History YMMV / SecretOfEvermore

** The toaster-dog, if he's controlled by the AI. In addition to ludicrously high critical hit rates and a new ranged attack, the Dog will randomly counter-attack whenever he blocks/dodges with a fully-charged Lv. 3 laser. You barely need to do anything in the surface tubes sections; just let the 'bot take care of it.
** The Crush spell. You can level it up (for profit) right outside of Nobilia. If you buy the ingredients from Blimp, who is a short boat ride away, it costs 36 Jewels to cast the spell. One Bone Buzzard (which is conveniently weak against Crush) drops 40 Jewels upon its death. As soon as Crush reaches Level 1, you can one-shot the Buzzards even if you target three of them simultaneously. Level it up to 9 and the 300 XP-per kill will likely skyrocket your Boy's levels, too. Voilà: You have an Alchemy Formula which inflicts the better part of 999 HP per casting and is absurdly cheap to use. Keep in mind the max damage in the game is 999 HP.

** The air duct sequence with the Dog in Ivor Tower. The ducts and the rooms they connect to each need to be explored in different directions, and you can't really glimpse the layout of the ground floor from this limited exploration. So trying to map them out yourself is a lot of guesswork. You have to find an ''invisible'' (until you're standing directly in front of her) old woman to get a key to the castle rooms for the Hero to use. Finally, the quickest path to the exit is hidden behind scenery due to the forced perspective, so you'll probably [[PixelHunting find it by accident]]. This maze is difficult to navigate even with a walkthrough.

** If the Hero is under the effect of status buff or ailment, try saving. Your character stats will be screwed up the next time you restart. Normally this is bad news, but you can exploit it. Un-equip your armor and then cast, say, Defend. Your defense will skyrocket to 65,000+ without armor. Unfortunately, it doesn't work with Atlas. Don't try it with Speed, though: with 65,000 hit% or evade%, you will get hit all the time.

** When you acquire the "Wind Walker", you can yield Infinite Call Beads. One tile in Nobilia, if done properly, will yield infinite Call Beads if you continue to push the button while standing there. You can carry up to 99, rendering all future boss fights frivolous.

** Infinite Call Beads. One square in Nobilia, if done properly, will yield infinite Call Beads if you continue to push the button while standing there. You can carry up to 99, rendering all future boss fights frivolous.
** A glitch causes the Bazooka to have infinite ammo. No one minds.

---><Hero> and <Dog> did not come back.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The entire soundtrack is lathered with some of the best orchestral works on the [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SNES]], all composed by the great Jeremy Soule, who also went on to compose little stuff like ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'', ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'', and ''Film/HarryPotter'' music. This was his first video game soundtrack and it still holds up today. Ironically it was criticized at the time for being too subtle, atmospheric and dull compared to the bombastic soundtracks of its contemporaries (see below).

** The GameOver text is a subtle-but-effective case of AdultFear. As far as the Boy's family and friends know, he and his Dog went out one night much like any other... and disappeared without a trace.
---><Boy> and <Dog> did not come back.

* SignatureScene: The battle between the Boy and the Dog (the former armed with the Bone Crusher) against Thraxx, which features prominently in the original commercials and on the box art and manual. Reviewers commented how cool it was to reach your first boss fight and realize you're fighting the battle all the advertising focused on.

** The air duct sequence with the Dog in Ivor Tower. The ducts and the rooms they connect to each need to be explored in different directions, and you can't really glimpse the layout of the ground floor from this limited exploration. So trying to map them out yourself is a lot of guesswork. You have to find an ''invisible'' (until you're standing directly in front of her) old woman to get a key to the castle rooms for the Boy to use. Finally, the quickest path to the exit is hidden behind scenery due to the forced perspective, so you'll probably [[PixelHunting find it by accident]]. This maze is difficult to navigate even with a walkthrough.

* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: The Alchemy system includes a lot of extraneous spells. To wit, for heals and buffs, the only ones you'll ever really need are: Heal, Cure, Barrier, and Energize. For offense, you're given Flash at the start of the game, and at the start of Antiqua Blimp gives you the Crush formula. The rest are either outclassed by other spells, or the cost of their ingedients is too hefty to be worth equipping.

* GeniusBonus: Madronius and Pompolonius are slight misspellings of actual names used in the Ancient world. Mardonius was the name of a Greek philosopher and adviser to Emperor Julian, and Pomponius was a plebian family who lived in Rome.

** The air duct sequence with the dog in Ivor Tower. The ducts and the rooms they connect to each need to be explored in different directions, and you can't really glimpse the layout of the ground floor from this limited exploration. So trying to map them out yourself is a lot of guesswork. You have to find an ''invisible'' (until you're standing directly in front of her) old woman to get a key to the castle rooms for the Boy to use. Finally, the quickest path to the exit is hidden behind scenery due to the forced perspective, so you'll probably [[PixelHunting find it by accident]]. This maze is difficult to navigate even with a walkthrough.

** The GameOver text becomes a subtle-but-effective case of AdultFear once the realization sets in. As far as the hero's family and friends know, he and his dog went out one day much like any other... and disappeared without a trace.

* GoddamnedBats: Every flying enemy, due to a convergence of game mechanics. They dart around aimlessly when not preparing up an attack (and wobble up and down when they do). Combined with the less-than-stellar hit detection and high miss rate, trying to hit them with any melee weapon (even thrown spears) is a waste of time. Their attacks have higher priority than the player's, so wasted charge attacks and stunlocks are common. Worse yet, they frequently respawn, which just makes firing alchemy at them wasteful.

** The toaster-dog, if you leave it controlled by the AI. In addition to ludicrously high critical hit rates and a new ranged attack, the Dog will randomly counter-attack whenever he blocks/dodges with a fully-charged Lv. 3 laser. You barely need to do anything in the surface tubes sections; just let the toaster-dog take care of it.

* CultClassic: The game was never released in Japan, has never been re-released, and came out near the end of the SNES's life cycle, with the UsefulNotes/PlayStation hitting shelves and the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 on its way a year later. On top of that, it had comparatively little promotion. One reviewer offered that, unlike the other games {{Creator/Square|Enix}} was putting out for the Super NES, ''Secret of Evermore'' was an anti-epic about a boy and his dog going on a fun adventure. As a result, even if it has a certain charm to it, it's less-memorable and technically impressive than those other games.

** Mungola. An annoying boss, but still kind of underwhelming compared to the bosses of Prehistoria and Antiqua; and in Gothica specifically, a few minutes before the fight with Mungola, you just fought a dragon. And it provided a much more intense fight than Mungola will.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The appearance of [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV Cecil Harvey]] in Gothica is a random cameo out of nowhere, and the implication that somehow the world of ''Final Fantasy IV'' is connected to Evermore raises a lot more questions. Which are never answered, since Cecil is just a cameo and nothing about him is ever brought up once you leave his inn, and Cecil never leaves his desk. (Cecil claims to have settled down with Rosa, but we never see her.)
* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: The Alchemy system includes a lot of extraneous spells. For supportive and healing formulas, Heal, Cure, Barrier, and Energize, are the only ones you'll really need, and for offensive you're given Flash at the start of the game and at the start of Antiqua Blimp gives you the Crush formula. The rest of the formulas are either outclassed by other spells or have too hefty an ingredient cost to be worth using.

* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: The Alchemy system includes a lot of extraneous spells. For supportive and healing formulas, Heal, Cure, Barrier, and Energize, are the only ones you'll really need, and for offensive you're given Flash at the start of the game and later get the very powerful Crush and Fire Power, and they'll work for you just fine. The rest are either outclassed by other spells or have too hefty an ingredient cost to be worth using.

** Fire Power. Costs you two ingredients (Feather and Brimstone) that are easy to stock up on, instantly hits when you cast it, and deals damage comparable to Nitro, the allegedly-strongest spell in the game. The only catch is that it's taught by an obscure alchemist hiding inside Ivor Tower's castle.

** There's a way to get around Verminator. However, you must remember not to try and use the door he normally blocks, or else you'll be stuck in the crates. Fortunately you can come back later in the game when ou're stronger and kill him.

** The Bad Boys you fight in the Dark Forest. You fight three of them, each armed with a different alchemy. The first uses Crush, the second uses Storm. The third... uses Nitro, the strongest formula in the game, which can kill you if you aren't fully healed.
** Compared to other bosses, Sterling isn't out of place in terms of difficulty, but for the fact if you get close to it, it'll trigger an unblockable move where it picks you up and hurls you off the tower, forcing you to climb back all the way back up. This means you'll spend most of the fight trying to nail it with alchemy and spear throws, afraid of getting too close.

* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: The Alchemy system includes a lot of extraneous spells. A player will never need to level up anything but Heal, Flash, and Fireball for the first three-quarters of the game, and then Barrier and Energize are all you need after that. They don't usually require grinding, either: spamming your offensive spells on a boss will level them up just fine. And Barrier and Energize last ridiculously long even at Level 0.

** Mungola. An annoying boss, but still kind of underwhelming compared to the bosses of Prehistoria and Antiqua; and in Gothica specifically, a few minutes before the fight with Mungola, you just fought a dragon! And it provided a much more intense fight than Mungola will.

* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: The Alchemy system includes a lot of extraneous spells. A player will never need to level up anything but Heal, Flash, and Fireball for the first three-quarters of the game, and then Barrier and Energize are all you need after that. They don't usually require grinding, either: spamming your offensive spells on a boss will level them up just fine. And Barrier and Energize last ridiculously long even at Level 0!

** Energize causes your weapon meter to automatically charge in only a couple of seconds, allowing you to spam {{charged attack}}s freely. Combine it with the Neutron Blade for 3 or more hits of 999 damage?! (You get it shortly before the final boss, so it only spoils that fight.)
** The toaster-dog, if you leave it controlled by the AI. In addition to ludicrously high critical hit rates and a new ranged attack, the Dog will randomly counter-attack whenever he blocks/dodges with a fully-charged Lv. 3 laser. Devastating! You barely need to do anything in the surface tubes sections; just let the toaster-dog take care of it.
** The Crush spell. You can level it up (for profit!) right outside of Nobilia. If you buy the ingredients from Blimp, who is a short boat ride away, it costs 36 Jewels to cast the spell. One Bone Buzzard (which is conveniently weak against Crush) drops 40 Jewels upon its death. As soon as Crush reaches Level 1, you can one-shot the Buzzards even if you target three of them simultaneously. Level it up to 9 and the 300 XP-per kill will likely skyrocket your Boy's levels, too! Voilà: You have an Alchemy Formula which inflicts the better part of 999 HP per casting and is absurdly cheap to use. Keep in mind the max damage in the game is 999 HP.

** A glitch involving the attack/defense buff spells and resetting the game can cause your stats to get stuck at well over 65,000(!!!), as shown in this [[http://www.twitch.tv/kazeugma/b/327331931 part]] of a LetsPlay by My Name Is Kaz and Medibot.

** Infinite Call Beads! One square in Nobilia, if done properly, will yield infinite Call Beads if you continue to push the button while standing there. You can carry up to 99, rendering all future boss fights frivolous.

** The Bad Boys you fight in the Dark Forest. You fight three of them, each armed with a different alchemy. The first uses Crush, the second uses Storm. The third... uses Nitro, the strongest formula in the game, which can kill you if you aren't fully healed!
** Compared to other bosses, Sterling isn't out of place in terms of difficulty, but for the fact if you get close to it, it'll trigger an unblockable move where it picks you up and hurls you off the tower, forcing you to climb back all the way back up?! This means you'll spend most of the fight trying to nail it with alchemy and spear throws, afraid of getting too close.

* FridgeHorror: The GameOver text becomes a subtle-but-effective case of AdultFear once the realization sets in. As far as the hero's family and friends know, he and his dog went out one day much like any other... and disappeared without a trace.
-->[[HelloInsertNameHere <Hero> and <Dog>]] did not come back.

** The game's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEu8wDAQuDk commercial]] is a little creepy, what with the {{Ethereal Choir}} in the background and the [[JumpScare various scenes]] that flash by. We even get [[SarcasmMode one lovely sequence]] of the protagonist's dog turning into his {{Prehistoria}} form by ''showing the new form'' ''[[PainfulTransformation emerging from the dog's mouth]]'', while the dog's old form [[SurpriseCreepy crumples around him like a second skin]].

** On a related note, many Japanese gamers felt disappointed because the game was never released in Japan, feeling they should have received this one in conjunction with ''Trials''. As mentioned above, the development teams for the two games worked 100% independently of one another, and ''Evermore'' was developed for the Western audiences to begin with. In other words, if there's anyone to blame, it's the executives for [[DolledUpInstallment slapping the name "Secret" onto a standalone title]] to boost sales.

** The Bad Boys you fight in the Dark Forest. You fight three of them, each armed with a different alchemy. The first uses Crush, the second uses Storm. The third... uses Nitro, the most powerful formula in the game, and can kill you if you aren't fully healed!

** The Desert of Doom. With the infinite sprinting trick, it will still take several minutes running through the desert at top speed to get across it. The first thing most players are likely to do when they finally reach Nobilia for the first time is stock up on Amulets of Annihilation to pay for a ferry across the desert, because ''no one'' wants to cross back over the hard way.

** Barrier renders the user immune to melee attacks for 45 seconds. By the time you get it, you can count on one hand how many enemies left in the game actually use alchemy, and they're all bosses anyway. Thus, you basically get an invincibility spell; and after completing Gothica and collecting 10,000 Gold Coins from the King, you can easily afford to max out your inventory on ingredients for Barrier.

** Doubling as a WakeUpCallBoss: Salabog hovers over the swamp out of range of your normal weapons, and can only be damaged through usage of a leveled-up spear or alchemy. There's two major problems with this, the first being that unless you went out of your way to do it, you probably haven't had time to level up the Horn Spear you only just got; and the second being that you only have three offensive Alchemy formulas, and probably haven't leveled them up this early in the game (and likely lack the cash needed to do so). To make up for being out of reach, Salabog will occasionally lunge its head forward to come into range, but this also hits you for nasty damage. Then, it regularly summons fireball minions to attack you and get in the way of your movements. Finally, Salabog soaks up a ton of damage: 2000 HP. For points of comparison, the previous major boss, Thraxx, had 600 HP, and the final boss of the entire region, Magmar, has 1000 HP.

** Doubling as a WakeUpCallBoss: Salabog hovers over the swamp out of range of your normal weapons, and can only be damaged through usage of a leveled-up spear or alchemy. There's two major problems with this, the first being that unless you went out of your way to do it, you probably haven't had time to level up the Horn Spear you only just got; and the second being that you only have three offensive Alchemy formulas, and probably haven't leveled them up thi early in the game (and likely lacked the cash needed to do so). To make up for being out of reach, Salabog will occasionally lunge its head forward to come into range, but this also hits you for nasty damage. Then, it regularly summons fireball minions to attack you and get in the way of your movements. Finally, Salabog soaks up a ton of damage: 2000 HP. For points of comparison, the previous major boss, Thraxx, had 600 HP, and the final boss of the entire region, Magmar, has 1000 HP.

** The Verminator sits safely out of reach of most melee attacks), hurls potent alchemy spells (including Explosion and Plague), and occasionally robs you of HP with Drain. You'd better either have leveled-up your spear and offensive alchemy, or be willing to eat up some Call Beads.

** The air duct sequence with the dog in Ivor Tower. The ducts and the rooms they connect to each need to be explored in different directions, and you can't really glimpse the layout of the ground floor rooms from this limited exploration. So trying to map them out yourself is a lot of guesswork. You have to find an ''invisible'' (until you're standing directly in front of her) old woman to get a key to the castle rooms for the Boy to use. Finally, the quickest path to the exit is hidden behind scenery due to the forced perspective, so you'll probably [[PixelHunting find it by accident]]. This maze is difficult to navigate even with a walkthrough.

** The air duct sequence with the dog in Ivor Tower. The ducts and the rooms they connect to both need to be explored in different directions, and you can't really tell the layout of the ground floor rooms from this limited exploration. So trying to map them out yourself is a lot of guesswork. You have to find an ''invisible'' (until you're standing directly in front of her) old woman to get a key to the castle rooms for the Boy to use. Finally, the quickest path to the exit is hidden behind scenery due to the forced perspective, so you'll probably [[PixelHunting find it by accident]]. This maze is difficult to navigate even with a walkthrough.

** Infinite Call Beads! One square in Nobilia, if done properly, will yield infinite Call Beads if you continue to push the button while standing there. You can only carry up to 99, rendering all future boss fights frivolous.

** Energize causes your weapon meter to automatically charge in only a couple of seconds, allowing you to spam {{charged attack}}s freely. Combine it with the Neutron Blade for 3 or more hits of 999 damage?! (You only get it shortly before the final boss, so it only ruins that fight.)