History YMMV / ShinMegamiTenseiIV

** "i call this one "the distant waluigi"[[labelnote:Explanation]]A comment left by obololegal in the Infernal Kasumigaseki comment section. It exploded due to several users agreeing that the vocals in the song sounded like Waluigi.[[/labelnote]]

** The fact that you have to carefully juggle your KarmaMeter if you want the Neutral ending. It's very easy to accidentally lock yourself in the Lawful/Chaotic path, and you can't {{save scum|ming}} easily, as you only have two save slots. On top of that, the only way to determine your current alignment is through the "Cynical Man" present at Hunter's Association facilities throughout Tokyo, and he is not available for a significant chunk of the game. To top matters off, being ''too'' neutral is is threat due to the thin margins that the Neutral path requires.

** Pandemic Bomb is a favorite of many enemies, including the {{bo|nusBoss}}ss of the "Rebirth of the Great Overlord" quest, [[spoiler:Beelzebub]]. It inflicts Sick status on the entire party, which halves attack power and reduces evasion to ''zero'', and can ''spread to other party members''. Worse, the game checks if Sickness has spread to other party members every turn - not round, ''turn'' - meaning you can heal a party member's Sickness only for them to ''immediately'' get Sick again if any other party members are Sick. Sick status also leaves the victim open to Death's Door, an attack that reduces those under Sick status to 1 HP, and yes, [[spoiler:Beelzebub]] will happily abuse this.

** The opening scene contains two {{Shout Out}}s to the Literature/BookOfDaniel. One of the mysterious voices Flynn hears says "Mene, mene, tekel, parsin," the ''original'' writing on the wall that appeared to King Belshazzar the night before he was killed by the Persians. Another voice mentions a "horn" that "pierces the heavens" and "planets" being "trampled upon," a reference to a vision of Daniel's wherein he sees a hideous horned beast representing a cruel dictator who tears apart the world with iron claws and teeth. This beast, incidentally, is ultimately killed by the Ancient of Days, [[spoiler: one of the game's hardest {{Bonus Boss}}es]].

** The ability to transfer skills from demons to humans allegedly goes back to the odd-man-out title of the series, ''Giten Megami Tensei: Tokyo Mokushiroku''.

** It seems that each of the [[BonusBoss DLC bosses]] has been given at least one of these, just to add to their frustration factor:

** Whenever a fighter lands a critical hit, strikes a weakness, or nullifies an enemy attack, they have a chance of smirking. This gives them a [[GameBreaker ludicrously busted status]] that lasts until they use a press turn but grants them a wide variety of powerful buffs, most notably making their next attack a near-guaranteed crit. The problem is that if a single enemy happens to smirk off of an attack, not only will they get an additional press turn, but they can land another crit in the same phase and squeeze out ''another press turn''. This, combined with the aforementioned lack of a defense stat, leads to this game having [[RocketTagGameplay some of the most volatile battles in the series]]. Basically, if you can't defeat a random encounter on the first turn, you'd better start [[LuckBasedMission praying to the RNG gods]] because all it takes is one unlucky crit to [[TotalPartyKill wipe out your entire party]] ''from full health''.

** The smirk mechanic is greatly disliked due to being triggered mostly by luck as well as the status itself being extremely overpowered.

*** And from the last DLC battle, we have [[spoiler:Masakado]]'s "Curse Thy Enemy" and "Guardian's Eye". The former is an almighty attack that hits hard, ''always'' hits as a weakness (thus giving him a free Press Turn), and more often than not makes him Smirk. Coupled with Concentrate, it makes for a very frustrating OneTurnKill. "Guardian's Eye", which he'll almost always use once he has around 1/2 HP left, gives him ''three extra Press Turns''. For free. This gives him five turns instead of three like before, or as many turns as each of the Fiends.[[note]]He actually acts eight times (five times without Guardian's Eye), but three of those turns are spent using FlavorText skills that do nothing.[[/note]] Enjoy the oncoming onslaught.

*** And from the last DLC battle, we have [[spoiler:Masakado]]'s "Curse Thy Enemy" and "Guardian's Eye". The former is an almighty attack that hits hard, ''always'' hits as a weakness (thus giving him a free Press Turn), and more often than not makes him Smirk. Coupled with Concentrate, it makes for a very frustrating OneTurnKill. "Guardian's Eye", which he'll almost always use once he has around 1/2 HP left, gives him ''three extra Press Turns''. For free. This gives him five turns instead of three like before, or as many turns as each of the Fiends.[[note]]He actually acts eight times, but three of those turns are just FlavorText skills that do nothing.[[/note]] Enjoy the oncoming onslaught.

*** And from the last DLC battle, we have [[spoiler:Masakado]]'s "Curse Thy Enemy" and "Guardian's Eye". The former is an almighty attack that hits hard, ''always'' hits as a weakness (thus giving him a free Press Turn), and more often than not makes him Smirk. Coupled with Concentrate, it makes for a very frustrating OneTurnKill. "Guardian's Eye", which he'll almost always use once he has around 1/2 HP left, gives him ''three extra Press Turns''. For free. That's a grand total of ''eight Press Turns per round'' for him. Enjoy the oncoming onslaught.

** The team brought in Masayuki Doi, the Character Designer for the ''VideoGame/TraumaCenter'' series, as Character Designer for this game, while for the designs of the new Demons they hired {{Tokusatsu}} artists, most notably ones from the ''Franchise/KamenRider'' franchise, instead of having both be helmed by Kazuma Kaneko. This is not the first time the franchise has done this, however. The character designs for the ''VideoGame/DevilSurvivor'' games was done by Suzuhito Yasuda (Who's most well known for ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}''), while Creator/MohiroKitoh (Who's well-known for his Angel designs for the ''[[Franchise/NeonGenesisEvangelion Evangelion]]'' franchise as well as being the Mangaka behind ''Manga/{{Bokurano}}'' and ''Manga/ShadowStar'') was brought in to ''VideoGame/DevilSurvivor2'' to design the Septentriones.

* MoralEventHorizon:
** [[spoiler: If you choose the crueler responses to Isabeau's BossBanter, you'll feel like ''Flynn himself'' has crossed it.]]
** [[spoiler: Most people come to despise the Ashura-Kai when they discover how [[HumanResources Reds]] [[NauseaFuel are]] [[NightmareFuel produced]]. Even ''Lilith'' [[EvenEvilHasStandards is disturbed by it]].]]

** Pandemic Bomb is a favorite of many enemies, including the {{bo|nusBoss}}ss of the "Rebirth of the Great Overlord" quest, [[spoiler:Beelzebub]]. It inflicts Sick status on the entire party, which halves attack power, and can ''spread to other party members''. Sick status also leaves the victim open to Death's Door, an attack that reduces those under Sick status to 1 HP, and yes, [[spoiler:Beelzebub]] will happily abuse this.

** The fact that you have to carefully juggle your KarmaMeter if you want the Neutral ending. It's very easy to accidentally lock yourself in the Lawful/Chaotic path, and you can't {{save scum|ming}} easily, as you only have two save slots. On top of that, the only way to determine your current alignment is through the "Cynical Man" present at Hunter's Association facilities throughout Tokyo, and he is not available for a significant chunk of the game.

* SequelDifficultyDrop: While it's still possible to get wrecked due to ambushes and poor preparation, the game is considerably easier than ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne'', requiring less LevelGrinding to defeat bosses and having comparatively straightforward dungeons. The cheap cost of TraumaInn services and the "save anywhere" feature also help ease in players who are either new to the series or have a sour taste in their mouth from previous mainline games. Yes, the lack of a defense stat means enemy attacks can hit very hard now, but so do yours, so boss battles go a ''lot'' faster.

** By the same token the soundtrack get's similar flak for simply not being by Shoji Meguro, being composed by Ryota Koduka instead. This is notable as Meguro himself made it clear in interviews that he really liked the soundtrack with him considering the Tokyo theme as one of the best tracks in the series.

** The ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' of ''Franchise/{{Persona}}''[[labelnote:Explanation]]A lot of people who play ''IV'' are those whose initial touch with the ''Megami Tensei'' franchise was ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'' and ''[[VideoGame/{{Persona4}} 4]]'', so they dive into ''IV'' and constantly compare it to the ''Persona'' sub-series while [[NintendoHard getting constantly clobbered]]. The opposite opinion is held amongst veterans of the mainline ''SMT'' games, who regard ''SMTIV'' as the [[SequelDifficultyDrop easiest game in the series]]. The quote in question came from an [[EightPointEight infamous negative review]] that claimed [[CowboyBebopAtHisComputer Shin Megami Tensei was a spinoff of Persona]] rather than the other way around.[[/labelnote]]

* RealismInducedHorror: In addition to the series-standard fare of demonic horror, there's Mr. Tayama, one of the human villains who runs a powerful yakuza-like organization that performs [[spoiler:mass organ-harvesting operations, with ''kids'' being among the victims. One of those kids even says she wants to marry Mr. Tayama, who told him that "age is no barrier to love."]]

* RealismInducedHorror: In addition to the series-standard fare of demonic horror, there's Mr. Tayama, one of the human villains who runs a powerful yakuza-like organization and [[spoiler:mass organ-harvesting, with ''kids'' being among the victims. One of those kids even says she wants to marry Mr. Tayama, who told him that "age is no barrier to love."]]

** Chemtrail, for both [[UncannyValley his starkly contrasting design even compared to the other Guest Artist Designs]] (Being a 3D render with realistic lighting) and the sheer absurdity and audacity of having a Demon based off of a conspiracy theory. This led to him appearing in some ''Shin Megami Tensei'' fan projects, like ''[[https://thematicconversion.tumblr.com/post/138427728488/05-of-05-modern-compendium-conspiracy-jirae Modern Compendium]]'' and [[https://greed92-smt.tumblr.com/post/112533775935/rumor-chemtrail a now-cancelled fangame]].

** Walter's [[FunnyBackgroundEvent various amusing facial expressions]] and Jonathan's magnificently floofy hair, both of which are commonly photoshopped onto other characters for an UncannyValley effect.

* UncannyValley: Yaso Magatsuhi's claymation-like style in addition to his already [[NightmareFuel disturbing]] [[http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130730233620/megamitensei/images/4/43/SMTIV-YasoMagatsuhi.jpg appearance]] has creeped out several players.

** For those [[DarknessInducedAudienceApathy sick of the constant warring between Law and Chaos]] present throughout the game, as well as several other games in the franchise, [[spoiler:the Nihilism ending lets you take it out on a [[ZeroEffortBoss defenseless machine]] and destroy '''[[ApocalypseHow/ClassX4 the entire universe]]''' as a result.]]

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: Like some of the other titles before hand, you can start to feel this about the factions heroes and the factions they represent. Fortunately for these people [[spoiler: the Nothingness ending]] allows them to vent these feelings.

** "[[spoiler: The White]] were right" has become a popular way to snark at people complaining about DarknessInducedAudienceApathy in the series.

* FountainOfMemes: The Black Market dealers are extremely quotable as a result of their condescending, annoyed tones. While their usual intro line ("Oh, a Hunter.") is the most famous, most of them ("This is real, right?" "You still got business here?" "Make sure you bring more Macca next time!") have reached meme status.

* VindicatedByHistory: In the lead up to, and after, the release of ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiV'', fans began evaluating this entry in a much more positive light. The once-contentious story is now seen as a decent attempt at modernizing the SMT formula without being minimalistic like ''V'' or too different like ''IV Apocalypse'', and Walter and Jonathan have become far more appreciated as Law and Chaos reps the game makes an effort to develop and build the player's attachment to before the inevitable [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope descent]].

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: When negotiating with a demon, sometimes the demon will order Flynn to [[KneelBeforeZod kneel before it]], and the only options shown are [[ButThouMust Submit, Submit, and Submit]]. [[spoiler:In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIVApocalypse'', Flynn is forced to submit before the BigBad. On one route, he's brainwashed by someone else and indeed kneels before them.]]