YMMV / World's End

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Is Tevoran just a drug-addled paranoiac with an incredibly lucky streak, or is he genuinely a brilliant tactician and improviser beneath all those layers of snark and addiction?
    • There are several hints to both sides. Many of Tevoran's actions sure seem like he's winging it and he tends to be about as thick as a brick, but there's also the fact that his strategies nearly always work, and every now and again he shows surprising depths of strategic insight.
    • Most significantly, he knows when to fight and when to run away. He's led his company to victory against overwhelming odds several times, but he knows when the game is up and when to order a full retreat.
  • Who exactly is Zofia, and what does she want? She has so many sides to her—smuggler, gunner, inventor, slattern, engineer, partier, hard drinker, gold digger—that it's difficult to tell which one the real one is, or what her true motive is in anything. In some ways she resembles a younger female version of Tevoran, improvising petty criminal enterprises with such spontaneity that they're just as likely to to blow up in her face as go horribly right. Does she have any larger plan, or is she really just making her next move as she goes?
  • Is Martin truly a good prince or did Rudolf actually have a point when he called his older brother self-righteous and condescending? It may not be an either/or question, as Martin undoubtedly works for the betterment of his people, though his means are somewhat questionable, and though noble, he's far from an ideal paragon.
  • Aizu. Essentially built into the character, as no one truly knows who or what she is, and what her ambitions are. Is she a weapon, a warrior, a demigod, a monster, an angel, an abomination...or just a strange girl with blue hair?
• Awesome Music: The Final Boss of Chapter 3's theme, Living Weapon. An epic confrontation between your gang of mercenaries and betrayed royals against Evil Chancellor and the titular Living Weapon, who may or may not be a reincarnated god.
• Badass Decay: Duriken is set up as the big bad and boy does he fill that role well...except that he's basically been foiled at every turn. Tevoran & Co. bested him at least twice (for some players, three times), and by the end of Chapter 3, he's lost his "weapon", lost his empire, lost his alliance with Fallon, lost two powerful magic accessories to Tevoran &. Co, and only barely manages to escape being blown up by Aizu. It seems like his plan is in full tailspin.
  • More perplexing is the fact that instead of getting stronger, the fights against him become easier each time Tevoran & Co. encounter him. The final battle against Duriken in Chapter 2 is largely considered to be one of the hardest fights in the entire saga, whereas most experienced players were able to wipe the floor with him by the end of Chapter 3.
    • Even his attitude is decaying. In Chapter 2, he was one of the few bosses to acknowledge and commend Tevoran & Co. for their fighting prowess, but in Chapter 3 he's reduced to making excuses for why he lost again. And he doesn't seem to be learning from past mistakes.
• Breather Level:
  • Episode 7-1 and 7-2, the fights against the Hillmen, are widely considered to be this. They come directly after two of the toughest (up to that point) battles in the game, both of which have you outnumbered and/or surrounded by ranged enemies. The Hillmen, despite their strength, are lightly armored and permanently locked in to attacks of one space away, making them easy to deal with.
  • To a lesser extent, Episode 12-1. The Niendans aren't anything to sneeze at, but again, numbers are on your side and Oleg is the least threatening mini-boss in the series.
• Character Tiers: Still hotly debated, but in general, a lot of experienced players place the party members roughly into the following tiers:
  • God Tier: Tevoran and Oksana.
    • Tevoran is built to be a tank, deflects arrows and bullets, and has several group wide status buffs that can transform your party, in addition to his game breaker Mockery skill (see "Game-Breaker" below).
    • Oksana is generally agreed to be one of the most overpowered members of the group, but this largely depends on how many points your willing to invest in her. Besides her insanely useful healing spells, she notably has one attack with unlimited range that hits every enemy simultaneously, making her a game breaker for large scale battles.
  • Top Tier: Ivan, Ysabel, and Vadim.
    • Ivan becomes a more preeminent melee character with each new chapter. He's generally your fastest moving, longest reaching and one of the hardest hitting short range characters. With the inclusion of the Foreman's claw to his fist, his punches become almost as devastating as his spear attacks.
    • Ysabel was one of the most reliable characters for dealing damage in the early chapters. She is unquestionably your best ranged character, with a number of devastating arrow attacks that range from inflicting burning damage to full paralysis.
    • Vadim was a hard-hitting dual wielder with a crazy evasion rate and the fan-loved backstab power. It's no wonder so many fans were upset to see him die.
  • Mid Tiers: Reynold, Zofia, and Martin.
    • Reynold is certainly tanky enough. In fact, by the numbers, he's the most devastating damage dealing and remarkably stalwart. The problem is that his range is permanently locked to 1 tile, so getting him in position to attack becomes a pain. ^note It doesn't help that several of his attacks shove the enemy out of his attack range.
    • Zofia is kind of a wild-card character. Her skills are all over the place, and while she can be very useful in certain situations (read: molotovs and lewd glances), a lot of players struggle to figure out how to properly use her.
    • Martin is pretty easy to build into a tank and his damage dealing isn't shabby, but his general lack of upgradable skills and sub-par selection when he does eventually get them make him a periphery character. His extremely useful "Encourage" power keeps him from falling into a lower tier, though.
  • Bottom Tier: Casimir, Aizu, and Vera.
    • Casimir, being 80 years old, has long been regarded as the group scrappy. His main draw is varying status buffs, which he is quite good at, and used properly he can be a valuable support character, but he's never, ever meant for direct combat. His constitution is so frail it almost turns him into The Load trying to keep him alive in more grueling battles, he has no reliable way to deal damage, and oftentimes it's more effective to use him to shove another player into position than to actually attack with him. Not too many were upset to see him voluntarily leave in Chapter 3.
    • Aizu is physically pathetic and has no way to deal reliable damage (until she learns how to shoot fireballs in Chapter 3). The other characters frequently lampshade how seemingly unhelpful she is. But she does have her uses.
    • Vera is a decent secondary mage character, and the few spells she does know are pretty useful, but she has low attack and defense. Plus she tends to suffer from Late Character Syndrome. Like Oksana, though, she can become powerful if the player is willing to invest the time in her.
• Difficulty Spike: The game gets much more difficult in Episode 4, which introduces the Redshields (and afterwards the Tiervan Guards, which have finally caught up to the party in terms of HP and attack power). Episode 6-3 is impossible, as you face a legion of Voronese soliders and a priest that have too much HP and power for you to contend with (it also doesn't help that their Captain can cancel Tevoran's Mockery, which you've been using the entire game save for the previous two fights which had immune spiders).
• Game-Breaker: Tevoran's almighty Mockery skill forces every enemy on the field to either attack him or mindlessly approach him. He has more than enough bulk to deal with the onslaught, and intelligent use of this skill can give you time to heal your units or kill weakened foes. Even in later episodes, immunity to Mockery is rather uncommon.
• Moe: Aizu. A rather strange example; Aizu's waifish and uncanny persona tends to either creep people out or make them want to protect her. Ysabel, Oksana, and even Tevoran have all stood up for her multiple times, and Vera takes this up to 11. Possibly inverted though, as more and more, Aizu seems to have no trouble defending herself. In fact, by Chapter 3, she's the one regularly saving everyone else when things get out of control.
• Squick: When you end up battling Oskar, he has an attack called "Caress" where he inflicts damage on the target by licking them passionately. It's squicky to see him use it on any of your party members, but bonus points if he does it to Martin or Vera, his own children.
• Starboarding:
  • To some fans, Vera's persistent fascination with Aizu almost seems to be bordering the level of a Pseudo-Romantic Friendship or a budding crush. However, Aizu doesn't seem to be taking any notice of the attention directed her way, except for occasionally pushing back against it (particularly against being called a "fairy").
  • Lampshaded by Tevoran when Martin mentions he's becoming "concerned" with Vera's growing obsession with Aizu.
    Tevoran: "Say no more! Were I in your situation, I too would scarce wish my sister to pursue illicit dalliances with insane deities."
• That One Level: Duriken's boss fight at the end of Chapter 2 is widely considered to be the most difficult battle in the game although it's very possible to defeat him on your first turn, with the help of special items, especially if you're trying to go for a flawless victory.
• Viewer Pronunciation Confusion: The fanbase is still divided on whether to pronounce the "Y" in Ysabel's name or pronounce her name identically to "Isabel". Word of God confirms that her name is pronounced identically to "Isabel".

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