Video Game / Various Daylife

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The game sets in the coastal city of Erebia, located at the southern edge of the continent of Antoecia that has mostly gone unexplored save the city in question, under the jurisdiction of the empire. The player assumes control of a colonist, who has just disembarked at a port within Erebia and is tasked with helping to maintain the city by taking up jobs and to explore the rest of the hitherto-unknown continent with the aid of some fellow colonists.

Tropes:

• 2½D: All character models and locations are in three dimensions, but traversing the town and going on expeditions is limited to a two-dimensional plane.
• Action Initiative: "Vanguard", the Job Trait of the Sylphspear Job Class, lets the person with such a class act first at the start of a battle, but only on the first turn.
• Aerith and Bob: The names of allies range from unusual (e.g. Efil and Melhard) to fairly conventional (e.g. Adelaide and Bruno).
• After-Combat Recovery: While on an expedition, any character who gets incapacitated due to their HP being dropped to 0 during combat is able to get back up and continue traveling with their teammates should the other teammate(s) manage to win the battle, though the amount of their HP being restored this way is only one point.
• The Ageless: The second phase of the game reveals that Antoecia is cursed so that none who live there ever age or permanently die (save for bodies completely beyond recovery, like the ones the royal soldiers threw into lava) at the cost of no new lives being born, with Prince Aelfric calling himself invincible and noting how much in-game time has passed since the start of the game without the player or their friends ever growing older.
• The Alcoholic:
  • Melhard is very fond of alcohol, many social interactions with him outside of the church take place while he's consuming alcohol, the annual festival of choice that he participates in is the Beer Fair (in which participants brew their own beer and get to sample-taste beer brewed by others), and his own statement makes it clear he appreciates celebrating his birthday only due to being treated to drinks.
    Melhard: And now I get to drink liquor I wouldn't normally drink myself? Maybe birthdays aren't so bad after all.
  • The proprietress of the Tavern, where alcohol is served and Efil works as a Server (her default job class), loves consuming alcohol as much as she loves selling it. One of her statement is that she'll drink anything as long as alcohol is in it, be it sweet or bitter.
• Arbitrary Headcount Limit: Despite making various allies, an exploration party can only include four characters, including the main protagonist.
• Artificial Human: The final expeditions of the story reveal that Efil is a magically created idealized version of Wórlphrmn, as an attempt to both free herself from the land's ruins and vicariously live a life of happiness and friendship that she never could.
• Auto-Revive: The Lutist's ability "Always Together" bestows this onto the affected party member for three turns.
• Bait-and-Switch: One such example occurs for comedy when Bruno, as Herbalist, is about to teach the Player Character the work task of "Analeptic Compounding" and, with it, the "Resuscitation" Ability, right as Gilda comes barging in and screaming about fighting the final battle... of beating deadlines from various forms that she, as Secretary, has been tasked to complete.
• The Beastmaster: The Beast Tamer job class. Not only is its Job Trait being able to find beasts on expeditions, its initial Ability, "Call Beast", also allows the character to summon a beast that has been captured during an expedition to aid the team as well.
• Becoming the Mask: According to Melhard, an aristocrat had hired him to pretend to be a Servite — a member of the clergy — to infiltrate a corrupt merchant, but he had to flee for his life after his cover was blown. When he arrived in Erebia, he dons the moniker of a Servite again since that was what he knew, but the folks in the city treated him as a real deal and he has taken the job class title for real since then.^note  It's actually his default job class when the playable protagonist meets him for the first time.
• The Bet: A comedic example takes place among Bruno, Melhard, and Reubens in the "Aufguss" introductory session, in which the three of them compete in the bathhouse over who can last inside the sauna the longest and the last one to leave gets a drink at the Lantern for free while the other two foot the bill. It ends with Orion, as Saunaweister, offering to treat all three of them a drink.
• Big Brother Instinct: Bruno is quite protective towards Willa. All of the job classes he acquires — first as a Warrior, and then a Herbalist, and finally a Shaman — since his arrival on Antoecia are for the sake of being able to protect/help her more, and his personal request ("Bruno's Request") has him asking the Player Character for guard duty while he takes Willa outside Erebia to see a bit of Antoecia beyond the city walls.
• Big Eater: Gilda.
  • After completing an expedition quest requested by her ("Gilda's Request"), which involves finding and gathering a particular type of food item for a cook who's a friend of hers, she thanks the protagonist by ordering many dishes — included, but not limited to: stew, pizza, and scalloped potatoes — and, to top it off, saying they can order for more if they desire so.
    Gilda: I'll get us started with a smoked ham salad, the stew, and some assorted fritters. We mustn't skip their signature scalloped potatoes. That's what we went to get the ingredients for. And we'll want to get the pizza with their house sauce, and the marinated fish... We can always order more if this isn't enough, so don't worry.
  • On her birthday, the prospect of having to pay for her order ruins other birthday attendants' mood.
    Gilda: Well, I suppose it's time to start eating to my heart's content!
    Bruno: [frowns] Um... try to keep your heart's content within our budget if you can...
    Melhard: [sighs] So we are picking up the tab after all?
    Efil: [frowns] Oh boy, this isn't going to end well.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: After seemingly exploring all of the continent, getting awarded for it, and watching the credits, continuing the game extends the story and reveals Prince Aelfric, the man responsible for funding the exploration of Antoecia, is an Evil Overlord whose soldiers are killing those very explorers and disposing of the bodies in lava in order to try and locate the last of the ancient race that once dwelled there, in order to harness the island's curse of immortality for his own purposes.
• Bookworm: Roselta loves reading and research. For bonus points, her default job class is Scholar.
• Call-Back: Played for Drama, since the results of some plot-relevant quests are brought up in their respective subsequent ones.
  • The expedition team makes their way to the Volcano at the end of the "Geological Investigation" quest, only to be turned away by the sylphspears, which Melhard reminds others of at the start of a subsequent quest ("The Caldera's Stench").
  • At the end of the aforementioned quest ("The Caldera's Stench"), Melhard manages to lure the sylphspears being stationed at the Volcano via a distraction to allow the rest of the expedition team to come across certain papers there. In its subsequent quest ("Confidential Matter"), Melhard brings this incident up before divulging in more details about what the expedition team needs to do next.
  • One of the results of the "Confidential Matter" quest is Orion Offing the Offspring in an effort for a Mercy Kill, which Orion himself mentions in his personally-issued quest "Atonement".
• Can't Drop the Hero: When going on explorations, the main protagonist must always be included in the limited party.
• Celebratory Sky Lanterns: Every year at Erebia, the citizens celebrate the Lantern Festival as a Due to the Dead. Despite the game's Western-inspired setting, the traditional Chinese-style sky lanterns are used.
• Character Customization: At the start of the game, you choose your character's looks and name, though the gender is always male. At the port authority, your character's backstory (migrant/citizen/noble) and skills (good shape/intellectual/nimble) determine their starting stats.
• Chef of Iron: Phanna is a Cook who joins the team later on in game and can be selected for expeditions. After she joins, the Cook job class allows the playable protagonist to become one as well.
• Combination Attack: By seizing a CHAnce for higher damage, the protagonist will initiate one of these with one of the other party members.
• Conveniently an Orphan:
  • Bruno outright confesses to having grown up alongside Willa without parents before arriving on the continent.
  • Melhard confides that he was already living in the streets when he was old enough to remember, with no traces of his parent(s) in living memory.
  • Roselta discloses that she grew up without any family, parental figures included.
• Counter-Attack: The innate ability of the Executioner causes the character to automatically strike back against the opponent inflicting physical damage to him... sometimes.
• Dance Battler: The Dancer job class allows the character to become one. It provides attack buffs to a chosen ally through an ability (physical attack via Lion Dance or magical attack with Peacock Dance) and deals direct damage onto a chosen opponent using Sword Dance.
• Death Mountain: The Mountains, located in the southeastern region of Antoecia, is one of the areas the protagonist's team can explore on expeditions.
• Delicate and Sickly: Willa, Bruno's younger sister, is a frail, wheelchair-bound girl. As a result, Bruno's Big Brother Instinct drives him to explore some Job Classes (first as a Warrior, and then as a Herbalist, and finally as a Shaman) in his effort to help her more.
• Draw Aggro: The Dancer ability "Provoke" lets the user become the opponent's primary target for three turns.
• Due to the Dead:
  • The Lantern Festival, one of the annual festivities in Erebia, was founded with the concept of giving reverent remembrance to those who lived and died on Antoecia, as the narration text illustrates.
    At last, the Lantern Festival had arrived. Once a year, the people of Erebia would gather to remember and honor the spirits of those who once inhabited the continent. Small lanterns could be seen floating above the city throughout the day and night — lending a mysterious and otherworldly air to the proceedings.
  • Adelaide initiates the "Search Request" Quest to Bruno's guild in the hope of finding any traces of her knightly subordinates, be they alive or deceased. At the end of the quest, all the party can find is a single blade belonging to one of her subjects. Since the location is in the Snowfields and there's been quite a lapse of time, Adelaide is quite certain the missing Knights will never return home and gives words of prayer on their behalf after Melhard suggests so. This would, in turn, lead to her acquiring the Cleric Job Class.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Some of the allies show up right at the start of the game or at least quite early in the story, some time they become your expedition partners.
  • Orion, who's known only as "Salamandswords Capt." at this moment, has a brief dialogue with Prince Aelfric.
  • Adelaide addresses to the Player Character right as he disembarks onto Erebia, though she's only labeled as "Knight" at this juncture.
  • Roselta has a brief interaction with Gilda while the latter is in the midst of registering the Player Character into the official records as a new resident.
  • Phanna is formally introduced shortly after the Player Character meets her following his residency registration on Antoecia, but she has yet to join the team for the time being.
  • Reubens is initially known as "Fashionable Youth" until he's given a formal introduction, though, like Phanna, it'd still be some time before he actually joins.
• Eating the Enemy: A less direct version in this game. Dealing the finishing blow on a targeted opponent with the Cook's ability "Full Course" turns said opponent into a Lunch Box that can then be consumed to recover lost health while traversing through the wilderness in expeditions. This method also works on some bosses.
• Enemy Scan:
  • The Secretary job class has the "Examine" Ability that lets the user discover relevant information about the targeted opponent.
  • The Scholar job class lets the character do this automatically via its "Prep" Job Trait.
• The Executioner: The Executioner job class, naturally.
• Fatigue Mechanic: Jobs, which are integral for Level Grinding, decrease the Stamina of the Player Character, some more than others. The lower the Stamina is, the more likely the Player Character is to collapse even if the player manages to complete an assigned job, which not only breaks the work-chain bonus but resets the experience points in all stat areas as well. The player can have the protagonist's Stamina restored via resting at the house the Player Character lives in, relaxing in the public bathhouse, and/or consuming foodstuff being served at the Cafe or one of its next-door restaurant stalls.
• Gone Horribly Right: Played for Laughs when it involves Roselta teaching the Player Character an Ability via a work task.
  • During the visit made by the Player Character and Efil to the palace archives for a book Gilda has requested Efil to acquire for her, they find Roselta in the midst of sorting books. Deciding to have the books put away via a quick-and-easy method, Roselta performs wind magic to send all the books back onto the shelves, but the spell proves a bit stronger than she realized and ends up causing more mess than intended. Funnily enough, this is how the Player Character acquires the "Greater Wind Magic" Ability and the "Research into Wind" work task.
    Roselta: Strong squalls do not make for optimal organization, do they...
  • When Efil requests help from Roselta and the Player Character to deal with the problem of mice infestation at the Tavern after Roselta acquires the Sorcerer job class, Roselta obliges by casting a curse that is intended to addle the mice enough to make them easier to catch via traps... only to end up causing the curse to be a bit too strong, resulting in the mice fleeing the Tavern en masse, which, in turn, incites panic from the customers witnessing the scene and threatens to endanger the reputation of the Tavern, much to Efil's dismay.
    Efil: [Playable protagonist], remind me to ask you for help when Roselta isn't around...
  • Due to Reubens requesting for Roselta to help relieve Gilda of her stress after Roselta has obtained the Sorcerer job class, Roselta performs a hex on Gilda to make her more uninhibited with the intention of lessening Gilda's stress, with the Player Character being summoned to be present as intermediary. While the ritual does accomplish what's intended, it also makes Gilda more prone to emotional outbursts, causing her to lash out at Reubens and become a Mood-Swinger for the duration of the hex's effect.
• Handsome Lech: According to a sailor at the wharf who can offer services like fishing to the playable protagonist, Reubens tends to get flirty with the womenfolk he meets and provides services for in his jobs, but none of the girls in Erebia seems to think highly of him, much to the sailor's bafflement, as Reubens is young and good-looking.
• Hello, [Insert Name Here]: The player decides what the main protagonist's name is, as well as appearance.
• Hope Spot: Played for Laughs when the Player Character is to learn the Tailor job "Measuring" and its corresponding Ability "Measure" from Reubens, who eagerly awaits Gilda to show up... and instead finds Bruno arriving with Adelaide, the latter of whom informs Reubens that Gilda has too much work to fulfill Reubens's task and has asked Bruno to fill in for her instead, which greatly disappoints Reubens, though he still goes through the lesson.
• Hypocritical Humor: Before celebrating the Rain Festival, the annual festivity event that involves Roselta, Roselta gives the Player Character a bowl of bean soup and expresses indignation for the Player Character's seeming look of suspicion at being given food by her. After the bean soup is consumed, however, Roselta states that "the contract is in place" for the Player Character to work as her assistant for the festival and confesses that the bean soup is basically to compel the Player Character into helping her that day.
• Identity Amnesia: Efil claims to have no memories of her past prior to drifting ashore and being found at a shoreline at Antoecia one day. Towards the end of the story, upon learning that she's a magical copy of Wórlphrmn, she starts to have dreams consisting of Wórlphrmn's memories.
• Instrument of Murder: The weapon of choice for the Lutist is, well, a lute. That being said, the main purpose of a lute is to augment the Lutist's magical power when they cast spells, as it increases the user's Intelligence (the higher the user's Intelligence, the more powerful the user's spells), not Strength.
• Intrepid Merchant: The character with the Merchant Job Class becomes one, especially since its Job Trait, "Fundraising", lets the character in question find money randomly while on expeditions.
• In-Universe Game Clock: Run internally in this game. While shops in town are open 24/7, jobs that yield experience points for Level Grinding may be available only during daytime, only at night, or always available for the duration of the week, depending on the jobs in question themselves.
• Ironic Echo: At the start of the game, the Player Character meets Melhard, who stops the Player Character en route to his own house and strikes up a conversation, which includes Melhard stating "If you ever need help with anything, you send for me." During the negotiation with Melhard over the quest he makes ("Missing Friend") before the party heads out to fulfill it and Melhard declines Bruno's condition of asking him to join Bruno's expedition team in exchange for agreeing to take on Melhard's quest, the prompt (the only one, at that) the player gets to select is to tell Melhard "You told me to send for you if I needed help.", which compels him to comply, if reluctantly.
  Melhard: Hey, that was—! I didn't mean it like—! Just let me think for a minute... Look, why don't we discuss this after you've done what I ask?
• Item Amplifier:
  • Universal Coverage, the final Ability for the Herbalist, lets the Herbalist make the targeted ally's item affect everyone in the team instead of one person at a time — helpful when using a high-grade healing item that only works on one person by default.
  • The Courier Ability "Delivery" Ability makes any attack item being used by a character affected by said Ability more powerful for three turns.
• Item Caddy: Some job classes grant item-related utility, though they must be unlocked via their respective expeditions first.
  • The Server's innate ability, "Dessert", increases the amount of health that gets restored from Maximum HP Reduction after consuming any food items while the expedition team is camping.
  • "Gathering", the Job Trait of the Herbalist job class, allows the character to pick up a random herb with certain healing ability (HP, MP, revival, etc.) while trekking in expeditions.
  • The Hunter job class allows the character to randomly hunt down a sighted animal and turn said animal into Deer Jerky (food items that can be consumed to regain HP lost due to Maximum HP Reduction) during expeditions via its Job Trait, " Tender Victuals".
  • The Courier job class comes with many item-related benefits.
    • It comes with three additional item slots by default through its "Parcels OK" Job Trait, which is helpful when trekking through terrains on expeditions, especially in harsh weather conditions.
    • Moreover, the "Pickup" Ability allows the user to filch an item from the targeted enemy if successful.
    • The "Redelivery" Ability replicates the effect of a previously consumed item, creating a "free item" effect.
  • The character with the Cook job class may acquire foodstuffs that can be consumed while camping during expeditions. Which food items the Cook might find varies, depending on the terrain the team members happen to be in during expeditions (fish in the marsh, dairy products in the mountain, etc.).
  • The Merchant Ability "Economy" generates the "free item" effect, as the character affected by it will use items without depleting the team's stock for three turns.
• Job System:
  • There are 27 job classes among which the playable protagonist can switch, some of which are available earlier compared to others.
  • To a lesser extent, each of the nine allies the player can take to accompany on expeditions has three different job classes he/she can select among after said allies join the team and/or unlock their respective available classes.
• Jungle Japes: One of the regions the expeditionary team can explore is The Jungle, which is located in the central area on Antoecia.
• Last of Their Kind: Wórlphrmn, the last of Antoecia's original inhabitants and the high priestess responsible for maintaining the curse of immortality upon the continent as part of a failed plan to save her people after a monumental disaster, now sealed within one of the land's ruins and only able to communicate via hologram. The final main quest of the game is finding a way to free her and let her enjoy life without accidentally destroying the continent in the process.
• Lethal Lava Land: The Volcano is located in the central part of the northern section in Antoecia as one of the regions that the protagonist's team can explore on expeditions, though volcanic ashes floating in the air periodically will cause more rapid Maximum HP Reduction to take place.
• Level Drain: As an icon, no less. The option to reset the playable protagonist's level and stats back to level 1 becomes available once the protagonist's level is maxed out at 99.
• Level Grinding: Present in this game, but the "battles" giving you the experience points that can accumulate enough to level up the main character come in the form of paying jobs said main character performs, whereas defeating enemies, bosses included, during expeditions yields NO experience. As for the friends who can be selected to go on expeditions with the main character, you have to manually select the "Train Ally" icon to get them to level up, for a fee.
• Lost Technology: According to Roselta's statements, there was once a predecessor human development on Antoecia long ago, but they died out before any of the colonists set foot onto the continent, leaving behind the ruins and the guardian golems.
• Luminescent Blush:
  • Bruno blushes when he feels overwhelmed from the sheer amount of compliments he receives from other guild members after Prince Aelfric announces in his speech that the entirety of Antoecia is now officially the domain of the empire.
  • Part of Adelaide's reaction to being the guest of honor in a Surprise Party involves her face blushing.
• Maximum HP Reduction: Not from enemy attacks; instead the expeditionary team members' maximum HP decreases steadily as they trek through the wilderness, in larger increments in harsher weather conditions. The team members can boost their max HP back up by consuming food items while camping during expeditions, up to their original amount at the start of the expedition, though it'll decrease again once they resume the trek.
• Meaningful Name:
  • The Sylphspears tends to use spears as their weapons.
  • The weapon of choice for the Salamanswords is, well, a sword — a broadsword, to be more precise.
• Money Mauling: The Merchant ability "Venture Capital" allows the character to spend 100,000 SD (the in-game unit for currency) out of the total funds to deal 999 HP worth of damage against all foes. It may even cause the targets to become Blinded, which reduces the accuracy of their attacks.
• Mythology Gag:
  • The name "Aelfric" is once again used^note  (as the name of the royal prince overseeing the development of Erebia and Antoecia in this game), as it has been in both the Octopath series (as the name of a God associated with fire) and in Triangle Strategy (as the name of a valuable explosive gem).
  • Ogre Eagle, a griffin-like beast monster in Octopath, returns here as the boss of an expedition.
• Off with His Head!: After Prince Aelfric gloats that he's invincible due to the island's curse restoring damaged bodies, Orion decides to end him for good via decapitation, which cannot be healed.
• Outliving One's Offspring: According to a statement from Orion, he once had a son named Coleo, who became a member of the royal military force like Orion himself, with his late wife, but Coleo died in a mission. When talking about Coleo in the present time with the main protagonist at one point, it's painfully clear that Orion has been haunted by Coleo's demise. Tragically, it turns out Coleo is still alive, but has been driven mad by his job and must be given a Mercy Kill by Orion after the party fights him.
  Orion: Do not vanish like Coleo did. No matter what happens... it's old ones like us who should go first.
• Overworked Sleep: During the sequence in which the Player Character learns the "Baking" Ability from Phanna, she confesses to having fallen asleep while cooking due to the sheer amount of workload she has taken on as a Cook, to which Adelaide remarks.
  Adelaide: I do not know whether to be impressed or appalled that you can cook in your sleep.
• Parental Abandonment: According to Bruno, he and Willa have no blood relations, but each of them became Conveniently an Orphan due to their own respective parents abandoning them some time in the past before the two of them met each other and stuck together.
• Perma-Stubble: Bruno, Melhard, and Orion all sport a perpetual stubble.^note  Bruno is a Warrior by default, Orion is the captain of the Salamandswords, and Melhard had lived a rough life in the past before arriving at Erebia.
• Perpetual Smiler: Invoked. Efil tries to put on a happy face due to her job classes (Server by default, and then Dancer and Beast Tamer, both of which make her a performing entertainer, later on). One of the jobs that come with being a Server is even called "Service with a Smile".
• Praetorian Guard: The Salamandswords, of whom Orion is the captain, are bodyguards for the royalty.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!:
  • Melhard's conversation with the Player Character at the start of the game includes one sentence in which he emphasizes each and every word of it.
    Melhard: No matter what you do in this town... Don't. Let. Your. Guard. Down.
  • During Efil's training session for the "Palace Show" work task, the Player Character is to be Efil's training partner while Bruno keeps watch just in case. Efil makes it clear that the Player Character is to follow her advice to avoid getting hurt by accident during the session by emphasizing her warning word by word.
    Efil: I mean it—accidents can happen! Don't! Move!
  • Done as a gag during Bruno's "Physical Examination" introductory session to the Player Character when he is tasked by the Tavern proprietress to check the health status of the Servers, including Efil. One other Server requests the Player Character to do the job instead of Bruno and remarks on the Player Character blushing^note  (the blushing part is not shown, though).
    Fellow Server: That. Is. So. Cute!
• Random Encounters: Enemies appear without warning while the active expedition team members are on a quest.
• Resources Management Gameplay: When embarking on an expedition, your inventory space is limited, requiring the player to manage their rations and other gear and having to decide whether to take a risk and keep adventuring once supplies run out.
• Resting Recovery: One of the Stamina-recovering venues the Player Character can utilize to avoid collapsing while performing a work task is to rest inside his own house.^note  Be warned, however, that doing so breaks the work-chain bonus that would ease the Level Grinding process.
• Shifting Sand Land: The Desert is located in the southwestern region of Antoecia that the expeditionary team can explore by Crossing the Desert.
• Slippy-Slidey Ice World: Except for the "slipping" and the "sliding" parts, The Snowfields, which is situated in the northeastern area of Antoecia, serves as the ice world in this game, with snowfall ensuring more rapid Maximum HP Reduction for the expeditionary team members.
• Spam Attack:
  • Sword Dance, the last Ability the Dancer job class possesses, causes the character to deal four consecutive strikes onto one targeted foe, each dealing small damage.
  • Rain of Arrows, an Ability from the Hunter job class, allows the character to deal five fully powered strikes against random foes, though they might miss.
• Speaking Simlish: Every character in the game speaks in Voice Grunting.
• Stalker with a Crush: Reubens is blatantly obsessed with Gilda, much to her displeasure that she outright expresses to Reubens at the end of the "Building a Hot Spring!" Quest.
  Gilda: Could you at least pretend not to be such an obvious lech?
• Sterility Plague: This is a side effect of never aging while living in Antoecia due to its continent-wide enchantment, as revealed by Roselta and confirmed further by Gilda late in the second phase of the game.
• Surprise Party:
  • Adelaide's birthday party is done in this fashion, as it takes place inside the house of the playable protagonist while she's invited over without being informed that it's to celebrate her birthday.
  • This is also how the party members arrange for Roselta's birthday, and she seems oblivious to the members' intention upon arrival.
• Take a Third Option: Late in the story, the party is faced with two choices between either have Wórlphrmn resealed into her eternal slumber again to disable the continent-wide curse of The Ageless immortality at the cost of Efil's existence (since Efil is an Artificial Human whose existence is tied to Wórlphrmn's reawakening), or allow the immortality curse to persist to keep Efil alive. The Player Character is then prompted to suggest looking into something that can stop the curse without sacrificing either Efil or Wórlphrmn, which kick-starts the final segments of the game.
• Tempting Fate:
  • Played for Laughs during the "Economizing" introduction session for the "Economy" Ability, in which Gilda, as a Merchant, asks Bruno and Reubens to haul boxes of items she has purchased as materials for her map-making business venture. Bruno complains of the sheer volume of stuff he and Reubens have to carry, but Reubens, love-struck towards Gilda as he is, claims he'd whatever it takes to make her happy, which results in Gilda taking advantage of his generosity by tasking him to carrying more boxes as she makes more purchases, to Reubens's regret.
    Reubens: [hangs his head] Oh, I've done it now. Looks like I won't be putting all this down anytime soon.
    Bruno: [looks at Reubens with a frown] You said you'd do whatever it takes, didn't you?
    Reubens: Yes, but I have limits, like any other human being...
  • Played for Drama near the end of the battle against Aelfric, who boasts of his own invincibility due to being The Ageless, only for Orion to to prove him wrong by decapitating him.
  • Played for Laughs during the debut session for the "Aufguss" work task (for the "Converge/Release" Ability), Bruno and Melhard start to complain of the heat from the sauna while Reubens brags that he feels just fine. Incensed by Reubens's remark, Bruno asks Orion, who serves as Saunameister, to give one good hard fan wave at Reubens for a little added challenge, and Orion obliges. This one fan wave ends up giving Reubens more heat than he can handle, resulting in him being the first among the customers to flee the sauna.
• This Cannot Be!: Prince Aelfric's final words before being Killed Off for Real via decapitation.
  Wh... what... This... cannot be...
• Tragic Keepsake: A lute serves this purpose to Phanna due to it once belonging to Orserra, a close friend of hers who goes missing after a certain point in the story. One expedition request ("A Little Request") has Phanna asking for a search for Orserra as the result of the Sylphspears stopping their search after two days of Orserra being missing, and Orserra's lute is all the team members can find once they reach their destination. This would lead to Phanna becoming a Lutist herself.
• Turn-Based Combat: Battles in the game are conducted this way, with the addition of the "CHA" system; by CHAnging enemy status, you can CHAin your attacks together in order to gain a CHAnce to inflict heavier damage.
• Understatement: During the conversation with fellow guild members after all of the beastmen tribes are conquered, the entirety of Antoecia is officially under the control of the empire, and Prince Aelfric delivers a speech commiserating the colonists for the accomplishing the explorative expeditions throughout the continent, Bruno credits Gilda as the master cartographer behind the completion of the map of Antoecia. Gilda reacts, in turn, that she's glad her map is somewhat useful, but one of the guild members refutes her modest words.
  Guildsman: Are you kidding? It was more than "somewhat" useful!
• Variable Mix: While the Player Character is inside Erebia, the background music is lively in most of the area (e.g. the Player Character's home) by default, but some subtle variations may occur when the Player Character is at some specific section(s) of the city (a simpler piano-playing version plays out at the dock, a more classical rendition takes place inside the palace and at the church, etc.).
• Verbal Backspace: While the Player Character and Melhard accompany Reubens during the practice session for the "Redelivery" Ability, Reubens arrives at a house late at night with parcel in hand and tries to get the occupant's attention to no avail. After Melhard suggests that the resident in question might be asleep, Reubens proceeds to knock on the door and speak much more loudly, which succeeds. The occupant answers the door, and it turns out to be Phanna. Reubens being Reubens, he lets slip about hitting on her before correcting himself to the job at hand, but luckily for him Phanna is too drowsy and/or too focused on her ordered parcel to catch on before he corrects himself.
  Reubens: My apologies for being so captivated by your beauty. I have an offering — I mean, delivery for you.
• Viking Funeral: One such example takes place late in the game, albeit with a torch. Orion places the body of his deceased son Coleo into the boat that he sets on fire before casting out to the sea outside Antoecia in order to ensure Coleo dies without more lingering pain that comes with perishing as The Ageless, with the intention of completing the Mercy Kill process.
• Weapons of Their Trade: The weapon of choice for the Metalsmith job class is the hammer.
• We Need a Distraction: A plot-relevant example occurs at the end of the "The Caldera's Stench" quest, at which point Melhard manages to distract the sylphspears guarding the part of the Volcano that the expedition team members hope to investigate, allowing the team to access the off-limit area and discover the secret hidden there.