Skies of Arcadia: Difference between revisions

* [[Animated Armor]]: Guardian, the boss of Shrine Island. A tough cookie in its own right -- and you face [[Degraded Boss|more of them]] in the final dungeon, except this time, they're in mint condition.

* [[An Interior Designer Is You]]: After getting your own pirate base, you can design the buildings in various styles depending on the carpenter you choose to build them.

* [[Apocalypse How]]: The Rains of Destruction that stopped the Ancient Civilizations' endless wars [[Captain Obvious|by destroying them]] happened a few thousand years before the game begins and were a class 2. A few Silvites managed to escape this by flying into space, {{spoiler|primarily because ''as the people who caused it'' they decided not to use the appropriate superweapon on their own moon. Their decision to call the Rains a second time resulted directly in modern-day Valua being hit with a Class 0.}}

* [[Arbitrary Headcount Limit]]: Four characters at a time, three of which are always Vyse, Aika, and Fina. For most of the game, this is [[Justified Trope|justified]] by having the characters come and go as the plot demands, but even after [[Gondor Calls for Aid|Gondor has called for aid]] you can still only bring four people with you, with the rest stuck doing nothing on your airship.

* [[Beehive Barrier]]: The Dome of Light that protects {{spoiler|Soltis}}

* [[Betty and Veronica]]: [[Playing With a Trope|Played with]] and arguably [[Averted Trope|averted]] because neither girl actively pursues Vyse.

* [[BFS]]: Grand Admiral Galacian uses one of these. Looks out of place because nearly every other hand weapon in the game is realistically-proportioned. Vyse's Vorlik Blade certainly isn't ideal for holding in one hand. And the Sky Fang... well, enough said.

* [[BFG]]: Lots.

* [[Broken Bridge]]: As you might expect from a game that gives you the [[Global Airship]] right away, the Broken Bridges in this game are a little more creative than usual, typically requiring you to upgrade your ship or get a better one in order to proceed.

** The Valuans went a little overboard with this in Ixa'Taka: a gargantuan ''chainlink fence'' strewn between two cliffs. Once Vyse sends them packing, the wall is dismantled.

** It's worth a playthough just to pick all the incompetent-sounding choices. Aika comes out sounding like [[Hypercompetent Sidekick|the real hero!]]

** Eventually, though, the game starts offering up win-win decision trees. Sorry, but thou must.

** This is why the optional Gamecube battles are so time-consuming. Most of your skill points will likely be spent on re-casting Delta Shield, Justice Shield et. al over and over again.

* [[Contrived Coincidence]]: The Duccat's Island portion overall.

* [[Cool Ship]]: The Delphinus has elements of both a [[Cool Boat]] and a [[Cool Plane]], given how ships work in this game.

* [[Crystal Prison]]: The Silvite Elders [[Inverted Trope|intentionally]] seal themselves in these as a form of {{spoiler|life support}}.

** [[The Big Guy]]: Drachma.

** [[The Chick]]: Fina.

** {{spoiler|Zelos}}' 'eye', which is eerily fixed on the Delphinus during your fight.

* [[Floating Continent]]: Every single one, in fact, though Soltis has been on the actual surface for a while now.

* [[Homage]]: As the game opens, Fina is captured by a Valuan ship in a sequence reminiscent of ''[[Star Wars a New Hope]]''.

* [[Hufflepuff House]]: Different varieties of Blue Pirates, from the Dyne family to Centime, Gilder, and Clara. All of them join {{spoiler|the final fight against Galcian}}.

* [[Improbable Power Discrepancy]]: The [[Bonus Boss|Bonus Bosses]] in ''Legends'' are a particular [[Egregious]] example, but there's plenty of lesser examples too.

* [[In the Name of The Moon|In The Name Of The Moons]]: You'll hear it a lot.

* [[Industrial Ghetto]]: Lower City. They built the warships here, and workers are treated like dogs.

* [[Inexplicable Treasure Chests]]: Justified in the sewers, of all places. The weapons merchant in Maramba knows the story of how they came to be there.

** The real point of the exercise is to reunite Vyse, Aika, and Fina. See? Greed really ''is'' good.

* [[The Jimmy Hart Version]]: The [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9exgsxsariw Armada Battle] theme sounds very similar to the first part of ''[[Mega Man 8 (Video Game)|Mega Man 8]]'s'' [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOcOQEqyVM8&feature=related Wily Tower 3].

** One interesting example: {{spoiler|After defeating Galcian on the Hydra, Galcian retreats into the control room, [[Villain Exit Stage Left|which detatches itself from the rest of the ship.]] Vyse comments, "I thought he was too arrogant to have an escape pod!"}}

** A girl in Yafutoma, after giving you some random fact, remarks on how she finds it strange that she would [[Welcome to Corneria|say something so obscure to someone that she doesn't even know.]]

* [[Last Villain Stand]]: As long as Galcian has Soltis, he's still in the game, even with his fleet destroyed.

** Once he's killed, {{spoiler|Ramirez}} decides the world must burn for not accepting Galcian as its rightful ruler.

* [[Leave No Survivors]]: Let's just let Galcian explain:

{{quote| '''Galcian''': I don't think they're foolish enough to resist. However, if something should happen... Burn the village and kill them all. Let the bodies rot in the sun and leave one of our flags to set an example for others who may defy us.}}

* [[Magic Skirt]]: Fina's skirt only flutters up to her knees when she uses magic. (Aika's goes higher, but she has shorts.)

* [[Magitek]]: Those previously mentioned [[Green Rocks]] power everything even vaguely mechanical in this game, with the exception of a few scattered windmills.

* [[Mega Twintails]]: Maria in ''Legends''.

* [[Mind Control Eyes]]: Characters who are confused in battle get these. Also happens to characters who are hit by Ramirez's "Silver Nightmare" S-Move in the final boss battle.

* [[Metal Slime]]: Loopers.

* [[Mordor]]: The Valuan continent is a craggy, crater-pocked hellhole under the oppression of permanent thunderstorms. The ruined landscape is also partly due to rampant moon stone mining. So in a sense, it qualifies as Types 1 ''and'' 2.

* [[Stalker With a Crush]]: Clara, who is absolutely determined to marry Gilder whether he likes it or not. He doesn't. In her defense, she's pretty much the nicest stalker imaginable. Not so nice is Vigoro and his obsession with Aika. Note that his first meeting with her had him trying to ''rape her''. The game plays further instances of them meeting as comedy.

* [[Standard Status Effects]]: No surprises here.

* [[Super Prototype]]: The Delphinus. It's completely unique, and is far more powerful than the standard Valuan warships. Later, the Spectre-class battleships appear, and are basically slightly less streamlined versions of the Delphinus that lack the [[Wave Motion Gun|Moon Stone Cannon]]. As Enrique notes that the Delphinus is the first of a series of similar ships, it can be expected that these are the mass-produced models of the same ship.

** This is supported by the presence of a Spectre-class model in Vyse's office, which was supposedly based on the Delphinus.

** [[Shifting Sand Land]]: Nasr.

** [[Ship Level]]: Alfonso's battleship in the prologue.

** {{spoiler|[[Space Zone]]}}: Great Silver Shrine.

** [[Techno Wreckage]]: The outer rim of Soltis.

* [[Weapon of Choice]]:

** [[Cool Sword]]: Vyse.

** [[Power Fist]]: Drachma.

** [[Morph Weapon]]: Fina.

** Although it's only mentioned in passing, most of the moons have notable effects on the lands they orbit. The Red Moon radiates so much heat, that the lands under it are turned into scorching deserts, while the Purple Moon radiates cold which freezes the lands under it. The Yellow Moon generates perpetual thunder storms, and the Green Moon somehow causes animal and plant life to flourish. The Blue Moon apparently generates strong winds. Only the Silver Moon has no apparent effect on the environment of the land it orbits.

* [[What the Hell, Player?]]: After you return home from your first adventure and Aika splits off, you can peek through a hole in her wall covered by a piece of tissue... if you want to be called a [[Handsome Lech|pervert]]. It's so blatantly [[Schmuck Bait]] (the Schmuck being ''you'' the player, as the scene doesn't happen unless you investigate it) that even Vyse wonders why she put it there, after [[Accidental Pervert|falling for it himself]] of course.

* [[When Things Spin Science Happens]]: The Silvite Elders' life-support machines.

* [[Where Are They Now? Epilogue]]