Infinite Space/YMMV

• Alas, Poor Scrappy: Franny, to some people.
• Angst? What Angst?: Dietrich. While justified, it can be a little jarring to see how (apart from his event in Gunnitz) very little mention about his brother doesn't seem to bother him at all, almost to the point they are complete strangers.
• Cliché Storm: Abso-freaking-lutely, especially with regards to characterization.
• Crowning Music of Awesome: Most of Act 2 map theme, the regular battle theme, and the track that plays when your ship docks on normal occasion.
• Ensemble Darkhorse:
  • HELP (GIRL) is rather popular among the players...
  • Lord Roth.
  • Neal Baecker.
  • The Schneizer brothers, to some extent.
• Evil Is Sexy: Katida if she doesn't join your crew in Act 2.
• Funny Aneurysm Moment: A few of them.
  • At one point in the game, Nia lightheartedly tells Celina that she plans to live longer than her. Guess who dies first.
  • Later in the game, Nia (yes, again) tells Yuri that she will kiss him when nobody is around, causing Kira to freak out. Cue First Kiss/Now or Never Kiss/Last Kiss.
  • After the battle against Orders in Act 2, Roth cries over his damaged-beyond-repair ship in such childish manner. This will remain funny if you recruit Katida, but if you don't, cue the final battle against Lugovalos, where Roth (already badly injured) overloads his ship's high-stream blaster to defeat Katida, guaranteeing his ship will be destroyed for sure.
  • An event that allows Princess Glorinda to be recruited has PM Falko asks Yuri if he has "special someone", in which if Yuri answered "yes", Torlo will (perhaps jokingly) states that his "special someone" is Kira. Later, after the battle against Lugovalos is over, Torlo and Tatiana tell Yuri that he should find a girlfriend, and their suggestion? Glorinda. Granted, Yuri is the only one who remembers Kira, but considering what happened, it's really harsh.
• Genius Bonus: The names in the list of highest-ranked space pirates include the names of real-life corsairs and privateers like Walter Kennedy and Samuel Mason.
  • One of the first clues you can get regarding what happened in the Irvest sector is that the speed of light has changed in the area. Or, in physics terms, Irvest Sector has just gotten bigger.
• Goddamned Bats: Almost anything you fight before you gain access to ships those will match the enemies, even in New Game+. The LMC pirate ships (Sodality, Junkyard and Fellowship) are the most notable examples, since they're fast and have high durability compared to your SMC ships. They are also not very worth fighting since the reward is so small (except when they appear along with Hestia, which will drop a large sum of money), so it's usually better just to run away.
• Hell Is That Noise: The screams you hear upon entering the Flux Sector for the first time.
• Ho Yay: Cico is just a little too... obsessed with Yuri. Dietrich is also really fond of him.
• Magnificent Bastard: Valantin. Sure, he pinches your dad's Epitaph and stabs out your eye when you first meet, but it's hard to hate him. Him not being a villain does not help.
• Moe: Nia's younger self definitely qualifies. As does Alik.
• Player Punch: Everything that isn't epic or funny in the game. The best example is when you just fought your way through a bunch of pirates and had to go through a dense meteorite storm to rescue a hostage that seems to be a new crew member. You get to her, and when you move her out of her cell, you realize too late that she was rigged with explosives. And she wasn't dead.
  • She doesn't have to die if you decide to execute Argun, but she won't join your crew anyway.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Katida is not well-liked as a teammate, especially since she's a pain in the ass to recruit, but if she gets a Face Heel Turn, she suddenly becomes a chillingly well-done villain.
• The Scrappy: With Loads and Loads of Characters, it is inevitable to have some characters thrown into the Scrappy heap.
  • Franny is probably the most obvious example, as she is generally hated for annoying personality and low stats.
  • Katida. Some players dislike her personality, some others hate her after all of the troubles to recruit her, she doesn't have any story importance whatsoever other than to avoid Roth and Nele from being killed.
• Scrappy Mechanic: The battle system, to some people.
• Squick: Pipra constantly talking to Yuri about "paying with his body" or something around that line. Ick.
  • The Garner Sisters' song the first time you meet them. Possibly doubles as Getting Crap Past the Radar.
• That One Boss: Several, although it also depends on the player. Taurus Fortress is generally agreed as one due to the massive damage it can cause.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: One of your missions involves defusing a dispute over resources. Coulda been, you end up picking sides, or been one of the captains on either side. Nope. Wonderboy and Obi-wan get it fixed.
  • Of course, this basic plot does happen at least two other times, down to picking sides.
  • To add to that, Katida, for all the trouble you go through to recruit, doesn't get any sort of story (save for a minor event between Kira and her) in the second half of the game other than you rescuing her and becoming a permanent part of your crew. Although to be fair, having Katida in your party will prevent the Mummies At the Dinner Table above from happening.
  • Arguably, how several plot-important characters' past (particularly Nia) are never brought up at all falls into this trope.
  • No, people, we wouldn't actually travel the Magellanic Stream. Which was hyped up as the most dangerous route in the universe and nigh-impassable.
• Unfortunate Implications: Depending on how you play it, the recruitment of Katida can be one. If you yell at the Spoiled Sweet rich girl, she becomes a passive, helpless victim, who accepts a forced and loveless marriage to a Smug Snake, does nothing but wait for you to rescue her, and when you do, has utterly useless stats as a crewmember. If, on the other hand, you try to reason with her, she becomes an independent, assertive person who takes her destiny into her own hands. Rather than wait for you to fulfil your promise to her to take her to the stars, she finds a way to get to the stars herself, refuses the arranged marriage, and chooses her own lover. You never get to see her stats, but it is implied and shown several times that she has become a very effective fleet commander capable of notching impressive victories against quality opponents in battle. But she also ends up Axe Crazy.