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Argeus the Paladin -> RE: =AE= Spotted a Parody or Spoof in our Games Post it Here (5/27/2009 22:07:41)
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When I first brought the issue of TV Tropes in AQ GGD, I said that I will edit the TV Tropes article from the point of view of an AQ gamer to more precisely reflect the game. Today, I'm bringing you guys the (partially completed) edited version, complete with link and all.
Disclaimer: The original article is owned by TV Tropes Wiki, http://www.tvtropes.org. I am not a Troper, nor do I lay claim to any part of the information supplied below, apart for sections I have added on myself.
Here you go. Please enjoy your read.
Adventure Quest
The online Flash game ‘'Adventure Quest’’ is a “lunch break sized” RPG that takes place in the land of Lore ( Although it is argued that it is no longer like that any more). The game, though online, is single player, and uses online functions for updating the game easily and for wars. For a one time fee, you can unlock all the features in the game. This has been the cause for many a forum drama between free and upgraded players.
The main story is based around the journey of the Devourer Uncreator The’Galin to uncreate Lore and your attempt to stop the fiend. Nearly every war the game had has been directly or indirectly related to it. The plot and characters are simply amazing, but on the downside, most of the back story is on the forum, or other places you wouldn’t know to look.
For a one-time fee you can become a Guardian to buy more weapons, more quests, more places, etc. Since this isn’t a monthly fee, it can be worth it, but only if you have US$20 to spare, and are really into the game; otherwise, you're not paying for much. You can also buy Z-Tokens, whether you are a Guardian or free player, for strong weapons, spells, pets and other things . They add very little to the game compared to Guardianship. On the bright side, you can find Z-Tokens as a reward in some fights, but not very often, and only in small packs. The advent of the AExtra System recently does help, too.
The game doesn’t have only its simple fighting system to keep players enticed. Wars are special events used to move plots, where you enter a series of battles and each monster you and other players kill works toward a certain number to fight the boss for rare event items. You can find mini-games, though not many, in quests. Housing is a big feature, too. You can clear your space of land, start building and even get monsters to protect your house. The downside is that most of the things for houses cost Z-Tokens.
It is joined with the following series afterwards: Dragonfable (set 5 years prior to AQ), Mechquest (5000 years prior to DF) and Adventure-Quest Worlds (which is a multiplayer version set ten years after AQ and in a parallel universe)
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This game provides examples of:
• Adam Smith Hates Your Guts: Played straight, and painfully so with every level 60+ AND the ubers. Oh god, the price.
• Affectionate Parody: Too many to name. The Salek, Lord Arrrthas, Bruised Lee, need I say more?
• Amusing Injuries: Anything that happens to Twig, since he is widely considered to be a) cute and b) really, really annoying.
• Anvilicious: So kids, you must never, ever challenge a god, even when he and his Mooks walk all over you and threaten to being about The End Of The World As We Know It. He must apparently have some ulterior motives we mortals can never understand, and must be negotiated with with utter modesty, for Humans Are Bastards.
• Anyone You Know: At the start you are asked for your name, and in Death’s Domain you can randomly time travel back to change it.
• Anti Grinding: Both played straight and averted. Most quest and war monsters are level scaled. There is also a cap on how much EXP and money you can farm a day. However, the most powerful stuffs you can get, the Uber Equipment, carve a huge chunk off the properties of even the wealthiest man in Lore, and require ridiculously high level to unlock their full potential. So yeah…
• Arc Welding: Carnax got attached to the Epic Quests got attached to the Nightbane storyline, and the result got really, really confusing in places. The worst of it all is seen in the ending of the Devourer Saga
• Art Evolution: Since the game has expanded so much in the time it's existed, there's been an enormous change in the art. The forum-based "encyclopedia" even has a catalogue of old monster pictures.
• Author Avatar: Artix Entertainment rule: Any NPC is the Author Avatar of one member of the staff. NO EXCEPTION, as of MQ. The most famous is, of course, the creator himself, Artix von Krieger/Adam Bohn. He is not a Marty Stu. Most of the time.
• Badass: Artix von Krieger. Much less than his DF Artix “I’ll take 50 million” von Krieger incarnation, but still a badass. Oh, and when it comes to badassery, pretty much EVERY PLAYER at capped level are an incarnation of this trope in the game world.
• Battleship Raid: Carnax. Boy, a REAL Battleship Raid is included in its brother project MQ, what else would you expect?
• Bittersweet Ending: At the end of the Devourer Saga, the world is saved, but a bunch of NPC has been Killed Off For Real, and we get the impression that all of this is our faults to begin with.
• BFG: A Take That to TV Tropes Wiki, perhaps?
• BFS: Loads, many of which in the form of your Giant Clone’s weapons.
• Boss In Mook Clothing: Many of the higher level random battle monsters are. There are entire thread-spanning discussions on how to bring’em down.
• Bribing Your Way To Victory: Guardianship and Z-tokens.
• Broken Aesop: Humans Are Bastarda, but the god who judges the world used to be one too. So Yeah…
• Crapsack World: This is what the world appears to be in The’Galin’s view. It might as well be without the Rule Of Funny to back it up.
• Cherry Tapping: Averted. As monsters are scaled to your level, if you go out without good equipment or impose any handicapped upon yourself, some Random Encounter monsters can own you. Hard.
• Church Militant: The Paladin Order is implied to be this, in service of the Elemental Lord of Light.
• Complete Monster: Ryusei Cartwright. However the Unfortunate Implication would have you believe, rest assured that I am not talking about that Ryusei. Zorbak also tries to be this, with little success.
• Cool Horse: If you see a rider armor with requirement higher than level 60, chances are it will be an incarnation of this. Although not literally.
• Cool Sword: Any sword with a name. Which mean practically every sword in existence. The most notable being the Blade of Awe, and the name says it all.
• Copy And Paste Environments: A close brother of Art Revolution above.
• Cosmic Keystone: 8 Elemental Orbs and the Orb of Creation.
• Cosmic Retcon: The staff are currently explaining away some of the more memorable plot holes as a result of Galanoth killing "the Dragon of Time." This may or may not be explained in the future.
• Daddy's Little Villain: Gravelyn in AQW is Sepulchure's kid. She even wishes to avenge her father when he is destroyed.
• Dark Is Not Evil: The player can choose to become a Werewolf or a Vampire with the help of each respective species leader's help. Though being of the furrier of the two comes with a Light-based Mon, so meh. This is also lampshaded by the Necromancer Trainer.
• Dark World: Nightmare Realm. And Death’s Domain.
• Darker And Edgier: The end of the Devourer Saga is this compared to the rest of the friggin’ franchise. Anyone Can Die/ Killed Off For Real, Bittersweet/ Gainax Ending, subverted Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu TWICE in a row, Human ALL Living Beings Are Bastards/ Crapsack World undertones becoming OVERTONES, and a not-so-subtle You Can’t Fight Fate, and the world was this [] close to ending like that angsty anime with that whiny Super Robot pilot kid
• Death Is Cheap: If you die, Death will let you go scotch-free with no penalties.
• Degraded Boss: The fate of many a war boss, like Elder Vampires, Undead Paladins, Undead Skull Apes, and the Herd Boss is to be stuck on the random encounter list. Lampshaded when, after your character has to defeat Drakath the dracolich as part of a quest, they wonder, "Who keeps reanimating that dragon?"
• Dem Bones: Many of the undead enemies. A Running Gag concern Artix’s devotion insanity in exterminating them with utter prejudice and courage that makes Guy Shishioh shiver.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu: Played straight with Galanoth above, but MAJORLY SUBVERTED with the two game-defining archenemies. AE has made it a point that gods and demigods cannot be killed in any situation, nor is it possible for a player to become an in-universe god. When The’Galin dukes it out against you in his first form, you get whooped with no chance of fighting back. And fighting the Cosmic Horror Carnax is stated by Word of God to be impossible. And it is.
• Dude Looks Like A Lady: The chibi-styled selectable forums avatar occasionally effeminate male NPCs a little too much. This Troper thought that one of the Artix avvies bear uncanny resemblance to Bella Swan…
• Dude, Where’s My Respect: Subverted. Most NPCs are exceedingly polite to you, and most opponents automatically regard you as a Worthy Opponent. Even when you are a Level 1.
• Eldritch Abomination: Subverted. Carnax regrets what his master makes him do and The'Galin knows full well what he's doing.
• Elemental Rock Paper Scissors/ Elemental Powers: Eight to play around with. Each element is strong against at least two and weak against at least two others.
• - Fire Ice Lightning.
• Enemy Civil War: Had it not been for this, the Network would have been invincible.
• Ensemble Darkhorse: Zorbak the EBIL NECROMANCER has a cult following nearly as devoted as that of Jeremiah “Orange-kun” Gottwald.
• Eternal Recurrence: Subverted in the end of the Devourer Saga: The world is safe… for now.
• Everything Fades: Only some things fade.
• Everything Trying To Kill You: Some of the random enemies are quite...unusual. Including things that really shouldn't be attacking you, like Paladins. Not to mention that one of the random encounters is a bush.
• Evolving Weapon: A few of the weapons in stores gains power as you gain level. Generally explained as either vampiric or enchanted.
• Failure Is The Only Option: Pulled out with all the Unbeatables to further fortify the weight of the anvil stated above
• Fission Mailed: In one quest that you have to do as the form of a cat, Death sends you back to the quest when you die because you are too cute to be taken. This is also used a few times in the main storyline.
• For The Evulz: Summarizes Zorbak’s harmlessly humorous tendencies.
• Gameplay Ally Immortality: You are the only one being targeted, and had the enemy known better, killing that Nerfkitten first might not be such a bad idea…
• Glass Cannon: Goggs pretty much exemplify it. They nearly always go first, and can, in some cases, blast you for 700 damage over the course of one turn, but can be taken out just as fast by a player who knows what they're doing. A player character build, the Annihilator Build, seeks to turn you into one of this.
• Global Currency: Gold and Z-Token. Although slightly subverted with the latter – Valencia is the main dealer in Z-Tokens.
• Goddamned Bats and Demonic Spiders: Sneaks and MANY of the high level Mooks. Some kills you if you cannot kill them within a preset number of turns. Did I mention they are pretty hard to kill in the first place?
• Good Bad Bug: The Knights of Order are cracking down on these AND the players who try to abuse them.
• Harmless Villain: Zorbak, most of the time.
• Heel Face Turn: Many of the villains, most notably Diviara. When even Zorbak joins you for the final battle, you know that this word has no Face Heel Revolving Door whatsoever.
• Hello Insert Name Here: You can even leave your name blank. Or change it. Or make it something extremely ridiculous.
• Hijacked By Ganon: Except it was old villains being controlled by an even older one.
• Hit Points: This is an RPG we are talking about.
• Hopeless Boss Fight: Several, including The'Galin and the Nightmare Queen. One of the most blatant ways to tell your character that gods cannot be touched by mortals.
• Humanity On Trial: The'Galin's plan.
• Humans Are Bastards: More like, “The entire world is made of Always Chaotic Evil creatures,” at least according to the Big Bad Well Intentioned Extremist The’Galin.
• Hurricane Of Puns: The creators know it. They consider it part of the game's campy and fun atmosphere, without which there would be no AQ.
• Idiot Hero: The player character can be a spectacular moron. Or Too Dumb To Fool. Or Too Clever By Half. Or all of the above.
• I Let You Win: Both subverted and play straight at the end of the Devourer Saga. Agent Smith was clearly not putting all his oomph into him, while the Devourer proceeds to give you a No Holds Barred Beatdown twice in a row.
• Improbable Weapon User: One weapon is a cupcake. This is an AE tradition that continues straight into Mech Quest with mecha. I kid you not.
• Incredibly Lazy Pun and Incredibly Lame Pun: The franchise eats puns for breakfast. Enough said.
• Inevitable Tournament: Wizard Games. Subverted in that the tournament’s goal is to achieve some of the best spells available in the whole game, but they are not essential to the plot.
• Inexplicable Treasure Chests: Lampshaded occasionally. One set houses the Infinity Plus One Cool Sword.
• Instant Awesome Just Add Mecha: At Mt. Thrall you can fight Titan sized monsters in an appropriately sized Mecha. And it has no point to the plot. Not to mention the Shiny Boy/ Sparkle Boy is arguably a Knightmare Frame, size and weaponries considered.
• Infinity Plus One Sword: This is pretty much the entire reason behind the creation and quest and farming for the Uber Sets. Brutally subverted in that it is thoroughly possible for you to get owned by said Bosses In Mook Clothing above while wearing the most powerful armor in the whole game.
• Its All Upstairs From Here: Both played straight and subverted.
• Its Up To You: So we have a mighty Paladin, a powerful Blue Mage (not that kind), a Vampire Queen and a Werewolf King (not that queen and king) on our side, among many others. And yet the PC has to do everything alone, from fetching wild veggies to holding off The’Galin when the rest prepares the final ritual.
• Item Crafting: Only weapons and spells. And only for members.
• Katanas Are Just Better: One of the most powerful levelable weapons in the whole game is the Katana series. Slightly subverted in that they are by no means the best, often defeated by the Public Domain Artifacts in the form of true full-set Ubers..
• Knight Templar: Galanoth does not like dragons. While this is not usually a problem, they're not Always Chaotic Evil, and he occasionally gets rather... overboard. This can also be said about Artix and the undead, or, when the story gets serious, it is revealed that The’ Galin is one of those as well.
• Leeroy Jenkins: An entire quest about him, in fact.
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