Top Ten Favorite Plot Twists Redux

[Wolf Kanno]

I tried this thread awhile back and was a bit disappointed but that as the past and this is now. So let's do this again. what are your top ten favorite plot twists in gaming?

[Laddy]

Spoilers, obviously. I tried to include one per game otherwise it'd be a wankfest for Planescape: Torment.

-Final Fantasy VII: Cloud's memories are just a clustersmurf of trauma and insecurity.

-Life is Strange: Chloe's death must be rewritten for Arcadia Bay to survive. Not really a twist but it was very thematically fulfilling.

-Silent Hill 2: James killed his wife.

-Planescape: Torment: Dak'kon was introduced to the teachings of Zerthimon by The Nameless One and was forced into an eternal slavery by him.

-Final Fantasy VI: Kefka causes the apocalypse.

-Tales of the Abyss: Luke is Asche's clone.

-Fallout: New Vegas: Mr House has been cryogenic ally frozen as to preserve his empire

-Undertale: No one has to die.

-Chrono Trigger: Chrono dies.

-Baldur's Gate: You are the child of the God of Murder and Sarevok is your brother.

[Karifean]

I'll just be representing the VN genre if you don't mind.

Actually I'll have to split this into two lists, one for Umineko and one for non-Umineko VNs, because otherwise I'll either sell Umineko short or make it a boring and predictable list.



5. The North Wind and the Sun Strategy (Episode 3)

You know Episode 3 was so nice for a while. The hateable witch Beatrice suddenly appears a lot more likable and by the end of it the protagonist even comes to their help.

But then it turns out all that jazz about Beatrice being likable was staged in an attempt to take advantage of Battler's weakness for feeling like an upstanding hero. That moment when Beatrice puts her trollface back on as she urges Battler to sign the contract was so incredibly chilling and I think just about every reader ever felt so utterly betrayed at that moment.

It's made even better by the retrospective realization that what was actually the act was Beatrice having supposedly staged it all. In truth she did try to trick him a little bit but most of her actions were natural. She pretended to have staged it at the end so as to throw away the victory she didn't want and keep on playing for what she's really hoping for.

4. Battler reaches the Truth (Episode 5)

This caught me really off-guard. I mean in what kind of mystery story does the protagonist just up and leave you behind at barely past the halfway point? But all of a sudden he just knows the truth because for the first time he actually gives it a fair shot. And yes, you're left completely in the dark as to what exactly he realized. Gotta say though, it's a great way of letting the reader know they can reach the truth at this point just as well.

And of course it leads into one of the most awesome action scenes in Umineko where Battler can just shove his realization in the villains' faces. Gotta love it.

3. What really happened that day on Rokkenjima? (Episode 7)

The Episode 7 Tea Party is amazing in so many ways. Episode 7 is one of the most love-filled and emotional chapters in any visual novel I've read and it lays the mystery to rest in the most respectful way imaginable. If you know the truth, you can see and understand everything as it is, but if you don't, you'll at least get hinted in the right direction. Given that this game was supposedly designed by the cruel Witch of Miracles it was pretty unexpected to have it be this benevolent.

And then the Tea Party happens and it all goes to trout. What we get to see is the unfiltered version of what REALLY happened on the island, not just any possibility like the earlier games. As it turns out, the siblings all found the 10 tons of gold together and got in a fight over it that eventually turned deadly as Kyrie takes advantage of the situation to eliminate everyone but her husband and then blow up all the evidence with the bomb to be able to take as much money as possible for themselves.

The great thing about this is that if you try to look for evidence or something pointing you in this direction in the earlier games you'll come up with nothing. What can really point you to this solution is realizing just how incredibly toxic and destructive the atmosphere in this family really is and (see Episode 3) how they would probably react to finding the gold. You don't need the Golden Witch to destroy this family. You just need to give them something they value more than each others' lives and a switch to erase all the evidence of a murder. That's it. It's incredibly raw and not mystery, but that's just it: we're not looking at an (in-universe) mystery story, we're looking at reality.

2. The Number of People on the Island (Episode 6)

I'll have to start from the very beginning of the visual novel to get this across, because it's been built up from the very beginning.

In the beginning, we're told and shown that 18 people are on Rokkenjima at the time of the incident. A mysterious letter appears sent by the "Golden Witch Beatrice". Is that an unknown 19th person? Some speculate it is, others believe it's not. By the end of it everyone is dead yet someone is still alive. Everything points to the existence of a witch.

Fast forward to Episode 2 where the real plot has begun and Battler is now trying to prove that witches do not exist. This time around we're blatantly shown the witch (albeit in human form) walking around on the island. The existence of a 19th person is obvious.

But when we reach Episode 3 we are told in absolute red that No more than 18 people exist on the island! Checkmate. Looks like it was just 18 people after all.

Fast forward to Episode 4. Battler formulates a theory: the old family head was actually dead all this time, so he doesn't count as a person, allowing for an unknown 18th person to slip in! See Umineko has some unreliable narrating: any scene that's not witnessed by the detective himself can be a falsehood. It's more complicated than that but that's the most basic rule. So since Battler himself has never seen the old family head before he died, this sort of theory could work.

Well as it turns out he was right on the mark! Beatrice confirms his theory in the finale of Episode 4, but also crushes his theory about an unknown person once more: No more than 17 people exist on the island! Well well, looks like we've finally reached the correct number. After all, all of these 17 people have been witnessed and acknowledged by the detective. There's no way it could be any fewer people.

...right?

In Episode 5, a new character and new detective, Erika, is added to the 17, bringing the count back to 18. And we even get a scene where everyone gathers in the parlor and Battler himself looks at and acknowledges everyone in turn and we get guaranteed confirmation in red that no one besides these people exists on the island. There is absolutely no way for any of this to be wrong!

...right?

Fast forward to the end of Episode 6. Beatrice and Erika have their final showdown, Beatrice wins and Battler is rescued, and just as Erika is down, she asks for a final clash of red truths. This is it, what is it...?!

Erika: Hi, my name is Furudo Erika! I may be an uninvited guest, but please welcome me!

I am the visitor, the 18th human on Rokkenjima!

Battler & Beatrice: Sorry, but...

Even if you do join us, there are 17 people.

...you're kidding me.

At this point I honestly stared at the screen in disbelief. I had to have gotten something wrong. I couldn't fathom there to be any way for there to have only been 16 people originally. There's no room for anyone to slip out!

But as it turns out, there is. And if you find the secret behind there only being 16 people on the island, you will know the culprit's identity, and you can easily figure out how all the seemingly impossible murders were committed. And finally, you can start working on grasping their motive. Because...

1. The Third Story

The majority of Umineko we are in pursuit of 'the truth'. What truth? The truth of how and by whom the murders were committed of course. Battler and Beatrice are having a battle to see which truth is actually true: Was everyone killed by a witch using magic? Or was everything committed by a human making it seem like magic exists?

But once you know about the 16 people trick and culprit's identity, one simple question arises. Why? Why does Beatrice play this game? Does she want Battler to figure out who did it? Does she want Battler to figure out how it was done?

No, of course not. She wants him to figure out WHY it was done.

But then we find ourselves in a pickle. We have been reading this entire tale focusing on the riddles, the mysteries. Trying to figure out who could have been the culprit and who had an impenetrable alibi. Trying to figure out the tricks to seemingly impossible locked room scenarios.

And most importantly, we've been cutting through fantasy scenes and disregarding them as a lie, nothing more than the witch's illusion.

But there lies a contradiction. If Beatrice is not actually fighting Battler over whether or not magic exists, why do this? Why show us this lie? What purpose does it serve?

And only in finally asking this question does the Third Story become apparent.

The Third Story is foreshadowed in an extra TIP called "Our Confessions" which basically makes the culprit's identity as obvious as can be even if you didn't get it in Episode 7. At the end of it, Dlanor A. Knox remarks that while Beatrice claims to have "written two stories and shown one", that's actually not true either; instead, she "wrote THREE stories and showed one".

Everyone was killed by a witch using magic is the first.

The culprit and their tricks and barebone motive make up the second.

Combining the two of them will get you the third.

So I've been beating around the bush a lot, but in a nutshell, if you take a good long look at the fantasy scenes instead of disregarding them, and interpret specific conversations in a certain way now that you know more about the characters involved, you will soon notice that it's in these very scenes that you can truly find the 'whydunnit'. What could have possibly led to the culprit deciding to commit this mass murder? Hints to the reason can be found across all the first four games, as soon as you know how to find them.

My personal favorite instance of this is the Beatrice vs Shannon showdown at the end of Episode 2 (https://youtu.be/R_K4RSzUNj8?t=6h29m15s). But the third story can be found everywhere. Even the Episode 4 Tea Party takes on a different meaning entirely once you get Beatrice's mindset in that scene.

It's always been there. I've just never been able to see it.

The moment I realized that was the moment Umineko solidified itself as my absolute favorite story in anything ever. It's not even a twist, it's a realization you come to if you engage in Umineko more than just reading it once. And that is enough for me to declare it my single favorite Plot Twist.



With that out of the way, let's turn to something else.

Top 10 Other Plot Twists



As it turns out, by the means of clever unreliable narrating we have been made oblivious to the existence of a character who had always been there. As it turns out, Ririko has the Maximum Penalty - meaning she her existence must not be acknowledged, ever, by anyone other than her supervisor. A perfect setup to have her constantly be following the main character around with us, the readers, being none the wiser.

And all of a sudden Kenichi carrying around a luggage full of girls' clothing and absent-mindedly talking to his sister when he goes to sleep makes so much more sense.

It's a plot twist I like more for its good execution than its great impact on the story, but I have to give credit where credit is due.



CLANNAD doesn't have many big plot twists. But one thing I can never get over is how it JUST WON'T END. And I don't mean it goes on for too long, it's just that it drops EVERY good opportunity to end the story and keeps going for even longer. I like it. But it eventually leads to a scene I would have simply not believed could happen without seeing it for myself.

So after Tomoya getting together with Nagisa, both of them graduating from high school, starting to live together, having a child together where Nagisa shockingly loses her life in the process, Tomoya falling into depression for five years but getting back together with his young daughter and starting live life together...

She dies. Goddamnit CLANNAD. Literally any of the points I put above would have been a fine way to end the story. But noooo you have to keep going until the child succumbs to the same frailty her mother had and dies in her father's arms.

Key has a tendency to set up their emotional punches well. This one hits the hardest because it comes out of smurfing nowhere. Any reasonable reader would have expected the story to have ended by this point.

Of course thanks to positive karma we still get a possible ending where everyone survives but it never managed to remove the shock of seeing Ushio die like that.



Oh hey look it's over. We've finally gotten Tomo back together with her mom and everything is fine and dandy.

Oh what's that, there's an epilogue?

Huh, Tomoya lost his memories? The injury he had last chapter flared up?

Welcome to Tomoyo After After, the finale of Tomoyo After. And quite possibly one of the best chapters in Key storylines, ever. It's not the only epilogue that comes unexpectedly, but having it open up with the main character having forgotten literally everything you went through in both CLANNAD and Tomoyo After was quite... interesting.

I also sure didn't expect it to end with Tomoya dying. But I think its sole existence was the bigger twist.



So I've just completed Torta's route. It was rather confusing. I had an idea as to what could be the secret behind it, but there are so many inconsistencies.

Let's start Al Fine.

...

...well there go the inconsistencies. Ari is Torta after all.

This one surprised me because I just didn't see how having the two be the same person could work out. I guess having one of the sisters be in a coma and the main character having forgotten all about that works out. It's unlikely to the point of being fantastical, sure, but it gets foreshadowed enough that I'm not mad.

And it suuuuure changes a lot. So many scenes suddenly get put in a different light knowing this little fact. I love the kind of twist that does that.



Yessssss, Yuuji survived! The two-year-old little boy survived getting shot at and made a miraculous recovery! Now we can finally clear up all these misunderstandings and expose the true villain!

Ahaha how cute they're feeding him pudding as a reward for taking his medicine. Looks like he choked.

Wait... why is the screen suddenly turning red...

Why is the villain's theme suddenly starting to play...

Why is the kid suddenly choking so violently...

Turns out Gabriel poisoned the little guy. With not just any poison, but the poison that kills in the most violent, brutal way imaginable. I was just sitting there going "no smurfing way" the whole time. If there was ever a way to elevate Gabriel to the spot of one of the most hateable villains in VN history, this sure does the job just fine.



Marimo's death, obviously. Showing that CG of her being ambushed and having her head chomped off was just about the most horrifying thing they could've done. It really is a PTSD-inducing scene.



I was unsure of what kind of mystery Higurashi had in store for me for the longest time. Given all the trout that happens it got really hard to believe there could be any sort of rational explanation for it all.

Turns out there is. The very moment Takano is revealed to be the mastermind was quite a shock, but with just that realization it becomes rather simple to piece together the rest. And even though the rest is a bit on the fantasy side, it's also foreshadowed enough so you could figure it out if you tried.

While yes, Takano is suspicious pretty much from Episode 1 I still didn't expect everything to fall so neatly into place with her as the main culprit. Even the 'volcanic gas leak' thing makes so much sense once you get over your presumptions.

It's only made better with how she massacres the entire main cast a few scenes later. And then causes the whole village to be wiped out. Well it is called the Massacre Chapter after all...



Refrain is my favorite plotline in visual novels for many reasons. It's perfectly set up, it's equally perfectly executed and it focuses on the most interesting characters in the whole cast. But more than anything it puts an end to the confusing as smurf supernatural elements that plagued some of the other routes.

As it turns out, the whole team of the Little Busters got into a bus accident and by the looks of it everyone but Riki and Rin is going to die. In that desperate situation, Kyousuke cried out and thanks to a miracle he and the others were able to create the artificial world in which everything before this point had taken place. Kyousuke is basically god in this world and uses it to mature Riki and Rin to the point where they can overcome the cruel loss of all their friends.

What I love about this twist is that it ties all the supernatural elements together so you only need to suspend your disbelief once, and that suspension of disbelief is facilitated by the endless amounts of foreshadowing that was pointing towards this conclusion. And of course it's emotional as all hell. The scene where it's finally laid bare had me crying. A lot.

Easily the best supernatural twist of any Key game.



Sorry Zero Escape and its fans. Ever17 did it first.

I knew basically nothing going into Ever17 besides the basic setting. It was a lot different from what I expected; it's very light and nobody is really suspecting one another, they're all just waiting to be rescued and getting along fine with each other until that point.

But Ever17's structure is already a weird point. Why does a single choice change my POV character? Why does the identity of the survivors change with it?

But then you unlock Coco Route by completing the other four routes and you get hit full force by everything before you're ready.

It all starts with the Kid looking in a mirror and revealing that his face is actually completely different from the face of the Kid we see in Takeshi's POV. No matter how you look at it, they're different people.

As it turns out the POV switch was more than just that; it was a time switch. If Takeshi is our POV, we get to experience the 2017 LeMU incident. If the Kid is our POV, we get to experience the 2034 LeMU incident.

Which in turn reveals that the Kid we see in the 2017 incident is the Takeshi we see in the 2034 incident! And real Takeshi supposedly died back in the 2017 incident along with Coco! But Tsugumi was carrying his children, twins! And those twins are the 2034 Kid and Sara! And 2034 You is a clone of 2017 You! And the purpose of the 2034 incident was to call forth Blick Winkel, the third eye who can see different timelines!

AND THE WHOLE 2034 INCIDENT WAS A SET UP, PLANNED BY YOU, THE PLAYER, "BLICK WINKEL" HIMSELF, WITH THE INTENTION OF CREATING THE EXACT SCENARIO YOU JUST PLAYED THROUGH, ALLOWING FOR THE ULTIMATE ENDING IN WHICH TAKESHI AND COCO SURVIVE THE 2017 INCIDENT!

You know, all these plot twists come one after another and blow your mind all over again every time. But it all makes sense. Way too much sense. Why does this make so much sense. Aaaaaargh.

Is it any wonder I called pretty much all of 999's major twists?



What better plot twist to top off the list than the one that single-handedly turned a pretty good visual novel into one of the best damn visual novels I'd ever read.

You think I'm talking about the Maou identity twist? Hell no. That one was great, but if there's one twist that truly changed G-senjou for me into something special, it has to be the epilogue.

Let me take you back. The main duo has just beaten the big bad and seen him burn to death. They go home and look forward to spending the upcoming valentine's day together, since they're now living in the same flat.

Credits roll.

Oh how nice we see a neat little epilogue where they spend valentine's day together. Haru is really cute when she's all upbeat like that.

WAIT WHAT? The POV wasn't the main character's at all, it was the villain's!! And now he's standing in the doorway, apparently intent on killing Haru once and for all.

Kyousuke appears and drives him off by shooting him. Haru, seeing this as a god-sent opportunity to finally finish off Maou with her own hands, runs after him. And Kyousuke follows.

The ensuing ending is quite possibly the most emotional scene that isn't from a Key VN or Umineko. It changes EVERYTHING. It elevates Maou to being one of my single favorite villains because HE NEVER LOSES. For one we have a super-smart villain who is literally never outsmarted by the main cast. Why do I like that? Because it just feels unsatisfying if he's brought down by characters that don't reach up to his level, or even worse by a stupid accident or mistake by one of his incompetent henchman. None of that happens with Maou. He's the sickeningly smart mastermind to the bitter end, even as he dies.

But of course it also gives Kyousuke the greatest redemption he could ever have, sacrificing himself to protect Haru's future, all the while pushing all his acquaintances away from him to let them have a future without being branded a 'friend of a murderer'. Every character gets a proper send-off, too.

Without the epilogue, The Devil on G-string would've just kinda happened. Don't get me wrong I'd have still liked it, but with the epilogue I ended up totally loving it. And I never would've seen it coming.

[Mirage]

I would really suggest spoiler tags for games younger than 5 years.

[Pete for President]

I accidentally read the Undertale spoiler :ohdear:

[krissy]

Smough and Ornstein are Ratchet and Clank.

[Ayen]

I'm gonna have to think on this, but I'm already sure Metal Gear Solid and Knights of the Old Republic will be going on this list.

[Madame Adequate]

In no particular order;

Breath of Fire IV: Elina's fate.
Etrian Odyssey: Reaching the Fifth Stratum
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver: Discovering Raziel and his brothers were formerly Sarafan.
Mass Effect: Pretty much everything that happens on Virmire.
World of Warcraft: "Did you think we had forgotten? Did you think we had forgiven?"
Star Ocean IV: The true nature of the universe. Ehehehehe, everyone else was so mad, but I love it.
Knights of the Old Republic: Your true identity.
Final Fantasy X: Basically everything you learn from Home until you leave Zanarkand.
Metal Gear Solid: Miller's true identity.


I'll also mention Breath of Fire III, as the twist is not actually very consequential in the grand scheme of things, but is very moving: Teepo survived as well.
I'll further give an honorable mention to MGS2, because Kojima's bait-and-switch was absolutely god damn hilarious. Enjoy being Raiden! (Don't worry, he gets great once it's time for Jack to LET 'ER RIP in MGR:R)

[Slothy]

I'll further give an honorable mention to MGS2, because Kojima's bait-and-switch was absolutely god damn hilarious. Enjoy being Raiden! (Don't worry, he gets great once it's time for Jack to LET 'ER RIP in MGR:R)

I'm going with this one, not just because no one expected to be a new character, but because Kojima went to the trouble of inserting Snake into fake trailers of the parts Raiden appears in so people really had no clue.

And honestly, I still don't understand liking the twist in Kotor. They were so heavy handed about foreshadowing it that by the time they reveal it it's not even a surprise.

[Madame Adequate]

I guess I'm a thicko then because I was surprised :shobon:

[Ayen]

I was also surprised.

But the best surprise is still to come! -activate remote glider to impale Vivi- Don't jump! Don't jump!

[Fox]

Bioshock

...Would you kindly agree that this was a very intense twist?

Xenoblade Chronicles

The faced Mechon are actually captured Homs

Valkyria Chronicles

Alicia is a Valkyria! OK, we saw this coming from about mission 2. But it was still a well delivered twist!

Hate Plus

*Mute's suicide T_T

I know that only looks like 4 but they were so good they're actually 10 condensed into 4.

[Bright Shield]

Gotta think about it. The top 3 are easy though.


Chrono Cross:

Lynx switches bodies with Serge. Not only does he "steal" all of your party members, but he uses them to kick your ass, and brutally stabs your love interest too. Did I mention that you'll be playing around 60% of the game in Lynx's body? No one saw that coming.

Fire Emblem 4:

Your entire party(including the main character) is killed halfway in the game, by your brother in law. Did I mention that he's now married to your amnesia stricken missing wife? She's pregnant with his child too. The second half of the game picks up years later. You play as the main character's son, and the main villain is your half brother/cousin.


Baten Kaitos:

The traitor in your party(who has been helping the enemy the entire time) is none other than the main character Kalas.