YMMV / Epic Seven

YMMVs with their own pages:

• Complacent Gaming Syndrome
• Game Breaker
• Memetic Mutation
• Scrappy Mechanic

A-H

• And You Thought It Would Fail:
  • 2019 was a rough time for this game with incidents like the Korean conference and Google Play review bombing which were respectively thought to have disappointed the former Korean playerbase and caused a lot to quit. Doomposters would even say that E7 will die on 2020 because of these. It turns out that there's still a lot of dedicated spenders to keep it floating in the revenue charts, especially in the English stores. Even if one could say that the revenues on the first half of 2020 might be lower compared to the first half of 2019, the game didn't actually "die" at that point.
  • This also happened when people remember how Arbiter Vildred dominated the first PVP meta in Japan at launch without any reliable counters. The stale meta is thought to have killed the hype there. While it's true that E7 didn't become popular in Japan in terms of online content, discussions, fanart, doujinshi and has plateaued in social platforms for months, the fact that it still somehow averages in the Top 25-40 grossing charts after 6 months might mean that there are still heavy spenders or competitive PVP players who keep the game's revenue afloat in that country.
• Awesome Art: Epic Seven stands out as one of the gacha games with the most gorgeous, consistent and well-drawn 2D characters and environments. And with the Live2D that gives animations to the otherwise static character artworks, you could say that it lives up to its Tagline of "The Playable Animation" indeed.
• Awesome Music: "Promise", an official OST sung by Raon Lee. It has well-spoken English and is often described as catchy. This later became an official ad for E7 on YouTube. Even those who don't like mobile games or gacha games find this song amazing. And even has an amazing cover from JubyPhonic (aka Juliet Simmons)!
• Author's Saving Throw:
  • At launch, players couldn't rewatch story dialogue and cutscenes in-game. It disappointed those who focused on the grind first, skipped cutscenes but wanted to experience the story again. For more than a year, the only way to rewatch cutscenes is to watch them on YouTube. The Story Journal was added to address this, including the "Text Log" QoL common in Visual Novels. However, Side Stories have a requirement of owning the necessary Heroes first, so this still has a Scrappy Mechanic.
  • The Devs were seemingly aware of how the early PVP meta in the Japanese server was stale because of Arbiter Vildred's dominance. In response, Heroes who can effectively counter him were released ahead of schedule compared to the other servers' pacing. For example, Sinful Angelica was released when the game was still 5 months old in Japan, compared to more than a year for the other servers.
  • In an official post, Smilegate acknowledged that players were worried of the possibility that Kizuna Ai would be released in a limited banner so soon after the Guilty Gear rerun. It's a problem for those who just spent a lot of Covenant Bookmarks in the GG banners with little or nothing left to spare for another collab character. Thus, Smilegate revealed that Ai-chan can be obtained for free simply by logging in during the event.
  • From 2020 onwards, the devs have done a lot of efforts to address some of the Scrappy Mechanics based on how the playerbase reacted:
    • The "Re:Birth" campaign and some updates later resolved the fans' complaints about the initial versions of Pets and the World Boss mode. For example, Repeat Battling used to rely on a currency called Homemade Snacks which are consumed each time the Pet repeats the stage. Unfortunately, players could only buy 10 snacks from the shop per week while more can be farmed as rare item drops. The cap was soon removed and the Pet can now auto-repeat battles without requiring a new currency. While the auto-repeat limit now depends on the pet's generation, it's more manageable than before. Players also receive 1 free pet ticket everyday, which alleviates the gold sink tied to this system.
    • An August 2020 update introduced a substitute item for the MolaGoras or MolaGoraGos, but are only obtainable once the Hero reaches Friendship Level 10. Even though these require grinding, fans saw them as a sign that SuperCreative is still aware of the scarcity of Molas and is trying to solve it slowly. Plus, there's now an incentive to farm Friendship Levels.
    • Free Unequip buffs were added as the first reward for the web events.
• Best Known for the Fanservice:
  • Gacha gamers tend to try out Epic Seven after seeing the well-drawn and gorgeous anime character designs.
  • The game might be infamous for its RNG layers on gears and its Gold sinks, but the visuals, character designs, animations and engine are still generally praised.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The descriptions of several characters' skills (e.g. Ras, Krau, Charles, Vildred and Twyin) use the word "Swordstorm". But what is a "Swordstorm"? Is it just a made-up word by the devs? Does it even exist as a real word in the dictionary? Was it Lost in Translation from the original Korean text? Or is it a unique named ability of knights in Orbis? No lore tidbits nor Flavor Text describe what it is in detail, making players question what this term actually means.
• Breather Level: Certain "town" areas in Story Mode are treated like a friendly Labyrinth stage - low AP cost, almost zero enemy encounters, and just progress the story away from all the random fighting.
• Broken Base: Most topics that divide the playerbase are either gameplay or meta-related, since the lore is rarely discussed in favor of gameplay.
  • The STOVE forums Vs. other online communities – Sites like Reddit find it odd how the official STOVE forums can have negative reactions even if the in-game updates are actually beneficial for E7. This was especially the case on 2019 when a lot of updates were controversial.
  • Korean Playerbase Vs. Global Playerbase – Around 2018-2019, it was thought that Epic Seven is more prioritized overseas compared to its origin country, Korea. A Luna banner on the Global server having the 121 safety net was frowned upon since at that time, the Korean server didn't have such safety net. A "15%/40%" statement in a livestream (where it's mentioned how 15% of the total revenue came from Korea while 40% came from the Global market) seemed to be the breaking point. It hinted that the game is indeed more profitable overseas, bringing suspicions that favoritism exists. Another conference had the speakers apologize for that statement, but it's still remembered by the veterans.
  • The topic of Power Creep can be debatable depending on the players' understanding of the term. Perhaps the most controversial question asks if powercreep exists in Epic Seven or not.
    • Powercreeping in general – One side claims that powercreep doesn't exist and the devs have been doing the reverse of it from 2020 onwards when new Heroes start out niche but eventually get stronger with rebalance patches. They also mention Arbiter Vildred, perhaps the most popular Game-Breaker, still dominant for years despite being released at launch. The other side argues that powercreep exists by nature of a gacha game, and rebalance patches prove that older heroes needed to catch up and stay relevant. They also bring up Sage Baal and Sezan or Silver Blade Aramintha who had to be nerfed because they were too strong in PVP, that heroes like Haste no longer see relevance in the meta of 2020, or that Holiday Yufine is a better "Basar Counter" than Lilias.
    • Gear Powercreep - One side brings up new Artifacts being direct upgrades over some old ones, like "Portrait of the Saviors" vs. "Exorcist's Tonfa", or that Gear Reforging introduced Level 90 Gear when Level 85-88 Gears were once considered as the end-game equipment. They also claim that the Reforging system only widens the gap between the newcomers/casuals against the whales/hardcore players because of the gold and resource sinks. The counter-argument says that no one usually complains about gear powercreep because they are farmable by both the F2P/P2W, or that when a player talks about powercreep, it's "mostly" about characters and not equipment.
    • Powercreep compared to other gachas – One side claims that if powercreep didn't exist here, then the starting Hero 4★ Fire Mercedes should still be relevant in most content despite her simplistic kit, as a comparison to how Mash, the starting Servant of Fate/Grand Order, is still a reliable tank in their game. Problem is, no one uses Mercedes anymore once they obtain more characters that fill her Area of Effect playstyle. The counter-argument says that comparing powercreep in games won't lead to meaningful discussions if their focused content are different (F/GO being a PVE game in contrast to E7's PVP). Besides, Mercedes later gained a lot of viability against the Blooming Snag Lich, thanks to that boss's mechanics favoring Fire AoE Heroes, so she's no longer that lackluster.
  • The supposed pattern of new Heroes being made to counter an old Hero, especially the Game Breakers in PVP. Those who say it's bad claim that the devs are becoming too predictable in making meta-focused players chase the new toy, that it evokes the strategy of "Creating a problem then selling the solution". The other side says that this pattern is good because it keeps the PVP meta away from being stale/repetitive.
  • The changes to the Epic Pass system (e.g. Christmas-themed Iseria) on late 2019 has been controversial compared to its initial iterations (e.g. the Summer-themed Karin). Defenders see the new version as an improvement thanks to the added currency that allows players to trade for older outfits that they've missed, that the other rewards are just bonuses, the skin is more important. The counter-argument says that those changes were "nerfs" since they clearly offer fewer rewards. Players even made comparisons to counter-act the defenders, but even that was rebutted with a similar format.
  • The initial versions of the Pet, World Boss, and Equipment Conversion contents around late 2019 were treated as disappointing, mediocre or unnecessary, especially when the game is still infamous for its equipment RNG layers and gold sinks. It broke the fanbase until E7 was review-bombed in Google Play, causing a divide between those who defend the game, against those who were fed up with the consecutive disappointing updates and thus, no longer bothered playing. 6 months later on 2020, there's a side that's satisfied with the fixes, while there are still those who claim that the attempted fixes solved only those specific contents but weren't enough to address the older issues like the equipment RNG layers and gold sinks.
• Captain Obvious Reveal:
  • When the second crossover event was announced, SuperCreative posted a teaser showing the third-party character's silhouette and a sample voice. Fans already knew it was Kizuna Ai because her silhouette and voice are iconic within the VTuber community.
  • A livestream announcement showed a silhouette of the limited-time Hero for the Summer 2020 side story event. But that silhouette and the prologue preview's artwork with Yufine in the center made it obvious that she's the second limited-time summer Hero after Seaside Bellona. It was confirmed when Holiday Yufine was revealed. To some players, that "silhouette preview" announcement was useless because the answer was already too obvious even a week before her official release.
• Casual-Competitive Conflict:
  • Like with other anime-styled gachas having large rosters, the "Waifu vs. Meta" debates also apply here.
    • Casual players seek fun and prioritize their favorite Waifu/Husbando characters first and casual guilds exist to help players in simple guild-exclusive content without enforcing too much rules. Meanwhile, competitive players prioritize the meta-defining or Game-Breaker characters first regardless of their design. They belong to guilds who are most active in PVP content, collecting meta heroes for maintaining their ranks on the leaderboards, and quickly adjusting to any meta changes depending on who's buffed or nerfed.
    • Among the various characters, Free Spirit Tieria is the most common target of this debate. She's very good for newcomers, but once you're into late-game and have more options, is she still needed? One side says that other Heroes can do better and are worth investing more than her, while the other side still use her regardless of her kit, especially when she's a very gorgeous "waifu material".
  • Of the "Advanced Mechanics" conflict, are the RNG layers on gears good or bad? For the casuals and PVE-focused players, the RNG layers are a Scrappy Mechanic that hinders the freedom to experiment strategies and min-max stats. The F2P is mostly affected by this because of the ludicrous gold sinks in unequipping gears. Meanwhile, competitive players in PVP find the RNG layers beneficial as they balance the PVP modes, that there's no definite equipment for any Hero, thus allowing flexibility, uniqueness, and that players won't have the exact same stats even if they own the same Hero.
• Character Tiers: Tier lists gauge the Heroes' usability in contents (PVE, PVP or both), class, element, role, strengths, weaknesses and max stats to know who's better than the others. These help players compare and determine who would be the most efficient unit in a given situation.
• Cliché Storm:
  • Those who've seen a lot of Shōnen/medieval fantasy media on the late 2010's find the early story writing in E7 to be trope-y, predictable or full of cliché, especially on Episode 1 and Episode 1.5. There are elements of Isekai, the main antagonist is a demon lord, the hero uses a sword and is a deity's chosen one. He embarks with his friends to stop The End of the World as We Know It, some friends became enemies, some redemption/rescue arc happens and the hero is expected to save the heroine. Even the pet sidekick and female sidekick archetypes are in here just like other medieval fantasy gachas. This is a reason why the community talks more about the loot, metagame and grinding over the early lore and worldbuilding. Fortunately, Episode 2 is praised for trying to break away from the common clichés in the genre and is seen as the point where the story writing is considered to be improving.
  • The concept of betrayals and traitors is very common here. From Episode 1 alone, Vildred kills Queen Diene and absorbs the Archdemon's might, Gusma is actually working with Plum to summon an Acolyte, Plum wants to be the President of Reingar, Purrgis betrays Ras and his friends to let Nehenqui escape, Morfih betrays Ras in the North Wetheric Moor, etc... Some fans who read the story even joke or ask if betrayals are prevalent in Korean media.
• Continuity Lockout: Since Crossover events are mostly done to attract players from the other side, the third-party IPs's lore gets compressed into this game. It means that E7 fans would only get the barebones backstory of the crossover characters. Wanting to know everything about the other media requires researching stuff not presented in the event, or have fans of both media explain the lore of the other game.
• Demonic Spiders:
  • Enemies with a passive Counter-Attack or any damaging abilities that instantly activate during your own turn. Especially in PVE, it's annoying if the enemies are programmed to have some free potshots at you, worse if they can stun or kill the Heroes that you needed for the next turn. Even if they're in easy contents (e.g. Automaton Tower), enemies with extra attacks just drag the battle longer than necessary.
  • A lot of enemies in the game are quite tame, but there's one mob you should watch out for in Cidonia: THOSE. FREAKING. CANNONS. "Artillery" mobs have a passive that increases their Combat Readiness whenever an ally attacks. This passive stacks with others of the same kind, so when you have groups of cannons, you'd best be prepared to get a ton of your health bitten off. Now, this is already a pretty raw deal, but what pushes it over the edge is that these enemies' attacks inflict burns. So not only do you have a ton of potshots that all the Speed and Combat Readiness buffs in the world won't help with coming at you, but you also have several Burning debuffs on everyone afterwards, which will likely either heavily ravage them or leave only one or two Heroes alive with a sliver of HP left.
  • PVE-only enemies that can revive themselves, either by restoring a portion of their HP or transforming with a full HP. They can become annoying to fight since the battle basically drags on longer, worse is if one of your characters didn't make it in the second phase. Abyss Floor 86's second wave has a mushroom that can repeatedly revive itself at full HP, while you have Ken who transforms into his Martial Artist version after his first HP goes down.
  • The mushroom-like enemies that can self-detonate. Their explosions can deal massive damage in the end-game contents where they appear in, and the damage is higher the more HP they currently have before they explode.
• Difficulty Spike:
  • The "World" difficulty Adventure mode (now archived as the "Unrecorded History" side story) has enemies going past Level 60 (the maximum Level Cap for the playable units).
  • Automaton Tower Floors 90 and above have AI-enhanced enemies with more passives and debuff resistances.
  • The Abyss Tower can be notorious for this, as each subsequent floor can have AI-enhanced units that have more gimmicks, combining the Puzzle Boss and Damage-Sponge Boss tropes into one. Most of the time, clearing the harder Abyss Floors require having very specific or game-breaking characters with end-game gear.
  • The enemies in Episode 3 have ramped-up HP, including the stage bosses. Basically, the stat-check just went up compared to the previous Episode.
• Discredited Meme:
  • The "15%/40%" statement about the game's revenue between the Korean and Global market caused quite a split within the fandom and was repeatedly used like a meme. However, this died down when the speakers apologized for the incident.
  • The "F2P BTW" phrase is losing relevance from 2020 onwards because of overuse and the context of bragging about luck isn't funny anymore. Not to mention, the World Arena meta isn't all that entirely dominated by Moonlight 5★ characters despite several of them being Game-Breaker themselves and there are some 3★ that are Simple, yet Awesome that are relevant in the World Arena meta.
• Draco in Leather Pants: The Acolytes and female antagonists like Tenebria (especially her Specter version) get a lot of fan-art because of her sexy design. It's also common to pair her with the protagonists or Reingar students, like Adlay. Especially Adlay.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Angelica and Iseria. They are two of the most beginner-friendly reroll targets who make the early-game easier, especially if Iseria gets paired with Tamarinne or other long-cooldown characters. Both of their portraits also became the app's logo.
    • Angelica gets recognition as a Series Mascot in official promotions, giving her a surge of popularity in fanarts.
    • A fanart of the 2020 Pixiv contest shows Iseria sleeping with Ras and Aither, which will be implemented in the game as a title screen.
    • This also applied to their respective Moonlight versions, Sinful Angelica and Briar Witch Iseria. Despite most ML Heroes having short backstories and little to no plot-relevance in the main story, their dark-themed designs, "evil" and "depressed" personas became a hit within the fandom, especially Briar Witch Iseria who spawned a lot of fanarts the moment she was just announced.
  • Any limited-time hero like Diene, Luna and Seaside Bellona get mentioned a lot, especially for players who don't want to miss out on their banners.
  • Bellona has a lot of fan content thanks to her cute facial expressions, her fanservice design, and the positive reception of her English voice actress. Her popularity was even boosted when she, alongside Karin, were the first to receive swimsuit outfits.
  • The first summer event with Bellona also gave Karin some spotlight and a popularity boost, all thanks to the event itself and free swimsuit outfit.
  • Among the villains, Tenebria is also quite popular. A fanart of Tenebria won the 2020 Pixiv contest for the game, and will be implemented as a new costume for her.
  • For the 4★ Heroes, both regular and Moonlight versions of Coli and Rin are also popular because of their designs.
  • Among the introduced Guardians so far, Kazran (Yuna's Guardian) is the most popular in fan content because he's the most human-like, and is quite a bishounen.
  • Among the six elemental "Spirit Altar" bosses, Rahel of the Dark is the most popular because of her design, especially after their artworks improved.
  • Violet and Luluca gained a lot of fans after Episode 2 gave them a lot of screen time, and because their Official Couple status or Ship Tease were well-received.
  • Sigret became popular after a rebalance patch that made her strong against the Wyvern Hunts and as a counter to Arbiter Vildred. It was boosted even further when her side story event, "Dark Side of the Moon", is well-liked in terms of story.
  • Yufine also has a lot of fans and artwork. Those even exploded further in numbers following the release of her summer version, Holiday Yufine.
• Epileptic Trees:
  • Who is Aither's father? This is commonly asked during the first run of the "Eulogy for a Saint" side story. Diene is his mom, and she fell in love with Bask. However, Bask died, thus he wasn't able to accept her marriage proposal, and Diene didn't seem to be pregnant during that time. Some theories suggest that a concubine was involved, or that Diene had a political marriage but the King died early. Because Aither is blonde, perhaps the father is one of those blonde males like Krau, Sez or Sven? Or perhaps the father was a Moonlight version, Alternate Self of Bask? What if Aither is actually adopted?
  • Briar Witch Iseria's backstory can be open to interpretations when taken as-is from her Journal entry. Iseria was cursed by the Dark Witch, forcing her to "take up her sword against her lover and friends". The first part could mean that Briar Witch Iseria killed her lover and friends, which makes sense when she locked herself in a castle after realizing what she did. But who exactly were her "lover and friends"? Fans interpret that those were either or both Cermia and Alexa, and that one of them could be the "lover" when taken from a Les Yay approach. On the other hand, if the lover was a man, it was even more confusing. Is it Ras? Violet? Or someone who wasn't introduced yet?
• Fandom-Enraging Misconception:
  • Getting the title wrong. The game is titled "Epic Seven" or "Epic 7". Although the title logo and official arts stick the number 7 in the middle of the two words◊, it isn't meant to be read as "Epic 7 Seven". This is a very minor misconception, however.
  • Saying that Epic Seven characters are unoriginal or rip-offs of other anime/manga/game characters when the similarities are too superficial, or if the appearance is now too common nowadays to be considered as an expy or reference. For example, accusing Silk to be a Shera rip-off won't go too well for you, since their "blonde elf archer with nature-themed green/white clothes" archetype is prevalent in fantasy settings.
• Fandom Rivalry:
  • When this game was still new on 2018-2019, players from the general gacha communities (usually a mixed fanbase from Dragalia Lost, Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle, Fate/Grand Order, Fire Emblem Heroes, Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, Granblue Fantasy and Honkai Impact 3rd) were surprised at how Epic Seven gets hyped and mentioned a lot, which got to the point where a very vocal portion of E7 fans praised this game as the "best" over the others, especially when it came to engines, graphics and animations. The abundance of graphics-related comparisons made other gacha fans think that these vocal E7 fans were either first-timers to the genre, or were only in it for the visuals. The rivalries somehow subsided on 2020 when E7 fans are branching out to try other games and vice-versa, forming some Friendly Fandoms. While other games are still compared to E7, it isn't as bad as before.
  • Epic Seven has a strong rivalry with Summoners War: Sky Arena when the topic is about originality. SW fans say that E7 copied a lot of stuff that Summoners War established, but covered with an anime artstyle. To E7's defense, it's common to copy ideas that were proven successful, sometimes improving them. This is why E7 got called "Anime Summoners War" or "Summoners War 2.0".
  • On January-February 2020, Epic Seven got compared a lot to Arknights simply because both are published by Yostar in Japan. Some E7 fans claim that AK stole the thunder and fanfare from their game in terms of marketing and online presence, especially since AK got released in Japan just 3 months after E7 did. But as some time passed, this was dismissed as a minor thing by fans who play both games and explain that they can be played together instead of being rivals. The debates about the games' popularity also ended when fans just accepted how the choices of games between the Western and Japanese audiences can vary.
  • With The Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross of Light and Darkness. The 7DS gacha was thought to bring down the E7 hype, or that 7DS might have taken a portion of players who quit E7 near the end of 2019. The general gacha community even compared these two games a lot. 7DS somehow became more profitable than E7 on the first half of 2020 in the Global and Japanese servers, but to E7 fans, the other game was profitable only because of its existing IP/franchise.
  • Fans of Artery Gear: Fusion do not generally get along with fans of Epic Seven due to accusations of Artery Gear being too similar to Epic Seven. Epic Seven players argue that their game came first and gives more premium currency, while Artery Gear players argue that the offline battles and better gear system makes it the superior game.
• Foe Yay Shipping:
  • Tenebria is sometimes shipped with Ras because her breakout popularity had her appear with him in official art/ads more than Mercedes, Ras's Official Couple.
  • This also applied for some male protagonists who had a crush on Tenebria. So far in the Main Story, Crozet and the Toranor Royal Guard fell for her at one point.
  • Come the "Reingar's Chaotic Moon Festival" event and people seem to ship Tenebria and Adlay just because of their dynamic when touring the festival, especially since the latter is smitten by her.
• Friendly Fandoms:
  • The debates and comparisons to other games (DL, Dokkan, FGO, FEH, FFBE, GBF, HI3) brought by Fandom Rivalry also made some E7 fans curious of how those games play like. This is common for those who had E7 as their first gacha but are trying other titles that they can play alongside this game.
  • As expected of crossover events, E7 fans get along well with fans of the third-party title, thanks to bringing in more players for both sides. The first collaborating IP, Guilty Gear had this effect.
  • When the comparisons between Epic Seven and Arknights calmed down, fans usually bring up AK as a decent side game that helps in shifting away attention from the grindy nature of E7. It also helps that after acknowledging Yostar's involvement as a publisher of both games in Japan, a crossover event with Arknights became widely requested.
• Gateway Series: In the West, it's common to read stories from platforms like Reddit about players admitting Epic Seven as their first gacha.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: American gacha gamers love Epic Seven. The game is a runaway smash hit in the States, especially compared to any other anime-styled RPG gacha on the market. Months after launch, E7 consistently managed to stay in the Top 100 grossing chart, and its lowest peaks are around #25. That may not sound impressive at first, but the American mobile market's top end is notoriously competitive and dense (Especially when slot machine apps and virtual casinos get shoved into the game category on American mobile stores). Cracking the Top 50 is incredibly difficult for any app, let alone a foreign-produced RPG gacha that most Americans typically bounce off from. Breaking into the Top 25 consistently each month for a gacha is virtually difficult, but E7 was one of those that did. To give this some more perspective: E7 consistently charted ahead of Fire Emblem Heroes in 2019. While FEH still earns one hundred million dollars a year even as it entered a slower period of its life and a significant portion of that from the States, E7 consistently out-earned it in the US in 2019.
• Goddamned Boss:
  • Most Puzzle Bosses in the higher Abyss floors are leveled higher than 60 (the playable characters' level cap). Their gimmicks also compose of being buffed by or chaining attacks with other AI-controlled characters who have way more utilities than their playable versions. In order to defeat them, you would most likely need a team of Game-Breaker characters, powerful attackers, healers, or that one specific character who can perfectly counter that boss.
  • The AI-controlled Sez in the harder World or Abyss stages. It isn't wise to bring party members who can land debuffs because he will get an extra turn and heal himself if he has a debuff. He also hits like a truck and can spam his Area of Effect skills more often if he targets someone with less than 50% health. These fights basically demand you to have a strong healer to recover your party's HP and prevent him from spamming his attacks.
• Good Bad Bugs: There was a cheese strategy in Abyss Floor 86, wherein killing Ken using Kise's ultimate skill would prevent him from transforming into his Martial Artist Ken version. It basically skips the second phase of the boss fight, but was then patched.
• Growing the Beard:
  • Episode 2 is praised as an improvement over Episodes 1 and 1.5 as fans noticed that it's now experimenting with tropes instead of reusing the common ones in Shōnen/medieval fantasy media (which Episode 1 was guilty of), or that it takes place on a new continent instead of recycling stages but with fewer cutscenes (which Episode 1.5 was guilty of). Luluca and Violet having enough plot relevance is also liked, as some felt that Ras, Arky and Mercedes already had too much screentime. The new AP Exchange quests were also praised as they break away from the simple task of accumulating points. Episode 2's AP Shops and Labyrinth stages even provide Epic gear with decent stats that can be used until end-game.
  • The new side story event format introduced by Sigret's "Dark Side of the Moon" was praised as it breaks away from the repetitive, grindy nature of the old side story events. Players liked how they can choose and play their own set of tasks while still receiving event rewards.
• High-Tier Scrappy: Any Game-Breaker character applies. In PVP, an overpowered Hero is loved by players who have them, and hated by those who don't have them. Some are just remembered or memed for how strong they are. They were so overpowered that the devs released new Heroes or rebalance old Heroes with utility specifically-aimed at countering their strengths.
  • Arbiter Vildred – So strong that competitive players chased him, is associated with how the initial meta in Japan turned out, and is blamed for why E7 isn't talked a lot online in Japan because of their first impression of him.
  • Dizzy – Fans wondered why the first crossover event had an overpowered character like Dizzy right from her debut, with some speculating it as a marketing strategy by the devs to earn a lot of revenue from the competitive spenders.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Arbiter Vildred is a popular and overpowered unit that his "Dark Blade" skill (that summons a black-purple hydra to chomp on his enemies) and "Descending Blade!" quote get mentioned a lot by fans. When the 2020 anime of Bofuri: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense. shows Maple summoning her Poison Dragon/Hydra with almost the same style as Arbiter Vildred, fans either claimed that the anime references E7 or if it's just another case of Older Than They Think (The Bofuri light novel started on 2016, while this game got released on 2018). Regardless, the comparisons were abundant. And when the Bofuri character Mii looks a lot like Cermia of E7, some treat Cermia as an expy in retrospect.
  • There's a profanity filter in custom messages. You'd thought the game would be strict in hiding swear words? Ironically, E7 had a crossover with Kizuna Ai, whose playable version shouts her infamous "Fakkyu!" whenever she gets hit.
• Ho Yay:
  • Krau x Kayron is one of the most common male-to-male pairings.
  • Vildred and Ras are shipped together by fans who view their relationship as more than just friends.
  • Female version: Due to their lore and interactions, the fanbase likes the Alexa/Iseria pairing. It helps that the "Alexa's Basket" Artifact shows the two in a picnic, something that's interpreted as a romantic date.
    • Ruele x Destina because the latter based her appearance from the former.
    • Ravi x Tenebria, because the former is such an avid worshipper of the latter.

I-Z

• I Knew It!:
  • In a 2019 Korean press conference, the companies announced their plans of making Epic Seven more consumer-friendly in the coming months. Players who tried other games quickly guessed that E7 would receive some safety net or a guaranteed pull in its banners, like older gachas did. They were right when this game received safety nets in the Featured and Mystic banners.
  • The first Halloween event with Haste and Serila had a special title screen. Upon closer inspection, there seemed to be a silhouette of Luna in the corner of the image. Fans took it as a foreshadowing of her upcoming banner. At least on the Global server, this came true when Luna's limited-time banner arrived on Halloween 2019.
  • Because Epic Seven is known to be following the trend of Summoners War, former SW players who migrated to this game predicted the upcoming modes or content of E7 even before they get announced, such as Automaton Tower and World Boss.
  • The background art for the 2020 Summer Event shows Yufine at its center. Because of this, the fanbase already expected that she's obviously the next Summer-limited. The announcement on July 21, 2020 confirmed this by showing a silhouette that matches Yufine's new outfit. Players also predicted her to be Fire-elemental because her silhouette is pink.
• It's Popular, Now It Sucks!: Around 2018-2019 when this game was still new in the English gacha community, Epic Seven had a good start thanks to its gorgeous design, animations and fast engine. But because it got brought up a lot and attracted vocal fans who praise this game as the best ever, gacha veterans are turned off at how E7 became popular at the cost of other games being compared to it. It was also difficult at that time to bring up constructive criticism for E7 when vocal fans kept on defending its flaws.
  • As E7 became more popular, it also gained more detractors than when it was still new because of its vocal defenders.
  • Even if it's turning into a Discredited Meme from 2020 onwards, the "F2P BTW" meme phrase is often thought to have originated from, and/or further spread by the E7 fandom because of that phrase's prevalence here on 2019.
  • The hype for E7 since it's release was very strong in general gacha communities and forums like Reddit, that it got to the point where a majority of users on r/gachagaming are also fans of this game. Long-time redditors didn't like how that sub became an extension of the game's actual subreddit because of the abundance of E7-related posts there, or a "recruitment ground" mainly for inviting newcomers to E7.
• It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: Episode 1.5, "Unrecorded History", is criticized in terms of pacing as it's mostly just a retread of Episode 1's path but with fewer cutscenes or interactions. Gameplay-wise, it's seen as "Episode 1 but harder". However, the chance to farm Epic Catalysts is well-received.
• Junk Rare: Undesirable substats can turn high rarity gear into this.
  • Flat Attack, Health and Defense substats are deemed inferior than percentage-based substats.
  • Equipment that rolls too much into Effect Resistance is considered useless for many players unless they are building Elena or Angelic Montmorancy (the only Heroes who scale well with this stat). What makes it worse is that gears obtained from Arena always include Effect Resistance, and it's common to hear disappointed players having high rolls into this stat. It's also a common thought that any gear having this substat isn't fully considered a "DPS Gear".
• Just Here for Godzilla: An effect of games with crossovers, some fans of the third-party IP try E7 to have a chance of getting their favorite characters.
• Like You Would Really Do It: As if Ras actually dies permanently in Episode 2. What gacha game would even kill its main protagonist before the story ended?
• Low-Tier Letdown:
  • 4★-5★ Moonlight Heroes are so rare that getting one is considered a Bragging Rights Reward, but those with niche or outdated skills are treated as Junk Rare. Roaming Warrior Leo was an example of this for a long time because his skills were too situational or in need of a serious rebalance patch. He was indeed updated on mid-2020.
  • For a 5★, limited-time crossover unit, Elphelt is mocked because her low ATK stat growth and low damage modifiers hurt her supposed role as a single-target DPS (Her second skill has an additional effect when she kills an enemy, and her third skill gives her an Extra Turn). It takes a huge amount of investment on Molas and equipment to make her shine as a DPS unit. But since stronger single-target DPS Heroes like Sol or Cermia exist in the same element as Elphelt, all those Molas and equipment work better when invested on them instead. Other players just opt to build Elphelt as a utility support.
• Memetic Loser: Any undesirable 3★ units who don't have strong kits, overshadowed by rarer units, don't have attractive designs or have unappealing characterizations. Enott, Elson and Gunther are hit with a combination of these. Their low rarity makes them common drops from the gacha, resulting in a lot of excess duplicates.
• Memetic Molester: Fans like Violet's tendencies of flirting with some female heroes. While it may have lessened with Episode 2 making him a Fan-Preferred Couple with Luluca, some joke that Violet's world now revolves around her, to the point where "being heartbroken with Luluca" is joked to be the cause of Remnant Violet's Darker and Edgier appearance.
• Memetic Troll: Biblica (the girl you see on the Covenant, Moonlight and Friendship Summon screens) has gotten this reputation to some. When a 4★ or higher will appear from a summon, a special animation plays with golden light rising from the bottom of the screen; when it's a 5★, either Biblio or Biblica will appear just before the prize is revealed. The problem? Biblica only appears for 5★ Artifacts.
• Narm:
  • Coli's eyes look like weird blue marbles or blue fish eyes in contrast to her Assassin Coli version having a more traditional artstyle and eyes. However, Coli's fans agree that her blue eyes make her even more attractive.
  • The tagline of "The Playable Animation".
    • While it's true that E7 boasts an Awesome Art and with Visual Effects of Awesome, some find it odd how this tagline is about the visuals when most of the common taglines in media are about Arc Words, Central Theme, or a Signature Line. In other words, this game promotes its visuals more than its story.
    • It's also considered an all-encompassing tagline that can apply to any anime-inspired video game and not just E7.
  • While the English dub has an All-Star Cast, some of the voice acting stand out for being odd. Elena was cricitized because her deep voice contrasts her young appearance. Her "Blessings of the stars!" was also joked for having a voice crack.
  • The characters groan whenever they get hit. If the entire party is struck with a multi-hit Area of Effect attack, these "pained"/"groan" sound effects overlap or play altogether, which can be misheard for moaning.
  • The Japanese voice pack was released late than the English and Korean voices since the Japan server still catching up. So if you choose the Japanese voice pack but have a new Hero who wasn't dubbed in Japanese yet, that character's voice will be in a different language (i.e. English). If placed alongside those who were already dubbed, you'll have a multi-language party. This is also applies for crossover characters who don't have English nor Korean voice lines.
• Narm Charm: E7 is one of the few gachas that can justify how third-party IP crossover events can exist in the main setting or lore, even if the Isekai trope has been overused. The Dimension Cracks in Orbis open up parallel worlds, with Yuna and Tamarinne being two original characters who got "isekai'd".
• Never Live It Down: Some Game-Breaker characters were remembered as the cause for changes or events:
  • Dizzy being a Status Infliction nightmare when fought by newcomers. Heroes were then released or rebalanced to counter her strengths by giving debuff immunity, heals and barriers. Players also wondered why Dizzy, a third-party character, had to be overpowered in her release. Some claim that it's just a marketing strategy to entice spenders to pay for her gacha because she was seen as a must-have limited-hero.
  • The launch state of Epic Seven on Japan is attributed to Arbiter Vildred. He had no counters at first, thus the PVP meta revolved around him until everyone interested had to get him otherwise they'd have a hard time. English fans believed that E7 didn't become popular in the online platforms of Japan because the first meta had no variety, thus leaving a bad first impression in an already-saturated gacha market.
• Older Than They Think:
  • It was common for those who had E7 as their first gacha to think that this game started some trends when it's not actually the case, as older examples existed before it.
    • When English gacha gamers talk about "full screen animations for ultimate moves", Epic Seven is commonly mentioned or thought to be the trend-setter. However, Princess Connect! Re:Dive also had such full-screen animations on its Union Bursts, and was released before E7.
    • This isn't the first game to use Live2D as Azur Lane, Destiny Child and Girls' Frontline had it to some extent.
    • Saying that E7 is the first to implement a gacha safety net would make veterans inform you that other games already had this long before E7 did.
    • Those who participated in the Kizuna Ai collab but aren't into VTuber culture thought that Ai-chan screaming "Fakkyu!" when she gets hit, is a new trend started by this game. Such claims get corrected quickly by Ai-chan's fans, informing the unaware that her swearing is an Ascended Meme, and E7 isn't the first gacha to do this, as Azur Lane also used "Fakkyu!" during their collab with her.
    • On mid-2020, the "Promise" song by Raon Lee for E7 became an ad on YouTube, surprising those who haven't played the game yet, thinking that E7 is the first gacha to use a music video to advertise their game. Several gachas already did this marketing strategy before, like Fate/Grand Order, Honkai Impact 3rd and Arknights. They also had their own music videos as YouTube advertisements way before E7 did.
  • When the Bofuri: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense. anime got released on 2020, some E7 fans thought that the light novel references this game because Maple's Poison Dragon/Hydra resembles Arbiter Vildred's "Dark Blade", or that Mii looks a lot like Cermia. Truth is, Bofuri started on 2016, predating this game by 2 years.
  • Guilty Gear fans who joined during the 2020 crossover event's rerun were disappointed that Elphelt's "Magnum Wedding" is shorter here than in Xrd, blaming censorship. However, they didn't know that even Dizzy's "Emotional Gamma Ray" had its animation shortened way back her E7 debut on 2019.
• Pandering to the Base: Like other anime gachas, perhaps the reason why the devs seem to release more female playable characters, is to appeal to the male demographic of anime fans. For those who expected Ky Kiske to be playable on the Guilty Gear rerun on 2020 (so that the three main characters of the series - Sol, Ky, and Dizzy, would be added to this game), they also see this trope as the reason why Elphelt got in instead of Ky.
• Play the Game, Skip the Story: Especially during the game's early times, lore-related content easily get overshadowed by gameplay or meta-related content because Episode 1 is seen as trope-y or generic, the individual story scenes are short and get interrupted by random monster encounters, players mostly just focus on the grind and progression since the late-game revolves around PVP, and there was no Story Journal back then, no way to rewatch skipped cutcenes, thus they got forgotten in the long run.
  • Additional lore and details about characters (e.g. surnames, relationships, etc...) rarely get brought up by most players.
  • Artifacts have bits of lore via their Flavor Text, but their gameplay effects are more prioritized than their lore.
  • While lore enthusiasts in the fanbase exist, they aren't as vocal as the metagame-focused players.
• Portmanteau Couple Name:
  • "Luvio" for Luluca x Violet.
  • "Vildras" for Vildred x Ras.
  • "Iserialexa" for Iseria x Alexa.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Some developer notes even mention that they buff characters who are underused in most endgame content, hoping that the playerbase would use them more often than the meta-defining, game-breaker units.
• Sacred Cow: Especially in the game's early years around 2018-2019, Epic Seven had a lot of vocal defenders praising it as the best in the market, sometimes downplaying other games' visuals, animations or art style. This brought conflicts with fans of the other games who point out some existing flaws in this game. When E7 still lacked a gacha safety net, when some QoL features were still absent, when the Automaton Tower, Equipment Conversion, Pets, Repeat Battling, December 2019 Epic Pass, and World Boss contents were controversial, there were still players who turn away criticism. Fortunately, the devs are aware of some criticized mechanics and are trying to fix them one at a time.
• Scrappy Weapon:
  • The lowest-rarity tiers of equipment (Grey and Green) aren't equipped by most since they have fewer substats than the higher-tier gears. Instead, they are simply sold or used to upgrade other gears.
  • Overlaps with the Junk Rare trope, this applies to gears that the player subjectively finds underwhelming, mostly as a result of RNG boosting unwanted substats, or if the high rolls don't complement the Hero's playstyle (like a healer having high DPS substats). These are simply swapped for better-suited equipment.
  • During the game's first year, right-side gears (necklaces, rings, and boots) that had flat main stats were treated as this because percentage-based main stats have higher values overall than flat main stats at the same enhancement level. It's only on 2019 when the flat main stats were buffed to at least make them on par with the other type.
• Self-Imposed Challenge:
  • It's common for players to try beating harder content using low-rarity 1★-3★ heroes. It's possible for most of the time since heroes can be promoted to higher rarities, and rely mostly on equipment and artifacts. It helps that there's no Level-Locked Loot in this game.
  • The new side story format introduced by the "Dark Side of the Moon" event allows players to choose specific tasks that fit their own priorities or choice of content while still receiving the event's rewards.
• Sidetracked by the Gold Saucer:
  • Free Unequip Events become the center of attention while they are running. Since the Unequip Cost Money Sink is temporarily gone, this event is seen as the once-a-month chance of finally swapping out equipment to test new Heroes, experiment with builds, or just upgrade a Hero's stats all without worrying about losing Gold.
  • For players who have a lot of Skystones and Gold to spare, refreshing Garo's Secret Shop in the Tavern can take a lot of time. It may be Boring, but Practical, yet it's still a way to "farm" Bookmarks, a.k.a. gacha currencies.
• Special Effect Failure: Some transitions require a Willing Suspension of Disbelief. Ultimate skills may insert a full-screen animation where the Hero performs stunts like flying or moving quickly towards the target. But right after it ends, the Hero may be immediately positioned back to the party without any motion showing how they returned. It's like instant teleportation. Take this slow-motion Commander Lorina animation for example.
• That One Boss: The second fight against Straze, taking place in Episode 2, Stage 9-10. Unlike the first fight that requires you to lose, you have to beat him this time. He has a bunch of stuff that drag this fight long, by deploying a barrier on every turn, then gaining stackable attack buffs. Those are just two of his annoying gimmicks though, the battle is a test of how you understand the game's mechanics, as well as a stat-check for having powerful and durable heroes within the right team composition. His stats were later nerfed in a September 2020 update though, alleviating this concern.
• That One Sidequest: All Specialty Change tasks require some time investment and grind, but these two require some luck, so how quick you can finish them depends on RNG.
  • Commander Lorina's task of killing 10,000 enemies is already grindy, but another task requires you to complete 50 Urgent Missions, those that randomly pop up when you finish Adventure stages. This is the reason why veterans recommend newcomers to start Lorina's SC as soon as they obtain her, because her tasks can take a long time to finish.
  • Chaos Inquisitor has a task where you must acquire 1 Mercenary's Medicine catalyst in battle, having you rely on a Rare Random Drop. You can't just craft or buy that epic catalyst, an enemy must drop it.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Like the other crossover characters from Guilty Gear Xrd, the animation of Elphelt's "Magnum Wedding" is shortened here to match the general length of all other characters' ultimate skills. However, disappointed Guilty Gear fans who joined just for the collab see this as an unfair censorship (In the Fighting Game, Elphelt takes the bullet from her chest, but was cut here) despite E7 having lots of Fanservice.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Nilgal and Tenebria, the other two Acolytes, receive far less screen time and focus than Kayron, who is more or less the primary antagonist alongside Vildred, despite the latter not even being an Acolyte like the former two.
    • Nilgal gets this even worse than Tenebria. He's killed in the same chapter he is introduced, gets beaten at an earlier point in time than the other villains, and he's not even playable.
    • This eventually changed with Tenebria, who is arguably a Villain Protagonist during the "Chaotic Moon Festival" event.
  • Kizuna Ai's fans who play E7 were disappointed that her crossover doesn't have a detailed story event. Players just had to log-in for 7 days to fully upgrade her Memory Imprint, read her journal entry and that's it. This was caused by expectations that her collab would be on par with the Guilty Gear event, or would hype the futuristic theme of the upcoming Episode 3, but even the latter was jossed.
• Tough Act to Follow: "Eulogy for a Saint" is praised as the best side story in E7. Any subsequent story events get compared to this whether they hold up or not.
• Underused Game Mechanic:
  • When a party member is killed or still severely injured after completing Adventure stages, they will have a depleted HP bar in the Lobby. Players can either wait until the HP recovers, or pay the Healer Agnes to quickly patch everyone. However, this service is only applicable in Adventure stages since HP doesn't deplete this way in other modes. If you have a dedicated healer in Adventure stages or if you spend more time playing other modes, you could easily forget that Agnes and her services exist in the Lobby.
  • The Element Summon banner is rarely used because its gacha currencies, the elemental-specific Connections, are hard to come by.
• Unexpected Character:
  • Either I-No or Ky Kiske were speculated as the next playable Guilty Gear crossover character for the 2020 event rerun. Instead, it's Elphelt Valentine.
  • When it was revealed on June 2020, it's unexpected that Kizuna Ai would make a crossover here, or that E7 would collaborate with a VTuber in the first place.
  • The fanbase already knew that Seaside Bellona would return for the Summer event rerun on 2020, but a lot didn't expect her to return as early as June. This made jokes about players unable to save up at least 121 draws on her arrival.
• Viewer Gender Confusion:
  • Prince Aither is often confused for a girl because of his attire, hairstyle, expressions and mannerisms. And it's not just viewers - Violet makes this mistake at the start of Book 2 and has to be corrected.
  • It's easy to mistake Lots for a girl, especially during the 2019 Summer event where the title screen shows him in a Sexy Backless Outfit.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The animation and artworks are some of the best ever created for any form of 2D media, let alone a mobile video game.
• Win Back the Crowd: E7 was review-bombed when fans were disappointed of the updates on late 2019. In response, the devs made a lot of efforts to fix their concerns. Within 5-6 months, a vocal portion of fans returned, even if the Play Store rating didn't easily recover within that timespan to its highest score prior to the incident.
• Woolseyism: The Japanese dub changed some characters' lines compared to the English dub. For example when Tamarinne gets hit, she lets out pained groans in the English dub but the Japanese dub has her cry out "Gomenasai"^Translation"I'm sorry!" instead, making her apologize a lot.
• WTH, Costuming Department?: Faithless Lidica's Victorius Knight outfit was met with discontent because while the upper part of her Battle Ballgown has a cool design, the lower part appears to be "incomplete" or "contrasting". The faulds/armored skirt just had to be transparent at the center, revealing her white leotard. It's been thought that the designers might have done this simply to appeal to the male demographic, yet there are those who wanted Lidica to have a more traditional armored outfit minus the fanservice, thus we have this fan edit◊.

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