Sacrifice: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|''"In the realm that was my home, I had devoted my life to study of the arcane. No pursuit was too perilous, no sacrifice too great, until... Well... Under the many heavens, and in the many worlds, there are darker things than Men may dream of..."''}}

 

 

The story of the game is about a wizard named Eldred ([[Hello, Insert Name Here|or whatever the player chooses to name him]]), assisted with his familiar Zyzyx, who meets a wise man named Mithras in the aftermath of a great war that has all but destroyed the world. Through a series of flashbacks narrated by Eldred, we learn the story of how he served the five Gods in the game: [[Friend to All Living Things|Persephone]], [[Only Sane Man|James]], [[Deadpan Snarker|Stra]][[Tim Curry|tos]], [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|Pyro]] or [[God of Evil|Charnel]], and how the intervention of his arch-nemesis, [[Omnicidal Maniac]] Marduk, led to the world's present state.

''Sacrifice'' did not gain wide popularity, but garnered cult status.

 

{{tropelist}}

* [[A Wizard Did It]]: Literally; explains the presence of [[Construct Additional Pylons]].

** And then there is the tactic of repeatedly summoning Manahores (1 mana when even a basic spell costs 300) and collecting their souls as they are killed. Repeat until the kill limit is reached and Death vanishes.

** All 5 top-tier spells have this a bit. Volcano is great against well-guarded manaliths but on the open battlefield your enemy can move out of the way before it erupts and the blast prevents you from taking any souls of creatures that do get killed. Meanstalks don't do much except throw units in the air for a bit. Bore can utterly destroy units but can't be used near manaliths and is relatively easy to avoid. And unless you get lucky and throw a few units of the edge of the map, tornado only delays the units it sucks up for a bit (though you can cast a cloudkill at the same position to do some more damage to the trapped enemies.)

* [[Beware the Nice Ones]]: James makes it clear that he does not want to fight, but if he's pushed into it he can be really dangerous.

* [[Big Bad]]: You'd expect Charnel to be the [[Big Bad]], but really it's Marduk. And {{spoiler|Stratos is the reason Marduk's here. Charnel's evil but he's on your side here}}.

'''Eldred:''' Exactly. }}

* [[Foreshadowing]]: As Charnel's second mission reveals, {{spoiler|Stratos had stewardship over the Demon Gate between the War of Purification and until Charnel retains control during said mission.}}

* [[Fragile Speedster]]: Stratos' servants.

* [[Gameplay and Story Segregation]]: Not so much, but in the actual story it seems that the creatures killed in battle are actually dead at the end of a mission. Otherwise there's copious amounts of [[Fridge Logic]], such as "what happened to that huge freaking army I amassed last mission?" and "why isn't Eldred trying to collect any of the blue souls that are hanging around in the intro?"

* [[Ludicrous Gibs]]: A frequent occurrence when poking first-tier units too hard. This can happen to any unit however, no matter how powerful, and is encouraged as gibbed units produce blue souls, free to take without the need to convert.

* [[Mana]]: The second resource besides souls.

* [[Meaningful Name]]/[[Punny Name]]: Pretty much everyone with a name is either one or the other.

* [[Mutants]]: ''Sacrifice'' has Mutants, which are available if you choose Persephone. In Misson 4 of the campaign they randomly turn up after you meet the misguided Jadugar, a cutscene later plus a little talk from Persephone and they join you against Jadugar.

* [[Only Sane Man]]: James has elements of this. While the other gods are busy trying to kill each other, especially after a [[Self-Fulfilling Prophecy|prophecy]] warns that one of their number is plotting to [[Killed Off for Real|kill the rest off for real]], only poor James wonders if they should give all the fighting a rest.

{{quote|'''Everyone else:''' NO!!!}}

* [[Palette Swap]]: A lot of them, with nearly as many [[Justified Trope|justifications.]]

* [[Playing with Fire]]: All of Pyro's spells, and all of Pyro's Proles, in one way or another.

* [[Royal We]]: Persephone does this. It really doesn't help with her attitude problem, and {{spoiler|Stratos}} even lampshades how pretentious it made her sound.

* [[Royals Who Actually Do Something]]: Sorcha, the Empress of Pyroboria.

* [[Shout-Out]]:

** Worm-like God James certainly looked a lot like a certain [[Earthworm Jim (video game)|earthworm-in-a-space-suit]]... Even his name sounds similar too -- and let's not forget his highest-level spell, '[[Drop the Cow|Bovine Intervention]]'. The game was made by Shiny, the makers of ''[[Earthworm Jim (video game)|Earthworm Jim]]''.

* [[Third Person Person]]: Pyro.

* [[Unstable Equilibrium]]: Once a wizard has a soul lead, it's very hard to change it, as it's much harder to steal a wizard's souls than it is to recover your slain creatures.

** Even should you banish Yogo before the channeling is complete (which is hard but doable), you still do not receive the boon as the condition is that Gangrel must be under the player's control. During the channeling Gangrel is held immobile and can't be controlled by the player.

* [[Useless Useful Spell]]: Averted. The instant death spells ''Intestinal Vaporization'' and ''Bovine Intervention'' can and will one-shot even the mightiest creatures. Even better, they instantly gib their targets, meaning the souls are up for grabs for anyone. If you're not careful, you can lose a lot of souls to a crafty opponent this way.

* [[Video Game Cruelty Potential]]: Wizards can slaughter the innocent, defenceless peasants with the nastiest spells in their spellbook while the peasants beg, whimper and cry for mercy. Wizards are ''encouraged'' to slaughter the innocent in multiplayer -- they're a good source of soul income and are flagged as hostile for this reason.

* [[Weaksauce Weakness]]: Pyro's ultimate weapon, the [[Stealth Pun|Magnafryer]], fires a heat ray that deals heavy damage over time and will kill everything in the game eventually... Except it counts as magic damage, so James' first level melee attacker, the Trogg, is completely unaffected.

* [[Welcome Back, Traitor]]: There's two gnome heroes in the game, and both [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder|switch sides repeatedly]]. They're still usable units though.

[[Category:Fantasy Video Games]]

[[Category:Sacrifice]]