Do us all a favor and just don't bother...

[Wolf Kanno]

This is mostly about RPGs but if you can find a non-rpg entry feel free to speak up.

Many games usually end with your character battling against and inevitable doomsday scenario against a villainous or monstrous figure that would do Cthulu proud.

So what games gave you the best sense of "you can't win" by creating a climatic scenario that seemed too great for your party or character to overcome? The Game where you actually really started to wonder how things would turn out and maybe thought this wasn't going to end with a Happily Ever After.

[VeloZer0]

Final Fantasy VII
After that discussion about Holy wiping out humanity as well as Meteor it was always in the back of my mind if it would end happily ever after or not. I think it was a great decision to not actually show if humanity survived after the game ended. And then Advent Children came along and ruined the mystery for us.

Xenogears
By disk 2 I had no idea what was going on, but it seemed to me that things could be ending badly. Of course even after beating the game I still don't know what happened.

I can vividly remember playing some game and for the last little bit it totally felt like you were only still fighting because you would rather die fighting than rolling over and dieing. Apparently sitting staring at the screen for 20 minute isn't going to help me find it.

[Slothy]

God of War. You start off having killed the Hydra and feeling pretty much like a bad ass so when Athena asks you to stop Ares you're thinking, "okay, a god might be a little tougher but how bad could it be?" Of course the first time you see him towering over Athens reigning death and destruction on it you can't help but wonder how in the hell you're supposed to stop him.

And then when you've retrieved Pandora's box and are starting to think that maybe you can do it (SPOILER)Ares kills you and you fall into Hades wondering how the hell you're supposed to pull it off now.

And of course there's the fact that as you learn Kratos back story you can't help but feel that things won't end well for him, especially if you're even passingly familiar with a few greek myths.

I could probably think of some others, but I just had that on the brain after beating God of War III this week.

[Mo-Nercy]

OMG!

[Laddy]

Persona 3. It seems that both "options" towards the end of the game won't end well.

[Jessweeee♪]

Persona 3. It seems that both "options" towards the end of the game won't end well.

Yeah, I was given the sense that saying you're going to defeat Nyx is like saying you're going to punch Sunday in the face. It's not that the enemy's strength is too great, it's just not something something that's possible to even attempt!

[Vermachtnis]

Digital Devil Saga part 2, just Digital Devil Saga part 2.

[ljkkjlcm9]

Sands of Destruction (DS game). Though, you're actually setting out to destroy the world in that game as members of the World Annihilation Front... the only members lol.

THE JACKEL

[Wolf Kanno]

Persona 3. It seems that both "options" towards the end of the game won't end well.

Persona 3. It seems that both "options" towards the end of the game won't end well.

Yeah, I was given the sense that saying you're going to defeat Nyx is like saying you're going to punch Sunday in the face. It's not that the enemy's strength is too great, it's just not something something that's possible to even attempt!

I was thinking of P3 when I made this thread, mostly cause its the first game I've ever played where your entire party falls into despair and you are literally stuck with trying to figure out what's left to do. Even the whole world suddenly begins to go to hell and the music and tension created in the month of January is just epic...

[Skyblade]

Most games are too obvious one way or another. You usually know the result before hand one way or another, from what type of game it is. The games with the lighthearted "good always triumphs" themes end with victory for the good guys. And among the depressing darker games, you usually know when your actions are going to turn out to be futile.

Only games with multiple, fully implemented endings where you can actually alter the outcome have that moment of tension for me.

As for points where my party felt like they were screwed because they didn't have my special out-of-character knowledge, Chrono Trigger gets that award from me. When my overlevelled party, who had been blowing through enemies without breaking a sweat for most of the game, came up against Lavos and he wiped the floor with them in three seconds flat. After all the buildup about the Entity from across time (which is hinted at to be an Entity that encompassed the world) reaching the end of its life, after watching Chrono die, after seeing the husk of a world Lavos left behind... Yeah, they were feeling about as much desperation as they could.

[Bolivar]

Metal Gear Solid 4 - Beauty and the Beast Corp. These things are an unbelievable artistic creation from an alternate plane of consciousness. The scene where they're introduced is made for you to crap your pants and finally realize that you're playing as an old guy who is going to get his ass handed to him.

The God of War series has tons of memorable bosses like this including Hydra, Colossus, Basilisk (Chains of Olympus), and most recently Cronos. Most of the time you're aware you're just going to do some combat mixed in with QTE's, but Cronos especially gave that authentic feeling.

In RPG's I would say Ultimecia in FFVIII causes that feeling, especially with how the battle was laid out.

Lavos from CT as well.

[Bunny]

Suikoden 2.

When it becomes glaringly obvious who the real "villain" is, I figured the ending would be pretty unhappy.

[Jessweeee♪]

Persona 4 deserves a mention, too. I felt like I wasn't even supposed to defeat the boss on the true end path.

[docta fizz]

Let me just say that games these days almost always have happy endings. Unless the game is ridiculously dark from the get go.

On that note my list:

Wing commander (snes, the hardest game I've ever played, if you don't succeed in 90% of the missions the enemies victory looms ever closer. If you do win all the missions the finale makes fighting emerald/ruby/ultimate weapon simultaneously with no materia seem like a piece of cake)

Contra (so i didn't know the cheat)

zelda link to the past (just as your about to save the chick you get sucked into a world where your greatest enemy controlls the ultimate magic that can do anything)

Mercenaries ( by the time your fighting the spades your wondering, "how in God's green earth can I capture these people without killing them?"

that's my list

[Madame Adequate]

Luca Blight, though a mortal man, is more feared by me than anyone else I can think of.

I do hope in Mass Effect 3, I can cause the extinction of the galaxy.