Line #6 YMMV/HallowsEnd


1	* AnticlimaxBoss: Despite the fact that you're [[spoiler: fighting one of the protagonists from ''VideoGame/{{EarthBound\|1994}}'', Ness]] sure as hell feels this way, if only because the boss that immediately came before him is ''[[ThatOneBoss batshit insane]]'' by comparison!
2	* ArcFatigue: The Meresti building. Though some argue it starts as soon as the suburbs, the Meresti building itself takes the cake. You'd think just going there and getting the sphere they were after would be easy after the suburbs? Nope. You have to go through no less than ''three'' {{Big Lipped Alligator Moment}}s in the form of [[spoiler: an artic warzone, a dark version of Poo's homeland, and then a (InUniverse) glitchy Onett]]. At no point during it is it ever explain ''why'' that ends up happening, a fact which the trio [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] ([[MetaGuy Sally herself ends up getting rather fed up with it near the end there]]) and mostly seems to be there for {{Filler}} in an attempt to make the game longer. [[spoiler: Even though it ''does'' have a meaning that's only revealed after beating the game, it still feels this way while playing through it.]]
3	* BestLevelEver: Hollyanna city. A smooth remix of Fourside plays while you wander around the surprisingly large city that manages to perfectly capture the mood of the idealized Nightlife life-style.
4	* BigLippedAlligatorMoment:
5	** The [[spoiler: followers of Azathoth. The way things were going, it seemed like the plot was shaping up to be a CosmicHorrorStory out of the Franchise/CthulhuMythos. However, once you [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu punch out Azathoth]], the ''first boss of the game'', they disappear and are never heard from again for the rest of the game.]]
6	** The Meresti building. While there had been some strange events going on before, they still kept a coherent plot to it all the way through. When you get to the Meresti and go up several floors however, your suddenly [[spoiler: transported to a blocked in section of Twoson]] and going a bit further [[spoiler: transports you to a outdoors war-zone that keeps randomly changing color while the Magicant music plays in the background, and the people are fighting an ice monster and seem to think Sally is their captain.]] Once completing said tasks, you return to the Meresti building, with no explanation for what happened. [[LampshadeHanging The trio is just as confused by all this as the player likely is by that point.]]
7	** Immediately after that, you're [[spoiler: teleported to a darker version of Poo's homelands, and ''then'' your teleported to Summers shortly after that, and ''then'' your teleported to Onett!]]
8	** However, all these [=BLAM=]s are eventually {{Justified\|Trope}}... [[spoiler:since they're all an illusion created by the Mara Statue, who was slowly deteriorating away the trios minds.]]
9	* BreatherLevel: Hollyanna city. After confusing Cursed Woods full of GoddamnBats and the DemonicSpiders on Dead Mountain, Hollyanna's enemies are far more tame by comparison. Besides being easier and less frequent, they are far more comical than most of the stuff that came between it and the cave that leads you to the Cursed Woods.
10	* CrossingTheLineTwice: Despite how tragic [[spoiler: her]] death is in VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}, the zombie that looks like an orange haired [[spoiler: Hinawa]] manages to somehow be morbidly ''hilarious'' to some.
11	* DemonicSpiders:
12	** The Emsleyan butterflies. They look ''exactly'' like the magic butterflies in the overworld, with only a ''very'' subtle "tell" to differentiate between the two. They are ''extremely'' powerful enemies when you first encounter them, dealing truck loads of damage and possessing a wide variety of PSI abilities. Better hope you don't end up accidentally mistaking them while in need of a heal or PP recharge...
13	** The [[spoiler: Glitch Pokémon in the Onett sanctuary location.]] DEAR SWEET GOD, THE [[spoiler: GLITCH POKEMON!]] They always come in groups of at least two or three, and have a wide variety of devastating attacks, from exploding upon defeat to spamming [=ElectroShock=], ([[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard which it's strikes NEVER seem to miss]]) almost always have power shields on them to deflect your attacks, and one of them even has a ''OneHitKO move, that immediately sets the characters HP to zero, giving NO chance to heal that character before their HP scrolls down!'' Even if you're over leveled for that area, they ''still'' manage to be a big pain in the ass to fight.
14	* DifficultySpike: The "[[FissionMailed glitchy]]" [[spoiler: Onett in the Mereseti building. While the main part isn't so bad, the Sanctuary location is filled to the brim with {{Demonic Spider}}s that often come in swarms of three at the very least and contains ThatOneBoss in the form of the "glitchy" Titanic Ant. Some enemies even have a OneHitKill move that ''doesn't'' give you the chance to use the game's scrolling HP to save yourself. It's often through sheer blind luck most manage to make it through that area.]] Afterward, the game's difficulty, while still a step up, better levels out... But then you get to the final boss. [[spoiler: And, if you know not to trust the end screen, the TrueFinalBoss...]]
15	* DisappointingLastLevel: The Meresti building, or to be specific, the [[spoiler: Onett]] portion of it. In addition to the difficulty [[DifficultySpike flying off the rails]], a lot of the humor and plot related things consist of [[spoiler: poking fun at and hanging lampshades on the beginning of ''[=EarthBound=]'' while retreading the same ground, which is widely regarded to be the games weakest point.]]
16	* FandomRivalry: Shares one with the ''VideoGame/TheHalloweenHack''. Many people who prefer ''Hallow's End'' often cite it as "the Halloween ROM Hack done ''right''", with humor and themes often more fitting of the original ''VideoGame/{{EarthBound\|1994}}'' compared to ''The Halloween Hack'', of which people often compare to a [[CanonDefilement bad fanfic]] pile of {{Narm}}, in addition to being far more balanced gameplay wise by comparison. Meanwhile, those who prefer ''The Halloween Hack'' often like how it tries to have darker themes than the original ''[=EarthBound=]'', and point out how the end game of ''Hallow's End'' also devolves into bad fanfic territory as well, in addition to the difficulty reaching [[NintendoHard batshit levels]]. Really, there are many things people prefer when comparing the two games, and that isn't even going into [[spoiler: how ''The Halloween Hack'' treats Dr. Andonuts...]]
17	* FanonDiscontinuity: Many people feel the game ending with [[spoiler: the Mara Demon]] to be the game's true ending, thanks to several factors dealing with [[spoiler: the true ending and TrueFinalBoss]]. For starters, it [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere comes completely out of nowhere]], and the plot surrounding it verging into bad fanfic territory. Namely, [[spoiler: [[VideoGame/EarthboundBeginnings Anna]] coming through a portal and [[{{Asspull}} giving the kids their powers back]], then confirming something about there being a [[TheMultiverse multiverse]] and needing their help to defeat the last remnants of the illusion world]]. While it tries to tie into the plot, it feels completely out of context and nothing like the rest of the game. The fight using the DummiedOut [[spoiler: [[FanNickname Giygas Claus]]]] sprites from ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}'' doesn't help, either.
18	* GoddamnBats: Dark Fobbies in the cursed woods. They have a high spawn rate, come in trios of three, are far more durable than the normal variety in ''VideoGame/{{EarthBound\|1994}}'', and have a high probability of poisoning a character, and considering the cursed woods is a [[TheMaze maze]], which makes it hard to get back to a rest area, having to waste PP on healing beta to cure it when it ''will'' be needed for the bosses in the area is rather big annoyance.
19	* GoodBadBugs: Apparently, the menu 'bleep' when you move the cursor around in it changes in the cave just outside the starter city because of how the area was programmed. Since the lower key and generally more 'creepy' tone to it fits the theme of the area, many people thought it was cool; to the point the hack developer [[AscendedGlitch decided to not bother attempting to patch it out]].
20	* RewatchBonus: There is a surprising amount of {{Foreshadowing}} for TheReveal that you'll only notice after seeing the ending. For example...
21	** In Hollyanna city, there's a fat man walking the streets who, if you talk to him, gives you unintelligible text. Most players would likely think this is a glitch and gloss over it... [[spoiler: Turns out that's old man Gantt, who's trying to get through to the trio who are trapped in the Mara Statue's illusion.]]
22	** The RandomEventsPlot nature of the game can seem a bit odd at first, but most players would think this is just the hacker writing as he goes along... [[spoiler: Turns out this has to do with the Mara Statue too. It was creating illusions seemingly at random in hopes of chipping away at the trios mentality.]]
23	** The [[spoiler: Glitched Pokémon.]] With the slew of shout outs the game had so far, you'd think it's just yet another one... [[spoiler: Turns out it was symbolically showing the Mara Statue finally starting to deteriorate the trios minds.]]
24	** For that matter, a lot of the shout-outs are this too. Early on one of trio makes a comment about going home and playing an Xbox, and the trio having to describe the VideoGame/{{Mother}} trilogy and other games just seems like BreakingTheFourthWall... [[spoiler: Except said games actually ''are'' just games to them, much like they are to us in the real world. All the seemingly random shout-outs and {{Whole Plot Reference}}s are the Mara Statue creating illusions based on the trios memories of said games.]]
25	* ThatOneBoss:
26	** The "Glitchy" [[spoiler: Titanic Ant]] fight. DEAR GOD. Just to get to it, you have to go through an entire level filled with {{Demonic Spider}}s, which likely means you're either going to be low on PP or recovery items, or worse, ''both'', and the boss of the level doesn't let up, either! Not only can it call ''more'' of it's demonic glitchy kin to aid it in the fight, who in turn can either poison you, put you to sleep, or disorient you (the games mushroomized status), and ''also heal the entire group your fighting''. If that wasn't enough, the boss itself is nuts, from spamming [=ElectroShock=] ([[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard which ALWAYS hits when he casts it, sometimes on a single character in a row]]), to even using ''PK STARSTORM'' ON THE PARTY! Even if you're over leveled, that attack will ''always'' either deal mortal damage, or at least leave the characters close to zero HP. Even ''if'' you have the PP to put up power shields, it'll mean ''nothing'' since, not only does [=ElectroShock=] break shields, but the boss and it's cohorts have attacks ''specially to break power shields!'' On top of ''all'' that, it has a ''crap ton'' of HP! Pretty much a lot of this fight will come down to if you're lucky enough to get enough [[CriticalHit smash attacks]] off and how generous the boss feels like in regards to PK Starstorm.
27	** The [[spoiler: Mara Demon]] can also be a major pain too, although the fact that it's the FinalBoss, it at least makes since. While not as crazy as the above since it can't break shields, this is likely because ''you're going to need them for this fight.'' It has an attack that ''drastically'' decreases the trios attack and defense, and can attack the party in in a row, sometime attacking each of them twice. He even has a variation of this move that ''always'' gets smash attacks on the party if you don't have a shield up. If you don't have a party healing item on your fastest character, this ''will'' result in a TotalPartyKill. Other attacks include an attack that damages you ''and'' drains your PP, and an attack that temporarily stuns a party member. On top of all this, [[MarathonBoss the boss has three different forms, each slowly more harder than the last and all max out to a crap load of HP.]] Thankfully, the [[spoiler: MonsterTown just before him]] at least has a lot of good healing items and [[InfinityPlusOneSword the best possible equipment for each character]], because trust us... ''you're going to need it!''
28	** The [[spoiler: [[TrueFinalBoss End of Hope and the End of Dreams]]]], which [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere on top of coming out of absolutely nowhere]], winds up being the most grueling fight as it takes place directly after [[spoiler: the Mara Demon.]] It is ''also'' a three form boss battle that has devastating attacks and a tremendous amount of health. It has [[ThatOneAttack one attack that hits the party for minimal damage but hits for approximately a minute straight, so hope you don't get criticalled.]] Thankfully you have [[spoiler: Anna]] to help you out but the sheer length of the battle, especially after getting off of [[spoiler: Mara Demon]], will wear on people.

Context YMMV / HallowsEnd