Good Endings That Are Worse Than The Bad Endings

[plaindillo]

The concept of multiple endings in a video games usually go in one simple direction. There is a bad ending where the story ends maybe not as favorably as one would hope, as well as a good ending that ends the most favorably of the two, or anything in between.

However, have you ever played a game where you actually liked the bad ending more than the good ending?

There could be multiple reasons for this, such as the good ending being written worse overall than the bad ending, leading you to enjoy the story of the worse outcome better. There are also games that toy with the very idea of a Good/Bad ending, and mix these concepts together to blur the lines between them.

Get creative with your answer if needed, its a personal preference thing anyways. Spoiling the ending itself or expressing your in-depth thoughts is allowed as long as you put it in a spoiler, but simply saying the game's name or using non-specific details are fine.

My answer is

Spoiler: Mega Man X5,

as I think that the good route overall tells the story pretty haphazardly by the end, and it feels like it doesn't really make sense. I think that on a thematic level, the bad route ultimately conveys the story in a more believable and compelling way. It's unfortunate that it isn't the canon ending of the two.

 

[Majora Fi]

Spoiler: Blood Omen

Good ending is just a generic panoramic view of peaceful world and the spirit of Ariel congratulating me for choosing to sacrifice myself.

Spoiler: Shin Megami Tensei If...

Even though Yumi is the lawful good member of party, her route is one that develops plot the least, seeming shallow and cliché.

Let's defeat the villain.
We defeated the villain.
We saved everybody.
Let's go home.

 

[tht009]

Spoiler: Blood Omen

Good ending is just a generic panoramic view of peaceful world and the spirit of Ariel congratulating me for choosing to sacrifice myself.

View attachment 213195

Spoiler: Shin Megami Tensei If...

Even though Yumi is the lawful good member of party, her route is one that develops plot the least, seeming shallow and cliché.

Let's defeat the villain.
We defeated the villain.
We saved everybody.
Let's go home.

View attachment 213196View attachment 213198

Damn, beat me to it. The "bad ending" is canonical in Blood Omen and the "good ending" is uncharacteristic and fucking lame. Just there to give you the option.

 

[RetroRover]

Half Life... the ending makes sense, and I'm fine with it but wouldn't it have been more epic the other way?

Spoiler: What if ...

... the Freeman kept fighting through hordes of Xen soldiers, kind of like further 'training' him, and ultimately being undeniably forced to take G-man's offer leading to the beginning of Half Life 2. Instead, he just stayed 20 years in stasis ... lame.

 

[nunchuk28]

Trails of Cold Steel IV, not that the bad ending is good but I'll take it any day over what canonically happens, the way it's unlocked is very stupid as well, why waste the players time with a fakeout ending when they can get the real one as soon as that's done?
I personally liked the bad ending of Radiant Historia more as well, I feel it fit the mood of the game better overall, Perfect Chronology giving an even happier ending than the good one was certainly a choice.
Not sure if a bad ending per say but the non friendship ending in SMTIV Apocalypse was probably more interesting from a narrative point of view as well (not that I ever ended up doing it as I kinda ended up liking the supporting cast, ill fit as they might be for a mainline SMT game).

 

[TruthandConsequence]

I thought that the Negative Honor ending for RDR2 fits the narrative moreso than the Positive Honor ending.

Spoiler: Spoilers for RDR2

In the Negative Honor ending, Micah shoots Arthur after their fight, which was the end I got on my first playthrough, and I feel like it is really in character for Micah to do that. For me, the Positive Honor ending where Arthur crawls to the edge of the mountain is nice for the theme of the game, but as a realistic ending I just don't see Micah letting Arthur die on his own, Arthur said some nasty shit to Micah during that fight and I felt him killing Arthur added to the intensity, and Micah's character.

 

[SeventhSon]

Mass Effect 3

 

[Majora Fi]

Not sure if a bad ending per say but the non friendship ending in SMTIV Apocalypse was probably more interesting from a narrative point of view as well (not that I ever ended up doing it as I kinda ended up liking the supporting cast, ill fit as they might be for a mainline SMT game).

Since you've played both SMT4 games, was switching protagonists necessary?

 

[Fietto!]

Here's an easy pick:

So you need Froot Loops to save the day, failing so gives you this:

But if you really wanna collect em all, you're rewarded with rushed garbage:

Well, could be worse. But the effort doesn't make the "Good" Ending valuable, nuff said.

 

[Heidegger of Shinra]

Koudelka. Literally the only game I've played where losing to the final boss is preferable, but perhaps this is still considered the good ending.

 

[nunchuk28]

Since you've played both SMT4 games, was switching protagonists necessary?

you could argue if Apocalypse was neccesary to begin with, since SMT protagonists are usually mute I don't care much either way on whose the lead, I don't feel there were any notable loose ends at the end of SMTIV to feel Flynn needed more time under the spotlight.

 

[What's His Face]

Trails of Cold Steel IV... why waste the players time with a fakeout ending when they can get the real one as soon as that's done?

That question is answered in the very next game, Trails into Reverie. The shockwaves of that false ending continue to be felt through Daybreak I & II, and especially into Beyond the Horizon (though that likely won't be fully explored/explained until Horizon II - and possibly Horizon III at this point...).

 

[brettd94]

The good ending of Pikmin has you finding all the parts of your spaceship and escaping.

The bad ending on the other hand, has your character dying on earth and you get harvested by your worker pikmin.

 

[SQM]

The concept of multiple endings in a video games usually go in one simple direction. There is a bad ending where the story ends maybe not as favorably as one would hope, as well as a good ending that ends the most favorably of the two, or anything in between.

However, have you ever played a game where you actually liked the bad ending more than the good ending?

There could be multiple reasons for this, such as the good ending being written worse overall than the bad ending, leading you to enjoy the story of the worse outcome better. There are also games that toy with the very idea of a Good/Bad ending, and mix these concepts together to blur the lines between them.

Get creative with your answer if needed, its a personal preference thing anyways. Spoiling the ending itself or expressing your in-depth thoughts is allowed as long as you put it in a spoiler, but simply saying the game's name or using non-specific details are fine.

My answer is

Spoiler: Mega Man X5,

as I think that the good route overall tells the story pretty haphazardly by the end, and it feels like it doesn't really make sense. I think that on a thematic level, the bad route ultimately conveys the story in a more believable and compelling way. It's unfortunate that it isn't the canon ending of the two.

Final Fantasy X-2

 

[ThomatoSauce]

Spoiler: Blaster Master Zero 3

Might be an unpopular opinion, but I honestly think both endings in Blaster Master Zero 3 are really bad. The "good ending" is effectively sequel-baits an adaptation of Blasting Again, and ultimately reveals that Jason and Eve are most likely going to be erased from existence if my reading of the dialogue is correct. The "bad ending" has Jason and Eve get permanently separated from each other, with Eve alone being condemned to getting erased from existence. For what was billed as "The Epic Conclusion to the Jason Saga," both of these endings make my blood positively BOIL, and give me a sense of deep dissatisfaction, considering this is most likely the last time we'll see Jason and Eve in the series as a whole (assuming the series even continues after 3).

 

[Kovlak]

 

[tht009]

I thought of another example: in Fable II (or maybe III; I get them confused) at the end of the game you have a choice of three options: you can get a shitload of money (which is useless since it's the end of the game) resurrect everyone who was killed, or resurrect just your family and dog. I think the "good" ending is supposed to be saving the most lives, but I chose my family and dog. Fuck those nameless nobodies.

 

[Not_Red]

Technically the very first Metal Slug has 2 different endings depending on whether you beat the game alone or in coop. The coop ending is the canon one as it shows Morden, the leader of the enemy army survive the war and we get the next entries as follow up.
If you play by yourself however, the credits will show a small montage of all the stages full of all the dead soldiers you killed throughout the game as a reminder that when it comes to war there are no real winners, just death.

 

[Anoobis]

Far Cry 4. By the end, I had no sympathy for the Golden Path, either of its present-day leaders, or Ajay's father.

 

[Kovlak]

I thought of another example: in Fable II (or maybe III; I get them confused) at the end of the game you have a choice of three options: you can get a shitload of money (which is useless since it's the end of the game) resurrect everyone who was killed, or resurrect just your family and dog. I think the "good" ending is supposed to be saving the most lives, but I chose my family and dog. Fuck those nameless nobodies.

It's Fable 2. When you save everybody that was killed, you get a message congratulating you and a boost to the morality and that's it. You can't dig more treasures without the dog and you can't get a new dog, so no more digging for you.

 

[Majora Fi]

Far Cry 4. By the end, I had no sympathy for the Golden Path, either of its present-day leaders, or Ajay's father.

Spoiler

I still prefer the good ending because only in that one I can bazooka Pagan Min after he gets on helicopter

 

[Luxfin]

Even though Yumi is the lawful good member of party, her route is one that develops plot the least, seeming shallow and cliché.

Let's defeat the villain.
We defeated the villain.
We saved everybody.
Let's go home.

Actually, it's even worst due to the fact that the game basically presents her first front and center without you telling about the others. You quite literally would not know there would be other options unless you just so happen to reject Yumi to explore or you played the game already to know about this.

It doesn't help that one of the other potential party members (Read: REIKO) has the exact same route just with extra story bits and an exclusive final dungeon on top of it. (It wasn't worth going through the domain of Sloth.) At least you get explore the Domain of Wrath exclusively in the Charlie route despite the fact that don't even save the school in that route. At least, you can kick Hazuma's ass in the Akira route and that's canon to the Persona series and provides a reason on why the school end up stranded in limbo hell. The Yumi route quite literally is a net-negative to If in every way.

 

[TheReal_TomokoKuroki]

The Witch's House MD.
Technically both endings are the same, but the true ending elaborates on the severity of it all.

 

[Nuxx.exe]

I came here from the side panel in The Repo without reading the category and was fully about to say "Pretty in Pink." As for a real, on topic, answer; The "Normal" ending for Castlevania 2 is supposed to be the canonical ending, I believe? With the Bad and Best endings being non-canonical

 

[RetroPixelLizard]

Not sure If this counts The "Bad ending" of Harvester where you

Spoiler: The "bad" ending. (Best ending)

become what you always were, Is the best and Intended/canonical ending, plus you get to pull off a fatality that Sub-Zero would approve of.

But the "Good ending"

Spoiler: The "Good" ending which feels more like a non-standard gameover.

Is here you end up spending the last of your five minutes of your life In the simulation (Which will feel like a life time) just to deny the group another serial killer, which a terrible Idea because Harvest Is a terrible place to live.

A longplay If you're curious but don't want to buy/play through It.