History YMMV / Rifts

* TierInducedScrappy: Rifts has well over a hundred available character classes and makes zero attempt to balance them against each other. As a result it has plenty of examples of this on both ends of the spectrum.
** High Tier:
*** Glitter Boys. These guys are pretty much the face of the game and have tons of importance in the lore, story and general gameplay. In addition to hitting like a tank they can soak up Mega-Damage like its confetti and have both a cool and intimidating design. Unfortunately, this means players are more likely to gravitate towards them than the other classes and they regularly steal the spotlight from everyone else.
*** Dragons. Unlike most human or even D-Bee classes they start off with several extremely OP powers and abilities including access to both psionics and magic from the moment of birth. They are also a base game R.C.C. that quite frankly outclass many of the newer R.C.C. added in later supplemental material and give even Glitter Boys a run for their money in the sheer brokenness department. One of their only real drawbacks is that they tend to dislike others of their kind, which greatly limits the number of dragons that can be in an adventuring party without them literally being at each others throats the whole time. This can easily lead to arguments if more than one player wants to play as one... and as mentioned above this is pretty likely given that they're an available starting class in the base game.
*** True Atlanteans. Ever since they first showed up all the way back in ''World Book 2: Atlantis'' they've overshadowed the rest of humanity more and more as the years rolled on. Not only are they a [[CreatorsPet creator favorite]] but they are, for the most part, an all around upgrade and improvement over normal human beings. They are LongLived, have access to tattoo powers and various magical abilities that other humans do not ''and'' can also take on many of the same O.C.C. available to regular humans while also ''improving'' them with their own natural abilities. Honestly, once a player picks up the Atlantis world book and any of their additional sourcebooks there really isn't any reason to ever go back to wimpy standard humans ever again.
*** Gizmoteers. These guys are basically what happens when you put a Techno-Wizard on steroids and turn them into a OneManArmy. Gizmoteers are one of, if not ''the'', most broken classes in the entire game and are often held up as an example of how ''World Book 9: South America 2'' was way too overpowered compared to previous world books. In addition to having a slew of useful psychic abilities the Gizmoteer can modify and improve weapons, including the already OP ones introduced in that same book. As one can imagine, all but the most diehard munchkins felt the class was simply too broken to be fair... even by Rifts standards.
** Low Tier:
*** Vegabonds. These guys are basically apocalyptic hobos that start out with a pathetically low amount of skills and no special powers or abilities. Their only saving grace is that they earn XP at roughly twice the rate of the higher tier O.C.C. available... but that does little to help when their power level is so abysmally low to begin with. What really sealed their fate however, is that they are a base game class available without the need of any additional sourcebooks to play. Yes, the RPG book that ''just'' waved [[TheBigGuy power armored juggernauts,]] [[SmugSuper godlike psychics]] and [[OurDragonsAreDifferent literal dragons]] in front of the players fully expects them to consider playing a basic unskilled human being. No points for guessing which O.C.C. keeps getting passed up time and time again with each new campaign.
*** Saloon Bums & Saloon Girls. First introduced in ''World book 14: New West'' these character classes are often held up as an example of Rifts often lopsided character class power levels. In a sourcebook filled with all manner of cool gunslingers and cowboys these O.C.C. stick out like a sore thumb and feel like they were only added in at the last minute to provide some additional flavor for the book's western setting. Both are basically normal human rouges who get boosted alcohol tolerance and a few minor stats buffs as their only bonuses... and that's it. No fancy gun tricks or special skills beyond what was already stated. Saloon Girl's even have an additional, completely unneeded weakness that restricts them even further as if they were some sort of OP class that needed balancing... that is, their aversion to cybernetics. Because they need to look "harmless and pretty" to properly do their job they tend to avoid any external cybernetic implants... something that even the other basic human classes have access to.
*** Russian Villagers. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The name alone should probably tell you all you need to know.]] Debuting in ''World Book 17: Warlords of Russia'' this class was designed to represent the common Russian citizen. The main problem with this? Warlords of Russia, as its name would imply, is a sourcebook built around a group of powerful cyborg warlords and their ongoing conflicts with each other. There are soldier classes, adventurer classes and even a few classes that deal with the supernatural. Now, after having read all that... who in their right mind would ever want to play as a basic farm peasant when they could be a cool and badass Russian cyborg or soldier?!

*** Russian Villagers. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The name alone should probably tell you all you need to know.]] Debuting in ''World Book 17: Warlords of Russia'' this class was designed to represent the common Russian citizen. The main problem with this? Warlords of Russia, as its name would imply, is a sourcebook built around a group of powerful cyborg Russian warlords and their conflicts with each other. There are soldier classes, adventurer classes and even a few classes that deal with the supernatural. Now, after having read all that... who in their right mind would want to play as a basic farm peasant when they could be a cool and badass Russian cyborg or soldier?!

* TierInducedScrappy: Rifts has well over a hundred available character classes and makes zero attempt to balance them against each other. As a result it has plenty of examples of this on both sides of the spectrum.
** High Tier

** Low Tier

*** Saloon Bums & Saloon Girls. First introduced in ''World book 14: New West'' these character classes are often held up as an example of Rifts often lopsided character class power levels. In a sourcebook filled with all manner of cool gunslingers and cowboys these O.C.C. stick out like a sore thumb and feel like they were only added in at the last minute to provide some additional flavor for the book's western setting. Both are basically normal human rouges who get boosted alcohol tolerance and a few minor stats buffs as their only bonuses... and that's it. No fancy gun tricks or special skills beyond what was already stated. Saloon Girl's even have an additional, completely unneeded weakness that restricts them even further as if they were some sort of OP class that needed balancing... that is, their aversion to cybernetics. Because they need to look harmless and pretty to properly do their job they tend to avoid any external cybornetic implants... something that even the other basic human classes have access to.

*** Vegabonds. These guys are basically apocalyptic hobos that start out with a pathetically low amount of skills and no special powers or abilities. Their only saving grave is that they earn XP at roughly twice the rate of the higher tier O.C.C. but that does little to help when their power level is so abysmally low to begin with. What sealed their fate however, is that they are a base game class available without the need of any additional sourcebooks to play. Yes, the RPG book that ''just'' waved power armored juggernauts, godlike psychics and literal dragons in front of the players fully expects them to consider playing a basic unskilled human being. No points for guessing which O.C.C. keeps getting passed up with each new campaign.

* ContestedSequel: Though pretty much every new sourcebook released for this game is hit with [[BrokenBase some degree of disagreement among the fanbase]] few examples can compare to the release of ''South America'' and ''South America 2'' (World Books 6 & 9 respectively) by C.J. Carella. Proponents of these books will often point to the powerful new character classes, equipment and lore as being superior to most of what came before it while detracts will counter that much of the content [[PowerCreep added is ''too'' powerful]], even by Rifts Standards and that many of the actual designs and artwork are too silly to be taken seriously. Even fans that have no trouble discussing their favorite books in the series are often wary about bringing both of these two titles up on ''either'' end of the spectrum for fear of backlash.

* HarsherInHindsight: World Book 9(South America 2) has an American armored calvary unit at war in the Iraqi desert in the then-future year of 2004 when they get kidnapped by aliens. Yeah, they weren't that far off the mark, were they?

* GameBreaker: If the character you are playing ''doesn't'' break the game in some way, shape, or form, ''you're doing it wrong''.
** The Glitter Boys get most of the heat for this trope for being a clear author favorite. Palladium tries to make out that they're just [[MightyGlacier Mighty Glaciers]], but seem to forget that the Glitter Boy can still travel 60 MPH and has a gun with a range of 2 miles which is only slow by mech standards. Moreover, Rifts combat is far too abstract for anyone to take advantage of flanking or the Glitter Boy needing to stand and plant before firing.
** There are several other game breaker classes, including the Godling, the Cosmo-Knight, the Elder Magelord, and the Cosmic Being.
** The Carpet of Adhesion spell is broken because there is effectively no saving throw. If you're caught in the carpet, you're stuck. That's it, no way out.

* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: Pretty much inevitable due to the fact that there are so many classes and no effort is made to balanced them out against each other. Sure, you could play as a Techno-Wizard, a Rouge Scientist, Psy-Stalker Mystic or one of literally dozens of other cool and diverse classes... or you could just roll up a Glitter Boy, Juicer or some other similarly OP class and actually stand a chance when the MEGADAMAGE starts rolling in.

* SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}}: Has its own [[Funny/{{Rifts}} page.]]

* SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}}: Just the fact that [[HorsemenOfTheApocalypse Death's]] steed is named [[VillainsOutShopping Bones]], really.

* MagnificentBastard: Karl Prosek, Emperor of the Coalition, and his son Joseph, who if anything is ''worse''.

* AwesomeArt: While most aspects of the game, from the mechanics to character creation, have received moderate levels of criticism over the years most folks agree that the art is generally fantastic, especially the cover illustrations. One of the main reasons to pick up the original Rifts game book is a series of full color art pages depicting the Coalition States, ley lines, D-Bees and much more in exquisite detail.

* NightmareFuel: Has its own page.

* NightmareFuel:
** Some of the things done by [[EldritchAbomination Alien Intelligences]], Atlantis, Dark Mages, Cults, Evil Gods, {{Mad Scientist}}s, and the various versions of TheEmpire are often damned sick and horrifying even by RPG standards!
** There's some stuff, like the Soul Harvesters ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin guess what they do]]) from ''Psyscape'', which is so disturbing that the book has a disclaimer right before that section warning off folks with timid sensibilities.
** The artwork and concepts of the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in the Africa world book.
** The mutants in ''Madhaven''. Their freaky appearance is bad enough until you remember that they're all descended from [[UncannyValley humans]].
** Gorgons have a nasty habit of enslaving and raping human and humanoid men. Afterward, they generally [[TakenForGranite petrify]] their slaves and keep them that way until they want to rape them again.
** The [[HordeOfAlienLocusts xiticix]], a warlike race of InsectoidAliens that live on what was once the border of Canada and north america. They're extremely hostile towards all other sentient beings and represent a threat to [[OmnicidalManiac all life on earth!]] And the worst part? People have only recently realized this!
** The Ee-Bee-Gee-Bees. At first they seem to be [[RidiculoulyCuteCritter friendly ewok-like creatures]] until you notice a few strange things about their anatomy. First, they scuttle on two pairs of crab like legs. second, they have two extra pairs of eyes. Lastly, they usually lead their "new friends" back to their den to web them up to be eaten alive later. [[GiantSpider sound familiar?]]
*** That's not the worst part though, the worst part is that [[ItCanThink they're fully aware of how cute they look]] and [[BitchInSheepsClothing use it to lure prey to them.]]

** The Ee-Bee-Gee-Bees. At first they seem to be [[RidiculoulyCuteCritters friendly ewok-like creatures]] until you notice a few strange things about their anatomy. First, they scuttle on two pairs of crab like legs. second, they have two extra pairs of eyes. Lastly, they usually lead their "new friends" back to their den to web them up to be eaten alive later. [[GiantSpider sound familiar?]]

** The Ee-Bee-Gee-Bees. At first they seem to be [[RidiculoulyCuteCritter friendly ewok-like features]] until you notice a few strange things about their anatomy. First, they scuttle on two pairs of crab like legs. second, they have two extra pairs of eyes. Lastly, they usually lead their "new friends" back to their den to web them up to be eaten alive later. [[GiantSpider sound familiar?]]

** The Ee-Bee-Gee-Bees. At first they seem to be [[ridiculoulyCuteCritter friendly ewok-like features]] until you notice a few strange things about their anatomy. First, they scuttle on two pairs of crab like legs. second, they have two extra pairs of eyes. Lastly, they usually lead their "new friends" back to their den to web them up to be eaten alive later. [[GiantSpider sound familiar?]]