Line #113 YMMV/FearAndHungerTermina


1	* AngstWhatAngst: The lack of angst in Ending Bs for [[spoiler:Abella, Marina, and Karin]] has weirded out some fans, as they don't seem to be the type of people to just shrug off [[spoiler:the horrors of Prehevil and being forced to kill the other contestants and/or watch them die]].
2	* AntiClimaxBoss: Unfortunately one of the [[FinalBoss Final Bosses]] [[spoiler:Logic]] falls under this due to the simple fact that they lack ContractualBossImmunity to burning. Because of this with the right build the player is very likely to defeat the boss before it even hits its phase transition, and even if they don't, once it transitions to phase 2 it loses ''all'' DamageOverTime immunities and will potentially begin to die even faster.
3	* BaseBreakingCharacter:
4	** Samarie has proven to be one of the most divisive contestants, if not the most, due to her [[StalkerWithACrush obsessive love for Marina]] and [[{{Yandere}} willingness to do amoral things in her name]] -- her detractors condemn her as a PsychoLesbian wanting to isolate Marina so that she can have her all to herself, while her supporters point to her mental health issues, DarkAndTroubledPast and instances where she [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone feels remorse]] to explain and/or justify her actions. Notably, outside her Moonscorched encounter, Samarie never harms a single person in any scenario other than Domek, of which there are implications she came to Prehevil in the first place to kill him specifically, but this is often ignored by detractors willing to present her as a more traditional PsychoLesbian.
5	** Pav is another contestant that has attracted mixed responses: some like his status as a MrFanservice, his [[AgentPeacock flamboyance and prowess in combat]], and [[RevengeBeforeReason ill-fated assassination plot against the Kaiser]], while others take ire at his concerning behavior (such as hitting on the 18-year old Marina and potentially shooting Marcoh and/or Tanaka dead), and see him as a SmugSnake.
6	* BonusFeatureFailure: The NewGamePlus Rher spells are considered by many players to be worthless:
7	** Lunar Meteorite acts just like Gro-Goroth's Hurting, except consuming twice as much Mind. As Gro-Goroth has way more powerful skills, there's little reason to take Lunar Meteorite.
8	** Lunar Storm is an [=AoE=] spell that does more damage than all others. However, it's extremely high cost of 50 Mind and 2 rev points makes it a hard spell to justify using, compared to other [=AoE=] spells.
9	* BrokenBase:
10	** The change from having the world be a pseudo roguelike where every run is different to having it be a larger premade world. On one hand there is less RNG that can screw you out of a good item or instantly end your run. On the other hand because this game is arguably even ''more'' unforgiving than the first game, especially with its extremely limited saves, it is very easy to lock yourself into an [[UnwinnableByDesign unwinnable situation]] that forces a restart, which because of the game's larger scope can make it feel a lot more tedious on subsequent runs.
11	** Two of the game's bosses have proven somewhat controversial among its fanbase - [[spoiler:Rancid the Sergal and the Heartless One. The former draws ire in particular for being a mandatory boss battle fought just before the endgame and is often derided for being a [[UsefulNotes/FurryFandom furry character]], while the latter, while hidden away and fairly difficult to find, is still criticized for having a design that's somewhat out of place with the rest of the game, resembling a SuperBoss you might fight in a typical JRPG. Arguments in favor point to the Sergal Spear in the first game and an abundance of creatures and monsters existing in the setting justifying the former just fine, while the sheer variety in visual design for New Gods otherwise, including the equally beautiful Nilvan from the first game, means the latter doesn't actually stand out all that much either.]]
12	* CharacterTiers:
13	** At the high tier sits Abella, Marcoh, and Marina.
14	*** Abella is a solid fighter with some great utility, most notably a mini-nuke that stuns with "Wrench Toss", the ability to craft the game's strongest melee weapon and [[spoiler: to recruit every character in the game]]. This lets her have a lot of teambuilding synergy, helped by the fact that she is bar none the easiest party member to recruit.
15	*** Marcoh punches like a truck and can be an effective dodge-tank and LightningBruiser thanks to his stances and the ability to max out agility very quickly. Even if he doesn't go for agility, he can still be a strong frontline fighter.
16	*** Marina is a GlassCannon BlackMage who can blast enemies apart in the first turn with Occultism and increase the whole party's [[OneStatToRuleThemAll agility]] with engravings of the God of Fear & Hunger, somewhat balanced by her weapon restrictions. Notably, she also has access to quite a few game-breaking strategies as detailed below. Players who follow an efficient route can end the first morning period with tons of heads, a full party of ghoul backups, and tons of resources to hoard for later. All three of these characters make great protagonist choices and can be fantastic to recruit into a party.
17	** At the mid tier sits O'saa, Daan, and Olivia.
18	*** O'saa is a great character with the extremely powerful Spice Forge, but is mostly outclassed by Marina due to his inability to use guns (though the two have tons of synergy if you can get each other's Hexen tree).
19	*** Daan's medical skills make him a great healer (and Wall breaker with "Analysis"), but his lack of good combat skills requires him to be backed up by others to reach his full potential.
20	*** Olivia can hit like a truck with hemlock and has excellent combat skills with [[PoisonedWeapons Poison Tip]], but her wheelchair makes her a serious liability and (as detailed below) she becomes ''much'' weaker if she is not the protagonist. Overall, mid tier characters are still pretty strong, but often need more backup than the high tiers.
21	** The low tiers are Levi and Karin, whose problems are detailed under LowTierLetdown.
22	*** Levi can find some use when partnered with [[DoesntLikeGuns O'saa]], but outside of that circumstance, he is completely outclassed by everyone else and is an active detriment with his heroin addiction.
23	*** Karin is overall too weak, being utility based, and situational to be competitive with the rest of the contestants, though her exploration skills like "Lockpicking" can be great for getting powerful items and equipment early if you know where to look and Persuasion+Diplomacy makes the annoying Bobbies a free one turn kill.
24	* CommonKnowledge: Looking at him, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Marcoh was based on [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Jotaro Kujo]], causing many to believe that Miro explicitly used him as inspiration for making the character. Miro, while taking inspiration from Creator/HirohikoAraki's artstyle in designing him, has actually never watched the series and didn’t specifically base Marcoh on any ''[=JoJo=]'' character. In truth, he’s based on [[Franchise/{{Rocky}} Rocky Balboa]] and [[Characters/LikeADragonKazumaKiryu Kazuma Kiryu]].
25	* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: When faced with the early game MutuallyExclusivePartyMembers choice, if they're not already playing as the former, most players tend to go for [[spoiler:Abella]] rather than [[spoiler:Henryk]]. Reasons include but are not limited to the former actually being recruitable and thus being a reliable source of manpower during the EarlyGameHell, earlier access to Weaponcraft and thus [[GameBreaker the Meat Grinder]], it being easier via correct dialogue choices to avoid a fight with [[spoiler:the Gentleman]], whereas [[spoiler:Chaugnar]] is much more difficult to evade, and [[spoiler:Henryk potentially killing everyone in PRHVL Bop if he lives long enough, a penalty that doesn't apply to Abella]].
26	* CrossesTheLineTwice:
27	** Samarie's two Hexen skills are Blood Sacrifice and Masturbation.
28	** In the basement of the Woodsman's house, you can find his wife's dead body on a chair, and her last messages to her husband [[CouldntFindAPen written in blood on the walls]]. Some of these messages are her boasting about how she enjoyed having sex with the [[BestialityIsDepraved goat]], Black Kalev.
29	* DelusionConclusion: While most parts of the game are taken at face value, a few fights are suspected to not be real:
30	** The "Fight" with the Irrational Obelisk is suggested to just be the party attacking a pile of clothes in a fit of paranoia, as it only attacks by draining your Mind, your choices when talking to it are extremely bizarre with no response from the obelisk, [[BrownNote it triggers all phobias]], and you can't actually defeat it (as even draining all of its health will fail to destroy it).
31	** [[spoiler:The fight with Rher's traces on Day 3 in ending B. Support for this includes the extremely surreal nature of the fight (as you seem to fight in another dimension, and Rher's attacks include creating spectral warriors), Rher [[BrownNote triggering every phobia]] and making you go insane with his eyes, along with the fact that winning the fight has your character foaming at their mouth, waking up only at Day 4 morning.]]
32	* DemonicSpiders: The Death Masks, a type of enemy which has a chance to spawn after passing by one of the many coffins lying around town (which can happen fairly early in the game). They're very fast, making them hard to avoid in the overworld; they have large pools of health, making them difficult to kill even with a full party; and worst of all, their swords -- which they can attack with twice per turn -- are guaranteed to dismember limbs on hit, making them likely to cripple the party within a couple combat rounds. Causing one to spawn will make your life much more difficult.
33	* DiagnosedByTheAudience: Samarie's [[NoSocialSkills lack of social skills]] and hyperfixation with Marina, akin to a special interest, have led a few fans to view her as being on the autism spectrum.
34	* DracoInLeatherPants: Despite most of her characterization in-game showing her as a StalkerWithACrush with the capacity to kill in Marina's name, a significant amount of fanworks downplay or outright eliminate Samarie's more negative qualities, or at the very least [[RonTheDeathEater ramp up those of Father Domek]] to make her look better, and portray her explicitly one-sided relationship with Marina as mutually reciprocated.
35	* EnsembleDarkHorse: Even before becoming one of the most powerful characters, Abella was nominated #1 most desired playable character in the demo. [[spoiler:It also helps that she's one of the only two (the other one being O'saa) who can pull a HeroicSacrifice as the player in Ending A, since all the other contestants can be saved if you play as her.]]
36	** Among the contestants yet to be made playable, Tanaka tops out in popularity, owing both to sympathy granted by how many varied ways he can get killed and his nature as a well-meaning workaholic who can [[TookALevelInBadass REALLY come into his own]] should he survive long enough and meet the right people.
37	** Samarie is unquestionably one of the most popular characters in the game, despite not being playable and having a very minor role if you don't happen to be playing as Marina. She generates a huge amount of fanart, fanfiction, and discussion on the regular, much more than even some of the main characters.
38	* FanNickname:
39	** Daan's [[spoiler:NonstandardGameOver in which Pocketcat insults him as one]] has resulted in quite a few fans in jest describing him as a "dirty degenerate [[UsefulNotes/FurryFandom furry]]".
40	** Samarie's one-sided feelings for Marina and status as a MemeticLoser has led members of the fandom to refer to her as a "girlfailure".
41	** Instances of [[WeHardlyKnewYe Tanaka getting killed off early (most commonly depicted as by the hands of Needles)]] are regularly, for BlackComedy reasons, referred to as him winning the "Dying Competition".
42	* {{Fanon}}:
43	** {{Trans Audience Interpretation}}s of Daan, Levi and/or Samarie (the first being a trans man, the second being either an out trans boy, or a closeted trans girl, and the last as a trans girl) are common headcanons.
44	** The elephant-like part of the Chaugnar's head is believed by some to be the result of or influenced by [[spoiler:Abella]] having a previous encounter with the Woodsman prior to them entering the bunkers, which affected their Moonscorching.
45	** [[spoiler:Cahara]] being the one who accompanied The Girl in her ascension into the God of Fear and Hunger in Termina's timeline. The other three player characters from the previous games each have their S-Endings implicitly treated as canon and even two of them are SavedByCanon if the presence of the Skin Bibles and [[AmbiguouslyRelated August]] are any indication. This leaves [[spoiler:Cahara]] as the only one unaccounted for, [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse without even any hint of their fate or survival]] after the events of the first game. Some also would agree it would be a fitting character arc for them, being the one protagonist who had no involvement whatsoever with any grander scheme in their backstory, only to end up assisting in one.
46	** Quite a few fans have headcanoned Samarie to be Caligura's bastard daughter who [[ParentalAbandonment he abandoned]]. This is supported by both characters hailing from Vatican City, [[EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette sharing similar pale skintones and dark hair]], and being capable of impulsive violence (although Caligura is far more extreme than Samarie).
47	** A rather significant number of fans give Levi the surname "Jořdán", creating [[PunnyName a pun on]] the American clothing brand Levi's and their production of denim variants of Air Jordan sneakers.
48	* FanPreferredCouple:
49	** Levi/Marina has ended up becoming a popular ship within the fandom due to their interactions and statuses as the youngest contestants. There is also a sizable amount of Marina/Samarie shippers, regardless of whether Samarie's more questionable romantic behavior [[PlayedForDrama is either acknowledged]] or [[DracoInLeatherPants downplayed]], and a few who decide to TakeAThirdOption and ship Levi/Marina/Samarie as a OneTrueThreesome.
50	** There's a decent portion of the fandom who like Marcoh/Tanaka, finding their interactions quite adorable. Alternatively, there are some who like [[BroodingBoyGentleGirl Marcoh/Olivia]], considering they have plenty of interactions with each other if they are in the same party.
51	** Daan/Karin is another ship that has gained some traction. Some may find their arguments to be BelligerentSexualTension.
52	** [[PairTheSpares Rounding out the hypothetical player-character couples]] is O'saa/Abella. It helps that they do have thematic chemistry too, with O'saa as a mystic well-aware of the Old Gods but captivated by technology he's unfamiliar with and Abella as a skilled mechanic and electrician who takes exposure to the supernatural in stride and decides to seek answers from the source.
53	* FanficFuel: [[DeadlyGame The nature of Termina]] has made it easy for many members of the fandom to create [[SailorEarth their own contestant OCs]] by envisioning their soul type, how they would interact with the canon cast and [[BodyHorror what they will become if they get moonscorched]].
54	* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments: How does Karin try to prove the credibility of her "Bremen experiment" theory? By saying that she's [[VideoGame/DeadRising "Covered wars, you know"]]. All while the group of people she's saying this to includes a war veteran (or two, if you're playing as Levi), a secret agent, an occultist, an experienced survivalist who was hunting the Kaiser for years, and [[ExperiencedProtagonist a mage who's been to the Dungeon of Fear & Hunger before]].
55	* GameBreaker:
56	** Samarie's Hexen has Blood Sacrifice (reusable on Gro-goroth circles to increase affinity) and Masturbation (usable on Sylvian circles once). There is a Gro-goroth sigil already drawn on the orphanage's second floor, meaning you can easily max out the affinities of both gods after killing Samarie with only two soul stones and some healing items.
57	** The combination of Persuade and Diplomacy can stun enemies before the fight starts, rendering enemies such as Bobbies and human Samarie useless.
58	** Choosing to start with Loving Whispers as Daan grants enough affinity with Sylvian to teach Healing Whispers immediately, and teaching it to Abella means you can have two powerful healers as soon as Day 1 Evening.
59	** The Fluted Armor is the best you can get for a solo run. It gets you immunity from mutilation and one of the best physical defense stats on an armor. You can reach 16 agility with ease even with the -5 the armor gives you, making the penalty moot in every single battle in the game [[spoiler: that's not Kaiser]].
60	** The Double Black Smog spell, especially if using a Chac Chac and/or a Death Mask. It does require you to learn Spice Forge to access it, but it hits everything, and also can inflict blindness on everything it touches. Not many enemies are resistant to blindness, so even a single casting will make anything that does not immediately die to it unable to touch your party. Equip Betel's Ring (a guaranteed drop on one of the corpses at the church of All-Mer) on top and you can cast the spell for practically free every single turn.
61	** Out of all weapons you can make with Weaponcraft, the Meat Grinder outclasses everything, even the other InfinityPlusOneSword, Red Virtue (+50 attack, hits twice as [[InfinityPlusOneElement otherwordly damage]], optional superboss reward). While it counts as two-handed (making it unusable by all female characters except Abella), its +35 attack is combined with scoring 3 hits per attack, making it deal the highest damage bar none (reaching 105 attack total vs a combined 100 for Red Virtue). If that's not enough, it's also guaranteed to inflict bleeding with any hit, adding even more damage to the mix. In fact, this weapon alone makes killing [[DiscOneNuke Abella]] for the soul worth it, even if you don't steal a bench grinder (necessary to craft the weapon) from her. Oh and you can have 2 of them and, if you are willing to kill Abella, you can have 3 party members wielding one.
62	** When it comes to NewGamePlus spells, Red Arc is widely considered to be the best one. You can learn it immediately from the moment you access the Hexen, it does 200-300 damage in a single hit that always stuns, and, most importantly, it always hits regardless of the enemy's evasion. As many enemies have low head health, you can use it to score a OneHitKill at a relatively low Mind cost, while other foes can be stunlocked repeatedly. In fact, [[PurposelyOverpowered the spell was made overpowered on purpose]].
63	** '''Spice Forge'''. Quite possibly the single most powerful skill in the game, Spice Forge allows you to assign coloured spice to three of your spells. Green spice causes the spell to cast instantly at the start of battle, Red spice causes the spell to fire twice per cast (with the second hitting a random target), and blue spice reduces the Mind cost of all magic. This skill has incredible synergy with a huge variety of spells you can learn from the Hexen, making many encounters a breeze. In particular, combining the Green spice with Black Smog can blind enemy encounters instantly, while combining Blue spice with a spell like Hurting lets you constantly spam it and rip through opponents. This skill alone makes killing O'saa a priority as a caster and makes him extremely powerful as a player character.
64	** Out of all the starting contestants, Marina is easily the strongest magic caster. While taking her to the highest level requires both game knowledge and the will to murder some of her rival contestants, doing so unlocks exceptionally high utility and frontloaded power. For starters, she is one of the few characters able to start the game with affinity towards Gro-Goroth, allowing her to learn Necromancy extremely easily. Her Engrave allows her to make a permanent stat boost to every party member in the game including herself, which can result in things like a +5 Agility increase or +4 Magic Attack increase. Advanced and Greater Occultism allow her to start with a rev point, allowing her to quickly outpace the damage of any enemy that comes her way very early on and keep pace into the later parts of the game. If you play an optimal route through the first morning, it is possible to have no less than 15 heads, an army of ghoul backups, several contestant souls, and enough food and healing items to punch down anything that moves. If you nab Spice Forge and green spice something like Black Smog, it's essentially game over from there.
65	** Abella's Wrench Toss attack deals bonus damage (great for quickly destroying enemy torsos or doors) and stuns the target for two turns, letting you stunlock a dangerous limb indefinitely as long as you're willing to keep re-equipping the wrench. It's even more powerful if you have extra turns or Red Arc. The ease of recruiting Abella makes this a DiskOneNuke.
66	* GoodBadBugs:
67	** Although Shadowy Figures and other intangible enemies are only affected by otherwordly damage and spells and immune to mundane attacks, they're still vulnerable to punches, meaning Marcoh can easily kill them. Apparently unarmed does neutral uncategorized damage, which is not physical nor magic or otherwordly (magical/cursed weapons) and thus ignores the ghost's defenses.
68	** You can get Daan permanently in your party on Day 1, as there's a single tile leading to the riverside that won't trigger his dialogue about leaving.
69	** Bringing up the map or party talk as you step onto a tile will bypass any triggers associated with the tile. The uses range from keeping Abella's alternate outfit (by avoiding the dialogue near the train) to bypassing several boss fights.
70	** Drawing a Vinushka sigil in the mayor's house is supposed to let you climb the sigil's tree down to the basement. You don't actually need the sigil, however, as you can interact with the climb spot even if the tree is not present.
71	** Daan has a skill which allows him to revive other characters at the cost of a limb, but if he is equipped with the Salmonsnake rune (which prevents limb loss) or any equipment that protects the selected limb, this cost is effectively sidestepped.
72	** Daan's revival ability can cure other characters of their heroin addictions, most notably companion Levi, a status effect meant to be permanent. It will also remove all status effects.
73	** Using the Rot spell on the Meat Grinder half-cocooned leader of the Mob encounter will revert him to a rotten, regular mallet wielding half-cocooned as the game does not have a rotten version of the elite enemy in its files, defaulting to a rot afflicted regular one, losing the dreaded grinder attacks but awarding the same crafting parts of it as loot.
74	** [[spoiler:Nas'hrah's]] special dialogue with the Kaiser takes priority over and prevents the event in which [[spoiler:August arrives to shoot the latter if you manage to reach the end of the White Bunker on day one, letting O'saa save all other contestants the same as Abella can.]]
75	** You can technically get [[spoiler: the Caressing Soul]] twice due to an oversight that makes knocking out [[spoiler:the Chaugnar]] at Tunnel 7 count as actually killing them. If you then properly kill them near the Telectroscope, the game will then act as if you've killed an extra contestant. This allows you to access the tower while sparing any one other participant. The only downside is that you still need to hunt the remaining contestant down if, for some reason, you do want to have access to their part of the Hexen.
76	** Fighting [[spoiler:Logic]] will set your difficulty to the highest one. While this does make the fight harder (albeit it's still [[AntiClimaxBoss easier than you'd expect]]), it also allows you to get the Red Arc and Moth Swarm spells even on the easiest difficulty, and isn't too annoying given that the game ends after you defeat the boss.
77	** Similarly to the Greater Blight from the first game, [[spoiler:Moonless]] can be poisoned while she's approaching you, as hemlock hits automatically and she's not resistant to the effect. One does have to be careful not to apply both poison effects simultaneously, however, as it can cause her torso to be destroyed without causing the fight to end.
78	** Marina is inexplicably able to use the Mauler, even though she's not meant to be able to use two-handed weapons. Since this isn't intended, the animation will show her slashing with a knife instead.
79	** If one knows Wrench Toss and enters combat (including against a door) with a wrench equipped, the skill will be usable even after swapping to another weapon, and even after leaving combat, so long as one doesn't use the skill yet. This allows doing extreme amounts of damage by tossing maulers and sergal spears. Even better, Daan and Marina will always be able to use Wrench Toss this way, regardless of whether they've already used it or not.
80	** The "Runner's High" bug sometimes allows you to keep running even with your SprintMeter depleted, making it a blessing if you're [[{{Speedrun}} speedrunning]] or trying to get away fron an enemy. This is even set to become an AscendedGlitch in the 2.0 update, with the combat manual mentioning this phenomenon.
81	** If you kill Samarie in certain locations such as the Woodsman's house or the bookstore (possible by playing as Marina and sleeping in those locations, triggering an event where Samarie watches her sleep because she is very well adjusted and normal about her feelings,) you can saw off Samarie's head an inifinite number of times, completely trivializing getting soul stones for the hexen and trading contestant heads for goods with Pocketcat.
82	* HoYay: If playing as any of the other female contestants, Marina's nicknames for you will have a bit of a flirty tone. She calls Olivia "sleeping beauty" while Abella and Karin get called "pretty lady." Interestingly, her nicknames for the male contestants ''don't'' take on the same tone.
83	* JerksAreWorseThanVillains: Both of the main antagonists, Per'kele and the Kaiser, are fairly well-regarded by the fanbase despite actively committing or encouraging mass murder, and even the MoreHateableMinorVillain Caligura has a small following that [[LoveToHate appreciate his malevolent role]]. Despite his only explicit on-screen sin being saying transphobic language about his own daughter Marina[[note]]And depending on your interpretation of him, this could just be an act: he has to "correct" himself to call her male, and uses proper language when actually face to face with her[[/note]], and all of his other potential misdeeds being only implied, Father Domek is not held in the same esteem.
84	* LowTierLetdown:
85	** Levi. As the protagonist, he has useful gun skills, but he starts with only one, and that's only if you choose to suffer from a crippling heroin addiction (with withdrawal lowering all your stats by -10% unless high on heroin and as time passes becomes severe withdrawal, worsening them -30%), or skip character history (which misses out on +25 body or affinity with a god). As a recruitable character, he's always addicted, and only offers gun proficiency, which is TooAwesomeToUse if you're not playing as [[DoesntLikeGuns O'saa]] (as bullets are better spent in the field). If you want Levi's skills, you might be better off playing somebody else and killing him for the soul. Though with Levi as the main character, [[spoiler: losing the first time to Needles (best if done alone, to avoid losing companions) will cure him of the addiction as well as all statuses]]. [[GoodBadBugs Reviving him as a companion with Daan's Magna Medicinal will also cure him of the addiction and statuses, same goes for other party members]]. Lastly, properly building out Levi can turn him into a hellacious murder machine, as attacking with three Rev points means Levi will shoot twice with a single bullet. This allows him to deal extremely high (and ammo-efficient) burst damage with the proper skills.
86	** Karin. She can't use two-handed melee weapons and her skills are of very limited use. While Lockpick is useful for bypassing the hunt for the keys (or chalk and a Vinushka skin bible) to get past the old town, most pickable doors can be broken down with a party, her Escape Plan doesn't make running perfectly reliable, and her Persuasion + Diplomacy are very situational, as it fails against a decent amount of enemies, gives minor debuffs to most others, and can even buff a rare few. It does completely shut down Bobbies, one of the most common tough enemies, making mid-game navigation around the city a breeze. That said, the old Attack Legs > Escape Plan > Attack Head combo still works wonders, making her a decently effective main character. As a recruitable character, meanwhile, she suffers from LateCharacterSyndrome, as Lockpicking is all she offers, yet she's recruited at Day 2 in the ruined part of Prehevil, meaning that you'll be already be past most doors that you'd really want to pick.
87	** Olivia is strange in that her soul has very powerful combat skills, due to how strong plants can be, making her a great player character choice. However, if she's not the protagonist, then she only knows Photosynthesis (HealingFactor when in sunlight at morning or evening), which isn't in her soul's skill tree, doesn't apply to combat, and doesn't help the rest of the party. Combined with being unable to use two-handed melee weapons, the only character weaker than her is non-protagonist Levi.
88	** Black Kalev is the worst party member you can have, either contestant or non-contestant. Just getting him requires you to draw a Rher sigil, which is better spent to draw a different sigil. As a goat, he's unable to equip any equipment, leaving him frail and vulnerable to attacks that well-armored ghouls can shrug off, making him worthless as a tank. Unlike Moonless of the first game, who has high enough innate Agility to [[ExtraTurn attack twice]], his attack is extremely weak and non-upgradeable, and still retains the issue of attacking a random target. He's also prone to leaving your party, forcing you to waste a carrot to get him back. All of these issues combined make him TheLoad, to the point that he might be more useful if you cut off his paws for food and sacrifice him to Gro-Goroth. He’s also one of your only options for party members on Masochism Mode, though considering you could also recruit [[{{Necromancy}} better-armored ghouls]] and [[StoneWall blood golems]], he still falls short.
89	** Ghouls can be equipped with armour and accessories but not weapons, meaning their damage potential drops massively later in the game and they're only really useful as meat shields or sacrifices, seeing as Marriage isn't available anymore.
90	** Several of the gods have significantly worse spell lists than the others:
91	*** Rher offers some convenience tools to help you find moonscorched contestants and travel round the map, but the latter requires using up three of the four ritual circles and none of it helps in combat.
92	*** All-Mer's Blood Sword and Longinus give you a decent weapon that deals occult damage, but aren't strong enough to justify wasting the first turn of battle equipping them and letting the enemy get an extra hit in. The ability to teleport between his circles would be convenient but it's competing against the free, non-time advancing saves offered by Fear and Hunger circles.
93	*** Vinuska's spells deal little direct damage in favour of damage-over-time, but the burning status can be easily inflicted with an ornamental lantern instead.
94	* MemeticBadass:
95	** Marcoh for being one of the strongest playable contestants, being able to wield two-handed weapons and still dealing large amounts of damage even when unarmed. The fact that he can still beat up enemies even ''after losing his arms'' has cemented it further. Because of this, he's a popular choice for players who want to go solo mode since he's quite decent even without other party members backing him up. It's even lead to people agreeing with Marina calling him a "chad" or even jokingly calling him [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Jotaro]].
96	** Abella is already an EnsembleDarkHorse, but her being one of the best choices to play as since she has wider coverage in both battle and as a UtilityPartyMember can make her quite the powerhouse on her own. It also helps that two of the skills you can choose from in her intro are extremely useful, these being Wrench Toss and Short Circuit. [[spoiler: The fact that she can essentially pull a HeroicSacrifice, since you can save every other contestant if you play as her, helps too.]]
97	** Olivia is assumed to have ungodly upper body strength given that she's able to climb ropes and ladders without using her legs, even if they're the length of an entire elevator shaft, all while carrying her wheelchair. She's also able to use her wheelchair as a weapon, stunning enemies by crashing into them while going down stairs and finishing them off with a single trenchgun blast.
98	* MemeticLoser:
99	** Tanaka, by virtue of being the NPC contestant with the most number of possible deaths. Though the fact he TakesALevelInBadass and is [[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome implied to have put up quite a fight before being killed by Needles]] has him also treated as [[MemeticBadass the opposite.]]
100	** Samarie gets a treatment very similar to D'arce from the first game, except even worse. Her frequent stuttering, Masturbation skill, and {{Yandere}} tendencies to a woman who doesn't even know she exists forever cemented her in the fandom as a pitiful perma-virgin who is frequently depicted as being cuckolded by other contestants in fan art.
101	** Caligura often gets mocked for being a PaperTiger who seems intimidating, [[spoiler:and possibly tries to murder several contestants and rape Abella]], yet is actually incredibly weak in combat, doing less damage than any other contestant. There's also the fact that it's possible to [[CripplingCastration castrate]] and leave him dead and pantsless on a bed, with his ass facing the camera.
102	* MemeticMutation:
103	** As shown below in {{Narm}}, Daan's transformation into [[spoiler: Pocketcat]] has led to lots of fans calling him a furry.
104	** Quoting the lines of Olivia's Doppelgänger whenever discussion about her disability tends to come up. Alternatively, treating Olivia being a botanist ''as'' her condition is also an occasional joke that pops up.
105	** Karin having [[VideoGame/DeadRising covered wars]], which is what the fandom primarily knows her for. It's become a Meme to bring up how she's covered wars before, even making "I've covered wars" into her {{Fanon}} CatchPhrase. Expect lots of jokes about covering wars to come up whenever she's the topic of discussion within the fandom. [[OverlyLongGag By the way, did you know she's covered wars before?]]
106	** Levi's [[AddledAddict addiction to heroin]] has resulted in quite a few jokingly [[CargoShip shipping him with heroin]].
107	** When I'm in a dying competition and my opponent is Tanaka.[[note]]Tanaka's penchant for [[WeHardlyKnewYe getting himself quickly killed in several ways]] have led to a fandom in-joke about him easily winning an hypothetical "dying competition".[[/note]]
108	** [[https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/618/133/810 Finnish people are weird and sadistic.]]
109	* MemeticPersonalityChange: Despite Karin being openly and frequently hostile towards Daan, she is often memetically depicted as being a {{Tsundere}} for him.
110	* MemeticPsychopath: Olivia's shaping up to get this reputation in certain parts of the fandom because of her excitement when first wielding a gun, the fact that she uses her wheelchair to ''drift on opponent's bodies'', and can knock out enemies in the overworld when rolling down stairs.
111	* {{Narm}}:
112	** The Woodsman's penis detaching and attacking the player character could have made for some very effective BodyHorror, but the fact that the penis parasite is essentially just a Facehugger taken wholesale from ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' can turn it into an unintentional example of CrossesTheLineTwice, making the moment feel less disturbing and more like a gag from an Creator/AdultSwim show.
113	** The Doctor's NonstandardGameOver for sleeping past Day 3 night goes from creepy to hilarious when [[spoiler:the Pocketcat]] calls him a "[[spoiler:dirty degenerate [[UsefulNotes/FurryFandom furry]]]]", as in the context it makes it seem like [[spoiler:he dealt with his people issues by becoming a furry, and is now embracing it by becoming a Pocketcat]].
114	*** Daan's transformation at least has ''some'' horror to it with how [[spoiler: Pocketcat]] is implied to have been following him and talks about his isolation from others. O'saa's though? [[MajorInjuryUnderreaction He calmly goes into a meditation pose.]] Seeing it in comparison to the other Moonscorched animations in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdOPXV-Qklg this]] video can make it a lot funnier.
115	----> '''Commenter:''' O'saa takes it like a [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} pokemon evolution]]
116	** Many criticisms of the game center around its tendency to reference things that don't make sense, such as Henryk quoting Monty Python or Marina calling Marcoh a chad.
117	** Should you try to talk to moonscorched Levi, one of your dialogue options is simply asking him if something's wrong. Considering that [[spoiler:''his upper body has transformed into a giant organic gun'']], this is a bit of a silly question. The game has a few of these silly, obvious questions when talking with otherwordly horrors. Not only that, but when you first encounter him, he gives out a rather pained cry that might have been meant to be pitiful or heartbreaking but instead... makes him sound like he's speaking in a Discord call with spotty connection.
118	** The explosion sprite used for [[LandMineGoesClick land mines]], pipe bombs, and [[spoiler: the Platoon’s [[OneHitKill Heavy Mortar]] attack]] is lifted almost wholesale from ''VideoGame/MetalSlug'', making it hard to take otherwise [[OneHitKill fatal explosions]] seriously.
119	* NeverLiveItDown:
120	** The NonstandardGameOver scene mentioned under {{Narm}} is what seemingly everyone knows Daan for, with memes and fan art being made of him [[spoiler:being a catboy or mocked for being a furry.]]
121	** Karin says "I've covered wars before, you know" for a grand total of one time, but the fandom has latched onto this being her catchphrase, even spawning lots of memes about her quote.
122	* NightmareRetardant: [[spoiler:Daan]]'s NonstandardGameOver is very unsettling as the Pocketcat berates [[spoiler:him]] for [[spoiler:his]] failures... until he calls [[spoiler:him]] a [[spoiler:"dirty degenerate furry"]], as mentioned in {{Narm}} above.
123	* PortmanteauCoupleName:
124	** Fans who ship [[FanPreferredCouple Levi and Marina]] together regularly use "[=MariLevi=]" and/or "Levina" when referring to the ship.
125	** Similarly, fans who ship Marina instead with Samarie have coined the portmanteau of "Samarina" as a name for the ship.
126	** The ship of Daan and Karin together is often referred to by its supporters as "Daarin".
127	* SelfImposedChallenge: Numerous are popular, from avoiding the use of the Hexen at all to sparing every other contestant. One infamously extreme one is choosing to play as Olivia without her wheelchair on Masochism, which disables your Attack command and reduces your speed to the same crawl as a legless character, a penalty that severely complicates the 30 second outdoor time limit.
128	* ShipToShipCombat: The most prominent conflict between the game's shippers is Levi/Marina against Marina/Samarie, with both factions being somewhat quick to, considering the game's premise of a DeadlyGame, invoke DieForOurShip on the rival suitor. Of course, there is also the third faction who ships [[OneTrueThreesome all three of them together]].
129	* SignatureScene: [[spoiler:[[NonstandardGameOver Daan becoming Moonscorched into Pocketcat]]]] has become a widely-talked about and depicted in fanart scene from the game, with it being practically impossible to mention when discussing Daan and/or Pocketcat's characters in depth. Helping matters is the surprisingly fluid animation of Pocketcat during the scene, alongside being the origin of one of the game's most prominent memes, namely Daan being described as a "dirty degenerate [[UsefulNotes/FurryFandom furry]]".
130	* SoloCharacterRun: As in the first game, it is a very popular challenge, as experienced players find it too easy to destroy things with a full party of contestants (or even ghouls), and the game is explicitly balanced to be beatable solo. Indeed, playing on the Maso difficulty will prevent you from recruiting any contestants into the party.
131	* {{Squick}}:
132	** Even if the whole thing with The Woodsman's penis is considered {{Narm}}y as shown above, it's still pretty unnerving to think about, not helped with it can latch onto your face.
133	** The Woodsman's issue with Black Kalev? His wife had taken the goat as a ''[[BestialityIsDepraved lover]]'' and even gloated about how he was a much better lover. ''In detail.''
134	** Losing to Stitches has you treated to a cutscene where she sews you to one of her twisted creations in an homage to ''Film/TheHumanCentipede''.
135	** From what little details and bits of lore that can be gathered about St. Domek's orphanage tell us, it's likely that not only were the children there sacrificed, but also experienced sexual abuse at the hands of the ones running it. The presence of a Sylvian ritual circle and fallen cherubs (which are heavily implied to be Moonscorched children), coupled with Father Hugo's [[PedophilePriest unsettling behavior]] indirectly confirm it. Not helped with the implication in the demo that Father Hugo did a Marriage ritual ''with a fallen cherub.''
136	** Some FridgeHorror sets in when you analyze The Centaur, as it's implied to be the result of a Marriage between [[BestialityIsDepraved a man and a horse]] with its shape vaguely resembling the two in a suggestive position and it triggering Erotophobia when faced in combat.
137	** Becoming Moonscorched ''does not'' look like a pretty sight and the animations for each character show that they undergo some really painful BodyHorror.
138	* ThatOneBoss:
139	** The infamous Mob encounter, which will appear in the western part of Prehevil at 1 of 5 different spots and has you getting attacked by 3 enemies at once. The unique Meat Grinder half-cocooned would be a miniboss by itself (as it can kill you or cut off both arms in a single attack), but it's also assisted by a rifleman and a half-cocooned, making it a quick run-ender if you don't have proper strategy and preparation. The worst part, however, is that these enemies are very resistant to bullets, don't have distinct body parts (in this fight, but do solo), and have a lot more health compared to what their torso normally would have, making it impossible for you to finish the fight quickly with [=AoE=] attacks, or to cut off their arms. To boot, due to what's maybe a bug the 2 melee members cannot be shot down in the overworld unless you are shooting at 2 tiles or closer, with bullets just going through them otherwise. As usual blinding the biggest threat, like the Meat Grinder, is pretty much mandatory, same for the Mallet guy, to avoid stuns. Luckily there is an exploit using the Rot spell that makes the Meat Grinder enemy revert to a mallet wielding half-cocooned, as well as debuffing the health of all three (the game does not have a rotten version for him and defaults to the non unique version of the enemy, a Half-cocooned). Even with that you are better off kiting them with traps and guns or killing another close by enemies in one of the ruins doorways (i.e. fecal hounds or a ghoul soldier), which blocks their movement, setting them up for an easy kill with guns. Incredibly worth it as you get the parts for the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Meat Grinder]].
140	** The Death Mask in Prehevil are a massive pain in the ass to fight [[LuckBasedMission if they pop out of a coffin when you pass by]]. Their limbs have a hefty amount of HP each, preventing easy dismemberment of the arms or a quick vulnerable head, and both arms have a powerful slicing attack that is 100% guaranteed to chop off an arm. Like the Mob, [[TalkingTheMonsterToDeath Diplomacy]] [[SubvertedTrope will never work]], and will steadily pursue you around the map thanks to their insane speed compared to the player. It’s telling that most guides advocate simply [[CuttingTheKnot blasting him a couple of times with the trenchgun outside of combat]] rather than actually fighting him. Thankfully bear traps completely immobilize them instead of cutting legs, like with Needles, leaving them defenseless against a marksman. At least their Death Masks and Chainmail Dress, boosting magic attack and defenses and physical defense respectively, make for excellent loot.
141	** Chaugnar. [[spoiler: Abella's Moonscorched form]]. It is stupid strong, has a coin flip instakill grab and [[YourHeadASplode Doomsday Trumpet]] is an instant kill if it connects a second time, which if going solo is a [[AccidentalPun massive headache]]. Unless you can keep it stunned or blinded since the first turn you need a party of 2 or more to switch the aggro with Pheromones to force the boss to change targets. What's worse, it moves way faster than the player and crippling its legs with traps only slows it down and if killed will revive to chase you again down the elevator. At least limb damage from phase 1 remains and you can immediately focus the head in both phases since it only has a measly 5% evasion due to its huge size.
142	** The Centaur in the Deepest Woods hits like a freight train, is quite tanky and is the fastest enemy in the game by a country mile. As long as it has both its hind legs it can spam Stampede, which hits multiple times (bypassing [[LastChanceHitPoint Hardened Heart]]) and wrecks the whole party for about 50%+ of their max health. Make no mistake, horsey will act faster than your party every single turn and can easily wipe a whole team in 1-2 turns. Sometimes you don't even get to act. The only relief is it's completely skippable, gives nothing as a reward, and due to his long straight movement charge patterns he can be juked or lured into the small dried up trees. If you get the Centaur stuck with a tree in between it and you, it will just try to keep going forward to no avail as it cannot strafe nor rotate, so you can shoot it to death through the tree.
143	** Pocketcat [[spoiler: the second one, Moonscorched Daan, and also the original since the fight is exactly the same]]. Since he is not allowed to interfere in the Festival, instead of attacking you he just tears off a limb of your choosing from a random party member each turn but if you blind him it can miss. You can also choose to be beheaded but it's an instant kill, so obviously don't. Going solo with a Salmonsnake rune to prevent limb loss won't work for long as [[DevelopersForesight Pocketcat forces you to choose another limb until the only option left is your head]] (provided you get the rare randomly dropped rune first, that is) but if you have no way to blind him I hope you have a Sylvian skin bible to ask for some limb regeneration for the whole party.
144	** Gull Bros a.k.a Gull Maulers: A pair of pursuer bosses exclusive to Maso mode. Remember Crow Mauler from the first game? Now there's 2 of them and if any of them catches you, you have to fight both at the same time. They will appear to destroy the Orphanage Hexen and will also stalk you through other areas. The Gull Bros spam the Peck instakill twice as usual and clobber you with their Maulers, with a chance to apply the Broken Bones debuff, but they do not cast the Flock of Crows spell to blind the player. Fortunately they are weak to the very same strategies as the original Crow Mauler so immediately blinding them and applying Damage Over Time, like Fire or Poison, will make quick work of them while you tank their damage. This time you actually get their two Maulers as loot, though these can also be bought in Normal mode from the Radiating One if you offer 10 Rust Colored Pearls.
145	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: From the beginning, it's made clear that the Termina festival is meant to be a battle royale and the promotional material also wastes no time displaying it with the picture of the contestants caught in a violent brawl. Yet in the game proper, the actual battle royale bit isn't played up as much as you'd expect. The contestants are relatively affable with each other, save for some arguments about what exactly is going on in Prehevil and light quipping, and they're more preoccupied with investigating the town (though that's also rather understandable given the circumstances). Not many of the characters also go out of their way to begin eliminating other contestants, or treat the others with suspicion from the get-go, with deaths that aren't resulting from player input not happening until the latter half of the game. In fact, some characters can even become fast friends on Day 1.
146	* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Father Domek is meant to be viewed as a morally ambiguous character, with him confessing to Marina that [[BreakHisHeartToSaveHim his cold-sounding letter was meant to convince her to stay away from Prehevil]] and [[spoiler:Marina showing conflicted feelings regarding his death]]. For a significant portion of fans, it falls flat with the implications that since it was named after him, he was complicit in the abuses at the OrphanageOfFear that Levi stayed at, and him being one of the only viable suspects in the death of Marina's mother, with even his own daughter suspecting him.
147	* TheWoobie:
148	** Levi's life is pure misery; he was the product of a loveless marriage prone to DomesticAbuse at the hands of [[AbusiveParents his drunken and abusive father]] which ended with him beating his wife to death. He was then sent to [[OrphanageOfFear St. Domek's Orphanage]], where he could've easily fell victim to the predation of the priests, whether it'd be as a HumanSacrifice [[PedophilePriest or worse]]. After that, he was [[ChildSoldiers shipped off to war at the age of 13]], witnessing soldiers even younger than him dying to the extent that [[AddledAddict he became addicted to heroin]]. And after deserting, he finds himself roped up into [[DeadlyGame the festival of Termina]], where he can meet many sorts of awful fates ranging from being murdered in cold blood to [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie becoming a twisted mockery of his view of himself as little more than a weapon]]. Even if he emerges as Ending B's SoleSurvivor, he is traumatized by the deaths of everyone else (including his ImpliedLoveInterest Marina) and spends his days as an aimless drifter. It's hard to not want to give the poor boy a hug.

Context YMMV / FearAndHungerTermina