Most video games go unfinished. People buy them, play them, but never bother to see the conclusion of their stories. Developers are well aware of this, which is why far more effort goes into the early hours of a game than the later ones. After all, why spend a ton of effort on something most players will never see?
Unfortunately, not all video games manage to stick the landing. This could be due to a lack of funds, with developers forced to get it out the door to meet a release date, or maybe just bad writing, as the studio can’t think of a satisfying way to end the story, so they just threw something together. There’s no shortage of games that drop the ball with their final act, but there are some that hurt more than others, because they were genuinely interesting up until the decline.
Telltale’s Game Of Thrones Went Off The Rails
The Game of Thrones game produced by Telltale hit at just the right time. The show was still incredibly popular, and it had a ton of the most popular characters from the show not only appearing in the story, but being voiced by actors from the show. Unfortunately, while the early episodes had tons of great characters and story beats, the multiple endings left the audience feeling unsatisfied.
Most of the cast end up dead or in terrible situations from which there is little hope of escape, and the story north of the Wall has a bizarre cliffhanger that fans are still pondering to this day. Perhaps the second season could have addressed the issues, but with Telltale in limbo and the show ending with an unsatisfying conclusion, it’s doubtful fans will ever get closure regarding the fate of House Forrester.
Pathfinder: Kingmaker Was Too Close To The Source Material
Pathfinder: Kingmaker is extremely faithful to the tabletop campaign it’s based on. Unfortunately, this isn’t necessarily a good thing, as there’s no Dungeon Master around to keep things fun and balanced. Anyone who spent countless hours building up their kingdom and surviving wars will eventually have to seek out their true enemy, Nyrissa, in her home. Upon entering the House at the Edge of Time, the player must be prepared for pain.
The House at the Edge of Time is intended for people who know the Pathfinder rules in and out, as mobs of enemies throw status effects and debuffs out like they’re nothing. Anyone who isn’t prepared will be spending a lot of turns doing nothing. The entire dungeon is frustration personified, and people might be better off just watching the endings on YouTube.
Shin Megami Tensei 4: Apocalypse Proves Heaven Is The Worst Dungeon Ever
Putting Shin Megami Tensei 4: Apocalypse on this list hurts because it might be the best entry in the SMT series, assuming Persona games aren’t also counted. Continuing on from the events of Shin Megami Tensei 4, the player takes on the role of a Tokyo demon hunter, who is killed on his first mission and revived by a god, who tasks him with slaying the deities who have been revived in the underground.
Shin Megami Tensei 4: Apocalypse‘s sweeping story involves the hunt for the gods of mythology. Unfortunately, it all falls apart with the final act, with the player suddenly needing to kill YVWH out of nowhere, which involves the worst dungeon in the series. The Heaven dungeon is boring, massive, and filled with the same small pool of random encounters, leading to a final boss where the protagonist is upstaged by the party from the previous game.
The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker’s Great Sea Map Alienated Fans
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is one of the best games in the series, where a cartoon version of Link gets to explore the high seas, facing enemies that reside beneath the waves, while hunting for treasure. However, there’s a huge problem with the Great Sea, and it involves the hunt for the Triforce shards, where the player must find maps to their location.
This involves a ton of busywork and rushing around places the player has already seen, bringing the pace to a halt. While The Wind Waker had plenty of slow moments and downtime, the game was at least pushing the story forward. The map and Triforce hunt just wasn’t interesting to experience. Nintendo Wii U owners can alleviate the pain of the ending somewhat, as the HD remake didn’t require players to seek out as many map pieces. There’s also a faster sail that makes exploring the seas a lot swifter.
Half-Life Went Downhill On Xen
The original Half-Life is one of the most important video games ever made, especially when it comes to storytelling. Most first-person shooters up to that point were lucky to have a story that didn’t consist of a single paragraph. Half-Life changed all that, with voiced characters and interactive cutscenes that perfectly told the story of the Black Mesa Incident.
Most of Half-Life is spent inside Black Mesa, where an experiment involving a portal to another dimension allows aliens to enter the facility. The army sends soldiers in to clean up the mess, with the protagonist caught in the crossfire.
Unfortunately, the story takes the player to the planet Xen, the homeworld of the alien invaders, which is filled with jumping sections in a game that wasn’t designed for. Throw in some boring boss fights and a cliffhanger ending, and the result is a legendary game that’s best uninstalled before traveling to a strange new world.
Chrono Cross Took Too Long To Wrap The Story Up
There’s no denying that Chrono Cross is a weird game, one that goes in bizarre directions with its story. This might be why so many people think it’s an unworthy sequel to Chrono Trigger, which had a far simpler story. In many ways, they were products of their time, with Chrono Trigger representing the simpler 16-bit era, and Chrono Cross being of the 32-bit anime-inspired adolescence of gaming history.
While the gameplay doesn’t change much, the story goes in a strange direction, with Dragon Gods and lost civilizations across different dimensions. More importantly, it’s not explained very well, and it involves a ton of backtracking between the realities for long periods of exposition.
Like its predecessor, Chrono Cross has multiple endings, and while the true ending does offer a tiny bit of closure for fans of Chrono Trigger, finally giving them a chance to free Schala from Lavos’ grasp, it decides to end things with an even more bizarre twist, with Kid ending up in the real world for some reason.
Final Fantasy III’s Crystal Tower Is One Of The Worst Dungeons In The Franchise
Final Fantasy III is infamous for having the worst last dungeon in the series, at least on the NES. The story ends in the Crystal Tower, a gargantuan complex filled with the best equipment and the final two unlockable jobs, but also the strongest enemies in the game, including tons of bosses. It’s easily the worst part of the game, and it ruins FFIII‘s last act.
There’s just one problem: the Crystal Tower lacks save points. Anyone who wants to save will need to return to the world map, which can be a dangerous endeavor on its own, as it means running through tons of random encounters. Throw in an end boss that looks cool, but spams the same overpowered attack over and over again, and the result is a finale that’s utter agony to get through. Fortunately, later versions of the game toned things down a little, making the Crystal Tower a bit less brutal.
Dragon Quest VIII: Journey Of The Cursed King Had The Wrong Final Villain
Dragon Quest VIII: Journey Of The Cursed King has one of the best villains in the entire franchise: Dhoulmagus. This twisted jester uses the power of a magical staff to inflict curses on those he meets, with the player in hot pursuit, trying to stop his rampage. If Dhoulmagus had been the main villain in Dragon Quest VII, then the story could have been incredible.
Unfortunately, when he’s defeated, a new enemy is put in his place out of nowhere. The story then shifts to seeking out and destroying Rhapthorne, a generic demon in another world. Rhapthorne’s just not as interesting as the clown. The player was given tons of reasons to slay Dhoulmagus, as they witnessed his wicked deeds in person, whereas Rhapthorne is just a big ball of hit points that need to be reduced.
The Real Enemy In Xenogears Was The Budget
Xenogears is infamous for its second disc, to the point where it’s a major reason not to play the game. The first half of the game is amazing, with its mecha combat, combo system, and ’90s religion-themed story that wouldn’t have been out of place in Neon Genesis Evangelion. Problems arose with the game’s budget, and the developers admitted in later years that they ran out of money and had to cobble something together.
The end result was the finale being told via cutscenes and incredibly disjointed dungeons and boss fights. Even though Xenogears has one of the best openings in a PS1 game, it fails to stick the landing. Hopefully, Xenogears will one day receive the HD remaster treatment, or even a full remake, as fans have waited decades to experience the full product, one that wasn’t ruined by a decimated budget.
Mass Effect 3 Made The Whole Trilogy Feel Pointless
It’s bad enough for one game to screw up its ending, but one title did it for an entire trilogy. Mass Effect 3 managed to drop the ball for three games, with a horrible conclusion that fans still complain about to this day. After three games of making important decisions, winning allies, defeating enemies, and preparing for an invasion that could spell the end of life in the galaxy,
With no final boss fight, Mass Effect 3 forces players to choose between three colored lights, resulting in unsatisfying conclusions, or not choosing, and letting the invaders win. People complained about games like Fallout and Baldur’s Gate 2 for using text slides for their endings, but they were better than what Mass Effect 3 used. So many sacrifices and choices ultimately boiled down to nothing, ending the trilogy on a sour note.