History YMMV / LoveLiveSchoolIdolFestival

* OnceOriginalNowCommon: When the game was first released in 2013, it was notable for combining {{gacha|Games}}, the IdolGenre, and a RhythmGame that's more than just basic "hit the button on the cue" gameplay, was a smash success for Bushiroad, and paved the way for similar games like ''VideoGame/TheIdolmasterCinderellaGirlsStarlightStage'', ''VideoGame/EnsembleStars'', and ''VideoGame/HatsuneMikuColorfulStage''. However, in the final years of the game, it became evident that a lot of its elements were outdated relative to later games of its ilk: Its insistence on absolutely requiring [[FreemiumTimer Live Points]] to play songs (while other games only use similar resources to multiply rewards, and allow playing songs without said resources), harder songs charging more Live Points to play, upgrading cards requiring tiering events with all the toxic commitment to the game that entails, and multiplayer being limited to events.

* OnceOriginalNowCommon: When the game was first released in 2013, it was notable for combining {{gacha|Games}}, the IdolGenre, and a RhythmGame that's more than just basic "hit the button on the cue" gameplay, was a smash success for Bushiroad, and paved the way for similar games like ''VideoGame/TheIdolmasterCinderellaGirlsStarlightStage'', ''VideoGame/EnsembleStars'', and ''VideoGame/HatsuneMikuColorfulStage''. However, in the final years of the game, it became evident that a lot of its elements were outdated relative to later games of its ilk: Its insistence on absolutely requiring [[FreeemiumTimer Live Points]] to play songs (while other games only use similar resources to multiply rewards, and allow playing songs without said resources), harder songs charging more Live Points to play, upgrading cards requiring tiering events with all the toxic commitment to the game that entails, and multiplayer being limited to events.

* {{Woolseyism}}: [[http://i.imgur.com/1ubXsA9.png The universal server's translation of one of Nozomi's cards homescreen lines]], which in the original was a nod to her KansaiRegionalAccent and would've been quite hard to translate without any translation notes, was pretty well-accepted by the playerbase if only for the fact that is hilarious.

* AcceptableTargets: As per norm to grinding Gacha games, [=KLab=] and ''[=KLab=]'' '''alone''' is ultimately scorned by the players who didn't have their hopes (courtesy of the game's luck system) on getting their wishful [=URs=].

*** Though more of a FunnyAneurysmMoment; Hanayo's idolized outfit from the Nov. 15, 2015 card is based on Victorian-era dresses that were dyed with arsenic-based pigments, which caused the wearers to suffer and cause an early death. "[=KLab=] hates Pana" indeed.

*** The Kotori/Maki event was labeled ''Maki Mayhem'' due to the discounted LP for several songs and Maki being best girl for a majority of the worldwide fanbase causing the event cut-offs to be raised [[UpToEleven even higher than the Umi Bloodbath above]].

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: When the game was first released, it was notable because while idol games like ''Franchise/TheIdolmaster'' existed, ''School Idol Festival'' in particular put more emphasis on the RhythmGame elements, and also combined it with a card-collecting gacha system to make a game unique for its time. Nowadays ''SIF'' has to compete with similar games that are seen as more refined like ''VideoGame/ProjectSEKAI'', as well as Bushiroad's own ''VideoGame/BangDreamGirlsBandParty'' and ''Franchise/D4DJ Groovy Mix'', with these games not only having more groups and characters available but also having gameplay improvements like not making harder songs cost more stamina, not limiting how many songs one can play with the same stamina system, not [[UnlockableDifficultyLevels locking higher difficulties behind "clear the difficulty before it" requirements]] (thus allowing experienced rhythm game players to dive into songs suited to their skill level immediately), and not gating high-rarity cards behind "tiering" events.

* UncannyValley: The May 20, 2019 release of the [[https://i.schoolido.lu/web/static/cards/ur_pairs/2032FumieCleanUR.png unidolized Nishimura Fumie card]] can be seen as unnerving due to how the thighs' anatomy is drawn.

** The higher the difficulty level you choose to play a song on, the more LP it costs. This is especially evident with Expert charts for B-Sides songs, which cost ''25 LP'', when new players don't even have that much LP capacity! In other words, the harder the song, the fewer times the game will let you play it before you have to recharge your LP. While this was never a popular mechanic, it only stood out even more when later idol games not only let players choose how much stamina they want to spend (with more stamina use multiplying the quantity of rewards) but also allow players to play even without stamina (just without reward multipliers or being allowed to play certain limited-time modes, and even then standard single-player and multiplayer modes are still available).

** The higher the difficulty level you choose to play a song on, the more LP it costs. This is especially evident with Expert charts for B-Sides songs, which cost ''25 LP'', when new players don't even have that much LP capacity! In other words, the harder the song, the fewer times the game will let you play it before you have to recharge your LP. While this was never a popular mechanic, it only stood out even more when later idol games not only let players choose how much stamina they want to spend (with more stamina use multiplying the quantity of rewards) but also allow players to play even without stamina (just without reward multipliers or being allowed to play certain limited-time modes, and even then single-player and standard multiplayer modes are still available).

** The higher the difficulty level you choose to play a song on, the more LP it costs. This is especially evident with Expert charts for B-Sides songs, which cost ''25 LP'', when new players don't even have that much LP capacity! In other words, songs you are more likely to fail on can only be played once or twice before you have to let your LP recharge, while you can play easier songs a higher number of times within the same period of time. While this was never a popular mechanic, it only stood out even more when later idol games not only let players choose how much stamina they want to spend (with more stamina use multiplying the quantity of rewards) but also allow players to play even without stamina (just without reward multipliers or being allowed to play certain limited-time modes, and even then single-player and standard multiplayer modes are still available).

** The higher the difficulty level you choose to play a song on, the more LP it costs. This is especially evident with Expert charts for B-Sides songs, which cost ''25 LP'', when new players don't even have that much LP capacity! While this was never a popular mechanic, it only stood out even more when later idol games not only let players choose how much stamina they want to spend (with more stamina use multiplying the quantity of rewards) but also allow players to play even without stamina (just without reward multipliers or being allowed to play certain limited-time modes, and even then single-player and standard multiplayer modes are still available).

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: When the game was first released, it was notable because while idol games like ''Franchise/TheIdolmaster'' existed, ''School Idol Festival'' in particular put more emphasis on the RhythmGame elements, and also combined it with a card-collecting gacha system to make a game unique for its time. Nowadays ''SIF'' has to compete with similar games that are seen as more refined like ''VideoGame/ProjectSEKAI'', as well as Bushiroad's own ''VideoGame/BangDreamGirlsBandParty'' and ''Franchise/D4DJ Groovy Mix'', with these games not only having more groups and characters available but also having gameplay improvements like not making harder songs cost more stamina, not limiting how many songs one can play with the same stamina system, not [[UnlockableDifficultyLevels locking higher difficulties behind "clear the difficulty before it" requirements]], and not gating high-rarity cards behind "tiering" events.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: When the game was first released, it was notable because while idol games like ''Franchise/TheIdolmaster'' existed, ''School Idol Festival'' in particular put more emphasis on the RhythmGame elements, and also combined it with a card-collecting gacha system to make a game unique for its time. Nowadays ''SIF'' has to compete with similar games that are seen as more refined like ''VideoGame/ProjectSEKAI'', as well as Bushiroad's own ''VideoGame/BangDreamGirlsBandParty'' and ''Franchise/D4DJ Groovy Mix'', with these games not only having more groups and characters available but also having gameplay improvements like not making harder songs cost more stamina, not limiting how many songs one can play with the same stamina system, and not gating high-rarity cards behind "tiering" events.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: The [[https://i.redd.it/dqsijfprtm2z.png 37th chapter of TenFes (Transfer Student Festival) reveals that Jennifer is afraid of Sayuri posing with a]] '''''[[https://i.redd.it/dqsijfprtm2z.png pair of rifles]]'''''. Given Jennifer's bloodline, this might have been an (unintentional) nod to the controversial school shootings in America.

** Related to the above, the game offers no reward, not even a CosmeticAward, for obtaining an all-Perfect run, unlike most other rhythm games where getting a perfect score is plausible. Even if you still care enough to try, you'll have to manually keep track of your perfect plays, as score is not indicative of performance alone.

** The "daily special" songs are infamous for being a challenge even for the most experienced players. For example, Anemone Heart on Easy is rated at six stars (the same as ''some Hard difficulty'' story songs).

*** January 2018 brought a third, but with a twist. The Kotori/Maki Token event with their travel set outfits was fine on JP, but EN had it concurrent with a regular-play promotion that gave temporary B-side versions of some songs that cut their LP requirements to 1/4 of the regular amount. This meant it was a BreatherLevel for Kotori fans and those who were just in it for the points prizes -- you could get every single one in the first few days without spending any gems at all -- but if you wanted ''Maki'', who was the ranking reward, you were in for a nonstop slog. Given that even people who weren't trying or using gems were ranking up constantly due to the low LP requirements, this event might well raise future cutoffs permanently. Oh, and unlike poor Rin, Maki is EN's most popular character.

** By and large, Story songs are not that difficult...except for Wild Stars on Hard. It opens with a hold-note ladder where the holds are only a minuscule bit longer than an ordinary note, and only gets worse from there, featuring some infamous double-tapping. It's so deceptively hard that the Expert Mode version is considered to be ''easier''.

** Both Hard and Expert mode of ''Koi no Signal Rin rin rin!'' are extremely hard to full-combo.

* FandomRivalry: There's a bit of one between ''LLSIF'' players and players of other {{Rhythm Game}}s. The former defend the game because of its comparatively large amount of lore that many rhythm games don't have, while the latter see ''LLSIF'' as a PayToWin game that, by nature of being a mobile [[AllegedlyFreeGame free-to-play]] game, can't be played in situations where Internet access is not available (such as on a plane that doesn't have in-flight wifi, or on a fully-depleted cellular data plan) and severely limits how many songs the player can play before needing to let the game rest.

* GameBreaker: Rhythmic Carnival's collaborative scoring mechanics turn four specific event SR cards into this (Bear Honoka, Panda Nico, Nurse Kotori, and Cheerleader Umi). Each of them has an ability that adds extra score if a certain number of points are scored, which means that in an entire room of 20-100 people all contributing to the score, that number can multiply up very quickly. This exploit has become so well-known that it's common for a user to just pick a random team without any concern for scoring and reap the benefits of a maxed out 999% score courtesy of one or two users.

*** In March 2021, almost 7 years after the release of the Global version, it will be merged with the JP version of the game.

** On a related note, some songs have a nasty DifficultySpike in between Normal and the harder levels. Woe betide the beginner who full-comboed Eien Friends on Normal, decided to play on Hard, then wondered why his screen resembled something from ''VideoGame/TouhouProject''.

** The way scoring and GameplayGrading work is a major deciding factor on whether someone continues playing or uninstalls it after one song. Players introduced to the game's "better idols = better score" system will either quit in disgust and write the game off as PayToWin, or shrug it off as typical [[AllegedlyFreeGame "free-to-play"]] fare and keep going. While some argue that the game still requires a lot of skill to be able to get high scores, others point out that skill can only carry the player so far, as a team's attributes will dictate the maximum score possible. A player with max-level [=SRs=] and [=URs=] very much has an S-rank within the realm of possibility on any chart, but for a new player who only has lower-level [=Rs=] and [=Ns=], an S-rank is ''literally impossible'' on harder charts; see the "all Perfects and a C" meme above. It's not the most crippling thing in rhythm games, but it does force players used to the concept of skill alone determining score to adjust their mindset in order to enjoy the game.