History YMMV / HallowsEnd

* 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'' 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 [[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. Andonutts...]]

** The Emsleyan Lucina. 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...

* 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 then ''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.]]

** 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 ''your 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!''

** The [[spoiler: [[TrueFinalBoss End of Hope and End of Dreams]]]], which [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere on top of coming out of absolutely nowhere]], wind 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 attacks approximately for a minute straight, so hope you don't get criticalled.]] Thankfully you have Anna to help you out, but the sheer length of the battle, especially after getting off of [[spoiler: Mara Demon]], will wear on people.

** The [[spoiler: End of Hope and End of Dreams, which [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere on top of coming out of absolutely nowhere]], wind up being the most grueling fight as it takes place directly after 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 attacks approximately for a minute straight, so hope you don't get criticalled.]] Thankfully you have Anna to help you out, but the sheer length of the battle, especially after getting off of Mara Demon, will wear on people.

* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: When Sally uses [=ElectroShock=], expect it to hit two, maybe three times. When an enemy uses it, expect it to miss ''once''... ''If your lucky.''

** 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 warzone 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.]]

** For that matter, a lot of the shoutouts 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 Franchise/{{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 shoutouts and {{Whole Plot Reference}}s are the Mara Statue creating illusions based on the trios memories of said games.]]

** The "Glitchy" [[spoiler: Titanic Ant]] fight. [[{{Understatement}} 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 spaming [=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.

** 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 Gnatt, who's trying to get through to the trio who are trapped in the Mara Statue's illusion.]]

* 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 then ''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 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.]]

* BestLevelEver: Hollyanna city. A smooth remix of Fourside plays while you wonder around the surprisingly large city that manages to perfectly capture the mood of the idealized Nightlife life-style.

** 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 ''your 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]], and trust us... ''your going to need it!''

* ThatOneBoss: The "glitchy" [[spoiler: Titanic Ant]] fight. [[{{Understatement}} 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 spaming [=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.

* RewatchBonus: There is a surprising amount of {{Foreshadowing}} that you'll only notice after seeing the ending. For example...

** 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 starting to finally deteriorate away the trios minds.]]

** 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 Gnatt, trying to get through the trio who are trapped in the Mara Statue's illusion.]]

* 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 then ''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 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.

** For that matter, a lot of the shoutouts 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 Franchise/{{Mother}} trilogy 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 shoutouts and {{Whole Plot Reference}}s are the Mara Statue creating illusions based on the trios memories of said games.]]

** However, all these [=BLAM=]s are eventually {{Justified}}... [[spoiler: since they're all an illusion created by the Mera Statue, who was slowly deteriorating away the trios minds.]]

** 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 Gnatt, trying to get through the trio who are trapped in the Mera Statue's illusion.]]
** 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 Mera Statue too. It was creating illusions seemingly at random in hopes of chipping away at the trios mentality.]]
** 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 Mere Statue starting to finally deteriorate away the trios minds.]]

* 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 then ''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 is it ever explain ''why'' that ends up happening, a fact which the trio [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] ([[AudienceSurrogate 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.