History YMMV / DirgeOfCerberus

* EnsembleDarkhorse: For an antagonist group that was cut off by being exclusive to this game (at least until ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'' hinted at [[spoiler:bringing them into the picture far sooner]]), people who don't resent Deepground as another strange facet of this game's story tend to really get behind Rosso for being EvilIsSexy, Weiss for being a surprisingly hardcore villain that doesn't dive into being a Sephiroth clone despite his appearance, and Shelke for adding to the cast dynamic in a unique way with her HeelFaceTurn.

* EvilIsSexy:
** Rosso the Crimson. There's just something oddly alluring about a [[AxCrazy not-quite-there]], {{sadist}}ic LadyInRed FemmeFatale [[BloodLust with a thing for blood]] and [[ImpossiblyCoolWeapon a snazzy weapon]]. Having a nice figure (and the [[UnderwearOfPower clothes]] [[{{Stripperiffic}} by which to flaunt it]]) as well as the voice of Creator/AtsukoTanaka and Creator/MaryElizabethMcGlynn (the latter giving Rosso a [[FakeRussian Russian accent]], which may or may not add to the sexy factor) and [[FoeYayShipping some eyebrow-raising interactions]] with TheHero never hurts either.
** [[MrFanservice For those who prefer men]], we have the suave and calculating WalkingShirtlessScene that is Weiss the Immaculate. Despite his charisma and leadership ability, he's also a psychopath who cares little (if at all) for his subordinates... and yet happens to be incredibly affectionate toward his [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes younger brother Nero]]. Take that as you will.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Vincent got pushed pretty hard into this trope by this game, after being quite popular in [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII the original]] (it's why this game exists to begin with). Always on his side were his design, mysterious nature, and cool factor; always against him was his surprising lousiness and people who found that same cool factor insufferably tryhard. ''Dirge'' added in heavy piles of (w)angst and a supremely complicated backstory that posited him as more or less central to the universe, and that's before getting into its own quality! Suffice to say that how one feels about Vincent in this game is probably how one feels about the entire ''Compilation'' project as a whole; either it fleshed out one of the best parts of the original game, it ruined the mystique of something with potential, or it took something that wasn't interesting to begin with and shoved it in the spotlight.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: Twice involving Cait Sith and Reeve. The first time, Reeve is seemingly shot by a Deepground soldier only to reveal it was Cait Sith [[ActuallyADoombot piloting a Reeve body.]] Most players will probably just shrug that off as being PlayedForLaughs despite how nonsensical it is to remotely control a robot that's piloting a robot and the fact that Reeve never does this again despite the danger around him. Then when the WRO Headquarters gets invaded, Vincent runs into Reeve.. [[MindScrew and Cait Sith.]] Moving independently of one another, with no implication anywhere in the series that Cait Sith is an automated robot of his own accord. Not even [[AllThereInTheManual extra Compilation info]] has ever bothered to explain this.

** Rosso the Crimson. There's just something oddly alluring about a [[AxCrazy not-quite-there]], {{sadist}}ic LadyInRed FemmeFatale [[BloodLust with a thing for blood]] and [[ImpossiblyCoolWeapon a snazzy weapon]]. Having a nice figure (and the [[UnderwearOfPower clothes]] [[{{Stripperiffic}} by which to flaunt it]]) as well as the voice of Creator/AtsukoTanaka and Creator/MaryElizabethMcGlynn (the latter giving Rosso a [[FakeRussian Russian accent]], which may or may not add to the sexy factor) and FoeYayShipping with TheHero never hurts either.

** Between Vincent and Cid, as well, even if Cid is married to Shera, Cid is very genuinely loyal to Vincent and shows his warmer side to him.

*** Nero always referring Weiss as his "beloved brother".

*** Nero and Weiss [[spoiler:merging together to get rid of Hojo.]] For this, they share an intense and tender embrace with Nero caressing him and confessing his love to him again. Weiss is as affectionate to Nero as Nero is to him in this scene, and they both die while saying the other's name.
*** During Nero's meeting with Shelke, the latter stated that she would never "let down people who count on her". Nero briefly pauses before snarking back. You can guess whom he was thinking to at this moment.
*** In Japanese mode, there is a scene involving Nero pinned to a pillar and the Player comes to meet him along with Usher. When the latter states that Weiss would have only three days to live after Restrictor's death, Nero violently reacts and lets out a shrieking scream and engulfes the entire room with his darkness.
*** In Dirge of Cerberus Lost Episode, Nero watches Vincent's journey and is about to kill him but he realizes that someone (probably Cait Sith) intruded into the most "precious room".

*** Jouji Nakata (Weiss's Japanese actor) and Okiayu Ryotarou (Nero's Japanese actor) played it a bit with their characters, with Weiss calling Nero "my cute Nero".

** The plot point involving the fact that the entire game starts off with Deepground raiding a celebration over [[SeriousBusiness the internet being restored.]] Yeah, the game doesn't outright say it at first, and dresses it up with fancy in-universe terms, but it's a ''global holiday'' for the occasion. Even worse, that whole "Hojo disappearing from being struck by lightning" in the intro? [[spoiler: [[BrainUploading He uploaded himself to said internet]], basically became a data ghost, and then possesses and re-animates Weiss - only for Weiss to erase him a good few minutes later without even a fight.]] It edges on spiraling the whole plot point into a borderline BigLippedAlligatorMoment were it not for being such a catalyst, especially seeing as nothing in the original game even hinted at this sort of internet logic.
** [[EyeScream Shalua has lost her left eye.]] How does her visual design depict this? Is she wearing [[EyepatchOfPower an eyepatch]], or perhaps she has an {{Artificial|Limbs}} [[ElectronicEyes replacement]]? No, she simply keeps her eye always closed. This even makes it look like she’s perpetually winking at everyone, which is outright textbook narm on its own since it gives her a facial expression that most people use when trying to be playful, despite all of her scenes being extremely dramatic. There aren't even any scars or other visual indicators of damage. It looks more silly than anything.

** Between Vincent and Shelke. One is an undead around 60 years-old person who is still clearly in love with Lucrecia. The other is a brainwashed emotionless 19 years-old girl who is trapped in a 9 years-old body who collected Lucrecia's data as well as her feelings for Vincent. Some people ship them though.

* SalvagedStory: In spite of the game’s other problems, one thing that most fans tend to agree on is that Cloud’s characterization was a huge step up from his recent portrayal in ''Advent Children'' (and when including appearances outside of the ''Compilation'', his appearances in the ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' series as well), in which he was seen as being far too {{Wangst}}y. In ''Dirge of Cerberus'' by comparison, Cloud is much more confident and upbeat, showing that he was finally able to move in a healthier direction after ''Final Fantasy VII''. To a lesser extent this also applies to Tifa, who also seems much happier than she did in ''Advent Children''.
* SoBadItsGood: ''Dirge of Cerberus'' stands as one of the lowest-rated parts of the entire Compilation, if not ''the'' lowest, and if it isn't complaining about [[Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren Cloud being turned emo]] or everything involving [[VideoGame/CrisisCore Genesis]], this entire game is used by detractors as to why the Compilation was a bad idea. And yet whether due to BileFascination or simply because of how surreal and plain strange this game's story becomes, bordering on an ([[MoodWhiplash almost]]) completely serious self-parody, it has a number of fans solely because of the low bar ''Dirge'' set.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: We have a focus on Vincent's past with Lucrecia and Hojo during the Jenova Project, but Gast (Aerith's father) is nowhere to be found. Which is pretty perplexing since Gast was brought up by Vincent in his flashback in the original game ([[AllInTheManual and according to the Ultimanias]] [[{{Retcon}} the original reason]] why Lucrecia chose Hojo over Vincent was because she pitied him over being compared to the top scientist). It would have been interesting to expand more of his character out and his connection to the others during this time, but he's never seen or brought up by anyone. Gets worse when you consider Hojo has a massive inferiority complex about Gast being the better scientist, and Hojo's character desperately needed some depth in this game, as he comes off as so ObviouslyEvil it's a miracle Lucrecia or anyone else could stand being in the same room with him long enough to complete the JENOVA project.

** Weiss. While he's very similar to Rosso, being a murderer without any remorse for his actions, and used his own Tsviets (including the player in the Japan-only online mode)--who helped him kill the Restrictors and died for it--simply to achieve his goals, the one thing he wanted the most was to leave Deepground and be free. There are also implications that he wanted to free Nero, who had largely been chained up during all this time.

* WhatTheHellCostumingDepartment: Par for the course with [[SignatureStyle Nomura’s style.]] But adding to the above-mentioned examples under FashionVictimVillain, why is Lucrecia wearing so many huge hair-ties on her ponytail? Due to the way they all stack up, it almost looks like she has a birthday hat on her head from some angles. At least it’s hair-ties and not [[TooManyBelts belts]] or zippers, for once.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Vincent got pushed pretty hard into this trope by this game, after being quite popular in [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII the original]] (it's why this game exists to begin with). Always on his side were his design, mysterious nature, and cool factor; always against him was his [[TierInducedScrappy surprising lousiness]] and people who found that same cool factor insufferably tryhard. ''Dirge'' added in heavy piles of (w)angst and a supremely complicated backstory that posited him as more or less central to the universe, and that's before getting into its own quality! Suffice to say that how one feels about Vincent in this game is probably how one feels about the entire ''Compilation'' project as a whole; either it fleshed out one of the best parts of the original game, it ruined the mystique of something with potential, or it took something that wasn't interesting to begin with and shoved it in the spotlight.

** Rosso the Crimson. There's just something oddly alluring about a [[AxCrazy not-quite-there]], {{sadist}}ic LadyInRed FemmeFatale [[BloodLust with a thing for blood]] and [[ImpossiblyCoolWeapon a snazzy weapon]]. Having a nice figure ([[BareYourMidriff and the]] [[UnderwearOfPower clothes]] [[{{Stripperiffic}} by which to flaunt it]]) as well as the voice of Creator/AtsukoTanaka and Creator/MaryElizabethMcGlynn (the latter giving Rosso a [[FakeRussian Russian accent]], which may or may not add to the sexy factor) and FoeYayShipping with TheHero never hurts either.

* SalvagedStory: In spite of the game’s other problems, one thing that most fans tend to agree on is that Cloud’s characterization was a huge step up from his recent portrayal in ''Advent Children'' (and when including appearances outside of the ''Compilation'', his appearances in the ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts'' series as well), in which he was seen as being far too {{Wangst}}y. In ''Dirge of Cerberus'' by comparison, Cloud is much more confident and upbeat, showing that he was finally able to move in a healthier direction after ''Final Fantasy VII''. To a lesser extent this also applies to Tifa, who also seems much happier than she did in ''Advent Children''.

* ''YMMV/FinalFantasyVII