Suikoden Tierkreis

A Suikoden Gaiden Game for the DS, Suikoden Tierkreis is set in a parallel world unconnected to the main series, though it contains many of the familiar themes mixed with the exploration of fate, destiny and free will. Sieg, an optimistic young warrior from Citro Village whose motto is "You never know until you try!", is out fighting monsters with several of his childhood friends when they witness a strange occurence... that nobody else seems to remember afterwards. However, they also come across the Shining Legacy, a book which seems to help awaken the Starbearers and the magical abilities known as the Mark of the Stars. Their investigation soon leads them into conflict with The Order of the One True Way, a group that preaches that all is decided by fate and everyone's destiny is predetermined.

Slow to start, but Better Than It Sounds, providing a different take on several concepts central to the Suikoden mythos.

Oh, and Tierkreis is German for 'zodiac'.

Suikoden Tierkreis provides examples of:
"Man: The storm! The storm has returned!"
 * Action Mom - Selen. Definitely Selen.
 * More or less a force of nature, actually. Which is rather unsurprising, given her nickname...


 * Aerith and Bob: Since you can rename the main character Bob, if you wish... But in-game, there's Chrodechild, Meruvis... and Roberto.
 * And Man Grew Proud:
 * Anti Villain - Considering their motives, qualifies. Ditto for.
 * The Archer - Marica fits the bill with a cool personality, and her default weapon is a bow. However, she subverts the trope of the bow being a dainty weapon in that she can also wield the bulkiest weapons in the game. The hero can't handle some of those things. Her stats clearly shows where her strengths lie, however.
 * Arc Words - "One World, One Future," "The One True Way," and "the Advent of the One King."
 * The Atoner - Fredegund. Also.
 * Back From the Dead - ...Possibly Zenoa, and Orodovic, definitely for Belemuel.
 * Bald Black Leader Guy - Danash VIII isn't entirely bald, but his multiple wives don't seem to think it hurts his masculinity any...
 * Bald of Awesome - Zenoa.
 * Battle Couple - Vaslof and Resno are married. There's also Darrow and Savina, Len Lien and Liu, Bosche and Lathilda, Diulf and Savillah, and Megion and Eusmil. Sieg and Marica may also count, though their relationship is never explicitly shown as being romantic.
 * Because Destiny Says So - So says The Order of the One True Way.
 * BFS - One of the weapon types available is Greatsword.
 * Big Badass Wolf - King Diulf, who doubles as a Warrior King!
 * Big Eater - Lycia
 * Sieg is probably one as well.
 * Big Ham: Ninulneda loves Chewing the Scenery. Interestingly enough, her channeler is a demure dolphin priestess.
 * Bishie Sparkle - The traditional cooperative attacks "Fancy Lads" (Asad, Meruvis, Icas) and "Pretty Boys" (Shams, Roberto, Yovel) dazzle enemies with gratuitous amounts of bishie sparkles.
 * Bitch in Sheep's Clothing - Numnu of Porpos-kin may seem cute and friendly, but he also has no qualms to put two groups into a fight when he is bored. Played for Laughs most of the time.
 * Boss in Mook Clothing - At least one in every area. They sometimes drop trading items, but the experience points given aren't that big. (Save for one in an optional area halfway through the game, which can boost your level into 50 in several fights... if you manage to pull through.)
 * Brown Note - Ramin's music makes people angry. He finds enjoyment in "making the low-borns dance."
 * Butt Monkey - Poor Yovel.
 * Casanova Wannabe - Icas won't join your party unless you send a group of pretty girls to recruit him. He'll continue to hit on anyone and anything with two X chromosomes whenever you talk to him.
 * Catch Phrase: Sieg's "We never know until we try" and the Order of the One True Way's "One World, One Future." You may even get bored listening to the former.
 * Character Development - Plenty; one notable case is Sieg himself, as he comes to terms with the sheer scope of what he faces...
 * Cherry Tapping - Averted. Even if you CAN take what the Hopeless Boss Fight is dishing out, the fight will end after a few rounds. Even if you were, by all rights, beating the boss, the game still says you got your ass kicked.
 * Chess Motifs - the robotic enemies that start appearing after your Hopeless Boss Fight with Valfred at Rarohenga are all named after chess pieces, and they all are minions of the One King...
 * Clingy Jealous Girl - Maybelle, who also overlaps with the trope below. Morrin's probably this too, but she's got every right to be one.
 * Cloudcuckoolander - Due to the way recruiting the 108 Stars works, a lot of them can come across as this to "normal" people, at least until they're actually recruited. Special mention goes to Sphiel, who keeps trying to feed people snow. By throwing it at them.
 * Combat Medic - Several, the earliest example is Marica.
 * Crutch Character - Dirk
 * Cuteness Proximity - The normally composed Felecca goes nuts over Ridiculously Cute Critters such as the Porpos-kin and the Moe Manaril.
 * Cute Shotaro Boy - Nhazu. If demihumans count, Autar also qualifies.
 * Dark Skinned Blond - Many, many examples: Rizwan, Kureyah, Shams, Nakil...
 * Dark Skinned Redhead - Asad
 * Deadpan Snarker - Zenoa
 * Death By Newbery Medal -
 * Defector From Decadence - More than a few Starbearers used to be members of the Order of the One True Way, though the 'decadence' aspect of this is... subjective.
 * Demonic Divine Possession - Priestess Neira's body is taken by Sea God Ninulneda on several occasions, complete with the background music change.
 * Divided We Fall - The Magedom of Janam
 * Dual Boss - Fergus and Conon, Sophia and Nova, Vaslof and Resno.
 * Duel Boss - Several, most notably Selen (fought with Jale) and, fought with Sieg.
 * An Economy Is You - Averted. Trade goods exist, like cloth, food, and the like.
 * Expy - Roberto may remind Suikoden fans of the way Flik acted in the first game...
 * And Nomno, who always sleeps even while fighting, is a reminiscent of a certain Suikoden III character.
 * Does Erin remind you of Luserina Barows?
 * Face Heel Turn -
 * Figure It Out Yourself - Like Luc and Zerase before her, Zenoa just loves being condescending towards those who don't already share her 'vast knowledge'.
 * You say condescending, I say Jerkass.
 * Fish People - The Porpos-kin, darling little anthropomorphic dolphins which provide the customary 'five Stars with Theme Naming'.
 * Gameplay and Story Segregation - Yula. During her recruitment scene, it is said that her skill is on par with Chrodechild. Statistically Speaking, however...
 * Goldfish Poop Gang - The Archivists, especially Fergus and Conon. They're pretty evil and seriously dangerous the first few times you meet them, however.
 * Guide Dang It - Have fun recruiting all of the Starbearers without one.
 * Handsome Lech - Icas
 * Heel Face Turn - Fairly common in the series, this game being no exception. Most notably
 * Hello Insert Name Here - Sieg, which can be funny if you change his name to Guy or Gai, as that's what the voiceovers use to substitute his name.
 * Hello Nurse - Eunice, Zahra's long-suffering assistant.
 * Hopeless Boss Fight - Too many to count. Suffice to say, if your attacks are only doing double digit damage and they normally do triple digits, don't bother using any items. A number of the Dual Boss fights are this way.
 * Hot Blooded - Sieg, Asad, and arguably Otherworld Marica. Normal Marica can also be like this sometimes.
 * Hot Librarian - Diadora
 * Hot Shounen Mom - Selen, Rizwan, Kureyah...
 * Ho Yay - There's a lot for every subculture!
 * To elaborate, there's Roberto's Tsundere tendencies, usually reserved for the main character, Jale's unquestioning loyalty and affection, also towards the main character, and Chrodechild and Fredegund's really, really close sisterly relationship.
 * No mention of Sieg and Atrie? I'm surprised.
 * No mention of Shams and Taj? Both are friendly loyal to each other, risking life and limb. Shams does his best to keep Taj happy
 * Humans Are Bastards - Thanks to the Order's actions, the Porpos-kin (and later, the Furious Roar) perceived humans in this way early on. Before Sieg patched things up for them, of course.
 * An Ice Person - Sphiel, being the Snow Fairy, is a literal example.
 * Internal Reformist: Erin works in the corrupt Order of the One True Way, which shocks her father until she tells him and the main characters that she is actually working to bring it down from the inside.
 * Jerkass Facade - Rizwan.
 * Jerk With a Heart of Gold: Minen.
 * Kill It With Water - Unlike previous Suikoden games, water spells are treated differently from ice spells.
 * The Klutz - If you talk to Selen when, it is revealed that Jale temporarily became one.
 * Lady of War - Chrodechild and her sister Fredegund.
 * Large Ham - Whoever played Macoute loved his job.
 * Likea Son to Me - Sieg and his friends to Elder Rajim. And later,.
 * Loads and Loads of Characters - With 108 characters to recruit, how could there not be?
 * Love Makes You Evil -
 * Luck Stat - Some of the quests require high Luck stat to succeed.
 * Mad Scientist: Zahra and Khemia.
 * Manipulative Bastard -
 * Meganekko - 'Moana the Matchmaker'
 * The Wanderers seem to be a Megane(kko) race.
 * Morally Ambiguous Doctorate - Zahra, a talented physician... who openly wishes for his patients to suffer worse injuries and more exotic diseases, and regularly asks to dissect defeated enemies.
 * Mountain Man - Dogha, a gruff loner who lives in tune with the Ch'ouli Mountains.
 * Motor Mouth - Sieg in the English dub, there's even a video about it.
 * Mysterious Waif - Manaril, who's also a bit of a Oracular Urchin.
 * Mythology Gag - Parallel world or not, Tierkreis makes lots of references to the main series. Such as the suggestions offered when you're naming your company...
 * The Napoleon - Hina
 * Nice Hat - There are too many nice hats to list.
 * The Nicknamer - Sieg, perhaps Lampshading the Loads and Loads of Characters aspect.
 * No Indoor Voice - Gorno. Sieg lampshades this during a quest.
 * Nonstandard Game Over - The bad ending.
 * No Pronunciation Guide - Causes an Inconsistent Dub: how do you pronounce some of those names?
 * Exactly how they're spoken in the cutscenes. It's not so much "inconsistent" as it is "unintuitive"--for example, Rizwan is always pronounced as if it were "Lizlan".
 * No, it really is inconsistent. That's not an example, but Kureyah is referred to by both this name and "Claire" in the voice-acting at different times, and Shairah/Shailah is similarly inconsistent.
 * No Sense of Personal Space - Tsaubern, apparently.
 * Oblivious to Love - Chrodechild. Poor Asad. There may still be hope, however.
 * Ocular Gushers: Lubberkin does this constantly.
 * The fact that doesn't help.
 * Older Than They Look - Hina, due to her height.
 * One Hundred and Eight - Well, it is a Suikoden game, parallel world or not.
 * One Winged Angel - Characters with Chronicles implanted inside them can turn into hideous, and powerful, monsters.
 * Parental Substitute - Mubal can be seen as one for Manaril.
 * Path of Inspiration - The Order of the One True Way.
 * Proud Warrior Race - The Auster-folk and the Furious Roar.
 * Ragtag Bunch of Misfits - And how. Sieg even lampshades this after recruiting Mourgent, where he notes that people he meets from time to time gets weirder.
 * Random Encounters - Not as bad as Suikoden IV, but still quite annoying.
 * Redemption Equals Death - Also
 * Red Eyes Take Warning - Most Auster Folk have red eyes. They're also among the strongest races in the game.
 * Red Oni Blue Oni - Asad and Meruvis.
 * Religion of Evil - The Order of the One True Way definitely has elements of this. NightmareFuelish elements, in fact -- such as when
 * Later in the game,
 * The Rival:  became this to Sieg. Megion was one to Diulf. Also Lycia and Chein. Servillah and Eusmil take this to new heights as they compete on who gives birth first...
 * Save the Princess -
 * Scary Black Man - The Auster-folk are more or less the "black people" here, and some of them played this trope straight and some subverted it.
 * Screw Destiny - Sieg's rallying cry.
 * Shoot the Shaggy Dog - The bad ending, where
 * Sickeningly Sweethearts - Dear God, Darrow and Savina...
 * Stripperiffic - Shairah; Sieg can Lampshade this at one point.
 * Among the Starbearers, Felecca undoubtedly takes the prize.
 * Don't forget Lathilda.
 * Marica, to an extent, also qualifies.
 * Take Your Time - Despite having "season" system, which changes every 30 days, it only affects several characters' recruitment and the appearance of Boss in Mook Clothing in several areas. You can spend as many years as you want without affecting the storyline.
 * Tenchi Solution - Invoked by Danash VIII, and Deconstructed; to say there's tension between his wives would be putting it quite mildly...
 * Team Mom - Sisuca is a self-proclaimed example. Selen is an actual mom, but doesn't do much mommy business.
 * Tragic Monster -
 * During the ending
 * Tron Lines - The Scribes and
 * Tsundere - Roberto, especially because even the Character Guide says so.
 * Morrin, too, although considering who her love interest is, she has every right to be.
 * A more "type dere" version is Marica.
 * Minen also shows this tendency toward the main character.
 * Minen isn't tsundere. The reason why she's so abrasive at first and then mellows out is because . When it becomes clear Sieg IS, in fact, competent enough to do the job, she starts respecting and trusting him, but it has nothing to do with being tsundere, just with her appreciating his making a honest effort to keep the promise he made them to defend.
 * The Very Definitely Final Dungeon - The Tower of the Way is set up as one from rather early on.
 * Victorious Childhood Friend - Len-Lien and Liu
 * Warrior Prince - so many to say
 * Weapon of Choice - All your fighters have multiple weapons of choice, actually. Some have specific weapons they use in their unity attacks, however. The beast race also wields only claws and fists.
 * Where Are They Now Epilogue - While the credits roll, the bottom screen tells you what each of your party members has been up to.
 * White Haired Pretty Girl - Manaril
 * The Wise Prince - Prince Shams.
 * Woman Scorned - Variation; Danash VIII's multiple wives aren't exactly fond of each other...
 * Worthy Opponent - Vaslof
 * You Can't Fight Fate - Central to The Order of the One True Way.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair - Sphiel, Resno; Taj also has lavender hair.
 * Zettai Ryouiki - Marica, Minen.
 * White Haired Pretty Girl - Manaril
 * The Wise Prince - Prince Shams.
 * Woman Scorned - Variation; Danash VIII's multiple wives aren't exactly fond of each other...
 * Worthy Opponent - Vaslof
 * You Can't Fight Fate - Central to The Order of the One True Way.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair - Sphiel, Resno; Taj also has lavender hair.
 * Zettai Ryouiki - Marica, Minen.