History YMMV / TheCaligulaEffect

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Lucid. [[spoiler:Have they really gone into VillainProtagonist territory because they realize that they are the same as the Ostinato Musicians and other denizens of Mobius -- people who have severe traumas and cannot live in the real world again -- or did Thorn break them by showing them the truth?]]
** [[spoiler:Lucid's smile as they reveal themselves to the Go-Home Club. Is it really the smile of someone who has been playing them all for fools, or is it a StepfordSmiler [[ThenLetMeBeEvil accepting that he can no longer go back]]?]]

* GameBreaker: In ''Overdose.'' Play the game on Easy Mode, be sufficiently leveled and have some good equipment, and you'll be leveling up and getting Skill Points in no time. Especially if you find the Old School Building, which you shouldn't be exploring until late-game. Players who grind here will be strong enough to explore most of the early-game dungeons by themselves!

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: With [[VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiI Tsukasa]] [[VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiII Masuko]] at the helm it was pretty much inevitable that the game would have an amazing soundtrack. Tracks such as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfiZRFdX2kA Distorted Happiness]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jcr9bLxC49s Sadistic Queen]] are just some of the standouts.

* NarmCharm: Love or hate Stork, you'll find his GratuitousEnglish to be quite amusing. Hallelujah!
* OneSceneWonder: When the Go-Home Club catches up to μ at the Landmark Tower, she is under the misconception that Aria, who helped her build Mobius and couldn't understand why she would want to help people leave Mobius, is actually brainwashed by the protagonist and attempts to eliminate them. What makes this scene so jarring is that, in the Forbidden Musician Route, μ ''knows for a damned fact'' that the protagonist and Lucid are one of the same.

* {{Narm}}: Love or hate Stork, you'll find his GratuitousEnglish to be quite amusing. Hallelujah!

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGX_PrwFtfw Tír na nÓg]], a song filled with the chaotic emotions of Mu as she pours them all out and [[VillainousBreakdown completely looses it]].

* TheUntwist: TheReveal that [[spoiler:Marie is Wicked. Given that she only appears once before the Wicked chapter starts, not to mention her taking an awfully long time to find the key to unlock the room you're trapped in, it's pretty obvious that it's her and not Naruko.]]
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Quite a few fans were let down by ''Overdose'''s Musician route simply adding dungeons and character episodes to the regular plot as opposed to it being its own disparate plot route. Its extreme DownerEnding route doesn't help matters, either.

* IdiotBall: In ''Overdose'', the Go-Home Club holds it every time Lucid attacks. Nobody ''ever'' realizes that the protagonist and Lucid are one and the same [[spoiler:until the very end (and only if you're going for the DownerEnding)]], despite Lucid only attacking them when the protagonist is absent or the fact that they use the same exact weapon.
** The last one can be forgiven, as with the exception of Shogo, Kensuke and Kotaro, all Musicians wield weapons similar to the Go-Home Club. The former, on the other hand...
* IronWoobie: Kuchinashi. Even in spite of all the awful things that have happened to her, she remains loyal to the Musicians and determined to take down the Go-Home Club.

* AwesomeMusic: With [[VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiI Tsukasa]] [[VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiII Masuko]] at the helm it was pretty much inevitable that the game would have an amazing soundtrack. Tracks such as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfiZRFdX2kA Distorted Happiness]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jcr9bLxC49s Sadistic Queen]] are just some of the standouts.

* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: A lot of people agree that Creator/ReinaUeda really managed to nail the role as μ. The Tír na nÓg segment of the anime especially is seen as her crowning achievement as she manages to convey μ's flurry of emotions.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Quite a few fans were let down by ''Overdose'''s Musician route simply adding dungeons and character episodes to the regular plot as opposed to it being its own disparate plot route. Its extreme DownerEnding doesn't help matters, either.

* ScrappyMechanic: The Causality Link. While being able to befriend and recruit 500+ characters sounds very appealing, the characters are very cookie-cutter, and the sidequests you need to do for them to unlock their passive skills for the party range arbitrarily from effortless to near impossible. Most notably, any request that has you fighting either the Moral Fighter, the Nightmare, or the Hallucination, who are all ''way stronger than the final boss!''
* TheUntwist: TheReveal that [[spoiler:Marie is Wicked. Given that she only appears once before the Wicked chapter starts, not to mention her taking an awfully long time to find the key to unlock the room you're trapped in, it's pretty obvious that it's her and not Naruko.]]

* ScrappyMechanic: The Causality Link. While being able to befriend and recruit 500+ characters sounds very appealing, the characters are very cookie-cutter, and the sidequests you need to do for them to unlock their passive skills for the party range arbitrarily from effortless to near impossible. Most notably, any request that has you fighting either the Moral Fighter, the Nightmare, or the Hallucination, who are all ''way stronger than the final boss!''

* HarsherInHindsight: A few scenes in Character Episodes are played for comedy and then become much less funny once you learn the context behind them. For example, Mifue's behavior around restaurants, likened by Aria to a wild animal, is because of [[spoiler:her serious self-image and weight issues, not to mention her anorexia.]]