Lost Saga

This is only the tip of the iceberg.

Lost Saga is a Korean MMO that, like many others is free to play. The American version is hosted by OG Planet, famous for other games it hosts such as La Tale and Rumble Fighter.

The basic premise of Lost Saga (subtitled "Fighting Action Heroes" for reasons that become blatantly obvious really quickly) is taking heroes from all parts time and having them beat the snot out of each other. It's a primarily PvP MMO, but a PvE mode, called "crusade", pits you against NPC skeletons. The game boasts a unique feature in that you are not bound to having only one character at a time. In fact, you can have several heroes at once. You even get an XP bonus for having at least 2, and having 5 effectively doubles your XP gained. Sadly, the heroes all run on a timer, so you have to continuously hire them (in 2 or 10 hour increments, with exceptions if you like Bribing Your Way to Victory).

The game has a unique battle system. Heroes are given four basic equipment slots: a trinket slot, a helmet slot, an armor slot, and a weapon slot. Heroes initially have four pieces of equipment specific to them, which are returned to them on respawn. These equipment pieces all have different in-battle effects and skills. However, players can obtain "epic" gears, which are essentially base equipment, but with enhanced stats and the ability to be equipped to any hero of choice. Some combinations have been deemed to be game breakers.

One special aspect of the game is the fact that some heroes are actually based on characters from other media. Some more notable characters are Sol Badguy, Jin Kisaragi, Ragna the Blood Edge, and Hazama. These characters are given the title of "premium", and are only obtainable through the game's purchasable currency, and usually have more powerful equipment. There are non-premium characters from other media, such as Zorro and Capoeira a capoeira dancer.

Tropes used in Lost Saga include:

• Anachronism Stew: Just look at the image above.
• An Axe to Grind: The Viking Raider hero uses one.
• Anchors Away: May.
• And Your Reward Is Clothes: Epic Gears, which are basically different looking versions of the various Heroes' gear(that comes from gear chests or purchasable in the store) that can be equipped to any hero from your in-game inventory. They do, however, offer a bonus to the skill's cooldown rate and the associated stat(Strength for weapons, Defence for armor, Speed for hats, and Dexterity for accessories)
• Animal Motifs: Hazama's snake themed moves and May has dolphins. And then there's the Wild Tiger and Unicorn Lancer.
• Arm Cannon: The Heavy Crasher has rocket launchers for arms.
• Asskicking Pose: All the heroes do one as a sort of idle taunt. If you're too impatient to see, you can press the space bar to do it. It lasts a few seconds though, so you might want to clear a bit of space before doing it. Some heroes' poses are more Badass than others, though...
• Audible Sharpness: The Reaper is one of the last heroes that you can unlock. Swinging that scythe around makes a very satisfying "SHINK" sound. Since you have Implausible Fencing Powers as well, you can rack up quite the combo with it.
  • This actually applies to almost every weapon with a sharp edge in the game, actually. Most will make some manner of "SHINK" sound of their own.
• Automatic Crossbow: The Devil Ranger.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: The Mafia Boss and Hazama.
• Badass Longcoat: Captain Hook, Mafia Boss, Exorcist, Priest and Hazama all have one.
• Balloonacy: The Joker can tie his opponents to balloons and make them float away.
• Bare Your Midriff: Take a look at some of the female heroes. Special note to the female Desert Blader, who looks like a belly dancer.
  • Dark Monk's Robe: Rippling Abdominals.
• Beehive Barrier: The Heavy Crasher and the Crazy Sapper both have this for a helmet ability.
• BFS: The Savage Berserker, Sol Badguy, Ragna, and the Death Knight all use one.
• Blade on a Stick: The Tao, Magic Lancer and Chieftain.
• Blow Gun: The Chieftain's accessory.
• Boom! Headshot!: The weapon skill for the Musketeer hero.
  • Another of the Musketeer's skills is Sword Thrust, where he stabs with a rapier and kicks out. This kick looks a lot like the famous SPARTA KICK, especially if you kick someone over the edge. This, combined with Headshot, leads some people to call him/her the Meme-keteer.
• Boss in Hero's Gear: All of the enemies in Crusade mode. The mooks only have the weapons, but Bigger versions that act as actual Bosses have a full set equipped. Unless, of course, you're playing on Hard difficultly, then EVERYTHING you fight has the full set.
• Bottomless Magazines: Zig-zagged. Most Ranged heroes have a certain number of shots pre-loaded into their guns and have to reload after expending them all. However, neither the Space Trooper nor Robin hood need to reload their guns (or bows in the latter's case).
  • The Priest doesn't have to reload his shotgun at all.
• Bribing Your Way to Victory: This game is notorious for this.
  • In order to bypass the temporary hero system, you have to use the purchasable currency to own a hero permanently. Premium heroes don't even get a temporary option; they are only obtainable with the purchasable currency.
  • Certain perks, like server-wide chat and fancy fishing equipment can only be bought with the purchasable currency. Some of these perks can be obtained through other means, but only through events/repeatable quests.
  • Legendary-class gears take this Up to Eleven with the fact that they can usually only be obtained with the purchasable currency. They are obtainable through non-money means, but getting them this way is very difficult.
  • Treasure capsules are the only way to get special equipment before it's officially released. Although they are relatively cheap, they are Betting Mini Games, and the probability of getting the thing you want is set to be quite low.
  • If you want to make your Virtual Paper Doll especially stylish, you need to either level it up to asinine heights, or... use the purchasable currency. Most players take the latter route.
  • Want to give your friend something nice? That's great, but the gifting system only acknowledges the purchased currency.
  • Certain things, like upgrading a hero's stats, or using the auction feature, require the in-game currency. Sometimes, these things become a bit more expensive than your in-game wallet can handle. Of course, you can always use the purchasable currency to get copious amounts of the in-game currency...
• The Cameo: Crazily enough, Sol Badguy from Guilty Gear is now a playable hero (listed as a Premium Mercenary) in both the Korean and North American versions.
  • To make it crazier, now Jin Kisaragi from BlazBlue is a Premium Hero in the Korean version game. And the female version of him is Noel Vermillion - Two Cameos for the price of one!
    • Mercenary #50 is Ragna the Bloodedge, from the same game.
• Cane Fu: The Puppeteer.
• Capoeira: The Capoeira.
• Cartoon Bomb: Captain Hook uses these in stark contrast to the Sapper's mines and the Crasher's missiles.
• Cast from Hit Points: The Shaman's "Dark Pact" allows him to recharge his skills at the cost of some HP.
• Casting a Shadow: The Dark Shaman and Death Knight.
• Catgirl: The Wild Tiger hero and can be male or female, but it's just a person in a costume.
• Chain Pain: The Pro Wrestler uses this in his Clothesline ability.
• Character Level: Each hero levels up individually (and gives you a nice juicy Peso bonus every time they level up), and the player accounts level up as you play more so you can use more heroes. The player level requirement for heroes can be avoided by Bribing Your Way to Victory, which means paying real money.
• Charged Attack: Melee-type Heroes can do a "Charge Attack" by holding down the attack key. Ranged Heroes will use their ranged weapon if you hold the attack key, and the Mage classes will let you aim their magic spells(as well as shorten the cooldown on their skills). The Skills themselves can count as well since they have to charge up between uses.
  • Both the Grand Templar(Mighty Paladin in Korea) and the Death Knight have a more literal charge attack with their weapons, causing more damage the longer the charge is held.
  • Spartacus (Gladiator in NALS) has three skills that work like charge attacks, although the armor skill doesn't cancel when you don't time it right.
• Chinese Vampire: These guys appear in the Ghost Tag mode, where one character starts out as one and must infect other players who in turn must go out and attempt to turn each human into one.
• Clothes Make the Superman: In one of the first quests for leveling the Justice Defender hero mentions that he is just an ordinary guy with a super-suit (and shield).
  • In-game, the weapon you wield defines what hero you are. For example, if you are a Fire Mage (or wielding the staff of one), you can Double Jump, but you can't dash. If you pick up the Iron Knight's longsword, you lose the ability to double-jump, but gain the ability to dash. And then there's weapons like the Smile Joker's toy hammer or the Ninja's daggers that let you dash AND double-jump.
• Clothing Damage: Not actual clothing getting torn, but once your Hero runs out of HP, any further damage outside of being knocked off the edge of the area will make their gear fall off for others to pick up.
• Comeback Mechanic: When Ragna is low on health his weapon skill transforms from Inferno Divider into Black Onslaught.
• Conservation of Ninjutsu: When Teams are unbalanced, the team with fewer players gets a power increase. Also the point of the Boss Raid mode, which has 1 player (the boss) VS up to 15 others and the boss is, understandably, ludicrously powerful.
• Cool Mask: The Kage Ninja,Zorro, Pro Wrestler, Hawkeye and Devil Ranger all have one. The Justice Defender gets one in the epic version of his helm.
• Cute Bruiser: Due to the art style, all the heroes can be this. Or just the Female heroes
• Dance Battler: The Capoeira of course. A less traditional example is found in the Puppeteer. They have an armor skill, "Waltz", where they force their foe to dance with them for a few moments before throwing them.
• Dark-Skinned Blond: Each hero has a randomized default skin tone and hair color, and you can purchase skin tone, hair color/style, and facial expression changes in the shop so you can cause this trope on purpose if the defaults don't.
• Domino Mask: Zorro, of course, wears one.
• Double Weapon: Hawkeye has two.
• Drop the Hammer: The Smile Joker has a squeaky hammer that, when the special skill is used, becomes a 100 ton metal hammer that they do indeed drop on people.
  • The Mighty Paladin(Grand Templar in the US version) is equipped with a giant hammer.
• Dual-Wielding: The Kage Ninja dual wields short swords.
  • Saladin, an Arabian-themed hero, dual wields a long sword and a short sword.
  • Both of those guys are outdone by Hawkeye, who wields a pair of two-sided blades. He can also do this with another pair of circular blades. Chieftain wields a tomahawk and spear. Hazama occasionally wields two knives at once.
• Elegant Gothic Lolita: The Puppeteers dress this way. Premium character Rachel Alucard qualifies as well.
• Elemental Powers: Now in three flavors! Fire Mage, Ice Mage, and Lightning Mage!
  • The Magic Lancer has all three.
  • Special mention to a few Legendary Gears(Epic Gear-like armor, hats, and trinkets without an associated hero) that seem to grant people Wind Magic. There is also a legendary gear in the form of a fire orb that can summon flames that orbit around the hero.
  • The Tao Warrior seems to have wind and earth-based skills with his Wind Shock and Sky Shatter, respectively. The premium hero Chaos Dahlia has a wind theme going on with skills like "Cyclone" and "Like a Wind".
  • Jin Kisaragi uses ice powers in conjunction with his swordsmanship.
• Everything's Better with Spinning: The Tao Warrior's Wild Dance, the Viking Raider's Cleave, the Justice Defender's Tornado, and the Mighty Paladin's (Grand Templar in the US version) Windmill Hammer. The Capoeira takes this Up to Eleven
• Eye Beams: The Justice Defender's helmet skill.
• Face Design Shield: Spartacus's shield has a lion's face on it.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: The Devil Ranger due to his mask and accessory which looks like a single wing.
• Fighting with Chucks: The Xiao Long's weapon of choice.
• Flash Step: The ninja's and Grim Reaper's hat skills.
• Fridge Logic: If this game is about "Fighting Action Heroes", why is a playable Hero a MAFIA BOSS?
  • Note: This is justified in the Korean version where characters are known as "Mercenaries" and not "Heroes".
  • The Dark Shaman can reverse your controls, make you walk off the edge, and can sacrifice his own health to recharge these skills. Not exactly "heroic", but so very awesome.
    • Don't forget the Grim Reaper. I mean, really, THE GRIM FREAKING REAPER? How is DEATH ITSELF considered a HERO?
      • Death isn't that bad. I suppose the tropes Dark Is Not Evil and Psychopomp are related to this opinion. Also, a Mafia Boss could be considered Affably Evil.
    • Hazama. There is no way anyone can consider that embodiment of evil a hero.
• Gang Plank Galleon: The appropriately named Pirate Bay.
• Gender Flip: In the North America version, all heroes start out Male so you have to purchase the female version in the shop, so you can cause this whenever you want.
• Gendered Outfit: Most heroes. The least noticeable are the Crazy Sapper and Fire Mage, and the most noticeable are the Lost Samurai, Desert Blader, Smile Joker and the "Servant" outfit (the male and female outfits are almost completely different).
• Guns Akimbo: The Mafia Boss hero.
• The Gunslinger: The Cowboy.
• Hat of Power: Everyone.
• Highly-Visible Ninja: The Kage Ninja. The Shadow Assassin might also count, but they at least have a skill that renders them invisible(except on the mini-map)
• Hold the Line: Power Stone mode where two teams must defend their "Power Stone" while attempting to destroy the one belonging to the other team.
• Holy Hand Grenade: The Priest's trinket.
• Horny Vikings: The Viking Raider
• Hurricane Kick: One of the Xiao Long's skills.
• HP to One: Happens during several of the PvP gametypes when the timer runs out. Every player has their HP set to 0 and, unless it's Power Stone, respawning is disabled. If it's Power Stone you just rack up a longer respawn timer.
• I Know Madden Kombat: The Running Back.
• Improbable Weapon User: The Cyber Medic fights with a giant medicine needle that can be used to heal allies, and the Crazy Sapper swings around a landmine as an impromptu weapon for melee attacks. The Smile Joker also uses a TOY SQUEAKY HAMMER to beat people to death with. Said weapon is actually pretty darn effective.
• Instant Expert: Any hero can pick up any weapon or other piece of gear and know how to use it. Even if they're a Savage Berserker picking up a Space Trooper's Space Armor or a non-mage picking up a mage's staff. Although, this could just be some Story and Gameplay Segregation, seeing as the 'backstory' for the game is Heroes from all of time being brought together to bust each others skulls.
• Jet Pack: One member of each of the primary character types have them: Justice Defender for melee, Space Trooper for range and Cyber Meidc for magicians. Your character also gets a jetpack when relic hunting.
• Jousting Lance: The Unicorn Lancer.
• Knife Nut: The Mafia Boss, Special Force, Priest and Hazama.
• Lethal Lava Land: The two Volcano stages.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: The Justice Defender is the most notable example. The Spartacus hero uses his in one of his active skills and the Viking's shield works as a passive defense to all attacks on him from behind.
• Macross Missile Massacre: The Heavy Crasher's specialty via his weapon and trinket skills.
• Magic Knight: All of the mages are pretty capable at using their staves as melee weapons, of course, but some more notable examples would be the sword wielding Exorcist, the Tao Warrior who uses a spear alongside wind and earth based magic and the more recent and appropriately named Magic Lancer.
• Make Me Wanna Shout: The Rockstar does this with his trinket, a megaphone.
• Making a Splash: Some of May's attacks have water effects.
• Marionette Master: The Puppeteer.
• Megaton Punch: The Boxing Champ's Nuclear Punch skill.
• More Dakka: The Infantryman's Barrage Skill. Also the Minigun Legendary Gear.
  • The Mafia Boss "hero" dual-wields fully automatic handguns...which he/she can reload on the fly.
• Ms. Fanservice: Most of the female Heroes.
  • Some of the female heroes are dressed sensibly, some are dressed purely for the fanservice, and some combine the two. The Fire and Ice Mages wear full-length robes (even though they wear high-heeled boots) and the Tao Warrior wears an armored robe/dress. On the other hand, the Space Trooper sports Zettai Ryouiki, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense, since she is supposed to be wearing a space suit. The Cowgirl is wearing a shorter-than-a-miniskirt, so she probably shouldn't be doing too much jumping or rolling. They also seem to cater to specific fetishes such as the Taekwon Master's Sarashi or the Reaper's black corset.
    • Let's not forget about female hero wearing epic gears. ESPECIALLY not the Epic Iron Chestplate, which is full armor on male heroes, and a Chainmail Bikini on female heroes.
    • Actually, the case with the Female Space Trooper can be argued as a kind of Fridge Brilliance. I mean, apparently nobody needs a spacesuit in space, so what's the point of restraining yourself to the clunky thing and not making it a bit lighter for extra agility?
• Multishot: Robin Hood's weapon skill.
• Musical Assassin: The Capoeira with his drum and, more blatantly, the Rockstar.
• No Export for You: Zorro isn't coming to the North American version for copyright reasons.
• Palmtree Panic: The Water Park stage, with emphasis on "Panic" since you can get washed away by the current if you're standing in the lower levels at the wrong time.
• Pistol-Whipping: Most gun wielding ranged characters use their gun as a melee weapon for at least one of their melee attacks. If they don't than it's only because they have a different weapon they use for melee.
• Poisoned Weapons: The Chieftain's Blowgun.
• Power Armor: The Heavy Crasher Hero says hi.
• Power Glows: Most Epic Gears glow. Namely quite a few of the weapons. The Mages also glow when charging/aiming magic and the Charge-up Attacks for the Grand Templar and Death Knight cause their weapons to glow as the charge is held longer.
  • The epic Sapper Mines are especially notable due to their Tron Lines.
• Precision-Guided Boomerang: Hawkeye's blades.
• Rainbow Pimp Gear: Mostly averted as the epics for each hero mesh pretty well together. Of course, nothing's stopping you from "optimizing" your character for Boss Raid by equipping the epic Ice Robe (blue/white), epic Lollipop Headband (purple), epic Tao Blade (red/gold), and the epic Cyber Jetpack (pink/white)...
  • The "Gear Design" item added to the game allows players to avert this by customizing the look of epic and legendary gear.
• Rain of Arrows: Robin Hood's Accessory skill. The same goes for Magic Lancer's Accessory.
• Reverse Grip: The Kage Ninja holds their daggers like this.
  • Sol Badguy also does this.
• Short-Range Shotgun: Seen with both shotgun users, the Treasure Hunter and Priest
• Sidetracked By the Golden Saucer: Sure, you could save the world by beating down the undead in Crusade mode...or you could go fishing for some very valuable Vendor Trash. Or buy yourself a Relic Hunting Kit and dig up some free Epic Gears.
• Sinister Scimitar: The Desert Blader/Saladin wields two of them.
• Sinister Scythe: The Reaper, naturally. Ragna's BFS turns into one when he uses Black Onslaught
• Spikes of Villainy: The Death Knight.
  • The Necromancer to an even greater extent.
  • The Devil Ranger has a light case of this as well.
• Spin Attack: The previously mentioned Tao's Wild Dance, Viking's Cleave, Defender's Tornado and Templar's Windmill Hammer. Spartacus also does this with his morningstar and Hawkeye does this with his secondary weapons--a pair of circular blades. The Capoeira's entire arsenal is made up of these. May's weapon and armor skills are two different kinds of spin attacks.
• Spinning Piledriver: Pro Wrestler's armor skill.
• Stuff Blowing Up: The specialty of the Crazy Sapper and Captain Hook heroes, as both employ Explosives. The Sapper can place landmines and call in an Airstrike, while Captain Hook just throws bombs at people.
  • Heavy Crasher likes this trope. His Trinket does, too.
• Suplex Finisher: The Pro Wrestler's Helm skill.
• Sword and Gun: The Special Force heroes do this with a pistol and knife. The Priest does this with a shotgun and short sword.
• Sword Lines: These are seen on nearly every single bladed weapon (and some blunt ones too) with each character getting their own distinct color.
• This Is Gonna Suck / And the Fandom Rejoiced: During the early years of LS, some heroes were "released" to the game in the fact that the only way to get them was via Treasure Capsules. Currently this only happens with Epic/Legendary Gears.
  • This also happens before every update. Lots of people get hyped up for what they're going to get, then rage on the forums after the update patches.
  • The same can be said for Korean Lost Saga updates, since North American LS gets spoilers from some forumers.
• Throw Down the Bomblet: Captain Hook and the Crazy Sapper.
• Unstable Equilibrium: Boss Raid mode, to some extent. If it's a full 15 vs. 1 boss, then that boss will have a very,very hard time...until he/she gets those first few KOs. Each KO boosts the boss' power up a bit, as well healing him/her. So once a chain of KO's has been started, the boss will rip through the players like so much wet paper.
• Use Your Head: This was inevitable since every helmet has a skill attached to it. No two headbutts work the same, though. The Iron Knight's version stuns the enemy, the Viking combines this with a throw, the Berserker does a charging version and the Lancer does a triple headbutt attack.
• Weaponized Headgear: Since every cranial accessory has some ability it grants the wearer this is to be expected.
• Weapons That Suck: One legendary armor makes your character look like a servant or maid and gives you a vacuum that can drag your opponent towards you--or drag them off a platform and spiraling to their doom.
• Wolverine Claws: The Shadow Assassin uses these.
• You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Invoked. You can buy a multitude of anime hair colors in the shop, such as the obligatory blue, red, or white.