Skylight

Skylight is a turn-based RPG for the PC released in January 2011, created by The D, the same person behind The Demon Rush. It follows GTAL officers Melissa Mills and Tyler Foreman as they try to stop the Skylight Symbiote and its many variations from destroying Canada. Along the way, they’re joined by baker and Queensman Erin Mitchell, doctor Simon Cole, Diamond Claw member Gregory Brenner, and new GTAL cadet Bethany McCloud.

The game can be purchased here for $8. Alternatively, Mikwuyma has a playthrough of it in several lengthy parts on twitch.tv.

Tropes used in Skylight include:

• Absurdly High Level Cap: Competency Level can go up to 100, but you won’t reach that until Chapter 7, where it’s easy to grind levels.
• Abusive Parents: Ella’s parents. It’s the reason she becomes Queen of the Underworld.
• AI Roulette: Enemies sometimes don’t make the smartest decisions. For instance, they can douse one character (making them highly vulnerable to fire), then use a fire attack on a non-doused character.
• The Alcoholic: Tyler.
• All There in the Manual: The Reference menu contains a lot of information about the battle system, characters, terminology, etc.
• Apocalypse How: Class 0. Winnipeg gets destroyed by the Anti-Symbiote, along with many other cities.
• Arbitrary Headcount Limit: You can only have 3 characters in your party at a time.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Among the many alcoholic drinks Tyler orders in the bar is a glass of water.
• Awesome but Impractical: Gregory’s ultimate attack, Phenomenon Flare. For starters, you need at least a Competency Level of 90 (and the level cap is 100), which likely won’t happen until Chapter 7. Second, you need to max out every other point in his Miscellany tree (which takes 49 levels), plus 5 for each of his other 8 skill trees (40 levels), before getting it. This, of course, means Gregory won’t have as great of a weapon specialization. Finally, when you actually cast Phenomenon Flare, it uses up all his weapons, ammo, and SP. Although the loss of the first two can be circumvented by putting them in storage beforehand, that means he can only use fists.
• Bonus Boss:
  • The fights for the biomachines for Tyler, Erin, and Gregory in Chapter 6. For Simon’s and Melissa’s, you just fight a large group of enemies.
  • The bosses in Theus’ Castle.
• Bonus Dungeon: Theus’ Castle.
• The Cameo:
  • Someone in Vancouver will try to sell you Demon Rush merchandise.
  • Theus’ Castle is named after the bonus dungeon from the Demon Rush. Also, the main music that plays is a remix of the final dungeon music from that game, and the boss fight against John A. uses a remixed version of DR’s final boss music.
• Counter Attack: Some characters can get this. Tyler can even counter other teammates getting hit, and Bethany can get Counter Douse.
• Critical Research Failure: Skylight: The Series is completely untrue to the main characters and their experiences.
• Cut and Paste Environments: So many areas look exactly alike.
• Dark Reprise:
  • During Chapter 5, the town music in Toronto changes to a darker version, since Indestructibles have become increasingly common, and the streets are no longer safe.
  • The music that plays in Kitchener in Chapter 6 is a darker version of the music that plays when Bethany first appears.
• Defend Command: Halves damage, and gives a 50% damage increase to the next attack.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: When an Indestructible and one of your teammates are in a certain position, it looks rather...suggestive.
• Duel Boss: Melissa against Alicia in Chapter 6.
• Endgame Plus: Once you complete the game, you can make a save to access Chapter 7, which allows you to fly to Charlottetown and enter Theus’ Castle.
• Fire-Breathing Weapon: Flamethrowers.
• Fun with Acronyms: GTAL (Greater Toronto Area Law). Later in the game, NCO (New Canadian Order) and NDC (Neo-Deconfederates).
• Glass Cannon: Bethany. She has 50 HP, and it can’t be raised at all; instead, you can increase her Defense by up to 30 points, and raise her evasion.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: Everyone has competencies for it, although Tyler is best at it.
• Guide Dang It:
  • It’s easy to get lost or forget where to go. Thankfully, the Story section of the Reference menu tells you where you need to go. However, due to the isometric perspective, you might not know where, for example, northeast is (north is upper right, east is lower right).
  • You never know when a building has an outstanding warrant, unless you talk to someone at GTAL Headquarters.
• Handguns: A type of competency.
• Hello, Insert Name Here: You can't just type names in, though.
• Hopeless Boss Fight:
  • When you first fight the Symbiote-possessed Walker, none of your attacks (besides synergies, which ignore evasion) will connect. Once Melissa and co. figure out that its weakness is cold, the next fight goes better.
  • The first fight against the Impossible. All your attacks deal 0 damage, and it deals massive damage to you. You have to lose to continue.
• Jack of All Stats: Gregory. He doesn’t have a preferred weapon competency, and can learn various healing and offensive abilities.
• Kill It with Fire: The Indestructibles. Using the Douse-fire combo on regular enemies and bosses works great, too.
• Kill It with Ice:
  • Symbiote-possessed Walker.
  • Walker Plus, which is basically a harder version.
• Leaked Experience: Competency Level is shared with all party members, even if they haven’t joined your party yet.
• Lightning Bruiser: Erin, who is the fastest (+10 speed from competencies, and +5 speed from her biomachine), specializes in shotguns (which can potentially deal a lot of damage, and cover a wide area), and can take a decent amount of damage.
• Limit Break: Synergies.
• Loads and Loads of Characters: There’s so many named characters, you’ll likely have a hard time keeping track of them all. Thankfully, you can check the Reference menu if you ever need to know who’s who.
• Loads and Loads of Loading: Cutscenes later in the game take longer to load than those earlier on, especially if you have a slow computer.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Shields reduce damage taken when worn.
• Magikarp Power: Most passive skills require a lot of points to start becoming useful. For example, damage with a weapon can be increased in increments of 5%, and caps at 20 ranks (for a total of +100% damage).
• The Medic: Simon.
• Multiple Endings: The ending changes based on two things: whether you get the other character's biomachines, and whether you beat the Chapter 7 Bonus Dungeon.
• Palette Swap:
  • A lot of the human enemies look very similar.
  • Theus’ Castle has palette swaps of Indestructibles and the Impossible.
• Peninsula of Power Leveling: Theus’ Castle in Chapter 7 has enemies that are guaranteed to give you a level (or more, depending on how many bonuses you fulfill), and bosses grant 3 levels.
  • Also, the penultimate and final bosses of that dungeon give 5 and 10 levels, respectively, although you’ll likely hit 100 by then.
• Point of No Return: Flying the Little Chugger to Ottawa triggers the final sequence against the Impossible.
• Preexisting Encounters: You can see the enemies before you engage them in combat. However, you can’t just walk around them; you have to fight them, and there’s no escape command.
• Random Encounters: During Chapter 5, Indestructibles will sometimes appear when traveling between town screens in Toronto.
• Recurring Boss: Norman Lockie, Adrian Howes, and (seemingly) Max Bismark. The fights against his Fountain Creature and Indestructible forms was actually against his brother, Kenneth.
• The Reveal: Beating the final Bonus Boss in Chapter 7 unlocks John A.'s final report, which states, among other things:
  • John A. is actually Max Bismark.
  • Simon Cole is actually David Fitzpatrick; the real Simon died years ago, and David assumed his identity.
• Rouge Angles of Satin: Grammar is mostly correct, but the rare error pops up, like this one from late-game:

Tyler: Hey, Bethany. I could hear you gasp alway the way from the GTAL entrance.

• Save Point: Green lampposts. You can also save in any area devoid of enemies.
• Schizophrenic Difficulty: In one instance, you’re forced to use Melissa and Tyler, and you face enemies that can use douse and fire, which can deal massive damage and easily kill. Not too long after that, when you have Tyler and Bethany, you face a single enemy per battle, and they use pistols, which deals far less damage.
• Show Within a Show: Skylight: The Series.
• Sidequest:
  • There are several buildings with outstanding warrants; defeating the “boss” of the area grants additional money.
  • Once you get Bethany’s biomachine (which is close to the end of the game), you can collect the other 5 biomachines for your characters.
• Short-Range Shotgun: They’re most effective when you’re right next to an enemy. Erin can increase the area of effect, but being up close still does more damage.
• Small Name, Big Ego:
  • Norman Lockie. He calls himself the king of chaos, yet none of the party members know of him, and Melissa forgets about him almost as soon as she and Tyler beats him at the beginning of the game.
  • One of the unnamed scientists in Vancouver, who designed the Sharp / Sharper / Sharpest Shot competencies for Pistols. He insults you for thinking that the names aren’t good.
• Sniper Rifle: One of the weapons, which deals more damage from farther away.
• Spiritual Successor: To The Demon Rush, if only because it’s made by the same person, and contains several similar tropes.
• Stone Wall: Melissa, who has low speed and a good shield competency.
• Theme and Variations Soundtrack: The same riff can be heard on multiple tracks.
• Time Skip: The game will occasionally skip ahead weeks, months, or even years, with little to no warning.
• Twenty Minutes Into the Future: The game takes place during the 2020s and 2030s. Surprisingly, there’s not a lot of futuristic technology.
• Weapon of Choice: While each character can learn competencies in various weapons, they generally have one weapon that they’re best at (because that skill tree is much bigger than the others).
  • Good Old Fisticuffs: Tyler.
  • Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Melissa.
  • Short-Range Shotgun: Erin.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: When Walker is possessed by the symbiote, he refers to himself as "we", hinting that the symbiote has a mind/minds of its/their own. Nothing comes of it.
• You All Look Familiar: You’ll see a lot of similar looking people and enemies throughout the game.