History YMMV / ZapDramatic

** Woody Allen's 1979 film ''Film/Manhattan'' also features a character with the first name of Yale, who also happens to be cheating on his wife.

** Woody Allen's 1979 film ''[[Film/Manhattan]] also features a character with the first name of Yale, who also happens to be cheating on his wife.

* BaseBreaker: Ted is considered either an [[SoBadItsGood unintentionally amusing character]] or [[AuthorTract an annoying character who spouts the views of the author off]].

** Even in a game where pretty much every character is universally hated (except for Duke, Helen, and possibly Ted), Yale still manages to stand out. When he's introduced in Episode 2, he comes across as an okay guy, maybe a little uptight. However, he is quickly [[{{Flanderization}} flanderized]] into a pretentious {{jerkass}} with massive DelusionsOfEloquence. He displays chauvinism and misogyny that, in LetsPlay/{{slowbeef}}'s words, would make [[MadMen Don Draper]] say that he ought to be more respectful towards women. He often comes across as having a smug sense of superiority over others, especially Helen. The worst part about it is that [[DesignatedHero we are apparently supposed to side with him over Helen]]. It at least helps that he does take his fair share of [[TakeThatScrappy abuse]] throughout the game. The game over scenarios where he is beaten with the violin and has the piece of crystal thrown at him, as well as the part in Episode 2 where Helen punches him in the face are pretty satisfying. You can even see [[spoiler:the game's ending as a TakeThatScrappy to Yale]].

* OutOfCharacterMoment: Yale in Episode 9 is portrayed very differently to his appearances both beforehand and afterwards. His JerkAss traits are accelerated UpToEleven along with introducing AngryBlackMan & GoldDigger facets to his character that hadn't even been hinted at before and aren't mentioned afterwards.

** Michael Gibson himself, particularly with regards to politics: is Michael Gibson a hardcore conservative, or a StealthParody of conservatives? For example, in one scene Rolf Klink says that the two biggest threats to society are "taxes and government regulation", which seems like a conservative thing to say. The line is totally straight, and nothing about the scene suggests that we or the author are meant to disagree with him... but then (much) later it's revealed that Klink is a member of the Fascist Party [[spoiler:and the CorruptCorporateExecutive BigBad of ''Ambition'']]. So... is the player supposed to agree with Rolf, or to disagree?

** Another example from ''Sir Basil Pike''. On Wednesday, Tariq refers to runes as sacred stones. Actually, runes are the sacred etchings that go ''on'' stones, not the stones themselves.

** Angie, also. [[spoiler: She intentionally gets pregnant (through lying to the other party) in an attempt to force a married man to divorce his wife and marry her.]] And the correct response is to congratulate her for it.

*** However the Monty hall problem only works if Ted always picks doors with goats behind them. Which is not told to the player.

** Janina in ''Sir Basil Pike''. We're apparently supposed to feel sorry for her because she gets bullied, but in both paths she comes across as a smug stalker who often sticks her nose where it doesn't belong. It doesn't help that other characters (in particular, Dave and Julia) also experience bullying to varying degrees, yet the game never suggests that we should give a damn about them (in fact, the game actually ''rewards'' you for bullying Dave).

** The player character in the boy's path of ''Sir Basil Pike Public School''. Choosing options such as attacking a boy whom he believes has stolen his bike, mocking said boy's stutter, and then later refusing to apologize to him when it is revealed that he simply had an identical bike all reward the player with "Persuasive Power." Made all the more jarring by the fact that the game is supposed to convey an anti-bullying message, yet rewards the player for bullying others.

* UnfortunateImplications: Michael Gibson probably wasn't thinking too hard when Yale, the only black character in ''Ambition'', walks out on Angie at the first mention of child support.

* EightDeadlyWords: In ''Ambition'', everyone's either a jerk, delusional, in Rolf Klink's pocket, or all three, making emotional investment neaely impossible. Retsupurae and most Youtube commentators pretty much hate everyone; this even extends to ''the player character'', likely due to the things that are deemed the right decision [[MoralDissonance even when it really shouldn't be]].

* EightDeadlyWords: In ''Ambition'', everyone's either a jerk, delusional, in Rolf Klink's pocket, or all three. Retsupurae and most Youtube commentators pretty much hate everyone; this even extends to ''the player character'', likely due to the things that are deemed the right decision [[MoralDissonance even when it really shouldn't be]].

* CrapsackWorld: In ''Ambition'', everyone's either a jerk, delusional, in Rolf Klink's pocket, or all three.

* EightDeadlyWords: Retsupurae and most Youtube commentators pretty much hate everyone, deeming them either unsympathetic or stupid. This even extends to ''the player character'', likely due to the things that are deemed the right decision [[MoralDissonance even when it really shouldn't be]].

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: The player character(s) is/are susceptible to it, in that none of them are really ''defined'' and some people just like to pretend its the same guy every time.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: Before Angie tells Yale that [[spoiler: she's pregnant with his child]], Yale inexplicably throws a pencil in the air. It rotates like a helicopter blade while a drum-roll plays in the background. Angie catches the pencil, and Yale compliments her catch and then grins sheepishly. There was no reason for any of this to happen.

* DesignatedHero: Ted. Sure, he lost his kids and everything, but he still threatens to blow up himself and a building (or, at least a floor) full of people because of it. When we are tasked with giving him a psychiatric evaluation, the correct outcome is supposed to be that he is sane and aware of his actions. That alone is somewhat questionable, but it also doesn't play out like it should. Unlike in the real world, where that would make Ted criminally responsible for his actions, here it's supposed to mean that Ted is an innocent victim and that outside forces are conspiring against him. It's treated in-universe as a temporary lapse of judgement brought on by the shock of seeing the blood/beet juice on the walls and having his kids taken away. He escapes from prison by beating up a police officer, and attempts to force the player character to help him by threatening him with a pistol. One may try to defend these actions by claiming that Ted is an AntiHero, but the fact that the games try to paint Ted as being completely in the right all the time, it is clear that Ted isn't supposed to be an anti-hero. Simply put, attempting to commit a mass murder, attacking a police officer, and threatening somebody with a gun are all okay as long as you're of sound mind and have a good reason for doing so.

* DesignatedVillain: Duke Crabtree. We're apparently supposed to see him as an egotistical {{jerkass}} who is out to steal your job, but he appears to be far more competent than the player character. He'd probably be better-suited for the job. While we as the detective spend about half of Episode 6 sleeping (which is required, by the way), Duke is actually doing work. While interrogating Bridget, if you end the interrogation too early, Duke will helpfully inform the player that Bridget contradicted herself and tell us to go back and "nail her." When you are interrogating Bridget near Ted's cell, Duke will ask the valid question of why we are exposing the suspect to a known violent criminal. One possible response to this is to call Duke a meddling creep and then punch him in the face. This results in a game over, but the fact that the option is there in the first place clearly indicates that we're not supposed to like Duke. Duke ''does'' insult the player, but the attentive player should notice that Duke only insults you when you waste time, and [[spoiler: after you get a confession from Bridget]], he stops insulting you entirely and works with you to try and solve the case. Somewhat negated by the fact that [[spoiler: Duke actually becomes genuinely villainous in Episode 10. It is revealed that he is in on the plot to frame Ted Hadrup for murder, and then he hijacks your cab and takes you somewhere to kill you. However, he still qualifies because we're supposed to see him as villainous from the start even though he doesn't do anything particularly villainous before being revealed as EvilAllAlong.]]

* EarWorm: The opening song from ''Move or Die''.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Duke Crabtree, because he is the only character in Ambition with any shred of competence, and also because [[spoiler: he's killing off the other characters that nobody likes]]. As one [=YouTube=] commenter put it:

* EpilepticTrees: Since a (now-removed) part of the website confirms that the homeless guy from ''The Negotiator'' is actually Ted, fans have been trying to work out how the timeline fits together, and whether ''The Negotiator'' came first and Ted had the misfortune of having '''two''' wives walk out on him, or whether he suffered a nervous breakdown and hit the bottle after the events of ''Ambition'', before getting his life back on track prior to ''Sir Basil Pike Public School''.

* MostAnnoyingSound: In Episode 1, Ted's footsteps always make a pounding sound, as if he's stomping on a wooden floor. It's particularly annoying because it happens with every step he takes, and he paces around a lot. Thankfully, it's fixed by the next episode.

* TheScrappy: Even in a game where pretty much every character is universally hated (except for Duke, Helen, and possibly Ted), Yale still manages to stand out. When he's introduced in Episode 2, he comes across as an okay guy, maybe a little uptight. However, he is quickly [[{{Flanderization}} flanderized]] into a pretentious {{jerkass}} with massive DelusionsOfEloquence. He displays chauvinism and misogyny that, in LetsPlay/{{slowbeef}}'s words, would make [[MadMen Don Draper]] say that he ought to be more respectful towards women. He often comes across as having a smug sense of superiority over others, especially Helen. The worst part about it is that [[DesignatedHero we are apparently supposed to side with him over Helen]]. It at least helps that he does take his fair share of [[TakeThatScrappy abuse]] throughout the game. The game over scenarios where he is beaten with the violin and has the piece of crystal thrown at him, as well as the part in Episode 2 where Helen punches him in the face are pretty satisfying. You can even see [[spoiler:the game's ending as a TakeThatScrappy to Yale]].
** As it appears that Yale was intentionally written to be like disliked (''as opposed to other characters such as Ted, who were written to be sympathetic but are even more unlikable'') and the racist subtext throughout the series, combined with him actually having a shred of decency & being so funny, this seems to have gotten inverted and have some people like him...even if it is only ironically.

* ScrappyMechanic: Tennis in ''Sir Basil Pike''. It's not hard, it's just tedious, repetitive, and made more annoying because some parts require that you do it to obtain [[MultipleEndings a different ending]] through renegotiation or as ForcedLevelGrinding if your persuasive power gets too low. Be warned that you are forced to play another whole game of it if your opponent has even one thing left to say in the negotiation, and [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard the computer]] will become [[HopelessBossFight unbeatable]] on the second and fourth serves to prevent you from winning by more than two points.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Ted is a character you're supposed to sympathize with, but the fact that he ''completely refuses'' to work with anybody in the series, even Yale, his ''own lawyer'', as well the story going out of its way to make sure he stays at the moral high ground despite constantly breaking the law makes one just simply stop caring about Ted.

* WhatAnIdiot: If you actually take the time to analyze [[spoiler: Rolf Klink]]'s plan, you'll find that it is actually really stupid. Paxwic was a new drug that was coming out, and Angie wrote a negative report about it. If the report came out, Rolf Klink, the boss of Somaplex (the people making Paxwic) wasn't going to buy any real estate from [[spoiler: Rolf Klink]]. So, [[spoiler: Rolf is trying to make money by buying from himself.]]

* TheWoobie: Ted Hadrup was probably intended as one. [[DesignatedHero As we have]] [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic already pointed out]], though, it doesn't exactly work out. He may qualify as a JerkassWoobie, but that's probably not how we were intended to see him.

* HarsherInHindsight: In one of the Negotiator games that preceded this series, making a romantic advance on a cop causes him to declare the (male) player character a sinner and murder him on the spot. At first this seems like a strange over-reaction, but when Ted becomes a CreatorsPet mouthpiece for Michael Gibson's Christian propaganda, the aforementioned incident makes an [[UnfortunateImplications unfortunate amount of sense]].

* UnfortunateImplications: The [[{{Squick}} unsettlingly sultry]] way Bridget talked to her (seemingly naked) sons in the ending of Episode 2 was considered to be this by both of the Retsupurae duo, and many of those who commented on their video.
--> '''Bridget:''' Now come on. If you're both gonna get ''big'' and ''strong''...\\
'''slowbeef:''' ''Eeeeaaaauugh!''

** Whenever [[spoiler:Duke]] kills you in Episode 10, he's accompanied by a green light. This is never explained at any point in the episode.

* UnfortunateImplications: The [[{{Squick}} unsettlingly sultry]] way Bridget talked to her (seemingly naked) sons in the ending of Episode 2 may lead to this.