Very early on, a canine character is killed trying to rescue his friends. The game doesn't linger on this -it's clear from the start that something is wrong with this timeline if you have any knowledge of the series- but there is a brief untelegraphed shot of the dead dog.
A child character is left behind by her father with a trusted caretaker, and in the previous game she expressed that she was okay with this. Other characters have absent parents that are not brought up. One character has a father he believes abandoned his family, but he later learns that wasn’t true.
A character who has been held and trafficked against her will since she was a child (since she is the only survivor or an ancient race that can help the government get what they want) shows affection and forgiveness to him when he is dying.
The unstable and shifting nature of reality causes many characters to feel gaslit, and voicing their doubts sometimes causes chain reactions that end in other characters feeling gaslit. Some villains then start taking advantage of this situation to gaslight characters deliberately.
One character was imprisoned and experimented on as a child. This is mostly relegated to backstory but somewhat shown in a flashback, where she is also treated poorly by strangers.
One Queensblood player boasts that her ability is boosted by alcohol. Her slurring and swaying disposituon, along w/the number of bottles on the table, imply she is a chronic alcoholic. She vows to drink more after you beat her.
Countless , thousands+. Central to the gameplay loop is the killing of all sorts of animals in combat. You are rewarded and incentivized to do this. They often fall limp like a ragdoll when you kill them. Multiple animals die in the story content as well.
SPOILER
In a very late part of the game, you get to play as a canine like team member, struggling against being pulled by chains towards an examination table, then you see the canine strapped to the table, and then getting a tattoo burn marked on his skin while he's howling and screaming, and a mad scientist is laughing maniacally next to the table
A dead cow is seen in one side quest. A dog-like character is seen dead near the beginning of the game, and another dead member of his species is seen, petrified to stone. Many animalistic monsters are killed.
Animalistic characters are depicted as very sad on multiple occasions. A chocobo (a large bird) is seen tired and hungry, but is fed and returns to full health as a part of the story.
One evil character, a mad scientist, encourages female NPCs to join his project to “birth a hero”, which has unpleasant implications but does not necessarily allude to rape, and doesn’t go anywhere.
Two instances of a character falling deep into water (or a water-like substance), struggling to breathe and passing out, although both are rescued before they die
Many monsters have unsettling appearances, with large eyes or mouths, multiple heads, or other features. One boss enemy that appears twice features bodily horror as a major element.
A side quest shows Wedge’s death from the previous game where he is throw out of a skyscraper and falls to his death. The impact is obscured by a car, but you see his body afterwards, although his corpse is not graphic
Final Big Bad has an attack where you get stabbed and you can see it very clearly, always filmed from the side. Big bad basically lifts you with the weapon and then throws you to the side. Also in general a lot of stabbing.
Two underage characters are romantic options for the lead. An underage character's cleavage was once featured, and another underage character tries to show her swimsuit body off to an adult.
One of Cloud's later weapons has a teeth-like design, with gold studs/spikes peaking out of craggily rivets.
One main story boss has extra rows of sharp teeth along different parts of its body, outside of its mouth.
Characters are captured and incarcerated on multiple occasions. One potentially triggering instance sees most of the party imprisoned by a criminal who threatens to sell them for money.
Chadley comes off as someone on the spectrum, but I'd say he's endearing and not a misrepresentation. This could be debated, as he is written to have a robotic tone and dialogue
Yeah, and succeeds. It's very heavy and they fall on top of another character, telling them to "carry that weight"
To be clear, it's more of a suicide by police officer type of situation. They throw themself into the situation but don't deliver their own killing blow.
One character accepts his death and says “then kill me, I can’t live like this anymore”, but survives. Another says that he knows what he has to do to reunite with his dead family, and dies to attacking gunmen shortly thereafter. Nobody says “I’ll kill myself”.
One of the late game bosses will gradually close the walls of the arena in on you until eventually your left fighting it in a really skinny corridor, with one boss on each side of the hallway, attacking you at the same time. I don’t suffer claustrophobia, but I still found this was still quite a chaotic and stressful fight trying to keep track of both bosses attacks on opposite sides at the same time in a tiny hallway with little room to dodge or move
Not directly but a character is aware well In advance that they are about to be killed and does nothing to attempt to prevent or stop it and they just let it happen.
This ties to the "women brutalized for spectacle" trigger. The female characters often let out abrasive, blood-curdling screams when attacked or knocked around.
Main character’s headaches and visions are often accompanying by flashing visuals. Bright flashes of gunfire are common. Gameplay features lots of bright particle effects for magic and abilities.
In an alternate timeline where there are rumors of the apocalypse, a pregnant NPC heard in passing expresses worry for her unborn child. No pregnant characters die explicitly.
Spoilers: Hinted LGBT (there is a main story beat that heavily invokes queerbaiting for a popular fan ship, and the queer date is interrupted/"no homo'd" by a side character)
While the party dies very early in the game, and does include a black man, they seem to have all died at the same time (or at least very close, with unclear chronological order).
The adult main character can romance two underage characters, and it's not made clear how to avoid it. My game tried to force me to date an underage dog.
A feline or canine like creature, who is also implied to be the equivalent of underage/15-16 years old in [dog] years, is a romantic option for our adult lead. This character also sounds like a child, making it even more creepy.
The two main female characters are sexualized heavily (unlike the original, where they have lives and desires of their own, here they are just objects of the MC's desire) and an unskippable portion of the plot involves getting them revealing swimwear, and you are encouraged to oggle them. An underage female character is also sexualized, and is a romantic option for the adult male lead. The underage character also tries to get you to oggle her underage swimsuit "bod."
Some female characters are dressed in revealing outfits. Female characters sometimes cause male ones to become flustered. Sex is never depicted or brought up on-screen, though it is implied by a villainous scientist who wants female assistants willing to “birth a hero”.