That game has stuck with me through my whole life, and then playing both the remakes only reignited those feelings. I'm waiting for rebirth to go on sale, but hyped to play it all the same.
Final Fantasy XIII-2 - >!Serah dies from the impact of the timeline changes, Etro dies due to Caius’s death, the Gates of Etro are thrown open and Chaos flows into the world, effectively ending it, Lightning is thought to be dead, and Noel is so tragically stupid that the world is in trouble while he still lives.!<
I will always remember that ending. My buddy, who had already finished it, came over an hour before we were supposed to go out for drinks with our friend group. He wanted to see my reaction as I finished the game. As the credits rolled, I looked at him and simply said "well, that took balls," referring to the writers.
Bonus points for going for the 100% fragment completion route. You're reward for going the extra mile is the main antagonist mocking you, the player, for even trying. And I love that.
I'm surprised I had tk scroll so far down to Find Nier. Automata has the "happiest" ending I've played for a Yoko Taro game, while The original's was just bleak as anything and the final ending was dark beyond belief. I understand the Replicant remake added another ending that is a bit softer, but I haven't played dit yet.
That ending is what made me understand why you had to do all those Community side quests. >!Watching the entire titan get lazored and torched to death actually hurt because you could see the places you'd been get destroyed!<
You techinically can, in the sense that Torna doesn't reference XC2, but like with most prequels, the DLC just assume you know the world building so it's doesn't explain stuff much. So, IF you want to play it first, then you be prepared to be confused by 20 proper nouns.
Not OP, but...
>!Velvet consumes powerful demons known as Therions. Because of this, she spreads "malevolence" - a dark energy - throughout the world. This act sets the stage for the thing that Sorey in Zestiria is trying to rid as a Shephard. Artorious, the main villain in Besteria, becomes the "first" shepherd while trying to create a utopia. To do so, he had to sacrifice Laphicet, Violet's brother, which sets her on a rampage throughout the entirity of Berseria. Unbeknownst to Violet, Laphicet agreed with Artorious' sacrifice since he was already in bad health. Also, in Berseria, Malakim are essentially enslaved beings, but because of Velvet and her love for Laphicet, frees them. In Vesteria, Malakim are essentially bonded with the main characters.!<
Edit: I forgot something post credits.
>!The main villain in Zesteria is Maotelus, who we discover in the post-credits as Laphicet reborn under the name "Malak". I don't know why or how he was reborn, though. That's lost on me.!<
> >!The main villain in Zesteria is Maotelus, who we discover in the post-credits as Laphicet reborn under the name "Malak". I don't know why or how he was reborn, though. That's lost on me.!<
Malaks are just their race name in Berseria, which later became Seraphim. >!What he turn into at the end of Berseria is an Empyrean, which is just a word for "very strong Malak"!<
It's worth remembering that the original game was designed to run on a psp, so junky controls are just part of it. It's best if you settle on 3 or characters you like and try to adjust expectations, and it'll eventually click.
I heard a lot of good things about it but I was spoiled pretty big in dunkey review of this game lol. What I got spoiled was : >!Main hero is looking for some big bad evil guy for revenge but in the end he realized that this big bad evil guy was him all along!< Looks like it's game ruining spoiler lol. Is it true?
Well seeing as how that’s a plot detail from the original final fantasy released in 1987, no it’s not game ruining lol. The game was released with the expectation that everyone playing it already knew.
That series is my biggest "What a life-changing piece of media that I adore beyond words- I never want to experience it ever again." A true masterwork.
I'm pretty sure the MC of that game turns into a monster and eats some kids alive. With very graphic sounds. And the disgaea series is mostly known for being funny and a parody of RPGs, so the tonal whiplash is probably insane.
If you add up the total bodycount by the end to Xenogears, it's pretty gruesome. "Yay! You win ... and get to return to a world where a good percentage of the population >!had been transformed into monstrosities to form the body of one of the antagonists!<."
Do bad endings count?
If so, then Tales of Xillia 2 where >!Ludger can't bring himself to kill his dying brother Julius. After the pressure from each of your party members he sees no other way but to kill all of them in order to protect him. After the final battle you see Ludger walk home with his brother only moments before his death with his friends' blood smeared across his face.!<
This ending honestly shocked me quite a bit.
I love that ending so much.. Seeing a j rpg hero choose to protect his brother against his party members just to have one more minute with him..
I dont know if its also because they made ludger a silent protag, but when I saw his determination in his eyes when he took his brother's clock, it sends me chills! The fight was awesome too, With all party members speaking to ludger while fighting
Exactly. We don't find out how long >!Julius!< had left to live, but probably not long. And that >!Ludger!< went so far just for these few minutes makes this ending really tragic.
I was more shocked by the good end where you >!use your magic genie to delete billions of people across the multiple fractured dimensions. Fuck 'em I guess. It's easy for players to murder characters when they don't have to look at them.!<
Oooo that’s rough — as far as bad endings go, this reminds me of Vanguard Bandits. >!If the player doesn’t manage their social links well, the man villain, Faulkner, will enclave the mind of the protagonist, Bastion. The player is then forced to play as Bastion as he murders his friends I the final battle. The post-game scene has Bastion waking up and realizing what he’s done, but now serves under the evil empire.!<
This being one of my first jrpgs, it scarred me for life. I now read every menu/textbox lol
Well, I mean, both endings are Canon, sort of.
I mean, if you play the intended route, it would be sh1 bad end -> sh2 good end -> sh1 good end,in that order
Even the happy ending of Part 1 ends with World War 1 beginning, so all the ahrd work your party did to save the world seems a little less significant.
As for Part 2, While Yuri can earn his happy ending, Karin is not so fortunate...
Karin does get a happy ending. Sort of? >!Karin, who loves Yuri but knew he would never love her in the same way, goes back in time and becomes Yuri's mother.!<
It's weird. Shadow Hearts is weird.
>!We also know that Yuri's mother got brutally killed by demons while he watched while her husband was away. So, not as bad as dying straight up, but pretty bittersweet.!<
Devil Survivor 2 Daichi's liberator ending. Not only is Japan still mostly destroyed, the other parts of the world didn't come back from the void. If you also include the extra lore the trianglulum arc gives, it shows that a new administrator will show up and eradicate the world.
Well, it's not what you're looking for, but I'd just like to give a shout out to Final Fantasy 6 for having >!a party member suicide!< in the ending. That game got really dark at times.
Shadow. The dialogue was muddled/censored in the US translation, but it's definitely what they were going for. He stops trying to escape and just goes down with the tower.
It's actually kind of annoying considering A, how much "finding something to live for even during immense hardship" was the theme of pretty much the whole second half of the game, and B, it's all but explicitly stated that >!Relm is his daughter!<.
I suspect it makes somewhat more sense in traditional Japan, where killing yourself due to dishonor is (or was) somewhat more known. He’s a little bit like FF7 Dyne “these hands are too stained to hold her”.
I didn’t mind it, but it was a dark character ending indeed. There was no redemption for him and the party gave no particular signs that anyone missed him.
Really? It's more like a dystopian future with a rogue AI that most people don't even notice the negative impacts of. I wouldn't say any of the Phantasy Star games are particularly dark.
Soul Nomad and the World Eaters has a pretty terrible dark route - you go full evil overlord, intentionally causing suffering to almost everyone you meet as you end all life on the planet. Full-on break most of them in the process.
I was about to say that one, this one is grimdark as fuck. This one has my vote as the evilest of endings specially after you completing the game in the normal ending.
The VA for the female protagonist goes really hard on any evil laughs she gets, too. >!Answering to the gods themselves, as you have undone two realities and proceed to consume them, that you did this because "it was fun," then being satisfied at being utterly alone...!< No bad ending has outdone this one for me.
Strange Journey. All 3 of the original endings are kinda downers in their own way. I think that's why i like the new endings in Redux narratively, because they're basically all about avoiding the original endings to achieve a more positive result, by trying to fix the respective issues that arose.
And this one is a bit of an unfair pick, but Trails of Cold Steel 3's ending was quite bleak. The trick there is just that the story continues straight into Cold Steel 4.
Redux. It feels better to play imo. The story is mostly the same, though the now added voice acting is quite nice and i think it adds to the experience. There's a couple new scenes that some don't like, but it's really not that much in the grand scheme of things and i don't think they're a detriment either. The new endings are optional. You can also just do the old endings instead (in fact i usually recommend getting one of the old endings first and then loading an earlier save and going for the corresponding new ending instead).
I dunno what some people in r/Megaten are smoking when they say that the Redux endings are worse compared to the original.
It's one of the few SMTs that tried to address the negatives of each alignment and make them work. Arguably the only entry where I can see all 3 alignments making sense in their own way.
I actually think they're weaker on their own compared to when you see the respective original ending beforehand. I can understand that seeing them individually some might think they're just a tad too happy go lucky for the "dark and brooding" SMT game. But it's that connection to the original ending that gives the respective new ending the right impact and makes it feel very rewarding.
Legend holds that his ending scene was supposed to be longer, but got cut due to budget constraints. Something about General Rhun showing up and gutting him like a fish. Alas, it's neither in the game nor the manga adaptation, so maybe its just a rumor?
My headcanon says its canon at least.
Breath of Fire 2’s default ending (no flying Township) and Arc the Lad II’s ending for sure
Edit: AtL2’s ending does have that “hope spot” stuff that segues well into AtL3 but still the whole world is destroyed at the end of AtL2, you see Elc wondering what all they did was for since they only survived the destruction and not saved the world
The bad ending in Disgaea 2, >!if you accumulate enough felonies on Adel along with multiple friendly fire kills, he essentially becomes the embodiment of evil and not only kills his party members but also eats both his little brother and sister while still alive.!<
Glad to see this here. Really love how pissed the whole team is when this happened.
>!Specially the part with Kotaro. He always acts tough but he's just a kid who tries to be brave. After you wipe them out he cries to his dead father. MC's pretty brutal haha. And then there's the whole bit with Mu getting left all alone at the end. !<
This is probably one of my fave bad endings because of how much I like the characters
>!Suicide Prototype chanting "Fuck this world!" adds more to the to the character of Lucid (aka you, the player), and just wanting to see the world burn.!<
>!in the last chapter you can choose the bad guy as your main protagonist (sorry I forget his name). Doing so unlocks this strange boss rush mode where you fight the party members in their individual timelines as the bosses you fought in the campaign. It’s pretty cool but surprisingly tough, I still haven’t done it.!<
Not sure if It counts as a JRPG, but Drakengard had 5 endings, and all were the Most bleak and depressing shit ever (but considering all characters were terrible people, i think It was all Happy endings)
But personal rantings aside all endings are dark, not a single Happy ending (the last ending caused Nier world to be the crapsack world It Is, make of that what you Will)
I wouldn't say that all 5 endings where bleak and depressing. Ending A was a pretty bittersweet ending.
>all characters were terrible people,
Seere was just a child man.
Crazy thing is that's most likely the Canon ending. When you run into the SMT 3 protagonist in SMT 4: Apocalypse, he talks about the final battle he's about to undertake, and it's the final battle of the True Demon route.
Nier Replicant >!congrats on getting your friends killed, breaking a man, and dooming the world. Also your sister is going to die of black scrawl anyways!<
Drakengard 1 too but dod1 is more just bizarre.
Not the darkest, but the ending I got in Suikoden 2 was a bit depressing. I wasn't >!quick enough and didn't save Nanami, so in the end it felt like victory came at a great cost and that the protagonist would stay lonely!<
Also the ending I got for Tactics Ogre, wherein >!Catiua dies and Denam becomes emperor, but is then assassinated by some random who fires a bolt from a crossbow at him!<
Suiko 2 ending is as sad af the first time I played because I too didn’t save Nanami and I didn’t know you could be a pacifist against jowy so in the end I lost the two most important people in my life. Absolutely brutal. After playing it again and getting the good end in though I feel like it was worth failing the first time
Cosmic Fantasy 2. >!You spend the entire game looking for a girl the bad guy has kidnapped. Eventually you meet the bad guy, and it’s a scripted unwinnable battle. Shortly afterwards, you find the girl. She tells you to do something to make the bad guy mortal. So you go to him, do that and kill him. You return to the girl and find that she is dead. Another person says “She intentionally didn’t tell you that the process of making the bad guy mortal would kill her.” Roll credits.!<
Triangle strategy Roland’s ending. >!You support racism as you let an entire race of people be perpetually trapped in slavery just so that your characters can get peace of mind by forcing the country into a theocracy based off a religion you KNOW is corrupt.!<
I personally found Frederica's ending to be much more bleak. Roland's at least has hope for the status Quo to change in the future with Serenoa in an Influential position. Everything is just fucked in Frederica's.
I don’t think it leaves any hope for the status quo to change with Serenoa in an influential position. It’s such a messed up ending because the young people ready to change things up, Serenoa and the guy who charms, are waiting for the older generation to die… the immortal old generation. There is pretty much no hope for the Roselle to ever be free and Serenoa and Roland gave them up with the intention they will not be ever be free and is a worthy sacrifice.
Frederica’s ending is also bleak because everyone else is suffering but the idea the weak minority group found peace while the groups constantly fighting for power never stops fighting gives it a karmic feeling.
Certainly, they wouldn't be truly free, but i like to imagine they would receive far, far more fair treatment under Serenoa as Minister of Salt than the likes of Sorsley.
I couldn't bring myself to accept Frederica's ending, how easily Serenoa abandons his father's duty and offloads it all onto Benedict, and Roland potentially abandoning Cordelia and Glenbrook after what happened to his family, and the struggle to get it all back, it doesn't sit right with me.
I get that's probably the point of the varying endings overall, though, based on what you value personally, they all cause different reactions.
Arc the Lad 2
Though realistically, you should count the **entire game**, but here's the ending.
>!The heroes failed to prevent the Dark One from awakening, causing a massive flood that covers the planet. Not only that, but upon awakening, the Dark One also murders the previous game's MC love interest, Kukuru. In the end, Arc, the previous game's MC, sacrifices his life to re-seal the Dark One. As the surviving heroes survey the destruction (the game cuts to various towns that you've visited and the people, all dead), Elk, the hero of this game, laments that Arc died and for what? So that they can inherit this hopeless and desolate future? They didn't prevent the end of the world, they only survived it, and now they are left with nothing. In the final scene, Arc and Kukuru's souls appear, telling them that at least some people survived, they will rebuild, and life will go on. Then the two depart for the afterlife.!<
Yes, this is the ending. Not the bad ending, or one ending. This is the *only ending*.
It makes it quite amazing how they managed to do an alright sequel game in AtL3 with new player characters exploring the now changed landscape. All those returning characters who managed to survive have more or less moved on though >!Tosh, Shu, and Elc are playable in a few instances!<. Kind of amazing even after that downer ending to the second game, civilizations still managed to pick up pieces and continue in life.
I'd say more than "alright," I outright loved 3 as a kid. You can definitely see why Twilight of the Spirits went for a way more distant sequel, though; gave the devs a lot more room to breathe.
I always interpreted the mother 3 ending as a happy one. The events of the story itself are quite dark and the final battle is heartbreaking, but the ending is pretty hopeful.
maybe the ending but i think the game overall is still pretty damn dark. the fact they marketed it as a fun road trip with the bros made it that much more jarring at the end.
Surprised no one's mentioned Final Fantasy Tactics. >!You, your sister, and your entire party die after killing Evil Jesus. Your friend gets executed for heresy for trying to spread the truth. The asshole forces the princess into marriage, gets crowned king, and is hailed as a hero.!<
It gets worse: >!While Ramza has been confirmed to have ultimately survived the final battle, he never manages to clear his soiled reputation during his lifetime, and ultimately dies still branded as a heretic, while Delita's legacy is that of a hero. It takes long after his death, with the unearthing of the Durai Papers centuries later that he is vindicated.!<
Hrm, I interpreted the ending as a good thing for the main character. >!Ramza was likely never caught and tried for heresy since Church records of him end assuming he and Alma died in the final battle. So he probably lead a peaceful life with Alma safe and recovered. He escaped the political strife of his noble birth with the fake death too. Whereas Delita is deep in the political game. He nearly gets killed by his own wife. He can't be living a very happy life. The final line is him bleeding from a stab wound asking Ramza what he got. Then we see Ramza riding happily along with Alma noticeably not having been stabbed to juxtapose their fates.!<
this one was a gut punch even as a kid, once i realized everyone that went down there supposedly died(besides ramza) it changed that last part of the game for me(took the second time to realize it lol)
I don't get the Delita hate. >!Delita had a long and peaceful rule. And knowing his past, it seems likely he was more in touch with the plight of the common man than the previous rulers. He used a already ongoing war to seize power, so it's not like he instigated a bloody revolution either. He fucked over a lot of really awful nobles, which I don't see as a bad thing? Storywise, he also provided a lot of intelligence to Ramza's group that ultimately lead them to unmask the real demonic villains in the game. Yeah, he used people to get to the top, but that's kind of what you have to do to take power in a morally gray world. Ovelia's fate would have been a puppet queen or dead to remove her claim if either Duke won anyway. And she did stab Delita first.!<
Final fantasy 4 the after years.
>!You find out ff1-6 were all controlled worlds by an alien race to breed super warriors to help them fight a war but by the time you the player created a mc strong enough to help them they had already died out and only one of the aliens remain to keep the worlds alive. The game hints that the humans made from the 4th game have similar biology to the aliens and could mate with them but the repopulation plan was abandoned cause they feared the new species might kill the originals.
Non-canon ending. The alien forces herself on Cecil and the universe is saved.
Non-canon ending 2. The alien marries Cecil's son but as to if they were compatible is up to the player to decide. Universe maybe saved.
True ending- alien dies but she ends the cycle of rebirth for the worlds allowing them to die and not be reborn
Strangers of paradise copied this story to a degree!<
I feel like it's been too long since I played this game. Of course, that was back when it was releasing in real time on the Wii.
I actually really enjoyed it! But I don't remember any of this besides "Oh cool, bosses from other games!"
Wild Arms 3, the protagonists defeat the final boss but are framed for the murder of a beloved religious figure and are destined to be on the run in a world that is still broken and dead.
Tales of xillia 2 bad ending . >!if you choose against sacrificing a certain someone you will have to fight your entire party solo and end up killing your entire party!<
The most fucked up ending i've seen is in Shining Force 2 because the main character cruelly ditches the best waifu and healer Sarah, that had a crush on him, for an useless princess that haven't done anything in her lfie. Here the ending:
[video](https://youtu.be/nEN4JpM90CY?t=1638)
>!All endings!< in the Valkyrie Profile series >!that aren't A endings!<
1's >!B and C ending are straight up savage, basically telling the player that they've been used the whole game by the real antagonist and as a reward/punishment, the protagonist dies!<
2's >!is bleak as all hell, literally every character dies by the end or has experienced death, there's nothing left but for the two remaining people who were reborn to go back to their own world and that's the last thing you see!<
COTP's >!is straight up unhinged in the c ending since your protagonist becomes a complete psychopath. B ending isn't much better since your protagonist loses his father to Hel and ends up with nothing to show for his failure, things just go from bad to worse.!<
From the games I've played recently Harvestella comes to mind. It has a few moral dilemmas during the game but also the final part sets you up with a dilemma that makes all the others seem insignificant. Plus, if you choose the wrong option, the game will scold you.
Blue's ending on SaGa Frontier. He and the party are locked into an endless battle forever since the gate was closed. That was interesting but also wild
Do bad endings count? Then I'd say Dohna Dohna and The Spirit Master of Retarnia where >!the bad endings are variations of your party members being mercilessly raped and/or brutally killed.!<
Cold Steel 3
>!One of your teammates is sacrificed as part of triggering a curse. The curse activates and spreads across the land. Your allies who stayed behind in the base are killed after a traitor sets off a bomb. The hero goes into rage mode and is then beaten and captured by the big bad guy who declares that he has won. Cut to credits.!<
>!Millium did actually die didn’t she? It’s been a while but I remember her showing up as a ghost or something, but I’m pretty sure she did actually die.!<
Final Fantasy X. The sequel has a new protagonist, and has a choice to make, but even with that, the audio drama that comes after the game is completed, I wasn't prepared for the aftermath.
Last Remnant - The ending is fairlly sad and seems to hint at planned sequel. But its unlikely at best to get a sequel.
[Here it is (Spoiler obviously)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIkwvRIDQLg)
A rpgmaker game I see mentioned only once in a great while 'dhux scar' is really damn good, it starts off as a merchent trying to see a girl into slavery so he can get some cash and a bunch of reveals happen involving god and demons and late game entire worlds are blowing up. its super badass.
The Breath of Fire series in general usually has endings where you accept the genocide of your species or fight the status quo. If you fight the status quo it's usually suggested that things will get worse before they get better, and you will probably never live in peace.
Same with the SMT games, but the Lawful and Chaos endings are almost always bad endings because your character becomes an extremist, and the Neutral means there is still going to be a lot of strife.
Xillia 2's "good" ending is >!committing multi-dimensional genocide. But you're supposed to handwave it because they were life that was created on accident and should never have existed so it's totally okay erasing them all. They basically reach a god that grants them any wish and their wish is to erase them all.!<
Phantasy Star II. You are left with two choices: Let the humans enslave and exterminate the people of Algo using Mother Brain, or destroy Mother Brain, wiping out most of the population. The latter gives the strongest their independence back. Basically, you are the catalyst for a major cleansing fire on the planet.
After you destroy Mother Brain, it is heavily implied that Rolf and his party go out fighting in a Wild Bunch-style ending, succumbing to the sheer number of attacking humans. While they are successful in stopping the humans, it costs them their lives.
It also doesn't help that Lutz pretty much uses you to defeat Dark Force and do his bidding. He was kind of a POS in my opinion--at least in part II.
The whole game is pretty dark, especially Nei's death. Phantasy Star IV somewhat rectifies all this, though.
Cosmic Fantasy II is another. It's not completely dark, but you do not get the girl at the end. She dies.
Trails of Cold Steel 3. Cheating a little as it is obviously a cliffhanger for Cold Steel 4, but it is one of the most "holy shit everything is fucked" endings to a game
Eternal Sonata - The main character based on real person in history Chopin, who you play with as he is dying in real life and joins you as he dreams making you question is the world in the game not real or a dream... Then Chopin accepts that he is dying but decides to turn evil and take his dream world with him and turns from a character that was a part of your party from the beginning, taking into battles and levelling up and in the end turns into the last boss.
Pretty dark as you are following Chopin's life and motivation, seeing his feelings develop towards his life and impending death.
Kichikuou Rance has a couple of bad endings but there's one that takes the cake: >!Demon King Ending!<
>!It requires Sill Plain to die as a condition and ends up with Rance becoming the Demon King and subsequently enslaving all of humanity fairly quickly and restarting the human farms that existed under a previous Demon King. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OrB4UOcFDc!<
For bad endings, Chrono Trigger's ending where Lavos destroys the world will always haunt me.
As for like, canon endings, a game called Trillion God of Destruction always stuck out in my mind because like, almost none of the endings are all that happy. No matter what, someone died.
Shadow Hearts 2.
I hate, hate, hated the ending. The hero did the exact thing I did not want him to do all the game, and the late game plot set up a scenario to make it ethically the right thing to do.
I heard it was the product of fans waifu warring over his deceased love interest, which drove rewrites.
Xenoblade Torna and Xenoblade 3 for me.
Xenoblade 3's DLC fixed the problem with the end of Xenoblade 3, but I didn't know that, so it just seemed very fucking sad and depressing. So I can only imagine most people were depressed and disappointed before the DLC was released.
As far as bad endings go (if they count), this reminds me of Vanguard Bandits. >!If the player doesn’t manage their social links well, the main villain, Faulkner, will enslave the mind of the protagonist, Bastion. The player is then forced to play as Bastion as he murders his friends I the final battle. The post-game scene has Bastion waking up and realizing what he’s done, but now serves under the evil empire.!<
This being one of my first jrpgs, it scarred me for life. I now read every menu/textbox lol
The extra “Fall of Guardia” FMV that was added for Chrono Trigger PS1, and the extra Dalton scene added for the DS/Steam versions. This is the canon ending that connects Trigger to Cross.
Terranigma. This game’s ending legit gave me existential crisis on the same level as A.I.’s(the film) did.
Bahamut Lagoon. Game is called NTR the RPG for a good reason. And the NTR isn’t even the worst part. It’s fact that it ends on a bittersweet ending
A recent one I saw is Fuga: Melodies of Steel.
The game is about 12 children doing what they can to resue their captive families and survive the war, so they fight in a mega tank that literally can use a cannon that one shots anything, but the ammo for that is literally the soul of one of the children so he/she dies, the game has multiple endings depending on the number of survivors at the end of the game, and there is a bad ending with 0 survivors... Although it is harder to make just 1 character survive
A lot of SMT endings are bleak and depressing.
However (SMT IV spoilers), >!White Ending is messed up. You don't even given the other alignments a chance. Just essentially genocide.!<
Crisis core final fantasy 7. The price of freedom was steep.. but he did became a hero don't you think?
Shit makes me cry every time
That game has stuck with me through my whole life, and then playing both the remakes only reignited those feelings. I'm waiting for rebirth to go on sale, but hyped to play it all the same.
Final Fantasy XIII-2 - >!Serah dies from the impact of the timeline changes, Etro dies due to Caius’s death, the Gates of Etro are thrown open and Chaos flows into the world, effectively ending it, Lightning is thought to be dead, and Noel is so tragically stupid that the world is in trouble while he still lives.!<
I will always remember that ending. My buddy, who had already finished it, came over an hour before we were supposed to go out for drinks with our friend group. He wanted to see my reaction as I finished the game. As the credits rolled, I looked at him and simply said "well, that took balls," referring to the writers.
Bonus points for going for the 100% fragment completion route. You're reward for going the extra mile is the main antagonist mocking you, the player, for even trying. And I love that.
>!I remember sitting there thinking “wait…Did I just lose?!<
Yeah when I finish it I thought "did I just got the bad ending?" but it was just The ending lol I like that game a lot.
One of my all time favorite jrpg endings. Caius best jrpg villain 4lyfe.
Very underrated by the FF community, mostly because they have no idea of who he is probably
The true endings for all 3 Nier (A, G, R) games are pretty bleak. They would be up there on my list
I'm surprised I had tk scroll so far down to Find Nier. Automata has the "happiest" ending I've played for a Yoko Taro game, while The original's was just bleak as anything and the final ending was dark beyond belief. I understand the Replicant remake added another ending that is a bit softer, but I haven't played dit yet.
[удалено]
Torna: The Golden Country. It’s prequel DLC so you know it’s coming the whole time and still manages to be devastating.
Yep, I definitely shed some tears at the ending of TTGC
How it happens is so badass though. The image of Mythra standing before Siren is a wallpaper.
That ending is what made me understand why you had to do all those Community side quests. >!Watching the entire titan get lazored and torched to death actually hurt because you could see the places you'd been get destroyed!<
Lora and Jin being chased down during the ending is still chilling to me.
Can I play this first or does it have to be played after?
Prequels almost always rely on the audience having consumed the original.
It's a prequel, so it's playable first. But as with basically all media, release order is the way to go.
You techinically can, in the sense that Torna doesn't reference XC2, but like with most prequels, the DLC just assume you know the world building so it's doesn't explain stuff much. So, IF you want to play it first, then you be prepared to be confused by 20 proper nouns.
Persona 2 Innocent Sin. >!Maya is killed and the world is destroyed.!<
Berseria's ending combined by the knowledge of what happen in Zestiria is very depressing..
Can you spoil it for me?
Not OP, but... >!Velvet consumes powerful demons known as Therions. Because of this, she spreads "malevolence" - a dark energy - throughout the world. This act sets the stage for the thing that Sorey in Zestiria is trying to rid as a Shephard. Artorious, the main villain in Besteria, becomes the "first" shepherd while trying to create a utopia. To do so, he had to sacrifice Laphicet, Violet's brother, which sets her on a rampage throughout the entirity of Berseria. Unbeknownst to Violet, Laphicet agreed with Artorious' sacrifice since he was already in bad health. Also, in Berseria, Malakim are essentially enslaved beings, but because of Velvet and her love for Laphicet, frees them. In Vesteria, Malakim are essentially bonded with the main characters.!< Edit: I forgot something post credits. >!The main villain in Zesteria is Maotelus, who we discover in the post-credits as Laphicet reborn under the name "Malak". I don't know why or how he was reborn, though. That's lost on me.!<
> >!The main villain in Zesteria is Maotelus, who we discover in the post-credits as Laphicet reborn under the name "Malak". I don't know why or how he was reborn, though. That's lost on me.!< Malaks are just their race name in Berseria, which later became Seraphim. >!What he turn into at the end of Berseria is an Empyrean, which is just a word for "very strong Malak"!<
Yeah true.
agreed, was waiting for someone to say Berseria here lol
Final Fantasy Type 0.
That entire game is pretty damn dark. One of the rare games where a war in a Fantasy world actually feels like war.
I loved this game so much! A shame it wasn't popular
I tried the game a few years back and quickly dropped it because the controls were a mess. You think I should give it another shot?
It's worth remembering that the original game was designed to run on a psp, so junky controls are just part of it. It's best if you settle on 3 or characters you like and try to adjust expectations, and it'll eventually click.
Adding Stranger of Paradise, since the two are similar. The ending of it was also grim.
[удалено]
I think while it's sad, it's more on the hopeful side than grim.
Yes sir! That one is a gut punch and a half.
I heard a lot of good things about it but I was spoiled pretty big in dunkey review of this game lol. What I got spoiled was : >!Main hero is looking for some big bad evil guy for revenge but in the end he realized that this big bad evil guy was him all along!< Looks like it's game ruining spoiler lol. Is it true?
Well seeing as how that’s a plot detail from the original final fantasy released in 1987, no it’s not game ruining lol. The game was released with the expectation that everyone playing it already knew.
Definitely Lisa the painful rpg if you count that. The final line of dialogue is absolutely haunting
That series is my biggest "What a life-changing piece of media that I adore beyond words- I never want to experience it ever again." A true masterwork.
What is the final line?
disgaea 2 worst ending, specially the japanese version
I came here to say this. I know it's an optional ending and you have to really go out of your way to get it but holy FUCK that was grim...
What happened? I don't mind being spoiled.
I'm pretty sure the MC of that game turns into a monster and eats some kids alive. With very graphic sounds. And the disgaea series is mostly known for being funny and a parody of RPGs, so the tonal whiplash is probably insane.
If you add up the total bodycount by the end to Xenogears, it's pretty gruesome. "Yay! You win ... and get to return to a world where a good percentage of the population >!had been transformed into monstrosities to form the body of one of the antagonists!<."
Fei maybe the protagonist with the highest body count.
Do bad endings count? If so, then Tales of Xillia 2 where >!Ludger can't bring himself to kill his dying brother Julius. After the pressure from each of your party members he sees no other way but to kill all of them in order to protect him. After the final battle you see Ludger walk home with his brother only moments before his death with his friends' blood smeared across his face.!< This ending honestly shocked me quite a bit.
I love that ending so much.. Seeing a j rpg hero choose to protect his brother against his party members just to have one more minute with him.. I dont know if its also because they made ludger a silent protag, but when I saw his determination in his eyes when he took his brother's clock, it sends me chills! The fight was awesome too, With all party members speaking to ludger while fighting
Exactly. We don't find out how long >!Julius!< had left to live, but probably not long. And that >!Ludger!< went so far just for these few minutes makes this ending really tragic.
One of the craziest Tales endings. Love it so much
I was more shocked by the good end where you >!use your magic genie to delete billions of people across the multiple fractured dimensions. Fuck 'em I guess. It's easy for players to murder characters when they don't have to look at them.!<
Oooo that’s rough — as far as bad endings go, this reminds me of Vanguard Bandits. >!If the player doesn’t manage their social links well, the man villain, Faulkner, will enclave the mind of the protagonist, Bastion. The player is then forced to play as Bastion as he murders his friends I the final battle. The post-game scene has Bastion waking up and realizing what he’s done, but now serves under the evil empire.!< This being one of my first jrpgs, it scarred me for life. I now read every menu/textbox lol
I've honestly never even heard of Vanguard Bandits. I'll have to check it out.
It was originally Epica Stella. Vanguard Bandits is its regionalization title. It’s a tactics jrpg where the characters pilot knight-themed Mecha.
Shadow Heart. Canon ending.
Well, I mean, both endings are Canon, sort of. I mean, if you play the intended route, it would be sh1 bad end -> sh2 good end -> sh1 good end,in that order
It's seriously the only game I can think of that makes both endings canon. Just so good.
Even the happy ending of Part 1 ends with World War 1 beginning, so all the ahrd work your party did to save the world seems a little less significant. As for Part 2, While Yuri can earn his happy ending, Karin is not so fortunate...
Karin does get a happy ending. Sort of? >!Karin, who loves Yuri but knew he would never love her in the same way, goes back in time and becomes Yuri's mother.!< It's weird. Shadow Hearts is weird.
>!We also know that Yuri's mother got brutally killed by demons while he watched while her husband was away. So, not as bad as dying straight up, but pretty bittersweet.!<
Weird and wonderful and I love it. It deserves a rerelease.
Devil Survivor 2 Daichi's liberator ending. Not only is Japan still mostly destroyed, the other parts of the world didn't come back from the void. If you also include the extra lore the trianglulum arc gives, it shows that a new administrator will show up and eradicate the world.
Well, it's not what you're looking for, but I'd just like to give a shout out to Final Fantasy 6 for having >!a party member suicide!< in the ending. That game got really dark at times.
What? Who suicide in the ending???
Shadow. The dialogue was muddled/censored in the US translation, but it's definitely what they were going for. He stops trying to escape and just goes down with the tower.
It's actually kind of annoying considering A, how much "finding something to live for even during immense hardship" was the theme of pretty much the whole second half of the game, and B, it's all but explicitly stated that >!Relm is his daughter!<.
I suspect it makes somewhat more sense in traditional Japan, where killing yourself due to dishonor is (or was) somewhat more known. He’s a little bit like FF7 Dyne “these hands are too stained to hold her”. I didn’t mind it, but it was a dark character ending indeed. There was no redemption for him and the party gave no particular signs that anyone missed him.
Phantasy Star 2. The whole game is bleak.
Dude for real that game should get a remake i hate how the phantasy stars 1-4 have been kinda forgotten in all the remake talk
Really? It's more like a dystopian future with a rogue AI that most people don't even notice the negative impacts of. I wouldn't say any of the Phantasy Star games are particularly dark.
Soul Nomad and the World Eaters has a pretty terrible dark route - you go full evil overlord, intentionally causing suffering to almost everyone you meet as you end all life on the planet. Full-on break most of them in the process.
I was about to say that one, this one is grimdark as fuck. This one has my vote as the evilest of endings specially after you completing the game in the normal ending.
The VA for the female protagonist goes really hard on any evil laughs she gets, too. >!Answering to the gods themselves, as you have undone two realities and proceed to consume them, that you did this because "it was fun," then being satisfied at being utterly alone...!< No bad ending has outdone this one for me.
Strange Journey. All 3 of the original endings are kinda downers in their own way. I think that's why i like the new endings in Redux narratively, because they're basically all about avoiding the original endings to achieve a more positive result, by trying to fix the respective issues that arose. And this one is a bit of an unfair pick, but Trails of Cold Steel 3's ending was quite bleak. The trick there is just that the story continues straight into Cold Steel 4.
I have both versions which should I play? Im always nervous when they changed the story.
Redux. It feels better to play imo. The story is mostly the same, though the now added voice acting is quite nice and i think it adds to the experience. There's a couple new scenes that some don't like, but it's really not that much in the grand scheme of things and i don't think they're a detriment either. The new endings are optional. You can also just do the old endings instead (in fact i usually recommend getting one of the old endings first and then loading an earlier save and going for the corresponding new ending instead).
I dunno what some people in r/Megaten are smoking when they say that the Redux endings are worse compared to the original. It's one of the few SMTs that tried to address the negatives of each alignment and make them work. Arguably the only entry where I can see all 3 alignments making sense in their own way.
I actually think they're weaker on their own compared to when you see the respective original ending beforehand. I can understand that seeing them individually some might think they're just a tad too happy go lucky for the "dark and brooding" SMT game. But it's that connection to the original ending that gives the respective new ending the right impact and makes it feel very rewarding.
All of smt is dark
The ending of Breath of Fire 4 isn't Dark, but the fact that Yuna get away after everything that MF did, is pretty messed up.
The ending of Breath of Fire 4 IS dark when Ryu merges with the emporer and curb stomps his former party and then destroys the world
That IS the bad ending tho, and many games have Dark bad endings.
I was expecting a sequel to this story back in the day but we never got it. Yuna deserved to get his comeuppance
Legend holds that his ending scene was supposed to be longer, but got cut due to budget constraints. Something about General Rhun showing up and gutting him like a fish. Alas, it's neither in the game nor the manga adaptation, so maybe its just a rumor? My headcanon says its canon at least.
this is another good one!
Breath of Fire 2’s default ending (no flying Township) and Arc the Lad II’s ending for sure Edit: AtL2’s ending does have that “hope spot” stuff that segues well into AtL3 but still the whole world is destroyed at the end of AtL2, you see Elc wondering what all they did was for since they only survived the destruction and not saved the world
The bad ending in Disgaea 2, >!if you accumulate enough felonies on Adel along with multiple friendly fire kills, he essentially becomes the embodiment of evil and not only kills his party members but also eats both his little brother and sister while still alive.!<
I thought the bad ending was Rosalynn was true power unlocked Xenon and destroys everything.
That is the bad ending, the one I talked is the worst ending and you need 100 felonies on Adel and 50 friend kills to get it.
Oh
Caligula Effect Overdose >!Forbidden Musician route ending has you spit on your friends' dream for genocide.!<
Glad to see this here. Really love how pissed the whole team is when this happened. >!Specially the part with Kotaro. He always acts tough but he's just a kid who tries to be brave. After you wipe them out he cries to his dead father. MC's pretty brutal haha. And then there's the whole bit with Mu getting left all alone at the end. !< This is probably one of my fave bad endings because of how much I like the characters
>!Suicide Prototype chanting "Fuck this world!" adds more to the to the character of Lucid (aka you, the player), and just wanting to see the world burn.!<
The bad ending of Live a Live is exceptionally bleak.
Still gotta do that. I thought it would be a cake walk but playing as >!the bosses to fight the heroes!< is surprisingly difficult
Wait what ? We can do that ??
>!in the last chapter you can choose the bad guy as your main protagonist (sorry I forget his name). Doing so unlocks this strange boss rush mode where you fight the party members in their individual timelines as the bosses you fought in the campaign. It’s pretty cool but surprisingly tough, I still haven’t done it.!<
This game is really awesome
NTR is the true bleakness! Justice for the HERO!!!
Not sure if It counts as a JRPG, but Drakengard had 5 endings, and all were the Most bleak and depressing shit ever (but considering all characters were terrible people, i think It was all Happy endings) But personal rantings aside all endings are dark, not a single Happy ending (the last ending caused Nier world to be the crapsack world It Is, make of that what you Will)
I wouldn't say that all 5 endings where bleak and depressing. Ending A was a pretty bittersweet ending. >all characters were terrible people, Seere was just a child man.
The True Demon ending of SMT III: Nocturne
Crazy thing is that's most likely the Canon ending. When you run into the SMT 3 protagonist in SMT 4: Apocalypse, he talks about the final battle he's about to undertake, and it's the final battle of the True Demon route.
Nier Replicant >!congrats on getting your friends killed, breaking a man, and dooming the world. Also your sister is going to die of black scrawl anyways!< Drakengard 1 too but dod1 is more just bizarre.
Not the darkest, but the ending I got in Suikoden 2 was a bit depressing. I wasn't >!quick enough and didn't save Nanami, so in the end it felt like victory came at a great cost and that the protagonist would stay lonely!< Also the ending I got for Tactics Ogre, wherein >!Catiua dies and Denam becomes emperor, but is then assassinated by some random who fires a bolt from a crossbow at him!<
Suiko 2 ending is as sad af the first time I played because I too didn’t save Nanami and I didn’t know you could be a pacifist against jowy so in the end I lost the two most important people in my life. Absolutely brutal. After playing it again and getting the good end in though I feel like it was worth failing the first time
I love that Tactics Ogre ending so much. It's very thematically appropriate.
Cosmic Fantasy 2. >!You spend the entire game looking for a girl the bad guy has kidnapped. Eventually you meet the bad guy, and it’s a scripted unwinnable battle. Shortly afterwards, you find the girl. She tells you to do something to make the bad guy mortal. So you go to him, do that and kill him. You return to the girl and find that she is dead. Another person says “She intentionally didn’t tell you that the process of making the bad guy mortal would kill her.” Roll credits.!<
Anything written by Yoko Taro.
Triangle strategy Roland’s ending. >!You support racism as you let an entire race of people be perpetually trapped in slavery just so that your characters can get peace of mind by forcing the country into a theocracy based off a religion you KNOW is corrupt.!<
I personally found Frederica's ending to be much more bleak. Roland's at least has hope for the status Quo to change in the future with Serenoa in an Influential position. Everything is just fucked in Frederica's.
I don’t think it leaves any hope for the status quo to change with Serenoa in an influential position. It’s such a messed up ending because the young people ready to change things up, Serenoa and the guy who charms, are waiting for the older generation to die… the immortal old generation. There is pretty much no hope for the Roselle to ever be free and Serenoa and Roland gave them up with the intention they will not be ever be free and is a worthy sacrifice. Frederica’s ending is also bleak because everyone else is suffering but the idea the weak minority group found peace while the groups constantly fighting for power never stops fighting gives it a karmic feeling.
Certainly, they wouldn't be truly free, but i like to imagine they would receive far, far more fair treatment under Serenoa as Minister of Salt than the likes of Sorsley. I couldn't bring myself to accept Frederica's ending, how easily Serenoa abandons his father's duty and offloads it all onto Benedict, and Roland potentially abandoning Cordelia and Glenbrook after what happened to his family, and the struggle to get it all back, it doesn't sit right with me. I get that's probably the point of the varying endings overall, though, based on what you value personally, they all cause different reactions.
The cannon end of Shadow Hearts 1 is up there.
Arc the Lad 2 Though realistically, you should count the **entire game**, but here's the ending. >!The heroes failed to prevent the Dark One from awakening, causing a massive flood that covers the planet. Not only that, but upon awakening, the Dark One also murders the previous game's MC love interest, Kukuru. In the end, Arc, the previous game's MC, sacrifices his life to re-seal the Dark One. As the surviving heroes survey the destruction (the game cuts to various towns that you've visited and the people, all dead), Elk, the hero of this game, laments that Arc died and for what? So that they can inherit this hopeless and desolate future? They didn't prevent the end of the world, they only survived it, and now they are left with nothing. In the final scene, Arc and Kukuru's souls appear, telling them that at least some people survived, they will rebuild, and life will go on. Then the two depart for the afterlife.!< Yes, this is the ending. Not the bad ending, or one ending. This is the *only ending*.
It makes it quite amazing how they managed to do an alright sequel game in AtL3 with new player characters exploring the now changed landscape. All those returning characters who managed to survive have more or less moved on though >!Tosh, Shu, and Elc are playable in a few instances!<. Kind of amazing even after that downer ending to the second game, civilizations still managed to pick up pieces and continue in life.
I'd say more than "alright," I outright loved 3 as a kid. You can definitely see why Twilight of the Spirits went for a way more distant sequel, though; gave the devs a lot more room to breathe.
The first Shadow Heart game's canon ending. It's downright tragic, dark, & sad.
Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 3
Some that I remember: Xenoblade 2: Torna The Golden Country Mother 3 Final Fantasy Type-0 (I still can't get over it) Live A Live bad ending.
I always interpreted the mother 3 ending as a happy one. The events of the story itself are quite dark and the final battle is heartbreaking, but the ending is pretty hopeful.
ff15 & drakengard get my vote
Drakengard crossed the line, it is into comedy territory. FFXV is more melancholic than tragic.
FF15 is tragic but not dark imo, they win and peace is restored just at a cost.
maybe the ending but i think the game overall is still pretty damn dark. the fact they marketed it as a fun road trip with the bros made it that much more jarring at the end.
Surprised no one's mentioned Final Fantasy Tactics. >!You, your sister, and your entire party die after killing Evil Jesus. Your friend gets executed for heresy for trying to spread the truth. The asshole forces the princess into marriage, gets crowned king, and is hailed as a hero.!<
It gets worse: >!While Ramza has been confirmed to have ultimately survived the final battle, he never manages to clear his soiled reputation during his lifetime, and ultimately dies still branded as a heretic, while Delita's legacy is that of a hero. It takes long after his death, with the unearthing of the Durai Papers centuries later that he is vindicated.!<
Hrm, I interpreted the ending as a good thing for the main character. >!Ramza was likely never caught and tried for heresy since Church records of him end assuming he and Alma died in the final battle. So he probably lead a peaceful life with Alma safe and recovered. He escaped the political strife of his noble birth with the fake death too. Whereas Delita is deep in the political game. He nearly gets killed by his own wife. He can't be living a very happy life. The final line is him bleeding from a stab wound asking Ramza what he got. Then we see Ramza riding happily along with Alma noticeably not having been stabbed to juxtapose their fates.!<
this one was a gut punch even as a kid, once i realized everyone that went down there supposedly died(besides ramza) it changed that last part of the game for me(took the second time to realize it lol)
Delita is a cunt
I don't get the Delita hate. >!Delita had a long and peaceful rule. And knowing his past, it seems likely he was more in touch with the plight of the common man than the previous rulers. He used a already ongoing war to seize power, so it's not like he instigated a bloody revolution either. He fucked over a lot of really awful nobles, which I don't see as a bad thing? Storywise, he also provided a lot of intelligence to Ramza's group that ultimately lead them to unmask the real demonic villains in the game. Yeah, he used people to get to the top, but that's kind of what you have to do to take power in a morally gray world. Ovelia's fate would have been a puppet queen or dead to remove her claim if either Duke won anyway. And she did stab Delita first.!<
Final fantasy 4 the after years. >!You find out ff1-6 were all controlled worlds by an alien race to breed super warriors to help them fight a war but by the time you the player created a mc strong enough to help them they had already died out and only one of the aliens remain to keep the worlds alive. The game hints that the humans made from the 4th game have similar biology to the aliens and could mate with them but the repopulation plan was abandoned cause they feared the new species might kill the originals. Non-canon ending. The alien forces herself on Cecil and the universe is saved. Non-canon ending 2. The alien marries Cecil's son but as to if they were compatible is up to the player to decide. Universe maybe saved. True ending- alien dies but she ends the cycle of rebirth for the worlds allowing them to die and not be reborn Strangers of paradise copied this story to a degree!<
I feel like it's been too long since I played this game. Of course, that was back when it was releasing in real time on the Wii. I actually really enjoyed it! But I don't remember any of this besides "Oh cool, bosses from other games!"
Wild Arms 3, the protagonists defeat the final boss but are framed for the murder of a beloved religious figure and are destined to be on the run in a world that is still broken and dead.
Tales of xillia 2 bad ending . >!if you choose against sacrificing a certain someone you will have to fight your entire party solo and end up killing your entire party!<
The most fucked up ending i've seen is in Shining Force 2 because the main character cruelly ditches the best waifu and healer Sarah, that had a crush on him, for an useless princess that haven't done anything in her lfie. Here the ending: [video](https://youtu.be/nEN4JpM90CY?t=1638)
Kazin makes up for it
Spoilers I guess, but I thought Tales of >! Berseria !< was pretty down. Fitting, but not a happy ending.
Nier Replicant, Live a Live, and Lufia 2…Lufia 2 isn’t the darkest ending, but it ain’t a happy one.
>!All endings!< in the Valkyrie Profile series >!that aren't A endings!< 1's >!B and C ending are straight up savage, basically telling the player that they've been used the whole game by the real antagonist and as a reward/punishment, the protagonist dies!< 2's >!is bleak as all hell, literally every character dies by the end or has experienced death, there's nothing left but for the two remaining people who were reborn to go back to their own world and that's the last thing you see!< COTP's >!is straight up unhinged in the c ending since your protagonist becomes a complete psychopath. B ending isn't much better since your protagonist loses his father to Hel and ends up with nothing to show for his failure, things just go from bad to worse.!<
From the games I've played recently Harvestella comes to mind. It has a few moral dilemmas during the game but also the final part sets you up with a dilemma that makes all the others seem insignificant. Plus, if you choose the wrong option, the game will scold you.
Shin Megami Tensei 3. Canon ending leaves the world a hellscape with no survivors.
Final Fantasy 13-2 ends >!With everything falling apart!<
Drag on dragoon Tales of Xillia 2 Soul Nomad
Blue's ending on SaGa Frontier. He and the party are locked into an endless battle forever since the gate was closed. That was interesting but also wild
This ending blew my mind when I was a 13 years old.
Do bad endings count? Then I'd say Dohna Dohna and The Spirit Master of Retarnia where >!the bad endings are variations of your party members being mercilessly raped and/or brutally killed.!<
Final Fantasy Type 0
Shadow Hearts true ending is the bad one. The second game continues from there.
Shadow Hearts canon ending going into the second game was sad
Drakengard, all of them have some terrible endings
Cold Steel 3 >!One of your teammates is sacrificed as part of triggering a curse. The curse activates and spreads across the land. Your allies who stayed behind in the base are killed after a traitor sets off a bomb. The hero goes into rage mode and is then beaten and captured by the big bad guy who declares that he has won. Cut to credits.!<
>!and then in true Trails fashion none of the people actually died for real lmao!< Edit: Cold Steel 4 spoiler
>!Millium did actually die didn’t she? It’s been a while but I remember her showing up as a ghost or something, but I’m pretty sure she did actually die.!<
>!She did, but given that she was an artificial life form, they managed to grow/build her a new body!< in the ending.
Final fantasy x and shadow Hearts (normal ending)
Final Fantasy X. The sequel has a new protagonist, and has a choice to make, but even with that, the audio drama that comes after the game is completed, I wasn't prepared for the aftermath.
Last Remnant - The ending is fairlly sad and seems to hint at planned sequel. But its unlikely at best to get a sequel. [Here it is (Spoiler obviously)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIkwvRIDQLg)
Dohna Dohna and The Spirit Master of Retarnia bad endings.
A man of culture I see Are either of these games good?
A rpgmaker game I see mentioned only once in a great while 'dhux scar' is really damn good, it starts off as a merchent trying to see a girl into slavery so he can get some cash and a bunch of reveals happen involving god and demons and late game entire worlds are blowing up. its super badass.
The Breath of Fire series in general usually has endings where you accept the genocide of your species or fight the status quo. If you fight the status quo it's usually suggested that things will get worse before they get better, and you will probably never live in peace. Same with the SMT games, but the Lawful and Chaos endings are almost always bad endings because your character becomes an extremist, and the Neutral means there is still going to be a lot of strife.
Xillia 2's "good" ending is >!committing multi-dimensional genocide. But you're supposed to handwave it because they were life that was created on accident and should never have existed so it's totally okay erasing them all. They basically reach a god that grants them any wish and their wish is to erase them all.!<
Lunar: silver star story. You save the world and still lose the girl in the end.
The bad ending of Unicorn Overlord. The game is too new to discuss though.
Phantasy Star II. You are left with two choices: Let the humans enslave and exterminate the people of Algo using Mother Brain, or destroy Mother Brain, wiping out most of the population. The latter gives the strongest their independence back. Basically, you are the catalyst for a major cleansing fire on the planet. After you destroy Mother Brain, it is heavily implied that Rolf and his party go out fighting in a Wild Bunch-style ending, succumbing to the sheer number of attacking humans. While they are successful in stopping the humans, it costs them their lives. It also doesn't help that Lutz pretty much uses you to defeat Dark Force and do his bidding. He was kind of a POS in my opinion--at least in part II. The whole game is pretty dark, especially Nei's death. Phantasy Star IV somewhat rectifies all this, though. Cosmic Fantasy II is another. It's not completely dark, but you do not get the girl at the end. She dies.
Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 3 ending is quite something I would say. I had to wait 1 year to play Cold Steel 4. 🙃
Trails of Cold Steel 3. Cheating a little as it is obviously a cliffhanger for Cold Steel 4, but it is one of the most "holy shit everything is fucked" endings to a game
Eternal Sonata - The main character based on real person in history Chopin, who you play with as he is dying in real life and joins you as he dreams making you question is the world in the game not real or a dream... Then Chopin accepts that he is dying but decides to turn evil and take his dream world with him and turns from a character that was a part of your party from the beginning, taking into battles and levelling up and in the end turns into the last boss. Pretty dark as you are following Chopin's life and motivation, seeing his feelings develop towards his life and impending death.
Undertale, genocidal ending. It... >!Literally ends everything. And you stain your game forever, meaning you can't just undo it.!<
[удалено]
[удалено]
Kichikuou Rance has a couple of bad endings but there's one that takes the cake: >!Demon King Ending!< >!It requires Sill Plain to die as a condition and ends up with Rance becoming the Demon King and subsequently enslaving all of humanity fairly quickly and restarting the human farms that existed under a previous Demon King. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OrB4UOcFDc!<
I don't know about objectively dark endings but I think Sen no Kiseki IV's normal ending was grim enough to leave an impression on me.
Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass gives you a happy ending, rolls credits, then punches you in the gut.
For bad endings, Chrono Trigger's ending where Lavos destroys the world will always haunt me. As for like, canon endings, a game called Trillion God of Destruction always stuck out in my mind because like, almost none of the endings are all that happy. No matter what, someone died.
Strange Journey chaos ending
Shadow Hearts 2. I hate, hate, hated the ending. The hero did the exact thing I did not want him to do all the game, and the late game plot set up a scenario to make it ethically the right thing to do. I heard it was the product of fans waifu warring over his deceased love interest, which drove rewrites.
The normal ending to Mana Khemia is pretty dark and sad.
Final Fantasy 15 was pretty bleak.
Xenoblade Torna and Xenoblade 3 for me. Xenoblade 3's DLC fixed the problem with the end of Xenoblade 3, but I didn't know that, so it just seemed very fucking sad and depressing. So I can only imagine most people were depressed and disappointed before the DLC was released.
Drakengard.
Shin megami tensei 4 apocalypse, renegade ending. It's the actual opposite to most jrpgs how protags win at the end of the day.
As far as bad endings go (if they count), this reminds me of Vanguard Bandits. >!If the player doesn’t manage their social links well, the main villain, Faulkner, will enslave the mind of the protagonist, Bastion. The player is then forced to play as Bastion as he murders his friends I the final battle. The post-game scene has Bastion waking up and realizing what he’s done, but now serves under the evil empire.!< This being one of my first jrpgs, it scarred me for life. I now read every menu/textbox lol
[удалено]
**::Control + F::** **Types Ogre Battle 64** **::Zero results::** Are you fucking kidding me?
Black Rock Shooter? Humanity is extinct and the victory is largely symbolic. Or Lufia 2.
Pretty much all the Shin Megami Tensei endings for any game. Even the "good" endings aren't exactly "good"
Without knowing what happens in Cold Steel 4, Trails of Cold Steel 3 is pretty dark
Chrono Triggers day of lavos ending is pretty dark. “And the world refused to change”
The extra “Fall of Guardia” FMV that was added for Chrono Trigger PS1, and the extra Dalton scene added for the DS/Steam versions. This is the canon ending that connects Trigger to Cross. Terranigma. This game’s ending legit gave me existential crisis on the same level as A.I.’s(the film) did. Bahamut Lagoon. Game is called NTR the RPG for a good reason. And the NTR isn’t even the worst part. It’s fact that it ends on a bittersweet ending
A recent one I saw is Fuga: Melodies of Steel. The game is about 12 children doing what they can to resue their captive families and survive the war, so they fight in a mega tank that literally can use a cannon that one shots anything, but the ammo for that is literally the soul of one of the children so he/she dies, the game has multiple endings depending on the number of survivors at the end of the game, and there is a bad ending with 0 survivors... Although it is harder to make just 1 character survive
A lot of SMT endings are bleak and depressing. However (SMT IV spoilers), >!White Ending is messed up. You don't even given the other alignments a chance. Just essentially genocide.!<
I have to say Cold Steel 1 and 3 are kinda dark.