History YMMV / FreedomPlanet2

** {{Jerkass Askal}}. Askal's motive for joining Merga is because he's faced with racism in the past, and Merga promised him that she will change all that. However, not only is Askal a hypocritical jackass who treats Team Lilac like crap, he seen taking somewhat sadistic pleasure in taking them out at Diamond Point. Plus the racism he presumably suffers through is only seen like twice by NPCs, plus Askal has shown to be immensely powerful, so of course the Battlesphere wouldn't want someone so overpowered to compete against normal civilians. It's assumed that Askal knew the volcano was erupting and going to kill everyone at Adventure Square, yet never says anything about it and presumably doesn't care. And while he does turn ship at the end of the story, his demenor and motives make him very hard to like, let alone sympathize with.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: All of [[EvilCounterpart Team Merga]] fall under this even if they're a group of {{antivillain}}s. Askal wants half breeds to get more recognition, Aaa wants a friend that isn't a robot, Kalaw desired to be a real hero and Corazon wants to save her sister from Avalice 's destruction. The issue is that they are willing to cross the line and cause death and destruction in order to do so, such as [[MoralEventHorizon willingly let an active volcano kill the residents of Adventure Square just to raise Bakunawa]], or kidnap Mayor Zao and threaten to kill him to get what they want, or willingly go with Merga onto Bakunawa, enabling her destruction of Avalice; some fans think this is enough to have them executed instead of their community service sentence. Even then, Merga and Corazon stand out.

** [[spoiler:It's clear that ThePowerOfFriendship was a big motive for Milla to break free from the resonance link, and that's not something to deny. However, it may not be the only motivation. It's also clear that she loves parents she hasn't seen in years, given she once tried to make a potion to help her find them. So with those two established, what was the big push where she failed against Brevon in the past? It's ThePowerOfHate: whereas Brevon simply subdued her, mutated her and was done with her afterwards, Serpentine continued to push the promise that he would reunite Milla with her parents - a promise that was made on bad faith given that, even if she were to recognize them after all this time, they wouldn't recognize her and would be hostile until her mind was gone. "You'll be a mindless weapon, just like mommy and daddy!" was the final push she needed to begin fighting back in earnest, and with her love of friend and family as a conduit to safely channel all that hatred, there was no fear of moral degeneration afterwards.]]
*** [[spoiler: Serpentine issued a command to Milla to kill her friends, with no further modifiers specifying Lilac, Carol and Neera as the intended targets. Milla was under the influence of her War Dog programming, which recognized servants of Lord Brevon as "friends". The nearest available targets under those parameters were Syntax, then Serpentine. Attacking Syntax disrupted the resonance link and freed Milla. Attacking Serpentine was gratuitous catharsis.]]

** [[spoiler: The heroines attempted to utilize Syntax as a decoy for Merga to use so she wouldn't be able to awaken Bakunawa. In the GoldenEnding, Syntax fuses with the entire ship thanks to Code Black, and proceeds to attempt to harvest the moon's energy. What would have happened if Merga was successfully tricked with Syntax? Pangu was teleported away after the Merga fight in the GoldenEnding, so it's likely that Syntax can pilot the ship without Pangu on board... except nobody would be able to control it short of Brevon, in case you thought Bakunawa was nasty enough on its own.]]
*** [[spoiler: Furthermore, her "Code Black" virus is a weapon that lets her take over enemy machinery. During her fight as Bakunawa Fusion, she actually responds to pausing the game with "You can't hide here." Code Black 2.0 didn't just hijack the Bakunawa. It's giving her access to ''your'' computer, because ''you'' are her enemy.]]

* TaintedByThePreview: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txRuIxKxcEA Galaxy Trail Mix 2019]] video got a mostly positive reception, but there were some people, unhappy with the cutscenes and/or the story of the first game, who felt that the inclusion of hubs, [=NPC=]s to talk to, and an overall greater emphasis on story have taken this game in the wrong direction, comparing it to the Adventure era of the Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog franchise.[[note]]The era consists of ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'', ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'', ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'', ''VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog'', ''VideoGame/SonicAndTheSecretRings'', and ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006''.[[/note]]

** [[DirtyCoward Corazon]] is also this. Her motive for [[spoiler: teaming up with Merga]] is that she wants to protect herself ''and'' Carol, her sister. Despite saying that she loves Carol and is doing this for her, however, she has zero qualms with attacking Carol and her friends, gassing her and knocking her out despite all the trouble Carol went through to find her, stranding her in the middle of the ocean, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and leaving her with her least favorite food, raisins]].

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic:
** All of [[Main/EvilCounterpart Team Merga]] fall under this even if they're a group of Main/AntiVillain s. Askal wants half breeds to get more recognition, Aaa wants a friend that isn't a robot, Kalaw desired to be a real hero and Corazon wants to save her sister from Avalice 's destruction. The issue is that they are willing to cross the line and cause death and destruction in order to do so, such as [[Main/MoralEventHorizon willingly let an active volcano kill the residents of Adventure Square just to rise Bakunawa]], or kidnap Mayor Zao and threaten to kill him to get what they want, or willingly go with Merga onto Bakunawa, enabling her destruction of Avalice.
*** Within the frame of the story, [[BigBad Merga]] is presented as a terrorist with sympathetic motives as to why she commits her atrocities, but even with the reveal that [[spoiler: the water dragons were wiped out]], Merga's actions may still come off as hard to accept for some. She calls earth dragons "schemers and liars" [[TheHypocrite while lying to her sympathizers and scheming precise plans to destroy Avalice]], and condemns earth dragon kind for their genocide of the water dragons [[OmnicidalManiac while plotting to destroy all of Avalice]], proving herself to be just as monstrous as the slavers who killed her people. While she says that the people of Shang Tu will be spared if they allow her plans to continue, she later shows no qualms over burning another town alive through the beacons activating the nearby volcano, with the full knowledge of her plan to power Bakunawa and flood Avalice potentially causing this intended "fair moment" to instead come off to audiences as Main/CruelMercy. Merga displays a deeply homicidal and somewhat sadistic personality, saying to the player character that "their suffering will be a masterpiece!" in the final battle, as well as [[KickTheDog cruelly mocking Carol that she and Corazon are together after knocking Corazon unconscious in an attempt to attack Carol]]. Merga also holds a grudge against the Magister for his role in covering up the Water Dragon Genocide and openly yearns for his death, while acknowledging that he was merely a child when the event occurred. However, Merga's other actions, such as [[spoiler:entering an intimate platonic relationship with the earth dragon Cordelia, working with the half-earth dragon Askal, attempting to assuage a water dragon child, inviting Lilac for a one-on-one dialogue about the water dragons as a prelude to recruiting her, allowing Carol one chance to leave and save Corazon after the latter takes a hit for the former, her breakdown when she hears Cordelia's broken recording, damaging the Bakunawa Fusion out of guilt over her actions, and saving Lilac after she gets concussed by a broken Syntax]] suggest she may have been [[GoMadFromTheIsolation driven insane by her imprisonment]], adding an additional layer to her tragedy.
*** [[DirtyCoward Corazon]] is also this. Her motive for [[spoiler: teaming up with Merga]] is that she wants to protect herself ''and'' Carol, her sister. Despite saying that she loves Carol and is doing this for her, however, she has zero qualms with attacking Carol and her friends, gassing her and knocking her out despite all the trouble Carol went through to find her, stranding her in the middle of the ocean, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and leaving her with her least favorite food, raisins]].

** Within the frame of the story, [[BigBad Merga]] is presented as a terrorist with sympathetic motives as to why she commits her atrocities, but even with the reveal that [[spoiler: the water dragons were wiped out]], Merga's actions may still come off as hard to accept for some. She calls earth dragons "schemers and liars" [[TheHypocrite while lying to her sympathizers and scheming precise plans to destroy Avalice]], and condemns earth dragon kind for their genocide of the water dragons [[OmnicidalManiac while plotting to destroy all of Avalice]], proving herself to be just as monstrous as the slavers who killed her people. While she says that the people of Shang Tu will be spared if they allow her plans to continue, she later shows no qualms over burning another town alive through the beacons activating the nearby volcano, with the full knowledge of her plan to power Bakunawa and flood Avalice potentially causing this intended "fair moment" to instead come off to audiences as Main/CruelMercy. Merga displays a deeply homicidal and somewhat sadistic personality, saying to the player character that "their suffering will be a masterpiece!" in the final battle, as well as [[KickTheDog cruelly mocking Carol that she and Corazon are together after knocking Corazon unconscious in an attempt to attack Carol]]. Merga also holds a grudge against the Magister for his role in covering up the Water Dragon Genocide and openly yearns for his death, while acknowledging that he was merely a child when the event occurred. However, Merga's other actions, such as [[spoiler:entering an intimate platonic relationship with the earth dragon Cordelia, working with the half-earth dragon Askal, attempting to assuage a water dragon child, inviting Lilac for a one-on-one dialogue about the water dragons as a prelude to recruiting her, allowing Carol one chance to leave and save Corazon after the latter takes a hit for the former, her breakdown when she hears Cordelia's broken recording, damaging the Bakunawa Fusion out of guilt over her actions, and saving Lilac after she gets concussed by a broken Syntax]] suggest she may have been [[GoMadFromTheIsolation driven insane by her imprisonment]], adding an additional layer to her tragedy.
** [[DirtyCoward Corazon]] is also this. Her motive for [[spoiler: teaming up with Merga]] is that she wants to protect herself ''and'' Carol, her sister. Despite saying that she loves Carol and is doing this for her, however, she has zero qualms with attacking Carol and her friends, gassing her and knocking her out despite all the trouble Carol went through to find her, stranding her in the middle of the ocean, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and leaving her with her least favorite food, raisins]].

*** Is Merga's ire against the Earth Dragons just because of their genocidal crimes against the Water Dragons, or is there more to it? [[spoiler:In Time Capsule 14, which is Cordelia's last recorded message, she claims she managed to arrange a peace conference between the Earth and Water Dragons, with Merga in attendance to keep both sides in line. ''Something'' happened that caused everything to go pear-shaped. Cut dialogue from Merga implies that, according to her, ''the Earth Dragons had Coredlia assassinated to continue the war'' (though that didn't happen since in the true ending she's shown to be alive and well, but Merga apparently was unaware of this). This would most certainly would have caused Merga to believe her enemies had crossed the MoralEventHorizon and make her hatred towards them particularly personal.]]

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: [[BigBad Merga]] is supposed to be seen as a terrorist with understandable motives as to why she commits her atrocities, but even with the reveal that [[spoiler: the water dragons were wiped out]], Merga's actions still don't completely justify. She calls earth dragons "schemers and liars" [[TheHypocrite while lying to her sympathizers in order to get them to do things for her and scheming precise plans to destroy Avalice and flee the solar system]] she also condemns earth dragon kind for their genocide of the water dragons, [[OmnicidalManiac while plotting to destroy all of Avalice and genocide every other species]], proving herself to be just as monstrous as the slavers who killed her people. She supposedly wants to save any remaining water dragons, yet has no qualms about attempting to murder Lilac and her friends. And later when she says that she won't destroy the city of Shang Tu as long as her plans continue, she later shows to have no qualms over burning another town alive by willingly letting the beacons activate the volcano and burn them all alive, and that's no even leaving out the fact that her plans of using Bakanawa will destroy Shang Tu (and all of Avalice), making this "fair moment" come across as Main/CruelMercy. Merga displays a deeply homicidal and somewhat sadistic personality, threatening the player saying that "their suffering will be a masterpiece!" in the final battle, as well as [[KickTheDog cruelly mocking Carol that she and Corazon are together, despite the fact that Merga accidentally attacked Corazon when she was gunning for Carol and showed no remorse over doing so]]. She also holds a grudge against the Magister for accidentally covering up the Water Dragon Genocide, but fully admitting he was a CHILD back then (as in, he had virtually no authority over it), yet still chose to try and kill him and his students. The story tries to get the player to understand Merga, yet Merga comes across as a sadistic, homicidal hypocrite whose actions are way past the MoralEventHorizon. However, other actions like [[spoiler:entering an intimate platonic relationship with the earth dragon Cordelia, working with the half-earth dragon Askal, attempting to assuage a water dragon child, inviting Lilac for a one-on-one dialogue about the water dragons as a prelude to recruiting her, allowing Carol one chance to leave and save Corazon after the latter takes a hit for the former, her breakdown when she hears Cordelia's broken recording, damaging the Bakunawa Fusion out of guilt over her actions, and saving Lilac after she gets concussed by a broken Syntax]] suggest she may have been [[GoMadFromTheIsolation driven insane by her imprisonment]], adding one more layer to the tragedy that she endured.
** [[DirtyCoward Corazon]] is also this. Her motives for [[spoiler: teaming up with Merga]] is that she wants to protect herself AND Carol, her sister. However despite saying that she "loves Carol", she simultaneously has zero qualms over having [[spoiler: Captain Kalaw]] attempt to kill Carol with his Lion Mech, attempt to kill Carol AND her friends with Aaa's BFF 2000 mech alongside [[spoiler: Kalaw]] and Aa, gas Carol and knock her out despite all the trouble Carol went through to find her and strand her in the middle of the ocean with her [[KickTheDog least favorite food, raisins]]. Corazon's actions contradict her goal.

** You can skip the cutscenes, but unlike in the previous game, Classic Mode has to be unlocked by beating the game first. This choice is seen as a negative for those who do not care for the story.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Zig-zagged but mostly played straight. [[BigBad Merga]] is supposed to be seen as a terrorist with understandable motives as to why she commits her atrocities, but even with the reveal that [[spoiler: the water dragons were wiped out]], Merga's actions still don't completely justify. She calls earth dragons "schemers and liars" [[TheHypocrite while lying to her sympathizers in order to get them to do things for her and scheming precise plans to destroy Avalice and flee the solar system]] she also condemns earth dragon kind for their genocide of the water dragons, [[OmnicidalManiac while plotting to destroy all of Avalice and genocide every other species]], proving herself to be just as monstrous as the slavers who killed her people. She supposedly wants to save any remaining water dragons, yet has no qualms about attempting to murder Lilac and her friends. And later when she says that she won't destroy the city of Shang Tu as long as her plans continue, she later shows to have no qualms over burning another town alive by willingly letting the beacons activate the volcano and burn them all alive, and that's no even leaving out the fact that her plans of using Bakanawa will destroy Shang Tu (and all of Avalice), making this "fair moment" come across as Main/CruelMercy. Merga displays a deeply homicidal and somewhat sadistic personality, threatening the player saying that "their suffering will be a masterpiece!" in the final battle, as well as [[KickTheDog cruelly mocking Carol that she and Corazon are together, despite the fact that Merga accidentally attacked Corazon when she was gunning for Carol and showed no remorse over doing so]]. She also holds a grudge against the Magister for accidentally covering up the Water Dragon Genocide, but fully admitting he was a CHILD back then (as in, he had virtually no authority over it), yet still chose to try and kill him and his students. The story tries to get the player to understand Merga, yet Merga comes across as a sadistic, homicidal hypocrite whose actions are way past the MoralEventHorizon. However, other actions like [[spoiler:entering an intimate platonic relationship with the earth dragon Cordelia, working with the half-earth dragon Askal, attempting to assuage a water dragon child, inviting Lilac for a one-on-one dialogue about the water dragons as a prelude to recruiting her, allowing Carol one chance to leave and save Corazon after the latter takes a hit for the former, her breakdown when she hears Cordelia's broken recording, damaging the Bakunawa Fusion out of guilt over her actions, and saving Lilac after she gets concussed by a broken Syntax]] suggest she may have been [[GoMadFromTheIsolation driven insane by her imprisonment]], adding one more layer to the tragedy that she endured.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Zig-zagged but mostly played straight. [[BigBad Merga]] is supposed to be seen as a terrorist with understandable motives as to why she commits her atrocities, but even with the reveal that [[spoiler: the water dragons were wiped out]], Merga's actions still don't completely justify. She calls earth dragons "schemers and liars" [[TheHypocrite while lying to her sympathizers in order to get them to do things for her and scheming precise plans to destroy Avalice and flee the solar system]]. She supposedly wants to save any remaining water dragons, yet has no qualms about attempting to murder Lilac and her friends. And later when she says that she won't destroy the city of Shang Tu as long as her plans continue, she later shows to have no qualms over burning another town alive by willingly letting the beacons activate the volcano and burn them all alive, and that's no even leaving out the fact that her plans of using Bakanawa will destroy Shang Tu (and all of Avalice), making this "fair moment" come across as Main/CruelMercy. Merga displays a deeply homicidal and somewhat sadistic personality, threatening the player saying that "their suffering will be a masterpiece!" in the final battle, as well as [[KickTheDog cruelly mocking Carol that she and Corazon are together, despite the fact that Merga accidentally attacked Corazon when she was gunning for Carol and showed no remorse over doing so]]. She also holds a grudge against the Magister for accidentally covering up the Water Dragon Genocide, but fully admitting he was a CHILD back then (as in, he had virtually no authority over it), yet still chose to try and kill him and his students. The story tries to get the player to understand Merga, yet Merga comes across as a sadistic, homicidal hypocrite whose actions are way past the MoralEventHorizon. However, other actions like [[spoiler:entering an intimate platonic relationship with the earth dragon Cordelia, working with the half-earth dragon Askal, attempting to assuage a water dragon child, inviting Lilac for a one-on-one dialogue about the water dragons as a prelude to recruiting her, allowing Carol one chance to leave and save Corazon after the latter takes a hit for the former, her breakdown when she hears Cordelia's broken recording, damaging the Bakunawa Fusion out of guilt over her actions, and saving Lilac after she gets concussed by a broken Syntax]] suggest she may have been [[GoMadFromTheIsolation driven insane by her imprisonment]], adding one more layer to the tragedy that she endured.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Zig-zagged but mostly played straight. [[BigBad Merga]] is supposed to be seen as a terrorist with understandable motives as to why she commits her atrocities, but even with the reveal that [[spoiler: the water dragons were wiped out]], Merga's actions still don't completely justify. She calls earth dragons "schemers and liars" [[TheHypocrite while lying to her sympathizers in order to get them to do things for her]]. She supposedly wants to save any remaining water dragons, yet has no qualms about attempting to murder Lilac and her friends. And later when she says that she won't destroy the city of Shang Tu as long as her plans continue, she later shows to have no qualms over burning another town alive by willingly letting the beacons activate the volcano and burn them all alive, and that's no even leaving out the fact that her plans of using Bakanawa will destroy Shang Tu (and all of Avalice), making this "fair moment" come across as Main/CruelMercy. Merga displays a deeply homicidal and somewhat sadistic personality, threatening the player saying that "their suffering will be a masterpiece!" in the final battle, as well as [[KickTheDog cruelly mocking Carol that she and Corazon are together, despite the fact that Merga accidentally attacked Corazon when she was gunning for Carol and showed no remorse over doing so]]. She also holds a grudge against the Magister for accidentally covering up the Water Dragon Genocide, but fully admitting he was a CHILD back then (as in, he had virtually no authority over it), yet still chose to try and kill him and his students. The story tries to get the player to understand Merga, yet Merga comes across as a sadistic, homicidal hypocrite whose actions are way past the MoralEventHorizon. However, other actions like [[spoiler:entering an intimate platonic relationship with the earth dragon Cordelia, working with the half-earth dragon Askal, attempting to assuage a water dragon child, inviting Lilac for a one-on-one dialogue about the water dragons as a prelude to recruiting her, allowing Carol one chance to leave and save Corazon after the latter takes a hit for the former, her breakdown when she hears Cordelia's broken recording, damaging the Bakunawa Fusion out of guilt over her actions, and saving Lilac after she gets concussed by a broken Syntax]] suggest she may have been [[GoMadFromTheIsolation driven insane by her imprisonment]], adding one more layer to the tragedy that she endured.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Zig-zagged. [[BigBad Merga]] is supposed to be seen as a terrorist with understandable motives as to why she commits her atrocities, but even with the reveal that [[spoiler: the water dragons were wiped out]], Merga's actions still don't completely justify. She calls earth dragons "schemers and liars" [[TheHypocrite while lying to her sympathizers in order to get them to do things for her]]. She supposedly wants to save any remaining water dragons, yet has no qualms about attempting to murder Lilac and her friends. And later when she says that she won't destroy the city of Shang Tu as long as her plans continue, she later shows to have no qualms over burning another town alive by willingly letting the beacons activate the volcano and burn them all alive, and that's no even leaving out the fact that her plans of using Bakanawa will destroy Shang Tu (and all of Avalice), making this "fair moment" come across as Main/CruelMercy. Merga displays a deeply homicidal and somewhat sadistic personality, threatening the player saying that "their suffering will be a masterpiece!" in the final battle, as well as [[KickTheDog cruelly mocking Carol that she and Corazon are together, despite the fact that Merga accidentally attacked Corazon when she was gunning for Carol and showed no remorse over doing so]]. She also holds a grudge against the Magister for accidentally covering up the Water Dragon Genocide, but fully admitting he was a CHILD back then (as in, he had virtually no authority over it), yet still chose to try and kill him and his students. The story tries to get the player to understand Merga, yet Merga comes across as a sadistic, homicidal hypocrite whose actions are way past the MoralEventHorizon. However, other actions like [[spoiler:entering an intimate platonic relationship with the earth dragon Cordelia, working with the half-earth dragon Askal, attempting to assuage a water dragon child, inviting Lilac for a one-on-one dialogue about the water dragons as a prelude to recruiting her, allowing Carol one chance to leave and save Corazon after the latter takes a hit for the former, her breakdown when she hears Cordelia's broken recording, damaging the Bakunawa Fusion out of guilt over her actions, and saving Lilac after she gets concussed by a broken Syntax]] suggest she may have been [[GoMadFromTheIsolation driven insane by her imprisonment]], adding one more layer to the tragedy that she endured.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Zig-zagged. [[BigBad Merga]] is supposed to be seen as a terrorist with understandable motives as to why she commits her atrocities, but even with the reveal that [[spoiler: the water dragons were wiped out]], Merga's actions still don't completely justify. She calls earth dragons "schemers and liars" [[TheHypocrite while lying to her sympathizers in order to get them to do things for her]]. She supposedly wants to save any remaining water dragons, yet has no qualms about attempting to murder Lilac and her friends. And later when she says that she won't destroy the city of Shang Tu as long as her plans continue, she later shows to have no qualms over burning another town alive by willingly letting the beacons activate the volcano and burn them all alive, and that's no even leaving out the fact that her plans of using Bakanawa will destroy Shang Tu (and all of Avalice), making this "fair moment" come across as Main/CruelMercy. Merga displays a deeply homicidal and somewhat sadistic personality, threatening the player saying that "their suffering will be a masterpiece!" in the final battle. The story tries to get the player to understand Merga, yet Merga comes across as a sadistic, homicidal hypocrite whose actions are way past the MoralEventHorizon. However, other actions like [[spoiler:entering an intimate platonic relationship with the earth dragon Cordelia, working with the half-earth dragon Askal, attempting to assuage a water dragon child, inviting Lilac for a one-on-one dialogue about the water dragons as a prelude to recruiting her, allowing Carol one chance to leave and save Corazon after the latter takes a hit for the former, her breakdown when she hears Cordelia's broken recording, damaging the Bakunawa Fusion out of guilt over her actions, and saving Lilac after she gets concussed by a broken Syntax]] suggest she may have been [[GoMadFromTheIsolation driven insane by her imprisonment]], adding one more layer to the tragedy that she endured.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Zig-zagged. [[BigBad Merga]] is supposed to be seen as a terrorist with understandable motives as to why she commits her atrocities, but even with the reveal that [[spoiler: the water dragons were wiped out]], Merga's actions still don't completely justify. She calls earth dragons "schemers and liars" [[TheHypocrite while lying to her sympathizers in order to get them to do things for her]]. She supposedly wants to save any remaining water dragons, yet has no qualms about attempting to murder Lilac and her friends. Merga displays a deeply homicidal and somewhat sadistic personality, threatening the player saying that "their suffering will be a masterpiece!" in the final battle. The story tries to get the player to understand Merga, yet Merga comes across as a sadistic, homicidal hypocrite whose actions are way past the MoralEventHorizon. However, other actions like [[spoiler:entering an intimate platonic relationship with the earth dragon Cordelia, working with the half-earth dragon Askal, attempting to assuage a water dragon child, inviting Lilac for a one-on-one dialogue about the water dragons as a prelude to recruiting her, allowing Carol one chance to leave and save Corazon after the latter takes a hit for the former, her breakdown when she hears Cordelia's broken recording, damaging the Bakunawa Fusion out of guilt over her actions, and saving Lilac after she gets concussed by a broken Syntax]] suggest she may have been [[GoMadFromTheIsolation driven insane by her imprisonment]], adding one more layer to the tragedy that she endured.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: [[BigBad Merga]] is supposed to be seen as a terrorist with understandable motives as to why she commits her atrocities, but even with the reveal that [[spoiler: the water dragons were wiped out]], Merga's actions still don't justify. She calls earth dragons "liars and schemers" [[TheHypocrite while lying to her sympathizers in order to get them to do things for her]]. She supposingly wants to save any remaining water dragons, yet has no qualms about attempting to murder Lilac and her friends. Merga displays a deeply homicidal and somewhat sadistic personality, threatening the player saying that "their suffering will be a masterpiece!" in the final battle. The story tries to get the player to understand Merga, yet Merga comes across as a sadistic, homicidal hypocrite whose actions are way past the Main/MoralEventHorizon.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: [[Hypocrite Merga]] is supposed to be seen as a terrorist with understandable motives as to why she commits her atrocities, but even with the reveal that [[spoiler: the water dragons were wiped out]], Merga's actions still don't justify. She calls earth dragons "liars and schemers" [[Hypocrite while lying to her sympathizers in order to get them to do things for her]]. She supposingly wants to save any remaining water dragons, yet has no qualms about attempting to murder Lilac and her friends. Merga displays a deeply homicidal and somewhat sadistic personality, threatening the player saying that "their suffering will be a masterpiece!" in the final battle. The story tries to get the player to understand Merga, yet Merga comes across as a sadistic, homicidal hypocrite whose actions are way past the Main/MoralEventHorizon.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: [[Main/Hypocrite Merga]] is supposed to be seen as a terrorist with understandable motives as to why she commits her atrocities, but even with the reveal that [[spoiler: the water dragons were wiped out]], Merga's actions still don't justify. She calls earth dragons "liars and schemers" [[Main/Hypocrite while lying to her sympathizers in order to get them to do things for her]]. She supposingly wants to save any remaining water dragons, yet has no qualms about attempting to murder Lilac and her friends. Merga displays a deeply homicidal and somewhat sadistic personality, threatening the player saying that "their suffering will be a masterpiece!" in the final battle. The story tries to get the player to understand Merga, yet Merga comes across as a sadistic, homicidal hypocrite whose actions are way past the Main/MoralEventHorizon.

*** Serpentine issued a command to Milla to kill her friends, with no further modifiers specifying Lilac, Carol and Neera as the intended targets. Milla was under the influence of her War Dog programming, which recognized servants of Lord Brevon as "friends". The nearest available targets under those parameters were Syntax, then Serpentine. Attacking Syntax disrupted the resonance link and freed Milla. Attacking Serpentine was gratuitous catharsis.

** The fight against Serpentine in the Snowfields can end up being this. While the first phase might give you a little trouble, it's the second phase where the difficulty of the fight skyrockets. [[spoiler:He begins piloting a MiniMecha with many powerful, tricky-to-dodge attacks. The fight also transitions to a new area that gives you a lot less breathing room. In addition, he has a LastDitchMove, which can easily catch a player off-guard. On top of everything else, [[PlotTunnel you are unable to go back to any towns until you win the fight because the path to Shuigang Palace, and by extension the rest of the world map, is unavailable.]] One of the few mitigating factors is that, depending on your character, you might be able to go above the new arena in phase two and collect some health pickups scattered throughout the pit you fell down during the transition.]]

* GameBreaker: The Shield Potion boosts the number of shield charges you gain whenever you pick up a shield on top of the two you always start with. At 5 stacks of the potion, one shield gives you 7 charges, and they max out at ''12''. Since shield charges stack up to the 12 charge cap whenever you pick up a new one, and all but a handful of BossOnlyLevel[=s=] have at least 2 shields to pick up throughout, this means even a modestly skilled player can make their way through many levels without ever technically taking damage, making getting the highest rank in the game markedly easier than it was probably intended to be. There's even room to throw in a damage boost or LifeDrain potion or two and still have enough shield charges to muscle through most of the game.
** Even better? Even if you have 5 Shield Potion boosts equipped, so long as you equip the One Hit KO Brave Stone and another Brave Stone that gives you a bonus upon completion of a level, ''you can still get a Rainbow S-Rank''. While this doesn't work on the BossOnlyLevel[=s=] (bar Snowfields, the first one, and only [[spoiler: after the first phase]]), this will work on every other level. Yes, this includes [[spoiler: [[BonusDungeon Weapon's Core]] (after an update granted it a single Metal Shield)]].

%% Do NOT add any examples to the BrokenBase or TheScrappy tropes until the waiting period of 6 months since the work's release passes (hence, March 13, 2023). Please, familiarize yourselves with Administrivia/NoRecentExamplesPlease policy.