History YMMV / WhiteKnightChronicles

** Spirit Lords (Efreet and those like him) are pretty tough too. They spam powerful sorcery, and summon enormous flocks of elemental fish to help them pound you into the ground as long as their summoning appendages are not broken. This doesn't seem so bad, but there's two high-end BonusBoss versions. And, to make the above one seem more painful, another one of those bosses mentioned is a Wraith too.

** [[spoiler: Brimmflamme is on this for a whole different reason. First he's ''huge'' so you need to put down some chains to seal it. So there's a small mini dungeon path to go through first. Not that hard, but you have to fight Brimmflamme's head in the middle of this and it isn't a cakewalk. Then the actual Brimmflamme fight. A standard battle, access to knights. Then, in the middle of the fight, Leonard[[note]]who's been laid up with Knight Fever for half the game and is probably ''severely'' underlevelled[[/note]] joins the fight. The fight is mandatory to have Leonard/White Knight. Worst part? The Black Knight decides to join in. If you lose, prepare to do ''all'' of that again.]]

** [[spoiler:Past Pyredaemos]] is pretty tough too, for the same reason as the Van Haven Wyverns. In addition, you've got [[spoiler: Cyrus]] as a [[EscortMission guest party member]]; [[spoiler: his]] death is a Game Over. For many players, when ''everything that happened before then'' wasn't enough to make them quit, '''''this''''' fight was their breaking point.

** [[spoiler:Past Pyredaemos]] is pretty tough too, for the same reason as the Van Haven Wyverns. In addition, you've got [[spoiler: Cyrus]] as a [[EscortMission guest party member]]; [[spoiler: his]] death is a Game Over.

** The two Wyverns you have to face in Van Haven Wastes are tough without being able to rely on the Knights.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: Leonard dancing with the princess on the water comes out of nowhere, is never mentioned again, and it is unclear if one or the other is imagining it, given Cisna's costume change.

** [[spoiler: Past Pyredaemos]] is pretty tough too, for the same reason as the Van Haven Wyverns. In addition, you've got [[spoiler: Cyrus]] as a [[EscortMission guest party member]]; [[spoiler: his]] death is a Game Over.

** Really, the main games really leave a lot of player wanting for better plot points, always teasing potential ones that are simply never realized.
%% * WhatAnIdiot:
%% ** There are so many scenarios where Leonard just transforming into the White Knight could've solved so many problems, such as stopping Cisna from getting kidnapped right after catching up to the villains, or saving the Dragon Matriarch from getting her ass kicked by Sargatanas and dying to him, yet it ''never'' crosses anyone's mind.
%% ** The whole Greede arc. The party needs to get to the Bunker Lode Caverns, but the city is on the Demithor's back, and it's not mining season, so it won't go there to pick up ore.\\
%% '''You'd expect''' the party to just take one of the gondolas that took them to the city just moments ago. They're not here for ore, just the kidnapped Princess Cisna, whom they suspect is there. Even if there might not be a proper port, just jumping off would theoretically work fine.\\
%% '''Instead''', they undergo a long and ''utterly'' convoluted ChainOfDeals that eventually leads to convincing Count Drisdall who runs the place to move the Demithor all the way to the Caverns.

* WhatAnIdiot:
** There are so many scenarios where Leonard just transforming into the White Knight could've solved so many problems, such as stopping Cisna from getting kidnapped right after catching up to the villains, or saving the Dragon Matriarch from getting her ass kicked by Sargatanas and dying to him, yet it ''never'' crosses anyone's mind.
** The whole Greede arc. The party needs to get to the Bunker Lode Caverns, but the city is on the Demithor's back, and it's not mining season, so it won't go there to pick up ore.\\
'''You'd expect''' the party to just take one of the gondolas that took them to the city just moments ago. They're not here for ore, just the kidnapped Princess Cisna, whom they suspect is there. Even if there might not be a proper port, just jumping off would theoretically work fine.\\
'''Instead''', they undergo a long and ''utterly'' convoluted ChainOfDeals that eventually leads to convincing Count Drisdall who runs the place to move the Demithor all the way to the Caverns.

%% * WhatAnIdiot:
%% ** The whole Greede arc. The party needs to get to the Bunker Lode Caverns, but the city is on the Demithor's back, and it's not mining season, so it won't go there to pick up ore.
%% ** '''You'd expect''' the party to just take one of the gondolas that took them to the city just moments ago. They're not here for ore, just the kidnapped Princess Cisna, whom they suspect is there. Even if there might not be a proper port, just jumping off would theoretically work fine.
%% ** '''Instead''', they undergo a long and ''utterly'' convoluted ChainOfDeals that eventually leads to convincing Count Drisdall who runs the place to move the Demithor all the way to the Caverns.
%% ** '''As a result''',

* ItsEasySoItSucks: The first game is fairly easy unless you're new to {{JRPG}}s. ''Origins'' is EXTREMELY easy and very very simplistic(Rushing at the enemy will generally lead to victory).

%% ** '''You'd expect''' the party to just take one of the gondolas that took them to the city just moments ago. They're not here for ore, just the kidnapped Princess Cisna, whom they suspect is there.
%% ** '''Instead''', they undergo a long and convoluted ChainOfDeals that eventually leads to convincing Count Drisdall who runs the place to move the Demithor all the way to the Caverns.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Be warned. ''Origins'' for the PSP may take place ten millenia before the first game, but you will NOT be running around as the people who originally sealed the Knights away and helped Mureas fight Madoras. In fact, aside from a few encounters with the Knights and the Gigantes, the game goes on a complete tangent and tells the story of Marhk, a kingdom wiped out by Yshrenia and completely forgotten by the events of the main series. Your avatar is tasked with stopping the apocalypse, the cause of which is ''completely separate'' from the Dogma War.

* AnticlimaxBoss: The Sun King [[spoiler: in the first game, because Princess Cisna's spell holds back his power. You get to fight him without this assistance in the sequel, and, as a result, he lives up to his reputation as a formidable boss-fight.]]

%%* IdiotPlot: Oh, so much.

* EightPointEight: While this game didn't really get remarkable reviews, with the general consensus giving it between a 6 to 8, IGN's famed [[http://www.ign.com/articles/2010/02/03/white-knight-chronicles-review 5.1]] riled up a lot of people on release.

* FanPreferredCouple: Male avatars are commonly shipped with Yulie, female with Cyrus.

* IdiotPlot: Oh, so much. [[https://lparchive.org/White-Knight-Chronicles-I-II/ One LetsPlayer has dedicated himself to making each moment plain to see]].

* AnticlimaxBoss: The Sun King [[spoiler: only in the first game though, because Princess Cisna's spell holds back his power. You get to fight him without this assistance in the sequel, and, as a result, he lives up to his reputation as a formidable boss-fight.]]

** The Wraith giant mook. Completely invulnerable to physical damage (unless you hit it with holy light) which means if you aren't a dedicated mage or have a mage in your party you are done for when you fight it. Adding to that it has an annoying scythe sweep attack that knocks you off your feet if you are not wearing heavy armor, a LifeDrain spell which it makes liberal use of and, to make things even more infuriating, can summon five Succubi at once to aid it in battle.[[note]]See GoddamnBats if you aren't familiar with the Succubi.[[/note]]

** The Skeletons. If you are underground or in a sufficiently dark place you can count on running into some of these. What makes them so annoying is that they are invulnerable to physical damage. You have to hit them five or six times before they collapse and give you a maybe 15 second long opportunity to clobber them after which they reform and the game start anew. The only upside is that they can be one-hit-killed with holy light once their soul is exposed.
** The Succubi are not much better. They too are completely immune to physical damage and must be first hit with Holy Light to give you a chance to do some damage. What makes them even more annoying than the Skeletons is that their scythe attacks can paralyze you and they have a MP leech attack.
* IdiotPlot: Oh, so much. [[https://lparchive.org/White-Knight-Chronicles-I-II/ One LetePlayer has dedicated himself to making each moment plain to see]].

--> Belecitane: "But how...? My Gigas"\\

** [[spoiler: Past Pyredaemos]] is pretty tough too, for the same reason as the Van Haven wyverns. In addition, you've got [[spoiler: Cyrus]] as a [[EscortMission guest party member]]; [[spoiler: his]] death is a Game Over.
** There's also a particularly nasty BossRush after this. [[spoiler: First you face Dragias of the past. He's not all that bad to defeat as long as you keep Cyrus in good health, but right after that, you will face the Sun King with Yulie and Caesar solo. All you need to know is that you can't defeat him and you need to survive long enough. He hits like a truck. Lose either Yulie and Caesar and it's game over. Survive long enough, and you have to face him one on one with the White Knight. All you have to know is that there's no [[CheckPointStarvation chance to save in between.]] Lose once, and you have to start all over again.]]

** [[spoiler: Brimmflamme is on this for a whole different reason. First he's ''huge'' so you need to put down some chains to seal it. So there's a small mini dungeon path to go through first. Not that hard, but you have to fight Brimmflamme's head in the middle of this and it isn't a cakewalk. Then the actual Brimmflamme fight. A standard battle, access to knights. Then, in the middle of the fight, Leonard[[note]]who's been missing for half the game and is probably ''severely'' underlevelled[[/note]] joins the fight. The fight is mandatory to have Leonard/White Knight. Worst part? The Black Knight decides to join in. If you lose, prepare to do ''all'' of that again.]]

** Adolmaea wasuilt up to be [[TheDreaded a great and powerful threat]] at the end of the first game, but turns out to be a pushover thanks to Cisna's sealing magic.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: Sarvain is set up to be ObviouslyEvil right from his introduction, yet when he assumes control over Balandor following [[FirstEpisodeSpoiler King Valtos' death]] and starts issuing orders, he actually comes across as the smartest and most practical man in the room, especially compared to Cyrus, who's first reaction is to [[GeneralRipper lobby for an attack on Faria]] and then storm off in a huff when Sarvain shoots him down.