Vera is incredibly frank and comfortable in her own synthetic skin, demeaning and talking down to whomever whenever, including equals and superiors, and enjoying herself.
Roland treats everything and every scenario like it's a stage play, and it makes him all the more entertaining for it.
Teddy is a Smug Smiler and that's arguably her whole appeal, attacking with psychedelic constructs without a care or being in her own little world, clearly not giving a damn.
Best Boss Ever: The climactic duel in The Ark Beyond pitting you against Trailblazer, who is one hell of a tough cookie with a very aggressive moveset incorporating lasers beams, missiles and Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs. All while the vocal portion of "Revelation" is blaring in the background nonstop. You'd be forgiven if Trailblazer happens to catch you in one of his knuckle duster combos, because he'll end the sequence with a punch that's so powerful, it cracks the screen. Halfway through the fight, the arena's windows Fade Out to reveal an eyeful of Earth as seen from space, and once Trailblazer is down to 40 health bars, he'll summon a Mecha Expansion Pack to make the fight even more intense. If you go in with Nanami's POWER as dictated by the event's storyline, you're even able to perform a unique, cinematic Blade Lock against Trailblazer's incoming charge!
Better Off Sold: As you rack up in-game currency, freebies, and rewards, "blue" and eventually "purple" weapons become largely deadweight once you have a supply of "orange" and "red" weapons. To say nothing if you bypass the wait and pull on the weapon gacha to get the latter two rather easily. Their only purpose becomes consumable material to power up the equipment you're actually using or scrapping to get raw material like Cogs.
Complacent Gaming Syndrome: Alpha was generally considered the most powerful character in the early years of the game, thanks to her potent core passive, her damage type, and the later addition of Rosetta, who can further reduce enemy resistance to Physical damage. She was only outdone by the NieR: AutomataGuest Fighters, who still run on the same damage type and also have limited availability. So while the game did encourage using a variety of teams, it was hard to not fall back on using Alpha to evaporate enemies in a pinch. As time went by though, the physical type noticeably fell behind in terms of damage.
Demonic Spiders: The Kowloong arc introduces "Hanged Man III", four-armed, puppet-like mooks that guard the ship’s important sections. The first time you’ll meet them will be during an infiltration mission, and they’ll make sure you want to avoid them, as their fast, fluid combos hit hard, they’ll frequently teleport to perform a deadly dash kick from above, can attack from afar and they barely flinch.
Vera is the earliest example. Her cat-and-mouse interactions with Lee were already amusing, then her Interlude fleshed out her character. For having an entertainingly cheeky personality and being a fun character in general, she'd go on to become a Breakout Character.
Selena. She's a tragic and well-designed character, and Recitativo di Fantasia introduced her Capriccio frame which is both beautiful and a very strong character, all for free, which escalated her popularity.
Bridget, the jetpack-riding longsword user with Cool Shades and a cooler personality. There was much rejoicing when, after 2 years since her introduction as a NPC, she was Promoted to Playable as an A-Rank Fire Tank equipped with dual-tonfa Pile Bunkers. Oh, and she kept the Cool Shades.
Fandom Rivalry: When Punishing: Gray Raven came out, it was compared a lot to Honkai Impact 3rd because both games are Chinese 3D Action RPG titles. The rivalry happened when P:GR was thought to be a strong competitor in the genre that HI3 is popular in but with better visuals and interface. Meanwhile, fans of the latter claim that P:GR is just following the trend that HI3 had.
Because P:GR has a shared playerbase with the Devil May Cry series, "Vergil's Daughter" became a common nickname for Alpha ever since her animations were compared a lot to Vergil. In fact, Kuro Games leaned into the joke when Alpha's Crimson Weave frame was released, to the point one of their game emotes depicts her sitting in a plastic chair, referencing the "Vergil Chair" meme spawned from Devil May Cry 5note This resulted from some meme trend within the anime/gacha game fans of the Devil May Cry community where any anime girl who fights using Iaijutsu and/or directly copies Vergil's moves and effects get labeled as his "Daughter"
"Flashbang Liv" for Liv (Empyrea), what with her attack effects being infamously bright. Some players stretch the joke to her alternate coatings, which are referred to as her "dark mode" since their effects are more muted by comparison.
"Firegod Lee" for Lee (Palefire), referencing how his damage output for an A-Rank frame is actually quite high, leading to some half-joking veneration of him. Died down a little after the release of BRS, who pushed A-Rank fire damage from "quite high" to "absolutely ridiculous" with her Signature Move.
"Changwho" for Changyu (Qilin). Despite being the first Ice-damage Armor Construct, he turned out to be a fairly mediocre unit. This was exacerbated by Chrome (Glory)'s arrival not long after Wanshi (Hypnos), as if Kuro Games was telling players "here's the real Ice team", leading to many joking about Changyu's negligible impact on the game.
Nanami (Starfarer) is often referred to as "Nanamech," due to her piloting a Mini-Mecha and it being a neat little compact-word-based pun.
"Bianca Alter" or "Balter" for short for Bianca (Stigmata), thanks to her being an Expy of Saber Alter.
"Uncle" for Watanabe for being one of the most grizzled, mature, and world-weary fellows of the cast.
Many fans have taken to calling Gabriel a "Cockroach" due to him being that hard to kill, as is explained under his That One Boss entry.
Friendly Fandoms: P:GR shares an overlapping fanbase with Devil May Cry and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, thanks to some key similarities with those video games, such as having a Stylish Action gameplay. It's also due to fondness for a specific character; Alpha is an Iaijutsu Practitioner whose moveset animations and visual effects are likened to Vergil's, while her katana/sheath evokes Jetstream Sam's Murasama. It also helps that the DMC and MGR fandoms were already friendly to each other for a long time, so this game serves as another common ground.
Growing the Beard: Most P:GR fans say the game's first eight chapters are its worst. Thanks to a continuous storyline that moves the cast from one location to the next, it starts to plod and feel aimless. The following chapters notably improve, with self-contained stories that contain darker content. Past that, the common agreement is that the game finally found its voice in Kowloong Metropolis, with a complex, interweaving storyline with strong emotional resonance and major twists, including Lucia's Death of Personality, showing how far Kuro's writers were willing to push the envelope. These elements would continue to persist through the rest of P:GR's story.
Heartwarming Moments: After the conclusion of the global closed beta test, Solon Lee, the lead producer of Kuro Games, posted on Twitter a heartfelt thanks to all the players who encouraged the team on the way to their first global game.
Selena and Ayla's relationship teeters on the fence between this being a common side-effect of Selena being The Not-Love Interest to Ayla and genuine Ship Tease, with Ayla's I Will Find You attitude towards Selena coming off as something a character would do for their Love Interest. Ayla is actively willing to go to hell and back for Selena, as both Fallen Star and Recitativo di Fantasia show, and finding Selena is Ayla's main motivation in the story. In Recitativo, the "Peony and Iris" ending has the Witch (Ayla) and the Piper (Selena) reunite, and the pool of water next to them shows a reflection of the real Ayla and Selena hugging each other tightly. When they do truly reunite in Renaissant le Fantastique, Selena ultimately decides that she can't return with Ayla yet, but is content that she has a home to come back to, as Ayla's determination to find her proves.
Watanabe's first interlude gives us a (probably) Accidental Innuendo during an already fairly intimate-seeming After Action Patch Up scene with Watanabe and his best friend Bruce.
Watanabe: Ouch! Be more gentle, Bruce. Bruce: I'm always gentle.
Vonnegut clearly holds a lot of Villain Respect for Chrome, seeing him as a fellow perfectionist and exactly the kind of person the Ascension Network needs... but a lot of what he says to him in Imprisoned Sight sounds like he's flirting with him.
Fire Damage used to be considered the least useful damage type. Its Damage Over Time gimmick resulted in characters having less upfront damage, putting them at a disadvantage compared to other teams. Worse, for the longest time, the only Fire Damage type characters available to players were also considered the least useful: While Karenina (Ember) is a passable DPS, Sophia is often considered a Master of None with a finnicky heal mechanic, while Nanami (Pulse) is too unwieldy, with a Gathering Steam gimmick that forces players to keep using her in a game that promotes rapid switching of characters, lest they lose her damage buff. It was only much, much later that Roland and Liv (Empyrea) provided alternatives to a suboptimal team. Ironically, the inevitable Power Creep resulted in the updated Fire team — Lee (Hyperreal), Liv (Empyrea), and Nanami (Starfarer) — actually becoming the premier team, putting Fire damage squarely on the opposite end of the spectrum. BRS then became an extremely potent budget alternative to Lee (Hyperreal) due to her variety of follow-up attacks and the absurd levels of burst damage her Signature Move is capable of, allowing even budget players to feel the burn.
Ice teams have been hankering for an upgrade. Even in what's considered "Gen 3" starting with Watanabe (Epitaph), Lucia (Plume) is the main Ice damage dealer. As the meta evolved, even her at SS 3 lacks tools that modern DPS Constructs enjoy. Ayla (Kaleido), given out for free, was a step in the right direction, being an Amplifier who replaces the very outdated Wanshi. Chrome (Glory) is also a much better Tank than Changyu but these days requires his Weapon and the right Memory slots to fulfill his potential in an Ice team rotation. After a lengthy wait, release of Qu (Shukra), who is the current meta's premier Ice damage dealer, went a long way mitigating a lot of Ice team's woes.
Memetic Badass: Lee (Palefire), as noted in Fan Nickname above. Popularized by P:GR player Rexlent, who showed that an invested Lee was viable at high-level play despite his initial ranking, players half-jokingly claim he is truly the most powerful fire-damage character in the game. The jokes continued when Kuro Games then buffed him in a later patch, with players saying "Firegod" Lee now uses more than 2 percent of game-destroying power. Then, Lee (Hyperreal) arrived, making him an even more effective fire Attacker. It's been slightly reduced with BRS dethroning Lee (Palefire) as the most powerful A-Rank fire Attacker, but she is still second to Lee (Hyperreal) in the fire damage department.
"Cease your existence"note When the English dub voiceovers were first heard, this one line of Lee's took off. It's delivered with sincere, morbid gravitas by his voice actor, and it brings to mind other memetic quotes like "KYS" or "KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM!" That Lee and Dmitri share the same vocie actor helps that last bit.
KIMOCHI YOKATTA!note Kamui’s catchphrase at the end of a fight. He even says it in Japanese in the Chinese version of Panini Gray Raven’s second episode
KURAIMAKUSOnote "Climax" in Gratuitous English belted out by Roland's Japanese VA when he activates his Signature Move.
Liv Seggsnote The above actually started with a chibi Liv emote in a bed spouting, you guessed it, the Eastern "seggs" meme.
Woof! Woof!note Vera’s very… dominant character and the way she teases the Commandant have a lot of players jokingly wishing they were her dogs.
"Yowai"note One of Alpha's battle lines, meaning "weak" in Japanese. It's gotten a lot of mileage, particularly when it comes to equating Alpha and Vergil.
Moe: Pulao, a very young, short, and soft-sounding Transcedent, who looks absolutely adorable riding her weapon like a hoverboard — and almost falling off it.
Signature Series Arc: The Kowloong arc is the light at the end of a Slow-Paced Beginning tunnel, where Kuro Games writer ramp up the tension and show their stuff. As such, it is a very impactful arc many point towards to show the narrative's best strengths.
Signature Song: "LAMIA" has become the go-to example for the wealth of great music in the game. Whenever it plays, high-intensity beats are such to get your blood pumping for a fight.
Slow-Paced Beginning: The first few chapters of the main scenario are dedicated to exposition and worldbuilding with only smatterings of the grander plot between stages. While Interludes, far more interesting and character-driven episodes, are accessible during this time, it doesn't change that it takes the main story some time to pick up and find its stride.
Stoic Woobie: Bianca has had tons of bad luck, and barely mentions it. She twice had to kill infected people as a civilian, and then got blamed for their deaths. Then, when she tried to do good by working in a PMC, she found out her company was kidnapping people to reprogram as soldiers, and killed all her former colleagues when they turned on her.
Sweet Dreams Fuel: In deliberate contrast to the grittier main game, the Dorms (and various lighthearted events) are a lovely palette-cleanser. Come to care about the various playable characters? Well, now you get to do fun housekeeping or low-effort acts like cooking with them as 3D chibis with Blush Stickers and happy-go-lucky walking and skipping.
Tear Jerker: Chapter 12-25. Lucia's final battle against Qu in Kowloong Metropolis.
That One Boss: The game has several bosses that are considered maddeningly difficult or frustrating to fight.
The Aife stage of Memory Rescue has the Twin Hunters, a massively buffed Explorer and Excavator duo. Their fast speed and punishing ranged attacks make it very difficult to focus on either boss, and both bosses have damage reduction shields which makes it difficult to damage them.
The Royal Guard of chapter 5-8 will often be the first roadblock for new players, as it not only has a shield that blocks a certain amount of damage and reactivates regularly, it will also constantly and quickly regenerate HP, meaning that you have no chance of defeating it if you don’t significantly beef up your main DPS (which will usually be the B-rank Lucia at that point). And of course, it can kill you in just a few hits.
The end of Chapter 8 has Camu, who is a massive difficulty spike compared to bosses of previous chapters. Not only is he fast, nimble, and hard hitting, but he also as a quick AOE attack that he will always use when he takes too many hits from the player, forcing them to pay close attention and break combos when necessary.
Riot from Phantom Pain Cage. It will constantly spam long range laser attacks at the player with a very narrow dodge reaction time and has invincibility phases where it will retreat from the field and bombard the player with even more lasers.
Musashi units, particularly the Musashi IX from Phantom Pain Cage. It has fast, highly damaging attacks, a devastating spin move, a very quick ranged slash, and two different moves where it will disappear from the stage before attacking with a flurry of devastating slashes.
Qu in chapter 11-10. She's fast, strikes very quick, hard, and able to stunlock you, loves to Teleport Spam, and is also pretty durable. Normally she can be handled by decently leveled Construct and experienced players. But unfortunately, you're only able to use only 1 construct against her which greatly limits your capability. This also makes dealing her using attacker construct very risky as they can't take hits.
Gabriel is every player’s nightmare. While he's pretty much straight forward in Pain Cage, outside he's much more of a serious threat to all players. In the menu: swift attacks with multiple feints that make them hard to dodge and deal massive damage, a stomp attack that timelocks your character before dealing massive damage, a laser gun attack with a weird delay that deals massive damage, and a second phase that makes him move even faster and deal even more massive damage.
Machiavelli, on top of having a similar love for feints and quick attacks as Gabriel, is also insanely tanky. In PPC, he’ll require nothing less than a fully equiped and solidly built ice team to score even decently.
His Babel version is basically him pulling a Pontiff Sulyvahn... on horse steroids. He's basically the hardest boss ever fought in Babel so far even without escalating difficulty in the game. The gimmick of his fight is that he'll summons clones of himself every time you reduced his health bar. He can also destroy a platform killing your construct instantly if your not quick. His 2nd phase will absolutely tear your brains out, while he retains all of his attacks, this time he can now summon up to 4 clones for every 20 secs. have passed, turning the whole fight into a damage race and he'll keep doing. That was bad enough if he somehow reduced the arena size if you don't stop him early on.
PPC added more bosses such as Lamia, Voodoo, Lady of the Red Tide and so on, who's capable of tanking your best omniframes with ease, forcing the players to perfect their playstyle to get a better scores. But the worst of them all is Luna who's basically Gabriel and Machiavelli combine. She's fast and unpredictable, hits harder, and can tank your fire omniframes. And as mentioned on Low Tier above, the only available strong fire omniframes on that time are Karenina - Ember, Nanami - Pulse, and Sophia - Silverfang, leaving the players struggling in their feet on figuring out how to beat her perfectly.
Chapter H12-3. It's a boss fight between Alpha vs Rosetta. But before you can reach Rosetta, you have to fight 2 waves of Artic Soldiers which are on the level of Elite Mook that have high amount of HP and capable of taking good chunk of Alpha's HP, leaving her weakened before the boss fight against Rosetta. And then you have to deplete all 30 of Rosetta's health bars and her fast multi-hit attack is capable of downing Alpha should you slip up. All in all, it's a very long battle where few mistakes on your part can have you retrying the whole battle all over again.
In terms of temporary content, Deep Blue Warzone was the most unpopular, simply because of its unrelenting grind. In order to progress through the various, very difficult stages, players had to engage in a time-consuming secondary farm for upgrade resources. The various nodes were also time gated, meaning players couldn't just finish it ahead of time, they had to finish close to the final deadline. Because the reward was a coating with unique attack effects, this lead to plenty of exhausted players having to sit down for extra busy work, even if they didn't finish every node. Either way, Deep Blue Warzone sends shivers up the players' spines, who fear its return.
Viewer Gender Confusion: Lithos◊, an Ascendant who plays a large role in the events of Cinder Burns, really looks like a young girl, with a dress, long purple hair, and a flower in said hair. He's a guy.
Visual Effects of Awesome: The game is praised for having great visual quality and runs very well, even on older pre-2019 (the year the game released) mid-range phones.
, referencing the "Vergil Chair" meme spawned from Devil May Cry 5note 
