Odin Sphere: Difference between revisions

* Velvet, one of the [[Last of Her Kind|last survivors]] of the kingdom of Valentine who tries to avert the disasters of the coming Armaggedon.

 

 

{{examples}}

* [[Above the Influence]]: {{spoiler|Gwendolyn's relationship with Oswald seems [[Squick|squicky]] as hell, until you play through his side of the story and find out that not only is Gwen ''not'' under a love spell, but Oswald, who didn't feel right about having her whammied into loving him, went balls-out questing for a way to avert the spell before discovering that the spell was never cast in the first place.}}

** {{spoiler|Of course, [[Poor Communication Kills|no one tells]] ''Gwendolyn'' that Odin didn't cast the love spell on her. She finishes both her chapter and Oswald's thinking that her feelings are only caused by said spell, but accepts it anyway. Squick indeed.}}

*** Perhaps Oswald assumed that Odin ''hadn't'' told his daughter the same lie, or that Myris told her when he left them alone (whereas Myris might have thought Oswald told her when she left them alone)? Might be a case of [[Poor Communication Kills]].

**** Luckily, {{spoiler|The Belderiver is destroyed during the Armageddon, freeing Oswald of its curse.}}

* [[Achilles Heel]]: {{spoiler|King Gallon}} believes himself to be invincible, as only a person with Titanian royal blood ''and'' Odette's power over death can actually kill him. {{spoiler|It happens to be Oswald.}}

* [[All of the Other Reindeer]]: Everyone in the world hates Oswald for being the Shadow Knight.

* [[All There in the Manual]]: Inverted. You're better off NOT reading at the very least Velvet's character profile in the manual, because the fact that {{spoiler|she's secretly Odin's illegitimate daughter}} would have otherwise been quite a surprising twist the first time you play the game.

* [[Always Chaotic Evil]]: Goblins, former Pooka who became Goblins ''because'' they were Evil.

* [[Amazon Brigade]]: All Vulcans seen, Onyx aside, appear to be female. And all of them can fight.

* [[Bare Your Midriff]]: Velvet very much so. Also the female fairies of Ringford and the Vulcans.

* [[Battle Ballgown]]

* [[Berserk Button]]: Whatever his faults, Oswald tends to have a very direct and violent reaction to anyone he perceives as manipulating, using, or treating another person as an 'object'.

** Cornelius when Velvet gets harmed. He had no qualm of beating the tar out of Mercedes when she shot down Velvet to get the Ring Titrel from her.

** Also, female fairies have colorful butterfly wings, while males have (possibly vestigial) wasp or housefly wings.

* [[Black Knight]]: Oswald, minus a helmet.

* [[Boss Rush]]: The final chapter consists of challenging the five prophecied disasters that bring about the end of the world.

* [[Bratty Half-Pint]]: Mercedes. She gets much better around the second half of her story.

* [[Broken Aesop]]: {{spoiler|Oswald fights to protect Gwendolyn's freedom when she's cursed to sleep until awoken by a kiss, citing that humans are not objects and have the right to be free. He's reluctant to wake her at first, knowing she'll be bound to love him against her own wishes if he does, but later he finds out that it was a bluff on Odin's part: the spell ''only'' makes her sleep. When he wakes Gwendolyn, she falls in love with him because of her own feelings-- but Oswald ''never tells her that'', even knowing how loyal and faithful she is by nature. So it's not okay to use people, but apparently it's okay to lie to them to get them to do what you want.}}

** {{spoiler|As mentioned under [[Above the Influence]] and given Oswald's character, it's more likely a case of [[Poor Communication Kills]]. That is, he either assumed she already knew the truth, either because her father didn't tell her the same lie about a love spell before putting her to sleep, or assumed that after she woke up, Myris would have told her during one of the times he wasn't around. Leaving Myris to break the news instead of doing it himself makes sense, given that Gwendolyn saw him as an enemy and wasn't inclined to trust him. Myris, for her part, seems to have assumed that Oswald ''did'' tell Gwendolyn.}}

* [[Calling the Old Man Out]]: Velvet angrily calls Odin out on his {{spoiler|banishing Gwendolyn from his kingdom for saving her from execution, which was all just to please him, saying if he really was relieved Velvet was alive, he wouldn't have punished Gwendolyn so}}.

* [[Camera Screw]]: Averted; the game features an amazingly informative on-screen minimap that'll show what isn't actually happening on-screen. Also, during boss fights the camera pulls back slightly.

* [[Dark Is Not Evil]]: Oswald. Odin's title is 'Demon Lord' but he is more ambitious, ruthless and tricky than truly evil. Most of the game's true villains are still pretty dark, though.

** Likewise Odette is not necessarily evil, but only doing her job to keep the world running.

* [[Defeat Means Friendship]]: The dragon Wagner quickly repays one favor for each character who bested him in combat and spared him, to clean that slate. (Except Oswald, who was specifically sent up the mountain to kill him.)

* [[The Dragon]]: Several, two of which (Belial and Leventhan) are actual dragons.

* [[Earn Your Happy Ending]]: In the bad ending, {{spoiler|[[Kill'Em All]] everybody dies}}. In the good ending, {{spoiler|Oswald and Gwendolyn earn their happy ending together, and Cornelius and Velvet survive as Pooka}}. In the best ending, {{spoiler|Cornelius and Velvet become human again}}.

** The good ending requires the player to [[No Man of Woman Born|interpret a series of prophecies]] so that each of the five heroes fights during the Apocalypse in the correct order. Unfortunately, to get the best ending the player has to [[Hundred Percent|see every cutscene possible]]... including the [[Downer Ending]] cutscenes that spring from messing up the correct boss fight order. This means you have to fight through the Apocalypse about five times with the five heroes wrongfully matched against the five opponents to get the best ending.

* [[End of an Age]]: Big time. And that's the ''good'' ending.

* [[Engagement Challenge]]: Subverted. In order to get the ring from Wagner, Odin asked Oswald to slay the dragon for him {{spoiler|since Odin made a blood pact with Wagner, and thus can't harm him}}. He offered a castle to Oswald at first, who wasn't interested until Odin offered his daughter Gwendolyn.

* [[Epic Flail]]: Odin's Psypher, the Balor. [[BFS|Larger than any playable character.]]

* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: Queen Odette of the Netherworld is a royal bitch who rules the place in cruelty and views anyone among the living, royals or otherwise, as inferior. But she detests the idea of letting the world be destroyed, {{spoiler|and she wants to keep King Galleon secure, knowing how dangerous and vile he was when he was alive, and how he hasn't become otherwise even after death. Of course, she was also the one who made him an immortal corpse to torture him.}}

* [[Everythings Better With Bunnies]]: Cornelius, as well as the Pooka in general.

* [[Evil Chancellor]]: Every side has at least one.

* [[Evil Old Folks]]: The Three Wise Men, a trio of wicked sorcerers who're behind many schemes of Erion.

* [[Exact Words]]: Odin really tripped himself up when he tried to get the magic ring Titrel from the dragon Wagner, insisting that all he wanted Oswald to do was ''slay the dragon''. After it was done, Oswald decided the ring would make a great wedding gift for his new wife and refused to hand it over, a nice play of [[Loophole Abuse]]. Oops!

* [[Experience Booster]]: You can buy a Spirit Gem from the very first merchant you encounter, after the first stage of the game. Equiping this item increases the experience that your Psypher Weapon gains when you absorb phozons. You don't need to have it equipped all of the time, so you can just swap it on whenever you're done killing a wave (or entire level) of enemies. It's also a handy part of the Phozon Farming Abuse trick, which involves using the Phozon Release skill to turn some of your "magic points" into free-floating phozons. Equip the Spirit Gem, release all of the phozons you're carrying, and then reabsorb the phozons. This restores your MP guage (though not to the same level as before), allowing you release and reabsorb all of your phozons again and again. Doing this often will grind up your Psypher Level, especially with the Gem.

** Let's not forget his turning into a rabbit-like creature upon entering the games closest equivalent to the Dark World.

** Some thought the way Cornelius fought had a [[Mega Man Zero|Zero]] vibe to it. At the very least, it could be the reason why his story felt like the easiest and how his fighting style felt natural.

* [[Fan Disservice]]: Odette. OTOH, she's a pale gothic beauty with huge assets. She's also rotted away to a skeleton on parts of her body, and in the fight against her she can transform into a hideous, multilegged, [[Buffy-Speak|spidery... spider thingy]]. That comes from ''under her skirt''.

* [[Flight]]: Gwendolyn's Valkyrie armor sports fully functional wings which allow her to reach impressive altitudes... [[Gameplay and Story Segregation|story-wise]]. ''Gameplay-wise'', this ability is mostly gliding; she can gain some altitude and turn around, but if you try both at once or lose too much speed, she's easily liable to drop. Mercedes, a fairy, can fly indefinitely (and is faster on the wing than on foot), but she can only reload, use items, and cast spells when she's on the ground.

* [[Fetish Fuel Station Attendant]]: How about all five protagonists. This game caters to both the male and female gamer's fetishes.

** The inhabitants of the Fire Kingdom, Onyx and his Vulcan attendants/soldiers, also qualify. Onyx himself is a [[White-Haired Pretty Boy]], and a constant [[Walking Shirtless Scene]]. Just watch out for his [[Game Face]]. The Vulcans are well built beauties in [[Striperiffic]] outfits, literal Hot Chicks With Swords, and all are [[White-Haired Pretty Girl|White Haired Pretty Girls]]. Unlike their master, the fact that they become slightly more monstrous when they use their [[Game Face|GameFaces]] is evened out because they drop all pretenses and go for [[Full-Frontal Assault]].

* [[Flunky Boss]]: Every. last. one of them, midbosses included, will summon other enemies for the player to fight. The Queen of the Dead in particular never seems to ''stop'' summoning them.

* [[Food Porn]]: Characters can collect over fifty different recipes, deliver them to the local Pooka restaurant/cafe and level up by gorging down all kinds of delicatessen food. Whereas a character's Psypher gauge can be leveled by simple grinding, the HP gauge can only be upgraded through eating. Players are encouraged to hunt for ingredients and unlock secret recipes for fattening up their characters' HP. What's more, each course receives a different animation for eating and diminishing, depending on the size and temperature of the food.

* [[Jack of All Stats]]: Gwendolyn, and Cornelius to a degree. Gwen is good with both ground and air combos, but Cornelius' ground combos seem worse than his aerial ones. His play style requires mastering his "jump and strike" strategies.

** Cornelius's ground combos are the most awkward of the cast, but his air combos are good. Gwendolyn actually becomes closer to a [[Lightning Bruiser]] once you get the hang of using her gliding, and especially when she learns Shadow Ally.

* [[Jigsaw Puzzle Plot]]: The story prior to {{spoiler|Armageddon}} is spread throughout five books telling different parts of the story from the perspectives of five different characters. Trying to keep track of everything -- such as who does what, what goes where, and when what happens -- ''might'' have been extremely frustrating, especially if you're trying to figure out how the ring Titrel is passed from person to person or how each character pursues their agenda. It doesn't help that the game often jumps through hoops of [[And Now for Someone Completely Different]]. ''Thankfully'', the game provides a cinematic theater organized into a comprehensive timeline to properly keep track of everything in a chronological order.

* [[Just Shoot Em]]: There are many times in the story where {{spoiler|King Valentine}} is speaking at length about his plans to bring about armageddon in front of someone who wants to prevent said armageddon and who can easily destroy him. However, said characters tend to be infuriatingly merciful towards the future destroyer of the world.

* [[Killer Rabbit]]: Leventhan, the Last Dragon, is an adorable baby dragon when you first battle him as Gwendolyn. A small flying target that can be hard to hit, and he's even wearing part of his eggshell on his head! Who also unleashes a [[Wave Motion Gun]] [[Breath Weapon]] after he [[Turns Red]]. Some may consider his adult form easier to beat, but [[Your Mileage May Vary]], depending on how quickly you can identify and counter his attacks.

** Cornelius the "Pooka Prince" may as well be a literal example given his (relative to his smaller Pooka body) [[BFS|magic sword]] and aerial [[Spin Attack]].

** Blizzard potions, Oswald's [[Super Mode|Shadow form]], and Velvet's homing chain will also [[One Hit KO]] them as well.

* [[Kuudere]]: Oswald.

* [[Red Eyes, Take Warning]]: Mercedes, but it's a natural feature of being a fairy. However, Oswald has them despite being a human, presumably because he's the Shadow Knight. In his [[Super Mode|Shadow Form]], one eye creepily disappears in the blackness while the other upgrades to a single [[Glowing Eyes of Doom|Glowy Eye Of Doom]].

* [[Relationship Voice Actor]]: [[Ayako Kawasumi]] is Gwendolyn while [[Mamiko Noto]] is Mercedes.

* [[Revive Kills Zombie]]: Glue Onyx to the spot with an "Ooze" potion to stop [[That One Attack]].

* [[Royals Who Actually Do Something]]: Played straight with all of the royal characters, four of which are PCs, except for Cornelius' father, who is old and decrepit at the time of the story. {{spoiler|1=Actually, ''all'' of the PCs are royals, but Oswald doesn't find out until the good ending.}}

* [[Slippy-Slidey Ice World]]: Horn Mountain of Winterhorn Ridge. Thankfully without any ''actual'' ice to slip or slide on.

* [[Smite Me Oh Mighty Smiter]]: {{spoiler|Ingway,if you choose Mercedes to fight him during Armageddon.}}

* [[Spiritual Successor]]: To ''Princess Crown'', a 1997 [[Atlus]] title for the [[Sega Saturn]] developed by the dev team that went on to become [[Vanillaware]]. During development, ''Odin Sphere'' was even referred to as ''Princess Crown 2''.

* [[Standard Status Effects]]: Poison, Flame, Freeze, and [[Baleful Polymorph|Frog]].

* [[Star-Crossed Lovers]]: ''Every single pair of lovers in the game''. [[Earn Your Happy Ending|Some end better than others]].

** The female fairies of Ringford also count, as they wear nothing by elbow-length gloves, knee-high boots, and bikinis to battle.

* [[Super Mode]]: Oswald's Shadow Form, which he can assume at any time. As mentioned, however, it depletes his POW in a hurry even when he's stock still (which is why the Power Stone and Unlimited Power potions are so important to him), and it also prevents him from casting spells or using items (so power up ''first''). Further, Shadow Knights who abuse the black sword's power too much die and become Revenants, the miserable phantoms that haunt Horn Mountain in Winterhorn Ridge.

** There's also the [[Action Bomb|Action Bombs]] in the Inferno Cavern, whose dying explosion is typically a [[One-Hit Kill]].

** And many alternate Armageddon scenes where {{spoiler|a dying Ingway backstabs one of the Three Wise Men}}.

* [[Tragic Hero]]: Ingway, who has a tendency to [[Fatal Flaw|not think out his decisions before making them]].

* [[Tragic Monster]]: Belial, as well as {{spoiler|Ingway}}.

* [[The Unfavorite]]: Gwendolyn considers herself and Griselda to be examples in comparison to {{spoiler|Velvet}}, and she herself may have been less favored than even Griselda.

* [[Useless Useful Spell]]: One potion leaves behind a toxic cloud that kills anything after a short delay, regardless of how much HP it has left. Unfortunately, this has a tendency not to work on boss enemies, but ''always'' on you. Sure, it kills slimes, but you've always got Napalm for doing that cheaper.

* [[We Buy Anything]]: Including half-eaten, rotten fruit and bones left over from chicken or lamb.

* [["Well Done, Son" Guy]]: Where to ''start''? Gwendolyn is the most blatant example, but Oswald counts too. And let's not forget the strong implication that the main reason {{spoiler|Ingway let the Cauldron run amok, ''destroying his entire country'',}} wasn't just to ''save'' {{spoiler|Odin}}, but also to {{spoiler|earn his love}}.

* [[White-Haired Pretty Boy]]: Oswald, a heroic example. Also Onyx, who is not.

* [[White Prince]]: Cornelius.