History YMMV / TheMessenger2018

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
** ''Hell yes''. You know the soundtrack is good when the game feels the need to credit the composer, Eric W. Brown (aka Rainbowdragoneyes), ''on the title screen''. [[MediumAwareness Even the Ninja likes it!]]

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_5Tei-Y8so Hills of Destiny]], Autumn Hills theme is the very first thing you hear once you start your journey. It should be more than enough to let you know this game is going to be amazing.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzjCkAGR4mc Bamboo Bungaloo,]] the theme of the BreatherLevel.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1eswfKYUzk Quillshroom's Horrors]], the haunting theme of Quillshroom Marsh. It is so good [[MediumAwareness the mushrooms themselves sing it !]]
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLlMKFEUr_A A Home Amongst the Clouds.]]
** The music from the final level, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbSQ1NDs70w A Melody to Break the Curse.]]

* CompleteMonster: The DemonKing is the BigBad and the brutal ruler of the demons. Arriving in the human world from another dimension, the Demon King leads the demons to slaughter the entire Sky Giant civilization before launching attacks against the human civilization. When the leader of the remaining humans, the Phantom, tries to kill the Demon King in revenge, the Demon King, out of anger and [[EvilIsPetty pettiness]], places a curse on humanity. He turns the Phantom's music box into a tether to the human realm that would enable the demons to return to the human realm. Every 500 years, the Demon King would lead attacks on the remaining population, slaughtering as many humans as possible and repeating the process until the humans [[KillAllHumans surrendered to extinction]]. In addition, he would force the Phantom to wear a mask that would [[DrivenToMadness drive him to insanity]] and seal him into the music box so that he would be forced to keep the curse alive.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: ''Hell yes''. You know the soundtrack is good when the game feels the need to credit the composer, Eric W. Brown (aka Rainbowdragoneyes), ''on the title screen''. [[MediumAwareness Even the Ninja likes it!]]
-->'''Ninja Elder:''' Our champion returns! How is adventure treating you?\\

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMoments: Let's face it, ending the game on [[spoiler:Ninja, Monk, the Blue Robes and Phantom [[FusionDance doing the thing]] to become the Arcane Golem and initiate a BeamOWar with the Curse to destroy it for good is a ''spectacular'' finale.]]

* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments: Multiple times throughout the game, [[IdiotHero the Ninja]] will either say or do something ridiculous, only to be called out by someone else, usually the Shopkeeper. And because the Ninja usually doesn't have any snarky quips at hand, he's rendered speechless and we're treated to [[VisibleSilence an ellipsis in the dialogue box]] each time. It may as well be his catchphrase.

* GameBreaker: The Windmill Shuriken is acquired through destroying all 45 Power Seals, and the Shopkeeper teases its existence as being overpowered. It doesn't seem all that powerful at first glance, but it's ''incredibly useful''. While you can only use three at a time, those uses recharge fairly quickly after you've caught the shuriken, meaning you can use them fairly liberally. While it lacks the range of its normal counterpart, the Windmill Shuriken's ability to not only infinitely pierce ''anything'' as long as it's active, including ''obstacles'', not only makes it incredibly useful for hitting enemies and switches from a distance no matter what's in the way, the boomerang gimmick adds a DifficultButAwesome dimension to using it by basically continuously dodging the shuriken allows you to maintain three projectiles spinning around you and damaging enemies. Even if you don't master that aspect, however, the effectively infinite uses and terrain-piercing properties of the Windmill Shuriken make it an indisputable upgrade by themselves.

* EndingFatigue: You could be forgiven for thinking that [[spoiler: The Underworld is TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon and the Demon General is TheDragon, rather than a DiscOneFinalBoss who signals the game's GenreShift and rough halfway point. But much later, after you've collected every item and power-up, made your way through the Demon King's lair, and beaten him, you then find out that you need to travel to an AfterTheEnd level with an EldritchAbomination AdvancingBossOfDoom, after which you listen to an extended cutscene explaining the world's backstory, and ''only then'' do you get to attempt the real TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon and final boss. Some players may even be expecting another fake-out at that point.]] Perhaps amusingly, the developers seemed to anticipate this, as the achievement for getting the credits roll is "[[LampshadeHanging I liked the fake ending better]]".

* NightmareFuel: A late game level, the [[spoiler:Corrupted Future, an EldritchLocation where the ground is made out of black flesh with blinking eyes, the moon in the background is completely shattered, and at the end of the level the player encounters a huge invincible EldritchAbomination which can eat the Ninja in one bite, forcing the player to make a mad dash back to the entrance]]. [[BleakLevel Even more notable this is one of the few parts where the game is completely and utterly devoid of any form of humor or quirky dialogue. Things are]] ''[[BleakLevel that]]'' [[BleakLevel bad.]]
-->'''Ninja:''' Never... again...

* NightmareFuel: A late game level, the [[spoiler:Corrupted Future, an EldritchLocation where the ground is made out of black flesh with blinking eyes, the moon in the background is completely shattered, and at the end of the level the player encounters a huge invincible EldritchAbomination which can eat the Ninja in one bite, forcing the player to make a mad dash back to the entrance]]. [[BleakLevel Even more notable this is one of the few parts where the game is completely and utterly devoid of any form of humor or quirky dialogue. Things are ''that'' bad.]]

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot:
** [[spoiler:The Corrupted Future is not really very explored, you're there to collect a Musical Note and then you have to run away. How the demons turned Earth into such abominable landscape and what were the fates of the characters there are never mentioned or even worked on. Even after returning to the Tower of Time there are no real explanations or even any talk about it besides one brief joke at Ninja's expense]].
** Exactly as designed. [[spoiler:That entire level wasn't for the Ninja's benefit; '''''it was for ours, as the players.''''' We needed to see the Corrupted Future so that we knew the price of failure going into Sabotage's next game, [[{{VideoGame/SeaOfStars}} Sea Of Stars]]]].

* PowerupLetdown: Despite it being hinted by the Shopkeeper as an "overpowered item", the item you get from collecting all the Power Seals is surprisingly situational. [[spoiler:Sure, having a shuriken that constantly follows you can be quite damaging if you get good at dodging it, and the fact it can go through walls and never runs out of ammo is also useful. But its much shorter range than the regular shuriken can be seen as a letdown, since it's the Messenger's main weapon to deal with far-away enemies and obstacles.]]

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: [[spoiler:The Corrupted Future is not really very explored, you're there to collect a Musical Note and then you have to run away. How the demons turned Earth into such abominable landscape and what were the fates of the characters there are never mentioned or even worked on. Even after returning to the Tower of Time there are no real explanations or even any talk about it besides one brief joke at Ninja's expense]].

** The Elemental Skylands scenario, especially the boss at the end, feels a little out of place for the rest of the game's tone, with no effort to really explain [[spoiler:the Clockwork Concierge]]'s existence. Even the Shopkeeper thinks it sounds utterly ridiculous when you tell him about it, and thinks the lack of oxygen from being at such high altitudes is causing the Ninja to hallucinate.

** Barma'thazël, the Demon General. The Shopkeeper says he's fast and he's not kidding, he has a nasty dash attack and will chain it several times the closer he is to being defeated, he will also make damn sure that you know how to Cloudstep with a flame attack that covers the entire ground for a very long time. If you try to play cute with shurikens, he will simply spin his blades to reflect them.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1eswfKYUzk Quillshroom's Horrors]], the haunting theme of Quillshroom Marsh. It is so good [[MediumAwareness the mushrooms themselves sing it]] !

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1eswfKYUzk Quillshroom's Horrors]], the haunting theme of Quillshroom Marsh. It is so good the mushrooms themselves sing it !

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1eswfKYUzk Quillshroom's Horrors]], the haunting theme of Quillshroom Marsh.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: [[spoiler:The Soldier]] has a very cool design, a full set of sprites, and [[spoiler:promises a refreshing gameplay change from the melee-focused Ninja.]] He is unceremoniously KilledOffScreen in a way that makes most BusCrashes look downright tame, and has absolutely zero relevance to the plot afterwards.

* EndingFatigue: You could be forgiven for thinking that [[spoiler: The Underworld is TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon and the Demon General is TheDragon, rather than a DiscOneFinalBoss who signals the game's GenreShift and rough halfway point. But much later, after you've collected every item and power-up, made your way through the Demon King's lair, and beaten him, you then find out that you need to travel to an AfterTheEnd level with an EldritchAbomination AdvancingBossOfDoom, after which you listen to an extended cutscene explaining the world's backstory, and ''only then'' do you get to attempt the real TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon and final boss. Some players may even be expecting another fake-out at that point.]] Perhaps amusingly, they seemed to anticipate this, as the achievement for getting the credits roll is "[[LampshadeHanging I liked the fake ending better]]".

* EndingFatigue: You could be forgiven for thinking that [[spoiler: The Underworld is TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon and the Demon General is TheDragon, rather than a DiscOneFinalBoss who signals the game's GenreShift and rough halfway point. But much later, after you've collected every item and power-up, made your way through the Demon King's lair, and beaten him, you then find out that you need to travel to an AfterTheEnd level with an EldritchAbomination AdvancingBossOfDoom, after which you listen to an extended cutscene explaining the world's backstory, and ''only then'' do you get to attempt the real TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon and final boss. Some players may even be expecting another fake-out at that point.]] Perhaps amusingly, they seemed to anticipate this, as the achievement for getting the credits roll is "I liked the fake ending better".

* NightmareFuel: A late game level, the [[spoiler:Corrupted Future, an EldritchLocation where the ground is made out of black flesh with blinking eyes, the moon in the background is completely shattered, and at the end of the level the player encounters a huge invincible EldritchAbomination which can eat the Ninja in one bite, forcing the player to make a mad dash back to the entrance]]. Even more notable this is one of the few parts where the game is completely and utterly devoid of any form of humor or quirky dialogue. Things are ''that'' bad.

* PowerupLetdown: Despite it being hinted by the Shopkeeper as an "overpowered item", the item you get from collecting all the Power Seals is surprisingly situational. [[spoiler:Sure, having a shuriken that constantly follows you can be quite damaging if you get good at dodging it, and the fact it never runs out of ammo is also useful. But its much shorter range than the regular shuriken can be seen as a letdown, since it's the Messenger's main weapon to deal with far-away enemies and obstacles.]]

** The Leaf Monster, the boss of the first proper area of the game, since it's one of the two 8-bit bosses that don't become relevant during the second half of the game. The other boss -- the Emerald Golem -- is this too, but not as much due to reappearing for the Picnic Panic DLC.

* PowerupLetdown: Despite it being hinted by the Shopkeeper as an "overpowered item" the [[spoiler:Windmill Shuriken]] you get from collecting all the Power Seals is surprisingly situational. [[spoiler:Sure, it being a shuriken that constantly follows you can be quite damaging if you get good at dodging it, but it being of much shorter range than the regular shuriken which is the Messenger's main weapon to deal with far-away enemies can be seen as a letdown]].

** The fight with the brainwashed Manfred at the end of Cloud Ruins is no joke, he's one of the few bosses where you fight on precarious grounding and he ''will'' break chunks of it making the fight even more dangerous. Near the end you'll have to cloudstep your way to him in order to make him vulnerable and one mistake means being kicked back to the beginning of the fight.
** Barma'thazël, the Demon General. The Shopkeeper says he's fast and he's not kidding, he has a nasty dash attack and will chain it several times the closer he is to being defeated, he will also make damn sure that you know how to Cloudstep with a flame attack that covers the entire ground for a very long time. If you try to play cute with shurikens he will simply spin his blades to reflect them.

* UnderusedGameMechanic: The Lightfoot Tabi is not really used much outside the Sunken Shrine and to get access to the Underworld. It's not hard to even forget it exists after you complete these levels.

** The Dragon at the end of Cloud Ruins is no joke, he's one of the few bosses where you fight on precarious grounding and he ''will'' break chunks of it making the fight even more dangerous. Near the end you'll have to cloudstep your way to him in order to make him vulnerable and one mistake means being kicked back to the beginning of the fight.