Worst Endings in an RPG

[Forsaken Lover]

Gonna be a negative nancy and make my own thread to counter Wolf's.

Preferably this will be for games you actually likes. For example, Star Ocean: Till the End of Time had a shitty ending but it was a shitty game so that made sense.

I think one of the most infamous examples, and certainly the most recent one in my mind, is Chrono Cross. Frickin' love that game but everything kinda just fell apart after Chronopolis. I even liked parts of that tower at the end but then it was followed up with...well, you know.

Also for the purposes of this topic, let's just ignore Mass Effect 3. Please? It'll swamp the thread if I don't ban it.

[Vyk]

Good call on that. My immediate examples that come to mind are the things I mentioned off-hand in the other thread. Xenogears, Final Fantasy VII, and Knights of the Old Republic (both) all had confusing or disappointing endings. Final Fantasy VII was so ambiguous there were arguments for years after on whether or not humanity even survived the ending at all

Xenogears ruined any chance of a sequel or continuation in any way by making all gears non-functional for the forseeable future

And both KotOR games (even though the first one had an epic boss fight) ended on pretty much the same note. And I'd almost call that ambiguous if not for the fact that they kind of spelled out the stupidity: your character, in both games, goes on a quest "to the edge of the galaxy and beyond" to defend against unknown enemies that were stirring outside the known universe and threatening life within the galaxy. It seemed like such a cop-out and gave absolutely no closure. Especially in the second one where they admitted a lot of things were cut from the ending, and your list of options dwindles dramatically. So there's a good chance some or all of your favorite characters aren't even involved in that ending. Lame

[VeloZer0]

Final Fantasy VII was so ambiguous there were arguments for years after on whether or not humanity even survived the ending at all
I consider that a feature. :)

[Fynn]

Final Fantasy VII was so ambiguous there were arguments for years after on whether or not humanity even survived the ending at all
I consider that a feature. :)

Ditto. I don't really feel the need for endings to completely resolve everything. I'm gonna have to think real hard about a game whose ending disappointed me...

[Vyk]

I honestly think it probably would have been different for me, if not for the advent of internet culture. The funny thing is, I never even got that impression myself. I beat the game, thought the world got saved, healed, and flourished for a hundred years and people just forgot about Midgard, but basically lived happily ever after from that point on. They never showed a human in the ending, but somehow I didn't get the impression they were just gone. It wasn't until the internet, where I heard other people got that impression. And like most things, when you have your own ideas about something, and they get trampled on, by common detracting beliefs, it kind of sullies the experience. And I didn't like the idea of an ending where humanity got wiped out. So I guess the internet ruined the ending for me. And turned out they weren't even right. Which kinda makes it worse. I never hated the ending initially. I guess it's just been trampled on over time. So I may have to retract that one. Its the fans, not the ending that was bad

[Ayen]

The Light Side ending of KoTOR 1 was pretty lackluster. "You saved the galaxy! Game over."

[Skyblade]

Final Fantasy Tactics.

[Mirage]

Final fantasy 13-2. I actually found the game acceptable up until the final segments. Then it just turned into a continuous stream of liquid excrement.

[Shauna]

Eternal Sonata for a lack of any sort of explanation as to what the hell just happened.

[Formalhaut]

Final fantasy 13-2. I actually found the game acceptable up until the final segments. Then it just turned into a continuous stream of liquid excrement.

Don't get me started on Academia 500-AF. That location can just go away.

[Del Murder]

Odd no one mentioned Mass Effect 3 yet, since that ending got some really negative press (rightfully so).

FFXIII-2 was also a really good answer, though the whole plot of that game was on thin ice to begin with. The ending just plunged right through the ice and then the stupid 'secret ending' set off a nuclear bomb in the freezing water.

[Mirage]

But at least the music was good, right.

[Del Murder]

Time and space time and space? Sure.

[Mirage]

That's not the academia 500 music.

[Skyblade]

Odd no one mentioned Mass Effect 3 yet, since that ending got some really negative press (rightfully so).

FFXIII-2 was also a really good answer, though the whole plot of that game was on thin ice to begin with. The ending just plunged right through the ice and then the stupid 'secret ending' set off a nuclear bomb in the freezing water.

In the OP, Forsaken Lover specifically excluded Mass Effect 3 so that it wouldn't dominate the thread.

Which was probably a good call, because that was exactly what I was intending to post when I saw the title.

[Del Murder]

Haha, yep!

[Mirage]

Odd no one mentioned Mass Effect 3 yet, since that ending got some really negative press (rightfully so).

FFXIII-2 was also a really good answer, though the whole plot of that game was on thin ice to begin with. The ending just plunged right through the ice and then the stupid 'secret ending' set off a nuclear bomb in the freezing water.

In the OP, Forsaken Lover specifically excluded Mass Effect 3 so that it wouldn't dominate the thread.

Which was probably a good call, because that was exactly what I was intending to post when I saw the title.

I didn't read that. I simply had forgotten me3 existed. Never underestimate the power of denial. Me3 did have a truly terrible ending though.

[FFIX Choco Boy]

I would say the original Breath of Fire, but it turns out that I got the bad ending (even though there's absolutely 0 indication that it was the bad ending, and the other ending is much better), so I don't think that's fair to say.

So... I honestly don't really know. I don't usually branch out much beyond Squeenix and Bethesda games when it comes to RPGs, and theirs are usually rather good, if not FANTASTIC (Like Final Fantasy XIII-2 :colbert:). If I was forced to choose, I would say the Pokemon games, as they have 0 specialness to their endings at all. You win, become the best in the region, and that's it. Exactly what you expect will happen, and nothing more. No necessarily bad endings, but disappointing.

[Pete for President]

Pokémon Blue! I just beat the Elite Four, and I can do it again pretty much straight away? DO MY ACTIONS EVEN MEAN ANYTHING

[Laddy]

- KOTORII. You beat the villain and leave.
- Personally? Final Fantasy IX's ending I felt was unsatisfying on a lot of fronts.
- Fallout 3. I never cared for the game to be honest, but this ending shows why Bethesda is just not suited for a Fallout game.
- Anachronox. Great game but it was clearly set up for a sequel that was never, ever gonna happen.
- Eternal Sonata's ending was just weird.

[Chibi Youkai]

Legend of Dragoon. The whole game was beautiful, and epic, and awesome, and then the ending was just like meh, all the buildup for this? This sucks.

[Ayen]

Time and space time and space? Sure.

Wibbly wobbly timey wimey.

[Randy]

Oooof, so many to choose from.

Final Fantasy 8. Final Fantasy 9. Xenoblade Chronicles. Those are the first that come to mind.

They all did the same annoying "and it turns out it was all because of THIS other thing that you've never heard of." (generally known as deus ex machina I believe). It was especially annoying in FF9 and Xenoblade Chronicles because those were stories I really loved, up until the ending.
They did both sorta redeem themselves with nice ending sequences though.

[Mirage]

What was wrong with XC?

[Wolf Kanno]

I find most RPG endings to be lackluster to be honest so it is a bit difficult to single out one that irritated me. Probably FFXIII's ending because it involved a poorly implemented Deus ex Machina that kind of destroyed whatever message the game was trying to make. I mean I've seen games magically resolve crap with ass pulls before but this game had little in the way of any set-up.

I'm really struggling to find another game that was as irritating to me though I am sure there is one, I'm just not thinking straight tonight.

[Fynn]

I would say the original Breath of Fire, but it turns out that I got the bad ending (even though there's absolutely 0 indication that it was the bad ending, and the other ending is much better), so I don't think that's fair to say.

So... I honestly don't really know. I don't usually branch out much beyond Squeenix and Bethesda games when it comes to RPGs, and theirs are usually rather good, if not FANTASTIC (Like Final Fantasy XIII-2 :colbert:). If I was forced to choose, I would say the Pokemon games, as they have 0 specialness to their endings at all. You win, become the best in the region, and that's it. Exactly what you expect will happen, and nothing more. No necessarily bad endings, but disappointing.

I take it you have t heard of Pokemon Back/Whote :erm:

[FFIX Choco Boy]

Well, considering that there are only 3 generations of Pokemon, no, I haven't heard of them. :colbert:

[Wolf Kanno]

What was wrong with XC?

My guess is has to do with Firoa's return to being a Homs or Shulk just basically using the Monado to magically fix everything in the end.

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Thought of another one. Final Fantasy Tactics A2, ignoring the final boss who is as relevant as Necron was to FFIX, the ending is basically the same as the Wizard of Oz, and I hate that story. The fact the ending also implies that FFTA is connected to the main Ivalice timeline is also a headache for fans trying to make sense of it all, and I frankly feel that FFTA was always meant to be it's own stand alone title.

Also KH2 and Dream Drop Distance had terrible endings. KH2 should have ended with Sora and Riku trapped on the Beach of Nothingness so that KH3 could have been about Kairi going off on her own quest to save them. KH3D's ending sequence left it open for KH3 to have the most ridiculous plot yet in the series franchise, which is kind of saying something. When the plot can be summed up as ridiculously as something you would be reading on the cover of a Silver Age comic book, you've got problems.

[Mirage]

What was wrong with XC?

My guess is has to do with Firoa's return to being a Homs or Shulk just basically using the Monado to magically fix everything in the end.

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Thought of another one. Final Fantasy Tactics A2, ignoring the final boss who is as relevant as Necron was to FFIX, the ending is basically the same as the Wizard of Oz, and I hate that story. The fact the ending also implies that FFTA is connected to the main Ivalice timeline is also a headache for fans trying to make sense of it all, and I frankly feel that FFTA was always meant to be it's own stand alone title.

Also KH2 and Dream Drop Distance had terrible endings. KH2 should have ended with Sora and Riku trapped on the Beach of Nothingness so that KH3 could have been about Kairi going off on her own quest to save them. KH3D's ending sequence left it open for KH3 to have the most ridiculous plot yet in the series franchise, which is kind of saying something. When the plot can be summed up as ridiculously as something you would be reading on the cover of a Silver Age comic book, you've got problems.

Well that is basically what the monado was made to do. Didn't exactly come as a shock.

[Mr. Carnelian]

Venetica.

People generally say the game was absolute rubbish, but I actually quite enjoyed it.
Admittedly, mostly in a "so bad it's good" kind of way, but I also thought that it did have SOME redeeming features.

The ending, however, was TERRIBLE. So, so, SO terrible.