!!The video game
* BreatherLevel: Late in the main story, you have to get the Core pieces from Rex, Chip, and Shep (which can be done in any order). The areas that you have to go to for Rex and Chip's Core pieces have several encounters [[spoiler:based on your previous allies]] required to progress and a series of difficult puzzles respectively. Meanwhile, all you have to do for Shep's Core piece is a ChainOfDeals that takes place within the same area. All three quests end with a boss battle of some kind, though.
* DiagnosedByTheAudience: While her quirks are attributed to her Minotaur nature by most characters, some of Chip's odd habits like sleeping in fridges, her fixation with her Mogwai Registry, difficulty managing complex emotions, and a lack of social grace are reminiscent of being on the autism spectrum.
* DifficultySpike:
** The Otecho Path area, primarily due to it being the first area where Toxin-affinity enemies are common, meaning that your Light-affinity party medic Klein is in constant danger of going down, and it being one of the few zones without some way of healing close to the entrance, meaning you have to backtrack all the way to the previous town if bad things happen.
** Harbei Grotto and Cirruwa Forest are two back to back areas that mark the point where the game starts introducing tougher enemies and forcing the party to attack with ineffective affinities, with Harbei Grotto also forcing the party to walk part of the way out of the dungeon with only two party members. Cirruwa Forest also has a particularly difficult boss fight at the end even with a fourth party member joining.
** After the party crosses the PointOfNoReturn [[spoiler:and enters the Den]] comes the last major spike in difficulty, with healing spots being very limited and [[spoiler:Klein being kidnapped almost immediately and unavailable until she's rescued]]. In fact, after the aforementioned [[spoiler:kidnapping]], you're down to just 2 party members and have to fight against a group of Cat Sith who can heal each other (although the fight can easily be won by using Hei Cha and transforming Mott into a Toxin Mog).
* OvershadowedByControversy: In early October of 2019, the developers found themselves in hot water due to a controversy involving transphobic tweets from the lead dev's lesbian girlfriend, and it all got much worse when, roughly a week later, a steam sale was put up in which the bundle purchase of the game plus soundtrack was 41% off, a number that just so happens to be ''[[https://www.dailydot.com/irl/heartbeat-trans-suicide-rate/ the attempted suicide rate among transgender people]]''.[[note]] It should be noted, however, that this number was chosen by Steam's algorithms, which piles additional discounts on bundles based on the discounts that the developers set up for the standalone purchase. In fact, the 41% discount wasn't even advertised on the dev's social media and on the game's steam page - these advertised the standalone 35% purchase discount instead. Still, the unusual circumstances and rather suspicious timing caused many people to theorize that the devs anticipated the algorithm's bundle discount, which gained more acceptance once devs went into near radio silence when the discount hit.[[/note]] Predictably, this led to the game's name becoming drenched in controversy, to the point where, as of now, it's likely that most people who've heard of it only did so because of this incident. As a result, much of the indie gaming community, including most well-known youtubers, don't want to associate themselves with it. One [=YouTuber=], WebVideo/{{Alpharad}} in particular, even deleted his old review of the game's demo as soon as the controversy came to light to avoid giving it a platform.
* ThatOneAttack: Wake's Bullet Barrage can KO your entire party if you're not careful and don't pay attention to her moves. When encountered again during various boss rushes, the party is at a higher level and has a better chance of surviving, but the charging move she does on the previous turn is removed from these fights so it can catch you off guard more easily, and you will still need to use a turn to heal everyone.
* UnderusedGameMechanic: The partner skills of each party member fall under this, as most of the places where they're required are either only for the duration of their stay in the party, in areas related to sidequests (some of which are only found after they've left and are unavailable until the post-game), or the BrutalBonusLevel (again, only available in the post-game).
** Rex can jump over [[InsurmountableWaistHeightFence small gaps and other objects blocking the way]] (except for plants and ice), but she comes and goes early on so most of the game doesn't have places where it can be utilized except for things that can only be accessed after she rejoins you, or in the post-game if you need another party member to access it as well.
** While the skills of Troz, Chip, and Luca are all used well in puzzles, the rest of the party's seem to only serve the purpose of accessing areas without having to do a puzzle beforehand. Io's skill is used in a few puzzles but those are much easier and don't come up often enough. Even Chip's skill seems limited, as while it can be activated at any time, it's still only useful in specific places where it's meant to be used, while Troz's skill is even more limited since she can only move two specific items.
** The skills of Pike and Kon are also only used in specific areas. For Pike, the bridges she makes are permanent, but still aren't involved in any puzzles (the closest is when it's combined with Rex's jumping ability to access switches that make more hooks appear). Kon is the worse offender, though, since there are only a few areas in the Den and two places in the post-game where she is needed to fly over spiked areas, and if you want to backtrack in the Den, you'll have to switch her into the party even though she might not be the best against certain types of enemies.
** Even though Klein stays in the party the longest, her skill is seemingly forgotten about around the time you reach the Auramosa Plains, only making a brief comeback in the Arctario Caves [[spoiler:to introduce you to switching between her human and Mog forms]], and one instance in the Den [[spoiler:which leaves her open to getting kidnapped]]. Most players will also [[spoiler:prefer to keep her in her human form after she changes into it, since she has more useful abilities in battles]].
** Nyx's skill is only really useful for avoiding enemy encounters, talking to hidden spectres for lore about the game's world, and finding a post-game weapon [[GuideDangIt that has no hints about how to obtain it]]; the only time you have to use it for a StealthBasedMission is in one or two rooms in the Den Castle.

!!The television series:

* SeasonalRot: Originally a vehicle for Nick Berry and Creator/NiamhCusack, at the time a very popular soap actor and a respected stage actress respectively, the show lingered on for many years with ever-slipping production standards, second and third-string casting and less resemblance to its source material until it became little more than a watered-down version of ''Series/{{All Creatures Great and Small|1978}}''.

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