in timeline A, discovered by asking in timeline B, where the explosives arrived on time).
 * Fragile Speedster - Aht. Becomes not-so-fragile after many, many levels and with the right equipment.
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar - Quite a few examples.
 * Early on, Generals Dias and Selvan make a remark about Queen Protea attending services to worship the little boys in choir.
 * "After he'd spilled his guts, well... he spilled his guts."
 * "You really know how to handle your sword."
 * The little girl outside the inn in Granorg promises the party lots of "...amenities."
 * Between a couple: "Ready to plunge your sword back into the fray?"
 * The most egregious examples are when Aht is made a barmaid in Cygnus. There are very MANY references to a certain other service while she's there. Oh, and she's 9-years-old.
 * Giant Spider - My kingdom for a flyswatter.
 * Gladiator Subquest - Though only some of the fights are mandatory.
 * A Glass of Chianti: When scheming, Selvan and Dias are usually seen drinking wine together.
 * Golden Ending - The "true" ending; all the others are bittersweet at best.
 * Golden Path
 * Goldfish Poop Gang - Bram and Hertz, the Desert Crows. One sidequest involves.
 * Gonk: Heiss and Fennel.
 * Good Republic, Evil Empire - Subverted:.
 * Government Conspiracy -
 * Gratuitous German: Mainly some unique weapons, like "Der Lowe" (it should be "Der Löwe" or "Der Loewe" - "The Lion") or the Freikugel brand of guns. This fits the theme of most Alistellians having German-sounding names.
 * Great Offscreen War - A lot of the war events happen off-screen.
 * Grey and Gray Morality - Each of the three factions in the game are neither completely good nor completely evil.
 * Guide Dang It - Some of the sidequests.
 * One sidequest in particular requires you to make the correct dialogue choices at three points in time, in two separate timelines, with the last necessary dialogue choice taking place AFTER the sidequest. Without prior knowledge to the requirements, it would be near-impossible to trigger (unless you're the kind of person who makes chivalrous choices automatically).
 * Guns Are Worthless - Played straight by Eruca.
 * Ironically enough, Eruca is one of the heaviest hitters in the party, only out-done by Aht's traps and Gafka's physical abilities, and most of her skills need her gun.
 * Guys Smash Girls Shoot - All three ladies are magic focused. Raynie starts off as a Magic Knight, but becomes your Lady of Black Magic. Bonus points for Eruca, who uses a gun.
 * Half-Human Hybrid -
 * Have We Met Yet? - Repeatedly. Nearly everyone gets deja vu at some point in one of the paths.
 * Heavily Armored Mook - Several of the army mooks.
 * Healing Hands - Aht, Stocke, and Marco. Eruca and Raynie also have Regen magic.
 * Hell Is That Noise: The clanking footfalls of Palomides's armored division.
 * Hero Antagonist: Vlad, a very minor character.
 * Heroic Sacrifice: Several characters.
 * Hidden Agenda Villain -
 * Hidden Elf Village - Celestia.
 * Hopeless Boss Fight - One sets off the whole story.
 * However, it is possible to win this fight (albeit through hacking your levels up). If you do, you gain no EXP, no cash, and no items from it. You can return to Alistel, but the plot won't continue (since you're supposed to lose). If you walk back through the bridge, you can trigger the fight again. The only reward for winning the fight legitimately is bragging rights.
 * I Am Who? - He even uses his real name as a pseudonym at one point.
 * Idiosyncratic Combo Levels
 * I Have This Friend: Raynie has a conversation of this sort with Stocke, but instead of substituting an unspecified person for herself, she refers to Stocke as "there's this guy".
 * I Let You Win - After defeating Garland.
 * Impossible Item Drop: Frogs which drop swords are the most obvious type of offender.
 * Inevitable Tournament -
 * Inexplicable Treasure Chests - Normal treasure chests are one thing, but who made some of them invisible and why?
 * Considering the abilities and underlying intentions of, maybe it's ?
 * Or it could've just been some people trying to hide their valuables through clever mana manipulation.
 * Infinity-1 Sword - Historica.
 * Infinity+1 Sword - True Historica.
 * Informed Equipment
 * Instant Expert - Stocke.
 * Interfaith Smoothie - The Gutrals, and Gafka's attacks, are themed around Shinto.
 * Interspecies Romance: A sidequest has you playing matchmaker for a human and Satyros.
 * Irrelevant Sidequest - Both played straight and averted; some of them are essential to get the better endings.
 * It May Help You on Your Quest - How Stocke gets the White Chronicle.
 * It's a Wonderful Failure - Every choice (except the first, between soldier and spy) has one choice that lets you continue and another that leads to this.
 * It's Up to You - It's up to Stocke and his team to do anything worth doing in the world. Reinforced in that in the two realities, the one Stocke isn't involved in fails.
 * Given that as you progres through the game you consistently lead your allies through seemingly unbeatable odds, they probably realize that you always make the right call.
 * Jungle Japes
 * King Mook - Palomides the Executioner.
 * Kung Fu-Proof Mook: Some enemies, mainly underground ones, can't be pushed around.
 * La Résistance
 * Lantern Jaw of Justice: Rosch is a borderline case.
 * Late Character Syndrome - Depending on the player, Eruca, Rosch, and/or Gafka may suffer from this. Lampshaded in Rosch's case by someone telling him he'll have to work twice as hard after his absence.
 * Lazy Backup - The fate of the world is riding on your battles, but your backup still won't step up if you get wiped out.
 * Leaked Experience
 * Leitmotif: "The Melody Connecting The Universe" is played in scenes related to Historia, the fate of the world and the desertification, and "Unending Clear Blue Sky" is Aht's character theme.
 * Life Energy - Mana. The desertification is caused by improper flow of Mana (called Flux).
 * Limit Break: Mana Bursts. Everyone can use "Turn Break" (an enemy turn is skipped) and also gets two unique attacks.
 * Limited Wardrobe - Nobody ever changes clothes except for the rare disguise.
 * Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards - Physical attacks are next to useless in this game. It also helps that there are no such thing as elemental resistances or immunities in this game, only weaknesses. This makes the Mythril Edge, which is bought from a random merchant near the end of the game, more useful than the due to its substantially higher Magic boost.
 * Load-Bearing Boss -
 * Lost Forever - There is exactly 1 missable fight in this game: . If you in Standard History Chapter 2, you've officially locked yourself out of this event for the rest of that file.
 * Love Redeems -
 * Luke, I Am Your Father -
 * Mad Scientist - Fennel.
 * Magitek - Thaumatech.
 * Make Wrong What Once Went Right - Due to the game's time travel mechanics, this will happen more than once.
 * Mana Burn - Called "Fear", it's one of the more painful status effects in the game. Losing Mana is much worse in the story.
 * Match Maker Quest - One involving, and another involving.
 * Matriarchy - Granorg, of the Patriarchy Flip variety.
 * Meaningful Name: Judgement Cliff, retroactively.
 * Messiah Creep - Stocke, to an incredible degree.
 * Mighty Glacier - Rosch and Gafka. Gafka borders on Glass Cannon territory as he seems to have a powerful weakness to magic.
 * Misapplied Phlebotinum - Both the White and the Black Chronicle.
 * Money Spider
 * Mook Promotion - Raynie and Marco. They were originally going to be Red Shirt allies to make the beginning of the game easier. Instead they stayed in and got some character development. And
 * Multiple Endings - Send the timeline into an unsustainable path (such as attacking a diplomat), and you end up continuing from the beginning of that chapter. The final ending also has multiple permuations depending on which sidequests you cleared.
 * Mundane Utility - The Chronicles, books that allow the bearers to travel through time at will and rewrite history as they see fit were originally intended . That's pretty damn important, but still...
 * My Country, Right or Wrong:, depending on time and timeline.
 * My Master, Right or Wrong - Selvan and Dias to Protea.
 * Viola also suffers this in a sense.
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast - Palomides the Executioner.
 * New Meat: Kiel.
 * Nietzsche Wannabe - The Big Bad.
 * No Export for You - Europeans are out of luck again. At least the DS is region free.
 * Noodle Incident - Marco mentions someone trying to make a move on Raynie and it ending violently.
 * Non-Action Guy: Lt. General Raul.
 * Nonstandard Game Over - Stocke never actually dies in any of the game's bad endings, but entering one will set you back a bit, forcing you to continue onward from the beginning of the respective chapter.
 * No One Gets Left Behind - Both averted and played straight.
 * Not So Different -
 * Now Where Was I Going Again? - May happen to players once the timeline(s) get more complicated, especially since much of the game involves replaying scenes they've played already with just a slight change.
 * Thankfully, the White Chronicle is accessible from the menu, and lists both timelines, their events, their branching paths, and even the effects your manipulation had on them.
 * Obligatory War Crime Scene - Several; the game is about a war.
 * Offing the Offspring -
 * Off the Rails: One of the false endings (The World's Betrayal) has Stocke join Granorg as an assassin, killing multiple important NPCs and Teo and Lippti comment that they never expected him to try such a thing
 * One Size Fits All - 9-year-old Aht and 19-year-old Stocke can wear the same armor, but the shared category is cloaks, so it's not as ridiculous as it sounds. A more glaring example is between Stocke, Raynie, Marco, and Rosch, all of whom are very different in size.
 * One-Winged Angel - The Final Boss.
 * Only One Me Allowed Right Now: Due to the way the White Chronicle works, the Stocke appearing in a timeline is always the same and only one.
 * Only One Name - No one has both a first and a last name.
 * Palette Swap - Enemies & some of the mini bosses.
 * Party in My Pocket
 * Perpetual Expression - The character portraits never change.
 * Place Beyond Time: Historia.
 * Point of No Return - Completely averted: you can always go back, up to and even after killing the Final Boss.
 * Though it is possible to lock yourself out of at least one bad ending (saving Pierre's sister).
 * Precursors - The Empire, bordering on Abusive Precursors.
 * Given pointy ears, they may have been be elf analogues.
 * Preexisting Encounters - May be annoyingly difficult to avoid before you gain the skill to turn yourself invisible to them. This saves much time near the end of the game when completing quests in early areas, where all the enemies do nothing more than slow you down.
 * Proud Warrior Race - The Gutrals.
 * Quest Giver - All over the place.
 * Reassigned to Antarctica - What happened to General Viola pre-story when she got too popular.
 * Reasonable Authority Figure - King Garland, Lt. General Raul, and General Viola.
 * Rebel Leader - Eruca. It's... complicated.
 * Rebellious Rebel -
 * Recurring Boss - Quite a number of them, actually.
 * Red Baron:
 * Rosch and Stocke are known as the "Young Lions" of Alistel.
 * Field Marshal Viola is known as "The Valkyrie".
 * Raul is known as the "Sleeping Lion".
 * King Garland is called the "Desert Tiger".
 * Palomides, an officer of the Granorg army, is called "the Executioner".
 * Redemption Equals Death:
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni - Raynie & Marco, Stocke and Rosch, Teo & Lippti, Rosch & Raul, and.
 * Refusal of the Call -
 * Restraining Bolt - One is placed on the White Chronicle itself, so Stocke can only alter history relative to his own decisions and experiences. Another is placed on the twins so they cannot interfere with history from within the Chronicle.
 * The Reveal
 * Reverse Grip: Will of La Résistance and ninja-esque mooks, crossed with Dual-Wielding.
 * Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves -
 * Ring Out Boss - Some boss battles are best fought by knocking them onto trap tiles. Sometimes you must knock them off booster tiles as well.
 * Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory:
 * Not only does Stocke have it, he can also make the opinions and feelings of certain characters from one timeline bleed onto the other, or even BACKWARDS in time. The most notable examples are.
 * Teo and Lippti appear to have this as well.
 * Roaring Rampage of Revenge -
 * Romance Sidequest - With, and its conditions are rather bizarre.
 * Royally Screwed-Up - The Granorg kingdom.
 * Royals Who Actually Do Something - King Garland, Eruca,.
 * Run, Don't Walk - You must hold down B to walk.
 * Sacrificial Lion -, although it's fairly obvious he's being set up as one.
 * Save Point - Apart from pre-existing save points, several will magically crop up at important moments in the plot.
 * Save Scumming - Invoked and used as a core mechanic.
 * Save the Princess
 * Saving the World
 * Schizo-Tech - Only one human ally and no enemies use a gun (everyone else uses crossbows) and one kingdom has Magitech mechs.
 * Screw Destiny - Zig Zagged.
 * Self Disposing Villains: throws a knife at, and Stocke jumps in the way and lethally reflects it back to him with an extremely well-timed sword strike.
 * Sensitive Guy and Manly Man - Stocke and Rosch, respectively. Rosch even asks Stocke for relationship advice!
 * Sequel Hook - The to stop desertification is nothing but . Lippti and Teo imply that.
 * Set Right What Once Went Wrong - The theme of the game.
 * Sidequest - Tons!
 * Shout-Out:
 * "Your clothes. Hand them over." (Stocke, while attempting to steal the clothes of .)
 * In the Sand Fortress, a training soldier quotes the song "Break My Stride."
 * "The underground waterways are a maze of twisted passages, mostly alike."
 * The Golden Ending, unlocked by finishing all the key sidequests in the game, An almost-identical thing happens in Suikoden, including the requirement of finishing all the key sidequests (there, the 108 "Stars of Destiny" had to be found).
 * Sibling Team -
 * Skeleton Government - It's a real mystery how Granorg keeps going; Alistel at least has a few bureacrats.
 * Sliding Scale of Linearity vs. Openness - Around a high 3; the storyline takes centre stage and progresses linearly, but there are a lot of sidequests, with backtracking openly encouraged.
 * So Happy Together: In one bad ending, Stocke.
 * So Long and Thanks For All the Gear: Sort of. It can happen; the game removes members from your party without warning often enough. But it isn't a big deal since you can time travel back to when they still were in the party, retrieve your stuff, and go back.
 * Somebody Else's Problem: Most of the world is shockingly blase about the fact that the world is turning into sand; they're most concerned with winning the war.
 * Of course, this only goes to show just how blind people are to the real problems that they can't work together.
 * Sophisticated As Hell: Minor example.
 * Of course, this only goes to show just how blind people are to the real problems that they can't work together.
 * Sophisticated As Hell: Minor example.

"Raynie: Stocke:"
 * Spell My Name with an "S" - Alternates between Stock/Stocke depending on the age of the promotional material. The Japanese "official" romanization was Stock, but Atlus USA chose to go with Stocke, so Stocke is his official English name. Same with Roche/Rosch.
 * There are, however, at least two instances of "Stock" that slipped into the final game.
 * Squishy Wizard - Eruca. Aht starts out like this but gets better.
 * Stationary Boss - Giant Spiders and such.
 * Statistically Speaking - Stocke can't push things around until a certain event, regardless of how strong he is.
 * Stay in the Kitchen: When they infiltrate the kingdom, Stocke wants Aht and to stay behind. More justified than usual, as, and Aht is ten years old, but Stocke is still proven wrong.
 * Stock Aesops - Both good and bad.
 * Love the world or hate it, you'll get it back.
 * The Power of Friendship/The Power of Love - Stocke decides that.
 * Misery Builds Character. Invoked by.
 * Except
 * Street Performer - Vanoss and his troupe.
 * Strong Flesh, Weak Steel -
 * Stupidity Is the Only Option - It really should have been possible for Stocke to go back in time and.
 * Survivors Guilt: is hit by a case of this after the loss of . He partially gets over it eventually though.
 * Marco and Raynie have this early in the game, but it gets dropped pretty quickly. It's also hinted that Stocke has some, but the game never goes into detail about it.
 * Sword and Sorcerer - A part of the game where you have only Stocke and Aht in your party.
 * Take Your Time - You can choose to do all your sidequests right before the final battle. Go ahead, the Big Bad will wait. Justified for once, since you are using time travel, so you'll return to the final dungeon at the same moment of time you left it.
 * However, it doesn't explain how you can spend night after night at the inn while the city outside is in total chaos.
 * Teleport Spam: likes to do this apparently. A while later you learn that it's really just Invisibility though.
 * Temple of Doom
 * Temporal Paradox - Occasionally pops up.
 * Tempting Fate - After getting the beast mark, Raine says that no one is injured. Cue the Giant Spider.
 * Thanatos Gambit - tries to pull one, for various reasons.
 * There Are No Tents - Except in a cutscene. However, you can use mana crystals to heal at Save Points.
 * The World Is Always Doomed - Ever since the ancient empire screwed up the world's Mana, the continent has been in constant danger of turning into a desert.
 * Thriving Ghost Town - Cornet Village has around ten citizens.
 * Time Travel - One of the central themes.
 * Timey-Wimey Ball - Oh god, yes. Stocke's actions will affect all timelines, even after they have diverged. Not to mention the fact that there are a total of 236 events to record.
 * Too Awesome to Use - Certain very rare items that make the whole party invulnerable for a few turns. Certain sidequests will all but force you to use them, though. However, you have absolutely no excuse for not using them during the final battle, since they get returned to you even after you save the clear file.
 * Too Many Belts
 * Trapped Behind Enemy Lines
 * Trauma Inn
 * Treacherous Advisor -
 * Tricked-Out Time - In the Golden Ending,
 * True Companions - Stocke, Rosch, and Sonja are this before the story starts; Raynie notes how close they are and wonders if she could form a bond like that.
 * Two Guys and a Girl - Stocke, Marco and Raynie could be this, except Marco seems more brotherly to Raynie than anything.
 * Alternately, Stocke, Rosch and Sonja. In one Sidequest,
 * Underground Level - Alma Mine.
 * The Unfought -
 * Universal Poison
 * Unwitting Pawn - . However, all of the above are this to.
 * Urban Warfare - Happens more than once.
 * Useless Useful Spell - Averted: spells like Poison and Sleep work on enemies and even bosses more often than not.
 * Useless Useful Stealth - Stocke . Sometimes this works for the whole party, sometimes it doesn't (or he just forgets to use it), and of course he never . It's somewhat justified when he's
 * Vicious Cycle - The Granorg Royal Family regularly needs to.
 * Video Game Stealing - Aht and Stocke are your battle kleptomaniacs. Most enemies have two items to steal, one common and one rarer. They usually won't drop them if you don't steal them.
 * Villain Exit Stage Left - Grrrrr!
 * Villain with Good Publicity -
 * Walking Shirtless Scene - Vanoss, though it can be hard to tell from his sprite.
 * War Was Beginning
 * Wham! Line:
 * Wham! Line:

"Aht:"
 * Also, until it gets explained a bit more:


 * What Happened to the Mouse? - In terms of the Standard History, the fates of and  are left unanswered, but it's possible that the whole "echo effect" between timelines had done its job; they probably suffered a similar fate to their Alternate History counterparts, but the writers either didn't have time or didn't consider it necessary to put in at that point. The fate of  is a smidge more annoying to leave hanging; after fighting you in the Imperial Ruins, he retreats through a doorway, his identity is finally revealed... and he's never mentioned again!
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy - Dias.
 * White-Haired Pretty Girl - Viola.
 * With Great Power Comes Great Insanity -
 * Worst Aid - One of the best healing items is called Tourniquet (which "stings like crazy when applied").
 * You All Look Familiar - Particularly bad with the soldiers, since you're never sure whether you're supposed to be fighting them or not.
 * Even more ridiculous with the "Thaumachines End" sidequest. It involves rescuing a man who was heavily experimented on, and outfitted with a thaumachine body as a makeshift gauntlet. But when you finally destroy the armor to reveal the tortued man within all you see is... the standard solider sprite!
 * You Can't Go Home Again -
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness
 * You Must Be This Tall to Enter
 * Once you learn to blow up rocks, you will have to use it all the time.
 * Who in their right mind would take a barrel of gunpowder and make it invisible?
 * You Shall Not Pass - Done several times, by different characters:
 * One of the "bad endings" has Stocke do this for Raynie and Marco, serving as a distraction so they can complete the mission on their own.]]
 * Otto, a Resistance member, does this for Princess Eruca and the rest of the party. Later in the game, you will be given the means to ensure that Will, another Resistance member, will be able to assist him, allowing them both to survive.
 * Younger Than They Look - Justified since . Also, according to official material, Rosch is only 21.
 * Zero Effort Boss - Subverted in the boss fight against . At first, his attacks never reduce you below 1 HP... then, after some dialogue, they do.
 * And . That is, until you get the Infinity-1 Sword. Then he actually puts up a fight.
 * Zero Effort Boss - Subverted in the boss fight against . At first, his attacks never reduce you below 1 HP... then, after some dialogue, they do.
 * And . That is, until you get the Infinity-1 Sword. Then he actually puts up a fight.