Soul Nomad & the World Eaters

"Tell me, who's the baddest of the bad? The maddest of the mad? The killer of kings and destroyer of worlds?"
—Gig

A 2007 strategy RPG title brought to you by the good people at Nippon Ichi Software. It's a Darker and Edgier take on their usual formula, and could best be described as 'Ogre Battle on a power trip'.

Soul Nomad is set upon the island continent of Prodesto, in the world of Haephnes. Two centuries ago, Prodesto was united under the hero Lord Median The Conqueror, and prosperity reigned for a time. Though Median's reign would be cut short by a pandemic that claimed both himself and his son, his daughter Layna soon emerged as a worthy successor to Prodesto's throne.

Unfortunately, a mere fifty years later, Prodesto would become the landing spot of an evil god of death known as Gig. With the aid of his "pets", titanic golems known as "World Eaters" (no not THOSE "World Eaters", he grinded Prodesto into the dirt, slaughtering most of the population and scorching the landscape into a barren wasteland.

When all hope appeared lost, Layna appeared before Gig and defeated him in single combat. Without their master, the World Eaters fell dormant. However, the scars of their rampage remained etched into the land, and Prodesto continued to decay, with the birth rate falling and crops growing more poorly with each passing year. All the while, the frozen World Eaters towered over the populace, a constant remainder of the terrible power that could reawaken at any time.

Two centuries later, a young warrior (named Revya by default) and their childhood friend Danette are preparing to become official guardians of their village, one of the last bastions of human civilisation left in Prodesto. On the day of their appointment, they are gifted two weapons by village elder Layna: Danette receives a pair of magic kukri, while Revya is given a black onyx sword.

Upon grasping the handle, the onyx sword is suddenly revealed to be the resting place of Gig himself, who immediately attempts to possess Revya's body and resume his reign of destruction. His possession is foiled by Layna, so Gig makes a deal: he will grant Revya a tiny sliver of his godlike power in exchange for being allowed to share Revya's body as a "soulmate". However, the second that Revya overuses this power, Gig will use the foothold in Revya's soul to seize complete control.

Strengthened with Gig's dark powers, Revya is sent out into Prodesto along with Danette to destroy the dormant World Eaters and Save the World. Hilarity Ensues.

Soul Nomad is also known for an infamous Villain Protagonist campaign called the "Demon Path". In this alternative storyline, Revya decides that it would be a better idea to use the awesome destructive powers of an evil god to do whatever the hell they want, and with the gleeful encouragement of Gig, starts down a path to ultimate power as the tyrannical "Devourlord". Then it gets worse. Much worse.

Tropes used in Soul Nomad & the World Eaters include:
  • All Girls Want Bad Boys: Gig believes this in his ending if Revya is female after the rest of the cast starts shipping them, but really it's subverted, most of the female characters can't stand him.
    • Mostly, it's just Danette, seeing he insults her the most of the cast aside from Levin.
  • An Axe to Grind: Redflanks carry around a large axe that also functions as a boomerang.
  • The Antichrist: The intention behind the creation of Gig. Foiled by Layna in the game's default route; Gone Horribly Right in the Demon Path.
  • Aristocrats Are Evil: Hawthorne, a closet Complete Monster.
  • Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Gig's sums up Drazil as being like a graveyard because of how every aspect of a person's life is controlled, to the point that they have to be told what to think. Oh, and the world has no hotpods.
  • Authority Equals Asskicking:
    • Every unit you can deploy has a Leader, and every manikin inside of a unit contributes a percentage of their stats to the leader of that unit as a constant bonus as long as that manikin is alive. Thus, if for example you stack a bunch of identical manikins with identical levels in a room, the one designated as leader will have significantly higher stats than its twins.
    • In-story, we have The Masters of Life and Death, as well as the World Rulers, who are Overseers, and if Gig is any hint, they can drop the hurt on you.
  • Ax Crazy: Everyone in the Demon Path. Some aversions are usually insane and/or dead.
  • Badass: Endorph, so much. Also, Gig.
  • Badass Bystander: You can attack random townspeople. Most of them go down easily, but occasionally, you'll find one stronger than the final boss.
  • Badass Family: Median, Layna and Revya.
  • Badass Longcoat: Endorph. Phantom Brave players will recognize him as Walnut the bounty hunter, and he's taken a serious level in badass since then.
  • Becoming the Mask: Implied, and later confirmed, if you're headed for the Levin ending.
    • Also to Levin/Raksha in the Demon Path, when he decides that Good Feels Good.
  • Big Bad: Drazil. Revya in the Demon Path.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Soul Nomad LOVES this trope to a T. Endorph is a regular subscriber to this. Including the Demon Path, he has about 5 moments. Not just him, but Christophe, the remaining residents from the Hidden Village, Grunzford... There are a lot of Big Damn Heroes moments, to summarizes.
  • Big Good: Virtuous.
  • Black Market: Yesterwind, headed by Lobo. A popular commodity of theirs is children.
  • Bonus Boss: It's a Nippon Ichi game. Of course, it's going to have them. Asagi, Median and Lujei.
    • And in case you haven't noticed, old favorite Baal is missing.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: The Asagi fight ending.

Gig: Oh please! You're trying to play the victim? We can't even move on with the story because you destroyed the world! Now we gotta start all over again! Seriously, thanks a lot!

    • This is especially hilarious as Gig and Revya initially act as though they have absolutely no idea what she's talking about. As soon as Revya agrees to let Asagi take his/her lead role, however, that's when the Fourth Wall really begins to break.
  • Break the Cutie: Trish in the Demon Path comes pre-broken due to her adoptive father being a serial rapist.
    • Played for Black Comedy laughs in the Demon Path, where this happens to Galahad as he witnesses Revya's atrocities unfold, eventually going insane and imagining himself first as a salesman (of the 'buy now, and I'll throw in a second absolutely free' type) and then later as a Prism Ranger.
  • Broken Aesop: Most outstanding one given by Cuthbert to Agrippa in the Demon Path. When questioned why he's working with Revya and Gig when he doesn't seem like that horrible a person, Cuthbert launches into a sad, serious explanation of his brother's illness and his determination to find the cure at any cost. Almost seems like a Pet the Dog moment when he warns Agrippa not to make the same mistakes as him... then fails when he names the consequence of doing so as just going bald.
  • Butt Monkey: Odie. The man is so pathetic, even the other characters pity him.
    • Ironically though, Odie Took a Level in Badass in the Demon Path, with even Dio, his relative and the most powerful sorcerer in the world, acknowledging his growth.
    • Galahad in the Demon Path.
  • Card-Carrying Villain:

Gig: What? You did not just call me a 'hero'!

Gig: "...That's it, I am ROYALLY FREAKING PISSED! I'm gonna rip off your head and shit down your neck you overgrown asshole!! [...] NOW KICK THE SHIT OUT OF THAT BITCH!!"

  • Combination Attack: You're able to use skills that will activate after your attack, involving, well, combos with other characters. This ranges from a targeted attack on the leader to something capable of clearing the entire board.
  • The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: During Inspections, enemy leaders sometimes ignore Decor disadvantages. For instance, "Antimatter" gives you a 90% boost to defense (making you nearly untouchable) at the cost of turning everyone in the room into a One-Hit-Point Wonder: take any damage at all, and you're dead. Leaders still take normal damage.
    • Another example of cheating is that the computer will keep letting other units take their turns before you despite your turn being listed as the next. It seems to happen when the computer attacks you and you kill the squad that attacks you, it keeps going until they stop sending squads at you or you end up killing everything
  • Crossdresser:
    • Penn. Justified: he was raised by an One-Gender Race.
    • Vitali. He found out Kanan's true gender this way. Then, in his ending, he opens up a restaurant and serves his customers... wearing a dress.
  • Cutscene Incompetence: 'Dio'/Odie is treated as totally pathetic. Even his brief, dramatic triumph is shattered when the real Dio reveals that the spell Odie successfully broke after much effort had been severely weakened by the passage of time. In actual gameplay, he's quite effective. Justified by the fact that he wasn't that incompetent in the story either, he just thought he was. His brother is still better than him statwise, but you never get a chance to have both of them on your party at the same time, so it hardly matters.
  • Cutting Off the Branches: Revya appears in Disgaea 3 as a female.
  • Darker and Edgier: Soul Nomad as a whole, compared to other Nippon Ichi games. In other news: the Demon Path.
  • Dark Messiah: Kanan, priest of the Thurist Cult. They worship Thuris, the only World Eater that's really active at the start of the game.
  • Dark Reprise: Take Levin's theme, arrange it so it sounds more chaotic and add some Ominous Latin Chanting. The end result is Crash Landing, Raksha's theme.
  • Deader Than Dead: If the Masters of Life don't want to put you back in the cycle, well, bye.
    • Subverted for the World Eaters victim: they can release the souls they've eaten. And if they die, the souls are automatically released.
  • Deadpan Snarker:
    • Gig, baby!
    • Revya becomes this during the course of the story, taking on some of Gig's traits.
  • Deal with the Devil: Gig attempts this with the player character. Pretty often, and rather loudly.
  • Demonic Possession: Gig's possession of the player character, which is botched. For a more successful example, see also: Raksha, to Levin.
  • Despair Event Horizon: Nearly everyone in the Demon Path, but especially Shauna, whose in-game vocals change to hollow monosyllabic grunts after her sister dies. Thorndyke almost literally crosses this after he believes he's killed his son, to the point where he's so broken that he's unable to come back to sanity even when it turns out that he didn't.
  • Dimension Lord: Haephnes and Drazil rule their respective worlds named after them.
  • The Ditz: Danette and Levin. Though Levin... not so much.
  • Don't Fear the Reaper: Vigilance.
  • Dropped a Bridget On Him: Vitali learns, to his surprise and/or horror, that Kanan might just be a man. Well, he would know these things.
  • Dual-Wielding: Danette's twin sickles.
  • Dub Name Change: The game's title went from Soul Cradle to Soul Nomad and a couple of characters had their names changed, possibly due to trouble with pronunciation (example: Juno was originally Jost, which was pronounced Youst).
  • Duel Boss: The second Feinne fight is an odd example, you CAN summon others to the fight, but as your level is boosted by 2000, and your foe is 1000, they do nothing more than take an attack for your main character.
    • If you use the item after you summon your allies, their level is boosted as well.
    • The Gestahl battle in Drazil.
  • Dysfunction Junction: By midway through the Demon Path, most of your group is outright insane in one fashion or another.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: The nature of Drazil is sufficient to make even Gig disgusted, as he declares quite loudly by claiming the whole place's nothing but a graveyard whose inhabitants just happen to be mobile. And most importantly, there were no hotpods.
    • Every sane villain regarding the player character actions in the Demon Path.
  • Evil Is Easy: Subverted; the Demon Path is much harder, you'll only be able to beat it if you play it a New Game+.
  • Evil Is Not a Toy:
    • The basic premise of the game subverts this, in that using Gig can (hopefully) save the world. Also, both subverted and played straight in the Demon Path; played straight with Gig and the player character, but subverted when Dio releases Raksha to try and stop you, and it works. Or, at least, Raksha does end up on his side.
    • Case of it playing true in the main story the king of Raide tries to use a crimson tear to control Feinne Gig states that this won't work, and, of course, it turns out he's right. This instead causes Feinne, who before was just sitting and doing nothing, to level a large portion of the landscape and then kill the king.
  • Evil Laugh: The Thurists love to do this, being an insane Doomsday Cult. And Gig wouldn't be Gig without this trope.
    • Interesting to note that Gig actually finds the Thurists laughing creepy.
    • Also Revya in the Bad Ending of the Demon Path.
  • Evilly Affable: Gig. And almost everyone in the Demon Path.
  • Evil Sorcerer: Kanan, and to a certain degree, the real Dio.
  • Explosive Breeder: Implied to be Penn's fate when he turns 18. His "reward" for going along with the Nereids Wife Husbandry bid is to have kids with every adult Nereid, starting with Juno.
  • Fallen Hero:
    • Revya in the Demon Path. And by fallen hero, I mean Big Bad.
    • Also Thorndyke in the Demon Path. Painfully.
    • Gig was originally a kind hearted Grim Reaper until he was killed and Drazil turned him into the psychopath he is during the game. In essence, not exactly his fault.
  • Fluffy the Terrible: When Revya decides s/he should get a cooler name during the Demon Path, Gig tries to suggest 'the BFF' (yes, that's right, 'Best Friends Forever'), but is sadly shot down. He gets his comeuppance when he names The Empire 'The BFF Empire' in Revya's absence.
  • Forgotten Childhood Friend: Lobo to Christophe.
  • For the Evulz: Rivers of blood! Mountains of flesh! A glorious world of pain! Feeble humans crushed like insects they are! Yeah, Gig really, really enjoys destruction for its own sake.
    • Apparently, the Devourlord annihilates the worlds because of this. See his/her last line in Demon Path's Bad Ending.
  • Friend to All Children: Juno.
  • Gainaxing
  • Gambit Pileup: The plot turns out to be one massive plan by Layna and Virtuous to make Gig and Revya destroy Drazil (the world that neighbors Haephnes) in order to restore the correct flow of souls which was originally upset by Drazil manipulating Median into slaying Vigilance, the Master of Death of Haephnes. And that isn't even counting Dio and Gestahl's plans to restore Gestahl to his true power as Median, by killing Drazil and his Masters of Life and Death; Raksha's plan to become a god and destroy Drazil and his Masters of Life and Death; and Thuris' plan to fuse with Feinne and Raksha and.... do something else afterward. He kinda fails before he gets the chance to explain his grand plan.
  • Gameplay and Story Integration: Several characters in the Demon Path have their in-combat vocals change to match their mental state in the new scenario: most noticeably the hero, whose new tone is decidedly villainous, but also Shauna and a few others at key points.
  • Getting Crap Past the Radar: This game contains implied rape, murder, slavery, genocide, and thirty three uses of the word shit. It's also rated T.
  • Goldfish Poop Gang: 'Dio' and his lackeys, the latter are perfectly aware of their status, and spend much of their time trying to make the former see past his inferiority complex and realize this. He eventually takes their advice and joins you, becoming a much happier person as a result.
  • Gollum Made Me Do It: The duality between Gig and the main character in Soul Nomad and The World Eaters is somewhat like this despite Gig being an intruder in your mind and not a creation of it. In many cases it's not so much 'Gig made me do it' as it is 'Gig made the other guys do it to me so I had to defend myself'. It goes both ways in their case: by the end of the game, the protagonist has gotten more brash and trigger-happy, much like Gig, and Gig has become a great deal less Omnicidal.
    • Subverted in the Demon Path, where everyone thinks this at first, but where Gig openly admits that he's just along for the ride.
  • Good Feels Good: Raksha in the Demon Path.
  • Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: Christophe is Good Smoking (pipe), Lobo is Evil Smoking (cigarette). The two were former associates.
  • Green Rocks: Well, red rocks, but Crimson Tears seem to be capable of whatever the plot requires at the moment, from binding souls and breaking barriers to teleportation and opening portals to other dimensions.
  • The Grim Reaper: Gig is a 'master of death' -- a being who should technically do the standard duties of the grim reaper.
  • Guest Star Party Member: Endorph.
  • Heel Face Turn: Dio, Raksha and even Drazil in the Demon Path.
  • Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Dio of the Evil Eye/Odie, who says he's a legendary wizard, but in reality is just the leader of a Goldfish Poop Gang with an inferiority complex (him, not his buddies). He later turns out to have been the only failure in magic to have ever been produced by a legendary clan of wizards, and was so ashamed of himself that he took his older brother's name. He gets over it and joins your party.
  • Infinity-1 Sword: Room variant: Hades' Despair. Downside: when your Stamina hits o, you die. Upside: it increases your stats by 1% each time you lose a Stamina point. Now when you realize you can up the percentage to #5 per point loss, you can have your stats almost up by 300$
  • Infinity+1 Sword: Room variant: Cat's Cradle. Its power depends on how cycles the player has completed. Note that this includes a new cycle caused by a Nonstandard Game Over.
    • Which crosses it with Disc One Nuke, since a reliable way to farm cycles is to constantly impale yourself against Feinne, which is, what? The fourth battle? And accepting Gig's deal, time and time again until you are satisfied. That or blazing through the Demon path, which is much shorter than the normal path.
    • It gets even better when you can max out the room from 10% to 35%. So for each cycle, you can have 35% boost in stats.
  • Ironic Hell: The Good Ending of the Demon Path. If you lose the final battle, Revya is sealed into the same sword that Gig once inhabited, only with Danette for company.
  • It Got Worse: Again, the Demon Path.
  • Hero Antagonist: Thorndyke.
  • Heroic Comedic Sociopath: Gig.
  • Heroic Mime: The player character, though s/he does speak during battles, not to mention getting an epic Evil Laugh in the Bad Ending of the Demon Path.
    • In Disgaea 3, Revya (female, if you must know) still doesn't talk, although Gig certainly does. Mao has to use magic just to give her attack noises.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Endorph (again) and Gig, though Gig comes back to life (Endorph too, but you only find that out in his ending). In the Demon Path, Danette lets Revya kill her in battle so that she can turn into a Crimson Tear to be used against Revya and Gig after her death.
  • Hey, You: Gig RARELY calls anyone by name. To list them: Revya: Kid/Soulmate. Danette: Stupid Cow. Levin: Man Cow. Odie: Sluggo. Grunzford: Gramps. Layna/Virtuous: Old Hag.
  • Hidden Elf Village: The hidden village the protagonist comes from. Averted in the "hypocritical" aspect, as it was pretty much the only way to protect them from the World Eaters.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: Drazil, Virtuous and Gig in the Demon Path's Bad Ending. Drazil in the normal story - his plans to use Gig backfire either way.
  • Hopeless Boss Fight: Feinne. Although you can defeat her in subsequent cycles, leading to the Bonus Boss Battle with Asagi.
    • At least Soul Nomad has the decency to tell you this, with the win condition for the level being "everybody dies". Though given that Feinne is level 1000 at the fourth fight of the game, it's pretty obvious you're supposed to lose even without being told you're supposed to.
  • Humans Are the Real Monsters: Double subverted with the Nereids. Their attitude towards humans is closer to humans are untrustworthy rather than full on humans are bastards. They are also more fair than other believers in this trope, prefering to look at it through a case by case basis. The ones that are judged to be decent people however....
  • Human Shield: Thuris attempts this. It's ruined by the kidnapee having a piece of Applied Phlebotinum implanted in her. He also tries it in the Demon Path. Fails even worse, because Revya couldn't care less what happens to Penn, and Penn thinks it's awesome.
  • The Imp: Gig during his more lucid moments. Not having a body probably has something to do with it.
  • Interspecies Romance: The Nereids have to do this, as they're an all-female race.
    • Also possible between humans and sepps.
  • Jerkass: Gig. Mainly because he's not allowed to express himself fully and kill you all, so he resorts to being an incredible jerk instead. Gig's Character Development first becomes noticeable by the fact that he actually refrains from his usual obnoxious comments during truly tragic episodes later in the game.
  • Just Between You and Me: Averted, and played straight. After Levin/Raksha is through explaining he's duped you all, Endorph tries to kill him, revealing that the Levin talking to you was an illusion. He then lampshades this. Strangely enough, he then later showboats away his rematch with Endorph by pissing him off by insulting Euphoria and dropping his guard. He did have his true form to fall back on, but it's weird he fell prey to the trope he had insulted just a day ago.
  • Kick the Dog: ...Even without taking into account the Demon Path, this game has enough for three series.
  • Kick the Son of a Bitch: Cuthbert stabs Lobo to death.
  • Kid with the Leash: The player character.
  • Killed Off for Real: EVERYONE in the Demon Path.
  • Knight Templar: Drazil. And by extension, Gamma and Joules.
  • Laser Guided Tykebomb: Revya/Gig, targeted at Drazil.
  • Lethal Chef: Euphoria. Literally.
  • Let's Play: Ironically done by someone actually named Feinne.
  • Level Grinding: It's a Nippon Ichi game. Your level can literally go over nine thousands. You can beat the normal storyline without grinding, however.
  • Luke, I Am Your Father: Median is revealed to be the player's father. Immediately after they kill him.
  • The Magnificent: Admit it. The Devourlord is an awesome, and intimidating, title.
  • Mama Bear: Juno, to Penn.
  • Man, I Feel Like a Woman: Averted; if a female Revya elects to take a bath after being possessed by Gig despite the text suggesting she has concerns about just this kind of thing, Gig mentions he doesn't care. In spite of that, you get twice the boost to Gig's Relationship Value as a female than if you choose that option with a male Revya.
  • May–December Romance: Male!Revya with Juno (28 years old) in her ending. Juno with Penn in the others (35 to 18).
  • Medium Awareness: Averted for the most part; like in Phantom Brave, the fourth wall breaks and Genre Savvy is kept to a minimum. Asagi is the main exception.
  • Mike Nelson, Destroyer of Worlds: Asagi. After winning the first battle against Feinne, Asagi attempts to take the lead role from Revya and Gig and in an attempt to show Gig up, she blows up the planet. Winning the battle rewards you with Asagi as a playable character and Gig pissed off that they'll have to start the game all over again.
  • The Mole: Initially, the game tries to make Vitali and Christophe look like moles, but in the end, they really are on Revya's side. The real mole is Levin.
  • Multiple Endings: Nippon Ichi in general is a huge fan of these.
  • My Future Self and Me: By abusing the Timey-Wimey Ball, you can unlock the past-era Median as a usable character, then arrange to (briefly) have him in your party at the same time as the modern Median, at least during the Demon Path. Nobody comments on this... though granted, the fact that you have the past version Median at all is a matter of Gameplay and Story Segregation.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Gig in Demon Path's Good Ending.
  • New Game+
  • Nice Job Guiding Us Hero
  • Noble Demon: Gig, after considerable Character Development. He's still a jerk though.
  • Nonstandard Game Over: Some of the dialogue choices lead to this (but the game warns you ahead of time). Generally, they involve taking Gig up on his offer of (huge) additional power- in exchange of your body.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: Levin.
  • Offscreen Moment of Awesome: The build-up to Endorph's final Psycho Burgundy is excellent, but the impact was never shown.
  • Older and Wiser/Took a Level in Badass: Endorph, whom you might remember from Phantom Brave as Walnut, the Jerkass with a bit of a Social Darwinist streak who made life much harder for poor little Marona. Now he's Just Like Robin Hood, a Big Damn Hero, and inspires the weak-willed to become stronger, which earns him the hatred of Dark Action Girl Shauna.
  • Omnicidal Maniac: Gig and The Devourlord. Despite their names, the World Eaters are not.
  • One-Woman Wail: "Crying for the Dark Sky", Thuris' theme song. Bonus points in that the one woman wailing sounds just a little like Kanan's VA.
    • Also present in the theme songs for Fienne and Drazil.
  • Only Sane Man: Revya. "I am going to sleep 'cause everyone is stupid."
    • Also, Vitali (although he does have some, ah, quirks). Gig...thinks he is.
    • In the Demon Path, Lobo is the sane one in your villainous team, having the common sense to betray you in the end. Thorndyke and Shauna, too. Initially.
  • Our Angels Are Different: They look like midgets that carry shotguns and sound like kids. Lobo lamshades this as he's holding Agrippa's grandma hostage with a knife to her throat.
  • Our Mermaids Are Different: Nereids. Distrust humans but are generally benign, yet very flirty (they require Interspecies Romance to reproduce).
  • Out, Damned Spot!: Cuthbert.
  • Painting the Fourth Wall: In The Stinger when Gig is reincarnated, he goes through the same character creation process as the player (even selecting his name the same way) does at the start of the game, snarking at the proceedings all the way.
  • Pettanko: Juno. As are most Nereids. It helps them swim better.
  • Pet the Dog: Subverted in the Demon Path where Revya saves the life of a angel just so that s/he could kill her friend right in front of her. This behavior is also mocked when Lobo is revealed to be a traitor in the Demon Path, specifically if you choose to say that you trust Lobo, his Freudian Excuse kicks into play and he leaves you, claiming that people who trust each other are fools. Gig mocks him for it.
  • Petting Zoo People: Sepps are part cow.
  • Plot Tumor: A good portion of the game is unrelated to the titular world eaters, Gig notes this and provides the quote for the trope's page. Subverted. Every single one of those quests was the grand plan of Levin, who is actually one of the World Eaters.
  • Purposefully Overpowered:
    • The Gideon class, which becomes available after you beat the game once. They've been compared to Majins in Disgaea: Hour of Darkness for how broken they are.
    • The "Demon Force" Tactic, a 11th-Hour Superpower received right before the final battle of the Normal Path, can greatly hasten the Level Grinding during "Inspection Room battles" when combined with the right decors.
  • Refuge in Audacity: Most of Gig's lines. Most of Revya's actions in the Demon Path.
  • Relationship Values: Built by interacting with characters during downtime and performing combo attacks. They determine your ending.
  • Religion of Evil: Kanan is the high priest of a cult that worships Thuris, a World Eater.
  • The Reveal: Levin also answers to 'Raksha', and he wants to be a God.
  • Rocket Punch: Not that you would expect that kind of stuff when you first start the game. The attack description goes along the line of Heavens will fall on your head.
  • Screw Destiny: Subverted. It takes you to really bad places.
  • Seashell Bra: Alexemia, the Neraid queen, takes this a step further with seashell nipple-covers.
  • Sharing a Body: Revya and Gig.
  • Shipper on Deck: Grunzford and Lady Layna A.K.A. Virtuous ship Gig and Female Revya in his ending.
  • Shoot the Shaggy Dog: Both versions of the Median ending. To put it into perspective, in the Victory version of the Median ending Revya and Gig die of Scarlet Iago and are turned into weapons by Drazil.
  • Shoulders of Doom: All the gods in the game, including Gig, wear these, though they actually hover above their shoulders. Your main character gains Gig's Shoulders of Doom whenever he/she uses Demon Blast. Gig's Shoulders of Doom can also turn into wings.
  • Shout-Out: Gig, upon being pressed on info on Feinne, claims it can 'fly at 5 million miles an hour and shoot freaking lasers from its eyes, but can't see through lead and is totally weak to a certain element from its homeworld'.
    • He also mentions that one World Eater can move at hyperspeed and create tornados by running in circles. Gee, who could that be?
    • Dialogue before taking down Raksha is a slightly less obvious Shout-Out to Soul Eater, including questioning Gig whether souls are tasty and combining the might of his and Revya's souls to unleash an Eleventh-Hour Superpower.
    • There's another Shout-Out to Superman later in the form of the classic Phrase Catcher.

Odie: What's that up in the sky!?
Rockum: Gyarahga! (Dat's a bird!)
Sockum: Kryuruku! (It looks so plain! Teehee.)
Odie: No! It's the legendary dragon, Sluperam!

    • Also, to Disgaea's favorite superheroes in the Demon Path. Galahad tells Trish that he'll find her missing feathers. What does he call himself? Prism Beige. By this point, Thorndyke, Trish and Galahad are completely off their rockers. Gig must be awesome at Break the Cutie.
    • The Real Dio has the Triforce in his chest.
  • Sinister Scythe: Gig's. And when the main character performs their special attack, Demon Blast, the Onyx Blade turns into a red scythe at the end of the attack and appears to slice the foe in half.
  • Smug Snake: Thuris and Drazil, Gamma and Joules.
  • Stable Time Loop: The Median ending causes a very unusual one of these.
  • Stealth Hi Bye: Vitali is a master of this technique.
  • Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum: If you win the final battle of the Demon Path, Revya kills both Haephnes and Drazil and erases both their worlds from existence, killing everything on them and him/herself with it. And his last words after doing so:

Revya: It doesn't matter. It was fun.

  • Supernatural Aid
  • Tactical Rock-Paper-Scissors: Ranged > Magic > Melee > Ranged, with some variation for flying/monster units. Can be devastating, as your high-level archers do 0 damage against level 5 knights. Oddly, it's only the "leader" of the squad that determines this bonus - a mage-led squad of knights is treated as a magic unit for RPS purposes.
  • Team Mom: Shauna in the Demon Path. Until later when Trish dies, at which point she, too, utterly gives up on the world.
  • Theme Music Power-Up:
    • Gig has three leitmotifs, "Bad Boys", "Desperado" and "Rock 'N Rocks": when the two latter start playing, heads will usually roll. In the Demon Path, however, "Desperado" usually plays when something really bad is going to happen/is happening.
    • When Endorph gets seriously pissed off, a certain song that Phantom Brave players will recognize starts playing. That is, "R&R Junkiee" a.k.a. Walnut's Theme.
  • Timey-Wimey Ball: In the Median Victory ending, should Gig and Revya go back in time fight the guy who started this whole mess and win, they get turned into two of the World Eaters. This means that even in non-Median time travel plots, you're fighting alternate future versions of yourselves.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Gig and hotpods.
  • Video Game Cruelty Potential: Using edicts such as 'Kick', 'Fight' 'Steal', 'Kidnap' and 'Combine' on Innocent Bystanders boosts your stats, gives money, or allows you to recruit characters you can't buy at this point. Just don't try it on people who can't fight back, or you'll have Heroman to contend with.
    • Or posters for that matter.
  • Video Game Cruelty Punishment: The aforementioned Heroman. You'll probably beat him the first couple of times, but he gets stronger every time you have to deal with him. Also trying to steal from Innocent Bystanders and failing will put you in debt very quickly.
  • Villainous Crossdresser: Kanan and Penn during the Demon Path.
  • Villain Protagonist: Gig. And Revya, A.K.A. the BFF, during the Demon Path.
  • We Cannot Go on Without You: All of your troops are only present via Gig's materialize ability, channeled through Ravya. If Revya dies, your entire army vanishes into thin air and you lose.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Demon Path is your way to say this to the old hag.
  • Wife Husbandry:
    • Hawthorne's 'Judge Turpin-like habit of raising girls to the age of 17 to rape and murder afterwards.
    • Also the Nereids' plan with Penn. Given their generally benign (although they distrust humans) nature, they do care about him as a person (much like he actually prefers to live with them over other humans). One of them (Juno) treats him as her son.
  • A Wizard Did It: See Lujei's Soul Nomad Character page for full details.
  • World of Badass
  • Xanatos Gambit: The possession during the opening sequence was orchestrated by Layna, who predicted the outcome. If Gig doesn't try poesssion, he stays locked up. If he does and fails, his power is used to wipe out the world eaters. If he tries and succedds, Layna can stuff him back in his can. Lots of people actually, but Levin/Raksha's is the most jaw-droppingly magnificent.
    • Though Layna's gambit backfires epically in the Demon Path, since she didn't anticipate that you would be worse than Gig.
  • Yandere: As mentioned on the Grim Grimoire page: Lujei, Lujei, Lujei.
  • You Bastard: Demon Path takes this to the extreme.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: This leads to Kanan's Karmic Death.
    • Later, Drazil, Gamma and Joules do the same to Thuris instead of reforming him. They also try it on Feinne, but Revya Mercy Kills her first.
    • Finally, your entire party and Gig in the Bad Ending of the Demon Path.
  • You Will Be Spared: Gig mentions that he will keep hotpods if he ever gets to destroy the world.
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