Oracle of Tao: Difference between revisions

* [[The Chain of Harm]]. Trope namer.

* [[Literal Strawman]].

 

=== This game contains examples of: ===

*** There's a literal item by this name too, that lets the party do this anywhere.

* [[Bag of Sharing]]: This is a given for [[RPG Maker]] games, without extensive programming.

* [[Beating a Dead Player]]:

** One of the battle formulas is designed to deal random damage unaffected by armor, and immune to Reflect spells. It works, but the code is prone to do this sometimes, despite programming to do otherwise.

* [[Beneath the Mask]]: Both Ambrosia and Nevras have things they'd rather not show.

* [[Beta Couple]]: Every character besides the main two (and one extra character, who stays single).

* [[Betty and Veronica]]: A couple of bisexual cases. For Aqorm, the resident thief, her "Betty" is Elias, the somewhat bookish type man, and her Veronica is Lilith, another girl and a [[Horny Devils|succubus]]. Lilith's Betty is actually Aqorm, and her "Veronica" is Michael, a very effeminate-looking angel guy who is this because they are polar opposites.

* [[Black and White Magic]]: Since it's based on [[Useful Notes/Taoism|Taoism]], usually [[Red Mage|merged]].

== C ==

* [[Call to Agriculture]]: Seriously, this is among the good endings.

* [[Can't Have Sex Ever]]: The not-so-evil wizard, [[Full-Name Basis|Yazim Jianne]]. {{spoiler|His wife dies during an experiment gone wrong, and although he joins the party, he's pretty much the only one that ends up couple-less at the end.}}

* [[Capital Letters Are Magic]]: This seems to be the approach used with most of the magical effects in the game, named items, etc.

* [[Cerebus Retcon]]: Double Subverted. {{spoiler|Ambrosia has a sudden flashback where she thinks she was dead, and can't explain why she had no wounds after that. At the time, this turns out to be a test for her resolve, before gaining another Crest, so she denies it showing . It turns out this might have been true later, and she starts to again not exist, this time fading to nothing (that is, the original retcon was subverted, then retconned again as a symptom of another, more horrifying conclusion). Which is then subverted again, as she manages to force herself into existence. Which is then retconned again, this time, [[Mind Screw|applying to everyone but her]].}}

* [[Cerebus Syndrome]]: Much of the game is [[Sweet Dreams Fuel]] with [[An Aesop|various moral lessons about love]] being taught. Then, around the fourth of these, there is everything from a [[Family-Unfriendly Aesop]] to the implication that Ambrosia at some point [[Dying Dream|died and the other characters are part of a dream]].

* [[Chandler's Law]]: [[Raymond Chandler]] actually appears as a [[People Jars|preserved holograph]] in a futuristic town, partially explains the trope [[Instant Awesome, Just Add Ninja|(with ninjas dramatically popping up, walking up to the hero and attacking, and disappearing before anyone can figure out what's going on)]].

* [[Closed Circle]]: The town of Sekai can't be left until you fix everyone's problems.

* [[Cognizant Limbs]]: [[Bonus Boss|Zakum]]

* [[Empathic Environment]]: Defied.

* [[Everyone Meets Everyone]]: Also, [[Putting the Band Back Together]].

 

== F ==

* [[Fake Balance]]:

** The battle balance is a little... weird. {{spoiler|Attacks in the early game barely hurt enemies, but then after the tenth epic weapon, and after beating enemies with magic, it's not really so.}} [[For Massive Damage]] is also a big part of this.

* [[Gameplay and Story Segregation]]:

** Ambrosia's actual powers, and those she gets at the end of the game, are significantly [[Reality Warper|different in scale]] (although she still has one skill that can bypass maximum damage, it's nowhere near her story powers).

* [[Game Breaking Bug]]: The random damage algorithm is extremely buggy (not the normal damage one, but the code for special attacks that were not reflectable). It used to have [[Beating a Dead Player]] as a fairly common effect, and when that was sorted out, there was a problem where if you tried to attack while it was doing this, it might jam all motion in the game. After ''this'' got fixed, it turned out that one of the characters didn't have the random number code at the end of their conditional, so if it happened to land on them, the code would stall if they weren't in the party. This might be fixed now, [[It's Probably Nothing|probably]].

* [[Gainax Ending]]:

** The two of them also protect her from [[Continuing Is Painful|experience loss due to party death]] by taking it on themselves.

*** That said, Ambrosia is a [[Reality Warper|rather]] [[Sugar and Ice Personality|strange]] [[Mama Bear|mom]].

* [[The Grand List of Console Role Playing Game Cliches]]: The initial design of the game was designed with many of these in mind.

* [[Green Aesop]]: Two of these, actually. The nature of the Earth is split due to destruction of the environment and God's resulting intervention. And one whole town screwed up its air and water by using radioactive matter to power their city.

* [[Grey and Gray Morality]]: Much of the game, Ambrosia is either morally mixed, fighting a mostly evil (but with [[Pet the Dog]] moments) enemy, or a mostly good (but with [[Utopia Justifies the Means]] moments) enemy.

* [[Guide Dang It]]: Some of the puzzles.

** The entire Alchemy system. Through trial-and-error, it's solvable, but you end up buying a bunch of items that you'd never use to figure out a few formulas, and making the Philosopher's Stone uses a Level Root, as does the Ultimate Weapon. Add to this fact that many formulas don't really work until after the Philosopher's Stone is made, and you find a very difficult to understand system.

* [[Hero Antagonist]]: Estheriel. [[Ambiguous Gender|Her/his]] heart's in the right place. It's just that, being an angel of justice, he's a bit of an [[Large Ham|over-the-top]] [[Knight Templar]]. In fact, during the entirety of her in-plot backstory events, he has several [[Pet the Dog]] moments, and the only [[Kick the Dog]] one she has, is [[Why Did You Make Me Hit You?|when someone else forces his hand]]. Her only flaw besides that is really that he's willing to [[I Did What I Had to Do|accept the risks of her actions]], in order to try to make the world a better place. Even the commonly used [[Utopia Justifies the Means|End Justifies The Means]] is subverted, as he throws away the [[Der Ring Des Nibelungen|Ring of Nibelung]] and later seals it away when it causes [[Lord of the Rings|two brothers to murder each other]]. Not that it helps, unfortunately, as the [[No Man of Woman Born|means she uses as a failsafe to the sealing]] [[Loophole Abuse|has a loophole that the Ring uses to undo him]].

* [[Heroic Neutral]]:

{{quote| '''Nevras:''' Another one? Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!}}

** Also Lilith, despite being a demon. She's locked her house until Ambrosia enters her life, then gets persuaded by her earnestness.

** Also [[Humble Hero]], for her general view that [[Ambition Is Evil]] with regard to any rewards for her quest.

* [[Hope Spot]]/[[Despair Event Horizon]]: If you don't have the right party, the characters will still make pretty speeches on [[The Power of Love]]. It'll seem effective for awhile, but... {{spoiler|[[Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies|everyone dies]]}}.

** She also counts as a [[Dominatrix]] by her all-black outfit, and [[Whip It Good|choice of weapons]].

* [[House Husband]]: Nevras, if the second intro is to be believed.

 

== I ==

* [[I Just Want to Have Friends]]: Ambrosia, since much of her quest doesn't seem to be directly related to her. Instead, she starts out alone in a town and gathers a party.

** [[Lonely Together]]: Ambrosia and Nevras.

* [["I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight]]: Averted. The party tries to stop/talk to Ambrosia {{spoiler|when she goes off the deep end and starts killing people}}. It turns out [[Laser-Guided Amnesia|she doesn't even remember them]]. And then things [[Epic Fail|go really wrong]] [[Kill'Em All|on both the stopping and talking parts]].

* [[Immortal Immaturity]]: Lilith and Michael, though probably more a case of [[Emotional Maturity Is Physical Maturity]] since they look in their twenties.

* [[In Universe Game Clock]]: Theoretically, we have days/nights, weeks, and months, which are also tied to the weather in seasons.

* [[I Lied]]/[[False Reassurance]]: [[Played for Laughs]] with a demon. Twice, and the wizard working for him falls for both.

'''Belial''': I promise, on my [[No Honor Among Thieves|honor as a demon]] to grant any wish I am capable. }}

* [[Interface Screw]]: mainly Ambrosia, when hit by confuse or blind (possibly justified, since she is the leader, after all).

** Outside of controls however, the game functions are constantly tweaked (such as the day/night system being tweaked by the Void world so if you stay too long outside you die, or the weather system changing due to seasons, or some of the assumed game rules being bypassed by certain effects).

* [[Laser Hallway]]: One of the futuristic towns has this on several floors. The lasers deal damage (it stops damage at 1 hp), and knock the hero back, sometimes into enemies.

* [[Last-Minute Hookup]]: The [[Gay Option]] above, only is completable after the [[Playable Epilogue]].

* [[Lemony Narrator]]: [[The Hero|Ambrosia]] is also the narrator. She goes on [[Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny|side topics]] about her family or personal history, glossing over what a normal narrator would consider the main story. It somehow manages to avoid [[Protagonist-Centered Morality]], since Ambrosia has no real illusions of her own righteousness. But she talks a great deal about her personal interests in the story at hand (if she's interested in it), her failings in knowledge legends and history, and her overall skepticism in the story's plot.

{{quote| Ambrosia: ...God would send an Oracle to restore the Earth to Balance, [[Buffy-Speak|and stuff]]. ''[[Tempting Fate|But that'll never happen]]''.}}

== N ==

* [[Nature Hero]]: Anideshi.

** The game does have actual bloodshed in it, at least in the form of the [[NPC|NPCs]]. It's just [[Gameplay and Story Segregation|mostly outside of battle]].

* [[No Body Left Behind]]: Usually the case will various creatures dying or running away. Occasionally, you might get bones or [[Gory Discretion Shot|mild 2d gore]]. This is more to not clutter up the screen than any censorship concerns though.

* [[No Loves Intersect]]: Subverted, as it boils down to a choice. If you make the [[Beta Couple]] stay together, everyone matches up as normal. Otherwise, two people are left alone, while the third has the [[Tall, Dark and Bishoujo]] [[Gay Option]].

* [[No Ontological Inertia]]: Basically everything, inside [[Dark World|the Void]]. The only place that is safe is town.

* [[Nothing Is Scarier]]: In one town, there's an upstairs room that people nearby say "don't go upstairs, there's nothing up there." If you do it anyway, there really is ''nothing'' there (you get trapped in the room, which fades to black, until it [[Cessation of Existence|swallows you up]]). Making it literally ''nothing'' is scarier.

 

== O ==

* [[Ontological Mystery]]: Subverted in that it doesn't take place inside a [[Closed Circle]]. But it does involve a [[Quest for Identity]]. {{spoiler|And it does involve a [[Dream Apocalypse]].}}

* [[Only Smart People May Pass]]: That, or several cases of [[Moon Logic Puzzle]].

* [[Power Born of Madness]]: A special ending, where {{spoiler|the hero crosses her [[Moral Event Horizon]] by choosing to murder [[Incorruptible Pure Pureness|an angel]]. She then decides to become a sort of [[Balance of Good and Evil|moral balance]], since there's too much good (or something), and tries to destroy everything. When they try to stop her, it turns out her madness has given her [[Reality Warper]] powers, not to mention [[Nigh Invulnerability]], so she slaughters the entire party.}}

* [[Pre-Climax Climax]]. Blacked out, but there are sound effects to indicate what's going on.

* [[Puzzle Reset]]: Normally, this happens when you exit a dungeon.

 

 

== R ==

* [[Rasputinian Death]]: Belial is beaten up in [[One-Winged Angel|two or three forms]], the party [[All Your Colors Combined|unites their powers]] to blast him away. [[The Battle Didn't Count|This doesn't kill him]], and the part has to kill off his ''true'' [[You Cannot Grasp the True Form|true form]], which turns him into a ghost. Once ''that ghost'' is dead, to put him away for good requires [[Made of Magic|draining all his magic]].

* [[Reality Warper]]: The end of the game, she gains the power to create/destroy pretty much the entire universe. Still, due to [[Gameplay and Story Segregation]], she never uses these in battle.

* [[Red Mage]]: Elias.

* [[Reincarnation Romance]]: Anideshi and Azrael.

* [[Religious Edutainment]]: The game is a strange mix of several different religions to teach the author's personal beliefs.

== S ==

* [[Scarecrow Solution]]: When Ambrosia goes [[Ax Crazy]], she {{spoiler|uses the party's dead bodies as scarecrows to keep the voices in her head at bay.}}

* [[Scheherezade Gambit]]:

** Often it works after the battle, getting you the [[MacGuffin]], or interesting the monster enough with your responses that they join your party.

* [[Schrodinger's Cast]]: Ambrosia at one point is unsure whether she's alive or dead. She's given a choice whether she decides she's alive or dead, based on various flashbacks. ''It can go either way.'' The rest of the cast is either alive, or doesn't exist, depending upon {{spoiler|whether Ambrosia decides to create them}}.

* [[Schrodinger's Question]]: {{spoiler|Pretty much the ending options you choose can determine whether the entire universe exists or not. Among other things...}}

** And a [[Shout-Out]] to [[Schrodinger's Butterfly]] in one of the temples. {{spoiler|There is a character, asking the characters who talk to it if it's a butterfly or a person. The answer seems to be [[Answer Cut|implied by what's on the screen]].}} Not to mention the story itself is [[Schrodinger's Butterfly]].

* [[Sequel Reset]]: Game's all wrapped up, but then we have a sequel. Why? Just to show Ambrosia as an [[Action Mom]]. In fact, since Ambrosia is God's incarnation, it's heavily implied she manufactured the problem leading to the sequel. Also a [[Sequel Hook]], as the antagonist is introduced in the first game (but other than that, the story is more or less resolved).

* [[Settled for Gay]]: Subverted, the two characters stance is more [[If It's You It's Okay]].

* [[Standard Status Effects]]: Everything including from Poison, Silence, Sleep, and Death, to less common ones like Berserk, Confuse, Petrify, and Curse, to rare effects like Burn, Frozen, and X-Zone (can retrieve by changing party). There's even two extra effects: Seal, which is a curse type effect and heals fully after each turn, but otherwise like petrify, to Soulless which is a [[Deader Than Dead]] status.

* [[Stripperific]]: Lilith, the [[Horny Devils|succubus]], is wears a black bikini. And [[Vapor Wear|nothing else]].

* [[Sugar and Ice Personality]]: Ambrosia. At first glance, she seems to be a [[Tsundere]], but this is part is her [[Mood Swinger]] [[Kuudere]] personality, and when she's actually upset, she'll revert to a [[Sugar and Ice Personality|cold, gloomy personality]]. [[Defrosting Ice Queen|She gets better]].

 

* [[Taste the Rainbow]]: Especially in racial variation, but this is typical in-game.

* [[Taxidermy Is Creepy]]: An [[Easter Egg]]. Reading through one of the libraries has books on necromancy, then taxidermy, and finally stitching together animals and corpses.

* [[The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You]]: An attack called Attack Player targets the screen. Considering this is a sidescroll RPG, rather than vertical format (as is true of [[RPG Maker]] XP), this is pretty interesting. If the player dies, the game is over.

* [[The Hero Dies]]: Although, less a sudden death or murder, and more of simple old age. {{spoiler|It's actually a good ending.}}

* [[Title Drop]]: Several times, as it's Ambrosia's goal.

* [[Token Mini-Moe]]: Tamashii, {{spoiler|Ambrosia's daughter.}}

* [[Too Awesome to Use]]: Reconstructed. The Puffer Sushi is a great item which gets rid of ''all status effects'' (including death) and restores hp/mp. But rather than simply being a very rare item, it is available in some stores for about 9000 gp, when monsters usually don't hold money and you have to make it selling [[Vendor Trash]]. Even when you actually manage to find it for free, it carries a pretty terrible risk. It can heal the party member fully, or it can kill them. The risk of use makes it something that you have to save for when you're really desperate, or the party member is already dead.

** Also, we have the Philosopher's Stone, which is absurdly difficult to buy, so the sell price is extremely tempting. Not to mention that although you can make it with [[Just Add Water|alchemy]] to do so, requires giving up an equally rare levelup item.

 

== U ==

* [[Unreliable Narrator]]: Ambrosia, mainly due to [[Innocent Inaccurate]]. Ambrosia tells the history of the world, as she knows it, but lacks knowledge of history, or trust in legends. And some of her knowledge is lacking certain details that come up later.

* [[Unusual Euphemism]]: Nevras talks about "meeting attacks with equal force" and "revenge" with Ambrosia {{spoiler|...they're kissing.}}

* [[Upgrade Artifact]]: Stats Seeds, are a good example, along with Level Roots.

 

* [[Walking the Earth]]: Ambrosia does it, with her friends.

* [[We Want Our Jerk Back]]: Ambrosia is very much a [[Tsundere]] throughout the early game, but enters decay on this point over the course of the story, she eventually becomes a sort of weird mix of [[Sugar and Ice Personality]] and [[Mama Bear]].

* [[What the Hell, Player?]]: If you wander off randomly, you can run into [[Eldritch Abominations]], you can return to the Void gate only to decide [[Heroic BSOD|you don't wanna save the world after all]], and several choices you make can give you either special weapons or end very, very, badly.

* [[White-Haired Pretty Boy]]: Elias. Despite being a [[Geek]].

* [[Wholesome Crossdresser]]: Subverted for much of the story, though.