History YMMV / PokemonDarkRising

* ShockingSwerve: You thought dark rising 1's ending was a downer sequel hook? Get a load of Dark Rising 2's ending! After you defeat Darugis for real, and seal him for good, you'd think you finally accomplished your goal. [[spoiler: "Arcaeus" tricked you. He wasn't really Arceaus, he was a completely unforshadowed villain called "Hoopa. The protagonist dies, and Hoopa declared to take over]]

* ShockingSwerve: You thought dark rising 1's ending was a downer sequel hook? Get a load of Dark Rising 2's ending! After you defeat Darugis for real, and seal him for good, you'd think you finally accomplished your goal. [[spoiler: "Arcaeus" tricked you. He wasn't really Arceaus, he was a completely unforshadowed villain called "Hoopa." ([[Narm: Which sounds similar to hooplah.]]) The protagonist dies, and Hoopa declared to take over]]

* ShockingSwerve: You thought dark rising 1's ending was a downer sequel hook? Get a load of Dark Rising 2's ending

MoralEventHorizon: V tried to kill the protagonist when they first met, made a pact with Darugis to torture his hated enemies' souls forever, and tried to sink a ship with innocent people. [[spoiler: When he is reborn, he mocks his children's' death or worse.]]

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: V. After he sold his soul to Darugius, and lost to the protagonist, he is sent to the underworld. The protagonist sheds a tear for his death... Of course the reason why V worked for Darugis is so that he can torture the protagonist and his father's soul forever. Doesn't help that he's a murderous leader who wants to sink a ship filled with innocent people. [[spoiler: and then there's his resurrected form when he reacts to the death of his children.]]

** If you manage to get past the Elite 4, the final boss is infamous for being completely ridiculous; not only does he have a team full of legendaries, he also has a [[VideoGame/PokemonXDGaleOfDarkness Shadow Lugia]] with inflated base stats (170 HP, 150 Attack, 170 Defense, 160 Special Attack, 210 Special Defense, and 150 Speed) carrying a 200 Base Power move to make it the ultimate LightningBruiser. To put this in context, it has a base stat total of '''1010''', which is 230 higher than Mega Mewtwo X and Y, who have the highest base stats of any Pokémon. Beating him without a team full of legends yourself or at least without a team tailor-made to counter him is nearly impossible.

** Some people like the game's difficulty compared to the main series Pokemon games. Others hate it because they consider the hack very poorly-made; there are numerous bugs and glitches (or at least questionable design decisions), said difficulty is lazy and poorly thought-out with the trainers just being overleveled and overpowered (with moves and items you either don't have access to at that point in time or will never have period).

* SeinfeldisUnfunny: The hack has begun to show its age. Newer hacks like Glazed, Liquid Crystal, Reborn and Zeta/Omicron (the latter two being even more ambitious due to being RPG Maker games) are much more polished, have fewer bugs, better original/custom sprites, more content, and features from future games like the Physical/Special split, generation 6 Pokemon, and music from newer/other games.

** The game's "Elite 4" (The 4 Knights of Ebony's Round Table) as a whole is exceptionally difficult. You are warned that they will have Pokemon with moves and abilities they aren't supposed to have. This proves to be true; among the threats are a Regigigas without Slow Start (meaning its Attack and Speed stat aren't halved for the first five turns), several pokemon (Scrafty, Ferrothorn, Dusknoir, etc) with Cosmic Power and Recover, an Eelketross with Ice Beam, a Darmanitan who's in permanent Zen Mode, a ton of legendary Pokemon and pseudo-legendaries, etc.
** If you manage to get past the Elite 4, the final boss is infamous for being completely ridiculous; not only does he have a team full of legendaries, he also has a [[VideoGame/PokemonXDGaleOfDarkness Shadow Lugia]] with inflated base stats (170 HP, 150 Attack, 170 Defense, 160 Special Attack, 210 Special Defense, and 150 Speed) carrying a 200 Base Power move to make it the ultimate LightningBruiser. To put this in context, it has a base stat total of '''1010''', which is 230 higher than Mega Mewtwo X and Y, who have the highest base stats of any Pokemon. Beating him without a team full of legends yourself or at least without a team tailor-made to counter him is nearly impossible.

** Fiery may be the first Gym Leader, but she gives you as much trouble as she can. Her Fire-type team is enhanced by a Drought Vulpix, powering up all her Fire attacks for massive damage that this point in the game.

** The final boss is infamous for being completely ridiculous; not only does he have a team full of legendaries, he also has a [[VideoGame/PokemonXDGaleOfDarkness Shadow Lugia]] with inflated base stats (170 HP, 150 Attack, 170 Defense, 160 Special Attack, 210 Special Defense, and 150 Speed) carrying a 200 Base Power move to make it the ultimate LightningBruiser. To put this in context, it has a base stat total of '''1010''', which is 230 higher than Mega Mewtwo X and Y, who have the highest base stats of any Pokemon. Beating him without a team full of legends yourself or at least without a team tailor-made to counter him is nearly impossible.

* BrokenBase: Some people like the game's difficulty compared to the main series Pokemon games. Others hate it because they consider the hack very poorly-made; there are numerous bugs and glitches (or at least questionable design decisions), said difficulty is lazy and poorly thought-out with the trainers just being overleveled and overpowered (with moves and items you either don't have access to at that point in time or will never have period).
** The hack's story is also a frequent subject of criticism. Posts by the romhack creator indicate that it was her primary concern when creating Dark Rising, to have a stronger and more ambitious storyline. In spite of this, many people consider the story an incredibly dull ClicheStorm with weak and forgettable characters, and that it has strong elements of bad fanfiction given the presence of characters from the anime (including Brock, Misty, and an Ash who has become champion) and a special guest appearance by Yami Yugi from {{Anime/YuGiOh}} as a gym leader.

* GameBreaker: Zen Headbutt will always cause an opponent to flinch due to the hacker setting Zen Headbutt's flinch rate to 100%.
* SeinfeldisUnfunny: The hack has begun to show its age. Newer hacks like Glazed, Liquid Crystal, Reborn and Zeta/Omicron (the latter two being even more ambitious due to being RPG Maker games) are much more polished, have fewer bugs, more content, and features from future games like the Physical/Special split and music from newer/other games.

* BrokenBase: Some people like the game's difficulty and more intricate story. Others hate it because they consider the hack very poorly-made; there are numerous bugs and glitches (or at least questionable design decisions), the difficulty is lazy and poorly thought-out with the trainers just being overleveled and overpowered (with moves and items you either don't have access to at that point in time or will never have period).

* BrokenBase: Some people like the game's difficulty and more intricate story. Others hate it because they consider the hack very poorly-made; there are numerous bugs and glitches (or at least questionable design decisions), the difficulty is lazy and poorly thought-out with the trainers just being overleveled and overpowered (with moves and items you either don't have access to at that point in time or will never have period). It was pretty clear from even the romhacker's opening post in the forums she posts in that she was primarily concerned with the game's story, which in these people's eyes is cliched and hackneyed anyway, with way too many characters who are hard to distinguish from one another and completely flat and uninteresting besides.

* SeinfeldisUnfunny: The hack has begun to show its age. Newer hacks like Glazed, Liquid Crystal, Reborn and Zeta/Omicron (which is even more ambitious due to being an RPG Maker games) are much more polished, have fewer bugs, more content, and features from future games like the Physical/Special split and music from newer/other games.

** The final boss is infamous for being completely ridiculous; not only does he have a team full of legendaries, he also has a [[VideoGame/PokemonXDGaleOfDarkness Shadow Lugia]] with inflated base stats (170 HP, 150 Attack, 170 Defense, 160 Special Attack, 210 Special Defense, and 150 Speed) carrying a 200 Base Power move to make it the ultimate LightningBruiser. Beating him without a team full of legends yourself or at least without a team tailor-made to counter him is nearly impossible.

* GameBreaker: Zen Headbutt will always cause an opponent to flinch, due to the hacker setting Zen Headbutt's flinch rate to 100%.
* SeinfeldisUnfunny: The hack has begun to show its age, due to the fact that newer hacks like Glazed, Liquid Crystal, Reborn and Zeta/Omicron (which is even more ambitious due to being an RPG Maker games) are much more polished, having fewer bugs, more content, and features from future games like the physical/special split and music from newer/other games.

** Fiery may be the first gym leader, but she gives you as much trouble as she can. Her Fire-type team is enhanced by a Drought Vulpix, powering up all her fire attacks for massive damage that this point in the game.
** Typhoon, the second gym leader, has a Drizzle Poliwhirl to enhance his already formidable Water-type pokemon in both power and speed(for pokemon of his that have Swift Swim).
** The final boss is infamous for being completely ridiculous; not only does he have a team full of legendaries, he also has a Shadow Lugia with inflated base stats(170/150/170/160/210/150) and a 200 base power move. Beating him without a team full of legends yourself or at least without a team tailor-made to counter him is nearly impossible.

** Typhoon, the second gym leader, has a Drizzle Poliwhirl to enhance is already formidable Water-type pokemon in both power and speed(for pokemon of his that have Swift Swim).

** The final boss is infamous for being completely ridiculous; not only does he have a team full of legendaries, he also has a Shadow Lugia with a 200 base power move. Beating him without a team full of legends yourself or at least without a team tailor-made to counter him is nearly impossible.

* SeinfeldisUnfunny: The hack has begun to show its age, due to the fact that newer hacks like Glazed, Liquid Crystal, Reborn and Zeta/Omicron (which is even more ambitious due to being an RPG Maker games) are much more polished, having fewer bugs, more content, and features from future games like the physical/special split.

* BrokenBase: Some people like the game's difficulty and more intricate story. Others hate it because they consider the hack very poorly-made; there are numerous bugs and glitches, the difficulty is lazy and poorly thought-out with the trainers just being overleveled and overpowered (with moves and items you either don't have access to at that point in time or will never have period). It was pretty clear from even the romhacker's opening post in the forums she posts in that she was primarily concerned with the game's story, which in these people's eyes is cliched and hackneyed anyway, with way too many characters who are hard to distinguish from one another and completely flat and uninteresting besides.

** Fiery may be the first gym leader, but she's give you as much trouble as she can. Her Fire-type team is enhanced by a Drought Vulpix, powering up all her fire attacks for massive damage that this point in the game.
** Typhoon, the second gym leader, has a Drizzle Poliwhirl to enhance is already formidable Water-type pokemon in both power and speed(for pokemon of his that have Swift Swim).

* GameBreaker: Zen Headbutt will always cause an opponent to flinch, due to the hacker setting Zen Headbutt's flinch rate to 100%.

* GameBreaker: Zen Headbutt will always cause an opponent to flinch, due to the hacker set Zen Headbutt's flinch rate to 100%.

* GameBreaker: Zen Headbutt will always cause an opponent to flinch, due to a programming error.