History YMMV / DarkChronicle

** Those who watched cartoons in TheNineties and the TurnOfTheMillennium (especially shows on Nickelodeon) might giggle at some of the voicework - especially Osmond (voiced by Michael Bell, using the almost ''exact same'' voice as [[WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}} Drew Pickles]]) and [[spoiler: Sirus/Emperor Griffon]] who is voiced by Kath Soucie. [[spoiler: That second one is subverted when he transforms into a larger, humanoid form voiced by Mark Hamill, who sounds appropriately evil and menacing in the role.]]

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: The dub was actually a ''very'' good dub at the time in 2003 - most games that had voice acting would hire Hollywood actors who had almost no experience in voice acting. For the English dub, Sony hired people who ''actually'' had careers in voice acting. These days, people might giggle at the dub just because the voices remind them too much of Nickelodeon or PBS-kids characters - but these were some of the most experienced voice actors at the time.

* ScrappyMechanic: When you kill an enemy, loot spills out, including ABS to level your weapons, and must be picked up or else it's lost. After you kill the last enemy, if Spheda is available, you are offered the option of being transported directly to the sphere to start playing immediately. Great...except it's offered before you can get the loot, meaning that unless you've reached the point where you just plain don't care about that (weapons fully leveled, more gold than you can spend, all Georama finished, basically endgame), you end up turning it down and having to hoof it to wherever the sphere is, which can be a long way.

** Medal collecting, photography, and ItemCrafting are all very fun and can be very time-consuming if you fig in.
* SurprisinglyImprovedSequel: Graphics were improved, voice acting was added, weapons no longer permanently disappear, the city building mechanics were given more depth and tons of addictive minigames were included.

** By all rights, Name Change Tickets should be a JokeItem. In theory, they don't do anything but allow the player to change the name one of their weapons, a pure cosmetic action. However, in practice, you can change the name of any weapon to the name of another weapon in the same class (Sword to sword, wrench to wrench, gun to gun, etc) and the weapon will actually change into that weapon, meaning that you can change a weak weapon into the most powerful weapon in it's class if you know the name. However, the stats are still the same so while you will have the most powerful weapons, it won't reflect it in the stats.

** Fishing activities are also revampled. You can level up your fishing poles, and there's a fishing contest that gives prizes for the largest fish, and an aquarium where you can feed and breed your fish to prepare them for the Fish Race.

** Medal collecting, photography, and ItemCrafting are all very fun and can be very time consuming if you sink in.

** "What? Your Monster Is Evolving!" isn't particularly easy either. It requires fully evolving any of Monika's monster forms to their final form. While this sounds easy, the [[MagikarpPower low stats of most monster forms]], the GuideDangIt nature of getting the better ones, and how much training they need to reach their ''first'' transformation, means that this can be a time consuming process, even if you use the Character Swap trick for easy ABS.

* ThatOneBoss: So you're fighting a boss voiced by Kath Soucie using her [[WesternAnimation/AsToldByGinger Blake Gripling]] voice? Well they have way ''way'' more health than anything you've ''ever'' faced (Except for ridepod only enemies) and move way ''way'' too fast to use the Ridepod. Oh and there's a photo you can take too. The easiest way to do it? [[ViolationOfCommonSense right when they're in your face trying to attack you]] or throw a projectile that can pierce your guard. (Fortunately it doesn't stun you)

** The level in Ocean's Roar Cave ironically labelled "Improvements." It's a red seal level (meaning you can ONLY use Monica) and it's filled with enemies that can only reasonably be defeated with the Ridepod. [[AntiFrustrationFeatures Many players opt to shell out money for a seal-breaking scroll for this level.]]

* AngstWhatAngst: The reveal that [[spoiler: Mayor Need has been [[CityInABottle deliberately keeping Palm Brinks isolated from the outside world to keep them ignorant of TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt]]]] is met with absolute indifference from the town's citizens, who seem more interested in cheerleading the heroes' adventure than calling the mayor out on his lies.

** Steve. The ridepod's main feature is to take down bulky enemies. However, what works for EliteMooks will ''also'' work ''wonders'' on regular mooks. It's entirely possible to go through entire floors with Steve laying ''waste'' to enemies and sucking up the experience. There's even a trick in which you can transfer the experience to Max or Monica, and ''both'' weapons get it shared - so you don't have to worry about them falling behind.

* ThatOneLevel: The level in Ocean's Roar Cave ironically labelled "Improvements." It's a red seal level (meaning you can ONLY use Monica) and it's filled with enemies that can only reasonably be defeated with the Ridepod. [[AntiFrustrationFeatures Many players opt to shell out money for a seal-breaking scroll for this level.]]

* CastingGag: The clown taking the tickets for Flotsam's circus is voiced by Creator/MarkHamill. And, unsurprisingly, he has the exact same voice as The Joker.