History YMMV / RadiataStories

* AnachronismStew: Radiata is a melting pot of old and new technology. On the one hand, warriors still fight with swords and shields and transport goods by goat-drawn carts but on the other hand, they're advanced enough to have radios, phonographs, and electric street lamps. Of course, given this is a fictional universe, liberties can be taken.

* AssPull: Several key plot elements, [[spoiler:such as the world resets, Ridley being the chosen vessel of the Gold Dragon, and the motivations of the BigBad are either not explained enough or come out of nowhere about halfway through the game. The cosmic imbalance at times will feel like BecauseDestinySaysSo taken way too far occasionally and the exact mechanics the dragons' use to balance the world is never consistent]]. The main story's reliance on these kind of developments are one of the reason why the game was compared unfavorably to the stories of tri-Ace's previous games, which were almost unanimously praised for their main stories.

* CharacterTiers: With so many characters to collect, they can't ''all'' be useful. For example, the leaders of the Guilds are top tier for the human side, while civilians are low tier.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: [[LadyOfWar Elwen]], the [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority chief]] of Theater Vancoor, is one of the most popular characters in the game.

** Algandars. The game seems to play up just how mysterious this disease is, but it's never exactly clear what the actual truths of it are since most of it seems to be up to speculation. One particularly noteworthy point of this is the fact that while humans are more or less blamed for its existence, you actually see more ''humans'' succumbing to it over the course of the game than anyone else. How exactly are humans to blame for something they're suffering from as well? There also is the fact that Cairn, Jack's father, seems to have been infected with it either while fighting the Water Dragon, or by it, making it have heavy implications on the world. And what about the non-human ending, which shows that Lord Zane is succumbing to it himself, implying that the world being reset isn't going to stop it? The fact there are two different origin stories depending on which route you take also leaves its origins shrouded in mystery, but sadly its a minor plot point despite having heavy impact in the games world.

* HarsherInHindsight: Creator/BobPapenbrook voices the Dragon Parsec while his son, Creator/BrycePapenbrook, voices the protagonist Jack. On the human route, when Jack has to fight and defeat Parsec, Jack feels guilt and sadness for killing him as he had grown to enjoy talking to Parsec. A year after the game's release, Bob Papenbrook would tragically pass away from lung cancer.

** Algandars. The game seems to play up just how mysterious this disease is, but it's never exactly clear what the actual truths of it are since most of it seems to be up to speculation. One particularly noteworthy point of this is the fact that while humans are more or less blamed for its existence, you actually see more ''humans'' succumbing to it over the course of the game than anyone else. How exactly are humans to blame for something they're suffering from as well? And what about the non-human ending, which shows that [[spoiler:Lord Zane is succumbing to it himself, implying that the world being reset isn't going to stop it?]] The game could be implying that the fairies are no more certain of it than anyone else and that humans aren't necessarily the problem.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Ganz, if you pick the human route, leaves Radiata and never appears again. While its implied he [[WalkingTheEarth leaves to wander the world]], he only makes a token mention with his letter to Jack. He never confronts his father, helps Jack in any way, nor does him learning about Cross' actions before the route split amount of anything.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Several things brought up that are never expanded on, as mentioned above in {{Ass Pull}}

** Algandars. The game seems to play up just how mysterious this disease is, but it's never exactly clear what the actual truths of it are since most of it seems to be up to speculation. One particularly noteworthy point of this is the fact that while humans are more or less blamed for its existence, you actually see more ''humans'' succumbing to it over the course of the game than anyone else. How exactly are humans to blame for something they're suffering from as well? And what about the Non-Human ending, which shows that Lord Zane is succumbing to it himself, implying that the world being reset isn't going to stop it? The game could be implying that the Fairy creatures are no more certain of it than anyone else and that humans aren't necessarily the problem.

** Algandars. The game seems to play up just how mysterious this disease is, but it's never exactly clear what the actual truths of it are since most of it seems to be up to speculation. One particularly noteworthy point of this is the fact that while humans are more or less blamed for its existence, you actually see more ''humans'' succumbing to it over the course of the game than anyone else. How exactly are humans to blame for something they're suffering from as well? And what about the Non-Human ending, which shows that Lord Zane is succumbing to it himself, implying that the world being reset isn't going to stop it? While {{YMMV}}, the game could be implying that the Fairy creatures are no more certain of it than anyone else and that humans aren't necessarily the problem.

* MoralEventHorizon: "Dwarves are the enemy of humankind! It is time to strike! ''Show no mercy to the traitors!''" Cross, you [[CompleteMonster total, utter bastard]].
** [[spoiler:Lucian AKA Aphelion]], winds up crossing this at the end of the game. Despite his fondness for humans and his disillusionment with the order of the world seeking their destruction when things are out of whack, him killing either Ridley or Gawain, and being the one who orchestrated the deaths of the other dragons during the game, crosses the line since it's a bit hypocritical that SOMEONE has to die so someone else can live.

* HarsherInHindsight: Creator/BobPapenbrook voices the Dragon Parsec while his son, Creator/BrycePapenbrook, voices the protagonist Jack. On the Human route, when Jack has to fight and defeat Parsec, Jack feels guilt and sadness for killing him as he had grown to enjoy talking to Parsec. A year after the games release, Bob Papenbrook would tragically pass away from lung cancer.

* HarshInHindsight: Creator/BobPapenbrook voices the Dragon Parsec while his son, Creator/BrycePapenbrook, voices the protagonist Jack. On the Human route, when Jack has to fight and defeat Parsec, Jack feels guilt and sadness for killing him as he had grown to enjoy talking to Parsec. A year after the games release, Bob Papenbrook would tragically pass away from lung cancer.

* GameBreaker: Elwen, whose high strength, which is highest among all humans, is boosted further in the daytime due to her skill. Lenneth is even more ridiculous, but for good reason.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Gantz, if you pick the Human route, leaves Radiata and never appears again. While its implied he [[WalkingTheEarth leaves to wander the world]], he only makes a token mention with his letter to Jack. He never confronts his father, helps Jack in any way, nor does him learning about Cross' actions before the route split amount of anything.

* AssPull: Several key plot elements, [[spoiler:such as the world resets, Ridley being a dragon, and Algandar's Disease, are either not explained enough or come out of nowhere about halfway through the game. The cosmic imbalance at times will feel like BecauseDestinySaysSo taken way too far occasionally and the exact mechanics the dragons' use to balance the world is never consistent]]. The main story's reliance on these kind of developments are one of the reason why the game was compared unfavorably to the stories of tri-Ace's previous games, which were almost unanimously praised for their main stories.

* AssPull: Several key plot elements, [[spoiler:such as the world resets, Ridley being a dragon, and Algandar's Disease are either not explained enough or come out of nowhere about halfway through the game. The cosmic imbalance at times will feel like BecauseDestinySaysSo taken way too far occasionally and the exact mechanics the dragons' use to balance the world is never consistent]]. The main story's reliance on these kind of developments are one of the reason why the game was compared unfavorably to the stories of tri-Ace's previous games, which were almost unanimously praised for their main stories.

* AssPull: Several key plot elements, [[spoiler: such as the world resets, Ridley being a dragon, and Algandar's Disease are either not explained enough or come out of nowhere about halfway through the game. The cosmic imbalance at times will feel like BecauseDestinySaysSo taken way too far occasionally and the exact mechanics the dragons' use to balance the world is never consistent]]. The main story's reliance on these kind of developments are one of the reason why the game was compared unfavorably to the stories of Tri-Ace's recent previous games at the time, which were almost unanimously praised for their main stories.

* SoOkayItsAverage: The general reception of the game, particularly in the West. Most agree that while the game is good all around, thanks to good gameplay, music, and fun characters that are backed by a interesting midway point, it isn't really impressive beyond that. The main story is generally considered one of the bigger weaknesses of the game despite the setting and being able to recruit almost everyone being praised, and the combat system is a very dumbed down version of Star Ocean's to the point that it was criticized heavily. It also came out during what many see as the golden age for [=PS2=] [=RPGs=] (for Tri-Ace in particular, since they had just released Star Ocean 3, which is widely considered their greatest game ever), meaning the game just couldn't create a real solid footing in order to stick out.

* AssPull: Several key plot elements, [[spoiler: such as the world resets, Ridley being a dragon, and Algandar's Disease are either not explained enough or come out of nowhere about halfway through the game. The cosmic imbalance at times will feel like BecauseDestinySaysSo taken way too far occasionally and the exact mechanics the dragons' use to balance the world is never consistent]].

* AssPull: Several key plot elements, [[spoiler: such as the world resets, Ridley being a dragon, and Algandar's Disease are either not explained enough or come out of nowhere about halfway through the game]].

* GameBreaker: Elwen, whose high strength, which is highest among all humans, is boosted further in the daytime due to her skill.

* SoOkayItsAverage: The general reception of the game, particularly in the West. Most agree that while the game is good all around, thanks to good gameplay, music, and fun characters that are backed by a interesting midway point, it isn't really impressive beyond that, and came out during what many see as the golden age for [=PS2=] [=RPGs=], meaning the game just couldn't create a real solid footing in order to stick out.

* WhatAnIdiot:
** Ganz gets this for responding to Jack's joke. Yes, the joke was funny and clever, but you don't praise the joker when the subject is your boss, ''and is standing right in front of you''.

** Weapon wise, axes and spears are considered the worse weapons for Jack to wield in the game. While the axe has better damage, and the spear has solid damage combined with great reach, they both are too slow of weapon types, and make it risky to use in combat. The combos available also means that Jack can get attacked and damaged mid combo, leaving it even more risky to use then. By contrast, the one handed swords are quicker and have vastly better combos available despite lower weapon damage, and the two handed swords are often of near power to axes, but have better combos than axes.

* SoOkayItsAverage: The general reception for the game. Most agree that the game was good all around, thanks to good gameplay, music, and fun characters that are backed by a interesting midway point, but that it wasn't really impressive beyond that, and came out during what many see as the golden age for [=PS2=] jrpg's, meaning the game just couldn't create a solid impact to stick out.

** Weapon wise, axes and spears were considered the worse weapons for Jack to wield in the game. While the axe had better damage, and the spear had solid damage combined with great reach, they both were too slow of weapon types, and made it risky to use in combat. The combos available also meant Jack could get attacked and damaged mid combo, leaving it even more risky to use then. By contrast, the one handed swords were quicker and had vastly better combo's available despite lower weapon damage, and the two handed swords were often of near power to axes, but had better combos than axes.