Cinematic game overs i.e. Garden getting nuked

In Final Fantasy VIII, when you fail to prevent missiles from blowing Balamb Garden into oblivion, you get a cinematic cutscene before a game over screen.

I think this is one of the most interesting concepts that games in general don't really use. It may be that, in general, creators don't want to invest in creating a scene that, ideally, you're not supposed to see.

Other games in the series have this type of thing as well, such as the Episode Ignis DLC of Final Fantasy XV and to some level, the paradox endings in Final Fantasy XIII-2. Although in some cases you're rewarded for going down the path of a "what could have been" scenario.

What epic scene from any Final Fantasy game would you give an "alternate ending" where you get a cutscene and game over screen?

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My all time favorite was in Chrono Trigger where losing to Lavos was followed by his own ending where he ends the world.

As for Final Fantasy ones I would like to see, I feel FFVI would be cooler if screwing up the Opera sequence netted you a special ending considering it's a non-standard game over. I feel that wrecking the Carship in FFXV should have rewarded a unique ending as well.

My girlfriend got that Garden game over cutscene after accidentally walking out the door before actually doing anything and not being able to get back in. None of us who were watching the stream, many of whom had played the game many times, knew that this was even possible. xD It gave us all a good laugh.

I'd love for cinematics for potential game over failures in FFXIII for when the characters get their battles against Eidolons, and instead of game over it simply goes on to make you battle that character after they turn into a monster and then they are written out of the story for the rest of the game. But that would be pretty much another 5 years of development to make it work so it's probably not worth it. xD For simple game overs, it would have sufficed to see them turn into a monster.

XIV does this a couple of times. There's one during the fight with Bismarck. You have to protect the island you're on. If the island's HP reaches zero, he eats it with you're party.

And speaking of going through doors you're not suppose too and causing a game over. I'm always a little disappointed in V when you're going through the towers and if you make a misstep, it's just over. Nothing special happens. Just game over.

From memory, there was an FFVIII demo where they did show the Garden getting nuked by missies. The demo video came with a copy of FFVII.





Found it!


Maybe they originally thought that people were actually going to fail the Selphie Bombing Mission first time around, so they included it in there. I do remember finding the blue robot boss guarding the base to be an ass, when I was younger/ didn't understand Junction.