History YMMV / JimmyAndThePulsatingMass

* FriendlyFandoms: Fans of this game tend to also be fans of the more popular ''VideoGame/{{Omori}}'', due to both being ''VideoGame/{{Earthbound}}''-inspired indie [=RPGs=] with a cutesy exterior hiding nightmarish imagery and concepts.

** Imaginary Numbers, by far. Assuming you challenge it at a reasonable level, the entire boss is essentially a LuckBasedMission. The boss comes with a static 30% chance to reflect any magic attack and evade or counter physical attacks — and yes, those last two can trigger at the same time. However, that's not what makes it especially tough. Its attack pattern is essentially, it has 6 different sets of attacks, each one more punishing from the last. As turns go by, it cycles through them — unless it uses the "Glitch Out" skill, which hurts itself and resets the attack pattern to the first, easiest one. The problem is, its 6th skillset has [[ThatOneAttack Program Omega]], which is pretty much guaranteed to massacre your entire party. And nothing prevents it from using it twice in a row, either, or if you're especially unlucky, ''three times.'' You have to pretty much hope it glitches out and resets itself, because there's very little you can do to stop it otherwise. You know it's bad when the game developer himself outright suggests that you go back and one-shot it when you're at higher levels.
** While he ''is'' essentially the FinalBoss, [[spoiler:Buck's second boss fight]] is a huge DifficultySpike compared to any of the bosses listed here, especially since [[spoiler:his first battle]] was relatively tame. He combines all of the gimmicks from the previous Pulsating Mass bosses — [[spoiler:he has the Mutt's miasma to drain your health, Chancellor Pulsating Mass's ability to use specific attacks based on what form you have equipped, and four of Principal Pulsating Mass's Brain Bats — which have their AI reconfigured to be as infuriating as possible; the bats that prevent physical damage and reflect magic now use their skills exclusively on the weakpoint-granting bat, while the other Brain Bat keeps Buck alert and prevents startling him. Combined, their HP exceeds that of the first boss of [[BrutalBonusLevel Heart Prison,]] topped off with impressive attacking stats from Buck — and him no longer wasting turns.]]

** Fifth Street Creepers in the World's Library have the ability to ''instantly kill a party member,'' something very few enemies share. While they're not especially impressive statwise, this alone makes them a brutal opponent. Unlucky Nekos exaggerate this behavior -- their only action in battle is either to "watch you" or instan-kill a party member, and they take a lot of damage before they go down.

** While he ''is'' essentially the FinalBoss, [[spoiler:Buck's second boss fight is a huge DifficultySpike]] compared to any of the bosses listed here, especially since [[spoiler:his first battle]] was relatively tame. He combines all of the gimmicks from the previous Pulsating Mass bosses — [[spoiler:he has the Mutt's miasma to drain your health, Chancellor Pulsating Mass's ability to use specific attacks based on what form you have equipped, and four of Principal Pulsating Mass's Brain Bats — which have their AI reconfigured to be as infuriating as possible; the bats that prevent physical damage and reflect magic now use their skills exclusively on the weakpoint-granting bat, while the other Brain Bat keeps Buck alert and prevents startling him. Combined, their HP exceeds that of the first boss of [[BrutalBonusLevel Heart Prison,]] topped off with impressive attacking stats from Buck — and him no longer wasting turns.]]

** Fifth Street Creepers in the World's Library have the ability to ''instantly kill a party member,'' something very few enemies share. While they're not especially impressive statwise, this alone makes them a brutal opponent.

** The boss at the end of the third continent, [[spoiler:Jonathon Bear]], can be quite the almighty roadblock. He's not too bad at first — he doesn't hit too hard and gives attack warnings for his more threatening attacks like his rampage. The most annoying thing is that he can grab a party member in his mouth and chew on them, but it can be removed via Startled. However, when he gets low on health, he starts to use his rampage and mass-disease claws without any attack warnings, and causes a hugely damaging tremor with his attack warning as well. While this is signaled by him staggering backwards and screeching, it doesn't take up his action for the turn, giving your party little time to prepare. It's not uncommon to be doing very well up until the final phase, where the boss proceeds to wreck the party. It doesn't help that [[spoiler:with Jonathon gone, you only have three party members]], limiting your options. Thankfully, there are some tricks you can use, like buying Super Balls from Rubik and [[spoiler:stealing Jonathon's stitching to cause a pretty big chunk of damage]], but they only make the fight marginally easier. It doesn't help that the level leading up to him is crawling with DemonicSpiders that makes it difficult to get to him with a fully fresh party unless you grind enough to skip all the encounters.

** The boss at the end of the third continent, [[spoiler:Jonathon Bear]], can be quite the almighty roadblock. He's not too bad at first — he doesn't hit too hard and gives attack warnings for his more threatening attacks like his rampage. The most annoying thing is that he can grab a party member in his mouth and chew on them, but it can be removed via Startled. However, when he gets low on health, he starts to use his rampage and mass-disease claws without any attack warnings, and causes a hugely damaging tremor with his attack warning as well. While this is signaled by him staggering backwards and screeching, it doesn't take up his action for the turn, giving your party little time to prepare. It's not uncommon to be doing very well up until the final phase, where the boss proceeds to wreck the party. It doesn't help that [[spoiler:with Jonathon gone, you only have three party members]], limiting your options. Thankfully, there are some tricks you can use, like buying Super Balls from Rubik and [[spoiler:stealing Jonathon's stitching to cause a pretty big chunk of damage]], but they only make the fight marginally easier. It doesn't help that the dungeon before him [[ThatOneLevel is filled with tough enemies, especially near the end]].

* NightmareRetardant: The track that plays in the Asymmetrical Cavern, [[https://youtu.be/vt3W6vv7iso Counting Backwards from Infinity]], is a disorienting track, with numerous voices shouting numbers at you without much of a sense of rhythm at all. It loses some of its scare factor when you can pick out the voice shouting "pickle!"

** While he ''is'' essentially the FinalBoss, [[spoiler:Buck's second boss fight is a huge DifficultySpike compared to any of the bosses listed here, especially since his first battle was relatively tame. He combines all of the gimmicks from the previous Pulsating Mass bosses — he has the Mutt's miasma to drain your health, Chancellor Pulsating Mass's ability to use specific attacks based on what form you have equipped, and four of Principal Pulsating Mass's Brain Bats — which have their AI reconfigured to be as infuriating as possible; the bats that prevent physical damage and reflect magic now use their skills exclusively on the weakpoint-granting bat, while the other Brain Bat keeps Buck alert and prevents startling him. Combined, their HP exceeds that of the first boss of [[BrutalBonusLevel Heart Prison,]] topped off with impressive attacking stats from Buck — and him no longer wasting turns.]]

** While he ''is'' essentially the FinalBoss, [[spoiler:Buck's second boss fight is a huge DifficultySpike compared to any of the bosses listed here, especially since his first battle was relatively tame. He combines all of the gimmicks from the previous Pulsating Mass bosses — he has the Mutt's miasma to drain your health, Chancellor Pulsating Mass's ability to use specific attacks based on what form you have equipped, and four of Principal Pulsating Mass's Brain Bats — which have their AI reconfigured to be as infuriating as possible; the bats that prevent physical damage and reflect magic now use their skills exclusively on the weakpoint-granting bat, while the other Brain Bat keeps Buck alert and prevents startling him. Combined, their HP exceeds that of the first boss of [[BrutalBonusLevel Heart Prison,]] topped off with impressive attacking stats from Buck — and him no longer wasting turns.]]

* DisappointingLastLevel: [[spoiler:The Pulsating Mass itself]]- while it has some interesting new enemies and a NightmareFuel atmosphere, the dungeon itself is just a retread of an area you've already been through only a few hours ago, which is a bit of a letdown when you consider every other area up to this point has been unique.

** The Golden King's 'absorb darkness' move, particularly in the rematch where it can heal about '9000' HP, and next turn attack your whole party with the strongest attack it has. Better hope the boss doesn't use this twice in a row. Making this more notable is that his other attacks are not too bad- but this one attack is likely to drag out the fight.

** The boss at the end of the third continent, [[spoiler:Jonathon Bear]], can be quite the almighty roadblock. He's not too bad at first - he doesn't hit too hard and gives attack warnings for his more threatening attacks like his rampage. The most annoying thing is that he can grab a party member in his mouth and chew on them, but it can be removed via Startled. However, when he gets low on health, he starts to use his rampage and mass-disease claws without any attack warnings, and causes a hugely damaging tremor with his attack warning as well. While this is signaled by him staggering backwards and screeching, it doesn't take up his action for the turn, giving your party little time to prepare. It's not uncommon to be doing very well up until the final phase, where the boss proceeds to wreck the party. It doesn't help that [[spoiler:with Jonathon gone, you only have three party members,]] limiting your options. Thankfully, there are some tricks you can use, like buying Super Balls from Rubik and [[spoiler:stealing Jonathon's stitching to cause a pretty big chunk of damage,]] but they only make the fight marginally easier. It doesn't help that the dungeon before him [[ThatOneLevel is filled with tough enemies, especially near the end.]]
** In terms of optional bosses, if you challenge him as soon as he's available, Turnbuckle is a force to be reckoned with. His gimmick is that he summons presents every turn, which have very damaging effects when they open up - specifically, bombs that cause damage to everyone (though thankfully, they hit the opposing side too), a retractable boxing glove that deals huge damage to a single foe, spirits that make everyone afraid, or noxious gas that causes Sick and Immunodeficiency to the entire party. Turnbuckle replaces presents almost as soon as they're gone, which doesn't help. If you picked up Jonathon's Immunize manual from Ebeezil, this can help neuter the presents, but not always. Turnbuckle himself is no slouch either, having the ability to mass-stun your party, as well as use counters ''and'' magic barriers.
** Imaginary Numbers, by far. Assuming you challenge it at a reasonable level, the entire boss is essentially a LuckBasedMission. The boss comes with a static 30% chance to reflect any magic attack and evade or counter physical attacks - and yes, those last two can trigger at the same time. However, that's not what makes it especially tough. Its attack pattern is essentially, it has 6 different sets of attacks, each one more punishing from the last. As turns go by, it cycles through them - unless it uses the "Glitch Out" skill, which hurts itself and resets the attack pattern to the first, easiest one. The problem is, its 6th skillset has [[ThatOneAttack Program Omega]], which is pretty much guaranteed to massacre your entire party. And nothing prevents it from using it twice in a row, either, or if you're especially unlucky, ''three times.'' You have to pretty much hope it glitches out and resets itself, because there's very little you can do to stop it otherwise. You know it's bad when the game developer himself outright suggests that you go back and one-shot it when you're at higher levels.
** While he ''is'' essentially the FinalBoss, [[spoiler:Buck's second boss fight is a huge DifficultySpike compared to any of the bosses listed here, especially since his first battle was relatively tame. He combines all of the gimmicks from the previous Pulsating Mass bosses - he has the Mutt's miasma to drain your health, Chancellor Pulsating Mass's ability to use specific attacks based on what form you have equipped, and four of Principal Pulsating Mass's Brain Bats - which have their AI reconfigured to be as infuriating as possible; the bats that prevent physical damage and reflect magic now use their skills exclusively on the weakpoint-granting bat, while the other Brain Bat keeps Buck alert and prevents startling him. Combined, their HP exceeds that of the first boss of [[BrutalBonusLevel Heart Prison,]] topped off with impressive attacking stats from Buck - and him no longer wasting turns.]]

* DisappointingLastLevel: The final dungeon, [[spoiler: The Pulsating Mass itself.]] While it has some interesting new enemies, the dungeon itself is just a retread of an area you've already been through only a few hours ago, which is a bit of a letdown when you consider every other area up to this point has been unique.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8L4fzmHKxo4 Organic Nightmare]]'', the FinalBoss theme, sounds similar to ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jLFue_hHRI Some Rudiments Of Propriety]]'' from ''[[{{VideoGame/Off}} OFF]]'', not due to their melody, but due to the sound effects and instruments used, with both songs combining distorted synths with sounds of squishy liquid flowing and a person breathing through a gas mask.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8L4fzmHKxo4 Organic Nightmare]]'' sounds similar to ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jLFue_hHRI Some Rudiments Of Propriety]]'' from ''[[{{VideoGame/Off}} OFF]]'', not due to their melody but due to the sound effects and instruments used, with both songs combining distorted synths with sounds of squishy liquid flowing and a person breathing through a gas mask.

** The Golden King's 'absorb darkness' move, particularly in the rematch where it can heal about '9000' HP, and next turn attack your whole party with the strongest attack it has. Better hope the boss doesn't use this twice in a row.

** [[spoiler:GAMM-E's]] Rockets deal huge damage, to the point of likely being an instant kill, and have no windup, instead requiring the boss to reload their rockets.

** The boss at the end of the third continent, [[spoiler:Jonathon Bear,]] can be quite the almighty roadblock. He's not too bad at first - he doesn't hit too hard and gives attack warnings for his more threatening attacks like his rampage. The most annoying thing is that he can grab a party member in his mouth and chew on them, but it can be removed via Startled. However, when he gets low on health, he starts to use his rampage and mass-disease claws without any attack warnings, and causes a hugely damaging tremor with his attack warning as well. While this is signaled by him staggering backwards and screeching, it doesn't take up his action for the turn, giving your party little time to prepare. It's not uncommon to be doing very well up until the final phase, where the boss proceeds to wreck the party. It doesn't help that [[spoiler:with Jonathon gone, you only have three party members,]] limiting your options. Thankfully, there are some tricks you can use, like buying Super Balls from Rubik and [[spoiler:stealing Jonathon's stitching to cause a pretty big chunk of damage,]] but they only make the fight marginally easier. It doesn't help that the dungeon before him [[ThatOneLevel is filled with tough enemies, especially near the end.]]

* DisappointingLastLevel: The final dungeon, [[spoiler: The Pulsating Mass itself.]] While it has some interesting new enemies, the dungeon itself is just a retread of an area you've already been through only a few hours ago, which is a bit of a letdown when you consider every other area up to this point has been unique.

* DisappointingLastLevel: The final dungeon, [[The Pulsating Mass itself.]] While it has some interesting new enemies, the dungeon itself is just a retread of an area you've already been through only a few hours ago, which is a bit of a letdown when you consider every other area up to this point has been unique.

* DisappointingLastLevel: After clearing [[spoiler: the Central Hub, as well as the brief segment on Planets Jimmy, Helga, Andrew, and Lars]] and getting the airship, your last objective before entering the final dungeon is collecting the 6 energy nexus points scattered across the world, hidden in locations you can only get to now that you can fly. While this sounds like a fun idea in concept, the areas themselves aren't really all that interesting. Most of the enemies in each area are just upgraded versions of older enemies with no conceptual changes, like "Super Yesmen" and "Redfish/Bluefish" (which to be fair, is a continuation of a gag from earlier in the game, but still). There ''are'' enemies called the Guardians, strange looking creatures with paper bags over their heads, the faces on which are the same as the little pixel faces beside each character's "personality" in their equipment pages, but they don't get expanded upon at all. The areas themselves aren't really interesting aside from the story bits they give, either, usually being straight romps with the very occasional puzzle. It's almost like the creator had just a bit more plot left to tell, but ran out of areas to put those last threads in.