History YMMV / IllusionOfGaia

* GoddamnedBoss: The Sand Fanger in the Great Wall is relatively simple but takes a while, being the only boss in the game you ''must'' fight as Will rather than Freedan, meaning it takes 40 hits to kill rather than 20. There are also few opportunities to actually hit it as it moves fast and its only weak point is the head (the only real chance you have to do serious damage is when it pokes its head out of the ground for several seconds to spit a couple of eggs out).

* GoddamnedBoss: The Sand Fanger in the Great Wall is relatively simple but takes a while, being the only boss in the game you ''must'' fight as Will rather than Freedan, meaning it takes 40 hits to kill rather than 20. There are also few opportunities to actually hit it as it moves fast and its only weak point is the head.

* ValuesDissonance: The game includes a depiction of the slave trade, and the writing, especially the iffy translation which was already hamstrung by Nintendo's censorship policies, just isn't equipped to handle it gracefully. Somehow, all of the "laborers" are short Caucasian-looking people with [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair green hair and beards]], but when you head to the Natives' Village, which is just south of Ankor Wat, it's populated by people with a darker complexion. You also have to help a slaver catch an escaped "laborer" in order to acquire a Red Jewel.

* ContestedSequel: While generally considered a good game, there's debate over whether or not it's better than is predecessor, ''VideoGame/SoulBlazer.'' The simplification of the RPGElements in particular was highly questioned, and the BlindIdiotTranslation came in for criticism as well.

* {{Narm}}: Hamlet's [[spoiler: HeroicSacrifice]] would probably have had more pathos if [[spoiler: the air wasn't filling "with the smell of roast Hamlet"...]] Or if [[spoiler:Erik]] hadn't made a bad {{Pun}} about it.

* ThatOneBoss:
** Jack and Silvana, the third boss: [[UnholyMatrimony Married vampires]], who have very good coordination and require you to pay close attention to their movements to avoid their attacks. And have a combination attack that is hard to dodge if you're not prepared for it at can knock of roughly 1/3 of your life in one shot. Not to mention the time limit of about 140 seconds to kill both before the bomb beside the tied-up Erik goes off. And the way the dungeon is laid out, you have to backtrack through a huge portion of it if you want to transform into Freedan beforehand (and heaven help you if you try to fight them as ''Will'').
** The Sand Fanger in the Great Wall is frustrating as well, being the only boss in the game you ''must'' fight as Will rather than Freedan, meaning it takes 40 hits to kill rather than 20.

** Halfway through the raft sequence, '''bam!''' Will and Kara have a budding romance going. It's baffling since thus far, Kara has mostly just been bossy, whiny, and good at picking up the IdiotBall. To be fair, the raft sequence ''does'' take place over more than a week (most of which happens offscreen), during which time they have nobody to interact with but each other.

** [[spoiler:Lance and Lilly]] in the later half of the game. As mentioned above with the RomanticPlotTumor, their romance is brought up and put into focus out of nowhere. However, like Will and Kara on the raft, the game goes out of its way to emphasis how long the characters are spending traveling together (several weeks at least in the undersea tunnel from Mu to Angel Village), so it's reasonable they could have fallen for each other during time spent interacting offscreen.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The game has one of the best (and [[SugarWiki/NeedsMoreLove most overlooked]]) soundtracks on the SNES, especially the final boss theme, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTUSHDEL2f8 'Clash of Light and Shadow']]
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ev0cv8RnsE Great Wall of China]]
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziocvQLwpiA Signs of the Past / Moon Tribe Theme]]

** [[spoiler:Lance and Lilly]] in the later half of the game. As mentioned above with the RomanticPlotTumor, their romance is brought up and put into focus out of nowhere.

* StrangledByTheRedString: Halfway through the raft sequence, '''bam!''' Will and Kara have a budding romance going. It's baffling since thus far, Kara has mostly just been bossy, whiny, and good at picking up the IdiotBall. To be fair, the raft sequence ''does'' take place over more than a week (most of which happens offscreen), during which time they have nobody to interact with but each other.
** Also [[spoiler:Lance and Lilly]], in the later half of the game. As mentioned above with the RomanticPlotTumor, their romance is brought up and put into focus out of nowhere.
* ThatOneBoss: It could be the game's [[WakeUpCallBoss first boss]], [[DualBoss third boss]], or BonusBoss, depending on who you ask.
** Castoth, the first boss: The first major combat challenge you face, with multiple parts to worry about.

** [[spoiler:Solid Arm]], the BonusBoss: Actually ''easier'' than its appearance in ''VideoGame/SoulBlazer'', but not by much.
** The Sand Fanger in the Great Wall is frustrating as well, being the only boss in the game you ''must'' fight as Will rather than Freedan, meaning it takes 40 hits to kill rather than 20.