Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context YMMV / ItLives

Go To

1* AbandonShipping: Most Noah/Devon shippers jump ship after [[spoiler:the former's FaceHeelTurn]], though the pairing does still have a decent-sized fanbase.
2* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation
3** Redfield. Is he a lonely guy genuinely desperate to make friends and simply unable to realize that his methods of winning the gang back are harmful? Or is he a calculating psychopath who is plotting to become even stronger through murders? [[spoiler:Complicating matters is the fact that he WasOnceAMan who had a correspondent, whom he wrote to as much as possible. Possibly even more so when the current Redfield is revealed to be Jane, who either should've known better when trying to help her brother and their old friends or becoming Redfied has warped her mind.]]
4** The surviving friends in the epilogue, particularly if Devon dies. Are they [[UngratefulBastard selfish people]] who immediately got over the events in the cave, just like they got over Jane's death? Or a bunch of traumatized kids who are trying to put their lives back together, who have actually made a lot of progress healing in the last year? It doesn't help that the TimeSkip means we don't see anybody's immediate reaction, other than [[spoiler:whoever agrees to let their friend sacrifice themselves to become Redfield]].
5* BaseBreakingCharacter:
6** Lily Ortiz. On one hand, there are people who praise Pixelberry adding more diverse body representation through her (and Raj from ''VisualNovel/EndlessSummer''), adoring her for being a NiceGirl who displays common sense when it comes to Redfield, and admiring her speculation on Redfield’s involvement in Ava’s telekinesis. On the other hand, there are people put off by her refusal to sense something off with Britney abruptly acting nice to her. It also doesn’t help that she [[WhatTheHellHero called Ava out]] for [[spoiler:nearly killing Jocelyn with her telekinesis while overlooking the fact that Jocelyn started the whole fight first]].
7** Noah Marshall. [[spoiler:Upon his betrayal of his friends at Chapter 14,]] the fanbase is divided between those who defended him for his desperation to seek closure on Jane and those who were angry at him for his selfish and toxic attitude towards his old friends, especially when it's revealed that [[spoiler:the current Redfield is the spirit of his sister Jane.]]
8** [[spoiler:THE ENTIRE GANG, except for Connor [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap ironically]], became this after the HeroicSacrifice ending route because they didn't even react to Devon's sacrifice in the final chapter]]
9** Parker Shaw. Some players think he's an endearing love interest and like that he averts PoliceAreUseless who investigates the truth after years of police inaction. Others think he's a boring character whose involvement in the gang is superfluous because he barely interacts with other members except Danni and possibly Harper, and acts like he really doesn't enjoy their company. His views on Chief Kelley have also divided people. One side sympathize with him because it’s hard to admit that someone you look up to could be a bad guy. The other side dislikes that he refuses to look at the evidence that obviously proves that Kelley is a criminal. The developers seem to anticipate his polarized status since [[spoiler:he is the only person that will leave the group if he fails his Nerve Check and has a rather convoluted condition for returning]].
10** Imogen Wescott. On one hand, many players consider her one of the most resilient characters of the story as she actively helps others to safety as much as she can, and her empathy is seen as necessary to help her friends move onward with their goals. On the other hand, some players think she overreacted to Harper's suspicion about her parents being up to no good despite Harper not giving her solid evidence in the first place.
11** Grandpa Arthur. Whether him saving Josephine in the present redeemed him for letting her down in the past is up to debate.
12* BrokenBase:
13** ''It Lives Beneath'''s quality compared to ''It Lives in the Woods'' is subject to debate. Some players think the second book is better because of the focus on action, mystery, and how mankind has the tendency to ruin things beyond their control. Others think the second book is worse because it feels less scarier and the characters come across as less memorable.
14** [[spoiler:Choosing between sacrificing Noah or Devon to take Jane's place as the new Redfield. People who hate Noah after the events of ''It Lives in the Woods'' think that he is better off dead to pay for his actions. Other group think that Noah is better off alive, since he doesn't just return to his old life, is atoning by living as a fugitive, and makes a more interesting group with Connor and Jocelyn in ''It Lives Beneath'''s epilogue.]]
15* CrossesTheLineTwice: The achievements that pop up at the top of the screen often contain a play on words... even when they signify that someone has died. In ''It Lives Beneath'', [[spoiler:Tom's death is "No Tomorrow", Imogen's is "A Pale Horse", Parker's is "Officer Down", Danni's is "Out of the Picture", and Harper's is "It Dies Beneath"]].
16* DracoInLeatherPants:
17** Josephine Vance. Some players fully support her vendetta against The Society and hate Arthur for allowing them to murder his wife instead of standing up to them, despite her killing countless innocent people in the process.
18** Jocelyn Wu. She may be a violent bully throughout ''It Lives in the Woods'', but she also has a decent fanbase due to her character design, physical strength, and [[spoiler:HeroicSacrifice during Homecoming]]. Her reappearance at the end of ''It Lives Beneath'' has fans hoping that she will be a love interest in the third ''It Lives'' book before its cancellation.
19** [[JerkassWoobie Noah]]. Even after he [[spoiler:betrays his friends - and, depending on nerve scores, potentially gets all of them brutally murdered - his fans still love him and will defend his actions viciously.]]
20* EnsembleDarkHorse:
21** Tom was this in ''It Lives in the Woods'' for being the most decent character outside the main group, and very understanding of Andy's situation, to the point many players wanted him to be a Love Interest for the main character or Andy. He gets to be one of the main characters in the sequel ''It Lives Beneath''.
22** Ned Mallory from ''It Lives Beneath'' became this due to his sympathetic backstory, currently being the only non-main character who believes Harper about the lake entity, and wanting to find a way to stop it before it kills more people. Despite being stabbed by a cultist at the end of Chapter 2 of ''It Lives Beneath'', several players have stated that if there is a premium choice to save him, they will gladly take it.
23** Despite his minimal plot involvement, Elliot from ''It Lives Beneath'' is beloved by the fans for his playful but loving interaction with Harper, and being an accurate portrayal of a kid discovering his romantic attraction to other guys.
24** Robbie from ''It Lives Beneath'' also became a fan favorite from the moment he was presented as Elliot’s LoveInterest, starting with being the complete opposite to his father, his friendly approach to Harper, and his genuine care for Elliot’s safety. Many of the players paid for every chance to get them together.
25* FanNickname: Fans call the Lake Ghost "Lake Grandmother" since Chapter 12[[spoiler:, when she is revealed to be Harper's grandmother]].
26* FanPreferredCouple:
27** Noah/Devon is surprisingly still fairly popular after [[spoiler:the former's FaceHeelTurn]], with many fans expressing disappointment that he wasn't a love interest.
28** Dan/Devon also has a healthy fanbase.
29* HarsherInHindsight: During an argument, Mrs. Marshall tells Noah that she wishes he [[spoiler:had died instead of Jane. This stings a lot more if Noah doesn't survive the final battle - and either way, she's still left with no surviving children, since he goes on the run if Devon ends up being the sacrifice.]]
30* SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments: See [[Heartwarming/ItLives here]].
31* IKnewIt:
32** Many fans aren’t surprised that [[spoiler:Redfield isn’t defeated for good in Chapter 11. The clues indicating this are [[InterfaceSpoiler two more collectibles left to acquire]], lack of a nerve check on Dan, and the nerve scores of characters not affecting their fates yet.]]
33** Similarly, in the sequel, fans correctly predicted that [[spoiler:Grandpa Arthur was forced into falsely confessing to the murder of Harper and Elliot's parents and that the lake ghost is Harper and Elliot's grandmother (Arthur's wife).]]
34* LauncherOfAThousandShips:
35** Devon, as usual with all the Choices main characters, has ''five'' LoveInterests ([[StudentCouncilPresident Lucas]], [[{{Goth}} Ava]], Stacy, [[TwoferTokenMinority Andy]], and [[BigBrotherInstinct Connor]]), and on top of that Noah has a very strong fanbase wanting him to also be available [[spoiler:until his betrayal, when many fans migrated towards Dan]].
36** Harper from ''Beneath'' has four main Love Interests: Tom, Imogen, Parker, and Danni. Additionally, they have been shipped too with [[RedShirt Kyle]] and showed good chemistry with all the surviving characters from Book 1.
37* LoveToHate: Many consider Britney from ''It Lives in the Woods'' this because aside from her stylish appearance, she's also a very well-done bully whose actions towards the gang shows the damage bullies cause to their victims.
38* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome: See [[Awesome/ItLives here]].
39* NightmareFuel: It’s expected, considering that it’s a Horror genre series of novels. See [[NightmareFuel/ItLives here]] for examples.
40* NoYay: The fandom's general reaction to Lily and Britney is this because of Britney acting suddenly nice towards Lily while acting mean towards her friends whenever Lily isn't around. [[spoiler:Most people chose not to forgive Britney when her original intentions were exposed.]]
41* OneSceneWonder:
42** Shannon, [[spoiler:Lily’s new girlfriend if she decided to not forgive Britney]], is beloved by the fans for her character design and sweet personality.
43** Diavolos, Imogen's horse, only has a handful of scenes and is only featured prominently in one chapter but its [[spoiler:HeroicSacrifice]] made an impression to the fans, even those who don't like Imogen herself.
44** [[spoiler:Jocelyn made a cameo at the end of Book 2 bonus scene and promptly stole the scene and fans heart with new design. So much so that Pixeberry reused her sprite for a major character Cassidy in ''VisualNovel/WakeTheDead'']].
45* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: Connor, after being disliked by a majority of the fandom for being peripheral to the story, received a much warmer reception for being the only one to actually react if [[spoiler:Devon became Redfield]].
46* SequelDifficultySpike: In ''It Lives In The Woods'', everyone's Nerve scores except Dan's start at 100, and you have to avoid losing too much. In ''It Lives Beneath'', everyone's Nerve score starts at 0, and you have to gain nerve in addition to not losing what you have. Nerve checks are also harder to pass in the latter.
47* TearJerker: See [[TearJerker/ItLives here]].
48* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Players have commented that Britney could've been an example of bullies being a part of a cycle of abuse as former victims of bullying themselves. This is evidenced by Stacy showing Devon a yearbook photo of Britney in pigtails and braces, which should've been used to indicate that she was bullied for her appearance until she changed her appearance. [[spoiler:Players are also disappointed that Britney didn't comment on her past, but said that Lily's nice while she herself isn't instead, which boils down to the former saying that it's hard for her to be nice, which players find overdone among many redemption arcs Pixelberry uses.]]
49* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot:
50** The ending where [[spoiler:you make a HeroicSacrifice to become Redfield]] lacks a LOT of reactions from the other characters (with only the mossy creature, a ''Premium'' character, Tom and Connor having any significant interaction) compared to the decision to [[spoiler:let Noah takes over]]. StoryBranchFavoritism is in full effect here. The benefits of following this path are not apparent until late in the sequel.
51** Despite Elliot having a relationship with Harper prior arriving to Pine Spring (as oppose to the four Love Interest), is well-liked by the fandom as well as having gone through the trauma that Harper had, he has no Nerve score or personal trial and only has one Premium scene.
52* UglyCute: [[HelloInsertNameHere Thumper]] the jackalope[[note]]A KillerRabbit with six glowing eyes, antlers and partially exposed bones[[/note]]. Elliot feels bad for it when he hears that the Society is planning to dissect it, so Harper has the premium option to rescue and adopt it. The siblings later comment on how creepy looking it is in comparison to how docile it became after they took it in.
53* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Parker Shaw if he [[spoiler:accidentally killed his role model Chief Kelley]] is shown as a traumatic moment for him. At the same time, he also knew that the Society has been murdering people and [[spoiler:torturing Harper's grandmother Josephine for her powers]], yet he said that the gang has no right to decide who lives and who dies because of the law, causing players to view him as LawfulStupid instead.
54* TheWoobie:
55** ''It Lives in the Woods'': Most of the gang is this.
56*** Upon joining the basketball team for the first time, Andy has been singled out by everyone else except for Tom because he’s short, transgender, and Asian. He gets better after he helped the team win the first basketball game, only for him to be mocked again after a basketball game got disrupted by a SpiderSwarm. He even gets kidnapped by vine monsters right after he was announced Homecoming king, and later watches his friend Tom possessed by Redfield. [[spoiler:If he survives the showdown against Jane, he [[BittersweetEnding repeats senior year because his injured leg means he has to be put on medical leave. The silver lining is that he becomes captain of the basketball team]].]]
57*** Since Chapter 8, Ava has become this. After she was possessed by Redfield into [[spoiler:nearly killing Jocelyn with telekinesis]], most of the school saw her as a freak. [[spoiler:Losing her power doesn’t help matters, as the school continues to see her differently.]]
58*** Dan has been suffering from PTSD since Jane’s death, which leads him to suffering from mental breakdowns after every football game and getting wasted during Winter Formal. His desperate attempt to find closure goes awry when he gets kidnapped, setting the events of the story into motion.
59*** Lily is often picked on by Britney, whom she befriended in the past. She continues to be nice to her, even trying to remind her of the time when they were friends. When it seems that Britney was finally [[HopeSpot being nice to her for the days leading to homecoming]], [[spoiler:she finally learns that it was merely a ploy to humiliate her. Granted, Britney abandoned this before the revelation, but it still hurt Lily when she heard Britney's original intention.]]
60*** Lucas is [[WellDoneSonGuy under pressure from his parents to overachieve]] even when he has reached his limit. According to him, his parents often look down on his achievements, boasting that they’ve accomplished much more than him when they were his age. This caused him to take his mother’s focus pills, only to put himself at risk of developing an addiction. He got better after kicking his addiction, only for him to get suspended anyway when [[spoiler:Redfield conjured focus pills in front of the principal]].
61*** Noah lost his twin sister Jane to Redfield during a game they played with their friends. Afterwards, his parents divorced and his mother [[TheUnfavorite blamed him for everything that happened to her ever since, even wishing that he who should’ve died instead of Jane]]. Since then, he harbors deep resentment towards his old friends for forgetting about his plight. [[spoiler:The epilogue that shows him wandering the forest—alone and angry, hardly able to remember his own name or what happened to him—is pretty rough, too. By the time of "Beneath," he's just started being able to remember his name, but he needs Devon's help to remember.]]
62*** Stacy often bears the brunt of her parents’ wrath whenever they’re not arguing against or cheating on each other. It gets worse when she confided in Britney about her situation, only for Britney to use it as blackmail to one-up on her by forcing her to not outshine Britney, follow her wherever she goes, and buy tacky clothes for her. It gets better when a vine monster turned the tables on Britney by snatching her phone and giving it to Stacy, who blackmailed Britney into hosting a party. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, Stacy’s luck took a turn for the worse when Redfield broadcasted Britney’s recording of Stacy’s dysfunctional family life to everyone to school.]]
63** ''It Lives Beneath''
64*** Tom has become this in ''It Lives Beneath''. Back in Westchester, he gets attacked by a venomous spider during one of Redfield's attacks, leaving him comatose, which enables Redfield to control him along with other victims. His best friend potentially dies or, if he survives, has his leg and basketball career ruined. The events in Westchester and the potential deaths of a lot of his schoolmates left him so traumatized that he opted to move away... only for this new town having something else too.
65*** Ned Mallory. A few years ago, his wife was hypnotized by the lake monster into drowning herself to death in the lake. After observing the details on his wife's death, he warned people about the lake monster but was ridiculed and ostracized for it. After finding comfort on Harper believing in him, he was stabbed by a cultist.
66*** Grandpa Arthur [[spoiler:and Josephine]]. [[spoiler: He was one of the realtors who tried to get Josephine’s land, until they fell in love with each other. His business partners eventually learned about the power of the river, and after forming the Society and building Pine Springs, they spiked his wife to the bottom of the lake, repeatedly killing her every time they want more of the power for new members, and forcing Arthur to obey by threatening his daughter and grandchildren. On top of that, Arthur is forced to watch all the drownings caused by Josephine’s rage going out of control, is controlled to take the blame of murdering his daughter, while the Society becomes stronger with time.]]

Top